Pooh and Piglet

Wish I Had Thought of This

The nerd in me wishes I had thought of this at one time or another:


see more pwn and owned pictures

Happy Birthday!!

Today is my Sweetie's birthday. We have known each other since since 1975; what is that? Thirty-four years? Sounds like a long time, doesn't it? But, it's not really (unless I try to remember something that happened oh-so many years ago - then it seems like forever).

Happy Birthday Rockandy! You are my Heart and my Rock!

Guam... Ah, the Memories...

When I made a reference to Guam in my last post, Lori (from Hahn at Home) commented that she had heard that brown snakes come up through the toilets in Guam.

Now, I gotta say that that is something I never experienced in the two and a half years I lived there. Not only that, I have never even heard that particular urban legend until today. Eeeuuuuw! Yes, there are sea snakes in the shallow waters off Guam. I lived in an apartment on the beach in Tamuning, and I never saw sea snakes there. On the other side of the island, some friends saw sea snakes and came screaming out of the water. It was pretty funny watching them run all the way in! But, I never saw a brown snake. A shrew? Yup. No snakes. Cockroaches as big as your hand? Yup. Coconut crabs as big as your head? Yup. Never saw a brown snake.

I feel deprived.

But, Lori got me to reminiscing. So, here's a post from a couple years ago on my old blog (Life as a Parent). I thought I might re-post it here because, well, I love the picture of yers truly at around 90 feet! The water runs about 85°. How lovely...

First posted 4/21/2007:

Many, many years ago (I really do hate to think just how long ago it was) I lived on the island of Guam in the Mariannas Islands. Guam is one of those places that causes polarizing opinions. It's a place you can love, or you can hate.

I was fortunate - and I really loved Guam. While it could be said that I didn't like being just on Guam for over two years, I didn't mind taking advantage of being there. I was single, into water sports, and ready for adventure.

Having spent much of my T.V. teen years watching Jacques Cousteau explore shipwreck after shipwreck, I just had to get in the water and do some exploring all on my own. This is something I dreamed of doing, and now it would actually be possible. So, I got my PADI certification and no one could stop me.

The accompanying picture of me was taken along a very steep wall - I am hanging between 80-100 feet below the surface, black fan coral can be seen near my feet. (This was a planned decompression dive.) Not far from here was an underwater grotto where we would dive into the cave and swim about 60 feet (horizontal) to emerge through a large hole in the side of the cave. All around us were beautiful corals and fishes. I was swimming and twirling 360 degrees, drinking in everything. My dive buddy had a camera; I was poor, and did not. Back in the days of film and plexiglas camera housings, I could not afford an under-water camera - Nikonos - or a housing for my Pentax. So, the precious few photos given from dive buddies are all I have from that time and serve to remind me of beauty and youth.

I need to find some warm waters -- anyone for a trip to Cozumel?

(Hey, if you're from Guam reading this, drop me a quick comment and let me know you were here. I'd love hearing from you!)

On the CPM Again, & again & again...

"Back in the saddle again...."

For your viewing pleasure, here is the knee 3wks out. That big ol' honkin' long pinkish-white thing there? That's from the original surgery, 1977, Agana, Guam. No arthroscopic surgery in those days, nosireee! I wore a plaster cast from the top of my thigh to my ankle. I never hated sweat so much in my life! And the itching? Oh, pu-leeeze release me!

This, today my friends, is a cakewalk by comparison.

-- Posted From My "Mobile Device"

ACL Update & Discipline

Peg asks, "How's your knee rehab coming along?" Thanks for asking, Peg!

It has now been 3 weeks since my ACL reconstruction. I am totally pleased & amazed with the lack of pain and the rapidity of recovery. I can bend my knee about 110°, and when I go to PT tomorrow, my therapist said she may let me get on the reclining cycle for a while. Depends upon how much I can flex the joint on my own (ie. my muscles do the work of getting my knee bent, not by cheating with my hands holding it flexed!).

