Lil Kate

I couldn’t figure it out

2009-04-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

So, I’m on the elevator leaving for the day. A woman gets on with a black messenger-type bag with a big flap on it (you know, to protect the zippers and pockets and such). On the flap is a collage of pictures.

Pictures of race cars and race car drivers.

At first glance I thought “Oh, she must have a family member who is a race car driver,” because people around here do that sort of thing – plaster themselves (via their clear ID badge protectors, buttons, etc.) with pictures of kids or other relatives doing their sporty thing.

Upon closer inspection I noticed that all of the cars were different, and all of the drivers were different. While I’m at it, check out how all of the drivers are sitting at autograph signing tables.

Huh.

Maybe she’s just a racing fanatic?

In the middle of this collage is a web address for, let’s say, “Kikisphotography.com”.

So, is this bag an advertisement for Kiki? Like, “Hey! You want to hire me for all of your racing photography needs!” Or, “I’ll help you stalk your favorite driver!” Or, “I’m here to support your groupie needs!” Seems to be targeting what I believe to be a narrow audience.

Did this woman hire Kiki for her own racing needs? Did Kiki say, “Look, I’ll make this bag for you, but you have to let me put my website on it – you know, in case someone else wants one, too.”

Was this Kiki herself? Advertising herself, on herself? With race cars? And drivers?

It’s been 2 days and I still can’t figure it out. Maybe I should have asked her.

Is it spring already?

2009-03-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

Seems I get inspired to write every time I catch a cold. Lucky for you.

The last half of winter went pretty well. F was interviewing for a new job (and wow, did he have to meet with lots of people – so glad I’m not in business). He did get the job and is very happy there. He’s working very hard, learning a lot, but enjoying it.

Took F to see Joel McHale for Valentine’s Day – that was awesome. We’ve been watching The Soup for a while now and were curious what his stand-up would be like. We were not disappointed. We still laugh about certain bits.

Work has been going well, more or less. Very productive, great relations with coworkers, not always the results you’re hoping for, but the data is what the data is. It is an exciting and interesting project. We just have to nail down some usable data and “make a story” out of it. The boss is currently on his annual 3 week vacation to Hawaii. Not that I see him terribly much when he’s here. I’m looking forward to macadamia nuts when he gets back.

Work related: I’m going to the AACR meeting in Denver next month. Super excited to see Doc Who there! We’ll even be rooming together! Hopefully it’ll be even more fun than the Keystone Symposium in Utah. I’m presenting a poster of a paper we’re in the process of polishing up for submission. Nothing about what I’m currently working on. That’ll be presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in (you guessed it) San Antonio in December.

We’ve had lots of houseguests this month. My stepmom stopped by for a night while she was doing sales calls out this-a-way. My favorite aunt and uncle came for a weekend – had a lot of fun with them. Old friends of F’s spent the night a couple of times (appts. at Mayo the next morning) and we had nice visits.

A friend that I’ve had since 4th grade had her baby shower last weekend. So awesome to see her. She looks great and I’m so excited for her and her husband. One of their gifts was a new video camera so I’m pushing for lots of video updates when the little one is born.

Finally made an appt for a massage (my Valentine’s Day gift from F). I had my appt last night. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but it was nice and relaxing. I probably should have just kept quiet but felt a little awkward so I started chatting and ended up getting the masseuse’s life story. [sigh] I’m good like that. I’m seriously considering signing up for membership to this place – the dues cover a monthly 1 hour massage at a discounted rate (very discounted rate, even more discounted since I work at Mayo which = awesome). We’ll see. My yoga teacher quit the old yoga studio and hasn’t officially started teaching elsewhere yet, perhaps in April or May. I definitely want to get back in that saddle. So we’ll see where the budgeting leads me.

In other news: my taxes are done and filed! Yay me!

Now to just get over my cold. I’d like to kill it by the end of the week so it doesn’t ruin or otherwise hinder my weekend plans. Wish me luck!

It’s pseudoephedrine or nothing (phenylephrine is useless!)

2009-01-06T14:18:00.001-08:00

I had been so proud of myself, effectively staving off the attempts of 2 loved ones to infect me with their plague. I washed my hands, they washed their hands. They were good about only kissing me on the cheek. I was eating healthfully and drinking plenty. Alas, I succumbed on Christmas day.

Now, last year I had a rather awful bout of plague that lasted approximately a month. At the time, my physician had “re-educated” me to the fact that colds *used* to last 7-10 days. In these fast-paced times colds now last an average of 14 days. If I’m not feeling significantly better by the weekend I’m going in. I’ve had enough.

Granted, on the scale of cold-related annoyingness, this one scores comparatively low. I don’t think I have a fever. I don’t have a terribly runny nose. I coughed before bed the first few nights. My chest is clear. But my ears do pop. Occasionally my sinuses hurt. Biggest complaint: my ass is dragging. I feel like I could sleep for 3 days straight.

Per the suggestion of some MD friends (ahem, thank you for the free med advice!) I got myself some Sudafed PE right off the shelf. Little did I know that they kept the good stuff in the back! Off the shelf has phenylephrine as the active ingredient. I’m not sure what enzyme I need to metabolize this stuff, but I obviously don’t have it. It’s done nothing for me. [By the way, if any of you do happen to know why this wouldn’t work for me, I’d be interested to know without having to do any research on my own, of course].

Today, after much convincing by my coworker, I obtained the good shit. The pseudoephedrine they keep behind the counter. They had to copy down my license number and I had to sign a form and everything. I took some today and felt *much* better. I’m almost excited to see what tomorrow brings!

I also restocked on my NyQuil. Love that stuff, too. Aside from hard liquor it’s one of the few things that I can actually feel warming my esophagus and stomach as it goes down. Kinda creepy and kind of cool at the same time. Always makes me shiver when I drink it.

Any other cold remedies you recommend?

And so we begin again

2009-01-02T08:45:00.000-08:00

December was pretty much a blur. Gifts were bought, sorted and wrapped. Trips were made to WI. We had all of F’s children for Christmas. It wasn’t perfect, but we all survived. We’ve watched lots of movies and new DVDs. We’ve been fighting colds. The drier broke and has since been fixed. A mountain of laundry was done. We had an amazing dinner for New Year’s Eve. We did not stay up to ring in the New Year, but did put on funny hats, blow horns and attempt to use indoor firecrackers (total let down). We’ve taken down the lights, and packed away all of the Christmas décor.

