Recap

I got lazy again and haven't been updating my blog. Here's a recap of the last few days in my life.

Christmas: It snowed! For a few hours! None of it really stuck to the ground (except on the barkdust in our backyard), and it turned to rain later, but... it snowed on Christmas! We didn't go skiing. We were complete bums.

26th: Back to work. It was dead most of the day.

27th: All hell broke loose at work as our customers decided to start the year-end blitz a little early this year. Thursday and Friday were insanely busy.

28th: Happy hour at Monteax's instead of Chili's. It was a nice change of pace. Pete and Court came out, as did Jess and Craig, along with a few regulars from work--Greg, Rey, Jason. We were supposed to go back to Pete and Court's house for some hot tubbing, but they didn't have a filter they needed. Bummer. We went over there and watched Bad Santa instead.

My disappointment this year is with the USPS. They've always been good to me, but this year they kind of failed me. On the 19th, I shipped one box of presents to Ohio and another to Alabama for our nieces and nephew. I ponied up the extra bucks for Priority (2-3 day) mail so that they'd get there before Christmas (4 shipping days away). The box to Alabama arrived on the 21st. Perfect! The box to Ohio arrived on the 28th. WTF? Until 2 days ago, the online tracking said that the box still wasn't even in their system. I'm sure glad I paid extra for that...

Christmas Eve

I had to work today. Of course, the day started out hectic with our knowledgebase crashing to a halt. But the good news was that they announced when we got in that today would be a half day, so we only had to stay for 4 hours. Awesome!

Let me back up though. I made this breakfast concoction last night to cook in the crockpot overnight for our potluck today. It had hash browns, eggs, tomato, and sausage as the main ingredients. I woke up this morning at 2:30 to a weird smell. Since I was groggy from just a few hours of sleep, I couldn't diagnose the source at first. After thinking it was BO from me or Marc for about 10 minutes, I came to the realization that it was the smell of burning eggs. So I had to get up and check my food, which was, indeed, burning and boiling in the crockpot. I turned the stupid crockpot down to the "warm" (instead of either high or low cooking settings) and went back to bed. It was still boiling and burning when I got up again at 6:00. Oh, well. It was still pretty good, I think.

So I got off work early and Marc and I watched The Ex. It was pretty good. I like Jason Bateman. Then I took an hour long nap. Nice.

Tonight we went to the "misfit toys" party that Kathy hosted. It was a lot of fun, and Marc and I had a great time talking to Dave and Edna--a couple my parents' age who Kathy bikes with. We had fun taking pictures with what we thought was Kathy's dad's camera, only to find out later that it was one of her friend's who we didn't know. Haha! We also got to see Denise and Brent and 6-week old Jace, along with a bunch of other folks we met for the first time tonight. It was a really good time with lots of yummy food and drinks.

Tomorrow we're debating on going skiing/boarding. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Why Christmas rocks when you're an adult

Marc and I are grown up (by the numbers, anyway). We have no kids. We have few traditions left around Christmas since Grandpa's gone. The result of the combination of these things means that we can open presents whenever the heck we want. So today, when a crapload of boxes was left on our porch by the mailman (or am I supposed to call them "postal carriers" now?), we immediately opened them. That's awesome. Honestly, I was one of those kids who always peeked at the presents under the tree. I'm not good at handling suspense.

I ended up getting my enV today. And Marc had to one-up me by replacing his barely year-old Palm PDA phone with a slick new XV6800. Figures. I should have pushed for the Voyager.

New cell phone consideration

I think I want a new phone. I hardly use my phone, but I have this fancy idea that I want to use it more--or at least text message more. I feel like the old lady who's trying to be young and hip, so I'm looking at the LG Env. We're going to stop by one of the 10,000 Verizon stores in our neighborhood sometime this weekend and check them out in person.

Judge Judy prank calls and how I've been adopted at work

Several months ago, a coworker from another office introduced me to the absolute hilarity that is celebrity soundboards. You can find a bunch of them on Ebaum's World. (Yes, I know there's a movement against that guy for being a sleazy theif, but his site is still flippin' hilarious.) I've answered a few phone calls only to have some celebrity (usually Arnold) talk to me. We joked that we should set up a weekly phone call where we use soundboards to converse. But I didn't have computer speakers.

Until a couple of weeks ago.

I started poking around the soundboards again this week, and I found an awesome Judge Judy one. I warned him that he might get a call from her soon. Yesterday I delivered.

It was the end of my day, and I was brain-dead from editing HTML on our KB articles. So I planned out a 19-click conversation from Judge Judy's soundboard to leave a message on his voicemail (since he was gone for the day). I practiced it for a couple of minutes and then made the call. It was all I could do to not immediately send him an IM saying something about checking his VM. I restrained.

I got to the office this morning... and nothing. All morning long, I waited for a response. Nothing. I was scared that maybe the volume wasn't loud enough or that the VM had cut off or something. Finally, after lunch, I couldn't wait any longer and I sent him a message. He claims he thought it was awesome, but I'm totally depressed about the lack of a reaction. Boo.

Today was fun at work. The Payroll support team has kind of adopted me and the rest of my team as part of their social activities. My team is spread out all across the floor in separate offices, so we don't plan things like potlucks or white elephant gift exchanges very often. So this afternoon, the PR team invited us to eat pizza with them, and later we had a gift exchange. I tried to steal a funny calendar, but it got stolen from me. Then I opened a bag of mini liquor bottles. That was promptly stolen, too. I ended up with some funny, artsy ant knick-knacks that I've decided will be traveling ants (I'll put them at random people's desks). On Christmas Eve, those of us who are stuck working are going to do a potluck. I'm going to try to make my mac and cheese and then stick it in a crockpot. Hopefully that'll work out.

One week before Christmas

I'm lazy, and I'm a procrastinator. I didn't send any Christmas cards this year. Actually, last year is the only year that I have ever sent cards--and I only did that because I hand-made them. I put most of my shopping off until the last minute. I still need to get something for my mom. Just tonight I wrapped all the presents I have bought so far. I still have to get them boxed up to send off to Kentucky, Ohio, and Alabama. But I have until Thursday to ship them through priority mail, so I'm sure they won't get mailed before that.

Yeah, I'm a slacker.

We met up with Adam and Shelly again on Sunday for an introduction to Rock Band, dinner at Russell Street, and further Rock Band antics at Aaron and Robyn's house. Craziness. If we hadn't just emptied our wallets at Columbia, I wouldn't have been surprised to buy a stupid Xbox 360 purely so that we could also buy that game. I loved playing the drums, but I kinda sucked at it. I need more practice.

It isn't Thanksgiving, but I sure am thankful

Another busy week went by without me even thinking about writing blogs. One night this week Marc and I went to a small business mixer at the WaMu branch up the street. Another night I went with the group from work for our monthly volunteering at the Oregon Food Bank. Last night was our token happy hour at Chili's. Greg didn't have a good time, though. Work has been busy; Kristin's in Mexico so I've been alone again. At least it's only for a few days instead of several months. :)

Today we went to the Columbia employee store as guests of Adam and Shelly. That was really bad for our wallets, but we got some screamin' deals. Then we went to Slimey's for homemade fish chowder. We watched Bourne Ultimatum, and I think I liked it even better this second time around.

Then we came home and opened the package that arrived earlier today from my brother Tom and his family. It's a gift basket full of all sorts of Ghirardelli chocolate treats and other sweets. YUMMY!

All of this makes me feel like a very lucky person. Having a warm home to live in, plenty of food to eat, the ability to get medicine when we're sick, and generally not having to worry about our survival is a true blessing.

At work, we had giving trees set up with tags that people could claim with gift requests from kids. I had fun shopping for Hello Kitty toys for a 4-year-old I'll never meet. In my department, we also adopted a couple of families. The first tag I claimed for them was for cleaning supplies. When there were still a few tags left with only a day remaining, I picked up another and got some food items for their holiday dinner. Getting these most basic and essential things for strangers in need really makes me appreciate the great things and people I have in my own life.

New Clothing Haiku

We went to the Gap.
Bought lots of new clothes. Now what
to wear tomorrow?

Okay, so technically, I don't think I'm supposed to break a line in the middle of a sentence, but it's poetry. I'm claiming artistic license to break the rules.

Christmas Celebration #1

We went over to Matt and Tam's last night because Dad and Julie were in town and we all wanted to do a Christmas dinner together. We ate salad, roasted potatoes, and awesome steak--plus lemon cranberry cake for dessert. Yummy! It had been months since we've seen Dad and Julie, so it was good catching up with them.

