wild cards, men from mars, dressed in stars and stripes

I'm still recovering from yesterday's festivities, but my recovery wasn't too bad today - my post last night was abbreviated because it was 2:30am (4:30am in Iowa) and I was so tired that I was starting to type gibberish, but I actually wasn't that intoxicated from the party. So, other than the fact that I slept like garbage last night, which gave me a headache, I felt mostly fine.

Yesterday was fantastic, though. I ran some errands in the morning (to buy decor for the party) and then had lunch with Chandlord. We went to a ramen place near my hotel, where I ordered a pork dish with rice because I can't eat ramen - it was pretty tasty, and I'm glad I got that instead of the spice that made Chandlord weep silently while she was eating her food. What a fun and interesting experience!

Then, I parted ways with Chandlord and took an uber to the Marina and back to pick up a bunch of cupcakes. I did a bit of work, took a brief nap, and then took care of some party stuff. Jess showed up at my hotel so that she could get ready, since she was already in SF for something earlier in the day, and I roped her into helping me with some decor elements. We shared an uber to the party venue, and she very kindly helped me set up the space. I'm very grateful that she was able to help, since I would not have had time to do everything myself!

Eventually, the party started, and it was a total riot. People were mostly on time and also mostly took it as an opportunity to dress up after years of no parties. The food and drinks were excellent. And I saw a total cross-section of all the major phases of my California life - Stanford people (freshman year and senior year), early coworkers, writing friends, and some connections between the groups. I'm used to seeing these people in separate / smaller gatherings, but it was really fun to see everyone in more of a party mode.

Of course, some ridiculous tings happened. Julie kept insisting on doing shots, but since the bar wasn't actually doing shots, they just poured cocktails into shot glasses - which was much tastier and safer for my liver. We discovered that Jane has a bunch of old photos stored on SmugMug, which I didn't even realize was still in business. John gave me (and everyone else) a Magic card for "The Swamp," which seemed appropriate. Walter came on his own actual birthday, which was great (and I hadn't seen him in forever, so I was glad he and his wife made it). I indulged Chris, Adit, and John, in playing "All the Way Up to Heaven" on the epic playlist. And we had an abbreviated candle ceremony in which Adit read a brief but v. dirty scene from one of my books (and other people gave other, more sincere, toasts), which will live in my heart for a long time.

So we hung out for about four hours, and people slowly trickled out at the end. The final nine went to Last Rites, which was around the block...but Adit and I made the mistake of ordering three punchbowls for nine (reasonable) and then discovering that really, only four or five people were drinking (not reasonable). I didn't need a punchbowl after the cocktails at the party, but I persevered, and Adit and I finished our punch bowl even though we had to give up on the other two. And the final group (Julie, Tom, Rachel, Shari, Chandlord, Adit, and I) was a very solid final group.

I don't think I'll have a birthday party again for a long time - but I have to say that this one lived up to my expectations, and I was thoroughly delighted by it. Happily, I have some time to catch up with poeple more quietly the next few days, but as parties go, this one was pretty great.

So I got back to my hotel around two last night, went to bed, and slept v. v. fitfully. Today, I mostly took it easy - I ate breakfast at the hotel, did some work / writing, ordered a takeout sandwich from Ike's (I do love their sandwiches), took a nap, etc. Then, I walked down to Beretta (on Divis) to meet up with Katrina - she wasn't able to come to the party last night, so it was great to see her. We caught up for three hours over pizza and squid ink risotto, and it was v. tasty (and wonderful).

And now, I really need to sleep - goodnight!

take back your wonderful life

The goodbyes continue apace; today was a lot, and I'm rapidly nearing the end. I had to be at the office by nine, where my boss's staff said goodbye to me (including an overly long playing of most of 'Paperback Writer' to start). Then I had meetings pretty much straight through until four; some of them were goodbyes, and some of them were work meetings where I pretended to still be deeply involved in whatever outcomes I definitely won't be around for.

I then said a somewhat hilarious goodbye to an admin whom I share a closet full of stuff with (long story), and then I went across the railroad tracks to Sanitas for a going away party. It was a funny choice for a going away party location for me because I don't drink beer, so my only option was a fairly terrible grapefruit-flavored hard seltzer - but the person who organized it (Morganne) knew this and cleared it with me first, and I was fine with it because I didn't want to overindulge. I had one hard selzter, which is a far cry from the million tequila shots at my last going away party in 2015. And I had some delightful conversations [listed for my own memory: Morganne, Alice, Alisha, Caroline, Carol, Sarah-Frances, Aaron, Matt, Vicky, JM, Sara, Melissa, Lexie, and perhaps a couple of others whom I'm blanking on]. It was an excellent turnout, especially for covid year three, and I was happy to hang out with all of them before the end.

