Sunrise at PHL

Theresa Sobczak

Web lost and found for gloves

This link is terribly long because i'm posting from my phone. It's an article about a website called onecoldhand.com founded by a CMU student to reconnect people with their lost gloves.

http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.google.com%2Fnews%2Furl%3Fsa%3DT%26ct%3Dus%2F5-1-0%26fd%3DR%26url%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fseattletimes.nwsource.com%2Fhtml%2Fnationworld%2F2004088548_gloves23.html%26cid%3D1125279884%26ei%3DWfdxR6vRCp6arAO89PH9Dg

updates

I'm waiting at my doctor's office waiting to be called so I figured i'd update you on what's going on. I'm here at the doctor to see if I really need knee surgery. If you didn't already know I have really bad knees and my kneecaps slip around a lot. I'm hoping to get that fixed now that I have the means/time to do so.
Last week I was in NYC on business. I got to see Dan and Chaitanya from the Phoenix office. My boyfriend John also traveled with me. We were there over a weekend so I went to see my family. A mind-blowing even occurred: my mom said to John 'give me a hug' when she was greeting us. It was very unlike anything I've ever seen my mom do with a current boyfriend.
Tonight is the google holiday party, which should be fun. I'm being cheap and I didn't buy a new dress or anything

Theresa Sobczak

Christmas cards

This year I decided I wanted Christmas cards that would be pretty and spread holiday cheer but also benefit a good cause. While surfin' the 'net I found this website: Cards that Give. There's a gallery of cards so you can choose by design or select a charity. It was a much bigger list than I could find anywhere else, but I don't know how comprehensive it is. I only wish there was a way of finding local charities...but I ended up going with some UNICEF cards anyway.

Celebrity filled work day

As I was walking back to my desk from a talk with Anthony Bourdain I was going to the cafe to get a cookie and lots of Googlers were standing around in groups and kinda looking around in awe. It turns out Goldie Hawn and her long-time boyfriend were here. Someone I don't know just turns to me and says in a stunned voice "...that's Goldie Hawn..." and I say "yeah. wow."

Theresa Sobczak

Halloween

A billion pumpkins appeared outside my office

Theresa Sobczak

Fantasy football hilariousness

My dad's team (Homers) is taking on the the Elks. I'd be intimidated if I were the Elks

Machu Picchu

I got to work this morning and found this article:
Yale to return Peruvian artifacts

I do remember being rather disappointed in Yale when our tour guide in Peru told us that they had the artifacts and refused to give them back. I'm glad that they seemed to have worked things out. Hopefully I'll get to see the exhibit before it returns to Cuzco. If not, I guess I'll just have to take another trip there. :)

Crushes, sororities days, toilets, and hilarity

So yesterday I was in the bathroom IMing my friend on my phone. As I did that I was reminded of happy times from my days as a sorority girl (so long ago). Basically, Caryl had this huge crush on this guy. She was being such a girl about it. She had to pee really badly but was talking to crush boy on AIM and didn't want to miss anything. I think I was in my room and I heard her shouting about how she didn't know what to do. The eventual solution: she took her laptop to the bathroom with her while she peed.

Hilarity!

Pink Floyd album art

Have you ever seen this poster?

Have you ever tried to figure out which album covers are on that thing? Oh yeah, it's easy: Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Wish You Were Here...maybe you know those. But what about the rest? I don't actually own any albums with cover art, but it was REALLY hard to figure out which (besides Animals and Atom Heart Mother) are there. Seriously internet...

(It's Relics)

Not a fan of London

I feel like I shouldn't judge London because I really didn't get out to see much of the city. All I did was work, sit in my hotel, and go out to eat. None of those was particularly fun like it was in Madrid. Madrid was a beautiful city that I look forward to returning to someday. London I could take or leave. Everything is super expensive here! Not only is everything super expensive - it's not even that good! I'm willing to pay lots of money for good food. It makes me angry to pay lots of money for really shitty food. London was all right as a city, but I didn't find anything really exciting or interesting about it. It's cute, I guess. Basically, I'm not impressed. And I'm happy to going back to Mountain View today.

Food!

