The Da Vinci Code

Okay, so I got the Da Vinci Code from a friend and haven't started reading it yet. However, I have never heard of so many people reading the same book at the same time; EVERYONE is reading this book! Even my friend who just flew back after the holidays said that practically everyone on the shuttle was reading it.

At the moment I am confused why it is so popular, I guess after I've ready it I may know why...stay tuned!

Oh, I watched Pirates of the Caribbean yesterday.
Johnny Depp...woof!

Life is Good

The velociraptors, Butch and Ella are still at large eating, pooping and scratching.
The bro is in Italy.
All holiday shopping is done.
Quite a few of the parcels by the tree have my name on them.
I have a couple of paying contracts for December.
The new mattress arrived today.
We're having the New Years party this year.
Not Bad!

I'm still 6lbs from my goal, at I least I know what my new years resolution will be :-)

Differences

My bother is going to Italy for the holidays. He will be skiing in the Alps, drinking Glühwein and enjoying a European winter season. In January he goes to Antigua for a two week sailing vacation to visit a friend who has a yacht there. All he needs is the flight to his destination. In March there is the annual two week ski vacation with his friends.

If you do a search on productivity by country there is not much difference between Europe and the US considering Europeans have at least twice as much vacation time. I guess I can't complain, after being laid off and furloughed this year, I will have had enough vacation time for a couple of European work years. I just wish I had the $ to do something fun :-(

Kittens

We have two new tabby kittens, my husband calls them velociraptors. They are about 4 months old and are working their way around the house chewing and scratching anything in their path.

...only a couple of years before they calm down!

Where has the time gone?

It's December already!
I have been furloughed for the month of December. I guess when you hire a contractor you can drop them or pick them up when you want to. Seemingly I will be called back in January 2004. I don't think I believe that will happen; if they didn't have money to pay me in December, what makes them think they can in January.

Tiggy Died Today

My cat died today, he was 16 years old.
I will miss him.

Gloomy

Took my cat to the vets yesterday. He has renal failure and probably won't last the year. This will make 2003 the loss and death year. I hope 2004 is healthier.

7 Years

Friday will be 7 years since my mother died. Tomorrow would have been her birthday. With the death of a friend, friend's parents, in-laws and kids recently, I can't help but grieve more this year. I would have thought that by now I would have had the strength to do The Race for the Cure - I don't. I'm not strong like people I know, who can do things in a lost one's name, and be brave through it all. I try so hard, but I know the minute I saw all the banners, survivors and people running in memory I would crumble into a weeping heap.

So, this year I will do what I have done in past years since my mothers death. I will not speak of my loss, I will not tell workmates. I will not surround myself with people who are involved in the disease that killed my mother. I will think of her in my own time. I will do it my way.

Sometimes it's hard to figure out why things happen. My friend just lost her son in a car crash on Thursday. He was a passenger and in the wrong place at the wrong time. I met him one Thanksgiving, he was a very nice person. His funeral was today.

I got a full-time job!
I feel quite bad, no really! I know people who have been unemployed for months and some for over a year. And when they got a job they had to take one that they were over qualified for and for a lower salary. I got the perfect job, within 3 months of looking, I'll be managing perfect projects, good drive to work and a nice hourly rate thank-you-very-much!
I start the 22nd.

So, I celebrated 14 years in the states. I almost forgot the date. It's amazing to think of all the things that have happened...and all the things that are still the same; I still have the same cat I came over with and I'm still 6lbs from my goal :-)

Wow, Tempist Fugit!
Well not too much has happened since my last entry.
Still 6lbs from my goal - yeah I know "broken record".
I'm still doing some contract for for Moxie, and I have received a couple of unemployment checks, so between the two I am managing to pay bills. I have been applying for jobs from the paper, via friends and online. It's a tough market out there, but there are a few possibilities on the horizon.
I had a burst of activity with stained glass and started making terrariums. They are pretty cool, if I say so myself. I really think I need a website. There is also a woman who wants to sell some of my stuff on her website, so one day I may actually sell something. That would be nice, even if I just cover my costs it would be an achievement.

