The Tree

Simply Having a Wonderful...

Going down to the city was fun as always. I took the Megabus down for the first time which worked out well. It was much nicer to read a book and relax then driving down. The only issue I had was with the older man sitting in front of me who asked me to stop talking on my phone since he had a migraine.

Back in Albany I can finally relax a little after the busy semester. Last week I still felt like I should be doing something (a paper), but this week I have been vegging out a lot.

After our young adult literature professor gave a lecture about staying on top of the pop culture that teenagers are into, I compromised my own desires and watched the movie Twilight. Seriously, if any of you were considering the same, stop yourself. I was expecting this movie to be bad, but it was worse than expected. Sadly I will probably compromise my own reading desires and try to read the book. We'll see how that goes.

Tonight I am going to go see Wicked here in town which is very exciting. I have only seen a couple Broadway productions so this is a treat. I read the book and found it annoying after the halfway point. I believe the play differs from the book so I am keeping an open mind.

Saturday I fly to the Midwest for my Milwaukee introduction. I can't wait to see where Brian has been living and meet his roommates. Hopefully in between the holiday festivities we have time to see some of Milwaukee before he moves on to his next assigned city.

This is pretty lame/depressing...

In New York

Library funding has already been cut three times in the last 20 months going from $102 million in 2007 to $99 million in 2008, to $91 million in April 2009 and now $87 million with this latest round of deficit reductions. This $4.2 million cut brings Library Aid down to 1998 levels.

http://www.nyla.org/index.php?page_id=1865

You got it, you got it

Thanksgiving was pretty great, at least at first. Brian came to visit and we had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with his family. While he was here we went to a Phish concert in town and the next day drove down to the city to see Guster. Guster was amazing (possibly the best concert ever), but when we pulled off the highway back in Albany my car decided to freak out. A thousand dollars and several public transportation trips later, my car works again. I keep saying I want this car to last through grad school , but I don't know if it will make it.

The semester ended for me with my last paper turned in on Sunday. Being done with my first semester of grad school feels like a big accomplishment. I worked pretty hard to complete everything and hopefully I'll get some stellar grades to prove it. Classes don't start up again until January 20th which is a large span of time to be bored. I only work fifteen hours a week at my job, so my daily agenda is wide open. I foresee many hours wasted away watching TV and movies, but mostly reading books. I haven't had a winter break from college since the break of Dec 2006 - Jan 2007, so I'm pretty stoked.

Although I will have lots of free time, I actually have a bunch of things coming up. This weekend I'm headed for NYC for Thuan and Rach's birthdays. The next weekend I'm Milwaukee bound to stay with Brian until we head to Michigan for Christmas and possible Chicago for NYE.

The New York Public Library

All in Moderation

Not updating my blog is due to immense amounts of homework. Visits home and visits from Brian are great but they make my homework completion more difficult. That being said, it all gets done eventually and right now its all getting done at once. I have about five big papers or projects due the week after Thanksgiving but Brian is coming to visit for Thanksgiving. This means like ususal I have to work ahead like mad and finish everything early. But so far with grad school, everything I freak out about turns out fine and I'm knocking out good grades like it's my business.

Any way since I last wrote: GR trip awesome - it had a good balance of family, friends, relaxation, and fun activities. Special congrats to Matt and Jess! ArtPrize was amazing and maybe the best idea Grand Rapids ever had; I hope it continues in the future.

Brian visit Halloween weekend - also awesome obv. I hate not seeing him all the time. This summer with my unemplyment/15 hours a week of work and his unemployment/15 hour a week of work - we hung out a lot. The last couple weeks he has been doing 12 hour night shifts which means I get to talk to him at most for 15 minutes those days. I can't wait for those day to be over this week.

I am so excited to be finishing this semester. Seriously. I hope that the rest of my classes are more interesting and I can wrestle this degree into the ground and make it happen in two years. Christmas break is going to be awesome and I will read lots of books like a good librarian wannabe.

Dentist

Dentist over. 25 years + candy addiction + brushing + irregular flossing = still 0 cavities.

My hygentist (who looked younger than me)asked if my hometown put floride in the drinking water. I told her that my hometown was actually the first town ever to put floride in the drinking water. She paused and asked if I was perhaps from Grand Rapids Michigan. She had to learn about us in school.

