Last couple of months can simply be categorized as the busiest months I have had between work and more work, there wasn't much time to do anything else. Blogging pretty much was nonexistent.

Whats new in the last couple of months?

Work was work, it simply is. Summer is a great time to really focus uninterrupted by meeting to really design, plan and implement some really cool stuff.  So, work was work.

My neighbor had a tree trimmed. More than two cords of fantastic maple wood and it was left all for me. Thanks G! Love you for that! Over several days of arm numbing physical labor I moved and stacked them little logs onto my deck. The bright side is that I get to buy an axe or rent a wood splitter and have a wood chopping party! I have not yet bought the axe and I wonder if I can just go in to Home Depot or Lowes and say "I want an axe". I wonder if I will directed to customer service to 'register' that axe. Or perhaps, an axe is not such a terrible weapon to own. Somehow, I feel scared owing something like that! Upcoming in another couple weeks, I am holding a wood chopping party! Let me know you can (er... want to) help... I am going to need it for chopping two cords of wood. Of course, food and drinks are on the house! :)

Over the last months, one thing that has really worked out well, is the wine tasting! Yes! Almost every Saturday, I have found myself wandering over to Winchester's Spirited Gourmet to taste some incredible wines. I will blog over the next few days/weeks for the wines that I did taste and like. Interesting thing about The Spirited Gourmet is that they are finally getting together the wine diary of sorts in place where consumers can log in their wish lists, the order lists, and more over review wines as they taste them. NOW, if only they got their ducks in the row and actually allow my login to work, life would be great! DUH!

Talking about wine, my favorite store Bermans (in Lexington, MA) has finally gotten off its butt (sorry!) and got its first revamped website up. I think it is live, but _not_ alive and not even close to the full potential it can be! There is a wealth of knowledge there and can make so much difference to bringing that knowledge to the people who want it. Plus it can cater to the average wine buyer who simply wants a case of good reds!

So, between Bermans and Spirited Gourment, the jury is still out on which one I really like! Almost need a fusion of the two! It is like having two great knowledge bases, each almost complimenting each other.

Travel notes: My car is seeing more miles that it ever did in the past two months. It saw a trip to New York (my sisters place), Lake Taghkanic State Park, and couple of towns around Massachusetts. I have not flown around too much, but never say never. There is a trip to Nashville, TN just around the corner for work.

Oh yes! I turned 36! On September 8th, I celebrated my birthday.

Never expected the month to be this busy, but it did. With family travelling and me traveling and all sorts of events and activities, it was one extraordinarily fun and incredibly action-packed and exhausting month.

First week of July, my sister and two nephews visited, whilst my brother-in-law was travelling in India. We crammed loads of activities, perhaps one-too-many. But it was fun. We spent a day at Crane Beach in the warm waters and nephews spent time building castles and moats until the tide came in. On another day we spent with my sisters friend's family in a neighboring town. We made papermache heads but did not have time to see them baked and paint on them. But we did have fun getting our hands into the papermache gooeeeiiness. Then we spent half a day painting on porcelain toys. It was something I have wanted to do forever and it is in my town. Duh! I resisted doing anything until the nephews arrived. We had fun picking the toys to paint on. Of course, both the kids wanted to paint on a car. Trouble being there was only one car! Oh well! The elder settled for a Dinosaur. My sister picked a fluted bowl and I picked an oval plate. We selected paints and the painted for hours. I think we stopped when our stomachs started to rumble. The toys were painted and left it to be finish glazing or firing et. al. I thought it maybe interesting to combine a bit of home furniture shopping with entertainment for kids, so we made a trip to Jordans at N.Reading. I simply love it there. I remember spending hours (yep.. hours) at the liquid fireworks, waiting for friends. Kids loved it. They also loved the trapeze. Perhaps, most surprising, they were completely and utterly entertained in the store itself. As we wandered through the living room and sofas and office furniture, the kids were happy to pounce and pitter-patter around. At the office furniture, they managed to act as sales folks, except they kept 'selling' me everything for free. Personally, I did not mind, but the portly gent who was the sales person sounded a tad miffed. On one of the office desk chairs, the kids found the automated back massage..... ahh.... ohhhh... I didddn't wwaannntt tooo leaavve. Yet another day we spent it at the childrens museum. I had never been there and boy! was I ready for a treat. We got there mid morning and we left at closing time. It was just so much fun. It caters to all levels of kids and also brought out the kid in my sister and me. I could not have imagined a more perfect week with my sister and nephews...... ah! I did not know what lay ahead!

Talk about family travelling, my aunt and uncle have a schedule that would shame the most ardent campaign managers. My aunt is travelling for the newest arrival and addition to the family; little baby boy Cormac, a good solid Irish name for a good solid little lad. This little one is the third in my cousins growing family. My other uncle and cousin traveled from Washington D.C. to meet up with all the family. This cousin from DC I have not met since 1997. Wow! She has grown up to quite a lady! I remember a little child in pig tails! Anyways, back to my aunt! She is in my town, the dashes off to New York. Her husband, my uncle meanwhile goes to Tampa to meet his youngest son, and then returns to New York. There is some gettogether with family there. They come back to home town and then go to San Jose for more family meets and then head to Vancouver, and from there to an Alaskan Cruise. Back from there to home town. All this in 3 weeks! Wow! I am now just exhausted writing about it all. Go Aunty Go! Go Uncle Go! Awesome!

That was it I thought about travels and trips. But, in all this, we heard news from my father and that family and friends expressed their desire that either my sister or me travel to India. My sister opted to go. So, I planned a trip down to New York. It would be a trip for me to see the nephews again and deliver the ready procelain toys that we painted. Earlier I mentioned that I could not have expected a more perfect week with nephews and my sister. But, the trip to New York was equally, if not more prefect. It was a working trip for me. So, the working days were working and I took couple of days completely off. It made sense. With kids we made trips to the Bronx zoo, Kettletown State park (Connecticut), Science Fair at little ones school, watched some disneys classic animation on their ridiculously fantastic TV (btw: I want it!) and just hanging out.

In all this work still managed to be center stage. Goes to show, I can work from practically anywhere. Give me my laptop, a great bandwidth internet connection and I am so good to go! I am so ready for doing major releases in the first week of August and also plan for subquent quick fire design, development and releases.

All in all.... a rambling of millions of things with family and friends and work and play! All in all, one heck of a month.

