What have *you* been up to?

For those of you who read my blog, but who I don't talk to on a regular basis, I'm sorry that I'm a bum. =) I have been up to stuff, but I haven't said much about it.

Since my last post on January 7th, I...

...have traveled to Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
...magically acquired a ticket to the Swearing-in Ceremony for President Barack Obama. (w00t, Ry!)
...attended said Swearing-in Ceremony.
...told my realtor and mortgage broker to go away and leave us alone.
...became an iPhone user.
...celebrated my 2-year wedding anniversary.
...took a weekend road trip to Oregon.

Clearly, I've have a great 6 weeks or so, overall. The day after the Inauguration, I sat down and wrote an extremely long blog post (and saved it)... but for as long as it was, it seemed like there was a lot more detail that I was missing (probably because I was still exhausted). So I'll finish that and post it at some point, hopefully soon.

As a New Years Resolution, I think our mortgage broker and realtor decided to flip through their Rolodex and call everyone they once knew, to see if they were ready to be convinced to buy. We told them, in no uncertain terms, "No, please leave us alone."

(flash - next story!) Jesse and I celebrated our 2-year wedding anniversary at the end of January. Two years is the 'cotton' anniversary, so we did really think about how to incorporate cotton somehow. I tried to convince him that the majority of jewelry is made of cotton, as well as stainless steel ("cotton") pots and pans, and iPhones... So, when it came down to gift-opening, I reached into the small gift bag and what did my fingers touch? Shoot, it was *real* cotton. Only a tiny bit disappointed, I pulled it out of the bag, and unfolded what seemed like a black t-shirt. OK, it *was* a black t-shirt... that had iPhone buttons screen-printed on it! w00t! I dragged him off to the AT&T store right then and there, and now I'm a proud iPhone user! =) And, folks, if I'm an iPhone user, then these things have really taken off. I'm not an Apple fangirl, and I don't approve of spending the additional $30/month for a data plan... and *I* think it's totally worth it. I love it! Happy Anniversary, Bug! Thank you for my cotton iPhone! =)

Also for our anniversary, we had talked about going away somewhere for a weekend. We didn't need to go far... just a quick trip to mark the occasion. Jess suggested Oregon while we were doing dishes one night. It was a little further than I was thinking of driving, but he liked the idea of driving north on I-5 and spending a weekend in Ashland. Neither of us had ever been, but we both like theater, and Ashland is famous for its Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Ashland. Is. Adorable.

We absolutely loved it there, and we will definitely go back sometime. We saw a production of "Death and the King's Horseman," which is a contemporary play by Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka, who has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was an absolutely fascinating play, and I'm really glad that we had the chance to see it. The cast, and in particular the lead and the actress who played his wife, were so completely committed to their roles. Apparently, the play is based on actual events, when the Yoruba of Nigeria were under British Colonial rule. It was a very eye-opening depiction of the juxtaposition of Western values and tribal rituals and beliefs. Admittedly, Jess and I were mostly lost at the beginning of the play, because the language Soyinka used was so rich with metaphor. And the metaphors that were used compared life experiences to things Westerners aren't all that familiar with, like plants and animals that are indigenous to Africa, so it was hard to keep up. The language barrier created awkward silences when the actors would laugh at a joke Soyinka had written in that audience hadn't quite picked up on. All's well, though, because by the end of the first act, I understood the direction things were going in, and it only got better and better from there.

Jess and I both had the same impression when the play was over -- "wow, that was so Shakespearian." Of course, this playwright has a very different tone, different subject matter, and different overall style, but still... the language was rich, intense, and full of inuendo. We highly recommend it! But consider yourself warned about those metaphors. =) We thought we would've been able to pick it all up more quickly if we'd known what to expect.

And last, but not least by any means, downtown Ashland was SO charming! We went to dinner at the Brewery, we shopped in their great Comic Book store (they had awesome journals and non-comic books, too), and we went to a local candy store that had to-die-for caramel apples! We picked the "Toffee Almond Caramel Apple," which was a regular caramel apple, rolled in crushed toffee almonds. What more could a person ask for? They sliced it, we shared it... and then went back on our way out of town and got two for the road. Man, I wish we could get those here! But it looks like you can't even order them!!

