My New Year's Resolutions

1. Spend less money
2. Save more money
3. Make more money
4. Realize it isn't all about money
5. Be nicer to people
6. Be less hard on myself
7. Bring my lunch*
8. Pay off Nordstrom and Macy's
9. Pay off my "big" Visa*
10. Read more
11. Nap less*
12. Invest in a better vacuum
13. Vacuum more*
14. Quit smoking**
15. Travel more (see #3)




_____________________________
*AAAAHHAAHAHAAAHHAAAHAHHAAHAHAAHAAHHHA

**I really want to but I'm not taking the Chantix and I don't know how else to do it. Suggestions?

Sucky

If this kind of weather is here to stay, then Portland needs to invest in some sort of snow clearing equipment.

Yesterday we had a sort of sneak attack of a snow situation that started around 2:30pm and stuck around for rush hour. Consequently it took me 2 hours to go roughly nine miles, and at one point I clocked having gone .4 miles in thirty minutes (that's 4/10ths of a mile, for those of you who don't see periods.). All freeways were a mess, people had spun out on hills and there were plenty of road closures. It sucked. It only seems to snow when I have to be out in it, and for that reason, I hate the snow. Somebody suggested that it isn't the snow's fault, it's the idiots on the road for fucking it all up. I disagree. It's the snow's fault. Period.

It's supposed to be in the 40s today with rain, but that doesn't make my parking lot any clearer right now. Remember last year when this happened (only worse)? My biggest challenge was getting out of my complex, not so much the rest of the roads. I'm not sure how it will be out there this morning so I am waiting to leave. I'm not going to go out there and look like a jackass and possibly slide into the abandoned cars along the side of my neighborhood street just so I can get to work at 8. For once in my life I might just show up at 8:30. I don't think it will compromise anyone. Have I mentioned I hate this?

I am taking next Monday and Tuesday off, so consequently these last four work days of 2009 have been long and trying. I'm working on an assistant's desk who has been an assistant for twenty years (I was an assistant for about eight months and I wasn't that great at it then. I'm better as an officer. I respect the hell out of assistants every time I have to cover one.), and it's kicking my ass. That coupled with shitty weather that results in a drive that takes so long that you get home in time to go to bed, and a general feeling of shittyness for something that I wrote that hurt someone's feelings and the internal battle that I am fighting because of it is making this tail end of 2009 kind of sucky, so I am pretty much ready to just say, fuck it, it's over, let's just skip today and tomorrow and move forward.

Too bad it never works that way.

Because I said I would.

I was reading over posts from last year at this time and it appears that the only thing I have done that I said I would do this year is blog more. I said I would try to have more adventures (trips) and really, all I did was go to Mexico twice. Which used to be the norm, back when I didn't have a blog. Of course, back then I had more money, but whatever. This year I'm just going to have more money, that's all.

My long weekend was somewhat uneventful, except for the usual errand running and lounging. I lounge a lot. I think I lounge probably more than I should. I'm not one to make resolutions, but, um, maybe this year I will try not to lounge as much as I do.

It being the holiday season and all that, I did get to see some friends I wouldn't have probably seen had it not been the holiday season. Had coffee with that Becky from high school who now lives in the San Francisco Bay area and seems to be much happier as a result. Something about this oppressing weather up here (and oppressing familial obligations, but I won't go in to that), I think for some of us it just doesn't make for happy. Like right now, for instance. It's flipping 6:42am and it is pitch black out.

So now I am getting ready to head in to Beaverton (and that mother f-ing f-d up drive to it), work for four days, and then take five days off. I'm not doing anything special, I just have a bunch of time off I haven't used and nobody else is taking it off, so why not. Maybe something will come up. Maybe I'll decide to take a day trip (don't hold your breath). Or maybe I'll vacuum. The world is my oyster.

Anyway, without calling them resolutions, I think I will take this week to ponder in what way I will make 2010 different than 2009. 2009 wasn't a bad year for me, but a new year should aspire to something else. I'll figure it out and get back to you.

As usual, nothing more to report, nothing exciting, nothing earth-shattering, just plugging along, living the dream, and going back to work. Happy last-week-of-2009, all ~

Maybe I'm just cranky today.