I'm going stir crazy with the limitations - going up and down stairs is a trial in patience. But that's getting better, too. I just have to keep in mind that this is an investment of my time in the health of my knee. I also look at it as a view into the future if I don't do everything to recover 100%. I do not want to be disabled. That, my friends, is to be avoided entirely - whenever possible. Needless to say, I suppose, but I find it helps to articulate it.

I'm working from home right now, and finding focus is hard. O.M.G. I never thought I'd say this, but I think I prefer working at the office! I do have my own workspace at home, but there are so many things I want do that have nothing whatsoever to do with work.

I'll figure it out... Discipline. Yeh. That's it. Discipline.

Have I Figured this Life Out Yet? ...Part Two

So, I've been doing a lot of thinking. This is not necessarily good, but that's what the brain is for, right? It can't help itself. Somehow it just keeps on thinking. No help from the peanut gallery needed. When last we talked about family secrets - here - I mentioned that I didn't have any notion that I had two brothers. Heck, I only knew about one brother - that stinky, annoying turd that was always teasing and picking on me. And now I had another brother??? Older than the first one? Please say it ain't so.

It was.

I seem to have been born into a world of secrets. I didn't know it at the time. Wasn't even really aware of it. Do you know that keeping some secrets can be a betrayal? It's a betrayal of heart, of hopes and of dreams, and truth. Somehow it feels like much of my family life was shaded by closely guarded secrets. Funny thing about secrets. One way or another they do come out. What you've hidden away from others, and from yourself, may fester and ferment, and morph into something totally unexpected. There's no control when you hide something away from your heart.

My half-brother was the first major family secret I learned about as a child. It wouldn't be until I was 50 that I would learn of yet another sibling - this time a full-sibling.

But, I don't want to get ahead of myself. Stay tuned.

As it turned out, I came to consider my half-brother Ron the more trust-worthy of my siblings. He is a straight-shooter, kind-hearted and smart. He always had a smile and hug for me, never selfish. There's not much to say about my other brother. Oh, he was an okay brother to me, but kind of distant. We were relatively close when I was 16 years old and he was leaving for Viet Nam - stationed in Cam Rahn Bay. He actually let me use his Forest Green Karmann Ghia VW while he was gone. That was cool. But, after his tour, he and I never much bonded. It probably didn't help that he was stationed in Florida and has lived there to this day. Still, when we did get together - it was always oil and water.

Life goes on, and I learned to keep my own secret, because my parents were so over-bearing in their world view (can you say "ultra-conservative?"), I could not bring myself to discuss anything of this nature with them. I think I have identified as lesbian since high school. Maybe even before that, but clearly I had leanings in that direction in the late 60's, early 70's. I really had no clue what I was feeling. I just knew that when I dated guys, there was never a spark, and hardly an interest. All my girlfriends were head-over-heels for guys. Me? Not so much. But, I was clueless even when my fantasies turned to the girls I knew and liked so much.

Until college. I lived in the dorm of a Catholic college, while attending a commercial photography school nearby. Ha! My parents must've thought I would stay out of trouble that way. The joke was on them - only they didn't know it. I think Catholic girls are the most risk-taking females on the planet. Sure seemed that way to me. Had my first ever love & crush there. Painfully wonderful. Painfully secretive. Wonderfully involving. Whew!

So my world became Dorothy's Lively Secret. Indeed, little did I see that I was following in the footsteps of my family. Indeed, it was not the healthiest way to become an adult.

Then I made it worse. I joined the Navy. In those days there was no "Don't ask; don't tell." It was more simple than that:

"Hide."

Still, it was amazing how many cool women I would meet in the Navy. It actually was liberating, in a warped kind of way. It was also where I would meet my future wife - in Keflavik, Iceland, of all places...

Does all this make sense? Ask me questions if you're curious about anything.

A Brief Respite - It's Friday!

First, a shout out to my blog-friends Miguelito and dr sardonicus, whose blogs I enjoy very, very much. It's been a while... I love when you visit. You know, I just want to spruce up the blog-look a bit more, that's all. Still contemplating what I want. Maybe tabs for different things, rather than crowding on one page. Not really quite sure.

