Let's get the exciting part out of the way, so the rest of the reading is, frankly, anticlimactic. Apologies. I am just not good at that suspense stuff.
Modern Mugwump is now Miss Modern American Red Cross Intern Mugwump, thank you very much. That is right, ladies and gentlemen, patience and geekdom has finally paid off and I am the new Marketing and Communications Intern at the American Red Cross-Twin Cities.
The happy dance was so frantic and long that I was sweaty. To the point of needing another shower. Although, the lack of A/C in the apartment may have something to do with that too.
It's kind of late right now, and I have had a long exciting day (interview and get dream job, although its not paid, and then close at paid job that is definitely NOT my dream job) so I probably won't make this as good of a story as it could be, but basically the woman that interviewed me said she could tell I was a geek about emergency preparedness when she read my resume and the interview apparently confirmed it, and I was hired.
And you know what, I am not the least bit offended about being called a geek for a few reasons:
1) Geeks research before an interview and know the ins and outs of an organization better than the organization's own employees.
2) Geeks already have ideas to move the organization forward and present those in the interview.
3) Geeks get the job.
4) Geeks won't go without the lovely and delicious Tortilla Soup in the case of an emergency because we secretly stockpile.
And, to be honest (as I always am). . . I would have probably laid down and died for this position if that's what it would have taken. Although I don't know that I would have been much of an asset then.
Friday, August 14, 2009
6/365
Day 6: Friday, August 14, 2009
I Spy, With My Little Eye. . . Someone in BIG Trouble
August 14, 2009
My neighborhood is typically very peaceful. The police presence on weekends is definitely noticed, but also appreciated with the number of bars in close proximity and we are no strangers to frequent traffic stops along this road, as it is a pretty busy one. I am pretty sure this is another routine stop, but they should check the trunk for a pink and purple bike, just in case.
Taken from my bedroom window.
I Spy, With My Little Eye. . . Someone in BIG TroubleAugust 14, 2009
My neighborhood is typically very peaceful. The police presence on weekends is definitely noticed, but also appreciated with the number of bars in close proximity and we are no strangers to frequent traffic stops along this road, as it is a pretty busy one. I am pretty sure this is another routine stop, but they should check the trunk for a pink and purple bike, just in case.
Taken from my bedroom window.
5/365
Yeah, I told you I wouldn't get around to posting them each day.
Day 5: Thursday, August 13, 2009
Gnissapsert On
August 13, 2009
Day 5: Thursday, August 13, 2009
Gnissapsert OnAugust 13, 2009
Posting one every day, they can't all be good. Sorry.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
3/365
Day 3: Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Double Shot
August 11, 2009
Double ShotAugust 11, 2009
One cannot really support preventative health without supporting vaccination, although I tried. In the end, if there is a vaccine that can prevent serious illness, not taking advantage of it is not really doing my own part to protect my health. So I let a stranger stick me twice today, leaving my arms fairly out of commission for most of the morning.
2/365
Day 2: Monday, August 10, 2009
Today's photo is brought to you by the part of every Mugwump that does not think things out beforehand and finds herself in minor pickles, set up for failure. Little failure, but still failure.
Dishonorable Discharge
August 10, 2009
Yep. It's the battery charger, because I goofed and went to grab my camera for its first day "out" during 365 and both of my camera batteries were dead. Way to be prepared, you preparedness guru, you. I goofed. But, I figure the project is not about finding the most amazing lighting or the most interesting subject matter. Sometimes it might be about doin' what you gotta do. So, by the time I had one charged, I had not had access to my camera for all the interesting parts of my day. Yeah, well, voila. . . here's number 2. Tomorrow will be better, promises.
Today's photo is brought to you by the part of every Mugwump that does not think things out beforehand and finds herself in minor pickles, set up for failure. Little failure, but still failure.
Dishonorable DischargeAugust 10, 2009
Yep. It's the battery charger, because I goofed and went to grab my camera for its first day "out" during 365 and both of my camera batteries were dead. Way to be prepared, you preparedness guru, you. I goofed. But, I figure the project is not about finding the most amazing lighting or the most interesting subject matter. Sometimes it might be about doin' what you gotta do. So, by the time I had one charged, I had not had access to my camera for all the interesting parts of my day. Yeah, well, voila. . . here's number 2. Tomorrow will be better, promises.
365 Snapshots of My Life
Well, this could be horribly boring or SUPER interesting and fun. Or it could totally flop when I get busy this fall. I guess we'll see!
