Thursday, July 24, 2008

To Lurk

Merriam-Webster's definition:
Lurk (v): a:to lie in wait in a place of concealment especially for an evil purpose b: to move furtively or inconspicuously c: to persist in staying.

Coworker's Definition:
Lurk (v): to sit around in a useless and creepy manner.

I hear this verb in use (you lurk, he/she/it lurks, they lurk) several times a day. I'm not sure that I've ever used it before, but it makes me smile a LOT.

Lurk.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

In Memorium

Dear Groundhogs,

It's been almost a week since we have seen you, and we are having trouble accepting that you're gone. Our observations indicate that like Grimm's innocent Snow White, you were tricked by a deceitful apple. You must have thought it a such delicacy, appearing out of season and so conveniently near to your hole. In cruel mockery, the have-a-heart traps are still sitting outside your now-empty burrow, fresh-laced with apples in case you try to return. But where is the prince that will bring you home?

Oh, how your gamboling antics made us laugh. Dudders, remember how you would flee at the slightest provocation, leaving your wife and children to fend for themselves? Mr. Pinkerton, could it have only been last week that Francine refused to let you enter your own home? What caused your spat, and has it since been mended?

We hope you are all together, and have found some sort of groundhog Utopia, where apples are safe and abundant and the fields are full of clover.

Love,
Tasha and Michael.

Dear OSU,

How could you steal our groundhogs? They cause no damage, kept your grass short, and provided hours of delightful fun and whimsy. You've removed more than just the groundhogs from Buckeye Village--you've removed our JOY.

Devestatedly,
Crying in Columbus.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Tasha's first business trip

Early this Friday morn, I returned from my first business trip alive and well, which is a surprise, as I hadn't slept more than nine hours over the past three days. This was due to the unkind hours that we kept: 6:00 pm to 6:00 am.

Boss had assigned us (Meagan, Jeff, and me) to spend three days (and nights) in Pittsburgh applying RFID stickers to medical records. The late hours were meant to ensure that we didn't interrupt, and weren't interrupted by, the clinic workers. (In fact, we were only interrupted by one worker--a woman in billing who began her workday at 2:30 in the morning to avoid phone calls from those she billed.)

The late hours also allowed for some interesting conversations.

Mormons aren't common in Ohio: it took my coworkers two months to figure out that I'm LDS despite knowing that I graduated from BYU and spent four years in Utah. They figured it out on this trip, though, and once they did they spent hours questioning me about our beliefs and practices. As nice as it was to finally stop the questions about my favorite alcoholic beverage, it was even nicer to do a bit of what Josh is doing every day, and what I (in my preMichael days) thought I would be doing at this point in my life.

(Aside from these delightful discourses, the majority of our conversations revolved around food, high school memories, and what we would rather be doing right then [sleeping].)

We finished on Friday morning and, thanks to Meagan's (leather-seated!) Jaguar, made the four-hour drive in right around three-point-five. Boss gave us Friday off to rest and regain our senses.

He will never find out that, while I did sleep when I returned, I spent most of my Friday visiting Gotham City with Michael, followed by a delicious dinner at the Cheesecake factory.

Monday, July 7, 2008

All Growing Up

You'd think that getting married would make me feel like an adult. If that didn't do it, what about packing my life in boxes, hiring a moving company, and moving across the country? Starting a full-time job? Finally getting my wisdom teeth pulled? No, no, and no. It happened yesterday when I ordered a subscription to Good Housekeeping. And while I'll admit that Michael and I maintain a rather loose definition of "house," and that these days he does more "keeping" thereof than I, I feel rather grown up