8/9/09, cont’d

I forgot to mention, I just saw this post at Lifehacker about How to Work a Crowd. It’s an Ignite Talk, which means it’s awesome. OK, really it means that the speaker talks about something he/she is passionate about. He/she has 5 minutes and is limited to 20 PowerPoint slides which advance every 15 seconds. These talks are the coolest thing! I watched one about Legos that someone recommended to me. Anyway, check out this video because it has some awesome tips!

8/9/09

I LOVE salsa. Absolutely love it! Had you asked me earlier in the day, I might have said I love salsa. Notice the difference? The first one is all caps. I know, I know, I’m subtle. Let’s talk about my salsa life for a post. On Thursday, I went to La Rumba in downtown Denver. It was super fun! It was my first time out dancing in Denver and I met some nice people and some great dancers. I had heard about a place called Fusion for Friday, but when I looked it up online, I couldn’t find it! The only description I could find was Downtown Denver, which didn’t exactly help me out. I looked up some other places to go on Friday and I went to Opal Restaurant and Blue Ice. Both were supremely lame. I was wholly unimpressed. On Saturday night, I returned to La Rumba because I heard there was a live band on Saturdays. Unfortunately, Saturdays are not like Thursdays. Again, I was salsa disappointed. On Thursday, I had heard from more than one person that the place to be on Sunday night was a club on the north side called DNote. So, tonight I went and checked it out. It was amazing and so much fun! I should be in bed or taking a shower so I can get into bed, but my night was so awesome that I had to share it with you, loyal reader! I saw a couple of people that I saw on Thursday and I really like those people! Plus, it made me feel like I have friends, here, in Denver. Isn’t that exciting?!? One is a man I met on Thursday, who DJs part-time and he introduced me to a dancer who introduced me to another fun dancer tonight! I’m salsa networking, this is fabulous!! And I met a woman who just moved here too! Although she moved from Salt Lake, not quite as far as Indiana, but still, super, right?

I just needed to express how happy I am that tonight was a good night and that I saw people I know which gave me warm fuzzies. *Sigh*

8/8/09

This week was my first three day weekend. It has been great! Thursday night I went out salsa dancing at La Rumba. *Sigh* I love to dance! So far, Denver has a pretty good scene.

Today was the Aflac Iron Girl 5K. I got up early and went for a 3.1 mile run. And I ran the whole thing, which was my goal! Any sort of training was derailed be traveling and conferences, so I wasn’t sure if I would last 3.1 miles at all. But it was really fun (ok, maybe not at mile marker 2.3) and if you get a chance to do an Iron Girl event, I would highly recommend it! I’ll post pictures of all the stuff I got from it soon. I got to meet up with Karen again. I met Karen at the Pre-Race Clinic on Thursday evening at the Boulder Running Company in Littleton. As it turns out, she does triathlons. I would love to do a triathlon (you know, one of those life dreams), which I told her, and it looks I might start training for one! Although I don’t which one, but that can determined later. Apparently there’s talk of Iron Girl doing a tri in Denver, so that would be pretty cool.

This afternoon, I went to see Julie & Julia. It was quite fun! Of course, after watching that, I’m even more aware that my kitchen is in complete disarray and that I haven’t cooked anything in months. The closest I’ve come to cooking something is boiling raviolis and steaming frozen peas. I guess I just don’t understand how people have full-time jobs and then come home and cook an elaborate meal. Perhaps they are super-organized, which I am not. Who knows?

As an after thought, I’m experimenting with tags, so please be patient while I figure it out since it’s not really easy in Live Writer. I wonder when it will come out of Beta…