Before dinner was ready, Marc and I were starving, so we all started munching on some chips and dips. Tam brought out some Doritos. We rarely have any kind of chips in the house, and when we do they're never Doritos. But when Marc and I used to meet at Grandpa's house once a week for lunch, he always had Doritos. Eating Doritos last night reminded me of Grandpa... and made me wish that he was still here with us.

(Very Delayed) Excessive Rain Pics

Wow. A week went by without me writing any new blogs. Marc expressed his surprise about it last night, so I figured I should at least get off my butt and post a couple of the pictures I took on Monday. If you're not living in the northwest, you may not be aware of how much rain we got on Monday. I don't know the exact number of inches, but it was somewhere in the 3-5 range. A little north of here, I-5 has been shut down since Monday because of extensive flooding. (But there's a 200+ mile detour you can take to get around it! That's convenient!) Anyway, there wasn't a huge effect from the rain in our immediate vicinity--except for the lake that formed at work where we usually don't have a lake. Okay, maybe it wasn't a lake, but it's got to at least be a pool. Here are a couple of pics I took from my office window. Sorry about the poor quality of the first, but I liked it better than others because it captured a really cool reflection of my leg lamp. Haha!


Usually there's no standing water in that area at all. I'd estimate that it was at least 12-18 inches deep. In the next one, you can see how full the creek is (behind the picnic tables). Usually I can't see any water in it at all. All of that water is draining from 26 (which you can see in the first picture above). On Tuesday, the water in the creek wasn't as high, but all the standing water around the cattails remained. By Wednesday, it was all gone.


I guess I haven't written much else this week because I haven't had much to write. A few friends have started playing Texas Hold 'Em on Facebook lately. It's fun. If you're on Facebook, look me up. I'm easily spending more time there than on MySpace now.

Last night we did our typical happy hour that turns into happy 3 hours. Sometime this weekend we're going to the GAP outlet (YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY!) because Marc's lost enough weight to warrant buying new jeans (25 pounds since the end of August!). I MAY have to pick up a few things for myself while we're there. I do have gift cards to use up...

First valley snow and possible new computers

I woke up (way too early) this morning to find a very light dusting of snow on the rooftops. We might get a little more this afternoon before it warms up later and turns into rain. I love snow. Fortunately, since we're in better physical shape this year than we have been for a long time, we're planning to do some serious skiing/boarding this season.

Marc's laptop has been acting up on him. It likes to randomly shut down when he picks it up. He told me the other day that he's considering a Mac as a replacement. What? A Mac? When I was a kid, we had an Apple IIe that was great for playing Qbert, Lode Runner, and the Olympics. I remember using Apples in school to play Carmen Sandiego and other games (where each of us had to wait for the 5.25 floppy disk to get passed around to boot up the programs). In high school, I took a graphic design class where we used Macs. But that's the extent of my Apple computer experience. So, we're doing some research and poking around the possibility of picking up a couple refurbished MacBooks. We'll see how that goes.

Random thoughts

Brace yourself. Time for another boring blog. Nothing worthwhile to share with my cyber audience has happened lately. So here's a bunch of random stuff.

MySpace vs. Facebook. I signed up for MySpace forever ago. I signed up for Facebook a couple months ago (after Steve from The Sneeze created a group for his hypothetical band, The Tree Brains). I found a couple of people there, but they were on MySpace, too, so it wasn't any big deal. But the more I use Facebook, the more I like it. It's cleaner. It's easier. And it has dorky games like Warbook. I've developed a slight addiction to that game. I also like playing Hold 'Em there. Just what I needed...

Work news. I think Kristin got a really nice dose today of just how much work we have ahead of us before our big conversion. I'm just glad that I have someone to share it all with now. And I'm glad that she's such good friends with Brandi so that I can be more in the loop on all the office goings-on that I've been sheltered from while I spent the last eight months alone in my room. Sorry for all those prepositional phrases in the last sentence. If I cared more, I'd go back and edit it, but I don't, so I won't.

Holidays. Christmas is a mere 4 weeks away. That means I need to start shopping soon. As usual, I'd like to get gifts for my family online since I'll have to ship it all anyway. Because Marc's stepdad and I are working on Christmas Eve, we've decided to celebrate with the family on the 23rd. It should be pretty low-key.

Running/fitness. We didn't run a 5K like I'd hoped to do this fall, and now the weather is crap. I'm only running once or twice a week now because I really don't care for the treadmill. Marc's doing much better than me. On the bright side, I keep losing a pound or two every once in awhile. It's almost to the point where I'm going to have to buy a new pants/jeans wardrobe since all the new stuff I've bought since I dropped a size last year are now fitting bigger on me. The power we each have to shape our bodies really is amazing.

Manga and her butt wound. It's almost completely healed. She's off all her medication, and she's not throwing up anymore. I'm still waiting for her and Miji to get along together again.

I think that's all I've got for now. G'night!

Marc = Clark Griswold?

Last year after Christmas, Marc picked up a bunch of Christmas lights on sale. This was a little weird to me because every year he complains about decorating. The last couple of years we have either not put up a tree at all, or we've put it up without ornaments (a.k.a. cat toys). I don't have a ton of other Christmas decorations--just a few candles and a couple of knickknacks--but we didn't bring any of that stuff out of the boxes last year.

But Marc was excited about his new lights. We agreed awhile back that we'd use this weekend to put 'em up. We mostly did that yesterday. Fortunately, it wasn't raining. Unfortunately, it was cold and windy and the whole process took nearly 3 hours. After we picked up a couple extra sets of icicle lights to complete the look, we finished everything up today. And when I say "we," know that my only real task was getting the lights out of the boxes and reassuring Marc that everything looked good. I'm too lazy to find the camera, take a picture, and post it... but that'll come soon. Hopefully the neighbors won't think we're nuts. At least we don't have anything inflatable or structural in the yard--it's lights only.

Thanksgiving came and went with a complete lack of fanfare, family, and turkey. What can I say? We did go shopping this afternoon but only at a guitar store. Marc picked up an acoustic guitar and a book and video to help him learn to play. Should be fun!

A Cat Conversation

A few weeks ago, this funny video of two cats having a "conversation" made its rounds on a few of the blogs and other sites I have in my reader. Our cats' ears go to full attention mode when I play it.


Yesterday this video surfaced again with an awesome addition: an English translation. Marc and I found it hilarious; see if you agree.


In other cat news, Manga is still healing. We're still giving her antibiotic pills, and since she has started throwing up a couple of times a day, we're also giving her Pepcid.

In other non-cat news, I'm pretty hoarse. After eight months of sitting alone in an office hardly talking to anyone on a regular basis, I've now spent three days straight talking while I've been training Kristin. The three-day work week was cool, though, and happy hour (for four hours) was fun last night.

Today, we have no traditional plans. I think we're getting together with Slimey and his kids for dinner (Marc's beef stew) and maybe some games or something. Marc and I are planning to put up Christmas lights today or tomorrow. And if I have my way, sometime this weekend we'll go see Hitman. No turkey (that's kinda sad), but lots of sleep.

The Quest for the Chocolate Cake

Last night we met up with Rey and Phil for some grub at Ruby Tuesday. I love Ruby Tuesday. It's a relatively new addition to the Portland area. I used to eat there all the time back in Kentucky. I think the last time I ate there was in Chicago when we visited Erin back in 2001. A long time ago. Anyway, here we are finally eating at Ruby Tuesday again. I quickly identified a pomegranate martini as my drink of the night. Then, I flipped through the menu to the desserts. Hey, you have to know what might be in store at the end of the meal before you pick out what your main course is going to be! They had chocolate cake. Mmmmmm.... I was good and ordered a club salad for dinner. I decided against ordering dessert.

Because Haggen was right up the road. They have my beloved pumpkin ice cream. And they have chocolate cake--really good chocolate cake.

We waited for about five years to turn left into Haggen, and we started in the bulk foods section because Marc wanted some soynuts. They didn't have the unsalted ones though, so he insisted on leaving that Haggen and going to our other Haggen. Fine. I didn't look for my chocolate cake here, but I should have...

We waited another five years to turn left back out of Haggen. I even got out of the car and ran over to the sidewalk to hit the pedestrian crosswalk button to try to get the light to change sooner. It didn't help.

