This made me happy today.

Alex came home last night. I threw the dog in the car and picked him up at the airport - she wore herself out, she was so excited to see him again.

I've never had a dog that preferred sleeping flat on her back. I confess, I put the baby in her arms, but she did bring it up on the couch with her....

Alex was away this weekend, so off I went to a guilt-free matinee. I've been anxious to see "Capote", and I'm so glad I went. Philip Seymour Hoffman was remarkable. Really. I had really been hoping that Heath Ledger would win an Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain", but after seeing "Capote"....you just can't believe that this is the same guy who sharted in "Along Came Polly". He was flawless. The movie moved a bit slowly at times, but I was so wrapped up in watching Capote and his mannerisms and the way he spoke and the way he manipulated people - take my word for it. This one is not to be missed.

I'm babysitting this weekend. In a way, it's a lot like looking after someone's child. He woke me up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, he was fussy about eating his dinner, and my kid was mean to him at first.

My friends just adopted this dog from the local humane society. He had no tags, no microchip, and no one came looking for him, which is almost impossible to believe once you meet him. He has the sweetest disposition of any dog I've met in a long time. They named him Buckwheat, but I call him Buck. He loved me, and even posed for a photo.

Today will most likely be a very productive day at work - all of the "snow sissies" stayed home.

I don't usually gamble or buy lottery tickets, but the Powerball drawing tonight is worth $300,000,000 - so we put a little pool together at work and bought 40 tickets. With my share, it's worth $75,000,000 if we win - I'd say that's worth a trip around the corner to buy tickets, even if it is 15° outside.

Since I'm currently running with the "things that happen on the way to work" theme, I'll give you another this morning. When I head west on Pearl Street toward my office, the road narrows from two lanes to one, and drops to a 30 mph zone. This morning, I was in the left lane (the primary lane, the right must merge into the left), and doing a little over the speed limit, when this ENORMOUS freaking SUV roared past me on the right, and cut over into my lane. He had been tailgating me for about a block, until he could pull out to the right. I started laughing out loud - the moment he pulled in front of me, he had to slam on his brakes, because there was another car directly ahead. He was forced to follow that car for five blocks at 30 mph, and I could see him banging his hands on his steering wheel the whole time. At one point, we were stopped at a light, and I caught his eye in the side mirror. I was still laughing at him, and I could see on his face that he knew it. I hope he felt like the complete idiot that he is.

I was driving to work today in my normal early pre-coffee daze, and noticed that the glass doors to a law firm a few doors down from my office had 2 red hearts taped to them. I remember thinking how cool that was, that the stodgy old lawyers could publicly offer up valentines to everyone today. A second glance around at the storefronts on Pearl Street revealed that EVERY ONE OF THEM had a red heart taped to the door. Some band of rowdies, armed with paper hearts and tape dispensers, had descended on Pearl Street in the wee hours of the morning, in order to wish us all a happy Valentine's day. When I stopped in at Allison to get my morning schitzo skinny latte (half caffeinated w/ non-fat milk, for you non-drinkers), I asked them about the heart - they said it was taped to their door when they arrived at 5am, they have no idea who put it there. My friend at work is speculating that it's the downtown Boulder business association or some such group, but I prefer to think of Brownies or pure-hearted college kids or something....

Re: that photo - I can't begin to explain what a pain in the ass it was to post. Mostly because I'm too cheap to pay for Internet service for my phone. I took this photo w/ my trusty phone, which is equipped with Bluetooth - but unfortunately, my stupid Wincrap laptop is not. I didn't have my camera cable with me today (my cell phone can use the camera cable to connect to a USB device), so that wouldn't work either. Then, like a scene from a cartoon, the light bulb went on over my head - I have my trusty Mac with me today! My Mac has a Bluetooth built in! It senses my cell phone, and accesses it like a separate drive. In less than 2 minutes, I had exchanged keys and transferred the photo, then emailed it to myself so I could have it on my Wincrap machine. And lo, there was photo evidence of the Valentine's Day mystery.

I love movies, but I usually end up going to see them alone. My best friend doesn't get out much (what with soon-to-be-three-years-old twin boys and all), so when we do get together, we generally want nothing more than to blaze through Old Navy, and then have a drink or three. My husband won't go to any movie without groaning and rolling his eyes, unless there is a promise of nudity, preferably girl on girl.

