layla is here

Layla Sheri Wright. 7 pounds 5 ounces. She arrived on Thursday. Welcome to our world!

we're saving the world one pixel at a time

One of the beautiful things about being a designer is that you get to help people in the very different ways. You can work for a nonprofit and do pro-bono or really cheap work, you get to help small business owners, you develop products that makes people's lives easier. Hey, if I'm not mistaken, a designer created this this? And all of this for that matter.

Well, while doing some organizing at work today, I came across an old "project" that was my small contribution to the world. At least that day. Here it is. My coworker's friend's grandma passed away and the family really wanted to use this photo for the memoriam card. So I worked my magic and gave grandma her last gift.

"I came, I saw, I want to go home"

After 6 wonderful, life-changing years here in this country, I'm moving back to Brazil. I can't explain how this feels. It's wonderful and horrifying at the same time. Right now I can only feel the horrifying part. I can only cry my eyes out. I can only make a list of people I have to see before the 25th. I just want to wake up.

Those 6 years tested me in every way they could. I went through ups and downs I didn't even know existed. I found my second family; I found people who became my insides. I can't remember what life was like before them. How do I leave?

I apologize in advance for my lack of technical skills

Dear Legally Normal readers,
I sincerely apologize if my new banner doesn't look right on your screen. I have very little idea of what I'm doing when it comes to html, and I am trying hard to learn how to fix that by myself. Also, I apologize for the randomness of my design. It was totally driven by boredom and laziness and does not reflect whatsoever what I would like to see there. I'll get to it when I have time or when I feel like it.
For now, it is what it is.
Love always,
Ana

the best one so far - another type video

i want them to win

So today the new season of Dancing with the Stars started. I'm not an avid fan but today two of some of my favorite people are there: Helio Castroneves and Mark Cuban. Helio is the most adorable human being ever. I had the chance to work with him before and to be around him on very mundane circumstances, and he's always a charm. He's one of the nicest, most genuine people I've ever met and he always has that big smile on his face. It's just always there! I loved when Drew Lachey, the douche who won the show a couple of seasons ago and who was hosting the show tonight, tried to call Helio out. He said that when he was on the show two seasons ago he didn't smile until the third week. Helio - of course - smiled and said "I guess I have more fun than you." In your face, Lachey! In your face!

And Mark Cuban - man! He's one of those people you either love or hate, so I love him, because I'm pretty much like that too. I even wrote a paper about him a while ago for a radical marketing class I was taking. (I was reading it tonight, so I'm cutting and pasting some stuff here).

Mark Cuban is the epitome of a die-hard, borderline delusional fan. And let's make it clear here that I'm no sports fan. I have no team preference, no technical knowledge or understanding of what sports do to people to freak them out so much. It also blows my mind the fact that major league players become overnight and overpaid millionaires. I think that should be illegal, but that's besides the point. It's one of those things that I'll probably never understand or agree with.

I'm talking about sports teams as businesses. Lucra-fucking-tive businesses. Mark Cuban is a billionaire and he's not even 50. He bought a dead operation and turned it into an elite team, and a big part of it is... well, HIM.

He personally responds to fans emails, he's has permanently changed basketball rules. He likes rap, he looks like immature school boy and most times like a publicity hog. He has been fined way too much money for talking too much, and for having too many outbursts - and each dollar Mark Cuban is fined is matched by himself and donated to charity. Turnover at his companies is almost non-existent.

To me he's a breath of fresh air. He's the epitome of entrepreneurial innovation. He says "we sell sore throats, we sell smiles, we sell the look on your son's or daughter's face when they're standing up and screaming and yelling."

And about Donald Trump he says “ [he] needs to stop drinking his own Kool-Aid. He’s getting sick on himself!... He needs to step away from the Cialis. Those 4 hour erections have started to have an impact on his thinking."