That's all for now. =) I will try to post the Inauguration summary soon...!

Lessons from IRS Tax Code

It's that time of year again, when we need to report our income to the Federal Government, so they can take "their portion," and leave us with whatever's left. Anyway, I was reading up on Tax Code...like you do...and I stumbled on, quite possibly, some of the most ridiculous government text I've ever seen. This can be found in Publication 525 from the Internal Revenue Service, current for 2008:

Stolen property. If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless in the same year, you return it to its rightful owner.

I wish I was kidding. Alas, this can be found in the Other Income section, right between the "Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits" and "Transporting School Children" sections. Page 35.

So, I thought to myself, "Wow! This text was actually legislated." Because, really, of all the people in the country who pay taxes, how many of them are taking stock of the things they stole during the calendar year, so that they can accurately report that income to the Federal Government? Something tells me that honesty is not a priority for people who are already stealing. Moreover, those folks are probably not pouring over Tax Code (unlike Yours Truly) in their spare time.

OK, let's say you stole something. You then decide, in some alternate universe, that you're going to file an income tax return. Are you really, I mean...really, going to admit to Federal officials that you stole something? But then, really, why are Federal officials deeming stolen goods as legitimate "other income"? This was not good decision making. I'd like to see the revenue numbers for the years before and after this piece of Tax Code was published.

Sigh.

Do the Right Thing

Jerry Brown is doing the right thing.

It is so sad to see that some people are still insisting, to this day, that it's somehow justifiable to actively strip a group of people of their rights under the law. We're not talking about a group of criminals.. we're talking about people who just want an equal and lawful way of expressing their commitment to one another.

Go, Jerry, go!

Brown asks state high court to overturn Prop. 8

(12-19) 19:43 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- State Attorney General Jerry Brown, in a surprise turnabout, asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to overturn Proposition 8, saying the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage violates basic rights guaranteed in the state Constitution.

[...]

"Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification," Brown said.

The authors of the state Constitution, he said, did not intend "to put a group's right to enjoy liberty to a popular vote."

[...]

"We have a conflict between the amendment power (through voter initiatives) and the duty of the Supreme Court to protect minorities and safeguard liberty," Brown said.

[...]

As the "chief law officer of the state," Brown said in his brief, he is "duty bound to uphold the whole of the Constitution" and not merely the power of the people to change the laws by initiative.

The Family Giving Tree

My company has always had an organized charitable holiday gift-giving program. In years past, we would exclusively deal with Toys For Tots. So, you just bring in toys or money to the office, and then hundreds of toys are donated to children in need.

This year, we're working with Toys for Tots again, but instead of toys, we're helping out with their Literacy Program. We're donating books and money to support literacy and academic success. (Love it!)

On top of "Books for Tots," we're also working with The Family Giving Tree. I am SO excited about this! You know how there are gift-giving trees, where you take a piece of paper that says a child's age and gender on it, then you have to go out shopping for an appropriate gift? Right. Well, that's hard, because when you have the money to make a charitable gift, the chances are that you're too old to know what those little kids *actually* want at their ages. Sheesh! Don't get me wrong, I've done it anyway, but it's still not as easy as it could be.

Enter The Family Giving Tree. They actually provide cards (to decorate your office's tree) that include not only the kid's age and gender, but also *what they want for Christmas*. Genius. Here are the 3 cards I picked:

1. newborn baby girl needs baby supplies
2. adult male wants a rainstick instrument
3. 11 year-old girl wants a backpack & school supplies

Oh my goodness, I can't handle it! I *love* school supplies! My favorite time of the school year was when I got to pick out a new backpack, and fill it with a bunch of new pencils and paper and folders and markers and erasers, etc. I was thrilled to go buy school supplies for a sixth grade girl!

I decided to ask my co-worker what his daughter needed for 6th grade (her current grade), and he actually got me the list their school sent to him in August. I bought almost everything on the list. I had a blast! =) I bought a pink backpack, and filled it with:

- pens
- mechanical pencils & lead
- eraser
- glue stick
- white out tape
- scissors
- binder
- folders
- ruler
- post-it notes
- colored index cards
- calculator
- accordian file
- planner notebook
- markers
- "twistable" colored pencils (they don't need to be sharpened!)
- cute things (Hello Kitty bag clip & mini gel pens)
- an "American Girl" book on Starting Middle School (next year!)
- USB thumb drive

...that's right, a USB thumb drive. According to parents of elementary school kids around here, that's totally essential for school. More and more is done on the computer, and it's the easiest method for moving information around, I guess. Amazing. School continues to morph to meet the needs of each generation! I think that's exciting, and I wouldn't want this little girl to be left behind academically.

