this

My big prank, and the team cape I won because of the big prank.

time's up

The time came even sooner than expected, but I take comfort in two things. First, it happened when I was there, at the end of a day of sunbathing and love, and there was no vet and no needle around. Second, only the greatest love can leave such a hole where my heart should be, leaving my chest and even my palms aching. Everyone should have love like that.

I love you forever, Fiver. You changed my life (I moved to Switzerland and California because of you) and taught me so much. I miss you like crazy.

my people

My boyfriend is the only reason I'm barely getting through this. He skimps on sleep to go to the vet with me, or to check on me and Fiver. He runs errands and makes suggestions for care, he gives me hugs and makes me food. He covers for me at work and makes difficult phone calls that I can't face. He's going to be the one to pick up the pieces when the time comes.

My sister has a crazy life, with three kids and lots of work, but she still drops everything when I need her.

I don't want to lose my dog, but at least I have my people.

love is love

The outpouring of messages and support I've gotten in the past couple days has been incredible. My world is full of love, and as quickly as my heart empties, it fills up again.

my dog

It hasn't been a good couple of days, but I'm lucky that even in the middle of launch, my coworkers recognize that my dog comes first, so I can be home with him every last minute. I'm lucky to love him and lucky to be loved by him. My world and my life have been so much better with him in it, which I keep trying to remember as I prepare myself to face my world and life without him.

thirteen hours

Not much longer until my big idea goes live. We probably spent almost 200 man hours on it, and came in on time and under budget. I'm pretty excited.

second impressions

I admit that I am quick to form first impressions of people and slow to change them. Some of my closest friends are people that I initially thought were either enemy or acquaintance material. I never learn, and am always pleasantly shocked when I end up liking someone that I initially wrote off based on first impressions.

inspiration strikes

That moment when you have the idea for what may be either the most brilliant or the most career-ending prank you've ever thought up. I had that moment today. Only one way to find out which one it is.

working late

After eating dinner at work, I was studying up on some product plans, when Founder came by again for more brainstorming. I suppose this is the mark I'm making. Can I change my job title from Senior Counsel to Senior Prankster?

feeling better

Fiver is much more like his usual self, thanks to some pain killers, muscle relaxants, and special food from the vet. It's good to see him walking around and showing interest in things again. Hopefully his back was just temporarily tweaked, and not permanently hurt.

say my name

Founder came looking for me today and knew my name. He wanted to brainstorm ideas for a prank.

special project

I might get to do something very cool next month.

personal record

I took what may be the worst picture ever taken of me. On Boyfriend's phone. So early in the morning one day that I forgot taking it. It's so bad that it makes me laugh until I cry. Not posting it.

break

A moment of levity in the midst of a big pile of crazy: founder-led group stretches in the middle of a team meeting.

my way

For months, I've been sneaking bites of Boyfriend's peanut butter jelly sandwiches, but yesterday, I decided to make one myself, and I would make it my way. I put a thin layer of peanut butter on both slices (to prevent jelly seepage), toast both slices, add the jelly, and cut the crusts off. Eating a whole sandwich made exactly the way I like it is so satisfying.

winter is going

Daylight Saving Time starts tonight, and the temperatures are supposed to reach the 70s this week.

take me back

I have been reading like crazy for the last few years, and only reading books I'd never read before. This week, I picked up an audio version of a book I loved in high school to listen to in the car, and it's like having an old friend along for the commute each day.

biggest fan

Fiver hasn't been eating much lately, so in a fit of desperation, I gave him some canned dog food mixed in with his kibble. He now stalks and worships me in the hope of getting more.

make it so

So I think my idea for our project is actually going to happen. Product manager has been talking through functionality and possible implementation, and I'm kind of excited about it.

Also, Kishi Bashi is still rocking my musical socks off. And he replies to emails.

qotd

Glass is a big conversation starter. Maybe my favorite quote so far was from a woman at the show last night who said "You look like the future!"

features

I love being able to test features and suggest new ones. Just suggested one today that I really hope we do, and got three new things to test, as well.

yesterday was awesome

I took the day off (I've never taken a random day off midweek before, and it was pretty great), went to the spa with my sister, after which we grabbed lunch and did some shopping. Went to dinner with Boyfriend and a coworker, then her boyfriend joined us to see Kishi Bashi in concert. Best show I've been to in a long time, his music is fun, and his live show is even better. We were in the front row, I got a shout out from the opener for wearing Glass, and we got to meet both of them after the show (and yes, I got a picture with him and I made a comment about how I had bought all of his music online, so I couldn't get him to sign anything, unless he could sign the internet, and he made a silly comment that he would sign my internet, if you know what I mean, and it was a fun fan moment). If only I hadn't had work today, we would have hung out afterwards.

spy vs. spy

Some of the security stuff that we do makes me feel like a secret agent, except that I don't carry a gun or get in car chases.

pdx

Portland was full of delicious food and friendly people. Definitely would go back.

new phone

So shiny and new...

thursday afternoon live

Product demos are cool, but I especially love product demos that go hilariously off the rails.

all systems go

We hit another big milestone in our launch plans in the middle of the night last night, by opening up our product site (including an application process for people to apply to become early users).

