Archive for August, 2008

29
Aug
08

Friday Bullets!

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This is an extra special Friday Bullets post ’cause it is Friday before a long weekend.  The weather is fantastic, bring on the heat – I love it!  Yesterday it reached 106 with temps at 98 degrees at 7:30pm!  Apparently it is even fabulous in the city – what? 87 degrees in SF? unheard of.

  • I’m currently perusing THE source for Giants Tickets, as I’ve decided to attend as many Giants games as physically possible in September.  Pete has decided to sell off the remaining two charter license seats he owns to see the Giants play at AT&T Park.  It’s the sad end to an era, but the reality is it’s been a “money down the toilet” situation for a couple of years now.  I figure we can always buy good tickets (from those other suckers) whenever we want to go to a game.  Perhaps even splurge on great tickets as opposed to throwing money away every time a ticket goes unused (often).
  • Check this out!  Talk about the power of the written word… Yesterday, I blogged about my job and asked if anyone needed a software salesperson.  I kid you not, since posting that blog entry, I have received calls from two different recruiters! 
  • This weekend, young Pete turns 42.  Happy Birthday Pete!  We have plans on Saturday night to catch Chicago in concert at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga.  It’s a fine venue and we have a big group of good friends joining us in the celebration.  Sunday is THE surprise afternoon event.  Pete thinks he has figured out the surprise but I doubt it ’cause he would NOT have said, “thanks baby for planning it” – he he he!

Ooh!  The phone is ringing, perhaps another recruiter?  Bring ‘em on.  I’ll let you go, but enjoy a fantastic long 3 day weekend, everyone!

28
Aug
08

Rant

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I enjoy my job tremendously.  I have no complaints about the job itself.  BUT…  (of course, there is a BUT)

… BUT my boss is a cheapskate.  Think of the cheapest, tightest person you know and multiply their cheapness factor by 10, that is my boss.  After over a year of working with him, it is getting harder to endure.  Can I continue to smile and nod my head during the cheapskate episodes, which seem to occur much more frequently as time goes on?

Here are the the latest “examples”, for your entertainment – you will laugh:

  1. Apparently my boss could not understand why his wife was upset with him because for one of their anniversaries, he bought her cubic zirconia earrings and stuck them in a Tiffany box (she had asked for diamond of course!)
  2. For their 19th anniversary – which occurred this week – he learned that bronze is the traditional anniversary gift for 19 years, so he bought her a bronze eagle – just what you’ve always wanted right, gals?? 
  3. Here is the capper…  My boss recently hired a “virtual assistant” named Satin from Mumbai, India.  He is thrilled ’cause Satin is just ecstatic to work hard for $9/hour.  During a recent company meeting, I jokingly asked my boss if the our jobs are in danger of becoming outsourced too?  I fully expected him to ease our minds, to assure us that our specific skills were crucial to business, and not to worry.  But NO, his response, “well I cannot guarantee anything in the future.” 

Um… Anyone need a senior level software salesperson?

28
Aug
08

Cruel joke

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Inagine this… You are sipping your coffee, and eating breakfast, trying to catch up on the news when you stumble upon an obituary… YOUR obituary?!?!

This is morbidly funny.  Apparently Bloomberg screwed up and mistakenly (how does this happen?) published Steve Jobs’ obituary.  Of COURSE he is still alive.  According to CNET’s article, it is typical for news outlets to prepare obituaries for famous people so when they actually do kick the bucket, their outlet might be the first to break the news. 

It is also “interesting” that Bloomberg completely downplayed their mistake by publishing the following retraction, “An incomplete story referencing Apple Inc. was inadvertently published by Bloomberg News at 4:27 p.m. New York time today. The item was never meant for publication and has been retracted.”

27
Aug
08

You can’t play cause you are too good

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Pete first shared this story with me.  I had to go online and find the article for myself.

Jericho Scott is a talented 9 year old kid living in New Haven, CT.  He is a gifted Little League baseball pitcher capable of throwing pitches up to 40 mph.  Yet, the Youth Baseball League of which he belongs to wants to disband his team and prevent him from playing. 

Since when does the most talented kid get cut?

It appears that parents protested that the league disallow young Jericho to pitch, citing “security concerns”.  However Jericho has never hit a player or caused any injuries.

To me, this is just another example of overprotective parents coddling their children.  Whatever happened to toughening up your kids to prepare them from the harsh real world? 

Someday, these kids are going to be out on their own having to deal with challenging situations, whether they become Major league Baseball players or simply workers in the workforce having to meet project deadlines.  Mommy & Daddy will not be there to make the situation go away.

