Sparks and Brighton

Tuesday.

This is the day that we're taking a train from London to Brighton. I've worked for the same company for over 13 years, and throughout my career here I have worked with people from our Brighton office in various departments. I used to fantasize that my employer would find a reason to send me there, but I gave up that fantasy long ago. If I'm going to go to Brighton, it will have to be on my own... and at last I have the opportunity!

As we're getting ready to leave in the morning, I decided to make my hair straight (I had been embracing the humidity and letting my hair go curly up to this point). The hotel room came equipped with an outlet for a standard american plug, but that outlet wasn't working for some reason. Luckily, Julie brought a converter plug for the european outlet. After I dried my hair, I plugged in my flatiron and ***SPARKS*** accompanied with a loud BOOM! All of our power is out. Thank goodness it was just a blown fuse and a simple flick of a switch performed by the maintenance man corrected the problem. Although I'm sad to say, my flatiron is toast. I paid $150 for this flatiron two years ago. Trust me, there is a huge difference between nice flatirons and cheap flatirons. So until I have another chunk of change to spend on a new flatiron, I'll have curly hair.

And now to Brighton!

We visited the office and I was able to meet a bunch of colleagues face to face for the first time... which was awesome! After that, a few of them took us to lunch at the Brighton Yacht Club:



Across the road is the UK version of Wal-Mart, actually owned by Wal-Mart!



[sarcasm]I had to get a picture of that since I love Wal-mart oh so much.[/sarcasm]

Unfortunately, most of the rest of our tour of Brighton was from a car, so the pictures are sketchy, and I didn't get to spend any time at all at the Brighton Pavilion.

Looking down Brighton Beach:



Brighton Pier, which we didn't visit due to the massive crowds:





An old abandoned pier:



The Brighton Bandstand, newly refurbished:


Tour guide Bob (he's a colleague, he gave us a tour of this and some of London via automobile) took us further along the coast, about 20 minutes away, to the Worthing Pier which has less of a fanfare.

Jules and I in Worthing:


Gawd I hate getting my picture taken next to skinny and tan people!

The Worthing Pier:



We walked along the pier, got ice cream cones (It's called a "99"... vanilla ice cream with Flake bars... YUMMY!)



We sat on the pier and talked about life and families and religion and politics and work and well, pretty much everything. Sitting there looking out over the ocean, enjoying ice cream and good company- what an great time! I decided that if I were to ever live there, I would spend at least an hour on that pier every week to meditate.

The town of Worthing:


Looking out into the ocean, directly west. Tour Guide Bob told us that if we swim towards the sun, eventually we'll be back in America:



Luckily we didn't have to, we still had a few days left. Next will be my Wednesday story- my favorite day of the trip!

Ode to Costco

Costco Costco... how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

***sidenote*** Remember my prediction about Google ruling the world one day? I still believe that. I think nothing would be better than to have the president of Google also be the one who calls the shots for the world. I want a google telephone line, ISP, computer, electricity, etc. etc. etc. I told my dad this one day and he agreed with me, but said they really ought to co-brand with Costco. Brilliant!! It is clear where I get my intelligence from, no?

On to my counting.

1. Customer services is unsurpassed. I have never had a bad experience with a Costco employee. It is clear to me that those who work there are treated very well, love their jobs, and have a ton of loyalty. I have been told that here in the Salt Lake City area, the Costco Checkers make $20 an hour! That is fantastic! Satisfied employees are a sure sign of a strong company.

2. The stores are always clean. This is a biggie for me. Even their public restrooms don't give me the heebie jeebies.

3. The food court pizza and hot dogs are fantastic! Not to mention CHEAP! And their churro's are a huge hit with my girls. Everything else there looks tasty as well. I can feed my entire family huge meals for less than $10!

4. The frozen entree's make me feel like I'm feeding my family delicious and healthy dinners. From the grilled chicken/artichoke heart ravioli, lasagna, french onion soup, teriyaki chicken and rice, it's all very tasty!

5. The Kirkland brand. Most anything that Kirkland puts their name on, you can pretty much guarantee that it's going to be the best of its product.

6. The return policy. They'll take anything back.

7. Their bakery is fabulous! The pastries are always perfectly moist, cakes are huge and yummy, their pumpkin pie makes it possible for me to never have to bake another pumpking pie again, the tiramasu is impressive to take to parties, and their cheesecake. Their CHEESECAKE!

