Well, there's always time for love. But there's no time for anything else.
Movers show up tomorrow. Our house is painted (yay!), but our apartment is in a slight state of, um, chaos. To make matters more interesting, I'm spending moving day at work (not helping move) giving 3 consecutive presentations to one of our top clients, because life is funny like that. Not funny "ha ha," per se. More funny, "I'm breaking out in hives and feel like my head could explode into pulpy bits any minute."
We're almost there, and we're hangin' in. But damn. Moving sucks.
(And the Understatement of the Year Award goes to...)
Monday, August 29, 2005
Monday, August 22, 2005
Get Lost
Last week, mAc and I were in Hawaii. Which was fun to begin with, but wait! It gets better. On Tuesday night, I got to tag along to the DVD release party for Lost.
First of all, if you're not watching Lost, you should change that. Start by getting the Season 1 DVD (drops September 6), take a day off work and marathon your way through them, enjoy all the easter eggs and special features, and you'll be all set for Season 2. Trust me, you won't regret it!
With that out of the way, let me tell you about this event. It was insane. It was set about 10 minutes away from this resort on the North Shore of Oahu... in the middle of the jungle. They drove us out there in long, hitched-together golf cart-like things that were all tricked out like Oceanica airlines, complete with cute flight attendants in suits who gave us pretzels and humorous spiels throughout our journey. When we "landed," we walked down a tiki-torch lit path while the show's mysterious mechanical-sounding monster haunted us from speakers set deep within the trees.
The party itself was just sensational, and I'd like to take this opportunity to give major props to the geniuses at Buena Vista Home Video and Paradigm Shift for really outdoing themselves with this event. For those of you who watch the show, you remember the scene with Walt and the polar bear, with the big-ass banyan trees? That's where we were. It was wicked cool. The decor included huge, oversized asian paper lanterns in the trees, hand-made cocktail tables, and even a replica of the busted fusilage, set behind a stage where local favorites SLUG rocked the jungle with classic rock covers. (Our flight attendants did double duty as go go dancers.) Open bar featured the "Lostini" and the "Driveshaft" and I stuffed myself with sushi and skewers to help absorb the alcohol. For dessert, we toasted s'mores on the beach. How dreamy is that?
Speaking of dreamy, the Lost cast? So much hotter in person. Oh mah damn, they are some pretty, pretty people. I saw almost everyone, and briefly met Evangeline (Kate) (I complimented her 60's-style mini-dress and white go-go boots), Matthew (Jack), Harold (Michael), and Josh (Sawyer).
Josh was waaaaaaaaaaaaaasted. I mean, the whole cast was a little, um, lubricated and/or stoned, but he was really having a fabulous time. Not obnoxiously so, just a happy, funny drunk. Our introduction went like this:
Me: "Hi, I'm Dinah."
Josh: "Diana?"
Me: "No, Dinah, like Dinah Shore?"
He flops his arm around my shoulder looks at my friend who's taking the picture and goes,
"I have no idea who that is."
After the photo I tried "Someone's in the kitchen with," which he not only knew, but enjoyed singing to me in that cute, sloppy way that a happy drunk person has. And then he got distracted by something shiny.
Overall, a brilliant, fabulous evening. According to the staff and press, everyone was really nice, accommodating and easy to work with. No drama queens, no bitches, no fits, no nothin'. It always makes me happy when I discover that my favorite actors/bands/whatever are actually nice and cool in person. They so often are not, you know?
p.s.
Much love to my new friends Laura, Deb, James and my fellow co-founder of the Buena Vista Wives Club and new BFF, Ryan. Kisses!
First of all, if you're not watching Lost, you should change that. Start by getting the Season 1 DVD (drops September 6), take a day off work and marathon your way through them, enjoy all the easter eggs and special features, and you'll be all set for Season 2. Trust me, you won't regret it!
With that out of the way, let me tell you about this event. It was insane. It was set about 10 minutes away from this resort on the North Shore of Oahu... in the middle of the jungle. They drove us out there in long, hitched-together golf cart-like things that were all tricked out like Oceanica airlines, complete with cute flight attendants in suits who gave us pretzels and humorous spiels throughout our journey. When we "landed," we walked down a tiki-torch lit path while the show's mysterious mechanical-sounding monster haunted us from speakers set deep within the trees.
