New job, new home & Bonnie Raitt

Started the new job and I am busy...busier and more challenged than I have been for a long time! I am the Communications Lead for a global program focused on having partners and customers adopt a new contract management system........they have to actually, we are about to retire the old system!!! My job is to co-ordinate the various communications folks to make sure we are aligned and do the right things in the right way. So far that involves lots and lots of meetings, putting in place some processes so that we work as a team and trying to figure out if we are actually doing the right things. Its fantastic to be in a global program and work with different parts of the world. My team are great, very professional, capable people who all want to do well. My saving grace is that this program is a sister program to the one I have left so I at least understand some of the technical content and the context in which we are trying to do this. My boss is grand - we have never met, she lives in Southern California and only comes here once every 4 or 6 weeks.....her boss is in Texas and runs the same gig. This really is virtual working and amazing to get a job on the back of telephone interviews.
Come July by roomie finishes her Masters so I have had to think about where I am going to live. I had thought I would leave Santa Cruz but now that I only have to work in the office a minimum of one day a week (I choose 3) I have decided to rent Michelles beach cottage when her lease is up (1 August) and stay here. It has surprised me as I did seriously look at Mountain View (home of Google). The Cottage is fully furnished, two bedrooms, one block from where I live and one block from the beach. I know the landlords well having negotiated Michelle renting it in the first place. And it comes with a weekday boarder (Prof from the University who lives in SF but works down here during the week). I am not keen on a full time roomie so this is a nice compromise. My biggest delimma is whether I buy the three for one package and get TV, Internet and a landline!!!! Since I have started watching programmes/movies online I don't much care about TV. I think I will give that a miss and just get a large monitor to hook to my computer to (nice for work as well).

This weekend Michelle and I headed off to the Santa Cruz Blues Festival to watch Bonnie Raitt. It was a great day. Arrived about midday and the place was packed. We did manage to find a very nice place on the lawn and proceeded to sit back and relax for the day. The show was in a natural amphitheatre so we were surrounded by trees. Bonnie was the last act (and by then we had found some of Michelle'sfriends) so we all got up and danced and laughed. The crowd was interesting. Mostly white, middle class to very wealthy, with a heavy sprinkling of hippies. I am pretty confident the average age would have hung in the 40s somewhere. While it looked very conservative it was quite clear that, despite the "no smoking" by-laws there was smoking of all kinds going on. Alcohol was also available and what made the whole thing nice was that I never saw anybody behaving badly. Just a mellow, happy crowd.

It's Memorial Day weekend (I think this is kind of like our ANZAC Day) so there is a general air of relaxed. Next weekend I am off to a dance fundraiser for the National Center for Lesbian Rights (they are leading much of the work around trying to have gay marriage legalized). Anyway it's part of a much bigger weekend event. It's in SF so I have booked a hotel and I am going with a friend, Dee, who I met quite a few months back and her friend.......who I haven't yet met. Dee lives in Berkley but used to live in Santa Cruz so anytime she is down this way we try to catch up for a walk, drink or dinner. I am looking forward to the dance - it's a formal affair so I am very intrigued to see how people dress (SF Californians don't really do "formal"). Anyway I am assured there will be lots of girls in frocks (no I won't be one of them!).

