Cha Cha... Not just a dance anymore...

Ok so I just heard about two things that I found very useful the other day, and maybe you have already heard about both and are going to read this and think "Geez Stephanie.... Do you live under a rock??" and the answer to that is no.... no I live in a house... but sometimes I don't pay attention.. so there...

The first thing is a price code or something... I don't remember what it is... But the point is that Target and all other retail stores price items the way they do for a reason. Well I found out two price code things. The secret is in the last number of the price... If the item is on it's final mark down meaning it is the cheapest it's going to get the price at Target ends in a 4. For example $9.04 or $149.94... things like that. If you see those prices then it is not getting any cheaper. Same at Old Navy, but with an 8. I think it's just a neat tip because if you see an item at like $19.99 you might want to watch it a bit longer.


Onto my second and probably one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. Ok so a few years ago I found out that you can google through your phone. In the texting function just text to the number 466453 (google) and then in the message part write things like Burnsville Bowl, Burnsville MN... and in a minute it will text you back with an address and phone number. It is free (except standard text messaging fees do apply), and I could finally stop with the $1.75 charges for directory assitance. WELLLLLL something even a little sweeter just came out and it's called CHACHA. Now this is the same premise as the google text except you text chacha (242242) instead of google. Now the twist on it is that instead of just getting numbers you can ask cha cha ANY QUESTION YOU WANT!!! Seriously any question, and they'll answer it within five minutes through text. What happens is your text gets routed through chacha to a chacha employee that specializes in certain types of questions, they answer your texts and then sends the answer back to you! I mean I tried this thing out and asked any question I could think of, and they answered it. I learned what the colors in the gay flag mean, where the cheapest gas was in the twin cities was at the time... anything. It's pretty amazing for directions, phone numbers, prices of things. So try it out and hopefully you all will be happily cha-chaing this weekend!!

Old Skool Dork

Ok so I don't deny that I'm a dork. I mean I'm the rare variety of a dork with great social skills and personality... but a dork nonetheless. Two of my favorite past times are video games and reading... I mean why not throw a stamp collection in there. Wellllll today I went to my new favorite video game store for old skool games. I currently have a Xbox360, Wii, PS2, Nintendo DS, Nintendo64, and as of today a brand new old console. I got a system that plays Nintendo and Super Nintendo games. Then they had tons of old games that I got as well. For 56 dollars I got the system and 7 games. Quite the deal if you ask me. So I know most of you who would ever read this aren't the biggest gamers, but for a nerd like me it was pretty great. The store is called Play and Trade. It's great. These are the games I got.

Galaga
Q-bert
Sim City (first one ever)
The Jackal
Xenephobe
Tiger Heli

I know you are secretly all jealous.

CLOSE YOUR EYES REPUBLICANS!!

I just got this email today and usually it's just garbage, but I wanted to share this with you because I 100% agree with it's content. Enjoy... or Hate it... either one thanks for reading.

Eve Ensler on Sarah Palin:
( Eve Ensler is an American playwright, performer, feminist and activist, best known for her play The Vagina Monologues.

I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears. I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story -- connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity. Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, "It was a task from God."

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not. She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans.
It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, "Drill Drill Drill." I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain. Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more
holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

Eve Ensler
September 5, 2008

Halloween Help!!

Ok so the other night after many many many hours of walking back and forth with Melissa she found her costume. My mother suggested that we go as a couple theme thing. Now I didn't want to go as ketchup and her mustard or a fork and spoon, or as my mother suggested Raggedy Ann and Andy... ugh... We ended up both being happy... my costume is funny and hers is hot, so we both got our way and are happy. I will post pictures after the party...

Ok so this is the first time I've dressed up for a long long time, and why am I dressing up you ask? Well good question... and the reason for my blog! Every year my family has a Halloween party, and every year I show up (without a costume) and eat all the food and have a good time. Well not this year my friend... not this year. This year my girlfriend and I have planned most of the menu, are going to pick up all the groceries this weekend with my mother. Are going to be doing a lot of the cooking along with a few others. AND.... and this is where it gets tricky... have been put in charge of the games and general entertainment as well. Now this is where I need some help. I have thought of 3 fun games and things to do, but I need one more. I need one thing that can pull everyone in together to participate in at the same time. Every year we do like the word finds and stuff and the winner gets a prize. This year I want to do something else. Does anyone have an activity or game in mind that they have played at a party? Remember a few things about it though... it's with my family and they are from 1 to 80, so it can't be like leapfrog or something dirty... Also if you have a great holiday recipie that would make my party I would appreciate that as well. Thanks for your help in advance!!!

