Ready For The Weekend

I am oh-so-ready for the weekend. The weather looks like it's going to be nice, we have a lot to get done before we leave for California next weekend and it will be a weird work week because of the holiday on Wednesday.

So far, we have an appointment for the CRV's 30,000 mile check-up tomorrow and a grooming appointment for the dogs on Sunday. We want to take the dogs for a hike or a walk each day, plus I'm hoping my co-worker Carol and her girlfriend come over for dinner on Saturday with their two dogs - Pablo, a 2 year old Rottie and Gracie, a 3 month old chow mix. I want to be able to get my dogs used to having other dogs over since it looks like it's going to be Sunday Football days at my house this year.

I have appointments all over the place next week. The big one is on Monday - my first plastic surgeon consultation to see about a lower body lift, breast lift and breast augmentation. I need to see if insurance will cover any of it, and how much we're looking at paying. I have my weekly psych meeting and I need to get a mani/pedi and certain nether regions waxed. All fun stuff...

It's close to that time of the month, and I am daring fate by wearing white pants today. I have noticed the scale creeping up a pound or two, but I know that's just temporary. I just want it out of the way before we head out west.

Today is the first day in a long, long time that I don't have one meeting on my calendar for work. The only two things scheduled - a social lunch with a friend and a happy hour for someone who is leaving the company. I do have some grunt work and we are supposed to be moving to a different area while I'm gone so I could go find boxes if I was really motivated. Mostly I just want to get through the day and start the weekend!!

Aliens Have Not Abducted Me

I know my posting has been spotty at best. Work continues to be super busy and I am whipped by the time I get home. I've been working a lot of 10 hour days. I did have yesterday off, and spent a good part of the day at Mall of America shopping for shorts that fit. I am actually in a size 10 in pants, which just blows me away since I haven't lost any more weight.

We did get a new addition to our family on Thursday - our new Honda Civic! It's so cute - it's Tango Red and has a sunroof. I am going to love driving it. It has some cool features and looks very sporty.

It looks like rain today, so we'll take the dogs for a hike early. Jager has made friends with the 12-week old puppy two doors up. I've never seen her play so much. The good thing is that it tires both of them out. Baja is still a little big to be playing with the pup, but she's a lab, so once she grows a bit we'll introduce Baja to her.

We don't have much else on tap for today. We might go see "Ocean's Thirteen" if the weather doesn't clear. Tomorrow is Pride in Minneapolis, and I have tentative plans to go watch the parade with a few friends. It's supposed to be really hot, but hopefully not too humid.

Off to change to get ready for a hike since PJ bottoms probably aren't the best choice. I promise to get around to everyone this weekend and check in on you guys!

Technology Will Be The Death Of Me Yet

"As far as I'm concerned, progress peaked with frozen pizza." Bruce Willis as John McClane in Die Hard 2

So, after a shaky week of "are we up, are we down" at work, we are officially down as of 5:30 this morning. It's similar to what we experienced last week, but now other technology is down, impacting us even more. I'm not sure what this is going to mean for my weekend - if I'll be on call, if I have to come in or what. It is funny how we have made so many advances, but as soon as one part breaks, we forget how we used to have to do the job before the new technology.

One of the best examples of this was in my early days in travel. When our ticket printer would go down, we would have to hand-write a ticket. As we got into remote printing (printing at another office and having them send the ticket) and then e-tickets, the "art" of handwriting a ticket was forgotten. Agents would go into panic mode if you even mentioned having to hand-write a ticket.

There are going to be a few crazy weeks as we complete our spin off into our new company. Even though we've been operating separately for awhile, our technology is so intertwined that it's taken awhile to untangle it. We're almost at the end, though, and once it's complete we should be on far more stable ground and these outages/issues should become more and more rare. Until then, though, it looks like some long days, possible weekends and overall craziness. UPDATE - the broken technology is up, although it was up last week, too - for all of 12 minutes before it crashed again.

