until next week

Well I finished the week from hell, and even stayed at work today until 4:30, when everyone else had left between 2:30 and 3!!! I should have known that, despite my best efforts, my year-end goals would end up being beginning-of-next-year goals... There goes that extra-bonus bonus. Oh, and I like using hyphens.

For those of you that are interested (and yes, I am fully aware of the paltry size of my audience), I am still sick, and quite possible developing the annual Sinus Infection. I have, however, procured all necessary preventative medicines, so with some luck I will be 100% when I embark on my New Mexico road trip in a mere 3 days!

Poor Matilda, unbeknownst to her, has been signed up for a week with A's parents and their huge, long-haired Fat Cat that is at least twice her size. Last time she had a playdate at their house, she attempted to swipe FC from 2 steps up. He got back at her by eating all of her food.

For now, it's time to relax before a weekend of baking cookies, watching tubas play Christmas music, exchanging carefully chosen gifts, and schmoozing with the boyfriend's extended family. Immediately after that I am headed westward, towards Route 66! Have a fantabulous and safe week, everyone!

three ball circus

For all the griping I do about our cat, I have to give credit where it is due: Matilda is one smart feline. She knows which owner will let her rub her dander all over the couch and which one will yell at her for drinking out of the Christmas tree stand. She is aggravating, yes, but also highly intelligent, often displaying an admirable amount of, shall we say, chutzpah.

Her newest trick? Playing fetch. She has 3 mini soccer balls, any of which can be lost at a given moment. As of late, she has taken to dribbling her green soccer ball around until it lands at your feet and you pick it up and throw it. This game has so far lasted a maximum of perhaps 10 minutes. But with training and no small amount of patience, I might be able to take this show on the road!

sick day productivity

I woke up today feeling like ass, and headed to work anyway, due to the fact that I had 3 meetings today that simply could not be missed. Stupid me should have called my gracious coworker in the wee hours instead, knowing that he would reschedule the meetings if necessary. So I stayed at work for a total of about 45 minutes - a new personal record!

So I spent the day catching up on sleep, wrapping presents, reading some work material for a case study, checking work email and writing Christmas cards. All in all, a pretty productive day, considering that my body aches everywhere, I have a headache and this morning I thought I was going to hurl all over my keyboard...

more on eating

Reasons why going to work is hazardous to my health:

• free donuts at any given moment
• free breakfasts on Friday, usually involving donuts
• oversized tin of butter cookies within 3 feet of pod quadrant
• honey-roasted peanuts within arm's reach
• lightly salted nuts, also within arm's reach
• tantalizing Twix in vending machine
• free pizza from oh-so-generous great grandboss
• coworkers taking requests for what kind of cookies and candied nuts to bring in on Monday
• leftover cookies from Fabulous Holiday Party, left on counter at work & intended for consumption by coworkers, not self
  
• fresh baked muffins in each morning, only a 2 minute walk away
• Starbucks drinks, made on campus in deli car
• persuasive coworkers who like happy hours
• platters of cookies and soft drinks at each marketing town hall meeting
• Swiss Miss hot chocolate and cider packets in break room

My weakness for all of the above items spells disaster, the results of which I can now OFFICIALLY SEE in the strange new folds of my abdominal region.

All this, and yet I hope the holiday season never ends...

out on the town

I left work early today to go to the gym. Yay for leaving early, boo for running into your grandboss and great grandboss on the way out the door! I don't feel all that bad, however. I have recently been working straight through lunch, so it really doesn't seem like a big deal if an 8-5 job suddenly becomes an 8-4. Of course, it doesn't hurt that my boss is out of the country for the rest of the year...

So the reason I went to the gym is not because I have miraculously discovered a passion for exercise. Far from it, actually. I am using physical exertion as a form of self-discipline after my gluttony-fest this past weekend. Sometime this afternoon I was reminded of informal dinner plans I had made at my Fabulous Holiday Party. I decided that working out would probably balance out the additional caloric intake of a dinner out with friends. At least I like to think that's the case.

Of course, there was never a question of whether or not I would eat out with my peeps. How could I pass up an opportunity for social drinking?!

the verdict is in

Our Fabulous Holiday Party was a resounding success! The mistletoe wasn't utilized nearly as much as the hostesses would have liked.... But the eggnog was fantastic, the champagne punch was devine, and, once the alcohol was burned off of it, the mulled wine wasn't bad either. Our fears that we wouldn't have enough food went unfounded, as our refrigerator is just about bursting at the seams from all the delectable leftovers! We should really throw parties more often. It makes us look a heck of a lot more popular than I thought we were...

