New Year's Eve

I went into the city for a party in DC this year. It was a house party but with cocktail attire. I liked that- made it more festive somehow. There was general rowdiness but I think I'll keep further details away from this public forum. ;) It was a really fun night though.

Dr. Seuss for President

I went to the P and C Art Gallery in Old Town Alexandria today to check out an exhibit called "Dr. Seuss for President". The description for the exhibit was:

"Coinciding with the historic 2008 U.S. presidential election, this unusual show features Dr. Seuss's rarely seen political work, including the first release of "Knotty Problem," a cartoon on the issue of taxes and Capitol Hill created by Seuss in 1942; the first print of the "Triple Sling Jigger" from Seuss's "Butter Battle Book", and four environmentally friendly prints from "The Lorax". "

Sounds good right? Unfortunately, it was near the end of the exhibit and much of the artwork had been sold. There were still some nice pieces but it was a little disappointing. Not nearly as political as I was hoping for.

Merry Christmas!

My mom came to my house this year and we had xmas with the four of us- my mom, me, and my pups. Each of the pups had their own stocking to open. The look of joy on their faces when they realized that they were literally surrounded by new toys was priceless. Santa was good to me this year as well.

Georgie in his pile of toys..... This is a happy dog!

Izzie in her xmas outfit.... It has bells on it so she jingled everywhere she went. I laughed so hard. It was SO funny. I love that she allows me to do these things to her.
Here's my boy after he was done playing. He's passed out on my lap. Could he be any more adorable?

My mom and I did our usual baking and also did a turkey dinner, which was really more to make up for Thanksgiving. We don't typically do a xmas dinner but I missed out on my Thanksgiving stuffing this year and that's just unacceptable. :) Dinner was great and I now have more turkey than I know what to do with (I bought it late and the smallest thing I could find was a 17 lb bird!). My mom made fun of me for apologizing to Tom (the turkey) as I was stuffing him. But c'mon, I felt a little bad.......

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Another Chill Weekend

It was another low-key weekend. I somehow found myself at the mall with Toby on Saturday. The weekend before xmas- what was I thinking? It's something I usually avoid at all costs but shopping was needed and so it was done. It actually wasn't that bad. I was supposed to go out Saturday night but everyone was being bums. I didn't want to leave my couch and apparently, neither did anyone else. So at least I didn't have to feel guilty about being a bum. Good weekend. Ready for xmas.....

Shakespeare

I went to see the Shakespeare Theater Company's performance of Twelfth Night in DC tonight with my friend Molly and 2 of her many, many relatives (also our age). I keep meaning to do more things like this in the city. The show was good. I'm a little spoiled since my first Shakespeare experience was seeing Coriolanus in London, performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was phenomenal and I'm not sure anything else will ever compare. But Twelfth Night was good and I'm glad I went.

End of Semester

My group met to finish our "semester" project on Monday night and presented it tonight to the professor/class. The only bad part of throwing a semester project together in a week is that we didn't get a chance to practice the length of the presentation. It was timed to 15 minutes and I was last to speak about the analysis section. I had to speed-talk to get through everything in time which was a little awkward. We're still totally getting an "A". :)

Hermit

Is it sad that I stayed in all weekend? I know Jason will be proud. I needed time to catch up on stuff, do holiday shopping, etc. so I took the weekend and just caught up on everything. I got my xmas shopping done and packages sent. I also watched some movies- really upset that Horton Hears a Who wasn't better. Seriously- my favorite Dr. Seuss character and it was "eh". Anyway, I am feeling refreshed after my weekend in. I need weekends like this every now and then.

Smart People Make Me Happy

Although it may not have seemed like it this semester, I have been in school. I haven't actually gone to class in about a month and a half, since the test, but whatever. We have a semester project and I've teamed with my normal group- 2 other girls that work full time and really just want their piece of paper (degree) handed to them but are also total Type A's, like myself. The semester ends in a week and we have pushed the project off until tonight. We just met for 2 hours, planned out the entire project, broke it up into pieces, and are done working. Now we just have to complete our individual sections, put the pieces together, and will be good to go to present and turn in our 30 page paper next Tuesday. And this is why I'm an Industrial Engineer. :)

Lazy Sundays

I forgot how awesome a lazy Sunday was until I stopped having them. With being out of town in Italy and then West Virginia, today was my first lazy Sunday at home in at least a month. I got my Christmas tree set up and caught up on a lot of nothingness. It was awesome. I can't even say exactly what I did. I know I talked to a bunch of people. And watched a movie. Otherwise, pretty much nothing.

Holiday Party

Tonight was my work holiday party at Dave and Buster's in Rockville, MD. That's about an hour and a half metro ride from me but I was determined not to drive (which would only have taken 40 minutes) so I wouldn't have to worry about a car later in the night. Molly and Timur were awesome and picked me up. We drove to Timur's house in the city and took the metro from there but it was running on a single track which meant it took forever. And then we still had to walk the .4 miles to D+B's in the cold. It was a little bit miserable. They picked me up at 6:30; we got to D+B's around 9:00. Yeah. We basically missed the dinner portion of the evening, ate quickly, and headed to the game area to play.













