Telecommuting

I wish working from home was more widely accepted at firms, and that I could do it more often. It reduces my getting ready + commute time from an hour to less than 10 minutes. And it's so much more comfortable. I can dream.

Grey's

I finally finished the season finale of Grey's Anatomy tonight. Only took almost a month. I guess I didn't feel like watching it knowing about who everyone thought had died. I had missed the finale on the night it aired (don't remember why), but then the next day, headlines were screaming about who got hit by a bus and who died and whatnot. I didn't want to know! I actually tried to not be spoiled about the show, avoiding facebook messages about it and everything, and there it was on an entertainment site - in the headlines! Argh!

I thought it was good. Since I was spoiled, the second hour didn't pack as much punch or suspense as I think it would have had I not been spoiled. This is why I don't read spoilers except for reality shows! I learned my lesson when I got spoiled by speculation about John Locke's wheelchair on Lost. People speculated so much about it that during the actual reveal, it seemed anticlimactic. That's why I have a self-imposed ban on how much I'll read about Lost, just in case enthusiastic fans accidentally tease out all the secrets. But in this case, it was in the headlines. I couldn't avoid it! It was very frustrating.

In other news, today:

- I realized the black and white cookies on the cookie plate are actually kind of cake-y and remind me of some other cookie/cake, but I can't remember which one. But I always thought they were hard cookies, so now am wondering what I missed out on.

- I got a salad for lunch. Apparently everyone else wanted a healthy Monday lunch also since the line for Just Salad went into the hallway. I still want to know why they got rid of the good focaccia bread. I didn't head over for the Kogi/Dessert Truck hour-long special today, because (a) they're too far from the office, (b) they had only 200 servings and I didn't have enough time to get there early and wait in line and (c) I expected a mob scene. Instead I kept up with it on the blogs.

- We got closer to finalizing our invitations! Proofs are in the mail! Yippee!

- I had such a craving for larb gai that instead of having dinner at home, we went out for Thai. Now I'm quite full. Bad me.

- I discovered that the maintenance people's attempt at vacuuming and spraying Raid ant and roach killer to kill fruit flies eating glue in the ventilation failed, as yet again there are 2 new (dead) flies on the window. Why do they come in twos? Why do they mostly come up on Mondays? Why can't they figure out how to get rid of them? Why have I been dealing with this for almost two years?

- I wondered how Katy Perry dance songs made it onto the OneRepublic Pandora station.

- I kept looking at my page-a-day calendar, which had a photo of lounge chairs at a resort on a Bora Bora lagoon. Wish we were there.

- We finally watched another episode of Chuck, and I'm still addicted. I want to watch the next one now! But it's time for a shower...

Mental Thoughts

Random thoughts from past my bedtime:

1. I have had enough of bugs for today. (Well, I never want to think about them or see them or have them around me, but enough is enough for today!) First, some background. In my first office, I rarely had any flies. Once in a while, they would come in from outside, but that was it. When I moved into my solo office, the first time I got a chance to look at it, I saw all these bug carcasses on the windowsill. Gross! I didn't want to blame the previous occupant, but I had never had that problem before! Then, they didn't go away once I was there, and I reported it to the building who said that it wasn't that uncommon since apparently the flies like to eat this glue or rat poison that's in the vents. After a year or so, they finally vacuumed the vents out and the bugs were for the most part gone. That is, until a few weeks (or is it months? I have lost track of time) ago. They're baaaack! More dead carcasses, dying flies and active ones flitting into my forehead. Joy. I am sick of seeing dead flies and they give me the chills!

So, back to today. My office neighbor apparently came in to find about 30 dead flies on his windowsill. Ewww. I did not go look to corroborate this, but they got maintenance to agree to send an exterminator. For all of our offices with fly problems. I only saw 2 dead ones on my windowsill but when I started moving folders, found 4 more. Ewww. Turns out the exterminator was a maintenance man with a vacuum and a can of Raid, but so be it. Hopefully it works. Eww. Just recently, at home, a spider decided to torment me. Sigh. Oh - and right after our whole discussion at work about the dead flies - a live one decided to make an appearance. Eww.

2. I'm so tired. I don't know how to get rid of the tiredness. And I have to get up early to go to the dentist tomorrow morning. I seriously dislike going to the dentist.

3. I watched both episodes of Mental tonight. It's interesting. I never got into House, but people say this is basically House in a psych ward. I don't love it, but I like it enough to keep watching it... especially since it's summer and there's nothing else on except the Mentalist repeats.

4. I did not eat well today. I did ok until lunch, and then had cookies during my afternoon meeting, and got chips and guacamole with dinner. I don't really think I needed the chips; I think what I really wanted was the guacamole. And then I ate Sour Patch Kids. Bad me! Ugh. I only have a little more than 100 days!

