Coffeebration

I have concluded that the people who work at the Oakland Post Office are complete idiots. Today I got to work and found that our email wasn’t working properly, and sadly I cannot work without my email open. Perhaps it is because that is where I store all information and also that I usually spend a good portion of my morning replying to emails. In fact, I now have an aversion to using the telephone.

So I browsed around online for a while and got bored, so I decided to call the Oakland Post Office and ask them where my mail was. Please refer to last post regarding the fact that I no longer get mail. I’m quite professional and usually quite pleasant and understanding on the phone, but seriously … these people are morons and deserve to be treated like crap.

Me: Hi, I live at xxx Street and have not been receiving my mail for a few weeks. My landlord moved my mailbox and gave me a new key, and ever since then I have received no mail.

Stupid Man: Well if you get a different mailbox you have to complete a change of address form.

Me: But my address didn’t change. My mailbox just moved to the right approximately two inches. There are four connected mailboxes on the front porch of the house. My mailbox used to be the third one, now it is the fourth.

Stupid Man: Did you put your name on the mailbox?

Me: Yes

Stupid Man: Well the carrier probably killed your mail.

Me: Killed? What?

Stupid Man: Yeah, he would have held it for ten days and then killed it.

Me: Why would he do that? Can’t he read my name on the mailbox, it only moved a few inches … I don’t think he could have missed it!

Stupid Man: Well if you aren’t getting any mail, it’s gone.

Me: Well where did it go? Did it get sent back to the sender or is it at the Post Office?

Stupid Man: No, he killed it ma’am, it’s gone.

Me: He threw it away?

Stupid Man; Yes ma’am, if it was more than ten days old, he trashed it.

Me: Why??!!

Stupid Man: We don’t keep mail at our facility, unless you request for us to hold the mail, and you have to fill out a form for that.

Me: Umm ok, well I didn’t request anything, I just want my mail delivered to my mailbox like normal!

Stupid Man: Ok, I’ll tell him that you’re still around and to deliver your mail.

Me: I was never ‘not around’

Stupid Man: Well maybe nobody has been sending you anything.

Me: Ok, whatever … click

God, people are morons. I understand that there are a lot of people who move and don’t leave forwarding addresses, and the Post Office can’t store old mail forever, but come on … my name is on the mailbox and it is in plain sight! I am here, damn stupid people. And what does ‘killing the mail’ mean? That is not very professional and it sounds stupid. Ughh.

My camera is scheduled to arrive to me at work tomorrow! I am so excited … I’ll spend the evening taking pictures of my wall, wooo. I’m also getting a new unsinking bed in a few weeks, wooo! And I’m going to sleep in it, I swear … no more couch/bed. Getting a new bed is one of my many New Year’s resolutions, so I’m doing good … it’s still February. See I’m not waiting until the last minute. I’m going to meet my goals this year!

I’m busy like a mad girl at work, and I just want it to be Friday … I was so tired last night, probably from having two mentally exhausting days at work and also not sleeping well for a few days. I was just dead. I went to bed at 9pm.

In neglecting to check my mail, I have now realized that I no longer get mail. I don’t know why. Over Christmas someone took my name off of my mailbox. Then I discovered that my key no longer worked. My landlord had to replace the lock and give me a new key, but he also decided to move my mailbox to the next one down because there was a new tenant in the third apartment and he wanted it to be the third mailbox. Now I’m the last mailbox because I live in the hole in the wall that nobody cares about. This was a few weeks ago. Since then, I have not received one piece of mail. So don’t mail me anything … I won’t get it.

Not much else. I went to Aladdin’s in Squirrel Hill the other night for some good food. I wrote a review about it on Eatitandloveit. I really enjoyed the food. Oh and since I’m morbid and I read obituaries, I learned that another person I graduated with died. Aren’t people you graduate supposed to start dying later … I mean my class is only 24 or 25 years old. We’re still young!

I don’t really have anything interesting on my mind right now, I just decided to come home for lunch and I needed something to take up my time since I have no food to eat. There are meetings this afternoon so there will be free leftover food when I get back. Which is good because I’m hungry.

