Ah HA!

We have rebelled! And have decided to plaster this humongo map in our inter-office window to keep the looky-loos from bothering us.

I know, I know ... I hear those mumblings of "oh, how ghetto!". But there is method to our madness, wee grasshoppers!

First off, we have privacy. And may now actually be able to get some work (or surfing, whatever) done without continually being distracted/interrupted (and/or caught! ;)).

But because it is ghetto, we figure it will also inspire the higher-ups to get their butts in gear with regard to ordering the much promised blinds. What with my not having seen anyone even measure for them yet. ;)

And in the meantime, who wants to know where the South Sandwich Island is?? (mmmm ... sandwich!) ;)

Same Chaos - New Location

This is Day 2 at the new place ... and it looks much like Day 1 did!

Boxes, boxes everywhere ... and not a drop to drink. (oh wait)

But my little corner of the world here (ie my office) is shaping up ... and I have email and internet so really ... what else do I need, right??

Oh, I know ... I need BLINDS to cover the window that goes from my office out into the main office, that's what I need. Because it's like living in a fishbowl, I tell ya! And my officemate and I are in a very high traffic area too so lots of people are going by and looking in at us.

I'm thinking we should hang a sign that says "please don't feed the programmers". Or maybe a sign on some Informative Programmer Tidbits ... ya know, for those viewing us in our natural habitat.

Though my officemate R sits right in front of that inter-office window and thinks we should paint vertical stripes on it to resemble prison bars and then hang a phone on the outside of the wall so people can pick it up to talk to him as if they're visiting an inmate .

hehe.

3 weeks til the blinds arrive and counting....

Though the location of this building is nowhere near as scenic as the last, R and I do have a view of a creek outside our office window. So that's nice at least. See? It's down there somewhere ... really.

And the other thing I'm excited about here is that we're on the fourth floor and so I can walk the 4 flights of stairs daily for a little bit of exercise (HEY ... every little bit counts, right?) :) Of course, the entrance to the stairwell on the 4th floor is a 9-1-1 episode waiting to happen. Because there is a little alleyway with empty space on each side that you need to cross to get from the stairwell door to the 4th floor stair landing. And the drop-off the side looks like this!

Eek! I'm paranoid when I'm coming up the stairs that when I reach the 4th floor and am crossing this suspended alleyway that someone will quickly open the door from the other side just as I'm reaching for it and send me flying off over the railing. (who me? Paranoid? pshahhh! ;))

So I'm being careful!

And there you go ... the Office Move Update. Hopefully things will settle down soon but I think the worst of it is over (*knock on wood*)

A Vision of Chaos

So the company I work at is moving to a new building today. Yep, moving an entire company. Can you say, "good times"?!

And apparently the movers show up today at 2pm PST. It's almost noon and I was just walking around to see where things stood and it just ain't lookin' good, peeps! Here's a shot of one of the rooms now.

Does it look like this will be ready to go by 2pm to anyone?

Yeah, me neither. Especially being that the entire place looks like that!!


Of course, a better question might be .... what the hell is the company doing with one of these??

And how do I find a work related use for it at my desk??? :)

Anyway, wish us luck. And send any Time-Slowing Devices you may have. I'm thinkin' we will need them!!! ;)

You Know You Are A Shoe Whore When...

....your new coworker comes to your office to ask you a work question and you interrupt him to say "hey, are those Keens you are wearing???"

Uh yeah.

....


Of course, You Know He's A Shoe Whore When ....his face lights up at your question and he starts prattling on about how they compare to last year's model and about how he got them on sale and and and ...!

Yep.

I do believe he and I will get along just fine!! ;)

I'll see your paperclip and raise you a house!

Just found this story today on CNN's site. Seems a guy had a huge red paperclip and decided to barter it for something better. Then take the new item and barter it for something better. And so forth. And so forth. And so forth. Until he had a house!

