Silly Computer thing

When I came in this morning, I couldn't get my computer to turn on. Something wrong with the switch, I think. I called IT for help, and the two help desk people are on vacation, so I was told the manager would be in around 8:30 and they'd send him over. When it was getting close to 9, I got impatient and started messing with it some more and actually got it to work. When I got it open, there was an e-mail message telling me that the IT manager wouldn't be in until the afternoon and they didn't have a PC to loan me, so maybe I could use someone else's. The silly thing is it didn't even occur to the girl I talked to that if I couldn't turn on my PC, how in the world could I check my e-mail?

I just thanked her for her help and let her know I'd solved the problem.

Where's your Christmas spirit?

There's a gentleman in Stockton who has a HUGE Nativity scene in front of his home, and people come from miles around to drive past. It's on my way to a lot of places, so this time of year I drive by often. Last night I was in a line of cars inching past, and a car several back honked because he (notice I assume it's "he") wanted everyone to go faster. What a grinch. And an idiot! If he was in a hurry, he took the wrong street!

Got a letter Tuesday evening from Delta Blood Bank. Turns out one of their computers was stolen on December 10. Unfortunately, it had a database of some 100,000 donors which included their names, social security numbers, birthdates, and addresses. So, yesterday morning I posted a 90-day fraud alert with the various credit bureaus. That way, if anyone tries to open a credit card or applies for credit using my information, theoretically I'll be contacted first. I also got a copy of my credit report -- there was no sign of fraudulent activity. I'll have to re-post the alert and check my credit every 90 days for the next year.

The Blood Bank got their laptop back a couple of days ago, but there's no guarantee that the information was untouched. Apparently the theft occurred at a mobile blood drive in Tracy. (I did a web news search to get more details.)

Happy Birthday, Lizzie!

Happy Monday!

I had a strange dream last night. I was at my Accordion Works rehearsal, and I couldn't decide which of my accordions to play. I also was wearing a short skirt which is frankly nearly impossible to play in! The proper way to sit while playing an accordion isn't lady-like at all and is really best suited to trousers.

Another strange dream involved baby Jem. I was taking care of him, and after I'd given him back I realized that I had a bunch of used clothes to get back to his mommy, too. The strange part is they included frilly little girl socks -- you know, the kind with lacy tops. Then, I realized it must not have been Jem I was taking care of, after all. At least I wasn't dressing him like a girl!

We had our Christmas lunch and ornament exchange at work today. I ended up with what I'd brought, which is more than okay. We don't put up a full-size tree anymore, so I don't really need any more ornaments. A basket of candy is perfect. An unexpected surprise but very pleasant surprise was that our VP of HR picked up the lunch tab for everybody.

Time to go start getting gussied up for dinner.... Guess I'd better track my Cat-girl down, too!

A good day to...

...do laundry!

Did you know that the busiest shopping day of the year is also the least busy laundromat day of the year? I went yesterday evening, and there were about four other people in the entire place including the lady who works there. The only bad part is that once I finished reading my Cosmo, the only thing to do was to try not to watch a R-E-A-L-L-Y, R-E-A-L-L-Y, R-E-A-L-L-Y bad Chevy Chase Christmas movie that was blaring in the corner.

My Accordion Works rehearsal that was scheduled for today was cancelled. Again. I'm getting kind of worried that the group is falling apart. There were only seven of us at the last rehearsal, down from a high of eighteen. I'm going to put my thinking cap on and try to come up with some ideas. Know anyone (besides me) who plays accordion? We are talking about branching into polkas. Wild and crazy idea, huh?

The HR department (which I'm a part of) is having its Christmas Party tomorrow. Actually, it's a Christmas lunch. We're going to a nice local restaurant and will be having an ornament exchange. I interpreted "ornament" loosely, and bought a basketish thing with a Santa head and arms and legs that I'm going to fill with chocolate goldpieces. What are those called? Geld?

It's really cold and damp here. We've had fog for about a year this week. As Cat says, it's the Central Valley version of a white Christmas. The only time yesterday I was truly warm was about 30 minutes after I went to bed. It's just about as bad today. I keep stopping to sit on my fingers to warm them up between paragraphs!

Cat's going to have dinner with a friend tonight at the Frog. I haven't figured out what I'm going to do. Probably wrap Cat's and Liz's birthday presents for tomorrow! Maybe I'll get wild and crazy and actually get them cards, for a change. Not instead of gifts, but to go with the gifts. I know K's gotten them cards to go with his gift, which is the dinner we're having tomorrow evening.

