9/29/07

This morning I got up bright and early for my review. Andy made coffee while I got ready and out the door. It always surprises me how I manage to mess around in the morning and get out the door late.

The review session was ... OK. I regretted not buying an all-day parking pass, because with the new train construction, more than half of the super-cheap parking meters on campus are gone. Next semester. It's worth $40 to save myself the supreme irritation of driving around looking for a parking lot, giving, up, and paying $8 for a few hours. Anyway, the review went the whole two hours it was scheduled, but our group meeting was quick and painless afterward. One of my group members went to Redondo to see the artist who draws those fantastic three-dimensional chalk drawings like this:


I ended up home early, and stopped in to Michael's to look for birthday gifts. I didn't see anything that I was looking for. Then I remembered Ross usually has amazing picture frames (I won't say for who!) but at that point I really wanted to get home and start my paper. I reviewed Andy's photobook of Alaska, and finished the paper after a couple of hours of straight work.

Based on TMZ and People magazine, it appears that nothing happens in LA on the weekends.

Talked to home again. Did I mention before that I haven't made any wedding plans? I don't think I've made this clear to everyone. And yes, it is a mere year and a half away.

I went for a pretty slow 2.75 mile run in about 30 minutes. I love how many calories running burns! As for the diet, I've lost hardly any weight at all. But, just that little bit has been very good. My "bad" days seem to be negated by all the water I've been drinking. And I mean a LOT of water! But, my skin doesn't seem as dry. After my shower I cleaned, because I was still stressed from the phone call, the lack of time I have for the people I care about because of school, and being the world's worst wedding planner.

I made beef & broccoli with rice noodles for dinner. I haven't had that in ages! While I ate I looked up reception sites and read over my groups' papers. Apparently the thing to do is hang out in your driveway and play music really loudly from your car. Of the ranchero variety.

We had another group meeting to talk about the paper, and I finished up a couple of slides for the presentation. Then I went back to reading Dealing with Difficult People for my self-help class. I find it hard to believe that there are only 7 different kinds of difficult people - maybe I could write a followup book and add on some of my own.

9/28/07

Whew, almost caught up.

Andy bought my ticket to Omaha for Christmas this morning. I can't wait!

Today was another quiet day in the office. That's usually how it is before closing, the calm before the storm. It was a gloomy day; the kind where you want to stay in bed with a book and some soup. We lazily called in an order to Pei Wei for lunch. They're terrible in that each dish is two servings, and even one serving is a caloric crime. I completely forgot my leftovers at work, too. Then I waited for the day to be over.

My mom called and left me a message in the afternoon, and after work I called back. She was excited about the card I sent for my grandma. Apparently it came out very well and high-quality! I used a photo from my birthday of Andy and I - that seemed the most appropriate. She loved it! At about $3.50, it's a really convenient service; Shutterfly will mail it directly for you. I will have to keep that in mind the next time I need cards!

Yesterday we got served with our first rent increase since we've lived here. It was only $30, and we may be moving not long after it takes effect, but I'm still not that happy about it. I wish we lived somewhere that was really ours, and in a better neighborhood. Plus, it'd be nice to live somewhere that had covered parking for my car; it'd save a lot of time in the morning if I didn't have to wipe the windows off.

After I got home, I didn't feel much like running, so I did yoga instead. I haven't done that particular video in a while, and it reminded me of college. Those were good days, once I got things in order.

I had just a salad for dinner. Greek style, of course! Then it was back to work on my ERDs for my review session, and a very long group meeting about our case assignment. I know, everyone's favorite way to spend a Friday night! After the meeting, I started reading Critical Chain. It's ridiculously cheesy, but I have only a few weeks left to read it!

9/27/07

Another rather uneventful day.

Von's has a very good cafe in the front of their store! My coworker and I got chili, which I usually don't like, but it was probably the best chili I've ever had!

I met up with my friend who changed offices. We don't get to see each other much any more, mostly because I am in school so much. We had a running date, but ended up walking about 2.5 miles and catching up. I did feel a little guilty when I got home, and did my 15-minute "quick fix" routine from the MTV Pilates Mix.

I did a little project management reading, then ended the night playing the longest "short" game of Scrabulous in history.

9/26/07

I got up even more extra early to go to the store before work. Today was one of my newest coworker's birthdays; she just graduated, moved to southern California, and started working. We usually decorate people's cubicles and bring in treats, but since she wasn't expecting the ...
extent ... to which we decorate, it was an especially happy surprise. Just that made the lack of sleep worthwhile!

Also, I came to the horrible realization that in my rush to leave the house, I forgot to put on any makeup. So I had nothing but my yucky old St. Ives collagen moisturizer on that's so old I doubt it does any good. I spent a few minutes this morning with my Clean & Clear concealer stick (which they don't even sell any more) and hand held mirror trying to fix up some ugly spots. Since when do grocery stores not sell cosmetics???

I also had a pretty good day answering and correcting all kinds of questions. Hooray for ridiculously anal record keeping!

We also went out for lunch to Mario's. It's not quite Baja Sonora, but it's really, really good. And, amazingly, a tostada is not very high in calories. Beans, yes, but it must be canceled out by the lettuce. I ate so much I'm going to have to try and flush it out with water like I did the Carl's Jr.