At Haggen #2, Marc scored on his soynuts. But, as you could probably guess, they didn't have any single slices of chocolate cake. German chocolate, carrot, white... but no plain chocolate. We picked up the pumpkin ice cream, and I whined about their lack of cake. Marc didn't want to hear me whine for the rest of the night, so he suggested dropping by Albertson's for a slice of cake. Okay.

Albertson's failed me. I should have known better. It's a smaller store, and they don't have a ton of stuff like this. They had the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that we love, but I didn't really want that much food--too tempting. Marc suggested going to QFC. Good lord.

Finally, at the 4th grocery store of the night, I found some chocolate cake. And Marc got some pumpkin pie. (Can you tell we like pumpkin?) We got home, I took about four bites of the cake, and then I went to bed. An evening in the life of Mindie. Pretty thrilling. That chocolate cake was worth it.

Blah blah blah

Today was exciting. I helped Kristin move her stuff into our office. For the first time in about 8 months, I won't be alone anymore! Yay!

Other than that, not a lot of exciting stuff has happened lately. But don't despair--here's a flippin' hilarious video that makes me laugh every time I watch it. Hopefully you'll enjoy it, too.

A Clothing Mystery

One of the wonders of my world is what in the heck I wore last year. When I get dressed in the morning, I generally put on clothes that I've bought or otherwise acquired in the last couple of months. Sometimes it makes me think... if I didn't have this new stuff, what would I be wearing? Or, more precisely, what did I actually wear last year or the year before? Now, I make the occasional drop-off trip to Goodwill and I release a lot of my clothes through clothing exchanges, but generally, I have to not wear something for at least a couple of years before I part with it. So, if I removed all my new stuff from my closet, what would I wear? I really don't have an answer. It makes me feel a bit insane. Or maybe the same gnomes who steal socks also steal various pieces of clothing and my memory of them to make me go insane. Yeah, that must be it.

Fun at the vet

Manga was acting weird today. She didn't want to jump up on the bed; when Marc put her on the bed, she didn't want to jump down. She yowled when I pet her. She hid in the bathroom behind the door. Later as I was petting her again, I noticed a big bump on the back of her leg under her tail. When I took a closer look, there was a pretty bad wound. I showed it to Marc, and he got an emergency appointment at the vet. It turned out to be an abscess, and on top of that, poor kitty had a 105 degree fever. We left her at the vet for a couple of hours so they could cut it open and drain it out. We just picked her up and brought her home. She's wearing a fabric radar dish and looks rather silly. And she was STARVING. Now we get the delight of administering two different medications to her--one of them for 10 days--and applying a warm compress to the wound a couple of times a day "for as long as she will tolerate." Yeah. I can see her tolerating warm compresses... ha!

So that's how we spent our afternoon. The big bummer is that it ruined our dinner plans with Art and Angela tonight.

About to crash

Today was busy. I spent all day at some off-site training. The training was good, but the logistics for me getting there sucked. I had to be at the other end of Beaverton before 8:30. The good: I got to sleep in a little bit. The bad: traffic. Amazingly, 26 was moving along just fine (I was smart enough to backtrack and get on at the less popular on-ramp). 217 was a parking lot. I played the game of getting off at each exit, just to get back on again. A couple other people were doing the same thing, but I don't know if it actually helped any. Unfortunately, I was driving the truck, so I didn't have the advantage of the nav system to help me find an alternate route. I was still early, though, so it was okay. When it was time to leave, I had a heck of a time finding and getting into a gas station--and then getting back out again. Somehow, I always needed to make left turns, and that's just not a fun thing to do anywhere near Washington Square at 5:00 on a weekday.

But the fun didn't end there! I decided to stop by at work to organize, print, and copy all the training materials I need to teach a new group of KB authors so that I wouldn't have to get up and go in really early tomorrow. I popped in my thumb drive and printed out about 120 pages before I realized I was printing the old copies instead of the ones I modified at home last night. ARRGGH! Good thing I was there, though, since one of the managers dropped by to let me know that I'd have another student. I'd rather know that before I make all the copies! So I got the right docs printed, copied, and organized into binders. I transported all the books and stuff we'll need tomorrow downstairs. I got some good exercise running up the stairs.

Then I finally made it home, just to spend more time working on my training prep. What a yucky week! And what a boring blog entry! I know some of you who read this will appreciate my pain though. Besides, it's been days since I last wrote anything, so I felt like I needed to write something even if it is really boring.

When I got done working through all my training stuff, I was all ready to catch some TV. I don't remember what we usually watch on Wednesday nights (Pushing Daisies, maybe?), but whatever it is, it's not on tonight. The CMAs are on instead. Gag me. So I'm just waiting for Gossip Girl. Yes, I do watch that trash. I don't know why I'm a sucker for stupid, unrealistic, predictable teen dramas, but for whatever reason, I love 'em.

On another completely unrelated note, can you believe it's almost Thanksgiving? I can't. I don't think we have any plans yet. Yeah, we're boring.

Our cats are famous!

Shortly after it's inception, I found Stuff On My Cat and couldn't stop laughing. After Marc's birthday dinner at Benihana in 2005, we came home with a birthday balloon hat and plopped it on the cats for some pictures. I sent them off to the guy from the site... and waited... found out that he had a huge backlog of photos... waited some more... then gave up. A few months ago, I decided to resend the pictures. And look who showed up on the site!

Sweet!

I'm gonna do it

Sometime in the next month or two, I'm going to get a tattoo. One of my best friends who's also an incredible artist is going to draw it for me. I think that'll make it easier to get--knowing that I have something original that was drawn by someone special to me. It will be a string of honus and plumerias; it will go on my upper back centered under my neck and high enough that it will be covered by my hair when it's down. There, I said it. I'm committed. I'm not going to debate it any longer.

Corpse Bride 2007

I didn't get many pictures of myself alone, and I'm kinda weird about putting other people's pictures online without their permission, so I don't want to post any group shots.

Here's a pic of me at my desk:

And here's a video of me riding Kathy's minibike--wait--I mean, here's a video of me floating around like the ghost that I am:


For the record, I have no intention of ever wearing that costume again. It it now fresh in my mind how uncomfortable it is to wear a strapless bra all day long and how itchy wearing that cheap makeup is. Okay, if I ever go work for another company and I'm even remotely close to being this same size, I may have to bring this costume back. But since I intend to stay where I am, and now everyone there has seen this costume on me twice, consider it retired.

Now here's a conundrum for you to contemplate: How is it that a 2.75 mile commute from work to my house can suck up 15 minutes of time? At least 2 miles of that is on roads with 40-45 MPH speed limits. In the morning, I can make it to work and hear just one song. I wish the "commute" home were just as quick.

Ready to be a bride again

I got my old wedding dress out. It was still in the bag I put it in last year after Halloween. I sprayed it with Febreze. It's a little big on me now, but I think it'll work out fine. I'll post pics tomorrow...

The Corpse Bride Returns

Last year I put on an awesome show on Halloween at work as a corpse bride. Just my luck, though--there was no contest or anything. Bummer. This year my department is at offering some prizes, so I'm going to be the corpse bride again. Yeah, it's unoriginal, but it's a kickass costume so I don't care. Look back in a few days for a picture or two of me all freaked out!

Friends with benefits

If you know me, you know I don't really cook. Marc is the chef of the house. Most of the time we're both too lazy to make anything exciting though. This is why we're very fortunate to have friends like Chris and Slimey who do cook and, perhaps more importantly, enjoy inviting us over to partake. Tonight we went over there for one of Slimey's new dishes--coconut chicken with papaya salsa, Thai rice, and salad with his homemade bleu cheese dressing. AWESOME.

When we were over there on Friday night, we played the new game that Mike and Diane gave me for my birthday, Redneck Life, with Slimey and his oldest kid, Charles (or Mini-Chuck as Marc calls him). Last weekend, I'd started a game with Mike and Diane, but we didn't get too far, so this was our first full game. It's pretty brainless (unless you're the banker), and it's a lot of fun. I recommend it for anyone's game collection; it's a nice break from the more strategic games we usually play. Plus, the creators have both Oregon and Kentucky connections. It's like the game was made for me.

Par-tay

Last night we went to Jess and Craig's place for a soiree. Jess cooked up a big assortment of dips--Reuben, spinach artichoke, chili cheese, 7-layer Mexican. Most of the party attendees brought change for poker, so we got a game of Texas Hold 'Em going. I actually won a few good hands! I quit while I was ahead ($10--yeah!). Good times! I was going to attach a picture to break up all of this text I've been writing, but the couple of pictures we took didn't turn out well. And Marc didn't take advantage of getting photographic proof of me wearing a skirt.

