archives: July 2008
Cell Phone Calls
July 31st, 2008 @ 9:19 am | Comments (0)
Filed: My glamourous life | Tags:
Unlike everyone else in my company fortunate enough to have a PDA, I have this dinosaur of a contraption that I have to carry in addition to my cell phone. It receives e-mails, yes, but only when you hit a button and the wind is right and all the stars are aligned. There is a phone function, but no voice plan, hence the need for a supplemental cell phone.
The T-Rex was resting in its nest, er cradle, atop my PC tower, when a chime drew my attention from my Google Reader. A phone call! On my PDA! Hark! Who could it be?
Not wanting my company to incur a huge bill for an unknown caller, I hit ignore and dialed the number from my desk phone.
“Hi! I think someone from this number just tried to call me?”
“It was an inmate at a correctional facility,” the man replied.
“Pardon me?” I’m trying to bring “Pardon” back.
“It was an inmate at a correctional facility,” he said.
The number popped up again and when I picked up the PDA, the battery popped out, ending the call and effectively resetting the device. Hope it wasn’t someone I know calling for bail.
27 so far, in pictures
July 30th, 2008 @ 2:37 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: Cows, My glamourous life | Tags: 27, birthday, gifts
The Beautiful
The Unusual
The Coolest/Most Appropriate
A Spoonful of Heaven
July 28th, 2008 @ 9:41 am | Comments (0)
Filed: food | Tags: guest blog, recipe, Whip it Up
Today’s post is brought to you via Chop.Stir.Mix., where I contributed my first-ever guest post! Cass and AndreAnna started the food blog a couple months ago, but now they’re both focusing on growing their families and are looking for guest contributors so if you have any culinary ability at all, volunteer!
Want to learn how to make a breakfast dish that will fuel a hard-working Amishman but is gentle on the waistline? Please check out my recipe for Baked Oatmeal.
I have immense respect for food bloggers now. It’s HARD to juggle cooking and taking photos, much less some of these artistic food photos. I couldn’t imagine doing it with an open flame! Snaps to the bloggers participating in RA’s Whip it Up Challenge. I’m looking forward to this week’s vegetarian recipes.
What’s lost in your Vera Bradley?
July 26th, 2008 @ 12:57 pm | Comments (2)
Filed: Pomdering | Tags: Vera Bradley, Work
I just sent the following e-mail to the IT guy at work.
Found the camera card! It was lost deep in the trenches of my Vera Bradley.
After I hit Send, I considered the possibility that he has no idea of what is a Vera Bradley. He’s probably scratching his head or busy jumping to conclusions.
What’s lost in your Vera Bradley?
July 26th, 2008 @ 12:57 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: Pomdering | Tags: Vera Bradley, Work
I just sent the following e-mail to the IT guy at work.
Found the camera card! It was lost deep in the trenches of my Vera Bradley.
After I hit Send, I considered the possibility that he has no idea of what is a Vera Bradley. He’s probably scratching his head or busy jumping to conclusions.
Free Food Friday
July 24th, 2008 @ 7:45 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: food | Tags: free food, starbucks
Because I don’t have anything inspired to say today, I’ll be a good blogfriend and tell you how you can get a FREE Starbucks smoothie Friday or Saturday. Just go to your nearest Starbucks (provided it’s still open) and use your Starbucks rewards card to get a FREE Vivanno nourishing smoothie in either orange mango banana or banana chocolate.
My birthday is coming up and I’ve already gotten coupons for free food from Qdoba, Dairy Queen, Red Robin, Hoss’s and Red Lobster. This seems to be more offers than last year so either these companies are marketing better or they’re trying to spur sales. Either way, my stomach thanks you (but my waist doesn’t!).
Opportunity Rings
July 22nd, 2008 @ 9:04 am | Comments (0)
Filed: My glamourous life | Tags:
Scene: In the mailroom. The door bell rings and my Ukrainian coworker announces the visitor.
U: There young man here for Jean.
Me: Is there a young man here for Pom?
U: Ah… Not that young. You date my son.
She’s Everywhere
July 21st, 2008 @ 9:04 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: Celebrities | Tags:
During my recent (is it really recent if it was a month ago?) trip to Portland, Maine, I had not one but two brushes with fame.
The second came as my coworker and I were awaiting our return flight. We ran into a guy from the conference and as we began our conversation, he asked if we wanted to see someone famous.
Sitting directly behind us was Julianne Moore, her daughter and her friends (not her sisters, as I learned when I stuttered out the question as I passed by). I learned that she’s a normal person, who graciously fielded the sideways glances and outright stares. She kept her daughter entertained by crafting paper airplanes which were then taking off faster than the rain-delayed jets.
