Happy Birthday To Me...

So it’s the big day for me today – the big 2-7. Woohoo! I’ve gotten a b-day call from my mom, and cards from the hubby as well as from my co-workers.

The best part of the day so far – my husband got me an iPod mini for my birthday!!

YAAAY!!!!!

*Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy!*

Can you tell I’m really happy???

So that’s not the only good news – well – sort of. :P

I got the job!!!

Which is good and sad. Good because it’s a great opportunity for me. I get to work in the city, which opens up a number of other doors for me. It is more money for me, and gives me a chance to use my MBA for things that are more “my level” or at least that will let me work to get there.

Sad, because this is the first time I’ve had a position for more than a year, stayed in the SAME position for more than a year, and truly enjoyed the group that I work with. With the exception of the Brit, who left in June (nothing against Brits, it’s just easier to refer to her that way). She was the only one who was a pain in my ass. Otherwise, everyone else is a joy to work with, to see everyday. We have so much fun in this group. We work hard, but we goof around a lot, too. It’s mostly women so we’ll go shopping on our lunch hour or go to a nearby deli for food, go out for lunch – it’s just a lot of fun.

But again, at the same time, I’m excited about moving to this new position because it’s all young people (although my group now is, too), and we’re all eager beavers – excited about coming to work, making a difference, interacting with each other and with clients. I think it’s going to be very different from what I’m used to, but I’m really excited about the challenges that I will face in the upcoming weeks. It’s going to be a real chance for me to prove my worth, see if I can really live up to these expectations. My reputation has preceeded me. I just hope I can live up to the high hopes that they all have for me.

No pressure or anything…

A New York Minute

My husband and I are headed into the city tomorrow. We have to go and get our visa for Taiwan, for our trip at the end of this month – wow – I can’t believe it’s practically right around the corner!

We were supposed to go and scope out this new train station that we’re supposed to be leaving from. I’ve taken the train from Princeton Junction into NYC before, but the problem is that unless you get to PJ by 6:30 am, you won’t get a parking space. So one of my friends was telling me about another train station that may actually be closer on Jersey Ave., but since I’ve never been there, I’m not sure where it is. I told my husband that we needed to go and scope it out this weekend, but we didn’t get the chance. Hopefully this evening we’ll go find out where it is. Either that, or we’ll have to leave the house by 6 am tomorrow and go to Princeton Junction…

Then we need to figure out how to get to the Taiwanese Consulate. I have the address: 885 Second Avenue, 17th Floor between 47th and 48th Street.
I just need to figure out how to get there.

To top that all off, I’m meeting Mike (the guy I’m in touch with about that job offer) tomorrow as well. Originally I was slated to meet him at 10 am. But since the consulate only opens at 9, and is located all the way up on 2nd Ave., I’ve asked him to reschedule to around 1 pm or so. I figure I can stop off at the consulate at 9. Drop off any paperwork, conduct any needed interviews, have a quick bite to eat, and then trek down to AoA to meet him. Then after the meeting, which I’m assuming won’t take more than an hour or so, I’ll head back up to the Consulate to pick up the documents. They close at 4:30 so provided I’m out of AoA by 2, I should have no problem getting back up to the consulate to pick up the completed documents.

I just hope everything goes smoothly…

Random Ramblings

Alright. I’ve got two different topics I’m discussing today, so just bear with me. Okay, it might be more than two. But I’ll try and distinguish between them so that it makes following my thoughts a bit easier for you….

The Job Offer

I spoke with the guy who told me about it – we’ll call him Mike. (I’m sure no one from work is reading this, much less anyone at all, but just for privacy’s sake, we’ll grant pseudonyms anyway.) We spoke about the fact that I’m leaving on October 30 on this trip, and that I won’t be coming back until November 28th, and that I was planning on being back at work on the 29th of November. He was surprised to hear it, but was grateful I had brought that up beforehand, and assured me that everyone needs to take a vacation like that at some time or another – and that it was a good thing that I was going (though he could very well have been feeding me lines…)

I also brought up the issue of salary. When I first spoke to him, he was saying, “I don’t want to see this as a negotiation, I want you to see this more as an opportunity…” but one would be foolish to assume that salary didn’t play a role in the deal anyway. So we started out by saying where I was now, and then where I thought I should be now that I had my MBA, and then where I thought I should be with the compensation for the added commuting expense that I would have to incur.

Imagine my shock when he then stated that the amount they had budgeted for this position was actually less than what I’m making now.

LESS!!

Can you believe it? I told my husband, who was incredulous. He was like, “They’re just trying to use you!”

