Saturday, March 31, 2001

Saturday, March 31, 2001

Hung out at my brother's house with his girlfriend, his son, and some of his friends.  We had a great time.  Galahad started to barbecue some chicken but ran out of propane.  So, he had to improvise and cook in the kitchen.  My brother had never used his oven before then, although he has been in the house for 6 months or so.   We stayed up very late talking & eating chocolate.  We thought about trying to drive into the countryside to see the Aurora Borealis which was supposed to be visible on Friday & Saturday nights in Florida.  However, it started to storm, which probably reduced visibility a LOT, so we didn't go.  Here's a site that has plenty of pictures of it from all over the world.

Friday, March 30, 2001

Friday, March 30, 2001

Wow, I tried fixing a friend's business website that was created using FrontPage2000, but the person who set it up left it a mess.  It was total disorganization.  I felt really bad about not being able to help very much.  Every time I touched one thing, something else stopped working.  It also had some Java stuff thrown in there that I didn't know how to use, which of course didn't help matters.

Thursday, March 29, 2001

Thursday, March 29, 2001

I found this poem on the 'Net somewhere, and it is the barest hint of how I feel about my Galahad.

What is a Soul Mate?
If you have found a smile
that is the sweetest one you've known,
If you have heard, within a voice,
the echoes of your own,
If you have felt a touch
that stirs the longings of your heart,
And still can feel that closeness
in the moments that you're apart,
If you have filled with wonder
at the way two lives can blend
To weave a perfect pattern
that is seamless, end to end,
If you believe some things in life
are simply meant to be,
Then you have found your soul mate,
your heart's own destiny.

-Emily Matthews

Tuesday, March 27, 2001

Tuesday, March 27, 2001

Drove to Miami to visit a client.  I'm so glad I don't live there anymore.  Had sushi for lunch as usual.

Monday, March 26, 2001

Monday, March 26, 2001

Went back to the dermatologist for my checkup & had to have another biopsy.  Looks like more basal cell carcinoma.  I'm bummed.  I'm white as a ghost, and my skin is still turning against me.  I'm not sure what to do anymore except try to live as normally as I can.  I already eat pretty healthily, sleep well, and drink gallons of purified water.

Sunday, March 25, 2001

Sunday, March 25, 2001

We visited with my father today.  Went to lunch, hung out, & talked all afternoon.  He told some great stories that I had not heard before.

Saturday, March 24, 2001

Saturday, March 24, 2001

Slept 9 hours last night plus a 2 hour nap yesterday.  Feeling much better now.  Galahad decided to hack down another one of our annoying trees, a Green Island Ficus that got out of control.  He took out quite a bit, and there is still plenty of tree left for us to work on next weekend.

Went out to an Italian restaurant with Galahad's parents for dinner.

Friday, March 23, 2001

Friday, March 23, 2001

Too many too early mornings in a row.  Now, I'm just plain cranky.  Finished up my meetings and was able to come home & sleep. 

Thursday, March 22, 2001

Thursday, March 22, 2001

Another incredibly productive day.  Amazing, huh?!  We split into just two groups today, techies & sales.  We have all come to realize that we are different & think differently & probably learn differently as well.  I finally understand about firewalls thanks to an elaborate 10 minute answer to my 1 minute question that stretched into an hour long discussion.

For dinner, I talked a few people into going down to South Beach & waiting the 2 hours to eat at Joe's Stone Crab.  Everyone decided afterwards that it was indeed worth the wait.  Some of the sales people also ventured down to South Beach but all decided to hit the much trendier place, Mango's.  Anyone who has ever eaten at Joe's knows who the real winners were.  During our extended wait, we walked over to Ocean Drive and had a few drinks at a little cafe.  Joe's is one of the very few places that I will wait to be seated at.  Most other places with a long wait (and there are plenty down here) are not worth it.  As you might imagine, I did not get to sleep until 1-ish.

