My Boss-town Peeps

Recently Lisa and I had a few friends over to celebrate the holidays. There was an awesome Christmas tree, some bean dip, and a mix of holiday and hip-hop songs. (Not to be confused with holiday-themed hip hop songs) Little did I know this would turn into a surprise going-away party! Kate and Lisa complied tons of photos for an amazing video slide show and it was truly a tear-jerker of epic proportions. As usual this party culminated in a hallway dance-off. Here's a brief photo re-cap of the evening. In this shot, Tyler and I are warming our bums by the DVD fireplace:

Lisa by the tree:
Mike wearing a festive shirt that I forced him into for this second-year-in-a-row photo-op.

Zealous party goers:

It was an all-around great way to say "goodbye for now!" to my Boston friends and celebrate the season. Now, it's officially my last week at WGBH and my co-workers were nice enough to take me out to lunch AND drinks! I'm a lucky girl, as I enjoy both of those activities very much. While sipping on a Shirley Temple with some of my work chums, they presented me with a $2 bill (provided by my co-worker, Toanya) and signed by all of them for good luck. Pretty cool, right?:

What a bummer that I'll be leaving all of these awesome peeps. Thanks everybody, you really made my going-away special & I'll miss you all very much in Iowa!

Nuevo Jersey

This weekend I ventured back to my fabled homeland. Driving down the Turnpike you are likely to observe giant smelly factories, malls stretching as far as the eye can see, and perhaps even one or two examples of the North Jersey species Meat-head-icus Guido-iensis (of Jersey Shore fame). But once you get off the highway and into the small town of New Egypt where I was raised, you will find none of these offenders. Horses, cows, corn fields, small businesses, and regular folks are the norm here. It’s quiet, clean, and safe. And though I might sometimes complain that there is nothing to do in NJ, it’s often nice to just go home for the weekend and DO NOTHING. Sure, I love Boston with its museums, restaurants, shows and history. But once in a while it’s relaxing to sit in my car alone for 6 hours with the radio blasting and an ice cold McFrappe. Chase that with 2 days of chilling out on my mom’s couch and I’m down-right relaxed. This weekend I headed back to see my dad get hitched to my new step-mom Sue. Congrats to them! It was a lovely to-do. There was a giant shrimp cocktail. And my brother somehow ended up wearing cowboy boots, which was truly as awesome as it sounds.

I'm Cleared!

Whoo hoo! Just received the official email, and it looks like my medical and background checks have been approved. Start date in Iowa = January 11th. Can't wait to get my welcome packet so I can figure out what to pack :-)

A Kindle Convert?

After weeks of shopper indecision, I just bought a Kindle online. As I wait for my gadget to arrive, let's take a minute to consider the context of my purchase.

As a 4th grader, I volunteered at the local library after school, organizing the youth section... just for kicks. I was also mildly obsessed with the summer reading program, wanting to beat out the other kids for "most books read." At Boston University I worked at the campus Library for 4 years. A few co-workers from that job remain my closest friends today; and my college roommate Kate and I were known to use the library staff and patrons as our personal dating pool. I am also an enthusiastic member of the Boston Public Library, which was actually the first of its kind in the U.S. (fun fact). So libraries and I have a history. Which is why it was so hard for me to wrap my head around the idea of using an e-reader in lieu of my beloved library books.

What sealed the deal for me then? I logged onto the website for the local library in Vinton, Iowa, searched the catalog for "Kurt Vonnegut," and saw only ONE book on record by that author. Not cool! Sure, I can always buy books online once I get to Iowa, but I'll still have to think about the storage and transportation issues. Being that my plan for 2011 is to travel as light as possible, looks like I'll be giving the Kindle a whirl. Plus I saved $30 by signing up for an Amazon.com credit card, so I think it was a pretty good deal. I'm excited about being able to access almost any book I want instantaneously. Maybe I'll try to be ironic and make Fahrenheit 451 my first Kindle read.

I know what you're thinking, people.

"Who the hell does this gal think she is?! Starting a blog and thinking she's all that. For shame!" I hear your concerns. For the past 26 years I have held this same viewpoint - that frankly, my personal day to day goings-on do not merit the ownership of a blog. That's not to discount anyone else's blog. It's just that my posts would likely involve take-out and repeats of Ghost Hunters on demand. That being said, this thing is happening. Hopefully my AmeriCorps travels, documented in photos and sometimes-clever text will be enough to win you over. In the meantime, I'm still waiting for my background check to go through before the job offer is completely official, which is terrifying since I have already given my notice at work and my roomie is on the prowl for a January 1st replacement. So if somewhere in my paperwork it's revealed that I have passed out twice while eating hot mashed potatoes or that I secretly rock out to Michael Bolton, I may end up sleeping on your couch... 'cause I don't think AmeriCorps accepts weirdos.