Update: 8/1/09

This should be a nice update of everything that’s been going on.  Well, perhaps not as thorough as it could be, but maybe a nice overview.  I think this post might be lengthy; I thought about separating this post into multiple posts, but decided not to!  I have, at least, tried to break it up into sections.
Colorado Perceptions
Fun times here in Colorado.  It’s been rainy, which apparently isn’t normal.  I love rain, so that’s alright, plus the temperatures have been quite enjoyable.  Right now, I live in Lakewood and I work in Boulder.  This means I drive about 50 minutes to and from work.  In my 50 minutes on the road, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of bikers!  Driving home in Boulder yesterday, I saw 11 bikers and 7 mountain bikers on trails.  I obviously need to step up my biking game.  And by step up, I mean, put air in my back tire.  And I think I need to fix the chain, something’s off.
Roads are different here.  Or at least road signs are.  The signs for state roads and interstates are much more helpful here than IN.  The signs tell you which lane you need to be in for each direction, dead useful.  It might be the fact that I’m driving almost two hours a day, but everything seems farther away here.  I haven’t had much time to explore downtown, where I assume things are much closer.  This is my first weekend here, and I’ve decided to wile it away by unpacking and taking advantage of the Gap and Banana Republic Friends and Family discount.  Can you really ever have enough business casual clothes, especially when that’s what you wear to work?  Exactly, I think not!
You, loyal reader (one of the four), may have followed my Twitter/Facebook updates and therefore, you are aware that I live close to a neighborhood of ranchettes.  Seriously, they’re like little castles, just down the street.  With horses!  And a zillion-car garages. That’s about all I’ve done as far as neighborhood exploration.  I suppose I also know where a SuperTarget and Panera are too.
Conferences
The past month I’ve spent quite a bit of time at conferences, which I love!  I love meeting people and attempting to follow-up with them.  Most recently, I went to the BlogHer Conference in Chicago and the Microsoft Worldwide Partner’s Conference (WPC) in New Orleans.  Going to both of these conferences makes me realize that I just don’t have enough time.  At WPC, I worked with Microsoft Students 2 Business, which provides training to students in Microsoft technologies.  I wish I had time to do the training, since a lot of it is stuff I want to know.  Really, I wish I had taken advantage of MS2B while I was still a student.
When I went to BlogHer I met lots of amazing women!  It quite enlightening for me.  Ever since interviewing Elisa Camahort Page, one of the co-founders of BlogHer, for Ed & Ashley’s 5 Minute Show for being awarded the 2008 Anita Borg Social Impact Award at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, I’ve been very supportive of it!  Going to the conference was great!  Although it did make me realize that I am sorely lacking in my own blogging department.  It also made me wonder if I want to do some different things with my blog.  Maybe do a couple of travel posts, since that’s one of my true loves, and maybe some food posts on the topic of cooking for one when you lack general culinary skills.  Of course, those would still be along with my personal posts, which I know have you sitting on the edge of your chair.  Feel free to share any thoughts you have about this with me.  Perhaps after I get into more of a life-rhythm and unpacked, I can start writing on a more regular basis, which I think would be nice.
My Laptop
Briefly, let’s discuss my laptop.  It’s a Dell piece of shit.  I thoroughly dislike it right now.  It has heated up to flesh-burning temperatures.  I need a new machine and I need one very soon.  I have no space left on my hard drive and I don’t have much space on my external hard drive.  This means I can’t do anything for the show and I don’t have some of the video that I need for the show, which is very upsetting.  Anyway, any thoughts on what I should do as far as a new machine?  Should I go with a desktop option and get a netbook for portability or get a powerful laptop?  I kind of like the idea of a netbook, but at the same time (the Palm Pre commercials with the girl from the Disney channel move Step-Sister from Planet Weird creeps me out) would I be shuffling all of my stuff between two machines and how would I feel about that?  Right then.

7/28/09

Today was my second day of work.  I’m being kicked out of Panera, so I’ll write something soon.  I just some sort of documentation that I’m working!!!  Crazy!!!

7/11/09

I’m in Phoenix at the airport Marriott Courtyard.  I’m flying to New Orleans on Monday and I’m in Phoenix until then.  As it turns out, I’m still going to be moving to Denver.  I’m quite happy about this since I really like my condo.  I think I’ll be happiest in Denver.  It’s green, there are mountains, seasons…I like seasons.

Not much has happened since Thursday.  I had to return the rental car and change hotels from the Hilton to a Marriott (reward points and such).  Surprisingly, that took up much of my day on Friday.  I was able to pick up a delicious pesto pizza at Oregano’s in Tempe.  I also went out dancing on Friday.  I was going to take the bus, but the guy at the front counter said that he would take me in one of the vans!  It was so nice of him!  I was pretty excited to be able to go out dancing after not going out for a long time.  And it was so much fun!!  Of course, it’s a lot hotter here than in Indiana and there is no such thing as too many fans!!

