Brand New...

Is playing in Salt Lake right now. I'm not there.

I'd prefer not to talk about it.

Who do I look like:

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

This is based on an impromptu photograph taken by Jessica at Tomato Head over Christmas break. And per usual when I do one of these things, there is a random guy thrown in the mix.

No I'm not going to bed...

So you know how all those commercials you see talk about how great it is to work from home and go to college online in your PJs?

It's not so great.

I've been working from home in my PJs (yes everyday in my PJs) for almost two weeks now. It's boring. I snack too much. The times goes by much too slowly. All I want to do is pick up that for fun reading book on the coffee table or turn on the rather large and inviting TV just across the room. Plus the lighting is not at all right for focusing on work. It is better suited to a late afternoon nap (after the reading or the tv watching of course). I'm more of a doing something kind of worker. I enjoy being in the pool at swim lessons, talking to people at recruiting fairs or running my classroom of kids at the elementary school.

This girl is not suited for a desk job. Not one little iota.

On the bright side, due to my overabundance of time and energy and a more nonexistent social life than ever before I am going to the gym approximately 5 days a week. Getting in shape and being healthy is kind of an addiction. And why shouldn't it be (within the realm of reason of course). When you look better and feel better about yourself, why not work to keep it that way? Especially when you have nothing better to do and are consuming copious amounts of cookie dough, ice cream, and teddy grahams in the course of your 8 hour work day just steps away from your kitchen. (You/Your=I/my)

I ran nearly 3 miles last night and biked over 5. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when you push yourself that extra mile (I had been running only 2), and you think you can't do it but then you do. And it's never quite as bad once you come out on the other side of it. As a matter of fact, if I had the time I suppose I could have run more. Or maybe it just feels that way now while I'm sitting at home in my PJs on the couch with the knowledge I will be asleep in less than half an hour.

Oh and please riddle me this:

Does Charlie Daniels play a mean fiddle?




I'd give an arm and a leg to play like him . . . wait . . .

And there was once you

So I must admit I do have a bunch of guilty pleasures when it comes to books, movies, tv and music--particularly poppy overplayed radio music (usually by female artists). At the moment those happen to be Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, Tik Tok by Ke$ha and 123 by B. Spears. I just can't help it . . . they're so darn catchy. My new roommate has already learned when those come on the radio she needs to stop scanning and let me indulge. However, now that I have acquired the proper cable to listen to my iPod in the car, I remember how much I love music with substance.

I mean what in the world does the lyric "with my love glue gunnin" even mean? If someone one could adequately explain this to me I would not only be eternally grateful but also completely astounded. Come on people, I dare you to try!

But I digress-- I'm talking about substantial music that actually means something, tells a story, and is not just a song made up mostly of chorus with short, nonsensical verses. Yeah, just the thought is making me happy.

Might I now bring up the band I have had in mind?

Yes?

Why thank you.

I adore Bright Eyes. Yes, Connor Oberst is cut out of the same mold as Bob Dylan, Kimya Dawon, Johnny Cash, etc. (Excuse me for putting Kimya Dawson before Johnny Cash, I was simply rattling them off as they popped into my brain with absolutely no regard to preference for one over the other.) They don't necessarily sing well by the traditional standards, but something about their voices and probably more likely their lyrics and music are amazing. It doesn't even matter that they can't really sing, you know?

Anyways, I love Bright Eyes.
I mean the lyrics just keep going. And the choruses are hard to find! Got about 5 minutes on your hands?
Check it out:

A Very Potter Musical

Yes Jessica, I finally watched it.

And I loved it. Almost as funny as cake wrecks . . . almost.

Check out the first installment:

With nothing else to talk about I will say...

I have a new favorite blog. It's called Cake Wrecks. I highly recommend checking it out. Perhaps it is my affinity for cake decorating or possibly my sincere desire to actually be a legit Ace of Cakes quality cake decorator myself, but regardless of the reason I find this blog fun and entertaining. In fact, reading it tonight is probably the hardest I've laughed since before coming to L.A. Probably the Voluptuous incident was the last to equal it. Even My Life is Average has took the back seat in comparison to Cake Wrecks in my books.

