The Big Easy

New Orleans. Wow.

First off, if you've never been or if it's been over a decade since you have been, go. Go now. Spend a weekend, a week, whatever, but go.

This city is not only beautiful, rich in history and culture, it is also still in need of tourism dollars to rebuild itself after the damage that Katrina caused six years ago.

The people of New Orleans have a deep love for their city. I've visited and lived in cities where the locals have a real home-town pride and love their city but this is something different. The love and affection people feel for New Orleans somehow goes deeper and it's truly beautiful.

I had the pleasure of staying in a bed and breakfast along with some friends in the Marigny (the quarter directly to the east of the French Quarter). The Marigny is where many of the locals live and the music scene there is fantastic. Frenchman Street reminded me a little of Nashville because every bar, restaurant, and street corner had live music of some sort. Pick your favorite kind of music and you'll probably find it on Frenchman Street.

It was Halloween weekend and the trip was planned as a 3 day weekend. We got there Friday afternoon and planned to leave Monday afternoon. Friday evening we walked to Frenchman street and saw at least 3 impromptu parades with excellent brass sections and great costumes. We experienced wonderfully friendly people (everyone says hi to you on the street), great music, and delicious food. We actually ended up in a Japanese restaurant because they had the best live jazz on the street.

On Saturday we took our time wandering along Royal Street all the way from our B&B to Jackson Square in the French Quarter. Talk about history. Royal Street is GORGEOUS! The iron work on the houses, the balconies, the streets, the streetlights, the historic homes, the square. I felt like I was in Europe but to find a place so enchanting and full of history in the U.S. made it that much more beautiful.

We did our Bourbon Street duty and walked along for about 4 blocks. It was Saturday before Halloween and it was ridiculously packed. We did it because we felt like, as first-timers, we had to but I would not recommend it. It's overcrowded, rowdy, drunk, masses of people going in and out of bars that are equally crowded, rowdy and drunk. Not really my scene so once we decided we'd had our fill of that, we skipped back over to Jackson Square and ducked into a place we had stumbled across in our earlier wanderings. A local place (i.e. where the locals hang out, not the tourists), with a very friendly wait staff and a beautiful courtyard. They were so friendly that they called brothers, husbands, and friends in an attempt to get us a ride home on one of the busiest nights of the year. (In the end, we walked)

Sunday, I discovered Pirate's Alley. It's a little alley off of Jackson Square and it is so quaint I could hardly stand it. I found Faulkner's Books, which is a tiny little book store housed in the house where Faulkner lived when he wrote his first novel, built on the former Spanish prison yard. I also found Pirate's Alley Cafe where I sat in the sun and read a book. It was there that I met a photographer for the city of New Orleans who was taking new stock photos for the tourism bureau who told me about the Great Gatsby party at the Ann Rice house the night before. I only wish I had learned about it before! That would have been a neat party to attend.

It's also where I met a man named Irish who is a pirate. Well, he's not an actual pirate, he's a street performer. But he kind of looked like a pirate and he works at the Pirate's Alley Cafe on Pirate's Alley. And his name is Irish. No joke.

My friends re-joined me after they took a tour of the Garden District and we had one of the most wonderful, enjoyable, entertaining, delightful dinners ever. Our new cab driver friend (more on him later) told us we should try Adolpho's on Frenchhman Street. It is Italian Creole food. It's also a tiny little room above a bar with maybe 8 tables and 2 waiters. They don't take reservations and the wait is anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. We got lucky and got in under the one hour mark. We made a few new friends while we were waiting for a table as well. You have to "go downstairs and wait! I will call you" after you put your name in.

WOW. That was a good meal! Mussels in a white wine sauce, peppered steak in bourbon cream, crab, crawfish, shrimp, spaghetti,... It's a local spot as well and when the power went out and it went completely black in the place, about 5 people from different tables all got up and turned on their cell phones, downloaded flashlight apps (who knew that existed??) and lit the kitchen for the cooks so the food could keep being made. I don't know what their heat source was in the kitchen but luckily the blackout only lasted about 10 minutes and there didn't seem to be any disruption in the food preparation. It was kind of amazing.

On Monday, my friends flew home again. I, however, was asked over the weekend by my client to attend a conference taking place in New Orleans. My client knew I was going there for the weekend for fun and when she got sick and couldn't fly, she asked me to attend in her stead and to make sure her clients were taken care of properly. So, on Monday morning, I checked into the hotel near the convention center, went to the mall and bought some professional clothes and shoes (all I had with me were my costume and jeans - not very professional attire) and jumped right into work.

I got to see a whole different side of the city for the next three days. The super touristy side. I am so happy I got to experience the city from a different angle over the weekend! My saving grace though was that cab driver I mentioned. Anil was wonderful. He was always available to help in a pinch, to provide guidance on where to take clients to dinner, what to do/avoid, and of course to provide excellent, prompt, and reliable transportation whenever I needed it. I looked like a rock-star in front of all these very important vendor- and client-types because I could get a recommendation for a great restaurant or a cab on Halloween night with a simple text message. Anil made me look very good.

In return, I will help him with a screenplay he's writing. He's looking for help understanding the trial jury selection process and I figure that's the least I can do for his superior service as a driver and a guide while I was in his city.

I was definitely ready to come home when I finally did after being in New Orleans for 6 days and I am most definitely more partial to the non-touristy side of the city. I also know that I will absolutely, positively be returning to that city in the not very distant future. It's a city that is ridiculously easy to fall in love with.

good days gone bad

I know it's been a while but a lot has happened and I've been travelling like it's my job. This month alone, I have been to Long Beach, San Diego, Boulder, Fresno, and have spent a grand total of 5 days at home. Tomorrow I'm off to New Orleans for the Halloween weekend. I'm pretty excited about it!

As I allowed myself to wake up slowly this morning, I was thinking about how good my life is. Truly. Yes, I have stuff that worries me. Yes, there's stuff that could be better. But in the grand scheme of things, I'm living a pretty great life. It's good to realize that sometimes. I decided I would start my day off with a nice cup of my favorite coffee and write a blog post about how lovely my life is.

I made myself that good cup of coffee and sat down at my computer to begin putting my thoughts down.

Then I spilled that cup of coffee all over the table, my laptop, my favorite new WHITE shirt... CRAP!

Then I realized that I have a million things to do before I get on that plane tomorrow morning like pack, straighten the apartment, get work projects done that are due tomorrow, etc.

So I decided that instead of basking in the glow of a nice, quiet morning, I should go ahead and make myself some breakfast and get started on my to-do list and maybe calm down and write about my good life later.

Here's how this great day has gone so far: spilled coffee (I know I already said that but, come on, something that annoying deserves a second mention), burnt toast, spoiled milk, and that was just breakfast.

I have now given up and am just doing things as they occur to me. So far I've accomplished soaking that white shirt in stain remover, de-coffee-ing my laptop, having a cup of coffee without milk, eating scraped off burnt toast, and finding my work projects to be more difficult and annoying and time-consuming that I anticipated.