This afternoon, I went to see "Good Night, and Good Luck". It had long since left Boulder, but after the Oscar nominations were announced, it returned to one of our two local theaters. Fearing that it would soon be leaving so that they could show "Firewall" on yet another screen at that theater, I went to a matinee, even though I have one million and one things to do right now (prepare for taxes, do laundry, clean house, prep for taxes, clean out fridge and pantry, prep for taxes, get an oil change...oh yeah, did I mention it's tax season?).

I loved the movie. It absolutely flew by - I couldn't believe it when the closing credits came up, I felt like I'd barely been in my seat 20 minutes. I found myself talking to the screen out loud during the film (could be another reason Alex won't go with me), muttering "amen" after one of Murrow's frank and succinct commentaries about exactly why there is no place in a thoughtful society for a nut job like McCarthy.

That's three down ("Brokeback Mountain", "Crash", and "Good Night, and Good Luck") and two more ("Capote" and "Munich") to see before Oscar night.

Some of you may not know this, but I am a knitter. Not the kind that can make hats or gloves or sweaters - well, really, all I can make is scarves. I made several last year as Christmas gifts, and gave them to a few of my girlfriends...actually, more of my friends would have gotten them for Christmas, but I couldn't knit any faster.

I just started a new one and for the first time am combining "fun fur" with the wool. I have a friend with MS who recently had to go into a nursing home, so I'm hoping that this will brighten up her day just a little bit....

Well, what do you know. It snowed after all. I guess when they give the odds as "90% chance of snow", it's a pretty safe bet.

Like LA, where people drive like complete idiots if one drop of rain falls from the sky, some people in Colorado don't have a firm grasp on how to drive in the snow. I suspect this is all because they used to live in LA. Traffic on a snowy morning is a hideous thing, so I once again took advantage of my new Eco Pass and took the bus. My car commute on a morning like this would be about 20 minutes, just because people would be driving like asses - large SUVs would still be flying down the road at 45mph, thinking that they're immune because their large heavy vehicles have the ability to use 4-wheel drive. It never ceases to amaze me. I promise you that the majority of car accidents that I respond to in the winter months are SUVs that have slid or flipped right off the icy roads, because they were going too fast and just assumed that their 4-wheel drive tank was keeping them safe.

I have nothing exciting to write about. It's a crazy busy week with a big deadline looming on Monday. There's a 90% chance of snow tonight, with a forecasted high tomorrow of 28°. Everyone is taking home their laptops tonight on the off-chance that either they won't be able to get here tomorrow, or they just won't feel like trying.

Ruby the wonder dog loves her babies....

I love Saturday mornings, especially when I don't commit to be somewhere doing something. I have work to get done today, so I can sit on my couch, laptop in my lap, dog sleeping on one leg (she always competes with the computer for space in my lap), coffee beside me, and "Surviorman" playing in the background. Alex likes to sleep in late on the weekends, so I generally have the house to myself for at least a couple of hours.

My plan for today is to not move too far from the couch. I've been working hard and I'm tired, and I can tell I'm getting burned out. We have a couples baby shower to attend tonight (yeah, Alex is SOOO excited to do that with me) for our friends who are expecting their first baby in April.

I go out to lunch nearly every weekday with my co-worker, Greg. Today we walked up the Pearl Street mall to a Chinese place that I normally avoid, because I recall someone once telling me that it was very expensive. Turns out that they have pretty decent prices for lunch, and it was possibly the freshest, tastiest Chinese food I've had since leaving LA. They seated us at the very back of the restaurant, even though the entire front area was empty. I soon found out why. About 60 little old ladies (the youngest was probably about 65) arrived slowly in pairs or groups of three or four, and they all settled in for lunch together. They had special menus, and some kind of party favor at each place setting. It was really sweet.

Tonight, Alex and I are going to see "A History of Violence" at the Boulder Theater, part of my attempt to see all nominated films / performances before Oscar night. I'm hosting a party again this year, I think this makes three in a row. I would welcome any suggestions for nominated-film-inspired foods. We're doing Best Picture beer (5 varieties, which will somehow reflect each of the nominated films), and I have some of those plastic movie theater-style popcorn boxes, and we'll play Oscar bingo. What else?