Lovely young woman I went to college with, Amelia, just got herself a Nikon camera not too long ago and has embarked on a Project 365 in which you take a photo and post it each day. Now, realistically I may not be able to post each day, but will certainly do my best to take a photo each day and batch post if I must. There are few rules, and seeing as it is the poster's own art and photos anyway, there really shouldn't be any rules. Other than 1 picture per day.
So Kim (modern, but not always so mugwumpish older sibling for those just joining after 23 years of our sisterhood) and I decided after attending the Uptown Art Fair that we would do this, and that it would be best to do it at the same time, as we could hold each other accountable. Very cool. She was better than I, and actually posted her first photo on day 1. Yeah, I didn't-- so far the score is: Large Artistic Projects-1, Katie-0. Luckily, I feel I can recover.
So here it goes. . .
Day 1: Sunday, August 9, 2009
A Morning Without Coffee is Like Sleep
August 9, 2009
Lovely young woman I went to college with, Amelia, just got herself a Nikon camera not too long ago and has embarked on a Project 365 in which you take a photo and post it each day. Now, realistically I may not be able to post each day, but will certainly do my best to take a photo each day and batch post if I must. There are few rules, and seeing as it is the poster's own art and photos anyway, there really shouldn't be any rules. Other than 1 picture per day.
So Kim (modern, but not always so mugwumpish older sibling for those just joining after 23 years of our sisterhood) and I decided after attending the Uptown Art Fair that we would do this, and that it would be best to do it at the same time, as we could hold each other accountable. Very cool. She was better than I, and actually posted her first photo on day 1. Yeah, I didn't-- so far the score is: Large Artistic Projects-1, Katie-0. Luckily, I feel I can recover.
So here it goes. . .
Day 1: Sunday, August 9, 2009
A Morning Without Coffee is Like SleepAugust 9, 2009
Bought these loves at the Uptown Art Fair for only $10 a piece-- a steal!! Love them, and look forward to lazy Sunday mornings or crazy pre-exam nights with them.
Monday, August 10, 2009
And Then I Didn't Actually Post Anymore That Day. . . Because I Napped
So, I wrote an update about the pattern of future updates, and then did not follow through. Lame. Apologies. Starting over. . . NOW!
The Love Affair is Over. Over.
The Perks of Working at Caribou:
1. Somewhat flexible hours, often leaving half of the day open to do whatever Mugwumps enjoy doing in their half-days.
2. A half-pound of free coffee each week and a free fancy drink each shift. Unlimited drip brew during my shift (if they knew how much I had some days, they might think about altering this formula.)
3. Discounts on purchased items, including merchandise, beverages, bulk beans, and bakery.
This post will focus on the bakery items, of which I only pay 70% of retail value for, and particularly the French Toast Muffin.
Here's a funny sub-story: I was going to put a picture of the delicious French Toast Muffin here, but all of the photos I could find online of it were "unavailable" and the first thing I thought was, 'Of course, because even just looking at them makes you fat.')
French Toast Muffin specs: sugar and cinnamon swirls baked into a fluffy moist batter, with s beautiful slight crunch on top, over which maple drizzle zig zags gracefully. Ah-mazing. Amazing. Aaaaaand, with my employee discount this little gem was only $1.46, a little money for a lot of muffin.
So, I was buying one of these most shifts. I mean, I run and I am on my feet all day at work and I always work over some meal time, so this seemed not completely wrong. Until I perused the nutrition facts on the Caribou website. And you know what? If I ate 4 of these in one day, which no human has the gastrointestinal fortitude to do, I would not be recommended to eat another thing that day. "Why?" you ask. Because the French Toast Muffin of Wonder and All Things Sugary Delicious contains within its moist little self 490 calories. And thus has become the French Toast Muffin of Deceit and All Things Rottingly Fattening.
I am sorry, French Toast Muffin, it's not me, it IS you and we are breaking up. I know you didn't really do anything wrong, but I have to do what is right for me this time and I am walking away. Please don't be jealous when I spend mornings with the Banana Bread of Rebound Bakery Items.
It's over.
The Love Affair is Over. Over.
The Perks of Working at Caribou:
1. Somewhat flexible hours, often leaving half of the day open to do whatever Mugwumps enjoy doing in their half-days.
2. A half-pound of free coffee each week and a free fancy drink each shift. Unlimited drip brew during my shift (if they knew how much I had some days, they might think about altering this formula.)
3. Discounts on purchased items, including merchandise, beverages, bulk beans, and bakery.
This post will focus on the bakery items, of which I only pay 70% of retail value for, and particularly the French Toast Muffin.