Anyway, as it turns out, The Family Giving Tree also does an event for kids who are starting school, to outfit them with these very same things. I think I might end up liking that time of year as much as I like Christmas! (maybe.)

More good news before bed.

With all of the hard work ahead, at least President-elect Obama will have the help of a left-leaning Congress. I think he'll pick a more moderate cabinet, so I think the Executive and Legislative branches will be a good mix of minds.


CNN has called Alaska and Montana for McCain, but they're still deciding on Missouri, Indiana and North Carolina. I have a hunch they'll all go to Obama, but they're having a hard time accepting and calling it that way. ;)

A New President of the United States of America

CNN told us the news, right at 8:00pm. Words can't express how happy and proud we are!

I voted!

I've done all I can do.

And hopefully, this message is too late (because you've already voted), but I want to draw attention to Prop 8...

Prop 8 videos

Here are a couple of the best videos, in my opinion:


I'll keep my fingers crossed that the video surge in the past week or so has done enough.

Let the back-tracking begin!

Sarah Palin has been teaching Americans that they should be afraid of Barack Obama for being acquainted with William Ayers. Yes, he was acquainted with the guy. Does anyone ever bother to mention that the entire staff of the University of Illinois-Chicago is also acquainted with William Ayers? Somehow, that school has avoided turning into a terrorist hot house.

Let's hear what Sarah Palin is "fearful" and "afraid" of:


Hold the phone.. John McCain says we don't have to be afraid!


I guess Palin-McCain didn't mean any of that terrorist stuff. Obama's really a great guy, after all. And, seriously, that was the only exaggeration they've made.. you can still believe everything else they've said. Trust them. They won't mistakenly label anyone else a terrorist and put your children, spouses and loved ones in harm's way by starting more wars. After all, if they were going to do that, wouldn't that be the really scary thing?

People know that voting is free, right?

A work friend of mine has recently begun displaying at his desk a blue paper cup emblazoned with the name "Obama." I took a closer look at it today, and I saw that it also had a sticker on it that said, "I voted in the 7-election!"

As it turns out, 7-Eleven is holding a coffee drink-off to stir up voters, Capitalist Style. They call it the 7-election, and they're publishing the "results" (read: sales figures) weekly in USA Today.

I know that election turn-out has been pretty sickly for the past few presidential elections (and worse for the smaller 'tween elections), and maybe that has contributed to the belief that you actually have to buy something in order to cast a vote. I just want to remind folks (and I know only about 5 people read this blog, but please tell your friends) that voting is indeed free of charge the United States, and you don't even need to drink coffee to participate.

On the flip side, the nice thing about this promotion is that it demonstrates the excitement surrounding this election. Pop culture is really embracing the Obama-v-McCain election. Case in point: this is apparently the third election that 7-Eleven has promoted in this way, and yet this is the first I've heard of it.

For those of you who are interested, 7-Eleven does have a color-coded map on their website that illustrates the latest results. Currently, 7-Eleven's coffee drinkers prefer Obama, with 59.13% of sales (McCain = 40.87%).

Before bed: Teddy bear, warm milk and an Obama quote?

By now, you know I'm frustrated about the presidential race. I'm deeply bothered by the negativity, fear and hate that McCain and Palin are creating and encouraging.

Tonight, in order to calm myself down enough to get some sleep, I decided to look up some Barack Obama quotes. I wasn't prepared for just how effective the exercise would be.

The wisdom, peace and courage that this man is able to verbalize is both inspirational and comforting. He elevates the discussion of our core national and interpersonal issues unlike anyone I've encountered. I'm happy to re-publish a few of them here, in hopes that they can offer you a quick "pick me up" when you reach this blog. They've done wonders for my state of mind tonight.

People are very hungry for something new. I think they are interested in being called to be a part of something larger than the sort of small, petty, slash-and-burn politics that we have been seeing over the last several years.