A little meme - I've seen this one around, most recently at Julia's:

Four jobs I've had:
1. Film & television script researcher
2. Satellite marketing whiz
3. EMT
4. Technical editor

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. "True Romance"
2. "To Kill A Mockingbird"
3. "Raising Arizona"
4. "A Fish Called Wanda"

Four places I've lived:
1. Boulder, Colorado
2. Winter Park, Florida
3. Salt Lake City, Utah
4. Los Angeles, California

Four TV shows I love:
1. Alias
2. Brainiac: Science Abuse
3. Survivorman
4. Grey's Anatomy

Ten highly regarded and recommended TV shows that I've never watched:
1. Arrested Development
2. Deadwood
3. Everybody Loves Raymond
4. George Lopez
5. My Name Is Earl
6. King of Queens
7. Medium
8. The Shield
9. Boston Legal
10. The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, The Biggest Loser, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, etc.
(okay, I ran out of juice at the end there - but just wanted to point out that I don't watch those shows)

Four places I've vacationed:
1. Hawaii
2. Hong Kong
3. Amsterdam
4. Mexico

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Roasted chicken
2. butternut squash soup
3. grilled tri tip
4. green beans with almonds

Four sites I visit daily:
1. Yahoo
2. Gmail
3. Wells Fargo
4. Dictionary.com

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Italy
2. France
3. Spain
4. at the dog park

Ha ha ha - the State of the Union Address Drinking Game, via Ali. I might actually play this tonight.

Saturday was my debut effort at snowboarding. I took a "First Timer" lesson w/ the kids, and I'm so glad that I did. It's a little bit less embarrassing to fall on your ass every 20 seconds when everyone around you is doing the same thing. In general, I enjoyed it and seemed to get the hang of it pretty well, but what the f*@! is up with getting back on your feet while facing downhill? Apparently I have negative ab muscles, because I just couldn't do it. I kept having to flip over onto my belly like some gigantic mermaid so that I could get to my knees and then right myself.

I persevered and made it through one complete lesson. I do want to try again, but will definitely be wearing knee pads next time, maybe even wrist guards. I know now why people train for ski season. Every muscle in my entire body aches. I came home from the mountain and immediately fell asleep on my living room floor. When I got up, I drew the hottest bath I could stand, and soaked for a half an hour, continually refilling the bathtub with hot water. I thought that might help with what I was sure would be agony the next day - WRONG! Yesterday was a long series of crawls from room to room, complete with whimpers. Just sitting down on the couch was murder on my belly. So, what do you do when you're in that much pain?

Drink lots and lots of wine
Try not to move from the couch (except to get another bottle of wine)
Try to figure out which pain killer can be taken with wine
Stay up too late because you don't want to move from the couch
Get up early the next morning and go to the gym

Yeah, that last one makes me laugh, too, but that's what I did. It's my husband's influence. He said since I was already in pain, I might as well go work out, then I wouldn't notice being sore after my workout. He's a prince like that.

Oh Lordy. Breakfast this morning at Lucile's. Turns out that biscuits and grits are in fact the cure for the hangover caused by a combination of tequila and free-flowing Stella Artois. If the sun weren't quite so bright today, I'd be doing much better.

Snowboarding on the horizon for tomorrow. I'm taking lessons (hey, I've never done it before!), and dragging my teenage niece and nephew along so I don't feel quite so out of place. We've got a charming little resort about 30 minutes from here.

To tie these thoughts together, the site of my undoing last night (Conor O'Neill's) is having a "worst breakup contest" on February 15th. You get up on stage, tell your story, they vote, and the winner of the worst story wins.....a Stella snowboard! How cool is that? I will spend the next couple of weeks working on my story. If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments....

One of the best things that happened after switching jobs was that I had a chance to visit with my very oldest friend, Lawrence. We met for drinks while I was in CA on business - not exactly enough time to catch up, but we try to get together every few years and just shoot the shit. I've known him since I was 17 years old. I send him a Christmas card and a birthday card every year. He represents an important time in my life, and he loves me to pieces. He's getting married this spring to a woman that he adoringly refers to as "my girl", and he can't wait to be a dad. He is one of the finest people I know. I hope that one day down the road, I can point to a number of other people and feel as close to them. There are a few who are already there, we just don't have years of history like I do with Lawrence. It makes me feel grounded in the world, I don't know how else to describe it.

I was just sitting here, rereading my last post, and I said to my coworker, "Dude, that was the most boring post!" - I can't help it! It's freaking dumping snow, and so cold that I don't want to go anywhere. I've got my iPod plugged into my little desktop doc, and we're listening to the soundtrack from the final episode of "Six Feet Under".

I'm enjoying the new job, and not just because every day involves lunch out at a different restaurant. It's a new experience, coming in and having people say "gosh, we're so glad you're here, you totally rock!" (okay, they don't say that verbatim, but you get the idea) My last job really scarred me, I keep waiting for people to be mean and abusive and try to belittle me - but thank Buddha that isn't happening.