PSL?

I’m throwing back to the good old days when we didn’t start pumpkin spice until late September if not October. WHY must we have pumpkin spice starting on August 22nd? It’s still summer by every measure – including the thermometer which is supposed to be in the 90s this weekend. Could we please stop rushing the seasons? They rush past quickly enough!

And Starbucks – if you’re listening – would you please think hard about bringing back the Gingerbread Latte? PSL is OK, but can I get a shoutout for the GBL? There was a time when I would rush right out to Starbucks for the first Gingerbread Latte of the season like I was Santa attacking a cookie bar. It’s been years since I’ve had a GBL because you discontinued them in 2019. Honestly, I’d forgive you if you rushed the season and started them in October! Please???????

Oak Leaf Mites?!

Turns out, what I thought was a patch of eczema last week, may actually have been an Oak Leaf Mite bite! What’s that you say? Well, I had never heard of them either but it seems that our giant cicada invasion this summer brought with it a surplus of Oak Leaf Mites.

Oak Leaf Mites – also known by their Latin name Pyemotes herfsi – are a tiny European mite species. Tiny? Barely visible to the naked eye at an average length of 0.2mm, the Oak Leaf mite is redish brown with a shiny exoskeleton. And because they are so tiny, you won’t just find them around oak trees – they easily blow around with the wind so you can get a bite even if you haven’t been close to an oak tree or even if you never go outside since they fit through the openings in window screens! Unlike other biting pests, DEET has mixed effectiveness for these mites so managing them is difficult.

Why do we have so many of them this year? Well, they LOVE to feast on other insects – and it turns out that the nests of 17 year cicadas that we had earlier this summer were just full of these mites. Yay? The good news is that by the end of this month, their lifecycle will come to a close and we can go back to our normal range of biting pests.

What does an Oak Leaf Mite bite look like? The bite generally presents like a pimple at the center of a red, irritated area – and it itches like crazy!

How to deal with a bite if you get one? In my case, the treatments I use for eczema were pretty effective. Hydrocortisone or calamine cream/lotions help a lot. I also slathered mine with Aveeno Eczema Therapy cream – the ceramides and colloidal oatmeal in that also help with the itch. I’m 2 weeks in with my bites and they are finally starting to calm down but it has been annoying. I’m definitely going to be glad when the bites – and the mites – are gone!

Want to learn more about the Oak Leaf Mite? Here are some resources:

Apple Pie

I was at the grocery yesterday and picked up a bag of Granny Smith apples. They are BEAUTIFUL. Like take a picture of them beautiful. Too pretty to bake a basic apple pie with. So I’ve been looking at recipes for apple pie variations to try out on this to-do Tuesday.

I think I’ve settled on this from Food & Wine Magazine – but now I need to run to the grocery again for Apricot preserves! And please note – I won’t be using their fancy pie crust but the jury is out on whether I make my own. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Here’s a link to the recipe for this Deep Dish All American Cinnamon Apple Pie – let me know if you try it too!

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/deep-dish-all-american-cinnamon-apple-pie

First day of school?

The kids in my neighborhood started back to school late last week. I can’t remember first days of grade school anymore – although first days at college are like yesterday!

When I was in grade school, we didn’t start back to school until after Labor Day so the idea of going back to school in mid-August would have freaked me out back then. My family usually took our vacations in mid/late August so going back to school this early would have caused all kinds of family drama!

Mostly I remember being excited about having a new 3 ring binder, new pencils/pens and new clothes. I still love having new office supplies – do you suppose that’s an echo of loving those new school year supplies?

My first day at college was really memorable. I had 3 roomies my first year at BGSU so that first day was all about figuring out how we were all going to live together. We didn’t get to meet prior to showing up on campus so there was a lot of discussion about how to arrange furniture, who would get what desk and what closet and meeting everyone on the hall. Could NOT have been more exciting for me – I’d never had a roommate before let alone 3! Then figuring out where classes were, how the cafeteria worked, applying for my on-campus jobs and of course working out where it was best to hang out!

I remember going for a walk around campus my first night at BGSU with one of my roomies. She was from the east coast and couldn’t figure out why I kept saying hi to people. Finally, she just asked me – do you KNOW all these people? And I laughed – I thought everyone just said hi to everyone! The difference between a Midwesterner and an East Coaster maybe?

But this is a good time of year to take stock and remember those firsts. I’m hoping to be rejoining the work force soon and having an adult version of the first day of school. Wish me luck!