Still 6lbs from my goal, but I feel a sense of achievement as I haven't put on any weight since I was laid off at the end of June.
I have also not received any unemployment checks, nor have I received any checks from the small amount of freelance work I have done. I hoped that between the two I would have enough to pay my part of the mortgage. There are two weeks to go, I hope I get something.

I am trying to make some stained glass crafts to sell over the holidays. It's quite disheartening as it takes me about a week (probably 8 hours during the evenings) to make 4 candle holders that I could probably sell for $20 a pop; not a very lucrative business as I will have to pay to display the crafts somewhere and there is no guarantee that anyone will buy my wonderful creations.

My New Year resolution was to lose 8 lbs by my birthday or September. Well, my birthday has long gone, so the race is on to do it by September. This week I am 6 lbs from my goal...which is better than 10 lbs. It's more difficult now that I am at home most of the time and only a short walk from the kitchen fridge. I really have to make an effort, I've been bouncing between 6 and 10 lbs from my goal all year!

Life without a real job continues to be interesting and stressful. I have a a few small contracts which is good as I just found out I am not entitled to any unemployment insurance for 3 weeks because I got 11 vacation days when the company folded. I have been doing about 10 billable hours a week...which ends up taking up 30 hours of my time. I will have to be much more efficient and not go "over and above the call of duty" when I'm only being paid for adequate!

I found out today that a friend I knew in high school died. She had a brain tumor.
I knew that she was ill, but you always feel you have to think positive. This may be an aggressive tumor, but Aileen had the strength and willpower to fight it; if anyone was going to kick this Aileen was. I thought of her on July 4th, her birthday, never thinking that she she was feeling bad. I thought of high school when we were walking from one building to another; it had been snowing and someone was throwing snowballs at us. One of the science teachers took a photo of us hiding from the missiles behind an umbrella. I have that photo somewhere, it's a large black and white. I thought of the youth fellowship we used to go to and the time she got contacts and cut her hair. I remember Alan Dixon doing a double-take when he saw her. I remember meeting her at the students union; what a wild woman, full of life. In a time when I had so many insecurities, she looked like she had it all worked out. She was in control and loving it.
She died yesterday and left two children and a husband.

Hmmm

My first week of unemployment was rather busy. A lot of time was spent researching 1099 employment; I am really going for it. The way I see it, the chances of getting a job in my state are pretty minimal, so I might as well get myself ready for the long haul; some small contracts here and there could (or "should") keep me going better than unemployment. I have already invoiced Moxie for three small project management projects, not enough to make a difference to unemployment, but I have to start somewhere.

Still 8lbs to my goal :-)

Today is the last day of work. I've known this for 2 weeks and still haven't claimed unemployment.
We all have our final checks and are cleaning up final projects, I got my PTO time but it was only 11 days, I had miscalculated my anniversary date - I'm just a few days short - typical!
I think we would be sad if we weren't so busy. I have been burning CDs all day and archiving past and present projects that hopefully, I can work on as a freelance contractor.

Things I won't miss:

the drive to work and home

my dying keyboard

Things I will miss:

the people

Unemployed

So, now I'm unemployed and still 6lbs from my goal. What a difference a few days makes.

On Monday we were all told that the company I work for would cease doing business after June 30th. They are trying to close shop without claiming bankruptcy. So, after watching many of my friends get laid off, here I am in the same boat.

Work is weird at the moment, the company has been run into the ground. We're not even sure if we will get our last pay check and everybody is pretty sure there is no money for PTO - that's a shame 'cause I have 20 PTO days. I am also working on projects that won't finish before the end of the month, and the clients don't have a clue. We have no idea what will happen to their projects or the up-front money they've paid. It's just a mess. Not sure if I should bother showing up next week...

Oh well, I'm thinking positive, they say that when one door closes there is another door to open, I just have to find that damn door! :-)

Triskaidekaphobia

It's Friday the 13th and even with a little triskaidekaphobia, I'm quite positive. Well, I'm still employed, and I'm 6lbs from my goal :-) We'll just ignore the fat percentages, one mustn't be too hard on one's self!

The rumors at work are now leaning more to bankruptcy for the company. I still think if we could sign a few of the deals in the sales pipeline we'd be able to limp along a little longer. I'd even go without pay for a month if it meant that it would save the company for another 6 months; job prospects are dire and unemployment won't last long.

