Last night was a blast celebrating Engineer Boy's birthday. There were 7 of us and we all just relaxed and had a good time.
We got done dinner around 9:30 or so. Best Buy was right next door (almost). Gak asks if we can stop there right quick since they close at 10 and he wanted to look at something. Well, the reason he wanted to stop there was to have me pick out my Christmas present. He decided that he would pay for the rest of the digital camera I wanted (Mom and Dad gave me $50 towards it for my birthday) for Christmas. And he wanted to give it to me early since I'm going to Phoenix next week and he wanted me to have it for the holidays as well.
I was shocked.
Speachless even.
I figured I'd probably get it around the first of the year.
Wow.
This is probably one of the most meaningful gifts I could have ever received. I'm not really worthy of that much. He really does too much for me some days. I love him so much though, I just can never seem to figure out how to show it.
I ended up choosing the Nikon Coolpix L3. I had been looking at a couple in the 'L' series. This one is near the bottom of the line, but still has way more features than I'll ever really use. What's realy cool is I can shoot directly in B&W, sepia or cyanotype! This really means I can play now! I would have posted a pic that I took this morning, but I can't seem to convince my work laptop to download the pictures. (Yes, I'm following the instructions, but they're not working quite right.....)
Well, peace to all and my your life be filled with many happy surprises!
Friday, December 08, 2006
Thursday, December 07, 2006
*GASP*
First off, I want to say Happy B-day Engineer Boy!!!
One of my favorite engineers had his birthday today. A handful of us are going out to celebrate. He's just a baaaaby though. He's 25. (I think... I may be off a year one way or the other…)
Ok, now that that's out of the way....
We are fast approaching the end of the year. This means that per my company's policy (gah! too many corporate words!!) we have to do our annual electronic review by the end of the month. Well, since I won't be here much of the rest of the month, I figured I'd better at least attempt to get it worked on this week. We have to list our achievements for the year and all that fun stuff. Basically, we've got to write a whole new 'resume' of sorts every year. It sucks. I hate it and the web page really is painful to use, but hey, I want to continue to get paid, so I've got to do what I've got to do.
Well, looking at last year's for inspiration, I decided I needed to know exactly how much time I've spent training this year. Mind you, that includes travel days and days I did training here in my office. Here are the scary numbers:
3 -- Number of months I was on the road less than 50% of the time
82.35 -- Highest percentage of time away in one month. It was November, so it was not as bad as it sounds, since I was commuting from home.
6 -- Number of months I was on the road more than 60% of the time. (I was told this would be a 40-60% travel time job....)
26.09 -- Lowest percentage of time away in one month. This was August. If you remember my blogs from back then, you can tell I was bored stiff. This is why. I don't like being on the road, but I do like to be productive. For me, being productive means teaching, which, unfortunately at times, means being on the road.
56.67 -- Average for the year of time spent away. This is just below that magic 60% I was told two years ago.
I can't compare month-to-month with last year, as Outlook ate most of my data by archiving or deleting my appointments prior to the end of October. (Thank you Microsoft!)
Anyhow, this proves a couple of things I'd been thinking. It shows that I have been working my tail off in general. It also shows that my theory about summers is right and why I was so unhappy with my job in July and August. I admit, I needed that down time in the beginning of July after a hectic June, but 2 months was a bit excessive. You give me that much downtime and I loose what focus I had and can't get moving again when I have to. (Yes, I prove Newton's laws of motion quite well some days....)
Gah. I just re-read those last few paragraphs. Can't you tell I had a scientific schooling? It's not a bad thing, but man does it make me sound geeky!
Well, I've got a few more things to wrap up before I head out to pick up Gak and go celebrate Mr. Engineer's birthday. Peace to all and may you be busy but not swamped. (Also, revel in your geekdom, whatever it may be!)
One of my favorite engineers had his birthday today. A handful of us are going out to celebrate. He's just a baaaaby though. He's 25. (I think... I may be off a year one way or the other…)
Ok, now that that's out of the way....
We are fast approaching the end of the year. This means that per my company's policy (gah! too many corporate words!!) we have to do our annual electronic review by the end of the month. Well, since I won't be here much of the rest of the month, I figured I'd better at least attempt to get it worked on this week. We have to list our achievements for the year and all that fun stuff. Basically, we've got to write a whole new 'resume' of sorts every year. It sucks. I hate it and the web page really is painful to use, but hey, I want to continue to get paid, so I've got to do what I've got to do.
Well, looking at last year's for inspiration, I decided I needed to know exactly how much time I've spent training this year. Mind you, that includes travel days and days I did training here in my office. Here are the scary numbers:
3 -- Number of months I was on the road less than 50% of the time
82.35 -- Highest percentage of time away in one month. It was November, so it was not as bad as it sounds, since I was commuting from home.
6 -- Number of months I was on the road more than 60% of the time. (I was told this would be a 40-60% travel time job....)
26.09 -- Lowest percentage of time away in one month. This was August. If you remember my blogs from back then, you can tell I was bored stiff. This is why. I don't like being on the road, but I do like to be productive. For me, being productive means teaching, which, unfortunately at times, means being on the road.
56.67 -- Average for the year of time spent away. This is just below that magic 60% I was told two years ago.
I can't compare month-to-month with last year, as Outlook ate most of my data by archiving or deleting my appointments prior to the end of October. (Thank you Microsoft!)