All I can think about is food. I haven't had tasty food in a long time it feels like. I can't wait to get back to the States and chow down on some mexican. I'll be so happy!
So it turns out I someone contracted (is that the right word for this) salmonella in Madrid. I guess it's a lot worse than I thought both from having experienced its fury on my body and by having everyone reacting in a very very shocked way when they hear that's what I had. I have no idea how I got it, just that it was miserable.
Now that I can finally eat again I really really want something tasty in my mouth. And, just as a piece of advice, when you want something tasty in your mouth, do not send your mouth to London. I'm sure there's good food around here somewhere, but (shhh, don't tell anyone I said this) even the Google cafe isn't all that good here(!!!!). I don't think it's that the food is bad, I think it's just that British taste is bad. I've found few people who disagree with me on that, so far.

¡Buenos Dias Princesa!

Last night I was flipping through my Spanish tv for the first time and I found Life is Beautiful (one of my favorites) en español. I found it funny that Guido's phrase for his wife had been turned into "¡Buenos Dias Princesa!" I don't know what I expected, but I thought it was funny. I even considered temporarily changing the name of my blog while I'm in Spain.

Armpits

So when I was taking Spanish in high school my friends and I once discovered a picture of a female with a raised arm pointing to something in the distance. This young woman had very hairy armpits. Our Spanish teacher explained that women don't groom their armpit hair in Spain. This was very shocking news.

Since I've arrived in Madrid, I've been carefully peeking at women's armpits to see if my Spanish teacher was right. So far I have only encountered 1 pair of hairy armpits. However, it seems that Spanish women keep their armpits pretty well hidden. I've also only seen one pair of shaven armpits.

I'll report back with the conclusion to this study at a later time.

(and in case you were wondering, yes, I do occasionally feel weird for trying to spot armpit hair on the streets and the metro of Madrid)

Day 2 in Madrid

So this morning I went into the office and finally found the kitchen. It's not that hard to find, it's just that I wasn't looking before. It was awesome. Apparently Spaniards have a thing for orange juice because there was a fantastic orange juicer in the kitchen. It looked like this:


So a coworker explained to me that Spaniards consider the country to be the orange country and they drink oj all day, not just ask breakfast. It's even considered a dessert!
Did you know they make white chocolate Toblerone? Because I didn't until I saw it in the kitchen at work today.

Another observation about Madrid: there are no ads on the metro trains. Where there are normally ads there are just blank spots or big maps of all of the other metro lines.

Subway cheese

While browsin the net and trying to stay awake at what Madrid wants me to think is 4:30 PM, I found this cartoon

I think you should listen to this cartoon's message, as it's a powerful one.
By the way, that was found on The Consumerist

Welcome to Madrid

There are a few things I've learned about Madrid in the short time I've been here (5 hours).
- I thought they don't believe in street signs, but it's just that they don't believe in street signs on the STREET. They're instead high up on buildings.
- Buying metro tickets is very confusing. I still don't know why I had to buy a suplemento. Do you? Exactly. That's as much as I know.
- The dollar sucks against the Euro!

About my hotel:
- There's no iron! I have to pay someone 5 euros to iron a shirt for me. I think it'll be cheaper for me to just purchase an iron and throw it away at the end of the trip. I'll let you know what I end up doing.
- I found a nice little window in my bathtub. Story and annotated pictures to come later.
- My room includes one of the very first hair driers ever produced. I attempted to use it and decided that it would take approximately 35 minutes to dry my hair using it. (again, a picture to come)
- I think I have a bidet in my bathroom but I'm scared of it because I don't know how to use it.

Kwik-e-mart

So in case you haven't heard, some 7-elevens were converted into
Kwik-e-marts to promote the Simpsons movie. One of them happens to be
in my town, so check it out. My favorite parts were the old dude in the
freezer (trying to freeze himself into the future), the pink sprinkled
donuts, and the cashier saying "thank you, come again"

Advice needed!

My little bro is graduating from high school. I can't believe he's old enough to be graduating from high school, but that's beside the point. Do you have any idea what a big sister is supposed to get her little bro for graduating? Right now it looks like he'll be commuting to Penn State Berks from Collegeville (about a 45 minute drive) but he might also rent an apartment. If he were moving out of the house I'd definitely get him some badass college-apartment stuff - like a TV. But if he's not moving out of the house he doesn't need a tv so I have no idea what to do. I'd give him cash, but I'd rather he did something useful with it than spend it on chicks.

