Mysterious Strength

Ah, NaNo...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:54:07 GMT

So far, I'm in pretty decent shape. Admittedly, it's only day 4, but we'll see.

I was rather amused to discover, upon discussing the plot with Eric, that I'm writing a horror novel. That was...unexpected. Of course, so was having one of my two main characters turn sinister on me. She was supposed to be a hippy! The hell, man.

If any of y'all are interested, I'm posting what I've got on my writing LJ setauuta_muse - just friend me, I'll get you back, and you can see the crap that's there. I'm also (surprise!) setauuta on NaNoWriMo.org if you want a friend there.

Seattle Dining

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:45:19 GMT

Hey, Seattle Dining folks! There's a poll over here - you should take it, and you should come! We're meeting in Seattle this time.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, ask! I will tell you! I have way too many exclamation points today!

Oh, yeah! I have a journal!

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:13:48 GMT

It's been awhile, I know. Let's see...since I last posted, I started the new job and started getting settled in. I've received my first few paychecks (WOO!), and dealt with an H1N1 outbreak in the office. Eric and I have started trying to work out more regularly, and I've lost a net total of about 3 pounds - he's lost around 8. We've had a couple more Seattle Dining outings, and I've not yet uploaded the pictures or written up the post-mortems. I've been reading LJ, but not really felt the need to post - as you can see, my life is less than exciting.

So...yeah. That's me. It's after midnight on the 1st, so I'll be starting the grand craziness of NaNo, again. I never claimed to be all that smart. (Well, maybe I have, but clearly I was wrong.)

Week of no work

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:21:02 GMT

So, right now I'm in a holding pattern with the job thing. I have to wait for a background check to clear before I can get started, which means I've been at home all week. Last weekend, Eric and I went on a big grocery run so I could have something to eat and something to do while at home. You see, when I'm home all day, I get bored and watch a lot of Food Network. This, naturally, makes me hungry. So far this week, I've made chocolate chip cookies, olive oil and garlic steak, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and way too many cracker pizzas (Ritz crackers + pepperoni + tomato sauce + cheddar, in the oven for about 10 minutes = Stephie comfort food). Eric got in on the act last night, as he was home sick and got bored and hungry as well, and made steak, eggs, and bacon. (Incidentally, the reason steak keeps coming up is because we found a really good deal on some sirloin last weekend - it's not normally on regular rotation at our house.)

Tonight, well, the rest of the steak had been thawed, and I was bored and hungry again. I ended up making a chile colorado (sort of) with Spanish rice and tortillas. I'm not one to toot my own horn, but damn, did this turn out well! Considering the meat was basically me going "hey, that sounds good, let's throw that in!", this is the closest I can come to a recipe:

2 sirloin steaks, cubed
tomato sauce
chili powder
ancho chili powder
garlic salt
ground cumin
adobo paste
water

In a large saucepan, brown the steak in oil (I used garlic olive oil, because, well, we love us some garlic in this house). Once the steak is browned, add the tomato sauce and spices (I used about 2 tsp of the adobo paste, because I wasn't sure how strong it would be, but next time I would use more), and add enough water to cover the meat by about an inch. Simmer until the sauce is reduced by about half. Ta-da!

The meat was really tender, probably because it was simmering for so long, and the sauce turned out nicely. I would probably add some fresh garlic in the pot when browning the meat, but that's about it. The timing worked pretty well, too - after I got the meat simmering, I started the rice. After I got the rice simmering, I started the tortillas, and by the time I finished the tortillas, the rice and meat were done. It was a very tasty dinner, and I'm sure it'll reheat well for Eric's lunch tomorrow. He's currently at Katie and John's, dropping off roughly a third of the the board game collection for the PAX open gaming library. He's also managed to wrangle a three-day pass, as an exhibitor for a local game store (basically, he'll be in the board game area teaching folks to play whatever's available - otherwise known as Eric heaven). It's going to be weird, having the weekend alone, too, but I'm really enjoying the whole "time to myself" thing. Plus, I'll have the car this weekend, which means I can go out and about a bit if I so desire. We shall see.

