packing will be known as throwing things in the bag

I have a bunch of nonsequitors in my head... Ok, more than a bunch - so I'm going to write a numbered list of what my head's doing now as I watch So You Think You Can Dance.

1. Massage: It's very odd to work in a place where you can get a massage and have it on your work calendar as if it's just any old meeting. Saying "oh, I've gotta run, massage scheduled" is perfectly acceptable. And then you walk down the hall, into a room, and get a professional table massage. Not to be crude in all honesty, but there's something ridiculously strange about gettin' undressed in just another room in your office. But mmmmmm massage good.
   
2. Training (aka butt kicking): There's only one word I say during training... Ok, that's not true, but my favorite is "ok". My trainer girl just tells me what to do and I say "ok." Apparently she can't always tell what I'm thinking or feeling due to this and the fact I laugh all the time. Then again, she showed me an exercise on the floor today and then flopped there and I told her that this exercise was called the confused fish and she was doing a "dead fish" by not moving. Let's just say that the confused fish exercise is much harder when you're laughing since it's all about sucking it in and squeezin' that butt for your "core." Training is hard though - losing weight is hard!
   
3. Roooooomba: My roomba is so nice to me. It's vacuuming while I'm watching crappy reality tv rather than packing. I love Roomba even if it does beep at me every now and then to ask me to get the cables out of it's innards when it tries to eat a lamp cord or something like that.
   
4. Packing: Yeah, so I leave tomorrow for the hellish travel adventure known as going to the Philippines. The actual destination is something I'm counting down towards and all that jazz, but the packing.... Yeah, let's just say I already asked that "people" not laugh at me when they see my over packing due to throwing crap at bag. Lazy! Still have a load of laundry to do too but butt kicking by trainer makes me very lazy feeling.

Ok.

Bye bye now.

Ok.

finger numbing reunion

Many things are running through my head right now... I mean, it is 1am so that's not particularly surprising, however.....

• I'm hoping the EBAs guy can get in the dorm with heaven (aka Tuscany bread).
• I don't know how much I drank, but I passed the point of embarassment HOURS ago.
• I had at least 13 drinks even given the above comment
• Reunion has been surreal.
• I'm hungry.

So yeah, I'm at my 5th year college reunion scarily enough. It's what may be considered a unique experience, but I think of it as absolutely normal. Who knows?

A few people who registered are no shows (yes, I'm a stalker, but I was also the web master for this hijinks). One of these particular no-shows upsets me greatly.

There's not enough time to spend with the people I care about though. They're staying over in hotels and went "back" far earlier than I, thus I didn't get the chance to enjoy their presence more than a quick chat over dinner or what not. Then again, I've met a lot of other kick-ass people I didn't know I'd remember and even befriended some Significant Others who are not from here. So I guess it's all going well.

Yeah, I have wishes and dreams like every girl. Including that I wish I knew where my cell phone was (I fear it got left at the home of the $2 margarita which I have always been a big fan of and paid great homage to tonight...) However, it's MIA. Update cell phone located

In the meantime, cheers to the >1/3 of my class that made it to reunions. It was great to see everyone from some of my bestest ever friends to my freshman year roomie. I lost my embarrassment about my sobriety state when I realized most people were at least as drunk as I was if not more so. Then again, I did kill my knee falling down a gravel drive to the hill where we had dinner which is rather unfortunate.

But, it was worth it because this place is beautiful and so great to be back in. There's only one regret I have, and that's not ruining my weekend - it just makes me want to do it again under other circumstances.

Anyways, I shall wait for my Tuscany bread now. Cheerio!!!

boston bad ideas

I'm working from the Boston office today and tomorrow in order to allow myself to go to my 5th year college reunion (oof - old). Now, last night I flew a direct redeye here with only 5 hours of airtime which is lovely - however, if that's the only time you can sleep and you can only sleep after takeoff and before landing that's about 4 hrs of sleep. Add to the the comfort of plane seats and crying children, and that's what I'm running on.

So not such a good idea.

