ASAP Requests

So this morning at work, my department received a request from someone asking for two e-mails to be created. However, this person failed to fill out our request form (even though this is a required step) and just sent an e-mail instead. He also managed to demand it be done ASAP (on the form, it explicitly states "please do not put ASAP"), and should be sent out by this afternoon at the very latest. Normally, I would have gotten very upset with this "request" and told him that he needs to fill out a form, but I did not have anything else that absolutely needed to get done by this afternoon, so I worked on it.

When I passed it over to him for his approval, I informed him of what the standard protocol is for a request like this. He responded by telling me that this was the soonest he could get in the request and that he just found out about it this morning. The best part of this story: the promotion we produced the materials for only runs from today (Thursday) through Sunday. So this guy is trying to tell me that he found out about a four day promotion on the first day of it? I doubt it.

Drunk Pumpkin

I realize that we are still a couple weeks away from Halloween, but I couldn't resist.




Someone sent me this picture via e-mail the other day, and I thought it was hysterical. I've seen some pretty funny pumpkin carvings, but this one really got me laughing. I later did a Google search and found that this carving idea is not uncommon, but this is the first one that I saw so I decided to post it.

Question of the Week

Like I mentioned in my last question of the week, please feel free to voice your opinion by posting opinions to this question. Or feel free to post about any other questions or answers you may have for any topic, and I will gladly address those issues.

Would you rather be underpaid for a job where your work is greatly appreciated and praised, or make more money than you probably should be while your work is largely under appreciated?

One and a Half Alarm Chili

I enjoy cooking every once in a while, and have really grown to enjoy making chili. I made a pretty good batch two weeks ago, but it wasn't quite spicy enough. So I made some more this afternoon and decided to put two jalapeño peppers in with my normal mix of ingredients to spice things up a bit. As it turns out, two jalapeños is more than enough, and may even be too much for my liking, especially since I added the entire pepper (including the seeds, which are apparently what makes them so hot).

My only concern with this whole situation is that I now have at least a gallon of chili, and Nicole is only interested in eating a little bit since it's so hot. So needless to say, my system will have some issues to deal with over the next week or so.

The Big Time

For some unknown reason, I was invited by my work to attend a charity event (I am technically still an intern, despite the fact that I do more work than half the people in my department, but that's another story for another day). It was held at the Hard Rock Hotel, and there were several Bears players in attendance, such as Lance Briggs and Kyle Orton. Even though the guy who was hosting the event(the Bears place kicker, Robbie Gould) was not the best public speaker, Nicole and I still had a good time. Another highlight was a live performance by county musician James Otto (I am a huge country fan, so yes, that was a highlight).

I tell this story not to namedrop and say I met all these people, because I didn't. I just looked from afar and prayed that I might get into some type of accident with one of them where I would be able to file a lawsuit. But moreover, attending this event really instilled the desire to become a successful person, so that someday, I might be able to get into a bidding war to pay $1700 for a dinner for five.

And no, the dinner was not going to be held in the White House...just some average restaurant in downtown Chicago.

Cab Drivers Should Pay More Attention

Sorry for the hiatus...it seems as though I was temporarily suspended. They suspected I was a spam blog, although I'm not sure why.

So I got hit by a cab yesterday...literally got hit by a car and fell onto the hood. Luckily, the car only had minor damage on the front end. Oh, and I was OK too. So next time you're out driving at night, don't just "go for it" and assume there is no one outside walking around, even though it may be pouring rain. Because surely, there will be some genius out there, like myself, who is going to cross the street no matter what when that little white man on the stop light says it's OK to cross.

Bad Idea

I must start off by saying that I have greatly appreciated all posts to my blog, and encourage more comments in the future. There is no such thing as a bad comment.

Just as I suspected, my teacher is unreasonable. I managed to finish the paper and prepare for the test last night and felt pretty good about the situation going into it. I take back what I said about how writing the paper wouldn't help me study--it did. However, I stand by my claim that my teacher is unreasonable (and despite some comments, she is not progressive or full of good ideas). Two people finished the test in the hour and 15 minute period. I was the fourth person to leave the room (after an hour and 20 minutes), leaving 35 other students writing frantically just to throw down something on every question. There were 20 multiple choice questions, 20 short answer questions, and 2 essays. I'm not exaggerating.