Gets Me Every Time

Is it Thursday night yet? Love it!

The Early (Book) Worm

Another week down. I can already feel my first semester in grad school slipping silently by. Seriously its almost October? In less than two weeks I'll be in Grand Rapids for a wedding (accompanied by Brian which might be the best part). I seem to be planning out my semester by when we'll see each other next. This makes the weeks go by even faster.

I feel like it's almost X-mas. I already started shopping for gifts. A big thing for me lately is planning ahead. I don't have much of a social life so my weekend have been spent getting homework done for the rest of the week (aside from Mad Men marathons). An assignment was finished a record six days early (ridiculous)this week. My workload is heavy enough that I think of this as smart, not pathetic (its probably pathetic).

My beloved four-year old blue fleece has been needing some serious backup. Going into the state's huge educational building I cannot be the girl in a bright blue fleece and its def not as warm as it used to be. Even though my funds are tight, I went to the mall on Saturday to see what I could do. I was on a mission to find the best deal on a fall coat. Of course I started in the Gap, like I always do, I always have a coupon. But I told myself I needed to see what else was out there. After an ill-fitted corduroy jacket, a cheap cotton one, and several military looking ones, I was right back at the Gap buying the jacket I really wanted all along. Why do I fight it?

What it's all about

The lack of updates is due to all of these things happening in the span of one week:
-Starting grad school (with five classes)
-Starting new hours at work
-attending a wedding in Boston (Brian was best man)
-Moving into my new apartment
-Brian moving to Wisconsin

Then after that week we had another wedding. Needless to say after having this past weekend off I finally feel like I can breath a little. Although both weddings were a pleasure to attend and beautiful, I was stressed out.

My classes are a lot of work. Five during the first semester might have been a mistake. I believe that I can muddle though the semester and get all the work done, there just might be some new grey hairs in the process. I really can't complain too much. For a long time I've wanted to go to grad school. I'm so glad to be there and am really interested in most of what I am studying. My young adult literature class is a particular joy to be in; a relief since I think I want to be a high school media specialist.

Now I'm just left adjusting to a new apartment. The place is huge, for much less than Brian and I were paying before. The weird thing is that my roommates never seem to be there. They go home to parents or to boyfriends places. I am alone much of the time. Going from living with your bf in a one-bedroom to being alone in a three-bedroom is a big difference. But again I can't complain. Both of the girls I live with are really nice when I see them.

Ch-ch-changes

This has been a very busy time. Our weekends are packed and in between the weekends we have to work and try to pack up the apartment.

I went to my first Phish concert with Brian. I have to say I enjoyed the music much more than I expected to. Thankfully I missed the one long jam when I went to the bathroom. I get bored when those go on too long. I loved all the glow stick throwing and the energy. That was the positives. And overall it was a positive experience.

The negative: It poured hard right before the concert started. All the males proceeded to take their wet shirts off (not as attractive as you might imagine). We had a blanket on the ground that we ended up leaving there since no one noticed it and stepped on it, covering it with mud and some gum (nice). I was worrying about the blanket and our backpack the whole time since no one seemed to care what they stepped on with their muddy feet. Most of the people barreling though the crowd were boys, who were larger than me (normal), unfortunately this meant that when they barreled into me, I got knocked over. I also was stepped on several times and punched in the back. I am not used to that many people in a concert space (obv).

This past weekend we went down to Long Island to visit Brian's grandma and to attend a lovely engagement party. As soon as we got to Long Island we headed to Jones Beach. I was excited to try swimming in the Atlantic Ocean (a first). Because of Hurricane Bill the wind was incredibly strong and the waves were intense. The waves were super fun for about 20 minutes. Then I got hit with a huge one that sucked me right down which was followed quickly by a second wave knocking me again and giving me a mouthful of gross saltwater. I was scooped right up by my lifeguard bf Brian who is now my unofficial hero. I knew I kept him around for a reason. I also decided Lake Michigan is much better for playing in. The salt water tastes awful and stings my contacts.

Again I hate moving. Although I enjoy throwing dirty shaggy pillows that no one wants out of my new place.

What? No milk song?

Brian and I were at camp last week and loved it. After all of the changes that have been thrust upon us so quickly neither of us was super excited to go up to camp (normally we're pumped) last week. But once it came time to leave we were both really sad to go. I love spending time with friends from Fowler, I feel like I laugh so much there.