He doesn't have a house yet. But at this point he has one free year rent on a house in Phoenix. So he has made QUITE some progress since starting out with a red paperclip less than a year ago, wouldn't you say?!

It's a really cool story. Here's a link to his site in case you are interested to see what's been involved in the trades so far. I'm pretty sure he'll get there. Just a matter of when not if!

P.S. Happy Birthday, Buck!!!!

I love you! (though I'm still planning on kicking your ass at shuffleboard ... birthday boy or no! ;))

I think this is what they call that "new fangled math"

So I needed a refill on one of CJ's prescriptions this weekend. And I needed to get the refill on Saturday so that I'd have a pill to give her on Sunday (who me....procrastinate much? :)).

So I call the vet on Saturday morning requesting a refill. The Front Desk Chick (FDC) says she will get approval from one of the veterinarians and the prescription should be available late afternoon.

Perfect! All according to plan.

Until .... the FDC calls me back and says that the vet she spoke to would like me to bring CJ in for some lab tests before he'll be willing to sign off on the refill.

Blasted!!

I mean, it's about time CJ went back in for lab tests just to make doubly sure that all is well. But the one vet I go to at that clinic is on maternity leave and I was hoping to take CJ in to her when she got back.

Foiled!

So, I take CJ in and, after getting her poked and prodded, I walk out 30 minutes later with: CJ, the $17 bottle of pills, a debit card receipt for $170*, and this:

Which is, they tell me, an At-Home Urine Sample Taker**.

Uh right.

Ideas?? .... Anyone??

Because at what point did .....

1 Syringe...

+ 1 Chinese Eggroll Holder....

+ 1 Ziploc Sandwich Bag....

+ 1 (Oh-So-Cute) Kitty ...

= 1 Testable Urine Sample?

I mean, sure sure, it all adds up nicely if'n I could get the kitty to pee in the Chinese Eggroll Holder. Because then all I'd have to do would be to suck it up in the Syringe and place the Syringe in the Ziploc Bag. Voila, right?! But uh yeahhhh, being that that ain't gonna happen ... I'm at a loss. ;) Anyone?


*ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

**So apparently my small-bladdered kitty had no urine sample to give up while we were AT the vet. So since the tests I paid for included a urine sample test they provided me with this kit with which to get my own sample to bring in.

Happy Easter, Everyone!!!!

Hi Y'all! I'm still alive ..... no,no really! :)

I have had the Programming Problem From Hell here at work this week! One in which even the CEO has kept inquiring into the progress (don't y'all just HATE those!!!). I finally had to resort to gathering three other developers in the old "4 heads have to be better than 1" theory. It didn't work. Yep, four (dare I say) Brilliant Problem Solvers, two straight days, zero concrete solutions! ARGH!

Which is nice on one hand. You know, it shows that the time I took scratching my head over this problem alone was justified. It really would have sucked to show someone else this problem and have them point out the solution in two-minutes flat after I'd just spent days scratching my head over it! Right? Right.

But still, that it isn't REALLY resolved kinda sucks. I mean, the code changes I made to catch what we think is happening should do the trick. (No, no really. I'm pretty confident about that.) But then again ... maybe they won't. And then what?? I mean, it's usually not so easy to stump the development staff.

Ah well, I'll cross that bridge if we come to it!

But anyway, that's not where I wanted to go with this post! ...lol. I just wanted to say a quick Happy Easter and show you this humungo Bunny! Love, love, love the feet!

And I was going to promise you that next week I'd be a better blogger. But then I remembered that next Friday this company is moving. (yeah, moving an entire company ... talk about a pain in the arse!!!). So I think every spare minute next week is going to go to sorting through years AND YEARS of papers I have here. Yeah, I know ... does the fun never stop??? ;)

But I'll try! :)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

I don't claim to be religious by any means.....

...but do chocolate crosses just seem wrong to anyone else??? :)

Only Knitting Progress it is ... sigh.

And really not all that much knitting got done this weekend, either.

