Final post of 2009

The countdown begins....

Wow. It's almost 2010. That sounds insane. Like super futuristic and crap. Like way older than the Jetsons. Like.... I'm going to turn 25 this upcoming year...... (pause several months for quarter-life crisis, kids. I'm getting that two year itch again, like usual, telling me to up and leave out of the country again. Will it happen? Stay tuned to find out)

Anyways, 2010. It's been TEN YEARS since the whole Y2K debacle. Yeah, seriously. I get a French channel here in Stockton, TV5 Monde Etats-Unis, and I was watching the journal télévisé (again, snooty way of me saying French newscast) and they were looking at the past decade in review. BTW, happy new year for those of you on the other side of the planet! Anyways, they were showing a side-by-side video comparison of cell phones from now and 2000, computers, Internet user stats (users have increased 6x since 2000 - I blame it on all the 10 year olds who were born in 2000 and came out of the womb texting and myspacing.) Even the picture quality from the video of last decade is unbelievable.

So with that, here's what I've been thinking about lately. I've never been one for resolutions, so let's just call these my goals for 2010, shall we?

a.) write more often ... not blogging, per se, but creative writing. Short stories, long stories, poems, crap, it doesn't matter. I want to write more. I always have.

b.) exercise more ... if not daily, then every other day. I used to be super good about this over the summer, but the lack of sunlight when I get home really puts a damper on my willingness to run. So that's where Wii Fit and my new EA Sports Active Wii video games come into play. I hate to sound lame, but those games really give you a frickin workout. And hey, whatever gets you moving, right?

c.) read more ... starting up that book club means I have to finish at least one book a month. That's usually never been a problem for me, but I'll get back into it.

d.) travel ... It's been over two years since I left the country. I want out again! I'm currently planning a D.C. (I realize that's still in the U.S., just bear with my random tangents) trip to visit my college roommate in June. Free Delta miles and a place to crash? What the heck would be stopping me???

And those are four things I'd love to see myself accomplish over the next 365 days. Wish me luck.

For now, I have a lot of shit to do before the year's even over. I've been slaving away at my basketball notes because we leave for our first conference road trip tomorrow. Flying down to Los Angeles so we can play Cal State Northridge on Saturday and Cal State Fullerton Monday.

That means Monique has a lot of laundry/cleaning/Christmas deconstructing/book shelf assembling/NYE dinner cooking to do. (I'm making a shrimp, bacon and spinach quiche for dinner tonight and splitting a bottle of champagne with J.D. for the end of the year meal. He works tonight and I have to leave at 10 a.m. for work tomorrow. What a pair we are).

Which reminds me.... another goal I've set for myself is NOT TO DRINK TOO MUCH (hmmm, can you imagine what over the past few days has brought this on?)!!! Unless I'm going wine tasting, which doesn't happen too often these days, I'm trying to stick to about a drink a month or less. I don't need alcohol. It messes me up all the time :)

Happy New Year, everone. If you're going out, please drive safe. If not, have a little extra for me ;)

New hair

You know how when you have a hairstyle in mind, and the stylist pulls it off, you can't EVER recreate it at home??

Yeah, that's where I'm at right now.

Yesterday I went into my local Aveda Salon (love that place) and brought in this picture of Carrie Underwood (disregard the deodorant gooeyness) for my stylist:


I had hair a little bit longer than that and my layers were way mangled from going over five months without a cut/trim.

As soon as my stylist saw this picture she told me, "Yeah, we aren't going to be able to do that to you. And I think she has a lot of fake hair involved in that style."

Ugggh!

Basically, in order to achieve layers that dramatic, my hair would look as thin as a midlife balding male. And yes, I do concede that a lot of what I like about this look is done by styling and not the cut itself.

For me to get that look, she said she could cut off some of the length and maybe it could grow into that look. But instead, it ended up turning out like this (which I can't really recreate on my own, it's just kind of blah):


I wish I had more chunky layers and less feathery blending going on. Gosh, being a girl's frustrating! ...At least the style only cost me $25, including a scalp/neck/hand massage and a sweet herbal wrap after they washed my hair.