In all honesty, I feel pretty good about the test and am sure that I did fairly well on it. But I'm convinced my teacher just has no concept of reality, and doesn't understand the everyday responsibilites of today's college student.

Test Day

I am going to try not to talk about school too much in my blog, but seeing as how I'm a student, I find it inevitable. I have my second midterm tomorrow in organizational communication--no big deal. The kicker is that the professor has decided to make a paper due on the same day as the midterm. I find this slightly unreasonable, but more importantly, that's just uncalled for. Why would she think that's a good idea (And I know that you all are thinking that it will probably help me study for the test to do the assignment. Not true.)?

Question of the Week

Throughout the existence of my blog, I will sometimes ask questions instead of give insights. Please feel free to post responses to these questions or even pose another question in return.

Should you remove your shoes when entering someone else's house (somewhere that you've never been)?

Free Haircut

This afternoon, I got a free haircut from a salon. I know what you're thinking: Why would your average Joe get his haircut at a salon? Well you obviously didn't read the first part of my statement, where I said it was a FREE haircut. The only problem was, the lady wasn't allowed to use a clipper setting on the back. She had to use a comb and clippers all the way around my head. And then to top it off, she refused the cut the hair on top of my head to the shortness I wanted because she said it wouldn't lay flat since it's so straight. This is the point where I chime in and say: No problem, they cut it too short every time at Great Clips--I'm used to it. But she wouldn't go for it, and instead decided to just give me a trim all the way around, meaning that I'll have to get another cut in 2 weeks.

The point I'm trying to get across here: Even though I got a "free" haircut, I actually didn't get anything for free because I had to tip her...and I'll probably have to pay to get another haircut in less than a month (but we're all crossing our fingers that Ms. SR can set me up with a free one). And according to N (if you're reading this and you don't know who N is, I'll be shocked, and you should let me who you are and why you're reading this blog), "You can't eat your cake and have it too."

Procrastination

I'm sure most of you can relate with what happened to me this weekend. I had a long list of work for my classes that I wanted to get done this weekend and planned on spending about 6 hours at the library. Of course Saturday afternoon rolls around, and I need some things from Target (toilet paper, matches, etc.). Then Saturday evening arrives, and I still haven't cracked a book. At this point, I figure I'll just work longer on Sunday to compensate.

Needless to say, it's 10:07 on Sunday night, and I have not done any real school work. Instead, I decided to clean all day and go to the gym afterwards. The point I am trying to get across is very simple: If I'm not on deadline, I don't get things done. Procrastination is a defining characteristic of many college students. As for myself, well I would say that I've taken it a step further--I'm majoring in procrastination.

Class Discussion

After sitting through my Management class for an hour this afternoon, I realized that I have no idea about what is happening in the financial world. I am aware that there is a bit of a "crisis" going on, with banks getting seized and going under. I am also aware that the U.S. is struggling a bit economically, which is partly due to the previously mentioned "crisis." But I cannot tell you for the life of me what it means for a company to "firm-up their assets." When other people in the class started talking about these kinds of things, I couldn't help but feel lost. However, I did not want to sound like the kid in the back row, who toward the end of the discussion said this: "For our generation, this is really the best thing that could have happened. Now, all the people who were going to enter the business world will instead want to go to grad school to avoid this mess. Therefore, there will be a lot more job openings for us."

Like I said before, I'm not entirely sure about all the ins and outs of this financial situation, but I am fairly certain that it's not a good thing. Why this kid would make such a claim is beyond me. And I'm not quite sure where he thinks he's going to be working if all of these financial institutions continue to go under.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, sometimes it's best to act like you know what people are talking about, even though you're completely in the dark. If you're not going to do that, then at least don't make a ridiculous statement that makes it obvious you're lost on the subject.

Free Bike

After my girlfriend won a free bike, she decided to give it to me because she figured I would get more use out of it than her. I took her up on the offer and picked out the model, make and sizing myself. This evening, she received a call from her mother (had the bike delivered to her house) who said that the bike is taller than she is, even with the seat down as far as it goes. There is only one thing you can say in a situation like this: Whoops.

I think the lesson that I am going to take away from this experience is: Even if you think you know what's going on, you probably don't. So don't try to guess on the measurements of your own bike if you've never bought a new bike before.