Thursday, June 28, 2001

Thursday, June 28, 2001

I get to start testing fresh (although I should have been testing all week) with my data. Yay!

Probability of ending the Florida drought

Wednesday, June 27, 2001

Wednesday, June 27, 2001

Went over to a colleague's house who has a whole network that simulates our standard office. Similar problems there. Finally, at the end of the day, we made the decision to use my personal test data instead of the generic sterile data that was created for this purpose. It looks like that is what was causing me so many problems. The man who put it together didn't understand completely what he was doing.

Tuesday, June 26, 2001

Tuesday, June 26, 2001

QA Testing new version of my company's software and its compatibility with our billing software. Somehow, I'm not doing too well. I'm finding too many problems which stop me dead and not having enough time to actually test.

Yesterday, I tried loading the data from a CD they sent me, but it crashed my laptop twice -- Windows 2000, the uncrashable. I guess I had a bad CD. So, they overnighted me a new CD for today.

Sunday, June 24, 2001

Sunday, June 24, 2001

Two parties for us today. We are such recluses these days. Okay, bite the bullet & be social. The first one is a 1 year old birthday party for one of Galahad's former employee's son. And, the second is a good friend of mine, who has these large parties with lots of food.

We are absolutely exhausted, but we had lots of fun. I really need to get past my social anxiety. Too much working at home?

Saturday, June 23, 2001

Saturday, June 23, 2001

Galahad & I went to the library today and then to the store to get snackies. Mmmmmm! I started reading Carl Hiassen's "Sick Puppy." OMG, that is so f*cking funny! Somehow I ate too much, though. Pizza & Pringles® & biscotti -- Oh my! I hardly ever overdo it when it comes to eating. Time for the Alka-Seltzer®.

We were going to go see the movie, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, but then we both got caught up in our books.

Thursday, June 21, 2001

Thursday, June 21, 2001

Tequila Night Tonight! I love going to these. We found out about this one at the last minute, so we've invited as many people as we could find at such short notice. Baja Cafe, home of over 200 types of tequila, hosts these parties every so often, where they invite a major tequila company or margarita-additive company to pour out samples. They have this great hollow ice sculpture of a cactus, in which they pour the tequila through, and it comes out the bottom nicely chilled.

Wednesday, June 20, 2001

Wednesday, June 20, 2001

That felt like a much longer trip than it was, somehow. As soon as my plane landed, I had to go to my local office and work all day there. I didn't get home until almost 9PM.

Tuesday, June 19, 2001

Tuesday, June 19, 2001

Off to Orlando.

I met up with my niece & my former roommate for dinner at Ran-Getsu, a sushi restaurant of course. They hadn't seen each other since my niece was a little girl and had been rendered homeless by Hurricane Andrew. She, her mother, & her infant brother stayed with us while they looked for another apartment. What a weird sushi experience. The company was wonderful, but they have a show there. It felt like I was at SeaWorld. They feed the koi every couple of hours and make a production out of it.

Monday, June 18, 2001

Monday, June 18, 2001

Time to start boycotting Zephyrhills water. Too bad because I really like it.

BUT:
  1. It doesn't look like it's coming from a healthy place.
  2. Florida can't afford to lose any water right now, especially to put millions into Nestle corporation's pockets.

Sunday, June 17, 2001

Sunday, June 17, 2001

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there, even to the ones who aren't very good but who are trying hard to be better!

Saturday, June 16, 2001

Saturday, June 16, 2001

Yay, it's finally raining! Good thing because I just couldn't get up early to water my plants.

Friday, June 15, 2001

Friday, June 15, 2001

I got paged last night again while I was sleeping. I almost ignored it but thought that since I was acting manager, I should answer it. Good thing I did since I was the third person paged. MCI is doing a terrible job lately with our pagers. The first two people never got theirs, I'm sure. Mine were coming in about an hour late. Maybe sunspot activity?

Somehow yesterday I got a stiff neck. I think my chiropractor damaged me for making fun of chiropractors in relating the Simpson's episode about same. I have iced it this morning and took an Aleve but still feel not so good. Owww.

Wednesday, June 13, 2001

Wednesday, June 13, 2001

I really had to wear my manager hat today. I had my first irate client who wasn't one of mine. ;-) I think I calmed her down a bit. I let her rant for awhile, and actually she kind of had some valid points. I never really know what to say to that. Am I supposed to say, "You are so right. We f*cked up so badly!" ? If any of you out there have suggestions, I'm all ears.

After I finally hung up with her, I raced out the door to watch my nephew get awarded his brown belt in karate. Very Cool!

