I got up early-ish and have been mostly screwing around online, after finishing up my work very quickly. I've also been enjoying watching all the birds fly around the new backyard -- I've seen hummingbirds, robin, scrub jays, and crows today. I like how they have their little birdy gangs that they stick with from tree to tree.

And now the big black cat is trying to roust them from the tree. Bad big black cat!

Later I have to go pick up a rental car and go down to Palo Alto for a friend's birthday party, which should mostly be fun, except that I don't really know his friends all that well. But we're starting out with a hike, which I'm rather looking forward too. I feel like I haven't been outside in any real way in a while.

Which is stupid, given the new backyard.

It's going OK. Getting things done during this quiet period- oh, how I love the slow period. The dog is being really annoying- she saw a cat in the backyard earlier today, and now all she wants to do is go outside and bark at imaginary cats. And everytime she comes back in, I have to wash her muddy paws, which makes her very mad. But it's already 3, and I'm going out on the town with my boo tonight, so that'll be fun!

I woke up early altho I wanted to spend more time asleep-my mother was supposed to pick me up for the gym and then lunch but just after I got ready she called-she'd gotten called in to work (a little parttime job she has.) So I walked to the gym instead...I was feeling a little icky and yukky so I just faked my way thru spin class-yes, the instructor noticed but he understood-then went downstairs to the lobby feeling sorry for myself and not wanting to walk home again. Then two friends popped up -and they asked if I wanted a lift home (saved my 20 minutes walking, they did.)

Now I have spent way too much time on the computer still feeling a bit off, but I'll live.

I got up lateish, then had some sunny-side up eggs and toast and got down to work. I've hammered out a big chunk already, and I'm almost done with everything I need to do for the month. Soon I'm going to go to the gym and then grocery shopping, then I need to make chai-tea cupcakes and cream-cheese-and-salmon crepes for a ladies-only clothing exchange tomorrow, fresh tortillas for dinner tonight, and maybe a pasta salad for a post-hike potluck on Sunday. And it's almost the weekend!

Weekend starts in ten minutes (yah!), when I leave to catch the train. Got leftover buffalo chicken pizza, margaritas, more episodes of the Wire, and cuddlin' with the honey on the couch on the agenda... Saturday & Sunday up in the air. Grades due Tuesday, though. Bleh.

Not too bad. Woke up early having to pee. After that I made myself a cup of coffee with a generous belt of vanilla vodka and cream, and did today's entries at the countdown. Then I nuked some buffalo chicken pizza and watched the last half of The Wanderers and the first half of Dog Day Afternoon. Now I feel like putting on a dress and robbing a bank or something.

I started in on the beer around noon, so now I'm pretty mellow and listening to some old Yardbirds on iTunes. We got the remainder of season 2 of The Wire from Netflix yesterday. Jimmy McNulty is a crazy fuck, Bunk Moreland is cool, and Omar is one bad motherfucker. I've also decided that Ziggy Sobotka is a walking embodiemnt of my worst traits. Thanks again to those of you who rec'd them to me.

Got two more hours to kill at work before I can go pick up my daughter. I love daughter weekends, so I'm in a generally good mood.

Also keeping me in a good mood is that I weighed myself yesterday, and found that I've lost 13 pounds since January. Yay me!

my taxes are done my taxes are done my taxes are done, yay!

done? in freaking March? What are you, some kind of nut? I haven't even looked at mine yet.

Good. I have rid myself of an annoying business committment in California, and increased the profitablility of a contract I'm bidding, substantially, in so doing. It's not everyday you get to tell off a cocksure PhD, with the full support, and even urging of your associates, and make a buck doing it.

Over here, it's beer-o-clock! So great, right now.

