Monday, Monday

Hello all!


Sorry I've been MIA on this blog. I have been super busy and naturally had more internet problems, but after an actually-competent person came to our apartment last week and laughed at how horrible the last Comcast guy had left all of our equipment, things are going well! (Until of course, our DVR box/modem/whatever just stops working for no reason at all).


So quick recap of things since my last post approximately 100 months ago. Christmas went well, which I got to spend at work (baller!).  The extra pay was nice, but we were kinda busy. If there's anything I don't like, it's getting paid time and a half on a holiday, but not being able to sit on my arse all day! In fact, most holidays I've worked have been steadily busy...so annoying!  I've worked the last 3 Christmases (I WILL NOT BE WORKING IT NEXT YEAR) and we've always done a grab bag for the people that have to work...definitely takes the edge off the fact that everyone is having a relaxing, fun day with their families while you get to deal with sassy doctors and pissy patients all day (figuratively and literally).  I ended up getting an electric wine opener. Which is perfect because 1. I literally have no idea how to open a non-screw top bottle of wine. B. I don't really drink wine due to the fact that it makes me a very angry, pukey drunk. 3. I will use it when "classy" people come over that "aren't beer drinkers." Just kidding. I'm not friends with people like that.

Then New Year's came around. Instead of doing the usual $100+ night of being in an uncomfortable (but cute!) dress, with mediocre drinks, disgusting finger foods, people spilling drinks on you, and the absolutely impossibility of getting a cab in Chicago after the festivities are over, Tom and I decided to do something else. His family gets a bunch of hotel rooms on New Year's and brings snacks, beer, and plays games (of many varieties. Left right center, uno, putt putt golf, Jenga, bozo buckets, etc). So instead of slipping on a stranger's spilled Dirty Shirley (or possibly my own) in my high heels, I Jenga'd our game of Jenga due to my large intake of beer! Next year? Back to the hotel with Tom's family. Drinking beer in sweatpants playing awesome games? THAT'S the way to spend an extremely overrated holiday. (P.S. This image here is on the back of the Jenga I had growing up. My best friend Nikki and I would always giggle about this little scene on it. WTF??? That is not how we looked when we played it.)


So then right after New Year's was my birthday.  The day before my birthday, Tom and I were supposed to go to the Blackhawks game. It was a Groupon deal that included dinner at a bar nearby, and bus service to the United Center, the ticket and bus service back. It had already been cancelled and rescheduled once. So naturally why would they cancel again? We were seeing the Blackhawks the day before my birthday!!!


WRONG.


Tom got an email that it was cancelled yet AGAIN. I could have convinced him to let me rip them a new one, but instead, after a small hissy fit thrown to myself, I told Tom to just get his money back.  I mean, seriously. How do you run a company like that? They suck anyway.


All was not lost though! We celebrated my birthday the next day with some of my closest friends, including my friend Amanda who surprised me all the way from Florida! We used to have our parties together because our birthdays are four days apart, so it was such a great surprise! This is us with our friend Kristin at Red Ivy Bar. I ended the night by falling asleep on the table! I'm seriously getting too old to drink more than 2 beers.  





My wonderful boyfriend also bought me an enormous cupcake (which I ate by myself in two days), and a Wii!!!  Let's just say I'm obsessed with the Wii... It's just so damn cool! I mean, I'm practically a professional dancer with everything I've learned on Just Dance 2 AND 3! And Zumba! Sidenote: yes, I know Wii was cool like 4 years ago...whatever. I'm always late on the trends. That way I know what's ACTUALLY going to be cool. Did you waste money on Sega Dreamcast? A minidisc player? Laser Discs? Oh that's a shame. I didn't. 


So there are some updates of my life, but don't worry, there are many more to come. I didn't want to make this entry too long and boring, so here's what you can prepare yourselves for over the next few days: Why Water Tower Is The Worst Mall In America, My Trip To Lake Tahoe When I Almost Died, and Why I Have A Love/Hate Relationship with HGTV.


Until then, try Bell's Winter Ale. I don't usually like white ales, but it's truly a revelation (name that movie and you win a prize). 

Cheers, 
Molz

Pomcast, Shomcast

Hello all!


It has been awhile since my first and only post, and I blame that solely on a particular cable/internet company (we'll call them...Pomcast).  


This all starts back when we first moved in to this apartment in September. Most things ran pretty smoothly besides Ant Takeover 2011 and the cable/internet situation. When I tried to set it up, the first thing Pomcast told me was "You live in apartment 2N at that address? Verify your name again?...Oh, someone else lives in that unit and has cable set up there."  Oh, ok, thanks generic high school dropout person, for telling me that someone else lives in my unit (I always wondered who that was in my closet?!?!?!). After lots of yelling and telling them that the people that lived here before us (who were not the people on the account apparently), who are our landlords, had satellite TV for the past 6 years, we were getting nowhere fast.  But no, Pomcast, don't let facts get in the way.


