Goodbye TV... Hello, iPhone...

Hi friends!! It's been sooo long, trust me, I know. While I have limited to no justification for not keeping up with my blog, I would like to chalk SOME of the blame up to that two week stint we called the Olympics... how anyone is expected to do anything but keep one's eyes glued to an NBC channel of sorts is beyond me.

Anyway! I'm back! To be fair... I've been pretty lazy the past few weeks- I haven't really done anything that actually warrants a blog post... granted, that's never stopped me from yapping about nothing in the past, but whatever.

So why the sudden return to blogging? Well, aside from the fact that it is, in fact, one of my favorite things (I swear! It is!)... I have to chalk this return to... my defunct television.

I came home Friday emotionally, mentally and physically drained (God bless what corporate America can do to people)... all ready and set just to PARK it in front of my television for the en-tire evening (despite the GORGEOUS weather Chicago's been having as of late!). Well... this plan would have worked out just fine and dandy if, lo and behold, I hadn't turned on my television set like immediately after entering my apartment only to find that, while I can see the picture perfectly clearly, there was zero audio. Wtf (and yes, for those of you who know my ditzy ways well enough, I DID check the Mute button, thank you very much).

Argh. It was the last thing I wanted to deal with on a Friday evening. A quick call to Best Buy (where I bought the TV three years ago... I didn't know who else to call!) and I realized that, not only did the TV need to be taken in for inspection (I was hoping they could just identify and fix the problem over the phone... sigh) but I had to take it in myself (since my TV was less than 46 inches).

What the...

If you know me at all, you know I lack a lot of general common sense/practicality in my personal life. So there I was, just staring at my 26-inch TV, truly contemplating how the hell I was expected to lug that thing half a mile to my neighborhood Best Buy store.

Note to self- trying to shovel a 26-inch TV into a paper Gap bag is NOT the solution.

Well, WHAT?! I had limited resources in which to lug something so large around! Next try...

Believe it or not... this did the trick.I didn't think this was actually going to work, but my TV certainly DID end up squeezing into the largest piece of luggage that I owned. Sigh, this is like the DEFINITION of ghetto, right? But oh well... creativity does have its perks, I guess. Ugh, but look at what a hot MESS emptying my suitcase caused! Again, not the way I was planning on spending my Friday night.

Anyway, so I ended up (carefully) dragging that suitcase to my lobby and hailing a cab to take me the half mile to Best Buy (...what, you think I was going to be walking?)... only to find out that they were going to have to ship it in for an estimate and could take at least 2 days to get an estimate (that doesn't even include the time it'll take to fix the TV!).

What else could I do? I dejectedly left my beloved TV at Best Buy and traipsed on home... only to have a slight panic attack when I got back to my apartment (the same slight panic ensued when I awoke on Saturday morning as well)... you know you have an addiction to TV when your heart literally clenches at the mere thought of having to go TV-less for an entire weekend. Seriously, I had no idea how I was going to fill my time. (In keeping with my apparent month of MIA-ness, I didn't have any significant plans for this weekend.)

But MAN!! It's amazing how much more PRODUCTIVE I am without my TV! Who would've THOUGHT?? Let's see, I did some chores...

I went to the salon...

I rediscovered my love for reading (please note that I hadn't begun this book until Saturday morning... and that's where I was by Saturday evening...

I discovered my new favorite Trader Joe's sweet treat (holy YUMMMMMM!!!!)...

I did some shopping...

Full stop. Like how I just snuck that last one on in there? Sure, these bags are clearly reflective of all things "necessity" in life, but let's focus here on that little tiny white box... with the iconic APPLE symbol! That's right, my friends- I got myself a little iPhone!

Okay, to be fair, this was kind of an impulse buy... I mean, I'd been having issues with my Droid (don't even GET me started), but I'm pretty low-maintenance when it comes to technology, so I've just been "dealing" with the Droid issues. I'd honestly just gone into the Verizon store to innocently ask how I can fix my Droid this time around... and, well, I'm sorry, but I can't help it that I happened to talk to like one of THE most charming sales guys that I've ever encountered on a visit to a Verizon store (normally, as soon as they start going into all these details about all the high-tech things phone A vs. phone B can do, I get bored and zone out). But MAN!! I wish I'd snapped a picture (because that wouldn't have been awkward at all)... he was just the most adorable, most friendly, most patient, most funny, most, well, not gonna lie, kind of smooth talking people I'd met! AND!!! He was giving me discounts left and right!! I felt like I was winning the lottery with each little "accessory" I was picking up along the way!! (This is not an exaggeration- there was even one point in my little shopping spree where his fellow sales guy was like "Jesus, why don't you just GIVE her the stuff for free at this point?")

So that, my friends, is how I wound up with an iPhone. I'm a sucker, what can I say? But in my defense, I got a good DEAL, thank you very much.

Oh, I guess I got kinda sidetracked. Whoops. Hahaha. This was supposed to be how much more productive my life has become sans TV... but... well, this counts, right? You tell me when finding true love at the Verizon store isn't a true measure of life productivity...