So it’s Sunday night and I have to go to work tomorrow and I’m bummed because my weekends seem like they’re getting shorter and shorter … and I have so much to get done this week at work. So again I’ll stay up as late as possible to try to squeeze out the last few minutes of my freedom and postpone my dreaded alarm clock going off, telling me to get my ass out of bed and go to work, blah!!! Anyways … my weekend ended a lot better than it began! Come on, STEELERS won the Superbowl and I’m right here in the middle of all this craziness. So anyways, I’ll recap this wonderous weekend I’ve had.

So I left work early on Thursday to get some things done, really I just needed to drag tons of laundry to the laundromat and it is quite time consuming. I took advantage of my afternoon off to do my taxes and found out I’m getting $280 back, and once approved by the IRS, I’ll be getting it in about two weeks. If I was a broke college student I would be like ‘woooo’ but it isn’t really that impressive. It’ll buy my camera that I have been feeling too guilty to buy, so I’m happy about that.

On Friday, I headed out to FC with Julie, Kim, and Nate to go to our great-grandmother’s funeral viewing. I stayed the night in FC and went to the funeral on Saturday. It was a quick nice service, and I managed to get through it …. I had to hang out with my grandma most of the night at the viewing, who seemed to know everyone who came to the funeral and of course introduced me to everyone who all said ‘oh you’re Jessica, I’ve heard so much about you!’ My own mother did not introduce me to anyone as her daughter. I think my grandmother wants to be my mom though. Afterall, I am one of her only two grandchildren, my brother being the other … and she often brags that she could be my mother since she was only 39 when I was born. And in a way, she is like a mother to me because she understands me in a way my mother doesn’t and we are very close. I’m not saying I want two moms, trust me … my mom is plenty enough mom for me.

On Saturday I got back to Pittsburgh and spent most of my afternoon feeling pretty nervous about my date for the evening with a very cute and sweet boy who I met. I don’t want to jinx myself by bragging about it for the next ten paragraphs, but it was good. We went to Fuel and Fuddle, watched a movie, and had an amazing time. So that is all I will say …. for now. 🙂

Today I slept in late, and it was wonderful. I had a pretty nasty headache for most of the day, but I managed to kick its butt with massive amounts of Tylenol by the middle of the Superbowl. I didn’t go out and do crazy things in Superbowl celebration style because I guess I’m not that cool, but hey – we won!!! Woooo!!! And being right here in the middle of Oakland was just completely insane. There were herds of people just running down the middle of the streets screaming at the tops of their lungs, I’ve never seen anything like it. It was just absolutely crazy!!!!!

And to celebrate the Steelers winning the superbowl … well I decided it was ok to buy my camera. I just couldn’t wait. I’ve been salivating over it for like two months. And my current camera is officially broken. I’m really going through picture taking withdrawal. Even if I have nobody to take pictures of, I don’t care.

So my great grandmother who celebrated her 103rd birthday this past September passed away yesterday. Yeah, she was really old, but I guess I just thought she’d live forever. I’m not too excited about funerals. Hopefully it won’t be too bad.

In other news, I just did like seven loads of laundry. I don’t even know how I can accumulate that much dirty stuff, but I did. I washed my sweaters too, which attributed to two loads. I don’t like to wash sweaters because they get all bally and nasty because I’m a bad sweater washer. I don’t pay attention to the directions and I just throw them in the dryer. This time I read all of the tags, and of course, almost all of them said I was supposed to let air dry and ‘reshape’ … so now I have a basket of wet sweaters. I don’t really know what I’m going to do with them. Guess I should go figure that out before I forget about them and they get moldy.

Bye!

So I had a rather amusing night in the world of chatting online. I get bored, ok … and I typically don’t even talk to anyone I don’t know online, but I guess I’ve been giving it a shot lately. I mean the only other way is to actually go outside and be social … yeah right.

So anyways, a few weeks ago I made this profile at a site called okCupid. I have found it to be rather lame, but I login once in a while to see if anyone has sent me a message, even though the messages I typically get are horrible. The okCupid site has this built in instant messaging and if you appear online someone can message you. There is some dude that must live on the site 24/7 because anytime I login he sends me a message. I ignored him the first few times and then I finally decided to respond. He didn’t have much to say other than ‘hey I’m about to leave, wanna meet up with a nice Jew boy like me?’ I was like ‘uh sorry, I’ll pass’. Nothing against his religion or anything, but I didn’t know anything about him, and I don’t typically ‘meet up’ with people.