I updated my AOL this afternoon -- took a couple of hours, but now everything is running much faster. I also FINALLY fixed the problem I've had for months and months and months that was freezing my computer up every night. That's why I've just been shutting down every evening and rebooting in the morning. It turned out to be a really dumb and obvious problem. I actually had two virus protection softwares installed and whenever the one (AVG?) would try to do it's nightly check-up thing, everything would freeze up. I uninstalled AVG (duh!), and now everything is working smoothly. I left everything running overnight last night, and it was all still fine this morning. Go figure!

Catching Up

Several people have mentioned they'd like me to write a little more often. What? Once a month isn't enough?

My new job is going well. One of the first exciting things I got to do was ride in a fire truck. It was a quarter mile, tops, when the local fire department was doing their annual inspection of our facility. I've also now been through First Aid/CPR training and AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) training. We've finished our update of the "Hazardous Materials Management Plan" (HMMP) for one county and will be finishing the HMMP for the other county. I'm still struggling with the alphabet soup of regulatory agencies and reports. Did you know that the RMPP is now the CalARP, and there's now a federal version know as the RMP? RMP is Risk Management Plan (or is it Program?). The others are the same general thing, but different words. We have an Emergency Response Plan (ERP) and an Emergency Response Team (ERT). This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are probably at least a dozen more.

Monday is Cat's birthday and Thursday is Liz's birthday, so on Monday K is taking us all (including Jerm) to dinner to celebrate. I know we'll have a grand time!

I've pretty much finished my Christmas (and birthday!) shopping. If I'm not seeing you by Christmas Day, I don't have your gift yet! I'll be doing a last-minute run to K-Mart on Thursday for various bits and ends. For those who know me and know how much I hate K-Mart, let me explain that it is the closest store to my office. And Thursday happens to be payday, so there's the other connection. Cat and I are driving to Jeannette's Friday morning, and I'll be driving back on Monday. I think Cat is staying the week and I'll be picking her up New Year's weekend. If anybody's going to visit us between Christmas and New Year's and wants to see Cat, you'd better speak now or forever hold your peace!

Time to go put up the tree. We're listening to Christmas music -- something about "You're a Nasty-Wasty Skunk, Mr. Grinch." Next comes Michael Jackson singing, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."

What a cute little guy!

Our quick weekend in Paris!

I confess - I'm back-dating this post. K and I spent a whirlwind weekend in LasVegas on the 13th and 14th. We spent most of our time on the strip -- I think we visited every single casino. Very, very impressive. They're each a complete, self-contained environment, with built-in sky and everything. And no clocks!

First Day

Going to Las Vegas for the weekend and then starting a new job Monday morning is probably not the wisest thing I've done in my life; however, I seem to be holding up okay. We had a terrific time in Vegas -- got home about 1 a.m. We saw the Cirque du Soleil (however it's spelled) that's at Treasure Island on Saturday night. It's mind boggling what the performers can do, and the show surrounding the stunts is a lot of fun.

Work today went well. I'm going to be learning a lot. Environmental Health & Safety changes as often as all our various lawmakers change their drawers. So, it's not just putting together programs, it's keeping them in compliance with all the various entities and their regulations.

That's all for now -- I'm sleepy, but I've got ballet class tonight, before I can sleep.

The only way to drink beer ... a Michelada!

I discovered this delightful drink in Nuevo Vallarta. This recipe appears to be a good approximation of what we enjoyed:

MICHELADA

1/2 lime, preferably a Key lime
Coarse salt
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1 dash Tabasco sauce
1 pinch black pepper
12 ounces beer (Tecate and Sol are good ones)

• Squeeze the juice from the lime and reserve. Salt the rim of a highball glass by rubbing it with the lime and dipping it in coarse salt. Fill with ice.
• Add lime juice, Worcestershire, soy sauce, Tabasco and pepper.
• Pour in beer, stir and serve.

Accordions and other things...

For some reason, I had it in my head that I had an Accordion Works rehearsal this evening. Oh yes, now I remember.... We had a rehearsal scheduled last Sunday that was postponed because of Halloween. No e-mails this week on what we'd be working on, but I still sanded down my fingernails and practiced everything in our repertoire*. I also e-mailed and phoned darn near everyone in the group to make sure there really was going to be a rehearsal. I must be the only person on earth either at home or on the Internet today!

