See you in September... Wait, it's September NOW?

The summer has flown by... I suppose that being up to my armpits in job hunting has caused the days to run together a bit and I frequently have to stop and remember what day it is... most of the time with the help of either my phone or my computer.

I have a bunch of really cool things to share with you (via reviews) very shortly... the "long" weekend didn't seem very long because instead of doing the things I probably should have been doing, I was catsitting at a friend's place and imagining what it would be like to live in a swanky condo.

Also, due to the job hunting, I am trying new things... like artificial nails (thusfar a failed experiment) and nail polish strips (have been afraid to try them so far and they come in funky designs which make them a bit inappropriate for interviewing)

Hope you all had a wonderful and safe long weekend.  Are you ready for the rat race again tomorrow?  My day will start at 4AM and I have things scheduled tomorrow so I can't go back to sleep.  I think it's probably going to be a long day.

5-hour ENERGY® review

Smiley360 hooked me up with a couple of 5-Hour Energy ®  shots and I'll share the experience with you.

First, I like the size of the 5-Hour Energy® shots.  Especially when you are on the go, you don't always have the space to lug around an energy drink.  The 5-Hour Energy® bottle is small enough to fit into a purse or briefcase, you don't have to keep it cold, you can keep a couple of them in a desk drawer without taking up a lot of space.

Second, as far as energy drinks go, the 5-Hour Energy® doesn't have a bad taste to it.  I have tried the Berry flavor, the Pomegranate flavor and the Orange flavor and all taste ok (not like some other energy drinks where I can't even drink the whole thing because it just tastes bad).

Finally, no nasty crash.  I sometimes get a little "flush" after I first drink a 5-Hour Energy®, but it's a very brief niacin flush (think of hearing a slightly embarrassing joke that makes you blush a little bit)

If you sometimes need a little "push" to get you through the afternoon (after, say, that LONG after-lunch meeting), give 5-Hour Energy® a try!

Disclaimer: I was given free samples of the product - all opinions expressed are my own and were not influenced/biased by my receipt of the free samples.

Bright Spots (Recent)

The past few days have been frustrating on one hand and absolutely amazing on the other.  I'm pretty much going to stick to the amazing part in this post.

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to meet an Internet Friend.  I've known this person online for about 4 years and we'd planned to meet before now but it always came down to time and money... if you're working, you have the money, but not the time and if you aren't working you have the time but not the money to go on a road trip.  Yes, it's only a 5-6 hour trip to where she lives, but we just could never quite make it work.

As it turns out, her Mom lives not far from us and she came up to visit her Mom and they met up with me on Saturday.  And she was every bit the wonderful person I had thought she would be and her Mom is a very nice lady and we had a lovely dinner and I hope that we can do it again soon.

Tonight, I trekked across town to meet up with an old friend.  She's a trucker and she happened to be hauling a load through town and even though it was a haul, it was important to me to make the trip to see her.  She and I have been friends about 15 years.   When she, my daughter and I would all go out together, people would assume I was her Mom and she was my daughter's Mom (even though there are only 9 years between us).  It's been about 4 years since we had managed to get together (with her trucking schedule and me moving 1000 miles away, it isn't like either of us can just "pop in" any time.  In any case, it was really nice and I appreciated having the chance to get to see her.

Of course, an unintended side effect to my having trekked across town is that now I am all wound up and even though I should PROBABLY be in bed, I'm not there (yet).

I've been keeping very busy lately.  Finding a job is a huge job.  It was nice to meet up with friends and not think about finding a job for a while.  But now I need to get back to the work of finding work!

The Dark Monk & The Hangman's Daughter

I usually read True Crime books, but I'm a BzzAgent and they gave me the opportunity to read The Hangman's Daughter and The Dark Monk for free so I departed from my normal fare and plunged into the world of The Hangman (Jakob) and his family.

I think people will be able to relate to the characters who struggle with what is expected of them vs. what they want/need/feel is right.  I know that was a big source of enjoyment for me with these books.  If you can put aside that these are not historical documentaries and that there are occasionally some stretches as far as believabilty, you will enjoy the books much more than if you sit and pick apart language and historical fact. Enjoy them for what they are... engaging and enjoyable reading.

I don't want to give away the plots but will tell you that there were nights that I knew I should get to bed and kept reading "just one more page".  If you like a good mystery, a little bit of romance and a bit of medieval history, pick up The Hangman's Daughter and The Dark Monk.

I am a BzzAgent and received these books for free from them.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Keeping Up

There are so many things that I want to do and so many things to keep up with as I am trying to find a new job and also keep from getting sciatica from sitting at my desk all day by working on other tasks. Today (Monday) will largely be a "desk day"... Tomorrow (Tuesday) I have an appointment.  I am not making any real solid plans beyond that at the moment.  I have volunteer work on Thursday evening and I think I will end up at a remote office on Wednesday and Friday (that is the tentative plan).

And when I say "remote office" I actually mean that I am cat-sitting for a friend who says she will not mind me hanging out at her place and since I have to feed kitties and tend plants, I will probably end up just packing my lappie and doing my work from her place.  Thursday I will go over there and take care of kitties and water plants in the afternoon and then head out to my volunteer thing from there (need to map the most efficient route).

So, this week will be a busy week.   I think sometimes that I just need a few more hours in the week (hence staying up until the wee hours of the morning... which really doesn't give me more hours but it gives more hours that I am actually coherent, I guess.

In completely unrelated news... I found some "Perky Jerky" on clearance this weekend. It was really quite tasty. I don't know that I'd pay $5.00 a pack for it, but the clearance price was right.  It did not make me feel jittery or, really, any more perky but it did taste good.

Well, I'd best head to bed. Much to get done this week.  Have a great week everyone!

Shakespeare in the Park

I went to see "Twelfth Night" tonight... in a park.  Which is classier than it sounds.  It involved not only Shakespeare, but brie cheese and red wine.  Obviously, I have some very cultured friends because I could not have pulled off the goodies we had for our picnic because I am not all Brie Cheese classy.  Here's what I can tell you, though.  Brie cheese is actually quite tasty (I had no idea).  Chorizo is quite tasty when you slap it on some bread with some brie cheese (yes, I was a complete cretin and put it all together and ate it and it was delicious so I don't care much that I am a cretin).

The production was wonderful. There is another play this Friday which I might go to (we shall see what my schedule ends up looking like).

Other than that, it was a rather odd day. Not in a bad way at all, just not what I expected.  I got some things done that needed to be done, I feel like things are proceeding at a pace I like and I am getting some help from an unexpected source (for which I am very grateful).

Hope y'all are having a wonderful week!  And if you get a chance to catch a Shakespeare in the Park production, do so. With Brie Cheese (if possible).

Unexpected Free Time

It looks like I may be doing more blogging, at least in the short term, because I unexpectedly have some free time. On Friday (Friday the 13th, no less) I was laid off from my job.  I was aware that this was a possibility but thought it would be 3-4 months from now so I was taken by surprise.  Nonetheless, I have time now to do some things that I have been putting off and so I will attempt to make the most of my time, both in getting projects done and in looking for a new job.

My desk is cleaned off, my cat made sure I was awake bright and early this morning, I have a mental list of things I need to do.  First on the list, though, will be cleaning up the office. The less I have to distract me, the better.

More to come!