Having fun

So the roommate has been doing an internship focused on pulling together two shows using digital art and new media. Stage one of the show, Superlight, opened in San Jose on Saturday night. Michelle and I decided to drive up and spend the night so we could go to the show and then off to a Powwow at Stanford University. Superlight had some pretty cool stuff, including one display where you walked into a room and there was a massive screen on the far wall with a guys face. As you moved around the room he changed what he was saying, reflecting how close you were to him or the pace you walked toward or away from him. It was kind of fun to see what reactions you could get out of him! Lots of other clever things too. One of the most fun things that the adults were really into was the chance to create a little doll - see mine to the left. They had set up a work bench with the felt etc and patterns you could choose from. We then all happily used glue guns and rummaged around in boxes of buttons etc to create our characters. Michelle did one too - although a little more girlie than mine. It was a real giggle. Afterwards we went back to the very nice hotel we were staying in, had a nightcap and watched a DVD.
The next day we went off to the Powwow. It was a weekend affair and included a dance competition. We managed to get to see the women performing. Some amazing outfits too. I really enjoyed the drumming that went with the dances and was fascinated to watch - very physical. There was a range of stalls selling jewellery etc so we spent some time wandering around them. Well mostly Michelle. I spent time watching people. All up a lovely weekend.....I think I am in the calm before the storm with the job so it was nice to indulge a little (hmm I guess I've been doing nothing but indulging these past weeks!).

Hola! pt 2, new job, New Mexico

It's been BUSY....fun but busy. Back to Barcelona. See the gang, including the worlds largest paella dish! After Sitges Rose, Jo and I headed to Barcelona. On the way we stopped at Montserrat where we got to see the Black Virgin (see my other post). While we qued for a hideous amount of time we did get to hear the boys choir in the Basilica. The views were spectacular and it was well worth the several hours we spent wandering around. Into Barcelona we stayed at a fab hotel near some grand eating places and close to where we could catch the tourist bus that takes you all over the place. Loved the Gaudi architecture. Particularly the La Sagrada Familia - a "church" started in 1882 and still being built using Gaudi's original drawings with different architects leading the construction at different times. I did freak myself going to up in the elevator into the spires then having to walk down these stairs. As well as making the most of the open air bus we walked alot, had some great Tapas and watched some great street performers. Jo was our tour guide and found some very cool places for us to investigate. Including and amazing design store. I loved Barcelona!
Before I left for Spain I, somewhat boldly, decided I would renew my contract so had, technically, finished my old contract. Had two possible jobs to consider when I got back. Came back to neither having materialized but being offered a weeks work in the old program (they would have had me stay but I was done with it). Anyway concurrently I also decided it was time to go visit El Rancho. Given my unemployed status I was remarkably relaxed. Then within 24hrs I had a new contract! Did the first of three interviews at 9am one morning and by 5pm that day had been offered a Communications Lead role in the sister program to the one I am in. Yippee. Headed off to NM and started the new job yesterday.
New Mexico was fun, welcoming and familiar. No yellow house for me anymore but I was more than comfortable in the bunk house. It was grand to see everyone. On the Saturday Brice, Karen and I headed to Taos for brunch then went on to check out the Earth Ships - billed as Biotechture they are made almost entirely of recycled material (based on used tires)
and can be completing self sustaing using solar power and recycled water. They can come in all different styles but tend more towards and Adobe look or something out of Star Wars! Built into the ground they are impressive and quirky. If you want to know more got to You Tube and search under Earthships.

Hola! pt 1

Wow - Barcelona has to be one of the best places I have ever visited! European liveliness, without snobbery and a real 24/7 city. Iconic architecture and a deep pride in their history. I loved this city. Undoubtedly the company helped! More about that and the picture on the left in pt 2.

The trip to Spain started out in Sitges, a half hour bus ride down the coast from Barcelona. Somehow managed to get upgraded to economyplus on the flight over (and back for that matter), which was lovely as the United flight I was on was less than glamorous......really really old plane! Arrived at the B&B to be greeted by a crowed of kiwis and two Australians. It was lovely to see everyone, apart from Michelle and Ruth I hadn't seen any of the others since I left (which is a year and a half ago now).
B&B was everything promised and then some. Lovely big rooms and a lovely welcoming atmosphere. We had booked the place out so only us! They even had an honesty bar....can't remember the last time I went anywhere that had an honesty bar. For Ruth's birthday we had a dinner at the B&B; traditional paella served in a HUGE serving dish and prepared by a local woman who came in specially. Afterwards we headed out dancing and found this cute queer bar that played classics like Oliva Newton John and Cher. Sitges is a cute seaside tourist town and we wandered around alot. If you look at the picture on the left you can see the seawalls. This allows them to claim they have 17 beaches - hmmm, not so much I don't think!