The past few days have been miserably hot and horrid in New England. It is sometimes hard to believe that just few months ago we had 2 feet of snow lying on the ground and now the ground temperature is somewhere in the 90+ deg. What is a tad worrying is that we have not reached the height of summer as yet, which at current rate promises to be one miserable mess of a weather.

Thankfully, I have a fantastic home, with a basement, that stays at 62 deg (psst... it is where all the wine is stored, hic!) in there. I really don't start the air conditioner or the fan upstairs. Why use, if I don't really need it! So, I am hibernating in my basement with my laptop. Thank goodness for wireless access point, I have great signal even in the basement. 

I know it is too dang hot, when both Duke and Princess (*my littie kitties), have been sprawled in front of me on the cold concreted basement floor. I had to move all the food and water (er... for the cats) to the basement, because I saw they refused to go up!  I also realize how 'long' the kitties can really stretch..... dang! Both the little ones can bundle into little furry balls of about 6-9 inchs diameter, but when the occassion (such as hot weather) calls for it, they can stretch up to almost 2 feet from nose to hind leg paw! Wow, call about elasticity! Princess who always.... I mean always sleeps like a royality, is stretched and sprawled like a little drunken minx!

I want rain.... goodness sakes some rain, pleeeaaassseee!

I want one of these! Nah! I need one of these!

There are several reasons for my needing a bicycle! and in no particular order they are:

1. My doctor says, "It is better for your broken... er... fixed foot to be biking rather than walking or running on aspalt!". Yes, yes, I broke my ankle a decade or more ago and I should be grateful that I can walk, but overtime, I have brought it up to be able to walk 3-4 miles without issues and even go running when it takes my fancy! But I think what my doctor is saying very very diplomatically, is that I am getting old! Right! and I should take care of the old Bones (or cartileges or tendons etc etc)! He suggested that at some point in exceedingly far future I may need a cane! Hmmm! Me thinks...... should I get one with a silver head or gold plated. Que Sera Sera! 

2. The gas prices are atrocious! Now, I really don't use my car to commute to work, so, I really not that shamed that I don't over indulge in using in the worlds resources! Blimey! I just annoyed some folks who legitimately need to drive to their work. I am not beating you guys up at all. Actually, I really don't care how the rest of the world commutes to work, whether they are concious of or abusive of the natural resources. That is their lookout. But, my concern is my 'recreational and other commuting' that takes up roughly 40-50 miles a week! argh! That is actually the amount some folks drive to their first job. Something has got to be done for this!

3. I live  a sneeze and cough away from the Bike Path in Arlington, MA.

4. I have this vague recollections that after initial hic-cups with learning to ride a bicycle, I actually enjoyed it! The initial hic-cups include, falling down bursting knees, ramming into stationary trucks, ramming into hedges, and loads of other very exciting and side-splitting stuff that my sister can narrate endlessly in family gatherings.

Now, I have just to find one a good one that I love, so I will use it more often than not. Unfortunately, living in New England, means, I can use it about 4 months, may be 5 months in the year. But, it is just turning summer, so, I have few solid months ahead that I can use to ride.

Step 1: The bikes thus far! I have not ridden a bicycle in about 12-13 years! Actually after my ankle breaking episode, I don't believe I have ridden a bicycle! This will be so interesting to 'test' ride bikes. Where do I start? There is a bike shop less than three-fourth mile away called Quad-cycles. I may as well start there. They appear to know what they are doing. So, I test rode some bikes.... they were:

1. Fuji Absolute 1.0 17 inch
2. Fuji Absolute 2.0 17 inch
3. Breezer Town Bikes (U Frame) 17 inch
4. Schwinn Ultra Comfort Voyageur 19 inch

Of all the above bikes, the Absolute are just absurdly expensive. If my bike is going to be a thousand dollars, then I need it gold plated, and if it is then I will keep it in the glass package, which defeats the purpose of owning a bike in the first place! The Schwinn was absurdly clunky! Sorry, I thought that because I got spoilt with the ultra smooth ride that fuji bicycles provide. Hmmm! Lest you read me wrong! I loved the Absolute 2.0, and if I could justify paying $700 for it, then I would. But I cannot... not at this stage. Perhaps in a few years time.

Today I continued with my bike testing.... LLbean! 
I wanted to test ride Acadia Cruiser (by Schwinn!)... but they are completely sold out.... and I have to wait a week! But I test rode the K2 T:Nine Crosswind Womens and gosh! felt and reacted exactly as the Absolute... but a little more heavier and little more reliable on brakes and at half the price (more or less)! Go figure!

So, conclusions thus far!
I would love to have the Absolute 2.0, but I may get the K2: T:Nine or the Acadia Cruiser as my first bike! This week will tell the story.... and I cannot wait.

Tonight is our company sponsored outing to the ball game. The last one was ages ago, and I think I had fun! or didn't I?

Lets start off by saying that I am not a huge baseball fan or for that matter any of the commerialized sports. You won't find me at a game stadium, but more likely to find me at a movie theater, library (or barnes and noble), a restuarant, a wine tasting or simply at home. Lest this gives you the impression that I won't go to a game, allow me to clarify. If I find myself at a game, then I do enjoy it thoroughly. This pretty much goes for everything that I do. One of the principles that I live by is; If I am going to do (either opted or asked) something, then I do it with all my heart and soul. It is a waste of time doing it any other way.

So, I am going to have fun at the game. The outcome really does not matter too much for me and I will be happy for my friends if the Red Sox wins. But, if the other team wins, so be it, yeah for them! It will be fun because almost the whole company is going. It has been a while since I have hung out with other folks from the company. There is a pre-game that happens that means baseball food and beer before the baseball game!

(Hope it does not rain! and is not cold!)

_Post_:
The pre-game getting together for the company was at the Boston Tavern on their top deck, with food and drinks. The bright and sunny afternoon turned to nasty little dark clouds that threatened to downpour. But, apart from a spitter-spatter of rain drops it wasn't too shabby.  A group of us made our way to the game way past the start. It was interesting to be there, hanging around the bleechers to see the game in progress. Seats were what they were, nothing very exciting anyways, but for $10 I it was just fine. It was fun to catch up with folks that I have not met in awhile. After the seventh inning, it was time to head back, at least for me. It was a nice evening, just right cool breeze, and I could not wait for the bus or train, so walked from Kenmore to Harvard. It took a good hour, but it was exhilarating to walk. Home by 11:30pm and off into the noddy-world!