(I like the holiday season as much as the next guy, but right now I have to say "Yay it's over!" Is that bad?)

And while we're on the subject of seeking approval from and about every little flipping thing...

Here's something that irritates the living crap out of me. So you go over to someone, say, your sister's, house for Christmas Eve dinner. It doesn't have to be Christmas Eve dinner, it can be any dinner at all. It can be lunch. Or snacks. But let's just say said sister is cooking something much more complicated than what you might normally have for dinner, because you're single and don't really cook because a) you can't quite figure out how to make something small enough for one person and b) you don't like leftovers. And let's also add here that said sister is a really good cook and always comes up with these fabulous meal ideas and you end up totally satisfied in the end because you're body is just flabbergasted that it actually got a square meal. And let's say too that you kind of hang out in the kitchen with the sister while she is putting the finishing touches on the meal preparation because you're trying to ignore your mother and salvage some kind of festiveness from the tail end of this holiday season, and even though you hear your sister mumbling under her breath about the state of the crabcakes that are maybe not as firm as she would have liked them, you don't really pay much attention to her because most cooks mumble to themselves while creating fabulousness.

What irritates me is when the food is served, and the cook starts putting down everything she has made in what can only be interpreted (by me) as a veiled attempt to get people to compliment her. Is that it? Or is it just codependency? "Okay I'm just going to say one thing - the coq au vin needs salt." There's a conversation starter, and it would have been fine if she had left it at that. Because then Pat, who has had some health issues (really odd ones because he is a pretty healthy guy to begin with), explains how his doctors say that no one really needs to put salt on anything, sure you can cook with it but there is no real need for the salt shaker on the dinner table, and Tom adds that if one is truly eating properly then your body doesn't notice a lack of salt in prepared food (while he takes his traditional twenty minutes to prepare his plate and salt and pepper the fuck out of everything before even tasting it), which can, in theory, lead to a conversation about Pat's health issues, but doesn't, because then the sister then says something else about the food, like, I hope you like mushrooms (while Tom fishes around for the mushrooms and moves them to the side of his plate), I can't believe you don't like mushrooms, maybe I shouldn't have put mushrooms in it (forget about the rest of the table who really like mushrooms..), Sorry I didn't make a salad, do you think the mashed potatoes are mashed enough, I didn't even put any bread out, It really needs salt, you don't have to have seconds if you don't want to, I won't be offended, blah blah blah.

You know what? I just want to eat the damn dinner. If it tastes like shit I can be pretty creative in making it LOOK like I ate some but simply couldn't eat another bite. But it just so happens that it's really good, and you KNOW it's good, so even though to every objection that you keep lobbing at us about how it sucks, we keep telling you no no it's really good, so quit making us have to pass the salt shaker under the table to each other so that Pat doesn't give us shit for using it and you don't continue on and on about how it needs salt. (Wait. I'm not sure that was a complete sentence. Was that sentence okay? Did it flow right? Could you follow it? Should I go back and edit? Is my punctuation okay?) (Do you SEE how annoying that is?)

Fast forward to Christmas dinner itself, when a lasagna was prepared by Tom's friend Sarah ahead of time so that he could just bring it to Mom's for dinner and save everyone the trouble (very nice of her) and all that had to be done was cook the dang thing in the oven, and they did, and when it was finally time for dinner, the ONLY SUBJECT at the table was Is the (god damned) lasagna warm enough? Seriously. Over and over again. It's fine. Are you sure? It's FINE. Really? I can reheat it. IT'S FINE. I don't know. Tell me if it's warm enough.

Mother fuck. You didn't even MAKE the god damned thing and you are fishing for compliments. Seriously. There has to be more things to talk about than how the food is. I'm making an executive decision right now to never go to either one of their houses for dinner again. I just can't take it. I'm codependent but these two take it to a whole new level. Christ.

So, yeah. That's what irritates me.

Um, Happy Boxing Day...

Merry Christmas!

Driving home from my sister Shelia's tonight I was remembering what it felt like on Christmas Eve as a little kid, how we were too excited to sleep, not just because of Santa's impending arrival but because everyone was home. The house was decorated to the nth degree, Nat King Cole's Christmas LP playing in the background with all its scratching and popping. Anticipation has always been the best part of anything I ever do, and it started way back then. Christmas is for kids, at least that part of Christmas, and as much as it has changed over the years in my world, that feeling still lingers.

