124 - big mistake...huge

dear cal,

next year, please remember to request off work for a half-day (minimum) the day of the first ohio state football game. you have not been productive since 8:00 this morning, when you decided it was worth it to be late to work in order to peruse youtube for the *perfect* ohio state video to post to your facebook profile. and it surely didn't help your productivity level when you booted up your computer and it said it needed 35 minutes to fix an outlook error. the last straw was probably when you went out to lunch and realized that today is an ideal day for college football (warm, sunny, blue skies, and lots of glorious scarlet and gray everywhere!), and then returned to a half-empty parking lot at work, because other people were smarter/more forward-thinking than you.

in the future, when scheduling your vacation days, just remember this feeling you're having right now. how you wish you could be relaxing by the pool prior to suiting up in your jersey for a night spent cheering on brian rolle, dane sanzenbacher, and the rest of your favorite buckeyes. i mean, let's be serious: you will have 26 vacation days to use next year and it's not asking much to ensure that at least half of one of those is allotted to opening day for ohio state football. and if ohio state happens to open on a saturday (like normal!), you will still want to take a half-day on the friday before. trust me, i know you.

love,

cal

the boys are back in town

118 - i am a sugar doll

evidently mini-me loves me/my last blog post so much that she gave me the sugar doll award...and this means i have to share 10 random facts about myself with you. since i tend to do this a lot, today's list could be a bit of a challenge, so i don't end up repeating things on the previous lists i've made. here goes nothing!

1. i believe one of the best feelings in the world is the first time you stretch in the morning. i lay in my bed and stretch my little arms and legs into oblivion for a solid 5 minutes every morning before i get out of bed (unless i'm running super-late). this may be why i am consistently 5 minutes late to work, but i'm not willing to sacrifice my glorious stretching time.

2. i am not a huge fan of house parties [because i get bored quickly and need new scenery (read: boys) to distract me], but i absolutely adore cookouts. grilled food and junky chips, mixed alcohol in a nalgene bottle or high ball glass, and good music is pretty much the epitome of summer for me...and we all know how much i love summer.

3. speaking of alcohol, i have a new favorite drink this summer. don't worry, i still love my C+Vs, long islands, and white wine - and if you buy me any of those at a bar, i promise to still be your best friend. however, firefly sweet tea vodka + country time lemonade is my new obsession. please try it immediately and you can thank me later. and if you're not a sweet tea fan, don't even worry your pretty little head about it. the sourness of the lemonade takes a lot of the sweet tea flavor away. ohmylord, my mouth is watering right now. i'm going to the liquor store as soon as i'm off work this afternoon.

4. i am fully convinced that i was born in the wrong part of the country, and most people agree that i should have been born in the south. i support this sentiment by drinking the above-mentioned cocktail (firefly vodka is distilled in the south), cheering for the atlanta braves, occasionally saying "ya'll" (and getting laughed at for it), and visiting the southeast as much as is humanly possible.

5. when i was 18, i got asked on a date by then-ohio state baseball player, nick swisher (a.k.a. swish). i was doing a mentorship with osu's radio broadcasting crew, and i handled pre- and post-game interviews. after a post-game interview with swish, he asked if i wanted to go to dinner sometime. unfortunately, i had a stupid boyfriend and i was super-loyal even back then, so i turned him down. i even remember what he said in response, "aw, it figures a girl like you would have a boyfriend. oh well, maybe another time." another time? I WISH! now swish plays for the new york yankees, has a world championship under his belt, and still does great charity work in the community. oh, and last i heard, he's marrying an actress. talk about a missed opportunity. i'm still kicking myself about this 8 years later...even if he is a yankee.

6. i have absolutely no skill for picking out decorations for my apartment or clothing for myself. i'm making one of my friends act as my personal shopper later this month, because she is extremely fashionable and has a great eye for clothing. whenever i need decorations for my apartment, i always have to take someone with me to pick them out - otherwise i'll end up just buying more and more picture frames that i don't need!

7. i keep a wishlist of expensive items that i am saving up to buy. right now the list includes the chest of drawers to complete my bedroom set, a new couch, and a long vacation outside the country!

8. and while we're on the topic of vacations, one of my dream trips is to go on an african safari. but i'd want to go on one where you get to spend all day prowling around for animals, and all night in a luxurious cabin or resort sipping cocktails and gazing out at the savannah from a balcony. since i won't be able to afford this anytime soon, i just go to the #1 zoo in america at least once a month to satisfy this need.

