Still alive, I think :)

Hey folks, sorry for the lack of posting as of late. We went to Mexico over the holidays and I'm working on summarizing the trip in a different post. I'm still getting caught up here and there, so that's the story.

And just to see how many countries I can go to in the shortest amount of time, I'm off to Brazil in about 2 weeks with work.

Before you get any ideas, this will not be the most glamorous trip in the world. I'll have to (get to?) wear a hard hat, safety glasses and steel-toed shoes while I'm at work. And when you add on the fact that there is no indoor plumbing yet at the office, well, you start to get the picture.

So, more updates coming soon. I promise.

In the mean time, here are the various things in the works in the Rama household:

• Finish up Thank You notes from the wedding!!! Oy!
• Decorate for Christmas - yay!
• Unpack from Mexico
• Pack for Brazil
• Figure out what the heck we're doing for the holidays
• Shop for Christmas presents
• Briefly entertain the idea of sending out Christmas cards
• Learn basic Portuguese
• And on, and on, and on :)

Doh!

Every now and then, I arrive at work to see that I've been visited in the night by the cubicle elves. Those little guys sometimes leave trinkets and PR garb on our desks when new processes or new HR policies come out.

Well, the latest gadget was a little alien desk clock. He kind of looks like a little space alien guy and has a paper-holder built into his space helmet. Yeah, he's classy.

So anyways, I wanted to set the clock, naturally. I took out the instructions that were placed in his helmet and started perusing them. I did a double take at first, making sure that I could still read properly.


Behold the power of grammar check.

P.S. And yes, I'm a big enough dork to have taken a picture of it.

Gig 'em?

This weekend, the soon-to-be Kuceras joined us for a trip down to Aggieland. Amar had never been to A&M before, so this was a great opportunity to see the campus and take in a good ol' fashioned college football game.

Well, at least that was our hope.

The campus tour went off without a hitch, as the Aggies showed the non-Aggies around. We saw old dorms, old friends, and lots of really, really young-looking freshmen. We even saw some kids in Aggie shirts that read "Class of 2013." Talk about an age check. That really made all of us feel old.


We had lunch at Hullabaloo, downstairs in the MSC. Then we made it outside in time to see the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band march into Kyle Field. Everyone got the A&M garb that they needed, and after a few brief photo-ops, we headed up, up, up to our seats.

We climbed up to the tip top of The Zone and settled in, hoping that the Aggies would not disappoint...especially since this was Amar's inaugural college football game. Right before the game, there was a flyover by 4 planes in honor of Veteran's Day. It was pretty cool (I'll post a video on YouTube later...), but since we were already at a relatively high altitude, for the first few seconds of the flyover, our section was bracing for a possible direct hit.

Well, if you watched it on t.v. or read the recap, it wasn't the best game that's even been played at Kyle Field. We endured the first half, as the Aggies struggled to make a first down. After a great performance by the band, the second half was underway. After we took the lead, our whole section was optimistic about us being able to pull it off.

And then, with 2 minutes left to go, we flushed ourselves down the toilet yet again. Before the game started, I mentioned that I didn't trust our team. And I was right. What business do we have calling a timeout in a situation like that? What business do we have making plays that put the other team in scoring range? What business do we have running out of bounds when we're trying to run out the clock? Ugh!

I think our post-game picture tells the whole story.

Friday?

This week has gone by very slowly. Someone said that Monday felt like it should be Thursday, and I couldn't have agreed more.

Today began with much that same sentiment.

I tried something different with my hair.

I put my makeup on while driving to work.

I got to work, bought a muffin and some coffee and headed up to my desk.

I turned the corner to my aisle and a guy that I work with exclaimed, "Wow! You look miserable!"

"I look miserable?" I replied, and continued on to my desk.

I redid my hair and double-checked my makeup.

I proceeded to work at my desk and in meetings for the next few hours.

I then decided to leave for lunch, so I started to walk to my car.

I met up with some girls I work with and we all headed to the parking lot together.

"Do I look miserable?" I asked, hoping they would emphatically deny that I did.