But Redbull is my friend and I'm ridiculously excited to see my friends here in Boston tonight and my friends up in New Hampshire this weekend!!! It's worth it long term, but this morning when my eyes were watering and my head was nodding, it was definitely NOT worth it.

Next weekend I'm going to be DEAD - as will all the people arriving the same day as me from various parts of the world. 24 hrs of travel - eep. I need a more comfy plane pillow - it's worth the investment since the cheapo one I got was absolutely WORTHLESS!!!!

little town wonders

So, I have a new blog that I'm addicted to... letters from abroad

Maybe it's just me and my personal connection to the author, but I find this blog a general joy to read regardless of how sporadically it's updated.

Alicia (to me Lisi) is a lovely lady who was one of my first best friends when stretch pants and pigtails were the "in" things. We grew up together from early schooling to high school graduation and I knew her pretty well the whole time. Then we went off to our respective colleges and post-parental-living lives..

However, I've gotten news every year-ish on what she's up to when our mother's talk (along with her younger siblings updates). And the other day mom sent me a link to this blog telling me that Lisi had worked in Hungary and was now in Rwanda teaching. huhwha?!?!

Yup - it's true. And now I'm vicariously living through this blog and wondering what it must really be like.

The girl I knew when we played in her tree house over the stream or watched silly tv with after school is now a teacher in Rwanda! Dang! I think it's rewarding to know that from a small town in "upsate" New York, so many people have gone on to "big" things. I never think of my hometown as a place that creates people that thrive after high school, but I see it happening more and more. From the classmates living in Hawaii or becoming doctors, to myself (yes, for once I'll include myself), to Lisi in Rwanda, to another classmate counting turtles and studying their migratory patterns in Mexico, to the uber-successful Wall Street businessman I ran into over Thanksgiving, to Yale psycho science PhD students, to all the others I don't even know what they're now doing.... I guess the ghosts of my past are doing well!

I just wish there were more ways for me to cyber-stalk the really interesting lives of my classmates and go "wow cool!"

Now back to my daily life of geekitude in Seattle while wishing I was in Ireland... guess I need to make a living to support my wonky travel habits and worldwide relationships.

I have a problem.

I have a shoe obsession.

The first step in resolving a problem is recognizing it. I have a shoe obsession. I'm not sure I want to fix this problem. Although having mentally planned out the shoes I'd like to take to the Philippines, I realized there's an average if 1 pair per day... and that's just NOT RIGHT. But I don't know which of the 8 pairs I'd cut - heck, if I cut one pair it's only to replace it with another since 9 pairs popped into my head.

Yes, it's true, I have more shoes than I know what to do with. The scary thing is that I wear them all as regularly as you can when you have a month's worth of shoes and some of them are out of season (winter boots are no longer necessary and flip flops are being worn after their winter hiatus).

But yes, a month before I travel I can already think of 8-9 pairs of shoes to bring with me.

I have a problem. Will Philippine Air let me check 2 suitcases so I can pack one with shoes?

#00FF00

Girls dating geeks beware. I'm a girl and a geek thus I understand the phenomena, but it still makes me laugh quite a bit...

In late June I'm going to a wedding in the Philippines, thus I need a nice new dress. I love being able to dress up and am very excited by this prospect. It's an extension of my current shoe addition (btw - endless.com rocks for shoe purchases). Thus, I've already started looking for dresses (although I love clothes, I find it very hard to find cute youthful clothes that fit)! Very exciting.

I found a cute little jersey knit dress in white and green tropical print the other day and fell in love. Looks great on and is the perfect weight for a tropical wedding.

I told this very thing to boyfriend and he dutifully questioned wanting to know more. He understands my excitement. Except when I noted the colors of plain white and true green only in the dress he asked... "Green as in #00FF00?" (translation for non-geeks: that's the hexadecimal number representing green on computers).

I just about died of laughter while accusing him of being a geek. He agreed he's a geek and I promptly responded "I don't know!" and sent him a picture of a shirt that's the color green I'm referring to.

He's a good one - but he's also a geek. He's appreciative of what I like and am excited about, but that doesn't stop him from being him. It's the best of both worlds. I'm allowed to be a girlie girl, but at least I understand him!

