The holidays were good at my house. My sister has been in town, and we've had a great time together. I managed to shop for my family without feeling compelled to go overboard (a first for me). My husband, clever boy that he is, got together with the husband of my girlfriend Joni, and they got us each a spa day setup - so that we can go together and be spoiled.

But the food!! The food was the best. And by "best" I am referring to the fact that I didn't have to do much of anything. I made some lentil soup on Christmas Eve, but my mother ruled the kitchen on Christmas Day. Breakfast was green chilies filled with cheese, baked with eggs and more cheese, plus cheese & garlic grits and homemade sticky buns. Holy cow. Dinner was delicious as well - standing rib roast, yams (with a really delicate orange flavor), green beans with pine nuts, biscuits, and candy-cane Jello. The Jello is a family favorite, we've had it every year for as long as I can remember. The kids do exactly the same thing that my brother and sister and I did years ago - you take a big helping of the Jello first, and then say "well, I guess I have to hurry up and eat this now, so it doesn't get contaminated by the gravy..."

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

I'm finally home from my business trip, with only a couple of days to spare before the holidays. It was a good trip, but two weeks is a long time to be away. I spent the first week in a kind of general training, more of an overview of the company and the industry, and then the second week was more hands-on work. There is a lot to learn, and they didn't really have much of a process in place to explain the day-to-day work tasks, but I'm sure I'll pick it up. I'm smarter than the average bear.

I love working in Boulder. My commute is 10 minutes by car, or 20 by bike. We're having an unseasonably warm December, so as soon as I can find my backpack, I want to try to ride to work until the weather gets bad. Our office is the top floor of a small building, on the corner of the main shopping street in Boulder (Pearl). About 4 blocks west of my office is the Pearl Street Mall, a pedestrian mall that is home to a ton of yummy restaurants and cafes, and some pretty decent shopping, including my favorite kitchen store. I've been walking every day at lunch, plus my parking space is about three blocks from the office, so I've really enjoyed having the excuse to get out. At my last job, there was NOTHING near the office, and it was right next to the freeway, so you never wanted to just get out and walk around. Let me sum this up by saying the "quality of life" change is immeasurable.

I miss my doglet...

Drinking is so much more fun when you're with someone. Actually, drinking alone is more than just sad, it's probably dangerous. Being a thousand miles from home, in a city where I have only one friend (we don't meet up until tomorrow night), it's just easier to go back to the hotel each night after work. Yes, I went to a movie already (saw "Syriana", more on that in a minute), I found the mall and shopped, Google Map'd the nearest Trader Joe's and In-N-Out burgers...so it's not as if I have been hiding in my room. The work days are a bit longer this week, and I'm TIRED! So, I picked up a couple of bottles of wine last week (at half the price they are in CO - God love Trader Joe's!), and have been working my way through them ever since. Actually, I only bought two bottles, and that was like 5 days ago - I think I'm doing pretty good! Tomorrow night, though - drinks! Much drinking! Many glasses! I will be sitting with three friends (okay, I lied, I know more than just one person), and we all met twenty - yes, 2 with a 0 - years ago.

So, "Syriana". I really enjoyed this movie, but it sure is unsatisfying. I'm actually not quite sure what it was supposed to be about. (Haha, I just typed "aboot", made me think of my friend Vic in Canada - yes, Bunny, you do say "aboot") Anyway, the movie was beautiful to look at, and I'm not just referring to Mr. Clooney. That man can pack on an extra 50 lbs or so and still make me lose my train of though. Ask my kid brother how much I love George - he and I were watching "Out of Sight" together a few years ago, and when G.C. takes of his shirt in the hotel room with JLo, I made this little kind of "oh!" sound. My brother turned and looked at me, then threw his head back and roared with laughter.

Besides gazing at George, there is Matt Damon, the newly-married, more-talented half of the "Good Will Hunting" team. Matt is perfectly fine in this movie, but nothing to write home about. Infinitely more interesting is the actor who played the older son of the Emir, I'm not sure of his name. You've got Amanda Peet being all intelligent and edgy, and Christopher Plummer lurching through his scenes (I think actually that you could swap out all of Mr. Plummer's roles for the last few years, and no one would be able to tell the difference). There's a wonderful cameo by William Hurt, an actor I've always adored, but don't tell that to my ex-boyfriend the actor, who thought he was constantly losing roles to "Bill".

I think I'll see "Syriana" again. Maybe I wasn't paying attention the first time. Maybe I was distracted by all the male booty. Maybe I was just drunk.

What do you do about someone who is sitting on the other side of a short cube wall from you, attempting to cough up a lung every few minutes? Christ, she's not even covering her mouth! Ew! Rude person germs!

This is one drawback to the new job - it's straight hourly, almost like being a contractor. That means no paid leave: no vacation, sick or holiday time. So it's no wonder that she'd rather sit there and basically cough on me, rather than go home - she wouldn't get paid if she left, dammit! What the hell am I supposed to do? Offer her tea, or a cough drop? I'm semi-serious here. I can't get away from her, because this is where I sit, and the cubes are configured so that I can't move away from this short (maybe two feet above the line of my desk) wall.

I've been sitting here for the past hour, scrunched down low in my chair, the collar of my tshirt over my nose and mouth. Think anyone will notice?

By way of Ali:


Which John Cusack Are You?

I know it's been a long time since I posted. So much has happened in the last month - I went from kind of looking for a new job to starting a new job in less than 30 days.

My previous employer (the evil THEY WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED) had been dangling some bait in front of me for about 9 months - the promise of a promotion to a much better job. In true THAT COMPANY fashion, I had to actually do the work of the new job, in addition to my actual job, in order to be worthy of the promotion. So I did it. I worked my ass off for 8 months, crafting a job description and rallying supporters within my department. It looked really promising. I advised my boss that if that promotion didn't come through, he should plan to have replaced me by January. He didn't take me seriously, I guess. The budget axe fell, and my new position was cut. Actually, it's too convenient to blame it on the budget. It was actually a result of tremendous spite and venom from our COO, who hates me but hates my boss even more. It was payback.

So, on to bigger and better. Two days after they cut my position, I reached out to a friend who had just started working at a new office in Boulder, a regional office for a company based in CA. I sent my resume, and a couple of days later I heard from their HR person. I interviewed with her on a Thursday, and with 3 other people from that company on Tuesday of the following week, and two days later I had an offer. I gave notice at my old job the same day. Basically, from the first time I spoke to them, it was 7 days until they made me an offer. It felt fantastic.

It's been an odd transition for me, which is one reason I've been so quiet online. I worked for my last employer for 4 years, and prior to that I worked for one executive for almost 10 years. I'm not a flake, I don't job hop - I find a niche where I'm comfortable and feel valued, and then I dig in and work hard. All I've wanted for the past few years is to be allowed to do that, and to be paid what I think is commensurate with that kind of commitment. Hopefully I've found it.

Sorry for the boring post. I'll be working on some catch-up stuff for you later.

Today is my birthday, and I am very old. That's all I'm saying.


Highlights for this date, courtesy of the Associated Press:

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 16, the 320th day of 2005. There are 45 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Nov. 16, 1864, Union Gen. William T. Sherman and his troops began their "March to the Sea" during the Civil War.

On this date:

In 1776, British troops captured Fort Washington during the American Revolution.

In 1885, Canadian rebel Louis Riel was executed for high treason.

In 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state of the union.

In 1933, the United States and the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations.

In 1959, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music" opened on Broadway.

In 1961, House Speaker Samuel T. Rayburn died in Bonham, Texas, having served as speaker since 1940 except for two terms.

In 1973, Skylab 3, carrying a crew of three astronauts, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on an 84-day mission.

In 1973, President Nixon signed the Alaska Pipeline measure into law.

In 1981, actor William Holden was found dead in his apartment in Santa Monica, Calif.; he was 63.

In 1982, an agreement was announced in the 57th day of a strike by National Football League players.

Ten years ago: Refusing to yield, President Clinton threatened anew to veto the latest Republican offer to end a three-day partial government shutdown; Democrats savaged House Speaker Newt Gingrich for claiming Clinton had snubbed him recently aboard Air Force One. Attorney General Janet Reno disclosed she had Parkinson's disease.

Five years ago:
Al Gore won a legal fight to expand manual recounts as he struggled to trim George W. Bush's 300-vote lead in Florida's presidential race. President Clinton began a visit to Vietnam. Civil rights activist Hosea Williams died in Atlanta at age 74.