"Well, I wouldn't say miserable exactly..." said one girl.

The other chimed in, "More like beat down."







Yeah. I'm glad it's Friday.

Fun for free!

For our date night this week, Amar and I went to a book reading. Prior to that, I had never been to a book reading before. But let me just tell you, my friends, it was really worth the time. And it was free, so it was definitely worth the money ;)

We went to hear John Hodgman. Three weeks ago I had no idea who this guy was. I think his book was linked to in some article I was reading, so I looked into what he was working on. Once I saw a picture of him, I instantly recognized him from the Apple ads. He's the PC guy.

So I read about his book, about his sense of humor, and I also started reading his blog. He seemed to have a dry, nerdy sense of humor (I mean that in a good way, John, if you're reading this). And honestly, that was somewhat appealing to me. I was hoping he'd be the same in person.

Well, he was. And it was a riot.

The second floor of Book People was filled with eager fans. We got there early and got pretty good seats. He and his troubadour, Jonathan Coulton, put on quite a nice show. Jonathan even performed his original piece titled "Code Monkey" which seemed to be quite a hit with the crowd.

Last night we caught him on the Daily Show, as he is their Resident Expert. Not bad at all, my friends...

Here's a link to his book: The Areas of My Expertise. If you're the kind of person that's into fake trivia, then you should really check it out. Or, if you're the kind of person that gets a kick out of reading 700 hobo names, then this book is also for you. You will not be disappointed.

Ode to winter shoes

Now that winter is upon us here in Central Texas, and we've officially turned the heater on in our apartment, it's time to start pulling out the winter gear.

Every year I seem to have the same problem: I have nothing to wear for winter. Sure, winter here only means 45 degrees for more than 5 days in a row, but still, I am a person in need of quality insulation. But somehow, every winter I survive, albeit with chattering teeth and permanent goosebumps. But I do survive.

This winter will be no different, as I have recruited some much needed footwear assistance. I give you my new favorite shoes:

Exhibit A: The Privo

• The Privo could not be more comfortable
• The Privo goes with pretty much anything you could throw at it
• The Privo is all terrain
• The Privo is also warm
• The Privo is a trooper

Exhibit B: The Merrell

• The Merrell is a fun shoe
• The Merrell will not embarass you at holiday office parties
• The Merrell likes to keep a low profile
• The Merrell always uses its blinkers
• The Merrell has a zipper that makes a fun sound when you walk
• The Merrell has a fun pull-on loop at the back for easy handling

So, that's the scoop, my friends. Check 'em out if you don't believe me.

A rose by any other name...

Would probably have a different occupation.

I stumbled upon this article on Slate today while catching up on office email.

It's about people who have names that are aptronyms. Names which inadvertently describe their occupations. Interesting.

The list is amusing, especially the section on dentists. Ouch!

But I then realized that I knew someone with an aptronym name. Well, sort of.

Back in high school, the Men's Athletic Director was a man named Coach Sports. Ha! Yes, his name was indeed Sports and he was most certainly a football coach and AD. Honestly, I didn't really think much of it back in high school. It just seemed a bit random.

But then a rumor broke out that he changed his name to Sports when he started coaching. What is that about? Seems a little extreme to me, but whatever works.

How does "Kim Typesalot" sound? Catchy, eh?

I finally did it

I finished The Chronicles of Narnia.

As I was reading the last page yesterday over breakfast, Amar stopped me to give me a pep talk. He was kind of kidding, but kind of serious. One thing he mentioned was the post-reading feeling. I guess the same could be said for any big goal, in a sense. Once you're done, you don't really know what the next step is. Where do you go from there?

I have been wanting to read this book since last summer, when I first borrowed it from Amar. It flew across the Pacific with me, and sat untouched in my backpack for the duration of my trip. It then sat, untouched, on my bookshelf for months on end. Since then, in what I can only imagine to be an elaborate plot to get the book back, Amar married me and the book then sat on our collective bookshelf for a few weeks.

FINALLY

I picked it up and began reading.

Sometimes it was hard to put down. But I am really glad that I finished it. All 700+ pages of it.

