Way to market and not.....

I don't think this quite makes it into the factoid bucket but was most amused to get the latest promotional material in the mail for the NCLR (National Center for Lesbian Rights) annual fundraising Anniversary Party.  You can buy one ticket or lots of 2, 4 and 10.  Why was I amused? The pitch for:

• 10 tickets: Couldn't decide which one of your exes to invite? Invite them all...and before anyone decides to get smart arse about it, no this was not specifically designed for me!
• 4 tickets: Skip a threesome, have a foursome! 

2 and 1 tickets wasn't wildly interesting - in fact the one for a single ticket was so wildly dull I thought it was a missed opportunity: Buy a single ticket or treat your family and friends to a night out on the town. As a single girl nothing about that sounded wildly fun!!!!  At 90 bucks a ticket this isn't a cheap night btw.  I've been to these dances for the last two years, not sure if I'll go this time and the sales pitch (or lack there of) isn't helping sway me!

Thinking outloud

So I'm kind of bored - shouldn't be, it's quarter end so lots of busyness at work, couple of staff "challenges", personal trainer twice a week, acupuncture once a week, running running running AND organizing NZ adventures for May.....okay bored is an overstatement, but I have to justify my current little obsession - noticing random, largely irrelevant factoids.  This weeks batch:

• President Obama used 22 pens to sign the health care reform bill into law. They are being given as gifts to some special folks who helped get the bill passed
• Oscar winners live, on average, 4 years longer than nominees who don't win.  Must be true the NY Times said so
• Muscle is not heavier than fat, it's all about density and volume (well maybe everyone knew this but I had in my mind muscle weighs more than fat, nope, wrong and duh, when I think about it of course it's wrong a pound of fat = a pound of muscle, cos it's all a pound - I hate it when I am stupid)
• The September 2007 issue of Vogue weighed a record breaking 5+lbs and was 840 pages.  I know this because I watched The September Issue which documented the making of the magazine by following editor-in-chief Anna Wintour (also known as Nuclear Wintour, because she is so cold and distant with people.....my 5th factoid)

While I fear that sharing this doesn't make me more interesting to anyone else it does, in reality, keep me hugely entertained and The September Issue was worth watching!

My year of books....

This year I decided that if someone recommended a book and it sounded okay I would read it.....it's leading me down some very interesting pathes.  One of the joys of the Kindle is that you can download a sample chapter, so when someone recommends a book I can, if it's available electronically, at least check it out.
This has lead me to some interesting books.  The Professor and Other Writings is a series of essays from a Stanford University Professor described as a "cultural scholar and essayist".  Not at all sure what that means but the essays themselves are very entertaining.  Given they are written in biography form she's more than willing to share details of her life.  Best of all (and most necessary) the Kindle has a cool function where I can look up all those words I don't understand.....given she teaches 18th Century English Literature this function comes in handy every other page!
One of the best reads so far has to be Don't Stop the Carnival. Written in 1965  "It's the story of Norman Paperman, a New York press agent who, facing the onset of middle age, runs away to a Caribbean island to reinvetn himself as a hotel keeper".  It sounds awful doesn't it?  It wasn't it was a great read and very well written.
I succumbed to the Twilight Saga too. Vampires are not usually my thing but I have and am really enjoying it.  It's really a love story focused on human's, vampires and warewolves.  Nice easy, entertaining read.
Here's another one I really enjoyed - Long Way Down.  It's about two guys motorcycling from Scotland to South Africa (follows on from the movie Long Way Round).  It's a fab story about perservarance and getting outside your comfort zone.
My heaviest tombe to date has to be Cultural Amnesia it's written by Clive James.  It's a compendium of 110 biographical essays of a whole bunch of different people (artists, politicians and intellectuals). This one I dip in and out of - it's a fascinating read.
The next two I picked up last year but are so worth mentioning.
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise is a great read.  It's written by a woman who used to be the NY Times food critic.  It tells the story of how she used to dress in disguise and go out to various restaurants, with varying results, depending on how she looked.  I loved the way she describes some of the food as well.
Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an all Night Runner - this, folks was the inspiration to run a marathon.  I'll say no more, check it out.
So there you have it, some proof that I do more than work, run and go to the gym!

Frog Fail

Not something you see everyday.

Old Friends and Visiting NZ

Rachel has been here for a week and it's been a lovely visit. In an unexpected turn of events it just so happened that while here she has had her 40th birthday! Low key affair with Rachel, Michelle and I having dinner at mine (ummm Rachel cooked, was that a bad thing?). Best of all Michelle organized the famous Princess Cake, which proved to be a hit. Over the week we have had lots of laughs and it's been a remarkably easy time. I've still had to go to work and did see Case and my acupuncturists (well crossing the finish line in NY won't happen just because I want it to.....and Rachel was very gracious about it, given we haven't had a lot of time together).

I did manage to, for the first time, schmack myself up in training. I missed the box when I went to do a box jump and gave myself a nasty shin scrap.....ow ow ow. Of course it was at the beginning of the session so I sucked it up and told Case we could keep going (it was my second jump and I had another three sets of 25 to go - no point dwelling on it, job to be done). Best of all was coming home and Rachel having some magic gel to put on it - my personal bathroom cabinet is a little light on these things!
Last week I decided I needed a break and, given how the work front is going, think that if I am going to visit in NZ it needs to be sooner rather than later. I'm heading back for 2.5 weeks in May. Auckland and Wellington of course and four days in Queenstown. Finally going to visit Karen and Brice's - really looking forward to that as I want to bungee off the platform at the top of the gondola. It would also be nice if it didn't rain the entire time I was in NZ (unlike last year) so May seems a good time. Honestly I am so tired I'd love to have a break in April but I have the Nashville half marathon on the 23rd. I really am looking forward to that!!!!
Despite our collective best efforts and the release having gone remarkably well, we are still in the final stages so I am co-ordinating daily messages.....and was a little startled to be reminded that the distribution includes a number of very senior executives, so the fact that I am over it shouldn't be confused with the visibility the messages have.
On another note, may have found a prospective room mate when/if I make the move to San Francisco. Waiting for a few other things to fall into place but think my time in Santa Cruz is done. Nothing to happen in the next two months but could move July/August....so will patiently wait to see how things fall.

Voice is back, release is done and visitors

My voice arrived back on Sunday so my near silent vigil lasted two days....much to the delight of my work colleagues. It really was the oddest thing. It's hard enough to be understood at the best of times (what accent?) without the added complication of being the horse whisperer. The room service guy told me he thought I was playing a joke on him, most embarrassed when he delivered to the room and realized I really couldn't speak. I gave him a tip anyway, he wasn't rude so much as giggly on the phone! The release has gone fine, with a few odd moments. I'm over it though, been there, done it, got the medal etc etc etc. I did get to watch movies in the hotel, which was nice - small compensation for only getting two hours sleep. Jill did arrive into the office at 2am with coffee and a Hershey bar - would I usually eat a Hershey bar at 2am (or any other time for that matter) or have a very strong black coffee at that hour???? No. Did I? Hell yes....it was soooooo boring I had to fill the time, it's not like I could chat to anyone - my voice didn't start to come back until later in the day. Hershey's bar....I had eaters remorse.
This weekend Rachel Rose comes to visit! I haven't seen Rachel (beyond Skype) for maybe 7 years!!!! We were at University together and, well, have a history (I know Rachel reads the blog so shall say no more). Rachel's now a buddhist nun and, frankly, looks fabulous in her robes. I think there is a certain irony in my now having long hair while Rachel has none.... It will be lovely to see her and she knows Michelle as well (well at one point we were all at University together) so going to be quite the kiwi reunion. I still have to work, which is a bummer, but might see if I can swing an "at home" day so we can hang out together some (even if she is reading a book while I'm on a call!).

