Christmas

This post might not make whole lot of sense so bare with me...

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I know it's a christian holiday and unfortunately the preaching increases during this time, whether on TV or on the streets. (I don't need to go to heaven right now, whatever and where ever that might be, and I definitely do not need a street man's approval for it. If you believe, fine, but leave me out.)

Since my family is not religious Christmas has never had religious meaning for us. It has always been about spending time with your loved ones, getting and receiving few presents, eating awesome holiday foods that you don't get the rest of the year and just enjoying the peace and quiet. It's a time to appreciate what you have.

I have not thought about x-mas or the presents I want or will give all that much this year because I don't have a lot of money to spend on them. I've had bigger things to worry about than presents and where to get the money for them. I just read an article which said something like "I worry that if I don't spend enough money someone will think I don't love them". That's how I feel right now. It's easy to explain to my mom my situation because she knows my situation. She told me point blank don't buy me a present. I feel bad that I can't and I feel even worse for not being able to get my brother anything. He's 19 but still...he's my baby brother.

We stopped getting present from our uncles and aunts when we were about 10. The amount of money people put into them was probably about 5 euros if even that. A lot of it was home made wool socks, scarfs or mittens and maybe candy. I think I spend about 50 euros on my family when I was still in Finland. I did not buy present to my friends and they didn't for me. It's not a custom we really have. I did not give presents for my aunts and uncles nor my grandparents. Every year on 25th or 26th we would go to my grandparents house to eat x-mas dinner together and to see the cousins we hadn't seen for awhile. It was awesome. Everybody together. X-mas eve, which is the day when Santa comes over, was just the immediate family. When me and Riina were too big to believe in Santa we dressed up as Elves and brought the presents for Arttu. He had to sing and dance for us to get the presents. It was great. When we were kids we sat on Santa's lap, told him we had been good and sang and danced for him. He gave out the presents and moved on to the next house. Santa was usually either a family friend or hired Santa.

Christmas usually started with morning sauna, followed by breakfast which was rice porridge. There's an almond hidden in there and whoever gets it will receive good luck for the year. At 11 we would watch the snowman on TV, a British animation that we love. After that we would go to lit up candles on the graves of loved ones, come home for lunch, which was "lipeäkalakeitto", a type of fish soup. After that we'd be anxious for Santa to come while my mom finished cooking. Christmas dinner was usually around 6 followed by Santa/presents. For the rest of the night we would drink, watch movies or if you were Arttu, play video games. We might play board games as well.

The past 2 x-mases I have spent with Tiffany's family. It's a little different from what I'm used to. Last year, our first x-mas living together we gave out presents on 24th. I think as long as we spend Christmases with T's family, that will be how it goes. Tiffany's sister-in-law's parents have an annual x-mas eve party that we attend. After that we go to T's mom's, help her wrap her gifts to Billy, Johnny, Amanda, JoeAnn, Carly and everybody else who has been nice that year....well, I wrap the gifts, we drink eggnog and go to bed late. Then early the next morning we, me and T, drive up to her dad's house to exchange gifts with them and to see the girls open up theirs. We stay for few hours, then go back to T's mom's to exchange presents within the immediate family and to have breakfast. The first (my first) time around dinner was at Judy's but last year and again this year dinner will be at Johnny and JoeAnn's. It's the immediate family plus Judy's brother and sister, her mom and cousins...all together almost 20 people. After dinner it's time for presents...And almost everybody gives presents to everybody. It's great when you are in a position to do this but when not... not so much.

Us and Tiffany's brothers and their wives are doing secret Santa again this year. We picked out a name from a hat and buy a present only for that person. I got the guitar hero last year and was really happy with it. T got the WII fit and was happy with it. It saves us time and money and headache since we don't need to buy 4 presents and think about what to get for whom...Then there's the obvious...Carly! We had a great idea for her present and we think she's really gonna like it. Or so we hope. Then there's T's mom...Nana...T's little sisters and dad and his wife...Tiffany is taking care of all of this but I just wish I could help.

Then there's obviously Tiffany...there are thousand and one things I would love to get for her but can't. I hope she's not disappointed cuz it's definitely not gonna be the gift-fest it was last year and the year before. But at least we are together...that's what matters.

I wish people would just slow down and enjoy the holiday without the over-spending. Christmas has become so commercial it's ridiculous. The spending and receiving has overtaken the real meaning of being together as a family and enjoying the little things. Family, that's what it's all about. I will miss my mom, Arttu and Ybi this year but hopefully next year we could spend Christmas in Finland.

I was walking in the neighborhood yesterday and the amount of lights and decorations on people's yards were just crazy. I will go take pictures before Christmas and post them. It just seemed like the appearances are so important. You gotta spend money on lights and decorations or you're not a x-mas person. You gotta spend absurd amount on presents even if you don't have the money. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why there is a recession going on. The credit card debt people will be in on after Christmas...is it worth it? After knowing the financial situation people are in I wish they would not buy me presents. There are better ways to spend that money.

I understand that kids don't have any understanding of the value of money or how hard some people work for it but it doesn't make you really want to spend your money on kids that look at the presents they asked for and then say "are there more?" like happened last year with few. You spend your money, hard earned money for what? to see the present be thrown away and never to be seen again? I would be happy to agree with people that in order for us to love each other we don't need to buy presents for the sake of buying and receiving presents. You save your money and not get me something that you just bought for me for the sake of giving me a present. We can agree to save money, save paper and resources and room at the landfill by not buying presents. And if you absolutely HAVE to, buy me a service. I need to go back to the dentist. Give me money towards that or buy me an appointment. I need to have a haircut and dye soon...buy me an appointment or gift card toward that...You'll save resources, greenhouse gases and most importantly, you support someones job.

I know I just said that Christmas should be about family but somehow the money woes and not being able to buy presents takes over from the happy feeling. But I will try to focus on the fun part...spending time with people, late night eggnog and present wrapping session at Jude's and my little family Christmas with T and the cats.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas with the ones you love and get all the presents you want (and don't want)!

15 minutes of fame

Since I am not one of those people who want fame no matter what I can't say I understand what's going on in the heads of all these women who have decided to come out as Tiger Woods' secret lovers. Is it just me or is it kinda stupid and self-deprecating to be known as somebody's lover? To be known as a basically a home wrecker? What's up with that? I have no desire to be known in the media or be famous for anything as I hate any kind of limelight and don't want to celebrate myself so I cannot relate to people who want to be famous and for what? For sleeping with a married man! And I'm sorry to say this but unless they are coveting to become the next playboy bunny, there really isn't any career opportunities here or any human interest stories...who cares about you you-married-men-chasing-ho? Who cares about your education, or talents or what you have to offer after you come out on a national TV/tabloid and say "hey, I was one of the MANY who hooked up with Tiger Woods"... Is he gonna leave his wife for you after you spill the beans about him? NO...get a clue people... Is this gonna make your parents say "atta girl, I raised you right!" Is your best friend gonna leave her husband alone with you after you declare publicly that you sleep with married men? NO! Is it gonna make your life better by doing this? I don't think so... I would distance myself if one of my friends did this...not necessarily the company I'd want to keep.

I have no idea how many of these stories are actually true and how many are just reaching for their 15 minutes of fame but seriously? This is the way you want to be known? Does it matter that he has a wife and 2 small kids? Does it matter that Elin's probably hurting a lot by his betrayal and is alone in a foreign country? I guess not. I'm feeling for you Elin, I really am.

