Waiting for the minutes to tick by

What a waste of a day.

Last night I was giving serious thought to staying home.  There was plenty I could do at home, but work was going to be slow.  With next week being a holiday week, I'm slow this week, and will be super busy next.  So today, I've done near to nothing.  I really should have stayed home and done something productive.

Instead I'm window shopping.  Lately I've been a little obsessed with the things my kitchen needs, or more accurately, things I want for my kitchen.  I don't need a KitchenAid Stand Mixerwith cool pasta roller attachemntsor a new egg beater(mine is functional, but ancient with only one speed, and the blades sometimes slide out), but I want them.  I have this vision of all black and chrome appliances, enough all white table settings in the event that my whole immediate family came over for dinner (I figure 20 place settings), a full compliment of cookware...

I actually have a fairly nice set of copper bottom/copper-clad stainless steel skillets that my Gma left me, and one nice cast iron pan that mom gave me.  But I don't have a roasting pan.  Until now, when I want to cook a chicken I've used a baking dish.  When I make a tri tip or rib roast - I use the pan that came with my toaster oven, which is a little small.

So days like this, I build my imaginary kitchen repertoire.  In my mind I buy stuff I don't have (like a food processor,cutting board with one of those grooves so the meat juice doesn't drip all over the table when I cut it up,or a nice Dutch oven), and replace all my stuff that isn't as good as I want it to be (like that egg beater or my garlic press).

I can't buy anything right now, but hopefully soon I can start buying one piece at a time.

Still Buzzing

I took the day off of work today, postponing my PTO break even date, so that I could be here when they removed the bees. I'm pretty excited about the whole process, and I wanted to be here for the show.


It was apparently a bad day for me to be away from the office... turns out the Exchange Server decided to take the day off too, so I was getting calls at 8am. You would be amazed at the panic that ensues when people cannot send or receive emails. It wasn't anything I could fix anyway, so I directed them to the guys that set up the server for us, but that didn't stop a few of them from calling me repeatedly to see if I was sure there wasn't anything I could walk them through over the phone. Right, because you want me to experiment with the server using a proxy that doesn't even know what a page break is. Um... NO!


The bee guys arrived shortly after 9am, but they didn't seem to be prepared. I had to show them where we think the bees are, (though we already showed the estimator), and after looking around for a bit, the mentioned that they were going to do the removal from the roof. Mom was quite adamant that was not going to happen.

We have a crazy roof. Almost magical even. Aside from the hallway where the air conditioner ducting is, the whole house has vaulted ceilings, and the tounge-in-groove 2x6 spruce that you see is the actual roof. With the roofing material right on the spruce, the house's insulation was terrible, making the house a sauna in the summertime. So when my parents were doing all the work on the house a few years ago, they had a new roofing material put on. It's like 3 layers of insulating material, then the shingles. (The downside is that it actually blocks cell signals - we can't make calls on our cell phones inside our house - this is actually the single most frustrating thing about our house.)

This crazy roof was quite expensive, and my mom is very protective of it - she was not about to let them go in through the roof. The technician said that if they go in through the roof, they can do the live removal, if they go in through the inside, they would have to exterminate the bees first.

This is not what the estimator told me. He had said that they could do the live removal, and patch the drywall and repaint. To me, this indicated that they would be going in from inside the house.

So we started asking more questions. Bobby asked what they move the hive in. "Well, normally they give us a box for the hive, but we don't have one today." We also noticed that they didn't have any drywall tools, or roof tools, or anything that might be necessary for cleaning up afterwords. The tech then admited that he'd never done a live removal indoors before - only from the roof.

This is not what we signed up for. The technician and mom both called the office to clarify what we wanted to have done. Eventually, the appointment was rescheduled for a week from tomorrow. Until then, we still have bees!

So Long

Three people quit this week. Well, sort of. One guy's last day was Friday, and two more will be leaving tomorrow. I work for a small firm (20 or so full time people), so that's a lot for such a short time. I've been here a (long) while now, so I've seen a number of people come and go, but I always find it a little saddening to see people go. Not that I think they should stay, just that I will miss them.

