Every once in a while, you have the opportunity to do something really wonderful for another person. I'm having one of those days, so I thought I'd share it.

I have a friend at work who I'll call Connie. Connie has only worked here for about 10 months, but it's been an eventful 10 months. Last summer, she lost both of her sisters on the same day - one to breast cancer, and one killed in a car accident. This was devastating to both Connie and her family, especially since Connie's mother was also killed in an accident, many years before. Within a month of losing her sisters, Connie learned that she too has cancer. Connie's cancer was advanced enough to require immediate surgery, which placed her on sick leave from work for many weeks. My company was amazing throughout Connie's illness - a fund was set up to assist with her medical bills, co-workers volunteered to clean her house, look after her dogs, rake the leaves in her yard, drive her to and from doctor appointments - the works. Connie was able to return to work last fall and resume much of her normal life, albeit without an appetite and having lost a pretty dramatic amount of weight. Still, she seemed in good spirits.

It's Connie's birthday today. Birthdays for her are special, magical days, and she's never worked on her birthday before. Due to circumstances around the office, it was necessary that she come in today, and work more than her normal shift - she'll actually be here for 12 hours today. She's been pretty depressed lately, both at the news that she needs yet more treatment for her illness, and that she had to spend this most special day at the office.

A couple of us at work who are close to Connie got together and planned a birthday for her. We decorated her cube with a "birthday balloon chandelier" and confetti, and left a couple of little gifts. Last night, I picked up two dozen roses, and we've arranged for 24 different people to randomly visit her today and each hand her a rose. It's not a lot, but it seems to have made her feel really good today. She told me that she's considering always working on her birthday in the future, because otherwise she would have missed out on being made to feel so special.

I know it sounds like bragging, but damn! We did good.

Via Daisy:

You Are 60% Left Brained, 40% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

Feel a little ripped off by the Oscars last night - BORRRING. Who here didn't know who was going to win in almost every category? I thought the musical numbers were a bad choice - Beyonce singing three out the four songs, including one in French? We couldn't find a French person out there to sing at least that song? And how about Antonio Banderas singing the song from "The Motorcycle Diaries" - why oh why would they do that to us? All of this has just given A further ammo to throw at me whenever an awards show comes along - he stayed out of the room all evening, but came back at the end with a smirk a mile wide.

There is a conference this week for work, taking place at a nearby hotel - there are about 5 people in the building. It's been amazing - I've gotten more work done in 4 hours today than I got done all of last week. The real beauty is the quiet - no phones ringing, no shouted conference calls on speakerphone, no one popping in to my cube just to distract me - I love this.

The flu bug that's been going around at work bit me, but luckily I am pumping so many vitamins into my body each day that instead of the flu it was only a cold. However, said cold lasted for 5 days, and I still sound congested. I went home sick from work on Thursday, stayed home Friday, Monday was a holiday, stayed home Tuesday, and am just now back among the worker bees. The one thought that I take away from the last 5 days is THANK GOD FOR TIVO. I mean, I was up and around on Sunday and Monday, but Friday - it was all TiVo, all the time. I watched probably 4 hours worth of "Everyday Italian" (LOVE Giada de Laurentiis), several episodes of "CSI" and "South Park", plus "Battlestar Galactica" with A when he go home from work. A is, by the way, a man who doesn't understand why there is television programming beyond Speedvision, the History Channel, and Mythbusters, but he absolutely loves "Battlestar Galactica". Could it be because of the blond who usually isn't fully dressed?

Yeah, I know, I'm a slacker. 'Scuse me for having a life and not making time to write on my blog every day. I guiltily visit my own blog each day so I can check in with all of the Blogs I Browse (much easier than having them bookmarked), and each day I think about how many days it's been since I posted, and how there's so much I want to write about...but then I don't, and on it goes.

I am sick like a dog, and at work. I have no business being upright, as my nose, cheekbones, eyes and forehead feel like one solid fuzzy mass. I want to go home and sleep, but have meetings until 4pm. I think I may have to just blow them off and leave. No one wants to be sitting next to someone in a meeting, watching that person's nose drip onto the conference table.

It's been so crazy busy lately that I haven't been able to much blogging or writing or reading or any other thing that helps maintain my sanity. I've managed to make plans or commit to projects nearly every night of the week for the past two weeks. I am now committed to doing absolutely nothing this Saturday. I will sleep in, I will play computer games, I will read magazines, I will knit, I will drink copious amounts of alcohol. Those were not listed in the order of preference or priority.

Yesterday I bought the book for which I've been searching (couldn't remember the exact title): French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure, by Mireille Guiliano. I read a review of it back around Christmas, and it sounded so much like the advice A's father had already given me - eat quality, ignore fad diets, avoid processed & prepared foods, savor the flavors, and indulge once in a while. I haven't had a chance to read through the book yet, but it seems to be practical advice - plus, there are some recipes in there that are supposed to be wonderful. Lo and behold, when I was reading the news today on nytimes.com, there was a review listed - read it here.

The facial was amazing. It was a peel, so there was some stinging, and my skin felt really tight the next day, but I'm so smooth and soft now! Wow. I had no idea what I was missing. This is definitely going to be a regular thing from now on.

I also went back the next day and had my eyelashes dyed. I had always thought that was over the top, like "how lazy are you that you can't put on mascara in the morning?", but believe me, I'm singing a different tune now. I don't have to wear any eye makeup now. It has made my routine so much easier. I also don't have to worry about running mascara when I go to the gym and hit the steam room (my favorite part of gymming).

Under the heading of "So What If I'm In Debt, I Deserve It" comes today's after-work activity......A FACIAL! My like 3rd ever facial. It's actually a peel, I think. I'm sort of worried, but trying hard to picture the smooth, soft, un-lined, pretty face of my facial/wax person, Elise, who swears she has one every month. Besides, her sister does my hair, so I know she won't want me mad at BOTH OF THEM....

I had my second meeting with my nutritionist tonight - we met at Whole Foods, and she helped me shop for things that she's recommending, things that are specifically beneficial for me and my body type. My current type is far, far different from what I started out with - from thin as a rail, to busty, to just big. Not fat exactly - strong, muscular, heavy. Too heavy for my tastes.

It sort of makes me unhappy to even need to seek help, but I've come to the awful realization that everything changes as we age, most especially our bodies and our metabolisms. My metabolism seems to have come to a screeching halt of late, so even though I eat well and work out 2-3 times per week, it's not enough anymore. I actually have to rethink the foods I eat, even though they were pretty healthy to begin with. I'm having blood work done to make sure that my cholesterol is where it ought to be, and that all my kidney and adrenal functions are normal - I tend to drink tons of water, but still generally feel thirsty.

The nutritionist has put me on some supplements - one for electrolytes (for the thirst/dehydration thing), and one for EFA (essential fatty acids), because I don't eat fish and she feels that I'm pretty deficient in those EFAs. I'm working on my own sort of "Lose the Buddha" kind of thing.

Would you rather:



1. be abducted by aliens OR be abducted by the government?

abducted by the government. i have _slightly_ more faith in them.


2. be a united states senator OR a mafia kingpin?

us senator! channel the power of the people!


3. only wear lime green clothes OR wear any color you want but only with combat boots?

i already wear lots of stuff w/ combat boots, so nothing new here...


4. be mistaken as someone who did a hit-and-run accident OR a kidnapper?

i was mistaken (today!) for a hit-and-run driver. easier to explain than kidnapping.

We celebrated my mother's birthday today - it was actually last Wednesday, but my brother couldn't make it up for dinner then, so we got together tonight. As usual, my mother cooked, which I felt badly about, but then again no one would want to eat my cooking, so it's better this way. We had steaks, asparagus, portobello mushrooms and red bell peppers (all on the bbq), plus beets & green, twice-baked potatoes and a Mediterranean bean salad with garlic. Yum. Everything was incredible. My mother was happy to have us there, I think she's been a little sad lately.

