Category Archives: Creating Connections

Now that the triptophan has worn off…

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What I’m thankful for:

1. I have the dog I always wanted.  I just didn’t realize what I was asking for! 😀

2. My friends.  I have some of the best friends on the planet, bar none.  Period.  They may not always be there, we may have our moments where we disagree, or our lives are just misfiring, but that’s why I have more than one friend.  They all seem to take up each other’s slack.

3. My job.  As much as I complain and bitch and moan about how much it sucks, it’s still a damn good job.  Far better than many people I know.

4. My house.  This has been a long time coming.  I’ve dreamed all my life of owning my own house (ok not really all my life, but mostly since I’ve been in apartments).  I finally have a place of my own, that no one can take from me as long as I make my payments.  No one, ever.  I have final say in everything that happens, and no one has the right or the place to second guess me.  That is a mixed blessing, since now no one else is responsible for this property, but it’s worth it.

5. My family.  It’s not a bad family.  There are people in it I’m proud of, and people in it I’m not.  But they’ve known me longer than anyone, and that feels kinda good when you can sit and reminisce about stuff that no one else but the group of you remembers.

6. My mind.  Not that I’m smart, or witty, or even considerate or anything.  But I always am questioning.  Always.  And while that can lead me into trouble, I don’t often find myself second guessing myself.  But I am always questioning my direction, my motives, my desires, to make sure I’m on the right path, whatever that may be.

7. The universe.  It knows what the fuck it’s doing, even if I usually don’t, and remembering that always makes everything else better.  I just may not like what the plans are for me, but this life is not about me…it’s about the universe.  I learned that we’re here for one purpose, and one purpose alone: to live and love.  Learning from your past is just a bonus.

That’s a pretty good list.  There are many things I find lacking in it, but then my standards are way high sometimes.  Most of the things I find missing are things I find missing in myself, not in my life, and only because I’m not 100% sure of those things; like integrity, honesty and compassion.  I think I could have more of those things in my character.  And about 30 pounds less fat.  But no one’s perfect 😀

Home sweet home

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I flew to Boston today to spend Thanksgiving with my family – my brother and his wife, and my mom.  It was a rough flight; a disturbing red eye from pdx to ny, layover in ny for about 2 hours and then a short hop to boston.  I was not too keen on the idea that I had to have a layover just so I could take a 45 minute flight from ny to boston, but a funny thing happened.

I landed in ny about 40 minutes late, stepped out of the plane and into JFK international, one of two airports in new york.  NYC, my hometown.  A place I haven’t been to since 1998, well before September 11th and all its insanity.  I stepped foot in my hometown, and felt my heart break.  At the same time, it felt good to be home, even tho it was in an airport I don’t remember ever stepping foot in (I think we always went to LaGuardia) and I was only there for about half an hour.

So to start off my next blog post…I’m thankful I had a layover in NY today.

Las Vegas, Days Two Three and Four

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Ok I know I’ve been slacking on this Vegas trip as far as blogging goes, but MAN am I exhausted!  Here’s a quick summary of events since Monday night:

Monday night:  Had dinner with Gunny, his girlfriend and Dai.  Nice buncha people!  And Gunny (David) you’re a bastard for paying for everyone.  If anyone else goes to Vegas, you gotta take HIM out for once, to make up for me and Darkmajic too apparently…

Tuesday: Lotsa sessions.  Info overload.  One of the sessions was an inside look into MSNBC.com, which was …depressing actually.  A lot of the problems that they had, we’re having, and the things they did to fix those problems, are the opposite of what we’re doing.  It’s just sad.  I did get a much-coveted VIP pass (they only had several to hand out to people who where not already specifically invited based on a resume submission) to go to a behind-the-scenes look at a major news website covering one of the biggest stories a news site covers in a year – Election Night.  Little did I know that not only would I be rubbing elbows with the upper management of MSNBC, but they would be providing most excellent hors d’ourves AND an open bar.  Niiiice. 