I told you I love Aveda.

(P.S. Get ready for January. It's the NaBloPoMo's continuation month. November is National Blog Posting Month, so January is like a challenge for the new year: blog every day. Since I failed so miserably at that last time, I'm up for the challenge in 2010. Especially with a "book club" [and I say that in the very loosest sense of the word] coming up on Jan. 1! Bring it on, year!)

What I made off with yesterday

After breaking it this summer.... a new Chi flat iron for my hair!!!

Gift cards! (Origins, Barnes & Noble, Target, Jamba Juice, Walmart)

Williams-Sonoma pizza stick pan and cutter

Berry desserts cookbook

Fruit and vegetable mandolin

Stem-less martini glasses

Cocktail and bar food cookbooks



...And last, but not least - Wii Fit!

There were some more items not listed, but you get the idea. Thanks everyone for the awesome gifts :)

I hope you got what you wanted this holiday season!

....Now about that puppy......

FMD. (Where D=Door)

I had a terrible day yesterday.

Since it's the holiday break, I left a few hours early from work, excited to clean the house some more, bake, do laundry, scrapbook, etc. But instead, both doors to my house gave me the middle finger.

Let me back up a bit here. Our back door lock sticks. Instead of clicking once you put the key in, it just spins in circles and never catches to unlock. So our landlord said that was the original lock and needed to be replaced. And we've known that for several weeks now, but has anyone taken care of it.....? Well to make matters worse, as soon as I couldn't get in last night, I opted to try the front door. But apparently when it's raining the screen door sticks in the door frame and won't open. Fruitlessly trying to open either door, and then going back and forth between the two for 20 minutes, I kicked the front door and crumpled to the floor so upset and frustrated with myself that I began to cry like a small child. It was the most frustrating moment I've had in a long time.

So finally I realized to call my friend, and he came and popped the screen door open for me with the help of tools from the garage. Immediately after I got in, I ran to Home Depot and purchased a new door knob.

And so I present you a 10-step re-enactment of my horrendous evening yesterday:

Taking out all the pieces was terrible, especially because I didn't assume it'd be messy, so I got grease all over the place from inside the door knob.

TAKE THAT, DOOR!

"Easy installation," Yeah these three tiny, ambiguous drawings are so simple. I totally can master fixing a door now.

Ok, I screwed the middle latch in. Only to find out 15 hours later that it was on backwards. FML.

Fixing the inside part of the door frame.

And, this is actually a lie. It's not screwed in all the way. I think I got a faulty one, because the screws won't go in. I need some power tools. Anyone???

As I write this, I believe J.D.'s fixing the door right now. Awesome. I've stopped caring, because it has caused me literally five hours of stress and ridiculous frustration.

And to make matters worse, I tore my sweater when I was putting it back on, because there were splinters in the door that my sleeve caught on. Oh yeah, and I JUST bought that sweater at GAP in Vegas last week.

And then when I came home, I was plugging in the Christmas lights and the reindeer/sleigh on the mantle toppled off the mantle and fell into the tree. So I jumped over to try and stop them from falling and breaking and hit the tree, almost knocking it and all the ornaments on the ground.

So Ben took me out to get some drinks and dinner so as to forget my horrible night. And when I walked into the restroom at the end of the night, I slipped in someone's piss.

Can I take a nap from life right now?!?!?!

(Also, thanks Ben for saving some of my sanity last night!!!)

Love me some baseball

It's a busy Sunday full of cleaning. We're talking not only sweeping and mopping, but on hands and knees scrubbing baseboards, cleaning out heating/cooling vents, etc.

My hands, back and neck are super sore so I'm taking my well-deserved break. I could be sitting here writing about my trips to the East Coast, Portland, or even Las Vegas for God's sake, but those are for another time I suppose.

Right now, I'm going to share with you all how excited I am about a summer opportunity I've applied for. For the first time ever, USA Baseball is opening up all of its Press Officer positions to collegiate baseball sports information directors, or SIDs (i.e., 1/3 of my current job position at Pacific).

