August 2006 Archives
Never thought I'd say this, but I'll take the fanny pack, thanks.
Her last, best chance.
The Shock AND Katie Smith. Double bonus! This could not be more exciting for me unless Sue Bird were on the team.
Comes via Wendy:
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
- Dr. Seuss
That's beautiful.
I fully expect to not move again until I next move out of town. I don't like moving, I like this apartment, and it's highly unlikely I'll (stay long enough to make) buy(ing) a place here in Minnesota (worthwhile).
Which means I might actually someday buy some real furniture. I've caught glimpses of the lady across the hall's apartment, and she appears to be quite settled in. It looks somewhat "settled" in here, but it's not all that decorated.
That would be a grown up thing to do, right? I've already got a list of things that I want, and a list of things that I'd like to replace. I should probably pay off my debt first, but where's the fun in that?
I've had my fair share of vacations, and I have plans for more.*
But... why is everyone in Oregon but me? The Oregon coast is one of my favorite places in this country. The dunes, the ocean, the forests. Words can't describe how freakin' beautiful it is.
*Just to put it out there, because I'm already 80% committed, the next trip will be to Seattle in November. Primarily to visit two of my favoritest people whom I haven't met yet, and probably to run the Seattle (Half) Marathon.
In an hour I'm cutting myself off from work. I say an hour, because it'll be more like an hour and a half. Half of my team is heading down to La Crosse, WI tonight to get ready to run the inaugural Great River Relay tomorrow. The other half of the team will catch up with us tomorrow afternoon.
I've been stressing about the organization of this. I'm ready for it to just be over. I'm sure once we get going, we'll be fine and I'll be having fun. Right now.... *twitch*
It's going on 2:00am. Waaaay past my bedtime. I'm really tired, but my brain will not shut off.
I busted through a lot of blog reading. Work was super busy today (12-hour day, ugh), and will be tomorrow. Plus the consultant guy is starting tomorrow. The relay race is this weekend. There are all of those little details to take care of. In, fact, I just paused in writing this to book a hotel room. Another 20 minutes gone.
And Fly Girl's out of town for the week, so I've been thinking in her absence. You know how that goes. Actually, that's really not that deep, but it's still taking up bandwidth. It kinda simmers in the background. Lest you worry, I'll have you know that I am in a good place. To be completely devoid of detail....
Plus I'm hungry. I've stayed up too long since my last meal. Shouldn't eat right before bed. I already brushed my teeth. But how can I go to sleep with my tummy growling? Maybe I'll down a SlimFast, re-rinse, and call it a night.
I already laid down once and couldn't settle down, so I got back up. To write this.
But really, I'm ready to go to bed now.
Kelley had her baby! Christopher Lee was born on August 17.
If he looks anything like his big brother, that's the cutest kid ever.
Congratulations, y'all!
I shouldn't even be doing this now because I have one more thing to do before I can leave work.
1. Where and when was the last wedding you attended? Canfield, OH (near Youngstown). May 2005. Friends from college.
2. What's the furthest you've ever traveled for a wedding? From Minneapolis to St. Thomas, USVI. Another friend from college.
3. What's your general opinion of weddings? Enh. I've only enjoyed the ceremonies of my really good friends. I've been to some tangential family member weddings that totally sucked. Also, the shorter the ceremony the better. The ones I've liked the best were clearly reflective of the bride and groom.
4. What's your favorite wedding tradition? Don't have one. My favorite things about weddings are non-traditional.
5. Least favorite? Catholic mass.
6. What do you usually give as a gift? Usually something off the registry, but I'm such a procrastinator that by the time I get around to it, it ends up being some mishmash of random kitchen utensils.
7. What's the best thing you ever eaten at a wedding? Yet another pair of college friends had this alcoholic ice cream stuff instead of cake.
8. What's the most bizarre thing you've seen at a wedding? I haven't really seen anything truly bizarre.
9. Have you ever dated someone you met at a wedding? Uh, no.
10. Would you rather have a big wedding or just elope? I'd like a destination wedding, which is sort of eloping, I guess. I want it to be small, but I don't want there to be no one there.
There's a project ongoing at work. I'm not really involved in the execution, but I do have to sign off when it's done.
It was originally supposed to be completed Friday evening. Even after starting it earlier on Thursday, it wasn't done. Then they thought maybe Saturday morning. Arrangements are made for all the appropriate parties to hop on the ol' VPN and do their thing. They have my phone number and instructions to email as well.
Well, it's 9:00 on Saturday night and I haven't heard anything. I've had the Blackberry on my hip all damn day. So it's not done. I wanted to go down to Madison and catch up with Malia. At the rate we're going, I probably could have gone and been back before this project is done.
And, actually, it wouldn't be such a big deal if I could actually get the VPN to work, but I haven't been able to do that yet. So if we get that far, I'll have to actually go in to work to do my part.
