Fatty Tigga!

The good news first before the recap: Tigga has gained .7 lbs since his last vet appointment! Woooo! He still looks really thin but we are now officially back into the 9 lb range (barely there, but we are there) instead of the 7 lb range when we started off on this journey in December. He's a big boy and should probably weigh around 12 lbs, so we have a ways to go, but forward progress makes me, Blondie, Tigga, and the vet very very happy beings.

Recappity cap time. Ugh.

Chicago: Well, technically 90 mins outside of Chicago. Things went really well in Chicago - I flew in that Sunday night and met up with a coworker early Monday morning to head to our site. We met up with yet another coworker onsite, and the 3 of us spent the day doing menial tasks in preparation for launch on Wed. The highlights of Monday were the "Circle of Trust" we established at the local Applebee's (or as we called it by the time we left - "Your neighborhood bar and grill") and many delicious beers watching US win their World Cup game that night.

Tuesday was a good/bad day (or bad/good I guess). We got through everything we had left, and then we started running tests with our product that we were going to deploy. The tests should've worked without issue as we had already done training at this site without issue (and it's the same exact tests I was running then as I did before training). But they didn't. Insert sad trumpet sound here. It was a mad scramble to get the right people at the NY office to look at the problem, but they did. And they pulled off a miracle and found the issue within 60 mins. And we got it resolved.

Wednesday and Thursday were about the same - we started launch and it was a little bit boring. Not every person decided to use our product on day 1, so it was pretty quiet. Wednesday night was a bad night because of a work reason - not anything to do with the site we were at, but with something back at our main office. I sent my concerns about what was going to happen, got ignored, and then people started looking into the thing I was complaining about - and yo, dood. I was fucking right. <- Very cryptic, but work stuff, lah lah lah. So I took myself a tiny bit down the street for a queso/marg dinner to cool down.

And Thursday afternoon was good - the site shut early and was closed on Friday which was unexpected. So I made the trek up to Madison to hangout with my BIL and his family. I met him and his kids for a pizza dinner, and then we went back to his house and met up with his wife for many drinks into the evening. A lot of catching up, a lot of beer, and then it was time for another pizza delivery. OMG. I slept on their couch that night, and think I farted all night long. It was awful. The farting, not the hanging out with family. That part ROCKED!

Friday was a drive back to Chicago where I spent several hours eating sushi and drinking beverages, before catching my flight back to NYC (first class again - I'm so lucky with this, honestly. I never take getting first class for granted, and just am happy to have it whenever I get it). I landed to a text from our bar friends telling us to come to the bar, so I called Blondie and we agreed to go. My cab dropped me at the bar and we spent the evening with good friends, having a dance off to the jukebox.

Saturday we met our friends for a boozy breakfast at a new place down the street from us (the place isn't new, just them serving breakfast is new). And then Blondie and I ran some errands before meeting back up with my girlfriend for drinks into the afternoon and evening. We first went to a bar in our hood that's not our normal bar, before hitting up poison bar and then the surf bar to end our night. Blondie cooked me spaghetti and meatballs that night and it was awesome!

Sunday was a boring day, but we did meet up with all of our friends to watch the USA game of the World Cup. My friend from England ordered in hot dogs and pizza to the bar - as it's "american food" (direct quote), and we all were devastated at the last minute tie.

Monday was a low-key day and then Blondie left for SF on Tuesday. I took Tuesday night to be lazy in our house - I ordered in vietnamese, and spent the night eating, drinking wine, and watching OITNB. And most importantly, cuddling the cat. Wednesday it was freaking HOT in NY (not complaining, just stating a fact), so after I work I slunk into our local for a few beers. My friends and I decided to go for little tacos, but then another friend called and said the line was super long at the little taco place, so instead I walked a mile down the river and met up with a bunch of coworkers for drinks into the late evening. I got back to our hood around 11 pm, stopped at a grocery for chips and queso for dinner, ran into my bar friend on the street afterwards who ragged on my choice of dinner, and then finally crashed at midnight for the night.