Speechless....literally

No voice......reduced to a whisper, the "almost cold" has taken the words right out of my mouth. I am sure it's a pleasure for some but a little awkward given I am in communications and working this weekend. Oh well, lesson in patience I guess......other people's.

Almost colds and working life

All this healthy living has resulted in the "almost" cold! Everyone around me has been crushed by this hideous cold that's been going around (and at least two got stomach flu). I'm so full of vitamin C and whatever mysteries lurk in the chinese herbs that I seem to have some low level cold that doesn't amount to anything beyond being tired and having a gravelly voice. Oh well, not complaining so much as explaining.
Big release is this weekend ..... I'm so bored with it all. Spent the last few days "explaining", "repeating" and "revisiting" what we have been doing for two years! Off to stay in San Jose for Saturday night. One of my peeps is going to come onsite with me for the 11pm - 10am shift. Wants to see how it all runs - it will be a moment of disillusionment (and all my secrets revealed) but she has promised to bring "real" coffee, as I'm refusing to drink the coloured water that is usually available.
Michelle has a new job in LA (yay Michelle!!!) and we've just been out having a little celebration. I am also thinking about moving into San Fran. Santa Cruz feels a little over for me - need to move on to the next thing. It's been lovely living here but it's not really my town. Mostly I will miss my rideshare, we've been commuting four days a week for two years now - hard to believe. I will also have to give up Case, but he has finally got into his nursing course, although doesn't start until January next year. Really I just think somethings are going to change, seems inevitable given how my life runs.

Doin it for Charity - ING NYC Marathon 2010

I can't quite believe I've signed up for this, but I have. November 7, 2010 I'm hitting the road and running for charity in the NYC Marathon. Makes me feel nervous just typing this. I decided I wanted to run the marathon before my Marin race last year and, as it moved closer to putting in my entry, I found out more about options for entry. I started reading up about other people's experience of the marathon and realized that it would, indeed, be very cool to do it for a charity. The main charity is Team for Kids, which fights childhood obesity. You can read more about it if you check out my page, you can also make a donation if you want to. Basically I've pledged the full amount ($2.6k) and then I get to go and beg money from folks. I've never raised money for charity before - always having written cheques. Given I'm not much of a "joiner" it's novel for me to land into a community of folks all with the same goal in mind....running the marathon and raising money for TFKs. I figure it means I'll have some people to hangout with on the day too (unless I can lure some buddies to NY to hangout with the 2 million other folk who line the roads and watch!). I'm not sure exactly how many people TFKs aim to enroll but last year they got fully subscribed. It's early days and I think there are less than 100 of us at the moment. I am so freaky nervous/excited about it that I've already booked my accommodation! ING negotiated discounted rates but it's still ridiculously expensive to stay in NYC, but I figure if I'm going to run then where else would you want to stay but in Manhattan?

Groundhog day

It's quarterly release time, which means late nights and lots of grumping at people while we prepare for a Cisco wide IT release that sees all our systems go down globally. This time around we've added some new "tools" to our box of tricks so it's been beyond painful to get the information we need and we've had to engage with a whole new set of people. Best moment so far is when I contact someone who is funded to provide support to our project team and supposed to be my go-to guy when I have a problem:

Idiot boy to me: "okay well Jody if you can set up a meeting and invite ...."

Me to idiot boy: "I'm not your executive assistant, if you think you need a meeting you set it up, I'm escalating the issue to you to fix it and this is a courtesy call before I send the email letting everyone know that's what I've done. If you think it requires a meeting go and organize it yourself."

All this at midnight I might add and it didn't quite end there but enough to say HE did set up the meeting and I got a very conciliatory message from him. He also helped solve my problem (which was his job) - none of which excuses him from thinking I'm here to organize his meetings. I don't suppose he will ask again.
On a more "only in America" note. My landlords have replaced their very nearly new couch with a new couch and want to swap out my very old couch for the very nearly new one. All fine and dandy but in order to get the new couch through the front door they have to take off the door frame.....true story. They seem very happy to do it and I am very happy to have a new couch - nobody seemed at all phased at the logistics so I just nodded, smiled and said having a new couch would be nice, thanks. What are we doing with the old couch? Well putting it on the street of course, whatelse?

Chicago and life in general

Michelle and I had a great time in Chicago! While temperatures were below freezing, each day had clear blue skys and snow on the ground....quite a change from California. The Swissotel, where we stayed, was very near to downtown and not far from Millennium Park where we went to visit the bean. Delightfully when we went to use the hotel gym we discovered it had spectacular views both over Michigan Lake and downtown - making the whole treadmill thing way less tedious. Michelle's panel went very well and her presentation was a hit (pix below on the right is the post presso cocktail). It was interesting to hear the other presenters as well and I did manage to get in for free as nobody seemed to be checking! We were both pretty exhausted so spent the following day lounging around the hotel and generally lapping up the luxury.

Friday we went out for dinner and to a bar and Saturday we wandered around town.  I concluded I could very happily live in Chicago!  We stumbled across the Scuba Team as we were out walking (see pic below).  Given the temperatures my pick is you'd be long frozen to death before they dragged you out of the river, but then I guess that's not really the point is it.........
I am back into training with Case and have now extended my health regime to include not only acupuncture but chinese herbs.  Some special concoction he's put together to help with hydration etc etc etc.  Anyway, in my usual fashion I've happily said "sure, lets try that" and he's smart enough to know I really really don't need to know what each ingredient is, so much as enjoy the ride.  
Biggest change probably is that I have decided not to apply for my job at Cisco.  Had an epiphany and realized I'd done the job, why would I keep

doing it (for less money I might add) and I was aiming too low.....I need to be braver about the next role I go into - think bigger.  This has all been encouraged by people I've been talking to about what I should do next.  Boss at Cisco has been grand about it - she'd like to keep me as long as she can and is extending my role into a new area, although I think there are some better opportunities emerging elsewhere.  I guess nobody is surprised to read this.  It's been nearly three years at Cisco, about the time I always get itchy feet and look to make a change.  If I am really clever I will land a role that works to that timetable....they are out there, I just have to get one!

I did manage to watch Precious - now I get what people are raving about.  I had dreaded that it would be much like the usual hollywood/American tale - struggling kid in dire circumstances, heroic committed adult saves the day - it wasn't, it really is far grittier and deals with some very taboo subjects.

I'd recommend it, not when you are feeling down though, any sense of optimism you are left with is tenuous at best!