Anyhow, this proves a couple of things I'd been thinking. It shows that I have been working my tail off in general. It also shows that my theory about summers is right and why I was so unhappy with my job in July and August. I admit, I needed that down time in the beginning of July after a hectic June, but 2 months was a bit excessive. You give me that much downtime and I loose what focus I had and can't get moving again when I have to. (Yes, I prove Newton's laws of motion quite well some days....)
Gah. I just re-read those last few paragraphs. Can't you tell I had a scientific schooling? It's not a bad thing, but man does it make me sound geeky!
Well, I've got a few more things to wrap up before I head out to pick up Gak and go celebrate Mr. Engineer's birthday. Peace to all and may you be busy but not swamped. (Also, revel in your geekdom, whatever it may be!)
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Quick Update
Last night's dinner was great. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits and we had an enjoyable time. I miss seeing all of them. Nick slept through about half of dinner, which was good. It meant Ed could actually attempt to eat (he was the one sitting next to Nick's carrier). Ed and Buffie gave Gak and I about 6 pictures of Nick and family over the past five weeks. He really does look like his sister, and they both look a lot like Ed.
Mom called to give me an update on her foot. When she went to the doctor he said that the stress fracture earlier this year hadn't actually fully healed, which is why her foot broke this time. So, instead of getting a walking cast and being sent on her way, she's got a full plaster cast on her lower leg and isn't allowed to put any weight on it. This makes Mom cranky. I don't blame her. Especially with all the steps into and out of the house and up to the bedrooms. At least the laundry isn't in the basement, that would make life even worse.
Work is going. I'm getting stuff done, but slowly and chaoticly. It'll all get done and it'll all pull together and be what it is in the end.
Well, off to figure out where to take my people for dinner Monday and Thursday. Wish me luck!
Peace to all and please, avoid the gopher holes (real and otherwise)!
Mom called to give me an update on her foot. When she went to the doctor he said that the stress fracture earlier this year hadn't actually fully healed, which is why her foot broke this time. So, instead of getting a walking cast and being sent on her way, she's got a full plaster cast on her lower leg and isn't allowed to put any weight on it. This makes Mom cranky. I don't blame her. Especially with all the steps into and out of the house and up to the bedrooms. At least the laundry isn't in the basement, that would make life even worse.
Work is going. I'm getting stuff done, but slowly and chaoticly. It'll all get done and it'll all pull together and be what it is in the end.
Well, off to figure out where to take my people for dinner Monday and Thursday. Wish me luck!
Peace to all and please, avoid the gopher holes (real and otherwise)!
Monday, December 04, 2006
Sunday Sauntering
Yesterday's trip was nice, if long. Especially since both Gak and I were a little sleep deprived.
It's OK though. It was great to get down to see my grandmother.
She's doing quite well, actually. She's very glad to be back in her own apartment, even though the OT keeps trying to rearange the furniture to give her more walking space, amongst other things.
We got to her place a little after noon. We got a slightly late start and then stopped for drive-through Starbucks on the way out of town and then for gas about 3/4 of the way down there. This means we were just in time to go to brunch. Of course, it took what seemed like 20 minutes to go from her place to the dinning room. That's because my grandmother knows everyone and I do mean everyone! They were all so very glad to see her up and about and in her own place. Of course, at one point I was the one holding up the progress of lunch. Mr. Fred stopped Gram to say hi and asked what Gak and I do. He found out I train on software. Well, this unleashed about a dozen computer questions, all of which I could actualy answer! (I train on a very specialized peice of SW so asking me too much about word or office or something like that might not get you far...) He's in the process of researching and writing a book. It sounds quite interesting really, the Revolutionary War day by day. He's already doing a lot of stuff on his computer and finds it really handy. Mostly he wanted to know about laptops, so I told him what I could.
Lunch was quite enjoyable with many more people stopping to say hi. Gak and I spent the afternoon doing all kinds of little things. We did laundry (she can't bend down to get stuff out of the washer...), went to the grocery store and turned the apartment from Thanksgiving to Christmas! Going to the grocery store was a bit of an adventure. I confirmed directions with the lady at the front desk. Mind you, I was quite sleep deprived and Gram's overly warm apartment had put me to sleep a bit. I mid-heard directions and turned left instead of right. After driving around in circles for a while, I ended up calling mom for help. Oh well. No big deal.
Bobbie stopped over after the concert that they were having and we got to talk a little. It was great to see her again.
The drive home was actualy uneventful. We even managed to make it almost home before stopping for dinner. Cracker Barrel is a great place to stop. Always good service, good food and plenty of it. I didn't stop at the Cabella's across the way, even though they apeared to be open still. It was getting late and I was getting tired. We swung by my sister's place to pick up a few things and then went home to crash.
I've had a hard time getting to work today. I actually have a list of things I need to get done for this week, including tracking down my books for next week. It will all get done, I just have to kick my butt into gear.
Well, peace to all and may you have a happy, healthy, love filled week.
It's OK though. It was great to get down to see my grandmother.
She's doing quite well, actually. She's very glad to be back in her own apartment, even though the OT keeps trying to rearange the furniture to give her more walking space, amongst other things.
We got to her place a little after noon. We got a slightly late start and then stopped for drive-through Starbucks on the way out of town and then for gas about 3/4 of the way down there. This means we were just in time to go to brunch. Of course, it took what seemed like 20 minutes to go from her place to the dinning room. That's because my grandmother knows everyone and I do mean everyone! They were all so very glad to see her up and about and in her own place. Of course, at one point I was the one holding up the progress of lunch. Mr. Fred stopped Gram to say hi and asked what Gak and I do. He found out I train on software. Well, this unleashed about a dozen computer questions, all of which I could actualy answer! (I train on a very specialized peice of SW so asking me too much about word or office or something like that might not get you far...) He's in the process of researching and writing a book. It sounds quite interesting really, the Revolutionary War day by day. He's already doing a lot of stuff on his computer and finds it really handy. Mostly he wanted to know about laptops, so I told him what I could.