Since I did not do my thanksgiving post as I was supposed to, lets do it here a few weeks later. I have now been looking for a job for almost 7 months and for the exception of just one interview have had no bites. I don't get callbacks, I don't get interviews and as you can probably imagine, my self-esteem is pretty low. It's hard to believe that things will change for the better when nothing ever does. Now matter what I do it doesn't seem to matter. I'm still home, aren't I? I think I would have gone totally mad if there wasn't for the cats keeping me company and for a partner who believes in me and our future when my faith is faltering and who is willing and able to bare the burden of supporting our household while I'm unable. I just hope I will be able to do the same soon. So T, here's to you. I love you! I don't say it enough but I love you and really appreciate all you are doing for me and for us.

When I say that I would go crazy without the cats here T always says that they don't talk back. It's true, they don't talk, they yell. The minute the door closes and Tiffany leaves for work Sox is in my face yelling at me to get up and feed them. Sometimes she gives up and lays down but more often than not it's about how long I can last listening her...I'm wrapped around her paw, I know. It's sad really... but as far as having them as company during the day, I don;t know what I would do without them. They might not talk back to me but they do keep me company. Why do you think there are so many cat ladies out there? For the rosy smell of their poop? I don't think so!

I went to see the dentist, finally, yesterday after months of toothache. I knew I had 2 big cavities and possibly more smaller ones but since I don't have an insurance nor money I had put it off...On my walks to the farmers market I saw a dentistry with a sign"walk-ins welcome" so I walked in and asked for prices. Then I made the appointment and YAY, got to know what really is going on in my mouth. I told him I knew of 2 that needed to be taken care of asap because they ache when I drink cold or hot liquids, they really hurt when I eat because the food gets into the whole and then I spend as much time fishing the food out as I did eating...So I had root canal done yesterday. Awesome. One of them was so bad that that was the only option. 400 bucks for that? Do I look like I have 400 bucks? 150 per tooth/cavity for big ones and 75 for the smaller ones. So I had 6 cavities...Before he saw the x-rays he told me that 3 are big and need to be taken care of soon...so he estimated that to be 450 bucks and 3 smaller ones 75/pop. so I was looking at little less than 700 bucks...and then to add the root canal, all together almost 1000...I need a job people!!! Or a lottery win... Donations accepted now...donations accepted now.

So I had a root canal done yesterday and then next Tuesday he will fix the other one. He gave me a prescription for antibiotics to make sure there won;t be any infections and one for painkillers. 600mg of ibuprofen...yeah, I don't really respond to ibuprofen. I don;t wanna become an addict or anything but I think at some point in the future when I am in a lot of pain I should try the hard stuff. These do absolutely nothing for me and it's awesome to realize this AFTER I have already taken 1200mg since then it becomes impossible and dangerous to try anything else. I should have remembered this when he was writing the prescription. My foot pain last year didn't respond to these mild pills either. Although for the foot I was given something supposedly stronger which did nothing for me but helps T with her cramps so I gave them to her. My pain is incurable. And my cheek/gum/tooth is throbbing. Dentist said that was to be expected which is why he gave me pain meds but I am having trouble locating the pain. I feel that it's in my tooth but he said the gum will be sore after the screws and stuff that were there. So who knows. I'll give it few days and see what happens. The local anesthesia was awesome though, I did not feel a thing. When I came home I had to drink a little OJ cuz I hadn't eaten anything for awhile and had to get my blood sugar up but it was interesting because I was numb on my upper left side and lower right side and couldn't feel my lips so I couldn't feel the juice there either. I felt like my face was twice the size. I wouldn't mind that anesthesia...

Anyway...it's monsooning here and blizzarding,or if that's not a word, snowing like crazy in the Midwest. We'll see if that comes our way later this week. It was snowing like crazy at T's moms on Saturday when we left but was just rain here in Brooklyn. Gonna be fun (or not) when it snows here and I have to go move the car on alternative parking days. I was already dreading the duty for today with the monsoon rain but then realized today is only Wednesday and I don't need to move the car till either Thursday or on Friday if I am going to grocery store then.

Off to job search I go. Later peeps!

Weird week

I'm home fighting a cold (what else is new, the home part, not the cold) and listening to the music/vibrations coming from downstairs. It's amazing what an assholes are in the world and how unaware they are of their assholyness. If that's not a word, it is now... but let's move on...

I had a very interesting week last week to say the least. On Monday as I was coming home from the grocery store I was rear-ended. awesome. The car didn't really suffer from it, there's only a little scratch in the tire holder in the back. The car who rear-ended me had more extensive damage. It's front went under the tire holder and was bumped inwards so it was little less pretty. I called the cops and we waited for them in the pouring rain for 45 minutes. When they finally showed up they said it would be better not to file a report because it would make it bigger and then the insurance company would increase the premiums etc, so we exchanged information, he agreed to pay for the damages and we went our separate ways. But the interesting part is that he was in his 70's or 80's and had the exact same name as the lead actor in one of the Law and Order series...I won't name names but maybe it was his dad! That's what we think anyway...

On Wednesday Tiffany took the day off and we met her mom and her co-workers in the city for Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Show. It was awesome. It's one of those things that you should do once in a lifetime especially if you are living in NY/NJ area. Afterwards we went for lunch with them and when their bus left we did some window shopping. If it would have been later than 3pm we might have stayed in the city to see the lighting of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller plaza which was at 8pm but instead we came home.

While we were coming home with the subway I got a phone call about a job. I applied to become the sustainability coordinator for city of Southampton in Long Island, NY and they called me back. YAY, dontcha think? Well, she left me a voicemail, told me that it was a 1 year position with a possibility for more if I was able to secure a grant funding...told me about the cost of living in Southampton (you're probably thinking what's so special about Southampton...well, it's the HAMPTON'S...if you ever watched Sex and the City, it's the place where the rich and famous go for summer vacation and where all the houses are like mansions. Can you say expensive?) and asked me if I was still interested and if so, I could call her at her office. Well I called on Thursday am and left a voicemail...tried again on pm...then twice again on Friday. Every time got her voicemail and she has not called me back. So doesn't look like it's YAY after all. I will keep you posted if there is anything to keep you posted on.

Then on Saturday, and now this is getting interesting, we were at Tiffany's moms chiling and the topic of x-mas gifts came up. Since I have been unemployed now for 6 months and counting, I am obviously broke. I'm not eligible for unemployment in here and I'm not eligible for unemployment in Finland because...I'm not IN Finland. So I am tired of not having any money and so I was making a joke about our secret Santa gifts (me, T and T's brothers and their wives are doing secret Santa where we each picked a name and only buy a gift for that person. everybody gets a great gift and we don't have to spend on everybody) and how instead of getting the WII games I asked for I would ask for scratch offs (Ässäarpa) for 100 dollars! Then Amanda said that she was gonna buy them for everbody's stockings anyway like she does every year and I said but I don;t have a stocking and she said but yes you do! It's upstairs and she was gonna write my name on it! Judy got me my own stocking!!! I'm SO excited!!! This is huge! This is like her silent version of approval. If you have a stocking you are part of the family. I have my own stocking!!! YES!!! and when you add that to the fact that she invited me to the Christmas show this is major major news! I'm in!

So there was my week...car accident, call about a job that may or may not materialize and my own stocking! How was your week?

P.S. Carly is still too cute. She's talking a mile a minute, 90% of the time I have no idea what she's saying but she's like a little sponge. I taught her how to say Kiitos and kippis and even though she doesn't have a clue what it means, she repeats it anyway.

