1. Very excited to have gotten an interview for a new job. I'd be making about 20K more a year. Wish me luck!
2. Less than 2 weeks until I go on vacation to Seattle and Portland. I'll get to see my sweetie, too. Fabulous!
3. The atmosphere at work continues to be just toxic. We had a staff meeting to discuss the cutbacks, and people whose jobs weren't even directly affected broke into tears. The ones like me who did get cut back are unmotivated and hostile.

I want a new hair dryer! Mine is probably 12 years old or so.

1. I had an awful morning at work, rehashing things that should have been taken care of last October, for the third effing time. BUT...

2. The BF is working second shift today, so he took me to lunch at Bennigan's. We had monte cristos (the deep fried kind). Then it's off to the MeFi meetup tonight.

3. FOOD COMA

1. I finally am working only 40 hours this week for the first time in over 2 months.

2. Had a piece of good news -- my next door neighbors are not moving after all. I really didn't want them to, because I don't know many of my neighbors as it is and these have cute kids and I was afraid some scary weirdo would buy their house.

3. I organized a meetup.

GO STEWIE. Good luck! When is your interview??

1. Half day of work today. Going for my first run in a few weeks this afternoon. We shall see if I can run 3 miles without stopping. My fitness really goes to crap if I get down below two runs a week.

2. Kid is still jetlagged. 2 nights ago she didn't go to sleep until 10.30. Last night it was 9.30, but it still took 45 minutes to get her up this morning. Tomorrow the mission is to get her out of bed before 8am.

3. Had a lovely week in California catching up with friends and doing not very much at all. Except, unfortunately, eat. And drink cocktails. I am denying reality by not stepping on the scales, but my jeans definitely feel tighter. Oy.

1. A really nasty case of dreamsickness, including a big dollop of depression, first thing this morning, but an hour later, I seem to have shaken it.

2. Today could be rather productive.

3. Breakfast shall be bacon, grits, rye toast and coffee. I'm getting on that right now.

1. Did power yoga this AM. I thought it was tough but am pleased I can do things now I used to think were impossible. The day I can handle a full camel pose still lies ahead, however. I still freak about going backward.

2. Hungry. I have a phone conference and am also brown bagging today with someone or my snoot would be absorbing my lunch (lovely tomato/onion soup) right now.

3. Much reading to get done. Should get to it.

4. On the FOUR point side -- gaspode, go you on the running! I am still a run/walk person though my weekly mileage as I train for Bay to Breakers 12K is now well over 16. Ardiril, love that word dreamsickness. Totally know what you mean. And Stew, totally wish you luck on the possible new job.

YAY Stew!

1. Today is awesome. It's my birthday!

2. I had an awesome birthday lunch at my favorite place with two awesome friends.

3. Later I am going to celebrate with a bunch of awesome girl friends, pizza, ice cream, and SOAPDISH.

WHOO STEWRIFFIC! Good luck!!

1. Looks like I may have to work this weekend to stay ahead of a deadline; it's supposed to be in the 80s and sunny. Of course.

2. Just found out a wonderful friend who I haven't seen in about 5 years is coming for a visit in May! I'm so psyched.

3. There is no number 3 because I gotta go catch the train home.

1. Cold and gray and rainy here but that's normal for here. (Hmm, I started writing this an hour ago and since then it's cleared and is sunny but I'm sure it'll start raining again)

2. Work is annoying.

3. Didn't sleep well last night and am nodding off at my desk.

You can do it, Stewriffic!

1. Finished revising my 2 papers that came back with 'revise and resubmit' but I'm not sure how long I should wait between getting that email and sending them back out. I should probably get them off my desk before the 18th, which is when I finally am getting official 'collections processing' training, even though I've been doing that informally for a while.

2. Feeling teary and generally bad. I suspect this may be partially due to stress over the lack of time I have to get books from WSU to study for the ACA exam that I can't even sit for this year and the fact that I pushed my boundaries too far on Friday by attempting a 10 minute massage. Will have to remember to talk to the shrink about that because I can't identify what it is that is making me feel so bad.