I could really use a nap right now.

I still have a few items to get for Christmas – a DVD for F that doesn’t come out until later this month, a scarf to match his pea coat, and table linens for my college roommate, K. We need to do a massive house cleaning – even I agree that things are getting pretty gross. I need to catch up with some friends that kind of fell to the wayside during all of this holiday hub-bub.

All in all I’m looking forward to getting back into our routine and getting over this cold.

Here’s hoping all of you had a great Christmas and are looking forward to a wonderful new year!

Is it just me?

2008-12-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

I have a coworker who says that she "doesn't like music." This astounds me. With all of the different genres of music, how could a person not find something that moves them? This seems wholey unnatural to me, people need music on some level or other. She can listen to talk radio until her ears fall off, but rankles at the music played by myself or other labmates.

Today she walked into my tissue culture room and turned off my Christmas music. She only had about 5 minutes worth of work to do in there with me, but couldn't tough it out for that long. I found this rude. If she would have asked, I'd oblige. As she's leaving, she says "I'll be back shortly" which I heard as "Don't turn the music back on because you know I don't like it."

Do you know anyone like this? I find it completely strange.

Huh

2008-11-18T12:39:00.000-08:00

So, I'm updating my info with my insurance company online. They know that I moved, but still had me down as a student. So I'm perusing the rather extensive list of choices for "occupation" and come across 3 choices I didn't expect to see:

Dancer

Dancer (exotic)

Dancer (oth non-exotic)

Good to know the girls can get some good insurance.

C'mon now

2008-10-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

This morning as I was riding the elevator up to my floor, a man in a suit got on and stood in front of me. Chances are that he is some sort of clinician. Half of his tie was over his shoulder - the skinny part, not the fat part that usually hides the skinny part. Now, I would assume this guy can afford a decent wardrobe. I'm not asking for anything fancy, but at least decent and in good working order. The back of his tie was coming apart.

And he chose to hold it together with Scotch tape and a small safety pin.

This is what he was displaying over his shoulder. And this is the kind of person who would look me up and down and make a comment about how I "must" be in research because I was wearing jeans.

Coming clean

2008-10-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

If word hasn't reached you already, I'll make it an official announcement: F and I have decided to push the wedding plans back at least a year. There are lots of reasons, some of them lame (e.g. I still can't muster up any enthusiasm for planning, we had a busy summer, blah, blah, blah) and others quite good (e.g. we've had quite a bit of, well, "upheaval" and we're focusing on that right now). I feel better about having more time. I just can't let that turn into "more time to procrastinate."

Please say no

2008-09-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

So, I think I have an arthritic knuckle. Just one, the middle one on my right middle finger. It gets stiff, and sometimes it's tender. And it's not going away. This is annoying, and it's making me feel old. Not. Happy.

On the mend

2008-09-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

In some sick and twisted way, I think it was almost a good thing that I had such an awful week with the future in-laws. Want to know why? Because after they left, and it was just F and Kiddo and I, just having Kiddo around seems like *cake.* Like I’ve said, I’ve not spent a significant amount of time around kids since babysitting was a major source of my income. The idea of having Kiddo come to live with us I did not take lightly. The idea of being an almost-step-parent was (and still is) a bit intimidating.

Thankfully Kiddo is a pretty well-behaved child. He’s at an age where right and wrong, rule following, and pleasing his parental units is high on his priority list. He’s not perfect, but he is making this almost-stepmom gig seem pretty easy.

Those first 2 weeks after Hell Week we all attempted to fall into some sort of newly normal routine. Kiddo had to go to daycare, while we had to go back to work (and I had to start eating again - losing the weight was a lot easier than it's been to put it back on). Kiddo was less than enthusiastic about the place we chose for him for daycare, but our options were pretty limited. Apparently those last 2 weeks in August are the hardest to find daycare – everyone closes up shop and goes on vacation. Consequently people usually take their family vacations then, seeing as how they have no daycare. Thankfully Kiddo understood the situation and muscled through it for us, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with school starting.

This last weekend was a classic whirlwind trip to WI to see my family – but this time Kiddo got to come along. He met most family members on both sides of the family. He had a good time, liked everyone he met, and would like to make another such trip sometime in the future. “It would be my pleasure,” he says. Sometimes, he cracks me up. I think he actually liked the paddle boat and kayaking best of all, but hey, whatever it takes.

F and I were overjoyed that Kiddo actually liked his first day of school. He came home and talked for about an hour and half straight. He was excited to apply for Safety Patrol and almost beside himself with joy at the thought of getting the classroom job of homework checker. When kids turn in their homework, the job of the checker is to check off their name, and if they don’t turn in their homework, their name gets put up on the board. Remember – he’s really into following rules, so tattling thrills him to no end. I asked Kiddo, “So you want to get your classmates in trouble?” His reply, “Well, it’s their own fault!” I had to laugh to F later, “Do you think these jobs will endear him to the other kids?” I’m going to guess not so much, so we might have to have a discussion about what it means to “gloat” or “rub things in.”

Homework hasn’t started yet, perhaps tonight, so that will be interesting. The teacher expects at least 40 minutes worth of homework a night, and full parental involvement. I think it’s a good thing. I wish more parents would make/take the time. Kiddo may be able to get a good chunk of it done while at his aftercare. He’s coming around to the idea that there is a finite amount of time at aftercare, and at home, so he has to budget for homework and for play. Plus, if you don’t do your homework, you get kicked off of Safety Patrol. We wouldn’t want that, now would we?

Significant events

2008-08-19T07:07:00.001-07:00

OK, some of you are aware of my neurosis. While others drink, smoke, over-eat or get insomnia in response to stress/anxiety, my body decided that loss of appetite, nausea or flat out puking would be a good way to deal. Consequently, this past week, I lost 5 lbs (5 lbs I can’t really afford to lose considering the freakishly small size I already am). The reason? A week with F’s parents (my future in-laws) and F’s 3 kids. I put all the blame on the in-laws (and F agrees with me, in fact, he brought it up first). They were awful, and because of that they made everyone else tense. Nobody had a good time. They will not be invited back to our home, and they claim they don’t want to come back. Fine by me. We don’t need that in our lives, much less the kids’ lives. Ugh. Terrible.

