Author Archives: Cindy

Work! Whee!!

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I worked yesterday for the first time in… oh, who knows when. And when I say work, I mean doing actual technical tasks that require me to use my brain, not sitting at my laptop in my pajamas writing about technical tasks that my company can do so our salespeople know how to pitch us to customers (which is what I’ve been doing for the past month). One of our clients has a really big project going on right now and one of the engineers was out on vacation this week, so the other engineer asked me to go over there yesterday afternoon and help out with some little things that have been accumulating with the other guy out of the office. I got to troubleshoot a SharePoint server issue and diagnose problems with the way BizTalk 2004 and SQL work with Microsoft’s Virtual Server. Does that make sense to anyone except me? Probably not. But it was SO… MUCH… FUN!!! I haven’t done real hardcore geeky stuff in way too long, I’d almost forgotten how much I enjoy it.

Other stuff: this link is something I stole from gclark’s site. I thought it was funny. Good time-killer. [Note to any Republicans who may read this – although I can’t imagine who you are or why you read my blog: don’t bother clicking on the link above. You won’t like it.]

So today, I have a few things work-related (back to the writing stuff) that I need to wrap up, and then Teenie & I are headed off to spend the weekend at Dave’s. It’s a Home Renovation Festival! Can ya dig it? I’m bringing Teenie with me because I feel guilty leaving her alone overnight (nevermind 2 nights) and I think we’ll be more productive if there isn’t a lot of driving back & forth involved. Plus, Teenie likes Dave’s house because she gets to go outside there. Living room paint, here we come! Yee-haw!

that was a holiday?

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Labor Day weekend was nice, but not nearly as restful as I was (foolishly, I suppose) expecting. Dave & I made it to Bumbershoot twice – on Friday evening and again on Monday afternoon. And we managed to avoid Krissy all weekend, so bonus points there. Friday evening was nice, it wasn’t too crowded, good music, we were provided constant entertainment by picking out the underage kids who were furtively pouring beer into their paper Pepsi cups, and those who were smoking weed and hiding it behind their hands like no one could see them. It was a great time, and the only downside was that everything closed down around 9:30 – I think the festival officially ends at 10 – and we weren’t ready to leave yet. But alas, we were booted out of the Beer Garden (much like Adam & Eve in their garden, but this didn’t involve snakes, apples, or nudity), and we headed home.

Saturday was Home Depot Day. We picked the paint color for the living room, but only bought a quart of it so we can decide whether or not we like it. We also looked at all the dozens of types of hardwood flooring and picked the one that Dave liked best. Of course, he first gravitated toward the stuff that cost $9 per square foot, but we found an alternative that’s only $2.97 a square foot and looks (in my opinion) just as good. It’s real hardwood, not laminate, but it’s the same snap-together style as the laminate. We measured the living room and dining room, and it’s about 375-400 square feet total, so even with the cheap hardwood flooring, it’s still going to be pretty pricey. Somehow, the trip to Home Depot managed to suck all the energy out of both of us – I think that happens when the enormity of everything you need to do starts to sink in – so that was all that we got accomplished on Saturday.

Sunday, we repainted Dave’s office (it needed a 2nd coat) and set up his new desk, which was far more elaborate a project than I had anticipated. It was one of those “we’re going to give you a million pieces and some really vague diagrams that are only partially in English, and let you cry and swear until you figure it out by yourself” Ikea style desks. I started taping the borders in the living room and took the pictures off the wall, but that’s the extent of what’s been done in that room. I’m starting to worry because I want to make sure the living room and dining room are done by the time the (gorgeous) new furniture gets delivered, and that’s only 3-5 weeks from now. I think I need my mom for this, she’s the home repair drill sergeant – everything would already be finished by now. But I think it’ll be ok. Right now the weather forecast for this weekend is chilly & rainy, so we won’t be missing anything by staying in & doing house work for two solid days. Whee!

Monday, Dave & I went back to Bumbershoot; this time, however, the crowd was absolutely out of control. I guess because it was the last day, everyone & their grandma decided to go. Good lord. Dave & I were only there for a couple of hours before we both started to get irritable and claustrophobic, so we headed home. I think the previous day’s house work had worn us both out. Dave headed home, I got take-out sushi from down the street, and I was in bed before midnight.