We were both volunteer cabin counselors for the middle-school aged week. I had a great cabin of girls who were neither too annoying or too naughty. Sadly the same cannot be said for Brian's cabin who had an extra dose of crazy.

Now we are back and can't ignore the fact that we have to move out of our cozy apartment. I have no idea where to find boxes here to pack things. And I really don't know if I have room in my new place for all the stuff I brought from Michigan almost two years ago.

The next few weekends are going to be jammed full with friends before Brian leaves and I start school. This weekend we have Thuan and Rachel visiting, obviously awesome. Next weekend we have an engagement party and staying with Mema on Long Island. Then the last weekend of August we are hosting a goodbye party for Brian which is also (for me at least) a goodby party for our apartment together. Hopefully I don't lose my marbles in between all the plans.

Hand to Page Combat

It really is crazy to think that I will be walking into my first day of classes in two years. I am expecting grad school to be very challenging. Brian never studied harder in his life than in his first year of grad school and I should expect the same. As a planner at heart I hate the fact that I don't really understand what my classes are going to be about. I was a Communications major in undergrad and the classes were pretty much obvious in their name. Public Relations Writing was obviously going to be lots of press releases. But The Information Environment, Information Knowledge and Organization? I have no clue.

My Young Adult Literature class is a little easier to approach. Like the dork that I am (and since I have plenty of free time), I have already pushed through much of the reading list for the class. This includes almost twenty books written for the teenagers. So far most of them have been very nice reads. The stories are fast paced and the reading is quick. Right now I am reading Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Summary below:

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

She never expects to fall in love with beautiful Prince Po.

She never expects to learn the truth behind her Grace—or the terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

I would never have picked this book up on my own, but I'm so glad I picked it off of the Sci-fi list for my class. I can't put it down.

Fierce

I never know what kind of things I will find at our local library. Sometimes I find a million things I want all at once and other times I come home with nothing. On Monday night, I was ready to leave empty handed when I came across my very favorite TV show back from the days when I had cable. I was lucky enough to find Project Runway season 4 (which I had never seen). Our lovely library lets you take the whole season at once, but you only get two days to watch until the DVDs must be returned. Needless to say for the last two days I have been watching Project Runway all the way though. I didn't realize how much I missed it. Watching it again was great and the season may have been the best one I've seen yet. Now I'm just waiting to find season 5, but I have to wait for August for that one to come out.

Things have been pretty busy for Brian and I. Even without much to do (without full-time jobs and all), we always end up busy. Two weekends ago we had Anna up for a visit and really enjoyed the 4th of July fireworks that Albany has to offer. This past weekend we had Brian's friend PJ and his girlfriend Katie staying with us and attending Tim's wedding. The wedding was great and kicked off our Wedding 2009 season with a bang.

I find it really hard to believe that July is already half way over. The weather is so cool that it just doesn't feel like the dog days of summer at all. I've already been at my part-time job at NYS Library Development for a month or so. It reminds me of my days temping at OMH a lot, which if you have a good memory, were really boring. But at least this one will look good on the ol' resume.

Express Yourself

Well this week I started at the New York State Library. So far they really don't have much for me to do there. Another job sitting and waiting for the clock to tick faster. But at least this job will look great on the resume.

The best thing about the job is the view out the window. I am on the tenth floor of the building which sits on a high point in Albany. I felt like I was getting vertigo for a bit my first day, but who knows what vertigo even feels like, maybe it was nothing.

Having something to do two days a week isn't so bad. Most people work five days then have two off, for me its the opposite.

Lately we have been going to the local library all the time. The DVD selection is great and Brian has been getting CDs out like its his job. I have been reading so much, I don't think I've read this much since my summer breaks during middle/high school. If I was in a summer reading program now, I would get tons of points for all the books I'm reading.

You can really feel the heat coming now. The weather has been so rainy lately, but now that it has stopped, the heat has started. I love going to the neighboorhood pool here so I hope to go all the time and get a fabulous tan.

Feeling hot hot hot

I turn 25 tomorrow, kinda feeling old. Thank god I have some sort of plan for my life right now or I might be freaking out about 25 more.