BARACK OBAMA, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 11, 2006

-----

We have a stake in one another ... what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and ... if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done for the people with whom we share this Earth.

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Dec. 1, 2006

-----

Life doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our children – all of our children – a better world. Even if it's difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don't get very far in our lifetime.

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Jun. 15, 2008

-----

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

BARACK OBAMA, speech, Feb. 5, 2008

"My friends," I'm voting for "that one."

During last night's Presidential Town Hall debate, John McCain said "my friends" on the order of 20-30 times. It got annoying, because it didn't sound genuine. He then referred to Barack Obama as "that one" exactly once, but it was easily just as memorable as his other phrase of choice. On top of that, it has really struck a chord with the voting public, and if you Google "that one," many of the highest ranked results are about the debate. In fact, some folks have already begun creating t-shirts and websites commemorating the remark.

So, thank you, McCain, for initiating millions of Americans into the "Vote for "that one" Club." I'm in.

That's it, I'm disgusted.

I'm not going to be ugly here, because I believe everyone is entitled to his or her own political opinions. However, I'm totally disgusted by Sarah Palin at this point. She's so clearly not ready to be President, but moreover, she's not the type of person one wants to elect as Vice President either, because that means she'll be in the public eye, sayin' whatever she can to get a rise out of her audience, no matter who it hurts.

Take this Washington Post article. The majority of the article is spent discussing what we already know - she's got way more charisma than McCain. However, her quirkiness has absolutely crossed the line, here:

Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

It absolutely disgusts me that her idea of campaigning for the vice presidency is to take a dump on our country's free media, and to encourage other citizens to do the same. As a people, we may have been historically divided right down the middle as far as our views and beliefs, but the free media is uniquely able to hold up a mirror and help us see ourselves, and also serves as a window into how other people think and express their beliefs. If you don't like what you see, change the channel. That's one of our freedoms, and we need to protect it.

Here's another truly disgusting snippet:

The reception had been better in Clearwater, where Palin, speaking to a sea of "Palin Power" and "Sarahcuda" T-shirts, tried to link Obama to the 1960s Weather Underground. "One of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," she said. ("Boooo!" said the crowd.) "And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,' " she continued. ("Boooo!" the crowd repeated.)

"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.

How painful is it to imagine a potential Vice President of the United States taking part in riling a crowd to the point where someone feels comfortable shouting death threats? It's absolutely disgusting. I may not agree with you or your politics, but I don't think anyone needs to check their humanity at the door to win an election.

As for me, I'm anxiously awaiting all of my Obama gear that I ordered from his campaign website. I'm not usually one to openly discuss my political views, but I feel that a line has been drawn, and I'm sick and tired of the ugliness the Republican campaign is perpetuating.

Mahalo for reading this post

Aloha! We have returned from our trip to 2 islands of the great state of Hawaii. Two weeks, I've decided, is absolutely my preferred vacation length. It gives you enough time to relax, do a bunch of stuff, and really allows a person (though not [ahem] all people) to forget the daily grind. By the end, you either feel ready to return home, or at least ready to stop spending money (the latter in our case, for this vacation).

During the aforementioned two weeks, we did the following, which is not a complete list:
1. went for a sunset sail on a huge catamaran & watched fireworks
2. visited a royal palace
3. got lost in a hedge maze
4. got Lost on a deserted beach
5. performed an exhaustive search for the best shaved ice around
6. slept for 19 hours straight
7. island-hopped
8. ate breakfast on our balcony overlooking the ocean
9. went to a stand-up comedian/wizard show
10. traveled to the ocean floor in a submarine & marveled at a sunken ship
11. traveled to the highest peak of a volcano & gazed at stars and planets
12. drove through 600 turns & numerous one-lane bridges to a remote town and beautiful black sand beaches
13. went ATVing over abandoned sugar cane fields up to the edge of a rainforest
14. relaxed, read books and listened to live music on fine white sand beaches
15. took a helicopter flight over 2 islands and multiple beaches, valleys and waterfalls

In Jesse's words, "that's a hell of a vacation." I thoroughly recommend it to you, and would be happy to give you exact details of our favorite spots if you're planning your own visit to the Aloha state.