After, I briefly went back to the office to get some stuff out of my trunk and put it into the closet full of stuff - these tings were shipped to my house in March 2020 because the office shut down while tings were in transit, and have been sitting here for over two years, but it's time to get them back onto company property. I also grabbed the last of my personal belongings and said goodbye to the building - if I don't ship my laptop/badge back next week, I'll still have to go in one more time next weekend, but I said my farewells just in case.

Leaving was, of course, bittersweet, but overall I'm v. happy about it. Then I drove home, ate some leftover thai, and took care of some stuff. And now I'm going to go to bed early and hope I can get enough sleep to sustain me through my last day of work tomorrow - goodnight!

my dear we still have everything

I went back to the office for the first time since my leave started today, and my badge didn't work. This was a hilarious way to start the morning, since I wondered if I had been surprise-terminated - but it turned out that there was some bug in the badging system and I happened to be affected. And now my badge works again...but after going to the office for all of one day, I kind of wish it didn't, since I'm definitely a better version of myself when I'm writing and napping and cooking than I am when I'm staring at videoconferences and complaining about the quality of the free snacks.

sssanyway. My day was fine overall, and I had lunch with Andy (who was one of the only other people in the office today). And I skipped out a little before five to meet my friend Sara for dinner at my beloved River and Woods - she had completely forgotten about it in the pandemic, and I haven't been there since I no longer live in Boulder, but it was still a delight. We hung out on the patio for a couple of hours, and I reacquainted myself with their poutine, and we had a great time.

Then I drove home, caught up with Katie for a bit, and generally leaned into some sloth. And now I'm going to try to go to bed early so that I can repeat similar feats tomorrow - goodnight!

still up with the sunrise, white lines in the hillside

I went into the office again today - now that I've been in three times, it's starting to feel a little normal. Of course, my office will never actually be normal - I found a secret room today (only because I was told there was one), where pushing the right set of boxes revealed a room with arcade games inside. I also discovered a meditation room, where I tapped on a Tibetan singing bowl for awhile and felt marginally more relaxed. And I had breakfast with Tomas and lunch with Caroline, so that was a delight.

In the afternoon, I hosted another 'treats and greets' event for a bunch of people in Boulder - I'm not entirely enthused about going back to the office permanently because I want to spend more time in Iowa than I'm going to be encouraged to in the future, but it is good for my mood to get all the sunlight in the office + all the people interactions. Then, after work, I remembered that there's a mall right next to the office - I had completely blocked it out of my mind that I used to do a lot of my errands in Boulder, because it was easier to go to Target or Sephora or Home Depot or Nordstrom Rack right next to the office while waiting out rush hour. It's amazing how many tings used to be common parts of my life two years ago and now are just...forgotten habits that may or may not return post-pandemic.

So, I went to Anthropologie to look for a dress for next weekend's wedding (I think I succeeded, although it may be slightly ridiculous due to the cut/pattern), and then drove home, messed around, ate some leftover chili, etc. And now I'm determined to go to bed legitimately early so that I can get enough sleep tonight after a week of fitful slumber - goodnight!

if the end comes soon i'll be here, i'll be here with you

It has been almost two full years since I last went into my office building, but I went back today and it was surprisingly glorious. My building had been undergoing renovations before the 'rona (which had been a thorn in my side, because I am involved in site stuff and had to deal with a lot of complaints because apparently people don't like it when ceiling tile dust falls into their food during lunch). But two full years with no one in the building meant that the facilities team could spend as much time and energy as they wanted in making the building better. And, since I'm still technically responsible for site stuff, my team ended up in a v. nice spot - facing the mountains, with outdoor balcony spaces on either side.

It was bizarre to go back, though - I weirdly almost teared up when I got there and saw some fresh macarons that the kitchen staff had made for an event I was hosting, since it's been so long since I've had any office amenities. I was hosting a welcome back event (optional) and it was great to see some people I hadn't seen in a long time - there are a lot of people I like whom I don't get to actually see in the meetings I'm usually in, so it was pretty energizing to see them.