It's good being a geek and a girl. And no, the color is not #00FF00. It's more of #009900 .

job... mmmm mmmmm.... good!

What am I going to write about the new job? Well, not a lot of meat about the company because I like keeping my job and because of that I like keeping the company's secrets. Plus, there's the entier law suit thing and that's just messy...

So yeah... what can I talk about? Food. Yes, I work for that Cali employer now (granted, in the Seattle office) that has very good food. Apparently they recently went "all healthy" in their food department - but damn, this is good food. And right now I'm in the CA office where we have all these food options that it's so ridiculous. I get lost walking through the buildings, but it really doesn't matter - I just swipe a diet coke from one of the fridge's and go in search of a map.

In the meantime, I've determined that I don't know if Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke is any good. I mean, I had two today and I really couldn't tell you if it was any good - drinkable, sure; good, I dunno.

And I say I'm eating healthy - which as a whole I guess I am - until you look at my dinner of In 'n' Out and wine... classy eh? I'm just entertained because here I am blogging about food when I have a good job.

However, one of my friends told me "well, you haven't said a bad thing so far" - which is good. Because my new coworkers have asked about my previous job and it's been a dismal summary from my lips.

Then there's the part of me that's going "wow, I work here?" and "how'd I get this job again?"

public service announcement & tmi

I feel the need to broadcast this so I don't have to deal with it myself...

I am so disgusting right now I don't wanna be near myself.

The shower is in sight - only the bathroom to pack (aka throw in a box). Woo!

"In summary, kegs are people too." -Nick

I'm nearing the end of week two of freedom. I did make it back from Dallas on Sunday and managed to get sick freezing my a$$ off in DFW. So now I'm fighting a sinus infection and being more motivated than one person should be. Y'see, there are some exciting things going on so I'm getting all miss organized over here.

I've got 9 days to get myself all moved into my new pad and outta this pad so the closet's been cleaned and the filing done - I broke my shredder there was that much filing.

And what else am I doing? Well, bouncing and planning to go to Whistler of course. Although skiing and I are hit and miss lately for a variety of reasons, I'm still looking forward to the absolutely gorgeous snow covered mountains. David and I will be going dogsledding on Wednesday too which adds to the excitement.

And just because it makes my mom shake her head, I must add that I'm the beermistress for this trip. Last year my room was "the slave cave" - an old converted walk in closet that had a futon on the floor. This year I'm driving the beermobile since we have a house for 6 nights, 5 days that's housing 22 people (yes, it's big enough for 24). And what do you do after a long day of winter activity? You eat good food with your friends, sit around in the hot tub, and drink beer.... And 22 people over 6 nights is a lot of beer.

Apparently my mother thinks this is a zany idea and doesn't know how kegs will fit in the car, but as Nick says "In summary, kegs are people too." Thus, keg A and keg B (contents TBA) will be my backseat drivers for the last 2 hours in Canada since you can't transport alcohol over the border. I hope they don't get too rowdy back there....

I leave you the parting wisdom of my only human passenger on the drive to Whistler:

If we run out of fuel we can camp at the roadside and tank ourselves up!

Patience is a Virtue

I am in Dallas. Why am I in Dallas? I don't quite know - it could have been one of many things:

1. my flight from Cancun which should've departed at 7am was delayed 2 hours
2. my flight from Cancun tried to leave on time, but they had mechanical difficulties getting ready to pressurize the cabin so we taxied back into the terminal and got maintenance for 2 hours
3. we circled high above Dallas where we were supposed to land for over an hour due to 50-60mph winds
4. we got rerouted to Houston since we needed fuel after circling Dallas and not being allowed to land
5. we sat at a domestic gate on an international plane for 5 hours because since we couldn't clear immigration & customs, we weren't allowed off the plane
6. we ran through customs and back to our plane to get back to Dallas since American flies NOWHERE from Houston that's of any use
7. I slept on the very cold floor outside security at DFW last night for a whole hour. Then I sat there for another whole hour waiting for everything to finish charging.
8. I'm on standby - I started as #37 on the list, and after the 1st flight out this morning I'm #12 so I'm not doing so bad, but I bet things start moving slower now

I have my trusty blanket that I found when I got in the terminal practically numb.