We played all the classics- skee ball, the basketball shooting game, DDR (Dance, Dance Revolution), and air hockey. I haven't played DDR since I was in Seattle with Stephanie almost 4 years ago and the one at D+B's is completely different. And really hard! Steph and I tried again but it wasn't even fun because it was so difficult. We decided to go play at the bar instead.

After the party, a bunch of us went to a bar in the city called Wonderland. I had never been there but it had pretty decent music that was definitely dance-able. I had such a great night.

There was drinking....... and dancing.......

....and attempts at self-portraits......... and random hats........

........and a lot of smiles. :)

Do you see how happy I am? Life is good.

Sometimes Owning Sucks

The pilot light on my furnace keeps going out so I sometimes wake up or come home to no heat. Sucks. I had someone out here today and my best option may be to replace the whole unit. That is NOT cheap. Weighing my options and relighting my pilot every day or two.......

Mission Accomplished

I've been waiting to share this until I was sure it was really happening...... I have 2 new employees for the Quality Management Group! I've been trying to expand this program for a long time and it's finally happening. We hired an Industrial Engineer from Georgia Tech who will be working for me in the Reston office, as well as a Quality Manager for our new West Virginia project. This week involves a crash course in all things quality so we can hit the ground running. Woohoo- it's a good day!

West Virginia

We just won a big contract in West Virginia and I attended the kick-off meeting with other members of our corporate staff, the project management, and the client. The location is about 5 hours away from me. Ugh. Several of us took a van; I was thankful I didn't have to drive but man, that's a long trip. I wish I hadn't just gotten back from a trip; I needed more time to relax and catch up at home. Thankfully, it was just 1 night (and 2 really long days). Looks like I will be heading to West Virginia several more times to get things started and make sure all the quality "stuff" is in place.

Continental

A few of my new favorite people met up at Continental, a bar in Rosslyn, where we played pool, drank Jagerbombs, and hung out. No one was ready to go home at last call, so the party continued at my house, where we somehow consumed another couple bottles of wine. Good times with great peeps. You guys are awesome; we have to do that again (although next time there will be no drinking after 3am for me).

Thanksgiving

Happy Turkey Day! I started my day as always, with the parade. My mom called promptly at 9am to make sure I was up and watching. This happens every year. No kidding. At least I'm not in AZ anymore, where it starts at 7am. Those 7am calls used to hurt. Quick notes on the parade.... Rick Astley? Really? WTF? Also, I love that they made a Horton balloon; he's my favorite Dr. Seuss character of all time.

My mom and I had planned to spend the holiday together but couldn't, due to a sickness in the family. My mom headed down to Florida for the long weekend and I stayed home. I am thankful for the time alone; I still had a lot to do to recover from my Italy trip. I went to Toby's aunt's house for dinner with her family. I know all of them so it was a lot of fun and probably the next best thing to being with my own family. And the food was great; I will definitely be collecting some recipes.

Kristen

I have been looking for my friend Kristen for years. She was my best friend in middle school (that's junior high to you non-Ohio-ers). We stayed friends through high school, even though I moved to Arizona, and I even saw her the summer before I transferred to Purdue. Somehow we've lost track of each other since then; it's been 7 years. And then today I found her on Facebook. I'm officially a HUGE fan of facebook. K- it was amazing catching up with you.

While I have given in to Facebook and like catching up with all these old friends, I still refuse to send invisible items, like drinks and trees. What is this nonsense? And there will be no poking!

Running: Day 1

I've been debating on picking up running. I went for my first run today at the gym. I did:

1/4 mile walk
1 mile run
3/4 mile walk
1/2 mile run
1 1/2 mile walk at a steep incline

So 4 miles, 1 1/2 of which was a run. Not bad for day 1 right? I'm thinking I might try to run 3 days a week and see how it goes. I tried running once before but I started having trouble with one of my knees. But for now, I feel fantastic. The only downside...... running is REALLY boring. So like I said, we'll see how it goes.

Italy

Italy was amazing and just what I needed. I've been wanting to get back to Europe since my last trip 5 years ago. Now was kind of the perfect opportunity for a trip so I took advantage of it and just went; I planned everything in about a week and it was one of the best trips I've ever taken. Traveling alone is such a different experience, and a great way to self-reflect. I had 10 full days in Italy, between Rome, the Cinque Terre, Florence, and Siena.

My travels started off a little shaky. My flight was delayed so I, with 3 others, were re-routed through Boston (instead of NYC) and then on an Alitalia flight to Rome. Except that Delta failed to let Alitalia know we were coming. We finally got checked in and then the printer wouldn't work. I ended up getting on my flight with a hand-written ticket, no kidding.