Once again, no big plans for the weekend. I am meeting some friends for an early Saturday morning walk and then off to get my hair cut and colored. And my first ever bikini wax!! I'm hoping the weather will be nice enough for some deck time. The house needs a major cleaning - laundry, sweep, vacuum, dust. I keep hoping some magic fairy will come and clean for me, but so far no such luck.

Mostly I need to focus on just getting organized. As I continue to try and control every aspect of my life, I am losing focus in certain areas, including exercise, eating, socializing, etc. I almost forgot when Father's Day was. I did forget my SIL's birthday. I have to cancel meetings at work because I'm not prepared or overwhelmed with other things. I misplaced 4 new boxes of contacts and I thought for sure I threw them away. Luckily Don found them before I ordered new ones. Seriously, I think I would forget my head if it wasn't attached.

I do have next Friday off, so I plan on just getting a few things together for our upcoming trip to Santa Barbara - 3 weeks from this weekend!!! I am so looking forward to those two weeks. That is kind of what's keeping me sane right now....

I was hoping to get out early today and hit the gym, but I will be lucky if I get out of here before 5:00 PM. Ugh. Ahhh, the responsibilities of leadership.

Work Woes

Work has been kicking my butt since Thursday. Even though the current tech issue doesn't directly affect those we schedule, we need to offer our support to get back on track. I thought I needed to go in to work today to organize efforts, but the problem still isn't resolved so I have conference calls at 6:00 and 7:00 to see what the plan is for tomorrow. What's worse, is if it isn't fixed, what that means for me on Monday and into next week. Plus, a program that wasn't supposed to roll out until July is coming this weekend (that we didn't learn about until late Friday), will affect us Monday. I see some long days ahead...

Since I thought I was going into work today, I didn't plan much, but was able to work in a hike with the dogs, a pedicure and a few hours out on the deck soaking in the rays.

The biggest news is that my BFF, Patty, has asked me to be her maid of honor at her wedding next year. I am so excited! I know I have to do it long-distance, but this is so great. She is hoping for April 2008 in Palm Desert...

Off to dinner now....

Storm Central

We are expecting major storms overnight and through tomorrow. It's been a weird spring as far as weather is concerned. We haven't had some of the severe thunderstorms we usually get, although that may change as of tonight. There are tornado watches to the west of us heading our way. It will make for an interesting morning commute. As a Work Force Management Specialist, we could be in for a hectic opening if all of our staff can't get in... It's grey and windy, but you can tell a storm is a-brewing...

In the meantime, I just had a manicure and had them cut my nails really short because I just got a new work BlackBerry! It's a blessing and a curse - I can check e-mail while I'm in back-to-back-to-back meetings but it also means I am accessible 24/7. I've learned to type pretty quickly on the small keyboard, even at stop lights, which is a bad thing.

Everything else is well. It's just a few short weeks before Don and I pack up the dogs and head west for 2 weeks in Santa Barbara. I am really looking forward to doing nothing. Of course I will have the blessed/cursed BlackBerry but hopefully that will just help with my workload when I get back.

My weight still hovers between 161 and 166. I panic when it gets into the upper reaches, but know I shouldn't. I am eating better and keeping up with my fluids. I have found that I am addicted to Trader Joe's Triple Ginger Snaps - not a good thing. I am still amazed that my idea of "stuffing" myself has changed so much. Just last weekend I was at a BBQ and I ate an entire hamburger!. I have to remind myself that prior to surgery I would have eaten 2 burgers or at least a burger and a hotdog plus all the sides - potato salad, beans, chips, coleslaw, etc. Even with something like pizza - a big trigger food for me - I can have 1 slice and be done. Before, it would have been 3-4-5 slices, easily.

No big plans for the weekend other than a pedicure and an eyebrow wax, both long overdue. I have a few Father Day surprises for Don. Sunday is also the last episode of "The Sopranos" so I will be making a (modified) Italian feast, including my stuffed shells. I figured I will offset the pasta with the meat, cheese and veggies. I hope to have enough good weather to let us take the dogs for a much needed hike.

We're watching "History of the World, Part I" which cracks me up every time I see it.

Here's to Mel Brooks... And why didn't you do a "History of the World, Part II?"