“You’ll never guess who I saw in the Portland airport,” I asked my friend over breakfast with a friend in Pittsburgh that weekend. “Julianne Moore!”
“Oh really?” Friend said. “Was she heading to Pittsburgh? Because she’s been filming a movie in my office building. On our floor. Everyone’s been freaking out about Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who i think looks like a dirty crackhead.”
More anecdotal stories followed about the filming of Shelter, including the outrage from West Virginia natives over the casting call for inbred, West Virginia mountain children. “Regular-looking children need not apply.”
With her flawless skin, fully functioning appendages and petite stature, I’m pretty sure Julianne Moore isn’t playing an inbred mountain person.
She’s Everywhere
July 21st, 2008 @ 9:04 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: Celebrities | Tags:
During my recent (is it really recent if it was a month ago?) trip to Portland, Maine, I had not one but two brushes with fame.
The second came as my coworker and I were awaiting our return flight. We ran into a guy from the conference and as we began our conversation, he asked if we wanted to see someone famous.
Sitting directly behind us was Julianne Moore, her daughter and her friends (not her sisters, as I learned when I stuttered out the question as I passed by). I learned that she’s a normal person, who graciously fielded the sideways glances and outright stares. She kept her daughter entertained by crafting paper airplanes which were then taking off faster than the rain-delayed jets.
“You’ll never guess who I saw in the Portland airport,” I asked my friend over breakfast with a friend in Pittsburgh that weekend. “Julianne Moore!”
“Oh really?” Friend said. “Was she heading to Pittsburgh? Because she’s been filming a movie in my office building. On our floor. Everyone’s been freaking out about Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who i think looks like a dirty crackhead.”
More anecdotal stories followed about the filming of Shelter, including the outrage from West Virginia natives over the casting call for inbred, West Virginia mountain children. “Regular-looking children need not apply.”
With her flawless skin, fully functioning appendages and petite stature, I’m pretty sure Julianne Moore isn’t playing an inbred mountain person.
Something Cool in the Heat Wave
July 18th, 2008 @ 10:14 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: Cows, In Motion | Tags:
Everyday is a struggle for me. I pass an ice cream shack that sells the most delicious hot fudge/peanut butter sundae over scoops of peanut butter cup-vanilla ice cream. I was weak, but part of 30 by 30 is giving up that creamy concoction.
However! July is National Ice Cream Month and according to Baskin-Robbins, National Ice Cream day is tomorrow (Saturday). I give you permission to celebrate with a dairy delicious treat. Ice cream calories don’t count on Ice Cream Day. Happy Ice Cream Day to moo!
Coincidence?
July 18th, 2008 @ 10:16 am | Comments (0)
Filed: Gone Country | Tags:
At 11:10 a.m., I sent a virtual request to Prime County on Sirius. At 11:11 a.m., a young-sounding girl’s You Go First recorded request started to play. Her song? Fishin’ in the Dark by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. My song!
I should have been a DJ. Oh wait, I was.
Shiny New
July 17th, 2008 @ 9:19 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: My glamourous life, Philly | Tags:
Please tell me I’m not the only one that goes through weeks of boredom and then bam! There’s a week or so that’s fill with all kinds of shiny new THINGS that totally make you forget what a loser you were last week. Here’s what’s made my week sparkle:
- Hersheypark on Tuesday with the nephew. He doesn’t get the concept of sitting down during rides. And he almost fell out of one of them. Whoops! We had so much fun on the water slides.
- Things are going to be changing ’round these parts because I just won a superfab new blog design from the fabulous Jen at Jayesel. Thanks Janet for the heads up about the contest. I owe you!
- I do have plans for this weekend now thanks to KTS. Her blog reminded me to volunteer for this weekend’s 20in24, a road race to benefit Philadelphia’s homeless. I recruited a couple sorority sisters and you can still help, too!
- I had so much fun at happy hour last night that I came home and fell asleep promptly at 9:30. Do I know how to have a good time or what? For some reason I woke up at 3 a.m. and didn’t fall back asleep until 4:30. Did you know there’s nothing on TV at 4 a.m. if you don’t have cable? Is there anything on at 4 a.m. if you do have cable?
- I went to a cool luncheon today with the founder of HelpAReporter.com. PR folks/journalists: Did you know about this service? Am I the last to the party, as usual? And speaking of last to the party, Peter inspired me to Twitter. Stalk Follow me at twitter.com/pomjob.
