This is where I bitch.

We had a great time on Saturday at our friend's Jeremy and Chad's house. Other years they have had a ginger bread decorating party, but after a few years of that it seems that new and interesting house ideas are becoming scarce. So this year they made large, like 8 inch long, ginger bread men to decorate. There were 9 people there, some we knew, some we just met. Jeremy is a interior design major, so their house is always amazing. The food was good too. We brought the pugs, and they seemed to have an OK time as well. There were 5 dogs total, which is a lot, but after a hour or so of crazy running around, they all clammed some. Remy spent most of the night next to me or in my lap, he's not too social yet. And JP peed on Jeremy's fabulous tree. They weren't upset, they have a pug too, but I was mortified.

Sunday Paul tried to buy us the cheap HP TouchPads, but the internets denied him. I went and played the last night of volleyball for this season. I played well, had a blast. I think out team ended up 2nd over all.

Good weekend all and all.

Well, my laptop is not turning on anymore. I should have noticed that it had been a long time since something expensive and important to me had broke. Hopefully I can get it to Shawn this weekend so we will have it to bring to the Twin Cities with us next week. I was planning on doing the redesign of my website. So much for that idea.

I really want to know what I did to throw my karma off so much. Pretty depressed today, not surprisingly. Seems no matter what we do, things just get worse. What is the point of trying so hard at life if nothing pays off?

It's quarter to eight and I want a stiff drink.

I think I want my job title to be "Project Recovery Team Member". Where I get pulled into a project when it's on the brink (or past) of collapse. And then I do my best to get things back on track. Sometimes we don't do it, but we try. maybe I can get a cape too. So maybe I won't be a project lead again, and this is where they are pointing me. It will take some mental rearrangement, but I think I can be OK with that.

Lots of things are still down at work, servers and software. We are kinda limping along these days.

I'm getting a new laptop! :dances: Well, not new, but close. exairian is selling her titanium powerbook, and if I sell the current laptop (the one I got a few months ago) back to the guy i bought it from, I'll only have to give her $50 more. So tonight I will have a newer and faster machine. Plus I now have like 1-2 more inches of screen.

It's a busy week. Gonna be a busy month. Paul has his shopping done already, I'm kinda jealous. I haven't even started. So instead of the Black Friday / CyberMonday deals, I'll have to wait for the ones at the end of the month.

Now I have to learn all about the new project I'm helping with. Boy it'd be nice to enjoy the fruits of my labors and work on a project that is running smoothly for a change. Oops, see? Need to switch brain gears and accept that this is OK...

Updating my laptop last night was a bust. My pervious laptop, which was where I was going to get the RAM from, used high density RAM, which the new laptop can't read. So after 30 minutes of messing with it, we had to give up. But we should be able to switch out the old laptop's DVDR drive with the new one's. Which will make burning going faster. And they will keep their eyes open for more RAM for me.

JP had a scare yesterday. Paul took him to the vet for a check up and some shots. He's in decent health, 24.8 pounds, but has some intestinal virus. Nothing serious, but he's got some meds to take. But after they got home his face started swelling and he had trouble breathing. A rush back to the vet, with me on the phone trying to direct Paul around rush hour traffic, and they gave him another shot to counteract the reaction. He's fine now, but scary night.

I wish this new project, with the tight deadline and possible over time had been last week and not the week I'm gone for half of it. Lots and lots to do. And the work is still really slow. Too many unresolved questions and not enough specs or samples. But that's normal.

I was planning on getting up early and putting some extra time in this morning. In stead I over slept. I'm clearly over tired these days, hopefully there will be some rest this weekend.

Leaving for the Twin Cities tomorrow. Get to hang out with Jack soon!

We played the first expansion of Killer Bunnies and the Journey to Jupiter last night. Some fun additions, long game though. Only a few fights, it was kept to a low rumble. Tired today though, I'm hoping I get to sleep in some this weekend while we are in the Twin Cities. All of that is laid out, I think. Should be a nice trip.

