Q: I want to get two massages, soak in two hot tubs, hang out in two steam rooms, take a long bath, get a facial, try two different showers (one of which has ten shower heads), and eat out for three meals over a three day period. Is that a good idea?
A: Yes.
I picked these up at the Japanese dollar store, and boyfriend thought they were Mexican, so instead of calling them "CHOC-o-CONES," he was calling them "CHO-co-CO-nes."
Just had a girls' night with my sister, and the place we went was pretty awesome. Really nice private hot tubs and steam rooms, perfect for talking without having to worry about offending or annoying people. I think we'll have to go back again soon. Then we had dinner and got massages.
After spending most of the holidays rather aimlessly (which is a good thing), other than Christmas dinner with family and watching The Hobbit, I've got lots of plans for the next few days: hot tub/steam room/massage and dinner with my sister tomorrow, a likely overnight spa trip with Boyfriend (with more steam room/massage/sauna time, and perhaps a facial), and a possible second movie outing to see Les Mis. I admit that it's a lot of self-indulgent loafing, but it has been a rough week in which I lost an old friend, and it's going to be crazy at work once the new year starts, so I'm going for maximum self indulgence while I can, and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.
Five days left in the year, and I'm 2.25 books away from hitting 150. I think I'm gonna make it!
Boyfriend bought me a limited edition print of the Lorax, and admitted that he might be snagging one of the Sneetches, as well. My two favorite Dr. Seuss books (I even listed The Lorax on my application to Princeton eighteen years ago), and my most favorite boyfriend.
Christmas dinner with Boyfriend, my sister and her family, and my cousin and his family. Lots of wine, cheese, fondue, and hilarity, and nary a headache in the room.
First rainbow: Found out yesterday that my parents have changed their stance on gay rights in the most amazing way. Twenty years ago, my dad was a Republican, and completely opposed to the concept of homosexuality. These days, he's a Democrat who tries to convince his friends to accept their gay children, who are gay through biology, just as they are Asian or short or smart through biology. Wow.
Second rainbow: In the middle of a rainstorm today, there was a rainbow on my way to the dentist.
Chocolate peppermint soy milk, white chocolate peppermint pretzels, Christmas music on the radio, and final rounds of donations for the year (this week's picks were for organizations focused on clean water, hunger relief, girls' education, wildlife preservation, and electronic freedom).
I had been thinking of getting smartphone gloves for a while, especially since this year's winter is colder than usual and I'm becoming a bigger weather wimp the longer I live in California. Turns out that my product group got smartphone gloves made as group swag! I've gotten good swag before, but never the exact thing I've been thinking of getting, anyways.
You know what's kind of fun, is when you absentmindedly put your hair in a bun when it's still wet and then forget about it all day at work because you're, well, working, and all of a sudden, before you know it, it's bedtime, so you unravel it, and it turns out that it dried out over the course of the day, and even though you're wearing frumpy pajamas (and even though you wore your rather unremarkable, quasi-uniform of sweater, sneakers, and jeans all day), you have this little moment of secret glamour, as your drab little bun comes down in a wild tangle of curls.
Sometimes it's really hard to figure out what's the right thing to do in a complicated situation, and even when you've decided what the right thing is, it can be really hard to actually do it. Once it's done, however, it feels good to know that you did what you thought was right and that maybe it will make a bad situation better.
As much as I love wearing pajamas all day when I'm home, and jeans and sneakers when I'm at work, I do appreciate the occasional fancy event, complete with dress, heels, hair, and makeup. My product team had its holiday party last night, and half of us didn't recognize each other in our grownup clothes. Dressing up doesn't mean being stuffy, though. We still reveled in embarrassingly bad karaoke performances and silly photo booth pictures.
Never has making and eating a piece of wheat toast felt like such an impressive accomplishment.
I'm trying very hard to see the silver lining of this sudden stomach flu or food poisoning, and I've decided that there are two dubious benefits: first, I'm going to be so happy when I can eat something and not puke it back up. Second, at least my low net calorie intake for today will help balance the massive food fests that took place over the weekend.
Also, I'm very glad that I've made it to the toilet or a bowl every time so far.