Done and dusted

Beautiful day, clear blue sky, cool and perfect.....if one feels the need to run 21ks!  It was lovely, 10000 people entered in the combined half marathon and 5km run (funny that they talk about the metric 5 and 10ks).  Looking at the results 6080 finished the half (7000 entered the half with 3372 women). Results: 1:59, overall placing 2457 and 863 among the women, age group placing 127 (but then I can't seem to figure how many women were in my age group!).  I'm well puffed up coming in under two hours. I gotta say the last mile hurt!!!  Official photos i.e. the sweaty shots posted sometime this week.  In the meantime.....me and Michelle the night before the race.

It's fair to say we had a different approach to
preparation but Michelle did get up to catch the shuttle with me at 630am for the 8am start....oh and she did know the most fab Korean restaurant we could go to for dinner.....we stayed in Japan Town so we were surrounded by the most devine eateries.  Second shot before

the start - I was cold so spent sometime draped in Michelle's very stylie jacket, trying to warm up, or at least not have my lips turn blue!  Michelle met me at the end (having gone on her own little marathon from the start line!).  Post the event we hailed a taxi (I so love that in America you can just raise your arm and not have to hike to some taxi stand and get in a que ......) headed back to the hotel where I got to have a long soak.  Along the way we had a vintage American moment.  The taxi driver was as startled as we were and took photos on his i-phone.  Never pays to question really, just to enjoy the moment.  Showered checked out we 

went out for a very lovely lunch. I'm not one for taking photos of food but I'd so earned this meal....and the beer was mine, all mine.

Then off to a local girlie bar to watch the Superbowl.  Home by 7pm, not a bad days work.

Countdown, tennis and Chicago

Less than 24hrs to go and I have that slightly sickly feeling....wondering why I am deciding that running 13.1 miles, possibly in the rain, is a good idea!  Then I imagine finishing at least close to my target time and feel all happy and excited again. Besides which, this is a warmup for Nashville!  Michelle and I head up to the city this afternoon, staying in a very nice hotel that offers a shuttle to the start line in the morning (cheap rates for racers so way better option that driving up from Santa Cruz at 5am in the morning).  Even so with 10000 people running this will most likely mean an early start...I'm not sure I told Michelle exactly  how early.  After the race Michelle and I are heading off to a bar to watch the Superbowl - at which point I will down a beer or a Bloodymary and most likely fall over (yes she is driving).
We fly to Chicago on Thursday.  On Wednesday night we are staying in San Jose and going to the SAP Open Tennis Tournament to watch a singles match with Andy Roddick and Fernando Verdasco.  Why?  Ummm well the University had courtside tickets and there is a small group going and, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time and and and......we are catching some god awful flight the next morning (like 615am) so staying in San Jose makes sense.  Michelle gives her paper  on Civilising Images: Violence and the Visual Interpellation of Maori Women" at the visual arts conference that afternoon (long day for her) then we get to play. If we can find interesting stuff we might go to some of the other presentations as well.  As geeky as it sounds the conference itself is actually quite a fun thing for me - this is all wildly outside my corporate life, so fascinating insight into other worlds.  Other than that we are planning to go dancing, see the sights and generally kick back and relax.

Don't Ask Don't Tell

I can't embed this and I'm not sure how long it will stay where it is but watch this: http://www.ktvu.com/video/22418151/index.html, put Alameda: Local Naval Commander Reflects on Senate Hearings in the search box and it will come up as the first item on the list, video will play from there (I hope!). Zoe is a key player in fighting Don't Ask Don't Tell and is the co-chair of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.  She is part of the change team I work in at Cisco (she is also a keen runner so we have become fast friends.....even if she can run faster than I can!).  Given my passion for all things military and interest in Don't Ask Don't Tell it's been amazing to meet her and hear about the work/lobbying she is doing for SLDN.  She's a frequent media commentator but these particular Hearings are unprecedented......it's not if they remove the ban, it's when.

U.S. Suspends Haitian Airlift in Cost Dispute

Ugh - how do you suppose this happens?  All the more terrible because nobody is surprised "....It was not clear on Friday who exactly was responsible for the interruption of flights, or the chain of events that led to the decision."
Worse yet, Florida hosts the Superbowl this coming Sunday and 30 sec advertising slots cost around 3mil each.......do you think the networks could donate some of that revenue to the Florida hospitals supporting Haiti's injured?

Freak'n - in a good way

In the long ago past (as in 5 years ago) when I lived in Wellington I started getting acupuncture for pain in my ankle.  Long short story about near death motorcycle accidents, crushing ankles and breaking femurs on the Hutt motorway means that I have one gimpy leg that, despite the odds, serves me quite well.  Taking up running again isn't necessarily what everyone would recommend given the previous injury, so I decided that I wouldn't wait for the pain but go and get some preventative acupuncture.  I am not a scientist and don't have a scientists curiosity, acupuncture is magic.  There is a certain logic to how they think it works and that's pretty much all I need to be convinced.  Once a week I see (yet another) very sweet guy, who needles me.  Tonight he suggested that we might needle the scar I have on the front of my ankle; it's quite impressive but mostly goes unnoticed unless you look closely (and nobody does).   It's actually where the surgeon did his magic so is tidy but wide (I won't go into the gruesome details).  Given Marc was recommended by Case my immediate response was "....well it makes me a little nervous but lets give it a go" (with Case I leave out the nervous part as it just prompts him to greater excesses).   Actually the thought of it made me more than nervous, it freaked me out (at least on the inside).  As it turned out it wasn't quite as painful as I had thought it would be...not painful at all to be honest.  And now Marc is promising that I might actually see a change in how the scar looks and the needling will help with the other mysteries around how it interferes with the "flow" of something or rather that contributes to the occasional swelling I have around my ankle.  One of the high points of the whole adventure had to be the delight on Marcs face as he gazed down at his handy work and noted it was "quite a picture" - acupuncturists have their own unique view of the world I think!  Regardless of how this particular treatment goes the three things the acupuncture has already brought, 1. the best nights sleep I have all week is the night following my treatment 2. way less ankle swelling 3. knee pain gone (very specific treatment I asked for after I did "something" to it during a training session).  I live in the land of magic.

Changing things, 14 milers, adventures and working....

Busy week on all fronts.  For those that have noticed I've been playing around with the blog and added some things, most notably the countdown clock and the list of races I have registered for!  Maintaining two blogs just became too much and, given running has become my fav pastime I decided to dump it all in here.  One race that I can't yet add to the list is the NYC Marathon in November 2010.  Two ways you can get in, lottery draw or sign-up as a charity runner.  I've written to the official charity and asked for an application as I like the idea of both being able to run and raise money.  We shall see.........
Friday I ran 14 miles (22.5k for the kiwis), per Case's instructions.  It's a long way with the last two miles feeling particularly long.  I did manage to do it in 2hrs 13mins though, which made me quite happy.  It does mean I am ready for my half in February.  It's around Golden Gate Park in San Fran and Michelle is coming along to cheer me along - well most likely drink coffee and eat cake waiting for me to finish.  This race will be huge with 1000s entered, I think we can assume that I will be back in the pack among the minions slogging it out.
Weekend of Feb 13 (well the Thursday before) Michelle and I are off to Chicago, her to give a paper at a conference - me along for the adventure.  We are on the hunt for some fun things to do and trying to figure out where we might find the girls, well go dancing I mean.  While Chicago will be cold it will be fab fun and I have been before.  Fortunate for everyone I didn't get that job.
One fun, out of the box thing, at work this week.  I ended up presenting a case study to a perspective new client outside of Cisco.  I haven't pitched for work in eons so it was an excellent opportunity to dust off the skills and generally enjoy walking into the unknown.  It was for a very large global company and it really dawned on me just how much I've learnt in the last few years - I could honestly talk about the challenges of global comms.....having now been doing it for nearly three years.
It's Sunday, the rain has finally stopped.  I'm off to the gym to see Case.....simple life for me.