I hate cleaning my house - that is to say, I hate the actual work, hauling supplies around and up and down the stairs, leaning over to vacuum the floorboards, etc. However, I love having a clean house, and the feeling of satisfaction that only comes when I've done the work myself. Then I walk around the house like a nag for days, telling A to clean up after himself, insisting that he take off his shoes at the front door (a rule in our house that he mostly ignores)...I've just finished cleaning, and I used my mother's new vacuum, a Dyson. It's the most amazing vac I've ever used. I couldn't believe all the dog hair it collected, and how it left clean tracks in my low-pile carpet. I think I need me one of them.

I'm so tired that I can hardly hold my head up, and it's only Tuesday. How am I supposed to get through the week? I have an extraordinary amount of work right now, and am stumped by the problem of how to get my squad's website back up and running - a very long story and not fit for my blog. Here we're all about sweetness and light, baby.

Crazy dreams are becoming the norm. I'm not sure why that is (could be that they switched me to different levels on my b.c. pills). I'm sleeping well, but having the most whacked dreams, strange and then gone completely from my mind in short order. Oh well, what do you expect from a girl educated at a school that saw nothing wrong with my showing up for 3rd grade class photos wearing a t-shirt advertising rum that read "I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts"?

Busy weekend - besides training, I also met up with my friend Kim, did a little shopping, dinner and a movie on Saturday. Sunday I met up with another friend, Tamara, at Cherry Creek and we shopped in the afternoon, then met my mother at my house for dinner. We did beef ribs on the BBQ, brown rice & spinach salad. Yum. Tamara brought a bottle of Spanish wine that she had received as a gift, which was the same type that A and I had picked up in LA over the holidays. We had that after we polished off the bottle of pinot that I picked up last week. Did you know that ever since "Sideways" came out, my local wine dudes have been selling out of pinot?

Sorry to have missed a couple of days, Blogger site was on the blink for a while.

Today was Ice Rescue - we did our practical evals at the Boulder Reservoir. It was a beautiful day, but because it's been so warm, there wasn't a whole lot of thick ice. As the instructors pointed out, that actually makes it better for training, because people don't fall through the ice when it's 8" thick and you could park a semi on it. They fall through after a warm spell when the ice is weakest, so that's how we should train. I spent half the day in a "gumby" (really thick neoprene) suit, laying on my belly on the ice, dragging myself along with my arms and two ice prongs. Can I just tell you how sore my arms are? Plus, I think I cracked a rib again - at one point, I had to get in a hole and be "rescued" by one of the other members - this involved a rope around the chest, and then they yank from shore and pull you in. Plus, when they pull hard, you get jammed against the edge of the ice shelf that you've been clinging to. Gives me a whole new perspective on patient management.

Don't pay any attention to my whining. I had a blast.

Would you rather:
1. be the world's best dodgeball player OR the world's best chess player?
   best dodgeball player (even though i thought that movie was incredibly stupid) - a life of chess would give me too many grey hairs


2. be allergic to egg products OR wheat products?
   wheat - i have already mostly given it up, but i likes my eggs


3. be able to go back in time to when JFK was assassinated OR abraham lincoln?
   much as i would love to experience lincoln's time, it kinda scares me - probably kennedy


4. be able to do complex math equations instantly OR sing professionally?
   totally want to do the math

Had a busy weekend - lots of laundry and football. How about those Patriots?!?! My friend Kat was probably turning cartwheels in her living room during that game.

Tonight is Ice Rescue training, and then on Saturday we'll do our practical out at the Boulder Reservoir. I'm not sure how that works - I know we get in the mustang suit, and may even get wet, but who's playing the part of the person that fell throught the ice and has to be rescued??? Not me!

My friend Ray picked the Falcons to go all the way this year, Super Bowl and all. All I can say to that is


GO PATS!

There is a "buddha" theme going on for me this week. First it was a blurb I read in "In Style" on Monday night about music being played on a photo shoot - Buddha-Bar VI, which I bought last night at B&N and am listening to as I write this. Very cool, especially to be seeping out from my cube at work. The second was today, when I stumbled on a great blog, Lose the Buddha, a very funny, well written blog about dieting, exercise and struggling with weight and torturing yourself (or not, maybe that was just me)...check out Lose the Buddha, it's up for a BoB award.

Would you rather:
1. have all your body hair fall out and take a year to grow back OR have a really bad rash between your thighs for a month?

if i knew it was just for a month & didn't affect anything else, i'd go with the rash


2. have people shout to you because they think you're hard of hearing OR have people make funny faces at you because they think you're blind?

shout at me - i sometime have trouble hearing them anyway


3. be tortured with bamboo shoots under your finger nails OR with thumb screws?

ouch! thumb screws sound a little less terrifying


4. have your car stolen OR your wallet?

have to go with the car - at least it's insured. i'd feel weird if someone else had access to everything in my wallet

I got a page today to respond to 3 dogs that had fallen through the ice at a frozen pond - while we obviously don't want the dogs hurt, we respond to these calls in "emergency" mode because there is typically a person who will go in and try to rescue a dog in that situation - so then our scenario becomes a person in trouble. Luckily, everyone waited patiently for us to arrive (they didn't have to wait long, it was just a few minutes before the first trucks arrived), and I'm pleased to report that all three doggies were rescued and were just fine. I wasn't able to respond because it happened in the middle of the day and I had a meeting at 11:30 that I couldn't miss - this is why I need to be self-employed! More time to respond to rescue calls!

Question to you all - what is your experience with either Cingular or T-Mobile? I really want to know. I was a Cingular customer in LA (after they acquired Pac Bell Wireless) and would have stayed with them when I moved to CO, except that they didn't offer service out here. I switched to AT&T, who I hated, and finally moved to T-Mobile this year. T-Mobile is reasonably priced, but the coverage isn't great, especially once you leave Denver/Boulder proper. Now that Cingular has acquired AT&T, the coverage is supposed to be much better out here. Is it worth paying the early termination fee w/ T-Mobile??? A hates his phone and wants a better one (he does get really lousy reception), but I hesitate to upgrade his phone if we'll be switching plans anytime soon...

Via Daisy.

My dear friend Paulett has been visiting from LA, and we've been celebrating her 60th birthday for several days. Dinner last night was at Da Gabi Cucina, a wonderful, quiet little Italian place tucked away in North Boulder. I had butternut squash and yam soup and then pasta. Breakfast this morning was at Lucile's, this tiny little cottage in Boulder that is home to the best Cajun food outside of Mississippi & Louisiana. I had eggs, grits and a biscuit for breakfast with chicory coffee - YUM. Paulett flies home this afternoon, full but happy.

Happy New Year to everyone! Sorry for the long break, but I've been on vacation for almost 3 weeks, and it's been incredible - I've hardly even seen a computer in all of that time.

Spent Christmas in CO with the family, had a lovely time. My sister and the kids came out for 10 days, and I was able to spend a lot of time with them. We went to movies and dinners and ice skating and made snowmen and played pool - really had a wonderful time with them. A and I went to LA for New Years to be with his family, also a very nice time. This was the first time we'd seen any of them since we were affianced (isn't that a great word?!), and there was much talk of things to do around the time of the wedding.

So, the wedding. Wow. The date is set for July 8, a small ceremony with our families and closest friends. The party (not a reception, a full-blown party!) is on July 9, and will be a much bigger, more festive event. I'm beginning to look into invitations and food and bands, all of that. I'll be setting up a website shortly for our out-of-town guests, hotel info and the like. I'm still at the stage when I'm really looking forward to it - I don't yet feel overwhelmed by details. My friends assure me that time is coming.

Would you rather:

1. work at a company that regularly tests hair care products on animals OR regularly buries toxic waste illegally?

as deep as my love for critters goes, i just couldn't bury toxic waste


2. for an entire month, eat everything through a straw OR deep fried?

through a straw! smoothies every day!