Huge moon

No, I'm not talking about bare butt cheeks.

On my way to work this morning, the moon was just above the horizon, and it was HUGE. I mean HUGE. Plus, it looked like it was almost full. I wished I had a camera with me to snap a few shots. I was telling Marc about it this afternoon, and then they started talking about the moon on the news. Turns out it's closer to Earth right now than it usually is, so it's especially large. If you haven't seen it lately, be sure to check it out.

Queen of small talk

This is sad. I'm on my third attempt at writing something here today. I started with crap about the weather. After I deleted that, I tried writing about my week at work so far. But who cares? I don't have anything funny to report. Don Johnson hasn't made any more appearances that I'm aware of. Nobody's arriving at my blog in search of putooties or some other strange thing. Marc hasn't surprised me with anything else. So what can I say? I'm still running. We haven't seen any good movies. Work is busy. There's really nothing new. If anyone reading this has any exciting news, please leave a comment so I can live vicariously.

Surprise!

Marc has outdone himself. Two years ago, I got conned into a surprise party for my 28th birthday under the guise of our friends wanting a demonstration of our Dyson vacuum. Yeah, let me tell you how awesome it is having pictures taken of me walking into a room full of friends toting a vacuum cleaner. Anyway, since I'd kind of whined before that party about not ever having a surprise party thrown for me, I expected that was my one for my lifetime.

Well...

On Thursday, Marc told me that my gift wouldn't be here until Saturday. That's fine. I could wait. I "knew" I was getting my steak dinner on Saturday, so I'd just wait for my gift and my dinner. We didn't do anything on Friday evening. Saturday, I got up early (for a weekend, anyway) and went to Laura's for the Great Exchange. We dug through piles of clothing for a couple of hours, but I had strict instructions from Marc to be home by 12:30 for a surprise of some sort. I got home at 12:20 with my bag of new/exchanged clothing, and Marc led me upstairs to the bedroom. I had no idea what to expect. When we entered the room, I saw a suitcase on the bed, half full with Marc's stuff. He told me to pack for the night--something nice to wear to dinner, and nothing special for Sunday. He told me that the first stop would be at the Portland Spa for a facial. Yay!

So, I packed a few things and headed back downstairs. I asked if Marc was getting something done at the spa, too. His response? "Maybe.........maybe not." I told him that he better because he deserved it. The appointment was at 1:30, so we left around 1:00. When we walked in, Marc told the two ladies at the desk my name. One of them stood up and asked the two of us to follow her back. The other asked, "Is he getting a service, too?"--which I thought was kind of strange because they ought to have a good idea of who's doing what, considering that they only have 4 rooms to book at a time.

We followed lady 1 back to the waiting room, and as she opened the door, I registered that there were already several people sitting in the room. Again, this was weird because there are only a few rooms, so at most, only 4 people should have an appointment at any one time. As I stepped into the room, it was even weirder for me to realize that I *knew* all of the people in the room! It was Mike, Diane, Andy, and Jo--all the way from the Seattle/Tacoma area! Surprise for me! Turns out, the other girls were scheduled for massages while I got my facial; the guys walked down the street for some grub while we enjoyed our pampering.

Next surprise was our hotel for the night--The Hotel Vintage Plaza. Marc and I shared a townhouse (2-story) suite with Mike and Diane; Andy and Jo got their own room. After we started to get settled in, there was a knock on the door. A hotel employee brought in a cake for me. Mike and Diane got it from a "bakery" up in Seattle. It was cause for much laughter! We walked down to Pioneer Place to do some shopping. I scored a couple of cool shirts from Guess. Then we came back to get dressed for my steak dinner.

I knew we had reservations for 7:15. I didn't know where. We were right next door to a steakhouse, so I was guessing... but I was wrong. We turned the opposite way out the front door of the hotel and started walking down the street. I noticed Typhoon and pointed it out because I didn't know there was a location there. Marc and everyone paused as I continued walking past it, and Marc said something like, "Change of plans. We're having dinner here." I was thoroughly confused. Typhoon is Thai food--not steak. What's going on? As we waited to be seated, Marc explained that he'd already made these reservations before I said I wanted a steak dinner, and promised we'd get steak another time. Okay, whatever! I'm easy!

The hostess showed us the way back, and I started noticing other familiar faces... a bunch of people from work, PNWX, other random friends... holy crap!! It was another surprise party!! How many people actually fall victim to 2 surprise parties in 3 years--and are honestly surprised? Well, I'm one. Maybe there are others, but I bet there aren't many. In all, there were 22 of us there for dinner. It was awesome! After more than a month of planning, coordinating, and threatening people to keep their mouths shut, Marc had pulled it off. And he claims that this is it--no more surprises. We'll see... though at this point, I'm going to start suspecting it every year. Haha!

Now, my big problem is that I've never pulled off something so spectacular for Marc. I have a few years before his next milestone to plan something fabulous, though. That should give me plenty of time to think of something good.

I survived

It's official. I'm 30. And I'm still alive.

Lots of people sang to me at separate times this year--Marc's grandpa sang to me yesterday, Marc sang to me this morning, and my mom and Marc's mom sang to me tonight. Marc decorated the downstairs with streamers and balloons for me to find this morning. My team at work brought me balloons. Marc showed up at work with flowers. I found out that Marc has some kind of surprise planned for Saturday, so I'm looking forward to that and the steak dinner that will follow that evening.

I think the funniest thing I heard today was when my coworker Jason told us all what the worst part of turning 30 is. You have to check a different age group box on surveys now. Haha! It's so true though--instead of being in the 20-29 group, all of a sudden, I'm in the 30-39 group. At least I'm at the bottom of the range, though!

To everyone who sympathized with me, put up with me, and/or helped make this a great birthday for me, thank you. :)

Doomsday

I've refrained from whining too much about tomorrow. I'm turning 30. It literally almost makes me want to cry. Logically, this doesn't make any sense--and I know it. But no matter how many times I tell myself or Marc tells me that my age really doesn't matter, it still doesn't help. So... no matter how much I hate it, I'm done living my 20s.

Boo.

Rose twins' First Birthday

Logan and Zachary will turn 1 on Tuesday; their birthday party was yesterday. In true Rose fashion, the party was great, the food was yummy, and the details were funny--especially the cakes. The controllers were the boys' cakes. You can kinda make out in the picture that they have their names on them.

And of course, an obligatory feeding frenzy pic:

I know quite a few people with October birthdays. Marc's mom was the 13th. The twins on the 16th. Erin on the 17th. Me on the 18th. Gill on the 24th. Happy birthday everyone!

Go Cats!

Being a fan and alumna of the University of Kentucky has rarely been a reason to be a football fan--I was really only interested in the tailgating before the games. Until yesterday. I'm so far removed from most of the news about UK sports that I have to rely on something spectacular happening so that it gets posted on the Comcast home page and I have a chance of seeing it when I start up Firefox. Last night I caught a mention of Kentucky in one of the headlines and was amazed to find out as I read further that they toppled #1 LSU in a triple overtime game. I'm just hoping this doesn't mean that the basketball team will suck this year. I don't know if the universe will continue to exist if UK pulls off both a good football and basketball team in a single year.

All this reminds me of a football game when I was a student when a bunch of people tore the goalposts down after UK won. (I can't remember who we beat...) Anyway, one of the uprights ended up at the frat house where I always hung out, and they cut it up into pieces for a bunch of people. I still have a chunk of it. How many people can claim that they have a piece of a college football goalpost?

Putooties!

I have a few regular visitors to this blog that I'm aware of, but it's interesting to see who stumbles on this page of mine at random. Today when I checked to see which search engine queries brought a random soul here, I found a surprising entry. Evidently, if you search Google for "putooties," this blog comes up as the seventh result, thanks to my reference to people freezing their putooties off a couple weeks ago. (Nevermind that, according to Google, the preferred spelling is "patooties;" though I don't have my dictionary handy to confirm, I'm sticking with the idea that this is a completely made-up word and therefore it cannot have a right or wrong spelling. My rationale is that putootie normally follows the word "cutey" and should have the same vowel to create the same sound in the rhyme.) I'm hoping that by having this post with the word putooties in it several more times, I can increase my putootie (or should that be putooty?) relevance for Google and come up higher the next time somebody searches for putooties.