Pstt: Who were the RedSox playing against? er... Who won?

long time no write, and tonight is not really a night for me to write anything meaningful (hic!)

It has been roughy 15+ hours at the computer for fun purposes (hic!)  I have finally got a working vision of my blog-next generation in silverlight (groan! it blooming hurts right now to write this). I don't know if my fancy starting point blog is going to work well with this syndicated version of the blog. But it does not matter too much right now. :)

I am millions of miles away from where i want to be with my blog implementation, but I have it running on this webserver! and that is blooming incredible. :) I am happy! Over the next couple of weeks I anticpate several of these really long hours of understanding silverlight and wcf and asp.net 3.5 and a good bottle of wine! Current favorite! (hic!) Altos De La Hoya *a Jumila (Bodegas Olivares) Red Wine from Spain. Along with this incredible red wine is the soundtrack from Hitman and also from King Arthur.  

Whilst I do the changes (and enjoy great wine and music), please bear with the fact that I won't be writing much here...... and will be moving all mee blogs enteries to the new generation. (Good lord! The number of times I have hit backspace to correct typing mistakess, is actually quite funny! ha-ha-har-hee-hee)

Anyways! Great day! Man! Such a fantastic blooming day!

(HIC!) Blimey! got to go!

Twelve years ago on twelfth day of the third month of the year I stepped off British Airways flight with two suitcases and an oversized carryon to be welcomed by my sister and cousin at Boston's Logan Airport. 

Wow! Twelve years! Twelve tumultuous and terrific years! This calls for a celebration of some sorts and a recap of some sorts too.....

Twelve highlights for the twelve years (no particular order, except perhaps the 12th is exactly where I want it)......

1. Completed Masters in Computer Science... resisted the urge to continue to do PhD.
2. Travelled more in the last twelve, than the previous twelve years. Mostly within US, Asia and one in Europe.
3. Held a job or two concurrently.
4. Gained weight... lost weight... and finally learned live a healthy lifestyle.
5. Made friends... lost friends... and finally learned to not get too close.
6. Owned a house and a terrifically growing yard with flowers, fruits, vegetables and herbs. Shared it with two cats (literally).
7. Killed one orchid... meticulously cared for seven others... and finally had three orchids rebloom.
8. Owned a car... had some mishaps... one warning ticket... and several scratches and one bump on the car.
9. Found a renewed passion for crafts like  knitting, crocheting, stain glass, board games, movies and wine.
10. Worked on varied technology platforms... and finally got sold on Microsoft technologies.
11. Invested in the market, rode the wave of a successful IPO and its subsequent bust.
12. and... finally... yes... lived my life my way!

As regards celebrations, I have not given it too much thought. But I am sure wine will be involved.

Okay, this should stay in Las Vegas....but Lent is out the window! After the first minute of feeling guilty..... I was over it and done.

Lent is really hard this year and it is all my fault. In the past years, I have given up (separately in different years) coffee (never doing that again), alcohol, red meat (too easy!), and eating out. On Fat tuesday we had the wine tasting at my office and the following day onwards, I proclaimed that I would give up alcohol (yes, including wine and wine tasting) and meat (eggs, fish, and all other meats). Normally, I would give up just one thing, but the 'over-achiever' bug in me decided to give up a whole lot more. Lesson learned (or learning) the hard way that giving up too much will drive me nuts.

I have no idea, what possessed me to do the same. I thought I would use the 40-days to instill some good habits, but couple of weeks into it, and I have not done a dang thing! I know exactly what I am going to give up next year..... it will be that over-achiever bug in me. Now that will be a good challenge!

Anyways, I just realized that Lent is really not 40 days, but it is almost 47 days! Popular thoughts say, that Sunday does not count. But, that just sounds like excuses to me. I have never really bothered to find out how many days, but simply did what I needed to do to stay on track and by the time Easter rolled in, it did not really irk me to over indulge in the item that I had given up.

It has been hard this year, simply because, I am missing out on some tremendous wine tasting's. I land up going to wine tasting, but taste nothing. If it sounds great on paper, I sometimes purchase the wines and house is now getting pretty dang full with wine cases around. I have got to stop doing that. Perhaps, I should leave all purchasing powers at home and then get to the wine tasting, or even not go to the wine tastings. Giving up meat has not been that hard at all. I have well balanced meal normally, so, giving up meat was okay. I should have stuck with just that.

Well! All this next time! Lessons learned! Oh! by the way..... I am not Christian! Lent just sounds something of a challenge to do! Go figure!

Since coming back from New York, I have been keeping busy living life, rather than blogging about it or may be I was being just a tad lazy about penning (typing) down what was happening. Either way, nothing got written down for a while. So, what has been happening? Loads of stuff that was on-going, well, has continued to be on-going, loads of new stuff got started, loads of stuff got done, and all along loads of fun was up for grabs.

Work front, all well that works well.

Entertainment front: Movies. Thanks to Netflix (door delivery), Netflix online and Hulu.com sites, I have caught up with several items from the queue

Shattered Glass: All about seeing Hayden Christensen in a role which nothing to do with Darth Vadar. I did get drawn into the movie as it dealt with the ethics. The movie is about a journalist, who has dreams about grandeur and he goes about getting it by fabricating his stories. It reminds me people who love to talk, love to hear themselves talk and all the while are saying nothing or are simply lying.

Arsenic and Old Lace: After the heavy dose of ethics, this one comes with Cary Grant in one of the most hilarious roles as a newly wed with aunts that have a sordid passion of killing gentlemen callers and burying them in the basement. The two aunts go about killing and burying as it was the most normal pasttime ever. It is great!

The Pianist: Holy molly, loved and hated this movie at the same time. Cannot believe I did not go to see this at the theaters.

Prime Suspect 1 and 2: I really do like Helen Mirren's role as DCI Tennyson.

And Then There Were None: As a kid I have remember reading this book, with 10 people murdered on a island, and no one could have gotten to the island and no one left. Since then I have been on the lookout for the book. Couple of months back as I was browsing through tones of used books for sale, I spotted it and bought it. It was great to re-read the book. I couldn't wait for the movie. Hmmm! Quite certain that there was a movie, I searched, found, and moved it to the top of my queue on Netflix. I must say, I was dissappointed, arghh! The suspense was there, the thrill was there, and the ending was horrid. I could believe my ears (or eyes for that matter). How dare they change the ending!

House M.D. (playing catup with season 4... I think): Hugh Laurie is really really cool. The brilliant but caustic doctor and his team as they battle the weirder of the medical problems.