Also, this past weekend F’s oldest son (he’s 9) moved in with us. Truly, he’s a pretty good kid. Not that I’m taking it lightly by any means, but my anxiety level has dropped considerably and a good reason for that is because he is such a good kid. And pretty astute to boot, commenting “I think Grandma and Grandpa ruined the week.” Amen to that, Kiddo. We 3 are still figuring out our routine and adjusting to each other, but so far so good. Kiddo’s not liking his daycare so much – he’s got to make all new friends – but today is only day 2, and I’m sure it’ll improve with time. School starts on Sept. 2 so he’ll get to meet more kids his age and hopefully make some good friends.

So now my goal is to catch up on some sleep and put some weight back on. One good bout of illness and I’ll blow away in the wind.

I have a sense of humor, but I also have my limits, Part II

2008-08-05T11:34:00.000-07:00

F and decided to make a “mini-vacation” out of our trip to Half Moon Bay and arrived the Wednesday before the Saturday wedding. Check-in is normally at 3 pm, but we were told that we could ask if the room was ready early, and possibly check in early. So off to the b & b we go. We got there about noon.

Now, the b & b doesn’t have a front desk – you check in at the bar. We walk in and get the attention of a heavy-set blond woman behind the bar (and after talking to her a few minutes, F realizes that this is the now infamous Dimwit he spoke to on the phone previously).

We tell her that we realize that we are early, but just wanted to check to see if we could check in early. If not, no big deal, we’ll go have lunch, walk around and come back at 3 pm. She pulls out the “reservation book” which is nothing more than a notebook-sized day planner (they don’t have a computer). She flips to that day’s date and sure enough, there we are – my name AND credit card number written down in this book. If they ever lost it, or someone stole it - hell, if anyone leaned over to look at it at the bar – all of us guests would need to cancel our credit cards.

Dimwit proceeds to figure out what I will owe for the duration of my stay – on a cocktail napkin. She then charges my credit card for the full amount (usually most places wait until the end of your stay – which tells me they are financially strapped if they need the money right now).

We’re told that she doesn’t know if our room is ready, but go have lunch and come back – she’ll know then. Fine. We go have lunch. We walk around. The town is pretty tiny, so we pretty much covered it in 30-45 minutes after our leisurely lunch. We come back. Now we’re told that they’re waiting for the locksmith because they think he’s doing something apparently mystifying called “re-keying” – something that Dimwit and her associates seem completely baffled by. “He’s 10 minutes late. It should take about 20 minutes. Come back then.” If you don’t even know what it is that he’s doing, how can you estimate how long it will take?

Whatever. We hop in the car and take a drive up the coast to see what there is to see. We’re gone for over an hour. When we come back, we’re told that the locksmith is still doing his incomprehensible “re-keying” but they don’t know if he’s actually finished with our room yet, he hasn’t come down with any keys. Heaven forbid they actually walk up the stairs and find out. It would have taken all of 2 minutes.

So F and I venture upstairs ourselves. Sure enough, there is the locksmith actually grinding new keys in the hallway. Our new key is sitting in our door. We stop a woman in the hall who is wearing an apron – whom we assume is cleaning rooms. “Can you show us where the shower is?”

“Gee, I don’t know where the shower is.” She stops a teenaged boy who’s also running around and asks him.

He seems to actually work there – he shows us were the shower is. There are only 12 rooms on the second floor – that’s the bed part of this b & b. The 13th room is the shower. Not hard to figure out. We probably should have just walked around ourselves.

F and I go up the street and purchase some wine – we’re going to need to be drunk to tolerate this place and it’s employees.

We come back. New bartender. We ask if we can check in. He sees the keys aren’t in their usual spot and decides to take action – calls the locksmith… who is, wait for it! UPSTAIRS. We inform him and Dimwit that we’d gone up and it appears our room is ready. Dimwit walks upstairs with us to our room to see for herself and exclaims “I’ve never been up here!”

No kidding. Really? Couldn’t have guessed. Please go away. I feel stupider just being around you.

We close the door and bust out laughing. This is the WORST. We can’t stay here. There is a 2 inch gap between the door and the floor – allowing us to hear everything in the hallway. When I sit on the toilet, my knees are under the sink. Whoever stayed there before us had long dark hair and sparkly clothing because there is hair and glitter all over the floor and bedspread. There is NOT that reassuring “clean smell” emanating from the sheets – which I have come to expect from a hotel of any rank. I’ve felt more comfortable camping than I do in this room.

And for the record – there WAS a phone jack in the room. No idea if it works, but it was there. No clock, one bedside lamp. The headboard was not attached to the wall, or the bed, and was on wheels, as was the bed. The top pane of glass in the window was held up by a previous guest’s rolled up luggage tag used as a wedge. We’re lucky no one got hurt.

Our next venture out, we are looking for a new hotel. Thank goodness for the Holiday Inn Express! And the wonderful, competent and NICE manager, who hooked us up for the remainder of our stay AND gave us a discount he didn’t need to.

We [heart] him.

F and I decide to take advantage of the b & b’s 24 hour cancellation policy. F calls the b & b and talks to Dimwit, who is none-too-pleased that we are staying just the one night and cancelling the rest of our reservation. F feeds her some story about friends’ plans changing and now we’ll be staying with them. Not trusting Dimwit to actually take action, we immediately go back to the b & b and physically watch her credit my credit card.

Now she has to update the reservation book to show that we’re only there for the one night. She starts to erase the check-marks on the following days, and is at a complete and utter loss of what to do when she realizes… [you might want to sit down for this]… that the reservation was written in PEN. [Gasp! The horror!] She quite literally does not know what to do. She is dumbfounded. She actually has to call her boss over and ask what to do - in a manner indicating to us that we just made her life a living hell. Cross it out? Scribble it out? White-out? Who knows?! The options are mind-blowing and who knows which way is the right way?! Eeeek!

F and I have a nice dinner at the Moss Beach Distillery – having the first serving of what would come to be clam chowder every day. It took us approximately 6 hours to officially check in, and during that time we decided we couldn’t stay there. That night we found gum on the wall. A dangerously protruding nail. Plastic taped over our smoke alarm. F was lying on his back in bed saying “I don’t want my skin to touch the sheets!”