And T, I'll teach you how to embed links. It's not hard, really, but sometimes a little painful. Heh.

My first week back to work post-surgery has been unremarkable, I am happy to say. The only surprise that came was on Monday when health services at the Lab called me and said my doctor's orders included "no driving."

Say What?

I received this call while sitting in my office here in town to which I had driven. My doctor had not conveyed that message to me last week. After all, it's my left leg, for goodness sakes.

So, I am currently working 100% from home, which is actually a Good Thang[tm]. I went to my first PT session yesterday, which went well, but I have exercises to do at home between my PT visits. It will be easier to do this if I'm at home 100% of the time. I still have to wear the full leg brace pretty much 24x7, including at night when I sleep, but that part (sleeping with the brace on) ends next Thursday. At that time I would like to hear a chorus of Blogger Hallelujahs, please. Thankyewverymuch!

It's somewhat difficult to concentrate 100% on working. I feel distracted. Haven't found stride, nor hit on a routine I guess. Working from home is a good thing, but you really must be disciplined to do it well.

It's a work in progress. Much like the leg, I guess!

I'm looking forward to the weekend so we can re-group. I really want to make this time productive and successful, but for now - - -

Woo-Hoo! It's Friday!!

Going for a New Blog Look Soon

(More on "Have I Figured this Life Out Yet? ...Part ???" in my next posting.)

I'm getting quite frustrated with the stale old blogger templates. I've tried out various template meant to work on blogger, with fair to middling results. So, I'm going to try to host the blog elsewhere, then use a redirect, perhaps? I don't know yet. I need to look into it more deeply.

Anyone have any advice? Templates they think I'd like? I'm not looking for anything beyond free at this point in my blogging avocation. I'm not into pink, just FYI...

But, if any of you wonderful bloggers have a suggesting, I'm all ears.

Update: Here I Sit

Late Thursday afternoon I saw my surgeon for my first time since the surgery. He was pleased with the progress. I was not pleased with his order,

"You must sleep at night with the leg brace on for 2 more weeks."

Argh. It is so hard to sleep with this fracking thing on at night.

He also told me that he didn't just replace the anterior crucial ligament (ACL), he did a total ACL reconstruction. He found that my ACL had, for whatever reason, adhered to the joint with scar tissue, and it no longer moved around, destabilizing the joint (Well, doh. Now we know why I couldn't rely on that leg!). In removing the ligament, also required was reaming out the space where the ligament should freely be able to run through. Thus, the reconstruction.

Guess what? I get to go back to work on Monday. Well, hey, my brain and hands are working quite well, thankyewverymuch.

If I had extra sick-leave or vacation, I wouldn't be going back quite so quickly. But, I don't have that luxury right now. But, thankfully, I can work at home for the most part. Although, I do have an office nearby, so I will gimp over there on Monday to do a video conference with my buddies back in Berkeley. That way I can stay on the same page with everyone. That is important. It's too easy to get marginalized in this business of extreme engineering. If you don't keep your hands in the mix, you may not get back into the mix.

So, I'm sitting here, in my CPM and kicking back again for the weekend. Next week I start Physical Therapy (PT). I can't wait. Yes I can. It's gonna be painful! At least, that's what they tell me.

I hope they're kidding...

Have I Figured this Life Out Yet? ...Part One

I was an Air Force Brat. I thought I was the younger of 2 kids (well, really 4 kids, total (I think), but I'll save that story for later in this series of posts).

Me? I had the good fortune to be born in 1954 in San Francisco, at Letterman General Army Hospital in the Precidio. My Mom and Dad were fresh back from being stationed in Okinawa, where they had been quartered in a Quonset Hut. They were stationed on Hamilton AFB, probably living in luxury by comparison. My Pop was a pilot - he had been a fighter pilot in WWII, instructor, helicopter pilot, rescue helicopter pilot in Korea, and a transport pilot in the late 50's and early 60's.