Crochet Conquered! Finally, I have conquered the dopey one needle in one hand and yarn in the other craft. Yes! It has been a personal ghoul to couquer. I could knit, I could embroider, I could pick up almost any other craft, but the whole crocheting business drove me bananas. I could never manage the whole yarn and single needle thing. Conquering this thing has led me down the path of doing a sampler which is almost 50inches in square and also started on an ambitious shawl. Hmmm! I wonder if conquering a craft has lead me down the obsessive crafting path. Time will tell, but this may be a passing phase or a lasting entertainment. My very own accomplishment.

I am back in the hometown after a brief visit to see how the 'other' half lives. The 'other' half being the married-with-children-with-varied-schedules people. This married with children folks that I had the privilege to live with is my sister's family. She has two kids; one 7.5 year old that goes to second grade school and one 3.5 year old that goes to daycare. She goes to yet another school to teach a bunch of high-schoolers. After a week, I must say, Wow! Yep! a simple Wow!

All together, there appeared to be bursts of activity during the morning and evening hours with a peaceful dead-zone (for me, not for my sister) in between. It is a peaceful 5 AM to wake up to, no kitties jumping over me (hmm, I kind of missed that) to wake me up. Just past six am, my sister is up and about, shortly there after the kids are woken up. I have observed that all little ones crave mummy-time in the morning. Mummy-time is something similar to kitty-time. My kitties, simply jump on the bed (if they haven't been hanging out there already) squat on me or near my head, purring their head off. The next 15-20 minutes are completely dedicated to them, to tickle their bellies, scratch their heads, hold them and hug them. My two nephews needed exactly that.. mummy-time. By and by, breakfast, milk, coffee got made, breakfast got eaten, morning ablutions wrapped, kids got yelled, kids crying wrapped, kids got their crankiness out, kids dressed, everyone else dressed, everyone tumbled out to do drop offs.

I dropped the older one to school and my sister dropped off the little one and we switched the pickups. The school doors open at 8:25 AM. A late pass needs to be issued if the child is not inside the school doors by 8:45 AM. It is 20 mins of complete chaos in front of a school. The school buses unloading their cargos and going off to gather another cartload of kids. Parents, guardians and people like me, dropping off kids. Of course, all drivers want to park right in front of school, right at the door, probably at the classroom door! duh! What is the harm in parking a block away, getting out, walking ten (or more) steps to get to the school door. Perhaps I am beating up the droppers a bit too much. After I dropped off, I was heading home, while most people there were heading to work, trying to get there by 9:00 AM. I should really cut them some slack; after all, they were the ones that were on a more stringent timeline.

I spent most of the morning, lunch time and afternoon blissfully clickity-clicking on my computer getting work done, receiving emails, responding to emails, writing up instructions, doing demos, talking on phone and communicating on instant messenger. While I was happily typing on my computer, my sister is at her school handling lessons, reviews, talkative kids, grades, homework, teaching, doing demos and running around. Somewhere in all that she has her packed lunch and I have my bowl(s) of cereal, chips and soup.

... all was back to normal working day until 3:20 PM.

Around 3:15 PM outlook reminded me to pick the little one from daycare. Work went on hold for the next hour, whilst, I drove off to pick the little one. Picking a kid from day care was (is) not a matter of getting to the daycare, bundling the little one and driving back. 'It' is not a bag of potatoes or carton of milk that one drives to the store, purchases and drives back. It entails, spending 10-15 mins with the little one at the daycare, before the little one is prepared to head out. No sense in forcing a kid to drop their current train of thought, current book, current chat with friends, current fight, current crying or anything for that matter. I found myself enjoying my 15 minutes of hanging out with 'my' (my is in single quotes, because it my sisters little one, so indirectly mine) little one at the day care. Interestingly, if you hang around chitter-chattering with 'your' kid, random other kids gravitate towards you. One kid wanted something from other kid, and was not getting it, so was crying his head off. I happened to be around, and patted him saying: "There, there, play with something else". The next moment (to my utter astonishment), this bawling kid clung to me and cried even more. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the teacher(s) laughing heartily. All I could do was hug the crying one, which led to others coming over. Hug-Magnets, I say. By and by, everyone was sorted and I and 'my' little one were on our way home.

Back home, the little one was happy to be playing around until mummy brought the other one, and then everyone was home, exchanging news of the day. Over coffee, milk, snacks, and homework for kids, I was happily reunited with my computer to continue clicking meaningful sequences of alphabets and numbers and some odd special characters.

Almost 12 hours since we have been up, the family sits down for dinner with work for the day wrapped up, homework done, and computer shut down. In the next couple of hours, the kids have play time, reading time, fighting time, crying time, bath time, and bed time. The bed-time always came last, but all the other 'times' were in random order and many times repeated over in the same evening.

Around 9:00 PM, peace reigns once more, whence my sister goes to pack lunches, clear dishes, complete her work for the next day. Who knows when she does sleep, I am already in dream world, when she finally gets to bed.

All in all, at the end of the week, my sentiments are exactly as they were when I started the drop off and pick up schedule. A simple, WOW!

A perfectly gorgeous day finds me driving down to New York to my sisters place. I will be camped out at her house for a week. It is going to be a working week, since there are way too many things to get done for work. I have couple of deadlines to meet and couple of things to wrap up before we move onwards to other bigger items. But then that is work.

I have always wondered how do families manage two working careers and kids, and their schedules, drop offs and pick ups, homework and playtime and everything in between. I am about to embark on a week long introduction to drop offs and pick ups. I think it will be loads of fun, from new driving routes, one or more kids in the back seat, getting to school, getting to daycare, remembering access codes to drop offs, the procedure for pick ups. Wow! Already I have had the first day of pick up round with my sister navigating and me driving to do the pickups of one child from school and the other from day care. Earlier in the morning, I did a drop off for my brother-in-law at the train stop, which is near his college. In between all this drop off and pick up, we have all the ducks in the row for one deadline tomorrow. Awesome! This is wicked cool. But, of course, this is the first day. Talk me at the end of the week and I may be singing a completely different tune. But for now, life is good.....

You keep play-doh in front of me; the little child in me is going to insist I play with it. I must admit, I have plenty of play-doh at home and I use it. :) I use it to stimulate the creative side (if it exists!) of the brain, to do a temporary join of pieces of stained glass to see if they (glass color) go together, to use my fingers other than clicking on a keyboard, and mostly for just plain ole' FUN.