Dot Matrix?

I’m shopping for a new printer. Mine has developed a disturbing tendency to have paper jams and it give me error messages even when it’s printing fine. But as I scrolled looking at new models, I had a throwback thought to my first printer – which was dot matrix.

Ah the good old days! My first printer was actually more of a typewriter than what we would call a printer now. It had a full keyboard that I typed my work into and then you could review line by line on a little screen before you hit the print button. I’m not sure it was cutting edge tech when I bought it but I really loved it at the time. It was smaller than a typewriter and I could print as many copies of the last document I typed as I liked. Makes me giggle now!

I think it’s fun to look back at the tech I thought was so cool when it came out. That first printer? My first cell phone? My Palm Pilot? All of them are funny to think about now. And what about software? I’m REALLY glad I’m not using Word Perfect anymore! Or dial up internet!

Do you think the day will come that I’ll be laughing about my HP Envy printer? Because right now, it’s just frustrating! Let me know if you have a recommendation for a good home printer in the comments please?

SO itchy!!!!

Ever had a spot of eczema? MAN does it itch! I thought at first it was an insect bite, but we’re into week 2 with it and it’s still going. Luckily, I have some cream given to me by my dermatologist from the last spot, but I may need to go see him again for more.

In the meantime – what is eczema? Basically, it’s a common skin condition causing patches of dry, itchy skin. This link will give you a great overview of they types, causes and treatments:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9998-eczema

I had an encounter with bed bugs in a 5 star hotel at Universal Theme Park in Florida over 10 years ago – and ever since, I have weird reactions to bug bites. And sometimes that triggers eczema for me. It got me good this time – so pardon me while I run to Walgreens to pick up some Aveeno cream to help tide me over until my dermatologist can see me!

Interview to-dos

I have multiple interviews coming up over the next 10 days so today, my to-do list is all about interview prep. I have some helpful tips to help make sure I’m ready:

  • First, I pull out the job description and make notes about how my experience/skill set fills all the posted requirements for the role. This also helps me put together my answer for the inevitable “tell me about yourself” question.
  • Second, I search LinkedIn for the person/people I’m interviewing with so I know if we know anyone in common or if we have worked in the same place. Good for an icebreaker — and REALLY good to read their job descriptions and get an idea about their skill sets.
  • Next, I generally do a Google search for business news regarding the company/industry. It’s always a good idea to know what’s going on with the company and their business. Google is just a start – you can also search on Glassdoor.com for info on the corporate culture.
  • I have a list of behavioral interview questions I’ve collected from a book about interviewing skills as well as my outplacement coach’s website. These are all questions I know from experience I might be asked – or are questions appropriate to the role I’m interviewing for. I run through my list thinking how I would answer each for the role I’m up for — in some cases, I actually write out an answer and practice it so I can answer smoothly in the moment. Using the STAR method to frame my answers is very helpful here (Situation/Task/Action/Result). This bit of prep work has really allowed me to feel MUCH more comfortable in an interview.
  • Frame up questions I want to ask through the interview. Remember, they aren’t just auditioning you – you’re auditioning them as well. So you should ask questions about culture, the team, processes, systems, etc. so you get an idea about whether this is a place you want to spend the next years of your career. I try to work my questions into the conversation of the interview so asking them feels less “forced.”
  • Last – but sometimes not least – I like to read the last SEC statement or annual report for the company I’m interviewing with. You’d be surprised how much you can learn from those government filings and investor facing communications.

These are my best tips – do you have any good ones? I’d love to hear them in the comments!

On to L.A. 2028

Did you watch the closing ceremonies for the Olympics last night? I have to admit, I bailed after Tom Cruise took the Olympic flag to L.A. in the filmed sequence and the Red Hot Chili Peppers were playing on the beach. But I did love seeing all the athletes at the stadium in Paris. Did you know that medal winners in attendance were required to wear their medals?

And did you know that the first gold medals awarded were solid gold? That’s right – if you won gold in the 1904 or 1908 games, your medal was solid gold. But in 1912, the gold was deemed too expensive so starting with that Olympics and through to today, the “gold medals” are actually silver and then plated in gold. The IOC actually requires that all gold (and silver) medals are at least 92.5% silver. How’s that for a fun fact?

If you didn’t hear about this summer’s medals, they’re truly unique with a fragment of the Eiffel Tower in each medal. Check out more information about the Paris Games medals here: https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/the-games/the-brand/medals-design