3. invent the next popular kids toy OR sex toy?

probably make way more money on the sex toy


4. find out your neighbor is a spy for an enemy nation OR a black ops assassin for your government?

i'd rather know they were on our side

When a friend of mine recently became ill with cancer and required surgery and extensive rest, a bunch of us from work got together and took up a collection. We used the money to pay for things like a housekeeper and a window washer, etc. We also bought her a month's worth of dinners from Supper Solutions. They have a list of entrees available, and you choose either 6 (for about $90) or 12 (for about $175). Then you go to their store, and all of the ingredients are there for you, along with a step-by-step list of instructions for preparing each entree. They go into zippered freezer bags, and get labels with the cooking instructions (all are for the oven or stove-top). Then you take them home, stick them in the freezer, and use them as you need them. Since each entree serves a family of four, it works out to be about $2.50/person for each meal. Plus, they'll let you divide up the entree into a few packages (for those of us only feeding two people at a time) at no extra charge.

My friend Tara and I are going over tonight after work to put together some entrees for our families - my mother and I are splitting 6 of them to try it out. So basically, for $45, I'm getting dinner for A and I for about a week. The choices look pretty good - orange chicken, a pork loin with orange marmalade, and stuffed pork chops. Yummm.

Would you rather be:
1. A garbage collector OR a fry cook at a greasy spoon restaurant?
   
   fry cook - i would like to shout "order up" all day long


2. The person who repairs downed power lines OR the person who cleans the shark tanks (while they're still in it) at aquariums?
   
   clean the shark tanks - i've met those power guys, that's not a fun job


3. The person who does makeup on dead people for open casket services OR the person who who has to scoop the ashes of a dead person into an urn?
   
   makeup on a dead person. i think you just get used to it.


4. A beat cop in new york OR a navy SEAL on a covert mission?
   
   beat cop. it's not all bad out there.

What's the worst possible thing that can happen to your diet? A "Cookie Exchange" at work. Good lord, I didn't even know there were that many varieties of cookies. While the meringues with chocolate chips kind of freaked me out (they were pink and green), there was peanut butter & chocolate fudge....and that was it for me. Goodbye good habits, hello one-size-up-in-my-jeans.

I know that the holidays are a busy time for most everyone, but I really don't remember my own time being quite so jam-packed in recent years. I was supposed to go to Canada this weekend to see Vic, but I just can't do it - I'm exhausted, and the thought of heading to the airport and going up there, even to visit my dearest friend, just wears me out. So I called Vic and we talked and decided that now was not a great time for either of us, and we'll do it after the new year, when we've both had a chance to rest up from the holidays.

My project at work launched on Monday, to virtually zero problems. I can hardly believe it. While I did put in an enormous effort, I really think that's not the reason it went so smoothly - I truly think I just got lucky, because I sure didn't feel particularly well organized or prepared last week. Anyway, the site looks great, hundreds of customers hit it on Monday with no difficulty, so for all of that, I'm thankful.

Today is World AIDS Day. Each year on December 1, nations around the world participate in awareness campaigns and activism in support of AIDS research and education.

As some of you know, this hits particulary close to home for me - it's been 12 years since I lost my dear dad to AIDS. I want to tell each of you that this disease is every bit as painful and hideous as the worst stories that you've heard but didn't want to believe. My dad died at 45, and he looked 90. He was blind and suffered from hallucinations that made him claw at his own skin. He had to be tied to his bed in the end to keep him from hurting himself.

I think that activism in any form says that we're glad to be here, and we're willing to fight for the things that matter to us personally. I wish that I had 10 times as much time and energy as I currently possess, because there are so many causes that are near and dear to my heart, and it makes me feel fulfilled as a person to give my time (and sometimes my money) to help validate the work being done to fight this disease, or support that cause.

It's been a long time since I gave any money for AIDS research, perhaps because it always felt like such a drop in the ocean in terms of what was actually needed. For me, it's about setting the little examples whenever I can - volunteer work, campaigning, fundraising, and just being willing to talk to people about why I do what I do. That's the difference that I can make. It's one of my greatest sources of pride in myself.

UNAIDS: The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

World AIDS Day website

Would you rather:

1. have every driver but you be a "student driver" OR have every driver but you be over 75 years old?
   
   oooh, tough one - i'll take students - they're slow, too, but at least they're predictable



2. be dating someone who insists that every electric device in both of your homes be controlled by those "clap on, clap off" devices OR that every piece of furniture have plastic covers?
   
   i'd rather be not dating them



3. have regular encounters with aliens and not have any proof OR have your best friend be invisible?
   
   i kind of like the idea of an invisible best friend



4. stick your hand into a sealed box of rattlesnakes OR stick your hand into a box filled with unknown contents that are making a mechanical buzzing sound?
   
   given my tremendous fear of snakes, i'll take the scary mechanical box

Best laugh I've had in a while - The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Via Beancounter

Glorious peace and quiet in the office today. Of the 25 people in my department, there are about 9 of us here this week. I was going to take the three days off, but then I figured, why burn up the vacation days when I can come to work and leave when I like and get tons of stuff done? I'm sitting here, getting caught up on paperwork from my vacation, listening to "Morning Becomes Eclectic" on KCRW, via the Internet. I also learned this week that I can listen to the iTunes folder of anyone at work, if they're logged onto the network. Unfortunately, some of the music that my coworkers listen to is not exactly my taste - none of them have Crystal Method or Outkast or Beyonce or Lyle Lovett or U2 or any of the stuff I like to listen to during the day...

There's a project at work that I'm on, which is the specification and implementation of a new document management system - online, password-protected, etc. We've had one piece of software that my company has used for years, but it's clunky and not user-friendly, plus the 150+ seat licenses have become incredibly expensive. We're replacing it with an open-source (read: no documentation, do-it-all-yourself) solution, so I've been asked to help administer the new site, and learn the software and programming language behind it. Yikes. It's proving to be a brand-new, full-time job, for which I receive exactly $0. I'm trying to angle for a new job next year where I do this exclusively, but my company is of the mind that you have to actually do the two jobs for a year before they let you have just the better one. There's not even any guarantee that they'll let me move to the new role, because it would be considered a promotion, and you have to be on the "promotion track" with all of the appropriate approvals, etc. already in place. Totally screwy. Ah well, who cares. It's Friday, and next week I'll be pretty much the only person in my department who actually comes in to the office - plenty of time to myself to work on new projects and test new toys.

Birthday cube

It's hard to be back at work!! All I want to do is go home, sit with my dog, and knit. Luckily, there's just today and tomorrow until the weekend, and then next week will only be a couple of days. I walked into this office today to find my cube covered with birthday streamers, balloons, confetti - my friend Tara has been a busy girl! I haven't stopped laughing all day.

While I didn't get to do everything that I had planned for Chicago (missed the Sears tower, Trader Joe's and the knitting store), I did take a trip with A to a little jeweler in the Water Tower...and picked out an engagement ring! Oh my gosh, I can hardly believe it. We're talking about a date next summer, when my niece and nephew will be visiting, and it'll be a little easier to try and corral both sets of family.

As soon as I can get my camera to focus on my hand, I'll post a picture.

Greetings from Chi-town. It's my birthday, and we're celebrating with dinner at a tapas bar downtown. The trip has been great. I went to the Art Institute and shopped at Filene's Basement and H&M (the best store in the whole world, by the way). I've just returned from the hotel gym, and am getting cleaned up and headed back downtown again - have to pick up my birthday present by 6pm. More on that later.

Apologies to the world, from those who didn't vote for Shrub:

sorryeverybody.com

And now, for a bit of outrage....