Lunch was quite enjoyable with many more people stopping to say hi. Gak and I spent the afternoon doing all kinds of little things. We did laundry (she can't bend down to get stuff out of the washer...), went to the grocery store and turned the apartment from Thanksgiving to Christmas! Going to the grocery store was a bit of an adventure. I confirmed directions with the lady at the front desk. Mind you, I was quite sleep deprived and Gram's overly warm apartment had put me to sleep a bit. I mid-heard directions and turned left instead of right. After driving around in circles for a while, I ended up calling mom for help. Oh well. No big deal.
Bobbie stopped over after the concert that they were having and we got to talk a little. It was great to see her again.
The drive home was actualy uneventful. We even managed to make it almost home before stopping for dinner. Cracker Barrel is a great place to stop. Always good service, good food and plenty of it. I didn't stop at the Cabella's across the way, even though they apeared to be open still. It was getting late and I was getting tired. We swung by my sister's place to pick up a few things and then went home to crash.
I've had a hard time getting to work today. I actually have a list of things I need to get done for this week, including tracking down my books for next week. It will all get done, I just have to kick my butt into gear.
Well, peace to all and may you have a happy, healthy, love filled week.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Weekend Wanderings
I thought this was going to be a nice calm weekend.
Nope, not this weekend.
That's OK, it is mostly for the good in a round about kind of way.
Friday I get a message from my sister asking what we were doing Saturday night. I replied that I had no idea. Well, we get talked into going to Hershey for Christmas at Hershey. We met up with her around 6 at her house. Mom, Uncle Jerry, Aunt Ellen and the kids had left around 3:00 to head out. Well, we make it out there after an enjoyable ride and then meet up with them. They're inside at one of the food places getting warm. And the kids are getting bored. So, we rescue the two girls and head out. We've got about an hour or so at this point until the park closes. We wander around a bit and visit with the reindeer. Then we all pile onto the train ride. They have actual coal-fired boiler steam engines on small scale. It's a fun little ride through lots of lights. It is a little more fun in the summer when the coasters you're going under and through are actually running.
Well, the grandparent type people all head out just as the park closes and take the kids with them. We lingered a little bit to pick up some chocolate, as well as the fact that the car was way out there. We had an enjoyable ride home and then we decide to stop for a bite to eat and a drink. Well, the only place open with both a bar and a full menu is the Sup up in Emaus. Not quite on the way home, but not really out of the way either.
On the ride home from the dinner (we were there about an hour or so) is when the evening took a not-so-fun turn. My sister's almost ex decided to call and track her down. He had stopped by the house right as we were leaving. He said he was heading out again shortly back to his apartment. Well, he never did. And since we weren't home at the same time as mom and his daughter, he had to track us down. All because he thought we might have one of our friends with us that he has since decided he really doesn't like. We did, but he's a friend of Gak and I as well.
Anyhow, we drop our friend off and then my sister off at her place. It's just about 1:30 at this point. I'm exhausted. I could have gone into the house if I wanted too. On any other night I probably would have. I tried to stay impartial and out of things, but when he starts telling me who I can or cannot see, that's way over the line. There were two big reasons I didn't go in. I didn't need to make the situation worse, and I was tired enough that exactly what I thought with no filters would come pouring out. The other reason is that today I'm driving down to my grandmothers.
Mom was supposed to go.
Mom wanted to go.
Mom broke her foot Friday.
She tripped in a hole. Yep, the clutz genes come to the forefront again. She called me yesterday morning to tell me what was up and ask if I could go down to MD today to give Gram a hand. I said no problem in a heartbeat. (I wasn't expecting to be out quite so late last night.....)
Therefore in about a half hour or so, Gak and I are getting back in the car and heading out to my grandmother's place. It'll be a nice drive, but I'm really tired. It's OK, Gram needs me and I love her and would have gone anyhow. I was planning on going out around Thanksgiving, but just didn't make it.
Tomorrow night is also a fun one. My friend Ed messaged me the other night after I sent him one wishing him a happy birthday. He wanted to know if Gak and I wanted to come over Monday for dinner. I said sure in a heartbeat again. We've been trying to get together since September. First my job and then the birth of his son got in the way. Well, a new nephew is never in the way, just makes getting together rough. I'm looking forward to it, it should be a nice evening.
Well peace to all and may your weekends be full of friends and family, but not nasty surprises.
Nope, not this weekend.
That's OK, it is mostly for the good in a round about kind of way.
Friday I get a message from my sister asking what we were doing Saturday night. I replied that I had no idea. Well, we get talked into going to Hershey for Christmas at Hershey. We met up with her around 6 at her house. Mom, Uncle Jerry, Aunt Ellen and the kids had left around 3:00 to head out. Well, we make it out there after an enjoyable ride and then meet up with them. They're inside at one of the food places getting warm. And the kids are getting bored. So, we rescue the two girls and head out. We've got about an hour or so at this point until the park closes. We wander around a bit and visit with the reindeer. Then we all pile onto the train ride. They have actual coal-fired boiler steam engines on small scale. It's a fun little ride through lots of lights. It is a little more fun in the summer when the coasters you're going under and through are actually running.
