insights into the world of caffeinated monkeys
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| javamonkey insights into the world of caffeinated monkeys |
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Saturday, September 25, 2010 Things I've Learned From Cosmo Deer--those cute not-so-little critters that live in my backyard, the things that produce venison, the animals that are constantly found along country roads as road kill because they kamikaze your car--masturbate. Thanks, Cosmo, for that little factoid. It's been eating at my brain all week. While Baldric is all cracked out because he's chasing down a moth, I figured I should update my blog. People, I will be back on the East Coast from October 8th through the 24th. Itinerary thus far: land late on the 8th at BWI, dinner on the 9th at 6 pm at Schula's Grill and Crab House in H-town, hitting Wonderbook in Frederick and Hagerstown at some point, back to BWI on Tuesday the 12th to drop Kansas Ben off for his flight, then up to Vermont for school the 13th through the 22nd, and flying out early on the 24th from BWI. Oh, yeah. Kansas Ben is coming East with me. Come to dinner. Meet the boy. And in other fun news, work is the pit of suck. Most folks are familiar with the various tales of jackassery that is the new boss (he started last year), but it gets better. The organization where I work is funded through donations from private businesses, the county government and the city government. The city, which had been our largest donor, has decided this year to cut our funding by 80%. Without notice or warning. Considering that my boss, who makes three times as much money as I do, got a 10% raise, plus a fundraising bonus equal to 10% of his salary (based on grant applications that I authored and submitted), will probably not be amenable to taking a pay cut, I don't think I'll be employed much longer. Which is actually quite okay with me, as other plans have been made, and I haven't really been happy working there for the past year. Announcements will be made when I'm back East, so really, I'm trying to stress the importance for you to come to dinner. (And let me know you'll be there, so I can give the restaurant an accurate reservation, please.) posted by jaime | 10:06 PM 0 comments Tuesday, July 06, 2010 If I'm Not in Kansas Anymore, Does That Mean I Was In Kansas at Some Point? Mehe. :) And with that, I shall begin a crazy tale, where I may or may not be in Kansas. So, my friend Doreen from grad school lives in Kansas City. And when she was flying back from Vermont to Kansas City, she somehow ended up sitting next to a guy named Ben during one of her flights. And Doreen, being a free-spirit, chatty person who had just spent a week at Goddard College learning and studying sustainability, started talking to this guy named Ben sitting next to her on the plane. And Doreen and Ben had a good chat, and exchanged contact information so they could keep in touch post-flight via Facebook. As Doreen put it, Ben is a nice, genuine guy who gets sustainability, and she thought that he and I would get along well (she did a little digging on that flight, finding out that he was divorced and available). So, now that Doreen and Ben are Facebook friends, Doreen decides to play matchmaker, bugging both Ben and me to friend each other and to talk. Which we did. And that was interesting. Turns out, Ben is a Captain in the National Guard, has a degree in Aerospace Engineering, works as a Chemical Engineer in the Army, and happens to have purchased a used bookstore in Kansas and is working to get the store open. He's a smart guy. He's well-read. He also has 8 birds, which would be very Hitchcock-film-esque, except for the story of why he has 8 birds, which is sweet. He had two birds when he was married, and while he was getting divorced, one bird died. He took the remaining bird, and was then deployed to Afghanistan; before he deployed, he was trying to find someone to care for his lone bird while he was away, and found an exotic bird rescue willing to do so for him. During his deployment, his lone bird bonded with 7 other birds at the rescue and formed a flock; when Ben returned, rather than break up the flock, he custom-built an aviary for his house and took in the whole flock. So, he's an animal lover, and has a huge heart. And, well, he's an engineer, so when he said that he was planning on running his bookstore like a hobby, my inner economic developer immediately realized that boy needed serious help or his store would bleed him dry. So, we spent about a month chatting online and on the phone, about the bookstore, about life in general, about how both of us are single--and there was some definite flirting happening. So, he decided to plan a trip to Wyoming to visit in August; meanwhile, I've got the 4th of July coming up and decided to make a trip to Kansas. So, I pack up and drive 12 hours to Kansas to meet Ben in person. He's not just cute--he's freakin' hottie hot hot hottie man. Definite chemistry in person. I tour the shop--it has potential, and while he's made the capital investment, I've got the business background to get the doors open and make this a profitable venture. I see his house, and while it's in various stages of unpacking and decoration and upgrades, I see that we have similar taste in artwork, decor, books, and most importantly, that there's room for me to move stuff in. And I meet his parents, who are adorable but frail, and I charm them with a homemade pot roast and rhubarb cobbler--Ben's mom has just undergone chemotherapy and has no appetite for food, but she ate seconds of my pot roast. And, here's