And I Am Off Again...On Another Business Trip

Well, as you can see below, there is a lot about me. I could give you more, but since I already outed myself about liking to hear myself talk, I will spare all of you.

I am on another business trip tomorrow. I am going to Kansas City again. woohoo...

I will be gone for three days, not to return until Thursday evening. My plans are to catch up on the hotel computer, you know, the one marked for "business center". Yes, I will be conducting very important business on that computer. Blog business.

I'm a little sour about the trip. I wanted to spend some down time with my brother who lives in Shawnee, but the boss (see #30 below) won't let us have any free time on our own. She acts like she is our keeper. I have spent more time with her this past year than any of my fellow co-workers in the other districts, and quite frankly, I am sick of her.

So, I probably won't be actively posting and commenting as much as I have been the last couple of days. I really don't like it when my routine gets broken for such trips as this one. It's going to be a waste of all of our time, but as long as she is having a good time spending the company's money, hey! that's all that matters. Right?

Have a fantastic week everyone. I will catch up with you when I return.

50 Things About Me

Well, since everyone else is doing it. The peer pressure was too great.

1. I am a mother of a twelve year old boy.
2. I am not married, but in a relationship.
3. I am the oldest of three children. I have a sister and brother.
4. Yellow is my favorite color.
5. Daffodils are my favorite flower.
6. I am half Korean.
7. I work for a major grocery chain.
8. I am scared of clowns.
9. I have a dirt collection, ranging from sand to earth from Germany.
10. My biggest fear is dying.
11. I was once in love with my best friend, and he never knew.
12. I love to cook.
13. I live in Kansas.
14. I want to live in Ohio.
15. My parents are my biggest fans.
16. I love seafood.
17. I used to have an eating disorder.
18. I was made fun of pretty bad growing up in a small town being half Asian.
19. I secretly dislike and remember most of those people who made fun of me.
20. I have never been married.
21. I don't think I ever want to get married.
22. I have never been baptised.
23. Some churches scare me, give me goosebumps.
24. I always wear socks, even in summer, everywhere.
25. I have highlights in my brown hair.
26. I used to have hair so long I could sit on it, but donated 13 inches to Locks of Love.
27. I love Korean food, it's my favorite.
28. Foreign accents are HOT.
29. I want to grow a garden this year.
30. I mildly dislike one of my bosses, but would never let on that I do.
31. My favorite season is autumn. Second is spring.
32. My favorite holiday is Christmas, followed closely by Halloween.
33. I want to visit Europe in the next five years.
34. I wouldn't mind adopting a child.
35. I love to hear myself talk and will sometimes interrupt others to do so.
36. I am 5'11" and I weigh more than I should.
37. I love zombie movies.
38. Abba is one of my favorite music groups.
39. I work out at the YMCA two to three times a week.
40. I love coffee.
41. I love trying new restaurants, trendy little cafes, anything new.
42. I can appreciate a great sense of humor.
43. I know when to crack a good joke.
44. Sometimes my big mouth has caused awkward silence in a room full of people.
45. I am ambitious about my career, the sky is the limit. C.A.V.U.
46. Global warming scares the shit out of me.
47. I haven't really done anything positive to fight global warming yet.
48. I am addicted to Grey's Anatomy.
49. I love long road trips.
50. I know I make my parents proud.

Okay, that should last you awhile. I am sure there will be questions to some of these. Ask away, I have answers.

Take It Or Leave It

Tonight finds me cooking up a wonderful heart clogging meal. I am pan frying German rope sausage. I have never had this before, but all of the locals have told me just how to prepare this delicious case-filled delight. I am also making fried potatoes, steamed cauliflower, and yummy green peas. The cauliflower and peas are my kid's pick.

Now, when I unwrapped the sausage from the butcher paper, the sausage reminded me of a coiled snake. Gross, kind of. Anyway, I am sure it's very fattening. This is the reason why we aren't having any dessert. I can only handle so much yummy goodness.

Today was a much milder day than yesterday. It was still a bit windy, but not as cold. No flurries decided to visit us in the night. Yeah. I am done with all of this snow.

My mom's birthday is coming up. I am buying her two tickets to Korea for next year. Not sure how I am going to do that, or if I can buy them for next year. I would like to buy her tickets to redeem at her leisure. I just don't know if they can let you do this. Anyone know about buying airline tickets? Can you buy tickets that far in advance? Even if it was for a set date, we could always reschedule them. I don't have the foggiest clue about that. I better look into it.

Well, I have probably rambled enough this evening. Life is pretty boring around here if all I can talk about is what's for dinner and the weather. lol... Oh well, take it or leave it.

Auntie Em Weather

Oh, you gotta just love Kansas weather. Not really, cuz' it sucks. Today was mildly warm with mild winds. Tonight they are calling for a trace of snow and a low of 31 degrees. Only in Kansas can you have tornadoes and snow in the same day.