P.P.S Judy's cat Dusty, who originally was Tiffany's cat who she had to give to her mom because there were no pets allowed on campus (that's how old she is) is sick. Dusty's right back paw has lost it's movement for what looks like dislocation but isn't. They took her to the vet twice last week and the second Doctor said it might be a lymphnote. They took a biopsy and now we are waiting for results. Dusty was not looking good and on Friday when we saw her she looked really really bad. On Saturday she was grooming herself and eating and looking much better but with all the worries we had few months ago about sox's health and with Dusty's age we are definitely worried. Carly is walking around telling people that Dusty is sad...

so that's what's going on...later

survivor =biggest loser

As a sports nut I need to address a situation. With the MLS and LA galaxy's signing of David Beckham few years ago to try to get soccer's profile in America bigger and the sport more popular, here's something that I don't understand...You sign him in a multi year-multi million dollar contract, bitch and moan about the lack of success, the spectator numbers not increasing and him going to AC Milan for the winter break and then when he does deliver and gets his team to the final, you have the final be on a SUNDAY NIGHT at 8:30pm??? What's wrong with Sunday night you ask? Well lemme tell ya. Football, American football is the number one sport in this country...baseball is also big, if not even bigger but the season is over so now it's all bout football...it is played predominantly on Sundays...there's a designated slot for Sunday NIGHT football when the whole country is watching the one and same game, which this week happens to be an Eagles game...there's a designated Monday night slot which has been the same for the past 40 years...those 2 are well known and well watched TV slots...so WHY would MLS have their most important and the final game of the season be on a Sunday night trying to compete against Sunday night football? Die hard football fans who might be otherwise open to watching soccer and maybe be curious about Beckham and the final will not turn channel to soccer while football is on. This is a BAD strategy to try to win more fans...

Speaking of soccer...what the hell is wrong with the ref who allowed France's OT goal??? This very much solidifies the impression that all refs are totally BLIND! or bribed...or both! WTF? Even Thierry Henry said it was a handball...not just ONCE but TWO TIMES?!?!?!?!?! Thankfully Finland was not playing in that game cuz I would have had a heart attack and after I recuperated I would have gone and bunched that ref! I'm sorry Ireland, you will be missed!

ok, moving on... As I was laying in bed last night and couldn't fall asleep I got to thinking...Biggest loser is just like Survivor. Why, you ask? Lemme explain again...They both start with players divided into teams, in survivor into 2, in BL into teams of 2. In the beginning you play as a team, you win as a team and you lose as a team. How well you are able to contribute to your team decided whether you are staying or going home. You have a challenge in which the winning team gets a price, in survivor it starts with food, matches and other important things, with BL it starts with food lessons and dinner from famous chefs...Later on it can be special fun on Survivor, in BL money or vacations. In both shows the teams are re-divided at some point and later on join as one. Then it's everyone for themselves. The game strategy comes into play...Who I don't like? Who is my biggest threat?

There's a second challenge where the prize is either immunity (on both) or weight advantage (on BL). And who ever loses has to send a player home. If you don't perform, you might be going home...if you don't have your alliances in place, you might be going home...And there is always, always backstabbing! Which is probably why these shows are so popular...there are obviously other reasons as well but it's one of the entertaining sides of these shows.

There are usually 2 types of contestants in these shows; the players who are there to win the game, win the prize money and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it (both), and the ones who are there for the experience (Survivor)/the ones who want to change their lives (BL). With biggest loser you pretty much can see who's who early on...and the choices you make with your prizes. This season had a major player with Tracy who was there to play the game...she has since gotten the boot. But when you are willing to eat cupcakes during challenges to get the almighty power while you should be trying to change your eating and life habits...where's the big picture?

I got into the show last season when Tiffany was watching it. I didn't see it from the beginning but when I started to follow it I was immediately a Tara fan. She bitched and moaned occasionally about having a big bulls eye on her back (for winning so many challenges and being a big threat for others) but she never lost the sight of the big picture. She was there to change her life, lose the weight, get her life back and she was willing to work her ass off to achieve it. And it wasn't just to get the money, it was for good. In this game, if you don't want to go home, you need to stay above the yellow line and you need to be willing to put the work in. And she did. She didn't win the whole thing but she also looked great at the finale. The winner was underweight...

This season I have felt like I'm cheating on my faves from last season. I don't have a clear cut favorite but I have players I dislike. I guess at this point I will cheer for Amanda as she's from NJ so I'm keeping it local!

Anyway...to get back to why I'm even talking about survivor and BL...you start up with a bunch of players, they play the game, they go through the challenges, they eliminate players and in the end one player wins the prize...and everybody loses weight! Biggest loser changes lives and lifestyles and the players get to or close to their ideal weight...with survivor it's a crash course to losing weight...you don't get to eat much, you're in brutal conditions, you have couple of physical challenges and in the end you go home a skeleton.

As far as ideas go, they are the one and the same...as far as health goes, I'd choose Biggest loser. Even if I had the weight to lose, I would never be able to survive Jillian Michaels and her workouts!

I need to go move the car..alternate side parking here...and then go to the farmers market. Later!

Halloween, this and that and the most amazing dining experience!

So it's been awhile and a lot has happened since the last time I blogged. Our friend Erin had a Halloween party and costumes were mandatory so we decided to go as Vilma Flinstone and Betty Rubble. The Vilma costume wasn't really Tiffany so she wanted to try the Pebbles costume. She ROCKED it! I have never seen anything as funny and cute as her in her costume. You agree? Take a look at the leg warmers and the shorts! they were AWESOME!

The second picture has the Village people, Erin as a construction worker, Christy in her navy white, Tiffany as Pocahontas and Sue as a cowboy...Can't remember the names of the 2 others. We apparently met them last year at Erin's Halloween party as well but I was in so much pain that I can't even remember the people from that party!

The actual Halloween weekend we spent at Tiffany's moms. I got my hair done, we went out for lunch, ran some errands and then headed to Billy and Amanda's to see Carly. She was dressed up as a gold fish...the cutest little goldfish ever! I believe all of you will agree with me when you see the pictures. Carly is the happiest little girl, she calls Tiffany "TiTi" like all the kids do and me "Neni". When she was younger I figured I'll teach her to say my name correctly since no one else will but there is no other Neni's in her life so that name is all mine. She'll learn eventually. We've seen quite a lot of Carly since we go to their house almost every Sunday to watch the Eagles game and Carly hangs out with us. I have no idea what's going on in the game half the time because I am laughing at something she says or does. She more than makes up for the fact that I am not close to my nieces and nephew. It's sad but they are all in Finland and I was never close to my sister or my older brother anyway so I guess it's to be expected. I am friends with my 2 older nieces on facebook and check out the pictures of my brother's kids regularly. But anyway...back to Carly...here are some pictures of her from Halloween and recent weeks.

Aunt Olivia caught a fish!

I don't have patience to play with the settings so the pictures are all over the place.

We spent the evening trick or treating with Tiffany's sisters Olivia and Victoria and a bunch of their cousins and friends. This was my first trick or treat experience. It was little chilly and then towards the end it started to rain but the kids were able to get a lot of candy and they had fun so that's all that matters. It was Olivia's 8th birthday on Sunday so we ended the night with birthday cake.

There is nothing to report on the job hunt front. I am still frustrated with the whole deal but sending resumes and applications left and right. Trying to stay positive...

