June News Update

So, what’s new? Well, there has been some family news, but I think we have that all sorted for now. The last thing I need to do is rehash the family drama yet again.

Next week is my birthday. 38 is one of those unimportant numbers, so no plans going on this year. I will say that Jeff is coming to town, so I’m sure I’ll get a chance to see him and have him buy me dinner…

Frankly, what I am already thinking about is turning 40. Not so much about the actual number, but what the girls and I are going to do to celebrate the milestone. Seems like a long way off to start planning a trip, but if we want it to be something really special (translation – expensive) I would rather start saving for it now. Plus, prices on some of these things might be better in this economy and this far in advance. So the planning begins…

What else is coming up? The trip to Ohio is in a couple of weeks. It’s supposed to be for my high school reunion, but there was a reminder email that came out that all reservations had to be in by next Friday or dinner was cancelled. I would be really pissed at this point to come all that way just to have it all fall apart. Still, more time for family and friends, which will be nice too. Always good to have a backup plan!

Then in August I have some stranger plans I guess. Time to scatter the ashes for grandma and Linda. It’s weird to think about a planned “event” such as this. Still, I know that Dad has wanted to do it for at least a year now and is tired of waiting for everyone else to decide on a time. So this summer is it. The only worry I have for the event is the state of my stomach while on the boat, so Dramamine is coming with me to make sure the only thing scattered in the ocean are the ashes…

Chicago Weekend

This past weekend I went to Chicago for a visit with Lynnea. It was my first trip out since Nolan arrived and it was past time for me to meet the little guy. Plus, I was also coming out for my first Keane concert in Chicago. I want to try to keep the tradition going to see them in different cities and Chicago seemed like a logical choice.

The weather on Friday when I arrived was rainy, but that was the worst of it. The rest of the weekend was beautiful and much cooler than the record temperatures here at home. Once Lynnea and Nolan picked me up we headed out for a quick stop to pick up some dinner and head back to her house to settle in and visit. Nolan had some different ideas. He is getting close to the 2 year mark and the fun antics that accompany that age. After making a bit of a fuss while waiting for food, we got home and got back on track.

The first night we just took it easy and we watched a movie after the little guy had gone to sleep. Well…and after Lynnea fixed the remote for me. It seems that her simple directions for using the remote were too complicated for me. Long story short, I ended up pushing all of the buttons. Once she came back and fixed it, we were all set. We ended up watching Ghost Town. It was hilarious. Didn’t seem like the movie did too much when it came out or stayed around too long, but we both thought it was good.

Next day was spent playing with Nolan until grandma arrived for babysitting duties. Dave’s mom is really cool. We didn’t get to visit too much before we headed out the door for the show, but we had some time on Sunday morning. Once we got grandma and Nolan settled, we were off to the Aragon Ballroom for the show. As usual, people were already lined up when we got there. It’s always interesting for me to see the types of people that come to these shows. In general, it’s such a nice looking bunch of all ages. I think Lynnea’s comment once we were inside was that it was a warm nice smelling crowd.

The ballroom was very pretty and easily the largest venue I have seen them perform to date. Even with the long line outside, we were still pretty close to the stage. One concern I have for any show like this is that tall people will be in front of me and blocking my view. This place was great because the stage was up nice and high. So same as last week, the first 2 bands came and went. I really like the Helio Sequence. The drummer was just as weird as before and I had a much better view of him this time. Matt Kearney sounded better this time around which led me to believe that the sound system in LA wasn’t all it could have been. I still don’t have an urge to run out and own anything by him, but at least the sound was much better.

The only tense moment (for me) was when 2 guys tried to push their way to the front. Lori would have appreciated this I’m sure, but I wasn’t having it. They pretended to be looking for someone up front but seemed to be getting stuck right in front of me. One guy made a show of trying to apologize and I told him he needed to leave. We talked for a few minutes and I think I actually shamed him into leaving. He made some comment about maybe staying anyway since the view was so good and I told him that yes, the view was good which was why I had arrived so early so I could have it. And then I told him again (nicely) that he was being a jerk and that he needed to get out of my way. He finally apologized to me and then he and his friend (who wisely kept his mouth shut) blended back into the crowd. It’s funny again to think about the type of people who come to the show. How many concerts do you go to where you reason with the idiots and they actually listen, let alone apologize?

And then Keane came on. They changed the set list a bit from last week which was cool. I really tried to stay calm about it, but I could not seem to stop myself from providing some commentary for Lynnea about the band and the songs. Hopefully I wasn’t overly annoying about it, but I might have been. I kept telling myself to just shut up, but that didn’t work out so well. Maybe there is a reason I tend to go to these things by myself? Anyway, it was a great show and the band as always seemed genuinely appreciative of the support and energy of the crowd. I love them.

We were feeling a bit dehydrated after the show. It was so freaking hot in there by the end. So a stop for fluids on the way home and we were still back at a decent hour. The next morning Nolan was nice enough to sleep in until 8. Apparently it was a treat. So Sunday morning was a nice visit with grandma before she hit the road. Then we took a trip to the park near Lynnea’s house. That’s where these pictures were taken. As you can see, Nolan had warmed up enough to me to play and hold hands while crossing the street.

