Wicked awesome!

My best friend just took me to see Wicked (the musical) and it was ah.Mazing!

I love love love LOVED IT!

I had heard from a few people that it was good, and if I ever got the chance to go see it, and that I would probably really like it... but none of that prepared me for experiencing it in person, from the edge of the balcony! *grins*

I was in awe of the entire backstory, and how they fit all the pieces together and picked up and wove in all the threads. It is basically the pre-story to Wizard of Oz, and fills in the experiences and circumstances that made the wicked witch wicked, but also brings to light the beginnings of the cowardly lion, the scarecrow and the tin man.

One casualty of the night, was that I lost a whole lot of respect and sympathy for the tin man... but my heart went out to the scare crow, the good witch and the wicked witch.  And it struck a chord with me that despite everything else going on, the friendship between best friends is stronger than love.  The idea that once that bond of true friendship has been forged, there's nothing tearing it apart.

The entire evening was magical *happy sigh* and while I loved the whole new best friends popular scene, my favorite songs were "Defying Gravity" and "For Good".

Couldn't resist, my new favorite hoodie... *squeeeee*

Ladies

When you're angry enough to bite your own ass, bite a Mars bar!

New bite sized Mars bars. Small enough to fit your diet, enough chocolate to take the edge off a jaguar.

Number of lives saved today: 1 and counting

It's the little things

I recently had a one on one chat with my manager's manager, and she opened the call with the most important question.

Are you happy?

The straightforward simplicity of it caught me off guard, it was naked and sincere.

I would say I'm significantly more satisfied in the company I'm working for, and the people I'm working with, given that you just took the time to ask me that.  The fact that you expanded upon it to include life both inside and outside of work touched me immeasurably. 


The full impact of our chat didn't really hit me until just now, but it resonated deeply and reminded me something about my Granny. No matter what you were involved in, doing, or going through in your life, she used to ask that same question... then sagely nod her head and say "well then, that's all that matters"

Are there things I would like to change in my life personal, professional or otherwise? Sure, but overall, I am happy.

Thank you for asking.

I'm the luckiest girl ever!

Thank you so much for sending me flowers on my birthday. They were such a wonderful surprise considering I had just moved to the new country, and nobody really knew where I was yet.  It never even occurred to me that you could send them to my hotel room...

Between the love and well wishes and texts and phone calls I never really felt that alone, its amazing how you can be hundreds of miles away from everyone and still feel so loved!

Thank you soooo much, they make me smile every single day now :)

Keep the good memories

We got the news that Granny wasn't doing well and had fallen in the middle of the night. She had then been taken to the hospital, and sedated so they could do a brain scan... during which they found a small brain bleed. The best course of action was to do an assessment once she awoke from sedation.

The first news we heard was good, she had woken up and recognized Aunt Marg. Then I talked to Uncle Joe the next day and my cousin Steph later, and the news was not so good. She hadn't recognized either Aunt Marg or Uncle Joe... she was hallucinating (although it could be the UTI causing that)... and she wasn't eating.

"If you're going to come up, I would do it sooner rather than later."

And an hour or so later and Mom and I were making plans and packing for a road-trip.

She was sleeping when we got there, but awoke when she heard our voices.  There was a palpable depth to 98-odd years of wisdom and a calm peacefulness about her. She was bright eyed and bushy-tailed having just woken up and her eyes held their characteristic impish sparkle...

When I knelt down beside Granny, she looked right into me and said "I *know* you" and smiling I said "Yes, yes you do" "Who *are* you?" and when I told her my name she nodded and said "Oh, that's right" like something clicked back into place and everything was as it should be...

It was amazingly incredible, and touched me so deeply I hope that I remember it forever.

I love her so much, just before we left she said something like she always remembers me, or that she could never forget me and I said "Of course not Granny, that's cause I'm your favorite!" ;) and she laughed and laughed and laughed it was an absolutely beautiful visit.

I am so glad that we dropped everything and just went :)

Love...

Love is a hand made cup of coffee ;)

Thanks Dan for you creative coffee making skills, in the absence of a coffee maker.

<3 you!

The little things

I could see a BC Parks Ranger checking out my canoe as I was leaving the store, she was just hopping into her truck as I climbed into my car... I looked over and she gave me the biggest smile with a thumbs up, then pointed up at the roof and a mouthed "I love it!!!"

*beaming*

That totally just made my day!! :D

Sent... While running around ;)

Alllllmost there!

I think I'm on the cusp of awesome... the brink of brilliance... so close and yet so far away!

