Saturday, September 30, 2000

Friday, September 29, 2000

Friday, September 29, 2000

Nasty migraine came in with the weather last night & caught me by surprise.

Thursday, September 28, 2000

Sunday, September 24, 2000

Sunday, September 24, 2000

Olympics, football, & pizza.  Did you know that you can order a pizza from the Internet?  How cool is that?  I looked for but could not find the Grand Prix in Indianapolis on any channel.  Pretty bummed about that.  I did find the Doggie Olympics on ESPN.  That was riveting.  The announcers were fabulous to listen to; they really took their jobs seriously.  I feel like such a lazy sack.  I've been eating & watching TV all weekend, sometimes in bed, & sometimes I motivated myself down to the couch.  It feels good though after the past couple weeks of losing an hour of sleep a night minimum.  It all caught up to me this weekend.  And, somehow, it's very stressful rooting & cheering these athletes on through sheer will, especially when I know that every Olympic event has already transpired; and, I am in essence, watching re-runs.  It has been quite tempting to check the outcomes of a few close events.  So far, I have resisted.

Saturday, September 23, 2000

Saturday, September 23, 2000

Olympics, eating, & out-by-the-pool time.  Lovely weekend afternoon.  Galahad went out for a late night ice cream run for me...

Friday, September 22, 2000

Friday, September 22, 2000

Set up my new 2-way pager.  Very cool gadget, which may actually have real usefulness besides being lots of fun to play with intradepartmentally.

Thursday, September 21, 2000

Thursday, September 21, 2000

Because of my car situation yesterday, I was forced to ride in my new car last night.  For those of you who don't know me well, I am extremely allergic to the "new car" smell.  Actually that smell is the formaldehyde used to treat the interior, which is just oozing out into my lungs & bloodstream.  [Galahad's father offered to build me a bubble to live in.  Gallantry runs in their family, wouldn't you say?]  So, I've been delaying driving my car because of that.  Anyway, the good news is that my allergic reaction was minimal.  Barely any migraine to speak of ... and that could have been from the next tropical wave moving through the area.  So, today, I am officially reclaiming my car from Galahad, whose job it was to drive it until the new car smell dissipated.

Wednesday, September 20, 2000

Wednesday, September 20, 2000

Don't you hate when your car won't start & you're all dressed up ready to go somewhere?  Me, too.

Tuesday, September 19, 2000

Tuesday, September 19, 2000

Caught up with my mail.  Whew!  That can accumulate quickly when I'm not home every day to deal with it.  In doing so, I got fed up with my long distance & local telephone carrier's customer service level.  So, it was time to research a new long distance carrier & also to find out about switching back to Ma Bell for my local one.  It turns out that Ma would be very happy if I want to come back....  And, while researching for a long distance carrier that applies to my needs, I came across a very cool site.  It's called LowerMyBills.com.  Basically, they do all the research for me.  Now, hopefully, they'll turn out to be reputable & factual....  I'll keep you posted.  BTW, they also research other stuff like car insurance, etc...

Monday, September 18, 2000

Monday, September 18, 2000

Caught up with work & tried to get back into a routine while still applying new knowledge & techniques from class into everyday life.  Dinner with my dad, which went much better this time.  No yelling except from the wait staff, & it was fortunately not directed at us.   Finally got to watch some Olympic events.  Way too stressful to listen to these announcers get caught up in the tension of the moment during swimming.  Also, not pleased how NBC announcers are handling USA's performance in men's gymnastics.  USA did not perform as well as four other countries.  That should be all they need to say; however, they don't stop there.  They seem to wish that another country would fail so that USA can move up.  Sore loser attitude in my humble opinion.

Sunday, September 17, 2000

Sunday, September 17, 2000

Continued on with our gastronomical rampage.  Went to a Sunday Brunch buffet at Korean restaurant, Palladium.  Stayed there for almost three hours.  Spoke with our friend about his illness, Moyamoya syndrome.  Tried to keep his outlook positive, which I believe helps immeasurably.  He has already had two brain surgeries & seems to be making positive progress.  He drove us to the airport that night where we found out that there seemed to be a hurricane in our flight path.  Nevertheless, the plane took off & only a teensy bit late.  And, a thrilling roller-coaster ride later, we were home.  Gives new meaning to the term E-ticket.  (For those of you who don't remember, E-ticket rides used to be the good rides at Disneyland -- the ones that cost extra.)

