The Quintessential Query Queen

Enter your choice, Airie…..

And thus it has begun, finally. It has now been about 4 weeks since the dreaded CONVERSION, and I have finally used DIAD for real, for the first time. Yeah, real thrilling. It’s actually not too bad, but since we’re changing all our processes, people are looking for any excuse to unload responsibility. People in the building I’ve never even met before are now giving me their stuff to do. Apparently, anyone can claim that a problem should be handled by Queries. (I still say Rejections, btw). Anyway, it’s become an interesting study in human nature as I receive more and more things to do. If it can somehow be correlated to the phrase “this needs fixing,” it lands on my desk. Ah, well. We can’t all. We’ve been coming up with some fun acronyms for DIAD. Here’s a few:
Don’t Inquire Again, Dummy
Delicious Inconvenience And Drudgery
Did I Appreciate DOS?
Do Invertebrates Agonize Daily?
I invite you all to submit your own if you wish. It’s kinda fun. ;)

A Most Humble Ode to KSL Classifieds

So in the last 3 days, our lives have changed dramatically. That's right, my friends. No more hand-washing dishes. No more mooching off Autumn for laundry service. This post is an expression of undying love for ksl.com classifieds. Though craigslist is a fine friend, ksl really came through for us this time. For $150 (total) we now have a functioning washer, dryer and portable dishwasher. Oh my yes!! Here's a pic (not ours specifically, but it looks just like it) of our new dishwasher. I used it yesterday, and it was one of the single most thrilling moments of my life when I opened it up to find all my dishes sparkling clean and I didn't lift a finger! Ah, the wonders of modern technologies. My life has changed so much!!!

La Casa Nueva!

Howdy! Just a quick little post to announce that we are moving this week! YEAH!! We found a cute little apartment in a little red brick house just a few blocks from here. (815 W. 300 S. Google it and you can get a great street view.) We're very excited about the new place (not so much about the move, ha ha). We like that we have big wide windows and a huge basement room below us for storage and laundry. Speaking of which, if anyone knows of a cheap washer & dryer available, let us know! We're in the market! We're planning on getting moved in by this Saturday. YEAH!

Trip to Portland!!

So Abram is finally home!!! HAZAH! We spent a delicious four days in beautiful Portland. The weather was nice and cool compared to Utah and we had a great many adventures!

Day 1: We slept in :) and later went to see a movie with Barlow (Abram’s brother). We saw WALL-E. It was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!! A MUST MUST see if I do say so myself. I won’t say anything to spoil it. But go see it!! We then went to go and watch fireworks with the Barkers and their neighbors. Quoth the Talmage: “WOW!” It was good fun.

Day 2: Portland. Abram and I went downtown to Powell’s first (as you can see, we’re keeping our priorities straight.). We picked up the newest Pulitzer for Fiction: The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, which I’m very exited to read. It’s about a Dominican kid in New Jersey. :) We also picked up Guys and Dolls a series of short stories by Damon Runyon that the musical was based on. They are delightful!

Powell’s was followed by a now traditional trip around the corner to Sushi Land where we enjoyed some good sushi, miso soup and edame (soy beans), which has become, interestingly enough, one of my favorites.

Then we went up to the fabulous Portland Rose Garden. I have a slight addiction to taking flower close-up shots. I won’t tell you how many I took overall, but here are a few of my favorites:

Then it was up the hill to a very peaceful and relaxing visit to the Japanese Garden. I think I liked the koi pond with huge irises and the rock garden the best. Here’s some pics of the Japanese garden:

Day 3: We went to church with Barlow, and then spent the evening with Briton, Robin, Talmage and Sydney. I’m hating myself for forgetting the camera!! But I think Robin took a few. She made a fab-oo roast for dinner and we ate peas from the garden and some amazing rolls. Then we played with bubbles on the back porch and read some fun car (and other topics) books. FUN!!!

Day 4: Gooney-ville!!!! (aka Astoria) We drove up to the tippy top of Oregon to Astoria. I'm not sure if they filmed the movie there. Perhaps the town stuff, because it looked a lot like it, but the beach stuff I think was filmed on Cannon Beach. Anyway, we visited the Maritime Museum, the Column (lighthouse) and went to the shore of the Columbia at a place called Steven's Point. My favorite part (as you will see from the following photos), was the big gun...hehehe.

So we had a fabulous time (and a long drive home yesterday). And even though it’s not so fun to be back at work, it IS great to finally have Abram home again!

The Fruits of My Labors: What happens when DIAD doesn't work.