And now, I clean up, and then back to sewing - I've gotten pretty far with seanb and trilliumgrl's wedding sampler, and then I need to finish up the birth announcement for Eric's brother's second kid. Hopefully, when I call the recruiter tomorrow, I'll be able to get a more definite answer on when I'm starting. As much as I'm enjoying the time off, I really want to get back to work.

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 04:24:03 GMT

So, yesterday, I was told around 4pm that the general counsel for Amazon (M) was finally back from the East coast, and I was scheduled to meet with her at 3:30 today. 'Bout freakin' time, I thought. Today was the last day of my contract, so it seemed only fitting.

At 2 o'clock, my coworkers took me to a tea shop (Seattle Best Tea), where we had an hour long tea tasting and lesson on Taiwanese teas. It was made of awesome - I didn't think my coworkers would care too much about tea (but dammit, it was my going away party!), but they seemed really interested, and several of them ended up buying tea by the time we left. At 3, I took off for the shuttle to my interview, partly so I could be sure to be on time, and partly so I could hit the ladies room first (hey, YOU drink tea for an hour and then hold it). I ended up being about twenty minutes early.

Finally, 3:30 comes around and M comes in and we start the whole interview thing. It felt very informal, just asking me about why I wanted to be in the legal department, how is my attention to detail, have I ever dealt with confidentiality issues, that sort of thing. 15 minutes later, it's over and I'm heading back to my office. She told me that I would hear from the hiring manager (A) "shortly" - I was less than confident that her definition of "shortly" would match mine.

When I got back, I kept working on some projects I'd been sitting on, and emailed A to let him know I'd met with M, she said I'd hear from him, here's my home email and phone number (since, y'know, I'd be gone in a couple of hours). An hour later, I got the call - I GOT THE JOB. I'll be getting my official offer on Monday, and I have to wait for a background check, so it'll be a week to a week and a half before I get to start, but I think I can deal. I don't mind taking a break from work, so long as I have a job to come to at the end. I get to be a REAL employee with, like, BENEFITS and crap.

So, that was my Friday. How are you?

Oh, right! The internet!

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:37:42 GMT

I haven't exactly been present online lately. To be honest, I don't think I've really been all that present in person, either. I'm not doing so great. There's a lot of work stuff going on, most importantly that my contract ends on Friday and I don't have anything lined up. I'm in a hiring loop for a position in the legal department at Amazon, but there's been some hold ups regarding scheduling one final interview (with the general counsel for Amazon - they don't fool around in legal), so no decision can be made. For reference, I applied for this position back in May. Yes, I've contacted my temp agency, and I hope they'll have something for me soon, but I'm not sure. That's the worst part - I'm not sure what's going on.

The impending lack of job is leading to all sorts of panic regarding money and what am I doing with my life, a bunch of boring existential ranting that I won't trouble you with here. Suffice to say that I haven't been sleeping well. I'm almost looking forward to being unemployed, as it'll give me a chance to get caught up on my sleep - well, and then some, because my depression tends to go the "sleep all day, don't eat" route.

Every time I go to rant here about work stuff (training my successor, applying for a permanent position in my team and not only not getting it, but having the other temp who applied for it have a position created for him), it sounds so damned whiny. And yes, I'm well aware that 9/10th of all LJ content is whiny and/or ranty, but it's the principle of the thing.

So, yeah. I'm here, but not fully. I don't particularly want to spend time with people, either online or off. Hopefully I won't miss anything important.

The Milky-cat is gone

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 07:17:31 GMT

As many of you know, Milky, my very first kitty ever, has been very ill for the last few months. He's been going downhill pretty quickly, and when I talked to my mother (he lives with her now) earlier today, she said that he was only getting worse. She wanted to know if I wanted to come down to see him again, and I decided that I did.

Well, Eric got a phone call while we were at Game Night - as soon as he said that it was Mom, I knew. I'm still not entirely sure what happened - she was crying really hard when she told me, so I *think* she said that she got home from work and he was worse, seizing, maybe?, and she took him to the vet and he was gone. I think. Right now, I'm not going to ask her. All I know is that he's gone.

