I'm hip, aren't I?

I went to a wedding reception last night.  Yes, I actually went out, drank, danced and enjoyed some socializing.  It shocking, I know, so I'll give you a moment to regain your composure.......

Better?  Good.  Where was I now? 

Oh yeah, my co-worker/friend JJ got married yesterday to his very pretty and oh-so-too-good-for-him girlfriend.  They are a young couple on a budget so couldn't invite everyone they've ever met to the wedding and dinner so they invited many of us to come and join them for the party after the dinner.  As is to be expected, the bride was stunning and the groom really does clean up well and they were absolutely glowing.

As mentioned before, they are fairly young - well, late twenties anyway - and their friends are in the same age range.  They had a cousin of hers doing DJ duty and I have to admit that I didn't recognize most of what he played.  The dance music beat was the same for most of the songs and  they all kind of blended together very quickly.  Oh, and the volume?  Ear-splitting.  I soon felt kind of old

This is sad since I'm only forty-one.  How do you dance to this stuff?  I like to think of myself as hip, with-it, up-to-date but those illusions took a serious beating last night.  My friend, PC, was showing some good rhythm for a white man closing in on fifty.  Why couldn't I look like that?  Okay, not the bald part but you know what I mean.  Compared to him, I looked like a dying fish flopping around in the bottom of a boat  (not a pretty picture!). 

Despite the whole twitching fish image, I did enjoy myself and was glad to be there to congratulate the happy couple.  The vodka and cranberry drinks probably helped that along  ;)

Perhaps PC can give me some dancing lessons sometime.  Maybe I'll get out more

Kat

It's Fun to Dream....

Last week the Lotto Max grand prize was fifty million dollars and my co-workers and I decided to buy a ticket together.  We don't usually do this but we figured, what the heck, why not?  So we each put in five bucks and got a mega ticket with ten sets of numbers. 

Now, we're not total fools; we knew that our chances of winning were astronomically low but we decided to be optomistic and go around with the attitude that we would win.  That's positive thinking for you.

(No...... we didn't win.  I mean, would I actually be here blogging if I had five million dollars in my bank account right now?  Gimme a break!  LOL)

(For my American readers, I'd like to point out that, here in Canada, all lottery winnings are tax-free and we get them in one whopping shot.  Woo hoo!)

I must say that this was the best five dollars that I have spent in a very long time.  My coworkers and I (nine women and one poor, hen-pecked man) had a blast All. Week. Long!  We shared our dreams - what we would buy, where we would go, etc and had fun teasing each other for the crazier ideas.

We talked about cars, houses, vacations...... We talked about the half-naked butlers we'd have.  You ladies know what I'm talking about; tight black pants, no shirt, little black bow-tie......mmmm.....(wipes the drool)....  Our Controller (hen-pecked man) fantasized about taking a cultured lady to the ballet.  Yeah, he got razzed for that one.  The ballerina picture is still taped to his door, LOL

We had some fun at the boss' expense too.  We all pretty much agreed that he'd have a stroke if we actually won.  After all, he'd lose his entire payroll/billing/accounting department!!  We joked that we'd call him down for a "meeting" Monday morning and then all walk out, leaving him to do the payroll.  Then we'd call around 4:30 and say "has the pay gone out yet?"  Those in the know will know just how funny that is (boy would he regret how many times he's uttered that question!)

All in all, the laughs, teasing and bonding made for a highly entertaining week and were well worth the $5 admission.  The boss may not have been thrilled if we had won but he can't argue with the solid team-building exercise that this turned out to be.

So when's the next big draw?

Kat

My First Book Post

Okay, I promised that I would do the occasional post about what I'm reading so consider this my first review.  I'm new at this so please don't judge me too harshly :)

One note that I should make here is that I read for purely entertainment purposes.  It is rare that I will pick up a work of non-fiction or (gasp!) anything educational.  I spend my days in the office taxing my poor brain to its limits and reading is my little escape from reality during my lunch hour and commute.  By commute, I mean by bus.  Of course I wouldn't read while driving (yeesh!).  I love mysteries, action-packed thrillers, some vampire/werewolf/supernatural fantasy among other things.