Since the last (and first) time we spoke, I removed my pictures from the site because the people on there scare me and perhaps I feel I have fulfilled my need in meeting people, but today I logged in, and he messaged me again … obviously forgetting that he had once messaged me before. And for those of you who don’t know, my online name usually has the word “Nellie” in it somewhere … it is my fun online name.

So the conversation went a little something like this:

him: hey how are them air force one’s treating you
me: what?
him: well you are nellie
me: aren’t you clever
him: yes and blunt, is your dress size larger than a 7?
him: i’m tired of meeting thick beasts
me: well you aren’t going to meet anyone with that attitude
me: and i’m not a thick beast but i’m not a jew either, sorry i don’t fit your criteria
him: you don’t have to be a jew, you just can’t talk like a yinzer or have arms that are thicker than mine
me: and jews don’t talk like yinzers?
him: i don’t know, i haven’t taken a census
me: What, you too good for us pittsburgh folks?
him: no, i just know what i want
him: c’mon, damn girl
him: i’ve had some good dome from some trashy pittsburgh girls, so its all good
me: that is nice
me: maybe you might just believe you are talking to a normal person instead of assuming i’m a fat trashy yinzer
him: ok so what do you do?
me: i actually work for a jewish organization, how about that
me: I bet your people wouldn’t employ fat trashy gals, so i guess i’m not one
him: you son of a bitch
him: you must be a hot lil’ babe and shame on you for not putting up a pic!
me: well i had one up the first time you talked to me
me: guess your memory isn’t that good
me: must of liked what you saw … too bad

Then … not even two minutes after I logged out, someone IM’d me from MySpace and was asking me about my screen name, and said:

MySpace Guy: Maybe you wear Air Force Ones
MySpace Guy: Have a grill
MySpace Guy: wear a band-aid on your face

How freaky is that … I was getting paranoid that it was the same person! And doesn’t he spell his name with a ‘Y’
Maybe I should change my alias to say … something sweet like ‘anorexic buttercup’. Would that get the right message across? Ughh. People suck.

I never really made any ‘real’ friends in college that I met in class. I’m just not a social butterfly I guess. In my last semester of college … way back in December 03, I had a business communications class. In this class, we formed groups of four or five for the semester to work on projects and presentations together. We had to work on things a lot outside of class, so one of the first things we did was exchange email addresses and phone numbers. There was this one guy in my group, somewhat of a charming and very unique individual. I clicked with him right away, and soon we found each other communicating daily by email about our projects. Somehow we formed our own little group and didn’t really always consult with the others. I’d have to say we were the group leaders though. There were two other people in the group, but they didn’t contribute much and pretty much let the two of us set the group meetings and come up with the great ideas. There was just something about the way he said my name … and when I’d call him on the phone about something … he always answered ‘Hey Jess’. Ok, not heartbreaking or anything, but he always seemed to have time to chat and really enjoyed talking to me. I was with Todd at the time and wasn’t trying to develop a crush on him or anything, but he certainly gave me the feeling that I was more than just a pesky group member in one of his classes. It was his last semester too and he had plans to travel around because he had family in a lot of other parts of the United States. He wasn’t sure if he was going to settle down in Pittsburgh.

I remember one of our last conversations. I came into class with a juice box of apple juice and he said to me ‘I’m so jealous of your apple juice’. And I said, ‘Would you like some?’ He answered, ‘No, I caught a cold from my little two year old niece, and I’d probably make you sick.’ I said I was sorry he wasn’t feeling well and he replied that he knew he’d get sick from being around her but that sometimes it was just worth it. I don’t know why, but that little conversation just sticks in my head. Anyways, the end of the semester came and I passed the class, graduated, and went to my parents for Christmas. On Christmas Day I looked at my phone and saw I had a voicemail. When I checked it, it was him … he had left the most sweet and amazing message wishing me a Merry Christmas, and it was truly sincere and sweet. I was shocked. I figured I’d never hear from him again. And you know what, I was my usual awkward self. I never called him back or sent him another email … I just let it go. Because I knew that it was something that could have developed into more than just friendship and I was in a relationship, although I don’t think I ever mentioned it to him. But we didn’t really talk much about our personal lives. Anyways, I often wonder about him. I wonder if he is still in Pittsburgh, if he moved on and is living his dream, or if he ever thinks about me … does he even remember me? Not that I think he was the one and I let him go … no, it was just that he really touched me in some way and I wish I would have gotten to know him better. I regret never returning his call, really. I Googled him a few times, but never came up with anything. Sometimes I think about sending him an email but it was over two years ago since we last spoke. He probably doesn’t even have the same email. But it is worth a shot … I know. But I don’t know what I’d say. He’d probably think I’m a nut. Anyways, it is weird … I usually don’t connect with people that easily or feel bad about brushing them aside, but he was different. Just makes me wonder what was there … and what would have happened if I wasn’t such a wuss.