When I was 2 years old my Pop got a transfer to McChord AFB in Tacoma, Washington. I have memories of growing up on Woodbine Lane, friends, family. Rain, snow, kindergarten where I learned to shake hands and be polite. Up until I was 5 years old, I thought I only had one brother, my brother Jack was 10 years older than me. When my Pop again got transfer orders, it was to Hickam AFB in Honolulu. That was when I learned I had a half-brother, who was a year older than Jack. He knew he had a brother, but no one had thought to tell me, just a dumb little 5 year old. That is, until it was time to go to Hawaii - and my parents thought maybe they should tell me since they were going to bring him up from Arizona and then be with us in Hawaii.

At first I remember being incredulous. It was hard for me to wrap my mind around the concept of another brother, and one who was older than Jack. I don't recall how my mom and dad told me, I just remember being quite excited. I recall loading into the Caddy and going for a ride to the Tacoma Bus Station - It was probably Greyhound or something. This was 1959, I think. I remember one of the first things Ron ever said to me was, "How ya doing, Bean Pole?" And that was his nickname for me since forever. He's since transferred it to my daughters, a name I willingly allow them to use.

He is my mother's son, from a previous marriage. Mom won't talk much about that time to this day. Ron still tries to draw information out of her about his origins... That's another story as well.

We had a yellow MG convertible at the time. I remember the running boards on it, and the wonderful leather seats. Pop sold it before we left for Oahu. I wish I could really remember that car better. The "family car" was a powder blue 1956 Caddy. That was some comfy car. We would take holidays and drive down to Santa Barbara on old Highway 99 and 101, to visit old family friends, the Bettencourts. I would stretch out across the seat with my bed pillows. No seat belts in those days. I remember stopping at a motel where each room, or suite, was just a very tall, A-framed, pine log cabin. Reminded me of tee-pees. I slept in a bed in the loft. Sweet! On one of those trips, at 4 years old, I caught my first fish off the Santa Barbara pier. Somewhere in a dusty box there's a small black and white picture of me proudly holding up and displaying my 4" fishy. How cute can you get? Ha!

It was nearly my 6th birthday when we packed up our bags, our home, ourselves, and drove one last time down to California - destination Travis AFB. From there my own Pop would be piloting the C-118 passenger turbo prop plane to our new home in Honolulu, Hawaii - Oahu. The next four years would be my formative growing years. They would imprint me for the rest of my life.

In Response to My Readers

I'm watching "Rocky and Bullwinkle" while in the CPM machine. Can't get better than that, can it? Heh.

It's nice to see some old signatures as well as new ones stopping by the comment line. Welcome to StephLove, and to Peg from PA. Peg, do you have a blog? How can I repay the visit if I don't have your blog address? I have enjoyed your comments.

The knee is coming along, thank you. I can put weight on it, and I'm up to about 70 degrees of flex on the CPM. A friend mentioned to me that her surgeon used a ligament from her patella (think she said) instead of a donor ligament. Well, unfortunately, that wouldn't work for me. About 32 years ago the original injury occurred when I played on an all-navy softball team. It was a Lesbian-Honored pass-time, although so many words were not said in those days. I was sliding into 2nd when the opposing player jumped up to catch the ball coming in from center field. Unfortunately for me, she came down right on top of my leg, dislocating the knee cap and a sundry of other injuries. The ligament over the patella at that time had to be re-attached to my tibia. Not fun. 7" scar on the front of my knee to show my battle wounds for the rest of my life. No arthroscopic surgery in Guam in 1977. :sigh:

The knee held up very well for about 20 years, and then about 7 years ago I was running up a ramp when I tore my meniscus. That slowed me down a lot. Had a clean-up surgery then. The knee was never all that great afterward. Fast forward to about 2 years ago. One of the orthopedic surgeons in our medical group is one of the surgeons for the Oakland A's. Lots of practice, thinks I. So, I started seeing him, procrastinated as long as I could, but then finally took the plunge.

Here I sit. On my butt. It's boring, but I'm very lucky. In a future post I will boast about my lovely wife who has been nothing short of an angel and a saint while taking care of me. And the girls. And the house, and the ornery cats. The woman needs a break!