I'm a huge, huge fan of both Dancing With The Stars boys. I say in with the Cubans and Helios, out with the Trumps and Lacheys.

typography warms my heart

Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" routine




Pulp Fiction


Brazil


A lesson

amazing

family and my plans for other people

This year all of a sudden a bunch of people I know got pregnant. My best friend, Kira, is also with child. She's due in December. Ericka, another really close friend, is due anytime. I also know about 3 other women who got knocked up around the same time and are due by the end of the year. You would figure that as a single woman living by myself with pretty much no single girlfriends, I would be going out of my mind, but I'm not. I can't wait to see all those babies arrive. It's kinda like the beginning of a new era, and it's fun. It feels grown up.

I'm also sad because some people might be moving and I won't really be able to see their kids grow up up close, but I know I'll always be there for their milestones. What I really want is for my sister to get pregnant, to be honest. I can't wait to be a real aunt, and I know I'll be the best one there is.

My sister is getting married in April, and she just found the house she and her boyfriend, my soon to be brother-in-law will live at. Look:

How cute is that? I can't wait to see that house populated with people, specially babies. I know she's gonna read this and laugh because I don't really know if kids are in her near future plans, but they are on mine.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this. I'm happy for them and can't wait to see them handle married life. It's going to be fun and probably funny. Cheers to them. And to their future babies!

more than ok

directed by Price James

via Tubalu

8 ways to drive a graphic designer mad

"As everyone knows, graphic designers are the reason there are so many wars in this world. They get inside our heads with their subliminal advertising, force us against our will to spend money on the worst pieces of shit, and eventually, drive us to depression and random acts of violence. And of course, most of them are communists.

So to do my part to save the world from them, i made a list of things you can do when working with a graphic designer, to assure that they have a burn-out and leave this business FOREVER."

via ghisroy.

I hate young people

See more here.

Checklist

The note Michael Vick used when he made his four-minute apology speech on TV has been sold for $10,200, with all proceeds benefiting the Animal Cruelty Reward and Response Fund. The buyer: comedian/producer Carol Leifer.

So here they are, his six well thought out points:

1. Apologize for what I've done... CHECK.
2. Apologize Commissioner, AB... ashamed, Disappointed... CHECK
3. Forgiveness and Understanding... CHECK
4. Take full responsibility for my actions... CHECK
5. We all make mistakes. I've made mistakes in judgement... CHECK

mmmmmmmm.... I feel like I'm forgetting something....

- HOW ABOUT THE DOGS HAVE SUFFERED!!!??

- OK, dogs have suffered.


---------------------------------------
(Bastard. Stupid heartless son of a bitch.)

Jena 6

If you don't know about the Jena 6 case by now, you should go here. Or here. It's another horrifying proof that we still have a long way to go.

--------------------------

People who know me know that I'm not religious at all, but I'm open to everything, even though I don't like the idea of having to be inside of a church, or a temple, or a synagogue, so I can get my ticket to heaven. I think spirituality is much more personal than that, and it requires no rules, or poses any punishments, or suffering for "disappoint" your God. Anyway, I went to church today with a friend. It was a mostly black church, not my first time, but the biggest and loudest one I've ever been. On the way in, I was handed a flyer that said "A Litany and Prayer for the Families of the Jena 6". Here's a excerpt:

"We will not be silenced. We remember the Scottsboro boys and the lynching of old. We honor the memory of Emmett Till and the Birmingham Four Little Girls. We stand with the righteous steadfastness of Angela Davis, The Wilmington 10 and Nelson Mandela and the Rivonia Six. We will not be silenced for we know through all generations, from Ramah to Jena, Your name Spirit, that convicted our ancestors, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, Malcom X, Martin Luther King, and so many others, runs through our veins. (...)

Bryant Purvis, Jesse Beard, Carwin Jones, Theodore Shaw, Robert Bailey, Jr and Mychal Bell, now know as the Jena 6, stand before the unrighteous courts of this land - a symbol of a new generation's reminder never to forget the things of old - the tree, the noose, the unreachable bail, the three hour trial of a kangaroo court - guilty as charged and sentenced - maximum term - as American as apple pie."

if I controlled the internet (a poem)

"Flat pages can't contain Rives' storytelling, even when paper is his medium. The pop-up books he creates for children unfold with surprise: The Christmas Pop-Up Present expands to reveal moving parts, hidden areas and miniature booklets inside. On stage, his poems burst in many directions, too, exposing multiple layers and unexpected treats: childhood memories, grown-up humor, notions of love and lust, of what is lost forever and of what’s still out there waiting to unfold."

via Ted

pretty on the outside

Have you seen Pretty On The Outside?

