visitor

Annual visit from an old friend who lives in London happened last night.

care package

Last thing I did before leaving work late on Friday was pick up a care package from the mail room. Jaffa cakes, chocolate, and gummy candy + Friday night = good end to the week.

room set

The only thing better than coming home from work and changing into my pajamas is coming home from work on a Friday and changing into my super comfortable Japanese pajamas, strangely named "room set."

happy new year

Happy, indeed. The last couple weeks had lots of frabjousness:

• A last-minute failed test and successful resuscitation of a cranky old underwater camera strobe, just in time to take it on the trip
• A three-star meal at Sushi Mizutani in Tokyo: uni that made us forget why we don't usually like uni, needlefish, otoro to make your mouth weep
• Another three-star meal at Ryu Gin, also in Tokyo: resident owls in the waiting room, an introduction to cod milt, perfectly cooked mackerel that tasted nothing like mackerel, a tangerine dessert that was the love-child of pop rocks, sherbet, and pie
• Two nights at the Four Seasons in Tokyo, which may be the best hotel ever (lovely rooms, excellent staff, and they even bring you and your 150+ pounds of dive gear and luggage to the train platform)
• Baffling but funny ads on the train
• Two nights at the Ritz, where we could watch the sun set behind Mount Fuji
• Reunion meals with my host sister from Japan, a law school friend, and a friend from my Zurich days
• Hot ginger ale in a can from a vending machine, both strange and delicious
• A reprieve from winter, complete with swimsuits, flip flops, and sunscreen
• 20 dives in Palau, where we reveled in being in the water again (has it really been over two years?), saw mantas on our first dive, lost count of the sharks, and saw the strangest crabs on our night dive
• Stars in the sky, phosphorescent plankton in the water
• A hilarious Christmas Eve with the other guests, including attempts to translate joked from English to Chinese to Japanese and back, an impromptu sumo contest, and experimental drinks made with sriracha
• One of the oddest people we've ever met, and will remember forever through a series of catchphrases
• Not a single episode of puking, despite taking minimal Dramamine and going on the boat every day
• Zero email access for over ten days
• Island puppies who loved to lick the salt water from our dive gear
• Lots of reading (twelve books in eighteen days), bringing my year-end tally to 114
• Upon returning, a dog completely overwhelmed with joy and excitement, and parents who have decided that they love this new dog
• A couple of light work days, to ease back into the idea without too much strain, then a weekend to forget about it again

first class

I secretly never wanted the twelve hour flight to end.

puff

My lightweight down jacket from Uniqlo arrived just in the nick of time.

fixit

I fixed the flash for my underwater camera housing all by myself, with a toothbrush and some vinegar. And some advice from an engineer.

that moment

When you turn your out of office auto responder on and tell your phone to stop syncing with the work server.

dibs

After getting through this day, I decided that I get to sit closer to the space heater than Henry does for the evening, which makes up for the fact that we're actually getting temperatures down in the 30's at night this week.

rough day

It was a rough day, so it's probably important to note that there were some highlights: toffee chocolate chip cookies, a friend meeting Henry for the first time and saying he might be "too cute," Henry humping another office dog with complete abandon, eating leftovers from my mom for dinner.

socialites

This was a more active weekend than usual, which isn't hard, given my tendencies towards weekend sloth. Tons of errands yesterday, then a coworker's housewarming, then a couple people came by the house afterwards to hang out and have some wine.  Brunch with friends from out of town today. Not as restful as the usual routine, but lots of fun.

so special

I feel so special. I got a preview copy of Daniel Suarez's next book in the mail, it's coming out in February! Hoping to bring him back to Google to give another talk, he's a really good guy who writes bestselling techno thrillers.

like butter

Boiled artichoke, melted butter. Yum.

once a year

Thanksgiving means my brother-in-law's prime rib and my sister's bourbon sweet potato souffle. So good, even reheated.

aroo

Every evening around 6, a bunch of neighborhood dogs have an all-out howl-fest for about one minute, and then they stop.

greetings

It's pretty much impossible to go a week without meeting another neighbor or getting invited to dinner or drinks at someone's house. Today it was our neighbors across the street, an older gay couple who also offered to bring in our mail during vacation. Is this what it was like in the 1950s, but with updated political views?

short weeks

I took a long weekend last week, and thus weekend is Thanksgiving, which means only two full work weeks to go until we go to Palau!

wfh

Working from home once a week is kind of awesome. Never did it much before, because it seemed silly, given how close I lived to work, but now that my commute is a bit longer, I'm making it a thing, and loving it.

new direction

Last weekend (not this past weekend), I met up with a college friend to hear the Stanford Chamber Chorale sing a concert under the direction of our college conductor, who was a key figure in our college experience. He even remembered my last name, after all these years.