Here's a funny sub-story: I was going to put a picture of the delicious French Toast Muffin here, but all of the photos I could find online of it were "unavailable" and the first thing I thought was, 'Of course, because even just looking at them makes you fat.')
French Toast Muffin specs: sugar and cinnamon swirls baked into a fluffy moist batter, with s beautiful slight crunch on top, over which maple drizzle zig zags gracefully. Ah-mazing. Amazing. Aaaaaand, with my employee discount this little gem was only $1.46, a little money for a lot of muffin.
So, I was buying one of these most shifts. I mean, I run and I am on my feet all day at work and I always work over some meal time, so this seemed not completely wrong. Until I perused the nutrition facts on the Caribou website. And you know what? If I ate 4 of these in one day, which no human has the gastrointestinal fortitude to do, I would not be recommended to eat another thing that day. "Why?" you ask. Because the French Toast Muffin of Wonder and All Things Sugary Delicious contains within its moist little self 490 calories. And thus has become the French Toast Muffin of Deceit and All Things Rottingly Fattening.
I am sorry, French Toast Muffin, it's not me, it IS you and we are breaking up. I know you didn't really do anything wrong, but I have to do what is right for me this time and I am walking away. Please don't be jealous when I spend mornings with the Banana Bread of Rebound Bakery Items.
It's over.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
I Always Used to Think It Was Weird When People Loaded Several Updates in One Day
Barring special circumstances, such as multiple entries following an event that requires consistent updating (soccer matches, elections, etc.) or traveling in a manner in which Internet availability is limited, I used to think it was SUPER bizarre when people posted more than one blog update. But, I have had several ideas floating around the head lately but had not posted them. However, they really don't lend themselves to being one post. Which you will have already discovered by the time you get to this post because it will end up below the others for today and you probably will have thought "What on earth was she doing updating 600 times today? These don't even make sense."
Sorry, with a little more forethought I would have posted an explanation last, inevitably making it first for you. You know what, it's not your blog, all right? We will play by Mugwump rules, which I am pretty sure you all have been privy to at one point or another. Please do not get together and compare rules. . . you will only confuse the system. Just remember that fair does not always mean same. Especially if we've dated.
So, I will start with a generic update (and you will end with it-- them's the rules).
Uptown Art Fair was this weekend and that always brings about the most interesting thoughts and feelings in me:
I just attempted to add photos, but Blogger didn't love that. If I wasn't posting many things today, I might futz with it more. But not right now. I will add them later. Or never. I don't know yet.
Sorry, with a little more forethought I would have posted an explanation last, inevitably making it first for you. You know what, it's not your blog, all right? We will play by Mugwump rules, which I am pretty sure you all have been privy to at one point or another. Please do not get together and compare rules. . . you will only confuse the system. Just remember that fair does not always mean same. Especially if we've dated.
So, I will start with a generic update (and you will end with it-- them's the rules).
Uptown Art Fair was this weekend and that always brings about the most interesting thoughts and feelings in me:
- It is super exciting to be in the presence of great talent.
- What is THAT?!
- How do people get started in some of the more wacky visual arts? For instance, when I see an empty soup can, sometimes I see a makeshift planter for baby spider plants, or I see a cup for lost buttons. I never think, "Hey this would be a cool sculpture if I welded some forks, a pair of pliers, and a few metal springs too it. Then I will make faces on it out of the faces on playing cards. And then mount it to a fabric-covered piece of plywood, which I will decoratively accent with paint." The thought didn't even cross my mind after seeing this kind of art. I got home and said, "Hey, a soup can."
- Related to the last thought, looking at how talented and creative people are makes me feel a little like Ugg. Me like red and yellow. Katie paint pretty. I am not so foolish, and I know it isn't really like that, but it does humble me and remind me that I am still a novice and have lots to learn.
- Um, sometimes I can recognize that I am more talented than someone else (at art, not in general). Not going to lie, this gives me a warm fuzzy.
- Creating and buying art is expensive.
- I need to go home and paint. There are OODLES of goody-gumdrop ideas floating around in my brains. I will probably try combining them all in one piece and go mad.
Let us not forget that all the greats were a little loopy.