New game

It's time for a new game I like to call...

Small World or Big Company

That's right, folks! It's the fun family game that everyone can play, Small World or Big Company. I hope you all join in the fun from home! It's really very simple...given a coincidental scenario, you simply need to choose whether the coincidence was caused by the fact that we live in a Small World or that I just work for a Big Company. Sounds easy, right? Let's get started!

Scenario: I was flying to Phoenix for a quick business trip. I was happily listening to my Zune, and noticed that the guy next to me also had a Zune (nothing too out of the ordinary - when you have a fun new toy, you tend to notice others who have one also!). Toward the end of the flight, he asked me how I like my Zune. I chatted a bit about how happy I was with it, and then he seemed overly enthusiastic about the Zune's capabilities. So I took a chance and asked, "Do you work for My Big Company?" He replied, "Yes I do." To which I said, "So do I." We swapped titles, and as soon as he heard mine, he said, "Oh! We've met! A couple of weeks ago at that Big Company conference, at a specific class, because a specific person introduced us." I realized he was right, and we then chatted freely as co-workers would.

Okay, so after I realized that this apparent total stranger and I had actually met (in a totally different city, neither our departure or arrival city for this flight) and indeed we effectively work together, my first thought was, "Small World!"

But is it really that small...? Or is this how my life will be, now that I work for a company that employs ~80,000 people?

Small World or Big Company?

That thing I'm thinking about

This week, I spontaneously asked Jesse if he wanted to go to Hawaii with me in May. He dutifully asked his management if he could take the time. Once he said he could, I asked my management, and they were equally accommodating. Thus began my very excited excitement and subsequent obsessive obsession with our impending Hawaiian vacation.

Initially, the plan was to vacation for a week in Waikiki. Jesse's response was, "Hey, maybe we should take that interisland ferry to another island while we're there." Well, you can't just go to another island for a day (IMHO), and we were stuck with a 7-day period in Waikiki (timeshare), so I suggested that we stay for another week and do a second island. He was in, so I looked into the interisland ferry. From Oahu, the ferry only goes to Maui once a day. Done. Maui it is.

So I proceeded to talk to people about Maui, read up on Maui online, look into hotels, dream about it (ahem, this was all in one short afternoon)...and then I bought a guidebook on the way home.

Now, we've been to Hawaii (Oahu, Big Island) before, and we heard many a whispering about the inter-island ferry that was going to begin service any month (then), which would provide a convenient and economical way to get between islands. So when I looked into it, I found it very curious that there was only one ferry operating per day to and from Oahu-Maui. That hardly seemed to fill the transportation needs of island locals. I decided to read more about it, and it turns out that there are some very vocal environmental activists who are concerned that the ferry system is going to hurt ocean flora and fauna, so the company who operates it occasionally has to stop operations and wait for court proceedings, etc. On top of that, the ferry can't operate in bad weather (and these are tropical islands, so you never know when weather will get bad)... so we agreed to fly to Maui instead. It's more practical anyway, because you can't pick up a rental car at the ferry berth. What we've lost with the $10x2 more expensive flight, we'll gain in flexibility and taxi fee avoidance. And even though we're not taking the Ferry, we're still going to Maui, since we've never been and we hear good things.

So, as of today, we've booked flights and hotels, and we're ready to go. I'm SUPER excited. We'll be swimming with honus, riding horseback, hiking to waterfalls, eating macadamia nut pancakes and kalua pig, lounging around on gorgeous Maui beaches and checking out the Lost beach on Oahu in no time.

Has anyone else been to Maui? We would appreciate your advice. Truthfully, though, there's no guarantee we'll do anything more than the drive to Hana and beach walks. We really do want to rest and relax more than anything else. (eeeee I'M SO EXCITED!)

My 100th post is about ketchup.

...of the "catch up" variety.

Jesse and I have been busy. Looking back, though, it wasn't all that interesting.. it just took up all of our time. From November through January, we were trying to buy a house. Unfortunately, it fell through due to forces outside our control. We continue to have the worst home-buying luck of anyone we know. So we're taking a break at the moment. We had planned to go to two open houses yesterday, but decided last-minute that we're just not ready to try again. It's exhausting.

