Type A Personality

Because I'm heading off to MIT tomorrow for a flurry of weekend activities for admitted students, the lunchroom conversation turned toward the stereotypical extroverted type A personality types that troll the hallowed halls of business schools everywhere. My coworkers told cautionary tales of the type A, which lead me to wonder what type I was since their underlying assumption was I lacked type A characteristics. Martha Stewart's clearly a type A and her mania drives her genius as is Bill Clinton. Determined to find more information, I hopped on google and did some research. I even took three short personality tests. My score, type A-, a balanced sort of type A not prone to cardiac arrest and other stress induced health problems. In retrospect, actually doing research to determine my personality was probably a little type A-ish. I think I'm actually a type A who's mellowed out a little, but I'm still an introvert. Laurel can attest to my extremely type A years back in elementary school. My friends would sometimes joke I was going to have a heart attack before I was forty. I guess heart attacks are funnier when you're thirteen.

Running Of The Brides

Last Friday was the infamous Filene's Basement wedding dress sale. Boy am I glad I missed this one. Actually, it might be fun hanging out in Downtown Crossing eating a hot dog while watching the whole scene, but purely as an observer. Check out the madness...here are some photos and even more photos.

Gotta Keep It Mom Friendly

plasticmom: So...Steve got into NYU?
plasticann: Yeah...isn't that exciting? Wait, how did you know? Did I tell you?
plasticmom: I read it on your website.
plasticann: You read my blog?
plasticmom: Yeah, I wanted to see what you and Adam were up to.

WSJ Poetry Contest

Inspired by an article about a teacher who has her students write love poems only using words that appear in the Wall Street Journal, we held our own WSJ Poetry Contest at our Elementary School Valentine's Day Party. Only two people composed poems and Aaron won mostly because his had more words. Our runner up, Dave, took the instructions literally. He cut out the words from the paper and taped them onto a piece of paper in the style of a ransom note.

Winning Entry (Aaron)...not too cheery, but has lots more words

granted the opportunity
to overhaul this nightmare
most people would horrendously
realize the best that can be hoped for
would amount to tinkering
stubbornly paralyzed for decades
forced into a losing hand
of personal deductions
there are no winners
and no losers
just band-aids beyond the freedom
of this Byzantine Commission
our ferocious head-on collision
leading to
the states are pretty dead high here
not to be rendered null and void
and essentially obsolecence
in a system that's unworkable

Runner Up (Dave)

IN QUEST OF THE BEST
Money-Fund Assets Rose
Pay a few dollars more
MUTUAL FUNDS Trading EXECUTIVES ON TRIAL
won't SELL you SHORT-
Wake Up and Trade:

Elementary School Valentine's Day Party

For all who couldn't make it to consume your portion of sugary treats...

The Menu:
Cupcakes from Lyndell's
Heart shaped brownies
Heart shaped sugar cookies
Ruffles w/ french onion dip
York peppermint cookies
CANDY
Sugary red drinks

Courtesy of our lovely guests:
Rice Krispy Treats
Chocolatey goodness from Panera
Cream puffs

...stay tuned tomorrow for the entry that won our poetry contest.

Chocolate Galore

V-day is upon us...check out the Globe's chocolate guide and photo gallery. I'm intrigued by these old school chocolate turtles.

How NOT to write a cover letter!

Dear Human Resources Staff,

I am interested in exploring career opportunities with [company name] , as noted on [web-site] web-site....I feel my experience is valuable to [company name here]...Please contact me so that we may discuss the [job title here] position.

Sincerely,
[applicant name]

It is one thing to send a formulaic letter...it's quite another to send the fill in the blank version of a letter. plasticann does not recommend this strategy.

If Tom Brady Were A...

Adam was reading this hilarious "If Tom Brady Were A..." (ITBWA...) column on Sunday to MGDub and me. Here's a sampling:

ITBWA..."television star he'd be Richie Cunningham, ever polite, always trying to do the right thing. He'd be the perfect son, and a great brother. He'd drink milkshakes and eat cheeseburgers with Ralph Malph and Potsie."

ITBWA..."beverage he'd be a tall glass of cold milk. Wholesome. Healthy. Good for the bones and those dazzling white teeth."

