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nablopomo

Po. Ta. Toes.

Posted in Friend Fun Times, NaBloPoMO, Video Games by

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Richard and I have been working on the new Lego Lord of the Rings game that recently came out. On Thursday, we were able to complete the entire story mode and beat the game. I have been a fan of the Lego video game franchise for a while and when they announced that they were going to make a Lord of the Rings game? *TAKE ALL MY MONEY*

When I was a kid, I always wanted Legos but never got them. I imagine its because my parents had some sort of insightful knowledge that I would have left them on the floor to be stepped on in the middle of the night. For this parents, I forgive you. But now that I am older, and tend not to leave things on the floor like Legos, I have started collecting sets of my own. Who knew they were so dang expensive? Currently to buy the sets that I want, I would have to sell a kidney or take out a second mortgage on a house I don’t even own.

The game itself is fun. I’m glad they decided to put it all together in one game vs. splitting it up into 3 different games. The major problem that I had was that the game was SO GLITCHY. I have done some searching online to see if anyone else was having problems, but as of right now, it seems they are few and far between for most people. Us on the other hand? We couldn’t go maybe 30 minutes into the game without it glitching to the point that we could no longer play the game. This ranged from characters disappearing, getting stuck on various objects, not being able to switch between items or people, all the way to the game just freezing all together.

If you can get past all the anger associated with these happenings, the game itself has HOURS of play to it. The storyline is beatable in about 3 – 4 hours, but going back and unlocking all of the characters, items, mythril bricks, etc. is easily another 40 hours. Any game that adds stuff to extend the experience is alright by me. I would definitely play through this game again (and probably will) but if you decide to pick it up, save early and save often, just in case.

Anybody that has experienced video game glitches I am sure can understand the level of frustration that comes along with them. Luckily people like James the Angry Video Game Nerd make hilarious videos such as the game glitch one that take the edge off just a little. (warning: if you are offended by vulgar language or have no sense of humor, you will not enjoy this video)

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December NaBloPoMo Topic:

What is the best way to relax after a hard day?

There are a few things that I find relaxing after a long or hard day at work. Here is a short list!

  • Listen to music
  • Play video games
  • Write about my frustrations to get them out
  • Spend time with friends and family
  • Eat a delicious meal
  • Work on something creative
  • Go to the gym
  • Hot shower and clean sheets

How do you relax after a hard day?

7 December, 2012
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Pretty in Black

Posted in Inspiration, Music, NaBloPoMO by

As usual I am late to the new album game. If only there were an app that would allow you to see all the new releases coming out each week. What makes this situation even more sad is that I follow The Raveonettes on various social media outlets and knew that this album was coming out, yet neglected to actually figure out when. I was introduced to The Raveonettes in 2007 by my friend Chris. He worked at a local coffee joint and I would spend my nights hanging out, drinking soy peppermint hot chocolates and we would talk music. We were introduced through a mutual friend and our common bond musically made for awesome conversations. One band that he introduced me to were The Raveonettes, a indie rock band from Denmark. The Raveonettes could best be described as a two part band with duo-harmonies mixed with electric guitars mixed with heavy distortion mixed with the 50’s and 60’s rock vibe meets a hint of surf rock. I had the pleasure of seeing them at a small venue in San Francisco for my birthday in 2008 with Be Your Own Pet (who you should also check out).

Their newest album Observator falls right in line with their previous stellar works. I think my main draw as to why I love this band so much is their vocal pairing and subtle electronic elements. Despite the usually dark lyrics most of their earlier albums have a rather upbeat vibe to them versus the more mellow tone of this album. This album was created after a few day bender by Sune in Venice Beach where he spent his time people watching. “Young and Cold”, the opening track on the album happens to my favorite mostly because I can identify with how he is feeling, each year of my life passing me by faster and faster.

If you like groups like The Bird and The Bee, Blonde Redhead, Mew, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Velvet Underground, you will probably enjoy The Raveonettes.