I got asked to teach Relief Society via e-mail today. I've never been a teacher for adults before. I wonder how that will go.

More about Polystyrene aka Foam

We toured MRFs today (recycling facilities). First, whilst walking around wearing my vest, hardhat and safety glasses in the stinky building I was quite happy I went to college. Second, boy do we generate a lot of trash. The particular MRF (pronounced murf btw) goes through 350 TONS every day!!!! It's kind of mind boggling and smelly of course. We also went to a factory that not only densifies foam but uses it to make products:

We got samples:

All of these frames are made out of plastic with 30% recycled polystyrene. The plant can produce up to 20,000 feet of framing per day.

And at the last factory of the day they gave us this:

85 densified 4 oz. foam cups.

So tomorrow night the singles ward I am now in is having an activity. As a girl, I am required to bring my favorite movie and my favorite dinner. This is ridiculous. I have ranted on here before about my feelings about picking just one favorite. Basically, it's impossible. And to add to the impossibility of choosing just one favorite movie out of the dozens that I truly love, the movie that I choose will be how the boys choose to have dinner with us. Pretty much, a boy is going to decide to have dinner (a pseudo date if you will even though I'm considering it as merely an opportunity to meet new people) with me based solely on which movie I bring. Who knows, maybe no one will pick my movie at all. It would be nothing short of miraculous if there were even numbers in the first place. 

I'm deciding between About A Boy and Big Fish at the moment. 

And about my favorite dinner. Really with the favorite thing again? One, I have no desire to put any significant effort into cooking a dinner for someone that could turn out to be a complete loser, snore fest, bore tour, weirdo, etc. etc. Two, I do not have my cooking supplies with me even if I did want to wow anyone with my admittedly above par culinary abilities. And three, how in the world are we expected to have any sort of hot food at an activity that will possibly be attended by 20 plus couples with one microwave, and one stove? Silliness. 

Theretofore, the only feasible, sensible decision for dinner is Subway.

To be honest, I'm rather looking forward to tomorrow night!

Still Raining

If I just so happen to be in California when it finally decides to drop off into the Pacific...

I swear it!

I will not be happy one little bit.

I'm going to visit a MRF tomorrow for work. It's in Fontana. I don't really know where that is, but I do know that it requires leaving at 6:30 am to get there. Hello 5:30 am! It's been awhile since we've seen each other.

In other news, I received this e-mail today:

Dear Rachel,
Congratulations on receiving your Bachelor of Arts from Brigham Young University.
As of 1/21/2010 your diploma was mailed to:...


well you get the idea. It reminded me that I am in fact graduated for real real now. Crazy huh?

And it rained

...again.

Pretty much all day.

People in Glendale were even evacuated.

And while you're at Life's website go ahead and check out the photographic collection of famous literary drunks & addicts or peruse around and find something else interesting such as Haiti photographs, tiny cars, Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller, Edgar Allen Poe: Man of Mystery, etc. etc.

Luckily we are working from home this week. This is good not only because I don't have to deal with the rain but also because I get to spend my days dressed like this:

I've put in 16 hours of work in the past two days dressed in elephant pajama pants (hand made mind you!) and my favorite sweater. No one can tell you're wearing PJs over the phone!

It's not cold here per say but by golly I brought 5 (yes 5!) bathing suits with me, and I better get some good use out of them before I leave.

Or else!

Tut, Tut

...it looks like rain.

It rained...

and it rained...

and then it rained some more...

and then it stopped.






But then it decided to start raining again.

Needless to say, the past two days have been very lazy days.



Tomorrow the real work begins.

Who Knew?

So I've learned more than most normal people ever need know about polystyrene in the past two days.