We celebrated our one year wedding anniversary on January 27th. We went to Pacific Grove, and spent some time exploring neighboring Monterey and Carmel. It was a very peaceful trip. Jesse was sick, but he was a sport and went anyway, so we kept it very low-key. Our fanciest meal was at Passionfish, which was a recommendation from our friend, Rob. The food was totally delicious, so if you're ever in the area, go there. But skip their desserts, because they weren't very impressive.

Last week, I travelled to Seattle for a conference. I had to share a hotel room, which I was originally worried about, but it turned out to be the best part of the trip. My roommate and I got along very well, and were practically attached at the hip the whole time. The weather was nice -- pretty much like being in the Bay Area in February. Kind of cold, drizzly one day, but surprisingly mild for the most part. The conference helped me to realize how huge my company is. The 6,000 conference attendees represented only 7.5% of the total number of company employees. However, keep in mind that those attendees represent over 18x the number of employees at our subsidiary. We're so tiny!

What else? ...After being around thousands of people all last week (or having at least one person there for 99% of the time), I am really treasuring that I have occasionally been alone over the past couple of days. I generally find myself with songs stuck in my head. They're usually very peaceful slow songs, adding to the calm. Specifically, Paolo Nutini's "Last Request." I found this song on YouTube while I was hunting around for Jehro videos. Jehro and Paolo Nutini do a really nice duet, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Oh, that reminds me of something very notable -- Jesse and I went to a Tori Amos concert in December. We went with one of his friends, and it was unanimous - this was a *fantastic* concert. Tori has graduated to full-blown rockstar status, if you ask me (and since you're reading my blog, it's kind of like you did ask..) So, from this post, my two album recommendations are Paolo Nutini "These Streets," and Tori Amos "American Doll Posse." And, if you haven't heard it yet, definitely get Jehro's self-titled album. It's excellent warm weather music, so you might want to wait until Summer. I'll try to remind you when the weather gets nicer...you won't regret it.

That's all I have for this edition of Ketchup. Please tune in again later to see if there's anything else happening. I can't guarantee there will be, unfortunately. =)

my 99th post is about video games

Sooo, Jesse and I have been spending lots of time together lately, which is awesome. Actually, we've mostly just been spending time in each other's presence, while playing video games. Am I complaining? FAR from it. Let's list the positive aspects of this situation:

1. Jesse's home.
2. Jesse's home.
3. We both really like video games.
4. Jesse spent a ton of time working too hard and not playing any video games at all, other than those he was made to "play" for work.
5. Jesse's home now.
6. We've had a stack of games piling up that needed playing.
7. I spontaneously bought a DS a few months ago, and I love, love, love, love it.
8. I then bought Jesse a DS a month or so ago, and he loves, loves, loves it Jewel Quest.
9. Jesse's home!!!
10. Jesse was given a PSP, and instead of hoarding it and making me jealous, he selflessly handed it over to me, PLUS a new Ratchet & Clank game that I didn't even know existed.
11. Jesse's my favorite, and he's home.
12. We bought a PS3 in September...
13. ...then bought our first game for it at the end of October.

So maybe that list got a wee tad bit off topic, but you get the point. We like games, and playing them in each others company ain't half bad. We're basking in the unfussiness of it. It's awesome. You could come over, and you could play games in our presence, too. Pizza's on us.

Oh, right, and on to the bad things, since one should strive for equality in blog posts...

1. That Ratchet & Clank PSP game wasn't awesome. It was good, but the story line was dumb, and the boss battles were disproportionately difficult next to the regular game play. And it was short, at only 12.5 hours at my slow-gamin' speed. Oh well.
2. We crashed the *other* Ratchet & Clank Game (Future: Tools Of Destruction) pretty hardcore. Jesse hit start (to try to pause) right after he jumped into the ship. That k-i-l-l-e-d the game. But luckily it had just saved.
3. We eat too much pizza.
4. Jesse's obsession with Jewel Quest makes me want to play Jewel Quest. =(

And, that's it! That's the list of bad stuff. Not so bad! Life could be worse. And it has been, like when Jesse worked for 3 months straight, only coming home to sleep (most of the time).

So YAY JESSE BEING HOME!

