apparently good luck comes in threes too

I had the best string of good luck last Wednesday. I'll describe the chain of events so that you can wonder in awe at my lucky-ness (in chronological order, of course).

7:07am: I arrive in the general vicinity of work, twenty-three minutes early as I always do. Just enough time to stop (if necessary) for a cup of coffee before heading to my cube for the day.

7:08am: Decision that coffee is NECESSARY for the morning since I didn't have time to froth milk at home for my normal home-brewed cappuccino. Stop into Panera Bread for a cup of joe and a breakfast sandwich.

7:10am: Coffee and sandwich ordered, I realize that my debit card (and only form of payment) is currently sitting in Tim's wallet, at home, where I left it the night before when we went to the gym. Controlled panic ensues, and sprint to figure out an excuse for why I can't pay for my breakfast.

7:11am: Right as I was about to stumble over my excuse and exit the restaurant with my head held low, the checker asks me for my Panera Rewards Card. Fifteen seconds later I realize for the first time why I'm glad I have this card.

7:12am: It appears, magically, that I have purchased enough coffee and breakfast sandwiches previously to, in the checker's own words: "get both my coffee and breakfast sandwich for free today." Seriously. The one day that I have zero dollars, and no debit or credit card, and I risk humiliation at an ungodly hour, I magically get my breakfast for free. Saved from humiliation, scorn and avoided eye contact, I leave the restaurant thrilled with the start to my day.

7:30am: Comfortably settled into my cube at work, logged in, and programs running. I call my first client, positive that he would not answer the phone. Immediate (large) sale follows. Apparently Mr. Colorado Private Investor really needs to sell his office building and has not only scheduled a reminder in his calendar to be ready to talk to me, but has gone to Starbucks, ordered his grande-double tall-extra hot- no whip-caramel latte, and is sitting at his computer logged in and ready to talk when I call. I promise...this Never. Ever. Happens.

Note: a big day at work is when you get two sales in any given day, having dialed at least 80 people, and actually spoken to maybe eight.

7:40am: Before I can even process Mr. Colarado Private Investor's credit card I get an incoming phone call (and again, just for perspective, people don't normally call me back, I am a sales person after all). Mr. California Real Estate Broker wants to take me up on my offer to advertise his listings. Second (large) sale of the day follows. Keep in mind I have had to do almost zero actual "selling" for either of these sales.

7:45am: I sit back, sip my tepid coffee, munch on my lukewarm breakfast sandwich - cheese now somewhere in that awkward, oily stage between melted and not melted- and smile about my day's quota being completed before I technically am expected to even get started.

7:45am-12:00pm: dial. dial. dial, not really worrying about anyone else actually answering the phone.

12:00pm: Lunch. Head to the bank to see if they'll let me withdraw funds from my account without my debit card. Success! I head to Whole Foods to buy Tim a carrot cake since his 30th (!!) birthday is that same day and I simply didn't have the time or patience to make him one myself.

12:25pm: Standing at the bakery counter, the day before Thanksgiving, realizing my foolishness in the midst of all the hoards of holiday shoppers. What made me think that there would be any cake, pie, or tart to spare when the biggest, most glutton filled holiday of the year is about to commence? I stare at the pathetically empty display case in utter defeat. I stick to it though, make it to the front of the line and ask the baker if he has any carrot cakes, or even just a slice of carrot cake left (trying to hide the desperately hopeful look on my face), and am informed, to my utter disbelief, that he has exactly ONE whole carrot cake left. Again...seriously? I got Whole Foods last carrot cake.

So that's it. The rest of the day followed pretty uneventfully, or I should say rather that It followed devoid of uncharacteristic and noteworthy *luck*. But overall, I'd say it wasn't a bad run. Though, I did get home and was immediately asked by the birthday boy why, given my obvious good fortune, I didn't buy a lottery ticket. Hmmmm, yes, why...why indeed? Damn it.

We could be millionaires.

:) Nic

P.S, and on a completely unrelated topic, here is a Youtube video that cracks me up every time I watch it. And we all thought Oliver was challenged...

Back from the unintended blogging hiatus...

Well, hello! For those of you who have been wondering what the heck happened to me, since it's been so long since my last post, don't you worry! I'm still here, I've just gotten really boring since moving to San Francisco. I guess that happens when you don't have exciting things like Presidential sightings, and epic blizzards to report about.

Actually, I've been spending most of my time over here. This is my second blog. Yes, I have two, because clearly one just wasn't enough. I decided to take on a challenge back in April. To read 52 books in 52 weeks, and I've been blogging my reviews of each book and my progress on the challenge over there. Feel free to go over there and check it out, comment if you want (and disagree with my opinions if you really want to), and grab a few reading ideas if you've been feeling a bit out of touch with your bookshelves lately. It's ok, go on. I'll wait......
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Ok, you're back now? Great. On with the show. Since my last entry a few notable, and a lot more not so notable things have occurred.

First up, I turned thirty. Yep, it's true, the big three-OH. This is what turning thirty looks like, or at least what it looked like for me as I was in PORTLAND(!!!!!) with some of my bestest friends in the world who were also celebrating leaving their twenties:
And, this is how we celebrated:
It was lots of fun :)

Second in the notable category is that I got a job. I finally gave in to the realization that even though I say that I don't like sales, the pressure of it, or the high production expectations involved with it, I'm actually really good at it. So, I am now officially a sales person. And, even though I know absolutely nothing about commercial real estate, I am working for the largest commercial real estate website on the internet. So, if any of you are ever looking to open a business, or buy an apartment complex, or run a hotel...let me know, I can try to help you navigate the 750,000 listings we have on the site. And even though I might not really understand what a CAP rate is, or what's involved in a 1031 exchange, at least I can pretend well enough to convince you to buy a membership to our site!! :)

Now on to the more exciting, but far less noteworthy category of events.

What's the biggest thing to have happened in San Francisco since, well, forever? That would be the San Francisco Giants winning the world series. Prior to moving here, I couldn't have told you who Tim Lincecum was, what "fear the beard" meant, or why in the world I should even care about baseball. That has all changed now folks, I officially have Giants fever. Helped by the fact that my office is directly next door to AT&T park, aka Giants Stadium. Oh My God, I have never seen such a display of team spirit in such a large scale. And oh how it was worth it to watch a team of misfits, the underdogs, come out and railroad their way to the championship. I don't think this city is ever going to stop talking about it.

And keeping with the sports theme here, lets talk about them DUCKS. Ahem, in case you've been living under a rock, or you just refuse to acknowledge that this Pac 10 team really is this good, please refer to the BCS poll which finally caught up to all the other polls and ranked my team #1 for the first time in the school's history. It appears that it is proving to be practically impossible for them to score less then 50 points in a game. Now, just to put this in perspective, I was super proud of the Ducks back when I was a student at U of O. I thought it was pretty damned cool that the we didn't loose a home game the entire time that I was there. But this is something else entirely. This is an offense the likes of which we've never seen come out of Eugene. They're unstoppable, and they may just run themselves to a national championship. Oh, please, lets hope so.

And just to prove how extra boring we've been, and also that some things never ever change, here is a pic of how Oliver has spent the last three months:

I leave you now with this absolutely hilariously stupid short film that my brother found on YouTube, and the promise not to take another three months to write another post :)

we interrupt this regulary scheduled program...

I had plans to blog all about the big elephant in the room, ie. my 30th birthday, but that is just going to have to wait until next week. Why? Well, there are so many different things that I have been amused by today that I just had to share some of them with you. I haven't done a completely random blog post in a while, and it is Friday after all, so I figured why not.