1.) Styrofoam is a registered trademark of Dow Chemicals
2.) Styrofoam = Polystyrene  = foam AND polystyrene (styrofoam) is a type of plastic
3.) Foam is 95% air
4.) Foam actually contains approximately an equal amount of plastic as "paper" cups
5.) More energy is required to produce paper products such as cups and paper bags than foam
6,) Foam can in fact be recycled to produce useful materials like molding and picture frames
7.) The same plastic (polystyrene) used to make foam is used in most plastic cutlery, take out boxes, CD cases, and lids
8,) No matter how "green" your cup supposedly is, the lid is still made out of polystyrene
9.) Foam uses much less plastic than clear plastic containers
10.) Something compostable does not just disappear if thrown on the side of the road or in the dirt or in you trash
11.) In fact most compostable and biodegradable products will only compost or biodegrade in professional facilities that are far and few between in this country.
12.) Landfills are designed to prevent materials from breaking down. Many of these paper products end up in these landfills
13.) Using alternatives to foam can cost a business upwards of $1,000 extra a month in expenses
14.) A plastic grocery bag costs about 1 cent while a paper bag costs 6 cents
15.) Over 90% of Americans reuse their plastic bags
16.) Grocery stores are considered extremely successful is they have a 2% profit margin
17.)While many companies and people are using plastic alternatives made out of food sources such as corn so they can feel better about themselves, tens of thousands of people around the world are dying each day due to starvation. (According to a 2003 BBC report approximately 25,000 people died each day because of starvation.)

That's a lot to think about huh?

It really calls into question people's preconceived notions about what is in fact environmentally friendly.

Of course there are pros and cons to both sides. But after the past two days I truly believe with the resources that we have now, cost of materials, and recycling programs we're doing the best we can.

The next time you have the urge to start shouting about how horrible styrofoam is make sure you know why because in my experience most people have no idea.

Try reading this. And the environmental impact section of this.

AND
ON
A
COMPLETELY
UNRELATED
NOTE...

My soon to be 4-year-old nephew was playing with my camera over Christmas break. He took this picture of himself:

A future photographer perhaps? Even though he last told me he wanted to fix cars. Either way, this is definitely an awesome photograph.

Apartment 5

Today was our first day of training. We were in this building:

There is mandatory and complimentary vallet parking for all visitors. I've never used vallet parking before. It took nearly an hour to drive the 20ish miles to this place from the apartment. We drove on both Santa Monica Blvd and Sunset Blvd to get there. I think I'm going to like LA.

Nothing spectacular today so here are some randoms of where I live:

I've never seen a peep hole like this. I assume it is the old school version or something. I don't know, but it looks fancy even though it's not.

Last day of training tomorrow, and then we hit the ground running on Tuesday.

A Beginning

I hopped off the plan at LAX with a dream and my cardigan. ahhahahahaha

Monday marked the first time in my life I have ever even been to LA (not including the inside of the airport). I'm not here for a visit but to live and work for the next 4ish months of my life. The first few days consisted of unpacking, cleaning layers of dust out of the kitchen (I'm still not done with this part), finding and subsequently throwing away approximately 10 mini bottles of White Zinfandel hidden throughout the kitchen (which is in fact pink don't you know?), getting our rental car, shopping, etc. etc.

The apartment is much, much nicer than I imagined. It's relatively big, we have private rooms, high ceilings, a balcony, and lots of windows. I can overlook the fact that my bedding does not match even the tiniest little bit and that there is a random picture frame on the wall that shows photographs of children I do not know because THERE ARE PALM TREES IN MY YARD! What?!?!

I'm from Tennessee. For me palm trees equal summer vacations at Myrtle Beach -- not home. It will definitely take some getting used to, but I think I can handle it. I start training for my real, grown-up girl job tomorrow, but today I went to Santa Monica Pier and the beach just for fun before the real work begins.

I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time today!

I have to say, I do not think I will miss homework one little bit. Or winter in Provo. It was in the 70s here today!

Even grown girls with grown up girl jobs need their sleep. More tomorrow!