I don't decorate the house, I don't put up a tree, you can't really tell by walking into my casita that it is, in fact, the holiday season, but the memory is there. The house smelling like evergreen, the ten angel candleholders on the piano, that plastic poinsettia garland on the stair railing, the nativity in the upstairs fireplace. A big blanket over the unwrapped presents in my parents' bedroom. Sitting in the living room telling stories we'd heard a thousand times - Shelia and Barbie and the milkshake debaucle, Chris and "his" dog Pepper. Always a house full of people.

I'm a lot more solitary these days, so the memory of it is enough, but now when there are only a few of us around for the holidays it still doesn't feel quite right. Until I remember. Remembering is good.

Merry Christmas to my seventeen readers, where ever you may find yourself tonight.

Giving the gift of funny

My Christmas gift to you (I'm kind of a cheapskate).



Really. It isn't Christmas for me until I've listened to this a few times.

Merry. It's almost here.

Gah!

Dear People Who Drop Off the New Phone Books:

Please check your list - I haven't had a land line in twelve years. Seriously. Twelve years. Nothing pisses me off more than the no less than six times a year I come home from work and find a bag of your phone books leaning against my front door. I don't use phone books, I have 411. For the last twelve years. You know what it means to me when you drop off new phone books? It means I have to make a separate trip to the dumpster on my way to work in the morning, more than likely in the pouring rain. Do I really have to explain to you, Phone Book Dropper-Offer, what my hair looks like after even 15 seconds in the rain and mist? And now I have to make a separate trip that will easily tack on three minutes to that initial 15-second trip to the car? Can you see why I'm pissed off? Do you even care?

I know you're response is going to be, Hey, it's a job, you're keeping someone employed. But you know what? I bet you'd get paid the same amount of money, and have the same route, and be in roughly the same neighborhood, if you just avoided my I-don't-have-a-land-line door and gave phone books to everyone else in my complex that DOES have a land line. Nothing will change the status of your employment. Just check a list and DON'T give phone books to people who are NOT EVEN YOUR CUSTOMER. And HAVEN'T BEEN FOR TWELVE YEARS.

Thanks -

TtheD

And while we are on the subject of me being pissed off, I made the fatal mistake of driving within three miles of Washington Square tonight on my way home, and it was there that I lost a good solid 40 minutes of my life that, frankly, I want back. I thought this was like the worst recession since ever. If nobody is working, and nobody has any money, and the retail industry is suffering staggering blows, then why in the holy hell are there FOUR MILLION PEOPLE within this three mile radius of the mall? Are they just going out there and circling the block? Do they like the pretty colors red brake lights make? Or is it really true, what I've been saying all along? Is everyone REALLY out to get me?

Rant over. There better be something decent on TV.

Clog flashback.

Hey do any of you guys remember these? Holy crap I loved these clogs. The Multnomah Leather Shop used to be downtown on like 3rd or 4th and Oak, but it closed up some years ago. Barbie found a previous owner who was trying to revive them about ten years ago or so and ordered a pair, but since then they have been largely out of commission. Fast forward to this last Friday. I'm minding my own business, walking into the Pier 1 on Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy, when I spot the shoes on a lady in front of me. Clogs. Holy crap. I yelled (she was pretty far ahead of me), "Your SHOOOOEEEESSS!" and she stopped and turned around and waited for me. She too wore them in high school, and she told me that, though she ordered hers about ten years ago too, she knew they were still around somewhere. I went back to work and Googled the situation, and lo and behold, here they are. I am so going to order some. I strongly suggest you do the same. They flipping rock.

Not much has gone on in the last day and a half. I did break a cardinal rule and went to Washington Square in December (yesterday) and realized why I have that rule, but it could have been worse, I guess. See how that optimism keeps popping up? I'm trying. Last night Nicky had the Lincoln Tower Christmas party, so that was fun. There was a gift exchange white elephant sort of thing (no gag gifts? Then tell me why I got Sarah Palin's book? I gave it away to another girl in the office.), and that's always fun. Not too late of a night and I slept like a rock last night due to general running-all-over-the-place-Saturday-ness.

