I've stayed away from a computer for the better part of the last few days - it felt great, very liberating, but also very strange, like when I skip yoga or going to the gym - I know I should do it, but I can talk myself out of it and try to forget that I was ever meant to do it. That's how it felt to not check email for a couple of days.

I was roaming around blogs and sites the other day, and somewhere (I wish I could remember, so I could link to them) I read a list of things that made that person cry & things that made them happy. I liked the idea, so here's my list:

Things that make me cry

• anything patriotic, especially the national anthem
• any injuries to the innocent (especially kids & animals)
• cruelty in any form
• most movies on Lifetime
• onions

Things that make me happy

• when Ruby wakes up, sees me, and starts to wiggle
• the first long drink of water after a good yoga class
  
• my garden when it's just waking up from winter and starting to bloom
• getting snail mail from my friends
• how the boy smells when he's sleeping
• peanut butter & chocolate

Yesterday was a completely useless day, so I met my friend Michele for drinks after work, had two margaritas, went home and was asleep within an hour.

Today should be a bit better. I'm supposed to go to the Subaru dealership and fill out a survey, and in exchange for being nice about them, they give me a free tank of gas or an oil change or something. However, what I really want is the owner's manual for my car, which was mysteriously absent when I bought the car. I think I'll give them the survey and let them fill it out, in exchange for my manual and a set of all-season floor mats.

There was no volunteer training last night, I got my weeks mixed up. Oh well. I headed home, and found the boy in the driveway with a box. It turns out that he found an injured bird at work that was about to be swallowed by a cat, so he put it in a box and brought it home. Many phone calls later, we found a wildlife rescue place near Lyons that would take him - and they'll take him back to where he was found when he's ready to be released, so he can hook up again with his bird homies.

I've started watching "Six Feet Under" and I really like it, but the episode last night was almost more than I could bear. As a friend put it, it's the vicimization of someone that's so hard to watch. I almost turned it off, but it's a good show, and I wanted to see the character make it out of things okay. It was a very disturbing episode.

meme thing
lifting what I read here

Last Cigarette: Two years ago, as of 8/13/04
Last Alcoholic Drink: Last night, red wine from a box (don't laugh!)
Last Car Ride: Morning commute today
Last Kiss: The boy, this am
Last Good Cry: Last weekend
Last Library Book: The Godfather (on tape)
Last book bought: Feng Shui Chic, from my local used bookstore
Last Book Read: Red Poppies
Last Movie Seen in Theatres: "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"
Last Movie Rented: "Stuck on You"
Last Cuss Word Uttered: F*ck
Last Beverage Drank: Orange juice
Last Food Consumed: Beets
Last Crush: Can't remember
Last Phone Call: From company's legal department, but I'm not in trouble
Last TV Show Watched: "South Park"
Last Time Showered: This morning at 7am
Last Shoes Worn: Danskos, on my feet as we speak
Last CD Played: Spanish guitar music
Last Item Bought: Steaks for dinner last night
Last Download: "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys (yes, I paid for it)
Last Annoyance: IMs from my brown-nosing coworker
Last Disappointment: Yoga class on Sunday AM, no balance
Last Soda Drank: Yesterday
Last Thing Written: Blog entry this am
Last Key Used: Front door key at 7:15am, when I realized I forgot my purse
Last Words Spoken: "I don't know where he is"
Last Sleep: During general staff meeting this am
Last Ice Cream Eaten: Glacier Pralines & Cream, couple of weeks ago
Last Chair Sat In: Scary office chair I'm currently occupying
Last Webpage Visited: Zucchinis in Bikinis, where I lifted this

We went back to the Elks Lodge on Friday for swimming & bbq, but it was kind of gray and rainy, so we skipped out after Mare ate her bbq beef sandwich. We ended up staying in and watching "Stuck on You" - too funny.

Joni and I finally made it out to a movie again yesterday - we saw "Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban." I love those stories. Just seeing the movie yesterday made me want to pick up books 4 & 5 again. I'm trying to convince Mare to get started on them, but she's happily reading "Treasure Island" out loud to my mother right now.

I made a deal with myself that I would really make the effort to get some kind of exercise each day - even if it's just riding the stationary bike while I watch TV. I've started going back to my local yoga studio (which feels wonderful), and walking in the morning before work. I have so much more energy when I do that - it's like a kick-start to my day. Now if I can just find another pilates class that's in the evenings....

Poor Martha. While five months doesn't seem like a long sentence after this long, drawn out trial, I feel for her. When I think about what she's done (or at least, is accused of having done), I'm kind of left with "what's the big deal?" - I mean, I know she broke the law, but it just doesn't seem like it's worth all the fuss. At least she didn't do this with her own stock, cheat her investors while sitting at the top of her corporate food chain. If we use Martha and her five months as the yardstick for corporate honcho no-nos, then we shouldn't be seeing Ken Lay again until the next millenium.

Mmmm, Mexican food for dinner last night. There are few things better than Mexican beer when it's 90 degrees outside and you're sweating even though you've been standing in the shade. The downside to my burrito & beer meal is that I felt compelled to get on the stationary bike the second I arrived home.

Tomorrow night will be swimming and BBQ at the Elks Lodge. It's such a cool, funky gathering - mostly just people from the neighborhood, lots of kids & older people. Last week we saw several people that we knew. It's like a little local secret, and one of the few outdoor pools around.

Hahahaha....Kung Fu Bunnies - via Daisy.

I'm going to the Farmer's Market tonight with my mom and Mare. It's every Wednesday afternoon and Saturday morning, but I've never been on Wednesday before. We'll grab dinner down there, maybe tamales from one of the vendors. Usually I get herbs (last time I bought four tiny lavender plants), veggies, cheese, bread, and sometimes something special - like a bunch of dried sage that I keep around to burn in the house.

A friend at work bought some of the yellow bracelets to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation. They sell the bracelets for $1 each to raise funds for the foundation, and are have Lance's motto "Live Strong" stamped on them. I went to the site and ordered a package of 10 to give away.

My friend Laurel is running the Nike 26.2 in San Francisco in October, to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I recently learned that my goddaughter was diagnosed with leukemia, so I went to the site and made a donation in her name. As a bonus, Laurel will put Sadie's name on her shirt for the marathon.

I had a glorious four-day weekend. I took Thursday and Friday off work to be with Joey and Mare, and we relaxed and went to movies and shopped and had a great time. Joey went to camp on Saturday morning, he'll be away for almost 4 weeks. He seemed a little nervous about going away for so long, but he rallied nicely when the camp van met us and picked him up. Mare and I are going to take a picture of the dogs and send it to him as a postcard.

I have a meeting tonight with a volunteer rescue squad that I'm hoping to work with. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Best editorial about "Fahrenheit 9/11" that I've read - from SF Gate.

The editorial pages in my local paper continue to be full of messages from both ends of the spectrum regarding "Fahrenheit 9/11" - there is one in today's paper from a friend and coworker, whose thoughtful points included asking everyone to ask themselves "what if?" - what if even a fraction of the truth is depicted in the movie? Wouldn't that alone be enough to outrage you?

Mare had a great time at the track this weekend, and came away with a new name - everyone was calling her "Mar" - she says she likes it, it's better than the people who get it wrong and call her Mary.

We got back late last night from a long two days in Iowa. We left on Sunday morning, arrived early evening at the track, stayed for a bbq and to watch the fireworks, then went back to the track in the morning. After a LONG day of riding, we hit the road about 6:30pm and headed back to CO. Of course, since we had to drive clear across Nebraska, nothing was going to be easy. We hit the weather at about 9:30pm - rain so fierce, and lightning so constant that I couldn't see anything. We pulled over to a little restaurant beside the highway to wait out the weather. Yuck! I haven't seen weather like that since hurricane season in Florida when I was a kid. We finally got back to Boulder about 2:30am - Mare was asleep in the car, I dragged her up and put her right to bed again. Meanwhile, I had to be back at work bright and early this morning.

My mother got a gig in LA this weekend, so she's leaving early Thursday morning, back on Saturday. I'll have the kids while she's away, and Joey is supposed to be leaving for camp on Saturday morning. However, Joey's been sick with what we now suspect is either strep or mono - either one presents a problem. I think if it's just strep, he'll still be able to go to camp, and just take his meds there. If it's mono, they might not let him come until he's better...we'll have to wait and see.

It's a beautiful summer day here, the first weekend in recent memory without the looming threat of rain. I'm off to the Farmer's Market this morning, am wanting more rosemary and lavender to plant in pots in my backyard. I bought some lavender last fall and planted it in the ground at the front of the house, along the driveway, and it has sprouted and flowered like crazy. Beautiful!

Alex and I went out last night, down to the mall, hitting all of our favorite places. We ended up on the roof deck of the new Lazy Dog, formerly a sports bar in our neighborhood that was forced to move. Their new restaurant didn't seem all that interesting, but the roof is something else. Views of the Flatirons and all of Boulder, tons of tables and lots of servers. The food was delicious, but then again I have no perspective, as we had already had 4 or 5 pints by the time we arrived....

