Linked In

Howdy all,

I have signed up on Linked In.



If you have not already signed up it seems to be a very useful site to keep track of contacts. :-)

Check it out!
Leslie

*Doing the Happy Dance!*

I got a job! GOT A JOB! Ok so the first couple of months after I left WK was fun. I thoroughly enjoyed my summer but over the past month life has been dress up interviews in uncomfortable shoes. So anyway Monday this week my recruiter calls me and says "I have the perfect job for you!" I sigh because I have heard this before, I want to believe it is true but I am tired. So Tuesday morning I go into the recruiters office to meet with Christa. I like her immediately. She is very personable and I just feel like we clicked. I knew she had 4 interviews lined up so I leave the interview with hope but feeling like this is another job that I will be passed over for. I get a call later in the afternoon and the recruiter wants to meet with me Wed. and I am scheduled for a 2nd interview on Thursday to meet some of the people in the office. I am now EXCITED! I have not even been called back by half the people I have interviewed with (If you are reading this and you set up an interview with someone for a job PLEASE have the courtesy to call them back even if it's with bad news.)

I go into to meet with the recruiter Wednesday and she tells me Christa narrowed it down to 2 of us. We talk a bit more and I am stoked. So this morning (I know I am rambling and that this post is not cohesive) I go in to interview again. I leave with a skip in my step. I barely walk in the door to my apt and the call comes that I have the job. I am still waiting for some of the details but they offered me MORE money then I had intitially agreed to. LMAO... what kind of a company pays you MORE then you ask? Well I know WizKids wouldn't.... no raises in well over a year.... benefits cut beyond recognition. It is sad that with all the benefits cut in the last year I was there I actually made LESS then I did when I started 3 years before.

Well I am excited. So the company is a Real Estate Appraisers office. I have meet with Appraisers before at Fidelity and they are very similar kinds of people to title exaiminers. The company has been around since 1982 but is very small. 18 people total. I am very much looking forward to diving into this new challenge. Meeting new people and just being able to work again.

Thank you everyone for your support over the past few months. *happy dancing around my house!*

What Have I Been Up To????

Hi all,





I have been away for a while spending time figuring out what I want to do and who I am. It's quite a thing having time to be. I am now spending time looking for a job. I want a place where it will be right for me so it is taking more time then I anticipated. In the mean time Bill and I went by Uncle's games to pick up a puzzle. There sitting in the window is THE WORLDS LARGEST PUZZLE. http://www.worldslargestpuzzle.com/ This thing is 24,000 pieces, prior to it's release in March 2007 the largest puzzle was 18,000 pieces. So Bill and I agree we must attempt this thing. The puzzle comes in 4 sections. Section 1 is Hot air balloons and lots and lots of fish. LOL

So on Sunday, August 19, 2007 we went down to the store and picked it up. Lex was home from school for the weekend so we started sorting the first section. I will keep you updating as we go through it. It's been great so far. :-) Although Bill thinks I am crazy for wanting to do it. :-)

More soon.

Leslie

Hilarious Harry Potter Song **NO SPOILERS**

Annoyed that you don't have your copy yet? Scared of what might happen? Sad that the whole thing is ending? Want to laugh at the pleas of a desperate Harry Potter nerd? Then this is the song for you!

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It's Official! We Saved Jericho!

Fans of the show rejoice as CBS has officially announced Jericho's return for 7 episodes during midseason 07-08. Apparently, sending 25 tons of nuts to CBS HQ is a pretty effective message!



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Jericho Fans Go Nuts Online | WebProNews

Fans of CBS's Jericho are waging a grassroots campaign against the network for cancelling their favorite Wednesday night drama. They're shipping nuts - by the thousands of pounds - to CBS network execs. Scrappy Internet firm NutsOnline.com is turning the outrage into a group campaign by offering couch potato activists a way to pool their funds.



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Nuts For Jericho

NUTS! Save Jericho! Jericho fans unite. In addition to sending individual orders to CBS programming executives, as a Jericho fan you can now contribute money to massive shipments of nuts. NutsOnline will do our part by pooling monies and supplying nuts at a steep discount! At the end of each day we will tally dollars collected and ship out huge qua



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Jericho lives on... maybe?

