What do I do for a living, you ask? Well let me explain. I work in Internet Advertising. That’s right, Internet advertising. It is basically like networking and Internet marketing. It revolves around the principal of search engine optimization. My company takes our clients sites, be it a site for vending machines, or soccer balls, and advertise it on the Internet. We advertise it so much that the clients eventually receive their own targeted traffic, which in turn purchases the products that they are searching for. This is obviously a general idea of what I do, I can’t exactly sit all day and type to you what is involved in Internet advertising. It is a painstaking process that takes an entire village to produce. I love my job though, every single second of it. I couldn’t ask for more than what I have right now. I appreciate everyone I work with and the money isn’t bad. I love where I live now too so I guess that helps. I obviously have dreams of traveling and reaching out to the world, but I think this position is a great resume builder that might actually lead me to what I eventually want to do, which is advertising for a professional golf tournament.

I thought that it was a no brainer, the quickest and easiest way to get it done – waxing was going to be my Chicago hair remover of choice.  I’d never had it done before, but the premise seemed simple enough.  I scheduled an appointment with a local salon, and since I was a bit excited to get it done I showed up a little bit early.  There were two people waiting ahead of me so I sat down and started to leaf through a magazine.  I could hear the girl who I assumed was getting waxed in the room down the little hallway and the sounds she was making didn’t make it seem like she was having a whole lot of fun.  When she emerged, I could see the redness around her newly shaped eyebrows and on her upper lip – I immediately started to get a little nervous because I don’t handle pain very well.  When the next girl went back and I heard a lot more of the same, then realized that my turn was probably only moments away I decided that waxing may not be for me after all.  I acted like I was getting a call on my cell phone and made my way to the door to make my escape.  I guess it’s time to find a different method of hair removal, and a new salon.

Well, I finally decided I should probably get over my fear of computers so I decided to enroll in a class for beginners! I think it's just ridiculous that before this class I was scared to even turn the computer on.    It seems hilarious to me now. What I like about it is that even though it's a beginning class the teacher has been talking about some more advanced topics like how to do an online backup of our information. This came as a pleasant surprise because my dad has been using his computer to store the research he's been doing about our family. He has all these old vintage pictures on there too that some relatives scanned and sent him via e-mail. He told me he wanted to have an online backup just in case but he didn't know how to do it.  Now I'll actually be able to teach him something. He seems to know almost everything about computers but I know for sure he hasn't learned this yet.  It's amazing the amount of material we've covered.  We have about six more weeks left in the class and it seems everyone is progressing pretty well! I'm having more fun with it than I thought I would.

A girl that I knew at school was a fashion design major.  I had known her for all four years of college, but never really found out about it until we were seniors.  She was dating one of my friend’s roommates, and she was showing him her current project when I was over one day.  The project that she had been assigned was to design clothing with uncommon threads.  It was really pretty interesting.  One of the dresses she had made was made entirely of bar napkins.  She even scribbled things like phone numbers and song lyrics on them to make them seem authentic.  I thought that was so clever.  Another top she made was entirely from the plastic things that hold 6-packs together, which people are always cutting so animals do not get caught in them.  I told her that they kind of reminded me of the movie Zoolander, when Will Ferrell’s character Mugatu designs a whole clothing line out of garbage, and names it Derelict.  I was glad she had seen the movie, because otherwise she might be offended by my telling her that her clothes that she had made reminded me of the garbage clothing in a movie.    

My daughter comes home from work every day exhausted. She is a golf trainer and she just doesn’t know what to do with herself. As she steps into the door she literally trips over her own feet to get to the couch. Then she just falls, and it doesn’t seem like she can sink lower into the couch. This particular afternoon I was a little worried about her welfare. She has been a trainer for almost five years now and she has always loved her job. I have never seen her this tired and depleted of all energy. So I did the sensible thing any mother would do; I took her to a doctor to take her blood pressure and check up on her health. After the doctor took some shots and came back with the results, he confirmed that my daughter was low in iron and that’s is the reason she always feels drained. As a good mother I made her stay in bed for the next three days to take iron pills, eat well, and not spend too much time on her feet. As a golf trainer, she stands the entire day without rest. The sun is always beating down on her and she doesn’t have a minute (or the common sense) to take a drink of water. Now who wouldn’t be sick after all that?

Maybe you just haven’t heard about our latest incentive here at Brilligames—the new executive health program!   People get tired from being “mental athletes” all day, brainstorming brand-new games for other people to play, so they need to relax.  And the best way I know to do this is to get a physical workout!  So—we made a contract with Grubb’s Gym across the street, and for a monthly fee of only $15, all of our employees now have full privileges and use of the health club 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  They have basketball courts, indoor tennis and racquetball, a really great swimming pool, a long track, extensive weight facilities, trampolines, treadmills, Stairmasters—you name it.  Whatever way you feel is most appropriate for you to get some physical exercise before or after that long day of “game planning”, hahaha, is available directly to YOU at Grubb’s!  Dr. Tunstall has tried it out already and he gives it “two limbs up!!!”  Also in our test run were Mary Dockwahler from Marketing, and Jesse Paddlestone from Engineering, and they really enjoyed themselves thoroughly.  It’s a guarantee!  You won’t want to miss this terrific opportunity!  (For those with the company less than 3 months, remember this benefit will not kick in until 90 days in good standing.)  Remember our motto: It’s Brillig, for the smiley tots! (Apologies to Lewis Carroll)

I went to the Stevie Wonder concert for my birthday last month, and between my friend Steve and I, we ran into every single person we know. Or at least it felt like that. First we ran into his golf coach from high school. Then I ran into a cousin of mine. One of the funniest people we ran into was Steve’s bankruptcy law professor from John Marshall. The man did not look like he knew how to have fun, much less enjoy a Stevie Wonder concert. I also ran into a couple of friends from college, and we ended up sitting by one of Steve’s best friends from high school. The concert could not have been more fun. Stevie played practically every single one of his hits, although I was slightly disappointed he did not play “Boogie on Reggae Woman” or “For Once In My Life.” He was quite the entertainer too, he had to whole crowd singing along with him, and laughing every time he cracked a joke. At one point he tried to make the entire crowd sing a country western version of his song “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.” It was hysterical hearing his country singing voice. It was a great night, and an amazing way to celebrate my birthday.