Bible References on Gun Sights

I've been following this one in the news.....here and in NZ.  Wow, this just strikes me as plain weird.  Weird in a way that only the US can be weird....and exactly how long have they been doing it? Trijicon, the manufacturing company originally issued a statement saying "As long as we have men and women in danger, we will continue to do everything we can to provide them with both state-of-the-art technology and the never-ending support and prayers of a grateful nation.".... then backed down the following day saying  they would remove the references given concerns raised blah blah blah....well actually given their single largest customer (US Department of Defense) probably said, stop it or no more contracts from us!
My bet is that every military inventory system around the world who has these sights not only has the serial numbers included but also has the biblical reference as well - when do you suppose somebody noticed?

Rain and running adventures

I'm always loathe to start out by talking about the weather but right now it's truly awful.  Big storm hitting California..... weirdly though every time I've had to commute on the 17 it's cleared and been event free, which is a near miracle given the chaos on the roads!  It's been raining for about 5 days, it never rains for five days here - it's reminding me of Wellington on those dark winter days, although the wind is less relentless here.  All this dreary weather is making me depressed, California has made me soft - where's my sun???

To cheer myself up I've signed up for the Country Music Nashville 1/2 Marathon in April.  What makes this fab is that all along the course there are bands playing....country music, signing up has made me ridiculously happy.  They have a rock equivalent but, you know, I love country music!  Even better I know people who are going (which finally prompted me to signup).  Lila, who I house sat for in San Jose last year and is on my team, her husband, daughter and a cousin are all signed up, so I will at least know some folks to have a drink with post the event.  I've spent the evening registering, finding a hotel and checking out flights....long way to Nashville!
My "other" race is also looming - Feb 7 is my first half marathon in San Francisco.  I ran 12 miles the other day and the half is 13.1 so I just need to do 14 this week and I will feel set to give it a good shot.  Case has done a fine job of preparing me and Michelle is coming along to cheer me on.  It's around Golden Gate Park and there will be thousands of people in it, so very different from my Marin 6 miler.  M and I are going to stay in San Fran overnight and I expect I'll be just as nervous as I was for Marin, but with a better idea of how it all works.
I've also gone back to acupuncture, trying to make sure my gimpy leg doesn't let me down.  So far it's been good and I'd like to keep it that way, acupuncture will help.

Adventuring with The Mother

Alright given The Mother has been staying with me I’ve been a little lax on the blog…busy busy busy.

Fun things we have been doing.  Went to my first Ice Hockey game.  20,000 people jam packed into the stadium and the local team (The Sharks) won in the last 58 secs, the place erupted.  It was great fun to watch and we had excellent seats.  It was cold though, poor mum was freezing and the food was terrible (surprise!).  It’s all very well put together though, huge TV screen hanging over the ice that gives you some real up-close and personal views.  One startling moment; gloves off two players started pummelling one another……which is what you expect but nobody intervenes, it goes on for several minutes, everyone just sits back and watches until they are done – oddest thing.  Well then they both get sent to the sin bin for 5mins.  That aside, it was fun and I’d definitely go back again.

Two weekends back we headed to San Fran to see Wicked.  This is a great musical that tells the story of the friendship between the two witches from the Wizard of Oz, before the actual Oz story.  It’s funny and a little dramatic, costumes were amazing and the singing fantastic.  We stayed over night given it was quite a late show.  Because I’d hesitated to get tickets I ended up going to a reseller site and was delighted to end up with center block, four rows back.  Had a lovely meal at the hotel we were staying in before we headed out and enjoyed 2.5hrs of great entertainment.  Highly recommend it.

Lots of shopping happened too and mum cleaning our my entire wardrobe....new me had to go and buy new clothes as mum decided my "big clothes" had to go.  Mum was very cynical when I suggested we put the bag of big clothes on the street and someone would pick them up!  Took maybe 4 hours and they were gone, including her broken handled suitcase!

I’ve been back at work for two weeks and immediately found myself recruiting for four new roles – yikes!  I don’t much like recruiting, all that chatting to try and figure if someone is a fit, but gotta do it, does have the team implode to 16 though.  No sign of work slowing down and I can’t complain given the economy here is still tight, although some signs things are easing.

Vegas: The Food

Once the foodies arrived eating out became a whole new thing!  Okay mum and I did enjoy a nice meal at Outback, which is a chain restaurant based on ??? Yeah Australia.  Challenge with Vegas is that it's either up market or low rent, not much in between.  Although I didn't know it was renowned for its restaurants with a lot of well known chefs opening restaurants (I say that like I would know who the well known chefs are!).  Anyway Outback is kind of in-between, nice enough for steak and chips and pretty consistent wherever you go....okay okay, cheap copout on my part. I did manage to have us go to one very nice place in the MGM Grand before the foodies arrived.  Emerils is all about cajun food and owned by Emeril Lagasse......if anyone reading knows chefs by name.  Food was very nice but portions massive.  The picture to the right makes it look a bit glitsy and trashy even....I don't remember it looking quite like that, in fact not at all like that!

Karen and Brice's arrival heralded some more upscale experiences including the Eiffel Tower Restaurant in Paris.  Now this was very fine.  Looking at the "Tower", which is exactly half the size of the real thing, the restaurant is in the base (the dark line you can see above the legs).  You take a lift from the Casino floor and it opens out into the kitchen!  That was pretty startling and fascinating to watch all the chefs at work.  We sat in a booth looking out over the strip and enjoyed a very lovely dining experience on Xmas eve, including a lovely glass or two of Tattingers (yes I did drink something over the break....not much, but something).

Xmas day was a whole different treat again.  Aureole is in the Mandalay Bay  Casino,  They weren't working Xmas day but this place features a two story wine "cellar"...well glass enclosure, where "wine angels" abseil up and down the wine racks pulling out bottles for diners.  I had the most lovely sashimi and fresh fish for my Xmas dinner....as odd as that sounds!  It's quite a stark atmosphere, very stylish.
The other place we went to that I loved loved loved was Julian Serrano's.  This place was tapas paradise and, for those that recall, that was something I loved about Barcelona.  The small plates here were fabulous - I would love to eat like that all the time.
Final note, as always, a good cup of coffee isn't easy to find in the US of A - Starbucks it was, if there was a better place we never found it!

Bodies the Exhibition - not for the faint hearted!