1) The most valuable thing i learned in the 7th grade was to suck it up and just ford the darned river already. Please please please watch this video. If you are younger then 25 years old you probably have no idea why I find this so amusing. But, if you spent middle school typing class doing everything you could (ie, fording rivers and trying not to die of dysentery) to avoid actually learning how to type, then you will hopefully find this equally as fantastic as I do.



2) Kitty Calisthenics. For months now, I have been trying to figure out how to get Oliver to exercise. The cat seriously needs to loose some weight. Granted, he's a little challenged in the "has the required number of workable legs" department, but still we needed to figure something out. Well, today, he seems to have solved that problem all on his own. Oliver has always shunned traditional cat toys. Give him a furry mouse, he ignores it. Sprinkle some catnip in front of him, and he turns up his nose. Anything with a bell, he gets annoyed by. But apparently if you ignore him long enough he will pull a dirty, balled up paper napkin out of the garbage and will find endless amounts of amusement flinging it around the kitchen. He did this for a full 25 minutes tonight. He actually picks it up in his mouth, flings it as far across the kitchen as he can, chases after it, then uses his hockey stick leg to kick it back, then starts the whole process over again. He's a one cat soccer team, and he's so tuckered out at the moment he's passed out in the middle of the kitchen floor.

3) "And if you're going to end your cover letter with 'best wishes' instead of 'sincerely,' I don't care how experienced you are—you won't be working for me."
In honor of my newly employed status please take a moment to read through The Onion's views on unemployment. I'd laugh a lot more if it wasn't for the fact that most of what they're making fun of is incredibly accurate. Oh, how I love The Onion.

4) and speaking of things that I love...
You'll have to actually click the comic to be redirected so you can read the whole thing, sorry, but I just didn't feel like figuring out how to make it fit.

a little bit of san francisco for you

Some photos from the first month (almost).

the busiest three weeks ever: part three, the big road trip

We left off having returned from Missouri...

I had been spending the last month or so saying my goodbyes. Last looks at the White House and the Monuments. Last walks through the museums. See-ya-laters to the friends .The moving company showed up a grand total of two days after we got back from Missouri, wrapped the furniture in protective blankets, plastic wrapped the couch, and loaded all 50 some odd boxes we had packed up into their giant truck. The next morning we packed the car, loaded the cat, turned in our keys, took one last look at the apartment, and locked the front door for the last time. Virginia was good to us, but it was time to hit the road.

And so began the road trip to end all road trips...all 3400 miles of it.

Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California

On the first day we made it all the way to Indiana. A few interesting (or not so interesting) tidbits from the first day: I forgot to make a road trip mix CD, so we couldn't listen to the Forrest Gump Soundtrack, which by the way, makes excellent road trip listening. That and we played a rousing game of "name the state capitals." Tim couldn't remember the capital of Alabama. Oh, and we stopped at Walmart and bought Lunchables (which I haven't eaten since grade school). Tim made me make his cracker sandwiches for him while he drove. I figured it was the least I could do.

An interesting factoid about Indiana? The Hoosier State is obsessed with two things. God, and a man named Tom Raper. Mr. Raper is on almost every billboard, selling RV's. It's a rather unfortunate name don't you think? Though, when we passed the showroom, we did kinda want to stop and look at an RV.

Day two we made it to Missouri, where we passed through St. Louis to see the Arch. Before we got there though, there was all sorts of road trip fun to be had. First, was the realization that from the very beginning when we left Virginia there was never more then a 30 mile stretch between Cracker Barrel locations. Almost as many road signs along the rout as Tom Raper RV signs in Indiana. Second, country radio stations in the Mid West really like Randy Travis. Specifically, "Three Wooden Crosses". You can watch it bellow and experience what we got to listen to about once every half hour. If I didn't know all the words before this trip, I sure do now.