Rome: I spent 3 days in Rome, taking in all the sights. I have seen a lot of the biggies before so skipped some and just re-visited the ones that were truly amazing, like St. Peter's, the Borghese Gallery (my favorite), and the Colosseum/Forum area. I also decided to seek out sculptures by my favorite artist, Bernini. Last time I was in Rome, I found that every sculpture I loved was by Bernini. Now I can basically pick them out. So I did a little research before I left and went to some smaller churches and searched out Bernini. It added a little something extra to my Rome experience (since I've already been to Rome twice). I also discovered some new statues and artists in the Borghese Gallery I hadn't noticed before because I had been so preoccupied with those by Bernini.


Rome has always been a series of mishaps for me and this time was no different. There are too many to recount. I was scammed at least a couple of times and just had trouble in general. I tried to visit a church, Santa Maria Vittoria, 3 times but due to various mishaps, never got to go inside. There's a Bernini statue there I was trying to see. I love Rome but it's such a big city and involves so much walking. It was nice to leave and get to the beauty of the Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre: My last attempt at visiting the Cinque Terre ended quickly due to some poor planning (ahem.... Dan Vogt). We arrived during a festival and there were no hotels ANYWHERE and we had to leave. So this time I made sure to have a hotel in place before arriving. I've wanted to do the 7 mile hike that connects the 5 hill towns along the water for 5 years now and I finally got my chance. The hike was unbelievable, although my calves hurt for the following 3 days. There is nothing better than a hardcore hike to clear your mind and reflect. It took a little over 4 hours to do the hike and I have never seen so many stairs in my life. And when I say it was on the water, well, it was ON the water. In some places, the path was about a foot wide and then there was a sheer drop to the rocks and water below (no railing).

I had some great dinners and ordered the local cuisine, which was pasta with seafood. There were things on my plate staring back at me and others that I couldn't quite determine how to eat. But it was an experience. I met a man who was also dining alone (maybe 55ish and not creepy) who asked me to join him for wine one night. He was from the hill town I stayed in (third generation). We talked about Italy, the U.S., politics (everyone is interested in Obama over there), etc. It was awesome- the complete cultural experience that I never could have had if I wasn't traveling alone.

I spent some time exploring the 5 hill towns and just relaxing. I had a terrace in my room that overlooked the water. The weather was perfect for the 2 days I was there and I even sported a tank top and flip flops one day. It could not have been more beautiful and I did not want to leave.

Florence: The shopping was incredible. I had no appreciation for leather the last time I was here. Or bags. I'm only slightly ashamed to admit that I have a bag obsession (it must be genetic, mom). I am a sucker for cute bags and Florence was like my little piece of bag heaven. I got a couple of bags, also a jacket, and a couple of belts. Great deals.

I did a walking tour of Florence. We visited places that I never would have seen otherwise and the tour guide had all kinds of interesting stories and bits of history to share. That's what makes it real to me; I love the history. I also visited a lot of the better known sights, like the Duomo, Pitti Palace, Medici Chapel and Tombs, one of the smaller churches there, and the Central Market, which had things I had never seen before. One thing I can say about the Italians: they eat every part of the pig, which does impress me in some ways. I saw pig feet, brains, intestines, organs, and uh, penis, for sale in the market. Crazy.

I have to comment on the boys in Florence. They are creepy. I can't tell you the number of times guys asked me to go out or whether I needed "an Italian boyfriend". One of the vendors actually hugged me which basically made my skin crawl. I was staying at a hotel with an American owner and she explained that there are a lot of students in the area and American girls have a "reputation". Needless to say, I did not spend any time with any of the Florence boys.

Siena: I wanted to visit one of the smaller towns in Tuscany and chose Siena. It was amazing. The cathedral is more interesting than some of the better known ones, like the Duomo in Florence. There were several interesting museums and crypts and places to view the hills of Tuscany. This was a very relaxing place to spend one of my last days in Italy.

I returned to Rome to fly home. It was evening and I was exhausted and went out looking for a quick bite to eat. I passed the Santa Maria Vittoria church and it was open even though it was after closing hours. I just happened to pass by during Friday night mass! I went inside, listened to the last 15 minutes of the mass, and then was able to do a quick lap of the church and see the Bernini statue that I had unsuccessfully tried to see 3 times when initially in Rome. It was the perfect ending to my trip.

I met a ton of people on my travels, including a couple from Nashville, a couple from Australia, a woman from Michigan, the Italian man, and a guy from NYC on my flight home. It was such a different experience going alone and I really enjoyed it. I also really enjoyed the gelato and the wine. There is nothing better than gelato. The goal was to have some at least everyday and I'm pretty sure I succeeded in that. The wine was also great, of course, and I had some each evening- just ordered whatever the local specialty was (white in the Cinque Terre, red everywhere else).

I returned from Italy feeling refreshed, back to myself again, and ready for the next chapter in my life. There's nothing like a trip to clear your head. For those that know my normal travel style, I journaled about everything on my trip (literally filled an entire journal). Those are the best souvenirs I have from my travels. I like capturing the details of the mishaps and sights, as well as the very strange things that go through my head.

