work

Take something already!

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Oh my head.  Not a bad headache, just a mildly annoying one.  Have I taken anything to get rid of it (besides a glass of wine)?  No.  I’d have to put the laptop down and get off the couch for that.  Today felt really long.  It started with a visit to our financial guy (early at our request so we could get to work close to on time), then work.  Work started out okay, but then we got news that means our next two weeks are going to be more tedious than expected.  Faces fell, moods darkened.  And on my way out the door, I remembered that I had planned on stopping at Wegman’s on my way home to pick up salmon for dinner.  Last thing I wanted to do, but the only other food in the house was the ravioli we’re having tomorrow night (before the race (I’m SO not ready for a 5-mile race)).  So I stopped at Wegman’s and got out of there pretty quickly (and cheaply) since for once I only bought what I went in there for.  No browsing, no impulse buying.  I’m home, I’m comfortable (aside from the headache), and I think I’m going to read my book for the 15 minutes I have left before I need to start dinner.

Update: I love these pictures.  I want this house.

Bad hair timing

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But good hair.  I went to work today, went to DC, got my picture taken for my new ID for work, came home, and NOW my hair looks good.  Now that I’m wearing my baggy fuzzy pants and my really old, very fragile Murfreesboro t-shirt.  And earrings.  When I noticed my very nice-looking hair, I noticed that I forgot to take my earrings out when I changed into my comfy clothes.  Looks a little weird.  But great with the hair!  All the layers are curving where they should be curving, and there’s depth and body.  So how do I get it to do this during the day?  Wait to go to work until 6pm?  (Nope, that’s no good.  No one will be there to see it.)  Aha!  Get up earlier and – no.  I guess I’ll just deal with it.

It sounded like spring the other morning.  Birds were chirping, rain was dripping, but I looked around and saw nothing but bare trees and giant piles of dirty slush.  Not spring yet.  Or maybe I was in a bad mood.

Morning person?

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Much as I like sleeping in and being lazy in the mornings, I find that I’m happier when I’m up and moving and it’s early (not crazy early).  As the day goes on, no matter how good that day is, I get more and more tired and worn out and less likely to want to do anything.  That’s mostly why I need to run in the mornings.  If I put it off to after work, I might never get out the door.  Actually, I’m gonna have to change that soon.  I’ll have to get downtown so early that I won’t be able to run in the mornings.

My point, if I had one, was that I like mornings.  Particularly sunny ones.  Oh, right, my other point is that I think I might like to become a morning blogger.  Not sure if that’ll happen, considering how long it’s been taking me to get ready for work lately, but maybe then I wouldn’t feel this pressure to come up with something in the evenings when I’m brain-dead.  What’s that you say?  I’m always brain-dead?  Don’t be mean.

Should a post have just one subject?

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My day didn’t quite live up to its promising start, but how could it have?  I had to go to work.  Not that work is a bad place.  But it’s work, so it can’t compete with anything that’s not work.  No, that’s too big of a generalization.  There are lots of things not-work that are worse than work.  LOTS of things.

It rained today!  That’s the first non-snow precipitation we’ve had since early December.  Well, maybe not, but it’s the first I’ve noticed, and it made a big difference in the amount of snow left on the ground.  I’m SO glad.

I finished The Pillars of the Earth a few days ago.  The last third was much better than the rest, starting just before the (very quick – really, I was surprised)  grand tour of France and Spain.  But I’m not in a hurry to pick up the sequel.  I started a Stuart Woods mystery/thriller instead.  Actually, I read the first Dresden Files novel first (it was okay).  Almost forgot about it.

I haven’t mentioned yet how nicely John planned my birthday.  We got up early to go to Ikea for the shelves, but not before waiting half an hour or so for this woman who answered the craiglist ad to show up to take the old dining room table.  She didn’t show, so we left.  In the car, John said, “I got you this for the ride to Ikea,” and handed me a card and the new Michael Buble CD.  At least half of the songs are standards, with a couple of new originals, and another couple of covers.  I really like it.  We went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast (yay bagels and boo coffee), and then we shopped at Ikea, which is always fun.  When we got home, John put all the shelves together, and sometime in the middle of that, the other woman who answered the craigslist ad showed up for the dining room table.  So it’s gone.  We went out to dinner at the  Woo Lae Oak in Tysons Corner (it was really good), and as we were leaving, John said, “I didn’t bake you a cake, but we can’t let your birthday go by without dessert, so what do you want?”  I decided we should go to Wegman’s and visit the bakery ’cause they were likely to have chocolate-covered strawberries.  They actually didn’t, but when I asked them if they knew where else I might find some, they said they’d make some for me.  🙂  They did, and they were yummy.  So we got home (with the chocolate-covered strawberries and some peanut butter fudge for John) and I found another card and another present on the coffee table.  John planned our evening, too, and bought me a copy of the movie Clue, which neither of us had seen in I don’t know how long.  So we sat on the couch with our chocolate-covered strawberries and fudge, opened a bottle of the dessert wine we bought in Charlottesville when we were there for Jess and Chuck’s wedding, and watched Clue.  Pretty much until we fell asleep.  I couldn’t have been happier.  And that’s why my birthday was so wonderful.  John planned it.