I want to curl up and go to sleep more than words.

I have hives and really need a shower, since the shower in Cancun was with chlorinated water and I'm allergic to chlorine. So I'm taking massive doses of Benadryl which aren't helping me to be more alert and at this point, they aren't numbing the itch nearly enough.

At least I have my computer so I'm in great demand by the peeps stuck with me to know what's going on since they won't tell us ANYTHING here.

Oh, and by the way - Cancun was great and I don't wanna go back.

i'm not allowed to change color - only my hair is

So, I'm in Cancun with mom, except it's been a bit chilly..... As in much warmer than where we came from, but by no means go in the water weather. It's been overcast and windy windy windy. This needs to stop. Especially since tomorrow I'm jumping in the water regardless to go snorkeling and a lil' breeze won't stop me!

In other news, I have a few new best friends:

• SPF30 so I don't change color to tomato (my hair can bleach if it'd like)
• pina coladas - they're like alcoholic milk shakes
• cheesey fries (gotta try to stay away from them! but yum)

What do the plans entail? Well, snorkelling and a boat ride to Isla Mujeres tomorrow. Then Wednesday we're going to some Mayan ruins on the beach - Tumul. Thursday and Friday damn well better be sunny so I can sit in the pool at the bar and swim around and read and lather myself in my best friend Coppertone.

Right now, I'm waiting for Mom to finish getting her free pedicure so I can go get mine.... what color shall my toes be? I never get pedicures so this should be entertaining - I've only had one before in my life. So I guess 2 things are allowed to change color: my toenails and my hair. My skin better stay basically pasty white though cause if it doesn't I'll be hurtin'.

to prove my point of my previous post

Today I:

• ate breakfast while on a concall
• made some double sided copies
• played with javascript to make a counter

See, now isn't that productive for you!

2 week notice explanation required

So, I'm "working"... but in reality I'm trying to understand what employers get out of two weeks notice. I gave my two weeks notice and it's getting harder and harder for me to do work. Now, most of the reasons are my problems, but some of them are work's.. For example, I'm oncall. Beeping doesn't help me work.

I'm musing over the fact that when I resigned from my teaching gig, it was much easier to be motivated to do the little things. Teaching classes, lesson plans, grading, exams, etc - they were all for the students. I'm not the type of person to jeopardize a kid's education just because I'm resigning and have the slacker-gene.

However, for my current resignation I'm trying to figure out how to keep going. I have a mental countdown going. Like right now I'm under 9.5 days. Really down around under 9 since the last Friday is full of exit interviews. But everyone knows I'm leaving so what's my motivation? I'm a generally responsible person, so that helps - but not nearly enough for some of the tedious tasks.

Does it make your employer feel better to have you for 2 weeks extra and pay that salary? I live in a state where it's employment at will and that's what my contract says.. so what's gained by them for this?

Can someone please explain the actual reason behind two week's notice. I get that it's respectful/polite/responsible - but those are all moral reasons. I work in big corporate America which is arguably neutral in morals - so what's the business reason behind this courtesy???

Back to the grind... my laptop tells me that on Friday 16 Feb at 5pm PST I will be done. I guess that's the finish line!

leavings and goings and new things

So, I got a new job that I'm starting in the very beginning of April. I also quit my current job but my last day is Fri Feb 16. And yes, I'm very happy about this. Although I'll miss my current team because they're really awesome, it's time to head on out.

I'll still be in Seattle... so what am I doing for 6 weeks?

Week 1: Cancun with mom
Week 2: move prep
Week 3: moving
Week 4: Whistler
Week 5: chillin' in Seattle with a friend
Week 6: may head to Vegas for a few days with my mom.

Yup - that time's gonna fly by!

ho ho ho!

So, I'm slacker-ific and haven't updated here - but I don't know if anyone reads this now that I'm in the States again.

Lots is going on: Seattle had a snowstorm (miraculously scary roads), a windstorm that took my power out for a week (woop!), and I've been travelling here and there.

