Monthly Archive: February 2004

The best party card game in the world is one I learned in college from Nancy Kuhn, called Colorado Crazy Eights. It NEVER fails to get people hyper and excited and is easy to learn and hilarious to play. It’s based on Crazy Eights, which is a fairly simple card game, but it progresses to insanity and speed card-flinging rapidly. The table must be completely cleared of EVERYTHING, especially drinks, as the risks for knocking things over increases as the game progresses. After one round, people are hunched forward, as close to the center of the table as they can...

I’m virtually surrounded by kind, caring, truly NICE people. Special thanks from me to travelertrish re my book list jes6ica re music shopping my wonderful husband for the lovely, lovely sleep-in this morning galestorm re magnetty bits my beeg leetle seester for the box of Girl Scout cookies and other goodies referred to last night and the handknitted scarves 🙂 It’s a sunny, gorgeous morning, but because the sky is white and we still have a thick cover of snow on the ground, the effect is blinding. Anders didn’t play hockey today because his sore throat is still bothering him,...

Positive Thought for the Day: My work situation could be

Be Afraid: Build Me Up Buttercup is apparently available as a mobile phone ring signal, but not yet for the Z600. Curses, foiled for now. The outside of our building has metal blinds that react to the sun and automatically close when the sun is shining directly on them. Which means that when the sun is shining, we don’t get to enjoy it. It’s as dim in here as if it were a regular cloudy February day. I’m tired of talking. Today I just want to be quiet. I don’t want to be social and make conversation or small talk....

We awoke to a house snuggled under a snow duvet. It snowed for hours, transforming the winter-grey world overnight. The moon last night was a perfect, storybook crescent. It looked like a paper cutout laid against the black backdrop of the sky. It’s still snowing, the air is filled with frozen down. It’s been snowing all day. The sky is a watercolor wash from white to pale grey to darker grey and back again. I’ve gotten so much done this morning, although little of it was for work. My teeth are clean and sparkling, no cavities, although I did get...

Last night, while I was at my AWC meeting, Anders triumphed over the Karin-refusing-to-remove-her-clothes-and-put-on-pajamas-thing. He said he’s tried ripping them off her when she goes into refusal mode and it just makes it worse and she completely locks down. So, when she started last night, he managed to distract her by turning it into a game. For every piece of clothing she removed, she had to run laps around the house (we have a built-in circle through the little hallway and around into the great room). Sweatshirt: 2 laps. T-shirt: 2 laps. Pants: 2 laps. Laughing and howling like a...

Exaggerating: The woman next to me raises and lowers her adjustable desk 42 times per day. Not Exaggerating: Every time she does, my desk and the floor shake. Exaggerating: My fingers are frozen fast to my keyboard, mkaingy it bvery dissgult to typde Not Exaggerating: It’s damn bloody cold in this building. Exaggerating: Karin’s screaming last night when I tried to exchange her clothes for pajamas pierced every eardrum in a 20-yard radius and resulted in tinnitus for the entire family. Not Exaggerating (well okay, maybe a little): One day I may haul off and smack her a good one....

For those who want to see some of what’s behind my house:

We’re jammed in like sardines. Making things feel more unfair is the fact that one of our R&D sections across the building has a nice airy feel to it with lots of space between work stations and a little fika lounging area complete with a sofa. Our section is crammed in, with half of people’s workstations and bookcases taking up space in the aisles. I have almost nothing good to say about anything today, at least when it comes to work and open landscaping. The only thing that has made me moderately pleased is that my workspace is arranged to...

I’ve always thought I should start a journal. And once upon a time I did, although I didn’t keep it very long. When we moved to Belgium in 1976, my grandparents gave each of us kids a blank book to record our experiences living in Europe. Sarah’s was red, mine was dark brown, and they all had gold stamped curliques and designs on them…very posh. Reading back through my 12-year-old entries is an exercise in eye-rolling. I was such a dork! I made lists of my friends (shades of LJ) and wrote down all the gifts I got for my...