Not much else to report, just wondering why Saturdays and Sundays fly by and looking forward to working downtown this week. Considering the Winco. Freezing my ass off. Tan fading. End of 2009. Have a happy Sunday, everyone ~

Blather

Mother of God it's Friday. I've had a fairly busy week (except for yesterday) (and because of yesterday's lack of much to do I realized in the middle of the night that I forgot to send some docs out to a customer) (and despite the lack of something fun that I always look forward to but didn't get which just by principle bothers me but, hey, what can I do?) (nothing, apparently), which is good sort of when you come back from vacation, and oh my hell all I want to do is sleep in tomorrow. Which means like 6 instead of 5. Whatever works.

Tomorrow is Nicky's Christmas party. We do a gift exchange, kind of like a white elephant with the stealing and all that, but with somewhat decent gifts. Last year I got the coveted big bronze-y plate-you-hang-on-a-wall kind of situation, and even though I won at the end of the stealing-it bit, Nicky continued to try to get it from me. She hid it in unfindable places (it's her house, after all) and finally gave it up. It's hanging in that ridiculous little nook by the fireplace in my casita. I'll have to shop tomorrow and find something good.

Often times for these kinds of parties I'll buy something that I want and then strategically steal so that I end up getting it. I wonder what I need. Or want. For $20ish. This means going out in to the shopping throng and seriously I have done that enough at lunch this week. People are nuts. Yesterday I had to go to the Beauty First and get gas. This in theory should have taken approximately 17 minutes and took me a full hour. Who ARE all you people? I even went at 2pm to try to avoid the lunch crowd. Apparently people in Beaverton just jump in the cars at around 10am and drive around for hours, anticipating my errand schedule.

Looking forward to the weekend for more than just the extra hour of sleeping in. Looking forward to cleaning (really? Really. I have clutter that needs to go away), errand running (if for nothing else but the freedom of doing it without the lunch hour time constraints), and inevitable napping. Saturdays rock.

So as you can see the routine of having pretty much nothing to say but managing to eek out five or six paragraphs anyway is back to normal. Thanks for tuning in. You'll never get those last five minutes back, you know.

Back in the throng

All it took was three days of driving rain, but I'm back in the thick of things. First it was just the cold (and not so wet) of Sunday, and then it was rain, rain and more rain, and stupid decisions to go out at lunch time and do silly things like Costco and the bank. Seemingly normal errands, but traffic has been a big fat hairy bitch and I don't get it.

So I get that less people are working and that can account for all the people on the damn road, but where the hell are they going? You can't tell me they are all able to live off unemployment. If you aren't working you probably don't have any money so why are you burning gas and going to the mall? Get the hell out of my way. Shit.

Also, too, this whole not-being-able-to-drive-in-bad-weather thing has been taken a tad bit too far. Yes, yes, I get that last week, while my knees were bursting into flames in the heat of Cancun, it was something like 9 degrees here, but it was clear and dry. Now that it's raining, and 50, it's not like the roads are going to remember last week's temps and suddenly ice over. It's 50. And it rains all the flipping time here so what's the issue? Again. Get out of my way.

Oh, and here's my brain when I get back from vacation: still at the airport, apparently. I went to Costco because back in October somebody (who?) convinced me to get a new and improved Costco card, like the superfantastic bonus card, to the tune of $80, but they gave me a $20 gift card to Costco for doing it. I needed to get my picture taken on it and all that, but I haven't been to Costco since I got it, and I get like two things at Costco anyway. So those two things ran out Monday. Tuesday I thought, how bad could it be? It could have been worse, sure, but I braved the throng of crazed Costco holiday shoppers and waited in line to do the picture thing (and then the machine broke because that's how things go when I'm in a crowd and have limited time to get things done) and finally I was able to pick up the two things I needed. And cruise the book aisle. All this time I am mentally calculating my purchases or potential purchases less the $20 gift card, so I pick up a big thing of almonds (I'm not really sure why), throw it in the cart and head to check out. It wasn't even bedlam in line, but nevertheless, I forgot the gift card. Paid the full amount. Still have the gift card. Won't really need anything at the Costco for another six months. Fabulous.