bribery

My team totally gave me some gummy candy that they had been holding back for a couple months to apologize for the amount of work they've been piling on for a big launch last week, and I'm OK with that.

separation anxiety

And then today, I reunited with Henry after our first separation in the five months since we adopted each other.

vegas baby vegas

Spent this past weekend with my sister and cousin in Vegas. We gambled a whole dollar, did some light shopping and heavy eating, and watched a show.

room service

Is there anything quite like sleeping in, and waking from a light doze because your boyfriend is bringing you a buttered toasted bagel and coffee?

hi neighbor

Next door neighbor rang the doorbell today, and I braced myself for some kind of complaint about contractor noise and prepared to apologize for whatever we'd done wrong. She just wanted to invite us over for drinks to get to know each other, which ended up lasting for over two hours.

dog god

The new house is on the chilly side, so Henry has started devoutly worshipping the space heater in the living room.

maintenance

Finally got in for a facial (after a year-long gap) and a pedicure (after a 2.5 month gap). Hoping to get a haircut before crossing the six month mark.

lightly

Finally figured out that the "light loop" on Henry's jacket is to clip on a safety light, so I got one for Henry and one for Jersey (on sale), and a headlamp for me (also on sale) for our dark winter walks. I also unpacked some night lights (and my boyfriend-notifying doorbell). Slow and steady...

it just works

Our new router doesn't have to be rebooted multiple times per day.

old is new

Today's happy moment: unpacking Henry's toys and watching him get all excited about toys he hasn't played with in weeks.

see clearly

I went to the eye doctor to get new contacts in preparation for our upcoming dive trip, and found out that I will only pay a minimal co-pay for the exam, fitting, and a year's worth of contacts because my prescription is so bad that they're a medical necessity and insurance covers even the part that most people have to pay out of pocket, even with insurance.

fan mail

Yesterday at lunch, Henry made friends with a little boy, who blew him some enthusiastic kisses before I told his mom that Henry is fine with kids and that they could meet each other up close. Dad said that at bedtime, his son asked for a picture of Henry. Henry has a fan club!

type aa

My manager told me today that the only expectations I'm not meeting are my own, and that I shouldn't try so hard to get everything done perfectly and on time, and that some stuff will drop. On one hand, it was good to know that I'm not quite as bad as I think I am, but on the other hand, I don't really know how to do less.

coming soon

Maybe it's time for a little bit of self indulgence? Ordered the Hyperbole and a Half book, as well as a Chromecast. Watched some of my favorite YouTube videos. Put in an order for Google Shopping Express to deliver some staples to the house so we won't have to schlep things up the stairs. Hopefully this will make up for the ongoing plumbing and dryer repair drama, as well as our suspicion that there are furry critters living in the walls.

corner

I think I may have turned a corner. We're in the new house and gradually checking off the things we need to do here, including a scary visit from an emergency plumber who then required backup. All of the interviewing I've been doing has resulted in one offer, which will make my life a lot easier when the person shows up. Three of my deals closed in the last couple days. There is some hope that this underwater tunnel of darkness ends.

not catching up

Work and moving logistics got busy. Both are still busy, but we made it into the new house yesterday after two miracle saves by a last-minute donation pickup and some insanely skilled movers who accomplished what three other moving companies said was impossible, the new house is lovely, the neighbors are friendly (we met more in one day than I've met in years), we ate lobster rolls at a nearby place for our first meal, the cell reception is amazing, today was our fifth anniversary, I saw four deer, the cable guy is getting us set up in the morning, our old house is clean and we're handing it back to the landlord tomorrow.

catching up

Caught up with friends after a bit of a hiatus (yay) and found out that Margaret Atwood has a new book (also yay).

seen today

You know what's cool? Hummingbirds.

this week

No matter how rough this week seems, there are at least two groups of people we can watch on TV who have it worse: the federal government, and the girls on Teen Mom 3.

lawyercat

One good thing about being in a lawyer couple is that we don't just have to take it when someone tries to screw us over. I never thought my job experience would be useful outside of paying the bills.

brown lining

The bad news is that Henry peed in his crate this morning, didn't really want to eat anything for breakfast or dinner, acted strangely at work, and had horrific gas and diarrhea today.

The good news is that once he let loose with the gas and diarrhea, his behavior went back to normal, his appetite and bladder control returned, probably because there was room for things other than poop and farts. I guess that rawhide binge the other night had terrible consequences that are hopefully done.