Fantastic day

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Seriously, I had a really good day.  Things went my way in a big way at work, I got to run home to take custody of my NEW DINING ROOM TABLE, I was listening to music I love in the car, and then I got to drive home with a rowdy bunch of balloons.  Yes, someone at work pays attention and noticed that my birthday is tomorrow (yay birthday!), so they got me a cake and balloons (yay work people!).  The cake didn’t make it home.  🙂  The balloons might as well have been the dogs in the car.  They blocked my view out the back window, and the red one kept trying to get in the front seat with me.  It was kind of cute, actually.  It would bump gently into my hair, nuzzle a little (yay static?), and then retreat when I batted it back into the backseat.  Rinse and repeat.

Dining room table?  Here you go.

And here’s one with my pretty placemats from that green store Jess took me to in Easton.

And now it’s time to say goodbye to the old table.  I’m posting it on craigslist tonight.  Right now, in fact.

I am a carrot

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My day was fine and not fine, and it totally exhausted me, so I told Mom I was going to become a vegetable for the rest of the evening.

I woke up this morning with a very irritated left eye (turns out I have a weird eyelash problem – I stopped at the eye doctor’s on my way home ’cause I couldn’t drive), so I wore glasses all day, which means my eyes (without contacts in) thought it was bedtime all day AND my left eye watered and stung the whole time.  And I was teaching at work today, so I stood most of the day (and talked ALL day), and now I’m really really really tired.

And that’s the truth.

Back to work

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I tried to get to work yesterday, but as I left my neighborhood, I slid out onto the semi-major road.  It’s usually pretty clear and much safer than the neighborhood roads, or at least it has been after all our other storms and weather events.  Yesterday, I couldn’t see pavement at all.  It felt like one big sheet of ice, so, after I caught my breath, I went back home.  John didn’t even make the attempt (not in the mustang, no way), so we had another pleasant day of working from home together.  We took a walk around the neighborhood (almost completely in the streets, since most sidewalks aren’t clear) with the dogs before it got dark, and then I started working on our taxes before dinner (I’m not quite done, but how do we owe again?  What’s going on?).

Back to the office today.  I really really really want things to go back to normal.  Normal = NO SNOW.  Go away now.  Melt faster!

My computer hates me

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Today was very frustrating.  We were both working from home (and the working part provided half the frustration, but that’s all I’m going to say about that), and when I booted my laptop this morning (my personal laptop, not my work laptop), I discovered a virus.  And not just any virus.  This was a monster virus that hijacked every program I tried to run.  I couldn’t open a browser, I couldn’t run any .exe files, I couldn’t do anything.  With John’s help (and the help of the internet via my work laptop and John’s computer), we were able to use the system restore feature to go back to last night, before the virus, and then get rid of it.  But it took HOURS.  John took the opportunity to blame Windows for this security failure and has me seriously considering installing the easiest version of Linux.  As long as I can open most documents and get to the internet, I don’t really care what operating system I use, so I’ll probably at least try it.  If I actually make it to the office tomorrow and the next day, though, it’ll have to wait for the weekend.

I might cry

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They’re talking about another 10 to 20 inches of snow tomorrow and Wednesday.  I don’t know where we’re going to put it.  Did you SEE the five-foot-tall piles of snow on either side of our driveway?

The roads were pretty bad this morning, so John and I both worked from home.  It was wonderful.  We set up in the dining room with a fire in the fireplace, sat in on conference calls, drank hot chocolate, and got a lot of work done.  I ventured out early this afternoon to go to the pharmacy and check out the roads.  They’re not terrible, but they’re not totally clear, either.   And we will both be heading to our offices tomorrow.