So, on this grand Friday, I find myself presented with bunch of play-doh lumps and I go to 'work'. After an hour or two, all I had done was kneed the different lumps into some thing resembling round balls. It wasn't very creative, nothing stimulating and fingers getting plenty of non-clicking workout. I started to make long earthworms from then on. But they were long spindles and still incredibly boring. But, what if, I arranged the 'earthworms' (which by the way happened to be green in color), like stalks. Hmm, how about stalks of lavender.... oh! oh! How about French lavender. I can almost smell them. Before I know it, we had stalks of lavender. The table next to mine had red and orange color lumps, which I rescued from their imminent boredom. While I was not looking some art patron walking left me yellow. Wow! Now we are in business. Flowers and buds just kept uncontrollably popping up. Arrgggghh.... no stopping this spring fever anymore...... 

Before you can sneeze ... bless you!

All, I (and, Of course, Duke and Princess aka Amber) wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

All I wish is for all your dreams come true!

 

The week in Florida went fast and relatively pain free. It was exhausting, but thankfully it was not painful as some of the previous experiences down at the Forum. I had made some resolutions before I travelled, and I am happy to report that I broke all of them. (Hee hee!) I know, I should feel guilty, but I don't.
Yesterday, we just made in time into Boston. We took off on time (or 10 mins early). The flight had mostly my company folks, from the President to the event planner and collegues. The fun tid-bit is that the captain, as he rattled off his welcome to the flight to boston speech, he added the fact that the flight carried most of the company, and the lead planner Tara. He went on to mention that the company was here in Orlando for a week organizing the forum for 7000 people and are headed back just before the snow starts. This speech brought on cheers with the company, a general applause and whoo-hoo's. We got into boston just before noon.

I barely made it home, said hello to kitties (who were happy to see me and appeared to be in 'where-have-u-been' meows), dashed to Trader Joes and got provisions, and it started to snow hard.

I forsee tones of shovelling..... but I am so happy to be home! the kitties and the holiday tree!

It is the evening before my trip down to Florida for the forum. Like I said before, I am dispassionately optimistic about the whole venture. I rather be home (or office) coding. There is so much to be done that it isn't funny. The endless house projects are piling up too. They (these projects) peek around the corner where they are propped and make this long face. :( Poor projects, need prioritization pronto!

Perhaps, when I return, I must make a flipchart, add projects to the list and start tackling them. One of the items on that list is ...... have fun, live life!.... It some how never gets on the priority list and it sucks! No one should have to put "having fun and living life" on some list. It should be there, it should be always there on the top of the list. But, if putting it on a list is the only way, then so be it. It is going up on the list and (may I add) top of the list.

Argh... I must pack for Florida..... Somehow packing faster, may make the trip there and back go faster.... (duh!).

I don't know who..... but somebody said = "Plans are only good intentions unless they degenerate immediately into hard work"

So, we have a free flu shot meeting in our office today. You sign off declaring that you are 'legally fit' to get a shot and then go to this meeting and get a shot.

I am ambivalent of getting one. I downloaded the form, set the calender with reminders to get the shot a week ago and then procrastinated about getting the shot. I am not scared or paranoid about getting shots. I grew up surrounded by doctors and hospitals and getting shots was no big deal. I am perfectly okay to get shot, I am just not perfectly okay to this particular shot. Why! The only reason being, that last time I got this shot, it was dreadful! I was sick for a week after the shot. With a day to go down to the forum, I was not about take a risk of falling sick. Another weird thing was that the whole year following the shot, I fell ill more often and just felt more vulnerable. So, after getting the free shot, there is a distinct possibility that I would be sicker all next twelve months or so. Getting sick would make me miserable and that alone is not worth the free shot.

So, after a long debate with myself...... the verdict is in! Flu shot is out!

It is that time of year again! It is time for the company's mass travel down to Orlando, Florida for our national forum. Last year I dreaded it and the year before I hated it. Now, I am dispassionately optimistic about it. Is that even possible, dunno! But that is exactly how I feel about the whole thing. By far we have the largest number of attendees signed up for this.

This year, I have made some serious resolutions for the forum, and it is going to take all my efforts and energy to see them through. It is these resolutions that are making it more interesting than not..... so we will have to wait to see how these really pan out. What are these resolutions? Some wise person mentioned that if I say them out loud or if I make them public, I am more likely to follow them through. So, here goes....

1. This is going to be an alcohol-free forum..... yeah! I can just see that lasting for the first 12 hours.
2. I am going to eat wisely.... Last year, I managed to put on 5lbs in 7 days! A simple matter of eating disastrously. This year.... it is going to be different.
3. Record at least 10 miles on the treadmill..... more will be great.... but this is at least numbers in 7 days. This makes the average of 1.428 miles per day. Hmm, I think this is doable.

.....that is it......

I think three resolutions are enough and just correct for me to proceed to break them....:)

We (a bunch of us) celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday.

First day of vacation and it is snowing! It is not a sad feeling, but one that makes my heart sing! I love it! It is the first snow of the season, and feeling is just inexplicably euphoric. Of course, with the snow, pretty much all that was planned is out the window and it being changed to enjoy the first of the flaky white-stuff.

Today {EDIT: oops! It is already Nov 11th, please read this as Nov 10th blog!) has been incredibly long, yet incredibly happy day. I want to bottle this feeling and use it when I am down in the pits and need a pick me up.  It has been a long day simply because, I have been up from around 5:00am  (nothing new) and it is way past midnight (whoa, this is new) and into the wee hours of the next day, and I am still up jotting a few words (mubble really!) . All day I have driven around..... allow me to elaborate.