New project at work. Lots to do on it and man, is it slooooow. Mostly because it takes 10-15 minutes per correction to a) figure out what they want and b) find an example of the change so we can implement it. I'm sure it'll pick up soon, after we've figured out most of the types of changes and what needs to be done for them. My machine also had to be changed to new settings, so I can't even go back to the old project and help, unless I jump over to another machine.

Heading downtown tonight to drop off some part-time job apps, mostly at hotels. Pat told me the Hilton is hard up for catering staff, and since I left there on good terms and already know my way around the food areas, I think I have a good chance. Not my preferred option, but shouldn't be too bad. Lots of carrying food but I don't have to rely on how busy we are and tips to make decent money. Also gonna get some more RAM put into my new laptop. I'm so excited I get to bring it with us on our vacation.

Apparently I'm "random project boy" today. I'm bouncing between like 3 or 4 projects as they each have extra work. There is some left over stuff to worry about from the rerush project from Friday. I hope it can get done during normal hours, I really didn't plan for OT this week.

And I realized what I'm most excited about with the new laptop. I can CLOSE it! And like, take it places. Like to the Twin Cities this weekend and do updates on the volleyball web site and maybe even some Cowry Catchers and Panamindora art.

Oh, and in keeping tradition, I named the new laptop Castiel. He's not an InNomine angel, like the other ones and ipods have been, but close enough, IMO. Might need to find a cool SPN wallpaper.

Weekend was good. Not much on Saturday, except for scoring a used mac book. It's old but runs fine except for a sticky disk drive. I've got it all running and the programs I need installed. Now I need to transfer over my data and resync the iphone--which means transferring the now PC data back to Mac world. I'm gonna be really good at this soon.

Sunday was full, full, full. We got up early to make the Associated Bank grill out and awards ceremony for their MVP ball park bankers, Paul being one of them. We got pictures of him with the racing sausages and on the big projection screen in the stadium. We watched some of the game and then left to beat traffic and cause we were on the shady side and forgot to bring long sleeve shirts.

Then I went and played 3 matches of volleyball. I used to start at 6 at the Willy Street Pub and play until bar time, now 3 matches and I can barely move. My normal team won 5 our of 6 games, but my other/coaching team lost all 6. They had to play one match without me since I was double booked. Not sure what to do with this coaching team. I need to figure out what they want of me and then how to do it. Might have to talk to a few other power players to get ideas.

After volleyball I rushed home and we met up with Jess and Club 5 for the softball drag show. It was awesome. We got to talk to friends we don't normally see. One of our good friends won overall (but mostly cause his parents were there and threw $20s). The guy from Paul and my team was great, he was a total diva and did a back flip in high heals--he got 3rd. The 2nd place guy had hurt his ankle this weekend at a softball tournament but still got dolled up and was carted around the stage in a wheel chair. And we got to see our very butch commissioner in a dress and high heals.

Tonight is Killer Bunnies with the girls. Between a mall shift and volleyball tomorrow night I need to pack for the trip to see Jack and get downtown again to see about getting some more RAM and a new disk drive for my new laptop.

Spur of the moment vacation, well sorta. Next week Thursday Paul, JP and I will head up to the twin cities to see our sisters. Paul's sister, Avril, is in her first weeks of college, so we can see her. And baby Jack is sitting up by himself. We will stay with my aunt and uncle (even though for the weekend they will be back home in Brantwood). We should be back in time for volleyball on Sunday. I'm excited. Then a few weeks after that Laura, Rob and Jack will be here to visit.

Have a quasi deadline today. I should be able to make it, if I don't waste too much time.

Still pondering a replacement laptop. I don't really needed the latest and greatest, cause I'm not sure that the version of the Adobe Creative suite will even run on Snow Leopard. I'd like a slightly older mac that runs Leopard, actually. Any one have any ideas?

I soooo want this book, Killer Unicorns! (I link to the review so I don't have to copy/paste).

Plus this cruise sounds so awesome. Not that I write or would get much out of the writing workshops, but a tropical cruise and getting to hear readings from the next book in one of my favorite series would still rock. I could sun bathe during the writing sessions. Maybe offer up my services for book cover art.

I didn't have time last night to work on the laptop. Hopefully I can get something working tonight.