The best thing about having a birthday in Albany is going to Bombers and getting your free giant margarita. We now have a new option of a glass boot filled with free birthday beer at the Beer Garden. We tried going there for Brian's birthday but the boot had been broken. Apparently eight boots have been broken since the place opened about a month ago. As much as I like all that free beer I like a free margarita more.

I haven't been writing on this blog as much. Being unemployed is a trial to be sure. When you meet people they automatically ask what you do and when you do nothing that's a bit of a downer question. Anyway, I just really don't have much to write about on this blog unless people want to know all the books and movies I have been consuming.

Since last writing I attended two graduation ceremonies. My friend Anna graduated from Seton Hall becoming a Speech Pathologist. It was a really nice ceremony and all of her friends came out to support her since her family couldn't make it. Brian's ceremony was equally nice. While I sat with his parents I could tell how proud they were of him (me too). I got excited watching him graduate knowing I would be in the same spot in two years, graduating from my program. We figured out Brian's cousin should be at the same ceremony at U Albany with me, so that will be fun.

On Thursday I head off to Michigan for a whirlwind three day visit. I am so excited to go down to Festival again! I really think that Festival weekend is the most fun you can have in Grand Rapids all year long. I haven't been able to attend since the summer of 2007.

Lately our apartment building is like a revolving door. People moving out and in all the time. We can't tell if this is more than normal since we don't usually spend so much time in our apartment. Either way we have new neighbors next to us, hopefully they will be on the quiet side.

Pups

For quite a while now, I have been informing Brian that as soon as our living arrangements allow, I really want a puppy. I have not had a puppy of my own to play with since the 2nd grade when we got our first family dog Shelby. Shelby was so cute and little; we picked the smallest girl and the runt of the litter. She may have chewed up everything and peed on stuff in the beginning but it was totally worth it. When my whole family walked in the door with a full grown 2-year old that was Bailey (our current dog) I was pretty bummed that we missed out on his puppy year. Bailey would have been a very cute puppy. Brian family's dog gave birth to a litter of adorable Springer pups and I love looking at pictures of them.

But the more I think about having a dog, I don't know if I ever will. I hate things being dirty, I hate washing animals, and I hate the hair. I hate the way my hands feel after petting a dog or cat. I don't like the way houses can come to smell like the animals that live there and not the people. Maybe a puppy isn't in my future, but I still love to see them.

Not again

Well the weather is warm again and here in our apartment/neighborhood that means a lot of things.
-The living room will soon become a boiler
-The window air conditioner will create a nice ice box in our bedroom
-Everyone will descend on Washington Park to lay out and throw things at each other
-Dogs will be everywhere
-Everyone will try to sit outside at Lark Tavern and Lionheart
-Our neighbors will have parties with lost of people outside on their patios

-Most importantly, the wasps and carpenter bees are back!!!



They look like this! Ugh that noise makes my whole body tense up. I can hear them from across the street! Those females want to drill into my life.

The horrid things buzz around our screens and swoop at you when you are trying to innocently get up the stairs to your door. After a lot of research today I learned that they are rarely aggressive, yeah, whatever. I also learned that they return to where they are born every year and are pretty hard to get ride of. This information combined with the fact that our landlord has more important things on his mind means that I will spend another summer not sitting on our little porch. I hate them.

This week was also free food week for us.
Monday - free Bombers
Tuesday - free Ben and Jerry's
Wednesday - sadly none
Thursday - free Chipotle
Friday - we tried to use a Friendly's coupon for free ice cream and they called us fraudulent
Today - We are going to try again with a different Friendly's

Butterfly in the sky

Well after lots of studying for the hellish GMATs and lots of applications, I ended up getting into two SUNY Albany grad programs: the MBA program and the Masters of Science in Information Studies. I choose Information Studies and plan take courses to become a school media specialist (librarian). I blame all that working with kids I did, my parents for making me read so much, and obviously Reading Rainbow with some Wishbone thrown in.



I am really excited to go back to school full-time and start a new chapter (books!) of my life.

In other unemployment news, I am still unemployed. This left me free to go visit the fam in GR on easter. The 11 hour drive was pretty good. There was no traffic at any of the borders (never happens) and a book on tape made the time fly. The visit was really nice, I got to see lots of family and many friends. I think Bailey misses me already.