Dope questions

A plane is standing on a runway that can move (some sort of band conveyer). The plane moves in one direction, while the conveyer moves in the opposite direction. This conveyer has a control system that tracks the plane speed and tunes the speed of the conveyer to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction). Can the plane take off?

------------------------------------

Can you swim faster through water or syrup?

------------------------------------

On "Let's Make a Deal" you pick Door #1. Monty opens Door #2; no prize. Do you stay with Door #1 or switch to #3?

------------------------------------


A Sisyphean task?

------------------------------------
Via Kottke (always dope himself)

"she's not well right now"...

says the psychopath, straight from the pits of LINEN HELL!!!

I'm either crazy or they have really bad judgement

These two typefaces were selected by the Type Directors Club as the winning entries of the TDC2 2007.

Here is Subtil. I'm diggin it.


Designers: Hanno Bennert, Alexander Gialouris Willich

Here is Peanut, which fucking blows. Does the world really need a catoony version of Papyrus?


Designer: Michael Clark

See other winners here.

I want

hand soap. $12, available at Etsy.

pillow. $120, available at Etsy.


notecard (no love scenes allowed). $4, available at Etsy.


bag. $42.00, available at Etsy.


beanie tam in Crochet. $12, available at Etsy.



print. $15, available at Etsy.

(well, I don't really want the hand soap. They're a little disturbing. But I would definitely give them as a gift.)

It makes me want to cry

Maria Bantjes.

Why I Have A Crush On You, UPS Man

by Alice N. Persons, from Don't Be A Stranger.

"you bring me all the things I order
are never in a bad mood
always have a jaunty wave as you drive away
look good in your brown shorts
we have an ideal uncomplicated relationship
you're like a cute boyfriend with great legs
who always brings the perfect present
(why, it's just what I've always wanted!)
and then is considerate enough to go away
oh, UPS Man, let's hop in your clean brown truck and elope !
ditch your job, I'll ditch mine
let's hit the road for Brownsville
and tempt each other
with all the luscious brown foods —
roast beef, dark chocolate,
brownies, Guinness, homemade pumpernickel, molasses cookies
I'll make you my mama's bourbon pecan pie
we'll give all the packages to kind looking strangers
live in a cozy wood cabin
with a brown dog or two
and a black and brown tabby
I'm serious, UPS Man. Let's do it.
Where do I sign?"

Today's image search

Looking for "wine tasting"

I love me some Common

It's this thing now, that's drivin' me wild
I gotta see what's up before it gets me down
No it's not a mystery, it's everything

She was the type to watch Oprah and the Today Show
Be on the treadmill, uh, like "Okay, go"
Had a body, A body that you can't pay fo'
That mean she had some Ds on her but they wasn't fake though
Had a drive for a drive for Rodeo
She spent pesos on those labels
Spin class at the gym, strip tease on a pole
She was so obsessed with her body and clothes
To every party she goes, tryin hard to be chose
They say it's hard for a pimp but extra hard for these (hoes)
Readin Us and People Mag, tryna get the scoop
Chasin a actor for a Bentley Coupe
She been through the ball player from the Clippers, then came the pumps
All thinkin she number one where she was just a jumpoff
Doin all she can for a man and a baby
Drivin herself crazy like the astronaut lady <<< favorite!

