Today we went to our nephew's (that still feels weird to say) 5th birthday party. We had a nice time and stayed longer than we planned.

Today we're helping my mom & Rich move. I just set up my mom's PC in her new office. Here's me with Carol (web cam) at my mom's desk.

Tulips.

   Tuesday night I watched the two remaining videos I had rented for my sick weekend. Surviving Christmas was pretty bad and I would recommend against it. If it is on cable and you have nothing else to do then it's okay, but don't pay for it. Bourne Supremacy was fine, though I have to admit I didn't give it my full attention which really detracts from action movies since you never get absorbed in it.

Sunday I ventured out of the house for the first time in two days to shop for baby things (more baby things!) for a coworker's baby shower. Toys R Us is kind of scary.

I'm keeping my new tulips inside so they are opening up and showing themselves. :)

While at home this weekend I watched MANY movies. Let's see. I watched Lost Junction, Wimbledon, Garden State, The Terminal and some others on cable that I am forgetting right now. Garden State was the best one of the lot (thanks for the recommendation JR; I'd like to borrow the soundtrack), but I enjoyed all of these and The Terminal was quite good. I didn't realize it until after the movie but Zach Braff, the male lead, in Garden State also wrote and directed the movie. I am impressed. Now someone just needs to explain to me why he is still on that dumb TV show Scrubs when he is clearly very talented...

I've been sick since Thursday night with a cold so I stayed home Friday-Sunday and only worked half a day Monday. I'm doing much better now though my sinuses are still angry.

I bought myself a little pot of tulips at the grocery store yesterday. It's a reminder that Spring is coming.

I made a pumpkin-carrot soup on Wednesday night using a modified version of the pureed vegetable soup recipe in How to Cook Without a Book. I was trying to make something reminiscent of the amazing pumpkin soup we ate a few years ago on our trip to Aruba. It turned out okay but not great, much better the day afterward (it's funny how flavors can mingle and strengthen in the fridge).

Labor Dept to stop collecting data on women

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced its intention to stop collecting data specific to women in the workforce. They claim the data is not frequently requested and is a burden on employers to collect. We are now in the 60-day comment period so please email the BLS now and tell them it is vital that we continue to collect this information. The comment period ends Feb 22nd.

I am such a dork. I bought the Proactiv skin care system online after seeing the infomercial. I know not all products on infomercials are bad (especially since I designed on once) but I still feel silly. Regardless, I hope it works and I glow all the time! ;)

Sorry Bill, but this photo creeps me out.

HEATHER J. TAIT/SILENCE SPEAKS I was just in the bathroom here at work and there was a woman sitting on the bench with her cell phone to her ear, but not talking. I thought that's a strange place to listen to your messages, but okay. Then she started leaving a message for someone and it sounded like a business call. As I left the bathroom she was finishing up her message with the sound of multiple flushing toilets in the background. I hope I never receive a business message from the bathroom. It makes bad mental pictures.

This morning there was a sort of stormy look about but it is surprisingly warm out today. It's a nice change!

We just got this adorable invitation to our nephew's 5th birthday party. I think my sister-in-law might have made it because there's no logo on the back. It's really neat. :-)

Tell FDA to approve Plan B contraceptive

The FDA is supposed to vote again this week on approval of the over the counter "morning after pill" known as Plan B. This product has already been proven safe & effective for prescription use but that barrier is significant given the fact that it must be used within 72 hours of intercourse and it is most effective in the first 24 hours. Send an email to the FDA telling them to make this available to all women who need it.

I put up our new bathroom blind today and it is working out pretty well. Unfortunately all of the blinds we ordered from Smith+Noble are too short. Since I measured myself I can't gaurantee it is their fault, but it does seem odd that I would have measured them all a little too short but I measured the widths fine...

Saturday afternoon I helped paint and do other misc stuff at the duplex; my Mom & Rich are planning to move in at the end of the month. Afterward we ate takeout Indian food and I stayed chatting with my mom until 1 AM. It wasn't enough! I want more pug & mom time. More photos.

Saturday I drove down to Tacoma and in the freezing rain to see my Mom and Rich and Carol and to help them work on getting their duplex ready to move in.

Friday night I watched my DVD of Finding Nemo while icing my back. Then I went to bed early and slept for about 13 hours. I love Nemo!

After hellerwork tonight I ran some errands - Petco, the library, Trader Joe's and QFC.

My mom is interested in my electric sit-stand desk so I found out that I can buy one through work for my personal use. I made a quick video so she can see what it is like going up and down. I looked underneath and the sticker says Linak but their web site only shows the mechanisms, not any pre-built furniture.

I just ate lunch with my husband at Frankie's Pizza & Pasta in Redmond. It was very affordable, inexpensive pasta. Nothing to write home about but I would eat there again if I was looking for some simple pasta.

If you want Dean to become the DNC Chair the best thing you can do is contribute money to help pay for his travel and staffing while they go around the country meeting with all the voting members of the DNC. An email from Democracy for America says: "Here's how the process works: less than a month from today, on February 12, the 447 members of the Democratic National Committee (made up of leaders from across the country) will meet to select a new chairman. Between now and their vote, DNC members from various states will be holding a series of forums and listening sessions to hear from candidates and grassroots Democrats -- these events have already begun. As Governor Dean crisscrosses the country, he will try to meet face-to-face with as many DNC members as possible. He has a strategy for this race not unlike his strategy for our party's future -- stand up for what you believe, make a clear case for reform, and fight for every single vote."

Last night I made "from scratch" soup using the recipe/formula in How to Cook Without a Book. It turned out very yummy, though possibly needed a little more broth in the broth: goodies ratio. I made it with chicken, potatoes, zucchini, carrots, bell pepper and tomatoes. It turned out well. :-)

On Monday night I got take out from Pomodoro on Eastlake (they have a great beef steak tomotoe appetizer!). Today I took my left over gorgonzola pistaccio chicken breasts and cut them up to eat over pasta for lunch. Yum!!!

I got kick butt new monitors and a new video card today at work. The monitors are the Dell 20" wide flat panels and I got a dual-DVI nVidia card to run them. This is a definate bonus of my job here!

Powdering my nose in the back seat while I ride in the carpool.

The mountain has been beautiful so many mornings lately. This is the kind of winter weather we like to see - cold and clear rather than wet and gray.

Although it was very cold it was also very clear and beautiful out yesterday.

My coworker got these at the (San Diego?) Zoo over the holidays. It's so cute I can't imagine eating it.

This weekend I broke 3 of the mugs from the set we bought in La Paz. I dropped one on the counter and it split in two. It must have hit the other two because one cracked down one side and the other had a big nick in it. Now there are only two left. :-( Pete is going to help us track down some imposter replacements. ;-)

Dean is officially running for DNC Chair

Howard Dean officially announced that he is running for DNC Chair. Read his statement. Some of you have heard of an organization called Driving Votes. It was started by my coworker Matt Lerner and some of his friends. Driving votes is backing Dean for DNC chair and is evening running a TV ad about it. The Driving Votes site has more info.

I went for a walk around my neighborhood this afternoon and saw a bunch of snowmen still left after most of the snow melted.

Last night we finally reinstalled Windows on our home office PC. There was a breif period where the Promise Raid array wasn't being recognized and we thought we'd lost all of our personal data from the D drive. Luckily my husband is very smart and talented and he fixed it. Now we've installed all the security patches and just have to reinstall all the apps.

It snowed at our house last night.

Claire's baby shower was very nice. Lots of women love our Claire. :-)

I made myself a breakfast burrito this morning. Then I watched baby-related programming on Discovery Health Channel while I wrapped presents for Claire's baby shower.

My shoes squeak. I mean, my tennis shoes squeak on the inside. I wear plastic orthotics and for some reason they have begun rubbing in such a way that they squeak. It's like the squeak on linoleum floors when your sneakers are wet but it's coming from inside my shoes even when walking on carpet. People look up as I walk down the hall. So my feet smell like baby powder? Because baby powder in the shoes makes them stop squeaking (for a while). Buying new insoles might work too, but for now I have baby fresh feet.

Talk about routine. This is my daily work breakfast. English Breakfast tea with a splash of milk and oatmeal.

Yes JR, more photos. It appears I spend a good deal of my life on the road.

I resumed my normal work routine this morning. Brice & Emilio picked me up for carpool a little after 7:30 AM.

Last night I did a few productive things (dishes, laundry, dinner) but other than that merely laid on the couch watching tv. I was lucky enough to have my husband join me for part of the time. I didn't turn on a computer the whole evening - amazing!

Legalize pot to save dough

LE JOURNAL DU BARREAU I've decided that we should legalize marijuana to save money. Screw all the other reasons. Studies have shown that it is pretty much harmless (comparable to tobacco or alcohol) yet we waste so much money on it. On KUOW's show Weekday yesterday they interviewed David Matlin about prison abuses. But the part of the discussion that interested me most was that the prison industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. He said that in the last 20-25 years the money spent on prisons increased 169% (compared to only a 24% increase in spending on education) and we spend more on prisons than we do on public health. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons 54.1% of prisoners are in on drug offenses. DrugWarFacts.org says that 45.3% of drug offenses were for marijuana. How much money could the US save if we weren't housing all of these marijuana offenders, let alone the money spend on the law enforcement and judicial aspects of the problem? More interesting statistics on drugs & prisons

It appears to have snowed a bit on the Eastside last night. But not at our house in Seattle.

I ran a bunch of errand after work; my hellerworker cancelled our appointment.

Our group admin has my favorite candy right now...

I got my new electric "sit-stand workstation" today for my office. It's pretty nifty. Here it is at my current programed location and location 2. ;)

I had an appointment with the spine doctor this morning to check out my RSI and back pain. Nothing much to report.

Icemobile.

As we say in Seattle: "the mountain was out" this morning.

Making my morning tea...

The moon looked beautiful this morning while I was getting ready for work.

Wow. I've never seen giant styrofoam peanut bladders before. There's an invention for every need.

Icy cold day

I just took this photo outside my office with my new camera. See more photos from my new camera.

A cute new photo of Carol from my mom.

A couple of the more expensive accessories that Benjamin bought for my Nikon Coolpix 5400 didn't turn out to be all that we'd hoped, so I am returning them and used the money to buy an ultra-compact camera instead. I will still keep my Nikon, but will sell our older Canon Elph. The Casio is so small and light. I hope it turns out to be as good as it seems. If not I have 15 days to return it to Fry's...

My very pregnant friend, Claire, and I went on an excursion to Fry's this afternoon. Between us we came home with two DVD players, a desktop stereo system, a digital camera, an SD card, some blank DVDs, a processor fan and some ooky silver thermal grease (that sounds dirty).

Sleeping

I have been insanely tired since Christmas, sleeping 12+ hours a night most nights. It made sense for the first few days after Christmas since I was slightly sleep deprived and generally enjoy sleeping, but now it is getting to be curious. I hope I am not going to get sick.

What did Santa bring me this Christmas? Santa, in the form of my husband & family, brought me:

• clothing - a new scarf, long-sleeve shirt, socks, slippers and tank tops
• camera accessories - a sun shade, UV filter, telephoto lens/magnifier, digi-slave flash, neoprene case, 2GB CF card and a couple of other small things
• a donation to NARAL on my behalf
• house stuff - a tall ladder, a fancy corkscrew, a subscription to the NY Times Sunday edition, an internal DVD burner for our home PC, a frog clock and a Christmas tree ornament

Beef

PHILIP GREENSPUN I stopped eating beef in my early teens and went without it entirely for about 10 years. I've been eating beef again in small, irrational doses - beef jerky, bolognese sauce - for about 5 years now. Normally when I'd smell beef cooking or I would taste a steak of Benjamin's it would not appeal to me at all. But when Steph made tacos for us several weeks ago I ate a steak taco and liked it. Then several days ago Benjamin was cooking a steak in the kitchen and it smelled really good. I tasted it and I liked it! So now we're exploring different steak cuts and cooking styles to figure out what I like. It's a red meat adventure.

In an affront to productivity I have been watching a barrage of 90's romance movies on TNT (with commercials even - sacrilege!). So far I've Watched You've Got Mail, Runaway Bride, Sleepless in Seattle, and Only You. As you can see it's very heavy on Meg Ryan. I have to say I'm actually enjoying them, despite the thick layer of cheese and the AOL promotion. ;-)

Yesterday we went to see The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou starring Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe and more. It was really quite funny in a quirky, dark sort of way. Apparently it is extra enjoyable for those familiar with Jacques Cousteau, though I don't fall into that category.

My grandfather is struggling with demetia or early Alzheimer's disease so Leanne recommended a book for the family to read; she is in the UW Masters in Social Work program. The book is called The 36-Hour Day and it is about caring for and coping with loved ones struggline with memory loss. If you know others with this problem maybe you can recommend this book to them.