Tuesday, June 12, 2001

Tuesday, June 12, 2001

Last night, we heard this giant crash at 1:30am. A large oak tree had split in half & fallen down right in front of the house. Fortunately, it didn't hit anything. Wonder what caused it? Lightning maybe but there wasn't any just then. We were weirded out because we had just been standing Monday evening chatting with a neighbor in the spot where it hit. Dude!

Off to a client site...

Wow, this whole managing thing is kind of tricky. I'm holding down the fort for my department while our manager is on vacation. Who knew he did so much?

Monday, June 11, 2001

Monday, June 11, 2001

Wow, back to work.... I just got hit with a sh*tload of business emails to answer. Nice.

I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Sunday, June 10, 2001

Sunday, June 10, 2001

Galahad got brave & decided to tackle some more landscaping. (We had originally planned to drive down to Miami with my brother for a bamboo show. But, we had done enough driving already.) The heat was absolutely heart-stopping. I tried to help a little, at least to keep him company, but my head started hurting. There was a major front moving in which slammed into me. I took a triple dose of Imitrex just to get to sleep.

Saturday, June 9, 2001

Saturday, June 9, 2001

What a long drive we had last night. I was singing KC & the Sunshine band trying to stay awake. I know! It worked, though. Although Galahad was driving, I felt that not only was it polite to stay awake but safer as well. He kept saying to go to sleep, but I insisted on bad vocals quite a chunk of the way back. He thanked me for it later. I know how miserable it is to stay awake while driving when tired.

We pretty much slept all day today, waking up only to order & eat pizza.

Friday, June 8, 2001

Friday, June 8, 2001

Today, we have to check out of the Banyan. :-( but... our friend, Bill Blankenship (not his real name), is taking us out on his boat.

Wow, what a great time mixed with not so great. On our first stop, Mr. Blankenship explained that we were swimming where the bull nose sharks breed in the winter. He said it's packed with them then. That really made me want to get into the water.

While in the water, just swimming around, somehow I got seasick. I know, WTF?! Galahad & Mr. Blankenship went off snorkeling as I was lying back in the boat trying to settle my stomach. Galahad was having a marvelous time, as was Mr. Blankenship, since he had a buddy to snorkel with. He was disappointed that I had not brought a snorkel nor had I mentioned that tidbit before we left his house. I was actually perfectly content to hang out by the boat, swim around, and laze around on the boat. He had a large Bimini top, so there was plenty of shade for me. I tried eating a bite of my sandwich to settle my tummy. Then, I decided that maybe I'd better not eat too much. Me, not eat! You can tell I didn't feel good, aye? It was a beautiful day, and I actually enjoyed myself when my stomach settled down a bit. Can you imagine if we had taken the Dry Tortugas trip?! Two hours each way on a high speed boat. I might have been okay because I don't always get seasick. But what if I hadn't been?

Our next stop was to an underwater shipwreck. They both had fun snorkeling there. Galahad tried his hand with the spear gun. However, there were so many rules of which fish he could spear & which he couldn't that he never found one he could. This fish had to be at least 26 inches, that one at least 12 inches -- too confusing. Plus, they all look so similar. He did see a small jewfish, which as I understand it, is still fairly huge.

Next stop, picnicking at a uninhabited island. I was so happy to be walking on land again. I almost got my toes snapped at by a crab that was within a few inches of where I was walking barefoot in the shallows. Sitting on that island, enjoying lunch, & listening to the gentle slap of the waves on the shore, I felt like we were in a Corona commercial.

One final stop of the day before our long drive back up to the mainland. We went to another shipwreck that was used as target practice by the Navy many years ago. Lots of cormorants hang out atop it now and nest there. Galahad & Mr. Blankenship circled a few times trying one last time to catch some dinner. No sushi for us tonight. [Look at these links I found while looking up cormorants.]

Back to dry land for a landlubber like me. He punched it (do they say that about boats?) on the way back. I was bouncing all over the place -- I thought I might bounce out. It sure was fun and what a lovely breeze. All the personal watercraft kept following us & jumping our wake.

We stayed & chatted for a while with Mrs. Blankenship. I hadn't seen her in a year.

Thursday, June 7, 2001

Thursday, June 7, 2001

Yesterday, we tried to make plans to take a boat out to the Dry Tortugas. Both boats were sold out, which may have actually been quite fortuitous for me. More on that later...

We thought we would sleep in seeing as how we had nowhere to be, but the killer chickens took care of that plan. There are hundreds of wild chickens roaming the island & cock-a-doodle-dooing at 5:30 or 6am. We had both just heard last week what a problem they were, and now we literally heard firsthand. Sucked to be us just then.

