amc_chandler

playing on the train tracks

Feb. 9th, 2010 at 7:10 AM

A and I are down on the Peninsula following the CalTrain corridor. We' stopped at every train station from San Jose to Candlestick Park, taking note of what buildings are there and if there are any historic structures. Today is research at the Redwood City library (the old firehouse) and then hitting the archives at the San Mateo County Museum just a few blacks down. It's so very nice to be playing down here once again. We had yummy Thai in Palo Alto for lunch yesterday and then Indian food with my sister for dinner. I'm planning on hitting my favorite fruit stand in Redwood City before we leave this afternoon as well. And a used bookstore that I haven't been to in a couple of years.

The best part was wonderful hotel sleep last night. I didn't sleep in long enough, but I dropped off about two minutes after I put my head down. That only happens at hotels. Or rather, places that aren't my house. I love it. Wasn't too big a fan of the whirlpool tub though. Just too noisy and jarring to be relaxing. I think I only mananged two pages in my book before I had to get out.

Location:San Carlos
Mood: bouncy

another move

Feb. 7th, 2010 at 9:01 AM

Two weekends in a row of moving people. I don't think there's another one for a few months, so that's good. And that will be moving my sister out before she looses her house.

It was an interesting move yesterday but J and the baby are finally settled in a house for at least the next 4 years. The pathetic sperm donor played Napoleon, following us from room to room and then hovering in the garage with his arms crossed over his chest. But we happily ignored him and did our best to make sure he didn't get J alone for very long. He did the expected petty "you don't get to take that," which we ignored, and had the nerve to ask for the garage door opener for the new girlfriend. Dude, it's still J's house. Technically, you're squatting. But we'll deal with that soon enough.

yummy

Feb. 6th, 2010 at 9:55 PM

I just love watching Christian Kane kicking butt on Leverage. Grabbing people and throwing them around...

And I really want to play with his hair.

Location:home again
Mood: giddy

Monopoly makeover

Feb. 5th, 2010 at 7:25 AM

I do not approve. A circular board? Clips of Beyonce and Rhianna? No actual cash? That part is the most annoying to me. I was always the banker. And as the article says, "it seems that when it comes to Monopoly, half the fun comes from cheating by stealing from the till when nobody's looking." We always played Monopoly while sitting on the floor and it was no problem for me to slip an extra $500 under my leg. Yup. I'm a thief.

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/108764/monopoly-gets-a-makeover-but-will-die-hard-fans-buy-it??mod=family-home

Early Holocene

Feb. 4th, 2010 at 2:55 PM

Only one site dating to the terminus of this period has been discovered in San Francisco, CA-SFR-28, the “BART skeleton.” This human skeleton was found at a depth of 22.9 meters below the surface. The location of the find was at the Civic Center BART station located on Market Street between 7th and 8th Streets. Radiocarbon dating of an organic mud sample associated with the remains returned a date range of 3200 to 2700 B.C. This find remains the earliest evidence of human occupation in San Francisco.

I knew all that time I spent in museums would come in handy :) And on Monday I get to go to the San Mateo History Museum in Redwood City followed by lunch at one of my favorite sushi places down there. Then trips to all the historic train stations along the CalTrain corridor and Thai food with my sister for dinner. happyhappyhappy

Mood:geeky
Music:While My Guitar Gently Weeps

old stuff

Feb. 3rd, 2010 at 5:09 PM

Since returning from Texas I've been concentrating on helping our cultural resources team do a historic inventory for the high speed train project. Logging architecturally relevant buildings, writing city histories, finding prehistoric site records, and I'm loving it. This may become my professional focus. We need another architectural historian and I've taken enough art history and architecture classes that it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for me. My degree is in history and I would be working with a good friend who is organized and sarcastic and a little bit nuts. Perfect for me. Now to convince the supervisor...

pre-opp appointment

Feb. 3rd, 2010 at 12:58 PM

Just got back from the pre-opp appointment for my foot. I was concerned that surgery might be canceled. I had done a lot of running around over the weekend, and when I woke up Monday morning, the cyst was gone. It's slowly coming back, so she said if the lump wasn’t back to a decent size a week before surgery, then I should have her take a look at it. But we’re pretty sure I'll be cut open on March 2nd.

Got my prescription for vicodin and turned in my disability papers. Also got the lab slip for blood work and the EKG. Need to call and schedule that. Took xrays of my foot and she was able to see the bone that sticks up right over the arch. So that bone spur is going to be shaved down at the same time the cyst is removed. And she was surprised that I didn’t have arthritis. The joint between proximal and distal phalanges is completely obliterated. Couldn’t see the lines where the bones stopped.

unsettled

Feb. 1st, 2010 at 10:04 AM

It's really tense on my side of the office today. Directly across from me is the now empty office of a marketing coordinator who was fired on Friday. They say it was because of performance, but no one had an issue with his work. I’ve checked. It was a personality issue with his alcoholic control freak bitch of a boss. Everyone around here liked him. He joined in for paintball and laser tag outings and since he was always here way too early in the morning, we were coffee buds. A good portion of the office was up in arms over it on Friday and we went for a liquid lunch.