Now onto project #2 - roadtrip to Roswell, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque! I will be using up the remainder of my 4 vacation days to travel through the alluring Southwest. The only thing making me nervous is the fact that just today I unknowingly made Hotwire reservations at what was described by a one-time patron here. For more, read on.

Good thing my man will be accompanying me...

ego booster

I have recently begun to think about where I want to go within my company. It kind of goes with the "year-end review" territory. The circumstances of my thoughts are actually quite positive. I am fairly confident that I have done well this year, but it is just simply my time to move on. I'm in the early winter of my stint in eBusiness, so to speak.

So it was quite the coincidence today, when, in the middle of running some inane, hellishly laborious query, a former coworker, SS, paid me a visit. He now works in a different Marketing group, but still makes the occasional trip to the first floor. SS had come to let me know about a position being added to his group. I was both surprised and immensely pleased to hear that I was among the top of his candidate list! So what if I still don't have a clear idea of what the job would entail? It is always a great thing when a coworker voices his confidence in you to others.

Details on this late-breaking story to follow. Time to update the resumé...

ho ho ho

a glimpse into the North Pole, Blockbuster style...

what the?

So what happened to my post about Brazilian meat and lots of $$$?? Odd.

6 skirts and two loaves later...

Immediately after work today, I embarked on a marathon of productivity. You see, tomorrow is my day to provide the Friday breakfast for my group. I just so happened to have 4 overly-ripe bananas sitting on my counter - enough for two loaves of banana bread at a most opportune time! After picking up the remaining ingredients but before the baking frenzy, some holiday party shopping was in order.

The problem: I had a top, but nothing to cover the nether regions. Now I'm sure some would argue that it isn't a problem at all... But I would hate to embarass my gracious host in front of his entire company, especially when history has shown that he can usually do it all by himself! So 1 hour, $500 in credit card charges, 6 skirts purchased, and 5 skirts returned later, I arrived back at home, happy that I had found the perfect black, flowy, satiny skirt to complement my oh-so-festive top. Go me!

I'm hoping my baking efforts taste as perfect as my fashion victory. Last time I made banana bread, either I was salt shaker happy or the recipe was just wrong, because the finished product tasted like a banana-flavored salt lick.

'tis the season

My roommate and I are having a holiday party! Our apartment shall smell of such holiday Yankee Candle fragrances as mistletoe, evergreen, and gingerbread. A feast for the eyes and appetite will delight the masses, including a REAL Christmas tree, mistletoe, a potluck spread of goodies, fantastic company and tinsel galore. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the social lubrication will consist of mulled wine, eggnog, cider and an *almost* fully stocked bar. All are invited, just say the word!

My only prayer is that the huge turnout will send our demoness cat into hidden submission for the night.

misc....

I was able to escape Thanksgiving with a piece of Chocolate Fudge Torte cake and a quarter of a pumpkin cheesecake. I probably should have asked for more turkey and less dessert, but what are you going to do?

It has been discovered that my cat quite enjoys spending quality time INSIDE our fireplace! I might not have figured that one out had it not been for the black pawprints all over our white faux stone hearth. Gotcha!

And here's another tidbit: I was advised by a cat-savvy person that strategically planting mothballs on top of a plant's soil will teach any cat to stay away. I followed her advice, to discover the next day that my cat believes these foreign objects to be playthings! Needless to say, I am still looking for a solution.

I have procured an invitation to DFW's most exciting holiday party of the season! There will be an open bar and a chocolate fountain - need I say more? The only problem is I suddenly find myself with a completely unacceptable wardrobe from which to select a suitable outfit. I may need to brave the savage wilderness of one of the seven nearest malls to remedy the problem!

I must away. Trashy reality television continues to dominate my weekday nightlife.

ugh

Back to that whole "my cat is the most human cat alive" train of thought. I didn't know cats farted until just about 3 minutes ago. I mean, my dog used to have that problem, so I knew it was a canine capability, but cats? They're supposed to be clean, prim and proper.

