Life Archives – Yow Yow!

Life

17 Dec 2018

A Puzzle A Day

Is this title misleading? I can’t realistically complete a puzzle a day because I actually have a job to go to, but maybe I can do both?

A story: A few years ago at my second job, my team and I created a couple of traditions together. Underneath a table behind us were a few boxes of puzzles that no one had ever touched. One day we just put one out on the table and decided we could work on it at our leisure or anytime we felt like we needed a mental break.

It became a central place for us to work together, to collaborate, and to talk through any issues we were facing within recruiting while working on the puzzle. Shortly after, others outside of our team joined us. The puzzles weren’t just for our team, but they organically brought us all together.

Knowing how well this worked previously, I decided to experiment with my current job. Within three days, a puzzle was done. Two engineers that sat on the same side of the office and never met each other worked together on one. It’s such a simple, inexpensive thing to do, but something I highly recommend. Puzzles are completely underrated and definitely don’t get enough love so I’m all for bringing them back.

Design

16 Dec 2018

Holiday Gift Guide 2018

Chanel N°5 The Bath Soap – $26

Readers, what kind of Christmas shopper are you? Every year, I tell myself that I know how much easier it is to shop online, but can’t bring myself to do it. I hate the crowds at the mall, but yet I love it at the same time. There’s a certain kind of holiday cheer that you can get from the mall that you just can’t get from putting items into your cart from your couch. So this year, I did a mix of both and like every year, I know I’ll find myself at the mall one or two more times for that extra last minute Christmas shopping.

Here are just a few items that I’ve caught on the interwebs that I think would make great gifts along with a couple of things that I might want for myself too!

Firebox Retro Handheld Console – $22

Sunday Words

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Life

15 Dec 2018

When Your Holiday Is Almost Here

I’ve been battling a nasty on/off cold for the last week and I’m in desperate need for it to be over. I haven’t been able to decide if having a light cold was better than a full-blown one, but my one in limbo hasn’t been a walk in the park either. What’s funny is that I wrote a post just last week about how I had a foolproof way to avoid them and here I went an jinxed myself.

I know exactly how it happened. Last week’s holiday party (an event I look forward to every year) was held at 620 Jones, which is a venue that is half indoors and half outdoors. In an effort to make sure that my dress was my statement piece of the night, I had to ditch my coat and stow it away in coat check. And I’m sure you know how the rest of this story goes – coughs, runny nose, sore throat.

Now, we are just days away from vacation and I’m determined to kick this cold to the curb so that I can enjoy my time off! After all, we are on the cusp of Yow Yow’s 10 year anniversary, but more importantly, a much needed break from work. This is my time to work on the blog and spend quality time with my friends and family before I pick things back up again after New Year’s. I hope all of you have a wonderful rest of your weekend and very happy holiday! You’ll be seeing many more posts from us soon!

Life

14 Dec 2018

Car Ride to Calistoga

It often feels like there is never a shortage of places to go when you’re living in Northern California. Over Memorial Day Weekend, Pat, Manan and I found ourselves with zero plans, which meant it was perfect for taking a day trip. I had never been to Calistoga before and was excited to finally see it! On our way, we stopped in Sonoma at the market which I had also never been to despite going to Sonoma many times before.

Sunday Words

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Culture

02 Dec 2018

A Collection Part 52

I’ve never said this to anyone, but sometimes I look through these posts and try to find the story that it’s telling. It seems like I’m making it up as I go. I wouldn’t consider myself a great writer by any means. Call it Imposter Syndrome or whatever, but I have this blog despite all of that. If I get better over time, sure, I would consider that a win! Since I’m not the writer I thought I’d always be, I’ve wondered if people can tell what I’m trying to say or what I’m thinking by the pictures I choose to highlight. This is something I’ve been wanting to ask Veronica for a long time. I like to think that she can tell my mood or my feeling, but am I consistent? Do I change year to year or by months based on the photos?

Does posting one photo lead me to want to post the photo afterwards? What if one photo had led me to choose the next photo differently?

For the first time ever, this collection post only has photos from one source.

Sunday Words

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Life

01 Dec 2018

My Trick For Avoiding Colds: Ginger Shots

I realize that as I write this post that I might find myself in trouble since the year isn’t over yet! In 2018, I managed to escape the year being completely cold and sickness free. My usual office environment naturally is a magnet for germs. With an open office, you’re sitting close to your colleagues, sharing a lot of the same resources, and bouncing to and from conference rooms with various people. If one person is sick on my team, it’s only a matter of time until it infects everyone else. How I managed to avoid it this year is beyond me!

I like to think though that I had one major trick up my sleeve. In 2017, a colleague introduced me to ginger shots. On our 1:1’s, we had a tradition of walking to the local market, picking up a shot, and taking it before returning to the office. I hated my first time. Ginger hasn’t been a favorite of mine, but the shot was a blend of tart and spiciness. It’s the kick that probably beats the cold out of you! Also over time, these shots aren’t cheap. There are plenty of brands out there, but I’ve typically seen them ranging from $3.75-$5. [Happy Moose Juice] which is sold at my local Bi-Rite goes for $4. I try not to make it a regular thing, but every time I feel a cold coming on, I run to buy one of these and it gets the job done. I recently convinced Kevin to do the same. The verdict is still out on how he truly feels about it. Can we keep up habits and make it through year two with these? I’m crossing my fingers!

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Life

01 Dec 2018

Why Ramen Is So Valuable In Prison

I actually remember seeing this referenced within “Orange is the New Black” and always wondered what the meaning behind this was. Even after watching, I’m still fascinated by this and feel like I need to do more research. I’ve been enjoying these shorts by Vox lately. Any one else have any favorites I should look into?