BashUp

So Much to Do, So Little Time: Ran errands today, getting some essentials and looking for that Tissot watch, a new backpack and a new camera bag. At least I got the essentials covered - no luck on the rest. Crammed in housework and some work writing, with more to come, and followed qualifying for the IRL race in St. Pete tomorrow. Put the new dust ruffle and freshly-washed quilt on the big huge enormous bed - seems like it takes half an hour to change the linens on it. It’s only a queen-sized bed, but it’s the size of Rhode Island on linens day! Tomorrow, more writing, housework and errands. No rest for the overworked…

I.R.A.: Heard from my friend Ira today - he’s on the road working. (Also got a text fom my UK pal, still celebrating his birthday). Ira shared some tentative plans for my musical pals this summer, and spoke about the difficulties of conducting a long-distance relationship (his lady lives in Indiana - he’s in Seattle). We’re both so busy we haven’t kept in touch lately, so it was nice to catch up a bit.

And Mellieeeee!!!: Add Mellie to my recent visitors. (Well, see her comment on my last post - she added herself. *grin*) Hope all’s well in Tejas, my friend. (You too, Joel in “clear-on-the-other-side-of” Tejas.)

Love My Nikon: Here’s a shot I took of Sabrina with my new D80 and the amazing 85mm f1.4 lens. This was shot in very low light. Isn’t this the best funny-face ever?

I’m Done: This has been another insane week. Everything’s on a fast track schedule, more last minute stuff is coming in all the time, and my boss will be out next week, which means I’ll have some of her duties. One of the things she handed to me is super top secret - it’s not a big project in terms of the amount of work, but when it becomes public knowledge…well, let’s just say it’s HUGE news. Exciting!

Workin’ on the Weekend: Anymore, if I have large writing projects, I have to do them at home. I’m going to be a writin’ fool this weekend - have a ton of projects that are due front part of next week. At least I’ll have Giants’ baseball and the IndyCar race from St. Pete, FL to keep me company during all the writing.

Passers-by: Readers from various parts of the US and UK the last few days.

Performance Review Time: We have a ratings system at work that categorizes an employee’s overall annual performance as Below Target (BT), On Target (OT) or Above Target (AT). Not many people are BT - they usually don’t last - and it’s TOUGH to get an AT, but that’s what I go this time, along with double the average percentage as a merit increase in pay. My review went really well with my boss. We had a great chat about what we can do this coming year to build my new team and further my leadership skills. It was a good day.

Freezeframe!: My camera gear arrived today: Nikon D80, 50mm f1.4, 85 mm f1.4 (my DREAM lens!) and an 18-70mm f3.5 super wide angle. Lens cases, a couple memory cards totaling 4 gigabytes of memory and some accessories rounded out the buy. I’m good to go for photos for a long time to come…

Comfy Cozy: Finally found a quilt I loved online at Linensource, and a nice dust ruffle and shams that will work with it online at Target. They’ve arrived and look nice and cozy and inviting…my digital camera’s broken, but a new one is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Show ya later this week when I have everything washed and installed. *grin*

New Viewers: Cote D’Ivoire, Slovenia and Argentina stopped by this week. Also, my frequent visitor from Ashburn, VA. Plus, all my family and pals in the middle.

Dominant Dan: Mr. Wheldon and his Target Chip Ganassi #10 Honda-powered Dallara dominated the race last night to start the racing season. He’s already focused on the Indianapolis 500. In the year after his 2005 victory, it became apparent how deeply he feels about that race, often gettng emotional when talking about the importance of the event. He ruffled feathers in British racing circles when accepting an award - he declared the 500 the best race in the world, ticking off Bernie Ecclestone and all the F1 snobs.

Shopping: Spending some of my bonus - camera gear and the like - it should arrive later this week. Hoofed around the last couple of days to run errands, and I’m on the lookout for a particular model Tissot watch, so having to visit lots of jewelers here in the city. So far, no luck…

Go Fast, Turn Left: As I type, the IndyCar Series has begun its season at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Dan Wheldon won the pole and is dominating the race at the halfway point. Funny - I grew up with this type of racing in central Indiana, and I’m passionate about it. The rest of the racing world is of mild interest in comparison. The crown jewel of the series, the Indianapolis 500, is an event without equal in the world, and I’ve been lucky enough to spend some time at the speedway, including one entire May (1990) attending practices, qualifying sessions and the race. May at Indy is an incredibly intense experience - no where else in the world do drivers spend an entire month at a track, preparing and qualifying for a single race. Add that to the exposure, the tradition, the history and the massive purse, and Indy shines like a rare gem. And May’s just around the corner…