In this day and age of $2.35/gal gasoline, I'd be foolish to embark on a 150 mile round trip without confirmation. Okay, even if gas were way cheaper, that's a long way to drive without knowing! I finally got a call back from our director's S.O. saying he hasn't yet figured out our upcoming rehearsal schedule, but no rehearsal tonight.

So, I'm all practiced up with no place to go!

*Current repertoire:

The Washington Post March
Bei Mir Bist Du Schon
La Valse d'Amelie
Fratres
Banana Boat Song (Day-O)
...and several original pieces

New Job!

I'll be starting back at the winery I used to work at on Monday, 11/15, as the assistant to the environmental health and safety manager. Basically, they tailored the requirements of the job to my skills and background and didn't advertise it as an opening. My benefits (medical, dental, vision and life insurance) start on December 1 along with my eligibility to participate in the 401k. I'll start accruing vacation from day 1 at the rate of three weeks per year. I'm immediately eligible for holiday pay. Here's the position summary: "Under minimum supervision to provide support coordination and project assistance to achieve and maintain compliance with Federal, State and Local environmental health and safety regulations."

Snorkeling near Nuevo Vallarta 10/15/04

Swimming with the fishies!

Feeding the fishies!

Dr. Perry's Halloween Party

Cat & I went to a party at Dr. Perry's home in Ventura. This picture below was taken by my sister, Jeannette, at her house.

We arrived at the "Perry Party" right on time (7 p.m.) -- my preference when attending a party, because I like to be settled inside as people arrive. We were chauffered up the VERY STEEP driveway by a hillbilly and his "sister" -- two of Dr. Perry's son's teenage friends. I can see why there was a shuttle; the driveway is so steep it's difficult to imagine walking up it! Because we were the first guests to arrive, Cat and I got a private tour of the place. It's perched on a steep hillside with quite a few of Ventura. We were unable to see the ocean, but Dr. Perry assured us it was out there where the city lights ended. I think the most amazing part of the tour was his closet -- he must have more than 100 pairs of cowboy boots!

A spooky pair!

He definitely designed his house with entertaining in mind. There was even a wood-fired pizza oven at one end of the kitchen! The only people I knew were Dr. Perry and his son; however, I got to meet some of his current staff. His assistant was there (dressed as a biker chick), as was his controller and wife (dressed as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers). We chatted with many people, including a lady dressed as Barbie. Her outfit was quite cute and she was carrying an original Barbie box from her own childhood. She was around my age -- maybe 2 or 3 years older.

What...am I invisible?

So, I'm standing in line behind two people at Safeway with a birthday card in my hand. A man pulls up behind me with a full cart, and the checker looks up at him and says, "There's no waiting on checkstand 12, sir."

It turned out okay though, because a few seconds later (before I'd had time to get thoroughly steamed), another checker came and got me out of line and said, "I can help you on checkstand 9." It was strange -- maybe my original checker wanted to make sure I was first with the new guy. Who knows? I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, I guess.

On a brighter note, I had an appointment to renew my drivers' license today. It doesn't sound bright, does it? But stay with me! I was in and out of the DMV in less than 15 minutes. That's got to be a new land-speed record! I studied, just in case they made me take the written test, but the only test they put me through was reading the eye charts. Whew!

And for the curious, I have no new news on the job front.

Job search progress and good omens!

I've now been unemployed for five weeks; however, things seem to be coming together. It's looking good for me to get a 2-3 week project starting next week doing some PC training for a local hospital AND it looks like the company that I was laid off by in 2002 is going to have a new position opening in 2-3 weeks. The HR director called to find out if I would be interested in being considered. Oh, yes!

And a really, really, really good omen: at BUNCO last night, not only was I the big "loser" (collecting all 12 prizes), but I also got my $5 back by rolling the first BUNCO.

Yes, I'm still continuing my job search, but things seem to be rolling my way! Woo hoo!

Baby Jem

Just got back Wednesday from visiting my very first grandchild, James (who I call Jem, because he is precious beyond words!). He was born Saturday, October 16, at 12:02 am. He weighed eight pounds, seven ounces, and was 19.5 inches tall.


I'm ready for my close-up!


Are you sure you know what you're doing, Nana?