After much more fighting and realizing Pomcast numbered the units in our building differently than the U.S. Postal Service, we started to figure out the problem. So...they actually had the guy in 1S as apt 2 (which does not exist) but they decided would also be 2N...WHAT?!?!?!!? Yeah, it took about 3 weeks to get crappy, expensive cable in our apartment.  Again, don't let facts get in the way. 


So they eventually installed it...which took 3 1/2 hours! Yeah, it was a nice day off.  But I assured myself that maybe he was extra careful when setting up the 3 cable boxes (one hour each!), so we probably wouldn't have any problems with it...FALSE. We stopped getting...all of our HD channels (but pay to have HD channels and have an HD TV). Also, I wasn't getting an internet signal in my bedroom which is in the back of the apartment. I called Pomcast and did trouble shooting with them (which included a LOT of turning off and turning back on various boxes...which I definitely already tried, duh).  Nothing worked, and they also tried to remotely "boost my internet signal" which did nothing. I think what they actually did was scratch their butt and eat a candy bar. Don't worry, they charged us $40 later on a bill for "trouble shooting call." Rrrrriiiiiggghhhhttt...


Needless to say, someone came to fix everything...but the internet. The exact words of the A-hole that came here were, "Pomcast doesn't guarantee wireless internet." Oh ok, perfect. Because I will just run a 100 foot internet cord through the living room, over the kitchen counter, past Heather's room (so she can trip on it), and finally into my bedroom.  


Moral of the story? My blog posts are kinda slow. My plan is to invest in a router for a "large home" at the suggestion of the Pomcast worker. Yeah, because a one level, 2 bed, 2 bath condo really is a "large home." Even sitting in front of the router...the signal goes in and out, and the router was newly purchased in February. If anyone has suggestions of good routers...let me know.


Well that's all for now, but I PROMISE to post more frequently. Things have been a little extra crazy around here the last couple of weeks, so hopefully things start to slow down.  Advice: think twice about choosing your cable provider. 


Beer for thought: New Belgium's Hoptober. You'll thank me later.

Cheers,
Molz

La Primera Post (that's Spanglish for first post)

Greetings!

So I have wanted to blog FOREVER due to the fact that I think my life is super interesting and that I'm VERY funny (it really isn't, and I'm really not). However, I have noticed recently that I don't have a creative outlet in my life.  A few of my friends have blogs, which has officially inspired me to do one. Even if NO ONE reads it (I'll force my sister to read it at the least by referring to it in our conversations and quizzing her on what I wrote about), I will feel semi-accomplished by being even a little creative and artsy.

See, for those of you who don't know, I am a nurse. I am a nurse that revolves her life in being a nurse. I talk about it all the time, talk about my patients (in an anonymous, non-characteristic, hilarious way). My hobbies include cooking quick meals after my 13 hour days, things that you can do during the week while everyone else is working because I work every other weekend, and being on stupid, made-up committees at work. I love socks that have nurse-y things on them, talking about which hospitals suck (that I've never actually worked at), and all the jobs I've ever had in a hospital (candy striper!!!).

I won't reveal what hospital I work at (because I will become famous enough for someone to care). But lets just say, I am a critical care nurse by trade, and I have met MANY gang members in my time. In fact, I have befriended so many that I don't have a problem traveling into unsafe neighborhoods, because I know someone's got my back (WHAT UP LATIN KINGS!!!).

However, I will reveal that I do live in Chicago. Mostly because the point of this blog is talk about being a young (but getting older), single (I actually have a boyfriend) city slicker (great movie).  I go to lots of restaurants and drink lots of local beer. I LOVE talking about both.

This is my 3rd year in the city, and my second apartment. My old apartment was just a step above college apartment in its appearance. The apartment I currently live in is a condo that we are renting from a couple that purchased a house in the 'burbs. So I've been much more excited to decorate this place. I also watch a TON of HGTV, which I will probably be talking about A LOT (those damn yuppies/idiots on House Hunters International).

So, to sum up my ramblings, I will be talking about food, gardening, decorating my apartment, beer, not my job, city life, movies, my inability to figure out technology (including this MacBook Pro) Iowa, my friends, my family, my boyfriend, Dave Matthews Band, maybe my job, and my very hilarious musings. Also, amateur photography that will mostly be of boring landscapes.  Like this one, from Ft. Myers, FL:

I actually think it's special enough to be enlarged and framed in my apartment.....

Cheers,
Molz