A Break Away from the Ordinary

Warning: This post is picture heavy (seems to be the theme). I was allowed to use the camera!

I am scheduled to work 2 days a week now, and each of the days I only work 4 hours. So I took the free time I have and took a little educational vacation.

First I stopped by:



It was pretty cool. When you pay for your ticket you are given a ticket explaining one persons life on the Titanic. It was a real person and at the end of the exhibit you find out of you survived.



I was Annie Funk. I had a feeling I wasn't going to make due to the fact I was unmarried and traveling alone 2nd class. Annie helped set up a school for girls in India in 1907 and worked there as a missionary till 1912 when she received a telegram from her family saying she should go home to Pennsylvania to see her dying mother. She originally got two tickets, one for a boat to England, and a second on a ship to America, but due to the coal strike the second boat didn't have enough fuel to make it so she was offered an upgrade to the Titanic for 39 pounds more. She accepted and boarded. She celebrated her 38th birthday on April 10th on the boat.

The night the ship hit the iceberg she was woken by a ship stewardess and given a lifebelt and told to go to the top deck and board a lifeboat. She did as she was told and was placed in the last spot on the lifeboat.

A woman and her two children ran to the lifeboat and cried to her "My children My children!" and Annie gave up her seat to that woman so she and her children would make it out.

Sadly she didn't make it to another lifeboat, but she did go down as a Heronie. She even had her own poster dedicated to her as a hero on the Titanic.

I was the only one out of my group to die. Holly ended up getting the Unsinkable Molly Brown ... we didn't figure it out till we were sitting above the iceburg (real ice and yes it was very cold I could only keep my hand on it for about 15 seconds) when we put two and two together. Molly's real name was Margaret and she wasn't called Molly till the movie came out. Strange.


We left the museum and headed over to the zoo where I took a lot of pictures so here goes!


This guy teased us. He was walking by the giant tortoise (who was hidden in his hut) and wouldn't put his feathers up no matter what sweet talk we sent his way.

Can you hear him saying "Cheese!" He was such a poser.

This little guy was just sitting there above the birds staring at us as if he was thinking "If I don't move they won't see me." Haha didn't work!

See mom they do have Giraffe there! This hut was really cool and I spent a lot of time going through the things there. I was touching the lion fur patch when a GIANT black spider climbed on the table and ran under the fur.

I prompty left.

This little girl was just born! How cute, she looked so soft.

He just woke up, can you tell? He walked all the way to the water hole and drank for a good 10 minutes before returning to his shady spot and crashing. The female lion was hanging out near the top of the cage, she didn't move for us.

The perfect Flamingo shot, he knew it too.

Do you see the egg? It is near the glowing mother ^_^. A guest at the zoo was standing there watching it, she was so excited she pointed it out to us too. I climbed on the fense (shh) and took a picture to avoid the metal getting in the way.

And here is a wanna be Flamingo ... he isn't as pretty ... or as good at the one leg stand, but he does have the colors down. I am not sure what he was called, he was in the random bird cage.


This sign reminds me of Oregon so I had to take a picture. Don't you all just want to be there all the time?

These pelican's can read I guess, they were sitting right where the sign said they would. They woke up when we were running back through, but really ... they just aren't that pretty so eh.

When we walked up to the Llama cage in the children's area this teenager Llama walked up to us and fell over. Such drama.

Haha the drama llama!

I was standing quite a distance from this little guy. The camera is wicked awesome and made it look like I was right next to him. They stayed in the back corner and didn't want to swim for us, so you get this, he is looking at me like "Not another one."

I can't resist a black swan. Their story is fun and Paul Link has brought a whole new thought when I hear their name.

"The term Black Swan comes from the 17th century European assumption that 'All swans are white'. In that context, a black swan was a symbol for something that was impossible or could not exist. In the 18th Century, the discovery of black swans in Western Australia metamorphosed the term to connote that a perceived impossibility may actually come to pass." -The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in 2007.

He came walking up first and stared at us. His friend walked right up behind him and the first one stretched his neck up very long, reminded me of a dinosaur.

Look how big his feet are. Isn't he so cute you just want to squishy his face? He only stood up to turn around and plop back down. Lazy.

