2009 Wrap-Up: Life
Dec 31, 2009
Categories: apartments, dance, job hunting, jobs, life, relationships, school, travel, weather
A lot of people are enthusiastically shouting “good riddance!” to 2009 today, and that’s totally understandable. Our economy went to crap, everyone is up in arms over health care reform and some would-be martyr just tried to blow up another goddamn airplane. I, however, will be a little bit sorry to see it go. Two-thousand-nine was probably one of the best years of my life.
In early ‘09 there was snow. And more snow. And then Nathan and i went to Chicago for Valentine’s day and stayed in a delightful little B&B for a couple of nights. I don’t know what it is about Chicago, but it’s just really fun to go there and stare up at the giant buildings and wander around lost and then stop by IKEA on the way home. Feeling romantic, we also stopped into a few stores in the Windy City’s Diamond District and ogled some sparklies while we were there. It was an indicator of things to come.
In March we moved into our lovely downtown loft. It was really awesome at first until we discovered more recently that 1200 square feet is a LOT to keep clean all the time and that being able to hear everything your neighbors yell at each other isn’t really all that fun. It’s been a nice setting for a few parties, but we don’t do that kind of thing terribly often, and even when we do it’s only a handful of people. We’re hoping to rent a house this spring, and hopefully not being able to hear our neighbors will be worth the effort required to keep the lawn mowed and the driveway shoveled.
In the spring Nathan and i started running together. It was a slow start for me again, but i eventually got back up to the three-mile marker again before deciding to take an extended break. It’s still extending, in fact. I got to a point where i could think about nothing but breathing and the pain i was in and that i needed to STOP every time i ran, and for the entire time that i was running. If i run again this year, i’m cranking my music UP and i’m not going to bother trying to breathe correctly. But, more likely, i’m going to get back into dancing instead. And Nathan will be joining me! We start in January, and hopefully it will help me to fit back into the jeans that have recently become too tight to wear. 
In the summer a cute bird couple laid their eggs in our sad little garden box, and we watched their babies quickly grow up & fly away. We took a trip to Oregon on what was probably the hottest week there, ever, and enjoyed visiting Portland and my family despite the shroud of fog out on the coast.
Shortly after we returned my job petered out, and so i signed up for a couple of programming classes at DMACC and started the job hunt, bidding working from home a tearful goodbye. Javascript proved to be very intriguing, and programming logic came pretty easily to me. I only applied for about three jobs in all. One was located right across the street from where we live and dragged out their hiring process so long that by the time they finally rejected me, i had started my new job at Spindustry through Robert Half Technology. I learned recently that I ended up getting A’s in both of my DMACC classes (for whatever good that will do me) and that i get to keep my job at Spindustry! Beginning January 18th, i will no longer be a contractor through RHT, i will be a full-time Spindustry employee, and i couldn’t be happier.
This fall we got engaged, and i’m learning what it’s like to have a heart that is both peaceful and elated at the same time. I bought a 2004 Honda CR-V, and it is getting us safely through the mass amounts of snow that are falling upon Iowa this winter. I’m looking forward to starting to plan our wedding in the coming year (well, i’ve kinda started) and meeting the challenge of becoming even healthier. I have everything to be thankful for and everything to look forward to, and i’m sure 2010 is going to be a great adventure.
Ch-Ch-Changes
Nov 12, 2009
Categories: jobs, life, relationships
Hello again to the five of you who still have a subscription to my blog! Now that i have all sorts of things going on in my life to talk about, i of course have less time for blogging. I do miss it, though. It’s good to be back. 
Three major life-changes have taken place since the last time i wrote. The first was a new job! I started work at Spindustry Interactive a little over three weeks ago. I’m still doing web design, and i actually have a full work load for the first time since college, and i really enjoy it. I won an award for fitting in right away, because on my first day the office prankster sent out an email to everyone and spelled my name wrong where he mentioned me in it. I hit reply-to-all and corrected him. They apparently loved that.
On my third day of work, Nathan surprised me when i got home with a note which he instructed me to read in private. The note was beautiful, and featured a series of little drawings. At the end it said “come find me,” and when i went to him he knelt down and asked me to marry him! Needless to say, I said yes. I cried and cried, and then we went out to a nice dinner and called our families to tell them the news.
So with a new job and a new jewel on my finger, i figured the only thing to do was buy a new car. A few months ago i sold my Saturn and bought Nathan’s Blazer for insurance purposes. The Blazer was great for plowing through the snow last winter, but the body was rusting badly and it needed at least one repair, so i decided to trade it in on a newer snow-worthy vehicle. I won’t go into the details of that story because car-buying proved to be quite a stressful process. Suffice it to say i have a new 2004 Honda CR-V and – yes, it’s a manual transmission.
Prior to my test-drive, i had driven manuals on all of two occasions, and both attempts had involved an abundance of tears and frustration. But, hey, everyone told me i’d learn to love it, so why not? Right??
I’ve been driving my Honda to and from work this week, and today was the first day that i managed not to kill it even one time. I have not been a quick learner with this. Digital stuff is easy to learn – Javascript? No problem! But physical things take a lot more practice.