Ok so it is rare that I feel passionate enough about a TV show to make sure I am home to watch it each week. I have DVR so I honestly couldn't even tell you what time half the shows I watch are on or even some of them what channel. Jericho was a rare show. So I signed up for details on the www.jericholives.com website to find out about any future plans CBS might have for the show in hopes that they might finish it off with a mini-series or something. What I have seen in the last week is a very organized group of very determined (and sometimes a little scary) people. LOL

Take this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5ImUmrOSw0

for example. This is so funny I sat and laughed for a good half an hour. (yes I can be easily entertained) If you search you tube there is an entire movement to save this show. Not to mention the NUTS campaign where they are suggesting people send nuts to the CBS Mailroom to show support for the show. People have ordered SO many nuts from nutsonline.com that they have put up a blurb on their home page about the Save Jericho NUTS Campaign.

I read on the site that to date there have been over 1200 nuts shipped off to the CBS staff... boy I sure hope no one onsight is allergic. LOL to support Jericho go to the website and sign off on the petition. It's a great show and really deserves an additional season in spite of the low ratings it might have received (those couldn't have anything to do with it being put up against Dancing with the Stars and American Idol could it?!?!?)

Enjoy!

Does CBS actually have their heads up their asses?! Oh why yes they do.

Does CBS actually have their heads up their asses?! Oh why yes they do.

Over the past year I have found myself leaning more and more away from live TV. I have signed up for a NetFlix account and am renting DVDs of TV shows that are now off the air that I didn’t have time (or the channel) to catch when it was on. Six Feet Under and Dead Like Me are my 2 recent obsessions. This past season was one of the best seasons on TV that I have seen in years.

Between Jericho, Heroes & Men in Trees I finally regained hope that the networks were not completely useless. As I watched Jericho and Heroes and had these gynormous pauses between 6 and 8 weeks with no re-runs or new episodes I became annoyed… then early this year ABC plays 1 episode of Men in Trees and then NOTHING… no updates on their website… no information to say the show was ever coming back. So this past week was the season finale of Jericho. I was so excited at the end because I thought for SURE with this excellent writing the show would have to be back. Now I find out that CBS decision makers are complete and udder idiots. They have cancelled this well choreographed show and what will they put in its place? Probably some POS reality show.

On a good note Heroes and Men in Trees have been renewed for next season and in the case of Men in Trees they will be adding the END of this season on to next season. Whew…. At least there is some small hope. All this has made me start to think… why do I bother watching these shows live when I can simply rent the season DVDs a few months after the show is over and AFTER I know if it will have a new season? I mean if I had known Jericho would have been cancelled I think I would have trashed the show earlier if I had bothered watching it at all.
It’s nice to have the water cooler shows… you know the ones that people get excited about and you have to discuss over lunch the next day but when it comes to the end of the season and there is a great cliff hanger and no resolution… I just feel like a woman with a quick-draw boyfriend…. Not something I am accustomed to feeling. LOL

Hiro Speaks

So the Seattle Times did an interview with the actor that plays Hiro from the TV show Heroes. I read this quote as the last thing he said in the interview and it kinda hit the nail on the head of what I think being a geek is.

Being a geek is a great thing. I think we're all geeks. Being a geek means you're passionate about something and that defines your uniqueness. I would rather be passionate about something than be apathetic about everything.

Tag in the Seam

Are you a geek? Do you date a geek? Are you a female geek? I know we are pretty rare. I recently had a reference from a good friend to listen to this podcast, Tag in the Seam. I decided to give it a shot since my favorite morning radio guy had been off the air for more than a week and I desperately needed something fun to listen to on my way in to the office. So I cranked it up on my iPod and downloaded a couple early episodes. The one that caught my eye was “Survival Guide to dating a Geek” I popped this little hour long episode onto my iPod and turned it on while I waited for the bus to take me to work. By the time I got onto the bus I was giggling. As more and more people piled on to the bus at each stop I began chuckling out loud much to my bus companions’ amusement. Before I exited the bus I was laughing out loud and had tears streaming down my face. Tag in the Seam is a podcast done by this woman in Atlanta. She is a geek and she dates a geek and as she speaks I find myself nodding my head in agreement with nearly everything she has to say. She has a fantastic sense of humor and I think the best parts of her show have been when she has randomly recorded times she is sitting around talking with friends. She is very real and in this day in age that is so common. Please take a few minutes out of your day and go check her out. If you have iTunes and you listen to podcasts right on there without having to even own an iPod.