Wednesday, March 21, 2001

Wednesday, March 21, 2001

Stayed up too late last night & got up way too early this morning.  Got a headache but managed to keep it at bay with Excedrin.  Had a very productive day in all the seminars & break-out sessions.  Learned quite a bit about a new facet of our business that's rolling out.

Tuesday, March 20, 2001

Tuesday, March 20, 2001

Packed up to go out of town 45 minutes away.  Stayed at a beautiful place; however, it was in a poor locale, besides being at the beach.  There was not much around in the way of activity, which actually may be a good thing considering I'm there to work.  Galahad drove down to see me but didn't get there until late since it's pretty far with traffic.

Monday, March 19, 2001

Monday, March 19, 2001

Woke up to the sound & sight of a gloomy, rainy day.  We couldn't be more excited!  Maybe our drought will become less severe soon.

Sunday, March 18, 2001

Sunday, March 18, 2001

We ate at an Indian restaurant last night, which was my first time.  I have never really cared for any of the Indian spices, so I've never been in a particular hurry to try this.  It was my brother's first time as well.  Neither one of us was very impressed with the food; and the service was terrible.  It took well over an hour to get our food.  We actually left in the middle to go see her sing, and then came back in time to eat.  Both Galahad and my cousin reassured us that we had just chosen a bad place and not to judge all Indian restaurants by this instance. 

Went to Best Buy to purchase a phone with a headset.  Wow!  Too many choices to sift through and nothing really that I felt I wanted.  So, I left with a rain check and disappointment.

Saturday, March 17, 2001

Saturday, March 17, 2001

Happy St Patrick's Day!  I'm bummed.  I went to watch the eagles' nest this morning and the site is having trouble.  No eaglets for me!  :-(

Galahad just got his new Samurai-sharp tree-cutting tool in the mail yesterday.  So, as you can imagine, he took out a few trees.  He got very carried away in the fun of cutting, until I stopped him.  The pile in front of our house was getting too big.   I told him he'd have to finish the rest next weekend.

My cousin is in town.  Yay!  We're meeting him & his girl for dinner tonight and watching my brother's girl sing out at a courtyard in West Palm Beach.  I guess we'll be listening more so than watching.

Friday, March 16, 2001

Friday, March 16, 2001

I'm so excited.  I got our composter today.  A woman at the city's office of recycling & waste management dropped it off herself.  How nice is that?  We had been shopping for one for weeks now.  Finally, I asked my sister where she got hers, and she told me she got it from her city/county.  We were prepared to spend $100 and ended up with a free one.

Went to the coolest web page  the other day, the T-Shirt Chronicles.  I killed a few hours surfing through links and ended up there.  Whatever did I do before the Internet & DSL?!?!

Thursday, March 15, 2001

Thursday, March 15, 2001

Saw my chiropractor today.  He torqued the bejeezus out of my neck.  BUT, I graduated to once every 4 weeks now.  I never thought I'd get to this day.  Sniff, sniff,  I'm just so happy.

Ate some more of my sister-in-law's homemade cheesecake.  She sent us home with some last night.  OMG!  Scrumdiliumptious!

Wednesday, March 14, 2001

Wednesday, March 14, 2001

Woke up early so that I could water my plants this morning (drought restrictions & all).  Much to my dismay, I found that one of my sprinklers had emptied itself and a very large pile of sandy soil & debris onto our deck and into our pool.

Read an amazing article about the 50 most powerful women in America.  One of my sisters made an insightful comment after reading this.  She said something like, won't it be nice that the day comes when this isn't even news because it's not unusual to see women in positions of power.  Good point!

Went to a family dinner in honor of my youngest older brother's birthday.  We had a great time.  Plenty of tasty food & good company.  He brought his friend, Chad, who reminds us all of Jeff Spiccoli from 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High.'  All in all, a very entertaining & enjoyable evening.

Tuesday, March 13, 2001

Tuesday, March 13, 2001

Started testing my company's newest release of software.  That's quite fun (okay, so I'm a Geek, I know.)  I love when it does what it actually was designed to do. 