But I told Mike flat out – I wouldn’t accept it for less than a certain amount. And it turns out that that amount is $10,000 more than what they budgeted for the job. So we’ll see if the COO really thinks I’m all that, and that I’m worth it. Because really, apart from the fact that it’s a daily commute into the city, and the fact that it’s a step up in my responsibilities, not to mention I’ve now got a degree under my belt, Mike also made it clear that there would be more than one late night a week involved.

So let’s see:
1) Commute into NYC Mon-Fri
2) Added Responsibilites
3) MBA Degree
4) Possibility of working until 8 at night

I think that very easily equals $10,000 more than what they’ve budgeted – and more than what I have now!

Order of the Phoenix
**BEWARE OF SPOILERS**

As you may recall from one of my earlier posts, I was in the middle of reading this book. I have now finished it the second time around, and certainly have a few thoughts on the matter.

Rowling’s writing style certainly seems to have progressed throughout the course of these 5 novels. I must say, I’m growing fonder and fonder of her style of writing. There’s a great deal of drama and turmoil, but at the same time, it seems as if the humor is so much more pronounced than in the first four.

For example, in the first four books, the main sources of humor were Fred & George, of course. There were certainly a few instances where Lee Jordan was commentating on Quidditch, interjecting his own opinionated interjections, only to be sternly reprimanded by McGonagall that provided comic relief, as well as a few scenes where Ron would offer some sarcastic/humorous remarks (most notably in Trelawney’s Divination sessions – “You’re going to suffer, but you’ll be happy about it.”)

It seems, however, that this last book contained more of these humorous exchanges. And not just courtesy of the Weasley twins, though theirs was of course the most pronounced. Ron’s got a lot more humor in him now – even Harry as well (see the quote below this entry). I don’t know – maybe it’s just because this book was so much longer than the others, it seemed as if there was more humor in it. It just felt like it was brought to the surface more prominently than it was in any of the other books.

The characters are also developing into their own distinguishable personas as well in this novel: Ginny is certainly coming up into her own right – strong, opinionated, independent. I kind of had the sense that Neville would grow and develop more as well – especially when we learned last year that his parents had been driven to madness by Voldemort. (Oh, suck it up – remember – fear of a name only increases the fear of the thing itself…) And Luna’s still a character to be reckoned with. I find it interesting that we never met her before, although I’m sure that Rowling had a good enough reason for waiting until now to introduce us to her.

The emotions are so much better displayed here as well, than when you see them in the first few books. We did see Harry’s temper in Prisoner of Azkaban when he find out Sirius “betrayed” his parents, but we really don’t see his attitude go full blown until this novel. I suppose that it’s also because of all the emotions that he’s feeling, all that he’s learned about himself, about his family, and his past in the last four years. First he learns his parents weren’t killed in a car crash, they were killed by an evil wizard. This same wizard tried to kill him but failed. Then he found out he had a godfather who was in jail for performing an unforgivable curse and killing scores of people. Then he found out this same man betrayed his parents to Voldemort. Then he learned he didn’t betray them, he tried to save them – his godfather was really for real, and was the closest thing to accepting family that he had. (The Dursleys were there, but they didn’t really give a damn about him.) He then was taken by Voldemort and helped (unwillingly) to bring him to life, and to power. He witnessed the death of a fellow classmate. And no one is giving him any answers, no one even believes him – they all think he’s nuts.

So really – what else is a teenage boy to do but rebel. It’s in the blood of every teenager, wizard or not. He’s moody, grumpy, hormones raging, mind swarming with questions. And I think Rowling does an amazing job of capturing it all. Although as Ron would say, “One person can’t feel all that at once, they’d explode!” To which Herminone’s smart reply, “Just because you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn’t mean we all have!”

As for novel 6 – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I read somewhere that the Half-Blood Prince is not Voldemort, nor is it Harry himself. I have a theory on this. I may be way out in left field on this, but it just occurred to me as I was rereading the book for the second time:

Viktor Krum.

Think about it – why has Hermione continued to keep in touch with him? We know they’re penpals, but we never quite found out what was in the letters she was sending him. I was under the impression that she was sending him detailed accounts of everything that was going on at Hogwarts – all their adventures, the drama, the teachers, Umbridge, etc. But is there some sort of hidden reason for that? I mean, why confide in him? Why the contact? No one really kept in touch with Fleur, right? Why Viktor? There has to be some reason why he’s being kept in the picture, some reason why she’s indicated that Hermione is keeping in touch with him and keeping him appraised on everything that’s going on…I’ll bet that it’s because he’s the Half-Blood Prince. I suppose we’ll see whether I’m right or not when the book comes out, eh?