I got up in time for once and got dressed (in my tough dog walking Carhartt overalls, yet) and got in the car and drove quickly to the bank machine where I got out my son's allowance that he had been pestering me about last night. Then I gave it to him and enjoyed his sheepish look of surprise since he had predicted that there was no way I would get the money before he had to catch the bus. This was all done by 7:20 am and then I took the dogs on a long walk and came home, showered, changed, got to work by 9:00 where I did very little except discover that one of the bugs that always drove me crazy in Pagemaker (the way the leading weirds out at the end of a paragraph sometimes) has been copied directly into Indesign! God bless you, Adobe, you shits. Now I'm doing my stint at the front desk for the next 45 minutes and then I'm going to meet my friend at the bar for a couple of beers and a car switch since she has kindly lent me her car for the weekend. This is because tomorrow morning by 9:00 I must be on the road to Charleston where I will, gods willing, attend a memorial service for an ex, ow, hell, thus seeing many old friends in not the worlds greatest circumstances, but still kind of bittersweetly nice. And then I will be at Folly Beach for the remainder of the weekend with, if all goes according to plan, someone extremely unsuitable and dead sexy. If plans fall through, then probably by myself which is also okay if not quite as much, uh, fun. We are predicting possible angst by Monday with a 40% chance of increased calm.

I watched Scarface over the last couple of nights and now I'm going around with my hips stuck out like a retired matador saying, "Juu got churr hey up cho ayss, may?" and "I choff yo hey so farrop cho ayss, may!" Everybody's a little scared, I think.

*introduces Hugh to his little friend*

Up early as usual. Dropped the kids off at school, picked them up. I went to the fabric store in between. Kid is going to a costume party tomorrow afternoon, "Pirates and Princesses", so I picked up some skull printed fabric to make a quick pair of pull-on pirate pants.

I pulled a million long grassy weeds that are growing in-between a curved border of Indian Hawthorne. I cut most of them off at the base. The roots reach halfway to China, they are impossible to pull out with the root intact.

Tonight I am sewing the pants and watching the movie, 8 1/2 for the first time. Husband is picking up dinner, subs on French rolls. Delicious.

Craptastic.

So-so. Although it's less stiff and I can use it more, my knee hurts (reminder: I fell on Monday). My right thigh and foot hurt from when I fell on Wednesday. And I have another blankety blanking headache.

Oh, and if I keep falling like this someone is gonna suspect that the mister is mistreating me. I wonder how I can work that to my advantage...

My friday went well, thanks! I got a nice promise of recommendation from Old Boss. :)

paulsc, congratulations on pwning Ms. Piled Higher and Deeper!

Pretty good. Had a great workout. tried a new angle for bicep curls. Tried hack squats. Kept increasing the weights, in accordance with my workout plan. I felt really energetic and happy afterwards.


And --- dig this --- I found a source for Vantia San Marzano tomatoes just two blocks away from my gym! They're my favourites. And all I have to do is pick them up on the way to the gym and I won't have to go into Manhattan to do my grocery shopping anymore

Wooo-hooo!

(Does the culinary geek dance)

Well, I saw a bald eagle today, and I was nominated "Employee of the Month" for March. Heck, at least they give you a $50.00 gift card.

Wow, Lori, you're on a string of really classic movies, lately! (I still want to hear what you thought of "Mon oncle".)

I spent a 12-hour day at work creating a show "open"- that intro part before the show starts- that's 35 seconds long. It was intensely tiring but also a lot of fun, because that kind of editing allows for all kinds of crazy edit tricks that you don't normally get to do.

Also, when the producer watched the open for the first time, she covered her eyes and said "Aaagh! This is freaking me out!" It's for a show airing this weekend about the Atlanta bus crash, so I figured the opening part should be kind of scary... mission accomplished, apparently.

Huh. A systems admin person from work just called to say that he found the bug that would not let matlab do what matlabs do. My thoughts: if I am the one he feels he has to report to, then there is something terribly wrong with the Universe. Or me.

Also it has been a godawful week fer moi. There are sometimes that we have to let go, get over it and move on. Why can't I learn to do that? Will I ever? Emotional intelligence they call it. I am a dummy.