R|ReLo: approaching burnout

... o.k. - the grand 10/29 objectives were pursued and generally successful. still to do ...

• www shoppin' on the web because it's always fun to get packages in the mail!
  
• r|office & r|annex org to work a miracle (e.g., set-up dsl, network, work space, projects, reference material, copy center, etc.)
• home org to work a 2nd miracle ... after finding everything
• veg-out big-time!

with a little bit of mixing it up with

• some "hoot"
• some liquids
• some raw fish
• some gear purchases
  

... and thanks to the mom of future intern andrew + paddy, i'm off tomorrow and will be back working and all on 11/01.

[blame (or congratulate) them
for a bad (or good) idea!)]

R|ReLo pics: just a select few pics from 10/26 ...

before 2:45 pm

and some time after 5 pm

'nuff said!

R|ReLo pics: just a select few pics from 10/25 ...

... for those in the know

buddy's backyard bonsai trees

manhattan beach morn

wearin' a water tower

drivin' in socal traffic from la to sta barb

more pics to come!
(kaanswfm ... fess up, eh!)

R|ReLo pics: just a select few pics from 10/24 ...

... events that punctuated the trip north
(for those "in the know")

my "last meal" at fabu influx
(s latte + oatmeal mango cookies)


preparing for the drive outta SD county
with a little help from my friends

a personal tour of the leucadia ... ... the façade o' meal in paradise for squirrel nutkins
(those are avocados)


and my paradise meal
#6 FAMOSO POLLO VERSAILLES
- Versailles Famous Garlic Chicken

[JUICY ROASTED HALF CHICKEN MARINATED IN DELICIOUS GARLIC SAUCE GARNISHED WITH SLICED WHITE ONIONS - Served with Fried Sweet Plantains and or Moro]

(more pics later)

(thank you, thank you, miguel!)

R|ReLo 5n: it's sun morn (10/29) ...

... and it's been quite a whirlwind. with the "fall back" in time, lots o' stuff this AM (considering normal rise/shine has been ~ 5:30-6:30 AM) and today's whirlwind objectives include -

• wi-fi at paddy's just to get a post on blog and check my e-mails
• to do list write-up for the day
• web-surfin' for home/furniture stuff
• brick-and-mortar shoppin' as soon as stores open (!) ... back to a few stores & malls for (more) curtains, office equipment, grocery/drug store stuff, other home stuff, etc.
• lunch with mom and more shoppin' with mom
• www shoppin' on the web because it's always fun to get packages in the mail!
  
• r|office & r|annex org to work a miracle (e.g., set-up dsl, network, work space, projects, reference material, copy center, etc.)
• home org to work a 2nd miracle ... after finding everything
• dinner with mom and others
• veg-out big-time!
  

... all in prep for my 1st day (tomorrow) at my new r|office in the BA! pics still to come!

(thanks to all those who kept me company
- in person + on phone -
on my drive up from SD to BA)

R|ReLo 4n: it's friday morn, 10/27 ...

... and some time w/in the next 3 hours (after an 11:30 conference call and departure from villa rosa), i'm officially going to cross (drive through) that sort of imaginary border between socal and nocal (tho' perhaps the border is not imaginary), which happens somewhere after what's known as the central coast (i believe). and apparently, there may be some sort of nocal/socal rivalry ?!

to prepare - gas (for the haul) in my l'il car with lots of last minute stuff from my 10/24 departure from SD ... and a few 10/25 wb shopping trinkets ... and actually some 10/26 spa products ... and perhaps a few CDs from one of my 10/21 gal pals, h!

now on the conference call!

R|ReLo 3n: yesterday (10/26) in sta barb

o.k. ... the past whirlwind days - heading north on 10/24 and from l.a. area to sta barb on 10/25 ... yesterday was pretty tame, with a little less work and more of a break (relatively speaking).

• ~7:00 AM: villa rosa's comp breakfast in the common area ... while working on my computer with bberry in tow (that's why they put those outlets in the common area for computer (uh ... work) junkies like me, right?) ... and having my newspaper reading service, kaanswfm, keep me company! (thanks for the little waffles!)
• ~10:30 AM: off to state street to shop - window shop - lunch ... we at taj cafe for lunch (yum!) ... and yes, i took some work calls (it's called either foolish or dedicated)
  
• ~ 2:30 PM: arrived at avia (spa) for our each of our massage + 30-min express facial. me - deep tissue with mui; kaanswfm - swedish. a l'il dry sauna and back to the villa rosa. (... and with the retail therapy - quite a bit o'spa products)
  