I'm going to write up Vegas in little chunks....so here's chunk one! Post Karen and Brice's arrival we had a a day of "forensic" investigation, part of which included seeing this exhibition. No, this isn't my video but it does capture the feeling....it's fair to say that Brice and I looked at everything but didn't dwell (unlike mum and Karen, who were fascinated!). Despite having been told that lots of people think the bodies look plastic I didn't think that at all - all too real was more my thinking. It was interesting to see, I'm glad I went but won't be going back, once was enough.
After Bodies (which was at the Luxor Hotel - the big pyramid) we headed back to the MGM Grand and tried out CSI: The Experience. You get to choose one of three crime scenes to examine and solve a case. It's not done on a computer, you actually work through a series of stands, taking notes and answering questions, including examining the crime scene, then toxicology, autopsy etc etc. Finally you enter your results into a computer and Grisholm tells you if you have it right. It was fun and an easy distraction - yes, we all guessed correctly, although we didn't all get all the clues right.

Mother has landed, new old friends & Tiger

The Mother has landed!  Arrived Friday - 45mins early.  How is it, do you suppose, that a flight with no stopovers can arrive 45 mins early?  Me, at the airport, all cool and calm as she walks into the arrivals lounge, looking like I'd been there forever - not so much, had arrived 5mins before only to glance at the arrivals board to discover "In Customs"!  On balance though at least the pilots remembered to land at the bloody airport.
Have been more than entertained in the last few days by un-PC who is a working example of just how tiny this world is.  Okay Wellington is tiny but still, in less than 24hrs connections were made, had me chuckle, alot!
I've resisted commenting on the Tiger saga for no other reason than I think folk are tigered out, there's been plenty of coverage.  Mostly I've been fascinated to watch how he's managed the media side of it (I claim professional interest).....either he's got the worst media minders in the world or the guy is just plain stoopid. American's love a good drama but can be surprisingly forgiving when someone calls mea culpa - but a press release just doesn't cut it!  Some say his private life should be his own - not me.  The man is a corporation, hundreds of people have their livelihood tied up in his brand, in my mind it's no different than any Company that taints its brand and is forced to front to investors, consumers and employees.  If he wanted his life to be all about golf then he should have stuck to golf, he didn't, he became the brand, time to front up - or as my work colleagues say "put on his big girl pants" (yeah well I'm not sure about that last reference either......).
Off to Vegas tomorrow!

Thunder, lightening, torrential downpours and The Mother

Sat around in my PJs this morning watching shallow, albeit entertaining, movies waiting for the weather to clear so I could hit the road.  My mission today was to run 9 miles....and so I did.  The first 6.5 in overcast but not unpleasant conditions, the remainder in a torrential downpour accompanied by flashes of lightening and thunder!  Not much I could do really I had to get home one way or another and it's not like I could call a cab (given I don't actually go running with money....cellphone.... ID....medical card....you know I think I can hear the big sis berating me.....I might need to re.think some of that....).  I felt strangely elated as the rain started to pelt down; started grinning even, I expect I looked slightly hysterical to passersby.  But hey, there were other crazy fools out there walking, now that's really stoopid!
The mother arrives Friday - yay.  Two reasons, it will be nice to see her and it will signal the beginning of two weeks off, including our trip to Vegas.  Sweetly too Marcia left me the keys to her car so that I don't need to hire one to go to the airport to pick mum up.  I love my Miata but she just ain't designed to collect international travelers from the airport, unless they pack light!  Now really I just need to get my head to small things like; clean the house, get some food in that mum might like to eat; including instant coffee I believe (and think is a crime against nature and the natural order of things).

No way to be glamorous about it.....

So I promised pics.....and here they are.  Really there is no way to look good running.....well not if you are me!  The shot on the left was taken

about 30mins before the run.  If it's not obvious I was freezing!!!!  I'd just watched the half marathoners take off and had been standing around for about 1.5hrs.  I'd wanted to arrive early as I wanted to see the half marathoners and had no real idea how all the parking etc would work.  Turned out I got a carpark really close to the race start so arrived with plenty of time.  There were tents set up displaying a range of goodies and people nervously milling about.  As you can see on the right, just after I crossed the finish line, I kept my running jacket on as I couldn't even contemplate the thought of running without it (and I had a long sleeved shirt on!).  All good in the end!

Case was delighted when I texted him with my results - he is so sweet, I gave him a tip at my training session and he gave me a hug, so cute.  He's been incredibly supportive and committed to my fitness/running - if not a little startled that I not only attempt everything he asks of me but also do my homework.  Games on again, of course, first half marathon Feb 7th, running around Golden Gate Park.  It's not far off and this weekend my task is to run 9 miles, the half is 13 miles or 21 km - yikes that sounds like alot when I type it out and not that many weeks to go.

Killed the hill....my race is done

Today I ran my 10k race in Marin.  It was amazing to be around all the hype and also to be running on such a beautiful course.  It was also bloody cold, so cold that I had to wear my running jacket as well as my long sleeved running shirt.  I stayed Friday night in Corte Madera, north of San Fran and just 15mins from the Marin Headlands.  Given this is a two to two and a half hour drive from Santa Cruz I decided it was just easier to stay close by.  On my way through I stopped in San Fran and picked up my "race bag" which, most importantly, has the race "chip" you attach to your shoe so they can electronically record your time and your race number......at this point it was all starting to feel very real!  The 10k was part of a much larger event so runners set off at different times.  The 50 mile (yep you read correct) left at about 5am, 50k at 7, half marathoners at 9 and us little 'uns at 10.  I arrived in time to watch the half marathoners set off.  Given I aspire to run one in Feb I was somewhat awed to think that the 3.5 mile hill I have lamented over is repeated (all beit different hills) three times for the half marathoners!!!  There really were folks in all shapes and sizes.  Stereotyping is interesting - I look at the lean, tall women and freak out - they simply look athletic in the way I think athletes look and in a way I will never look :-( !  Yeah well, so much for that, there was one shortish (these things being relative) woman who was  big and a very unlikely looking runner.  We had two hours to complete the course and she came in 2mins before her time was up and she wasn't the last btw.   So note to self:  size doesn't matter!  While I'd felt sickly nervous in the days leading into the event I got increasingly calmer as we actually reached the point of heading off.  It was grand fun - toward the end we link up with the half marathoners for their final leg - it's more than humbling to be passed by people who have already run 3/4 more than the distance you are labouring over......everything about running is proving to be humbling.  Not least of which the privilege of being able to run at all!
Anyway, final results 1.05 total time, 84th out of a total of 213 runners (men and women, yes a certain satisfaction was had when I blew off some boys on the hill stage....), 4th for my age group out of a total of 21 (yes yes age group 40-49....).  Oh and as a nice finisher I won a North Face fleecy jacket in a random raffle (sometimes you just need to show up!).  Pictures next week.