The next morning we ventured to the communal shower in our shower flip-flops (thank goodness we remembered to pack those!). The grout in the bottom of the shower was covered in black/green mold. The floor was stained gray with grime and dirt.

The only redeeming thing about this b & b was the breakfast. It was wonderful. I can’t tell you enough how much we enjoyed the freshly baked goods, homemade preserves, and made-to-order omelets.

Sadly, the joy of breakfast was not enough to entice us stay.

I have a sense of humor, but I also have my limits, Part I

2008-08-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

In college I was blessed with two amazing roommates. We were all fast friends from the start, and now I consider them as close as family. We are all rather different, and not surprisingly, have chosen very different paths in life, which have us far-flung across the country. Roommate M was my roommate during orientation, so really, my very first official roommate ever. Roommate K lived a couple doors down freshman year, but I spent more time in her room than my own, so we started out more as “pseudo-roommates” than anything else. Through college we all lived together in one iteration or another. Sophomore year K and I lived together while M was our RA. Junior year and senior year all 3 of us lived together in suites. We still refer to each other as “roommate” and probably always will.

OK, enough back-story.

This past weekend M got married. She’s been living out in CA for the past few years, so that’s where the wedding was held. Also, she and her beau (A) decided to plan their wedding in 7 months. From what I’ve heard, this is an almost impossible feat – what with people planning 1-2 years in advance and all. From what she was telling me, her options where somewhat limited.

But they made arrangements to have an outdoor ceremony and reception at a bed and breakfast in Half Moon Bay, CA. It would be beautiful (the weather is always nice) and it would be convenient (we wedding guests could all stay at the bed and breakfast or any number of other b & b’s or hotels in town). Now, being a bit rustic in theme, the place didn’t have bathrooms in every room, and those that did have a bathroom, didn’t have a shower. There was one communal shower, otherwise you took a bath in your room. No TV’s. F and I thought this was great. We’ve been camping, we can handle this. In February we made our reservation for the “safari” room (animal print bed linens and bathroom). Rawr.

Sometime in March the owners of this b & b sold to some new owners. New owners who know absolutely nothing about running said b & b. New owners who subsequently fired the entire staff and hired friends & family members. Things went downhill from there.

About a week before departing for Half Moon Bay, F and I were starting to think about what we should pack (shut-up, this is what we do) and he was wondering whether or not to bring his work laptop. He called the b & b to ask if they had wireless internet, or phone jacks in the room so he could dial up. The conversation went something like this…

F: Hi, I was wondering if you have wireless internet at the b & b.

Dimwit: Gee, I don’t know.

F: You don’t know?

D: I don’t know. Um, I see people with computers.

F: OK… that doesn’t answer my question.

D: Well, the computers are open… and on! – the people are using them…

F: Right, well, that still doesn’t answer my question. Let me ask you if there are phones in the rooms.

D. I don’t know that, either.

F: You don’t know if there are phones in the rooms?

D: No, I don’t.

F: Would there be a phone jack somewhere I could use?

D: Golly, I wouldn’t know that, either.

F: Do you even work there?

D: Of course I do! This b & b has an early 1900’s theme, so we try to keep it that way, very old fashioned.

F: Then I’m going to assume there are no phone jacks outside of the one you’re currently using.

D: Um… yeah, I guess so.

F: So, if there are no phone jacks, that would mean there are no phones in the rooms, are there.

D: Oh yeah, I guess that’d be right.

I talked to M a day or two later to relate this sad, sad state of affairs. She informed me that they had had much worse interactions, needing to call almost every day to make sure that plans were written down and being followed through. It got to the point of several screaming matches and the venue was almost changed 2 weeks prior to the wedding due to employee incompetency.

To be continued…

Festivities

2008-07-22T11:16:00.001-07:00

It’s been a good birthday week.

It started last Tuesday with my coworkers bringing in various tasty treats for all to share. Thursday I came into work to find my desk, bench AND tissue culture hood decorated in the customary black streamers, black balloons, and recycled “Over the hill” decor from past lab birthdays (one coworker turned 30, three more turned 50, and the boss turned 60 this past year). I also got approximately 1 metric ton of glittery confetti generously sprinkled on my phone, every shelf, every work-space, and every drawer that wasn’t locked. They even taped some of this glitter to every pen they could get their hands on. That day the lab took me out to lunch, a very nice gesture and treat.

Just before lunch a delivery arrived for me: a dozen red-tipped yellow roses and more balloons from F. I left all of the decorations up all day, knowing that F had a doctor’s appt on campus that afternoon, so that he could see what my coworkers had done. We went to dinner downtown (since we were both here) and later he helped me take home all of my balloons and flowers. Claiming to not be tired, F stayed up late on Thursday night while I went to bed.

When I got up Friday morning, it was like my own private surprise party of one (F leaves for work shortly after waking me up for the day). Red & yellow streamers decorated the hallway, living room, dining room, kitchen and entry way. F even decorated my usual chair at the kitchen table. A “Happy Birthday” banner hung above the sink and multi-colored balloons littered the floor. It was hilarious.

Saturday we went out and got me a bike. It’s light green with a very comfortable seat (F is rather jealous). I spent a good chunk of my “economic stimulus package” on it. After that we had a quick lunch and then were off to the Dodge County Fair where F’s work was having “Family Day.” Our job was to usher people toward the registration tables and hand out balloons to the kids. I chose to fill the helium balloons so F could schmooze the crowd and hand them out. I swear I was filling balloons the entire 2 hours we were signed up for. My thumbs hurt. (That’s how big of a baby I am). We spent the next hour wandering around the fair, people watching, looking at animals and eating cheese curds (perhaps our last of the season). Back home we readied ourselves for a nice dinner out at our favorite (only) tapas restaurant. We tried a lot of new things, and loved all of it. It was an excellent meal. Shortly after getting back home food-induced comas overtook us.

Sunday we cleaned the house (I’ll even admit that it badly needed it), got some sun (read: we burned ourselves trying to get a little tan), took a bike ride (love my new bike!), grilled out dinner and fell asleep together on the couch watching Nat Geo. Perfection!

