I am so excited for my friend bluesleepy, I can hardly stand it! She had a baby girl early this morning and that has just made my day. Her new baby is beautiful and so is my friend and I just couldn't be happier for her family. Congrats, K!
I am also breathing a sigh of relief for my family members living in the Florida panhandle. It looks like hurricane Ike will be heading elsewhere.
This busy hurricane season is beginning to worry me a bit. You see, I am supposed to be spending a lovely weekend on the sugar white beaches of the emerald coast of Florida with seven of my really good friends. We have plans to go boating, lay out by the gulf, swim and see the wonderful sites that Destin has to offer. A hurricane will make all of these things a little difficult to do. Though there is always the possibility of a hurricane party. Wonder how everybody would feel about that?
Excitement
And the sunshine echoed with laughter
I feel like I should write this post in stream of consciousness because that is what the memories of this past weekend feel like to me:
The plane touches down where the sun is shining. I begin to shake and wonder "is this wrong?" as I let them know I have arrived. A red bag. Wheeling toward the unknown. Strangers all around. I've never done something like this. Never been this daring. A warm bench. A cool breeze. Waiting. Watching. Wondering. I remove my jacket and feel the wind on my arms. Nervousness. Cannot sit still. What if? A shiny car. Friendliness. A new beginning. The intangible becoming real. Driving surrounded by mountains, conversation, sunlight. A new place. So many faces. Second guesses, Hesitation. Then, laughter. Surrounding me like a soft blanket. Hugs. Calzones. The doubts float away like dust motes. And then there is love. Sharing. Intelligent conversations.
Smiles. So much laughter. Easiness. Cats and sunlight. Food and cool drinks. The color pink. A celebration of someone special. Magical. The reason we are here. The universe is smiling. I think "Where is the drama?" And there is none.
A long table. Beautiful people. Cameras everywhere. Fresh sushi and endamame and miso soup. The low buzz of conversation. Operatic singing. Sated and sleepy. Trees with white lights. A hotel room. Yellow walls. Games and more laughter. An open window. A warning delivered meekly. Attempted hushing. A crescendo of noise. Singing. Drinking. Carousing. Sleep.
A new day. A beautiful breakfast. Strong coffee. Multiple cups in saucers. Paper plates decorated with cupcakes. Shifting the focus. Surprise and tears. Hugs and comfort. Passing around tissues. Weeping dissolves into laughing. A flurry to gather supplies. Moving to another gathering place. Glue and scissors with the alphabet as inspiration. To adorn a baby's room. L and R, M and C are taken. 14 spectacular results. Night falls. Dinner is paella and sangria. My brother arrives late, but safe.
A trip to the airport. The first goodbye.
Games and more laughter. More goodbyes. Then sleep. Morning. Dress warm. Riding behind my brother. I am scared, but won't show it. I trust him implicitly and ride perched behind him. Don't fall. Speeding down the freeway. The wind whistling. A beautiful coast. 10 foot tall dinosaurs welded out of metal. Camera trouble. New card, continue on our way. Driving through the city. It is cold and overcast. Surrounded by fog and cars.
A huge cable bridge spanning the bay. A famous prison. I take lots of photos. At least for me. I am beginning to ache as I realize it's time to go back. Perched for what seems like eternity. Burning between my legs. I hold on. Stopping to say "We're allmost there." Understanding.
Dinner in a small space. Good food. A smaller group. More games. A sense of melancholy. Knowing it will soon end. Heading to the Anchev house. Comfortable and homey. A cat jump into a basket. More sharing. My brother opens up about our dad and for a moment I am sad. Back to the hotel. Everyone is sleepy. Worried about his ride home, I fall asleep.
Packing. Waiting for a ride to breakfast. The mood is subdued. We know we are leaving. Laughter, eggs and coffee. Then alone time with Catie. Decompressing from the excitement. A ride to the airport. Hugs goodbye. Too tired for tears. Feeling small and alone as I wait for the plane. Four hours airborne. A shaky landing. A hug from Dave and I'm home.
Whew, what a day
It has been one of those days. I spent the day trying to figure out why my email software client was being blocked by the servers of some of the customers that are on our email newsletter list at work. After scratching my head for several hours, I finally called my brother, Mike, who is a computer networking administrator and Unix / Linux expert. He was able to diagnose the problem pretty quickly. 1) our IP address had been blacklisted with www.spamhaus.com and 2) stupid me had been sending out my email newsletter without a throttle, meaning WAY too many emails were being pushed through a Cbeyond SMTP server WAY too quickly. I was essentially making myself look like a spammer.
One of the ways to resolve the issue was to use a different SMTP server to send the messages. Which required a phone call to my company's web hosting company. Whose customer service is less than stellar. The guy I talked to treated me like a stupid female who was wasting his time by asking all these technical questions that he felt didn't pertain to the real issue. So he decided to grill me about how my brother and I had reached the conclusions we had. He was a real a--hole, and after taking his shit for a few minutes, I finally decided to start flinging it right back. I hate to fight fire with fire, but sometimes it works.
Anyway, I finally got what I needed from Mr. Helpful, and I think the problem is resolved. For now, anyway.
In other news, I am SO EXCITED about my pending trip to San Jose. A group of us are getting together to help a friend celebrate her birthday and I think we're all going to have a blast. I'm also going to get to see my other brother, Chris. And ride on his motorcycle for the first time ever. Here's hoping he drives safely!
A busy week at work
This has been the first full week back to work since the Christmas and New Years breaks and it has certainly been a busy one. I have caught up on most of my projects, though there are still a few here and there that I need to complete. That's what comes with being the only marketing person for three separate companies.
But not anymore.
As of today, we have made an offer to a young woman who is going to be my assistant. Yay! I plan on teaching her every aspect of my job so that she can help me with anything and everything that comes up around here. In addition to helping me, she will also provide administrative support for our sales force (something that has also fallen to me in the past). If everything goes according to plan, I will become preggers soon, so she will be here to assume my role once I give birth, or if that doesn't work out, D should be transferring to another facility in the next two years because we are DESPERATELY wanting to get out of Atlanta.
When I first got to work on Monday, I also found out that the only two people that are a nightmare to work with have both been let go...one of them happens to be the boss' son. This is such unexpected news that I actually celebrated (inside my head, of course) until the guilt set in. No one should be jobless, no matter how rotten their attitude. So I hope they both land on their feet soon. Though I am glad that they will no longer be around her to harangue me. I attribute these sudden fortunate events to Janet Power. That Janet Power is some magical stuff, let me tell you.
