In Fargo anyway---
I was talking with my mom today, since she was curious how much snow we ended up getting out here. It's awesome to see so much white (official tally is 17 inches, by the way), and I forgot that it wasn't uncommon to not have snow by Christmas in Fargo. Maybe about half the time there is snow on the ground for Santa. Which makes SBS that much cooler because there is SO MUCH SNOW HERE!
Had a colleague majorly piss me off today. No one in my office, thankfully, but man, was I ready to rip this guy's head off. Total ass. It's one thing to not have any professional courtesy, total other to not just have some human courtesy. Big sigh. His Christmas bonus must have blew. But anyway....
Had the annual Christmas dinner with the other docs and spouses in the office yesterday. Had a blast, as always. Mark wore a sweater with a jacket over it. He looked hot.
His parents and sister get here tomorrow, and Scott is coming in on Saturday. I am on call all weekend, and am really hoping for the best. I'd love to get out on the mountain a bit with all these guys here. Should be a great Christmas, and the amount of presents we have under our tree is just ridiculous. And we're doing lobsters on Christmas Eve. Awesome!
Oh, what else. Mark is still sick, but on the upswing. I'm feeling pretty good, other than that baby fever that doesn't seem to go away. Mark is highly entertained right now watching Benny Hill. Dare to dream, ladies.
OK, I have to go do some ironing in preparation for family coming in tomorrow. That's how exciting my life is--I'm blogging about ironing. Jealous?
So we got a lot done this weekend. Kind of. And we got some more snow, which is welcome considering we have our first winter guests on the way.
This past Thursday was an office party for the hospital staff (and spouses), so D and I got to try out a restaurant in town we hadn't been to yet. Friday was pretty tame, as I recall. We went out for dinner after D got home from work and won a game of trivia at the bar, then came home to watch BSG and Numbers. But on Saturday the weekend really began.
Well, at about noon, once Dana got moving (she values her sleep) the weekend began, anyway. Actually, we shoehorned a whole weekend into Saturday. I guess I forgot to add that on Friday I finished building a tire rack for the garage (since we got the snow tires on, we've had 8 others kind of just sitting around the garage taking up a ton of space. No more!).
But I ramble. Back to Saturday..
I put lights on the tree but realized we were short about 100 (it's a big tree, you recall), and we needed some ornaments and garland anyway, so we headed to Ace to round out our decoration supplies. But as luck would have it, they were all out of white lights. So we grabbed the garland and some ornaments (and gift tags and other random stuff) and then headed to lunch. After lunch, we FINISHED ALL OUR HOLIDAY SHOPPING, but that took a while, so we got home, rested for all of 15 minutes, and got ready for D's office party. I'll let her get in to those details later, but we all had a blast (and my sweater was a hit, of course). Unfortunately, D left her purse at the ranch where we went for their party, so we had no keys (DEFINITELY a GOOD THING) and got a ride home. I guess I should have explained that we met at one of the nurse's houses and were picked up by a shuttle from there, and after the end of the night the shuttle returned us to the nurse's house.
Obviously I thought this post through before beginning writing. I realize I'm all over the place. I'm still recovering from Saturday night. It was a ROUGH DAY Sunday. I mean ROUGH. Add to that we had to drive 45 minutes back to the ranch to get D's purse.. Ouch.
So we pretty much sat around all day yesterday (after our drive in the snow). Watched the Bears win (finally), watched Denver win (yay), and saw that the Giants had a rough time of things. Wow, those Giants are a really good team, huh BJ?
So last night we finished (OK, finished the hard stuff) trimming the tree - all that's left are the ornaments. But that will probably take all of 15 minutes, considering (A) we don't have many ornaments and (B) there aren't that many big branches.
I'll get pictures up eventually, but they'll probably just wait until my family gets here on Friday (and Saturday).
Oh, and I have a sore throat, so hopefully I can fully recover before people start showing up. It would really suck to be sick while on vacation...