I foresee a late night in my very near future and I assume that when I get to New Orleans and unpack my bag, it will be a ridiculous mixture of weather-inappropriate clothing and missing/forgotten pieces of my costume.

Oh well... my life is still pretty great. Even when good days go badly. I'm getting on a plane to go to New Orleans tomorrow. Really? How awful is that?

getting ready...

I love fall. I mean I really love fall. The only thing I was concerned about when I moved to California was that there would be no true fall. Luckily that fear was never realized.

This week, fall has been in the air. I know the weather is going to change again and next week we will be plunged into a beautiful and delightful late summer (I was told last night that it should be called "Persian Summer" by some Persian friends). BUT I have been savoring this fall-like weather.

This fall-like weather has also put me in the mood for Halloween. I'm going to New Orleans for Halloween this year. I've never been to New Orleans and I'm really excited about it. Among the great music and the history, I am hoping that we can find a masquerade ball and/or some fun Halloween party to attend. And for this I have begun preparing:

Yesterday I played around with some make-up. It was the first attempt and I was a little rushed so clearly there are things that need to be refined but, my first attempt at my vampire look (New Orleans is the city of vampires after all...) wasn't awful. Now I'm even more excited!



Wig, no wig, different wig... I haven't decided yet.



little vampire teeth!



As you can see in this picture, I rushed on the eyebrow concealment. Next time, you won't be able to see my natural eyebrow. At least that's the plan.

Sometimes I forget

I often forget that I know famous people. It's not any fault of my own, it's that I went to a college that spits out performers, some percentage of whom are bound to be famous. But I don't typically run in those circles so it always catches me by surprise when I see one of my old classmates in a movie or a commercial or a tv show.

For example, a couple of weeks ago I was looking at some wedding photos from a college friend's recent wedding. The pictures of her bridesmaids made me stop short. I checked the tags in the picture (thank you facebook!) for the name of one of the bridesmaids and then checked imdb.com. I had seen a few episodes of "Drop Dead Diva" and, lo and behold, one of my friend's bridesmaids plays the main character on that show.

Earlier this year I was watching the Tony Awards pre-thingy. I knew he was doing a new show but I had no idea my old college friend Chad (with whom I share a birthday) was nominated for a Tony for his role in the musical "Memphis"! Yay Chad! (I promptly congratulated him on facebook.)

Last November, I was canvassing in San Francisco for a local election and walked by a store that had the cover of a magazine taped in the front window. The picture on the cover of that magazine stopped me in my tracks. My walking partner asked me what was wrong as I walked up to the window. "That's my college room mate" is what came out of my very shocked mouth. Yup, Florian is not only a well-loved German TV star (a German McDreamy if you will), but also a film star. He was in San Francisco the week before promoting two of his films. One mainstream (with one of my favorite German actors) and one independent one he wrote and directed himself. Very exciting!!! Unfortunately I missed him by one week. It would have been great to see him and catch up.

I recently began watching the TV show "Mad Men" on Netflix. Tonight I was watching episode 5 from season 1. About half way through, a new character was introduced and I completely lost my concentration as I said - out loud - "Andy? Andy Hoff?" So, I hit pause and checked imdb again. Sure enough. Another fellow TBC graduate.

It's nice to see so many of my college friends doing what they always dreamed of doing. Makes me proud.

personal space

Ok, we all know I'm a hugger. I am a tactile person. I don't have too many issues with people entering my personal space. I'm pretty casual about that. But sometimes, it's just a little annoying.

Here's the situation: I was at the post office yesterday, waiting in line. There were two people working and the line wasn't moving very quickly. I hung out at the front of the line for a while waiting for one of the two windows to open up. The person behind me kept crowding me, kept bumping their packages into my back. I could feel this person so close behind me that I felt I might feel their breath on the back of my neck at any moment.

I inched forward a little but I didn't really have anywhere to go and it wasn't as if the place was so crowded that this person was being pushed forward. There were maybe 4 or 5 people in line, a fairly normal mid-day "rush" but not crazy busy.

I inched forward again and really had nowhere else to go but this person bumped into me again. So, I had a choice to make. I could either ignore it, or turn around and say something. If I chose to turn around and say something, I had to decide whether I would be annoyed and angry or happy and smiley. My instinct was to be mad and say something rude but I know that I always get better results in confrontations when I smile and stay pleasant.

I plastered a big smile on my face and turned. All I had time to say was "excuse me, am I in your way?" before I registered that I was speaking to a very old man, a priest nonetheless. I don't think he even heard me. I was just thankful that when I turned back around, one of the windows was open and I got to move away from him. But it did annoy me for the rest of the day.

I think I might have a bruise on my back from the corner of his packages that kept banging into me. Hrmph.

lacking inspiration

I bought some beautiful eggplants at the farmer's market this past weekend. I know I had something in mind for them but I can't remember what it was and now I can't think of anything that sounds appealing to do with them. :(

Suggestions anyone? I don't want them to go to waste.

Reason #259 why I love my neighborhood

I know everybody is a little tired of hearing how wonderful my neighborhood is and how much I love living here but I have to share just one more thing.

Today, as I was enjoying my regular Friday morning conference call walk around the lake, I decided to take a little detour and explore the community gardens that are on the route. I have a friend in town visiting and thought it would be a neat little side trip on the walk. We walked through the herb gardens, the flower gardens, the bonsai garden, the little trails with benches, and observed a group of 60-somethings doing Tai Chi in the late morning chill.

As we made our way through the vegetable gardens back to the regular lake trail, I noticed a little basket on the edge of one of the gardens with a sign on it that read "free produce" so I peeked in. There were three beautiful large zucchinis and I chose one that looked just perfect. So, on the way home, we made a quick stop at the store and got a couple of additional ingredients to make a fresh zucchini and whole wheat pasta lunch. Simply delicious.

I love getting my lunch inspiration from the local community garden! I will make the gardens a regular side-trip on my Friday conference call walks now. Very exciting!!

how to make a lotion vest - for complete dumbasses.

They say necessity is the mother of invention. Well, I submit to you that severe dumb-assery (another new word!) and pain are the red headed step-children of invention. Even so, step-children - especially the red headed variety - are sometimes prone to strokes of genius.

Here it is:

When you are:
a) a complete and total dumb-ass (as I am one)
and
b) you get yourself utterly lobsterized (see previous post)
and
c) you can't raise your arms to reach the burn on your back because of the burn on your shoulders
and
d) the mere thought of someone rubbing lotion - no matter how gently and lightly - on your burn makes you want to cry,

well, then you figure out how to make...

a lotion vest.

It's very simple, really, and disposable: The sun burn alleviating lotion of your choice slathered on a double layer of paper towel multiplied by however many you need. For me it was one for my back and one for each shoulder which made it look like a weird white papery vest, hence: lotion vest.

I'm a dumb-ass. But I did finally get some relief.

Lobsterized - a new word

I went to the beach on Sunday. My favorite beach is Alameda Beach. It's quiet, it's small, there's always a breeze, never too many people, and it's only 15 minutes away.

I went there because I wanted some quiet time. I wanted to read my book, go for a long walk, relax.