3. Trying to decide what my game plan is going to be for the gym this afternoon. There's only one elliptical right now (since some fuck ripped the screen off the other one) and there's a woman who shows up for it around the same time I am and I might just go ahead and try and start doing weights tonight because my hamstrings are still tight from Monday's dance practice and yesterday's walk/jog totally ripped up my calves. But IDK. I'll figure it out when I get there.

1. On the spur of the moment, I worked at the polls for four hours last night, through counting all of the write-ins.

Most thankless poll-worker job ever: recording write-ins in a high-turnout ward that includes the dorms. Oy.

2. OH MY GOD I'VE BEEN OBSESSIVELY REFRESHING THE [WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT] ELECTION RESULTS FOR LIKE 12 HOURS NOW. We finally went to bed at 2:30 when it was apparent that people had stopped counting. We STILL have one precinct left, because stupid Lake Mills decided not to start until 11:45 AM.

Dear Lake Mills: If I can't eat dinner until 10 PM because I have to record ballots saying "butt" "boogers" "Yoda" and three different spellings (on the same ballot) of "Ron Regan," why is it okay for you to wait until 11:45 the next morning to start counting? GET ON WITH IT ALREADY.

3. Now that I finished a late article in a self-loathing frenzy on Monday (mainly because I had spent all of my other time trying to figure out what I'd do for that job search, which hasn't gotten back to me yet), I'm STILL trying to work out problems in my dormant romance novel. I should really just write other scenes or something, except I feel like I can't do it until I figure some of these details out. Like, oh, deciding on her name :P

Oh, and GO STEW!

Hooray for Stew! And hugs to everyone who needs 'em.

1. Tonight, I am going to see an advanced screening of a remake of a movie of which I haven't seen the original. I am going to do this alone because my boyfriend has an important meeting tonight and my movie reviewer is recovering from almost being hit by a truck or bus, but instead being clipped by a cyclist.

2. I have pastel eggs by Reese's Pieces and by the Whoppers people at my desk because Target was selling these mini cartons for $1 each. If I could, I'd give some to Senyar.

3. Boss will be in Mexico City on business this weekend, which means she's in the office now racing through a lot of work. I kinda wish she wasn't here, but then again we're getting a lot done. Hope she approves my June vacation request.

1. I too love the word "dreamsickness" and will appropriate its use.

2. I've gotten some compliments on my appearance/outfit today, which is unusual and nice.

3. Thinking about going to a brick and mortar store to consider purchase of e-cigarette system, vaporizer kind. Unsolicited advice solicited.

Go STEW!

1. Hurray for Stewriffic! Hugs all around (unless you're not huggy, in which case I offer a friendly nod).

2. OW!

3. The Fella just interviewed Harry Shearer; from the next room, it sounded like the voice of a very relaxed Principal Skinner emerging from the speakerphone. So pleasant, but so very odd.

1.New Stuff!. . .very unusual for us. First, bought Daughter a car. . .an old civic (2002) that looks pretty good and has lowish mileage. Haven't bought a car for 10 years, so it's a bit stressful. We will drive it for a week or so then my wife will drive it up to Portland and surprise her with it.

2. Getting this chair delivered this afternoon.

3. Got these shoes yesterday, with help from REI dividend.

Feels weird to get so much stuff in a short span of time.

Nice chair, danf! Want!

Also, dropped back in to thank Madamina most sincerely for the poll work. Thanks so much for doing that!

1. On the road again - in Canberra for some User Acceptance Testing training to do with a hugely important new national database that I have been partly responsible for project managing. A tense time for the team, because the project failed once before and 12 months of work had to be scrapped at enormous cost, so we are keen not to have this happen again.

2. Went out for drinks with a couple of colleagues last night - had a great time.

3. Feeling a little seedy this morning.

Good luck, Stew! Happy birthday, leesh!

1) I've started driving again, since the symptom that made it impossible has been gone for nearly 2 months now. Yay health improvements! Yay not being trapped in my house! Yay putting my gasguzzler back on the road as gas prices are sliding up again--no wait, that last isn't a yay. Oh well.

2) Still getting massive headaches any time I go out, whether driving or passenger. Headache hangover today.

