Still sick

Yep, still hacking away on day 8. My nose feels like it's just going to fall off in a tissue the next time I blow it. I made a doctor's appointment for tomorrow morning, since it looks like this has gone into an infection at this point. I really hate taking antibiotics, but even more so I hate constantly blowing my nose and not being able to sleep because I'm coughing so much. Good times.

Birth control pills may weaken bones

Hmmmm. This doesn't seem good considering I've been on a birth control pill of some sort for over a decade, and osteoporosis runs in my family.

Jim Gaffigan cracks me up

Thanks to my recent cold, I've been awake and asleep at random hours. Tonight, I caught a rerun of Jim Gaffigan's Beyond the Pale special on Comedy Central and remembered how funny his whole routine was, especially the section about hot pockets:



And the part about religion is hilarious, too:

Ribbit ribbit

Last night I started getting a sore throat and runny nose. This morning, it sounded like a frog came and settled down right in my throat. I feel like something has taken over my face, and I'd like it to leave now. I can't even believe how quickly this whole thing came on. Usually I don't get laryngitis until a few days into a cold, but not this time. It was almost immediate after I felt the initial symptoms coming on.

Gettin' down with Richard Cheese

L. took me to see Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine tonight at El Corazon. If you don't know who Richard Cheese is, he does lounge-singer versions of popular songs, from Slipknot to Britney Spears. I can say that if you're squeamish about vulgar language, he probably isn't your kind of guy since he covers songs that include some profanity. But, it's all in good fun.

It was an awesome show. They played for about two hours, and hit all of their best tunes, including some from their upcoming album. Richard is a great entertainer, and had some really funny things going on with audience members throughout the show. They took suggestions, and did a cover of some Rush tunes including Tom Sawyer - right on the spot; one of the band members wasn't even familiar with the song, so Richard got him going.

After the show, he and the band headed into the lounge where we met up with them, and got autographs and pictures from the whole band. It was a blast. And I got a burning question answered. In one of his Britney Spears covers, he mentions that he'd really like to get to know Britney in a for-unlawful-carnal-knowledge sense. Based on her recent behavior, I wasn't sure whether he'd still want to hit that, but he assured me that he does. So, there we have it. He'd still have sex with Britney Spears. Good to know.

A nice compliment

It's been a fairly good week. I found out that I had some content published in a technical book, so that was pretty exciting. Although I publish a lot of online technical content, this was the first time I was published in a book.

I also got a nice compliment from one of the PMs I work with about my design work. Right now, I do a lot of work on UI text and design for our team, and I really enjoy it. The PM told me that he really appreciates having my help on the text and design because he thinks that I'm very good at it. He said that they always bring the design stuff to me now, since we don't have an actual designer on the team. So, that was nice to hear. As a technical writer, you don't always get a lot of respect, so it's really good when people value what you do. And it's even nicer when it's something that isn't technically part of your job title, but something that you enjoy a lot and with which you are apparently doing a good job.

This was especially nice to hear because I'm thinking of taking some design-related classes next year when I have some more free time. I really want to learn more about the tools, like PhotoShop and InDesign. I love writing, but I'd like to pair it up with more background in design.

Problems with technological advances

The latest entry in the Red Tape Chronicles is about high tech spousal abuse. It was a rather timely article considering the other day my cousin was asking me about key logging software for her friend. Apparently this friend has a cheating husband, who has since sworn that he is no longer cheating, and actually appears to be making an effort at repairing his marriage. However, the friend has (understandably) lost all trust and decided that she wanted to put a key logging program on their computer to try and catch him cheating.

Of course since I'm the technology person in our family, my cousin comes to ask me about these programs, about which I have absolutely no clue. All I could tell her was that it sounded like a bad idea, and that her friend was going in the wrong direction if she really wanted to put her marriage back together and get trust back with her spouse.

Awhile back, L. and I watched a Dr. Phil episode about a woman whose husband was absolutely out of control and a complete creep. He had literally rigged everything of hers with GPS, spyware, etc. to keep track of her at all times and in all places. It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen, and the whole time we couldn't believe how this woman stayed with him. In the end, she wanted to get out and I have no idea whether she was able to do that successfully. But, I sure hope so.

I sometimes wonder how far all of this technology will take us. There are so doors opened with each new advancement, but it sure brings up a lot of questions and people who will take advantage of a situation.