Panama! In Brief

Hello everyone! I hope you all had wonderful 4th of July holiday weekends! I ended up heading to Panama for the 4th of July weekend (random, I know) with a few coworkers/friends... our firm gave us the Thursday and Friday after the 4th off, so we figured we might as well take advantage of the time off and travel in style...

Purvi, Amogh, Rahima and I used to work on the same team a few months ago. Since that time, a lot has changed and the four of us, sadly, are not on the same team any longer. But you better believe we still keep in touch! God bless the Internet- it's ability to keep people connected is such a Godsend in my mind. So, with Amogh in Boston, Rahima in New York and Purvi and myself in Chicago... we decided what better spot to reunite than... of all places, Panama? Sure, why not- just go with it.

And what a reunion it was! From hugfests to gossip galore to stalker cab drivers to police encounters to tour guides named Sharkie to... well, I am getting way ahead of myself. As such, I present to you... our 2012 Panama adventures- in a nutshell.

Day One: The Reunion

Day Two: The Panama Canal and a Run In with the "Policia"

Day Three: Adventures with Sharkie

Days Four and Five: The Adventure Wraps Up...

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Days Four and Five: The Adventure Wraps Up...

Day four started off with a trip back to that travel agency where we'd originally booked our Sanblas adventures. After that awful experience with Sharkie, we felt that it was necessary for the travel agency to hear about it. It was such a sad thing too, since we had absolutely fallen in love with the guy who had sold us on the trip. He was just the most jovial man ever and was SO EXCITED for our adventures... so to have to break this kind of news to him was just a total buzzkill to end all buzzkills. After hearing our perspective and empathizing with our situation (he seriously looked like he was on the verge of tears), the travel agency ended up refunding us our money for the trip to Gamboa that we'd booked for Day four.

Gamboa was supposed to be this area of rainforest-y goodness. So, instead of going through the travel agency, we ended up just taking another cab out to Gamboa for the day. Again, we had no idea what to expect.

After the forty-five minute drive, we ended up at this super luxury hotel, where we were apparently supposed to book our excursions. We ended up opting for a boat expedition that would allow us to see animals in the rain forest and crocs/alligators in the waters... how cool would that be, right?!

Well... it sounded a lot cooler than it actually was. I mean, at least the boat ride was relaxing, because the sights to be seen were not the most exciting.

Oh well. At least we are easily entertained, right? Right.

The rest of day four was actually relatively tame. We ended up just wandering around the city center area (right by our hotel) and partaking in some last minute shenanigans...

For some reason, we were exhausted after those tame adventures, so we came back to the hotel room, where Purvi (the "mom" of the group) read to us and we passed out. Don't we sound like we are really embracing our 20s? Sigh. Oh well.

For our last night out though, we had made reservations at this highly-recommended traditional Panamanian restaurant, complete with traditional Panamanian dancing and everything. How FUN, right?!?!

Welllll. It was fine enough, but again, not the most exciting thing ever. In fact, we got kind of annoyed when the traditional dancing started because the music was so loud and, quite frankly, very disruptive to... well, our chit chat! Sure, we'd had the entire TRIP to chit chat away, but we STILL had a LOT to say and quite frankly, darn traditional music during dinner was just getting in the way.


To be fair, we gave the traditional dancing a good half hour. It was at that point that Rahima and I just looked at Purvi and Amogh and were like "So... how much longer do you guys want to stay?" to which Purvi responds with "To be honest, we can leave anytime" to which Rahima and I just look at each other and look at Purvi and Amogh and immediately say "Now?".

Needless to say, it took just a few short minutes of staggered departures (we didn't want to seem RUDE after all) to peace the heck on outta there... and head, where else? Back to our hotel room. It was our last night in Panama- why bother going out, really? Haha.

After yet another earlier than usual (for 20-somethings on vacation) night, we awoke on Sunday with the heavy realization that it was our last day together. Sad day. It had been such a fun trip and it was already over! Amogh and Rahima's flight was first, so sad farewell hugs were given all around before they headed out.

Purvi and I had another few hours before we had to head to the airport, so we just wandered around the city center a bit more before coming back to our hotel to finish packing and head to the airport (five hours early, but whatever- airports are so FUN for people-watching, etc., right?! Right.). It was only as we headed down to our hotel lobby (to do some last-minute Internet checking before heading to the airport) that we noticed our dear pal, Eddie (remember? the cab driver from our trip to the Panama Canal?) just loitering right outside the hotel entrance. This would all be seemingly coincidental and relatively harmless except for the fact that, since that Panama Canal day, dear Eddie had CONSTANTLY been texting/calling Rahima (who had grabbed his number that first day to coordinate rides to/from the Canal) asking about when we needed to be picked up/where we needed to go/etc. Let's just say it had become a little creepy (and/or comical, but whatever)... but we'd already arranged a cab ride to the airport- we didn't want to have to deal with breaking the news to Eddie! So... Purvi and I did what any two self-respecting individuals in this same situation would do... we hid. As best we could. In the hotel lobby.

Seriously, it was like out of one of those creepy stalker movies. What a way to end the trip, right? Right.

All in all, I can safely say that this trip was SO MUCH FUN!!! While the sights were great and it was so interesting to see such a different country, the best part was, of course, the reunion itself! Till the next one...