A friend at work comes over to my desk today and says, "Amanda, what did you say was your miracle cure for hiccups? How do you make them stop? Someone by my desk has really bad hiccups and they won't go away."
Me: "Well, it's not my technique, but it's called the Harlin Maneuver. What you need to do is.." and he stopped me, "Just come show him."
So, I walked over to their desks and began, "This is called the Harlin Maneuver, and it has yet to fail. Follow these steps:
(1) Stand up
(2) Stretch your arms out to the sides
(3) Arch your back
(4) Extend your abdomen forward
(5) Breath slowly and deeply
... and that should do it." So he feels a little silly doing this in the middle of the office (most people feel like you're tricking them by getting them to do this silly pose) but he did it, and sure enough! No more hiccups.
Genius.
Tuesday, May 31
Eureka! We found it!
Not really in Eureka, but San Mateo. We were a little depressed about what we saw as our options for peninsula apartments, but we decided to go out for one more day of viewing this weekend. We looked at a few places:
(1) 9:00AM: a very large, bright 2-story apartment with hardwood floors throughout, a big kitchen, and some tacky extras, such as mirrors glued to several walls as accent decor, cottage cheese ceilings, and 2 "bonus rooms" (patios that have been enclosed with walls and windows). This is a 2 bed/1.5 bath, totally clean with tons of storage space.
But more on the bonus rooms: the front is about 5'x10' and has very 70s golden-orange-brown carpeting. The back is about 4'x8' and is only screened in (the sliding glass door wasn't to code, so they took out the sliding part and left the screen glued in place) with very tasteful green astroturf.
(2) 10:30AM: a sketchy duplex on the train tracks, sharing its neighborhood with a six-plex whose "courtyard" was covered in trash and old toys. We missed our appointment here.
(3) 10:45AM: Lakeshore Landing - now, www.ApartmentRatings.com warned us against renting here, because of bad parking and worse management. We thought we knew better - after all, we were always treated very well by our guide, Hilary. This was our third visit to the complex, and her tune had definitely changed. She sighed heavily when she stood up to show us around, and she only told us about one available apartment in the complex. Just the week before, there were 5 or so in our price range. We thought, "Wow, this place rents fast!" Well, while we were sitting there trying to figure out what to do, Hilary's co-worker comes over and says, "But, what about that apartment with a partial water view?" And Hilary sounded irked but said, "Oh, that tenant JUST gave notice.." The shady part is that Hilary had already mentioned that same unit to us the week before, one of the 5 available in our price range. Long story short, we walked away feeling like we'd seen her true colors, and that ApartmentRatings.com is right, again. Post there, whether you had a positive or negative experience -- it will help people to make the right decision.
So at about noon, we went home and sat around, depressed, wondering if we should even go back to our next appointment, at 2:30pm. We went, and what we saw was...
(4) 2:30PM: a gorgeous apartment. Gorgeous. Two bedroom, 2 full bathrooms. Totally clean, all new appliances, vaulted ceiling in living room, stylish light fixture in dining area, lots of greenery outside the windows, pretty terra cotta-tiled balcony backing up to a hill (no loud neighbors in the back). Off the street (quiet), and across the residential, 2-lane street from a sweet shopping center (Safeway, Longs Pharmacy, vet hospital, bakery, etc.)...
So we had a lot to think about. Numbers (2) and (3) were out. Number (1) offered slightly cheaper rent, some utilities, and a reasonable security deposit, but with no views to speak of, and had those crazy bonus rooms which I might be embarassed to show to friends. Number (4) offered EVERYTHING, perfect, but had an extortionately high security deposit, and the manager couldn't confirm that the owner would allow pets (we'll have one cat).
By 8:00PM, we had decided to go with number (1), on the condition that the owner allow us to change the flooring in the front bonus room from carpet to tile. We went to see her Sunday morning, and she consented, so we applied and gave her our security deposit. She said she's 99% sure we'll have it, but she needs to run the credit check anyway, and will let us know Tuesday... which is today. I'll keep you posted!
(1) 9:00AM: a very large, bright 2-story apartment with hardwood floors throughout, a big kitchen, and some tacky extras, such as mirrors glued to several walls as accent decor, cottage cheese ceilings, and 2 "bonus rooms" (patios that have been enclosed with walls and windows). This is a 2 bed/1.5 bath, totally clean with tons of storage space.