A few weeks before my 16th birthday, my mother and brother walked into my bedroom after school and told me to get in the car. They wouldn't tell me where we were going. We finally pull into a parking lot, and it's a pet store. We walk in the door, and Mom points at a cage of kittens in the center of the room and says "Pick one, they close in half an hour." That's how I found out that my brother was giving me a kitten for my birthday. I held a couple of the kittens, and while I was holding one, a big dog came in. The kitten I was holding cuddled against me and tried to hide in my arms - he trusted me to keep him safe. That's how I picked Milky.

His full name was Milky Way - when we brought him home, he wouldn't really play or eat too much, until we gave him a little saucer of milk. After he drank that, he was EVERYWHERE, playing and jumping - thus the name.

I remember the first night we had him home - we were keeping him in my room, because he was such a small kitten and a pretty big house. I woke up in the middle of the night to hear a tiny little mew. I looked down and saw that he was looking up at me, demanding to be put on the bed, since he was too small to make the jump. I picked him up, and he curled up on my chest and fell asleep. I was terrified that I would roll over and crush him - I don't think I slept at all that night.

He never was a big cuddle cat, but he liked curling up near me. He was always my cat, even after I moved away for college. My senior year of college, I was in a bad place. My mother lived half an hour away from my school, and I would frequently go home for a weekend to try to get away from everything. A big part of what I got there, besides the comfort of being home, was getting some kitty time - something I didn't realize I needed until I didn't have it on a regular basis. One very bad night, I was at Mom's, with Milky curled up behind my knees as usual. I distinctly remember thinking that there wasn't a single living thing on Earth that benefited from my existence - and that's when Milky started purring. It was a big turning point for me, and I truly believe that he saved my life.

His last few months were rough, and in a way, I'm glad he went the way he did - it means that my mother was spared the pain of making that decision, which I know she would second-guess forever. Still, this is going to be hard.

Hark! She has returned!

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:18:58 GMT

Made it back from NC late Sunday night (Eric made it back late Monday night). The wedding was made of awesome. For pictures, you can look here - it's the most recent stuff on Eric's photostream.

I had my in-person interview yesterday, and I think it went really well. I won't know anything for a few weeks, since it's a position for a new legal assistant for a new attorney, and they want to hire the new lawyer and assistant around the same time. We'll see what happens.

So. Tired. Back to work - while I was gone, my inbox exploded. :)

Fair warning

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:32:40 GMT

So, the phone interview I had went well (as seen in my previous post), and in theory I should be getting an in-person interview "soon". Considering it's been taking the recruiters quite some time to get back to me in the first place, I'll believe it when I see it.

In the meantime, I'm at work right now and have been since quarter after 7, and will be until...well, too dang late, really. I'm trying to cram as many work hours as I can in before I leave on Wednesday for Angela's wedding (EEEE!), while still being able to, y'know, sleep occasionally and all that jazz.

FFS. I had to deal with computer issues yesterday (my keyboard and mouse came unplugged, and when I went to plug them back in, the part they plug into got pushed into the computer itself) - I managed to fix that, eventually, but discovered in the process just how badly tangled all the cords under my desk are. As I was typing this, I stretched out a foot, not even thinking I was near the cords, and unplugged my computer. In plugging it back in, out came the keyboard and mouse again. I managed to get it fixed, obviously, but the hell, man. Theoretically, Deskside should be coming to fix the actual port on my computer tomorrow, but in the meantime, I need to, I don't know, not move? I straightened things out as best I can for the moment, and also discovered that no one vacuums the offices at all (ewwwwwww) and am now sneezy and itchy (and grumpy and sleepy...) from the dust. Fan-freakin-tastic. Anywho, I'm going to bandage up my fingertip, restart everything, and hope I didn't lose too much work. It doesn't look like it, thankfully - my stuff auto-saves with rather alarming frequency.

