In Need of Some Rest

HELLO PAR-TAY PEOPLE! Hope everyone has been doing well. I've been quite the slacker in blog posts lately, so I'll do a recap of the good, and the not so good.

Our plans to meet up with the fam in the Land of Oil were unfortunately cancelled. Cancelled in the most shitty form imaginable. We made our way to the airport on the Thursday before the 4th, walking through security around 2 pm for a 3:30 pm flight. We immediately saw our flight had been delayed until 5 pm, but weren't too concerned. We started boarding our plane around 4:30, and about 5:10 the pilot came out of the cockpit and said we had been delayed again b/c of the weather between Land of Oil and NYC. We were looking at a 5:45 pm takeoff time instead.

We were in first class so we started drinking pretty heavily at this point. We had checked the weather and it was horrible in between the 2 cities so whiskey seemed like a brilliant idea. Around 5:45 pm we pushed back from the gate, but with the warning that we had no route at that point and wouldn't get one until we got in line to takeoff b/c of how fast routes were opening and closing. A VERY LONG taxi then occurred before we got in line with a shit ton of other planes. And then we sat and sat and sat. And sat. And finally they pulled us over to the side of the tarmac and parked us while we waited. And waited and waited and waited. All the while drinking whiskey

Finally around 8:30 we headed back to the terminal - but were told don't leave as we were still going to fly that night. At 9 pm. Blondie and I went and grabbed burgers and beers at that point, showed back up at the gate to a 9:45 pm leave time. And the finally at 9:15 pm, they cancelled our flight. 5.75 hours after we were supposed to leave. I was shell shocked at that point, so we just cabbed back home, I cried for a little bit, and then we went to our bar for the rest of the night.

We had debated driving or training to Land of Oil the next day (neither of us were in shape to drive that night) - but a 7 hour drive wouldn't put us into Land of Oil until late afternoon. And then we'd have to leave super early on Sunday to get back. It was a total fucking bummer.

Friday was the 4th and I ended up meeting up with my bar friends at our local for many drinks. The bar was dead b/c they did fireworks this year on the east side of the island, which was kind of nice. Around 9 pm we walked up the road to a sports bar and watched the fireworks from the TVs there. And drank some more.

Saturday was way nice - I met up with my bar friend for tacos and beers for lunch, before heading up to see Cabaret!!! OMG! AMAZING! Alan Cumming was incredible in it, the music was awesome, the dance routines were insane, and we were 2 tables from the front. I loved that musical sooooo much. My friend even pointed out that we were far and away the youngest people in the theater - which gave us a good laugh. Cabaret is set in late 30's Germany, and deals with a lot of very heavy issues - and it was a sad musical. But it was also an upbeat musical - no other way to describe it.

After the play, we stopped at a new tavern for a beer before finally dropping in at a new wine bar that had just opened in our hood. The wine bar was pretty cool - I had a sparkling flight and we had a few appetizers between us. And then we made our way back to our local to end the night. Sunday I went and got a pedi, then met up with Blondie for lunch at 5 Napkin Burger. After lunch, we dropped by Pony for a few beers before heading home and taking a nice long nap.

Work was work that week - I'm in the midst of 4 weeks of no travel (!!!!!!!!!!) which has been *desperately* needed. The weeks are going fast as I'm still busy as fuck and then I'm catching up with my friends from being gone for so long. That Friday though, work threw us a bowling party, so a few of us left early to go pre-party, and then went and met up with everyone for bowling into the evening. I only bowled a little bit before just drinking, socializing and then finally shooting some pool. I was home for a nap around 8 pm, but back up around 10 pm, because PFunk and Slick were flying in!

Friday night we sat up for a long time, just drinking beers and chatting. Saturday we went for a late breakfast before doing the 3 hour circle line tour of the island - the boat actually circumnavigates the whole of Manhattan and as I spend almost no time on the east side, getting to go all the way down the island on that side was pretty cool. After the boat tour, it was time for cocktails and oysters, before stopping at our local to let everyone meet our friends.

Dinner that night was 2-fold - we first went to a lebanese restaurant b/c they were supposed to have a belly dancer, but for whatever reason, she didn't show up. Also the A/C was busted in the restaurant, so we only stayed for a little bit - had some hummus, a few drinks and a hookah. Left a gallon of sweat behind as I decided to dance to their DJ - and it was sweltering in there. The 2nd dinner that night was tacos from our local little mexican restaurant. And then it was time for bed at a really late time for me.

Sunday I went with PFunk for a few hours in the morning to run some errands, and then we all took off to meet up with Slick's cousin for watching the World Cup game. After the game was over, we went down to the East Village for dinner and drinks. We fell in love with a venezuelan restaurant, and then fell SUPER IN LOVE with a dive bar his cousin's wife knew about. OMG. Dave = the best bartender EVAH! Next thing I knew it was 1 am, and Slick and I were trying to convince PFunk and Blondie to stay out to no avail.

Slick and PFunk left on Monday which was sad - I worked from home in the morning, and got super swamped, so had to say goodbye to them around noon for the day. Work this past week was really fast - I had a ton of meetings to go to, a ton of planning to try and do, and I feel so far behind right now it's not funny. I'm mentally gearing up for travel starting next week that will go through the end of Sept. It makes me want to cry.

Friday though was excellent as the one and only Shelby Shelbs showed up for a visit from SF!!!! We met up with her for drinks and dinner on Friday, but it was an earlier night as she was pretty tired from the week. And then yesterday I went down to Soho and met her in the afternoon for pizza and wine - and catching up on our own for the first time in forever. She's gone through a lot recently and I'm glad we got a chance to "in person catch up". We then came back to our hood and met up with my bar friends at the new wine bar again. A trip to the piano bar ended our evening, and I stumbled in pretty hamschkied around 1:30 am this morning. And felt like shit all day today.

Other random stuff has been: going to lunch with a different group of people this past week which has been pretty nice (we're all friends, I just don't normally go to lunch with them); drinks out with work friends several times; meeting up with 2 coworkers who had quit in the last 3 months for a quick coffee one afternoon; my boss taking our whole group out to lunch; 2 new people starting on my team; and fighting a strong urge to quit my job and just bartend a few days a week.

This week should be quiet. Blondie is headed to NOLA this weekend for a bachelor party, and I have big plans to be as lazy as fucking possible while he's gone. The cat is good - he's getting a tiny bit fatter every day. You can now pinch a very tiny piece of skin on his stomach whereas before there was nothing to grab onto. It's TINY, but it's there now!

Okay. I'm outtie for the night.

--K

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

A FABULOUS WEEK

What a great week - it was one of those weeks that make you never want to leave NYC. That kind of goodness. So much fun crammed into a few days, getting to see friends and Blondie non-stop, the weather was beautiful, all of it - a lot of love for my life this past week.

Tuesday I worked from home, which I hardly ever do. It was raining on Tuesday and just was not feeling that walk in, so I asked my boss if I could stay home that day and he ok'd it. I hung out in our living room (on our couch - YES, we finally bought a real couch), cuddling my cat, working, and watching TV. It was a perfect day.

Wednesday it was back to the office - the day went really fast because I went in late and then my boss was so excited that me and my work BFF were both at the office on the same day (doesn't happen often b/c I travel non-stop and she's on a project that's in the middle of crazy time). So he took the team to an out of the office lunch.

And then the best part of Wednesday - I left work on Wednesday night around 7 pm to meet up with my girlfriends to see Kinky Boots on Broadway!!! OMG. SO FREAKING AMAZING. The music was by Cyndi Lauper, the book by Harvey Fierstein (whom I saw in La Cage Aux Folles about 3 years ago), and the company was a ton of fun. The plot was that a shoe factory in the UK was going out of business and the owner found a way to keep it going - which was to make boots for drag queens - KINKY BOOTS! The whole audience was cheering and clapping in the final runway scene - I love when the audience gets into it like that. And it turns out my bar friend had met "Lola" (the main drag queen) in person 2 weeks ago - so that was pretty cool.

After Kinky Boots, we headed over for drinks and dinner at 5 Napkin Burger - we sat there for awhile, just rehashing the play and having a blast. Afterwards, my friend and I split from the rest of the group and we slowly headed back to our apartments. I filled her in on something that had happened at work (a bad thing, but it ended up being a good thing in the end - nothing I did) and we must've talked for about 20 minutes on the street corner before I headed into my apt (at midnight - that's a late night for this one).

Thursday Blondie and I had made plans for dinner and then he texted a little bit after I got to work to tell me he had forgotten about a work happy hour. He was trying to decide what to do - and I was in the middle of texting him to tell him to go, when it hit me that my work also had a happy hour that night! We both had a good laugh that we both forgot - but we did end up going to our respective happy hours. I only stayed for a little bit (I ran in, chugged a few free beers, and ran out) because I met up with bar friends for the return of trivia night! Now normally we place top 5 without problems but this time... we were shit. I think we placed 17/19 teams. It was so bad that on the last question of the night, we all sat there staring at each other before I said "let's just put down 'fuck you, you fucking fuck'" and it made us laugh our asses off. So we put it down. The emcee for trivia has a great sense of humor though - he got a good chuckle out of it and then swung by after and told us it was the hardest trivia he's ever done. The highlight of my night though was when Blondie showed up from his happy hour to surprise me! He didn't tell me he was coming, he just showed up. It was awesome!