I am sickened that I live in a country where ELEVEN states voted for constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. I am angry that there are millions of people in my own country who think it is their right, much less their business, to tell anyone whom they can love. I am ashamed that more than 20 years after we first began to worry about AIDS, it's still a taboo subject, money for research is still scarce, and people of all races and both sexes continue to die.

I am the daughter of a gay man. My dad was a really good guy. He had a smile that made me feel like I was the center of his world. He was easy going, liked his scotch and listening to opera, and watching college football. He loved animals. He was kind to everyone. He lived happily with another man for the last 12 years of his life. I had the privilege of being part of their lives, and witnessing how much they cared for each other, how much kindness they showed each other. We should all be so lucky.

My dad has been gone for 12 years. My heart aches as I write those words. Twelve years, and not much closer to recognizing the good, loving family that he had made for himself.

My sister and my brother and I are all straight. My brother is engaged, my sister was married, and I am in a long-term, committed relationship with a man who fears marriage, otherwise we would have already done it. We all have principles and morals and values that we got from both of our parents, and from the other people that they brought to our lives. We didn't turn out warped. We weren't tainted by our exposure to a home inhabited by two gay men.

So I guess my question is, to those who would vote for such a hideous intrusion into another person's private life, what are you so afraid of? Are your own values and principles so shaky? Do you honestly think that you are making the world a better place? Are you really instilling in your children the values that you think will earn you the e-ticket to Heaven?

"Ding dong, the witch is dead..." (well, one of them at least)

Ashcroft Quits Top Justice Post...

Would you rather:
1. join a band of rebel fighters in some south american country for three months OR a tibetan monastery for a year?
   quiet, peaceful Buddhist leanings


2. wake up and find your name tattooed on your bicep OR find all your body hair shaved?
   yikes. shaved i think, at least it'll grow back


3. find a time machine that only goes back to ancient egypt OR only goes back to 1920?
   take me to the Roaring Twenties


4. have the ability to smell as well as a dog does OR see as good as an eagle does?
   i think there are some things i don't want to smell any better than i already can. definitely the sight

I have lots of dogs again this weekend - Thor and Daisy are wrestling on the floor next to me, a normal early-morning ritual, according to my mother. They've been really good, not too clingy. Daisy still has to bring me every toy that she finds, and keeps swatting my legs with her enormous paw to get my attention. She's such a happy dog, so easy to look after. Thor is a little bit more work, he's pretty depressed when my mom leaves (especially after losing his master this year). Thor follows me everywhere. He would come into the shower with me, if I let him. Ruby doesn't quite know what to make of it all, but she gets insanely jealous if the other dogs are close to me - she'll race over, hurtle herself into my lap, and start growling at the others.

This is what happens when two fat dogs come to stay with my little sprinter of a Ruby...they get worn out.

Nappers

I'm babysitting Kasey this afternoon while Tara goes to get a massage (lucky girl). We'll see how Kasey likes football and three crazy dogs.

A and I needed a nice meal out tonight, so we went to DaGabi Cucina in north Boulder - a little hole-in-the-wall place that is Boulder's best kept secret. We got there at 6:40, were seated immediately, and had a lovely meal. Unfortunately, I ordered the salad special, which was supposed to be spinach, strawberries, slivered almonds and gorgonzola. What I got was a huge plate of spinach, one strawberry (thinly sliced), one small pinch of almond slivers, and two pieces of gorgonzola. Grrr. Should have ordered the penne with grilled chicken and spinach. However, my squash soup was divine, and I had a nice glass of wine. For the two of us to have a nice, quiet meal in a nice restaurant and still be within Boulder city limits, you can't beat a $34 dollar tab.

Then we came home and found dogs where dogs are not meant to be...

What kids do when Mom's away

Oooohhh, their mom will be mad when she sees this...

The dogs woke me at 6am, needing to pee. The light in my bedroom was red - at first I thought there must be a fire close by, but then I saw the sky...

Sunrise

Three days post-election, my heart is healing and I feel like there is still reason to have hope that things can improve. I've read several great letters, stories, commentaries in the past two days, and I'll post them slowly. This one is from Salon.com, by my hero, Anne Lamott, in response to the question "What Do We Do Now?":

I don't have a clue what we're going to do, outside of what we always do when we are crushed -- when, say, a close friend dies suddenly, which is sort of how this leaves me feeling. We'll feel like shit for a while, together. We'll let some time pass, together. We'll take care of each other.

Read more

I'm so heartbroken, and so angry today. The following article made me feel a little bit better -

Wallow In Chaos, And Laugh
A pro-Bush outcome and one enormous bitter pill and you without your vodka

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Oh dear God please not again.

Oh dear God please don't let it be all convoluted and depressing and messy and stupid and please don't let it all embarrass us on an international level all over again even more than it already has and even more than it already is and even more than we've endured lo these past four debilitating and soul-crushing years. Hello? Please? Is it already too late?

Why yes, yes it is.

Read more

Via a comment on Squoogy.

Would you rather:
1. find out you had your fly unzipped all day OR sat in wet paint which left a mark on your butt?
   wet paint on my butt, because it's happened before


2. assuming you could get all the nutrients you need, eat nothing but canned cat food OR nothing but spam?
   ewwww. i guess SPAM wins


3. sweat green liquid OR pee blue?
   i'd be slightly less afraid of blue pee


4. walk in on a couple engaging in sexual relations in a public bathroom OR walk in on your doctor masturbating?
   strangers having sex!

On my way to plastered...taken at the office holiday party last year.

Would you rather:

1. get a wedgie OR get a swirlie?
oh, I think the wedgie wins that contest


2. have to kiss ryan seacrest OR simon cowell?
I have to choose Ryan, because I wouldn't be able to resist the urge to slap Simon


3. have an ingrown toenail OR a carbuncle?
umm, definitely the toenail


4. vote for john kerry OR george w bush?
Up with Kerry, down with Shrub

Via Amber.

I'm once again in the position of more homework than I can complete in the amount of time available. Last week I made it, by the skin of my teeth. I still don't know how well I did, but dammit, at least I turned it in on time.

I'm looking forward to having some down time for the next couple of weeks - light training schedule with the squad, no house guests, no races or other travel. Would like to do some knitting, some reading, go to the movies with Joni, go up to the mountains and see what's left of the fall foliage. It's getting cold now, frost on the car the last two mornings.

As some of you know, I recently began a love affair with my new camera, a Nikon D70. I have been taking a ton of photos lately, and will eventually create an area of this site to post them. Prepare yourselves for lots of pictures of a small red dog with one eye.

It has been a Feast of Food all weekend. I can't remember when I ate so well. Lunch at the Med on Saturday was divine, as usual. Dinner at my mother's tonight was even better. My mothers Sunday dinner menu this week was:

- Grilled pork loin, marinated in soy sauce and honey
- Sweet potato biscuits (made w/ yams)
- Hoisin salad (cabbage, red bell peppers, bean spouts, mushrooms, caraway seeds)
- Homemade applesauce (with apples from the tree in the yard)
- Apple and cranberry cobbler w/ whipped cream

Oh my.

A and his father have had a really nice visit, hanging out around Boulder and taking a road trip up to Coeur d'Alene to look at properties. We headed for the airport this afternoon after a lovely lunch at The Med. Unfortunately, we took a new route, missed the airport exit, and missed the cutoff for checking luggage on American (who knew they stopped taking luggage an hour before the flight?). Anyway, A's dad missed the flight, so we were all able to spend another night together. We vegged out in front of the TV and watched the World Series. We'll be heading to the airport before dawn tomorrow to make sure he makes this flight.

How 'bout those SOX?

More later.

I saw this meme today, and while I like it, it's awfully long - the idea is, there is a list of 200 things (complete list here), and you're supposed to highlight the things that you've done. Since that would take up the entire page, I've just cut out the ones I've done.

Via Snowball.