ANYWAY. The point of this post was to let folks know that I won't really be around too much for the next week or so. I leave Wednesday at too damned early, and come back on Sunday at not horrifically late. So, have good week, try not get eated. :)

WHY IS THERE NO ONE TO SQUEE WITH??

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:55:10 GMT

Phone interview went well - basically, a quick "wow, you filled this questionnaire out really well, and I've heard good things about you, let's get you straight to an in-person interview!" I should be getting that scheduling notice either today or Monday, and the recruiter said that it would probably be ON Monday, so I'm dressing up.

My co-workers aren't here! There's no one to squee with! Admittedly, I just got off the phone with my mother, so there was some over-the-phone squeeing there, and email squees from Eric and his mother, but but but EEEEEE!

See, one of the good things about the "hope for the best, expect the worst" philosophy is that when things DO go well, it comes as a big, happy-making surprise. :)

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:10:04 GMT

I'm on the couch, cats nearby, dancing on television.
No matter how many tears have fallen, more lurk, waiting.
My mother's tears still ring in my memory.
Only one thought runs through my mind:
I want to go home.

But I don't know where that is.

The Milky-cat appears to have the first signs of kidney failure, and possibly high blood pressure. He'll be going in for more tests on Saturday. It's a matter of maintenance, not treatment. I was doing all right until I asked my mother how she was doing, and she started to cry. Work was frustrating, and every day I don't have a permanent job lined up, I panic more. I start thinking that I made a huge mistake leaving my old job - sure, I hated it, but it paid the bills and meant I could take care of my family. I never should have left.

It's not a great time to be a Stephie right now.

worryfret

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:48:04 GMT

Could y'all do me a favor and think healthy kitty thoughts for my kitty, Milky? He's my very first cat ever, and apparently he's not doing so well. He's about 12, almost 13 now, and he's lost quite a bit of weight and is "acting weird" according to my mother - meowing much louder and more constantly than normal, randomly hiding, things like that. He still seems to be eating (less, and eating more of Baron's wet food than his own crunchy stuff) and using the litter box just fine, but... We're taking him to the vet on Saturday to get the elderly cat check-up and blood work and all that.

Don't tell Ramses, but he's my favorite cat ever, and I'm not really ready to let him go yet.

Wed, 27 May 2009 18:42:42 GMT

I'm realizing something about myself. The more I feel like people don't trust me, don't believe I know what I'm doing, or just feel the need to criticize everything I do, the less tolerant I am of errant dirt and clutter. I feel like I don't have a lot of control right now, but dammit, I can clean up the crap inside the microwave! I also become more interested in my cross-stitch and crochet. There are RULES, there's ORDER, it makes SENSE.

It should say something about how the day is going, then, when I spend 10 minutes cleaning out the inside of the work microwave and wiping down all the counters, and I have a burning desire to go home and work on the Egyptian Sampler I haven't touched in nearly two years. Yeah. It's been a great day.

Psst! deleva and metal_aria!

Fri, 15 May 2009 19:22:09 GMT

Remember those mythical creatures stamps that I posted about awhile back? They're available now here, and yes, they ship to the US.

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:56:00 GMT

So, last night Eric and I kept hearing a cat crying outside. Every once in awhile we would hear what sounded like a cat's paw on a door, but we couldn't tell whose door was being pawed. (We live in an apartment complex, and our door and our neighbor's door are very close to each other.) We used to have a neighbor who would let his cats out during the day, and not always hear them when they wanted to come back in at night, so we thought that perhaps this was the case again. We couldn't bear to hear the kitty sound so upset, so we thought we'd try to find him or her and let the owner know to let the cat in (like we had with the old neighbor).

Imagine our surprise when we open our door and in streaked the cat! She was gray and silver, and my first thought was actually that it was a possum, not a cat. She came running in and immediately made it quite clear that she DID NOT like other cats. Feina hid, as she's a big wimp. Ramses, on the other hand, was merely curious, and kept trying to sniff out the interloper. She was having none of that, and started hissing and growling at him, which confused the heck out of him. He didn't so much hide as make a strategic retreat.

We realized that we couldn't really keep this cat in our apartment, but we weren't really sure what to do - it was about 10:30 at night, and I wasn't really all that keen on calling Animal Control or anything like that, since she was obviously someone's pet (long-haired cat, well groomed, but no collar - grr!). We tried some of the neighbors, but they said they didn't have a cat, and she wasn't theirs. We finally convinced her to leave the apartment and get down off our stoop, but it took some convincing.

This morning, we opened the door very cautiously and there she was again! We managed to keep her from coming back in, but she didn't look like she was planning to leave anytime soon. I feel so bad about making her stay outside like that, but we really can't take her in. I'm just hoping that she finds her way home soon.

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:13:32 GMT

Things are...not great. Work is fine, Eric remains wonderful. The problem is with me.

I've fought with major depression for years, and have twice hit rock bottom. The first time was my senior year of high school, and I was completely unprepared. I had fought with moments of feeling "low" since I was a kid, but that was the first time it got to something...worse. I was terrified, and it's actually difficult to remember details about that time - it's like everything was in a fog. The second time was my senior year of college, and I saw what was happening when it started happening. I tried to stop the decent in its tracks, and it didn't work. Again, much of that time is foggy, though I think in that case, it was due at least in part to the cycle of medications I went through.

I'm afraid I'm starting to go down that road again. I've noticed that I'm starting to get disportionately upset about unimportant things, and I'm having a hard time finding joy in the things I love. Everything seems to be either impossible or pointless. I gave up on ScriptFrenzy early on, and feel certain that writing is not in my future. Neither is acting, translating, dance, any kind of art...see, this is what I'm talking about.

I'm scared. I've seen how low I can get, and I'm scared. I'm also afraid to say anything about it, particularly to Eric. The last time I saw myself going down this road, I was honest with the people closest to me and I tried to get help in time. Within a month, the boy I loved told me he didn't like who he was around me and my psychiatrist (psychologist? The one prescribing the meds) told me I had no right to be around anyone, that I was being selfish to talk about my issues with my friends. Needless to say, this has made me wary of seeking help from my friends. I can't lose everyone again, even temporarily. The idea of going on the cycle of medications also makes me nervous, as I don't know that I ever found anything that actually worked - I found things that kept me from wanting to die, but they didn't leave me with the desire to live. Or for anything, really - it seemed like the best way to keep me from hurting was to keep me from feeling anything, and I'm not willing to do that again. I don't know what I'm going to do.

I know that you all care about me, and that I've probably just made you all worry about me a lot. Please - right now, I'm trying to figure this out for myself. I can't drag everybody down with me again. I know some of you are chomping at the bit to give a ton of well-meaning advice. Please - I'm incredibly oversensitive right now, and I will probably take things the wrong way. Just...i'm probably making a mountain out of a molehill, as per usual, so don't freak out too much. I've been here before, and I'm sure I'll be here again, but I'll get through. I always do.

Seattle Dining

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:31:06 GMT

The attendance poll is up! Just a reminder, the meeting point is at the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood - specifically, at the fountain outside of Borders (between Borders and P.F. Changs).

Hope to see y'all there!

Pretties!

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:05:32 GMT

Hey, deleva!

From Neil Gaiman's blog, a set of stamps of Dave McKean's mythical creatures. Lookit the dragon!

A request

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:17:43 GMT

Can y'all do me a favor? Give me some good news.

Pictures of adorable children, puppies, kittens, whatever. You remembered where you parked, your boss gave you a compliment, you've got a good lead on a job, something. Anything. You saw flowers blooming, the weather matches what you prefer (be that sunny, rainy, or something else entirely), your lunch was good. I just...I need to remember that it hasn't all gone to crap. That while the bad may seem to outweigh the good right now, it will swing back around. Hell, even tell me I'm being melodramatic, stupid, and oversensitive about everything, especially since I'm one of the lucky ones right now. Just...help?

The muses have come out again

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:03:30 GMT

Why is it that the muses always come out when it's least convenient? This time, it was in the shower. Long story short, I'm going to do Script Frenzy this year, or at least, I'm going to try. Eric had been asking me for some flash fiction or drabbles for an RPG he's working on, and I realized how easy it would be to turn some of that into a stage play. I'll probably be writing a bit of flash fiction and such until April 1st, as I can't actually start working on the script until, and if all goes well, then I'll keep the flash up until November and NaNoWriMo. I'm realizing just how many possibilities there are in this world Eric's creating, and I want to play in it for awhile.

If any of y'all are interested in my (admittedly not great) scribblings, they can be found in setauuta_muse. I keep all of that locked, so let me know and I'll friend you so you can see.

Associations Meme

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:19:35 GMT

Association Meme: Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given. (Associations from apestyle and princessgeek)

Cats - My first cat was a birthday present from my brother and mother. The year I turned sixteen, my brother was set to join the Army. He would be at basic training over my birthday, so he and my parents plotted to get my birthday present before he left. He and my mother came into my room one day after school and just told me to get into the car. They drove me to a pet store, and we were confronted by a cage of kittens. Mom just told me to pick one, that they closed in half an hour. That kitty is my Milky-cat, and he's the one that turned me into a cat person - to be honest, cats kinda creeped me out before then. Now? I can't imagine living in a house with no cats.

Knitting - I've tried knitting a few times before, and it never goes well. I can crochet reasonably well, but if you give me more than one hook, and it usually ends badly. I may or may not have tied myself to my knitting needles - I admit nothing!

Panic attacks - I'm not sure I can pinpoint when my first panic attack happened, but I can remember how they feel. I can't breathe, and I stutter - it's more like the words won't come out, and I can't find the words I want. That, of course, makes me panic even more, and it just gets worse and worse. I've had medication for it before, but I've not really been able to find one that doesn't make me incredibly loopy or knock me out. Over the last two or three years, I've been able to control them much better, and I haven't had a major panic attack in several months now. Yay me!

Spanish - I love the language. I feel a connection to it through my heritage, which is kinda strange, considering my mother did not speak Spanish at home. She didn't want to confuse us, so she didn't teach us Spanish at home. All of my Spanish has come from school, which makes me feel a bit like a fraud at times - I'm fluent in that I can think in Spanish, rather than translating in my head, but if you put me on the spot, I panic. And flail - I talk a LOT more with my hands when speaking Spanish, than when speaking English.

(Spanish Spanish Spanish...yep, the word no longer has any meaning. Hee.)

Acting - The other half of my oh-so-useful bachelor's degree! My first taste of the stage was in the third grade, and I was hooked. It actually causes me a bit of physical...not quite pain, but discomfort, to be near a stage or a thearical production and know I'm not a part of it. I haven't actually been on a stage in...nearly six years, now? Since my senior thesis production. I miss it a lot, but honestly, it's probably for the best - I'm not very good.

Hair - My hair has always been one of my distinguishing features - it's been long for nearly my entire adult life (for a given value of "adult", I suppose). I am the Girl with the Long Hair at nearly every office I've worked in. I try to take care of it, but I sometimes feel like it's a bit wasted on me. Still, right now, short hair would NOT look good on me - I'd have to lose *coughmutter* pounds before it would work.

Musicals - You can blame my older brother for my obsession with Broadway musicals, as he introduced me to the first show I ever learned backwards and forwards, Sweeney Todd. Something about the music, the stories, the utter ridiculousness of breaking into song spontaneously - it's all so silly and wonderful. I love Sondheim and Stephen Schwartz's musicals the most, at least in part because they write such wonderful parts for altos and mezzo-sopranos.

Cats - I think I covered that. Moving on!

Eric - My marvelous husband. I can honestly say, I never really expected to marry a man I met on the internet. Back in 2003, I received a comment on a post I'd made about how thunderstorms made me think of my father. I didn't recognize the username, but, reading through the journal, I felt like this was someone I knew already. I was actually disappointed to find out that he was some random guy, because I thought it meant I would never meet him. Not long after we got together, I realized that I could easily see myself spending the rest of my life with him. Fortunately, he felt the same way. I love the life we've created with each other, and I look forward to spending the next 60 or 70 years with him.