Of course, I can revert to being spoiled and jaded easily; my lunch had too many vegetables and lentils, so that will take some adjustment. And don't assume I'm suddenly going in every day - I probably won't go in for another couple of weeks, since I'll be in San Francisco next week. But it was really nice to go in, so we'll see what happens.

I eventually drove home (rush hour reminded me that I don't like it, but it's not awful) and met up with a coworker for dinner. We were supposed to go to El Camino, but the line was 20+ minutes. So we went across the street to Mead Street Provisions, which I've never been to - but they had really nice gluten free bread, and I got a great gf sandwich and an excellent bourbon cocktail. My coworker and I have been trying to meet up for months, but between her relatively new child and my various issues, it has taken months to make this happen. So it was nice to socializing in person, even if I have definitely hit my people wall today.

And now I need to sleep so I can do a million things tomorrow - goodnight!

is it time to lead or is it time to die? time to raise hell or walk on by?

I had the kind of day that recharges my extroverted soul, although now I'm tired and eager to crawl into bed. I actually went into the office today for the first workday since March 2020 - it was a bit bizarre because it was a ghost town, but otherwise good. Going back right now is entirely optional and it's clear that not many people are taking them up on the offer, but that meant parking was easy and I didn't have to wait in line for food or the barista, so all in all it was pretty great.

Of course, that meant that I had to commute to the office, which was a good reminder that I don't like commuting. But the commute wasn't terrible enough to ruin my day, and I grabbed Starbucks on the way (something I never did in the beforetimes). Today was part of no-meeting week, but I somehow managed to only have 90mins free between 9:30 and 4:30 - still, I'll take it. I had lunch with someone who joined my team / company during the pandemic and so hasn't gotten to meet anyone in person, and we also had our 1:1, so it was fun to get some in-person interaction. And I took advantage of the free food, but I don't know if it's worth driving 45min each way for...

Eventually, I called it quits on work and met up with Caroline for dinner at River and Woods. This is where I used to go alllll the time when I lived in Boulder, but I hadn't been since pre-pandemic. It was as great as I remembered it, and seeing Caroline was great too. One of my favorite servers was still there, still remembered me, and was happy to see me - so I convinced Caroline to stick around the bar for another drink, which was advantageous for me because mine ended up getting comped (yes, I have that kind of sticking power with places, and I'm glad my 'give me free alcohol' mojo still works despite not getting any practice during the pandemic).

Then I said goodbye to Caroline, drove home, and messed around online until now. And now I should really sleep - goodnight!

awakening

I meant to go to bed an hour ago, but as long as I'm asleep before midnight, I'll take it. I had a not-totally-ideal morning, mostly because I woke up already thinking about work and definitely didn't want to be thinking about work before seven a.m. But I was able to make coffee and drink it outside while working on slides for a couple of hours, which is better than it could have been.

Later in the afternoon, I drove to Boulder for the first time in possibly ten months - I had an optometrist appointment, and since my optometrist is near the office that I no longer go to, it was a much longer drive than I'm used to making in the afternoon. My visit went fine (my right eye is getting worse, but I don't need bifocals, so I guess I'm not old yet!), and I'll have new contacts in a couple of weeks, so I'm happy about that.

Then I actually *went into the office*, which was completely bizarre. My actual building isn't open yet, so it didn't really feel real - I went to the main office in Boulder, and since I got there at four p.m., most of the amenities (such as they are in the time of covid) were shut down. But I stole some Andes mints, and I ran into a coworker whom I hadn't seen in seventeen months, and I took one meeting from a conference room, and it was all novel and interesting. Not novel and interesting enough for me to commute there if I don't have to, but novel and interesting nonetheless.

Then I met up with my friend Nicole for dinner - we went to a fantastic sushi place that she frequents, and it was great to catch up with her. She left my company a couple of months ago, so we gossiped and I got to hear about how things are in her new venture, and it was all great.

And then I drove home, messed around online, and packed since I'm leaving for Iowa tomorrow afternoon. I still have a couple of things to throw in the suitcase, but I'm packed enough that I may be able to get some work done tomorrow before I go. We shall see, we shall see. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

i wanna bathe with you in the sea

I was definitely paying the wages of last night's sins this morning - while I've had a steady low-grade stream of wine during quarantine, it's usually been like one glass a night. So even though last night's consumption felt v. sedate and not at all over the top, it was more than two glasses, and so I woke up at one a.m. feeling like I was dying. Clearly my body had been away from Adit too long and I can no longer handle any sort of shenanigans.

