Episode 55: Birthdays and Work

I’ve heard a rumor around these halls at work that the time clock wishes you happy birthday. What a nice time clock.

I have NO IDEA if it’s true, though.

I don’t work on my birthday.

The very first year I celebrated my birthday while employed here, October 14^th fell on a Friday. Several things happened that day: I took the day off, Daniel Craig was announced as the sixth official James Bond actor and I slept in. Later that day, I met up with Janet to make a trip down to Las Vegas because who doesn’t want to spend their birthday weekend on their feet all day moving from one store to the next, purchasing makeup you hardly use from Sephora and clothes you still wear from Urban Outfitters? Good birthday.

The next year, my birthday was on a Saturday. For some reason, though, I don’t really remember what happened that year. I probably didn’t sleep in because I had a soccer game. But again, I did not work. Oh and also, Chelsea FC’s goalkeepers both suffered serious injuries that day against Reading FC—Cech fractured his skull and Cudicini had a concussion. Defender John Terry had to finish the game as keeper.

Moving on now to 2007: My birthday fell on a Sunday. I slept in! Church didn’t start until 1:00pm. I believe at the time, I probably sat in really uncomfortable pews so I was utilizing a blow-up “back pillO.” Yep. Getting older is superb.

Bring on 2008. I planned a last minute trip with James and Maren to visit Peter and Genny! So I woke up (probably late enough to consider it sleeping in) in Portland, Oregon after spending time in Seattle and hitting up Cannon Beach the previous days. Pete had to work so the rest of us made our way to Multnomah Falls where we raced a train took a lot of pictures and hiked all the way to the top. Mighty cool birthday.

And now we’ve arrived at this year. My birthday fell on a Wednesday. Right in the middle of the week. Kind of awkward. So I just took the one day off. I woke up at 7:30 am, read a text on my phone and then remembered, I could sleep in. So I dropped my head back down on that pillow and went right back to sleeping. Once I finally did get up, I ate breakfast, did laundry, returned texts and went to the gym. Then it was back home to make soup, burn my tongue eating it, finish laundry, clean up and go over to Tracy’s to see the demolition of their kitchen and have my four-year old niece perform several happy birthday dances for me.

Jane’s happy birthday dances were incredible.

Eventually, Jane and Abe came with me to play at my house for a bit, drew all over dozens of post-it notes and stuck them on my fridge.

Dinner was at my parents’ with my siblings. Besides the great gifts, they all went around the circle and told me nice things about myself. We may tease my dad for being cheesy in his “old age,” but I sure do appreciate this new cheesy tradition we do.

After all the eating, gift opening, complimenting Larrie, and sweeping up peanut shells that were all over the kitchen floor, I went over to Kasey’s for delicious cake and celebrations with my friends.

See how great my birthday was? No working! (I briefly checked email around 3:00pm and sent one response because I was worried about anything going wrong on a project when I’m gone for ONE day.) It felt like a holiday. Larrie Day.

Birthdays at work don’t feel like holidays.

Elder Campbell’s Parting Words

“I’m not even began to be packed.” ~James

Little brother is now in the MTC preparing to serve an LDS mission in the Dominican Republic. Clearly, he was already forgetting his English before he had even left.

A Smorgasbord of Quotes

So while I was participating in the blog tasks to improve my blog last month, I was queuing up quotes for my quotes of the week. So this week, let’s post TEN of those, how ‘bout? Great because they’re pretty fabulous and DYING for me to post them.

“These just touch the tastebuds of the palate of my mouth.” ~McJosh

“You didn’t take a photo of the words that you heard in the air.” ~Maren to Thane about how he didn’t have a photographic memory about a date mentioned in the priesthood session of LDS General Conference.

“Why would you get a poo-brown-color Maserati? That’s disgusting.” ~Maren

“You can’t feel the spirit reading the scriptures on an iPhone.” ~James

“My cubicle was like a bubble of happy smells.” ~Audrey

“Turns out everyone has an extra stomach just for dessert.” ~Megs

“That was my tired voice talking.” ~Beth

“When you poach, nobody wins.” ~Rachel

“Oh my crap and crap it’s so good.” ~Marissa

And to finish it off, a great quote that Monica emailed my way and I agree with WHOLE-HEARTEDLY:

“Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.” ~W. H. Auden

Tasty Arugula

Aren’t you excited for the Sciolist to return to normal? Hooray! Quotes are back, the IT office is back, but I don’t think Therapy Thursdays will return… check back Thursday to see.