I did all of those things and it was lovely. I was even joined toward the end of my stay there by my dear friend Naseem and I have to say thank you to Naseem. She is the one who made me leave the beach that day to go grocery shopping. Something we both needed to do.

Here's why it was a good thing I left. Once I got home, had put all my groceries away, etc. I passed by a mirror...

SO much redness!
So much sunburn.
So much ouch coming my way.
So much STUPID!!!

My upper back, shoulders, and chest are bright red. Like a lobster. I have been lobsterized.

Lobsterized. New word. Painful word.

P.S. oddly, my face didn't change colors. So now I have a pale white face and a dark red chest. Very funny looking indeed.

a traveler's observations

People wear funny shoes. I noticed this while I was at the Phoenix airport over the weekend on my way back from a conference in Chicago. Typically, when I have time to kill at an airport, I read or work. This time I just sat and decided to do some people watching.

Then I realized that watching people's shoes (instead of them) was actually REALLY entertaining. Here are some of my observations (and opinions since I apparently do not lack for those):

Men are by far the more sensible gender in footwear choices but they are still interesting. You can tell a lot about a man and his personality by his choice of footwear:
- old worn out cowboy boots... I look up and the man is indeed wearing a cowboy hat, has a weathered look about him. There's something genuine about him but he looks a little lost in the hustle and bustle of the big airport.
- sneakers with oddly pointy up-turned toes... I look up and the man is also oddly pointy
- loafers with no socks... I look up and, sure enough, he is wearing a polo shirt with the collar popped!
- another pair of cowboy boots, newer, shinier than the old cowboy from earlier and it turns out to be the pilot for my plane.

Now, women. As a woman with a bit of a "shoe problem" myself, I feel like I am fully qualified to make some observations and, yes, judgments on women's footwear choices. Women by far make the more ridiculous footwear choices: wearing high heels while traveling is generally silly (I suppose there are exceptions to this) but wearing shoes - heels - that make you look like you are in excruciating pain with every step you take, well, that's just plain dumb (The assumption here being that if you look like you are in pain then you most likely are, in fact, in pain).

Some rules/observations/judgments (purely my own personal opinions of course):
1. If you can't walk in heels in normal life, traveling in them is worse. You don't look cute. You look ridiculous.
2. Little girls wearing 2 inch wedge sandals that they can't really walk in is also kind of silly. I'm just saying.
3. Strappy 4-inch sandals while pulling a heavy suitcase: you look silly and by the way, you probably overpacked.
4. Fip flops that make your toes go whacky while you walk look funny. Have you ever watched someone walk in flip flops that are too big or too loose or too slippery? Their toes are working overtime! Those toes are grabbing onto whatever they can get ahold of with every step. This canNOT be comfortable!
5. Older women are much more sensible than 20- and 30-somethings in their footwear choices, although often much less fashionable.
6. Black sneakers with day-glo orange shoelaces may go very well with bright colored striped pants, a hot pink and orange checkered jacket and sunglasses inside but darlin', you may match but you're causing everyone else to have to put on their sunglasses. No wonder you're wearing yours inside!
7. 4-inch open-toed wedges - well, any open-toed shoes that are too short for your feet - are bad. Here's what's happening when you do more than just sit and look pretty: when you walk, which you inevitably must do in airports, by the way, your feet slide forward (it's called gravity) and your toes reach out over the front of the shoe, like spider monkey toes, and reach over the edge of your shoe to clasp it and hang on for dear life. NOT cute. I promise.

And then I got on the plane. Now I can't stop looking at people's feet.

It's a small world

Had I been a boy, my name would have been Jacob Wayne. For purposes of this particular story, the Wayne part is of interest. You see, the day I was born, as my parents were rushing to the "hospital" (another story for another time), they decided that they would give me their good friend Wayne Schwandt's name as a middle name since it was his birthday that same day.

Of course my name is not Jacob Wayne. However, Wayne Schwandt and his wife at the time, Ann Schwandt, remained friends with my parents and even visited us in Germany in the early '80s.

When I was telling my dad a few weeks ago that I was going to a wedding in Bellingham, Washington, he brought up my almost-namesake and remembered that Wayne Schwandt once lived in Bellingham, Washington, he even made it big, got himself elected to the City's Development Council or some such thing.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there. I was in Bellingham over the weekend for my good friend Mike's wedding. His bride and her family are from Bellingham and I must say, it is a really nice little town. Very pretty. Especially when the rain stops and the sun comes out.

The wedding was lovely. The ceremony, although a bit long, was very enjoyable and entertaining. After the ceremony the bridal party (of which I was a member) went around Bellingham and found really beautiful locations to take photos. One such location was an old run-down Boilermaker's building. The bride used to work for the Boilermaker's Union. That's how she met my friend Mike during the 2008 presidential campaign. The building was really neat, old wood, rusty siding, big metal doors in a green that matched our dresses perfectly. And, even though it was supposed to storm and rain all day long, the sun came out for the pictures and it was simply beautiful.

The reception was at the Ferry Terminal. It's a fairly standard ferry terminal but there is a room upstairs with windows overlooking the water and the view of the sun setting was breath taking.

When I walked into the reception area, I stopped to get my name card of the name card table and the ends of my pashmina caught a line of name cards and, like dominoes, a whole row of name cards fell flat. Oops! I hurried to pick them all up and put them back in order.

As I was setting down name cards, I saw that I held in my hand name cards for "Wayne Schwandt" and "Ann Schwandt" and I thought, "impossible!"

So I finished putting all the toppled name cards back in place and went to find the bride's father, Dean. Dean and I hit it off immediately when I had arrived the day before. He's a retired federal judge and was delighted to meet the "lawyer that Mike lived with" who drove all the way from Oakland. (He also kept taking pictures of me saying, "give me that smile again!") So, I said to Dean, "Dean, tell me about Wayne Schwandt."

He as a little perplexed but humored me, giving me Wayne's basic resume: served on the City's Economic Development Council, elected to several public positions, long time friend of the family, the bride went to school with Wayne's daughter. I asked if he was from Oregon. Yes, indeed. Then, as I was about to explain, Dean turned around and gestured to the man coming up the stairs saying, "Wayne, I'd like to introduce you to Katy McKenzie" not knowing exactly why he was doing it.

Wayne had a quizzical look on his face and so I said, "Kirk McKenzie's daughter" and his face lit up in a mixture of shock, surprise, and elation. "Holy Cow!"

Anyway, the rest of the evening was a blast. I got reacquainted with Wayne, met his new wife, also got to spend some time with Ann and their daughter Mullane. Mullane told me that just last week she had found the journal she kept before their trip to visit us in Germany when her mother made her learn a new German word every day.

The bride, by the way, was very confused as to why I was hugging and talking to her best friend from high school and also that friend's parents. When we all explained there were laughs all around. All of my table mates at the reception were old friends from Columbus and when they heard the story, they did two things: 1. They all agreed "Leave it to Katy McKenzie to know someone at a wedding in Bellingham, Washington!" and 2. they all called me Wayne for the rest of the night.