One year ago:
President Bush picked National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to be his new secretary of state, succeeding Colin Powell. Al-Jazeera television said it had received a video showing a hooded militant shooting a blindfolded woman in the head; it's believed the woman was kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan. Sunni Muslims in
Iraq expressed anger over videotape showing the fatal shooting of a wounded and apparently unarmed man in a Fallujah mosque by a U.S. Marine.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Clu Gulager is 77. Blues musician Hubert Sumlin is 74. Journalist Elizabeth Drew is 70. Blues musician W.C. Clark is 66. Actor Steve Railsback is 60. Actor David Leisure is 55. Actress Marg Helgenberger is 47. Rock musician Mani is 43. Country singer-musician Keith Burns (Trick Pony) is 42. Tennis player Zina Garrison is 42. Former baseball player Dwight Gooden is 41. Jazz singer Diana Krall is 41. Actress Lisa Bonet is 38. Actress Tammy Lauren is 37. Rhythm-and-blues singer Bryan Abrams (Color Me Badd) is 36. Actress Martha Plimpton is 35. Olympic gold medal figure skater Oksana Baiul is 28. Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal is 28. Pop singer Trevor Penick is 26. Actress Kimberly J. Brown is 21. Actor Noah Gray-Cabey ("My Wife and Kids") is nine.

Thought for Today: "No matter how dull, or how mean, or how wise a man is, he feels that happiness is his indisputable right." — Helen Keller, American author and lecturer (1880-1968).

Today I am aping Amber and falling back on fluff. First, a picture of my brain:

Your Brain's Pattern

Your mind is a multi dimensional wonderland, with many layers. You're the type that always has multiple streams of though going. And you can keep these thoughts going at any time. You're very likely to be engaged in deep thought - and deep conversation.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

And, as if that wasn't enough, I give you:

You Failed the US Citizenship Test

Oops, you only got 6 out of 10 right!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

Huh. Maybe I should rethink the programming courses and take remedial Social Studies instead.

Running through my head:

1. I have to start looking for a new car. Much as I love my little Subaru, I will someday be squashed like a bug by a monster SUV. Plus, I now have the joyful privilege of towing the Parts Bucket across the Great Plains from time to time.

2. I would like to color my hair soon (keep the greys at bay) but am suddenly unwilling to shell out the $110 it usually costs me.

3. I have a lot of work to do before the BIG DAY November 30 (more on that later).

4. I need to get to Vancouver, and soon. Airfares seem unavailable for under $280. I will continue to investigate.

5. The Denver Film Festival ROCKS. I'm going to see 7 films. I'll do reviews after each one. (yeah, right)

Sorry for the long absence. Lots going on, more later.

This one is courtesy of Ali:

Your Hair Should Be Orange

Expressive, deep, and one of a kind. You pull off "weird" well - hardly anyone notices.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

Did you know that on the day after the Denver Broncos win a game, you can get free coffee at any Diamond Shamrock in town??? I had no idea! Just think of all the free java I've missed out on, dammit....of course, if Jake Plummer holds true to form, I might not have many more opportunities for the freebies.

Thank the good lord. Harriet Miers dropped out.

I feel some trepidation about who they'll propose as the next candidate, but boy oh boy is this a Bush Black Eye.

I am not a good cook. Let me just get that out of the way for all of you - my mother is a great cook, but somehow it didn't rub off on me. Alex can look into the fridge, gaze reflectively at the container of olives, pomegranate seeds, 12 varieties of cheese and assorted leftovers, and whip up a meal that is delicious and totally unexpected. I don't have that gene. I'm lucky if I can NOT overcook chicken breasts (I compulsively overcook chicken, because I once became ill after eating undercooked chicken - so there.).

Anyway, now that we're married and shit, I sense this expectation from my other half about food being available to eat each night. If left to my own devices, dinner would be something like a big plate with grapes, almonds, cheese, some hummus and pita. Sounds good, right? Yeah, except you can't eat that every night. My other favorite dinner is a big salad, because I usually have my big meal at midday, and end up eating dinner on the late side, so I don't want a big heavy meal. My dinner the other night was spinach, red bell peppers, tomatoes, gouda cheese, pine nuts, cucumber, and leftover roast chicken and rice thrown in. It was great. However, the boy rebels when I try to feed him salad for dinner EVERY night. What to do, what to do....

My friend Kim turned me on to Everyday Italian. It's a cooking show that is on every weekday, hosted by the adorable Giada de Laurentiis (granddaughter of producer Dino). Italian is not necessarily my favorite variety of food, but I find that it's the easiest to prepare, which of course makes it terribly appealing to me. I've been TiVoing all of the episodes, and watch when I have time, and then make a list of the dishes I want to try. So far we've had great luck with some lasagna rolls with spinach and prosciutto, and a fettucine with chicken and broccoli rabe. I try to not do pasta more than a couple of nights a week, plus there is so much leftover that we end up eating it a lot for lunch as well. My only gripe is that a lot of ingredients are hard to come by in Boulder. For example, I can't find Japanese eggplant anywhere! I am making do with the regular variety, but apparently the Japanese eggplants are smaller, more tender and sweeter.

Tomorrow night, I'll be trying spaghetti with eggplant, butternut squash and shrimp. I'll let you know how it goes.

Saw this meme at Ali's a while back, and gathered all the pics...but got distracted and consequently have not updated blog in many moons. Finally, I give you a Meme in Pictures:

Do a Google image search of the following and post the first (or favorite) result for each:
* The name of the town where you were born
* The name of the town where you live now
* Your name
* Your grandmother's name (just pick one)
* Your favorite food
* Your favorite drink
* Your favorite song
* Your favorite smell

Voila!

Where I was born:



Where I live now:



My name:



My (maternal) grandmother's name:



My favorite food:



My favorite drink:



My favorite song:



My favorite smell:

My favorite site for this week - Floating Georgie.

Today's post courtesy of the lovely Ali:

The Rules:

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.

Here is the fifth sentence of my 23rd post:

And really, the reason that we like those cheerleaders in their skintight bikini tops is that it looks more comfortable for them.

This was part of a post in response to the "public outrage" over Janet Jackson's boobage. Oh, the horror!

I'm not tagging anyone. Feel free to play along if you like, leave me a comment so I can go read your quote...

What is the difference between a "sick day" and a "mental health day"? Not much, actually, at least not from where I am currently kicking back. Yesterday was a 7 hour budget meeting w/ the Big Cheese, and I am exhausted. That was just Round 1. Round 2 is in ten days, but will likely be much shorter. I've been feeling weak and achy for a few days, so I know a cold is coming, now it's just a question of how bad it will be. Hence my day of rest - I figure that if I take it easy today, I might not be quite so sick for the rest of the week and weekend, because I have a lot to do (and some of it will actually be fun!).

So, my schedule today is a little different:

8am - dropped hubby at the Park & Ride, where he met his coworkers and headed off to the airport for a short business trip.
8:30am - sent email to work, declining to join them today
9am - released doglet into the yard - if she had two eyes, they would have been crossed from holding it for so long.
9:30am - 'net surfing and catching up on blogs
10:30am - shower - mad hair today
11am - possibly meet my mother and shop
12-4pm - hmmm - movie? ("Flight Plan" looks like a good way to kill an afternnon)
4:30pm - head to school - Unix/Linux Admin classes start tonight
7:30pm - head to airport hotel bar to meet an old friend for a drink before he flies off to the East Coast
10pm - hopefully in bed, on my way to the Land of Nod

Lest anyone out there think that I have no skills in life, I'll have you know that I have won the office football pool each week for the PAST TWO WEEKS. That $26 pot will buy me a latte every morning for the next two weeks. Ha!

You Know You're From Boulder When...


Your diet consists largely Boca burgers, Silk Soymilk, sushi, and Celestial Seasonings tea.

You understand the utility of burning a couch in the street.

Your kids wear 'Baby Gap' clothes.

You really believe that there is a war between Boulder High and Fairview.

You shop at Whole Foods and think it's guilty eating.

You wear shorts in the winter.

Riding your bike in the middle of the street is okay.

Your hybrid car is stocked with Ani Difranco and Indigo Girls CDs.

A member of your family either works or plays for C.U.

Sandals are worn year around, regardless of temperature.

You have either been, or sent your child to an alternative school, (ie. New Vista), because the other schools didn't challenge you/them enough.

