Traffic for 2008 January

(2) Fri Jan 04 2008 11:50 EST Tears in Rain: In San Jose for training until tomorrow. It's pouring outdoors. But at least it's not 20 degrees outside. The training has been fun, but the days are long.

On New Year's Day Grandma June called to inform us that my cousin Sheryl's daughter passed away in the night. She was (as far as we know) completely healthy. Her timespan on earth was only 8 months. Now every time I look at Maggie I feel like crying for about 10 different reasons. This was my cousin's fifth child and she is expecting her sixth. I'm told her pregnancy is now at risk, and her kids are having a hard time understanding what has happened. I cannot even fathom what she is going through. So the weather outside today matches my mood.

(6) Wed Jan 09 2008 22:10 EST The Twilight Bark: I'm going to kill the neighbor's dog. I don't understand how someone can put a dog out all night when the temperature is 20 degrees anyway.

Tomorrow and Friday I get to work from home while we move offices to the Gateway. Today we had an "everything must go" free-for-all. I procured a ficus tree that was even too big for the Pathfinder. But I somehow crammed it in there and now we have a jungle-themed front room. I also got a black EY golf shirt, and my coworkers, unbeknown st to them, procured 2007 intern shirts and hats (they'll find out Monday when they open their boxes in the new place)!

Things to do tomorrow: vacuum the car from the tree spillage, fix our fence that fell apart in the windstorm, fix the stepping stone wall that crumbled in the windstorm, figure out who to vote for in the UT primary.

Ten points for the individual that can name the book reference in my title.

(1) Thu Jan 17 2008 22:35 EST Cold War: Our new building allowed us to move in, even though it's not done. Not a good idea. There are no blinds on the windows, and the tax department faces south. This means that we are all blinded half the day. But even with that glaring sun, the temp in the building only got up to 64 degrees today. I wore my coat all day, but the gloves got in the way of typing. Result: frozen extremities.

But I've finagled a trip to the OC for work the last week of January. Hopefully I can warm up sufficiently that week to survive the rest of winter.

(2) Fri Jan 25 2008 13:33 EST Life Events: On Kristen's note, I got my first speeding ticket last week. And I totally deserved it. Going 60 in a 35 zone. But my cop was nice and only wrote me up for 11 over, and traffic school will take the points off my record. I'm actually kind of glad it happened. I need to slow down and the cop treated me very fairly. I didn't even ask him to reduce the ticket. 27 over and reckless driving to 11 over is a big plus. Hopefully I can go another 11 1/2 years before getting another one.

Susie and I received a calling -- Sunday School teachers to the youth. I'm way excited. The Bishop said the Primary came running for us (big surprise) but he staved them off since we spent the last 2+ years in there. He could tell we needed a break. I've always said I wanted to teach Sunday School. I have no weekday commitments, and I find the lessons more interesting than the "farmed-out" versions of stuff they use in YM/EQ. On a side note, I don't particularly like those president manuals. They don't give the whole story and sometimes quotes are taken out of the context in which they were given. It bothers me.

It is the winter of endless snow here, and I'm ready for spring. Unfortunately, two more storms are coming. Pretty soon we won't be able to shovel over the hills on our driveway. I guess if Congress ends up giving up a $1500 rebate, we could be good consumers and buy a snowthrower. But I'd rather spend the money on an elliptical machine.

Lastly, it's busy season. I've got a lot of work to do, and the commute is getting in the way. I may ask the boss if I can work from home one day a week.