9/11 - Surprise, surprise. Busy at work. Frustrated again. Got to see Starbucks Eric this afternoon while getting my caffeinated drink. He was wearing a tie under his apron. I thought that he was a shift supervisor, but maybe he's a manager. I wonder if he's higher than Justin. Will says Hi. On my way back to the office, I start to wonder why Justin, Eric, and Will are nice to me. Maybe they've got a list of regulars and I'm on there (like the Ritz-Carlton book that Brad's in). Went to gym. WAS lost. OAK lost. I was so hoping that I'd get 2nd place. Oh well now I'm tied with about six other people for sixth place.

9/12 - Uneventful typical day. Saw SBE in the morning. Worked. Went to Salsa class then did 15 minutes on the treadmill.

9/13 - Saw SBE again. Wow. Three days in a row. Busy at work on filepulls. Then client ask for some stats. We had to do an emergency survey so I had a couple of meetings to discuss the survey. Then I had to do queries to look for some data.

9/14 - SBE was working as the barista this morning. As I waited in line I debated whether to get a white mocha or a cup of coffee. I had already gotten a white mocha yesterday (my new policy is no more than one white mocha a week ever since I found out it has over 400 calories for a tal (over 500 in a grande). Ended up giving in knowing it was going to be a busy day. SBE made my white mocha. Yea!

Boy was it busy. Trying to finish a survey that we started yesterday. Running queries to get stats off of the database. Managing filepulls. Anyways, got lunch late (1:30pm). On my way back saw him (with his tie). Thought he was off since I saw him at 8am.  But about an hour later, Lisa got back from Starbucks and he messed up her drink. Instead of her usual mocha, she got a vanilla latte. I think that she must have gotten someone else's drink.

9/15 - No SBE. Busy at work but had time to go with Lisa to Virgin Records Citizen Cupcakes so she could get a sandwich and I can get a pineapple upside down cupcake. They didn't have my cupcake. They only had Rocky Road, Key Lime, Toffee, and Mint. We saw MM, my boss about four years ago. Miss working with him. I don't understand why he got laid off. As an account director, he was such a great account director and a great boss. Anyways at the magazine rack, I found "The Unofficial PS3 Launch Handbook" which had some cool images of the games (some full-page some as little insets). Resistance: Fall of Man, Metal Gear Solid 4, Half-Life 2, Final Fantasy XIII were some of the ones featured on the magazine. On our way back to the office we saw a woman a pink tutu in front of Macy's handing out stuff. So we crossed the street to see what was going on. A few feet before we got there Lisa figured it might be something related to Sarah Jessica Parker. Sure enough, the woman was handing out samples of her perfume. But she also said that Sarah Jessica Parker was inside so we decided to stop in. When we got there, there were a lot of people. I tried to take a picture with my cellphone but there were too many people. I did catch a glimpse of her. Before leaving work, I decided to read the Daily Dish on SFGate.com and it had a blurb that Sarah Jessica Parker might be pregnant. How weird? Before leaving the office I printed out my picks for the football pool, ESPN.com expert picks, and odds. Anyways, left work at 6:55 and got to PH around 7:50. Got to the gym around 8:05--30 minutes on the treadmill (2 miles, 205 calories), 10 minutes on the stairmaster (.62 miles, 60 calories), 350 crunches, 11 laps in the pool.

9/16 - Did some shopping and ran errands. Changed a couple of picks CAR to and JAC to PIT then changed MNF score from 31 to 37.

9/17 - Woke up early. After getting ready, checked football picks against latest odds and injury reports. Didn't make any changes. Watched football before going to Church. Got lunch and watched football the rest of the day. Yea! 49ers won. And I picked them in the pool. The past couple of years I usually don't pick the 49ers. I figure if they win I'd be happy. If they lose at least I get a point in the pool. This time I had a feeling that they had a good chance of winning against the Rams. And I figured that a lot of people in the pool would have picked the Rams. So this could be the tiebreaker game. So after they won I noticed that I was tied for first. Watched the DAL/WAS game and worked for a couple of hours. Then when DAL won against WAS, I had a good chance of winning. I was tied with SA for 1st place with13 correct picks. We both picked PIT. She had 36 and I had 37. I was hoping for a high scoring game eventhough I knew that Jacksonville and PIT had great defenses. But RL and NO's friend Paul had 12 and picked the Jags.

To be continued in next week's blog.
What happened in the MNF game? Will it be busy at work? Will I see Eric?

powered by performancing firefox

8/28 - Another busy day at work so seeing SBE in the afternoon made my day. Even better, he made my frappuccino with extra, extra whipped cream. Went to gym and worked out for about an hour. Then I dropped off the Thomas socks I bought for Siah. It was almost 10 o'clock and he was still awake even though he had to go to nursery school in the morning. He was so cute in his pullups and no t-shirt. Only spent a couple minutes there (so I don't keep Bev & Siah up). He gave me a hug and a kiss before I left (what a surprise...I haven't gotten a kiss from him in over a month).