I took the day off work yesterday, and went to see "Spiderman 2" with my mom and Joey and Mare. We all really liked the movie, and agreed that it was better than the original. We may even agree with Roger Ebert (who I tend to disagree with) that it is the best superhero movie since the original "Superman" in 1978. The only thing that distracted me from Tobey's big blue eyes was the obnoxious woman and her three obnoxious kids who wandered the theater and did everything from talking in their loudest voices (the 5 & 6 year olds) to babbling and shrieking (the two year old) during the ENTIRE film. This woman didn't make any effort to quiet them or remove the from the theater, just completely oblivious. Lady, if you can hear me - HIRE A DAMN SITTER. Honestly, don't they have special showings for mothers & infants/toddlers/outofcontrolkids? It cost me $20 bucks (between tix for me and one kid, plus popcorn & drink) to see the movie, and I get to listen to her kid scream? At what point do people stop having any consideration for anyone besides themselves? Besides, this really isn't a movie for little kids. It's dark and noisy and scary - isn't that why it's rated PG-13?

We went to see "Fahrenheit 9/11" last night. It wasn't what I expected. I don't really even know how to explain why I was disappointed - it was obviously one-sided and scathing, and I expected that. I agree with the premise that we went to Iraq for all the wrong reasons and, most likely, under false pretenses. But one comment that Alex (who was really offended by the movie) made really stuck with me - he pointed out that Moore's film was every bit as manipulative as the behavior that he was depicting (the behavior of the Bush administration). I was especially bothered by the "shock" effect of dead babies, napalmed women, etc., set to music and following the shots of US soldiers talking about getting psyched for combat. To demonize the soldiers was especially repulsive. I know that people have strong feelings about politics in general, and for some, very strong feelings about this movie, so I'm going to stop here. It's too big an animal for a little blog.

I read a blurb in the local paper today about a 58-year old woman here in Boulder county, who was arrested for stalking her priest, giving him unsolicited gifts and professing her love for him. She told the sheriff's deputies that she and the priest were going to be married. The reason that it jumped out at me is that she is the same age and has the same name as a woman I used to work with in LA, who was definitely stalker material. This woman used to hit on all the male employees, even the married ones, and one of them once told me that she had imagined an entire dimension to their relationship that didn't actually exist. How weird would it be if she moved out here as well, and now I'm reading about her?? Spooky.

Things continue to be tense at work. They still haven't announced a new hire to replace the admin that they fired 2 months ago, and yesterday they let the receptionist go. Today, someone in my department asked me if I was worried for my job, and when I answered "yes", I realized it was true. I'm not worried about being let go, but the prospect of finding something else quickly is a different story. There is a job out there that I desperately want to have, but it pays substantially less than I make now, and I'm just not sure that I can afford to take it....but I'm going to figure out a way. I'm a big proponent of "life's too short", and staying around at a job where people are unpleasant to you every day is stupid. It reminds me of one of the definitions of insanity - doing the same thing over and over, but expecting to get different results. I think that it's not reasonable for me to expect people to behave any differently than they have in the past, because people don't really change their natures....(in case you missed it, I'm feeling a bit cynical today)

Busy morning already, and it's not even 8am. Today is a big meeting day at work, and I tried to get here early, but was thwarted by my cozy bed and my little red dog. She so wanted my attention this morning, I just couldn't resist. We sat on the floor and she stretched out and howled and begged for scratches. By the time I jumped up to get ready, it was already pushing 6:30....

Today is Bike to Work Day, and while I personally couldn't participate (having no working bike and an 11 mile commute that includes the freeway), I was able to count all the bicyclists that I passed on the way in - 21 between my home and office. They're expecting thousands, just in Boulder County, and I hope that it happens. I've looked into alternatives to driving, the bus being the most practical - but it would take me about 40 minutes to get here, versus the 15 minutes I usually spend driving. I've also thought about riding my trusty scooter, Pepe Salsa, but it doesn't really go over 35 mph, and I'm afraid I'll be run off the road for going too slow. Biking will probably be the best option, once I get the bike repaired and road-worthy again.

Not much is new and exciting yet this week. The kids arrive tomorrow, and Mom spent her first night in her new house last night. We're going to the Fox Theater tonight to hear the Rebirth Brass Band - a friend from work recommended the show, said it was fantastic.

At the massive neighborhood garage sale a couple of weeks ago, I bought a composter for the backyard - your typical giant black plastic dome-type thing, called the Earth Machine. I've been saving all my kitchen scraps and bought some wood chips for the foundation of it, so tonight after work, I'll go home and turn the soil (get those worms and other critters woken up)...and start composting! I have a great book that talks about all the stuff that can go in there, and how often I have to "stir", and how long it should take. Alex thinks I'm nuts and wants the composter hidden behind a bush or something, says it's really ugly, but he will change his tune when we have luscious shrubs and flowers due to my composting efforts.

Ow. Very sore today. Socks and hardwood floors are a bad combination, and one I wouldn't have expected in June. It's been so rainy and cold that I'm always wearing socks, and last night, arms full of laundry, I took a bad step down the wood stairs - thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. While nothing appears to be broken (doctor said elbow and wrist are okay, but maybe a broken rib), I'm moving a bit gingerly today. The worst pain is in my shoulder, which took a big jolt when my elbow hit the floor. Bruises on the back of my hip, upper back and elbow. Not good. My mother pulled a similar move last week, but we blame that on a runner in the hall that didn't have a no-skid pad under it (it does now, I can tell you!).

Today we're off to have a couples massage & lunch at a spa outside Denver - a Christmas present from Dean & Kim that we're just now getting a chance to use. I think a massage is just what I need. Of course, it's always a little embarrassing that I fall asleep almost every time I get a massage...

I read on another blog about a new Crate & Barrel store, called CB2. It's sort of their "hip" line - I found some great stuff there for my mother's new house - orange tea kettle & orange melamine canisters, to go in her new orange and red kitchen...

I'm home sick AGAIN today, thanks to those in my office who are now known collectively as "Typhoid Martin" (since they're all male). Here is yet another fine example of why you should use the sick days that you're given - so you don't go to the office and make everyone around you sick! A special thanks goes out to the two guys in my department who both had strep throat a couple of weeks ago, and yet unselfishly chose to go to work anyway. We now have 12 active cases of strep at work, and I suspect I'm about to be included in those numbers. A quick visit to my local GP will confirm my suspicions.

Since it's Friday and I'm not at work, I thought I'd compile a list of things I'm grateful for today:

It's Friday (obvious, but must be listed)

Alex and I get to do a couple-kinda thing this weekend, extra special because we haven't had time alone in a while

It's been raining for a week or so, and my grass, trees and flowers couldn't be happier

Joey and Mare arrive next week and will stay for two months

Gas in Boulder is down to $1.75/gallon, even at Shell and Conoco

My little Subaru gets about 26 miles/gallon, and it only cost me $23 to fill it the other day

Everyone in my family is healthy and seems to be happy (!)

Well, my Lakers couldn't pull it off last night, not that I really expected them to. The thing that really bugged me was Karl Malone in street clothes. I don't care how bad his knee was hurting, he should have been out there with anything less that a severed limb. That was the last night he'd be in an arena as a player, and he didn't play?!?! I think that was a poor message to send to the rest of the team, and I guarantee you that if the Lakers had somehow managed to win last night, Malone would be looking for floor time back in LA for Game 6. Obviously, I don't know what went on behind the scenes that led to the decision to not have him suit up, but I think it was the wrong call, whoever made it. I consider Karl to be one of the greats, but I was truly disappointed in him.

There was a story in the local paper yesterday about a group that evaluates cosmetics, shampoos and other personal care products, and gives them a safety rating based on the chemicals that they contain, whether they're known allergens or cancerous agents, etc. I went to the website and did a search on some of my regular products - and most of them had a terrible safety rating. It even claims that my hand soap contains "ingredients that are (is a) known or probable human carcinogen(s)." Not good!! Even my favorite lip stuff scored an 8 (10 being the worst). This is very depressing. On the plus side, Burt's Bees fared pretty well, and I like their stuff, so it may be time to make a change.

I've been taking it easy for the past few days - still not over my cold, but I'm feeling much better. On the down side, Alex is now sick, but I could have predicted that. It was a quiet weekend - Mom and I hit some garage sales on Saturday (I got a composter!), and we went to the movies on Sunday. The best news is that I finally have patio furniture! My mother had said she wanted to buy us a set, as a thank you for putting her up for the past couple of months. I saw what I wanted (at Target, no less!), but they were sold out, didn't know when they'd get more, blah blah blah. I love Target and the stuff they sell, but they're kinda crap on the whole customer service thing, and they're REALLY bad about stuff that goes clearance. I can't tell you how many times I've bought something that was on special or clearance and it has rung up at full price. If you're not paying attention, they won't catch it. Just last week, Joni and I each bought a copy of "Lost in Translation" on DVD that was on special for $10, but they came up as $14.99....and neither of us noticed until later on when we were home. I hate that. Anyway, we finally, finally got them to sell us the floor model of the patio furniture, since it seemed that the set just no longer existed anywhere among the 15 or so Targets around here....but I'm not complaining. I love the furniture, it fits perfectly on my deck, the chairs have spring frames and are kinda bouncy. I'm looking forward to many morning and evening meals being taken outside.

I'm still sick, and feeling too crappy to come up with anything original or interesting today, so I'll give you a quote that I came across and really liked....

"This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it." -- Abraham Lincoln, 1859

Although I'm still suffering mightily from this cold, I'm back at work today - it's just too hard to be gone for more than a day or so, stuff piles up and everyone decides that they just can't possibly function without me telling them where to go and when. One of them actually called me at home yesterday because they needed an account number to fill out a stupid form. Oh, excuse me if my illness is interfering with your paperwork.