And fun was had by all.

Pictures of me and Wayne and me and Ann & Mullane.

I don't like mornings like this...

Generally, I've never been much of a morning person but I've gotten used to the fact that I do, in fact, have to get up every morning and so I do. I have my morning ritual which includes the usual, shower, brush teeth, put on make-up, get dressed, etc. but it's mornings like today that make me realize that I really like my morning ritual. More importantly, I like my morning ritual to be quiet.

I guess that's no surprise for someone who has apparently become very sensitive to noise in adulthood. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for complete silence here. I've gotten used to the sounds of the neighborhood, the kids getting to the school across the street, the (very) frequent trash pick-ups, neighbors yelling for their kids to get in the car to go to school, etc.

But every once in a while, my neighbor's landscaping team shows up at 8:30am. This is right when I'm sitting down at my desk with my first cup of coffee of the day and start reading through the news, emails that came in over night, etc. It's supposed to be a pleasant time of day.

Here's what it means for the landscaping crew to be next door:
1. chatting & laughing among the crew while they wait for their boss to arrive (totally ok with me and not that unpleasant of a sound. Only problem is that it is happening directly under the window I am sitting next to!)
2. revving of some motor-powered thing, apparently to make sure it works at full power and at low. I can't figure out what it is, either a leaf blower or a wood chipper or something in between but it's very loud and annoying
3. my neighbor's valiant efforts at Spanish as she tries to communicate with the crew who only speak and understand Tagalog and some English, which means she just keeps getting louder and louder, especially over the noise of the motorized thing
4. one of the crew's hacking cough and the accompanying intermittent hawking of phlegm and spitting, which is just kind of disgusting.

Finally, at 9am they begin their work, which brings with it a whole other slew of sounds which I am mostly fine with other than the continuous revving of the motorized thing and, with it, the smell of exhaust that fills my apartment.

My conference call this morning is going to be simply delightful.

Brazilian Carnaval (it's not a typo!)

Through a friend of a friend, I learned about the Brazilian Carnaval in San Francisco this weekend. There were events on Saturday to which I was invited but it was cold and rainy and my pj's and couch was really comfortable so that didn't happen.

Then yesterday turned out to be a gorgeous day and so I decided to get out of the house and travel to "the City" to see what this festival was all about. My friend Chokri and I decided to take purely public transportation for the day.

We started with the bus right outside my apartment. That took us to downtown Oakland where we were going to get on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport - a subway). Instead though, since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to opt for the ferry instead. So, we crossed the bay on the ferry, and then transferred to BART once we got to San Francisco. A couple of blocks of walking later we were in the middle of a huge festival of fantastic costumes, delicious food, soul-moving music, and tons and tons of people.

It was a blast. Here are some pictures of the journey and the festival.


on the bus...


the ferry...


we made it to the City!


dancers at the festival


There was this wall of bougainvillea that was just screaming for attention!


there were so many pretty murals on walls...

more fun in the kitchen...breakfast

Today I woke up and decided I wanted something fun for breakfast. My usual is almond butter with some type of jam and fresh strawberries on WASA crackers and while I love it, I wanted something else today.

So, I looked in my fridge, had a cup of coffee, and thought about it for a while. I didn't really feel like having pancakes but that seemed to be the obvious choice. Hm. What to do? Well, consulting the "Joy of Cooking" is always a good start.

The results are below. I stuck with my usual almond butter, added the organic rhubarb jam (with ginger and plum brandy) I found at the farmer's market last week, plus my trusty mango butter from Trader Joe's and I made a Crepe Cake.

As many of you know, I see recipes as a starting point/suggestion so I did not follow it precisely but the result is still quite yummy: I didn't have milk so I substituted soy milk, I didn't double the recipe since I don't have 8 people to feed this morning, I made tiny crepes instead of 8" ones, and I topped it with powdered sugar instead of regular sugar. I used the almond butter as a base layer and then alternated between the rhubarb jam and the mango butter. It's really tasty. :)

Next time, maybe I'll make a savory one with cheese, leeks, and spinach. That sounds delicious too!

Adventures in cooking/getting creative with left-overs

There's a new Cuban restaurant in my neighborhood and I recently tried one of their empanadas. It was delicious. So then I was craving empanadas...

Late last week, I decided I wanted to at least try to have something that was similar in flavor so I made a concoction out of ground beef, some left-over olive tapenade, raisins, peas, and all kinds of spices (I read through some recipes and, as I believe recipes are merely suggestions and/or starting points, I picked and chose which spices sounded good: cinnamon, cloves, cumin, etc.). I added that mixture to some rice pilaf and had a good dinner but there was A LOT left over. Tupperware...

Last night for Sunday dinner/game night, I made artichokes with a Hollandaise sauce for dipping. Also quite good but after lots of games and laughter, there was still lots of Hollandaise sauce left over. Hmm...

What do you do with left-over faux-empanada filling and a bunch of Hollandaise sauce? Well, you improvise and you make actual empanadas. If you are me, that is.

So here's what I did: I found a simple empanada dough recipe (for baking since I don't have a fryer) and I substituted buttery eggy Hollandaise sauce for the lard and an egg yolk the recipe called for. Then I used the rest of sauce beaten with an egg to brush the empanadas before I baked them (instead of just egg).

The results are actually quite delicious. I am very happy with them. Now I just need to find enough people to eat all of them!

Empanadas anyone?

Busy weekend

It was a busy weekend but it was fun! First, on Friday, my friend Genevieve played at an open mic show at a place called Mama Buzz Cafe. It was great to hear some good local live music.



Saturday was the Great Strides Cystic Fibrosis Walk. My friend Sarah (see earlier post "Sarah's Project") has CF and this is the largest annual fundraising walk for CF. It was a beautiful day in San Francisco and it was a lot of fun. We walked as Team Incredible and we had the best t-shirts out of all the walkers! There were about 500 walkers and we raised about $100,000 by Saturday. (Donations are welcome year-round if you're interested. Check out www.cff.org to donate or find out more.)

Below are Sarah (you can see the awesome t-shirt), Team Incredible getting ready to walk, and the view from the Presidio. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning!

home

I have made major locational changes in my life. Germany to Boston for college, Boston to Ohio for law school, Ohio to Northern California a couple of years ago for work. These big moves are always exciting, always challenging, and never easy.

The first couple of moves were such that I had immediate, built-in friends (college and law school will do that for you) but the last one was a little different. Granted I had built-in, immediate connections with people at work since that's why I moved out here in the first place, but I'm the kind of person who likes to have my work life and my personal life be a little separate. (I have to add here that some of my closest friends in California are from work - were from work since I no longer work with them. So I guess now they're friends, not work-friends. Yay!)

It also always takes me a little while to settle into feeling like I actually live in a new place. I always forget how long it takes to feel that way. Typically, I feel like a stranger in a place until I can confidently give directions when asked, run into people I know on the street, and feel like a regular fixture in my neighborhood.

After 2 years of living in California, I realized just the other day that I have achieved this settled feeling. I feel like I actually live here now, not like I'm pretending to live here.

