heat

It took three hours to heat up, but the house is now a toasty 70 degrees. Can't wait for the space heaters I ordered to get here.

Also, the heated toilets at work have been making my days just a little warmer and cozier.

Can you tell I've been cold?

toothbrush head

Out with the old, in with the new.

contains soy

Delicious. Andes candy in a cup.

slow roast

Happy Thanksgiving! It's super sunny today, and my dog is happily roasting himself as I putter around the house.

mr. potatohead

I'm going to my sister's tomorrow for Thanksgiving. I only have to make one dish, mashed potatoes. I was actually a little bit worried about it, because I've been having wrist problems for about a year now, and mashing potatoes for fifteen or twenty people is not something my wrists would sneeze at (if they could sneeze).

Good thing Boyfriend is more of a housewife than I am, and has a stand mixer. He suggested that I use that to make the potatoes, and when I admitted that I didn't know how to use a stand mixer, he found YouTube videos of people making mashed potatoes with stand mixers and sent them to me. Assuming that I don't mess it up and send potatoes flying everywhere, crisis averted.

dinner for one

I had almost resigned myself to some "creative" lazy food tonight when I remembered the frozen soup dumplings and red bean buns.

foresight

Thank you, Mountain View police and Whole Foods employees for getting me in and out so quickly. Extra checkers and traffic guidance actually made the day before Thanksgiving a faster shopping experience than usual.

counting blessings

1. I discovered why my dog loves sleeping on the heating pad so much. I might have to get another one.
2. I had nori for breakfast.
3. I have a massage in 25 minutes.
4. I don't think I'll have much work over the long weekend.
5. It's almost Thanksgiving! Bonus: I don't think I really need to spend any extra time on counting my blessings this year, since that's what this blog does all year. I'm like a Thanksgiving overachiever.

phone home

Boyfriend forgot his cell phone when he left for the airport yesterday, so it's a good thing we can voice or video chat in Gmail.

wfh

I worked from home today, and my internet connection was surprisingly well behaved, considering that I used normal internet, secure VPN, wireless cell phone access, and VoIP phone the whole time without requiring a single reboot.

admission

OK, this one is a little weird, but for some reason, dogs smell a little different when they're sleeping, and I think it's kind of funny to see and hear my dog twitching and grunting in his sleep, and to smell his sleepy smell when he wakes up.

short week

I was a little bit sad that the weekend is almost over, as I've really enjoyed lounging around, but then I remembered it's a short week, and tomorrow will be more like Wednesday in a normal week.

gifted

Two of my best friends are getting married soon, and a combination of multiple dates and locations makes it trickier to decide what to give them. Large items are not suitable for international transport, expensive items are hard to fit into a travel- filled budget, and I always thought napkin rings were so impersonal. This is really a case in which it's going to have to be the thought that counts, so I've been thinking about it a lot.

With the first deadline approaching (bridal shower), I think I may have found the solution, provided that I can get my act together to actually get it done... a shower gift and a wedding gift that don't take up a lot of luggage space or break the bank, but which are more personal than napkin rings. I was starting to get worried by my lack of feasible ideas...

sunday

Seems like a perfect day to loaf around in bed, eating corn bread with honey butter and reading about food. Although I'm not sure what day wouldn't be good for that.

saturday

I slept for eleven hours last night, and then it rained all day, giving me an excuse to stay inside and watch a lot of TV.

new love

I introduced my dog to a heating pad for the first time, and I think he might be in love.

car wash

I have had my car for a little over two years now, and I've never gotten it washed. It's a source of misguided pride that it remains unwashed. I cheat a little bit, though. Tonight was the first time in months that I've had to walk to my car in the rain after work, and after I drove home, I parked outside instead of in the garage. I get a free car wash without having to break my no car wash streak.

us again

Boyfriend, who has been a big grumpalupagus all day, just sent me this picture, which is also of us. Guess which one is him and which one is me?

