What's on my mind?

I need to rant. Today, I'm down ON technology. Absolutely hatin' it. Now, I get the time saving advantages, social networking, blah blah, that it allegedly brings to our lives. But, today I fought technology, and technology won. Example #1. Today, one of my co-workers called me to asked me if I had got a voicemail she had left me and if I needed her to assist me with anything. I innocently replied "What voicemail?" She had left me a voicemail a few hours earlier, but my little voicemail red indicator light wasn't lit on my phone. So, I enter the voicemail system to discover to my absolute dismay that I had 17 (yup 17!) new voicemail messages dating back almost 3 weeks. Now, keep in mind, I'm new at my company. Not returning client and vendor voice mails; totally uncool. Funny enough, I was grousing incessantly about a client last week who wasn't returning my calls...You guessed it folks, 2 of those 17 messages were from her. Now, according to another co-worker, inadvertently turning off that indicator light in the labyrinth that is the automated VM attendant is very easy. I think she just felt sorry for me. I honestly don't remember being anywhere even close to that menu choice. I say the system did it without me cause it hates me. That's my story...I'm sticking to it. Example #2. Tonight, I came home and begrudgingly went onto Facebook mostly to try and block a few so called "friends" who refuse to stop telling me how many chickens they have raised on their damn farm. So anyway, needless to say, I can't figure out how to block these people's posts without defriending them. However, as I'm rooting around on the FB, I see that I have a new message that I swear wasn't there a few days ago, but is from early March. It was from a neighbor of my friend Karen in Minneapolis asking if I could give her some advice about some good stores in Milwaukee where she could possibly sell her jewelry line. She was planning on being here at the end of the month and was hoping I could help her. Well, it's the end of the month and I never responded because I didn't see it. So, I guess you could blame that one of on me and my total lack of competence. Whatever. Seven year olds understand Facebook. Maybe, I should just bag the whole thing and go totally Amish. I just might....they seem so peaceful...probably because they don't use technology. Please don't comment on this blog. I'm sure I won't be able to figure out how to access the comments. Sigh.

Johnny, what do you make of this?

I read that Peter Graves died yesterday. He was an actor known to most older people for his role in the TV series, Mission Impossible, but I remember him best as Captain Oveur in Airplane! I distinctly recall the first time I saw the movie. I was a freshman in college. I was supposed to be studying for a test but wandered into the living room to hang with my dad for a few minutes. He was channel surfing and came across a late night showing of the film. I thought I would just sit down for a few minutes and then get back to studying, but two hours later, Dad and I were still there. I'm not sure how I did on that exam. Probably not as well as I would have had I not got distracted. It was all completely worth it. Dad and I were both night people. I have so many found memories of staying up late with him when I was a kid, watching The Tonight Show, or a baseball game, or an old movie. We had a lot of laughs that night, watching Airplane! The best part of that movie, obviously, is the dialog. All these years later, most people can still quote at least one line. Here a a few of my favorites:

"Johnny, What do you make of this?" "Well, I can make it a hat, a broach, or a pterodactyl"

Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"

"Guess I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue."

Hanging Lady: Nervous?
Ted Styker: Yes
Handing lady: First time?
Ted Stryker: No, I've been nervous lots of times

Elaine: "There's no reason to become alarmed, and we hope you'll enjoy the rest of your flight. By the way, is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane? "

Johnny (after unplugging the runway lights): Just kidding!

Young Boy with Coffee: Excuse me, I happened to be passing, and I thought you might like some coffee. Little Girl: Oh, that's very nice of you, thank you. [takes coffee] Little Girl: Oh, won't you sit down? Young Boy with Coffee: Cream? Little Girl: No, thank you, I take it black, like my men.

Elaine Dickinson: Would you like something to read? Hanging Lady: Do you have anything light? Elaine Dickinson: How about this leaflet, "Famous Jewish Sports Legends?"

A picture is worth a thousand words

The Rech Family is extremely excited that there is going to be another little Rech in the world in about 6 months. Andrea is due the first week of September, and after 14 years since Peg's kids were born, we are all thrilled to have a new baby to spoil. Right now, at about 13 weeks in utero, the baby is about 3 inches long. It's hard to tell much from this ultrasound picture except that I think the baby has his/her Auntie's Mary's cute nose. Congratulations Steve and Andrea!

Olympics!

I love the winter Olympics. I was lucky enough to attend the winter games in Salt Lake City in 2002. The energy, the spirit, and the camaraderie at the Olympics is infectious. When you are at the games, you honestly can't believe that there is any conflict or strife anywhere in the world. Everyone is there in peace to share their common love of competition and sport and desire to watch dreams come true. Unfortunately, this year, my schedule has been crazy, so I haven't watched as much coverage as I would like. Thanks to two DVR's, I recorded quite a bit and have been trying to catch up, sometimes days later. Even though I know the final medal results it's still exciting to watch all the drama unfold.