I'm really getting into my stained glass. I love the design side and the feeling of accomplishment when it is complete and looks good. If only I could make a living selling my glass...

The company I work for is having cash-flow problems. There is work, but no money, Rumors are flying at work. Will we get laid off, will we be furloughed, will we get hired back as contractors??? The shit will hit the fan pretty soon as the top guys have met behind closed doors all week. All factors indicate that we are probably at the bottom of this economic slump, so it will be sad if the little company I work for just couldn't hang on long enough.

My friend gets married this weekend. We met in '98 not long after her divorce, and worked together on a huge online training project for a client in Texas. She was so anti-marriage and could only partially agree with it if kids were involved. A couple of years later when we were both working for different companies she called to see if I knew of any open positions. My boyfriend at the time (now husband) had a friend he'd known for almost 10 years who was president of a big technical training company. They were looking for someone to manage/program/market their website. Bingo, my friend was in. She went for a couple of bike rides with the president, it looked as if they may date, but nothing came of it. Two years later the company was sold and the president took his share and decided to go on to other ventures. They started seeing each other, the relationship became quite intense, within a few months they were engaged. Marriage -phooey! This weekend the friends we introduced, who had such a bad taste in their mouths about matrimony, will tie the knot. She'll change her name, and they'll ride off into the sunset legally bound, again!

Paprika flavored Pringles are exclusive to Europe, and are the best flavor of Pringles on earth! Today I went searching for websites that cater to Europeans in the US. Unfortunately I could not find a site that sold paprika flavored Pringles, loads of Walkers flavors that most Brits seem to miss. Not me, give me paprika flavored Pringles goddamit! So, I went to the P&G website and filled out their feedback form. I feel a little better for voicing my opinion, but I don't think it will do much good; there won't be paprika Pringles in the grocery store next time I look.

The buffalo grass is looking better, and yes, we have runners; the plugs have cute little green strands that are spreading out. If I'm lucky the area will look like a real grass lawn in a couple of months, or so. Only my grass will need less water and just need cutting two of three times a year.

Well, my birthday came and went; what a weekend. I never did lose the 8lbs I needed to be the same weight as I was in 89. May be over the summer that can happen. My weekend can be described in wine.
We drank a wonderful Chateauneuf du Pape on Friday; my favorite. On Saturday I was banished while the house was done up in black, purple and grey balloons, black table cloths and napkins. While out of the house I had a couple of glasses of pinot noir. On returning home to the festivities I switched to Cabernet Sauvignon, I lost count of the glasses, but survived the night. Sunday was an alcohol free day, partly because I wanted to stay awake; we had tickets for Les Miserables. So, I think my entry into another decade was decadent enough.

I was always a bad speller, but after getting a higher degree, I felt I had proved myself intelligence-wise and so didn't worry too much. Then I moved to the US from the UK. Now I'm confused with words I thought I knew how to spell. Does it have an "s" or a z", double "l" or single... Recently I decided to sign-up for Wordsmith's A Word A Day in an attempt to, not only improve my spelling, but also expand my vocabulary. Generally the e-mails are informative and helpful, and there's always a sense of satisfaction when it is a word I know "Ha, people don't know THAT word, I must have such a good word-range". Then, there are words I didn't know and cannot imagine in my wildest dreams why I would ever want to use them. Take for example today's word, retromingent (re-tro-MIN-jent), an adjective meaning, urinating backwards (like a raccoon or camel). I can't really imagine using such a word except in an insult "You retromingent, you!"

It's been just over 2 weeks since I planted buffalo grass plugs; some are looking great, others are a little crispy. Conditions have been good and I have been lucky with the weather, mostly 60's and 40's overnight, so hopefully the crispy ones are normal We have had some rain too, in fact we had 7 inches of snow at the weekend that is equivalent to 1 inch of water. I looked for runners yesterday; seemingly when the grass starts to take hold it sends out runners. Rest assured I will post a "runner sighting" immediately I see anything remotely green and growing.

My plan was to get back to the weight I was in September 1989 by my next birthday. Alas, I'm only a few days away from D-day, or should I say B-day, and I am still 8 lbs away from my goal. I believe 8 lbs was what I wanted to lose when I made my New Years resolution five-months-ago! The upside is I haven't gained anything in 5 months! So, in the last few days before B-day I will be starving myself in an effort to get down to a weight that I thought was too fat 14 years ago! It's amazing how perception changes over the decades.