My mother's house is coming along beautifully. I went over last night and helped with some of the painting in the laundry room. The kitchen is a buttery yellow, the living room is a lighter, warmer cream color, the laundry is a yellow called Goat's Beard (???), and then the upstairs guest room is a light moss green, the office/second guest room is a pale blue, and the master bedroom is a light rose color. It all looks amazing. We talked about putting together a before & after book for her to use as a calling card, if she wanted to start hiring herself out for home improvement consulting, etc. I'll post photos as soon as we're done with the work (later this week, early next).

Ugh. I have a cold. I am at work and I don't feel good. How am I supposed to focus on invoices, expense reports and NDAs when my head feels like it weighs 100lbs? I going to try to make it to lunchtime, and then may head home to sleep.

I did have a nice weekend, despite the onset of the killer cold. I worked in the garden, got to visit Tara and Kasey, saw a movie w/ Joni, played with the boys, went to a BBQ, walked with the dogs - sounds perfect, huh? I wish every weekend were as relaxing.

Friday. Vendredi. Viernes. Venerdi. Freitag. Aren't they lovely words?

I'm looking forward to a lazy weekend - no plans other than a matinee on Sunday (Harry Potter, here I come). I was supposed to be hosting a party for BCC volunteers tomorrow, but we decided to postpone until late summer/early fall, just before the program ramps up again. I might be doing a happy hour thing tonight at this new creole place, but not sure yet. I'm feeling pretty footloose right now - only 9 out of the 26 people in my department came to work today, making it a perfect day for me to quietly leave around 2:30pm....I think a manicure/pedicure afternoon are in order.

I know this pic might mess up the page (for those of you naughty netizens using Internet Exploder), but it was too good to pass up. Who knew I was channeling Audrey?


WORSHIP! Your inner Bombshell is the beautiful Audrey Hepburn. Like her you've been blessed with a "certain something" that no one could describe accurately. You are more reserved than other bombshells, and that shows in your gentle, graceful nature. You like doing things for other people and love volunteering for your favorite charity. Yours is a rare gift in this day and age. You don't need to show a lot of skin to be sexy, all you need is your eyes. To see Audrey at the top of her game, watch the movie "Breakfast atTiffanys".

Who is your inner bombshell?
brought to you by Quizilla

I got a new car! What a relief - they took the Exploder off my hands (and will pay the $5000 balance due!), and I got my Subaru. It's called the Outback Sport Wagon, although it's actually in their Impreza line. I didn't do the WRX for several reasons - it's a lot more money (about $7k more than what I paid), the gas mileage isn't as good as mine (I get 28 or 29 mpg, vs. low 20s with the WRX), and I couldn't find a silver one with a manual transmission...they're very popular right now. Also, because of my negative trade, I would have had to put down a small fortune for the WRX. So, last night after work, I took myself down to Mike Shaw Subaru in Westminster, and 4 hours later I drove home in my new car! Subaru has a promo running with 1.9% financing if you do under 60 months, too good a deal to pass up.

I can't believe it's June already! It's amazing how quickly spring flew by. Joey & Mare will be here for a visit at the end of the month, my grandparents are coming out in July, and my brother and his fiance will have moved out (probably Denver-area) by September. Mom should be moved into her new house by next weekend - everything is starting to speed up with her project over there. Hardwood floors and new fence are going in this week, then new appliances and painting next week.

Work continues to be the thing I have to get over every day, but I can handle it for a while longer...although I just had to sit here and have a 10 minute conversation with a man at work that I despise. He can't ever have a conversation with a woman without talking to her breasts, and he is the biggest brown-noser that ever lived. That's 10 minutes of my life that I can never get back.

On the plus side, things are getting more relaxed at home - not so much pressure of travel all the time. I'm sort of bummed for Alex that he's not going to do as many races as he thought, but also relieved that we don't have to spent every weekend on the road, and the beginning of each week recovering from it...today would be a good example. We had a track day in Omaha yesterday, so we left about 6:30 MT, got home about 2am. Since it was so late, I didn't set my alarm, and came in to work at 8:45 instead of my usual 7:15, which means I get paid for an hour and a half less today than usual. Being hourly sucks. Being at the mercy of your employer's idea of work hours sucks, too. I need to get cracking on the programming work, so I can get off this crazy ride...

Can I just say again how much I hate Windows? Why is it that every MS application has to periodically crash?? I walked in this morning to find that all the budget updates I made yesterday (about 3 hours worth of work) were not saved because Excel crashed when I tried to close out last night. Damn! I know there's no use complaining, because this company is unlikely to ever allow us to use anything else for budgeting...although there is someone at work who has convinced The Powers That Be that we should be testing Macs on the network....yeah, the IT department is thrilled about that! They're positively wringing their hands at the prospect of a machine on the network that functions properly without their assistance.

It's been storming here the past few days. The other night there was thunder and lightning that was so amazing - the house actually shook during one roll of thunder. The dogs and cats didn't seem particularly fazed by it, although Ruby doesn't like the lightning (one eye, flashing light, go figure).

The best thing I've read in a long time, by one of my favorite authors: Cold Turkey.

The debate that rages in my mind right now is about a new car - my poor Exploder is starting to scare me a little bit - electrical problems in a vehicle are never a good thing. Besides, Alex teases me mercilessly for having bought a Ford (Dean and Kim are now victims of this same abuse and can empathize). My criteria for a new car are: must get good gas mileage; must be affordable; must not be a Honda, Toyota, Hyundai or Kia; must maintain some semblance of resale value. I think I'm ready to get away from SUVs, and I like the idea of a hybrid (but that kind of knocks out the "affordable" requirement). I'm just about settled on the idea of a Subaru WRX Sport Wagon. It's all-wheel drive, roomy enough for me, the boy and the dog, and gets around 22 miles per gallon. It's a little more than I would prefer to spend, but it will hold it's value really well, especially in Boulder. Also, it's fairly small, and would be much more convenient to drive around town and find parking. Hmmm, I really like it in silver...

BABY BOY! Kasey Quinlan was born this morning - 10lbs, 2oz. Congrats to Tara & Kelly!

Still no sign of Baby G. I talked to Kelly last night, he said they'd been going since about 11am, but not much progress. The doctors were telling them it would likely be early this morning, but I haven't heard from him yet. I'm resisting the urge to call the hospital room and wake them all up just so I can find out whether it's a boy or a girl!

It's the last day of our annual food drive at work, and everyone suddenly wants to participate. I'm going to be weighing bags of food all morning! The company has already met it's goal of 15,000 pounds of food, but we do have a little inter-departmental competition going on, so the funds and food keep coming.

Hey - for those who've been trying to comment, I forgot to leave the permissions off. You should be able to now.

I thought that with school being over, I'd finally be able to relax and have some time to myself. Strangely, that hasn't happened yet. I'm still busy enough at work that I don't have time to work on any of the programming projects that I want to do (Alex set me up with some test stuff, the goal being that I can help him with his consulting workload). He's traveling this week for work, so I thought I'd have time to help my mom at her new house and even work on a surprise for him at home - but my friend Tara is having a baby today and another work friend is having her bridal shower. I want to be able to go see Tara and the baby, and I invited my friend Lucy to happy hour tomorrow....and it would be good to spend some time with my mother, I've been running around like a crazy person ever since she arrived.

Time to go back on a diet! Summer is coming and I feel like a slug. I'm working on my mom to talk to her new neighbor about Pilates classes, and the bike on a trainer in our basement has started calling my name again. I'm eating far better than I ever have before, salads and lots of protein and vegetables, so now it's just a matter of the regular exercise. BTW, I just want to say one thing to all of you skinny girls out there - stop buying all the Laughing Cow cheese! Geez, that stuff is more precious than gold. I just got back from two different stores, and they were both sold out. My friend Kim is exempt from that last comment, because I know how much she loves the cheese, but the rest of you need to stick to Cheez Whiz and nacho cheese spread - I need the Laughing Cow.

It's been a loooonnnnnng few days. We got back from Pikes Peak International Raceway last night - our day of racing was cut short after Alex crashed in his second heat race of the day. It's really too bad, he was having a great day, took second place in his first heat and was in the lead in the second. Thankfully, he's not hurt, but the bike has seen better days. It's going to be a bit expensive to fix, so he'll miss the next few races and will probably only compete in the endurance races after that.

On the work front:
- My boss is in a strange mood, I think he forgot to tell his wife that he's traveling again this week. She doesn't like that.
- The wife of one of my other coworkers passed away on Saturday. She was terminally ill, so everyone kind of knew it was coming, but didn't expect it this quickly. They were married for 30 years, and I can't imagine what he'll do without her.
- I really hated coming here today. Something has changed for me and I no longer want anything to do with this place. I can't even put my finger on what it is. I didn't sleep well last night and have felt strange since I woke up, so maybe that's a lot of it, but still...

There is a whole new look to the blog today - and I welcome all of your comments. I was tired of the old, but not yet ready to try my hand at creating something from scratch. Then I noticed that the "new" Blogger offers some new templates - so I took one that I liked and modified it to include all of the links and topics that I wanted. I hope you like it, too.

I've successfully moved both my phone and now Alex's to T-Mobile. It's such good coverage and much less $$ than we were paying with our old carrier, They-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Now our calls to each other are free, plus to my mother and my boss....and the total cost is about $30/month less...not to mention that the phones actually work at home now.

Renovations have started on my mom's new place, and she's been doing the Meet&Greet with some of her new neighbors. Turns out that not only will her next-door neighbor split the cost of a new fence, but his wife is a Pilates teacher - glory be, I can finally go back to Pilates!

Hmmm. Blogger changed the whole blog setup, so it looks a little funky to me today. I'll have to proofread more carefully, the navigation is not as friendly as it was before.