It's this thing now, that's drivin' me wild
I gotta see what's up before it gets me down
No it's not a mystery, it's everything

He had paper since we was in, we was in high school
Pop was a doc, mom taught at my school
Lock with the rocks, in his ears he kept jewels
One of the Diddy types, da D-D-Dame Dash dudes
Pushed a Maserati Sport, readin the Robb Report
Wanted to be Mike but he was never live at sports
Since golf is in he was on the drivin course
To live the rap life is what he was strivin for
Spendin cash at the bar to get credit
Drinkin Chaundon just because Big said it
They say Ye is but dude was big headed
Rocked the fur in the summer so somebody'd pet it
He had a fetish for shoes that's athletic
Pathetic on his MySpace page half naked
It's a shame what they do for fame and to be respected
Joe, you coulda got it if you never woulda stressed it

It's this thing now, that's drivin' me wild
I gotta see what's up before it gets me down
No it's not a mystery, it's everything

They was one of them couples, people said they were the it
Unbreakable, like Bobby and Whit
Or Ryan and Reese, or Kimora and Russ
Relationships can be dead but look live to us
I guess we all been through it where we try too much
Losin yourself and you're lyin and stuff
Wishin for the diamond cuffs, in search of a ring
Where love is not a mystery it's everything

It's this thing now, that's drivin' me wild
I gotta see what's up before it gets me down
No it's not a mystery, it's everything

Update: the iPhone new Jesus is 17

If you haven't seen it yet, here's the kid who wants to talk to Steve Jobs. Man to man.



"Under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act), since November 2006, celular telephone unlocking and reverse engineering required to do celular phone unlocking is completely legal."

You gotta love the kid!

Infringements aside...

here are 10 steps on how to unblock an iPhone all by yourself!

Here's a video showing that it really works.

Ta-da!

FIDO

A month ago or so, when it was about 300 degrees in shade here in Indianapolis, I started wondering what I should do to help a dog that lives at a garage behind my job. He's always been there, chained to a wire fence where his owner works. It's like a small junkyard. The guy is there most of the time, but even when he's not, the poor dog is there, hiding from the sun or the rain under some old car, or in his old house made out of really old wood. Rain or shine, he's always there. You can even see his house on Google map, I'm not kidding. Look:


Anyway, I thought about talking to his owner, but you never know how people are going to react if you point something out to them, and since I work right there, I decided not to take a chance and have some dude mad at me. But there was no way I was going to let that dog just sit there.

I thought about calling Animal Control, but I think most of the time, IF they come to check your case, they'll take forever and they might take the animal away and just kill him, which of course, I didn't want to happen. So I was googling to see if I could find some other resource, or if there was anything I could legally do myself to get the dog out of there. That's when I learned about FIDO: Friends of Indianapolis Dogs Outside.

They are an amazing organization of volunteers only that helps to improve the quality of life of dogs who live always chained outside. The volunteers don't come and take the dog away from you. They encourage dog owners to work with them and educate themselves about how to take good care of their dog, even if they have to stay outside part of the day. Considering that shelters are already full of dogs in need of adoption, the last thing they need are more animals to be taken away from homes if you can try to give people a new perspective first.

So I called FIDO and I left a message reporting about the dog behind my job. I gave them the detailed address, a description of the dog, the conditions he was living in, my name and phone number. A week later they gave me a call and told me that they would go and check on him.

The day after that first call, one of their volunteers called me again saying that she had went over there and talked to two men who work for an architecture firm next to the guy's garage. They told her that the dog's name was Paco, and the owner's name was Kenny. They also knew about complaints that had been made to Animal Control in the past. I guess nothing happened with that. She then went to where the dog was and talked to the Kenny guy and explained the issue. He explained that Paco sits under the cars when he wants to be in the shade and that he's his guard dog, but he's not vicious. C'mon now! For real! What kind of crap is that?

I haven't seen Paco for a couple of weeks now, and I was wondering if his owner had given him away or something, so I started feeling bad. But yesterday I got a third call from another volunteer working on his case. She told me that she went there to check on him again this week, and found out that Kenny took Paco home for a while, at least while it is too hot outside. He's also fixing his house in case he needs to bring him to work. Hopefully he'll give him a better life, but who knows.