One minor glitch when one of the crowd had their bag stolen while we sat eating lunch (I sat next to a woman on the tourist bus in Barcelona who also discovered she had been pick pocketed at some point during the morning - unpleasant but not uncommon in Spain). Ultimately it was all soughted out and a new temporary passport arrived from Madrid. Given we had two cars we all headed to the Torres Winery - it's a massive producer and exports globally. Funniest part was trying to get back to the B&B - the two cars travelled separately and both had the same challenge......how not to go to Barcelona but rather head south to Sitges. The car I was in did well following a tour bus, until we stopped doing so well and had to back track and start over (well not quite but close!). Turns out the other car (minus the benefit of a tour bus) had to do the same thing - I guess all Kiwis think a like. It was also Jo's birthday so on our last night we went out to a very very lovely restaurant near the beach. Enjoyed a lovely meal outside and our final night before I left with Rose and Jo to head for Bacelona.

Doing stuff

It's been a busy few weeks. First I bought my self a stunt kite. It's very cool (Prism E2) and very "dramatic" to fly. Michelle and I took it out for its first flight last weekend. It was pretty windy down at the beach and I got to figure out really quickly that this kite wasn't going to be for the faint hearted. It came with a DVD and book of tricks. It's heaps of fun and makes a great noise while it's flying. I did get dragged along the beach a little though (accompanied by Michelle's excited screams).
Michelle also announced that she didn't think that I got enough culture and so got us tickets to the Romeros, which, as it turns out, are a very famous guitar quartet. They play classical guitar so not something everyone would have thought to invite me to! They were fantastic! Orignially from Spain it seemed timely to be listening to them in advance of leaving for Barcelona on the 17th.
Saturday I caught up with my pal from work and her husband. Spent a lovely few hours on the deck of their beach house - drinking a very lovely Pinot Noir from the the Santa Cruz mountains - then headed out to dinner in Capitola with them and a couple of their friends. Capitola (I've mentioned it before) is this very cute seaside village not far from Santa Cruz. Not sure how to describe it - upmarket seaside village with the feel of a holiday town and a real buzz in the air - accompanied by very good food and fabulous views. We then went back to one of the friends houses for dessert. Heaps of fun and, very generously, they all paid for my meal.
On the work front it looks like I am going to move to a new contract. Still at Cisco, not the one I origninally wanted......better I think. May know for sure before I head to Spain. I'll fill in more when I know.
If it's not already obvious I'm not heading up to Walnut Creek anymore. No hearts broken and no bad behaviour by anyone (can't under estimate the value of that!). Had a grand time but it wasn't going anywhere. Life keeps moving forward.

Olympic torches

No I am not in San Francisco protesting China hosting the Olympics. Perhaps I should be? I've never been much for "isolationalist politics" (I think I just made that up!). I mean I've always worked within the system. Fortunately I have some friends who don't.....I am happy to feed them as and when they need it - I do my best as and when I can!

Bocce Ball and the life of a new immigrant

I know I haven’t really posted many photos but here is one that has some of my work colleagues and at least one or two who are becoming friends. We had an afternoon of Bocce Ball. What is Bocce Ball? Yeah right, a cultural moment, I had no idea. At first I thought it must be some form of indoor soccer……long story short it is much like Petanque. BB is Italian, Petanque is French. Go figure. NZ took up Petanque not BB; cultural moment. Although a far better cultural moment, and much funnier, was being at the lunch prior and ordering a “Cheddar Burger”……..that the waitress heard, repeatedly (as did my work colleagues), as “Cheetah Burger”. Post actually being able to make my order someone asked if we ate Cheetah in NZ. I assured them we did but that it was expensive, as we had to import it. This, readers, is the life of an immigrant and I speak English, thank you very much!

