Monday, December 29, 2008
2008 Highlights
If I were better organized, my year-in-review would go month to month, declaring the highs and lows of each 30 day increment. Or I'd organize by category (sports, cooking, etc). Seeing as how I'm writing this with no prep and only a half cup of coffee (so far), I'm afraid this will be random.
Best makeup product I never thought I should use: Bronzer. I used bronzer this year for the first time at the insistence of my stylist. I flat out told her it wasn't for me, then she pointed out that she'd just put some on me and asked how I liked it. Truth is, I really dig it. To me, the only way that "EY" and "bronze" would ever fit in a sentence would be something like "EY is reading a book about the Bronze Age." or "EY was in a museum and saw pre-Barsoomian bronzes." But bronzer, the makeup powder, when used with a LIGHT hand makes me look, well, less dead. I like that.
Best near freakout in the state of TX: Last year, a long lost friend found me. [Editor's note: I still get a giggle that he paid a search engine for my OLD address when my current one is floating free in the ether for free. But at the time, I was working at a data company and he wasn't. I shouldn't laugh at him for that....but I do.] This year, since his promises to come to AR never happened, I loaded up a bag and flew to his city in the Lone Star State. I'm not sure I've ever been so nervous. I walked around in a state of panic for the last week before the trip. Rationalizing that I had no need to be nervous, that it wasn't a date or a hook up, that his opinion of me is unlikely to be swayed by the way I look, that we'd already exchanged pictures a few times already and thus if he cared about my exterior now vs 2 decades ago, he'd had ample time to say so, didn't help. I was still freaked out. And based on how we both seemed jumpy at dinner, I think he was too. Fortunately, dinner included a sufficient amount of booze to tone us both down. For the rest of the weekend, the calendar may as well have read 1990 (when we hung out in college).
Best Girls: I think I've written before about how lucky I am to have fallen in with a group of girls from "The Boy's" side of friends. I still feel that way. We're all still a lot of fun, we still have a lot of fun together and are even attempting to lose weight together. We support each other in those efforts and while I'm not much for the "Weight Watchers accountability model", I can't disagree with its effectiveness. I almost feel that gaining weight would be letting them down. And a couple of folks are working SO hard and looking so great that I just can't disappoint them (well, except for last night when I ate a pizza).
Best near freakout in AR: I left Big Faceless Corp in December. Dec. 12, to be exact. After thirteen and a half years, most of which were really good. I like the work, I like the people, but it was time for a change. Working with 2 groups in particular gave me a wakeup call. After numerous instances of each lying, not following through, backstabbing, etc, I simply could not deal with them effectively. Email from them would cast a shadow over my whole day. I would sit and stew about what lie they would come up with next, what ineffective leader they would get to cover their butt, what lengths they would go to to NOT do what was needed. It's one thing to treat such a team with caution and help them set "baby step" goals that are manageable. It's quite another to tell your team that you can't deal with them anymore and that you're voting yourself off the island where they're concerned. It's also grossly unfair to your team and the other folks. Especially when you're the expert on their issues and you continue to meddle in their challenges after you declare the voting off the island thing. After I found myself doing that a few times, I realized that I needed a change. I had lost the ability to be objective and find good solutions. Although at the time, it was only with 2 teams, the bitterness I had for them could easily spread to other teams. The two worst things you could ever call me work-wise are "unprofessional" and "ineffective", yet with these teams, I was both....blatently. So, when a new opportunity presented itself, I thought "what the heck?" The new folks seem pretty excited about me and I'm excited about them. My decision to leave was termed "a disaster" by a couple of folks and was a surprise to nearly everyone. One person who did not express surprise, was my boss. He's always been great to deal with and this situation was no different. He's a good man, a really great guy and I will miss him. I'm hoping my 2009 wrapup will say that this was a good decision.
Best thing I never thought I'd want: My iPod Touch. I won one this year and have been amazed by how much I dig it. It's not that I'm opposed to music and sound, but I do tend to be a person who loves silence. I crave peace and quiet. I'm not someone who would be jumping around to music all the time, like they show in the commercials. After so long in a cube environment, hearing conversations I'd rather not, trying to keep my conversations at a normal level, I'm not much for noise outside that time. But the iPod is just darn handy. I can pick and choose songs in seconds, create playlists that correspond to my flighty moods. I can listen to nothing but Nine Inch Nails, George Michael or Straight No Chaser all day if I want to. I can make a playlist with 2 songs about a rather naughty activity, one about "wrap me up in chains", one about a loose chick and one about the "in" status of being sexy and listen to nothing but that. Not surprisingly, I also have a "moody" playlist. I have them for Chicks, Christmas, Comedy, Fun, Funky, and ones dedicated to specific artists. The Fun playlist is getting too long, so I'll need to figure out how to split it up. Weirdly, I'm looking forward to that. I can listen to the iPod in the car. Santa brought me a boom box (Sony's description, not mine) that will let me listen all over the house. And that's not all....When I was in grad school, I found Mahjong. Darn addictive game that I would stay up way to late playing on my computer. Now, I have Mahjong on my iPod. I played for an hour waiting for a dr's appointment last week. I honestly thought they'd called me and I'd not heard it.
