Today I had my first performance appraisal with my new boss, our VPIT (pronounced vip-it). Went just dandy and was productive. Now onto building my PMO.
Dinner with LK tonight. This was the highlight of the week. Haven't seen her in ages and miss her mucho. She made me smile. We had a nice dinner at Osteria, which is a nice, basic Italian place not far from work.
Plans for the weekend? Not much yet. I have to start getting ready for my vacation! Woo Hoo! I need yarn for my knitting project or I need materials for my needlepoint project. I need to decide. I've got a bunch of books, but I may pick up a couple more on the way. Can't wait.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Let there be Heat!
How many people does it take to light my pilot? In this case...
#1: Me, failure
#2: Me and Neighbor, failure
#3: Me and Edwin, failure
#4: Me and Bill, SUCCESSS!!!
Beth hums, "Ya got'ta have frien-ends, la la la la la la la la, friennnnn-ends, frendsa, frendsa frendsa!"
Bill does has tenacity, I'll give him that. But don't kid yourself that it took him, like, 5 minutes... nope. Effort was required... And we learned in the process that my apt. heater is about 27 years old and parts are no longer available from the manufacturer. I'm glad Bill managed to get it lit. It get's cold here sometimes and my hands need to be warm to play WoW. Cold paws and WoW make for some serious misery.
#1: Me, failure
#2: Me and Neighbor, failure
#3: Me and Edwin, failure
#4: Me and Bill, SUCCESSS!!!
Beth hums, "Ya got'ta have frien-ends, la la la la la la la la, friennnnn-ends, frendsa, frendsa frendsa!"
Bill does has tenacity, I'll give him that. But don't kid yourself that it took him, like, 5 minutes... nope. Effort was required... And we learned in the process that my apt. heater is about 27 years old and parts are no longer available from the manufacturer. I'm glad Bill managed to get it lit. It get's cold here sometimes and my hands need to be warm to play WoW. Cold paws and WoW make for some serious misery.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Sunday Chillin...
Beautiful Sunday morning. Chillin on the couch, watching "Fight Club", updating the MacBook, drinking hot chocolate and curled under my blanket. I was freezing last night because the crazy wind that was blowing through SF blew out my pilot light. You'd think I'd be able to figure out how to light the thing again. Problem is, I can't figure out where the darn pilot is to light. I get the instructions. I even vacuumed all the dust and kitty fur out of the way. Yet I am at a loss. I may have to call in the troops.
I'm back from the SGHE Summit! Woo Hoo. That was a long week away. 50/50 ROI on that conference. I hope my colleagues had a better return on their time.
Just finished reading the second book in the vampire romance series, which started with "Twilight", written by Stephanie Meyer. Sure, it's for young teens. Sure, it features a 17 year old girl falling in love with a 17 year old (relatively speaking) vampire. Sure, along with the good, loving vampires there are werewolves and evil vampires. But what can I say? It's fun reading. Like eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's. And yes, I'm going to keep reading them. It's kinda like the twisted period I went through reading that horribly written Left Behind series. I can say, without a doubt, that Stephanie Meyer is a MUCH better writter then the, uh, people who wrote Left Behind. There is only a little bit of irony is comparing a vampire series to a religious end-of-the-world-rapture-antichrist-is-here series. I will say that had the Left Behind series ended with the fourth, or even the fifth book, I might have finished, but it just goes on and on and really, even I, with my fascination on how religion pervades our society, can only take so much of the crappy writing and endless story line. I guess they'll keep writing them until the Rapture actually comes. I think R. Laurence Moore needs to update "Selling God."
But I digress...
In just a little while I go on vacation! Cazadero Heaven here I come. I really, really hope the place is nice and comfortable. And of course there will be wine.
And today, a little paw action! Here Keiko extends her back leg and spreads her little toes wide. Look at that cute little pink kitty paw pads? This paw action should be exposed on CuteOverload. The horror. The horror.
I'm back from the SGHE Summit! Woo Hoo. That was a long week away. 50/50 ROI on that conference. I hope my colleagues had a better return on their time.