I love all the extras you get when you order things from Sephora. This time was an especially good haul, because I had a card for $20 off, found a coupon code for a free eyeliner, cashed in some points for two other things, and got the usual free samples that are always included.
I rediscovered a pair of jeans I had forgotten I owned, buried in a pile of clothes that finally fit me again, now that I've lost all this weight. The jeans were exactly the kind of jeans I've been thinking of maybe considering getting. I should go through the rest of that pile, because it will be like a shopping trip where I don't have to leave the house, dig through styles I don't like, or pay for the clothes!
That was some excellent sushi we just had for dinner with my sister, my cousin, and his wife. Plus, we had ridiculous dinner conversation. And my sister bought Boyfriend a gold thong.
One great thing about the end of the year is that all of the newspapers and blogs start publishing lists of the best books of the year. I like combing through them to see what I missed, and adding the ones that sound good to my list of upcoming books to read. I think my queue is up to almost 50 now!
We can give peer bonuses to people at work, it works out to about enough money for a nice dinner. I sometimes forget that we can do that, but it's fun when I work with someone who is awesome and then remember that I can give them something more than just a thank you email.
I kind of forgot I had $10 of credit left in the Google Play Store, and the weather has been dreary lately, so I bought a fun, frivolous pop album to chase away the rainy day blues.
So, I know we're all supposed to hate ads and get creeped out when promotions are too personally targeted, but I have to say that Target always prints me coupons for the exact things I want to buy, and I appreciate that. Why pay full price for floss, Advil, and vitamin C when I can use coupons?
We went to see The Book of Mormon last night with my sister, brother-in-law, and a couple other folks, and it was fun and funny. First real musical I've seen Boyfriend actually enjoy.
Boyfriend and I spent the day at my parents' place, watching my mom cook some of my favorite dishes and getting precise measurements and instructions so that we can have definitive recipes. Then, a couple of coworkers, my brother-in-law, and my nieces cane over, and we ate. My niece gave me a sticker for my drawing skills, and we took home lots of leftovers.
There is a particular, slightly funky smell when a dog chews on rawhide for a while. It's not really a good or bad smell, but I like it, because it means my dog is happy.
Even on tough days, there can be good moments.
Moment #1: I decided to sit in the Legal building today, and my wonderful officemate, whom I see far less than I used to, had brought me three bags of my beloved gummy candy, which her cousin had tracked down and carried back from Germany for me.
Moment #2: our bagpipe teacher was in a charitable mood today, and went very light on his critiques, which was good, because I was woefully unprepared and also just didn't feel up to a tough lesson.
I love having a job where I have the ability to work from home if I don't feel like wearing real pants and makeup. Some days, I just want to get my work done and VC into meetings without giving up my pajama pants.
Just found out that the new cafe in my building is opening in Thursday, just in time to save me from walking to other cafes during rainy season! This also means that I'll probably see my team more, since everyone will converge on my building for lunch.
Okay, I keep posting about our new weekly steak night, but seriously, it's amazing, especially since I'm not eating much red meat these days (so it's a treat), and it is still a pretty low calorie meal (so I don't feel like I'm wrecking my weight loss plan to indulge).
It was even better tonight with some of my sister's sweet potato casserole as dessert.
Today was a quiet day at home, spent enjoying things that have improved with age. I ate leftovers, caught up with a couple of friends from high school and college, and walked my senior citizen dog. This is what Saturdays should be like.
Today, my sister came home from work and specially made a second batch of her top notch bourbon sweet potato souffle for me to take home, because we ate all of the first batch last night.
She also scrounged up her gym pass so I could go work off some of my delicious guilt from last night and stay for dinner (crabs!) tonight.
She's pretty awesome.
Also, I got to take home some of my brother-in-law's amazing prime rib, and my mom brought me a doggie bag of some of her Chinese cooking (separate from the Peking duck she brought as an appetizer).
If I'm going to break my calorie goals, then let it be on these kinds of things.
Yes, I am thankful for the things I should be thankful for: friends and family, health, shelter, food, work, a great boyfriend, clean water, blue skies and red trees, and living a life that generally falls somewhere between plentiful and over-abundant.
