Ginger Love

Growing up in a family of red heads and carrying the recessive gene has lead to an infatuation for certain red headed male celebrities.


Eric Stoltz was my first ginger love. Who can forget him in "Some Kind of Wonderful"? Or, if you're a geek like me, "The Prophecy"? I even liked him in "Once and Again" playing the sketchy drama teacher.


God love James Spader and his penchant for freaky sex movies. Like spanking? "Secretary". Like sex near car crashes? "Crash". Like walking through a mystical vagina to another world? "Stargate". Sadly James has broken the rule that red heads age well but I can still cling to young Spader like a pit bull.


Of course no hot red heads list is complete without Ewan. You have to love an actor who is willing to do full frontal. That is what the Star War prequels were sadly lacking. There must have been some kind of Jedi sauna on Coruscant, right? For an actor who used to jeer at other actors for going Hollywood, he has made some shitty movies lately. But again, red head love! His series "Long Way Round" was really entertaining and educational.


A couple years ago, there was a rumor that Damien Lewis would be the new Bond. If there is a red headed Bond, I would die and go to heaven. Damien was fabulous in Band of Brothers and The Forsyte Saga.


Donal Logue is my own bizarre infatuation. He is Canadian and a Harvard grad. Plus, he has been in an amazing array of movies. From Blade, Just Like Heaven, to Steal This Movie. Dude, his father is an ex-priest! His mom must feel pretty amazing that her husband chose her over God.


Ginger Allergies


Pedophilia gives red heads a bad name.



Ron Howard is too square and lacks the fire of sexy red heads.

I Got a Job (Temp)!!

Today, I found out one of my interviews panned out into a job offer. It's a temp job but the hiring manager really likes me and asked my staffing rep for my permanent job requirements. I start next Wednesday.

Temping takes the anxiety and money worries out of the job hunt. I still get to look for a permanent jobs and plus I will have a routine that gets me out of my apartment and out of the despair and hopelessness of unemployment. The pay is basically what I have earned for the past year so I know I can manage. The commute is a haul (60 miles roundtrip) but I was think of moving anyways so if this turns perm, the move will be set!

Also, I get to learn more skills and this is an analyst position so that looks good on my resume.

The Good Times Tumble

Last night was my first spring season chorus rehearsal and Soprano Diva was absent! I hope she quit the chorus but she might have been sick. It was great seeing everyone again and our new musical repertoire isn't lame. I found out that next year we're going to perform Carmina Burana so I am unbelievably psyched. Even if I do move, I'll stick with the chorus.

After rehearsal it looked like I lost one of my stacked rings - the topaz stone one so I was bummed. This is why I can't have nice things: the first time I wear it I will lose it or drip coffee down the front of a gorgeous outfit. I wish bibs were fashionable! Glory of glories I found the ring on the floor of my car today!

I have a job hunt pet peeve. Why can't people leave information in voicemail messages? I played phone tag today with a staffing rep because she just asked me to call her. Her big news? She has no news on my job interview. So why did you waste time calling me? Throughout phone ping pong, I imagined every possibility and I got some bullshit "Oh I'm just checking in. Nothing has happened." Argh! Imagine if the rep actually SAID in the voicemail message, "I haven't heard back from X company." Maybe the world will spin off its axis?

A Good Day (Finally)

After a good Oscar broadcast last night, I wound up sleeping until 11:30 this morning. I woke up feeling very refreshed and upbeat. The room I slept in had a dream catcher. Coincidence? I think not! I need one of those ASAP.

I got home and had two job interviews scheduled within an hour. One is on Wednesday and is face to face. The other was today as a phone screen with HR. The HR phone screen went so well today, I got another phone interview tomorrow with the hiring manager! There are my 3 job search activities to qualify for unemployment this week. Anything else, is gravy.

In the mail today, I got these awesome stackable rings from Etsy. The colors I ordered were opal, burgundy, and topaz. They fit perfectly and look kick ass. I hope that since the week has started out so well, there's nowhere else to go but up.

A Pen, A Love Story

I bought this Zebra pen years ago and it absolutely kicks ass. I use it for my checkbook and if I can't find it, I stop everything to look for it. I keep it on the right hand side of my desk and I get a warm fuzzy feeling seeing it in its place every morning.