The timing of my flight home and Dave’s flight back from Vegas worked out well, so Lynnea only had to make one trip to the airport on Sunday. The flight home was uneventful although I did end up spending some time talking to the guy next to me who was traveling out on business. I was really trying to stay awake so I could sleep that night, so I didn’t mind chatting.

All in all, a great weekend. It was good to visit and meet Nolan and to see another great concert in a new city and venue. Maybe next year I can try Denver or San Francisco. You never know. I would love for them to come to Phoenix too so I can drag April with me. I’m sure she can’t wait…

Getting Ready

Heading to Chicago tomorrow for the weekend. I find I am full of energy today. Where was all this earlier in the week? Today I am scrambling around like a crazy person cleaning and taking care of things before heading out again. Laundry, bills, air filters, plants…..supposedly doing some work in here too.

Still, it was nice to get back into my walking routine this week after being out of town. Doctor’s visit this week says I have lost 12 pounds since January. Nice! Of course that maniac also wants me to lose about 20 more pounds. Never satisfied! With the temperatures starting to heat up for summer, it’s getting a little more uncomfortable but I won’t let it stop me. The worst part so far has been an unexpected case of allergies this spring. I was really hoping that the move to the desert would be the end of it, but I was a fool. Who knows that the culprit is now, but the windy days don’t help. I have noticed that since the wind died down 2 days ago I have felt great.

It was a great night last night for walking. Yes, it was warm, but the crowds were nice and light. The early part of the week is always the best time to be there. On weekends, I have the luxury of going out early morning to avoid the crowds too. It’s good to get out of the apartment head space and go be in a different head space on the Strip. With the music playing, I find it is a good stream of consciousness time to just let my mind wander. Plus I always manage to amuse myself when I find that I am trying to walk to the beat. Now if everyone would just get out of my way!

I have to say the weight loss is also nice given this summer’s high school reunion. Seems like a good motivator, although that wasn’t my intent when I started. Facebook has been nice since I can see a lot of friends now and the wear and tear over the years compared to mine. It feels a bit silly to be concerned by my appearance, but how can you help it with that group? These are the people you went through that time period with when appearance was everything. Time to let the insecurities of the past go.

Updates

I know it’s been awhile since my last update. I guess I just need to feel that something worthwhile has happened before writing anything. I mean really, how exciting is it to talk about day to day life here when nothing changes?

But that is not true now. So here are the updates.

First up is my new hair color. I know with Facebook that I have already made this update, but for those of you not on Facebook and that I didn’t already shove pictures at, I have added purple highlights to my hair. I really like it, but it sure is a maintenance hassle. My bathtub, my fingernails and my pillow case all tell the tale of constantly bleeding dye. So that would be the biggest drawback to this non-permanent color choice. Still, I love the color, so I guess I will deal with the rest until I can’t take it anymore. Chances are this is just a summer experiment, but we’ll see how it goes. The big test was a business trip I took last week to Montréal. If the client was really going to react in a strange way, then I would have had to do some serious rethinking on my hair choices. Turns out I didn’t need to worry about it, but more on that in a minute.

At the end of the day, the color is so dark that it really is not noticeable until I get out into the sun. The next stage is the inevitable fading and seeing what the heck it’s going to fade into. As long as I don’t see any of the orange that was there before the color was applied I think I will be fine.

Ok, so last week I took another trip to Canada. It was so nice to finally be in Canada in a season other than winter. The weather was nice, even with the bit of rain we had. I really like working with this client since they are so easy-going. Each trip I take to Canada just continues to reinforce my love of Canadians.

And no trip would be complete without an interesting travel story, and I do so hate to disappoint you. Now I know I have covered this, but since I take so few flights these days, it was a reminder tome as well. I am referring to having Las Vegas as my home airport. The trip home was the usual party plane with groups of people all excited to get through a grueling 5 hour flight and get to the playground in the desert. I had a couple of guys sitting next to me and clearly they were part of a larger group scattered around the plane. Since I had already resolved the fact that I would be getting no sleep, I finished the book I brought with me.

The guy sitting right next to me was the interesting story for this trip. I honestly couldn’t tell what his problem was, so let me just describe it here. Once he and his friend were seated, he immediately pulled out some hand sanitizer for himself and then offered it to me. It’s like an updated version of offering someone a stick of gum or a breath mint. I felt compelled to accept and I certainly am not against clean hands on an airplane, so I graciously accepted the offer. Nice Bath and Body stuff that smelled like figs. So far no weirdness, but this was only the beginning.

After applying the hand goo, he pulled out a mask. Now that had my attention. Was this guy a serious germaphobe? Was he in fact sick? Overly paranoid about swine flu? This was the mystery I had in front of me. Over the next 5 hours, he proceeded to use the hand sanitizer about every 20 minutes. I’m not even kidding about this. I think I am going to be reminded of him each time I smell figs. Given the compulsiveness of his hand washing, I was leaning toward the germaphobe explanation. But then there were things that just didn’t fit.