3. Climbed a mountain
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said 'I love you' and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Done a striptease
12. Visited Paris
14. Stayed up all night long, and watch the sun rise
16. Gone to a huge sports game
20. Slept under the stars
21. Changed a baby's diaper
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
24. Gotten drunk on champagne
25. Given more than you can afford to charity
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
28. Had a food fight
30. Taken a sick day when you're not ill (Snowball calls them "mental health days" - I agree)
31. Asked out a stranger
32. Had a snowball fight
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
38. Taken an ice cold bath
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
41. Ridden a roller coaster
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
50. Loved your job for all accounts
51. Taken care of someone who was shit-faced
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
53. Had amazing friends
58. Taken a road trip
59. Gone rock climbing
61. Midnight walk on the beach
64. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
68. Milked a cow
69. Alphabetized your records
70. Pretended to be a superhero
71. Sung karaoke
72. Lounged around in bed all day
74. Gone scuba diving
77. Played in the mud
78. Played in the rain
79. Gone to a drive-in theater
80. Done something you should regret, but don't regret it
82. Discovered that someone who's not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog
83. Dropped Windows in favor of something better
84. Started a business
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
86. Toured ancient sites
87. Taken a martial arts class
92. Crashed a party
93. Loved someone you shouldn't have
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy
96. Had sex at the office
98. Made cookies from scratch
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on
106. Masturbated in a public place
107. Got so drunk you don't remember anything
110. Been to Las Vegas
113. Had a one-night stand
116. Bought a house
118. Buried one/both of your parents
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off
123. Bounced a cheque
125. Read—and understood—your credit report -
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
132. Called or written your Congressman/Member of Parliament
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
134. —More than once? —More than thrice?
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
145. Broken someone's heart
147. Been fired or laid off from a job
149. Broken a bone
152. Ridden a motorcycle
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100mph
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
157. Ridden a horse
158. Had major surgery
170. Eaten sushi
171. Had your picture in the newspaper
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime
173. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
175. Gone back to school
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes
180. Read The Iliad
181. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
196. Dyed your hair - hello? doesn't everyone?

And if there's one famously disenfranchised and alienated and apathetic voting bloc that needs to get off its collective yoga butt and stand up and make itself known this election lest it lose an even larger chunk of its basic human rights than it even realizes, it's youngish women.

From SFGate.com, via my sis.

It was a good, calm weekend for the most part. I staffed at the rescue squad on Saturday night, and spend Sunday finishing up some projects around the house. Joni came over at 11:30, and our plan was to go to Tuesday Morning, and then a movie. We allowed ourselves an hour to browse at TM before needing to head back to Boulder for the movie. Well, that didn't work...we spent 3 hours shopping. After that, we needed sustenance, so we headed to Southern Sun Brew Pub for snacks and drinks.

Later on Sunday, my brother headed up to Boulder to join my mother and me for dinner. He had promised to do some reorg on my mom's home theater setup, plus we hadn't seen him in a while. My mother was heading home from the airport, so Turtle and I hit Munson Farms for some produce - I got winter and butternut squash, green beans, pumpkins and peaches & cream corn. Yum. I can taste the squash soup already.

A and his father left this morning on their road trip to Coeur d'Alene, ID. A's father wants to buy a second home there, now that he's retired, so they've gone to look at property, with assorted fishing stops along the way. It's a bit too long in the car for my taste (about a 17 hour drive from Boulder), but I am a little jealous at missing the fishing in Montana - something I will definitely be trying one day.

The dogs and I have a full day ahead. Following my renovation of the bedroom/bathroom last weekend, I now have tons of returns to do at Home Depot. Other assorted errands around town (hardware store for African violet pots, pet supply store for enzyme cleaner, etc.) will keep me busy for most of the day, but I'm hoping for a while to sit on the couch, knit and watch college football.

A's father is visiting us this week, and they're both thrilled with the chance to spend time together. My mother is in LA working, so we've got both of her dogs, plus Ruby roaming around the house. Isn't strange how three dogs isn't the same as one dog times three, it's more like one dog times ten? They all get along really well, and they're very well-behaved, but I feel like the center of the universe when they're all here. I stand up, they stand up. I go to the bathroom, they all want to come to the bathroom. I sit on the couch, they all want to be on the couch, in my lap, all together. Not such a big deal if you have Pomeranians or some other type of small, puntable dog. A bit of a problem when the smallest of them is 55lbs, and the largest is pushing 90lbs.

What kind of girl am I?

I am the:
Progressive Girl

Click on the picture below to read more:

Take the 'What Kind of Girl Are You?' quiz at CookingToHookup.com

Via Len.

I tried to keep busy all weekend so that I wouldn't think about Maggie and having to bury her in the yard. That was one of the harder things I've ever had to do. My girl just didn't have it in her anymore - the diabetes was wrecking her body and the vet assured me that she wasn't likely to ever improve. So I did what I think I had to do. I cried and I kissed her head and I told her I was sorry, and then I wrapped her in a shawl and buried her. I confess that I rubbed her toes after she was gone, something that she would have never let me do while she was alive.

The rest of the weekend involved renovating both the master bedroom and the guest bath - new paint, new light fixtures, new curtains, new shelves and hardware in the bathroom , new sink and shower fixtures, the works. It really does look amazing. My mother helped with the whole thing (thank the Lord), otherwise not only would it not be finished, but I probably wouldn't have even started the job.

I've been quiet on the blog this week because I'm dealing with a lot at home - mainly that I have to put my cat to sleep. My poor girl isn't getting any better since being diagnosed with diabetes a few months ago, and her symptoms keep getting worse. I can't watch her deteriorate like that, so the vet is coming over today and will give her a shot at home. More later.

I wish there were another day in the week (a weekend day, of course). I have so much to do that I find myself prioritizing absolutely everything - when it becomes a tradeoff between eating lunch and studying, you know you've got too much on your plate. The early part of the week is the hardest, because I have rescue squad on Monday evenings and homework due each Tuesday night.

I'm getting up in the wee hours of the morning so that I can work out before heading to the office. Knowing myself as well as I do, I can safely assume that I won't be properly motivated to work out in the evenings after dragging myself home after a long day. I am really enjoying my early morning time with the Bowflex, and I like being wide awake when I get to work. It's tough to get up at 5:30am when you don't get home the night before until 10pm, but I'm doing it, and I'll keep doing it. They say it takes 21 days of repetitive behavior to create a habit, so that's my goal - make it through 21 days, and hopefully I'll have developed my workout pattern.

The scavenger hunt on Friday was a blast. It was rainy and cold, and we were wandering around downtown Denver, gathering items from the Denver Mint, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the State Capitol, etc. We had about 25 people show up, and it was just the right amount of time - we had two and a half hours to get everything done before meeting up for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe downtown. Lunch ended up getting pretty rowdy, I kept expecting the staff to come and ask us to leave.

We're headed up to the mountains today to spend the evening with Dean & Kim, and then the four of us will go to the races tomorrow. This will be the first time (I think) that A has just been a spectator. It's the last race of the season, and the last race forever at this particular track, as it's being closed down due to complaints from neighboring subdivisions about the noise (bastards!).

Tomorrow is our department off-site activity - we do 3 or so of these a year, and I usually have to plan everything and get to have zero fun. This year, I got the college-aged daughter of one of the guys in my department to organize the whole thing - I basically had to do nothing more than send directions. Even better, I don't know exactly what we're doing, so it will be fun for me, for once. What I do know is that it's a scavenger hunt on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver. I've never done a real scavenger hunt, and it seems like my young friend did quite a lot of work. It should be fun - except for the part where the high temperature tomorrow is supposed to be around 45 degrees.

Vote for Bush, and GOD WILL SMITE THEE! Here's the proof.

Training last night was all medical - mostly patient packaging (how we get them out of the nasty place they've ended up). I was happily surprised at how much I remembered from my EMT training last year - and then dismayed when I realized that I have to recertify next year. Doing practicals all over again?? Uggh. Hopefully my exposure via the squad between now and then will be enough to make me comfortable with my skills.