In other news, my entire week at work has been consumed with interviewing to fill Laura's position. Now that I have a really good idea about what the "right" answers are to behavioral questions, I will be totally prepared for an interview myself if I--heaven forbid--ever have to interview for a job again.

My Brainiac Nephew

My mom always has some funny story about my nephew Mason. This kid is a genius. Seriously. Here's the latest on Mason "The Brain."

Mason is 6 years old. My brother and his family moved to Alabama awhile back, and Mason was completely bored and unchallenged in school. They home-schooled him for a year then got him into a private school this year. He had his first spelling test a few weeks ago. It consisted of 3-letter words like "cat" and "dog." There were two "bonus" words at the end with 4 letters. At the bottom of his paper, he wrote this:
"Here's a word for you. Photosynthesis."
And he followed it with a drawing of a sun shining on a plant.

Holy crap. Watch out world!

Poker, smoke, and karaoke

Tonight we played in a poker tournament at Phil's place. Out of the 8 people, I tied for 4th. Marc came in 3rd. I was bummed I didn't beat all the boys, but I'm not too disappointed considering I haven't really played a lot of poker since college. After that we went to a very smoky bar. It's been a long time since I've been someplace where smoking is still allowed, and I'm reminded of why I hate such places. I feel like I just smoked a pack myself, and everything on me reeks now. I hate smoky, stinky hair. There was a karaoke section in the bar--with a whopping 3 people sitting in there. We got to witness an awesome rendition of Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi. The singer was getting way into it, but he wasn't very good. If there hadn't been so much smoke and if I hadn't been so tired already, I would have been all over finally participating in karaoke myself. One of these days...

Now, as you can tell by the timestamp on this post, it's way past my bedtime--especially for a Friday night. Nighty night!

Mmmmm burritos

Laura and I did lunch today. Her birthday is the 18th of September; mine's the 18th of October (same year, even). Today was the halfway point between our birthdays, so we got together for some eating pleasure at Chipotle. I love Chipotle. There was a time when Marc and I would start going into withdrawal if we didn't have it at least once a week. We rarely eat it anymore though, so this was exciting for me.

This evening, Marc and I enjoyed massages. Let me tell you how knotted up my shoulders are. Here goes: My shoulders are really knotted up. We've been getting massages about once a week for the past month, and I think my shoulders are worse every time. I don't know what to blame it on except the busyness of work lately. I'm not going to call it stress because I feel like I'm handling things just fine. I don't worry about things. I don't lay awake at night. I just want to get everything done, and I think the pure tension of it all keeps building up. Next Sunday we're going to do a 2-hour massage. That oughta help big time.

Do I look like an idiot?

I was driving home for lunch this morning when I saw the signs announcing utility work ahead with a lane closure. I was on the two-lane road that borders our neighborhood. I slowed down. I saw the huge utility truck blocking my entire lane and the worker with the big stop sign standing just my side of the center line. I stopped several dozen feet back to let the opposing traffic finish passing. Then, Mr. Road Worker flips his sign around to the "Slow" side and points fervently and repeatedly to the other lane for me to drive in. Really? No, really, is that where I'm supposed to drive now? You mean I can't just stay in my lane and try to drive right over top of the humongous utility truck that's right in front of me? Okay, I'll drive in the other lane. Sheesh.

Fire--good!

Our wheeling weekend was great. Marc and I left town around noon on Friday and made it up to Cliffdell around 4:00. We enjoyed some cocktails while we waited for Jo and Andy, then grabbed some dinner. After dinner, there were more drinks and some hot tub action. It was cold out, which made the hot tub on the deck and the fireplace inside quite delightful.

Saturday we slept in, got breakfast, and then met up with the other seven trucks for some wheeling around Moon and Funny Rocks. There was lots of other offroad traffic that day--there was some rally or something going on. After a few hours, the four of us split off from the group since we had to go in a different direction to get back to our cabin. Again, we enjoyed the warm fire inside, and Marc made some of his beef stew for dinner. We introduced Jo and Andy to Settlers. I somewhat purposely helped Marc win so that we could get back in the hot tub. The noobs did really well for noobs, though. We were impressed!

Today we slept in (again) and got breakfast (again) before we left town. It was an awesome weekend--except for the crappy, rainy weather on the drive back home. On that note, it doesn't seem like it was too long ago that I was still sunbathing in the backyard. All of a sudden, though, it changed to winter in the NW. Marc got our fireplace going, so we're enjoying that now.

Not since Young Guns II

As I've written about before, I volunteer with a group from work at the Oregon Food Bank each month. Earlier this month when I was there, they told us about the "Cans Film Festival" which Marc and I "attended" today after work. Basically, bring 3 cans of food, and you get to see a free movie. We saw 3:10 to Yuma. I'd heard good things about this movie, but Westerns really aren't usually my thing. I think the last Western I saw that I actually wanted to see was Young Guns II. That's right folks. Summer 1990. Some of my fellow 13-year-old friends and I spent many hours worth of babysitting money buying tickets to that movie. Over and over again. I'm pretty sure I saw it at least 7 times in the theater. Why? Because I had a ginormous crush on Christian Slater. Kiefer Sutherland wasn't bad either. I remember giggling a lot at that movie but not much else.

Now it's time to watch an hour of My Name is Earl and The Office. Then I have to pack for this weekend. Busy night!

I am what I am, and what I am not is an endurance athlete

After swimming competitively for nine years when I was younger, I gained a pretty good understanding of how my body likes to perform. I tend toward sprinting rather than endurance. I come out strong, but poop out pretty easily. I've found the same thing to be true with running. Today's workout was a 10 minute run, 3 minute walk, and another 10 minute run. Even though I was tired after work today (I didn't get enough sleep, and I worked through lunch), I really busted butt in the first 10 minute segment. We had our fastest laps ever. It was a relief to walk for a few minutes, and then it was REALLY hard to start running again. And I was much slower in the second run segment. I almost think it would have been easier to keep running the whole time. Those workouts are coming soon... I think we've about met the end of the built-in walking breaks. Now we need to find a 5K to sign up for.

We're watching the Star Wars episode of Family Guy from the other night. Even though I don't get the whole Star Wars obsession, this show is pretty hilarious. (I keep telling Marc that we need to devote a day to Star Wars and watch all the movies back-to-back. But then the question is, do we start with Episode 1 and go straight through, or start with Episode 4 and watch in the order they were actually released? Does this make me sound really nerdy? Dammit...) My favorite part is when all the X Wing fighters call in. Red October? Classic. Simply Red? Who even remembers them? Haha.

New TV season = the end of my long nights of sleep

Tonight we become slaves to the television again. I love TV. I also love the summer when everything goes into reruns so that I can sleep more. I'm excited to see what happens with our old favorites and some of the new offerings this year, though. Tonight we're watching Chuck, Heroes, and Journeyman while the Media Center records How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, and Two and a Half Men for tomorrow afternoon's viewing. I'm really looking forward to Thursday with Earl and the Office. It's a good thing we got this comfy, new couch cuz I'll be spending a lot of time sitting on it.

Four Years

Today marks the four year anniversary of the day that Marc and I tied the knot in Las Vegas. Time has flown by. We celebrated by getting Chinese takeout for dinner. :) This weekend, though, we're splurging on a Whistlin' Jack cabin in lieu of camping for the PNWX Rocktoberfest year-ending trip. It ought to be fun! While everyone else is freezing their putooties off, we'll be warm and cozy in a hot tub. Can't wait...

Miji, the Fabulous Leaping Cat

Our middle cat, Miji, is a big jumper. She's the one who can reach past the peephole on the front door when she jumps straight up from the ground. Today, there was a huge bug (which we thought and later verified was a praying mantis) on the screen door, and Miji was jumping against the glass door in a futile attempt to get it. I apologize for the shakiness. I don't have a steady hand, and the tripod wasn't handy.


And here's a picture of the bug:

I shouldn't be surprised by robots in our house...

If you know Marc, you know that while he may have been alive for 35 years, he's still 10 years old at heart. Yesterday morning when I got up, I never would have thought that by the time I fell asleep that night, I'd be able to say I had a robot crawling on me, but that's exactly what happened. Marc came into the bedroom last night as I was about to fall asleep, set his new robot right on top of me, and said, "I want to see how well it does offroad." He then proceeded to have the thing crawl around on my legs for a few minutes before he said goodnight and left me alone. And before you ask, No, we did not actually spend $90 on that robot. Fortunately, we had a couple of $80 gift cards that Marc redeemed credit card points for. I got a sweet pair of headphones to replace the ones I've been using at work for the past 4 years. Marc got the robot.