I'm still kind of stunned that I don't have to go to class anymore, that my afternoons and evenings are once again mine. I can have a BBQ in the middle of the week! I can go shopping, get a haircut, walk the dogs - any day! This new freedom feels pretty damn good, I must say. Thankfully, I have several months to enjoy it before school starts up again in the fall. I'll be ready to go back, I'm sure.

Grades should be posted for today - I don't really care, as long as I passed. I'm still working on ways to practice my Spanish through the summer so I don't forget EVERYTHING I learned this spring. Maybe Spanish-language supper clubs? Spanish-language film nights? Margarita parties where you are required to speak Spanish?? The possibilities are endless!

Oh my lord, it's Friday and I'm not on a plane or in a car or in another state. I can hardly believe it. My first weekend off in what feels like ages. Actually, today and tomorrow are somewhat busy, but nothing I can't handle. After work today, it's a haircut, then happy hour with my friend Michele, then dinner with Tara & Kelly (Tara being my friend, her husband Kelly is my realtor). Tomorrow I have a Mac class in the morning (how to use Appleworks), then run over to school and take my Spanish final, then down to Highlands Ranch to a graduation party for another friend who just finished his grad studies at CU.

My mom is really getting moving with the house stuff. She's met with some contractors and some fence people, and is starting to get some of the bids nailed down. She's also having to make lots of decisions about what is most important - painting the exterior over blowing out the ceilings, floors over beams in the ceiling, etc. Hopefully both the interior construction work and the fence will start early next week. Once they get the fence done and get some walls moved in the master bedroom, she'll be able to move in and live there while the work continues.

It's hot out! Cold beer is calling...

I don't care what anyone says about advances in technology - it's hard to check mail and update your blog when you're on the road, borrowing someone's computer, and using a dial-up connection. So here I am, almost 2 weeks since my last post. I've been in Brrrrainerd, MN watching motorcycle races, driving all over Minnesota to get back to the airport, chasing lots of dogs and cats around my house....oh, and we closed on my mom's house last week, so I've had a few things going on.

Now that the house closing and road trip are behind me, life will settle down a bit. Just a little bit. I still have a Spanish final this week, a Mac class and a graduation party this weekend, Mare's birthday and Mother's Day to celebrate, another house guest and race weekend next week - and Alex is away on business for 7 days out of the next 20. June looks like it might be more calm, but you never know.

Have to get caught up at work. More later.

Oh, and by the way, I've barely been able to watch TV in the past week, much less investigate TiVo - Alex has recorded every motorcycle event from around the world for the past 6 days and does nothing but watch the races!

We closed on the house in LA yesterday - finally. My poor mother is exhausted, she packed and loaded up a truck all day yesterday, and then spent several hours cleaning the house before she left it. I think she really is sad to have sold that house, but I keep reminding her that she's embarking on a new adventure, and will have a new house to love. She and her friend, Jan, are driving out next Sunday and will stay with me for a while. Alex and I leave on Sunday for MAM (Mid-America Motorplex) for a track day next Monday, and we'll be driving back on Monday night. We should get to Boulder about the same time my mother and Jan arrive. The following week, on April 29, we fly to Minneapolis to do four days at Brainerd. We found a pretty good deal on airfare/rental car, certainly beats driving 18 hours to get there! I'm excited to be going, I've missed the race days and all the riders and hanging out with Kim. As long as we have someone to watch Ruby, we're good to go.

Work and school continue to keep me busy, plus I'm spending a lot of time each day pulling together all of the paperwork for the new house that I'm buying (that my mother will live in). I just finished faxing another 18 pages worth of tax returns and credit history. I think this is the last of it though. We close next Thursday, and hopefully my mother can start meeting with contractors immediately about getting the work done.

Avs game on Thursday!! Tune in or be square.

TIVO! We got TiVo! As my friend Joe said, Welcome to the Cult. It's pretty cool - and kind of ironic that Alex bought one yesterday w/out saying anything to me...I was just mentioning to Joe two days ago how much I wanted one. I've already set it up with a season pass for all of my favorite shows - "Alias", "The Sopranos", "CSI" and "Mythbusters" - and of course, the obligatory motorcycle races. We're already arguing about whose shows will get deleted first when we run out of room.

Next big purchase is patio furniture. Target has a set of wrought iron - round table & four chairs for $299. That's the best price I've seen, and I've been looking for a while now. I know I can get a better deal if I wait until the end of summer, but I want to have it for the summer. It's pretty pleasant on our back deck in the summer, would be nice to be able to sit out there on weekend mornings and after work.

Looking forward to this weekend - I'm exhausted! The only big thing I might have going on is that work is giving away tickets to the Avs game on Saturday - hopefully it will be my name drawn!

Paperwork and more paperwork. This buying property stuff sucks. At least it's almost over. I spend a couple of hours every morning making copies, faxing documents, preparing FedEx packages, making calls re: insurance and inspections. Ugg. It's like having another job.

Speaking of jobs, mine is really starting to bite. I've got an HR department that doesn't want to do HR stuff, so it's now my job (no extra pay or credit for doing the work, thank you very much). Plus, because I was a "bad seed" last year, I have to go through some special written review process this year to make sure that I'm behaving myself. This despite the fact that I rebutted their comments (in writing) last year, took issue with both my review and the manner in which it was conducted. Do you think I got any response???? NO! Not a peep. So much for give and take.

When can I quit?

Looks like I'll be on my own this weekend - I had entertained the idea of going to Topeka with Alex - but there's so much I need to do this weekend, and it will be such a fast trip that I think I will probably stay home. Plus, we're going to need plenty of dog-sitting help later in the season, so I don't want to use up all the goodwill now. I also don't want to miss baby swim class on Saturday morning - or happy hour with my friend Michele on Friday night, or my shift at the shelter on Saturday, or my movie with Joni on Sunday, etc. I may try and do the MAM (Mid America Motorplex) race in Omaha on the 26th - that should be interesting, since we close on the new house the next day!

I finally got moved to a new cell phone service (only took two weeks) - but I kept my number, have a better plan for less money, and a new phone. Pretty cool. I'll have to see how it does on the road in all of these strange places we end up racing, but so far, so good.

Off to Target at lunch - it's like giving yourself a present.

Friday, Friday, Friday is my favorite day....and a very good Friday it is! We're going to a local sports bar tonight to watch Game 2 in the Avalanche/Stars series, hoping to see another stomping by the Avs. Our neighbors, who we don't get to spend much time with, love the Lazy Dog Sports Bar, so we're hoping that they'll join us - even though they're Canadian and probably hate the Avs just on principle. We've also been invited to a couple of parties on Sunday, and I think I'll try to make it to one of them - my friends Frank & Julie are having people over, and that's always fun. They're transplanted Californians, too, and even though they're northerners, I try to forgive them and enjoy commiserating over the loss of Trader Joe's and IKEA.

After raining for two solid days, it's started to snow. We're expected to get nearly a foot tonight, although less down here near Denver. Lord knows we can use it - I'd hate to go through another summer drought like two years ago, and the fire danger that goes with it. This storm system has, I think, finally helped to put out the Picnic Rock fire up near Ft. Collins.

One last thing - I stumbled onto a cool site today - it's Books for Soldiers - soldiers or their friends/families post messages about books or magazines that are wanted by soldiers, and you get to send them an email or a care package. I'm thinking about posting a notice on the Intranet at work and offering to ship whatever people would like to donate. The only hard part is picking which message to respond to - there are so many.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Yesterday my department from work did an offsite activity at the Culinary School of the Rockies. For four hours, 21 of us worked to prepare the following:

Shrimp w/ mint & rum

Vegetable empanadas

Jerk chicken

Coconut rice

Mango salsa

Pecan corn bread

Chocolate banana sin cake

Needless to say, I did not eat again that day. I basically went home and fell into a food coma. We had a blast though.

We meet with the accountant this afternoon to do the corporate returns, and also get some advice on setting up a new corporation. Hopefully it will be quick, painless and not too expensive. While a refund would be nice, I would just be happy not to owe anything.

I'm looking forward to going home and relaxing tonight. I have a project to work on - am installing Linux on my old IBM ThinkPad - and then I plan to move my office downstairs to our basement. It's very nice down there, and will be especially pleasant in the summer because it stays so cool.

Not much news to report. The whole house-buying process is going smoothly. We had the inspection over the weekend, and the only thing of note is that it needs a new furnace, so I'll talk to the broker about having an estimate on replacement, etc. There are a few other little things, but nothing else major. The good news was that we determined that there are no obstructions in the ceiling/attic that would prevent us from raising the ceiling and putting in a couple of skylights. Plus, we have a good guy for fencing, I need to call him today.

It's going to be a busy month. Alex has 3 races in 3 different states within the next 4 weeks, plus he has to go to DC for business somewhere in there, and we're closing on the house in LA on 4/20 and the Boulder house on 4/29. I'm leaving town straightaway after the 29th to go to Brainerd for a race. There will be 2 extra dogs and an extra cat staying with us for about a month. I have finals in 4 weeks. I don't know how we'll do it. I should be allowed to take off the month of May just to rest.

One piece of "new" news is that my little brother got engaged this weekend! He and his girlfriend (Kimberly) have been together for a while, and they seems to get along really well. They're planning to move to Denver at the end of summer, I think Kimberly has some work/school lined up for herself, and my brother may be able to continue to do his current job and just work from home. However that works out, it will be nice to have them around, and to get back to the family tradition of Sunday dinner at Mom's.

