Kickin' off the pre-moving bucket list!

Today, Zach and I woke up early and drove over to Atlanta. Totally worth the 2 1/2 hr drive. I've been over there before, but it was work-related, so had little time to sightsee. So, today, we checked off a few things from the East Coast Bucket List there in ATL. 

First up: Turner Field.

This one was totally for me. I grew up watching baseball (particularly the Braves and Cubs), and that's really the only sport I seriously follow. Grandparents and uncles are Braves fans too, so that's where that came from (Dad grew up in upstate NY and was a Yankees fan as a result), and I just started following the Braves and the Cubs since those were teams we could reliably get games for (Yay for TBS and WGN!). I keep up with other sports, but I actually enjoy watching baseball more than the others.

Not Zach. Zach doesn't watch baseball and couldn't care less. Still, he tagged along gamely as we went to Turner Field and took the tour. True love, right? Definitely not a baseball person though, and I doubt he'll ever be more than patiently quiet with me during a game. :)

I'd've loved to have gone to a home game while I was so close, but since my social circle here is very small, I didn't feel inclined to drive 2 1/2 hrs one-way to watch a game by myself. Maybe when we get back to the east coast. Or maybe I'll be able to find someone to go watch a game with me out in CA! Who knows?

It was really impressive though, since I'd never been at a major league stadium before, and it was neat just seeing these places I'd only seen on the TV. The press box, the announcers booth, even the dugout with the managers' phones. I know it was only the visitor's dugout (the Braves one was offlimits due to off-season construction) but it was still really cool! And I got to see the Coke bottle where they shoot off the fireworks, too! I hadn't ever seen it up close on TV, and didn't know it's made (decorated) with old baseball memorabelia. At the neck it's bats, around the 'band' of the bottle, it's got jerseys, etc. So cool!

Next up: Georgia Aquarium

Very impressive, but a little bit of a let-down too. Don't get me wrong, I loved it. The whale sharks and belugas were awesome, and the penguins were particularly perky, and the tropical fish and loggerhead turtle were great (very cooperatively photogenic!) But at the same time, it only took us about 4 hrs to go through the whole thing. Monterey's aquarium was a bit smaller size-wise, but still took us 4 hrs and we didn't even get to see everything! Zach and I were talking about it, and we think the difference was the amount of written material available. The aquaria were impressive, but the displays and exhibits and descriptions were smaller, less to read, so it didn't take us as long to go through the whole thing. Still worth the trip, though, no doubt! The belugas alone I could have watched for hours!

If you do plan on going on the weekend, though, make sure that you go either early morning or later in the afternoon. Based on our schedule, we got there around lunchtime and stayed through til we were getting hungry for dinner at about 4:30. It was crazy-busy in some areas! Definitely still a BIG attraction in Atlanta. Not so bad that my agoraphobia was kicking in, but it was still very loud at times, and is just something that should be accounted for. 

(Side note: I knew I married the right guy when Zach couldn't help but mention Baby Beluga every time we talked about the whales - yay for Raffi fans!)

Finally: dinner at the Varsity

Celebrating 80 years of heart-clogging drive through dining this year! The first Varsity was founded in 1928. The reason I wanted to go, though, was that Mom and Dad dated there (Agnes Scott-GA Tech students), so I've heard stories about it. Dad always used to joke about how the physics students could study perpetual motion there at the Varsity, since the counters in the back were so greasy, you could slide something along it and it wouldn't ever stop! It's crazy busy. I think half of why you should visit there is the experience. Certainly one of a kind! :)

The last thought today is about being in a big city again. The last time I was home visiting Mom and my sister, it was for the wedding in December. Really didn't get a chance to do much that wasn't wedding-related. It was really nice being in a diverse area again. Greenville is nice enough, but it's rather.... homogenized for lack of a better word. Atlanta, being MUCH bigger, just had an interesting diversity of people to see, to watch, to be around. Was refreshing. I know that where I'm headed it'll be VERY homogenized (Army or Army spouse/kid - probably not many retirees out there either) so it was refreshing to be around people again. Used to get the same feeling in college, too, since W&M is rather on the preppy, white-bread end of the spectrum. :)

I know this was a picture-heavy post, but it was a very good, very busy day today. I'm really glad we got to get over there before we moved!

Yup, yup

Yeah, truly truly hate my job...
Am simply counting down the days til I'm out of this pit of insanity.
That's really all I have to say tonight, since I'm trying to forget now that it's the weekend. At least keep two of my days free from that horrible place's influence.

And life goes on...

Today was a weird day.

Just kinda 'nyah' feeling overall. Work just leaves me with that feeling at the end of the day. Still hate work, and it'd definitely getting worse. It's not just tense and stressful anymore. It's always been like that. Now there's definitely the feeling that they're not telling us things too. Feels more political than before. And intolerable members at the company are getting worse, and ones who didn't use to be involved in all the political infighting in the company have been drawn in. Just seems to get worse day by day.

I'm SO glad I'm leaving soon. I seriously wonder how they're gonna get through the spring...



On a high note, finally got the white yarn untangled. Stupid fuzzy, sticks-to-itself yarn. It'll be nice when the little shrug is done, but mess up and MAN, this yarn's a pain! At least the shrug is back on track now! Almost back up to where I was before I decided to pull it all out...