Best non-paying gig: eWine tasting. This is all kinds of fun. We still start too early and end too late, but it's a great thing to do, I meet really nice folks, drink good wine and usually hang out afterward with Vicious J (who has a serious girlfriend now and while I would never NEVER begrudge him his happiness, I do miss him sometimes. I love you, man!)
Best musical seen on Broadway: Spamalot. OK, it was the ONLY show we had time to see, but still, it was awesome. Yes, it's largely a rehash of The Holy Grail, but if you have to rehash something, you could do a lot worse. I was highly entertained.
Best island in NYC: Manhattan. I'd never been to NYC until this year. Two friends and I had a long weekend there and had a great time. I'm hoping to make it to other parts of New York at some point, but for now, I'm in love with Manhattan. I completely understand why the girls of SATC love it. I'm sure if I had to pay what it costs to live there, my enthusiasm would be dampened (OK, drenched), but as a tourista, it was a lot of fun.
Best Wine (special occasion class): This one is tough, I admit, but I have to go with something I tasted recently. Ambullneo Bulldog Pinot Noir. I bought some a few years ago on a recommendation from a friend "in the business". I tasted some a few weeks ago. It knocked my socks off. I swooned. I bought (hey, it was on SALE). I'm dying to open it now now now.
Best Wine (sparkling): Veuve Cliquot has been special to me for a long time, but 2 recent bad bottles have me looking elsewhere. The oh-so-popular Rosa di Rosa and Rosa di Bianca have now taken its place. Much cheaper, easier to drink and approachable by all, these just can't be beat. Doesn't hurt that I know the winemaker.
Best food discovery: Beets. Yes, seriously, beets. I bought some on a whim and now I can't get enough of them. I prefer them roasted, but nuked will do in a pinch. Made an incredible roasted beet, cannelli bean, beet green and goat cheese salad this summer. Very tasty and pretty good for you. Fresh fresh fresh and easy. What more could you want?
Best thing to get up and do now: exercise. Coffee is finished, I'm out of ideas (although I reserve the right to have Part II or III if needed) and I really need to work out (see note above about accountability to the girls and last night's pizza).
Best makeup product I never thought I should use: Bronzer. I used bronzer this year for the first time at the insistence of my stylist. I flat out told her it wasn't for me, then she pointed out that she'd just put some on me and asked how I liked it. Truth is, I really dig it. To me, the only way that "EY" and "bronze" would ever fit in a sentence would be something like "EY is reading a book about the Bronze Age." or "EY was in a museum and saw pre-Barsoomian bronzes." But bronzer, the makeup powder, when used with a LIGHT hand makes me look, well, less dead. I like that.
Best near freakout in the state of TX: Last year, a long lost friend found me. [Editor's note: I still get a giggle that he paid a search engine for my OLD address when my current one is floating free in the ether for free. But at the time, I was working at a data company and he wasn't. I shouldn't laugh at him for that....but I do.] This year, since his promises to come to AR never happened, I loaded up a bag and flew to his city in the Lone Star State. I'm not sure I've ever been so nervous. I walked around in a state of panic for the last week before the trip. Rationalizing that I had no need to be nervous, that it wasn't a date or a hook up, that his opinion of me is unlikely to be swayed by the way I look, that we'd already exchanged pictures a few times already and thus if he cared about my exterior now vs 2 decades ago, he'd had ample time to say so, didn't help. I was still freaked out. And based on how we both seemed jumpy at dinner, I think he was too. Fortunately, dinner included a sufficient amount of booze to tone us both down. For the rest of the weekend, the calendar may as well have read 1990 (when we hung out in college).
Best Girls: I think I've written before about how lucky I am to have fallen in with a group of girls from "The Boy's" side of friends. I still feel that way. We're all still a lot of fun, we still have a lot of fun together and are even attempting to lose weight together. We support each other in those efforts and while I'm not much for the "Weight Watchers accountability model", I can't disagree with its effectiveness. I almost feel that gaining weight would be letting them down. And a couple of folks are working SO hard and looking so great that I just can't disappoint them (well, except for last night when I ate a pizza).