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December NaBloPoMo Topic:

Do you enjoy teaching others? Talk about a time you taught someone how to do something.

Do I enjoy teaching others? Short answer, No. But I don’t think this question is so black and white, or maybe it is and I choose not to see it that way. The reason why I say no is because I am somewhat of a control freak coupled with a slight compulsion of OCD and sometimes get frustrated easily. Sometimes I forget that things that I find easy are not easy to others, this especially rings true when it comes to technology. When it comes to a menial task such as teaching someone how to use Word or how to send an email or take a screen capture on their computer, if they don’t pick it up quickly, I find myself getting slightly frustrated because these are all things I can do without even thinking about it. One thing I learned from my Mom was teach people by doing. Instead of completing the task yourself and asking them if they understand, have them complete the task and guide them. I find this yields better results.

A time that I had to teach someone was actually a time where I had to teach over 200 people. When my former employer added a department to the store, all of the employees had to be trained on all the various procedures, safety precautions, etc surrounding that department. Because I had been promoted to take over this department, I was in charge of ensuring that everyone was trained within a 2 week period. I started by reading over all of the information that I had to cover, because not only did I want to be informed and ready to answer any questions pertaining to the training materials, I wanted to see if there were any portions that I could change or omit to keep my audience engaged. After jotting down key points of all the topics that I needed to cover, I broke the entire building up into small groups that would be more manageable. I engaged the employees by asking them what prior knowledge they might have of the subject and then proceeded to break things down in visual way with props and whiteboards instead of standing in front of the room and reading from my notes. I felt that this approach was more effective than dumping a ton of information on them and expecting them to pass a test in 45 minutes. In the end most absorbed the material and passed the test and I was able to spend time with those who needed a little more help.

5 December, 2012
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Posted in Friend Fun Times, NaBloPoMO, Video Games by

While at my Mom’s house for Thanksgiving, I found myself completely lost after she decided to “rearrange” things in her kitchen. I scoured the shelves where I thought the sugar would be, and found TONS of powdered sugar. More powdered sugar than one person should own. I poked around a little more and finally gave up. Then a light bulb went off. I opened the spice cabinet and BINGO. SPRINKLES. This turned my wheat Chex into something exceptionally more exciting. Try it some time, you might not be able to stop smiling through your breakfast.

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Last night Richard and I chipped away at more Lego Lord of the Rings. I swear, this is one of the THE MOST glitchiest games I have ever played. The loading ring will just spin for ages in the bottom corners of our split screens, quests will glitch out and not continue on into the story, causing us to restart the game multiple times, items don’t respawn in their established places making it exceptionally difficult to complete story lines. Dear PS3, give us an update already, I am head over heels for the LOTR franchise, but this game is borderline unplayable at times. After struggling through one minor quest portion for almost 2 hours (which should have only taken about 30 to 45 minutes) we went and had dinner at Chipotle. I honestly can’t think of the last time I had Chipotle and it was pretty good. Our friend Aaron happened to show up at the same exact time and it was nice to have some dinner company and remissness about the crazies at my former work place.

After our meal we parted ways, sadly we had not killed nearly enough time before the midnight release of Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. We wandered over to The Nugget, which is a fancy pants supermarket. Considering how much time we had before 12 AM, we started at aisle 1 and proceeded to walk up and down almost every single aisle looking at all the food stuffs. Richard picked up some crazy delicious waffle cookie things, some chips, and a bag of cotton candy for me. With all of the aisles exhausted, we decided to kill the last hour and a half or so wandering Walmart. I honestly have never been to a midnight release for a movie (on DVD) and didn’t realize that people would actually be there to buy it. We were digging around in the CD bargain bin and suddenly a bunch of people materialized out of nowhere to buy the DVD. Sadly I could not find a Huey Lewis & The News CD, which I was convinced at least a greatest hits album would be in there, gave up and wandered over to where everyone was gathered. The employee had a huge display on a pallet that he was pushing into place and one guy asked if he could just grab it and go, to which he was swiftly shut down and reprimanded that he had to wait until the pallet was on the floor. Who knew they were such DVD nazis. Anyways, Richard grabbed his copy and we ducked out of there. I promptly crashed out maybe 10 minutes into the movie. Sad.