Your waiter has a PhD in philosophy, and a MA in Women's Studies.

You'd rather starve than eat something that isn't organic.

You understand that "8 glasses of water a day" is what is required before 10:00 a.m.

Your sense of direction is: toward the mountains and away from the mountains.

Your friends don't eat meat, but they guzzle microbrew and designer coffee like it's water.

In any given line you can see a white person with dreadlocks who is barefoot and the next person is wearing Prada, Chanel sunglasses, a Rolex and is dripping in diamonds.

You're invited to a Halloween party only to find out "party" means serving peanut-pumpkin soup and sitting around reading Edger Allen Poe.

A "bike ride" is at least a 4-6 hour event, a "shower" is optional.

The only women wearing makeup are over 50 years old.

You know all 4 seasons: "winter," "two day spring,""drought season," and "one day fall".

The 3 most popular bumper stickers are: "Free Tibet," "Dog Is My Co-Pilot," and any array of Democratic political candidates.

The more holes a young person has in his clothes the more zeros are in his trust fund account balance.

April showers bring May blizzards.

You tell someone you're training for a 10K and they tell you they're training for a marathon and the Ironman.

You've dressed in shorts, sandals, and a parka.

You've gone skiing in July.

You've gone sunbathing in January.

"Rio," "Pearl," and "Walnut" have nothing to do with Rio, pearls or walnuts.

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Boulder.

I'm really enjoying being back in school again, but I have to confess that I dropped one of my classes yesterday. The database design class was a mess - there was only an assignment due every two weeks, which was disastrous for a procrastinator like me. Plus, not only did the instructor not provide any study materials or presentations, he rarely visited the discussion boards (this was an online course), which was supposed to be a major part of our classwork for the purpose of grading. Then, the pièce de résistance...he had an error in one of his test questions. I got it wrong because his answer key contained an error. I sent him an email about it, and not only did he not respond to my email, he didn't change my grade! So, I say, f*ck him, I wrote a letter to the dean and asked for a full refund on my class (I had missed the withdraw date by a week). I'll let you know what happens...

Thanks goodness, I stumbled on a fun meme (via Ugly Green Chair) - I've been wanting to post, but am brain-dead from hell week with work/school:

47 Things(um, I know this is supposed to be 49 Things, but there were only 47 listed, and I already told you what kind of week I'm having):

1. First name? Kathryn

2. Who were you named after? My father's mother. She died when he was 12 years old.

3. Do you wish on stars? When I see them.

4. When did you last cry? In the car the other day, talking to my nephew.

5. Do you like your handwriting? Yes, I do. It's pretty neat, a cross between cursive and printing.

6. What is your favorite lunch meat? Roast turkey.

7. What is your birth date? 16th of November

8. Are you an only child? Nope - one younger sister, one younger brother.

9. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with YOU? I sure hope so.

10. Do you have a journal? Well, there's this here blog...and I do still have a paper journal, but I only use it when I'm on the road.

11. Do you use sarcasm a lot? A better question might be "do you ever NOT use sarcasm?"

12. What are your nicknames? Kate or Kat, and KC to a few of my older relatives.

13. Would you bungee jump? Oh yes.

14. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Only the ones with laces.

15. Do you think that you are strong? I know I am.

16. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? It's a tie - peanut butter & chocolate, and pralines & cream.

17. What is your shoe size? 10 (I know - Bigfoot)

18. Red or pink? RED

19. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? Physically, I'd say I have really ugly feet. In general, I wish I were more patient.

20. Who do you miss most? In general? My oldest friend, Vic.

21. What color pants and shoes are you wearing right now? Sage pants w/ a chalk pinstripe, black shoes.

23. What are you listening to right now? Someone else's (my boss) iPod in the next room, blaring out over the speakers we gave him for Christmas last year.

24. Last thing you ate? Leftover fettuccine with chicken, spinach and toasted almond slivers. Yum.

25. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Sky Blue.

26. What is the weather like right now? Sunny, but cooler than it has been - fall is nearly here.

27. Last person you talked to on the phone? My boss, dammit.

28. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Whether or not their pants are too short.

29. Favorite Drink? Beer.

31. Favorite Sport? Toss up between hockey and football.

33. Eye Color? Light brown.

34. Do you wear contacts? Nope - no glasses either. Love those good genes.

35. Favorite Food? It's hard to choose. I love peanut butter, apples, red bell peppers, nutty bread and almost any kind of cheese. My favorite style of food is Italian.

36. Last Movie You Watched? "Sahara". I'd like to say that I did it on a dare, but I can't.

37. Favorite Movie? "True Romance"

38. Favorite day of the year? The first day that I can smell fall.

39. Scary Movies or Happy Endings? Happy Endings, I guess. I don't really like either.

40. Summer or winter? TOTALLY winter.

41. Hugs or Kisses? Hugs. They're more intimate somehow.

42. What Is Your Favorite Dessert? grilled fruit with french vanilla ice cream.

43. What books are you reading? The whole Harry Potter series, plus The Time Traveler's Wife and Carpe Demon.

44. What is on Your Mouse Pad? A bunch of stones.

45. Favorite Sounds? Dogs panting, a ceiling fan, water in the creek, violins

46. Rolling Stones or the Beatles? Beatles

47. Favorite band? Big Head Todd & the Monsters

One of my roles at work is with our Community Works Committee, which organizes everything from blood drives and Halloween parties to our annual United Way corporate sponsorship program. It's that last one that we're actively working on right now - each fall, we begin promoting the drive, where employees commit to donate an amount of money to a non-profit in 2006. It can be any non-profit (the payment process is managed by the United Way, and they keep a small percentage for overhead), and they can choose to have the funds withdrawn from their payroll or can make a lump contribution. The company matches their annual contribution at 50%. It's a great program, and I'm really proud of it and how hard we work to promote it.

One of the ways that we keep people's interest in the drive is doing a daily prize drawing for everyone who makes a commitment to donate in the coming year. Those of us on the committee spend a lot of time contacting local merchants and asking for donations of gift certificates to give away as prizes (because as we all know, it's so much easier to be generous when there's a prize giveaway). So I've been spending a lot of lunches out in the community, trying to get donated gift certificates. I've had pretty good success - a national restaurant chain, a local toy store, the homemade ice cream parlor around the corner, a coffee shop nearby - and I still have four more places to visit. It always makes me happy to see how willing people are to help.

Today's post idea swiped from Julia:

Twenty years ago this month, in 1985, I was entering my sophomore year at La Jolla High School. I was on the swim team that year.

Fifteen years ago this month, in 1990, I was in Paris, trying to get work as a model. Ha!

Ten years ago this month, in 1995, I was hard at work, doing research on scripts for film and television. What a great job.

Five years ago this month, in 2000, I got certified as a scuba diver and went on a weekend dive trip in the Channel Islands with my future husband. We moved to Colorado 4 months later.

Today, I'm happily married and I'm working toward a new role at my company. I'm trying to build a business outside work with my husband and our two partners, one that could eventually "employ" us all. I'm going to school, spending time with my family, volunteering, and hanging out with my friends. It's a great life.

It seems that I have a variation on the Midas Touch. A lot of the guys on my rescue squad are action junkies, and they staff a lot of shifts, hoping for exciting calls to come in. Some of them will staff 3 or 4 12-hour shifts a week and not see a call. I, on the other hand, go over there to sort through Hurricane Katrina donations for a couple of hours, and a call comes in! Actually, that was the first call I've gone out on in months - I took a break when I was planning the wedding this spring, and now I've got school, so I haven't been around much. It felt good to be out there again, even if it was only to direct traffic at an accident site.

Speaking of school, I'm taking 3 classes this fall - Systems Analysis and Design, Database Design & Development, and a Unix/Linux Sys Admin course. I think I may have already taken the Unix/Linux class, I have to double check my transcript. People keep asking me what degree I'm pursuing or what certificate - I'm such a dork, I'm not after anything, I just enjoy the classes and I figure that all knowledge is useful, even if it's not exactly what I'm doing for work right now. Along those lines, I am up for a promotion in the new year, which would be a lot of database and web work, so it will all come in handy eventually...

Meet Jerry Rice, the craziest little 2lbs around. Jerry has been entertaining everyone with his antics - shadow boxing, chasing bits of fur across the floor, taking swipes at the dogs as the walk through a room.

