Is it possible that the greatest value held by the brand is owned by the consumer, not in the commitment to quality or great prices or anything of the sort, but that it forces the corporation to act with some socially acceptable level of ethics, given that its behaviour will be felt by customers ' perception via its bottom line? Is it possible that this created value is a value now owned by society, dictated by consumers, and experienced by all of us?
Weird.
10:02 PM
12:50 PM
Well, you know. It mostly just is.
(1) We bought a house - the deal was completed on my birthday, we move January 7. Never in my life did I think we'd have a gorgeous home downtown. Well, the first floor is gorgeous, and I've got two floors of cosmetic fun to work on. Whee!
(2) I finish my MBA coursework on February 10. Eeee!
(3) My job, which has been known to drive me over the edge on occasion, has settled into awesomeness. I am doing the kind of work I've always dreamed of - strategy! financial analysis! operations! - and I was right: it flipping rules.
(4) I get to hang out with the best boy in the world all the freaking time.
Yay.
3:00 PM
I know, I have completely and utterly sucked at keeping the blog updated since relaunching Hitched! It turns out it's a fair amount of work trying to keep that baby updated, and my writing time is limited. With that said, I am going to try for a weekly update again. So I shall return with a disgustingly uber-sincere post.
It's a few days 'til my thirtieth birthday, and I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. The last decade has been interesting and challenging, and I'm certain that the thirties will bring all kinds of new fun. I've always imagined this age series to be likely the best of one's life - old enough to feel a pretty solid sense of stability (no more quarterlife crises, no financial meltdowns, no state of complete confusion as to what one is doing with her life) but young enough to have lots of fun (minor obligations, easy disposable income to invest in silly things, dream vacations to pursue, classes to take just for fun).
I entered my twenties with a pretty solid list of things I wanted to accomplish: complete a graduate degree, achieve a certain level of career success, do some travelling, find a reasonable and sustainable level of health, and purchase an abode in some urban area or another. While I have a semester left 'til I'm done grad school, I can safely say I've completed all the objectives that I set out for myself. They didn't necessarily come as I'd anticipated nor did things really go according to plan while getting here, that matters not a bit. The point is that I set up the goals and achieved them. This feels darn good. This is also one of the reasons I suspect I have little to no regrets in my life thus far - I've been taking on challenges like a mofo and even the hideously poor choices have assisted in getting me where I needed to be.
Now that I'm entering my thirties, I feel like I need a new agenda. But what does that agenda entail? Here's the thing: I'm not sure. Sure, I'd like to achieve more in my work life, I'd like to travel to new places, I'd like to stay fit and active, I'd like to get a house downtown. And maybe someday I'll get an opportunity to do further studies as the dilettante that I am. But those are kind of just extensions of the twenties list. Is there anything unique I need to set out for myself in this round? Is there anything for me to pursue that is entirely novel and challenging? What will it take for me at forty to feel that my thirties have been a success? I am at a bit of a loss here. History has taught me that, being intensely goal-driven, I respond well to such things. But I don't really know what those goals are.
Pipe dreams? Easy. I'd like to be a consultant. I'd like to write a book. I'd like to work for myself. I'd like to see the world. There are a gazillion items to list here, but these are more fodder for my fantasy life than concrete objectives for which to aim. Sure, it would be great if any came to fruition, but I won't feel that I've let myself down if they don't in the next decade.
So perhaps rather than setting new and specific goals, the thirties objective needs to be as follows: keep moving positively along the very clear path I spent my twenties building and enjoy the ride. Accept that the hardcore goal-setting era of my life - while a certain necessity at the time, given my personality - has been successful and is now complete.
If you have a better plan, just let me know. I'm open.
10:05 PM
Treava tagged me!
If I've tagged you, here is the deal: (1) Link to your tagger and post these rules. (2) Share 7 facts about YOU: some random, some weird... all devastatingly interesting. (3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them). (4) Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.
- My weirdest phobia is people putting ham on their faces. I think it reminds me of bizarro nightmares I used to have of people without facial features. AGH!
- I'm a closet introvert. In small groups, I'm highly outgoing, but in large groups I'm terribly unhappy. And I love, love, love being by myself.
