I went down to Foster City to visit Dorothy and Adam today.
Got the 11 am BART to Millbrae and she picked me up.
Listening to the game on XM while walking to the station I turn it off when I no longer get reception underground. 5-0 Angels.
Disgust.
Get picked up and while on the way to Draegers (best. grocery store. ever.) I turn the radio on to get the score. Uh...WHAT? 8-5 Yankees?!
Look back when we get to the house and it's 9-8 Angels. I start cursing. The game was on TBS so we turned it on in time to see the lovely bottom of the 8th.
What fun that turned out to be.

I am very thankful for the series split.
I'd love to hate Mark Texeira for that grand slam but I really just can't.

Anyway, it was a nice day out. There was actually sunshine down the peninsula so yeah, nice day.

In honor of today's game.

1. Go here
2. Put in User name: nycareers Password: landmark
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top twenty results.

I left #21 in because it's funny, get it? Actually someone told me once I should be a stand up. Hmmm...nowhere in there is Commercial Underwriter.

1. Director of Photography
2. Set Designer
3. Costume Designer
4. Special Effects Technician
5. Website Designer
6. Industrial Designer
7. Animator
8. Desktop Publisher
9. Interior Designer
10. Actor
11. Fashion Designer
12. Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator
13. Director
14. Makeup Artist
15. Multimedia Developer
16. Producer
17. Landscape Architect
18. Graphic Designer
19. Artist
20. Computer Animator
21. Comedian

So, Saturday A Rod hit HR #500.
Today, Matsui hit HR #100 for the Yankees.
And I'm watching my old favorite Tommy Glavine go for win # 300 tonight against the Cubs.
This commercial still makes me laugh.



(oh yeah, and that other guy tied Hank Aaron yesterday - blech)

I cannot tell you how busy I am at work. Let's just say working late and having to run around like a maniac all week has taken a toll.

At least San Francisco was a blast.
Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, champagne events, Top of the Mark with rabkitty as well as Tonga, a Giants game and my niece's graduation.

This was my home last week...



Go ( here for more )
It was a good trip. Even if it was for work!

There was a definite advantage to going to the game by myself today.
Usually we have to rush home because Ollie needs to go out.
Today I took my time, bought a nice picture of Bernie playing guitar, a very cute baby outfit for Dianne and stopped at Lush once I got off the D train.
Little errands I'd been wanting to do and never have the chance.
There is also an advantage to having the same seat and getting to know the people around you.
Today there was a group of us yelling "Come on you big Polock!" at Mienkiewicz.
Spontaneously we all yelled it together. That was started the first game by the guy who sits next to me.
And the guy a few rows back who gets the chants going, always followed by a quieter "I love you guys!" when the response is good.

I'm glad I have no issues going places alone.

I *am* going to San Francisco for work.
I am not going the week of June 18th so that I can catch the Yankees playing the Giants.
I will be there the week of the 11th. D'oh. Can't be helped. That damn office is in a shambles and I can't put it off that extra week.

I also get to go to Los Angeles sometime this summer.
Hmmm, perhaps I can wrangle the week of August 20th?
They just hired a new Product Line Manager for the LA office and he needs to get settled before I go out there...so it might just work. I'd prefer to go to AT&T Park (or whatever it is currently called in SF) but maybe I can work on Anaheim.

Yesterday (Casual Friday) I wore my Yankees fleece to work.
Someone actually said, "You have a lot of nerve wearing that shirt."
No, not because of the dress code, because of their record.

I looked at them calmly and replied that they criticize Yankee fans for being bandwagon fans that only root for them because they win. Yet, when they are losing you criticize a fan for wearing their team colors? Sorry, you can't have it both ways.
They are my team and I support them in good and bad times.
Has it been easier the past 10 years? yeah, it has.
But if you knew anything about me, you'd know I've been a fan my entire life not just since 1996.
As someone in Subway Squawkers said today, if the ship goes down, I'll be there with my violin.

It's Saturday, the Yankees are home...and this is where I will be.

Well, one busy time at work is now done.
Of course I was stuck at work until 5 waiting for one last piece of business...
Typical.

And NOW they send me to Florida.
It's going to be Miami for me in a few weeks...might only be one day (grrr!) but probably 2.
Miami wouldn't have helped me with Spring Training anyway but still.
Going down to meet with an insured and see their operation. A few other people will be there, so it should actually be fun at times.

I think I'll be staying in Coral Gables actually.
Then soon I'll be heading to San Francisco. I'm going to try to arrange that around baseball and when the Yankees are playing the Giants in June. Hope I can pull that off.

So.
Went to Dianne's last night to hang out, have dinner, watch a movie.
Now, some of you know but the big news this year is that she is pregnant.
I've known since before she went to the Dr. for confirmation - but she is now showing.
She's about 5 months pregnant and had ultrasound photos from Wednesday.
So amazing. It's a boy - proof on one of the photos with a "Boy" and arrow to the little pee-pee. hee hee!