Just noticed an interesting article called Gagging the bloggers. It is about the fact that despotic governments are now taking notice of bloggers (and what they are saying), as blogs are an outlet for many without fear of censorship. However some individuals in China and Iran have been arrested for posting their comments online; no freedom of speech there! Of course this type of news is to be expected, but sometimes I'm surprised when I hear stuff like this. I have all the facts, but don't always put all the pieces together, or forget that censorship exists in many part of the world.

Happy Cinco De Mayo!.

Ah, May Day and the start of watering season in my part of the world. I planted buffalo grass last Friday, I used plugs from a super way-cool place called High Country Gardens. The grass is genetically engineered to be greener than natural buffalo grass. It already looks greener; I just hope that it takes root before the hot days of summer arrive. Then I can smugly look at my happy green grass (that, BTW, only needs watering every 2 weeks), while everyone else’s bluegrass is looking dried and crispy. I’m getting very environmentally conscious in my old age.

The Vespa desire is dwindling, as the company I work for may not move downtown. That will be a big bummer, but I guess I’ll live with it and the $4,000 I’ll save from not buying a scooter. My car will be paid off this month too. What will I do with all the extra money? Ha!

Homesick
There are times when I feel homesick for Scotland, there are times I feel homesick for my family and there are times I feel homesick for my chosen career; the biosciences. I left research and all things academic in 1995 partly due to an ignorant boss and my own stubbornness. I had become so sickened and disillusioned with research. I tried to do the right thing, but was accused of not putting my heart into my work. I was essentially asked to leave because I was “playing” too much on the computer. A few years later I found out the lab had adopted a similar route of analysis similar to what I had tried to do. Now, 8 years later I could probably get a peon position in a very obscure, undistinguished lab, but not much else. I always hoped that working in multimedia I would someday have the opportunity to work on a Web, CD ROM or video project where my knowledge of the biological sciences would help. So far that hasn't happened. But I haven't given up completely, I still hold a modicum of hope that one day I can merge my past life and current life into something in the future. In the meantime, I periodically ready papers and articles about my chosen career.

The BBC News website has some interesting articles about the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA.
My aunt, the DNA pioneer an excellent article about Dr. Rosalind Franklin, who should have got the Nobel prize in 1953. And an interesting article praising the simplicity, symmetry and serendipity of DNA structure. DNA: A design icon

Today the US terror alert was downgraded to yellow. Just because Saddam has been run out of Iraq and the US and UN are starting to bring democracy to that part of the world I don't feel there is less of a chance of terrorism. What we see on US TV, Web and paper is what the US news wants us to see. I am sure there are still a lot of Iraqi's that are not happy about what has been done. There must be people loyal to Saddam's fascist regime who are planning retaliation on the US, they are just waiting for us to relax so they can catch us off guard. I disagree with the terror alert downgrade.

The latest e-mail joke-virus going around:

"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy,the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the US of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', Dick, and Colon (Colin)"

We e-filed our taxes last night. Every year I say, "that's it, no more procrastinating" and every year we leave it to the last minute. Well, I really mean it this time, "no more! not gonna happen, I will file in Feb next year" really, I will.

Test-rode a Vespa this weekend. The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, temps just below 80, the trees are just starting to bud and give a green leaf haze. It was a perfect day for a scooter ride. I think after looking at the Honda Metropolitan, the Yamaha Vino and the selection on eBay, I have come full-circle back to the Vespa. Now I definitely want one! I want the ET2 in alabaster with matching helmet and top case. The fact that the Vespa place even let us ride one is a big plus; both Honda and Yamaha don't allow test-drives!

Ah, I can see myself now...riding to work on my Vespa, white silk head-scarf flowing in the breeze, red lipstick and looking like a scene from an Elvis movie.

It's the hubby's birthday today. The young boy is two years younger than me... ah, younger men!

I'm at work wondering if it is as nice as it looks outside my office window. It is. There's clear skies, slight breezes, and highs in the 70s. I checked to see if it will be this nice tomorrow, it will. We'll have clear skies, slight breezes, and highs in the 70s. And if you are wondering if "clear skies, slight breezes, and highs in the 70s" will describe the weekend, it should.