I've got to come up with a wonderful reward for my lady. If it were not for her, I would be very, very sad.

Hugs, Honey!

Here I Sit...

Had a 3-For-One knee surgery on Wednesday. Replaced the ACL, repaired the torn meniscus, & a Chondroplasty. In the immortal words of my surgeon, "it was a mess in there."

This picture shows my leg in a CPM ( continuous passive motion) machine. I use it 3x a day for 2 hours at a time. Each day I add 5 degrees to the range of motion from the day before.

Contrary to looks and the extent of the surgery it's not all that painful. What is a pain is the full leg brace I must wear 24x7, except when in the CPM. Sleeping is a challenge.

Valentine's Day, Peggy Flemming, and the Grocery Store

On Saturday, I was tooling around town running various errands and things. I dropped Megan off at a friend's house, then went down my list of Honey-Do's. Kandy, meanwhile, was out and about with Katie shopping at Kohls. We planned on making pizza from scratch, so my last stop was the grocery store to pick up items for dinner.

So, I'm wandering around the store with my mini-cart, taking my time to look at all the goodies on the shelves. I usually just rush in, get stuff, and rush back out, but I had some time before I needed to pick up Megan. While mindlessly strolling down the bread isle, over the store address system comes the announcement, "Shoppers, Peggy Flemming is in the store today in our wine tasting area. Come on by to taste some wine and meet Peggy Flemming." (Or words to that effect.)

I'm like, "No. Really?" So I go over there to check it out, and sure enough there's Ms. Flemming. I immediately get on the cell to call Kandy (who is a Big Fan).

"Hon, you will never in a million years guess who's here in Safeway today... Peggy Flemming!"

Kan says, "Stop! She is not!"

"Would I lie to you about this? She's here. I'm staring right at her."

"Stop! Really? How long will she be there? Lori is picking us up to go to the fund raiser."

Long story short, while she was getting Lori to swing by the store, I tasted their two wines, a Syrah a Cabernet blend called "Choreography. Yummo. Peggy is quite personable (of course), and very pretty at 60 years old! Her husband of 38 years is a retired physician (he was there, too). The wine we were tasting was from here in Livermore Valley, of their 2005 bottling which came from vinyards grown on some of John Madden's land about 5 miles from our home. Peggy said that they plan that the proceeds from their next bottling, in April, will go towards fighting breast cancer. She said she "is an 11-year survivor of breast cancer."

I should mention that our Safeway was remodeled recently and has a special wine-tasting area. It has always been free to taste selected wines. They have various local wineries (often it's the owners themselves) coming in for an hour or two on evenings and weekends. After tasting, I used to walk out of Safeway feeling like I had better not drive for a while! Woowee! Lately, because of that, I haven't been "tasting" quite so often.

Kandy bought their "Choreography" wine, and Peggy signed it "Happy Valentine's Day!" with her signature. We may not open that bottle for quite some time. I hope it ages well.



Kandy with Peggy Flemming:


All in all, just another typical day in Livermore. ;-)

Pizza Sunday! - Yummo!

I enjoy making things from scratch. Here's my latest effort. Home made pizza dough, sauce and all the fixen's:

Sometimes You Get Lucky

Last year when I was laid off, I was out pounding the pavement desperately seeking employment. I would go to any interview, look at any position that might be offered. Little did I know that pornography would offer itself up to me as an option.

I remember an interview in San Francisco. It was set up for me by Robert Half Technology - a big name for a big company that does head-hunting. I had gone to RHT and taken their piddly tech exam - which I could have done in my sleep. Somehow that elevated their interest in me. Thing is, the exam was multiple choice and I'm sure my 13 year old could have done as well just by elimination of choices.

So, I get a call from the RHT San Francisco office from a man I had never spoken to before. It was a bit of a cold call and I could hear him swish over the phone. While I never met him, he sure did sound like a gay man. I thought, cool. Family. This might work out okay.

So he said he had a hot lead in downtown SF, off of Market Street. Would I be interested? Well, why not? Then he said,

"Uhm. Do you have a problem with... porn?"

