SFO to LAX

I arrived in LA yesterday and have already enjoyed some adventures. We headed out into the hills to visit Caramello (Marcia's dog who is being boarded at a local kennel). On the way back we thought we would go to the Getty Museum....the navigator (my phone) thought different. We did end up driving through some very scenic countryside as we navigated the canyons to avoid traffic. In the end no museum but we did end up in Malibu enjoying mojitos and watching the sunset. I then got to visit The Abbey......famous (at least in LA) queer hang out.
This morning M&M headed out to the outlet shops, dropping me at South Beach along the way so I could run the 7 miles home. Lovely run and very LA. Running path winds along the beach(thankfully they have a separate path for bikes etc). Eventually I headed inland again and ran through some nice neighborhoods (not the LA mansions but some sweet, well cared for homes). In nothing short of a miracle I did find my way back to MEs. Chill'n out now, M&M still out shopping.
Tonight we are out for dinner then off to a party.....someplace.

In-between holidays

I am back at work.....well doing a bunch of online training as prerequisites for my training in January.  Oddly enough I'm quite liking it - usual business type stuff.  The course I am really quite enjoying is about finance and understanding free cash flow.  Yeah, I know, sounds dull as but they are using a case study to have us understand how this all works in a practical sense.  Some of it I know some of it is new (particularly understanding in more detail how these things actually work inside a business).  Totally weird, but I'm even enjoying the little quizzes at the end!
Weather has turned crappy and I totally missed out on being able to go for my run.....plan to get up early tomorrow and redeem myself.  Irene, Lotte and Kirsten and Paloma are now in San Fran so we have a full house, it's nice to have peeps around.
Here's a couple of more photos from our Xmas adventures.

                                                  

Final bragging rights.....and then I'll shut up about this

Arrived home to something unexpected:

Apart from the fact I had no idea this was going to arrive in the post at all it did include all those important little stats that I like to see and couldn't figure out from the official posting on the NYC Marathon results page.  So to make it easy here's what I really really cared about (well apart from crossing that line of course):

• Overall place: 26,244 out of 44,969 total finishers - okay in the second half, not enamored with that stat.
• Gender place: 7,257 out of 16,124 female finishers - quite enamored with this, broke the 50% mark.
• Age-group place: 1,314 out of 2,801 finishers - awesome, most happy....I'm good to be the middle of the pack for my age group!
• Pace per mile: 10:21 - not that good really but I don't much care because I run to how I feel and am not really that scientific about it.  Might be I could run better if I did, but that's not really the point for me...

All that aside, I think arriving is the most important thing and anyone that crossed that line has achieved something and, my pick, is that the very last person across the line actually achieved the most because it cost them so much more in terms of effort, commitment and focus.  So, I'll brag about this but  44,969 people ran that race with varying degrees of ability but 110% commitment, that's the one thing we all had in common and shame on those "purists" who think it isn't all about arriving and that the marathon should only be about achieving some "magical" time, being able (financially and physically) and "looking right".  Abilities range from the most able......right through to the most enabled.

Awesome Xmas...done!

I am sitting at Reno Airport waiting for my flight back to SF having had a really awesome Xmas. The food and the company, snowy adventures and lots of chuckles. I had no idea that German's were so into chocolate, cake and cookies! Irene's mum and dad get sent huge care packages from Germany full of delights. Just as I thought we had run out a new delight would suddenly appear. There was most definitely no shortage of food and good conversation. Kat left Xmas day as Irene's sister and niece arrived. Of course Kat's departure reduced the dog quota by 50%. Lovely to be in a dog filled household. The snowshoeing was fab fun and lovely to be out in the snowy hills.
Next three days I am working then off to LA for NY and our Disneyland adventure. January back to start my new project. It will be odd to be more distant from my Cisco pals and I really only have a limited view of the new company I am going to. Still I feel more apart of Accenture now so carry some of my peeps whereever I go.
I am starting to feel very nervous about New Orleans, given Xmas indulgences and have committed to losing 5lbs in January....there I said it out loud so will feel I have to hold myself accountable if I don't achieve my goal!
Hope everyone has had a lovely holiday break (well many in NZ are still indulging).