Oregon - When I graduated from high school in Maryland, I needed to get as far out of Dodge as possible. I had received several college applications from all over the country, and the one for Reed caught my eye. All I knew about Oregon was that it was green, it was cloudy, and it was 3000+ miles away. I took it. I fell in love with the area, and I don't really see myself leaving the Pacific Northwest anytime soon (even if Eric weren't completely opposed to moving). I do still miss Portland, but I don't know that I'd want to move back - it would seem like moving backwards, somehow.

Recipe testing

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:08:40 GMT

Early last month, lifeflowson on cooking asked for some recipe testers for her cookbook. I jumped at the chance, and with her permission, put up a few pictures of the first meal - Olive Oil and Garlic Steak with Bacon Stuffing. Here's the finished plate:

More pictures on my blog here.

State of Steph report

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:14:06 GMT

So, I'm home feeling like crap, as you do. There's some kind of super-bug going around my office, which took my manager out earlier this week. i ended up leaving work early yesterday, when I realized I'd been staring at my computer screen for about 20 minutes without comprehending a thing I saw. My manager told me I looked pretty bad, and I should go home.

I'm still a temp for the moment, though I did talk to my manager earlier this week about the possibility of turning my position into a full-time "real" postion with the company. The position didn't even exist a little over a year ago, and has only been worked by temps. I can't get a definitive answer right now, as we are in the midst of the Screwiest Weeks Ever, but maybe once things settle down. My contract isn't up until the end of June at the earliest, so there's still time.

Incidentally, after Monster.com got hacked a few weeks ago, I went in and changed my password, and decided to clean up/update my resume while I was there. Since then, I've been contacted by four different employment agencies. One of them had a specific job opening in mind for me - contract to hire at AT&T, doing something very similar to what I'm doing at Amazon now, paying $metric_crapload more than I'm making now. I sent in my resume, and am waiting to hear if I get an interview. If I had my druthers, I'd stay here full-time, but the important thing at this point is to get a stable, permanent position.

In other news, there isn't much going on. The apartment is still looking pretty good - Feina's injury definitely shook us both up, and we're fighting hard to make sure things never get that bad again. I rearranged the living room last weekend, and it only confused the cats a little bit. NorWesCon approches, which means I'm going to be getting my geek on soon. We have our hotel room for GenCon booked, meaning yay! More geek! Other than that...yeah, not much going on.

Why is it that, when not feeling well, napping on the couch is more appealing than going back to bed? Admittedly, in our case the bedroom has an eastern exposure, meaning it's too damned bright in there right now. Anyway, to sleep with me. Here's hoping that'll be enough to kick this out of my system.

seattledining reminder

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:35:49 GMT

Just a reminder - this Tuesday, March 3rd, is the next meeting of the seattledining group. The meeting place is in the Southcenter Mall in Tukwila - go to the Food Court and find the escalator up to the movie theater, and we'll be meeting near the base of that escalator. We plan to meet up at 6pm.

If you wish to join us, please visit this post and fill out the poll, or comment on this entry. Don't forget to bring the name of a restaurant in the area to throw in the hat.

Hope to see you there!

Snagged from deleva

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:20:33 GMT

Ask me to take a picture of any aspect of my life that you're interested in - it can be anything from the house I live in to my favorite shoes. Leave your choice here as a comment, and I will reciprocate by taking the pictures and posting them as an LJ entry. That way you get to know a little bit about my life, if you're remotely interested in it.

Mysterious Strength

Ah, NaNo...

Seattle Dining

Oh, yeah! I have a journal!

Week of no work

Oh, right! The internet!

The Milky-cat is gone

Hark! She has returned!

Fair warning

WHY IS THERE NO ONE TO SQUEE WITH??

*worryfret*

Psst! deleva and metal_aria!

Seattle Dining

Pretties!

A request

The muses have come out again

Associations Meme

Recipe testing

State of Steph report

seattledining reminder

Snagged from deleva

worryfret