RIP, Tom: A former colleague at WBST-FM (now Indiana Public Radio), Tom Hammond, passed away this week from complications after open heart surgery. He was just 40 years old. WBST is licensed to Ball State University and had an award-winning news staff comprised mainly of students (Tom was a couple years behind me). My fondest memories of him are the playful spats a bunch of us would have over custody of WBST’s Media Pit Passes for the Month of May/Indianapolis 500. The newsroom was filled with race fans, and we’d have to sit down with calendars and sort out who could go on which day and then schedule the passes accordingly. Tom would always bring back great audio of the cars and drivers. I always came back with photos.

The IndyCar season begins this week, and I know Tom would have been keenly following the races leading up to the 500. I gotta think he’ll have the best seat in the house for the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” from now on…

Ugh: Went to work today, but ended up getting a ride to the train and coming home after two hours. Worked some more at home this afternoon/evening, but heading to bed early again to try and chase this thing away. My boss is sick, also, and has been out for three days. Other teammies were out last week with it. One of my co-workers calls our floor “the world’s largest petrie dish”…

Bonus!: Tomorrow we get our bonuses, and I’ll be online this weekend ordering all that new camera gear I’ve been hankerin’ for. Already lined up a Tourmaline mani/pedi at Cinta for Saturday. Time for some pamperin’! Will be heading in for another massage at Novella, soon.

Visits: Same readers as usual, plus a visit from Lancashire in the UK, and someone in Florida, and a few Californians.

Ribbit!: Worked from home with some kind of bug. For a good bit of the day, I couldn’t stand to see a light source and my voice was nearly gone. Very dizzy. Shifted my work hours to this evening and got a good amount done. I’m ready for a weekend, even though it’s only Tuesday…guess that means I could use a vacation. *grin* I’m looking into visiting family around the last weekend of April or first weekend of May, depending on my work load. Ya’ll in Indiana, get ready for my invasion!

Bizzier ‘n’ Bizzier: Worked a lot last night and cranked out tons o’ work today, plus had a meeting with my recruiter and did a phone screen with a candidate for my open position. We’re bringing him in for a chat on Wednesday, so at least that ball’s rolling. Hopefully it won’t be long before I’m actually managing someone…it sure would be nice to have another set of hands on deck.

Drained: Was in the office past 9 pm last night working on copy for a protoytpe test. Caught a ride to the train station and didn’t get home for another hour because of the limited runs the trains make at night. Ended up going to bed at about 1 am, when I’m usually asleep by ten. Of course, I woke at 6 as usual, despite having turned off my alarm clock. Still trying to fight off a bug and extremely exhausted by all the stress. I need to work this weekend, but at least for today, I’m taking a break…

SLAP’ed: Today was just one of those days. We’re working on a special project (known as SLAP - I can’t tell ya what that stands for, though) that has been accelerated and compressed. No worries, except that we writers were not informed. So today, both myself and the other writer were working from home, trying to crank out our other projects so as to be free for SLAP next week, when word comes that final copy for protoype testing is due today. It was news to our boss as well, who was freaking out over that and another reason - turns out she had to let someone go today. (The last thing our team needs is another open position - we’ve had trouble filling them for a few months now, since the writing market is so hot and the competition for writers is fierce.) So everything was a fire to put out today - the other writer and I got on the phone and came up with some great copy together, and then we went in for a late day set of meetings about SLAP and about the firing. I woke up this morning not feeling great (took Nyquil and went to bed at 7 pm last night), and with all the stress of the day, I have a headache now. It’s not a terrible one, but I rarely get a headache of any sort and tend to be a baby about them when I do. (Waaaaaaaaaah! LOL!) So I’m going to bed early again tonight. Look for me to be online working this weekend…

Draggin’: Can’t tell if I’m just exhausted or coming down with YET ANOTHER BUG, but I’m not taking any chances. A long bubble bath will be followed by a belt of Nyquil and a good long sleep. I’m working from home tomorrow to get some serious blocks of writing covered, so I can sleep late if I need to.