Yeah, okay, I've been slacking. I've had so much to do, I haven't had time to write! My mother flew out last Thursday, and we bought a house on Saturday. Yikes! It's a great place on a big corner lot, so plenty of room for the two or three dogs who will usually be running around. We close on April 29th. Unfortunately, that means I might have to miss a track day on May 3, since my mom, grandfather and brother are likely going to be arriving on April 30. I've gone through my calendar for the summer, marking myself out for all of the days I'll need to travel to races. I'm really looking forward to this summer - Alex will be on his new bike, and it will be my second season, so I think I'll have a better time and get more out of it.

Work has suddenly become very busy, leaving me little time for my personal studies (can you imagine??). I had a week off from Spanish but start back again tonight, and the class runs through April, so an awful lot of things in my life will be coming to a head at the same time in a month or so. I did the embarrassing homework assignment (call my teacher and leave a message for her in Spanish) and am writing my Spanish film review today. I really like this class, and the teacher - so much so that I decided to wait and take Spanish 2 in the fall, because it will be my same teacher again.

For my female readership, I bought a lovely necklace yesterday from a company that my mom worked with at the Yoga Expo last year - Energy Muse. That particular necklace is for Prosperity - a fitting goal for me.

We finally got some signatures on the Venice house - it is sold! My mother is flying out tonight to look at property around Boulder this weekend. What a relief. We'll close at the end of April, and she's hoping to move straight in to something else (praying for a quick close). I think I'll take tomorrow off work so I can look around with her.

I've been getting caught up on all the motorcycle racing news - reading the last several months worth of posts on the MRA message boards. I can't believe that racing starts up again in a month. Alex will miss the first race of the season to be at another track, but that should be fun, too.

There's something about Tuesdays that is just wrong. The week isn't half over yet, and the memory of the past weekend is still fresh enough to torture. The one upside to this week is that it's spring break, so no class. I do have homework, which I will likely put off until the very last moment. It is nice to be able to relax this week - I went to a baby shower last night, I'm doing assorted housework-type things tonight (have to finally move the futon into the basement), have my cleaning person coming tomorrow morning and a meeting with the accountant tomorrow afternoon, have a going-away party/happy hour on Friday, and then breakfast on Saturday with two girlfriends. The only downside is the hours I have to spend at work.

I went to see "Taking Lives" on Sunday. It was better than I expected, kind of a surprise ending. Angelina Jolie didn't leave much of an impression, but I thought Ethan Hawke (the poor, beleaguered former Mr. Uma Thurman) was pretty interesting to watch. There was more for him to do in this film than I've seen him do before. Next up for me on my movie list - either "Girl with the Pearl Earring" or "Secret Window".

Why can't I have a Mac at work? Why why why why why? I hate this computer, I can't tell you how many times throughout the day it crashes, kills programs or just slows down in general. I've started doing more graphics and web stuff, and it just kills the speed on my machine (especially since I have to be running the infamous memory/CPU hog Outlook all day). Not to mention, there's no good music player for windows that isn't a usage suck - forget Real One, and even Winamp is slowing me down. Can't very well get my work done w/out my music in the background. May have to break down and buy a boom box for my desk. There's a technological step backward.

Kim is coming over tonight, hopefully - if she makes it on a flight out of SF, she should be at our house in time for a beer and a movie. Alex will be one with his computer for the next few nights, since I dragged him out to the pub last night and he didn't get any work done, so I'll be happy to have someone to play with.

It's a perfect spring day here. I went out to lunch with a friend from work, we walked to a Japanese place that is a few blocks away - it was so hard to bring myself back to the office, I just wanted to find a little table outside and sit there for the rest of the day. I'm hoping to leave early though, so I might go home and just enjoy my backyard. This is the best time of year for it, warm and breezy, but no mosquitos yet.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I can't wait to go to the pub tonight - I never get to go out anymore, and I MISS BEER!! I'm hoping to go early enough to miss all the drunken revelry. The weather is so nice, I would love to sit outside with a beer. Yum, Harp on tap. Yummm.

No school tomorrow night - our teacher can't make it, so I don't have class again for about a week and a half. She did give us an interesting assignment - sometime between now and a week from Monday, we have to call her cell phone and leave her a 2 minute message (in Spanish, of course). We'll be graded on our grammar, pronunciation, conversation skills, etc. I have to write mine out and have Alex help me with it. Hopefully I can get through the whole message without laughing.

Do you ever wonder about the song that's in your head when you wake up? I've noticed lately that the song running through my mind as I take a shower and brush my teeth is invariable something from my childhood. This morning it was the theme song from "The Jeffersons." That song prompted a thought that I really like -- it never occurred to me that there was anything wrong on The Jeffersons - I never thought twice about the fact that Tom Willis was white and Helen Willis was black. That makes me happy. Anyway, I can think of worse ways to start the day than humming "movin' on up, to the sky, to that dee-luxe apartment in the skyyyyy....."

I noticed on my paycheck yesterday that the raise I was supposed to get on March 1 has not yet kicked in. I suspect a conspiracy, but am resisting the urge to point fingers, and instead have dispatched my boss to look into it. It's only a small (very small) increase, but it's the principle - if I'm going to be here, toiling as department slave, they damn well better pay me what they owe me.

I heard about a band that's being touted as the next Nirvana - The Vines. MSN.com has a link up where you can listen to their latest album ("Winning Days") online through the end of this week. Some of it is pretty good, I'm listening to it at my desk right now. I'm going out today to run errands at lunch, and I'd like to get some of Prince's stuff - I saw a clip of his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he was amazing.

I'm desperately fighting down the urge to go camera shopping. Alex gave me a digital camera for Christmas about two years ago, and it's been a great camera - but everyone has red eyes, there are spots on the lens that I can't seem to get rid of, and the style (the lens folds out to shoot, then back up to turn off) makes it a little awkward. Plus, there's no speed to it whatsoever, so if anyone moves a fraction of an inch during the 20 seconds it takes to snap the photo after I depress the button, the photo is off. You know how it goes with toys, always looking to upgrade...

This was a busy weekend. Alex and I left for Iowa on Friday afternoon - he had a buyer for his Kaw, and we picked up his new '04 Honda. Pretty nice looking, I must say. It was a little sad to see the Kaw go, but we talked to her and explained that she was going to be able to take it easy now - no one would be sending her flying through the air at 100mph anymore (at least, I hope not!). We also got to spend some time with the new members of the race team, seem like really good guys. They're based in this teeny tiny town in Iowa, just past the Nebraska border. The wind never stops blowing there - morning, noon and night. It was good to get home though. We had stopped and bought a gift for Ruby - we found a stuffed dog that only had one eye, and thought it was perfect for her.

I feel a certain amount of relief knowing that I'm taking the summer off from school - it would have been too much, with a short semester and all the racing. Now I can go to all of the races, and work on my skills to help with the new site. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to quit my job later this year and do that full time. Maybe I'll take a seasonal job at the Gap and get that employee discount!

Our cleaning person came to the house for the first time today - Alex went home at lunch and says it's spotless! What a wonderful thing, to have someone else come over and do the thing you hate most. I can't wait to get home and enjoy my clean rooms!

We had the inspection today on the house in LA, and everything went pretty smoothly. I think he found only dumb stuff to note, like the screens on the bottom of the house next to the foundation were rusty - no kidding, rust happens when the house is 7 blocks from the ocean! For the money the buyer is paying, I think she can spend $50 for new screens if she wants them. Anyway, there was nothing major, so escrow should proceed pretty smoothly. I signed all kinds of disclosure statements yesterday, so I think our broker can handle every thing else from here.

Joni and I saw "Hidalgo" this weekend, and loved it. Really, it was so entertaining, and Viggo is soooo cute. There was some story in the news this week about historians contesting the studio's claim that the movie is based on the true story of Frank Hopkins - they say he largely made up all of his adventures, that there is no thousand-year-old horse race across the Arabian desert, that he wasn't at Wounded Knee, etc. In my mind, who really cares? The film was fun, it was a great story, it had the feel of a real story because of the Army at Wounded Knee and Buffalo Bill....Frank Hopkins died more than 20 years ago, so who gives a sh*t if he embellished a little? Besides, it's not as if anyone is going for the historical value, we all just want to watch Viggo for a couple of hours.

It looks like we sold the house (finally) - I think we open escrow today, and will close in 45 days. Woo hoo! It's about time that cute little house got sold. My mother has been ready to go for quite some time, and I'm sure my sister is anxious to move on as well. Once some initial funds are released, my mother will come out here to look at more houses. I think she's still undecided as to whether to buy something quickly, or put her stuff in storage and stay with me for a month or so. Either way, it's nice that she's on her way and moving in the right direction.

Alex sold his motorcycle and has made arrangements to buy a new one, so we're driving to Iowa next weekend (with the dog) to drop off the sold bike and pick up the new one. Racing starts in a few weeks, so I'm sure there will be a lot of "tweaking" that Alex wants to do to the new bike. This season, they'll look like much more of a team, everyone on the same kind of bike, same colors, and Kim and I even have little matching pit crew shirts. Plus, Dean and Kim have bought an EXTRAORDINARILY LARGE trailer - Alex says it's like a condo on wheels. We're going to be very comfortable this summer....

Much work to do this morning. More later.

I have such nice friends. I got a package in the mail on Monday afternoon from my goddog, Louie - he bought me some books off of my Amazon wish list on behalf of his people, my friends Mike and Joni. Four new books that I can't wait to dive into, including Food Lover's Guide to Paris - I heard about this book in an interview on NPR a while back, and it looks wonderful, lots of yummy recipes in addition to the stories about where the locals go for the best food.