You see, recently, as I was walking the 5 or 6 blocks home from what I am calling my local "Biergarten" (outdoor patio, beer, casual, fun atmosphere, lots of regulars and locals), I was stopped 3 times by different people along the way who all either live or work in my neighborhood, know me, wanted to say hi and chat for a moment. (One called to me from across the street, ran over and hugged me. Another came out of the restaurant when I walked by to say hi.)

It made me really really happy. It also made for a very pleasant walk home, stopping to chat, feeling like I really do live here in this neighborhood. Realizing that people here know me and are genuinely happy to see me when I happen to pass by. I feel like I'm home now.

things happen...

I returned from my trip to Ohio, which was wonderful by the way (pictures below), on Monday. When the plane landed in Oakland, I called my friend to come pick me up. You see, it is very convenient to have a friend drive you to the airport in your car and pick you up in your car. That way you don't have to pay for parking while you're out of town and you have immediate access to your own vehicle upon your return. It's quite perfect.

This time, however, not so much. As I waited at the passenger pick-up area, I began to wonder what was taking my friend so long to get to the airport. Typically by the time I get outside, he's pulling up. So, I waited figuring there was probably traffic. A few minutes later, my friend finally pulled up to the curb... very slowly.

As he got closer I saw that the front passenger side window was gone but for a bunch of clusters of broken glass hanging on to the edges of the frame of the window. A silent "what happened?" didn't even make it out of my mouth before he stopped, turned the car off, and got out. He was covered in glass, visibly shaken. He came to my side of the car and kind of fell into a shaky but relieved hug.

Ok, here's what happened: He was driving on the freeway to come pick me up at the airport. The freeway is pretty rough with lots of uneven pavement and many, many trucks. He was passing a truck when something either fell off the truck or the truck spit a rock at the car. Whatever it was, it happened very quickly and the window shattered, scaring my friend and covering him in glass.

We reported it to the police officers milling about at the airport who told us we needed to report it to the highway patrol. So, as we drove away from the airport, me in the back seat to avoid sitting on a pile of glass, being blown away by the lack of a window, I called the highway patrol. A stop at a gas station to vacuum up the glass and a visit to the highway patrol to file a report later, I now have a brand new front passenger window, which cost less than my deductible on my insurance so it was all out-of-pocket (boo!).

The truck by the way didn't stop. The driver likely didn't even know what happened. It was an out-of-state semi and, although my friend got the license plate number of the truck and we included it on the report, I doubt anything will come of it. I'm just glad my friend didn't get hurt and that it was just the window that was damaged. It could have been much worse.

Ok, now for the fun stuff! Pictures from Ohio:


Shawn and his mom, Karen, right after he received his "Graduate Of the Last Decade" Award.


My boys!! Celebrating Shawn after the award ceremony.

Shawn, the honoree, and me in the garden at Karen & Tony's house.



Gretchen and Mikey came by!






Rashaun and me at the soiree in Shawn's honor and to celebrate my visit. Also at Karen & Tony's.

Ohio!!!

I am spending the weekend in Ohio, which is like coming home in a very odd way. I lived in Ohio for a full decade and there are so many people here that I absolutely adore so it will be nice to catch up even if it's just a few days.

The occasion for the visit is that my dearest of dear friends, the fantastic Shawn Beem, is being honored at our law school as the "Alum of the Last Decade." This is a tremendous honor, which he very much deserves, and I could not fathom missing this momentous occasion to celebrate and honor him.

I am very proud of him!

Cheers my dear Shawn!

just a little nutty

I woke up at 4am today from a disturbing dream, in which I felt the whole world around me vibrating slightly. The problem was that I was the only one who felt it and it was causing disorientation, wooziness, and I felt like I was going crazy.

I woke up still slightly dreamy and realized I still felt it. I couldn't decide if it was just the lingering effects of the dream or if I really felt something. There was definitely some kind of low frequency rumbling happening so I got up and went to my living room window.

There it was. A big garbage truck sitting across the street (on the other side of the little park mind you), idling. The low rumble of the big truck's engine is what I was feeling/hearing.

I've already discussed my hyper-sensitivity to sound on this blog but COME ON!!!!! Really? That woke me up??? Well since it woke me up and it was a terrifying dream and it was 4am, I was very annoyed. I sat on my couch looking out the window, willing the truck to drive away, until the damn thing finally left. The sound slowly subsided as the truck drove farther away and I went back to bed.

I was almost back to sleep, could still hear a faint rumbling, when it got a little louder because the garbage truck was on the next block. This means it was on the other side of my apartment, the side where my bedroom window is, separated not by a park but one other building.

The good news is that the truck was actually moving, emptying garbage bins, not just sitting and idling, so the sound subsided fairly quickly.

Once the truck was out of the neighborhood, I fell into blissfully silent sleep.

The problem now is that the dream has stuck with me. It was really disturbing to feel and hear something very real that nobody else felt or heard.

In real life, I'm glad I found the source of the sound. The fact that I heard it and it woke me up is still a bit disturbing.

So, today I'm a little tired and I fully accept I'm a little nutty. These things happen.

new book out this week!

My friend Djaffar is an author and his book just came out this week. It is a quick read, it is very interesting, and it's apropos to some of what's going on in Northern Africa right now.

I encourage you to buy a copy and read it. It's a great way to support a new author and be educated on some interesting world history from a very personal perspective.

You can purchase it from his website (where you can also read the first chapter for free): www.donkeyheart-monkeymind.com. If you'd prefer an e-reader version, it's available in multiple e-reader versions as well.

The title is "Donkey Heart Monkey Mind"

Happy reading!

The other Katy(ie) - part II

For those of you who read the first post regarding the other Katy(ie), you'll understand this weirdness. (For those who haven't, take a look at my December post titled "My life as a storyline")

OK, here you go: last night I went for dinner and drinks to my favorite neighborhood restaurant/bar. Katie was there. It was good to see her. I asked her how she was doing and if she did indeed quit her job like she said she was going to.

She did.

Her last day was March 4th (same as me).
Then she took a few weeks off (same as me).
And then she started her new job on April 1st (same as me).

What's she doing? She's a consultant for the same company I am consulting for.

It's a bit ridiculous really.

1st week down

So, I've worked for a whole week now as a Consultant. I spent most of this week at a conference in D.C., which I believe was a success.

My home office is set up.

I have an appointment with the accountant after April 15th (go figure, he's busy until then).

I set up a business bank account.

Business cards came in the mail.

I'm on my way!

pictures from the trip

The trip that resulted in the missing persons report was nice. I didn't do any exploring or beach walking because rained and hailed the majority of the time I was there. The short bursts of sunshine between the downpours were indeed very short but that's when I took pictures.

I really recommend the place I went, River's End in Jenner. They have adorable little one-room cabins with lovely views and lots of quiet. They have a restaurant which has a pretty nice menu but I couldn't eat there because they were closed due to the power outage. This meant, of course, that I had to improvise dinner. I am happy to always be prepared!

Here are some pictures.