Review of Hotel Sierra, Nuevo Vallarta

We just got back from a terrific week in Nuevo Vallarta (10/9-16/04). Our suite was immaculate -- it was thoroughly cleaned and mopped daily, and there were always wonderful surprises in how the washcloths and bathmats were folded. We had swans, frogs, and once a tuxedo shirt. Always delightful!

The food was well prepared, although the choices were very much the same from day to day. Mar Intimo was closed for remodeling, so we ate all our meals in the main restaurant (cafeteria? buffet?). Try the Mexican Coffee after your evening meal -- it's delicious and the flaming presentation is very fun. We also had a bottle of Baja Californai merlot every evening with our meal. I LOVED the all-inclusiveness -- being able to climb out of the pool and get a quick drink at the bar was awesome.

There's a lot of construction going on, but the noise was never enough to be an annoyance. The ocean muffles the sounds of jackhammers pretty well. I only noticed the noise when we were snoozing by the pool; never any issues from our room.

I saw literature about horsebackriding and other available activities, but we didn't spend much time hanging around the hotel, so I have no idea if they were truly available. We did spend several evenings in the bar -- one evening there was a dance program (very well done) and we sang karaoke another evening. We went on two snorkeling/scuba trips through Vallarta Adventures and also enjoyed their Rhythms of the Night evening. They were extremely professional, lots of fun, and I would recommend them wholeheartedly to anyone. We also took an ATV trip through Rancho Capomo. Everyone else there went on the horseback tour, so we had our own private guide. It was great -- we got to see a part of the country that isn't tailored to tourists!

Paradise Village, walking distance to the south, has a good-sized mall. There's one shop which sells Internet access for about $1.50 for 10 minutes. It turned out to be a much easier way to keep in touch with my family than by phone. I had a lot of trouble using my international MCI phone card.

Paradise Village also has jetskis for rent and has a water taxi that is a fun way to visit Puerto Vallarta, and only costs a little more than a taxi (I think it was around $16 or 18 for the two of us, as compared with $12 or 13 for a taxi). I also went parasailing from the beach in front of Paradise Village for $45 US.

The only parts of the trip I didn't like had nothing to do with Hotel Sierra. Beware when you visit Puerto Vallarta when a cruise ship is in harbor -- all the prices go up. We also hated the constant pressure (none from Hotel Sierra) to go to timeshare presentations (oh yeah, they're "vacation clubs" now) .

We did go to the Mayan Palace presentation -- it was supposed to be about 90 minutes and ended up taking more than 4 hours. Somehow, the price went from $168,000 down to about $7,000. I didn't pay much attention to the numbers or how the package was changing, because I had no intention of buying, anyway. After seeing this morning how many people are trying to unload their Mayan Palace purchases on ebay, I know we made the right decision. Our salesperson, Nick, was trying to convince us that we could make a profit by renting the lockout unit out to golfers. Anyway, we got a nice breakfast and tour out of the deal, along with a day of snorkeling/scuba diving and a bottle of Kahlua, so it wasn't a total waste. I plan to avoid such presentations from now on, though.

Wandering the countryside

We spent most of today on our own private tour. We followed our guide through miles and miles of countryside -- farmland, ranchland, and a couple of very fascinating towns. I've got to spend some time with a map to figure out exactly where we were! Rancho Capomo's address is Gorrion N. 172 D-2 Col. Los Sauces, Puerto Vallarta, Jal.

A once-in-a-lifetime experience (I hope!)

I'm still trying to figure whose crazy idea this was! I never in my life have dreamed of parasailing. While I was WAY up in the air (a couple hundred feet, at least), I looked down at the people on the beach and thought, "I bet they wish they were me. Wait a minute ... I wish they were me!!!"

I took off from and returned to the beach in front of Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta.


Guess which person in this picture is wearing SPF 50 sunscreen!

Parasailing 2

Parasailing 3

Parasailing 4

View this one full size and look for the little white dot in the middle. That would be me.

Back to the beach! Hallelujah!

Parasailing 7

Nuevo Vallarta Trip

We flew to Puerto Vallarta by way of Los Angeles. On the last leg of the journey (from LA to PV), we upgraded to First Class. This was my first time to fly First Class, and it was way cool! Our airline was AeroMexico. Too bad our luggage didn't make the connection in Los Angeles! It did make Customs much easier and quicker, since all we had was our carry-on stuff.

We're staying for the week at Hotel Sierra in Neuvo Vallarta. Our taxi ride from the airport was quite exciting! I've never made a left turn around another car trying to make a left turn before....