Last Hiking Meetup

It was at O.P. Schabel park, which is one we go to all the time in my family. I thought I knew the park pretty well, but we didn't go on the trails I knew. Anyway, I got there a little early because I didn't want them to leave without me. I brought Bucky, as he seemed to like it the last time I took him to that park. Other people brought their dogs, too, and Bucky wanted to bark at them, of course. I picked him up, and he got quieter. So I just held him until we were ready to leave. As it turns out, I was the only one who brought a small dog. All the others were golden retrievers or bigger, so he was really out of place! A few people were worried he wouldn't make it or that I'd end up carrying him part of the way. But really, they don't know him like I do!

We took off walking, and it was a nice day. It was warm and a few people wore shorts even. Yes, even in January. There was someone who said, "It feels like summer!" and I just wanted to laugh as there's no way it would be that cool in summer. It was only about 73 F at the warmest. But a lot of people in the meetups are new to San Antonio, so I didn't want to make them feel bad or scare them off before summer really hit. Anyway, so we walked about an hour and a half in one direction, until we reached the road down at the far end after you go down into the ravine. It seemed to take forever. I was stupid and forgot to bring water, so I was dying of thirst by that point. Someone was nice and let Bucky have a sip of the water she brought for her dog. That seemed to perk him up a bit. His ears were sort of drooping a little by that point. But then we had to walk back the other way. So it was another hour and a half back. My legs were a little tired, but the thing I noticed most was that my knees started killing me. Really, I didn't think to wear a brace on my bad knee. Not very smart of me. People were marveling by that point that Bucky was doing so well. Really we took a short breather to let some people catch up who'd fallen behind going up a hill. He was jumping up on me and wagging his tail. He was absolutely fine. One guy even made a comment, "he's making me look bad." Well, they shouldn't have assumed he was weak just because he was small, should they? When we got to the parking lot at the end, a lot of people were relieved. And I wanted to go straight home for a tall glass of water or two. Bucky was looking at me excitedly, like "What are we gonna do now?"

Some of the people there were going to this bar afterwards, but I couldn't as I had my dog with me. So I just went home. Bucky wanted to be walked immediately, but I wanted to go straight upstairs. My knees were so sore I could hardly move them. Then, I got upstairs and had a full glass of water. Bucky saw Snoopy getting walked and got upset at me because I wouldn't take him, too. Goofball. Like he hadn't been outside for 3 hours already. I stretched as much as possible, although my joints still hurt later that night. By morning they were fine, but I think I'll wear a brace next time. Don't let me forget. : )

Anyway, not much going on. N is still in Austin and I haven't heard from him. He said he might be able to come down this coming weekend, but we'll see. Again, I haven't heard from him. I haven't gotten any more job interviews and I'm obviously still not employed, or that would have been the first thing I wrote about. But a couple of people in the coffee meetup had some tips for me, so I'm looking forward to the next one of those. : )