Tuesday Evening: Anyway 7:30 rolled around, which is when they where supposed to wrap things up, but the msnbc guys decided they wanted to keep the party going, so they invited some of the attendees to join them at Mix, a swanky bar on Floor 64 of “THE Hotel”, a new high-rise suite-only hotel connected to the Mandalay Bay.  It had an open patio area.  ON the 64th floor.  Wow.  Not to mention the fact that they paid the bill for everyone who showed up.  I swear the bar tab must’ve been around 1000 bucks, with ten people drinking $6+ drinks for 3 hours, plus appetizers.  I ended up stumbling back to my hotel around 1am.  A fun night.

Wednesday: I played hooky for a bit in the morning, which I had pretty much planned on since there weren’t really any sessions going on in the morning that I wanted to attend.  So I hit the pool for a few hours, to soak up some sun while I had a chance.  I knew I wouldn’t be seeing any sun for a loooong time once I got back home.  The rest of the day was uneventful, just attending sessions. 

Wednesday night: Had dinner with mom instead at the mandalay bay buffet.  It had a chocolate fountain!  yuuuummm….with marshmellows.  And Lychees in the fruit section!  Oi was I full.

Thursday: LOTS of good sessions to choose from today.  I had trouble picking ones, and wished I had some others with me so we could split up and compare notes afterwards.  I ended up checking out a session on accessible website for people with disabilities (one of my personal torches at work) and another on the provider framework, which was really great.  But there where another 3-4 I would’ve liked to have gone to as well.  At least I can download all the demos and stuff after the conference!

Thursday night: Dinner with mom again, this time at one of those station casinos.  Got paid today, so I could actually gamble some, and of course mostly lost on the slots.  I did make a little over 10 dollars back on the last one I played, adn walked away feeling somewhat redeemed.  Then I played some roulette, and made 30 bucks!  Still overall at a loss, but that made it a little better…

Now I’m all packed up (mostly) and ready to check out tomorrow.  My plane doesn’t leave until 11pm tho.  I have my last workshop from 8-4, so I have to check out before then, and then leave my stuff with the bag guys.  Frankly I can’t wait to be home.  I miss my puppy.  I managed to not spend hundreds of dollars on cute little doggy tshirts and pink doggie goggles, but I did take a card!  I might have to splurge a bit if I get a decent return on tax day 😀

Can’t wait to be home, like I said.  I don’t really like Vegas this trip.  Probably a combination of lack of money, lack of companionship, and info overload. 

You all have to call me after Friday and make plans to hang out so I can get the bitter taste of loneliness outta my mouth…

Day Two. Viva Las Vegas!

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I am SO exhausted (see current mood).  So I’m gonna blog about today, tomorrow.  Or yesterday, later today to be exact.

/yawn.

gnite!

PS  Apparently computer geeks are a really good catch, cuz 98% of them are married.  And the rest have girlfriends or boyfriends..  THbththbhbhthhttttbbbtbtbtb.

Day One – Vegas

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I got to Vegas without much ado, and now I sit here in front of my laptop for which I paid TWELVE DOLLARS!!! to access the internet for 24 hours!  I agree, that’s highway robbery!  Anyway, my mom picked me up at the airport and took me to the Luxor to check in.  There was a HUGE line at the registration desk, so that took quite a while, but it was my very first chance to flash my government visa!  We went to have brunch afterwards at Paris, and then my mom dragged me all over the hotels trying to cash in all her player points for a show or two.  We finally got two tickets to the Improv at Harrah’s.  The show didn’t start till 8:30, so during the 3 or so hours we had to kill we had some drinks at the Carnaval Court, which is an outdoor bar next to Harrah’s with cute bartenders with “Flair”.  Think Cocktail but without the attitude, cuz they drop the bottles sometimes and don’t seem to care.  There’s a live band doing a bunch of covers, mostly U2 and 70’s rock.  I think the lead singer thought he sounded like Bono because he dressed like him and had his hair like him and they did do alot of U2 covers…but I thought he was just ok.  /shrug

Anyway after that got boring (although how boring can cute funny bottle-flipping bartenders get?) we went back inside to the karaoke bar.  That was satisfyingly disturbing, as karaoke always is.  You could tell that the drunk people where starting to come out!  We went to the Improv then, which was fun.  The comedians where pretty funny…not as funny as some others I’ve seen in portland, but then they where doing portland-specific stuff sometimes, and its always funnier when you have personal experience.  The headliner guy was Dat Phan, that vietnamese comedian who won the Last Comic Standing thing.  All in all a good night.  I got to back to my hotel and collapsed.

