No Turning Back

Pictures Are Worth a Friday Five

I was planning to do this Friday 5 last week, but time escaped me. I've actually been pretty busy at work, which is a good thing. It's temporary, but I'm almost thankful because it makes the days go by so much faster. 

So here are 5 pictures I saw online last week (and I swapped out one for a new one this week, to keep up to date). These are just pictures that I saw, liked, and wanted to remember. 

 
1. This happened a couple weeks ago, but I keep forgetting to blog about it. Did anyone else see Johnny Depp at the MTV Movie Awards? I only saw parts of it as I was flipping around channels. I am not into the whole Pirates of the Caribbean thing, and I am not a fan of him in that movie. But I thought he looked so cool when he was accepting his awards. Not necessarily hot, not necessarily funny, not necessarily exciting. But the dude just exuded coolness. Love him.

2. David Beckham came out with a new ad campaign for Emporio Armani underwear this month. Thank. You. Armani.

3. This one from the lolcats was just too damn cute. I'll take the hugs where I can get them.

4. I frequent the Pop Candy website, and this image for the reader mail made me chuckle. I loved Mr. McFeely. Though saying that now as an adult has a whole new connotation than when I was a kid. Speedy delivery!

5. And this one is just for me. I know, I'm obsessed. But there are worse habits to have. Deal.

Have a fantastic weekend! I'm going to try to make it to A Taste of Rochester, weather permitting.  What are you doing?

Another Meme Friday Five

Whew, what a week! We had our big user conference at work this week, capped off by our 30th anniversary party here on the grounds at work. The words "medieval carnival" have been used to describe it. Over 600 people (we have only 200+ employees). Jousting (on real horses, with real people in real armor). Yes, that's right, we had horses on our property. A palm reader and a magician, maid Marion & Robin Hood, and even more. Our back property was really transformed into a Renaissance fair. I really had lots of fun. They went all out & I realize I'm very fortunate to be working here.

Up next for me? The Rochester International Jazz Fest starts next weekend and I can't wait! There are 4 acts I want to see, and 3 of them are on the free stages. Yay me!

Meanwhile, this weekend I will be laying low and trying to beat this cold I've been harboring this week. Plus it's going to be god-awful hot & humid this weekend so I'll stay in the A/C as much as I can. Thanks, really.

Thanks to Julia for posting her meme today and tagging all her readers, so here's my meme for my Friday Five.

And you're all tagged now too!

1. What I was doing 10 years ago?
Hmm 1998. I was one year into my job as a technical writer working for a company that makes software for higher ed. I think the company has changed names twice since then. But oddly enough I've run into several coworkers from that job over the past year, so it doesn't feel that long ago.

I think 1998 was also the year I journeyed west and took a solo vacation to California. I went to Sacramento to watch an AVP tournament, then down to San Francisco for a couple days to stay with an old roommate, then down Highway 1 to LA. I stayed with my oldest friend Tricia in Pasadena. Met her now husband. Saw Bill Nye (the Science Guy) speak at the CalTech graduation ceremonies that I crashed and then I left to go tour Hollywood. 

I really didn't think twice about traveling for over a week by myself, and doing all that driving.  I guess it could have been a dangerous thing, but nothing did happen. Just some interesting challenges with air travel.

This was also the year (I think) that I started working at my part-time job. I have been there off and on for 10 years now. Wow. Considering some of the others that work there were only in grade school at the time, I can safely say it makes me feel old.

2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today? (not in any particular order)
- work at FT job
- work at PT job
- get my Friday Dunkin Donuts coffee on (done!)
- nap between FT & PT job tonight
- ?

3. Snacks I enjoy
- Cheez Its
- cheddar Goldfish
- nachos
- veggie chips
- M&Ms

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire
(no particular order)
- Sell current house; buy new one and get new appliances and a set of matching, new furniture!
- Stop working full-time
- Take a long vacation to Hawaii
- Take a longer vacation to Europe & the world
- Buy a new car
- Pay off all my debts, personal and creditors
- Go to school / take classes
- Give to charity
- Hire a personal trainer & chef
(can you tell I've thought about this one?)

5. Places I have lived
- Henrietta, NY
- Fairport NY
- Slippery Rock PA
- Havertown PA
- Victor NY
- Penfield, NY
- Rochester NY
- East Irondequoit, NY

Take Me Back To Paradise

Oh it's a busy couple of weeks for me right now. Between the Lost finale last night, the big wine tour tomorrow, and a big event at work next week, I'm just trying to stay out of trouble lately! But it has been a while since I posted, and I wanted to make sure you haven't forgotten me. And today, I give you two Friday Five lists today. Why? It's my prerogative. Don't be cruel.