Today I’m lounging around and getting prepped for all of the things I have coming up mainly, New Orleans and dealing with moving my things from Austin to Denver.

I feel much better, things seem very finalized!

7/1/09-7/5/09

Heads up, this post is a long story.  There is no way to shorten it, be forewarned.  Also, it would make a great coming-of-age movie or at least an episode of a situational comedy.

The past few days I’ve been attempting to move to Denver, CO, specifically Lakewood.  I packed all my stuff, well, mostly all of it.  I left on Saturday for Washington D.C. for the Global Education Competiveness Summit (GECS).  I left a list with my parents and Deb & Greg of the things that still had to packed and what was going on the truck and what was going in the car.  On Monday, while I was in DC, everything was loaded onto the truck.  And when I say everything, I mean all of my worldly possessions…which according to the movers, is a very small shipment.

GECS went really well.  I also got to go to a little bit of NECC and I got to run into Dave Berque, woo hoo!  After disembarking in Indianapolis on Wednesday afternoon, I had two voicemails.  They were both from Kenny, the truck driver who has all of my stuff on his truck.  He was calling to let me know that he would be delivering my household goods on Friday, July 3rd, in the morning.  Thankfully, I had made previous arrangements with the owners of the condo so I wouldn’t have to be there to let the movers in.  I would call the husband’s cell phone, and either he or his personal assistant, would answer.  I would let them know when my shipment was arriving and they would send someone to the condo to open the door for the movers.  Naturally the first thing I did after getting these messages was to call the landlord to let him know of the developments in moving plans.  He didn’t answer, so I left an informative voicemail.

After I picked up my luggage, Kendra picked me up from the airport and we went to grab lunch while we chatted and waited for my dad to arrive at 4 to take me back to West Lafayette.  Kendra gave me this adorable picture frame with the funniest pictures of us in it!!  Once my dad and I got back to West Lafayette, we quickly packed up the car and started out for Chicago.  Mom, Deb, and Greg had already left since they didn’t need to pack up a car.  When Dad and I stopped at a rest stop, my request, I receive a phone call from Arizona.  I actually missed the call, but was able to promptly call back.  As it turns out, the original opportunity for my job in Denver has disappeared, but there are immediate openings in Goodyear, AZ about 10 miles west of Phoenix.  Of course, this came as quite a shock to me!  I was quickly reassured that should I want to stay in Denver, there are most definitely projects that I could be a part of.  The manager in Goodyear came across my resume and wanted to chat with me to see if I would be open to opportunities in Arizona.  We set up a time on Thursday to chat during the afternoon.

My original plan for Wednesday was not this exciting.  I had planned to see Kendra, go to Chicago and get there early enough to meet up with Adrie and Danny for dinner, and then leave for St. Louis in the early afternoon on either Thursday or Friday.  After discussing the moving situation with the extended family (Mom, Dad, Deb, and Greg) we thought it would be best if I leave on Friday morning since someone would be at the condo to let in the movers and that way we could all go out to dinner with Adrie and Danny on Thursday night.  Good plan.

Thursday rolls around and I realized that all my Harry Potter books are packed on the truck and I finished the third one, again, on Wednesday night.  Boo.  In other Thursday news, I called my landlord again and left another voicemail.  I thought this was odd, but he probably just didn’t have time to call me back and since all the information was in the voicemail, there wasn’t a compelling reason to call me back (other than I asked him to).  Thursday turned out to be a beautiful day.  We went shopping at Lucky Jeans.  Deb and Greg are usually here for the 4th weekend and Lucky is always having a sale, the two go together quite well.  We had a nice lunch, did some shopping (and goofing around, MangoBunnies FTW!) at The North Face, and went out to dinner.  Deb and Greg also bought me a house-warming gift of a silicone hot mitt, which can double as a ferociously cute puppet (especially effective when you have more than one and they can “interact”!!)  Lucky for you, the reader, there are photos marking the previously mentioned significant events (minus the Lucky sale).  But don’t stop reading, there’s more after the photos!!

