Sick Sailing Trip!

Sick as in, it was me who was sick for the last portion of it. The first half was pretty sick though, as the boat was going fast, and the wind and water made our outing today especially aggressive according to the guys sailing it. I'll write a more thorough recap later, but here's a video I took from the boat, pre-sickness. This is a good size boat, 54', so it's meant to handle some rough seas and is capable of sailing from one country to another, if one desired.


Not sure if you can tell by this video, but the boat was at definite angle, I didn't have my protractor on me, but it was not upright, part of which contributed to the thrill of it all, and also my close encounter with the toilet/bathroom floor for about 30min. Downing some Lucozade now and feeling much better, but puking your guts out does take a little out of you! Another story to add to my book of life.


I didn't feel so bad when I found out our boat had to call the coastguard on another smaller sailboat who was whipped right into the side of a cliff and pretty much stuck. I missed that little bit of drama because I was too busy locked in the bathroom. There go my dreams of racing sailboats.... :)

Wednesday Randoms/See Yaaaa

• Vacation day is here! Besides Christmas and my birthday, this is my 3rd most favorite day of the year, and it’s the best because depending on how many trips I take, the day comes around more than once. Stay tuned for lots of updates, pics, and stories of whatever adventures (or mishaps) I may encounter, hopefully more of the former.
• NBC10 had a ‘town hall’ meeting with Mayor Nutter yesterday, taking questions from Facebook, Twitter, etc. I’m never shocked by the generic questions posed to any politic figure, but I’m always left wondering about the morons who ask the stupid questions. One was along the lines of “I moved across the river from Jersey, and Philly is so full of trash. Why isn’t this cleaned up?” You know what? I loved his answer. “Because [some of] the people of Philly are slobs!” The city provides trash pickup and fancy solar-powered compacting trash cans, and people continue to litter, continue to junk it up. He threw it straight back on us- and he’s right! He then asked: “Do we throw trash on the living room floor? Then stop throwing it on the streets of Philly” Lazy people of Philly- SYAD
• Rumors of Chris Christie for a Presidential run? First off, if you can’t run a 5K without keeling over, you have no business being president. Yeah, Bill Clinton is a bad example with his yo-yo diets of fried chicken and salads and then he got all into the running thing for a while… but for one of the most stressful jobs in the world, you have to be mentally AND physically fit. Just sayin…
•  I don’t foresee any distance running on this vacation, sooooo that run in 3 weeks is going to be awesome *sarcasm*
• I’m going to miss my birds this week… but they are the background pic on my phone and iPod, so I’ll have a constant visual reminder. No morning tweets though…
• I’m doing a little experiment and created a Dublin-specific Twitter list. I’m going to see if social media is beneficial in any way while I’m there by following some bars and tourism accounts. I’ll let you know if it was helpful or completely futile, cause I know you’re all dying of curiosity.
• Gotta go! Hopefully I'll have a great pic to post on the blog background when I return. Unless everyone wants to look at the staged super cool Euro wall shot forever...

I Must Share...

...something so delicious you are going to run out and get it after reading this post.

If you've read through this blog, you know I'm a fan of Nutella and all other things chocolate and hazelnut. I had the genius idea around 1am last night this morning to take the mini waffles and make a Nutella sandwich! This is OMG good, just warning you. I'm usually a fan of the salty snacks, but this is too good to resist! And adding the vanilla flavor to the waffles... and they also make chocolate chip(!!)

Get yourself to Whole Foods and get some!

P.S. Should I just turn this whole thing into a Wednesday Randoms/Food Blog? WR are the favorite, and I'm always talking about food...

Almost Time

It's almost here! Yay! After a really great Friday and Saturday I've followed through on my plan for a productive Sunday. Everything is almost done. I get so super excited for trips. I'm glad traveling isn't a part of my job, as I know it would kill any excitement I get stepping inside an airport.

Africa is the next big trip in the plans. That definitely requires a lot more planning, $$ and time off. There's not much more to do than book it with a reputable tour guide and let them take care of planning everything. There's always the concerns of malaria and such, but from the few people I know who have gone, it's a must do at some point in your life.

I can't imagine how great it would be if I were on the 10mo schedule at work. I'd take those 2 months off and do Europe from one side to the other. I haven't ever seen the entire US, but I can guarantee Switzerland is a lot more exciting than Oklahoma. The size of our country alone makes it difficult to hit a lot of different states in one shot. You can drive the entire width of Ireland in less time than it takes to go from Philly to Pittsburgh.

Off the travel topic... I worked 2 great events yesterday. The Guinness events might be my favorite out of everything we do. Because it is a specialized pour, people are always so shocked we actually know what we're talking about when we run these promotions at bars. I would hope so, as Diageo is pouring loads of $$ into executing these events. I've already been there, but I might have to take a trip back to St James Gate. After launches in test market cities, Guinness has come out with their own lager, aptly named: Guinness Black Lager. So if you're looking to switch from the usual Yeungling that everyone drinks, give this a try.

Wednesday Randoms

Happy 1-week-til-vacation to me!