NYC 2

Usually, when I travel for work, I freak out before going to sleep, because I'm so worried that the alarm clock won't go off, and that I'll make a terrible impression on who I'm about to meet by showing up late. Well, I freaked out, as usual. However, unlike most times, when I overcompensate by shooting out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off in the morning, I just kept hitting snooze today, as though I was at home. It wasn't like I was relaxed--it's that, MY GOD, I was drowsy.

So I got up, showered, dressed, realized that all the walking yesterday had worn a hole in my heel, and went downstairs. I bought some bandaids (actually, a travel-size first aid kit) and taped up my heel for another walking-heavy day.

We walked down the street to a Starbucks, then walked to the office, found our conference room, shook some hands, and got some danishes and fruit for breakfast. We then sat, and sat, and sat. The first half of the day was actually fascinating, and we were all anxious to hear the interesting preso information. The problem was, as soon as I sat down, my body remembered that it was only 5:00AM in my home timezone. OMG, I kept having the overwhelming urge to excuse myself, so that I could go find a quiet room where I could lay down for a nap. So, even though I'm mostly anti-caffeine, I decided to have some coffee, which perked me up.

At the end of the day, we decided to excuse ourselves from dinner, which was planned for a chain restaurant, so that we could meander around the city and find something more interesting to do. We caught a cab and went from midtown down to Greenwich Village. We walked around, back and down for a while.. then we decided to get a slice of Famous Ray's pizza.
Delish! I took a picture, because I knew that Bug would want evidence. =)

After that, we walked around a bunch, knowing full well that the Famous Ray's was just an appetizer. We were on the hunt for anything that looked interesting, and we wanted to stop somewhere for happy hour, too. So we walked around, stopped into a Souvenir shop, where I proceeded to spend $60 on NYC-themed clothing. Then we found a funky bar with loud live music, so we stopped in for a drink. It was SO HOT that I had to ask the bartender to put more ice in my drink. I'm telling you, the ice was the best part of that drink. The bartender was this awesome 40+ year-old Irish guy with bushy salt-and-pepper hair, tons of tattoos, and a seriously bad temper. He had a lot of charmisma, but he was literally yelling at this guy at the bar, telling him that some band should've come in and asked him face-to-face if they could book a gig at his bar, instead of calling on the phone. "Who the FOKE to they think they are?! FOKE THEM. FOKE 'EM ALL." It was so hysterical.

When we came out of there, it was still light out, and we were on our way to Little Italy, to find some delicious NYC Italian food, when we found a store called UNI QLO. We were so intrigued, because there was this enormous glass case in the front of the store, with spinning mannequins showing off the new line of clothing... it was all bright fluorescent lights, all white and glass.. we had to go in. My co-worker asked what the store was, and the clerk explained that it's sort of like a Japanese Old Navy. Most of the prices were extremely reasonable. I walked around that store for about an hour. I would've bought more, but I was worried that I'd have buyer's remorse, with no opportunity to return anything.. but it was fun nonetheless!

After that, we decided we were too hungry and tired to wait 'til we got to Little Italy, so we stopped at the first place that sounded good, Gatsby's.
I didn't expect much from this pub. When I think of pubs, I have two basic memory groups: casual, yummy, hot, stick-to-your-ribs food in Cambridge, England. OR really bland, awful trying-to-be-exciting-but-nowhere-near-succeeding disappointing food in California's SF Bay Area. Soooo, I ordered my cider, as usual, and decided to order onion rings for an appetizer, to soak up the cider and to provide a base, in case I didn't like my dinner. I ordered the chicken pot pie, thinking that I might as well give the place a shot.. and oh my GOD, it was delicious! I would order that again in a heartbeat, and I heartily recommend it to you. =) Yum. Good service, too. And I discovered that the best sauce for onion rings is ketchup mixed with hot sauce. Wow, that was a good dinner. My co-worker ordered the Cottage Pie, which was sort of like a shepherd's pie, but it was not very good. It tasted way too sweet, and it had curry powder in it. Just weird.