We did not have plans for this weekend so we stayed home. On Saturday Jaime and Jenn invited us to a local restaurant for pizza. Apparently it's very famous and turned out that it's not far from us at all. There were pictures of famous people on the walls. We had to wait for 20 minutes in the cold to get a table but boy was it worth it! It was an Italian restaurant with an emphasis on pasta. I order chicken parm (chicken breast filee topped with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce), Jaime ordered the same and Tiffany and Jenn ordered rigatoni ala vodka (pasta in a vodka sauce ) and bow tie carbonara (pasta in a cream sauce with bacon and mushroom pieces). As we are sitting there waiting for our food to arrive our waiter brings out this little appetizer plate which had clams in a tomato broth and shrimp. Then the owner of the place comes to our table and tells us that it was part of their special "Chef's table" which included a lot of different appetizers and 4 kinds of entrees for 35 bucks pr person. The couple that was sitting next to our table had it and we were drooling while watching them eat. The owner leaves and them little later on comes back and tells our waiter to bring on 2 plates of appetizers, a shrimp cocktail and baked clams. I heard the word shrimp cocktail and I was in 7th heaven! Our food arrived and I said to Tiffany that I hope they'll bring out the shrimp cocktail because it's now in my head. And they did! There is only one thing that's better than great food and that's great FREE food! OMG all of it was soo good...I had 2 pieces of chicken left to take home and we had little pasta to go with that. But wait, I'm not done yet. After we stuff our faces with all this awesome food the owner comes back and asks our waiter if we ordered dessert. Then he tells him to bring us the dessert plate from the chef's table! OMG. Take a look! (Picture taken with Tiffany's phone) It had tortufo (ball of vanilla ice cream in a dark chocolate cover) covered by some more ice cream, whipped cream, 2 chocolate mousses and 2 brownies! We were super stuffed after that! And then the bill came and it was less that 60 bucks for the 4 of us...15 bucks per person! And then Jenn goes and pays for it! Thanks Jenn!

Oh yeah, we did have some pizza too. Jenn ordered a slice for appetizer so that we could taste it.

Hope you are having a good day. Later

Blow me away, why dontcha?!?

I'm little ticked off right now but calming down. Since I now live in Brooklyn and only a metro ride (or 3) away from the services of the Finnish Church of NYC I figured I will try to make some contacts and see if some of the Finns could help me with my job search. Some of them are bound to be the wives of people working for Nokia and some are bound to be wives of people working for other Finnish companies or big US companies that maybe would be able to help me...Last week on Thursday I went to the office to see what it looks like and meet the people. There was nobody there but the downstairs neighbor let me in. I figured I would get some DD and then go back. Still noone there so I left and came home. Today they had a "Brooklyn Ladies and Gentlemen", an informal gathering at the priest's house. It was raining, it was cold, I used the last rides on my metro card only to get there and not have any indication as to which apartment it was. At the office there is this tiny finnish flag at least and so I was expecting something like that here as well. Nothing. So I called Tiffany and asked her to check out the website if there was a apartment number on the announcement. This was funny since she doesn't read/speak Finnish so I needed to guess what the links would be called but couldn't remember...but in the home page it said Brooklyn ladies and gentlemen is held on FRIDAY 15th of October. Awesome. Today is THURSDAY the 15th. In their event calendar this was put into the Thursday 15th spot so I think I was there the right time. Tiffany texted me the office phone number but all I got was the voicemail which was old. Recorded before the summer about their summer hours etc. So that didn't help. So I left and came home. That was a bust.

Tomorrow is another great day...it's grocery shopping day! Woo Hoo! I think I have a system for this one. Restricted carts won't stop me this time around!

Later!

I'm this close to going bananas!

Grocery shopping. What comes to mind? If you are in Forssa you're thinking city market or Euro probably. Lots of room, not a lot of people, good selection and AWESOME parking. If you are in Jersey (and me) you think Nutley Shoprite, little crazy, always busy and just up the street. Easy breezy....If you are in Brooklyn....TIME CONSUMING!

Let's back up a little. When we first moved in together, we did go to grocery shopping together. Due to T's aisle rage and me being home we decided it would be a good thing if I did the grocery shopping my myself while T was at work. It saved both of us from loosing our minds and kept our blood pressure in check. I had something to do during the day and T came home to full fridge and freezer.

Since we moved to Brooklyn a week ago we've done grocery shopping twice. Last Sunday together since T saw a Italian market she wanted to try and we REALLY needed food for this week. And me by myself today. Brooklyn and Nutley are 2 VERY different places, lemme just tell you. First up this morning was to move the car to Wednesday's side parking. We have street cleaning every Wed and Fri so the street needs to be cleared. Parking on those days is a nightmare! I drove around for few minutes until I saw a Wed side parking. I wasn't sure what time I was gonna go grocery shopping so it needed to be done. Then around 11 when I did decide to go grocery shopping I realize that the low tire pressure sign is on. I called T because it's her car to ask if I should go shopping or take care of it. The Getty's gas station right around the corner had a lot going on but I was able to take care of it. By that time it was almost noon. Now I wrote the directions to the grocery store down so that I knew where to go. Let me just say that there's a lot going on in the streets of Brooklyn. If it's not a stop sign on every corner it's lights...and cars are driving WAYYYYY faster than the limit says. And I'm not the owner of the car so I need to be EXTRA careful. Thankfully I at least now have a jersey driver's license which at some point (sooner rather than later) I should change to NY...for the longest time in Jersey I was driving with my Finnish license. but anyway, moving on... I was not happy with the Italian market so I wanted to go to a major chain. No A&P's close by so I ruled it out. There was either no Stop and shops or it was so far away that I wasn't comfortable driving there so that was out. BJ's was far away (for me) and I would have had to take the highway...no thank! Trader Joe's was close enough but I can't find everything we needed there so I went to Shoprite. That's where I went in Nutley as well. Getting there was OK, just took some time. The parking lot was a total nightmare with the crazy minivans (I now know what you mean babe) and delivery trucks and people who thought they are F1 drivers! I found a spot in the furthest possible corner which later I found out to be a major mistake!

Since this was the first time in this shoprite it took me awhile to find everything. I was also on the phone with T a lot because we had to discuss the selection. 2 hours and about 6 phone calls later I'm outta there. I felt I was deserving of a Dunkin Donuts iced coffee and since there was DD right there before I headed out I got myself coffee. I get out of the store and WHAM! The cart stops moving. I unload my stuff to another cart, try to get down the ramp again and WHAM! it happens again. They had one of those carts that when you get far enough from the door it stops working. I guess to make sure that the homeless people don't steal them but damn was I pissed! I had about 7 grocery bags FULL of food and the DD iced coffee. So I felt like a mule carrying all those bags and the coffee. Was good times. Totally. Looking forward to doing it again in 2 weeks...or not.

I got home just before 3 and got a good parking space on the side of the building. It took me 2 trips to get the groceries inside and now I'm just chillin. Will meet T at the subway in about half an hour, make some dinner for us and then just chill for the rest of the night. Tomorrow's a new day and I will take on the farmer's market, or Jenny market around the corner. It's meant to be with that name!

I just saw Saku Koivu's interview on ESPN. Cool seeing Finns on TV here. And speaking of sports...I'm glad I can go back to hating Ferrari with a passion! It was really hard cheering for Kimi while he was driving Ferrari but next season I can just hate them again!

While we live in BK I am gonna try to connect with some Finns in the area. Next week I am gonna try to go to the Finnish Church in Manhattan and check out the happenings there. And for those of you who think I might have seen the light or whatever...dontcha worry, still as atheistic as can be! It's just for making connections, maybe getting some salmiakki or other Finnish candy and for reading Finnish newspapers etc. I also signed up for Finnish meet up. It's a bunch of Finns and friends of Finns/Finland getting together once in awhile to talk about stuff. I was already contacted by another Finn who just moved to NYC with her husband and a baby. She thought I had a kid because I put a picture of me with Carly in there. Oops! Will need to e-mail her and tell her that is not the case!

I will blog again one of these days...Later.

p.s. DC is a no go. they did not invite me for a personal interview. Sigh. Job hunt continues.

I can't believe I live in BROOKLYN!!!

How surreal is this? Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be living in Brooklyn!