Post Secret

Last month, I celebrated Christmas in July with my friend, A. She had my Christmas gift in December, but we never seemed to get together at a time when she'd have it. So, she finally just brought it by my office when I was on vacation and left it on my desk. It was the book Post Secret by Frank Warren. I devoured it in a couple of hours, amazed at I was seeing and reading. Then I read through it all again. I hadn't heard of the project before, and I was completely immersed in the artwork and all the secrets that people keep inside, only to one day make their way anonymously onto the page of a book.

I now check the Post Secret blog every week to see new secrets. This week, Frank Warren posted a new mini-movie about his project:

Dog sitting update

Tomorrow is my last day dog sitting for Diego. My parents get back from their cruise, and they'll pick him up sometime tomorrow. It's been a really fun week with Diego. I took him to work on Friday morning, and he met a bunch of my co workers. He was very good, and only barked once when we were playing with one of his toys.

Today, L. and I took Diego over to play with my cousin's dog, Hoover, who is about a gazillion times bigger than Diego. Diego is like Hoover's mini-me. They didn't hit it off real well at first, in part because Hoover wasn't feeling very well and Diego seemed to think that it was his job to bark and growl at Hoover, despite the fact that we were at Hoover's house and Hoover could swat Diego into oblivion. But, toward the end of the visit, the dogs both calmed down a little and were OK as long as Diego didn't get too close to Hoover. Whenever Diego would wander closer to Hoover, Hoover would either promptly jump off of the couch or give a warning growl. We're hoping that they get along a little better next time. I think it would have been different if Hoover wasn't feeling sick and if Diego wasn't being such a puppy.

I'll be sad to see Diego go tomorrow, but somewhat relieved. Puppies are a lot of work and require a lot of attention. But it has gotten me out on the Burke Gilman a bit more frequently and has led to a lot of laughs, because puppies are definitely funny.

Hef is a tired old man

Those who know me well, know that I love trash TV. Every so often, I'll catch an episode of the Girls Next Door (about Hugh Hefner's three girlfriends). It totally cracks me up, mostly because his girlfriends do and say some of the dumbest things. I also find it amusing that Holly (who I actually kind of like despite all my better judgement) has a silly idea that one day HH will get rid of the other girlfriends, propose to her, and they'll have kids. I hate to say it, but he's been there, done that, and then done away with it. Holly, girlfriend, it's time to get real. The lifestyle doesn't bother me, but the completely unrealistic hope of his settling down now is just too much. You're too smart for that.

But, I digress. What I really wanted to talk about is how HH really strikes me as someone who is just trying to keep up appearances at this point. The girls are always running around, laughing, etc. and then HH will show up for a minute in his pajamas, and then head back out. In one episode, he was bowling with a large group of buxom babes, and he just looked bored, despite the fact that they were all wearing next to nothing, and bouncing around. So, maybe HH is proof that you can get too much of a good thing. And once you hit that point, there just ain't no going back.

Dog sitting

I'm dog sitting for my parent's poodle, Diego, this week. Diego is a black toy poodle, and he's very smart and funny. Diego is (what my friend E. calls) a "snack dog". This term never ceases to crack me up. I prefer snack dogs, because they are easier to care for and for some reason they are a lot less stinky than big dogs. When they do get stinky, you can just dunk them in the bathtub for a quick bath and viola! They smell good again.

Since I was in San Francisco through Monday night, L. picked Diego up on Saturday night and watched him until I got back from my trip. It was a bit touch and go in the beginning, as Diego seemed to get a bit sick (probably because he was upset at my parents leaving), but he's doing better now and eating regularly. I've been walking him along the Burke Gilman trail, and was going to take him over to my cousin's house for a doggy play date with her black standard poodle, Hoover. However, we rescheduled for Saturday, which will be a bit easier for both of us. I'm really looking forward to seeing them play together. They've been together a couple of times, but not for any extensive period of time, so it should be fun.

I can definitely say that I'll wait to get a dog until I get a place where I'm on the ground floor. It is a bit of a chore to take the dog downtairs several times a day, especially when I relish wearing pajamas all day long when I'm kicking around the house.

Amazing juggling routine

This is pretty amazing to watch. (Thanks to my editor for sending this on.)