The Joy of Networking

So I'll quickly recap my weekend for you. Friday I had a dinner at my new bosses house. I started with my current company in May, he started in June. We have a very small branch. It is me and Ami as recruiters. I will talk more about Ami in other blogs, but bottom line she is my savior at work, one of the reasons I love my job, and slowly becoming one of my favorite people. My new boss became part of the happy family in July, and he is probably my polar opposite. He is an over the top happy, sensitive, one-upper. If you've ever seen the SNL skit with Penelope you know what I mean, and if you haven't please YouTube it right now... I mean we high five so much that I have to wear a wrist brace.. and most days I can stomach it because I get to release all of the frusteration on Ami as soon as he steps out of the office... We handle it because he does mean well... he genuwinely is a nice guy... just a very very annoying and nice guy. Ok so with that said it was dinner with Ami, myself, her husband Jason and my husband Melissa. and you know what... it was fun... I had a fun time, and I would be happy to do it again.. It goes to show you that I need to surround myself with optimists because it balances my "realist" and "pessimistic" pulls... not all of us can occupy the dark side simultaneously without dire consequences. After this party I got to hang out with my sister Friday night, Melissa's family Saturday night, and my family Sunday day and then I stayed home but some of the girls went to the 90's Sunday night for some drinking and debauchery. So all in all a family focused, but fun weekend.

I wanted to talk a little bit about a cool thing I did today. It was called Speed Networking. Ami and myself joined the Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, so we get to go to a bunch of networking type meeting and events. One they have coming up is a masquerade ball, but as they were describing it I was looking around at who they could be talking to because I can't imagine it's me.... I mean you wear a gown and a mask and there's dancing... and that's about as far as I got with it before I zoned out in horror. I mean me at a masquerade... what's another name for a masquerade??? that's right a ball.... I rest my case...

But today's event of speed networking was cool. I mean you really learn how to spew forth the most pertinant information in a very short time (I think it was 2 minutes).. The first person I went to I was far to long winded and kinda nervous. But by person 4 I was rocking, and actually it was kind of fun. I mean if you screw up you sweat it out for thirty seconds and you're on to the next. The funny part about it was my co-worker was four people ahead of me rotating the same way. (We didn't set it up very smartly). So everytime I sat at a new person they knew who I was and were telling me about some volunteer work Ami signed us up for, or lecture we were giving on career development, or kidney I was donating to their neice.... It looks as though I'll be busy.. All in all I thought it was a really cool concept, and it makes me really curious about speed dating. I mean if you had to sell yourself on a date in 30 seconds or less I'm curious to hear what people would say??? I mean people I know... because I'm assuming you lie.. or not lie but accentuate things.... Like dating a girl.. it's all low cut shirts and backrubs in the beginning, but then the black lace underwear return to the back of the drawer and out come the grandma panties and sweats....

Ok and you people that are still reading my blog hear this... I am a Rambler... that's why I named my blog The Constant Ramblings of Me.... I write like I think, and some people are entertained, and I'm assuming some not so much... but hey, it's just me!

Orderly Obsessions

Ok so I have three goals for this blog.. first off maybe to have a healthier channel to release the huge frusteration I have right now than eating my weight in salty snack foods.. aka Dill Pickle Chips and Chex Mix... So today was my 100th or so appointment with my back specialist guy... quick recap.. months ago a hurt my back or it started hurting.. everyone I talked to said i probably pulled something and it would go away... go away it did not... so i helped people move through the pain, i drunken wrestled through the pain.... I did a lot of other stupid things... all through the pain... I mean Melissa got to hear me piss and whine about it a lot, but I didn't want to be a baby... so finally when I went in I found I have two hyrniated discs... one very severe... sweet... so now my life has consisted of Vicodin and Cordizone shots.... Today I had my most recent appointment which ended in the doctor saying "Stephanie... you're screwed"... well that is not uplifting... so I'm meeting with a back surgeon in a few weeks... a surgery the doctor described as a "crap-shoot" to get rid of my pain. The only other option is to have my back fused... and I'm about 40 years to young... Ok.. So I've decided to take up being a closet alcoholic.. Who knows a good place to get a boot flask?