I know that you can't replace a lost pet. One of the stories about Hurricane Katrina that continues to break my heart is hearing stories of pets that had to be left behind - of little kids who were told to set down their dogs in order to board an evacuation bus. But I think that if you're an animal person, you have to have them around you. My mother loves animals, so much so that she can't go to the Humane Society or walk near the animal display when she goes to the pet store for dog food - it breaks her heart to see them without families. This is why we got Jerry so quickly - because the best way to show how much you care for your pet is to continue to show that love, even after the pet is gone. Now they get to shower Jerry Rice with all the love that they had for Jupiter.

Losing a pet is awful. Jupiter was 16 years old - we got him the fall before my sister got married, so I was 19, and Mare & Joey hadn't been born. Jupe was awesome - mellow, beautiful, regal. He liked to curl up in my hair, and he had the loudest purr I've ever heard. He gave head-butts to the people he loved, to let you know that he considered you a member of his pack.

Mare was particularly hard hit by his death - she has never lost anyone or anything before. She felt guilty when he died that she hadn't spent more time with him. My mother too was devastated - he was her cat, her constant companion during the day, prowling around the house.

We decided that we want to get another kitty as soon as possible. Jupiter came along when we had lost our 9-year-old cat, Jose Greco. Jupe helped ease the pain of losing Jose, and I'm hopeful that getting another cat now will help everyone not hurt so much about Jupe.

1989-2005
RIP, Jupiter

The news just gets worse. Each time I turn on the radio or the television, or visit a news website, there are further horrors in the South from Katrina and her aftermath. I just read that they had to halt evacuations at the Superdome because people were shooting at the helicopters. I can only imagine how desperate people are feeling.

I made donations this morning to the American Red Cross, which I know is providing life-saving services to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Also, because I don't know if I could choose to save myself if it meant leaving Ruby behind, I made an additional donation to the Humane Society of the United States. So many animals had to be left, and the Humane Society is working to not only help rescue the animals, but also to assist their people.

Sorry I've been absent. To celebrate my renewed interest in my blog, I give you a meme, courtesy of AliThinks:

Go to Music Outfitters and enter your high school graduation year in the search box near the top left. You should find a link to a list of the top 100 music hits from that year.

Bold = the ones I liked
Underline = my favorite(s)
Strikethrough = the songs I hated
Italics = the songs I can’t remember
Untagged = no opinion


Top 100 Songs from 1988 (the year I graduated high school):

1. Faith, George Michael
2. Need You Tonight, INXS
3. Got My Mind Set On You, George Harrison
4. Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley
5. Sweet Child O' Mine, Guns N' Roses
6. So Emotional, Whitney Houston
7. Heaven Is A Place On Earth, Belinda Carlisle
8. Could've Been, Tiffany
9. Hands To Heaven, Breathe
10. Roll With It, Steve Winwood
11. One More Try, George Michael
12. Wishing Well, Terence Trent d'Arby
13. Anything For You, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine
14. The Flame, Cheap Trick
15. Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car, Billy Ocean
16. Seasons Change, Expose
17. Is This Love, Whitesnake
18. Wild, Wild West, Escape Club
19. Pour Some Sugar On Me, Def Leppard
20. I'll Always Love You, Taylor Dayne
21. Man In The Mirror, Michael Jackson
22. Shake Your Love, Debbie Gibson
23. Simply Irresistible, Robert Palmer
24. Hold On To The Nights, Richard Marx
25. Hungry Eyes, Eric Carnen
26. Shattered Dreams, Johnny Hates Jazz
27. Father Figure, George Michael
28. Naught Girls (Need Love Too), Samantha Fox
29. A Groovy Kind Of Love, Phil Collins
30. Love Bites, Def Leppard
31. Endless Summer Nights, Richard Marx
32. Foolish Beat, Debbie Gibson
33. Where Do Broken Hearts Go, Whitney Houston
34. Angel, Aerosmith
35. Hazy Shade Of Winter, Bangles
36. The Way You Make Me Feel, Michael Jackson
37. Don't Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin
38. Make Me Lose Control, Eric Carnen
39. Red Red Wine, UB40
40. She's Like The Wind, Patric Swayze
41. Bad Medicine, Bon Jovi
42. Kokomo, Beach Boys
43. I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That, Elton John
44. Together Forever, Rick Astley
45. Monkey, George Michael
46. Devil Inside, INXS
47. Should've Known Better, Richard Marx
48. I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love, Chicago
49. The Loco-Motion, Kylie Minogue
50. What Have I Done To Deserve This?, Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield
51. Make It Real, Jets
52. What's On Your Mind, Information Society
53. Tell It To My Heart, Taylor Dayne
54. Out Of The Blue, Debbie Gibson
55. Don't You Want Me, Jody Watley
56. Desire, U2
57. I Get Weak, Belinda Carlisle
58. Sign Your Name, Terence Trent d'Arby
59. I Want To Be Your Man, Roger
60. Girlfriend, Pebbles
61. Dirty Diana, Michael Jackson
62. 1-2-3, Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine
63. Mercedes Boy, Pebbles
64. Perfect World, Huey Lewis and the News
65. New Sensation, INXS
66. Catch Me (I'm Falling), Pretty Poison
67. If It Isn't Love, New Edition
68. Rocket 2 U, Jets
69. One Good Woman, Peter Cetera
70. Don't Be Cruel, Cheap Trick
71. Candle In The Wind, Elton John
72. Everything Your Heart Desires, Daryl Hall and John Oates
73. Say You Will , Foreigner
74. I Want Her, Keith Sweat
75. Pink Cadillac, Natalie Cole
76. Fast Car, Tracy Chapman
77. Electric Blue, Icehouse
78. The Valley Road, Bruce Hornsby and The Range
79. Don't Be Cruel, Bobby Brown
80. Always On My Mind, Pet Shop Boys
81. Piano In The Dark, Brenda Russell Featuring Joe Esposito
82. When It's Love, Van Halen
83. Don't Shed A Tear, Paul Carrack
84. We'll Be Together, Sting
85. I Hate Myself For Loving You, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
86. I Don't Want To Live Without You, Foreigner
87. Nite And Day, Al B. Sure
88. Don't You Know What The Night Can Do, Steve Winwood
89. One Moment In Time, Whitney Houston
90. Can't Stay Away From You, Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine
91. Kissing A Fool, George Michael
92. Cherry Bomb, John Cougar Mellancamp
93. I Still Believe, Brenda K. Starr
94. I Found Someone, Cher
95. Never Tear Us Apart, INXS
96. Valerie, Steve Windwood
97. Just Like Paradise, David Lee Roth
98. Nothin' But A Good Time, Poison
99. Wait, White Lion
100. Prove Your Love, Taylor Dayne

We're thinking about going camping this weekend - which can mean one of two things. Either we pack up quickly after work and leave tonight, which means "car camping" (where you park someplace and pitch the tent next to the truck, and never bother to unload the truck bed), or else we'll pack tonight and head out at 6am for someplace three hours from here....I don't know which. I don't really care, as long as there will be fishing. I haven't been in a couple of summers and am missing it. Unfortunately, this won't be a full weekend trip, I have a party that we committed to on Sunday afternoon, so we'll need to be back.

Monday morning, I head up to beautiful Keystone for a work conference for three days. I'll sit in sessions for most of each day, but there will be a three-hour window on Tuesday when my girlfriend and I will sneak off to the outlet stores in Dillon. Need to find some trousers for fall. While I have always loved having long legs, it's hard to find 10L* or 12L pants in the regular stores. I end up buying most of my stuff online, where long sizes are plentiful.

* okay, I'm a 12 right now, but sooooo close to a 10. I can hope - I'm working on it!

I saw a new eye doctor today - I don't wear glasses or contacts, but have started to feel like my right eye is getting a bit weaker, so I went to get checked out. I have very good vision insurance through work, and so I pulled up their list of Boulder eye doctors and picked one. Usually I would just choose a name that I liked and hope for the best, but this time I chose based on address - the new doctor is across the street from where I get my hair done, and what a coincidence(!)- I have a hair appointment today. Synchronicity.

The doc said my eyes are great, but that I am slightly far-sighted - very mildly, but said that I might be more comfortable reading at night w/ some of those drugstore magnifying glasses, at 1.50+ - coincidentally, the same glasses that I already bought and have been happily using for months. Otherwise, perfecto!

