I almost forgot

Pamela's iMac has AGAIN kicked the bucket. It is in techie hands right now... we'll know if it was just bad software, or if it's a hardware problem later today.

This thing has been so frustrating: It has had THREE different logic boards, and a Hard drive replaced. I made it clear that if this is another hardware problem, that's it for this - I'm demanding a new machine. This thing, it is haunted.

What's most frustrating for me is that every time it does die, I have to spend a good DAY reloading everything back on it from backups - all of our music, pictures, and videos... ugh. Ain't nobody reimbursing me for THAT.

Sorry, had to vent.

The land of Wheeeee

Another multiple subject post:
1) The Audi Allroad is gone - long live the Mini! Yes, we downsized the big inefficient wagon (17mpg average?) and got a Mini Cooper S! Chili Red with a white top and white alloys, this is a ZIPPY machine. I drove it all day yesterday, Pamela today, and there may be some fighting over who "gets" this car on a daily basis. WHEEEEEE! Still not as efficient as a bike (sorry TimmyP)... but it is a better thing for my world at least.

Also, it is cool.

2) Watched "Enron, The Smartest Guys in the Room". Very interesting how it broke down the complicated finances for easy consumption. One misstep I think: Why show strippers when you're talking about one of the exec's love of strippers? I don't think the boobies actually helped make a point. Another interesting point - they focused not on legality, but on ethics - even if nobody goes to prison (besides Fastow), there's no question that Ethics were "on hold" at that company.

3) We might might might have an actual GIG in a few weeks... Thomas Dolby is coming to St Paul, and Paul and Caesar are checking to see if they can wrangle an invite to warm up again... and this time Nick (the Chicken) and I would back them up on Keys and Drums. COOL. I'll keep you posted on this. Not a done deal, but if it works, it'll be neat.

4) We were driving in the rain yesterday, and Bella said "what's that sound?" I answered "what sound?", to which she replied several completely odd things:
- The sound like a train tipping over.
- The sound of a duck with a brick on it
I wish I had written them down - there were 6 of them....

The Good Life

1) I finished the tracks for the 4th Project Manager track, and it SMOKES. I'm very excited about this song, and about the Project Manager concept in general. And now that Paul and Caesar are done with their little "side project" (warming up for Thomas Dolby in Seattle and Portland) they can focus on this REAL work - getting guitar, bass, and vocals for the four Project Manager tracks.

2) Work is getting better and better: Remember the guy who walked away from me, calling me a temp? Well, he may or may not have been being "funny" then, but he has come around and is really quite nice to me now. So that's a positive.

Also, my first big project is in mid swing right now, coordinating a 2 week synchronization project with 15 people involved... and it's going pretty well. But get this: I got an actual thank you card for my work on this. A handwritten thank you with a picture of a kitten on it. And it was given NON-IRONICALLY. It almost brought me to tears.

3) Bella has been on a very amusing tear this week (after the brainstorms). Pamela wrote me today to tell me she was singing the following song:

"Bills, bills, bills... nothing but bills....
Bills, bills, bills... nothing but bills....
Cadillac, Cadillac, CADILLAC!"

I have NO idea where this came from, but it made me laugh for a good 10 minutes.

Brainstorming

Little Bella (3.6 years old now) has had in the past some issues with "night terrors" where she starts yelling and screaming at around midnight, not fully awake, and hard to comfort. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's mighty freaky. Usually, her terrors coincide with a developmental "leap" - shortly after a screaming night, she'll start doing something she never did before. I think it's most likely her neurons massively realigning and her brain just freaks out during the upgrade process.

Sort of like brain growing pains... growth spurts.

Well, for the past week, Bella has been regressing a bit - lots of baby talk, forgetting to use the potty, wanting to be carried around... and the armchair psychologists among us were trying to figure out what was happening. Last night, around midnight, we got the screaming - a classic night terror, and far from being freaked out, Pamela and I just said - let's ride this out and see what tomorrow brings.

This morning, Bella woke up, went to the potty, flushed, came in to visit us, and there was no baby talk.... We're back to pre-regression behavior at least! I didn't see any wildly new skills developed, but she may have picked up some basic Calculus or something - we'll just have to see.

It is just AMAZING to watch her brain develop...

On a related note: I did finally get upstairs to work on the 4th Project Manager track, and boy, it was great to finally let it out of MY brain. It's only a minute sketch right now, but the soul of the song is there. An interesting weekend!

The Incredibles

The in-laws were in town all week, and it was wonderful to have them... they're such nice people and we always have a good time. And yet, it was also very nice to have the house back to ourselves tonight. Bella and I had some fun snuggle time, and Pamela got to do some serious vegging - which she needs because she has completely lost her voice!

So even though I've had a 4th Project Manager track knocking around my head all week, I decided tonight needed to be about relaxing. So I kicked back with my favorite movie of all time: The Incredibles.

I have seen this movie over a dozen times, and I am brought to tears and out loud laughter every damn time. This is a movie that hits EVERY geek point I have. I see Fantastic Four, X-Men, Superman, Spiderman references throughout, and it reminds me of being a 12 year old geek drawing superhero comics with all of my friends as a super team. I'm amazed that the movie can still surprise me, that there is no "flab", no moment I tire of... it is a movie that Brad Bird might as well have drawn from my fondest dreams and memories and conjured up just for my pleasure.

It was a wonderful way to end a week of good laughs and company... add to this I got to spend time with MANY of my dearest friends this week - Lunches with Paul and Mark, Dinners with Nick and Yoshi, seeing Anne and Tony today - I'm feeling very connected with my world. And my friends Caesar and Paul S are having their own successes this week, opening up for Thomas Dolby in Portland and Seattle as Basic Pleasure Model.

Can I only mention that my work had some success as well - I have really started to feel like I'm adding value, and I'm getting good kudos from my peers and bosses. AND I found good coffee just 3 blocks away from work... in North Minneapolis (sorry Robbinsdale).

It'll be an early morning as I wait in line to register Bella for summer classes... so off to bed with me. But I had to share some joy with all... 3 (?) of my readers...

Being Sassy for fun and profit

In a meeting today, the management brass was musing out loud on our need to "take care of our people" - apparently they've got a few resignations in the past week, lots of people are feeling stressed out and foolishly believe the grass is greener at other sites (HA!).

It should surprise no one that I had a recommendation for improving employee morale: "Espresso Machine". Yes, I actually said it.

Because this meeting went long, I was on my own for lunch today... and was able to secure a post-lunch espresso as well. Two things I noticed: First, the probably-an-evangelical-trap coffee "house" had a neon sign saying "open" today. As if I'm going to fall for THAT one. Sorry Charlie.

Secondly, I learned that Navy Recruiters don't think it's funny to either dance to or comment on their extremely fruity disco cellphone ringtones. I could have guessed that one though.

The end of the Earth...

Robbinsdale, a small first-ring northern suburb, nestled north of Minneapolis. Place where I work now, and place where apparently they can support multiple gun stores, a firing range, several smoke shops, and NO coffee shops.

Not a dang one.

Oh, they tried - there's an empty storefront announcing "Expresso and Bakery" (Yes, the X is incorrect). There is a house that promises Coffee and even had a LaVazza sticker in the window... but the doors were locked, and the parking lot empty (I suspected this one may actually be a hipster trap when in operation - they lure you into the basement with a promise of coffee, and don't let you out until you accept Jesus as your personal trainer, or something).

Nearest Starbucks or Caribou are even further north in the seeming metropolis of Crystal. A good 15 minute drive, which seems excessive... until you realize that we're talking about MY COFFEE NEEDS here.

I think my three best options include:
1) Wean myself off of my need for the afternoon bean.
2) Bring a thermos with a quad shot kept hot for my afternoon of need.
3) Knock down a cube wall and install an espresso stand here.

I had considered bringing in my mini Espresso machine and parking it at my desk, but two problems present themselves: There is but ONE power outlet for my cube, and the nearest water is literally 20 cubes away (there is a massive server room between me and the "kitchen".

The final option is too horrible to contemplate: Drink the corporate brewed coffee in the break room. OH THE HUMANITY.

Authenticity...

I met Yoshi for lunch at E-Noodle - a little restaurant in St Paul that has many soups, as well as very good stir fries. Yoshi is 4 weeks away from moving to Australia for 3 months for school, then to Pittsburgh to attend grad school... so I'm trying to get my time in with him, because dang it I'm going to miss that guy.

He was very helpful in giving me some context for my current work woes - he says after all of the very intense projects I've been on for the past 3 years, isn't it OK to have one that is a bit of a yawn? Can't you just work your hours and go home and NOT think about it? Pamela made a very similar point, and I imagine that if I hear it just 2-3 more times, I might start to believe it.

Back to E-Noodle - I do love their stir fries, but since their name is "E-Noodle", I feel like a fraud if I don't try their soups every here and again. But I have yet to find a soup that I truly LOVE (in the way I truly LOVE Vietnamese PHO soups, but they don't serve those).

Today I decided to try a Korean Beef Noodle soup. While the flavor was good, I suspect that I was covertly garlicbombed, and that people will fear me. Also, the beef was horrific - and by that I mean big chunks of brisket with globs of fat. I would call it "depressingly authentic" because having had their beef in other soups and stir fries, I know this "special meat" is what they intended for this particular soup. I looked around, and decided that I'm NOT actually in Korea, and I will actually eat something tonight that doesn't horrify me, so I just enjoyed the broth and some noodles and walked away from the beef nonchalantly.

I can be adventurous - especially when I don't know if the NEXT meal will be even odder (see my Tokyo updates for proof), but when I'm in St Paul, I'm going to be a bit pickier. Which is not to say E-Noodle isn't great - they're spot-on authentic as far as I can tell. I just wasn't in the mood for authenticity, I guess.

Back to the grind - Good ol' Visio - how DID we ever get anything done without you?

Back to work...

It's week number two at the "new client"... and things are still going well. Every day I learn a few new things that makes something that was mentioned a week earlier suddenly make "sense". Fortunately, I seem to be "getting it" pretty quickly and people are satisfied with my output.

My first big exposure to the "big group" was to collect their signatures (14 of them) to validate that a software upgrade on Monday had been tested by the team leads. A similar upgrade 5 months ago had gone poorly, but nobody had taken responsibility for testing... so I got names and signatures.

I did have a bit of a grim moment yesterday: I was walking around meeting people, and one of the employees took a look at my badge, said "oh, you're a TEMP" and walked away just like that. WOW. There are definitely some issues with the consultants "versus" the employees.

At home, we're preparing for Easter - The in-laws are coming to stay for a while, Bella's birth family is coming to visit, and our house is a bit topsy turvy, as we had decided to do some "deep organization", which means the clutter behind the doors was brought out and rearranged...

It's sort of making me hyperventalate, actually.

Day Three - back home

With all of the crazy running around on the first two days, we resolved to make Sunday a much more mellow affair. We Metro'ed over to Erik and Heidi's place, got some coffee, and headed out to Brunch at their friends' place.

There were two other couples there, one 18 month old, and one 30 month old recent adoptee from Russia. These were cute little girls, and they had us missing Bella something fierce.

Jim and Erik disappeared to do some record shopping (an allergy break actually - after two hours my lungs were getting a bit tight from the house dog...), while the ladies stayed at the brunch and went to a playpark for even more kiddy goodness.

In the afternoon we hung out at Erik and Heidi's coop, exchanged MP3 files, reflected on the day, and then off to an early dinner - we had a plane to catch! We wound up in Dupont Circle at a smoky burger joint, but the health risks were well balanced by a DELICIOUS burger and onion rings, paired with a Guiness.

Then off to the airport, where we improbably secured exit row seating on an overbooked flight (thank you E-checkin!), left on time, and arrived on time (maybe the first time this has ever actually happened to me). The only downside was that the Wallace Shawn lookalike in the seat next to Pamela snored loudly the whole flight, jangling Pamela's nerves. A seat switch helped somewhat, but man, the dude was sawing logs, and I mean REDWOODS. An amazing snore on him.

We got home and JeMae filled us in on the whole weekend. Turns out Bella had been somewhat sick for much of the weekend, and Mae was being a super mom and holding her nonstop... and concealing this from us so that we wouldn't worry!

We rushed up to see Bella after seeing Mae off with a bag of salty oat cookies we brought back from DC (soooo delicious), and Bella woke up and decided to let it all out - she cried and cried for 45 minutes - she had been a real trouper all weekend, but it was finally time to let us know that she missed us. After a while Pamela carted her into bed with us, and she curled up and went right to sleep! After another hour, I carted her back to her bed - I can't sleep with TWO snoring girls...

This morning Bella came down to see me and we read the funnies together, shared peanut butter toast, and had some cuddles. It was GREAT to be home.

Many thanks to Erik and Heidi for their amazing hospitality, and to Dad, Karen, JeMae, Randy, and Jenny for their excellent care of our little Bella during our adventure!

DC Day Two

After a refreshingly late start, we were off to meet Erik at Starbucks in Dupont Circle (well, one of the 3-4 there). After a egg/sausage english muffin and a quad espresso, I was ready for the world! Note to Starbucks - your breakfast sammiches are DELICIOUS and should be rolled out beyond your limited test markets. I KNOW YOU'RE READING THIS, STARBUCKS.

It was a cold, rainy day all day. The umbrellas were out, the puddles were deep, the dampness profound. What a good day to go to the Smithsonian museums! A thought shared by every single tourist in DC today.

First we ran into the big Cherry Blossom festival - sumo wrestlers, singers, dancers, and food stands. Two things here: 1) There were a lot of wet grumpy kids dressed like Dragon Ball Z characters (This is called "cosplay"). 2) I was able to buy a bottle of cold unsweetened green tea, just like I drank in Tokyo last year! It was delicious!

First stop, American History - saw a display of old computers (TRS80, Apple 2, Altair), and Julia Child's Kitchen, and some big trains, First Ladies' dresses, and Ray Charles' yamaha KX88 midi keyboard with braille on the switches.

Then off to Eriks museum of the Native American - a huge, beautiful museum filled with art from the first Americans. Erik showed us a lot of the clever touches, and made his feelings known about some of the exhibit designs... No backstage tour this time, but his running commentary was fantastic.

We had a GREAT lunch in the cafeteria of the Native Museum - it had different food stations for different regions - eastern america, central america, south america... I had some plank roasted salmon, pamela had some brined turkey, erik had some tacos. But the quality was very good - and the sides were nummy. I had fennel and fiddlehead salad!

A quick detour into the Air and Space museum (and a promise that next visit we'd go to the huge new annex out near Dulles), and a breeze through the Herschorn (to see some Japanese guy's photographs... taking art pictures of nature dioramas and wax museum figurines...).

No happy hour today - we met Heidi at Teaism for, well, tea. Also the best oatmeal cookies on the planet. (just had a half of one for breakfast!). It was a relaxing break. Then we had some time to kill before dinner reservations at 9:45.

So we visited Heidi's studio and acquired a few very nice necklaces, and went back to Erik and Heidi's and watched 5 episodes of Arrested Development - man was that a great show!

Dinner was at Indique - a nouvelle Indian restaurant. Great flavors, but some very loud republicans were at the table next to us. And one guy looked like Paul Reiser, and you know about me and him. The feud. But they couldn't ruin a great evening.

To bed by midnight, and up at 8, and we'll be home tonight with the final installment.

DC Day One

Good Morning! We arrived in DC safely and on-time after an early, bumpy NW flight... Nothing to report there, however. We decided to metro into town, with Eriks help... A relaxing way to go with the most polite and informative Metro driver ever. He did pronounce Washington as WAH-Hah-Shing-Ton-Ah. Very important sounding.

We needed to change trains to get to the hotel, and Erik surprised us by being at the transfer point! So he walked us over...

The Hotel Madera is a funky little Kimpton Hotel, with surprisingly large rooms, and it's pretty quiet! We're very happy with the place so far....

First order of business, let's see some flowers. DONE - the Cherry Blossoms are still in bloom, so we got a few great pictures. Second: COFFEE. Fortunately, DC has been throroughly Starbucks-ified since our last visit, so caffeine was ours. We started over toward the Mall, with the intent of meeting Heidi for a light lunch. She recommended a Spanish restaurant, and they had room for us.

TWO HOURS later, we finally crawled out of this magnificent place. The food was great, the Decor was mind blowing. We had delicious spanish wine, and the highlight was the fried custard dessert. MMMM.

Then off to the National Gallery for the Dada exhibit. IT really helped place Dada into the historical context of WW1 and Weimar Germany, which added an angle I don't think any of us had really considered before. Also, there was a huge installation for the Ballet Mechanique - 16 player pianos, 3 drums, 2 xylophones, a police siren, many bells, some fans... And it was HUGE sounding. We enjoyed a 10 minute performance (excerpts only - the original is 24 minutes long).

A great way to relax: Mojitos! Erik had a favorite place, and we loved them (Well, Jimmy did - Pamela loved her Diet Coke)

Walking past the White House, Pamela swears we saw Condi going into Blair House. I for one believe her.

We chilled at Erik and Heidi's swanky pad (they have truly maximized their 760 square feet - from floor to ceiling!) - watched some 1950s educational films and a few Colbert reports, and then off to a LATE dinner.

We wound up at a small country italian place called DINO, and had a GREAT meal, though by the end of it (11pm) we were all falling asleep. A cab was caught for the Hotel, and it was bedtime. But alas the night did not end there. Jim got his FIRST EVER Red Wine Migrane. My sister Carrie gets them all the time, so she's sworn off of Red, but this was my first. I hated it hated it hated it. Very sad.

But by the morning, all was well. We're off to meet Erik for some coffee and another fun day - we should be seeing Erik's museum today!

It's different up north.

Yesterday I had a very short lunch break between meetings, and so the travelers took me to Wendy's. Now I haven't been to a Wendy's for many many years, but I did remember that there was something about them making your burger just the way you want it, and you were supposed to tell them how you like it.

We walked up and Jen (one of the travelers) let the small, older woman behind the counter know that all four of us are on one bill. The woman looked fearful, and said "allright, I need to clear out these orders then!" After a few minutes of busywork, she carefully set up 4 trays, and braced herself. I could tell, she was a person who was easily upset.

So I'm ordering. I start with a Spicy Chicken Filet. I have to repeat myself several times as the lady looked for the right button. No, not a combo, just the sandwich. And a single burger... with lettuce, onions, tomato, ketchup..... she has stopped pushing buttons and is looking at me with dread - apparently I am not ordering this right. She says "just tell me what you DON'T want on it". I tell her I don't know what DOES come on it, could she tell me? She just looks at me as though I am some sort of alien, and have asked for a cup of oxygen. Apparently she will NOT be telling me what is on the standard sandwich. We stare at eachother for a minute.

I move first - OK I'll take everything except cheese and mayo, whatever else that entails is fine with me. BEEP. I see she has rung up cheese. She heard cheese and ordered it. At this point I know enough that to take that cheese off, she's going to need a manager. Now I am just looking to end this transaction. I will not argue about the cheese. I WILL NOT.

Fine fine fine. She looks past me to the next customer, and I say "could I also get a cup of water?" She literally pushes back from the register and throws up her hands in horror.

All the while, my three companions are watching this with ill concealed mirth. After me, Jode walks up and says slowly and clearly "Number 7 with a Coke, Please". He gives me the raised eyebrows and a smirk.

As I ate my unwanted cheeseburger, I reflected - what had I done wrong? I had gone off script - I had dared to take them up on their advertising promise of having it "MY WAY". I wasn't a jerk, I was just confused!!!!

As we went back to the car, the travelers lit up their cigarettes, and chastened, I said "I'll be good next time".

Project Manager 3

Just put the touches on a third Project Manager song: C-Suite. For those of you not in corporate america, that refers to the "nice" row of offices occupied by the CEO, CIO, CFO, and other other C-guys. The general idea is it's a love song by a mid-level manager who is sweet on an admin assistant who moved into his area during a re-org.

The music is, like all Project Manager tracks, done in rigid early 1980's style. While Requirements might have been done by Cabaret Voltaire, and I-Consultant sounds a bit like Alphaville, I'm pleased that C-Suite is very Kajagoogoo (like "Hang on Now").

I can't wait for us to actually get some of these tracks finished and shared with y'all soon... but until Caesar (my nemesis) does his guitars and bass, and Paul does his vocal magic, I'm afraid there's no "there" there yet.

But I'm happy about what we're achieving here!

Getting to be home...

The new workplace is coming along pretty well. By the end of Tuesday, I started feeling better about what my role is. Yesterday I was able to start presenting strategies to people, and TODAY people started coming to me for advice on various issues... So my confidence and comfort are returning.

Lunch has been fun: Turns out most of the people here are travelers with a generous Per Diem, so they just trade off buying lunches and expensing them, and they don't mind if non-travelers get in on it. So I've been freeloading. It's VERY nice of them, and I don't take it for granted, but I'm also enjoying it. The only downside - they are smokers. They smoke on the way, and on the way back. So I'm going to have to work that out.

BIG NEWS: We're taking a trip out to Washington DC fri-Sun. I'll blog any important events. Not sure if Condi will be in town for us.

Are you my mommy?

Day one of the new gig was the typical exercise in disorganization: I did get my parking, my id badge, my network, and my email set up (yes, another client email address which I will discourage people from using). But what I didn't get was a boss or any work direction...

Me: "Hi, I'm Jim, and I'll be doing Environment management and change control"
Someone: "GREAT! We really need your help! You've got a lot to do!"
Me: "Glad to help - can you point me towards my first task?"
Someone: "Actually, I'm not managing you, and I'm not sure who is... Sorry!"

Repeat several times throughout the day. I felt like the little chick in that children's book "Are you my Mommy?"

Some co-workers have warned that things move pretty slowly here, so not to worry about a lack of direction yet... but as you all know I like to have my work, and uncertaintly like this does get to me.

As cavalier as I've been about this change in work, I confess it does have me nervous to be starting something new like this, and the uncertainty got me a bit wigged out... fortunately Pamela was able to talk me through it, and I'm much calmer today.

On the plus side, I've already been welcomed into a "go to lunch" gang - which I confess I had NOT had for the past 3 years - 3 years of eating lunch with a book or newspaper. It was pretty cool.