Oh, and today I learned that I may have a new project for work, which is in Olympia. Hell of a commute (about 60 miles), but it doesn’t involve getting on a plane, so I’m fine with that. I just may have to look into the Puget Sound area train system if this project is going to go on for any real length of time, though.

exploding sheep trucks

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I got the pictures from our trip to Atlanta posted – it seems kind of strange to have all of these happy smiling photos for a trip that was, overall, anything but happy. But my family’s get-togethers are always pretty fun, no matter how shitty the reason for the get-together may be. And there are some really good pictures in there, which is why I wanted them online.

So, this week had an interesting side-note. On Tuesday morning, Scott called and asked what I was doing on Wednesday night. I didn’t have anything scheduled, and he told me to leave it open, but it was a surprise and he wouldn’t tell me what it was. So Wednesday night, I meet up with Scott & Ted and we start walking toward some unknown venue for some unknown event. Turns out that Robin Williams was playing at the Showbox in Seattle, apparently trying out new material in small clubs. Somehow, Scott managed to get tickets, which is amazing when you consider how big an act Robin Williams is, and how small a venue the Showbox is (I believe the sign at the door said max capacity was in the 900 range). The show was really funny – except for the stupid bi-atch sitting next to me who I swear NEVER shut up for the entire show because she talked to her boyfriend the whole damn time. Even after the woman in front of me turned around and asked her to please keep it down because her talking was kind of distracting, she still kept on yakking. I wanted to punch her in her big peroxide-blonde head.

Oh, for those of you who are wondering, that subject line relates to a story that Dave told me earlier this week. A guy on his way to a local fair crashed his truck, with a trailer full of sheep, on the hill on Dave’s street. The truck caught on fire – the guy got out & was ok, but the sheep were slightly singed. Not hurt, though. The neighbors all rounded up the sheep, and apparently there were chunks of slightly burnt wool scattered all over the road. It’s one of those stories that wouldn’t be funny if anyone (or the sheep) had been seriously hurt, but because everyone got out ok, I thought it was hilarious. And I think “Exploding Sheep Trucks” would make an AWESOME name for a band.

Anyway, this afternoon marks the beginning of Bumbershoot, which is a huge 4-day music festival here in Seattle. Dave and I are going this evening, and I just got a phone call from Krissy and she apparently wants to tag along, which should be interesting.

goodbye sleep, it's been fun, I'll miss you

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This weekend I did something that may prevent me from rejoining society for the next few months: I got a Game Boy. It all started because Dave bought one, and since he knows how much I love old-school Super Mario Brothers, he bought the game for me. Of course, I ended up stealing his Game Boy & not giving it back, so eventually we came to the conclusion that I needed one of my own. And I bought a new Super Mario game (Mario & Luigi Super-Stars! Yeah!!), so I haven’t slept much this weekend. I just lie in bed with my Game Boy and work on building up good calluses on my thumbs. Fun stuff.

Actually, though, it was a pretty productive weekend. Our Thanksgiving plans are now set: my whole family is coming here, and Dave’s mom is coming over from the UK, so we’re going to have the Big Meeting Of The Families on Thanksgiving. I’m really excited to meet Dave’s mom, she seems like a hoot. I’m a little nervous about inflicting my entire family (parents & 2 siblings) on Dave & his mom, because we can be a pretty loud bunch. I think they’ll all like each other, but I’m a little worried about my dad. He hasn’t really ever met any of the guys that I’ve dated – or if he has, they were just introduced as “friends” so he didn’t know I was dating them – but he’s never been particularly friendly to any of my sister’s boyfriends. Granted, my dad is just not an overly warm guy in general – for example, Kris was my college roommate for 3 years and has been my best friend since 1996, and to this day, he still refers to her as “that ol’ gal, you know, your friend what’s-her-name…” Nice. So, I’m excited, but I’m sure that I’m going to be more than a little bit tense when the time comes.