To Whom it May Concern

Dear Piece of Shit Company That Wasted 3 Months of My Life,

You lied to me and you lied to my staffing agency. I turned down potential job interviews because I was told that once I'm in, I will be hired permanently. There was absolutely no orientation or on-boarding when I was hired. I didn't know where to park, which printer to use or my fax number so I wasted a lot of time and effort figuring that out myself.

My direct supervisor was away 3 weeks out of the first month I was employed. Therefore, any training I received was jammed into hurried 2 hour sessions. Oh yeah, by the way, all your financial reports are not based upon actual numbers. They come out of some manager's binder. I hope you go bankrupt thanks to the shoddy financial practices I witnessed.

Also, I would have preferred the money you spent on my trip to Texas went to my medical benefits. How does it make financial sense to hire a temp and fly her out to Dallas when you have no intention of keeping her? No one from your company told me I was let go and only 1 person said goodbye to me on my last day. Fuck you all.

If anyone I know is looking for a job, I will warn them away from your company. Poor management, bad communication, and questionable financial practices. Your industry might be strong, but your company isn't.

A Day for the Record Books

I can finally rest a bit now. No more nagging voice in my head to do more, achieve more, and do everything perfectly. That voice pushed me through endless rounds of auditions in musical or dramatic groups. That voice hounded me for every grade that I got below A. The awful part of it is when I won the role/solo or got the A, it was all emptiness. No enjoyment. It was like a part of me thought, "So you accomplished X. It probably wasn't such a huge challenge so now what?" Even when I received my MBA, I wasn't happy because my GPA wasn't perfect so I didn't get to wear a special tassel.

Today, my father told me to my face that he's proud of me and thinks that I will accomplish great things. This is the first time ever he has told me that. I couldn't stop crying and shaking when he told me. It meant a lot to me, especially now that I have been laid off for the second time in 3 months and I feel like such a failure at life. Intellectually, I knew my father was proud of me because other family members told me or his work colleagues mentioned it.

It will be nice now to accomplish goals for myself. I hope it will be enjoyable.

Unemployment, Week One

Sleeping in, job applications, catching up on email, and two bottles of wine: one gnarly head red and one shiraz (mad fish vineyard? I forget).

I'm waiting to hear back from last week's interview and will have an interview scheduled from a phone screening. I also applied for unemployment assistance. It's going to be tough to wait 3 weeks for my first check but any money coming in will help!

Today, I saw Atonement. It was okay. I was definitely entertained but I don't understand all the !BEST MOVIE EVER! reviews. I have yet to see a movie that convinces me that Kiera Knightley can act. There Will Be Blood is next on my list I know Daniel Day Lewis can act, at least!

Good Wines/Wineries

∑ Casa de Vila Verde Alvarinho
∑ Bodega Bodega
∑ Salena Organic
∑ Muscadet
∑ Chenin blanc
∑ Cabernet Franc
∑ Swedish Hill
∑ Rodney Strong
∑ Twisted Zin, Old Vine Zinfandel
∑ Twisted Pig
∑ Weingut janz
∑ Borba
∑ Marlargo
∑ Naiara
∑ Gnarly Head
∑ BV
∑ Vina von Siebenthal
∑ Michel Picard
∑ Lenz
∑ Vibrant Rioja
∑ Caro
∑ Natura
∑ Renwood
∑ Think Red
∑ Three Blind Moose

Things I Am Loving

For Valentine's Day, I'd like to highlight what I'm loving lately:

Job Interview Tomorrow
I have my first nibble on my job application hook tomorrow afternoon. The job sounds awesome and I have been trying to get hired by this company for years. Keep your fingers crossed!

Mary Kay
Being a consultant means that I have something to fall back on income-wise. It all depends on how much effort I put into selling products. According to some of the older consultants, I could actually replace my full-time income with just selling Mary Kay!

General Hospital
I am a long-time fan from the days of Duke and Anna, the WSB and DVX. Occasionally I catch a re-run on Soap Net. But when I heard Sarah Brown was returning to GH, I got a TiVo season pass! She is absolutely phenomenal and when she played Carly I couldn't stop watching. Now she's playing a different character but the awesomeness is still there. I'm confused about the text message killer plot and the teens' storyline. But GH now rocks.