I Shouldn't Be Here

I had a plan, and this wasn't it. I was going to leave Monday, and be in Italy by now. First two weeks of August, that was the plan. But alas, a shortage of PTO time and cash have left me here. At work. Sitting in my cube rather than in the warm Italian sun drinking a nice chilled sparkling white wine.

On a positive note, in just over 5 weeks I will break even on my PTO time. No longer in the negative.

Geeking out at Work

You can tell we are being really productive, when someone asks how long it would take the Millennium Falcon to travel 200,000 light years... and then we proceed to research the answer. No, we don't normally talk about Star Wars - in fact I don't recall a previous Star Wars conversation - but today we did.


First we had to find out how fast the Falcon is, right? Are you aware that there is a Wookieepedia? Amazing, right? I suppose there is a wikia for just about anything out there, right?


Okay, so from the Wookiepedia, I find the line I was looking for "she does 0.5 past light speed." But .5 what? Is that a percentage or a unit? km/sec? miles/hr? What?


Trying to find that answer, we looked at the statment Han made that they "did the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs." What's a parsec? A Parsec is "a unit of length, equal to just over 30 trillion kilometres, or about 3.3 light years." Wait. So a parsec is a unit of distance, not time. Since the Kessel Run is an 18 parsec route, I was kinda confused as to how he could run it in 12 parsecs. That's sort of like saying "I did a 30 meter race in 20 meters." Huh?


Apparently, "Solo was not referring directly to his ship's speed when he made this claim. Instead, he was referring to the shorter route he was able to travel by skirting the nearby Maw black hole cluster, thus making the run in under the standard distance, he may have indirectly referred to the speed of his ship here because to be able to go closer to black hole and still be able to get out of its gravitational pull you will need to be able to go faster. However, parsec relates to time in that a shorter distance equals a shorter time at the same speed. By moving closer to the black holes, Solo managed to cut the distance down to about 11.5 parsecs."


Never helped us solve our question, but we should all do some actual work. Don't you feel a bit more enlightened now, though?

Dial 9

My co-worker just came and told me that working in an office is starting to get to him. He showed me the call log on his cell phone, and pointed out the calls he tried to make over the weekend that wouldn't go through. Why? Because he dialed 9 before the number. You know, for an outside line. I responded with, "Welcome."

This is something I've been doing for years now. In fact, when I dial a phone number, any phone number, I have to think for a minute or so about whether or not I need to dial a 9 first. In fact, even between my cell and landlines - do I need to dial a 1? 9-1-number, 1-number, or just number?

It's about as annoying as dreaming about work.

Sad Plant

I was recently telling a co-worker that I kinda wanted to get a plant for my desk - something about the lack of life being depressing - and he went off on a tangent about how great indoor plants are, how they are natural air filters, and everyone should have one. Okay, but I'm really picky - which plant would be a good office plant that I would still like? He had the answer to that too, and sent me some studies by NASA people about the best houseplants to have. I picked out a couple that I liked, and finally settled on an Orchid - which was convieniently available at Trader Joe's. My second choice is Devil's Ivy, which I may still get (why not two?), but I've always loved orchids, and the color was a nice addition.


So how am I supposed to care for my orchid? According to the plastic around the pot - water it every 5-7 days, and keep at indoor temperatures. Perfect!


It's done well... until today. The leaves still look healthy, but the flowers are starting to look droopy and sad. I don't think the air goes on here over the weekend, and the lights only go on if someone comes in.


Last weekend Emma brought her pink potted flower into her room. This weekend it was looking pretty sad - it is clearly not an indoor plant. All the flowers had turned brown and fallen off, though the stems and leaves were still green. I convinced her to bring it back outside and we watered it really well. I think it's going to have to stay outside.