First Hiking Meetup

This was the first one I attended anyway. It was a moonlight hike, which I'd never done before. We were all to bring flashlights, although there was a 90% full moon. Clear sky. Kinda cold, but really, it was warmer than the night before, and anyway this is San Antonio. Not exactly known for having real freezes in the wintertime. So we all bundled up and were fine. It was this park called Walker Ranch that I'd never been to before. We all met up in the parking lot of Incredible Pizza to carpool, as we'd been told there wasn't enough parking for everyone. There were supposed to be about 50 or 60 people. So a bunch of us crammed into a truck and I think there was another truck or two with us. When we got there, there were a couple of other vehicles there, but that was it. So as it turned out only about 16 people showed up! So there was plenty of parking after all. Still, we waited for a while, then decided to head out. There were a few trails, and we took one that would probably have some wildlife for us to see. A few deer, who didn't seem to be very afraid of us. They just kind of stared at us, like "What are you doing here so late?" or something. We kept following the trail and headed up on top of the dam, then, came down the side, where we ran into a barbed wire fence. We went through the fence for some reason, and kept going as there seemed to be a trail still. Ended up going through another fence. Kept following the trail. Then came to a sign that said "No Trespassing". Well, we were confused by that as we'd stayed on the trail. But then the other side of the fence said it was the park, so I guess we'd been trespassing before, so we crossed back into the park (?). Someone joked "Who said this wouldn't be a wild night?" in comment for our trespassing earlier. We were all pretty goofy by that point. We saw more deer and some thing that I thought looked like a cat, but someone else said looked like a squirrel (I thought it was too big to be a squirrel, though). Then, since we'd had a good time, we decided to head over to the Lion and Rose pub as the organizers had a room reserved for us. That sounded nice, so we all headed over there. When we got there the room wasn't ready as there were people in there that wouldn't leave. The staff were trying to persuade them, but they were really stubborn and were arguing, etc. It ended up being a half hour past our reservation before we were let in. And it wasn't even a room after all, but an "area". A bit of a let-down. Then we waited there for about 45 minutes for them to come take our drink order. Some people hadn't had a chance to eat before the hike and were hungry, but the staff wouldn't take food orders until later. That made some of us pretty mad. Then, we waited nearly an hour for the drinks to come. No explanation or apology or anything. Some people left. One guy complained, but got a story about the bartender being taken away by EMS. Well, if we'd known that we would have been a little more patient, but they didn't tell us anything. Then, waited another 30 minutes or so for them to come take food orders. It took so long to get the food orders, that some people were getting ready to leave right as the food arrived. By then, it was midnight, so I just ate a little and took the rest home. Really, it was disappointing. But that particular pub has more than one location, and someone said the other locations were better staffed. So maybe we'll go to a different one. Everyone said the food was good, though. I just got a dessert, but I'll admit it was good. I'd just rather go somewhere else, maybe the one off 1604 next time.

Anyway the next meetup is at O.P. Schnabel, which is a park we go to all the time in my family as it's nearby. It will be a daytime hike. They want to go to Hill's and Dale's afterward, which is not really my style. It's a place right by the UTSA campus, so everyone went there all the time, but it looked kinda like a biker bar, so I never wanted to go there. I still don't.

N got laid off from his job, so I'm hoping he finds something soon and something in SA. He's afraid he may have to move, as he hasn't found many jobs here and the ones he's been interviewed for are out of town. So I'm pretty bummed about that. But hopefully he'll be here long enough to go on the hike with me and we can spend some time together afterward. At least we could do something during the week maybe. Something. I hope he doesn't have to leave, though. I mean, it would just be my luck to meet someone and have this happen, wouldn't it? Maybe he'll just move back to Austin and we can still see each other. I don't know. I can hope.

Anyway, I guess that's it. I have a job interview tomorrow, but I'm not 100% sure about it. I'm really checking them out as much as they're checking me out. I just wonder about the place and if it's legit, you know? Plus, it's not a creative position, which is a drawback for me. But you never know. Really, I applied for other jobs that I'd rather get interviewed for and I'm hoping I hear from them this week. Please, please, please.

Coffee Meetup

There was a coffee meetup on Wednesday and I'm only just now writing about it. Lazy, I know. But it was a good meetup. I met up with C, who is my neighbor. She lives just a building down from me. She is now the assistant organizer of the group and her boyfriend is now the organizer. They decided to keep it going after Dunn Brother's closed, which is good as a lot of people wanted it to continue. We met this time at Da Vinci Gelato. It was soooo good. Now you know how addicted to Starbucks I am, right? Well, this was pretty darn good. I had an amaretto latte and it came in this pretty glass mug with a little design put in the foam with the espresso. They also gave me a little square of dark chocolate for the coffee. It was so pretty that the organizer, who is an amateur photographer, wanted to get photos of it. A lot of people tried the gelato, which I didn't try as it looked really fattening, although there were promised fat-free selections that I didn't check out. I mainly wanted coffee. I knew I would need to eat again later to take my Geodon, so I didn't want to eat there.

Anyway, there is this other coffee house that is downtown that everyone wanted to try. It's called Ruta Maya and it's one of the top 5 coffee houses in the country. But the meetup is on a Saturday and I can't go. : ( Then they tried to change the date to Sunday, but forgot that the place is closed on Sundays. Darn. So, they'll have to arrange for that another time as well, when other people can go. But I wanted to try the place. There are others coming up, so I'm hoping I can go to some of them. The next one is just at La Madeleine. Should be good as we can get dinner, too.