the kicker, I went to church. Seriously, like dressed up and got up early on Sunday morning and went to church. Ben's a religious guy, and he goes to church, and he asked me to join him, so I did (refer back to hottie hot hot hottie--doesn't take much sometimes). And I enjoyed it--it was interesting, it didn't feel overly preachy or awkward or anything (well, everyone in the congregation asked if we were dating, including kids, which was weird, but manageable). So, yeah. I like this guy. A lot. I went to church (and I'd consider going back) and met his parents and talked business with him. And when I start thinking about this whole thing--I mean, the guy is someone that my friend from grad school met on an airplane. What is the likelihood of us even talking, let alone meeting? Let alone liking each other? Let alone anything else? But, as it turns out, he likes me. A lot. Chemistry is definitely there. And we both agree that we don't want to date for a few years and break up later, but that if we're going to pursue this, it needs to be a long-term, way into the future thing. And not only does he want a relationship, but he wants me to move and be his business partner in the shop. And at this point, I'm in Kansas, we've met, we've talked for so many hours that I think Verizon is wondering if someone stole my phone because I never talk to anyone, we've got this crazy chemistry, and my gut, which has been telling me its time to say goodbye to Wyoming (that's another long story, but the short version is that my boss is a giant d-bag who thinks I'm a secretary and who has made work a living hell) is telling me that this is where I need to be. And Ben's gut is telling him that this whole thing is right--the relationship, the business partnership, me moving into his house (I mean, his town has 600 people--where would I find an apartment?). He said that this weekend, while I was there cooking and helping him get organized and talking about the bookstore, that it was the first time that his house had felt like home. So, yeah, I'm now back in Wyoming and at work, and I'm getting ready to make another move across the country. Because if God is playing dice with the universe, I'm all in on this roll. posted by jaime | 3:53 PM 0 comments Saturday, March 13, 2010 Staying Busy So, I'm a slacker at updating my blog. Which is bad, especially when I'm considering creating a new blog, and more work for myself. Why? Because I want to be able to share my hippy-ness in a dedicated venue--my Facebook page is littered with ranting posts against Montsanto and updates for Farmville. So, anyway, the hippy-ness, it is getting worse (or I'm being a better hippy?). I've always been a foodie and loved to cook, and a few years back I took an interest in genetically modified foods and organics, but never did much except read about it and move on. But lately, I've been reading more and more about our food supply and industrialized agriculture and monocrops and genetically modified seeds and....yeah, I need a dedicated place to share this knowledge and my actions. I've also expanded my readings to include plastics, trash, composting and recycling. I'm learning a lot and need a place to expand upon that. And I've realized that all of this reading has actually translated into real world action, like being meticulous about bringing canvas bags to the grocery store and bringing a tupperware (okay, so I'm not totally plastic-free, but I don't trust Ben, the roommate, to bring back containers that he takes to work and thus haven't sprung for a stainless steel storage set) to restaurants and buying a share in a local and organic CSA. And it goes on. So I need a dedicated place to share that stuff. In other news, I've been crazy busy with grant writing. My boss, in his douchebaggedness, has decided that I can answer phones and be a secretary and write grants, and that's meant that I've been writing a lot lately. A $1 million grant for an incubator was turned in March 1, an $800,000 data center grant will ship tomorrow, and I've got an EPA grant to write (due April 9th) and an EDA grant to write (due April 20th). Oh, and I'm attending Wyoming's Sustainability Summit April 12th and 13th, and I fly back east for grad school on April 20th. Yeah. Not liking the job so much. In funny news, I did piss off my boss by refusing to buy plastic cups for a meeting--we have perfectly good ceramic mugs in our office, and I brought in more from home to use for that meeting. There is no reason to buy throw-away (because we cannot recycle them locally) cups, to use all of the petroleum and energy and man-hours for something that will be used once and tossed in a landfill. He was not happy with my answer to the question of why I didn't buy cups. Mehe. Damn Republican got thwarted by a dirty hippy. :) And my answer made fiscal sense--we're on a tight budget, and our largest investor, the City, is looking to cut $1.3 million from their budget, which would severely impact us, so those cups, although cheap, are an unnecessary frivolity. And, let's see, what else. I went snowmobiling for the first time ever, a 50 mile trek up the Bighorn Mountains to Bear Lodge Resort at the top of the mountain. It was fun, but I learned that trying to go off-trail to pee means that I sink ass-deep in snow. And that got my socks wet and made me cold and miserable. And snowmobiles don't grip, they slide around a lot. But they are quite fun. I also am going to Deadwood next weekend, so let's hope that I return with minimal hangover and independently wealthy. :) posted by jaime | 6:14 PM 0 comments |
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