Moral of the story: I'm going to start to volunteer for FIDO, because I think they do an awesome job. I'm also going to offer to redesign their website and try put their name more out there so people will know they exist. More and more I'm finding out that I really love this whole animal thing, specially dogs. Sometimes they make me happier than people. I would die for my Puppy. Me and him usually go to Petco on the weekends to walk and play with dogs that live at no-kill shelters. They are there every Sunday, and so are we.

Image search

Looking for "OUTSOURCE":

Object of my affection

I just figured I should let the world know about this, since it is a pretty serious issue or just in case anyone out there is looking a poor Brazilian designer to adopt or donate a few bucks to. I'm fucking in love with in desperate need of a Nikon D80 with a 18-200mm lens included. If you would like to be a part of this noble cause, please email me at poorbraziliandesigner@goddamnindiana.org. Any contribution will be greatly appreciated. In return, I will send you a picture of me that I'll take with my brand new camera. God Bless.

Worth spreading

100 Websites You Should Know and Use

The DIY CanFrame: Transform a Tin Can into a Simple Photo Frame in 15 Minutes

Online delivery service that provides organic produce and natural groceries to the Indianapolis and the Greater surrounding area. Their service provides an avenue for local artisans and farmers to share their crafts and talents with our community members.

Time does the talking.

This Blog Sits at the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics

My true-love-always-and-forever-and-ever peeps

A weekend with Simone de Beauvoir

I spend most of my weekend with my books. I read ZAG, by Marty Neumeier, which I highly recommend if you're in the design industry. I also bought "The Second Sex" by Simone de Beauvoir, and I am absolutely in love with her. The book is huge and fantastic.

*****

In the spirit of a very "gender-aware" weekend, I also watched the Visible Vote 08, sponsored by HRC and Logo. The best part is the conversation with Congressman Dennis Kunicich, who is more lucid than any other candidate I have seen in the past few years. Just compare how comfortable he is in that room compared to Bill Richardson, who just couldn't relate. The poor man couldn't hide. I love how he says "GAY AND LESBIAN" like he's saying "HIPPOPOTAMUS".

You can watch the forum here.

******

Here's some Simone de Beauvoir:

“In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: the ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a human being, without feeling fear, restraint, or obligation.”


"Why one man rather than another? It was odd. You find yourself involved with a fellow for life just because he was the one that you met when you were nineteen."

lesson of the day

"and then she told me that when life gets you lemons you have to make lemonade. i've always wanted to know who came up with that expression. and not because i ever thought it sounded cool. but she said this about life and i thought, you know what, fuck that. just because life gives you lemons, doesn't mean you have to accept the lemons. it doesn't mean you have to take them. and you sure as hell don't have to make lemonade just because everyone else is making lemonade. i thought, if life really gave me lemons, i'd throw them back and say, keep your fucking lemons. and then i'd go find me some oranges."

Awesome. That's why I love -5.

know

Sometimes I wish we all were born fluent in all languages. I don't ever wish there was just one language, though, because I think all of them have their way of being breathtakingly beautiful and poetic and make me want to cry.

I love the fact that I am fluent in different languages. That has always been a passion of mine. I speak English and Portuguese fluently, my Spanish is pretty damn ok, and I know some French just to get by.

There's this singer/songwriter in Brazil called Adriana Calcanhoto, and she's by far one of my favorite lyricists ever. She's fresh, contemporary, and if you could design music, that's what she would be. A music designer. Her words come with images, with smells, and flow through history, art and philosophy so subtly that makes you sing the words like they just came out of a kid's lullaby. And in this case, they kinda did. Last year, she released an album called "Partimpim", and she went on a tour around the country where at least 60% of her crowds were children of all ages. My favorite song of the CD is called "Saiba", which means "Know" in English. It reminds me of the old LPs my parents would play for my sister and I when we were kids. I wish there were more of these.

--

Know (Adriana Calcanhoto)

Know: everybody's been a baby
Einstein, Freud and Plato too
Hitler, Bush and Saddam Hussein
Those who have dough and those who don't

Know: everybody's had a childhood
Mohammed was also a kid
Archimedes, Buddha, Galileo
just like you and I.