Blog Comments
For a spectacularly awful week, the support of my readers has helped me through a lot. It has been awesome to have the moral support and sympathy. Even someone else agreeing with me that, "X is totally fucked up!" buoys my spirits. So, dear readers, I hope that I will have some wonderful news to share with you!


Happy Valentine's Day,
Anna

38 applications in 4 Days

The job hunt has been going fairly well. I'm going for quantity to try to maximize my interview conversion rate. Last fall, for every 7 applications I got an interview. Hopefully, I can keep up the same rate this winter!

This past week of work has been a complete joke. All I do 9 to 5 is look for jobs. My supervisor hasn't shown her face yet. I'm having a contest to see if she'll avoid contact with me all week. Considering that she didn't have the balls to let me go face to face or give me any feedback in 3 months, I bet she has conflict avoidance issues.

The worst part of having no feedback from the company is that I have no idea what the hell happened. Was the job never going perm or was I just not the right fit? I also have stupid insecurities that I wasn't smart enough or didn't get up the learning curve fast enough. Just a word to the wise to fellow job hunters, if you are interviewing for a role that is supposed to revamp systems or change processes and the company is a hierarchical monstrosity, you won't be able to change jack in your first couple months.

Harvard Hates Me

In my job searches over the years, I have never gotten so much as a first interview from them. Today really took the prize. I applied for a position in the morning and got a rejection notice this afternoon. I guess I am not destined to serve legacy families and future leaders of America, huh?

Wine Expo Pictorial

The expo was basically one awesome wine after another. The only bad wines I had were a Rosemount cabernet that was corked and a South Africa pinotage that tasted to me like drinking alcoholic bleu cheese. Lenz German wines were a complete dream. Some wines we tried just because of the names like 3 Blind Moose. Gnarly Head, Little Red Truck, and Twisted Zin. Spanish and Portuguese wines were amazing too. I also reacquainted myself with roses. The New York vineyards were surprisingly good like Swedish Hill and Ravenswood. We started out pretty strong jumping in on tasting Syrahs but after time, we found out starting with whites was a bit milder and helped us taste the whole array white to reds. Table after table, we drank good wine and a lot of it is a blur now. Luckily we got free swag. Not at the expo was the wine we drank the night before, Bohemian. A cool trend I noticed at the expo is that several vineyards are going organic/green. Organic wines have definitely a lighter taste (fewer sulfates in the process).

It's a sip swirl, sniff and spit (or dump out glass) but still I think over th 4 hours we were there we drank at least 4 glasses of wine. Thank goodness for free snacks and water! Towards the end, with aching feet and head I was wined out loading up on carbs and drinking water.

Alcohol and Anti-Depressants, A Discovery

I've been on Celexa for almost 3 years and have had great results and absolutely no side effects. I've also haven't heeded the no alcohol stipulation for ant-depressants. For almost 3 years, that hasn't mattered. It kinda makes sense since I started drinking to relieve anxiety and my medication is a SSRI which is an anxiety reliever.

Yet, I have never been drinking while on medication when I was under a tremendous amount of external pressure which feeds into my whole anxiety loop. I found out today, in the middle of thousands of people drinking wine that the thin thread that I am hanging onto thanks to the whole second lay-off in 3 months, disappears if I have alcohol in my system. I learned a lot and enjoyed drinking new wine but I felt like ripping my skin to shreds or plopping down in the middle of the Expo bawling. Of course, my anxiety wasn't helped when I spied a couple former high school classmates and tried to move away muttering, "Oh shit, oh shit..." Yeah nothing makes one feel better than bumping into former classmates and having this to say, "Oh me? Nothing much, just gotten laid off. Oh yeah, I'm thousands of dollars in debt for an MBA degree that doesn't seem to help me find a job."

My Pet, My Friend

It is amazing how intuitive Rasputin can be. I might even say psychic. For the first time in months Rasputin was waiting in the window for me when I came home early from work all red eyed and bitter. He was a very good boy all day. I left out a bag of Sargento's cheese while I prepared dinner. I was sitting in the living room when I look over to see Rasputin walking into the room, Sargento's bag in his mouth! He does love his cheese.