Sprinkle in a generous amount of birthday cards, birthday emails, birthday calls, and birthday presents – it was a great extended celebration. Thanks to everyone who sent their well wishes – I really think it contributed to my having a great birthday week.

Today is “Friday” for me. Tomorrow morning F and I are off to Half Moon Bay, CA for my college roommate’s wedding (which I’m standing up in, and hoping my new tan lines don’t look too tacky). The wedding is on Saturday, so we’re taking the couple days before the wedding for a little vacay for ourselves. We have nothing planned, so it should be interesting to see what we come up with to entertain ourselves, if anything at all. We might just relax, though I’m currently doubting F’s ability to be lazy. We’ll see.

Have a great week and thanks again!

Random question/survey (again)

2008-06-24T14:00:00.001-07:00

OK, remember about a year ago I floated the idea of getting a tattoo for my 30th birthday? Most of you were pretty receptive to the idea and had some hilaroius suggestions as to what I should get. In the year since, I think I'm chickening out. I'm a HUGE baby about pain and don't know if I could handle it. Plus I can't really decide on a discrete place to put it.

F has suggested I go another route and get a piercing - a belly button ring. In theory it'd be just the initial pain I would have to worry about (plus the healing). Also, it's some what more reversible should I not want it any more.

Am I too old for this kind of piercing? I dunno. I kind of have it in my head that teenagers get this kind of thing. Is that too closed-minded? Am I being lame?

Help me out, here.

The digital age

2008-06-24T12:22:00.000-07:00

Back in college one of my high school friends came across a new thing on the internet and promptly roped me into it. It was one of the first “networking” or “social” websites. If memory serves, it was something called Circles. It was fun for about a week. Not too long after that Friendster came out, so we all ditched Circles and signed up. Again, fun for a couple weeks as you tracked down people you hadn’t seen/heard from in a while, but then our interest fizzled out. Enter MySpace. Again, another mad rush to sign up, call on the same people to be your official friends, play with some of the more novel features, and then lose interest. A couple weeks ago I was mildly peer pressured into joining Facebook.

My resistance was due to an inevitable repeat of the cycle outlined above. Did I really need yet *another* website floating around in the ether with my name and info on it? Was it going to be of lasting interest? Would I get anything out of it?

So far it’s been true to form. I found a lot of the same people that I’d found on the previous sites. I also found quite a few I hadn’t – that was cool. I never did go back for my 10 year high school reunion so I was happy to see some folks I was actually curious about. But once those first few weeks passed, it’s back to “meh” status. The initial mad rush to find and be found is over. The messages and updates are few and far between. (Though the IM’ing function was cool last week).

What I don’t understand is that the people who I already have email addresses for (and some phone numbers!) message me more via MySpace or Facebook than they do via regular email (or over the phone). Do we really need that extra layer of technology between us? Do you really not think of me unless you happen to see my profile picture? I find it strange. Perhaps we’re more voyeuristic than we’d like to admit. We like to check in on people by looking at their profiles and updates but heaven forbid we actually make some sort of contact with them. [Gasp!] That just might lead to an actual conversation! Heaven forbid!

I won’t play a complete hypocrite here, there are some people that I am curious about but not curious enough to start a conversation. I’ll admit it. What I’m more confused by are the people I consider closer friends than that.

I’m also surprised at the number of people who made a point to invite me to be their friend when I barely knew them in high school/college/grad school/here. No note. No message. Just the invite. I feel used – like they’re just trying to inflate their “friend” numbers. Whatever. Monopoly money as far as I’m concerned.

I guess blogging is just another, less involved version of the social/networking websites. Hell, some of them you can even post blogs to. I choose to view my blog more as a “mass email” for sharing news/ideas/humor than anything else. I know you all can keep some tabs on me with it, and I do the same to you. But if it’s something important, you’ll get a personal email. Or, (are you sitting down?) an actual phone call. Promise.

An honor

2008-06-18T06:19:00.001-07:00

This last weekend F and I took Thursday and Friday off to go to Florida and visit his parents, as well as his oldest son, G, who is there to visit for about 4 weeks. G didn’t know we were coming and was completely floored to see us – could hardly believe his eyes.

F’s parents are very nice, welcoming and fun people. I had a great weekend with them and G. F’s mom is *a lot* like my mom, so I’m not the least bit worried about the two of them meeting in August and getting along famously. F’s dad reminded me a lot of my Stepdad’s dad – fun, charming, and easy to talk to.

My future in-laws live in a “retirement community” that stretches far and wide – it is its own little city. F calls it a “cult” and to some extent I can see why. There are several golf courses, club houses, swimming pools and commercial districts scattered among lots and lots of individually named neighborhoods. You can get around completely by golf cart if you want (even go grocery shopping or to the movies). They have their own TV station, and 2 radio stations. They have every club you can imagine. You would really have to put some effort into being bored. And, knowing how people like to unload their kids on their parents during the summer, they have tons of fun activities and programs for the grandkids. G has a packed schedule of fun things to do. I’m tempted to ask if I can come for my own month of fun activities next summer.

We did as much as we could while we were there, and there’s still plenty left to do for our next visit (whenever that may be). We even had a little “engagement” party. Long-time family friends of The In-Laws went out to dinner with us (they’ve known them since F was 2 years old) and came over afterwards for dessert and champagne and toasts. Even G had a little “toast” for the occasion that was practiced for several minutes in the bathroom beforehand.

“I’m honored to have Kate be my second mom.”

Cheers to that, kiddo!

We even got gifts! The In-Laws gave me birthday gifts a month early. Every night F’s mom would sneak away, turn down our bed and put something on our pillows (e.g. chocolates, tiny liquor bottles, travel-size lotions). They love to entertain and I was certainly entertained.

G was very sad to see us go (I say “us” but I know it’s mostly for his dad) on Sunday, but perked up by Monday with all of the fun activities his grandma had him signed up for. Also, in their little neighborhood, about 4-5 other grandsons G’s age are coming this week to visit their grandparents, so he’ll have some little buddies to pal around with.

We really had a great time – even have a little tan to our skin to show for it. I certainly wouldn’t mind going back, and I don't think they'd mind having me. They even said I wouldn't have to bring F!

But can they dance?