1. 7:00am: Drove from home to Starbucks along Route 3N (en route) to North Reading to be at a one of the weight watcher meetings. Ja, I work some of these meetings to help others lose and maintain good healthy lifestyles.
2. 7:45am-10:45am: Completed meeting, closed all the accounting for the meeting, faxed in all the relevant documents for processing around 50+ members and then hopped back into the car.
3. 10:45am-1:00pm: I drove down from North Reading to Burlington Mall, to pick up a gift for Doug's Birthday Party. Thank goodness, I knew what I wanted to pick, just did not know whether it was going to be Lord & Taylor or Macy's or something else. At the mall, I picked up my yearly Swarovski's Christmas ornament, and couldn't resist the snowflake brooch. Also, picked up the long budgetted ear plugs from Bose. Of course, picked the scarf from Lord & Taylor. This was an event of its own. I liked three and could not decide between the three. One was a brilliant red and gray, the other standard green and blue and lastly the gorgeous gray. The more I drove myself nuts, the more I liked the gray one. It was lovely, and I loved it. So, there, Doug gets this one! Of course, all the while, I was reiterating to myself, that Doug may or may not like it at all. So, got it gift receipted just in case he wanted to return it. Anyways, I hope (I really do!) he likes it.
4. 1:00pm-1:20pm: Realized that there is no gift wrapping done as yet at the mall! WHHHAATT! God gracious. I drove home, and within the next twenty minutes gift wrapped the gift, and wrote out the card. Thank god, I had picked the card up!
5. 1:20pm-1:55pm: Just enough time to drive up to Methuen! Argh! Through all the traffic of I-95 and I-93, for the second time this day.
6. 2:00pm-5:00pm: GOD! I had hoped to get to Dougs Party by 4ish. Darn! I had mentioned in the email, that I would be there by 4pm. I think he is laid back and cool enough not to be bothered, if I was late. 3-hour seminar! yuck! People! Shorten that damn presentation! Sorry I am just annoyed.
7. 5:00pm-<don't know the time>: It is dark when I leave the seminar (ARRHGGHH!), I am driving down from Methuen down to Bellerica. I have never done this before. Couple of wrong turns..... and stops later, I arrive at Dougs place.
8. <don't know the time>-12:00midnight: I don't think I remember having so much fun at Doug's place as I did today. Is it because, I am incredibly happy? I don't even know what is making me feel incredibly happy. We pieced together a 750 piece puzzle. I love puzzles, I think, more than some board games. I have a whole bunch at home and my kitties love to 'help'. Yep! They help by watching me piece something together and then paw me with their soft little paws, and then run off with a piece in their mouth. I have to physically lock my puzzle in one of the spare bedrooms. But then the kitties sit out side the locked door, meowing pathetically, until I let them in. I wonder when I can really do these. I have just got a new Ravensburger puzzle which I want to do.
9. 1:30am the next day! Holy molly, I am still awake. This always happens, if I am awake past a certain time, I can keep awake all night.... which is going to be tonight! My only concern is that tomorrow plans to be wicked busy too! I have another meeting at 8:00am and then Innovations meeting at 11:00am to 4:00pm and past that, I am pretty sure I am going to be dead to the world.

---- Must go to sleep ----

I feel just incredibly happy and elated. Don't know why, but I do. There is a sense of peace, direction, and happiness. Something that I have not felt in a long while. Thinking about what could have made me feel this way and finding none, has simply led me to the conclusion that I must be growing up. Things that would simply drive me batty before, scarcely raise an eyebrow anymore. Still there are things that drive me completly batty.

So, I put together the Batty-ness list:

1. Dishonesty. Yep, it drives me quite pots, or batty or annoyed to know someone has been dishonest with me. Weird, though I have to know to turn batty, otherwise I am live in blissful ignorance. So, in summary, if you want to be dishonest with me, just take it outside and leave me out of it. 
2. Computerized sales dialing. In the same light, business that don't pay attention to 'Do not call lists'. Annoying bums!
3. False flattery.  In the same vein as the dishonesty. Some people live under the illusion that if they flatter someone, then it will all work out. Flash News: No siree bob! If you want to compliment, then do sincerely or don't do it at all.
4. Folks who bluff when they have no business talking about the subject in the first place.
5. Being re-gifted. I really do like to take the time to find something really nice and perfect for the folks I truly care about. It drives me completly nuts, if my gift is re-gifted... and perhaps more batty if I actually told about the same.

I realize that some of the items in my batty list are silly and weird. But then they are on my batty list (make one for yourself!). Most of them I am working on to make me less batty. But should I really be working on them? Aren't these the quirks that really go to define who I am?

I have a face book!

Hey guys! I am now on face book. I highly recommend it, it is awesome. Already, have found a whole bunch of folks on it that I work with and also friends that I used to work with in past jobs. It is nice to catch up with all of them.

A very very long while ago, about ten years ago, I had put in an application for an enviable position. Over the years, I entertained the thought, that perhaps, I would get a hearing or an audition or at least a trial. Today, I learned that the application has been summarily dismissed without a second thought. Something broke! All I can think is: "That what does not break you only makes you stronger!" Does it really? I mean it is so easy to say it, but does it really mend?

For the past week or so, I have been on a hunt for that gadgetty thing that pipes music to my ears. This morning, as I browse through, I read the horoscope for the day!

"The shopping bug has bitten, and it's not letting go -- but this fascination with material goods is not going to be good for you right now. All signs still point to save, save, save! Not only is throwing your cash around going to drain your resources, but it's distracting you from things that matter most. There's more delight to be found in the people around you than in some silly new gadget or trendy accessory. Put yourself on a budget and avoid the mall for a while" 

Right! Thanks! (Shaking my fist at providence, if it exists!)

I want one of those things!

Those things that pipe music to your ears at a drop of a hat pin or less. Right, I need a small portable music player. Before you say iPod, allow me to say, I don't want to deal with iTunes (well, if I don't have to :) ).  My criteria:

1. It should be Flash Card (not hard drive), as I will be using as I workout.
2. It should play mp3 and wma formats, and please have an FM tuner. I am hooked on radio in my car!
3. It should have re-chargable batteries.... I am not spending on new batteries and I am good at making sure batteries are all charged.
4. It should play..... ah!.... well!.... great!

Any ideas?

My current reigning favorite is: The 8GB Zen by Creative Labs. Any others? Please do suggest!

As I cleaned my website this evening, some sad truths became very apparent. No one has really posted on this blog! It is journal with my jottings which (perhaps) only I find interesting enough or passionate enough to write up. More than once, I refer back to these scribbles, especially on what is on the wine, travel, schedule for yard or schedule for the month. So, really, I am my own blog reader! On the flipside, placing myself in a reader's shoes, there is nothing in here for most to comment or discuss on either. I think what is making it really sad, is that the entry with celebrating my own birthday, had not one comment. How sad!

This is making me quite blue this evening. Or maybe the overdose of listening to the soundtrack of Last of the Mohicans!

Currently feeling.... like running away! Just don't know where!

