Catching Up

First things first. I moved. Currently I live about three blocks uphill from my work. This is great right now and will really be annoying in the winter. I will try to track the number of bruises from slipping then. For now I enjoy seeing the beautiful sky on the way down hill to work, and I like working off my frustrations on the way up hill to home. Other than that the current draw back is no internet access at home. It likely won't get it set up for another month, maybe more.
Forth of July was nice, though I miss the fireworks in my favorite aunt's small town. A really good friend came up that weekend and it was nice to have a girlfriend around again. I did get to see fireworks, but it wasn't impressive.
I'm still working too much. My computer system at work has decided to go haywire. The day we discovered the scope of it I nearly cried. All the work I had done over the previous month, all the long hours and lost weekends, down the drain. I had manager after manager call and ask what had happened to the pricing. Finally the pricing manager sent out a message explaining what had gone kablewy. Sadly that was July 3. Not a great start to the holiday. On the flip side when I told my boss that I was taking a the afternoon off his only response was "me too, don't tell."
My boss is great. He got an iphone and was so impressed with himself when he finally downloaded a song that he announced it to everyone. He even walked from cube to cube to show us. It was cute.
I went camping this past weekend for the first time in a very long time. My favorite tour guide's entire extended family goes every year. That was interesting. For the most part I had fun just hanging out with him, and occasionally one of his cousins. His mother is still campaigning for a wedding, but she's getting better about being subtle. Largely I pretend I don't notice and try to chalk it up to her being nice.
There's more, but it will have to wait. The cafe I'm at is closing.

Playing catch up

School: For the most part I like it. My prof is great. He has two different MBA's and a law degree. He leads the class discussion well and I love the subject matter. I enjoy the class discussions more now that it is not just myself and two others talking. The draw back is my classmates don't talk to me. When I pass them at break they turn away slightly. Not much, but enough to discourage me from joining the conversation. I'm hoping the fall will be better.

Birthday: Very good. My boyfriend and I met some friends at my favorite wine bar on the night of my birthday. The next day a really good friend and I went on a weekend cruise. It was my first cruise and I really liked it. I had to pretend that I was on a spaceship in order to fall asleep at night. It also helped to do that when we hit rough water.

Work: Overwhelming. I know enough now to get stuff done, I just can't seem to do so. It drives me nuts and I don't know where to start. My co-workers are better now that the character who used to help me is gone. Without his continually antagonizing ways the department gets along as a whole much better. It has meant a lot more cooperation between everyone so we're doing much more cross training than before. Mostly I like that the tension in the department has dropped and its really nice.

Home life: I've found a new place to live. Right now I have the best roommate I've ever had. The only problem is she is engaged and her fiance owns our home. That means that when the get married he is going to be living here. So, I will be moving July 4th weekend to a place much closer to work. I will be renting a daylight basement with a walk in closet and a full bathroom. It is close enough to work that I'll be able to walk there. Better yet, I'll be able to walk to church.

Favorite Tour guide: Make me laugh all the time. We went to the Ballard Locks again yesterday. The sun was out and it was gorgeous out. I finally managed to tickle him by twirling a blade of grass against his skin. He took my toy away from me and tickled me back. It was a lot of fun. We sat and talked for hours enjoying the sunshine and each other's company. Then we went to a friend's house for a bbq. Dinner was filled with more laughing and really good food.

Best for last: My younger sister is on her way to the hospital to have her baby!

Sometimes the best we can do is breathe and reboot. SJP

Where to start?

Christmas was wonderful. I flew home a few days beforehand and was able to celebrate a friend's graduation from college with her. Even better the celebration lunch was at a fantastic Mexican restaurant. It was nice to finally get some decent Mexican food. I hadn't had any since my family's Mexican Thanksgiving. Afterwards I got to spend time with a good friend, and later had good sushi with a couple of gal pals. It wasn't until I was there that I realized how much I miss have close girl friends near by. I've met some great people here, I'm just not as close to them as to the wonderful friends I left in CA.

The best part of Christmas though was just spending time with my family. No matter what I seem to do to my apartments just don't feel like home. Or at least not completely like home. Don't get me wrong, I like living on my own. I like being able to decorate the places I live, and I look forward to getting back to my own bed after I've been away.

Still, I get homesick. Its not something I really notice until I'm on the road to my parents, and its worse when I'm leaving them. When I first went away to college I used to call my friends on my cell as I was heading out. I would have them distract me until I was too far away to turn back. Its not really any easier to leave now. The only real difference is planes don't wait for reluctant passengers, and my dad can't just drive me home like he did when I missed my train.

After returning to Seattle for a few days I flew to Kauai a spent a week there with a friend. The weather was a huge welcome change and the air there was so incredibly soft. We went all over the island mostly just enjoying each other's company. New Year's was spent in our room watching a good movie and drinking champagne. Before you think that's pathetic you should know beach was twenty feet from my room. Hanging out there was not boring or a hardship in the least.

I think the best part of the week was when we went snorkeling. We paid for passage on a catamaran and took a tour of the Napali coast, which is only accessible by boat and is breathtakingly beautiful. On our way back up the coast towards where we would actually snorkel we saw humpback whales. They weren't very close but we got to see a couple of them breaching and I loved it.

Returning to work was not fun. Things are going better and I'm learning more every day. I'm now working without help, and to my horror I'm discovering that my help created a number of problems. Granted, he was more help than hindrance, but now I have to figure how he did what he did, and then undo it. On the upside my coworkers are warming up to me and I now have people to talk to. I'm also getting to know my boss and he's pretty entertaining. This week he started singing "Mercedes Benz" by Janis Joplin.

The only really odd thing is that I haven't seen my roommate in about three weeks. Between my trips out of town and hers we keep missing each other. It feels like I live with a ghost. At times its nice. I like having the apartment to myself and not having to worry about waking her as I get ready for work in the morning. To celebrate I've been turning the radio up so that I can hear it as I wander from room to room getting ready. Its nothing big, but its a luxury I miss from when I lived alone.

The only other thing I have to update is that I finally had time while I was in Kauai to do some reading. Its been far too long since I had the chance to get lost in a book and drown out the world. I finished five books while I was there and I'm almost done with a sixth. To some that may sound like a waste of a vacation, but to me it was paradise. Actually, I think I'm going to go finish my book now. I should have just enough time before I have to go to dinner. If not, I hope I'll hear the phone when my tour guide calls to ask where I am.