Well, the grandparent type people all head out just as the park closes and take the kids with them. We lingered a little bit to pick up some chocolate, as well as the fact that the car was way out there. We had an enjoyable ride home and then we decide to stop for a bite to eat and a drink. Well, the only place open with both a bar and a full menu is the Sup up in Emaus. Not quite on the way home, but not really out of the way either.
On the ride home from the dinner (we were there about an hour or so) is when the evening took a not-so-fun turn. My sister's almost ex decided to call and track her down. He had stopped by the house right as we were leaving. He said he was heading out again shortly back to his apartment. Well, he never did. And since we weren't home at the same time as mom and his daughter, he had to track us down. All because he thought we might have one of our friends with us that he has since decided he really doesn't like. We did, but he's a friend of Gak and I as well.
Anyhow, we drop our friend off and then my sister off at her place. It's just about 1:30 at this point. I'm exhausted. I could have gone into the house if I wanted too. On any other night I probably would have. I tried to stay impartial and out of things, but when he starts telling me who I can or cannot see, that's way over the line. There were two big reasons I didn't go in. I didn't need to make the situation worse, and I was tired enough that exactly what I thought with no filters would come pouring out. The other reason is that today I'm driving down to my grandmothers.
Mom was supposed to go.
Mom wanted to go.
Mom broke her foot Friday.
She tripped in a hole. Yep, the clutz genes come to the forefront again. She called me yesterday morning to tell me what was up and ask if I could go down to MD today to give Gram a hand. I said no problem in a heartbeat. (I wasn't expecting to be out quite so late last night.....)
Therefore in about a half hour or so, Gak and I are getting back in the car and heading out to my grandmother's place. It'll be a nice drive, but I'm really tired. It's OK, Gram needs me and I love her and would have gone anyhow. I was planning on going out around Thanksgiving, but just didn't make it.
Tomorrow night is also a fun one. My friend Ed messaged me the other night after I sent him one wishing him a happy birthday. He wanted to know if Gak and I wanted to come over Monday for dinner. I said sure in a heartbeat again. We've been trying to get together since September. First my job and then the birth of his son got in the way. Well, a new nephew is never in the way, just makes getting together rough. I'm looking forward to it, it should be a nice evening.
Well peace to all and may your weekends be full of friends and family, but not nasty surprises.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Home Again...
The training went well at my second site this week. This was actually the fourth site for one company. I've enjoyed all four of these sites. They're good, friendly people who have been fun. I'm almost sad to have this company finished.
The drive home on the other hand was a bear. That storm that walloped the mid-west finally made it out here. (I hope Gak's mom and dad have either dug out or dug in for the duration. It's kinda odd that they got snow before we did....)
It was really warm all week. Actually, warmer yesterday and today than Monday. It was also grey. It started getting grey on Tuesday. The rain varied from non-existent to full bore in the space of a couple of hundred yards down the road. And the winds were just as variable. I spent a long 2.5 hours fighting the wind on the way home. That and the winds knocked out power at the major intersection near the house so traffic was all kinds of messed up. I think it took me longer to go the 4 miles from the Turnpike home than any other part of the trip.
Oh well. I'm home now and will be for the rest of the week. Next Sunday I leave for a week in Phoenix. I hope it goes better than I'm thinking it will. That trip isn't giving me warm fuzzies at all.
Well, I'm off to bed. Peace to all and may you have safe journeys wherever you go.
The drive home on the other hand was a bear. That storm that walloped the mid-west finally made it out here. (I hope Gak's mom and dad have either dug out or dug in for the duration. It's kinda odd that they got snow before we did....)
It was really warm all week. Actually, warmer yesterday and today than Monday. It was also grey. It started getting grey on Tuesday. The rain varied from non-existent to full bore in the space of a couple of hundred yards down the road. And the winds were just as variable. I spent a long 2.5 hours fighting the wind on the way home. That and the winds knocked out power at the major intersection near the house so traffic was all kinds of messed up. I think it took me longer to go the 4 miles from the Turnpike home than any other part of the trip.
Oh well. I'm home now and will be for the rest of the week. Next Sunday I leave for a week in Phoenix. I hope it goes better than I'm thinking it will. That trip isn't giving me warm fuzzies at all.
Well, I'm off to bed. Peace to all and may you have safe journeys wherever you go.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Wandering Wednesday
Today I was supposed to have another day at my site in Albany. Well, yesterday when we were wrapping up, I was told that they wouldn't be able to have anyone tomorrow. I said that it was no problem, we'd either bill them for just the two days we did or reschedule the third day for sometime in January.
This meant I had today mostly free. My only real job today was to drive from Albany to the Binghamton area. Mind you, that drive is all of about 2.5 hours.
I got a start sometime around 10 am after everything was said and done. I didn't really push it on my way. I did end up going about 10 miles the wrong direction at one point, but that's OK. You've got to read all of an exit sign to make sure it's the right one. Oops. Nice little drive though.
I got to the area about 12:30 or so. I get off at the exit for my hotel and see a mall and a Friendly's. I decide to eat lunch at the Friendly's.
After lunch I was feeling adventurous and go t the mall to try that epic jeans quest again. Well, the first store was a bust. Again, why do designers think that 'stretch' means 'miracle fabric' and that even though I have a large waist, I have no legs? I'm sorry, but I'm a real woman and that means I have real curves, not just a fat stomach. I swear, there was absolutely no difference in the two sizes I tried.