Speaking of Javascript, i will still be taking classes on Monday and Tuesday evenings for five more weeks. If i take a class next semester it will only be one, because now that i’m working full-time, six hours of classes each week is cutting into my free time a little more than i’d like. Learning programming has been pretty fun, and i think next i need a refresher course in Flash (especially since i’m supposed to be the office Flash expert at Spindustry).
As beautiful and wonderful as last fall was, i think this one has definitely rivaled it. I had never heard of any such thing as “engaged bliss,” but i’ve discovered that it exists. Or maybe that’s just understood to be the state of being engaged. Everything is so lovely. I feel terribly fortunate.
Goings-On
Sep 02, 2009
Categories: job hunting, life
August was long and short in different ways. I’ve been job hunting, so that’s a little tedious. I created a new portfolio site for that, which you can check out here. In fact, i was told just today that my portfolio is pretty sharp and that a lot of applicants “don’t seem to get it” and submit bad portfolios. The summer seems to be coming to an end much too soon, though. It’s starting to feel like fall already, and i’m not too happy about that. I love fall, don’t get me wrong – it just really shouldn’t be fall yet.
I took photos of my nephew for his senior portraits a couple weeks ago, and i’m pretty happy with how they turned out. Here are a couple of my faves:
He’s good at being a model and striking different poses. No word yet on which shots are his faves, but you can go see the full set on flickr if you like.
I’m taking a pretty extended break from running… Not sure if i’ll get back into it at all, but fall is pretty much the perfect time for running, so we’ll see. I wish i could find something like dance-for-exercise around here, but it doesn’t really exist. Maybe swing would do.
This week i started two night classes at DMACC: programming logic and dynamic HTML. That means i’ll be learning really basic concepts for programming but no actual languages on the one hand, and mostly Javascript on the other. I’m heavily considering dropping the first class while i can still get my money back, but probably i should just do it and be done with it and it will be a good foundation for further programming knowledge. The Javascript class is going to be a lot of fun, i think. The classes are three hours each, two days a week, and DMACC is twenty minutes away, so the beginning of my week is pretty packed right now.
Nathan’s b-day is this month! For a few more days we’ll be the same age, and then he’ll surpass me in age and wisdom once again for eleven months to follow. Also, we will celebrate our one-year anniversary this month. Things just keep getting better.
I’m Twenty-Four!
Aug 13, 2009
Categories: life
Hey everybody, i’m twenty-four today!! Nathan promised me that there was a lot of knowledge to gain upon turning 24, and i do believe i’m feeling wiser already.
Twenty-four has some pretty big shoes to fill, actually. Twenty-three was an awesome year for me: meeting the love of my life and spending many happy days hanging out with him, moving to our sweet loft downtown and getting to work from home. I’ll miss that last one a lot when it’s over. 
In the last few months i realized that there are quite a few songs in my music library that mention being twenty-three. I tweeted about them yesterday, but i’m not sure anyone was paying attention, so here is the list:
Blink 182 – What’s My Age Again?
And that’s about the time she walked away from me
Nobody likes you when you’re twenty-three
And you still act like you’re in freshman year
What the hell is wrong with me?
My friends say i should act my age
What’s my age again?
On the day that I turned 23
I was curled up underneath a dogwood tree
When suddenly a girl
Her skin the color of a pearl
She wandered aimlessly, but she didn’t seem to see
She was listening for the angels just like me
Amazing still it seems
I’ll be 23
I won’t always love what I’ll never have
I won’t always live in my regrets
Look good in that red dress
I bet the boyfriend’s happy
Your face is scarred with age
You’re twenty-three but, how can that be?
Still hooked on cellophane
Killing time with Gin and lime
Each second numbs the pain
Love’s just another rhyme.
A decade ago
I never thought I would be at twenty-three
on the verge of spontaneous combustion
Woe is me
But i guess that it comes with the territory
An ominous landscape of never-ending calamity
None of these lyrics really reflect my experience of being 23 (except maybe the gin and lime bit), but i’ve always thought it fun to listen to songs that mention the age i am currently. So, the search for songs about being 24 begins…
Empty Nest
Jul 24, 2009
Categories: life, photography
Two days ago i went out to check on the babies a little before noon, and there was only one left in the nest. I saw two sitting up on the firehouse roof chirping and looking a little bewildered. Fearing the worst, i looked down into the alley below, but thankfully could not make out any splatted baby birds. I saw the daddy come over to the babies on the firehouse and then fly away again. I let Nathan know of the developments, and by the time he came home for lunch there was just one sitting there across the way, still peeping, and the nest was empty.
After a while we realized that the last baby was still sitting under the lettuce just beside the nest, looking up at his sibling and contemplating his first flight. I took one last photo of him, inadvertently encouraging him to join the others in leaving home forever. He flew directly to the firehouse rooftop with no trouble at all.
That was the last we saw of them. It’s been two days now, and we’re officially empty-nesters. Looking out at the garden box gives me a little pang of sadness every time. Nathan and i have been spending more time with each other now that there are no little ones around. Their nest is the same way they left it so far, but we’re contemplating converting the space into a bed for another basil plant. We’ve talked about taking up golf, and i plan to begin scrapbooking the memories as soon as we return from vacation in August.
About Me
I'm Steph Adamo, a professional web designer and experienced photographer. This is where i blog about life in general. Thanks for visiting, and please take a look at my portfolio before you go.
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