slowly i turn

i love that episode of i love lucy with the slowly i turn bit in it... the one where she gets sprayed in the face with water. i also like the one where she sets her nose on fire. and when she has to eat her cheese baby.

today is my dad's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! my favorite dad gives business advice story: when i was probably about 13 my dad told me to never fire anyone at lunch b/c then people will be afraid to go to lunch with you.

i wonder if it is better to fire someone on a monday or friday. maybe split the difference and go for wednesday?

last night i went for a bike ride. i went just as the sun was starting to set (that's about 9 PM here... weird, isn't it?). as i rode around i saw fireflies around the trees. that's a very special treat, i think. we don't have those in ca. fireflies aren't as magical as the red tide in ca but it's probably second place. i guess i just enjoy things in nature that glow. anyway, as i would see them light up i thought to myself 'this is like being in love.' i have absolutely NO IDEA what that even means but i thought it and now i'm sharing it with you.

tonight i miss dan. i wish i had someone to go get ice cream with me. dear dan, i miss you. please come visit soon. love always, elaina.

today at work i was given an indian burn. what has this world come to? he was trying to illustrate how he intimdates people... and left a red mark on my arm for about an hour. i was so shocked when it happened that i didn't say anything, i just walked away. in other work news, my boss almost made me puke today. i had to get up and run out of the office and out the back door of the building. and of course he followed me saying 'where are you going?' and i had to come back and be like listen you make me want to vomit! it really wasn't his fault... i just have a very, very sensitive gag reflex. in order to stop myself from vomiting i have a little mantra & visualization trick i use. i say to myself "puppies and rainbows, puppies and rainbows" and picture cute little puppies running around underneath a rainbow. and it works. clears the mind. it's hard to vomit while picturing a puppy running under a rainbow... unless super cuteness makes you want to puke.

today i was on a conference call with the sales manager from north carolina and one of our corporate people. the lady from nc asked me how things are in richmond and i said "IT RAINS A LOT HERE." i don't know why that is always the first thing that pops out my mouth when ever someone asks about how things are going here.
how are things going in richmond? IT RAINS A LOT HERE.
how do you like richmond? IT RAINS A LOT HERE.
are you adjusting to life on the eat coast? IT RAINS A LOT HERE.
do you miss your family? IT RAINS A LOT HERE.
want to go out for dinner? IT RAINS A LOT HERE.
and people always say 'it doesn't normally rain this much.' but really i think normally they don't have someone pointing it out so much. even if it's just a dewy wind in the morning i make sure everyone i see that entire day is informed that IT RAINS A LOT HERE. i also make sure that they know IT'S NOT LIKE THAT IN CALIFORNIA. i find myself saying that a lot. i like to tell everybody here about the way we do things in ca. i'm sure it's super annoying about i can't make myself stop. eat, breath, talk about the way we do things in california, sleep.

the other day i had someone grill me about why i call the parking structure a parking structure. i guess out here it is only acceptable to say "parking deck" or "parking garage." if you say parking structure suddenly people will have no clue what you're talking about. which is odd b/c if i was in ca and someone said "it's free to park in the parking deck / garage" i would understand what they meant. i wouldn't feel the need to explain that both decks and garages are things that are attached to houses and there isn't one located next to the building but that it was ok b/c i already parked for free in the parking structure.