Spoiler alert!

Just in case any of you Losties haven't seen the finale yet, click here to jump down to my second Friday Five list.

My first Friday Five are my favorite parts from last night's finale. This list could go on and on and on because the episode was so dang good. Period.
1. Ben saying "Hello Jack" at the funeral home

2.  Desmond. And. Penny. Period.

3.  Sun crying & screaming & wailing.

4. "You mean time traveling bunnies? Yeah."

5. Sawyer swimming miles in the ocean (in jeans) and not being that tired when he gets to shore. This wasn't one of my favorite moments because of the eye candy, but because it was actually unrealistic and I said Oh what the heck. Sure, let's believe that one and not scrutinize!

What did you think of the finale? If you leave a comment with a spoiler, please label it appropriately!

Flashback Friday Five

Tomorrow is the big '80s themed wine tour. I'm so excited about this that I almost could care less if there's any wine drinking. Well, wait, no. I do want the wine. But I'm much more excited about the '80s theme than the actual wine touring. And we're traveling in a pimped out bus. We'll be riding in style just like Bon Jovi! Now who's wanted dead or alive, hair boy?

The timing of this wine tour along with the economic spending incentive check and the end of my car payments enabled me to purchase some totally radical things for my outfit!

So here are 5 components of my outfit for tomorrow. Since I don't want to spoile the awesomeness of what will be my outfit, I'm only going to tell you some of the components of my outfit. I will let your imagination gnaw on how all of these will actually come together. The rest? My lips are sealed.

1. mesh

2. jelly/ rubber bangles

3. Vans

4. day glo

5. Duran Duran (natch)

Fingers crossed I win the costume contest tomorrow!

Five Answers

I decided today's post would be in answer to Julia's question "What are your top 5 websites and why?"

Well there were many ways I could go with this question. Top 5 in terms of:
- most frequent?
- all-time favorite?
- blogs?

I'll go with my top 5 most frequently visited websites. So aside from intranet pages at work, here are the five sites I visit the most on a daily basis:

1. My bank. For the last 2 years or so I've been on a tight budget. And got burned way too many times with bouncing checks/debit transactions so I have become super-balanced-account woman lately. It's almost an obsession. It's become much easier to track finances since I've had no credit cards for the past year. But that's a story for a different day.

2. The website of the volleyball place where I play and work. (I prefer not to list the URL for this one.... trying to keep some anonymity!) Though I haven't been playing lately, nor working, I still check out the league standings, schedules for friends, tournament schedules, photos, etc.

3. Google reader. This is where I can track all of my favorite blogs (Except you PnF! Or have I missed the RSS feed?) It's quite a handy little tool. Though I'm sure Google is gathering information about me that I wish they didn't. But yes, I check it periodically throughout the day to find nuggets of wisdom. And the latest news on Britney & DWTS.  And lolcats.

4. The Rochester daily paper. I've just gotten into the habit of checking out the news throughout the day. But don't get me wrong - when the finances pick up again, I will resubscribe to newspaper delivery. Nothing better than a Sunday morning with the newspaper and a warm cup of coffee.

5. Stuck in the '80s. Yes, I admit I'm stuck in the '80s. Hopefully my style isn't anymore, but my music taste is, for sure. I'm a little too excited for an upcoming wine tour I'm attending mostly because it has an '80s theme. That's happening at the end of the month. I'm sure I'll share some bitchin pictures from the event.

5 1/2. And when in season, Lost Pop Candy. Not only do I read all the comments of the recent Lost episode, but she posts some other cool tidbits in there too. It's killing me that I can't look at it today because I didn't watch last night's episode yet. I was SO excited to see it because last week's was so good. WTF is up with Claire??? Anyways, I fell asleep last night before the show started, so I am running home after work to watch it on Tivo.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Halfway Between 6 and 4 is a Friday Five

Thanks to Jenn F for this email today. I wasn't sure what to do for the Friday Five. Your timing rocks!

SIX Things About Me

1) FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER:  work, the volleyball place I work/play at, Rite Aid, potty

2) FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME: John, Mom, Karen, Sal

3) FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:  Pizza, cheese, eggs, bagels

4) FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:  Home, on a hammock by the beach, visiting my baby second cousin (?), that volleyball place (at the bar, not working)

5) FOUR PEOPLE I THINK WILL RESPOND:  Karen, Michele, Juli, Noelle

6) FOUR MOVIES I WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:  Miss Congeniality, Some Kind of Wonderful, Ocean's Eleven, The Bourne Identity

Feel free to steal for your own blog or email trail. Just CC me too.

