Normally, I make it a habit not to be up before 7am, but today I have to make up hours at work since I have a class during the day and another one in the evening. So, as a treat to myself for A) having to get up at an unGodly hour and B) being able to take 101 into work since traffic is reasonable before 6am, I stopped off at the Mountain View Krispy Kreme store. Most of the time I take I-280 which helps me avoid the temptation, but again, given the early hour of my departure, It's faster to take 101--stop off or not.

What I'm going to say next won't make much sense if you A) don't like sweets and/or donuts B) haven't ever had a Hot Krispy Kreme in the morning and C) do not like enumerated lists, so forgive me. All I have to say is, after I pulled out of the drive through and got in the left turn lane to get back onto Rengstorff, the man in the car next to me flashed me a look of utter fear and disgust and then wouldn't look back over no matter how loud I moaned.

"But officer, it was a donut!"

I've accepted the fact that I sold out years ago when I started working for a tech firm. I've given into Big Brother. And I don't care. Of course, I'm just admin but still, I'm tech admin.

The firm is a Certified Microsoft partner and so they send us little suck-up gifts to the contacts that manage the partner programs. HP is another one. Well, recently we've been losing some of these people through layoffs from a merger and through attrition. Since these positions are being eliminated, some of these suck-up gifts literally have no home.

I can't bear to return them since I was brought up that you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. So, today I got a 128MB USB Flash Disk and a Namco TV Game that includes two of my all-time favorite arcade games: Dig Dug and Pac Man!

I remember the day we got our Atari 2600 as though it were yesterday. Mom told me we were getting a new Atari one spring afternoon when she picked me up from second grade after I'd had a really bad day. She was always cheering me up like that and it always worked. Later that week, we went to a small store (much like Radio Shack, but way less cheesy/corporatey) and got our Atari system. I can't remember if it came with PacMan or if we paid extra for it, but we also got Pitfall! and, later, Dig Dug. (I have all of those old Activision games now on my Mac G4).

If I didn't have school tonight, I'd be leaving early to go home and play!

This weekend was hugely productive. I got my den cleaned out & organized. I now have an enlarger station and am ready to start developing prints in my house. (For those of you who do not know, I am ramping up my photography business and will soon be opening a Yahoo! Store.) I even managed to squeeze in a trip to The City to see the madness that is SF Pride. So, by Sunday afternoon, I was exhausted and needed a break.

As I was surfing through the channels, I got to VH1's "Surreal World" where Ron Jeremy, Tammy Faye (Formerly) Bakker, Vanilla Ice, Eric Estrada and Trishelle from MTV's Real World Las Vegas were all sitting around a hot tub discussing religion and the hereafter. So we have a p*rn star, an evangelical star, a rap star, a TV cop show before there were TV cop shows star and a reality TV star discussing life after death (a supermodel and Gary Coleman later joined the mix). This is, in and of itself, surreal, especially when you consider that all of the aforementioned stars have all been firmly planted six feet under.

Then, picture the group above sorting out sleeping arrangements in a house with only four bedrooms, one of which had three twin beds (Gary only had a guest spot so just six in the house). In the midst of this, the supermodel finally comes home and starts complaining about the color and shape of the Jacuzzi tub! Gary Coleman actually appeared in the next episode where they put the housemates to work at Mel's Diner. What I would have given to be part of that scene! I finally had to turn off the television completely because I knew if I kept watching I would just stay there and not get anything else done.

I've never understood how people can sleep at night and, during the day, count on the riches they will receive upon the death of a family member. That just doesn't seem right to me. I looked up the phrase "blood money" and, although it usually implies foul play, it also can refer to inherited money. Regardless, I think it's appropriate here since I have several family members tallying my grandparents' estate and anticipating their share. Now, I admit that, as human beings go, my grandparents are, well. . .human.

Nonetheless, they're my grandparents and I worry about them more often as time slips away. I worry about them not being around for the next Holiday season. I worry that my grandmother will fall and break her hip or my granfather will have a heart attack. Mostly, I worry that I don’t think I can get out to Arizona enough times to tell my grandparents I love them. I do not worry over how many used Volvos I can buy with my share of their estate.

My Aunt and Uncle are doing enough worrying over the estate for all of us. Recently, the hateful letters and e-mails have been flying which does nothing but upset my grandparents and make them feel like failed parents. All of this stems from the fact that my Mom has lived...er, shared domicile with her parents for the last ten years (since my half-sister was born). My aunt and uncle feel that my grandparents have been supporting her, but in all honesty, they support each other. When one is having a tough time, the other steps in and helps with bills and groceries.

And where do those two get off acting like some government agency dictating who and how much to charge people staying with my grandparents? Shouldn't that be up to them? If they were unhappy with the arrangement, surely they would have asked her to move out. And it's not like mine is one of those mothers who locks the poor elderly parents in a basement and feeds them table scraps. Quite the contrary.

So who is this arrangement really bad for? Well, apparently my Aunt and Uncle. Both agree that their share of the probate pie will be lessened since my horrible, mean, selfish mother has been "stealing" their inheritance.

My point behind all of this is that I think it's tragic that my aunt and uncle are so worried about what will happen to the blood money, they are hurting their aging parents and squandering the most precious thing that they could give my aunt and uncle: Love. And you can't get love from a frigid headstone.

Incidentally, I didn’t quite mean to start off my week with such a morbid tone, but this has been on my mind for a while and has really come to light in the last few days or so. I hope you enjoy my guest blog.

Where is this exciting post you are asking? It's right here! I'm going on vacation next week. I'm very excited. I go camping every year with a bunch of friends and its fun and very relaxing. Are you asking yourself, "Well that's all well and good for her, but whay do I get out of the deal?" I'll tell you.

PK has been thinking about starting a blog. And so, while I'm gone, he is going to guest blog for me, and then when he starts his own blog and I tell you to go read it, you'll have some idea of how he writes.

See you all on the 6th!

I have several things I have been meaning to post for days. Life has been busy. I'm trying to work full time, maintain several aspects of my 100mph life, and get unpacked in the new house, while still feeling like I have a life outside of those three things. Like maybe, I don't know, a date? Meeting new people?

But, since I normally post from work, and work has been incredibly busy... Posting must wait until there is time. At this moment, as I type this, there actually is *not* time, but I'm doing it anyway and will pay for it later...

I have decided that I missed the memo declaring the Porsche Cayenne the official SUV of Foster City. I see them everywhere. There are at least 5 of them parked in the lot at my office daily. A week or so ago, not only did I park next to one, but between two of them. Yesterday, I decided I park in the wrong section of the parking lot, because when I parked, the stalls nearest me looked like this:
BMW X3
Porsche Cayenne
empty
Porsche Cayenne
Mercedes ML500
my Mitsubishi Mirage
Mitsubishi Endeavor (yay for the one non-luxury SUV in the row)
and a Lexus RX330

So today I parked somewhere else... between a motorcycle and a Subaru Outback (which will hopefully be the kind of car I buy next).

Act One - My Own Dad

While I love both of my parents very very much, and know that I wouldn't have made it through a lot of rough patches in life without the both of them, and while as an adult I'm probably closer to my mom, as Daddy's Little Girl, Father's Day has always been very significant. When I was younger, my mom didn't understand me- the tomboyish younger daughter who roughhoused with my dad, yelping in (usually mock) pain then going back for more (and more and more and more) even after the day he accidentally broke my toe- hey, it *was* and accident and he felt so bad about it that he waited on me and catered to my every whim for the entire thansgiving weekend.

This year has been a tough one with my dad. He's been in and out of the hospital several times, had a triple bypass in February and two toes removed (Diabetes complications) in April. My sister and I are going over today to spend the day with him. Usually we take him out to lunch and a movie, sometimes we'd go to the beach- I wanted to take him fishing today, but he's still wheelchair-bound from the foot surgery and isn't supposed to really be leaving the house yet, so instead, we're taking over a DVD of Return of the King, making popcorn, and eating burritos.

I love you Daddy!

Act Two - Other People's Dads

Seems I am in the phase of my life where almost all of my friends are having babies. Some of these men have been fathers for a couple of years already but are celebrating a first Father's Day with a new little one: Brian (already dad to Sadie and Elise) gets to celebrate this year with 7 month old Noah too, and Micah (already dad to Abbie) gets to celebrate with 4 week old Andrew.

Then there is the slew of friends, new and old, celebrating their first Father's Day. There's Derek, celebrating with 6 month old Raymie, Sean, celebrating with 5 month old Joshua, Steve with 3 month old Sophia, Joe with 8 month old Remington, and then there are all the Brads, with their crop of future Daddy's Girls- Brad S. with 2 month old Alice, Brad C. with three week old Raylie, and the other Brad C. with 10 month old Zoey. That's a whole lotta babies people!

And of course, wishes of a happy father's day to some of the best dads I know, even though they've been dads a long time (one of whom is even a Grandpa)- Matt N., Scott E., Eddie O., Brian K., Ernie F. (who did a fabulous job raising my best friend), Ken H., Manny, and Dale G.

And lastly, a great big hug to those friends of mine whose dads are no longer here to celebrate with them (for whatever reason)- I won't list your names here but you know who you are.

I went to Victoria's Secret at lunch today. I learned that you should never attempt to go to Victoria's Secret on your lunchbreak when the Semi-Annual Sale is going on, and there are lots and lots of teenage girls just out of school for the summer.

I managed to find what I was looking for and got in the really long line, all the while looking at the clock on my cell phone, praying I'd get back to work on time. As I waited in line, I glanced around the store at the various displays. I was in the section that has all the body sprays and lotions and makeup stuff. And as my eyes scanned the wall of fragrances, it stopped at the display for Victoria's Secret's new "PINK" line. All of the perfume boxes had one letter on each side, so it read "P-I-N-K" as you turned it. So all the boxes in the display were lined up and turned properly so that each set of four boxes read "PINK".

But on all but the top shelf, someone had turned the first box of each set of four, so that all the sets in the display read "KINK".

This was part of the birthday weekend too, but deserved its own post.

Sunday night I called PK to see if he wanted to go have dinner, since I wasn't settled enough yet to have food in the house. So we went out, had a nice dinner, then we headed back to his house where I had left my car. As we pulled out of the parking lot of the restaurant, Men at Work's "Down Under" came on on the CD player. Normally PK doesn't like people singing along in his car, but I was doing it anyway. And it got to the chorus, and I sang "Do you come from a land down under?" and then the conversation went like this:

PK:Is that what they're saying?
Me: Are you kidding me?
PK: I never knew what they were saying.
Me: (laughing hysterically) Shut up, you're such a brat
PK:" I thought they were saying Under wonder.
Me: what the hell is an Under Wonder? The song is called Down Under, how could you not know what they were saying??

Then we both giggled for most of the way back to his house. Priceless.

Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes on Friday. My birthday was good. Friday night I went to dinner and a movie with Lolly, and our waiter at dinner was a guy I was friends with in college (who I want to set PK up with). The we went to go see Mean Girls, which was cute but not quite what I expected.

Saturday was the best day though. In the morning PK and I drove out to Santa Cruz to have breakfast at Zachary's. YUMMY food, and the waiter wasn't bad either. Then we went down the street to a jewelry store so I could see a ring that I'd seen in an ad and fallen in love with. He pretended to be my fiance so I wouldn't look weird looking at engagement rings alone. I told him once that I had always wanted to go engagement ring shopping at Tiffany's, Just to do it, just because every girl loves Tiffany's, and he said he'd take me. But instead of Tiffany's we went to this place. The ring was just as pretty in person, and even though I tried on a bunch of rings (one of which was $15,000) I kept going back to the one that had brought me to the store. PK tried on some wedding bands too, and found a couple of really nice ones.

But then the moment came. The amazing moment that I will never forget (well at least not until I have a ring of my very own from a real engagement). The saleslady looked at us and said "I trust you, go ahead and take it outside and look at it in the sun. I mean, the ring was gorgeous in the store, but the second the sun hit it it was dazzlingly beautiful. We stood there on the sidewalk for a minute, then went back inside. PK looked at the saleslady and said "Do you have some water? I think she might hyperventilate". I didn't, but I am so in love with that ring. Maybe someday...

I was hoping to be able to see Jules while we were in Santa Cruz, but our scedules just didn't manage to mesh. Oh well. It would have been fun, but there's always another time.

Then we went back to PK's, and I went home to unpack a bit, he cleaned house, and at 5 I was back at his place for a birthday BBQ. That was way fun. Of course, PK's parties always are. This one was a little less rowndy than the last one though...

If you don't, I'll tell you.