sister time

Spent last weekend in Monterey with my sister celebrating her most recent milestone at work by eating sushi in the aquarium and spying on the prom in our hotel, and spending next weekend with her in Portland for a birthday trip. It's awesome getting to spend more time with her as her with schedule gets better and her kids get older.

all fixed

My car is all fixed up. We dropped it off before going to the summit, and picked it up right after getting back, and I didn't have to deal with a nasty rental car. If you're going to get your car hit in a parking lot, time it before a trip so that they can fix it while you're gone.

expertise

And one of my other coworkers apparently considers me to be an expert in hardware legal issues. Apparently, this "fake it till you make it" thing is working. Then we all had a laugh about how confusing everything is, and it made me feel better about not knowing all the answers.

really

One of my (straight) female coworkers told me I'm her girl crush. Aww, thanks, I didn't think anyone got crushes on old ladies like me.

summit

There's nothing quite like the Google Legal Summit. Three days in a hotel with a bunch of lawyers doesn't sound like a good time, but if it's the right ones, it totally is.

perspective

So many things went wrong today, but I just didn't care. Compared to losing my dog, having my parked car get hit by a truck, losing my badge, and getting locked out of a massage room just didn't really matter. It's all a matter of perspective.

learning to laugh

Boyfriend is bringing laughter back into my life. Last night, he was protesting my statement that if he were in Star Wars, he would be C3P0, saying that he would prefer to be a Jedi, illustrating his point by using his electric toothbrush (he was brushing his teeth) as a light saber, and commenting that the toothbrush feature was a recent upgrade.

in vino veritas

A good friend dropped by last night with a bottle of wine. It turns out that it was the last bottle of his wedding wine. Boyfriend and I were extremely touched that he shared this tangible memory of his wife with us.

the old days

One of my goofiest co-workers from Legal has switched over to my team, starting today, increasing our team to four lawyers. I see a lot more pranks in our future.

french laundry

Celebrated my sister's birthday today with lunch at the French Laundry. Some of the best food ever to celebrate the best sister ever.

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.