But more on the bonus rooms: the front is about 5'x10' and has very 70s golden-orange-brown carpeting. The back is about 4'x8' and is only screened in (the sliding glass door wasn't to code, so they took out the sliding part and left the screen glued in place) with very tasteful green astroturf.
(2) 10:30AM: a sketchy duplex on the train tracks, sharing its neighborhood with a six-plex whose "courtyard" was covered in trash and old toys. We missed our appointment here.
(3) 10:45AM: Lakeshore Landing - now, www.ApartmentRatings.com warned us against renting here, because of bad parking and worse management. We thought we knew better - after all, we were always treated very well by our guide, Hilary. This was our third visit to the complex, and her tune had definitely changed. She sighed heavily when she stood up to show us around, and she only told us about one available apartment in the complex. Just the week before, there were 5 or so in our price range. We thought, "Wow, this place rents fast!" Well, while we were sitting there trying to figure out what to do, Hilary's co-worker comes over and says, "But, what about that apartment with a partial water view?" And Hilary sounded irked but said, "Oh, that tenant JUST gave notice.." The shady part is that Hilary had already mentioned that same unit to us the week before, one of the 5 available in our price range. Long story short, we walked away feeling like we'd seen her true colors, and that ApartmentRatings.com is right, again. Post there, whether you had a positive or negative experience -- it will help people to make the right decision.
So at about noon, we went home and sat around, depressed, wondering if we should even go back to our next appointment, at 2:30pm. We went, and what we saw was...
(4) 2:30PM: a gorgeous apartment. Gorgeous. Two bedroom, 2 full bathrooms. Totally clean, all new appliances, vaulted ceiling in living room, stylish light fixture in dining area, lots of greenery outside the windows, pretty terra cotta-tiled balcony backing up to a hill (no loud neighbors in the back). Off the street (quiet), and across the residential, 2-lane street from a sweet shopping center (Safeway, Longs Pharmacy, vet hospital, bakery, etc.)...
So we had a lot to think about. Numbers (2) and (3) were out. Number (1) offered slightly cheaper rent, some utilities, and a reasonable security deposit, but with no views to speak of, and had those crazy bonus rooms which I might be embarassed to show to friends. Number (4) offered EVERYTHING, perfect, but had an extortionately high security deposit, and the manager couldn't confirm that the owner would allow pets (we'll have one cat).
By 8:00PM, we had decided to go with number (1), on the condition that the owner allow us to change the flooring in the front bonus room from carpet to tile. We went to see her Sunday morning, and she consented, so we applied and gave her our security deposit. She said she's 99% sure we'll have it, but she needs to run the credit check anyway, and will let us know Tuesday... which is today. I'll keep you posted!
Friday, May 27
Cute avatar
So, don't get me wrong.. I love Google as much as the next inquisitive girl, and I obviously like Blogger enough to use the service for my own lame self-expression. But I'm a little bummed that, unlike LiveJournal (slow beast of a site), Blogger doesn't ask you to share the music you're listening to, and your current mood (complete with cute avatar), so I'm going to do it myself at the end of this post. Nyah.
When will this Friday end? I want to get on with my life!
current mood: ( ! ),( ? ) distracted
current music: Radiohead "Fake Plastic Trees (Acoustic)"
When will this Friday end? I want to get on with my life!
current mood: ( ! ),( ? ) distracted
current music: Radiohead "Fake Plastic Trees (Acoustic)"
Thursday, May 26
"This never happened."
I hate to add another downer to the short stack of blog entries I've posted, but after the gravy burn and the Izzy Incident, how can you expect me to be having a good week? =P
For the past week and a half, I've been seeing another new spot of "shimmering" motion in my left eye's vision. I decided to man-up and go to the doctor today. It's not terrible news -- the doctor couldn't see any new scarring on my retina. However, he did see that the retina was slightly raised or something (he talks fast). He wanted to do a fluorescein angiogram (doh, I passed out during the fluorescein angiogram I had when I was 18) in order to determine whether I should have Visudyne therapy.
He gave me the option of having it done today, or waiting one week. He recommended today, but my nerves were shot and I thought I'd do better with someone to drive me home, so I'll go back next Friday.
Just informing my fans. ;) .. no sympathy, k? It won't help my nerves. Of course, you can't take it too far the other way and make jokes, either, because it's sorta serious.. so why don't we just say this never happened?