Friday was another good day - I left work early as I was pretty beat. Blondie joined me around 6 pm at the house, and we hung out for a bit before I headed over to our local for a beer. It was a very early night though as it started raining and all I wanted was to be cuddled up with Blondie. He met me after my beer at a local gourmet grocery and we got some eats for the night and then just hung out watching TV.

And Saturday... oh Saturday. I started by cleaning up our apartment a bit and then doing a workout. Blondie and I then headed out around 1 pm to grab some lunch at Landsdowne. We got seats right at the front windows, had a few beers and some food, and then headed back to our local for a bit. Around 3:30 pm, we were a little tired, so we headed home and napped, before heading back to our local at 6 pm to watch the England game with our bar friends (2 of whom are English). All the crew were there, all of cheering for England, but to no avail.

After the game, Blondie and I decided burritos and margaritas were in order so we headed to Chipotle for dinner. The margaritas were actually pretty strong - not at all what I was expecting from Chipotle. And then we hit up the surf bar in our hood for fruity drinks and some chatting. And then finally, after months of waiting and talking about it, we saw HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH!

We had tickets to the 10 pm show - and omg omg omg omg omg. It was without a double the COOLEST fucking thing I've ever seen. I LOVE NEIL PATRICK HARRIS and he BLEW me away in this show. I was singing, woo-wooing, dancing around in my seat - along with the entire audience. This audience put my Kinky Boots audience to shame! The story is about German singer who gets a botched sex change surgery and is left with the "angry inch". NPH was just incredible in it - he brought that character to life. It was funny, it was sad, it was energetic, it was depressing, it was all of it crammed into 2 hours of one of the best times of my life!!! (NPH just won the Tony for best actor for this role).

We floated our way home after (well, I floated - Blondie just laughed at me), and then sat up for a bit talking about the play (well, I talked - Blondie just laughed at me). I slept like the dead last night - just went to sleep on a cloud. The week was so amazing. If all weeks were like this past week...

Today was a bit of a bummer unfortunately, bringing my good week to a close. I slept in and then spent the morning with Blondie, before packing and catching a flight to Chicago (first class - one bourbon, and then a long nap - the flight attendant even said "I tried to bring you another bourbon but you were sleeping hard!"). And here I am, about 90 minutes outside of Chicago, in the hotel room I'm going to call home for the next 5 days. It was ridiculously hard saying goodbye to Blondie and Tigga (who has totally gained some weight! we'll find out specifics next week but the cat has some heft to him again) today - after the week I just had, I had NO desire to leave so I had to run out of the apt because I was about to start bawling.

So yep, I'm here for the week - flying home on Friday. Next week it's off to SF again - but for fun this time. And the week after, we are meeting up with the family in The Land of Oil. A lot of travel. Lot.

Happy Father's Day to the Sheriff and my father-in-law and Mr Pooh! Hope you guys had great days!

--K

LA LA LA LA LA LA LA! Your glasses are dirty!

Last Sunday was a nice day for just the 2 of us. Most Sundays are deemed "Sunday Funday" and involve friends and beer. But this past Sunday was just Blondie, me, and beer. We were mostly lazy all day, and then around 4 pm, decided to head out for a short walk. We walked down to the pier and watched the water and boats for a bit, before stopping at a bar on the pier for a few drinks to end our afternoon. Blondie was wearing a shirt from Key West that day, and someone saw his shirt and ended up stopping and talking to us for a long time (because he used to live in Key West). It was pretty cool and pretty random. And after the pier, we got a few more beers and then sat watching traffic from our balcony.

Monday and Tuesday were crazy days at the office - just go, go, go all day long. The highlight of Monday and Tuesday was Tuesday evening drinks with 2 coworkers. One is a really good friend who I drink with a lot, and the other was his boss that I'm not that social with. But his boss rocks and we had a blast just shooting the shit and relaxing after a long day.

Wednesday my alarm went off at 4 am so that I could get up and get to the airport for a 7 am flight to Chicago. I was upgraded to first class before I even checked in, so that was nice (the plane was full and there were 24 people on the first class upgrade list so I was happy I got upgraded). The flight went on time and was pretty quick, but we landed in Chicago to a very chilly rainy day. I picked up my rental car and drove out to my project site (about 90 mins outside of Chicago) to spend the day working there.

I met my coworker first who had driven in also and we went for lunch and got caught up, before meeting the staff for the first time. They are actually a really great group of people who made me laugh pretty much all day long. We tore through a ton of work that afternoon, and then my coworker left to go back to Chicago (she lives there) while I drove about 30 more mins to the town I was staying in that night.

I did a lot of work that night from the hotel and then treated myself to a margarita and queso dinner. Afterwards it was back to the hotel to crash HARD for the night. Thursday was another busy day - I was onsite by myself this time, but managed to get through a ton of work at the various sites we are going to be deploying in. Thursday night 2 coworkers flew in for our training on Friday. I met up with both of them at the hotel lobby before we settled on hibachi for dinner. After dinner it was a few drinks back in our hotel lobby before the night ended a little early.

Friday was training - always a nerve wracking time as you want things to go WELL for the users. And it did! Relief! I had a few things to do at one of the sites before training, but then showed up about an hour before training started to get prepped. The users seem very enthusiastic about it all and we just generally had a good day with everything. After training ended, I chatted via phone with a staff member for one of my other projects for a bit, before making the drive back to O'Hare and dropping off my car.

The train into Chicago from the airport was pretty fast and before I knew it, I was seeing Slick and PFunk for the first time in almost 2 years! My cab from the train to their area (which, just, LOVE) dropped me at their local bar and they had secured us a spot on the patio. We spent several hours there getting caught up on each others lives before one of their other friends joined us. We had a few more drinks there after that, before taking PFunk back to their apartment and the rest of us heading out to another bar. We ended up closing that bar down and then making a burrito run to end our night.

And then of course, Saturday morning sucked. I lazed around until 9 am, and then drank a couple of coffees with Slick before he took me to the airport. A huge McDonald's meal, which I got in an attempt to kill my hangover, did not in fact, kill my hangover. And then my brilliant thinking decided hair of the dog was in order. So I got on the plane (first class yet again) and got a bourbon. Which took me almost the 2 hour flight to drink. And did not in fact kill my hangover.

When I finally got to my apt, I took an hour nap and then Blondie and I went out for a date night. We headed up our street a bit and stopped at dinner at one of our favorite places, before heading to our local to watch the Rangers game and catch up with our friends. It was a later night (because I finally killed my hangover), but a really good one.

Yesterday was spent drinking. Heavily. I started by meeting up with some friends at Pony at 12:30. One of my friends was getting texted frequently for work (it was his day off) and he was getting stressed out. When they finally got the issues resolved that they were trying to deal with, he turned to me and said "let's get fucked up". And it seemed like a *brilliant* idea. (It wasn't). We drank at Pony for a long time before heading back to our local bar to wish our bartender happy birthday. And ended the night at 10:30 pm at yet another bar. And then went home and passed out immediately.

The story of my life. Sleeping. Working. Drinking. Exciting... so exciting!

Plans on tap - NO TRAVEL THIS WEEK! Well - maybe not quite. I'm due back in Chicago area next Monday for the entire week so I thought I might try to fly into Madison and hang with my BIL and his family this weekend. If that happens, I'll either be leaving Friday night or Saturday morning. I also got the Madison project officially. So most likely will have to be back in that neck of the woods in the next 2 weeks.

And then the exciting news!!! Blondie got accepted at Google I/O! From his entire company, he was picked to represent his division. He'll be going out for that conference to SF at the end of June and I'm going to join him for a few days so we can do the "Redwoods Run" and hang out in that area for a bit. AWESOME news for Blondie - it's truly a HUGE deal to get into this conference - so happy for him!

And after Google I/O, it's time to meet my family in the Land of Oil for a few days of golfing, middle-aged men roller skating, and baseball.

How is it already almost mid June?

--K

Cray Cray Time

Sooooooo. Here I am. I'm back. I'm tired. I would LOVE a beer right now. I can't make myself get out of bed today. That's my mood. If I had to describe myself in 1 word today, that word would be "blah".

The last day of the S Clan visit involved first a phone call from our bar friends. They were hanging out at Pony so Blondie and I headed up for a few beers before meeting up with some of the S Clan for our play. The play was pretty good - we saw "The Cripple of Innishmaan" (too lazy to look up the exact spelling) which starred Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. The plot was that a tiny island off the coast of Ireland had some Hollywood big wigs coming to film a documentary and everyone wanted to star in it, including the Daniel Radcliffe character (the cripple in the title). It was a dark comedy, made me laugh out loud several times, with my favorite line being Daniel Radcliffe saying "Why get a real cripple who can't act? Instead get a good actor who can pretend to be crippled". Meta. So meta. Also - I'm bringing back the word "feck" which is what they said instead of fuck. Feck!