I DID, however, finish Crazy Aunt Purl's Brangelina Hat! Whoohoooo!

(It looks grey but it's black, I SWEAR!)

My only issue was that the skein of baby alpaca kept knotting up. Seriously. I'd have it all wound nice and neat .... turn away to knit a stitch or two ... turn back... and the ball of yarn looked like it had battled a tornado! And lost! ARGH!

And detangling alpaca ain't so easy. Because it has little fuzzies that cling to little fuzzies on other strands and you can't tell if you've got an actual knot or just a co-mingling of the fuzzies (heh! ;)). Anyhoo ... I did finish the hat (after possibly some cursing and errr, maybe even the use of scissors) ...and it is fan-ta-bu-lous!!! Brad Pitt's of the world ... watch out!!! :)

So the wedding this weekend was at The Dalles Ranch in BFE*. And when I say BFE ... I ain't kidding. Once you drive from Portland to The Dalles (an hour and a half?) you head south til you turn onto a gravel road. Then meander for about 15 miles following directions such as: "when you see the row of mailboxes, go 0.6 miles then turn left." "Hang a right at the hairpin turn." You know, that kinda thing. All on the one lane gravel road with some massive dips filled with water. (so if you go, strap on your SUV. Just sayin').

However, as soon as you turn into the driveway you realize just how worthwhile the drive was! The ranch house was stunning! And the bride and groom put on a top notch weekend. They had me bunking down at the house. And the house included pool table, foos ball table, air hockey, dart boards, an AMAZING home theater, free concession stand, old-time popcorn maker, amazing Mt Hood views, serenading by a choir of frogs which sang every evening as you relaxed under the heat lamps on the deck, food, food, and more food, a sauna, a 8-person hot tub, steam showers, those huge fluffy white spa robes, an open bar ... and a big ole bonfire (note to self: next time pack marshmallows!). Oh wait ... and a wedding! :) It was really awesome!

Here are some pics:

The main room. There is a big screen tv which pops up outta the cabinet to the left of the fireplace in case the movie your friends selected for the theater room wasn't to your liking.

A couple of shots of the theater room (how do I get me one of these???):

The theater was AWESOME! Big comfy leather chairs which reclined all the way back. Big movie screen. And a control console between two seats in the back row which let you choose from about a 100 preloaded movies. Only thing missing was someone to run the console ... cuz let me tell you, Saturday night sometime after midnight about 6 of us decided a movie would be a great way to wind down. 30 minutes later we had to give up and track down the owner (who was still awake or we wouldn't have bothered him) to get the movie rolling for us. It was pathetic really ... but uhhh .... I mentioned the open bar, right?? :)

And this was the concession area in the game room, right outside the theater (how cute, right?):

All the bathrooms felt very spa like:

And here's a shot of the bonfire ... before and after it was lit (seriously, marshmallows, Graham Crackers and Hershey candybars, is all I'm sayin'! ;)):

Cool, huh?

And I lovelovelove that within this group of friends all the wedding ceremonies are performed by an ordained friend as opposed to a hired priest/minister. Since the bride at this wedding tends to be our "minister" for the others, her brother and one of her good friend both got ordained and together married her and the groom. I LOVE that. Just makes the wedding so much more personal.

Okay, so I hear my regular readers screaming ..... "screw the pictures and the wedding chatter ... what the HELL happened with you and that single guy you were going to have to share a room with???". (yeah, don't think I don't hear ya!!!). Well, let me tell ya folks .....absolutely BUPKUS happened! I don't think I said but two words to the guy. He didn't arrive until Saturday (the wedding day) and I was a bit preoccupied with the ceremony as well as with chatting with a bunch of friends that showed up at the same time. By the time all the dust settled and people started clearing out, he was already hanging with another single chick there. Which I figured works out just fine. Let someone else be the Rebound Chick I say! Anyway, so really ... no good stories to tell there. I think he, Buck and one other guy were the only single guys there. Just sad really. But ah well, Buck and I had a good time! (I know, I know ... not really the juicy gossip you were hoping for! ;))

Anyway, that was the weekend. Congrats again to D and J!! I'm so very happy for you and wish you all the best!