Brian and I have been going to a rescue mission to serve dinner about once a week. They really needed us yesterday when we showed up. It's always nice to feel needed there and we have become friendly with a lot of the staff. One of the guys was working on a word puzzle. He walked up to me to ask a question, "You should know this, is the term administration?"
I ask in what context, he can't seem to be able figure out how to answer me. I tell him administration is a word and it can be correct. We go round and round. He asks Brian, he asks other people, everyone is confused. He comes back to me, "This administration term is for a 20 day cycle. Maybe a 14-20 day cycle".
Ohhhh now I get what he doesn't want to ask, "Do you mean the female cycle?" I ask him.
"Yeah, yeah that cycle!"
"That is called MENstruation not administration."


And for good measure Wishbone as Mr. Darcy:

Keep it cool, what's the name of this club?

We had a special election yesterday which Brian and his parents voted in. It was kinda of a big deal with national coverage and all that jazz. A couple weeks ago I found out that two guys I graduated high school with were working on this same campaign for the democratic candidate. I went out to volunteer for a day which was pretty interesting. I was skittish about making phone calls before I got there but I eased into it and it was pretty easy. I was calling those listed on the absentee list, so it was mostly older people who have trouble getting out. Some where nice and some were not. Now this democratic candidate is ahead by 50 something votes and those absentee calls might matter. Like I said to Brian in a close race like this, how can you argue that your vote doesn't matter.

I have been reading all the books that I'd been meaning to read and watching all the movies I'd been meaning to watch. Most have been worth it. Ghost Town not so much.

This past Friday we went to the dinner dance Brian's program puts on every year. The food was awesome but sadly the DJ was not. He decided we loved 90s songs many of us had never heard and played them all night long.

Pancakes at my place!

It is currently 56 degrees here in Albany, NY. Tomorrow they say it will be 59. This means two things; I get to wear my sunglasses all the time (I enjoy wearing sunglasses) and that the wasps are back to hovering right outside out apartment windows (terrifying).

Last weekend I went down to stay with my friend Thuan and see Anna in the city. I love visiting, but lord, all that walking wore me out. I think my feet are still recovering. We had a really good time. Thuan cooked us the most delicious Vietnamese meal which included some of her best egg-rolls ever. Her place is great and all her friends were super nice and fun to hang out with. I used my trusty TomTom to drive in and out of the city. It went surprisingly well, I only got honked at twice.

As I mentioned before in this blog, I have been looking forward to jury duty for a long time. Yesterday was finally the day! When the whole jury pool was finally in the court room the judge read the charges. It was for a murder case, a stabbing! Pretty intense stuff. Then they began pulling random juror numbers to begin the questioning for jury selection. I was the second number called. The questioning went on for what seemed like two hours, which was just of the thirty or so jurors, like myself, that had their numbers pulled in the first group. I really didn't have to answer them for many of their questions. Most of the other people were older than me and had way more life experience that might hinder then from being open-minded. In the end I, along with most all of the first group, was excused. I am curious why I was excused. It may have been because the accused was a young person like myself or because I had a family member in the military. I guess I'll never know.

I've always wanted to be on a jury, but a murder trial may have been too intense for me. Now I get to wait another six years for my next chance.

Take a look

Being unemployed has its ups and downs.

Between Tuesday when I got my new library card (very overdue) and Sunday I read three books. Three books in less than a week is more books than I have read in the last couple months. Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy reading.

I have also been happy to sleep in everyday of the week.

We went to a U Albany basketball game this weekend. Another loss, but this time it was heart breaking. The team played much better than the last time we saw them, but it wasn't enough.

Picking up the Pieces

I was gearing up to write a post on Friday afternoon at work, when something truly surprising happened; I got laid off. My boss walked in with my pay check and with it was another envelope. He started to explain that he was really sorry, and work was slow, and checks weren't coming in, and they couldn't afford to keep me. For a couple beats I thought it was a joke and did a head tilt at him, an are-you-for-real look. It wouldn't be the first time he jokingly fired someone. But after those beats I could tell that it wasn't a joke, he was serious and he looked like he might cry.

So now I'm part of the sad statistics of the US of A. I felt really sad and angry about it for a couple days. I wish I had some warning. He told me they were turned down for a loan so things must have been bad for a while and I didn't know about it. I hate thinking the guys knew all week and still talked to me as if things were normal. But it didn't matter much as I packed up my few belongings (and the good pens) and took off.