Thanksgiving

Love Thanksgiving week.  Work from home Mon, Tues, Wed (read extra hour in bed and stay in PJs most of the day) - ignore crazy people who think everything has to be done before Thanksgiving ....because?  Roll outta bed at my leisure on Thanksgiving day; juice, coffee, muesli with fruit and yoghurt, plan my run and what time I need to leave to get to Oakland to have a Thanksgiving feast with Michelle, Marcia, Nancy, Joan and Andreana (J & A just got engaged so double celebration!).  Thanksgiving is one of the loveliest holidays in the US.  So much easier than Xmas because it is only about good food and company - no gifts.  Everyone gets very excited about it and people are always concerned that everyone has somewhere to go.  Going to take the flip camera etc to lunch so I get record the event, if the vid/pics turn out okay I'll share.
What else?  Not long until the mother arrives, Vegas all set to go and Karen and Brice are now coming for part of the adventure (including Xmas day).  Nice restaurant booked (thanks Brice!) and generally looking forward to the whole adventure.  A week in Vegas is plenty of time (none of us are actually gamblers, play the pokies, that's about it, but there is always something interesting going on!).  Got some tentative adventures planned for post Vegas too, some places mum didn't see last time.
Check this out (takes a second to load so hang tight).  I found out Case's dad is quite a famous artist, originally photography and now he does public art using mosaic.  It's pretty fab stuff.  He also included Case in one of the pieces - NY Administration for Children's Services, Case on the left in the Cap (yes when he was a teenager...just).  He also did this very cool Obama mosaic.  Some of his work is in San Jose and one piece at the SF International Airport.

Even I have my limits

So one of the things I am not very good at is nutrition. That's not to say I don't eat well but I'm just not that into cooking (although love good food) and tend to graze more than cook full meals. Well that's not very helpful when you are exercising as much as I am.......apparently! I am shamed by Case who, at 24, has far more commitment to cooking than I will ever have. To help me along the way (and avoid my fainting at training..) he put me onto this book, which is actually really quite excellent and the food sounds yummy. Challenge is there is at least some degree of learning required to get the right balance of nutrients etc and, frankly, it bores me to death. I don't have a scientific bone in my body - I really just want someone to say "here's the shopping list and the menu plan - get on with it". Honestly I believe all the health claims, they don't need to convince me. But, here's the thing I draw the line at, substituting coffee for chicory and dandilion roots, wtf!!!!! No, I've given up drinking (at least for now, in case you are all worried for my mental health), eat very few carbs (none after 5pm), less refined sugar and very few grains (this is all easy - well carbs wasn't - but my favourtie food is sashimi so I get to eat lots more and I love veges and don't have much of a sweet tooth). I am not giving up coffee - I don't even know what chicory is and dandilions are something you blow on to watch the fairies float off in the wind......I'm not drinking them.

Recreation, work and news of the day

Seems the year is flying by!  Yesterday I did a fab 7 mile run through Wilder Ranch. A state park about a mile out of Santa Cruz.  It is a mixture of open meadow and forest, a lovely place to run. Just when you think you might get bored with the hills or forest you round a bend or crest a hill to look out across some very spectacular scenery.  I enjoyed some nice encounters with some folk too.  You can read more about that in On the Run if you are interested.

Work was busy this week.  I had to let one of my folk go, which was a little tough as it wasn't on the plan for this quarter.  Over the past year I've learnt a lot about managing a team (I now have 12 people!!!).  I've also stuck by the idea that I roll them on so I roll them off, letting people go in this economy is a tough call but part of the job.  The job has gotten exponentially bigger and I am going to have to adjust how I manage the team as 12 people working on upwards of 6 different projects makes for a lot of complexity, relationships and politics.  My "favourite" IM of all time is the one that starts "Can you talk"....this usually means "something" is up and I go into management mode.  Things in the workplace seem to move so much faster here than I remember in NZ.  Decisions generally get taken very quickly and need to be acted on equally as fast.  Working in a global environment also means managing very diverse expectations - I've got very thick skinned and figure it's a good day when most of the people are mostly happy (or, at the very least, not complaining too loudly!).

The horror story of the last two weeks for me has been the Fort Hood shootings.  This is terribly sad, not least of which because so many people are now thinking someone somehow should have been able to anticipate it.  Maybe, maybe not, hindsight's always twenty twenty - all not helped by it very nearly coinciding with Veterans day.  The shooter is still alive which will drag the whole thing out for a very long time (hard to think he's going to be considered sane enough to go to a trial).

Running, Thanksgiving and Halloween

Time is flying by!  Two weekends back I did a trial run of the 10k trail run I am doing in December.  It was grand!  The Marin Headlands are right on the coast and, while the first 3.5 miles of the race are all uphill, you get a stunning view of the bay area once you reach the summit, then you get to blast down the otherside (making up for all that slow plodding!).  I can definitely run it within the alloted time (2hrs) so am most relieved.  Given I've never run in a race before I'm sure there will be alot to learn.

Last month I spent so much time training I haven't really done much else (personal trainer three times a week then running on the other days).  Although, despite my reclusiveness, I have been invited with Marcia and Michelle to a Thanks Giving dinner in Oakland, so that will be fun.

Halloween at work was a blast.  We set up a video show with all these great halloween videos the team made highlighting "Nightmare on Change Street"....all set to Michael Jackson's Thriller video.  Igor is from Czechoslovakia so we got him to voice over for Vincent Price. Other folk also put together displays and people came to work dressed up.  It's really quite surreal.....there are photos somewhere, I'll hunt them down and post a few.

Daylight saving is over here so while I get to drive to work in daylight it's pitch black by the time I get home, bleech.

Yosemite

The week has flown by so though I'd better get on top of sharing some photos from the

weekend in Yosemite! We left Friday afternoon, only got lost once.....well the little navigation thingy didn't tell us to turn off.....arrived in the dark, of course...so predictably had trouble finding the carpark after we had

checked in! But settled into the very cute

"Tent Cabin". Note that chest on the side is for storing food, toothpaste anything that a bear might eat....it's a bear chest....designed to keep the bears out of your cabin!

Given we had storms the week prior to the trip we lucked out with the weather, it was warm and we didn't need a heated cabin (none available anyway, we would have bugged out to a hotel if it got too cold and I had my trusty woolen hat that I wore to bed - not glamorous but effective!)

Saturday morning we slept latetish then headed off to Mirror Lake.  They have shuttles that take you all over the park (well those walks nearby) so we were dropped close to the start of the

walk and ambled along. It was lovely - we walked as far as we could (only about 3 miles) then I abandoned Michelle and ran back so that I could get my daily run in. It was great to run along a trail and so lovely. It was only 3.5miles back to our cabin so a relatively leisurely run. I did encounter two deer with horns on the track, very calm they were!  Photo on the right is me not long before I ditched the pack and stared my run back to camp.

Sunday we did the Yosemite Upper Falls hike, bears, tiny snake, birds, squirrels - vertical paths! Was very relieved to get down just as it turned dark as my night vision is shite (although I did have a torch) and Michelle is still recovering from eye surgery

so would have been the blind leading the

blind. We were both exhausted but elated and tumbled into bed early - all that fresh air and exercise.

Monday the rain set in but all we had planned was brunch at the Ahwahnee Hotel. It's very beautiful inside

(accommodation runs into the $100s of dollars a night).

It reminded me of New Mexico - mix of Mexican/American Indian decor and artwork. Headed back to

Santa Cruz at 1230......4/4.5 hr drive, easy enough and we were both relaxed.

On balance a great few days, limited cellphone access (and I didn't take my computer) so really was getting away from it all.

Back at work, fighting a cold (not giving in, not giving in......H1N1 is alive and well here so need to be careful that I don't ignore signs or make everyone else paranoid!).