For the past week and a half, I've been seeing another new spot of "shimmering" motion in my left eye's vision. I decided to man-up and go to the doctor today. It's not terrible news -- the doctor couldn't see any new scarring on my retina. However, he did see that the retina was slightly raised or something (he talks fast). He wanted to do a fluorescein angiogram (doh, I passed out during the fluorescein angiogram I had when I was 18) in order to determine whether I should have Visudyne therapy.
He gave me the option of having it done today, or waiting one week. He recommended today, but my nerves were shot and I thought I'd do better with someone to drive me home, so I'll go back next Friday.
Just informing my fans. ;) .. no sympathy, k? It won't help my nerves. Of course, you can't take it too far the other way and make jokes, either, because it's sorta serious.. so why don't we just say this never happened?
Wednesday, May 25
CRUSHed
I have some very sad news to report.
My first car, Isabelle -- my much-loved, white-and-black 1984 Volkswagon Rabbit convertible -- is no longer in my life.
Yesterday, I voluntarily retired my baby. It was terrible. She failed smog, and I thought that the price I'd ultimately get for her would be too low to justify putting money into getting her to pass smog. My mom found this voluntary retirement program, and I didn't read the fine print. It just sounded like a good deal... I'd get a decent amount of money for the car, and her parts could be salvaged to help out other beautiful little V-dubs in need.
Well, although I took her to a "Pick-n-Pull" lot, it turns out they were NOT going to sell her parts. When I got there, they wrote "CRUSH" all over poor Isabelle in blue grease pen. I was shocked. I didn't realize it was THAT kind of goodbye. I tried to smile and act like it wasn't bothering me (a pick-n-pull lot isn't the most sympathetic environment) but I was traumatized.
I went inside to finish the paperwork. Afterwards, I was going to say goodbye one more time, but when I got outside, Isabelle was gone. They'd already taken her away somewhere. It couldn't have been more than five minutes.
I'm sorry, Izzy. =(
My first car, Isabelle -- my much-loved, white-and-black 1984 Volkswagon Rabbit convertible -- is no longer in my life.
Yesterday, I voluntarily retired my baby. It was terrible. She failed smog, and I thought that the price I'd ultimately get for her would be too low to justify putting money into getting her to pass smog. My mom found this voluntary retirement program, and I didn't read the fine print. It just sounded like a good deal... I'd get a decent amount of money for the car, and her parts could be salvaged to help out other beautiful little V-dubs in need.
Well, although I took her to a "Pick-n-Pull" lot, it turns out they were NOT going to sell her parts. When I got there, they wrote "CRUSH" all over poor Isabelle in blue grease pen. I was shocked. I didn't realize it was THAT kind of goodbye. I tried to smile and act like it wasn't bothering me (a pick-n-pull lot isn't the most sympathetic environment) but I was traumatized.
I went inside to finish the paperwork. Afterwards, I was going to say goodbye one more time, but when I got outside, Isabelle was gone. They'd already taken her away somewhere. It couldn't have been more than five minutes.
I'm sorry, Izzy. =(
Why? you might ask..
Well, because I burned myself today. I was heating up my lunch (turkey and gravy with mashed taters), and when I pulled the dish out of the microwave, it plopped down onto the counter, splattering boiling hot gravy on my hand.
(Ouch.)
Later, I decided to start up a blog because it's the thing to do these days.. but I'm not all that creative, so I asked some friends for Blog Name ideas. Though I did enjoy some of their suggestions (Amanda for All Seasons, TheManda, etc.) I decided to go with Mark's "Ferocious Gravy," as a tribute to my harrowing experience with my heat-n-eat lunch. =(
I guess that's why the box says "Let sit in microwave for 2 minutes." -- so that (a) you don't burn yourself unnecessarily, and (b) you don't give your new blog a really, really dumb name.
But as Mark says, "Like the ferocious gravy itself, it stuck."
(Ouch.)
Later, I decided to start up a blog because it's the thing to do these days.. but I'm not all that creative, so I asked some friends for Blog Name ideas. Though I did enjoy some of their suggestions (Amanda for All Seasons, TheManda, etc.) I decided to go with Mark's "Ferocious Gravy," as a tribute to my harrowing experience with my heat-n-eat lunch. =(
I guess that's why the box says "Let sit in microwave for 2 minutes." -- so that (a) you don't burn yourself unnecessarily, and (b) you don't give your new blog a really, really dumb name.
But as Mark says, "Like the ferocious gravy itself, it stuck."
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