Sexta-feira

Well, I finished Breaking Dawn and I really enjoyed it. It was a bit anti-climactic at the end. I was expecting more gore and mayhem. There are some holes I'd like to see filled as well. Perhaps in the next one.

I woke up this morning from an unsettling dream starring one of my co-workers. She was making unreasonable demands on my time and independence but I was refusing to go along with it. My boss was there as well though didn't seem to have much of an opinion one way or the other. I had to deal with her today and, wouldn't you know it, she had massive changes to the project we're working on. I thought it was almost done.

That pumpkin cake last night was not so great. I'd rather have a slice of pumpkin loaf from Starbucks. My favorite barrista was wearing a devil costume this morning. He was adorable.

We've been having a tiny bit of rain here which has been nice. I've only gotten sprinkled on a bit so I didn't bring my umbrella. Well, there wasn't any room for it in my bag anyway what with the huge Stephenie Meyer book and my backup book (in case I finished it, which I did).

It's only 4:45 and it feels like almost everyone is gone from the office and it's time to go home. I may just leave early myself.

Quinta-feira

I went by Leti's office around 2 or so and she had a chunk of pumpkin cake from Bristol Farms which looked delish. I just had to go get some. They have the most melt-in-your-mouth roasted turkey on the hot bar but not everyday. Lucky for me, they had it today! I got enough, I thought, for tomorrow as well but ended up eating it all. It was so good. I haven't tried the cake yet. I was too full of turkey!

I started the last Twilight book (Breaking Dawn) this morning on BART. I was so into it that when I got to my station I was so upset. Jacob had just shown up at Bella's wedding reception. I guess I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.

I finished the last in the Saxon Tales series by Bernard Cornwell (Sword Song) yesterday. It was too short. I wanted Uhtred's story to keep going and going. I'll have to check his website and see when the next one is coming out. I might have to read some of his other stories. He has an Arthur trilogy that looks interesting.

Quarta-feira

I think I'm going to whip up some mashed potatoes to go with my leftover steak from last night. And when I say "whip" I mean, add boiling water/milk to a packet of dried potato flakes. I wonder if some Better Than Bouillon would work in the water/milk mixture. I might be up for an experiment.

I showed Clint the Apple Mail plug-in that I got (WideMail) to view my messages in a panel on the right instead of always on the bottom. He then sent me a page full of links to other plug-ins and apps for use with Mail. I've spent a little too much time on that page and blog. But I love finding out how to work better and more efficiently. I'm trying out two others right now: Flagit! and DockStar.

Flagit allows customized flags but to apply them is not a one-click function (you have to right-click and choose from the contextual menu) and it seems you can't sort by the custom flags or use them in Smart Mailboxes or Rules. Doesn't seem that useful to me.

With DockStar you can add and customize up to five notification badges on your Dock icon with your chosen colors and shapes for whichever mailboxes you want to track. I have mine set to my Gmail inbox, my work mailbox (which is filled using Rules) and my work inbox (which collects mail that doesn't fit any Rules). I set only my work box to alert me with a sound. We'll see if it helps or if it's just annoying.

Terça-feira

Maybe it's the weather but I felt very sleepy at work today. Maybe it was going to bed before midnight. I'm hoping the time change next weekend will facilitate an earlier schedule for me. I need to get home before 8 or 9 every night.

Sallie called me yesterday and postponed our steak dinner until today. I'm looking forward to the meat but may be even more excited about the crème brûlée. The portion is generous and tastes amazing.

I wonder if the World Series will ever be over. I set my DVR anyway in case they could play a few innings in Philly today. I guess not. And now they're calling for snow there tomorrow. Maybe they should just play in Tampa.

Segunda-feira

Rein Supreme?

I read fan fiction online which is not subject to editing by publishers who hopefully know what they're doing when it comes to correct punctuation and word usage. Some common mistakes by fan fic authors are in confusing "your" and "you're" and putting in apostrophes in plurals where they're not needed (the pack of Slytherin's entered their common room). Another common misuse is "reign" for "rein" when using the phrase "have free rein". I'm sadly getting quite desensitized to these mistakes which does not bode well for my proofreading career. They still bother me but I've kind of given up getting upset by incorrect usage when reading works by amateur writers.

Not so when it comes to books printed by actual publishing companies like the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I read books one through three this weekend on my computer (hooray for electronic libraries!) and to my dismay I saw the phrase "free reign". I nearly had a conniption fit. How did that make it past the editors and proofreaders? Was I reading fan fiction by mistake? Has the phrase "free reign" become acceptable usage now? I mean, it makes some sense: To reign freely, with no constraints in ruling over others. But, come on. That's just not right.

Regarding the books, I wasn't too excited by them. They were okay. I think knowing they were so popular made my expectations too high and I didn't enjoy them as much as if I'd never heard of them before. To me they were a bit too melodramatic and too much about how beautiful Edward is. We get the idea, Bella. Okay, already. I really didn't find Bella all that interesting anyway. Maybe she gets better once she's turned. Oops, did I spoil that for anyone?

Venerdì

I've discovered a bit of a hang up in my new accounting software. I want to be able to choose which units to add up in a financial report but the only available choices are the whole department or just a single unit. I can't do a range and I can't pick and choose units. That's a bit of a bummer. I was trying to make a report for units 63-66 but I couldn't. It was all the 60s (we also have 60 and 67) or just one at a time. I can pick and choose in my General Ledger reporting so maybe I'll see if I can adapt something there. I won't be able to compare to budget I don't think...

Sallie called today wondering if I wanted to get together tomorrow. She has tomorrow off as her second day off this week. Then next week she has Monday and Tuesday. So she works Sunday then is off again. She doesn't know when her next day off after that will be. I don't think I could handle not knowing until a week ahead when my days off would be. For that and many other reasons, I'm glad I don't work in retail.

In celebration of fall, I share with you this series of photos of Zander and Zoe from 2005:

Giovedì

On the escalator going down to the BART station last night I got on a step that was jerking up and down. I quickly moved to the step above. I thought it was going to blow up any second. Those escalators are out of service every month. It's not as bad as in Sallie's store. She says they're out of service every week. That's some bad escalators.

If you're a Beckham fan you'd like my block right now. There's a huge sign of David in just his undies for Emporio Armani by the cable car turnaround. Then I saw this morning that he might be playing for AC Milan. It's all about things Italian for Becks now, I guess.

I want to read the Twilight books so I reserved them at my library. The first three were available electronically so I put a hold on those. I reserved the fourth one as hard copy. Wouldn't you know it books two through four have come available before the first one! I have ten days to pick up the fourth book but I had to download two and three within three days. And I can only have those for two weeks. I'm number 3 on the holds for number 1 so it better become available soon. There's just no way I'm reading them out of order. I just won't do it!

ETA (Friday): I just checked in with my library account and saw that I had reserved the first book as hard copy as well and it's In Transit! I wonder if I'll get it this weekend....

Mercoledì

The NHL has a great new GameCenter for listening (and watching if you want to pay) to hockey games. I just listened to the Devils big win 5-0 over the hated Dallas Stars. My Paul Martin had an assist and was +2 with almost 25 minutes of ice time, the most of anyone on the team. I could tell he was having a good game cuz I kept hearing his name. The photo on his player card page is so funny. His head is tiny compared to his shoulders exaggerated with pads.

The GameCenter even has a chat function where you can read all the inane comments by your fellow puck fans. You have to read fast though cuz there's no scrolling down to see what you missed. I hope no fights break out online. "good call" "lame call" Settle down, boys.

I think I'll put the budget workbook to bed and go home to watch my Sharks. I hope my DVR is working.

Martedì

Anne sent me a work email by accident today which prompted a bit of a conversation. I was pretty busy so couldn't chat much. She's on email all day at work like I am so sometimes we have a flurry of emails and then days will go by with no communications. She was all about Facebook today since that's how her younger son and she chat while he's at school. She was supposed to have an empty nest this year but her older son came home early from college and has no current plans to return. She's a bit perturbed with that. I hope he gets his act together soon.

I checked off a lot of things on my To Do list today. There'll still be some follow-up for things, like approving the proof of the magazine and reviewing my annual workplan with my boss but the majority of my work on them is done. Now I can move on to the rest of my list (the fundraising mailing, the annual report, our federal 990 form, etc.).

I assume I'll also have to spend some time with our new data entry person. She's working mainly for the fundraising team but since I'm the database person, we'll be working closely together. We have a Money Squad meeting tomorrow to discuss the transition. Leti's very happy she won't have to deal with data entry anymore.

Lunedì

I'm doing my final run-through of the magazine, catching little typos here and there. Our normal proofers were unavailable this time so there were some people proofing who I don't trust. I always do a last proof anyway, just to catch anything that may have happened as the editor was entering the changes from the proofers.

There are too many people trying to make decisions about the design. If I were the editor, I'd be upset when things are changed without his consent. I have two people other than the editor, looking over my shoulder having me change things as I lay out certain pages (like the cover!). Then the editor comes by later saying "I hear there were some things changed." I'm not allowed as much freedom as I'd like to add little design things. But there are some major decisions going on without everyone agreeing. Then I look like I made changes without permission when I've been told (or at least it sure seems like) it was agreed upon by everyone.