On to bigger and brighter things... so some of you answered the question I posed for you yesterday... and most of you said the same things I said... Photos, an animal.. things like that.. one of you even said they couldn't think of three.. Well what the professor said was this... our first instinct is to go through our things and take the three that mean the most to us... it's a reflection of inner-self on the items we choose as most valuable. BUT.. the big thing is and what I didn't do either was most of us live with multiple people.... the question I asked was not what three things of your OWN would you grab... I said your house is on fire.. what three things would you save? Most people never think of the other people in the house. The things I took out were
all for me... but I live with two other people who have sentimental and irriplaceable things... but I would take something replaceable of mine over even thinking of them... I don't know it was just really interesting and I was like... whoops.. haha

Ok next topic is something that I want to share that I do and see if there are any other freaks out there.... Obsessive goals.... This is what I mean.. I like to make a list at work.. a to-do list of things I need to complete and when I do I can cross it off with a satisfaction of job well done. I also am very forgetful so I need things in written form to be able to structure myself... But I don't stop there... I make lists and spreadsheets for everything... I love lists... and I also love to make stupid crazy goals... I don't know why I do it... Things like this... I at one time wanted to watch every movie at the video store... So I started in Comedy and literally rented three at a time and watched them... and I got to the C's before I realized this was stupid and I had wasted my time with some of the most horrible movies ever made... I also did this at the library once... But I find myself making such stupid goals that I NEVER finish.... And I never finish them because they are not worth finishing... I guess I feel like I wanted to walk into a video store and announce to whoever I was with... "I have watched EVERY MOVIE IN HERE" and then just as I say that a wind would blow my hair as I put my hand on my hips as a superhero and people would bow before me as being the most wonderful person they have met. Workers from the video store would break into a song and dance medely made in my honor for this occasion.... ugh... . I guess I don't know what my expectation is... but all I know is that it certainly isn't in the relm of any normal persons reality.... My current obsession is debt-management... I have made the largest and most detailed spreadsheet to pay off all my debt... I'm obsessed with it.. and I hope this one lasts.... Another one I have right now is to read every single Oprah Book Club book as fast as I can... so I read and read as fast as I can with some sort of satisfaction of what??? Then I finish the goal and look around... and guess what... NOONE CARES.. Nobody cares that I read Pillars of the Earth (1000 pages) in three days... I mean why can't I just read what I want at a leisurely pace and relax... I am constantly setting some lame goal or list that I need to complete... So... I want to know are there any other freaks out there? Does anyone do anything out of the ordinary... does anyone have a weird fetish like mine... my secret weird list-making overly competitive with myself obsessions... Let me know... make me feel better... please....

The beginning of something...

Ok so I enjoy reading blogs, well some blogs. I have written a few to a warm response on Myspace, but it's not really a site that is blog friendly, so I didn't really find it something I did on a regular pattern. When my friend Kim first started blogging I religiously enjoyed the reading them, but forgot about it with time, and just yesterday caught up with the past few months of her life through it. I don't know if anyone will read this, skim it, or even comment on it... but maybe. I mean I think it's pretty interesting reading people's thoughts... I mean look at reality t.v.... It's huge... people love to see other people in regular life... with regular problems and over the top drama.

What I kinda want to touch on for my first blog is just an overview of the surprisingly complex machine that is me....

My name is Stephanie Warren... I am 28 and live with 2 roommates in a house in Eden Prairie. I have lived in Minnesota my whole life, unfortunately. I am in a very committed relationship with my girlfriend Melissa. I'll talk more about her in other blogs... I am a financial recruiter with Kelly Financial Resources, and have been in that industry for about 4 years now. I like to work and so I usually am doing something else for extra cash or getting a part-time job. I love to read and play video games...and am ALWAYS looking for some good recommendations. I am a freak about spreadsheets and math... and constantly am making a new spreadsheet or a list to get something done. I am trying to learn how to play the guitar... I'm getting ok at it... Family is very important to me, and I try to see my mother once a week. I am out to everyone in my family and work, and probably most people on the street if they see me walk. I am outgoing, smart, well-read, and very blunt. Ok well that's enough of that garbage.... Let's try a theme for the first one....

My girlfriend is in a Philosophy class and asked me a question the other day. Picture your house... Now picture it is on fire... You only have a few moments to grab 3 things out.... no more... no less.... People are not an answer.... What would you take out of your house?

It will be interesting to see what people say, and then tomorrow I'll talk about what her teacher said after they answered.