Thursday I was supposed to work most of the day but got emailed early morning that my flight that night was severely delayed so instead I got on a 2:30 pm flight to SF. I worked from home a partial day then because of that, so my weekend started off on a good note! I boarded the plane in NY (fully expecting to not get first class upgrade b/c of a policy the airline has about flights between JFK & SFO), and got my coach seat. Towards the end of boarding process, a woman came up to me and told me I was in her seat - but I wasn't, I was in mine. We checked boarding passes and we both had the same seat. We told the flight attendant who checked and it turned out they upgraded me last minute to first class!!!!

And holy shit - cross continent first class is like a fucking dream. I had a glass of champagne as soon as they transferred me seats (literally I sat down the flight attendant was all "champagne?" and handed me a glass - I didn't even have to ask), a 3 course meal, whiskey, wine, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, an "almost lie flat" seat and a regular sized pillow (which was good for my mid flight nap), and I saw The Lego Movie for free in my personal monitor. I got off the plane in SF and felt amazing - sure didn't feel like I had just flown 6 hours.

Okay, enough blabbing about first class (I didn't get upgraded coming back so there's that). I picked up my rental car and met Blondie at his hotel in downtown SF - I'm a nervous driver but have totally gotten over the "driving in SF" frightened feeling which stopped me from driving completely when I lived there. Awesome. I don't drive at all in the 3.5 years we lived there, but in the past 2 months, have driven through the city 6+ times without problems. Who sucks? Answer: Me.

Anyway, Blondie and I then took MUNI out to Little Star which was one of our favorite eat spots when we lived there followed by many rum punches at good old Hobsie's. We left early b/c I was still on east coast time and it felt like 1 am. Who sucks again? Answer: Stilllllll me.

Friday we were up early and started driving towards the redwoods. We stopped to do a wine tasting a little ways north of Healdsburg, and we used the time to have a picnic on the winery grounds. The place was amazing - beautiful old house with a GIANT porch, and the wine was really good too. If you get that way, Jaxon Keys FTW. The redwoods were also beautiful and I'm so glad I got to do them with Blondie - we took the Avenue of the Giants and just marveled at the scenery. Blondie did the drive through tree - got some great pictures of him doing that. And then we did one last wine tasting - where the guy pouring the wine called certain wines "EG Wines". When someone finally asked, "what's EG?" it turns out that means "eminently guzzable". LOL. Literal LOL. That guy.

That night was spent at a beautiful B&B in Ferndale. The house was gorgeous and we got a giant suite for the night. We did a dinner out and then decided to just watch TV and drink wine in our room for the rest of the time. And Saturday we drove back to SF, stopping at a casino to gamble a bit. Where Blondie dropped some $$$ into a slot machine and walked away with a ton of money. Everytime he spun the wheels, he made like $50. Ass. Everytime I spun my wheels, I lost about $10. The answer to "who sucks?" is still me. Just me.

Saturday night was spent having a great meal of chicken fried steak and clams in linguine, before meeting up with Shelbs for a bottle of wine at her new place. It was so great seeing her, so great that I farted upon entering her house. I have no idea. It wasn't even like I knew I had to fart. It just happened. But anyway, she's doing well and looks amazing and Trudy Thunderdog is still a bundle of furry fatness. Love them both!

Sunday it was an early flight back to NYC in coach, followed by madness trying to get home through all the pride activities in NY. (on political soapbox) But a long commute through the city is a small price to pay for equal rights for all! (off political soapbox). Dinner was mexican and margaritas, ordered in b/c we were exhausted.

And today it was back to work but with a stop at the oncologist first. Like I said, Tigga gained .7 lbs which is amazing! My guy is doing so well! The funny part of the appointment was when the vet was bringing Tigga back to the examining room after doing his bloodwork - I heard a woman say "What a beautiful cat!" and then I heard growling and thought "is that Tigga?" and then I heard the vet say "He hates us big time and he's a chatterbox" and then I heard more growling, and then I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and then it was the vet with Tigga. My cat growled so loud I could hear him a flight of steps away. It made me laugh big time. Tigga: a fighter, not a lover.

Okay - plans this week. Land of Oil! The week after that - a visit from the one and only Slick and PFunk! And I just got put onto yet another project - this one in Washington state. Hopefully I can visit my cray cray uncle in the next few weeks as I get that project kicked off.

--K