My Sharks iCal subscription says there's a game tonight in Philadelphia but it's tomorrow. I better schedule my DVR recordings when I get home tonight.

I watched the first two discs of the second season of Torchwood yesterday. I very muchly enjoyed it. The first season discs I got from the library only had two episodes per disc but these Netflix second season ones had three on the first one and four on the second. I had lots more Torchwood than I had anticipated. I should get discs 3 and 4 in a couple days.

Freitag

I went to put on my sunglasses this morning as I was leaving my apartment and they weren't in my bag. Neither was my cellphone! I had noticed yesterday afternoon that my new glasses case was sitting on top of my bag instead of in the outside pocket (where all three things normally reside), so I suspected that perhaps my bag had been dislodged somehow and stuff had fallen out of the pocket. I park it on a short bookcase beside which is both the recycling bin and the trash can. Oh, I hoped they hadn't fallen into the trash!

So this morning as I tried to enjoy my library book on BART all I could think of was "what if I have accidentally trashed my cell and sunglasses!?" You see, the janitors come Tuesdays and Thursdays so the trash would've been taken away.

I hurried to the office and to my relief and delight my sunglasses and cellphone and tissues and coffee nips (more things fell than I realized!) were sitting collected on the bookshelf. I guess I should make sure my bag pocket is zipped up at all times!

Donnerstag

My feet are sweaty. It was hot today and it's still 72º here at almost 9pm. Why can't fall come here like in other places?? My office is especially hot because of the fireball of a server I've mentioned before. I need to turn up my fan.

I got the Starbuck Signature Hazelnut Hot Chocolate this morning. It was too hazelnutty for me. If I get it again, I'm asking for less nut.

I had Pad Thai for lunch. It was delicious again. I got some sticky rice with mango to go because I knew I'd get hungry as I was again staying here until late. It sat a bit too long and the rice got pretty hard. I had to cut it up with a knife.

My train is scheduled to come in about 9 minutes and the next one isn't until 24 minutes from now so I'm heading out.

Mittwoch

What a great word for Wednesday. Mittwoch. Makes me sit up straighter. I like the Spanish word for Wednesday too.

I've been liking my Wednesday today pretty well as well. My boss was at home. My office manager was out on vacation. Our receptionist only came by three times with annoying, inane questions. And my office mate has been out all day as well. It's been nice and quiet and I laid out a whole poster in about three and a half hours. Now it's the hard part: waiting for the one requesting it to come back at me with "I don't like this. Lose the little graphic. Can we do a different color?" I get just a teeny bit too territorial and have to be persuaded that, yes, it can be better than my first try. I have to take a couple steps back and get some psychic distance from the project.

So Rocco was gone last night on Dancing. Maybe next week will be Cloris. The political ads were hilarious. Project Runway wraps up tonight. I don't particularly care who wins this season. Kinley was cool for awhile but then she got a little too whiney. I usually like her designs though.

Sharks are 4-0!!!!! Go Sharks!!

Dienstag

I was out sick yesterday with sinus pressure and headaches and general malaise and lack of energy. I think it's a cold. I was hoping to work a shorter day today but I was out of luck.

I broke down and purchased Starbucks Power Protein Plate today when I stopped in for my hot chocolate. It includes a hard-boiled egg, two little triangles of cheddar, two thick apple slices, a small bunch of grapes and a tiny whole wheat bagel with a pouch of peanut butter. I was going to have it for breakfast but had it for lunch instead. It was delish but I could've eaten a couple of them.

I just don't know what to think about Dancing with the Stars anymore. I thought Cloris would've been off a long while ago but she got 8s last night for their tango. It might be Rocco's night to go.

I see the Rays are beating up on the Sox tonight. It makes me very very happy. I'm not a Boston fan, can you tell?

Montag

Here's a rundown of Saturday's activities.

My car has been crying for sometime about its state of uncleanliness. I had to agree it was quite bad. So after going to the library to pick up my latest batch of reserved books I headed over to my local carwash. I paid too much for too little service but at least now I can see out of my windows. I still needed windshield wiper fluid but I took care of that later in the day.

I picked Sallie up and we went for a noontime brunch at Denny's. I wanted pancakes so got their make-your-own Slam with a couple eggs, sausage, bacon and pancakes. I wanted my eggs fried with the yolks liquid and the whites firm so the waitress said to order them "over easy" but they came with the whites still uncooked so I requested them "over medium" instead. They brought me two new eggs that were done perfectly. I'll remember "over medium" for the next time. Sallie got French toast which looked really good too.

Our main order of the day was to go to the zoo. It was the perfect kind of day for strolling amid the animals: clear, cool and breezy. Unfortunately, they had the African village cordoned off because of a special event (wedding) so we couldn't see the meerkats. Well, I saw them briefly through the trees. The warthogs were out this time which made Sallie very happy despite the meerkat disappointment. It was feeding time for the bats which they did inside by slathering jam on leaves hung from the ceiling. The bats were not happy eaters. They would often scare others off when they wanted that particular branch.

Our other order of the day was to find Sallie a replacement collapsible grocery cart. First, we went to Target. They didn't have it. Then we went to Wal-Mart. Not there either. We did accost someone who was hauling their stuff in one as to where she had bought hers. It was somewhere in Oakland where we didn't feel like exploring. Later, we stopped at the K-Mart near Sallie's apartment, just in case. No luck there or at the neighboring hardware store. She may have to get one online or at a local Asian grocery store.

It was a fun, yet long day that was fulfilling though only partially successful. We might be watching movies at my place this Saturday. I'm not sure I want to make nine stops in six hours again so soon.

vendredi

I've been having Grandma Mary's chicken soup for lunch this week. It's got a whitish vegetable in it that I don't recognize by sight or taste. It might be rutabaga or turnip. But really it just looked like a white carrot cuz it seemed to be cylindrical, cut crosswise and had a differently textured center. Any ideas? Oh, I just went to their website and it says parsnips right in the menu. I'm so glad to have figured that out. Funny, they also say the soup has noodles but mine never does.

Tomorrow I'm finally going to get my car washed. It's been too long. I'd like to be able to see out again please. Sallie and I are going to the zoo once I'm done with my errands. We'll be doing some shopping as well. Her collapsible grocery cart broke and she's been having to carry things in blue IKEA bags. As I was googling I found some great essays on "granny carts" and how they should be promoted as green alternatives to driving a couple blocks to the grocery store instead of being sneered at as solutions only applicable for poor people or those with fixed incomes. We're hoping Target or Wal-Mart have a good selection.

Here's the office chair I decided on. Leti's was able to get a good price on it since she orders from here alot. Still it's kinda pricy but, like I said, I have specific needs.

jeudi

My keyboard is so dirty. I really need some computer cleaning supplies.

I'm shopping for a new office chair. I have specific needs. I'm too busy to spend a lot of time on it but Leti's going on vacation on Monday and wants to order hers and mine before she goes. My chair is pretty raggedy. The fabric is coming off in a few places.

I got my new glasses last night. The new prescription is noticeable in the middle distances so I'm only wearing them inside for awhile. Unfortunately I had a headache already when I picked them up so I wasn't too interested in trying them out when I got home. I've worn them all day today though and have only had a low level headache occasionally. Do you like them?

I'm still at work and listening to the Sharks season opener when I really should be at home watching it in HD. I would've headed home but was captured by trying to create a graph in Illustrator. Here's my first draft. It's pretty but I'm not sure it's what the authors of the article wanted.

mercredi

In the line at Starbucks this morning I was behind a guy who was getting a couple drinks. He was new to the "tall, grande, venti" terminology so was taking a bit more time than a regular customer. Then he wanted an extra shot in one of his venti coffees and the staff didn't write on the cups which one was which so he had them do that so he could tell them apart. All reasonable activities and requests. The guy behind me didn't think so.

"Can someone ring up this damn water for me?"

"All I want to to get this damn water!"

"High maintenance...woman..." mutter, mutter, mutter.

Well, for one, if I was buying water I certainly wouldn't be getting it at Starbucks. Two, everyone has a right to order whatever they want as specifically as they want it. And three, it's not a female trait so you can keep your comments to yourself. If you're running late, you don't have to take it out on some poor soul who's getting his friend a coffee.

Then to top off my commute: as I was walking up the street to the office, a guy was across the street outside Baby Gap with his boombox on the loudest possible volume setting blaring "Shake Your Ass at Me" or some such annoying song. I'm sure the people in the cable car line were thanking him as much as I was.

mardi

I finally decided I had to give Steve back the budget today or I would've spent too much time on it. I had to move on to the magazine layout. Our editor had been sending me articles for a couple days so I had quite a few to transform into pretty pages. I'm still missing many of the graphic elements which makes it hard to complete pages. At least I've got the text poured in for what I've been sent. Our development department wanted to put a couple ads in so I been having fun playing around designing those. I hope they like them. They can be particular.

