Oh, the Weekend

Woo Hoo! Snuck out of work a few hours early today and am now down in Sunnyvale hanging with SP, Gabe-ish and chilling out until the evening when we shall be social.

Yesterday was the day of babies at work. GL bought in Daniel, who I snuggled with for a while and then at the end of the day Gina came in with John. What a little cuteness she is. She decided, however, that I needed something done with my hair and I spent a considerable amount of effort attempting to keep her from pulling out all my hair. I think she was just disgusted with its unkept appearance and terrible split ends. All in all, it was much fun because kids in general just make you feel better (provided they are not screaming their heads of and being cranky).

In the evening I went to see Weimar New York, which was great fun. Even though we left around midnight, the show was still going on and looked like it would go on for quite a while longer.

I shall attempt to rest this weekend, but will work with Linda on Monday (which is actually a work holiday). We have a lot to catch up on and with it just being the two of us in the office we should be able to get a lot done.

I finally broke down at got my Atomica bag, which I have been coveting for many moons now. Shanalogic just has the cutest stuff. While the design of the bag is great, I'm not thrilled with the bag structure... the straps are too short (though SP and I shall experiment with some solutions that that particular problem) and the bag itself is too big and I'm not sure I can live with having just one big inside space. I long for a bag that actually has inside pockets that make organizing and separating of items neater, as opposed to the bottomless-pit-of-a-purse situation. My kingdom for the perfect purse.

I haven't seen JH and Suie for a while, so I hope next weekend I'll be able to make it to Martinez for a visit. I miss them.

I haven't posted any pictures lately, so today I shall spice up my posting with one from my collection.


This is a picture from inside a Starbucks, which just so happens to be right across the street (a little street at that) from the British Museum in London. Who's not to say that one day, thousands of years in the future, the Starbucks coffee culture won't be enshrined in that very same museum as a cultural or historical landmark?

Nag Nag Nag

I'm being nagged again at the delay between blog posts, so I am here to provide another update to my friends who never see me anymore.

I confess it; I'm working too much. In fact, I'm at work right now, even though I promised myself I would leave by 5:30 today. But since moving into my new position, I feel a greater sense of responsibility about some of the tasks at hand and I am anxious to get some items off my plate, even if it means I have to work some weekends or late nights. It isn't all the time, afterall.

Got to meet my friend's new daughter today. She came by work for a visit and boy is this little Gina just the cutest thing around. And, seeing that it was Valentine's Day, she was all decked out in pink. Ah, to be a baby. I got to hold her for quite a while, which was very satisfying -- met my baby-cuddling quota for at least the next several months.

Tonight I'm going out with friends of mine to see Weimar New York. I'm really looking forward to the show, not to mention the time with MH, et al, over dinner.

As to the iPhone... well, I just love it love it love it! If only I could get the PocketMac Meeting Maker Go Between to actually synch Meeting Maker to my iCal, then it would be pretty much perfect. But that isn't the iPhone's fault. She goes with me everywhere, is very dependable, and I still get sighs when people see her. I wonder how long that will go on for. Not that I'm bragging, or anything. Heh.

Finally iPhone

Thanks to my cool Slacker Bro and my friend Sharzie Pie I'm now in possession of my new iPhone. And boy am I just so cool! As only a dork can be. Heh. And here I am updating my blog from the cute little device

Never a Dull Moment

Life just never stops throwing things your way, good and bad. Right now it's more of the latter. My step-grandmother went into the hospital just before Christmas, but I didn't check my voicemail for a week and didn't learn about it until the Sunday after Christmas. So, this week I've come up each day to see her (about an hour drive north from SF). She's doing much better and is now home recuperating. She had to have some major surgery, but thankfully the problem that caused the necessity of the surgery is cleared up and now she just has to heal.

I stayed over last night so her first night at home she would have someone she knew taking care of her. My plan was to go back to work this morning. The California Storm of the Decade, however, got in my way. And, despite all the warning signs telling me to stay here (my car keys had gone missing, my grandmother's car battery was dead, requiring a jump start) I still got on 101 and headed south. When I got to Novato traffic came to a complete stop and then crawled for the next few miles -- oh, just about an hour or so. Ugh. I got off in San Rafael in dire need of a toilet and food. While loitering in Starbucks dreading the rest of the trip back to the city, I learned that the Richmond Bridge was closed, part of 101 closed just south of San Rafael and that there were problems with one of the routes through the city once you crossed the GG Bride.