After the eye doc, I crossed the street to the salon, where I got the most beautiful color done - I have been blonde for years, but shortly before the wedding went to medium brown instead. While I like the brown and think it's more flattering, it was a little too dark and was much too "saturated" immediately after she colored it. This time, we went a shade lighter for the base and a shade lighter for highlights, and it's perfect. It's what I think must be my natural color (it's been so long, I can't remember), it looks so good against my skin. It's amazing how getting your hair done and knowing that it looks good just takes your self-confidence to a whole new level...

Welcome to Denver. Please check your physical well-being and your sense of security at the gate.

Singer Marc Cohn Shot in Denver

This afternoon is just dragging by, and I can't even go home early today, because I'm headed to the airport after work and boarding a flight to....wait for it....OMAHA! Woo hoo! For one full day! Geez. Why can't we do track days in Hawaii, or Belize, for chrissake?

It's not that bad really - at least it's not 105 degrees there, like it was earlier in the summer at a previous track day. And, it's only for one day this time, which makes it infinitely easier to wrap my mind around. Hopefully there will be a nice piece of steak at the end of the day tomorrow (because really, why else go there?).

I'm reading various accounts of all the panels, meals, drinking and so on that took place at BlogHer last week. Dooce, Fussy, finslippy, jenandtonic, Suburban Bliss and many others were there, some meeting for the first time, others getting re-acquainted. I envy them the time they spent together, that they got to meet one another and maybe recognize a kindred spirit. You don't get that very often, do you? Go read some of their stories...

My mother had a long shoot yesterday that ran into the evening, so I left work a bit early and picked up the kids. We went to see "Sky High", which was better than I expected. There was some humor geared for my generation, but a lot was there for them as well. The hero of the movie is the same age as my nephew Joey, so he at least could identify and was entertained. We followed that with dinner at Red Robin, because my friend James swears they have the best burgers in Boulder (practically) - I don't know about that, since I had the salad and in my humble opinion the Walnut Brewery holds the "best burger" claim.

When we got back to the house, somehow (while I was out of the room and therefore unavailable to referee) Alex challenged Joey to do the same workout on the bike trainer that Alex does practically every night. Since Joey can never back down from a challenge, we put Alex's biking shoes on him, popped in the training video, and made him ride - the whole 40 minute program, with the simulated hills and race and all. By the end of it, the poor kid was covered in sweat and grunting "I hate you" at Alex out of the side of his mouth. Actually, he was a good sport, and he actually finished - I was really proud of him. Then his sister said, "Dude, if you did that every night, you'd get rid of your man-boobs."

Last night, Joni and I snuck out while her twins were in the bathtub (okay, their dad was watching them!) and went to the movies. Well, the movies by way of the pub. Couldn't let a "night" out opportunity go by without a pint before the movie. Actually, I had a taste of one of the specials - a lager from Kona, Hawaii - not exactly all that I hoped it would be, so I stuck with old faithful, my Heiney. So we sat and we talked and we uncovered bizarre crossover friend-coworker weirdness, in fact it was so weird and potentially dangerous that I can't even write about it in a vague sense for fear that it'll somehow come back to haunt me. I know that's frustratingly vague, but believe me, this one could bite me in the ass.

After a drink or two and the world's smallest plate of nachos, we went to see "Must Love Dogs". Having spent many years adoring John Cusack (ever since "Better Off Dead"), I was totally willing to fork over the $8 to see it at night like a normal person, especially since the damn bargain matinee doesn't seem like much of a bargain these days, being that it's $6 (gotta save that whopping $2 (I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!) to go toward the $8 it costs for a small popcorn and small soda). I also happen to really like Diane Lane, in fact I have been told that I resemble her (on a good day) - although people seem to think I resemble a lot of other people. Anyway, the movie was "cute" - not so sappy that I am embarrassed to say that I saw it, but not SO good that I'd do the ever-annoying "You HAVE to see it" - unless you're my mother the stylist, who should see it because Diane Lane was beautifully dressed through most of the movie, and whoever picked out the jewelry for Diane and the other female leads did a ROCKIN' job. Beautiful necklaces, delicate earrings, all coordinated with the killer clothes. Of course, when you look like Ms. Lane, you can wear a burlap sack and some people will still go "ooohhh" - but she did look great.

I present Googlism, which I found over at Ali's - and yes, now you know my name...

...my personal favorites are "kate is my homeslice" and "kate is available for instant download"

kate is great
kate is pregnant
kate is uitsmijter van hoge raad'
kate is 40 album
kate is on fire
kate is 21 and ready to conquer the world
kate is interested
kate is still 22
kate is my idol
kate is my boss
kate is our winner
kate is in the babybedroom
kate is award winner
kate is ready for reign
kate is scary
kate is alive
kate is the big brother winner
kate is a musical for real musical lovers
kate is not a bitch
kate is the oppressively heavy
kate is awarded a position with the cathedral
kate is a lightlike being of art with dark flaming eyes and strong
kate is 40 pages
kate is a uk web woman
kate is the best
kate is looking to pass the ball while azzi is guarding her
kate is interested in the area of usability engineering
kate is lovely
kate is the proverbial ''one woman rock band ''
kate is continuing to work steadily on a new album
kate is a very normal
kate is what's called a transsexual person
kate is sending me the official results to post
kate is controlled by other characters' actions towards her
kate is a massive madonna fan
kate is big brother favourite for first time
kate is responsible for the management and oversight of state
kate is a founding partner of gregory consulting limited
kate is serving as the executive producer on this film so her work has started early
kate is like christmas when i was a kid
kate is ready for reign spotlight hits granddaughter of lucy
kate is a multi document editor
kate is anything but calm as she patiently waits for an opportunity to make her presence known
kate is having fun with the girls
kate is instantly the reader's fast friend
kate is my daughter
kate is presented as a complete one
kate is now my favourite after spanky left
kate is also an active member of the national speakers association
kate is a market researcher
kate is torn between keeping the baby with the man she loves and pursuing her life
kate is venetian blonde
kate is the only psychologist in the us who is both helping to create and fix relationships in this way
kate is a lovely girl
kate is welcomed and introduced by none other than the french tennis star yannick noah
kate is interviewed in a recording studio where she is working on her third album
kate is finally born
kate is a scorpio
kate is connected
kate is told she is not an adequate instructional leader
kate is a spy
kate is delightful
kate is to leave first as her contract expires at the end of this year
kate is called to the diary room
kate is almost a natural psychic when it comes to fashion
kate is separating from her husband jim threapleton after less than three years of marriage
kate is available for instant download
kate is not your average super model
kate is the rock of the division
kate is actively involved in other organisations
kate is nevertheless considered beautiful by many
kate is a minor voice in a city full of both the social elite and the not so elite
kate is in negotiations
kate is currently working at ge medical systems
kate is an experienced concert soloist
kate is my nominee for the hall of friendship
kate is the product of a wealthy home and her mother despairs of ever seeing her settled down like a good daughter
kate is a disaster waiting to happen
kate is europe's favourite
kate is awarded a position with the cathedral
kate is venetian blonde
kate is on fire
kate is uitsmijter van
kate is a uk web woman
kate is uitsmijter van hoge raad'
kate is lovely
kate is sending me the official results to post
kate is award wrinner
kate is getting on with being pregnant
kate is not happy with how the gq staff changed her photos
kate is latest wtc casualty by
kate is looking to pass the ball while azzi is guarding her
kate is one of the celebs who dine at maggie jones's restaurant
kate is so much happier and livelier than ashley
kate is on location
kate is a founding partner of gregory consulting limited
kate is responsible for the management and oversight of state
kate is almost one month old
kate is the finest artist i have found on the web
kate is instantly the reader’s fast friend
kate is a graduate of the art institute of philadelphia; degreed in commercial and graphic arts as well as photography
kate is continuing to work steadily on a new album
kate is my daughter
kate is in her third season competing for the big red and her third season as an open division rider
kate is dank
kate is a multi document editor
kate is an experienced concert soloist
kate is torn between keeping the baby with the man she loves and pursuing her life
kate is the only psychologist in the us who is both helping to create and fix relationships in this way
kate is ready for reign spotlight hits granddaughter of lucy
kate is featured on the front cover of february's mojo magazine
kate is a model
kate is almost a natural psychic when it comes to fashion
kate is getting ready to go to the party for farmer's bounty
kate is licensed by the alabama board of social work examiners as a licensed certified social worker
kate is actively involved in other organisations
kate is 16 years old with severe mental retardation and paraplegia due to spina bifida
kate is joining up with hamilton
kate is delightful
kate is having mixed feelings about seeing sam again
kate is one of the most underrated actors working today
kate is 15 years old and lives in a rural area called inez in victoria county
kate is the rock of the division
kate is not someone hillary should have as a friend?
kate is going in search of a very elusive fish
kate is currently the assistant dean of admissions at cornell college
kate is currently working at ge medical systems
kate is a small child compared to vim
kate is another great msu competitor to watch
kate is the product of a wealthy home and her mother despairs of ever seeing her settled down like a good daughter
kate is a uk web woman
kate is so cool
kate is lovely
kate is one
kate is sending me the official results to post
kate is award grinner
kate is ready for reign
kate is alive
kate is the best
kate is another great msu competitor to watch
kate is the product of a wealthy home and her mother despairs of ever seeing her settled down like a good daughter
kate is back and marvelous
kate is growing up
kate is a little sharp and a little shiny
kate is bad archives
kate is athens bound
kate is forming
kate is uitsmijter van hoge raad'
kate is told the secret of the hedge maze
kate is fugly
kate is a man
kate is an individual who created five trusts
kate is my love lyrics
kate is great lyrics
kate is hot?
kate is so fucking cute
kate is perfect for company parties
kate is angry
kate is hungry
kate is the pride of the kennedy
kate is not tamed need a paper dot com
kate is right
kate is the more aggressive twin
kate is my love
kate is pissed
kate is great the shrew is tamed on broadway by faye benjamin asst
kate is not just for weddings
kate is not tamed
kate is all manufactured in rural america with great attention to detail
kate is moving west