I generally don't get home sick, but today on the BBC website I saw some news about Only Fools and Horses a TV show I used to watch. Now wouldn't you think that in these times of global communication through Internet and satellites that someone in the US would be able to buy DVDs of TV shows from anywhere in the world? Wrong! I haven't totally given up my search, but I'm pretty pessimistic about finding anything. What is the real with regional encoding? There should be a better way to reduce copying and still allow a true global marketplace for DVD sales.

Looked at Vespas at the weekend :-). I want a 50cc one that I can park anywhere, but I'm not sure about the 2 stroke oil burning engine in the ET2. After sleeping on the idea I have started looking at Honda's Metropolitan, it's a 4 stroke engine and is a leeetle bit cheaper than the Vespa, and has storage space for a helmet.

I got caught by an April Fool's joke yesterday. I learned a valuable lesson too; no matter how fast you need to leave work, never forget to either shut down or lock your computer. Yesterday I was greeted by sound bites of Barry Manilow singing "Oh Mandy" whenever I opened an application or received an e-mail; I hate Barry Manilow. It was funny at first and then his voice started to grate a little. When I eventually went to reset my sound set-up I found the culprit. Note: if you are going to do this sort of joke to a workmate, don't link the files from your own computer :-)
Other than that I survived April 1 okay!
I bought some Shimano Groovasaurus SH-SD60 sandals at the weekend - they arrive tomorrow....I can't wait!

The building at work is fine, it is just settling (according to the engineers), so we were all back in the building the next day doing our office space thing!

I spent my day off yesterday manipulation photographs of my cat. I then set up a store on Cafe Press to sell merchandise with images of my cat on them. The store is called Tiggy The Tabby Cat. I don't expect anything to come of it, but it was fun setting up a store - even if I am the only person that will buy anything from it!

So my Irish friend Kevin is 40! He had a party in a local Irish bar at the weekend. It was a fun, lots of insulting cards, old fart whoopee cushions and viagra!

Then yesterday we were all evacuated from the building I work at. Seemingly the weight of 3 feet of snow on the roof is causing cracks in the building. The local fire department came round and had a look before they evacuated us. We're all working from home until we get information back from the structural engineers. I'm not sure I like telecommuting. It's nice to have the extra drive time, but I do miss human interaction. Hopefully our building will be fine and we can all go back to our "office space" routine.

Three days and the snow has finally stopped. Today we dug ourselves out and took the car for a drive to the post office. I guess I'm going to work tomorrow as most of the main streets are now clear. The worry now is about the thaw and where all the snow melt will go...hopefully a lot of it makes it's way into the reservoirs!
Here are some photos of the blizzard of '03 (that it is now being called) taken my me and the hubby.

I had a few days off work, St Patrick's day came and went, we got 4 feet of snow and the US started bombing Baghdad. I don't think so much has happened between blog entries. Today was a snow day. After being only one of 5 people who made it into work yesterday, and a rather hairy drive home, I had decided that if we got any more snow I was staying put. We got another couple of feet overnight so I was well and truly snowed in. The piles of snow from shoveling sidewalks and driveways is quite spectacular, and this is the most snow I have ever experienced. I'm taking a wait-and-see approach to going to work tomorrow. If the alley opens up a bit more and the side street snow melts I may chance it, if not I'm quite content to wait for the city snow ploughs...which may not arrive until Friday!

I was surfing a few weeks ago and found the website of one of the programmers I used to work with at RMI. I just loved her Feb 7th, 2003 entry in her blog and just had to incorporate it into my blog. Currently we are oscillating between yellow and orange until “W” pulls the lever, then we really will need the moist towelettes.

Today I saw one of those things you think you'll never see in real life. Sure I get my fair share of e-mail attachments showing silly things, but I never think they are real; must be someone's touch up in Photoshop. Well, not today!

While driving to work I noticed a driver get out of his car at a stop sign and run back and say something to the driver of the car behind (a male driver I might add). When the car got to the stop sign it turned off the road...and there it was, the remains of a gas pump. The silly guy had driven away from the gas station with the pump nozzle and about 10 feet of hose still injected into the side of his car. As I sat in my car looking at the incredulous sight, the driver got out of his car and walked round as if to check on a tire or something, then nonchalantly removed the offending hose, closed his gas cap, got back in his car and drove off.