• I thought I had a spark of brilliance today. Listening to a few different stories and situations, I thought up the perfect thing to describe all the nonsense. That is, until I checked http://www.urbandictionary.com/ and found out it was not so unique after all.
  SYAD!Ever heard of that one? Let me spell it out for you: Sit Your(Yo) Ass Down!
  Used to describe people who are acting ridiculous, out of sorts, or downright stupid and who need to be told about it.
• My example for today? All the whiners and complainers about the new Facebook page setup. Get over it and... SYAD! Have they no concept of change? Are these the same people who get all flustered when someone takes their 'usual' parking spot? Or someone who scoffs at change because 'that's the way it's always been done'?  New flash people: you will be left in the dust if you refuse to adapt and move with the current of change. Who wants to sit around and do the same thing over and over? Aren't we a more complex species than that? Come on. Quit the whining over a few cosmetic changes Mark Zuckerberg cooked up and focus your energy on something worthwhile. Okay. Rant complete.
• Got a cool new digital camera. This is in addition to my SLR. At 14 megapixels, I can't wait to see what I come back from vacation with... I love new toys.
• Summer's over and I'm back to Casper. What little 'tan' I had from running outside all summer (or from that tan in a bottle I used a time or two) is loooong gone. Back to my natural shade of ghost. Yes, I realize in the big picture this is extremely insignificant, but between the red eye in every picture taken of me (with a non-pro camera) and the pale, I should just change every pic of myself to b&w. Whatevs
• For all the non-coffee drinkers out there like me, I highly recommend a pomegranate black tea. Amazing flavor without all the sweetness. At least with fall arriving, I won't have to drink boiling hot tea in 90deg like I did during summer.
• Wondering if I should dress up for Halloween this year. A few years ago it was so much fun working a promo on Halloween and being a Guinness witch, branded black pointy hat and all! Oddly enough, I've been a witch several times for Halloween in my life... hmmm
• Sigh. I miss Oprah at 4pm
• I just read REM broke up after 31 years. Whoa. That's a long time to spend with the same group of people no matter who you are. They had some great albums for sure.
• About a month to go until the 8mi Halloween run. I think I'm going to keep running 5, and then just bang out 8 that day. What's an extra 3 miles when there's goodies at the end? No sense in overtraining. Don't worry, I'll definitely own up to it if I run a crappy time!

Alright, I'm all randomed out for the day. Gotta go- I've got a suitcase to pack!

What?

Alright, who can explain this sticker that was on this bunch of bananas I bought? Are they suggesting bananas are now suitable to roast over a fire like smores or hot dogs? Um... according to the website... yes!

Sure, I'll check it out quickly, because it's not like I have about 10 other things I should be doing now... so I'll be in bed by 1am again...

This crazy site www.dole.com/bananas has really offered up some different ways to eat bananas: A 'Dirty Banana' cocktail recipe and Banana Margaritas?  Interesting. I guess bananas by themselves aren't doing so well aymore?  Something did catch my eye, however. A recipe for Banana Hazelnut Dessert Wontons (!!!)  I love bananas and LOVE hazelnut, so I might just have to make these. And the cocktails. Definitely the cocktails.
All because of a silly sticker on a bunch of bananas.

wednesdayrandoms

Super fast version of Wednesday randoms comin at ya this week. So fast I didn't even have time to capitalize or space the blog title. That's an exaggeration. You get the idea.

• It's time for a vacation when you've been using your office key to open your house and house key to get in your office 3x in one week.
• Speaking of vacation- It's BOOKED!! Yay!! My credit card has seen more action this past week and I don't care! 2 weeks and I'm outta here. It has been almost an entire year those Euros have been sitting in that cup on my counter. They will be spent soon enough! :)
• Training in Philly tonight for Job2. New Capt Morgan program and.... Guinness has a new product... a lager!! Oooohhh boy, I can't wait to hear all about this. This Saturday is halfway to St Paddy's Day, where I will be serving up some car bombs courtesy of Guinness, Bushmills, and Bailey's at a local bar. Guinness season is upon us and I'm so ready to get back to work.
• Thanks to the powers of social media, my company got wind of a launch party tomorrow at 5pm for one of our major competitor's new product.  I've been assigned a bar to conduct a little happy hour espionage and report on it. I lovelovelove this kind of stuff. This is when I get truly excited about work, doing things like this. New products, advertising campaigns, capturing competitor data... I'm really looking forward to it.
• My adventures in dog sitting was a success this past weekend. Those 2 are the sweetest dogs ever. The only bad thing is my dog allergy has seemed to creep back into my life, after disappearing for 20yrs... ugh. So now it's back to being allergic to dogs and cats. Guess I'm sticking with birds for a while.
• Finally took advantage of a LivingSocial deal. Not quite a Groupon, but me and nearly 1million other people bought the Whole Foods deal yesterday. There's one right down the street from me, so it was an easy choice. Can't wait to see this credit card bill next month  : O
• I have about 20 things to do and 4 side jobs to work in the next 2 weeks before I leave. I'm not the biggest fan of pressure, but being pressed for time is where my organization and efficiency skills shine. Go me.
• Looks like it's time for me to write Barack O another letter. I'm seeing things at school that have so many loopholes, there's no sense having a law in place. Not going into detail, but people are taking advantage of the system and the thought that karma will get them isn't cutting it anymore for me. I could just run for congress. Sure, then they can dig up all my Twitter posts, this blog, and anything else to discredit me. I hate politics, and liars, and anyone else who finds a way to blatantly cheat the system. #sickofit
• When are they ever going to finish all the construction on 476?
• This wknd it's going to be in the 60s. My fav running weather! A trip to VF is definitely in order. I love everything about fall. Sorry summer, so over you once I start smelling the pumpkin spice everywhere!  : )