8. Produce is alwasy fresh. Their avacados, mangos, mango slices, apples, oranges, pluots, lettuce, tomatoes... YUM!

9. Their meats are perfect cuts.

10. I can't believe I haven't mentioned their prices yet! The savings make the $50 membership worthwhile!

11. Clothes for kids and adults. Always in fashion and reasonably priced.

12. CHEAPER GASOLINE!

13. Whenever I have to bring something to a potluck, it's always something from Costco, whether it's a main dish, appetizer, or dessert. From the festive holiday cookie platters to the yummy artichoke jalapeno dip, it makes me look like I have the talent and skills of Martha!

14. Buying diapers and formula in bulk for baby twins. 'nuff said!

15. I've been replacing my old makeup with the Kirkland brand, and I love it!

16. Their flowers are always huge and fresh and beautiful.

17. CHEAPER GASOLINE!! I had to say it twice because it's so nice!

That's 17 ways so far, enough already! The point of this post is just to say, if there is life without Costco, I don't want to know what it's like.

Christy Savaging Degeneration: Text Messages and the Subject of Borders

It is my opinion that text messages are quite possibly the greatest invention of this century. Or have they been around longer? I'm not sure. Perhaps my friend Eric can give me further insight on that. I think I received my first ever text message in 2003, it was from my sister and it said "Boo!". Quite frankly I was a little afraid of it because I didn't know what it was or what to do with it. The whole "fear of the unknown" thing.

I was sitting in the waiting room of my Dr's office last week, and other than myself, the receptionist (who is probably Scarlett Johansson's identical twin sister) was the only other person in the room. I heard a cell phone beep and I watched as she picked her phone up and read the text message, and her entire face lit up. Then she had a couple of phone call interactions and receptionists frequently do, then resumed to responding to her text. She was giggling to herself and had a special glow about her... I couldn't help but wondering what the message exchange was, or who it was from. It was a fun experience in people watching.

Of course this reminded me of a couple of friends I owed texts to so I got my phone out and probably had similar expressions to those of the receptionist. All of this got me thinking about how great texts are. I believe they are the most convenient form of communication in this day and age. They're instant, and depending on the urgency, you can either respond immediately or take your time. You don't have to deal with voice to voice interactions or potential awkwardness.

Each time I get a text I feel special... I love seeing the little envelope on my display, is it wrong to be so excited over that? I remember when I first got the internet (Prodigy) in 1991, nothing would make my heart skip like seeing the "NEW MAIL" flashing sign. Nothing so small has made me so giddy ever since.

Not all of my texts are happy, wonderful messages. I get some sad, scary, and otherwise upsetting news as well. But receiving this via text allows me to deal with what I need to in my own way, without the pressure of instant response.

The one drawback to texts, is it can disengage people, especially if they're in a crowd of friends. I am so guilty of this! I have been in situations with a few friends where we'll be sitting together, but each off in our own world texting other people to our hearts content, when we probably should have been enjoying the company of each other. Oh, and I also ought to try to not text while driving. Although I have learned that nothing makes a stop light go faster than trying to text someone during the wait.

The point of this post is: If you want to make my day and know my cell phone number, send me a text! If you don't have my number but want it, let me know and if I know you and like you, I'll send it along.

You want to know what's better than texts? Picture texts! (but PLEASE, no chain/spam texts! I'll delete them just like I do the chain/spam emails!)

Does this post make me officially pathetic for being an attention whore?

I love drunk dials

I've had calls from the right coast, from the left coast, from the United Kingdom (I love you Rip Zip and Wry C!), and a few from the same state I live in. It doesn't matter, I love them all!

To my friends who called me the other night (they know who they are... my very hip New Yorker friends!), I'm so sorry I missed your call! I saved that voicemail on my phone so I can use it to cheer me up when I'm feeling down.

Nothing warms my heart more than knowing that my friends are thinking of me when they're in a very happy, inebriated state.

Obligatory post on Gratitude

With tomorrow being thanksgiving and all, I figured I'd post something that I'm grateful for today.