My DVD was due back to the library today so instead of counting on making it out of the office in time to get over there by 8pm I took it over before heading to BART this morning. The only sad thing is that there are three books waiting for me on the hold shelf and they weren't open yet. Sniff, sniff. I'll have to wait to get them on Saturday. Maybe by that time more books will be in. I've been waiting on one since I was in Michigan in August. I think there's something wrong in the system because the three available copies have been either "in transit" or "check shelf" ever since I reserved it. I need to remember to ask about it when I go in next.

I got a call yesterday that my glasses have arrived at the optometrist's office. They're open until 7pm tomorrow so maybe I can get out of here a bit early and go pick them up.

lundi

So, French, I guess this week. I won't bother with BabelFishing it. Please feel free to do so on your own. Since I don't read French, I'd have no idea what the funny mistakes are.

Today felt like the Friday I didn't have. I had no meetings and only a couple people came by to chat. I've been working on the budget workbook all day and am feeling a bit fried but I wanted to get it done so I can work on the magazine layout tomorrow. I'm not sure the budget's all cleaned up though and I'd hate to send it back to Steve without spending a bit more time with it.

I had a good weekend. Sallie and I met up for a movie, lunch and Costco. There wasn't much out in the theaters so we ended up seeing Appaloosa. It's a western starring Ed Harris (also directed), Viggo Mortensen and Jeremy Irons. I hadn't realized it also starred Renée Zellweger and I'm not a fan of hers. I also worried that it would be too brown for me. I don't like movies that make themselves brown to show age as if we couldn't tell the movie was taking place decades ago. Anyway, it wasn't that great but it wasn't horrible either. It kinda felt like a play once in a while and moved very slowly. I wasn't sure when the ending was coming so it was unpredictable in that sense. Also, Renée's character wasn't all good so I was okay with her (I could hate her if I wanted).

We had lunch at Chevy's since Sallie had a coupon and then we went shopping at Costco. I was looking for an umbrella but they didn't have any. I ended up buying way too much stuff but the madelines are delicious!

The NHL season started in Europe on Saturday so I finally got to see some hockey. I was going to watch the baseball playoffs on Sunday but I ended up spending the whole day watch the DVD I got out of the library last week: the first season of Torchwood. Man, what a great show. I'm not that much a fan of Doctor Who so I probably didn't catch all the references but I really enjoyed the gritty urban feeling of Torchwood as well as the lovely relationshippy stuff with Captain Jack. I was crying so hard at the end of the episode where he and Tosh go back to 1941 and he meets the real Captain Jack. What a sad, sad parting! I have the second season at the top of my Netflix queue.

viernes

We set up a new account with Calvert a couple months ago because one of our board members works there and they give us donations sometimes. I asked when I was getting information about it if we would be able to access the account online to transfer funds via ACH and all that. They said of course we would. Well, turns out that their online system only allows accounts set up with social security numbers and not tax-payer ID numbers which means I have no access to our account online.

Well, today I get an email from them basically saying "Here's the link to your electronic quarterly statement. If you want to change how you receive the statements log in to your account." Duh! Now I have no statement and no access to change it! I guess I'll be calling them next week, the dummies. I really want to take our $25k back and give it to someone else who has their act together. How they have any businesses or non-profits give them business, I don't know.

For being a Friday, I was awfully busy with meetings today. First I had a meeting with other admin and development people about the new positions. Then we interviewed our old receptionist from two years ago. She was looking for a part-time job so Leti called her right up yesterday. Re-hiring her will really reduce the amount of training we'll have to do.

At 1pm we had our audit meeting where the auditors went over the financial reports with the committee. I got some nice compliments. It feels good that's it's over. I hope I took good enough notes to help out next year. Now it's on to the 990 form for the IRS.

This afternoon I did a bit of training with Shana for reading financial statements, working in our database and iCal. I don't mind the one-on-one trainings, especially if the person I'm training is as quick to pick up computery stuff as Shana is.

Now it's back to the budget. Joy!

Fijamos una nueva cuenta con Calvert un par hace meses porque uno de nuestros miembros del Consejo trabaja allí y nos dan donaciones a veces. Pregunté cuándo conseguía la información sobre ella si podríamos tener acceso a la cuenta en línea a los fondos de la transferencia vía ACH y todo el eso. Dijeron que por supuesto. Bien, resulta que su sistema en línea permite solamente que las cuentas fijen con los números de la Seguridad Sociales y no los números de identificación del pagador de impuestos que los medios yo no tienen ninguÌ�n acceso a nuestra cuenta en línea.

Bien, consigo hoy un email de ellos que dicen básicamente el " Here' s el acoplamiento a su declaración trimestral electrónica. Si usted quiere cambiar cómo usted recibe las declaraciones abre una sesión a su account." ¡Duh! Ahora no tengo ninguna declaración y ningún acceso para cambiarlo! Conjeturo I' el ll los esté llamando la semana próxima, los maniquíes. Quiero realmente retirar nuestro $25k y darlo algún otro que tiene su acto junto. Cómo tienen cualquier negocio o no-se benefician le dan negocio, I don' t sabe.

Para ser un viernes, estaba terriblemente ocupado con reuniones hoy. Primero tenía una reunión con el otro admin y gente del desarrollo sobre las nuevas posiciones. Entonces, nos entrevistamos con a nuestro viejo recepcionista a partir hace de dos años. Ella buscaba un trabajo por horas así que Leti llamó la su derecha ayer. La recontratación ella reducirá realmente la cantidad del entrenamiento we' el ll tiene que hacer.

En 1pm teníamos nuestra reunión de la intervención adonde los interventores pasaron los informes financieros con el comité. Conseguí algunos elogios agradables. Se siente bien that' s it' s encima. Espero que tomara bastante buenas notas para ayudar hacia fuera el próximo año. Ahora it' s encendido a la forma 990 para el IRS.

Esta tarde hice un pedacito del entrenamiento con Shana para los estados financieros de la lectura, el funcionamiento en nuestra base de datos e iCal. I don' mente de t los entrenamientos unívocos, especialmente si la persona I' el entrenamiento de m es tan rápido coger la materia del computery como es Shana. Ahora it' s de nuevo al presupuesto. ¡Alegría!

jueves

I've had a bit of a headache all day today. I think it's due to the weather. I took my allergy med this morning and then some Tylenol once I got to the office. The pain went away for a bit but now it's back. I'm trying to drink more water. Now that the water filter on this floor is working again, it's easier to do. When our filter wasn't working I'd go up to the 6th floor and kept forgetting my water bottle. We used to get bottled water in those huge jugs but the filter system is working pretty good. We don't need to be paying $100/month just for water. It tastes nasty just from the spigot so I'm glad they choose to get filters.

Thursdays are meeting days here at work which means that most of the staff are in the office. We have quite a few people who work part-time and who work at home part of the week so some days we have half the staff gone. The first Thursday of the month is our monthly all-staff meeting. We all congregate in the conference room which doesn't even fit us all anymore around the tables. Each month all the departments give a short 5-10 minute report on what's happening. I spoke briefly about the audit and how it went pretty well. (The Board Audit Committee is meeting tomorrow to approve the audited financial statements.) We also talk about any issues that need discussed and people can share about what's going on with them that people need to know about.

One thing we talked about today is that our receptionist is leaving in a few months. She never really did the job in her job description anyway so I'm glad she's going. Our office manager has been doing her job in the meantime. I hope we can get someone in who really wants to be a part of the Admin team and not look around for ways to get out of doing the work. We're looking to hire a half-time person and also hire someone to work part-time for the fundraising team. We'll be moving some tasks out of Admin/Finance and into FR that they want more control over, mostly entry of donations into our database. We in Admin/Finance will retain the responsibility for depositing the funds. That function needs to remain under mine and Steve's purview.

He tenido un pedacito de un dolor de cabeza todo el dia hoy. Pienso que es debido al tiempo. Tomé a mi medicina de la alergia esta mañana y entonces algún Tylenol una vez que llegué a la oficina. El dolor salió para un pedacito pero ahora está detrás. Estoy intentando beber más agua. Ahora que el filtro de agua en este piso está funcionando otra vez, es más fácil hacer. Cuando nuestro filtro no funcionaba subiría al 6to piso y guardado el olvidar de mi botella de agua. Conseguíamos el agua embotellada en esos jarros enormes pero el sistema del filtro está trabajando bastante bueno. No necesitamos pagar $100/month apenas agua. Prueba repugnante apenas de la espita así que estoy alegre ellos elijo conseguir los filtros.

Jueves son días de reunión aquí en el trabajo que significa que la mayor parte de el personal está en la oficina. Tenemos absolutamente algunas personas que trabajen por horas y que trabaja en el país la parte de la semana así que de algunos días nosotros tiene mitad del personal ido. El primer jueves del mes es nuestra reunión mensual del todo-personal. Todos nos juntamos en la sala de conferencias que incluso no nos cabe todos más alrededor de las tablas. Cada mes todos los departamentos dan a 5-10 corto informe minucioso sobre qué está sucediendo. Hablé brevemente sobre la intervención y cómo fue bastante bien. (El comité de la intervención del tablero se está reuniendo mañana para aprobar los estados financieros revisados.) También hablamos de cualquier edición que necesite discutido y la gente puede compartir sobre qué se está encendiendo con él que la gente necesita saber alrededor.