For the past month I was packing every day and little by little the apartment was packed. On Wednesday night we were up until midnight doing the final packing, took apart some furniture, our bed being one of them and slept on the couches in the living room. Thursday was the moving day and we got up at 6am, got some Dunkin Donuts and waited for the guys to come and help us. Our new landlord Chris, T's brother Johnny and T's friend Calvin were our work horses. We took a load of stuff to our storage place...it is now packed from floor to the ceiling. Then we packed the van and headed to Brooklyn. I was driving T's car, T was driving Chris' car, Johnny his own, Chris Calvin's and Calvin drove the van. I have never been so nervous in my life as I was on the turnpike. Tractor trailers sandwiching you on both sides passing you 70 miles per hour, trying to follow Johnny's car so I didn't lose him as I didn't know where I was going and here if you miss your exit the next might be tens of miles away. I also had to go to the bathroom badly so that drive was not fun. And then we hit Staten Island and the traffic was barely moving. Can you say good times?

We were moving until about 6pm so the whole deal took almost around the clock. After the guys left we went to the deli across the street and got sandwiches. We were up until midnight again unpacking and made some progress. On Friday the cable guy came to hook up the TV, Internet and phone...Woo Hoo, we have TV! Some more unpacking and the place started to look like home. On Saturday we had Chris' birthday bbq, did some shopping for the new place and did 3 loads of laundry. On Sunday for Eagles game we went to a local pub that shows all the games, had a few ciders/beers and some chicken wings. For the rest of the day we finished up the apartment and watched some more football. We are done now. It was a bit a bit challenging putting our stuff in the closet space here as there's a LOT less available space but we managed. It looks really nice and cozy. We like it. Now we kinda hope that we will stay here for longer than a month. Or not. I can't decide. It's really nice place and the neighborhood is awesome and moving is a bitch but at the same time I want this job in DC. So lets hope they call me...later this week, early next week...

Since we moved here, on both days this week I've gotten phone calls about my resume. Yesterday someone called about a Environmental Engineering job in Morris County, NJ. She said she will give my resume to the hiring people to set up a phone interview...will see if that happens. My visa status might be an issue even though she said it might not. This morning someone called me about an Environmental Manager job placed at Merck in NJ. After I told him about my visa status he said they were not sponsoring visas right now so that did not work out...but it looks like I am getting noticed at least.Can't do anything about the visa status...

I gotta eat some lunch and take a little walk around the hood but I will post some pictures and blog more in the days to come...or later today...

Later!

September

This month has been great so far. Especially the 3 first days. Wanna have a job in Kazakhstan? No thank you but thanks for the interest! Wanna interview for us for a position is DC? YES, absolutely! And then Happy Birthday!

I spent my birthday with my 3 girls. T was home "sick" for my birthday and it was awesome. The cats had saved from their allowances again and Bailey got me 4 "Jaws" DVDs and Sox got me the Miss Congeniality DVDs. T took me to Red Lobster which might be an annual thing...LOVE Red Lobster and bought me a waffle maker. Before you say anything bad about my waffle maker you should know that it makes COW and duck shaped waffles! Isn't that awesome??? I saw it the day we took the cats to see a vet and now I have one! Woo Hoo! I'm so excited but I won't open it until we move to Brooklyn.

My birthday was very low key, just the way I like it. We walked to Dunkin Donuts, spent an hour by the pool, and watched 2 of the Jaws movies. Few weeks ago was Sharks week on Nat Geo channel and we got talking about the Jaws movies and how great the shark was for movies produces in the 70's...Sox picked up on that but didn't have enough money so B got them for me. that night was the last Eagles preseason game and Michael Vick was playing a lot so we stayed home and watched the game and ordered a pizza.

We went to Red Lobster on Friday and then on Saturday we went to T's mom's for dinner. We were playing around with Carly who can now say my name and is just talking mile a minute. She's like a little parrot, repeating after you. I asked her what her name was and she said "me". LOL! She is the cutest little girl ever! We might see her again on Sunday for the Football season opening...Make her an Eagles fan...

For the rest of the weekend (It was a long weekend, Monday was a Holiday) we laid by the pool, sat outside, packed a little and went to a street fair in Nutley. It was a nice little walk and an preview of things to come when we move to Brooklyn. Speaking of Brooklyn...we are moving in 2 weeks and still have a lot of packing to do. I better get to some of it today.

I had my interview 2 days ago...it was a phone interview with my future boss should I be hired!hehe...It's an Environmental Scientist position for a company in DC...they are doing the phone interviews this week and then will get back to the people who they wanna meet face to face at the beginning of October. Interviews in DC would would be at the end f October and I don't know if the job would then start in November...I am really excited about this opportunity and hope to get a call back. I thought the interview went well, obviously there is always improvements to be made but who knows...Unfortunately I am not making the decisions! But She sounded really nice and I just hope that I am what they are looking for. This was my first real big time interview so even if I wouldn't get the job at least I have some experience now...

What's next? More job hunting, more packing and a move in 2 weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for a call back!

Today is the 8th anniversary of September 11 terrorist attacks. I am so grateful that T got out of the city that day alive. I love You baby.

Hope

I think I might not be a lost cause after all...After months and months of silence all of a sudden I have 2 interested parties asking about me! First yesterday I got an e-mail about job opportunity in Kazakhstan...Needless to say I am not interested in going there unless they offer like 10 million dollars per year! Then this morning I woke up to an e-mail from a possible employer from DC wanting to do a phone interview next week! YAY! I will try to stay calm and not get overly excited so that I don't jinx myself but...YAY!

I also made an appointment with my career counselor at MSU to do an mock interview next Tuesday. He told me when I saw him that as soon as I hear something, to contact him and he can help me prepare for it. So next week should be interesting.

Sox is feeling much better. After last Thursday's Doctor's visit when she got an injection of antibiotics she had trouble going to the bathroom and was having diarrhea. After the initial problems she did not poop for 3 days and then when she finally did, it was on a bathroom rug! Now she is ok but not too happy about the diet she's on. Sox is eating the same food she was on before but smaller portion. Bailey is on a diet food and is actually enjoying it. They are going back for a dental appointment on the 16th and for booster shots on the 19th.

Tomorrow's my Birthday! YAY! We are going to Red Lobster for dinner, which is my fave restaurant here...Seafood is SO YUMMY! Other than that I don't know if we have plans. It's a holiday weekend here, the end of the summer so hopefully there will be a party somewhere. We also have a lot of packing to do so that will take some of our time.

Now I must go back to job hunting. Later!

Sox

Ok so no news on the job front, still slow, quiet, dead! What is going on though is that Sox is sick. She is 16 years old and obese so it is, I guess, to be expected. Because of her age and weight I do pay extra attention to her during the day, wake her up many times a day, cuddle with her, pet her, stuff like that. She is breathing hard, like she has asthma or something and sometimes she limps a little, has a little trouble getting up on high furniture etc, but nothing major. And she is OCD about her cleanliness. You touch her fur and she spends the next 15 min grooming herself. So on Friday night my friend Candice was here, we had a girls night in while T was at a wedding in Long Island. At one point I picked up Sox and showed her stomach to Candice, which is fluffy and big (Sox's stomach :-) ) and I noticed that she had a dirty butt. No big deal but since she is so clean all the time it stuck with me. Then on Saturday I noticed that Sox was going to the bathroom many times in a very short period of time. She was also peeing this brown stuff that wasn't pee but wasn't exactly diarrhea either and small quantities. On Sunday morning after T went to the gym Sox went to the bathroom 3 times in 5 minutes and so I really got worried. Nothing was coming out but she went in and came out. We monitored her for awhile and then T chatted with a veterinarian who said she probably had a urinary track infection and that we should take her to a Vet today. T made an appointment for her and we got into the car and took her right away.

At the vet they checked her out and then wanted to do some blood tests, ultra sound and take a urine sample. It took like 4 hours so we left her there and came home for awhile. During all of this Bailey was totally freaked out because she saw the cat carrier and thought that she was gonna be next. She was hiding behind a couch in the bedroom, a place where it is extremely hard to get her from.

