Day off.

Today is my first day off in two weeks! It's been a little crazy trying to make my schedule work between the two jobs, but after this week, everything should be fine. I still have some tweaking to do with this week, but oh well. At least I have today, Wednesday and Thursday off right now. I definitely need to down time to relax. Today, I feel like crap. Either I am getting sick, or I am just exhausted and it's catching up with me. Either of those is very likely.

Working at Borders has been fine so far. There are a few people who are just so inept at life, that working with them is kind of a chore. That's why I prefer to work weekdays there, where it's just me and the supervisor, and maybe one other person. The hardest part is learning to deal with everyone else's style. Everyone does things in a different way and I am constantly having to adapt to each person I work with. They have all been there longer, so even if I am more recently trained (and therefore more up-to-date on certain protocols), I still have to follow their lead. My big thing is people not keeping the place clean. There are certain people who don't do any cleaning. They just ring people up, and make drinks, but there's a lot more to the job than that. It's always frustrating, to come into the cafe and take over for someone who has let the trash cans overflow, the coffee all sit for too long, the condiment bar run out of everything.

But then there are the regulars, who you recognize on sight, who know you by name, who tip every time. They make all the bad stuff go away. Then there's the random people who pay and put all of their change in the tip jar (and I'm not just talking about the 3 cents from their $2.97 sale), which can make your night too. I had a lady tip me and my co-worker $8.33 the other night. It was ridiculous and awesome. Needless to say, when their drinks were ready, we carried them out to their seats, which we don't normally do.

Teavana, on the other hand, has no redeeming characteristics, other than the paycheck. The extra $100ish a week, almost makes up for giving up my days off...but there is so much there that is NOT worth it. Like the co-worker I had the displeasure of working with the other day. I have already twittered about what a worthless human being he is, but needless to say, I hate him. He is everything I hate about salespeople. I heard him blatanly lie to customers to make a sale. His method is to just talk and talk and talk and talk and it's awful. He''s awful at public speaking, so his speech is full of colloquialisms, and "um"s, and just utter bullshit. His response to everything I said (much like how I can often be heard to say "Your mom" or "Your face") was "That's racist". I'm sure he thought that was hilarious, but he then continued to talk about how he hates white people, and lumped everyone who was not as dark as him, into that category. To me, that's a form of racism in and of itself. People like him are the reason that people suck.

Anyway, I wanted to post a quick update. Now I am going to watch TV on my internet. For free.

Tea!

So this was my first week back at Teavana! It was kind of nice to just be able to jump into the swing of things. Everything felt pretty familiar and there are only a few basic things that have changed in the 11 months since I worked there last. There is no more free tea for making your sales goals. I was sorely disappointed to hear that, but I can understand. When you have people who make their goals almost every day, it's a little expensive to provide them with 2oz. of free tea every day. It adds up quickly. I'm still bummed about it. Now I will just have to buy my tea like everyone else. *sigh*

While I was working the other day, someone from Banana Republic came in and handed us a family and friends discount coupon. It was for this weekend only, so I managed to make it to Old Navy with Ariana today, to use it. It was a 30% off coupon, so I got a really schnazzy wool pea coat (a long, warm one, just in time for winter!) for $45. It's exactly what I wanted, which was something warm AND stylish. I need to have something that's a little more grown up than a hoodie, and this is it!

Today was my day off, and CJ had the day off to. I got called in to work at Teavana, because someone was a No Call/No Show. That's bad news bears for them, but I got a few extra hours in this week, which is fine by me. I don't know when my next day off will be, which kind of sucks, but is kind of awesome at the same time. I like the work and I like the money. I also happen to like my free time....but I can enjoy that after Christmas.

Since we were off this morning, we made plans to head into Baltimore and go to Bookthing. Bookthing is like the greatest thing ever. Basically, this guy takes all book donations, sorts them, and makes them available to the public, FOR FREE! It's all donation and volunteer based and you just walk in and take all the books you want. I picked up The Last of the Mochicans, The Subtl Knife by Philip Pullman (sequel to the Golden Compass, which I LOVE), Cell by Stephen King, Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (I plan to re-read the series once it's all out, so I might as well collect them now), among other things. Mike and Tiffany came with us, and they met us at our place at 9. I had scones waiting for them, so we could all have a quick breakfast before venturing into the city. Not just any scones though...apple bacon maple glazed scones. They were pretty yummy, but not stellar. I feel like, with a little tweaking, they could be really awesome. Clearly, there just wasn't enough BACON!

Anyway, I am in the process of making beef stroganoff and then CJ and I are going to relax and watch a movie before bed, so I better get back to it.

Work!

Today is my first day off in almost a week. I'm actually working full time at the cafe this week. I'm not sure if this will continue, as I was told I wouldn't get full time until Thanksgiving, but we did lose a staff member indefinitely. Plus, this past week, a co-worker's grandmother passed away unexpectedly, so they were out too.