Jell-o

We ran for 20 minutes straight today. My legs feel like Jell-o.

Desperate to Laugh

I forgot about this. I was in such a mood for laughter today that these really struck me as hilarious. Be sure to click the link to the first batch of graffiti finds, too.

A Much Better Day

Yesterday's "calm down" walk, early bed time, awesomely deep night of sleep, and consideration that lots of people have much worse days at work than I do (like some of my friends who are nurses in IC or cardiac units) helped me adjust my attitude. Plus, I had a better day at work today (I finished some things!), which was extra-valuable because this afternoon's run was a doozy. Two 8-minute runs were in our intervals today. This is an increase from the 5 minute runs we topped out at previously. Even better--we kind of sprinted the last minute of the last interval. That hurt, but in an oh-so-good way. I'm really liking this whole running thing...

I'm so Busy, I'm Angry

I like getting things done. When I know there's a task to do, I commit myself to doing what it takes to make it happen. Somehow I've balanced this with being a pretty good procrastinator throughout my life, though the more I think about it, the more I think I'm not as much of a procrastinator anymore.

This is why everything at work is really bothering me right now.

Things are really busy. There are about 15 things to do on my list. Everything involves different people. Everything is a different priority. Everything shifts in importance every day. I can't get ANYthing finished. Whenever I start or continue working on something, something else pops up. It's messing me up, and it's making me grumpy. So to Marc and all of my coworkers, I apologize for my crappy mood lately. I wish I could just stay at work for about 48 hours straight and get tons of stuff done so I wouldn't be so stressed out.

I was really frustrated today when I got home and realized I needed to do more work tonight. I hadn't logged on to my computer remotely since I bought my second monitor, so I wasn't sure how that would work. It ended up working better than I thought it would. Then, since we don't have a punching bag for me to take my frustrations out on and today isn't a running day, I went for a walk. It was nice outside, and I rocked out on the Shuffle. It was good.

I'll go to bed early tonight and hopefully get a really good night of sleep so that I can attack the day tomorrow with a better attitude. And hopefully I'll finish something so I can feel at least some small sense of accomplishment.

Oktoberfest

I took the day off work yesterday, and we finally went to the Mt. Angel Oktoberfest. Going in the middle of a work day was good and bad. Good: It wasn't crowded, and it was pretty easy to park. Bad: The average age of the attendees was higher than the combined age of me, Marc, and Greg. But that's okay. We went purely for food. Bratwurst. Funnel cakes. Fudge. Yum yum yum. We also got to watch the Glockenspiel. Standing rght behind us was a spitting image of an Oompa Loompa from the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie. Freaky.

We got back to town in time to hang out with Rey and Phil--first at the Roadhouse and then at the Bay. It was a day of gluttony.

This morning we ran. I've decided that it's a heck of a lot easier for me when I run in the morning instead of at the end of the workday. Now I'm debating changing my hours at work so that I can do my running before work. We'll see...

Happy Birthday to Marc!

Today is Marc's 35th birthday. I celebrated by having a pretty bad day at work. When I got home, we went running. Then we met up with the happy hour gang from work for... happy hour. And then dinner. Now my belly is full, it's past my bedtime, and I'm outta here.

Remembering 9/11

I looked back at what I blogged last year at this time and was surprised that I didn't post anything on or around 9/11. That was a very interesting time in my young life. Before I get into how my life changed six years ago, I just want to mention my agreement with my new idol, Saint Gasoline, about how it's a bit ridiculous that we as a society focus on remembering only the worst things in our history. There are lots of important and less tragic events that we could focus on. Not that we should ever forget events like 9/11, but instead of dwelling on the negative, it'd be interesting to see what we could accomplish by focusing on positive change in our lives.

And now I'll contradict all that by reliving the events of "6 years ago Mindie."

In August 2001, I told Kevin I wanted a divorce. Right after that, I met Marc in Colorado at the second Gathering of Xterras. Leaving him after a week, not knowing when (or if?) we'd see each other again, almost made my heart break. I got home to Kentucky, did laundry, repacked, and flew off to Atlanta for work. At the time, Kevin was working in NYC. We arrived in our respective cities on Sunday 9/9.

Tuesday morning, I was sitting in a meeting room with a dozen or so other students at the local PwC office when one of the other employees from the building came in and quietly interrupted our instructor. After a few seconds of whispering, the instructor asked us all if we had any family living or working in NYC. Then he told us about the plane flying into the North tower.

I don't remember exactly what happened next. I know class was over and did not ever resume. We all left the room to watch the footage on TV in the lunch area. I tried calling Kevin. I didn't think he was in the same part of town as the WTC, but I didn't know for sure. The lines were completely jammed trying to call that area though. I called and talked to Marc. I worried about my friend Jason, the Secret Service agent who worked at one of the smaller WT buildings that collapsed later that day.

I watched on TV as the South tower got hit and as the South tower and later the North tower collapsed. It still gives me chills--the really bad kind--when I think about it. I remember the collective gasps from everyone in the room. I remember crying.

I have no recollection of how or when I got back to my hotel room. A bunch of people in class were from the same area in Pennsylvania and rented a 10 passenger van to drive home that day. I was obviously not flying anywhere, and I didn't get lucky with vehicle rentals either. The next few days are a blur. I don't remember leaving the hotel except for a dinner out with a college friend one night. I really don't have any idea what I was doing the whole time. Friday morning, I talked with a car rental place that had a car for me. I caught a cab from Dunwoody (north of Atlanta) to the airport (south of Atlanta). I waited in line. I felt badly for the guy in front of me who told the rental agent that he'd be returning his car in San Jose, CA. Wow... 2,500 miles by himself...

I got my rental Sentra and took off. Once outside of the city, there was little traffic on the road. All the plates were from other states; I could tell they were mostly rentals. A random group of us maintained 85-90 MPH for a good chunk of time. The whole trip took about 4.5 hours instead of the usual 6+. I just wanted to be home.

Kevin was driving home from NYC at the same time, and we arrived within an hour or so of each other. If ever there had been a doubt about where my life was going next, I knew right then that I wouldn't be going anywhere with him. The tragedy had struck a cord deep in my soul. Even if I didn't end up with Marc, I knew my life was meant to take a different course than the one I was on.

A month later, I moved out. A month after that, I moved to Oregon. I wondered then and I still wonder now how long I would have dragged my feet if something so horrible hadn't shaken me up and given me the strength to change the course of my life. I wonder where I'd be right now if that had never happened. Who knows.

9/11 really is one of those days that I'll always remember exactly where I was even if I can't remember all the details about what I did next. It changed so many lives, and I credit it fully with changing mine--fortunately for the better.

Now, seriously, go read some comics and blogs from my idol. They'll make you laugh. If they don't make you laugh, then there's just no hope for you.

Planning ahead

I've found that one of the best ways to make myself follow through on something is to tell people what I'm going to do. With how well our running routine is going, it doesn't seem at all out of the question to complete a half-marathon in a year. Heck, maybe we'll even be ready for a marathon by then. (Okay, probably not, but it's fun to fantasize.) Marc may regret offering up this idea, but I might have to hold him to it.

Maui. September 2008. Our choice of a measly 5K, a half marathon, or a full marathon. I want to do it--the half marathon, that is. We're not going to make it to Hawaii for our annual trip this year, so now I'm planning ahead for next year's trip with a purpose. I'm excited already!

Don Johnson visits Portland? Not really...

This story, though not my own, is too funny not to share. I'm going to leave details/names out of this to protect the no-so-innocent, but it should still be just as entertaining.

A month or two ago, one of the departments at work did an 80's day where a bunch of people came to work dressed for the decade. It was suggested for one guy--let's call him Walt--to come dressed as Don Johnson, even though he doesn't look a thing like Don. Being quite the joker, Walt went along with it. He went to Men's Warehouse and bought a white suit, some bright colored shirt, and shoes. He slicked his hair back. He looked as much like Don Johnson as someone who doesn't look like Don Johnson could.

Evidently, it was quite the scene.