Reno Xmas 2010 Part 1

 

Happy holidays NZ

I am in snowy Reno with Irene's mum and dad, her friend Kat and four dogs, including a 'lil Misha look alike (photos of all this to come when I get back to SF). Travel was eventful. Flight delayed 2hrs by weather then we are in the plane and they announce we have to offload some fuel as we are too heavy to land in Reno.....they had fueled up based on possibly needing to do a return flight if we couldn't land but the airport cleared. I assume they had planned to burn the fuel off if landing was okay the first time but weren't keen to waste it knowing it was clear. Ended up sitting next to "chatty Kathy" from Texas but living in Hawaii and heading out to her first skiing trip. Very interesting and fun; ex.Navy and very well travelled.....made the 30min flight fly by (although it's supposed to be 50mins).
Arrived to clear blue skies and lots of snow (roads all clear though). Kat had driven through earlier so everyone was here (Irene's sister and niece due tomorrow). After some lunch we headed out to rent snow shoes....taking all the dogs along for the adventure we went for a very short but beautiful walk through the woods (got some nice pics of that too). Home again to relax then a very lovely crab dinner (preceded by eggnog of course). Irene's family are German so getting a nice introduction into some of those traditions, including the main Xmas meal/celebration being on Xmas eve.
Today we are going to snow shoe up the mountain with the dogs.....going to be fun and great exercise (We saw a guy running the trails in snow shoes.....got me thinking).

Woohoo DADT Repealed

Zoe at the signing of the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell AND she got a specific mention in the presidents  comments post the event.

No good times go unpaid for and a lil bit of glory....

Well I guess that's not strictly true, over the last few weeks it isn't exactly me that's been paying for the good times.....except, of course, today I went running....and the price of the good times was revealed.  Okay it wasn't that bad but it's clearly time to get back into the routine and hit the road a lot more than I have.  One of the reasons I sign onto the races is because it becomes a great motivator.  New Orleans is becoming a huge motivator as it's not very far away and I need to get myself back in the game if I'm to actually enjoy the race vs just participate!
Technically yesterday was my last day on my project and in a very sweet, unexpected moment, I got a little recognition award.  It's a program the firm runs where your manager gives you points that you then use to buy stuff online.  Melissa gave me some as a thank you and acknowledgment for some of the work I did around coaching other team members and using my skills and knowledge etc.  I was really surprised, totally surprised!  Working with this team has been a huge learning curve and early on I wobbled alot (or felt I did).  Melissa was fantastically supportive, totally willing to coach me and give me time to ramp up....I feel like I should give her the recognition!
I've also just gone through my first round of performance reviews, both for myself and reviewing the two trainers performance.  It's quite formal in that at the beginning of a project you set objectives against some specific criteria, you then self assess and then get assessed.  It's been years and years since I've done such formal performance reviews.  It was really interesting though and I was very happy with how mine turned out - better than I had expected in some areas as I was definitely on a learning curve when it came to parts of the role. Now to move on to the next project and do even better!
I am also still involved in recruiting folk into our new business group.  Seems very funny to be recruiting folk in even as I have only been here for six months.
Clearly work is keeping me interested!
I head to Reno tomorrow to spend time in the snow with Irene, Lotte and their family.  Nice of her to invite me and also another little dot to add to my map.  I have been to Lake Tahoe before but not Reno.  I decided to fly rather than do the 5 hour drive.  I am working a couple of days in between Xmas and NY then head to LA for NY and Michelle's birthday (Disneyland.....yippee!).  Then back to start my new project.

My "other" birthday dinner

Canon 7D vs. Barbie Video Girl

Just the oddest thing..........

More food adventures

When I left TechProse in June the team gave me a couple of very lovely gifts....one of which was a rather impressive credit for Jardinaire.  Which is described as "French fine-dining restaurant with Californian accents".  I am not really sure what that means exactly BUT can report that the food and service were both yummy!  Irene and I started out with drinks at Absinthe a cool little bar that empties out as the theater crowd head out, getting a seat is all about timing.
Arriving at Jardinaire we were seated in a little booth, affording Irene an expansive view of the restaurant. Our server was a sweet guy and very attentive, good food, good service perfect combo.
Irene started with the scallops while I had the oysters.  As a rule I'm generally a total Bluff Oyster snob.....but you can't get Bluff Oysters here so I've had to learn to compromise a little.  As it turned out last night was a good night to compromise.  From New England (I think....) I got a mix of fresh and salt water oysters.  I don't think I've ever had fresh water oysters.  While both were lovely and creamy and delightful the salt water oysters were definitely my fav. The dish of the night had to be Irene's choice of the Risotto - seriously melt in the mouth and totally yummy.  I chose the Sea Bass on lentils.  This was seriously good as well!

