Sprightly

Friday is the only work day where it is legally okay to be sprightly. I am sure I read that somewhere. All I know was that I spent most of the day in a good mood energized with boundless energy.

One of our vendors took my boss and me to my favorite restaurant Maggiano's for lunch. We were able to slide into a prime parking spot and not wait for a table. That's where normal ended. For the first time in a little over 15 years I have been going to this restaurant (starting in Chicago), the table setting was less than pleasant. My napkin looked like it had been previously enjoyed and a couple of the bread plates had crumbs on them. What the hell?!

I announced to my table that I wanted to be the whiny bitch to deal with the waiter. They both agreed. After miming to the waiter to come around the table next to me, I explained to him that my napkin was crinkled and looked like it was previously enjoyed and told him about crumbs on the plates. He took the first few off the stack on the side of the table and I corrected him to take the whole thing. The waiter was apologetic and came back to take our order.

Luckily the food was still delicious until dessert. My boss and I decided to share a piece of chocolate cake. When it arrived to our table, this big wedge of chocolate monstrosity had a garish red wood-handled knife sticking out from it. WTF? The waiter saw my expression and quickly said he didn't put it in there. I told him that the kitchen should never do that as a presentation. It looks aggressive and unappetizing. Large beads of condensation had formed on the chocolate ganache enrobing the slice which told me that had been out of the refrigerator for more minutes than when we ordered. Sigh. It didn't taste as good as I remembered. I hope this experience was an anomaly...

A spreadsheet claimed my afternoon. The better portion was my responsibility to research thanks to a morning meeting. At some point a little after 5pm, my boss urged me to go home. I declined as I wanted to finish this project. There is a bigger project that deserves all of my attention next week. I left at 6pm and my energy was finally depleted though I still managed a few things in the evening. There was still enough energy to make myself a homemade meal, do a few loads of laundry in the evening including the slipcovers on my furniture and wash floors and clean some of the base boards. Is that sick or what?


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Sprightly

Lulu Found

A tired and teary eyed face greeted me when I came into our area of the building. Bridget was not taking well her son's leaving to go spend a portion of his summer with his father a few states away. She kept apologizing for being a "poop head". We still found ways to make her laugh during the day...

In my blog readings, I kept running into a website where certain bloggers have self-published portions of their blog or some other body of work: www.lulu.com. I sent the link to Pete via facebook and later to a few friends. Sometimes trying to get a publisher to like your work enough to publish gets discouraging especially when you get the rejection letters back in the mail. I don't know. I have nothing to publish yet, but it does get me giddy to think that it could happen just like that! with this site.

Remember Jill? I finally met her for lunch today at Maggiano's. It has been a year since she's been let go from my company and after a few false starts at different places, she is now at a new job where she is very happy. Can you believe she's never been to Maggiano's? You could have called me Doris Day because I found a sweet parking spot incredibly close to the entrance and it was eventually shaded by the tree near it as the sun glided across the blue sky...

I pre-ordered an appetizer of calamari which she ate, but later admitted she wasn't crazy about a bunch of it. Huh?! I thought she loved the stuff. Jill enjoyed her lunch anyway as we caught up on each other's lives. I made sure to invite her for Happy Hour with the gang. She misses our group on occasion.

There was some silent drama at Happy Hour I won't get into, but suffice it to say one chapter of man who's been hovering like a spectre for the last 10 years has finally been buried. I felt relief and no more pressure to make myself like him more than as a friend. I did at one time, but no more. Just because you have excellent rapport with someone and many people have told you that should be together, doesn't mean you should or you can. Reality was much more clarifying than the fantasy people have had about us. He is the man now I needed him to be at least five years ago. By the time he had caught up to that, my wants and needs had trajected to another universe.

It was raining out and our group disbanded earlier than expected so Jill and I decided to take a trip to the adult store before heading our separate ways. She ended up buying some cute things for her boyfriend while I ooh'ed and aah'ed at the contraptions, toys and potions glistening in their lollipop colored packaging. It has been said that a girl left to her own devices is a very...happy...girl.


