one last time

A coworker is leaving us after this week. She is the epicenter of office pranks. I can't wait to see her reaction when she finds out that we've got a big one for her.

thirteen

Thirteen more books and I'll hit 150 for the year. I'm so close that my current list of "to read" would put me well over 150. I keep it all in a spreadsheet, and it's oddly satisfying to see the rest of my year's reading plotted out already.

shoes

OK, I ordered more shoes. I'm not really a shoe person. I just love getting packages at work. But I'm returning almost all of them.

amazonian

I finished up my Christmas shopping for my nephew and older niece with an Amazon order today. Then I noticed two items in my shopping cart that I had put buying for a while, a CD and a book, so now there are a couple little presents coming for me, too.

fall

A sudden cold (for California) snap means that we're having fall colors, which is unusual for these parts.

gadgets and gizmos

I get to go to CES for work in January! Looking at the newest gadgets for work? Nerd heaven. Also, Boyfriend gets to come.

pew pew

The original Star Wars trilogy is on TV! It has been years since I've watched them...

giving thanks

This was what we had for dinner, plus four different kinds of dessert. Token turkey, but most of us feasted on prime rib.

I asked my niece and nephew and my cousin's sons what they were thankful for, and they started with "I'm thankful for my family, my home, and my health," and "I'm thankful to be alive," which is pretty good, and then they took a delightful turn for the absurd: "I'm thankful for my hair, or else I would be bald!"

Me, I'm thankful that I'm not in some crowded store fighting the Black Friday crowds while having a panic attack, and (I've been reading some grim stuff) I'm thankful for clean water, heat, and a safe and peaceful life. And also my family and friends, my home, my health, and my hair.

old friend

An old friend from high school is coming in to the office tomorrow. I haven't seen him for at least fifteen years, I think, and we've both moved all over the place and done lots of random things since then, so it will be fun to catch up.

all bark no bite

Peppermint bark ought to be a year-round thing.

office romance

My parents came in for lunch today, and my dad got to meet my coworker's 90-pound, 7 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy, Kensei. Kensei was thrilled to meet my dad, so thrilled that he repeatedly humped my dad's leg long enough for us to get it on video. Highlight of my day so far.

cubemate

My cubemate is back, after six months out of the office! Fiver and I were both excited to see her when we got in this morning.

all by myself

Dropped Boyfriend off at the airport this morning, so I get the house (and the couch and the TV and the bed) all to myself for the next few days.

crack is back

I have been an insatiable back cracker since high school, and probably peaked a few years ago, when I was dating a chiropractor, who would crack it fit me every day. For some reason, for most of this year, my back had been "stuck," and I haven't really been able to crack it properly, which was endlessly frustrating and somewhat painful. In the last two weeks, since my last table massage, it has just as mysteriously gotten "un-stuck," and I can get my full crack in, which is deeply satisfying.

omgwtfbbq

Had Korean BBQ with Boyfriend, my sister and some of her friends, and a friend from work last night. Good good and lots of inappropriate conversation, so it was a good night, capped off with ice cream (and a new inspiration from my sister's friend: peppermint ice cream in hot cocoa) and embarrassing Boyfriend by singing songs from musicals in the street (hoping to go to a Sound of Music singalong in a couple weeks).

132

I am a tiny bit ahead of schedule on reading, which is good, since my next book is over 1000 pages.

Totally loved the last book I read, which is funny, because it was a satire about the economy, the press, and politics, which isn't the usual formula for "books Angela would like." So I highly recommend "Boomsday," partly because it is reminiscent of what's going on now (despite having been written in 2006), and partly because it's just a good book.

notable quote

A good manager wants "what's best for you and what's best for the company" and believes that it is his "job to help you guide your career in a way that's best for you," even if it isn't what he would prefer.

christmastime is here

Boyfriend got these for me from Whole Foods! Yum.

and now presenting

I ran a training session today, and it went really well. Well enough that several people came up afterwards and said it was interesting, informative, funny, and succinct (which are not usually adjectives used by non-lawyers for presentations on legal issues). They even suggested that I should give the presentation to all new people starting in business functions. I think it's because I put lots of pictures in, but if that's what it takes to make them like me and pay attention to the presentation, it was worth it.

pink

Earlier this year, I started having a glass of milk of breakfast when I got into work, rather than going down to the cafe and loading up on bacon and eggs. Soon after that, I started putting a pump of chocolate flavoring from the coffee station into my milk. A couple weeks ago, I discovered that we also have strawberry and raspberry syrup, both of which turn the milk pink, and it makes me feel like a kid again (I used to love the strawberry flavor of Nestle Quik) when I have my glass of pink milk in the morning.

plum

Boyfriend and I had a birthday to go to last night in Oakland, and since we were venturing that far, we decided to get dinner beforehand. The first place we were thinking of going had no reservations, so we went to Plum, instead, which ended up being one of the best restaurants we've been to in the Bay Area. Between the two of us, we had seven dishes, and every single one was both interesting and well-executed, and the prices were a bargain. Looks like they change up their menu on an almost daily basis, too, so it would even be a place you could go to frequently without getting menu fatigue. Nothing to be improved upon, except that it would be nice if it were a little closer to home. I love finding a place that totally and unexpectedly exceeds expectations.

count the days

I made a few donations on Tuesday as a kind of pick-me-up, and it made my day better. Today, I got around to checking my paper mail for the first time in a couple of weeks, and CORAL had already sent me a thank you packet, including a calendar with some great underwater shots. I've gotten thank you notes before, but this was even better. Donate, help save coral reefs, and get a calendar to hang up at work.

126

Haven't posted an update on the "read lots of books" project in a while, but I've finished 126 books so far this year, and am working on books #127 and #128, which means I have a very good change of hitting 150 for 2011.

thursdays

From now on, I'll sit with one of my product teams every Thursday. Got the desk set up today, and was highly amused to see the head of the group (a tall German professor type) going around the new office space (which is an open room with concrete floors) in roller skates.

halp

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I really appreciate that we have walk-up Tech Stops at work to immediately fix computer issues on the spot. Yesterday, I walked in, got my laptop battery changed (it suddenly decided to stop accepting charge), got my wireless fixed so that it will always log into the internal network, and got some nifty little cable ties to try to keep all those cords from descending into tangled chaos.