Bonus: Found out the gross total of my bonus today. NICE number. Now if they just didn’t have to take away so much in taxes. I’ve already got plans for the money - spend some, save some - so it’s just a matter of what the net total ends up being. A trip back to Indiana to see the family is among the plans I’m making for it.

Sleepy: The downside to the warm weather - sometimes it’s hard to sleep. When it’s warm, it’s usually the wee hours of the a.m. before it cools down in my apartment, so the last two nights I’ve been waking up warm and tossing off some blankets, then waking up cold and pulling them back up. The felines are more restless, too. They want to sleep next to me, but it gets too warm for them, so they move around a lot. For some reason, their “prefurred” passage on the bed includes a trip across my pillow - it’s hard to stay asleep with cats walking all around your head. *grin*

The fog’s rolling in now, so it will be back to normal tonight…

Parisian Proxy: My Proxad/Dedibox visitor(s) are still poking away at that Year in Review post on my blog. Always turns up a 403 or 404 code. Had a bunch of SPAM attempts the last couple of weeks, but installed some antispam plugins and they are all gone…

Crankin’ It Out: Got lots done at work, including a good power walk before lunch. Another stunning day - was great to get out and enjoy it. Our building is on a public trail south of Candlestick Point, and the walk takes me past a marina and along the bay and it’s always bliss to be out there on a gorgeous day. More weather like this all week…we need rain, but it’s just so perfect when the weather’s like this.

Wow: It was perfect today - 75 degrees, a slight breeze and only a few puffy white clouds in a periwinkle sky. Took care of a lot of errands today, and it was all made easy by the stunning vistas from Nob and Russian Hills. Heard the Giants game - another win - and got a great walk in, as well as some intense yoga stretches. Feeling a little tired now - should sleep like a wee tot tonight! Great news is that this weather should last, with only slightly cooler temperatures, for 7 more days at least. Gotta find a way to get away from my desk a few times this week and get in a walk.

Gorgeous: A lovely, gorgeous, beautiful day. Out and about for most of it - got a manicure with Kim at Cinta, then did a little shopping, but mostly walked. Came home and heard a most of the Giant’s spring training win against The Rangers. Wandered around the Inner Richmond for a bit on my way to meet Gus tonight and ran into my coworker Jay Trainer - that’s always fun! Then had my favorite pizza and lots of nice time to chat with Gus. He dropped me at home (on the other side of town) afterward, and on the way there, I played the Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible for him (he’d never heard them). Gus worked for Sony when they introduced the compact disc, and then all through the 80s consulting on, engineering, authoring and/or editing hundreds of albums - he’s pretty much heard it all. He heard a song or two before we got too far, and I noticed he was taking the long way. He really loved it.

Spring Forward Early: Wheee! I love light, so an extra month of DST works for me!

Tuckered: Man, I’m tired. I’m waiting for a grocery delivery, and then it’s bubble bath and bed for me, and I don’t care if it’s 8pm. In fact, I hope it’s that early! LOL!

Grateful: As tired as it’s making me, I am SO fortunate to be in the position I have at work. One of the merchandising writers and I are joining with a team of designers to explore a very important potential shift in how we do things. Can’t say any more about it except that it could change everything, and for the better. Really exciting!

introspective: A big hit for Boston (the band) back in the 70’s says “Don’t Look Back,” but I can’t help but reflect on my ‘tween and early teen days when that band’s music filled the airwaves everywhere I went. This evening we learned that lead singer Brad Delp was found dead in his home today. No foul play suspected, and an autopsy report is due Monday. He was 55. Always marveled at how he could sing much higher than I ever could, and although I didn’t follow the band that closely after the 70’s, I recall occasionally reading comments from people about what a genuinely good human being he was. RIP, Mr. Delp.

Free!: Well, at least for the weekend. As much as I’m loving my work at the moment, I need a breather. A Tourmaline Manicure awaits me tomorrow at Cinta, then Gus and I meet tomorrow evening for dinner. Sunday is supposed to be a stunning day, and I hope to spend it wandering my bestest and most favorite parts of San Francisco.

It’s Been a Day: Crazy from the start - but the brilliant part - we’ve been joined in the flesh by none other than Ohmygod JohnFall! (This is what my boss calls him…) My beloved offsite contractor has joined us in SF for a couple of days of marketing copywriting training my team is getting. He’s so much fun to have around!

