Wandering Aimlessly

Today was my day off. I had grand plans for the day, I did. I would get up, work out, get my oil changed, get gas, go to the library, pick up something for lunch, head to Target for some necessities, and to Marshall's to return a coat and maybe buy a new one. And, if I had the time and energy, hit DSW to see if they had the New Balances I was thinking of exchanging my as-yet-unworn new Nikes for. I ended up keeping the Nikes. And wearing them.

As it turned out, I got up, worked out, and... tried to get home. Car wouldn't start. Again. It happened two Wednesdays ago, for the first time in my car's life. (Somehow, I knew I'd hear from Starcom today, since the last time the car wouldn't start was my day of Starcom-ness. Heh.) The car tries to start, gets most of the way there, and won't. It's like it's turning over, and over and over, but not catching. I don't know how else to explain it. Last time, opening the gas cap did the trick. This time, that didn't work. The car guy thinks it's an electrical problem with the theft system (didn't know I had one!), since the THEFT SYSTEM light kept flashing. But he can't say for sure unless he catches it in the act. So.

Anyway, it started up after about twenty minutes, and I went on my merry way. Got the oil changed and got gas, but then was talked into taking the car in to get looked at, by my dad. So my productive day ended there, after the getting of gas.

Now I have a full-of-gas car with freshly changed oil that's sitting at the garage. The guy said it would probably be fine, most likely a little glitch, but I'm driving the car six hours to Ohio on Saturday. Would rather not enjoy being stranded there, thankyouverymuch. So, just to be safe, the car is being looked at.

So I came home and watched A Wedding Story (twice) and A Baby Story and Trading Spaces. And plucked my eyebrows and watched an infomercial that I could. not. turn. off. on some make-up system. By Alex or Alexis something-or-other. And that was my day.

I also started looking at real estate in the Los Angeles area. Because I am a dork. It's utterly unaffordable, but who knows. Someday, perhaps. Someday.

Oh, almost forgot to say. Visited with Michelle last night! It was so good to see her. We went out for ice cream and looked at pictures, and I played all the JC song clips for her (more like MADE her listen to them, but she was a good sport about it *g*), and we chit-chatted the nice away. Good times. Glad I got to catch up. It WON'T be so long before visits next time, I promise!

Okay. So, time for bed, I guess. I'm all TV-ed out after today. Maybe I'll read. And Carolyn, I wanted to thank you for transferring your car issues up to me. Much love.

Posted by kate at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I just got back a bunch of pictures from three rolls of film dating back, well, a long time, some of them.

Had pictures from Miami, which, yay! Got my Miami pictures back! Excitement. It was so beautiful there. And I was so tan. Ha. Got some reeeeeally teeny-tiny ones of the Skills Challenge and the game, some decent ones from the club, a couple beach shots (beautiful!), a couple pictures of the gang. Good times.

Rewind a bit to February, and the Nick Carter concert. Some cute ones of Nick at White Star and some cute ones of the group I went with at White star.

Back a little further to LA. Just one or two from that trip. The rest were on the digital camera.

Then there was Christmas of this year, with the classic cat-glaring-at-the-camera picture, from when we made Specks wear super-cool reindeer antlers with bells hanging off of them. He loves us for that. Every year.

Before that, we have graduation. Aarti and me climbing on the Alma Mater, standing below the arch. Aarti, did you get your pics back from that? Mine came out kind of small, and I only had one at each location. I thought we'd taken more. Bummer.

Going a little farther back, we have the end of school. Apartment-being-decorated-for-Christmas and whatnot.

A little earlier and we get the 711 apartment of two years ago. We have Aarti (as I am completely wiped out by the Attack of the Giant Thumb) dancing to Pop, we have me doing the Flopping Fish, a quality headstand against the wall... we have Shelley, Aarti and myself getting ready to go out somewhere, and Aarti and Shif all dressed up in Indian clothes.

Rewind some more, and we get, oh yes, New Years 2000 and the first Disney Reunion Trip. Pictures of All Star Sports, of the crew, of the lights at Epcot, of the Tapestry of Nations parade. Some pretty cool ones, too.