I'm trying to convince Alex to come look at a couch with me this weekend. A friend from work is selling it for $75, and from the photos it looks brand new. It's very simple, clean lines, so if I get sick of the color, it will be easy to slipcover. I am trying to set up one half of the basement as a room for me - a desk, couch, comfy chair. Alex is busy most of the time at the Mac in our main office room, I need to set up one of the spare computers somewhere else, plus I need a place to go in the summer where it will be cool. I want this to be a cozy space for me, where I can go and knit or read or work on the computer. I think we need another Mac though, I don't see how I can go back to Windows after getting so spoiled. I have high hopes for this little room. I need a place to be crafty.

My mother had another successful open house last weekend, and has had three private showings so far this week. There is a film crew coming tomorrow to shoot a commercial at the house (I'm not sure for what product), and then there will be another open house this weekend. There is a rumor from the broker that one of the viewers is putting together an offer for this week, so keep all your fingers crossed for a good, high offer that we can accept, and get this show on the road.

Today is a good Monday. We got our 2003 bonus checks today, and while mine was not as high as I would have liked, it will make me so happy to be able to send money to my credit card companies, effectively telling them to take their high interest rates and shove it up their collective asses. So there.

My iPod is back among the living! Yahoo! For reasons I can't remember, I decided to disconnect the docking station from the computer, and then the firewire cable from the docking station, and just plug my iPod directly in to the wall - lo and behold, it worked! It took a full charge for the first time in months. I'm going to buy a new docking station, and as if that helps, and will also go looking for software updates for iTunes. Maybe that will prevent this from happening again. Once again, Mac rocks.

Crap. I just finished typing the post, but forgot to save it before making other changes to the site, so I lost it. Crap.

So, it's finally Friday, I couldn't be happier, unless my cleaning person was coming tomorrow instead of two weeks from now. Since we're having friends over to watch the Oscars on Sunday, Saturday is going to be all about cleaning for me. However, since I'm cleaning so thoroughly, I have decided to treat myself to a massage, manicure and pedicure this weekend. One of life's better trade-offs.

Ruby is healing nicely from her run-in (literally) with my truck. She seems to be back to her peanut-butter-and-popcorn-loving self. Maggie has settled down, and finally, after 3 years has accepted that Ruby lives in the house, too. She sits in the sun all day, and performs various rolls and tricks for me when I come home each night.

I finished my Unix class last night - an "A" on the final, and an "A" overall for the class. I feel pretty good about that. My only regret is that it's over - I feel like I was just getting started, and there is so much more to learn. Alex has set me up with a test server at home, so I can start to study one of our sites and figure how all the files and scripts call on each other. He also gave me a book to read, on PHP and MySQL. The book is about 3 inches thick. I'll get right on that.

The other piece of good news is that I finally have someone to come clean the house once in a while! Her name is Jennifer and she's coming over tomorrow afternoon to walk through the house with me and give me an idea of what she would charge. I'm so relieved already, it's amazing that I feel better even though she hasn't started yet. Just the idea that I won't have to tackle that big house all by myself anymore...

It's quiet at work this week - our company has an annual conference that takes place in Philly, so between people attending the conference and others out sick or whatever, there are about 6 people from my department who are in the office today. That works for me, because I have a final tonight in my Unix class, so I can use the quiet time to get some studying done. It'll be nice to be going to only two days a week of school after tonight.

No movement on the house in LA. I still think it will eventually sell, and for close to what we're asking, but it might take a while. Meantime, my mother is pretty unhappy still being there, I think she's ready to move on and get settled in her own life. We're looking at houses just north/east of Boulder, where the houses are older and on much larger lots, with lots of trees and open space. Perfect for two big dogs, and for when the kids come to visit.

I'm going to the gym today, I've taken to swimming at lunch (when I can get away). This week will be perfect, with so many people out of the office. Alex got me to ride the trainer (stationary bike) last night, my behind is pretty sore today. I don't know how people ride hard on bikes with those little, narrow seats! Ouch!

YES! Taxes are done, e-filed, return should be here w/in two weeks. Alex gets credit this year for moving so quickly to get this done - once I saw him finishing his up yesterday, I knew I had to do mine as well. Not as big of a return as I expected, but (as my mother would say) better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Ruby had ANOTHER accident last night - this time it was her little face colliding with the bumper of my truck (I was in park!!). She was playing ball and thought it was about to be thrown to her, so she took off and slammed right into the bumper. She has a big gash underneath the scar from where her right eye used to be. :-( Poor little dog. It wasn't bleeding, and we checked and couldn't find any broken bones in her face, so we decided not to do the vet thing. She's a little swollen and a little quiet this morning, but seems to be okay.

I finally made up my mind to hire someone to come clean the house - a cat and a dog produce an ungodly amount of hair that lurks in all the corners and all over the wood floors. The last thing that I feel like doing each weekend is cleaning - I'll still have the usual grocery errands, laundry, ironing, cat box detail, etc. - but someone else can vacuum and clean toilets from now on. The other problem besides paying someone was finding someone - but Joni has started having someone come in on a regular basis, so I'm going to call her, get her over here to have a look around and tell me how much she'll charge (if it's in the $75 neighborhood, it's a deal). Then we'll set it up for her to come and do a top-to-bottom on the place, with every other week after that. What a relief that will be. One of the things I get from my mother is that I absolutely hate a dirty house, it kills my mood and makes me grumpy. I don't mind the actual cleaning, it's just that with a house this size, it feels overwhelming to get started, and it usually takes me most of the day. No more!

Sorry about the weeklong lapse. I've been incredibly busy at work, and keep meaning to post...my mother flew out on Tuesday night and went back to LA last night - she was hand-carrying a film to be screened in Denver. We were able to look at a couple of houses before taking care of her business. Unfortunately, all three of the houses we saw were eventually discarded for one reason or another, so it's back to the drawing board we go.

My situation at work has not been great - in fact, Tuesday I left the office in tears. The pain in my department (who I've taken to calling Leo) was particularly nasty and abusive all day Tuesday - at one point, I was getting a snotty email about every 15 minutes - I couldn't even get anything done, he was spamming me so frequently. After much thought over the past couple of days, I've decided to just do nothing. Literally. Not answer his emails or respond to his voicemails. I think that there is no response that I can make to him that won't be perceived as combative, so I just am not responding at all - kind of a "if you can't ask me nicely, I'll pretend you didn't ask at all" kind of message. I just refuse to become part of the problem, and if I end up arguing with him or complaining about him, then I am part of the problem. It just reinforces for me the need to move on, find another job, one with potential for me to learn something and be valued.

I'm getting excited for spring to come. The days are getting longer - it's no longer dark when I leave the house in the morning at 7am, nor is it dark when I leave work at 4:30. It's great, it feels like I'm being lifted right out of the winter gloom. I can't wait to see my flowers blooming, the grass turning green, the leaves returning to the trees.

I spent a lot of time yesterday writing my feedback to my review. It's a fine line between defending yourself and coming off as defensive - I think there is a line there, and that it's appropriate, even necessary, to defend yourself from what you think is unfair criticism, especially in the workplace. It's also important that it not come off sounding like a knee-jerk, defensive response. While I think I did the right thing and was fair in what I wrote, I am of course second-guessing now. I gave my comments to my boss last night before I left so he could read them and digest overnight - I'm a bit nervous to talk to him when he arrives, which I hope will be soon so I can get this over with.

I got a call from Amy at BCC yesterday - turns out I did win both the bowl and the sweater at the auction! I'm very happy to have the bowl, and thrilled to be able to give the sweater to Amy. She does such a great job in a role that is low pay, low prospects, huge amounts of time and energy. She is just the sort of giving person that would take on such a thankless job and be fulfilled by it. She's also always been very good to me. In fact, she and I spoke at the fundraiser, and I think we agree that I'm going to take a few weeks off from BCC, at least until one of my classes finishes. I'm on the brink of burning out, and I don't want to give up on something that's always meant so much to me - but it's too much right now with work and school, so a break is the right thing to do.

It snowed hard all day yesterday, and was clear and beautiful this morning - and a balmy -6 when I drove to work at 7am. I think my mother is panicking about moving all of the sudden - this snowy, cold winter is giving her pause. I think she'll get over it quickly, but it's funny to hear her voice change on the phone when I tell her what the temp is on any given morning. She's experience it first-hand next week, she's coming out on Tuesday so we can look at houses for her on Wednesday.

Sorry for not posting yesterday - was busy all day long with work, and trying to get some studying done for Spanish class. Today looks to be more of the same, plus I want to try and spend some time with my Unix textbook - midterm exam is tonight.

I had my annual review at work yesterday, and it went pretty much as I expected. There was one twist though, some feedback from three people (who are not part of my group) who felt I deserved a lower rating, but only one of them pointed to any particular circumstance that made him feel that way. The other two were more vague (one of them made what I felt was a particularly personal set of comments - kinda out of place)...."not a team player" was one comment. I don't know if it's true that I'm not a good team player - I feel like I play well with and for my team, but I have a problem when the other teams aren't doing their part, and I usually say so. God, I hate the work "team" in the context of work, it's like it's not enough to say we work together or we're a group, we have to inject it with this false sense of camaraderie. Oh, it looks like my esprit de corps is absent today...