Today I ordered room service!  OMG it was 24 dollars for breakfast!?!?!?!  Yeah.  Not gonna do that again.  It was good tho.  I hauled myself down to the Mandalay Bay convention area, which is totally like a two mile walk.  Next door my ass!  The first workshop was really good (I won’t bore you with the details, my non-techie friends!) and the lunch was nice.  Catered.  In a HUGE ballroom.  The second one was a little less interesting, so I ducked out an hour early to go back to my hotel.  I tried to take a shortcut which ended up being a non-shortcut  and had to walk all the way back to where I started, so by the time I got back to my hotel I was TIRED.  And my feet hurt cuz I was trying to wear cute shoes with heels (Yes I have some).  Tonight I’m having dinner with some guildies from world of warcraft who live here (translation: they are friends of mine, who I game with, and we are all in a ‘guild’ in the game together and do lots of stuff in the game together, but I’ve never actually met them in person.  Kinda like myspace friends!).  Until then, I’m gonna relax and read my book.  Hopefully I’ll find some time to hit the pool…wednesday looks like it might be a light day for me, not alot of presentations I’m interested in, but all the other days are gonna be tight.

Miss you all, miss my home, and miss my babies.

PS – speaking of babies, there’s a pet store I pass between mandalay bay and the luxor.  It’s the kind of pet store you’d see paris hilton in…certainly caters to accessory dogs.  But I think I might have to buy some stuff for jessie there.  They have a shirt that has a doggie buddha that says rub my belly!  And pink doggie goggles!  Help me, please!!!)

GREEK FEST!!!!

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Today was the official FIRST SIGHTING of the Annual Greek Festival announcement! This is always a turning point for me every year…it means, first and foremost, that the Greek Fest is coming soon! Few things put a smile on my face faster than that! Second, it heralds the end of summer, which of course kinda sucks. But fall in the PNW isn’t so bad…it means dried leaves, caramel apples and end-of-summer parties, bike rides to the MAiZE out on Sauvie Island with a little rum in your pocket, and of course, the Greek fest!

This year marks the 55th Annual Greek Fest. It’s all about the food, first of all, gyros and souvlaki, spanakopita and dolmathes. And that’s just the starters…then comes the baklava, kadaifi, rolla, karithopita…and my absolute favorite, the Loukoumades! Man I love those.

Of course the dancing is always fun to watch, once you’ve had your fill of loukoumades and beer. They usually have a stage set up, and have kids from 5 to 18 showing of their greek folk dancing stuff. If you have time to plan, you can opt for the full dinner, which has just tons of stuff – I prefer to graze at the tents though. You can take a walk through the church, if you’re not wearing shorts, and there are crafts and other things to peruse while you walk off your last trip to the food tents. All in all, it’s something I look forward to every year, and makes the end of summer just a little bit easier to welcome.

Time to round up the gang and make plans to go!

One crrrrrrraaaaazy night!

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I am so exhausted.

Went to a friend’s 40th birthday party last night at the Boiler Room. It’s a tradition that we go there for her birthday, and sing karaoke, and watch the other karaoke stars and disasters, and just have a dang good time. Other traditions that occur on this occasion:

1. My friend will get totally plastered.
2. She will start flirting with everyone.
3. She will stand out on the sidewalk doing crazy physical feats that no one in her condition (trashed) should EVER do, especially without assistance (which is why we’re there).
4. We will stay out until the bar closes down and then go have a really greasy breakfast.

Our job, should we accept it, is to be sure she doesn’t crack her head open, flirt with the wrong person, or stumble out into traffic. All in all it’s pretty hilarious.

Needless to say, we roll on home at about 4am. I was the designated driver, and good thing too, since T was as wasted as our friend (an extremely rare occurence!). But here is where it gets a little ugly: We had to be in Seattle for mother’s day brunch at 11am. Which means we needed to leave at 8am. Which means I only got 3+ hours of sleep. Which means I am SO FUCKING tired it’s not even funny. I even took a nap in the car on the way up, and a nap after brunch, and I’m still tired.

But it was still a good weeked. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms in my life!