We stopped by Mr. Showy to see if he would spread his feathers for us, obviously he didn't but he did walk up to us like he was on the runway. They learn it in peacock 101.


That is it for my picture post. Hope you enjoyed!

The World's Mysteries

I find unexplained things fascinating and would like to share one of my treasures I found with you guys. I follow a website called Web Urbanist and one of their posts a while back was titled 12 of the World's Most Mysterious Monuments. Some of these things I knew about but others were new to me so I hope you enjoy reading.

They have older posts that are cool to look at as well. One was about old abandoned amusement parks and they took pictures of them, it was hauntingly awesome!

Anyway here is the link - 12 of the World's Most Mysterious Monuments

Enjoy!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Ok so I stumbled upon this little 3 episode musical. The songs were all over youtube and someone on my art page said they really liked it.

So I checked it out.

The songs are quite catchy and the storyline is cute. I don't want to spoil too much for you if you want to watch it so I will stop my comments there.

If you want to check it out as well you can watch it free on their website.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Also, happy late 4th of July. Hope yours was a good one.

Tidbits of Information

Ok, so work isn't too bad. I had one really bad day learning how to use the register from 'Stinkbug*'. She didn't have a lot of patience with me and I had no idea what I was doing. At the end of the day she had me running after her to close complaining I wasn't paying attention to her. She was upset that I didn't have time to finish mopping the last two isles.

I haven't worked with her since. Not sure if it was her request of that is just how things landed but eh no hard feelings on my end.

I like closing with 'Spaz**'. She is very energetic and happy to be working with me. We got the whole store cleaned and ready to close by 8:45 so we had 15 minutes to hang out. I was even allowed to stand in the box O.o

Strange things about FD: You cannot stand at the register. If a customer is standing at the counter you are allowed to be there but only if you are actively checking them out. Otherwise you are kicked out of the box and told to wander the store and clean things. So if you ever go and think "Why is no one ever here this is annoying." that is why. We aren't allowed to be there. Dumb I know. Even if the clothes and shoes are organized I still have to wander around looking busy.

When I went into my interview I was told to wear tan pants and a nice shirt, nothing low cut. So I said ok and went on my merry way. The last week and a half I have been wearing my fun summery shirts. Everyone else is wearing black. I write it off as they just liked to wear black and move on. Day before yesterday 'Boss***' comes up to me and says "You should try and start wearing black ... it is the dress code." I was like ... really? I wasn't told this, but oh well. So I bought a couple new black shirts. I only owned one ... how strange is that? I thought I had more.

So I get to work today and tomorrow, 5 hours tomorrow being the longest I will have worked since I started. I'm sure next week will be the same, short afternoon hours. It is kinda nice to be working part time really. I can goof in the morning, work in the afternoon, and come home with time to spare.

We close an hour later today for the 4th sales, so I will be there till 9:00.

*Stinkbug will be the nickname I use for the mean woman I work with. She hasn't liked me since day one ... I didn't even talk to her, I have no idea what her problem is.

**Spaz will be the nickname of the girl I like closing with.

***Boss is the name of my store boss. Big Boss is the name of her boss.

Stranger will be the name of the girl I am never scheduled with. I really don't know her beside the fact she talks to the products in the store and is kinda airy. We shelved for a while together but that is all the interaction I had with her since I started.

Bombarded much?

Wow look at that, no posts for a long time, no comments for a long time and then

BAM!

I write three blogs in one day and comment on everything I missed. I haven't been checking my computer websites as often. I find myself being really busy doing stuff or reading away from my computer during the day. You can only look at so much before you are bored of the internet ... or is that just me?

Found this fun tag on a friends blog and thought I would share it with all of you.

Yes
1. Dancing in the rain
2. Colder weather
3. Old ratty sweat shirts
4. DDR
5. LARGE sodas
6. Finding money in a long lost pair of jeans
7. Adventures and exploring
8. Flip-flops
9. Chicken rollups
10. Crickets chirping at night

No
1. Spiders
2. People who talk down to you
3. Smelly shoes
4. Paper cuts
5. Pens that don't work very well, but happen to be your favorite color
6. Spotted glasses
7. Idaho water
8. Dumb movies ... at least the ones you expected to be good and weren't
9. Categorizing people
10. Wearing tennis shoes in 90 degree weather.

