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Showing posts from April, 2008
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A few last photos from the fields courtesy of Aussie Mac and her most excellent camera!
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A Triumph club meeting was the event at the flower fields. I think this was the the best of the cars. The club people have good taste in beer since they were all at Karl Strauss later in the day. Cheer! Jennifer and Aussie Mac (with floating beer) Me and R (notice her clever beer menu placement) LJ, Ms. Kitty, Mondo
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It was quite the weekend! First, Aussie Mac was in town before she heads back home to Brisbane so we went to Temecula on Saturday for the day to hang out and chill. One of the stops was the local Irish Pub where Guinness was served in a special Guinness glass. Yum! On Sunday it was off to the Flower Fields where we all wilted in the hot sun along with the flowers! LJ, Ms, Kitty and Mondo. Aussie Mac, R, and Jennifer (needs a blog name!) are all following my directions to look vaguely in my way and act as if they were having fun. The results are too funny!
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Floral displays don't normally catch my attention but since it was the only thing that I could take a picture of without looking like a tourist, I did. Our work visitors this time around had to stay with the rich and famous so I had the opportunity to see the hotel lobby at least. Nice but not overwhelming. We were here six times this week for the pick-up and drop offs and the payoff came this afternoon when we were face-to-face with Paris Hilton and her boyfriend (and her dog) as they waited for their car. Then we followed them (and the police escort) out of the hotel driveway. I didn't take a picture but she was all in pink for a photo op and her boyfriend was in his standard fedora and casual slob garb. The dog was cute and fluffy. The cop was unamused.
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Why is this women's restroom more fascinating than others? It's inside the Beverly Hills Hotel, that's why. I figured if I was inside the lobby of the hotel then I might as well see if their restrooms are high class too. The answer is yes and no. Yes for a hotel but they don't come close to the restrooms inside 33 at Disneyland. Luckily no one was around to see me take the picture but it had to be done.
On the road still.
Here we go again! Monday night - Los Angeles hotel. It's one of those hotel weeks in my home turf and I overlap classes for school. I often wonder how this all manages to happen at the same time but that's the way it goes. As far as work days goes, this one was pretty smooth and sort of way to quiet for a Monday. It makes me wonder what's in store for the week.
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Last night was a surprise b-day party for blogger Sandi's 40 th ! Somehow with dozens of evites circulating about, it was a complete shock for her to come home to a group of people waiting outside for her decked up arrival. An odd blogger/ facebook /work community was assembled and somehow we all managed to mesh together. Blogger Sheri - it was great to talk with you, and meet Pam and Taylor (pictured above and waiting for his Aunt to get to the cake). Also met the fellow PackRatters /Parking War gamers and talked strategy! Now if Troyce is getting caught up, he'll understand why I was asking so many questions about the audit job. It was a great party and I was glad for the opportunity to do something besides be on the computer!
The snowball always has to start somewhere. My snowball started in the Kuwait airport last month as I did a web search for career coaches in Carlsbad. That led me to http://lousbergunlimited.com/web/contact.php and Debbie Lousberg . Then I went and ordered a bunch of books and one arrived. That book was typical of career books but the guy was on Oprah today which I TiVo'd . The concept that I liked in the book was how we try to develop our weaknesses which makes us miserable and we should focus on developing our strengths to do what we love, better. I thought about that today as I was working on an Excel sheet and doing formulas, which I hate. I don't want to be better at Excel, I want to be better at program writing, hence my disappointment at have the InDesign CS3 software install delayed. I took the career interest survey and found out that I either belong in the business industry or the entertainment and arts industry. I'm best suited for Training and International Bu
It must have been the sugar from yesterday. I have pretty high energy but today, I drove myself crazy. I could not stop moving. Up the stairs, down the stairs, outside, inside, one room to the next, up the stairs and down (the ramp) again and again. Somehow, I even managed to do a full day's work (plus some as I just finished up the 6:00 pm conf . call) and did homework. At 11:00 am, I thought the day would never end. Suddenly it was over and now I'm relaxed. ....blog interrupted.....(more work just came in) So good thing I have extra energy today because apparently , the workday is still not over!
Today was a day of eating. We had a demo at work for meat patties for Russia, followed by Trans Fat Free chocolate chip cookies (plus the control cookies) for the mid-east, followed by banana, mango, and peach shakes. Sorry OB - the peach shakes are destined to leave the country and they were good! Tonight is salad for dinner!
Shock of all shocks, there were actually bands playing last night at O'Sullivans a.k.a. Tom Giblins . I have not seen a band show up or start on time there since 2001. Seven years later, on a Sunday night of all things, a singer takes the stage at 8:00 pm....and he was even good and he was the warm-up guy! Luckily since the take-over the menu hasn't changed so the food is still good and there's hope for live music once again in Carlsbad.
It's been a perfect Sunday so far! First, I've practiced not opening email all weekend. Now, this sounds like a big deal but I did cheat by looking at the Blackberry but it's easier not to respond that way. Well, now that I think about it, I did respond to two. And LJ , I did read your message about Ben and Scotland. Good deal! I forced myself out to the beach early since I knew the crowds would fill up the parking lot quickly today. After the workout, I returned home to goof off playing PackRat (Bucklers and so hard to find and up until 48 hours ago, I didn't even know what a Buckler was and now I'm obsessed!) Facebook , it's where I'm at when I'm not here or MySpacing . I hope no more social networks come my way because I'm booked! The paper this week has to be a drag for the instructor. I was so bored writing about organizational design & structure that I can't imagine reading 20 papers on the topic. The only reason I even finished befor

