I know, I know. I missed last Friday’s bullets post… it is always my favorite blog post of the week too.
Alas! I was in Sacramento for a sales meeting at a corporation that provides the majority of the U.S. with dental insurance (from here on out, I will refer to them as DD). It was a good meeting, however nothing is ever simple. You see, the company we represent, whose products DD has decided to purchase, was recently acquired by a big, dysfunctional company that is notorious for acquiring smaller size technology companies, simply to avoid the competition. Of COURSE, my contacts at DD are a bit nervous about what this acquisition means to them…. let’s face it, the economy has reached rock bottom, the next logical phase is widespread layoffs. If my C-level contacts approve a purchase that ends up being a bust, someone’s getting fired…. so suddenly there is work for me to do.
All I can really think about is the fact that I’m leaving for a fun weekend in Chicago in a couple of days, but I digress.
Meanwhile, my boss is off schmoozing with the Google folks to solidify our partner relationship, c’mon now, I am cuter and I should have had that job! ; )
Who cares if your boss is away you ask? The problem is that when the cat is away, the mice will play. I ain’t no mouse, but the people I work with have suddenly become completely unavailable and nonresponsive. This is a problem cause I do rely on my coworkers for certain things, like technical support and customer service. But, alas, I am NOT their boss. Major flaw in the system.
The weekend was SOO much fun, busy but fun. Friday night (after my meeting at DD) we went to my boss’ house for his bi-monthly poker tournament. My husband is a riot, I think I fell in love with him all over again watching him go “all in” time and time again….(until the time he got knocked out, oops!) There is something very attractive about a man who bluffs his way to major dinero (although fake in this situation). Sadly neither he (nor I) won, but it is always a fun time.
Saturday night was an amazing time at Luce restaurant in SOMA. We were celebrating my girl, Vicky’s bday. She doesn’t look a day over 30, but it was a “30-something” party. She is the classiest of classy, and leave it to Vicky to select a top of the line venue for her bday. The restaurant and hotel (Intercontinental hotel) are just gorgeous. I tasted a drink that I had hoped would be similar to the “Sweet Heat” cocktail at the St. Regis Hotel bar… but did not come close. The strangest thing is that apparently the chef at Luce, Dominique Crenn, felt that it was going to be too overwhelming to service our party of 16 people at 8pm, so we were bumped to a 9pm dinner reservation. Okay, a bit of an inconvenience, but we sucked it up. The craziest part was that when we got to the restaurant, it was pretty empty. We were the only large group, and the dining room was pretty empty. Strange. Is it the economy?
In any case, as I mentioned already, the place is just gorgeous. We enjoyed a fabulous dinner. The menu is quite exquisite. I am NOT a foodie, but my mom is, so I found myself compelled to call her to ask for advice during dinner – the big question? What is “Branzini“? (the techno dweebs in our party used google and got a response much quicker, but I am a fan of the personal approach). The answer, a rich, moist fish that is native to the Mediterranean sea. I ordered it and thought it was “ok”… I actually liked Vicky’s Butterfish entree better (my mom pointed out that Butterfish is a much “cheaper” selection, figures, I’m not a big fan of the super rich, heavy foods).
We shared some dishes, a risotto, calamari (I have been dreaming of this dish since Saturday) and a noodle dish. I had a hamachi crudo starter which was “ok”, nothing I couldn’t get at any sushi joint in town. We shared a few desserts… I loved their S’mores dish. The bottom line is, it was a super fun, memorable time out in the city (pictures to follow, including self-portrait horror story #2 on Facebook, watch out!)
Sunday, we headed up to Sacramento to celebrate Keith (my bro in law)’s birthday. The best part about yesterday is Lucy had to face the reality that she isn’t the only cutie pie in town. Her baby cousin, Shamrock, made her debut and WOW, that baby is well-behaved, and just a sweetheart. She’s all of 16 week old and we all fell in love. Lucy is used to being the center of attention, but not yesterday. She’s learning those tough lessons in life — it’s definitely character building.
Phew! I feel like I need a vacation from the weekend. What is up with everyone going to Kauai??? One of my partner contacts is there right now and Vicky is going next week? I wish I could go! Must plan a hawaiian vacation sometime soon.
Lastly, I am NOT pleased that the stupid Dodgers have advanced to the next round, meanwhile the cubbies are done — I was SOOOO counting on a playoff situation at Wrigley while I’m in town next weekend, guess I gotta keep my hopes up for the White Sox, even though they are WAY less appealing than the Cubbies.