Taxes, passports and other things

Happy daze - I appear to have successfully completed my first US tax return. Actually it's two returns, one Federal and one State. Tax here is a nightmare to figure out. The only reason I was able to do it myself is because I really only worked the last three months of the year so was below the threshold that allowed me to file for free using an online service provider recommended by the IRS. It also helped that I didn't have anything complicated to declare. All turns out nicely as it seems I get tax refunds on tax I've already paid. Of course I'm also eligible for the tax payer "handout" as part of the "Stimulus Package". All of which isn't quite what it appears as when you read the fine print it is actually a debit against next years tax.....so for people like me whose income will increase beyond the threshold that gave me the credit in the first place - it's really just free money for a year. Not to be complained at but not quite the way it has been sold by the Bush government.
My passport also arrived, much to my relief. I'm fairly confident that, by virtue of it being a new passport that doesn't show my having arrived in the US....I will be stopped at the airport at least once when I fly out to Spain. I have been here just long enough to predict these things (or at least anticipate them) so I'll carry my old passport with me as well. Minor distraction - yay to Spain!
I am quietly, patiently waiting for things to change at work. I've got an opportunity to move onto a new program but really need the blessing of the Executive who is leading the program I am currently on.......at this stage he is reluctant to let me go. My contract is up at the end of April (and easily renewable) but we tried to wrangle it so I could go early and someone back fill. Nope - he wants me to stay and stay after April. Although I can go anytime I want in reality it's better all round if I can go without alienating anybody. He's promised some changes that I might like.....actually I know the changes he is referring to (and know that they haven't actually been discussed with him yet) and I'm not sure he will buy them, nor that they change much in my world. Sigh - in the past I expect I might have been somewhat more agressive about the whole thing. But the world changes (and so have I) so I am working behind the scenes and staying very quiet while others work things out on my behalf. Sometimes it's just best to shut my mouth and trust in the knowledge and experience of those that are older and wiser......either way I am not going to be unemployed and that is a good thing!

But seriously

Would you thank these gals if you were John McCain:

Hoppy Easter

So Easter is pretty much a non-event here. No holiday and I didn't even realize it was Easter weekend until someone mentioned it last Tuesday. We are still doing shifts for the release and have had some intense moments......dull but intense. It does feel a little like it's never going to end and we are supposed to be preparing for another release in May. Affectionately know as the "May Release" it is looking more like the "Anything but May Release". Such is life and I might not even be part of it (I hope I'm not to be honest). There is the possibility of another contract that I'd really really like - not a time to be unemployed in the US so I'm not racing out of this one (it gets renewed on a regular basis) but I've got my eye out for other possibilities. Who knows. Mostly I'd really like to settle into something that works so that I can move into a little place of my own - closer to work. I really like my flatmate and we get along great - both being very self contained - but I think it's time I actually took the next step and started to live a little less like a bachelor student and a little more like someone creating a home. Well I did take one step forward, buying a wine fridge from my landlord. He was having a garage sale (yard sale here) and had a new, unused fridge. Got it for less than half what it would cost new (nice) and he carried it into the house for me....nicer still.
On an even nicer note got word that my passport is winging its way back to me so I will have it in my hand well in advance of grand adventures in Spain (crisis, potential pouting and general grumpiness averted).
Not much else; I've got work (albeit on call) tomorrow (Saturday) then Sunday midday through to midnight. Hopefully no drama so I won't actually have to do anything. I'm going to try my hand at cleaning up our garden, having now asked the flattie what I am allowed to pull out as I don't have a clue what anything is. She was gracious and explained so that even I could understand (she was equally delighted that our yard will be tidy and her vegie planter is being prepared for the next round of planting).