Go on! Check it out! I promise you won’t regret it! Here is the tag:
This is a show by real women about real woman for real women.
Everything from breast cancer to skin care.
DynamicOutspokenSeriousPlayfulControversial…
The first podcast ever for real women.
http://tagintheseam.mat9.com/

And honestly I think men may very well enjoy her more then we women do. LOL

Star Wars Pocketmodels

I entered into geekdom at a fairly young age. My older brother is probably much to blame but so was my monster crush on Han Solo. I grew up in the early 80s with all the Star Wars loving geeks. I collected the figures and played with them. We had one of the giant storage Vader’s to put all the figures in. We had lunch boxes and Tie Fighters.

So when I accepted a job with a game company I had hopes in the back of my mind that maybe someday I could possibly work with Lucasarts and be a small part of Star Wars. When a competitor got the license for the miniature game I was sad and realized it would be unlikely I would be able to be involved with the company and so my hopes were put on the back burner… that is until the middle of last year.

I work for WizKids, Inc. makers of HeroClix and Pirates of the Spanish Main games. We are a small company and we have had our ups and downs but things are majorly on the way UP!
We recently announced that in June of this year we will be releasing our Star Wars Pocketmodels game. I have played it and am very very very very very excited. Here is a link to see a little about the game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUXCVOUU8DY

If you are interested in the game (and if you are still reading I am REALLY hoping you are) keep an eye on our website: http://www.wizkidsgames.com/ as we will be announcing more cool stuff to come!
*~*Leslie’s Doing the happy dance!*~*

Why Offset With NativeEnergy

So I was reading an article about how traveling causes harm to the places we travel to due to the emissions from the car. This is something I was aware of but I was NOT aware that there are programs that can help each of us off set the pollutants we produce.

Some people feel the offset programs are just a way for people to try and justify their over abundant use of our environment. My perspective as with most things is “If what they are doing is helping why do we have to pay so much attention to their motives?” If a person decides to give a $1000 to a charity because they feel guilty about something they did what harm is it? *sigh* The people the charity is there for still benefit. Maybe that person shouldn’t have done the “bad” thing he/she did but regardless the donation helps.

Anyway, So I found this website:

http://www.nativeenergy.com/why_offset.html

I am going to look into the benefits these programs provide and I am considering trying to do my part to heal the polution I am responsible for.

Final Magnet Count

Ok so it took me over a week to make sure I had all the magnets together and even then I missed one. LOL

Total Magnet Count: 58.

Once I have them up on the fridge I will take a few individual shots. Any magnet you want to see closer up? let me know. :-) I am very pleases with the collection.

This was fun...

So I was surfing around and found this cute little survey. I think it has me pegged. LOL

Your Travel Personality Is: The Adventurer

For you, travel is how you learn about the world. And you like to learn the stuff that's not in guidebooks.You truly have wanderlust. When you're not traveling, you're dreaming about where you'll go next.And your travels are truly legendary - they leave you with stories you'll be telling for the rest of your life!

What's" Your Travel Personality?

Home Again Home Again Jiggedity Jig

So I am home again. Here is the final count 11 States, 6 National Parks/Forests and a ton of fun. I am a little sad that the Utah sign did not turn out as well as the rest.

Utah:

Back to work and home to my kitties. They seem to have missed me and I will bring them some fish from Sushiland when I get back from dinner.

Hope you enjoyed following along on the trip. *smile* I had fun blogging it for everyone.

Hmm maybe I will try and keep up with my blog now that I am used to posting... hehe we will see...

Saturday to Portland

It's Saturday and while we are going to be glad to be home we are both not looking forward to Monday Morning. We head out from our hotel room later then planned and have breakfast at this nice little bakery in town, than hit the road headed up the coast. It is very overcast today and as the forecasters said, it is raining and cold. The coast is covered in fog and so I was not able to get much in the way of pictures. I was able to add a couple more magnets to my collection for the Oregon portion of the trip.

