Victim

I work for a private company that contracts with public programs. A little confusing, but it works. Prior to this job, I never had to deal with performance evaluations and merit increases. The state or non-profit company I worked for at the time would do an across the board cost-of-living increase every year or so and everyone got the same thing. Now, I go through a 3 step process that involves self-evaluation, discussion, and eventual merit increase based on performance. I just had my final meeting last week and did better than I expected, so the mood was high when I called the automatic teller to check my direct deposit amount. The AT gave a balance first. I have been a little lax in the checkbook balancing, so I opted to hear the last 10 transactions because I had no idea how much of that balance was my paycheck and how much was left over from last time. Here's what I heard:

Withdraw 4/19 10.59
Withdraw 4/19 10.59
Withdraw 4/19 10.59
Withdraw 4/19 10.59
Withdraw 4/19 10.59
Withdraw 4/19 10.59
Direct Deposit 4/19 $$$$$$$ (Did you really think I was going to tell you how much I get paid?)
Withdraw 4/19 23.05
Withdraw 4/19 10.59
Withdraw 4/19 10.59

After the first couple of repeats of, "Withdraw 4/19 10.59," I thought maybe the computer had a glitch. Wrong. I called my local branch and found out that someone used my debit card to purchase copious amounts of memberships to a couple of different online retailers. The bank immediately blocked the card and told me to come in to take care of the paperwork. We discovered that the bulk of the transactions took place with 2 retailers I never use (they shall remain nameless because I will not promote them even negatively). One would think that after 17 purchases on the same day, using the same credit/debit card number, someone would be suspicious. Nope. They pushed them all through.

Between Friday, Saturday, and Tuesday I filled out 35 affidavits for 35 transactions and I am currently waiting for the bank to refund around 400 bucks. Everyone at the bank knows me by name now, due to the serious amount of quality time I spent with Brent, the bank manager. I believe Brent may name his second child after me.

You know what made me the maddest? The fact that the criminal didn't go for the big stuff. Penny-ante shit at 10 or 6 dollars a shot x 35. What a waste of time.

My theory is - If you're going to violate someone, be a real criminal, not a petty thief. At least when you go to jail, you'll have something to brag about.

Sexy Ugly Boys

Around the time of my TV Rant that contained a brief love letter and girly squee over Eddie Izzard, wzgirl said, "So you like Sexy-ugly, too?" At time I had a brief, "yeah I do" moment and let it go. Well, last night the thought about how much I like sexy-ugly boys hit home when I realized that every Friday night (EST), time stops between 9:00-10:00 so I can watch my current crush mumble through an hour of pretty bad TV.

For some reason, it's always the best friend of the sexy leading man or the weird brother of the beautiful leading woman that gets me. I do not feel the Brad Pitt love. Ever.

Now don't get me wrong, I love a pretty boy. I love Julian McMahon. Lots and lots. I also really appreciate many other handsome men. But I'm telling you, it's the SUB that crushes me. There's just something about the weird, quirky ones.

My sexy-ugly boys:




Who are yours?

One Question Answered

It's about damn time.

Who, What, When, Where, and Why?

Some questions I've been pondering. What are your thoughts dear reader?

What the hell is going on with this Sanjaya thing?

Why am I almost 36 and have more pimples now than at 16, and why am I compelled to pick at them and create scars on my aging, tender skin?

Where can I find really cute summer flats that fit? I have a wide ball of foot/toe area and a narrow heel. Every flat I find fits in the front and flops in the back.

What is Jay Z talking about in the song Big Pimpin', when he talks about "spinning the cheese;" is that really what he's saying, and if so, what is he referring to?

Why is it that people will release intensely personal blogs, share all of their emotions, day-by-day life events, tears, joys, fears, and turmoil then shut down? I understand the purpose of going private; to me, that's a non-issue. However, when a blogger has hundreds of readers hanging onto their daily posts, there has to be some obligation to the reader and when does that end (or start)? What obligation does a blogger have to his/her readers to keep going? Why is it that the reader feels some emotional tie to the blogger, and why are we so disappointed when it ends? Who gets the shaft - the blogger who feels compelled to be witty and produce, or the reader who invests time and emotion in this person who has let it all hang out for years then is cut off without warning?

What's going on with women today who feel like they must participate in a show like The Bachelor or Flava of Love? When did women become this desperate for a taste of fame or for a man?

Who can tell me where to find a mascara that doesn't flake or cause raccoon eye?

When does career happiness take place of career advancement or change? I spend a lot of time thinking about this, and may take a plunge into something different. My job and my doc program have 2 completely different paths. I will not advance or move in my job after I finish this program, so I am constantly wondering when and how to make the change.

San Antonio

Per Johnny's recommendation, I decided not to blog about our recent trip to San Antonio until we returned. I hinted several times on the blog that we were headed to Texas, but never said when we were going to be gone. Not that I believe any of the few readers I have were going to rob our house.

B and I had a wonderful week in San Antonio at the 2007 SITE conference. Instead of comprehensive exams, my university requires doc students to complete a Residency Portfolio. The RP is a capstone experience that each student must complete prior to acceptance to candidacy. I am pretty far into the process. I have developed an online course, taught said course for the last 2 semesters, and presented at our bi-annual student seminar. With this conference, I added 2 more artifacts to my RP - a published paper and a presentation at an international conference. My presentation was part of an 8 person symposia about the RP process and multimedia integration. My piece was about the mentoring relationship during the development of my course. It went off without a hitch, and I was especially flattered because one person (who wasn't B) came just to hear me speak! How cool is that?

On to the trip...

Weather: San Antonio is beautiful, clean and breezy. When the weather was good, it was great. However it managed to rain all day on Monday, and spit in fits on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday was perfect.

Flight: No big deal. The flights down were cramped and we were seated in the very back of a small plane across from the toilets. Nice. The return flights were just as cramped, but we were farther up the plane. Lots of turbulence from the storms, but otherwise okay. Dramamine is my friend.

Food: Everyone I've met who's gone to San Antonio says that the food is wonderful. To me, it was okay. We had good meals and bad meals.

~On Sunday and Tuesday we ended up at this place, it wasn't on purpose, it just happened that way. The best things were the margaritas and the chicken flautas.

~On Wednesday we went out with our group to this place, and I had my best meal in San Antonio - penne with chicken, spicy chilies and tomato cream sauce. Dang, it was awesome.

Wednesday we ate at this crap place because we were stuck in the Riverwalk Mall and later had junk food at the Spurs game. Wednesday was a bad food day all around.

~Thursday those of us left at the conference had our last supper at this place. Meh. Not my favorite. You can swing a cat in our state and hit a steakhouse. This was my worst meal.

~Breakfast was in the hotel. I loved the chef; he made me tomato and cheese omelets every day. It didn't hurt that he was really cute and had sexy tattoos on both forearms.

~I also discovered these, and I am sad, sad, sad because they are not offered in my state. Actually, it's probably a good thing. If I ate these all of the time, I would have cankles and probably weigh 4000 lbs.

Fun:The Riverwalk that winds through the city is beautiful and relaxing. We walked our legs off every day.

~Before we took our car back on Monday, we went to the Quarry Market and shopped, but it was like any other mall.

~Wednesday was perfect, and was Big Fun Day. We shopped at the Riverwalk mall on Wednesday, and I ended up bringing home many T-shirts and lots of this stuff, which smells like a dream. After shopping we went to the Alamo and then took a River Taxi back to our hotel. Later the entire group of us went to the San Antonio/New Orleans NBA game and were so far up in the arena I got vertigo! Check out the pics if you don't believe me!