LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

Happy Friday! Even though I’m just on blogging fire lately, it’s still good to have a Friday Five! This week’s is called “Control.”

Friday!

1. When did you take time this week to play?

Funny, I really haven’t played ANYTHING this week. I haven’t logged into WoW since Sunday, believe it or not, and Farmville is more of a Zen garden experience than actual play.

2. This past week, what would you have liked to rewind so you could experience it again?

In keeping with our “Summer of Cheap”* we went to the Camden Riversharks game on Tuesday thanks to free tickets from work. After a rainy day it was a GORGEOUS night and we had a great time!

3. What happened this week to give you pause?

My boss gave his 2 week notice on Tuesday. Yeah. I’m bummed about that but I understand his wanting to move on. No, I’m not applying for the job. Been there, done that. Besides, I’m no longer qualified for the job I used to have because they added “proven sales experience” to the requirements. I have proven sales experience. It was proven to be bad.

So yay for more change! Zing. Since I’ve been asked to be “Acting Manager” during the transition period (Boss’s boss thinks I’m great), I asked for Monday and Tuesday off to snooze on my sofa, play with my beads and maybe hit the beach? Maybe? We’ll see.**

4. From what situation this week would you have liked to eject yourself?

Finding that Max had…accidents…in the kitchen while we slept one night. A bit of rice mixed in with his food pulled him back on track. But that moment when you FIND that kind of mess? EJECT!

5. In what situation this week did you cede power to someone else?

Erm…I signed my lease for another year here at the dee-luxe apartment in the sky. So my livelihood is somewhat-controlled by the whims and whimsies of the apartment management.

Example: Our air conditioners (both) have been broken since August and we FINALLY got them both replaced. At first, we were victim to a less-than-honest maintenance manager — “The List” we were on did not exist. Once she was let go, I tried to open a new ticket, but they stop replacing air units in the winter and told us to wait ’til spring. Two weeks ago I started calling the maintenance office every other day. Last week I started calling every day. On Tuesday I showed up at the maintenance office. The new manager promised she’d be SURE to get someone out yesterday. Yesterday I called and assumptively asked when I could expect someone to show up. (This is a level of persistence I’d have NEVER had in my 20s, by the way.) The living room unit was replaced yesterday afternoon. The bedroom one was replaced today.

At the moment, we have this place so cold I’m wearing knit socks, pants, t-shirt AND A SWEATER. I’m drinking hot coffee and am enjoying life.

***

* WM out of work + big family wedding in August = 2010 being the Summer of Cheap! We’re filling in our free time with free/cheap excursions. The summer festival season is awesome here in South Jersey. There’s always something free/cheap to do.

**I’m looking for a beach in Central-to-South NJ where I won’t be blanket-to-blanket with the rest of humanity. Probably without a boardwalk. Just a simple beach, y’know? I don’t even need lifeguards. Any suggestions?

Welcome again to Friday, and the Friday Five, which helps me to get the work-week related kinks out of my brain. That, and also I think I’m being spoiled by twitter, where I get to randomly yell out things to the world all day long.

1. Where’s your favorite beach?
Disney’s Castaway Cay. You only get there if you go on a Disney Cruise. It’s immaculate and the water is a blue that I thought only existed on oversaturated post cards. I have pictures of it on Flickr, but since I forgot to renew Pro, they’re hidden from the world again.

I go to Ocean City (NJ) by default and have since I was very young. But I want to find a beach town that is just beach and just a restaurant or two. A quiet, non-crowded beach where I can be alone-ish for a while and not sit 2 feet away from a couple from South Philly who are eating an entire pizza on the towel next to me and wonder why the birds won’t stop stalking them.

2. Where’s your favorite place to spend money?
Bead shops. I’ve spent far too much cash on beads in the last year. This week I found a string of beads in a 6-pack of Yuengling black and tan that was in the fridge. No joking. So no bead spending for me until I used up more of the stash I have. FWIW, wire does not count as beads.

3. Where’s a good place to watch people?
The Cherry Hill Mall. It sees a good mix of snooty soccer Moms from the Marlton/Moorestown/Medford areas and urban kids from Camden.

4. Where’s a good place to be totally alone?
Dunno. Let me know if you find it. The dogs don’t even let me pee alone.

5. Where’s a place outside of work (or school) where you’re likely to run into people from work (or school)? The Collingswood Farmers Market, because many of my coworkers (and former coworkers – have I mentioned that Coworker Shawn has moved on?) live around here and go on Saturdays. I haven’t been in a few weeks.

Tune in this weekend when I talk about why I love AT&T even though they have made me broke ’til Monday.

(It’s 35 degrees out? No way!)