Google Downtime

I use Google about every five minutes at work between Google Analytics for our sites, Google Base for products from one of our sites, searching for various things, and of course Gmail. Did I mention I also use Google Chrome as a browser? Well I do, it's made me a little lazy in typing in URLs since the address bar also serves as a search function so technically I don't have to remember them all.

That said, it took me no time at all to discover that Google went down today. I went to sign a client up for Google Analytics and the form would not load to save its life. Not that a web form has a life, but you know what I mean. At first I thought it was the internet, but I checked several other heavily frequented sites with no problems. That's when I realized: Google was down.

Naturally I opened up the long abandoned (for me) Yahoo website and searched "google down" for anything of interest as well as checked CNN.com out of sheer curiosity (not at all expecting to find anything). I found absolutely nothing useful anywhere about the current outage but found a few articles that amused me, mainly because I hadn't noticed outages in the past. Once was titled "If Google Went Down, What Would You Do?"; this one made me laugh a little as I realized my internal answer was shock as the possibility hadn't occurred to me before. (It reminded me of my days on campus when the internet would go down campus wide and we'd be forced to wander outside our rooms and discover the real world as homework became impossible.) I also came across Google's website that displays whether or not their apps are down: Google Apps Status; but lets be real, that only works when all of Google isn't down.

Around 40 minutes later, after my boss was relieved to find he wasn't the only one that noticed this rare anomaly, Google returned and all was well. It's funny what we become so dependent on.

Growth

“Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.”—Gail Sheehy

How true is this statement? I don’t know that I have ever achieved growth by staying within my comfort zone. It is when I am forced, albeit sometimes kick and screaming, to move past my realm of familiarity and into the unknown that I amaze myself at my capabilities for growth.

This quote seems so appropriate at this moment in my life as I am leaving the 30 mile radius I have lived in my entire non-collegiate life. A friend of mine is moving to Tucson, Arizona, the end of July and wanted a roommate. I have always wanted to move beyond my current location. Granted, my original destination of choice was California—but Arizona will accomplish my goal of finding a new location to explore with an entire realm of outdoor activities at the same time.

My micro goal for growth on this new adventure? Find a job.

Anyone in Tucson need a talented young designer?

The Climb

I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

—Miley Cyrus, "The Climb"

Now I understand that I just quoted Miley Cyrus. I honestly hate that this song is by her because I love it so incredibly much and it makes me feel like I'm 13 to admit that. But seriously, those words are so incredibly true, and in my defense—she didn't actually write the song.

I understand that as a Christian my ultimate goal is Heaven, but honestly—what matters most is how I live my life in the time that I have here, no matter how long or short that might be. My friend Angela recently pointed out to me and a couple of my other friends that life does not start at a certain point. I am not in a holding place until I find that right guy or that perfect location, my whole life is my life and it is in constant motion—it's the climb.

I know that Brian has the URL to this blog because I gave it to him when things were good—blogging was a shared interest of ours. Brian, I doubt that you're reading this, but if you are—thank you for being part of my climb, even if only for a couple of months and even if you wanted out for half of it without me realizing it. The time that we spent together will always hold a special place in my heart, and I'm not just saying that to be cheesy.

Next on the climb: moving to Arizona with Katie. I was referring to this as starting over, but I don't think you can actually start over in life. I am beginning a new chapter and a new adventure. I honestly believe I was never designed to stay in one location for a significant period of time, especially not here. I do believe that I will find someone that feels the same way and that we will explore the world together. I have no idea who or when that will be.

Until that day, "that that don't kill me can only make me stronger." (Thanks, Kanye.)

Time to climb.

Jobless Update

Since I've got a lot of free time as of late, I thought I would give a small update on my goings on.

Still no job. I'm waiting to hear from The Korea Times. I'm hoping that will be soon. I sent an email on Wednesday so hopefully they'll get in touch. If all else fails, I'll just go back to Berlitz. But I hate the waiting game. More and more I'm wondering if I should go back to Berlitz. The hours aren't bad, the money is good and I'm use to the lifestyle. Korea Times will be a newspaper lifestyle. Long hours, late end time, no holidays, probably low pay, working on Saturdays. But I'm use to that as well. We'll see.

I've been using most of my time with friends to try and keep my mind off things. I'm trying not to spend a lot of money, but that is proving a little difficult. Especially since I'm spending a lot of time at home and I keep seeing little things that I would like to make things more organized. A bookshelf here. A cabinet for the coffee pot, toaster and toaster oven. New light bulb for the bathroom. A hamper. Etc. Doesn't help that I went out with a friend to help her buy sunglasses and ended up with a new pair of sunglasses, a pair of shorts, a new cardigan and a new book... Yea, gotta start working on that. At least my friends and I are being more money-conscience when we go out... Thank goodness Korea is not expensive to live in...

But yea, life is okay and I'm making it. I suppose worse case scenario I can come home and marry Mar. Gramma is all for that, though I think it's because she wants me home in the States, not necessarily because she wants a son-in-law...

The Untouchables

Have you ever had a coworker that just would not get fired no matter what they did? Things you were sure would result in them being terminated, especially since it was the fourth occurrence, as others had received such penance for far less—even these, could not end in such a result. Not only do I have one of these, but we pretty much co-reign the untouchable realm of our office.

I thought our reign was coming to a tragic close last Thursday, but my theory holds fast as he reclaimed his job after just less than an hour long meeting this morning with our employers. One of our coworkers, ever the resident bitch-extraordinaire, was pissed as you can only imagine. (I understand that sentence involved two words not normally in my vocabulary. If you met her, you would understand I had no alternative.)

Long live the untouchables. Which reminds me, I have another story about our reign. I haven't quite decided if it's bloggable yet as I'm not sure all the general public can handle it. Let's just say that after four ridiculous months of unmeasurable sexual tension and our boss repeatedly asking him if we went out yet, we finally hung out Saturday. Why is it that people expect the only two attractive people at our tiny office within the same age range to hook up? He is definitely among the top five hottest guys I have ever met though, hands down.

But I'm still moving to California. Unfortunately I just got a Wii to distract myself from recent events involving unexpected actions I have yet to post about and it is also distracting me from my portfolio site.

Must. Gain. Focus.

I'm coming Bre, honestly I am.