- I have fantasies about being a spy 'til I think about the scary parts, thus am simply obsessed with spy-related movies and television.
- I prefer being an acquaintance to being a close friend with most people.
- I am a huge dilettante.
- I want to do a doctorate after my MBA, if at all possible, not to become a professor as I'd like to continue working, but simply to challenge the living daylights out of myself.
- Given my natural energy level, most people are surprised by the fact that I very rarely drink coffee or other caffeinated beverages.
9:20 PM
So I will be talking about Darby here.
She is seriously such a smartie. After only two nights of crying, she learned to sleep properly (and in her kennel!). On her third day, she figured out that going outside meant doing her business and hasn't had an accident since. (To be fair, we have puppy pads down so, if she does have to have to go and can't figure out how to tell us, she can go there. No non-puppy-pad mistakes since the day those went down!) And she is learning not to cry to get on the couch. And she is sweet and cuddly and sleeps I'm sure sixteen hours a day.
Also, I must note that buying stuff for this dog is ridiculously fun. All the things are so cute, even the freaking kennel. No, seriously. There are paw cleaning things and leashes for jogging and, oh my god, you know those Ugly Dolls? Well, there are now pet editions. Hers is a blue cat that has an Xed out eye. And even this weird rope toy is cute - she carries it by the bar-looking part in the middle so the ends look like blue and white pompoms. Adorable. Anyway, I swear, every time I leave the house, I think of some new fun thing to get this spoiled creature.
That said, I am not getting her clothes unless she completely freezes in the winter. She's way too tough to be in pink or anything like it, and I'm pretty convinced that, being a dog, she ought to be well equipped to handle all seasons. I'm also terrified of becoming one of those downtown uber-yuppie types who have their animals in chichi carriers and Coach sweaters. Eeks.
But... I did just order this for the mutt:
11:19 PM
Honestly, she is nameless. It's not right.
Dave has taken to calling her Little Lord Fuzzleroy.
Not. Right. She's currently sleeping away.
Eeeeks.
12:39 AM
Miracle!
Please visit and love it and tell your friends and all that good stuff.
8:37 PM
Okay, so I am suffering in a crazy way right now with sore legs, ass, abs, and arms, but sweet lord above. I feel amazing.
After the thrill of yesterday's pilates class, I decided to venture all by my lonesome once again to give power yoga a shot. My mother-in-law (an avid yoga-babe since the 70s) warned me that, among all the related classes she's ever taken, power yoga was the one she never tried twice. Did this discourage me? Of course not, it indeed spurred my sick competitive nature forward. Besides, it's yoga. How freaking difficult could it be? I can run my heart out for an hour or more without thinking twice -- surely it would be stretching my body into unusual and challenging formations, but there was no threat of exhaustion. Right?
Sigh.
After something like eleven minutes (okay, exactly like -- I was checking the watch like a crazy person), I was convinced that there was no.flipping.way I was going to make it through.
By some miracle, I pushed. And I pushed. And I pushed more. And I breathed. And I shook like crazy. And I balanced in a seated position on one foot with my in-the-air-ankle on my floor-leg-knee. And I did it. Pose after quick movement to new pose after staying in some other pose for what felt like days, an hour and fifteen minutes was over. Sure I couldn't keep my heels on the ground for downward dog, and sure I lost my balance and knocked over my own block on some single-footed-other-foot-high-in-the-air thingo, but I did it.
Joy.
Not just at being done -- though that miracle, in and of itself, was worth celebrating and feeling exceptionally tough over -- but at how great it felt.
In short: I am a convert. I can't wait to go again.
3:44 PM
I love it.
My friend cancelled for ballet today as she was out really late last night, so I went to a second pilates class instead.
Between the two of them, I'm sore, but it feels amazing.
I have a two week pass for a nearby studio now -- they do both pilates and yoga -- and I'm hoping that I continue to love it. If so, I'm thinking that this can take over as the strength part of my workout routine.
Ballet is back to next Saturday for now.
And with all that healthy stuff done, I'm now ready to get going to the beer festival.
10:05 PM
What is it? To try new things.
(1) Going to a pilates class on Friday.
(2) Going to a preliminary ballet class on Saturday.
(3) Yoga is next on the list.
(4) Signed up for a 5K run in September.
Whee!
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