Off to Monterey

K and I are going to spend the weekend in Monterey. We had a terrific time last time we went, so I'm really looking forward to it. It looks like the weather's going to be nice for us, too.

Quiet Saturday

How nice it is to have a quiet day with nothing much planned! I've already taken care of the two top "to dos" on my list which were to go to Weight Watchers (down 1.9 lbs this week) and to have my nails done. Cat & I also went to the Friends of the Library store and bought a few books -- 'cause you can never have too many books! (Actually, I think you can and we do, but that's another story.)

My next two things to get done (after lunch, which we have yet to have) are laundry (UGH!) and clearing out some of the extra furniture in the spare room. K's been having work done on our second bathroom, and for his guys to go any further we need to create a wider path. I'm amazed how much they've done WITHOUT a wide path through. Anybody need a bright orange dresser? Or an olive green convertible couch? Or whatever else might be hiding in there? Isn't that big wooden desk still in there? Haven't seen it for a while....

Once that bathroom is fixed up, we can actually have a decent guest room! What a concept!

Hey, Alex -- has the connector to my Jam Cam shown up? It'd be cool to be able to post pictures of the bathroom when it's done. Hint, hint.

Myrrine (a.k.a. Cat)

Here's a fun photo of Catherine as Myrrine (in Lysistrata).

She's got some serious redeye going!!

Anniversary Flowers

Aren't they lovely! K sent them to me for our 9-month anniversary (of our first date).

Very long day

Today we did flu shots from 6-8:30 a.m., so I had to get here outrageously early (~5:40) to let the folks from the hospital in to set up. Tonight, K and I are going to see Grease, so it's going to be a really long day. I'm hoping (planning, actually!) to leave work early, so I can have some time to rest a bit (and shower and gussy up). It would be a shame to fall asleep at the theater, wouldn't it?

Lizzie's been sending me pictures of the bridesmaid dress she's chosen, and I've been thinking about what the mother of the bride should wear!

A little excitement

A while ago we saw a couple of sheriff cars zooming by on the frontage road with their lights on. We went outside to see what was going on, and saw they had stopped in front of the tasting room. Turns out our silent alarm went off (don't know why). Good to know they take these things seriously!

Go away, already.

I hate it when I've got a cold that just hangs on and on and on. It's 95% gone, but I've still got this darn sore throat and achy ears. I don't feel badly enough to stay home from work, but it's just annoying. Usually it's the cough that sticks around; at least that's pretty much gone!

Went to Becca's on Saturday to celebrate Christmas with her family and Jeannette. We had a good time -- had a girls' lunch out. Also got to watch the preparations for Brianna's Sunday dance competition. I didn't realize that part of it was tanning her little legs (self-tanner). Those judges are picky, aren't they?

Tory was getting over a stomach virus, so we didn't see too much of him.

I slept a lot yesterday. Just want to sleep this thing off!

Not fair!

I clicked a link on the home page of our company's intranet -- in the "Drinks and Beverage Industry News" section, and I got a SurfPatrol forbidden site message. Cheez! I have no idea if or how those are tracked, but I like to keep such things to a minimum.

The article sounded interesting, too: Mccririck Diet Coke Ad..more Like Celeb Fit Club...William Hill Jan 12 2005 3:58PM GMT.

I'll have to check it out when I get home and see what's so subversive about it.

Drizzly day

The sun peeked out a bit this afternoon, right after the power came back on. We were out of business for over an hour -- about 1:00 until nearly 2:30. So, I went to the spill cart training, even though I'll probably never be mopping up hazardous spills. I also got to go to the tasting room to photograph all the art show winners. This is because our department has a good digital camera, not because I'm an awesome photographer.

I've been practicing my accordion in my office on my lunch hours this week. We're going to be playing in clubs starting late next month, and I've really got to get my parts memorized! We've started a new piece by Guy Klucevsek which alternates (each measure) from 4/4 to 7/8. It's called Tangocide -- VERY challenging! We're also working on another of his pieces ("Gunk") which is in 7/8 time throughout.

Kind of sick

I think I have a cold. K had one last week, so I guess he was generous and shared it with me. I'm still going to my Accordion Works rehearsal in a few minutes. I took some generic Dayquil, so should make it through the evening okay. We're going to start doing some cafe performances in late February, so I really don't want to miss.

I skipped church this morning. I was feeling pretty punk, and I convinced myself that it would be a really inconsiderate thing to go and expose all those people to this. Which is true, actually!

Nothing much

I climbed on top of a fuel tank today. Got my watch caught on something and it broke loose and fell to the ground, but it and I are fine. I'm learning how long various hazardous wastes can be accumulated and how they have to be labeled. And how hazardous materials have to be labeled.

Avatar

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.