Last night the enormity of my situation hit me so I had a little cry. Rasputin was lying next to me in bed. I swear this actually happened. I was lying on my left side and as I put my hand down on the bed, he licked it and held it for a while. We fell asleep holding hands. Aww!! Granted, he probably licked off my tears but still... If I didn't have him, I would be certifiable by now.

Laid Off AGAIN

Today, February 8, 2008 at 2:20PM I got a phone call from my staffing rep telling me that my company doesn't want to hire me permanently and my last day will be Feb. 15. Yes, you read that correctly, I was given a week's notice after 3 months of being patient and hoping to go perm. And yes, not a single manager had the balls to tell me to my face. I had to get a phone call.

After some hysterical crying and phone calls to family, I went home early to plan my course of action. All the business cards I collected from my job search last fall, I kept and I sent out a barrage of emails soliciting help or leads. I'm going to be okay for the rest of the month financially. Thank goodness February is a 5 Friday month! So much for my big plans once I went perm.

This weekend I'll be the bitter wobbly drunk at the Wine Expo. If you hear, "Temp to perm, go fuck yourself." that's me.

Whose Traveler

Since I've done a bunch of traveling in my life, I thought it was time to talk about my trips, the pros and cons. So, here goes!

Canada (8 times plus 2 when I was a baby)
- Prince Edward Island (1988, 1991, 2003, and 2005) - It's a 12 hour drive from the Boston area. My family has stayed in the same area every visit, north coast mid-island aka "Anne's Land". If you want to be very unplugged and laid back, this is the place for you. The beaches are amazing and there's a lot of touristy stuff to do - thanks to the complete commercialization of Anne of Green Gables. I always love to visit Woodleigh (link).

- Cape Breton (1990) - I loved this area. It - is very similar to Scotland. Gaelic culture is very strong. The sights and history are amazing.

- Nova Scotia (1993) - Not as cool as Cape Breton. Very built up but if you want to get back to nature, try the Cabot trail. Also, a ferry goes from Maine to Nova Scotia (with gambling - woohoo!)

- Quebec (1992) - Amazing city with lots to do and a lot of culture. If you try to speak French, the people are very supportive. Lots of very cool historical areas to visit plus a vibrant jazz scene.

- Montreal (1996) - A very naughty city. I might be biased since I visited my freshman year of college and drank only alcohol the entire time. Lots of bars, strip clubs and a hopping night life. A very cool subway system. I also have a vague memory of some kind of carnival near the water that I liked.


Germany (1987, 2000 2 times)
My family toured Europe when I was 10 and we went to a bunch of places in Germany but the names escape me since my major memories from then were, "The place that smelled like manure." or "The place that had good cocoa." I've been to Freiburg the most so that will be my representative German city

- Freiburg - a wonderful city that is very tourist friendly. Plus, a univeristy city so there are a lot of cultural events and a nice variety of languages on the trolley. I have noticed that when in Germany, you don't make eye contact with strangers on the streets and if you do, you don't give them a friendly smile. People will stare at you like you're an ape. Freiburg is also close to the Black forest and it's a lot of fun taking a gondola up a local mountain to see the vast expanse. Another fun thing is to rock a 2 person gondola if you're with someone who is afraid of heights. In terms of food, beer is like water and it tastes amazingly good in Germany. I'm more a wine gal, but I downed beer after beer when I was over there in 2001. It's sweeter and doesn't have the nasty aftertaste. Asparagus in the summer is perfectly in season. Wiener schnitzle and spaetzle is delicious but will give you a coronary.

France (2000)
- Strasbourg - yes, yes I haven't even been to Paris... Since Freiburg is so close to France and Switzerland, I was able to take a day trip to Strasbourg. It is a lovely city with a huge imposing Catherdral in the middle of a vibrant square. On a food note, thay have these tarte d'alsace that are simply amazing. They are like pizzas on a thin pastry-like crust. My dad got a flambe one with pears. I got one with ham and sour cream. Mmmm... delish!

Switzerland (1987 and 2000)

- Basel - I became obsessed with cathedrals on my 2001 visit thanks to the Big Three cities (Basel, Strasbourg, and Freiburg). All of them are on the rhine and all have architetecturally gorgeous cathedrals in the middle of the city. If you visit Swizterland, you have to eat chocolate. You'll think you have died and gone to heaven.