At 5pm we left to get Sox and the Vet came out to tell us that the blood sample came back fine but the ultra sound was showing sludge in her urine. Not good. They were having a hard time getting a urine sample from her because she had not peed while there and if she wasn't gonna do it in the next half an hour we might have to leave her there over night. We waited while they tried and they got it. She had all kinds of crap in her pee and was put on antibiotics. They told us that because she was so fat she wasn't able to clean her girly parts too well so that's probably how she got the infection. They gave us antibiotics that we need to give her twice a day and butt wipes that we need to use twice a day too. They also told us that the cats need to be on a diet so they are now on a prescription diet. Smaller portions and healthier weight loss food.

Sox hasn't really eaten much, she took few bites this morning and last night she drank quite a bit. Now I just hope that she's able to go to the bathroom cuz all that water in her can't be good. After she ate we gave her the meds. That was not fun. Try to open cat's mouth and shove a pill in there and make her swallow. Not easy or fun. Sox was a trooper though. She didn't scratch or bite us, the biggest challenge was to get her open her mouth, put the pill in and make sure she swallows. We probably got the pill in 4 times before it worked and she kinda gave up and swallowed. After that it was time for her girly parts to get attention. I held her belly up while T wiped her. She seemed to like it except when we go close to where the infection is. Then she started to get restless. Now she is sleeping it off. Sox slept through the night, did not move at all. She usually gets up few times to eat and to go to the bathroom but last night she was sleeping like a baby.

Bailey is worried about Sox. When we came home with her last night it took a while for B to come downstairs and T told me she would probably hiss at Sox because she smelled different than usual. I think I heard one hiss and that was it. Last night B slept on the couch next to my side of the bed and was supervising the situation. This morning she hasn't really eaten much and now she's restless. She keeps looking at Sox and crying. But the good thing is she is downstairs with us instead of upstairs behind the couch.

One reason for Bailey's behaviour is also the stuff laying upstairs in the hallway. Saturday night we started packing and throwing stuff out so the guest bedroom is a mess. Bailey knows that when that happens it usually means she's being put to a cat carrier and she HATES being in there. So she doesn't know what to think of that and that Sox was put in one and taken away and now smells funny. She thinks she is next. But right now she seems more worried about Sox than the stuff upstairs and the closed guest bedroom door.

In a way it is a good thing that I don't have a job right now. I can check up on Sox all day and see if there is change to better/worse. Obviously this is good only for a short period of time! Today I am sending one application that is due today and reading for my driver's license exam. I'm hoping to get one this Friday! Other than that Sox is my priority today.

I feel like there might be things I forgot to mention but Sox is obviously the main thing on my mind so that's what I wrote about today.

Later peeps!
Love your pets EXTRA much today!

Are you ready for some football???

In this case American football...although football, or soccer as it's called here is starting in Europe too...I'm ready for both! Since basketball and ice hockey have been done for few months now it's all been about baseball and to me 162 game regular season is just too much...way too much baseball for me. So I'm looking forward to the football seasons to start. And fantasy football...it's gonna be fun!

So the Eagles signed Michael Vick yesterday...we were watching the Steelers-Cardinals game, eating pizza when they announced the signing and both of our jaws just dropped. There was about a minute's silence before Billy called T and it was downhill from there! Her phone would not shut up after that! I saw facebook today and all the haters (read: Giants fans) were all buzzing...gonna be an interesting season! Now I'm waiting for the press conference that's suppose to start in half an hour to get some answers!

I love fantasy football! I have been trying to prepare for our draft, I have tried to rank my players, done couple of mock drafts and I gotta say I have no idea how this is gonna work out! I have my second place from last year to defend so it's important to be prepared... some of the mocks have gone well for me but it seems that there is always someone who doesn't take it seriously, always someone who is new to it and drafts either players from his fave team or players that are past their prime way too early...and positions that are not too important early (like defences and kickers in the 5th round) and leave the skill positions to later rounds... so even though I have a strategy and have players I am targeting, who knows how it will turn out. Last year was my first time and I so I read all the articles on how to draft, which positions to draft early, which leave for later etc and then when the draft came people did what they wanted so...I hope it will go as I plan!

I am also ready for the European football to start. Let's go ManU!!! I am hoping that we can repeat as champions AND that the new players can contribute. I was really surprised when Michael Owen signed with ManU but he seems to be in shape and if he can score, I'll be happy. It's little weird since he is a Liverpool legend and you'd never in a million years would have thought he was gonna play for ManU but he's there now. I gotta say I am little bit disappointed with Christiano Ronaldo. As awesome as he can be as a player, he is an total ASS off the field. Can you say self-centered bastard??? ManU is the biggest and best club in the world and he was acting like he's bigger than that. And as much as I like Real Madrid, I'm not happy about their money spending and buying everybody. I'm kinda hoping they fail this season. Reminds me of Chelsea and their spending from few years back when the Russian took over and started to throw money around. And now Real Madrid and Manchester City...money doesn't buy you love or championships!

I am home alone today. Nothing new since it's a weekday and T would be working anyway but she's not coming home tonight! Sniffles! An old neighbor of hers is getting married so T went to the wedding with her mom and will stay in Long Island for the night. This is only the second time since we moved in together that I will spend the night alone. I have the cats but it's not the same...more sniffles! So my friend Candice is coming over, we're gonna play Wii, watch the Jets game (she's a fan), order Chinese and drink some Magner's! Good times!

T, enjoy tonight, everybody else...later!

I will watch some TV now and listen to Sox snoring!

B-B-B-B-Brooklyn!!!

yes, the rumors are true, we are moving to Brooklyn. One of us doesn't have a job and paying 2000 dollars for rent is not an option anymore so we are moving to Brooklyn. And one might wonder how living in NYC is more affordable than in NJ...well, when one has a great friend like Chris who owns an apartment in Brooklyn and whose tenant is moving out in September and is looking for new tenants...and the stars align etc etc...that's how. It is a lot smaller than what we have now but it is an excellent condition, he did a really great job with the renovations and if one of us is still unemployed by the time we move, that person can just walk everywhere and have some human contact. And don't get me started on the food possibilities! Chris and Mari drove us around on Sunday and showed us all the places we need to know. Mainly public transportation and ALL the restaurants! All this work we have done in the gym the past few months....is in serious jeopardy! LOL!

Anyway, the good thing is we don't have to pay security deposits or realtor's fees and no lease is necessary so when I do find a job, if we need to move out of state, we can just up and leave and he is ok with that. The usual lease length here is 1 year so we cannot obviously do that before I have a job...

Speaking of...there's still no news on the job front. No contacts, no interviews and obviously no offers. It is frustrating. I have applied to about a thousand jobs and no one is even a slightly interested. We do go out a lot during the weekend so I get to see people and go outside. This past weekend we were in south Jersey visiting our friend Erin and had a Luau party. On Sunday we went to see the apartment and this weekend we will have a bbq and I think we have plans for Sunday but I am not sure what they are...lack of mental stimulation is spoiling my brain!

The cats are still great. Even though they sleep most of the day they still amuse me. I wake Sox up about 15 times a day and we watch TV together. No need to wake up Bailey, she is as alert as a guard dog! Any little noise or movement will get her ears and head to move. You know that everything is ok when you see B. Nothing gets past her.

T is also doing great. She gets up at 5am, goes to the gym, goes to work, gets home and has her coaching classes and buddy calls....how she has the energy, I don't know. No wait, I do...it's the awesome home cooked meal she comes home to every night! LOL!

Anyway, FB Bejeweled is offline today so I guess I will need to do actual job hunt! Later

Oh yeah... Happy Birthday Marianne. Perästä tuut ja lujaa! ;-)

The past few weeks

OK so it's been few weeks since I last blogged so I thought today would be a good day to update my loyal readers on what's going on...

