So... this evening I have:
1) taken a nice long bike ride
2) visited with Dyn, an old friend from CCA and
3) gotten the first news of a 10-year reunion from the girl from my class who married the guy from my class
4) started to realize that I'll be (most likely) going to China before the end of the year

The first two were nice, and I'm starting to freak out a little about the second two. At least I won't be the least interesting person at the reunion, what with my globe-trotting fancy career and whatnot.

Babies are neat, and good babies that can spend an entire night at a party with us and hardly fuss at all are priceless. And fun.
Happy almost birthday to Mother.
I'm really looking forward to this short week of work coming up. I think I need to take a good look at the calendar and actually schedule the vacation we've been talking about taking. Woo road trip!
Ok, I'm going to go. I'm feeling boring, and there are chores to do.

News update: it's raining.
Therefore, I spoke with Mother this morning about taking up DerK's offer of a venue for the b-day party, and it's a go.
I'm trying to spread the word, but I'm pretty sleepy so this is my quick-fix.

You'll all be glad to know you can exhale. I'm sure you were holding your (collective) breaths since I mentioned the potential shake-up reorg thing, and today we got the official word. While the changes are pretty substantial, none of them actually affect me or anyone I would consider on my team. I'll have the same job, as will my boss and her bitch. Two people in the department are swapping jobs, which technically involves someone who reports to my boss, but again, I think I'll be relatively unaffected. The right person got promoted to the big spot that was open (if you ask me), so I think bitching will be minimal. Also, someone who was all itchy to leave/get promoted (ie get more money?) got promoted, so hopefully that will keep her happy for awhile.
All this news, plus ginormous donuts. Now if I could just shake this annoying headache, it would be a very happy Friday indeed.

Hmm... new blogger. Not sure how I feel about this yet. I'll get back to you.
Anyway, it's amazing what your body can do for you sometimes. Like this morning, when I inexplicably woke up at 5:30, only to find that we had no power (and thus, would have had no alarm clock). Most days, oversleeping would be not-so-good, but understandable and forgivable. Today, however, I had a seminar in Appleton that I had to be to at 8, so oversleeping would have been bad. But I didn't, you see, because when I woke up at 5:30 and realized we had no power, I set the handy-dandy alarm clock on my phone to wake me up at a reasonable hour. Genius. Of course, the power actually came on somewhat before I actually had to get up, and my real alarm clock went off. Nonetheless, I was safer rather than sorrier, which cannot be said for one of my coworkers who came to the seminar an hour late because none of the alarm clocks in her house went off, though she didn't seem to think it was because of any electricity issues, but rather (I have to assume) gnomes. Gnomes who instead of stealing your underwear, turn off alarm clocks for fun and profit.
So... long story long, I made it to the seminar (on time). It turned out to be somewhat of a waste of time. Geared more towards machinery-type b2b operations looking to source bits and pieces than towards anything remotely consumer-targeted whole product sourcing, but... there was a little to learn and what the hey? Looks good on the old resume.
I may have mentioned (and I can't check, what with this new blogger) that I was all excited about the Hello Kitty restaurant in Hong Kong. Turns out it closed, which is very sad news for me. However, there is still one open in Shanghai, and someone I don't technically work with in any way is detemined that I get to go. I now share with you some of the joys of my job:
Dear Stephanie

Personally , I will suggest u have a trip to Shanghai as this first time
I visit to HELLO CITY CAFE. I am really amazing as all decoration is
Kitty even for the toastes , food and beverages ........... I do enjoy
the world of fully kitty and that will make u have a nice mood , even I
am not the fan of kitty .

Hope u can enjoy it !
Macy

Don't you just love it?

It's getting hot in here. So take off all your clothes. I am getting so hot, I've gotta take my clothes off!
That's right - it's summer, people. Glorious, humid summer. How lucky are we that it wasn't 90 and humid on Saturday. Probably pretty lucky.
Based on the success of prom, I hatched a little idea today at work, while telling everyone who didn't come what a good time they missed. We could, I suppose, wait until next summer to do this again, or.... we could have a winter formal. Yes? Any takers? No need to worry about heat and humidity... if we do it after December I could buy decorations in China (ok, maybe) - anyway, I think it's a splendid idea.

I have managed to sleep most of the day away, unfortunately, as it's beautiful outside, but when the body wants sleep, why argue? No one wins.
With all the fun that there was to be had last night, I forgot to mention that yesterday was amazing for another reason. My husband, with a pocket full of lucky thrifting change, came back with the most amazing present for me. I almost hesitate to mention it, for fear that someone may bring harm to me or take hostages to get her hands on it, but UPB found a complete 1923 Ma Jongg set for me. It is amazing. Absolutely perfect. I'll bring it to the 'nest tonight to try to learn the game and show it off. If it mysteriously disappears, there may be a beat-down. I'm just saying...
So - in addition to having the best friends in the world, I also have a wonderful family. My bro left me a sweet little message on my smoky treats last night, and I love him very much. :)
All in all, I'm very blessed. If you're reading this, it's in no little part because of you.