**i confess, i deleted the duplicates and the ones that were just too raunchy for my niece to see**

Today I took J&M on a hike with some friends from work. We went up to Rocky Mountain National Park, parked at the Bear Lake trailhead, and hiked up to Loch Lake. The scenery was incredible - I haven't been out on a nice day like that in a long time. The temperature at that altitude was about 80 degrees (while everyone down in Boulder was suffering through 100+ - ha! Suckers!). We didn't see much in the way of wildlife, but there was an extraordinarly ballsy chipmunk that kept approaching while we sat on the rocks at the Loch and had our lunch snack. I know you're not supposed to feed them, but how can you resist when they walk up, climb onto your shoe, and then stand up and beg?

The hike was about 7 miles roundtrip, and we were beat by the time we got back to the cars. However, there was lunch still to be had - one of the guys in our group had boiled brats in Guiness the night before, and then brought his grill so we could brown them up for lunch. They were delicious! Especially with the two mini-kegs of Heineken!

Weekends used to be about hanging out, visiting with friends, relaxing at home - what happened to that? It seems like every Saturday, all I do is run errands. I leave the house in the morning with what seems like a small list, and I end up coming home 7 hours later, tired, needing to cook dinner and still do laundry! WTF?

Today is a perfect example. All of the errands I can usually knock out during the week have been relegated to Saturday. This because I've had to use all my free time on weekdays to sit around on my ass at the drivers license office and Social Security, trying to get my name changed. How can it be that two separate and unrelated government offices (one state, one federal) had simultaneous "computers down" and were unable to process my paperwork? How is it that said computer outage occured on the DAY I TOOK OFF WORK TO RUN THESE PARTICULAR ERRANDS?

I am whipped - just returned from a very long day. I spent the day at Elitch Gardens with a bunch of co-workers. We do about two "offsites" a year, and today was all about eating and playing. We started the day at Dixons Downtown Grill for breakfast, then headed over to Elitch Gardens. We were broken up into groups of four, and you stayed with that small group at the amusement park. It was blisteringly hot (about 104 degrees), so of course we hit all the water rides first. My favorite ride was "Half Pipe", but my favorite thing that I did at Elitch was that I got to fly! They have a ride called XLR8R, where they strap you into a body harness, hook a cable to your back, and then hoist you what seems like 10 stories into the air. Then, you pull the cable and FLY! It was absolutely amazing, after the first few feet where you just free-fall - then the cable catches you and you swing through the air. I had my arms out like a bird's wings, soaring over the park. Awesome. Definitely worth the extra $15 you pay to do it.

After Elitch, we dragged our wet, exhausted selves down to Cherry Creek, for a chi-chi lunch (for which we were all SO underdressed) at Fourth Story, the restaurant on the top floor of the Tattered Cover bookstore building. Lunch was great, lots of good food and wine, but truthfully, I was too exhausted to enjoy myself.

There was the long drive back to the office, and then I headed home, threw on my bathing suit, and walked up to the Elks Lodge, where Friday afternoon is our neighborhood swimming party. J was there, watching the twins because M was sick, so I sat in the kiddie pool and played with Matthew and Jordan while their mom & dad relaxed and chatted w/ friends. We had dinner there (hot dogs and fruit salad, with Cheetos!), then headed home and almost immediately passed out on the couch for an hour. Long enough day, ya think?

I'm playing with Blogger's new photo tool - that's a pic of me and my friend Tara, taken at a work event last week. You've gotta love a place that sends you bowling and out for Japanese food on a Friday!

Despite having the wedding and all the attendant fanfare behind me, I don't feel like things have really slowed down that much. I still seem to be busy with something at least four nights a week, even though I've taken a break from the rescue squad and I'm not doing any classes or volunteer work this season. Life just takes over - tonight I have to attend a meeting about the status of our land as being in the "flood plain", which is code for requires very expensive flood insurance, and whether or not it can be re-designated. Friday night is swimming/bbq/cocktails at the Elks Lodge, which is a real neighborhoody thing to do. Saturday I have a massage (hallelujah!), and then a cocktail party, and then the kids are spending the night before we get up REALLY early to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park for a day hike - about 7 miles roundtrip, with lunch along the way. They're both good sports and so gung ho about trying new things - I hope they can keep that spirit their whole lives.

BTW, the song listed at right ("At Last") is not actually how I feel - I'm fully aware that there will be lonely days - I just love the song.

It's only in these hottest days of summer that I'm grateful to work in an office building all day - especially an office filled with very expensive, very sensitive electronic equipment, such that the indoor temperature must remain low at all times. It's about 95 degrees outside right now, I know this because I just had to walk out of the building and across the street to the parking lot of our neighboring building, because the landlord threw a BBQ for the tenants of the three buildings in our little area. It's HOT out there. To combat the heat, I like to work as late as possible, killing two birds with one stone - rack up some of that OT, and stay indoors until the sun is a bit lower in the sky, and my car has found some shade next to the east side of the building. However, last night it didn't cool off all that much until close to 10pm, so tonight calls for drastic measures - I've begged the boy to take me to a movie. I want to see "Mr. & Mrs. Smith", because there are worse things than watching Brad Pitt for two hours just to escape the heat.

In support of teaching Flying Spaghetti Monsterism as a form of Intelligent Design, I give you an open letter to the Kansas School Board, found at Fussy.

As some of you may know, last Friday was my wedding day. Getting married, getting presents, being surrounded by family and friends tends to make you feel pretty much like the center of the universe. One of the more self-indulgent things I did last week was to go to the hippest nail spa (don't call it a salon, they'll correct you) in Boulder for a manicure and pedicure the day before my wedding. That day, of course, was last Thursday, July the 7th. Seeing as I was living in my little wedding week bubble, I hadn't turned on the tv or listened to the radio at all. However, when I arrived at the nail spa, the wall where they normally project movies or old reruns of "Seinfeld" was instead showing CNN and pictures of London having been attacked. I can't begin to express my feelings of outrage and sadness at this newest attack. I have such fond memories of my time spent in London, what a gloriously peaceful and pleasant city it is. I hope that at her heart, London will remain that way, despite what has been brought to her streets and to her people. My heart goes out to every person touched by what happened that day.

Via Len - this was too good not to snatch and post here as well:

From the Declaration of Arbroath, written by the Scots in 1320:

for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under [terrorism’s] rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom — for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.

Hey, I got married yesterday. It was awesome. I was so calm all along, through all the planning and set up and everything - and five minutes before I was to walk down the aisle -- PANIC ATTACK. Heart pounding, short of breath, butterflies in my stomach, all of it. Trying hard not to cry, I just held his hand while we stood at the altar. I think we set a record for shortest ceremony, but I don't care. It was beautiful, and almost every person in the world that I care about was there.

More later.

...5 days to go...

