October 29, 2004
Happy Birthday, Jessica the Jenius!
I know this picture is a little darkly-lit, but it was taken with my camera phone.
Don and I took Jessica, Brian and baby Derek out for Jessica's birthday. We had a lovely time eating yummy steaks while the waitress kept bringing endless mugs of pop until Derek decided he wanted/needed to go to sleep and started fussing because he couldn't. But he calmed down once Jessica let him chew on her finger...maybe a prelude to his meat-eating days.
Next time, we'll have to leave the baby with a sitter and enjoy a nice movie.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA!!
Posted by Amy at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)
And Yet...
I had my second interview with Campbell Ewald today and met a really nice gal with whom I'd be working. She seems really cool and does work on Chevy dealer retail stuff. I think it would also be fun working with her cause I'd get to do some print and broadcast writing. The job at Ogilvy would be more interactive stuff which is fine, but I'd like to expand myself and not get pigeon-holed into just doing interactive.
From the way it sounds, I think CE will make their decision sooner than Ogilvy. If they do end up offering the job to me there, I think I'd be pretty hard-pressed not to accept the offer.
Posted by Amy at 12:57 PM | Comments (1)
October 28, 2004
When It Rains...
When it rains, it pours!
Wow, who would have ever thought a few weeks ago, that I'd be inundated with interviews?! I've had 2 major interviews already this week with another one tomorrow. Seems every time I'm driving home from one interview, I get a call to come in for another one somewhere else.
I'm hoping to get an offer from a major ad agency in Dearborn called Ogilvy & Mather. They do a lot of customer service stuff for Ford--convenient as they're located across the street from Ford Headquarters--and convenient for me since they're only 30 miles away and I already have experience working on the Ford brand. I'm hoping that'll give me an edge on the competition.
Talking with the manager there, sounds like there would be a lot of potential for growth and latitude and he's a cool guy too, much like the managers I had at JWT. I'm just hoping he likes me more than he does the other candidates.
Posted by Amy at 04:40 PM | Comments (2)
October 27, 2004
My Favorite Stuffed Animal
As he was not pictured in the last blog entry, here is Hideous Rebellion, the most cuddly of all kitties. And he definitely is a stuffed animal since he weighs in at a whopping 18 pounds! Every morning, he keeps me company and gives me affection when his daddy leaves for work. And many-a-night, he helps me fall asleep when he senses Mommy is restless. His motor-like purr instantly calms my nerves, not to mention his velvety ears and love of a good belly-rub!
Posted by Amy at 12:04 PM | Comments (1)
October 26, 2004
A Tale of Two Kitties
It was the best of felines, it was the worst of felines...
I thought this made a cool picture because our kitties seemed to be posing as sphinxes. The orange one on the right is Princess and the fat one on the left is Gabriel. Not pictured here (because it's nearly impossible to get all three sitting in the same room, let alone on the same piece of furniture) is Hideous Rebellion, aka "The Phantom Pooper", so named because of his loving presents left on our downstairs couch. Though, I'd like to think it's a symbolic gesture seeing as that couch was given to me by a most horrible and awful ex-boyfriend. Ha ha!!
Posted by Amy at 11:00 AM | Comments (2)
October 25, 2004
I Need A Job!
This is just ONE of the many stacks of resumes I've been sending out to HOPEfully land a job SOMEwhere, SOMEtime soon. I believe that since I was laid off back in April, I've probably mailed about 300 or more resumes.
I was starting to get so desperate that I started sending resumes to ad agencies in Toledo! How bad is that?
But I've been interviewing at a few places here in A2 and around the Detroit metro area and there are a couple of good prospects including a small agency in Farmington and a major agency in Warren (ick! Heck of a drive!). So let's hope one of them actually pans out into a great (or at least decent paying job!)
Posted by Amy at 02:38 PM | Comments (1)
October 23, 2004
El Azteco
Here we have a picture of Don in one of my old college haunts...a restaurant called El Azteco, or, as we Spartans affectionately call it, "El Az". This is the best Mexican restaurant you'll find in the Lansing/E. Lansing area, though there really is no comparison to Bandito's of A2 (Ann Arbor, to those of you not in the know).
This restaurant is just a block away from MSU campus and when I first came to MSU, it was in a basement in the same building. People would line up around the block and wait for 2 hours on a Friday night just to get a seat. The service was very slow and the salsa was usually hit-or-miss whether it was spicy or not. I'm always taken back to the old days when we come to E. Lansing.
Anyway, we came here for dinner after a martial arts seminar. Today, Don began training in Iaido, a very cool Japanese sword form of martial arts, at the Institute of Traditional Asian Martial Arts (ITAMA), just across the street from my old dormitory.
I also want to train in Iaido some day...perhaps when I make brown belt in Karate and Mr. Scott gives me his permission. I would love to learn to use a katana (samurai sword). It is the most beautiful weapon and weapons form in martial arts.
Posted by Amy at 07:47 PM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2004
By George, I Think She's Done It!
Halleluja! I think I'm finally going to get a good night's rest, thanks to Jessica the jenius! (Yes, I know I spelled that wrong.) She was the one that suggested maybe Don's incessant and very LOUD snoring was due to the fact that he has allergies. To what, we're not sure, but she said that usually in the fall, his snoring gets worse.