We will be driving most of the day and so we put on more of the music we have on the iPod. I have about 20 songs about "Home" that I put on. (I don’t think I mentioned that I had songs loaded for each state we passed through and tried to play them when we were in the area. My favorite selection was Brad Paisley's "Celebrity" when we drove through Beverly Hills which actually I hadn't planned but just kinda happened. LOL)

I am a little tired today but I think it's mostly because of the dreary weather. Oh and I bought a California Lotto ticket when we passed through so wish me good luck! Hehe

The weather starts to clear as we get further from the coast. It's about 4 pm and it looks like we will make Portland before 6. That will make it an easy 3 hours of driving tomorrow to make it home.

Leaving California!

Last night we stayed in Fortuna. (wasn't that the name of the town in Pirates of the Caribbean where all the pirates lived?) It was a lucky thing since there happened to be a Safeway there and we needed more water and wanted to grab stuff to make lunch for a little picnic in the Redwoods.

Well if you are planning to go to the Redwoods National Park you should know something. If you want to drive the "Avenue of the Giants" Its not actually in the National Park but on another property about an hour and a half SOUTH. We had already passed it and decided to give up on it and just hike the trails in the National Park. We spend a few hours hiking around (and eating our Sports Jelly Bellies which I personally do not like but Bill liked them and finished them off) and taking lots of pictures. It was an amazing time.

I sat for a bit on a bench in the woods and just listen. It is amazing the sounds of the different parks. Arches was deafeningly quiet. There are no birds, no bugs, no trees for wind to blow through. The painted desert was quiet but not the deafeningly quiet due to the rolling hills. The Grand Canyon is full of people noise and some birds. I much prefer the Redwoods. Full of noises and yet absent at the same time. There was no airplanes or cars or radios booming with bad music. There were birds and buzzing insects and wind rustling through leaves. There was a small creek on one of our hikes that bubbled and splashed. I could sit here for hours and just listen to the sounds. A man walks by oblivious to the wonder around him while he talks on his cell phone about work his young daughter jogs along beside him desperate to keep up but she looks disappointed that she can't stop and look around. Why do people like this bother to come to this beautiful place? He doesn't seem to comprehend the beauty around him just wants to check something off some imaginary list of things to do. Redwood National Park is not a thing to do. It is a place to experience. I feel so at home in forests. Arches, Painted Desert, Petroglyphs, Grand Canyons are all amazing and terrific things to experience but forests call me. I believe in a former life I must have been a squirrel or some other woodland creature. I love the sights, sounds and peace that forests bring. The sign says that Redwoods thrive in High Humidity and Moderate Temperatures… I think I have a lot in common with these trees.

One of the people working at the visitor center suggested we stop by the Klamath River Overlook. We head out to the overlook and when we arrive it is beautiful. There are a handful of picnic tables so we stop and have our lunch and get some excellent coast pictures. We finish up our day and drive up into Oregon. We decide to make it a light day since we are ahead of schedule and stop in Brookings, Oregon just North of the border. We notice immediately that gas prices has not gone up dramatically but that California really does suck (average price for gas was $3.39 per gallon.) Now Bill is out running along the surf on a very nice (but very cold) beach. The sun is setting in the next 45 minutes but it is a little overcast so we are not sure we will see much. The seagulls are swooping (mine… mine see Finding Nemo for reference) and the waves are crashing. There are dozens of people out in long pants and jackets.

I think Bill feels at home at the Ocean the way I feel in the forest. I think he could wander the coastline for days, weeks or years and never tire of it. I enjoy the ocean myself, the birds and splashing waves but I think Bill enjoys it on a deeper level then I ever can, maybe he was a sea otter or a dolphin in his prior life. Hehe Well Bill has disappeared from sight and sunset is only a short time off. I will go hunt him down and see if we can find a hotel and dinner.