Una cosa que hablamos es hoy que nuestro recepcionista se está yendo en algunos meses. Ella hizo nunca realmente el trabajo en su descripción de las funciones de todos modos así que estoy alegre ella voy. Nuestro administrador de oficinas ha estado haciendo su trabajo mientras tanto. Espero que poder conseguir alguien en quién quiere realmente ser una parte del equipo y no de la mirada del Admin alrededor para que las maneras salgan de hacer el trabajo. Estamos mirando para contratar a una persona de medio tiempo y también para contratar alguien para trabajar por horas para el equipo fundraising. Nos trasladaremos algunas tareas del Admin/de finanzas y al franco que quieren más control encima, sobre todo entrada de donaciones en nuestra base de datos. En el Admin/finanzas conservaremos la responsabilidad de depositar los fondos. Esa función necesita permanecer bajo articulado de mí y de Steve.

miércoles

Ah, miércoles. One of the best words in the Spanish language. It is one of my favorites, along with melocotones and mariposa.

Ooo, we might have rain here as early as Friday. I'm excited. I do love the rainy season. It might mean I have to put up my Birks for the time being. Maybe I'll leave them here at work and change from my sneakers.

Here's the first pic I ever took from my first ever cell phone (we're at Red Robin in Newark). Sallie's contract with Verizon was up for renewal so we decided to get a family plan and we liked T-Mobile's MyFaves list. I can call 5 numbers for free at anytime. The stupid thing is that the phones in the family plan are not free as well. So Sallie is one of my five. Work had to be one as well as my folks and Joanna. That left one free for a wildcard which I can change every month. Last month it was Anne but I never called her so I'll leave her on again in October.

We got free phones and I liked the slider from Samsung. You can record memos to yourself and then use them as ringtones. I recorded myself saying "Sallie is calling you. Pick up the phone." and set it to Sallie's number. Today she called and I actually heard it from deep within my bag. I recorded the 24 phone ring from a website I found and set Joanna's cell phone to that. She has yet to call while it's been set up properly so I'll let you know if it works.

I was wanting a little sleeve or pouch to protect my new fancy phone and Sallie is so cool that she got out her crochet hook and made up a bunch in various colors. I liked the black one the best but now my phone gets lost in my bag since it's dark and everything else in that pocket is black. I thought I could find some reflective tape from one of the cyclists in the office but no one had any. Brian found a couple red reflective dots and gave them to me but they're rather ugly. What I really want is something thin that I can weave through the loops of the crochet.

Now that I have a cell I keep expecting people to call me. No one really called me before so I don't know why I think they will now. And I can't really expect anyone to call if I'm not calling them! It has come in handy a bit with me and Sallie when she's headed to Costco and wants to know if I need anything.

Ah, miércoles. Una de las mejores palabras de la lengua española. Es uno de mis favoritos, junto con melocotones y mariposa.

Ooo, puede ser que tengamos lluvia aquí desde viernes. Soy emocionado. Amo la estación de lluvias. Puede ser que signifique que tengo que poner mi Birks de momento. Quizá I' el ll los deja aquí en el trabajo y cambia de mis zapatillas de deporte.

Aquí está el primer pic que tomé nunca de mi primer teléfono celular (en el petirrojo rojo en Newark). El contrato Sallie tenía con Verizon estaba para arriba para la renovación así que decidíamos conseguir un plan y nos de la familia tuvimos gusto de la lista de MyFaves de T-Mobile. Puedo llamar cinco números para libre en cualquier momento. La cosa estúpida es que los teléfonos en el plan de la familia no están libres también. Sallie es tan uno de mis cinco. La oficina tuvo que ser una así como mi gente y Juana. Eso dejó uno libremente para un comodín que puedo cambiar cada mes. Era el mes pasado Anne pero nunca la llamé así que la dejaré encendido otra vez en octubre.

Conseguimos los teléfonos libres y tuve gusto del resbalador de Samsung. Usted puede registrar notas a se y después utilizarlas como ringtones. Me registré que decía el " Sallie le está llamando. Coja el phone." y fíjelo al número de Sallie. Ella llamó hoy y lo oí realmente profundamente dentro de mi bolso. Registré los 24 anillos del teléfono de un Web site que encontré y fijé Joanna' número del teléfono celular de s a eso. Ella tiene todavía llamar mientras que se ha fijado correctamente así que le dejaré saber si trabaja.

Quería una pequeña manga o la bolsa para proteger mi nuevos teléfono y Sallie de lujo es tan fresca que ella salió de su gancho de ganchillo y compuso un manojo en varios colores. Tuve gusto el negro el mejor pero mi teléfono consigue perdido ahora en mi bolso puesto que es oscuro y todo en ese bolsillo es negro. Pensé que podría encontrar un poco de cinta reflexiva a partir del uno de los ciclistas en la oficina pero nadie tenía cualesquiera. Brian encontró puntos reflexivos rojos de un par y me los dio pero son algo feos. Qué quiero realmente es algo delgadamente que puedo tejer a través de los lazos del ganchillo.

Ahora que tengo un teléfono yo guarde el esperar que de la gente me llame. Nadie me llamaron realmente antes tan de mí don' t sabe porqué pienso que ahora. ¡Y no puedo esperar realmente que cualquier persona llame si no los estoy llamando! Ha venido en práctico un pedacito conmigo y Sallie cuando la dirigen a Costco y quiere saber si necesito cualquier cosa.

martes

Paul and I had lunch today at the Indian restaurant nearby that has a korma that is tolerably mild. Sometimes I'm in the mood for the spices of India and sometimes not. I think I want it but then as I'm eating it I realize that I'd really rather be eating Thai. There's something darker and moodier about Indian flavors that I rarely appreciate. I always feel thirsty.

Anyway, at this Indian place they have daily specials that include the main dish (chicken korma, if the gods are with me) along with a spiced rice, a cucumber/lettuce salad and the vegetable curry of the day. The curry's always too spicy for me so, if I remember (which I did not do today), I request that I get more salad in exchange for the curry. They're very accommodating, so much so that we feel fine asking for korma or, in Paul's case, chicken tikka masala, instead of whatever's on special. Oh, I almost didn't mention that you also get a big basket of naan. How could I forget!? It's so yummy.

To complete my food finds of the day, I must mention that my Starbucks had the pumpkin muffins this morning. I love the combination of the pumpkin cake and the creamy cream cheese center topped off with some roasted pumpkin seeds. Such a good reason to love fall! My Starbucks drink is hot chocolate and they just came out with three signature hot chocolates: Signature Hot Chocolate, Salted Caramel HC, and Hazelnut HC. I may have to try all three.

Paul y yo almorzábamos hoy en el restaurante indio cerca que tiene un Korma que sea tolerable suave. Estoy a veces en el humor para las especias de la India y a veces no. Pienso que la quiero pero por otra parte como yo la estoy comiendo yo realice que sería realmente algo consumición tailandesa. There' s algo más oscuro y más cambiante sobre los sabores indios que aprecio raramente. Siento siempre sediento.

De todas formas, en este lugar indio tienen specials diarios que incluyan el plato principal (pollo Korma, si dioses están conmigo) junto con un arroz condimentado, una ensalada del pepino/de la lechuga y el curry vegetal del día. El curry es siempre demasiado picante para mí así pues, si recuerdo (que no hice hoy), yo pide que consigo más ensalada a cambio del curry. Son muy serviciales, tanto de modo que sintamos muy bien que piden masala del tikka de Korma o, en el caso de Paul, del pollo, en vez de lo que está en special. Oh, casi olvidé la mejor parte -- una cesta grande de naan. ¿Cómo podría olvidar!? Es tan deliciosa.

Para terminar mis hallazgos del alimento del día, debo mencionar que mi Starbucks tenía los molletes de la calabaza esta mañana. Amo la combinación de la torta de la calabaza y del centro cremoso del queso poner crema rematados apagado con algunas semillas de calabaza asadas. ¡Una tan buena razón para amar caída! Mi Starbucks bebe es chocolate caliente y acaban de salir con tres chocolates calientes de la firma: Chocolate caliente de la firma, caramelo salado HC, y avellana HC. Puedo tener que intentar los tres.

lunes

I stayed up last night until after midnight so I could listen to the last Midnight Baseball re-broadcast of the year. I do love going to sleep listening to a baseball game. I'm more a fan of the A's than the Giants but KNBR replays every Giants game at midnight so I listen to the Giants. I enjoy their broadcasters too, especially Jon Miller and Dave Fleming, though all of them are good.

I'm a bit sad the regular season is over. Having two teams in my area means there's a game on almost every night. I don't get that much hockey coverage especially with the NHL not being on ESPN anymore. I do get the NHL channel now though so I get to watch the Canadian hockey shows. That's almost as good. I should see if they're ramping up to the season with any preview shows or training camp reports. I bet they are.

