tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-316588732012-01-17T00:34:38.465-05:00the who, what, when, where, why of an ex-reporter who misses her columnmandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.comBlogger551100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-66520776164145351222011-06-13T18:05:00.002-04:002011-06-13T18:32:52.565-04:00

What a great gay weekend. Saturday night I was a VIP at Pride in the Streets. Yesterday I walked in the Pride parade and then hit up the beer garden, consumed way too many free beers, met new friends and also got to know some coworkers better. It was an all around awesome time. And I mean, AWESOME.The best part was the people I was hanging out with. Great, fun, fantastic people. I have many

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-25581656273120341102011-06-11T08:57:00.008-04:002011-06-11T10:03:23.943-04:00

It's Pittsburgh Pride weekend this weekend, which is basically a giant street festival in downtown Pittsburgh celebrating and raising awareness of the LGBT community (that's lesbian, gay, bi and transgender for the layman). Officially, "Pride is a celebration of diversity in the Pittsburgh region … a celebration of who we are, where we have been and, most importantly, where we are going,"

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-43312178357162125682011-06-10T18:28:00.003-04:002011-06-10T19:04:17.031-04:00

I've been thinking: this whole 15-Minute Mission thing might be easier if I was drunk. I mean, all the great writers are alcoholics, right? You've got Hemingway... and some other guys...Anyway, I know for a fact that journalists are a bunch of drunks. I never drank more than when I was a reporter and a copy editor (except for maybe now, as a customer service person). Deadlines and the fear of

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-52114863392059506182011-06-09T20:27:00.003-04:002011-06-09T20:51:07.172-04:00

So. Here we are. Day 2 of my 15-Minute Mission. The timer is now running, and I'm scared. I got nothing, people. Nothing.So...it sure was hot today...Work's really been a bear this week. Too much to do, too little time. You know, the usual...I went to the gym today. That was nice...Oh sweet JESUS, what was I thinking?! 15 minutes?! That's an eternity! And I already put this off by wasting,

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-7631600092232390422011-06-08T21:03:00.005-04:002011-06-08T22:05:15.686-04:00

I used to be a writer. I used to get paid to write. Then I quit. I don't write anymore. I still can, I assume. I just don't. Now I make my living in a customer service call center for a large health insurance company. I was recently promoted, so apparently I can do the job well, which is good news and makes me feel good to a point. But it's not what I spent thousands upon thousands of dollars at

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-22723476678080791782010-03-13T06:34:00.005-05:002010-03-13T08:04:16.108-05:00

I'm currently working at a call center for a health insurance company. I work in senior markets, which means I answer calls from old people all day about their Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D plans. It's not fun. (It's also not in my field. Times are tough.)In fact, it's quite possibly the most complicated and stressful job I've ever had. We have to know the ins and outs of health

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-82631799790474168172009-09-19T12:53:00.001-04:002009-09-19T12:53:58.846-04:00

First I need to tell you that I've never written to a politician before. It's a little weird for me, so I ask that you bear with me as I try to channel my outspoken, opinionated, constantly-writing-to-some-senator-or-other grandfather. I know there's a lot going on these days. A lot of money that needs to be saved and spent and all that. I'm not going to pretend to be some kind of expert, but

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-63824041444714724372009-08-04T14:18:00.005-04:002009-08-04T16:02:41.220-04:00

I have just met David Shribman. As executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, he has been called "the most important newsman in Pittsburgh." I would add that he is also the most intimidating, and he bought me lunch.More than an hour has passed since we parted ways, and I am only now starting to digest parts of our 30-minute or so talk. I walked away completely dazed and having no idea what

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-11365810355164273372009-04-13T23:32:00.012-04:002009-04-21T16:55:32.401-04:00

So this crazy thing happened the other week: I got ENGAGED. I know! I told you it was crazy. It was a complete surprise too. Well, not a complete surprise. I knew by our third date we were getting married some day. But I didn't know that, three years after said date, he was actually actively working to make it happen. Sneaky little bastard.So here's what happened. It's Sunday, April 5, the day we

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-86754053170928733762009-01-13T16:53:00.002-05:002009-01-13T17:13:16.708-05:00

- Helped my old man neighbor Joe and his smelly beagle dog Penny when he locked himself out of his house. I called the locksmith, and we all hung out in my living room while we waited for them to show up. Penny puked on my doormat.- Decided not to apply to any jobs until tomorrow. Stupid job hunt and its lack of progress makes me feel bad about myself.- Got a call from the county assistance