I was supposed to be out of town this weekend at a race in IA, but I couldn't get a flight out of Denver last Thursday (another post on that adventure later)....anyway, it worked out for the best because I've spent the weekend organizing my house & basement - something that was desperately needed but for which I never carve out any time. The houseguests begin to descend on Tuesday, and my cleaning person is coming tomorrow, so I'm happy to have had time to get this done.

I think everything is in order for the wedding. I can't think of what I'm missing, but it seems like everything is taken care of. I even called the hotel where A's family will be staying and made a request for special rooms that face away from the road.

Have to run, my neighbors are hosting a "Napoleon Dynamite" 4th of July party today. Must go find my Vote for Pedro t-shirt.

Found this game over at Ali's. Basically, you just list the famous people you've seen or met (I'm doing mine in alphabetical order, for no particular reason):

• Jamie Lee Curtis


• John Cusack


• Sally Field


• Harrison Ford


• Shaquille O'Neal


• John Travolta


• Vince Vaughn


• James Worthy

Actually, when you live in LA for ten years, you see a TON of famous faces, too many to list here. A couple of the ones above I did meet & hang out with (but I'm not saying which ones!).

This headline seemed better suited to the Weekly World News than a major news source, but I guess that's why they say that truth is stranger than fiction....

Giant Popsicle Melts, Floods New York Park

I love quizzes that make me feel smart.

Via AllanThinks:

Your IQ Is 135

Your Logical Intelligence is Genius Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

A little meme for today, from Spanglemonkey:

1. How did your parents meet?

They met in college, at Butler University. He was in a frat (can't remember which one), she is a Theta.


2. What was the most frustrating thing your mother faced in your childhood?

I don't know. She never confessed to being frustrated. If I had to guess, it would be that it was probably hard to find someone that she liked who also had no problem with becoming an instant father to three kids.


3. How does/did your mother feel about her mother?

She loves her mother deeply, but doesn't seem to have much in common with her. But hey, isn't that true for most people?

...19 days to go...

We had one of those huge neighborhood garage sales on Saturday in my mother's 'hood. I have spent the past few weeks slowly going through every room of my house (except the kitchen, I should have made time for that), weeding through 17 years worth of crap that has accumulated since I've been living on my own. Wow, that makes me sound really old. Anyway, I spent most of Friday afternoon and evening hauling massive amounts of stuff over to my mother's house, and then got up at 5am on Saturday WHICH IS CRIMINAL in order to be there and get stuff organized before people descended at 7:45, because you know that any time a garage sale is advertised as starting at 8am, people will start showing up a half hour early. Only that didn't happen. They started to slowwwwwly trickle in about 8:30 or so, just a few at a time, until about 9:30, when we got slammed. We speculated that it was because there were so many homes participating (I think it was over 40), that it took people a while to find there way back to us, tucked away in a quiet neighborhood as we were. So by 9:30, there were mobs of people, a handful of women pawing through the mountains of clothes that I was parting with (8 full Hefty lawn bags full), some of which still had tags, and all of which were going for $2 a piece. There was still some junk left at the end of the day, but I made $350 and most important of all, the first thing I sold was A's hideous black lacquer yeah-i'm-a-bachelor dresser. Glory be.

Cool test, found via Beancounter:

Face Memory Test

Recognition score
(if you saw it)

Your score: 95%
Average score: 92%

This is a measure of your ability to remember the photos you've seen, regardless of the part in which you saw them. From all 24 photos shown in Parts 1 & 2, you recognised: 23 photo(s).


Temporal memory score
(when you saw it)

Your score: 91%
Average score: 68%

This is a measure of how often you recognised a photo and matched it to the correct part, instead of just remembering which ones you'd seen. From all the photos you recognised, you matched: 21 photo(s) to the correct part.

....22 days to go....

Song lyrics of the day: "...and it's you when I look in the mirror...sometimes you can't make it on your own...."

My local radio station, KBCO, tries to be eclectic, but I'll tell ya - every time I turn on the radio lately, they're playing U2. Not that I object to U2. I wish there were more bands like them, and more celebrities like Bono - not content to sit and count his endless piles of cash, but using his celebrity for good rather than evil. No, my gripe with KBCO is lack of imagination. Their morning guy, Bret Saunders, is fun to listen to and all that (although I usually listen to the local NPR station in the mornings), but the playlists in the afternoons and evenings are always the same stuff - U2, Coldplay (sick of them, thanks very much), John Mayer, and usually something from the 70's thrown in (usually the Stones). Makes me miss my favorite LA station, KCRW. They have an incredible program called "Morning Becomes Eclectic".

This brings me to my other topic for today - TIGER! I know, I know - you're looking for the connection between my fond memories of a Santa Monica radio station and the new OS for my Mac. Ha! One of my favorite new features with Tiger is the Dashboard and the widgets. It just so happens that I went and downloaded a widget called RabbitRadio. RabbitRadio lets you select an NPR station from across the country, and streams it! 10 seconds to download the widget, 2 seconds to drop it into my Dashboard, 5 seconds to figure out how to change the settings (yes, it's that easy), and I heard KCRW. It almost made me cry, it was such a beautiful thing.

....23 days to go....

Song lyrics of the day: "I'm just a soul whose intentions are good...oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood..."

The song of the day idea has been bouncing around in my mind for a while. Each morning, usually while I'm in the shower, I realize that I've woken up with a song playing. I don't know if it's from a dream, or some other thing that happened between my bed and my shower, but there's a song, and it's usually pretty obscure, or it's a nursery rhyme from my childhood, or some other weird thing. It occurred to me that it would be interesting (to me, anyway) to see which songs are popping up from day to day. What sort of information about my emotional state might you gather from seeing what random songs my subconscious presents each morning? I suppose the fact that there is a "song of the day" in my head probably says a lot already (haha).

Met w/ the restaurant owner last night from the joint where we'll have dinner after the ceremony. It's perfect, very low key, across the street from our hotel for that night, just a block from the Pearl Street Mall, where there is likely to be much drinking done after the wedding. We'll have a private room, pool tables, access to the bar - exactly what the boy and I were after. Check that one off the list...

Not guilty. What a disgrace.

Verdict is in....ooh, the suspense!

....30 days to go....

I'm spending time each day trying to tie up loose ends. I had to send payments/deposits off for the wedding site and the photographer, and have sent the programs to the printer. The first wedding gift arrived this week (very exciting!). I'm going to lunch tomorrow with a girlfriend, and we're stopping at a local florist to look at some of my options. My mother found a wholesale flower guy who will put together whatever we want, we just need to let him know what varieties. I know sh*t about flowers, so I have to go wander around and see what appeals.

My mother and I visited a furniture rental place to see about tables, chairs and a bar - but it was all crap and would have cost a few hundred dollars. There's a church near my mother's house that sometimes loans furniture to congregation members, so she's looking into that instead. I also posted a flyer in the breakroom at my local pub, looking for someone to tend bar at the reception.

Despite having a laundry list of things yet to do, I feel okay. I know so many people who got so stressed before their weddings, about what was not yet done, or about who couldn't make it, or whatever - I'm really not feeling that. I get the occasional, momentary flash of panic when I remember something that had been tucked away in the back of my mind - but it's all doable, and I have so many friends and family who have offered to help me get everything done. I'm so grateful for that.

On an unrelated note, my deepest sympathies go out to Mel Brooks and his son, on the death of Anne Bancroft. She was a class act.

....36 days to go....

I woke up early this morning (it's a wash-the-hair day, which means an extra forty-five minutes to get ready) and as I was showering, it suddenly hit me that the wedding is in just over a month, and I still don't have a florist or furniture for the party. What if the party rents place doesn't have anything available for me? I only have 3 weekends in town left before the wedding, and one of them is booked with a garage sale - how the hell am I going to get everything done? Will it be okay with you if my blog turns into a WedZILLA panic station?

I've been working on registry items, after reading on an etiquette list somewhere that you need to have registered for as many items as you have guests invited. Hah! I think I had 35 items on two different registries, but have invited 40 people to the wedding and another 60 are invited to the reception. The article suggested treating the registry like winning a shopping spree, and to register for the things you'd love to give yourself if money wasn't an option. So I went back and registered for a few more things, things that are more "love to have" than "need to have".

Wedding planning continues. Have received the contract from the photographer and I'm currently trying to chase down the musician and get a list of what she intends to play. My mother and I need to pay a visit to the furniture rental place that will provide tables for the reception. We still haven't pinned down exactly what we're feeding people. I need to order wine & champagne. I need to arrange for a hotel room for wedding night. WedZILLA is born.