Well, Gak calls at this point to see how I was doing and where I was. I let him know what was up. He said he was going to not say anything and try and stay out of trouble on that one. I appreciated the thought, but told him it was OK, he was safe as he wasn't a clothing designer.
I then try the second store. One I've had some success at in the past, but then they changed styles on me. Well, I tried again just for grins and giggles. Well, guess what, I found a pair. They don't fit perfectly. I really could have used something somewhere between the size I bought and the next size bigger. The other size fit better through the legs, but there was just something wonky about the rise and the waist was way big. They were even in my price range, which in all honestly isn't much. I refuse to pay a lot of money for something, especially for something that feels cheesy. These jeans even seem to be made out of real denim, not the flimsy 'fashion denim' that most are made of these days. Hey, I'm hard on my stuff, it needs to be able to stand up to the torture.
Checking into the hotel was also a bit of an adventure. I had canceled and changed my reservation for the hotel for the first half of the week shortly after I made it because of the wrong dates. Well, the web site canceled this reservation as well. Huh?? Why was it on my itinerary then? Who knows. Luckily they had a room for me. They weren't sure that the would as they are in the process of repainting the hotel.
Since it is all of about 3:00 at this point, I decide to head over to the plant to drop off the books and say hi to Andy, my contact. I'm literally 5 minutes from the site if I hit all the lights right, 10 if I don't. That was nice to head over there and set up without being stressed.
To cap off my adventures today I went to Wegmans. For those who don't know, Wegmans is a grocery store. I hadn't been in one, even though there's one somewhere near where I live. It's fabulous. There's an entire organic and wholefoods section in the store. It's like taking a 'normal' grocery store and adding a Trader Joe's inside. I wandered around for about an hour. I had popped in there to pick up some drinks for the room and the ride home Friday. I found some neat 'Juiced Teas' by Tazo there. Herbal iced teas with lots of fruit juice. The one I'm drinking now is quite tasty and refreshing.
I am a little dissapointed in myself this week though. I haven't been to the gym yet. I tried yesterday, but they were still closed for the lunch break when I went there and I got distracted today. Oh well, there's always tomorrow!
I did get news about my grandmother this evening from my mom. Today Gram was supposed to have a procedure done to check out the connection between bladder and kidney. Well, it turns out that the doctor put a stent in while she was in surgery, so it can't be done as an in-office procedure. This made her feel much better in a way, because she'd been having pain and thought it was the cancer. Nope, just a stent. She's also moving back into her own apartment over the weekend. This is great news. It means she's strong enough to be on her own. She also went to an acting class today. She thought she was just going to go and sit and listen.... Well, I know she must be feeling much better because of course, she just couldn't sit there once she got there. *laugh* My gram is such a people person and so friendly. I feel much better knowing that she's interacting and being social. This means she is truly feeling a bit better about the world.
So, as of now, we don't know anything new. We're on hold until December 15th, when she's going to have the procedure done in the hospital. She's feeling a lot better and more at ease and alive again.
Peace to all and may your off days turn into adventures of the fun kind!
This meant I had today mostly free. My only real job today was to drive from Albany to the Binghamton area. Mind you, that drive is all of about 2.5 hours.
I got a start sometime around 10 am after everything was said and done. I didn't really push it on my way. I did end up going about 10 miles the wrong direction at one point, but that's OK. You've got to read all of an exit sign to make sure it's the right one. Oops. Nice little drive though.
I got to the area about 12:30 or so. I get off at the exit for my hotel and see a mall and a Friendly's. I decide to eat lunch at the Friendly's.
After lunch I was feeling adventurous and go t the mall to try that epic jeans quest again. Well, the first store was a bust. Again, why do designers think that 'stretch' means 'miracle fabric' and that even though I have a large waist, I have no legs? I'm sorry, but I'm a real woman and that means I have real curves, not just a fat stomach. I swear, there was absolutely no difference in the two sizes I tried.
Well, Gak calls at this point to see how I was doing and where I was. I let him know what was up. He said he was going to not say anything and try and stay out of trouble on that one. I appreciated the thought, but told him it was OK, he was safe as he wasn't a clothing designer.
I then try the second store. One I've had some success at in the past, but then they changed styles on me. Well, I tried again just for grins and giggles. Well, guess what, I found a pair. They don't fit perfectly. I really could have used something somewhere between the size I bought and the next size bigger. The other size fit better through the legs, but there was just something wonky about the rise and the waist was way big. They were even in my price range, which in all honestly isn't much. I refuse to pay a lot of money for something, especially for something that feels cheesy. These jeans even seem to be made out of real denim, not the flimsy 'fashion denim' that most are made of these days. Hey, I'm hard on my stuff, it needs to be able to stand up to the torture.
Checking into the hotel was also a bit of an adventure. I had canceled and changed my reservation for the hotel for the first half of the week shortly after I made it because of the wrong dates. Well, the web site canceled this reservation as well. Huh?? Why was it on my itinerary then? Who knows. Luckily they had a room for me. They weren't sure that the would as they are in the process of repainting the hotel.
Since it is all of about 3:00 at this point, I decide to head over to the plant to drop off the books and say hi to Andy, my contact. I'm literally 5 minutes from the site if I hit all the lights right, 10 if I don't. That was nice to head over there and set up without being stressed.
To cap off my adventures today I went to Wegmans. For those who don't know, Wegmans is a grocery store. I hadn't been in one, even though there's one somewhere near where I live. It's fabulous. There's an entire organic and wholefoods section in the store. It's like taking a 'normal' grocery store and adding a Trader Joe's inside. I wandered around for about an hour. I had popped in there to pick up some drinks for the room and the ride home Friday. I found some neat 'Juiced Teas' by Tazo there. Herbal iced teas with lots of fruit juice. The one I'm drinking now is quite tasty and refreshing.