2008-06-03T15:21:00.000-07:00

Since I blogged at you last our lab has successfully moved from one building to another. Not that there weren’t quite a few bumps along the way – but thankfully one of our lab members took it upon herself to be our “full time” moving coordinator and contact person. She had a binder and everything. She also knew everyone involved, their phone number, and could find the answer to any question we had. Poor woman almost had a breakdown, but she’s on a very well-deserved vacation this week so I hope she regains her sanity. Mostly we are functional again – but not quite back up to full steam. At the very least nothing material was broken, and no one was injured. Our boss even took vacation the day we moved and the 3 days after. He knew better than to stick around.

Now my desk is no longer in an office, but rather in a large space of cubicles. We do have a big window, so that’s good. But sound certainly travels here. The lab right across from us plays music that can be heard through the door/wall. That I don’t really have a problem with. It’s the broken-English karaoke hour that has been both entertaining and annoying.

In other news: F and I have kind of started to preliminarily plan for our extremely informal reception next summer. That translates into: I’ve done an internet search on venues, I’ve asked my coworkers for suggestions, and I picked up *the* Rochester Wedding Magazine that only comes out once a year. Basically it’s full of ads – and most of those are for photographers and/or videographers – things I don’t need. Leafing through it last night I was getting discouraged – but lo and behold! At the very end was a 3-page chart of reception locations. I figure that’s the best place to start.

Originally I wanted a “family reunion” feel to it: have it at a park, cater in BBQ, plenty of adult beverages (otherwise my family may not come), have everyone show up in shorts & T-shirts. Easy, right? Casual? Plenty of time to eat and talk to everyone (two complaints I’ve heard over and over from married friends). Well, there are only 3 parks that have amenities for such a shindig, and one of them won’t allow kegs (could be worked around) and one won’t allow alcohol at all. I’m sure that makes park #3 rather popular. Also, all three have noise restrictions – which would really put a damper on getting our groove on.

Now we have to start considering some more “up-scale” options as we don’t want to put all of our eggs in one basket. There are a handful of Mayo-related venues in town (the original Mayo brothers’ homes, and a barn of theirs that’s converted into event space) but, of course, rumor has it that they’re extremely popular and therefore booked out for years.

There are a couple of other “unique” places to consider that the Wedding Magazine thoughtfully provided that we’ll have to call on. They may require a bit of a hike to get there, but Rochester is not lacking in the chartered transportation business. I just don’t want to have it at a hotel or any other “ballroom” type space. Like I said, BBQ, T-shirts and shorts. We need to be outside.

A woman in a neighboring lab has a horse farm with lots of lawn. I think that would be ideal. We could set up a tent, have our booze, AND she promised we could have loud music. Previously we’d eyed the home of one of F’s (now former) coworkers. But then he had to go and get himself arrested and that kind of put a damper on things. F says “It could still be in the running. He hasn’t been convicted yet!”

Um, yeah, put that on the bottom of the list.

Already, at this early stage, I am hating planning. I do not find this “fun” or “enjoyable” in any way. One of my college roommates thoughtfully pointed out to me that starting this early ensures continual planning until the event actually happens. I hope to all that’s holy that isn’t the case. Otherwise, F may be planning this on his own.

Well???

2008-05-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

This weekend F and I visited Cleveland. It was a chance for me to meet his best friend from college and his family. It was also a chance for my Cleveland Crew to meet F. I know I had a good time. It was great to see everyone and how much their kids have grown! I was a little hoarse afterwards from laughing so hard. So now I'm wondering if everyone else also had a good time. You'd all said that you wanted to meet F to give him your stamp of approval... Survey says??

Bare bones

2008-05-13T11:03:00.001-07:00

Well, I can’t say anything too terribly exciting or entertaining has happened since I last updated you in a quick recitation-of-the-facts sort of way.

My Stepsister’s bridal shower weekend was fine. F and I confirmed that we are terribly allergic to German Shepherds – or at least my Stepmom’s German Shepherd. Her dander easily breaks through our antihistamine fortifications. F got to “explore” downtown Wausau during the shower as penises were not invited. On the way back to Rochester I dropped him off at the Minneapolis airport without incident.

The week without him was fine. I had made a mountain of laundry for myself to do while he was gone (all of our assorted winter items, German Shepherd-contaminated clothing from the weekend, sheets & towels, etc.) TV and I picked up where we left off – fast friends that we are. I got little stuff down around the house – which is now starting to feel a bit more like “our” house vs. “his house, and I just live there.” It takes me a while to feel some ownership – even when renting.

F got home last Friday about 45 minutes before my Mom & Stepdad arrived. I gave them the Mayo tour of all the fancy art and atriums as well as my work space and future work space (we’re moving next week, currently packing). They dug it. Saturday they got a tour of F’s work which my Stepdad thought was super cool and would love to tour again. That afternoon was successful shopping for Mom. Apparently the north woods of WI is no longer considered “civilization” because they don’t have a TJMaxx nor a Target. Sunday they were on the road by 10:15 am. We all had a nice time eating good food, having successful tours and shopping AND even having time for some relaxation. A good mix if you ask me.

I’m enjoying F being home this week. I like him, and it’s nice to have him around. I know, big shocker there. Friday we leave for Cleveland and we’re getting excited about that. Sunday, when we fly back to Minneapolis F will stay at the airport to catch a flight to Europe. I’ll have another lone star week. I’m making up a list of things I could do around the house while he’s gone to entertain myself in the evenings. We’ll see if I actually do any of them.

A Quickie

2008-05-02T12:31:00.001-07:00

F and I are all moved in together. Last weekend we went back to my old place to do the final cleaning. I walked through with the property manager on Monday (no charges, thankyouverymuch) and turned in my keys and garage door opener. That evening they were having some people come to look at the place, wanting to start renting June 1. No word if they’re taking the place or not. I have to drop off my May rent check tonight.

F and I cleaned the house together for the first time last weekend, too. Remember, I’m anal and he’s boarderline OCD. Consequently his idea of “light surface cleaning” is *very* different from mine. I would define it more as “solid cleaning.” I’m scared to see “deep cleaning.”