That means, the traveling US National Baseball teams (levels: college, 18U, 16U and 14U) will all be in need of someone to travel with them over the summer and perform more or less the same duties I do every single day (scroll down past all this if you don't care about the job description):

• Log box scores and statistics for each game and work closely with Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) and USA Baseball to post all information to USABaseball.com.

• Create and email post-game recaps for USABaseball.com, www.usocpressbox.org and to designated USA Baseball email distribution lists and social media outlets.

• File any photographs, video, blogs, video journals, etc. with USA Baseball and MLBAM.

• Compile pre- and post-game stats for team manager and coaches as needed.

• Provide necessary roster and statistics information in pressboxes at each game.

• Generate new story ideas and/or write feature stories for local, national and international press, players' hometown media outlets, and for USABaseball.com, www.teamusa.org and other USA Baseball publications.

• Facilitate all media requests -- print, web, radio, broadcast, press conferences.

• Review and compile daily clips featuring your respective team.

• Communicate with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) on behalf of USA Baseball to meet all in-hand deadlines for Athlete/Team of the Month votes, stat/roster information, www.usocpressbox.org postings, and other USOC needs.

• Assist in USA Baseball media and marketing efforts including local day-of-game responsibilities at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., and help build relationships with local media contacts in the Raleigh-Durham ("Triangle") area.

• Provide assistance when needed to your respective team's general manager in regards to miscellaneous team operational needs.

• Help facilitate on- and off-field, and baseball card-related photo shoots and autograph signings.

• Write an end-of-season wrap-up article and compile a book/annual featuring clips, final stats, pictures, etc. both for post to USABaseball.com and for USA Baseball's records.

• Update your respective team's history at the end of the season -- roster, stats, schedule/results and record book.

• Report back to and coordinate daily with Director, Media & Public Relations from the road as needed

• Position requires a positive, friendly and helpful attitude and exceptional writing and communication skills. Candidate must be self-motivated and able to generate creative, new and fresh story ideas. Individual MUST be available during the entirety of the required dates of the position for which you apply. Must also be prepared to work nights, weekends and holidays.

• Candidate must provide own laptop loaded with StatCrew's The Automated Scorebook Software and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel). Ownership of PDF creation and photo editing software preferred. If candidate does not own TAS or other preferred software, USA Baseball will work with candidate to explore alternatives. USA Baseball will also not provide candidate with a dedicated, portable printer. Printing options will be made available at each stadium to you through the home team or through your respective team's general manager.

Ok, I know that's a lot of crap as assigned. But like I said, it's essentially the same exact thing I'll be doing from February to May, once baseball season is in. I can't believe that it starts one month after we the students get back from Christmas break.

However, the aspect about this summer position that most appeals to me is the international travel entailed. The collegiate national team will travel within the Midwest, North Carolina and to Taiwan and Japan from July to early August. The 18U team travels through the North (think Minnesota, etc.) and "internationally" to Thunder Bay, Canada. On the upside, the Minnesota Twins will be playing at their new stadium this summer, so perhaps the national teams will play at the Metrodome this summer???

As for the 16U team, they trapeze through North Carolina and then "North and South America (outside the US)," which I'm guessing means Latin American locales. Finally, the 14U squad will spend its summer in North Carolina and Nicaragua; however, I did not apply for that position because it runs until September, so that would cut into my current job's time frame.

So, this sounds like a really sweet deal, something that I could have a lot of fun with. But the problem is that there are over 300 Division I universities. Then consider how many Division II and III schools there are, and I'm willing to bet that at least 70 percent of those programs have baseball. So I'm potentially competing against all other baseball (current and former) SIDs for one of three-to-four positions.

Which is why the day I received the e-mail notification about the position, I refined my resume, drafted a cover letter and sent off five different baseball writing samples to accompany my application. I'd guess it opened up on Monday, and the deadline is March 1, 2010.

Am I in over my head, here?? Well, at least if I don't get the job, I'm showing a great deal of motivation by applying within the first week, out of 12 possible weeks to apply.

Wish me luck!

All B-ball, All The Time.

Tonight's Stockton Showcase downtown at the Stockton Arena kicks off four-straight games for me before my Vegas trip.