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Lulu Found

Serendipitous

Switching telecommute days from Thursday to Wednesday this week for an inspection was freaking me out. In my mind it was already tomorrow. Thankfully, the apartment inspection occurred before lunchtime. Cabal never barked so I know the two men entering my home were okay. I don't like uninvited guests I don't know putting their energy in my sanctuary. I'm sensitive like that...or was that paranoid?

Wouldn't you know the day I work from home, freakish things happened at work? One of the guys from the help desk IM'ed me about a user needing my input on something which required multiple applications open on my end. My new laptop hasn't been configured yet so this was attempted on my aging laptop and on a wireless connection. At some point I had to give the user my personal cell phone number to contact me so I wouldn't have to keep updating her ticket and waiting for an e-mail response a few minutes later. (I don't have a regular phone at home because it would be superfluous at the moment.) All my other troubleshooting almost ran into my time to leave to meet Myrna and Kristey at Maggiano's for Myrna's birthday dinner.

Everything else in the evening seemed serendipitous. I had no problems in rush hour traffic. Driving was super smooth as was the ideal parking spot that became available as I navigated into the car park...Dinner was great with the gals...We walked around the mall later and I found an appropriate black dress for Dan's party on Saturday including a pair of Spanx hosiery that all the celebrities have been touting to smooth down muffin tops and hide visible panty lines on their red carpet figure. Well, I don't have close to a red carpet figure yet. It was the last dress, about a half size too big and needed something extra for a knockout look. The accessories I have picked out from my own closet for the roaring 20's theme will go nicely (pink feather boa and long strand pearl necklace). Dan is renting a tux and I figured I should make a better effort. Oh and the thing about this dress: I loved it the moment I put it on which never happens and it was on sale.

Cabal scared me later in the evening. He couldn't get up and I thought he was having a seizure. Rather than engage in full fledged panic, I called Tawny and asked if she could come over with no details as to why. By the time she walked through my door, I had Cabal on his side and was petting him. As soon as he saw Tawny, he got up and wanted to play. OMG -- I wanted to kill him. Little faker. I mean, it could have been legitimate earlier as he is getting on in years, but give me a break! It was a bizarre excuse to catch up with Tawny and for him to get more lovin'. Damn dog.
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Serendipitous

Weird Already

Why are Mondays so...well, weird? Other drivers in the garage couldn't quite decide how to maneuver within the tight aisles causing a bit of a backup on the weirdest slopes. People inside my building weren't behaving like themselves like say on a Wednesday. Ugh.

I had a vendor meeting right after lunch which made me leave my gear for the gym at home. Bridget brought hers but we ended up going to the Thai restaurant for lunch for a spicy treat. We stopped at a grocery store on the way back to pick up a six-pack of chocolate cupcakes with bright yellow frosting topped with summer-themed plastic picks and a cheer-up card for our temp.

Right before we left, we asked our temp how her evening at Maggiano's (my favorite restaurant) turned out on Friday with her husband and another couple. The poor woman looked like she was on the verge of tears. She said it was not good and that her weekend was no better. Apparently, on the way to the restaurant, her husband declared it was too much to spend which plummeted any excitement she felt from having a date night out with her husband and another couple. This situation is very rare for her.

Anyway...he behaved weird at the restaurant by apologizing to the other couple and left her there with them. She was embarrassed and ended up getting a ride home from them. When she got home, he slammed the bedroom door in her face saying he was getting ready to leave her from her having her second drunken violation (months ago) which now required a special device to be installed in her car from the special insurance company that cost money itself and the monthly subscription. He was angry at the extra cost of the violation (thousands of dollars in fees). She was already working two jobs to offset the added cost as they were barely making ends meet prior. All this was still no reason for him to behave poorly in front of her friends. Bridget and I will be taking her out to lunch at Maggiano's soon. I refuse for her to have left with a bad feeling of that place. She is supposed to remember the cool the atmosphere and how delicious the food is there. Our sweet treat and card enlivened her in the afternoon.