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-36921557559778621582008-11-15T17:29:00.002-05:002008-11-15T17:31:37.515-05:00

I thought I moved to a city. Pittsburgh is a small city, but a city nonetheless. Cities are sprawling, have big downtown buildings, lots of people, public transportation. Pittsburgh has all that. But it also has deer.The first time I saw a Pittsburgh deer was just a few nights after we moved here. My brother, Kevin and I were driving on a dark, but fairly busy street when there in front of us was

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-9989921096583169412008-10-20T22:31:00.012-04:002008-10-21T00:09:45.876-04:00

I think we made a mistake. I'd like to place the blame solely on Kevin because it was his idea initially, but I thought it was a good idea initially. So we are both to blame. I'll start from the beginning. It was a Saturday morning, almost a Saturday afternoon. I was upstairs, slowly and leisurely waking myself up and about to get in the shower. Kevin was downstairs, about to make me some of his

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-12158089855579974202008-10-09T20:04:00.014-04:002008-10-20T11:31:00.713-04:00

We're lucky to have fantastic neighbors here in Pittsburgh. There's a mother-son duo on the right side of the house. Maureen is incredibly friendly, and so is her 20-something son, DJ. I don't get to talk to them as much as I'd like. They're in and out a lot, having jobs and all.On the left side of the house, we have Joe, a deaf, 80-something man with his equally aging, but no less loud and

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-4257484094747500322008-08-21T20:32:00.004-04:002008-10-09T20:35:06.845-04:00

So. Big news. We moved to Pittsburgh. By we, I mean my man Kevin and me. We bought a house, too. By we, I mean me; I bought the house.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-15424852669382955432008-05-24T06:52:00.026-04:002008-05-24T08:49:04.594-04:00

There is a definite disconnect between my brain and my mouth. They often ignore each other. Either my mouth will not say what my brain is thinking, or when it does, it comes out all garbled and disorganized, like my mouth puréed my thoughts out of spite before serving them. My brain and mouth are an unhappily married couple. They made one little mistake a long time ago, and now they can't undo

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-21822340600650745922008-05-02T16:28:00.002-04:002008-05-02T16:31:11.782-04:00

My spam mail subjects have been incredibly creative. They're inspiring even. And so, for your very own enjoyment, my favorite spam:wickedly tunaatheist insidesheroin needlesslyunlisted abyssclemency udderautoworker nervousreputed chimneyBuddha formulaFrench fry gruntit'dfour-leaf clover policycrackle preacherunderclassmen toffeechurlish guardedlycomforting firebrandmommy silver

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-61957313024891584012008-02-12T13:26:00.001-05:002008-02-14T17:01:27.359-05:00

A friend of mine filled out this survey on Myspace. I thought it was a nice little survey for Valentine's Day, so I filled it out too. My first Myspace survey. I hate to admit it was fun.But then, as I was about to post it to the Myspace bulletin like Myspace survey-takers always do, I realized that everybody would see it, and I wondered why anybody would even care to read it. Did I really want

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-45395724891416919822007-12-24T10:18:00.000-05:002007-12-27T15:33:12.024-05:00

Once again, I'm a slacker - it's been two years since my last Christmas letter. But I actually have some pretty good excuses this time. In the last two years, I've been unemployed, went to Taiwan and South Africa, got a new job, bought a Mac, and my boyfriend and I moved in together. All good stuff.So let's start things off with my unemployment:You may recall from my Christmas 2005 letter (which

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-55629688780884832042007-12-18T11:52:00.000-05:002007-12-18T12:06:37.522-05:00

I was just listening to "I'll be home for Christmas." That song does something to me - makes my heart rip just a little. Mostly because every time I hear it, I think of when I was an exchange student in Australia.Christmas day, and it was hot as hell, except for the nice ocean breeze. My mom, good mom that she is, mailed presents for me and for my host family, and we opened them up on Christmas

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-17482037143898120722007-11-29T16:39:00.001-05:002007-11-29T16:40:19.830-05:00

Today, I started listening to Christmas music already. That's sick, isn't it? I have a disease, don't I?