He had no problems touching the tray table, the touch screen TV on the back of the headrest, or the beverage cans that were handed to him. That doesn’t make sense, right? I was expecting to see some serious cleaning or avoidance behavior and I got nothing. Just the constant had washing. He even switched out to a clean mask about halfway through the flight. Then I wondered if he was ill after all? He didn’t strike me as being sick though. Oh well, I just have to live with the mystery I guess. If nothing else, it kept me occupied while I flew ever closer to my own bed.

Friday was back to work, but not a lot going on there and I had to get ready for the next trip to LA. It was finally time to see Keane again!!!! Los Angles is now the first time I have seen them in the same city. Since they don’t appear to be coming back to Las Vegas any time soon, it looks like that may be the trek I have to make each time they come to the states. Still, it’s not a bad drive at all. And rather than stay in LA, I end up near Pasadena which is a bit better for me on the way home again. I didn’t really pay much attention to the name of the hotel I had booked, so it was funny to me when I arrived and realized it was the same place I had stayed 2 years ago when I last saw them.

This year they were playing at the Hollywood Palladium. It was an interesting old ballroom that has been around forever and hosted all sorts of entertainers from Lawrence Welk and Glenn Miller to the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead. Standing room only of course, and there were 2 opening bands. I got there about an hour before the doors opened and the line was already stretched halfway around the block. Still, I was pretty close to the stage, so I settled in and waited. Luckily, I didn’t have amazons standing in front of me this time.

The first band was called the Helio Sequence. Kind of an electronica/ dance sound to them and they were fantastic. The drummer was easily the most entertaining drummer I have ever seen. I love watching drummers anyway since they seem to be in their own world behind the drum kit, but this guy was extra special. He has these facial expressions that were so funny, I thought for sure that he was doing it on purpose. Just really over exaggerated stuff. I swear he had a rubber face like Jim Carrey. Anyway, they were great so it looks like I can add another band to the list.

The next act was Matt Kearney. He was kind of dull, frankly. I know one single of his and its ok, but it sounds like so much other stuff that it doesn’t really make much of an impact, at least not for me. He reminded me a bit of Jack Johnson although not quite that sleepy. Still, my knees were beginning to hurt and I just wanted him to leave. After feeling like he played forever, he finally left. I seriously thought I was going to pass out that that point. I had to keep reminding myself to stop locking my knees. Keane finally took the stage around 10 pm. At that point I had been standing for about 4 hours. I found my mind wandering to how much Aleve I had packed with me and why didn’t I think to take one before the show? Not exactly something I worried about in my 20’s you know? Ugh. Oh well. The boys finally came on and I felt no more pain.

Since this new album is a bit more upbeat and they have finally added guitars back in to the mix, it was a much more rocking show than in previous years. They played the songs a little faster and a little sharper than they perform them on the album and it really works well for the live audience, in my humble opinion. They played lots of songs from the new album of course, along with some mixed in from the previous 2 albums. It was a good set list, but I was a bit sad to see that some of my favorites didn’t make the cut. They finally wrapped up around 11:30 and I had to remind my legs how to work again to get out of there.

Getting back to the hotel was a bit of a nightmare and took about an hour and a half. I am really disappointed over the stupid directions I got from the Internet. Trying to get to the venue, the roads just disappeared and I literally stumbled across Sunset. Trying to go back to the hotel, I tried once again to follow the directions and it was a disaster. I realize I was in Hollywood on a Saturday night, but I could not believe the traffic on the 101. It was bumper to bumper for miles and made it no faster than about 15 mph. Again, fate intervened and I saw an exit for the 110 to Pasadena. Granted, I wasn’t staying there, but I was close enough to it that I figured I would take my chances. Thank God I decided to do it. The highway ended and dumped me out in Pasadena. From there I had no clue where I was. I went another block and there was the sign for the 210. Awesome!!!

This week I am headed out to Chicago for another show and to visit Lynnea. This time, I am probably going to end up in sneakers and take an Aleve before I go. They are going to be playing in another ballroom and it will be my first time to see them in Chicago. I am really excited, but I also know that once it’s over I will go into my Keane hangover. Still, I get to spend time with Lynnea and baby Nolan, so it won’t be so bad.

30 Days of April

Since I couldn't resist posting this to FaceBook today, I figured I may as well post it here too. Clearly not my favorite month (#9). Since I get asked the same questions I thought I would take a more proactive approach this year. It was actually tough to come up with all 10 responses.

Probably the longest 30 days of my whole year. Right then, let’s get to the answers….

1. No, it’s actually in June.
2. Follow up answer to inevitable follow up question: Because they wanted to.
3. No, it’s Inger.
4. No, it doesn’t change. It’s the same every month.
5. Yes, I’ve heard of the group.
6. Yes, I am familiar with that song.
7. No, it brings the water bill.
8. OR…No, it brings relief to my bladder (sickos!)
9. No, it isn’t. I prefer October.
10. Not generally. I think I am more suspicious of everything today.

And here is some good information for you. It’s true. I think…

With the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, New Year's Day was moved from an eight-day celebration starting on March 25 to the date we know now.

However, because every day was a slow news day then, many, when they finally heard about the change, refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1. These backward folk were labeled as "fools" ridiculed and often sent on fool’s errands.