We spent the whole ENTIRE day lying around by the pool until it was dinner time. Galahad drank a never-ending supply of margaritas from their Tiki bar, while I ordered another sandwich every time I got hungry. Mmmmmm. Fortunately for my sensitive cancer-prone skin, there was always plenty of shade and a nice cool breeze to keep us copacetic. We just read our books & relaxed until they closed the Tiki bar. Then, on to the shower and dinner again. Luckily for us, we managed to find another sushi restaurant again, Origami. We actually went to an Italian restaurant on the recommendation of one of our resort-neighbors. However, once we saw the sushi restaurant next door, well there was really no decision left to be made. The fish is so fresh & absolutely delicious.

Wednesday, June 6, 2001

Wednesday, June 6, 2001

Not a very comfortable bed, and the sheets were scratchy. Now Galahad can see firsthand what I go through when I travel for business. Except then it's worse, because I'm missing him, lying in an uncomfortable bed with scratchy sheets.

Well, off to Key West...

We stopped for lunch at some little place named Boondock's. I love all of these little casual places to eat.

Checked into the Banyan Resort. We love that place!

We walked over to Mallory Square to watch the sunset & some of the local artists & freaks. Then, off for a LONG walk to Kyushu, a sushi restaurant -- what else? That was fabulous & worth the very long walk. We happened by a police officer while we searching for & hiking to this place. So me being a woman, I asked for directions. He gave us directions (since of course he knew where it was - the island is only 2 x 3 miles). And then, I asked if it was safe to continue walking that way since we had just passed through a tropical mini-crack town. He had the f&*ing gall to be offended. Like Key West never has anything bad happen there. That's where so many of the drugs come in. What a dillweed.

Tuesday, June 5, 2001

Tuesday, June 5, 2001

Time to drive down to the keys...

We're staying at the Cheeca Lodge in Upper Matecumbe Key. On the way down, we took Card Sound road & ate lunch at a quaint place named Alabama Jack's. It was so beautiful & relaxing. The laughing gulls entertained us while we ate.

After we checked in to our room, we drove back a few miles to tour a wild bird sanctuary at mile marker 94. We saw all kinds of birds, but definitely a plethora of egrets, herons & pelicans. Many had permanent wing injuries -- poor things. Somehow, we didn't plan well and left our mosquito repellant at the room when we checked in. So, we were bitten unmercifully. Poor Galahad is allergic to them, and his bites swelled into giant welts.

Well, I certainly feel like a Peeping Peggy, but I found someone else's photos on the web with scenes from the keys. If you want to peep also and have a look at some of the things I saw & some I didn't but that they saw, click here. Found some more and these are better. I guess I have no pressure now to get ours developed & up on the web.

Note to self: Never leave photos up that others should not see.

We went to Lorelei's for dinner & sunset. The food was grand, the ambiance was perfect, and the company was exquisite.

Monday, June 4, 2001

Monday, June 4, 2001

Hey, did you know it's National Headache Awareness Week? Think of me whilst you observeth it. Carry some extra aspirin around just in case you run into anyone who is in need of it.

Wow, I just saw green parrots in my backyard. Very cool.

OMG, I just stumbled across such a funny site. Well, maybe funny isn't the proper word. More like f&%^ing ridiculously funny! Check it out.

Sunday, June 3, 2001

Sunday, June 3, 2001

What a great day we had yesterday! Our first day of vacation --- absolutely lovely!

We went walking through a nearby arboretum in the rain. It was so peaceful.

Then, I tried to find a white bikini top, which turned out to be nearly impossible. I'm getting a little bit pissy about this female swimsuit thing. I bought some board shorts and wanted a bikini top to match. What a f*$@ing arduous task! I'm tired of worrying about every single inch of my body. Men have it much easier in this matter. They don't care. Well, I'm almost at that spot of not caring. If I truly didn't care, I wouldn't be looking for a white bikini top. Rather, I would have bought the white jog bra that I saw yesterday, but didn't look very flattering on me. You know, that smooshing effect. So, here I am, trying not to care too much --- wearing shorts instead of strings covering strategic spots like I used to. Much more comfortable now. But, I'm probably still going to try the string thing on top. My niece suggested a white tank top, but then I have that transparency-when-wet factor to worry about. I will be out in public and maybe don't want to be that brazen anymore. Hopefully, a bikini top will have a liner sewn inside.

I'm going to have a great vacation if that's the least of my worries, huh? Now, if I can keep my migraines at bay for a while...

Friday, June 1, 2001

Friday, June 1, 2001

Finishing up the last few things before my vacation! Yippee! My new pager arrived today. I don't even feel like messing with it. I think I'll wait until I need it next week. Also, I got my new Sprint phone hooked up. What an onerous task that was.

Damn, my migraine is back!!!!!!