So, I shrugged my shoulders and headed back north to my grandmothers. I'll spend tonight and go home tomorrow. Guess the Universe just wanted me to stay with Lucy another night, which is fine. It's better for her.

Back to the Salt Mines

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 2008 is here and will be for a while, so let's make the most of the next 365 days!

But in the real world... Argh, back to work tomorrow after a nice long weekend. Whoever thought working for a living was a good idea was a sick f*ck*r.

New Year's Eve was very nice. Went down to Ocean Beach to watch the sunset and to give an offering to a pagan goddess (goddess of the New Year and the ocean). It was a beautiful sunset and we enjoyed the bonfire, the company of friends and strangers, and several cups of champagne.

Then I headed to the German's house for the evening. Only a handful of us were there, so we had a relaxing evening eating, drinking and playing poker. While I was consistently giving up my chips, at the very end of the night I called a pot in Acey-Ducey which put me in the green and ahead $6.

And now I must go sleep so I can be rested for our first day back at work. Blech.

Almost the New Year

Today was a day of make-up shopping. Now, for those of you who know me, you may think to yourself, "Uh, you don't really wear make-up." Yes, that's true, but I still have that socialized feminine quality that makes me want to at least have make-up so that if I wanted to wear it I'd have it to wear. Plus, I got a gift-card for lots of dollars to Sephora, the beauty store that sells all sorts of make-up products under one roof. So, SP and I, with Gabe in tow, went shopping.

Here is a list of my sucker purchases...
Face cleanser -- supposedly to help reduce the redness in my cheeks, made with Soy and roses.
Face powder -- from Bare Essentials. Better for my skin? Will create a nice even skin tone. Had to buy a fancy "Kabuki" brush ($28) for proper application.
Gel eyeliner, in bronze -- oh, who knows what I was thinking, but I had to buy a brush for this item, too ($13).
Fancy Lancôme mascara -- okay, this is nice mascara.
Lip Gloss -- cause I had a sample and I liked it so I went with a regular thing of the goopy stuff.

I won't mention how much I spent on top of the gift card.

It goes without saying I was beautiful to start with, but I sure did look fancy after putting all this stuff on my face. If only I can motivate myself to put some of it on in the morning -- really. Make-up is different now then when I was younger -- they put stuff it in that is actually good for your skin, like sun block and natural minerals .

Did I do any other shopping? Sure. We were on Union Street after all. We went in to this great little shop that sold all sorts of shawls and scarves, like pashminas and what not. They were lovely and I very nearly bought a pretty blue shawl -- I'm still tempted. We also went to a toy store for Gabe, where I picked up Othello. Anyone want to play?

Then we had an early dinner and went over to see some of my friend's new art work -- self-portraits done in charcoal. Really spectacular. I can't remember his website right now, but I'll post it later.

But, I have to tell you, the highlight of the day was singing in the car with Gabe and SP -- in meows. Because, as an old Swedish Proverb says, "Those who wish to sing always find a song."

But now, here I am in bed, my face freshly scrubbed, moisturized, and eye-treated ready for sleep after all this shopping!

Eons and Eons and Eons

Okay, yes, it has been eons since I updated my blog. I've wanted to. Really, I did! I've just been so busy. I can hear it now: "Yeah, right, sure you've been busy. You're just lazy. You just don't want to do this blog thing anymore. Whatever ."

So, just to set things right, here is the update:

* Work is hell. December and January will probably be the worst two months of this project. 12 hour days and weekends are the norm.

** Had my 40th Birthday! Woo Hoo!!! I don't look or act 40, so all is good in my world. Had a big party at my place and then on the actual day, went to Gary Danko's for a dinner that was just lovely.

*** Got promoted.

**** Had another Thanksgiving Dinner that couldn't be beat (see picture below).

***** Went to an awesome Christmas Party at my friend's house.

****** Spent Christmas Day with my Slacker Bro. Played WoW. Had yummy crab cakes for dinner.

Now I'm caught up.

We're supposed to have the week between Christmas and New Year's off, but I'll be helping the team out as the prepare to go live with Human Resources in our new system. Please let it all go well... I don’t want us to go the way of Arizona State, though I can say that we have tested and tested and compared and compared person by person by person by person.

No real plans for New Year's yet. Probably just hang out with the Germans or some other friends. I'll worry about it later. :-)


Roberto titled this picture, "Down it Goes", and boy is it going down... and all the excited expressions can do nothing to stop the great Jenga collapse. This is what comes after eating another Thanksgiving dinner (just before Christmas) and consuming large quantities of wine and spirits... yes, Jenga. Welcome to my world.