Austria (1987)

This was my favorite country from our family tour. So much variety from city to city and lots of gorgeous views. We started in Bregenz and went up and over the alps to Innsbruck then Salzburg and ended our Austria leg in Vienna. Tons of castles, mountains with snow in mid-July, and very vibrant, friendly people. Vienna was simply amazing. I remember riding the biggest ferris wheel in the world. It was the same amusement park where I permanently skewed my lower teeth thanks to the bumper cars. Since I was 10, I thought it was very funny that there was a restaurant chain called Wiener Wald.


Hungary (1987)
Since this was 1987, Hungary was still part of the Eastern bloc and we have family in the countrry so this is why I have memories from this leg.

- Gyor - very quaint town with a cute center. During our visit, we drove down to Lake Balaton with family. On that trip, I saw a Russian tank and experinced my first nude beach.


- Budapest - The city is bisected by the Danube so there is a Buda side and a Pest side. Our family lived on the Buda side which is hilly and more suburban so I preferred it. Pest was pure city with a castle looking over it. Most of the cars back then ran on diesel so I remember trying not to puke from all the fumes in Pest. It's funny how as a kid nature and open spaces are more appealing to visit which is why I liked Buda more. But if I go back now, I bet I'd be bored to tears with Buda and would prefer Pest.

- Matrafured - my dad's old hometown at the foot of the Matra mountain. The family in this area were older and very formal. I remember the house had bear hides everywhere and they made their own sausages. When someone tries to entice you with "fresh sausage" run away by the way! We also cooked goulash in a big cast iron pot over fire in the vineyard. Oh yeah, my famiily used to have a vineyard way back when. My love of wine must be genetic, huh?

- Szeged - a very modern bustling city. Fewer diesel cars. Also since it's in southern Hungary, it was evilly hot in August. Huge boulevards and lots of shopping areas. The family lived in a northern suburb. I loved this part of the family since there was a passle of kids my age. Also, it reminded me of my mom's family with the bustle of noise and activity. We played cards. My brother and I learned that ace is pronounced like "Ahss" in Hungarian. Oh yes, we had a good giggle! We also played the piano with the kids.

Great Britain (1993)
My high school chorus toured Great Britain when I was a sophomore in high school. We stayed with local families.

- England - we traveled all over. Stratford Upon Avon was very cute and impressive (for the book nerds like me). Cambridge was a quickie concert and drive through so it didn't look too impresive. London was amazing. We got to see a West End play and had tons of time to wander around the city. I saw Madame Tussaud's museum and almost got run over by a taxi.

- Wales - we only spent a day trip here but I want to come back and spend weeks. So gorgeous and amazing. The whole area just vibrates with history. Every location has a story.

- Scotland - since I'm part Scottish, this was a wonderful experience. We had an authentic Robert Burns dinner complete with poetry and haggis (yuck). I shopped up and down Prince Street in Edinburgh. A bunch of us scrambled to find spouses at Gretna Green since you can marry there if you're 16. Sigh... no one would have me...

Ireland (2001)
The trip itself was awesome and packed full of activities. Unfortunately, I went with Airforce Asshole and I wound up having a stroke when I got home. So, ignoring that awfulness, I'd like to look at the trip in an impartial light. I seriously need to go back to Ireland to banish all the bad memories and hoodoo.

- Galway - the whole Connemara area is simply amazing. Galway is cute and has tons to offer plus the nightlife is pretty hopping. We saw the Cliffs of Moher and it was amazing. I'm not a big fan of scary high cliffs, with huge gusts of wind over a raging sea so this was a bit scary.

- Limerick - I don't have very distinct memories of this city but I remember that our B&B gave us a pink room. We drove the Ring of Kerry while staying here and it was the best drive ever. Amazing views and lots of discoveries from area villages.

- Cork - my family's old stomping ground. We visited Blarney castle while staying here. If you are claustrophobic and/or out of shape, beware and pace yourself! To get to the blarney stone, you have to climb flight after flight of narrow stairs that are barely the width of a body with very narrow steps. Also, to kiss the stone, you hang your head upsidedown over the side of the castle. I skipped that part. Coming down is almost as bad since the staircases don't have railings so you have to cling to this flimsy rope that is set up to help people to steady themselves. Once we got outside of the castle, I had to wander the ground to get some air and to stretch my legs.

