торнадо!

I'm in San Francisco, safely ensconced and yet also waiting for the next apocalypse (I would actually prefer not to be here for the next mega earthquake, tanks). I actually arrived yesterday, after I v. casual day of packing, prepping, and then having my beloved airport margaritas at Cantina Grill before my flight. However, when I landed, I was texting [censored] in a v. desultory manner when he suddenly reported that the train he had heard was actually a tornado and he was heading to my basement. Then, a minute later, he texted to say that Dad had texted him to say they'd had a direct hit (my parents' house is a mile east of mine and tornadoes move quick).

sssanyway, this was all v. startling and surprising and upsetting, and it didn't help that I was slightly drunk and stuck in an uber and unable to do anything to help. As it turns out, my parents were fine, and our house is mostly fine too - they were extremely lucky, since the tornado basically went over the top of their house. It took off the ridge cap on the roof, but that was the only damage that needs to be fixed immediately (before too much snow goes through the 4" of open roof along the top of the roof line). It also blew an old fuel tank into the side of the house, but other than cracked siding it didn't really screw anything up. The tornado took out a big old maple in the front yard, and it knocked a shed over onto its door, and it somehow picked up my dad's smoker off the patio and tossed it a few hundred feet (but the grill and patio furniture are all still there). It also picked up a pickup cab in the north yard, bounced it on top of another car, and then threw it 700 or so feet so that it's now half-submerged in our pond.

So, needless to say, it's a big relief that my parents were fine and somehow the storm didn't knock out any windows or do anything more dramatic. It's also a relief that we tore down the old house last year - it would have been scattered over several thousand square feet of field, and that would not have been a good outcome. Some other people had damage too - a neighbor's shed was completely destroyed, and the ballfield where I played tee ball as a kid was completely leveled (no fence, no scoreboard, no concession stand, and no sign of any of those remnants). Tornadoes are eerie in terms of what they touch and what they take and what they leave behind, and this one was no different.

sssanyway, Last night I couldn't do anything, so I kept my dinner date with Veronica - we went next door and had food + two bottles of wine + a lot of conversation, and it was fantastic. This morning was not so fantastic - between worries about tornadoes + my hangover, I was not in it to win it. But I ate brunch nearby, and I spent the afternoon doing day job stuff that I had to do to prep for the week ahead. I also talked to my parents and to [censored], and everyone seems to be handling tings okay for now.

Luckily, I didn't have to work the whole night - I met Jane and Jen at Akna for a lowkey friendship renewal dinner. Akna is a popup in Hayes Valley serving Mayan/Yucatan food, and it was extremely tasty - our tamales were excellent, and the ceviche as great, and the cheese dip with beans and chorizo was lowkey the best thing I've tasted in weeks or months. I was v. impressed, and it was a great place to catch up for a couple of hours and discuss life.

And now, it's still early in California, but I think I would be best served by disconnecting for a bit and going to bed. Goodnight!

drive out of the city, away from the crowds

I don't even know what today was when it comes to my mood. I think it was good? But I didn't sleep at all well last night, on top of several nights of not sleeping well, and so I awoke bleary eyed and not particularly in it to win it. I meditated and journaled and coffeed my way out of my stupor, and I made it to my laptop just in time for my nine a.m. meeting. That led straight into many hours of meetings - my only break from 9am to 4:30pm was lunch. But I used part of my lunch break to take a ten minute nap, which may have been the only thing that saved me.

That nap also restored me just in time for a meeting with my VP, which went really well. And it restored me for a work fun event this afternoon - my team organized a virtual cocktail class, and it was super fun. They sent us a couple of kits in advance - one to make blood orange mojitos, and one to make some sort of old fashioned. The bartender worked at both Foreign Cinema and Bourbon and Branch, both San Francisco establishments of high regard, and now he's teaching virtual classes on zoom because that's what happens in a pandemic. So we made the drinks, and they were utterly delightful, and it was fun to hang out with people virtually...

...but I haven't had two cocktails before six p.m. in a lifetime, and I hadn't had dinner, so that promptly turned into ordering pizza from Blue Pan and making a second mojito (third drink overall - and I didn't finish it, but I did photograph it for instagram). Then, since I clearly wasn't going to attempt any further impressive feats, I finally succumbed to my desire to watch BRIDGERTON - it's taken Romancelandia by storm, as well as continuing to top the Netflix charts, and I've been saving it for a time when I knew I could binge it. I have a long weekend starting tomorrow night, so now seems like the right time - I watched two episodes tonight, and so far it's great.

I will have many more thoughts to share on it when I go deeper - but since I read all the books and know all the characters, and have imagined all these settings forever, it's v. entertaining. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

she's a silver lining

I didn't sleep well last night, mostly because I probably should have worked last night and didn't, and so woke up in the middle of the night with my head racing with all the things I needed to do. But I was able to fall back asleep, and I enjoyed my coffee with some journaling before work, and so I was able to recover my equilibrium. I slogged pretty hard all day (although perhaps not hard enough), then stopped around six so that I could get on with my evening.

My evening was not particularly productive, as it turns out. But I did make eggplant tricolore to use up the eggplant in my fridge before it went bad; I didn't eat it tonight, but it's better after spending some time in the fridge anyway, so I'll have a v. tasty lunch tomorrow. While that was cooking, I heated up last night's bouef bourguignon, and it was even better tonight - exactly the kind of decadent winter cooking I adore, especially with mashed potatoes.

Then I messed around online, texted with [censored] and Drewbaby, ordered some more Christmas stuff (we've entered the decor hoarding stage of the pandemic, but I'm pretty excited to put solar-powered LED lights on the miniature pine tree in my front yard), and generally chilled. And now I think I'll try to go to bed early so that I can get up early and tackle stuff I should have done tonight....

...but one last thing! In my mindless internet browsing I discovered that gluten free Oreos are coming in 2021! And that means I could make Oreo blizzards at home...cookies and cream anything is one of the things I miss most about the gf life, so this is v. exciting news. 2021 is already looking promising, even though we're going to slog through tens of thousands of covid deaths to get there.

And on that note, stay safe and goodnight!

oh i tried diving even though the sky was storming

I'm pretty sleepy and should probably already be in bed. Today was sort of good, sort of stressful; I woke up in time to force myself to write, and the writing was good, and so if I could have just done that for another few hours it would have been great. Instead, I had to slog (after a shower) - I had meetings straight from ten to three-thirty without any break at all, and you will note that that meant I didn't get lunch. I usually don't succumb to the temptation of ordering lunch until Thursday or Friday every week, but I pulled the trigger on my weekly poke bowl (salmon, spicy tuna, seaweed salad, avocado, cucumber, spicy mayo, many other tasty things) today, so I guess I better cook something tomorrow night to stave off further lunchtime breakdowns.

But my meetings were fine, all in all. Then I took a break to run an errand, which involved walking, which was great. I did a bit more work, had a doctor's appointment (nothing wrong except for my stupid stomach and how it chooses to take all of my stress and turn it into a ball of acid gnawing at my insides), then came home and ate some leftover beef stew. Then I spent a truly ridiculous amount of time packing four boxes to get picked up by DHL tomorrow - this has been a very stupid, very boring saga that has dragged on for a couple of weeks, but hopefully everything is correctly packaged and labeled and ready to go. I will be v. glad to get them out of my garage, and to celebrate I ordered some shelves to put in the garage, so I guess garage organizing may be a project for this weekend (although it may snow on Sunday, so maybe not).

Then, it was suddenly nine p.m., but I had to do some work for tomorrow, so I did that. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

i been sippin', that's the only thing that's keepin' me on fire

I need to go to bed before it's my birthday. Today was okay, all in all; I woke up too early and didn't feel great, but I realized pretty quickly that it was anxiety/panic (for no reason other than everything globally is awful, + some small day job stresses that compounded the anxiety). So I got out of bed, made some tea, meditated, and journaled, and that all really helped.

So, I was able to tackle the day without much drama; I had a bunch of meetings from nine to five, but I had a little time to take a walk around the block, and I v. much enjoyed my leftover chili for lunch. After work, I went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, and then I went to the grocery store to pick up a gluten free funfetti cake (they do not sell that at Whole Foods, fyi). Then I came home, ate some takeout sushi for supper, and made myself some funfetti cupcakes. The mix is slightly drier than the standard mix - if I make them again, I would consider adding a package of vanilla pudding, which was an old trick before cakes started putting 'pudding in the mix'. But they turned out well, and I frosted some while freezing the rest, so I will have tasty funfetti snacks for awhile.

While they were baking, I did a bit of day job work, and then I got sucked into instagram and then the internet. But now it's time for bed - goodnight!

i can end the planet in a holocaust

Last night's blog was rather short on details, but I should have also mentioned that I had a lovely dinner with Sarah-Frances (a woman on my team who is currently out on maternity leave). We went to a delish Mexican restaurant in Lafayette, and it was great to see her - but by the time I got home it was after ten, and when I crawled into bed and tried to type a blog post on my phone, I kept dropping my phone on my face. Tonight's blog post is written on my laptop from my living room with the lights shining brightly enough to keep me awake, so perhaps I'll make it through.

Today, however, was less interesting. I had to be at the office by eight, which was a self-inflicted wound since I'd scheduled the meeting. But it was a three-hour brainstorm that was actually pretty effective, so I was happy with that. Then I had a meeting with my new boss (boss 5 in the last 2.5 years if you're counting, but who is?) - so far so good and we seem to click, so hopefully this one sticks for awhile. Then I chatted with people in the cube (and accidentally mimicked the pose of the boss from Office Space), grabbed lunch out in the sun, and did a bunch more meetings.

I did end up taking a break on the way home to go to Crate and Barrel - I had to exchange something, which of course meant I also had to buy a couple of tings. There were many things I wanted to buy, but I exercised unusual restraint. Then I came home, defrosted and ate some chili, did a bit of laundry, did some personal stuff online, and then did about an hour of day job stuff. And now, I'm a bit wrecked and need to sleep - I have to go to Boulder for a dentist appointment at 9, but then I only have a couple of meetings, so I'm going to slog for awhile and then try to sneak out early and make a Costco run. Goodnight!

remember when the boys were all electric

I feel like I should have gone to bed four hours ago, but it's only eleven. However, I probably should have gone to bed four hours ago - I'm leaving for Florida early tomorrow, which means I need to get up in less than six hours. And unfortunately I'm going to have to do some day job work on the plane, although I'm hopeful that I can do what needs to get done and then enjoy the rest of my long weekend.

sssanyway, today was fine - I was a little late for my first meeting due to worse-than-expected traffic after better-than-expected snow, but the person I was late for forgave me. Then I slogged all day, with a break to go to the dentist (which doesn't feel like it should count as a break). I also dealt with an ongoing sewer gas issue in my office, which is definitely not my job and yet has somehow become my job (I have mostly made Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles references while sending emails about the sewer, and today blamed the fiasco on Shredder, so I think I'm making good choices here). And I got to grab some late afternoon snacks (which they have on Thursdays) - today's theme was Carnival, so the food was Brazilian, and the little pao de queijo (cheesy bread bites that are naturally gluten free) are one of my favorite snacks they make.

Then I talked to Isaac for a bit before driving home and spending most of the evening packing and taking care of last minute things around the house. And now I really should sleep - goodnight!

she said my spirit doesn't move like it did before

Today was rather long - I've got one big presentation on Tuesday morning, which is v. inconveniently right after a long weekend in which I'm flying to Boston (note: Boston is not inconvenient because I'm seeing Riturani!!). I've also got a secondary presentation on Wednesday that I should be putting way more effort into, but Tuesday is taking precedent. And there's all the usual chaos at work on top of that, so I'm feeling behind.

So, I got up at 7:30 due to last night's late work extravaganza, and took a call from home at eight before going into the office. I was at the office until 4:30, when I zipped out to get a pedicure (a girl's gotta prioritize). Then I had some food at motomaki, came home, took a brief nap, and did some whirlwind tidying - my landlord is showing my place to a prospective renter on Friday, and my place is clean of dirt but is also cluttered because I gave up on keeping it neat a couple of months ago when I knew I would move, and I've been hoarding boxes, so it's kind of a mess. I succeeded in straightening up a lot quickly, though, so I don't look like a total disaster.

Then I worked for the last two hours, but I'm happy with what I got done. And now I need to go to bed - I'd like to write in the morning, so sleep would be a good idea. Goodnight!

the beat is a chemical

Today was a v long day with some fun in the middle of it. I got up in time to write for half an hour, although it was slow going this morning - I'm a bit stuck on the hero's motivation, so it was somewhat painful, but better than nothing. I took one meeting from home because I couldn't quite get out the door in time, then went to the office and had a bunch of meetings until 3:30.

I then played hooky for a few hours - I was overdue for a catchup with a coworker, so we went to Pizzeria Locale and had pizza and rosé, which is about as lovely of an afternoon as one could ask for. The subject matter wasn't entirely lovely since things have been pretty stressful at work for a lot of people, but it was still a really nice way to spend a few hours.

Then I came home and napped off the rosé, and then I worked for the last three hours - I had a couple of performance reviews to finish writing for tomorrow, and I also had a conference call with someone in India. Yes, performance review season never ends - I spent hours writing calibration notes a month and a half ago, and now that it's time to deliver the reviews I have to translate those notes into polished prose for the actual review. But I'll be done on Monday, and then I can go back to pretending this process doesn't exist until it starts again in September.

And now I really need to sleep - I may let myself off the hook for writing tomorrow morning since I have an 8:30 meeting, but I don't really want to, so let's see if I get enough sleep by going to bed right now. Goodnight!

now it's turkish delight on a moonlit night

I started my week off on the right foot this morning, since I actually wrote before work. I'd been in it to win it during my writing retreat, but then Uncle Mark died and I spent a week in Iowa for that, and then I spent the three weeks after that trying in vain to catch up after being out for two weeks. But there are glimmers of light at the end of the tunnel - it's probably rescuers tunneling towards me who are going to accidentally collapse the tunnel on top of me rather than pulling me out, but I'm going to hope for the best.

So I wrote before work, then went into the office, did a bit of work while eating breakfast, made yet another presentation to my VP and her directors (my team and I are getting pretty good at pulling slides together quickly, and this one went well), then had a mix of meetings + more time to get stuff done. I ended up staying at the office until seven in an attempt to get through some email backlog, but I was only moderately successful. So I came home, ate some leftovers, and packed my suitcase - I'm headed to California for a few days, which should be stressful at first and hopefully delightful later.

And now I'm going to go to bed so that I can hopefully write before work and still make it to the office on time in the morning - goodnight!

primadonnas of the gutter

Today was pretty much unpleasant. I unfortunately had a headache for most of it, but I knew going in that this would be true....and so rather than going to my actual office, where I would be at risk of having to talk to people even when I wasn't in meetings, I went to the nicer main office, where I could hide in solitude whenever my calendar was empty. Of course, I only had like 90min of emptiness today, and some of that had to be used for eating lunch, but those 90 empty minutes maybe saved my life.

I left around five, went to Nordstrom Rack to return a bunch of stuff (and got suckered into buying a pair of jeans and some pajamas), grabbed takeout from Motomaki, and came home. I talked to my parents for a bit, then ate my takeout, and then sat on the couch and did absolutely nothing. I watched half an episode of "Love It or List It" (can you tell I'm in house-buying obsession mode?), then kind of watched some "House Hunters", then talked to Katie for half an hour or so, since yesterday wasn't enough time to cover all of the topics we needed to cover.

Also, I experimented with a new toy - I bought a Coravin during a Williams Sonoma Black Friday sale, and I have to say I'm in love. I tried it last night, because I wanted a glass of wine but didn't want the 2.5-3 I would have had if I had convinced myself that I needed to finish the bottle quickly so that it wouldn't go bad. The Coravin sticks a needle through the cork, extracts wine, and replaces the wine with argon gas, thus keeping the wine in the bottle from going bad. I've wanted one for a long time but never bit the bullet...but this was a good investment if it enables me to have a glass of good wine without feeling compelled to drink the whole bottle in 2-3 days. Not that I wasn't drinking good wine before, since I have expensive tastes and refuse to compromise taste for savings, but drinking good wine is also what compelled me to finish it fast.

sssanyway. The glass of wine was v. useful, but I probably got more use out of the fact that I completely boycotted work tonight even though I have a lot to do. I need to make this week a little less insane, so we'll see whether I accomplish that or whether I succumb to the tyranny of my calendar. Goodnight!

blame it on my ADD

I awoke this morning in an utterly foul mood - no one's fault, but that's what happens sometimes. So I showered, considered going into the office, and instead worked from home for a couple of hours. Then I walked to the office - I never do this, but I really should since it's less than twenty minutes and I used to walk that all the time back in SF.

I didn't walk straight to my office, though; the nicer office is on the way, so I stopped there for lunch and also took a few meetings from there. I went to my actual office around four, which was absurdly late to show up, but I was just in time for the Thursday happy hour - so I met with someone from my group over chips and Chardonnay (I never choose Chardonnay except for when the other alternative is beer). I had one more meeting after that....

...and then I had happy hour with Nicole. We went to License No 1 in the basement of the Boulderado, where we split a bottle of wine and a lot of conversation. Then I walked her to her rendezvous with her husband - he's only met me when I've had several drinks with Nicole, so he probably thinks I'm a monster, but #noregrets.

Then I grabbed a pizza at Pizzeria Locale, and then I came home, and now it's time for bed - goodnight!

it's all coming back to me now

Today was yet another crazy day - I was going to say that my brain finally reached its melting point, but it perhaps reached boiling point instead, since I felt like everything was turning to mist and disappearing into the ether. I woke up at six, after not enough sleep, and was out of my hotel and in the SF office by 7:30, where I managed to get some stuff done before starting meetings at nine. Most of my meetings were okay (although at some point my face was so annoyed-looking that someone laughed at me), and I had time for a quick lunch with Alice and Chris, so I guess it could be worse. I also had four iced coffees, which kept me awake but may have contributed to the feeling of disintegration...

...but I managed to leave around 2:30 to come to Santa Cruz with Grace. She met me at my office and we grabbed snacks before heading south, which was probably a critical mistake - by the time we actually got out of the garage, traffic was horrible, and it took like forty minutes just to get to the freeway. So, the drive to Santa Cruz took over two hours, and it's a good thing that I was the one driving (even though I felt like my brain was oozing out of my ears) since Grace doesn't know the east side of the city from the west side of the city (I shouldn't publicize that, but I want to remember it because she was shocked when we were suddenly in Daly City and I found that to be incredibly funny).

When we got here, I simply had to lie down for ten minutes because I couldn't function anymore, and that was just enough to revive me and get me out the door. We are here for a writing workshop with Elizabeth Gilbert and Cheryl Strayed, so we went to the center (which is gorgeous), checked in, had supper (mindfully, of course), and then listened to their evening talk. It was really good and really entertaining, especially since they're well-spoken and have a great connection, but it was a bit annoying (really annoying) that they made several derogatory comments about romance novels (which of course Grace and I angrily debriefed about later). Also, the crowd is exactly what you would expect - a lot of white women, 30-55, bougie enough to afford to spend several hundred dollars (on registration, not counting flights/hotel/food) listening to two other bougie white women talk about #livingyourbest life. But I'm probably going to get a book out of this experience, so no regrets.

But now I need to go to bed immediately - goodnight!

lay where you're laying, don't make a sound

I had yet another hectic day at the office - meeting after meeting, with no end in sight. But I ended the office time around four, when I weirdly ended up signing a bunch of my books for people who happened to be around - I had a box of them at my desk and was grabbing some to take to my conference, but I gave a bunch away. So, that was weird and entertaining, and hopefully they're all still speaking to me when I get back.

Then I dashed home, threw a whole bunch of stuff in a suitcase (more stuff than is strictly necessary for four days, but I didn't have time to edit), and worked for another hour or so while traffic died down. Then I drove into Denver and met a bunch of my writer friends for dinner at Tupelo Honey. I've never been there, and I'll probably never go back - the meal that I had was super tasty and the wine was good, but they only had like one gluten-free thing on the menu (a sweet tea brined half chicken, which was tasty). It's Southern, which is not gluten-free friendly, and so I suppose I'll have to let this restaurant live on in my memory rather than ever going back.

Still, the dinner was super fun - I hung out with the usual suspects (the Barbaras, Veronica, Deb, Poppy, and Deb and Poppy's boyfriends, which was an unusual but not unwelcome addition). Grace's flight was delayed, and several other usual suspects aren't coming this year, but it was fun to relax and hang out and talk writer stuff.

Then I drove some of us back to the hotel, where I checked in, unpacked, and settled in. And now I really need to sleep - I have a 'Day of YA' thing tomorrow with Veronica, where I intend to learn as much as possible about the young adult market, so hopefully it's interesting (and hopefully worth getting up at 6:15am for). Goodnight!

the wild dogs cry out in the night

My day was full of meetings starting at eight a.m. and going almost straight until five, including two with my VP (unusual, but not for dramatic reasons). I got off to a sluggish start since I didn't get enough sleep last night, but I'm determined to change that - it has been way too hot in my house without A/C, but the swamp cooler I ordered from Amazon arrived today, and it's already making a difference in my bedroom despite being set up an hour ago. So here's hoping that I sleep better now that my room feels like a normal bedroom instead of a desert that happens to include a mattress.

However, despite the work still piling up, I left the office at five, came home and dragged the swamp cooler in from the patio where the delivery guy had left it, and walked straight to Pizzeria Locale. I indulged in a v. tasty gluten free pizza and a couple of glasses of wine; I've been laying off the sauce (both pizza sauce and wine sauce) in an effort to be healthier, but it seemed like my health would be better served tonight by having wine and ignoring email, so that's what I did. My phone also conveniently died while I was there, so I journaled and ate and drank and completely ignored the world, which was pretty much the perfect way to relax.

Then I came home, took care of tings around the house, set up my swamp cooler, wrote a couple of personal email...and now I'm going to go to bed earlyish and hope that I recoup some of the sleep I lost this week. Goodnight!

lift me up like helium

Whelp, some stuff that I've been anticipating for awhile at work finally happened, and while I was expecting it, I still wasn't quite prepared for the chaos that was unleashed by it. It didn't help that I had to give a presentation to my VP and another VP this morning about something entirely unrelated. It also didn't help that I've been living with the slow-burning knowledge of this impending change for a long time - and then, all of the sudden, it happened, and it was a relief that it had happened and also an annoyance all at the same time.

But it's all good in the long run - just a lot to deal with in the short term. So after having meetings straight from 9:30 to 6:30, I ran a couple of quick errands (mostly to Sephora, where I bought lipstick because that solves all problems), grabbed a pizza, and came home, where I worked a bit more before finally throwing in the towel. At some point it's better to put down the laptop, live to fight another day, and drink a glass of wine while reading a book. I finished DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE - I don't know whether I liked it or not, tbh. The narrative arc, though, was super interesting, and the characters were interesting enough that I want to keep going with the series, so we'll see.

But now I need to go to bed so I can go into work tomorrow and deal with the aftermath of today's excitement - goodnight!

lord i'm coming home to you

I had another v. long day, but it wasn't quite as bad as yesterday - while I had meetings straight from 8:30am to 5:30pm, with a few minutes for lunch, none of them were quite as annoying as everything yesterday. And when I left the office, I went straight to happy hour (which I was 90min late for, since my team went at 4:30) - where I stayed until almost eight, which was fun. I didn't have anything to drink due to the brewery location, which doesn't serve wine - but you'll be pleased to know that my team has now realized that this isn't an 'inclusive' happy hour location since several of us don't like / can't drink beer, so the next one will be someplace with wine. Score!

However, what Sanitas lacks in wine, it makes up for in tacos - so I had tacos there while hanging out, and they were super tasty and eliminated the need for me to cook anything. Then I came home, texted [censored] and Drewbaby for a little bit, took a nap, and then worked for the last two hours. No rest for the wicked, but I'm trying to plow through enough stuff that I can leave my laptop behind without guilt and take a real vacation, which I am DYING for.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

like a fish needs a bicycle

I'm blogging on my phone because I'm semi relaxed and know that I'll promptly get unrelaxed if I open my laptop. Today was all a little too much and I hit a wall - I may have finally come to the realization that I need to stop traveling for awhile. This is an unfortunate realization to have when I'm leaving for Paris on Thursday, but c'est la vie, as i like to say.

Ssssanyway. I was in town for a training that happened today, but I wasn't feeling it within the first five minutes, when I realized it was a training for senior managers and only four of the 35+ attendees were women. This is why I despise tech sometimes. So I participated all morning, but skipped a bit in the afternoon so that I could get some work done. I also worked after the training, had a call from 6:30-7:30, can't back to my hotel and had another call at 8....

... And by then I still had a million things to do, but I couldn't take it anymore. So I put my work phone away and went to An Japanese, which is right next to my hotel. I'd been there with the original Jen Lui once, so I had fond memories - but tonight was magical. I sat at the bar and talked to the sushi chef about life and his daughter and Field of Dreams, and he told me that his kids both have great jobs and so he cancelled his life insurance (parents - don't get any ideas). And the fish was perfect - the toro was like eating a perfect slice of the sea, the salmon tasted like it had been swimming only minutes before, and I had my beloved tamago (egg) to round it out. And I only pulled out my phone once to take a photo - the rest of the time I just enjoyed the moment and watched the sushi chefs practicing their craft.

And now I'm going to sleep and hope that my head is clearer tomorrow because I took a break tonight. Goodnight!

i'm practicing your name so i can say it to your face

I'm so ridiculously tired - I only had five possible hours of sleep last night and I kept waking up during that already-too-short interlude, so I awoke this morning already feeling like death. But I made it to the airport, grabbed something to eat, boarded my flight, slept fitfully, and wrote for a little bit. I landed in SFO sometime shortly after nine a.m. here, but I was dragging from exhaustion, so it took awhile to get out of the airport and pick up my rental car.

But I got a sleek new Nissan Rogue, which I like quite a bit - not nearly as big as last trip's Chevy Tahoe, but it's a nice small SUV. And I stopped at Philz on the way to work so that I could get some more caffeine into my bloodstream. Thus fortified, I worked until almost six...I didn't get nearly enough done, but c'est la vie.

Then I cut out and drove to Palo Alto, where I took a twenty-minute nap in my car that may have been the only thing that saved me. And then I had dinner with the original Jen Lui at Mayfield Cafe (owned by the same group that owned my beloved Des Amis - this place isn't the same, but my short ribs were pretty tasty, so I'll take it). Jen was great, and I'm glad we were able to hang out...

...but now that I'm at my hotel (in the city, which was SUPER DUMB since now I have to drive back down tomorrow), I'm going to bed. Goodnight!

i hear the drums echoing tonight

I need to go to bed immediately - I have a couple of long days ahead and not nearly enough sleep stockpiled in my reserves to get me through. But today was good, although my brain is definitely fogged over with jetlag - which doesn't bode well for the presentation I have to give tomorrow, but hopefully adrenaline and caffeine will fix what ails me.

Anyway, I woke up this morning and was promptly late to my 9am meeting because it took 45min to get to the office instead of 20min (this is why I moved to Colorado, not that you would know that I've moved to Colorado since I'm never there). I had meetings literally all day, although one of them was a lunch meeting, so I got to eat, which I guess was a bonus.

However, it wasn't thaaaat bad - I successfully got out of the office at 3:30pm (with two coworkers in tow) and drove back to my hotel, where I registered for the conference that I'm attending. Then I snuck away from the throngs of people so that I could manage my jetlagged energy - I got an impromptu mani/pedi to make myself feel more like a well-groomed member of society, and then I spent the evening holed up in my room, eating room service and running through my preso and catching up on various and sundry tasks (like updating linkedin, which I hadn't updated in seven years, but I figured there was no time like the night before a public talk to make it happen).

And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!