After the play, we went to the surf bar in our hood for some fruity frosty drinks. One of Blondie's aunts can't drink for a medical reason, so she loved this place as she could order virgin drinks and still feel like she was part of the fun. And then after that, we went for a french food with the entire S Clan. We all had a lot to eat and drink, laughed our way through dinner, and then we took a quick walk to our jazz club to end the evening.

The jazz club was pretty cool - it was an 18 piece jazz orchestra we went to see, and even I liked it. They only did an hour set but then the club said we could stay for free for their 2nd set if we wanted. We debated about it but then decided we were all tired, so it was back to everyone's hotel/apartment for the night. I said goodbye to the S Clan then.

Because... California, here I come. I caught a flight out around noon - going through Atlanta. Had several glasses of wine in the Atlanta airport before hopping my plane to SF. It was seriously the biggest plane I've ever been on in my life - and due to my status, even though I wasn't upgraded (I was 34 out of 58 on the upgrade list - when I saw that, I had another glass of wine), I got premium economy (comfy seats). So I konked out almost the entire flight to SF. I landed and picked up a coworker who had flown in earlier that day - he was drinking in a bar in downtown SF, and we ended up doing a driving tour around SF before we left the city. It brought back so many memories - from Lucky 13, to Hobson's Choice, to seeing my old apartment building for the first time since we left, to the bison field in Golden Gate park, to watching the sunset over Ocean Beach.... It was nothing but gooey gooey love for the city I used to call home.

My coworker and I made it about 2 hours out of the city before stopping that night. We got up early the next morning and hightailed it through the Redwoods to get to our project site - we had a few hours worth of work to do and tried to bust through that (it was slightly derailed by a young woman who took a liking to my coworker) but after we were done, we decided to play tourist for the day. We headed back to the Avenue of the Giants and tooled around in that area for awhile. My coworker did the drive-thru tree while I took a ton of pics.

After the Redwoods, we stopped at a gem and mineral store. I got a pretty cool pair of earrings - they are all garnets but they are strung together to look like bunches of grapes. And then we decided to hit up a local brewery the site staff had told us about. OMG - northern CA can make some rocking good beer. We had a few drinks at the brewery, chatted with a couple next to us who were getting ready to do a 3-day long hike (my coworker nick-named them the Swingers and then repeated everything they said to me under his breath while putting a sexy tone to it - it.was.bonkers).

After the brewery, we drove to our hotel to check in and meet up with one more coworker. She had flown in that evening, and realized the airline had lost all her luggage. She was doing the training for the site the next day so we had to do a quick Target run to get her some clothes, before we all went for dinner at yet another brewery. We ended the night early as we were all pretty tired at that point.

Training went *exceptionally* well - the 3 of us that were onsite make a really good team, and it shows in our work that we do together. After training, we stuck around and talk to site staff for another hour or so, before saying goodbye and heading back to the brewery for lunch. We sat out in their beer garden, in fecking (hehehehe) gorgeous weather, before splitting up and heading random places (me back to SF, one coworker up to Portland, the other coworker to tool around the Redwoods). I drove back to SF and realized I had made Platinum status when I got to the airport (not because I've flown enough for that, but because they ran a promo that I signed up for and flew enough to get that status). The flight back was pretty crowded, and I wasn't able to sleep very well, but I was happy to be home when we finally landed.

I took Thursday to mostly sleep through the day. Blondie and I split a few bottles of wine when he got home, and then both of us worked from home on Friday. I was still pretty knackered though, so ended up taking a 3 hour nap in the afternoon, before we headed over to our local bar to start 3-day-weekend celebrations!

The weekend was a lot of fun - we partied with our friends for a bit on Friday. Saturday the weather was shit, so we ordered in pizza and ate in bed while watching TV. The rest of the day was also spent in bed watching TV - making me feel like the laziest person ever. On Sunday, I went and got a pedicure, and then my bar friends texted before I was finished and wanted to head out for a bit. So I met them at Pony and got caught up with our bartender there. We stayed for a few hours before heading down the street to another bar we've been wanting to check out (we got followed by creepy stalker guy from Pony - it was random and a tiny bit scary, but after unsuccessfully trying to pick me and my friend up for 15 minutes, he finally left the bar).

After stalker guy bar, we headed back to our local bar and were joined by Blondie and another bar friend. We hung out there for a bit before some of the site staff from my NJ site texted - they were in the city and wanted to meet up for drinks. So we all went back to the surf bar and hung out with them for a bit. And then it was time to pick up little tacos and go home and crash out for the night (12 hours after I started out of my apartment that morning).

Monday was spent recovering, taking it easy, before work started up with a bang on Tuesday. I worked all day on 2 presentations I had to make the following day, and then on Wed, took the train out to Brooklyn and start off yet a new project. We took a break in the middle of presentations and the account rep told me that she thought I was getting yet another project that she had just signed on - so I checked my email, and yep, Chicago. Here I come.

After the presentations, it was time for a late lunch before going to the office to work a few more hours. Thurs was spent being exhausted and busy in the office and Friday it was back to Brooklyn to run a few tests at the site. I met up with some coworkers on Friday night at my local for many drinks into the evening - which was a great way to end the week. And then yesterday it was lazy town in our apartment.

Plans - I'm off to Chicago on Wednesday this week, staying until Saturday. I have a SHIT TON of work get through tomorrow and Tuesday, not sure how I'm going to fit it all in. And I'm 99% sure I'm about to get a Madison, WI, project tossed at me too.

Feck.

--K

Detroit; California; Key West; New York; California

So we left off last with my first night in Detroit. We were there to handle the launch of that project, which is always nerve-wracking, but this release was pretty solid so that made me happy.

For dinner on that Monday, I went down to the hotel bar for a quick bite. And ended up meeting an older gentleman from NYC there (an UES'er). He was pretty friendly and we had a good chat while we were eating - I travel alone so much that getting to talk to someone during dinner is always something I like. Tuesday morning I met up with a coworker who had flown in - we finished up what we were supposed to do at our sites in preparation for Wednesday and then started waiting for the rest of the group to arrive.

My work flew in a lot of people for this which was nice - the launch itself was small but there are a lot of different groups that have asked to be part of launches (just to see how users react, bugs that might show up, etc) and so they've started including a few people for each launch. Anyway, we met up with several of them on Tues night for a dinner at a brew house in downtown Detroit before heading back to get some sleep in preparation for Wed morning.

Launch started Wed morning - things went really well for it, with the exception that the 3rd party company didn't ship some stuff between their 2 sites correctly. So I had to make a quick 45 minute drive out of Detroit to pick up something followed by a 20 minute drive to the other site to take some of the excess stuff they had shipped there. Other than that, a smashing success (seriously). Dinner on Wed night was at PJ's Lager House - if you ever get to Detroit, GO. We had a blast - we walked in and it was immediately obvious we didn't belong (it's a dog bar and everyone in there had a dog but us) but everyone was super friendly, the food was good, and the beer list was large. They also had an old record store in their basement. Just a solid experience - one which made me call Blondie and tell him I could live in Detroit.

Thursday was our 2nd launch - we split up our group in the morning so that a few could support the Wed site and the rest went to the new site. All of us met for lunch at Russell's Deli in Eastern Market (sooooo good) and then we all ended up at our 2nd site for the afternoon. Again, things went fairly well and we all left feeling good. Dinner that night was at Suppino's Pizza (again in Eastern Market, and again, sooooo good) and ended early as I was exhausted from the week. And Friday was nice - I supported a site by myself (as some of the team started flying back home) and then kicked my ass as my flight got delayed like crazy. I didn't get home until almost 1 am - but did get 1st class upgrade from Detroit to LaGuardia, so it worked out well.

I spent about 30 hours in New York once I did finally get back. We didn't do shit on that Saturday - I was flat out exhausted from my week(s) and was just lazy the entire time. And then Sunday it was a 6 am flight to San Francisco!

That was a good time - I flew through Atlanta so that I could get to SF early on Sunday; got a 1st class upgrade for NY to Atlanta and then a pretty good seat for Atlanta to SF. The flights felt like they went really fast, and before I knew it, it was noon and I was in my old stomping grounds! I met up with Bbbb and my old friend KT for many drinks early afternoon - and before we knew it, it was 8 pm (11 pm my time) - I'm so glad I got to see them both. Bbbb and I met up first and we had a great talk, and then KT joined a bit later - just a great time. I did a taco run for dinner and then was at my hotel and passed out before I realized it.

Monday was an overall great day. I took BART back to the airport and picked up my rental car, and started the 4.5 hour drive north of SF. It was kind of terrifying driving through SF but I made it over the Golden Gate Bridge okay. And an hour later, after going through wine country, I entered Redwood area. The Redwoods - can't even describe it. It felt other-worldly to me. There is no way to put context into how big these trees are. I took the scenic detour of Avenue of the Giants - and most of the time I was the only car on the road. Not only that, but the trees block the sun so you could only see a bit of sunlight through the leaves. Roads were built around trees, so you'd have to bypass them. And I drove my car through a tree at one point - it was a tourist attraction that I did, and had a blast!