So, I slept fitfully last night and had to wake up early because I had meetings literally straight from eight to five, so this was the worst possible day to not get much sleep. But water and coffee and a facial moisturizing mask helped to bring me back to life, and I was v. much in it to win it the rest of the day. I made it through all my meetings successfully, and as soon as I was done, I picked up Katie so we could have one last girls' night out before we both abscond to different parts of Iowa for different lengths of time.

We went to bartaco, where the main server remembered me from a few nights ago, and it was even better than the first time - we had margaritas, and guac and salsa, and four tacos each (steak, duck, carnitas, and pork belly). The tacos were all excellent, but the pork belly was out of this world. And Katie and I had sufficient margaritas to go deep on recurring dreams and past reminisces, which is always a good time. We also both wore absurdly high heels for the first time in forever, and I'm pleased to report that neither of us fell, so I would say that nature is healing.

Then I took her back to her house, where we hung out with her girls for a little bit (they are v. impressed with the remaining new car smell of Aunt Sara's Audi). And then I came home, and even though it's not quite ten p.m. I'm ready for bed - I want to hit the road tomorrow and haven't packed, but I think sleep is more important than anything else. Goodnight!

no more contacting please we are sleeping

I was supremely happy to have today off, but of course that just means delaying the inevitable and also cramming a five-day workweek into four days. Still, I'll take today for what it was. I actually slept pretty well last night, despite being distracted before bedtime (hence the failure to post my blog - I sat down at my desktop this afternoon and discovered that my blog was sitting half-written on my screen). And this morning, I got up in time to spend a couple of hours on a zoom with my old coworker/mentor Laura, who lives in San Antonio and who occasionally gets a mention here. We hadn't connected in about a year and a half, so our catch-up was overdue, and it was delightful to chat with her (and exciting to know that she'll probably be in Denver more frequently in the future).

Then I ate lunch, messed around on my computer, and talked to my mom. And then I did a Peloton ride - it was the hardest one I've done so far, which is probably not hard for people who've been riding it forever, but I was v. happy that I did it. The nice thing about having the Peloton in the guest room is that, when I'm done riding and stretching, I can promptly fall back onto a bed, which is superior to the relaxation options at a normal gym.

After that, I showered, ate a v. late sandwich, and ran a couple of errands - Bookbar to pick up a couple of books I'd ordered, and then Sherwin Williams to pick up paint chips for a possible master bedroom painting project. The master bedroom/bathroom/closet is the only room that I didn't paint (other than the guest bathroom) last year, and I think it's time to spice it up (aka finally patch the places where my movers damaged the wall / the removal of my old windowshade screwed up the paint). We'll see what I go with, but looking at colors is always fun.

Then I came home, took out trash and recycling, did a bunch of other tings downstairs, remade my bed, ate some leftover chicken, did a bunch of writing business stuff, folded a couple of loads of laundry, looked at paint chips in my bedroom, etc., etc. And now I think it's time for bed - goodnight!

because i feel disgrace because you're all in my face

I had a pretty good day, all in all - it involved too much day job work early because I didn't work last night, and so when I woke up around 6:15 I did my usual morning routine and then started working for the man. But I got through what I needed to do for work, did a few things on my to-do list that I wanted to get to above and beyond the strictly necessary, and was able to stop around 5:45, so I'm calling it a win.

After work, I rode my Peloton - I tried out the 'scenic ride', which meant riding around some landscape with some soothing music. I chose somewhere around Cinque Terre, Italy, and I'm not sure if I felt a little off because I was slightly motion sick or because I was so damned sad that I couldn't be in Italy (probably a combo of both). Also I realized that I may not actually be that happy to be back in a place surrounded by tourists - that now seems so bizarre to me that it might as well be another life. But the ride felt good, and I think I've figured out the right setup for the seat so that my knee doesn't hurt. And I tried a stretching class after the ride and that was great too (as was trying their meditation app this morning), so so far so good on Peloton!

