Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Sent from my ...

A few weeks ago I woke up really early on a Friday morning and went to
stand in line with MANY other people. We talked, chatted and shared
stories about ourselves. We talked a lot about the reason we were all
standing out in the cold and then the heat as the sun rose. Some
people were out the all night. Me I was in line for 5.5 hours. What
was the reason we'd stand in line so early in the morning for so long?

To buy into the marketing hype and to geek out clearly!

As my co-worker told me, so much for me keeping up the facade that
differentiated me from my fellow Engineering geeky co-workers.

Sent from my iPhone

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

LA Vacation - for the love of friends

Eric and I just returned from a little road trip we took down to Southern California to visit a number of friends. As I have grown up in California, road trips to LA have been frequent but Eric grew up in Appalachian Pennsylvania so he doesn't think too fondly of all of the concrete, the pretentious pretty people and the misplaced tropical flora in the dessert that is LA. I have taken Eric to LA before, but that was to help a friend of ours do some apartment hunting, and well... Eric didn't get a good taste of what LA has to offer. A little too much pavement hitting and Beverly Hills apartment looking for him I think.

This trip was the idea of his childhood best friend. Him and his wife were going to be vacationing in Las Vegas and LA and wanted us to join them. Since Eric has even lower opinions of Las Vegas, he agreed to a long weekend in LA. The main reason for the trip was to see his friends, so really he didn't care where or what we were doing as long as there was some good hang out time. As a bonus, the third of their "Three Amigos" surprised us by flying out from Florida.

These three boys (yes, they are still boys), got in to tons of trouble as kids and have remained "bros" over the last 30 years. This weekend was really special to see the 3 reminisce and share stories, some of which I hadn't heard (and many I had). How special that has to be to still remain close with friends you literally grew up with, even though all three live in different states now.

The weekend's festivities included:
  • getting lost in the Hollywood Hills while viewing the fancy houses and then finding ourselves NOT in the Hollywood Hills anymore
  • a day on Venice Beach... all getting burned to varying degrees (REAPPLY SUNSCREEN!)
  • BBQ and fireworks viewing, up over the hill at the house previously owned by Gallagher
  • Spur of the moment decision to see Wicked (LOVED IT!)
  • Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Blvd, and other general LA touristy stuff
  • Loads of very rich and luxurious foods and one night of acid reflux (it was the CHEESE!)
  • Most important of all, we got in a lot of TIME.

Since some of my best friends moved down south a few years ago, Sunday we spent a lovely afternoon visiting with them and seeing another area of LA county. I miss my friends and am shocked each time I see how much their kids have grown. It was truly too short of a time to visit with them, so a follow-up trip will be planned soon. (Especially since Eric seems to be warming up to the idea that LA has more to offer then concrete).

Today we were on our own, as all of the PA buddies had gone home or were visiting other friends, so Eric and I spent the morning walking around Beverly Hills (where we were staying). It was HOT but really quiet and we enjoyed slowing down to take in the area. We found coffee (ICED of course), fresh squeezed juice and croissants, and genuinely enjoyed each others company. As we were lazily walking back to the hotel to check-out, I received a text from my blogging buddy, Starshine, that her and her hubby were on their way to meet us for lunch. YAY! A table of empty plates and 2 hours of visiting and getting to know each other better signaled the end of our little mini-getaway.

6 hours on the road later, we are back at home to some very loud kitties, piles of dirty laundry, and loads of work emails waiting to be read. And wait they will.... work doesn't start till tomorrow.

BTW - No pictures of the trip were taken so I have none to share. SOMEONE (me) forgot the camera and couldn't justify buying one down there, although it was seriously considered!

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Finding the Brain Power for the Blog

A few weeks ago my therapist said, you ready to start blogging yet? And I said, maybe. But really I meant no. Sure I posted a bit but I just haven't been driven to write, share or basically sit still for any amount of time to concentrate. I haven't been able to read anything without getting uneasy, coudn't listen to music as it would irritate me. She suggested I start working in some meditating but conveniently I have been too tired, or busy or you know how the story goes.

Well lately I have been missing the community I found via blogging. I miss the friends I've met out here and following the stories they choose to share. Hell, I miss the friends I had before blogging. I just haven't been HERE much, let alone there or over yonder or anywhere really.

So today I cleared out my RSS feedreader of the hundreds of posts posted over the last few whatevers (weeks, months, I dunno), so the number didn't look so daunting. I unsubscribed to some blogs I really don't have that much interest in reading anymore (sorry Dooce, but something tells me you'll do fine without me). Then I took a bit of time to catch up on those I have been really missing and commented on just a half a handful. I realize this makes me a lurker, and I will only get out of the community what I put in, but I'm taking baby steps here and trying to find a way to maintain the community without so much of the time. We'll see how it goes.

I'm going back to bed now, because this whole waking up at 12am, 2am, then give up at 3am to open up the laptop to write down that thing that is nagging me, just to forget what it was until now at 4:40am, will not make for a good day.