Ahem, I'll have no more jokes about women drivers!

Ah age, something we just cannot stop and something that is very close to me at the moment. So, when I find something that stands up for older women I like to promote it. What is not good is that this wonderful article listing the merits of older women is listed in a joke archive!!!
It's not funny, it's true!!!!!!
...well it better be, I'm dangerously close to joining the club.

There is no way plastic wrap and duct tape will stop chemicals and biological particles entering my house. After I have covered all the windows and doors it will come in through the furnace and drier outlet. I love the duct tape jokes on Slate. They made me realize that the true use for the stuff is probably to joke about it and lift our spirits.
Now I want to know what we are supposed to do with moist towelettes ?

So, I average between 3 and 4 miles a day just doing my usual work. If I walk to the post office and to the store for milk I can do over 5 miles - that's a decent goal for the summer. Recently the weather has been very cold, so I haven't been doing much walking; I'm waiting for the temperatures to go above freezing. Call me a wuss, I just don't like walking in the cold!

I bought a couple of pedometers off the Internet earlier in the week and they arrived yesterday. They are rather cool as they measure steps, distance traveled and calories burned. My mother was a nurse and always claimed that nurses walked an average of 5 miles a day. Since I have a desk job I wondered, in comparison, how far I walk a day. I have been awake for an hour and have done 641 steps = 0.25 of a mile. I think I probably do a little more than most as I prefer to walk to someone's desk rather than call them. Also, around 3pm I usually fidget and have to move to get the blood flowing to my brain!
My goal is to walk 5 miles a day.

Yesterday, the company I work for had the afternoon off to go to the movies. The first plan was to see About Schmidt, which I was vaguely interested in seeing. Then, someone complained and the decision was made that we were going to see Shanghai Knights, a film that I was not even remotely interested in. Finally, enough people complained and the group was split between Shanghai Knights and Daredevil a movie I could tolerate. I'm not really in to J.Lo's boyfriend and the violence was quite shocking -- I must be getting old.

Whooph! What a weekend.

On Saturday I met a group of people I used to work with. It was a "sign-of the times" meeting. We all used to work for an ISP that is now no longer with us. Even when we worked there we knew management didn't #1. understand the technology and #2. didn't know how to run a business if their life depended on it. It was the usual thing, all the good people got fired and the so-called experts brought in to save the company didn't understand the business well enough to know who the customers were and how to best serve them. Our group was part of hosting, Web development and maintenance and we were all casualties of the dot.com bust. Many of the group were still unemployed and of those with jobs most were in a totally different field (retail, teaching or back in school). People with good jobs had moved out of state. It made me very thankful that I am in roughly the same multimedia position.

Another Hallmark day.

I think this day should become
Heart Health day where you wish your loved ones good health and learn CPR. Money would be spent on fighting heart disease and stroke research. You could still go out for a romantic dinner, but the restaurants would have heart-healthy meals and people would exercise instead of eating chocolate.

May be I'll just do that anyway

I'm reading a book by Sylvia Browne about contacting your spiritual guide. The book also has a spirit guide meditation CD which I haven't tried yet. I am almost half way through the book and I would love to hear or feel something. Sometimes I think I see something out of the corner of my eye, but when I look again there is nothing there. I am up to the point in the book where she talks about the name of your spirit guide -- I think mine is called James, but I'm not sure. My husband doesn't believe in what I'm reading, but he's being very open-minded and hasn't teased me yet.

So much for the calming Ram, I had a terrible shock last night, I couldn't find the key to my safety deposit box. I put all my important documents like passport, SS card and green card in there. I spent most of the evening looking in my secret hiding places for the key. I have a couple of tins just full of keys, old padlocks, friends spare house keys, old bike lock keys, hotel keys and bits of metal and screws that I have no idea what they're for. I probably have the keys to every car I have ever owned, plus some rentals (ops!). After a couple of hours of looking I wondered how I would get the secure and fireproof thing opened; may be a sawsall or ask a friend with a gun to shoot off the lock. Turns out the husband had a spare - I'm not a total ditz! Okay I'm a half ditz 'cause I lost my very important key in the first place, but I was intelligent enough to give him a spare for safe keeping! So, after panicking all evening, drinking half a bottle of Cotes du Rhone and wading through a squillion bits of metal I got my green card -- it expires this year!!!