I'm heading out tonight to rock out to Mulletude! Girls- tease your hair, boys- comb your mullet, everyone slather on the black eyeliner, and let's rock out to the sounds of Night Ranger, Poison, the Crue, and Bon Jovi!

Don't worry, I haven't lost my way. I was more the Durannie during the '80s, but I still have a fun time listening to my friends' band play these songs. Or maybe I just watched too much Rock of Love on VH1.

Answers: Round One

I was inspired to solicit your questions from Noelle’s blog, so it’s only fair I answer her question first =) Check out her site for some of the interesting questions she was asked, and answered!

What person, living or dead, do you wish was a blogger?
Great question! Once I started thinking about it, I realized there were several people whose life I’d like to read about. I couldn’t narrow it down, so this single Q&A is today’s Friday Five.

1. Any of the contestants on the Amazing Race, as they’re competing. Obviously that’s not logistically likely to happen, but I want to hear about some of those crazy details you don’t get to see, as well as some of those small experiences you have when traveling in foreign countries. I think I’d want to read a blog from one of the all-girl teams (like the beauty queens) just to get some perspective on their experiences abroad.
2. My cousin Karen. Frequent commenter & discussion-stirrer on my blog, but she really needs to do her own blog, instead of the one she does on MySpace (I say selfishly because I can’t get on MySpace at work). Plus she writes some pretty funny shit.
3. Actually I wish all my family members would blog. All of my family except for my parents live in other states, so I don’t know them too well; never have. Frankly I think a few of them could benefit from the opportunity to purge crap from their heads into cyberspace. But more importantly, I’d just like to know my extended family a little better. Oh heck, I can say the same for my parents too. I don’t talk to my dad on a regular basis. He’s made many positive changes in the last decade or so, and it’d be cool to know what’s on his mind on a more regular basis.
4. John (my ex-bf but still very good friend), partially because he can read my blog but I can’t read anything from him =). But seriously, he’s a really good writer. Even for an ungeneer. I am often impressed anytime I read things he writes … beyond emails and text messages, that is!
5. My friend CarrieG. We used to work together at my previous job and we don’t get together as much as we’d both like. But when we do, we pick it right back up from where we left off. She’s a pretty bright, fun, and generally cool chick.
   Quick facts: She continues to be someone I go to for professional advice, even though she’s younger than me; she converted to Judaism before marrying her husband, so I often ask questions about the faith; she taught me how to knit(!); and she’s having her first baby in less than a month!

On that note, I’m giving a big shout out to my cousin Johnny and wife Melanie on the birth of their third son, Noah yesterday! Huzzah! I hope to meet him sometime this year!

And I will answer the other submitted questions at a later date too, and not necessarily in Friday Five style. Feel free to submit more than one question too. I don’t mind!

Happy weekend!

Feedback Requested

Lately I've been a little lazy about posting. I have had a few things here and there I wanted to blog about, but the Internet ban at work has left me less than inspired to give my blog my full attention. (Yes, I'm testing the ban now to write this post. I'm a rebel.)

Well why don't you post from home? you ask. Answer: I've become easily distracted at home lately, and anytime I'm on my computer I'm either tweaking my iTunes collection, taking my online class (Java programming baby!), or doing my new freelance job.

I've been online, don't get me wrong. I've had a blast reading some of your blogs lately. Since I truly want to contribute to the blogosphere and do a Friday Five this week, I need some help focusing.

So for this week's (and maybe future) Friday Fives, I'm soliciting your questions. Ask me anything. Doesn't have to be in list format. As simple as "what's your favorite color?" or "what did you do on Earth Day?" or "what do you regret about college" or whatever you want to ask me.

If you'd rather not post the question in the comments section here, you can email me at pgreenfi at rochester dot rr dot com.

Oh, and based on what happened to dear Noelle lately, only questions from people with valid email addresses / websites will be answered.

5 and the Ragged Tiger Just Doesn't Sound Right

Lately this merry band of 5 has been making the news everywhere you turn. But today's Five is in honor of my all time favorite band of 5.

1. Simon LeBon
2. Nick Rhodes
3. Andy Taylor
4. Roger Taylor
5. John Taylor

I have never seen Duran Duran live in concert. Sad but true. And although they have been touring off and on in the past 10 years, I don't think I'd go see them. I only want to see them if I can get into a time machine and journey back to 1985-1986. Sorry boys. I have such high expectations for you that I think I'd be disappointed. That's just life.

Although, I think I'd make an exception to see them in current times if I was able to actually meet them too. Ah. Sigh.

Here's to Duran Duran, NKOTB, NSync, Backstreet Boys, and all you other bands that helped some of us tweens survive puberty.