Also, I found out last night that tickets for The Postal Service (who were probably my favorite band about 9 years ago) were going on pre-sale this morning, and I just picked up a pair. It's apparently a good week for buying concert tickets.

crying

Until last night, it had been quite some time since I had laughed until I cried. Thank you, YouTube, for the squeaky frog.

plans

We're going to Portland next weekend (so far, plans include a bookstore, a donut place, two brunches, and two dinners)! 

Also, while poking around to find things to do in Portland when we're not eating, I noticed that Kishi Bashi is playing while we're there, but the show is sold out. Turns out he's playing a few nights later in Santa Cruz, so I got tickets to that show, instead. It'll be a bit late to be out on a work night, but it will be good to see some live music.

sun-day

I'm not the only one who looks forward to the end of rainy season. Fiver can sunbathe for hours on end.

sprung

The trees are starting to bloom, and there are more birds singing outside our bedroom. I even went without a jacket yesterday. I think spring might be here.

thinking ahead

These came for me today. June, come faster!

almost over

Is winter on its way out? Daylight Saving Time starts in less than four weeks, and the weather forecast for this week is sunny every day, with temperatures breaking 70 on Friday. Could spring be coming? Please please please...

that feeling

That feeling when your nose stops running, even without the help of Sudafed.

savor

Sometimes when I read a book that is really well written, I take lots of breaks, to make it last longer.

forgotten treasure

I was thinking about jaffa cakes yesterday, and wishing they were more widely available in the US. Then, as I was looking for a charger I haven't seen in a while, I came across a box of jaffa cakes from our trip to Scotland. They're rather stale, but I'm still eating them.

villa

The villa we're staying in in Cyprus is ridiculous. Look at it.

hearsay

Overheard (over-read?) on Google+:

"IANAG [I am not a Googler] but by virtue of where I live, I meet a lot of them and don't ask what they do besides a job title, if that. Just the other day I was recounting the SuperBowl party I went to and I mentioned off-hand "and there was a lawyer there named Angela something and she was wearing Glass".

My friend said, "That was Angela blahblahblah, she's pretty high up on blah." To which I responded, "Sweet. She was really chill." and carried on with my story."

Heh, I'm curious who it was that identified me, amused that they thought I am "pretty high up" on anything, and glad that this guy thought I was "really chill," despite the fact that I often feel extremely awkward around strangers and have been crazy stressed about work lately.

customer service

Two notes:

My dentist is amazing. She is super friendly. My dog can come to her office. When I cracked a filling over the weekend, I was able to reach her on her cell and she even called me the next day to check on me. She squeezed me in without an appointment today to take a look.

If you show up to the spa early for your steam room/hot tub rental, and your room isn't being used, sometimes they just give you the extra time for free.

sanity intact

Just when I thought things were getting unmanageable at work (there may have been a few secret tears alone in the office on Friday night), I had room to breathe today, because I got so much done yesterday that people have to review and comment before I can do more. So a day of relative respite, with time to see my sister, time to catch up with people in Legal, time to go to dinner with a few people, and still get home before 8. Things are about to get crazy again, so I'm glad to have had a day to be sane.

new gadget

While I'm waiting for my new phone, I have a new Chromebook to play with. Shockingly, it's small enough to fit in my shoulder bag, so I totally got some work done when we were up in the city watching the Super Bowl yesterday.

nexus 4

It's finally available again, and it's even available as a corporate device, so I've ordered one and am looking forward to some shininess.

come together

What a roller coaster. Work has been extremely busy, and things were looking frantic but positive on Thursday, then frantic and bad on Friday, then today, things have started to come together again. Never a dull moment these days. I think the technical term for how much I've been getting done is a "crap load." So, on the plus side, I'm learning a ton and getting a lot done, and I may have gotten my voice back, after losing it to heartburn for a while. Also, I may have inadvertently restarted my weight loss program.

moar

More gummies, hand-delivered by a friend over the weekend!

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.

question answered

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.

choco-what?

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."

exceeds expectations

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.

plans

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.

crunch time

Five days left in the year, and I'm 2.25 books away from hitting 150. I think I'm gonna make it!

the lorax

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.

family dinner

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.

double rainbow

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.

tis the season

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).

read my mind

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.

hairdo

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.

cryptic

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.

dress up

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.

achievement unlocked

Never has making and eating a piece of wheat toast felt like such an impressive accomplishment.

bright side

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.

free

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.

friend in need

My headache remedy apparently works on my cousin's vicious headaches, too.

new again

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!

sushi

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.

making a list

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!

good job

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.

cheap thrills

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.

targeted

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?

believer

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.

cooking class

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.