The cabin





My view: The Russian River meets the Pacific Ocean





As I said, I improvised dinner. I had stopped on the way up the coast to get some snacks just in case... I bought cheese and crackers and a spinach & feta calzone. These things came in handy when the restaurant near the cabin and everything else in the near vicinity was closed due to the power outage. So, cheese and crackers became my mid-afternoon snack and the calzone spent a few hours on top of the only heating source I had. It took some time but eventually it was warmed all the way through, crunchy on the outside, and as delicious as a $3 calzone from a gas station can be. YUM! :)





At one point, the wind and the rain seemed to stop but then it HAILED!!!





While my calzone was heating up, it did stop raining and hailing and I saw what almost looked like a sunset.

2 adventures in 1 a.k.a the accidental "missing person"

Today I was going to write about my seaside getaway. Well, river/ocean getaway really. I was going to write about how lovely it was to leave technology behind for a couple of days, how I found a cute little cabin directly on the water right where the Russian River dumps into the Pacific Ocean just outside of a tiny little speck of a town called Jenner.

I was going to write about how relaxing it was to be in a cabin by a fire watching the waves crash on the sandbar between the ocean and the river. I was going to write about how beautiful the rain, the storm, the wind, the choppy water, even the hail and the power outage made everything. I was going to write about how I improvised dinner using the gas-fed stove in my room to heat it up when there was nowhere to get food. I even took a bunch of pictures!

Instead, I will tell you of the other adventure that unfolded while I was blissfully away. When I left town on Wednesday to drive north along the coast, my thoughts were simply that I would take a few days to relax before I start working again next Friday. I had mentioned to a few friends (mainly those outside of California apparently) that I had been thinking about doing this. I told my mother I was going up the coast for a few days.

I didn't tell my friends in Oakland. That, as it turns out, was a mistake.

You see, when I finally made it back to civilization late this morning, my phone started beeping at me like it was possessed. I had 13 voice-mails and at least twice as many text messages. Here's what happened:

When my dear friend Sarah returned from her own trip to wine country on Wednesday, she thought it was a little curious that I wasn't responding to a text she sent that afternoon. Of course, I was on my way up the coast at this time so I had no reception.

She didn't hear from me at all on Wednesday so she tried calling me on Thursday morning. She called both my phones, which were off thanks to the lack of reception (actually one of them was completely dead but I couldn't charge it since the power was out where I was). She emailed me, texted me, and called me. When she got no response to any of these forms of communication, she called a couple of our other friends and asked them if they had heard from me in the past few days.

None of them had. So, as these things go, they discussed the possible scenarios: I could have gone on an impromptu trip. For example I could have flown to the east coast or Ohio or even Germany. If I was on a plane, that would explain the fact that my phones were off. But then they decided that even a long plane trip would have ended by then.

They went to my apartment and, though it was a bit messy, they decided there were no signs of any struggle. My car wasn't there and Sarah was able to determine that my rain boots and rain jacket were gone, as well as my purse and my laptop. (All perfectly normal really, as it was raining and I tend to take my purse and my laptop with me when I go places.) But my suitcase and all of my clothes (from what they could tell - I have a lot of clothes) were there, which made them think I hadn't gone on a trip. They went over every possible scenario and the thing started to take on a life of its own.

When noone had heard from me by Thursday evening and none of the hospitals or jails in the greater Bay Area had any record of me (I'm still curious what they thought I might have been arrested for!), they decided to call the police.

They filed a missing persons report!

When the police officer asked them when they last spoke to me, they said they had heard from me on Tuesday via facebook. But then the officer asked them when they had last actually talked to me, heard my voice. They realized they hadn't talked to me since Sunday and now it was already Thursday! Terror began setting in.

They described me, my tattoos. They had to do math to determine what year I was born (thanks for that!). They knew what type of car I drove and told the officer that I had camping gear in the back of the car. When, in response to a question about what I did for a living, the police officer said "oh, so she's unemployed" Sarah got defensive. She told him I was between jobs, I would be starting work next week. When he still said, "but she's not working right now?" she yelled "SHE'S A LAWYER! She's barred in California" to Naseem, another friend, added "and in Ohio!" as if my profession and my licensure made some kind of difference here. Apparently, they worried that he might think I was down and out, out of work and depressed, and off on a bender of some sort.

They went through my rolodex on the desk in my apartment and started calling everyone they'd ever heard me mention. They called my friends in Ohio, emailed my sister in Germany, called friends all over the place to see if anyone had heard from me or knew where I was. Someone even volunteered to go to the airport to walk the parking lots to see if my car was there. No one had talked to me since Wednesday.

My friends in Ohio were unconcerned as they are used to me taking off to go camping for a few days when the mood strikes but still they decided that if they hadn't heard from me by the end of the weekend, they would join in the worrying.

Of course, the one person they didn't contact was the one person who knew where I was! They had my mom's email address and were ready to write her but decided they didn't want to alarm her just yet.

Late last night (Thursday), Sarah was convinced she needed to prepare herself for the worst and when the police officer called her at 1am she was sure he was calling to tell her they had found my body. Instead he was just calling to say he had gone by my apartment and there didn't appear to be any mail, which I assume he took as a good sign. Poor Sarah's heart was racing and she was completely distraught. (I have since learned that she spent most of the night crying from worry and I am deeply sorry for this.)

I felt awful when I listened to all the voice-mails and read all the text messages and emails. I certainly didn't mean to worry anyone!

I'm alive and fine of course, and although I think they may have overreacted a bit, it's nice to know I am so loved.

Now that the ordeal is over, I'm off to meet the worry-girls for a drink to celebrate my aliveness. Then, tomorrow, I'll post some pictures from the trip like I intended to in the first place.

What an adventure!

Sarah's project is complete!

The project I've been working on for the last couple of weeks is finished and has been given to the birthday girl! YAY! She loved it so it was exactly what it was supposed to be.

Now, as promised, here's the info: For background, there are a few things you need to know. First, Sarah has Cystic Fibrosis (look it up and learn more here http://www.cff.org/AboutCF/) and, although her mother does not recall telling her this, Sarah was not expected to live past the age of 19. Her 30th birthday was yesterday and it's kind of a big deal. 30 is a big deal anyway but...

Also, Sarah loves the color red and she adores hearts (her favorite holiday of all time is Valentine's Day) and a majority of her jewelry features hearts in some way, shape, or form. This has the affect that it is really quite impossible to not be happy around her since red hearts and happiness tend to go together pretty well.

Lastly, you need to know the story of a little boy who had Cystic Fibrosis and who overheard his mother talking about it on the phone one day. When she was done talking, he asked his mother "what is sixty-five roses?" You see, he thought she had said "65 roses" instead of Cystic Fibrosis. Now children with CF are taught to say "65 roses" instead of cystic fibrosis because it's a lot easier to say. Thus 65 roses have become the symbol of CF.

OK, and now for the project:

I knew I wanted to make some sort of wall hanging or quilt or something that had 30 hearts representing Sarah's first 30 years of life and 65 roses to represent CF. I found differently cut wooden hearts at a craft store and decided on a wall hanging. So I bought 30 wooden hearts, some paint, some ribbon, and some glue and went to town.