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December NaBloPoMo Topic:

Do you feel most comfortable being a leader, a follower, or a collaborator?

I feel that I am most comfortable in all of these roles in various capacities. I also feel that that answer is a bit of a cop-out, but hear me out a little. I have been a leader, follower, and a collaborator in various capacities of all of my jobs. When I started my first job, I started as a follower. I was new, inexperienced, nervous, but eager to learn and grow. I followed in the footsteps of over employees that I admired, taking direction from both my peers and superiors to improve my performance and the performance of the store I was working for. As I became more comfortable in my role, I started collaborating with leaders on various projects and ideas, which also meant taking on more responsibility and training other employees. Naturally that translated into various promotions until I ultimately landed the role of being the leader of the entire operation.

I feel that all three positions have unique rewards and challenges presented with them. In the role of the leader, you are able to make decisions that directly impact operations and employees. It gives you a position to teach, inspire, and coach others. I often find myself in the leader position, such as a school projects or a complex problem at work, because when it comes to situations like that, I am not the type to sit around and wait for everyone else to do something about it. I want to figure it out, getting done, and move onto the next challenge. Though in the position of leading, comes more responsibility, but sometimes in the end the rewards are greater.

In the role of follower, you are given the opportunity to take on someone else’s perspective with usually little or no repercussions for your actions (provided you follow instruction correctly). I often find that this role allows you to learn the in’s and out’s of the position you are in without having to worry about all the red tape. I also feel that people who start in this role before moving into a leader position (regardless of previous experience) often tend to be better leaders because they can identify more with the “followers”.

As a collaborator, this allows you the chance to both lead and follow. It can be the best of both worlds, provided the people you are working with feel the same way. I often find myself struggling with this the most because I tend to be a bit of a work-a-holic and control freak. But admitting you have a problem is the first step, right? As long as everyone feels valued and people are contributing equal amounts to the cause, being a collaborator can be a rewarding position.

I feel most comfortable evaluating what the situation calls for and assuming that role. By being flexible and dynamic, I feel that I am a greater asset to whatever goal I am working towards.

4 December, 2012
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My week in an instant & my first NaBloPoMo

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  1. I dumped the news on IG last week because I couldn’t take not talking about it any longer.
  2. Midnight looking ultra cute. I love when cats cover their face with their paws.
  3. I spent my day Saturday curled up in bed with my feline friend and watching Private Practice on Netflix.
  4. I started a class on Coursera – Drugs & the Brain. Its proving to be quite the challenge.

I didn’t realize how little I posted to IG this week – I guess things were not that eventful.

December NaBloPoMo Topic:

What do you consider yourself a “pro” at?

All of the topics in this months NaBloPoMo topics are in relation to work. When I glanced over the prompts and saw this first question – I wracked my brain as to what I consider myself a “pro” at when it comes to work – or anything for that matter. Upon some self reflection on the way to work I decided that I consider myself a pro at time management, creating plans, implementing procedures, and including others in the decision making process (when I can). By having multiple jobs that required me to manage my time in the most effective way possible, I had to become a master at this task. I mostly find myself making lists and using my phone to keep track of what I have going on. I often find myself pondering ways of how I can work smarter, not harder, which has lead to various procedures and plans that I have put in place at various jobs to help facilitate the flow of work.