But I'm also thankful for being more aware of these bounties, both big and small. Today, I'm thankful for being thankful.
On a walk early this afternoon, I saw: a beaming older couple on a tandem bike, a beautiful vintage car, a mailbox that looked like a Dalmatian, and impossibly red trees in front of a perfect blue sky.
I wrapped up my work by 3:30, got to the gym, went to the grocery store (the high price of groceries at Whole Foods used to shock me, but now I'm just glad that I live somewhere that has so much food available and that I have the resources to buy it and not mind the price), bought stuff to make mashed potatoes (and also a couple of irresistible cheeses), and came home to an empty house. I love living with Boyfriend, but I also love having some time to myself.
Also, I think sneaking some cauliflower into the mashed potatoes is actually going to work out. It will taste fine and save some calories.
Speaking of calories, after spending the last twelve weeks counting calories, I'm looking forward to eating with joyful abandon tomorrow.
Our annual performance review cycle is finished, and I just read all of the peer reviews I received, and am glad that the reviews were positive. I always worry about being good enough and doing better, especially since switching teams and diving into the deep end of new issues, so it's really reassuring to read other people's positive reviews that say that my hard work is actually paying off.
Safe and dry in my pajamas, listening to the rain outside and hoping it turns all the grassy hillsides green again soon.
After a grey morning, the skies are blue and the sun is out, but I'm not complaining. Boyfriend got steak for our dinner, and is testing a recipe to make caramel pecan sticky buns for tomorrow (after we spent the last couple of weeks talking about how good the one we got at Baker and Banker was), so I think I might be a good girl and go to the gym, the bank, and Target, so I can deserve all this deliciousness.
Rainy weather with no obligations means I have a good excuse to spend most of the weekend reading in bed. My friends in Zurich are celebrating Thanksgiving early, so I can even say I hung out with friends over Google Hangouts. It was good to see them.
I usually give stars to about 1/6 of the books I read, but almost four months (and nearly 50 books) passed without a starred book. I enjoyed all that reading, but sometimes I want something that moves me enough to warrant a star. The wait is over. My last book got a star, and I'm 73% through a book that I suspect will receive one, as well.
My car is back! It smells right, it sounds right, it brakes and accelerates right, the locks and windows are automatic, and it has a built in GPS and garage door opener, unlike the rental car. So good to be back in my normal car, which I never appreciated enough on a daily basis.
Also, they cleaned it more thoroughly than it has ever been cleaned since I bought it. They cleaned the hubcaps and put something shiny on the tires. And they gave me gift cards for coffee and gas to thank me for using their services.
Welcome home, Prius, I missed you!
One unanticipated benefit of tracking all of the books I read and the dates I finish reading them is that I can look back at the past couple of years and see what I was reading at this time each year. It reminds me of what was going on at the time and I am always surprised at how quickly time (and books) can fly.
I've generally been quite good about eating healthier foods in reasonable quantities lately, but the toffee chocolate chip cookies they had at lunch yesterday were so good that I had to eat four, and avoided eating ten only through exercising monumental self restraint.
The two days that I have appreciated my car the most were the day I bought it (after months of waiting) and today (when I got behind the wheel of the loud, smelly, unfamiliar rental car I'm using while they fix my rear bumper).
There's so much fun to be had from digging through old photos and going through the same series of thoughts: Look how young we were! What was I wearing? Those were such good times! This one is from 2000, my first New Year's Eve in New York. It's fun to think that the pictures we're taking now will one day be a window back into the good old days, as well.
Google bought out an entire cineplex for the whole day today and gave us tickets to see the new Bond movie,a day ahead of the US release. I went with some of the engineers I work with (there's nothing quite like listening to a theater full of engineers scoffing at faux engineering in a movie), and ate a box of Milk Duds for lunch.
I am so relieved that Obama won the election. I am a cynic and a pessimist when it comes to politics (especially after 2000 and 2004 broke my naive heart twice in a row), but at least we have four more years under someone I think shares the same social ideals and priorities as I do. Even if he can't make them happen, at least I feel confident that he won't be working against them. There's also the added bonus of maintaining dignity in front of the rest of the world.