This weekend we are going to WI for my step-sister’s bridal shower. On the way back I’m dropping F off at the airport so he can fly to Europe for work for the week. He will be in Europe for work every other week for at least the next 2 months. Sucks, but I’ll deal. I’ve got things I can do around the house to entertain myself (I’ll probably eat crappy food, resurrect my previous roommate: TV, and nap a lot). The following weekend the parents will actually visit. I hate to jinx it, but I think getting slapped by Karma (twice!) means they’ve met their quota. The weekend after THAT we’re going to Cleveland! I’ll get to meet F’s best friend from college AND introduce F to (most of) my Cleveland Friends.

I’m sure that somewhere in there I’ll acquire some more blog fodder. I hope this can tide you over in the meantime. Have a good weekend!

2 for 1 Deals by Karma

2008-04-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Well, my parents still haven’t visited. This past weekend (attempt #2) was thwarted because Stepdad caught what Mom had and was also on his death/sick bed.

Again, having another weekend with no plans, F and I went to work on combining our houses. We are industrious little ants, aren’t we? All day Saturday we went through what remained of my stuff and ended up finding another 2 carloads of crap to take to Goodwill. We also had 2 more carloads of stuff to move into F’s house, which we did, and put away. We realized at that time that all that was left in my house was furniture – some designated for Goodwill and some designated for F’s house. We made some calls and luckily found out that U-Haul is open on Sundays AND that we could rope a friend of F’s from work into helping us (I may be scrappy, but there are limits to my strength).

Sunday morning we rented the U-Haul, met F’s friend and started loading furniture from my house into the U-Haul to take to Goodwill. Alright, the guys did that, and I basically just watched. I like to tell myself that I was at the ready to dial 911 lest one of them get injured. I also provided water when needed and the occasional direction (“No, not that table, this table”). Goodwill was happy to see them pull up and actually helped them unload the truck. Then we loaded the truck with my “keeps” and drove over to F’s house. Again, I mainly stayed on the sidelines (“Left bedroom for this, right bedroom for that”, “Would you like another water?”).

After F’s friend left, we dusted everything down, set everything up, arranged things where we wanted them, and even hung things on the walls (you know my taxidermy fish survived the purge!).

So now I’m living at F’s house for reals. I’ve changed my mailing address with lots of places (but not all of them yet). You can send me mail there, too. We haven’t cleaned out my townhouse, yet, though. We’re going out of town this coming weekend, so that’s being put off until the weekend after. Should be a pretty easy job: mopping floors and vacuuming, a little light dusting on the windowsills, cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen.

I did call my property manager and filled her in on the haps. She said she’d slip a “move out checklist” in my door for when we clean and that she’d make a note that I should be out by the end of April so they can let prospective renters know that they have a unit available for May/June. If they find an early renter, they’ll reimburse me some rent. Once I turn in my keys I can turn off my utilities, too.

Let me tell you, it’s been nice not having to pack a bag to stay at F’s house, and vice versa for him. I still spin around now and then in the kitchen as I try to remember where to find certain things. I still do a bit of a double-take when I see my clothes in my half of the closet. Overall I’d say the blending of the houses went better than expected. Our furniture matches each other – nothing looks hodge-podge or out of place. The house looks “homey” now, warmer than it was. And we have a great guest bedroom set up. We figured it out – with the guest room + the kids rooms and sofa sleepers we could “comfortably” sleep 9 in beds. Not sure when that occasion would ever come up, but if it does, we’re ready!

Karma strikes!

2008-04-07T11:20:00.001-07:00

I’m without much blog fodder today because Karma struck. Struck my Mom and knocked her on her ass. See, Mom decided she wanted to skip out on a Forced Family Fun Function on Easter by *pretending* to be sick. It worked, she and Stepdad got to spend the holiday together, all was good. Then a couple days before coming to visit me and F, Mom *actually* got sick. Sick with a plague that sounds a lot like what I had in March (for most of the month of March – resilient little bug it was). Consequently, they didn’t make the 5 hour drive to visit us. And believe me, the prospect of getting re-infected with Uber-bug didn’t thrill us.

They’re thinking of coming this weekend instead, but right now they’re scrambling to find someone to watch the dog. Apparently the kennel is closed this weekend. We’re banking on the neighbor for now, but I’m not holding my breath.

So instead of entertaining my parents for the weekend F and I were busy little bees. We got to work going through the stuff and crap at our respective houses and dropped off FIVE carloads to Goodwill (cumulatively). I’m so proud of us, mostly me (3 of those carloads were my crap). F is a pretty sparse/minimalist-type of guy (to a point). I, on the other hand, have been burdened by guilt-laden attachments to cast-offs, hand-me-downs and other detritus from my parents and their kin for YEARS. I’ve carried this stuff from apartment to apartment in Cleveland, and then finally here. It was time to stop the madness. It felt so good to finally rid myself of these things that I will never use.

Granted, we still have to go through my garage, but we made it through the rest of my townhouse and it’s looking pretty good in a half-moved-out-but-not-quite-yet kind of way.

Mom seemed a little put-out to hear about this drastic purging on the phone last night, and I can only think of 3 reasons why: 1) being a hoarder herself, she doesn’t like to see me leaving the fold; 2) she actually thought all of that stuff was valuable and I should have rented a storage space to keep it; or 3) she has doubts about F & I and didn’t want to see me lose my stuff lest we not work out and I have to move out and just buy new stuff. I’m hoping for options 1 or 2. Maybe I’ll find out.

No, my lease isn’t up until the end of June, but we wanted to get a head-start on things. With spring and summer coming up, our weekends are getting more and more full. Those of you who have helped to move me know how daunting a pile of stuff I have/had. We figured it would take us at least 2-3 weekends to accomplish what we did this past weekend. Plus, if we can continue to be this productive, I just might be able to get out of my townhouse by the end of May and get out of my lease a month early. We’ll see how well we do and what my Property Manager says.

Lil’ Kate: Kid tested, mother approved

2008-03-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, it’s official, I survived Spring Break week with all 3 of Fiance’s (F’s) kids.

I’ll be honest – it wasn’t exactly “easy.” I don’t have kids of my own, as most of you know. I haven’t been around kids much since babysitting was my major source of income. Having 3 kids around all the time is exhausting, and I wasn’t even around all the time. F took the week off and had the kids 24/7. I got to go to work.

But it was a good week. The kids had a good time. F was over the moon about spending time with them. I got more hugs and kisses than ever. They genuinely like me and like spending time with me. Better yet, they’re actually pretty good kids. Granted, they’re not perfect, but I’ve met some real monsters in my day and these were no monsters. Just your typical 6-9 year-olds.