Perhaps I should bring my orchid home on weekends, and put it in Emma's room. That way she can have a flower in her room, and I can maintain my orchid's light and temperature better. I was thinking about getting a few more for the house as it is.

Still in Need

Remember how I said I needed a vacation? I still haven't had it. In fact - I'm not even sure what happened to the last two weeks or so. I just know I worked a lot!


I've been really busy - at the office until around 7pm most nights, often not getting home until 8pm... not really even time to make dinner. I can't even remember.


This last weekend it finally slowed down. We removed the carpet in the music room last Sunday, and this weekend had inted to remove the tile (yes, there is at least one layer of tile under all the carpet) and lay the laminate floor that is in the rest of the house, but that didn't work out. Bobby had to work on some plans (fire sprinkler designs) and my parents were using their table saw to lay flooring in their own house.


Saturday morning Bobby and I finally made it down to a local cafe I've been wanting to try - Cafe Casse Croute. It's a little French-Canadian cafe, and what drew my attention were crepes. I'd run a Google Maps search for restaurants near our house because I'm tired of driving so far for everything, and I was intrigued. That was months ago. I had the chicken crepes, and Bobby had poached eggs benedict. This was the first time I'd ever had crepes filled with something you wouldn't put on pancakes, and it was lovely. filled with chicken and broccoli and a creamy white wine sauce - just lovely. Both our meals were very good (although I think mine was better), as was the orange juice, the service, and the price. We agreed we would come back again.


I most of the morning watering the backyard really well (we really must install sprinklers) and deep cleaning the barbecue, but I wound up spending most of the afternoon trying to rest. I had a headache all day. I tried taking tylenol, and later some aleve, but they weren't really helping. I haven't had a headache like that for years. I felt stressed and irritable for no reason whatsoever, and as if I had a long list of things I needed to get done, as if I shouldn't be relaxing.


Sunday I woke up around 8:20am - a little late for me) and it was already 78° outside, and I knew we were in for a hot one. I made sure all the windows were closed and turned on all the ceiling fans. Since I was going to be inside all day, and didn't want to do anything productive or responsible at all, I wound up playing computer games all day. Playing all day, and comfort foods like tuna melts for lunch and spaghetti for dinner also helped me finally relax. Unfortunately now I'm back at work, undoing all that hard work.

I Need a Vacation

This has been a difficult week. We had some rather extreme technical difficulties at work, and on top of that I had a LOT of work to do. Late nights almost every night. I wish I were on spring break with Emma. The other day I started doubting I would be able to take my pseudo-planned trip to Europe this August (Bobby and I are trying to work it out, but it's not set in stone yet), and I got a little depressed. But I'm really trying to make it work - I need the break...

Park City, Utah

To celebrate the closing of our last two deals of 2007, and reaching 100 deals total, my company took us on a trip to Park City, Utah. The company president is part owner of a cabin there (a big, beautiful 5-bedroom cabin complete with a spa), so we stayed at his place.

Other than driving through Southern Utah on my way to Colorado, the only time I've been to Utah was about 15 years ago when my family went camping in Zion National Park. I've also had very few trips to the snow (I can count them on one hand) and have never been skiing or snowboarding. As a firm, we were scheduled for skiing and snowboarding (with a snowboarding lesson for me and the other newbies).

Wednesday night I drove up to Big Bear with Bobby so I could spend some time with him before my trip. We didn't make it back until 1:30am, and I still had to pack. I was up peparing for my trip until nearly 4am, and had to be up at 7:30 to make my flight. But no worries, right? - I'm going on a little vacation - I can sleep later.

I met up with the rest of the "Advance Team" (the people on the earlier flight, everyone else was flying after work on Thursday) at the airport, and after a quick trip, we were in a freezing cold, snowy Salt Lake City. After trips to the liquor store, the grocery store, and the cabin to unload, we were set up and all starving. It was now close to 4pm, and none of us had eaten all day. We found a (mediocre at best) teriyaki grill, and a local inside told us that this was the worst blizzard she'd seen since she moved there 12 years ago.

When the rest of the crew arrived at round 10:30pm, they were ready to party. Soon the spa was being uncovered, the drinks were being poured, the pizzas were arriving, and the poker chips were coming out. Exhausted from my late night the night before, I tried to decline the invitation to play poker, but one of the company directors offered to pay my buy-in and insisted I play. I agreed, thinking that I could play a little more aggressively than usual, and I'd probably be out early anyway. Then they decided to allow re-buys until 12:30am - this was going to be a long game.

Hours later, our two tables of eight and nine players had been condensed to one table of eight. The other table had more re-buys prior to the cutoff, so players from that table had a bit of a chip lead, but I was doing very well. The director that had paid my buy-in was thrilled to see me at the final table. Shortly afterwords, I took out 4 of the players. I was exhausted; my eyes were dry and my contacts were irritating my increasingly bloodshot eyes. I started calling just about anything, just trying to rid myself of my chips so I could go to sleep. I think I doubled everyone at the table up at least once, though most of the time I had the better hand until the end. I took out one more person, and then at 3:30am I was finally taken out. (I was favored to win that hand too, until the river card.) As soon as the hand was decided, I said goodnight and tried to go to sleep.



The boys were a little loud, though. OK, they were really loud. The girls were in the master bedroom, so I closeted myself in the walk-in closet so I could have some quiet. I think I finally fell asleep around 4am.

But I had to be up around 7:30am - my snowboarding lesson was at 9:30am, and we needed to get there early. Unfortunately, by the time we (the group getting a lesson) made it to the resort and found where we were supposed to check in - it was 9:30am. We didn't even have our gear yet, so we rescheduled for the next available appointment - 1pm. Unsure of what to do with ourselves until then, we rented our snowboards and found somewhere to eat something warm and relax. After two nights of so little sleep, I was useless.

When it came close to the time of our lesson, we gathered our gear and headed to the meeting place. There we ran into a co-worker that gave us a short lesson on how to stop yourself on a board - figuring that was one of the most important things to know. Finally it was nearly 1pm, and we were standing at the designated meeting place when our instructor met up with us.

Our instructor was from New Zealand (all of the employees at the resort were from another country - Brazil, Peru, etc.), and had a lovely accent. He was very patient with all of us, and I felt like I really did pick up some things. After a little practicing we got on the lift to the "First-Time" run - and I didn't fall getting off the lift - yeah me!

Snowboarding was fun, and something I would definitely like to do again. I felt I was picking it up pretty well, and all of my falls were controlled and more because I needed to stop than from losing balance. As fun as it was, I could feel my exhaustion catching up with me, and I could see that the other girls (who were havinga tougher time than I was) were quite tired. When we got to the bottom of the run, we decided to pass on the second run, returned our gear, and headed back to the house.

It was already after 4pm, and we had dinner reservations at 6:15pm (although it was later pushed until 8pm), so as soon as we got back to the cabin we took turns showering and getting ready for dinner. When I learned dinner had been pushed off, I decided to join some of the others in the spa. A hot spa when you are sore from the day and it is 28 degrees outside is amazing. Something about sitting in hot water, drinking hot cocoa, and feeling the cold air on your face is divine.

Dinner was at Blind Dog, and I had possibly the best clam chowder I've ever had. The wine - lovely; the fillet mignon - the most perfect medium rare I've seen. We also had an array of wonderful appetizers and finished up with a few deserts that we shared - including a wonderful chocolate fondue.

The meal was wonderful, but the service not so great - we had to ask for drinks numerous times before they would actually come, and the port I ordered never actually showed up. The waiter never actually brought anything himself, and whenever we would ask again for a drink we had ordered, he'd respond with "It's on its way." The bar is right there, it's just a beer, can you just go get it! He's lucky his tip was already included in the bill, because I suspect he would have received less.

