messenger

Got to deliver very happy news to a coworker today, which I pretended was thing to be bad news, just to get a rise out of her. The prank, the reveal, and her excitement totally made my day.

A4R-X1

We're FCC certified! This was my first big issue that I faced when joining my team at work, and it has been an adventure in learning how regulatory compliance works (it's complicated, and there can be twists and turns up until the very last minute). It amazes me that everything we do ends up getting dissected in every tech blog, even when there's almost no actual story to cover. There was even a news segment of a reporter standing outside our office with nothing to report. Apparently, no news is still big news.

sliding door

Every night, Boyfriend lets his dog out the sliding door to pee, and when the dog comes back in, both of our dogs get treats. Gotta love Pavlov, because my dog gets worked up into a spinning, squealing frenzy when Boyfriend opens the sliding door (and starts getting excited during the events that lead up to it, such as turning off the TV, saying "sliding door time," and standing up).

apple

This is an excellent apple.

nice pipes

I was worried about my bagpipe lesson today, because we had a long hiatus since the last lesson, I haven't had much time to practice in the last week, and I barely scrambled out of work in time to make it to the lesson... And then I totally kicked butt: the teacher said I did one section perfectly, and he could tell I'd been practicing.

more stress relief

Another great way to relieve stress is to make it to Friday, then go out with a bunch of girls from work, eat Korean barbeque, drink bad liquor, and spend three hours singing bad karaoke with tambourines.

stress relief

Sometimes the best stress relief is to throw yourself really hard into a long day at work, tackling the most stressful stuff head on and forcing some progress, rather than remaining paralyzed by sheer terror.

refresh

Time for a new computer at work. I've had this one for over 2.5 years, so I'm looking forward to getting a newer, faster, smaller one tomorrow.

out damn splinter

Finally dug a splinter out of my thumb a mere eleven days after I got it.

old friend

Hello, salt water taffy, I forgot you existed!

one day more

Our cleaning lady is coming tomorrow, after an end-of-year hiatus so long that the accumulated hair, fur, and dust balls were forming up into midget yetis. Can't wait to come home to the smell of freshly mopped floors tomorrow.

a bit slow

Lowering my reading goal this year to 100 instead of 150 takes the pressure out of it, and I can enjoy reading without feeling like I'm scrambling to keep pace. I'm reading at more of a 120 book pace, and it feels so relaxed.

healthier choice

Baked Cheetos are actually pretty good.

sleep tight

To help me in my quest to learn how to sleep properly, Boyfriend installed these super-opaque curtains in our bedroom today.

i have a dream

That I'll take some random three day weekends this year, because a three day weekend somehow feels disproportionately longer than a two day weekend.

try something new

It's so easy to fall into a routine when work is busy. I wear the same few sets of clothes, drive on the same streets, watch the same TV shows, talk to the same people, and even eat the same foods, day after day. Sometimes, doing something new can make everything else seem less repetitive, even if that something new is as small as trying a hole in the wall Korean restaurant (which we did last night) or making a peanut butter and pickle sandwich (as suggested by the New York Times a few months ago, and not as bad as it sounds).

booking

We booked some of our plane tickets today for a summer trip to go see friends in Zurich, spend some down time in Cyprus, and go to a wedding in Vienna. We'll be going with my favorite travel buddy ever (20+ countries and we're not only still talking to each other, we still want to travel together), and we've somehow also convinced a couple other friends to come, too. If only it were June already...

tgif

All-day privacy training yesterday somehow turned into late night karaoke with out-of-town coworkers at the oddest dive bar ever.

shark socks

hot/cold

It has been freezing lately. It has actually gotten below freezing at night, which is shocking for California. Boyfriend requested a heated mattress pad, and I got one for him. We only turn on his side, because I don't like heated beds, so he's happy, and I sneak my cold feet over to his side to warm up my toes.

fire extinguisher

I think the biggest work fire drill of recent weeks may have resolved itself this morning through careful reading and math?

free

My health insurance provider changed this year. I thought the coverage was staying the same, which is very good but when I went to go pick up a prescription today, it was free, which is even better.

bonk

They put up a new glass wall in my building at work last week. It had been a while since Fiver and I had walked there, so he had never seen the wall before. And his eyesight isn't what it once was. He totally ran into it at full speed and bounced off. He was unfazed, but I was very amused.

loofahhhh

Sister time is even better with a hot tub, steam room, and vigorous use of a loofah.

endless

If you would have told me three years and 400 books ago that I would still have a rolling "to read" list of over 70 books, I would have asked you if that could really be possible. I'm so glad it is, and that the world is full of an endless stream of interesting, silly, beautiful, awful, fun, depressing, and amazing books.

welcome back

Welcome back from winter break, TV! And an especially warm welcome to The Biggest Loser, with Jillian as a trainer again. It wasn't the same without her.

package

I love getting packages. Especially when they aren't just things that I ordered for myself.

perchance to dream

We just swapped the master and guest mattresses, because the master mattress has probably had about seven years of full time use, and the guest mattress has probably had about a month of actual use. Can't wait to start sleeping on a much firmer bed.

overnight stay

We had two different out of town friends visiting the city this weekend, scheduled for dinners on Friday and Saturday, so we decided to stay overnight, to minimize driving. It also meant we were able to stay out late on Friday and see other friends and hit some museums on Saturday. It was awesome catching up with so many people in less than 30 hours, and it almost felt like a weekend trip.

personal librarian

I woke up this morning and realized that it's Wednesday, which is the day the mobile library comes to work. I hadn't finalized my resolutions yet, but I knew that learning how to sleep better would be one of them. I sent a quick email to the guy who runs the mobile library, just in case he still had time to maybe put a sleep-related book on for me, but no worries if not.

He responded immediately and when I went to pick up my book, he had set aside six books on sleep disorders. So awesome.

first

First post of the new year!

Two things:

- I actually exceeded my reading goal and made it to 151 books for the year.

- If there is a greater simple pleasure than putting your ice cold feet on your boyfriend's warm belly, and experiencing the simultaneous pleasures of thawing your feet out and watching your boyfriend writhe in agony, I can't think of it.