Take Me Out to a Phillies Game

This is a late update...

When I got back from Atlanta on May 20th, I checked the Phillies website to see if they were going to be playing at home while I was visiting South Jersey... and they were!

So when I talked to Ciani I was like "so phillies game on memorial day?" which was awesome because someone else had told her they would be in town and asked if she wanted to go.

We ended up going just to hang out with each other and not hang out with other people. We had an amazing time, cause Ciani is amazing. :)

Now to goal is to try to make it to at least two more Major League games this year. I'm thinking Chicago Cubs (because NL is better than AL) and Colorado Rockies. Which actually, I saw the Rockies play in Philly and it was NOT a good game for my Denver friends... they lost 20-5. YIKES!

Ten Days

the waiting is the hardest part...

Maine in less than 36 hours...

So this isn’t the first time something like this has happened…

In February 2007, around 7 p.m. on a Thursday evening, Ciani called me and I said “are you coming to see me?” and she said “no, we’re meeting half way. Come up to D.C.” I paused a moment and said “ok, I need to think about this while I finish my homework. Give me 30 minutes and I’ll make a decision.” (about 40 minutes later I was in my car driving to D.C. to meet Ciani.)

Friday, May 23rd was not that much different.
I arrived to Ciani’s house in NJ around 7/7:30 p.m. and as we decided what we were doing for the evening. I might have casually mentioned that we were only 543 miles from Old Town, ME… she then looked at me very seriously and said “we could go to Maine, I’ll go pack.” So I started laughing and was like “um. We could, I don’t know if my friend would be ok with that, but I’ll ask.” Which asking really didn’t much matter at this point since she was already headed downstairs to find a bag to throw clothes in, thankfully my friend was like “Seriously, you’re coming. This is awesome!”

So we were in the car and heading to Maine by 9 p.m. I was too excited to even sleep. I rested for a moment after NYC and before the Mass Pike. Then around 2 a.m., Ciani was like “Suz, can you drive? I’m tired,” so I took the wheel and drove for the next four hours to arrive on Main Street in Old Town.

Highlights of the drive North:
- Trying multiple times to call Liz to tell her we were driving past NYC
- Called Scotty to tell him we were on our way to Maine- to find out he was already there!
- Calling my sisters to ask the lyrics to the song: 16 Counties of Our State
- Racing the GPS to try to subtract minutes from our ETA (Ciani got us down 7 minutes)
- Asking the Toll Attendant on 295 in Portland what the state bird of Maine is, I said chickadee and Ciani wasn’t convinced, he thought we asked about the seabirds, but eventually confirmed that it was the chickadee- “What about seabirds?”
- Calling Mitchell to wake him up and tell him random things (M: the text noise is too quiet to wake anyone up, A: -from his bedroom- NO IT’S NOT)
- Finding my 15 minutes of fame/ Taking advantage of the fact that Ciani won’t tell me to shut up when I sing

We arrived to Main Street, Old Town, ME around 6:30 a.m., Mitchell came out to meet us and we headed to breakfast at Governor’s. Next we began the “Susan Sherbak History Tour,” Ciani needed to see the important places of my childhood. We visited the University of Maine at Orono, to show her all the exciting places my mom used to take us when we were little. And we got to see the lab Mitchell does sensor research in! We showed Ciani the weeping willow, the dance studio, the gym, the mall, the performing arts studio. In town we got to see the location of my old elementary school… since they tore it down, the back of my 4th/5th grade school, the YMCA, the paper mill (that isn’t really a paper mill anymore), my old house, the creek where we let fish go in the 5th grade, the deer sign with the red nose it, Pat’s Pizza (yum!), Stephen King’s house, Cascade Park, the hospital on the river, downtown Bangor, Super Shoes, and the Bangor Mall.