I want to tell you something funny about my business trip to Seattle a couple of weeks back. I was talking to a girl in one of the stores and she informed me that she was driving from Colorado to St. Louis, Missouri. She stated that she was driving straight through because of all the tornadoes. She didn't want to be caught in one.

Okay. That made it sound like we have really bad tornadoes. Bad tornadoes are as frequent as tremors in California. Not often, not a lot of damage. Now, we do get more than most. But, it was enlightening to hear what people thought on the other side of the USA. Too funny.

The wind outside is blowing so hard. It feels like the house is going to blow right off the foundation. No, it's not a tornado. The sound of wind comes and goes.

Anyone been feeling lethargic lately? I have. I know it's because I can't wait for spring to get here. It can't come soon enough.

Well, I better get off. I need my beauty rest. Wait, twenty four hours of sleep wouldn't even fix that. lol...

I'm Back

Well, I am back online. Yeah! It was quick! I called Dell yesterday afternoon. The techie called this morning to say the part was in and he could be out by noon. Fabtabulous! I am extremely happy about it. But, I am keeping this post short because I have a ton of reading to do. I will catch everyone up tomorrow. Till' then...

Computer Difficulties

Hey, I am back. But, my computer is on the blink. The "motherboard" is screwed up somehow. I am at the YMCA and won't be checking my blog as much as I would like. I will also be behind on everyone else. So, don't get too exciting on me people! I will have a ton to read when I get back! Till later!

Sometimes Silence Is What You Need

Sometimes silence is what you need.

Thank you so much to everyone who commented. I really appreciate it.

I am going to be in Kansas City for yet another business trip. woopee...

I will catch up with all of you when I return on Wednesday.

what, why, i need

ugh, i feel so sick right now
not sick from illness
sick from not knowing why

what will i do
it's a trust issue really
why can't i just get over it

what is wrong with me
why did i have to see that
what am i going to do

i need to get the sick feeling to go away
i need to trust
i need advice

29 Degrees

On my way to work this morning. Hope everyone has a wonderful day. It's finally starting to warm up a bit. Current temperature is 29 degrees at 9 in the morning. Better than the 11 degrees we had yesterday. It's gotta bring people to a better mood today. Wouldn't you agree?

Blah, Blah, Blah

I am struggling with posting every day, and it's bothering me. I am not able to read every one's blog every day either. There is about twenty that I pop in and read on a daily basis to catch me up quickly. That way I am not reading forever and a day to catch up.

Anyone else having that problem?

I was in a funk mood yesterday. Today I have to meet up with a boss of mine to go over a department in our zone. Should be interesting considering I didn't get all of my work done. Good thing I can fly by the seat of my pants!

Ode' To The Meloncutter on Valentine's Day!

Hullo! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I have been super busy since I got back from my trip. Rich asked how I was going to handle the improvements in our perishables. Well, I think it all starts off with what type of clientele you have. In Kansas, it is all about comfort foods. Beef and pork are big items here, so obviously our meat departments should be fresh and the quality excellent. I feel like we are already there. One place we need to improve on is the deli and bakery. The deli fresh salad case could definitely use some sprucing up. I go into some stores and all I see are ten different type of potato salads. Ugh. How about something fresh and green for a change? We will definitely be putting the stores through some salad training. In the bakery, I would like to see more hand decorated items instead of all of the previously frozen crap that comes in. Produce is all about freshness and organics. Organics are huge right now. We have to capitalize on that. Okay, enough about work. Hope this explains it a bit, Rich. Thanks for asking and paying attention ;).

Speaking of produce, I would like to dedicate this post on Valentine's Day to the Meloncutter (see link to the right). Today is Valentine's Day and in honor of the Meloncutter, I hand dipped

800 long stem Driscoll strawberries!!!

Yes, I knew that when I went in today, I would be doing this in honor of the Meloncutter and all of the bullshit he had to put up with today. You see, he has a wonderful job of catering to customers, most of them old biddies who want their mark-down vegetables. So, a salute to you, Mr. Produce Man! I am sorry I could not come to your store to do this for you. By the way, we sold almost all of them at $9.99 lb. Yeah, how do you like them berries?

Happy Valentine's Day to All!!!

Back At It

Well, it was a productive weekend at home. I was off today. I was able to get five loads of laundry done. Yes, that sounds like an excessive amount for three people, but it really isn't. I am very picky about how I wash clothes. I also halfway cleaned the kitchen.

It's back to work tomorrow. I won't have to travel out of town for awhile. Thank goodness. It is so tiring. Hey Beck - Bellevue is only about half an hour away from the airport with traffic. You have to go there. Get with Proxima from The Echo Tree. She is from there and could probably direct you to the best sights.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. It is suppose to get rainy with a chance of snow again early this week for my area. Lovely.