I wonder how soon I can sign up for NHL Center Ice. I had purchased it a couple seasons ago and when baseball season started in the spring I got to watch baseball for free. The two packages share channels in my system. Somehow the channels never got turned off. I made the mistake of actually ordering Center Ice last season and they found out I was getting Extra Innings for free so this baseball season I was blocked out. I didn't need it this summer anyway with my favorite pitcher not playing anymore and both the A's and Giants on all the time.

I'm watching Monday Night Football right now and I love HD but I really don't need to be looking at some guy's eye injury that closely. Thanks. It's just gross.

As a special bonus, I'm translating this week's posts into Spanish using Babel Fish. Enjoy the fun mistakes!

No me fui a la cama anoche hasta después de medianoche así que podría escuchar la retransmisión de medianoche pasada del béisbol del año. Amo el ir a dormir escuchando un juego de béisbol. Soy más un ventilador del A' s que el Giants pero KNBR juega de nuevo cada juego de Giants en la medianoche así que escucho el Giants. Gozo sus locutores también, especialmente de Jon Miller y de Dave Fleming, aunque todos son buenos.

Soy un pedacito triste la temporada he terminado. Tener dos equipos en mis medios del área allí es un juego en casi cada noche. No consigo a eso mucha cobertura del hockey especialmente con el NHL que no está en ESPN más. Consigo el NHL ahora acanalo sin embargo así que consigo mirar las demostraciones canadienses del hockey. That' s casi como bueno. Debo ver si ramping hasta la estación con cualesquiera demostraciones de la inspección previo o informes del campo de entrenamiento. Aposté que son.

Me pregunto cuando puedo firmar para arriba para el hielo de centro del NHL. Lo compré un par hace estaciones y cuando la estación de béisbol comenzó en el resorte yo conseguí mirar el béisbol para libre. Los dos paquetes comparten los canales en mi sistema. Los canales nunca consiguieron de alguna manera apagados. Incurrí en la equivocación realmente de pedir el hielo de centro la estación pasada y encontraron que salía los turnos adicionales para la esta de béisbol estación libre así que que me bloquearon. No la necesité este verano de todos modos con mi jarra preferida que no jugaba más y ambos los A' s y Giants encendido todo el tiempo.

Estoy mirando el balompié de la noche de lunes ahora y amo HD pero no necesito realmente mirar alguÌ�n guy' lesión de ojo de s que de cerca. Gracias. Es apenas gruesa.

Como prima especial, estoy traduciendo los postes durante esta semana a español usando Babelfish. ¡Disfrute de los errores de la diversión!

Friday

I use the basic Quicken to write checks for our main checking account. In order to avoid duplicating my effort, I'll be switching to using Peachtree to write checks pretty soon. I'm a little bummed about it though. The Mac version of Quicken has such a nice look with which Peachtree cannot compete. It's just so ugly.

Also, having to running Parallels to get to my check register may cause me a bit of a hang up. I'm used to being able to switch back and forth between many programs at once including some pretty heavy CPU and memory users: Excel, Photoshop, InDesign, FileMaker to name a few. Parallels eats up a lot of power and memory so I almost can't do design work when I have it running. Which would mean not being able to write checks -- or look up a check I've written -- on the spur of the moment. Something I do many times a day.

Today for lunch I went over to the SF shopping center and got some potstickers and brown rice from the Bristol Farms hot food selections. I was really looking for their roasted turkey cuz it's so hella good. I almost got some scalloped potatoes from the comfort food bar but the rice and gyoza just looked yummy. I spied some organic honey crisp apples so grabbed a couple. There was no birch beer or sarsaparilla in the specialty soda case so I made due with water back at the office. All in all it was a good lunch.

I have this weird habit of staying late on Fridays. I explain it by saying the other days I know I have to come in the next day so there's no reason not to just go on home. But on Fridays I tend to just keep on working. I've been tending to work until after 7 most days anyway. Then I don't come in until 10:30 or so. I get loads done after most everyone else has gone. I do have one late night companion down the hall so I'm usually not here by myself.

Have you ever wondered who the strange phone number is calling you? Try visiting WhoCallsMe? or Who Called Us to see if someone else is getting the same calls.

I almost forgot to comment on Survivor. Hhmmm. Not a clear fave for me yet. Perhaps Ace. Bob the Bow-Tie-Wearing Physics Teacher is pretty awesome too. I was agreeing with Charlie as I saw the tribes forming. Almost all the predictably weak people on one tribe? Not too smart. Love the tribe names though: Kota and Fang. Are those African words? I have to report that the HD was true HD and I switched my DVR recording over as soon as I got home. I caught over half of it and it was lovely. Jeff's looking hot (Emmy-winner!).

Thursday

Today has been a bit crazy with coming in late from my eye appointment and having to process payroll and get a cash flow report done for our Board Treasurer. Tomorrow morning we're having the first monthly conference call with her since she started in this role. It's one of those things that I don't think I need to be involved in but my boss likes to get me involved in. It's not like he can't answer any questions I can (and more).

So, new glasses. I have to say I love my new optometrist. She is awesome. We're the same age even. She went to see Journey last night so was tired and husky-voiced. She answered all my questions and didn't mind me asking them. They took a digital photo of my retinas which looked super healthy. Now we have a baseline to check against for the future. It turns out that my prescription actually has decreased a bit in power since the last time I had an exam (which was over two years ago). Dr. Atkinson said that that is typical and normal for someone my age with myopia.

I picked out some new frames that are half rimless. I was thinking I wanted metal frames all around but this will be better since I've been wearing rimless ones for so long. I'm no girly girl who likes patterns and pretty things much but the frames I picked have a subtle pattern at the corners near the hinges. They're by Sigrid Olson (SO116 in graphite).

We had a bit of a kerfluffle with our internet service today. Someone made a change on the router and, whoops! we were all less productive for awhile. I actually got a bit scared because I do payroll online. I actually could've waited and done it tomorrow, I suppose. It has to be done two days before payday which is Tuesday. We pay once a month on the last business day.

I got a call from my credit card company yesterday asking me to confirm some recent charges. Turns out someone had gotten a hold of my card number and was somehow using it to make purchases at Office Depot and Wal-Mart. I had to use my ATM card to pay for my glasses this morning since they cancelled my Visa. Good thing I didn't fall in love with some fancy designer frames. Actually, I was surprise how reasonably priced the designer frames were. I really liked some Juicy Couture ones that were less than $200 until I saw their little label on the temple. No, thanks. The most expense ones I looked at were at a bit over $300 (Calvin Klein). The two I ended up choosing between were $135 (Revlon) and the $150 ones I got.

I did get to the library before my appointment so got the books. I can't wait to sit down and start reading them. I'm on a romance kick right now, specifically Regency romances. I checked out a bunch of eBooks but then had to reserve some actual physical books to fill in the holes of series that weren't completely available electronically.

Were you sad that Ted McGinley got eliminated from Dancing? Me, either. Good riddance. Survivor starts tonight. They say it's going to be on in HD but all the ads I've seen have not been. If they mess with the proper proportions I'll have to watch it in regular definition on the regular channel. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Wednesday

My boss works at home on Wednesdays so it's a free day for me. Well, not really but sometimes it feels like that. Not that he's always looking over my shoulder or anything. But I don't have to worry about it if I'm surfing the web for iCal calendars for my favorite hockey teams.

I really should stop getting distracting by new software. I just wanted to provide a bit of support to our IT guy since he's the only one who really knows how to use iCal and it's dragging him down a bit. Trying to persuade people that switching is a good thing is hard. Nothing will be the same so we have to find out what's good about it and try to ignore what we'll be missing.

Today was the monthly meeting of what we call the Money Squad. It includes the people most involved in dealing with the nitty gritty of incoming funds. Because we enter every check, money order and credit card charge into our main database, we often deal with issues related to how information is entered, not just money-related items. It's a good place to work out the best way of collecting and tracking that info. Not only am I involved in the finance part of the equation, but I'm also the resident FileMaker expert. The two go pretty well together for me but I wish I had more time to really concentrate on making the database the most functional it could be.

I just checked my library account and 5 of the 9 items I have on hold are ready to be picked up, including a book that wins my Best Title Ever award, By Schism Rent Asunder. Too bad the library would be closed by the time I'd get there. I wish they were open until 8 every night instead of just Mondays and Tuesdays. I guess I should be happy for that much. Maybe I'll stop by tomorrow before my eye appointment. It's at 10:30 and the library opens at 10.

Yes, I'm finally getting my eyes checked and getting new glasses. We changed insurance two years ago and I never made the effort of finding an optometrist. I used to just go down the block to Site for Sore Eyes. But now our insurance doesn't cover them. The real reason I'm getting new glasses is that mine are about to break. They're rimless and there are big cracks radiating out from the holes they drilled to attach the nosepiece. I'm afraid they're going to fall apart at any minute. I'm still seeing great so I don't think my prescription will need changing much.