I also spaced the mammogram I was supposed to go have on Wednesday but I'm okay with that. Never had one. Don't really WANT to have one. So there you go. Sometimes my mind is on MY side.

To wrap this up, let's just say although I still have SOME tan left, as soon as it's completely gone (I'm guessing by Saturday) I may not have anything to show for having taken nine days off besides a complete lack of knowledge of the escrow system update and a general feeling of forgetfulness. But that's pretty much normal.

Dear Cancun:

Thanks for the trip last week, it was great fun. I can't even remember how many times anymore that I've come to visit you, not to mention those two times I moved in with you. You know, I've always been drawn to you. I blame the water, and the sand; at least that's what I tell people when they ask me. But the real reason I can't seem to keep myself away is hard to explain, something intangible. Just a feeling I get when I'm there. Like I was meant to be there. Like I've always been there. I know you don't understand.

Thursday night I was sitting on the deck of our villa at VCI, looking out at the lights of the hotel zone, and I thought to myself, I have a story for every part of that stretch of land. And as I remembered them, a thought occured to me. I think I'm done.

I'm not saying I'll never come back, Cancun. But I think maybe our love affair has run its course. Every time I mention that I am going there, or have just come back, or have lived there, people ask me if I would ever move back. My answer was always pretty vague and had plenty to do with money, but I think I might be more inclined now to answer "No". I like my life here. I like having a Target, and things that make sense, defined lanes on the roads and being able to voice my opinion without keeping in mind that I am a guest in your country and should act somewhat accordingly.

I have you to thank for a big part of who I am today, Cancun. I've lived, how ever briefly, with your challenges and your laid back attitude (except while driving and in line at the supermarket..), and it helps me keep things in perspective back here in the states most of the time. But that night on the balcony I realized that there is no going back, and you are an experience I have had, over and over, that will stay in my past.

I have nothing but great memories of you (mixed in with some hard lessons, but isn't that life?) and will always cherish them. But maybe for my next adventure I'll look elsewhere.

Or maybe not. You just never know.

Yours faithfully,

TtheD

Scenes

In an effort to remember as much of my vacation as possible, I present to you ~ scenes from a week in Cancun.

- Ate really good food
- Drank really good beer
- "Don't show her that spider, she'll never come back!"
- Barely recognized a Facebook friend in person
- Bought a bunch of booze and didn't drink it
- Bought a bunch of food and didn't eat it
- Lost a necklace (I think)
- "Cover the electronics!"
- "I'll take the blue one"
- What happens in a taxi in Cancun STAYS in a taxi in Cancun
- Hung out with Only-Half-Naked Steve
- Drank some shots
- Spoke horrifically broken Spanish and realized I've pretty much lost any tenuous grasp of that language I may have ever had
- Ran away from two cockroaches
- Met up with an old friend from Cleveland that I haven't seen in either 15 years or 8 years, we never figured that one out
- Used a calculator to figure a 20% tip (constantly)
- "I think I'll ask them to fill my bathtub with that gravy and I'll just have that for dinner tonight"
- Learned many truths
- Drank my fill of cajeta frappucinos
- Met some great people
- Met some stupid people
- "Things are off to a good start - my forehead is already peeling"
- Discovered that sometimes change is good
- And sometimes it's bad
- Never got the recipes for the meal Kim prepared
- Realized some things I am still toying with for another blog post
- Got tan
- Started to bleach out
- Enabled Cece and her tanorexia (and she did the same for me)
- Saw some fantastic old friends
- Did not see some fantastic old friends
- Laughed constantly
- Slept soundly
- Enjoyed it completely

You guys don't want a play by play anyway, and I can't remember most of it anyway.

QCR (Quick Cancun Recap)

So let me just start by saying I used to love that night flight on Continental from Portland to Houston but the next time I go back (if I go back) (and that, my friends, is what you call "foreshadowing") (so you guys better read this and the next few posts) I am totally taking the US Air one through Phoenix that leaves at like 6am. Not only did I have to leave for the airport on Thursday night for an 11:50pm flight, but I had to leave in the middle of the fourth quarter of the Oregon-Oregon State game and that almost killed me. But once we won (I learned while crossing over the Marquam Bridge) I was able to get fired up about my vacation. Seriously. This game was so flipping huge I wasn't able to even think about the trip beforehand.

