Claire sent me photos of Amelia's first bath. I am getting to know her virtually since I can't physically (due to my cough).

I made a quick(ish) stop at Lowe's today to look at "engineered wood floors" for our basement remodel. Overall the choices were very disappointing and more expensive than I expected. Dern.

Ohmygod! She ate somewhere different? Call the psychiatrist! Have a parade.

I used to eat at Sub Shop #9 in West Seattle a lot when I lived on Vashon and commuted to Seattle daily. So today on my way back from the doctor's office I was craving a sandwich and saw the sign for this Sub Shop. I went in and ordered lunch. How spontaneous! I got a turkey-bacon sub with guac and stuff + a bowl of chicken soup. The sandwich was pretty decent. Not as good as Honey Hole on Capitol Hill or Soup Daddy Soups when I worked in Pioneer Square, but better than a Subway. The soup was a coagulated mess so I ended up throwing that away.

This morning when I saw the oseteopath she said the same thing as my sister-in-law. I went in to see my primary care doctor again today and discussed it with her. She thinks it is a cough caused by post-nasal drip but says that the cause of the post-nasal drip is the real question. So she agreed to try the inhaler route. When she brought in this funny looking inhaler I realized I had used one before. So we looked in my medical chart and found out they had prescribed a similar inhaler in December 2003 for a persistent cough. There was no conclusion as to whether it worked, but I never came back again for that cough.... Now I am taking Advair twice a day for the next week or so. Cross your fingers!

Monday night I finished my second round of antibiotics. Tuesday I started coughing more (it never went away completely but had gotten a lot better). Then my chest started to hurt. I called the doctor's office and they prescribed a new antibiotic (aka Round III). That just didn't feel right so I called my sister-in-law, who is an internist, and talked to her about it. She thought I should avoid more antibiotics and try an inhaler. She said it might be a brochio-spasm type cough. So last night I didn't go pick up the antibiotics.

The weather yesterday was cold and stormy. I walked to the cafeteria in the rain and while I was outside there was a flash of lighting and then a huge clap of thunder sounded immediately. Later in the evening it hailed really hard for about 5 minutes so when I went to my car it was covered with hail.

Tuesday morning at 9am Seattle Lighting delivered 90% of the stuff we bought on Monday. Talk about great service! The stuff they delivered was from their Seattle warehouse, but still. They delivered it into our house (up all the stairs) less than 24 hours after we purchased it for no extra charge. Perhaps the arts of service isn't really dead.

After leaving Seattle Lighting I dropped in at Acapulco Fresh for my usual meatless tostada on a soft shell. I may eat it too often but it was still tasty. Unfortunately they switch to smaller tortillas in this dish so now I have to specially request a grande tortilla.

Today Benjamin and I went to Seattle Lighting and picked out all of the lights for the basement plus the bathroom fan, the interior door hardware (knobs, locks, pocket door "handle", bi-fold door pulls) and some special black dimmers for Benjamin's office. The frontmost light in this photo is the light that will be in our (tall-celing) stairwell. We ended up being there much longer than expected but we got a lot accomplished and got some great prices.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Today Benjamin & I went to my mom's house in Tacoma to celebrate her birthday. TJ & Gabe were also there, along with my grandma Doris and Rich (and the doggies). More photos.

This evening I watched a couple movies on HBO while I decompressed, ate dinner, wrapped presents for my mom's birthday, and ate a couple cookies. I watched part of a dumb movie called Malibu's Most Wanted. I also watched Fairy Tale: A True Story; it's about a couple of English girls who take photographs of fairies. Finally, I watched Taking Lives, a recent Angelina Jolie suspense flick.

Benjamin's Uncle Mike is here working on the basement again. He's cleaning up the ceiling in preparation for the framing next Saturday. This afternoon Benjamin and I went to Lowe's and Home Depot to get supplies for Mike. While we were there we also wanted to shop for doors, tile, the bathroom fan, medicine cabinet, etc. It was frustrating but we couldn't find much at Lowe's. I'm not sure if it's just because we're more familiar with Home Depot or if the selection at HD is really better, but we'd prefer not to support HD.

Last night we ate dinner at Mimi's house in celebration of her birthday. My dad barbequed some delicious salmon and Mimi made awesome wild rice. There were also yummy artichokes and yams. We brought the wine. I think everyone had a good time. We left at 10:10 to rush TJ & Gabe to the 10:15 ferry; amazingly they made it on.