“What’s Arugula?” ~Maren

“It’s like an old school car horn: ah-rooo-gala.” ~James

Day 29: Zermatt Resort Review

I’ve been MIA for a bit there. Were you worried? You probably haven’t even been by to check, either, so let’s not worry about it. I’m back now and I’m going to pick and choose which “Build a Better Blog” task to complete for today from those that I missed. Choices are:

• Develop a Blog Plan
• Write a ‘Review’ Post
• Hunt for Dead Links

The first and third sound boring so the winner is, a Review! How exciting.

I received a package in the mail the other day. It was sent to my parents’ house so my Mom gave it to me when we met at Smith’s Marketplace to purchase plants on Friday. It was in a nice silver bag with a large bow on it and a note, which said something to the tune of: “Here’s our new shampoo, conditioner and products. Let us know what you think!”

Have you ever checked out of a Hotel and taken home a few “free” souvenirs like the shower cap or the tiny bottle of shampoo? If you stay at the Zermatt Resort in Midway, they will MAIL you said souvenirs. All you have to do is send them a little note about how much you didn’t like the shampoo/conditioner bottles because you bruised your fingers squeezing so hard to get anything out.

Shortly after sending this email, you will receive a response from an executive sales administrator:

Thank you for your feedback, and wonderful comments on our associates and resort We’re all very proud of Zermatt Resort – and are thrilled that enjoyed your stay.
Regarding the shampoo and conditioner – yes – we are keenly aware of the complication with those products, and agree that they are difficult to use. We apologize for this inconvenience, and again – appreciate the feedback. We will finally be ordering wonderful new products the first of May, as our current supply is finally dwindling!!
Thanks again, and I’ll be sure to pass on your good words to all. We look forward to seeing you again at Zermatt Resort in the future.

Despite the painful use of punctuation, you must agree with me that it was a great response. And then to receive the little package in the mail with the NEW products, which certainly are not difficult to use and smell so nice.

As far as the resort, I stayed up there a few weekends ago with James and Maren. This included staying in one of the posh penthouse suites where the bidet was clean, the tub was giant and the robes were neatly folded on the bed just waiting for us. I’ve never walked into a room before to find my own robe. However, there were only two so we made a phone call to request a third and someone ran it right up.

It was only a short, weekend vacation, but brief as it was, I almost felt like I was on a cruise, with the several buffets we went to, the late night hot tubbing and the gift shop filled with international chocolates.

It was a rainy weekend so we didn’t get a chance to see much of Midway except for one of the hot pots at the Homestead Resort across the street. So instead, we ate. A lot. We skipped the pasta buffet, but we didn’t miss out on the seafood or pancake buffets. If there was a contest between those two buffets over which was the best, the seafood buffet would easily take home first prize. The chef who made the fish tacos not only made tasty tacos, but also had a good laugh with us. James and I practiced some Spanish with him and then he ran to the kitchen to chop up a spicy pepper just for us. It wasn’t as hot as the peppers Thane brought home from Korea, but James and I watered our eyes a bit eating some. Also, the desserts were delectable and we filled up several plates with each option: little cheesecakes, tiny mousses and bites of tarts.

To sum it all up, if you’re looking for a little European getaway tucked away in the mountains of Midway, UT where the shampoo and conditioner are in easy to use containers, Zermatt is your place to be. Tell them I sent you. (They have no clue who I am except for Marcus at the front desk.)

Day 6: 10 Reasons You Might Not Comment

Welcome to Day 6. I’m on vacation, but James and Maren are watching a movie in our hotel room so here I am blogging from the penthouse suite at the Zermatt Resort in Midway. If you are missing the Facebook status updates lately, we’ve been to two buffets, hot tubbed, and somebody (not me) used the bidet with ONLY the hot water turned on. Silly sister.

Today’s “Build a Better Blog” task was a reading assignment for myself. I scanned over articles from “successful bloggers” about how to become like them. I haven’t yet read any of them except for one, which was a list about reasons readers don’t comment. I decided to make my own list.