Third on the list of mentionables from the day would be the fact that Sunday morning the country station treated us to a break from Randy Travis, for the weekly top 20 countdown. We got to about song #14, and were enjoying the non-repeating of songs, when we crossed into Missouri...and had to switch radio stations...to a station that was just starting the top 20. So...we got to start over and listen to it again. Sigh. Lastly, having finally tired of country radio for the day, Tim decided to switch off the tunes. I was secretly looking forward to a little quiet so that maybe I could crack open the book that I had been meaning to read on the trip. Tim had other ideas. He decided to make up his own radio station. Disney songs, all sung by himself. "Spoon Full of Sugar," "Hakuna Matata," and "Kiss the Girl" from Little Mermaid. It was quite amusing if I do say so myself.

Here are some photo's from the St. Louis Arch:


Day Three was almost entirely Iowa and South Dakota. Iowa has to be the second most boring state I've ever been through (you'll learn about the first a little later). South Dakota was by far my favorite State we visited. I was beyond surprised by how much I loved South Dakota. We stopped and did a lot of sight seeing in SD. Here are some shots from the road:
This was, hands down, the prettiest cloud cover I had ever seen:
We stopped at Mt. Rushmore:
And then, the partially completed Crazy Horse memorial. And, by the way, if you ever go by there, stop at the little visitor booth at the early entrance (not the big one further up the hill). Hopefully Jim will be working. He's the nicest old guy ever. He greets you with a giant smile and says things like "and what can we do for you today little lady?":
If Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse weren't cool enough, we were lured by the dozens of roadside signs for the elusive Wall Drug, which claims to be "America's favorite roadside attraction." Now, I don't know about America's favorite, but it certainly is MY favorite roadside attraction. Here are a few reasons why. I think the coolness speaks for itself:

Day four was all Wyoming. This is the most interesting thing we saw in Wyoming:
Needless to say, Wyoming takes the prize for "Most boring" state I've ever been too. It's quite an honor I'm sure. The only amusing thing that happened there was that I got to see lots and lots of antelope, which I originally confused with Gazelles. But Tim set me straight..."Gazelles live in Africa, Nic." Oh, yeah. Whoops.

On the fifth day we made it all the way to Nevada, where we each lost five dollars on the slots in Reno. At one point I was up to $6.50, but then I got greedy and went and lost it all. Quit while you're ahead isn't a lesson I've learned yet, apparently. Prior to reaching Reno, we passed all the way through Utah. It was interesting enough. Salt Lake City, the Morton Salt Company, the salt flats (home to what has to be the longest, flattest, and straightest road in America), and this strange roadside odity: the Metaphor: Tree of Utah. Also in Utah, I discovered my new favorite Johnny Cash song, "One Piece at a Time." If you haven't heard it, you can listen bellow. I find it quite funny.


And now we have finally reached the sixth and final day of the trip, where we found our way to California and the good ole Pacific Ocean.

It was a short drive (comparatively) through Nevada to San Francisco. We made it to the Bay Bridge around two o'clock in the afternoon. Here's the first real California view that we got:
Yeah, I think we made the right move.

Now, I bet you all are wondering where Oliver was during the trip. Oh, he was there all right. He got the entire front half of the back seat to himself. He had quite the spread back there. Litter box, favorite purple blanket, and his carrier in case he got scared. I had done all sorts of reading about how cats handle road trips and things to worry about and watch out for. None of it was necessary though, because, well, Oliver is the best traveling cat in the world. I'm convinced he's actually a dog. By far the funniest thing he did was try to go number two in his litter box, balancing on three legs, while Tim's driving 80 mph down the freeway. He was successful, and any remaining concerns I had about him traveling went right out the window. If he wanted some attention, he stood up against the back seat and pawed my shoulder so I could drag him up front to my lap. If he wanted a better view he stood up on the door handle and watched the miles and miles of endless farmland roll by. If he wanted to sleep, he crawled into his dungeon (under his blanket) and slept. Just so that you can get a good Idea of how he handled the trip, here is a shot of Oliver, demonstrating his lounging abilities somewhere in the middle of South Dakota, and then getting ready for bed at a Motel 6 in Wyoming:

So there you have it. Here we are, the three of us, back on the West Coast. Yay!

the busiest three weeks ever: part two, Missouri.

