what I think about when work is slow

When I walk into a public restroom, I like to use the bathroom stall that gets the least amount of traffic. I quickly assess the situation and try to pick the stall that I think most people wouldn't normally pick. I find a lot of peace and satisfaction out of using such a stall.

Lately, though, I've really been doubting my technique. Pictured below is the layout of the bathroom at work:
Normally I go for Stall 6. I rationalize that it's at the end of a row so most people don't want to walk that far to use it. But now I'm second guessing myself. Should I pick Stall 3 instead because most people are right-handed so they're more likely to go for the stalls on the right? Or is Stall 3 a straight shot from the door so it's too popular to be safe? Or do I pick Stall 1 or Stall 4 because most people are picking the privacy of the far-away last stalls? Or does everyone think like me, so no matter which one I choose there are a bunch of people picking it for the same reasons?!?! I just can't decide!

So here's my soul-searching question: if you were to walk into this bathroom and all six stalls were open, which one would you most likely use?

(I have no assignments at work today, so what else am I going to think about?)

living a lie

So I lied to my husband this week. A lot. In fact, I lied so much that I couldn't keep track of past lies in order to continue future lies. It was exhausting!

Why all the deception? I blame Ben. (But it's a good blame. Trust me.)

Doug's brother Ben (who lives in California) had business to do in D.C. on Thursday, so he cooked up the story that he was going to be able to come down to Richmond for a night but then he'd have to leave Friday. Ben then fed said cooked story to Doug, who became terribly excited he'd get to see his Californian brother for at least a night.

While Doug was living on the high of a potential short brother visit (a short visit, not a short brother), Ben and I set up a top secret plan. The plan was for Ben to stay with us Thursday night, act like he was leaving Friday, and then surprise Doug by staying the whole weekend. It was an easy task, except for the fact that Ben and I are self-proclaimed bad liars. In fact, I'd say I'm a REALLY bad liar. But we were willing to give it a shot, and it led to me telling Doug lie after lie. After lie.

The best part? Doug didn't have a clue. Nothing tipped him off! So when Ben psyched him out Friday morning, Doug was totally shocked that two not-very-good-liars could pull this off (Ben and I were pretty proud of ourselves too).

Suffice it to say Doug was way happy. We'll post pics of our fabulous brother visit (fabulous brother AND fabulous visit) soon. Stay tuned.

president-elect obama

Alright, pal. You won by a landslide, so you better live up to all this hype. Let's see some change, and please make it good.

the bad hair day that keeps on keepin' on

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you show up to work without doing your hair, they're going to take a picture of you.

I present to the court Exhibit A: cricut.com

I may not work there anymore, but DANG that picture just keeps coming back.

PS- On a related note, my hair dryer CAUGHT ON FIRE this morning as I was using it. I saw something bright in the corner of my eye as I was drying my hair, but I didn't think anything of it. Luckily my brain triggered the alarm shortly after that DUH! That was an orange FLAME. Suffice it to say I have my hair in an ugly ponytail. Another bad hair day to spice up my life.

election day

Done and done.

The polls here in VA opened at 6 am, and because I was paranoid about missing work I got there at 6:15 am. The line was wrapped around the high school where I went to vote and the parking lot was full. Dang. The line actually moved super fast until you got inside the gym. They split you up by last name, and I realized that the S-Z line was the most popular there. It took me 30 minutes longer than those snooty A-G people (I really missed my maiden name today...).

But it was cool to see so many people come out to vote, and I loved seeing all flavors of people. All of us are really are so blessed to be able to participate in our elections. I felt proud to be an American today.

And what did Doug do? He stayed in bed because he had voted via absentee ballot. Show off.

haaaappy halloweeeeen

We Shafers love us some Halloween. After last weekend's ward par-tay, this week we were ready to do a bit of this...
...with these folks...

...and ended up with these!



Halloween night we also got our first trick-or-treaters ever as Team Shafer. Do you want to squeeze that piece of candy and that Oompa Loompa or what?!?!

We didn't have a ton of kids come by, but enough to get rid of all the candy (which we both secretly hate, but we have to pretend like it's a relief). Last night we also endured the movie "Halloween" for the first time. It was TiVo-ed, TV-friendly, cheesy, and had some terrible acting, but it still freaked me out.
Now THAT is a good Halloween.

the new job: things to like...

- having a computer! (finally!)
- remembering I actually DO know how to use a PC, although the PC-at-work-but-Mac-at-home trick really messes with my mind. And my fingers
- hearing "ya'll" regularly in meetings
- using IM for internal company communications... everybody does it
- getting hot chocolate on the second floor from the loudest machine you've ever heard
- working on the floor that has conference rooms all named after animals... Californian Condor, Tamarin, and Duiker (see photo) are some of my favorites
- knowing another building has conference rooms that are all named after dragons... Puff, Falkor that one from the Never Ending Story, etc. No, I'm not kidding.