Frosting on the cake: F’s Ex pumped them for all kinds of info and I passed the test with flying colors. Not that I necessarily need her approval, but you know I like it. Helps ease some tension as far as I can tell… or at least makes me feel better.

Am I glad they’re gone? Yes – back to the old routine, and you know I like routine. Will I be happy to see them again? You bet. Do I find the possibility daunting that they may, one day, should the stars align, live with us permanently? Of course. I’m no parent and I have to learn how to be a step-parent. At least they’re old enough to tell me what they want/need. And F is there to show me the ropes. For the most part my job is just to be a back-up singer, enhancing his parenting. But it still makes me nervous. I’d like to be a good stepmom. I set the bar pretty high for myself sometimes and then obsess about it to no good end. I’m learning not to do that, though.

This weekend my parents come to visit. Should get at least one blog post out of that. Stay tuned.

Alright already! Something worth blogging about

2008-03-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

It’s been an exciting month since I last posted. I know, I know, I haven’t been good about posting regularly. The new BFs? As you know, they can be rather time consuming.

And though I know my scant readership rather well, I still feared you all putting on your judgy pants, so I will come clean now and admit there has been more going on behind the scenes than I’ve been letting on. I do keep secrets from you, yes I do.

First off – my little Stepbro got married! So, congrats to him and his new Dutch bride. The wedding was awesome even though half the family came down with one bug or another the following week (including me). Knocked me on my ass for 3 days, and I’m just about at 95% now. It’s two weeks later. These are tenacious bugs. Be forewarned. I suggest you regularly douse yourself in ethanol or other antibacterial substances. Avoid the public in general.

Now, on to the good part.

You all know that BF and I have rather thoroughly covered all important topics (potential “deal breakers” if you will) in regards to relationships when we started dating. No reason to beat around the bush – best to get it all out in the open and decide if we can tolerate each other right off the bat. Hiding “the crazy” is not allowed – let it all out and see who bolts first.

No bolting happened.

In December I was struck with the urge to inform BF “You do realize that you are going to marry me someday, right?” To which he unhesitatingly replied, “I know.”

Trust me, I was as shocked as you to hear that come out of my practical and (usually) rational mouth. More shocked that he was already aware of what I was informing him. Little stinker, waiting on me to mention it first.

We successfully survived the holiday season (complete with letting our parents in on our plans – and getting nothing but excited support in return). I get along with his kids. We can divvy up chores like old pros. We tease each other with less-than-serious proposals. We make each other very happy.

Come February, on a lark, if you will, we started to look at rings. Not seeing anything that we particularly loved, we decided to design our own – and our “information gathering” mission to the local jeweler turned into an actual design session. Over the next few weeks we were actually picking out stones and settings, looking at CAD drawing mock-ups, wax mock-ups, and money was exchanging hands.

Are we really doing this? Yes, yes we are.

Again, Practicality spoke up and said, “You’re in no hurry. Why not put off an ‘official’ proposal until summer? You’ll have been together approximately 9 months by then. That’s a respectable amount of time. No one should accuse you of rushing into anything.” I listened to Practicality and agreed, as did BF. It gave him some time to concoct a fun way to propose.

This past Saturday we went to pick up the finished ring. I tried it on and immediately girled out. I’m so embarrassed. I turned into a freakin’ raccoon – distracted by shiny objects, compelled to hoard. Pathetic!

I struggled all day Saturday and Sunday, putting the ring on, taking it back off, wrestling with whether or not I could actually put it away in a safe deposit box for the next 3 months or so. BF was no help. I believe the raccoon came out in him as well.

“Just wear it!” he says.

“I don’t know… It is *awfully* pretty, isn’t it?” I said, staring at it.

“It’s gorgeous!”

I’m still staring. It practically glows in the dark.

“But what if people ask how you proposed? What should I tell them?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Make something up, but make me look good.”

Now he’s staring at it.

“It’s not like we haven’t already committed to each other,” he points out.

“Telling the truth is a more hilarious story. I think I’ll just stick with that.”

We snap some pictures (which most of you have seen) and emailed them out. They’re not the best pics – my socks are more in focus than the ring – but if you shrink them down until they are in focus, you get the idea. Trust me, it’s gorgeous.

So, I guess by default, we are officially engaged. I am wearing the ring in public, and happily accepting the “oooohs” and “aaaaaahs” and general fussing that it is generating. BF (or is it just F for fiancé now?) is trying to decide if we should still have some sort of proposal with a production (you know, like in the movies). I’m not pushing for it. I’m willing to skip ahead (ha, like we haven’t already) to just flat out celebrating. So, we’ll see. I’ll keep you posted.

Answers to FAQ’s:

Yes, those are rubies. Rubies are my birthstone. For July.

Yes, I know the stones look huge, but it’s an optical illusion. I am freakishly small, so on my petite hand the stones appear rather large.

Yes, I am rather modest.

No, we haven’t set a date. The most I can tell you is it’ll be in 2009. I didn’t think I’d have to give you a date just yet. Remember, I was planning on having to figure that out this summer.

Yes, we do have a general plan. Now, I may have girled out over jewelry, but I do not girl out over weddings. I like to attend weddings. I like to be in other people’s weddings. The whole planning and organizing part? Yeah, that makes my skin crawl. Completely sucks the fun out of it for me. Do. Not. Want.

The plan for now is to get hitched at our local court house, then fly down to Mexico where we will have a small ceremony to appease our attending parents, followed by a small vacay/honeymoon on the beach.

“Do I have to wear shoes??” F asks.

“Of course not. I probably won’t either,” I say.

“Sweet!”

As for the rest of you: When we get back to MN we’ll throw a big informal reception. And by “informal” I’m talking about something along the lines of reserving a park, having food catered in, and everyone shows up in T-shirts and shorts. That’s about the extent of my desire to plan. Bridezilla I am not.

Yes, we are moving in together. My lease on my townhouse is up at the end of June, and I’ve already started moving stuff over to F’s house, where we will be living. You’ll all be informed of the change of address this summer. Phone number won’t change.

OK, I don’t think I’ve left any pertinent details out. I hope everyone is satisfied, all of your burning questions answered, and you’re just as giddy as I am!