After working professional sporting games in the past, going to a mid-major Division I collegiate team has been a nice change of pace. While the pressure still is great, it's not as terribly demanding as the professional realm.

But when we host Pac-10 opponent Cal downtown tonight, in front of nearly 8,000 fans and 25 media members to perform for, I think it's finally going to feel like what college hoops is all about on the grand scale. Tonight just might be a glimpse into working for a big-time BCS school. And I'm fairly excited about that prospect!

So we have tonight's game, women's basketball tomorrow night, men's basketball again on Saturday night and women's basketball Sunday afternoon. Then I head out to my parents' house in the East Bay Sunday night, so as to catch an early flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas on Monday morning.

Gosh I can't wait!

And I really am trying to practice my story writing. I made a promise to myself that it's going to get me somewhere. But you can't run a marathon before stretching... so consider this my pre-warm-up lap stretch.

Anyone good at building your own template??

On my other blog, I used a pre-existing template. For this one, I'm trying to build my own.

I made this one from the Wix editor page. But it's not exactly what I'm looking for. And I kind of gave up in the middle. So I guess I'll just keep playing around and trying to figure out how it works.


Unless anyone has any good recommendations for moi?! :) Until then, I'm just going to keep playing around and having fun being a nerd!

Woo, I know how to use technology.

I changed the formatting and layout of my writing blog.

Maybe that means I'll keep writing more?? I have a billion stories in my head, but am too lazy/don't have enough time to actually sit down and write.

Make me more motivated to keep practicing and hopefully end up getting published some day!!!

Voodoo

While in Portland this weekend, I certainly wanted to sample a quirky place I'd seen featured on the Food Network: Voodoo Doughnuts, whose menu includes things like a maple bacon bar and at one point used to sell a NyQuil doughnut that's since been banned by the FDA.

So Kyle and I went there and purchased two treats a piece, which we certainly did not consume at the same time. Those things were sooooo sweet that I could only eat half before throwing the rest of it out.

The menu


Miami Vice Berry (Berry powdered drink and sprinkles)


Voodoo Doll (Complete with pretzel "pin" and red jelly filling)


Old Dirty Bastard (Rice Krispies, chocolate & peanut butter drizzle)

Gosh they were good though. And even though it was a tiny, hole-in-the-wall place, the line was out the door at all hours of operation. Which is crazy, since it's open from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m. Yeah, it's only closed for three hours.

Oh yeah, and I kept walking past/seeing this sign from my hotel room:


Think that about sums it up!

#@!%

This morning at breakfast, I received a nice awakening. Still somewhat slumbering, I made my way down to the hotel dining area.

As I was bringing my tray down the line, a man fumbled to close the top of his flimsy paper coffee cup. And then clumsily knocked it over.

Scalding hot coffee laid to rest all over my right hand, searing my poor, unknowing skin.

And now here I sit on the bus, four hours later. Hand still burning as if it's currently on fire. I can't type anymore because the skin on my right hand is so taught and pink, it feels like it's ripping apart. And burning still.

I had a nice morning, what about you???

Wow I've changed

It's winter like in Portland. And I could totally see myself living here.

Visions of Sugar Plums Dance In My Head

With this whole Vegas trip coming up and my basketball trips sprinkled in, J.D. and I decided to plan out our Christmas plans.

And that got me thinking that I wanted to make/bring a dessert when we go to his family's shindig!

So with that, may I present you all the fabulous ideas I'm considering making for Christmas dessert. Anyone want to help me pare this down and figure out what to bring?? I'm taking votes! Each of the following dessert names are also links to their recipes.... that's my Christmas gift to you :)

Sunset's Peppermint-Topped Brownies


Hot Chocolate Meringue Cake


Gingerbread Pear Cake


Upside-Down Pear Tartlettes


Chocolate Caramel Cream Pie

And for the French girl in me:

French Chocolate Macarons

Chocolate Yule Log (Bûche de Noël)

Double Chocolate Bombe Cake

I'm like a nomad

As I prepare to hit the road again with my basketball team this weekend, I can't help but think back to all the places I've been this year.