I am a little dissapointed in myself this week though. I haven't been to the gym yet. I tried yesterday, but they were still closed for the lunch break when I went there and I got distracted today. Oh well, there's always tomorrow!
I did get news about my grandmother this evening from my mom. Today Gram was supposed to have a procedure done to check out the connection between bladder and kidney. Well, it turns out that the doctor put a stent in while she was in surgery, so it can't be done as an in-office procedure. This made her feel much better in a way, because she'd been having pain and thought it was the cancer. Nope, just a stent. She's also moving back into her own apartment over the weekend. This is great news. It means she's strong enough to be on her own. She also went to an acting class today. She thought she was just going to go and sit and listen.... Well, I know she must be feeling much better because of course, she just couldn't sit there once she got there. *laugh* My gram is such a people person and so friendly. I feel much better knowing that she's interacting and being social. This means she is truly feeling a bit better about the world.
So, as of now, we don't know anything new. We're on hold until December 15th, when she's going to have the procedure done in the hospital. She's feeling a lot better and more at ease and alive again.
Peace to all and may your off days turn into adventures of the fun kind!
Monday, November 27, 2006
Story Time
Training today went well, in a semi-chaotic way. It was a very free form kind of class, but I think it went well. There were several good questions and discussions of why things were done and how things affected this plant.
I also finally got to meet one of my long time customers. She's a riot and a trip and a true Northern Jersey native. I like her much more in person that I do dealing with her over the phone.
Anyhow, I think last night I promised you a story. A story of daring ratling adventure with her wonderful troll and other friends.
Well, here it is.
Sunday morning I get up and procrastinate doing anything about leaving. So what do I do, but log in to the computer. Our friend Syn is online and so is Rodentia. The four of us decide that we were going to explore Mistmore Catacombs. As we were gathering, who would happen to log in but our friend Kasias, who is another healer. I'm always game to have another healer along. Sure enough, he was up for the adventure of the morning as well. While waiting for him to show up, our friend Charitee shows up in her wizzy disguise of Omim, the gnome. Cool. now we have a full group of 6, including two big time damage dealers and a troll of a tank.
We finally get out act together and head out to the catacombs. For some reason we can't seem to follow the direction of 'stay close' that morning so kept breaking the sneaking cloak that Rodentia has over us. That's ok, we survived.
We make it to the catacombs and a few people pick up the various quests at the entrance way. We then sneak around a bit and explore the lower level. Rat-man has been here before and says that the zone's not really all that big and we were safe using sneak on the first level, but the guys up top could see through.
Mind you, we were on Vent as well as in the game so it was much easier to have conversations.
We explore a bit, tackle a couple of large groups of mobs (remember that problem with staying close....). Then the Rat-man finds a named critter on tracking, so up the walls we go. We decide that the bad guy commander must go. And go he did. And he had some nice things in his possession. They promptly became ours.
Well, Rodentia decided to log because he wanted to take his lady mouse out to breakfast. (Hey, living in Key West, I would too....) That's when he tells us that the zone's not really that big. We looked at the map and saw that sure enough, it looks like we'd been most places.
We pick up another healer. I call him Phred, but his name is really Phaedrus or something like that. Phred works better. Kas was our climbable wall finder that day. Boy are we glad he found this wall.
After climbing this wall, we found some new areas on the map and kept going up. Eventually we end up in what appears to be the sub-basements of Mistmore Castle. The area is huge!
To make a long story shorter, there was much mayhem (including about a half minute or so where Gak and I lost power completely to the apartment) and much loot to be had. We actually ended up with better loot and much more of it in about 2 hours that morning than we had found as a full raid in about 4 hours the night before.
We had fun, but we ended up in a fight we probably wouldn't win, so I pulled the plug and evacuated us to the front. We decided that this would be a good time to take a break.
I have found that adventuring with a group of friends, both in the game world and especially in real life is lots of fun. There's nothing quite like getting lost, or walking or driving for hours with friends talking and enjoying life and whatever happens. Maybe that's why I love orienteering so much. I haven't done anywhere near as much this year as I have the last two. I blame most of this on my travel schedule. Not directly really, since I'm usually home on a Sunday, but indirectly. Because of how much time I've spent away in recent months, the last thing I want to do on a Sunday is get moving early. I'm usually awake early, but not really in the mood for moving. I'm also so mentally exhausted, that I can't think my way through the courses. I feel really bad about it, since I have several friends I only see on the O-trails. Maybe come spring I'll feel more mentally alive for it. I've been so exhausted that I've stopped doing a lot of things. This seems very strange in some ways since I've been working out more and getting in somewhat better shape. I guess this travel is taking more out of me than I thought.
Ok, I didn't intend for this post to be this long. I guess I'm done rambling for tonight. (I really intended that last paragraph to be my sign off paragraph...)
Peace to all and my you have many happy adventures with many good friends in your life.
I also finally got to meet one of my long time customers. She's a riot and a trip and a true Northern Jersey native. I like her much more in person that I do dealing with her over the phone.
Anyhow, I think last night I promised you a story. A story of daring ratling adventure with her wonderful troll and other friends.
Well, here it is.