5. Uploading old pictures from 2005... and life just seemed so much simpler. Sigh. We're getting old.

Bizarre

Dinner tonight was bizarre.

Not the dinner itself... that was good. (Chana masala and a chicken curry, along with bhelpoori.)

It was this bizarre situation: At one point, there were only 2 tables in the restaurant. We found out later that the people at the other table not only live at the same intersection that we do, but they are getting married in the same month & year. And we found out all of this through listening to their conversation with a new table that came in.

Now if they said they were having a destination wedding also, I would be really freaked out by the similarities. (They might be, but I have no idea!)

Anyway, I can't believe it's Christmas this week. It occurred to me today as I was walking through the snow (before it turned to sleet) that it's only a few days away! When did that happen?! I realize that, because I'm working so much, every day seems the same and has blurred from one to the next without any holiday distinction, but seriously?! It was just Thanksgiving. How is it already Christmas? And how did it take until the 19th for me to realize Christmas was coming up soon? I haven't done anything! I was supposed to write out all these cards, do all these gifts, get the gifts for the people in the building, etc., and it's the last weekend to do it (and I'll be working)! This is absolutely crazy. I can't believe how busy December always is. Why are holidays at the end of the calendar year? Can only deal with one at a time...

And what's going to happen with the Treats Truck? Will the candy cane cupcakes be gone after Christmas? I haven't tried them yet because I didn't see them in the window today and every other time I wanted to get a snack I didn't realize I was after the winter hours until it was too late. Is it possible that today's holiday cookies are my only holiday treat trip? Nooo!

But they were yummy. And made me feel more festive. And yes, I got the cookies after I realized the whole "Christmas is next week" thing. Otherwise, I would feel even more dumb than I did after some of the really stupid things I did today.

Time to sleep to hopefully regrow some brain cells and get up early enough to exercise (at least a little bit)!

Working Away

Still working. I hate documents that repeat themselves 6,000 times. If I can read a paragraph enough times in one document that I can practically recite it, how is that good? (We didn't write it and I'm not saying who did, or even what it is.)

Looking forward to January 1st. A lot.

Spring

August 2006, Chinatown, New York City

Some random thoughts:

- It was supernice out today. I think the temps got up to 70 and it was still 65 on my walk home. It was fabulous. The only downsides were: (i) the massive crowds on the streets - when I was walking home, it was like a swarm of people all over Times Square; (ii) the fact that it was on a Wednesday and that means a work day, and (iii) I had a lot to do at work today so I couldn't hang out at the park or something. It's what I would have done if I were still in school. It's going to be the last really nice day for awhile (I think tomorrow is supposed to be warm but pouring, and then it's going to get like 30s cold again). I was really getting used to the idea that spring is coming...

- I took a short walk to Bryant Park today because I knew if I didn't, I would regret it during the upcoming colder spell. Since the gym is barely on my radar due to time and energy constraints (why does the energy level just plummet in the winter while working?), I am trying to make an effort to walk outside for an afternoon break, even if it's just a walk around the block, on any day where the weather is nice and the temps are over 50. I rationalize that this is good for a "health break" because then at least I'm not sitting on my butt for 7 straight hours and it's like people who take a smoke break... but a bit healthier.

- I'm sad that Brandon went home on Idol, but I can't say I'm shocked. He had a great voice, but didn't show it during any of the 4 weeks that he could have. Sigh. But why is America still voting for Sanjaya?!

- I like instant mashed potatoes for my afternoon snack at work.

- Jack? Football with the Others? Huh? What is going on with Lost? At least we've managed to stay up to date with this one... thanks to its long winter hiatus. I think we are finally up to December for Heroes, but all of this season's 24 is still on the DVR (so don't spoil me, please!). And now my Thursday night ABC fix is back for tomorrow and I only have 2.5 definite free hours on the DVR... ick. The cast of this Grey's "spinoff" is sounding better with every new person they add. I really hope it turns out well.

- Magazines take a really long time to read. If you read them cover to cover like I do... that was seriously the only good thing about those NJ Saturday classes I had to do last winter.

- Not a big fan of this new Blogger thing where they put your pictures in the Picasa albums. It's going to eat up part of the storage space I'm paying for... great.

- Very sleepy. Going to flip on a Chinese lullabies CD and head off to dreamland. Good night!

Thoughts

A few thoughts from today:

1. As of next Monday, I will have worked for a year. And only a few days ago did I realize that the armrests were of adjustable height.

2. We have had repeated hardware failures today at work. That sucked. It is quite difficult to work on documents when Word crashes every couple of minutes. And Edgar proofing without being able to print anything is no fun.

3. I can't believe we're already almost second years.

4. Today's weather and my mood were great partners. It was horribly rainy and cloudy and overall depressing outside. Wheeeeee.

5. Jai should totally win Celebrity Duets. The final 3 should be Jai, Alfonso and Hal. Just my opinion.