Party cups

I have a recommendation for you if you're going to be holding a party soon: http://etch-it.com/index.html. They're pretty awesome. Here's an illustration:


Basically, these cups have this stuff that you can scratch with your fingernail to write on. It's very entertaining when you've had several beverages and you don't waste cups. :) They were a big hit at this party I went to in San Francisco, so I want you to be a cool host/hostess too. Don't forget to invite me!

In NYC

So this week (5/20-5/25) I will be in NYC. I'm here on business but I definitely want to hang out with anyone who's around. I'm really into eating amazing food, so if you'd be willing to hang out with me I might make you have dinner with me. :) I wonder when restaurant week is...probably not til June. Damn. Oh well, come eat delicious food with me anyway.

Vegas pig

I'm in Vegas at this Harley Davidson themed cafe. I found this pig
holding condiments on my table

Toilet art

So I saw this piece of art in the stall of a bar bathroom, thought it
was a little weird

Easter

I feel like a bad Christian girl. Today I had a talk with my boyfriend about the importance of this day to Christians. The Christ rising from the dead is pretty much the entire event that Christianity is based on. Then after this conversation, we headed over to our friends' house for an Easter Egg Hunt. An easter egg jello shot hunt. While I can't deny that it was delicious, I feel a little guilty for celebrating this day by gratuitously consuming alcohol. At the same time, how is it any different from the way children celebrate Easter? They hunt for eggs and indulge in candy, so is it wrong for me to hunt for eggs in order to indulge in alcohol? Probably...because I know better.

I miss the struggle...almost

I think I found life more satisfying in college even though it was a much bigger struggle. I felt like I was getting something done, making a difference, and going somewhere. It's not that I don't feel that way now but I think it's different. It's just being in the real world I suppose. There aren't anymore compulsory milestones. In college I was working toward graduating and getting a fantastic job in 4 years. Now I have that, I achieved that. What is the milestone now? There's no 4 year mark to look forward to.

Gift from Beijing

One of my coworkers in the Beijing office just dropped by to introduce
herself and give me this awesome gift. It's a paper cutout. Apparently
these artists use knives to cut out these designs. Mine is full of fish
which signifies 'more' as in more luck, more money, more food, more
people, etc. My cubemate choose a peacock design which signifies
beauty. :)

Bacon is a vegetable

I recently found a great reason to embrace my vegetarianism...

Bei

Like I said before...Bei was in town and he did something crazy. This
is a photo of his half shaved head which he raffled off to raise money
for an ill professor. His boss at Disney won the raffle and got to do
the honors

Update

I've been bad and I haven't been updating as much as I should. Let's see...tonight i was busy making plans for when I head back to CMU for Carnival. Anyone else going to Carnival?

Bei is in town...

At the moment I am watching Bei get his head shaved by his boss at an
ETC event in San Francisco. Oh, Bei

Seeds growing out of my strawberry

Do you see this? The seeds under the stem? Am I crazy? Have I just
never noticed this before? It's kinda weirding me out....like those
tentacle things on the underside of ferns.

Wax

Dude(ttes). I waxed a guy's chest on Friday. It was pretty badass. It's still all patchy. I will attach photos.

I wrote a lot more but he was bitching about it so now there's no info.

It's coming

I don't know if anyone's paying attention, but I am. A new blog post is
coming. I realize it's been a while and lots of stuff has happened.
So, just in time for Valentine's Day I have 'new blog post' on my to do
list.

Also on my to do list: go see Dave Chapelle tonight, buy plane tickets
to GS, Carnival, and Michael's graduation, buy tp, saline solution,
shoes, and new jeans, mail my taxes, clean my room....

Boo Bears.

Boo.

Storyless

I have nothing interesting to say. I really don't. I've been on the phone with people recently asking how my life is going and I truly have nothing more to say than "ok." Is it really that nothing is going on? No. Maybe I just don't have enough time to tell you about the endless excitement of my life. Maybe.

An interesting article...will put this to use soon

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/fashion/25love.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087%0A&em&en=a5fb740d3765b8e1&ex=1169096400

I'm having scary daydreams.