Then I lazed about and ate leftovers for dinner (the last of the chicken and mushrooms + carrots + mashed potatoes from the other night) while chatting with [censored] and Drewbaby via text. I then gave myself a pedicure and a gel manicure - and by that I mean I repainted my toenails (but certainly didn't pamper my feet with a soak and a massage and all the rest of the highlights from pedicures of yore) and then painted my fingernails. While I did that, I watched another video from that romance conference from December - I think I've now watched all of them but perhaps one. While I didn't learn anything from today's video other than how people who write a very short cliffhanger 'book' every two weeks make a depressingly high amount of money on Kindle Unlimited (which I actually already knew, so I guess I didn't even learn that), I'm still glad I watched it and I feel like I got my money's worth out of the conference even if it was virtual.

And now, I should probably consider going to bed - I have a full day of meetings tomorrow and dreams of writing around it, so it's time for bed. Goodnight!

i ain't blind and i don't like what i think i see

The one-day-delayed Sunday Scaries have arrived right on schedule. I actually think my headache is because I was away from Denver's altitude for three weeks and am dehydrated-ish, but we'll see how tomorrow treats me.

That said, I feel pretty happy about what I did today before my headache hit. I got up reasonably early, made coffee, meditated, and then sat in my writing office and did a couple of hours of writing work. I took a break when Katie called, and I lured myself into being distracted by inviting myself over to her backyard for lunch. Before I went, I made some dry rub spice mix and prepped a pork shoulder so that it could rest in my fridge for a few hours, and I also showered so I wouldn't smell like dry rub.

When I got to Katie's, we hung out in the backyard, wearing our coats and pretending that everything was fine. Luckily, while Denver's altitude can be a bitch, the weather is often not bad - it was in the fifties and sunny, so while it was not the kind of weather that would have caused me to actively choose an outdoor lunch in the beforetimes, it was certainly feasible to do it today. So, we hung out for a couple of hours, caught up on life, and ate poke bowls (we did not share with James because he is allergic to fish and also had to leave for a doctor's appointment anyway). It was great to see her, of course, and I wish all days in quarantine could be this lovely...

After we finished, I swung by my house and then went to the grocery store (with a detour to wash the Iowa gravel dust off my car). When my groceries were duly procured, I came home, put everything away, and then threw the pork shoulder in the instant pot. This wasn't entirely effortless, since I seared it first, then deglazed the pot before pressure cooking it, but it was as close to effortless as you can get for making a tasty meat dish. However, I started it slightly later than I had planned, and even with pressure cooking it takes almost an hour and a half. So while it was cooking, I ate leftover thai food from yesterday, and then did a bunch of housekeeping stuff to bring things into a semblance of order.

And now, I need to stop staring at my screens and maybe spend a few minutes reading paper before bed - goodnight!

skies ripped open by the sun, daylight comes but not soon enough

It's 12:37am and I should almost certainly be in bed, but my schedule is weirdly fucked up and I had to work a couple of hours tonight. When I got up this morning I took care of a bunch of tings around the house rather than writing, and then I slogged pretty much straight from nine to four. I did some of that slogging outside on my patio, which was delightful - there is probably still smoke in the air, but it's so much better than it was that I ignored it.

Also this morning, a couple of guys came over to give me a quote on what it would take to lay some pipe (heh). More specifically, I'm going to put a fire pit in the backyard, and they were quoting what it would take to make the fire pit natural gas instead of propane. It sounded dicey at first, but then they took a look at my basement and said it would be super easy to connect in the basement and run a pipe + a shutoff out through the east wall of the basement (rather than the north wall, where my gas grill is, which is way too far away). They also said Denver permitting is pretty fast, so that's good to know. I still need to figure out the concrete plan outside (i.e. whether/how they'll cut the concrete - but luckily there are seams that they can maybe cut along, so idk), but a gas fire pit would make me super happy, so I think I'll make it happen.

Sometime around four, I paused the endless slog to talk to Tomas, whom I hadn't talked to in ages. We exchanged notes on our boredom and crankiness at the end of the world, which is pretty much all conversations right now. Then I unfortunately needed to do a bit more work, but I did it while waiting for fancy pasta from Bar Dough - I was going to grill tonight, but there was a sudden downpour, so fancy pasta was the way to go.

Then I watched the RNC, which was a bit bizarre because almost all the speeches were pretaped (but made to appear live) and so didn't reference anything about hurricanes or Kenosha or anything else of a more urgent matter. And then I took care of some laundry, took out my contacts, and slogged a couple of hours.