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-55468407615474186812007-11-13T10:06:00.001-05:002007-11-13T10:08:14.486-05:00

I can't believe it's only Tuesday. And it's only Tuesday at 10:07 a.m. Friday is painfully far away. Then again, if it were any closer, I wouldn't be able to get done all the stuff I need to get done. But that doesn't really make me feel any better about it being only 10:07 a.m. Tuesday.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-2680019309927777872007-10-08T15:05:00.000-04:002007-10-08T15:06:35.223-04:00

I hate Monday. It is not a coincidence that most suicides happen on a Monday.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-4108372922315371192007-08-23T14:28:00.000-04:002007-08-23T17:06:51.226-04:00

See the trailer for the fantastic documentary film about Boikarabelo, "Angels in the Dust." (If player below doesn't work, try this link.)

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-30890370629720563442007-08-20T12:05:00.000-04:002007-08-20T12:13:14.829-04:00

I'm back again with more news about Boikarabelo, that incredible place in South Africa you've all read about at www.boikarabelo.org.I just found out that "Angels in the Dust," a movie about Boikarabelo by Participant Productions, will be showing across the U.S. starting in September. The dates I know of so far are below this message. But you can check the movie website set up by Participant

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-35674456291761159622007-07-25T15:23:00.000-04:002007-07-25T15:27:45.597-04:00

Go to www.boikarabelo.org. Boikarabelo is the place I visited while in South Africa, an amazing fantastic place. The website is the one I wrote for them and the one my company designed and donated to them. It's a beautiful site for a beautiful place, so I encourage everyone to check it out! And if the mood moves you, donate! They could use the help!

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-27162872680870650402007-06-15T11:50:00.000-04:002007-06-15T12:02:48.307-04:00

1. Having your eyebrows waxed is AWESOME. 2. My nephew Zach actually really does like me. He voluntarily gave me a hug yesterday. 3. Never eat an entire container of strawberries in one sitting. The result is disastrous. And smelly.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-75017954167892249662007-05-14T22:41:00.000-04:002007-05-14T22:49:36.558-04:00

April 12, 2006It's official. This is my last email from Taiwan. I have no more weird food to share, no more tips, no more Chinese to learn. I'm too sad to be witty. Rotary gave us a farewell party tonight and it was quite the shindig. We each had to get up and give a little three-minute speech about our time here. Since my last name starts with Z, I went last. I heard everybody else talk, so I

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-46401123293490636742007-05-14T22:11:00.001-04:002007-05-14T22:40:47.240-04:00

April 8, 2006Weird food: I'm running out of weird food to tell you about. They keep serving us the same weird stuff. Plus, there are things I don't like but are not necessarily weird. There are also things I love which are more or less normal. Dumplings for example. I love dumplings.Speaking of food, egg rolls are a complete Western invention. You will only find them in American Chinese

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-69370927880188676462007-04-07T10:10:00.000-04:002007-04-07T10:32:35.079-04:00

March 28, 2006Food tally: Sea cucumber. Apparently, it's some kind of sea anemone. But whatever it is, it's weird. It's not so much that it tastes bad; I just can't get past the texture of it. It's like the whole thing is made of the skin that forms on Jell-O.Tip: Learn Chinese. I'm convinced people are talking about me all the time and I have no idea what they're saying. I hear Meigua (USA

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-23464456631664710662007-04-05T20:47:00.000-04:002007-04-07T10:35:26.442-04:00

March 24, 2006Weird food tally: Have I told you about the eel? Enough said. The Taiwanese men tell the American men that when you eat eel, it makes you strong like bull...in bed. "Eel like Viagara," they say, and then giggle.Tip: Bring your own towel. They usually use what we would call a hand towel to dry themselves after a shower. So in an effort to be good hosts, my last two host

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-67008519461379961802007-03-15T13:17:00.000-04:002008-12-08T23:53:52.795-05:00

Last year at this time, I was in Taiwan. For one month, I was happily unemployed and learning to eat fish that still had its eyeballs, to squat and pee into a hole in the floor and to say swear words in both Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese. Every day brought new oddities and surprises, most of them pleasant. Either way, I loved every minute.But now I'm back at home, woefully (albeit gainfully)

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-11006570616825290032007-03-13T21:52:00.000-04:002007-03-13T22:05:47.617-04:00

Guess what I'm typing on right now.MY BRAND NEW MACBOOK PRO!I could knit a friggin' sweater, I'm so excited.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-73377080263970070822007-03-12T20:32:00.000-04:002007-03-12T20:35:10.762-04:00

I can't die happy yet. I haven't actually received the Mac yet. FedEx is henceforth the target of my wrath.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-23076590856597055832007-03-07T12:25:00.000-05:002008-12-08T23:53:53.030-05:00