Just finished reading the second book in the vampire romance series, which started with "Twilight", written by Stephanie Meyer. Sure, it's for young teens. Sure, it features a 17 year old girl falling in love with a 17 year old (relatively speaking) vampire. Sure, along with the good, loving vampires there are werewolves and evil vampires. But what can I say? It's fun reading. Like eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's. And yes, I'm going to keep reading them. It's kinda like the twisted period I went through reading that horribly written Left Behind series. I can say, without a doubt, that Stephanie Meyer is a MUCH better writter then the, uh, people who wrote Left Behind. There is only a little bit of irony is comparing a vampire series to a religious end-of-the-world-rapture-antichrist-is-here series. I will say that had the Left Behind series ended with the fourth, or even the fifth book, I might have finished, but it just goes on and on and really, even I, with my fascination on how religion pervades our society, can only take so much of the crappy writing and endless story line. I guess they'll keep writing them until the Rapture actually comes. I think R. Laurence Moore needs to update "Selling God."
But I digress...
In just a little while I go on vacation! Cazadero Heaven here I come. I really, really hope the place is nice and comfortable. And of course there will be wine.
And today, a little paw action! Here Keiko extends her back leg and spreads her little toes wide. Look at that cute little pink kitty paw pads? This paw action should be exposed on CuteOverload. The horror. The horror.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Hard not to be a little motivated...
I tend to be skeptical about what you can get from a keynote speaker at a conference. I think I liked the keynote at SunGard Summit 2006, but I've forgotten who gave it and what it was about. I have been at SunGard Summit 2008 since Friday, the start of the executive portion. I've listened to 3 "keynotes" so far; 2 for the executive summit and 1 for the general summit. Both of the executive keynotes were interesting, though BJ Fogg's presentation on the Psychology of Facebook stands out. BJ is an excellent speaker and by the end of the presentation I was ready to sign up for a Facebook account (haven't yet, but give me a chance). And I came to understand the fascination with Facebook and similar technologies a bit better, including some of the pros and cons. He's also committed to the idea of peace in 30 years, a goal I'm more than happy to work towards. As long as we imagine peace is possible, peace is possible.
The keynote speaker for the general Summit, though, was exceptional. The speaker: Erik Weihenmayer. His accomplishment: the first blind man to climb the Seven Summits.
Now, I haven't climbed any mountain of any size since I climbed Mt. Washington in my early teens with my older brother -- a feat I accomplished after much moaning and complaining as we approached the final leg of the climb. Yes, I was almost there and thought it would just be better to go back down. Luckily for me my older brother managed to find in himself the capability to motivate me through something other than brute force (as my older brother he was, by definition, a bully). I'm glad he succeeded because even now I can remember how I felt when I reached the top. Exhausted but exhilarated -- a natural high, as you will.
Listening to Erik and hearing about his accomplishments reminded me of how I felt when I reached the top of Mt. Washington. And it reminded me of many other times I've felt that exhausted but exhilarated feeling, whether from doing something that was a physical challenge, or an emotional one, or a mental one, or even just getting through a tough day. Sometimes we get through it alone, sometimes we get through it only because of the help we get from others. Either way, we get through it... and move on... and we keep moving on. That's why I found him motivating.
He made a comment something along the lines of when people take on and succeed at a challenge they thought they couldn't possibly achieve they open the door for the next and harder challenge. They very thought of all the challenges ahead of me is both exhausting and exhilarating.
The keynote speaker for the general Summit, though, was exceptional. The speaker: Erik Weihenmayer. His accomplishment: the first blind man to climb the Seven Summits.
Now, I haven't climbed any mountain of any size since I climbed Mt. Washington in my early teens with my older brother -- a feat I accomplished after much moaning and complaining as we approached the final leg of the climb. Yes, I was almost there and thought it would just be better to go back down. Luckily for me my older brother managed to find in himself the capability to motivate me through something other than brute force (as my older brother he was, by definition, a bully). I'm glad he succeeded because even now I can remember how I felt when I reached the top. Exhausted but exhilarated -- a natural high, as you will.
Listening to Erik and hearing about his accomplishments reminded me of how I felt when I reached the top of Mt. Washington. And it reminded me of many other times I've felt that exhausted but exhilarated feeling, whether from doing something that was a physical challenge, or an emotional one, or a mental one, or even just getting through a tough day. Sometimes we get through it alone, sometimes we get through it only because of the help we get from others. Either way, we get through it... and move on... and we keep moving on. That's why I found him motivating.
He made a comment something along the lines of when people take on and succeed at a challenge they thought they couldn't possibly achieve they open the door for the next and harder challenge. They very thought of all the challenges ahead of me is both exhausting and exhilarating.
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