But now I've survived another day, which is always a feat in this day and age, so it's time for bed. Goodnight!

i want to know when i can go back and get drunk with my friends

I had a great day, but it started badly - I woke up at 2:30am with one of those acid stomachaches that used to plague me, and it made me feel a little vomity. So I grabbed a Sprite from the fridge and sipped it while sitting up in bed, which was not how I had intended to spend an hour of my evening. Between that and the fact that I had an 8:30am meeting, I didn't have time to write this morning, but I at least was able to go back to sleep and not feel totally like death today.

So, today was a v. meeting heavy day - I basically was in meetings straight from 8:30 to 5, although I think I had 30min free somewhere in there. One of my meetings was slightly illicit, since Sarah-Frances came over to meet in my backyard (her idea, not mine, and mostly because she'd left her sunglasses here last week) - but it was nice to talk about work face to face (albeit eight feet apart) for the first time in months, and also nice to be outside instead of chained to my desk.

When the meetings were finally over, I played with my new grill - I made the fajitas I had planned to make last night, and they turned out super well. The marinade on the chicken was perfect for keeping it juicy despite grilling, and the peppers turned out well (although I want to get a bit more char on them in the future). I also tried a new recipe for Spanish rice and it was delish as well. So, the grill seems to work like a charm, and it was nice that I basically had nothing to clean in the kitchen (other than the rice pan) - so I predict more grill experimentation in my future.

Then I took a quick walk, came home, tried to write, but mostly procrastinated because I'm too tired to focus. So I think it's time for bed - goodnight!

little by little we meet in the middle

I need to go to bed immediately, but today was a great day. I got up in time to make tea, meditate, and write before work; the writing came easy and I got a thousand words, which I will v. happily take. Then I slogged all day. I was all geared up to take a break and make fajitas on my new grill, and I'd even marinated the chicken....but then the wind picked up and it looked like it might storm. The risk seemed low (low enough that I walked to pick something up instead), but not so low that I felt comfortable pulling my grill out into the wind tunnel that forms between my front and back gates.

But I'd had my heart set on Mexican-ish food, so when I was done working a little after six, I ordered takeout chips and guac and enchiladas from El Camino. I ended up mostly just eating the guac, since I hadn't had copious amounts of guacamole in forever; I ate one of the three enchiladas, so now I have something easy for lunch tomorrow. So I sat on my patio and ate chips and guac and generally enjoyed life. Then I did a tiny bit more day job work and messed around the rest of the evening.

And now I must sleep - goodnight!

people try and hide their lies underneath the covers

Today was pretty much a straight slog - I woke up not feeling particularly well (headachey, not anything serious), so I ended up journaling over my coffee, then showering, then doing a few hours of work from home. Unfortunately, I had to go into the office - I had a presentation to the big boss this afternoon, and while I could have taken it from home, it didn't feel like the right vibe.

However, I was rewarded for my diligence with some truly excellent carnitas for lunch, which is better than the peanut butter toast I would have had at home. I had meetings all afternoon, then did the presentation (which went well), and then a couple more meetings, and then I left a little before six. I stopped at Whole Foods to stock up on coffee and half and half, which is basically what I live on. Then I came home, ate, tidied up the house, and worked for the last 2.5 hours to put a dent in what has become a truly embarrassing email backlog. Luckily the dent I put into it was pretty impressive, so it was worth the pain of staying up. I also did it while drinking hot chocolate, which was almost as good as drinking wine (and probably more productive).

And now, I should really sleep - goodnight!

in all the good times i find myself longing for change

Today was a full-on onslaught of all the things that lure me fully into corporate america - money, status, prestige, fine wine, etc. My VP's boss is in town, and my VP also happened to have an all-hands today, which meant I had three hours of meetings with them - and I had to present a couple of things at my VP's all-hands, and also moderate a Q&A with the big big boss. We also had an official opening of our new space, including a ribbon cutting, and so I had to do that before scrambling to do some work for an hour since I'd ignored everything in favor of getting through all of the stuff that absolutely had to be done today.