Moving offices again, within the same building, and the new desk is pretty sweet. Window seat, more light overall, good lounge spaces, and a massage room right down the hall (which I might take advantage of if any of my favorite therapists get scheduled there). Building cafe should open up soon, too. And Fiver got his security badge today. Another week at Google.
The bun was incredible.
Boyfriend had the patience to put it in the oven to heat up before we ate it, and it's a good thing he did, because there were hidden pockets of chocolate inside that turned extra gooey and delicious. I was worried that no cinnamon bun could live up to my day-long expectations, but a warm cinnamon bun with secret chocolate exceeded my expectations.
One of the reasons I've resisted the Halloween candy today is because I've been looking forward to eating this cinnamon roll that we got at dinner last night all day. It smells even better than it looks.
I bought a ton of candy for Halloween, and have managed not to eat any of it yet, even though I worked from home today.
Aw, Boyfriend just asked me to go to the movies with him tomorrow night to see a movie I've been wanting to see for a while (Looper).
Just found out yesterday that if I submit a photo and a request, the security team will make my dog a just-for-fun employee badge. Why not? After all, he does come to work every day. I'll get him one and see if he'll wear it.
My four year anniversary with Boyfriend is coming up, and the big news is that we figured out where we want to go for dinner: Baker & Banker. Burrata, crispy beef cheeks, poached eggs, slow roasted pork shoulder, maple glazed bacon donuts with bourbon cheesecake filling, and pumpkin gingersnap tarts are making our anniversary look even more worth celebrating!
One of my favorite books of all time is Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. I read it in 1993. I had the good fortune of meeting the author when he came to Google in 2008, and mentioned wistfully that I loved Haroun, and he said that he had been meaning to write another like it. It turns out that he did, in 2010, but I only found out about it now. I got it from the library, and can't wait to read it.
Sometimes it feels good to cancel an obligation and reclaim the time for my own purposes.
I went and got a haircut today, and had my red streak redone, and it definitely came out pretty red this time. And my salon had sent me a birthday card with 25% off. Fun hair and a bargain!
I got rear ended today, but no one got hurt, and there's just a little scratch on my car. Could have been worse.
We were at a restaurant for dinner, and a man at a nearby table collapsed rather suddenly. I called 911 for the first time ever, which was kind of exciting in a somewhat inappropriate way. It wasn't nearly as dramatic as it is on TV. I was surprised, however, by how many people did absolutely nothing after he collapsed. It felt good to be doing something. He seemed ok by the time the paramedics finished with him. So that was an exciting evening in the suburbs.
The second half of this week suddenly turned into a few simultaneous emergencies, so I organized them as much as possible, and was able to resolve two of them yesterday. Just six more to go. It feels good to get things done, even the panic is rather enlivening.
Good friend from my Zurich days is in town for a quick visit, and it's the most 1:1 time we've had since I left. It had been really good to see him, catch up, reminisce about our trips to Kenya and Bonaire, talk about when we were office mates... As we were reflecting on those days, we really concluded that those were golden days of friends, travel, silliness, and exploration. Golden days.
I took some of my new headache medication yesterday, then we watched some TV. It had been over 25 years since the last time I watched He-Man, and it was hilarious and confusing in so many ways.
Actually kind of looking forward to a six hour class on tort law tomorrow, partly because it might be if practical use, and partly because I'll get to see some of my coworkers from Legal, whom I rarely see these days.
My coworker's wife gave me a few samples from her clinic to try out for my headaches, which have been attacking with sporadic ferocity in the past few months, sometimes for a week at a time. I am no longer afraid of when the next one will hit.
Just used up the last of my prepaid balance on Google Wallet, just days before they switch everything over to credit cards. Whew!
The best mornings are weekend mornings. Wake up a little too early, eat a yogurt or some fruit, read a bit, fall back asleep. Repeat at least once more before actually getting up.
Eight perfectly cooked pan fried dumplings. They usually come out well, but it is rare that they come out perfectly. Note to self: cook with shallow water and lid on with burner set to 4 until the water is almost gone, then lower heat to 2 until done.
Gummy candy from Switzerland, courtesy of a five-minute acquaintance (and now new hero) I met a few months ago!