My favorite vendor flew in for our quarterly business meeting and spent a few hours with us going over the extensive report she put together. I missed any catching up with other people. I forget that I am there for work and not for socializing. Hee. Tab called me during his lunch and after work. I missed laughing with him during the day. On another weird note, Dan unexpectedly stopped by at his desk early this morning to discuss a hobby he was taking up. Did he suspect anything? The jury was still out, but one can't help thinking things. Tab was sure he knew. Sigh.

Caught up with Kathy in the evening and a quick chat to Tawny. Received a note on my door that my apartment building had inspections so instead of my working from home on Thursday, it will be Wednesday. What a pain in the butt. I also sent two e-mails out that were responses to last week. This week should be better. I hope.

Oh yeah - Feliz Cinco de Mayo!
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Weird Already

Hello...Again

Hello Hello Hello. It's been bit crazy and not all attributed to my washing my cell phone. Not blogging everyday was depressing, but couldn't be helped. My new magenta coloured cell phone arrived on Wednesday and I didn't have to change my phone number. (Long story.) My SIM Card was able to be salvaged from the wash and most of my phone numbers were still on the card. Trauma factor was lessened.

I left the protective film on the keypad. Let's see how long that lasts. Lookee -- isn't she pretty?


I learned some things about what I've taken for granted while waiting for my cell phone to arrive. Things like I couldn't conveniently dial my Chinese restaurant on the way home for take away or my morning alarm clock was gone. I had use a travel alarm clock and the digital alarm clocks by my bed. Didn't realize just how much I would pick up the phone and call on the way to work or on the way home to various friends for a quick catch up. The text messaging -- I can't even begin to tell you about that.

(Side note: Tawny was in Atlanta for work this week. Some things went awry while she was gone and I blamed her for the bad juju. She is not allowed to leave Tampa...ever. LOL)

My group is moving to the other corporate building which made Bridget and me extra busy with preparations. The cabin fever resulting from being cooped up at work begged for some relief. Today I had a serious craving for some calamari and decided that I would take myself out to lunch solo. I mentioned this to Bridget who asked if I wanted some company. An hour later I drove us to my favorite restaurant Maggiano's.

Bridget and I split everything: Calamari, Maggiano's Chopped Salad and Lump Crab Sandwich but we each had our own desserts. Yeah...we were deviating from our healthy program just a little. I sent Rob a pic of our desserts from my cell phone. He sent back his lunch of turkey, wilted spinach and carrots which he ate after running nine miles during his lunch hour. Personally, the gals had a better time. Too bad we couldn't incorporate martinis into our lunch. (That's for next Thursday at Happy Hour.) We were girls behaving badly during our meal; unfortunately, it was back to the salt mines in the afternoon for us gals.

Bridget devoured her Creme Brulee.


I took home most of my evil Chocolate Zuccoto Cake. Bridget took two bites and remarked how it was "just wrong" meaning it was too sinful.



I may have taken my AGOL heart thing a little too far. The pic below is of the removable tag on my printer for the move. Bright pink highlighter somehow found its way in my hand and onto the label. Hee.



Found out last minute that I could draw a quick map of how I want my new cube configured with my two monitors, docking station, accessories and printer. My hasty drawing below.




The sweetest thing about moving was the offers for lunch. I was baffled. It wasn't like I was leaving the company just the building. "But Sarah, you will over there not here." Ohmigosh -- the hugs during the week. It was like achieving some kind of office rock star status. Baffling. The new building is about a 3/4 mile up the road. Bridget and I will be visiting frequently just to escape the new building. I declined the offers for lunch, but offered my instant messaging address to those who didn't have it already.

Left early today without fanfare because I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. I was physically and mentally exhausted. Home was my most important destination. Let's just hope I remember to drive to the other building on Monday morning.

(Oh, good news -- Tawny is back in Florida. I felt a disturbance in The Force and received the confirming text message. I know it's gonna be all better now...)
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Hello...Again