Seattle

Okay, so here are some tidbits about my business trip to Seattle. We arrived on Tuesday and stayed at the Silver Cloud Inn in Bellevue. It is a lovely little hotel. I had a corner suite, so there was plenty of room to spread out. I could have done a cartwheel in my room and bathroom.

That evening we ate at McCormick & Schmick's, a seafood restaurant in Bellevue. OH MY GOODNESS! My dinner was so delicious, I am salivating right now just thinking about it. I ordered the Atlantic Salmon stuffed with succulent crab meat, shrimp, dill, and brie cheese. Holy Cow was it ever so good. We also had the best calamari I have tasted and half a dozen of oysters on the half shell. Yummy! Can you tell I am a seafood person? Then came dessert. Being the total tourist that I am, I had to take a picture of the chocolate cake. I had our chef put his hand next to it to show how huge it was. It came on a regular size dinner plate. I only had a bite. I didn't want to go on taste sensory overload.

The next day we hit the QFC stores. We visited two in Bellevue, one in University Center, and one in Redmond Way. I could have run right into Proxima and not even have known it! The stores were quite impressive. I can see these stores kick butt in perishables, which was my main focus for the trip. How can we improve our perishables back home? They have definitely mastered it there.

The most exciting part of the trip was when we went down to the Pike's Market. The Pike's Place Fish Market is famous in my company. The guys down there are famous. They have made a video called The Fish Video. It talks about how to have fun while at work and how to make the most out of your job. As soon as I saw some of the guys from the video, I squealed! They looked at me right away and asked how I knew about the video. I told them which company I worked for and they were all smiles. One of the guys pulled me behind the counter to see if I wanted to "catch" a fish. I did! I caught a beautiful salmon. I also got my picture taken with the group and we bought a book which they all signed. It was totally awesome!

Have you ever seen a monk fish before?

We tooted around the city a little more and went into the original Starbucks. Cheryl, you would have been in heaven in Seattle. Coffee everywhere. And I mean GOOD coffee. We then headed over to a little bakery and grabbed a piroshki. Yummy! I totally advise everyone who visits to do the same thing.

Later that evening we ate at Maggiano's "Little Italy" Restaurant. It was pretty good. Not as good as the night before. I think the dinner I had at McCormick & Schmick's was the best I have ever had.

We left on Thursday to come back home. As much as I loved being in Seattle, I did miss my home. Could I live there? Probably. It touched me to the soul. I have never seen mountains before. When I saw Mt. Rainier from the highway, it brought tears to my eyes. What beautiful world we live in. It just takes time to see it.

Mamma Mia

Well, I am happily back home. Had a great time in Seattle. I went to Mamma Mia this evening. I took Josh. It was a wonderful show. I plan on going again tomorrow evening.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

Seattle - Lovin' It

I was able to get on the business center computer. I arrived in Seattle safely. It has been cloudy and rainy ever since I arrived. It really does rain here a lot. Anyway, we are staying at the Silver Cloud Inn in Bellevue. Very nice. I love my room. I have a big flat screen t.v. that I probably won't be able to watch. There are houses everywhere. I love it here. Proxima, I envy you so much. Well, I will keep it short. I will be back tomorrow to fill you in. Night...

Till' Friday

Well, I am off to the west coast. Talk to all of you when I get back on Friday. Till' then...

Gotta Love "The Wonderful World of Nothing Worthwhile"

Okay people. If you have not visited Michael at The Wonderful World of Nothing Worthwhile, please take a moment now to visit him. I read his blog every single day. Why? Because it sometimes brings me to tears. Tears from laughing so hard. It's like I am in an episode of "The Office" sometimes. The guy cracks me up. Did I mention that he is a doll for putting me on his list of blogs he LOVES? Had to go there because I gave him a hard time about it. I feel better now, Michael. Thanks doll.

So, I leave tomorrow. Ugh. The plane ride alone is enough to make me want to peel my own skin. I hate planes. The whole ordeal makes me sick to my stomach. I don't think I will ever get used to it.

My kid's birthday was great. He was sadly disappointed at his dad's side of the family. They had to watch the Superbowl before celebrating my kid's birthday. He was pretty sore about it. I felt really bad for him. He came out to the car with his ice cream cake wrapped up on a plate. He told me his dad wouldn't let him eat any because it was too late in the evening. It was his BIRTHDAY!! It was obvious that the game was more important than celebrating my son's birthday. This is another reason why I left him "to the left". My kid and I got home around ten. I let him devour that cake. Plbbbbb to you dad! We had the cake and ate it too!

Happy Birthday To The Best Kid In The World!

Today is my kid's birthday. The big 12! We started the day eating breakfast at home. I let him play his favorite computer game - Age of Empires II for over an hour. We then went and had lunch at the Outback Steakhouse. It's his favorite place to eat. They have the best cheeseburgers, he promises. After the lunch, I took him to Best Buy to get his birthday present. This is what we purchased...

