Go Team USA

My new way to keep entertained at work is by giving rewards and treats. The rewards have the potential of costing the company a lot of money but usually people don’t participate in my challenges so they are pretty pointless.
Here are some recent ones:
I put a suggestion box in the kitchen any suggestion and I give the person a $5 gift card. Do people write down their suggestions? Rarely, mostly they just complain.
We’re thinking if switching the coffee in the kitchen, it has been a very dramatic process. Since I don’t drink coffee I told people to try my 4 samples and give feed back and they would get participation prizes. I gave $5 gift cards to each person that turned in at least one response. Only 7 people got them.
We have a new girl Kayla, with new people I like to put a fun fact and their favorite ice cream on the board in the kitchen. She told me that she is boring and couldn’t think of one. I told the office that they have until today to ask her one question each and whoever gets the most interesting response wins a $5 gift card. So far I’ve only received 4 facts and one of them is that she has “a brown dog that is kind of large.”
Today when the World Cup game (which I really have no interest in) ended at 9 I set up snacks: orange slices, Capri Suns, and Quaker granola bars. People really liked it but only about 5 people understood the correlation between the foods I brought and soccer.
I’m going to keep doing these things for the remnant (and for myself).
The other day when I was proofing BBQ invitations for my boss I caught that it asked people to bring appetizers and hors D’vours. I had to double check fist that they were in fact the same thing (I never know about rich people rules) then I told him. He and his wife both separately expressed their gratitude, maybe I’ll get a raise.
I’ve been continuing to pursue being social…
I’ve been talking on the phone more lately, and not just to my sister.
Last night I went to dinner with one of my Davis roommates she only lives an hour away and we hadn’t talked since December.
Last week I emailed this girl from work to see if she wanted to go out to coffee when we got off. She never responded.
Last Saturday I went to a wedding by myself and actually stayed for the reception. I was talking to this girl (white like me) and this black man asked if we were sisters, that is the second time that I have been asked that this month.

On hair and taxes and other things unrelated

As you may remember, a few years ago I stopped brushing/combing my hair, then some time after that I stopped conditioning too. I picked backed up the conditioner thing after a five-year hiatus because when people give me shampoo it often comes with the matching conditioner and I don’t like it when one bottle gets finished before the other. Last weekend my friend Amaris encouraged me to give the brush another chance. As I discovered my hair does look a little smoother when it gets brushed with a brush instead of my fingers. I don’t want to become vain so I wasn’t sure if actually buying one would be a good use of my money but then my aunt was just giving one away so I took it as a sign and snatched it up. Now in the past week I have used it at least three times. Literally I think that is more times than in the last probably 8 years combined. Amaris assures me that now the boys will swoon. I personally am excited that if I brush out my hair maybe I’ll find less of it on my clothes, in my car, in my sheets, etc. (it works for my dog). We’ll see how long it lasts, old habits die hard and all that.

Here is a picture of me at my friend Lora’s wedding with brushed hair.

Recently my car did not pass smog. I was quite a bit bummed but the lovely people told me about a government assistance program to subsidize the cost of smog related repairs. To qualify you either have to be poor (which I guess I’m not anymore) or have a car that they expect to fail. Me and my ‘92 Accord fell into the latter category. So thank you tax payers! I got $540 worth of repairs for $108.

And speaking of ’92 Accords, do you have one? Because I swear every person that I have driven lately either has one, or had one, or their mom has one, or their brother has one. So when I’m driving people from work that now drive 7-series BMWs I give them an opportunity to reminisce about the years they spent in a boxy Hondas. It is very equalizing.

Now some other fun facts.
-Memorial Day I was in San Diego, it was great.
-I switched up the coffee at work today, I expect there will be a strong reaction tomorrow morning.
-I’ve made a few non-related friends recently – it only took 17 months.
-Today is my oldest brother’s birthday – Happy birthday Jeremy, this is your gift.
-Is summer here? – I think it is getting closer
-I think you’re great!