Ok, so we're finally in San Francisco (more to come on that in a future blog), stealing wi-fi from a neighbor until our internet gets hooked up, and I can do a little catch up here on the blog. Where did we leave off? Oh yeah, I had just gotten back from New York...

As you might remember, this was to be the busiest three weeks ever. I arrived back in DC around 4pm. This gave me just enough time to get home, do my laundry from the trip, re-pack it for the next trip, eat, and get the cat to the Pet Smart Pet Hotel for boarding. The very next morning at 6am we headed to the airport for the trip to Missouri to visit Tim's family.

We landed in:


From there we rented a car and drove to West Plains, Missouri where we were greeted by this handsome little fellow:


He seemed to be keeping watch over this old abandoned gas station:


Having finally turned onto the drive of Tim's aunt & uncle's property we were greeted by at least five dogs running straight at our car. Because when you have that much land you have to fill it somehow, and there's really nothing dog's like more then room to run. Except for maybe this pup...all she did was lay around. But contrary to what you may think, Chloe's the happiest sad looking dog in the world:



Well fed, and well rested (thanks to Tim's fabulous aunt and uncle), we headed out for some site seeing(as much as one can actually site see in Missouri). Along the way to our destination we ran across this old dead tree, and this old abandoned road:





Having eventually gotten to where we were going we stopped for some fresh spring water (from a plastic pipe sticking straight out of the side of a little hill) at the Hodgson Water Mill:

Headed on to the next mill (because there are a lot of old mills in West Plains), we stopped by this river:


At Rockbridge Mill we found this little gal, who seemed more then willing to pose for a photo:


The following days were filled with food, family, friends, more food, and among other things a birthday luau (because at least half of Tim's family was born in May):


And lastly, at the beginning of our long drive back to Little Rock, West Plains left us with this...a fittingly quaint send off from a perfect little nook in small town USA:

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Stay tuned...next up is the blog of all blogs to describe the road trip to end all road trips...THE BIG MOVE :)

the busiest three weeks ever: part one, New York.

Some time around the beginning of May we officially found out that Tim got the transfer that he requested to San Francisco. It was less than a month's notice. But instead of freaking out over the never ending cross-country move to-do list, I decided to just skip town. Where to? My favorite city in the country: New York City!

Jimmy (my brother), who you may remember is traveling with Cirque Du Soleil's Ovo tour, is living there at the moment. Regardless of the planning, and packing, and re-packing, and moving, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to take advantage of a free place to stay in the Big Apple.

And so began part one of the busiest three weeks ever. Here are a few highlights from the too-brief trip to NY.

Jimmy's Apartment! - is on the 30th floor of an apartment complex on the Upper East Side. I walked in to this view:


Cirque Du Soleil - Ovo!!! - I got to see the circus :) And not only did I get to see the circus but I got to see the circus for free. And not only was it free but I sat in arguably the best seat in the house: front row, a little right of center. Apparently Jimmy has made some friends along the way and when he saw what seat the box office had assigned me, even his jaw hit the floor.

I don't know how to adequately do the show justice in a description of it, but lets just say that it was kind of FANTASTIC. You can check out Ovo's official website here. I've seen Cirque twice now, and I was still floored by the talent and general bendy-ness of the performers. Go see it!