Excuse me while I gag.

i can dig it

You know, the whole vegan thing. I have just discovered the greatest, happiest place on earth, and Spiral Diner is its name. Actually I had heard of it before. Earlier this year my mom visited it when it was located in the old rail market... But then maybe it got uncool or something, because all of a sudden people just stopped going to it, and basically all the shops either moved or fizzled out altogether. Fortunately for Fort Worth, Spiral Diner has just moved down the street - yay for us!

So anyway, this guy recently started working in my pod, filling up our vacant spot in the northeast corner. He's the kind of guy that makes you think he might be from California, because he's in the process of trading all his leather belongings for items more suited to his moral beliefs, he says "right on" a lot, he's got the crazy bottled blond surfer dude hair, he's always talking about the injustice of this or the righteousness of that... and, well, he's really from California. Don't get me wrong, he's lots of fun and has thus far been a terrific addition to the podlife.

It is this very person that has reintroduced the Spiral Diner - among other things - to my vocabulary. He told me that this place is actually one of the top 5 vegan restaurants in the whole country! So when he suggested that we go there for lunch, I didn't give it a second thought. My grilled tofu pesto sandwich was devine, and my dining companion's "wheat meat" was as tasty as it was surprisingly realistic! I also discovered that this place has all-you-can-eat pancakes on Sunday. Guess where I will be in 4 days?

leaving on a jetplane

I spent most of last week on a plane. OK, not quite. But I racked up a hell of a lot of air miles! 2 days in Phoenix yielded 1 brush with fame, 1 brush with near-fame, a lot of customer contacts, and way too much frustration at having had to travel a thousand miles to accomplish what could have been done over the phone. Obviously I can see the value in visiting real-live customers, but the amount of money spent on our combined travel expenses was truly exorbitant.

After that, it was back to work for almost a full day at work before jetting off to Austin to be with the BF during his interview weekend. Somehow I managed to get sicker before getting better, and so a lot of time was spent in bed.

No, not like that.

So we did all the normal Austin stuff, despite the rain, and I now have in my possession 2 CDs of the Gipsy Kings' Greatest Hits! The Kings have already proven their worth by accompanying me on the ride home and while I made dinner tonight. How is it possible that I have lived this long without them?

Sorry about the post. Actual coherent thoughts to follow shortly.

rain, rain, go away

I have been a huge and utter waste today. Suffering from a sore throat - which can be attributed to either allergies, a legitimate cold, or, more likely, a piece of mulch dust that got lodged in my throat during the repotting of my sad and half-eaten orchid (perhaps a combination of the three?) - I have spent the day vacuuming, breaking out the winter comforter, eating bagels, and reading The Devil Wears Prada.

Needless to say, I have not yet left the house today. And I'm fine with that. I was actually scheduled to pick up a friend at the airport, but I have recruited my loving and ever-eager-to-please boyfriend for that task. I did promise to make it up to him. If he's looking for immediate gratification, I hope food will suffice. If he's looking for anything else, it might just be too much for me on a day like today.

and one, and two...

... and I'm spent. I came home today truly believing that I would be going to the gym. The reason I am not there now is that I decided that, since I ran on Saturday, I could do pushups and ball crunches, all without missing the Daily Show rerun or Extra!

I was doing well until I decided that the ball crunches were hurting my back... Can I really be too feeble to work out?

dear boss

Thank you for everything you have done for me in the past 1+ year. Thanks for recognizing the hard work of your direct reports, and sending us home early on Friday to make up for extra time spent at the office. Thanks for realizing when I'm in over my head, and then helping with the problems that are bigger than me. (Thanks also for letting me solve the rest of my own problems.) Thanks for having our backs when no one else does. Thanks for defending my case when arguing for my end-of-the-year evaluation - and subsequent bonus. Thanks for expensing rewards for us now and asking for forgiveness from your boss later. Thanks for knowing when to be a friend, and knowing when to lay down the law. Thanks for sharing my enjoyment of the fine nuances of ethnic gastronomie. Thanks for asking me how you can be a better boss. Thanks for hiring people for our team that are not only competent, but also über-fun.

Damn, I hope coming to work is always this easy.

here we go again

Disappointment is the Word of the Day. I'm disappointed that us 18-24-year-olds couldn't sack up and get the job done. I have been seriously thinking about moving to Canada. (I think I'd make a pretty good refugee.) All I can hope is that Bush makes good on his promise to use his re-election as a fresh start, to unify the country by working in conjunction with the 49% of us who voted against him.