The other thing that will be interesting to wait and see is the ultimate mysteries to the books. Rowling said somewhere that there were two questions that were so obvious, that readers should be asking themselves, but that no-one had yet asked her:

1.) Why didn’t Voldemort die when he tried to kill Harry?

2.) Why didn’t Dumbledore try to kill Voldemort (or kill him when he had the chance)?

I'll try to offer my two cents on these theories in my next entry...

Writing in General

Apparently the last time I was in India, one of my cousins that came to my wedding and talked to me, found out that I like to write. This was back when I was still writing stories and such. And he sent this email that my dad just forwarded to me.

It said that he was reading this book on Kaballah numerology that uses your name with numbers and such, to say a little about what your future holds in store for your and what your destiny is…

And he said that according to that book, my name indicates that I’m going to be involved with writing or novels or something of the sort.

Interesting, isn’t it? I really should get started writing again. I’m really going to try. And I feel almost like this is my first step towards that. If I can only keep up this journal, they maybe – just maybe – I can start writing stories again.

But first, I just have to keep up the writing, period.

***********
Draco: “You’re dead, Potter.”
Harry: “Funny. You’d think I’d have stopped walking around…”

Friends in High Places

I must really have them. Friends in high places, I mean.

The COO of the company just recommended me for a position. Can you believe it? The Chief Operating Officer! And we’re a pretty big company, so it’s not like he’s your everyday Joe Schmo off the street. This guy is the real McCoy, Big Shabang, all that jazz.
I’m a lowly administrative assistant here, and he’s recommended me for a position overseeing a new project branch for the company. Wow.

That really makes my day - week - whatever....

The only downside would be that it would involve a commute to New York City every day. But I was talking to a couple friends who do it, and they said it isn’t all that bad – you can use your time on the train to catch up with the day’s schedule, read the paper, do whatever…so it’s actually not bad. The commuting expenses are going to go up, natch, but as long as the pay raise covers that I should be okay.

I’m so bad at negotiating though. I need to explain that this is a step up for me, and is a sizeable commute, and so while I’m certainly willing to take the post, I do want a reasonable amount of pay for the post.

The other thing I’m worried about is the fact that I’m going to be out of the country for a good month in November on our India trip. I am not quite sure how they’re going to take that, and if that will be a problem. God, I hope not. It’s a great opportunity, and I don’t want to let it go, but all the same, I’ve had this trip planned for weeks – I can’t just not go, you know?
So that's my minor dilemma.

What do I do?

I mean, I think I know what to do, but how do I do it?

Sigh....

***********************************************

Harry: "But why's she got to go to the library?"
Ron: "Because that's what Hermione does. When in doubt, go to the library."

Fun, Exciting, and Totally Useless Quiz of the Week

Take the quiz: "Which Pop-princess are you?"


Hilary Duff
I am the 21st century pop princess. I go with the flow and the fashions. But this isnt always a good thing, as some people may see me as a sheep/follower.

Just thought you'd all like to know. :-)

Browsing Beantown

Boston was our destination of choice this Labor Day weekend. We stayed with some friends of ours there – they actually live about 20 minutes from the Quincy Adams Station of the Red Line of the MBTA. About an hour or so outside of Downtown Boston.

It was actually a lot of fun. The drive to their place was long though – about 4 and a half, nearly 5 hours from Princeton, NJ. We left here probably close to 6 or so, and arrived there around 11 at night. Long drive – I offered to help my husband out – split the drive, so to speak. But since it was dark and we were taking the SUV on the curvy length of I-95, we decided it was best if he take it, and I could help him out on the return trip.

So, like I said – got there at about 11 at night. Had dinner at their place – by the time we went to bed, it was close to midnight, 1 o’clock. We slept really well; in fact, we didn’t get up til about 10 or 11 the next morning. Got up and had breakfast – then about an hour later, we had lunch (I know, it was bizarre). We showered and got ready…we were trying to decide what to do that day, and finally decided we go into downtown Boston, visit the Science Museum there, and then head over to see Spiderman 2 at the IMAX theater at the New England Aquarium.

We left the house about 1 o clock or so and took the train into the downtown area. For all you kiddies in the Jersey area, let me tell you: taking the train in Boston was quite different from taking the train here in Jersey to New York.

A breakdown:
Here: Impossible to find a parking space at the train station unless you arrive before 6:30.
There: We literally had our pick of hundreds of parking slots.