I set off to find Bill and we take pictures of the tide rolling in and the waves crashing over the rocky beach. The sunset goes by unnoticed behind a layer of clouds when I begin to hear music. At first I thought it must be in my head. I can't imagine hearing music with the waves crashing on the rocks. Then suddenly I realize several hundred feet up on a ledge there is a man standing playing a trumpet out over the cove. At first I do not recognize the song he is playing but I hear beats of music between crashing waves. It is an amazing sound. The music dances among the waves and echoes through the cove. It begins to get dark so I walk back to the car on the cliff above and the further from the water I get the more I am able to understand. He finishes the song he was playing and begins playing "Life goes on" Obladee obladaa life goes on…ohh….. I sit on of the steps leading up the cliff side and listen the music mingle with the waves. The last song he plays is Moon River.

Shortly after he stops playing Bill comes up the cliff ready to find a hotel. We head back toward town and remember seeing a motel with an Ocean View and so we stop and find the prices reasonable. We plan to drive to Portland tomorrow which should only be about 330 miles. Then home on Sunday after a visit to Bill's daughter.

JELLY BELLIES!!!

Thursday and today is Jelly Belly day!!!! We grab a quick breakfast and head over to the factory. It's Thursday and April so we figure it will be quiet at the Jelly Belly Factory… WRONG! We wait about 40 mins in line for the tour and end up be the first couple in one of the groups. They give you a cute little paper hats to wear (safety and cleanliness reasons I am sure but probably also to see people wear silly hats.)

As we are waiting for our turn, we talk to the employee at the front of the line and find out he is an executive for the company and today being the Thursday before EASTER it is the second busiest day of the year. LOL Only Bill and I can pick a random day on our roadtrip and have it be the second busiest day of the year… duh… So we take the tour through the factory and its very neat. They really have a brilliant set up with viewing area for almost every step of the way with video from the Modern Marvels episode about Jelly Beans. Did you know Jelly Belly makes Candy corn? Gummi Bears? Sunkist fruit gems? Well I didn't. They also have a whole line of chocolates called JBZs… basically M&Ms with flavored shells (Bill's coments - actually much better than plain old M&M's). Apparently their owner was one of the first to ever make candy corn. I am shocked! I never knew!

What is a Belly Flop? This was something I learned about as well. When Jelly Bellies are made they have this totally cool machine that sorts all the beans out. First if tumbles through and pulls out all the beans too small. Than it tumbles out all the perfect beans, once this has been completed the machine filters out all the too big beans. The imperfect beans are then mixed and bagged and sold as Belly Flops. At Christmas we got a box of Jelly Beans in the office and everyone seemed to enjoy them so when I saw the Belly Flops I bought a case (24 pounds) to bring back. Bill and I are going to split it up and make sure everyone that wants any Belly Flops can have some. So just drop by my desk next week and I will make sure I have a flavor menu so you won't grab a roasted garlic or jalapeno unless you really want one. Although… roasted garlic is quite surprisingly yummy.

Once you leave the tour they give you free samples of the Jelly Bellys and JBZs to take (this tour is free… and they still give you goodies!) there is also a sample "bar" basically you get to go up to the bar and taste any of the flavors they have available. I grabbed a roasted garlic and, while skeptical, I popped it in my mouth… I am utterly shocked that I like it. I also grab up a "Unconventionally" HOT Cinnamon gummi bear. YUMMO! Oh yes and then there was pomegranate. Ohhh yummo!

So Bill and I head over to the wall of Beans. We know we are bringing back the Belly Flops for friends but we must have beans to munch on the way home! We buy too many and then head out. Oh and for those Jelly Belly fanatics out there, they have a little diner in the visitors center that sells Jelly Belly shaped pizza, hamburgers etc.

On the way in we noticed signs for an Olive Oil tasting place. When I realized (months ago) that we would be driving through Northern CA I had hoped we could find some places that make Olive Oil. So when we saw the sign we made sure and stopped by. We tasted several types of oils and vinegar. There was a video on how they press the olives to make the oil that was fascinating. They have infused vinegars and oils that are fabulous and made locally by monks. The best ones there were the tangerine and pomegranate balsamic so we grab up 2 bottles and a bottle of a nice Tuscan Olive Oil to mix for salads.