One more thing (I just keep going, don't I?) - I talked to my dad on Saturday and he let me know he's sending a case of wine to us. After Dana and I "finished" our shopping on Saturday, we made one last stop at the liquor store and dropped a little under $300. So, Scott - we have more wine (another case) and more scotch (bringing the total to 3 bottles of scotch and 1 Irish whiskey) and mom, I picked up some Bailey's as well.
And it will all be here when everyone arrives, becase I think D and I are on detox until the family gets here. Our livers are working overtime from the party this weekend.
Now it's a matter of doing work (blech) and getting the house ready for our visitors. I have one more construction project I'm probably going to undertake, that being a makeshift table extension so the 6 of us can actually fit around the dining room table. And lots of cookies to make, and a WHOLE LOT of straightening up and cleaning left.
So I know I've been promising a work update for a long time.. I've been busy at work and busy at home (and haven't spent enough time outside) and busy with Christmas stuff and all kinds of jazz, and I just didn't want to get in to it. But I can now. I'm starting to feel like I have things under control (on all fronts, other than the "being outside" one), so I feel ready to talk about stuff now.
I also had to hold off for official work reasons.. And because I don't know who does (or doesn't) read this, I'm going to tread lightly..
Anyway, about a month ago (has it really been that long already?) I was asked to take over as Team Leader at work (think: Office Space: "We're ready to put as many as [2] people directly beneath you."). My former supervisor was leaving (his contract has since been extended, but now he reports to me), and they needed someone to not only fill his shoes but really step up and take charge of everything he was responsible for and a lot of other changes that are currently facing our team. I took the weekend to think about it and discuss with Dana, and accepted on Monday of the following week.
So, I'm a "Team Lead" now. Basically, I serve as a first-line manager to two other people but I'm not called a manager. It's a small step, but I intend to make it more than that.
But we're faced with a lot of challenges. One of my first goals is to make sure that anyone in the future faced with the situation I currently am (learn as quickly as possible about everything our team does) has a much easier time of things, so currently the three of us who will remain on the team are tasked (basically, by me) with documenting everything our team is responsible for (about 90 disparate programs) before the end of January. And understanding the programs well enough that we can service them in the case of a problem.
One of the biggest problems with our team as it exists now is, frankly, nobody is expendable. Which is great job security in a personal respect, but a shitty way to run a business. I'm doing my best to fix that problem. I want to be able to leave the account and move on to bigger and better things. IBM does a ton of good work around the world, and I want to be a part of that. The best way for me to jump to a new assignment (that fulfills me) is to do well in this one, so that's what I'm focusing on.
Another huge problem we have is that we have never really been good at following protocol (think: Jack Bauer in 24 for a really sexy version of what I do). Every time we change something (wording on a web page, adding a new function to a report, putting a new program into production, etc), my team is supposed to fill out (virtual) paperwork, get it approved, and implement it within a certain timeframe (with allowances and documented plans for backing out, etc). All a great idea, but a tremendous amount of time representing little actual change. So my team has been... let's say less than great at following these protocols. Well, that can't happen anymore, and that will be a big adjustment. Add to that the fact that we have to seek approval from another group for every change and it sounds like it'll be a challenge to get ANYTHING into production anymore. Luckily we have about a month to figure this out, as there is a prohibition against putting anything in production for the next month. In the long term, it will serve us well to get some of these tasks established, but in the short term it's going to be a bit of a nightmare.
Anyway, I've probably gone into too much detail already and bored everyone to death so I'll shut up now. Just wanted things to be "out there" finally.
I'm really excited about this opportunity but a bit overwhelmed at times as well. Yesterday = overwhelmed. Today = cautiously optimistic. Let's just say I can't wait until next Friday, when my vacation starts (and I won't come back to work until 1/2/07!). That's my current short-term goal.
Later!
She cracks me up EVERY single time she's on. The Daily Show is one of the best shows on tv regardless, and Jon Stewart is my hero. But when it comes to absolute favorites, it's tough to beat Sam Bee. I'm even willing to overlook the fact she's Canadian.