Fast forward a few weeks. A small group of people in the aforementioned department decided to plan a lunch at a nice little local Italian joint. One of the guys--we'll call him Duncan--basically dared Walt to get some more use out of his Don Johnson clothes and dress up for lunch. Walt responded that he would be happy to dress up as Don Johnson for lunch if someone called the restaurant and told them that Don Johnson was going to be in town and wanted a low-key lunch at a nice local place. Duncan accepted the challenge and notified the restaurant.

When the group arrived for lunch, they were immediately escorted to a private room in the back of the restaurant with a table set with all the nice dinner plates and glasses--during the lunch buffet. The owner and his wife just happened to be there. Employees kept peeking around the corner into the room. The bartender had printed out a picture of Don Johnson that Walt autographed. They were so blinded by the glory of having a 1980's TV star in their restaurant that they apparently didn't notice how unlike Don Johnson Walt actually looked. They bought it!

And that's not all they bought. The owners comped the meal even after repeated declines by my coworkers who had realized long ago that they were in WAY too deep. As Walt walked out, the cashier completely turned her back on the customers she was helping so that she could say goodbye to the "star."

Walt's wife went back later that day and insisted on paying for their meal. I think if I had been with them that day, I'd be afraid to ever step foot in that restaurant again. I would have been mortified if I'd been there, but it sure is hilarious to hear about it after the fact.

A To-Do List

I always think of fabulous things to blog about when I'm at work or in the car. I never remember them by the time I get home. So tonight I'm going to put down in words some of the things I want to do and places I want to visit in the near future. I'd like to be ambitious and say I'll do these things in the next year, but to play it safe, let's give it three years. Or maybe five.

Things I want to do:
1. Skydive (again). I haven't been since my 21st birthday. I also went twice while I was living in Orlando in 1997.
2. Visit Spain. I don't know why. I don't really know anything about the country, but it seems appealing. Either that or go back to Switzerland.
3. Rent a houseboat at Lake Shasta.
4. See a taping of the David Letterman Show. I talked to and have a picture with Rupert Jee, but that's the closest I've gotten to seeing Dave live. And that's not really very close.
5. Go river rafting. It's so accessible in this part of the country, but we still haven't managed to go.

And some less specific things I want to do:
1. Explore more caves. Especially near St. Helen's, there are tons of caves in this area. I want to climb around more of them.
2. Read more books. I go through phases. Sometimes I make lots of time for reading and go through a book or two a week. Then I take a month or two hiatus.
3. Get out of the "Beaverton Bubble" more often. There's so much in this city I haven't experienced.
4. See friends I haven't seen in forever--mostly out-of-towners. You know who you are.

I hate those verification boxes on web forms

You know those boxes that have distorted letters and numbers in them that you have to type in when you submit various web forms? I hate them--at least the bad ones. Some aren't THAT bad. I always feel retarded when I try to read the characters. A good 80% of the time, I screw it up when I first try or else I have to request a different code. The ones that really make me mad are the ones with scraggly lines through the characters I'm supposed to read. I understand their function--kind of--but does it have to be so freakin' hard?

Then again, maybe I'm the only one with this issue. That's very possible.

Long weekend... and the end of all my vacation

Today marks the end of all my extra days off. Though I still have more than a week of vacation racked up, I don't have anything else scheduled for now. Boo. However, we had quite a nice weekend. Let's recap.

- Friday: Met up with some guys from work for happy hour. My favorite bartender made me awesome drinks with vodka, watermelon pucker, vodka, some Sprite, and more vodka. Yum! I won't mention the X-rated name for this drink though.

- Saturday: Headed up to Andy and Jo's house for Andy's 30th birthday party. A few other folks from PNWX went, too, and we met several of Andy and Jo's friends and family. Perfect weather and great BBQ food! That night we stayed with Brian and Kim in the Gig.

- Sunday: Met up with Jess and Craig for drinks and dinner. The place was getting swarmed by yellow jackets, and Craig got stung on his foot. Luckily I didn't get stung, so I'm still alive. Our server was an entertaining Australian girl who's really into martial arts, ghost stories, vegemite, and moving back to Canada for the snowboarding. She was a hoot!

Speaking of Canada... I don't remember now where we were, but we saw a British Columbia license plate on a car the other day that was labeled as a veteran plate. I found this curious. I guess I just don't think of BC--or Canada in general--as being too involved in veteran-earning war experiences. I might have to do some research on this. I wonder how many people are eligible for these types of plates and what they've done for them.

Okay, back to the weekend summary.

- Today: We had an exciting run this morning. It's the first time we had to run for 5 minutes straight, and we had to do that twice in our workout. Sounds pretty dopey, but for two people who were professional couch-sitters a few weeks ago, this was a big deal. We survived, but my knee is starting to hurt now. The whole running thing is interesting. I'm gaining weight from it, but my clothes are getting looser. Whatever works! Then we went shopping for a new computer for Marc's business. I got a monitor for work, too. Why buy a monitor for work, you ask? Well, that's quite a story. Let's just say that even though I got approval and budget for me and my cohorts to get special, bigger monitors about a year ago, we got screwed. I wanted something bigger than the 19" LCDs we ended up with, but I wasn't going to get it unless I bought it myself. Since I spend a lot more time looking at a computer at work and there are times when I really need (want) a bigger viewing area, I splurged on a widescreen 22" LCD for myself. Now I'll have to sweet talk our computer guy into helping me set up dual monitors. He loves me and my special needs. :)

Pigs Must Have Flown Today

A little background:
Two years ago I took a trip back to Kentucky by myself to visit family. While I was gone, something happened to the big TV we had in our bedroom, and Marc opted to buy a new one instead of having the old one fixed. Ever since that day, the old TV has sat against the side wall in our bedroom doing nothing but taking up space. I've tried to get Marc to sell it on craigslist, pay someone to haul it away, or just drop it off at Goodwill. As of this morning, it was still in our bedroom.

Fast forward:
Marc had it in his head that we needed a treadmill in the house now. I was adamantly against this idea for a few reasons:

1. We have NO room for it in the spare bedroom that serves as our workout room right now. It already houses the elliptical, weight set thingy, and a rowing machine, along with several "extra" pieces of furniture that don't fit anywhere else.
2. I wanted an exercise we would do outside. We have the elliptical to use when we want to be indoors.
3. I really wanted an exercise we would do together. With one treadmill, only one of us can work out at a time, so we either alternate or follow completely different schedules.

Do I ever win these arguments? No. But I did mandate that no treadmill was entering the house until the TV in our bedroom was gone and the extra crap in the workout room was moved or disposed of.

That motivated him. We hauled the TV downstairs, loaded it into the back of the Xterra, and dropped it off at a little TV shop where they should be able to harvest it for parts. Then we went to Sears, and Marc got a good deal on a close-out treadmill. As the Sears dudes were loading it into the back of the truck, they busted one of the pieces at the end of the cargo track and bent the track. Karma. Stupid treadmill.

Now Marc's working on clearing stuff out of the workout room so that he can bring the treadmill in and set up the new TV. And I'm sitting on my butt on the couch doing a whole lotta nothin'. I have to take advantage of these last few days off work. I don't have any more vacation days scheduled, so I have nothing to look forward to. Boo.

I Was Wrong

I was wrong about my bruise peaking. It no longer hurts, but it continues to look nastier and nastier. I keep taking pictures of it because I find it oddly fascinating, but I still won't be posting them here.

I slept in this morning (until 7:30! WOW!), and now I'm listening to Pandora and getting ready to go soak up some sun. If only every Wednesday could be like this.

Like a Happy Little Schoolgirl

I'm on vacation the rest of the week, so tonight's my Friday. Following our relatively usual Tuesday night tradition, Marc, Aaron, and I went to Newport Bay for drinks and dinner. And I got carded! I used to get carded all the time when Marc still had his braces, but it's a pretty rare occurrence anymore. Plus, I'm starting to freak out just a little bit about turning 30. When the waitress asked for my ID (but not Marc's or Aaron's), I had to contain my emotions to keep from kissing her in appreciation. She won bonus points when she acted very surprised about how old I was. I said, "Thank you!" and ordered my vodka cran. Happy times!

So this whole turning 30 thing is depressing. I'm seriously considering getting the tattoo that I've been thinking about for YEARS. I'm wondering whether I'll still be able to pull off wearing my hair in Princess Leia buns or pigtails. Is this a signal that I'm no longer a "girl" and instead a "lady" or "woman" or some crap like that? Do I have to change the way I dress? I don't like one bit of it. I don't know what it requires to not be in my 20s anymore. I'm sad.