Life in Silicon Valley

I’m holed up in the Hilton in Silicon Valley working shifts for the IT role out. Last night I worked 6pm to 6am……which really just meant sending messages to a whole bunch of “interested” Ciscoites at 6pm, 10pm, 2am and 6am………sleeping in between. Back on duty this afternoon them tomorrow into the office to wait out the end. I really am in the middle of the Valley, surrounded by office buildings and not much else. The room is possibly the most interesting thing to see. I’m all of 10mins from work in case something happens and I have to go in…….which means I can’t really head out anywhere in the absence of a car. On the upside I have a television (which I don’t have at home as I watch movies and TV on my computer). Having surfed the selection I don’t think I’ll ever get another TV………a lot of nothing on!!! Last night, after we’d sent the first round of messages, I went out to dinner with two work colleagues. The restaurant was buried among all the high rises – I never would have known it was there! Food was grand and it was a nice evening, then back to the hotel to work my shift.
Finally booked my tickets for Spain – just got to get the passport back now. Spend the first four days at the B&B then into Barcelona for a few days with Rose and Jo.

Busy times

Work is insanely busy as we head into a big IT roll out. We had a "final practice run" last week as "we" are taking down the IT systems for 54hrs. Every four hours the comms team have to put out a status update to business owners. Yep we do shifts and yep it means putting them out at midnight, 2am and 6am......and through the day. Because the practice run was during the week we did shifts and worked during the day. I'm clearly not as young as I used to be! Got to the end of the week and was shattered. The actual event happens next weekend. Because things could go wrong and we need to be physically on the ground for some of it I'll be staying at a hotel in San Jose for the weekend, work my shifts and be on call to come in. Although I have to be in the office for the last ten hours..or whenever it finishes. Yes I volunteered as I created the "plan" for the weekend. I think it fair to say this type of communications work (IT roll outs) isn't my favourite. I much prefer the corporate "mergers, acquisitions" stuff. Still it's another string to the bow and given I am working in Silicon Valley does open other doors.

Daylight saving started on Sunday so that puts paid to the dark days of winter and rain (I hope).

Now here is an irritating thing. I have to renew my passport and, just to make it complicated, I only have the choice of sending it to London or NZ. I was really surprised. I honestly thought the Consulate in the US would be able to do it. Nope! Currently I am passportless so should I suddenly be offered the trip of a lifetime - I can't go. Actually I don't like being passport less. Years ago I dated someone who was obsessive about having their passport with them (okay that's the way I heard it!). The theory being they could jump on the plane at any time. I thought it showed a lack of commitment to anyone or anything........geeze less judgement and more thought - suddenly I "get it".

Here's my attempt at an "arty" picture.

Not everyone gets shot in America

I've been following the news (as I do) and it seems that most often it looks like the whole of the US is shooting one another. For the record - it's not true. Although I must confess I have met one person who knew someone (well it was their sister) who works for the company that owned the shop in the mall where five or six people were shot a few weeks back (hearing that story was weird). Still I am surprised to discover that, while I regularly mocked the NZ media for reporting every little crime, the newspapers do it here too. And I am talking about the NY Times - go to the Metro Section and it's just like reading a NZ daily (except the distribution for the NY Times is in the millions). I guess community is as big or small as you make it!
Work is insanely busy and there are alot of "politics" going on - at which point I come into my own as "playing the game" (or perhaps I mean "a" game) would seem to be my bread and butter. The next three weeks promise to be very entertaining!
Had a lovely weekend spending a sunny afternoon on the deck of a work colleagues holiday house in Santa Cruz - drinking good wine and eating good food.......looking at the sea, chatting and laughing. Michelle came around on Sunday and we had a nice chat. She's just been awarded a very prestigious scholarship so she can research and write her book (and several other things) based on her dissertation. It's very grand and a wonderful acknowledgment of all her hard work. It does mean she has to move out of Santa Cruz for a while but will still be in California.