Best segment ever--trucker outrage over not being allowed to pee in bottles and throw them out the windows of their cabs. Tonight she did her best to jazz-up Al-Jazeera English. That's just funny stuff I can only aspire to.
Best dinner ever would be to have Mark (of course), Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Sam Bee, and John Hodgman to all sit down with me. Little piece of heaven, Comedy Central style. Mark, I finally figured out what I want for Christmas!
you guys need to book your tickets and get out here!
Today is my last day of this current break--back to work for me! Woke up this morning to a nice little snowfall. I had some errands to get done in the morning, but was on the mountain by one. It was awesome--beautiful powder and a bunch of new runs open. I had such a good time. I almost didn't go just because I'm still trying to kick this cold. SO GLAD I went out--can't wait to share this with more people!
to Great Grandma Nina (God Bless her soul).
So Mark and I are having some egg nog and brandy, and for some reason, every time I drink brandy I think of my Great Grandma Nina, who passed away about 9-10 years ago. We NEVER drink brandy. But damn, does it ever taste good with egg nog.
What I really remember Great Grandma Nina is her drinking her "highballs" with Bubble-UP and some nasty cheap liqueur (usually brandy). God bless her. She was very French (it's her maiden name of Monette that my middle name of Monet comes from) and I think she would have approved of me marrying an Irishman. But maybe with a little tsk-tsk'ing under her breath. She really wanted my brother Brent and me to marry "good French kids". And it was the crazy Monettes that made our family Catholic. Thanks Grandma.
We went to a really fun holiday party tonight. Interestingly, the party started at 5 and was over by 8:30--because everyone (except us) had little kids that needed to go to bed. We're getting old. The funny thing is, I like it. I loved having little kids underfoot everywhere you turn, and of course all the kids were as cute as can be. We're ready for kids. And of course, the little 3 year old girl there had Mark wrapped around her little finger in no time. At one point I was looking around for Mark and found him in the playroom reading a book to her. She was adorable.
Today was a pretty fun day--after a REALLY slow morning, we had lunch at our favorite Sunday place, and then bought some new furniture--a great bar, and another little piece for the dining room. Best part--stuff was half off. Boo-yah. And it totally has the worn-in look to the wood, so when someone (such as myself) happens to spill on it, it will just add "character" to the piece. Genius.
OK, that's about it. Gonna go finish my drink--cheers Great Grandma Nina!!
Seriously Scott, you and Mark need to put together an entry for next year....
I'm sure we'll post more later this weekend once we've got the tree up, but wanted to let you know I GOT THE TRUNK FINISHED FINALLY!
Yay. There's an album up at picasaweb if you're interested.
So another great picture from explodingdog.com. This one's called Maybe I Try Too Hard. Don't we all.
I've been sick again for the past couple of days, but I feel like I'm on the upswing, mostly because I haven't done crap the past few days except read books and sleep. I finished Devil In the White City, which I absolutely loved--sated both the Chicago lover and history buff in me. I also read Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer today. I loved his book Into Thin Air, and when Mark and I were finally unpacking our boxes of books a couple weekends ago (our new furniture in the guest room looks awesome) I came across it. Actually, I came across about 10 books that I've always meant to read, but haven't gotten around to. After a couple ill-fated journeys into fiction, I'm starting to realize that most of my reading interests lie in non-fiction. I can't remember the last modern fiction book I read that I really enjoyed (classics are always awesome). Any suggestions?
So since I finally was feeling better today, I went out and got my hair cut, mailed out some Christmas presents, and did a little shopping. I'm in charge of dinner tonight because Mark is busy with work and fixing up the trunk--I asked him if tacos were OK, and he just laughed at me and said "you're in charge". That means he's getting tacos. Yummm.
Nice/not so nice thing about being sick is that I'm off work until Tuesday. Sucks to be sick over time off, but I'd rather have the time to sit on me arse than muscle through work with screaming kids and be sick, too. My patience dips to unfathomably low levels. And it ain't pretty.