To finish cheese plate, Grappa and Cognac.
It was a stylish, comfortable uber nice food experience!
Of course along the way adventures were had.  As we left the house we decided we would just walk down to the Mission and grab a cab.....yeah, not so easy!

In the end we stalked some cab driver who had stopped at a corner store to buy (what we assume) was half a dozen beer....which he did discretely put in the trunk!  Shot of me on the right is lurking outside the store in front of his cab waiting for him to walk out.  Clearly I am gobbing off about "something".  Of course once we did get in the cab the dude drove like a New York cabbie (which isn't exactly necessary in San Fran.....even Irene was prompted to comment and she has a much higher threshold for the crazy than I do!).

Coming home, for reasons that escape me (apart from Irene's natural tendency to want to observe life) we didn't call a cab but waited to hail one....no success.  This prompted us to walk the streets for a little way, in search of a cab, bus or, as it turned out, the subway (BART).  Eyesore of the night had to be the Civic building lit up like some gawdy side show.....what were they thinking?  This is a beautiful stately building that should only ever be discretely lit with white lights - well in my thinking anyway.

BART is always an interesting experience as there are all types and we didn't have to wait long for a train to rock up.  Although it was closer to midnight than not there were still a lot of folk about.  It's all fairly safe and remarkably clean so the ride home and then short walk to home was pleasant enough.



Christmas decorating is well underway with houses being "dressed" for Xmas.  Some more tastefully than others but all with a total enthusiasm for the Xmas spirit.


The "dandy" shot of the night goes to Irene who put on her best Warhol like impression as we prepared to go out!

Mission Incomplete - Check out Zoe campaigning against Don't Ask Don't Tell

The week that is.....

It's fair to say this week has been (and continues to be!) a whirl of corporate Xmas parties!  A real highlight had to be the bar featured on the left.  This was a totally charming, unexpected adventure.  The "Team" (aka me, Liz and Melissa) had our end of project dinner.  We started at a "speak easy".  This was awesome on a bunch of levels, not least of which because this place involves secret passwords, "hidden" doors and fabulous cocktails.  It's all based around the prohibition days. You book a table online and when you receive confirmation of your reservation you get a password ..... arriving at the venue there are no signs, just a door with a buzzer.  You buzz and someone opens the door (but not too far) to check you out, asks you the password and checks your ID, only then can you go inside where you are immediately immersed in this delightfully warm, cozy world of 1920s music and delightful service.  It's not at all pretentious and just unexpectedly easy fun.  And that was just beginning.
Given we are a small team we were able to book ourselves into one of the BEST restaurants I have ever been to. Gary Danko is this gorgeous restaurant that serves gorgeous food!  In a very American moment Melissa discovered that our server was from her College and (yay to College ties) as a result we got a complimentary and delicious bottle of dessert wine at the end of the meal.  Of course, weirdly, Liz realized one of the servers was the brother of one of our work colleagues.......seriously how big do we suppose this country is after all????  Anyway enough to say that we spent several very lovely hours laughing, eating and drinking!
Wednesday night was the Cisco Account Team function where around 250 people land in a restaurant and.....yep, more eating, more drinking and more laughing (this, I might add, was the third meal of the week having already gone out with some folk from work for a meal on Monday).  Unfortunately (or fortunately) I had a head cold hit me during the day so wasn't really up for a big night BUT along the way have managed to secure my next project.....not at Cisco!
Come January I am heading off to Net App.  We are just in the process of setting up a team there so it's one of those "hmmm, lets see we need to build this thing out".......perfect for me!  I am seeing it as an opportunity to prove (and test) myself in new ways.  I've been at Cisco three years so it will be good to go somewhere else (or at least I think it will).  It's in Sunnyvale which is still in Silicon Valley and a slightly shorter commute than I currently have.  All new, all exciting and all full of possibilities and I get to stay involved in some of the business dev stuff I have been doing.
Friday is drinks with my old Account Manager and recruiter from TechProse - love those girls, they are a riot and love love love good wine.......so we have chosen somewhere yummy looking right on the Embarcadero (I've run past it more times than I care to remember so very excited to actually be going inside this time).
Saturday......more food extravaganza, but will share that story next time and have some photos too!