Later that day, the East Coast contingent of Team Bridesmaid gathered for brunch before going dress shopping. We batted around ideas for other If Tom Brady Were A... ideas. There were no takers for my inanimate object question, "If Tom Brady were a piece of jewelry...?" We decided that he would be Kermit if he were a Muppet because he definitely wouldn't be Miss Piggy. After much debate, we decided that Tom Brady would be Matt Damon (not Brad or Ben) if he were a movie star. Unbeknownst to us, Adam had neglected to read out load this relevant portion of the article:

ITBWA..."movie star he'd be Matt Damon -- modest, mindful of his roots, careful not to take on roles that don't fit, able to stay grounded in a starstruck environment, and smiling sheepishly when the compliments get too thick."

It's good to know the professionals agree with Team Bridesmaid's assessment and verdict.

Whoopie Hamburgers



The whoopie pies I baked last night turned out to be hamburger sized because my batter dollops were way too big. The recipe was supposed to yield 24 treats, but I ended up with only 10 whoopie pies. I'm thinking about making some smaller normal sized ones with tinted pink filling for the V-day party my house is hosting. Or, I could make one ginormous whoopie pie.

P.S. Adam ate one for breakfast. I sure hope he shared the other five whoopie pies with his coworkers...heart attacks are a real bummer.

Firesale: Sweaters at Ann Taylor

Cashmere sweaters have hit the $39.99 price point. I'm befuddled by this phenomenon since the same thing happened a year ago to this day. If they had a glut of sweaters last year...why the heck have didn't they adjust their inventory to avoid a glut this year. February hits and the sweaters go down to $39.99. I've been keeping my eye on the price of sweaters and decided not to wait until $39.99 hit since I was afraid I couldn't get the colors I liked. Anyhow, it's a great price for a sweater. I'll probably refrain since sweaters, like most things, diminish in their marginal utility. Once you've got a couple, the next one is still exciting, but not as exciting as the first few.

Rot

The upside to Boston Organic is fresh food arrives with practically no effort on my part.
The downside is I now actually have food and this food can go bad. Before, when I rarely had food, I was hungry, but I didn't have rotting food issues. I picked up a moldy orange this morning and my fingers went right through the skin. It was pretty nasty and it made me gag. My next shipment is on Friday. I'm plying Adam with fruit so I can get through my box before Friday. I'm thinking I might be a fan of pesticides and preservatives after all....it's nice that twinkies and wonderbread will stay "fresh" indefinitely.

Breaking News: Steve got into NYU --- YEAH!

ipod nation

Now that Adam has joined the ranks of ipod nation with a silver ipod mini, he can bond with Steve over their silver minis when they tire of baseball. They can discuss how Steve likes to keep his ear buds on even when the music is off to signify citizenship to ipod nation and to deter the "crazies" from chatting him up.

A Happy Birthday To MGDub and let me tell you about the Skinless Bake

Last night, a bunch of us gathered at Unos to celebrate MGDub's birthday. Just a couple of observations from the evening:
1. Both Adam and I "mentioned" to our waitress it was MGDub's birthday hoping to milk Unos for a birthday treat. MGDub choose the "deep dish sundae" for her birthday treat and milked the waitress for an extra scoop of ice cream.
2. MGDub heckled the Unos Wednesday night magician during a card trick. To MDGub's dismay, our "introverted" magician did not heckle back and failed to entertain. We did not give him a tip and Dave suggested we give MGDub a tip since she was more entertaining than the magician.
3. MGDub received a lovely tangerine cable knit cashmere ensemble from GJDubya & Co....we all agreed it was very soft and cozy.
4. No one ordered pizza at pizzaria unos last night because Wayne sold many of us on the burger. I had the "Wayne Special," medium rare: Bacon Cheeseburger with the skinless bake substituted for the fries. The skinless bake is simply wonderful, a baked gratin of mashed potatoes mixed in with bacon topped with melted chedder and it comes with sour cream on the side. Kristen had to order her own skinless bake after trying it. Kudos to Wayne for thinking outside of the box when asking for substitutions.

Gerber Daisies

Last week, Adam sent me gerber daisies --- bulk --- and most of them are still thriving. Usually they get all droopy, but I've been cutting and recutting the stems often to prolong their lifespan and it seems to be working so far.

Knife Sharpener

I ended up eating two oranges last night. I had originally intended to eat one orange, but decided to try sharpening my knife so I had to cut another orange to determine whether the knife was sharper and therefore I had to eat both oranges...organic and pesticide. While I was home in lala land, I picked up a knife sharpening tip. Take a ceramic dish, flip it over and sharpen your knife at an angle against the unglazed bottom. My dull knife was becoming a safety issue and the knife was inexpensive so I figured I had nothing to lose even if I ruined it. I ran the blade of my knife slowly against the bottom of a bowl about 15 times on each side of the blade and tadahhhhh....it's noticably sharper now.