At least one of my co-workers was actually falling asleep at the table. After dinner, some were going out to a bar, others were heading back to the cabin. I joined the latter in search of sleep. I crashed around 11:30pm, and didn't wake up until 9:30am. Finally, sleep.

When I woke up many people were getting ready to head out the door. I decided to stay in for the day - read my book, drink hot cocoa with Bailey's, and relax. Most everyone else headed out at one point, so it was a relatively peaceful afternoon. Some came back early from skiing/snowboarding, tired and sore from the unusual activity. There were lots of nappers that afternoon.

Shortly after everyone finished trickling in, it was time for the "Advance Team" to head off to the airport. As nice as the trip was, I wished Bobby could have been there with me, and was eager to get home to see him.

Making Plans

As I've mentioned before, I work for a firm that searches for private companies for private equity firms to aquire. I work with a really great bunch of people, and when we close a deal (when a fund purchases a company we've introduced them to) the company does something to celebrate. How we celebrate is tied to how big the deal was.

In December, we not only closed 2 good sized deals, but the last deal of the year was also the 100th deal closed by our firm and it's partners. This was cause for a larger than normal celebration. On the docket - a weekend of skiing/snowboarding in Park City, Utah.

Just thinking about this trip led to so many decisions. - Did I want to ski or snowboard? I've never done either. I polled the people around me, and instant messaged some friends for their opinion. Of course, all the skiers said that skiing was easier, and all the snowboarders said snowboarding was easier. Finally I found someone who did both - he said that skiing was easier to learn, but harder to do, and snowboarding was a little more difficult to learn, but easier to do once he had it down. I went with his recommendation and told them to schedule me a snowboarding lesson early the first day.

But then - I don't have decent shoes for the snow! I've lived in Southern California my entire life, and rarely do I go up to the snow. None of my shoes are really appropriate to be trodding around in the snow with - they either aren't warm enough, or they aren't waterproof, or the bottom has no grip. I was going to need some shoes. Forced to shop. Woe is me.

So I visited Zappos.com and looked around for some good snow shoes. I found a few pairs I liked and tried to decide between them. There was a pair I really liked, but it didn't seem like the most sensible choice. So then I read the reveiews on the "sensible" looking pairs and found them to be not so sensible. Laces breaking repeatedly, dissapointment regarding the comfort of the shoe, etc. The reviews of my not-so-sensible shoe, however, were glowing - warm, comfy, sturdy. Perhaps it was meant to be.

But that's not all I need, right? The company is renting a board for me, but I'll need pants, and a jacket, and snowboarding boots, and thermals, and oh-my-god this free trip is starting to look expensive.

But I've never been snowboarding, and I don't even know if I'll want to go again, so I really don't want to spend all this money on gear I may never use again. Even if I do, how often do I really expect to use it?

Thankfully, it all seems to have come together. My sister-in-law wears the same size shoe I do, and said I could borrow her boots, and my longtime friend happens to be about the same size I am and has all the necessary clothing - pants, gloves, beanie, and a jacket. I'm set! And I didn't have to shell out $600. :)

Setting Up

When I got into work today I was completely distracted by my need to set up my new Blackberry Curve.

Because I'd only been using Outlook to track my work calendar, and Google Calendar to track my personal stuff, I had some consolidating to do. And some clean up. I had to update some personal contacts' information to be current, add in some birthdays, delete any duplicate calendar entries related to the contacts, etc. Then I went through my GMail contacts to make sure they were all there.

And categorizing. Oi, I categorized tasks and contacts and calendar entries and notes. I added some personal tasks and tasks relating to Bobby's new business to my task list. It was all a very cleansing exercise. Like cleaning up your desk.

I installed the software and synced up my phone. I filtered the tasks so that only tasks marked Personal or for the new business would sync. This way I can use my blackberry for Personal and New Business management, and keep my work computer focused on work tasks. I still need to go through my old phone and make sure I have everyone's phone numbers. But it is so nice not having to scroll through 3-5 entries for every person...