Who was sad that Jeffrey was eliminated from Dancing last night? You? You? You? Anyone? I didn't think so. I'm definitely still loving Lance and Lacey with the blond kids a second fave. I have no prediction who will be gone tonight. I hope it's not Mark and Kim only because he's hot and I like how he dances with his mouth open so much!

Tuesday

Wasn't Dancing with the Stars awesome last night? I just have so many favorites to choose from. Should I be for the two blond kids, Cody and Julianne? Or Kim and Mark? Or Brooke and Derek? Hmmm, I liked them all but my favorite last night had to be Lance and Lacey. I loved her on So You Think You Can Dance.

I got distracted today by reading about FileMaker Pro. We've been limping along with FMP 6 for many years because it's such a huge cash investment to upgrade. I think we'll still need to do it even if we choose to move our main contacts database to another system. While reading about FileMaker Pro 9 and doing the tutorial, I felt a bit sick to my stomach as I discovered all the added functionality and fixes they've built in over the last few upgrades. My job would've been much easier if we had upgraded and converted a few years ago.

I really shouldn't be working on FileMaker anyway. I still have Peachtree to conquer and July and August bookkeeping to finalize. I'm late going on my bookkeeping because of the audit and switching over to Peachtree. I'm very close though.

Another distraction is our transition to using iCal for our office calendar. Some of it is good but there will be plenty of things to miss from our Now Up to Date system. My pet peeve of iCal so far is that in Month view you can't scroll week to week, you're stuck seeing the entire month no matter what day it is in the month. For example, today is the 22nd so I'm only allowed to see one week ahead though I can see three weeks behind. That's not very helpful.

I'm sure you've all been wondering if Enid did discover her husband wasn't really her husband and he wasn't. He was his cousin! She ended up with him anyway once she discovered her estranged wastrel of a husband had died in the explosion that damaged the laird. Now I'm wondering when Caroline will discover that Jude, Lord Huntingdon is actually a spy instead of the fop he appears to be.

Monday

I woke up 45 minutes before my alarm was to go off and decided to catch a bit more shut-eye since I stupidly stayed up until 3am last night. I was successful in falling back to sleep but felt horrid when the alarm went off. However, I was kinda glad to get out of the dream I was having because it was about my audit and how I wasn't doing things right.

I made it to the BART station and found a good parking place but missed the 10-car train so had to sit squashed into a 4-car. I think they should all be 10-car trains at least until noon.

I've been learning my new accounting software and today was so into it I didn't break until 4pm to have lunch. I only took the time to run down for a slice of pizza and a Coke. I don't think it's going to last me very long. I really need to go to Safeway and get milk and other things. Yesterday I found this great pesto in my bare cupboard which I mixed with some plain tomato sauce for a lovely spaghetti sauce. I may have it again tonight.

My accounting software (Peachtree) is Windows-only and one crucial function I need is to export reports so I can combine and edit them in Excel. I didn't have Excel installed in my Windows system (it's running in Parallels on my iMac) and Peachtree won't export to a text-only file; it has to have Excel. I had install discs for Office 2007 for Windows but my XP is so old it wouldn't install. I tried to upgrade my XP to no avail. I ended up finding an Office 2003 disc and was able to install Excel finally. Peachtree basically copies the report into an Excel file with no intermediary step. I can then save it and open it in my Mac Excel to manipulate it.

I am really enjoying learning Peachtree though it's still a struggle to convert for-profit thinking to my not-for-profit reality.

I was just about to sign off and head out when my late-night colleague down the hall came by with an offer of some cheesecake. I'll stay for a bite and then catch the train home. I have to get back to my eBook and find out if Enid's amnesiac husband is really who everyone thinks he is.

Too Hot to Think

According to weather.com, the observed high temp for my town yesterday was 99º. I believe it and am glad I wasn't there during the day time to live through it. When I got home last night, my inside thermometer said 90º so that was hot enough for me! I'm surprised I got any sleep since the low wasn't very low. Thank goodness for fans and frozen water bottles.

We got up to 94º here in SF yesterday and today it's supposed to be a bit cooler but it doesn't feel that much cooler to me. I need to get a cross-breeze going in my office, I think.

Sallie and I were thinking of going to the zoo tomorrow but it might be too hot for us. We'll go to IKEA and enjoy the air conditioning (along with hundreds others, I'm sure).

The new Borders in Alameda opened its doors to the general public yesterday afternoon. I stopped by after work and Sallie showed me around. Then I browsed the sci-fi and mystery sections. I could've bought a bunch of books but limited myself to three. I wrote down a list of others to get at the library.

I forgot to take my camera into the store (at least it was in the car!) and when I went back in to take a few shots, Sallie had disappeared. I'll try to upload at home when I have a functioning mouse. Maybe I'll borrow the one I use here at work.

Sallie's Here!

Sallie arrived safely here Friday night at 7pm. She left Minnesota Wednesday morning and drove through six big states in three days. One day she drove over 770 miles! When she got here we had some Chinese food (yummy!) and watched hockey, chatted and read until midnight.

I had printed out the CA driver handbook so Sallie could study up for her written test at the DMV. She read a lot of it Friday night and took the practice tests Saturday morning. She got a few questions wrong so had to do some additional studying. I hope she passes!

Saturday we went up to IKEA and bought chairs and lamps and dish scrubbers and bowls and meatballs. We'll definitely need another trip there after Sallie's big stuff arrives tomorrow and she figures out what else she needs. She's fallen in love with a very versatile gateleg table so we'll probably go back for that. I got two new dining room chairs to replace the ones that are falling apart. I have to warn people about them and that's not safe.

We stopped in Alameda to check out the new Borders location. It's right beside the coolest Safeway store ever. Then we stopped by Sallie's new place at Lakeside Village. We couldn't go in, of course, but she got a good sense of where the windows are and how far it'll be from her parking place.

I had gotten a big frying pan at IKEA so I made us some fried rice for supper from our leftover Chinese from Friday. We watched a couple movies (Sweeney Todd and An Ideal Husband) and a little Minnesota hockey (they lost).

On Sunday our goal was some comparison shopping for a monitor and TV. Sallie also wanted to get a DVD recorder with a built-in digital tuner so she can get all the digital TV channels through her antenna. We headed down to BestBuy but they didn't open until 11! So we went next door to OfficeMax (they had nothing) and then to Wal-Mart. I picked up a few tops and Sallie took notes on the TVs she was interested in.

At BestBuy we found a 17" monitor on sale for $150. Then we looked at 26" widescreen LCD HDTVs and couldn't resist the Westinghouse with its Energy Star rating and crisp picture. We determined that she could hook it up to her PC as well so we took the monitor back to the guys in the computer section. Then Sallie said let's take the TV home now instead of waiting. Now there's no need to drive back down there.

We discovered a Thai restaurant a couple miles from my house to have lunch at. I got the garlic chicken and it was awesome. Sallie loved her yellow curry as well. We got the mango with sticky rice to go and we had it for an afternoon snack. Sallie put together my new lamp and my two new chairs. They're lovely. We watched the Sharks lose to the Flames, forcing the first Game 7 ever at the Shark Tank tomorrow night (very exciting!). For supper I combined leftover garlic chicken from lunch and even more Chinese from Friday for another lovely bowl of fried rice.

This morning Sallie packed up and we picked up a cashier's check at the bank for the security deposit and first month's rent. Then we got her car smogged and I got gas in my car and we headed over to Lakeside Village. Sallie signed a lot of papers and got the key to her new home. We unloaded both our cars and Sallie decided which cabinets were for food and which for dishes. Luckily she found the TP in one of her boxes as the Village management had not supplied any. Sallie hooked up her DVD recorder/digital tuner to her little TV and we found loads of digital broadcast channels.

We had an appointment at the DMV at 2:15 so we grabbed a quick lunch and went to get Sallie a California driver's license. Unfortunately, she forgot to put her passport in her bag so all we could do was pick up the application form and hope to make another appointment another day instead. (I was just able to get one at the same time for Wednesday so now Sallie just needs to make sure she takes all the paperwork and documents she needs.)

After our disappointment at the DMV we felt a little retail therapy was in order so we headed over to our favorite store -- no, not Borders -- Target! Sallie picked up cleaning supplies and batteries and trash cans and a detailed map book for Alameda County (by far her favorite purchase of the day). When we got back to Lakeside, I watched Ellen on the little TV then Sallie broke out the new one. When she hooked up the antenna directly to it, we were able to get HD -- with her little rabbit ears!

We went back out for supper at Chili's (delicious) and then, since we were at the mall anyway, we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond for the dish drainer we had forgotten at Target earlier. Of course we couldn't just stop at one item so we got a bathroom trash can, a shower caddy, a paper towel holder, a shelf system for over the toilet, and covers to protect the stove's back burners that Sallie will never use. I dropped her off at home will all her new things where she will be sleeping on her airbed tonight.

We're meeting the movers at 9 tomorrow at the ABF service center and once they've moved everything into the apartment, the rest of the day is for unpacking and organizing. And maybe some grocery shopping. We're out of leftovers.