Twilight

I finally watched the movie this weekend. It was ok, but I didn’t think it was great. Since I read the series, I knew that with any book-turned-movie that you are bound to run into some disappointments. No way can they really capture the essence of all those pages into a 2 hour movie. Still, it wasn’t really the story itself that was the disappointment.

No, my biggest complaint was in the actors for Bella and Edward. They just seemed really flat. Its one thing for Edward to appear a bit repressed especially since there was a lot of himself that he was hiding in this particular piece of the story. I could have bought that I suppose. Bella was the real drag in this movie. Her performance was awful. Honestly, it was like watching a female version of Toby Maguire. Bella is supposed to be a bit of a loner and kind of shy, but I wasn’t getting that from her performance. She seemed so deadpan most of the time I found myself rolling my eyes a lot at the things she would say with no emotion on her face.

I think the best part was when James broke her leg and bit her. At least then she was required to do something other than stare and mumble something. The version of the movie I bought was the 3 disc set with a bunch of interviews and a documentary of the making of it. That part was more interesting. There were a couple of interview segments with the actors for Bella and Edward. It was clear from their commentary that they understood the characters well enough and the mindset they had in their performances. The delivery was just off somehow.

Oh well, maybe the second movie with Jacob and the pack will be better. What I will really be interested in seeing is the scene in the beginning when Edward breaks up with Bella and leaves her in the woods. To read that scene and the following pages had me bawling my eyes out. Hopefully seeing it on the big screen won’t cause me to bawl in disappointment.

Frankly, the Harry Potter movies did a better job with the casting.

Busy Bee

Things have been pretty busy this week. Lots of meetings and questions and all the stuff that happens when a new project really starts to hit its stride. Once again I find myself in charge of a group of developers. It’s funny that it keeps happening, really. I know I am going to end up jumping in and developing something and that’s OK. Everything is short enough that I should be able to juggle that with everything else.

So yesterday I went out to the Keane site and saw that they added a second date for LA in May. I am already going to one show and now they have added one for the next day. So tempting to go….I have until the end of this week to take advantage of the presale offer. I would need to take a day off from work though and I don’t think I want to do that. Bad timing for the project. Plus I will be seeing them the following week in Chicago anyway, so why get greedy? Assuming of course that I finally get around to buying my plane ticket. I need to hurry up and decide which airport I am flying in to.

Hmmm…so what else? This weekend I am going to a birthday party. I don’t really know the birthday girl that well, although she seems nice enough. She is doing a themed birthday too. A black and white party. I still need to check with Heidi to find out more info about it. I hope its fun.

It’s starting to warm up ‘round these parts too. I was out for a walk last night and it was still pretty warm out. The Strip was crazy crowded too. I am guessing that we have a ton of people in town for Spring Break and also for the March Madness tournament. I am thinking it might be a good idea to avoid the Strip this weekend unless I decide to go early in the morning.

New Beginning

Today I felt like I did something useful again at work. Now that my last project is fading into a memory, I am able to get started fresh on something new. Last week I headed out to Montreal for a few days for some client meetings. I was a little concerned about the French speaking part, but luckily it never really became an issue.

The meetings were very productive and it was nice to feel like a consultant again. After spending the last 10 months as a puppet and scapegoat, I was really questioning whether or not I even wanted to stay in this industry at all. How quickly that can change given the right environment. So here I am, doing the job I am supposed to be doing and feeling much better about everything. In fact, I even had a bit of a geek moment today when I was asked to talk about virtual classroom content and best practices. I think I bombarded poor Jim with a lot of information.

Other than work, life is good. Drama continues to ebb and flow around me, but still somehow I manage to avoid getting too caught up in it. I had to take care of a friend yesterday and I was certainly glad to help in whatever way I could.

I am still spending a lot of time on Facebook. I figured it would taper off after the honeymoon period, but it is still pretty addicting. What has suffered these long months is this blog. I suppose I just felt that all I had to say started and ended with a complaint and ranting about it was going to bore me and anyone else reading this, so why bother? I am trying to get back in the swing of regular updates now.

It’s strange to think about being out of practice with just jotting my thoughts down, and yet I sat here for a bit with a white page just wondering where to begin. It just dawned on me that I do that for every entry. Truly, once you start it just gets easier.

I wish I had some new fun event coming up to talk about, but so far nothing on the horizon until May. I think I am getting a visit from my brother-in-law in April, which is always nice. Other than that, looks like things will be fairly quiet. (Did I just jinx myself with that?)

Catching Up

Now that things are finally winding down on project Voldemort, I figure it’s about time to start updating the blog again. This past weekend was a fun weekend vacation with the girls. We stayed a couple of nights at THE hotel and then a couple of nights at my place.

As always, it was a lot of fun to see the girls again. I love the fact that we can get together and it always feels like no time has passed.

So the first night we ended up staying in the hotel and just catching up. We hung out at a tiny little bar called the Orchid Lounge in Mandalay Bay. There were a couple of guys playing music but for the most part we had the place to ourselves most of the night. No trip to Vegas (at least when you are visiting me) is complete without a trip to the Peppermill, so we headed there for a very late dinner.

Saturday night we went to the Comedy Stop at the Trop and watched a comedy show. I thought it was pretty good, although the first show I saw there was a bit funnier. Still, it was a good time. Afterward we headed out to Firefly for a late dinner.

