Fins to the Left, Fins to the Right...

The last couple days of vacation always make me sad. I've dubbed myself a pre-griever. I don't wanna be, but I am one. :( I dwell on the ends of fun things and forget to enjoy a lot of them... most especially the last day or two. Tonight was Haley & Mike's last night in Myrtle Beach. They'll take off early tomorrow AM for her class reunion tomorrow night. Mom, Dad & I will have one more night in our loverly resort. I hope I can remember to enjoy the pool, the sun, the sand & surf, etc. for being sad that it's time to leave.

Meanwhile, it's been so much fun. I figured you'd like to see the pic review:

A Few Quotes That Really Stood Out To Me Today

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
- Abraham Lincoln

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.
- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

The world of those who are happy is different from the world of those who are not.
- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
- Albert Schweitzer

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.
- Benjamin Disraeli

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain

On a Night Like This

For those of you who know what I've been so stressed about and working so hard on for the past couple of weeks, it's official... it happened. The rest of you, sorry to neglect you and the blog and whatever else I was neglecting as I assisted my boss with the collection and organization of more corporate material than you can shake a stick at... for the complete (in TWO weeks!) due diligence required for the merger (that's the official term we're using... although it feels more like an acquisition to me) of the COR and what we've been calling Air. They were a little cutesy with the project names. We were Cloud. They were Air. The project code name was Earth. All at once now... awwww. Anyway, bottom line... the deal has been officially announced. (The press release is on the company web site if you're interested. If you don't know the company name and are still interested, e-mail me... or leave me a comment. I'll share... just not with the whole world.) There are significant hurdles to clear before we're all one big happy family, but the first most significant one (announcing to the public our intention to merge) is cleared. From here on, it's probably a quick sprint to the finish line. And it looks like that finish line is somewhere around January 2008. So, I'm potentially employed until then (provided they don't identify and cut redundancies before then... which I'm pretty sure they won't do). And, to be completely truthful, there's no real proof that my job would be eliminated no matter what goes down between now and then. But, it's definitely an opportunity to re-evaluate. Step back. Is my life what I want it to be? I hate these moments when I'm forced to actually ponder that.

The moments I like MUCH BETTER include: seeing the ocean again from the 7th floor balcony of a family-vacation-condo, hanging with the fam on a relaxed we're-finally-on-vaca evening, the anticipation (especially on the first night) of an uber-fun week at Myrtle Beach! I may take a bit of a break here and there this week from the blog. I'm taking this time off for real, so I don't plan to have the computer out 24/7 like I usually do. We'll see how that works out, but... you've received fair warning.

K... more later... bed time for now. Have a great Monday!

Pics from the Lady Dive Tour: Ottawa on a Beautiful Day

From Darryl to Daisy... It's a World of Goodbye and Hello

So, you've heard me complain about my old computer. I'm on the cusp of switching to my new TINY sleek little bad boy (actually GIRL, I've decided), so I thought I'd take a few minutes to write a little ode (or ode-esque) to the old guy. He deserves a few moments in the spotlight. He's been with me through a lot.

First and foremost, I've complained about the heat eminating from the bottom of old Darryl (that's what we'll call him, anyway... I hadn't named him before now, but Darryl somehow seems fitting). You don't believe me? It can't be that bad? Well, here's what Darryl (& his heat) has done to himself:


Secondly, the battery life was once really, really great. As you know, one of the beauties of using a laptop is the ability to be untethered to the network cable (with a wireless card) and the power cord (with a longer-lasting battery). Well, Darryl's battery life sure isn't what it used to be. At this moment, I actually have 85% of the battery remaining. Not bad, not bad... but that 85% translates to 40 minutes. Really? 40 minutes? That's not so good, right? Well, the worst part of it is that that's not even a very accurate estimate. I guarantee that I'll get the warning (if Darryl remembers to give me fair warning before just slitting his own throat due to lack of power) in about 10-15 minutes that battery life is critical. The one good thing I've learned to do, however, is collect power cords and place them strategically. SOME people might need to get up and walk to their "base" to plug in. Not me. Darryl has taught me. Be prepared to plug in anywhere. Therefore, I have a plug-in beside the bed, beside the desk, beside the La-Z-Boy upstairs, behind the couch upstairs, and one portable pack that sits ready to go traveling (thank goodness for the ingenuity of the Vibe's engineers who put a plug right in that little buggy), into the kitchen, or anywhere else I'll need to drag Darryl.

Darryl has also taught me the importance of just slowing down sometimes. I do get pretty wound up sometimes. And at those moments, when I have the most to do and am the most stressed out, that's when he reminds me of this most-important lesson. Think you're too sressed to wait, Heidi? Ha ha... let me show you otherwise, he tells me. He often reminds me that he's the teacher and I'm merely the student. He has all the control, fo sho.

By far, the worst thing about Darryl, however, is the power button problem. Sometimes, when Darryl decides to shut himself down (or go to stand by) to the point where you need to use the power button to bring him back to life, it simply doesn't work. Like at all. Imagine pressing the power button on something that's supposed to spring right to life when you press it... and NOTHING HAPPENING. It's infuriating. Ugh.

Let's see... what else? Well, the good things about Darryl are his ability to keep me connected to anyone anytime. I love that aspect of my job and my life. Sometimes I get kidded for being online all the time... but I enjoy it. So, thanks Darryl, for allowing me to continue to be plugged in.

And finally, the best ever thing about Darryl (and one of the scariest things if Darryl ever fell into the wrong hands!) is that he allows me to keep every little thing in his brain. A colleague can't find an e-mail he knows I sent out three years ago? Darryl can find it. Haley wonders if I have that silly pic we took at the Gretchen Wilson concert a year or two ago? Yep, Darryl does. Someone somewhere gave me a phone number to something. It may take a while, but Darryl will help me find it. Pictures, tunes, web sites, RSS feeds, web history, contacts, chat history, e-mail, a lot of everything.

As much as I hate the bad things about him, I will be sad to see Darryl go. I've loved him for a long time now. We've had a tempramental love/hate relationship. But I'll miss him, most definitely. Now... I'm off to load all the Darryl goodness onto Daisy:

Take My Hand and Walk With Me

Nothing new to report here. Time... flying by as usual... with too few things getting checked off the to-do list. Maybe I should actually write a to-do list. That might help get things moving in the right direction. Nah. I think I prefer checking imaginary items off an imaginary list in my imaginary world.

My word of the week has been "scattered". Too many of y'all have heard me say it too many times. I'm still feeling it tonight; but at least I have used my up-way-too-late evening wisely and caught up on some e-mails that had been awaiting action. I'm down to 124 in my inbox. I'd be comfortable with 100 left in there at the end of tomorrow (if all goes well and I continue down my get-caught-up path... NOT getting caught up in another emergency drop-everything-else project). I'd be THRILLED with anything less than triple digits. My perfect-world goal is about 85. Doubt I can get there. Anyway, my point is... I'm unscattering as much as possible. Should it be descattering? Maybe antiscattering? Well, you get the point.

I was bad and didn't upload the Ottawa pics yet. Definitely on the imaginary list for the imaginary productivity-time during imaginary tomorrow.

Speaking of an imaginary tomorrow... What if tonight was the last night I got to say good night to you all? I'll treat it like it is and tell you now that I.love.you. Thanks for visiting me here in my little cyber-corner. I miss being closer to you... in physical and spiritual proximity. Live, laugh, and love, folks.

Fold Me Up, Take Me Out, I'm Portable

I seriously forgot to post something to the blog last night. I was working away... trying very hard to finish some to-do's I had been assigned. When I finally got to a stopping point (after being in "class" all day, working for a couple of hours, going to dinner with some new friends, and working for many more hours), I collapsed into bed without one thought of old Pawpads. Did you miss me?

Anyway, I'll be quick tonight too. I'm exhausted and desperately need to catch up on the snoozing. It becomes quite obvious that's the case when I sleep easily on a plane. Of course, there's just so much sleeping you can do... when you've sat on a plane for hours and hours and hours, you just can't sleep anymore. What was it about this trip? I was late in and out of Savannah! Makes for a late night and rough trip when you're not even scheduled to get back in until 10:40.

Even with the airport ickiness, though, today was cool. I spent some time touring Ottawa and saw some really neat sights from the road and the water. Pics to come later... but I was a typical tourist for the bit of the day I snuck away from the to-do's. Then, I fly into Newark... which was the REASON my return trip was difficult... but which was also a good thing because our approach into Newark took us right down beside Manhattan. So, I saw Ottawa's Parliament and all the sights of Canada's capital in the first half of the day and the Empire State Building, skyscrapers of our nation's economic center, and the Statue of Liberty during the second half. I enjoy the traveling... mostly.

So, news soon, I think. Very soon, according to those who might know. Stay tuned.

O Canada! Protégera Nos Foyers et Nos Droits

So many things to talk about... so little patience for actually writing tonight.

OK, well, on the way up here, I decided (again) that Americans are so self-centered and that we should all try to learn a little conversational Spanish/French/Dutch/whatever language might be useful to you. In this situation, I was thinking... how is it possible that I don't know any Spanish small talk??? On the last leg of my trip into Ottawa (which was a reschedule/rerouted trip... ugh), I sat next to Senora Bello from Venezuela. She spoke NO English. I spoke NO Spanish. But it would've been nice to be able to ask her what kind of drink she wanted, say hello, ask her where she's from, just say SOMETHING in her language! Instead, all I had was "de nada" after she said "gracias" for handing her her soda. Pitifully... that excited her... that I knew how to say "de nada". See? We're SAD. My goal -- to add to ye olde to-do list -- is to learn some "small talk Spanish". Good goal, huh?

Tonight was the fun night at the Ottawa conference. After last night and a long day today, I was pretty sure I wouldn't have as much fun as last year (geez... silly last year). But it was pretty cool. A few of the same faces are back for a 2nd year, and the software company's staff is pretty darn similar. There are some great people associated with this company. *Sigh* I'm going to miss them. Anyway, they had their party tonight at the Museum of Civilization (in the Grand Hall) across the river on the Quebec side. The same party crew from last year hosted, and these wild and crazy HR peeps got their party on. Funny... and fun. Who cares? We don't often get that much of a chance to let our hair down!

Once again, I like my hotel room. What a beautiful hotel to host the conference this year! OK... story time in pics... First, the room (including the $4 Pringles... made me chuckle, I just had to share):


And a few little tidbits from tonight:

Okay, now it's off to finish the most recent to-do list from the boss. Then to bed ... SOON, I hope!

Wonder Twins' Chocolate Cake Powers, by the Power of Grayskull, Activate!

I was reading something earlier (who knows what/where) about memories. This blogger -- the author -- was talking about his/her perception of memories as recreations of events as opposed to recall of them. The point of the post was that people should write things down more often. I have to agree with the point... but possibly not the perception. It DOES help to write things down. Since I've started writing on this blog, I've been pleased with my journaling about certain events and goings-on in my life. Of course, you aren't privy to everything... so I should probably also consider keeping a personal and/or professional journal... but I don't. And I have no plans to. It's hard enough to come up with something new and different to say here on Pawpads every weekday.

So, anyway, that one blogger's perception of memories as recreations as opposed to recall. For many, many, many of my own memories, I would agree with him/her. I do understand and know for a f.a.c.t. that most of my memories are illusions, pictures I've created in my head of the way things must have been at that time in my life. You were there? You remember it differently? Yeah, I'm sure you're right. BUT... there are a few things that I can remember with, at least what feels like, absolute recall clarity. Don't ask me why, but one of those absolute-clarity memories is sitting down for breakfast before a holiday tourney b-ball game in what must've been my senior year of high school. I played really well during that game and my colleague, fellow b-ball big "man", partner Amazon-woman wondered what in the world could've caused my better-than-usual performance. It must have been, I told her, the chocolate cake I had for breakfast. Before every other holiday tourney game that year, Jeni/Amazon-woman-extraordinaire came over for breakfast and some of Mom's chocolate sheath cake. Eh, I don't think I ever played as well; and I doubt it inspired much above-average play out of her either (we were both just mediocre when it came to dominating on the hardwood), so I'm sure it wasn't actually the cake-for-breakfast. But it became a running joke/superstition with us, nonetheless.

Since that time -- when the chocolate sheath cake gave me super-bball-powers -- it's been one of my absolute favorite desserts... apropos for this blog post because of it's quick disappearance from the Gladware the last little bit is (or, probably, WAS by now) occupying on my kitchen counter. Okay, besides the powers, it's also just yummy. So, without further ado, I'll just share with you guys my favorite recipe (okay my Mom's recipe... but one of my faves):

Recipe for: Chocolate Sheath Cake

Ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
- 1 stick margarine
- 4 T. cocoa
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs

Directions:
Mix sugar and flour in bowl. Boil oil, water, margarine, and cocoa for one minute. In separate bowl, mix buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs. Add boiled mixture to dry ingredients and then add buttermilk mixture. Stir well. Bake in a greased (use Pam) 9x13 pan at 350 for approximately 40 minutes.
For the icing, boil 3 T. cocoa, 1 stick margarine, and 6 T. milk for 1 minute. Mix in 1 box of confectioner sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla. Add 1 cup of chopped pecans if desired (believe me, it's desired). Spread over cake while warm.

The Daily Dose of Dial-In

Today's Message of the Day:
Life is short. Break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile.

Swiped from one of Aunt Kim's many e-mail forwards today... because I'm so tired from today's ultra-heavy workload that I can't think straight, much less write coherently... plus it's good advice. Happy Wednesday to you... make sure you enjoy it even if it wasn't what you were expecting. Mine sure won't be what I was expecting. I thought I was going to have all the icky work stuff wrapped by now, but the to-do lists keep getting longer and fewer items are being checked off (since the last few things that WERE on there are the most difficult!). Instead of taking it easy, playing, and laying around, I'll be up & at 'em at my more-stressful-these-days-than-usual job. I need a vacation. If only I were a planner. OH WAIT... I don't have to be. A vacation is tumbling into my lap without my planning it! Yay, September 23-30!!! So 'cited!

The Apple and Its Trip From the Tree

Behold, everyone who uses proverbs shall use this proverb against thee saying, "As is the mother, so is her daughter." Ezekiel 16:44.

Duh. Obviously I am my mother's daughter. Everyone who knows the two of us knows that. In fact, at good old Littlejohn this weekend (Grandparents' Day... what better way to spend it than by going to church with your memaw?), person after person after person told me how much I look just like my mom. Yes, people. I KNOW. And THANK YOU. :)

But, really, is it my mom or my mom's mom (who she's told very often she's just like) or her mom or her mom, etc.? I've found my new hobby, by the way. Ancestry.com is FUN... once you figure it out... it's more fun than I ever would've thought. And just after one night of playing around using Dianne's old school project with minimal details, I've already built quite the tree. I can already tell I'm going to enjoy this. Of course, who couldn't have seen that coming with as much as I enjoy the old pictures (which, HA, fun weekend with those!) and tales. Now, my mission in life... finish the pic project at home and start all kinds of new ones to fully document the family tree for anyone who's (ever) interested. It starts for Dad (and my mommy-mirror). But I'm sure there are many people I could please by working on this. Yep... perfect job for a people-pleaser such as me.

I Smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E

I know, I know. You're tired of hearing me complain about it. But this computer is bound to be the death of me. Does anyone else experience MAJOR freezes when you try to CLOSE a program? I mean, c'mon... I'm letting you off the hook, computer... we're CLOSING a program. WHY does that take so much memory and cause you so much agita??? (Don't know that word? Well, I didn't either until one of our VPs started throwing it around left and right. I guess he has an Italian background, and he knows more Italian-America slang than we do, huh? It means heartburn.) Oh man, and POP-UP ADS, when your computer is already being slow-as-Christmas?!?! Infuriating!!!

Okay, I'm over it. But it's important to me at the moment... so thanks for letting me vent. It's BEEN important to me all day since I've been ONLINE and WORKING all day. Well, for the most part of the day... with tiny little 48 minutes breaks here and there. And no, I really don't have that much checked off the old to-do list to show for it.

Early AM tomorrow... then it's off to the races again... to finish out the week and start up the weekend. Let's see what kind of trouble we can stir up!!

Baby Kangaroos Make Me Smile

Dang it. Crap. Shoot. I fully intended to be asleep by now. Why does this happen nearly every night? I think... I need to get up fairly early tomorrow morning, so I'm going to bed early. And then I lay here with the computer on my lap and just keep working/playing/reading/e-mailing/MySpacing/what-have-you. Here I am again tonight. I was waiting on the comforter to finish drying AND I have a ton of tasks on the old to-do list (most of which I added just so I could check 'em off... nah, I'm just kidding). Whatever the reason (there are many very-feasible ones I could throw at you), I'm once again NOT getting the sleep I very well should be getting. Don't get me wrong, though, it's not that I need more sleep. I get plenty... what by not having to get up until 8:30 or 9 every morning. But I could probably get more done in a day (the morning, at least) and feel better about life in general if I would get on up in the AMs. Alas, it just never happens that I get to bed at a decent hour.

Is it wrong that I made TWO dinners tonight? I figured... I'm in the mood to cook a little. Plus, I wanted to dissuade myself from going out to eat at lunchtimes and/or dinnertimes this week... not that THAT will work, but you know what they say about college tries. Anyway, so I'm trying to decide what to have for dinner tonight. It was one of those evenings-on-my-own since Jon had class until late. Usually, I like to take advantage of those opportunities to eat an unhealthy meal (sneak some fast food that everyone inevitably finds out about... mostly because I tell you here!), but tonight I was determined to do something a little healthier. I had recently made a trip to the grocery store where I stocked up on sour cream, so I thought... no better time than the present to renew my love affair with my mom's poppyseed chicken casserole (no, really, we are HOT & HEAVY... I made it with the intention of offering Jon some of it for dinner, but I nearly CRIED when he took me up on it). Anyway, so I get the casserole in the oven and I think... you know, I could go ahead and make another tomato pie (to get the tomatoes used, of course)... but I don't have the cheese necessary for that. So, I went with a next-best thing (not really, but it'll do)... something I've been thinking about making for a while again... the chicken & biscuits w/ cream dish from the Dinner Doctor recipe book. I was so enamoured with my poppyseeds that I completely disregarded the biscuits this time, but I have 6 (or so) full meals of leftovers just waiting for me in the fridge starting tomorrow! I like leftovers. Well, most of the time. Well, sometimes. Okay, I don't really like most leftovers. They take more effort to prepare than Sonic does. I DO, however, like some leftovers. Tasty dishes like spaghetti, lasagna, poppyseed chicken casserole, and chicken & biscuits... good leftovers. Everything else? Yeah, it goes bad waiting for me to eat it.

Speaking of food, have I shared with you that I'm off the fast food? I am. Well, I'm trying to be. I was weak for breakfast two times last week... BoBo on Tuesday (when Jon offered, how could I refuse??) and McD's on Sunday (when you're traveling, you can't NOT have a McD's breakfast). Other than that, no fast food for the whole of last week. Okay, I'll admit my weakness from today, though. I had Wendy's. But I didn't INTEND to, so I feel like that kinda lets me off the hook. No? Dang it. Crap. Shoot. Well, I DIDN'T intend to... but I did anyway. I promise I'll be better next time.

Finally, the other thing that's on my mind tonight... similar to a good friend's musings recently about what she would learn (or re-learn) if given the opportunity. I wonder what craft I would endeavor to attempt if given the opportunity to go a new direction. Any guesses? Rather, any ideas? Guesses would imply that there's an answer key. No answer key. This time.

A Little Potpourri ... Or A Glade Plug-In, If You Will

Haley+Mike and Kate+Joel... thanks for letting Jon+me crash the last day and a half of your ATL trip! We enjoyed spending time with you! Now, I would post some of MY pics from the weekend, but they're basically non-existent... someone always had a camera out, and I often let the opportunity pass me by without over-exposing the photo op. And the ones I did take, I wouldn't dare post without a signed release form from the subjects. Well, I'll go out on a limb here and post one from the cramped car ride back to the hotel... just the girls... one of the few (like, TWO) I'm in:


Oh, shoot... what the heck... I'll give you one more that, hopefully, none of the subjects will find offensive. Here are my five ATL-buds on the way to the Westin Sun Dial restaurant/lounge. We were sorely disappointed in the lack of rotating 73 stories in the air... but it was quite a nice day for the view. The Westin's the round building in pic.



Hurricanes, especially the eyes of them, are fascinating to me: pic. I thought this was timely with the Cat.5/4 Felix churning to our south. Plus, it holds true at all times. Hurricanes are fascinating, and the pictures are awe-inspiring.

And, yes, I still like JT (possibly even more than ever), and I thoroughly enjoyed his HBO special. I know Kim was watching. Anyone else in my little circle? Yeah, I thought so... but if you missed it, HBO replays it 9/9. ;) Speaking of JT... or his former life... his old skool ex leaked four more songs (evidently). Joey (and anyone else who's interested): find all four of Brit's latest leaks (and the previously-leaked two) here. Okay, yes, I like JT and Brit and TONS of other artists, sounds, and genres. Don't judge. It's not nice.

Okay, off to bed with me. Back on the regular schedule tomorrow?