Not the right time

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So…apparently a giant storm is headed our way (meaning home, not San Francisco) and is expected to dump a ton of snow (possibly more than in December) on us on Friday and Saturday.  Margot got our tickets changed to tomorrow, so we should be home not too long after midnight tomorrow night.  I’m kind of relieved.  I think I would really like San Francisco, but I’m not on vacation and I haven’t really had time to enjoy myself.  Marjorie and I were talking about this yesterday.  Most of the time, we can’t even tell we’re in California.  We could be in any city in the country.  So since there hasn’t been any time to really sight-see, I’m just as happy to be going home early (thereby ensuring I’ll actually get home, as opposed to be stranded somewhere because of the weather).  And I’m really tired today.  This class, even though it hasn’t been stressful, is really taking a lot out of me.  I’m standing ALL day, and I just want to rest, maybe take a bath, and go to bed.  After we finished with the class today, we did a little work to prep for tomorrow, and then we had an early dinner.  We went to an Italian place we could see from the window of the classroom and split a pizza.  Good pizza, and it was just enough food.  We asked the waiter if there was an ice cream place or something like that nearby, and he directed us to a gelato place around the corner.  SO good.  I had butter pecan.  Delicious.

So tomorrow, we’re going to check out of the hotel before class and leave our stuff with them, and then when class is over, run back to the hotel, change into travel clothes, and hop in a cab to the airport.  We should have plenty of time to make our flight.  And we’re already checked in (online check-in FTW!), so we don’t have to worry about losing our seats.  AND we’re in economy plus!  Still middle seats, though.  Oh well.  I’m seated right behind Mavis, so I told her she’d better keep me entertained or else I’ll kick her seat the whole flight back.

Anyway, I really really really want to come back here on vacation and do all the touristy sightseeing stuff and eat at all the fantastic restaurants and just hang out.  But right now, I can’t wait to get home.  I’d much rather be snowed in with John (and the dogs) than stranded away from them.

Ode to a hot fudge sundae

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I am SO full.  We got out with daylight to spare today (and the rain held off for the evening), so we decided to head to Ghirardelli Square and the surrounding areas while we could still see some stuff.  We made definite dessert plans (hello, hot fudge sundae at the Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop) and just needed to find a place for dinner.  Again.  We headed for the water (less than a block away) and walked along Jefferson Street and eventually (okay, it didn’t take that long – there were signs) figured out we were at Fisherman’s Wharf.  So naturally, we had seafood.  We basically picked a restaurant at random and ended up at Tarantino’s, which was very good.  We were early (6-ish, maybe a little before), so there was no wait, and we got a table overlooking the boats in the marina.  I had prawns and scallops sauteed in all the delicious stuff (wine, garlic, butter, etc) with vegetables and rice.  SO good.  I called Mom and Dad during our walk back to Ghirardelli Square (and listened to the everyday drama of finding the other phone so they can both be on the line (I know I make fun of you, but I love that you do it that way.  I just wish you’d have the phone handy!)), but was, you know, forced to hang up on them because the banana hot fudge sundae was twisting my arm and marching me through the door.  Man, that was good.  But huge.  And I couldn’t finish it.  Madeline couldn’t finish hers, either.  She got the one with peanut butter topping AND hot fudge – they brought her three spoons.  Hm.  Maybe she could have finished it if she’d used all three.

I did well today, in class.  If I may say so myself.  No major screwups, no belligerent students (unlike yesterday, but I didn’t have to deal with them.  Myrtle did.), and when I misspoke (happened a couple of times), Mona was there to rescue me.  I wasn’t nervous at all, though, so that’s pretty cool.  🙂  I don’t think tomorrow will be much different.  Hope I didn’t just jinx myself.

Things to do the day before the day before traveling

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I’m going to San Francisco in a couple of days, and I spent all day (at work) making sure I have everything I’ll need.  Thankfully, I’m not going by myself, but this will be my ONLY supervised trip before we all head out on our own.  I’m looking forward to it (I like to go places, I’ve never been to San Francisco, and I’ll have a good time, I’m sure), but I’m not at the same time because John can’t come with me.  I don’t mind going places on my own, but I hate going without him.  But I still have to go, so now that I’m home, I’m working on my to-do list.  I have a packing list, but that will wait until Sunday morning.  I just spent some picking up downstairs and I’ve got laundry in the washing machine.  I’ll pick up in the bedroom as I do laundry.  You know, my list really isn’t that long.  Which is why I can take the time right now to write and change the look of my blog again.  So here’s version #4:

Not all that far from version #3, but that’s okay.