Saturday, September 16, 2000

Saturday, September 16, 2000

Class had been exhausting, so sleeping late was glorious.  Way too much extraversion for me all at once these past two weeks.  Today was a day for wandering the streets hand in hand with my guy [henceforth known as Sir Galahad] & taking in the sights, sounds, smells, & of course, tastes of NYC.  We went straight to Washington Square Park to watch the ball games.  They are so much better to watch there than at an NBA game.  From there, it was on to some street festival where I bought purple chopsticks.  Tried to meet up with a friend who happened to be here on a photographic assignment but never got in touch.  Cruised through Chinatown & ended up at a Malaysian restaurant just when we were getting hungry.  How fortuitous.  Tried not to stuff ourselves since we were meeting another friend for dinner, and he had promised a feast.  I had Malaysian fritters, stuffed with something yummy & assorted other unknowns.  Met our Korean friend at 6PM & left with him to his home where we met his wife, in-laws, & two adorable children.  On the way, we stopped at a Korean grocery store.  (Galahad & I bought Korean toothpaste to bring home & try.)  We were fascinated by the whole experience & spent much more time than was expected with our eyes wide, taking it all in.  We were the only round-eyes there.  They even had moochi ice cream, which I had seen only at one other sushi restaurant ever.  So, naturally, we bought some -- strawberry & green tea flavors.  Back at his house, we gorged until we couldn't move & even then had barely made a dent in the food.  We had a huge (with a capital U) sushi platter, karbi (no idea how to spell that -- Korean ribs, sort of), and other delicious unpronounceable-to-my-American-lips dishes.  Talked until late into the night....

Friday, September 15, 2000

Friday, September 15, 2000

Last day of class.  Yes, I'm learning lots, but I won't bore you with the minute details.  Hopefully, I will be able to apply this knowledge in real life scenarios.  Lunch was back to Ruby Foo's although a large consensus of my class went to eat at the Olive Garden in Times Square & was truly puzzled when my colleague and I declined.  I was just wondering aloud to him the day before who would eat at the Olive Garden when there were so many choices of delectable cuisine at every corner.  Amazing.  Less wait time for me, I guess.  After class, my colleague caught the train back to his home, & I went to explore the town with my fella'.  We had Mediterranean food & tried to find a sports bar to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremonies.  That turned out to be a bigger challenge than we thought, so we headed back to the hotel to enjoy them in comfort.

Thursday, September 14, 2000

Thursday, September 14, 2000

Class. Lunch at some Texas-style BBQ place.  More class.  Then, rode the subway to take a tour of our facility at the World Trade Center.  Very cool tour, with some creepy sections thrown in which aren't ours but added to the flavor.  My colleague was tired of sushi by this point, so we wandered over to Rockefeller Center to find a place to eat.  Picked one spot, but our attire wasn't up to snuff, so they suggested another one nearby.  As we walked there, we were passed by a serious entourage of police cars with sirens blaring & lights whirling, undercover cars, limousines, & big, black Suburbans with dark-tinted windows.  I looked up for the black helicopters on whisper mode but couldn't find them.  Finally ate at Maritime, which had excellent food although it was a little pricey.  I had lobster, scallops, & caviar.  Mouth-watering deliciousness.  We found out later that it was Gore causing that entire ruckus.  He had just done the Letterman show that day & was on his way to the Democratic Tribute Concert.  Went back to the hotel to wait for my honey!  I was so excited to see him!

Wednesday, September 13, 2000

Wednesday, September 13, 2000

Class was better than expected.  Lunch at Ruby Foo's.  Excellent cuisine ... it's a dim sum and sushi restaurant with very cool decor.  More class.  Dinner at Zuni, which was absolutely delectable.

Tuesday, September 12, 2000

Tuesday, September 12, 2000

Flew to NYC.  Remembered exactly how dirty and smelly the city is.  Sat next to freaky pierced people in the plane.  Cabbie was a lunatic.  Went for a walk and was assaulted by all kinds of odors and sights.  Walked down 42nd street.  It's not that much cleaner although there are decidedly fewer porn stores.  Is that a good thing?  Maybe, maybe not.  It seems like it's just another city now with all the regular chain stores.  It has definitely lost a little of its local flavor.  Dinner was sushi, of course.

Monday, September 11, 2000

Monday, September 11, 2000

Took the day off and slept in a heavily medicated state all day.  Migraine was definitely better.  Unpacked, did laundry, and repacked for trip tomorrow to NYC...

Sunday, September 10, 2000

Sunday, September 10, 2000

Flew home with a major migraine.  And of course, had equipment failure when changing planes so that was delayed by 2 hours.  Long 10-hour day getting home.  Was so excited to see my honey!