Know: everybody's been afraid
Even if it was a secret
Nietzsche and Simone de Beauvoir
Fernandinho Beira-Mar

Know: everybody will die
President, general or king
Anglo-Saxons or muslims
Each and every human being

Know: everybody's had a father
Those who have passed and those who will
Lao Tse, Moses, Ramsés, Pelé
Gandhi, Mike Tyson, Salome

Know: everybody's had a mother
Indians, africans and germans,
Nero, Che Guevara, Pinochet
just like you and I.

Henry Ford

"If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse."

type everywhere

Spell with flickr

today's newsmap

"Want to stay up to date with current events and news? There's a really neat site called Newsmap that posts headlines from world news sources throughout the day in a colorful mosaic of information. You can click on global news or choose a specific country and select from various categories like business, technology, sports, entertainment and health. By clicking on the headline, you are instantly directed to the corresponding news page. The best part is everything is color coded so you know exactly what story goes with what topic. Even if you miss a day, you can click on the bottom for daily archives and check out past stories! It's like painting by numbers with news."

Awesome. And beautiful. And useful. And I fucking wish I had come up with it.

-- via GeekSugar

visitors

So I know I mentioned a while ago that one of my BESTEST EVER FRIEND was coming to visit me. He did, we had a great time, we drank lots of beer, we went to Chicago, we had a picnic in the canal downtown, than we drank some more, laughed some more, then cracked ourselves up. We also made up dances and slangs, we cooked, hung out, and I miss them terribly already. (by them I mean him and Marcela, his friend who's also my friend now.) Love them!

go burn a bra. NOW.

breaking news

via Chris Brown

"Sonia, say www.youtube.com"

ponto = dot :: www(ponto)youtube(ponto)com

murder plots and colored books

Update from yesterday: The hairdresser emailed-me himself and tried to apologize in his own obnoxious disgusting manner, by not saying he was sorry but by telling me he could appreciate why I felt disrespected. I didn't expect anything beyond that, beside seeing his ass on the street covered in shit holding a sign that reads "will work for food".

---

Update for yesterday no.2: I just received an email from one of the owners. Here's a small part:
"Hi Ana, My name is N. and I just wanted to let you know that I am sorry that I was unable to take you for your appt. I have a firm policy that a client can not be more than 12 min. late for an appt so that all stays on time. I do that so everyones schedules are as close to the time scheduled as possible only in emergencies do I make exceptions. I did need to leave the salon at 1pm and had a schedule for my afternoon. I felt that you needed to hear this from me so that I would extent my courtesy to you. Please feel free to reschedule if wanted.
Sincerely
N."

---

Besides spending my whole day and night plotting ways to kill the mother fucker, I took some time to organize my books by color. My goal was to make them look like this:



I would just like to say it here that THERE IS NO WAY THAT PHOTO WAS NOT PHOTOSHOPED OR THAT WHOEVER DID THAT THING DID NOT HAND-PAINTED HIS BOOKS. IMPOSSIBLE!! I dare anyone to try to, send me a picture and prove me wrong. Please. Thanks.

the day a hairdresser almost made me choke the bitch out of him

Bad customer service has a new meaning to me. I have officially seen the worst. And I have seen some real fucked up ones...

This is an email I just sent to the owner of the hair salon where I had an appointment today. I was completely verbally assaulted by a very flamboyant and orange hair stylist who did nothing short of rolling his eyes and neck at me. He made me see red for about an hour. Maybe three. Now my mission is just to get him fired:

(note that I'm not posting their names here. In case they don't reply to me within a day, I will post their link. Then you're all welcome to send them hate mail for me. Thanks in advance.)

"Dear XXXXXXX Hair Designs owners,

I'm taking time out of a busy day to write you this email after experiencing the worst, most disrespectful and humiliating customer service I have ever seen. It happened earlier today, at 12:45am, after I arrived late to one of my appointments at your salon.

I would like to open a parenthesis here and explain that I am a designer/branding professional who works on a daily basis on helping companies create a positive perception with the public, and what I experienced in your salon was nothing short ofappalling. I was very impressed with the organization of the website and the online booking alternative, and I was looking forward to seeing how my experience in your business would be. Evidently, it wasn't the best.