3) Holy crap, the cocker spaniel has gone deaf! He's such a smart, responsive little guy, we missed it for I don't know how long. He can hear if we shout, but not if we speak. No wonder...

We're doing a lot of shouting "GOOD BOY" at him to make up for all the time he wasn't hearing us say it.

I've done so much rescue/rehab of dogs, some of which really don't learn voice commands well, that I train everybody with voice commands and hand signals, and use the hand signals all the time by habit. So this won't be terrible. Even if he loses the rest of his hearing, he won't be wandering around with no guidance.

I am, however, trying to come up with a unique hand signal that means "GOOD BOY." I want him to still be aware of praise even if he's totally deaf. I hope he's not beyond learning it, at 12. He's still a bright, perky little guy; I think he can pick it up. Now I just need to figure out what hand configuration to use and get into the habit of using it.

- If I were a co-worker of Senyar, I'd be saving her some damn chocolate. Get off yer arses, co-workers!
- I wonder if that's the same hair dryer that Kate Middleton uses.
- Yay, Stewie! 20K ain't nothin' to sneeze at!
- I haven't had a monte cristo in 20+ years and it sounds sooo yummy.
- gaspode: hire a mariachi band to wake up the little 'pode.
- "Dreamsickness" is awesome and I'm stealing it. Had a bit of it this morning myself.
- Tomato-onion soup sounds delicious. Recipe?
- Pretty, sunny day here, but still chilly. It has Oliver on the "prowl and yowl". Oy.
- sperose - are you going to share your papers once published?
- Yay Madamina for rocking the vote!
- New stuff does seem to come in waves, odd that.
- Yay for feeling seedy. Oh, wait...
- galadriel: saw this article yesterday about teach dogs sign language.

[Since I posted my woes last night, it's all interactiveness for me, bunnies!]

I had a weird long-ish break in the middle of my day, so I have:

1. Done two loads of laundry, including folding and putting away the larger load (smaller load still in the dryer).

2. Dusted, swept, and mopped the upstairs, rotated our mattress, and changed the sheets on the bed.

3. Dropped off the dry cleaning, finished the grocery shopping for the next couple days, and stuck some chicken in to marinate for tomorrow night.

Still have a couple clients to see this afternoon, but both of them have continually canceled or just not shown up the last few weeks, so who knows...

Deborah, the tomato onion soup was wonderful. I don't make it myself, though -- I pick up my lunch for the week, including a couple of tall containers of soup, from my market, which is a very organic, locally sourced, vegetarian oriented kind of place that makes its own soup and salads. I couldn't find their recipe for this soup but I did locate the recipe for their yellow split pea soup, which I can also attest is delicious.

1. I'm helping to chaperone a trip to the Jewish Heritage Museum in Manhattan tomorrow. I've never been myself, so it should be interesting. The students are usually pretty cooperative on trips, and one of the teachers going is a very affable dean, so it should go well. We've been working on a unit of Holocaust Literature, including Art Spiegelman's graphic novel, Maus, which the students learn a lot from.

2. As much as I generally enjoy my students and teaching, I hate my administrators. This week, their harrassment of the new Spanish teacher apparently reached such a pitch that she was in hysterics afterwards, and, suffering an asthma attack, needed an ambulance. The Assistant Principal in question reportedly had a smirk on his face at her level of upset. These people are evil. (Try it with me, sonuvabitches, I'll slap a lawsuit on you so fast your proverbial heads will spin.) I'd consider trying to transfer schools again, but I'm afraid the problem is systemic, at least as long as Bloomberg's in office.

3. I'm very, very tired. But Survivor's on in a bit and I so look forward to that. Plus, there's coffee ice cream in the freezer. (I really know how to live.)

Deborah, I'm not quite sure what you mean. The one won't be printed until October (just in time for my annual performance review!) and I haven't sent back the others yet.

pips, you've reminded me that I have chocolate ice cream and milk. I have a swollen jaw from wisdom tooth pain. You know what that means: MILKSHAKE FOR DINNER!

