Trigonometry, more about lip color, and rehearsal dinner couture

I forgot to mention that while I was in Chihuahua, I had to do some trig. We were trying to figure out some angles and lengths and such and I busted out the law of cosines to do the calculations. I can’t remember the last time I used it. It may have been at Case or it may have been even before that, at Marian. For the record, I did remember one part incorrectly but a google search got me straightened out.

With Michele holding my hand, I am tentatively venturing into the world of makeup and beauty products. Over a year ago, my mom knew I was whitening my teeth at night with this gel you paint onto your teeth. She was at Big Lots and found some Crest Whitening strips for super cheap. Like seven dollars maybe? She bought them and gave them to me and they came with a long lasting lipstick from Max Factor called Lipfinity. I was delighted to be able to put on lip color in the morning, and have it stay on well into the afternoon, even after I ate AND not rub off on clothing or boys or something. (I also liked that the infinity symbol was molded into the cap.) The color wasn’t quite right so I kept trying new colors when I found them on sale. I had to buy 3 before I found the right color.

I wore beige brick everyday to work for months. The color was perfect for all seasons. When I started to run low a couple months ago, I started looking for sales and when I was unable to find any sales, I found out (to my dismay) that Max Factor has been discontinued! ARGH. So that would mean finding a new brand of long lasting lip color.

The happy ending is that right before I left for Chihuahua, I found a suitable replacement by L’Oreal on my second try. Yay!

I’m going to Jenny’s rehearsal dinner on Friday night and I’m having a hard time deciding on what to wear. Any input is greatly appreciated. Option 1 is a black knee length A-line halter dress that has some pretty nice movement. I just got it at Target a couple weeks ago. The price was right and I figured I needed a little black dress. And I think halters are hot. Option 2 is a knee length geometric print skirt that is fitted in the hips and flares out in a sort of doo-wop A-line style. The print is khaki circles on a black background. I would probably wear a black racerback tank with it. I rarely have the opportunity to wear a dress but I kinda don’t like wearing them. And I’ll have to wear one all day the following day. But the black dress looks fancier (and sexier) than the skirt. But I feel better in the skirt. And less self-conscious. And I feel like it keeps with my “sporty spice” image.

I can’t believe what a ditzy post this turned into. I have to go do a gas flow analysis and calculate the resultant forces on air bag tethers now.

There's a party going on in my head

I have a lot of random things on my mind. Here goes...

Has anyone else noticed that the UPS guys are infinitely better looking that the DHL guys? I see both at work and I've never seen an ugly UPS guy.

I have an odd fascination with nutrition labels and was reading the one for my sugar free fudgsicles. There are only 40 calories and no added sugar and SOMEHOW they manage to cram in 2 grams of fiber. I was wondering if the serving size includes eating the wooden popsicle stick?

All things considered, my Chihuahua trip went well. It could have been much, much worse. I was expecting it to be hotter than hell but the weather was very pleasant. It would be about 70 degrees in the morning as I walked down the mountain a half mile to the plant and then it was in the low 80s by the end of the day. It rained almost every night I was there and it even rained on Saturday afternoon. Rain is kind of a big deal in Chihuahua.

Its satisfying to go to another country and be more or less self-sufficient. The hotel is close enough to the plant that I can walk in the morning. I speak enough Spanish to be able to communicate. And the food and beer are fantastic! The people treated me very very well when I was down there.

One of the nice things about the trip is staying at the Westin Soberano. It’s a very posh hotel. They fold intricate patterns into the ends of the toilet paper in your bathroom. TRW airbag engineers usually make some smart aleck comment about hiring the hotel workers as bag folders in the plant.

I have to be one of the only people who gets a stomach bug AFTER returning from Mexico.

Is there anyone who can get the last drops of gasoline off/out of the pump into your car instead of dripping everywhere else? It does not seem to matter how long I hold the nozzle or how much I shake it. I always end up dripping gas elsewhere. Grrr.

Chihuahua

1) A small dog featured in old Taco Bell commercials saying, “Yo quiero Taco Bell”? or

B) A wonderful Mexican city in the middle of the country where my company has a plant?