I'm a few days ahead of schedule to read 150 books this year (and having a little buffer is always good), AND I'm over 80% of the way to my goal of losing ten pounds.
I always take such care picking the free samples that come with each order from Sephora, and then promptly forget about them once they arrive. I dug a bunch out and have been trying them, and it's fun, even if I'm probably not going to buy any of them.
I've been making really good progress on one of my resolutions for the year (losing ten pounds), and doing a respectable job on two others (being more social and positive), so I have turned my focus to my fourth resolution (giving more).
Today, I spent an hour making a bunch of donations to some of my favorite organizations and filing for gift matching from my company (which helps me keep my resolution, but also just feels good). Last week, I spent a couple hours working on some legal stuff for my college choir. Yes, it's already Q4, but better to jam a lot into Q4 than to slack off and not keep it at all. I'm feeling good about my resolutions this year.
I love it when Boyfriend makes me laugh until I cry, especially when he's making me laugh at myself. Even more especially when he's making fun of me making fun of him.
My awesome sister was able to get us tickets to see The Book of Mormon at the end of November! I love having something to look forward to.
Fiver and I recorded a brief session today that may end up in a video about what our group does. They even got a few closeups of him.
Lots of random lunches and meet-ups with old friends, former clients, visitors, and minor Google celebrities these next few weeks.
Boyfriend got me this cool <3 ring for my birthday (with a gentle suggestion on my part). It came today! Birthday in September!
I skim Facebook once or twice a day now, so a lot slips through the cracks, but I happened to check this afternoon, and a college friend (who rarely posts) happened to post a complaint about Apple maps, and happened to geotag it in Mountain View, so now we're getting dinner in Wednesday before he leaves town again on Thursday. What are the chances?
I'm halfway to my goal of losing ten pounds! I started exercising in mid-July, and started watching my diet this month, and the last couple of weeks, I've finally been seeing real results. This means that I'll have lots of jeans again soon!
I totally bought a cheap, wireless doorbell and put the button next to the bed so that I don't have to yell through the door to get Boyfriend's attention when he wakes up before me.
I wasn't planning on watching the space shuttle Endeavour fly over work today, but happened to be in the parking lot a few minutes before it happened, and decided to stay and watch with a few coworkers. I'm glad I did, because it was a surprisingly moving and emotional moment that doesn't come across in photos or videos of the flight. I hope we find new ways for science to reach out and inspire people, or find a way to bring back the manned space program, now that I've seen what it looks like when it's gone.
One of my clients recently sent me an email saying how much he missed working with me, which was really nice. It's good to be appreciated and missed. Today, I met a new client, and she mentioned my former client, saying that he had been talking me up as one of his top favorite lawyers to work with. Secondhand compliments are extremely effective, especially when paired with direct ones.
We had dinner at Saison for Boyfriend's birthday. The food and service were excellent, and we got to go meet the chef in the kitchen. I think that my favorite thing, though, was that they played this nostalgic 80s playlist to keep the atmosphere light. They even played Rick Astley. Yes, the fancy restaurant Rickrolled us.
Today marks eight weeks since I started doing this gym thing (although two of those weeks were vacation and shouldn't be counted), which is much longer than I usually last (especially without a buddy). Part of the success so far is because I really want to lose a few pounds and not have to buy new clothes, but part of it is that I've found an app that lets me track food and exercise down to a level of detail that has triggered my weird obsession with numbers. As much as I hate exercising and skipping treats, I'm oddly enjoying finding ways to put in smaller food numbers and bigger exercise numbers. I think it's actually working, too... I've got lots of TV loaded onto my tablet, and I've ordered a couple more pieces of gym clothes, so I don't have to constantly do laundry, so I'm hoping to hit my goal by the end of the year.
Legal picnic today, and I took advantage of booth the face painting booth and the henna booth.
Never underestimate the power of a random compliment from a stranger. In this case, it was the checkout girl from the pet supply store, commenting that my skin was "glowing." I stammered out that I had just been sweating at the gym, but have been rejoicing in it ever since then. I may be another year older, but so far, so good.
I had a dream last night in which Boyfriend was inexplicably wearing a hydrangea print romper to a party at Walmart. I wish I could record my dreams, because he looked pretty hilarious.