So anyone who reads this that normally gets a Christmas card from me, they're in my room but didn't get written during the power outtage and since I leave for Ireland in 2 days for a week's vacation, they'll be New Year's cards you'll receive in the New Year. Like I said, I'm slacker-ific!!

Spent Christmas Eve Wii-ing on the roomie's new Nintendo Wii and Christmas day with family. Went to New York for Thanksgiving, went hiking in Rainier and was in VA hiking this fall and I'm heading to Dublin for New Year's. I've never stayed still - you're surprised why?

Hrmmmmm.... to blog or not to blog. Should I restart telling my stories here about downed trees and people doing 360s on the roads in front of me, and random crazy travels like the fact that in Jan, Feb & Mar I'm spending an entire week out of the country - 3 countries vacationed in in 3 months (Ireland, Mexico, Canada).

Cheers and Happy Holidays!!!

hi ho - hi ho - it's off on vacation I go

So, my wirlwind of one-trip-per-month commences. This weekend's 4 day installment is my flight to/from DC to visit a good friend there and go bask in mountainy glory with good hiking, pretty foliage, excellent company, good food, and yummy drinks to end the day in a fabulous hot tub.

Yes, I need a vacation. Work's been one lil' bundle of stress lately so I was looking at this vacation as the time that would never come. But it's here!!!

Ok, so I've gotta go tie up some loose ends from work but I'm all packed and just antsy to get on the plane now.

Pretty East Coast Foliage and great great friend - here I come!!!

Although I lack the ability to pack light. I always pack just what will fit in my suitcase and I decided since I ain't carryin' the puppy to not go with my carry-on-sized rollybag because of my need for toiletries. Meaning, I managed to bring more crap. Go me!

songs you don't sing loud with the car windows down

So, one of my coworkers leant me a CD by the artist Deirdre Flint. This CD is absolutely hysterical.

Last night driving home on empty interstates, I was singing along with a few of the songs - notably the first I sang with was "The Cheerleader" which is highly entertaining.

And then one came on that I'd had on repeat earlier in the day when I needed some giggles: "The Boob Fairy." Yes, I'm really not kidding you, there is a song entitled "The Boob Fairy." I'd pick the highlights of the lyrics for your reading approval, but really, there are no particular highlights - it's just all hysterical.... Although as Deirdre says in her own song it's just a metaphor:

This isn't a song about boobs. Not really. The boobs are just a set of metaphors to symbolize everyone's fear of human inadequacy. Hey! We've all felt the pain of being dissed by one fairy or another, so during the next refrain I want you to join in with your own fairy that never paid a call. Maybe it's the height fairy or the butt nymph. Men, maybe it's the pectoral or hair fairy or maybe some other fairy you just want to mumble about. Look, nobody's going to ask you to enunciate. And sisters, I don't want you feeling alienated because you happen to be full-figured. Just change the line to the boob fairy wouldn't let me be or the boob fairy became obsessed with me. Okay, here comes the refrain. Everybody join in.

I must say that I love driving on an empty highway and singing - it feels so free! And when I'm having a craptastic day, I sing lots. Granted, last night when I was singing this on my way home I was finally far enough away from the crap to be having a good day - but a gal can always use a bit of a laugh.... Because although this song might not apply to every female - especially not me - well, c'mon - you know you want to sing a song that ends with:

The boob fairy never came for me
No the boob fairy never came for me
Though the hip fairy came two times
and the thigh fairy came three
The boob fairy never came for me.

never judge a girl by her hair color

So I was waiting for the movie I was going to see last night (Little Miss Sunshine) - and it was starting later than advertised, so I stepped into the bar across the way from the theater. It was a pretty swanktastic lil' bar so I got a girlie drink to pass the hour I had to spare.

A little bit after I arrived, a nice looking guy approached me at the bar to say hi. We started chatting, and I was entertained by being hit on in a swanky bar with all the pretty people around, but didn't think much of it. However, the conversation will have me laughing for a long long time.

Let's just say he's new in town because he works "in technology." And apparently he wouldn't go into detail about what technology is because I "wouldn't get it." So mystery mystery mystery... I mean, a girl sitting at the bar with a cocktail in hand must never be able to understand anything about technology!