Thoughts are racing. No, I guess I don't really have a problem with porn. As long as I don't have to look at it. And, it doesn't involve children in any way. I'm a live and let live kind of girl. So I said, "Uhm. No. Not really. Why?"

As it turned out, the client was a company which provided pornography online. In my head I'm screaming, "What???!!!? You're kidding, right?" Out loud I said, "Uh-huh."

Oy. Never in my wildest dreams did I consider that I would be asked to interview for a tech position at a porn company.

But, the thoughts were coming fast and furious now. I hadn't worked in months and the bank account was getting pretty lean. I had two kids and a partner relying on me. But what would they think of me? What would I say to them about the business? Maybe I wouldn't have to tell them...? Rats, that wouldn't work! What to do?

Eh. It was just an interview. Let's see how far this roller coaster ride would go. So, I consented to a phone interview, and that went well. Two days later, I found myself getting off BART and wandering around downtown SF. I was a half hour early... it must've been about 9:30 in the morning. There were a LOT of homeless looking people. My oh my.

There were pan-handlers. There was one woman in particular, an Asian woman who had a large suitcase on rollers. Her purse sat on top of it as she pulled it down the street. She stopped a moment, pulled a paper sack out of her purse, pulled a tall beer can out of the bag, and slipped the can on the sidewalk under one of the newspaper stands. She then strode off to a convenience store a couple doors down. The next thing I knew another woman came along and picked up the can - which was evident that it be not quite empty. She took a swig, kept the can and walked off. In the mean time the first woman came back with a new can of beer, put it in the paper sack, put it in her purse, and off she went.

I'm thinking to myself - would I want to take BART into the city every day and be a part of this crowd? Well, I would do it if it meant having food and roof over our heads, given no other options.

So I headed down to the street where the business was located. It wasn't so much a street as it is a large alley. Not a good sign. I find the door - a security door with a camera above it. I get buzzed in. Walk up the stairs into a loft-like area. It's a nicely done office area. There were some big porn posters - nothing overtly outrageous, but still... They ushered me into a nice conference room where we talked about this and that. Technical things, my willingness to be on call, how would I feel about working at home if necessary (there may be photos on the screen), stuff like that.

When I walked out of there, I really, really, really did not want to work there. But at the same time I was struggling. What if they did offer me the job? What if I didn't get any more offers? Could I work for them for a short contract to see?

Eeeeuuwwww!

I hated thinking about it. If I worked there, I couldn't tell my friends, I'm not sure I could even tell my family. What was I to do?

As it turned out, when I got home I worked very hard at getting more contacts. I got a couple of other irons heating up in the coals. By the time the porn-guys actually did call and offer me a job, it was with relief and happiness that I could turn them down and take a contract with a bank instead.

And that, my friends, was as close as I ever hope to come to working in the pornography industry. It makes my skin crawl just to think about it.

Dodged a bullet that time, I think.

Stupor Bowl

Over the last few years, the Super Bowl Frenzy has died down in our household. I attribute this observation to the fact that none of "my" teams have made it to the Ultimate Play-off in the last few years. There are other reasons. One that comes to mind s that the friends with whom we might have celebrated are no longer living nearby. None of our families live here, and when my Dad passed on a couple of years ago, there really wasn't anyone with whom I still loved to share or swap a football story with any longer. We used to talk at half-time on the phone about the game. I miss that.

That, and the Super Bowl just seems just so, so, so commercialized. Yet, for this fan, it seems so frivolous.

We don't have one of those nifty Big Screen TVs, so I won't embarrass the family by attempting to have a Super Bowl Party at the house. None of our close friends are football fans - unless you're talking about Soccer. Even if they were, we'd find it hard to root for Pittsburgh or Arizona.

All that being said, the family is still gonna watch it today. We'll have some chips and dip and pick a team to twist and shout for. I'm going for Arizona, the True Underdogs. Kandy is going for Pittsburgh, god knows why.