But what now? More fiction? More epics? Or do I completely switch genres and go for history, or autobiography, or flashcards?

Suggestions?

Pure T.V. post

Yes, I'm sorry. But I have to write about this.

Preface
I was a t.v. kid. Partly my own doing, partly that of my parents. So weaning myself off of the thing has taken some time. I'm getting better, in that I actually read for fun now. Crazy, yes, I know. It's a whole new world out there, people.

Actual Post
But I still have a few shows that I watch each week. Lucky for me, Amar watches (most of) them with me.

This big one for this week was the finale of Project Runway. I've watched that show from the beginning, and I really enjoy it.

But last night was just insane. I mean, come on...Jeffrey?!?!?!

Ugh.

I'll just say this - that would not have been my pick. But what do I know about fashion. Heck, I'm wearing corduroy shoes that I bought at Old Navy 3 years ago.

How to pass the time

Friday afternoon going by too slowly for you?

Try this on for size: a list (with commentary) of awful baby names.

And it's got a fun name, to boot: Baby's Named a Bad Bad Thing

Yeah. I'm loving it a bit too much.

And no, we are not trying to come up with baby names for any particular reason whatsoever. Despite the fact that it was inadvertently stated at Bible study this week that one of the favorite Bible verses of the Ramas was indeed Psalm 127:3. We blame a slight typo on that bit of misinformation. Uh, whoops!

Enjoy the weekend (and the cooler weather?)!

Makes me smile...

I've been trying to bring in CDs to my office for about a month now, so listen to at my desk. But everyday, I leave them in my car. And let's face it, folks, I'm way too lazy to walk back down to the parking lot once I've settled into my cubicle for the morning.

But today I finally remembered to bring them in, and I'm so glad that I did. I found some old random mix CDs (yes, how very Jr. High of me, I know! Gah!), some CDs I bought years ago, and some CDs that I borrowed awhile back and have failed to return to their rightful owners.

Whatever the case may be, I'm thoroughly enjoying them today.

And I'm reminded that there are just some songs that will always bring a smile to my face. One such song, as random as it might be, is "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John (snippet here). There is just something about it that gets me. Maybe it's the lyrics, or the music, or the vocals, or the memory of that scene from Almost Famous....

Whatever it is, I like it.

Anyhow, just wanted to share that with you. There are probably hundreds of songs that fall into this category for me, but this one just popped on through the ol' headphones this morning.

What songs are in that category for you?

One more for the reading list

In summarizing my reading accomplishments for the year, I forgot one of the more significant. We're currently going through The Lies We Believe in our weekly Bible study. I cannot say enough about this book. I think this should also be filed under my "resolutions" - in that I should have a resolution to quit believing such filth.

The author goes to our church and frequently teaches in the Young Couples class. Chris is great. He is honest, funny, genuine, and caring to everyone he comes into contact with.

In this book of his, he takes you through the various traps that we start to believe when we go through daily life. The thing is, it seems like on every page there is something I can identify with.

He talks about self lies, like perfectionism (hello!), people-pleasing, and worth being determined by our performance.

He talks about marital lies, like everything is my spouse's fault, marriage should be easy, and the idea that your spouse owes you.

He talks about distortion lies, like making mountains out of molehills, missing the forest for the trees, and black and white thinking (oh brother!).

He talks about religions lies, like trying to earn God's love, God hating the sin and the sinner, and things like "good Christians" not feeling angry, anxious and/or depressed.

But he doesn't just take you through the icky things and leave you hanging. He does a great job of telling you the truth. Everyone suffers from wrong thinking. Heck, Jesus describes Satan as the father of lies (see John 8:42-47), so would it not make sense for him to invade our way of thinking, tainting it with lies that keep us from seeing (and living) God's truth?

All in all, it's a great read. Not because of eloquent writing or fantastic storytelling. It's great because it challenges you to think differently. It reminds you of who God is and who He made you to be. Good stuff, my friends.

I < heart > DVR

Tonight is big, people.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but tonight is the season premiere of Lost. Tonight is also the reunion show for Project Runway. And last, but most certainly not least, tonight is Bible study (obviously, not a link to the Bible, but to the book we're going through...more on that tomorrow).