Anyway, we’re talking about having our big Thanksgiving dinner at Dave’s house, since he has way more space than I do. (Four-bedroom house vs. one-bedroom apartment… hmmm, which to choose?) And to that end, we’ve now started to try to make Dave’s house look like an actual home, rather than a work-in-progress. It’s a really great house and has potential to be really beautiful, it just needs some work. So we started that this weekend – we went shopping for a sofa on Saturday, and ordered one (and a coordinating chair, boo-ya!) that I think is going to look amazing – that is, it will look amazing when it’s delivered in 4-6 weeks, by which point the living room will be painted and the carpet will be replaced with hardwood flooring. And yesterday, we painted Dave’s office so he can actually start using it.

By the way, does anyone happen to know if it’s difficult to install hardwood floors yourself, or is it something that requires a professional? We’re both down for any do-it-ourselves project, but that’s one thing that we don’t want to get screwed up.

Oh, and yes, I’m referring to all of these home-improvement projects with “we” even though it’s not my house – I’m marking my territory there, and Dave is cool with that, so it’s fine. 🙂

Alright, I gotta go see an Italian plumber about saving a princess from an evil monster…

boy done good

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My sister is trying to find a new apartment in New York City, but her landlord won’t let her out of her lease without paying some insanely exorbitant fee. They finally agreed that if she can find someone else to rent her apartment, they’ll let her out of the lease agreement. So she’s posting classified ads on the Internet, and I’m hosting a photo album of her apartment for her to try to help out. We’ll see how much (if at all) this affects my average bandwidth usage…

In other news, Dave & I had our little tri-month-iversary date last night. I honestly wasn’t expecting anything, I just thought we’d go out to dinner. But when I got to his house, I had the following:
* flowers
* a very funny, sweet card
* a stuffed kitty (not taxidermy stuffed, toy stuffed)

Damn. Win a girl over, why don’t you? 🙂 That was so awesome. And because I am a huge dork and like to make note of these things for posterity purposes, this morning I arranged them all on my coffee table and took a picture of them. Hee! It turns out that Teenie really likes the stuffed kitty. She’s very soft (and… oh yeah, minor point… not a real cat), and she’s been using her as a pillow all day. Now I’m trying to decide on what I’m going to name the toy kitty. She’s Siamese and has blue eyes, so I’ve decided she’s definitely a girl. And she has to have a name, because that’s what I’ve done with every stuffed animal I’ve had since I was able to talk. As a kid, though, I only did alliterative names (i.e., Christina Kittycat, Morris Moose, Burt Bear, etc.). Now, I think I want something funny. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

* Davida/Davina is the female version of David, which would be funny since Dave gave her to me. And they both have blue eyes.
* My sister has a friend who named her cat Walter Peyton (and always refers to him by both his first & last name, never by a nickname), so I was trying to think of random blue-eyed vaguely cat-like celebrities to name her after. So far I’ve come up with Uma Thurman (probably my favorite so far), Olivia Newton-John (2nd place), Charlize Theron, Paris Hilton, etc. You get the idea. I suppose I could give up the self-imposed female gender association for this one – maybe Paul Newman or Frank Sinatra would work?
* The 2 Siamese cats in “Lady & The Tramp” were named Si and Am. I have a great aunt that we call Si, so that would be funny, and I like the name Am because it’s part of the verb “to be”. Hmmm… which to choose?
* Something silly & cutesy, but I have no idea what.

Any ideas, folks? I’m taking a poll.

living in an experiment gone awry

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Ok, the story of my morning: alarm goes off at 8:30. I hit snooze. (I’m working from home for the next few weeks, so I don’t really have to keep set hours.) Teenie jumps down and promptly hurls up a big hairball right next to the bed. She has been barfing constantly for the past few days. I’ve upped how frequently I give her her hairball medicine, but it doesn’t seem to be helping. Ten minutes later (around the time the snooze went off), she barfed again. On the other side of the room. Spacing it out so I have to clean 2 little spots instead of a single big one, how considerate. Regardless, this isn’t enough to make me get out of bed, I just figure I’ll clean it later. The part that makes me feel bad is that she always acts ashamed of the barf and runs away when I’m cleaning it, like she thinks she’s done something wrong. So then I feel like a bad pet-owner, as though I’ve done something to make her feel shame for a function she has no control over.