And let me tell ya, I was really nearing my wit's end! I've been wearing earplugs and though they help, they only mask half the noise of Don's snoring. I even went to my doctor and asked him for some herbal sleep aids. It got so bad that I've been sleeping on the couch! (Hey! That's not fair!)
So, to test out Jessica's brilliant theory, I made Don take a Drixoral allergy pill and lo and behold, instead of a street horde of swarming Harley-Davidsons, now he's more like a sputtering Honda Spree. There are even precious moments when he's pretty silent!
Now we just have to wait until Fall passes and whatever allergens are floating around in the air go away.
To sleep, perchance to dream.....
Posted by Amy at 03:21 PM | Comments (2)
October 21, 2004
Captain's Log, Stardate...whatever.
Yes, I'm a Trekkie (or Trekker). And oddly, my two favorite Star Trek shows are the ones I always hear people say they hate the most. Of all the Star Trek series, I think DS9 was the most thoughtful. It took the most risk by setting it on a space station, not a starship, and had the most to say. The writers take the crew into a long war with the Dominion, a powerful empire from the Gamma Quadrant that attempts to conquer the entire Alpha Quadrant (our quadrant). The storyline peaks in the last seasons when Capt. Sisko and the Federation wage a campaign to win the war.
In Voyager, the writers step back to more familiar ground by putting the crew back on a starship, but with the added twist of stranding them 70,000 light years away from Earth. The stories struggle in the first three seasons until Seven of Nine is introduced and the whole series picks up pace (as well as intrigue) from there. They also introduce a few new and ferocious species like the Hirogen and Species 8472. And yeah, I agree that Janeway wasn't the best captain, but it was a much better spinoff than that weak show, Enterprise.
Anyway, I have the entire DS9 series and I'm in the process of completing my collection of Voyager. Can't wait till seasons 5, 6, and 7 come out before Christmas!
Posted by Amy at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)
October 20, 2004
The Power of Three
This is a fun show about the Halliwell sisters and the world of Wiccan magic. Each week, we get to watch how Piper, Paige & Phoebe make it in the world fighting demons and protecting the innocent while trying to maintain a somewhat "normal" life. My favorite character is Piper, the prettiest and oldest sister, and who has the strongest powers--the ability to freeze time and to blow up objects. The sisters are very powerful witches known to the magical world as the charmed ones who, with the power of three (that is, all three of them), can defeat any enemy.
I always wished I had a magical power like the ability to move things with my mind. If you had a magical power, what would it be?
Posted by Amy at 04:22 PM | Comments (2)
October 19, 2004
DOINK! DOINK!
Is it the people? Is it the plot twists? Or is it that sound? Doink! Doink!
This has to be one of the best shows around. Starring Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay and the ever-cool Ice-T and focusing on New York's special victims crime unit. Detectives Stabler, Benson and gang investigate sexually-based offenses including rapes, murder-rapes, child molestations, and the like, trying to bring the offenders to justice. The stories are incredibly engaging and you never know who the "perp" is going to be until the end.
True fact: Did you know that Law & Order and all its spinoffs appear on television nearly 50 times a week?
Posted by Amy at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2004
Miss Tricky
We interrupt this TV theme week to bring you the following: Amy is now the SSX Tricky Ubertrickster of the week with a high score of more than 1,378,000!
Let's see how long it takes Don to uber the ubermistress!
It's Tricky!!
Posted by Amy at 11:58 PM | Comments (2)
My Favorite TV Shows
This is theme week, folks! And I am practically a TV junkie.
Today's showcase features a program called "Rescue Me" starring Denis Leary and airs on FX Network on Wednesday nights at 10pm. If you haven't seen it, you should start watching it. Though this season is over, it's been renewed for another season. Yay!
It's a totally outrageous show that really pushes the edge in what they get away with (including a lot of mentions of the word sh**). Leary plays a NY firefighter who is having an affair with his dead cousin Jimmy's widow while simultaneously trying to get back together with his wife, Janet. He's a master at manipulating the world and the people around him to get what he wants and always has a pungent quip for everyone. The characters are wild and the stories are even wilder. Suffice it to say that this is a show that is TRULY dramatic and dramatically funny. Forget about all the rest that try to say the same thing!
By the way, Denis Leary's new DVD comes out in a few weeks...I can't wait!
Posted by Amy at 04:13 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2004
The Beauty of Fall
I don't enjoy Fall as much as many people would because of the drop in temperature and the mess of leaves all over my car, and most especially because it means the coming of Winter, a season I completely dread. But I couldn't deny the beauty of the colors it can produce. It seems like this year is even more brilliantly colored than most. And because my favorite color is red, this tree (which I believe is a Sugar Maple) struck me as a thing of great wonder and awe. It stands along Stone School Road between Eisenhower and Packard near my house and I had to capture its splendor before we lost the sun and before it dropped all its leaves.
Posted by Amy at 11:22 AM | Comments (2)
October 14, 2004
Tribute To A Super Man
Christopher Reeve will forever be known to the world as Superman who, unfortunately, has died. To many, he was a great superhero, with and without the cape. To me, he was also a man who would forever shape my ideals of the perfect man: someone who is strong yet sensitive, intelligent but humble, handsome yet sweet, charming yet wonderfully loving...someone who would come to a person's rescue. Fortunately for me, I found mine.
Rest in peace, Superman! We all love you and you will be sorely missed!
Posted by Amy at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)