I just attempted to add photos, but Blogger didn't love that. If I wasn't posting many things today, I might futz with it more. But not right now. I will add them later. Or never. I don't know yet.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Wedding Weekend: Starring Modern Mugwump as Bridesmaid Number 4
Almost exactly 5 years ago, I talked on the phone with this mild-mannered soft-spoken girl from a small town in Western Minnesota. She was captain of her cheerleading squad in a class of 56 students and her father was a buffalo farmer, amongst other things. She was the oldest of 5 girls in the family with a high school sweetheart that had gone to college a year before.
Pretty much the polar opposite of the less-modern but fairly mugwumpy young woman I was at 18-- growing up in two large suburbs of Minneapolis, attending a school that had more students than her town had people, the youngest daughter of two IT professionals.
And together, this small-town girl and I were about to become. . .
FRESHMAN ROOMMATES.
Yep. That person very few people forget, because they either loved 'em or hated 'em. And while our conversation on the phone that day went very well, I did not foresee the entire year continuing in the same manner. As far as I was concerned, we were way too different. From conversations we have had, I think she felt the same way. So imagine my surprise when we not only got along as roommates, we became great roommates and great friends. And then we lived together again the following year (after a I disassembled a disastrous roommate situation that temporarily mutilated a pretty good friendship). And imagine my surprise when we stayed friends even after I ended up in my own place, and again when she called to tell me she was marrying that goofy high school sweetheart of hers that I had grown to adore. And last year, she honored me by asking me if I would be in her wedding.
I would have never guessed that. Ever.
So this weekend I drove to a part of the state I had never been and almost missed her whole town when I sneezed. Luckily, the soybean plant is a large enough (and smelly enough) structure that I turned off in the right place. Before making a series of wrong turns trying to get to the home of one of my other greatest friends' parents.
Long story short (or maybe several good stories abridged and glommed together): I was ecstatic to watch Christine get married this weekend, and despite only knowing half of the wedding party before I arrived in Dawson, I quickly got to know quite a few lovely families and more of Kade and Christine's friends and I had the most fabulous time. I decided not to bring a date, which was a decision I had previously regretted until I actually got to the wedding/reception and had an absolute blast dancing with every member of the wedding party, the groom, at least 75% of the surviving grandparents, and anyone else with two feet and a little wiggle.
It seems to be getting to be about that time in my life-- a big surge of my friends getting married. I love it. There is nothing better than being invited to be a part of someone's love story. I find it so incredibly easy to be happy for these young couples-- there is something very powerful about deciding that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone and I am honored that Kade and Christine thought of me when they contemplated how they would celebrate this day. I would have not wanted to be anywhere else in the world.
Pretty much the polar opposite of the less-modern but fairly mugwumpy young woman I was at 18-- growing up in two large suburbs of Minneapolis, attending a school that had more students than her town had people, the youngest daughter of two IT professionals.
And together, this small-town girl and I were about to become. . .
FRESHMAN ROOMMATES.
Yep. That person very few people forget, because they either loved 'em or hated 'em. And while our conversation on the phone that day went very well, I did not foresee the entire year continuing in the same manner. As far as I was concerned, we were way too different. From conversations we have had, I think she felt the same way. So imagine my surprise when we not only got along as roommates, we became great roommates and great friends. And then we lived together again the following year (after a I disassembled a disastrous roommate situation that temporarily mutilated a pretty good friendship). And imagine my surprise when we stayed friends even after I ended up in my own place, and again when she called to tell me she was marrying that goofy high school sweetheart of hers that I had grown to adore. And last year, she honored me by asking me if I would be in her wedding.
I would have never guessed that. Ever.
So this weekend I drove to a part of the state I had never been and almost missed her whole town when I sneezed. Luckily, the soybean plant is a large enough (and smelly enough) structure that I turned off in the right place. Before making a series of wrong turns trying to get to the home of one of my other greatest friends' parents.
Long story short (or maybe several good stories abridged and glommed together): I was ecstatic to watch Christine get married this weekend, and despite only knowing half of the wedding party before I arrived in Dawson, I quickly got to know quite a few lovely families and more of Kade and Christine's friends and I had the most fabulous time. I decided not to bring a date, which was a decision I had previously regretted until I actually got to the wedding/reception and had an absolute blast dancing with every member of the wedding party, the groom, at least 75% of the surviving grandparents, and anyone else with two feet and a little wiggle.
It seems to be getting to be about that time in my life-- a big surge of my friends getting married. I love it. There is nothing better than being invited to be a part of someone's love story. I find it so incredibly easy to be happy for these young couples-- there is something very powerful about deciding that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone and I am honored that Kade and Christine thought of me when they contemplated how they would celebrate this day. I would have not wanted to be anywhere else in the world.
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