We spent the 4th of July weekend at the beach with T's cousins Colette and Paul. It was sooo nice just relaxing, no plans, no pressure, a lot of sun, hours by the pool, good food, great company, lots of gay boys! We're hoping that some of the contacts we made that weekend will come through and I would at least get an interview...still quiet, SO QUIET on that front.

Last Tuesday we went to CitiField, the new stadium of the Mets to see a baseball game. T got tickets through her business and we were right by the home dug out and had our food and drinks paid for. And to top that, we got a car service home! The game and Mets absolutely sucked, but the stadium was awesome and we had a good time. This is how I roll...if I go to a game, I am taken there by a car or a limo...

On Saturday we went to see Carly for few hours and had lunch with T's mom. We also bought water booties for T and a new swimsuit for me for our Sunday's whitewater rafting trip. On Sunday we got up at 6, had breakfast and left at 7. We had a 2 hour drive ahead of us to Lehigh River and we did great time. We needed to be there by 9:20 and since there was no traffic that early, we were there way ahead of the rest of our party. So we waited...and waited...and waited some more. Our departure time came and went and our party was not together. But once we got on the bus and to the rafting starting area, it was on! We had so much fun getting into water fights, bumping into rocks, other rafts...We had a quick lunch midway through and then after lunch we hit the bigger rapids. We got stuck on one, Chris' raft bumped into us and T was in the water! There she is in the water and the current is taking her away from us while we are sitting on the rock trying to un-stuck us! After we got free there was only 3 of us on the raft, me, Jenn and Jaime so we were all unbalanced and going in circles! And of course we hit EVERY POSSIBLE ROCK on the way trying to get to her. So this other raft full of kids/teens pulls her into their raft. She sits up, raises her arms and yells she's OK...only for the raft to hit a rock and her going overboard again! And this time I didn't see her surface AT ALL! Scary moment right there! And she's the swimmer of the family! Jenn and Jaime saw her being pulled up again and we all stopped by the shore and she got back on to our raft. She's OK now, just a bruised hand, back and legs and ruined shorts to remind her of the rafting trip. After that the rafting was almost over and we got back to the camp site. We changed into dry clothes and sat down and had a picnic. Awesome day! We're definitely doing it again!

This morning I woke up at 5:15am to T's alarm, went to the gym with her, had a breakfast with her and saw her leave for work. The life of a desperate housewife!

Btw, if anyone feels the need to brighten my day/week/life, I am open to receive salmiakki! Super salmiakki, leijonat, pantterit, salmiakki aakkoset, salmiakki pullon avaajat Makuunista tai Filmtownista, merkkarit, lakunapit...ja hedelmä aakkoset myös. Ja tupla, dumle ja geishakin käy! Ihan vaan jos kiinnostaa auttaa ystävää!

Have a great day and week!
Later

Old age

Pictures from the fair

Bernadette on the swings

Jeremy

Lizzie

What are the tell tale signs of old age? Well lemme tell ya! It's when you can't hang with the kids anymore at the state fair, going to bed around a 2:30am, not even drinking and being totally shot the next morning WHILE unemployed! That's what! So last night the NJ state fair at Meadowlands opened with a dollar night and since I have never been and am going bonkers at home T decided to treat me a night out! I paid for the parking and admission though...3 dollars! LOL! When I take my baby out for a good time, I don't spare my money!

Anyway, We got there around 9:30pm and met up with Oscar, Bernie and the kids and Chris and Mari. They were sitting by the hypnotist's stage and so we watched the show. It was hilarious! He had about 15-20 volunteers and OMG was it funny! At one point he told them and he had lost a vital part of his clothing and the people would see that whenever he says "hypnosis" and everybody except one would think it's awful and the one person would like what they saw. Then he had one person to studder, another to be attacked by the logo on his shirt, another to have a leprechaun in his pants etc...then he did a "post hypnosis" suggestions where he told people when they hear a certain word they would do something funny. This one guy when he heard the word started to walk up and down the aisles looking for his mommy! This girl thought the security guard was the hottest guy in the word and when another guy heard his word he got jealous because that was his man! LOL! But the icing on the cake was this one girl who when she heard the word "Tickets/tickets" she would come back on the stage and started to sing and dance to Madonna's "Like a virgin"! It was so funny!

After the Hypnotist we went to see the Pig races! We only saw the last one, these are the heavyweights! T told me there are many weight classes from tiny little piglets to these big ass pigs!






After the pig race it was already 11:30 so we decided to take on some rides. We were able to go on to 4 different rides and in between we were trying to win me a Winnie the Pooh from the game stands. Me and T were not victorious but Oscar was so he got me a Winnie! A Picture will follow! The fair closed at 1am and by the time we got to our car it was 1:40am. We got home around 2 and were asleep by 2:30. This morning was so hard, more to T than to me I'm sure! I had to wake up with her because I took her to the park and ride. I am going to do the grocery shopping while she is at work and she also had plans for tonight to go see her old college buddy's newborn twins but that plan was cancelled so now I need to haul ass! When I got home from taking her, I went right back to bed and slept till noon! Oops! I'm now on my second mug of coffee which is not really helping all that much and then I need to eat a little so that I am not grocery shopping on an empty stomach! This day is a total waste on my part but what can you do? We had a good time last night and that's all that counts! Tomorrow we can sleep in and go to the gym together. I am not cooking tonight (sorry babe) so it's leftover night in our household! I have a feeling that we will turn in early, watch the Mets-Yankees game and sleep like babies.
I gotta eat now! Later

Insurance companies and billing departments

I am in serious need of some human contact! And I don't mean calling to the insurance companies and hospital billing departments! I received a bill from the hospital where I had my bone scan 6 friggin months ago yesterday. The bill was for 500 dollars and said my insurance company has paid a portion of it. So today I went online to see the claims submitted on my behalf to my insurance company and surprise surprise did NOT find the claim anywhere. So I called my insurance company to verify the claim and they said they hadn't received it. I call the hospital billing department and they say they sent it in December, we went through my insurance information and everything and it all matched. So I call the insurance company again and they give me a fax number to give the hospital for re-submitting the claim. I call the hospital and they say they wanna do a conference call so if I can call my insurance company back and have them call the hospital while I'm on the line so we can conference. I ask her if she is willing to re-submit the claim by fax and she tells me no because they already did it twice and got rejected twice so if we could just do the conference call. I call my insurance company again, for the THIRD TIME, and they tell me that they are not able to make outside calls so if I can make the conference call happen, that's fine. I try but don't know how to use my phone for that so I call the hospital again if they are able to do that...so this 3rd lady calls my insurance company, keeps me on the other line and gets the whole thing fixed. She was awesome! And very apologetic about the whole thing. Said they had basically send my claim to the wrong place which is why my insurance claims did not show on my account. Says she's sorry for the inconvenience, she's gonna explain the whole thing to her supervisor and to disregard the bill for now. Aww, what an awesome customer service person. The other two can go to hell!

This country is crazy bureaucratic! Takes me 6 friggin calls to get my issue resolved! If I ever (again) need to work in customer service, I am gonna try to remember this day and try to be a better customer service person than I was before. Although being nice when the customer is being nasty to you is not easy. I was a nice customer though, even though I felt like screaming and cursing!

I have another call I need to make. When my foot injury was going on, when I was able to walk again, I was given this walker boot that I used. That was submitted to my insurance company who paid for it and then the company sent me a bill for it too and I paid for it so now I need to call them and ask for my money back! nobody messes with a broke Finn!!!