Not much else going on at present. Still waiting to hear back from the last job interview. They may or may not call me back, but I'm hoping I get called back. I will even beg if they want me to. Really. I'm not above it. But a couple of people at the coffee meetup said they knew people who might be hiring, so I hope that's true. The more leads the better. I gave one guy my business card to give to this other guy, but I think he might have had a crush on me as he kept telling C how cute I was and that I was "like a little doll". Then again, I am tiny, so maybe that's all it was. But C thought he was gonna ask me out at some point. Of course, I am still seeing N, so that probably won't happen.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I'll try to keep updating if stuff actually happens. Take care everyone.

I'm still in the running...

Despite my lack of experience in graphic design, I think the job interview went well. I think it didn't really matter as they said they'll train me, so I'm relieved. Plus, the graphic design stuff they do is all on templates and you basically just drag and drop most of the time. I can handle that easily enough. The other stuff the job entails is what I'd be doing most of the time, so they'd definitely have to train me for that and they said they would. I think my previous jobs have prepared me somewhat for the other duties, so hopefully I'll get a second interview. They're interviewing for the next couple of weeks, then they'll be calling a couple of people back for the second interview. Just PLEASE let me be one of them!

I was supposed to meet N yesterday, but he had plans with a friend for dinner and he was going to meet me after. He said he'd call and he never did. I'm assuming that he just got carried away at dinner and lost track of time. So we'll worry about that later, I guess. He hasn't called today. Anyway, got to hang out with H yesterday. Got our usual Starbucks fix and H gave me a Christmas present. Just a cute little scarf and a $5 Bucky's gift card. Then we did a little shopping. H had a gift card for Barnes and Noble and wanted to get a book. I got a calendar as they were half off. I really wanted this poodle one, but it wasn't marked down. It was the last one, so I couldn't check the other ones. I was disappointed at that, but I got this other one that's nice, too. So now I can keep track of my appointments.

I saw the most adorable Sketchers at Kohl's, but they didn't have a size small enough for me. I mean, the smallest they had was a size 7. Really, short people need shoes, too! Oh well. So then I looked them up on the Kohl's website, and they don't stock smaller than a size 6. I'm a size 5. : ( Then I looked on the Sketchers website, but they cost a lot more there. So I guess I won't be getting them, no matter how cute they are. : ( and : ( again.

But we had fun and promise to do it again soon. She has a birthday coming up, so I have yet another gift to buy. I was hoping I was done with that, but then I remembered the b-day thing, so I guess not. Anyway, will try to keep updating as I hear about the job situation. If I'm really lucky I'll get some more interviews and not have to feel like everything's staked on this one job.

Long time no see!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy. Of course, now I'm sick and staying home, but that's a recent development.

Of course, every year, at least one of us is sick on either Thanksgiving or Christmas. This year, Thanksgiving was fine, but we had quite a few of us sick on Christmas. R and little E stayed in FW, although R did make it down for the weekend before. She had to go home on Sunday, and was already feeling bad. Then, both M&M were sick, but managed to make a lunch for us (Dad and me) on Christmas day. It was simple, just some tamales from HEB, which were made in their kitchen and not the storebought kind. So they were really good. And sis M made some rice. Really the tamales were so huge, we didn't need anything else. I ate 2 of them and was sorry. They're about the size of 2 or 3 regular tamales, so I felt like I ate a ton. But it was nice, and we stayed a little while, while BIL M showed my dad some tricks with the Playstation 2 as they'd gotten him one and he was stuck in a couple of the games. We also got a sample of what the PS 3 looks like and it's pretty awesome. I don't really play games enough to get one myself, but it looked good.

Then, Dad and I left as M&M wanted to take naps as they still weren't feeling too well. So we went hiking at a local park and it was a beautiful day, not too cool and not too hot. Actually, as we started walking it was cool, but got warmer the longer we were there and we had to take our jackets off. By then, the people that were arriving were only wearing T-shirts, so it wasn't just because we'd been walking a while. But we saw a part of the park we hadn't been to before.