8/29 - Woke up an hour late because I had accidentally kicked my alarm clock to the floor (been sleeping sideways on the bed for over a week because of strange noises outside my window). Was able to get ready in less than 30 minutes so I got to work only 30 minutes later than usual. Got my morning coffee and SBE was working. I ended up working late because of a last minute request from LA and I didn't go to the gym for Salsa class because I forgot the gym card (which was kinda of a good thing because the furniture people showed up early and I was able to work on the request). Even after working on the request for over an hour, I wasn't even halfway done. Didn't want to stay in the city too late so I worked until around 7:40 and rushed to the train station. Thank God for laptops. I worked on the train (which I haven't done in awhile...since I heard stories about people getting beaten up or shot by thieves who were swiping laptops). Anyway I got home and worked some more.

8/30 - Got my morning coffee and saw SBE again. Went to Beard Papa's with Lisa for cream puffs. It was yummy but not exceptional. Stressed at work. Went to the gym. Worked out extra long since I missed the Salsa class on Tuesday--35 minutes on the treadmill, 500 crunches, 22 minutes on the StairMaster, and swam 8 laps.

8/31 - Another stressful day at work. So during lunch I went with Lisa to Citizen Cupcakes to get a birthday cupcake for DB and goodbye cupcake for DKao. I got myself a pineapple upside down cupcake which was very yummy (much better than the cream puffs from the day before). I felt a little guilty taking in all those calories...it was a setback in my weight loss plans but I needed it after the bad couple of weeks I've had. Worked until 6:20 even though I was hoping to leave earlier so I can get to choir practice on time. I was about 5 minutes late for choir practice, but only Pattee was there. Arlene showed up around 5 minutes later. And Theresa showed up a few minutes after. Couldn't resist...went to get white chocolate gelato (extremely yummy!). Got dinner at Jack in the Box. Got train ticket. Got home. Did some surfing on the Internet. Made my picks for the first week of the NFL season.

9/1- Really productive. At work, wrote specs for 2 projects, updated 3 others, sent emails to various people, did scheduling for next week's projects. But I also discovered an issue that a programmer will have to fix. Didn't leave the office until 2:30 even though we closed at 12. Didn't eat lunch so I stopped by Starbucks and got a snack--cookie cream sandwich (it was very very yummy). Jumped on MUNI to go to the Dugout Store to buy a replacement antenna ball (someone was brazen enough to take the one off of my car over a month ago) and also left with a new t-shirt. Then I took MUNI to BART (took forever). Got to PH and was starving. Ended up getting lunner (lunch/dinner) at Fuddruckers. Then went to gym--47 minutes on the treadmill (over 2.75 miles, 170 vertical height, 270 cal) , 10 minutes on the stairmaster (.5 miles, 60 cal., 30 floors), 410 crunches, and 14 laps. Got home and watched some tv (49er game, MTV Next, What Not to Wear, Cover Shot, News) while figuring out what desserts I'll be making for next week's choir weekend getaway to Angel's Camp. I'll make millionaire pie, apple crisp, and leche flan. And after Lisa and my excursion to Citizen Cupcakes, I want to make some cupcakes. I think I'll experiment with a couple of recipes and make them for Liz's birthday party before I make it for choir members.  Oh...Giants lost. USA basketball team lost but 49ers finally win a pre-season game.

Some interesting things I've read the past couple of weeks:
* Editor for OPM writes in her blog that she'll buy an Xbox 360 instead of a PS3 in November. What??? Say it isn't so. http://opm.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=7344653&publicUserId=5380375#comments
* Article in Wired about Sony and the PS3. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.09/sony.html
* Article on ESPN about Madden07. This article had me LMAO. There are tons of lines that are so hillarious. Here are some examples.
-"But if a punter gets hurt? Eh ... who cares. No one likes those guys anyway. All they are is a reminder that your team couldn't move the ball on offense."
-"90 -- Brett Favre's morale rating...Playing against Brett Favre is absolutely fantastic for a team's morale."
-"89 -- Eli Manning's passer accuracy rating...but understand that the good folks at EA Sports aren't infallible. In fact, they rate just an 11 in the 'accurately assigning passer accuracy' ratings category."
-"25 -- The player morale rating for Terrell Owens...So apparently to get lower than 25 in this category a player has to be coming off of a season in which he actually murdered a teammate. (Maybe that's something the Bengals can try to achieve for Madden 2008.)"
-"21 -- The lowest toughness rating in the game, which was given to Carolina Panthers punter Jason Baker...he's a wimp in Madden. The games are in stores and there's no way to change it now. So, Jason, you should know that the folks at EA Sports think you're an enormous pansy. Now, now -- don't cry. It's nothing personal."
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=gallo/060822

9/2 Saturday- Woke up around 10am and went grocery shopping at Costco, FoodMax, and Safeway for cupcake ingredients and next weekend's roadtrip to Angels Camp. Then did laundry. Baked cupcakes--chocolate malt, mocha, pineapple upside down, and banana. Then I realized that I needed to buy something at Longs and noticed that some of stuff I had bought at FoodMax and Safeway were actually cheaper at there. Could have saved a few dollars. Oh well. Now I know that I should go there first.