Back from San Francisco

K. and I got back from San Francisco late last night. It was a very long drive home. I suppose it was a long drive there as well, but it's always more fun driving to a place rather than driving back from a place. After about 16 hours in the car yesterday, I was pretty ready to be done with driving altogether.

We took off from Seattle about 8:00 AM on Thursday, and spent the hours catching up on each other's lives, listening to audio books, answering trivia questions, and screaming in excitement when we made it to the In 'n' Out Burger! We got to SF about midnight on Thursday night and checked into our hotel, the Columbus Motor Inn. We were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was, and it was in a great location - a couple of blocks away from Fisherman's Wharf, so it was very convenient to the things that we wanted to do.

On Friday morning, we got up early and headed down to the Wharf, where we caught one of those hop on/hop off buses and got a good tour of the city. It was a lovely day, yet not overly hot, so we were very comfortable. We did some fun shopping around the way and had the best sandwiches at a little French bakery off of the Wharf. We found a coupon for $25 off a dinner at a couple of different restaurants, so we decided to head back to the hotel, take a short nap, then head back out to find one of the restaurants on the coupon. We found the Northbeach Restaurant, a lovely little Italian restaurant that was fairly close to our hotel. Our waiter was a fabulous Italian guy, who hooked us up with a great wine for our appetizer and main courses. We also had the best olive oil I've had in a long time - very peppery and delicious with the foccacia bread they brought for us. After our dinner, we went to the Queen Anne Hotel, and met up with a group for a nightly ghost hunt in the Pacific Heights area of SF. It was really fun, and I got to demonstrate with haunted object outside of one of the houses. It was really cool. The architecture in the part of town is amazing. Our guide pointed out that the houses there were the tract houses of their day, which is interesting when you think about how much everyone loves them now and how much we hate current tract houses.

On Saturday, we slept in a bit, and then headed into Chinatown, where we spent a good portion of the day shopping and looking for a couple of Fu dog statues for my door stop. I ended up finding a cute pair of silver ones, along with a bunch of beautiful silk purses, coin purses, and other items that I picked up for my mom and sisters. I also fell in love with an adorable pair of pigs called Monokuro Boo, so I bought a wallet and coin purse with their faces on them. After our shopping expedition, we stopped at an Irish pub for some beer and appetizers. We then walked all the way to the Aquarium of the Bay, which while kind of cool, was a little sparse. It was neat to walk through the tanks and see all of the fish, but it wasn't really huge. I guess after seeing Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, I was a little underwhelmed by Aquarium of the Bay. That night, we were supposed to meet up with one of my friends in town for dinner, but he ended up being part of a regatta, so K. and I just fended for ourselves and ordered pizza in. After walking for almost 8 hours, we were pretty beat.

On Sunday, we woke up early and drove out to San Jose, where we toured the Winchester Mystery House. It was a really impressive place, and the tour was really interesting. Poor Mrs. Winchester. She was really nutty to have built a house like that. It makes for a really interesting place to visit, though. We then went out of our way to find an In 'n' Out Burger, and saw parts of San Jose that we'll probably never see again. We were pretty thankful to finally make it back to the freeway. We ended up at Great America, and went on a few of the big rollercoasters, including Invertigo which goes both forward and backward. That was my favorite. We drove back to SF, got cleaned up, and then went to the Stinking Rose for dinner. It was incredibly delicious, and unfortunatelly really quick. Our dinner came within minutes of our appetizer, so the whole experience was over pretty quickly. We took it as a sign that we needed to get to Ghiradelli and have one of their world famous sundaes.

Overall, it was a really wonderful trip and I hope that my feet will forgive me soon. We walked everywhere over the last three days, and it's definitely taken a bit of a toll on my poor feet, but it was great nonetheless.

Are you going to San Francisco?

I am! Tomorrow, to be exact. My friend, K., and I are heading out in the morning and road trippin' our way down to SF for a rip roarin' good time.

Our plans include being ultra-touristy by riding the hop on/hop off bus to see the sights, visiting Fisherman's Wharf, walking under a tank of sharks at Aquarium of the Bay, doing a night walking tour of ghostly areas, partaking in the garlic delights of the Stinking Rose, screaming our lungs out on the rollercoasters at Great America, and wandering around the weird Winchester Mystery House.

All this before we head back on Monday morning. It's going to be a jam-packed weekend of fun!