This is the perfect storm of goodness, my friends.

Now, if you have to know, we'll be making the regular appearance at Bible study. Wouldn't miss it for the world (though now that I think about it, we're missing it next week for a birthday party for a friend...but who's counting?).

But I can tell you this, when we get home, that DVR is going to earn its keep. I'm planning to load up on coffee, pop some popcorn, and settle in. Sure, I have to be at work at 8AM tomorrow for a *thrilling* 2 hour weekly meeting. But that will not stop me from getting my fix.

Amar, thank you for loving me through these hard times.

*Luckily, House is a re-run....that would be a little over the top if I would actually have to miss something. Gah!

The Last Kiss: A review

Monday night is "date night" for us, so last night we did dinner and a movie, conveniently at the same time, via the Alamo Drafthouse. Since there's not much out, I decided (based on some very minimal reviews) that we should see The Last Kiss with Zach Braff.*

Mis-take.

Well, not totally. But this was not the movie that I was expecting to see. Granted, I hadn't read much about it. I think I read that it was a "predictable romantic movie" so I thought, "Hey - that sounds great for date night." I purposefully didn't read too many reviews because I didn't want to spoil the movie. I saw a critic write that if one was expecting another "Garden State" this was not the movie for them. Great! I wasn't a huge fan of Garden State...so off we went.**

Sure - there were some good moments. Some good insight on relationships. Some good one-liners.

But at one point of the movie, I was actually almost cheering for this girl to stab her boyfriend. What? Yeah, messed up.

The movie was very much set in an "anything goes" lifestyle, so I had a hard time really seeing the logic/sense that people were basing their decisions on. There were times during the movie that I really cringed, wanting to slap these people and knock some sense into them. I'm typically a little low on the mercy-meter, so I didn't really feel sorry for them when they kept on making choices that basically destroyed their lives...

Anyhow, if you see it, let me know what you think of it.

*Now don't get me wrong here about Zach. I do like me some Scrubs...

**Yes, I do realize I'm probably in the minority here on Garden State. Maybe I should watch it again? I don't love Natalie Portman, so I spent half the movie just getting over that...oh well.

Update on my "resolutions"

I did a lot of reading this weekend, and it got me to thinking about the "resolutions" I set out to work on during this year. If you will recall this post, you'll remember that I tried to keep things simple. Four categories: reading more, sorting my mail, getting into shape, and taking care of myself.

So after about 10 months of trying, I figure I should see how I've been doing.

Read more
To date, I've read about 1000 times more this year than I did last year. If you knew how much I read last year, however, this would not impress you very much. But in the spirit of optimism, I will say that I am proud of myself. Here are some books I've read so far this year:

• Don't waste your life: so, I kind of gave up on this one. I've tried starting it twice and have failed both times. Third time is a charm?
• One night at the call center: I read it on the tail end of our trip to India. Quick read, but it made me a little sad.
• Life of Pi: I really liked this one. I'm not always a huge fan of stories about boats, but this one kept me going page after page.
• Ella Minnow Pea: I really liked this book, too. Very creative take on things...I love language anyways, so this was really interesting to see the various twists and turns the autor took as the story progressed.
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Wow. I've had this on my "to read" list for over a year. We read "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" back in third grade, but I had never read the whole series. I'm loving it. I think it deserves a re-read if it's been awhile since you've read it. I'm about 2/3 through it, and hope to finish "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" either today or tomorrow. Our pastor mentioned "The Silver Chair" in his sermon yesterday, and I'll likely start that later this week. Seriously - check it out. More info here: Wikipedia

Sorting my mail:
Note - getting married and moving do not alleviate this problem in any way. The problem has multiplied, and is only made worse by the idea of attempting to change my name. So, that being said, we're better off today than we were last week at this time. At least we have piles that actually mean something. Before, they were just random stacks. Now, it's a sign that the idea of "being organized" is actually taking root. We have seedlings of organization throughout the house. Yes, that's what they are. Not stacks. Not piles. Not scary boxes we're afraid to open. Seedlings.