But I left at 5:30 so I could drop my car off at home and then walk to Frasca to have dinner with my VP's boss and the rest of the Boulder site leadership team. I've been wanting to go to Frasca for awhile - it's next door to Pizzeria Locale and owned by the same people, but Frasca is super fancy and has won a whole bunch of James Beard awards. I shudder to think how much the bill ended up being - we had a four-course tasting menu in a private room, and the big big boss was in charge of ordering wine. Since he's French and v. v. vocal about his love of French food/wine and disdain for American food/wine, we started with a very nice champagne, then had at least three different, wonderful red wines throughout the meal. At some point I heard him say that he was going to be more reasonable with the next wine or else Sundar would fire him - which I doubt, but also, the first wine tasted like a gift from heaven and was served in a glass that was probably more expensive than any bottle of wine I would buy, so I would guess his expense account is far more luxurious than mine.

sssanyway. The food was perfect - I pretended for the night that I have no issues with gluten, and I don't regret that choice because their bread was amazing and the pasta was one of the best things I've tasted in awhile. Actually, that's a lie, because the wagyu steak and the amazing mashed potatoes in the next course were even better than the pasta. I also spent a lot of time talking to Michael and Mike about the good/bad old days from a million years ago, so I had a surprisingly fun time considering that it was a work dinner and I was attempting to be on good behavior.

But now I need to sleep off the wine so that I can get up early and do all the work I should have done tonight. Goodnight!

but there's nothing to grab so i let go

It's eleven p.m. and I just got out of a meeting, and I have to do the same meeting at ten a.m. tomorrow. Yes, my life is glamorous. I'm in a slightly better mood today than yesterday, although I just yawned like one of those Reach toothbrush guys, so I should probably go to bed.

But I survived my usual slew of meetings, had the luxury of a whole hour free in which to get some work done and grab some food, and was able to leave at 4:30. I went to the post office, came home, took a nap, and called my parents since our call last weekend was somewhat abbreviated....and ended up talking for almost an hour and a half. Then I ate some leftover enchiladas from the other night, tidied up my kitchen, did 45min of work, met with someone in India, worked for another 30min, and then sat through another hour-long meeting.

And now it's time for bed - tomorrow promises to be hectic, since my VP's boss (the big big boss?) is in town and I've got meetings and Q&As and a dinner with him, all of which excites the ambitious side of my brain and exhausts the "I would like a break now" side of my heart. But I shall survive. Goodnight!

twenty-inch blades on the impala

I had to drive down to Mountain View today, in the rain, which is an excellent reminder of why I don't live here. The drive back in the rain was even more of a reminder. However, my day itself was totally fine (albeit stressful - I had to get a Mountain Dew, which is always a tell). And I got back to the city of sin in time to have drinks with my team - we tried a new tiki bar (Zombie Village), which was v. v. delightful (and v. v. rum-filled), After, we went to dinner at a restaurant that is the sister of Lers Ros - I love Lers Ros, but this restaurant may have been even better. And we ended with a drink at some bar next to Whiskey Thieves. It's funny how all of these references are missing actual names, and are just references to things next door to  / across the street from things that were around when I used to live here. Things change, I guess....but lucky for you, this blog is still going strong despite the fact that we're living in a totally different universe than we were in 2004.

But that's a bit too much introspection for my current mood, and I need to go to bed right now if I have any hope of surviving tomorrow. Goodnight!

as night is falling

Second night at my work retreat, and I'm getting close to tapped out on people...but it's all been good so far. I woke up this morning none the worse for wear after last night's wine at eight thousand feet, and I had just enough time to finish some slides this morning before my sessions started. I had to lead a three-hour breakout session with my team, and I think it went pretty well - and I didn't get fired for putting my fist in my mouth last night, so I'd say things are going great, thanks for asking.

After lunch, I had some free time, so I took a quick nap and then got a massage at the spa (my life is very hard - and my whole team hates me, since they signed up for horseback riding or the 'pioneer challenge', which sounded a lot like torture). But I had some meetings from 4:45-6:30, which we took in the bar. Then we had dinner, and an awards ceremony, and then a trivia game (I didn't win an award, but my team won trivia, so I'll take it).

And then me and Alice and Hugues adjourned to the bar, which closed at ten, and so we took our drink (and Matt, who showed up just in time for last call) to the game room, where Alice and I played ping pong and then we talked for quite awhile. And now I need to sleep, since it's back to Boulder tomorrow (after some more team building stuff in the morning). Goodnight!

tasted the sweet perfume of the mountain grass

I'm still living the dream - lucky me. Today was a v. long day of trainings (especially long because I did this exact training four months ago and they decided to repeat it, which was a little tiresome). But I survived, did a bit of work after, and then had dinner with Joann and Jen (of friendship renewal and spinster honeymoon fame). I hadn't seen them in ages, so that was a lovely way to take a break.

Then I came back to my corporate apartment and worked for the last couple of hours, which felt supremely unfortunate - but I survived, and now it's time to sleep. Goodnight!