get to know me

Wayyyyyy back in the day when LiveJournal was the place to be, I remember spending hours of my undergrad avoiding doing work by instead incessantly filling out & posting silly 'get to know me' style internet surveys - so when I stumbled on this one over at Carrots & Cake I got immediately nostalgic (newsflash: I am really well and truly the biggest sucker in the world when it comes to basically anything that gives me that nostalgic feeling) & had to fill it out at once.

Four names that people call me other than my real name:

1. Steph
2. Yates
3. Red
4. Maroon 5

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Supply Chain Managment / Materials & Releasing Analyst at RCO Engineering
2. Tim Hortons Store Manager
3. Athletic Facilities Staff at Western Michigan University
4. Church pianist at St. John's Lutheran

Four movies you’ve watched more than once:

1. SLC Punk
2. Battle Royale
3. Bon Cop Bad Cop
4. Drive

Four books I’d recommend:

1. Saul & Patsy / Charles Baxter
2. The Time Traveler's Wife / Audrey Niffenegger
3. The Years of Smashing Bricks / Richard Katrovas
4. Everything is Illuminated / Jonathan Safran Foer

Four places I’ve lived

1. Shelby Township, MI
2. Kalamazoo, MI
3. Praha 6, Czech Republic
4. Washington, MI

Four Places you have visited:

1. Japan
2. China
3. Hong Kong
4. Canada ;)

Four places I’d rather be right now:

1. At a new brewery!
2. Toronto (my favorite city in the world)
3. Somewhere warm and/or tropical - I'd love to go to Mexico!
4. Kalamazoo with my college besties

Four things I don’t eat:

1. Bell peppers (especially the green ones, UGH).
2. Pop of any kind except ginger ale and the very occasional root beer.
3. Milk chocolate (ew - but dark chocolate: very yes).
4. Raw onions (I can do them cooked if they're small, but raw - no.)

Five of my favorite foods:

1. Nut butter (and nuts!)
2. TRAIL MIX
3. Sushi
4. A good bar burger + fries with malt vinegar

Four TV shows I watch:

1. The Following
2. The Walking Dead
3. Supernatural
4. Scandal

Four things I’m looking forward to this year:

1. Christmas!
2. 2015 Toast of Hockeytown with my wifey Alyssa
3. February trip to COLORADO!
4. Next October's Canada Tour with Tom

Four things I’m always saying:

1. I got this!
2. Fuck
3. I'm cold
4. Is it 4:30 yet?

On that note, I'm going to peel myself away from my warm couch, warm kitties and the book I can't put down even though I'm not really well and sure if I even care for it (I've finally deigned to read through the Game of Thrones novels - I'm on the third, and I'm not sure how I'm feeling about them but yet I can't stop reading, so I guess that's a victory for George R. R. Martin), and get in a morning workout in my new beautiful completed-at-last studio!

red wings open house!

Gym buddy Emily & I enjoying my second home.

Awww yeah, Jonny.

One thing (and they are few and far between) I love about working in the Automotive industry is that every so often we get some great perks like free sports tickets.  Wednesday night I had pretty much zero plans except hitting the gym on the way home from work and then a night in with my cats making shepherd’s pie and taking down Halloween decorations, and then a buddy of mine (also in the industry) sent me a text asking if I wanted to head down to Detroit with them for the Red Wings Season Ticket Holder Open House, which – of course!

I’ve done a lot of Red Wings events, but I’d never been to this one before – it ended up being similar to their HockeyFest event, but a little more focused & unique, being tailored to people who spend a whole ton of money on tickets every year and all.  There was a two hour window to get players’ autographs (you were guaranteed two with your tickets, but you didn’t get to choose who you got), which gave me the opportunity to pick up a handful of new autographed pucks to add to my living room wall decorations (I’m not a huge autograph person, and if given the opportunity I’d prefer to have a picture or a conversation, but I’m also a sucker for fun home décor & I have a set of autographed pucks adorning a couple mounted sticks above my mantle, so this was a fun chance to get more autographs without having to sacrifice something I’d want more – especially since you weren’t allowed pictures at all), and then bunch of other events going on around the concourse.  

400% where I want to be at all times.

Joakim and his sweaters; most favorite.

Table of beauty, right here.

I'd make that face too, if I were stuck between those two, Gus.

Swedish beauty.

Got my BFF a personalized puch; Kronner only misspelled her name twice...

My living room sticks are getting a little full...

We did a quick locker room tour (I’ve been in there before at the Toast of Hockeytown a couple years back, but never got to come in through the back way, so it was pretty neat seeing the bowels of the Joe), nabbed some autographs, took some cheesy pictures with a slew of banners, giant octopi, & whatnot around the concourse, and then it was time for the best part of all: skating on the ice at the Joe!

On the ice at the Joe!

Best gym buddy <3

Again, I’ve been down on the ice before for a post-game MACPA event, and also for the Toast, but never gotten to actually SKATE on it.  It was definitely awesome to be able to look around and have the same view the players have during games.  I spent hours teaching myself the tricks of skating at WMU’s Lawson Arena when I was in college, but I don’t get the chance to do it much anymore, especially not in an arena that seats 20,000+! 

We were only able to skate for 30 minutes, which didn’t satisfy my craving to be on the ice AT ALL, so I’m planning on making up for it by hitting the rink near my house tonight! (After a sparge structure-planning meeting at “K-Building”, of course…Aldebaran is back on tap!)

Thanks again to Emily & Jerry for giving me an awesome opportunity – hopefully my auto industry job comes through with some freebies I can return the favor with!