I recently picked up Andy McDermott's latest book, The Pyramid of Doom.  I had never read one of his books before and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Now, I'm one of those people who, when they find an author they enjoy, must go back and read all of their books.  I'm actually pretty anal about it which is why, within days of finishing Pyramid, I was back in the bookstore buying The Hunt for Atlantis.

This book is the first in his series featuring archaeologist Nina Wilde and ex-SAS bodyguard Eddie Chase.  The action starts almost right away and doesn't stop.  Ten years after Nina's parents die, supposedly in an avalanche, during their search for the legendary city of Atlantis, she has been continuing their work and is hot on the trail.  Unfortunately, she is not the only one and the race is on.  The chemistry between the character is great and there are enough bad guys to keep it interesting.  Of course, the lines between good and bad are not always entirely clear.  Mr. McDermott does an excellent job of combining historical facts and legends with his own story telling to make this an engaging adventure.

Now the main characters *somehow* manage to survive through enough flying bullets, bombs and physical abuse that their survival stretches the limits of believability but if you're willing to suspend your disbelief in the name of a romping good time and a bit of escapism from real life, you'll really enjoy this book.  I did.

As I'm sure you've already guessed, I'll be heading out to the bookstore again soon to get the second book in the series, The Tomb of Hercules.  This is how my little home library expands with numerous series.  Yeah, I'm using the term "little" very loosely here.  So sue me!

Kat

Post Lunch Rants

About a month ago, I returned to my desk after lunch and had a good rant about the people who ate lunch around me in the restaurant.  Just in the area that I was in, I saw several people sitting at their tables, in a nice restautant, wearing winter hats and one in a baseball cap.  Were these people raised in barns?!  This post isn't about people in hats though - as interesting as that subject is - I'm just leading you to the rant by my coworker today.

When she returned from lunch, she said that today is her turn for a rant.  She saw someone at Starbucks who got her blood boiling.  DG has worked for us since last March.  She's young (23) and this is her first "office" job.  Before this, she had a job at the mall.

Imagine, she was born a month after I graduated from high school ...... sigh......

Okay, enough of THAT tangent! 

She went to an interview a couple of days before her interview with us.  This is where she met the ass that she spotted today.  Now, she was a young person looking to get her "foot in the door", experience-wise, so I can understand how he might have felt that she wasn't experienced enough for the position he wanted to fill.  He could have explained that he was looking for someone with more experience and wish her luck in her job search - or a version of this.  This is what a nice person would do.  He was not a nice person.  He looked down on her and told her that all she was good enough for was a Walmart greeter job. 

Oh My God!!!  Can you believe that?!  This jackass took her hopes, not to mention her self-esteem, and stomped on them.  When we called a day or so later to book an interview with her, she almost didn't take it because she was so low on herself.  I'm SO glad that she didn't follow through with that thought.

We could see right away that she was eager to learn and she had a great attitude so we gave her a chance.  We have never regretted that decision.  She is an absolute dynamo with an appetite for learning new things that just doesn't quit.  I get tired just watching her.  Of course, I'm almost old enough to be her mother so that's not surprising (yeah, that tangent again!).  She absorbs everything that we teach her and takes everything in stride.  I haven't found anything yet that this great chick can't handle.  The fact that she has a great personality and wicked sense of humour totally secures her place in our hearts.

I asked her if she said anything to the jackass but just the sight of him had brought back the hurt feelings and she pretty much had to use her energy just to keep breathing.  Truthfully, he probably doesn't even remember her but his treatment of her still upsets her a year later and will stay with her for a long time.  I told her that she should shove her success up his nose if she sees him again - it may do nothing to change him but it would feel damn good!

I wish that she hadn't had to go through that hurtful experience but his loss was definititely our gain.  My coworkers are my family-away-from-home and I'm glad that we took a chance and invited her to join us.

Kat