Also discovered (thanks to my sister) a sale at B&N online. Including knitting books on sale! Expensive knitting books at 60% off!! Included in the post-Christmas sale were all 3 Vogue Stitchonaries and all 3 Nicky Epsteins! Always nice when you can find $30+ dollar books for about $13! As my sister said when she told me about it, "just passin' on the knittin' love!" So, there's my gift to you, passin' on the knittin' love! :)

More penguins, for your amusement

Go ahead, press the button. See if you can stop before the end (I couldn't!)

Yeah, that was really because I know all y'all won't be able to resist the call of the red button either! Found it at a blog called Fat Penguin. For further penguin-based enjoyment, check out the store here. I myself am personnally fond of the "Have you hugged your penguin today?" sweatshirt.

You can't make this stuff up!

Yeah, so I go on vacation for 2 weeks and forget (almost) how much I hate where I work.

Started out at our 8:30 meeting. My department's being re-orged, merging with another department. No longer will our office have a D6 (though other offices still will); it's now all under D9. Lots of reasons, some of them are truly valid, and it makes sense to organize the departments this way. There is such a thing as being too subdivided for one's own good.

At the same time, hearing your boss (branch manager, local office @$$) talk about your department as a 'cancer' (I'm not making this up).... not a good welcome back.

It's not that the department is a cancer. It was poorly managed a couple years ago (well before I started with the company) and got into projects that became very messy, dealing with state regulations, etc. We're just now coming out financially from under those projects. My immediate manager (department level) described it as 'having a black eye,' which I actually feel is an appropriate description. Our department is stained, so to speak, by these actions, which we are FINALLY cleaning up. It's a big difference from BEING a stain. Subtleties of language and tact that I doubt the branch manager would understand. Not really one for the touchy-feely, tactful methods of expression...more the "Why the F*** isn't this done?" sort of discussion.

So that was how my day started....

Goodness I'm ready to be out of this place. SC itself isn't horrible, not really enough of my own interests represented here for me to be really happy, but it's not horrible. But I have GOT to get out of this job....

Only 2 more months!!!!

Quick Knit Note

Blargh!!!!!

Ok, so I started the Anthropologie-Inspired shrug last night. Needed something quick and easy, and working on knitting up stash. Actually working out very well, since I'm making it in Jiffy (from the stash) in white. I know, I probably should be sick of white yarn at the moment, but this is very different from the lace and white cotton of I Do. At any rate, it's white because the white short-sleeve cardigan I have is dying, "well-loved," i.e. stretched completely out of shape through years of use. So this is a great chance to use up yarn and make myself a new short-sleeved white cardigan/cover-up that actually fits.

I actually got a good bit done on it yesterday and this morning. Then decided to frog it**. I was knitting it at 12 st/4 in with two strands held together, and it was knitting to the gauge in the pattern, but was resulting in a very thick cloth. Would be very hot in the summer, and not as comfortable. Just wasn't as happy with it. So, hence the frogging.

Have now started over with one strand instead, on 10 1/2 needles (instead of 11s). Going along nicely, except that I was dumb and didn't wind up the yarn as quickly as I was frogging my work. As a result, the Jiffy (nice and fuzzy mohair-like yarn) is sticking to itself as I knit, so I have a pile of white yarn that I'm slowly untangling as I knit. Really, it's brought my knitting to a standstill right now, and I'm untangling yarn instead of knitting it up. All because I got carried away with the frogging and didn't wind it up then as much as I should have. Bah! Stupid me!


**for the uninitiated, "frogging" is ripping out a knitting project. Usually a good chunk of stitches, or in this case, everything I'd done so far. The term "frogging" is because you say to yourself as your pulling out the stitches, "rip-it, rip-it." Yeah, knitting jokes. :)

Only 2 more months...

I'm missing the east coast already! I know I'll have a good time in CA come March, but I've also never lived out there, or even out of the Eastern time zone (visited out of there, obviously, but never lived longer than a couple months in any other time zone).

So, to help me cope with leaving behind the environment I know, I'm coming up with a to-do list for the last couple months of weekends I have here. Not really a 'bucket list,' but I suppose it's something along those lines. A pre-moving list. Also helps with the feeling of "I've lived in this area (Upstate SC) for 2 yrs now, and still feel like I haven't seen anything about the place."

This is what I've come up with so far:

• Charleston - Patriot's Point, historic downtown (maybe a carriage ride or a ghost tour), SC Aquarium, walk along the oceanfront one more time - good for a weekend with Zach, maybe
• Asheville - Biltmore house - good day trip
• Atlanta - Georgia Aquarium (yeah, I like aquaria - I'd work in one if I could find a job there - why am I moving to the desert again??), maybe shopping at the Underground? Or a meal at the Varsity (where my parents dated!)?
• hiking in the mountains - Caesar's Head or Table Rock - maybe both if we get the chance?
• two major road races in the Greenville area will come around before we move, too, so I'd like to run those again (ran them last year too)
• maybe Myrtle Beach? not really as high on the list, but if work takes me back down there again, I'll try and squeeze in some tourism too

I'm sure there will be more added to the list, but these are the big ones I've got on my list now.