We're Approved!

I got word on my answering machine at home last night that Sallie has been approved for her new apartment! So that's all settled. Everything just fell into alignment, including a local moving company to help us haul boxes and stuff from the long-distance movers service center to the new place.

Here's a photo of a gazebo by a pond near Sallie's new home.

Big Move

For the past month or so I've been acting as a real estate agent for my sister Sallie who was hoping to get a job at a new Borders opening up next month here in the Bay Area. They delayed the opening at least once so she wasn't actually able to apply for the job until a couple weeks ago. She finally heard yesterday that she did indeed get the job. Woo hoo!

So all my visiting apartments.com and actual apartments were not for naught. I had already sent Sallie the application for my apartment of choice so she was ready to move on it. She faxed me all her proof-of-everything papers which I took over to the apartment complex last night. Now we just need to get approved (I applied as a co-signer to make sure our income was three times the rent) and we're good to go.

Here's the floor plan of the studio apartment we've reserved for Sallie:




I like this layout because the front door opens towards the kitchen so even if the bedroom area was a bit messy and the sliding accordion door was open, your visitor doesn't immediately see it! It's also 600 sq ft which is a big size for a studio. What the floor plan doesn't show is the balcony (it's on the second floor) which is accessed through a sliding glass door in the living room.

If you want to see photos of this apartment complex and the model studio apartment, visit my photos website, scroll down to the fifth row of photos where the label says "studio". The model is on the ground floor so, instead of the balcony area Sallie will have, it has a patio.

Sallie is leaving Minnesota next Wednesday and should arrive on Saturday or Sunday to move in on April 21. It's all so exciting!

How is That Possible?

or Why didn't I wear long sleeves today?

I was just checking the BART schedule in my Dashboard when I noticed my side-by-side weather forecasts for the Bay Area and Grand Rapids, MI. Three of the five days displayed had higher temps in Michigan than here. I guess I need to find that hoodie I didn't think I needed anymore.

Hope you're enjoying the warm spring weather, guys!

TV Updates

Dancing with the Stars
I’m having trouble getting behind any of the contestants this season. It was quite disappointing to see that Julianne was paired with that creep Adam Carolla. He just doesn’t seem to be taking it seriously enough for them to improve. They’ll be gone sooner rather than later I expect. Kristi and Mark are by far the best this year but she seems a bit dead in the face to me. I hope she can kick it into another gear.

American Idol
If David Cook would shave more often, I would get behind him 100%. His style of music is right up my alley. I have really enjoyed his performances. I really like Carly as well. I was so worried that week she was in the bottom. And I don’t care what clothes she’s wearing, Simon. I have absolutely no use for Kristy Lee. She should’ve been out of there a while ago. I think the most impressive this week was Michael Johns. His performance was spot-on and he’s just so hot.

Survivor
Can you say boring? Is anyone still watching this show? Does anyone still care? I’m just tuning in for Jeff at this point.

Deal or No Deal
After all the excitement with the Million Dollar Mission, things have quieted down over Howie’s way. This week a contestant was offered a family vacation but was required to say goodbye to one family member each time she said No Deal. Good thing she had some in-laws and a niece to choose. I love it when people go a long way into the game but if I were giving advice, I’d say as soon as the offer get close to a quarter million, take it and run.

Ace of Cakes
My new favorite DVR recording is FoodTV’s cake meisters at Charm City Cakes. Mary Alice is too cool to be real and the other employees in the bakery are characters right out of your favorite funny novel. Geof has to be my fave though for his understated style and amazing aptitude in creating architectural masterpieces out of sugary foodstuff.

Birthday Week

For my birthday this year I’m getting a great present. The Interruptor’s last day is Monday. Woo hoo! They finally had to let her go because of budget woes (and her incompetence). It makes me so happy even though I’m going to have to do part of her job. I just don’t care.

Oh, I also got a lovely check from my folks, a late-night-for-him phone call from my little brother, a funny voice mail at work at 4:30amET from Joanna and the kids along with various email greetings. I also got an espresso chocolate bar and a gorgeous little book, Heirlooms: Letters from a Peach Farm, by David Mas Masumoto, the father of one of our board members) at the all-staff meeting yesterday.

We had Monday off for Cesar Chavez Day which just happened to be Opening Day for many baseball teams so I took advantage and watched baseball all day. It was lovely pre-birthday gift.

Most Satisfying

That had to have been the most satisfying conclusion to a Project Runway season ever. I loved Christian from the start and was so so happy to see him win. His garments were amazing even with all the black. He really lucked out that Victoria Beckham was the guest judge because she loved loved loved him. I hope she does wear him sometime. What a coup that'd be for him.

I was sad to see that Jillian didn't come through. Her stuff was terrific separately but it was kind of all over the place. I'm sure she'll find success though; she is so talented. I especially love her coats.

I was never a big fan of Rami and when Tim visited him on the next-to-last episode the mustard color of some of his designs was so scary. I noticed that none of them made his final collection but I agreed with the judges that the colors he did choose were questionable. I didn't really like some of his dresses either. It's just not to my taste.

I'm kinda sad this season of PR is over. I guess I'll just have to hope that one of the contestants on Dancing with the Stars will strike my fancy. This season's crowd doesn't look too promising.

New Shoes

I finally got my butt in gear and bought some new shoes yesterday at DSW, just up the street from the office. I'm a big adidas fan but this time I wanted some slip-ons. I tried on over 8 pairs until I broke down and tried some with laces. I ended up buying two pairs, both Skechers.

The Urbantrack, a Sport Fusion shoe
I haven't worn this one yet. It's cute, huh?



The Urbanspike, a Sport shoe
I wore this pair home from work last night and I've worn them all day today. They're doing pretty good and are easy to put on (with the help of the long long long shoe horn I got at Walgreens!).

Hot Spot

It was freezing here in the office yesterday afternoon and into the evening. My hands were starting to hurt when I left around 6:15. There are a couple other people who stay later as well and they were still here when I left. Turns out they discovered where the thermostat for our floor is and turned up the heat. Waaay up!

When people arrived at the office this morning it was 85°! So not only did they forget to turn down the heat setting when they left, they also were under the impression that if you turn the heat way up, the space will heat up faster. Not true!

So it's been sweaty here in the office today. I'm glad I normally wear layers though my light sweater is still too much and I have the fan turned on to medium. Maybe I should open a window.

Drat!

I forgot to stick my umbrella in my bag this morning and it's raining! I need to go out and grab some lunch too. Maybe I'll check the radar and see if it's going to clear up anytime soon. I might be stuck with running next door for a slice of pizza (no!). Maybe I can make it down to the soup place. Mmmm, Grandma Mary's chicken soup sounds pretty good right now.

Raise Your Hand

Raise your hand if you're excited about the new Survivor! The series starts February 7 with a new Fans vs. Favorites format.

I was looking forward to this season until I saw that Jonny Fairplay is one of the "favorites" then I wasn't so sure I even wanted to watch it. I can only hope that he gets voted off early and doesn't make the jury so I don't have to see his smarmy face very long. Perusing the list of returning castaways makes me wonder whose favorites they are. Certainly not any of mine.

The most intriguing fan just from reading a few bios on cbs.com is Chet. He describes himself as "magical" and is a pageant coach for Miss America!

TV for Tonight

Project Runway

You know it's not gonna last long when the designers are excited about a challenge. You can just sense that soon Tim is going to be gathering around the designers to throw them for a loop. Chris was so thrilled about creating a look inspired by a hair style. Plus he was partnered with his mini-me, Christian. This challenge was right up their alley. Their avant garde look was amazing. I was a bit surprised by their choice of color. It wasn't really that pretty, you could even say boring. No one was happy about having to come up with a ready-to-wear version but C&C did an okay job. I was happy to see Christian win, especially after his scare last week.

I found it very painful to watch Victorya and Jillian try to work together (V kinda gives me the willies), but their final product was awesome. Jillian's coat was my favorite creation of this season so far. Pairing a satiny punk trench with riding boots and jodhpurs was inspired. Of the last-minute, surprise ready-to-wear dresses, I think Sweet P's was the best of the lot. Rami needs to lighten up on her.

Ellen DeGeneres Show

Poor Ellen. She's sick with a cold but she's still doing her show. For her monologue (currently sans writers), she stretched out on a sofa with an afghan and had a couple of her audience members dance around the set since she couldn't.

In one of the oddest segments I've see on her show, a crazy guy with a brush in each hand (then later with no brushes at all) slapped various colors of paint on a huge rotating canvas all the while dancing to some tunes. At the end he flipped the painting 180º and all of a sudden it became Ray Charles. They got some great reaction shots of the disbelieving audience as they rose in a standing ovation. I guess he's huge on YouTube.

Tonight on My Telly

American Idol: Dallas Auditions

I have a new favorite for Hollywood Week: Kyle, the Politician, with his red tie and adorable smile and curly brown hair. Right, that Simon is confusing sometimes. I couldn't believe he immediately said yes to this college boy. I guess what he admires is when people are themselves and Kyle was genuine and really didn't have that bad a voice.