On Sunday, Baby headed home and I brought Mimi and ThreeL home with me. On Monday I took them to the wig outlet. We spent a couple of hours there and had a great time. Here are some of the pictures from our photo shoot later that night.

So next week I am headed out of town for a business trip. Should be interesting. I am headed to Canada which means that I have to go dig out some winter clothes. I swear I have never been to Canada when it wasn’t winter.

So it seems that I am spending quite a bit of time on Facebook these days. I like it so much better than My Space. Frankly, I am surprised at how many people I have been able to find. Then again, it isn’t always such a great thing to be found. Having work friends and school friends in the same place is a bit weird.

And finally, I was able to get tickets to a couple of Keane shows in May. I am excited to be able to see them in a new city too. I have tickets for both LA and Chicago. I am going to the LA show by myself, but in Chicago I’ll have Mimi and Dave with me. It will be strange to go to a show with another Keane fan. It should be a real treat!

Making Peace with the Computer

Been a long time since I have made an entry here. I think that with all the long hours at work that I just couldn’t seem to find the energy or enthusiasm for spending any more time than I had to on my computer. It became the enemy.

So here I am now trying to make peace. I was on vacation last week and thought I might try to catch up on the blog then, but I couldn’t make myself turn the computer on all week. I did a whole lot of sleeping and cleaning and reading and basically anything that didn’t involve a lot of technology.

I wish I could say I was done with this project, but I still have some time left on my sentence. I thought I would be done by the end of this month, but I am now hearing it won’t be until the end of February. I would be surprised if at some time that didn’t extend into March. Perhaps I am being a bit too pessimistic.

Still, I know I should be glad I still have a job at all. That’s the rub of it I suppose. Even though I want off of this project, there doesn’t appear to be any other work to replace it with yet. And sitting around with nothing to do is never a good thing.

So, let’s think. What news do I have? After a brief hiatus, I have started walking again. About every other day or so I walk a few miles. It’s nice to get outside for a bit. Plus, the weather seems to be cooperating nicely now. We should be in the low to mid 60’s this week. Last weekend I was walking down the strip and walked through the new hotel, Encore. It’s nice, of course but actually kind of small.

This is another Steve Wynn hotel and the sister property to the Wynn hotel. Like the Wynn it also has moved into the new direction of not having a theme to it. I will say however that both properties do appear to have more of an Asian/ Indian flavor to them. Not really surprising when you think about it.

Other than that, I am supposed to take Harmony roller skating as her birthday present. I am still trying to find the time to pull that off. It should be fun if I can ever manage to get it done.

Thanksgiving

Well here it is Thanksgiving again. It feels like a million years since I wrote on the blog, but I have some time to kill while waiting for Heidi to give me the green light to come over. So here I am with warm pumpkin bread and cold white wine ready to go. I’m bringing a movie over too. This year’s pick is The Money Pit. Heidi and I were talking about it last week for some reason (I think it had something to do with the turkey scene) and I went out and bought it for today.

This is also generally the weekend I set up the Christmas tree with this year’s theme. Unfortunately the market tanked and my visions of Russian Christmas have to be put on hold this year. Instead I have come up with a new theme. This year’s theme is Harmony. I picked it because I realize I have to go trolling through Christmas past and use the ornaments I already have. How traditional of me, right? So all my ornaments are going to have to live in harmony on the tree this year. The other reason I chose this theme is because I have decided to let Heidi’s daughter Harmony pick out the ornaments and decorate my tree. Lord only knows what she might come up with but I suppose that is part of the fun. I have visions of feather boas, silver bells, shoes and purses and maybe even a few origami ninja stars thrown in. It should be interesting.

The rest of this weekend will once again be spent working. Not exactly a fun time, but I find it a lot easier to get through work when the phone isn’t constantly ringing. I really just want this year to be over. And this project. And this job. But enough of that…..

This is also the first Christmas I won’t be heading back to Ohio. Instead I have managed to convince my Dad (buying the plane ticket helped) to come spend Christmas with me. My sisters are relieved to have one less house to visit that day, so it seems to be win-win for everyone. I wish I didn’t have to work while he was here, but hopefully this awful project won’t totally kill my Christmas spirit.

Operation Christmas Cookie is still going to go on in the next few weeks, but I doubt I’ll be able to do as much as last year. Still it’s fun so I will make the time to do it between conference calls to India every evening. The other thing I am keeping my fingers crossed about is the possibility of seeing Keane perform in LA. Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning and I am going to try my best to get one. The concert is on a Sunday which means driving back here early Monday morning. I have already told my project lead that I am going to “be sick “that morning if I get tickets. Somehow I doubt the world will end if I miss my normal 6 am Monday morning conference call, right? This is likely my Christmas present to myself so everyone else can just deal. Plus, with the vacation embargo being enforced on this prison sentence, I’m taking time when I can get it. If I have to manufacture a little stomach flu for a few hours, then so be it.

Nice holiday spirit I have these days, right? I keep reminding myself everything will work out eventually. I know it. So for today, I am thankful of the break in work, thankful that I am going to spend a fun day with my adopted Las Vegas family that doesn’t make me cook, and thankful that my favorite band is coming across the pond this year.

