Archive for February, 2009
Obviously I don’t know what I’m talking about
Feb 19th
As you can see by reading the comments on my previous post, you CAN set up different levels of private for different friends on facebook. But I am SUPER-LAZY, and so I don’t. So it still applies to me, right?
Anyway, I saw this first on Dooce, and then All & Sundry did it (both of those women are hysterical, so you should totally check them out, by the way), and I imagine it will be making it’s way around to other blogs I read soon enough, so I’m going to jump on this bandwagon before all the good seats are taken.
ps. Those of you who are my facebook friends will perhaps appreciate that I’m doing this here instead of there yet again (I’ve done about 5 in the last week or so on facebook).
What are your middle names?
Mine is Marie (yay children of the 80s unite!). Ryan’s is Lee.
How long have you been together?
Just over 4 years. We started officially dating in January of 2004.
How long did you know each other before you started dating?
Years. Like 5 of them or so? We went to college together and were both in the pep band. Yes, we are uber-dorks.
Who asked whom out?
Ryan had liked me for a long time before we dated. It was never a good time for me, but after I moved back to Duluth, I realized I really wanted to date him, so I called him up. So I guess the answer is I asked him.
How old are each of you?
He’s 29 and I’m 28
Whose siblings do you see the most?
We see Ryan’s sister more often because she and his parents live a lot closer than my sisters, brother and parents.
Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Planning our time. I think Ryan would like to be less “booked” all the time, but I don’t like saying no. I’m working on it.
Did you go to the same school?
For college, yes, we both went to UMD (Minnesota Duluth, not Maryland ;-))
Are you from the same home town?
No, I grew up in the country near a very small town in very northern Minnesota. Ryan grew up near the cities.
Who is smarter?
Ryan is much smarter when it comes to random trivia and anything to do with computers and technology. Otherwise, I think we are pretty evenly matched. Oh, and he’s smarter about sports. I like to watch sports. I don’t care about athletes’ names or sports history. This is why I will only play Trivial Pursuit with him if it is multiple choice or we are on teams and I get to be on a team with another good at random trivia person.
Who is the most sensitive?
I win that award. Lucky Ryan. ;-)
Where do you eat out most as a couple?
We have been branching out more and more with our eating out, but our default go-to place is Old Chicago. Ryan is on his 3rd World Beer Tour and I’m on my 2nd. We eat there entirely too often, but the food and beer are so good!
Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
He helped me move to Delaware after college, and we traveled to New Hampshire when we were in pep band. As a couple, though, it would have to be New York for one of my good friend’s (and his ex girlfriend) wedding. I drove out, he flew out and met me, and we drove back together. Through Montreal. It was quite the experience, but a lot of fun.
Who has the craziest exes?
If you mean like call you up crying or threatening or that kind of stuff, neither of us have exes like that. If you mean just a crazy person in general, I think he wins. His ex that is one of my good friends is crazy. But we love her anyway.
Who has the worst temper?
I think I do. I get angry easier than he does. He mostly gets annoyed with me. How anyone could get annoyed with me I will never know, but it happens occasionally. Neither of us has really bad tempers, though. At least not that I’m aware of.
Who does the cooking?
He does, mostly. My major problem with cooking is that I’m a recipe person. I like having directions and following them exactly. He is a much better experimenter, and knows just what to add to a dish that seems to be missing something. I will just eat it as is. I grew up in a Norwegian household. Salt was about as “spicy” as we got.
Who is the neat-freak?
I don’t think either of us are “neat freaks”, but I’m definitely the one who is encouraging more cleaning on a regular basis (and occasionally freaking out that I “can’t stand this house any more, it is SO MESSY!” Then we go on a cleaning rampage for an evening (or a weekend if it’s really bad) and I feel better.
Who is more stubborn?
I think we are pretty even in that regard. We each have certain things we are stubborn about. I’m stubborn about being right. Ryan is stubborn about being right also, but usually in a different way. Also, he does not like to argue with me, so I get my way a lot. He’s just encouraging me to be stubborn again in the future, but shhh, don’t tell him. I like it that way. hehehe.
Who hogs the bed?
Neither of us hogs the bed, but Ryan is definitely a sheet stealer. When I was on my own I could get out of bed, fold back the corner and it would look like no one had slept there. When he gets up in the morning the sheets are often kicked to the bottom of the bed (or completely off of it) and the blankets are twisted. I do not understand how this happens.
Who wakes up earlier?
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That would be me. By far.
Where was your first date?
I don’t think that we went on a “date.” I think he came up for the weekend and made chili. It was yummy.
Who is more jealous?
I’m jealous of his work a lot (he spends a LOT of extra time on the computer doing work). Does that count? Otherwise, I’m not sure either of us is really a jealous person. We like it that way.
How long did it take to get serious?
Not long. I knew that if I called him and told him I wanted to try a relationship that I would have to be serious about it. We moved in together the next summer, and were engaged after less than a year.
Who eats more?
Ryan, usually.
Who does the laundry?
Ryan brings the clothes down and washes them. I fold them. This works out well for me. Not so much for him. Poor guy.
Who’s better with the computer?
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. He works for a tech company, and likes to take apart and put together computers as a hobby. Guess which one of us is better with the computer?
Who drives when you are together?
It used to be I drove when we took my car and he drove when we took his. Now we only usually take my car, and so we kind of switch off driving. If we are going to visit my family I drive. If we are going to visit his family he drives. We are very equal about driving, apparently. Who knew?
I’m talking about facebook again
Feb 19th
I’m sure it is no surprise to any of you that I love facebook. It definitely has it’s issues, but for the most part it keeps me connected with the people I want to stay in touch with, and even some I didn’t know I wanted to stay in touch with. It’s been especially great to find some family members who I don’t get to see often.