Oh!  I have to remember my camera.  No excuses.  Camera camera camera.

I just put it with the work stuff I have pack.  Yeah, too distracted by trip stuff to write anymore.

Update: One thing I really like about this version is that I can make changes to individual pages (like allow comments on the lists pages (favorite books, favorite movies, etc), and say no to comments on the main books and movies page).  Other versions force me to make a change universal for all pages.  That’s pretty cool.  Of course, if I weren’t using a WordPress template (coding each page by hand instead), I’d be able to do whatever I want to each page and this wouldn’t be such a big deal.

No guarantees

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If I could only guarantee that the travel issue would work itself out (and it might – I just can’t guarantee it), I’d be pretty darn happy with my new job.  I like my coworkers, I feel appreciated, I think I’m going to be good at it, it pays well, and (except for the travel part) it’s not far from home.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

I feel a little deprived today ’cause I didn’t get any internet time.  This is my internet time, so I’m outta here.

Working for a living

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I tried to wash my windshield on my drive home this evening before the car had warmed up all the way.  The fluid wasn’t frozen or anything, but as soon as the wipers stopped, the moisture that was left crystallized, then melted away.  It was SO cool.  I did it a couple more times, just so I could watch the ice crystals.  No, I didn’t rear end anyone.

My first week is over, and, while I’d rather not be working at all, I think I like my new job.  You know, enough.  And I certainly like my new co-workers.  I spent the week learning this system (so I can teach it in a few weeks).  (That sounds like I learned it all this week.  I didn’t.)  I was the guinea pig for one of the other new trainers to practice on.  He’s young (22, I think) and kinda nervous about teaching, but he’s funny.  This afternoon, we needed clarification on a particular contract type for acquisitions.  We’re talking about government acquisitions, for government agencies, and the example he came up with to describe how we think it works is puppies.  As in, let’s say the government needs to buy puppies.  They cost $100 each.  We award a contract to buy 12 puppies.  Then we discover we need more puppies.  We (me and the more experienced trainer we were asking for help from) couldn’t listen with a straight face.  Puppies!  In bulk!  I would love to work for that agency.

Puppies!

Seriously, who can resist this?

Really, I think I’m glad to be back at work, in a job I know I can be really good at.  “Relieved” may be a better word than “glad”.  Starting a new job, dealing with new people, having to get up early again and figure out a whole new schedule is stressful, but earning again takes a lot of stress away that I didn’t realize I had.  Mm.  Not true.  I knew I was stressed about that.  But I feel better.  And I’ll feel even better than this when I get my first paycheck.  (And my second.  And my third…)

Enough of that.  It’s the weekend!

No clever title

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I was sitting in the office today, and out of nowhere I had the strongest memory of being on the hangar deck of the Truman.  Couldn’t figure out why for a minute, and then I realized I was wrinkling my nose and trying to breathe through my mouth.  Someone had opened the outside door (leading directly to the parking lot), and the scent of exhaust combined with paint had wafted in.  Scent memory is a funny thing.

Somebody wants the piano!  (Who needs segues, anyway?)  Our neighborhood has a message board, so I posted on it Sunday afternoon.  I described the condition of the piano and basically said I’d like it to go to a good home.  Otherwise, I’ll probably donate it.  I got an email today from a woman who said she’s interested.  Her daughter takes lessons and needs a piano to practice on, so I invited her to come over and see it.  I’m very excited.  🙂  Yay for community!

End of big day

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My big day went fine.  Nothing particularly exciting, but that’s totally okay.  It was busy and full of new stuff, and I think my head is going to be stuffed with information that I need to retain and be able to explain to others, but how can that be bad?  Before it gets boring, I mean.  🙂

Oh, I lied.  Something exciting DID happen.  I got a Blackberry!  I have a brand new Blackberry Curve, and I don’t know how to use it.  🙂  It came with my email set up already, so I don’t have to worry about that, but I don’t even know what the number is OR where to find out.  I’m reading the manual and going through the tutorials.  I’m sure it’s in there somewhere.