I am not sure if everyone has heard but our brand new 10 month old TV is broken. Did you hear about that? No? Well let me tell you...It broke last week, does not turn on, blinks green for awhile and then turns red. I called the customer service, they said they were gonna send a tech today between 8-12 so I had to wake up early to come downstairs to be ready for him. Mind you, our TV does not work so I'm here with no entertainment. Then the house phone rings at like 8:20am and since I'm waiting for the guy to come, I answer it. It's the Sony guy telling me they've tried calling since Monday to figure out what the problem is...I've been home every as I don't have anything better to do or places to go as (some of you may know) I haven't found a job yet and it's been raining every day so I would know if they called but that's beside the point now...The guy asked me to turn the TV on and to calculate the red blinks...there were 9 blinks which according to him means that the ventilation is broken, he's gonna order the new parts for it, it should take like 2 days and when they have them, the repair guy is gonna come. So awesome. I woke up super early for the guy to call me little after to tell me he's not coming! awesome! I'm super happy. Oh yeah, the reason why I needed to stay downstairs to wait for him? Our AC is very loud, and to top that off with the TV being on upstairs, I wouldn't have been able to hear the door bell ring. So there!

Another thing...NEVER call insurance companies and such places on an empty stomach! I had to submit my insurance info and account number every time I called these places electronically so I had to sit in front of my computer where I had the info and then you never know how long it takes for your call to go through so I couldn't even eat while waiting...I was starving by the time I was through with all these calls. Now I need to digest a little and then I'm going to the gym! Today I'm actually gonna do it!

Have a better day than I am having!

Later

Much to blog about nothing

I'm still unemployed.
I'm still bored.
I haven't won the lottery yet.
Cats don't speak either Finnish or English and my cat is kinda limited so it's very quiet here during the day.
I am sitting on the bed because the upstairs TV is working.
Sony guy is coming tomorrow between 8am and noon. Talk about early wake up for me!
It's raining. What else is new?
I was supposed to go to the gym today but then it started to rain.
When the rain stopped I wanted to go to the pool (sunny and hot) but then it started to rain again. So here I am blogging.
I need to make better plans.

But we have great plans for the next few weekends and weeks.
This Sunday is NYC pride which we are OBVIOUSLY going! Gonna be awesome!
The NJ state fair opens tomorrow so we might go ride some rides, win some teddy bears and eat some cotton candy. The weekend after that we are heading to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware to spend the 4th of July weekend with Colette and Paul. That's gonna be good times!We're taking our bikes with us, lay in the sun, go to the beach, drink and eat and relax! Then the following Tuesday we have a Mets game to go to! Awesome!

Later

Technology SUCKS!!!

It totally does! We had a power outage on Tuesday and after that the upstairs cable box wasn't working so we had no TV for few days until T asked me if we could just attach the cable from the box to the TV and get the basic TV...so I did that on Wednesday night and we had TV upstairs again. We called Comcast on Tuesday to see if they could do something remotely but it wasn't working so they sent a tech today and now we have a brand new box upstairs and the TV is working again.



I had to get up super early this morning because I had to make sure I was up when the guy came. His allocated time was between 11am and 1pm but he was here little after 10am. When I say early I mean early for us unemployed people who do not need to get up at 5:30 am to go to the gym before work like my lovely, awesome dedicated T does. I can sleep in late and stay in bed for as long as I want or for as long as the cats let me, which ever comes first. So i came downstairs and turned on our brand-spanking-new 10 month old Sony frigging Bravia 46 inch wide screen TV...the green power sign blinked and blinked and blinked and it made the "on" sound and then it went red...it's blinking red...red...red and some more red and nothing happens! AWESOME! So I fought with the TV for 40 minutes before the Comcast guy arrived AND are you ready for this? My almost 2 year old Dell fucking computer with Windows the-best-ever-user-system-Vista froze on me! It got to the point where it shows the icons on the desktop and messenger screen appeared but then nothing. Mouse wasn't working, the Control-Alt-Del command wasn't working so I turned it off and then back on...and this comes on!



I've had so many problems with this computer and it's soft and hardware...my last computer had every imaginable problem you can name!

When the C guy came here I asked him if he knows anything about turning TVs on and so he tried and then he told me it looks like it's busted. It's so funny how we have a TV that's probably older than me upstairs that's working, and a new and supposedly better technology TV downstairs that just crapped out. After the Comcast guy left I called Sony help center to see if there was anything I could try. I read my owners manual and the troubleshooting section there but they didn't even have "TV does not turn on" as an option there! WTF?!?!?

The lady on the phone was nice though and she scheduled a tech to come take a look at our TV next Thursday so until then we have no TV downstairs. We bought a 4 year extended warranty on our TV so at least it's covered. But I gotta tell you, I'm getting pretty frigging tired with all these problems. T pointed out that it's probably me because her old big as TV was fine before we moved in together and the it died...which is why we bought this Sony in the first place...her old small TV which is upstairs was fine before we moved in together and now it's showing signs of old age...(although I think it's Comcast and not the TV)...my first computer had battery, charger, hardware and blue screen of death problems...and now I have this lovely Dell with Windows Vista...need I say more?? Although it's the Vista, not me!

Yeah, so that's been my morning and week so far. I have been applying to jobs all over the place but no bites. I'm not even getting the insurance company calls and e-mails anymore! I'm going crazy...as nice as the cats are, they don't talk to me...this is a picture from this morning when we came downstairs and I was fighting with the TV and my computer. It's a sad sad existence for the cats!





T suggested that I'll go take a walk so I'm gonna go to our neighborhood Dunkin Donuts and get a FREE large caramel latte and maybe a donut to go with it. The gym can wait for few hours. If you wanna know about the Philly parade, go to T's blog. This weekend we are gonna see T's family, it's a fathers day here on Sunday so we are having a breakfast at Johnny's house on Saturday and then spend some time with Carly and who knows whats going on on Sunday. Next weekend is NYC parade and we are gonna have so much fun! There is obviously no midsummer festivities here as we are much more south than Finland is...We are hoping that we can spend next midsummer in Finland and I can show T the nightless night. But before that I need to get a job so that I can save for that trip! Keep your fingers crossed!
Hyvää Juhannusta!

Later

My luck

Since I prematurely predicted Finland's win over Russia today and said a day cannot get any better than going to the gym, getting Dunkin Donuts coffee and Finland beating Russia, I got what was coming to me! The coffee was terrible and Finland definitely did not do what I said, quite the contrary...so, since that didn't come true I think I am definitely getting a job in the next few weeks AND winning the lottery! Whether that is the green card lottery or the monetary one, I don't care! But stay tuned, I have some BIG news coming soon!

It's been almost a month since I had my last class and I am fast becoming a desperate housewife! I even made a weekly schedule for myself so that I don't go crazy just yet. It includes the gym (my only human contact beside T these days and the weekends full of exciting plans), laundry, cleaning, job hunting...and T has probably never been fed so well in her life! I am becoming a master chef! Awesome, right?

The cats are also happy that I'm home...they nap, nap, nap, eat, poop and nap some more. I also brush them every day, play a little with which ever cat seems interested and disturb their naps whenever I can. They try to get me up and feed them every morning so it's only fair. As Finland now lost 3-0 to Russia, Sox slept through it but Bailey decided it was better for her to go nap upstairs as she was kinda scared of me yelling to apparently no-one. It is not like I would have wanted to see Finland play in South-Africa...I have a feeling we will not reach Euro or World Cup tournament in my lifetime. And once Jari Litmanen and Sami Hyypiä retire, we are gonna suck even more.

This weekend we are heading to to Pennsylvania and the Philly pride parade. It's our first time ever in that pride and we're hoping the weather is gonna be sunny cuz it sure hasn't been that way this week. Then in 2 weeks we're going to the NYC parade.

Hope ya'll are having a better week and a month than me! Later