contented sigh

Kicking back at Starbuck's with a nonfat chai tea latte, reduced fat cinnamon swirl coffee cake, and (of course) a book. Laundry is started at home, so I can even feel a little productive.

This is how Sundays should be...

marketing farmers

Up and out on a Sunday morning...unusual for me. :^) Went to the Mountain View Farmer's Market, a nice way to start the day. Tangerines, Afghan bolani bread with garlic mint paste and sweet salsa (I love the Bay Area), and picked up some buckwheat honey (strong, very good).

Now to meander wherever the whim winds take me...I love lazy sundays.

what ironic timing!

This is the latest "Monty" cartoon...very appropriate, considering that I gave notice today at work:

coconut monkeys

coconut monkeys,
originally uploaded by tiredcynic.

It started as a joke. A friend was going to Hawaii, and asked if he could bring me anything. I joked, "One of those coconut monkey banks."

I forgot about it. He remembered.

So a little while later, another friend went. I asked for a matching monkey, and he also remembered.

And the third wonderful monkey from another wonderful friend made it official: it's a collection.

good. bad. ugly.

Good: I gave notice today. Last day to be the 28th. Scary, jumping into the unknown like this, but good...I'm taking a chance, looking out for myself, getting out of a situation that wasn't good for me. The best part: I'm free to visit my parents, without the overhead of the mess at work weighing me down. Definitely looking forward to it...can't wait. And if I can stretch the budget enough, I'll take some time to figure out what's next...maybe teaching, maybe stay in IT, maybe leave the area, maybe not. The world is my oyster.

Bad: My aunt has Alzheimer's, and has had to be put into a nursing home. She was the eldest of my mom's family, and always a, shall we say, strong woman. I saw her last year at my mom's surprise birthday party, and it was a shock. I really respect her family for making the decision to get her professional care; it can't have been an easy choice. Sending love to her and the family...

Ugly: The weather. Well, not so much for me...I love the rain and clouds. But for the area, it's bad...40 some days straight of rain or bad weather, and the hills are sliding, houses are slipping, roads are collapsing [Devil's Slide is closed again, for the indeterminate future]. One thing I want to do this weekend is go walking in the rain...I love it.

So that's the summary. The big thing: today I closed my eyes, held my breath, and jumped into the void. Wheeeee! Yikes! Waaahoooooo! Holy crap!!

Wish me luck!

'tis a silly place

Absolutely hilarious and dead on:

http://static.hugi.is/misc/movies/montypythonlg.mov

[Spot the dead parrot cameo]

and time...is still marching on....

This week is moving along. Hectic, but in a more normal way, if that makes sense. Holding things together at work, health is back to where it was [stomach complains in the mornings, eases off once I get home, brain monkeys vary in their nocturnal activity, you know, all systems normal], cat is cute and clingy and feisty, new mobile phone is on the way, I'm making my way through the Xanth books and starting a few others, yadda yadda blah blah.

Big day tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. More on that once it's over...


[props to "They Might Be Giants" for the title]

[[speaking of TMBG, this is an interesting concept: write a song for every venue they play in. I'm still working my way through them...some good, some not-so-much, but hey, it's the internet. They can't all be gems.]]

bleeargh

So much for a productive Sunday. Caught a stomach flu somehow...it hit Sunday, mid-morning, and still has me in its thrall [joy]. Not the worst I've had, but it's never fun: fever, shakes, the midsection unhappiness, and all-over wonkiness are the gifts that keep on giving.

The good news: it's not my stress-stomach thing. The bad news: that means I have to just ride it out, since my medication won't help [darn it].

Ah well...at least I have a lot of books to read.

my daytime home

This is where I spend my days at work, when I'm not running around working on helpdesk cases or in meetings.

It has become something of a landmark: "Take a left at the cube with all the stuff...you can't miss it."

More pics here...

geeking out

Went to Book Buyers tonight and walked out with eighteen of the Piers Anthony Xanth novels. Shameless pun indulgence, fluffy fun, and I can't wait to get back into them. I love Book Buyers...I ended up with over $91 worth of paperback for about $38. Scary thing is, I still have another nine or ten books in the series yet to find, too...hurrah for prolific authors.

(aren't they pretty??)

Spent a fair amount of time talking with a fellow SF/F fan named Jim, a physicist at SLAC with a similar predilection for reading [I am a self-confessed "compulsive reader"]. We geeked out over Heinlein, Spider Robinson, "Firefly" [see an earlier blog about my evil friend Brian], Babylon 5, Usenet in the "old days", Sandman, Callahan's, and a lot more. He recommended author Christopher Moore's "Bloodsucking Fiends", I recommended "Strangers in Paradise" and seeing "V for Vendetta". The conversation was a lot of fun, and totally unexpected. We traded email addresses, then I headed up to the register to pay for my new old treasures [I love used book stores].

On the not-so-geeky side, I'm now off to finish up laundry, then totally indulge myself with a long bath, candles, and [speaking of compulsive] a good book. Tomorrow is a busy day: lunch plans, things to box and ship, taxes to do, porch light to change, etc., etc. [cue Yul Brynner: "Et ceetterrraaaaa, et ceettteeerrraaaaahhhh, et ceettteerrraaaaahhhh"], so going to totally veg tonight. Bubble bath, here I come!