A few days ago I feared my computer was getting ready to take off into the sky. Seriously, it was making a noise like a helicopter, so loud that I’m sure the upstairs neighbor could hear it. For being less than a year old, this computer has already had its share of ailments. I already lost a hard-drive that was unsalvagable without the aid of a data restoral program which did let me get all of my documents back. This time I decided not to take any chances and I finally utilized that fancy DVD burner I have and I backed up all my stuff. It isn’t making the noise today … not sure if that is good or bad. After taking it apart and unplugging various things from the motherboard, I concluded that it was just my case fan that was dying. I called Radio Shack and they have fans there, and hopefully they have one that will fit into my computer. The other dilemma is that I have no idea how to get the case fan off of the computer. I do not see screws or brackets and this kind of confuses me. Hopefully it will come off if I just pull on it … but that doesn’t really help me figure out how I’m going to stick a new one on. I guess I always used to have someone to help me with this type of computer problem … but I’m good at figuring things out. Afterall, I don’t really need anyone for anything … yep that is my motto. Because people suck and they go away … but I will never go away from myself. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be depending on myself for mostly everything for the rest of my life.

Other than that, I really have absolutely nothing to talk about that isn’t depressing-ish. I guess I’ve been kind of down on life lately, and it isn’t particularly fun. There is no special reason … just a crappy time of year, feeling alone, having nothing really exciting to look forward to. I need some sunshine and warm weather. I think I might just book myself a flight to Florida and spend a few days there. Of course I doubt I have the balls to go by myself. I’ve never even been on an airplane, and I don’t plan on traveling on one solo the first time I try it out. Anyways, not much else … just checking in and verifying that I didn’t fall down, hit my head, and bleed to death on my bathroom floor.

I’m going to eat a Santa Fe salad from Arby’s today. I’ve discovered that Arby’s has much better salads than Wendy’s. I’m hooked. I’m hungry today. Hungry until the food is sitting in front of me and I feel like someone punched me in the gut and food just doesn’t seem appealing anymore. I hate feeling the hunger-killing anxiety, but it happens. I don’t know why. I’m not anxious at all. Rather, I’m feeling sluggish and depressed. When I’m anxious I just clean a lot. And I haven’t even bothered to take down my Christmas decorations. Yesterday I didn’t even drink coffee. Yes, drop your jaw in shock. I went a day without coffee!

I blame it on February. I hate February. And I don’t even have Valentines Day to look forward to. Not that I ever did really. Every boyfriend I ever had sucked and celebrated Valentines Day for the first year and then that was it. What is that? I mean, it is all cute and sweet the first year, and after that all the fun and glory of being in a relationship is over and I have to beg for a freakin’ card or a piece of chocolate. Well, maybe I’ve just had shitty boyfriends. And Valentines Day is the best time of year to buy anything for a girl. Girls are the ones that should dread it … guys don’t want fuzzy stuffed animals and heart boxes of candy. They don’t want random things covered with hearts … but you can buy me all the fuzzy heart covered crap in the world and I’ll be the happiest girl in the world. I’ve always struggled coming up with something unique and romantic for a guy for Valentines Day. Luckily I never had to compete much, my presents that I received always pretty much sucked anyways. I’m not picky, but what is so hard about buying cheesy cute stuff? Girls like that, if they didn’t the stores wouldn’t have aisles upon aisles of that crap from January 2nd on. And if you are a girl and you are disagreeing with me, sorry … I just buy into Valentines Day. It is a day to be sweet and cute … and show your affection. What is so wrong with that?