Poop solves everything.

wait there's more

One gummy straggler... You know my team is nice if they treat their lawyer this well.

reading

Strangely enough, despite drowning in work and house stuff, I'm having my most productive reading month since February. Not sure how that works, but the spreadsheet doesn't lie. Icing on the cake is that two books this month were star-worthy (I only give stars to the top 15% of the books I read).

and finally

One last installment from a visiting professor. How great is my team? Definitely a pick-me-up as I (not so) slowly drown at work. A coworker gets back from paternity leave on Monday, so I'm hoping things will start getting better once he's back.

continued

This time, the gummy store owner and my Dev Rel team combined forces to send me some gummy love.

then this happened

One of my engineers brought me gummy candy from my favorite store in Zurich.

not all bad

Last week had some highlights. Boyfriend brought me chocolate from a place I like in Harvard Square.

tgif

The best thing about a rough week is when it ends. Whew.

keeper

Boyfriend knows that I might manage to starve to death when I'm not at work and he's not at home, so when he goes out of town for a couple days, he gets extra food for me to eat, some of which is pictured here. Note that he cooked the burger patties and cut up the mangoes, because he knows that when I get desperately hungry, I get too weak and impatient to do things like use a knife or turn on the grill.

that feeling

When your dog poops on his final walk of the day, meaning that you can go back to the house and change into pajamas until the next day. And also, it's Friday.

it's official

I own half of a small piece of California, and half of a house. Craziest impulse purchase ever, but I think it's going to be fun.

cronuts

One of my coworkers owns a donut shop, and is playing around with a recipe for cronuts. I got to my desk this morning to this little surprise (without a bite taken out yet)!

purge

Time to do another purge of my belongings. A couple hours of sorting today has already yielded a giant bag of clothes and a stack of books. Next weekend, it's time to tackle the bathroom cabinets and the boxes in the garage, and after that, the storage closets and the guest room. I don't really like doing it, but the growing piles of stuff to donate, recycle, or throw away are encouraging.

timing is everything

After some waffling, I decided to take Henry on one last walk, and we happened to catch the perfect moment, with a double rainbow on the left (and it hasn't rained at all) and sunset on the right.

laughing all the way

Things that made me laugh today: Henry circling the speakers, trying to find the birds that he thought were trapped inside; a dream I had in which Boyfriend took it upon himself to buy me a bra, and ended up picking one that looked like a tube top with the brand name Dressy Bressy; mishearing something Boyfriend said as "tuckle," and googling it; old music videos by the Hooters.

jerk

I wanted a snack, but none of our usual snack food looked interesting, and then I remembered that at lunch yesterday, our friends gave us a few packets of their friend's fancy beef jerky. Score.

almost done

Spent almost an hour signing things yesterday. It should be official on Tuesday or Wednesday.

three day weekend

After going through a whirlwind month of juggling work, house stuff, and Henry, I definitely don't understand how people fit anything significant into their lives other than work. Yay for a long weekend!

first shipment received

First installment of my birthday present to Boyfriend received, and everything about it, down to the packaging, is awesome. Can't wait for the next batch to arrive.

ready for review

1,780 old photos, scanned from negatives, ready for review!

action packed weekend

Three visitors, Korean food, Vietnamese food, wine, gummy candy, gossip, brunch, shopping, pedicures, bubble tea, sushi, and a quick Google tour!

tomorrow

Two amazing college friends get in town tomorrow! Can't wait to hang out and catch up, go out for some meals, recount all the old stories, and pretend that we're just as young and fun as we ever were.

contingency plan

Contingencies lifted. This plan is moving along.

attorney client relationships

Yesterday, I checked my physical mailbox at work, and found two candy bars that one of my former clients (from when I worked on Google News) had sent my way out of the blue. He remembered I have a penchant for them, and sent them just for fun. I later met up for dinner with another former client (from when I worked on Google Collections) and we reminisced over bowls of ramen.

working phone

Exciting feature that we've never seen in a house before: has T-Mobile reception!

beef

Went out for a group birthday dinner on Saturday to eat some very special steak (Snake River Farms rib cap). Yum.

christmas in august

Brought all of my nephew's and nieces' birthday presents to them in one batch on Saturday. Yes, they were all late, but it was kind of like having Christmas in August.

burgers on demand

We have buns, grilled burger patties, sliced cheese, cooked bacon, sliced pickles, sliced tomatoes, and washed lettuce left over from last night. This means that I can have a homemade bacon cheeseburger within the minutes of deciding that I want one, without ever leaving the house.

100

I think we might have around 100 people coming to our house for donut burgers on Friday.

dogress report

Henry is house trained (no accidents in a month, although I still crate him at night or even he's home alone, just in case, mostly because I think he'd chew things). He's OK with cars now, still wary of buses and trucks. Getting better around strange dogs, and getting better at commands. He's such a friendly, curious puppy, it's hard to get him to focus, but when he does, he learns well. I have no complaints.

high definition

New TiVo is hi def, and I never really saw the point of high def till now.

progress report

I've been getting progress reports on Boyfriend's birthday present. I think it's going to be amazing.

dink

Double income, no kids is an amazing life if you're not a kid person. So many possibilities, so few obligations.

mine

I just my final car payment last week. The Prius is finally 100% mine.