Moving along

Life continues to be busy! Tahoe was fun and the snow grand. I really enjoyed snow shoeing and think I’d like to do that more next year. Work is heading into it’s first big event – honestly I can’t believe I’m working in an IT world – hilarious. The Presidential primaries continue to tumble on. Obama seems to be turning the tide but it’s never that clear here. I haven’t got anything particularly exciting planned in the next few weeks but the weather has turned which brings me ever closer to buying the bike.
I've had a lovely blast from the past having been contacted by a "friend" from long ago. It was an unexpected email and welcome. I think that when you live in a world that seldom (if ever) references who you were having a reminder of someone who knew you well (or some days those that know you best) always makes for a moment of reflection and (at least in my case) quiet laughter. I have all too often taken myself all too seriously........not so much these days!

Oddities

This is one of those oddities that appeals to me.........check out the slide show.

ifly

Still getting over being sick but much better! Went to ifly and it was amazing, odd, outside the box.......well worth the trip. It's not like parachuting as there isn't a moment when you fling yourself out of the plane. But it is a blast - well a wind blast - the instructor is in there with you. When you have your body at the right angle you can fly alone - otherwise you need him to adjust your body position....it was odd but fun! And I confess......I'm am a little sore the day after - muscles long unused and I'd still rate myself as fitter than many....but clearly not as fit as some.....okay maybe even a lot of others! Hrumpf.
Elections trundle on and it's deeply fascinating to watch it roll out. Because I don't have a television I get quite a different view of it........TV news reporting here is appalling. Here's a fascinating thing. I've never had an ounce of fascination around celebrity reporting but have become much more interested. Why? I have a theory. On a daily basis I am bombarded with news - information - complexity - stuff and more stuff. Celebrity news is easy, lite (although it is shocking to think that hollywood is probably the only industry in the western world that would tolerate such a high rate of "accidental" deaths............and feel compelled to do nothing about it).
We've broken the back of the bad weather. Nice. Today Alex, Sharon, Maddie and I went to a dog park on the bay - it was lovely. Just to be outside. Kite flyers in abundance including a group of four who flew their kites in formation. I have a stunt kite in NZ that I brought in Montreal many years ago. I'm going to buy another one - I felt strangely envious watching the kite flyers today!
We're off to Tahoe (snow country) on Thursday. Going to try snow shoeing. Will take my camera - I promise to load up some photos. Maddie is coming along and it will be her first time in the snow!

It's just a theory

It is my personal theory, not widely accepted, that like everything else in Amercia, bugs are BIG. I have been sick for the last week...........although suffering heavy bouts of denial. Everyone tells me it's not that the bugs are big here it's just that THIS YEAR they are particularly harsh........hrumpf. This comment sits in the same space as "it doesn't USUALLY RAIN this much". Not unlike New Mexico where it was "the BIGGEST SNOW we've had in 50 years". Either everything is going to hell in a handcart or people are making it up! Rant aside, groundhog day has been and gone and I'm now coming to work in daylight hours and getting home before it is dark - nice.
Work moved into a new flash building. All open plan, with a pool table, bean bags etc etc. Open plan seems to be a surprise to some. Better yet - we hot desk. I like this because moving around all the time freaks people out. It keeps me entertained to watch people look a little startled when they find me sitting at "their" desk! Random fact. The San Jose Cisco campus (yep that's what they call it) has no less than 27 buildings between two and three stories high. There are 12 Smart Carts (shuttles) that ferry us between buildings and I am reliably told that each of them does around 100 miles per day. There are also shuttles that take us to various transit points to catch public transport (that is how I get to Walnut Creek each week - shuttle to the nearest train - BART, a half hour away, catch a train, switch trains and arrive in Walnut Creek where Sharon picks me up from the BART station - she lives within spitting distance but it is very very nice to be met at the station door. All up takes about 2 hrs with a good run). Commuting stories are like talking about the weather here - everyone has a story.
Now check this out. A few weeks back it was Alex's birthday. He's not much into stuff (me neither) so I searched around and found ifly. It simulates free falling when parachuting......well it better.......that's what it promotes itself as. We are all off to have an introductory fly this weekend. The very cutest thing is Alex likes to do adventurous things that "appear dangerous but aren't really" (this according to his mother). This is perfect!