Teasingly tantalizing... like Scritch (the Squirrel in Ice Age), so close to the acorn he can almost *taste* it... and yet just out of reach.

That, is how programming is going today. I think I almost understand the black magic

*maniacal laugh*

Awoooga Awoooga!

I don't know what happened yesterday but it was like everybody decided to start working at... oh say around 2 o'clock.  It was like a delayed reaction to the full moon or something... I literally had 4 people with 6 different problems talking to me at the same time via messenger, phone and our new trouble ticket system AT THE SAME TIME.

I think I was dirty dancing with the boundary of my multi-tasking a.d.d.d.d. limit, it was a little scary... and a little exciting all at the same time... and by exciting I mean juggling an entire carton of eggs in the middle of a mine field.

A lovely dinner, followed by some after dinner entertainment and taekwondo and I'm relaxing on the couch with a purple freezie... it tastes like grape, but I wouldn't call it grape... I mean how much grape can it actually have in it if it tastes the way a scented marker smells *and* turns your tongue purple? It can't possibly be good for you :p

I think though, my favorite part of the day was the apres dinner entertainment consisting of an introduction to "The Pig Family" *ahem*

M: "I'm the Daddy pig George" *SnorT*

A: "No no I'M the Daddy pig!"

M: ... "and I'm the baby pig" *snort*  *heh*

M: ..."and now I'm Mama George" *sng-iggle* *cough* *wheeze* "Oops I said Mama George!"

Mom: "Okay honey let's let A who doesn't have asthma do the introductions" *rubs back*

A: "This is the Daddy pig" *SnnNOOOoORT!!*"

*giggles*

A: "This is the Mama pig *SNORT!!*"

*GIGGLES!*

... by this point it had devolved into everyone was giggling those deep infectious belly giggles ... which is about one of the

How to say "I wove you" in puppy dog

It's Valentines day, and I find myself literally surrounded by loving puppy dogs. If they could talk, I'm sure they would have plenty to say.  I'm sure it would be along the lines of "Oh how I love youuuooouuuoouuuuu" ...let me show you all the ways...


That extra secret ingredient that makes everything taste so much better? It isn't love... it's dog hair. And while it may be a condiment in this house, it also works nights as a fashion designer that can help you accessorize *every* outfit you own.  And for that little something extra special, you should try the faux fur look, there's nothing quite like a basset hound wrapped around you!

I will pour myself horizontally into your lap or nudge my head under your arm when I think you aren't paying attention.

I will patiently sit and watch you, even when I don't know what you're doing just because I want to be with you. The fact that you're in the kitchen preparing something that *might* be food, has nothing to do with it.

I will help you clean up around the house, you know food on the floor... pizza on the table... roast beef on that pan that was *totally* going to fall onto the floor... I'm just sayin'

I will let you blame stinky farts on me, and put on my best "What?!?" face when everyone looks at me instead of you.

I will leave you little reminders of how much I love you, kind of like sticky notes... except well I can't write, so I hope you know what I mean when you find one of my dog hairs.

I will not get jealous of that black boxy thing that takes up your entire lap, I still fit.

When you've done something stupid... I will be morally supportive, and I will console you by licking whatever bare skin I can reach, even if it's your butt crack. I love you that much.

And just in case you still don't know how much I love you, I'll give you "The ear kiss"... after a big ole drink of water.

The meaning of a cup of coffee

I was having one of those afternoons just the other day, where I was daydreaming about how wonderful a hot, fresh cup of coffee would be right about then... when I returned to my desk to discover that some wonderful soul had left a cup of my favorite on my desk for me. I like my coffee like I like my cup size... double-d!

It was like the skies opened up and the angels sang *smiles*

But that got me to thinking. What does it mean? and more so what *can* it mean? Well let me count the ways... because while to you it may just look like a cup of something warm, it can be so much more.

A hot beverage from Timmy's can mean

Welcome, I'd like to introduce myself...
Hello, I'm not a coffee snob... and I'd like to be your friend.
I want to get to know you better, mind if we sit down and talk?

I know you don't understand what I said, but I can see how you might have taken it in a way I didn't mean at all, and for that I would like to sincerely apologize.
I'm sorry, please pardon my earlier rudeness.
I'm not sure what you're upset about, but I bring this as a peace offering.

Just thinking of you.
I appreciate you.
I just wanted to give you a reason to smile.

To warm you up.
*hugs*
Just because.

For a job well done.
I don't know how I can help, I wish I could but I can't... so I grabbed you a coffee.
Share a cup with me, and lets catch up I've missed you.

