I woke up this morning planning to work all day and then meet some friends for supper. However I had a sneaking suspicion we might end up at my place, giving tours of my dungeon so I took a little extra time to wipe down my bathroom, hang up my clothes and make my bed. I get to work and sure enough my best friend calls me to tell me that Frank wants to just get some groceries and cook at my place for everyone.

Krys has her husband trained well, or at least Keri does, because Frank shows up with the most awesome flowers with a butterfly in them and is fully prepared to make steak and salad and well, we won't say anything about the potatoes *cough* Keri *cough*. The food was awesome as always and we got seranaded by all the boys who played rockband while the rest of us chatted.

I should probably plan for a non-impromptu rockband party here shortly.

Yay for flowers!

The boys rocking out...

P.S. Keep holding your breath for my sister, we should know more come Monday afternoon...

Cake Wrecks
This has to be the funniest website I've seen in a while. I'm still trying to figure out the baby riding the carrot....

So I have determined that there is nothing more wonderful than the smell of fresh, red meat, steak on a grill. I almost didn't want to go inside tonight while I waited for the steak to finish grilling, but it was cold and I am a wimp.

Also I think that it is super awesome that the locker we used to process the cow individually packaged all of the steaks into nice, single person sized portions. No longer do I have to figure out how to eat 2-4 giant steaks in one week. Not to mention they actually gave me brisket this time around too...mmmm, brisket.

My sister, brother-in-law, nephew and mother should be in Memphis, TN right about now settled in for tonight. Tomorrow is the final push to Florida where we hope to adopt my new nephew. I'm trying really hard not to get my hopes up because there are a million things that can go wrong between now and the 48 hours after birth when the baby mamma and baby daddy sign away their rights. And there have been a number of red flags lately. So I am holding my breath and not booking my tickets to go down and join them quite yet.

Other than that, work is actually super fun. I've got a challenging new assignment that is forcing me to use my brain. And I get to mentor a new guy who is stoked to learn.

Yep. That's about it for now. Keep your fingers crossed and send good mojo my sister's way. So close to a new nephew....

I think I am slowly turning into my father. This week in my efforts to get healthy I am trying to follow the P90X fitness and health plan. So I am eating way healthier and part of that healthier includes grapefruit and coffee.

Ok I've always had coffee but I have weened myself off of any type of additives like milk, cream, skim milk, sugar, splenda, creamer, flavored creamer, etc. Just straight back, like my dad had.

And grapefruits. Ugh. So tart. But I am peeling it like an orange and eating it that way rather than scoooping it into a bowl and adding tons of sugar. I've kinda got in the habit of eating the grapefruit as my snack after the gym when I finish my cardio as I'm driving home to do the P90X. But, much like my dad, I am grapefruit straight - no more sugar or salt.

I have managed to make it all week, 4 days thus far, eating under 2000 calories and doing cardio/P90X. Tomorrow I break the routine due to girls night. But I should be back to it on Saturday/Sunday.

But for now, I'm oh so tired...off to bed!

So I have decided that Karma has finally paid me back... I've put in my time with Lockheed - good job with a bad boss, bad job with a good boss, great job with a great boss with an easy box with suppliers in lesser desirable locations of the US... But now...

I have the great job with the great box with an extremely complicated box *but* my supplier is in Clearwater, FL...

After this past year I was so traveled out but when all you do is day trips to/from DC, Albuquerque and New York who can blame me? But with as traveled out as I am, I am now scheming ways to come back to Clearwater as often as I can.

The humidity isn't even that bothersome. My coworkers and I arrived early last night so we drove to the beach before supper and took a walk, barefoot with pants rolled up, feet in the water and enjoyed the sunset. Then supper outside on a patio. And an amazingly comfortable bed.

Life is good... Now if only I can avoid the 12 hour design reviews that make me sit in the front and hurt my poor head...

Just got back from a trip to California for training. It was pretty nice since my friend Robyn lives out there.

We met up on Monday night to have supper and some window shopping in downtown Mountainview. Robyn had to show me the 'ugly' clothes that everyone is into in the bay area. Picture vintage, eclectic second hand shops only brand new... We walked about a mile to the Italian restaurant which was super yummy. I had a rosemary chicken and risotto dish that stuck with me all night. I swear i could still taste the rosemary as i was falling asleep. We then ended up at a pub to finish the evening with a beer watching the broncos lose. We discovered that both of us are going to be in Bon Aire scuba diving next April, fingers crossed we are there the same week!

Then on Tuesday night she invited me to join her running club that meets at a local shoe store in Redwood i think. They run 2 miles from the store to the Bay Area walking path. The path then runs another two miles along the bottom part of the bay and ends at a bird sanctuary. The members of the runnign club vary in skill so some run 4 miles, some run 6 miles and the super, crazy men run 8 miles. Well Robyn and I did a little over 6 miles broke down as follows: drove 4, walked 2, ran about half a mile. It was super cool. Because of the time change it was dark out so we could see the lights reflecting in the bay. And it was a very nice, quiet evening that we of course enjoyed with her dog, chatting all the way while the real runners passed us. Then we met up back at the store to change and head out to supper at a sports bar and grill place called Sneakers. We had about 25 runners that night and probably close to 20 people show up for supper. Robyn and i got a table full of men and it was really super cool chatting with all these people who enjoy running. Very encouraging and up beat peeps.

Before running club we stopped by her house to change. She has a super cute little 400 square foot house. By house I mean like garage house just out back of the main house tucked nicely away in an alley. She has a car port and a pretty decent sized yard for herself and her dog.

On Wednesday the other two girls on the trip with me went out for supper with Robyn and myself. We ended up in Palo Alto at a quaint little european pub tucked in between two roads in the corner of a parking lot. Was a much needed drink after the surprise phone call my boss gave me that day.

My boss had a 'plan' for me, and his boss had another 'plan' for me. But they were trying to work out the details and i knew which each of their plans were for me. Both options were good career moves for me. It took them a while to work out the details and they finally finalized everything. Only, when he called me, neither of the plans they had been working for me earlier was what i ended up with. Rather than a more complicated electronics box, they gave me the most complicated electronics box that i had been helping another engineer with. He in turn is taking one of the other boxes my bosses-boss had wanted to give me since they figure that is going to be a major headache area going forward. I'm still a bit shocked because this is beyond a 'stretch' assignment for me. So the beer was very welcome.

After beers we went to a Cajun place called Nola. It was decorated with New Orleans flare and we ate in a courtyard under space heaters. Only it wasn't cold outside so I sweated beyond hope as I was right under one of the heaters.

After supper I tagged along with Robyn to her softball game to watch them play. She got center field and made some awesome plays. She even got a base hit. But they still lost 18-5. What can I say, I'm bad luck.

So after a fun filled week, I flew home today and am looking forward to the weekend. But first, i am looking forward to bed.

Sweet dreams!

I had to dig my gnome out after this last snowstorm. He was under a two foot snowdrift but fortunately had a bubble underneath it keeping him cozy.