I was thinking about it, and the one thing I’ve really noticed about facebook is that it is much more difficult to maintain different personas with different people when you are on there. You know what I’m talking about, right? Not like you have alternate personalities or anything, but how you are a slightly different variation of yourself when you are with your extended family versus your immediate family versus your high school friends versus your college friends? I don’t know if I could even tell you the differences for me (other than I don’t swear in front of my extended family, but I occasionally do in front of my college or high school friends). Either way, there are things about you that one sector doesn’t know that the other does, and vice versa.
Well, with facebook, you can’t really have that. Unless you set up people to have only a limited view of your profile (and even then they all get the same limited view), they all see the same pictures, see the comments other people leave on your wall and get a feeling for what you are talking about, see what groups you belong to or what events you are attending.
It makes me wonder if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I kind of lean toward it being a good thing. I mean, I don’t really have anything to hide, and with facebook set up like this I don’t need to worry as much about maintaining separate personas (although I still won’t swear in front of my grandparents – but that’s out of respect for their wishes more than anything, I think). Anyway, I think it is something that a person just needs to get used to, and be aware of.
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Does anyone else notice that when specific examples are asked for (or expected) you can never think of them? Like if you are having an argument about something someone does that bothers you, and they ask for the exact date and time of the last time they did it (or the last 4 times); or when a person you knew in high school asks you how you’ve changed in the approximately 10 years since then, and all you can think of to say is “I drink now,” instead of the millions of ways I’ve you’ve changed? (Not that that ever happened to me.) I can NEVER think of that kind of stuff. See above paragraphs and how my only example is swearing. GAH!
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Today is the slowest day EVER at work. Why is this? The day will be long enough on it’s own without work dragging by. I have a appointment with my personal trainer lady (don’t I sound all fancy!? Don’t worry – the sessions were cheap, and even though I know I’m pretty young she makes me feel old, although she is very nice.). The meeting runs from 4-5, and then I have to go to the library and volunteer from 5-7 (I would skip, but it was closed on my other volunteer day this week for President’s day and they are already short on volunteers), and then we have bowling tonight from 7:30-10ish. Mostly fun stuff, but like I said – LONG day.
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ps. We are taking a poll. Was Sam calling me the mean customer service person who told him he was “belly aching” when he called the bank? (See comments on the previous entry.) Because I know that story and I don’t think I’m her (she was mean and a terrible customer service person), but his comment makes me wonder.
pps. I *heart* you Sam! Even if you were calling me the mean customer service lady! Although if that is the case I will let you and Ryan carry your desk on your own this weekend! HA!
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I am aware that there are probably only 2 sentences out of this mess of an entry that make any sense at all (even this one didn’t before I fixed it!). I’m not sure what to do about it that doesn’t require rewriting the whole thing. This is not freshman comp, people.
Why Michelle Obama is my hero
Feb 11th
This quote by Michelle Obama, speaking to students at Harvard today, is exactly what I love about her. She’s a real person! She’s like me! I don’t know what to do with my life either.
“The question that I hate most that we ask of young people is, ‘What are you going to be when you grow up?’ And the truth is, I still don’t know, and I’m 45 years old,” she said. “All I know is that it’s important for you to be true to yourselves, not to worry too much about what other people are going to think or make of your choices, because everyone will question what you do and tell you you should’ve done it the other way.”
Amen to that.
Who knew Scrabble could be therapeutic?
Feb 10th
I didn’t write last week. I couldn’t even keep it up for one week. But in my defense, work was insane. I came in to the office at 6:15 or so one morning, and by 7:30 or so a couple mornings (I don’t usually work extra hours, so I’m not used to it). That was good, because I got a lot more done before the phones start ringing and everyone else got here.
This reminds me of when I was in elementary school. I was always good at school – got almost straight A’s (or E’s and S+’s when I was in elementary school), and never really struggled with it. But I have always had a hard time concentrating on work when there is a lot of outside noise. This is probably why I developed into a speedy test-taker. If you are one of the first ones done, you don’t have to worry so much about other people talking and screwing up your concentration.
Anyway, when I was in second grade (I’m pretty sure it was second grade – with Mrs. Rislov (?sp)), we were working on some sort of worksheet or something in class. I don’t even remember what it was. All I remember is that I didn’t finish it before everyone started talking. They were second graders – you can’t really fault them for talking. But I COULD NOT concentrate enough to finish my work, and kept getting distracted. I was missing out on stuff! So eventually the teacher sent me to the principal’s office to finish, because it was quiet. But I was mortified. I did NOT get into trouble in school. Ever.* I was obviously scarred for life.
Work lately has been crazy – with a million things to do, and people calling our office and yelling at me.** And sometimes it’s just too overwhelming. So instead of taking a smoke break (I don’t smoke) or going for a walk (I would just get more overwhelmed thinking about work while walking) I take a quick Scrabble break on Facebook. The game saves even when you aren’t online, and you don’t both need to be on there at the same time, so it’s perfect for playing over the course of a few days when you are just making a move or two on a break. And it makes me think about something else for 5 minutes. And it has saved my sanity this last week.
What do you do to relax when work is getting overwhelming?
*Except for the time I walked out on my gym class in like 5th or 6th grade because the gym teacher was encouraging the other team to cheat. I’m such a rebel. I know.
**Only 1 person called our office and yelled at me, but it wasn’t my account and it wasn’t anything I can do anything about. And also, there is never a good reason to yell at people over the phone. If you are that upset hang up and call back later. I don’t want to listen to it.