So you can look your best on Friday

Since I'm on a little hiatus, I'm giving you another guest Friday 5.

What? Not Friday? I know sillies. But I'll be at a conference tomorrow and away from my computer most of Friday altogether. So here's an early post. Makes up for some previously missed Fives, doesn't it?

Again, from my fave cousin Karen. I hope this post will be slightly less controversial. Then again, who knows what gets your panties in bunches.

Top five beauty products (sorry boys – this one's pretty much for the girls).

   5. Treseme - Thermal creations (heat protectant spray) – to spray over hair before straightening. Helps with slit ends.

   4. Bed Head After Party – a styling product. Put a little in your hands, rub around, and then distribute through hair. Keeps frizzies down and curls looking nice. It also makes straightened hair shinier.

   3. Aveda for hair (kudos to Pam for turning me on to these). I have red hair (colored of course) and my stylist commented on how my color had stayed bright for so long. When I told her I was using Aveda hair products – she said they were really great because they were all natural and they didn’t strip your hair like other shampoos and stuff does.

   2. Bath and Body works body butter – Any fragrance. This stuff works wonders for your feet, knees, elbows, and hands. My feet were all dry and crappy before I used this stuff, and they were clear within 2 weeks. **Keep in mind – anything with Shea butter is like a miracle**

   1. Aveda for face – I personally use the system for sensitive skin mixed with the under eye and serum that is Tourmaline. I have super dooper ridiculously sensitive skin and these products certainly don’t break out my skin.

*** A tip – since it’s really not a beauty product per se, use hair conditioner (like dollar store stuff) to shave legs, armpits, and especially the bikini line it helps to make the stubble soft and reduces red bumps and razor burn.****

Ah yes, Aveda. I don't know what I would do without it anymore. It has basically ended the need for me to see a dermatologist about my acne. My hair is so much healthier. Never weighed down by any product I put in it. I! LOVE! AVEDA!

And a note about Karen's ***note: Karen's the one who taught me how to shave my legs, back during that mystery summer of 1984  or 1985 that I spent with her. I have a clear memory of her and I in her bathroom, Karen grabbing her dad's shaving cream, slathering it on her legs and shaving. When I was at her mom's house this past summer, when I walked into the bathroom, that was the memory that came back to me immediately. It's crazy stuff like that we remember, huh?

Another Guest Post for the Friday 5

My well has been running dry, so I solicited for a guest post from my fab cousin Karen.

In other news, I did finish a couple of knitting projects, so those pictures will be forthcoming. I know you've been holding your breath for them. Seriously though, the hat looks wicked cool.

Otherwise, the only other big news is that at my part-time job last night, I took no crap from anyone. I got into a "discussion" with a player and pretty much put him in his place. I'll wait to see if he decides to complain to the league director about it. I doubt it, but in case he does, I already have a handful of people who got my back on this one. I think my fighting spirit came from the positive encouragement I received from you on the incident last week.

And with no further ado, here are Karen's top 5 pet peeves:

5. Line jumpers. I am talking about the people who mosey on up or run out from being the LAST person in line when the newly opened cashier says “I can help the NEXT person in line”. HELLO!! I am the next person in line. Don’t even try it. I will stop you dead in your tracks.

4. Slow drivers. I have no time for these people. Mostly because I am always late. Can I just say, if you are looking for something, pull the hell over!!! Get out of my way, and for God’s sake the speed limit is not to be taken literally.

3. No speaka da English. I have absolutely NO time for people who live in this country and cannot speak the language. I think there should be a test given that if you want to become a citizen you MUST know how to speak the language, fluently. Not broken English, not half English, half Helen Keller/Marlee Maitlin signs. And in the name of all that is holy – if you are going to speak your native tongue do it in your OWN HOME. Do not speak your scabby dialogue in public – it’s just rude.

2.  Cell phonians. People who talk on cell phones in public. Talk about rude! Do I need to hear your conversations about your own personal life? And the people who have those Bluetooth jobbers in. If you have long hair – it just looks like your talking to yourself. It’s just not necessary.

1. Ignorant people. Just in general. Rude cashiers, people who don’t hold doors, or thank you for holding them, people who push past you when you are walking with a small child or pushing a stroller. The words, “sorry, thank you, excuse me, have a nice day”. These things have just gone right out the window and I think it is a disgrace. A little politeness goes a long way. It has actually gotten so bad that I actually thank cashiers for being polite to me. There is something very seriously wrong with that picture. Wouldn’t you say?

My personal favorite is #4, because of the justification "Mostly because I am always late." I second that.

And the opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the greenpam. But it is a free country and we have that whole free speech thing. So there you go.