On the bright side, it's Wednesday, so I'm on the downward slope of the week, and next Monday is a holiday. It's snowing right now and is expected to continue snowing for a couple of days. Alex has started complaining about the weather (that's a first for him, he must be getting old), last week he said he felt like we had moved to North Dakota. He is right that it's been unusually cold for Boulder, cold enough that the snow is actually staying on the ground for days on end. My friend Kim was telling me last weekend that she had to plow through several feet of snow (she and Dean live waaaayyyy up in the mountains) just to get out of her driveway. For me, this is the best part about living in Colorado, that the seasons are so distinct, it makes you grateful for each change throughout the year - just as you start getting really tired of the snow, spring is here, and so on.

Last night's fundraiser for BCC went very well, I think. There was a $5 charge at the door, and we probably collected at least $400 that way. We also had a silent auction for items that had been donated - everything from haircuts and car washes to hot air balloon rides and rounds of golf. It was nice to see how many people turned out and were so generous. I bid on a hand-thrown bowl, painted a beautiful shade of purple, and on a child's sweater from the Himalayas - if I get the sweater, I plan to give it to Amy (the BCC director) for her little girl.

I didn't really get a whole lot done this weekend - I did spend some time with Joni and the boys, I did lots of laundry, went to the grocery store, cleaned the catbox - no manicure, pedicure, movie or yoga class. Will have to make more of an effort next weekend. I really want to see "Miracle", and at least that's a movie that Alex will be interested in seeing.

A whirlwind of activity around the office today, and none of it good. None of it involves me directly, which is good, but everyone is incredibly stressed out and in need of a nap. I'm hiding in my cube and am considering going to a movie instead of working this afternoon.

Poor Thor (Mama's dog from Rick) had to go and get fixed yesterday, he kept trying to mount the kids. He's groggy and sleepy and Daisy can't understand why he won't get up and play with her. I know it only lasts a couple of days, but geez - the poor guy has been through a lot lately. I think he'll love living in CO - I can't wait to take him on the trail near the Boulder Reservoir. He'll be able to run through the fields, chase horses (no, he shouldn't chase them), and swim in the pond. I think Daisy will like it, too, although she'll obviously be moving a bit more slowly. BTW, Daisy and Thor both have their own pages on Dogster, now. Daisy is especially charming in her denim jacket (oh my God, is my mother turning into her crazy aunt that used to dress up her dogs at the holidays?).

Gotta go, lots of anxious visitors hovering around my desk. More later.

Another day, another class. Wednesday and Thursday are the longest parts of my week - already had a couple of days of work/school, and still have a couple to go. I enjoyed my Unix class last night, took a test, got 100% correct. That's a good feeling. We have a midterm next Wednesday, and then just 3 more classes. Spanish will meet twice a week until May 6, but that's a manageable schedule.

This weekend....trying to think of something fun for us to do. I have the shelter on Saturday night and a BCC fundraiser on Sunday night. I'd like to see a movie with Joni on Sunday, would like to get a manicure/pedicure, would like to go to a yoga class, need to do about 10 loads of laundry, need to clean the house and the catbox...well, there goes my weekend.

Here's another map of visited states, this one is JONI'S MAP




create your own visited states map

Mass. High Court Rules for Gay Marriage

It's about time.

I'm so sick of hearing about Janet Jackson's boob! Give me a break already. The thing that gets me is all these people who complain that their kids were watching - ok, so how many of you have cable television? Do you think they don't see that (and worse) any time they want? And really, the reason that we like those cheerleaders in their skintight bikini tops is that it looks more comfortable for them. Go take a stroll down the boardwalk in Venice Beach, I guarantee you'll see more than one breast w/ a pasty. So what? Are you going to holler at the woman on the park bench who is breast-feeding, too?

Had a test in my Spanish class last night, which I think I aced. I feel like I'm doing pretty well with school, considering that I'm trying to balance it with everything else in my life. Some days I feel like I'm falling behind, but I seem to be able to get caught up quickly. I think it helps that I'm really enjoying both classes - going to school doesn't feel like a chore at all. Of course, that's not to say that I won't be thrilled to have a couple of evenings a week off once the Unix class wraps at the end of this month!

I'm having dreams about vacations. I have to stop thinking about it, because we don't have time to go before racing season starts, and once racing starts I can forget about having Alex do anything non-motorcycle. I was surfing around yesterday, looking at vacation packages to Belize, Costa Rica, etc. Guess that will have to wait for a while. On the bright side, I chatted with my friend Vic last week about finally taking a trip to Europe that we've been discussing for years. That would be a solo trip for me, meet up w/ Vic and some of her other girlfriends and do a few weeks in France. I'll have to sell that idea to my boss later.

Coolest toy! Check out the states I've visited (I've actually passed through many more than this, but I was going for the "quality time" factor:



create your own visited states map

Okay, okay - so I haven't posted any photos of my haircut yet! Geez! I'll get around to it soon, just have to get a good photo. In the meantime, check out Ruby's web page on Dogster.com. I can't remember where I read about this site, but I went yesterday and created a page for Ruby. You can post your dog's picture and list all the things they like, and can set up a "corral" with all of your dog's friends. Now I just have to get Louie up there, too.

Unix class was a little frustrating last night, we spent a long time trying to make certain commands work, some without any success. Alex pointed out to me that it was probably a good lesson for me, as that is usually how it works when you're programming something. I'm not sure that my teeth are up for all the grinding involved. The only good part about last night was that I got my first exam back, and I only missed one - and he gave me partial credit for it anyway because I argued that there was technically more than one correct answer. I knew all those years of arguing with my mother would pay off.

Super Bowl Sunday! Go Pats! I've just been looking at my numbers from the pool at work, and it doesn't look promising - (in order, Pats/Panthers) 1/1, 6/0, 8/5, 9/2. Ah well, there's always hope. Our pool pays $100 at the end of the first, at half time, and at the end of the third, and $200 for the final score. With my winnings, I would buy a Pats T-shirt and then have a massage.

I'm a bit sore this morning. Last night I was working on the computer, and then got up, wine glass in hand, turned and started to walk out of the room. Only problem was that Ruby was asleep on the floor directly in my path, and I didn't see her until it was too late. I stepped on her foot (poor baby), and then I fell, coming down hard on both knees. While I didn't drop the wine glass, I did manage to spill a considerable portion of it on the floor and wall. The carpet cleaned up okay (amazing), but when Alex cleaned off the walls with spray cleaner, some of the paint and plaster came off, too - so it looks like we'll be repainting at least part of this room. Worse though is that my bad knee took a pretty hard hit, got a lovely bruise/bump coming up already, and it's feeling mighty stiff this morning.

I went to get my hair colored/cut yesterday, and took the plunge - we cut a good 7 inches off. I love it, it hits right at my jawline, is kind of piecy - it curls in some places and not in others, so it's just kind of messy. She took a razor to it and thinned it out considerably - I feel like I lost 15 lbs. of hair. I'll be so grateful when it starts to get hot here, it was awful last summer to be carrying around this huge head of long hair when it's 100 degrees out. Check my Mac website in the next few days for a photo of my new 'do.

It feels like Friday...maybe because I'm taking tomorrow off! We have dinner plans tonight with our friend Kim, and then I think she and I will hang out tomorrow and see a movie or something. I'm meeting with an advisor from CU tomorrow afternoon about my current classes and whether or not they will transfer to CU next year, and what other classes I need to take between now and then. I'm very excited about school and continuing on with my education. I'm really enjoying both of my classes right now, it hardly feels like an effort, even though it makes for a pretty long week.

I think I aced my Unix test last night, plus I was able to start using mailx before he even started explaining it. That's one of the benefits of a class like this - I can pretty much move as quickly as I'm able, and then I just check in with the people that sit near me to see if we're all getting it.

Because I plan to take tomorrow off, I have a whole pile of work on my desk, so I'm going to get to it. I need to have a clear conscience so I can enjoy my days off and the Super Bowl party on Sunday (go Pats!). Next Sunday, we have a fundraiser for the Boulder County Cares project (one of the charities I work with) - live music & dancing at one of my favorite Boulder bars. Should be great, and raise enough money to keep BCC operating through the spring.

The Academy Award nominations came out yesterday, and there are a few really cool things to note - Alec Baldwin has been nominated for the first time, for "The Cooler", and Charlize Theron has a pretty good shot at winning for "Monster" - go, Charlize! The Oscars are the only award show that I can get into, and I'm considering an Oscar party at my house. It's a perfect excuse to buy a bigger TV. Plus, Ruby hasn't had a play date with Louie in far too long.

I have a test tonight in my Unix class, and I'm concerned because the test covers the first four chapters of our text. The only problem is that the teacher has yet to teach from the text. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying his class and his methods, and I feel that I'm learning a lot - but how can you test us on stuff we don't go over in class?? It's a bit to complex to simply read and absorb. Anyway, the teacher seems like a fair guy, I'm sure it won't be anything I can't handle.

You have to love the sunny winter days in Colorado. It just couldn't be more beautiful. Yes, it's cold, but not a biting cold, and the sky is blue and as wide as can be. Makes me want to go for a long walk at lunch - maybe I'll take the tunnel behind my office building, which goes under the highway, and lets me out at Old Chicago! Pizza for lunch!

Good news from CA - turns out that in the end, my mother got to have dinner with her family last night. I know that she was very happy to have had everything work out. She told me they went to some great Italian place in the marina, and that the maitre d' was flirty with her, complimented her hair and kissed her hand. So it was a good birthday after all.

Ugg. Back to work. Drama in my department (as usual). I have one person in my group who is so high maintenance, I can never do anything right as far as he is concerned. This person is just small and petty, but it gets to me every once in a while. It's like this person would find a way to blame me if it rained on a day he wanted to play golf. I'm just waiting for the karmic wheel to run him over.