Saturday, September 9, 2000

Saturday, September 9, 2000

Local company picnic at Six Flags.  I'm not into amusement parks but didn't have much choice here.  Persuaded everyone to ditch that after a few hours to drive over to Rocky Mountain National Park to see and hear the elks mate.  Felt extremely voyeuristic.  So I'm a perv, so what?  I loved hearing them bugle their manhood.  Very sexy!  Ate dinner in Estes Park, CO.  Every place was packed because of a local Scottish festival.  Who knew the Scots were that popular there?

Friday, September 8, 2000

Friday, September 8, 2000

Test time, but he called it an assessment to make it sound less scary I guess.  Passed with a minor mishap of the software.  Off to the mountains....  Mt. Evans to be exact.  14,240 feet in altitude.  Yeah, I got a little shaky in my stomach, but it passed.  It snowed at the top, pretty much a blizzard, which fascinated me.  I got wind-burned on my face though, so it's glowing nicely.  We saw bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and mule deer.  I missed out on the yellow-bellied marmot, otherwise known as the whistle pig, and couldn't find the pika either.  I guess they were smart enough to come in out of the severe weather.  We drove down the mountain and had dinner at Tommyknockers, a quaint little brewpub in Idaho Springs.

Thursday, September 7, 2000

Thursday, September 7, 2000

Class all day ... nothing special.  Dinner at the hotel and early to bed, trying to make up for lost sleep.  Bummed that I missed the MTV awards but heard that I didn't miss much.

Wednesday, September 6, 2000

Wednesday, September 6, 2000

I'm off to Denver.  I had to get up before the birds, and I now know where that expression came from.  The birds started waking up with a vengeance as I was walking into the terminal, chirping quite vehemently.  I changed planes and experienced a very bizarre scenario in the airport.  A woman driving an electric cart with passengers on it was trying to get through a crowd of people.  Instead of saying "Excuse me", she said, "Honk, please."  Definitely someone unclear on the concept.  I went out to dinner with a bunch of colleagues.  We went to the oldest something in Denver where I tasted Rocky Mountain Oysters for my first time.  Delicious and tasted a bit like chicken.  My male colleagues weren't not as thrilled with them as I.  We also had buffalo, which of course tasted like beef.

Tuesday, September 5, 2000

Tuesday, September 5, 2000

Today is the primary election.  Who to vote for?  These local people seem so unscrupulous; it's no wonder we have no one running for President who we feel strongly in support of.  We start out with few good choices locally, and they keep getting elected to higher and higher offices.  By the time it's at the presidential level, even if they were good, they seem to get slimy by association.

Monday, September 4, 2000

Monday, September 4, 2000

Another beautiful sunny day...  Went out by the pool for a while.  What an amazing feeling, just floating in the water with the sun beating down while reading a trash novel.  It doesn't get any better than this.  Went to a Labor Day party afterwards.  I was fascinated by how many Tommy articles of clothing there were.  It was a very white bread party but lots of fun.  Finally caught up with my cousin for dinner at 8:45pm.  Nice family event that ended in yelling.  Can't go back to that sushi restaurant for a long time.  Good thing I'll be going out of town for a while...

Sunday, September 3, 2000

Sunday, September 3, 2000

Had plans to go out boating, but the Donzi had other plans.  One dead battery meant that only one engine would work.  So, unless we wanted to go around in circles until Sea Tow could come, we would have to stay ashore.  Picnicked in the backyard under a huge shady tree eating smoked salmon with cheez-its and drinking root beer.  Not a bad afternoon.  Ate all the way through until it was BBQ time.  Then ate some more.  Tasty ribs, chicken, and assorted other yummy dishes.  My cousin missed it and called at 8PM.  Who has BBQs at night?  Now, I'm watching Jackie Brown, which is actually Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch."  Why would they change the title?  And the locale from Florida to California?  How is gun and drug smuggling better in California than Florida?

Saturday, September 2, 2000

Saturday, September 2, 2000:

Went out to buy new shoes.  Why is it impossible to find comfortable, attractive shoes?  Are those two terms mutually exclusive?  I did find some great socks though -- more Thorlos to add to my ever-growing collection.  After that, I swung by a friend's house to fix her Web TV.  Pretty much, it either works or it doesn't.  Not too much to troubleshoot.  I feel terrible because I got her addicted to the Internet, and now she's going into DTs without it.  Who ever thought I would become a Pusher?  Went out for Chinese afterwards.  How is it that when you have leftovers, they always fit exactly into those little cardboard boxes?  I'm thinking that they top off the carton and throw the rest away.