omg

They picked us! Drinking port to celebrate.

cray

We might be about to do something really crazy this week.

cake

We may have had some birthday cake at work yesterday.

up and running

New TiVo is up and running. God, it feels good to have dual tuners, no commercials, and the TiVo UI again. It only took two trips to Comcast and lots of patient TiVo customer support to get it working. At least I had taken the day off for my birthday, and had the time to do it. Also squeezed in an allergy shot, filled up on gas, had a successful doggie play date, and had the first BLT of this year's tomato season. Not a typical birthday, but a good one nonetheless.

my little bichon

Henry's DNA test came back, and he's apparently 50% miniature pinscher (totally makes sense), and 25/25 bichon frise and English springer spaniel (what?). Now whenever he's crazy, I blame it on the bichon.

for me

Boyfriend got me a new TiVo and a print of Dr. Seuss's Sneetches for my birthday. Almost five years in, and he knows what I like.

dining out

Started my birthday weekend early last night with a dinner at Baume with Boyfriend.

figgy pizza

Boyfriend made pizza, and I tossed some fig and burrata salad from work on top. I went straight from low blood sugar crisis to total food coma in record time.

farting hippo puppet

Got this early birthday surprise in the mail from my college roommate. Sheer randomness + surprise package + old friend = complete awesomeness.

random ear pop

Didn't even know my ear needed to pop.

couch potato

After a late night last night, I dragged myself and my dog to class, where he did much better than last week, then we came home and napped on the couch for more than two hours.

you've got mail

On the way home from seeing The Postal Service with a friend from work. Their songs are just as good now as they were when they came out ten years ago.

high five

Henry gave a high five on command to someone other than me today! Also, I ordered a bunch of fun stuff for him to take advantage of a Petsmart sale, including a collar and leash with his info embroidered on  them that I'm disproportionately excited about.

negativity

Finally sent in all of my negatives for scanning (including two mystery rolls of film from ten years ago that I finally got developed, the pictures from which ended up being less exciting than the anticipation). Can't wait to have all of my college and law school pictures online.

little things

Boyfriend pinged me yesterday to tell me he had a little present for me. Yay, I love little presents! It was a skin for my phone, which makes it less slippery and decreases its tendency to hurl itself off of flat surfaces.

mule

A friend who recently moved to Zurich just got in town for work, and brought me five bars of chocolate.

spend to save

Things I spent money on or received in the mail in the last week or so (all of which was on sale or special offer: first class tickets to Tokyo (for our trip to Palau), human DNA test kits, doggie DNA test kits, pillowcases, and a Chromebook for my nephew's 10th birthday present.

missed you

We've gone without TiVo for about nine months now, because Comcast switched to all digital, and it wasn't working with my old analog TiVo. Today, with many forced reboots and stalled updates, I got it to work with one tuner, which is better than none, and still allows me to stubbornly refuse pay for Comcast DVR service or to buy a whole new TiVo.

benefits of belts

I haven't worn a belt since high school, but this week I discovered that wearing a belt means I can wear my comfortable fat jeans without worrying about having them fall off.

good dog

Henry is making great progress on walking nicely, with some help from cheese and a special harness, he is learning how to shake and high five, and he patiently let me file his nails and scrape tartar off his teeth tonight. We start training classes next week, and I have high hopes.

about time

Finally got a new watch battery today, in the course of running a ton of errands.

good guy

This is the kind of guy Boyfriend is: I was craving Thai food today, so he told me to phone in an order. I asked him what he wanted, and he said he didn't want any, he was just going to pick up my order for me.

kismet

On a quick walk before going to the allergist, Henry and I ran into a nice neighbor we had met once before, who was very sad that her dogs had passed away, but was considering getting a new one in the fall. Turns out she got one over the weekend, from the same shelter as Henry, and she's really happy.

We ran into Pepper on our evening walk, so instead of his usual tame walk, Henry got another wild backyard romp.

deja dive

We're dying to go on a long trip without email, and we're dying to go on a dive trip. Looks like we're combining the two to go back to Palau in December, with a brief so in Tokyo?

pepper

Henry and his new friend Pepper (pictured) had a play date tonight, running and wrestling for over an hour. Happy dogs make happy humans.

In other Henry news, house training is making more forward steps than backward ones, we're working on his fear of cars, he loves people and dogs, and he gets me out to meet neighbors, enjoy the magnolias and jasmine, and get some exercise.

one day more

Can't wait for the long weekend, even though we just got back from vacation two weeks ago! I'm going to catch up on sleep and reading, both of which have suffered due to work and dog.

dog days

It has been really hot lately, but in order to work on house training my dog and burn through some of his puppy energy, I've been taking him out for multiple walks a day. Upside: losing weight, watching him see lots of things for the first time, and having him collapse in my lap in full puppy exhaustion afterwards.