I’m making salmon for dinner, and unwrapping the white paper packaging reminded me of how much I love the people who work behind the counters at Wegman’s.  Sunday, I had a funny conversation with the fish guy after he convinced me to buy this salmon instead of that salmon (better quality and cheaper, since it was priced by weight and not by piece) because my wearing a Boston College sweatshirt without ever going there reminded him of the time he wore a Sharks sweatshirt (not because he’s a fan, but because it was comfortable) in Pittsburgh and got snarled at by someone who was decidedly NOT a Sharks fan.  His joke in reply (“What are you, a Jet?”) went over the other guy’s head.  Anyway, he was a big guy, broad shoulders, big gray mustache, very loud.  A few weeks ago I got into a 15-minute conversation with the guy at the kosher counter.  I was buying kugel (potato and noodle) so I could check out their recipes (they make a delicious apple noodle kugel).  He talked about his mother’s kugel recipes, then latkes, then matzo balls, then about his grandkids, and how he’s a little annoyed (but in a good-natured way) that he’s expected to cook for everyone at home all the time when all he does all day at work is cook.  But his grandson asked him, so he did it.

I’m cooking and John’s home and I want to play with my new Blackberry.

Update: Roxy had another seizure just before 11pm.  I should have seen that one coming.  She’s had two seizures in one day that last couple of times, too.

Big Day

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I woke up to some unidentified noise exactly 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off this morning.  I didn’t hear it again, I didn’t hear the sounds I associate with Roxy’s convulsing, and I didn’t hear Riley pacing back and forth like he does when he’s nervous (like when Roxy is convulsing), so I stayed in bed.  Wide awake.  I decided to take the dogs with me on my run.  I had an awful waking nightmare that the sound I heard was Roxy’s death cry and I would have to explain to my new employer, through my grief, that I wasn’t going to be able to come in today.  I told myself I was getting all crazy over nothing, Roxy’s fine, but maybe I should go for a short run to make sure I’ll have time to go through the 5 or so outfit changes it’ll take before I decide what to wear.

I got up.  Went downstairs to discover Roxy in recovery mode, wandering around the first floor checking things out like she’s never seen them before.  So she did have a seizure.  She’s fine now.  But the seizure meant I decided not to take them with me.  And my run got shorter.  Two miles is not enough to calm me down, but I did go a little faster than normal.  Anxiety is the ticket, apparently, for a speedy workout.  I’m inside, I’m warmed up, and I really need to stop typing and get ready.

A little nervous

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Not a lot nervous, but it’ll be interesting to see how well I sleep tonight.  I had my nails done today and managed to screw two of them up before I even left the salon.  Good timing, actually, since it was easy for my manicurist to fix them.  And I love my manicurist.  She was nice, we were able to have an actual conversation, and it wasn’t a big deal when we weren’t chatting.  Comfortable silence.  I will definitely see her again.  Assuming I make manicures a regular thing, which is not a given.  But I really do like how my hands feel now.

Tacos for dinner, so gotta go cook.

Appliances shouldn’t tell lies

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Today was a good day.  I ran 5 miles (in the windy, chilly, sunny morning), made kimchi, filed a little, and then went to the holiday party for my new job.  The new job I haven’t started yet.  It was fun, and I’m really glad I went.  I met most of the team for the project I’ll be working on.  My new boss (I think) was assigned to keep me company, so she introduced me to people and stuck by me.  She’s really nice, and she filled me on what I’ll be doing and who I’ll be working with.  Everyone was really friendly.  I’m sure I’ll be nervous as my first day approaches, but after this afternoon, I think I’ll be able to keep those nerves to a minimum.

In other news, I’m cold.  I think the thermostat is lying.  It says it’s 68 degrees in the house (or at least in the dining room), but I don’t believe it.  Appliances shouldn’t tell lies.  (Is a thermostat an appliance?  Maybe it’s a gadget.)  Looking for a replacement is on my list of things to do tomorrow, along with making copies of my house keys and getting an oil change.  And going to the library.

Not enough time

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I still have over three full weeks before I rejoin the working world, but I feel like I don’t have enough time.  (I know, stop whining (for any number of reasons).)  I’m just amazed at how quickly all this time filled up.  I’ll be visiting Mom and Dad all of next week, and then we’ll go to PA for Christmas sometime the week after that.  In between, I plan to spend a day or so with Jess in MD.  We’ll be back from PA for our anniversary (I think), and then New Year’s will be on top of us.  And I start the Monday after New Year’s.  So I have somewhere between 10 and 12 whole days with nothing planned in them.  Maybe 9 to 11.  And now that I’ve counted them out like that, it sounds like more free time than before.  It’s just when I look at it week by week that it looks super busy.  I certainly don’t want to NOT do any of the things I have planned.  And I’ll probably feel better about it when we know how many and which days John will have off from work.