My hotel was pretty pimp too - when I finally got to the town I was staying in, I checked into the hotel. They immediately thrust a huge glass of red wine into my hand (free!) and pointed out a giant platter of snacks (free!) I did some work and responded to email before coming back down to the bar and having a few more glasses of wine and salmon tacos for dinner. The next morning I met up with 2 of my coworkers who had also flown in for breakfast at the hotel restaurant (free! no shit) before a caravan down to our site.

We were there to do a quick off and deep dive on the work they need to do for launch - it's about a 4 hour meeting with me talking for about 3.75 hours of it. Ugh. But we split it up with a lunch break in the middle and went for a quick mexican food run. The team seems really great - and I'm really excited to work with them. They told me about Hops in Humboldt - a big beer fest in the county we were in; but I can't make it as I've got exciting plans during the same weekend. After our meetings ended, it was a 4.5 hour drive back to SF airport, where I did some more work before hopping a red-eye back to NY. I had the whole row of seats to myself so actually got to lay down for the entire flight back.

That Wednesday I was pretty tired but no rest for the weary. It was a trip to the oncologist for Tigga. Always a fun time with a cat who hates the world, but a lot more fun when you're exhausted on top of that ;) The good news is that the issue they saw last time with his potassium levels is no longer an issue. The bad news is his weight stayed the exact same - he didn't gain anything. So they told us to just feed him whatever he'll eat - if that's people food (which it is), just do it. Our only goal now is getting him to gain some weight. The cat is now super happy because he loves ham, so ham is what he's getting.

Thursday it was into the office for a day - it went really fast as everyone is always excited when I'm there (just because I'm not there most of the time) so I got to catch up with people all day long. And then one of my favorite developers had quit, so there was a happy hour on Thursday night - the first one I've been able to go to in a long time! I stayed out pretty late with everyone but had a blast. So I'm glad I had that day in the office.

Friday I worked from home a partial day and then Blondie and I headed to the airport to catch a flight to Miami! We were a little delayed going down, but not too bad. We took off and it was 55 and raining, and landed to 82 and heat. SO WORTH IT. We grabbed our rental car, drove in circles around the airport b/c our phones wouldn't find GPS (look kids - Big Ben! Parliament!) and finally made our way towards Key West. The drive down was in the dark so we couldn't see anything, but our hotel was crazy. When I checked in, the hotel guy said "I see you paid for an upgrade to the presidential suite" and I was all "I did?" But yes, I did. And the room was insane. We were on the beach with a private staircase from our balcony to the sand. It was perfect.

Saturday we went for a breakfast and bloody mary's before laying down in loungers by the pool and drinking the day away - we literally didn't do anything else during the day. That night we took the hotel shuttle to Duvall Street (the Bourbon Street of Key West) and had dinner, listened to some great music, and ended our night drinking beers on a patio overlooking Duvall Street and people watching. Sunday we started off with a trip to the southernmost point in the continental US and then on to Hemingway House - we did a tour of the house and played with the cats that lived there. Hemingway had a thing for 6-toed cats as he thought they brought good luck, so there are now about 40 cats with the 6-toed gene in them that live onsite and have a full-time vet to tend to them.

After the house, we walked down to Duvall for slices of Key Lime pie and then ran into a bar that had a bacon bloody mary - we popped in there for a quick drink. And Blondie loved that bloody - said it was in his top 3 bloody's ever. Part of what our tour guide at Hemingway House had talked about was Hemingway's local bar in Key West. And after bacon bloody mary time, we found that bar. We stopped in thinking we were going to have a quick drink, and ended up staying for lunch also. And then finally, we found a bar with a huge front porch, called appropriately "Porch" and split some fruity beers (mango ale, lemon shandy) before catching our shuttle back to our hotel and crashing out on the beach for the rest of the afternoon.

We watched the sunset that night from the beach while drinking many beers and both of us realized that while we love NY, it's been an intense 8 years of living in big cities. We're ready to downgrade our lives a bit, and maybe the Florida Keys are the way to go. Not necessarily Key West, but one of the other keys closer to Miami.

We drove back to Miami on Monday and then we could truly see what everyone talks about when they talk about the views on that drive - it was GORGEOUS. 120 miles of bridges, and ocean, with a new key popping up every so often. We ate lunch in Key Largo and then into Miami to fly home. The good thing about this flight was I had made gold status with our flight down to Miami, so we got to bypass all the cluster fuck of security lines at Miami airport on the way back. And I got upgraded to 1st class on the way back, so I gave my seat to Blondie for his birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLONDIE! We landed in NY and Blondie was refreshed and relaxed - had a couple of beers on the plane and he was quite content. I'm glad we got to end the trip that way.

This week was sort of low-key, sort of not. I was back in the office on Tuesday and did some training of the new guy on my team on Tuesday and Wednesday. And then Thurs I went out to my NJ site - took the new guy with me and we had a good day out there. It was nice getting to see everyone again, and things seem to be going pretty well there which makes me relieved as we had such a bad start to that project.

Also on Thursday, 2 of Blondie's uncles and their wives (the S clan) flew in to visit NY for the first time! So after I got my train back to NY on Thurs night, I met up with them all for dinner before we headed to our local to introduce them to everyone and have a few drinks. Friday was a long day at the office - I was just tired and didn't want to be there, so took off around 4 pm to go home for the day. Blondie and I headed out around 6 pm to our local and then met up with the S Clan for dinner around 8 pm before heading back to our local after for many drinks.

Yesterday was a go-go-go day. We met up with the S Clan at 11:30 for International Food Fest. We took several hours walking up and down the street, eating delicious food, before settling in at poison bar for a few drinks. And then we took a train down to Washington Sq Park and showed them that area, before trying to get in at McSorley's Ale House (they were full up though). Afterwards, we walked to Lombardi's for pizza before wandering around Little Italy and Chinatown for a bit. A stop at Blondie's office completed our time at that end of the island. We then came back up and showed them Times Square at night before saying goodnight, coming home and collapsing in bed at 9:15 pm.

Today we have on tap tickets to a play called "The Cripple of Inishmaan" starring Harry Potter! Well, not really Harry Potter, but the kid who played Harry Potter. Afterwards we have reservations at a french restaurant in our hood with tickets to a jazz club to end our evening. Tomorrow it's a flight back to San Francisco to start training for the new group - coming back on the red-eye on Wed night. Blondie and I have decided to do NOTHING next weekend (except maybe to see Hedwig on Broadway) and I cannot wait for that.

Our exciting plans I referenced in the section about Hops in Humboldt - we bought our tickets to go to London!!!! We will be gone for 11 days in August - London, Scotland and Ireland! I'm so excited I can't hardly stand it!

Okay people, off to relax for a bit before the madness of today starts.

--K

Enough Said

Vacation

Happy 2 days early birthday to one of my favorite people in the world! Love you sooooo much Blondie! Happy 1 day early mothers day to mom, mom-in-law, and Mrs Pooh! And happy vacation to me.

Detroit; Land of Whiskey, Tobacco, Horses, Detroit; Detroit

Ugh. That is all.

Don't you wish that was all? Because it's not all. I lied to you.

2 weeks ago, post walk back to hood from Central Park, I met back up with my female bar friends. The one had just finished a super freaking fast half marathon (making me realize I have a true desire to start running again) so we wanted to celebrate with her. We headed up a few blocks for a brunch with plenty of wine - and then shopped our way back to our area. And finished our day with cocktails at a favorite restaurant - they have great food and great bourbon apple cocktails. Heart. Squee!

And then came Monday and my flight back to Detroit. I actually like Detroit / Michigan in general. I also really like the fact that if I fly direct, it's only 1 hour, 15 min flight. So yep, back to Detroit. We started out at one site on Monday afternoon and realized immediately that they hadn't done something they said they had done. I knew just by looking at the room they wanted to deploy in that we would not be able to deploy without some work being done. And then we went to the 2nd site, and ran into alllllll kinds of fun issues.

The good part of the day was that my BFF from the office got permission to come help me for my Tues-Wed work, so I got to pick her up on Monday night at the airport. We gossiped in the car all the way back to the city where we were staying, before popping into a Buffalo Wild Wings for a late dinner. Here is yet another reason I love Michigan - Michigan prices. We paid $3 for a "late night appetizer" of queso at BWs, and it was a HUGE portion. Our entire bill was $26. Again, Heart! Squee!

Tuesday was no better in terms of work - we went into to start prepping the product and immediately ran into yet more issues; some took all morning to resolve, some weren't resolved when I flew out on Wednesday. Dinner that night involved a very long, loud conversation about "tips of stylus pens" which turned into a "just the tip" conversation (wine, 2 good girlfriends from work, enough said). And Wednesday, wash, rinse and repeat. We flew out on Wednesday afternoon but I had a connecting flight through Baltimore. I got to Baltimore just fine but then high winds were causing havoc at JFK so it was a multi-hour wait at Baltimore, including an announcement that because we had waited so long, the flight crew might have to go off work hours. But we ended up getting out in the nick of time.

Thursday was multiple loads of laundry before packing up and catching our flight to the Land of Whiskey, Tobacco and Horses. I finally flew my first flight to my parents hometown from NY *that went on time*. No shit. The night was an early/late one - meaning it was late when we landed but we went straight to bed when we got to my parents house. Friday was amazing - we started it off by working out a bit, and then got to see Mr Pooh, sis and my parents for a breakfast. Afterwards, we stopped at Mr Pooh's to get Mrs Pooh and then it was off to the races!