My recommendation to those that have thought of travel but haven't done it yet and figure they will go someday........ go now! You will never regret it and it will change your perspective on the world. Plus, I noticed in the last 5 years that more things are being roped off and/or being moved to museums. The longer you wait, the less authentic the experience will be. Now I just need to decide where my next adventure will be..............

A Good Day

I met Toby in Tyson's today for some girl-time. Badly needed. I wasn't planning to do any shopping but somehow we managed to shop. I got my first pair of Merrell's (shoes for hiking and stuff) and they are awesome! They'll be great for Italy and my hike in the Cinque Terre. I also finally found a pair of knee-high boots. I've seriously been looking for boots for years (like, I'm still wearing the same boots I got probably 8 years ago). So yeah, it was way overdue but I just hadn't found anything I liked and/or was comfortable. T and I ended up buying the same ones.

After our shopping excursion, I met up with Dan Murphy for dinner at Bonefish Grill. I've been wanting to check this place out since it opened, which has probably been a year or more. It's within walking distance of my house. Anyway, good food, good company, and a fun evening.

Boys Night Out..... Plus Me

Last weekend before Italy. Tonight I went out in Baltimore, which was supposed to be a coed group outing, but turned into 4 guys and me. Story of my life. Good thing I've always liked hanging with the boys. We bar-hopped, doing a drink per bar. Who am I kidding though? I left half-drunk bottles at every bar. I can hang with the boys but I can't keep up with their drinking. Anyway, it was a good night out. Ooh, and there was beer pong at one of the bars. I love the Bmore bars; they don't have all that trendy uppityness you get in DC.

Speaking of Spontaneous........

I'm going to Italy! I've been debating on this for a couple of months and figured I should just do it. I have the ability to take a little time and go so I'm heading out soon. I've always loved Italy and know it will be one of those places I continue to go back to throughout my life. Why not now?

Mid-term Results

We got our test results back tonight in class and I was in for a shock. The test was rough, at best, and I was fully expecting about a 70%. The professor saved the top 3 grades for last and then announced it to the class, which included my test. I'm not big on being called out for getting a good grade- then you have to stare at your desk while the rest of the class glares at you for breaking the curve. So yeah, I got a 94%. No idea how that happened.

Happy Halloween

And yet another year goes by where I don't dress up. Maybe next year. I hung out with an old friend tonight that I haven't seen in about 3 years. Some of you may know him as Baltimore Boy (aka Mike Sutton). We dated way back when for a short time (short by my standards anyway). We've kept up over the years but this was the first in-person meeting in 3 years. We always had a lot of fun together. I wasn't sure how it would be to see someone after 3 years but it was like old times. The conversation was easy and we had a lot of fun. We got dinner and then got a few drinks at a bar. We were just about the only people not in costume at the bar so that was a little strange but otherwise, good times.

The only pic from tonight is a horribly bad one of me so here's one from way back when.

No, I'm not drunk, just have closed eyes.

I was flipping through a bunch of these old pictures when looking for a pic for Facebook and the thing I notice most is how blissfully happy I look. I've buried that girl somewhere underneath the serious and stressed out version of me. I mean, I'm a happy person but I think sometimes I forget to just let go and be completely happy in the moment. Maybe that's just part of getting older. I've gotten so caught up in work and stuff over the past few years and lost a little of my spontaneity and spunk. Someone once described me as spunky- I'm gonna be that girl again.

Just Like New

I got the carpeting in my living and dining room replaced today and it looks amazing. My house feels clean again and it makes me ridiculously happy. It was not so fun moving the furniture but everything is back in order now and the place looks great. I realized after the fact that I should have organized a flip-cup tournament in my house before replacing the carpet. Sigh.

Stupid Test

I had the midterm for my simulation class tonight. It was stupid. That's the best descriptor. This class has been really easy all semester and then the test was difficult and not anything like what we've done so far this semester in homework, etc. There was theory and coding and creation of simulation models (on paper). Yeah, stupid. I'm glad it's over; the rest of the semester should be cake.

Facebook is Addictive

I've been hearing about Facebook for awhile and just figured it was the next big thing for the "kids" out there. I was finally convinced to start my own page when you people just wouldn't shut up about it. :) Plus, when I heard all these 30-somethings were on it, I figured I had to at least check it out. I've already reconnected with a couple of people I had completely lost track of over the years. It is awesome! I still only have one old, bad pic up for my profile but I will work on that soon.

Cheesecake and Conversation

Jason, the guy I work with that is perpetually leaving for Iraq but never actually leaves, came back early from a trip home to the great state of Alabama (said in my head with Jason's accent) before leaving for Iraq next Friday (I'll believe it when I see it.). Anyway, we met up at Maggiano's for dinner (yum) and then had the bright idea to go to The Cheesecake Factory for dessert. It was a great night of good conversation and good food. However, between the glass of wine and piece of cheesecake, I passed out from a sugar coma by midnight. :)

New Tile

I got my entry/hallway re-tiled today and it looks amazing! The guy said he'd show up between 9 and 10am and service people are ALWAYS late so I figured it was safe to get in the shower at 8:45. Not so much. The dogs started barking to let me know someone was at the door so I got to answer the door soaking wet in a towel. Yeah. But once I was dressed and could let him in, the tiling went well. It took forever though; he was here until 5:30pm.

