I went to Blacksburg and all I got was this lousy picture

Yup, that's the view from my seat I pay a lot of money for and it definitely wasn't worth it this weekend. I don't even want to talk about the Hokies' performance on Saturday, but I will say, I am extremely frustrated and disappointed. At least on Labor Day the weather was incredible but this weekend, in typical Blacksburg (or should I say Bleaksburg) fashion, it was rainy and cold. It was so nasty in fact, we left our seats at the end of the first quarter, watched a bit on the TVs in the south end zone and called it a day a few minutes into the second quarter.  Hell, when we got back to our tailgating spot, some JMU kids had taken residence under our tents for beer pong and I joined in with them. Also, can I say that I'm a bit bothered by the people who keep saying "I'm sorry for your loss." Uhh, my team lost a football game, I didn't lose a family member or a pet. Let's keep things in perspective here people!

Needless to say, I'm really not excited about next week's game against ECU. At least I'll get to see my my biological sister and my big sister in my sorority. By the way, some people don't know but I actually went to ECU my freshman year. It was a rough year that got better in the second semester but ultimately I decided Virginia Tech was a better place for me. Even so, ECU will always have a place in my heart.

I've got a busy week ahead of me at work - my boss will be in town and we're getting a visit from the feds which means I need to brush up on our corporate security protocols, blah. I hope it goes by quickly.

Remember that creepy guy from the gym...

...the one who said he thought I was in high school right after he asked me if I had any kids? Well his creepiness has continued. Last week when I got back from vacation, I jokingly asked him if he missed me and he came close to me and said, "you're not my only girlfriend here you know, but you could be, but that's not up to me." Eww. Then today he rolled up to class in jorts. JORTS! Normally he wears inappropriately short running shorts (and our instructor calls him Ken doll), but I guess he forgot his workout attire today and was forced to wear jorts, gross. They were light blue when we started class and dark blue when we finished. Disgusting. Also, he thought my co-worker was my sister although we look nothing alike. When I told him my sister was also blond but lives in Greensboro, North Carolina he said, "why? does she work in a textile mill?" Uhh no, she works for a t.v. station jerk! This guy is seriously a creeper. I don't usually take my phone into the gym but I might next week so I can snap a pic of this creep!

Random is the only way to describe it...

I saw two of the most random things today - a squirrel lounging on my porch step and a kid at the gas station pumping gas without shoes....I'm so glad it's almost the weekend.....

Freaking Out...

I'm having a moment of complete hysteria and feel compelled to write, hoping it will make me feel better. While I realize my hysterics are completely unwarranted for the situation, I'm generally a nervous person when something big or important is about to happen. Today, it's the first of three training Webinars I set up with internationally known, communications measurement guru Angela Sinickas, ABC. While normally this wouldn't be all that big of a deal, it seems the whole process of setting up the training has been quite a mess. First, it started with the flyer promoting the training. Although it had been proofread about 10 times by two different people, I failed to include the time of each Webinar so I had to send out a corrected version which made me feel like a complete idiot.

A few weeks later, our finance director informed me that trainings such as this that cost over a certain amount have to be cleared by the Office of Management and Budget and it usually takes 30 days to obtain that clearance. No one told me this when I was setting everything up and even now I have no idea if we actually obtained the clearance we need. Thankfully, we have two more Webinars through the end of the month which should give us the time we need for clearance.

Then there was a problem I discovered yesterday with the link to the Webinar. Apparently, the organization we use to host our Webinars has two different locations where presentations are hosted. One location is for contract-related presentations and the other is for non-contract related presentations. In April, we used this same organization for a training and used one of their staff as the presenter. Not knowing there were two locations for Webinars, I listed the location that was used for the April training (which is considered a contract-related training) on the flyer for today's training (which is considered a non-contract related training). It wasn't until yesterday when I checked to see if our presentation had been loaded that I noticed it wasn't there. This was of course AFTER I had sent out a reminder to our listserv, so once again, I felt like an idiot. Then while in the shower this morning I realized I had to set up the teleconference so we would have operator assistance and the call recorded. As soon as I got to work I was able to set that up with no problem which was quite a relief. Also, I was confident the first Webinar was going to be on Methods of Communications Measurement but when I received the slides this morning, it seems the training is  focused on creating appropriate communications plans based on research. I knew I should have confirmed with Angela before sending out that damn flyer.

Sigh. I'm starting to feel a bit better now that I've gotten this all out, but I'm still nervous. Normally our director is the person who introduces our speakers on these big national calls but today, her and my manager are in Northern Virginia at our marketing and communications sub-contractor getting feedback on our national branding plan. Our other communications coordinators are out of town so it's up to me to start the call and introduce Angela. Thankfully, I've had some time to write up a little blurb that I can read and I'll be dialing into the teleconference 15 minutes early to make sure Angela is all set up. Hopefully, this will all go off without a hitch.

On a positive note, this has been a fantastic learning experience for me. I've learned I need to slow down and get my ducks in a row before moving on to each next step. I need to think about the questions I'm going to ask and what information I need to move on to the next step and not be afraid to ask more questions.