Where only sis won any $. Still though - Keeneland is gorgeous and it was beautiful weather. Just getting to hang out, watch horses, and drink beer in the sun made it worthwhile. We were joined at Keeneland for a bit by my BFF TT; and completely randomly had a friend from IN (whom we met in TX and SF, and who visited us in NY) be at Keeneland that day also. All in all - just a blast. And it got better because it was then back to the parents house for dinner followed by everyone rallying and going bowling. There was a bowl off between Blondie and Mr Pooh (ending in a straight up tie) and then a late night Taco Bell run followed by cards at Mr Pooh's house.

I won't embarrass sis but do want to call out that the funniest thing I ever heard/saw her do was her imitation of mom on Friday night. Those who were there know all about it. Seriously. Funniest thing I've seen her do.

Saturday it was off to watch little kids play soccer - which honestly. So much fun. I got to see my nieces (THEY ARE SOOOOO FREAKING ADORABLE!!!!) - the first game was the little kids and they played in a giant pack but my little niece scored 2 goals. And then it was to the older kids game where my big niece ROCKED OUT the goalie position!

It was also exciting b/c when we were waiting for my big niece's soccer game, Mr Pooh goes "Oh, look who's here!" and we all turned around to see my uncle who had flown in randomly for the weekend! It was a real nice surprise - I like when everyone shows up when I'm back for a visit. Narcissism is spelled Kerri. After soccer, it was time for a giant drunken mexican brunch - the highlight of which was Blondie's steak fajitas served in a giant pineapple. My BFF TT joined us again for this, and we spent a few hours drinking and talking with everyone.

And then back to sis' house for a bit - hanging out there and talking, before hitting back up the Pooh's for way too much food and drinking. I wish I would've had room to try nachos but if I had, I might've spent all night "imitating mom". Sunday was nice - I got up early with Blondie and we got to meet up with Brother R and Shugs for some breakfast. Afterwards Brother R came back to the house and we spent the afternoon with the whole family playing cards and just hanging out.

Sunday night Blondie convinced me to buy tics to meet up with the family in July in PA (land of oil?) so we all got excited for that trip. There will be middle aged men roller skating (completely true), a baseball game between Pittsburgh and Philly, fireworks, getting to see my uncle's girlfriend for the first time in ages. Just a lot to look forward to!

We flew back bright and early Monday morning, and I turned my phone on when I landed to hear from the 3rd party company in Detroit. They had gotten a timeline for the fixes they needed and had planned for tentatively Wed. I ended up working somewhat on Monday even though I officially had vacation - I was trying to nail down exact dates for their work and for the stuff my company needed to fix. But it wasn't sorted out on Monday so into the office I went on Tuesday.

To my boss telling me to go home and pack because I was needed in Detroit on Wednesday. My company had "surprised" fixed the stuff I had found and the 3rd party company called back and 100% confirmed Wednesday. So yep, last minute $1400 plane ticket, last minute packing, last minute saying hi and bye to my cat, and Michigan it was.

I was in Michigan Wed-Fri this past week - the issue my company was working on got totally resolved and we got the issues with the 3rd party company 95% resolved. So that was a good step in the right direction. I enjoyed some good food at a mexican restaurant while I was here last week too - got a 12 oz imported mexican beer for $1.90; with a total bill of $16.66 for 2 beers, queso, taco and beans. Michigan. How I love thee.

Friday I got home mid afternoon and then met up with Blondie at our local bar. While I was chatting with him there, he mentioned he wanted to go to Key West for his birthday so a quick lookup of plane tickets... and Key West it is. We're flying in a few days before his birthday, renting a car and driving out to Key West, vacationing for 3 days, and then driving/flying back to NY. CAN NOT WAIT. And Saturday was another great day - I met up with my female bar friend for late afternoon bites and drinks, before we bar hopped our way back to our hood (margaritas at a mexican restaurant, bourbon at a whiskey bar) and met back up with Blondie for dinner.

I spent Sunday feeling like total shit - I didn't leave my bed except to pick up a prescription. And then I moaned all day long <- I've totally turned into my mother. And this morning, a 6 am flight back to Detroit. I'm here all week - flying home Friday night. We launch this week so it's my scary and exciting week. Keeping fingers crossed it goes well! I'm supposed to be in CA next week - all tickets are purchased, but now there's a possibility that project might get put on hold. I'll be sad if it does because I wanted to see my SF friends, but happy if it does because YAY NO LEAVING NY!!!!!

That's all. I'm now starving so it's foraging time in the big D (or is that Dallas?).

--K

Never say never

I got my wish (almost) and have just spent the past 2 weeks in NYC (almost). It was brilliant (almost). And now I really can't wait for another break from travelling. Which will now be the end of May. Fuck (all of it).

Last Sunday I started my day with a pedicure - I hadn't had one in almost 3 months because of our "winter that won't end" so the pedicure was really needed - my toes look fabulous now. Afterwards I headed home and debated with Blondie about lunch. While we were debating, our bar friend texted that she was going to Pony so that's where we ended up. It was really nice because our musician friend, whom we haven't seen in forever, was also there. He had brought in cupcakes for the bartender so we all ended up eating lunch, drinking many beers, and splitting cupcakes - not a bad way to spend a beautiful Sunday.

Monday was a "normal" day - into the office for the day but not a whole lot going on. I finally got to chat in person with my BFF who had quit - he's super excited about his transition and it makes me really happy for him that he's taking on a new challenge.

On Tuesday, I had a "scary" day. From the day we moved to NYC (Feb 2010), I've sworn I'll never drive a car in the city. And this past Tuesday, I broke that promise to myself. I had to go out to my NJ/PA site for a demo and I was the only one going from the city (I was meeting a coworker there who works full time not from the office). I usually take a car service but decided this time to just bite the bullet and drive out. I picked up my car, made my way terrifiedly (not a word I know) through the city and spit out into NJ feeling solid relief.

The demo went really well - they are looking to expand use of our product so this demo was to people who haven't been actively involved with us so far. It also ran over by almost an hour which is always a good sign - if they don't like what they are seeing, they try to get you out as soon as possible. And then I got in my car and made my way back to the city where I proceeded to get honked at like a billion times trying to get my car dropped off at the car rental garage. Fuck driving in the city.

Wed I took a train out to my other NJ site and spent the day out there - things have calmed down tremendously and the mood at the site is pretty positive. It's always nice to see that type of thing. Thurs was also a good day - the VP I have the most respect for asked me to present to his team on "the goods", "the bads", and "what we don't do but should do" at our sites. I was pretty hesitant about this as it can feel like an attack - whenever you present on "the bads", you have to be so careful about how you phrase things in order not to hurt feelings. But the meeting went really well. They were receptive to what I had to say and asked if we could have these meetings more often.

After work on Thurs, I went out with a coworker that I haven't gone out with before. We went to my local bar and spent a couple of hours just getting to know each other and ragging on work things. After she left, I stayed with my bar friends and we threw ourselves a dance party. Which made Friday suck. I spent all day just nursing my head and my stomach - awful.

It was beautiful in the city on Saturday so we opened the door to the patio and let the place air out. And we went out for snacky foods for dinner (fruit, potato chips) and then hung out watching tv into the evening. A very low-key night but exactly what I needed. And today it was up early - my bar friends and I went to cheer on one of our friends who was running a half-marathon today. We met up in Central Park and cheered our friend onto a 1:50 half (holy shit - I was so proud of my 2:35 half. I can't even imagine 1:50). And then we slowly walked our way back to the neighborhood. The weather is insane today. It was so nice to be out in it!

A week of traveling is upon me again - tomorrow morning it's off to Detroit bright and early. Thank god I've already been upgraded to first class - it makes flying that much better. I'm back on Wed night late, doing laundry and packing on Thurs, and then off to the land of whiskey, horses and tobacco on Thurs night. I've got another trip to Detroit in April and 2 to CA in May, and I've been put on a site in Brooklyn in addition to all this mess. Woo mother fucking hoo.

Cheers. I hate driving.

--K

Insert Witty Title Here

A week of nothing. It was wonderful.

Last Sunday was what I imagined it being - I binged on Gossip Girl re-runs all day while laying in bed. It was pretty gross weather last weekend, all weekend, and it felt pretty awesome doing nothing and not feeling guilty about doing nothing.

My week was supposed to be low-key but did get away from me a bit. Monday and Tuesday were pretty good - I was in the office both days, and got to catch up with my friends. I did find out that one of my besties had given his notice which was like a sucker punch - expected, but it still hurt. I found out at lunch, and had an immediate text message back-and-forth conversation with him (he wasn't with me when I found out) and then never got a chance at the office to get to actually talk to him.

On Tuesday night, I went out for drinks with a coworker who works full-time not from the office - there are actually about 15 people who do this for my work. She happened to be in town that day, so I met her by work, along with her sister (who lives with another coworker of mine who also works full-time not from the office), and we started out there. Her sister and I live across the street from each other, so we eventually bar hopped our way back to my hood and split a bottle of wine at her sister's apartment. Her sister's boyfriend showed up late at the apartment and when he saw me sitting there, the look on his face was complete shock. Understandably so - because if I walked into my apartment ever and saw him, I'd probably shit myself. It made my night though.

