The fifteenth day...Joy…Exclamation…Glee :)

Well, everyone, please join me in my celebration by clapping your hands and jumping up and down like a teenage girl who just got asked to the prom – or just clap your hands. Why? I’ll tell you why? That project at work is d-o-n-e, done. Well, done to the point where I can finally sleep again and enjoy my long weekend/mini vacation; and for that I just have to shout WOO HOOOO!!! It took some pushing, some prodding, some more prodding, a lot of phone calls, and my entire reserve of patience, but it is finally done. Welcome back restful sleep. I plan to enjoy you for as long as I can which, with the way problem projects arise at work, will be the weekend. I just hope that nothing immediate happens with the rest of my projects – I really don’t want to have to answer any questions from home. Barring that…hello world, I am on vacation. What's that Kool-Aid man? OH YEAH!!!

On the way to the train this evening, I passed a guy making some Easter weekend plans on his phone. He was super excited about driving the 45 minutes up to his in-laws on Saturday. He told whoever he was talking to that he was glad to go up there because once he got there, there would be 12 sets of eyes on his newborn daughter and 1 set of eyes (his) on the in-laws brand new big screen TV. The last thing that I heard before passing him – he was walking at an annoying slow leisure tour pace – was that he couldn't wait to sit on the couch for the weekend. Have fun random loud talking guy. Enjoy your doing nothing. I’ll be partaking in that same form of enjoyment from the comfort of my own couch – without the big screen TV, but still.

And now for today’s pictures…

Some of these guys that I have seen transporting these carts are a mix of brave and inconsiderate. This man was walking in the middle of the street to get to his destination - ignoring the honking, speeding and swerving cars the whole way.

This was attempt number one to capture the same picture. One flash malfunction later and, voila, instant midnight.

Have a great night everyone :)

You know, it's not that warm yet.

When I was leaving work today - actually more like fleeing the building as fast as I could while still walking (my stress level is still on the rise due to, you guessed it, that same project) - I came across a group of teenagers at the end of the block. It was obvious that it was some sort of class or club outing. Waiting for the light to change were about 15 - 20 boys and girls. One of the chaperones turned to look what I thought was directly at me and shouted 'hurry up so we can all make this light'. I just gaped at her and said, 'Me?' to which she did a little fit of polite laughter and said 'No, the rest of the girls.' I feel like she wanted to add something like 'silly' to the send of her sentence. I turned around to see the 6 or so girls about a half a block behind me. The chaperone yelled at them to hustle one more time and then turned back to me and said, 'Haha, you can come with us though. It will be fun. We can have won ton soup.' I politely declined - but thanks for the random offering of soup, serious or not :) During this whole exchange though, I kept on wondering where they were from, only because the entire group (chaperones included) was shivering. I heard teeth chattering :( It looked like they neglected to watch the weather report before venturing into the city and didn't realize that Winter locked its Spring sibling in a closet this morning.

I should note that I was wearing my puffy, fluffy and delightfully warm down winter coat today, and couldn't help but notice as 20 or so pairs of eyes trailed after me when I passed the group crossing the street. I hope they ended up having fun, and eating their won ton soup, somewhere warm.

I was a little annoyed at first when I saw that the group had taken over the entire intersection, but I now assume that they were probably huddling together for warmth.

Some more post rain clouds...

Enjoy the night everyone :)

The fourteenth day...It IS April right?

Why is it snowing in April? Granted it's light, non-sticking snow, but seriously - (1) it's April, and (2) it was colder today, but not that cold. Why can't NY have that beautiful, balmy kind of light jacket wearing weather all year round? That would be wonderful. Go away snow. Look at your calendar. It's Spring now.

Snapped via camera phone...

I really hate public transportation sometimes - especially the subway - but I do like this shot.

Enjoy the day everyone!

Speaking of work and ponies...

For anyone keeping score - yes, that project at work continues to stress me. It got to the point last night where I couldn't fall asleep because I was so stressed about how much work is still left to be done (I finally fell asleep, but it wasn't very restful). The parties on the other side of this project were slightly more helpful today; but they still insist on dragging their feet. I think part of the problem on their end is that there are just too many cooks in their kitchen. They have their paperwork spread out over too many people in too many offices. It gets pretty frustrating for me when I have to wait for the Michigan office to contact the California office before they can get back to me in NY, and start the whole ridiculous process all over again. Just a couple more days though. I hope to have the bulk of the work done by Thursday - well I really have to. Curse you time crunch.

