Computer Issues

My laptop is screen is broken.

So what is a girl to do? Take her back to Best Buy! Her? Yes, my laptop is lavender so she's also a girl. I didn't drop her, slam her or abuse her in any way and it's less than a year old.

Well...Best Buy did nothing. All they said was it's not a manufacturer problem so therefore there is nothing they can do other than charge me like $500 to fix it. Dam you Geek Squad Geeks! They kept staring at me like "Sure..you DIDN'T drop it." No, you MoFos! I DIDN'T drop it. It sits on my bed all day. It's very pampered if you ask me.

So I now have to call HP. Whom will most likely tell me there is nothing they can do as it's not a manufacturer problem. And they will be giving me that same look...I know it...I will feel it through my phone.

I bought my first laptop about 2005, 2004? No, 2005?. It was a Dell. I loved him. Him? Yes, he was gray with a white trim and sturdy, so it was a boy. I dropped him, slammed him, abused him, threw him in the back seat, carried him in a flimsy bag, and probably even slept on him.  Poor guy, he got me through part of my college years though.

He took it like a champ. He was not without his battle scars but still running like a champ. The only real casualty was a broken "Page Down" key. He now lives with my Aunt in Guatemala. Yup still going strong!

So when it was time to upgrade because I felt like I needed to upgrade to something nicer and newer, I moseyed on over to Best Buy. Why o why did I not go to Dell.com and custom order me a new laptop? No, I was lured by a pretty HP. But you my delicate HP flower, you are weak. You are fragile. You truly are pretty and fancier than my old Dell, with your built in camera, you finger scanner...but all your pretty didn't do you any good. Not to mention your built in microphone never worked either.

Since I've been laptop-less -- yes, let's laugh at how that sounds like topless -- I haven't been really posting as much as I would like to because a lot of my photos need to get Photoshoped and my laptop is the only one at home that has Photo Shop. Also, I've been using my work (Yay Dell!) and my sisters laptops (one HP, boo! One Dell, Yay!) Let's see what the folks over at HP really do tell me when I give 'em a call on Monday. Cross your fingers people!

To the MAC lovers: I don't want to hear it. I'm a PC girl. Now, don't get me wrong, sure I would love to own a MAC one day, great for my graphics and video and stuff. But guess what? I would be own both. Ahhh Snap!

Maybe right now that I'm feeling like writing I should work on an old style of post. "Over the Weekend..." remember those? Oh yeah, my finger are on fire baby!! Only I haven't been taking too many picture so it might be a bit bland on the looks department.

Physicaly fit! Physically fit!

I know you know it. You know you know it. If you don't know it... You will now:

OK so now that we got that out of the way, on to the point of this post! Getting physically fit and getting my mojo back.

I've always been pretty thin, curvy, but thin. Lucky me, I know, don't Hate! I've had it easy actually, I always eat what I want, when I want. I will never say no to the following items: baked goods, cheesy stuff and chicken. My weight always fluctuates between 115-117 lbs. I'm 5'2" and like I said, pretty dam curvy. Now while I may be thin I am not physically fit. I'm weak. I don't think I can run a mile without passing out and I don't play sports.

In the last few month I managed to pass my 117 by and amount that will remain anonymous. Let's just say my jeans do not fit and my hips don't need to extend farther than they already do. I found myself just wearing stretchy pants! Thank GOD for leggings and my new personal favorites, Jeggings! So what's the big deal. Well, I'm almost embarrassed to say... I started to feel ugly.

I have to share this one...I'm sorry...

I'm a very confident person. I wasn't always. Grades 6-12 were hell for me. I thought I was the ugliest thing ever. Somewhere around 19 something changed. High school was over, college started and I was tired of feeling sorry for myself. I somehow realized that no amount of praying, wishing, hoping and crying would ever change the way I look. This is me. Big head, big nose, big lips, short, small boobs, big butt, curvy hips, small waist, thick legs... all me. I learned to love me the way I am. And just like that, my confidence came out. The thing about confidence is, that while it's internal and personal and something only you can control, once it's there it will shine through. Like you are glowing. I smiled more, I laughed more, I finally learned how to manage the frizzy hair, I even walked better. I noticed the boys noticed... yeah that was a shocker to me.

So these past few months of living with a little more junk in my trunk, thighs, and face (that's where I gain it) plus working late and traveling every month for work, lack of sleep and dealing with a heavy emotional breakup have really made me feel like I'm in high school again. I've never felt like more of an adult than I do now in my adult life but one look at some Christmas photos where I look like a hot air balloon and I'm back to feeling like a teenager. So where the hell did my confidence go?

It's not like I always felt super confident everyday. I had "bad" days and the learning to love yourself took time to get to the level where I am now. But lately it's more bad than good. The difference is it's ten years later and the love me the way I am part is not the problem. It's the I'm 29 now and I need to take care of myself. As in, eat a little better, not diet, I would never diet, but just eat better. Put down that second piece of chocolate cake, Marisol. Get more sleep. And most importantly...*sigh*...do some exercise.

Here is the plan to get me physically fit and hopefully back into my jeans!

Eating better: Not a problem, already on that. It's not hard since I don't eat a lot of junk food or fast food. it's the bread that's killing me. Plus I need to incorporate more breakfast and less late night meals. I have a massive tea addiction... switching to more healthy options like green tea (I'm crying for my chai lattes!) and also more water.

Sleeping more: Sleeping is a habit. I need to establish a schedule for myself. This will take a lot of discipline from me but a habit is a habit. I have to first break my sleeping late habit to form my new sleeping on time habit. I really can't do much about the traveling for work, plus I'm starting to get a rhythm every time I fly so with time this will be more manageable.