Leaky Sponge

I’ve done a lot of absorbing this week. I was called up for active friendship duty and if I wasn’t exactly happy to do it, I answered the calls as best I could and provided support as best I could. In truth, all that was required was that I listen. Input seemed largely optional, but I answered questions when asked and kept my ears open and mouth shut.

I feel like total crap today. It’s hard to figure out this state I’m in since the drama happened around me and not actually to me. Still, I can’t help but feel affected by all that touched me. After absorbing all of this sorrow and disappointment, I am now at a point where I have to do something with it. At the moment, it appears to be leaking out of my eyes. The contents of my stomach don’t seem very happy to be there either.

I tried for normalcy today. I went to breakfast. I went to the grocery. It feels a bit like sleep walking. Life is going on around me and I am disconnected and caught up in my own head space. It feels like depression. Given the past 7 days I shouldn’t be surprised, but I think the events themselves aren’t the cause. I wonder if what I am feeling is simply loneliness. If I personalized the events of the last week as if they were my own, who would I have been reaching out to? Certainly there are the usual suspects of friends and family. I spoke to both this week but I don’t think it is my long distance support system that is the source either.

Regardless, tomorrow is another day. I feel better by just forcing myself to articulate even this much. I’ve spent today trying to get some extra work done. Would you believe I actually had to make a deal with myself to have this little breakdown now rather than wallow all day? Scheduled breakdowns. Now that’s organization.

Lost and Found in Las Vegas

I have had the strangest week. I don’t think I have the energy to go into the details. Besides, it would sound unreal. I am stressed out and most of the drama isn’t even mine. How fair is that?

Here are some of the highlights. And please understand these are only a few.

Lost
Remember my new work friend in Las Vegas? I think I mentioned her a couple of months ago. I received a call from her over the weekend and learned about a strange tragedy over her now missing fiancé. A couple’s argument escalated into him leaving the house last Friday evening and has not been heard from since. I mean it. He just walked away from his entire life dressed in a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops. There has been no phone communication, no money movement, nothing. There are a million things I am leaving out, but again; I just don’t have the energy.

Found
I got an email from Steve this week. Out of nowhere. Just checking in to say Hi. I haven’t heard from him since he disappeared back in January. I don’t even know how to process this information given the drama of this week….

Lost
Heidi had her exam this week for the Police Department. It came down to 43 seconds. She missed a qualifying time by less than a minute and was once again denied her dream. I helped her drown her sorrows with a really yummy bundt cake. She is evaluating if she is going to try again. She told herself this was the last time, but how can you give up a dream like that?

Found
I finally found someone on Facebook that I have been looking for. We are friends now. Then again, we aren’t exactly chatty, but it doesn’t matter. I found him. AND ThreeL finally joined FB too. I knew it was only a matter of time. Still, she didn’t really want to be found. Now we just need her to add a picture.

Lost
Word around the water cooler is that we are going through a reorganization by year’s end. I am pretty sure my job is safe, but others won’t be so lucky. Still, it never hurts to have the resume dusted off and ready to go, right?

Seriously? What the heck is going on with this week? I have now started to randomly email people and just ask them to go ahead and deliver their news. No more waiting for the bombs to drop. Just go ahead and get it all off your chest and tell me. Now is the time to hit me with it. You found out you were adopted? You’re testifying in a trial and then headed into Witness Protection? Considering that sex change after all? Go ahead and lay it on me….

Perfect Symmetry

So today the new Keane album was released. It’s pretty good. It’s also very different from their first 2 albums. It has a retro 80’s vibe to it. If you didn’t care for that quirky electronic sound then, this isn’t the album for you. The deluxe album includes a couple of interviews with the band as well as demo recordings of most all the songs. The demos are recorded by Tim who is the primary songwriter for the group. Tim isn’t terrible, but I can see why they leave the singing to Tom. Still, hearing Tim sing reminds me a bit of David Byrne from the Talking Heads.

There are also a couple of videos available on YouTube. The video for Spiralling reminds me of the Max Headroom days of old. How’s that for an old 80’s reference? The video for the single “The Lovers are Losing” is total crap. There, I said it. I may love the band but that doesn’t mean I have to love their bad videos. The video makes no sense. Skip it. You have more important things to do. Here is the video for Spiralling.

So my Keane fund is slowly but surely growing each week. Since the guys are kicking off their European tour, I have plenty of time to amass my concert fund for later next year. It’s nice to have something like this to look forward to. I am still hoping to see them in some new cities. I know eventually there are going to be some repeats, but there are still plenty of places to go!

Wiki- Wacky- Woo!

So I learned something new today, isn’t that great? I was talking to Mimi on Facebook and we started talking about planning our next girl’s vacation. During our discussion she asked me if we should set up a “wiki” to keep track of our discussions. I had no idea what she was talking about.

She sent me a link, which I will of course share with you. It is a really cute demonstration of how to use a wiki. Pretty simple concept. I offered to go ahead and set one up for our vacation planning.

And I did. Mimi, Baby, and ThreeL should be receiving an email from me inviting them to join. So just do it.