Except, when returning the "what do you do for a living?" questions in my direction, I was the painfully point-out-you-just-made-a-fool-of-yourself girl who said "oh, I work in technology. And apparently it's this mysterious field that I might not understand."

He looked abashed and I continued "I mean, if you want to judge a book by her cover, then I guess I couldn't really do tech."

"Oh, so do you work in marketing for Microsoft?"

DINGDINGDING! We have a winner boys and girls!!!

"Actually, I'm a software developer who didn't sell her soul to Microsoft." (as I thought to myself "how's your foot tasting? would you like some vinegar to make it taste a lil' better?")

He was a really nice guy and all that - I mean, for a guy walking up to me randomly in the bar, I could've done far far worse. But damn, that was just too funny. At least he made himself memorable even if I did taunt him with his assumptions all night when he was so excited that he could not edit himself to talk about tech gadgets and such.

Apparently women don't go for geek guys. Apparently I look like a ditzy blonde.

Hrmmmm....... Now aren't all of you out there who know me and the oddity of this situation giggling? I mean, this is far too funny for words.

step away from the hand eating machine

Yes, I'm blogging from work; yes, this is not an appropriate use of work time except I'm waiting for about 3 different things to finish and can't handle anymore tasks simultaneously in the workspace of my brain.

So, as I mentioned earlier I made my decision about which team to work for, and I find it absolutely fascinating but maybe that's just the geekette in me.

I'm getting out of the world of placing an order (cart, checkout, etc) to move to the world of fulfilling an order. In specific, I'm writing software designed to make everything flow through the systems and get from the people picking the stuff off the shelves out the door to the trucks waiting to deliver it to our wonderful customers. In other words: packing.

It's completely different compared to what I've spent the past 2+ years of my career here doing and I figured I'd go for it. I mean, who doesn't want to travel to Kentucky or Nevada or Tokyo to see different fulfillment centers and look at machines and try them out? I know I certainly wanna see how factories process boxes and talk about glue temperatures in meetings and how to regulate them via software. I really do find the entire process management aspect fascinating.

So it's not something you can see anymore like when I setup the messages and shut off ordering to Louisianna after Hurricane Katrina on the customer facing website, but every day software that I write will go into effect making sure our boxes are packed with the right stuff on time.

But if we get your shrinkwrap wrong, or we put things in way too big of a box, or give you the wrong packing slip - please, for the love of Yvette - don't let me know unless we do it repeatedly! I'm not the one who's there getting my hands stuck in machines.

The way I ended my lunch meeting with my manager's manager today was with her saying "oh, good, then you know how to deal with childlike people who are tempted to stick their fingers in the electrical outlets to see if they're working." Bloody brilliant!

how to focus on food for 7.5 hours straight

Apparently it's impossible to pick your own apples in the state of Washington which seems mildly wrong considering the location - but it did make for a good adventure yesterday. I went out with some friends thinking that the farm that said you could pick apples would let you pick apples - they did, from a bin.

So instead we went into their lil' Ma 'n' Pa garden and did some good old veggie picking: string beans, purple broccoli, some random radish, purple potatos, garlic and carrots. We also went bin diving for some apples. And then on the way home, grab some chicken and the makings for the pie crust, etc.

Then you go home and wash, chop, stir, peel, boil, bake, talk about baking and cooking, stir, fry, sautee, steam, etc. And eventually you end up with the most sinfully delicious dinner ever followed by one of the best apple pies ever.

I have never seen that many purple veggies - the potatos and cauliflower were fascinating to me especially since they became more purple as they were cooked. And I like cauliflower, I go through minor stages of cauliflower lust - however, this is beyond the wonderfulness of white cauliflower since there's just so much more yummy flavor.

Yum. So now I'm sitting here having just eaten a slice of apple pie for breakfast, and it's utterly delcious. And what do people do when they realize they have an entire second pie and have been talking about food for over 7 hours? They drink tea and plan the next night's dinner. So tonight we're having pie for dessert, however, we're having some combo of Indian food for dindin which we're cooking beforehand.

Here's my ode to food. Food is good.