Thanks for listening to momentary freak out. I feel much better.

Remember When I Said I Don't Like to Wish Time Away...?

Well, when it's 110 degrees outside I absolutely want it to be August and for me to be in Vermont where it's cool!

I need to see your ID, skinny bitch

I'm not really into blogs where every post is a bitch fest, some long drawn out "why me?" rant about how life is so terrible. This is not one of those blogs and neither is this post - but I can't promise there won't be some mild bitching here today. You see, it all started on Tuesday while I was waiting for my BodyStep class at American Family Fitness. The second floor of the gym looks down on to the pool which is currently under construction. As I stood watching, a guy I've made small talk with in previous classes came over and asked what I was looking at. After a few minutes we got on the topic of children and he asked if I had any. I laughed and said, "no, I'm only 26." His reply: "26? I thought you were in high school!"

Now I know I look young, I always have. I'm used to being carded at bars and not surprised when I'm mistaken for a college student. But gym guy's comment really irked me. High school? Kids in high school, especially in the West End of Richmond, are brats who drive cars nicer than I'll ever have. They come to the gym to check each other out and trade the latest gossip. The girls wear super short shorts and "Godwin Cheerleading" tee shirts while pretending to run around the track. Last time I checked, I wear a running tank top and mesh shorts that don't show off my ass when I work out and I rarely talk to anyone. When I run on the track I actually run and I wear a watch to track my time.

The gym incident happened on Tuesday and by yesterday afternoon it was all but a distant memory; until today. After work, I went to Kroger to pick up some groceries for dinner. Thankfully it wasn't busy and I didn't even have to wait in line to check out. The cashier and I made some small talk and she asked if dinner was just for me and my boyfriend and I said no because Brad's aunt was joining us as well. Then she brought up something about kids and I commented that I was only 26 and so I didn't have any kids. "26? I would have thought you were 21." Ugh. Well, I guess 21 is better than high school. I should have left it at that but of course I brought up the gym incident to which the cashier replied, "oh yeah, you could pass for high school."

There's something else about high school kids, especially girls, that I didn't mention previously, and it's that most high school girls are skinny...which brings me to my next gripe. It's no secret that I'm small. Just like I've always looked young, I've always been skinny (except for a short stint in college where I gained 15 pounds, but even then, I wasn't huge). In fact at one point, I was under weight for my height.

Now I'm sure some of you are thinking, "oh great, she's gonna bitch about how skinny she is."That's not what this is about. This is about the fact that I don't like it when people make me feel bad about my size. I routinely receive comments like, "oh so how much do you weigh?"; "You're so small, have you lost weight?"; "I never realized how petite you were!"; "what size jeans do you wear? Oh a 2, but you're really a 0 because those are big on you..." etc. etc. The truth is, I love food and if you know me you know how much I love cheese, wine, dirty martinis and crab dip from 3 Monkeys to name a few. But if you know me you also know that high blood pressure runs in my family and to some extent, high cholesterol. So much as I love to indulge in these culinary delights, I pretty much have to work out and watch what I eat because I'm 26 and I don't want to be on blood pressure medicine or worse, dead!

Another thing about me is that I love working out, especially running. In high school I ran cross country and track and I renewed my love of running when I ran in the 5k4 Caitlin last year. In December, my sister and I decided to sign up for the Monument Avenue 10k and I joined the YMCA Training Team to help jump start my training. Naturally when you're running 20 plus miles a week, you're going to lose weight. After finishing the 10k (in 52:04), I trained a bit for the 5k4 Caitlin and then got a little burnt out on the whole running thing. Now, I'm trying all sorts of classes at the gym and having so much fun. Naturally, since I'm changing up my work out routine, my body is going to change. My legs might get more toned; my abs may become more defined; maybe my butt will become more of a badunkadunk. My point is, just because I like to work out, doesn't mean I'm trying to lose weight. I just enjoy the high it gives me and I enjoy not having to be on prescription drugs for high blood pressure.

Sigh. I'm glad I got that all out. Thanks for reading and I hope you don't think I'm a whiny bitch or a skinny bitch or some other kind of bitch. I promise not to post anything like this again for awhile!

Naturally Flavored with other Natural Flavors

I came in to work this morning and noticed this pretty pink can sitting on my co-worker's desk - So Clear Raspberry Flavored Sparkling Water from Walmart - and was intrigued if not, perplexed. The drink has 0 calories, no sugar, no artificial sweetener, no juice and the ingredients are carbonated water and natural flavors. So if there is no sugar, juice or fake sweetener, how does it taste like raspberry? And what the heck does naturally flavored with other natural flavors mean?! I was so entertained by this can I had to Tweet this picture to which I received a reply from my good friend @LizMcMedia who suggested corn syrup is the natural ingredient used to flavor the water. Good point, corn syrup is natural (but is it really?) but still, how do they flavor the corn syrup so it tastes like raspberry? Okay, I should probably go do some work now instead of worrying about a naturally flavored with other natural flavors beverage from Walmart...