Highlights of Old Town/Bangor:
- Mitchell’s dad coming out of Subway just after our arrival and me avoiding saying hello (I was in pjs pants, that’s no way to make a first impression!)
- People drinking beer at 7 a.m. in Governor’s
- The Map Store of Downtown Old Town—just in case you got lost in town
- The Mad Scientist at work with the e.coli
- Ordering my calzone at Pat’s Pizza and Mitchell regretting not going first because he wanted the exact same thing (he copied me)
- Tin roofs- “Cat on a hot tin roof!”
- Mitchell moving his bike from parallel parked to perpendicular parked
- Andy calling Mitchell's phone to mock my car/cellphone rule... (imagine high pitched, "valley girl" voice) "oh my gosh mitchell, i met this guy and he's so great and we had ice cream and coffee and you know what this is too much to tell you on voicemail i'm just going to need to see you..."

Around 6 p.m. Ciani realized that she needed to get back to New Jersey to work in the nursery on Sunday morning at 11 a.m., so we returned to Mitchell’s apartment to get my car and on the road.

Highlights of the drive South:
- The L.L.Bean Store in Freeport, Maine
- The pimp at the Thomas A. Edison Service Area on the NJTP
- I finally fell asleep in the carThe McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, Exxon all being closed for bathrooms, we used the Taco Bell bathroom
- Ciani dropping 14 minutes off the ETA on the GPS

Maine in less than 36 hours... (2)

Pictures from Maine:

Ciani and I infront of Old Town Canoe... she deleted the one I wasn't making a stupid face in...













The Mad Scientist hard at work...

The photo that does not count for the scavenger hunt... Mitchell and I with the Governor...

Take me out to a Braves game...

I finally got to see the baseball game I was supposed to see the day before my birthday!

AND Tom Glavine was pitching for the Braves… my heart was very happy! :)

I recruited a co-worker to join me, he’s a Boston fan… but really he loves baseball and that’s all you need to want to go to a game.

Going to the game was kind of drama… well leading up to it… I had LOST the tickets!
Thankfully they were found.. in the most random place in my apartment!

This is the picture from our seats:

The picture is bases loaded with one out... I forgot what inning... Kelly Johnson is at bat.

During the trip I also got to see my Nana and Papa. Which was WONDERFUL! I hadn't seen them since the day after my birthday, which wasn't that long ago, but a bunch has happened since then. Papa had open heart surgery but he is doing wonderful and looks great!

The List - 20 Days

This is me- publicly calling someone out.

1 down. 11 to go. 20 days left. Good luck!

haha

Random collections...

As I was packing up my apartment on Friday, I noticed the following...


I own:

• 2 sets of three different sized bowls for mixing
• 2 bread pans
• 2 sets of cup measures
• 3 spatulas
• 3 sets of measuring spoons

What is actually disturbing-- people have stopped me from buying additional sets of measuring spoons... the number there should really be much higher!

I do what I want...

I'm going to Maine from July 2nd to July 8th!!!

YAY!!!!

Water, Water, Everywhere... except in places for me to live!

So water has not been my friend as of late. This story is kind of funny now… yesterday, not so much.

Due to an upcoming renovation project they needed to shut off the water to the building I have lived in since last July. So I was asked to move into a temporary space until I finish my job next week, no big deal, it’s a week. Small problem—they’re doing a hot water shutdown of half of campus and I’ll need to shower in another building. Also, not a big deal, just as long as I get to shower.

Before we go further, let’s jump back to my original building. My office is also in this building, along with several other people’s offices. With no facilities available during the day, we’re all working on dehydration, scoping out all the close restrooms in surrounding buildings… and did I mention bladder infections? We’re working on those too.

So everything is going great the first night—amazingly comfortable bed, shower with hot water before the shutdown, a working (non-public) toilet. [I’d insert something here about my public bathroom anxiety but I don’t know that you want all that detail. Just know that I hate using public facilities, I am just more comfortable at home.]

Day two rolls around.. bladder infection coming along nicely while at work, dehydration going well, checked out the business services bathroom (very nice!)… then it’s time to head home for the day….