And I'm complaining, but I kind of like being so... necessary. I feel especially empowered after going to my training seminar last week. It's like I stayed at the Holiday Inn. On top of that, when I asked my director last week about how the search for a new manager was going (slow), he mentioned that he'd like to see me in that role some day.
!!!
I rock.
I have a confession to make: I lurk on Datalounge for gossip on lesbians in the WNBA.
There. I said it.
And from the Datalounge comes the quotes of the week.
Oh my god! This is a gossip board? I thought it was Wikipedia.
I'm so embarrassed.
*snort*
Can we gossip without the social commentary?
Heh! Yes, please.
Just got back from SF. For work, though, not for fun. I had a training seminar which I'm embarrassed to admit I rather enjoyed. This whole liking my job thing is really strange. I'm such a nerd. Not in a cool internet way. In an enginerdy way.
I still maintain that I am cooler than most engineers, though.
I also just realized that I never finished putting up the rest of my pics from the last trip. This weekend, I swear. Seriously.
I'm tired. I'm going to have to do some work stuff tomorrow. It's going to screw with my weekend plans, I know it. Stupid work. *marks down the comp day* But I just have to sign off on some stuff. At least I'm not the poor schmuck QA manager that has to actually do all this stuff.
So the trip was actually pretty nice. I got the first class upgrade that my boss didn't need to use. I got the Crackberry. The Doubletree was nice. Went out again with all my friends in town. Sushi in Palo Alto on Wednesday night. Dinner at a swank place in San Francisco called Frisson and then a hospitality-industry wine-tasting party on Thursday night.
That 6:30am flight this morning sucked though. Hey, here's a helpful hint: Do not try to smuggle liquids and gels in your carry on. They really will catch you. I tried to keep the small bottle of saline solution I had to buy when I got there (and the hotel bottles of Neutrogena products, and the mini tube of Colgate). Next thing I know, "Bag check!" The TSA agent guy totally sneered at me when he showed me the little tray full of bottles and asked if I wanted to check them. Jackass. But he's the one that had to dig through my two-day-old sweaty running clothes and dirty underwear.
Once again, Sherri saves me from a total lack of content.
Would you rather:
1. Watch a porno with your parents OR starring your parents? *squick* I think with my parents.
2. Lick the handle on a public restroom toilet OR eat a wad of toilet paper from the stall floor? For chrissake!!! I'll lick the handle.
3. Be MC Hammer OR Vanilla Ice? Uhhh... MC Hammer, I guess.
4. Be able to fly OR read people's minds? I'm sure this is as much a curse as a blessing, but I think I'd rather read people's minds. I'm sure it would deliver a crushing blow to my self-esteem in the process, but it seems more useful than flying.
5. Have whatever you want for one year then die OR be paralyzed for life? Oh geez. Am I paraplegic? Quadriplegic? I think I'd rather have my life.
6. Have a permanent smile OR a permanent blank stare? I think I'd rather have the blank stare. I saw a guy at a Fringe show over the weekend who had a bit of a perma-smile. Like one of those people who sneers and seems a little manic when they laugh. It was just creepy.
7. Be burned alive OR drown? Jesus. I think I'd rather drown. Seems a little quicker.
8. Be known worldwide as a racist OR a child molestor? Racist.
9. Eat three pounds of hair OR drink a gallon of shampoo? I'll drink the shampoo, thanks.
10. Be god OR the devil? Gimme god.
Guess who has found herself in possession of a Blackberry!
I'm really ambivalent. On the one hand, all email all the time. On the other hand, it is for work. Need to see if I can get my other email hooked up to it.
My director wanted me to have it because I'm traveling next week and there are some things going on here that I need to be in touch for, since he's out, too, and there's no one left behind to answer questions.
Since I'm the only person in my department, there will be no one to call me out on it, and maybe he won't ask for it back. I mean, he has his own. It's not like I'm keeping him from using it. I'm addicted already and I haven't even started using it.
Things that are Good
- Catching your period right when it starts.
- Free lunches at work.
- Fringe!
- Delegating (successfully).
- Glorious weather.
- Making decisions that I've been fretting over and having people simply accepting them.
Things that are Bad
- Dreaming about work, and having those dreams keep waking you up.
- Mofos trying to steal my food at work. How did you know I had a burger in there unless you opened it up?! Fucker.
- Slacking on the running. My foot feels fine today, so I'll try to squeeze some time in. But there's Fringe....
- Spending a heckuva lot of money on vacation. The fact that it takes longer to recover from vacation than to take it in the first place.
Everything is relative, of course.
From Sherri, by way of stampydurst.
1. What was the worst nickname you had as a child? I didn't have any particularly bad ones. My mom used to call me "Erica Bear-ica" which I didn't particularly love, but whatever.