My Little Pony set

Anyway, P received a gift from an old co-worker today. It was wrapped up in Baby-R-Us packaging so P was wondering what it would be for a second. It turned out to be a cute My Little Pony set. Random to me, but apparently the two of them, and some other people who worked with them at that time, had some inside jokes going on which revolved around the facial features of horses and some of their other co-workers. I'm not really sure that I want to know all the details - but P burst into hysterical laughter when she saw it. I, however, loved My Little Pony when I was a kid and choose to just see it as a cute toy.

Another picture just because...

I love the look of this. However, I am not a smoker so it's too bad that it is the logo for Nat Sherman's tobacco products. It still looks cool though.

Have a great night everyone.

The thirteenth day...

Why is it that some people can’t seem to hear how loud their own voices are? There was a group of five co-workers on the train this morning. Three sat to the right of me, and two women sat across the aisle from them. One of the women across the aisle seemed to think that the rest of her party was actually sitting a few cars back – or maybe she thought that she had accidentally left them in the station – because her voice continually reached the ear-piercingly loud level. What decibel level is that? Harpy?

Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand the need for a person to speak up a little at times on the train. There’s a lot of background noise to overcome; but I was diagonal to her for 10 stops and my ear is still ringing. I feel sorry for the guy that was sitting next to her who actually had to get up and move to stand at the end of the car halfway through the ride. I would feel differently if she seemed to have a naturally loud and high pitched voice, but she didn’t. There were times (too few and far between) when she used her ‘indoor voice’, but then she would get riled up again and turn into Siryn. She was engaged in a rather heated argument with one of her across-the-aisle co-workers and, even though the train was nowhere near packed, she decided that the only way to get her point across was to shout it out. She kept inching forward on her seat and screaming about (1) if and when a fax was ever received, (2) who picked up the fax if it was, in fact received, and (3) how, she absolutely refused to believe that the fax was ever received even though all of her co-workers continually tries to let her know that the information was actually e-mailed instead of faxed, and that the e-mail was received. I was on the edge of my seat to find out who actually received the e-mail; but either they didn’t say, or the ringing in my ears prevented me from hearing the vital information.

Anyway, back to that same problem project at work. Hello, another long workday.

Picture enjoyment time...

This is the sign that the one of the vendors around my job puts up when he's on lunch or just doesn't want to be disturbed. From the people I see walking away when they see it, I think it might be costing him some business.

The twelfth day...

Today was just another manic Monday; however, instead of Sunday, I wish it was Thursday so I could enjoy my upcoming long weekend :) Yes, I thought about that at least 10 times today. Why is it that the workweek always seems longer when you have time off coming up - and then the actual time off goes by in a blink?

This one project at work is driving me crazy. Well, actually there are quite a few "problem" projects, but this particular one is a doozy. It’s like everyone on the other side is doing their best to make it as difficult as possible for me to help them. The project deadline is Thursday, but no one on their side seems to be sensing the urgency. It is going to take some severe hand-holding to get them where they need to be in time. Blah!

Some random pics for today...

I love the Honey BBQ chips, but I haven't had New York Deli chips in ages. Those chips are tasty, but so hard. I remember one day, when I was in elementary school, my friend decided to chew two at once. Her already semi-loose tooth popped right out. I took it easy with those chips after that.

I love taking pictures of clouds/the sky; though this picture didn't really capture how great the moon looked.
Some post rain clouds over the treetops.

Oh, on another note, I stopped by the pharmacy near my job today. I walked down the candy aisle and happened to look over at the chocolate bars. When did the cost of a regular size candy bar jump to $1.49? That's just craziness. Anyway, enjoy the rest of the night everybody :)

The eleventh day...Where did the weekend go?

I cannot believe that it’s Sunday night already. Hello again work week; it seems like I was just wishing you adieu on a Friday. I am already thinking about all the work that I left on my desk. It is going to be a long week. Oh well, I took this upcoming Friday and Monday off work in observance of the Holiday, so I will just have to look forward to that all week.

On a lighter note, my man and I went to see Fast and Furious today. I liked it – and not just because of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker (though it actually was mainly because of them). It was a good action movie, and a very good multiple car chase scene movie. However, while my man and I agree that the cars were much better in the first movie, the action, locations, etc. were great. All in all, it was almost worth the ticket money that was spent, which is saying something.

Some random pics for today...

I LOVE miniature and jumbo sized gadgets. I just think they are hilarious. My sister gave me these two jumbo gizmos for Christmas last year - an oversized remote and MP3 player! I plan on taking the MP3 player on the bus/train one day just to see if anyone saysanything. My aim is to try and sit next to someone with a Nano or shuffle :)

I recently switched to this phone (Samsung Gravity) from the Blackberry Pearl. I miss my sweet little Pearl, but I have to admit that the Gravity is a very nice phone - and it has a decent camera and a full keyboard.

Have a great week everybody!