I schedule an appointment online for 12:30pm with N., who I believe is also one of the owners. Sometime before 9am this morning (Tuesday, July 17) somebody called me and asked me if it was ok to re-schedule my appointment with N. at 11:30am instead. Because I wouldn't be able to make, we rescheduled with another girl, still at 12:30pm. I was still very glad with the treatment I was given; the person who called me was extremely polite and made sure I was contacted early enough in case I had to change plans.

On my way to my appointment, I was running late. At 12:35pm I called the salon from my car, while I was stranded in traffic, and told the receptionist that I would be there in about 5 minutes. I apologized for being late and nothing was said about the inability of the hairstylist of making the appointment. When I got to the salon, at almost 12:45pm, I was told that the person I had schedule with had left because she had to pick up her child. I understood that I was late, and if the person had to go, I couldn't blame her, but I thought it was pertinent to bring up the question about an appointment being made at 12:30 when the stylist has to be gone by 12:45. Sounds awfully quick to me, but I didn't mean to challenge the the competence of the salon or the employee. It was a logical question, asked respectfully, not ONCE getting personal with any of the people involved.

So I asked "why was the appointment made at 12:30 if she had to be out by 12:45"? The question was made to the girl sitting in the reception area.

That's when J.B. (I see his photo on the website, that's why I know his name) stepped in and quickly responded "Why are you late"? I explained to him that I had called about running late. I also said that I was referred to the salon by a friend who really likes the salon, and that's why I was there, and that I couldn't understand why he was being so rude to me. He then when on a rampage, telling me "no to tell them how to book", "maybe my friend likes it because she's on time", "he didn't care what I thought", and ended by telling me "I was shocked because he was calling me out, and apparently I'm not used to it." All of that in a VERY standoffish and offensive tone.

I was ABSOLUTELY speechless. All I could say was that I was shocked, that he was completed over-reacting, that I would just call and re-schedule and that that was terrible customer service. I left and walked to my car oblivious, knowing that I would make the owners aware of the incident.

I'm writing you as a person who was extremely impressed with the service offered to me before I entered that place, and was looking forward to becoming a regular customer, since I live nearby. What your employee did to me was despicable, and he made SURE I NEVER, EVER STEP INTO THAT PLACE AGAIN. Not because the hairstylist wasn't there - I could live with that, because I know was late. But because I absolutely refuse to be a customer of a place that will let an employee greet a guest like Jeremy Brown did. This is not an attack at your salon. This is to make you aware of the treatment given to me by one of your associates, while other employees stood around watching him flat out personally disrespect me and my character.

I will make sure my friends who are already your customers don't ever return to that salon. I will also make this incident known to fellow PR colleagues who are a very tight community in this town. My goal is not to hurt your business, but it is to make a statement against this kind of behavior, which I'm sure directly affects the image of your salon.

I hope you take this email into consideration and somehow use it to your benefit. I wish you all luck and hope you realize that at the end of the day, those who work for or with you represent what you and your business stand for.
Hopefully that was just a REALLY bad first impression."

Hopefully the bitch is gone by now.

hospital and stuff

The past two days have been filled with running around to and from the hospital, making sure my friend is ok. I'm tired, but it's good to feel useful.

Here are four things I'm looking forward to:
1. Laying by the pool for at least half of my day tomorrow.
2. Getting the new prints I just got from Etsy framed and hung on my newly painted walls.
3. Seeing my best friend from Brazil next weekend/week. Ah! I can't wait.
4. Going to NY! (I think on the 27th. Not sure. But Yay for that anyway!)

Want to hear something great? I installed the "Honesty Box" application on my Facebook profile. Here's their quick description of it:

"Honesty Box lets you find out what your friends really think about you, your haircut, your body, your friends etc, by putting a box on your profile that people can use to send you anonymous messages. You can even reply to your anonymous messages!"