Yeah, it's been a while. I got busy and shit. But I'm back! And I have news!Yesterday, one of my most precious dreams came true.I bought a Mac. A refurbished 15-inch glossy screen, 2.16 GHZ, 1GB RAM, 120GB hard drive, Intel Core 2 Duo Apple MacBook Pro to be exact. Now I can die happy.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-88542249811056742702006-12-20T15:54:00.000-05:002007-01-03T14:09:26.336-05:00

I am foregoing a post about Christmas in favor of more pressing and depressing matters: I have seen my future, and it ain't pretty. Literally.I made the mistake of uploading my picture to myheritage.com to see which celebrity I look most like. A friend of mine did it and she got all sorts of beautiful young actresses. I thought it might be good for my ego to know I resemble somebody whose beauty

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-28060938155144549882006-11-16T15:54:00.000-05:002006-11-20T17:35:20.479-05:00

My nephew's birthday is coming up. He'll be 8. He's having a party on Saturday, so I called him the other day to see what he wanted. He wanted toys. "T-O-Y-S. Toys," he said.I'm old-school when it comes to toys. I prefer to buy movies and books and music. Something with some kind of value, something that won't be thrown in the trash in a year. I hate buying crap toys, like those hideous Bratz

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-61538810696861773092006-11-14T11:20:00.000-05:002006-11-14T11:20:52.489-05:00

I'm slacking. I know. I haven't posted a proper blog in ages. But I'm getting to it. I've got something in the works. Really. A good few sentences at least.Until then, here is some inspiration for your Thanksgiving turkey:

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-37773840111867026612006-10-24T11:04:00.000-04:002006-11-03T12:38:23.208-05:00

Did I mention I saw lions in South Africa? I totally saw lions.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-3166775983927629342006-10-10T10:45:00.000-04:002006-10-26T16:33:17.319-04:00

One of Mia's coworkers, a soft-spoken man named Terence, took me around Soweto today. Soweto is the largest township in Joburg. No one knows exactly how many people live there, but the 2001 census says well over 800,000. Mia said people can live their entire lives in Soweto - go to school, college, get married, have children, work, die - and never leave the place. A township is basically where

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-36645057658250478172006-10-08T18:00:00.000-04:002007-03-29T10:37:13.553-04:00

So here I am. I made it to Johannesburg. I was in South Africa three whole hours before I bought something. Yesterday, soon after I arrived, my friend Mia took me to a market that had lots of African "curios" from all over Africa. I bought a few of them. Today though, Mia took me to a place called Boikarabelo (pronounced boy-kara-bello, which means something like "a community working together

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-35785687560959492772006-10-05T10:21:00.000-04:002006-10-02T13:27:45.040-04:00

Almost every time I get on a plane, I end up spending a ridiculous amount of time on it.I went to Australia; that was something like 20 hours of flight time. Taiwan, 19 hours. Tomorrow, I'm off to South Africa - 18 hours. And none of that includes all the time spent in airports, waiting. It's a strange phenomenon that only recently developed. But I'm not complaining. I don't really care what

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-34350912117157898572006-09-27T20:48:00.000-04:002006-09-19T18:01:00.069-04:00

I’ve often thought that if I were a super hero, my super power would be my hips. Mostly because they're big.I’d swing one of my powerfully large hips in the direction of my enemies and knock them flat on their skinny asses. Because, you know, any enemy of mine would no doubt be skinny.So with that in mind, I started taking a belly dancing class. Belly dancing is basically swinging your hips

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-58856233572525327452006-09-20T15:19:00.001-04:002006-09-20T15:19:43.415-04:00

Many of you know that I'm a copywriter at a Web advertising agency, but nobody seems to know exactly what that means (including me).This video might clear things up a little.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-1157770802855544582006-09-08T22:41:00.000-04:002006-09-08T23:08:37.740-04:00

Kevin, also known as "my boyfriend," will be in South Africa for a month. He leaves tomorrow and must be at the aiport at the unholy hour of 5 a.m. I will be at the airport too. Why? Because I am ridiculously stupid over his skinny ass and I'm going to miss him like a fish out of water misses breathing. Yeah, it's that ridiculous.What's worse is that this trip was all my idea. "Rotary has

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-1155586683167208922006-09-01T16:15:00.000-04:002006-09-01T16:26:49.410-04:00