Anyways, I’m being cheesy and dreaming too much. I need to do stuff now. I’ve been a slug all weekend, I need to get off my ass.

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P.S. – I fixed my page for all of you FireFox people. I don’t know how it looks in anything other than I.E. or Firefox, but I finally got the motivation to figure out why everything was squished at the top of the entries. I didn’t fix the gap on the sidebar. It all looks fine in I.E. so just use it, ok thanks.

Apparently this formula holds true for people in U.S., Canada, and Britian

Today is most depressing day of the year: report
Updated Mon. Jan. 23 2006 1:06 PM ET
CTV.ca News

Bad weather, unfulfilled New Year’s resolutions and credit card debt left from the holidays contribute to making this year’s federal election day the most depressing of the year, according to a British psychologist.

Dr. Cliff Arnall, who created the mathematical formula last year to determine the best day for a summer holiday, says the factors that contribute to seasonal depression are at their peak near the last week of January.

The formula found Monday, Jan. 23 to be this year’s worst day.

“You try a new regime, a diet regime or quitting smoking and it’s after about five, 10 days that people start to realize they’re not managing to keep to their resolution,” the Cardiff University professor told CTV’s Canada AM Monday.

“They start feeling low and beating themselves up and thinking ‘what with the weather I’m feeling pretty low,’ then you’ve got the money situation on top of that as well.”

“You’ve got, you know, low temperature, you’ve got sleet, rain, low cloud base as well,” he said. “There’s kind of a feeling that you’re being kind of almost pressed into your house and the feeling of not wanting to go out.”

Arnall’s formula also takes into account the “general Monday morning feeling,” and the fact that many shoppers are now getting their credit card bills and realizing they overspent during the holidays.

The head of the Canadian Psychological Association says the results of Monday’s federal election will likely further impact moods, especially those of the losers.

“It can be a very difficult experience for a candidate and those people that work hard for them to lose an election,” John Service told The Canadian Press.

“It’s a very public loss that you’ve invested a great deal of time and energy and emotion into, and so has your family and so has your friends and supporters, so they do feel let down.”

Service advised candidates to understand that feeling low after losing is normal, and says taking a few days to rest and get back to pre-campaign eating and sleeping routines can make a big difference.

To avoid the annual slump, Arnall suggests keeping fit and mentally active and volunteering for a good cause, as helping others boosts self esteem.

Research by the Community Service Volunteers, the U.K.’s largest volunteer training organization, confirms this. The group found half of people who have volunteered for more than two years feel less depressed, and 63 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds say they feel less stressed after volunteering.

Last year’s most depressing day, according Arnall’s formula, was Jan. 24.

Well I am officially a Steelers fan … not that I wasn’t always a Steelers fan, of course I’d never cheer for any other team … I’m not a sucky fair weather fan. It is just hard to get me excited about football. I’m officially excited now. PITTSBURGH IS GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL ….. I was about fourteen the last time this happened but I don’t recall any special superbowl party. I do remember the great superbowl party of 1996-97 which was the following year and I believe it was the New England Patriots vs. Green Bay Packers. Excuse me if I’m wrong, but most of my memories of that day did not revolve on the actual game, but more about getting to hang out with my friends. I remember that my boyfriend at the time got in trouble by his parents and had to go home. His parents sucked. I also remember that I hated the New England Patriots because this girl I disliked really liked them. So I cheered for Green Bay … since it sounds like ‘Green Day’. Hahahaha, what a way to pick a team! Unless I’m thinking of another year … I hate mixing up years, must mean I’m getting old.

This year I couldn’t scream and go woo since I have some type of voice destroying and bad bad virus. I have lost my voice to the point where I can’t even squeak. I’m literally mute. Thank you prescription medicine that not only makes me feel not sick (other than not being able to go wooo and scream), it also makes me believe I can perform circus acts and sprint a mile with no lung capacity. At least I’ll feel good when I drop over dead! I have a Steelers picture of me being dumb but I’ll save it for tomorrow. I’m tired and should go to bed.

P.S. – My CoffeeCat would appreciate comments here regarding his awesome Steelers helmet.

Bye!