On Wednesday I went out to my NJ site feeling like ass from the night before. It was supposed to be a "boring" day - just finishing up meetings and getting the last tiny bits of the project sorted out (all the crap that's not important so it drops to the very end of things but it still has to be worked on - that crap). However, when I was out there, we realized we had yet another issue, so in breaks between meetings, it was tearing around my site working on getting everything resolved. I can't go to that site without something like that happening - every. single. time.

After the day ended, I rode with another coworker over to another office for the site and met with some of the higher ups about a few things. It was a very low key meeting, and we ended up mostly talking about one of their wives (in a good way) the entire time. It was a nice meeting to end with, but I was so exhausted at that point it took all my willpower not to just yawn in their faces the entire time. A very long ride back to the city followed - tunnel traffic, holla - before a walk back to my apartment to collapse for the night.

I woke up on Thursday and just felt like I had been hit in the head by a hammer - I told Blondie I was going to take a mental health day, and logged into work and sent my boss "I need a mental health day" email. Then I made the mistake of checking email - and have never been so glad I did. My Detroit site was in training mode, and my boss and boss' boss had said I shouldn't go because they would put other people on site to support it. In checking email, I realized that everyone had gotten pulled and the only person left was an extremely new person. I immediately wrote my boss that it was no longer a "mental health day" but instead a "work from home" day because of what happened. He went into an uproar and escalated it around the office (removing people without telling me, and without putting someone else in their place = NO FUCKING NO). I spent the day doing remote support for this and feeling totally ragey that I wasn't there.

After training mode ended for the day, Blondie and I trucked out for an extremely late lunch - 4 pm ish. We decided salads and a patio were in order - because hold the fort you guys - it finally felt like spring!!!! We plopped down at poison bar and had salads, while I chased my lunch with many beers. I needed some Vitamin D I guess, and some food, because I felt mentally stable after lunch for the first time all day.

And Friday - I woke up and it was raining and cold again. I went to work late, talked to my boss about what had happened with training, took an "out of office" lunch (ate out, didn't come back and eat at my desk) and then had a super long meeting with a good friend to end my day. I had several people ask me to go get drinks but I shot them all down and instead met up with my female bar friends for a wine night.

We started out at a wine bar in our hood. I had several glasses of good red, and we split some small plates - cauliflower and spinach salad. It started to get a bit crowded though, so we eventually headed back down the street to a gay bar in my hood for beers and some really bad dancing (on my part) and some really incredible dancing (on my bar friend's part). There was even a strut off between my bar friend and another patron set to the music. We left around 11 pm and I went home and straight to bed.

Yesterday I yet again didn't leave my house. I did a bit of a workout and then watched Gossip Girl all afternoon, before finally showering, and watching TV with Blondie. The KY/WI game was a bit of a shit show - both of us rooting for opposite teams, but we were happy to see KY go onto the final game.

Today it's gorgeous out. Not sure what's on tap - maybe some Pony Bar. Travel this week is NJ travel - I'm out at the NJ/PA site all day Tuesday and have to be in my other NJ site either Wed or Thurs. Other than that, nothing going on.

--K

I Got Nothing.

In honor of Mr Pooh, "what you got?"

2 weeks ago, I made the decision to not travel at all. I was on the brink of a breakdown, and although I knew I should've gone out to one of my NJ sites for a couple of days, I mentally could not make myself go. I was talking to a coworker and she offered to go with me, so we started making plans for the following day, and I could feel tears start to come on. I had to take a mini break in the office, and get a coffee, and then tell my coworker I just couldn't go. My boss was cool about it all - he understands and actually prefers if I don't travel as often as I do. But my site was still in a bit of uproar 2 weeks ago, and looking back on it, I should've put on big girl shoes, pulled my pacifier out of my mouth, and just gone out.

Okay, so I just rambled about how I made the decision not to travel 2 weeks ago - and there was still traveling involved. My *other* NJ site at the NJ/PA border called - the request they had asked me about in my last blog post - that request was making the rounds and they wanted someone to come out and present to a bunch of their higher ups about the request. I sucked in a VP to come with me, because honestly, the request is not something I can approve. So on Thursday, we hired a car and headed out to the border for the late afternoon and evening. Things went really well actually - surprising to both of us. It was a super giddy ride back, and ended up with us quoting Anchorman for the last 20 minutes of the car ride. I told Blondie that this VP is one that is "on my side" (not that the rest aren't - just that he seems to really care if I'm happy at the company and feels that what I do truly matters to the company) - and getting to do an awesome presentation, alleviate concerns at my site, and then quote Anchorman after - it was one of the better days I've had at the company in the last 6 months.

Last Friday night it was a coworker's birthday so I headed out around 4:30 pm to get drinks. And got called from my NJ/PA site as soon as I walked into the bar. Something else had happened - this time on a mix up on their side - but I had to talk them through some stuff and advise on how to handle 1 thing in particular. By the time I got into the bar, all energy had been sapped from me - I ordered a beer, drank half of it, and left. OMG - want a rocking good party? If you do, don't invite me. I was in bed by 8:30 pm that night.

And overslept our 9:45 am train out of the city on Saturday. We instead headed up to Penn around 11 am and got on an 11:45 train out to Montauk (the Hamptons) to celebrate the birthday of my BFF from my old job. His fiancee's family has a house out there, and they let us crash there for the weekend. It was a great weekend, minus my intense need to sleep. We grilled out, had a bonfire, drank a ton of wine, ate like crazy, and basically just had a lazy ass day. We got back to NYC on Sunday night around 5 pm, and I felt pretty good at that point. Sleeping in a place where there is no traffic noise (normally I HATE no noise when sleeping - I'm just used to noise now, and it's creepy to me when it's silent) was exactly what the doctor ordered. That good feeling last until Monday.

When I hopped another freaking plane back to Detroit. I landed in Detroit (no first class upgrades - boo you whores) and drove about 20 miles out to my project site. I met up with one of my coworkers and we discussed the next day's plans for a bit before I crashed for the night. We were there to do 2 things - the thing we were scheduled to do on Tuesday went off without a hitch which was nice. And our Wednesday plans got cancelled by the 3rd party company and postponed until mid April. We chatted and stayed at the company through the afternoon, grabbed a late lunch, and then headed back to Detroit to stay the night there. I told my coworker I had a bit of work to do when we got to the hotel but would call him in a bit for drinks.

Then I got in my room, checked my email, and realized everything had gone to hell in the 1.5 hours I had been offline. I should've realized this because on the drive to Detroit, my cell phone was going off about every 10 mins - I didn't check it b/c I'm a scary driver as it is, and don't need any distractions. But yes, that was my first clue that something was wrong. Anyway, a VERY long late afternoon ensued - complete with phone calls to/from VPs, phone calls out to my 3rd party sites, multiple emails I had to write up and send... My estimated "30 mins until I call you for a drink" turned into 3 HOURS.

This is the thing about my job - I truly like it. I consider traveling a perk (I'd prefer to travel LESS than I do but it's still a perk to me) and I love getting to work with new people every few months. But I am the "face" of my company at my sites. So when things go wrong outside my control (code gets released that has a bug in it for example), my sites come to me. And that's what happened on Tues night. I handled everything well though - and one of my other VPs even used an email I sent as an example of how we should be handling outage notifications.

Wednesday - repeat it all. This time my NJ/PA site had a problem - we almost immediately knew it was something they had done on their network, but trying to figure it out, and make sure they understood what happened, took almost all day. I had to take a billion phone calls from the airport which I hate doing b/c it's so loud in airports in general. And then almost cried as flights started getting delayed. I was flying through Boston which was having a high wind advisory - so we finally left Detroit and had a horribly bumpy delayed flight in. And then my JFK flight was also delayed. But it worked out well as I got "surprised" upgraded to first class on that leg - free bourbon; it's what's for dinner.

Thursday it was back to my NJ site, running on nothing but coffee and exhaustion. I dealt with a lot of little issues all day and almost cried when I sat down in the seat on my train back to the city. Friday I went into the office for only a tiny bit - I went in late, and left around 2:30 pm to get my hair fixed. My hair looks so great right now, that I shit you not, I got hit on 3 minutes after leaving the salon. Getting hit on blatantly hasn't happened in years - so I felt pretty good when I got home. Blondie had a meeting on Friday so I headed over to our local to hang out with everyone. And that turned into a dance party, drink your face off night. I got soup for a late dinner from a 24 hour market by our house and remember that soup being the tastiest fucking thing I had ever eaten. Drunky McDrunkPants - that's me.

Saturday was a waste - I did a little bit of workout once I felt better but it rained all day here so I mostly didn't leave bed. We made spaghetti for dinner and split a bottle of wine, and then watched a movie before I crashed out for the evening. And today - it's a repeat. A little bit of a workout, the weather is shit. I feel Gossip Girl binge fest is in order for this afternoon.