Back to the Grind

I only worked a half day last week. I went in on Thursday, but I still wasn't feeling well, so I left at noon. Friday and yesterday I was still sick, so this is my first real work day back since December 20th. It feels kind of strange to be back.

It wasn't even like a vacation either, because we were busy and then I was sick (still am a bit sick). It was more like a long weekend. On the bright side, tomorrow's Friday...

Finally

In case you didn't know, I work for a buyside advisor to private equity funds. We basically search for private companies for funds to buy. The tell us what they like, we go find it and find out if these companies are interested in talking. If the fund buys the company, we get a fee, and I get a peice of that fee.

Last year we signed up a deal under Letter Of Intent. That meant that the fund intended to buy the company, and at that point the lawyers and accountants work to verify all the financial information. The deal was set to close in November.

But there was a complication it was pushed off. Again and again and again. Today it closed. over a year later than the original close date. Now I get to decide what to do with the bonus.

Ok, What I Meant Was....

So that post the other day, romanticizing about the colder weather on it's way - I'd like to clarify that I like that weather when I'm snuggled up in my blankets, or a wool coat and scarf... not inside my office.

Working in an office of mostly men means that the "desirable" temperature for the office is about 8°-10° cooler than I would like it to be. Today it was 61° outside, and I'm pretty sure it was only 4° warmer in here - I think 65° is the default. Me - I like 72°-75° the best.

But I'm outnumbered - so I will wind up sitting here in my overcoat, clutching my cup of green tea, waiting for the end of the day when I can get home to my jammies.

Crazy Week

Work has been hectic - I am in the final throws of reviewing quotes for a new server, and at the same time we are in the process of re-organizing the office. On Thursday of last week I got the OK on a new server and to replace over half the desktops in the office. It was a rather exciting moment. This has been something I've wanted to do for years.

On one hand, they were doing some serious re-construction of the office - moving cubicles, tearing down a wall, constructing new cubicles (they are supposed to be finishing tonight), and on the other hand, I'm trying to do my normal work, which I'm already behind on. The re-arranging leads to computer issues, which I'm supposed to try to fix, and then my boss is panicking slightly because I'm falling behind. Each day it seemed I wouldn't even be at my desk most of the day because I'd be running all over fixing problems, and then I'd sit down to 45 unread emails.

Then, this morning I get into work, and check my personal email to find the bad news. The White Stripes concert that I bought tickets for has been cancelled. My money is being refunded, but I was really looking forward to it. But what can you do?

After work today I went out to the new Yard House in Fashion Island with some of my co-workers to wish farewell to one of our interns - Chantel. We had a good time, and I wound up hanging out for three hours.

We don't normally do this for interns when they leave, but Chantel was a very good intern and in general a pleasure to have around. Those interns are few and far between, but I can probably still rememeber all of their names. I wish Chantel well in her future endeavors.

Harvco Christmas Party

Bobby switched his visitation with Emma from Thursday to Tuesday for last week, since my Christmas party was on Thursday. I meant to go out there. Sent an email saying I needed to leave by 4. But then I decided to run updates on peoples computers here during the meeting. Little did I know that my boss' computer still didn't have Service Pack 2, so it took until 4:45 to update. So I didn't make it out to Norco. Bobby did though, then left his wallet at his parents'.

Which isn't the smartest thing to do when you are going out drinking on someone else's tab a couple days later. So Wednesday, after taking he took his final (which ended at 9:30pm), we drove out to his parents' to pick up the wallet, then stopped by my parents' to drop of presents and say hello to my brother and his wife who had just flown in from Italy. We were immediately offered wine, and since my brother had arrived - fresh olive oil too. Hard to say no. Even though it's already 10:15, we have to drive back, and Bobby has to be out the door by 5:30 or so. As we are sitting there chatting, Tania is checking her email, counting. "That's it! We're sold out. Keith, change the website NOW so no one else orders." It only took 2 weeks to sell out.

We finally made it home and into bed just before 1am. Much too late for us old people that need our sleep. Thursday morning was rough, and I'm sure Bobby didn't make it out the door until close to 6:30. Not good.

Thursday afternoon was frustrating. I left work at 3 so I could get home, and get ready by 5pm. I told Bobby the day before that 5pm is when I wanted to leave. I expected traffic. He needed to buy a tie. His brother had bought him a pinstrip suit for Christmas last year, and he just got it tailored the end of November, but the only ties he had were from when he was bartending, and they are in pretty bad shape. I was on time, getting out of the shower at 4:15, and Bobby calls. He's just left Macy's with some ties. Now he has to stop at school and pick up the book he just returned to the library so he can do some extra credit assignment in order to pass his class. What time is it? 4:20. Crap. That's ok, cocktails are at 6, dinner doesn't actually start until 7. Just hurry and we'll leave as soon as we can.

He calls again later. He was in line at the bookstore, when one of his classmates called him back, she has the book, he can borrow it. So now he has to stop by her house to pick it up, then home. (Argh) Guess what time he finally made it home? 5:45! Then he has to shower and shave and get dressed. Luckily he can be quick, so he was ready around 6:15. This is the first time he has put on the suit since it's been tailored.
"How do I look?"
"Pregnant."
"What!?!?"
They had cut the jacket wrong, so it looked like the opening in the front was bowing over a big belly. At that point I had to laugh. But it looked ok if he left all the buttons undone, so that would have to do. We get in the car and head into the traffic I expected. Then I felt like I was in Office Space. We jumped into the carpool lane right before it came to a halt and the rest of the freeway started moving. We eventually jump the line and move a bit, but then the carpool starts moving again. When we got to the interchange, we debated - carpool or no? Yes, the ramp alone is probably worth it. Except that we had some SUV in front of us that needed to drive 50 mph the whole way - even though no one is in front of them.

We pulled in front of the restaurant at 6:58. I feel better. Dinner wasn't even served for at least 20 more minutes. So it all worked out well. The Christmas party was fun.


The moment we walked in, my boss was the first to greet us. His wife mentioned something about how interested she was in my brother's olive oil, and Eric cuts in with, "Oh, yeah, I'm in trouble for not ordering any yet, is there any left?" Nope, sold out last night. She wasn't very happy about that, and let him know it. He just looks at me with this "save me" glance. I told him I would see what I could do. Bobby and I decided that I would drive home later, so I kept myself to less than 2 glasses of wine the entire night. They had a wheel set up to spin for giving away prizes. I won a shot - but Bobby took it in my place since I was already stopping (though I did try some of the port later). The next prize given was a night on the party bus. (Why wasn't that my prize?) Everyone got $200 at South Coast Plaza, though, so that was nice.

How Will I Get There?

The president of my company got onto a bit of a soapbox for about 15 minutes in the meeting today. Started talking about how this time of year is a really good time to evaluate our personal goals and decide where we really want to be in not just 5 years, but in 1 year. And how are we going to get there. Mentioned how when he was younger he really wanted to be successful... more than he wanted anything else. How instead of living in Manhattan Beach where his buddies were living, he lived in Pasadena. How he skipped parties during the week, because it was more important that he get to that successful mark.

At first I thought he was trying to encourage some people to just quit, but his goal was really to motivate everyone to work harder to bring more deals, which doesn't really apply to me since I don't source deals, but I did get something out of it: I need a plan. Not just an idea about what I want, but steps and a timetable, and all that.

I got out of the meeting and wrote Bobby some long winded email about how we need to make a budget and figure out how we can cut our expenses, and I set some goals for what I want to accomplish in the next year or so. We've been doing pretty well paying off our debt, but we spend a lot too. We want to be able to start this contracting business, and we need to get on it. If that means we have to sell our cars and get something cheaper, or I have to find another job, or whatever, we need to do it. I don't want to live paycheck-to-paycheck.