I have had a few trying leaders in my journey – and along the way I have told myself that I do not want to be like them, and what about them do I admire and what do I not care for as a subordinate. One of my biggest frustrations was in certain instances that I or we were told to do something because they said to, with no explanation. I think there is a line between questioning authority and honestly curious about why a task is being completed or how. Because of years of ‘because I said to’ I have found myself often asking my employees or peers why we are completing this task to gain understanding or how they would improve it if they were in my shoes. For the most part, my return has been pretty successful, and I find that it helps build an environment where employees/peers feel valued and included.

What do you consider yourself a pro at in the workplace?

Tonight Richard and I are going to grab some delicious food from Chipotle, play some Lego Lord of the Rings, and hit Walmart for the midnight release of The Dark Knight Rises.

3 December, 2012
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The cats out…

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Sort of.

I guess now that all of the proper channels have been notified, I can let the cat out of the bag. (Who keeps cats in a bag anyways, seems really inconvenient). No I’m not moving (again), or pregnant, or really a man. I am being laid off at work. This is due to no action of my own, but the relocation of the owner and their choice to close the business permanently. I have known for a couple of weeks, but chose to keep things somewhat quiet until all of the employees and vendors had been notified. As much as I have tried to look at this as an opportunity to focus on finding a job closer to home, getting back into school, and putting more energy into my art and blogs, I am terrified. I have spent a lot of time in bed, trying to keep myself from slipping into a pity depression because of the timing – Hello Christmas! but it hasn’t been easy. Every night I have had dreams of drowning. They are not reoccurring dreams per say, as I manage to drown in a different way every night, but it does not make for a good nights rest.

But before this turns into a ‘woe is me’ post – there are many things that I am thankful for that cannot be overlooked. First and most importantly I have had massive support from my Mom & Dad, as well as Richard and his family. Without them, this new transition would be much harder than it already is. This past year and a half has been the absolute, hands down, most trying time of my life, and without them – well, I can’t even imagine. Secondly, my boss. There were definitely times where I felt that I was not the right fit for this job. I knew nothing about the heating and air trade which made it even harder when trying to speak to vendors and technicians without sounding like a complete idiot. My boss reassured me that I was doing my job just fine, and by the time that the busy season hit, I would be a seasoned veteran, and he was right. Also switching from almost 10 years in retail to an office job presented a whole new set of challenges. I was thrown into book keeping, mileage tracking, dispatching, call routing, and all kinds of other scenarios with little or no training before hand. I had to become even more resourceful, ask questions, be patient with myself, and fail.

The last part was the hardest for me, because in my previous roles as management at two well known retail corporations, I hardly ever failed. I had the answers, I was in charge, I was the person people turned to for guidance and questioning. Suddenly I was in a role that I had never really been in full time (of course I did of my current roles at my previous jobs but not in this capacity) without floaties. The girl before me was let go on a Friday and I started on Monday – nobody to show me where the vendor lists were, how to look up previous work in Quickbooks, what the passwords were to various accounts, and what jobs were currently open. But this was a true test of my ability to turn on a dime and make it work. Did my desk look like an explosion most days? Yes. Did I get the job done? Yes. So now that my time is coming to a close at my current job, I really need to remember to stop and give myself a pat on the back.

So what’s next – Good question. I have started applying for jobs. I am also eligible for unemployment, which is definitely a breath of fresh air because I won’t be struggling to pay my bills like when I left Target. During my (hopefully short) time off, I plan to complete the process to starting college to work on obtaining my nursing degree, my ultimate goal. I also plan on spending some time to really hammer out the direction of what I want to do with this space. Unlike Spoil Your Dinner, the content doesn’t write itself and some days I find it hard to put together something to post here.

In an effort to become more inspired, I have been really digging into the blogging community. I have joined BlogHer, which I have found to be a great place for women bloggers and will be participating in this months NaBloPoMo (which stands for National Blog Posting Month – don’t worry, I had to Google it too) which of course is themed around Work this month. Check back tonight to see this past weeks “My week in an instant” and todays first NaBloPoMo entry.

3 December, 2012
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