On either side of that empty office are people having more personality conflicts. There was yelling when we got back from lunch on Friday and HR has been called in. I'm actually pissed that HR was called as no attempt was made to handle this internally. This is a family-like office and it just feels like we've been tattled on. Now all the managers are in meetings, coming and going from these offices, and I hear snippets of conversation and lots of doors closing. do not like

Mood: anxious
Music:Feet on the Ground - Josh Schramm

and the green grass grew all around

Jan. 31st, 2010 at 9:13 PM

We moved friends from San Rafael to Santa Rosa yesterday. It was such a beautiful drive. As we were going past Petaluma and into Cotati I started thinking about how much I would love to move back to that area. The rolling hills, the open green fields, my trees, horses, chickens, the smell of mud... I miss it. Moving out to unincorporated Petaluma at 14 brought the first bit of peace to my childhood. And it's still home to me. The one place that evokes a visceral reaction. Although Ireland is a close second.

I don't know what would ever bring me out there again, but I'd go willingly. I'd happily deal with wells and septic systems and having backup generators in exchange for the joy a couple acres of land would bring me. And I wouldn't need my asthma meds any longer.

Location:couch with cats
Mood: nostalgic

not my favorite day

Jan. 29th, 2010 at 10:42 AM

Things fell apart a year ago today. I lost a world of things that made me happy. Things that made me relax and take time for myself. I've stopped doing that and I don't like the person I've become once again. I need to finish closing that door. I need to throw out a box of memories I was asked to hold on to but aren't mine. I need to finish deleting voicemails. I need to find me again.

Mood: blah
Music:Love n Rockets

too young for wii

Jan. 28th, 2010 at 1:59 PM

Munchkin duty Tuesday night... my friend's 4 year old son furiously playing Legos Star Wars on the wii and he hands the controls to me and says to make Chewie run across this platform and into the other room. Except I can't do it. I am unable to make Chewie run a straight line and he keeps falling off the walkway. W looks over at me in tone too serious for his age says, "maybe you aren't old enough to play." I hand the wii controls back to him and say that he's probably right.

Mood: groggy
Music:Plimsouls - Oldest Story in the World

snow porn

Jan. 24th, 2010 at 10:46 AM

trip to the foot doctor

Jan. 22nd, 2010 at 8:46 AM

After being chided by a sweet old man in the waiting room for not wearing winter clothes, and being told by the nurse that I have really high arches and square toes, the podiatrist confirmed that it's a ganglion cyst that needs to be removed. Sometime in mid February, the top of my left foot will be cut open from the base of my big toe to my ankle. After the cyst is removed they will have to pack the area with gauze and I'll have to remove bit by bit every day so it heals from the inside and I'm not left with a pocket in the top of my foot. I'll have to take two weeks off of work so that everything heals properly and I'm not left with a huge scar across my foot. As often as my feet are naked, I really don't want that.

Mood: lazy
Music:Buffy Season 3

Food Rules

Jan. 21st, 2010 at 1:16 PM

Eat food, not edible food-like substances. I just watched an older episode of The Daily Show and Michael Pollan was on talking about his book, Food Rules, and that was the main rule. It was funny timing, because while staying at J's house, the only options were food-like substances. Nothing real. White bread, frozen Bagel Pizza Bites, frozen mac&cheese, Lucky Charms, Eggos, chicken nuggets, Uncrustables, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, and I don't remember what else. There was string cheese for the baby, but no cheese with which to make a grilled cheese sandwich. No eggs or lunch meat or frozen chicken. I don't expect to have all organic free-range totally unprocessed stuff, hell I love Cheez-Its, but some fresh fruit would have been nice. Or even some canned tuna.

bad auntie

Jan. 19th, 2010 at 8:11 PM

The baby got his first bruise on my watch. I know, he's 15 months old and should have had one by now, but the kid doesn't bruise easily. Unlike his auntie. But today, he was further away from the coffee table than he thought, and slipped when he went to pull himself up. Big purple spot on his forehead. Ten seconds later he was giggling though. That part was more like me :)

Location:J's place
Mood: amused

my toes hurt

Jan. 18th, 2010 at 8:50 AM

It's supposed to be a holiday. The building manager was not told we were working today. There is no heat. If my nose gets any more red, I'm leaving.

Location:stupid work
Mood: cold

happy birthday mom

Jan. 17th, 2010 at 9:37 AM

making caramel brownies and missing you

he'd make a plan and follow through...

Jan. 15th, 2010 at 10:38 AM

That's what Brian Boitano'd do! I'm working on the history of Sunnyvale right now and just ran across the fact that he is a native of that town. So now I'm singing, "and when Brian Boitano was in the Alps fighting Grizzly bears, he used his magic fire breath and saved the maidens fair."

I need to find my South Park movie soundtrack.

tgif

Jan. 15th, 2010 at 9:19 AM

I don't think I'm going to manage to get anything accomplished today. Already I've spent a half hour putting an email together just to send a couple of documents to our project team. This isn't rocket science but after a few weeks with no quality sleep, everything feels like rocket science. I really thought that I'd be able to do a bit of catch-up last night, but i saw the clock hit 1:30 and I'm still waking up at 6:30. I need my 9 hours, damnit. Maybe I should set up the tent in the backyard. I always sleep well when I'm camping...

client meeting

Jan. 13th, 2010 at 10:24 AM

My first one is today. Well the first one where I actually have to participate. I'm doing the training for our team website, which I have yet to use. Good thing I'm great with the bullshit. Until 9 this morning, it had been planned that I would be doing the training from my office by way of speaker phone and no web session, just hoping that they'd follow along correctly. The team lead changed his mind an hour ago, and I am now headed to the client's office. Good thing I wore real clothes and shoes today. Just need to do the makeup. And I much prefer face to face meeting as I am not a phone person at all. I need to be able to smile at people and see them react and glare at them when the aren't paying attention...

Advertisement