Today was local election day.  Yes, we used the exact same Vote-A-Matic machines that caused the downfall of Gore's & Florida's reputations.  I was reminded several times to check my chads.  What really got me upset later is that no local news stations covered any part of this election.  I do NOT see how breaking up an illegal ring of pit bull fighting is more important than electing our new local mayors & commissioners.  I was highly disappointed in all 4 networks.

Monday, March 12, 2001

Monday, March 12, 2001

Work is really getting busy & problematic lately.  I guess everyone is doing some spring-cleaning and deciding to get all of their lagging problems resolved.

Sunday, March 11, 2001

Sunday, March 11, 2001

Happy Birthday, Shannon!  Galahad & I spent most of today landscaping our yard.  We ended up with another large pile of branches & plant-material out by the curb for bulk pick-up.  We're debating about getting rid of our Ficus trees.  It is positively frightening to learn what their root systems can do to a house or wall.

Saturday, March 10, 2001

Friday, March 9, 2001

Friday, March 9, 2001

Had a long heart-to-heart talk with my father.  We both aired out some grievances and are working toward developing a new better relationship.  Worked like crazy on an established client who suddenly started having problems.  Watched Toy Story 2.  What a fabulous movie!

Wednesday, March 7, 2001

Wednesday, March 7, 2001

Yesterday turned into a beautiful day after the horror of breakfast, until I got the message last night that I would need to drive over to Tampa today to see a disgruntled client.  The drive took almost two hours.  This visit went much better than I had even visualized.  Not only did I fix their problems, but when I left they were smiling.  So, I raced off to the airport to catch my plane home.  On the plane, I sat next to a gentleman who appeared very solemn.  For some reason, I was unnerved by this and attempted to break the ice.  He turned out to be quite a cool guy, who was flying home from his father's funeral.  Poor guy!  We talked almost the whole flight home.  For those of you who have never flown with me, I usually bury my head in a book & ignore everything except for food & beverages.  I was very happy to come home to my Galahad.  I missed him so much in just 2.5 days.

Tuesday, March 6, 2001

Tuesday, March 6, 2001

Did not sleep well at all last night.  Bizarre dreams & bizarre noises kept me awake way too much.  Then, the person-in-the-room-next-door's alarm went off very loudly at some hellaciously early hour of the morning.  To top it off, I just ordered breakfast, and it's absolutely awful!  I'm calmly breathing & visualizing a better day than it started.

Monday, March 5, 2001

Monday, March 5, 2001

Flew to Orlando.  Not a fun flight with all of these strong gusts around.  Fortunately, I was in a regular sized plane & not in a puddle-jumper.  I had dinner with my former roommate.  We had so much fun catching up on each other's lives.  I miss her!  But, it's nice to have a friend here when I come up.

Sunday, March 4, 2001

Sunday, March 4, 2001

Gray today & very windy.  Galahad had to fix one of our trees again, as it got blown over.  I worked outside all day, until I was exhausted.  First I tended to my orchids, and then I went crazy on some of our landscaping.  I cut quite a few of our bushes way back to allow them to re-grow nicely instead of the mess they had become.  I made sure I finished in time to pack & watch the Sopranos' season premiere.  Somehow, that wasn't as good as it could have been, not that it was bad.

Saturday, March 3, 2001

Saturday, March 3, 2001

Got up early to water all of our fruit trees and my orchids.  Drove to Coconut Grove to attend the 56th Annual Miami Orchid Show.  I'm sure we'll have another busy day tomorrow applying what we learned.  It seems that every expert has his/her own theory.  We heard some outright contradictions from what we learned last week about the various species.  Galahad really wanted to buy another pretty orchid, but I restrained him until we figure out how to care for the many that we already have.

Friday, March 2, 2001

Friday, March 2, 2001

Worked some more on my challenging client's issues.  Hopefully, I will not hear from them for a long time.  Galahad brought home sushi for dinner.  Mmmmm!  

Thursday, March 1, 2001

Thursday, March 1, 2001

Heard from Galahad's cousins in Vancouver.  They felt the 'quake up there but nothing too serious.