Working 9 to 5

I'm going to start working again. A fabulous opportunity came out of nowhere, and I've been offered an internship at a company called Ocean Tomo. I'll be working in the Corporate Finance Group on mergers and acquisitions of intellectual property. What that exactly means is still a mystery to me. I guess that I'll find out on Wednesday. From my interview, it seems like I'll be reading up on patents and stuff like that in hopes of figuring out who the buyers should be. It seems pretty cool since I'll know about the new technology before it hits the shelves.

My only issue is that I haven't woken up at 7am since I worked at Aksys. Fortunately, this time around, my commuting is on a train, rather than me battling the other road warriors on the Edens/Kennedy.

Love. Dangerously.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Law McGraw and I are off to celebrate our second Valentine's Day together tonight. I'm usually not a fan of the holiday (due to it's Hallmark cheeziness), but I am looking forward to dinner at Francesca's Forno tonight. We've passed this restaurant about 5 times in Bucktown, but each time, we've been denied a table due to its overwhelming crowds. Due to Law's powers of persuasion, we managed to snag a table there for tonight. I'll provide a full report of it later.

But until then, I'll leave you with a simple message: Love as if you've never been hurt.

** Photo courtesy of moddots.com

More About Me...

Because I love filling out lists and forms, here's another helping of me:

Four Jobs you have had in your Life:
1. Camp Counselor
2. Research Assistant for a CPS Teaching Initiative
3. Orthopedic Implant Design Engineer
4. Dialysis Machine Design Engineer

Four movies you could watch over and over:
1. Never Been Kissed
2. Love Actually
3. Amelie
4. Best in Show

Four places you have lived:
1. Northbrook, IL
2. Evanston, IL
3. Warsaw, IN
4. Chicago, IL

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Lost
2. Gilmore Girls
3. Friends
4. Project Runway

Four Places you have been on vacation:
1. Hong Kong
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Boston, MA
4. Vancouver, BC

Four websites you visit daily:
1. CNN
2. Gmail
3. Business Week
4. Google

Four of your favorite foods:
1. Salt and Pepper Pork Chops
2. Chinese Style Green Beans
3. Lychee Gelato
4. Mango anything

Anything is Possible

It's weird how one's taste can change so quickly. And I mean in all realms of life -- movies, music, books, people, careers, food, etc. As I've been reflecting on the past year of my life, I've realized how much I've changed. A year ago, I was living in Roscoe Village/West Lakeview with Lillian and still working as an engineer. The idea of going back to school was merely just that, an idea. I had just met Law McGraw after a slew of horrible dates with other guys. Flash forward to today and life is completely different. I moved back to the suburbs and temporarily back in with my parents. I'm no longer employed and the idea of grad school is becoming more of a reality every single day. Before I know it, some school with have a $1000 deposit from me and I will have sold my soul to higher education. There have been no horrible dates over the past year. In fact, every date with Law McGraw has only gotten better.

But the biggest change in my life over the past year is my taste for phenylalanine, aka NutraSweet. I used to hate anything that was labeled as "Diet." The aftertaste of the artifical sugar was just unbearable. But nowadays, I find normal sodas just too sweet. In fact, I'll choose Diet Coke over Coke anyday. I've also developed a liking for Fresca, which is solely in diet form. I never thought that it would be possible for me to like artificial sugar, but I guess what they say is true: anything is possible. What's next -- me liking cooked carrots? Or tomato wedges?

Nerves of Steel

I have an interview at the University of Chicago for the MBA program on Wednesday morning and for some reason, I'm extremely nervous. Part of it could be the fact that I've done very little preparation for it. I kept meaning to do my prep work today, but instead I decided that I needed to buy storage bags for all of my dresses, so they wouldn't get dusty in my closet. (Note to all: Target is selling some very nice dress storage bags for $0.50 each. Seriously the best deal ever.)

And so to ease my nerves, I decided that I wanted to buy this:


Isn't he the cutest thing ever? Although, I don't really understand what his purpose is. He's described as a pin, but I can't imagine that you could wear it like a brooch. So I don't really know what to do with him. But looking at him is enough for now.

Dorkaholics Anonymous

Tonight, as I was filling out my tax returns, I found myself truly enjoying it. Whether it was figuring out how much I could contribute to my IRA or calculating whether or not I qualified for certain deductions, I felt the adrenaline coursing through my body. I was honestly and seriously giddy. Part of the giddiness might be due to the fact that I'm getting a bigger tax return than I got last year. But the other part is probably due to the fact that I'm a dorkosaurus. There you have it. Hi, my name is Jody and I'm addicted to dorky things, like doing my taxes. Even better, I like to balance my checkbook.

More Food!!!

While surfing one of my favorite handmade goods websites, I can across these cupcakes. I want these in addition to the sushi pillows. I'm thinking that I want the theme of my next apartment to be food. I'm hoping that Law McGraw doesn't mind this, but really, who could resist sushi pillows and cupcake sashets? I even bought some Kellogg's postcards with all the vintage mascots that I'm intending to frame for display in the living room. Who says that you can't hug your favorite food to sleep?