- Today was my friend Mel’s birthday! (Happy birthday, Mel!) She invited me out on her family’s boat to celebrate. It was amazing! Tonight’s sunset was spectacular over the Delaware River. Raindrops were falling on our heads as we floated into port and mosquitoes swarmed as we said goodbye in the parking lot but it was awesome none the less. I might get to go along next week for her sister’s birthday. Whee!
What shiny new things did you do this week? Or tell me something fun you have planned for the weekend.
Full Disclosure?
July 14th, 2008 @ 7:30 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: Pomdering | Tags:
As I washed my hands, I stole a cursory glance at my reflection. It was 10 a.m. and there was a glob of mascara on my brow bone. I had interacted with at least a dozen people and no one had mentioned the wayward lash enhancer which got me to thinking about niceties in today’s world. If there was something “wrong” with you, would you want to be told about it?
I grew up in a rural area where people play by a different set of social rules. I guess because it’s a farming community, people didn’t take time to exchange small talk and even today many people bluntly say their piece and go about their business. This social abruptness rubbed off on me, and is one of the biggest detractors in my professional life. I’m not mean, I’m honest. I don’t beat around the bush. I call it like it is. And sometimes people have a problem with that. Who’s wrong? Me for being honest? Them for being thin-skinned? Don’t get me wrong, I can kiss ass with the best of them, but I don’t feel the need to sugarcoat every damn day.
Last week I caught up with a friend who I hadn’t talked to in more than six months because she messed up. When we saw each other last week, I was “good” and only mentioned the cause of our strife in passing and then it was laughed off. I also asked if she was still seeing that guy. No, they broke up a while ago, I forget why. Because he is a jerk? Well, yeah, but no one except me told her that they didn’t like him. Only after they broke up did people start breaking their silence about what a douche he is.
Do we not speak up because it will create an awkward situation? Does taking steps to preserve a relationship negate the possible side effects of not speaking up? Observers typically have a different perspective than those caught up in the heat of the moment, but the last thing you want to hear when you’re IN LOVE! is that this guy? Really isn’t the one.
I was head over heels for this guy but he just wasn’t that into me, although I had our lives all planned out. We were kind-of on, totally off, rinse, repeat, for about two years, until it all came to a head one night as a redneck dance. Everyone else knew that the relationship wasn’t going to work, but if they said anything I KNEW they were wrong. We were meant to be together! Or he was meant to be with that girl who financially supports his lazy butt. Either way.
Lose weight and people won’t be shy about commenting. I kind of hate it when I run into someone I haven’t seen in a while and they make a big deal about how different I look. “How’d you lose the weight?” they usually ask. I always want to go for shock value in my reply, but I always chicken out. About a month ago I ran into a friend who lost a few pounds and what were the first words out of my mouth? “What did you do to lose weight?” Then there’s the woman who’s not shy about speaking up in groups to tell me that I need to stop losing weight because I’m getting too thin. While it’s kind of a compliment, it’s still kind of inappropriate. Plus, while my clothes are still in the double digits, I still have weight to spare.
The blunt approach failed me in my quest to help my sister. After she broke into tears one night when I volunteered to shuttle my nephew to his father, I felt so much compassion for her and the horrible situation she’s in. But then later that night I found out she’s being irresponsible with the baby and frequently asks my sister to watch him on her days with him. Fed up with her lies and feeling used, I called her and told her she needs to put her son before her next, well, boyfriend. She didn’t like it, told me never to call her again and hung up. I haven’t talked to her since. I’m hopeful that before she does much more damage to the relationships she has left, she’ll smarten up and realize that a guy can’t make her happy. That she has to make herself happy and then she’ll find a man to be happy with. But she’s not ready to hear those words of wisdom.
I am able to recognize situations where it’s better to keep my trap shut. About half way through a photo shoot for my company’s annual report, I noticed that the president of the board’s zipper was down. Should I have said something to the septuagenarian? He probably would have passed out from embarrassment (and I knew the photos would be cropped) so I let it go because I didn’t want it to get awkward.
What do you think? Would we save a lot of time and energy if we stopped trying to be nice and started being honest? Do you tell people what they need to hear? Can I tell that girl on the treadmill next to me that she needs to slap on some deodorant?
30 by 30
July 8th, 2008 @ 6:39 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: Uncategorized | Tags:
I’ve fallen off the exercise bandwagon. First it was the sore hip that made it painful to walk for two weeks. Then I broke a toe. Then I got a cold. Toss in a week and a half of traveling and it had been a long time since I worked out, probably the longest stretch since I decided to lose weight two and a half years ago.
I mulled this over this weekend and decided to do something to get back on track. I’ve worked hard to lose 65 pounds and it’s oh-so-easy to regain weight.