I used to be a Pittsburgh fan of the late 70's and early 80's - back when the rivalry with Dallas was the best that there ever has been in football. Man, those teams really knew how to manage the clock. The quarterbacks called the plays. That was really good football. In my most humble opinion, today's football is fraught with individuals and managers. It's a game of numbers and not of heart. It's been a while since I've seen a heart like Joe Montana displayed.

So, pardon me while I go make some guacamole and get the chips into some bowls. At least we can eat good, and watch the commercials.

Getting the Hang of the Weekend Kitchen

I spent yesterday in the kitchen. Spent the first hour or so cleaning it. Cleaning! It is remarkable to me how little time it takes a family of four to make a mess of the counters and kitchen table over night. I could have sworn it was clean when I went to bed...

In an effort to save money on store-bought snacks, I wanted to use things we had on hand to make something everyone would enjoy. A couple weeks ago a friend dropped off a half-dozen of home-grown lemons. Having used 4 of them over that time (I love a wedge in my Diet Coke - yum!) for various things - like baked fish one evening - we still have 2. So, thumbing through our various recipe books, I found a simple and quick Lemon Bread with Poppy Seeds. It was incredibly easy to make - but, sadly, it was so easy I didn't even need to use my new mixer. Sadness was all around, but passed quickly. Here's what it looked like (after the family decimated half of it!):


Next I turned my creative juices to thinking about dinner. We haven't had my Chicken Enchilada Verde in a long time. I really enjoy making this simple dish. On a chilly day it's truly a comfort meal. It's easiest when using left-over chicken from a previous meal. But, when you don't have left-overs, it's easy enough to bake a couple of oregano peppered chicken breasts until cooked through (about 30 minutes at 350°F), then cool and shred. I use onion, garlic and green chilies, Monterey jack cheese, corn tortillas and a Verde enchilada sauce. This time around I decided to try putting the enchiladas on a bed of rice before topping everything with the sauce and some of the cheese.

Turned out great. Sorry, no picture. It disappeared!

Have You Ever Noticed...?

That when everyone is in meeting (except you), the email traffic plummets to near readable levels?

That they're probably piling work on you just because you're not there?

That long-awaited phone call comes, not when it was supposed to, no. It comes when you finally can't stand it any longer and run off to the bathroom.

You work your ass off doing everything they want you to do, and then decide they didn't want it done that way? (It was the way they specified, dammit!)

That when you throw the software over the wall, it just comes - splat! - back at you?

That you turn your cell phone off before going into a meeting, and everyone in the world wants you and you needed to know that?

:sigh:

Got any more?

One Last Fling...

Tomorrow is a work day. Bah-Humbug! We've been home-bodies for nearly the entire holiday and now we were itching to get out and about. Kandy was making noises about driving to the coast - but at this time of year its not pleasant to get out of the car and walk the beach, what with the strong winds and rain. Brrr. I rather like my beach excursions to be more pleasant. Then, I thought Yosemite might be a good drive - but the snow could be a problem.

I was online chatting with a friend when I realized they were in Sacramento. We had never done anything fun in Sacramento in a while, so off we went...!


... to a day-trip to Sacramento. One of our good friends is the Executive Director to the Mental Health Commission, and we rarely see her, so on the road we went. We met up with Sheri and Jules just after noon and took off to the Home and Garden Show a few blocks away. Here's a pic of Katie and Megs - you'd think I had had too much caffeine or something... ?

The show was a bit disappointing - it was about 95% Home and 5% Garden - and I'm being generous to the Garden side. Our shows at the Alameda County Fairgrounds are much better, and cover just about every aspect of H&G. Oh well.

Sheri took us over to the capitol building - I hadn't been there since 1969. OMG, have things really changed. Such modern structures surround the building. But, once inside, we wandered around marveling at the beauty of the old building. Here's a picture of the California Senate Floor (I think). Notice the laptops?















Lastly, we were in the rotunda, just under the dome. One more picture for you viewing pleasure. We then found a Paesano's - Jules and I drank Fat Tire Ale, watched San Diego bumble their way to a win against the Colts.

What did you do on your Holiday Vaca?