In other Facebook related news, more people want to be my friend. Isn’t that nice? Three more people from high school have found me. One of them was even my college roommate my freshman year. You heard it right, Maren has found me. We have traded a couple of messages already. The other 2 who reached out are from that fringe group, meaning we knew each other, but I wouldn’t have called us close friends. Still, it is nice to see the old high school rules don’t seem to apply any longer.

So that’s it for now. Thanks again Mimi for providing the inspiration for my first topic for this month. Let’s go on vacation!!!

For the Love of Foo

Well, the big day finally arrived. Last night Heidi and I went to go see the Foo Fighters concert at the Joint. This was my birthday gift to Heidi since she is turning 30 this year and the Foo Fighters are her favorite band AND she has never seen them in concert.

So, back in July I found out that they were going to be in town and I decided to get the tickets. I really wanted it to be a surprise, but there was no way she was not going to hear about them coming to town, so I decided to tell her about it.

I actually don’t know too many songs by them other than the stuff that gets regular air play, so I had to start doing some research and prep for the show. I went out and located copies of their set lists from their most recent shows and decided to put together a playlist for me to “study” for the show. That was what? 8 weeks ago? I’m glad I decided to do it; otherwise I think I would have known about 3 songs.

The concert was at the Hard Rock Hotel at the Joint. I know I have mentioned this place before for other shows, but this show was super-packed. Then again, I think the band is so big now that they play in really huge stadiums. It was a real treat to be able to see them in a place this small. They are playing again tonight too.

So let’s start with the opening band. This won’t take long. The name of the group was Year Long Disaster. They probably played about 8 songs and I don’t think I could have told you a single word. They were boring because nothing they did was original. Everything they played reminded me of someone else. Yawn.

So the guys finally took the stage just after 9 and rocked it for the next 2 ½ hours. I think what I liked best about Dave Grohl is how funny he is. I enjoy their goofy videos, but I guess I never gave too much thought to the personalities of anyone in the band. All I knew about Dave was that he was the drummer for Nirvana. And I didn’t like Nirvana. There. I said it. Couple of songs and that’s it.

So here then is the set list for the show. They changed it up a bit from the one I had prepared, but all in all, I think my prep work paid off nicely. For the acoustic version of Hero listed below, I included a You Tube video that was recorded at our show. With the number of cameras I saw last night, I knew I wouldn’t have too much trouble finding a video today. The video contains some bad language, so I wouldn’t recommend playing it at work unless you have a head set.

1)Let it Die
2)The Pretender
3)Times Like These
4)Cheer up, Boys
5)Learn to Fly
6)Young Man Blues
7)Long Road to Ruin
8)Stacked Actors
9)Low
10)Hey! Johnny Park
11)Monkey Wrench
12)Skin and Bones
13)Marigold
14)My Hero (acoustic)





15)Cold Day in the Sun
16)But Honestly
17)All My Life
e:
18)Gimme Stiches
19)Generator
20)Everlong
21)Best of You

The show was fantastic. I would love to see them again. Plus, Heidi had a great time which was the whole point. She ended up with a t-shirt and a poster. Here is a picture of us at the show.

Color Career Counselor

So lately I have been feeling a bit restless with my career. I think the basic problem is that I feel less creative and more administrative. It leaves me feeling in a bit of a career crisis so I find myself looking at career counseling information. I came across this interesting test today so I thought I would share.

I enjoyed it because it was all about colors. All I needed to do was pick my color preferences and then it spit out a short report on my best occupational categories. This is not the first career test I have taken, but I will say that the results seem to be consistent with others I have taken. I suppose that’s a good thing, right? Except for the tiny problem in that it tells me I should be doing exactly what I’m doing. Rats…that’s what they have all basically said. So if that’s true, then why the restlessness?

I guess I have to go back to the first paragraph. I am not as creative in this job as I have been in other jobs. I guess I just miss it. It was a bigger contributor to my job satisfaction than I anticipated when I took this job.

Anyway, you can take the free test by going here. They will try to sell you a more in-depth test, but I skipped it.

I’m not sure of all of the categories available, but my results pegged me as a Creator and a Social Manager. For the Creator, I was given the following description:

These original types place a high value on aesthetic qualities and have a great need for self-expression. They enjoy working independently, being creative, using their imagination, and constantly learning something new. Fields of interest are art, drama, music, and writing or places where they can express, assemble, or implement creative ideas.

Among the occupations listed were Web Designer, Technical Writer, Corporate Trainer, Author, and Editor. In other words, all aspects of what I do now or did in the past. I am still waiting for the warm fuzzies I should have for making such great career decisions. In the meantime, I am looking at some technical classes offered here for things like Flash and Captivate and Photoshop. To feed the need for learning new things, these make the most sense. Plus I think I am too lazy to learn these things on my own, so I would rather go sit in a class for a day or two and just get it done.

Thundercloud

This is no commentary on the weather. But if you’d like an update, we are finally getting down out of the triple digits for the year…although not this weekend. The week has been in the 90’s but we are warming back up again today. Whatever. Honestly, you can feel a difference between 100 and 110 I assure you. And after 3+ months of it, 100 feels nice.