passing the torch

Our team at work has a new member, and I've had three meetings with her in the last week, each for me to transition a different set of deals to her. Maybe this will help me to play Whack-A-Mole (read: responding to client emails and closing deals as quickly as possible) better.

vino

We had a wine tasting in Riedel wine glasses led by Maximilian Riedel, and although I was initially skeptical, I was surprised and impressed by how much the shape of the glass affects the smell and taste of the wine. We did parallel tastings of the same wines in differently shaped glasses, and it was cool how each shape emphasizes or minimizes certain characteristics, which explains why a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir taste better in different glasses. I wouldn't have believed it if we hadn't done everything side by side.

truffle

It's truffle season! We're going to a restaurant that has a truffle-themed menu for dinner tonight.

pork

I almost decided not to get dinner at work today, but I picked some up, and the slow-roasted pork was so so so delicious. Best decision of the day.

michelin

Just saw that Alinea, the restaurant we're going to over New Year's, got three stars in the new Michelin guide for Chicago, so we're even more excited about the meal than ever. Looks like right now, it's a 21-course tasting menu. I love the descriptions, especially this one: "BLACK TRUFFLE: explosion, romaine, parmesan."

pride

I went to an awards lunch today for a friend who went to law school because he wanted to change the world and make it a better place for minorities (Asians, LGBT, anyone who doesn't have a strong voice), and it was good to see his passion rewarded.

pt

I think my physical therapy might actually be having some positive effects.

indian summer

It's November, so this stretch of five or six days of sunny days in the 70s is extra-appreciated.

bookends

Today was a sunny day full of errands: doing laundry, dropping by the library to get more books on CD, going to Target for prescriptions and night time snacks, stopping by the bank to deposit a check and some cash, heading up to Stanford mall to get watch batteries replaced and buy a pepper mill, spending some time with the dogs I'm watching, and refilling my gas. 

The day was bookended with a great morning (my boyfriend woke up early to take dog duty so that I could sleep in, I found and ate some forgotten Cheetos, and I finished a good book) and a promising evening (homemade pizza and TV).

about time

Both of my watches ran out of juice at the same time, and I had to go a week without a watch, which drove me crazy. Got the batteries replaced today, and my wrist and mind are both so much happier.

cookie

How cute is this gingerbread Android that I had at lunch?

two words

Space heater.

celery

No one gets as excited over a stick of celery as my dog.

frabjous day

Awesome day at work: had some fun news, ran a successful training session, and had lobster pizza for dinner. Also, I managed to blindside a coworker with an awkward moment (it's a bit of a running joke to try to catch him off guard with random weirdness).

bubble world

I love my company!

gotcha

I thought that there was nothing good about changing the clocks back in the fall, since it means losing an hour of daylight in the evening (and don't tell me about the extra hour of sleep, because I always just sleep as much as I want on weekends regardless of what the clock says), but I discovered one good thing: I forgot to change the clock in my car, so I thought it was an hour later than it was, but then I came inside and realized that I have an extra hour before I have to go to bed.

christmas is coming

I think I found out what one of my Christmas presents is going to be!

double header

Tonight, I watched a beautifully filmed movie (The Fall, by Tarsem Singh), and when that was over, I started reading a beautifully written book (Ransom, by David Malouf).

android

I use this guy as a couch pillow.

listen

A good book on CD makes car time much better: traffic is no longer frustrating, and I don't get bored or space out as much on long drives.

us

This is totally a picture of my boyfriend and me. I'm the hyper one on the right. He's the puzzled one on the left.

done for now

The Giants won the World Series yesterday and I voted today, so I think that means I don't have to pretend to listen to any more conversations or skip any more articles about baseball or politics for a while.

it guys

We've got lots of tech support guys at work, and they are really good. Even better, they are curious, so if you bring them a problem they haven't seen before, they attack it with the kind of relish you only see in someone who really likes what they do.