We now have quite the collection of food stuffs. A jar of green chili made in Santa Fe, Olive oil and vinegars made in CA and marinated garlic and garlic spread also from CA. Not to mention about 27 pounds of Jelly Bellies straight from the factory. LOL

This morning we researched and discovered there are only a couple more Sonic Drive Ins left on our path home (although now we know there is one near Portland which I can get to more often then once every 3 years.) so we drive a little off our intended route for lunch. Bill is now thoroughly addicted and is a bit bummed that there are no Sonics in Seattle. Hey anyone out there want to start a restaurant? I hear Sonics do good business. Hehe

After lunch we hit the road and are headed up to the Redwoods. We will be stopping before we hit there this evening and then spend most of tomorrow among the giants. The weather said cloudy and 60s but its only a little cloudy and it is definitely above 70. So we are happy with our weather today. I hear there is a major cold front headed through much of the country and we are just glad it is not raining. Although the 10 day forcast says we will see rain all week once we are back home… Ahh Seattle, I have missed my kitties but I really have not missed the rain… when will it end? Ah well at least I got a break from it. Summer is just around the corner.

Streets and Trips has sent us off on another questionable but beautiful path. State Road 36 across the Klamath Mountains from Sacramento to Eureka, CA. I have a feeling in hunting season the road is chalk full of people but this time of year it is silent. We drive up and down mountains the road curving with the earth and dipping frequently. The view is incredible and so are my nerves… I seem to do well with the cliff sides for several hours each time but then I become concerned with whether we will ever find out way out of the forests. Going from highways with a 75 mile an hour speed limit to areas where it is not safe to drive more then 25-30 tends to make time slow to a crawl. Dozen of times along the road we stop to watch the deer as they meander across the road and graze on the hill side. Animals in this area seem to respect cars and steer clear of them but do not seem afraid of humans but are wary.

When we saw the sign that said "9% Grade next 2 miles" Bill and I agreed that neither of us had ever seen a 9% grade. So when we saw this: we became a little concerned. We have driven more then 5000 miles on our trip and we have never seen a grade like this for this extended length of road not to mention it is overwhelmed with hairpin turns:

I was fine until I could smell the brakes burning. We pulled over and gave them a chance to cool down. Then made the rest of the way down the hill. After we got to 101 we decided to stop at a little Brew Pub for dinner. The food was excellent and the locals were cute. Lots of cowboys in jeans and hats. hehe

Well we decided to crash here at the local generic chain motel. Tomorrow I walk among the giants... Night.

Scenic Highway 1

Ahh it's Wednesday. The sky is slightly overcast and we are a little sad but really can not complain since nearly every day of the past 3 weeks has been gorgeous. We set out from San Luis Obispo to drive the scenic highway 1 stretch from Morro Bay to Monterey on our way into San Francisco. Even though the sky is overcast and a little smoggy the birds are out enjoying the wind. There are a small family of squirrels running around one of the view points we pull into. I also snap a few pictures of the happy cows that come from California, compared to the ones we saw in the desert I would have to agree that these look happier. We then stop at a seal protection and viewing area. There are hundreds of seals napping in the sand. I film them for a few minutes and randomly gawk and oohhh and ahhh. I just love animals… but I guess you wouldn't have guessed that. Heh

After hours of beautiful scenic driving we arrived in Monterey. We decide to grab a late lunch/early dinner and head over to the coast and find an excellent little seafood place. I have an AMAZING Dungeness Crab Alfredo pasta and Bill has Stuffed Shrimp over pasta with Portobello, tomato and a garlicy olive oil sauce. We sit out on the al fresco dining area and watch the kids play in the sand. Then we shop for a bit. I get a new hoody jacket and Bill gets a few goodies. We jump back in the car and head to Frisco. We arrive later then we had planned but the time was well spent in Monterey (I really like Monterey… it reminds me of coastal pictures I have seen of Italy.) We grab a few pictures of the Frisco skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge. One of the top priorities on our journey home was to stop and tour the Jelly Belly Factory. We decided to head up to Fairfield, CA tonight to see the factory first thing tomorrow, at which point we can decide if there is anything in San Francisco that is calling to us or if we want to bypass it in favor of more time along the coast and at the Redwoods. This would allow for a more leasurely last 2 days as we would not be trying to drive the full 550 (or so) miles from Redwoods to Maple Valley.