Huh?

Somedays I wonder what language I am speaking at work. I am sure that I am not alone in this. Most industries require a certain amount of vernacular to be learned and at some point it all becomes second nature and you start talking like you are in an alien movie or something. An outsider overhearing conversations would be completely clueless. Here are just a few of the things that I throw around every day. See if you can guess what they mean.

Lybunt

Sybunt

Lyd

Syd

Lapsed

Non

Never

Retention

OPA

OSC

HUM

SSD

PSD

OI

IHouse

BRE

OGE

Shell

Imprint

And the list could go on...

Harry Potter: The Exhibit

A week or two ago I was wasting time at work online and discovered that a Harry Potter exhibit was coming to the Museum of Science and Industry. I had just watched the 1st HP movie the night before for a dinner and movie night (dinner by the fabulous Chef Jimzey) so I thought that this would be a nice addition to our movie watching experience (we plan to watch all of them over the next several weeks). Thankfully, at least one friend didn't think I was a total nerd and was as excited as I was to go. We purchased our tickets and Monday night after work, M and I headed to the south side to see what it was all about.
It was kind of strange to go into the huge museum when it was closed except for the exhibit. Everything was very dark and very quiet with only a few museum workers hanging around. I really wanted to bolt into one of the wings and wander around but I was pretty sure that would be a bad idea. The exhibit was well done. Even the people out front selling you audio tours and telling you to wait a bit before going in spoke in English accents and said they were from London. (I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most of them were actors and NOT from London...) The first stop once you enter is with the Sorting Hat where a few people from your group will get sorted into houses. Then there is a short video thing that really makes you feel like you are in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. Then, it's a free for all through the rest of it. There are costumes and props from all of the films (even the one that hasn't come out yet). The people walking around to help out know amazing details about all the films. I was really glad that we went on a Monday night after hours because it was not crowded at all and we could walk around and see everything without being crowded (and without little kids running everywhere). I was glad that M had read the books and seen most of the movies so that she could explain a few things to me. The end dumps you out into the gift shop as any good exhibit should.
Overall, it was enjoyable. Not as fantastic as I had hoped for. But, it's also the first leg of the national tour that it is doing and it's early on in this stop. So, it might even get better with time. If you are or know a HP fan, it's totally worth the money.

It's too early for this

It wasn't even 10am this morning before I got an e-mail from one of my clients calling me out on something. Not a fun way to start my morning! Yes, she has every right to call me out on it. Yes, it was totally my bad. In the grand scheme of things, it's probably not a big deal but I do feel horrible about it. This is the part of new jobs that I hate. Making mistakes, feeling totally overwhelmed by how new everything is, feeling like you should be 'getting it' more than you do. I've only been here a bit over 3 months. I should give myself a little grace. I just hate messing up. I'm enjoying my new job but it has been the hardest transition into a new job that I have ever had to make. The expectations were high from the moment I walked in the door and I hate the feeling of not living up to those expectations. Things will be fine, I know that. I'm pretty sure I'm harder on myself than anyone else is.

Go Cubs Go!

I finally went to a game at Wrigley Field and there wasn't a tornado! I got to go to one game last season but our seats weren't actually in the stadium. We had tickets to one of the surrounding rooftops which come with all you can eat and drink and are therefore awesome tickets to have. There was just the tiny, little problem called a tornado actually hitting the city that kind of made it a bummer of a night. So, this last Friday night when my friend called to say she had three extra tickets to Saturday's game, I quickly agreed to rearrange my day to be there. (I learned later in the day that a 4-year-old will indeed realize that you are not at their birthday party and will ask you why you weren't there if you bring up the subject of the party.)
I will say, baseball fan or not, Wrigley Field is a great place to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon. It was a bit chilly in the shade, but I enjoyed my overpriced beer in my amazing free seats, chatted with my friends, laughed at fans who had enjoyed a few too many over priced beers, watched the Cubs win 6 to 1, spotted the few patches of green starting to form on the ivy walls and got to sing along with 40,000 other fans during the 7th inning stretch in a key I had never heard of in all my years in choir. Fabulous!
The rest of the day consisted of a 1-year-old's birthday party (yes, that would have been two childrens birthday parties in one day), dinner with friends, going to bed early and one other event that I might tell you about if you are really nice to me...

A glimmer of hope

Earlier today our neighbor from downstairs stopped by. This is the neighbor who is really nice if you run into him outside and whatnot but he and his roommate have been the worst neighbors I have ever had. They are nice until you tell them that they are being too loud and then they yell at you. I didn't know it was too much to ask to not have your apartment vibrate from their music. Moving on...
He came by today to let us know that they have sublet their place starting June 1!! Woo hoo! Of course, we are also in the process of trying to find a subletter and that will most likely be for June 1 at this point, but now I can rest easy knowing that whoever moves in here will not be mad at me later for not mentioning the people downstairs.
It's at least one step in the right direction. Now, if only we could find someone to move into our place too...

Nice to meet you?

Almost 3 months ago I started my new job. I showed up at work, got a tour of the office, sat down at my new desk, got my computer all set up and started meeting and getting to know the people on my team and the people that I sit near. Well, almost all of the people. Somehow I was never introduced or didn't introduce myself to the guy who sits in one of the cubicles next to me. We all sit in little sections of 4 cubes. In my section is one other girl from my team, the handy dandy IT guy for our floor (who introduced himself to me two different times) and the guy that I have never officially met. I know his name because we all have name tags on our cubes (and I'm assuming he's figured out my name by the same means). I have a vague idea of what he might actually do in our office (although my office manager told me he's about as useful as tits on a nun). I know that when there was a really big cockroach in our office a few weeks ago he came to the rescue, thereby making him slightly more useful than my office manager thinks. I know that he was or is a sailor of the military variety because I can overhear his stories of being on the ship. I know he recognizes me when we pass in the hallways. However, we never speak to each other. There's really no work-related reason we would need to speak but we don't even say good morning to each other.
Does this all stem from not having ever been introduced to each other? Should I have just stuck out my hand on my first day and introduced myself and said nice to meet you? Should I just randomly ask him sometime how his weekend was? Or, do I just go on pretending I don't even notice? Does he also sense the strangeness of the situation or is this normal? It's a very large organization so I don't expect to know everyone but I'm used to at least having a cordial conversation every now and then with the people I sit 5 feet away from 5 days a week.

If you could smell my apartment

You might be in a little bit of heaven, just like me. I got the urge to bake something this afternoon (the roommate is gone and I love using a kitchen when I can have it all to myself) so I decided on some cupcakes. I just took the Brown-Sugar Pound Cupcakes out of the oven and once they cool a bit I will be making the brown-butter glaze to go on top of them. A friend made these for a baby shower and they were amazing. We stole the recipe from some lady named Martha who has a magazine and a tv show and I have heard is kind of a household wonder woman of sorts.

Tonight, I am enjoying the smell of brown sugar and butter and tomorrow I will use them to bribe my co-workers into liking me.