Unix class is going swimmingly. With the exception of needing to use binary in order to complete the lab work, I'm doing fine. Part of it sounds like Greek to me, but mostly I'm able to keep up and then some. Hopefully my Spanish quiz tomorrow will go so well.

For all those who read here, please join me in wishing my mother a happy 55th birthday. Unfortunately, she won't have any family around her tonight, but she's in the loving care of good friends, and that means a lot, too. I wish I were there to help her celebrate.

This feels like a really long week already - and after only two nights of school! Turns out that after Tuesday night, I had to drop my Spanish class because the credits wouldn't have transferred to a four-year school (now they tell me!), but I picked up a different, more intense Spanish class that will transfer. I had my first Unix class last night, and felt semi-lost for the first hour, but then toward the end I had a good grasp - in fact, I was helping the guy sitting next to me find his way through the practice labs.

We dropped the price a bit on my mother's house in LA so that we can get it sold soon - I found a perfect little house for her in north Boulder, within 4 blocks of my house. It's more than enough room for her, the dogs, and any assorted family members who come along. It's also far less expensive than a lot of the other houses I've been looking at, and is ready to move in as-is - too good a deal to pass up. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she gets an offer on the LA house right away so that we can pursue the one here, get her moved and settled by springtime.

Don't forget to watch the Pats stomp Carolina next weekend - GO PATS!

I'm getting settled in the new office - such a wonder to have some privacy! I'm in a quiet corner of the building, so no one really comes near my cube unless they're looking for me or my boss.

I start my Spanish classes tonight, and my Unix classes start tomorrow. I have one more knitting class, this Saturday, and then I'd like to sign up for another, maybe hats or mittens. I'm comfortable now with casting on, knit, purl, increase and decrease - am making a beautiful lavender scarf right now.

Mom says there's definite doggy love going on in LA - Daisy and Thor are a match made in heaven. Daisy even wants to sleep beside him now....and we worried that she'd be jealous. It gives me hope that one day, Ruby can have her very own brother, too.

Today is the last day in the old office. There was an idea floating around that it was best to "pack drunk" - so most of us went to lunch at Old Chicago to commune with Elvis (at work, alcohol is always referred to as Elvis). I've become such a lousy drinker, I get the hiccups every time (*hic*).

I will have two extra days off this week, and I'm trying to decide what to do with my free time - must clean out and organize my truck, there's barely room for passengers anymore. I'd also like to see a movie, any movie, and would like to go over and spend time with Joni and the boys. They're getting so big and animated lately, I feel like I'm missing out when I can't make it over to see them.

School starts next week - classes four nights each week, for 6 weeks, and then just two nights a week until May. Between work, school, volunteering and spending any time with friends, I won't have much time for me. Alex is very understanding about that stuff, he has classes two nights a week himself. Still, I'll be pretty tired for the next few weeks....

My company is moving to new offices this week, starting Wednesday evening. There is good and bad here - good because it means I have Thursday and Friday off work, bad because it means my Monday through Wednesday this week is a nightmare of packing and prepping and still trying to get work done. I've spent most of today at the new building, having volunteered to help our IT department with some of the last minute work.

My mother has adopted Rick's dog Thor - they fly home to LA together tomorrow. He's such a sweet dog, I just hope that he and Daisy (Mom's yellow lab) get along. Daisy doesn't share particularly well.

I made it over to the Stitchin' Den last night, where the lady in the store was nice enough to sit with me and walk me through everything I missed in Saturday's class. I was so motivated that I went home and started a new scarf - a beautiful soft lavender color that I think will look lovely on my grandmother. My friend Tara wants to start a crochet group, we have several friends who would be interested in getting together once a month. I need to learn how to crochet little hats for the heads of all the little people in my life.

I went to FL on Thursday morning. Rick passed away around dinnertime Wednesday, and we had a memorial service for him on Friday afternoon. One of his dogs, Thor, will be coming to Boulder to live with us (either my mother or me), once we figure out the best way to get him here. One bit of good news of late is that the LA real estate market seems to have recovered from the holiday slump, so it looks likely that my mother's house will sell soon, and she can make her way east to Boulder.

Since Alex and I had a lot of people over for Thanksgiving, there were almost no leftovers - we both love Thanksgiving leftovers, so we made another turkey last night, and he fixed his mother's gravy - it was divine. We fed Ruby so much turkey that she couldn't move, didn't even stir when I pulled her toes.

My knitting class started Saturday, but I was in Florida, so I'm on my way over to the store so that they can give me my materials and show me what I missed. I have visions of funky, chunky hats and scarves for all of my friends next Christmas.

I wish I had something better to write about today, but this is all that's in my mind. My mother is on the way to Florida to be with her parents and hopefully see her younger brother, who is dying of cancer. His doctor's aren't certain that he'll make it through the night, so we're hoping that she'll arrive in time. If nothing else, she can be with my grandparents and they can all take comfort in one another. Godspeed, Rick.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. Alex and I went to see some friends who live in the mountains outside Denver - we drove up on Christmas Day, had dinner there and stayed the night. Very nice, very relaxing. We got the coolest gift - a couples' massage at a spa, including co-ed steam showers and a lunch. I can't wait, I want to book it as soon as possible before Alex has a change of heart and reverts to his "I'm too ticklish to get a massage" ways.

I love this time of year, because either you're off work, or you're at work but so many coworkers are out that it's dead quiet - perfect for catching up, or just sitting there playing online games all day....

Only two days left until Christmas! That means only one work day left (today), which will hopefully be cut short by decree of the big cheese around here (I heard a rumor that we would close at noon)....I'm feeling better, because all of the early December stuff is out of the way - I took my EMT exam, and will find out results in a couple of weeks; I finished my Christmas shopping; I sent out my holiday cards, although some will not arrive until after Christmas (I'm sure my friend in Japan will understand); I arranged for someone to watch my dog so that Alex and I can go up to Bailey on Christmas day and have dinner with friends - the distance practically requires that we stay overnight.

Last night I babysat with Ellen so that Mike and Joni could go out to dinner and see "The Lord of the Rings" - except that the theater changed the show times yesterday (after the daily paper came out and contrary to what was listed on moviefone.com), so they couldn't see LOTR, and settled for "Stuck on You" - unfortunately, Matthew decided that he couldn't possibly go to sleep without his mother present, and conveyed that message to us by screaming until he was gasping for breath. I eventually had to call Mike's cell and drag them out of the movie, Matthew had worked himself up into such a fit that I was getting worried.

Just got the message from the boss man that we're closing at 2pm. Oh well, better than nothing!

I've been trying to study all evening for my NR-EMT exam tomorrow night, but I'm calling it quits. I forgot my textbook at work and so have been trying to study just from the workbook, but I need to read. Tomorrow will be a slow day at work, so I'll find some time to go over my old class notes and read. Alex, bless his heart, took me to dinner tonight and then gently pushed me toward the dining room table so I could study - he even turned down the motorcycle racing on TV so it wouldn't disturb me...but I'm tired now and think my brain has some kind of force field around it tonight that is preventing new information from entering. Sleep will help, will study more tomorrow. Keep all your fingers crossed for me.

There's something about a manicure and pedicure that just makes you feel like a new person. I bumped into my friend Kat while I was out shopping, and she said she was on her way to the salon and I should come along.....and now I'm sitting here, feeling blissful because someone rubbed my feet until I thought I would pass out from the pleasure. On my toes I'm wearing Tramp (dark, shimmery purple red), and my fingers got Two to Tonga (pearly pink). Feeling good and pretty and girly makes me want to make all kinds of resolutions about how I'll take care of myself, use the loufah on my feet each day, push back my cuticles and use vita E oil each night....but in the end, I know that I'll just go back to the salon in a couple of weeks, and my favorite nail people will welcome me with open arms. The foot rub alone is worth the $30.

Never, NEVER, wait until the last minute to buy your boss a gift and then utilize the Apple Store, hoping for anything other than disasterous results. I tried to order him a cool speaker/docking station thing for his iPod (which we bought him last year and he loves beyond all reason) - I ordered it on Tuesday, paid for overnight shipping, and assumed this meant I would have it in time for a lunch the following Monday - WRONG! Between blah blah blah and blah blah blah, they can't guarantee that I'll receive it before 12/30.


He'll have to be satisfied with a picture of the gift until then.

It's funny how time speeds up as you get closer to the holidays. For a while, I was looking at my watch and thinking that I had all kinds of time to get everything done, but suddenly it's two weeks until Christmas, I haven't mailed out cards, I haven't finished shopping for the family in LA so I'll be rushed with shipping....and I have my national EMT exam next week and no time to study. On the bright side, this weekend is dedicated to decorating the house, hanging stockings, baking and getting a tree. Alex is trying to convince me that as a proper environmental do-gooder, I should invest in an artificial tree....but I love the smell of pine!! What to do, what to do....

New this week: the annual KBCO Studio C CD is here! We are up to Volume 15 this year, and Joni and I braved the cold last Saturday at 6:30am to sit in line outside Soundtrack to buy our two copies each (that's the most you can purchase). For the uninitiated, KBCO (our local station) puts out this disc each year, all live performances recorded here in Boulder in Studio C, with the proceeds benefiting the Boulder County AIDS Project (BCAP). This year's CD includes Nickel Creek, Steve Winwood, Barenaked Ladies, Ben Harper, and many more. Listen to KBCO online!

More good news about Boulder - state ratings published this week give a score of "Excellent" to both of Joey and Mare's future schools....