It was amazing to see hundreds of pipers competing in Glasgow, of all ages and many levels. I think it inspired us to practice more, and I think seeing and hearing the music actually made me understand it a bit more, which has in turn made practicing a bit easier. I bought Boyfriend a set of electric bagpipes for his upcoming birthday, so that he can practice with headphones when I'm home.
We saw something like sixteen performances while we were in Edinburgh, most of which were good, and some of which were excellent. It was really cool seeing such a variety of shows, sometimes up to four in one day. When they were great, it was great, and when they weren't, we weren't so disappointed, because we had plans to go to a lot more. I feel like in normal life, I go see performances so infrequently that it's a big production to go, and so I have much higher expectations, more potential for disappointment, and less room for whimsy. Loved it.
Apparently, working in an open plan office, elbow to elbow with your neighbors, changes your expectations a lot. I just moved offices, and the three-person office I'm in now seems ridiculously spacious and eerily quiet.
June was killing my reading productivity (but totally worth it for I/O). I didn't read as much as I thought I would for most of our vacation, because we were so busy doing things, but I started regaining ground the last day or two, and have been making up for lost time since getting back. Currently reading books 98, 99, and 100, and hoping to be back on track for 150 by next week.
You wouldn't think a trip to Scotland and Iceland would be a trip for meeting up with friends, but we got to see a couple friends from Switzerland (and their baby) right before leaving San Francisco for our trip, two friends in Edinburgh (one in from London and one in from New York), and then met up with a friend and her husband for dinner in the Denver airport on the way home.
I have something of a fascination with respect to music from Iceland, so it was really cool when Boyfriend said he had researched some music shops in Reykjavik. We spent a couple hours at one, listening to a bunch of CDs (they let you open and listen to anything they have). I bought some and made note of a bunch of others to look into later. Then on the fight from Reykjavik to Denver, I realized that Icelandair has tons of music you can pick from, so I even found some more music on the flight. Leave it to Iceland's airline to have surprisingly awesome music on board.
So many frabjous things happened over the last few weeks (many relating to our two week vacation to Scotland and Iceland), that I kind of froze up and was too overwhelmed to pick particular things to post about. That's a pretty great reason not to post, but I will think about it and start posting some in retrospect, now that the frabjousness is less overwhelming.
I went to buy new jeans last weekend because the ones I usually wear were wearing out. I found two pairs that cost 99 dollars each and I couldn't make up my mind. Then I realized that most jeans cost two or three times as much a pair, so I bought both. Bargain.
All packed and ready to go, and everything fit into carry-on! Spending the evening catching up with friends in town from Switzerland. Yay, vacation!
One of my coworkers from London cane through and brought me Crunchie bars! Haven't had one in years, but I was kind of obsessed with them in college, so this is exciting.
I got to meet an author, get a signed copy of his latest book, and eat lunch with him and some other cool people. The funny thing is that he was probably just as happy, because he got to talk to folks from NY team, and try out Glass and the self-driving car.
Not sure which was the best part of the day: getting a Nexus 7, lobster rolls, sushi, table massage, or spending three hours after work executing an elaborate prank.
All kinds of people reach out to meet my awesome teammates. I am coordinating a visit from an author, and perhaps one from an actor, as well.
I bought some workout clothes today. I think I may be committing myself to some active effort to lose the extra pounds, which would be a good thing.
Meeting up with a college friend on our Scotland trip, and catching three comedy shows together!
Not legible in this picture, but just spotted on a banner being pulled by a plane: "In case you forgot, I'm still sorry."
One of the engineers invited me to paintball last week. I got back from vacation today to find one of the more impressive pranks I've seen (coworker turned my desk into a lawn). This week, there's poker night with some of the team, and some other people are getting drinks up in the city. Had lunch today and discussed nerdy cartoons from the 80s. I may not make it to all of the events, but it's good to know that people on the team feel like including me in random things. I think I'm settling in.
Calamansi juice at Whole Foods, which takes me back to our idyllic vacation to Palau and Yap two years ago...