Getting into shape:
I will say this - my legs were so sore this week from "leg day at the gym" that it was difficult to walk. At times, after "arm day" it is challenging to brush my teeth. However, I am in better shape today than I was in January. And I'm all the better for it. I have a tricep, people. In fact, I have two!! Yeah, it's pretty awesome. Oh, and we're eating much better now than we used to be. At least, we're making the effort to do so...

Taking care of myself:
I'd say overall, things are going well on this front. This is tightly coupled with the idea of getting into shape. But in accordance with a previous post, I measured how my compulsive nail biting is going. I would say I'm still at about a 90% success rate. Even though work was stressful as of late, my fingers did not take a beating. Yippee!

P.S. Blogger spell check isn't working for me now, so I apologize in advance for any blunders...

Hey there, remember me?

Sorry I've been a little light on the blogging lately. Work is picking up, as is usual this time of year, and I just haven't been able to spend a lot of time on the blog. So here's an update for you of recent happenings. Enjoy!

• Amar had a birthday!
• I got a raise
• ...and a promotion
• We only have 1 more membership class until we're official
• We unpacked/decorated some more
• We took our first trip to Costco as a married couple. Exciting!?
• We saw The Illusionist
• Amar chopped his hair off
• We had two dinners with two different sets of friends. Yay!
• I finally signed the lease
• I got my new drivers license
• We sorted the mail....is this really list-worthy?
• We celebrated an engagement!
• I'm still making my way through The Chronicles...I'm all the way to "Prince Caspian"
• We used our new waffle maker...sort of
• We got tickets to the A&M/Nebraska game - whoop
• We each drove to and from work several times
• I ordered a new cell phone!

So yes. Now you're all caught up. What list-worthy things have you been up to?

The big 3-0

I'm married to a thirty-year-old ;) Happy birthday, sweetie!

Happy Anniversary

Happy 1 month anniversary to us!

Yes, we've made it this far. Why not celebrate?

Sufjan: A review, of sorts

As promised, here is my review of the Sufjan Stevens concert from Friday night.

Incredible.

Before the concert, I had only heard the little iTunes snippet of a few Sufjan songs, so I didn't really know what to expect. I only knew that a few of my friends were really excited about seeing him live. That was enough for us to sign up for the show.

The opening act: My Brightest Diamond
I had a hard time with it. I really thought the lead singer had a great voice. Crisp, clear, sweet. But the lyrics and general feel of the music were not for me at all. I think someone in the group described it as "musical torture" but I won't go that far. I'm just glad I kept my dinner down (ok, maybe I will go that far...)

The big show: Sufjan Stevens
The show began with several instrumentalists filing onto stage wearing scrubs/military jackets and big butterfly wings. The back curtains parted to reveal shiny silver decorations from floor to ceiling, parting in the middle for a projector screen.

The music started, along with a psychedelic kaleidoscope-type visual on the screen, matching the tone of the instruments. It was a bright sound, if that makes sense, which was a great contrast to what we had just sat through with the opening act.

Then Sufjan entered, wearing a similar uniform, but with much bigger wings. The crowd cheered. It was shaping up to be magical.

If you're not familiar with some of his more recent music, it'll be hard for me to describe. You've got violins, trumpets, pianos, guitars, trombones, drums and a xylophone all going at once. But rather than sounding like a train wreck, it all comes together and soothes you.

He sung with a light, almost falsetto, but it was great. The lead singer of My Brightest Diamond sung backup for most of the show, and it was a great pairing. The videos changed to match the various songs, and it was a great touch.

Personally, I love instruments. I love music. I love sitting there in the audience soaking it all in. And this was a great chance to do just that. Trina reported that the band occasionally donned sunglasses, but apparently that was only for the Saturday night show. Bummer. But to echo her review, this was definitely one of the best live shows I've seen.

All in all, it was a great show. Pleasing to the ears and the eye. If you get the chance, go check it out. Odds are that you won't be disappointed.

The hot (and cold?) topic

Well, it seems like everyone is talking about the office AC: