better nix my summer plans

Today was pretty good, although I was tired by the end of it - I didn't get enough sleep, and I intend to rectify that posthaste. But I dragged myself out of bed in time to write, so that was a delight. And then I showered, slogged all day, took a break to eat a poke bowl, and took another break to have class with Alyssa. When that was over, I made dinner while talking to [censored] - he was good, but my porkchop, polenta, and brussels sprouts were even better.

Then I was tired, so I doomscrolled and cleaned my kitchen. And then I had an 8:30pm meeting with someone in India and did another hour of work right after. But now I've gotten through what I need to get through, and I'm going to read a bit and go to bed - goodnight!

scroll and key

I have no updates of note, but that rarely stops me. I woke up in time to meditate and write before work; I am still behind on nanowrimo, but I got a thousand words this morning and I’ll take it. Then I showered and slogged; the slogging wasn’t the most effective, but it was better than nothing.

I stopped slightly early and took a walk, but it was colder than I thought and I wasn’t prepared for it, so I came home before I froze. Then I had a virtual happy hour with Caroline; we had dreamed of meeting outside in person, but it’s too cold for outside and cases are spiking too much to be inside, so we went virtual instead. I ate some fancy cheese and drank a glass of wine while talking to her, and it was great.

Then, I should have done many tings, but instead I did a bit of kitchen work, made a bologna sandwich, and read NINTH HOUSE for a couple of hours. I really just want to finish it, but I can’t stay up any later if I want to write tomorrow...so it’s time for bed!

nobody’s coming to save me

It snowed today, and the view from my desk was bleak, but I still had a decent day. I wrote quite a bit before work, then slogged until six-ish. Then I ate leftover fish tacos, caught up on some tings, and started reading a new book (NINTH HOUSE by Leigh Bardugo, which is v different from her Grishaverse books because it’s set in Yale’s secret societies). And now I am going to go to bed - goodnight!

somebody's ripping you off, trying to sell you good news

I'm super super tired, probably because I got up at 7:30 by accident (after going to bed at one, after getting not nearly enough sleep any night last week). So I'm blogging early and am going to crawl into bed and finish the book I started last night and absolutely not start any of the other books that are waiting to tempt me.

Today was good overall, though - I messed around, made some delicious hash (potatoes, onions, green pepper, bacon) and ate it with a couple of fried eggs, and then had a writing date with Veronica. The writing went well, although it took an unexpected turn; I wrote a little bit more tonight to see where it's headed, and so far I like it. We shall see, we shall see.

When I was done talking to V, I did some house stuff. I also raked my back patio, which took some effort; my big tree is lovely in summer, but it dumped all its leaves at once and my patio was a disaster. I got it mostly cleaned up, with some leaves left behind as mulch for my shrubbery, so that felt pretty good.

Then I talked to [censored] while eating a snack. And then I walked down to my favorite cheese shop to buy some chorizo; there's a chickpea and chorizo cassoulet that I last made approx fifteen years ago, and I'm thinking it might be time to resurrect it. When I got home, I did some chopping of vegetables, then called my parents. And then I finished prepping dinner - I made fish tacos, which were delicious, and now I have enough leftovers for tomorrow that I could potentially not cook if I don't want to, but we shall see.

Then I cleaned up my kitchen, came upstairs, wrote for a little bit, and now you're all caught up. It's time for me to read and go to bed - goodnight!

i want your body, need your body

I'm exhausted and I just stayed up approximately two hours later than I planned, but that's the danger of starting a book (which is why I don't read enough). I had to get up at six this morning to prep for my fridge delivery, which was scheduled between seven and one - unfortunately they showed up at noon, which meant the early morning wakeup was pretty unnecessary. But I did get my food safely packed up out of my fridge, and I pulled out the old fridge and tested the water supply / flushed the line that hadn't been used in years (if ever), and I also mopped where the fridge had been, so that felt v. productive.

I also spent some quality time this morning washing my sheets, doing more laundry, and finally setting up the extra monitor and computer that work sent me to help me be more productive (what are they trying to tell me?). And when the fridge came, I had quite a bit of work to do to get it ready - I had to remove all sorts of plastic and clingwrap, and clean the interior, and flush a couple of gallons through the water dispenser. I think I'm going to love it - it's already so much quieter than my previous fridge, and it has an *icemaker*, which brings me firmly into this new decade. And it fits perfectly - so perfectly that it made me nervous going in, but it looks great.

After all that + putting away my food, I was pretty wrecked, but I forced myself to keep going with household chores and tidying things up. Then I took a shower a little before six because I hadn't showered all day and wanted to be clean for my clean sheets. And then I picked up a pizza from Blue Pan, popped a bottle of (finally chilled) champagne, and did a bit of celebrating. Tonight felt pretty historic, and I'm hoping better days are ahead for all of us, but we shall see.

That turned into taking a break from screens to read a book - I finally started A DEADLY EDUCATION by Naomi Novik, which has been out a few months and which I've been saving for the right moment. It's totally different from her last couple of fantasies, but I'm really enjoying it. I'm probably 60-70% in and if I weren't so ridiculously tired I would just power through - but I want to enjoy the ending, and I can feel myself fading, so I really need to sleep. Goodnight!

sometimes all I think about is you

It’s Friday, or, in other words, Tuesday #4. I had a pretty good day; I wasn’t super productive at work, but I got done what I had to get done. Then I called [censored] while I took a walk, and ordered some winter running tights since winter is coming and I’m going to want some outdoor time even when it’s cold.

Then I messed around my house and took care of things while baking a potato, which I paired with the last of my fancy chicken (the one stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped with prosciutto) and broccoli. At that point, I was tired but it was only seven. So I ran a quick errand to pick up a couple of coolers from Katie - I had ordered a new fridge a couple of months ago and it was back ordered, then intended to get delivered around thanksgiving. But it unexpectedly came in early, so it’s now getting delivered tomorrow. This is v exciting, but it means I have to empty my fridge and freezer and hope I don’t spoil anything by accident.

So I borrowed Katie’s coolers to augment my own, and stopped on the way home to buy some ice. And now I need to sleep- my delivery window is seven to one, which is wildly imprecise, but also means I have to be ready and have my fridge cleaned out early just in case. Goodnight!

now I’m falling asleep and she’s calling dekalb

Another day. I woke up in time to write for a bit, and then I slogged all day. I wrapped things up around five, and then I had a quality catch-up with Terry, which was delightful. And then I made a new recipe (garbanzos with spinach and chorizo) which I thought was amazing. And then I spent the rest of the night reading the news, ordering Christmas stuff, and generally not being v productive.

And now it’s time for bed - good night!

blue danube

I'm super tired, since I only got five hours of sleep last night...and so even though it's only ten, I'm going to try to force myself into bed in the next 30mins. Today was pretty decent, though - I did some work, read all of Twitter, took a walk while talking to Katie, ate some v. delicious leftover chicken for dinner, etc.

And now I'm going to go to bed and hope that I wake up to excellent news in the morning - goodnight!

now, for ten years we've been on our own, and moss grows fat on a rolling stone

I need to go to bed because I have to work tomorrow (although it will hopefully not be too onerous). But I got a lot of work done, then took a walk, then talked to Barbara, and then made a v. elaborate dinner (chicken stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in prosciutto + a baked potato and roasted broccoli). Then I drank a bottle of v. nice Grgich Hills cab while watching election coverage...which turned into a four-hour zoom call with Adit, Priyanka, Ritu, Bill, John, Jess, and Chandlord. And now I desperately need to sleep, since this isn't over - goodnight!

but i left it way too late, are you stuck in your own ways

Way too tired to blog - I wrote before work, then slogged all day (with a walk somewhere in there), then ran some errands. I also talked to [censored] and Katie, and ate a couple of pumpkin cupcakes. And I accidentally worked from ten to midnight, but c'est la vie and now I don't have to do it tomorrow.

But I really need to sleep now - goodnight!

when the rain washes you clean you'll know

I had a good day, but I'm really tired and probably should have honored my body's post-time-change desires and gone to bed thirty minutes ago. I spent the day taking care of a variety of tings - I tidied my utensil drawers in my kitchen, rearranged some stuff in my laundry room, did three loads of laundry, started clearing some unnecessary things out of my guest room, etc. I also had a writing date with Veronica - I'm doing NaNoWriMo this month (which is how I started my first book oh so many years ago) and I wanted to kick off well. So far so good and I had some good ideas this morning, so hopefully I can maintain/increase momentum.

I then took care of some outdoor stuff, including installing a camera in my garage - I'm not particularly worried about break-ins, but I am paranoid about whether I remembered to shut my garage door, so this seemed like a good idea. I then marinated some chicken, and while that was marinating, I called my parents. That took longer than usual, and I was starving by the end, so I almost ordered takeout....but I had already preheated the grill, so I persevered and made my chicken fajitas instead. They turned out great - the marinade for the chicken makes it possible to grill boneless skinless chicken breast without losing all the moisture, and grilling peppers/onions in a grill basket is stupidly easy. I paired it with some spanish rice (also a winner) and some canned refried beans (not fancy, but secretly my fave), and it was all good.

Then I doomscrolled a bit, folded a bunch of laundry, put the grill away, and painted my toenails. And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

when we up in the club, all eyes on us

Last night was a trainwreck - I should have gone to bed hours before I did, but instead I curled up on my chaise and doomscrolled and read every bit of the internet. The result was that I didn't go to bed until almost three, which is completely absurd. And so even though I slept until a little after nine, it really wasn't quite enough.

However, I successfully rescued the day - when I got up, I made coffee, did some laundry, and ran to the grocery store to stock up on produce. This was key towards ensuring that I don't need to leave the house next week if I don't feel like it (I mean, I want to take some walks...but I'm not sure I want to be forced to interact with humans). When I got home, I put my groceries away, quickly cleaned myself up, and then came downstairs just in time to welcome Katie to my lovely backyard oasis.

Since the weather is getting colder and covid is spiking enough to keep us from seeing each other inside, our evening activities are pretty curtailed. But it was sixty today, which was still perfect for sitting in my backyard. We started off sitting on the ground in a patch of sun, but we eventually relocated to the couches as the sunshine moved, and it was a pretty perfect couple of hours. I also inducted Katie into the poke club (the place I order poke from is actually called PokéClub) - we ordered poke bowls for lunch, and they were just as delicious as always.

Katie eventually left, and then I tried a new recipe for pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (see my other blog). I subbed gluten free flour for regular flour without changing anything else, and they turned out perfectly - really tasty cupcakes, totally delicious frosting, and easy to make. They came out of the oven right before I had a friendship renewal call with Joann and Jen, so I ate my first one while I said hi to Joann, and then frosted the rest of them later in the call.

Unfortunately, 2020 is the gift that keeps on giving, and none of us had any particularly good news to share (although Joann got promoted, which is great, but I already knew that). But it was good to catch up, as per usual, and hopefully Joann and I (and Jen, if she feels so inclined, despite being married) get to spinster honeymoon again together somewhere in the world someday. They were all supposed to come to Colorado in May, but that airbnb got canceled long ago and it feels impossible to imagine how the year might have gone if coronavirus hadn't happened. But someday we shall see each other again! And until then, we can just snack in each other's faces on videoconferences.

sssanyway. After we hung up, Katie showed up again - this time with her children so that they would have somewhere to trick or treat. She had actually brought me candy earlier to give them tonight since I hadn't planned on trick or treaters, so this took literally zero effort on my part (other than opening the door). The girls were dressed as ninjas, which was a good way to incorporate masks, and it was fun to see them for a few minutes. I also gave them cupcakes, which I think went over well.

Then I messed around on my other blog for a couple of hours, documenting the eggplant parmigiana that I made the other night + putting up the cupcakes. Then I ate chili, doomscrolled a bit, and basically got nothing else accomplished. And now I'm determined to be in bed before midnight, so it's time to sign off - goodnight!

run along now, don't be glum. get you gone, now, have some fun...don't be long, for the end is nigh

Today was pretty good, all in all. I still didn't sleep super well last night, but my first meeting wasn't until 10:30, so I had plenty of time to tidy things up in the kitchen, take out some trash and recycling, shower, etc. and still get some work done before my first meeting. Then I slogged until almost six, although I took a short break to walk down the street and pick up some cheese and meat from my favorite cheese shop.

I spent my evening doing a virtual wine tasting organized through work - I had gotten three bottles from Ram's Gate delivered a couple of weeks ago and the tasting was tonight. The wine was really good; I wasn't totally in the mood to do the tasting part, since it involved listening to someone talk about wine when I really just wanted to hang out; and I'm glad I have a Coravin, because it meant I could pour half a glass of each and not open the bottles.

So I tasted and sipped while also eating a bunch of cheese. After, I jumped into a side video with a guy I work with and his wife, who were also on the tasting, and that was much more hilarious and my speed. And then I ate some leftover eggplant parmigiana, did some stuff around the house, etc. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

did you write the book of love

Thursday in the apocalypse...but it was pretty good overall. I didn't sleep well last night and woke up feeling like I might be on the verge of having a terrible, no-good, very bad day. But I drank coffee, journaled, and managed to pull myself out of the worst of my funk. So that meant I slogged all day, had some good meetings, ate some chili for lunch, took a walk while listening to a podcast, and then slogged some more.

But I stopped at five to make a somewhat elaborate dinner - I tried a new recipe for eggplant parmigiana, and it was fucking delicious. Like, perfect. And the eggplant wasn't breaded, so it was naturally gluten free. Of course, it took longer than I would usually spend on a weeknight meal, but it was worth it - I made a pretty simple tomato sauce (just canned whole tomatoes, oil, garlic, and basil), fried slices of eggplant, cut up some fresh and smoked mozzarella, and then layered tomato sauce, eggplant, mozzarella(s), parmesan, and basil in a baking dish. I cut the recipe in half and made an 8x8 instead of a 9x13 since I would have trouble eating a 9x13 myself - and it was so, so, so good. So, that was #worthit and a v. nice way to end the day.

Then I talked to [censored] for a couple of hours - he was driving and we hadn't talked in a couple of weeks, so neither of us had anywhere better to be and leaned into a v. long conversation. And then I did a tiny bit of day job work to prep for tomorrow...and now it's time for bed. Goodnight!

saying goodbye to bygones

I'm exhausted and need to stop looking at screens and go to bed. I woke up too early this morning, did some virtual event stuff (it ended this morning and seemed to go really well!), then had to immediately transition into a full day of slogging. So, I slogged, got a poke bowl delivered as my #treatyoself moment of the day, took a break for my class with Alyssa, and then slogged some more.

But by 5:30 I was finally done. So I walked to my nearby polling place to drop off my ballot - Colorado has really cracked the code on how to do voting, since the ballot shows up, there are plenty of places to drop it off, and they automatically track it at every step so you know if it got counted. I was only there a minute, but there were multiple cars in line waiting to drop off to the manned drive-through dropoff, and I got to the pedestrian 24hr box just at the same time as another woman. For six p.m., six days before the election, my v. anecdotal survey says that turnout is high.

Then I came home, ate some leftover pork chile verde, talked to Katie, and did absolutely nothing of worth or substance the last three hours. And now I'm going to sleep - goodnight!

the simulation just went bad

Today was a v. v. long day, but it was #worthit. I got up early this morning because I had some work that absolutely had to get done before the actual workday started, so I did it while sitting on my chaise and drinking coffee (which sounds decadent, but it was still work). Then I had meetings pretty straight from 9:30am to 9:30pm - I had a couple of hours during the day to get some work done, but I also had a four-hour 'offsite' (definitely onsite, still sitting in the same place I always do) from two to six.

Then I went straight into a virtual event - the big, fun, amazing in-person event(s) that my team plans every year (like last year, when I got to go to Sydney and Berlin) were replaced this year with a virtual event. It started yesterday with an Americas-friendly time, but tonight is the Asia/Pacific time - so I watched it off and on from six to ten (with some other work interspersed). It's been a really good virtual event - and probably way healthier for me personally, since I just watched a few sessions in my kitchen while making chili (instead of flying halfway around the world to work sixteen hours a day and drink moscow mules in random bars). Still, the flying halfway around the world and drinking moscow mules in random bars are things I really miss, so perhaps someday that will happen again.

But it won't happen today - Denver went into stricter lockdown because our cases are spiking. Great.

sssanyway, now that I had done my duty for the event tonight, I need to sleep - the Asia/Pacific session runs straight into the Europe session, so I have to wake up early for the closing ceremony (luckily I already taped my session, but I may want to answer chats, unclear). Goodnight!

blue are the streets and all the trees are too

Today was pretty good, I guess. I didn't get enough sleep, which I'm hoping to rectify soon. But I got up in time to meditate before work, and I washed and dried my hair, and I wore jeans, which are all real accomplishments. Then I worked all day - I had yet another meeting with my VP, but this time it was just the two of us, and the third time is a charm and she didn't yell at me and instead we had a great conversation, so I'm taking the win.

The rest of my meetings were fine, and I took a break around five to do some homework for Alyssa's class + make my first attempt at gluten free bread. I had put the dough in the fridge to rest yesterday, so today I had to preheat the oven and a baking stone (luckily I have one from my grandma), shape a loaf, and bake it. Then I had to let it cool completely, which was hard because it smelled great. I would give it a 6.5 or 7/10 - I would definitely eat more of it, and the crust was great, but the middle seemed slightly too dense or undercooked. Not sure if that's the altitude, the mixing, or something else - but I still have half the batch of dough left, so I'll try again in a few days.

While that was baking/cooling, I ate some leftover pork chile verde and overindulged on twitter. But I pulled myself out and did an hour or so of day job work, which was v. necessary - and now I may crawl into bed with my notebook and do a bit of brainstorming for an offsite that I have tomorrow (maybe not the most relaxing way to end the evening, but better than waking up in the morning panicked because I haven't finished it). Goodnight!

but in the end, something just didn't feel right

Sometimes I do a quick search on my blog to see if I've used a lyrics as a title before; sometimes it turns up that lyric, but often it turns up a bunch of posts that use some of the words, and that results in an impromptu trip down memory lane. Tonight's search revealed:

- the wine trip Terry, Subz and I took to Calistoga; it was a weekend or two before the 2016 election, and before several Calistoga wineries burned this year, so it felt like a throwback to a more innocent time

- a time when Claude told me, Chandlord, and Renee (who I used to hang out with) the story of Rumpelstiltskin in a California Pizza Kitchen

- the glorious afternoon Riturani and I spent getting our nails done and drinking a whole bottle of champagne and congratulating each other on how great we are (to be more specific, this time was right before her engagement photos; this is a typical day for us overall, although I prefer when it involves oysters)

- the time I was eating lunch outside in Palo Alto and watched a woman carry her child on her shoulders...and then the child vomited into her hair

- the day I scraped my RAV4 in Chandlord's parking garage

- when I was in Jasmine and Michael's wedding (funny how you can be in someone's wedding and then not see them for over a decade)

- shopping on Grafton St when I lived in Dublin

- Fleet Week and feeling like I came close to getting kidnapped by a cab driver

- a work day that sounds a lot like the day I had on Friday, but it was in 2007

So, that was fun. While it's entirely insane and ridiculous that I've been doing this with astonishing regularity for sixteen (!) years, it's really fun and bizarre to dip into the minutiae of whatever I found interesting years ago.

sssanyway. Today was boring and I was not in it to win it. I did get almost nine hours of sleep, which was amazing - but it snowed all day and never made it over sixteen degrees, so I stayed inside and tried to battle my lethargy. I did pretty well considering my mood - I made a frittata for breakfast (and for breakfasts the next few days), then wrote (via an online writing date with Veronica). I then messed around online, ate some leftover spaghetti carbonara, and took the first pass at some experimentation with a new gluten free baking book that I got - I mixed up their preferred flour blend and also mixed up a batch of dough, which looks promising so far. The dough is better after being refrigerated and can be refrigerated up to ten days, so I'm sure I'll test out a loaf later this week.

Then I talked to Katie, threw together the ingredients for instant pot pork chile verde, and talked to my parents while the chile verde cooked. The chile verde was completely delish, so at least it was worth the effort.

Then I cleaned up my kitchen, adjourned to my office, and wrote some more. And now I need to fold some laundry / decompress / go to bed - goodnight!

this is a spiritual world, i'm a material boy

I was running on fumes this morning, but I somehow rallied and got a million things done. I did laze about for awhile with coffee and my journal and my phone (mostly my phone, which is never a good way to start the day). But I forced myself to eat some yogurt, take a shower, and then run to Crate and Barrel in Cherry Creek to return a couple of decorative pillows that I ordered on impulse and then promptly regretted. Crate and Barrel was mostly empty, so I browsed and picked up an oven thermometer and some other baking supplies for some baking experiments that I want to make in the coming weeks. I also daydreamed of decorating my entire house in fun and whimsical new ways, and then remembered that that's absolutely not what I want to spend my money on (okay, I want to spend my money on it, but I also want to do other things more), so I successfully left without an egregious amount of stuff.

Then I came home, made a sandwich, cleaned up some tings, and took a nap. And then I rallied and actually cleaned out my garage, which has been on my list for a year - it was nice enough today to be outside, but tomorrow it's going to be twenty degrees and snow multiple inches, so I forced myself to do garage stuff on what felt like the last nice day of the year (it will not be the last nice day of the year, but you never know in 2020). I put together some shelves I had ordered, organized everything that's in the garage, brought in some stuff that shouldn't have been out there, etc. And I broke down some boxes that need to be recycled (slowly, over the next few weeks, since my recycling is only every other week). I also swept, then used my leaf blower to push all the dirt outside,  and it was tremendously satisfying. Yes, I am old. But I also like things to be tidy, and I'm v. happy that my garage is now clean enough that two cars could theoretically fit (or my one car has a ton of room).

Then, since my garage was clean, I took my car to the carwash, where I washed and vacuumed it and generally got it ready to spend the next couple of weeks going nowhere due to the weather. I also put gas in it, for similar reasons. Then I came home, made some spaghetti carbonara for dinner, messed around on instagram, and then took a bubble bath while reading Padma Lakshmi's memoir.

And now that I've done about as much treating myself as I can do in one evening, I think it's time for bed. I have grand plans to write in the morning, and I also have grand plans to cook a million things so that I don't have to cook so much during the week - wish me luck with that. Goodnight!

i liked you better in college

I'm tired and should have gone to bed two hours ago, but instead I've been trying to decompress by lounging under a faux fur blanket and occasionally sipping a glass of wine that I poured ages ago. Today was hectic - it started by dropping my car off at the dealer for routine maintenance, which meant driving halfway to Boulder on a road that I barely ever take anymore. Everything felt vaguely apocalyptic this morning - someone at the dealer looked outside and said it was snowing, and then someone else asked if it was actually ash (I think it was ash). It was cold enough to be snow, but we also somehow suddenly have the second largest fire in state history rushing through Rocky Mountain National Park to connect with another fire that's been burning for a couple of months, so shit feels particularly real right now.

Then I came home and slogged all day, and some of my meetings were really fun but some were super annoying. Then I rushed back to pick up my car. At that point I would have happily drank wine and sat on my couch and stared at nothing, but I forced myself to eat something and then go to Whole Foods - my food hoarding is kicking back in as I watch coronavirus cases tick up, and it doesn't help that the US response is so much worse than the rest of the developed world. So I stocked up on a bunch of stuff and am happy that I won't have to brave the crowds tomorrow since I'm sure they'll be packed in advance of the snow we're going to get on Sunday.

And now I've done enough dozing off downstairs - I should really go to bed. Goodnight!