So, yes. The lesson learned here? Kate is HORRIBLE at getting pictures developed in a timely fashion. Horrible. But it was fun and exciting to get them back now! A great trip down memory lane.

Posted by kate at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'd meant to post about my day on Thursday, but I forgot. So I will now.

I had a very frazzled morning. Couldn't WAIT to get out of there, man. It was nuts. K, the other banker, and I left at noon with C, a banker from a nearby branch, to head downtown to one of the branches in the city. All the "new" bankers had to give presentations on our banker projects. These presentations were for all the branch sales managers, the regional managers, the Illinois sales manager, and more. The room was full of "higer-ups" in the company. MEEEEP!!

My presentation went fine. I had done my project on home equity credit lines, comparing five other banks' products to ours. Had a nifty power point presentation and everything to go with it. And, as it turns out, my manager used my power point when trying to convince a customer that ours really IS the best product. Ha.

But anyway. After the presentations, they took us all out for drinks at a little bar down the street from the bank. Very fun. I got a Trixie, or something. It was tasty. I had to leave the bar early, though, to go to the White Sox game with my dad and sister. It was hotter than heck out (heat index of 112 in some parts), but exciting to be at the game just the same. I'm not really a Sox fan, per se, but it was a good time. Our seats were excellent -- five rows behind the Sox dugout. And the Sox are in first place, apparently, so that was fun. They won. Good times, good times.

I got home waaaaaaay late, though, and was totally exhausted at work yesterday for the Day of No Power.

Today, I worked again. It was fine. Just a normal Saturday at the bank. Afterwards, I met Megan at Woodfield and I made a Build-a-Bear. My first ever! Hee.

The lady tried to sell me on girls' underwear for him, but he is a BOY. No matter how sparkly his outfit is, he's very much a boy bear. Meet JC. And his shirt, see? It's BEDAZZLED. Hee! He's got a sparkly silver belt on, and his visor has a cute little paw print on it. And the coolest velcro ever. Heh. He doesn't have any undies on, due to the absense of boy underwear, but he'll get some next time. Yes indeedy. Isn't he cute?

Posted by kate at 06:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our town's Street Fest is going on about eight or so blocks from my house. I can hear the music loud and clear. Right now, there's something really fun and jazzy. I'm groovin'.

Today was a rather exciting day. Arrived at work with a big Starbucks latte (thankfully, as I was not able to make coffee at work) to a sign saying "Bank Closed Due to Power Outage." I about turned around and went home. Heh. But we had no power. Which meant no network, no computers, no phones, no nothing. No toilet flushing, either. The walk-up and drive-up windows are power operated (the walk-up has a switch to unlock the door, and the drive needs to suck in the tubes), so before the lobby opened, they literally could not do any business.

We did end up opening the lobby. It was almost a little scary, because while we *thought* the hold up alarm was working on an eight-hour backup generator (due to expire around 1 pm), our other security systems were down. No cameras, no other alarms. That's like a huge welcome to anyone that the bank downtown has no power! Anyway. Four of us had to stand outside the bank and greet the customers. For anyone trying to use the drive, we had to run their transaction inside to the tellers for them. Curbside service. We could only do deposits, though, because there was no way to track money going out.

It turned out to be a lot of fun. Especially going down to the safety deposit vault in the basement with the one working flashlight. We had donuts for the customers, and handed out pens and a little advertisement for our home equity loans (there's no hiding the fact it's a very sales-oriented corporation) to everyone. And we got to work outside all morning. Power went back on about 11, so it was work as usual after then. But it was an exciting morning!

Posted by kate at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm sick today. I had a really productive day, though, for feeling so terrible. *wink* I got up and worked out. It was a weighing day, so I did that. I lost inches (figuratively, as nothing is actually a whole inch) in my waist but gained them in my boobs. The net "inches" gained/lost is still in the negative, though, which is good.

Then I ran a couple errands with my mom. We went to the library and borrowed Dick and The Ice Storm. Then we went to K-Mart to drop off film from Miami and their trip to Arizona, to Starbucks for some provisions, and to school so I could help her put up bulletin boards. We watched Dick while we worked. That's a really funny movie, yo. Hadn't seen it in a while.