1. Felt very tired today. Must get to bed earlier!
2. Had broccoli with garlic for dinner. Why did I not put cheese sauce on it? Now I want cheese sauce and I'm all out of broccoli. I may root around and try to find something else in the kitchen I could put cheese sauce on. What?? I'm tired, my willpower is low.
3. No pay for military service members if the federal government shuts down, gaaaaaaaaah!!!! Not cool.

1. Menstrual cramps made it hard to sleep last night and hard to work today. I tell yuh, the design of the female reproductive system leaves something to be desired.

2. Damn silver birch pollen. You've made me allergic to apples, stone fruit, almonds, hazelnuts, and now sugar snap peas. And you make my eyes and nose hurt and water. And let's not forget the sneezing. Stupid trees having sex on my face. I tell yuh.

3. Nice brother-in-law in town from across the pond, and we are doing Fun Things. Tonight, dinner at Ping. (Check out the menu! *drool* Tomorrow (after some work), we're going up to my dad's cabin, and hopefully will see Mt. Hood from the deck. (It's snowing there now, which is extremely unseasonable, but the snow will look pretty.) Friday, we're headed to Cape Meares.

Sympathies to all of the sick and suffering bunnies.

1. I'm still sick as a dog.

2. I worked today. I kept behind the desk and tried not to breathe on anybody. During lunch hour I went to our very slow Urgent Care that's about 300 yards away. Let's just say the front desk is incompetent as hell and I didn't get in, even though I was the only person in the waiting room. It's probably for the best because I'm sure it's only a virus. My will gets weak and I am on day seven or so and I'm over it. I'm throwing a big party for my kid's b-day this Saturday and I'm so afraid I'm going to feel like crap and not have things the way I want them.

3. I've been eating low-carb for about a month. I had a moment of weakness and ate some frozen pizza and vanilla ice cream. Oh well.

4. It just dawned on me that I forgot to get treats for the class for kid's b-day. I'm heading to Publix to buy decorated cookies at 9 o'clock at night. OMG.

1. Yay, Stewie, and leesh and gaspode! Hugs to the ill and depressed.

2. Feeling slightly Machiavellian about work - things may fall in my favor here soon, and if they do, then the five year plan hubby and I had takes a major shift.

3. Younger Boy is lucky he's cute. He's been a major pain today.

*giggle* tree sex yes, I'm twelve *giggle*

1. Anxiously awaiting my print copy of MeFi Magazine.
2. My husband has been adorable and charming lately. That's nice.
3. My personal goal of being more! positive! is failing all over the place. I'm blaming it on hormones.

Bonus: Yay bunnies with potential promotions, possible chocolate and nice new stuff!

1. bf helped me pick out dresses for my friend's wedding this weekend which was nice
2. Went to boxing on Monday and it was my first time exercising since October and I am very sore.
3. When I made the bed this morning, I picked the comforter up off the floor and the bunny was IN it! You know how duvet covers have those buttons on one side? Yeah... I took him out and he looked very disoriented. It was funny. Then it made me wonder what it would be like to be so small that something doesn't even know it is picking you up.

Good luck Stewie!

3. When I made the bed this morning, I picked the comforter up off the floor and the bunny was IN it! You know how duvet covers have those buttons on one side? Yeah... I took him out and he looked very disoriented. It was funny. Then it made me wonder what it would be like to be so small that something doesn't even know it is picking you up.

Heh. I often leave my gym bag hanging on the doorknob to make sure I don't forget it on the way out in the morning. I also leave the bag unzipped to give it a fighting chance of being de-funkified.

One morning I picked up the bag and found it unbelievably heavy. Then one of my cats poked his head out, and blinked groggily at me. I have no idea how he got in there or why he thought it was a good place for a nap. Luckily he weighs about 17 pounds, so the chances of me not noticing him were zero.

My brother once said, "It must be very weird to be a cat. You're walking along, minding your own business, then all of a sudden WOOOOOOP! you're up in the air! Someone decided to pick you up!"

1. My mom and I took the train to NY to see...Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks!!!! Awesome!!!!! Great show!!

2. I took today off because I knew I'd get home late (2am) and now am feeling very lazy and unmotivated. Dinner? Pfft, the kids have to get their own. Just kidding!

3. Life is good. I needed that.