After that, we went back and forth as to whether we would get some dessert and coffee. After all, everything had been so good, and we had walked for miles, so we deserved it, right? No, no, no, we decided that we were waaaay too full, so we just caught a cab back to the hotel. Of course, in order to get to a busy intersection where we could catch a cab, we had to pass by kiosks of cheap jewelry and purses. I bought a $10 silver ring for $5, which I'm very proud of. My co-worker told me that the secret to negotiating is walking away, and it totally worked. I'm a pro now! =) I wish I would've tried that at the t-shirt shop... =(

Oh well! All in all, a great day in NYC. I'm thinking that it would be nice to take a vacation here, see s'more stuff, like the MoMA and the Natural History Museum. Hopefully, I can get my hubby to come back here with me. =) Maybe I can bait him with some Famous Ray's pizza.

NYC day 1

I flew into JFK today for business, and I thought I'd blog about the experience, mostly so that I would remember it myself. While I was in SFO, I did the self-service check-in. I had already selected seat 26A (window seat) weeks ago, online, but I thought it'd be interesting to see if I could get a better seat (closer to the front), so I hit the "look for other seats" button. BAD IDEA. The system knew I wanted a different seat, so it must've released my seat to the other people checking in. I ended up with seat 26E, no closer to the front of the plane. Worse than that, I was dead-center, middle seat of the middle block of seats. Just about as far from any windows as you can get. Poop.

Oh well. I took some delicious Unisom on the plane, and so was able to sleep for 3 out of the 5-hour flight. I have only recently discovered anti-histamine-induced sleep, but it's wonderful, I tell you. This is coming from someone who has desperately wanted to sleep on plane for years, but couldn't. I've tried red-eyes, I've tried not sleeping for 36 hours prior to the flight.. you name it. The only thing that works is Unisom, and so I am thankful for Unisom.

There were two other interesting things about my flight:

1. There was a blind man two rows ahead, who spoke very loudly. I was kind of annoyed, until I started listening to what he was saying. Fascinating. He works in SETI, and was telling the stranger in the seat next to him all about the new equipment they're working on, to listen for communication further out in the universe. Didn't catch many details, but my mind immediately turned this guy into the actor who played the blind SETI character in the movie Contact.

2. The other interesting thing was that the plane I was on tilted/turned to correct its path for landing VERY late in the game. I mean, you can see that you're really close to the ground, and all of a sudden, the plane jerks to the right, straightens out, turns, straightens, and then you land. I can't imagine how stressful that is for the pilot.

Anyway, after landing, I took a cab with co-workers into Manhattan to our hotel. I checked in and was told that the only room fitting my criteria that they had available was a "small room" with a queen-size bed. My other option was a king-sized bed on a smoking floor. (No thanks!) So I'm writing this from a "cozy" room in Manhattan, with a view of tall buildings and residual blue glare from Times Square's crazy lights.

We had dinner at a nice little french bistro-type restaurant called Balthazar, where we ate entirely too much food. We ordered and shared three appetizers: lobster risotto, foie gras, herb ravioli with stewed tomatoes. I didn't eat the foie gras, and had to explain that I truly was morally opposed to it. (side note: Someone recently told me that the chicken and geese who go through the horrendous force-feeding procedures actually *like* it. That's disgusting. Aaanyway, I digress.) The other two appetizers were really tasty and come recommended from our whole group. Then I had steak frites with maitre d' butter. Delicious, delicious. I'd do that again in a heartbeat. For dessert, we again ordered 3 and shared. I had their banana ricotta tart with banana ice cream. It was yummy, and the carmelized bananas kind of had a crispy creme brulee feel. The other desserts were also delicious: (1) profiteroles with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, and (2) the peach/blueberry tarte. YUM.

We were all SO full after this huge dinner that we went for a walk to see the lights of Times Square. You know, this area is full of such a vast variety of retail establishments... and smells! I wouldn't describe any of the smells as being particularly "fresh," but it's very entertaining to walk through 10 different air currents in a single block. I definitely couldn't live here. I'm so suburban. =)

Six Mois

I'd just like to take this opportunity to say how happy I am to have been married for the last six months. And I really like the date today: 7/27/2007. Isn't that pretty?

Anyway, Happy Half-year Anniversary Halfiversary, Bug! Thanks for getting up the nerve to pop the question in May 2006, dealing with me as we planned the wedding, and ultimately going through with the whole thing six months ago.

Now, I'd say that it's high time we sat down and wrote out our thank you cards. ;)