So far I got one. Check this out:



Ah! Isn't this great? I love that application. I'm just hoping someone else will write me and actually tell me something new. I replied to that first one, of course: "I know... I try to work on it, I really do, but when I realize, I already said it! Sorry! Hope I haven't ever been rude to you. I'm not a mean person, I just don't have great manners..."

Ok, big deal. Somebody told me I'm rude. What a shocker; I haven't heard that one before. But really, I don't see myself as a rude person. I'm just very honest, and I'm very good at voicing my opinion at all times. I don't mean to hurt anybody's feelings, I don't want to be evil. For real, I don't. Seriously. Get over it, people. Grow some balls or something. And please send me more comments.

I'm super tired. Good night, peeps.

open heart

This morning one of my closest friends here in Indianapolis had open heart surgery. I was his "person" in the hospital, the one they would come to and give updates throughout the process. The one who had to go and have a consult with the doctor after the procedure, to make sure I understood what was happening, and to know how to update his family of his condition (my friend is also from Brazil, and his whole family lives there. So yeah, I am his person.)

He's ok for now and I think be ok overall. He has to. It's just a weird feeling of being unsure and hoping to God that I don't have to be the one to ever deliver bad news. Or to have to lose a close friend.

I wrote about this the other day, but more and more I feel it around me. And surround me almost like a hug. I have an amazing family I was born into, and I have a family here too, and I didn't know what true, real, commited friendship was like until I moved thousands and thousands of miles from home . Until I got to a place where we were all alone, and we all had to rely on one another. To trust each other as we would trust a brother or a sister. It's a very good feeling, and it takes leaving your comfort zone to figure it out. I'm glad I did.

I know that if it was me there, I wouldn't be alone.

----

Update: I just got a call and he's off the respirator and asked where he was. Yay!

Poor Blitzo!

This is an awesome "monologue" between Michael Moore and Wolf Blitzer. It's just so sad how Wolf keeps trying to defend Dr. Gupta and can't get one word across. Worth watching every second of it.

you do what you gotta do

FROM PULITZER TO PARIS HILTON.
"He received a Pulitzer Prize for a memorable Vietnam War photograph. Now, Nick Ut has again snapped an image that says a lot about the times."

Dude. Seriously.

a-ok

I was reading some posts from a while ago and all of a sudden I missed writing. I mean, ACTUALLY WRITING, so that months from now I can come back here and see how I was feeling at 5:37, on July 5th, 2007. I'm at work, and my dog is here with me. That's how it is pretty much every day. I wake up around 8am, take a shower, put on something comfortable, usually with flip-flops, get Puppy and head out to work. The environment here is pretty laid back, and I get to work with some people who I actually like. Then I leave, maybe grab something to eat on my way home, walk my dog for a while, talk on the phone with a couple of friends, then maybe someone comes by, or we'll go out to dinner, and then I watch really bad TV.

Some people would say this is the most boring life in the world (including me sometimes), but the fact is that I am in a good place. I have an apartment I love, a job that even though doesn't really challenge me too much (or at all most of the time) but allows me to have a pretty stress-free life and doesn't require me to wear shoes or leave my dog alone at home. I have also been taking better care of myself and keeping my anxiety under control, and that is a huge deal to me. Last year being just normal was my main goal. Most of all, I have few but REAL friends. I look back, about 3 years ago, I knew so many people! I was always around strangers, a constant hang-out with people whose last name I didn't even know.

Now I have the real deal. It's like I have sorted trough everybody and kept the ones who I can really call if I get stranded on the highway. And they would actually come. Or those who would stay with me until 3 o'clock in the morning if I ever felt like I didn't want to be alone. Or those who call to check on me at least twice a week. I might not even see them that often, but I know they are there. I am happy with them. And I'm happy with things in general.

My best guy-friend from Brazil is coming to visit this month, and I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE HIM. I've been looking forward to that, and I've been looking forward to other things I can't quite mention now. So I'm finally ok.

And I'm finally getting comfortable with the fact that it's ok to just to be ok. This might be the Lexapro talking, but really - am I wrong?

past two days