Ovo's one year tour anniversary party!! - Now this was an unexpected treat. Jimmy told me early on that all the Cirque employees, performers included were attending the one year tour anniversary party for the show, so I'd be spending that evening solo, and honestly I was just fine with that. But, him and his housemates came home that night with an invite for me too! It was a 1920's flapper themed party, so I did my best. Borrowed a dress from one of his housemates, and spent the night partying at a rooftop bar in Manhattan (with a ridiculously upclose view of the Empire State Building), with a bunch of Circus performers, enjoying an open bar - ie. never ending champagne, and a crazy 1980's dance troup for entertainment. I went to sleep that night at 4am. Here is a photo of Jimmy and I before the party:


The Metropolitan Museum of Art, also known as "my favorite place in New York City"!! - I go to the MET every time that I go to the City. I know where all of my favorite rooms are and where to find all of my favorite pieces. I decided to take pics of all my favorites and, Following is a brief tour of all the things I would show you if I ever took you to the MET.

My favorite vase:

My favorite 18th century Venetian room, and also the thing that I look most forward to seeing when I visit. Strangely enough, I've observed other MET visitors walking right by this room without even giving it a second glance, which leads me to believe two things: one, that I am the only person in the world that thinks this is the most fantastic bedroom ever, and two, that I should have been born in 18th century Italy.

My favorite sitting room from 19th century Europe:

My favorite stained glass window:

My favorite sculpture - Diana:


My favorite chair, and believe me, the MET is full of pretty chairs:


And finally, my favorite pieces of art - Seurat, van Gogh, and Monet (in that order):



Central Park!! - Where I love wandering.


And there you have it. My waaay too brief trip to New York city. I left out photo's of people watching on the steps of the TKTS booth in Time Square, and the trip to Junior's for Cheesecake, but I'm sure you can imagine just how good that was. So good in fact, that I couldn't eat the entire piece, and I enjoyed the remainder of it for breakfast the next day :)

Soon to come, the blog all about the trip to visit Tim's family, because you know, when you're moving across the country who needs to plan or pack? Traveling and putting things off is way more fun :) Stay tuned...but it may take a while to get that one up. They're turning off the internet in the morning, and then the movers are coming, so you may have to wait till we get to San Fran for a description of all the wonders of Small Town Missouri...

it's a baby in a basket.

I have a box of old family photos.
This has to be my favorite one of them all.

It's my dad at 14 1/2 months. My grandmother, in true motherly fashion, has penned his age on the back in precisely scripted blue ink. I like that it's not your typical childhood photo. He's not tearing into glittery Christmas wrapping, or blowing out birthday candles, there's no laugh caught mid grin.

I think that this is when dad started to figure out what the world was all about.

I imagine my grandfather kneeling on the freshly mowed lawn in order to frame the image just right. It is a picture worthy moment...my father on the verge of tears over the unfairness of being placed inside a wicker laundry basket alongside, what I imagine to be his fathers drawers and handkerchiefs recently pulled from the line. Who knows, maybe this was my grandmother's solution for a not-yet invented playpen, it was 1943 after all.

I imagine that moments after the click of the shutter my grandfather rose from his crouched position, brushed grass clippings from his knee, and rescued my father from the stack of laundry, perhaps giving him a soothing rub on the back. At that point I see my grandmother retrieving the basket, smoothing her apron before bending to the ground to pick i t up, and they all return to the kitchen for lunch, or maybe an early afternoon nap.

This is all just conjecture though. All I really know is what I can see in this photo, and one thing is clear. This may have been the moment that Dad realized that sometimes it doesn't matter what you want, sometimes you just end up somewhere you don't want to be, like in a pile next to your father's underwear. :)

This is one of the reasons why I love photos. They capture important moments, for sure. But, sometimes you get lucky and you catch a moment that doesn't become important until much later :)

spring!

These were taken in the backyard of our apartment complex, not, as you may have thought, at the National Cherry Blossom Festival. I did go down to the festival this year, but believe it or not I got better shots of the trees in the backyard. Go figure.

And because it's becoming kind of a tradition to include an Oliver update, here you go: Tim is making a cameo appearance (playing wii of course), and yes, this really is how Oliver "sits" on the couch.




Happy Spring!!