OK, enough random thoughts--I was a little bored and a bit disturbed after reading Into the Wild, so this provided a pleasant diversion none-the-less. A few closing thoughts:
1. I used to like the Giants, but if they really are signing Barry Bonds, they are no better than the Yankees or Cowboys.
2. I really need to get my hair cut more often than every 5 months. Scraggly is not a good look on anyone.
3. I gave a talk this week at a physical therapy place in town. The PT's afterward thanked me with a 6 pack of Guinness. My education is paying off in SO MANY ways.
4. Front page news from Fargo: the winner of America's Next Top Model is a native Fargoan. And a natural blonde. And yes, I'm embarrassed I even have this knowledge.
5. Watched Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and The Cooler last night. Pirates was OK, but I like The Cooler more--and not just because it had Ya, you betcha William H Macy and the hot bar owner from Coyote Ugly whose character was from ND in it.
6. Maybe I'll make Guinness Beef Stew this weekend--but then again I've been saying that for the last few weeks. I need to go make tacos.
[edit]: I uploaded this as Dana was trying last night but I broke the internets when getting the chest together. See next post for what I mean. -M
So when I have a day like today, without a spare second - when I get a spare second, I have somewhere to go.
I need you to entertain me. I rely on your wit and creativity (and non-soccer posts) to keep me sane. Because today, I just don't have enough time to be witty and creative between the fires I'm putting out at work.
I'm counting on you!!!
So, I was supposed to blog about it last week but didn't - my work week was pretty hectic and at the end of the day the last thing I wanted to be doing was sitting in front of a computer.. but to get to the point, we saw Superman Returns (thanks, Netflix), and frankly, I didn't like it at all. The sfx were over the top, and the acting made me think of a high school play - it was like these kids were pretending to be Superman and Lois Lane (and, even Spacey as Luthor was a letdown).
It was just too over-the-top. I guess it means I'm getting old? Who knows. But don't take the time to watch it if you haven't already - it's eminently skippable.
Onwards.
I just finished organizing a box of crap in the office closet that had made inroads to the office proper - it was like a robot exploded - old computer parts and wires and plugs and keyboards and all kinds of stuff had vomited forth from the closet, so this weekend D and I took a much-needed trip to Staples to buy some organizational stuff, some printer paper, and she picked up stuff for her office.
We also got some great XMas shopping done this weekend, so I'm excited about that as well. We have five presents here already (one for us, four for Jonah and Primo - two each), and I'm sure as the days go by more and more will appear...
...which is why I started work (in earnest) on that damnable chest again. I'm 95% done sanding now, so it's just the lacquer coat and a frame (and a couple strategially-placed holes) before it's ready - and it won't be a moment too soon. Currently, our TV is sitting on the old coffee table (against the wall), next to another table with our components on it. When I get done with the chest/trunk, I'll be able to hide the components (the ones we use, anyway) inside and put the TV on top, freeing up a TON of space (not to mention two tables), and it will also give us room to put up our tree, which we plan to acquire next Saturday (so the pressure's on for me!).
Anyway, that's my update for now. I got a niggling problem solved first thing this morning so decided to clean up the robot vomit. Back to work now.
So Mark and had a great day today--I got up early to go and sing in the choir at church this morning. It is the first Sunday of Advent, and I've always loved Advent season since I was little. I can't even tell you how much I love my church here. Crap. I still need to sign up as an official parishoner.
Call has been pretty decent this weekend. I won't say anything more than that because I'm still on for another 12 hours.
I didn't go out on the mountain today because I just kept getting too many phone calls, but made the most of the day regardless. We went to the Old Town Pub, our new favorite Sunday lunch place, and watched the first half of the Vikings/Bears game. Despite growing up a Vikings fan, I still found myself cheering for the Bears. The whole boat scandal thing just tainted the Vikes too much for me. I guess I'm officially a Bears fan now.