I wasn't in the mood to be sappy this morning, but as I was driving to work, I was struck by the beauty of what I saw. This was before 7AM, and the sun was rising. I was headed toward the mountains, and they were black silhouettes against a very clear pale blue sky. It was one of those moments that I was kicking myself for not having a camera, although I doubt I could have really captured that beauty. It is a gorgeous day in Salt Lake City. The weather is unseasonably warm, and I'm in a fabulous mood.

Because Danny Elfman is one of the gods that I worship, I'll post some Oingo Boingo lyrics. These lyrics really have no specific meaning to me, but I can't stop singing the chorus to myself today:

Gratitude

Life's been so good to me
Has it been good to you
Has it been everything
That you expected it to be
Was it as good for you
As it was good for me
And was it everything
That it was all set up to be
(Now is that gratitude)
Now is that gratitude
Or is it really love
Some kind of reality
That fits just like a glove
Now is that gratitude
For everything I've done
Or is it something else
That's got me on the run
In the middle of a big tornado
On the tip of everyone's tongue
In the belly of a giant whale
All the girls just wanna have fun
In the look of a frightened neighbor
In a big warm bed at night
In a broken elevator
In the teeth of a dog that bites
In the middle of a revolution
In the look of a child's face
In the silence of the dinner table
In the stillness of disgrace
(I used to eat little girls I knew
for breakfast
I used to fly high up in the sky
I used to chew up rocks and
spit out gravel
I had a heart as cold as ice)
But when I think of you
And what you've done to me
You took away my hope
You took away my fantasy
I once had lots of pride
The world was in my hands
I lived way at the top
Of castles made of sand
Ooh . . .
I dream of you sometimes
Ooh . . .
I dream of you sometimes
In the middle of a big tornado . . .
Life's been so good to me . . .


Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The things that I love

I've seen other blogs do this. And as is my non-creative nature, I shall copycat. Hey, don't hate. Just remember that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

Here is my list of things in life that I love, in no particular order:

• Sushi. Cheap kind, expensive kind, it's all good. Just give me fish (cooked or not) wrapped in seaweed and covered in rice with some ginger and wasabi, and I'm in heaven. A glass of red wine on the side? Even better!
• Red wine. I don't like most white wines unless it's really dry. But I looooove red wine. Especially Syrah or Chianti... or a Cabernet Sauvignon.... mmmmmm.... I especially like anything from the 2002 harvest.
• Sam's Town. We just picked up the latest Killers CD, and have their concert to look forward to this Saturday. After a few listens, this album has really grown on me. I can't wait to see them live for the first time! Although I did get to see Brandon Flowers live at the U2 concert in Las Vegas last year (I still have orgasms thinking about it). I can't wait to see Brandon in his element. I just hope he shaves his porn 'stache by then.
• Shopping on a sunday in Utah. 'nuff said.
• U2 by U2. I got this book last week, and am still captivated.
• Express clothes (www.expressfashion.com) I already covered this in a previous post.
• Fall weather. My favorite time of year!
• Carters clothes for kids. Cute and durable!
• My cuisinart grind 'n brew coffeemaker. I bought this for myself as a reward for coming clean about my disaffection with all those who matter. It's turned me into a coffee snob, but I'm okay with that. No cream, no sugar. Just give me a nice cup of Columbian Supremo and I'm in heaven.
• TV shows The Office and My Name is Earl. The only two shows I make an effort to watch. Scrubs will re-join this list once it starts up again in January.
• Victoria's Secret Very Sexy brand of bra's. I'll get a boob job one day (my size is fine, it's just that aging and gravity have taken their toll....), but until then, the Very Sexy bra's make my boobs look like they did when I was 18.
• My iPod. All of my music and pod casts at my fingertips. How did I live my life for 30 years without one?
• Dooce. I've already covered this, too. She's one of the few people who can make me laugh and cry within one sentence.
• Blogs. There are quite a few I follow religiously. Once I figure out how to make blogger work for me, I'll create my own blogroll.
• Mexican food- either Cafe Rio if I'm craving lime and cilantro, or La Frontera if I want authentic.
• To go along with mexican food- Tequila! I never show up to a party without it.
• Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion. Genetics have been kind to me as far as giving me clear and smooth skin, I don't have to make any big efforts. However, I do live in Utah. Without this moisturizer, I'm certain my face would have fallen off by now.

I suppose this list is long enough for now. Thanks for reading!