Tiiiiiired, post marathon blues and some fun things

2.5hrs to drive home from Cisco in the rain......AND the day started at 5am.......bleech.  While it never rains in California, when it does, it really really does and people here don't drive that well in the rain..........because.........it is raining.
On the countdown out of my project, don't know where I am going yet.  Collectively the team is all feeling a little riotous (you know, ready to end it).  I'll miss the "girls" and the "boys" from India.  The boys have been just the sweetest guys to deal with, they are beyond polite and respectful and engaging and, once they realized I like to laugh (quite a lot) when things are crazed....very very funny.  And the "girls", well we've had a great time, laughed a lot and I've learnt so much and really loved how we became a team.  It's been a great first project, now I am ready for bigger things.  I am working it, we shall see.
I am also in the post marathon doldrums.  I was warned so it hasn't exactly crept up on me.  Mostly it manifests itself as feeling directionless and like a "failure" (which somewhat overstates it but a general sense of "I'm just hopeless").  Of course none of that is true or real but great highs are inevitably coupled with great lows and vice versa, so don't go thinking I am using this as an opportunity to make a bunch of random ridiculous decisions (although several moments have presented themselves).  The bonus of a few more years of life (and in particular the last few years) has me pausing and just letting all of it roll over me.   And, given I now read a lot of runners blogs, it hardly makes me unique in the world.  It will also pass, as these things do!
Fun things, and there are many.  Every Xmas I can I hunt down a "Wishing Tree".  These trees are set up by various charities to help with trying to have underprivileged kids have a fun xmas by having "gift" cards that you can choose (we can talk endlessly about whether or not the focus is right.....but but but).  The cards have the first name, age, gender and details of the gift the child would like.  I like to search around the tree until I find one that resonates.  Last year I think it was a 9 year old boy who wanted a Darth Veda mask (one of those cool ones with buttons that you push and then have Darth Veda's voice come out!).  This year I choose a three year old girl....she (well really I think her parents) wanted a Talking ABC.....it has the alphabet on it and you hit the button and it says the letter.  This kind of captured my attention because I loved the idea that her parents (at least in my mind) really cared that she learnt to read and write.  Of course then I was in a store and there was this really quite fab wooden play dough thing.....I'll throw it in as well (I expect the charity will pass it on to someone else but I was quite captured by it so decided to add it in and very happy if it lands under someone else's tree).
Much socializing going on next week.....more details later.

Ferry Building 4miler

The big day finally arrived.....Irene's race!  Okay it was big for me for two reasons.  Firstly it was totally fab to be part of Irene training for the race and then, honestly, making it look so easy on the day and, secondly, I had peeps to run with, which was very cool (added bonus, Marcia joined us too, she has run that distance before.....tri-athlons no less.....).  All that aside 4 milers are not really my distance.  For the aficionados a four miler is this wild crazy, sick making (at least to me) sprint if you choose to run it like some mad crazy sick making thing......I do not.  Me, I'm an endurance girl who hates sprinting, being out of breath and feeling like I have to arrive someplace faster than my body is content to do!
Race started at 9am so we headed down the Fisherman's Wharf early.  It was a really fab morning, given it had rained endlessly the day before (and post race went on to rain endlessly Sunday.......just fyi, not raining today though!).
The registration crowd proved to be somewhat smaller than NY..well smaller than any race I've run in to date.  All up there were about 200 people running.  The majority veteran runners - all shapes, all sizes, all ages!
The race was along the Embacadero so given we had some time we did a little tourism....here's Marcia and I with the bay in the background.  It really did start out as a very spectacular day with the Bay very flat and calm.  In fact there were lots of crazy folk swimming.  These are the truly dedicated who seems to have an immunity to the cold.  Note I am also wearing my running vest.  Although the day was clear it wasn't exactly warm so I ran in my vest as well.  Shot on the right is Irene looking all sporty pre.race.
As we finally got underway best quote of the day goes to Irene just before they finished the countdown "Crap, so this thing is really happening then.....".  And so it did.  We started at the back of the pack and happily launched ourselves through Fisherman's Wharf and down to the Ferry Building.  It was a turnaround course so on the way back Irene chatted with some folk and we picked up a couple who assured us they were using us as their pacers!

Coming in at a very respectable time we each got handed a little purple ribbon which Irene proudly displayed (well geekily displayed) as we enjoyed our reward of a crab sandwich (in her case) and chowder bowl in mine and Marcias.  Although none of that to be enjoyed before Marcia (who clearly falls into the category as crazed....something we knew as she has participated in the Alcatraz swim on more than one occasion.....took a dip in the ocean (I did mention crazed didn't I?).
Given whole crab has become a personal favourite for me here AND we were in the tourism center of San Fran we also took the opportunity to do a little "window" shopping (Marcia holding some stylie crab eating implements).....nothing purchased but we did actually end up in this quite fab bakery/cafe/cookery shop that had lots of good stocking fillers!