We fell for it last time, why not do it again?

fulfilling my patriotic duty

Well I've officially done my homework on the TX candidates in my county... While watching SNL's Presidential Bash 2004, bien sûr!

And yes, I plan on watching the Daily Show's live coverage of the election tomorrow night. If all goes well, there will be drinking games involved. Let's get this party started!

the past isn't past

On a side note, I came across an article today that quoted Doris Kearns Goodwin speaking highly of the Red Sox, the Patriots, Kerry and Boston in general. Does this name ring a bell to anyone else??

crime and pumpkinishments

My mother revealed that she plans on foregoing the whole jack-o-lantern thing this year. WHAT?? That kind of thing just does not happen in our household. For all the Yankee, un-touchy-feely airs my mom puts on, there is a side to her that truly enjoys partaking of all the yearly traditions. She still signs "Santa" on our Christmas presents, fills our mailboxes with Cadbury Cream Eggs nestled in green plastic grass, sends me and my brother Valentine's Day cards and makes corned beef & cabbage on St. Pattie's day.

I suppose I should have taken it as a sign of things to come when she stopped hanging the advent calendar on November 30th.... But no Jack-o-lantern? Has she no soul? I just can't stop thinking about the throngs of small children who will have to skip our house this year. I mean, without a glowing pumpkin grinning toothily through the window, how will the kiddies know anyone is home?

Now that I think about it, my parents live in a development that is pretty anal about the upkeep of the neighborhood's houses/yards. Surely there is a footnote in their guidelines about the necessity of a Halloween jack-o-lantern. Or is there?

Having been unable, thus far, to convince my mom to break out her carving knife in the true spirit of All Hallow's Eve, I shall take it upon myself to carry the torch. So what if there are no kids living in my apartment complex? At least I will be able to sleep at night.

now what?

It's weird - I suddenly find myself wondering what to do with all my free time, now that I don't have to rush around doing last-minute errands before a Sox game. I can take a nap if I want. I can do laundry, make an extravagant meal, go to happy hour with friends or join a community band. I can read a book, play with the cat, work out or hang out with my boyfriend.

Are any of those activities likely to happen in the coming non-baseball season? Sure. But the thing of which I am most certain is that a majority of my rediscovered free time will be devoted to more reality television than anything.

For a while, I actually thought baseball might be just the cure needed for my strange dependence on reality TV. But something needs to fill the void that Manny & co. have so cruelly left behind... right?

I'd elaborate on this, but that would mean missing out on some quality programming, so off I go...

World Series Weekend: a photo essay

going all out

There really isn't that much more than can be said about the Events of Last Night that hasn't already been rehashed in today's newspapers, blogs, newscasts and water cooler conversations. Nevertheless, I shall submit my 2 cents.

I had my doubts. I think we all did after losing Games 1-3. For Games 4-7, I would say most of the doubt stemmed from the knowledge that, historically-speaking, the Yankees have almost always found a way to f*%$ us in the end, regardless of how phenomenal the Sox' lead might be. How was I to know that this time would be different? So, Sox (especially Manny!), please accept my apologies and newfound confidence in your wondrous athletic abilities. Your quest for the World Series championship WILL NOT BE IN VAIN.

So after the most winning win of all wins (for those interested, I was NOT able to complete my goal of downing 1 shot per run - t'would have been suicide!), the less allegiant of the motley crew that had gathered at our apartment slowly dispersed, while the rest of us prepared for the long night ahead. I was charged with finding a long stick on which to carry a vandalized photo of Jeter that had been posted in the apartment gym prior to game time. As it turned out, the photo had been taken down by the time we arrived, so we attached less-than-ideal, half-deflated balloons instead. It was the best we could do given the resources. A group of about 8 of us then marched/chanted our way down to Paddy Red's to meet up with various other Sox fans and drink Sam Adams. Highlights of the night:

• banging so hard on the bar that the bartender had to stabilize the tip jars to prevent them from crashing
• watching a fan stand on a barstool and dance/striptease while getting a $20 stuffed down his pants by another guy
  
• singing cliché Queen songs
  
• getting picked up and slung over the shoulder of a man whose face I cannot remember... and then spinning in mid-air
• meeting a fellow fan who looked eerily like Jason Varitek
  

This morning I felt like hell and nearly fell over in the shower, but not once have I regretted my inebriated celebration. Instead, I see it as pregaming for this weekend, when I will pay homage to the greatest Sox team of the century - in person! See everyone in 2 days!!!

don't stop believing

Well there was certainly no need for the rally cap tonight!