I used to have tile just in the entryway but I now have tile all the way down the hall to the bedroom. It looks so good. I had the generic white, cheapest-thing-they-make tile previously. This is so much nicer. I just keep admiring it.

This all came about because I need new carpeting. When I had the 3 foster pups 2 years ago (1 of which was Izzie), they more or less ruined the carpeting in the living/dining area. I needed to recarpet this small hallway too. Well, I'm extraordinarily anal about things matching and I knew it would make me crazy if the carpet in the hall didn't match the carpet it would touch in the bedroom and stairs. Plus, tile in front of the laundry closet is a great bonus since I spill detergent like it's my job. So I decided to get tile put in for the entire entry and hall. The new carpet in the living/dining room will be installed next week. For now it looks a little funny where the tile touches the carpet because the carpet is just laying on the edge of the tile, waiting to be replaced.

Person that Made me Smile Today

I was on IM and saw my friend Jason's away message, which read: "A Level 3 CMMi... that's from that internet game right?"

Apparently someone actually asked this??? Regardless, thanks for making me smile.

Jason Mraz

Toby and I went to see Jason Mraz in concert tonight. His CD's have been playing on permanent loop in my car for some time now. I just can't get enough. I can't remember the last concert I went to where I actually knew the words to almost every song. It was soooo much fun and he puts on such a great show.

Plus, he ranks pretty high on the sexy man chart. He can sing, dance, is soulful (lyrics), and is cognizant of the world around him. Oh, and he's a complete goofball. I heart him. Excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin.

Girls Night Out

I realized I haven't been out dancing in almost 3 years which is just wrong so I decided to plan a girls night out. I was hoping to go to a bar we used to go to called Polly Esther's, which plays 70s and 80s music but then found out it closed 2 years ago. I'm so out of the loop. I was surprised by how many other girls were on board with going out- we ended up with 10 between dinner and dancing.

We met for dinner at a place called Cafe Soleil in DC. It was a really small place with a nice atmosphere and good food. Then we hit the clubs. Or club, as it turned out. We decided to start at Sign of the Whale, which was one of my favorites years ago. We thought we would start there, see how it was, and then head elsewhere. We ended up closing the bar. I would post more pictures but I'm not sure there are any others that won't embarrass people. Here's me with Toby and with Anne.

Early in the evening, Sara and I decided that we needed to make the group co-ed and somehow ended up in the middle of a Bachelor Party. Everyone else joined us shortly. The guys were all really nice, not gross and just looking to score (bonus), and we all had a great time. We played a new "drinking" game that didn't involve drinking (yes, contradiction). I have no idea how to explain it but it was fun and now I have a new bar game to play.

New Bar Game: Fingers on the Glass!

Sometime late in the night, I realized we weren't dancing and felt the need to change that. I spent the last half hour or hour (no idea really) dancing, which was great. I even danced with some 22-year-old boy. Yes, I said 22. (I'm shaking my head with some level of shame now.) While I normally wouldn't give a 22-year-old the time of day, I now realize what the appeal to this age is. This kid was in awe of me. Seriously. He said a lot of really nice things that no 30-something man would say, not in a bar to a stranger anyway. I recognize that this is probably for the best but being around a guy that wasn't jaded by a long history in the dating scene was nice.

Toby and I caught the very last metro out of the city and got the very last cab at the metro station. We got back to my place around 4:15am and into bed around 5am. I would call that a good night out. :)

All Hands and Happy Hour

We had an All Hands meeting today for work. We have them on most government holidays because our project people don't need to be at their project site but the days aren't observed holidays by Platinum (like Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Presidents Day, etc). I've learned that All Hands is not a common term, so to explain- it just means that everyone from the company meets for a day of training and team building.

I got to make the big announcement to the company about our successful Level 3 appraisal. I was surprised by how interested people were and how many questions were asked. I also gave training on conducting Peer Reviews (reviewing peers work on the projects). Generally, I don't really care for speaking to large groups. Over the years I've developed a nervousness that I have no control over. I still get up there and speak because I refuse to give in to the nervousness. It's more irritating than anything. It doesn't seem to make any sense since I grew up dancing on stage at competitions. I think it has more to do with the fear of forgetting what I was supposed to say or saying something really stupid than actually a fear of getting up in front of people.

Anyway, the training went well. I was worried that with such a large group, people would just sort of glaze over and not pay attention. But there were a lot of questions so that's a good sign that the training was worthwhile. It makes me happy to finally feel like I'm not just "that chick from corporate". I actually know the people on the projects. I think it makes for better training sessions because people feel like they can approach me and ask me questions. So I left feeling like it was a success. We ended the day with a Rock Band competition which was just ridiculous (in a good way).