Did a little Christmas shopping over halftime, then headed home to watch the end of the game. Go Bears!! I feel asleep on the couch after being assured that the Bears had the win, but unfortunately the nap was cut short by work phone calls. Oh well.
Got up and did a TON of Christmas cards, finishing off the rest of them (SO much easier than wedding thank yous) while sorta watching the Giants and the Cowboys. I hate the Cowboys.
Read a little more from Devil in the White City--I'm lovin' this book--before Mark convinced me to watch a little of this new show he's been Tivo-ing on FX called "30 Days". It's produced by the same guy (pictured here) named Morgan Spurlock, who did the documentary "Supersize Me", where he ate nothing but McDonalds for a month. Great movie, by the way. So now he's got this TV show on FX where he takes 30 days and puts himself in various situations.
The first episode we watched was where he and his fiancee tried to live on minimum wage for 30 days. Fascinating. They went to Columbus, Ohio, to do it, and it really was a thought-provoking look into, well, a lifestyle that I brush with probably every day in the office, but never really looked long and hard at. Wow--I don't know how some of the families in my office do it. I couldn't. Gave me a whole new perspective on the working poor. This is America, right? If anything, it just reinforced a feeling of social responsibility. Everyone needs a little help now and then, that's for sure. I'm thankful I'm in a position to be able to actually lend a hand. And it's a good reminder about not being wasteful, making the most of what you have, and being happy for where you are. I'm so incredibly lucky.
So after that episode, we watched another (since they are having a marathon) about what it's like to live as a Muslim for 30 days. Morgan picked this guy who you KNOW was his college roommate/drinking buddy to do it. He left his wife and young son in Charleston, WV, to fly to Dearborn MI, where there is the largest concentration of Muslims in the country. And this guy, Dave, ended up living with a host Muslim family for the next month--the host guy is a doctor, the host guy's wife is in law school. And wouldn't you know, West Virginia Dave is a hard-core Christian. I've always been fascinated by other religions--as much as I love being Catholic, I believe understanding other religions is just as important as understanding my own faith. We all share this planet, after all. Fact of the day---the scarves that Muslim women wear, it's based on the scarf that the Virgin Mary always wore. Huh. Fascinating.
The whole episode was a great crash-course in Islam, and I basically came out of there wanting to read my books on the different religions of the world, and contemplating buying a copy of the Koran to learn more. I know this much--Muslims are so hard-core devout, you have to respect them for that. Praying 5 times a day--it's an incredible example. There was one instance where Dave got in this huge argument (over religion, of course) with his host family over dinner. But then it came time to pray--everyone took a good 5-10 minutes, spent their time praying, and afterwards, tension wasn't as high, and discussions were civil again. And there you go.
OK, point being, other than Peep Show on BBC America (which I love for COMPLETELY different reasons), the next best show on TV that you've never heard of is "30 Days".
And then it was time to watch the Broncos and the Seahawks, and the damn Seahawks just won the game in the final seconds. Grrr. I'm becoming a hard-core Broncos fan too. I don't like to see them lose. And I love watching Champ Bailey get interceptions. He's my hero.
OK, post is long enough. I'm going to bed. Here's hoping the phone calls are over!!
Woke up this morning to a whole lot more snow outside--and it's still really coming down! Too bad I have to work this weekend...
Snowboarding yesterday was awesome--I found this big section of trees and at times was still finding knee-deep powder. It's like floating. I can't remember the last time I was riding on powder.
I'm sure Mark will be out on the mountain tomorrow--I'm working this weekend, so we'll see. I tried riding fakie some more yesterday and I'm pretty rusty--it's nice to try during the week just because there really aren't that many people out there.
Grey's Anatomy last night was OK. George is driving me crazy. But I'll leave the recap to Karen.
I was reading more of Devil in the White City last night before going to bed. For those of you who don't the book, it's all about the construction of the Chicago World's Fair about a hundred years ago and a famous serial killer who was also in Chicago at the time. I dreamed about serial killers. I need a happy book next.
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