My sister joins me and needs to use the little girl’s room almost instantly. So she goes in and does her business, flushes and notices that the toilet is not refilling, she tries to flush again... no suction towards the ocean (all drains lead to the ocean, if you learned nothing else from nemo, please tell me you at least learned that)…

Now, let’s not panic- we are problem solvers! We’ll just fill the back of the toilet with water from the tap and it will work again. (Suz to kitchen to get something to fill from kitchen sink, Sis trying bathroom sink….)
Sis: Hey Suz, the water isn’t working
Suz: I know, that’s why we’re going to fill the back
Sis: No, I mean the sink water isn’t working...
Suz: what? (tries kitchen sink and nothing happens)

So then I called the person who assigned me to the space and say “Hi, I don’t have any water.” They are very confused and start to do a little fact finding… it will turn out that no one will know why I didn’t have water.

Long story short, because this is getting to be a very long story…

I almost start crying at the thought of not having a non-public bathroom to use. [Insert bathroom anxiety issues.] And then the decision is made that I will be sleeping in the extra bedroom at another staff member’s house. Thankfully their family was inviting and wonderful.

Today after work and baseball, I am comfortably staying in my temporary space with a working toilet! YAY!!!

You may laugh now.

It's coming down to nothing more than apathy...

So, apathy.

I was eating lunch today with Stuart, my favorite professor from my undergraduate education. (Photo: from my graduation, I called him to come out drinking to celebrate, and he's awesome so he did... he took me out drinking on my 21st birthday too!)

Stuart was my professor for Intro to Service (spring 05), Business Policy and Strategy (fall 06) and Life (since spring 05). He has taught me so much about myself in the last few years... it's amazing, he knows how to ask the right questions and how to push me to be successful. So when Stuart talks, I tend to listen. That doesn't mean I always agree, but it does mean I listen and consider his thoughts.

So we were talking, catching up, sharing stories... and somehow politics came up... so I had to admit that I can not get myself interested in politics. I just can't do it, I've tried, but I just can't find it interesting.

Of course, we had an "educational moment" after that. (haha) He said something like "consider that democracy only works when the people being governed are making thought-out, educated decisions about the future of their country , otherwise the country suffers... so use your brain to make educated decisions about the future." I don't think that's an accurate quote, but it's what I took from the conversation.

I always planned on doing the appropriate research to decide who I'll vote for this fall, but now it's kind of like a challenge. :)

Do you know the universal language?

Today was my last Virginia Tech Residence Life End of Year Staff Banquet... it's kind of funny, because last year I thought I was attending my last... funny how the world works.

It was a really nice banquet, the RL Mentors did an incredible job with everything.

One of my RAs won Student of the Year for his support efforts for several events this year.
The Imaginarium Staff won Staff of the Year for their support of all the programming that happens on campus.
Alison and myself won Spotlight of the Year for our support to the NIU Community in February. It felt pretty weird to be recognized for our trip.

The Graduating RA that spoke did a great job. He talked about attributes he uses to make a positive impact on the world. Of course this next moment resonated with me. He asked "do you know the universal language?" People responded with "math," "love" and other words and then he said "smiling... how many people don't know what someone means when they smile?"
Then he read the following quote:
A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as noone needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give. (Author Unknown)

Enough said.

Photos from the event are located here. Enjoy!

where to start?

I think I'll start by smiling... or at least with something that makes me smile...

EKB and I went to West Virginia on the 5th of May to eat Chili's and catch up, this was the sunset as we entered Blacksburg on our drive back. I think it's a pretty Hokie colored sunset. So I was really excited. It also made me a little sad; It's been hard knowing that I am leaving this place.

Over lunch today my friend and I decided that the Blue Ridge Mountains just make you want to cuddle up in them. And while the Rockies are beautiful, they're not as gentle. You can truly understand "purple mountains majesty" when you see the Blue Ridge.