Exercising more: Oy...I hate the gym. Getting me to go work out is hard. I have to really be dragged. Once I get in the comfort of my home that's it, you are not getting me to work out. The only part I liked about the gym were the classes. I do well with classes. So to start my exercising I singed up for a Yoga studio. It was a little pricey so the frugal in me will definitely push me to attend. Plus it's a class, and it really doesn't feel like exercises. Plus the calming elements of Yoga I'm hoping will help with the stress of the heartache.

That's the plan my friends..wish me LUCK!

What do you guys do to stay physically fit, physically fit, physically physically fit!

I have to end with this one:

Guest Post: Andy

January's guest blogger is my friend Andy. We worked together on the mean streets of Beverly Hills making bank on the third floor of an investment firm. Yeah we cool like that... Although we've both moved on we have kept in contact. He is the first friend to volunteer actually so I was really excited about his post....OK so here's Andy:

MY SUPER AWESOME BLOG POST

Hi, I'm Andy. Marisol and I used to work together. I'm sure many of her guest bloggers worked very hard on putting together something good for this blog, but what I'm going to do is a stream of consciousness, random post. Here goes.

AWESOME STORY ABOUT A DOG

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12283833

I love dogs. And animals in general. here's a cool news story about a dog that was found adrift at sea. He was saved by seamen and ultimately adopted by them. It's a cool story. There's a video if you follow the link. It's very sweet and heartwarming.

KID CUDI

I've been absolutely obsessed with Kid Cudi since his first album came out in 2009. You might know his hit singles "Day 'N' Nite" and "Pursuit of Happiness." He's not one of those rappers who just talks about partying and hoes and bling bling and all that. I tell people that he's kind of an emo rapper. Here are some lesser known tracks of his that are a little different from his mainstream stuff.

 

SPORTS UPDATE

I'm guessing many of you are from Los Angeles. So I don't need to remind you that the Lakers have a big game against the hated Boston Celtics at home this Sunday (ABC 12:30PM PT). This is of course their first meeting since the Lakers defeated the Celtics in a hard fought game seven in last season's NBA Finals. The Celtics and Lakers have the second and third best records in the league respectively.

Novak Djokovic faces Andy Murray in the Australian Open final this Sunday as well (ESPN2 12:00AM PT). Andy Murray is the first Englishman in a grand slam final in nearly 75 years. Murray and Djokovic train together and know each other well. Djokovic leads their head to head matches 4-3, Djokovic taking the first four and Murray the last three.

RANDOM PICTURES FROM MY BLOG

I have a kind of blog (http://schmart.net/). it's just a bunch of stupid pictures mostly. I have a lot of fun doing it actually so you should check it out if you're ever bored. Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

  

Andy

Tiny Room Makeover: Bed Issues

Remember the Tiny Room Make over? The plan? The furniture? Well, good thing you do. It's still going on. Slowly but surely. Remember how I said that Murphy's Law applies to me when I attempt projects. "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". Remember how excited I was about finding my bed?

 So excited that I didn't even properly photo shop the lines out the original picture. Well, I was SO excited that when I couldn't find my pretty purple 25' tape measure, I used my Mom's 3' foot plastic one that she uses for taking sewing measurements. Yes, that was my mistake.

After opening the 5 million pieces needed to assemble the new bed and the hour it took me and my Dad to assemble the bed (by "me and my Dad" I men my Dad assembled the bed while I passed him pieces and held things in place and watched) it finally came time to place it in it's corner.

It didn't fit.My heart sank.

ME: What??? Are you sure Dad? But I measured it.
DAD: Well you measured wrong then, Mija. It doesn't fit. Look. (takes out his retractable measuring tape, yup it was off by just under 1 inch.)
ME: Well, I used my Mom's measuring tape.
DAD: HahahahJajajajaHa (yes, my Dad laughed at me in English & Spanish)

After seeing the completely frustrated/sad look on my face he stopped laughing and went back into Super Dad mode.

DAD: I can fix it!
ME: How?
DAD: I have an idea. (said while giving me his best I'm a genius smile and holding up his index finger)

So began a bunch of genius ideas...
1. Cut out the outline of the baseboard on the wood of the bed.

Failed. Still did not fit as we could only make the cut to the headboard.

2. Remove the baseboard!

Fail! The bed still did not fit, but we were getting close.

3. Sand down the back of the headboard until it fits.

Fail! This job made my Dad sweat.

What we thought was going to be a little bit of a sanding job turned into an hours worth of work. We did actually manage to make the bed fit sort of, it was very tight and it was not even. It turns out that my room is actually a trapezoid. Let me draw it for you:

Remember how I said my room was an addition to an addition to the house? Obviously they didn't hire an architect. A trapezoid!?! Seriously. So while my original measurements were slightly off, the reason the bed still didn't fit and our attempts were massive fails was because in one area I was 2 inches off.


Not sure if it was the fact that I now had scratched up paint, oh pretty blue paint I'm so sorry. Or that my Dad was still trying to make the obviously-not-going-to-fit-bed, fit. Or the sinking feeling that This bed was now most definitely not refundable. Or maybe a combination of all 3 but that night I decided NO HEADBOARD! Yup, that's right. I changed my mind. That's the look I wanted anyway. Plus the headboard was detachable. Two minutes later my bed fit.

I slept in my new headboard-less bead that night. The following morning I knew it wouldn't do. Then the heavens parted and the angels began to sing (a la Windows commercial style) while the following idea came to me: "Why don't you just build a headboard, Marisol?!"

Until next time folks -- the makeover continues...