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.
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!!!)
I’m goin to Vegas next week. No, no, I have to go for work. Yes, work. No really, it’s a convention. Of course I won’t be working 24-7, so there is the potential for some partying to occur, if it weren’t for one, eensy teensy little wrinkle: I’m broke. Really broke. I haven’t been this broke in a long time. I’ve depleted all my stashes that I feel comfortable depleting, and some of the ones I don’t feel comfortable depleting. It really, really sucks. Especially when I’m going to Vegas. I’m going to Vegas with no money at all to spend on fun. And I’m gonna be there for a week! A week of no money to spend on fun things in Vegas! Damn.
This sucks! 
…july was not much better.
Specifically (sort of), due to recent events I will be moving back to Portland.
If you know me, you know what that means.
Here’s to a better September. August is pretty much out, I think.
Bye.
Hello July.
Not much I really care to discuss about the past month…it was pretty much shitty from start to finish. And that’s all I have to say about that. Moving on…Hopefully July will be better, no?
Happy fourth and all that. Yay US, politicians suck, yadda yadda.
The following is excerpted from:
http://www.nwhp.org/events/gay-lesbian-pride/history-of-pride-month.html
Pride month is an opportunity to celebrate diversity as well as
support civil liberties and rights for all.
History of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month
The origins of Gay and Lesbian Pride month can be traced back to a turbulent weekend in New York City in June of 1969. On the night of June 27th of that year, the usual crowd gathered at the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village. New York Beverage Control Board agents and NYC police officers raided the bar to enforce an alcohol control law that was seldom enforced anywhere else in the city.
Raids on gay establishments, however, were common at the time and were conducted regularly with little or no resistance, as fearful gay patrons were physically forced out of their gathering places, sometimes beaten, and often arrested with no just cause. In fact, this raid was the second such raid at the Stonewall Inn that week.
On the night of June 27th, lesbians and gay men spontaneously fought back against police harassment for the first time. The crowd inside and outside the bar erupted into violent resistance against the officers as they singled out patrons to load into waiting paddy wagons. More police reinforcements were called in as local gays and lesbians united in enraged confrontation.
Word spread quickly about the confrontation and large, outraged crowds gathered on ensuing nights to protest the mistreatment historically inflicted on the gay community. These protests came to be known as the Stonewall Rebellion, and the uprising was the catalyst for the modern political movement for gay and lesbian liberation – calling for gay pride and action to secure their basic civil rights.
The event since then has been commemorated by an annual parade held each year in New York City and Los Angeles on the last Sunday in June, a tradition starting with marches on June 28,1970 marking the anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion.
The Stonewall Inn was declared a national historical landmark in March 2000, cited as the birthplace of the modern gay and lesbian civil rights movement.
Now, Gay and Lesbian Pride events and parades are planned annually in the month of June all over the country as well as internationally. Gay and Lesbian Pride Month celebrate diversity and civil liberties and rights for all.
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!
Category: Family_
Well!
Nothing like a week in Mexico enjoying sun and surf to put things in perspective for you! We of course had a wonderful time, despite having to put Jasper down the night before we left.
That was really hard, even more so considering that day he was doing pretty well all things considered. But we’d been noticing that he was taking two steps back, one step forward for the past few months, and overall his condition had worsened quite a bit at that point. We could either keep him doped up on codeine as a cough suppressant, which completely wiped away his appetite; or keep him off the codeine, and instead of watching him lose weight quickly, we could have him cough up blood and have awful hacking fits that lasted longer and longer. And towards the end, the codeine was becoming less and less effective. So we fed him lots of mac and cheese, and cooked him up a couple steaks, gave him everything he even thought he wanted for two months. Here’s to you Jasper!
Been kinda quiet lately, I know. Not much of anything going on…we tend to hunker down and hole up in the winter, and don’t get out much. Several friends have had babies, and that’s wonderful for them. Not so lucky here however.
Our dog is getting worse…his lung cancer is back with a vengeance, and its’ almost getting to be a death watch. We went to the vet on Sunday, and only after extensive blood tests would they give us any antibiotics for his very phlegmy cough. He was feeling quite a bit better once we started that medication (on top of the two he’s already taking), a bit more energy, which is great. Before the vet, I would’ve said a month tops…now it could be a couple weeks, or 4 months, I can’t say. As long as he’s eating well, all should be fine…he has lots of treats to work through.
All in all things are low energy for me. I’m loaded at work, more so than many of the poeple in my team it seems. Of course, the more competent you are, the more work you get; and the less competent, the less work you get. Nobody gets fired in the government, no matter how little they do.
I’m just counting the days to Mexico. To hell with this place and everything in it.
This month has been…trying. I’ve had more time off this month than I have in a while, and yet I feel exhausted. Holidays have always been about spending time with people I care about, relaxing, and being generous with whatever money I have at the time. Now it seems to be all about responsibilities…we have to go here, we have to see them, we have to do this, etc. That’s just not fun, and certainly not relaxing. So I enter the new year feeling tired, and grumpy, and altogether miserable, if you add my professional situation to the mix. I’m desperately looking for a change, and I don’t see any opportunities.
Usually this is the time where you sit down and take a look at the past year, at its ups and downs, and see if there are any lessons to take with you. I would like to do that…but I’m just too dang drained at the moment. It will just have to wait..probably until later this week.
I do hope that your holidays went off better than mine.