Since I was in GA during her first pregnancy and didn't get to hang around Brian until he was 18 months old...I'm excited.
She's due the first week in July.
We want her to have the boy on 7/7/07 but that is a Saturday and she's having Ceasarian.
I believe the names right now are Jonathan Robert (Robert for her Dad) and calling him Jack or Christopher Robert (sounds a lot like Christopher Robin and we had a good giggle over that)
She did dismiss our suggestions of calling him Mo (thought Mo Quinn was good!) and Melky (ha!).
Her sister went through every Yankee she could think of from the past 30 years.
Bucky? Donnie? Tino? Derek? Robinson? Paul? Bubba? (ok, that was mine...as well as Melky....well, me and Tara)

Work for me is a series of extremely busy times followed by dreadful slow ones.
The busy times happen around the financial quarters...1/1 (after the year end rush) 4/1, 7/1 and 10/1.
Right now the 4/1 stretch is happening. This is probably the worst one to handle because after the beginning of the year you have not only the slow days - you are fighting post holiday syndrome and the bleak days of January and February.
Then, with the thoughts of the Spring coming at you, you find yourself at work for long hours trying to keep up.
I lost it yesterday. One of the people I handle for referral work got nasty with me over something so stupid and minute that I literally wanted to fly to SF and smack him. (if not something worse)
We have a new procedure in place where he would have to send an email to another department explaining something - a task that would literally take 5 minutes and he FOUGHT me on it. *After* I did most of the work he was supposed to do.
Keep in mind, he is probably working on 2 accounts. 2 accounts that I have to do my own work on from a Home Office aspect. I explained to him that in addition to handling his accounts - I handle LA and have my own production goals which include 3 renewals for 4/1 and 4 pieces of New Business. He got quiet.
This was all after he called me at 12:30 my time and actually had the nerve to say in his voicemail that I am never there when he calls. I told him to stop calling me during lunch. I am rarely away from my desk these days. If I am, I am usually in my boss' office discussing something work related and easy enough to find in an actual emergency.
And that email? He had his assistant send it 2 hours after I told him to send it.
We have problems with this office constantly which is why my boss keeps threatening to move me to SF.
Ok, work rant over.
Bah. Lazy people tick me off.

On a funnier note, we have decided to keep a log of daily quotes at work.
Like the website "Overheard in the Office"
Thursday's quote had something to do with Heather Mills being a contestant on "Dancing With the Stars" - I will let you all draw your own conclusions as to what un-pc thing was said.

And after a week of working long hours, I slept way too late today.
I found myself nearly asleep on the couch last night after watching "Ladette to Lady" on the Sundance channel. If you have this channel, I advise watching it. Think of the worst redneck woman you can, slap a British accent on her and actions unique to the UK and you will have a group of unruly, disgusting women trying to pull an Eliza Doolittle. Seriously amusing.

The weather is glorious today and there is baseball in the air (if not in the vicinity yet) - I have Spring Fever in the worst way.
I'm thinking airing the place out with open windows and cleaning with a Spring Training game on XM.

I believe because of the small heatwave we had this week (you know, above 40 degrees again) my vertigo hit me hard once again.
I was fine on Wednesday and had worked until 6 (and got in super early before 8)
and had also worked rather late on Tuesday.
After eating a late dinner of a veggie burger (basil and tomato type...delicious) I started feeling really ill. Went to bed without watching Lost (the loveliness of tivo saved me) - woke up Thursday so dizzy and nauseous I could barely move.
Dragged myself into work where I was yelled at to go home - which I did after 12.
According to Jodi I was as white as a ghost.
But did manage to get what I needed done...so I felt less guilty.
Tuesday and Wednesday were the sort of days when I had 4-5 things going at once all day without the luxury of having a moments peace at all - seemingly on a hotline to San Francisco the entire day...I swear they wouldn't know to go to the bathroom without consulting me.
Seriously, after 5 on Wednesday I was in Bob's office on a conference call with them trying to get something done and even in there the calls were following me - 2 came in for me..and him.
Yesterday when I woke up and felt the same, I took the day off.
I slept on Thursday from the time I got home until 6, then back to bed at around 9. Yesterday was practically a repeat.
I'm not sure if that thing that was going around got me now.
I still feel wrung out but a bit better.

Made one mistake on Wednesday when Bob said that he is going to need to go to SF that I wanted to go...then said, "just for a visit" he quickly said, "Be careful, or you'll find yourself in a truck with all your belongings heading west."

yeah, it's that bad out there.

I'm so behind on all the things I wanted to do this week.

Oh, and Happy Happy Birthday vapourtrail!!!

At least I won't have trouble getting to sleep tonight because I slept in today.
I need to be out of here in 45 minutes yet I continue to drink coffee and stare at the internet.
The pumpkin muffins could be better - I just had to taste one last night.
I made them from an easy recipe I found online that was basically yellow cake mix, spices and pumpkin. eh, I have made better.
The pumpkin pie (which is a WW recipe and much better than regular pie for me anyway...) is ok. I think when I make one for Thursday and remember the sugar initially it will come out better. Note to self: No drunken baking in the future. Julia Child cornered the market on that one.
The cranberry bread looks amazing. Most proud of that one to be honest.

In a few I'll be off and running. Bake sale set up, manning the tables, a quick trip to the farmstand for veggies to roast this week, then to the Quinn's for the birthday dinner. I still cannot believe Brian is 15. Dianne and I were talking about that yesterday. About all the trouble we got into at 15. Where is the little toddler who used to hug me when his Mom turned her back and loved my hair? He's taller than me now. He's a teenager but he's really a good kid when you come right down to it.

Anyway, just so happy it is a 3 day week this week.
ahhhh....