RandomAnna on Vox

QotD: One Day to Live

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 15:32:43 -0500

What would you do if you had one day to live and you were still young and healthy?
Submitted by Green Tea Adelaide.

Kiss my loved ones and give everything away.

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QotD: I'm Biting My Tongue

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:47:36 -0500

What are 10 things you want to say out loud but you can't?
Submitted by alix.

I find swearing to be incredibly therapeutic, but the rest of the world does not share this opinion, so all day long I work really hard at trying not to pepper every sentence with

1. f----

2. s---

3. g--------

(My personal rule is: keep the swearing to a minimum on my blog as well, my mother might be reading this.)

4. To many of the West Virginia drivers on the Dulles Greenway, I often want to yell (but don't ): "The slow lane is on the right! On the right!"

5. To the workers at the post office near my workplace: "Please! Process these people faster! I only get 30 minutes for my lunch break and I'm starving and I just need you to weigh this box and slap some stamps on it! Please! Hurry! For the love of God hurry!"

6. To the outside consultant who is trying to "help" my work team right now: "Dude, you're just repeating Business 101 B.S. over and over again. I am beyond this. I know what a value proposition is, I know what a pipeline is, and I'm not going to use those dorky words to describe what I do!"

7. To my office administrative aides: "OK, the reason why it's important to answer the phones every time they ring is because sometimes the caller at the other end of the line is a very important customer. So no, it's not acceptable when you 'just miss one call.' There are two of you, so surely you can coordinate your bathroom breaks in such a way that no call goes by unanswered. I used to answer phones for a living, so I know it can be done."

8. To Bank of America: "F---- you for raising peoples' interest rates on their credit cards even if they never made a late payment to you. Just because they were late on a payment or two somewhere else does not mean it is ethical for you to jack up their rates at B of A. Your lust for money is inhumane and perverse."

9. To the scary ladies who talk on their cell phones in the stalls in one of the bathrooms in my work building: "Um, ladies, I need a private moment here, and I don't think your pal at the other end of the line really wants to hear a toilet flush. Can't you go gab on your cell phone in the atrium instead?"

10. To one of my coworkers: "OK, you have plenty of evidence and proof that your boyfriend sucks. You're pretty and you can do better than this. Dump this loser and get on with your life while you still have the chance."

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QotD: Can't Do Without...

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:33:33 -0500

What food item would you miss the most if it were removed from your diet and recipes?
Submitted by scorpion1116.

Cheese!!!

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QotD: Cards & Letters

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:33:37 -0500

What do you do with the cards and letters you receive? Do you keep them all, just keep the photos, throw them away?
Inspired by jacolily.

1. I keep all photographs.

2. I try to keep as many of the letters and cards as I can without creating a paper avalanche. Even so, sometimes I create some massively huge heaps of papers and documents that need to be weeded out periodically. I keep all letters and cards with significant, heart felt messages on them. If a card just has a signature below a printed message, unless that person is now dead, I toss the card or note. If there is something pretty on the card or note that I can use in a future art project, then I recycle the pieces.

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QotD: I'm So Grateful

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 23:51:39 -0500

What are you most grateful for in your life right now?
Submitted by Becca-Pink.

I am grateful that my mother is still alive and doing fairly well today; she is in her 70's now and her family has a history of heart and circulatory problems. Mom had a heart attack in 2003 on the same night that my father died; it was mainly a stress induced heart attack and it only stunned her heart tissue. She was able to recover almost 100%. But lately she has felt some odd "fluttering" sensations in her chest and this week the physicians documented a heart murmur. More tests are required to determine what to do. I am grateful I have had my mother in my life this long and I hope she stays with us and is happy and healthy for many more years.

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QotD: Five Good Words

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:53:41 -0500

What are five words you really like?
Submitted by purplesque.

1. biscuit

2. wicked

3. doppelganger

4. sisu (Finnish word meaning "courage" or "guts")

5. popple

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QotD: Where To Shop Online

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 13:45:27 -0500

Which are your favorite sites for shopping online?

Oh man, being a shopaholic, there are too many to mention. Here's just a few:

www.sephora.com for bath and body products galore
www.wishingfish.com, www.fredflare.com, and www.etsy.com for unique and weird gifts
www.seejanework.com for cute and special office products
www.finnstyle.com for Finnish products

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QotD: Singing A Holiday Tune

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:04:12 -0500

Audio: What's your favorite carol or holiday song?

"Hating You for Christmas" by Everclear. It's actually quite a funny and uplifting sounding pop song.

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QotD: Veterans Day

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:58:45 -0500

Today is Veterans Day. Is there anyone you know who has served or is serving in the military that you'd like to honor today?

1. Thank you to my brother-in-law Jim Gegg of North Carolina--and Happy Marine Corps Birthday one day late, too! Jim served in the first Gulf War.

2. Thank you Dad, wherever you are out there. My father Bill served in the Navy during World War II. (He passed away in 2003).

3. Thank you to all of my military customers for being such great people!

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QotD: A Long, Long Way From Home

nobody@vox.com(annaliisa) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 21:40:41 -0500

Where is the farthest you have ever been away from home? Did you get homesick?
Submitted by Melissa.

1. Tokyo.

2. No.

I rarely get homesick when I am traveling. The feeling of being in Tokyo was strange, but a good strange. I was deposited there because of my job, with very little prior preparation or knowledge about Japan, the Japanese language, or the frightening monster size of Tokyo. I also had no idea how arduous a 14 hour flight from New Jersey to Tokyo would be. At the 36-consecutive-hours-awake mark, my body broke down entirely, and it made things extra surreal and dreamlike. What I remember of Tokyo:

A. The Japanese people work very hard, and for many long, painful hours every day.

B. The Japanese know their snacks--good stuff. I came home with a suitcase full of candy and dried fish and even fake little cakes made out of plastic that I don't need but had to own anyway.

C. If you go up to the top of the Tokyo Tower, all you see is skyscrapers stretching to the ends of the earth in every direction, plus a little gray smudge in the distance that people claim is Mount Fuji.

D. Don't get in the way of all those serious-faced commuters all dressed in black wool overcoats all walking in the same direction at the same pace at the same time--you'll be a flattened bystander pancake in no time!

E. The lights of Akihabara are blinding and just as beautiful as what you see on television.

F. I want one of their mint green retro mini fridges. Why can't we have those here?

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