26
Aug
08

Optimism

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In general, I tend to have a pretty “glass full” perspective on life.  I am not sure if it is because my sign (Sagittarius) dictates that I am optimistic or if I am optimistic because I want to accurately portray the characteristics of my sign.  Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Either way, it’s a damn good thing I possess this trait.  I cannot imagine what my mentality at this stage of dealing with infertility issues would be if I were a pessimistic person.  Would I still be here?  Okay, I’ll try not to be morbid.

I’ve been thinking a lot about optimism and the ways that we, as human beings, adapt and deal with adversities in life.  

My long awaited period arrived over the weekend, so I’ve developed an new, rejuvenated level of optimism.  Or perrhaps it is naivety?  blind stupidity?  I have noticed that over the past few ”normal” cycles (okay so it is a 46 day cycle vs. a 28 day cycle, but at LEAST the cycle is occuring) at the beginning, I feel so ridiculously positive minded and certain that this month is the month…  the month I will be like every other woman in the world and ovulate properly and on schedule.  Ha!  Fat chance.  I must be delusional because this has been my routine the last 4 cycles.  Oh, and then between day 14 and day 24 or so, I use up a box or two of ovulation kits thinking, “today is the day” each and every day until I finally give up. 

Do I sound optimistic now?  No just dumb, you are probably thinking.  Well… I just bought an ovulation microscope (stop laughing) so this month WILL be different, mark my words…

26
Aug
08

Outside Lands

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If you do a search on Outside Lands on Yelp!, the reviews you will find sure ain’t pretty.  The consensus is that the event sucked with a capital S!  I did not attend on Friday night when most of the complainers  attended.  I can only imagine an event where 60k people arrive pretty much at the same time, from downtown SF, and attempt to squeeze in to see one or two specific bands (Beck & Radio Head).  Instead I came on a Sunday afternoon.  There were a number of stages with decent bands playing at each venue.  It was a very non-eventful, but pleasant experience.  No lines, very tame and mellow crowd, etc.  It is hard to believe I attended the same event as some of the haters on Yelp!  However, I didn’t stay long.  I really just wanted to experience the newest SF music event.  Or, perhaps I needed to feel youthful again (it HAS been a while since I attended Lollapalooza at the Shoreline ampitheatre back in the day).  Granted, my friends and I spent the majority of the time giggling under our breath over the fashion choices of fellow attendants.  Perhaps it was jealousy, cause we could not get away with raiding Urban Outfitters then going out in public as they do? 

One of the memorable events of the day was watching a young woman smoking very indiscreetly from a giant pink flamingo bong.  Only in SF, right?

Oh, and how old do I feel?

Enjoy the pictures:

25
Aug
08

How about an attempt to make up for my absence?

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In case you didn’t notice, I took the day off on Friday.  Although I was working in the early am, I could not bring myself to write my usual Friday bullets!  Please forgive me, I’ll try to make up for it by entertaining you with fun pictures from the weekend.

What did I do on my day off you ask?  It was a perfect way to spend a free day.  After I finally logged off my computer, Lucy and I went for a walk around the Lafayette reservoir.  It wasn’t too hot at 10am (70 degrees or so) but poor little Lucy had a rough time.  This dog could run 10 miles non-stop in cool weather, and it wouldn’t faze her, but the second the sun & heat become a factor, she wilts very quickly.  I ended up carrying her the last 1/2 mile.  Then we picked up Ayelet and drove into the city for a fabulous lunch at Cafe Claude  with Jackie & Anna.  Cafe Claude?  “Oui Oui” is all I can say (I will write a Yelp review soon).  It was very nice in the city but Ayelet and I decided to head back to beautiful Danville.  After a quick stop to pick up a costume for Lucy to wear to Dog Days of Summer, we settled into our favorite hangout spot, Sideboard.   A couple of glasses of BR Cohn Chardonnay  and life is very very good. 

Poor Pete had a root canal on Friday so he wasn’t the most pleasant to be around this weekend.  Guess I gotta cut him some slack given he’s the big bday boy next weekend. 

Saturday was a LONG but fun day.  I had planned to go to Dog Days of Summer for months.   Had a few last-minute cancellations, but luckily my parents are troopers and I conned them into coming along.  We met up at the park and (gotta love ‘em) they had gotten there early enough to score a great spot in line.  I dressed Lucy up in her costume and we were ready for the parade.  My only complaint – although I do understand why they do this – is that they shuffled us along so quickly that I couldn’t get many good photos of Lucy strutting her stuff at the ballpark.  The second I stopped to take a photo, one of the attendants would scream at me, “keep moving!”, irritating.  Nevertheless, it was a really fun day.  Memorable moments: #1. Bud e. Luv sang the National anthem, #2.  Barbara stating very matter-of-factly, “Barry Zito has a nice ass”, #3.  Giants win!

This post has gotten long.  Otherwise I’d tell you about long, fun day #2 (Sunday). 

Watch this space.

25
Aug
08

Good Samaritan!

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Yep, that was me yesterday.  I am not typically deserving of such a title, but I did so much good yesterday, I feel the need to milk it!

Lucy and I went on our usual walk and just as we were getting ready to turn onto our street to come home, I noticed a leather wallet lying by the side of the trail.  Recalling my experience a month or so ago when a wonderful couple found my cell phone on the trail and tracked me down, I decided to see if I could find the owner of the wallet.  There were quite a few bills in the wallet, a couple of credit cards, ID cards, etc.  I felt strange, almost dirty, going through the wallet to identify an owner.  I could not find a phone number but a CA Driver’s License identified that the wallet belonged to a kid who would turn 21 in 2012 – a baby! The address listed was an Alamo address, so, I decided to be even more Good Samaritan-like and transport the wallet to his home.  I did a quick mapquest search, learned that he lived 1/4 mile away and in a flash, I was ringing his doorbell.  I forget that “normal” people are not awake at 8am on a Sunday morning – oops!  I woke up a very tired looking dad.  He was a bit out of it, so it took him a while to register that I had his son’s wallet, but he seemed thankful.  I didn’t expect fanfares… just trying to put some pennies in the good ol’ karma bank!

Upon depositing the wallet, I then drove to BART to head into the city for a full day.  I had signed up to volunteer at the Plate-to-Plate run  at AT&T Park.  My shift was from 9:30 to 1pm.  The event seemed pretty well -organized and I noticed many volunteers in yellow shirts standing around.  I was a bit worried they would not have a need for my services, but before I knew it, I was assigned to help out at the children’s craft booth. 

So for the next couple of hours, I helped kids make beaded bracelets, necklaces and decorated socks.  It was really fun!  I could tell the kids got such a sense of accomplishment out of creating something for themselves.

I may need to look into more volunteer opportunities as it truly is a rewarding experience.

I even made myself some jewelry!

21
Aug
08

Inspirational Quotes

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I am feeling completely uninspired to write today.  Must have something to do with the fact that yesterday was a numbingly busy day.

So, ironically, I have decided to present you with some quotes that inspire me about life:

“You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.”  – Vernon Howard

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” – Confucius

“Many of us spend half our time wishing for things we could have if we didn’t spend half our time wishing.” – Unknown

“Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.” – Unknown

“You can determine how confident people are by listening to what they don’t say about themselves.” – Brian G. Jett

         
21
Aug
08

Another social media example… right in front of my nose!

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I have been thinking about ways to make money in the Social Media arena.  There are so many bloggers, Twitterers, Facebook application developers riding the Social Media wave… surely there is a way I can jump on the bandwagon, right? 

As most of you know, my greatest inspirations come to me during morning walkies with Lucy.  This morning, I happened to be thinking about my husband, Pete — shocking I know.  Totally kidding, honey.  I really do think about you all the time.  : )

It hit me!  My husband is ALREADY making money in the Social Media arena.  I can pretty much guarantee he has no idea, or even knows what the heck the term Social Media means, but that just speaks to the prevalence of Social Media in today’s society.

Pete is a poker fanatic.  I would call him an addict…  but that might open the door for him to call me a wine addict and I know which battles to fight after 5 years of marriage!  But seriously, you make the call…  Boy is online quite a few hours a day, 7 days a week, playing poker.  Sometimes I find him playing multiple games (using multiple windows) at a time!  You make the call.

Anyhoo… I can’t complain too much cause over the course of a couple of years now, he has made a profit at his little hobby.  I don’t know the specifics and honey, if you are reading my blog perhaps you might comment on the actual numbers, thanks!

What’s my point?  What is the connection to social media you ask?  Well…  The website he is loyal to, Full Tilt Poker, has an online forum they use to attract new members.  Of course, as any business savvy marketer knows, it is important to have good content on the forum.  My husband, being the Poker fanatic he is, LOVES to post comments, advice… god only knows what else… on the Full Tilt Poker forum.

And guess what?  Full Tilt Poker Management has agreed to give him back 100% of the “rake” (the amount they normally take from users for regular poker play) in exchange for his contribution of content on the forum. 

His “rake” amount is typically at least $100 a month….  probably less $ than I spend on my monthly wine consumption… (gulp)

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