Having taken the obligatory shot de célébration, LT & I have begun to plan tomorrow's Game 7 fiesta. All are invited - just show up at Apt #728 at 7 pm!

hell. yes.

It must have had something to do with my rally cap. Or perhaps the sheer athletic genius of David Ortiz. Nevertheless, I am drunk, the Sox rule and Apt. #728 is going to be on their feet tomorrow for Game 6!

"can i have a redo?"

It was looking like a slow day this morning... And then one of my 3 pod-mates* asked me to do several high-priority, minutely-detailed projects, and I was off and running. In fact, I stayed through lunch, and by the time 4:00 rolled around, I had barely noticed where the time had gone. It's probably safe to say that I had worked myself into that strange state where everything seems hilarious.

Towards the end of the day, another of my pod-mates began to complain aloud about how his new computer was misbehaving. Just that morning, he had been unable to run any Flash demos. Now he searching "life cycles" on Google, and none of the links were working. His clicks were all for naught, and that was pretty funny by itself. He then called me over to see for myself, so I obliged by rolling backwards toward his corner of the pod and swiveling to face him.

"See? If I click on any link on the page,"click," it doesn't do anything."
"That's pretty weird, considering it's a new.... whoa, whoa, WHAT are you DOING over here?"

He looked back at his monitor to see that his "example-click" had inadvertently been on the words "Taking Charge of your Fertility."

If only the link had worked....



* As of about a month ago, my group moved from one-person cubicles to 4-people, low-walled enclosures that we affectionately refer to as "pods." While pods do not promote as much efficiency as upper-management mightlike, us pod-heads have gotten to know each other on a much more personal level...

in other news

I still love the Sox. It's not looking so hot, but, let's face it - they're still a great team to watch, and if the Yankees make it to the World Series, they'll probably just lose again. Which will be pretty damned satisfying.

So... Go Astros?

kitty update

So in addition to giving the cat foul-smelling orally-ingested antibiotics, we must now give eardrops and a pill! As if Matilda didn't hate me enough already.

The vet mentioned that feline herpes can flare up in response to high-stress situations. Could this illness have been caused by the traumatic removal of her paw bandages last week? Hmm...

matilda woes

According to the diagnosis that my roommate and I have decided upon, my cat has a cold. This is not your normal, everyday hairball wheezing/hacking/other disgusting gutteral cat noises. This is sniffling, sneezing, and loss of appetite. And if she could talk, I'm sure she'd tell us all about her muscle aches and sore throat. She is officially the most human cat I have ever known!

Is it bad to give your cat Nyquil?

ew.

So there's this guy, A.K.A. "the Creep" that I met last summer. We met under unusual circumstances at work - he wanted me to help him out on a project he was working on for the county's Asian American Chamber of Commerce. And by "help out," I really mean "schmooze." He thought he was doing a favor by introducing me to the world of climbing the corporate ladder. For those of you who work for large corporations such as myself, you may have heard of Harvey Coleman. In a nutshell, Coleman believes that the way to be successful in life is to abide by the rules of P.I.E. - Performance, Image and Exposure. It did not take me long to figure out that the Creep is a religious follower of the Coleman way of life. He drives a new Mercedes that he can't afford, attends exhaustingly boring meetings and forums of all sorts throughout the DFW metroplex, strips himself of all signs that his culture stems from another country... And all this for sole purpose of adding new contacts to his Blackberry and advancing in the corporate culture of America.

To the Creep, everything is black and white. For every action, you are dealing with imaginary chips. Do a favor for someone, get a chip. Burn a bridge, lose two chips. In the end, you are looking at your pile of chips and evaluating what you have done with your life. And that's fine. It really doesn't matter to me how he sees the world. It seems to make him happy, and that is a good thing. It bothers me, however, when he tries to brainwash me into adopting the same ideology. It shames me to admit that it took me a little while to see how insane it all was. But when you start working somewhere, you inherently want to make a good impression, and I was certainly no exception. So I allowed myself to be dragged to the meaningless meetings that cut into my dinners & must-see-TV. I went to lunch with the Creep to see what new Colemanism he would unleash that day. After a while, his devout behavior even became comedic to me.