The next day, I had dinner with N, the guy I've been seeing. It was supposed to be something he cooked, but he got home too late and we went to this Vietnamese restaurant we'd been to before, but they turned out to be closed, and we went to a second restaurant that ended up being closed as well. We ended up going to Blanco Cafe, which I'd been to before, but at a different location. It's this Mexican restaurant and it was packed (probably because nothing else was open). The food was fine, but I had trouble eating it because I'd seen a roach on the wall and couldn't get past that. I mean, what are the chances they're only in the outside part where the customers are and not in the kitchen? I was just really grossed out and creeped out. But anyway. Now I'm not feeling well either and slept most of the day yesterday. I'm still tired today and the congestion is worse, but I hope I get better soon. I'm taking zinc and green tea to help.

Anyway, I have a job interview next week. I'm not really qualified, but I hope they'll be good enough to show me how to do the things I don't know how to do. We'll see. I'm not too optimistic about it as I've been interviewed for these things before. I just have to keep looking, of course. Hopefully I'll be feeling better by then, too.

The Lamest Christmas Party...

Okay, this is a big employer here in SA. Thought their Christmas party would be fun. It's usually a really big deal. They book a huge venue for the thing and have several rooms with different entertainment in each one, along with lots of food to choose from, dancing, etc. But in the car on the way over there, Mom breaks the news to me that there will be no booze! What? At a Christmas party? Sure they're an insurance company and all and they know about risk, but that's pretty sad. But we get there and they're busing everyone to the event. It took forever to get on the bus, but they were more like motorcoaches and had comfortable seats and TVs (which they never turned on--WTF?). Traffic is always horrible downtown, so it took forever to get to the event. It actually took an hour and doesn't normally take quite that long. But we get there and I'm looking forward to it. And they've only booked 2 rooms. So EVERYONE was crammed into just these two rooms. You could hardly move around. There was no space to mingle or anything. There's only one band booked. That's it. And there were so few buffet tables that the lines were longer than the ones at DisneyWorld. Really. The food didn't look that great to begin with. Mom says they had a different caterer this year. I think it must have been a cheaper bid, rather than a choice to get us better food for the event. THEN, as if this wasn't lame enough already, there were hardly any tables for people to eat at. People were walking around with food with nowhere to go. It was so bad, people were leaving the event in droves to go to the hotel across the street that had a bar, and then taking the next bus back to their cars. In fact, we just skipped the hotel bar thing and went straight to the bus. We were extremely disappointed at how little they cared about the party and how little they actually spent on it this year, when they've always gone all-out for it. Then, we went to a restaurant and had a dinner and a margarita, just because we were so p-o-ed. Not sure if we want to go to the party next year. : ( What a let-down.

A DATE!!!

I went to a Meetup event recently. It was a coffee singles group, which I wasn't too excited about, but I thought I could at least make friends and enjoy a cup of coffee. Turns out I met a few people and had some good conversations. One guy even wanted to see me again. Another guy wanted to e-mail me, so that's good, too. I think the second guy wants to be friends, which is okay with me.

The date turned out fine. We went for coffee last night and then to dinner. It was a pleasant evening, although we're still in the getting-to-know-each-other phase. Too early to get really excited, but he seems like a nice guy. I did read his profile, though, and he's a Republican, so that could be a problem, but we'll see. I don't expect us to have everything in common, you know? But he wants to see me again, although we couldn't arrange anything for this week as he's busy on the days that I'm not. And he's going to Austin this weekend, so that's out. Maybe next week.

Also, this past weekend, R and E came down from FW and we had a nice visit. It was busy as we were visiting family and friends the whole time. So I was tired yesterday, but it's okay. It was fun. R got her Tex-Mex fix, which she was happy about. I didn't mind it either, of course. : ) I also got another cranberry bliss bar, which was really yummy. I know they'll be gone soon, so I want to have as many as possible. It's a shame they're 8 points for one, so I can only have a little at a time, but it's worth it. R and I were also naughty in that we had pizza from HEB, but I still have a few flex points left. Not many, but a few. I will get more tomorrow, so it's okay, I suppose.

Anyway, I've got a Meetup on Thursday evening that I want to go to, although it's at a restaurant I've heard isn't that good. But 2 previous Meetups were at places where there would be smoking, which I can't do. This one is the atheist Meetup, which I enjoyed when I went to a past one. That's pretty much it, as my life is pretty dull at the moment. Hopefully there will be some job interviews soon, but I'm not holding my breath.