Ok, on to the good stuff........ happy hour! A bunch of us (well, the cool kids) went to a bar called Ned Devine's in Herndon for happy hour after the meeting. We planned to be there for a few hours but it quickly turned into an all night event. I think the clincher was probably the jagerbombs. I have self-control to turn down most drinks, but I will not turn down a jagerbomb. Jager by itself.... eh. Red Bull by itself..... gross. The combination of the two..... magical. :) The night was a lot of fun and I realized around midnight that I was in no shape for driving. I had to hang out another hour or more just to make sure it was safe to drive. I won't consider driving when there's even a chance I've had too much to drink- just too stupid. I think I got home around 2am and yes, Tuesday hurt.

Anne, me, and Molly at Happy Hour

Jagerbombs!!!

CMMI Level 3!

I've spent the last year and a half of my career getting my company ready for this. CMMI is a process improvement framework that provides standards for implementing process improvement across 22 process areas (things like risk management, measurement and analysis, project planning, etc). There were so many processes to institutionalize within the company before going into the appraisal (18 of the 22 areas for Level 3). Some companies get to level 3 faster but we took our time and made sure it was done the right way. The appraisal went pretty smoothly because of that.

The appraisal lasted 2 weeks and the appraisal team consisted of a mixed group of employees and external (independent) appraisers. I was actually on the appraisal team and yes, they monitor this conflict of interest. We reviewed about 500 documents from the organization and interviewed 19 employees (keep in mind our company only has about 85 people).

I wasn't sure what to expect during the interviews. You just never know what people are going to say. I was floored by the amount of positive things employees had to say about Platinum Solutions and the processes our Quality Management Group has implemented. The team made fun of me because I kept saying how the interviews gave me "warm fuzzies". It makes me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile which gives me a reason to get up and keep going to work each day.

Most days went well. We had one really long day where even the most patient team members lost their cool. That's what happens at 1am when you've worked 16 hours and still see no end in sight. It was stressful but we made it!

The appraisal team has determined that we are CMMI Level 3 compliant. Now the findings go back to the Software Engineering Institute for review and final approval. We were actually chosen for a random audit by the SEI so they have already audited our appraisal along the way. While that made us nervous when we initially heard about it, we can now be confident that they will come back with an approval. And bonus- no one will be able to question the integrity of our appraisal since it was audited. We should have our official Level 3 rating within the month.

I always find it strange how big events are so anticlimactic. I feel like there should be a huge event that marks the moment in time. Today, the final day of the appraisal, when we knew we were getting Level 3, I could have cried. (I didn't.) I had no idea how much stress and anxiety I've been carrying around about this appraisal. The successful appraisal confirms that the work I've been doing is good. It's a major milestone for the organization and for my career. I'm not sure I could have recovered to continue working towards Level 3 if we had failed.

As soon as I got home, I passed out. All of the stress built up over a year and a half just flowed out and I was exhausted. Now I have this feeling of not knowing what to do with myself anymore. I get to go to work like a normal person without this constant pressure of getting to Level 3 looming over me. I've become accustomed to the pressure; being stress-free (ok, who am I kidding?, but maybe less stressed) is foreign now. I kinda like this new feeling.

Raiding Jason's Fridge

Several of my coworkers and I had a BBQ today (really a raid of Jason's fridge before he leaves for Iraq). My company has a project in Iraq and my friend/coworker Jason is headed out there (again). He wanted to grill everything in his freezer since he will be gone 3-6 months. I brought the pups with me and they had a blast. Izzie found an open cooler and proceeded to take out ice, piece by piece, and crunch on it on the deck. It was very funny. The dogs are always a hit; people can't help but love them.

Shaking Puppy

Georgie is becoming increasingly scared of thunder storms. I don't remember him caring too much in the past but now he finds me and curls up next to me, pushing himself into me to make sure I'm there and not leaving him. We had a thunderstorm last night that was so close, it woke me up. I'm not a light sleeper. My poor Georgie then proceeded to do his pushing thing (in bed) while shaking like a leaf. This was around 3am. An hour or so later he finally stopped shaking enough that we could go back to sleep. Crazy dog. Tired Emily.

Rockville

Can you say "hungover"? I have got to start working on my tolerance. I feel like such a wuss. I promised Toby we would go check out some shops in Rockville today so I dragged my hungover butt up to Rockville and shopped. Sadly, neither one of us really got anything, although we tried on some amazingly cute dresses. The problem- they were too short to even consider wearing. They would be fine as long as there is never a need to sit or do anything other than just stand and look cute. And no, these weren't those long shirts that should have tights or pants or something underneath; they were clearly dresses. I don't get it.

Girls Night Out

I went out with my friend Anne and 2 of her friends tonight. I didn't realize how much I missed the occasional night out. We met for dinner in the city at a place called Utopia. And the drinking began. The restaurant was ok; the waitress was stupid. We kept asking what was good and she kinda gave the impression that not much was great. Either disgruntled with her job or just really stupid; she came across as the latter. After dinner and 2 glasses of wine, we headed to a show at the Lincoln Theater.