9. i love small things. for some reason, i want anything if it's in a small package. this includes little trinkets, travel-size products from drug stores and hotels (i used to have an obscene collection of these, until i realized i looked like i belonged on hoarders and purged everything), and mini post-it notes, which may be the least efficient office products in history. i also threaten to steal the baby elephant, baby bonobo (monkey!), and baby lions every single time i go to the zoo. this same rule does not apply to human babies, so don't be concerned.

10. my favorite word in the universe is pounce! i think it always needs to be followed by an exclamation mark, and i like it because it is a fabulous action word. my second favorite word is one that i made up when i was just little cal - disastrophe. it's a combination of disaster and catastrophe, and i still use it on a regular basis, forgetting that it's not a real word. oops!

111 - happy cinco and a favor to ask!

happy cinco de mayo! in case you're not sure why this holiday is celebrated, check out HF's blog for details. to honor this holiday, i'm going to douchie's house for a cookout and margaritas. let me tell you, 5:00 can't get here fast enough! i can't wait to be speeding down riverside drive, soaking in the sunshine with the windows rolled down and my ipod blasting.

on a different note, you may have noticed that it's been about two months since my last vacation, so i'm about due to leave this beautiful city of mine. during an e-mail conversation last week, my pretty southern friends invited me to charleston, south carolina to celebrate my favorite nugget's birthday. clearly i accepted immediately and started planning my trip. now it's nine days away, and i'm so excited! i even guest-blogged about it earlier this week on the charleston nugget! you can go ahead and read that entry if you want to, but in case you're feeling lazy, basically i'm asking for suggestions of fun things to do in charleston. i've never been before, and i want to make sure to see all the important landmarks and fun things! christina already has some ideas in mind, but your thoughts are always welcome!

have fun celebrating tonight and be safe!

56 - the most common workplace myth in history

i am absolutely swamped at work this week, so i probably shouldn't be taking the time to blog...but a conversation i had earlier today inspired this, so give me a second and let me rant. and seriously, i am 100% positive this conversation has happened to you before.

person A: how's work today?

person B: oh, it's busy...but i'd much rather be busy! it makes the time go by so much faster! weeee!

well, hi there, person B. i am calling you out. you are a LIAR...because it is not better to be busy than to be bored. there is nothing good about a day flat-flying by if you know that you're never going to get all your work done and will therefore have to stay late to complete it. i highly doubt the thought, "yeehaw, it's almost 4:00, but shoooot i'm gonna be here until at least 6:00, and i've already come in early and worked through lunch today..." inspires much joy in anyone. at least i know it doesn't make me happy. i'd much rather sit around playing on the internet, planning potential vacations, and reading my friends' blogs. i used to love checking out facebook and reading textsfromlastnight before my company got smart and blocked those websites. (i am clearly not still bitter about this.) sure, the days may sometimes go by slower, but at least you're not verging on tears out of frustration.

don't get me wrong, having a busy and productive day at work can be a very good thing. it's called job security, and it actually does make me feel really good when i've accomplished a lot at work. i love solving people's problems and working on projects, especially when my work is appreciated. however, there is a difference between having a sufficient amount of work to do and being absolutely slammed by things you will never be able to accomplish in full. the latter is what i'm talking about here.

and now i resort to an inspirational venn diagram to get my point across, so i can go back to the e-mails that just keep rollin' in...happy hump day!

51 - ouch!

i know how much ya'll love my rambling blog posts, but alas, tragedy has stricken me, so i will be unable to type more than a few sentences today.

i have a paper cut.

stop laughing. i'm being serious here. it's not just any paper cut. i'm talking about a very deep paper cut on the tip of my right middle finger, which makes typing pretty damn difficult. (try typing without your right middle finger...see what i mean?!) call me a baby, but it really hurts! and since the majority of my job duties require me to type, i feel that i should protect my poor gimpy finger for as long as possible in case i actually need to, you know, do work later on. i mean, you don't pay me to blog. they do pay me pretty well to work. i like having money, so working is kind of a necessity. it's unfortunate, but that's life. i promise more entertaining blogs after the paper cut crisis has ended. for now, i'm just going to share one of my favorite quotable cards with you.