The party itself was just sensational, and I'd like to take this opportunity to give major props to the geniuses at Buena Vista Home Video and Paradigm Shift for really outdoing themselves with this event. For those of you who watch the show, you remember the scene with Walt and the polar bear, with the big-ass banyan trees? That's where we were. It was wicked cool. The decor included huge, oversized asian paper lanterns in the trees, hand-made cocktail tables, and even a replica of the busted fusilage, set behind a stage where local favorites SLUG rocked the jungle with classic rock covers. (Our flight attendants did double duty as go go dancers.) Open bar featured the "Lostini" and the "Driveshaft" and I stuffed myself with sushi and skewers to help absorb the alcohol. For dessert, we toasted s'mores on the beach. How dreamy is that?
Speaking of dreamy, the Lost cast? So much hotter in person. Oh mah damn, they are some pretty, pretty people. I saw almost everyone, and briefly met Evangeline (Kate) (I complimented her 60's-style mini-dress and white go-go boots), Matthew (Jack), Harold (Michael), and Josh (Sawyer).
Josh was waaaaaaaaaaaaaasted. I mean, the whole cast was a little, um, lubricated and/or stoned, but he was really having a fabulous time. Not obnoxiously so, just a happy, funny drunk. Our introduction went like this:
Me: "Hi, I'm Dinah."
Josh: "Diana?"
Me: "No, Dinah, like Dinah Shore?"
He flops his arm around my shoulder looks at my friend who's taking the picture and goes,
"I have no idea who that is."
After the photo I tried "Someone's in the kitchen with," which he not only knew, but enjoyed singing to me in that cute, sloppy way that a happy drunk person has. And then he got distracted by something shiny.
Overall, a brilliant, fabulous evening. According to the staff and press, everyone was really nice, accommodating and easy to work with. No drama queens, no bitches, no fits, no nothin'. It always makes me happy when I discover that my favorite actors/bands/whatever are actually nice and cool in person. They so often are not, you know?
p.s.
Much love to my new friends Laura, Deb, James and my fellow co-founder of the Buena Vista Wives Club and new BFF, Ryan. Kisses!
The people that you meet each day
We're still getting to know the neighbors on our new street. There's the older guy two doors down who's shaped a bit like Tweedle Dee, has fat, cigar-like fingers, often wears the same overalls/plaid-shirt/straw hat combo when he putters in his garden, and can tell you great stories about the Valley in the 50's.
There's the Car Family across the street who, at any given point in time, have at least 6 different cars parked in their garage, driveway and on the street in front of their house. Hot rod projects, a Porsche, some low-key sedans. Nothing on blocks or anything, all pretty nice. It makes me wonder, are they really popular, do they really like cars, is it a family of mechanics? It's easy to assume they're up to something more nefarious than that, like drug dealing, but I don't get that vibe at all. I mean, except for all the cars.
My favorite so far is the Armenian family next door. The patriarch was the first person to welcome us to the neighborhood, and he stops by often to check on us and give us advice. It's not unusual to see him wandering outside of his house late at night, in his shorts and white tank top, smoking really long, skinny Virginia Slims 120s. He has a daughter in his teens who was appropriately embarrassed when he made her come over and say hello. And he has a very large, extended family that comes over frequently for parties in the backyard.
These neighbors have an entire kitchen on their back patio, including extra fridge and an oven/stove. This past Saturday, they had the whole clan over for swimming, music and food. You could hear the matriarch of the family lecturing all the other women who were cooking, "It has to be fresh. It's so much better when it's fresh! You could get from store, but it's better when fresh. Here! Peel this!" As the night went on, the music got louder an louder. (Not that we minded--it just means that when we want to party in the backyard with music? No problem!) At one point I was just listening to their tunes and suddenly turned to mAc and said,
"Are we listening to Armenian country music?"
Yup. We sure were. Awesome.
Later that night, our buddy stopped by to share some of their feast with us. Specifically, he just kind of walked in, yelling for mAc, and proceeded to shove some kind of delicious tortilla-wrapped pork roast down his throat before giving either of us a chance to say, "Why, that would be lovely, thanks!" As soon as he saw me, he went back to bring me food as well, again giving me barely the chance to say thank you before I was chewing. Generous, but a little intense. As far as neighbors go though, it could be worse.
There's the Car Family across the street who, at any given point in time, have at least 6 different cars parked in their garage, driveway and on the street in front of their house. Hot rod projects, a Porsche, some low-key sedans. Nothing on blocks or anything, all pretty nice. It makes me wonder, are they really popular, do they really like cars, is it a family of mechanics? It's easy to assume they're up to something more nefarious than that, like drug dealing, but I don't get that vibe at all. I mean, except for all the cars.
My favorite so far is the Armenian family next door. The patriarch was the first person to welcome us to the neighborhood, and he stops by often to check on us and give us advice. It's not unusual to see him wandering outside of his house late at night, in his shorts and white tank top, smoking really long, skinny Virginia Slims 120s. He has a daughter in his teens who was appropriately embarrassed when he made her come over and say hello. And he has a very large, extended family that comes over frequently for parties in the backyard.
These neighbors have an entire kitchen on their back patio, including extra fridge and an oven/stove. This past Saturday, they had the whole clan over for swimming, music and food. You could hear the matriarch of the family lecturing all the other women who were cooking, "It has to be fresh. It's so much better when it's fresh! You could get from store, but it's better when fresh. Here! Peel this!" As the night went on, the music got louder an louder. (Not that we minded--it just means that when we want to party in the backyard with music? No problem!) At one point I was just listening to their tunes and suddenly turned to mAc and said,
"Are we listening to Armenian country music?"
Yup. We sure were. Awesome.
Later that night, our buddy stopped by to share some of their feast with us. Specifically, he just kind of walked in, yelling for mAc, and proceeded to shove some kind of delicious tortilla-wrapped pork roast down his throat before giving either of us a chance to say, "Why, that would be lovely, thanks!" As soon as he saw me, he went back to bring me food as well, again giving me barely the chance to say thank you before I was chewing. Generous, but a little intense. As far as neighbors go though, it could be worse.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
When we last saw our hero...
He was ripping out linoleum and tearing the over-sized antenna off of our roof and making cheeseburgers with a spackle spatula. In other words, mAc has better updates on the progress of our house than I, so check out his blog.
I can tell you, however, that we have color on the walls! It needs a second coat, so I don't have photos yet, but I will later.
*waves* Hi Mom!
I can tell you, however, that we have color on the walls! It needs a second coat, so I don't have photos yet, but I will later.
*waves* Hi Mom!
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
over under
My inbox at work currently has 11 emails in it. By the time I get back in the office next Thursday, will there be over or under 300 emails in it? Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets.
Edited at 11:27 p.m.
For those of you playing the at-home game of Just How Crazy IS Your Inbox?, I have been out of the office for 12 hours. I have 54 emails. That's just 43 emails in less than one day, since I left the office around 11 for my conference. That is a light day, but I'm in meetings all day with people who usually send me emails. Five more business days to go, 2 in meetings, 1 at a field office and 2 on vacation. Keep in mind, I was at the office last night until around 10:30 taking my inbox down to 11... from 400. How bad will it get? Any takers?
Edited on 8/18: The grand total
Well, no one took a guess, so no one wins. As it turns out, I have the best grasp on how many emails I can expect in a certain amount of time. The number of emails in my inbox this morning? 293. Not bad. Not bad at all.
Edited at 11:27 p.m.
For those of you playing the at-home game of Just How Crazy IS Your Inbox?, I have been out of the office for 12 hours. I have 54 emails. That's just 43 emails in less than one day, since I left the office around 11 for my conference. That is a light day, but I'm in meetings all day with people who usually send me emails. Five more business days to go, 2 in meetings, 1 at a field office and 2 on vacation. Keep in mind, I was at the office last night until around 10:30 taking my inbox down to 11... from 400. How bad will it get? Any takers?
Edited on 8/18: The grand total
Well, no one took a guess, so no one wins. As it turns out, I have the best grasp on how many emails I can expect in a certain amount of time. The number of emails in my inbox this morning? 293. Not bad. Not bad at all.
Monday, August 08, 2005
bullets
If I find the time to breathe, then there will certainly be more detail to follow, but for now, here are the bullets, in no particular order:
- I went to Chicago for work, and got to spend less than 24 hours with a woman I was best friends with growing up, but haven't seen for over 10 years. It was trippy, cool, overwhelming, intimidating, amazing, and fun. Kind of like my friend herself, actually.
- Work has officially gone ALL ASS UP. On the patented, 1 - 5 Dinah Scale of How Work is Going (tm):
1 = groovy
2 = fine-but-I-spent-too-much-time-online-today
3 = kinda wonky, yo
4 = Suck-tastic
5 = ALL ASS UP
- House is coming along but I haven't spent enough time there working on it. There's primer on some of the walls, including the really really gross room. The floors are done, we have AC, we bought tile and the new windows are on order. I'm fairly certain we've run out of money, but we continue to just Go For It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111one.
- We're adopting a rescued puppy. His name is Captain Awesome. He is, in fact, awesome.
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