• ~ 5:30 PM: early eve comp wine & cheese ... much smaller group - pretty much me and kaanswfm (and my cell phone - doah! - yeah, work.)
• ~ 7:00 PM: relax in my #7 villa rosa room to watch a couple of episodes of "the office" (british version) - part of the treasure o' dvds from 10/25 excursion at wb.
• ~ 8:oo PM: didn't hear from colleague for din-din, so we took off for din-din at pascucci
  
• ~ 10:00 PM: kaanswfm headed back to thousand oaks ... and me back to #7 for some time with my computer (uh ... work)

and enough of when i crashed ... just some time in the early AM

R|ReLo 2n: still headed NORTH (yester-yesterday, 10/25)

after working until ~ 1 AM on 10/24 at m's in hermosa bch ... 10/25 started and ended as follows ...

• ~5:45 AM: awake to do some work here/there
• ~7:15 AM: pack it up to get ready and follow m to work (at manhattan beach) with a little side visit to m's bonsai trees (very cool!)
  
• ~ 8:00 AM: a l'il out & about manhattan beach - coffee, walking around, checking out m's project, watching some dolphins, kevin nealon siting, galleries,
  
• ~10:00 AM: headed over to warner bros to see ren - what treat!!! ... lunch + work talk (sort of) + tour + shopping + exposure of my ignorance of the entertainment industry + exposure of my **not** having (yet) watched harry potter-anything ('cept the SNL spoof with l.lohan has hermione... which i'm told does not count)
  
• ~ 3:00 PM: headed over to sta barb for overnight stays at villa rosa inn and mtg up with kaanswfm and SL for din-din at downey's (thanks, r, for the recommendation! fabu!)
• ~ 5:00 PM: at villa rosa, unpacking, relaxing, early eve wine & cheese, chat with some folks from england (proud grandparents!) and detroit (young couple residents - 1st year ER and 3rd year ... i forget)
• ~ 7:15 PM: SL picks us up (tho' has to wait until a little flat-ironing is finished) with curbside service to head over to downey's for din.
  
• ~ 9:30 PM: downey's din over ... awesome food! tarakihi, vegetarian special, duck breast, babcock pinot, desert (each our own, of course, but we shared - most of the time, ha!), great service, wonderful food, and good conversation (and pic taking... of which we strategically deleted some of them)
• ~ 11:30 PM: nite-nite for kaanswfm and a l'il work for moi (yes - wifi equipped)
• ~1:30 AM: when i closed my computer
  

well, may be a l'il boring to read,
but for me, it's a whirlwind of events,
it means quite a bit to me,
and it's cathartic.

r|schedule revisited (as of 10/26)

... in sta barbara now, so updating the last schedule, here we go ...

• 10/24 ... left SD (the details) to head for LA area (hermosa, more specifically)
• 10/25 ... in LA area (hermosa, manhattan, burbank) then headed for sta barb overnight at villa rosa inn (lovely!); din with kaanswfm and SL (ugh! in the whole hectic deal, totally missed seeing rosalie! next time, chica)
  
• 10/26 ... in Sta Barb (spa treatment day!) and staying one more night at my little villa (... and, well, working some more)
  
• by sat, 10/27 ... leaving SoCal and heading to NoCal to my new digs ...
  

... and meeting my furniture and new neighbors.

R|ReLo 1n: heading NORTH (on 10/24)

it's official ... i'm out of the "fort stockton" compound. i'm in transit and all over the map (literally the california map!), so i will later back-post my ventures (w/pics - of course!) northbound. the snippet version of 10/24:

• ~ 5:10 AM: up and active on east coast call for project work and doing some project work, while sitting in the guest house of my (now) former landlord, g.
• up to ~ 7:15 AM: coffee w/g and his partner, r, in their wonderful historic, craftsman home (really!) and got to meet 2 little golden pups, sofie and dory, plus lioness - now the matriarch of the retrievers!
  
• up to ~ 8:20 AM: at my former fort stockton digs (post merry-maids 10/23 adventure!), typing/finishing up proposal, greeting the painters (and landlord mentioned plumbers coming by for other compounds' pipe ills)
  
• ~ 8:25 AM forward: to a client meeting in the "la jolla/utc area" with an east coast + oregon client mtg with some utility folks (small world - one of them a fellow i met in jan 2001 + fellow i worked with only over the phone in 2001-2002)
• ~ 11:45 AM: headed to nursery to have 5 alive & purchased trees delivered to the compound - to replace the 5 very not alive ficus trees on my balcony; delivery by jeff delayed just a little, per ignacio.
  