One of the people I met is a pilot and developer with Swiss, and was surprised when I greeted him in Swiss German. We chatted a bit, and he gave me some chocolate, which brings back memories of my many flights on Swiss. We also exchanged business cards, and I offered to give him a campus tour next time he comes in town, and he offered to try to help me get better seats on flights. Not a bad trade.
It was super fun helping with the developer pre-order at the conference. I got to meet lots of excited people and tell them a little bit about Glass, and I don't think I was completely prepared for the level of interest and excitement. I also want completely prepared for the night out with the team afterwards, so my old self is skipping the party tonight to relax at home.
I'm staying at my friend's place for a couple nights to be close to I/O. After a couple years of house living, I totally forgot that hot water always comes instantly in an apartment.
Also, check out the view from his place.
I'm not the best housekeeper ever, but Boyfriend was pretty impressed when he came home today, and I had done laundry and dishes, collected and taken out the trash, compost, and recycling, and started tidying up the house a bit in anticipation of the cleaning lady coming tomorrow. I also put Fiver through his bath-teeth-nails-ears ritual. Not bad for my messy self. Boyfriend claims that this was not the reason for the flowers and steak.
It's kind of liberating to be able to tell my mom that no, I really, truly don't want or need her to get me anything for my birthday, because I'm doing fine on my own, and that I really would be perfectly happy if she gives the money to her family back in Taiwan, instead.
Boyfriend went to the store to buy steak for dinner, and brought back these.
Also, we're having steak for dinner.
I just went through my bag of foreign money to sort out my pounds and pence for the upcoming trip (more than five weeks away, but it's fun to start thinking about), and remembered how much fun it is to look at all these souvenirs from past trips. One little bag has money from dozens of countries...
Two years after moving into this house, I finally realized that the key fits into these little monkey holders. I had one on my house key when I was living in Zurich, and it was kind of exciting to put one on again.
It has been decades since I've cracked open an egg with twin yolks. I'm going to take that as a good omen.
Had a mini work reunion last night, so we ended up with four lawyers and a law student hanging out after a stressful week all around, a little bit giddy about getting together and blowing off some steam, and ended up blowing off more steam than expected. After champagne, wine, beer, rum, Coke, vodka picklebacks, and liberal doses of Rock Band, YouTube, pizza, and ice cream, we went to sleep as the sun came up. Yes, it was a drunken lawyer sleepover, and it was hilarious fun.
Care package from abroad, sent by friends via the luggage of a coworker. My gummy and chocolate supplies were dwindling to dangerously low levels, so this will tide me over for a while.
My biggest work headache, the one that has woken me up at odd hours and find its way into my dreams (which is unusual, as my dreams usually go towards surreal rather than real) may have become a lot less of a headache.
Lobster rolls for lunch today! I ordered one for later, because I had already made lunch plans to meet up with the one student I've interviewed so far who then got in and matriculated to my alma mater. So I got to catch up with her and eat a lobster roll.
I invited my entire group over for a beer and donut burger cookout tomorrow. Lead software engineer had our product team over for a fancier affair tomorrow. Founder having us over at his place soon. I hope no one notices that mine is the least fancy.
It seems that the trick to making people like your presentation is lots of pictures, which works out, because that's the part I like doing best.
Another day, another pleasant surprise. Some days I can't believe I get paid to do this, and then it gets even better. This is one of those days.
Engineer coworker left his computer unlocked. I updated a few things, some of which he discovered. Big hat tip for deciding that he liked having "pull my finger" as his chat status at work.
Me, do a big demo? It just might happen. I actually did a happy dance at work when the possibility was raised.
Got not one, not two, but three email pats on the head from the product manager in the last 24 hours, so I feel like I'm getting some hard-earned legal street cred on this team.
Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you, tomorrow, you're only a day away. A little over seventeen hours until the moment I've been anticipating for weeks...
I think I might have found some unexpectedly workable solutions for what seemed like nearly insurmountable problems at work, and it was like the sky opened up and poured sunbeams of salvation on me. Then I was able to leave work on the early side, thereby extending my long weekend by a few hours.
You know what's even better than pranking your coworker by making his wife think he was fired? Changing his chat status, mission statement, and auto-responder right afterwards.