Falling under the heading, "Well, duh..."

"Sith" Fans Maimed in Lightsaber Mishap"

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's been a while. I blame work this time. Last week was five full days of training in a software platform & programming language behind one of our work sites. I did that and nothing else. Didn't go out to lunch once. Didn't go to training or do any staffing at the squad. Nothing.

This past weekend was my first weekend at home in a month. After going to a friend's baby's 1st birthday party, I spent Saturday afternoon outside weeding (dandelions in full bloom around here, baby) and transplanting some herbs and other plants that I'd been nurturing inside. Sunday was my girls day with Joni - shopping, lunch and more shopping. I love Tuesday Morning. Yesterday was the last day of a special sale, where you get an extra 25% off anything that's already on clearance - score! Got a runner for the upstairs hallway, a really beautiful folding wooden chair with a padded seat to tuck away in my guest room, some gorgeous silky sheets, and a ton of other goodies.

Last but not least, wedding invites finally went out last week. WHEW! So don't say that my time away hasn't been productive....

...and the other side (both quizzes via Julia):

Your Political Profile

Overall: 10% Conservative, 90% Liberal

Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

How Liberal / Conservative Are You?

Yeah, yeah...

I am: 14% Republican.

"You're a tax-and-spend liberal democrat. People like you are the reason everyone else votes for guys like Reagan or George W."

Are You A Republican?

Ruthlessly stolen from Julia:

1. What is your name? mags (but not really)
2. What color underwear are you wearing now? blue
3. What are you listening to right now? CNN HD feed
4. What are the last 2 digits of your phone number? 44
5. What was the last thing you ate? homemade pasta & sauce w/ turkey
6. If you were a crayon what color would you be? purple
7. How is the weather right now? clear, sunny blue skies
8. Who was the last person talked to on the phone? the FedEx guy
9. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? length of his pants
10. Favorite Food? red bell peppers
11. Favorite Drink? ice water with lemon
12. Favorite Alcoholic drink? Heineken
13. Favorite place to shop? the internet
14. Hair Color? dark blonde, but soon to be brunette
15. Eye Color? brown
16. Do you wear contacts? nope
17. Top or bottom? top
18. Favorite Month? october
19. Favorite Fast Food? qdoba
20. Last Movie you Watched? "De Lovely"
21. Favorite Day of the Year? some Saturday in the fall
22. Are you too shy to ask someone out? nope - been there, done that
23. Summer or Winter? winter
24. Hugs or Kisses? kisses, but hugs would be good, too
25. Chocolate or vanilla? vanilla
26. What books are you reading? Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
27. What's on your mouse pad? a picture of some stones
28. Favorite Board Game? Scrabble
29. What did you do last night? drove (ok, was driven) from Topeka, KS to Denver
30. Who inspires you? Anne Lamott
31. Butter, Plain, or salted popcorn? butter AND salt
38. Favorite Flower? red gerbera daisy
39. What do you say when you wake up in the A.M? sh*t
40. Do you still talk to your best friend from middle school? didn't have one
41. What's on your desk? bottle of sparking water, two programming books, inches of paper, spindle of 100 CD-RWs, printer, coffee cups, giant water glass, bottle of hand sanitizer, dictionary, jade plant
42. Rock Concert or Symphony? symphony
43. Play or Opera? opera
44. Have you ever fired a gun? you betcha
45. Do you like to travel by plane? it beats walking
46. Right-handed or Left-handed? right
47. Smooth or Chunky Peanut Butter? CHUNKY
48. How many pillows do you sleep with? 2
49. City and State you were born in? winter park, fl
50. Ever hitchhiked? no

I feel like I'm acting out a stereotype - I skipped out of work and am sitting at tiny little coffeehouse, listening to public radio and typing away on my laptop in this friendly little wi-fi environment. I have IM open, so work can still ping me, but otherwise....I figured, what the f*ck. Everyone in my group has taken to "working from home" - which used to be absolutely verboten, but now seems to be the norm.

Anyway, I've been sitting here working on the hellish doc that is my "2005 Personal Goals", which feeds into the larger doc known as "2005 (Department name here) Team Goals", which in turn must support the big enchilada, "2005 (Company name here) Goals". My friend Joe, sitting beside me at the coffee house (also "working"), pointed out that it was awfully late in '05 for me to be coming up with my goals, but since no one has come around askin', I haven't been wasting my time up until now. Unfortunately, I have to actually discuss said goals w/ my boss over lunch tomorrow, so must hustle and get them done.

Back now from a long trip to Brainerd, MN for a combo race weekend/track day. We ended up canceling the track day due to farking cold weather. I spent four days bundled up in my best fleece, layers, etc. and was still cold. The only time I wasn't cold was when standing in front of the lovely propane-powered heater/blower, or when hiding inside the living quarters of the trailer. Quite the lap of luxury there - kitchen, TV (w/ Dish!), DVD player...makes a big difference in the quality of our lives at these events. Thank you, D&K.

Trying to get caught up at work, more later.

Ironically, my mother was born in Hawaii.

Via Ali:

You're Hawaii!

When they first meet you, few people can tell whether you want to say
hello or goodbye. Either way, most of them will end up saying that you're their favorite person to visit, if only they could afford the trip. But your soft and warm image is belied by an explosive undercurrent in your personality than can leave you drenched with tears or boiling with anger for days on end. You are rather fond of using plants as clothing.


Take the State Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

It's Friday, glorious Friday. I have nothing to write about at the moment, so I'll borrow an idea from Amber and tell you what's in my lovely black Nine West saddle bag:

1. little, scratched, soon-to-be-replaced cell phone
2. security badge for office building
3. big honkin' pager for rescue squad
4. car keys on giant carabiner
5. credit card/cash wallet
6. change purse
7. business card holder
8. Orbit White gum
9. Kiehl's Lip Balm w/ spf 15 (hue 30G, baby!)
10. wide tooth comb for annoying Shirley Temple-esque hair
11. butterfly hair clip
12. house keys on chain with bent silverware
13. rescue squad roster, Gap coupons, Nuggets ticket stubs
14. handkerchief embroidered with my mother's initial
15. post-it notes
16. cool business card-type cards that say "Call My Cell"
17. hand lotion (Vaseline Healthy Hand & Nail)
18. dental floss
19. check book, nail file, elastic bands, and like 5 more lip glosses
20. other miscellaneous crap

What does Spring mean to you? Does it summon thoughts of flowers in bloom? Green leaves returning to the trees? Emerald lawns and afternoons sitting on them? While I do associate all of those things with spring, mostly (for me) Spring is about my hair.

Every year, in fact twice a year (Spring and Fall), I feel the urge to radically change my hair. It's a physical need that I have, the kind that causes you physical pain when you ignore the craving. Usually it's that my hair is too long, or too blond, and I have a nearly irresistible urge to have short dark brown hair. Photos of me taken over the last 17 years or so will display a wide variety of lengths and colors - but I think I looked best with my hair very short (maybe 2.5" long) and close to my natural brown, maybe a bit darker. Couple of problems with that now:

1. A doesn't like my hair that short (surprise, surprise).
2. Many more grays now, much easier to spot when hair is dark.

So this is my dilemma right now. My wedding is 10 weeks away, so I'm hesitant to do anything radical that I'll hate - but I also don't think I look like the real me. I'm seeing my wizard of a hair stylist, the lovely and talented Miss Shira, next week for a cut, and the week after for color. What to do, what to do...

Having a farking devil of a time finishing wedding invites. I've had to e some of our out-of-town guests for their snail-mail addresses so that I can get stupid invites out -- but that contact of course prompts questions about where, when, where shall I stay, etc. There is precious little room at the Inn - just enough for my best friend Vic, and the friend of A's who will perform the ceremony. Okay, maybe I can squeeze four or so more people in here....we'll have to wait and see.

I've got a simple page ready with hotel info, etc. Just have to carve out some time tonight to get that finished, then write the rest of the invites and get them addressed. The only other hold up is the little cards to go in the invites that tell people where and when is the reception. Gaaahh! No wonder people elope! Had I known....

I tried on my dress. It almost zips closed over my oversized bust. Damn it, I just can't get away from these things. I have now officially decided that it's crash diet time, because you know the tits is the first place you lose it. My great-grandmother was a lovely woman, but these are her boobs and this is her fault.