Sunday morning I get up and procrastinate doing anything about leaving. So what do I do, but log in to the computer. Our friend Syn is online and so is Rodentia. The four of us decide that we were going to explore Mistmore Catacombs. As we were gathering, who would happen to log in but our friend Kasias, who is another healer. I'm always game to have another healer along. Sure enough, he was up for the adventure of the morning as well. While waiting for him to show up, our friend Charitee shows up in her wizzy disguise of Omim, the gnome. Cool. now we have a full group of 6, including two big time damage dealers and a troll of a tank.
We finally get out act together and head out to the catacombs. For some reason we can't seem to follow the direction of 'stay close' that morning so kept breaking the sneaking cloak that Rodentia has over us. That's ok, we survived.
We make it to the catacombs and a few people pick up the various quests at the entrance way. We then sneak around a bit and explore the lower level. Rat-man has been here before and says that the zone's not really all that big and we were safe using sneak on the first level, but the guys up top could see through.
Mind you, we were on Vent as well as in the game so it was much easier to have conversations.
We explore a bit, tackle a couple of large groups of mobs (remember that problem with staying close....). Then the Rat-man finds a named critter on tracking, so up the walls we go. We decide that the bad guy commander must go. And go he did. And he had some nice things in his possession. They promptly became ours.
Well, Rodentia decided to log because he wanted to take his lady mouse out to breakfast. (Hey, living in Key West, I would too....) That's when he tells us that the zone's not really that big. We looked at the map and saw that sure enough, it looks like we'd been most places.
We pick up another healer. I call him Phred, but his name is really Phaedrus or something like that. Phred works better. Kas was our climbable wall finder that day. Boy are we glad he found this wall.
After climbing this wall, we found some new areas on the map and kept going up. Eventually we end up in what appears to be the sub-basements of Mistmore Castle. The area is huge!
To make a long story shorter, there was much mayhem (including about a half minute or so where Gak and I lost power completely to the apartment) and much loot to be had. We actually ended up with better loot and much more of it in about 2 hours that morning than we had found as a full raid in about 4 hours the night before.
We had fun, but we ended up in a fight we probably wouldn't win, so I pulled the plug and evacuated us to the front. We decided that this would be a good time to take a break.
I have found that adventuring with a group of friends, both in the game world and especially in real life is lots of fun. There's nothing quite like getting lost, or walking or driving for hours with friends talking and enjoying life and whatever happens. Maybe that's why I love orienteering so much. I haven't done anywhere near as much this year as I have the last two. I blame most of this on my travel schedule. Not directly really, since I'm usually home on a Sunday, but indirectly. Because of how much time I've spent away in recent months, the last thing I want to do on a Sunday is get moving early. I'm usually awake early, but not really in the mood for moving. I'm also so mentally exhausted, that I can't think my way through the courses. I feel really bad about it, since I have several friends I only see on the O-trails. Maybe come spring I'll feel more mentally alive for it. I've been so exhausted that I've stopped doing a lot of things. This seems very strange in some ways since I've been working out more and getting in somewhat better shape. I guess this travel is taking more out of me than I thought.
Ok, I didn't intend for this post to be this long. I guess I'm done rambling for tonight. (I really intended that last paragraph to be my sign off paragraph...)
Peace to all and my you have many happy adventures with many good friends in your life.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
New York Bound
I was going to post yesterday, but I never got around to it.
I meant to post before I left for Albany this afternoon. Again, I forgot.
So I'm writing now from my hotel room in Albany.
Saturday, I was going to tell you about picking up the rental car. No, everything went fine.
Gak dropped me off at about 8:30 to pick up the car. They don't open until 9. My reservation was for noon. Oops.
That's OK, the people there are very nice and they had a car available. If I'd remembered, I could have had them pick me up, but then I would have missed going to the gym and I really needed to get a third time in this week.
This meant that I had about a half hour to stand around outside the rental place.
It was a gorgeous fall day. Yes, all the leaves are off the trees, so it's looking a little brown. But the sky was so blue and clear. The air was crisp but not cold. All I could think about was how many mornings like this I'd woken up on a camping trip. (The rental place is near where I used to turn to go to my GS camp.) I kept picturing how happy I would be with my feet up near a fire, a mug of hot chocolate in my hands. Or making breakfast of French toast over the fire and getting smoke in my face. I loved those trips. Most of the other girls in my troop would complain about how cold it was (it had to be about 50 out) and how miserable they were and why wasn't breakfast ready and all that jazz. As senior patrol leader most of my time in Cadettes and Seniors, I could have easily delegated the cooking to others. Instead, I took the whole morning routine upon myself and my closest friends. (In hindsight, they were kinda like my version of senior staff from West Wing, with less drama usually...) We usually had everything all but ready when the others woke. This meant I got to delegate cleanup. Or at least in theory. I usually ended up helping with this too, or it would never get done. That's OK because on cool, crisp fall days, if you aren't moving, you will get cold.
Those were the thoughts that kept me smiling for about a half hour before I picked up my car.
Today I drove to Albany. Actually, it was this afternoon, since it's only about a 4 hour drive. It was a fairly enjoyable ride. I didn't take the turnpike up, since that would have been west of where I wanted to go. Instead I took 287, aka the New York Throughway. Not a bad drive really, except that it started getting dark around 4:30 and the exits aren't by mile marker. I stopped for dinner on the way at a rest stop (I still owe Scout a chocolate shake...). The Roy Rogers was out of chicken, so I went over to the Nathan's Famous. Famous for what, I'm not sure. The chicken sandwich I had was OK, but the bun was really dry. The fries were either cold and grease soaked, or half done and grease soaked. And they gave me a diet coke. Now, I can see why people drink the stuff. Me, I can't get past the chemical taste. All diet soda tastes this way, trust me, I've tried. I guess you could get used to it, but I prefer to ration the real stuff.