Oh, and by the way, Aaron has the loudest laugh I've ever heard in my life. I came home from work today to find him and Marc watching Blades of Glory. After I finished groaning and rolling my eyes, I grabbed my computer and headed upstairs until they were ready to leave for happy hour. I could still hear Aaron laughing. Now, don't get me wrong. I love laughing, and if you know me, you know I'm no stranger to good belly laughs. But Aaron is LOUD. It's funny in itself, which makes it totally awesome. That's all I've got for now. Cheers!

A Mystery

I always like a good mystery. However, I'm not a fan of those that are unsolvable. Last week I noticed a good-sized bruise on my leg, just on the inside of my knee. I think it peaked today. It's about the size of a half dollar, and it's various shades of black, purple, green, blue, and yellow. Now, I'm not a stranger to bruises and other superficial injuries. They're something that have come along with the semi-athletic and ultra-clumsy life I've led. But this particular bruise is one of those mysteries that I'll never solve. I have no idea where it came from. I can't fathom how I managed to injure myself in this particular location. Fortunately, it only hurts when I press on. So I don't press on it.

I tried to take pictures, but of course they don't do it justice. And they make my leg look like Kate's prosthetic.

Mostly Cloudy vs. Partly Sunny

I've always been annoyed by meteorological descriptions like "partly" and "mostly." In particular, I'm bothered by the apparent lack of logical distinction between a pair of descriptions like "partly sunny" and "mostly cloudy." To me, one implies the other, so how do they choose which to communicate as the official forecast?

After years of wondering about this, I finally was unlazy enough to ask the internet about it. And the answer is: There's no difference. They're just playing mind games with us.

Check out what Seattle's ABC affiliate has to say about it. I feel duped. I really wanted to believe that there was a difference between the two.

New Couch

Our new couch got delivered today. When I got home from work, I found Marc had placed the old couch on its back in the space between the dining area and the loveseat. Max and Miji are very excited about this--Miji in particular. They've been playing and sleeping on it all afternoon. Honestly I'm surprised that they aren't more interested in the new couch. Silly cats. Now we just need to find someone to give the old one away to.

Unfulfilled Band Dreams

At the track today, the Sunset High School marching band was practicing on the adjoining field. I'm so jealous.

When we moved from Florida to Kentucky, one of the things I decided on during the car ride north was that I was going to learn how to play the flute. I'd played the piano for years and dabbled in violin. I really liked playing the recorder in elementary school though, so the flute seemed like a logical choice. When I started junior high in Kentucky, I was in band as a flute player. Before long I moved up from the third row to third chair. I really enjoyed playing, and I looked forward to marching band in high school. When I realized that my parents favored private schools over public ones for high school, my dreams were dashed. There's not much need for a marching band at an all-female, 600 student school. I never got to march.

And that's why I'm jealous of those kids we saw today. They're living my silly, lost dream.

Oddities of my memory

I got my hair colored today. Interestingly, my hair's gotten long enough that the blow drying portion of the appointment now takes longer than the coloring or the setting. Anyway, there was a lady there with her two kids, and the boy kid totally reminded me of a boy I knew when I lived in St. Louis. His name was Matt. He had read hair and freckles. We always sat next to each other because we both had last names that started with "A." I have vivid memories of sitting in class at a round table, learning how to write cursive, and having him help me remember how to make a z. (WTF is up with the cursive z, anyway? It just looks like someone had a hand seizure. It doesn't look anything like a z.) When he found out at the end of third grade that I was moving away, he gave me a rock--a craggly, pink rock--and a ring. If I recall correctly, he thought we might get married someday; maybe that ring was supposed to be an engagement ring. I don't know why I remember this kid. I never saw him again after we moved to Florida in 1987.

I want to write something...

..but I can't think of anything fun to write about. So here's some bad news (for me anyway). My officemate/partner-in-crime--and more importantly, friend--has decided to be a stay-at-home mom. This is a real bummer because I've lost my brainstorming partner, sanity checker, and in-office entertainer. I guess there are a couple of good things to result from this change: I won't spend nearly as much money on Starbucks hot chocolates anymore, and, maybe more importantly, she'll get to spend a lot of time with her new daughter and be delighted doing it. Seriously, I'm happy that she was able to make a hard choice that is best for her.

Back to the grind

My week of leisure is over. Tomorrow I go back to work. Usually I like going to work, but after having the last 10 days at home to do whatever I wanted, it's a bit of a bummer to be going back. I'm working a full week this week, but next week I only work Monday and Tuesday. Then I have no other vacation days scheduled until we win the $245 million Powerball on Wednesday and schedule a trip back to Hawaii again this winter.

Though I haven't been writing about it much, we've been good about sticking to our running routine even though Marc's knee has been bothering him. I don't think it's something I really love to do, but at least I'm sticking with it and don't hate it.

3:30 a.m. Saturday morning

Saturday morning. 3:30 a.m. The phone rings. I wake up on the first ring but don't immediately register what the noise was--alarm clock, cell phone, land line? I hear it again and recognize it as the land line. I nudge Marc (phone's on his side) and the questions start pouring through my head. Who could it be? What has happened? It has to be bad. Even on the East Coast--where my whole family is--it's only 6:30 a.m. Nobody should be calling us for anything.

Turns out it's Jamal. We don't know Jamal. We can only assume that Jamal is drunk dialing someone. Dammit.

Though I'd only been asleep for a couple of hours, I was then wide awake. I laid in bed for almost 3 hours before I fell asleep again. Then Marc tries to mock me for sleeping in until 10:00, until he found out that I hadn't fallen back asleep after the phone call.

We've decided that the next time we're awake at 3:30 on some random weekday, we'll give Jamal a call and see how he feels about being woken up. Heh.

In other news, on Friday night, after some predrinking at B-Dubs, we headed downtown to Ringler's at Phil's request (since he's the birthday boy and all). I played pool for the first time in a few years. I was on Marc's team, and in the course of two games, I hit one whole ball in. Good thing he's a much better player than I am, and that Greg sucks just about as badly as I do (he was on Phil's team). Earlier in the day, I'd met up with Laura for lunch and some shopping downtown. It was a good day. And so ends my entirely backwards recap of yesterday.

Today we caught Superbad (which was pretty good) and went shopping for a new wedding band for Marc because his original one has been known to tear up leather steering wheels. And I don't want the new car's steering wheel to get messed up.

I think this is hilarious

Where does time go?

Since I haven't had many plans for my week off, I expected it to go pretty slowly. That's not the case, though. We kept up with running about every other day, I did some cleaning around the house, and I finished a book I started a couple weeks ago. Our wheeling trip yesterday was fun. We found a trail that Marc didn't remember running before. Of course we weren't smart enough to print out a map before we went out, so we spent most of the afternoon putzing around not remembering where any good trails were. Today we got the car windows tinted and ran some errands. Tomorrow after a lunch date with Laura and Amelia, I'll try to catch Superbad with Marc, and then we'll head to a going away party for my former boss. It's also Phil's birthday tomorrow, so who knows where we'll end up after the going away shindig. Busy days!

MS Office 2007

I like new stuff--especially anything technology-related. (Just call me Kip from Napoleon, except don't think that I don't chat online with babes all day.) When I found out that I could get the entire Office 2007 suite for a mere $19.99 through a deal at work, I jumped on it. The disc showed up today, and I installed it. I haven't delved into everything yet, but from reading about the changes, it seems pretty cool. Outlook got a face lift and a cool To-Do bar to show more on your main inbox page. Word and Excel got a new menu "ribbon" that's going to take some getting used to. There are some actual improvements in functionality (from what I've read) as well. Unfortunately, it seems like most of those changes would benefit me more at work than at home. Do I have Office 2007 at work? Of course not. (sigh)

Tomorrow we're meeting up with Aaron and a buddy of his for breakfast and then some wheeling. I hope it'll be cooler tomorrow than it was today...

Pics of the new ride

Here are some pictures of the old (black 2004) and new (slate blue 2007) G35s.

I'm stuck at home today waiting for UPS to deliver something that requires a signature for Marc while he's out selling locks (and making big bucks!). I've been listening to XM online and trying to figure out what stations we'll want programmed in the new G since the new car came with XM installed instead of Sirius--bummer. I picked up the kitchen, cleaned out the fridge and freezer, vacuumed the wood floors, and started some laundry, so at least I'm being productive. Now I'm gonna go sneak in some rays out back where I can hopefully still hear Mr. UPS Man if/when he shows up.