About 3 pm I checked my school email and found out that my class was canceled because my professor was sick! I mean, I feel bad my professor wasn't feeling well, but suddenly I had a night off! So I skipped on home the usual time, and went for a brief and pitiful run. I was so exhausted from the late night and early morning that I didn't perform up to my usual standards. Came home, showered, and we went out to the Lakewood mall for shoes and birthday gifts. We ended up not finding shoes, but I did find the perfect scrapbook for my race stuff (30% off! thanks JoAnns!) and a couple of birthday gifts. I was kind of disappointed by the selection. Plus, we window-shopped at the Alfred Angelo. We were just happy to have some unexpected time together, and Andy was so happy we went to Outback for dinner! I had the lobster and crab cakes, which, by the way, are not good for you at all. After all of that, I came home and fell asleep.

9/25/07

Eep, I'm behind!

Today:

Well, the last quarter of the year is swiftly approaching (Yippee!). I'm surprised how fast the whole year has gone. But unfortunately that means I get every random accounting question at work, and "urgent" requests for reports people should have been keeping since 2001. These reports are why I'm whining about my achy hand. I hope things key down soon...

I still like going to yoga, but I'm starting to get a little weirded out by the men who always seem to want to be right behind me. It's made me a little uncomfortable in class. So I guess I have to try to be even more vigilant about where I set up. I wish I could go running instead.

I'm back in the mood to just get rid of all of my clothes. It's not like I'm wanting to buy all new clothes, I just have way too many. My long black Gap dress sold out over the weekend, and I was bummed this morning because it seems that everyone likes to make fun of my blue and white striped Old Navy t shirt (to be fair, it does look like I'm going sailing). I've been poking around eBay, but it doesn't seem that used clothes sell very well. I guess that means I'm tuck with the consignment store.

I hate fast food nutritional information charts. They usually show the total in grams first, then calories, so if you're not looking at the column headings it's easy to get the grams and total calories confused. So, I had Carl's Jr. (please note the hysterical "Flat Buns" song) for dinner - the smallest famous star meal they offer. But when I went to put it in, I was shocked by the calories! On top of that, all the grease and not having soda in days made me ill. It was too bad, too, because there are usually company presentations before my class, and they leave us the leftover food. I could have skipped the whole thing.

Database management was kind of painful, too. I read and studied (most of) the book, so the lecture was kind of tedious, and my professor caught me zoned out. It wasn't that I didn't understand, I just didn't want to hear it any more! Plus, unfortunately, we have a "surprise"
extra class session this Saturday, plus an "in class, closed book and note workshop" that is 20% of the course grade. Translation: midterm!! I didn't get home until extra late, but it was more because I spent my free time catching up with friends. I realized on the way home that I have a lot of issues.

9/24/07

A wholly uneventful day. I was desperately craving Flame Broiler for lunch, and it's surprisingly healthy (at least according to my Slim Fast). We spent almost the entire class learning how to use Microsoft Project. It looks like it could be a potentially great wedding planning tool, but the trial only lasts 120 days and isn't available for "purchase" (meaning, free) from the university. I snacked and watched YTMNDs until bed.

Children

Sometimes I know I am marrying the right man. We agree on important things.

Like how to treat children.

My parents let me play in the woods next to a quarry.

Tazer

So, I saw the news article about this boy who went to a John Kerry forum, asked some questions, got out of hand, and got tazered by police. When I read the article (which was short and without a lot of detail) I couldn't help but shake my head. Were people seriously upset about this??

Then, I came home, and saw these:

Punch Out YTMND
USO YTMND
Sweet Taze of Mine

Proof that I am not the only one who thinks the whole thing is ridiculous.

Weekend

I really need to stop having totally awesome weekends. I'm afraid it's going to start affecting my grades.

9/22/07:

• Got up none too early for a quick conference call. Did a little reading, but went back to bed. It was a wild Oktoberfest! Or, I'm just not used to staying up late any more.
  
• The second time around getting up, I made us omelets filled with all kinds of things from the refrigerator. They were great! Afterward Andy and I sat in the living room and just chatted. I felt bad about not doing my homework, but it was really great just to sit and be together.
  
• I eventually did do some homework; and we left for the aquarium around 3:30. They close at 6, so we didn't have much time, but it was all worth it to watch the sea otters play. I also thought the jellyfish were really cool. I saw some of my coworkers, and we walked around a little more before they closed.
• When we got back to the parking garage, the line to get out was ridiculously long. So, we opted for splitting a smoothie and dinner at Chili's. It ended up being kind of a romantic night!
  
• On the way home we stopped by the grocery store so I could pick up the missing ingredients for oatmeal raisin cookies. Then I spent the rest of the night doing homework and baking. I love to bake, so that sort of made up for the homework part.

9/23/07:

• Happy birthday mom! We stopped by Starbucks on the way to Disneyland. Once there, we checked out the new Pirate Island with a very good Johnny Depp impersonator, went on the redecorated Haunted Mansion. I love their Halloween decorations! We had lunch (I had a kid's meal in a Mickey-shaped plate!), went on the Haunted Mansion again, and then rode the Mark Twain riverboat around Pirate Island. At that point I was starting to get a little worried about my homework, so we left. But I wish we could have stayed until the evening to watch the Haunted Mansion light up, and see the jack-o-lanterns at the gate light up. I'm sure we'll be back! Hard to imagine that the last time we were there we were running in 90 degree heat - it was cool and comfortable today.
• Came home and worked hard on my homework. Luckily my project management homework was easier than expected.
• Ran a 5k, again, just because I could. It was actually about 3.5 miles in 37 minutes, and it was another wonderful run; I barely walked. Hello, I'm an addict.
  
• Did my database management homework while we started the laundry and I made spaghetti for dinner. Not too exciting, but it was really good.