Oh, dear. The teaser for this commercial break just made me pee my pants. A guy in a wig and floral print says, "Just give it a try. Pants can be restricting." Yes, you guessed it, a man in a dress. Can't wait to see Simon's reaction to this guy in pearls... .... .... ... Rats, he was just part of a boys-as-girls montage. Oh, well.

Wow, there's a guy from Edwardsville, Illinois, auditioning in Dallas. The rocker with eyeliner. Oof, he's horrible. Plus he has a really fake tan. The judges vote no.

Man, I love those montages when they have everyone singing the same song. Of course, since we're in Dallas, they're singing Kelly Clarkson's Since You've Been Gone. Such funny editing.

Deal or No Deal

Awhile back Howie was on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and they showed a clip of her guest spot on DoND. Well, tonight was that episode. Strangely enough on Ellen's show today I didn't hear mention of it. Maybe I just missed it. Sometimes when the heater's running it's hard to hear.

Like I said on Monday, Howie's on a Million Dollar Mission so tonight's contestant has seven cases each containing one million dollars. Let's play!

The case models come down the stairs but there's one spot missing so Howie has to call out for the last model and Ellen comes out (so to speak). She's wearing a green, sparkly, spaghetti strap dress. Don't have a heart attack! She's also wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt and black trousers and sneakers. Of course. Take a deep breath. When Howie starts explaining the Million$Mission, Ellen has to sit down on the stairs and call her mom. While they're taping!

Okay, on with the game.

1. Round 1: My first deal is $55k and Shaquilla, after sadly opening two million-dollar cases, gets a record-breaking first offer of $145k. No deal! *
2. Round 2: Another million-dollar case exposed for our contestant, but her offer goes to $166k. Mine dipped slightly to $49k. No deal!
3. Round 3: Ellen has now removed her dress and left the stairs to stand with the supporters. I guess the stage manager couldn't let her case remain un-modeled so they brought out a replacement model. But then the contestant chose her case (why?) so Ellen ran back to open it. She gave loads of different hilarious faces and finally opened the $300 case, then left (bye, Ellen!). My offer went up to $67k and after opening another million-dollar case, Shaquilla's offer went to $181k. No deal!
   
4. Round 4: Man, another million-dollar case gone for our contestant. Her offer goes to $197k. I still have my top two cases, so my offer increases to $78k. Two cases to open in the next round. I think she should take the deal but she doesn't. I'm refusing mine too. No deal!
   
5. Round 5: Ouch, my million is gone and my offer drops to $56k. Shaquilla opens both her remaining million-dollar cases. I told her! Her offer plummets $15k. Her highest case left is $75k. No deal!
   
6. Round 6: S's offer: $18k. My offer: $67k. No deal!
   
7. Round 7: S's offer: $27k. My offer: $107,730. Do I risk one more round? Hell yeah. No deal!
   
8. Round 8: Paid off for me. My offer is $154k. I gonna take it. Shaquilla's offer went to $36k. Everyone's telling her to take it. So she does. Deal!
   

Did I have the $750k in my case? Nope. Surprisingly enough we both had the $25,000. So we both made good deals. Tune in Monday for eight cases filled up with one million dollars. Should be fun.

*OMG, did I just see a Knight Rider promo??!! Get out! I will be all over that show.

Today in My Lunch

My friend Paul and I went to the sister restaurant of our favorite Thai hole-in-the-wall today for lunch. Our place is currently undergoing some rather significant remodeling so we are reduced to lunching across the street in the slightly higher-priced, somewhat fancier place which is owned and run by the same people. Our familiar wait staff are working over there now too.

We walked in and the place was packed and noisy. I decided I wanted to splurge and get not only a Thai Iced Tea (delicious) but also some spring rolls (yummy). I noticed that they had brown rice on the Sides menu (I did say fancier) so I asked for brown instead of steamed along with my ginger chicken (surprisingly less tasty than normal). Our waitress wasn't writing anything down so I just knew one of us was going to have something wrong with our order. Of course, me requesting no bell peppers in my entree didn't help either. But, hey, I like what I like.

Our orders came and, yes, we both had white rice. Bummer. Next time I guess.

Tonight on My TV

Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann

Ooo, I'm so glad my two faves were picked by Bruno. I did so want to root for his team. I admire Carrie Ann but I just luuuv Bruno. Zack is my favorite guy. He's got it all. He's good looking but not too pretty. He can really sing and he's got the moves. Bruno also picked my favorite girl, Kelsey. She's the one who came to auditions with her two friends both of whom didn't make it into the top 14. She's a really strong dancer and has a lovely husky voice. Bruno got to go first for the last two and picked my other favorite guy, Phillip. Carrie Ann had earlier picked my second favorite girl, Elizabeth, who is not a trained dancer but has an amazing voice and incredible green eyes. Drew Lachey is the host and is doing a great job. He got some practice when he filled in on Dancing with the Stars when Samantha Harris was out having a baby. I'm hoping Tom and Len show up sometime on Dance Wars. That would be hilarious.

Deal or No Deal

DoND has fast become my not-so-secret obsession. I love it so much. I'm even taping all the re-runs on CNBC. Howie Mandel is a perfect host for this show. Lately he's been on a Million Dollar Mission where if a contestant doesn't win a million, the next contestant gets that million in one of their cases. Tonight's contestant had six, that's SIX, cases with $1,000,000. Crazy.

1. Round 1: Her first offer, even after opening one of the cases with a million, was a record $131k. Needless to say, she refused that deal. I love to play along online (yes, I'm a nerd) and, without having so many million dollar cases, my first offer was only $50k.
2. Round 2: Her $170k second offer (she knocked out another million dollar case) was also refused, as was my $65k second offer (I still have my million dollar case in play.)
3. Round 3: My third offer was just under $65k after knocking out the $300k case (but I still have my top four cases). This time she didn't knock out another million dollar case so her third offer was again record-breaking -- $268,000!
4. Round 4: I opened my $400k case in the fourth round so my offer went down to just under $59k. Margarita opened another million case with her last choice so her offer also dropped to $239k. She only has to open two cases in the next round and there are still three million dollar cases on the board.
5. Round 5: Her husband had to use his inhaler. He is so stressed. Wow, after opening up two more cases, I still have the top three in play so my offer went up to $79k. Margarita opened up another million dollar case and the penny case so her offer was $284k. We both said, "No Deal!!" She has two million dollar cases left.
   
6. Round 6: Only one case to open: Ouch, mine was the $500k case; even ouchier, hers was another million dollar case. My offer went up, though, to $130k! Hers had to drop, down to $173k. Is she brave enough to open one more case? Her next highest case is $100k. But she's gutting it out. No Deal, Howie!
7. Round 7: Yes! My $100 case is knocked out and my new deal is $207k! Do I take the deal? No way! Margarita opened her last million dollar case. What a shame. I'm going to win more than her. Her deal is $22,000. Does she take it? No way. She's after the $100k.
8. Round 8: Oof. My million is knocked out. I should've taken the deal. But I'm going one more round. Margarita's offer is $33k and she doesn't take it either.
   
9. Round 9: I knock out my $5 case and my deal is $238k. I'm taking it. Margarita's offer went up to $40k and the banker adds in flying lessons for the would-be pilot making the offer $55k. She takes her deal too.
   

So did we both make good deals? Nope. Her case held $100k and mine, well, my game has stopped responding so I either had $5000 or $750k. I guess I'll never know. Tune in to the next DoND on Wednesday for seven million dollar cases. Will that contestant win the million? Will guest model Ellen DeGeneres successfully open her case? I can't wait to find out.

Greatly Exaggerated

Hi, I'm back from my self-imposed hiatus. Though my absence may never be fully explained I can refute the following strangely persistent rumors:

• I am not dead
• I did not become a chef and move to Nevada
• I have not lost my ability to speak
• I have not been on strike along with other writers
• I am not a contestant on American Idol
  

So, thanks for all your concern. Now, back to my book.

Twizzlers Are My Favorite...

Dress??

Yes, that's right. Only on Project Runway, of course. A dress made of the delicious strawberry-flavored licorice was one of the creations on a recent episode where the challenge was hosted by the Hershey's shop in Times Square. The contestants were set loose in the candy store with five minutes to collect materials for a garment they had to make that day. Only Jillian had the eggs to use an edible material. All of the others grabbed pillows and toys and wrappers. My favorite, Christian, used the brown wrappers from peanut butter cups glued to a brown halter dress. My least favorite, the oddball Elisa, was finally "auf" of the competition for her boring brown dress. Jillian's confection creation gave her a lot of problems but the judges approved of her finally completed design.

This past week's episode was a prom dress challenge where the clients were high school girls from New Jersey and were also the models. Christian's client was a design student herself who had very definite ideas for her gown. He was caught between trying to put in all the elements she requested and creating a garment that had his look. He wasn't that successful and on the runway he blamed his client for his difficulties. That turned off the judges and he only escaped being cut because Kevin had a really bad week. My favorite gown of the week was Chris' green creation. Lovely.