This weekend, the answer is B. Sadly, I am missing meeting up with Liz from out of town AND the end of the season softball tournament AND my Monday night league because something came up at work and it’s my turn to try and solve the world’s problems in 4 days. I’m really disappointed.

On the upside, I will be in Mexico over a weekend. I hope to take advantage of the city’s nightlife. And I for sure will let you know of any adventures I have.

Highlights from previous trips include:
1) Accidentally calling my project “caca” in the first 5 minutes that I was in the plant. (I was trying to tell them that the name of my project is “KK” in Spanish, or “cah cah” but it came off sounding like “caca.”)
2) Telling one of my male counterparts in Mexico that my cars need to have enough room for all of my men. Because my men take up a lot of room. “Hombres” is the word for men and I meant to say “hombros” which is the word for shoulders. Oops. Oh the joys of the language barrier!

The Idiot Tax

I’ve discussed The Idiot Tax with lots of people. That’s the price you pay in dollars as reparations for your boneheadedness. For example, rule number one of home repairs is: usually pushing harder is not the solution. I once broke a ceiling fan when I couldn’t get the glass globe off to replace the light bulb. (There was smoke and crackling and everything!) I paid a $22 idiot tax to Home Depot to buy a new ceiling fan and then Tim and I spent about an hour putting it up. Don’t put enough money in the parking meter? You’re paying a $15 idiot tax to the city of Royal Oak. Comprende?

Referencing a previous entry about being a savvy consumer:

During my junior year of college, I bought a Sony Discman. I carefully chose it based on Sony’s reputation for quality electronics, I wanted to be able to run with it and it had a really great skip protection feature, and it came with a car kit that would allow me to play my CD player through my '95 Taurus's tape deck stereo. I got a lot of use out of the car kit and the Discman.

Two years later, I bought a new car that had both a tape deck and a CD player. My car kit lay abandoned for many months (18 maybe?). I finally decided to donate it to Salvation Army last Christmas (12/05) because I figured I would never need it again.

Fast forward to April of this year, one day at the gym, my Discman stopped working. It was too expensive to repair so I thought I would replace it with an MP3 player (after all, it is 2006). After doing my research, I bought a fantastic MP3 player (more on that some other time) and have been very pleased with it.

It’s taken me 4 months to figure out that I can hook the MP3 player up through my car stereo IF I HAD THE CAR KIT THAT I DONATED 9 MONTHS AGO. So I’m going to Salvation Army to see if I can buy one. It’s not often that I get to pay my Idiot Tax to charity.

I Seriously Hate the Mall

I went to Lakeside after work on Tuesday to run 2 very specific errands. I needed black work shoes (see previous post), and something specific from a specific store. Ah, screw being vague – I needed a black strapless bra from Lane Bryant. I already have a neutral one that has performed exceptionally.

I don’t frequent the mall often enough to know where to park. So I took a guess, incorrectly, and had to walk a mile to get to LB. (It’s ok, the exercise was good for me.) As I walked through the men’s department at Marshall Fields, I started to get agitated by all the well, consumerism. “Buy this and you can be hot like this model.” “You need this so that you can be cool too.” ARGH. And they weren’t even marketing to me!

I couldn’t find a map of the mall to locate my stores so I just started walking. And then I see all these trampy teeny boppers – girls wearing loooooooow riders with underwear hanging out. Blech.

On my mission, I find some black shoes, buy them and head to LB. As the salesladies were helping me find the right sizes I get the really hard sell for a LB card. THREE TIMES. Each time, I was like, no thank you, I’m not interested, blah blah blah.

They didn’t have the size and color I needed so the lady ordered them for me online to be shipped to my house and she was like the slowest typer EVER. And she didn’t recognize yahoo as being a valid e-mail domain.

I finally leave the store and get lost finding my way back to Marshall Fields because Lakeside has 2! One is Men and Home Goods, the other is Women. Or something. So I start walking toward the wrong Marshall Fields and end up walking by Victoria’s Secret. I’m not even going to get started on Vicky’s but in the window, there is a mannequin wearing a black see-through bra and thong and garter belt. That’s when I noticed that Vicky’s was right next door to The Limited Too, a children’s clothing store. I shook my head and found my way out of the mall.