My layover was like six hours. I started to feel like Tom Hanks in that movie "Terminal". I slept, I charged my phone, I read, I wandered the airport, I had some breakfast, I drank a ton of Starbucks, and still the hours just dragged. By the time I got through the second flight, through immigration (thanks, Arturo, it was fun being pulled out of line by an immigration agent and making everyone else in line wonder what the hell was going on) and in to Kimberley's car, I was a hot, sweaty, tired mess.

Kim cooked the hell out of a gigantic meal while I sipped cold Montejo beer and chatted with her. That Beckla came over for dinner, Arturo was home from work, and Friday night was a great great night. Saturday morning Kim ran me all over town twice and back to the airport to pick up that Cece and the vacation experience began. It was nice to a) shower and b) settle in and plan our rigourous tanning schedule.

Saturday night I hosted a little cocktail party with some friends from town that I hadn't seen in a while. Kim and Arturo, Beckla, Susan, Lynda, Marita and Dave, and even a cameo from that Lizard, all hanging out together on the deck. Afterward, most of us made it to centro and met up with my little Tio at La Taberna and then Los Arcos, like old times, except I promised not to have any Jaeger Bombs and I ended up doing like four (according to Dave, even though I still think it was three, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt). Home by around 3am maybe. Up at around 7am. Noodle legs. And pool time. Lots of it.

Our agenda basically centered around the sun - beach in the morning, pool after noon. Cece and I definitely gelled on that end because there is nothing I can think of to do when it is 85 degrees and sunny out that could ever take precedence over tanning. VCI is a fantastic place and everyone remembered me after my three year abscence. It was great to feel like I was home. It was great to have so many flowers brought to me (even if two of them were flamboyan, the only thing on the planet I am allergic to). It was great to sit at happy hour with Angel and Manuel and have them keep giving us free shots and then going out afterward for a TripAdvisor meetup and getting hammered all over again. And it was great being able to have no real agenda beyond laying down for a week.

Wednesday we took a day trip and Thursday we went over to the pool at the Royal Sands, but Friday again was full sun, the last of that until next summer. In the midst of all that we went to dinner at Tacos Rigo, Captains Cove and Marakame, spent most of our money on taxis, smoked packs and packs of cigarettes, swilled iced tea and Royal Roast coffee drinks, shopped at the Walmart but barely ate any of it, discussed Cece's Kindle with any number of people, dipped in the pool, ate french dip sandwiches, lost my voice constantly, dodged flying cockroaches (some of us better than others...), chatted at length, wasted time, turned tanner and tanner and best of all, relaxed.

It was an awesome trip.

I'm doing laundry now, and have a million things to do, and I don't want to shower so much but will have to, and it's cold out, but I'm home with the kitties and drinking coffee planning my day. Yes, it's back to life, but you always feel so good after vacation that it almost doesn't matter. Things will come back to me, and I will tell some stories, but my goal today was to recap. I think I've accomplished that. Now let's see how much more I can accomplish today.

Home

It's cold. I hear it was colder last week, but not for me. I'm now home with a dead phone and a fairly decent tan yet, the kitties are not cold-shouldering me and I so far have discovered only one pile of vomit.

It was a fabulous trip about which I will recap in the morning. As for now, off to my fabulous bed and out of this cold!

Thursday night

Last post before I take off. It's half time of the Oregon-Oregon State game, and I'm not sure how to feel about it yet, so I won't say anything. Heather picks me up at around 9 and I am off. I just checked my flight and though it is on time right now, there is a weather advisory in Houston. Snow. In Houston. Do you people know where Houston is? It's pretty far south. What the fuck.

I'm not a gigantic fan of flying and I am sad to leave the kits, but it will be a great trip and good to get away. Robert is on board with caretaking, the house is picked up enough, and the (overweight, no doubt) bag is waiting by the front door. I'm even dressed. It's like a flipping meat locker in here for some reason, so I am bringing a jacket. Because it's supposed to snow in Houston. God save me.

No posts for a week or so, but I'll be back.

Go Ducks!