So, we've been experiencing some major hickups in our new old system. Hooray! Not really. But it's means coming in and having not so much to do. So what have we been up to this morning? Well, we discovered a fun little website that you can check out if you want. Here are some of my creations:

Ta-dah!!! I'll bet you can guess who is being protrayed in each of these little nuggets. You can try it out for yourself if you'd like: http://www.sp-studio.de/. Don't tell the boss (who isn't even here today!) "She's a gem, Banister. She's unbelievable!"

The Adventures of Lonely Girl

So for the last long time, I've been trying to come up with something to blog about. I kept telling myself that nothing particularly stellar has happened since Abram has been in Oregon. And really, I was kinda right. But here we are, almost one week from now I fly up to meet him and I think that I've done "strictly okay" (as Autumn would say) and doing the "alone thing."

So the highlights include a few things. First, playing some serious Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights with a few very awesome friends. Between the Sekaquaptewas and the Sievers we've had some awesome battles to the finish. It's all about getting to "happy level" on the book commodity and bustin' a move with a good port or two. It loses a little luster when someone (ahem, KORY) steals the golden arches of your metropolis!!! GRRRRRRRR. However, if you happen to remain on top, it seriously feels so good to win that game!!!

Number two: Weekends. I spent the last two weekends up in Farmington moving around bark, enjoying truly amazing (please catch the sarcasm) service at the local Chili's (the food was tasty though), singing in church for Mom and enjoying good company and a nice cool basement all to myself (which is a super nice change from my little hot house in Provo). I also got to swing by Stansbury Park to enjoy some time with Baron, Donette & the kiddiewinks. We had a great time playing frisbee ("far out") and Baron showed me around on his Warcraft account. The tour included the most hallowed grounds where the Sword of A Thousand Truths defeated the most evil of enemies and a cathedral that's looks suspiciously like the San Diego Temple. (Don't worry if you don't get that sword stuff. It just means you watch less tv than I do).


Number 3: Weddings. (Drinks all around!) I enjoyed going to a sealing of two friends in the Mt. Timpanogos temple last Saturday. Besides the beautiful ceremony (which was kind of hard without my sweetie there), my favorite was Ariel's polka dot wedding dress!! I was all white with a netting top on the skirt that had white polka dots in the netting. HOORAY FOR POLKA DOTS!!!

Four: DIAD. Boo DIAD. DIAD is the name of the new software we're implementing at work. It is the cause of me having to work this Saturday and Sunday. It is causing everyone a lot of stress. Some guy from IT told me it was written back in the 70's. So yeah, we're movin' on up! It's by a company called Procomm Plus, I think. Here's a typical screen shot for your viewing pleasure:

So you don't really use the mouse, AT ALL. YEAH! No offense Mom, but I remember how much fun you had learning how to use the mouse. Maybe you'd like this! ;) But anyway, I'm REALLY hoping that things work out with this dinosaur.

So that about does it I guess. Exciting, no? Well, a week from today I fly up to Oregon and my lonely woes shall end. Thanks for all the support and for reading this. :)

What color are their hands now?

So I've been secretly living the life of a criminal for almost two months now. Unbeknownst to me that is. I can say that it's easy when you're ignorant, but when confronted with one's crimes, all becomes frantic checking of the rear view for cops, coming to a full and complete stop at every 4-way, and driving as slow as the old lady in the Lincoln in front of you in the right lane and being grateful for it.

So what am I REALLY getting at? Well, I happened to notice my driver's license on Wednesday night. Guess what the expiration date was? In case you can't make it out on this crappy scan, the expiration date is 04/14/2008. Yeah. What an unpleasant surprise! And thus followed the over-cautious driving (which is how I ALWAYS drive, Dad ;) ). So bright and early on Thursday morning I nonchalantly stroll into the Provo Driver's License Division, filled out the renewal form and tried to act natural. I really thought I'd have to re-take the written driving test or pay some fine or something. Fortunately, the, shall we say, less than exuberant government worker behind the counter required nothing of the sort. I signed some papers, paid my 25 bucks and gave a dorky smile to the camera. And thus was issued freedom, albeit temporary, from my criminal life. It doesn't compete with Mountain Fuel, but it's "pretty tasty." And yes, the new licenses really are pink like that. Oh goody! So the moral of the story is, keep in mind that your postal forwarding when you move only lasts 6months-ish and the government is not going to make any real effort to notify you that you're about to turn illegal. I'm glad it's all over though. So many bad things (namely, a FAT fine) could have happened!!!