It's great to be back! I think seven days in Wisconsin might be too long. I found out three years ago that nine days is definitely too long. Next time, I will try five days. Overall, it was a successful trip. Mom won $750 playing bingo at the casino, so she paid for my rental car. :) I got to see Taylor (pictures on the way) and she is SO big! It really hasn't been that long since I saw her last, but she is crawling and pulling herself up to things. By the next time I come home she'll be walking for sure. She is so cute and has the best smile. We also went to my cousin's new house that her husband built. It's SO pretty and huge! She has a great jet tub in the bathtub that I covet. On Monday I met up for lunch with an old friend, Rosey, from the good ole days of Dennis, Marie, Andy, Joe, Rosey, and Brian. On the weekends when I came home from UWL, we would gather at the Riemer household and play cards, chat, clap for Katarina when she came out of the bathroom during her early potty training days. Rosey and I had lost touch in the way that people do when marriages and moves happen but we ran into each other at Wal-Mart while I was home. Anyway, she and I and her son spent Monday afternoon catching up. She's had a rough couple years since the days we used to hang out more regularly and that's just wrong because she deserves much more. But it sounds like things might be improving and so there is hope.
It didn't snow while I was in Wisconsin and there was barely any snow on the ground anyway. The first few days were quite pleasant but the last couple days it was very cold. I don't miss that at all.
I was glad to sleep in my ultra comfortable bed last night, Mika barely leaving me in case I left her again. Although Mom got a new bed while I was there, there is no extra bed and so I am always delegated to the couch, which usually isn't too bad, but I was sick with the flu or food poisoning one night and that wasn't comfortable at all. I was glad to get cell phone reception, e-mail access, too. And I am glad to be back to work! I know, no one should feel like that...
Thanks to Tim for taking good care of Mika and for also taking me to the airport. Thanks also to Erich for fetching me even though he then had to go back to work, even though I told him not to. He never listens to me. :) Hey, this sounds like some kind of acceptance speech now...what have I won?? :)
The major car problems ended up to be that the spark plugs had to be replaced. It was a relatively cheap endeavor, compared to all the other times I have been to the mechanic. The parts cost $20 and the labor $80. That sucks. But everything seems good now, so it was worth it.
I spent a lot of time today running around buying "Christmas" presents. All I have left is to get Grandpa's can opener and Mom's tv for the playroom (my old bedroom). It looks like everything will fit in the suitcases, which is a relief. Tim is dropping me off tonight at the airport and Erich has been gracious enough to succumb to my pleas and will pick me up next week. I think I agreed to give him my first born child in return, but it's worth it to not have to walk home from Sea-Tac. I can always have other children.
I'm tired already.
Friday night was...interesting. Keely, Suganthi, Liset, Melissa, and a friend of Suganthi's named Kate, came over. We had lots to eat for dinner (and I even had some red wine that tasted pretty good and didn't make me feel drunk): pasta, salad, bread, chocolate mousse with strawberries for dessert. We attended Theatre Sports, which was ok. It wasn't great, but it wasn't as bad as I have seen, and Kate got to participate in a skit and go on stage, so that was memorable. Unfortunately, my favorite actor wasn't there. Afterwards, we returned to my place but dispersed without watching a movie as planned. Suganthi stayed over and we were up until 5 am, which of course returned me quickly to my vampire hours because I slept until 3 pm on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday night was Tim's belated birthday party. I made way too many deviled eggs.
Yesterday I was going to clean the house because it is a wreck from Friday night's party. However, I didn't. I lazed around and when I finally dressed, I went to Triple JJJ.
I am having major car problems. For almost a week my car has been making this weird noise; when I drive slowly, am in reverse, or am stopped. It sounds like it's skipping, a chugging, and like it's about to stall. On Friday I took it in but they didn't have time for it and he could not find anything wrong when he quickly looked it over. He thought it would be okay for the weekend, though, and sent me on my way with an appointment for this morning. It seemed okay for awhile afterwards, but when I got on 520, it started in again, and worse than ever. Since my worst fear in life is stalling on the bridge during rush hour, I managed to turn the car around and limp it back to the rental car place where I left it and rented a car sicne I had things to do this weekend that required me to drive. This morning the Service Engine light came on when I drove it the block to the mechanic. Good lord I hope they are able to fix it without bankrupting me. A couple months back I took it in for similar symptoms and they cleaned the throttle body and replaced the sparkplugs. I hope that either whatever they did last time has gone bad, which means I get it redone for free, or that whatever is wrong is covered by the extended warantee, which means that I only have to pay the deductible of $200. Sometimes I hate cars. It just doesn't seem fair that I got it back two weeks ago and already have had to take it in so many times!