Meanwhile, back in bed, I hit snooze a couple more times. Then my cell phone rings. It’s my mom, calling me from her cell phone, not home. That’s unusual because my mom almost never uses her cell, and she would never call me at 9 a.m. unless it was an emergency. My parents are moving this week, so I thought maybe the phone line in the house got disconnected early or something. I answer the phone, and I can hear both of my parents talking, but it’s in the background, they obviously aren’t on the phone. I yell “hello” a couple of times and get no response. I hang up & call the house. Mom answers on the first ring.

Me: “Why did you just call me from your cell?”
Mom: “What?”
Me: “You just called me from your cell phone, did you bump it or something? Maybe it dialed me by accident.”
Mom: (yells, even though my dad is probably standing 5 feet away) “Sam, bring me the damn cell phone!” (to me) “Sorry, I’ll try to remember to turn the key lock on.”

Ok fine, now I’m awake. I get up, grab My Morning Giant Glass O’ Water (part of my effort to drink 64 ounces a day) and sit down at my laptop. Teenie promptly settles herself in on my lap. A few minutes later, there is an eardrum-piercing screech that is so loud I jumped out of my chair. I’m not sure how fast Teenie’s reaction time is, if I knocked her off my lap or if she jumped when she heard the noise too, but either way, she beat a hasty retreat under the bed. About 5 seconds later, the screech stopped. I checked both of my smoke alarms, they were fine. Thirty seconds later, the screech happened again. And again. I put on my shoes, hiked downstairs to the office and asked the child-abusing apartment manager what was going on. She said that the fire department was here and that they’re testing the fire alarm system in the building, it’s just a routine maintenance thing they have to do every now & then. Ok, how long is this going to go on? (Keep in mind, it was 9:30 a.m. at the time.) She says until 1:00 p.m. Great.

I go back to my apartment, find the fire alarm speakers in my apartment (not difficult, there’s one in the living room & one in the bedroom) and cover them with duct tape so the sound is somewhat muffled. It’s still loud & annoying as hell, but it keeps me from having to stop what I’m doing to plug my ears every few seconds. Teenie, however, is still spooked and staying under the bed. I know cats have more sensitive hearing than humans, so even with the duct tape, it’s probably still painfully loud for her. I should get her some kitty ear plugs, poor thing.

So now it’s 3 hours later, and the screeching still hasn’t stopped. It’ll stop for a while, then it starts again. I am slowly going insane. Forget work, there’s no way I can concentrate on anything in these conditions. Maybe I’ll go clean cat barf to take my mind off of it. Yeesh.

mixed weekend

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I’ve put off writing about my weekend because I don’t really know where to begin. First of all, my cousin Teresa died on Sunday morning. What can I possibly say about that? There are no words. Catherine wrote a really beautiful post about it on her web site, so I think I’ll let that sum it up for me. I couldn’t possibly state it any more eloquently than she did.

Second, having Kris here was great. The family situation definitely took some wind out of our typical “party it up” sails, but I’m glad that she was here to let me cry on her shoulder. Dave has been great too (as always). It was nice to have my support system around me when I needed it. And it was cool that Dave & Kris got to meet for the first time, they really seemed to hit it off. I was a little worried about that, but it seems that there was no need to be concerned.

Other weekend highlights:
* Whale-watching didn’t happen, due to the fact that we would’ve had to get up at 6 a.m. on Saturday to drive to the ferry and wait in line for 3 hours. Hmmm… Ok, maybe next time.
* I discovered a new bar in my neighborhood that I really like.
* We sat on the beach and watched children playing.
* I love the SuperMall. Even though I can spend 2 hours there and not spend a single penny.
* My neighbors on either side of me now hate me, because I don’t let people smoke in my apartment. And since Kris is a smoker, she had to go out on my balcony every time she wanted a cigarette. Apparently every time she lit up, the neighbors would slam their windows shut. The thing is, I’m totally sympathetic because I hate the smell of cigarettes, and I would be pissy too if the situation were reversed. But what can you do?
* I broke a pool table. Or maybe it was already broken, who knows. But I grabbed one corner of it when I bent down to pick up a quarter that I had dropped, and it snapped off. And since that corner was what I was using to hold my balance, I fell flat on my butt (and took the corner piece of the pool table with me). How lovely. And typical.

Side note: Today officially marks 3 months since Dave and I had our first date. Awww….