How Bim is This?

I did something deliciously vain last night. I got a professional spray on tan. I wanted to try it out before Jenny’s wedding. The thought is that my legs, arms, and face are adequately colored but my chest and back are pretty pale. Since my halter dress will be showing a lot of skin, I’d like to even out a bit. I’m not sure it helped me even out, but I feel delightfully sunny, although perhaps a little streaky. The color is a very nice brown, not really orange at all. I went with the level one Mistic Tan.

First, you get naked. Then you put on the hair net/shower cap. Then you slather your feet, toenails, hands and fingernails with lotion. (To a lesser extent, you can rub some into your knees, elbows, ankles and heels. Be sure to have recently showered, shaved, and exfoliated!) Then step in the booth, push the button, and the crazy spray covers you up and down really fast for about 15 seconds, then you turn around and let it spray your behind. You’ll have to hold your breath for about 30 seconds or inhale the aerosol tan like I did. Then you towel off and your tan will start deepening in a couple hours! Next time, I’ll try and do a better job rubbing it into my arms. Yay for spray on tans!

Colleen's Recommendations

I like to think I am an informed consumer. I’m not afraid to do research when I make purchases, no matter how big or small the item. I’d like to share some of the highlights of recent experiences with purchases and customer service. So far, these are all positive experiences with customer service, but I wish the companies would do a better job in the first place so that I wouldn’t have to complain later on (send me enough screws, engineer a more robust design for a vibrating flosser, etc.). Feel free to add your own positive or negative experiences in the comments section!

I have a woman who shops out my insurance needs. Her name is Anu and she is with Answer Financial. I tried to shop out auto and condo contents insurance myself but she does a much better job. She gets quotes from lots of companies and then e-mails me the best deal. She is based out of California and her phone number is 888-878-8111 x4660. Susheela, my mom, and I all have been very happy with Anu. Insurance isn’t fun but it’s nice to feel like I’m not getting taken to the cleaners. Thumbs up for Anu at Answer Financial!

Over Memorial Day weekend, I bought a chandelier that I loved from Home Depot. The best part about it was the finish (aged crackle), a sort of brown, sandblasted, stone look, which fits my dining area well. The maker is Hampton Bay. Upon opening it to install it, Jamie pointed out that one of the glass “cups” was chipped. It wasn’t a huge defect but when I buy something new, I’d like it to be in new condition, ya know? So I called Hampton bay customer service and they sent me a new glass cup in the mail and it arrived within 2 weeks! Thumbs up for Hampton Bay!

After I bought and installed the chandelier with the beautiful but odd finish, I began shopping for accompanying hall lights, foyer lights, etc. This turned out to be difficult since Hampton Bay didn’t make anything that I liked. After browsing online, I found a light I loved, at a great price, but I couldn’t tell if the finish was close enough to what I had and no local stores carried the finish for me to see. When I e-mailed Sea Gull Lighting customer service, they mailed me a free metal sample chip of the finish! After I received it, I deemed that their golden isles was close enough to HB’s aged crackle and I bought three new light fixtures. I received the light fixtures and after I installed all the fixtures, I realized I didn’t have enough screws to attach the glass globes to the fixtures (they sent three screws for the glass and I needed those, plus another two to attach the fixture to the ceiling). I went to the hardware three times and even with the help of a hardware expert, I could not get screws that were compatible. I had no choice but to e-mail Sea Gull Lighting customer service again, this time politely asking for 6 extra screws (haha). To my shock, they replied and sent the screws in 3 business days! My lights are beautiful!!! Thumbs up for Sea Gull Lighting customer service!

I had a Reach Access vibrating flosser which stopped working after 3 batteries (maybe 8 months?) When I complained to Johnson and Johnson, they sent me a check for my purchase price! Thumbs up for Johnson and Johnson customer service!