- Dublin - we stayed several days in the area. I loved this city. They have an awesome tour bus system where you can hop on and off whenever you like. We went through the Guinness factory and visited Trinity College. O'Connell street was a fun mix of history and shopping.

Suckday

I'm an ornery creature. For example, whenever I make sure I get 8 hours of sleep, I am even more exhausted than days where I get 4 - 6 hours. So, I got the recommended amount of sleep last night and got into work a bit early. Everything seemed to be going well. I spent all morning reconciling reports and that was going well too. I had a good analytical groove. At lunch, the elevator door didn't close on me (like yesterday - ow). 5 hours of goodness.

Then I got a phone call from my boss about the December report and how it's all screwed up and she wants me to come up so it can be fixed by both of us. My first thought was, "Aw shit, this was the first report I tried to do on my own - since everyone was on vacation." and my second thought was, "I did the report while I had pneumonia and no one was around to ask questions so this can't appear too awful." Remember, this is month 3 of temping and this month is supposed to be the time to go perm (according to the HR rep I spoke to). So, I feel even more pressure to be perfect and smart.

When I got up to my boss' office, I had forgotten to bring my folder with reports, so I ran back down. When I got back up, it turns out my reports were the wrong ones. She wanted these huge excel files I receive monthly to be printed out and she was pretty pissy with me. I could feel that had turned magenta and tears had sprung into my eyes. Feeling like an idiot, I went downstairs to print out reams of reports on a shared printer. I had a good cry in my cubicle and as I gathered everything to return to my boss's office, I chanted to myself, "You are Anna, you won't let this upset you. Just do your work with no attitude and lots of enthusiasm."

So, I survived walking through the report line by line and it turns out, I did a lot of things right! The stuff that was wrong, wasn't huge and correcting didn't effect the bottom line too much. My boss was very dry and focused but I could spot a hint of attitude slipping through. On the up side, I think I learned a lot and my future reports should be problem-free!

The cool thing about being on a diet and being upset, the urge to emotionally eat is gone. I barely choked down dinner tonight. In the olden days, I would have swung by CVS and picked up a bag of Hershey kisses. Now, I'm just getting my wine on. Literally and figuratively - ha!

Great Weekend (Except Sunday)

Friday night, I had one of the best bottles of wine I've ever had. Since I had company over, I did up a nice spread of food. Manchego is my new go-to cheese for entertaining and tons of places carry it now. It's a goat cheese but not too goaty, more nutty. I also tried out Joan of Arc's brie - another fabulous cheese. Since I picked up really nice dipping bread, I tried to emulate Not Your Average Joes' bread dip. It is actually very easy! I added a personal touch with a dash of sweet paprika.

Saturday, I had excellent errand karma. I had a whole list of stores I needed to go to and I found a plaza with all three: Michaels, CVS, and a pet store. Burlington kicks ass! I seriously wish I had more hobbies and talent every time I visit Michaels. I could get back into crocheting again - I double crochet (it's like a lazy persons knitting).

The awesome chili has lasted for dinner for a while and I know I will get sick of it soon. Maybe I'll try a crock pot roast next time?

Bitchcakes

The latest update from Verizon is that I will be receiving my free tv in March. The 4 - 6 week wait time I was told wasn't counted from my installation date. It was counted from the time when I eventually received a registration letter (mid-January). If they can't honor their advertisement or get their stories straight, I have no idea how they can continue to do business. I know my complaint has been filed with the Better Business Bureau.

Fed up, I have moved my old crappy television back to my living room. It's funny how this ridiculous delay coincided with the writers strike so I haven't really missed much. Still, Verizon is a pack of assholes and I would highly dissuade anyone signing up for their service.

That?

That wasn't the New England Patriots. That was a weird wormhole effect where the ENTIRE FUCKING TEAM channeled 80's Red Sox. We had a Billy Buckner and complete concussed Tom Brady. Well, there weren't enough timeouts in the world to win us the Superbowl with such crappy playing.