10 Reasons You Might Not Comment:

1. What I write is so off the wall, that you don’t have anything to say except, “weird” or “have you been committed yet?” This probably occurs on most Thursdays. And that’s okay. I don’t have comments for those “Therapy Thursday” posts either.
2. Somebody else already commented and their caption is so good, I couldn’t possibly win the contest this week. That’s too bad you feel that way. You should never give up before you’ve started. I believe in you. Just wanted to say that.
3. I started typing a comment and then realized that I have to enter my email address; never mind. That’s just to make sure you’re not spamming me. In case you’ve never noticed the counter on the side, my poor little blog has had to block/delete just over 1,100 spam comments. Don’t worry. Your email is safe with me.
4. The people who post comments on your blog are really funny and I just don’t know if I can compete. I know, right?
5. You always respond to comments and I just don’t want that kind of attention. Yes, you do. You just don’t realize it until after it happens. Try it. See how it feels.
6. I only read from my RSS Reader so I can’t comment. Well, every now and then, just to make me feel good, you should venture outside the safety of your reader, drop in and post a comment. Just think how you’ll make me feel and it’s all about lifting others, right? You’re so thoughtful.
7. I’m a really bad speller and you’re an English major. Enough said.
8. I have so much to say, but I don’t want to be that person that writes a novel of a comment so I just say nothing. Fine. Be that way. Save your novel for a publisher and make some money off of it.
9. I just like to stalk you… anonymously. That’s creepy, but understandable.
10. I came once, because of a random Google search like “funny fb status” or “excessive throat clearing”; I have nothing to add. Thank you for coming. Have a nice day. Go back to Google.

We have ANOTHER Elder Campbell

The last of my brothers has his mission call (for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and with it, I’m losing my lifting buddy on July 1^st when James reports to the MTC. Instead of just telling you where he’s going, try and guess. We’ll make it a game, shall we? I’ll give you some clues:

He’s not going to any of the missions the other brothers went to, or even the same continent. (Mick went to Santiago, Chile, Jarv to Budapest, Hungary, Pete to Quezon City, Philippines, and Thane to Seoul, Korea.)

He’s not going to Reno, like Maren had initially told Martha who tried to be nice about it for a few hours.

He’s not even going stateside.

He’s not going to the same mission (or same continent) that the “adopted” brother who is really my ex-step-cousin Chris went to: Mozambique Maputo.

He’s not going to Antarctica.

He’ll be serving in a city with over two million residents.

He won’t be speaking English.

He’ll be by beaches, but not at them or in the water (ha!).

He might get a chance to visit some of the historic buildings, which include palatial houses and churches built after an architectural style of the late medieval period.

The first Cathedral on this continent was built in this city.

The first castle on this continent was built in this city.

In 1844, their national hero helped this country gain their independence from their neighbor rulers.

The country has an estimated 2 million internet users.

Columbus’s younger brother founded the city.

That should have pretty much given you plenty of information. Where’s he going? Post your guess in the comments. Unless you already know… then guess something totally wrong, just to throw people off.

They’ve Set Up Little Picket Lines Around the North Pole

This week’s quote is more of a story. Here’s the background:

The “Elves” (Emma, 8; Abe, 5; and Claire, 5) were negotiating with “Santa” (James, 19), on Sunday via a legally responsible and easily documented letter. (Basically, they were writing messages on a legal pad and delivering it to Santa who would respond on the same yellow paper.) Here’s how the negotiations went down.

Elves: Crimas* is done and now tis back and we have to get rete** for Crimas. Santa you have to wake up now Santa cas now you will have to wake up rit now.

Santa: (He was writing with a red pencil) Dear Elves, You think I’ve been asleep but I have been watching you and you have been naughty. No presents for you this year!

Elves: YOU ARE STOPID.

Santa: Santa does not like being made fun of. Now you won’t get another present for the rest of your life.

Elves: YOU WE*** NOT GET ENE**** PRESENT CUS WE ARE TOYS MAKERS.

So bad news for all you kids out there. The elves are ON STRIKE. Christmas 2009 is looking doubtful unless Obama can step in and bailout Santa so he can hire new elves or Hillary can stop by and assist in peaceful negotiations. Phew, it’s good to know the government can save the world.

---

*How do YOU spell Christmas?

**Faster than just getting ready.

***We meaning WILL, obviously.

****Similar to ANY.

Mmm… Corn Syrup

“Well, I’m a corn syrup child so I like it.” ~James (referring to eating at Wingers)

---

Political Link of the Day: “Cancer Patients Lose Shot at Longer Life in U.K. Cuts” (can’t WAIT for socialized health care)

Attack of the Deer

I was attacked… at Maren’s rockin’ Halloween party. Luckily, the deer (James) doesn’t bite TOO hard.

---

Political Link of the Day: “The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace“