Firedrill

Now I know that many people run around their companies complaining of the constant fire drills they are put through. But they are referring to work.

In today's case, the client that I was at truly had two real fire drills in a row. The first occurred at lunch time (12:15) just as I was about to eat my lunch. We were all herded out the door, down the stairs and to the nether regions of the back parking lot where we stood in the cold, not knowing what was happening. I had no jacket and most other folks didn't either. We stood there freezing. At least it wasn't raining.

10 minutes later, the fire trucks showed up - 2 hook and ladders and the paramedics. They went in and searched around the building. It seems that there was a chemical or gas leak somewhere and they couldn't find it. Holy cow!

After 45 minutes, we were let back in the building. I managed to eat my late lunch and just after finishing, the alarm went off again. We were herded back out of the building. This time, I got into my car and hightailed it off to Starbucks where I could sit in the warmth and suck on a mocha. I headed back a few minutes later and we were let back into the building again.

As it turns out, the rains had knocked out a chemical sensor on the roof and it was malfunctioning. The fire alarms are now off while they are fixing it. Lets hope their is no real fire now.

Just another exciting day at the office. Fire drill anyone?

Slowly but surely

Sold another book! Yippee! Another "Collectors Item" Imagine that. I bought a book purely for my own pleasure in 1985 for $9.95 (or maybe even cheaper if I bought it at Crown Books) and sold it 23 years later for $30 (after mailing and commission to Amazon.com, that comes to $24). How cool is that? Of course, I have only sold 3 books since April (9months) so it is not a quick, get rich process but it is money for books that Bookbuyers rejected because they "could not sell them". It was either donate them to the library (a very viable option) or sell them on Amazon. I opted for Amazon since I am always in need of a little extra cash and every bit helps. And, 3 books so far has netted $45 where as 20 books at Bookbuyers netted a paltry $2.45. So, onward. Every 3 months, I have to relist all of the books but Amazon makes this a very easy process and then ship within 2 business days of a purchase which, so far has not been bad.

But, here I go, running off at the fingers again.

Enjoyed the thunder and lightning storms yesterday and Smokey took it pretty much in stride. A little nervous but not panicky. I hope to conquer this fear with him yet. Thomas just goes in his crate if it gets too bad and soon falls asleep.

Caught up on some movie watching. Jarhead (a very tough movie to watch re:Desert Storm), Annapolis (another tough one but more entertainment value). Didn't choose two army movies on purpose. That is just the way they happened to come out on Starz, HBO or whatever. Then watched Aquamarine - a childish flick but somewhat entertaining. Only fell asleep twice. And a movie called Stick It about the phoniness of judging in world class gymnastics.

This morning, was finally back to my yoga class after a long hiatus due to surgeries, guests and a certain trip to Cabo. It was nice being back but boy was I stiff. Will take more of those before the old muscles and limbs loosen up again. Just doesn't come as fast as it used to.

A trip through the farmers market yielded only chocolates. It is a very slow time of year for fruits and veggies - mostly greens, oranges and apples - none my favorites and I do have an orange tree in the yard. The rest was just the tons of bakery stalls and I really am not in need of any of that right now. The body is only responding slowly to the influx of healthy food and the weight is not yet falling off.

And ANTS! Where are they coming from. I have never in 11 years here had an ant infestation but now they keep appearing in both bathrooms. Appear to be coming from the ceiling. Is there such a thing as ant hills on roofs? I am spraying them which makes my house smell generally noxious and makes me feel ill but I really do not want these ants here. Maybe it is the wet, cold weather?

Took advantage of the sunny morning to do a bit more weeding in the yard after yoga, farmers market, post office (yes, on Sunday - Thank you Nob Hill). Every little bit helps. The sun has now gone away and I am guessing that there will be more rain soon so I am hibernating back in the house with the doggies and trying to catch up on inside stuff.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008

Another New Year has dawned and I am truly hoping this one is happy and healthy for my family and all of our respective friends and pets.

The rain is coming down in buckets and I am glad that it is the weekend and I don't have to leave Smokey here all drugged up again. The last 2 days have been touch and go and it does pain me to see him walking around in a daze, running into me and into walls. If it keeps him and the house safe, though, then it has to be done.

As for me, the morning and evening commutes were incredibly easy. Either folks are still on vacation or they stayed home due to the rain. My only fear was driving down the many evergreen tree packed streets to get to the freeway. I was just praying that no branches would break off or that the whole tree would not come down on me.

Looking forward to a weekend of "Letting Go" of stuff in my study and maybe other parts of the house - just staying in, enjoying the rain and upcoming thunderstorms and maybe a few good movies.

Still wearing my "nipple cast" from the nipple reconstruction done on my breast in Dec. Will be seeing the Dr. about mid-month to get my tattoo and hopefully lose the "nipple cast". It made a very strange looking bump under my bathing suit when I was in Cabo over the holidays. Seeing as the only folks I knew there were my sis and bil, I wasn't too concerned and focused more on the hot tub, food and drinks.

The new assignment is going fine and they are already loading me up with lots of "projects", including going to London. As always, the job continues to be rewarding because it is so nice to be appreciated and know that you are truly wanted and needed. Continuous new challenges are also rewarding in themselves. I am grateful to have found this company and this career.

ATW is settled and tucked away for Dec and 2007. None of the nagging and inconsiderateness from National to deal with this month. Their disrespect and lack of awareness that we are "volunteers" and unpaid and may have daily job commitments does get wearing at times but the comraderie with our chapter team as well as the excellent programs and events that ATW SV is involved in putting on make it worth it to continue in my role as Treasurer. I will always be grateful for the friendships I have made on the leadership team and for their support while I was going through my cancer experience.

FDS has also been sorted out and is up-to-date.

The garden got a good strong 2 days worth of work over New Year's weekend. Michael came over one day and both of us worked hard on the backyard - weeding, planting and mulching - but only got through about 1/3. I spent a good part of the nice sunny New Year's day - weeding, mulching and repairing latticework but still have only brought the 1/3 up to 1/2. Still, it was a great effort and the back garden is looking much better than it has over the last couple of years. And, of course, the rain is helping everything. My tulips are starting to come up and my leeks continue to get bigger and bigger.

I have made some attempts at getting exercise back into my life and the dogs have benefited from mornng walks - except the last couple of rainy days. I am also trying to get some yoga/quigong in. I am starting to look and feel so out of shape and the extra weight is no help. Wish I had my WW buddies back to get me going again every week.

So now, with the rain, it is time (and there are no excuses for me not to) to work on the house and catch up with my mending and continuing with the endless task of cleaning out "stuff". It is obviously not my favorite thing and I wish I could just go through with a broom and a trash bag but, alas, life is such that that is not always the wisest thing to do. So, I continue to plod along.

And, of course, I am sitting up here at 5 AM writing in my blog rather than sleeping so that I can get up early and do that. Now, it looks like I will be sleeping in instead. Don't know how I come to be up at this time. Guess I should go to bed then.

Good night.