Tigga news! He gained .5 lbs at his vet appointment last week. The vet was REALLY happy about this b/c it's been so hard to put weight on him. The vet said to just keep it up - keep feeding him like we're doing. I was hoping for 1 lb gain but the vet said any gain is good news right now. Everything came back great from his test results too except his blood potassium levels. The vet said they are borderline too low right now - these low levels lead to lack muscle strength in his hindquarters so we really have to watch this. We test him again in a month and keep our fingers crossed that the levels have rebounded. If not, it's another supplement he has to take. But all in all, great news for my Tigga!

--K

Exhaustion

Warning: self-pity out the ass coming at you. Skip it if this kind of shit annoys you. Or honestly, skip it even if it doesn't annoy you. It's not going to be pretty.

Work 2 weeks ago was tough - we've been dealing with some things at the 3rd party site that make each day I'm there a mix of adrenaline and terror. I ended up staying the night 2 weeks ago on Tuesday - the commute back and forth isn't so bad, it's the 5 am alarm that's killing me. So I stayed the night and ended up waking up at 5 am Wed anyway with my mind on work. And got up for the day then which pissed me off because I could've stayed in NYC for that.

On Thursday 2 weeks ago, it literally felt like a vacation. I met up with the CTO of my company in Tribeca and hitched a ride out to my NJ/PA site with him. He was going to meet with some of the team members there, and I tagged along as I just wanted to see everyone and sit in on the meetings. It felt like a vacation because I didn't have to meet him until 8:30 am, which meant I could sleep in. The meetings went really well, and he told me after that the staff members had raved about me to him (I had stepped out of the room for about 30 minutes at one point to meet with someone else and that's when this happened). So that was good.

After that, it was back to the office for a 1/2 day - putting it 2.5 days physically in the office since the middle of January. My boss was so excited to see me that he actually called a team happy hour and we left the office early (so 2.5 hours in the office). And 2 weeks ago Friday, I threw in the towel. My exhaustion is palpable right now - I can almost taste it sometimes; the feeling of being too tired to even yawn, too tired to even move as I sit on a train leaving NYC and wondering how I'm going to walk a mile when I get to my NJ site, and then arriving at my stop and somehow finding the energy to drag myself and my laptop bag to my site, and then getting hit with sheer panic at things that are happening. I was so done in 2 weeks ago I couldn't bear it. And I got them to replace me onsite for a day with someone else, while I drug myself to the office instead.

Needless to say, that weekend was a bust. We didn't do jack shit. I literally got in bed on Sunday and didn't move. Up until my bar friend texted that she wanted to meet up for a beer for her birthday. So we found the motivation and headed to our local to meet up with her and our friends (1 hour late, it took us that long to rally). It was only a few drinks because...

It was yet another week of traveling. Out to the NJ site on Monday and Tuesday - things were still not great. I had help both days which was nice, but it was still an intense 2 days, ending with a super late Tuesday night and a flat out run to the train station at the end to make sure I didn't miss the last train to NYC. Which didn't help the tiredness. We did stop in our local on Monday night to do drinks for the official birthday of my bar friend - it was good seeing everyone, and having to force myself to be happy and perky, actually made me feel happy and perky for the time we were at the bar. I should try that more often.

And on Wednesday, oh Wednesday. I was slated for a Detroit trip - connecting through Boston. I looked at the weather report on Wed morning and gleefully told Blondie I'd see him that night as NYC and Boston were getting hit with a rain storm, and a blizzard was dropping 5-10" of snow on Detroit (how could one of those flights not cancel?). And then ate my words as all flights went on time, with no issues whatsoever. The nice part of the trip out was my 1st class seat from JFK to Boston. The worst part of the trip out was when I got off the plane in Boston and realized I was getting right back on the same plane to head to Detroit, with the same flight crew, who all were like "oh look who's back!" when I got back on the plane to head to my coach class seat this time.

The Detroit trip was pretty good actually - I got my rental car (ugh, driving) and picked out a brand new, bright red VW bug. I actually really liked the car, and the drive (about 20 miles out of Detroit) was also pretty pleasant. The roads were clear (the airport runways weren't, the roads were - go figure), but it was bitter cold. I got to my hotel that night and met up with a coworker from CA. We got to talking about some things that were going on with her and work, and I finally checked email for the first time in about 8 hours. And realized I got put on another project, kicking off this week - at the Oregon/CA border. And then called Blondie and cried a little. I just want a break from traveling. One break - 2 weeks of being at home with Blondie and Tigga, and not worrying that I can't have a nice dinner with Blondie b/c I need to be in bed at 8 pm for a 5 am alarm, or a 7 am plane, or any of that shit.

I was up early that next day - par for the course, and headed out with my coworker to our meeting. The meeting went really well actually - everyone was super nice and I'm excited to work with them. I got the rest of my trips to Detroit in my calendar (4 more by the end of April), and now need to coordinate those with several trips to CA by the beginning of May and a trip to KY tossed in the mix. Afterwards, my coworker and I stopped for lunch where I had one of the best salads I've ever had - a wilted spinach, dried cherry and red onion salad. The combo sounded disgusting to me, but I still ordered it - and have never been so happy in my life.

I then said goodbye to my coworker and drove back to Detroit to stay in a super fancy pants hotel that night - I checked email when I got there, and got official notification that they had finally resolved the issues that were causing havoc at my NJ site!!!!! The release had gone out that morning, and word from the ground was that use of the product was in full swing (finally!). I was sooooooo VERY happy that everything had finally gotten fixed, but honestly, soooooo VERY disappointed that I was not there when it finally happened.

While I was lying on my hotel bed, just kind of feeling the weight being taken off my shoulders, my cell phone rang. And it was the 3rd party site at the NJ/PA border that I work with. They had some issues earlier in the week (that they had worked with their salesperson on) and were calling to give the good news that they felt they had gotten past those. Squee! And then they hit me with another request, that I had to punt on. I had them send it to me in email, and then called a coworker to tag team on it with. It's something I don't think will happen, so immediately, weight back on my shoulders.

I gave up then and headed down to the lobby for a glass of good wine - plopped down in the bar area, and ordered a couple of glasses of red along with brussel sprouts and a stuffed banana pepper. Then went back upstairs and raided the concierge lounge (one of the perks of traveling is the membership levels you get at hotels and airlines) for a scotch, before calling Blondie and passing out without touching the scotch.

And Friday, back to NYC - with a 2 hour layover in Boston. Flights went on time again, which made me grateful, but landing at 6 pm on a Friday night means a subway back (or a 3 hour cab ride). It actually worked out pretty well though and I was home by 7:15 pm. To do absolutely nothing this weekend. No shit. We left the house on Saturday to run to the grocery to buy fruit and potato chips (dinner, holla!) and that's it. I rode the bike at the gym for 30 mins on Saturday. I did a bit of yoga today. And I've vegged on Gossip Girl reruns.

This week - FINALLY. No definite travel plans yet, although I will definitely be back at my NJ site 1-2 days this week. I have a bright and early meeting tomorrow morning, I have to get my roots fixed (unintentional ombre hair will never be a look), the cat needs to go to the oncologist, and my boss is making me interview 2 candidates for a position at my company. On top of that, I'm kicking off my CA project, and gearing up for 3 days in Detroit again next week (and all the work I have to do to prep this week for it). So even my off week is not an off week.

I told you. Pity Party. And nobody is invited but me.

For my seeking-info-on-Tigga peeps - that's finally some good news I can give you. We'll get official news this week after his oncologist appointment, but the cat has gained some weight!!!! It's not visible to the eye, but I picked him up on Friday night when I got home and was all "whoa!" You can definitely feel the gain - we're guessing 1 pound! He also has gained some energy - Blondie was playing with him like old times today and Tigga was playing back. So good to see it. It's such relief!!!!

Next week I'll do my best to pull my head out of my ass.

--K

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Okay - let's chunk this recap up slightly differently this week and start with "the work". I thought 2 weeks ago was the craziest week I had ever lived through, but it turns out that wasn't true. I know this because LAST WEEK was the craziest week I've ever lived through. So yeah, no matter how insane it gets, it can always get worse. Glass half full or empty? Whatevs. It just sucked.

I was back out in NJ every single day last week and didn't spend the night a single one of them - which meant a 5 am alarm, 6 am train every freaking day. Which would've been better, had say, things gone well. But they didn't. We uncovered a series of issues last week and I've never been so grateful and so sick to my stomach to be onsite in my life. Since I was there, I was able to help mask and mitigate the issues appropriately but we still haven't resolved them. Every single day was a terrifying and humbling experience. And that was work.

The better news was I got to see 2 of my siblings-in-law last week! Blondie's sis showed up on Sunday, after I had gone to bed for the day, but I trucked out of NJ on Monday and met up her with her and Blondie for dinner up the street and a few drinks. It was so good getting to see her - she's in a great place in her work life and getting to see what she's been up to was actually quite thrilling. After we did dinner, the 3 of us headed to Winchester and the planned "1 drink" turned into 4 (which made Tuesday morning be a giant boooooooo). I said goodbye to her on Monday night as she had a Tues afternoon flight back to the state she lives in.