9/3 Typical Sunday - Went to Starbucks, Church, and Target. BPhim did show up but I don't know if he was trying to be inconspicous because I could just barely see him. Then I went shopping at Best Buy for Liz & Brian's birthday gift. Finished making frosting and topping for cupcakes then brought them to Liz's party. Siah was so cute...he was trying to be Spiderman and kept trying to climb up the stools, Auntie Irma, and me. He loved my cupcakes. Yea! Siah gave me a kiss.

9/4 Labor Day - Didn't go on a roadtrip because I figured I'll be going on that roadtrip to Angels Camp next weekend. Ended up shopping at Linens & Things because of the Labor Day sale.  Then I cleaned my room and did some gardening. Then I worked out at the gym for over an hour. Cool. Hardly anyone there. Got a lot done.

9/5 Tuesday - Busy at work...making up for the 1-1/2 non-working days. So busy I didn't get a chance to get an afternoon drink at Starbucks. Had three meetings--one with LA, one with client, and one with others in the SF office. But I was fortunate to see SBE on my way to the gym. I was talking to BB and he was walking up Bush Street. I guess he was on his break. Went to Salsa class then worked out on the Treadmill (20 minutes) and StairMaster (7 minutes).

Got home and watched Nip/Tuck. They showed previews for Running with Scissors, Stranger than Fiction (looks interesting, has Emma Thompson as an author writing a book about a man played by Will Farrell who can hear her narrating), Casino Royale (007), Pursuit of Happiness (Will Smith as a father in San Francisco), the Holiday (Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet switch houses).

9/6 Wednesday - Worked. Saw SBE in the morning. I was getting coffee and he was on his way in. Went to the gym. A pretty uneventful day.

9/7 Thursday - Busy day. Saw SBE in the morning. I was getting coffee and I think he was just going on his break. It seemed like he was wearing a tie. Had so much to do since I was taking a Summer Friday day off. NO sends two data request forms around 3o'clock. Saying he just realized that it's not on my "weekly" email. Duh?? It's on there. He just can't see it. Then about a half hour later I ask PS where's the request form for a project (I had been asking for it for over two weeks). I finally get it around 4:30. Had to reply to some emails from RE. Also received jpegs of WM's new baby Aiden Dayne. Forgot to add to last week's blog that Aiden was born on 8/29. Got to remember to update it.

Was so busy I couldn't even go to DKao's going away after work drinks get together. Ended up working late (until around 7:20). I wanted to get off early so I can go to the gym (since I won't be able to go on Friday), do some grocery shopping, and start baking. I didn't get to PH until around 8:30. Went to the gym and worked out for 1-1/2 hours (even though I had planned to work out for less than 30 minutes). Finally did some grocery shopping around 10. Started baking around 11. Messed up on the leche flan. Baked the cupcakes. Made a millionaire pie. Decided to make the apple crisp in the mroning and make the topping/frosting at Angels Camp. Ended up going to sleep around 3am.

9/8 Friday - Another busy day. Woke up at 7:30am (a little over 4 hours of sleep) and called Liz about board games. Got dressed and picked up board games around 8:30. Went to Target to buy supplies. Even though I asked for the Summer Friday off over a month ago there was still a lot of work I needed to do. I started working around 9:20--wrote specs for PS's project, responded to emails, reviewed some of EW's work while doing laundry and baking the apple crisp. Started remaking leche flan around 1pm. Then went to dry laundry around 2pm. Still had to water plants, pack, shower, load the car. Didn't get on the road until 4:30 (even though had had wanted to leave by 2pm so I have enough time to make the trip to Angels Camp a leisurely drive, enjoy the scenery and avoid rush hour traffic). But when I stopped at the Oriental Store to buy pandesal (Filipino bread), I realized I forgot my foaming pommade. So I went to the mall to buy some hair supplies. Ugghhh. By the time I got done, it was 5:30. After a lot of debating, decided to take Highway 4 (then 160, 12/88, 49 then 4) instead of 580 (then 205, 5, 4) thinking I could save time since it's a 15-30 minute drive to 580 and I hit more traffic there. I ended up hitting a lot of traffic on 4. It finally let up in Antioch. It was fun driving through the Delta, but on my way to Angels Camp I was stuck behind a slow car & two trucks and had to pass them (since my Summer 2005 roadtrip in NV/AZ when I almost got into an accident I've been scared to pass other cars). Made a wrong turn on 88 when I realized that I was going West on 88 thinking I was going South. Ended up losing about 15 minutes and stopped at gas station to buy a map. Just hopped on the 99 then back on the 4. Got to Angels Camp around 8:15pm--an hour and 15 minutes later than when dinner was supposed to start. Alot of other people were late too. Unloaded the car. Brought apple crisp and games to Elena's condo. Ate dinner around 8:45. Played scrabble with Robert and Mile. Went to bed around 11:45 (the earliest I've gone to bed in a few months). I was dead tired and slept soundly.

9/9 Saturday - Got up at 8am. Helped Pattee and Arlene cook breakfast by cooking bacon outside in the BBQ grill. Then John, Pattee, and Arlene started talking about setting me up with Angela's piano teacher who also plays piano in Pattee's jazz combo. Oh no! Not another musician. I later confessed to Arlene and Pattee that I had two boyfriends who were musicians--Scott (trombone) and James (drums) who I said broke my heart and gave a brief description of him. But I digress. When they talked about the other guy and planned how we would meet, I just kept telling them no. But there's no stopping them. They told me about him--tall, blonde, Polish, grew up in the Bay Area, a year older than me, obsessed over music, piano teacher, writing his thesis, gentleman, sweet, was briefly married to someone Japanese who was an aspiring actress who left him.

Which reminds me. Sometimes people mistake me for being Japanese. I understand why some people think I'm Latina (because some of my Spanish ancestry) but I don't know why people think I'm Japanese. There are two instances that come to mind. A few years ago some family members from Guam were visiting so I took them to SF to show them the tourist spots. We were at Maiden Lane when an elder Japanese man started talking to me in Japanese. I felt so bad and told him that I wasn't Japanese. Maybe he thought I was half Japanese, half Caucasian. And a few months ago on my trip to Guam, I was buying souvenirs at one of the ABC stores in Tumon where most tourists stay, when the cashier (a Filipino lady) started talking to me in Japanese. I had to tell her that I didn't speak Japanese (sure I know a few words having been raised in Guam) but can't she tell I was Filipina just like her? I guess I should have taken Japanese instead of Spanish at AOLG when we had to chose a foreign language class. But I figured that I'm more likely to use Spanish since I wanted to move to the mainland. But I digress...

They continued their planning, but I kept thinking that there's no way I'd date him. Anyways after breakfast; Theresa, Robert, Clarissa, Casey, Arlene, Angela, and I went to California Caverns. It was fun! Then we stopped by a Thrift Store where I got a romance book for just 50 cents. Then we got a late lunch at Subway. Arlene, Pattee and I went to the store then went back to the condo and watched Failure to Launch. Arlene made me a cosmopolitan with just a little bit of alcohol but I could still taste it. I would take little sips every few minutes, but I barely even drank 1/4 of it. I felt so bad for making it go to waste. In the middle of the movie, I started to make the toppings for the cupcakes. Then we went to John's condo for dinner. I brought all my desserts--millionaire pie, cupcakes (chocolate malt, pineapple, mocha), leche flan, and three 1/2 gallons of Thrifty ice cream (pistacio, mint chip, pecan praline). Everyone loved my desserts--especially the millionaire pie. All the women wanted the recipe. Then we had karaoke. I sangt "If We Hold on Together", "You Needed Me", and "The Rose". Wish I sang more songs but everyone else wanted to sing. So I just sang in the background. We didn't leave John's until close to midnight. On the way back to the condo. Pattee told me I had a beautiful voice, but I told her not as beautiful as hers. Then went to bed. Kept thinking about the guy they wanted to set me up with. He couldn't be my soulmate. I mean BPhim was more my type but I know he doesn't like me. Then there was SBEhim. And Whim. And... What if I do meet this guy and he likes me but I don't like him as much? Should I settle?

9/10 Sunday - Woke up around 7:30. Helped Pattee make fritada for breakfast. Watched my Michael Buble while everyone ate breakfast. Then showered and packed up. We checked out around 12:30. Met at the lake. Wish we had more time to rent a boat. Instead we had a picnic and a late lunch. Debated whether or not to go with everyone to Moaning Caverns because I was hoping to get home by 6 o'clock so I can water my plants and watch some of the NYG/Colts game--Eli vs. Peyton. Ended up going. Good choice. It wasn't as fun as California Caverns, but it was interesting. It was one big, deep cave. It didn't have as many formations. A lot of it had been touched so they were brown instead of white. It was a little scary walking down the stairs--165 feet. The tour guide was cute. He was funny too. Got home at 7pm. Watered plants. Unloaded car. Watched football.

powered by performancing firefox