I feel pretty comfortable working in the cafe. I really enjoy being in a cafe/bookstore. The clientele are pretty chill, and are a fairly intelligent bunch. The major complaint I have about my job is being pulled away from the cafe. I don't mind working the registers downstairs, but it's kind of a pain. People are a lot less friendly (apparently they are in need of some caffeine or some happy pills!), and there's a lot more to remember. Plus, I am constantly having to call a manager for this or for that. I'd much rather just be in my own little world in the cafe.

The cafe tends to be pretty slow during the week. We get rushes at certain times, and then it's a little crazy, but I like that kind of crazy. As long as there is someone else there to help me through the rush, it's no big deal. A rush on the register down stairs is a different story. People get pissy, and then when they get to the register, they want to take 20 minutes. Blah.

I've also checked in with Teavana about working there part time. This was before I was working full time hours at the cafe, so things could be a little crazy in the coming weeks. I am not really sure how to balance my schedule between the two, so it'll be a work in progress. I have yet to hear for sure, but I was told I'd be on the schedule for next week.

I'm excited about the tea. Actually, I am kind of excited in general, to be going back to Teavana. As much as commission sales sucked, that store was kind of home to me. I spent a lot of time there, and was quite comfortable. Plus, I LOVE the tea. And they just got a bunch of NEW teas, which is really exciting.

http://www.teavana.com/shop.axd/TeaWall is a complete listing of all their teas. Mmmm tea.

Halloween passed pretty uneventfully. We went to an impromptu party at Ariana and Nick's, which was fun. CJ and I both worked that night, and the next morning, so it was a pretty low-key evening for us. We watched other people drink.

That's pretty much about it. We are trying to figure out Christmas plans. My family will be visiting grandparents in up-state New York, so CJ and I are trying to figure out when a good time to get up there and see them would be. Working retail, we probably won't be there Christmas day.



Oh, and as a Border's employee now (even though I technically work for Seattle's Best, I am a Border's employee), I get to peruse all the advanced copy books and take them home for free. I just finished one that I really liked. It's called "Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes". It was about an America woman who was living in London doing a Masters program. She met a frenchman who lived in Paris and they eventually married. It talked about her transition from American woman to ex-pat and all the trials and tribulations of living in a different society. It also talks a lot about food and how that was a major part of her learning to accept her new life. At the end of each chapter are fabulous recipes. I'm a fan. The book is by Elizabeth Bard and it comes out in February.

Summer is really over...

Sunday night, CJ and I had dinner at his parent's house. I like to go because my family is now very far away, so I'll take whatever family time I can get. They really are wonderful people and I enjoy the big family vibe they give off. CJ managed to mention that we are pretty much furniture-less, so they opened their basement storage to us. Our apartment now has two chairs, as they had an extra computer chair. They also had an old drafting table/desk. It's probably a children's desk, and the surface is like soft sandpaper, but it's better than the floor.

I've been home all day while CJ has been at work. Most of that day has been spent in front of the computer, and my back started to complain eventually. So I turned the computer off and moved everything to the desk. My back is much happier now.

Today, I have been thinking about how weird it is to not be in school right now. Maybe if I had a real job and felt like I was getting somewhere in life, it would feel less odd....but working part time as a barista is something I would have done in college. And I am not in college. I actually graduated!

I think the other thing is that, since I was 5 years old, I have associated FALL with SCHOOL. Maybe it's only an SAT comparison to you, but for the last 19 years, I have gone to school every fall. Last year was slightly different, as all my classes were online, but still. I took classes. I read books and took tests. There were textbooks involved. There are no textbooks now, nor tests. And it just feels...strange. Like I'm missing something. It's disquieting.

It's also frustrating to realize that I have spent the last 19 years of my life doing very little other than school. I am not casting any doubt on the value of a good education, but does it really have to take that LONG? Seriously. Yes, learning is a life long endeavor, but we really don't live to be that old. If I am in school for a quarter (or more!) of my life, is it really worthwhile? I mean, as far as being a functioning member of society? Like, it takes 20 years of prep for me to get to the point where I can be a member of the working class, but then you only get another 40 years out of me. Is that enough of a payback?

I'm not saying I would have done it any differently. As you can tell by my nostalgia for tests, I LIKE school. I'm just saying, as far as efficiency goes, is it really worth it?



Anywho, I've just been a bit too bored lately. A lot of tv watching and not much else. I am just really bored right now. I spent several hours this morning looking for jobs online and ended up applying to a bunch of random stuff. Nothing really all that interesting. Some clinical research stuff at John Hopkins and Georgetown, a part time position at a Nature Center. I feel I have kind of exhausted the potential jobs that I am eligible for through usajobs.gov so I have had to move on to other search engines. It takes more time tracking down a job that I am qualified for, than anything else.

I just want to have a way to spend my time. That pretty much means a job, a real one. And a car for CJ. Neither of those things has come to fruition yet. Part time barista work is only going to go so far. It won't pay all the bills....and I'd like to actually be saving money since there is a wedding in my future. If I had a two-year plan, it'd be on it.