A is doing much better. He went back to work yesterday (even driving his car, shifting with his left hand). We had offers from friends to let us borrow a non-stickshift car for him to drive, but I think he feels better just trying to get past this. Any indication that he might not be completely and utterly self-sufficient would of course be out of the question. Boys....

I READ BANNED BOOKS

It's Banned Books Week (the last week of September each year). How many of these banned (or "challenged") books have you read?

Here's the list of banned/challenged books in 2004, according to the American Library Association:

- To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
- King & King & Family, by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
- Places I Never Meant To Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers, edited by Judy Blume
- Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
- Fools Crow, by James Welch
- Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa, by Mark Mathabane
- Stones from the River, by Ursula Hegi

I've read half of these, including two which were required reading in grade school. To Kill A Mockingbird is my favorite book of all time, and I think one of the finest ever written.

To voice your opposition to censorship, read a censored book this week.

I hate the days at work where you wait just a little too long to make lunch plans, and by the time you're hungry, all of your friends have either already left, or they've already forced themselves to eat the nasty frozen thing that they brought from home. Such is my luck today, so I'm sitting here, eating apple cinnamon Soy Crisps, because that's all I had in my desk. Screw it, I'm heading out to Siamese Plate - there's one next door to a Grease Monkey by my office, so I can get the oil changed while I'm at it!

A's little accident on Friday kind of eclipsed my joyfulness at my purchase - I bought a new camera - finally! And not just any camera, mind you. I bought the Nikon D70. It's the most wonderful camera I've ever used. Within minutes of getting it out of the box (and the battery charged), I had taken a dozen pictures. Of course, I've still got a very thick manual to read, and I have to remember to make copies of the receipt and get it into inventory (for our homeowners insurance), but I'm well on my way to a love affair with this camera. I want to sign up for a photography course (oh, I hope they offer those at night) and take that thing with me everywhere. The photographer at the track saw it, and he drooled, just a little bit.

Friday took a turn for the worse in the afternoon. A had an accident at practice, and I got the call that I dread - he was at the hospital, getting x-rays, 2 hours away. I hopped in the car and headed for Pueblo, working my cell phone furiously - calls to my mother to ask her to pick up Ruby, calls to Mike & Joni to ask them to give Maggie the Diabetic Cat a shot, calls to my brother to beg him to come down to Pueblo with me so that he could drive my car home while I drove A's truck & trailer back. Actually, it all came together - my brother and Kimberly came down to the track in their car, and then my brother drove my car back to Boulder, while A and I took the truck.

Turns out that despite catapulting off the bike and cushioning his fall with his head, A is in pretty good shape. His right collarbone is broken, but other than that, he's fine. His helmet did its job (God bless Shoei) and probably saved his life. It certainly saved his face - I took a look at the helmet, and there are deep scratches/grooves along the visor and the part of his helmet that covers the forehead and ear. He's in quite a bit of pain from the shoulder, and far too stubborn to properly medicate himself, but he's in good spirits. He was so stressed and overworked last week, so it's ironic that now he CAN'T work right now. He agreed with me that maybe this was a sign to slow down for a while.

I'm experiencing Buyers Remorse. I bought something very expensive today. It's not yet in my hands, so of course I'm rethinking the whole thing...I'm going to have to go pick it up before I change my mind....(hint - it's not a Mac).

I've been a slacker this week about posting. It has been the busiest week at work that I can ever remember, plus I've had stuff going on each night. The good news is that I managed to attend a MoveOn.org rally, go to school, get my hair done and go to the rescue squad, in addition to a full work week that included a 7-hour budget meeting yesterday.

Training for tomorrow has been canceled, so I'm going to sleep in (yeah, sure) and then head down to Pueblo tomorrow. I get to spend the night in the brand-spanking-new TrackAddix trailer tomorrow night. If it's too hot outside, I plan to sit in the new condo-on-wheels and enjoy the A/C.

Good news twice over. Not only did my Packers prevail tonight, but I was voted in as a candidate member of the rescue squad! I'm not exactly sure what happens now (other than continuing to attend training and meetings) - at some point there will be another vote, which will transition me from candidate to active member. For the most part though, I've effectively been made a member.

Work was as unpleasant as ever today. Morale is so low in my group - one coworker is considering whether to take another job, and that person's supervisor ratted them out to HR and my boss (the department head). What a sh*tty thing to do. This after my coworker told their supervisor in confidence that they were looking, and why. There are others that I'm aware of who are actively looking, myself included, but I won't make the same mistake and tell the Big Mouth anything.

As to the other work situation that was like a festering sore for a while, nothing much has changed. The Hated and Feared Brown-Noser (hereafter referred to as the HFBN) has ignored me completely, which I guess is what I wanted. However, many people have noticed, and so are specifically not including me in meetings or conversations where I would have otherwise been expected to be there, but for the fact that the HFBN is there. There has been talk from higher up about assigning him and his staff their own admin from outside our department, to which I said that I'd probably quit if they did that. It absolutely validates his bad behavior, and gives the appearance that I'm the problem - that I couldn't handle working for him, and so someone else needs to be tasked with it. No way, Jose.

Just back from dinner at my mother's house. We BBQd tonight - steak, asparagus, bell peppers, corn on the cob - all on the grill. We also had yams, prepared with my new ricer that I bought today at the Mile High Flea Market.

The Flea Market was quite the adventure. Mike, Joni, the boys, and our friend Kira and I all traipsed down toward the airport, and joined the 3,000 or so other people who decided to shop today. There wasn't too much unique stuff - probably a dozen interesting areas where people were selling what appeared to be their own belongings. Other than that, it was like a bunch of little franchises, all selling the same T-shirts, baseball hats, umbrellas and sunglasses. We stayed for a couple of hours and wandered around, but it was damn hot, and the little boys were kinda grumpy. After gorging ourselves on turkey legs and lemonade ices, it was time to go. I had just enough time to hit Costco and head home to take a bath before it was time to head off to dinner. Whew. I'm beat.

Besides being the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the US, today is also Volunteer Day. Our rescue squad training for today was canceled, so we played host to about a dozen volunteers who helped out around the station today - there were people stuffing envelopes for a fund-raising campaign, some high school kids who helped wash all the trucks, and some very nice ladies who cleaned all the tables and chairs in our meeting room, and then swept and mopped the floors. I stripped beds in the crew quarters and washed all the sheets, helped set up lunch, helped stuff envelopes, etc.

After I left the station, I was beat and dreaming of a nap. However, being that it's September, that means FOOTBALL! I got caught up in a couple of the college games, especially the CU game. A few of those players must have angels on their shoulders, it was a pretty lucky win.

Just killing time at work, waiting for it to be 4:30. I have happy hour plans tonight with a friend from work, going back to my favorite old haunt, Japango, for happy hour sushi and two-for-one Kirin on tap. While I don't do sushi, I do love edamame and gyoza, so I'll be a happy girl.

I'm looking forward to a restful weekend. Training on Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon free, maybe a matinee with Joni on Sunday. I do have to stop by the office at some point, I bought two wooden bookcases at a company garage sale, and they have to be picked up by Monday. Of course, the truck is back in the shop (again!) and so I'll have to beg borrow or steal someone's wheels - these suckers are way too big for my little car. Speaking of Boo, I've been testing him lately, pushing his little engine as hard as I can. While not the turbo, he's definitely the little engine that could.

Anne Lamott returns to Salon.com (I missed you, Anne!).

"It's too hot and the light is unforgiving and the days go on way too long. Spring is sweet, the baby season; but summer is the teenage season -- too much energy, too much growth and beauty and heat and late nights, none of them what they were cracked up to be.