Tonight was Figaro's turn to entertain. My friend and I decided to indulge in an evening with Loeb Drama Center's Figaro. The play was fun! It was an evening with the arts. Every time I go to a play I wonder why I don't do more of the same. Living/Commuting/Working close to some of great theaters, I don't go to see too many plays. Why is that? One perhaps is that the tickets are expensive and can be indulged in less frequently, than say going to the movies or watching TV at home, the other is that, I just don't find the time. There is a solution for the both these concerns. I should (and now have) a little budget planned out to indulge in this form of entertainment and have planned 'mandatory-fun' days. The budget should take care of the entertainment expenses and this is not just plays, but also exploring new cuisines. The 'mandatory-fun' days are days/evenings that I really do take off and exploring the new world (whatever the new world means).

Back to the evening of Figaro! My friend and I met up couple of hours before the play. We had dinner reservations at the Craigie Street Bistrot at 5:30pm and it was just 4:45pm. We wandered around Harvard Square, essentially looking for a watering hole. We stopped at Om, both of us completely hankering for their Champagne with Lavender essence. But, we were disappointed as the place does not open till 6:00pm. Next stop, Z-Square! Downstairs is their full bar and restaurant. As soon as we sat at the bar, and were asked what we would like, we were "Prosecco!" (that's Italian bubbly). They served Fantinel Prosecco, that was incredibly bubbly, dry, elegant, floral, and wow!

From there, we headed to the Craigie Street Bistrot. A small, elegant restaurant in the basement, with excellent French cuisine. It was a tad expensive, but it was worth every penny. We shared the Trois Foies which was accompanied with ground mustard, greens, gorgeously toasted bread and assorted chutneys. I followed that up with their Cheese platter with Fromage Montagne (Cow, Alps), Charollais Fervier (Goat, Burgundy), and Pigouille (Sheep, Pyrenees). I had the hostess write down all the names of the cheese's and accompanying these stunning cheeses, was a shared half bottle of 2005 Pouilly-Fumé Hubert Veneau (Loire Valley, France; Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc). Almost perfect pairing for the Pigouille (as it turns out). What I like about French dining is that the food is exception and so well portioned. We were satisfied, but not stuffed. We were hankering for coffee after all that wine and cheese, but we had to run to the play at the Loeb Drama Center. Wallets being a little lighter made the run easier!

All in all a good evening! All the yummy food (definitely going to go back there for the chef's tasting, when we have more leisure time), and fantastic play.

{Edit} As I researched the wine and cheese online, I came across this site which lists about 500 different cheese and their wine type pairings! Dang!

It was a picture perfect day with bright blue cloudless sky, warm sun and cool breezes, to be apple picking. My friend and I drove up to Smolak Farms to meet a bunch of other folks and enjoy the farm, the weather, hang out and pick some apples. Looked like the rest of New England had the same notion. Must have been at least a few hundred that showed up at the farm for apple or pumpkin or heirloom tomato pickings, or hay/pony rides, or the hot fresh baked apple pies and cinnamon-sugar donuts! What a perfect way to start off the Autumn season (Sept 23rd was the first day of Fall), with the smell of fresh baked goodies, cool breezes nipping at the nose, and warm sun overhead! Gosh! Love every minute of it. I wish I could bottle it! I can still smell the day (absurd but true)!

Picture perfect day with plenty of apples
Plenty of pumpkins (above) and my humble pickings (below)

Got an update from the organizers to the trip to Davis's Mega Maze. Interestingly, I was the only one who could not make it on Sept 29th and rest all could. So, the correct decision was to go with Sept 29th.

But it just made me think! How well do I know these folks? How well do I know the folks for the Apple picking?  Is this back to the Friends & Faces question? Maybe I am reading too much into non-existent issues, or making a mountain of a mole-hill (or less). I like to think that I have way too many options and way too many things to do with way too many people to do them with and hence, there is always a choice to be made. I made the choice to go apple picking on Sept 29th. It so happened that the rains washed the plans of the Maze from Sept 15th to Sept 29th. So, it is just a bunch of choices

This fall, I have plenty to do and (of course) no time to get it all done. My fervent hope is to tackle them all.... er....or at least most of them.

After watching Greenfingers, I have been bitten by the fall planting bug. Several blubs and plants have been ordered and soon shall be lovingly planted. I think, I have to order some Critter ridder (or blaster), something - anything, to keep those furry little nuisances (squirrels) from digging up the bulbs. I would love to have a gizmo, that goes 'pop' and scares the living daylights off the rodent, when they dig in the yard and are just about the get their paws on the blub. Now, that would be funny! Couple of years ago, I planted 40-45 Crocus bulbs and those nasty little devils dug most of them out. So, this year, I am going to be prepared. I hate to add toxins in ground, but in this case I am going to make an exception. Oh! I do believe their furry tail is way overrated.

Both the little kitties need to get their annual shots! Poor things, they are petrified with visits to the vet. I have to make it doubly sure, that I can be with them for at least couple of hours after. They cling on to me, like there is no tomorrow. If I move around holding them, they dig their claws deeper and a loud "meow" makes it amply clear for me to stay put. I wish I could take both together, and get it done in one afternoon. According to the vet - NO. One has to get it in Sept and the other in October. The reasoning being, they were given shots in different months to begin with, so I have to stick to that schedule. Hmm! Weird! I don't get it. What if I skipped the September month and delayed the shot for one of them into first week October, would it be the end of the world? Does that mean, on Sept 30th, the effect of the previous shot ceases and Oct 1, the kitty is vulnerable? Of course, I don't know the exact date and time when the previous shot was given. It could have been earlier in the month and not later. Arrggghhh! Stupid!

In some previous post, I mentioned that my neighbor (and her family) has moved to Japan for six months. Since that post, they have arrived safe and sound in the little city of Tokyo and getting over jet-lag and settling in. Meanwhile, on this coast, I am now the landlord and caretaker of their house. This is going to be so interesting to do. Everything I do for my house, has to be doubled (I think)! Or I have to simply keep a watchful eye out. Their gardener has been instructed to do the lawn and fall clean up. Thankfully the house is going to be rented for a few wintery months, so, I don't have to worry about keeping the pipes from freezing and keeping a closed house in working condition. So, really, I do not have too much to do, except collect mail, keep a watchful eye out for issues, solve them if they occur, and email my friend and reassure her.

Fall Schedule:

• Sept 22, Saturday: Either the Davis' Mega Maze (if organizers decide it will be Sept 29th and not Oct 6th) or fall planting prep begins or hang out at home playing with board games.
• {Edit: 10/1}! Did some yard cleanup, but nothing new planted.
  