Wowwy wow wow. Prom was fantabulous. Everyone looked beautiful, I think the hall was just the perfect size, and the Fat Slapper didn't even really suck. Thank you thank you thank you to Mr & Mrs Jones for getting there (whilst I was enjoying quite a scene after changing my shoes and brushing my teeth after dinner) to lay out the stuff to nush on. And of course I think we all need to give it up for dj Lord Sweetness. Of course, picking all the music ourselves led to me not being able to sit down ever, so this morning I woke up to twinges of leg cramps, but that's ok. Well worth it.
I'm sure when my headache goes away (mmm caffeine), I'll have much more to say about the whole affair.
I have the best friends in the world.

Kristy...you inspire so much love. (And I don't just mean crazy-lesbian-from-your-past kind of love) This would be more evident if I had taken before and after pictures of my bathroom vis-a-vis the cleaning frenzy. It was seriously overdue, as we haven't had any house-guests of late and that seems to be about the only impetus for cleaning 'round here. So thank you for coming!!!! Honestly - we should invite people to stay once a month or so. Maybe even people that live in town, just to get stuff done. Genius!! Volunteers?? Anyone??

Prom, prom... just around the corner! So exciting! For those traveling from far and wide, I added a map and directions (oh how thoughtful) to the site tonight. If anyone has any other suggestions about info that is lacking and may be useful, please let me know.
Today didn't suck after all, happily. I may yet crash and burn, but so far, so good. Sleeping will be nice tonight, when it comes, but I made it through the day without nodding off, so I think I win.
Now it's time to go look at food for Saturday night.

As it turns out, being paranoid about being late for work is a very good way to not be late for work. Unless you go on the computer before you leave in the morning.

Why does morning have to be so freakin' early?
Have I mentioned how much getting up tomorrow is going to suck?

I've concluded that I'm never, ever, going to get the blogger upgrade. Stoopids.
No matter, though - cuz it's Friday, baby!! I have no calls tonight, just some wrap-up work, and then the whole crazy team may be heading out to the P. Good times, good times.
During this week I've also found out that I will be traveling (to China, etc) in either September (mid-month, I found out last night, so I'd be back for my Sissy's birthday) or December (also early- to mid-month, I think it's illegal for them to make us miss Christmas, or, at least I hope so). December is more likely, as that would be for a big season (Fall '04), whereas September is for the Summer season, which isn't very big and will probably just be handled by my boss's boss. I'm really pretty excited. Not that I won't miss everyone terribly (as this week as shown me), but just think of all the wonderful Christmas presents I'll come back with! Yay crazy Hong Kong markets!! I have to admit I'm also more than a little excited about the frequent flyer miles. mmm... free trips and hotel stays. Of course, all this hinges on me not getting demoted or something in the upcoming 're-org', due to hit next week. My boss is still in denial about the whole thing, which is really kind of sweet. Alas, I'm fairly sure that it won't keep her from getting splattered when the shit hits the fan. Who knows, I could be wrong. I hope I am. A lot.

How is it possible for a night to go so fast, and yet I'm as tired as if it was 3 am. Crazy. And tonight was, truly, crazy. My first clue should have been that I was to have a conversation with someone named LuLu.
I'm sure I'll be in more of a mood to chat about it than I am to post about it, but one of my makers was naughty, and now I get to make them pay. Mwhahahahah!

I'm awake. I woke up with half a line from a song in my head. It took me forever to figure out what it was... I mean, half a line is not a lot to go off of. Luckily, I only own the 6 cds (ok, I exagerate), so once I actually got out of bed and started moving I concluded that it was from "Don't Let's Start", so I listened to it, and now it's not in my head. This is a good thing, because it's starting to get a little full in there.
I got great praise from my boss last night. No one feels a lot of motivation to get much done except our phone calls this week, which is nice because it means lots of chatting.
I keep thinking that one of these days, I'll actually get something accomplished (like laundry, or shopping) before I go to work. I did finish the new Billy Chaka book. Have we decided if fictional characters can be on our lists? Cuz he'd be on mine. Totally. Anyway.... tomorrow starts my pre-work productivity, I believe, as I will be shopping for prom decorations with Mrs. Jones. And Friday (how's that sound, IP?) I will help pick out decoratations for my dear friend to wear to the same occasion. Mmm.... men in tuxedos and suits and the like. I love it. Love it!