We saw Carrie Fisher (yeah, Princess Leia) in Wishful Drinking, her one woman show. It's a humorous look at her life growing up in Hollywood. It was very funny, from what I can remember; they allowed drinking in the theater! I would normally have stopped drinking by this point but my friends were drinking so I figured, "what the hell?". And there went 2 more glasses of wine.
None of us were ready to go home after the show but none of us knew where to go in that area of the city. I called a friend of mine, who directed us to what I understood to be Rocker Bar. Reminder: 4 glasses of wine. I am on the phone, on the street, looking for a bar. We ended up asking a cop. Yeah. Meanwhile, my friend is laughing at me over the phone, saying "that's not actually what I said", which I didn't understand until we arrived at Rocket Bar. Yeah. It was one of those nights. So, for future reference, we went to Rocker Bar. :)

Good times.

My Sister's Keeper

I've been reading a lot lately. It's an excellent escape from reality. Too bad the books can't last longer. My latest read was My Sister's Keeper, which is about a girl who is born to be a genetic match (and donor) to her sick sister. It's about her struggle to figure out why she is here. The book was good; it took a very unexpected twist that made it a lot better. The writing was good, but not wow. The book was well worth the read though, especially given the ending.

8 pounds

I haven't talked much about my weight lately. I came back from Florida feeling kinda gross. Within a month, I had lost 8 pounds. Woohoo. I am back into my normal size again for work clothes. I still have a few pounds to go to fit into my cute jeans again. The best part is that it has stayed off since I lost it. I am maintaining! It's time to start losing again I suppose; I've got about another 8 pounds to reach my goal. Stupid dieting. But I feel so much better already.

The Queen's Fool

I saw The Other Boleyn Girl last month and really enjoyed it so I thought I would try reading one of the books by the author. I started with The Queen's Fool and read the entire thing in just a few days (while sitting on the beach); it was incredible. I don't know much about the Henry the eighth time period and with the way Philippa Gregory writes, it all becomes so vivid. The characters are well-developed and the stories are amazing. I'm so excited to have found a new author. She has another 10 or so books so I've got some reading ahead of me.

OBX 2008

I rented a house on the beach for a week again this year. Despite having to work for 1 day and having to keep up with email, I was able to spend a lot of time relaxing and catching up on me. I rented a different house this year and it was oceanfront, with 2 decks, and a jacuzzi. As last year, it was a great time to go- all the kids are back in school and everyone is afraid of hurricane season. The beaches were mostly empty and the weather was beautiful.


I spent most of my time sitting on the beach, reading. I love sitting on the sand. I grew up on beach vacations with my mom and it's always been a relaxing place for me. Georgie spent a lot of time on the sand with me, even though I started to worry about his organs cooking. Georgie likes to sunbathe. To touch him, you'd think he was about to spontaneously combust. But he's SO happy in the sun. He actually prefers the sun to being in the shade under an umbrella. Crazy dog. A great beach companion though.

Our self portrait:

The pups had a great time, as always. On a couple of days, the water came up really high and couldn't flow back out (see the pic below). It formed a pool of water and the pups got to go swimming for the first time. They are excellent little swimmers. Georgie actually took his first swim by accident. We were playing in the water and he romped a little to far and found there was no longer ground under his feet. He figured it out quickly and started swimming. SO cute.

The pups did a lot of playing. Here they are romping on the beach.























I ate seafood every night. Mostly, I went to the local seafood market, picked up their fresh catches of the day, and cooked at the house. I ate a lot of scallops. Yum. I asked the rental office where the good food was and she basically named everything except for the one chain restaurant. I ate at the chain; it was great. I ate at one of the local restaurants; I fed it to the dogs. In case you're ever in Avon, do NOT eat at the Dolphin Den. The seafood wasn't even fresh!

Here's my new friend, the sand crab. He was within a foot of my beach chair one day and kept going in and out of the sand, staying out a little longer each time.
I had good weather every day until Friday. The tropical storm, Hanna was coming through, followed by Ike, so I decided to pack up a day early and head home. I really didn't want to get stranded by flooded roads. So I lost one day, but overall, a great vacation. I am super tan (for me); I figure I have about a week until it fades to super white again. :) I want/need another week.

144.5

Hours. That's the number of hours I've worked in the last 2 weeks. Two weeks, 10 business days, 3 non-business days, 144.5 hours. I am exhausted. We are still trying to get ready for this CMMI appraisal and it has been crazy trying to tie up loose ends and make sure everything is ready. I am now wearing this number like a badge of honor. I'm not even sure how I've been able to work this much. I am looking forward to this appraisal stuff coming to a close and having a life again.

Until then, 144.5...................