So I lay down to practice my Prone Yoga, and I remembered that people already had said things that helped: Martin Luther King said the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward freedom. Molly Ivins said during the reign of George Herbert Walker Sushi Barfing Bush, that freedom fighters don't always win, but they're always right. I started to feel better. And this is when I came up with the Dark Side Rising Beauty, Diet and Exercise Program, which I follow strictly now."

Read more. Salon.com login required to read complete story.

I'm overwhelmed by work today, and so rather than taking the time to think about things and come up with some news to post, I'm going to borrow a list (with my own answers, of course!) that I read in Tequila Mockingbird's archives...

Ten things I really liked when I was a teenager that I don't much care for now:
1. skinny, peg-leg jeans
2. headbands
3. green eyeshadow
4. jelly bellys
5. michael jackson
6. shoulder pads
7. molly ringwald
8. white flats (I had Mias)
9. big earrings
10. doritos

Ten things I didn't much care for as a teenager but I really like now:
1. vegetables
2. foreign films
3. yoga
4. knitting
5. reading every night
6. levis
7. my brother and sister
8. long road trips
9. clogs
10. volunteering

Ten things I didn't like then and I still don't like now:
1. fish
2. heavy metal
3. snobby girls my age
4. little tiny dogs
5. spandex
6. being outdoors when it's HOT
7. Weird Al (I just don't get it...)
8. abuse of people, animals, the environment
9. gossips
10. whiskey

Ten things I've always liked and probably always will:
1. animals
2. camping
3. the beach
4. little cars that are really fast
5. guys with longish dark hair and a smirk
6. my mom and my dad
7. sleeping on the left side of the bed
8. tuna salad
9. movies
10. driving with the windows down

Despite all hopes and wishes to the contrary, work was still there and expecting me this morning. I think I was subconsciously avoiding going back, because I slept through two different alarms and only woke when A poked me in the back and said "Aren't you going to work today?". My boss leaves for a trip to Europe tomorrow, and in his usual fails-to-plan way, dropped a bomb on me around 10am - a marketing brochure that he wanted edited and printed (200 color double-sided card stock) by 3pm. Thank God for Copy Max.

I'm trying to settle in and do some data entry for the new site, but it's hard. When you go to a new office setup, nothing is ever where you think it is, plus there are all of the "new" issues - my internet connection worked for my Mac, but not the Windows machine that it shares a switch box with, the new monitor worked for the Mac, but not the windows machine...wait, I'm starting to sense a theme here...

Sleeping late on a day when you would ordinarily be at work is the best - you almost feel a little guilty, like you're cheating somehow...but I didn't let that bother me for too long. A got home late last night, so we slept in, and then went to breakfast at the Village Coffee Shop - a kind of locals-only, be-prepared-to-wrestle-for-a-table kind of place. The service is fast, the food is pretty good, and you usually don't have to wait long for a seat because the servers chase people out within minutes of having delivered their food.

My other task for the day (besides ridding my house of accumulated dog hair) was homework - I read the chapter, did the assignment, took the quiz. I'm even halfway through the chapter we'll be starting on Wednesday. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to take a class that you were really excited about.

I went to the movies with my mom and Joni today - we saw "Vanity Fair" - pretty good, but awfully long. I'm not the world's biggest Reese Witherspoon fan to begin with, but 2.5 hours was a long time to watch her. Don't get me wrong, she was very, very good - but she's just not one of my favorites. The story seemed a bit all over the place as well...but certainly a good afternoon escape. The only downside was that the weather was so beautiful that it seemed a shame to be indoors. This Labor Day weekend has been by far the most pleasant weather that I can remember since we came to Boulder.

One of the reasons that I'm not in Iowa, biting my nails while I watch A fly around a track, is that today was dive tender training (for me), while the squad helped with a practice dive for Front Range Rescue Dogs - the dogs were amazing to watch. I've never seen such absolute focus from an animal, and if it was one of the dogs that was waiting on shore while another worked the water, the shore dog was quivering in anticipation of the command that would send him/her in.

That training was from 8am to 2pm, so I came home and crashed for a couple of hours after that. Now that Ruby is fed and Maggie has had her shot, I'm watching the CU-CSU game for a bit before I have to head back to the station and wait to see if we get called out for riot control. Hopefully not...

I spent a long time today reading blogs - huge numbers of blogs, far and wide. Some of them I visit frequently, others I've heard about from other blogs and have barely begun to check out. There's so much interesting stuff out there - too much to ever take in, really. I've created a new links section (--> right) for blogs that I enjoy - go take a look, there may be one there that becomes the one you want to read every day.

In the spirit of blogs I read daily, I really like LJC FYI - her posts are always either cool stuff she does around the house or with her hubby, or (even better!) about products(!!). Like me, Jenny is hooked on Method products. After reading a post a couple of days ago, I went to my local Target and hit the jackpot of new Method products - I picked up laundry sheets in Morning Bloom, hand soap in Green Tea, wood cleaner (some kind of almond scent), dish(washer) cubes in Sweetwater, and candles in French Lavender, Sweetwater and Creamy Vanilla (they didn't have Red Currant or I would have bought that, too.). You can't imagine how good my house smells!

Everyone keep good thoughts for the CU-CSU game tomorrow night - not just that the Buffs win, but that there are no riots and our friends in public safety have a very quiet night.

This has been the longest week I can remember in a while - so much going on! I decided to skip school tonight - we have our 2005 budget due tomorrow morning, and I'm still going over it, looking for holes. Plus, I was just ready for a night off. I need to have more than an hour between the time I arrive home and the time I go to bed.

I got most of my office set up last night, just have to finish up with the router tonight so that I've got internet service on both machines. I'm really enjoying my Oracle class, and I'd like to be diving into the exercises and homework.

I feel a bit more caught up with things today - getting a handle on my SQL class really helped. I need to put the same effort into Spanish class now - but I don't think I'm going to make it tomorrow, because our first draft of the 2005 budget is due Friday morning, and I have a feeling I'm going to get stuck polishing it on Thursday night. Plus, A leaves Friday morning for the weekend, and I'd like to spend some time with him before he goes.

Work is still weird and tense - the bad man avoids me, but it's such deliberate avoidance that it's loud - does that make sense? He took away my proxy to view his office calendar (oooh, hurt me), which I thought was a pretty stupid move on his part - I mean, he can't very well complain that I'm not "supporting" him as an admin when he's taken away my ability to see his calendar - dork.

I've spent the better part of the day today working on homework - several hours this morning for my Oracle db class, and at least an hour this afternoon on Spanish. I'm going to be busted in Spanish class tonight because we're supposed to have completed homework and an oral presentation - I have about 90% of the oral done and maybe 15% of the homework. Oh well. I'll catch up sometime.

I went shopping this weekend for my home office. I've finally begun moving all of my files and assorted knick-knacks down to the basement and started getting organized. I bought a flat-screen monitor, because my old one was both too big and too heavy for my smaller desk. The new monitor wasn't very expensive (about $430), and it's wall-mountable, which will work really well for me. Now I just have to drag the computers down there, set up the switch box and the router for the wireless, and I'm set. I was hoping that A could help me with all of that, but he's swamped with consulting work - work that I'm supposed to be helping with, but I have no working office/computer right now. Quite the dilemma. I hope to get everything sorted by this weekend, when I'll have some free time to finish up the odds and ends.

It's amazing how quickly you can fall behind on things. It's only my first week of school, and I've got a pile of homework for two different classes to get through before tomorrow night - oh, and let's not forget the part where I have to bring 5 things into class and describe IN SPANISH why they're important to me or representative of me. Sure - I'm lucky if I remember how to say "My name is..." in Spanish.

It's also budget season at work, which means half of the senior staff is in full-blown panic mode all of the time, making sure they meet all of their ridiculous timelines for deliverables ("timelines for deliverables" - I'm sounding way too corporate). My life in budget hell is complicated by the absence of my boss - a man who travels 2 or 3 days out of each week is not the best person to manage a budget.