Editors note - I had to turn on comment verification again because some bastard has been leaving comments on an older post EVERY NIGHT for the past week in KOREAN and it's PISSING ME OFF. Sorry for the added step.

My day, play by play

6:31am Get up. I first woke up at the usual time, 4:45am, but went back to sleep off and on for two hours.

6:32 – 6:45am Bathroom duties (minus shower) while coffee brews

6:45 – 8:30am Take coffee to the 2nd bedroom and dick around on the internet

8:30 – 8:40am Call Barbie to secure airport pickup on Saturday the 12th (at midnight). Sort clothes while discussing a myriad of topics including, but not limited to, the Ducks, how many cars her Beaver neighbor has parked on the street rather than in their driveway, her broken foot, vicodin, and her most recent hotflash

8:42am – Start first load of laundry and brew 2nd cup of coffee

8:43 – 9:40am Dick around on the internet some more, chat with Heather about her daughter's poo quality. Allege we will meet for coffee later after I have showered and completed more tasks

9:42am Hang/dry laundry while chatting with Chris in Cancun

9:44am Contemplate next load of laundry/shower

9:54am Shower/Start 2nd load of laundry

10:54 – 11:21am Make "breakfast" (seriously. I can procrastinate like no other). Get distracted by "Gilmore Girls" on TV

11:21am 2nd load into dryer. Consider if there is something wrong with said dryer because it appears to have stopped mid-cycle on the last load.

11:22am Forget about dryer issue. Get dressed to leave the house

11:45am Leave the house

11:46am Make it to the car and go back to turn off dryer. It probably shouldn't be left on unattended.

11:47am – 1pm Drive to tanning salon, and then drive around Beaverton discovering businesses I used to know are no longer open. Realize it appears that nobody works in Beaverton, because everyone is in my way. Curse at traffic. Purchase last minute articles. Drop everything I put my hands on in the Beauty First. Drive through Starbucks and spill Eggnog Latte on my sleeve. Curse again.

1 – 2:40pm Hang out with Heather and her charges. Heather is driving me to the airport tomorrow night. Bonding is necessary.

2:41 – 3pm That's how long it takes to drive 5 miles in Beaverton

3pm – Safeway for more last minute items

3:15 – 3:30pm Wax face (by a professional, who I really liked. Believe it or not I prescheduled my next appointment. Those of you who have been reading this blog awhile will remember my wax issues)

3:35pm Arrive home. Turn the dryer back on

3:36pm Realize I cannot nap as I have to go over to Nicky's yet and go drop off my rent.

3:37pm Nicky works until 5pm. I can still squeeze in a nap

3:54pm Update TheD, and head for the sofa

Baby steps, actually

Okay, so I did a little bit of laundry. A very little bit. I look at it as a gigantic step.

I really need to make a list of things I need to do, but I'm not much of a list-maker so I doubt I will. Actually I'm a list-maker, I'm just not a list-follower. So really, what's the point?

This morning I "get" to go sit in a two-hour conference call about the new RESPA regs coming at us in January, and I don't mind telling you I am not at all fired up about it. I'm coming off a pretty high maintenance desk and I know I will have a ton of follow up. Thank goodness for the fact that my work email is on my iPhone. Kind of.

After the call I go back to Beaverton, and then after THAT I am officially on vacation. Which means I have all kinds of time to finish up that which needs finishing, laundry, pack, wax, call the bank, tan, clean, watch football (you'll notice I haven't mentioned anything about Thursday evening's game - I'm laying low. I fear the jinx, so no matter how much people might try to poke at me, I'm not falling for it). All this around the napping. You know it'll happen.

Other than that, as usual, nothing much going on. I've been checking Cancun weather and of course it calls for rain, but that sometimes doesn't mean anything (and sometimes does). All I know is I've been talking an awful lot of smack about how tan I am going to be so I just hope the sun cooperates. Otherwise there is going to have to be a ton of detox post-trip because there really isn't much else to do but drink. Which I'm kind of okay with.

So I'm in a fairly good mood despite the conference call and am pretty much ready to get this day rolling. Looking forward to Thursday and beyond. Not thinking about Thursday evening or the fiasco that vacuuming is.

Soon.