Cross Country Recap

So, I know I didn't really mention the cross country trip at all in my last post. That might be because it wasn't a super exciting trip. We mostly just drove. I stopped briefly in Reno the day we left Oregon, but found a lot of casinos had closed in the downtown area. After that disappointment, we hoped back in the car and continued to drive to Winnemucca, NV. The next night was spent in Laramie, WY which was actually a pretty cute town. After that it was a night in Nebraska, a night in Iowa and then two nights in Columbus and on to Maryland.

As you can see from the pictures, the most exciting thing we did was drive.
























Maybe driving wasn't the most exciting part...maybe it was the tire blowout in Nebraska. Or not.


That's our trip in a nutshell. I recommend driving !-80 to anyone in a hurry to get cross country. If you want to actually see exciting things, I recommend taking another route. Cornfields are not that exciting.

Finally!

So here it is. My first Maryland blog. Today was the day we finally got internet at our new apartment. We've actually been here for two weeks. I can't believe it's been four weeks since we left Oregon. A whole month has gone by.

What do I have to show for it?

Well... here are some pictures!


At a park we visited in Columbus, OH. I was really amused by the sign. It may just be that it's never really cold enough to warrant a sign like this back home....


My wonderful fiance in front of the pond that the sign was referring to.


The bedroom in the new place, before the bed was set up. It's a huge bedroom with lots of closet space. I love it!


We are on the first floor so we've got these great sliding glass doors that lead out to the back yard of the apartment complex.


A view of our living room under construction. It doesn't look all that different now...but that's mostly because we don't really have any furniture yet.



So, what exactly have I been doing with myself?? How about a few more pictures?


Me at the Maryland Renaissance Festival this past weekend. Ariana loaned me her 'garb' so I was properly dressed for the occasion.


Ariana astride a toy horse on a COSTCO adventure. I love this picture.


Aside from that, I've mostly been spending my time at home, watching the various tv shows I have downloaded on my computer. Getting the internet today was awesome because I got to catch up on all the shows I have been missing out on without internet or cable for the last four weeks!

I also just started a new job. It's nothing too fancy, but it gets me out of the house....I was so bored for awhile. I am working at the Border's cafe in the Annapolis Mall. This is mostly just a temporary, seasonal position. I figured it is going to take awhile to get a 'real' job, so I might as well do something in the meantime. Since I have mostly been looking at government jobs, it may take several months to find something. Frankly, I don't want to lack a paycheck for that long. So I have a temporary job, while I continue to look. The cafe isn't too bad. I've started the training process, which involved sampling every drink they make. I was all kinds of coffeed out yesterday after work. It was kind of awesome.

We also went to yet another wedding, here in Maryland. So many weddings! It's crazy, but I think of it as research. It's a great way to see first-hand what I like and what I don't like. CJ and I still don't have a date yet, but we are still waiting to find out his graduation date and we'll go from there.

Anywho, it's about time for bed. I have work tomorrow!!

Cupcake Cake!

This weekend, I took a few days off of work and headed over to Bend to visit Annie. Saturday was her engagement party, so I helped her do some cleaning in order to prepare for the party. I also spent most of Friday baking, as I was making her cake for the party. Well, actually, cupcake cake. I had made my design based on her color scheme and we came up with the idea for a series of cupcakes made to look like a bouquet of flowers.



As there were several people there who were a specific type of vegetarian who don't eat eggs, I also had to make separate began cupcakes. The cupcakes with leaves on them, were the vegan ones, while the rest were just regular cupcakes. They were all spice cake, with cream cheese frosting. The flowers were all molded (by hand, I might add!) white chocolate.



All in all, it was a lot of work, but a fun party. I definitely didn't work that hard for my graduation party, but that was a daytime BBQ. Night time events are traditionally more fancy...but still. CJ and I aren't even planning on having an engagement party, so...

Now that it's Monday, it's back to work. I have this week and next week and then I am done at PISCO. I am glad to be able to work through mid-September. This way I actually get almost a full paycheck at the end of September. My goal is to have a job by the beginning of October, but I am not sure that will happen.

I have been doing a lot of on-line applications for jobs, but I don't know how effective they will really be. As a recent graduate, I don't feel like I am very hire-able for most of the positions I am finding in scientific fields. Honestly, the point of not going to school for the next year or so is to gain real world experience IN MY FIELD. Getting a mall job is not the job experience I am looking for. I've pretty much given up on normal job search websites for my particular field, or any scientific field in general. I've been mostly focusing on looking at individual organization's websites, and the government job page, usajobs.gov.

It doesn't feel like things are coming to a close here in Corvallis, but they are. CJ and I are leaving Oregon in exactly two weeks. Ugh. That makes me feel like I should go get more things done, like packing and putting up furniture on Craigslist, and working and oh god....