• ~12:15 PM: errand to drugstore
• ~12:45 PM: back to fort stockton digs to meet jeff ... and chat about some REALLY interesting "what 'cha doing in life" type stuff ... uh ... didn't see any plumbers at the compound
  
• ~1:45 PM: to tax accountant, because he was making my life much more pleasant
• ~2:15 PM: to influx (my FAVE coffee place!) for the fabu oatmeal mango cookie and a little chit/chat with fern (and ugh! and i missed the roll-out of their new menu!)
• ~ 2:45 PM: to vagabond (obviously my recent FAVE dining place!) for t-shirts (score!)
• ~ 3:15 PM: to client to visit with s (because i missed j, who'd left ~ 2 PM); a bit of a tear jerker as we both talked about our changes in life ... both moving. it kinda hits ya when you actually think about it!
• ~ 3:45 PM: on to the agency i work with quite a bit - sdapcd - to see 2 of my fave folks - s gal & s guy. y'see ... s gal and i - we're are part of the velma club (it's a shoe thing, peeps!) ... and realizing traffic peaking ... onto north bound freeway
  
• ~4:45 PM: in traffic headed to del mar to see h gal!
• ~5:30 PM: left h gal (THANKS (!!!) for the CDs - music, books, self-help, music, and more music)
• ~6:00 PM: reached t to then head over to the captors of squirrel nutkins and check out the remodeled & new digs of the captors in leucadia
  
• ~8:00 PM: left SD county to head to hermosa beach to hang out overnight with m and bummed that one of my fave restaurants would be closed by the time i reached the l.a. area.
• ~9:50 PM: reached hermosa beach and stopped by mcd's, then totally surprised that m got (drum roll, pahleez!) garlic chicken + rice + black beans + plaintains (and some onions) with a tasty marinade.
  
• into the night chatting and watching a l'il hgtv and bravo's top chef!
  
• a l'il work ... until slumberland around ~1 AM

pics a l'il later.

a l'il more of sat-day w/gal shan

just 2 more pics from over here and over there on the last saturday in SD

you have awakened the geek in me ...

oh thank you, thank you, holly! ... so because i do some pseudo-geeky stuff, i must totally know what "T-negative" means - and PROUDLY! ... having said that and in keeping w/the geekdom ... enjoy this cleverly edited version of one of my fav shows as an adult a child ... check out SPOCKS BAND, eh!

wisdom from the oracle ..

.... YOU know who you ARE ...

nothing is impossible for the person
who does not have to do it

[now back to work for me!]

r|meal: il fornaio

last saturday (yesterday eve) in SD dinner with friends at the del mar plaza at il fornaio.

Cool Slideshows

the plaza is a nice place to sit and catch the sunset, as well as shop (and window shop).

talk at the table included ... caning, 3D movie outing, dating, not dating, recent h.s. reunion, red blazer, catholic school, love at first sight, h.s. boyfriends, pain killers, pilot with girlfriend, wrestling, south africa, h.s. crushes, turf club + drinks with bleu cheese stuffed olives, jolene ... and more!

thanks, ariel, for getting us all together.

and thanks all for fun conversations
and for being such a good audience!

r|drinks at turf club ...

Cool Slideshows

... as part of the last saturday gig in SD with the gals! (this was AFTER the gaslamp and movie fun...) several places in SD to hang out, just sit and chat and have a drink - turf is one of my faves to do so. "one cosmo & 2 dirty martinis, please."

there are other places. will miss y'all!

see the movie ... for your 3D glasses -

- and some fun! as part of my last saturday in san diego, the gals and i saw the nightmare before christmas 3D ...

Cool Slideshows

... and then headed over to the gaslamp's dick's last resort for some crawdads and brews. yum fun, stinky & sticky fingers, and great chatter!

how many years in SD?!

labing lima ... quinze ... quince ...
quindici ... fünfzehn

15

fifteen

r|meal: roy's

my friend is leaving for iraq in several weeks ... (so melancholy am i) ... while he was visiting in SD, we yip/yapped over appetizers and drinks here & there and ended up at roy's. (yum - chocolate soufflé!)