Best near freakout in AR: I left Big Faceless Corp in December. Dec. 12, to be exact. After thirteen and a half years, most of which were really good. I like the work, I like the people, but it was time for a change. Working with 2 groups in particular gave me a wakeup call. After numerous instances of each lying, not following through, backstabbing, etc, I simply could not deal with them effectively. Email from them would cast a shadow over my whole day. I would sit and stew about what lie they would come up with next, what ineffective leader they would get to cover their butt, what lengths they would go to to NOT do what was needed. It's one thing to treat such a team with caution and help them set "baby step" goals that are manageable. It's quite another to tell your team that you can't deal with them anymore and that you're voting yourself off the island where they're concerned. It's also grossly unfair to your team and the other folks. Especially when you're the expert on their issues and you continue to meddle in their challenges after you declare the voting off the island thing. After I found myself doing that a few times, I realized that I needed a change. I had lost the ability to be objective and find good solutions. Although at the time, it was only with 2 teams, the bitterness I had for them could easily spread to other teams. The two worst things you could ever call me work-wise are "unprofessional" and "ineffective", yet with these teams, I was both....blatently. So, when a new opportunity presented itself, I thought "what the heck?" The new folks seem pretty excited about me and I'm excited about them. My decision to leave was termed "a disaster" by a couple of folks and was a surprise to nearly everyone. One person who did not express surprise, was my boss. He's always been great to deal with and this situation was no different. He's a good man, a really great guy and I will miss him. I'm hoping my 2009 wrapup will say that this was a good decision.
Best thing I never thought I'd want: My iPod Touch. I won one this year and have been amazed by how much I dig it. It's not that I'm opposed to music and sound, but I do tend to be a person who loves silence. I crave peace and quiet. I'm not someone who would be jumping around to music all the time, like they show in the commercials. After so long in a cube environment, hearing conversations I'd rather not, trying to keep my conversations at a normal level, I'm not much for noise outside that time. But the iPod is just darn handy. I can pick and choose songs in seconds, create playlists that correspond to my flighty moods. I can listen to nothing but Nine Inch Nails, George Michael or Straight No Chaser all day if I want to. I can make a playlist with 2 songs about a rather naughty activity, one about "wrap me up in chains", one about a loose chick and one about the "in" status of being sexy and listen to nothing but that. Not surprisingly, I also have a "moody" playlist. I have them for Chicks, Christmas, Comedy, Fun, Funky, and ones dedicated to specific artists. The Fun playlist is getting too long, so I'll need to figure out how to split it up. Weirdly, I'm looking forward to that. I can listen to the iPod in the car. Santa brought me a boom box (Sony's description, not mine) that will let me listen all over the house. And that's not all....When I was in grad school, I found Mahjong. Darn addictive game that I would stay up way to late playing on my computer. Now, I have Mahjong on my iPod. I played for an hour waiting for a dr's appointment last week. I honestly thought they'd called me and I'd not heard it.
Best non-paying gig: eWine tasting. This is all kinds of fun. We still start too early and end too late, but it's a great thing to do, I meet really nice folks, drink good wine and usually hang out afterward with Vicious J (who has a serious girlfriend now and while I would never NEVER begrudge him his happiness, I do miss him sometimes
Best musical seen on Broadway: Spamalot. OK, it was the ONLY show we had time to see, but still, it was awesome. Yes, it's largely a rehash of The Holy Grail, but if you have to rehash something, you could do a lot worse. I was highly entertained.
Best island in NYC: Manhattan. I'd never been to NYC until this year. Two friends and I had a long weekend there and had a great time. I'm hoping to make it to other parts of New York at some point, but for now, I'm in love with Manhattan. I completely understand why the girls of SATC love it. I'm sure if I had to pay what it costs to live there, my enthusiasm would be dampened (OK, drenched), but as a tourista, it was a lot of fun.
Best Wine (special occasion class): This one is tough, I admit, but I have to go with something I tasted recently. Ambullneo Bulldog Pinot Noir. I bought some a few years ago on a recommendation from a friend "in the business". I tasted some a few weeks ago. It knocked my socks off. I swooned. I bought (hey, it was on SALE). I'm dying to open it now now now.
Best Wine (sparkling): Veuve Cliquot has been special to me for a long time, but 2 recent bad bottles have me looking elsewhere. The oh-so-popular Rosa di Rosa and Rosa di Bianca have now taken its place. Much cheaper, easier to drink and approachable by all, these just can't be beat. Doesn't hurt that I know the winemaker.
Best food discovery: Beets. Yes, seriously, beets. I bought some on a whim and now I can't get enough of them. I prefer them roasted, but nuked will do in a pinch. Made an incredible roasted beet, cannelli bean, beet green and goat cheese salad this summer. Very tasty and pretty good for you. Fresh fresh fresh and easy. What more could you want?
Best thing to get up and do now: exercise. Coffee is finished, I'm out of ideas (although I reserve the right to have Part II or III if needed) and I really need to work out (see note above about accountability to the girls and last night's pizza).