For the first time in a long time, work is crazy busy. I have pages coming out of my ears, which explains my lack of blogging lately. I commute, work, work-out, and then come home and try not to look at the computer.
Valentine's Day approaches and I am reminded by the fact that last year I said, "Next year I will have a guy to celebrate with," because last year, my boyfriend was out with another girl. However, unless I meet someone in the next few days, another year will pass where I don't get flowers or even a cute little card. I have never received flowers from a guy and I pine for the day that I do. When I think about it, I haven't even received many gifts from a guy; Rolf only ever bought me a Christmas present. I'm not all about gifts, really. I'm more enamored with the fact that the guy had to go out, with me in mind, and peruse. Perhaps that's more selfish than wanting the actual gift. :) Anyway, enough with my eternal station of singleness.
I don't think that I like vending so much after all. I mean, it's not horrible. And maybe my sudden onset of dislike is because twice I have been told "no" today. First, I asked if it would be possible for me to borrow a laptop to take home with me to Wisconsin so I could do some work. The answer, "We currently have no available laptops." While I was disappointed, I understood. It's a decadent request. So then I asked about overtime. I have a lot of work to do and I also wanted to try and make back at least a portion of the money that I lost sitting at home for three weeks longer than I was supposed to. However, I was told that I am only "authorized" to work 40 hours. It's a long story, but the shorter version is that Volt bid a specific dollar amount for my services and when Microsoft agreed, Volt was paid in one lump sum which they in turn distribute to me week by week. If I were to start working overtime, I would require a larger portion of my alottment and of course they're not going to give up any of their portion. I've already sent e-mail to Bret expressing my displeasure, as well as the things I do like so that I don't come off as a complete whining ungrateful employee. Perhaps he can get something done about it, although I am not holding my breath.
All week, after work, I have gone and worked out. Last night, I even ran on the evil treadmill for a full half hour. I think that's a new record for me. I'd set the timer for twenty minutes, but started it back up for ten more minutes afterwards because I wasn't ready to stop. I used to hate the treadmill, but now I like it because after sitting all day, it feels good to be upward and forward moving. Perhaps, if I'm brave and the weekend weather is nice, I will go jog by Green Lake or on the Burke-Gilman trail. Since I get bored on the treadmill so easily, maybe jogging outside will be more mentally stimulating. Anything to take my mind off of...stuff.
It only took 45 minutes to get to work, which is way better than the 1.5 hours when I was dependent upon the bus. The longest part was waiting to get onto 520 from the Montlake exit. I think nights will pose more of a problem, so my workaround for that is, after work I will go workout. If anything, the motivation should be simply to avert sitting in traffic. It's pretty nice here at VMC, although it seems I am destined/doomed to work in a lab. It's a little different looking in here than PRS, but I don't have a cubicle. I've gone from cubicle, to sharing an office with two then one other person, to nothing. Isn't one supposed to move to better working accomodations? Oh well. The upside is, there's still free pop, and there are also the new perks of free microwave popcorn and Xbox available down the hall. I haven't played in so long! I have two freaking games and no machine!
The weekend was good. Friday night was pretty slow so at about 10:30 I went to that new coffee shop I found, Zoka's, and hung out for awhile. When I ordered my perfunctory caramel latte, I was surprised to be asked, "Syrup or sauce?" I stammered, having never had options before, and she claimed that the syrup was sweeter than the sauce. Since we all know that I like my coffee not to taste like coffee, I chose the syrup. However, it was a little too sweet, so next time I will try the sauce. Saturday afternoon I met Erick at Cafe Lardo. We had a nice chat. The caramel latte there was good. Saturday night, I took Tim to Snappy Dragon for a day-late birthday dinner. Afterwards we watched Office Space at his place. Anyone who works, or has worked, at MS should find the otherwise mediocre movie, quite funny. There were some startling similarities, although I won't say what. Yesterday I ventured over to the Eastside, well, because I can now with ease, and ended up at the Triple J for a little bit of writing. Three coffee shops in as many days! WOW! Keely came over later and we chatted and since I had a craving for cheesecake, we began The Great Cheesecake Hunt. It began in Fremont. I remembered a dessert place, but it was closed, since it was around 10pm. Then we ventured downtown to The Cheesecake Factory only to find that it had closed about a half hour previous. Thwarted again, we headed back to Wallingford and ended up at Stellas, which is only about ten blocks from where we started. Thank goodness they served cheesecake.