This year, my favorite athletes haven't actually all been Americans. Of course, you have to root for Shaun White, Evan Lysacek and Apollo Anton Ono, but not exclusively. For example, my favorite alpine skier of these Olympics hasn't been come-back kid, Bode Miller, but Norwegian skier, Aksel Lund Svindal. Maybe it's his sad back story (his Mom died in childbirth when he was 8), or his comeback story (after a ridiculous crash in Beaver Creek in 2007). Or, perhaps it's the touching connection he has with his father, clearly his biggest supporter. I loved his humble personality, his sense of sportsmanship, and let's face it, the guy is easy on the eyes! (yup, that's his pic above) And, how can you not admire the grace and the strength of Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette who kept herself together and skated to a bronze medal just days after her mother died unexpectedly of a heart attack. The dedication of Olympic caliber athletes is amazing; watching them do what they have trained their entire lives for is inspiring. If you ever have the chance to attend the Olympic games, take it. The feelings and the joy of the entire experience will stay with you a lifetime.

And then there were two... Goodbye Bella

I know what you're thinking. What kind of self respecting blogger would only post a blog every two months? Do you think Ashton, Demi and John Mayer only tweet every two months? Well, my excuse for not writing has been pretty valid. For a short while, I had 4 jobs, then 3 and now finally two. Extricating myself of that 3rd job selling wedding photography, wasn't as easy I thought it would be. I guess I underestimated how many brides would have follow-up questions after I sold them their packages. I don't know, call it integrity...or call it stupidity, it just makes me feel bad to sell them all something, and then sort of leave them high and dry. Someone from the company would have followed-up with them, but, I feel personally responsible for finishing what I started. So, it took me about 2 weeks longer to finish everything up. Bella Pictures was a job when I needed one and I'm grateful for it. Would I ever take another commission only sales job again? Not unless it's completely necessary....bye bye Bella.

Frankie says RELAX

Every autumn me and my best friends Stacy, Karen and Jill go on a girls spa weekend. For the last 4 years we have gone to the Sundara Spa in Wisconsin Dells. It's a great spa, nestled on a beautiful wooded property not too far from Lake Delton. Like most girls weekend, spa weekend is intended mostly for three things; relaxing, laughing and wine drinking. We don't wear make-up the entire weekend and our clothes need to have only one requirement; they must be comfortable and stretchy. The added bonus of this year's trip was that it fell on my birthday weekend. It was great spending my perpetual 29th birthday with my favorite girls. This year, instead of going driving down to the Dells, Karen flew down from Minneapolis and we ventured north to the Kohler Waters Spa. Part of the 5-star American Club in Kohler, the Waters Spa was everything we hoped it would be. The services were wonderful and the products used were top-notch. Since I have been "funder-employed" for a few months we decided not to actually stay at the spendy American Club and opted for the Osthoff resort in nearby Elkhart Lake. Elkhart Lake is a lovely little lesser known Wisconsin gem. Karen fell in love with it and wants to bring her family back sometime next summer. In addition to going to the spa, my friends generously treated me to a great birthday celebration dinner at the Paddock Club and we took two long hikes around the lake. We were blessed with some of the best weather I have ever seen in late November; sunny and about 55 degrees. There are some beautiful lake homes as you can see from one of my photos, and quite a few for sale. Maybe we all need to pool our money together and buy a vacation property? One was only 1.2 million dollars. Drop in the bucket.

As always, it was awesome spending time with my best friends and enjoying our beautiful state.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

Hi everyone. I know I have been completely remiss in keeping my blog updated. It's been a crazy few weeks since I last posted. As you all know, I've been "fun-employed" or as I now call it, "funder-employed" for the last 8 months or so. I took on as many part time jobs in the last few months as I could in order to pay some bills and stay busy while I searched for a new full-time gig that I really wanted. In addition to my bartending gig, I also have been selling wedding photography for a company called Bella Pictures and got a seasonal retail gig at Crate & Barrel. Working all these various jobs has actually been fun. I like the variety. Juggling all the schedules has been a bit more challenging, thus, my lack of new blog postings. Well, the GREAT news is that I did receive a job offer this week from a company called IMS (Integrated Merchandising Systems) whose local offices are in Hales Corners. IMS does Point-of-Purchase displays and branded merchandise for large customers such as McDonalds, Wells Fargo, Research in Motion and Pepsi Co. I will managing the Pepsi account. I'm excited because the job should get me back on the road traveling a bit which I have really missed. I should be spending a fair amount of time at Pepsi headquarters in Rye, New York and also some time at other Pepsi brand headquarters such as Frito Lay in Texas. I think this job may have been my destiny. As everyone knows, Cheetos are one of my top 5 favorite foods. In fact, It think the FDA should make them the 6th official food group. Lo and behold, Cheetos are a Frito Lay brand. You know this means that I will find myself at least a few Chester Cheetos tchotchkes to decorate my new cube (and don't be surprised if Pepsi branded items end up in your gifts in the next few years. :-)) And, the cherry on the sundae is that my favorite soda, Diet Mountain Dew is a a Pepsi brand. If all goes well, I'll never had to pay for another Mountain Dew again!

Anyway. I just wanted to officially thank all my family and friends for being so supportive of me in these last months. I honestly don't know what I would have done without you all!