That girl acting like a fool in the banner ad below, that's me. We filmed it at work and the designers worked their magic to make the final polished product you see here. It appears somewhere on yahoo.com or its affiliated sites, I'm not sure where exactly. It was fun. My co-workers especially enjoyed the reckless abandon with which I hurt myself.I am now a star of the Internet stage, though

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-1156518709833110642006-08-25T10:56:00.000-04:002006-08-26T12:10:59.436-04:00

I’ve been feeling like such an ass lately. And when I say "lately" I mean all the time, but especially today. It's all myspace.com's fault. There was a time when I had no interest in myspace. I only joined so I could check out my roommate's band's site (Check it out here). I had nothing on my site. It just sat there, empty, for months. I was happy then.But now...now, my myspace is filled with

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-1155933335724019552006-08-23T16:35:00.000-04:002006-08-24T15:42:29.180-04:00

The Internet has amazing stuff. No wonder it changed the world. Check this out:loc.alize.us - Explore your world through everyone's eyesThis site morphs a satellite view of the world with Google maps and photos from flickr.com. You can search for a place, see it in a bird's eye view, find the street its on and see the photos of that place that people have uploaded on flickr.com.To the left is

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-1155914763392954702006-08-18T11:18:00.000-04:002006-08-18T16:18:09.246-04:00

You know that ridiculous rectangular nail buffer I bought a few weeks ago? The one that made my nails shiny and changed my life? Well, it's also made my nails even weaker and brittle and they keep friggin breaking, no, ripping off, and freakin hell it hurts. Jesus friggin boom....I don't know what that says about my theory of world peace and shiny nails.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-1155754184525794762006-08-15T14:45:00.000-04:002006-08-17T12:33:01.026-04:00

There was a bat in the front lobby area at work today. My brave co-worker Ryan tried to make him leave, armed only with a broom, an umbrella and a Halloween mask.Ryan's plan was to shoo the bat out the front door, held open by another brave co-worker, Keegan, who is also my brave immediate supervisor. But Ryan and his broom only managed to squish the bat, holding him hostage against the wall.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-1155134723853742422006-08-09T10:31:00.000-04:002006-08-09T18:15:22.403-04:00

So the other day I get this photo e-mailed to me. I glanced at the thumbnail photo in the e-mail, and I could see it was a nice, homey group shot of my friends who traveled with me to Taiwan and our beloved James, who organized our month-long trip flawlessly. Good times, nice photo. But I couldn't find myself in the picture. I knew I was supposed to be there. I remembered standing there. So

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-1154723736240288192006-08-04T16:35:00.000-04:002006-08-09T10:46:13.863-04:00

...so much fun it's ridiculous. Create your own South Park characterMy character is a self-portrait. Only within the world of fine art can I possess the hair and eye-patch I've always longed for. sigh.Many thanks to Dan Saytar for introducing me to this fine website.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-1154638786180614702006-08-03T16:36:00.000-04:002006-08-03T23:49:45.280-04:00

Yesterday was my first official day of being old.The day started out normal enough. I woke up to the radio, like I usually do. I searched blindly for the snooze button, like I usually do, face still firmly buried in my pillow, arm flailing. I fell back asleep, like I usually do. The alarm went off again.Then things went awry.I tried to reach behind my headboard to once again smash the snooze, but

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-1154368054658987862006-07-31T13:46:00.000-04:002006-07-31T17:15:25.143-04:00

My health insurance starts tomorrow. I'm going to celebrate by breaking my leg.

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-1154103550325941492006-07-28T18:42:00.000-04:002006-07-28T17:44:22.283-04:00

I met an Israeli at the mall this past weekend. He was selling nail products at one of those kiosks in the middle of the mall and he immediately picked me out as a sucker.I was strolling by and I realized he was watching me, mentally measuring what was in my bags (shoes) and deciding how much disposable income I have (not much). He walked towards me and said, "Excuse me, can I ask you a

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31658873.post-1153867256432069412006-07-25T18:28:00.000-04:002006-07-25T18:42:03.086-04:00

I have joined the blogging world. This is my first post ever. I need to make it worthwhile, so I'll talk about toilets.Toilet paper randomly appears in the ladies room at work. It's a god-send. Like today, we were dangerously close to running out. I started to panic because I didn't know when the mysterious cleaning people would be back to bring us more. I was sweating profusely and

mandy zerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02586790003560505111noreply@blogger.com4