Stardate 20070225.21

I think I must spend the biggest part of my weekends shopping, either for stuff generally needed, like food and such, or to replace stuff. Lately this has taken on added complexity, shopping to replace stuff stolen from my home last month. I bring this up because Friday I spoke to the insurance adjuster on the phone, and she sounded like I was not going to see any money for a few things because I could not corroborate the item- no pictures, missing receipt, etc.

So yesterday was food and such shopping, and looking for my least favorite thing to find, shoes. I have wide feet, and most shoe stores with bazillion shoes all come in narrow or at best medium. I can compensate a little by adding length, or buying open back shoes, which explains why I own so many pairs of clogs. Seriously, half my shoes are clogs! Unfortunately, I found nothing this weekend that remotely interetsed me, except these ankle boots in snake skiin that were pretty cool looking, but not much of a buy-especially since they only came in N/M.

And since the spring season will soon be here, its time to start thinking about updating the wardrobe. I spent a lot of time last fall buying sweaters and jackets, and now I need to refurbish the basics. I took stock of this situation today when i realized I am down to two decent bras and 5 panties! The other stuff I had to toss, just too far gone.

My other must have lately is a replacement laptop. But now that Vista is all over the place, inexpensive seems to have disappeared from the shelves... I am considering buying a HP, since Dell seems to be more expensive without any good reason.

Oh, and then there is my renewed passion for the arts, which prompted me to spend another $150 on symphony tickets for next month...

Oh well...

Entry for February 18, 2007

Yesterday my daughter came and in the evening we went to the symphony, something we had planned for several months.

I was happy to finally hear Beethoven live, and found I was so full of joy listening to the featured pianist play that I had tears...something I really had not expected.

So today I was thinking back to my college days, of seeing band play back then, and I never felt that joy... I was happy a lot, though mostly because of the recreational stuff- like beer and some weed. And even if you didn't smoke weed, I remember getting a buzz in a big auditorium from so much smoke, but then again it was a Grateful Dead thing.

The only other time I felt so happy hearing music was the day I was stuck in traffic on the Embarcadero Freeway( which thankfully was torn down) and thought I heard U2, so I looked towards the sound and saw this amazing crowd...so I took the exit, and parked and ran over to the crowd, and Yipppeee, IT WAS U2, playing on the fountain. This was later in the film, Rattle & Hum.

OK, now to reality, and what to cook for dinner...

Entry for January 27, 2007

I have not been posting to this blog like i should, and resolved to do better in 2007. Well, one week into the new years, persons unknown smashed in the window to my family room, and managed to steal my LCD TV, ALL THREE laptop computers, money that was for going out, and jewelry. Oh, and the safe that had my pistols in in. Yes, they took the safe outside and got into it, scattering contents everywhere and then took what they wanted. Not to mention the chaos they left in the house.
On the bright side, my dog and cat seem OK, although the dog was kid of out of it- maybe they drugged her, I don't know. She is fine though. All I can say is I hope what goes around comes around. These seem to be working a pattern, since several homes in the area have been hit lately.
Hopefully the next entry here will be more cheery!

Entry for October 21, 2006

In my work as a systems analyst we have 4 levels: Assistant Analyst(newbie), Associate Analyst (journey level) Staff (Usually a project lead, or more advanced associate work) and Senior, which are usually lead major projects, may be project managers...anyway, I have been at the Associate level for 6 years this month, so the next step would be to Staff level, except on the notice for the promotion exam, I also met the qualificatons for the Senior, so I took both. 

After months of interviews at different agencies, I got a voice mail at work to call someone I had interviewed with. I had heard from a couple of the references I had given that they had been called...so anyway I got a job as a Senior. I already know what the project is i got hired for. Anyway, I get a pretty good raise off the bat, and in a few years I might break $100k a year, which in the public sector is really good. The funny thing is, I was happy and sad at the same time, because I really like the people I work with, except maybe for my supervisor, who is real moody, sort of like I was pre "midlife change"....and now I out rank her in the scheme of things...too bad

Earlier this month my daughter got married (about time ) the day before my birthday. So all around this has been a good month so far...I hope yours is too!

Entry for May 08, 2006

Well I totally did not make the deadline of making an entry for April, but who cares? Not me.

May is my vacation month, so I started vacation today.  I am suppose to go back on the 29th, but hey, thats Memorial Day, so I go back on the 30th, just in time to get paid.

I really think my blog/journal, whatever, well it really sucks.  I say that because, a) it does and b) I write mostly about work. Not that work is the most central point of my life, but it occupies so damn much of my time. I mean besides the 40 hours of work there is the 10 hours of travel time and 5 hours of lunch, so really in a week I am at work 55 hours a week. And figuring that if I get up at 6 and go to bed at 10, thats a 16 hour timeframe of awakeness of which 11 were at work, or travelling to /from same.  So vacation is really great, because I still get up at 6 (out of habit) but then I don't even get dressed until 9ish, and spend the day doing whatever i want to do, or not do .

 

Entry for March 25, 2006

Well hello dear reader-

My claim to fame is that now in my professional title I can add 'world class bitch'. 

I work as a consultant on information security issues, lately focusing on privacy issues and how to secure data from unauthorized users. I am working in an organization that is very set in its ways, and so as I discover things that are not up to standards, I note them and periodically submit what our client calls a Management Memo which tells the senior management what is going on in their organization, and how we recommend they fix it. So now I hear that when I schedule a meeting with people, some of them have started to refer to me as WCB, because they are going to get in trouble for permitting things to get messed up.  My co-worker (and friend) says "Welcome to the club, we all get called names at some point"...she is so sweet, I can not imagine people calling her names, but I know it happens.

My supervisor says she thinks of me as very passionate about my job, and that its natural for people to equate that to being bitchy, where if a man said the same things they would say things like 'insightful' or 'pragmatic'...So thinking about this I have to mention that on my way home the other day I was following a BMW on the freeway (bumper-to-bumper at 11 mph) and noticed her license frame  on top said "Yes, I AM a Bitch..." and on the botton said " I'm just not YOURS" 

I think of that now when I hear people think I am a WCB

Entry for February 11, 2006

  In the weeks since I last posted a entry, things seem to have taken a distinct turn for the worse in the  world.  Riots around the globe, concern with how the government is going about protecting the people of the USA, and the government ability to provide aid and comfort when required, like after the hurricanes last year.

And then there are news items that peolpe don't seem to care about, like what information search engine companies turn over to the government, or that these same companies seem to have a different standard for foreign governments than they do for the US.  I think all companies that put profit ahead of anything else need to think that through.  Today's customer can very well turn into tomorrows competitor. The IBM Lenovo deal and others like it will bear this out I think. But then I am just a person, so who cares what I think.

 Happy Valentines Day .

Canice