Then I started ordering all different kinds of roses on etsy. I also found some roses in the form of earrings and necklace pendants, hair clips, etc. I ordered them all!!! MUAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!! (OK, so I admit I started getting a little obsessed with the roses but I promise that I have since stopped buying things with roses on them.)

Here's the beginning of my rose stash (this was the very beginning!).



Then I put it all together. :)

Here's the final product on the wall at Sarah's apartment with Sarah (and Griffey who also liked the wall hanging quite a bit and promptly started licking and chewing it).



Here's a video with close-ups of the final product. You'll have to tilt your head to see it as I have yet to figure out how to rotate a video (I figured out the rotating of the pictures at least!).

The company I keep (or not)

Just wanted to share with you the bizarre and grossly divergent conversations that I had the opportunity to eavesdrop on.

I decided to venture out to my favorite neighborhood restaurant/bar this evening, mainly to get out of the house but partially because I didn't feel like cooking. I now realize I've never been here on a Wednesday and as I saddled up to the bar I felt like a stranger instead of the regular I am. Totally ok though because it allowed me to listen unnoticed to the conversations around me.

Ok, get this: on one side the conversation involved phrases like "today Jimmy told me he played with 3rd graders and my immediate thought was 'oh no! 3rd graders? What the hell is wrong with 2nd graders? Why is he spending so much time with older kids?' but then I decided he should make his own decisions."

Whoa.

Then, on the other side of me the conversation involved phrases like "so when I realized it was Bernie Madoff on the phone, I had to stay calm and keep him on the phone while I got the attention of the FBI and SEC guys down the hall. I was talking about deals that suddenly were being scrutinized where they were completely normal just days before!"

What? Too weird!

Oh, and p.s. spring is definitely here: on the walk home the air was thick with the sweet scent of the evening primrose and nightshade blooms filling the neighborhood with their honey scented blossoms that make springtime evenings so delicious here. I do love Northern California. I really do.

is it weird...?

OK, I have always loved vegetables and fruits of all kinds but I seem to have a particular affinity for those that begin with the letter A. Seriously. Think about it: Avocados, Artichokes, Arugula, Asparagus, what's not to love? I even like apples although they really don't like me very much (murderous little buggers!).

So, I ask you: is it weird that I have this particular affinity for fresh food items that begin with the letter A?

Just wondering.

Ah... the things one considers when funemployed [sic].

Sleep, where are you? :(

So this is new: after hours of unsuccessfully trying to fall asleep (so far this has included tossing and turning, having a glass of wine & reading, tossing and turning again, sipping sleepy-time tea, deep breathing exercises, and more tossing and turning), I'm back up. I couldn't think of what else to do now so I will write. It's time for some catching up anyway.

For those of you following my posts, my new fancy smarty-pants phone turned itself on at some point today by the way (I actually think it may be smarter than I am). I still have absolutely no idea why it wouldn't turn on or what finally prompted it to turn itself on but it's working now so... yay. I suspect the issue was 100% user error.

Also, I signed a contract. YAY! I have 9 months of full-time consulting work which gets me to the end of the year with gainful employment and it provides me the flexibility and time I need to continue my in-depth job search. I start on April 1st, which is a Friday, but that means I can have a day to get oriented and then have a couple of days to digest the info before I return on Monday for more learning. I think it will work out well. I am a little nervous about being self-employed and all the paperwork and other stuff that goes with it but I am arming myself with as much knowledge as I can thanks to the internet and a good accountant I will be meeting with next week. Hopefully I don't screw it up! (I am trying to take comfort in the fact that lots of people less intelligent and resourceful than I have made it work so I can too!)

In non-work related news, I have started working on a variety of projects. My biggest project for the past few weeks has been a birthday present for my dear friend Sarah. She's turning 30 next week. I won't give anything away here yet but I'm very excited about it. I will divulge that it involves wood, paint, ribbon, glue, a bunch of little "things" (made of paper, resin, glass, metal and other substances), and the whole of my living room floor. I'm pretty happy with it. Pictures and background story to come next week.

Working on this particular project has made me realize that I need a craft space. A place for my sewing machine to live, space to lay out designs, both for clothes and craft projects. So, once I'm officially working and getting paid again, I will work toward the goal of creating a workable space for this that is not my dining room table or my living room floor, both of which I tend to need for other purposes, such as dining and living, respectively. :)

OK, I am off to try this sleep thing again. I sure hope insomnia isn't a new trend in my life. I have been so careful not to fall into a pattern of staying up super late and sleeping in past a respectable morning time (i.e. sleeping all day). I know it would be easy to fall into a pattern like that and I also know it would be terribly hard to break it so I'm resisting. But this is just unfair! It's not as if I have incredible amounts of work stress or other things to be anxious about, my thoughts aren't churning with worry, I don't have a million things to plan and do. I don't understand this. Hopefully it's just a fluke.

Wish me sleep!

unemployment/vacation

Well, I've made it through an entire week of not working. It is very very strange. Partly, it doesn't feel like I'm not working because this week was full of getting new technology, setting it up, waiting for contracts, etc. so there was a bit of anxiety/mild stress that felt very much work-related.

I also have noticed interesting work-related issues: every evening there is a moment when I automatically reach for some piece of technology with the goal of checking the next day's schedule to prepare for the day. I used to do this nightly apparently to mentally prepare for whatever meetings or conference calls I had the next day. Now I have to remind myself, as I'm reaching for a piece of technology, that I have nothing scheduled, no meetings, no conference calls. It really is strange though because there's always a tiny moment of an empty feeling, as though that empty schedule means my life is empty. The moment passes though as the realization spreads through my brain that an empty calendar means that I can sleep in, work on my projects, do whatever I want to do!!!

Yesterday I spent 3 hours sitting at a coffee shop reading my book. And it was lovely.

Today, however, I am fighting with technology again. My new fancy smarty-pants phone, which I have been learning how to use and am pretty excited about, won't turn on. I have charged it, I have yelled at it, I have calmly explained to it that I would really like for it to turn on, I have plugged it in, unplugged it, everything. WHY WON'T IT TURN ON????? ARGH!

So, today's plans, whatever they may be, will include a trip to a t-mobile store.

*Sigh*

more tech stuff

OK! Lets hear it for the first blog post written on my new laptop!!!

I was going to wait to get a new laptop until I officially started working (haven't seen that contract yet but I'm confident I will get it this week) but it is really hard checking your email on a device that refuses to load any single page. My old ultra-portable netbook has finally died completely.

So, as I still need to be in email communication, continue searching for jobs, etc. I had to go out and get a new computer. This is always a scary thing for me to do because I really don't know what I'm doing and that makes me vulnerable, which I really don't like.

Fortunately, I have access to a team of super geeks. They are super geeks in two ways: 1. they are super as in superlative, wonderful, amazing people, and 2. they are more geek than average geeks as in super-geek. And I needed them today.