Freaky: Been clearing out some old stuff in storage and ran across a printout of a magazine article that gives me pause. A few years ago I was involved with a musician, and since I was also involved in his fandom pretty heavily, I wanted to remain anonymous - only a couple of my bestest friends knew. (I can mention it here because I’m usually involved in a few fandoms, so good luck sorting it out! :p) One morning I awoke to emails from each of those friends, each with scanned pictures of a nationally-published interview that contained some very thinly-veiled references to me. Our little tryst ended three years ago and I’d forgotten about it, so it was weird to see that article again…

Gazing Arizona: Someone in Phoenix read every single page of my blog yesterday. They must truly be bored! *grin* Howdy to mi familia and my friends back east. And Joel, deep in the heart of Tejas.

Checkin’ In: Things are just getting more and more hectic at work, so there’s not much motivation to write when I don’t have to once I get home. Never fear - I’m here! The joke is growing at work… Person 1: “We need a UI writer for this project. We could assign it to Bash or, uh, Bash.” Person 2: “Hey, I have a great idea - let’s assign it to Bash!” Once I hit “Publish” on this post, I gotta log in to work and write some more…

Neon Bible: Downloaded the new Arcade Fire album today, and have spent much of the day getting to know it. Good stuff!

GUS!: My dear pal Gus will be in town this week, recording up at Skywalker Ranch. He runs Super Audio Center in Boulder (which used to be a division of Sony Electronics - they developed DSD/SA-CD hardware and software called Sonoma). We’ll definitely be heading to Giorgio’s for our favorite pizza. Looking forward to it.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!: That’s the usual new year greeting you hear in Chinatown this time of year. The world’s largest Chinese festival outside of Asia, the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade, has just wrapped up. It can can take 3 hours to complete and over 1/2 million people were expected to come watch the procession this year - the weather has been perfect this weekend. I can’t bear to be in crowds that large, so I watched on TV while enjoying RnG Lounge’s Special Beef over rice, along with chicken and corn soup. (RnG is a well-known Chinese restuarant just 4 blocks away - I stopped in for some take away late this afternoon.) It’s going to be tough to sleep tonight due to noise - it’s too warm to close the windows, and I live 1/2 block from the Stockton tunnel that runs under Nob Hill. It’s a favorite place for kids to light bricks of firecrackers, which have been going off pretty constantly since sundown, along with larger fireworks. The cats are in hiding, of course… *grin*

… and Fired Up!: Got tix for both the June 1st and June 2nd shows at the Greek Theater. Finally gonna see this band for myself.  Woo hoo!

Not-so-Giants: Lost to the Brewers 21-2 this afternoon. Ouch.

Catalog My Catalogs: Funny, just yesterday morning I was grumbling via email to a friend about how much I hate junk mail in my mailbox - credit card offers, coupons, etc. But I love to get catalogs, because I enjoy stimulating the economy but hate shopping malls and large stores. Checked my mail today…SIX catalogs. I guess the universe heard me. Makes for enjoyable reading during my bubble baths…

Rise ‘n’ Shine: Pip and I were playing a game via text today (I was pretty bored waiting for some info at work). We were matching some of our acquaintances-in-common with breakfast cereals. We know, as a collective, folks we call Fruit Loops (and sometimes “soggy Fruit Loops in the bottom of the bowl”). Among that collective, we have Frosted Flakes, Fruity Pebbles, Malt-o-Meal, Cream of Wheat, Mueslix, Shredded Wheat (shows the sweet side until you get lured in, then…FLIP! goes soggy much faster than advertised…), Grape Nuts, Post Toasties, Rice Crispies, Cocoa Puffs, Trix, Cap’n Crunch, Fiber One, Special K, she is Lucky Charms, and I am Apple Jacks.

Please Check In: Been trying to contact a couple of folks in Alabama - please check in and let me know you’re safe after the storms.

Giants: Won their Cactus League opener against the Cubs, 9-2. Woohoo!

(Someone’s wearin’ their) Proxy Frock: Several attempts today, using the same French anonymous proxy server as a month ago, trying to read my 2006 Year in Review. Strangely, several folks have been trying to read that post (must be all those exciting bath products I listed!), but often they get the wrong URI for it. Speaking of reading, here’s a shout out to Joel, who found this spot via Google and said it was fun to see my mentions of who was reading me and where. Nice to hear from you again, ya Texan!