Here: Trains so crowded you have to stand next to some guy who smells like a grilled cheese sandwich that been sitting on the counter for a week.
There: A lady with a shopping bag in the far corner of the car, two teenage guys on the other end talking about their plans for a weekend at the bay. Other than that, the car is completely empty.

Let me tell you – it was actually a pleasant experience!

We took the Red Line in, switched over to the Green Line and got out at the station just across from the Fleet Center. That’s where my co-worker Bob was a few weeks ago when the Democratic National Convention was in town. I thought of him when I saw the Fleet. We had to walk a couple blocks to catch a bus to the Science Museum. Normally the train would let us off right at the museum, but apparently they’re doing some construction/renovation work, so they had a shuttle bus taking people over instead. It was a gorgeous sunny day, though, so I really didn’t mind.

The bus let us off at the museum, and we went in and bought our tickets. We ended up going to the food court first to grab a bite to eat – by that time it was already 3! (Amazing how time flies!)

We went into the museum around 3:30 or so, and wandered around, exploring the exhibits until about 5 pm. It was really pretty interesting. The family that we were staying with has two kids – one is 9, the other is about 4 – so of course everything that we saw was right up their alley. They loved all the hands-on activities and exhibits and loved going and investigating everything. And of course, for us grown-ups it was interesting as well. Something for everyone, really.

Just as an aside – for any Lord of the Rings fans venturing into Boston before October 24 – there’s a huge Lord of the Rings Exhibit going on now. It looked pretty cool – they have the costumes and scenery and everything on display, and they have presentations going through a sort of “Making Of…” feature. We didn’t go, but there were banners and poster advertisements everywhere.

Check out the following link if you’re interested:
http://ww11.e-tractions.com/mos/run/lotr?rd=502

(Just note that the link above probably won’t work if you’re clicking on it after October 24)

This concludes our shameless plug. We now return to The Story of My Life….

We left the museum at around 5:30 or so and headed over to the New England aquarium, buying our tickets to see SpiderMan 2 in Imax. Interestingly, they also happened to be showing Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban at the same theater in Imax as well. Let me tell you, I really wouldn’t have minded going to see that instead. Daniel Radcliffe – post puberty – on a larger than life screen…not a bad thing at all! That, and seeing Draco get the daylights socked out of him by Hermione – oooh…Yes, I’d pay good money to see that!!

By the way, I should know this, but does she deck him in the book as well? Or is it something that they just added for the movie? I can’t remember….does anyone recall?

But alas, we went to Spiderman 2 anyway. Just as good though, They aren’t kidding – it’s definitely worth it to see a movie like that in IMAX. The screen is huge. Spiderman 2 has so much action, so much suspense and tension – it’s really a spectacular experience to be able to see something with such intricate and exquisite special effects in that sort of larger-than-life display. The movie itself was fantastic. The plot carried it well – we really got a wonderful view of Parker’s inner turmoil – all the doubts and worries and emotional conflicts festering inside of him. Tobey MacGuire did a fantastic job. Not Oscar worthy, by any means, but fantastic nonetheless. The special effects were superb, the action was edge-of-your-seat…and there were more than a few moments where I had my hands over my face and was peering through my fingers in anticipation. Very tense…

After the movie ended at about 10, we took the train back home. We had a light dinner and watched a Tamil movie – I didn’t finish it because I was so tired – and went to bed.
The next morning was very relaxed and laid back. We stayed at home, watched a Tamil movie, watched Tamil film songs, just vegged out. In the evening we played a few rounds of poker. They said it was the same kind of poker that was played in casinos, but it really didn’t look the same. It just seemed very different to me. But it was fun. I ended up third out of four in terms of who won/lost.

Then we left their house at around 1:30 or so on Monday. Took about 6 hours to get home – only because we stopped on the way for a gas break/bathroom break/munchies break. So we got home around 7, and let me tell you – as much as I love to travel and visit new places and all that, there’s nothing like the feeling of coming home to your own house. It’s just….yours. Your bed, your food, your home. My husband said that, too. He was sitting on the bed with a beer and a bowl of chips and said, “It’s good to be home…”

Pepper’s not here yet – we need to pick her up from the kennel this evening. My husband’s so worried about her. It’s so cute. He’s all, “I hope they treat her well.” And “She’s been without us for a whole week,” and “I hope she doesn’t get a fever, we dropped her off right after she had her shots…”

My husband is so sweet. He’s going to make an amazing father…

***********************************************************

Harry: You heard Hagrid; follow the spiders.
Ron: Why does it have to be follow the spiders? Why can't it be follow the butterflies?