Now comes the hassle of figuring out unemployment, figuring out if I'm starting school in the fall, and figuring out what to do with myself. Mostly right now I'm in a waiting pattern. I'm really thankful that I don't have a mortgage or a car payment, things could be a lot worse I guess.


Other than that the Bachelor was nuts last night. I knew most of what happened in advance since I spend a lot of time on the internet and the show was leaked all over the place. I think Jason made a mistake and he did his best to correct it. Like him, I thought Molly was better anyway.

As a "wise" man once said...

"You have a blog, blog on it"

This weekend I visited my friend Rachel in Boston for Valentine's Day single girl weekend. I am not really single but it was a lot of fun to hang out with a group of hilarious, nice females. We all put on our skirts and dresses and enjoyed a truly delicious Valentine's Day dinner. The restaurant decided to play Eleanor Rigby which is about all the lonely people (and faces in jars). My table was having none of that.

Boston is very easy to get to from Albany.

I have a new site I visit all the time: http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/
Check it!

A couple weekends ago we attended a U Albany basketball game. It had been promoted as the, Big Purple Growl, and was kinda of a big deal. UA played awful and was lucky enough to stay within about ten points of the winners the whole game. The place was packed and the whole crowd was behind them, but Albany never rallied. Coming from GVSU this wasn't fun for me. The games I usually attended at college were almost always a win for us, often by huge margins.

On the way to work I always see the Hudson River. There have been some really cool ice flows lately. Since I am driving I don't really get a good look at them. When I was a freshmen in college, I took the bus from campus to downtown Grand Rapids all year to get to work. I would walk across the Grand River on my way to work. One of my favorite things (when I wasn't cursing the cold or the bus) was seeing the river everyday.

Note to Nicole: I gave up Diet Coke on New Years of 2007. Do you not remember my resolution?

Love it!

Bringing the LOLs

I really did laugh out loud, see if you can't.

Lucky or Unlucky?

I've got two pieces of news this week:

1) The County of Albany wants me
2) My mouth had turned against me

Lets cover number 1 first. As I have mentioned before in this blog, it has always been a dream (deluded?) to be a part of a jury. I was pretty sad to get my summons for Grand Rapids a couple months ago, which was well past my residency there. But the heavens were listening and I received my jury questionnaire for Albany County yesterday. I haven't even been a resident a year yet. What are the chances!

Next up 2. My whole life I have never once had a cavity. Sadly this fact ceased to be true yesterday when I was informed I had some small decay on a molar. I guess it's my own fault for not seeing a dentist since July 2007. The news made me feel very deflated. I always thought I was impervious in some way to tooth decay.

On a side note: I really enjoy hearing hygentists and doctors talk to each other as they refer to teeth by letters and numbers. They know I have no clue what teeth they are talking about and I like it that way too.

There are two right behind you

Right now the other two people at my work are sitting in dark playing some shooter computer game.

I really don't know why they need me here half the time.

Lately our apartment has been pretty hot. For those of you who don't know, heat is included in our rent so we have no control over the temperature in our apartment. If we leave the windows closed it can easily get up to 87 degrees. Obviously this is why we try to open windows as often as possible. It usually get to a comfortable 78 or so.

While we have gotten pretty used to this, it's kinda awkward when we go to a regular home. A normal household keeps their thermostat anywhere from 68-73 degrees. This can feel really cold to us and we have to wear extra clothing when we visit other people's houses.

Here we go again

I had a really nice holiday season. Going home to Michigan was really nice. My grandma was pleasant to stay with and loves Brian a whole lot. Being at my old house was just as it should be: relaxing and nice. I also got to see lots of family and friends which is always a blessing. It already seems like a long time ago.

For the new year we cooked some good food and stayed home. Just what we needed after lots of traveling.

We decided we might want to try flying more to Michigan.

I spent more minutes than I like describing, to people at get-togethers, what I do at my job. I feel like I need to make excuses for not doing something better, but the truth is, this job is a job until the next thing comes in my life and I should be grateful to have it. The economy sucks right now.

Things I can appreciate about my current employment:
-I get to go home early a lot without docked pay
-I can surf the Internet all day long
-I can watch movies and TV shows at work
-All the guys I work with are very nice and sometimes funny
-Often I get free pizza or a Quiznos sub
-I have learned a few new skills
-The boss says "thank you" when I do simple tasks