After school, I dyed my hair. It's just one of those temporary wash-out kinds, for 30 days or whatnot. I dyed it Amber, which is kind of just a brighter version of my own color. I like it! I might do it for permanent once this washes out. Here's a picture...

So that's me, today. Hee. I look a little dazed and confused, no? Give me some slack, people, I'm sick! <.snicker>

Posted by kate at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Just a quick update here. Worked today, joy of all joys. It wasn't bad, actually, but you know. Working on a Saturday. It's just the principle of the thing.

After work, I went to see Emily's new apartment. It's so cute! They're going to have it decorated all adorable-like. Yay! I'm jealous. I want an apartment. I actually want a townhouse/condo. I think I'm actually seriously looking at purchasing something. It's a definite possibility. I just don't want to throw more money away on renting. I've rented for five years, and it's such a waste. "Here, have a couple hundred dollars. Here, have some more. Next month you can have more of my hard-earned cash. What do I get in return?" I know, I know, a roof over my head.

Then, Em, Dor, Kim and I went to see Uptown Girls. I liked it. I had thought it would be a lighter, happier, more-fun movie, but I did like it a lot. That little girl, Dakota Fanning, or whatever her name is, is excellent. Like her a lot. Brittany Murphy kind of looks like she's on drugs, but that's okay. She was still good in this. Two thumbs up.

Posted by kate at 09:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So this weekend is the State Fair. I went to the state fair with Sarah after our freshman year, and it was so much fun. A real bonding weekend before we became roommates for real. Well, since Sarah got married in May, I thought it would be fun to go again this year as one last little hurrah before she *really* gets used to married life. I've kind of been planning on/looking forward to this weekend all summer.

I can't go.

I don't like to complain about work here, but my journal, my thoughts. D, the "new" banker/soon-to-be assistant manager, has had many, many Saturdays off. Which is fine, because I usually don't mind working Saturdays. Aside from the initial waking up at 5:30 thing, that is. Hee. But really. I don't mind, and I don't ask for many off. I had one off for Sarah's wedding, I think I had one off in between everything, and I had one off when I went to FL on vacation.

W, my manager, has been admittedly working six days a week pretty regularly since March, when we lost all the bankers. I know she needs days off. I told her all along. She didn't need to work six days, but she felt she did, which was fine. So now she is taking Saturdays off permanently. Also fine. But I asked for this weekend off FOREVER ago, and got a "we'll see." When I asked again more recently, I got a lecture on why W needs her days off, too. Which I agree she does, but argh. I don't ask for a lot around there, I really don't.

This was supposed to be a fun weekend with Sarah and Aarti, who is coming into town from Ohio for the weekend. Instead, I will be working. It's not worth it to drive down to Springfield after work, because I wouldn't get there until 5 or so, and we would have to drive back up to Champaign that same night to stay. It would probably result in twice as much driving as the amount of time actually spent in Springfield. AND I'd have to drive separately from Sarah and Aarti.

It's a bummer. <.sigh>

Posted by kate at 06:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been kind of nice to have the house to myself. The cat and I have been bonding. My parents are coming home (three days early) tomorrow. The wake is tomorrow, and the funeral is Friday. I don't think I can get off work to go to the funeral, but I might go to the wake. We'll see how it goes.

I borrowed Spider-Man and I Am Sam from the library. I am completely in love with the library. They have an awesome film collection (both on DVD and video), with quite recent movies (might get 8 Mile next), and they're FREE! May not ever go to Blockbuster again! You only get the movies for three days, but at the same time, if you don't watch them... didn't cost you anything but a trip to the library. So I don't feel so bad. I watched Spider-Man yesterday. Tooooooobeeeeeeeey! I'm so hooked on Tobey. Heh. I even drew a picture of him, for which I used this (only, a bigger version thereof) as my "model".