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Beer at home on a Saturday afternoon. The ultimate luxury!
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7:30 am - Carlsbad. The flower fields are blooming early this year. I've been told that it's been warmer than normal for the past month so that may have helped. The tour buses have moved in (Always groups from Japan - how did this become such a big event for them?) and I have to plan early weekend outings or use the back roads to get around. These beautiful fields are only one source of the deadly pollen that does me in so after this I headed to Walmart to stock up on a 4 month supply of Claritin . A $52 supply to be precise. Breathing does not come cheap.
Still can't breathe and it's worse than yesterday. I realized today that even unscented lotions have scents that only appear when you're the most sensitive to them. Who knew that unscented aloe smelled like aloe! At least my only weekend plans have to do with homework and more homework. Nothing ruined on the fun front at least!
One disadvantage of living near a major flower field is that no matter how beautiful the flowers look, those same flowers produce deadly pollen. The wind has been blowing enough today and the white fluffy pollen specs are all floating around and with only a few short minutes outside, I can't stop sneezing. Note to self, don't leave house again today! School is plodding along this week. I haven't been so disinterested in a topic since math. Functional, divisional , hierarchy and lateral coordination are washing over my head. I am amazed that I'm ahead of schedule but that's only due to late night panic when I had to get into writing mode. I was better off when I was on the road since homework was the only thing to do when I wasn't working. Now I have too many distractions after work hours.
Wednesday. Such a day. After having put up with an increasingly painful tooth or jaw ache for the last four weeks, I finally had my dentist appointment (a month late due to travel) to get a filling. It turns out that the cavity was on the other side of my mouth and so small that there was no pain or sensitivity there. I didn't even need numbing to have the filling done and it took all of three minutes. I'm convinced I'm about to have major dental work and the dentist tells me that my teeth are fine and I'm so stressed that I'm doing the classic TMJ thing, clenching my jaw during the day and while I sleep. I guess the good news is that my teeth are fine. The bad news is, I know I'm stressed. I'm always stressed. So after the good news from the dentist, I had a consultation visit with a career councilor. I've had one employer for decades but a number of different positions with that company. That translates to a ton of experience but I haven't a clu
One day down of the normal office routine and I'm already looking forward ot some variety. After being so active it is hard to adjust to being in one place all day. Now that I can slack on the h0me work instead of panick over it, I'm in the lazy zone about the whole thing. UOP is doing their collective best to ignore my request to take the last three classes as directed study so I guess a phone call or two is in order again to get this moving forward. For now, it's time for coffee.
Coming home is always great! No cup of coffee tastes as good as the Starbucks brewed at home after a week of instant Nescafe or harsh brewed hotel coffee. Up at 3:00? No worries since I have my TiVo marathons of Beauty & the Geek, Top Model, and Rock of Love to watch while I sip that coffee! The trip was great from a work point of view. I left Kuwait the least irritated that I've ever been and except for the team getting water poisoned in Cairo, we had a productive time and even some fun once in a while. I'm looking forward to a few weeks of the normal California/Mexico routine and then guess what? It's back to Kuwait in May. The best flight route ever is Kuwait - Washington DC. No one at customs even flinches when they read my re-entry card or look at my passport. Between the military, government, and civil contractors, people on the flight have far more variety than I do in the mid-east. Going out there, the plane had a group of senators on some mission, coming h
Home at last. Will blog tomorrow.

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Sunset in LB

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Batroun, Lebanon.
I wanted to have a happier post about Cairo and I was lucky enough to have a couple of those magic moments. Late yesterday, the fog/sand/pollution lifted slightly and as I looked out over the Nile, I almost fell off the balcony because I could actually see the outline of the pyramids! This is my third trip to Egypt and if I didn't know better, I would be convinced that the pyramids don't exist because you can never see them. I took a picture but the haze prevented the photo from turning out but the sight is breathtaking. Having been to the pyramids, I'm not missing out on anything but they are a great backdrop to look at. Then due to being totally alone in the hotel as co-workers departed and the remaining one was still sick, I was desperate to eat something besides hotel food so I walked to the Hard Rock Cafe next door. The last time I was there it was Ramadan eve and I was one of maybe four people eating. Yesterday, it a major party for an Egyptian boy was going on an

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What a change! Sparkling water instead of beer!