We got the bigger of the three. It's an iPod 30GB 7500 songs PC + Mac. The sales clerk told us that the 80GB was completely senseless to get at his age. He decided on the white one with a blue case. Quite a fancy piece of technology. And being the best kid in the world, he has allowed his wonderful mother to download some of her songs for the plane trip to Seattle. What a great kid! Now I just need to figure out how to work the darn thing. I hate that I am a technological idiot.

An Extra Long Post For A Horrible Week.

I'm back. Let's just say that the trip could have been so much better. I'll do my best to tell you why. I will tell you that this post is extra long. I apologize.

When we boarded the plane in Wichita, I thought it was going to be smooth sailing. I was in a seat by myself and had all of the room I could need. Now, when we get to Chicago (pit stop) we are delayed on the runway and have to wait for a plane to finish de-ice. Great. We have nine minutes to run to our connecting flight. Of course, we made it. Our group was the last one on. I am now sitting by a heavy guy who snored the whole way to Columbus. sigh...

When we get to Columbus, we meet up with the group from Denver. One lady reminded me of the actress Linda Hunt (she's really little and played in Kindergarten Cop with Big Arnold). This lady wasn't as old, but same height, hairstyle, and facial features. Weird. Anyway, we get going toward the rental cars and wait for my boss to arrive with our van. The van comes. It seats seven. We have eight. Okay, where is all of the luggage going? We pack everything in the van. A suitcase in the middle of the second row makes a temporary eighth seat. One of my coworkers is sitting on it. We are so tight, we can't even get our seat belts on. We get going down Highway 71. We stop to look at one of our sister stores and it looks alright. Now it has made us late for dinner. So, we get going again. We are doing about 70 mph down 71 interstate. We are having a good time. Then, I notice a girl in the right hand lane (on her phone, of course) try to get in the middle lane (we are in the left hand lane). She does not see the car there. The car clips her back left side and sends her into a tailspin. She tries to correct herself, but over corrects which sends her spinning out of control into our lane. I screamed, "Car! Car!" The girl hits the cement median and bounces off to hit us in the back left side of the van. By then we were only doing about 45 mph thanks to my lungs and my boss who was driving. We pull over to the right hand side and everyone was completely silent.

Now, I am going to stop right here and let you know that we are all okay. The only injuries sustained by anyone was the cell phone driver, who was just a little bruised. In our vehicle, I hurt my right knee and the coworker who was sitting on the suitcase had a bruise on her ass, but nothing that needed any assistance from the fine ass firemen who came to assist us.

We are left in the van, but my boss starts to freak out because we have too many people and not enough seat belts. We are asked to get off the highway and to proceed to the exit and to stop at the McDonald's. Of course, we are relieved and file out of the van. My boss calls for her backup and we send half of the group on towards dinner.

As I was sitting there, before getting to McDonald's, I kept thinking that we could have been in so much worse danger than we were. One of the Denver girls must have been thinking the same thing because she spoke up and said it. We were extremely lucky. The adrenaline was so much that when I finally got out of the van, I threw up. I couldn't help it. I kept thinking about my kid and how I am a single mom. The whole accident was in slow motion. I just remember closing my eyes and asking God, "Not now. Please, not now."

So, we fill out the necessary forms for the accident. They pull part of the van out from under the tire so we could still drive it. Can you believe it? We head to dinner. Of course, we have trouble finding it. We eventually did. It was a German restaurant in the Brewery District called Lindey's. They had excellent food and appetizers.

After dinner we head to the Hyatt. It was only five minutes away from the restaurant. thank goodness. We were all very tired from the day we had gone through. When it's my turn to check in, I give them my name. The guy behind the counter gives me a strange look. He asked if I had already checked in earlier. I told him no. He said that someone with the exact same name as mine had already checked into my room. I turn around and look at everyone. What next? He gave me a room on the top floor - 20. Did I tell you that I am afraid of heights? Anyway, it was a perfect ending to a perfect day. right?

I wish I could tell you the worst part of the trip was that, but I would be lying! During our trip, we got lost twice, I shut the car door on my co worker's fingers, I was made to eat at a Wafflehouse and also made to wear a hat as I was a Wafflehouse Virgin. On the way home we were delayed three hours. That was probably the worst part of the whole trip. We only have one flight going into Wichita. It was suppose to leave at 7:15. Luckily, the pilot who flew us from Columbus to Chicago was also our pilot from Chicago to home. We made it as the doors of the plane were closing. I guess that was one good part of my trip, right? Wrong. Because we only had three minutes to get from one plane to the other, none of our luggage made it home with us. I had to go pick up my luggage the next day at the airport.

Whew! This post is soooo long. I do apologize. Here is a picture of the van below.