Boston Organics

Thanks to MGDub's plug, I started getting Boston Organics delivered. Friday was my first vegetable/fruit box delivery. So far I've eaten one apple, but I'm comforted by the idea that I now have fresh fruits and vegetables coming my way every other week without any effort on my part. I don't actually care about organic, but I like not having to think about what to get and I also like that the food just shows up like clockwork. Organic is just a bonus so I can feel "hip" and "cool" like I'm actually a concerned citizen and I'm sure there are some health reasons for it as well. This week, I received kiwis, pears, apples, oranges, broccoli, tomatoes, lettace, an avocado and a bunch of other stuff. I'm not a huge fan of of eating tons of bosc pears and the weird apples that are a little small probably because they're organic. I'm going to make a crisp out of my supply because there's nothing a little butter and sugar can't take care of. plasticmom thinks I'm pathetic, but then again almost everyone thinks the same when I admit that I don't really know what I eat.

Not Circumference, Not Diameter, But Radius

Last night was GMA's marathon holiday party at Radius. A six course tasting menu paired with wine followed a cocktail hour of passed hors d'oeuvres. At one point, I had a barricade of six glasses in front of me. For some odd reason, the wait staff would take away other people's glasses, but would always leave mine. At some point, I told a waitress that I was finished with my glasses and there were too many and I felt a little overwhelmed. I guess I wasn't communicating clearly because she empathized by rearranging my glasses toward the center of the table, but didn't come back to remove them until much later. Dinner lasted until 11pm and we shot out of there as soon as we finished dessert. All the food was delicious, but here are my favorites in no particular order:

Apple Martini: Very fruity and refreshing, comes garnished with some apple slices.
Chocolate Torte: I'm glad we waited for dessert.
Cheese Puffs: Like cream puff pastry, but cheesy.
Prime Rib: Potato (good), port reduction sauce (good), BEEF (GOOD)
Potato Soup: We got bowls of little pototo chunks and then the waiter came with a teapot (I kid you not) of potato soup and poured each person a serving in their bowl.

As to be expected, there are always conversational highlights to be reconstructed. Steve was not sitting at my table so I have nothing to report on that front. My table of six included Adam, Leah, MC (Leah's husband), Amy and Shannon (Amy's roommate). The following is a reconstructed conversation about flags.

Shannon: I ordered some office supplies from the store room and I actually got all the flags I ordered. Usually, I'm lucky to get 4 packs. I couldn't believe it.
MC: You know, ribbons are the new "flags."
Leah: Man, I love those flags. I use them for everything and I don't know what we'd do without them. I have dozens in my office.
----start of a passionate 15 minute dialogue about flags--feel free to skip content----
plasticann: You never used them at Putnum?
Leah: Not really, maybe here and there, but now I use them for everything...pink, purple, blue...
Amy: I can't live without them either. When I go through a report, I use different colors to represent different things, but I forget what the colors represent by the end or I run out of the blue flags and I wonder whether I should go back and replace all the blue ones with a different color to maintain consistancy.
plasticann: I wonder how much we spend on flags for the office. They're expensive, it must be a major part of our overhead.
Amy: Rachel has to order all kinds of flags, some people like the ones with arrow and other ones like the big ones. Rachel says we would be the natural predators for flags.
plasticann: Yeah, but those opaque ones are the worst...they really unproductive.
Amy: You mean the tape ones?
MC: Are they like ribbons?
plasticann: No, they're opaque so you can't see where the sticky part starts and ends so they're really hard to use.
Amy: Those are terrible. I try to use them up so we can get nice ones, but I think Rachel keeps ordering them because they disappear.
----15 minutes later----
MC: What are you guys talking about?
Leah: Flags.
MC: Like American flags?
Leah: No...they're post-it plastic flags for marking papers.
MC: No wonder I was confused why you all were talking about flags.
plasticann: Is that why you said "ribbons are the new flag?"
MC: Yeah...like those yellow ribbons for the troops.
----conversation moves on to ribbons...yellow, pink, red, etc.----

Now that plasticmom and plasticann have matching eames chairs, we can chat with each other while relaxing in our respective chairs. It's almost like being in the same room...well, not really.

Pink Paper

I didn't know the copier was in the middle of a print job when I tried to copy something on my pretty pink paper. To my horror, the machine started sucking in my lovely paper and spitting out printouts of blackberry help directions. Fortunately, I overcame the initial shock and salvaged the chartreuse paper, but all in all...I lost seven sheets of pink. Now some guy at work has blackberry directions half pink, half white. I sure how he enjoys my high quality paper.