• Sept 23: Official Autumn Starts!
• {Edit: 10/1}! Right-o!
  
• Sept 29, Saturday: Apple picking! Umm! Yes! of course! It wouldn't be fall without going out to the farm lands one more time before winter sets in. This year, I missed strawberry and peach picking, but did great on blueberry and red/yellow raspberry. A bunch of us heading to Smolak Farms for apple picking and then baking.
• {Edit: 10/1}! Picked 11lbs. of apples at Smolak farms, hung out with new folks. played Cranium. Did not do any baking.
  
• Sept (sometime):
  • get one kitty to vet.
  • get car inspection done.
  • complete two stain glass restorations...... ok! At least one then!
  • {Edit: 10/2}! Arghhh.... no appt till sometime in Oct.
    
• Oct 2, Tuesday: Figaro at Loeb Theater. This is for my mum. I miss her so much and wish she were here! I wanted to see Don Juan too, but the schedule is too crazy.
• {Edit: 10/3}! Done... excellent evening with French food and Figaro!
  
• Oct 6, Saturday: Davis' Mega Maze. This will depend on scheduling with organizers. If does not work, then go on Sept 22nd, Saturday. So, either the Maze or the fall planting continues.
  
• Oct (sometime): get the other one to the vet. Dumb! I am going to take both of them together. They are not outdoors cats, so, there is very limited 'catching' they can do.
  
• Nov 10, Saturday: Wine and Apple Festival, Russell Orchards. I missed the peach festival, held in August.
  
• Nov 11, Sunday: Innovations..... All afternoon (argh! one of those things where appearances are essential).
  
• Nov 17, Saturday: Keep absolutely open! Celebrating (dunno how!) four year completing at my current job.
  
• Nov 19, Tuesday - Nov 26, Monday: Thanksgiving week! Taking all week off. Yes! I need that. 

I am pretty sure, lots of other field trips and activities will crop up and I will not be able to say no. Well, there is no reason to say no. Love this weather, with nippy cold mornings and warm days.

{Edit}: Oops, forgot..... get to work during the weekdays!

Lately, I have been doing tremendous amount of soul and mind searching towards (perhaps!) a fruitless goal. Every morning on the bus ride to work as I listen to Russell Watson belting out Va Pensiero or Nessum Dorma, I have been trying to answer the following:

***** Who are my Friends and Who are just Faces? *****

If you can answer that one for yourselves then I congratulate you. To really answer the 'Who' I need to clarify what makes a friend and what makes a face (duh! of course in my personal opinion, yours may be different). For me a face is simply a soul with a name, whose path(s) have intersected with mine at some juncture and that intersection distinguished them from the general masses. A friend is a face with whom I might share a tad more, in terms of interests, conversations, emails and spend time together. I am pretty sure there are levels within the friend section that distinguish one from another by how much of the sharing/giving/spending is happening. But whatever the levels may be, a friend commands some of my heart and soul. Therein lies the true distinction for me, how much does a person really have a hold on my heart and soul. A face holds nothing, while friend can command from a little to all of it. I was a little enlightening (at least to me) to reach this graduating scale, and the realization why it hurts when a friend falls off the cliff to become a face.

Right now I find myself on very shaky ground and I know why! In the past few weeks too many friends have fallen off the cliff, or have they? or have I changed to increase the minimum bar for friend and the gap between the friend and the face has increased, causing friends to fall off and become faces? Or was I mistaken (to begin with) to call them friends when they really were only faces. As I battled these.... I posed several people couple of different scenarios to help me sift through this mess.

Scenario 1: For five or six years, two people looked after each others houses and cats when the other was out of town. Then one day one of them moves to live just couple of miles away and that is it. No more conversations, no nothing..... Did this two people just fall off the friend cliff and become faces?

Scenario 2: Two people go to a movie; one buys the movie ticket for both. After the movie at a quick bite to eat place, the other does not even offer to buy the edibles. Are these two friends? or are they just faces? Or was it a mistake for one to assume that the other was a friend?

Scenario 3: Two people live next door to each other, exchanging hellos/byes over a fence etc. One day one of them relocates for several months to a different country and leave the other in charge of their house. Did those two people just move from being faces to friends?

The soul search continues......

So, how did I do with what do I want for my 35th?

10. I want... to start a new arts/crafts (crochet, knitting) project.
I got... to start an ambitious crochet scarf with a beautiful peach color yarn (pics coming soon). I started the project three days ago, and had to undo and redo several times to get it all just right, correct mistakes, change needles etc etc. And yesterday, as I was running out the door, I left the yarn ball with about 6 inches croheted on my couch. I tell you this, because, my kitties decide to lend me a hand at this project! When I came home on friday, my good helpers had managed to spread, roughly 450 yards of yarn all over the dinning, living room and porch, around the tables and couches! A prefect new project! Thanks guys!

9. I want... to play a board/card game or two.
I got... nothing

8. I want... to go for a movie or walk. 
I got... to think about it, but then didn't go to see any movie. I talked myself out of sitting in a dark room for 2-2.5 hours. When I could be walking in 90+ temp...... Nah! I did walk within Wilson farms getting flowers.... I think that counts.

7. I want... an email or a comment in this blog.
I got... an email from my aunt and uncle with warmest wishes! Thanks guys! I knew that wishing a comment in this blog would be asking too much. Besides, I don't think anyone reads this anyways, it is a great place for me to write stuff.... who really cares if people read it or not.

6. I want... a call or two with wishes.
I got... two calls!

5. I want... to receive a house plant, flowers, balloons or bottle of wine.
I got... myself bunches of white lillies and lavender. Forget balloons! I am not 10! and I spent the budget on flowers, rather than wine.

4. I want... to have a visitor or two...er, postman does not count.
I got... no visitors... and the postman did drop cards at my door! I received the cards from my nephews! Thanks for the cards, they are wonderful.

3. I want... to be treated to a coffee/drink... or dinner.
I got... treated to lunch by two of my office colleagues! This year, I had gone out of my way to ensure that our office manager did not put my name up and did not put the goofy wishes on my computer screen. Yet! These guys remembered or found out, doesn't matter. What is important that they wished me and took me to lunch on Friday.

2. I want... to wake up to celebrate my 30th birthday and not 35th! HA!
I got... to get wiser! I am 35! Proud of it and looking forward to the next milestones. I really don't want to be 30 again!

1. I want...
I got........... hmmm! ask me and I might tell you!