I willingly sign up to get murdered every Friday (not to be confused with getting murdered on the show The Traitors, my other current obsession). It's the hardest class my pole studio offers - level 2/3 Drop-In Murder.Frankly, most days I have no business being in there with legit athletes, but as they say, surround yourself with people who are where you want to be.I'm over the moon if I achieve any part of that day's trick as I watch others skillfully land Cirque du Soleil level...
28 days ago • 2 min read
I couldn't help but overhear my nephew's zoom interview yesterday.He's applying to be a social media intern for some random out-of-state company found through his college career center. As soon I heard a voice say "when can you start?" I pulled up the owner's LinkedIn account to verify that it was an actual business. I *may* have also searched for any lurking court records - Aunt Michelle gets a bit protective over her flock.Duly satisfied that it was a legit biz, I checked what the company...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
These days, my college roommate Justin and I communicate mainly through inappropriate memes we dm each other. I'll probably get cancelled if those ever get out.He's one of my dearest friends - even though he used to hide the good cookies on the top shelf in our kitchen. He's 6'7" and I'm pocket-sized. Joke's on him though - I've always been able to climb kitchen cabinets. Short girl solutions.Back in college we'd spend most of our nights in the computer lab making fake websites and teaching...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Technically I'm "off-grid" this week on my long-awaited snow-avoidance break (somehow October me knew this would be the ideal time to get out of dodge).But let's be real. Of course I'm gonna randomly check my email so I don't come back to a mountain of to-dos.And then I saw a note from an old co-worker asking me the whereabouts of a specific font license agreement. I last worked with that team in 2017 (that's like building a Model T in internet years).But if there's one thing about me, it's...
2 months ago • 2 min read
My favorite toy as a kid was this Fisher Price Alpha Probe space shuttle that had electronic sounds and flashing lights. Best of all, it had a cargo bay that opened and closed - complete with an astronaut tethered for a space walk. Technically the shuttle was my brother's, but it was way cooler than my Barbie "spa tub" that made bubbles when you pressed a squeeze button. (Very telling how disparate toys were in the 80s.) I've been obsessed with space and astronauts ever since. So when I...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Tucked into a mountain side in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, there's a series of rooms securely storing the massive museum catalog records of the NPS (National Park Service).They literally named it "the bomb shelter."When I interned with the NPS Museum Management Program in the early '00s, most of the records were typed (or handwritten) on index cards. Huge cabinets held millions of cards (and it was part of my job to help start the digitization process).It's probably why I'm so fastidious...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Two things I didn't want to learn this week: How much snow you need to melt in order to fill a 5 gallon bucket. How long it takes to boil water to make it safe to wash dishes. On Monday the water system for my entire city failed - meaning no one's had running water for days. It felt like a page out of Little House on the Prairie. My husband shoveled snow from the backyard into whatever large containers we could find, then I stood for hours melting it down in my largest saucepan. Then we had...
3 months ago • 1 min read
At the top of the list of things I've googled in my off week:"Will hair dye destroy my garbage disposal."The google AI overview and random Quora answers I'm getting aren't exactly installing confidence, so I'm considering using the backyard hose.My longtime hair dresser decided to unceremoniously up and leave Virginia for the warmer confines of Arizona last month. While I briefly considered trading in my well-hoarded Amex points, it feels a mite bit excessive to fly across the country.But it...
3 months ago • 1 min read
I had the best time at the DMV yesterday (well, maybe not the "best" - but I was in and out in under 12 minutes. That has to be some sort of Guinness book record).I'm one of those nutty people who loves to knock out tasks during the holiday break (I mean, there's only so many Columbo reruns a person can watch). I'm finally getting around to all the little things I've been putting off for months (like getting my Real ID and shredding my backlog of archival paperwork. Turns out no one's ever...
3 months ago • 2 min read