Journey to the Top of the World: Upper Yosemite Falls Oct 20

Herewith, part 1 of our adventures in Yosemite. And yes those are real bear cubs that we encountered on our journey to the top of the Yosemite Falls! Momma bear is not so very far away and yes, it was a little terrifying! Of course the funniest part of the day was discovering that we were at 7000 ft by the time we got to the top (ignore my reference to 1000ft) and we had walked 7 miles (3.5 UP) and 3.5 down, having thought we were only going for a 2 mile hike. Took us just on 6hrs and we were both more than a little tired. More photos to come and comments welcome on my first attempt at creating a video......

Holeedays, seeing stuff, new toys and work'n

Much happening but I’m heading into a long weekend camping in Yosemite with Michelle (well staying in the tent cabins!) so this is a little snapshot with more to follow.
Eyes are working fine, fantastic even, have completely adjusted and loving no glasses or contacts, yippee.
Training three times a week and feeling the effects (both good and bad – I’m clearly no longer 20 something, body takes somewhat longer to recover, although it is grand to grow muscles and actually feel myself get fitter).
We’ve had “storms” here although not on the scale of the neverending storms happening in NZ (okay not even close, bucketing rain for 24hrs then it’s all over).
Had a hideous 430am start on Tuesday (global meeting that we were supporting, had to be onsite so stayed in San Jose so I didn’t have to drive across the 17…..during the storm…..at 3am in the morning). Funny how quickly I’ve adjusted to packing up and dumping myself in a hotel on demand.
Had a grand day pumpkin carving with Maria, Michelle and Irene. I have a little video of the entire event that I’ll load up after the weekend (recorded on my new geek toy) – I’m learning how to use the editing features so u’all will benefit from my learning curve…

No more glasses, no more contacts

On Thursday I had the laser surgery and it's .... amazing.  I went in Wednesday for an assessment then asked when I could have the surgery.  If I could make it in the next day they would give me a discount of $200, bingo, no brainer, I'll take the money.  Whole procedure took 10mins - four hours of needing to keep my eyes pretty much closed and I was out for dinner and today (Friday) seeing clear as.  Goes up and down apparently but, here's the cool thing - they offered me mono-vision. Basically one eye is set for distance and the other for up close.  That way I won't have to have reading glasses in the future.  Some people find the whole thing too disorientating but I tried it out using some glasses and it was fine, didn't make me nauseous at all.  Anyway, nothing like spontaneously having eye surgery.

Xmas, training and randomness

Okay so this is my second attempt to post this......blogger is a relatively easy site to use.....I guess that's relative to a user not screwing it up!
So in a moment of de juvu I will try to remember what I said last time starting with Xmas plans. Mum is flying over from NZ and her and I are going to Las Vegas for a week - this should be great fun. I managed to get a great deal, including flights and accommodation at the MGM Grand (right on the Strip for CSI followers), arriving Monday 21st and leaving on the 26th. As well as the varied and many "free" events I've booked us in to see Ka. For anyone that hasn't seen Cirque du Soleil in action it's a real must do - not only is the staging and costuming great but the athleticism of the performers is mindblowing. I've seen other shows including O (which is a water show) on a previous visit to Vegas and, way back when, under the bigtop in Auckland....although I can't remember the name of the show the standout in that one was a clown act, where I think for the first time I began to understand what clowing is actualy about. Going to other things of course (apart from play pokies, I'll let y'all know when we win), Hoover Dam, strip malls, maybe Grand Canyon (I've done that before, helicoptering to the bottom WOW, very cool). Other than that, randomness rules and we will see what the week brings.
I am off to an appointment to see about getting Lasik surgery so I can become a non-glasses wearing seeing eye person. I've been thinking about it for months and finally got my act together and made an appointment.
Mostly I've been training and now see my trainer three times a week....my new best friend, well that doesn't seem quite right given how hard he works me. Still I am loving it and the race is December 5, so not far away......gotta run faster......
Works quiet (which is both a blessing and a bore). Weathers changing, although it never gets really really cold here and it is lovely to have an autumn - I am sure Wellington only ever had summer and winter, okay maybe maybe a day or two of spring.

County Fair, adventuring and Untouchable Girls

Friday night Marcia, Michelle and I headed out to the Santa Cruz County Fair in Watsonville.  It was great fun and just what you would imagine, a very "All American" experience.  There was all the traditional rides, fair ground food and "competitions" for the largest squash, best apple pie and produce.  Arriving early evening we parked way way in back of the carpark and started walking only to have a tractor pulling a trailer (no hay bales sadly) pull up and ask us if we wanted a ride - sure we did, it was a fun way to start as we toured the carpark on the way to the fairground proper. They had a seal from the Monterey Aquarium there too and Marcia and Michelle each got a "kiss".  Personally I quite enjoyed watching the giant model train go around it's circuit....but then I would.  It was simple fun and we even did a couple of rides that had us all hysterically laughing, especially the one where we were hanging upside down for long periods of time.

Saturday I headed up to the city to go to a party with Dee.  We started in the Castro at a "tea dance".  I am not sure why they call it that, there is nothing "tea" like about it.  Eclectic crowd and all quite fun.  After that we headed out to the birthday party.  It was great fun, complete with mirror ball and lots and lots of dancing.  Met some nice folk and enjoyed myself.  Didn't get back to Santa Cruz until 2am so a little tired (I could have stayed in the city but waking up Sunday morning in my own bed seemed like a better option).  I drove us around SF and it still makes me giggle every time I remember that I really do live here and I am driving around San Francisco (does anyone remember The Streets of San Francisco?).

In a funny twist the roomie (Ruby) is at the Toronto Film Festival and was approached by organizers to interview the Topp Twins - she emailed Michelle and I and asked if she should....of course we both gave her a dozen reasons why, not to mention that we thought she would get a laugh out of it.  Now I see that their movie won best documentary - nice.

I'm still obsessively going to the gym and running.  I'm feeling fitter, losing weight and enjoying having a new goal.  I've set up a separate blog to track my progress.  It's only about running and training to run so not likely to be a "best seller" but a nice way for me to reflect back and chat about all things running (I'm even finding running buddies to talk to - although not run with, I like running alone and have no interest in pairing up, some people do but I prefer to go solo).

3 year anniversary and new obsessions

Well gee....I missed it! Sept 1 was my 3rd anniversary of being in the US.  I've always done something to "celebrate" and this year I just plain forgot.  I'll blame it on work, visitors and hmmm my own lack of attention.  

The last month flew by and was busy.  We survived our release remarkably well and, while I did do an all nighter, everything went in smoothly and we had limited issues to deal with - nice job. My team were fantastic.  We had a whole new set of tasks for this release and the team stepped up and did the job beautifully.  Q3 is a much bigger, more complicated release so this was a great practice run to see if our approach around the comms worked.  

Ruth and Karyn were here for four days which was grand - I didn't see alot of them (although they stayed at my house) but really enjoyed seeing them both when I could and felt very envious as they flew out for Barcelona.   

The gym is my new best friend.  I'm having a great time and feeling way fitter (even out running the streets and surprising myself with how good I feel - okay so I did have to battle through several weeks of aching muscles while my body adjusted).  I see my personal trainer twice a week and he keeps me honest!  I have signed on for a trail run in December, around the Marin Headlands just north of San Fran, which involves climbing to around 900ft (so 50% uphill) and includes spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay area in general (of course that all assumes I am physically conscious enough to notice!).  It's only 10k (she's says lightly) although there are others doing 20, 40 and 50km runs (sure next time, not).  It's great to have a goal and I'm determined not to make a complete ass of myself.  The only other thing I've done that was comparable was Round the Mountain and then I was 19 and had the added incentive of an Army Sergeant reminding me it was my body and I controlled it!

It's Labour Weekend here so I have been enjoying some quite time - been out on the bike down to Moss Landing to check out the Antique Shops.  When I ride I like to have a destination so always decide where I'll go and then enjoy the journey in anticipation of the destination.

Beautiful sunny day here today too - going to walk downtime and check out bookshops...then off to the gym then....who knows, it's a day for unstructured adventures.

New obsessions

So I took a breath, joined the gym and got a personal trainer!  I love it.  I see the trainer twice a week (shades of Army training I have to say) and "we" have chosen a mountain run to aim for in December.  The whole things been driven by a couple of things - got some inspiration from my visit to NZ (thanks G, inspiration has turned into obsession), I'm surrounded by 40 something year old women all deciding they need to run half marathons (very California) and work this year (fiscal year that is) isn't nearly as intense as it was last year when I was working anything from 50 to 65 hour weeks (and I'm not kidding....it was full on intense).  Woke up out of the work haze and realized I was doing very little beside work and hadn't been able to commit to any regular activity - now I'm totally committed.  Trainer gets how to motivate me too...."well 15 would be good, 20 excellent.....okay you can push out 5 more...." stubborn self comes into play and before I know it I have pushed out 5 more (quivering wreck of course but determined!).  

Spent last Saturday in San Fran with my friend Dee.  Went to Women's Will, Shakespeare in the park then for a two hour hike through one of the state parks near Berkley.  Lovely - not least of which because the fires that are just outside Santa Cruz have made the air quality here terrible (I'm kind of glad I get to commute to San Jose each day, just to get out of it).  Sunday Michelle and I headed down to the wharf for the Polynesian Festival, saw some very cute tots doing Hawaiian dances (hula isn't quite the word......!) as well as some of the more accomplished older dances.  It was fun, with lots of kitschy stuff for sale (none of which made it back to my house).

Works really interesting - it just keeps evolving and Michelle has reminded me that this is the longest time I have spent in a single role for maybe five or six years.  Economy's still tight but we did manage to keep all the team employed for Q1 (folk are still being laid off here, but it's slowing).

This week we did our final practice run for the big release next weekend (basically we turn off our quoting and ordering tool and they add new functionality.....takes 30 hours and it's Cisco wide so (while my part of the organization does monthly releases, this one involves the organization as a whole so a different set of compliance required).  While my team share shifts I get the midnight to go-live (when we bring the system back online) shift, so staying in San Jose.  I end up doing that shift because that one requires the most co-ordination (I wouldn't exactly call it a privilege of rank).  We send out messages throughout and then final messages when the system comes back online.  Then it gets even more intense as we manage any messages around the system not performing as expected and status......it's a full on time at work that often involves rapid turn around of information and juggling many balls at once (it's part of what keeps me interested).

Other than that looking to plan some other adventures and some holidays.

Keep'n on keep'on

Been an interesting busy few weeks.  I have joined the gym and got myself a personal trainer (feels not unlike Army training!).  Actually my first session with him is today but I've been at the gym and/or using the exercycle all week - get my body used to the idea that exercise is now at the center of it's world!

Michelle and I are off to see the King Tut exhibition on Sunday.  First we are visiting with Ruby and Mary in San Fran....Ruby being my roomie during the academic year.  Not sure if I mentioned this but Ruby was the person who "discovered" Whale Rider.  She was selecting movies for the Toronto Film Fesitival and came across a very raw tape of Whale Rider - decided it was a great pick and invited the film makers to the festival - that was the launch of Whale Rider into the world!  

I haven't seen my pal Dee since I got back from NZ, she lives in San Fran so we always have to be a little organized about catching up (she has the beach house down the coast that I've mentioned before).  Bonus - she's in town overnight so I'm going to head over there for dinner this evening.  

I'm counting down the days to our big quarterly release - these are the ones where I stay in San Jose, get not much sleep and lots of stress (love it!).  I don't think it's going to be as painful as March (well I'm hoping not) and I have more of my people involved this time so I'm not working all the nightshifts.  Sadly it's the exact time Ruth and Karyn are visiting so I'm not going to see alot of them (and if things don't go well.....even less than I am planning!). 

Back in Santa Cruz

My childcare responsibilities are over....I'll miss them.  It was quite big to be looking after five live in cats (plus one visitor) and a dog for two weeks - there are alot of logistics and a lot of personalities to deal with.  In the end we settled into a very pleasant routine and it was lovely to have pets around.  The neighborhood  I stayed in was very pretty too. Established by a civil war general it's this little pocket of colonial type housing in downtown San Jose - everyone knows everyone and they all know each others pets!  Best part was a little cluster of eateries 5mins walk away including Naglieeparkgarage.  This is a clever (and it looks like) lucrative restaurant.  It really is an old converted garage that has great out door seating.  They serve beer in jars and have a really really simple menu of good food (can't beat the trout!). Every Thursday they have live music and the place is jammed, they also play movies on an outdoor screen (not sure when that starts up).  Anyway it's a very popular local haunt, I loved it!  It's prompted me to think about where I might buy a house (actually I'm looking at a condo) and I'm seriously thinking that I'd like to buy in Capitola (south of Santa Cruz and still on the coast).  This is a very cute village that offers good restaurants, fab beach and affordable condo living.  Santa Cruz really is just a little too nutty/hippy for me.  I figure if I get something that isn't too expensive I can live in it for a while then if I want/need to move I can keep it and rent it out (or have it as my "beach house".  All quite possible as I'm saving and do/will have a good deposit.

Work is in the calm before the storm - we have a major quarterly release coming up in August, that's always very intense and (to date) has lead to those early early morning phone calls.  I've started to talk to my boss about "where next" in a career sense.  Not planning any big moves right now just want to have a sense of possibilities I should be thinking about when the economy starts to turn.  I've taken on wider responsibilities at work so I'm still learning - I'm still not convinced I'm an operations girl though, but that's the job for now!  My boss is fab, she gets that I'm way more interested in the business side so is happily coaching me.

Going to join the gym today (yep finally decided it was time to get into regular exercise - walking the dog twice a day turned into a nice routine).  Guess I also need to gear myself up to the return to the daily commute, it was lovely to be 10mins from work and be able to ride the bike everyday - still there is always a tradeoff somewhere and it's not like I'm not spoilt for choice!

Way to do it!

The video of a Minnesota couple who boogied down a church aisle with their wedding party to the surprise of their guests is a hit on YouTube.
This made me smile for quite a long time!
Kevin Heinz and Jillian Peterson, their seven bridesmaids, five groomsmen and four ushers danced down the aisle to the Chris Brown song "Forever" before the couple exchanged vows June 20 in St. Paul.