Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Snowy Seattle

Snowy Seattle sounds better than Sleeting Seattle, or Rainy Seattle.

But it's all of those things. Rather, it snowed while I slept last night, but today was sleety rainy.


I walked 15 minutes from the hotel to work this morning, and....freeeeezingness (note the snow-covered Qwest field building...ah yes...Qwest). But kind of a brisk change from San Francisco. All I imagined was that I wished on the other end of my walk was a fireplace and a big glass of wine. Not simply a laptop, cellphone, and a gray view from the office window.


Debaucles yesterday with the flight. Wish I could write at the time how ridiculous flying and airports can be, and all the crazy characters you meet along the way. But then after the fact, I am tired of thinking about these people and the silly situations you find yourself in, so I can't expend much energy reviewing all the details of what happened. Just know it was silly, and my co-worker Bill said that if he went through what I did, he would have walked into the meeting and punched someone in the face. :)


Carrie (my boss) and I had a big step in our relationship last night, when I met her family for the first time. Her best friend, dad, step-mom, and of course her hubby and brother who I already know. Big, big step. I think it went well.


At the hotel, my points are finally taking effect....I'm getting the gold star treatment. On the highest floor, got some VIP pass (+1!) to an event there tonight, when a co-worker staying in the same hotel did not get one. Yesssss...I'm feeling special. I'm supposed to have dinner with some co-workers tonight , but in my heart I just want to go back to the hotel, order in, and put in the dvd I brought, watching a movie in my super comfy hotel bed.


OK, that's it for now.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

January is running faster than we are.

January is almost over.  Ridiculous.  It's been (so far) a loooong month.  Good, but tiring.

I went last weekend to Cincinnati to visit my friend Kimberly, her husband Christopher, and to meet their little Owen for the first time.

Wow.  Cold!  Leaving 70 degree weather, I donned the fluffiest coat possible and embarked on the cross country journey.

It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend.  Kimberly and I drove down to Lexington, KY (where we went to college) and drove around a bit, had a pint at the old hangout, etc.  Things sure have changed...

This week at work=SUPER busy.  Lots of meetings, my boss flew down from Seattle, taking clients out every night.  Whew.  I'm pooped.  Then Ian and I went to the Castro Thursday night to see Better Off Dead (the director and Monique was there after for an interview).  Good times.  Truly SF.

Just really trying to recoup this weekend from my overboard of being social.  Tomorrow I leave bright and early for Seattle for the week.  Yowsers.  It continues.

Highlights so far this month: 

1. Training at work.  I know.  That sounds weird.  One training I had to speak in front of a crowd / make a pitch while being recorded, then accept feedback and watch my DVD with the instructor.  Painful as that is, it's a great way to better yourself.  She gave loads of communication tips, and I found it really useful...if only I can stop saying "...right?", "um," and stop fidgeting with my hands.

The other training was a personality test--I'm a green / blue.  Our team took a personality profile, and then combined it to learn about each other and the most effective ways of communication.  Also really interesting, and good self-discovery there.

2. Seeing Kim.  Yay.  Chris and Owen, too.  :)  

3. Carrie (my boss) being here.  Good times, although we created a lot of extra work for ourselves.

4. Coming home to Ian.  yay.

Because Ian will likely not post anytime soon, I'll say for him that he went snowboarding in Tahoe, and is running a half-marathon next Sunday.  Good for him!

OK, that's enough.  Not too excited, but again.  I'm down right tired.  And I have to pack for my trip tomorrow.  At this point it's not a sprint, it's a marathon.  I'm conserving energy.


Monday, January 5, 2009

Ah, the New Year!

I've never been a big New Year's fan.  It's what you might call Amateur Night.  Amateur Night for the hundreds of people who don't usually go out, drink, go to parties--it means that a small, local bar you might like to frequent is suddenly 10-deep at the bar, AND you had to pay a cover.

No thank you.  It's all we can do to stay up until midnight.  Next year, Ian and I vow to celebrate the East Coast's new year's (so we can stay up until 9 pm, then call it a night).  Amen.

We have a couple of loose new year's resolutions this year, and I haven't written any resolutions since I was in middle school.  I might have to dig them up, but I remember them to be something like:

1.  Dress cooler.
2.  Be cooler.
3.  Exercise more.
4.  Follow a beauty regiment.

What does that all mean at the age of 12?  Who knows?  But I used to write them.

This year, Ian and I want to stick to our date nights...to put more effort into planning a special evening discovering our city and spending time with each other.  We also want to dedicate a night a week to bettering ourselves: by reading, learning something new, etc.  Just away from the TV.  I personally want to devote more time to keeping connected with my very dear friends from far away.  With each move, I develop a larger circle of people I love, and I am horrible at maintaining those relationships regularly (or at least once in a while reminding them that I care).  So...there you have it.  A loose promise to each other.  And my last loose resolution is to keep in mind some very wise words my Deedahn imparted over Christmas---he really is a role model.  He was talking about our hometown--a small town--and said he couldn't understand why someone didn't want to have anything at all to do with the town.  Because "there were very decent people living there."  And those are words I want to remember more often.  To stop being a tad judgmental, and remember that most people are decent and that they're people.

OK, enough for that.

This past week was a dream.  After spending excellent quality time with all the fam and some friends, it was incredible to just hang out with Ian for a week.  Although we were both "working" at times this week, we were both really slow.  It was almost like we had the whole week to just get things done.  It was great.

We went to see a double feature at the Castro Theatre Saturday--a tribute to Henry Mancini.  It was Breakfast at Tiffany's and A Shot in the Dark.  A great way to spend an afternoon.  We had brunch some days, went shopping, spent a lot of time playing our instruments (Ian bought me an electric piano for new year's, and I have been practicing everyday---kicking my 13-year old self in the piano practicing butt)...and Ian's gotten back into playing guitar.  I know, I know...we're a regular Partridge Family.

So today was back at work, but we did both get to see our good friend Wendy, who was in SF for a day (for work).  

You can tell the holidays are done.  As I walked the 2 1/2 blocks home from the F train tonight, I passed 7 Christmas trees on the sidewalk, awaiting pick-up tomorrow morning.  How sad.  One had a Mountain Dew bottle in it, one still had tinsel.  Ours was sadly not among the sidewalk trees--it had moved up a block on Saturday when we set it out (for the people in the "home" to enjoy, undoubtedly), and today has disappeared.  Hopefully it's happy wherever it is....

And now bye bye to the holidays until next year....*sigh*