   Thursday came to an end, as days are known to do, and suddenly it was Friday.  I had planned on perhaps seeing Adrie in the morning and then leaving for Denver, although I was at the time unsure if that would be my final location.  Friday morning, I receive a call from Kenny.  There is no one at the condo and there is no answer to the cell phone I’ve been told to call.  This is bad.  I’m in Chicago.  My worldly possessions are in Lakewood, CO.  No one is going to open the condo.  We start this disaster with a multitude of options.

1.  Find storage in Denver.  Put my stuff in the newly found storage and I’ll get it when I get to Denver.

2.  Have Kenny stay in Denver until I can arrive the next afternoon.

OK, there are only two options, but at least it’s more than one.  We start researching the first option.  Since it’s Friday, July 3rd, which is a holiday, no storage facilities are open in Denver.  That was fun.  We move onto option 2.  I prepare to leave when I find out that Kenny has to be in Austin on Monday to load a truck.  Oh wait, just kidding, make that Sunday so he can pack the house.  New option comes into play:

3.  Have my stuff stay on the truck as is goes to Austin where Kenny will drop it off at a storage facility, to be found on Monday when things are open.

During this time, I’ve been on the phone with the owner of the moving company I hired in West Lafayette.  When I asked him, after making him aware of the entire situation, whether he recommended option 2 or 3, he responded by telling me that the best option would be to have someone open the condo in Lakewood.  After spending several minutes attempting to explain to him that having someone open the condo wasn’t an option, I decided that perhaps “or” questions were too difficult for him.  I decided to change the question to a “yes or no” question so as not to inflict any(more) cranial damage.

Q: Can Kenny stay in Denver until tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon when I can be there to unlock the condo?
A: Uh…well…he’s supposed to be in Austin on Sunday to start packing up a house.  If he doesn’t leave until Saturday evening, he won’t get there in time.
Q: Should I have my things continue onto to Austin and have Kenny drop them off at a storage facility?
A: Uh…well…you’ll have to pay more to change the destination of your shipment.
In my head: Really?  You think so?  No way!
Q: So…you would recommend that I leave my stuff on the truck and store it in Austin.
A: Uh…well…you could do that, but it would cost you extra to change the destination.  You should really have someone come open the condo.
*wishing that banging phone against table would cause physical pain to party on the other end*

The decision is made that my shipment will travel to Austin.  This means I need to find a storage facility for my stuff!  Kenny was able to give us two numbers of United Moving places in Austin.  Surprisingly, one was open!  This was a great break!  Except that storing something there for a month would cost $1500!!!  Apparently this place was set up for long-term storage.  But, the man I spoke with gave me a recommendation for Bulldog Storage, who, again surprisingly, was open!  I could rent a storage container for $99 and pay month-to-month.  This was great!  I have a place to put my stuff!  Wait, I need to sign something?  In person?  I can’t fax or email you the paperwork?  You have to have someone in person sign the contract?

Bulldog: So when are you planning to be in Austin?
Me: I’m not.
Bulldog: Do you know anyone in Austin that can sign for you?
Me: I don’t know anyone in Austin.
Bulldog: Well…
Me: I’ll talk to you later. (Hang up)

Good feeling gone.  I need storage again.  At this point, I’m getting a little stressed.  I may even have had a small breakdown.  Thankfully the extended family was there to help!  Greg has a cousin in Baltimore.  Greg’s cousin’s wife has family in Austin.  Bruce, some of the Austin family, specialized in fixing up foreclosed homes and selling them.  Greg starts a phone tree and pretty soon we’re hearing from Bruce, who is in Chicago boarding a plane for Philadelphia.  Bruce currently has 12 places that could serve as storage areas!  This is finally good news!  Bruce calls back with an address, which I forward on to the important people and everything seems to be going catastrophically well.

Friday continued with a visit to REI and dropping Deb and Greg off at the airport.  We drove home, watched some Psych and Monk and went to bed.  The rest of the weekend has been uneventful.  Here’s a recap of the current standings

• My stuff is on a truck in Austin
• It’s going to be stored in one of Bruce’s (aka Hero of the Month) garages
• My moving bill will be very expensive
• Although originally moving to Denver, I might be moving to Goodyear, AZ
• Right now, I’m in West Lafayette

This has been a very stressful past few days and I sure would love it if things could calm down!!!