And for a bonus here is the commercial about the applesauce touching the carrots I was laughing about in Boise. You have to click on the link on the side called Pocket Plates - LINK

Enjoy!

You know you love me XOXO

I have a guilty pleasure. I started and finished season 1 and season 2 of Gossip Girl in one week. I am not sure where the idea came from, but I decided one day I wanted to watch it. I watched the pilot and was instantly hooked. It was a glorified soap opera with good looking actors.

Here is a short synopsis:
“Want to know a secret? A really juicy secret? Look no further than the latest message from Manhattan's notorious blogger Gossip Girl. She keeps tabs on the city's most elite teens as they make the rounds from the preppiest school events to the most lavish, decadent parties. And between Serena and Blair's explosive friendship, Dan and Serena's budding romance, Nate and Blair's fairytale relationship (or is it?), Chuck's escapades and Jenny's introduction to the glamorous life, there's a lot to track!”

These are the main characters in the series:

Characters left to right: Rufus Humphrey, Chuck Bass, Blair Waldorf, Nate Archibald, Jenny Humphrey, Lily van der Woodsen, Serena van der Woodsen, Dan Humphrey, and Vanessa Abrams.

These are the characters followed from the first episode to the last:


Characters left to right: Nate Archibald, Serena van der Woodsen, Chuck Bass, Blair Waldorf, Dan Humphrey and Jenny Humphrey.

Rufus is Dan and Jenny's father. Lily is Serena's mom. Relationships amongst the characters are twisted and backwards from some becoming siblings to sharing a sibling and not knowing it, but I won't spoil the surprises for you.

One lesson I have learned from this series is that nothing is secret. If you tell someone something in secret it will come out, at several parts characters use specific names such as "So-and-so told me you ___!" ... no secrets.

My favorite quote:
"Three words. Eight letters. Say them and I'm yours."

Favorite song: Sum 41 - With me

Season 3 starts in September and I can guarantee I will be watching it.

My Family. My Family Dollar.

Some of you might now, some might not but I got a new job. Sadly it wasn’t where I wanted it to be. I am working at Family Dollar as a part time something right now. Not sure exactly what I am supposed to do because some things are really crazy there. I got a call back about a week ago and was asked to go to an interview, so I dressed in my nice Sunday clothes and drove out there and spoke with the boss. The interview went well I filled out paperwork and an online application and was sent out the door with a promise to get a callback in a couple days. They had to finish up some more interviews.

I got home and about two hours later was called back by another person from the store claiming they wanted to interview me. I asked if this was the second interview and she said she was the store manager and wanted to interview me some more since she would be working with me daily. So I agreed and went back in the next day.

Here is where it gets strange.

I was given specific instructions to walk into the store and go in the back, do NOT talk to the employees. I didn’t think anything of it and just did as told. I spoke with the manager and while I was going over the new employee instructions she left to speak with her boss (the first interview woman). I overheard something about the till being off an outrageous amount and the person lying about the reasons behind it. The manager came out and finished the interview with me and told me she wanted to walk me to the front door so I didn’t get stopped by anyone.

Was there a hit on me I didn’t know about? We walked to the front and she told me she just wanted to make sure I wasn’t stopped and talked to. She said there were some crazy things going on and she didn’t want me in the middle of it because I was taking over the employee who was off’s job.

We made it safely outside and I walked to my car safe and sound. My first day was the 22^nd. We unloaded the truck and started shelving items. I LOVE IT! I didn’t think I would like shelving as much as I did but I ended up working nonstop to the point my boss came out and ordered me on a break where I sat fidgeting the whole time wanting to get back to unloading laundry soap. Tuesday I unloaded the cosmetics and hair products. I had Wednesday off and Thursday I organized the store to make it look nice and make sure everything was lined up and ready to be counted for inventory. I assume today or tomorrow I will be put on register so I can learn how to do that. I don’t think it will be too hard, but I have never done register before so we will see. I am just worried I will look like a dork when I have to take an item off the list. But I guess everyone has to start somewhere right? I am learning how to do things I normally don’t do. I only work 4 hours a day because the whole strange firing situation. When the girl has a job they are going to kick her out and move me in. so I don’t know how long things will work the way they are now. She said maybe next week I will work the same hours and we will move from there.