Sleeping in on a Sunday, followed by lots of coffee and the newspaper, is a luxury that I sometimes take for granted. Today was the exception - I reveled in every moment. I'm heading out to the track to make it in time for A's first race of the day (he was top ten in his endurance race yesterday - woo hoo!).

Go watch Move On's ad, "Everybody". There are other ads there as well, especially the one directed by John Sayles, called "American Opinions".

Following the trend this week, I am "working from home" while HR sorts out the mess with my coworker. I know that they met yesterday to tell him that I had made a formal complaint, but I haven't heard from anyone (other than a strange hang up on my cell at 10pm last night - where the heck is area code 713??). It's a little spooky, and I expected my boss to call yesterday and let me know how it went, which he didn't. Today they're supposed to give him a formal written warning that goes in his file, which he has to acknowledge and sign. They all thought it best that I not be in the office when these conversations took place.

I'm already feeling overwhelmed in Spanish class, and it's only been two nights. There are people in there who are much further along than me, and so there's much more done entirely in Spanish, so I only pick up bits and pieces. I came home from school last night and told A that we needed to go to "all Spanish, all the time" - we'll see if that happens.

I bought a new desk from Target Online, it's a pine architects desk/drafting table. It's tall, so I can stand to work, or I can sit on one of the many bar stools I somehow acquired. It was a great deal, and I really didn't have a good desk. I'm going to Best Buy this afternoon to look at a flat screen monitor (just a small one!), and a switch box so I can have my three machines all hooked up to it. Once we figure out the connectivity issue in the basement, I'll be set.

Blogger is chugging along pretty slowly this morning, I think I had better get the FTP set up sooner rather than later. I will post more info before moving the site.

This is the last week that my grandparents and my niece & nephew are in town. It's been wonderful having them all here, many dinners together and movies and puttering around my mother's house. I'll miss them all terribly. Today they're taking a road trip up to Cheyenne, WY to have lunch. Tomorrow will be either the Denver Zoo or the Natural History Museum. Friday evening will be our last group dinner, and then everyone flies home on Saturday morning. *sniff, sniff*

Spanish class started last night and went pretty well - other than the fact that I feel like it's been 3 years (rather than 3 months) since I last had a class. I have the same teacher that I had in the spring, and sit next to the same woman as last spring, so that's nice. There's also someone from my office in the class, which came as a complete surprise to me last night when she walked in. We're talking about carpooling (she also lives in Boulder) a couple of days a week, it'll be nice to get to know her a little bit better.

Almost forgot - I have a couple of gmail invites left, if anyone wants one. Send me a message at magaliblue at gmail dot com.

Continuing drama at work these days. I had a confrontation last week with the hated and feared brown-noser, and it really creeped me out. He stood in the doorway of my cube and just yelled at me, as mad as I've ever seen him. It was over something completely inconsequential, so I know that it wasn't really about me or that issue - but this time I went to HR and made a formal complaint. I have no idea what will happen now, but I knew when I went to work yesterday and just being in the same room with him made me feel sick, I had to do something.

My mother's housewarming party this past weekend was a lovely time - tons of friends and new neighbors came by, leaving enough food in their wake to feed the family for a couple of weeks. The house shone like a new penny, the dogs were well behaved, the weather was perfect - best possible afternoon.

School starts today - Spanish Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and a SQL class on Wednesday nights. With rescue squad on Monday evenings and Saturday mornings, I'm going to be a busy girl this fall.

Grrr. I hate the new Blogger nav bar (top of this page) - it looks so hokey. They won't take it down or allow me to upgrade to a service where I don't have to have that banner, so I'm going to switch to hosting myself. Look for a change in the next day or so.

Work crawls along at a snail's pace. It's budget season, so I already have a ton of work to do, but I'm also trying to get moved into a new job (same company), so I have to write the job description and get all the relevant managers to sign off on the move. I also have to get it into the 2005 budget, so the deadline for getting it all done is this Friday, when our first round of staffing forecasts are due.

I have a night off tonight! I can't remember the last free night I had. I think I'll go to a movie - maybe Joni will join me.

We had a great time at the track in Pueblo this weekend - no injuries to our team (yahoo!), and Alex took third place in one of his races! There was a little wooden plaque and everything! He also did well in the two other races he ran, but nothing higher than 4th place. Pueblo was really pleasant this weekend - not too hot, nice breeze, etc. If every race weekend were that mild, I wouldn't mind going to them all.

School starts next week for me. I'm taking Spanish Language II and a SQL course, all at night (Tues, Wed and Thurs). I'm going to rescue squad meetings & training on Mondays and some Saturdays, so I'll be pretty booked. I think I'm going to postpone working at the shelter until after the first of the year, when I've finished my courses. Much as I love going there, I just don't see how I can commit to more than I already have on my plate.

I'm back at work today, after spending the first part of the week up in the mountains at Keystone, where my company has a conference each summer. It's beautiful up there, and so quiet! I slept well with the windows wide open, the air is cool and smells good. My entire department was up there, and we celebrated a birthday (my boss) on Tuesday night with beers, pool and shots of tequila all around...Wednesday morning came too soon after that.

Maggie the Cat (for whom this site is named) was diagnosed with diabetes this week - an outcome that I suspected for quite a while. She's now getting insulin shots twice a day (every 12 hours), and the vet tells me that it should get her back to normal. My poor little fat cat, who isn't quite so fat anymore - one of the ways I knew she was ill was that she went from 16lbs last fall to 12lbs this spring. She's being a good sport about getting the shots, particularly given her history of hissing, spitting, and viciously biting me when unhappy. Still, it makes me sad each time I have to jab her, and I watch her to see if the insulin is bothering her, or if she hurts at all.

Bush Guffaw of the Day:

I just had to post this, it made me laugh so hard...

And this, via Squoogy.

Boulder is doing something cool today - each year, they dig up and give away all the tulip bulbs that had been planted & bloomed at our outdoor mall that season (which they imported from Holland and spent $4,000 on). They say that the bulbs don't bloom reliably after the first year, and so they purchase new ones each winter to be planted. Starting at 10am this morning, you can go down to the Pearl Street Mall and get your free bag of 100 used bulbs, out of the 10,000 total that will be given away. I'm sending my mom down there, she has at least a few hundred feet of border area along her back yard that would be perfect for some tulips. While part of me is annoyed with the city for being wasteful and spending so much each year on something that they have to replace again 12 months later, I'm glad that they have a program in place to let everyone enjoy the flowers, including in their own yards.

We had dinner last night with my mom, Mare and my grandparents at The Cork, considered by many to be the best steakhouse in Boulder. They have a formal, pricey dining room, and then they have "the bistro" - in their bar area, there are some small, cozy tables, and a different menu, much more reasonably priced. They've been running coupons in the paper lately - buy one entree, get another free. I saved 3 coupons, so all six of us were able to have a great meal for about $70. I knew that coupon clipping would come in handy one day!

We just returned from Kansas, where we had a two-day TrackAddix weekend. The event was a big success, with Saturday sold out and a bbq/beer bash that evening. Sunday was a little more calm, which is good because we were able to pack up a little bit early and get on the road. I'm still pretty tired - it's tough to get home at 1:30am and head to work by 7.

I had a training meeting last night with the rescue squad - I'm so excited at the prospect of joining them. I hope there won't be any hurdles with my being voted in as a member. They have a very structured program for training and advancement through their levels of accreditation - it would take me a year at the first level in order to advance to the next, with assorted training and scene requirements built in. It's a great group, they've been so welcoming to me. One of them is a lover of books and hits all the local recycling centers, looking for unusual stuff - he and I were talking at the first meeting I attended, and he asked me about the origin of the name Collofine. I explained that I had read it in a book I loved by Herman Hesse. Last night, he showed up for training with a copy of Wanderings for me, that he'd found on his recycling haunts.