Five simultaneous explosions at work, of varying levels of urgency. The most immediate one appears to be resolved, and I've made significant progress on the next few just in the last couple of days. It's going to be a long haul for the next month, I think, but I'm learning a lot. A period of terrifying chaos and long days makes the lull at the end of the tunnel look more beautiful. Keep going towards the light...
Yesterday, we celebrated Fiver's twelfth birthday. He got to skip his bath, and partake in some normally forbidden human food: cheeseburger with tomato, ham, and mango. He also got some extra dog treats. I think that's a good birthday for a dog.
The secret to an exciting burger, apparently, is to hide spicy chicken Italian sausage on the inside.
Saw a coworker playing a gig with his band on Friday, and had I known some Flo Rida song, they would have had me do it. Movie and burgers in the backyard with another coworker yesterday. This was pretty much the most awesome weekend in a long time. I did a little bit of work, but it was totally overshadowed by all the play.
And at Maker Faire, I got a thing to watch the eclipse, so when I got home I watched it, and it was cool, and I got to share it with a couple of families who passed my way, and the kids' wonder gave me some hope that science and learning aren't dead. Perfect day.
Randomly decided to go with a friend to Maker Faire today, and it was a million kinds of awesome. Great weather, good vibe, and the most fascinating intersection of creativity, whimsy, innovation, cleverness, hacking, tinkering, and joy.
Hooray for jasmine season, the best-smelling season of the year, which also coincides with the best weather of the year!
Who says you can't get anything done when you're being lazy? I didn't set foot outside my house this weekend, and I still read over 1300 pages, had a quasi-work-related VC, practiced bagpipes, watched about six hours of TV, gave Fiver a bath, did the dishes, called my mom, watched a movie, and caught up with friends in Switzerland.
Only days remain until I get my happy little paws on a new gadget to test, if all goes smoothly. Days...
Uncontrollable giggles today when one of the engineers told me to navigate through a menu and then told me to pick an option and "tap that." Odd sense of satisfaction when he and the other engineers and product managers in the conversation were surprised that a lawyer would laugh at something like that.
Law on the bleeding edge is tricky territory, so it's satisfying when you get a question that ends up being easily answered, and the answer is exactly what you were hoping to hear.
One of my colleagues pinged me today to say people really liked my presentation last week, and that they want to use it as a model for the training series they're doing on various legal topics, to show the presenters how to keep their presentations interesting. I think I had an unfair advantage with the content I was presenting, but I was still flattered.
Fiver and I have a new work neighbor for the week. We played some fetch and tug today, and she totally cracked me up when she went swimming in the fountain.
One good thing about having the house to myself is that I can turn up the music and sing along as loudly as I want.
Surprisingly, after a slightly slow start, I seem to be on track to hit 150 books again this year, although it's early days yet, and we'll see if it holds. Some real stunners so far, too.
It's kind of adorable that whenever he has to travel on business, Boyfriend stocks up on groceries and makes lots of reheatable food for me so that I won't go hungry from a combination of his absence and my laziness.
Made it through a presentation to the legal department about Project Glass, and it went pretty smoothly.
Third surprise present (from a different coworker this time) in less than a week! I will need to plan the best days to wear this based on meeting schedules.
I have vivid dreams that usually bear no relation to reality and range from horrifying to bizarre to beautiful. Last night, at the end of one if my dreams, I watched fireworks like no fireworks I've ever seen. They looked like supernovas and galaxies and mushroom clouds and all kinds of huge events of creation and destruction. To cap it off, there was no smoke, and the stars were shining almost as brightly as the fireworks, and my dream self took pictures on my smartphone, and they came out perfectly. It was pretty awesome.
Girls' night last night. Now I'm going to try one of my new lounge chairs and read in the back yard until Boyfriend breaks in the new grill to make burgers for dinner.
Boyfriend got me something extra when he went out for the weekly shopping this morning.
A friend pinged me today asking me to stop by his office because he had a package for me, which was a fun surprise. This is the result of his random, quirky generosity.
Got to my desk in the Legal building today to see that my coworker recently returned from a vacation in China had gotten an inside joke made into a chop, used it to stamp a piece of paper, framed it, and left it on my desk. Classic.