Presidential Primaries and other things

So I am currently watching millions of dollars being blown on the Presidential primaries. Touring around the country, democrats and republicans fight between themselves to choose their presidential candidate. Oddly in some states they let only party members vote – in others they don’t. Surprisingly there isn’t even that much clarity around Clinton or Obama. I read one commentator who said he pitied anyone who came between the Clintons and presidential power………that, I guess, is part of the problem. Nice dilemma for the voters; white woman, black man – I’m desperate to know how the southern states vote!!!
Life is busy and the weathers been trashy (damn cold too). Today is lovely and I am working at home. It’s Martin Luther King day on Monday – Cisco have it off but I have one meeting I have to attend (on the phone of course, very much the done thing at Cisco you can go to a meeting and find there are more people on the telephone than in the room). So I can do it from home, which is a bonus.
Starting to gear up for Spain and feeling very excited about going to Barcelona and the very stylie B&B in the mountains that Ruth has chosen for her four day celebration. So far planning to land, go to B&B hang out for four days then back to Barcelona for a few days then back here – 8/9 days all up. Can’t complain about that!
Went to Cirque de Solei last weekend – very cool.

Random stuff

Okay so this is kind of creepy and kind of cool (in that creepy cool way.........). The NY Times article titled "In A Blog, A Military Man Writes About His Own Death" is about a US Army Major who got posted to Iraq and started a blog (that then moved onto a news site). Before he left he wrote a final entry to be posted if he was killed. He was and this story is about his final entry. It's weird to read and then not. He says he likes to have the last word - so he does.
Weather here has been hellish for the last four days. Don't believe that "it never rains in California". We've had three storms in four days. The place is sodden and many slips. Driving over the infamous 17 is somewhat (but not much) short of terrifying (okay exaggerating and I did manage to not drive home on Friday night........luckily......as it turned into a four hour delay for my rideshare who did have to drive back to Santa Cruz.). Brownouts are common and appear to be taken in stride. So much for the modern western world. The weather appears to be coming right but not before Sharons pool came close to overflowing and has turned an odd shade of green (pool guy will fix it but it makes for an odd backyard feature right now).
Back at work full time, been out socializing with Sharon's friends and generally happy in my world.

Xmas week

I have had a lovely Xmas week. I've been staying in Walnut Creek and working remotely (although infrequently). Xmas day we had some of Sharon's friends over and Alex joined us at midday. Mid afternoon we had a plumbing crisis so I found myself under the kitchen sink repairing the plastic pipes (well trying to rejoin them) and laughing hysterically with Lydia. Crisis averted we sat down to Xmas dinner, including crackers, bought by Michelle. They don't do crackers here as that is a strictly British tradition. Trivia fact, crackers were invented by a London confectioner who based them around bonbons he saw in Paris. Originally he just sold bonbons then he realized that they sold best at Xmas so he developed the cracker! In the evening the others played cranium and Sharon and I lounged around laughing (we played the next day - it really is one of the few board games I do like).
Later in the week we went and watched Charlies War. A drama based on Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects. I really enjoyed it but then I like my political dramas! We also went to see Juno. This was really really good. It's about a young girl who gets pregnant - sounds awful but it's funny and insightful.
I had my biggest birthday treat on the 29th with Sharon taking me to Osmosis, a spa in Sonoma. As an added treat we also stopped at an antique shop that boasts the largest military museum (privately owned)! At the spa we started with a Cedar Enzyme Bath. This was amazing. You literally lay down in heated wood chips that are then heaped on top of you. It really is fantastic........even if it sounds odd! We then had a full body massage followed by the best facial I've ever had. It was an unexpected treat.
Back to work for the second half of next week then back full time the following week. I hope everyone's had a lovely break (well I guess it still is the summer holidays there).