On top of all that, like the whip cream on the mocha... When someone remembers your favorite, well it's just that little extra bit of awesome... That my friend, means you're important. Important enough, that even though it may cause my head to explode and splatter the five phone numbers I know per person everywhere, I went to the effort of tucking in and remembering something you like... because I like you.

Could'a been the whiskey, might'a been the gin...

Could've been the three or four jello-shots, but look at the mess I'm in...


As the birthday girl, I was definitely surprised and thoroughly thrilled that you had a Halloween themed birthday party for moi, you don't have to say anything, I know it's just a coincidence that your son has a hockey tournament  next weekend ;) Nonetheless, it made me feel warm and fuzzy all night... and even thinking about it again now makes me grin.

I also have to say, it was such an honor to finally meet the besty friend of a friend who started reading this crazy story that is my life... and somehow found herself caught up in it all. I don't understand how it happens, but a word to the wise... you might want to keep it on the down low, I'm pretty sure people have been committed for less. In any case I considered it a birthday present, and it was great that she didn't even seem to mind that I'm really not that funny in real life... hmmm come to think of it, maybe that's why she went "pee" early...


Signs a good night is in progress, is when you find a few doozies to add to the "You haven't hosted a good party, until..." list, like these ones:
Someone's boobs catch on fire, without causing bodily harm to *anyone*... even if it did singe a few feathers ;)
You've had a full-contact hands-free smartie catching contest, without breaking the smarty dispenser... and in which nobody required first aid.
Somebody has been blamed for accidentally feeding the dog meatballs, on purpose. You know who you are. *ahem*
 

At two am when you're dancing barefoot in the kitchen, everyone having stripped off their pretty shoes... and things begrudgingly start to wind down... you head for bed, with the promise of leftover apple crisp for breakfast, you know it's been a good party.

From the Captain...

I'd hoped to be in NZ and able to call you and sing the b day song but 'fraid not.

This is the most challenging passage yet - and I just got bitten by the mechanical system again - two or three times at once.  First I screwed up when I left Tonga - should have paid the extra immigration cost and killed another two weeks, or gone to Fiji - but I didn't want to do that passage given I was sick and tired of passages and there are a lot of uncharted hazards along that route.  You "should be" OK if you stay north of such and such....  

Anyway, I'm here.

Next error, called the weather wrong and when I hit a change where the wind was all over the place for an hour, I chose simply to heave to and sleep - and a while later realized things had settled.  Should have gone up and set sail to west, didn't.  Drifted north 20 m while I slept.  Had I sailed, I probaly wouldn't have nothred 20 miles and would have gained westing that I needed.

Then 3 fronts  came through, a couple of days with the worst squalls ever - 40 to 50 k winds.  And with things settled out, I was beating due south.  Second error - kept going south in the nice sailing conditons figuring the wind would shift and I'd get west.  NOT.  Things calmed down, so decided to motor into the wind.

Engine fine, belts slipping badly.  Tightened.  Another nasty noise developed.

Decided to sail, granted north west so I'd actually be sailing away from port, but getting the west I had to have.  No options.  Got sailing and turned motor off - except it wouldn't.  OK, shut off the fuel supply.  Shut EVERY valve off and the sucker kept going.

Getting desperate.

Got to the point of cracking the lines to the injectors to introduce air, but just before that recalled the discussion with Peter at Eureka and recalled that an alternative to the solenoid (which is probably frozen in the run positition) there's a mechanical lever at the end of the rack.

Found it - it worked. 

Anyway, I was looking at 120 nm of motoring, now I'm looking at 160 mi of sailing.  Let's hope the wind holds without getting nasty high - there's another system coming through and I hope to be in somewhere calm by then.  We'll see, it'll be close.

Have a great day.  BTW - I'm on the other side of the date line - it's your bday here now.

Love Dad
-----
At 21/10/2011 4:59 AM (utc) our position was 32°25.14'S 176°46.76'E

Noms

In soviet Russia you don't eat cake... Cake eats you!

Welcome to Burlesque

Last night we were in an ordinary bar, in an ordinary place... not too far from here.  Nonetheless I felt a tingle of rebellion... it was a work night, and I wasn't tucked safely at home in bed like I was supposed to be.  In fact I was surrounded by the people your mother warned you about, who were anything but ordinary.

In a world where the industrial revolution continued solely down the path of steam power.  Victorian style pin stripes and top hats met ruffles, feathers, corsettes and leathers. All of it, accessorized with copper and gears crafted with a gadgeteer's flourish, obvious even to the unobservant.