2. What is the most embarrassing thing that happened to you at school? I think getting my first period during pre-season basketball was pretty bad.
3. What was your most memorable haircut? I think the whole bangs/glasses/braces phase in 7th/8th grade was pretty bad.
4. Which fashion trend makes you cringe when you look at old pictures? At the same time as the bangs/glasses/braces, I was going through a rayon shirt/vest/culottes phase. Aside from that, shoulder pads.
5. Who was your first celebrity crush? I have no idea....
6. What was the first concert you attended? New Kids on the Block (sans Donnie Wahlberg, I was robbed!)
7. Were you ever in a school play or recital? What was your role? I was in three musicals in high school. Just in the chorus. Except in Jesus Christ Superstar I was also this dancing evil spirit thing called a "Tormentor" (we slinked around with Judas a lot). UPDATE: How could I forget?! When I was in 7th grade, I was the star of the school Xmas play. I was Pablo, a Mexican reindeer. I have horrible memories of the principal (Sr. Ursula, who was as awful as you might imagine a nun named "Ursula" would be) coaching me on a terrible fake Mexican accent.
8. What was your favorite Halloween costume? A Michigan State football player, when I was about 7 or 8, I think.
9. What did you want to be when you grew up? I went through a marine biologist phase, and then settled on chemical engineer pretty early on.
10. What was your favorite cartoon? Voltron and Thundercats.
For the first time in my life ever, I get have get to interview someone today. My boss wants to bring in a consultant to help us out with my workload. The dude's resume is beefy. I'm not sure I know what to ask him.
Actually, that's not true. I know what I'm going to ask him. I'm just not sure what I should be asking him in the first place, or what kind of information I should be looking for. My boss said the main thing is just to get a feel for if I think I can work with him and he can get along in our "culture" here.
Except I have to sit through lunch with my boss and this candidate guy first. That is way too much socializing for me. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
The internet's just too damn big.
Between following up on BlogHer stuff, keeping on top of Metblog stuff, and then trying to follow my regular crew, I'm totally overwhelmed. This is ridiculous.
And that's just the reading. That doesn't include writing more on my own reflections on BlogHer, writing for Metblog, getting work done at work, and saying something around here once in a while that isn't all meta "I'm blogging about not blogging" crap (like this post...).
Plus there's organizing my Great River Relay team (how the hell did I end up in charge of this?!), not spending all of my non-work time on the internet, absorbing as much of the rest of the WNBA season as possible, and getting a decent amount of sleep.
Imagine if I had a family!
Slow down, please....
I ran into videoblogger extraordinaire Chuck Olsen in the parking lot at the grocery store yesterday. I was walking home from Arby's. He was carrying all his gear. I know he was all, "Who is this random person who yelled my name and why am I approaching her?"
I talked about BlogHer. He talked about the project he's working on that resulted in him carrying all his gear across the parking lot of the grocery store.
Cool guy, that Chuck. And thanks to him, I have this:
Squee!
Okay, so I got back to work and things were actually not so bad. My director, with whom I had the 8am meeting, decided to reschedule it for the afternoon, thinking I'd need to ease into my day. Too bad I didn't see that until I got in at 8 am.
He also told me, following that meeting, that I should feel free to go on home because I looked pretty tired.
That obvious?
I felt bad, because it's my own damn fault I didn't get any rest. But, as he pointed out, I do generally make up the time. Except I had another meeting at 3:00, and it was my own meeting so I couldn't skip it. I ended up leaving 30 minutes early.
And went home and took the most blissful glorious nap.
I know that I shouldn't even bother checking in at work until I get back. I'm still on vacation, dammit. But I did check my email to see if there's anything crucial going down. Even though I know if there were, someone would have called my cell phone.
And it's making me sick to my stomach. There wasn't too much to it other than a few meetings on my calendar regarding what the hell to do with my Department of One. Now I'm all stressed out anew.
But at least I do know that I definitely need to be in on time on Wednesday because I have an 8:00 meeting. I might have tried to catch a nap and gone in an hour or two late, but there will be none of that.
I'm not one of those people that's so important that I need to be in contact all the time. The day they give me the Blackberry is the day I answer requests outside of work hours (unless I'm expecting to have to be in at an odd hour). But I feel compelled. At least to know what to expect when I go back.
Ugh. *gutrumble*
Well... I finished it....
I expected the cooler weather to work to my advantage. Which it did. It was about 60° at 5:30 on Sunday morning. I don't think I ran one long training run any faster than 11:40 min/mile in weather anywhere from the upper 80s to near 100. Looking at those numbers, I'm actually pretty pleased. Top half of the females. Hell, even top half of my age group. Not quite middle of the group overall, which I'd expect with all those guys.
But the hills. Woo, lawdy, the hills. The hills totally kicked my ass. Given the hills, that time's not too bad, but I had hoped to be a little faster.
More of the story and photos below the jump....