Stupidity at Large

At the Democratic Convention, the Veterans Against the War group protested. This may cause the little question mark to appear over your head, indicating that this doesn't seem to make any sense. It gets better. Apparently this group wants the war to end and is disgruntled that the Democrats haven't brought the troops home yet (as if they have the option/power to do so). But I will not digress into that argument just now. The veterans wanted to show that the Democrats don't really care about them and demanded to speak with an Obama campaign liaison. They were disappointed when the Obama campaign agreed, as they were hoping to be arrested so the media would make a bigger story of the situation. That is what one of the protestors told an NPR reporter.

I am disappointed by the lack of progress in bringing our troops home. However, I would not protest at the convention. What are these people hoping to gain? Make voters choose McCain who will NEVER bring our troops home? It seems that it would be smarter to support the Democrats during the convention (since they are more likely to support the removal of troops from Iraq) and then protest at the White House after the election to get things moving in the right direction. I cannot help but feel that these veterans are either lacking intelligence or planted. Either they are unable to think through the consequences of their actions or they aren't really against the war and were planted to cause trouble for the Democrats.

I wish I knew some of these people so I could attempt to discover what their rational was behind this protest. Regardless of the angle I try to view the situation, I still come to the same conclusion: these veterans are doing themselves more harm than good.

Three and Counting

School started today. I have 3 classes left to finish my Master's Degree. I am taking one class this semester and then I think I'm going to deal with the pain of taking two next semester to finish this school thing. I'm taking a class on Discrete Event Simulation. Blah, blah, blah. Thankfully, I know several people in the class so I already know who to work with for projects. I don't think the class will require too much work and the professor seems good, so hopefully it will be a good semester.

I'm already counting down to the end of school. I bought my last parking pass today for the year. Never have to do that again. I'm in my last fall semester. Never have to do that again. :)

Too Cute

Izzie with her squeaky ball. This girl would follow her ball anywhere.

Worst Assignment Ever

As we approach our CMMI appraisal at work, we have to map documentation for each project in the appraisal to each practice in the CMMI model to show how the project has met the intent of the practice. There are approximately 350 practices that have to be mapped for each project. We are including 2 projects in our appraisal, so you get the idea. This is NOT fun work. The person helping me with this now attends each of our status meetings to discuss the "stupid" mapping. It's all in good humor and he's keeping a great attitude about it, but I can't help but feel horrible asking him to take on this task. I'm doing a lot of it too, so it's not like the burden is all on him. But still. I would do it all myself if I could. Thankfully, we only have to do this every 3 years.

Olympics

Has everyone been watching the Olympics? I always enjoy the gymnastics so I've watched all of that. Don't get me started on the unfair judging. I've also watched most of the swimming; I feel sorry for all the amazing swimmers that aren't Phelps and therefore get no coverage. I've caught pieces of some of the other sports, including things that I cannot fathom as being Olympic sports. Isn't badmitton a backyard game? When will the Olympic horseshoes begin???

One of the best discoveries of the Olympics is Izzie's fascination with the horses. We caught the Olympic sport where horses basically prance around in a ring with all kinds of different moves. Sorry to sound stupid on this- I have never seen this before, have no idea what it's called, but was completely fascinated. And so was Izzie. Izzie met a horse once and I think it was love at first sight. She pranced in front of the tv watching the horses in the Olympics. It was adorable. Here's a pic of her in front of the tv (the little black and white floofy thing at the bottom of the pic)......

Mitch Fatel

I went to the DC Improv tonight to see Mitch Fatel. He's kind of a weird guy. Very funny, but very R rated. The show warns that it is R rated, and yeah, it's very R rated. I don't think there was any topic that didn't relate to something about sex. He was very funny, but alas, still no Adam Ferrara. Ferrara remains one of my favorite comics, although he can't seem to get back to DC with his tv show and other obligations. I actually had tickets to see him until he cancelled (for the second time) and I switched to Mitch Fatel. I'd recommend seeing Fatel, just make sure you're ready for some dirty humor.

Water for Elephants

I just finished this book and it is excellent. It's about a traveling circus in the 1930's. It is historical fiction and I'm a huge fan of this genre. Making history interesting makes me remember it because it seems more real. Otherwise, it's just a jumble of names and dates. Anyway, this book is fascinating and a quick read. I highly recommend it.

Beach Weekend

My mom just rented a new place 2 blocks from the ocean, in Brigantine, NJ. I went up for the weekend to visit and get my first taste of the beach this summer. Georgie came with me. I actually relaxed and stopped thinking about work for a few days, started a new book, and went on some long bonding walks with my pup. It was a good weekend. I introduced my mom to How I Met Your Mother (tv show) and she is hooked. I have converted yet another one! I already got Toby and Adam hooked a few weeks ago.

What Would NPH Do?

This is the poster that now resides outside my cube at work (temporarily). I about died when I saw this poster- it's the doogie! But most of the people in my office don't get it. Hmpf. So seriously, please tell me you people watch How I Met Your Mother and have seen Harold & Kumar go to White Castle? I heart Doogie. Who thought Neil Patrick Harris (NPH) would end up being one of my favorite actors? :)