The evening's entertainment consisted of a bizarre mixture ranging from carney acts to salacious skits, songs, and choreographed dance routines in all of their live, unpolished glory. The imperfections holding you captive in a moment, each story directing your attention as easily as the one you've heard Granny tell a hundred times. Not even realizing you're watching slack jawed, holding your breath... until it's released, erupting out of you like a sprinter off the start line to running in circles around the room playing tag with the rest of the cheers and applause.


What once was old is new again. Watching the power of women who were so comfortable in their own skin, was incredibly liberating. Real women, women with voices as big as their hips, and a confidence that made their bodies fit them... not you, or me or anyone else.

These weren't the perfectly fake airbrushed glossy magazine Hollywood girls... lacking the inny-outty bits that allow you tell them apart from the twelve year old boys. This was the real thing, served up like a good cold beer with a full body of attitude and a healthy dose of take it or leave it... because I don't give a damn. It was awesome and humbling at the same time, this was a rare glimpse of the raw strength few women tap into lying seductively, hibernating just below the deceivingly soft surface.

The realness of it lent to the saloon atmosphere and grounded everything, while the steampunk transported the evening from the old, half remembered whispers of a dream that you've been here before to the realm of the fictional and imaginary, the likes of which you've never seen.

I witnessed things that hereto I had only every heard spoken in hushed tones and incredulous whispers. Things I would not have believed, or would have thought to be exaggerations had I not seen them with my own eyes.

The daring, the wonder, the magic of burlesque.

It was totally worth the 5am wake up sleep walk and subsequent hour and half drive spooning with the passenger door nap back to work this morning.  Even as I sit here at 10pm, eyes burning and blinking wading through my muddled thoughts... wanting needing to go to bed I can't because I have to get them all out and down on paper now.

Little bit of awesome

The coolest thing ever happened, the lady in front of me in the drive through at Timmy's just paid for my coffee and breakfast sandwich.

It made my day. In fact I'm still smiling.

So I gave the girl at the window $4 for the guy behind me *grins*

That warm gooey karma center

Just this morning I was bombing up to work and saw a grizzled older looking guy standing on the corner decked out in super high-vis neon yellow sweatshirt and orange reflective vest... holding a huge "Lost Dog" sign. Having just seen a lost-looking retriever yesterday leaving work, I pulled a u-turn and stopped to check... unfortunately he was looking for a husky cross.

Almost late for work, and facing the wrong direction I waffled back and forth on hitting up Timmies... My pre-caffeine indecision chose for me with the failed execution of a mid-u-turn-mind-change spanning both lanes that was definitely ticket worthy.

Just as I was grabbing my coffee I received a "Don't get a coffee text" from a wonderful co-worker of mine, and it occurred to me that coffee tastes way better when someone else has given it to you. With that thought in mind, and knowing it was only two degrees out, I stopped and gave the one I'd just bought to the guy looking for his dog.

When I got to work and told her my story of the morning she said "Aw that's so cool, I feel like I even had a part in it" which of course she totally did. *smiles* I'm not sure where all the floating karma is going to settle this morning, but of all the places it could... well, I really hope he finds his dog.

Moral support

 Moral support is being happy for someone when they're happy, it's celebrating their successes even if you have no idea what they just succeeded in doing. Like me winning the minor battle over a dynamically populated Joomla drop down box used in the administration section of a module. It's not the end of the war, but this could be the TSN turning point... you just never know.

me: I just got the stupid select box to populate in the bass-ackend with stuff from one of *our* database tables *happy dance*

her: yayayay
her: good work!

me: thanks!

her: that's all samartian language to me pretty much. but i get what your saying
her: and im stoked that you're stoked
her: ha

Little ray of sunshine

The words "no problem beautiful" melt into my psyche like a cooling salve.
Soothing a minor irritation I can't pinpoint the cause of.
You have no idea, that you just made my day.
But that is completely irrelevant.

Thank you :)

I'm 3. iPhone Auntie Sam!

Hahaha my friend's kid just called me on facetime, it's a good thing I have call display because it came up as a black screen.

Little voice: "Hello?"
I soon realized that I was talking to the little voice unsupervised and asked where his mommy was...
Little voice: "kitchen"

In the background I hear his Mom from the kitchen: "Hey buddy, who are you talking to?"

Little voice:"No!"

He showed me his paintings... and the fresh snow outside... and his little piggy toes (which got a giggle when I called them that)... and the new curtains in the livingroom, up close and personal I might add ;)

Sooooo awesome, that was the best Friday morning phone call EVAR!