So, the burning question is....to renew, or get citizenship???

Ah, the year of the Ram, I can almost feel the calming effects already. The Ram is very compatible with a Rabbit like myself

We got snow again last night, I had to use 4-wheel drive to get into work today - yeehaa! I love my Pathfinder.
It's rediculously cold too, minus 11 degrees C is going to be the day's high temperature. I just don't understand the manics who I saw cycling to work this morning; there's fanatics and then there's idiots.

Still 6 lbs to go until I reach the weight I was when I first came to the states! I'm trying very hard, really.
Tomorrow is my Friday off - whoohoo, I am ready for it as this week has been pretty hectic at work (this is always a good thing). I will finish off my week with a night out pinting with my Irish friend Kevin (this is another good thing).
On Friday I will think about paint colors for my study. The room is pretty small so it shouldn't take too long to paint. I'm not sure if I should do a fung shui color (like sage green for prosperity) or a girlie purple. Either way it will get me to tidy up the place!

So tomorrow is Burn's Night -- a big night in Scotland. But there will be no haggis and whisky for me; we're going out for sushi and sake! When I was a graduate student in Aberdeen I used to love Burn's Night, everyone would dress up (the men in kilts), listen to Burn's poetry and drink whisky. Ah, there are some times when I feel very homesick and wish Scotland was only a 2 hour flight way. Unless I live in the middle of the Atlantic, that's not going to happen, so I'd better just deal with it!

Happy Burn's Night!

I was still feeling guilty from eating so much fondue at the weekend until we went and got a home cholesterol test. The last time I had my cholesterol tested it was 230 - a little worrying, but my good cholesterol was high too, so the LDL:HDL ration put me below risk for heart disease. Anyway, yesterday my reading was 188.


A friend asked me if I would advise a co-worker on where to travel in Scotland. It is more difficult than I thought, since I do feel a little like Chilly Willy sometimes. Most of my memories are of being cold, damp and sun starved. I guess when you travel to a place the culture and countryside overshadow the climate. I will do my best and hopefully my suggestions will help an American traveling in Scotland!

Another Friday off as part of the 15% salary cut at work. Today I plan to clean the house, dye my roots (I will not grow old) and think about plans for tomorrow. We are having friends round for fondue! I love fondue, what could be better than cheese and alcohol! Actually a guilt-free fondue could be better, but until they find away to make no-fat, no-cholesterol cheese I'm stuck with a little bit of guilt. Next week I will do extra exercise to burn off all the fat calories, honest! Anyway, we're also having fruit salad and I'm sure that cancels out half the bad calories.

I now only need to lose 6lbs to be the same weight I was when I came to the States
Still no snow, it's getting very brown here and not looking as if the grass will survive. There has to be some alternatives to green grass, may be xeroscape plants or thyme or something.
I'm going for sushi at lunch, so today will be a good day!

Yesterday would have been my Fathers birthday, he died 16 years ago, so it's difficult to imagine what he would look like now; a few more wrinkles, a little less hair. Since he died the same day as Fred Astaire I sometimes wonder if he's tap dancing up there with him.

I now need to lose 8lbs to be the same weight I was when I came to the States - I'm not too worried, I just need to stop eating holiday food. Luckily we have eaten most of the cakes and chocolate in the house and I am motivated to not buy anymore! I also found this website that might help, unfortunately it will take some motovating to get my spouse interested.
Today, I'm ready for early spring cleaning, though it's strange 'cause I don't feel we have really had a winter yet. May be I'll just paint my study instead.

Happy New Year!
Had dinner with the Clancy's, went to see the fireworks downtown and ended up at a friends house for a New Year/Wisconsin themed party.

I haven't really thought about any New Year's resolutions...I need to lose 6lbs to be the same weight I was when I moved to the States in 1989 (I'm pretty confident I can do that one) and I need to be more positive this year. In 2002 I was down a lot, I need to shake off that attitude and think positive (hopefully I can do that!).