Cool Slideshows

he's a bit shy so what you see is the "i am a shy person, do not take post my pic" ... which is o.k.! meanwhile, i gotta get to the USPS so i can get my flat rate box and then head to target for them wet wipes!

until next spring, will miss you, r,
and our east coast/west coast chats about dating

thank you, see ya, & will miss ya!

yet again, another lunch at the fabu vagabond!
long time friends since being in SD

Cool Slideshows

• dash (known since 1992) - wearing the r|wear (right on!) ... and having the Vagabond Black Ink Linguini Shrimp ... Four Large Shrimp Tossed in Black ink Linguini with Onions, Garlic, Chorizo and Green Chiles. Topped with Manchego Cheese, Roasted Peanuts and a drizzle of Chili Oil.
  
• d (known since 1993) - wearing ... well, wearing this shirt ... and having the Caribbean Chicken Salad ... A filet of Chicken Breast Grilled with Herbs and Caribbean Spices, cut in Medaillons and served over Mixed Greens with Cucumbers, Tostones, Plantanos Maduros and Lime. Sweet Caribbean dressing.
  
• shannon (known since 2000) - wearing salmon ... and having the Caribbean Filet Mignon Sandwich with Avocado ... Thinly Sliced Filet Mignon Marinated in a Caribbean Dressing of Olive Oil, Garlic, Honey, Ginger, Herbs and Spices. Served Grilled with Spread Avocado and Spicy jack Cheese on Toasted Telera Roll.
• moi (the one moving) - wearing a smile and having the Red Curry ... Onions, Garlic, Coconut Milk, Red Curry, Lemon Grass, Ginger, Palm Sugar and a touch of Chili Pepper. Served on a Bowl over Jasmine Rice and garnished with Fried Shallots, Shredded Kaffir Lime leaves and Scallions.

never disappointed with friends chatting over a tasty meal. heard at the table ... girlfriend, dating, new truck, clearance, friend pregnant, walter claudio, intern, qualcomm stadium, daybed, santa barbara, tennessee, new jersey, oakland, season tickets ...

thanks all for being great friends!
and thanks, dash, for lunch!

Squirrel Nutkins out of prison

Dateline: Leucadia

Word on the street has it that Squirrel Nutkins
was apprehended just before 3PM (PST).
He had no comment other than let me outta here.

[Update: Exclusive interview with wife of Captor says, "His taste for avocados is what got him into trouble to begin with." Meanwhile, Squirrel Nutkins was no where to be found.]

chuckle from jeanie ... trunk monkey

... i want a trunk monkey ... i want a trunk monkey!
and i especially want the one that theft retrieval, smarty pants dude!

[thanks jeanie!]

pigdog's other new friend ...

pigdog has a l'il friend in martinez ...

and her name is dottie.

r|schedule: thru month o' October

... updating the 10/10 milestones, here is the short & sweet

• on tue, 10/24 ... in SD
• maybe tue, 10/24 (eve) ... in LA area, but just not yet certain
  
• by wed, 10/25 (mid-day) ... driving up to santa barbara for din-din and overnight with silver lining and kaanswfm
• by sat, 10/28 (perhaps sooner) ... in BA
• by the end of the month some time ... officially a year older
  

peace.

25th h.s. reunion: why i attend the reunions ...

a quick acknowledgment of WHY i go to my h.s. reunion

• louis = devil (as a term of endearment, of course)
  
• i made a deal with louis at the 1st reunion (the 5 yr)
• hence, i made a deal with the devil

and i do not back out on deals (most of the time)

meet my friend, the devil
[pic from our recent 25th reunion,
and when i get back to the Bay Area, i'll post a pic from our 10 year reunion]

some of my memories from the 5 year reunion (at the dunfey in san mateo) include:

• being mistaken for greta, debbie, and rachel (of which i look like none of them, expect for the black hair)
• awesome spread of appetizers/food stuff
• lots of people
• being in an elevator w/h.s. people and realizing we didn't know each other as we went up 2 very slow levels (awkward moments)
  
• doing the once-in-a-while hug-screech-omg-hug thing
• answering questions as follows - "uh ... i just graduated and don't have a job yet" ... "single" ... "berkeley" ... "no kids" ... "jobless still, from when you asked me 20 minutes ago"
• hanging out in a lobby area w/some cool h.s. folks that i didn't really know but drinking up while eating fancy-shmancy appetizers
• meeting my boyfriend from college to pick me up and take me away (pah-leez)
  
• running into a teacher who apparently was the h.s. reunion police and asked that my boyfriend leave the premises (can they do that in a lobby area?)

OH! and making my deal with the devil - that no matter what - we would go to all the reunions together - with or without spouse, no matter how far we've moved, and with a smile on our faces!

thanks, louis, for a great tradition
that i can rely on every 5 years!

amuse yourself during my break ...

... with talk of nukes, a l'il animation deal ... and then "y" not get to know me a l'il, and play that addictive game!

[time management while moving is hard stuff, man!]

R|ReLo #26: preview new place

... on arrival of movers (10/13)

[2-car garage - 1970s-ish place]

[ahhhh ... relief ... FLOR waiting for me!]

[and nearly 300 "pieces" later ...
per movers' inventory lists]

[NOT EVEN 20% of the boxes! chick's gotta lotta-lotta!]

... fast-forward to 10/15
and TEMPORARY (very!) office layout
with HOUSE PET


pics from
in-between time ...
will be
later, gator!


thanks for dropping by!

25th h.s. reunion - quick thoughts & recap

amidst the move activities, if you note the sched,

yesterday eve (10/14)
was my 25th high school reunion!

[class pic1]

[... 25th h.s. reunion? ... feel free to do the math, if you're bored and have found some loose change in your sofa or in other people's cars ... you can buy me a b-day/housewarming gift - perhaps gift card(s)/certificates from ... oh, say ... target, cost plus, sur la table, west elm, pottery barn, flor, room and board, dwr, smart furniture ... or some new pillows? o.k. ... if not, that's alright.]

[class pic2]

(so for dave's benefit ... here we go!)

pics will be posted here/there over the coming week's posts
as i get pics from friends + my own camera

[sally, deb, shirl, valerie]

recap from start ... louis picked me up @ 5 pm (the agreed upon time), and i was not yet ready (of course) but not ready 'cuz 1/2-way through the blow-drying of the hair (prior to the straightening), the dryer started smoking ... and smoke alarm went off. (nice touch) took requisite pic w/dapper-looking-louis! (nice shoes, dude!) left ~ 5:20 pm to find out we'd be in traffic (880 north on a sat eve?! wtf?) ... so we missed the pre-reunion drinks at the hotel bar ... but there was another 'special bar' for the reunion folks.

[shirl, laura, ariel]

to the sign-in table ... caught up with deb, pat, valerie, laura, ariel on our way **to** the bar ... as they were heading **to** the reunion area. also met jack, who was in our class, on the way to the sign-in. walked w/them all to reunion get our name tags. checked out all the other names (aka other attendees). drinks to the left + dinner/ballroom to the right. yeah ... we turned left!

[valerie, laura]

drink room ... small, intimate setting, conducive to chit-chat stuff. round 1 - on pat (thanks!) ... and the start of the --- "omg" ... "who's that?" ... "isn't that ___?" ... "s/he looks totally the same!" ... "did we go to school w/that person?"... "what a cute dress?" ... "what does his name tag say?" ... "they are still together?!" ... "i don't think s/he'll remember me." ... "i'm going to say hi to him/her" ... "i had a crush on ___." ... "i'd like to see ___." ... "how many reunions have you attended?" ... "are there any teachers here?" ... "vodka gimlet over, please" ... "don't leave me alone" ... "where's my camera?" ... "how many kids?!" ... "and the top 5 are ___" ...

[valerie, brian, robert, raelene]

ballroom for dinner & dance ... tables of 10 ... and there were 8-9 tables ?! ... at ours - louis, me, laura, ariel, valerie, deb, pat, raelene, robert + empty. great table and great conversation! cameras all over the place. prime rib or chicken piccata or wild mushroom ravioli. survey says - not so great on the p-rib. chick o.k. and ravioli is ravioli. chocolate cake dessert - enough of a thumbs up. yes, spouses attended, also.

[deb + spouse pat (aka camera man)]

music for dinner & dance ... hopefully SOMEONE has a pic of the DJs ... really. and they did play brick house (ugh!) and the rest of the late 70s/80s music. just an evening of ... name that tune.

[glenn, cathy, arier, shirl, sally, louis]

[class pic3]

o.k. - more pics and thoughts later ...

prime number b-day ...

You are 67% Scorpio

How Scorpio Are You?

had a great time
at my 25th h.s. reunion

and soon ...
i'm turning a prime number this year ...
my b-date is a prime number always ...
and my % scorpio is a prime number ...

eh?!

[pardon my tardiness.
will be playing catch-up on posts;
still in the unpack-move-unpack mode,
sprinkling in a l'il home depot
and "where is the box cutter?!"
rant and rave!]

MOVE DAY (yesterday)! back to POINT A

from here ...
to ...

and office "deconstructed"

uh ...ba-byyyye
yeah - b'bye....

c'ya ...

leave, already ...
c'ya tomorrow in the BA!