So, last night was great. I was not too bad in my negiotiations. It actually was kind of fun being in the office at the same time as the people I work with in Asia. I got a ton of stuff done. The down-side: while my body was ready for sleep when I got home, my brain really really wasn't. And today I am ti-erd.
When I got up this morning the first thing I did was check my e-mail at work. I have to say, it's hard to think of much else but work right now, which means no more exciting posts. In fact, I think I'll cut myself off here.

Hooray! I get to log on to blogger today - lucky me!
I don't really want to explain my last post. Most everyone knows that Friday was hold-on-to-your-hats for a big shake up around the corner for me and also for Plinko, and I don't want to think about it yet. Instead, I am awake when I'd rather be asleep, and shopping for Sanrio and San-X stuff that I'm probably never going to buy. Still, how can you deny the stoned hip-hop bunny?




Oh Mashimoro, you are so cute... and so are you, squashed panda... how to choose? And the kitty Nohohon is the cat version of Puchi Puchi Wanko, so is obviously the cutest thing ever...




I should so be a ho-jillionaire.

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!
more on this breaking story later

Hi all! What's new? Me, oh, I'll be working 4pm-midnight next week calling people in Asia. It will be the biggest test of my far-from-developed negiotiation skillz yet. My boss's boss will be judging my every word. We're not even allowed to leave for dinner. I'm fairly unprepared. Despite all this, I'm kind of looking forward to it because for some reason in my mind it will be like a sleep over like when you're in 4th grade and you're staying up past your bed time. I know it won't be anything like that, but it's been all rah-rah team surrounding the prep work for next week, and I'm getting in the spirit of things. No one else is - no one - but I am. I'm also getting excited about actually talking to some of these people that I've been working with for (oh my God has it been) 10 months (today!) So... that's my recent news. I'm planning on taking the opportunity to have a (possibly late?) lunch with Invisible Pete, maybe Mother...anyone else on-board? Let me know.
Also - shopping in Chicago should be fun on Saturday. A nice distraction from the up-coming crazy week 'o stress. And maybe I'll find the perfect prom shoes. By the way, DerK, we're planning on hitting the Nordstrom Rack - hold on to your socks. You'll need them for all the shoes. Trust me.

ding ding ding!!
Shaft wins a prize! The 'Sens' stands for Senators - Plinko's favorite hockey team, and therefore the team that I know the most about. This is despite the fact that it's much more fun to say "Leafs", and there is a different team called the Penguins, and everyone knows how much I love gwenpins. I'm sure if I got hooked on some hockey Playstation, Game Cube, etc game, I'd probably have a different favorite team besides. As it is, I think watching hockey is fun, and it's more fun if you are rooting for a specific team. So you may as well not piss off the guy that actually knows something about the sport by rooting for the other team. Plus, the Sens are from Canada, so how bad can they be? I mean, they're no Leafs, but...

Today was one of those days. Started with no sleep, running late, the whole deal. Still coughing in the way that makes other people at work say, "Why didn't she just stay home? She's going to get all of us sick!". Worked to the best of my (albeit sad) abilities until 5:30... came home and had a dinner that was delicious but I was too tired to enjoy, and then remembered how much work I still had to do. See, from 3:30 until sometime after I'm technically suppose to be done with work, I was in a meeting to prepare me for meetings. Yup. You read that right. And more preparing is what I get to do tomorrow. Actually, what I have to do. I'm not allowed to do anything else. Neither is anyone else in my position or higher in the department. For the whole day tomorrow. Nothing else gets done. This is not, in my opinion, a good idea. Or my choice. But there you have it - so tonight, when, by all rights, I should have been sleeping, I was answering e-mails and cleaning out old crap from my in-box that has been plaguing me for the last week or so.
But now, now I will enjoy the rest of the weary. The rest of someone who deserves sleep, dammit. Unless of course I can't get to sleep and I can log on and answer some e-mails real-time, and then I'll actually have less preparing to do tomorrow... hmm...
someone smack me

And I'm awake right now because...? No, really, I'm asking.

Ok, not much to blog about lately. Sorry. Most anyone who reads this was around for last weekend's birthday festivities. Wednesday (actual birthday day) I played volleyball, Thursday I came down with a nasty cold (cross your fingers that it isn't SARS), Friday I had dinner with UPB and my dad, yesterday I worked almost all day and then enjoyed dinner and a movie Chez Buck. And now it's Sunday and we're headed first to Milwaukee for some shopping and then to West Bend for a graduation party. I'm hoping to be back in time for some fun and goodness at the Robin's Nest, but the party doesn't start until 4. Though, really, the SARS lends me a pretty good excuse to take off early. I guess someone who opens packages from China every day shouldn't really joke about such things. Sorry.