Thursday evening Benjamin and I watched Napoleon Dynamite. What a strange movie. It is very odd and largely pointless but somehow is also pretty good. I guess you could say it's about outcasts.

I think this is a beautiful picture of Amelia. Also from Erik's site.

On Erik's site I just found this funny photo of Claire's baby Amelia and one of their cats, Kita, on Claire's lap. It appears the kitty likes the baby. :)

Yesterday Rive, my coworker who recently had a baby, came by the office with her little one, Tayten. She came bearing Easter gifts and cards. Tayten is very cute and still quite small even though she is already almost 8 weeks old. Rive looked good and happy. I haven't broken into the chocolate yet...

Yesterday I met Benjamin for lunch at Wibbley's. They make good milkshakes and hamburgers.

Living on a sailboat

A former co-worker of my from a little defunct web design firm called Free Range Media is living on a sailboat with her husband. They're currently going around Mexico, as far as I can tell. You can check out their blog called Mico Verde for more info and pictures.

Todd must've come to the house yesterday because when I got home the basement was much cleaner and tidier than the day before and the tub had been installed. Check out our cool bathtub!

Since all of the medicines in my arsenal are either ineffective or off limits, I am resorting to hot tea and breathing hot eucalyptus/menthol water. I hear the tiny violins playing...

After I finished with the dirt project I was finally ready to put my darned bulbs & tubers in the ground. Man, some of them look like freakish arachnids. Ick! But, if they grow they will look beautifull! So I put in as many as I could reasonably fit in this plot and then put some yummy new soil on top. Unfortunately I now have to find and prep another location to plant the remaining ~8 bulbs. If any of you really like gardening & weeding please come to my house! I only like to reap the benefits. ;-)

Last week when I finished digging up the grass here I filled up the yard waste sack so full of dirt & grass that I couldn't move the sack off the sidewalk. It's been sitting there ever since. Tonight when I got home I seperated the contents into three bags which I could then drag onto the parking strip. They are still very heavy and I just read in my seattle Utilities newsletter that I'm not supposed to put dirt in the yard waste. :-( I am hoping they won't notice it this one time.

last night after we signed the contract I went to get the checkbook to write the down payment check. Hmm, it wasn't where it is supposed to be. So I searched. And I searched more. I found checkbooks for 4 of my 5 checking-enabled accounts, but not the one I needed. The checkbook is probably somewhere but I have no idea if I will ever find it. I think it's been at least a year since I used it. I was very embarrased but Marcos was totally nice about it and I promised to mail him a check today.

So I went to the bank at lunchtime today and got a cashier's check which I mailed to him. I also ordered a new box of checks. After that I drove by Acapulco fresh and treated myself to my favorite soft-shelled tostada.

This weekend I discovered the downside of maximum strength Sucrets. Apparently too many of them can kill the skin in your mouth. I mentioned this fact to my step-father on the phone tonight and he said I was taking too many. Apparently like other medicines there is a limit on how many you're supposed to take. Oops. I tracked down the directions (hidden in one of those peel-away labels) and you're only supposed to take one every two hours. Ha! That sounds nice in theory but when you're putting your ribs out of place from coughing so hard and nothing else works, every two hours isn't going to come close to cutting it. Oh and yes, I have tried narcotic cough medicine and it doesn't really help.

DEPT. OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, PURDUE UNIVERSITY Last night I took my last antibiotic pill and then this morning on the way to work I was coughing a bit. As the day progressed I was coughing more. I called the doctor and left a message. Eventually I talked to the nurse and she talked to the doctor... I have to go in tomorrow to get checked out again and they said they might do a chest x-ray. I'd been planning to go see Claire & Amelia this evening but had to cancel yet again. I think there is some hideous cosmic connection that makes my cough return every time I schedule a visit with the baby. My boss called me Typhoid Mary on Friday when I was hacking up a lung. This is so much fun...

Last night Marcos came by to sign the final contract and see how the bathroom is coming. He agreed to all our modifications and had some additional good ideas to improve the floorplan and the methods.

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but we're paying part of the fee in trade; I'll be designing a new website for his construction company, The Remodeling Guys and his new yet-to-be-named roofing company. I registered a few domain names and set up a hosting account already. I posted a placeholder site a week or two ago.

Yesterday Todd the Plumber and his brother Chad worked 12+ hours at our house, finishing up around 10PM. They kicked ass! This is our basement bathroom so far. All the underground plumbing is in place, the sewer stack has been replaced, the line from the kitchen has been rerouted, the trenches filled back in and concrete poured back in. The plumbing is ready for the toilet and sink and the laundry-room drain is in place. After the concerete dries Todd will come back (Thursday) and start working on the copper piping and put in the tub. Now tonight we meet with Marcos, our contractor, to show him what's been done so far and negotiate the final floorplan and contract. Wish me luck!

For Bush, science is a dirty word

Here's another great British article from The Guardian, For Bush, science is a dirty word, about the Terri Schiavo right-to-die issue and Bush's continued denial of science. A small excerpt: "...Bush and his allies have blithely overturned multiple court decisions to maintain artificial feeding and let evangelical populism triumph over medical opinion."

Todd the Plumber is currently at our house working on the plumbing in the bathroom. Today was the day he had to disconnect the water and sewer. I am praying that he's able to finish this entire phase today because if he isn't I'm going to be without water or sewer tonight and tomorrow morning (yes, that's the whole house). Cross your fingers for me!

US Media sucks

A recent BBC article, Secret US plans for Iraq's oil, details evidence of the Bush administration's plans for the Iraq war before 9/11 and a recent plan for the creation of a state-owned oil company. Excerpts:

The Bush administration made plans for war and for Iraq's oil before the 9/11 attacks, sparking a policy battle between neo-cons and Big Oil, BBC's Newsnight has revealed.... New plans, obtained from the State Department by Newsnight and Harper's Magazine under the US Freedom of Information Act, called for creation of a state-owned oil company favoured by the US oil industry. It was completed in January 2004 under the guidance of Amy Jaffe of the James Baker Institute in Texas. Formerly US Secretary of State, Baker is now an attorney representing Exxon-Mobil and the Saudi Arabian government.

Have you seen this mentioned in the US Media? This article is from last Thursday...

  +   This afternoon Benjamin and I took a nap and awoke hunry. I was dreaming of Italian food the last little bit of the nap. I was craving beefsteak tomatoes and linguini bolognese so we decided to get takeout from Pomodoro. Benjamin was nice enough to go pick it up and we ate it while watching the movie Collateral (with Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx). It was actually a fairly good action flick.

I just watched Alfie on DVD. It was cute but unremarkable. It's free of a pat happy ending but still pretty formulaic.

Last night in the middle of the night our power went out for several hours. I don't know why or how many houses were affected, but it is super windy out now so I'm guessing that had something to do with it.

In the late afternoon yesterday Benjamin convinced me to leave the house. I went to Hollywood Video to get some movies, to QFC for yummy snacks, and to Petco for crickets. While I was at Petco I also picked up a dog bowl, balls and single-serving dog food to have on hand next time Carol comes to visit. I warned Benjamin later so he wouldn't find the dog things in the cupboard and think I was already buying things for our future puppy.

Saturday I did almost nothing productive. I was supposed to go see Claire & Amelia but had to stay home sick instead. I was feeling pretty depressed. Benjamin worked on Ben H's computer most of the day and I watched HBO.           Throughout the morning I watched bits and pices of The English Patient. Later I watched a silly old sequel, My Girl 2, and the second half of Thirteen, an intense and somewhat depressing movie about a thirteen-year-old girl who gets into trouble fast and deep. Then I watched an older Keanu Reeves & Al Pacino movie, Devil's Advocate. It's also pretty intense and dark.

Friday afternoon I left work at 4, got home at 5, and went to sleep around 6. Benjamin went to Bartell's for me on his way home and picked up my antibiotics. I slept through almost solid until Saturday at 10 o'clock.

I was feeling both sinus infection sick and car sick on the way home Friday, but it didn't prevent me from noticing how pretty the slouds looked in the sky.

My cough has resurrected itself and is in full force again. It has now been three weeks. This is so frustrating! They say I probably have a mild sinus infection. I am finally giving in and taking antibiotics. I hate them. They are particularly un-fun for ladies (if you don't know what I mean then count yourself lucky). I was supposed to go see Claire & baby Amelia tomorrow but it looks like that might not happen now since no one wants the tiny one to get sick! Poop on a stick.

Todd the Plumber started working on the basement bathroom yesterday. He had his brother come help him and they made amazing progress. It looks like all of the jackhammering is done and the trenches are dug in the basement floor and in the crawl space. The area around the sewer main is also dug up to expose where he'll tap into the main. Here we go!

Sen. Cantwell steps up

Washington Senator Maria Cantwell is a good Democrat and usually votes the "right" way on the issues. However, I've been generally unimpressed with her willingness to go the extra mile and step up. For example I was really disappointed in her vote and her speech when she voted to give Bush the power to go to war in Iraq. However, Cantwell stepped up this week and actively fought the drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). We lost the senate vote, but Cantwell isn't giving up. Getting it undone now will be a long-shot, but I'm glad she's continuing to fight. We (Democrats) are the minority now.

This is our soon-to-be-bathroom. We've been working madly to get ready for Todd the Plumber to start jack-hammering the concrete today. Last night I was up until almost 3 AM doing a contract, last-minute floor plan tweaks and moving money to the right accounts so I could write Todd deposit checks. I think I'm going to be hurting this afternoon.

Yesterday I had lunch at Nara Japanese Restaurant with Sabrina. As usual it was pretty good (the best sushi I know of near work but certainly not my favorite in seattle). It was nice to chat with Sabrina; she is my MS mentor, former manager and friend. We usually get together twice a month for our mentor meetings.

Last night after hellerwork I returned the videos and went to Bartell's and to Whole Foods. Then I decided to run into Magnolia Hi-Fi to finally return the headphones I bought in December that ended up hurting my ears. They wouldn't give me cash back since I waited so long to return them but they did offer an exchange. I bought a pair of Sony noise-canceling headphones. Later in the evening I was putting the headphones on and I lost my grip. One side of the headphones snapped back and popped me in the mouth. It hurt, surprised me and made me feel like an idiot. So to compound that I started crying. It had been a long time since I cried so I guess the tears were just looking for a way out. Now today I have a little bump and cut at the edge of my mouth. It matches the cut on the other side of my mouth where I bit myself. Happy Tuesday.

Benjamin got me a GDC girlie tee at the conference in San Francisco. :-)

Yesterday Benjamin and I signed the papers for our home equity loan. Getting the loan was surprisingly pain-free (except for the pain of realizing my debt load). We also got a copy of our home appraisal and it is really incredible. According to this appraisal our house has increased in value more than 16% in a little over a year and a half (since we bought it). Woo hoo! And I'm sure that when the basement is finished it will be worth even more. It is nice to think we actually made a good investment. ;-)

Benjamin came home from San Francisco yesterday while I was in Tacoma. This morning we slept in late together. Then Benjamin's Uncle David and Benjamin's Dad Martin came by to look at the basement plans and give us advice. Uncle David has been a contractor for a long time so he had lots of tips to offer; he 'd never been to the house before either. This evening I watched two chick flicks, Shall We Dance? with Jennifer Lopez, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, and The Notebook, a love story based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks.

I slept in until 11 this morning after Carol woke me up repeatedly starting at 6AM. After I showered I ate brunch with mom & Rich. Mom made a strata that we ate with avocado and creamy swiss cheese. It was yummy. Then mom & I walked Carol to Wright Park and we went to the botanical conservatory there. It is a really neat place. I thought about getting married there but Benjamin has allergies and his head would have exploded. Walking Carol is a bit of an adventure since she still pulls on the leash all the time. We worked on training her about that and crossing the street the whole way there and back. I really do want a pug but dogs sure are a lot of work! More photos.

Last night I drive to Tacoma to spend the night at my Mom & Rich's house. We watched Shark Tale and it was very cute. Then I slept in their new guest room and Carol slept with me. Though a bit stinky, she was warm and cuddly until she woke me up at 6AM by trying to dig a hole in the bed.

Another one bites the dust

Over the last few months we've had a significant exodus from our design team. In the Fall Shawna left Microsoft to pursue other, more artistic ventures, including some time off. Last month two of our more senior designers, Marc & Phillip, left our team to move to other design teams in the company. This afternoon I found out that yet another designer is leaving our team to go to a different MS design team. Management keeps telling us it is no reflection on our team but just a confluence of outside opportunities arising at the same time. Though this may be partially true I think it is inherently a reflection on our team since the people wouldn't have taken those opportunities if they were super happy in their existing jobs.

SCOTT MILLER / SPECIAL TO THE SEATTLE TIMES I didn't see it and it didn't affect me in any way (that I know of), but Mt. St. Helens erupted again yesterday.

I stocked up on audio books at the library tonight.

     Today we finished the prototype for the usability test that started this morning. This proototype was pretty frustrating; mainly the Director portion. I've gotten relatively comfortable working in Flash but Director is now a huge pain in my ass. I remember it being easier when I actually understod it (for a few brief months in college), but now that I'm used to using Flash, Director seems totally counter-intuitive and overly-complex. Though to be honest both of them make me wish for some good old HTML.

Last night Piper, my mom, Rich & Carol (the pug) came to visit. We got takeout from Casa d'Italia and ate it at my house. We also played with the puppy and chatted. Then they all went home around 9 o'clock. More photos.

Yesterday Benjamin and Rob flew to San Francisco to attend the Game Developer's Conference. They flew standy on Alaska Airlines buddy passes from Steph. I haven't yet heard from the boys as to how they're doing, so they must be having a good time.

Monday night we met with Todd the Plumber to review our most recent floor plan for the basement remodel and select the bathroom fixtures. We decided to go with fairly nice fixtures: a Toto Drake round-front toilet, American Standard Lutezia pedestal sink, and an American Standard Hampton widespread sink faucet. My lovely husband desperately wanted the bigger, deeper bathtub with a tile surround so we're getting the American Standard Americast Cambridge 5' tub and having tile put in around it. Although small, the basement bathroom is going to end up being nicer than the main bathroom!

Sunday evening I tweaked my neck and it's been hurting ever since. It's working itself out very slowly but my side-tilt range of motion is still pretty limited. Just what I need on top of being sick.

maximum strength

I've been sick since a week ago Thursday. That's nearly two weeks now. I never missed work, or even cancelled my weekend engagements, but I was sick. I haven't been sick sick for a while now but the cough just won't quit. I used up all the maximum strength Sucrets and then had to resort to the regular strength, which just don't do the trick. I used all the regulars up now too, so I had to go to Bartell's to get more of the max. Since my other symptoms are gone I'm not sure what causes me to cough. It feels more like a lung/bronchial spasm thing than a regular cold cough. I'm going to the doctor in the morning to get it checked out.

Monday night we watched Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. Just as we were told, it was stupid but surprisingly amusing. I laughed out loud several times, though I was occasionally embarrased that I thought it was that funny. ;)

Saturday night Benjamin and I rented I Heart Huckabees. It was interesting, odd, and sorta funny. It was very intellectual; it talked a lot about existentialism. I don't know if I really liked it or not, but it's worth checking out if it sounds interesting to you.

Benjamin and I babysat our nephews Saturday afternoon-evening. This is Zane. Isn't he just about the most adorable little boy you've ever seen? More photos.

After the movie Benjamin lit up a cigar on the sidewalk outside the theater. Another photo.

The movie we saw was the John Travola-Uma Thurman flick, Be Cool. It was very cute and funny. I recommend it.

Friday night I went with the boys (Benjamin, Ben & Alan) to a movie. The 8:30 PM showing was sold out so we went to Johnny Rocket's until the 9:20 PM showing. We were sitting there eating and the B-52's came on. Suddenly the music got really loud and moments later all of the employees started doing an embarassing synchromized dance in a line. Now that's a job you'd always remember.

We got a color calibration gadget at work so I I started color correcting all my monitors. Unfortunately Photoshop broke immediately afterward so I uninstalled the calibration software in in my attempts to isolate the problem. I have no idea whether it was the source of the problem or not, but I'm now retiscent to run it on my other computers/monitors.

Sunday night I watched the previous week's episode of Carnivàle and then Benjamin and I watched the new episode. That show is very dark but very good; I'm amazed at how HBO continues to break new ground. After that my husband sucked me in to staying up late and watching a dark and excellent film, Donnie Darko. It's a movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal (The Day After Tomorrow, The Good Girl) and his sister Maggie Gyllenhaal (Secretary, Mona Lisa Smile). The main character Donnie Darko is a troubled teenager having visions of a giant evil bunny rabbit that tells him to do violent things. It was a fascinating movie that I immediately wanted to watch again and have thought of several times over the last few days.