You're Cruisin'

Wow...an apprentice cruise. I hope the complimentary tote bags are silk screened with an image of "The Donald" and all the entertainment consists of remixing that nifty jingle "Money Money Mondy...Maaaahneeee!"

La La Land

The following is a reconstructed conversation with the saleswoman (I'll call her "lala") when I used my auto club of southern California credit card to pay at the coop today. This is classic!

lala: [scrutinizing the card after swiping it through] So you're from Southern California?
plasticann: [waiting for the zinger to come anytime now] Yup!
lala: What part? Los Angeles?
plasticann: [bracing herself for the zinger and desperately trying not to smirk] Yup!
lala: You know, sometimes I like to call it "La La Land."
plasticann: [totally grinning by now] Yup...we've had this conversation before.
lala: Oh...we have! It's hard to remember faces sometimes.

Smelly Flowers

Steve: What do your flowers smell like?
plasticann: [sniffing] I don't know...like flowers. Are you allergic?
Steve: No, they just smell funny. I'm closing your door. Your flowers are making me feel weird.

[The End]

Production Assistance: Flowers by Adam.

Bios: "small" wedding...not so "small" wedding party

I've selected and secured the services of my team of bridesmaids. Wheezy says she'll use this as her bio if she ever gets on imdb. I'll be holding her to that. Here's the edited rundown of "Team Bridesmaids."

MGDub: (Maid of Honor) MGDub is finishing up her degree in TelevisionProduction at BU and is currently editing her thesis project. Although MGDub and I met at Brown, we didn't become friends until we both moved to Boston. She’s been a huge part of my life in Boston over the last five years. MGDub is my "date" to office functions when Adam is unavailable and she's almost a bigger hit with the office than Adam himself. MGDub has graciously chauffeured me around in "Ben," the name she impetuously bestowed on her SUV. To her credit, this was before the "nnifer" hoopla. MGDub is looking forward to her many MOH duties such as bustling, holding random stuff and compiling mildly embarrassing stories about Adam and me.

Laurel: (Bridesmaid) Laurel is finishing up her PhD in Bioengineering at "BIT." Laurel and I have been friends since third grade. Since we both work in Kendall Square, we regularly meet up for lunch. Laurel brings the sandwiches and I bring the snacks. I get the better end of the deal because she usually brings snacks as well. She's an amazing baker and is a longtime Food TV addict. She's been an incredibly loyal and faithful friend to me over the last (26-8=18) eighteen years and it's been such a treat spending the last few years living in the same city. Laurel will be providing photos of me during my awkward years and boy is she excited.

Kristen: (Bridesmaid) Kristen is obsessed with teeth. Fortunately, she’s a dentist. Watching a movie with Kristen will sometimes include a running commentary about celebrity cosmetic dental procedures. By the way, Halle Berry's teeth aren't real, but you'll have to ask Kristen about that. What I love most is about Kristen is her enthusiasm and hospitality. Dinner at her house is always a feast. Kristen, my consultant, has taken me ring shopping, wedding dress shopping and is pretty darned excited about hair and makeup. She's also refreshingly enthused about the prospect of bridesmaid dresses. Kristen will undoubtedly make sure I look good on the big day and make me laugh throughout the process.

Cara: (Bridesmaid) Cara, my futuresister-in-law, is Adam’s lovely big sister. She’s incredibly affirming and has always been extremely kind and welcoming. Cara and her husband Bryce are parents to the famous Baby “Zess.” Super smart and multi talented, Cara epitomizes good taste and style. Cara will be anchoring Team Bridesmaid from the West Coast and she’ll also be supervising Baby Zess, who will be in charge of tiny bow tying since she’s still got wee little fingers.

Wheezy: (Bridesmaid) Wheezy is using the quantitative skills gained from nearly five years of economic litigation consulting toward a degree in Film Studies at BU. Wheezy was my mentor and she taught me everything I know and shares my love for programming in STATA. Most importantly, Wheezy has been an awesome friend. plasticmom loves talking to Wheezy about their shared love of gridded notebooks (especially the French variety). plasticmom always has movie ideas she wants to share with Wheezy, including a black and white film about economics. Wheezy is always up for a conversation about obscure film topics, foley artists, what's "cool," what's "square" and finally, what's so square that it's cool. Nina's many intellectual interests include: logit models, punk, hip hop, silent films, jazz, musicals and of course gridded notebooks. wheezymom may feel inspired to knit her a special butt bow for her dress.

"Jumped the Shark?"

Steve has goaded me to post this post with his comment.