Ode to My Shoes

I am about to lay to rest my second pair of black work shoes in two weeks. That was a pretty awkward sentence. Let’s try again. In the last two weeks, two pairs of black work shoes have kicked the bucket, becoming so uncomfortable that I can no longer wear them. They both are too expensive to repair, but because they were so noble in their quest they deserve a tribute of some sort (homage perhaps?), so here goes.

The first pair to break was purchased in the spring of 2004 for $9 at DSW in Cincinnati while I was shopping with Sara Wolfgang. I bought them before I had a real job (I was a grad student doing research at NASA), knowing that one day, I would have a real job where I would need a pair of comfy black dress shoes. They had a low heel and interesting styling that made them delightfully comfortable. I had the heel replaced a couple months back. I had no idea that would be the beginning of the end. Two weeks ago, a piece of wood started to poke up from the sole into my heel. I was told by my shoe man that they were beyond repair.

The other pair that gave up was purchased during Christmas break freshman year of college (approx January 2000) for $20 at either Kohl’s or Mervynn’s. I was with Liz Matzinger. She had driven from Toledo to keep me from going insane. They were a loafer with a very high but wide and substantial heel (3.5”?). I wore them to numerous college parties. In fact, Marcela wore them to numerous college parties too. They were great for walking and looking hot in. They stayed on my feet so nicely. I think I had the heel replaced at least twice. Every couple of months, I would take a black permanent marker to them to color in scuffs on the heel, cracks in the fake leather, and dye the white fraying threads black. The brand was Ellemeno which I loved because that can be a tribute to the Adam Sandler dialogue “Respect.” Recently I noticed that the balls of my feet were rubbing against something uncomfortably bumpy while I walked and it was killing the soles of my feet. I believe these too, are beyond repair.

Both pairs will be missed - Rest In Peace, old friends.

Although I’m really feeling rather sentimental about them, I must remain steadfast in my demands that the shoes look good, feel good, and are reasonably priced. I wonder if I can find one pair to replace both.

Afraid

So I’m 25 years old and I know that I should have grown out of my childhood fears a long time ago, but I am still afraid of thunder. And to a lesser extent, the dark. So thunder at night basically drives me batty.

Last night, I was awoken by an exceptionally loud clap, around 4:30am. I laid in bed, shaken, and waiting for more, but an odd thing happened. There were only three audible rumbles after, and they were the low distant kind. I guess it was a thin strip of severe weather that passed by fairly quickly. I fell back asleep but woke up unrested when my alarm went off.

My point is that perhaps admitting and accepting my fear of thunder will put me on the right track to not being scared anymore. There are a lot of things that I’m working on admitting and accepting. As my high school posse was fond of saying in Spanish class, “Acéptelo” (“Accept it”).

Burrito Slut vs. Burrito Whore

Susheela called me the other night on her way to her first Chipotle run since I visited her in October (!!!). I love that my friends eat Mexican and think of me. Even more, I like that I eat Mexican and think of my friends.

I’ve never been afraid to chow down on a burrito but I would say my love affair with Mexican occurred while I was in school in Cleveland. There was an authentic Mexican restaurant (Mi Pueblo) about a 5 minute walk away. They followed Mexican drinking rules – as long as you could see over the counter, you would be served. Then there was Chipotle and Que Tal, both primarily burrito places, a short greenie ride away. I’ve gone to those places so many times with so many different groups of people for so many happy occasions (birthdays, dates, softball get-togethers) and even a couple sad occasions (the day I walked out of my EMAE250 final, after bad softball days).

Recently, Chipotle came to Detroit and since I’m on their e-mail list, I get the heads up every time they open a new restaurant. And every time they open a new restaurant, they have an grand opening party where they serve free food. Last week, I went to the new Hall Rd and Schoenherr location with my mom for free burritos. I got thinking about how many free burritos I’ve had over the years. Very, very many. I basically will do just about anything for a free burrito. Take a quiz? Done it. Fill in a “burrito tax form”? Have photocopies of it. Wrap myself in foil, burrito style? I have pictures. So at what point would I draw the line?

Jamie told me I was a burrito whore. I prefer burrito slut. But what is the difference? Are they one and the same?