That all changed when he started referring to me as the "hottie with the high metabolism," among other uncomfortable expressions. It may not have happened at work, but it was nevertheless highly inappropriate and uncalled for. So you will understand my reasons for trying to cut off contact with him. The last time he asked me to join him for lunch, I had a "conflict," and I hadn't heard back from him since. But yesterday, the Creep somehow thought of me and said to himself, "I haven't talked to H in a long time. I should invite her to lunch and make sure she remains a reliable Blackberry contact." And, for some reason, I have a hard time being mean to people, especially if they can be deemed harmless. So he invited, I accepted, and off to lunch we went. It was as tortuous as expected, but I suppose it could have been worse.

So the question is, is it wrong to maintain a relationship with someone just because it's too hard to cut them off? Or worse, because of the possibility that you may someday benefit from them?

just shoot me

Today was one of those work days that everyone has upon returning from an extended weekend. I walked in, saw that abominable red light on my phone, sighed, and hunkered down for a long day of checking voice mails and returning emails highlighted in bold. Which is really not all that terrible, since such days pass by much more quickly than those void of "New Message" popups and incessant call-center-like ringing.

It was all well and good until I did what I was supposed to do. I gathered the appropriate data. I put up with being pushed aside despite the fact that I had a deadline (albeit self-imposed) of 5 pm this evening. In fact, I was still gathering data at 4:20 this afternoon, when my great-grand-boss decided to have an impromptu meeting - with me at the helm, and no preparations in hand. Fabulous! Nevertheless, I toiled through it all and emerged victorious when I sent the data on its way with 7 minutes to spare.

NOT TWO MINUTES LATER, I received a frantic email begging for more explanation.

Do you really mean that your group will need an additional 2 million plus dollars in your budget? Do you understand that as operating costs grow we are trying to CUT BACK on corporate costs? Don't you know that money must be saved somewhere??

Yes, I understand. I know where you're coming from. But I'm just the messenger, and, after mentally formulating a politically correct response to you, it's now 5:03 and I am officially wiping my hands clean of this.

At least for today.

musings on a weekend well-spent

Happiness is reuniting with your childhood best friend and realizing that, while you have both grown and matured throughout the years, you will always retain a certain bond that allows you to finish each others' thoughts. To choose eerily similar outfits for the day by mere coincidence. To recall entire events of your childhood by merely uttering a few words of a phrase. To realize that you still share an affinity for the same style of small-ass (but not XSmall-ass) underwear. To share a new story or past experience and know that it will be understood and appreciated without need for any explanation. To spend 4 straight days and 3 straight nights without getting sick of one another.

And then there's that other happiness that comes when you are truly content with your life. I have been living in Texas for just over 2 unconsecutive years, and have, at times, wondered if this is really what I want. If living here is something that I do because of the steady income, or somethat that was done by choice. After spending a long weekend with someone that appears, by all standards of a typical Texas resident, to have a fabulously exciting life and everything going for her, one might think that I would be on the first one-way flight to anywhere-but-the-Bible-Belt. So might I.

Which is why it was so surprising - and refreshing - to discover that spending the weekend with said friend was actually exactly the kick in the pants I needed to realize how great it is here. Of course there are times when I miss living in a big city. But I've been there, done that. Where else can I go to a real-life rodeo, eat fried cheesecake, wear t-shirts 10 months out of the year, and hop on a cruise ship to Mexico? Life in Texas continues to be an adjustment, but I am really starting to see it for what it is - a new chapter in my life. Eventually, this chapter will probably end. But until that happens, I plan on turning over a new leaf and enjoying all the fruits that this great state has to offer!

Having come to this conclusion during the drive back from the airport, my resolve to approach TX life anew was strengthened when I was met in downtown Cowtown by a BNSF coal train slowly pulling into the station as I sped under the tracks towards home. Now if that isn't symbolic, I just don't know what is.

And besides, when I get really homesick for the East Coast, a plane ticket is just $189 away...

Bienvenue!

So here I am, finally jumping on the blogging bandwagon. I am simultaneously ashamed and elated. Enjoy, and cheers to the multitudes of posts that surely await you....

I wonder how long it will be until I tire of this project?