Today was a long and draining day. I am completely exhausted. I was at the train station by 10:00, made it down to Emily's office about 11:45. We went out to lunch to a really tasty cafe and I got a buffalo chicken rap. Yum. We chatted, and then headed back to her office for a bit. After a draining three hours, I ended up on the 4:39 train home (had to boogie back to the station... more tiring!), and got back to Palatine about 5:40. Well, my car would not start. I called my dad, and he was convinced it was the battery. I know what a dead battery sounds like. This was not that. It's like it was trying-trying-trying to start, but just couldn't catch to actually get all the way there. So after trying for twenty minutes, I finally tried opening my gas cap and trying again, and there she went. Started right up. Apparently, since my car was out in the sun on the top of the parking garage all day in the heat, I had vapor lock. I'm just glad it's alright now. I might drive my dad's car to work tomorrow, just in case, though.

I did get the August (and July and September.... thanks, Em!) issue of Biography Magazine because Tobey was on the cover. Hee. Good reading for the train. So, if for nothing else, today was not a total loss. ;)

I came home and was STARVING so I had the rest of my chicken wrap and then a brownie sundae with peanut butter and homemade-by-Grandma fudge sauce. It was soooo bad for me, but sooooo good tasting. I needed a treat.

Now I have to clean the house for the cleaning lady. Joy of joys. And work tomorrow. Can I manage a woo and a hoo? Not sure.

Posted by kate at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There hasn't been a *lot* of exciting in my life lately. Last Monday, I went to see Joe Firstman in Chicago. Love him. He played barefoot. His little briefs were sticking out the top of his pants. He got SO into the music. Played the guitar and the piano, and, of course, sang. He wiggled a lot when he sang, and I thought he was going to tip the piano bench more than once. He didn't. There weren't a lot of people there at the beginning. He was on first, and it was only about 8:30. By the second song, though, a whole lot of people had found their way in to the *tiny* room. Very cool. Joe threw me his guitar pick. Or, really, it deflected off Megan's knee and I caught it.

Hmm. What else? Went to Cheesecake Factory for Dorothy's birthday last Wednesday. Spent way too much money and ate way too much bad-for-me food. But it was good. Went to lunch with Tammy, Emily, and Darkeith today. Also good. But I'm getting out of sequence here. Heh.

Went to the zoo with Shelley on Thursday. That was fun. Good to see her. Although, she *swears* she can drive now, but I'll believe it when I see it. ;)

Friends of the family came for dinner on Friday. Good times. Good to catch up with them.

Saturday was full of working, getting my hair cut (yay! I actually like it now!), and going to the library. Hadn't been there since high school. I got a new library card and rented Wonder Boys and This Boy's Life. Free movies, man. Doesn't get any better than that. I have been on such a Tobey Maguire kick.

Was supposed to go to the John Mayer/Counting Crows concert on Saturday, but no one could go with me, and it was too far to go by myself. I love John and all, and if it'd been JC, I'd have done it, but yeah. Long drive, big venue, didn't really know where I was going, all alone... wasn't worth the effort. So I watched Wonder Boys. Strange movie. Tobey was great in it, but the movie as a whole... eh.

Sunday, took my parents to the airport. Sunday (last) night, got a phone call that one of my dad's employees passed away. He was only 49. I'd known him most of my life. He designed our landscaping in my yard, and I worked with him for the three years I spent at my dad's company. He had a bright yellow Mustang and always wore this bright yellow shirt. I'd tease him that he looked like a bee. He'd go bzzzzzzzzzzzz every time he passed me, wearing that shirt. It's a bit of a shock, really. It was a heart attack. Gosh. So sad.

So my parents are cutting their vacation short. They can't make flight arrangements until they know when the funeral is, so I've been instructed to keep an eye on the obituaries. Joyous job, I'm sure.

Tonight, I watched This Boy's Life. I really liked it. Tomorrow they go back, and maybe I'll borrow something else Tobey was in. This house is too big to be in alone, just me and the cat. Too many rooms to keep track of, man. I didn't get much sleep last night, and I didn't eat dinner tonight (although neither of those things have anything to do with the house, or the lack of its current inhabitants), and I think I'm going to try to go to bed.

Posted by kate at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ah HA! It WORKS again! I actually had things I wanted to post about, and my blog was broke. I have to work tomorrow, so this'll be quick. Although he'll never, ever see this...

Posted by kate at 10:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)