And on Thurs morning, Blondie's bro showed up for a weekend of debauchery! He had such a blast when he came for Blondie's bday last year that his wife actually bought him tickets out to NYC for Xmas! He showed up on Thurs and Blondie and him spent the day poking around in our hood. I got home on Thurs night and we ordered in pizza and had some beers, and then I crashed out around 8 pm. Friday, the 2 of them did some touristy things while I worked all day but then I met up with them in the NYU area after I got back to NY. We ended up at one of our favorite beer bars in that area, and drank for several hours there before heading back to Winchester to finish out a pretty late evening.

Saturday I got up pretty early with a bad headache (cheap beer headache) and ended up working out for a tiny bit to cure the thing - it was one of those headaches that I knew would take 3 hours to get rid of with Aleve, or a 15 min workout would cure it immediately. And I sucked it up and did about 30 mins in the gym. And the headache was gone. Blondie and his brother went out that afternoon to do a few things in our area, while I collapsed in bed napping and watching TV. For dinner, we ordered in pizza again and were watching movies and drinking beers, and trying to rally to get to the bar, when Blondie's bro got a phone call that his flight back had been cancelled. Instead of his 3 pm flight, he was put on a 6 am flight back on Sunday. Which stopped our festivities immediately due to the 3:30 am wakeup call the next day.

And on Sunday, I met up with my bar friends at Pony and drank the day away there. I left the bar around 5:30 pm, fully expecting my site to snow out today b/c of super snow storm Titan. So I drank more than I should. I felt like a salad for dinner (completely random) so I stopped and picked one up, came home and chatted to Blondie while eating my salad, and then went to bed thinking I'd check my site in the morning and be able to sleep in. And awoke to find out that super snow storm Titan had dropped maybe 1/10th of an inch of snow. It was enough to cancel my coworkers flight in to help at my site, but not enough to do anything else. At all.

So yay b/c of I'm sick of snow. But boo me for being dumb yday. And it was back to NJ this morning for yet another round of everything. I'll be at this site through Wed (I'm staying out there tomorrow night) and then back to NY on Wed night before meeting up with senior mgmt on Thurs morning to go out to my other NJ site and do a demo.

In Tigga news - he's starting to feel heftier to me but he still is painfully thin to look at. He seems to be eating and drinking really well, and now I'm hoping that some weight will start to creep back on him. I can't wait to look at him and see a little bit of flab on his belly instead of just his rib cage. Keeping fingers crossed his pills are starting to kill that mother fucking cancer!

Exhausted. Drained. Emotionally Spent. Nothing else to say tonight except that if I ever bitch in the summer about how hot I am, or ever fucking complain that 6:30 am is too early to get up and workout, you have my permission to bitch slap me.

--K

The Launch

I'm sorry I didn't post last week - I feel like right now I'm a total broken record with my blog posts: "wah, work. wah, early train. wah, tired".

The big news is the site I'm currently on officially totally launched on Friday!!! We compressed our 4 week timeline into a 3 week timeline and seriously busted our asses this past week getting it all done. That's been my entire focus over the past 2 weeks.

2 weeks ago, I was again in NJ. I went out on Monday to do some support, and then headed back to NY on Monday night. I've been missing Blondie and my bed, so I've been trying to force myself back to the city some. On Tuesday though, I decided to stay the night in NJ - so it was back out early Tues morning carrying all my stuff. The train drops me about 1 mile from my site, so it's always a 6:45 am 1 mile walk in the bitter cold carrying my laptop bag, my purse, and on days that I stay the night, my backpack. We did a bunch of work that day - a few small launches - and then a coworker and I headed for cuban food that night.

I woke up that Wed morning and all the TV stations were talking about the massive storm that was blowing our way, getting ready to hit NJ/NY that night. I made the decision to check out of the hotel and not stay Wed and Thurs nights - I didn't want to take the train early those days, but took a chance that my site would close due to the weather. And I'm glad I did. We got snowed out on Thurs and Fri. And seriously, fuck this weather.

I worked from home on Thurs, and then decided to head into the office on Friday - simply because I had gotten an email from one of my other 3rd party sites on Friday morning, and needed to track down people to deal with it. That Friday literally made it 2 days in 6 weeks that I had been physically in the office. It was really good seeing everyone, but I was also pretty exhausted from everything over the past 6 weeks, so I told my boss I was leaving early. He okay'd it (he can be pretty cool that way), and so around 3 pm, I left the office to meet Blondie.

We did an late lunch V-Day celebration, and went for Turkish food - I had manti and Blondie had lamb, and we split falafel and spicy hummus. And wine. And then we decided we needed margaritas, so we made our way around the corner to a bar that has pretty cheap margaritas. And then we decided to pop in our local to say hi - we only stayed for 1 beer, but it was good checking in that night. And finally we headed home to split another bottle of wine while watching TV.

Saturday was also pretty good - we stayed in most of the day, and then our bar friend texted that night that her and her husband were headed to our local. Blondie and I started to head over to meet them, but ran into a building friend right outside our lobby. He had a bottle of rum he was swigging from, so we did some shots with him in the parking lot (we put the ass in classy) and then made our way to the bar. We had a pretty good night - we kept it low key and chill, and left early. But still a great time hanging out with everyone.

Sunday I decided I needed mexican food. So up the street we went with our bar friend for fajitas and giant margaritas. Then we headed back to our hood to go to Pony - but it was super crowded due to the 3 day weekend. We only hung out there for a bit before heading yet again, back to our local. But again, a TOTAL blast. All of our friends were in great moods, everyone wanted to just play good music and talk, and just overall a great Sunday.

And no Sunday dread because I had Monday off!!!! I got up with Blondie (who sadly did not have Monday off) and worked out, followed by a spontaneous apartment clean (if I say I'm going to clean the apartment, I don't. So best not to say it and just have it happen organically - so yeah, once every 3 years I'd guess ;) I crawled back in bed to watch crappy TV but then my bar friend texted for lunch. So I finally got up and met her at a new "food court" type area between our apartments. We split a sandwich and deviled eggs, and a ton of beer, before dum, dum dum - OUR LOCAL!!!! I drug myself home around 5, and was out cold by 5:30. And didn't truly wake up until 4:30 am on Tues morning. So nice.

And... back out to NJ on Tues. I stayed Tues and Wed nights, which I'm grateful for b/c this past week was one of the most batshit insanely busy weeks I've ever had. We went in early, worked all day long (literally didn't leave until after 8 pm one night when we had a 7 am start), and most importantly, got it done. I'm bruised as fuck right now - and my arms are scraped up; I look like I've been in a fight (manual labor part of my role), but we managed 14 small launches in 4 days, which closed out all the launches for this site. I also managed to kick off my next project, located in Detroit, MI - I have a trip there coming up in 2 weeks. Other highlights from the week include the BOATLOAD of sushi that 3 of us managed to eat one night, the coworker of mine who showed up completely hungover and whom I didn't let up on because we had so much to do (hint: he hated me that day; other hint: don't show up hungover when you know how much work we have to do), and seeing a video my company had made about my site (it melted my cold dark shriveled heart).

The bad news about the week was the bug we found - at first we thought it was the network at the 3rd party site, and when I realized it wasn't, I had to escalate it out (on a Friday, no fun for anyone). They were still working on it when I left on Friday night from the site - completely giddy that I was done being full-time onsite, completely giddy that I didn't have to travel to the site at the ass crack of dawn on Monday. And then when I was walking home after the train got back to NY, my VP texted and asked me to go to the site again tomorrow - the team is pushing a fix at 7 am and he wanted me onsite to test. We have other people onsite instead of me, but he trusts me. It's nice to know that he feels that way about me, but also, fuck me.

I crashed early on Friday night, and then Blondie and I spent yesterday relaxing. We hired a cleaning service and they came yesterday and scoured our apartment (it doesn't even look like our place anymore), while Blondie and I were lazy and laid in bed reading. Seriously. We had a woman clean our apartment while we sat in bed doing nothing. Ass. Classy. Us. And then we split a few bottles of wine last night while eating chicken.

Today I got up early and did our laundry (go me!) and then I putzed around in the gym for a bit before putting away said laundry and throwing out the wine bottles from last night. My bar friends are off to Pony but I'm pretty fried, so trying to decide on that. And Blondie's sis shows up toda for a few days - excited to see her! And of course, NJ here I come tomorrow.

Tigga news - he's doing okay. He's super thin - he seems to be eating well but just not gaining any weight. We started feeding him human food which he loves - just anything to pack on 1-2 lbs. But then I noticed he had diarrhea in his litter and he puked up all over the floor yesterday, so we're going to stop feeding him as much human food as we had been. Not sure what to do with him - his next vet appt will be in a few weeks, so am going to discuss our options with him at that time. My instinct says to pull him off chemo and see what happens, but I don't want to do anything to end his life earlier than it's going to be. But I also don't want him miserable and sick for the time he has left. I've also thought that maybe if we get an older cat in with him it might help - like 3-5 years old cat - not a kitten. Just put some spunk back into him - get some of his fire back. And yet I can't pull the trigger yet on this as I don't want to stress him either. At least he still looks pretty bad ass b/c of his half grown in shaved spots.

--K