My birthday is coming up, on July 30. At first I thought I’d come up with a list of 30 things to do on or by July 30. But 30 things is a lot and I’m kind of lazy. And busy… life gets in the way sometimes. Instead I decided to run 30 miles by July 30. I started yesterday; only 27 more miles to go!
Too bad I didn’t decide to eat 30 ice cream sundaes by July 30. I’m closer to that than 30 miles.
What do you want to do before July 30? (Besides buy me a pretty present.)
Boomer and the Bus
July 7th, 2008 @ 7:50 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: Philly | Tags:
I do what I can to minimize my impact on our favorite planet Earth. I recycle; I reuse the blank side of copier paper; I don’t eat (much) meat (although that has nothing to do with saving the Earth but why not count it in my favor anyway); I use a power strip at work for my cell charger, PDA charger and printer; I turn the thermostat up in the Summer and down in the Winter.
Since I moved to Philadelphia, I’ve taken public transportation to work. No only does it save me a minimum of $7 in parking fees, but I also have about two hours each day of reading time. I’ve had a few interesting experiences but today I had TWO Tales from the SEPTA Trenches.
First, we were about 15 blocks from my office when a truck tried to squeeze by the bus as it was stopped to allow people to safely board and depart the bus and somehow the driver’s mirror was shattered. Traffic was snarled for a few minutes but a couple other buses were in line to pick up the abandoned riders.
Around 4:45, I was engrossed in my book when a sweet Southern drawl caught my ear.
“I love you but I don’t want you to waste your money on me, God bless your soul,” said the Boomer as she pushed him from the token box.
I don’t know if the two riders were together or whether he just took pity on her soul and was going to pay the fare that she was refusing to pay.
Seniors can ride SEPTA for free, but I guess she didn’t have her Medicare card ready at the wait. Boomer and the Driver bantered back and forth, each politely jabbing at each other in a very humorous fashion. (I give them credit, usually these encounters quickly dissolve into name calling and threats of police intervention.) She sat down and shuffled through a menagerie of grocery club cards, gift cards and the like.
“I found it!” she said as she held up her fists in triumph, in true Philly Rocky fashion. The riders - their audience - broke out into applause and the driver cracked a wide smile. Boomer took her bow and order was restored.
A couple blocks later, she bid us adieu. “Goodbye Everyone,” she said to the enchanted crowd as she made her way down the steps. And to all a good night.
Fireworks are my favorite
July 6th, 2008 @ 12:12 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: I heart TV, Philly | Tags: food, How I Met Your Mother, Philadelphia, tourist
To commemorate the birthday of our great nation, four-fifths of my family came to visit me in the City of Brotherly love.
We drank Canadian beer*, saw John Legend sing, watched fireworks (not quite over the Art Museum) in the rain, walked a LOT with complaining, rode the Ducks, missed a bus by a second, ate Philly cheese steaks** and watched the entire first disc of How I Met Your Mother, Season One***. It was a great weekend but conversation kept circling back to the one who wasn’t there****.
We had a lot of fun and I learned a lot about my city like that one of the Three Stooges was from South Street and on Tuesday at noon I can see someone read the Declaration of Independence at Independence Hall. Also? Philly residents hate the Ducks.
But the most important lesson was learned on the 32 bus: If you beep your horn first, you can totally run red lights.
How was your Fourth of July?
___________________________________________________
*How’s that for patriotism?
**Delicious bread, crappy service.
***You need to watch this show if you haven’t seen it. The PomFam wanted to steal my roommate’s DVDs to take home. Let\’s Go to the Mall
****Like the proverbial elephant in the room, I can’t ignore that she chose her new boyfriend over her son and family. I still don’t know how to get her the help I think she needs but I guess that’s the key: I THINK she needs it, she doesn’t.
Everybody Dies Famous In a Small Town
July 2nd, 2008 @ 3:00 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: Gone Country, I heart TV, My glamourous life | Tags:
I’ve had my five minutes of fame on my hometown news station.
http://www.wgal.com/video/16715458/
PS-Great song by Miranda Lambert!
Secret Lives of Dairy Cows
July 1st, 2008 @ 5:18 pm | Comments (0)
Filed: Cows, I heart TV | Tags: animals, Cows, TV clips
The rooster crowed awfully early for me this morning, taking me back to my dairy farm upbringing. I’m super excited about the TV segments that a local TV station filmed this morning, necessitating my 4:30 a.m. wake up call. Learn all you’ve ever wanted to know about the “Secret Lives of Dairy Cows.”
PR pros are always worried about how an interview will turn out, but I’m really pleased with the way Holly conducted these segments. I hope you enjoy - and learn a thing or two about dairy farming!