Where I've been in 2009:

CALIFORNIA
Alamo
Auburn
Costa Mesa
Davis
Elk Grove
Fullerton
Goleta
Granite Bay
Huntington Beach
Manhattan Beach
Montecito
Napa
Newport Beach
Northridge
Lake Tahoe
Lodi
Long Beach
Los Angeles
Palo Alto
Pismo Beach
Roseville
Sacramento
San Diego
San Francisco
San Jose
San Luis Obispo
Santa Barbara
Santa Monica

HAWAII
Aiea
Honolulu
Waikiki
Waipahu

NEVADA
Lake Tahoe
Reno

NEW JERSEY
West Long Branch

NEW YORK
Manhattan
New Rochelle
New York City
White Plains

OREGON
Eugene
Pleasant Hill

WASHINGTON
Seattle
Spokane

Where I'm going to close out 2009:
Portland, Oregon this weekend
Las Vegas, Nevada in less than two weeks!

Although I've been to over half of the states, traveling to Gonzaga with the baseball team was my first actual journey to Washington!

I'm noticing a trend in my chosen profession. At my last job, I lived in France and traveled all over Europe for a year. And prior to that, just after graduating from UC Santa Barbara in 2007, I traveled all over the United States to 17 different cities with the AVP.

I don't know what I'd do if I was stuck in a job that kept me in the same place all the time!! As I've said before, my promise to myself is to keep traveling and living in different states/countries every couple of years. You know, change things up before I have to settle down and be a real person :)

Tant pis.

I chewed about two pieces of gum over the weekend.

Big mistake. I think the jaw issues are flaring up all over again. If you ever see me, DO NOT let me have gum, ever. So I'm trying to take it easy, maybe revert back to non-chewy foods and stick to the old massage/stretching regimen I used to be on.

On the bright side, today was the first time I took any painkillers since my terrible allergic reaction to Excedrine that left me vomiting for nearly 12 hours.

And also on the bright side, ice cream is a non-chewy food.... :) Too bad Safeway was out of my favorite flavor ever :(

How do you have eggnog and gingerbread, but NO PEPPERMINT?! So we settled on rocky road. It's a good second choice.

P.S. It only has to be the Dreyer's brand.... the Safeway knock-off kind has green mint chunks and it is way less good. If you haven't, buy Dreyer's/Edy's peppermint ice cream. It's like Christmas in your mouth.

Viva Las Vegas

I haven't been to Las Vegas as a simple traveler before.

In fact, I haven't been there in over two years. But I did spend a long weekend in Sin City when I was writing for the AVP. We hosted the annual Gods & Goddesses of the Beach tournament, sponsored by none other than Caesar's Palace.

It wasn't really the typical Vegas trip. Mostly because it was all on my employer's dime. We camped out in suites at Caesar's Palace, ate in the employee's lunch room, earned per diem for meals down in the forum or in the main dining area of the hotel. But most of all, our three other main sponsors (Cuervo, Barefoot Wine and Bud) footed the bill for all the athletes and employees to rub elbows with the rich and famous. Meaning, all access into the Pussy Cat Dolls' private club party. Bottle service on the roof. I was used to that during the entire summer of 2007, traveling with celebrities and getting into promotional parties. At the Dallas stop of the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, we rallied at Ghost Bar downtown, at the Dallas Cowboys' private party where Carrie Underwood sang happy birthday to Tony Romo in early April. I even got to meet.... wait for it..... T.O.

So yeah, that wasn't a real trip to Vegas. I only gambled about $10ish, but got three free drinks during the process, so I consider that as coming out even. I'm not much of a gambler.

This time, J.D. booked a trip for us to stay at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay. We're off from Dec. 14-17, and found a nice little package that includes the 4.5-star hotel and airfare.

Now I'm off to do some research as to what there is to do in Vegas that week.... since I'm not much of a gambling fan. Hopefully J.D. gets it all out of his system during his basketball trip to Reno this week ;)

...Oh yeah, did I mention I have that ENTIRE week off of basketball?!?! So awesome to have time off and feel like a normal 9-to-5 working person.