Anyhow, I've got a 7:30 am start time and need to get there a little early tomorrow.
Peace to all and may your travels be easy.
Oh, yeah, and this morning, I had a really great adventure with Rodentia, Syn, Charitee, Gak and Kas in Mistmore Catacombs. Oh yeah, Phae (Phred) joined us after a bit too. I'll try and write it up tomorrow, but I've rambled on long enough for one post.
I meant to post before I left for Albany this afternoon. Again, I forgot.
So I'm writing now from my hotel room in Albany.
Saturday, I was going to tell you about picking up the rental car. No, everything went fine.
Gak dropped me off at about 8:30 to pick up the car. They don't open until 9. My reservation was for noon. Oops.
That's OK, the people there are very nice and they had a car available. If I'd remembered, I could have had them pick me up, but then I would have missed going to the gym and I really needed to get a third time in this week.
This meant that I had about a half hour to stand around outside the rental place.
It was a gorgeous fall day. Yes, all the leaves are off the trees, so it's looking a little brown. But the sky was so blue and clear. The air was crisp but not cold. All I could think about was how many mornings like this I'd woken up on a camping trip. (The rental place is near where I used to turn to go to my GS camp.) I kept picturing how happy I would be with my feet up near a fire, a mug of hot chocolate in my hands. Or making breakfast of French toast over the fire and getting smoke in my face. I loved those trips. Most of the other girls in my troop would complain about how cold it was (it had to be about 50 out) and how miserable they were and why wasn't breakfast ready and all that jazz. As senior patrol leader most of my time in Cadettes and Seniors, I could have easily delegated the cooking to others. Instead, I took the whole morning routine upon myself and my closest friends. (In hindsight, they were kinda like my version of senior staff from West Wing, with less drama usually...) We usually had everything all but ready when the others woke. This meant I got to delegate cleanup. Or at least in theory. I usually ended up helping with this too, or it would never get done. That's OK because on cool, crisp fall days, if you aren't moving, you will get cold.
Those were the thoughts that kept me smiling for about a half hour before I picked up my car.
Today I drove to Albany. Actually, it was this afternoon, since it's only about a 4 hour drive. It was a fairly enjoyable ride. I didn't take the turnpike up, since that would have been west of where I wanted to go. Instead I took 287, aka the New York Throughway. Not a bad drive really, except that it started getting dark around 4:30 and the exits aren't by mile marker. I stopped for dinner on the way at a rest stop (I still owe Scout a chocolate shake...). The Roy Rogers was out of chicken, so I went over to the Nathan's Famous. Famous for what, I'm not sure. The chicken sandwich I had was OK, but the bun was really dry. The fries were either cold and grease soaked, or half done and grease soaked. And they gave me a diet coke. Now, I can see why people drink the stuff. Me, I can't get past the chemical taste. All diet soda tastes this way, trust me, I've tried. I guess you could get used to it, but I prefer to ration the real stuff.
Anyhow, I've got a 7:30 am start time and need to get there a little early tomorrow.
Peace to all and may your travels be easy.
Oh, yeah, and this morning, I had a really great adventure with Rodentia, Syn, Charitee, Gak and Kas in Mistmore Catacombs. Oh yeah, Phae (Phred) joined us after a bit too. I'll try and write it up tomorrow, but I've rambled on long enough for one post.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Turkey Day everyone!Last night after Gak got off work we drove down to my parents house. We got there just in time. My brother was about 5 or 10 minutes behind us on a shuttle to the hotel near my parents place. A good dinner was had by all.
It was great to see my brother again. I've missed him a lot. We don't write or call as often as we should, but we really do miss each other. He decided to come home for Thanksgiving instead of Christmas this year because his 10-year High School reunion is tomorrow and partially because Gak and I are leaving for Gak's parents the day after Christmas.
Today was a good day. A semi-lazy morning. Still early by many people's standards, but lazy for this family. Mom and I then decided that we were going to make the apple pie for lunch, instead of dinner. See, today is my birthday and apple pie is traditionally my birthday cake. (Just don't put candles in a pie that hasn't been out of the oven long.... trust me on this one!) Therefore we had birthday for lunch and Thanksgiving for dinner. I even got to talk to Gram on the phone at lunch and she sang to me. I wish she'd been up here in person, but at least I still have her!
Other than a bit of cooking, a little TV and Gak taking a nap or two, today was uneventful. The turkey decided to be done an hour earlier than planned, but that's OK, mom's been doing this long enough that it's not hard to adjust. (At least we weren't waiting on the turkey when everything else was ready to go.)
I have lots of things to be thankful for. That I have a wonderful family, and that Gram has gone through surgery OK. Things are fairly hopeful as far as the bladder cancer in the kidney goes. It could go one of two ways, either everything is fine because there's no problem with the tube between the kidney and bladder, or they'll have to operate to remove the kidney. There are some tests she's got to have done first before anything else.
I'm also thankful that I have a lot of friends, who I pretty much consider family. Some of them have been having a bit of a rough year, but I'm just glad I can be there for them. My sister has had a rough couple of years, but hopefully things will be moving forward and getting calmer, if not easier.
There are so many things to be thankful for, but my friends and my family top the list. I love them all.
Peace to all and remember to be thankful every day, especially for the little every day things that make life so much happier.
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