I haven't been inspired to update my weblog very much lately...it's a weird feeling knowing that the only way some of my friends "catch up with me" is via reading my weblog instead of calling me or writing me a letter. that disturbs me. ugh.



Anyhow, going back home to Lawrence, Kansas this weekend to see the family and introduce Thomas to my childhood...should be really fun. I'm looking forward to it...and then just a few days later, I'll be doing my whirlwind New York City - Puerto Rico trip which I badly need. I can't wait.

check out: banned PETA superbowl commercials

Yay! I'm going to Puerto Rico! Each year, I make my retreat to Isla Verde to enjoy the sun, good food, great music and the idea of doing absolutely nothing for a few days. I've gone with Linda for the last 2 years but she's not going to make it this year; however, in a quick email, I signed on Anna and her boyfriend, Steve, to come along. Oh--it will be so much fun...I cannot wait. I very badly need a vacation. Now, time to concentrate on getting to that bikini body....yeah right.



Went snowboarding on Saturday at Crystal--what a beautiful day it was. It was sunny, clear, the snow was great. I think Thomas is really picking up on his snowboarding...I'm quite impressed. He's much farther along than I was on Day 3 back when I was learning. We were so beat, though, when we got back...just crashed.



Suzanne and Chris held a Super Bowl party yesterday at their house, which was a lot of fun. She's a great cook and had all sorts of yummy munchies. I wasn't too impressed by the commercials on TV this year---there were some good ones...but overall, there didn't seem to be that many. The game was a good one to watch, though. That last field goal by the Patriots just as the clock ticked down to zero was so impressive.

argh. my email is down. as a company, we're migrating to the microsoft exchange server...and i was one of the first that had to migrate over. everything was fine until today. i basically haven't been able to check any email over the past 3 hours...amazing how much of my work involves needing my email up now..especially since becoming a manager. in the past, i could just sit and finish my coding for the rest of the day...but i don't do that as much anymore--just a lot of coordination and answering lots of questions for business owners. wow...i guess i could *gasp* go home early. i haven't left work early in so long...i've been on such a hectic work schedule for so long.



change is good..right? i've been debating about major changes at work for awhile now...and this year might be it.



for the last two nights, i've been obsessed with watching a TV miniseries, Rose Red, a stephen king thriller about a haunted house that sits on Spring St. in Seattle. It's hilarious seeing where they placed it because it's this HUGE house that has a view of I-5 and downtown..yet it looks like it's where Virginia Mason is. Stephen King made a cameo appearance last night as a dorky pizza guy---I love seeing when directors or authors make their cameo appearances in the works that they create (like M. Night Shyamalan as a doctor in Sixth Sense).

this is a small world that we live in. it scares me sometimes by the random connections between all the people I know in my life. friday night, i took thomas to a party at walker's place...and i remembered how they both grew up in indianapolis and are around the same age...so i joked about how funny it would be if they knew the same people. Turns out that they went to the same high school, only a year apart...and they also partied in the same crowd of friends.



saturday night was the big sex and the city party at thomas's place with his friends...it turned out really well. lots of people came dressed in their swanky outfits and we had martinis and cosmopolitans all ready to serve. check out the pictures. there were more coworkers that i knew there than i expected...especially since i only invited a few friends. tells you how small this town can be sometimes.



yesterday evening, olke and eileen threw a lil potluck/bar-b-q dinner. i hadn't been to their place since eileen moved in and you can definitely see the [improved] changes from eileen. i love that there's a nice blend of their two styles within the house.

what a long crazy week at work. we went through a reorg recently and i'm liking it....but i get so frustrated by all the "in-between" time when we try to nail down new processes and things like that.



hung out with jocelyn for the first time in a long time...i successfully made a yummy linguini with clams and we just caught up with each other. i can't believe julia went to thailand. well, i do believe it...i'm just jealous that she has the freedom to go off and volunteer with teaching monks about environmental consciousness in thailand.



good news--->amazon finally announces profitability. sweet. the whole company was celebrating on tuesday. we all gathered in our conference rooms and Jeff phoned in and gave a brief congratulatory speech as we toasted with champagne. will be interesting to see how the rest of the year continues.



the other day, while stopped on a hill at a red light, the car didn't catch their gas fast enough and ran into me. what was incredible is that she then took off! I ended up chasing her for several blocks, honking my horn and flashing my lights...until I was finally able to drive up next to her to say "excuse me! you ran into me! i think you should stop your car." Fortunately, there was no damage and all was cool...and when I told her that I was trying to flag her down forever, her excuse was that she was deaf in one ear and couldn't hear me. It seriously disturbed me that she was driving if she can't hear, say, police sirens or someone honking at her. And I don't know how she couldn't tell that she backed up into me. argh.



went to my first bellydancing class...it was a pretty full class. met my instructor, mish mish. we went over the history of the dance and went over some basic moves. i'm so interested in the classes that they offer...after our class was this cool dance class called Caphoeira that looks pretty hard. it's a combination of dance and fighting moves...curious to try that sometime.



tomorrow is the big house party that thomas,josh,bart and chris are throwing. i'm trying to imagine 100+ people at their house. must find swanky outfit as it's a "sex and the city" party and i have to be all new york swanky.



i want to go snowboarding tomorrow with eugene etc. but i'm on call. bummer.

bummer. debbie decided not to come to seattle...it was "too last minute", which is true...



i'm going wedding dress shopping with phoebe today. i've never even thought about wedding dresses or what kind of dress i would want. i'm really excited--this'll be a first for me...that is, wedding dress shopping.



i had another first last night--going to a comedy club. alex invited me along to see one of his favorite comedians, emo philips, last night at the giggles comedy club. it was everything that i expected it to be in terms of the set up of the place. emo's an interesting guy...i don't know if i found his humor as funny as others...but he was still good.