Addiction Alert

It is official I have a serious addiction. Okay well several probably including my daily diet coke, books, and shoes but now I must confess I have another addiction. It is my cell phone – and no it is not the cell portion of it but rather email, SMS, and the internet.

In fact I am very willing and even eager to let many calls go straight to voicemail. It seems I cannot drive anywhere without having my phone out of my purse and available to check for new emails. I know it is now illegal to text while driving but I don’t think sitting at a stoplight counts – at least in my humble opinion, will let you know if the police officer ever begs to differ from me.

How can I suddenly feel like something is missing if I don’t have my phone instantly available and not have the latest email. Okay if I was getting emails telling me I won something, my stocks increased significantly (okay huge fantasy here lately), or Nordstrom was suddenly putting all their shoes at half price I could see why I was so anxiously awaiting the next email but so far none of these have happened. Instead I am anticipating my next work problem, some spam mail, or some company wide email – none of which are really all that exciting or even for the most part time sensitive.

If I am not instantly checking I might somehow be missing something very important. And to think just over 10 years ago I only checked my email once a week instead of at every stop light or traffic jam. Good news is that we will be in Mexico for a week but unfortunately I already checked coverage and data service is available. Wonder if my emails will have the same appeal on the beach?!

a suit, a sportcoat, business casual, or jeans?

Sam is currently going through job interviews right now. Is there anything more nerve racking?!? Trying to be on your best behaviour, making sure you put on enough deodorant, your outfit hits the right note (wasn't it much easier when you wore your best suit - this casual dress thing really messes it all up) and predicting what someone else really wants to hear.

As someone who has interviewed tons of people, and salespeople at that, I know during an interview you are getting the best you are ever going to see out of that person. They will never dress sharper, be more agreeable, or be trying quite so hard - it is all downhill after that.

Maybe that is why I have been with the same company for 11 almost 12 years (yes I know I am an anomaly) is so I don't have to go on interviews and I can keep being the one who gets to do the interviewing. Though I can't say I really enjoy conducting the interviews myself - maybe it should be like matchmaking. You get paired up with your most compatible employees and then you take them for a test drive.

My part in this whole process is to be the cheerleader (so not me) and edit all the thank you letters. Seems easy enough but let me tell you I am getting a bit tired of editing - I wish you just had 1 or 2 interviews per company instead of the 8 we are going on now.

The good news is that hopefully this will be over soon as Sam decides which direction he will be going. In the meantime I am trying to frantically remember all the grammatical rules and punctuation I learned and hope it hasn't changed as much as our dress code has.

nissan pivo II

dreaming of a new commuter car

Sam and I have been checking out electric cars. I would love to have a commuter car that is small (yes most cars would be smaller than my Avalanche) and electric but safe because of our crazy Seattle drivers. When we were in Tokyo we saw the Pivo II concept car at the Nissan showroom. The Pivo is electric, carries 3 passengers, and best of all the cabin rotates 360 degrees. Am hoping something like this makes it to the U.S. soon - think about it - you would never have to drive in reverse again and parking would be a cinch. I could drive this to work but still use my Avalanche to get to the ski hill and transport Calvin in, of course this car may even fit in the back of the Avalanche.

finally we have succumbed

Yes we finally have done it and started a blog. Probably the last ones to do so but better late than never. Thought we would share what we have been doing and what our plans are. Not sure how often we will update this but at least we have started the process. I am going to add a few pics from 2007 as well. Enjoy.