bump

I'm waiting to board my flight, and the desk paged me. I went up and asked what was going on, and I had been inexplicably bumped to business class, which is HUGE when you're on a full 11-hour redeye!

twenty hours

By this time tomorrow, I should be asleep on a plane, perhaps somewhere over the Midwest, and on my way to Zurich.

pb&c

Reese's cups in the microkitchen!

hurts so good

Whoever said that money can't buy happiness never used that money to pay for a really good massage, which then went overtime.

in the black

I just realized the other day that after ten years of being in the red from law school loans (and more recently, buying a car), 2010 is the year I made it back into the black. I still have student loans (government loans have such low interest that it isn't really worth paying them off yet) and a car loan, but my bank account balance is higher than my debts. I finally have positive net worth!

meet the parents

My boyfriend's parents met my family for the first time tonight, and it all went really smoothly. Quick postmortem seems to indicate that everyone liked everyone else.

bargain

I bought a pair of shorts today that were on sale, and when I went to pay for them, they were another 30% off!

relief

It's always such a relief to finally do something you were putting off, and then find out that it wasn't as complicated or time-consuming as you had anticipated. I came into the office today to do some work, and it took less time and mental power than I could have dared to hope. Whew.

glorious apollo

My dog loves to sunbathe, and is content to spend hours lying in whatever patch of sunlight is available. Even better is if I drag one of his beds into the light for him.

shiny

The pedicure lady did a really good job today, and I like the color. The picture doesn't really do her work or the nail polish justice.

on track

After getting a Kindle last October, I set a goal to read at least 40 books a year. Since then, I've been reading books on Kindle, mostly, but also listening to books on CD and reading physical books from the library, and I've kept up an avergae pace of a book a week, which means I'll hit the 40-book target really early. It's great to set a goal to do more of something that I enjoy, and then exceed expectations.

dumplings

Quick, easy, cheap, and always delicious.

good day

New office building, summary judgment, and champagne.

yt ftw

Internet: 1, Old Media: 0.

It was an exciting day at work today.

good deed

I got two packages at work today, but one of them wasn't for me. The store accidentally sent someone else's package to me, in addition to mine. I was a tiny bit tempted for a moment, but then called the store, had them fax me a new shipping label, taped it up, and sent it back out. The shock in the sales girl's voice that I had called to tell them about the mistake was worth it.

soon

Whoa, I'm going to Zurich next week! That's really soon. It's been over a year since I last visited, so it will be really good to check in with my crew there. And to stock up on my favorite gummy candy.

work in progress

Still in the process of settling in, but my new office will suit me just fine.

different comfort food

Comfort food, like my mom's pork roast, has always been an easy way to make myself feel good, but it only recently occurred to me that there could be other kinds of comfort food.

When I was young, we didn't have cable TV, and we only had a handful of movies that my parents had recorded off of broadcast TV, including such kid-pleasers as The Ten Commandments, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Ben Hur, and On Golden Pond. My sister and I, during our summers at home, generally gravitated towards Gone With the Wind, a compilation of Christmas specials, and above all, The Sound of Music. I'm not sure that it's possible to count the number of times I've watched that movie, partly because we liked it, and partly because there was nothing else to watch. My freshman year of high school, our school did a production of the stage version, so it became even more deeply ingrained in my memory.

Until this year, when my niece got into musicals, it had probably been at least 20 years since the last time I had seen the movie, but I can still recite some scenes line for line along with the actors (and, to the chagrin of my boyfriend, lyric for lyric during the musical numbers: "Happy are they, lay-dee-o lay-dee-lee-o! O lay-dee-o lay-dee lay-dee-lee-o!"). Seeing it again with my niece made me realize that the movie is the audiovisual equivalent of comfort food for me, so I ordered it through Amazon -- although it's really just by chance that it played such a big part of my formative years (although I don't think Tora! Tora! Tora! really had any chance), putting it into the DVD player takes me back to a time when the worst thing to worry about was whether Nazis would catch the Von Trapps after the big concert. 

Watching it is like catching up with an old friend (and discovering new things about that friend, since I had only ever watched it on a bad VHS tape on a small TV, with scenes cut out to make room for 1980's commercials -- it's very different when it's been remastered, with no cut scenes, on a big, widescreen TV with a real stereo system). 

miscellaneous

Clean house, chocolate pudding, artichoke and butter, computer with a fixed mouse button, book on CD, and maybe a favorite old DVD. Friday evening.

b(a)lt

I hadn't gone to the made-to-order sandwich line at work for a while; I had kind of forgotten about it, but I'm back with a vengeance. Yesterday, I got a tuna melt (plus sprouts, avocado, and sundried tomato spread), and today, I got a BLT (with avocado and sprouts). I gave half of my B(A)LT to my boyfriend, who didn't have time to grab anything before a lunch meeting, so after the meeting, I went back for another round. Yum.