No, this is about my mood. For many reasons I seem to be walking around with a thundercloud over my head. I came out to the blog today and saw that my last entry was August 29. I scanned over the contents again and realized I had absolutely nothing new to write about and another entry would just resemble that one. Why not just copy and paste the stupid thing and call it a day? See? Thundercloud…..

What used to be a place to come and examine my thoughts has recently become a place to come and realize I have nothing new to say. Does my life have to be filled with adventure daily? No. Lord knows if it was I would just find ways to complain about that too.

I suppose part of the angst is that I can’t complain about work out here. No, I pretty much guaranteed that would be a bad idea. Still, I suppose it’s for the best for all of us that I don’t give myself an open platform to really whine. It must be my self-censorship that is chaffing me in bad places.

So now that I am sitting here thinking about bad moods, I am wondering realistically how long I can actually hold on to it? Have you ever really tried to hold on to one? I suppose if it is really focused on a person or situation it might be easier. But what about just a plain old bad mood? I know what you’re thinking…why would you want to hang on to it? I was just thinking that it might be an interesting experiment to see what’s possible. Unfortunately (for the experiment) I am already distracted and not nearly as cranky.

Here are the top 5 reasons now working against my bad mood today:

1. It’s Friday
2. It’s pay day.
3. I just made a fresh pot of coffee and am drinking it out of my “Cake or Death” mug.
4. Money was transferred into my Keane concert fund today.
5. My cherry pants/ hoodie combination actually matches today. Not that it matters, but it just happened so I can totally classify this outfit as “effortless.”
   

It feels very Seinfeld-esque to spend time talking about nothing, but since it makes me feel better, why not? And speaking of Jerry, have you seen the new commercials with him and Bill Gates? They are really kind of cute. Still, I would have to say my favorite commercials are still the eTrade talking baby and the Tide Stain stick talking stains. THOSE are hilarious. The job interview is my favorite.

Fine…I can’t even keep a bad mood going. I don’t know if I should be upset about it or not.

Cleaning the Inbox

I think this will probably just be another list of random topics. I think of it as cleaning out the Inbox before the long weekend. The first step is just getting started.

Ok, first up….I made a new friend this week. Isn’t that nice? And she doesn’t even work for the spa. In fact, she works for the same company I do and she recently moved here with her fiancé. We met for dinner this week just to get acquainted. You never know with these things, right? It could have been awful. It wasn’t. She is really nice, a little younger than me, and totally up for exploring the city. It’s nice because all the other people I know here don’t want to go out and do this stuff any more. So I think we are going to the Elvis museum on Monday. Maybe Liberace. I don’t know yet. AND, I have a new person to haul over to the Peppermill. Yum!

What else? Well, my Facebook experience seems to have exploded over the last month. What’s up with that? Suddenly everyone that ever thought they knew me is reaching out to say Hi. It’s nice, of course. I guess the timing just seems a little odd. I’ve had the page for a while but it really just took off all of a sudden. Still, I like it a lot better than MySpace. As much as it makes me want to cringe to say it, Facebook seems a bit more age appropriate. Ugh. These days, I only use the MySpace page to keep up with different bands.

And speaking of bands…..Yay!!! I was able to see Keane this week. They were having a radio interview in London earlier this week so I tuned in online so I could listen to it. Little did I know that the studio was set up with web cams so I was able to see them too! They were there to talk about the new album and I was able to hear a few of the new songs. Apparently, they are really feeling the old 80’s electronic sound because all 3 of the songs I heard had it. I wouldn’t say I’m in love with it yet, but I’m sure it will grow on me.

I think I may have mentioned it in an earlier blog, but listening to the songs reminded me of specific songs from the 80’s because of that weird distorted sound. I mentioned that Human League song, but I thought of another one today. I am also reminded of Nu Shooz, “I can’t wait.” That whole electric part that is so catchy, remember? Anyway, I am still anxious to get the new album in October.

Along the music lines, Baby sent me a CD this week. It’s funny, really. Well, it would be if you had been involved in the conversation that led to it. But since it won’t mean anything to you, I’ll spare you the details and just say that I have a fun new CD to listen to with some of Baby’s favorite songs performed by females. Baby- I am really digging the DM cover of Enjoy the Silence! Awesome!

And finally, Heidi is moving once again. And again I am helping her. Hopefully this will be the last time for a while. Tonight and probably part of tomorrow I will help her shuttle stuff from the old place to the new place. Luckily, they are just down the street from each other.

That’s it. Have a great weekend!

Update on Perfect Symmetry

I have a Keane update. Their new album is going to be released this fall and I can’t wait! I received an email from the web site about 2 weeks ago with the opportunity to download one of the songs. It’s called Spiralling. Spell check goes nuts over that one, but that’s the way it goes.

Anywho, another email today gave me the good news that the single is now available on iTunes. With a completely biased attitude, I highly recommend that you go and listen to it. When I first heard the intro I was immediately reminded of old 80’s synth sounds from bands like the Human League. Specifically, it reminds me of the song (Keep Feeling) Fascination.

Perfect Symmetry is the name of the album and the release date is October. Please take all the necessary precautions and prepare yourself to listen to me go on like an idiot for months to come.