I went to Best Buy this morning (another post later on my first day of non-employment) and was very annoyed. The sales person (I think he may have been 12 years old) never once asked me what I was looking for in a laptop but instead said, "oh! you're looking for a laptop? Let me show you my favs." Favs? Really? We can't even say the whole word anymore? It is just 3 syllables! Fav-or-ite. Easy, see?

Anyway, I wasn't interested in this child's "favs" so I left. I sent a couple of text messages to my super geeks and spent some time on the phone with a couple of them. Armed with more knowledge I returned to the store later in the day and ended up buying a new laptop WITHOUT all the fancy add-ons.

I have now successfully downloaded and installed anti-virus and spyware scammer/spammer finder whammer hoopla doopdi-do (I don't know! I just do what I'm told by the super geeks) and activated microsoft office 2010.

I am feeling very good about this new fancy, really light-weight and portable laptop of mine. New smarty pants phone, new fancy pants laptop, I'm ready to go!

scary stuff!

I have just completed the first step in becoming an independent contractor/consultant. YIKES!

Ok, let me back up a moment here and give some context: I had the final conversation/interview yesterday with the folks with whom I will sign a contract next week to provide consultancy services (YAY!). This is all very exciting but since nothing has been officially signed yet I don't want to get ahead of myself on the celebratory front so I'm staying very calm for the moment.

Now, it might be strange but I have a very sentimental attachment to my phone number. I've had it for 12 years and I kind of like having a phone (albeit a cell phone) that is just that. A phone. Not a tiny little connector to the broad world of the internet, emails, facebook, etc. I like having a simple device that can function as a simple phone.

I do, however, need a smart phone for work purposes. I need to be able to connect to the web, receive and send emails, etc. when I'm on the move. I also feel like I need a California area code. This puts me in a bit of a pickle: On the one hand, I have this sentimental attachment to the old number with an Ohio area code (and - lets be real here - it will take a long time to get through all of the people in my address book to let them know about a new number (read: I'm lazy). Plus, how does one do that with people you haven't talked to in a long time? Like a decade or so? Send a text? "Hey, I know we haven't connected in a really long time but just in case you ever want to talk to me, I'm changing my number. I know I'm that important to you..." No. Seems weird.)

But, on the other hand, when I give people in California my contact information, the inevitable question is, "614? Where's that?" And then I have to say, "Ohio" and they just assume I'm a country bumpkin (which I don't even know how to spell) or that I'm not going to stick around but rather run back "home" to Ohio.

Incidentally, I also like to keep "personal" and "professional" separate. So, my solution idea was to add a line to my existing phone contract. Luckily, there's an online special going on at t-mobile where you can get a fancy new super smart I-would-never-buy-that-for-myself-it's-WAY-too-expensive phone for free if you add a line to an existing contract. HA! Perfect!

I fancied myself quite brilliant as I began the process of adding a line. Sadly, I have to confess that as I went through all the steps of the process - adding new services (I have to have a data package now) and choosing a smart phone (NOT easy when you have "self perpetuated technological retardation") - I got nervous. At no point was I asked the question "what area code would you like?" Since the whole point here was to get an area code that is different from the one currently on the contract, that's the only question I really wanted to answer.

I couldn't figure out how to figure it out so I spent 10 minutes trying to locate a phone number on the website to call and ask them for help with my web-based order.

I am so not tech savvy.

After explaining the whole thing to Mark, the very patient customer service representative, several times over (no, I'm not bringing my current number to t-mobile, I've been with you for 12 years. No, I'm not adding a new line to the same phone number. No, I don't want to add lines for my non-existent children thank you very much!), he finally had an AHA-moment and understood what I was trying to do. Whew! For a minute there I thought I was going to have to give up and just hope they would assign a number that goes with my billing address as opposed to a number that matches the existing one.

In the end, it turns out, that's what they do anyway. They give you a number that matches your billing address. You don't get to have any say in that. In this particular instance I don't care since the outcome is the one I wanted so I suppressed my instinctual desire (need?) to argue the merits of this policy.

So: I will be receiving a fancy new smarty pants phone some time next week and I will be a grown up consultant with a California phone number for those professional types in my life. (I'm DEFINITELY keeping my old phone for a while though!!!)

And another adventure begins...

Flirt Fest?

In an attempt to begin to step outside of my familiar world, I am following my dear friend Sarah's advice and actively considering the deals "Living Social" sends me. It's no secret that I have what I call "self-perpetuated-technological-retardation" so the fact that I am participating in a digital coupon/groupon type of thing is quite surprising really.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, there was a 50% off deal for an evening of wine and chocolate pairings. Who could resist that? So, I bought a ticket. I swear I read the thing. Or at least I thought I did. My understanding was that it was a chocolate bar in my neighborhood that I hadn't heard of before. I am always interested in supporting local small/independent businesses so I was excited about it.

Well, it turns out the ticket I bought was a couples ticket so I asked Sarah if she'd like to go with me. Her response was "it's a couples ticket" to which I replied "well, yes, but people probably think we're a couple half the time anyway so who cares?" Then she sent me a calendar invite and we were all set for our date night with chocolate and wine.

Last night was our date night. We headed over from the office to what we both assumed was a business, i.e. a chocolate bar. I drove, Sarah pulled up the info on her iphone. As we pulled up to a big fancy apartment building, she said, "Flirt Fest? This thing is called Flirt Fest? I am not prepared to flirt with anyone tonight other than you."

Ok, wow. Really? Neither of us knew that this was not an actual business, nor did either of us know this thing was actually called "flirt fest" but we ventured forward nonetheless.

The security guard in the lobby escorted us to the elevators and gave us directions to the event: "go to the second floor, get off the elevator, go left, right, down the hall, through the white double doors, across the patio toward the pool, into the clubhouse..." She saw the completely blank look on my face and said (as the elevator doors closed on us) "it's not that complicated!"

After a couple of wrong turns, we found it: the clubhouse of a fancy apartment building where a nice young lady and a few helpers had set up a chocolate fountain, mini cupcakes, rice crispy treats (Sarah was VERY excited about these!), and bite sized brownies. There was a table where said young lady had 3 bottles of wine covered in satin wine bags to conceal the labels and 3 corresponding bowls of chocolates. You know those chocolate buttons you use to melt for coating candies or for making hot chocolate? That's what she had in the bowls.



Not really melt-in-your-mouth delicousness.

As we approached the wine & chocolate table to being our pairing experience, the nice young lady gave us a note pad and pencil to write down our thoughts about he wine, such as appearance, aroma, flavor, and a guess for price range. Then for some inexplicable reason she told us "don't worry about it too much. You'll probably do great. Better than me. I don't really know anything about wine." Huh? Ok...

Anyway, the wines were fine I guess. The first one was a syrupy sweet California dessert wine, the second one turned out to be a $10 bottle of Menage a Trois blend and we didn't stick around to find out what the third one was.

The good news is that we did laugh a lot because it was a fairly ridiculous event but the wine and chocolate part was not worth the money. The friend time was worth if of course. :)

So, here's to date nights, living social, bizarro flirt fests, and stepping out of familiar worlds!