*which in this case was The Dalles, Oregon! (whodathunkit, eh?? :)

"MY" Friday Roundup!!

That's right, folks! This is MY Friday! Whoo hooooo! I head off tomorrow for a Weekend Wedding Extravaganza!! (no, not my wedding ... in case y'all were wondering! ;))

So I will be off of the blogosphere until Monday. But hopefully will have some entertaining stories for you when I get back. Especially being that I will be bunking down in one room with about 7 other people. Most of whom I don't know. One of whom I met once very briefly some time last year when he was still married. I know this ... because he had caught my eye and I had inquired. But now ... not married. And me ... sleeping in the same room. Which y'all might think is GREAT! But are you taking into consideration the Morning After HairDo? How about the M.A. Breath? The lack of makeup? What about the possible snoring? Yeah, I'm not thinking this is really a good thing! But good or bad .... it certainly will be a story! :)

I will also have stories about the knitting! Because I hope to do a ton while I am there! Especially now that Crazy Aunt Purl just revealed her Brangelina Hat Pattern!

And so at lunch today I ran out and purchased the Misti Alpaca Bulky yarn I chose to use with it!

Holy cow! Oh so soft! I may never get around to knitting with it because I'll be too busy petting it! (what?)

I have also started to knit a real teddy bear! And I am SOO jazzed about it! I just want to sit and knit it. But me ... busy. Haven't had any real time to do so. So far I have only gotten to here (no, I don't actually know which part of the bear this is!):

(Yeah, I'm not breaking any world speed knitting records.)

But hopefully I'll have more knitting progress to report on Monday. Or perhaps some OTHER kinda progress (*wink, wink*)

Until then. Hope y'all have a great weekend!!!

Call Guinness Books

So y'all ... I have hurt my foot. Yep, pulled some muscle in the arch area I think.

Now I hear you asking ... "but how, Kat? Perhaps playing tennis?? Hiking?? Volleyball maybe? Wild, steamy monkey sex?????"

Uh no.

Though I'd lovelovelove to be able to report hurting my foot doing some sort of physical activity, I actually hurt my foot ..... are you ready for this? .... (*insert drum roll here*) ...... as I stood looking in my closet trying to decide what to wear to work this morning.

Yes, you heard me correctly ... I said merely standing! No, I don't know why that caused the injury. All I know is that must put me in the Guinness Book running for the "You Know You Are Out Of Shape When" World Record. Cuz man, if that just ain't pathetic. Sigh.

This is fascinating!

So I just read today where a British and American citizen were detained for crossing (on foot!!!) the Bering Strait into Russia. They had failed to first gain the Russian government's permission and didn't enter at an official border crossing.

Apparently this British Citizen, Karl Bushby, has a quest to walk the entire world. He started in 1998 and has completed almost half the trek so far. He has a team in the UK who blog about his progress. And Karl adds some journalling posts and photos as well.

Y'all should check out his website. Those entries are absolutely fascinating! Man, talk about crazy! But in a very cool way.

And so I wish him all the best. I really hope the Russian government allows him to continue his journey! I, for one, am excited to see him finish!

I SWEAR to God, People!!!!!

What the bloody hell!!??!! SERIOUSLY! I know I've mentioned this before ... but really ... if you're trying to sell your house, why OH WHY, would these be the only pictures you posted of it??!!

Can anyone tell me that?! Because this is CRAZY!

And the weirdest part is that I swear that's the same shot ... maybe just a year later during a different season. So why? I mean, it's a nice bush and all ... but what the F does the HOUSE look like???!!!!!!!!!!! You know, the house ... the thing you are trying to sell!

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!*

*who me? Frustrated with this whole house buying thing? Pshahhhh. What makes you say that??? ;)