Friday, October 28, 2005

Little Things

It is the little things that make me happy. I have now lived in Finland for almost 2 years. It was somewhat of a culture shock when I first moved, but nothing that sent me running for the next plane back to Beantown. Life is a journey and I have a philosophy that every day I should learn something. It doesn't matter if it is something small or big or about me or the world. Learning should never stop.

I learned something today. It is the little things at work that can make you feel good about your job and your ability to do it. In the States it is common to commend someone for a job well done. If they have performed well in a difficult or stressful situation, a simple "Good Job!", or "Thanks so much for your hard work, I appreciate it." From my experiences in Finland, not so much of that here. It is sort of expected that it is your job and you do it. Period. At the end of a successful project the team will most likely go out for beer or have a launch celebration, but individual compliments are hard to come by.

So ..my project from hell is proceeding and I had to give a 2 hour presentation today (complete with a snazzy powerpoint slide presentation, pivot tables, charts etc) - at the end of it, the Project Manager said "I had a feeling you knew what you were doing. Now I KNOW you do. I am very happy." - That is HUGE for me!

Suddenly I am not as stressed as I was before, even though I still have 346356 meetings a day and 3636456 things to get done. That simple little "I am happy." from my PM made a TON of my stress go away...

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....now time for a hot cocoa to celebrate...then back to the grind....

...did I mention it has snowed already here?...brrr....slippery ice covered sidewalks are scary at o'dark thirty in the morning...

Thursday, October 27, 2005

..finding my "happy place"...

...okay. It is really hard to find my "happy place" right now. Work is absolute madness. I have 346356 meetings a day and 3636456 things to get done from said meetings, but no time to do it. Have I ever mentioned how much I HATE to be rushed?... holy mother of god this is frustrating... I feel like I have to hand hold everyone through the tasks which they are supposed to get done and if I don't do it the tasks WON'T get done....

I think some 80's music is in order on my headphones today and a big sign on the back of my chair that says "Cranky Pants. If you value living don't bother me."......

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Mmm..Pasta

Ouch! My Liver! MIDNIGHT!! (long post folks)

So, I am back from a week in southern Italy. Sun, pasta, wine, scooters…did I mention past and wine..oh and more wine..and more wine..and more wine..and pasta..and a bit of wine. It was a week of laughter and fun. 8 Americans, 1 Canadian and a Finn all converged on the unsuspecting Hotel Residencia Le Terazze for a week of what turned out to be tons of fun.

Day 1
Mira and I arrived on Saturday afternoon and caught up with Brian and Pepe his disturbing South American accented alter ego. Poor Brian lost his camera, hadn’t slept for almost 2 days and had to endure ME all the way from the airport in Napoli to Sorrento. It was the full Planes, Trains and Automobiles experience. Let’s face it, I can’t be quiet. It is physically impossible for me. I have a mouth that just doesn’t shut up. Ever. After getting totally robbed by the Taxi driver – 42 freakin euro for a normally 23 euro taxi ride - (can you say little button next to the gear shift which adds 8 euros every time the little old bastid hit it surreptitiously while changing gears?) we arrived at the hotel. What do I find 2 terraces over from us? An energetic group of geriatrics from, of all places, New Frickin Hampshire! They heard my loud voice on the phone with my stepmom, who has the uncanny ability to bring out my latent Boston accent that I worked very hard to lose, and one little old lady decided to come over and say “Excuse me, but I heard an American accent.” They were very nice and were surprised to find that 6 out of the 8 Americans were all from New England at some point in their life. – spooky-

K, D, Mel, Laura, John, Patricia, and Sarah were all up the hill at the little village (Sant’ Agata) getting munchie stuff so we could all nosh and get reacquainted. Fast forward to dinner at the restaurant in the hotel next door (our’s didn’t really have one) and K has a brilliant plan..again. She buys 4 bottles of Cianti from the restaurant and we treck them back the 60 feet to our terrace. We proceed to crack em open and fun and hilarity ensued. It had been so long since we were all in one place (for those of us who knew each other previously) that we couldn’t stop cracking up. We had a blast. Opening our arms and hearts to the new ones (shout out to Sarah, Patricia and Brian) and it turns out they are as nuts, or even MORE nuts than we are in some cases! Happy happy joy joy it was great…up until… MIDNIGHT!!!! There is nothing that can prepare you for having an old man in his old-man jammies come storming out of his door and without preamble or any kind of nicety yell: “MIDNIGHT!! MIDNIGHT!!! “ at you. Okay..I can understand someone requesting that you keep it down cause they are trying to sleep, but JESUS..it was a SATURDAY night and the carriage had JUST turned back into the pumpkin fer chrissake. Needless to say we all mumbled “..um..sorry” like chastised children and decided to call it a night. Of course the giggling just got worse everytime one of us cranked out “MIDNIGHT!!!” in a stage whisper!... Good times…

Sorrento is a beautiful place. Really. One thing though. The drivers of the cars are nuts, but the scooter drivers are worse. Seriously. I knew that Italy had some scooter action going on, but WOW. Freaky. Dad’s with their little 5 year olds in front of them zooming through traffic missing car bumpers by mere inches… I think they teach them early. Mira and I had contemplated renting a scooter while there before we arrived…after arriving and SEEING how they drove..NO FRICKIN WAY!!!

Days 2-6
Because I am horrible at remembering exactly which day we did what…here goes:
Ristorante Museo Caruso
- This restaurant was so yummie that we went there twice despite the cost. The entire restaurant is dedicated to the famous opera singer from Naples, Enrico Caruso. It is (as the name says) a beautiful museum dedicated to the memory of the opera singer and his love for good food. The atmosphere is decidedly upscale and the service is wonderful. Gotta give MAD props to Reno! Reno was the waiter from heaven. What a guy! Funny and incredibly accommodating. He recommended a local wine that was fabulous on our first visit! The second visit was decided to be our “dress up” event – which Mira said for her meant shoes and socks. John recommended we book a chef’s table and let the chef have at it. What a great decision. DUDE..it was AWESOME. D and K were incredibly generous and wouldn’t let any of us pay. Duane said it is a tradition in the UK that when someone invites you out for a birthday dinner that THEY pay. I am very grateful for their generosity…although it probably means they won’t be able to eat for a month in the UK!...

…Back to the Hotel and more booze…and a drunken call to Sug (you knew it was coming)

Capri
- … the island of Capri is lovely. We took the ferry over and decided to take a boat tour around the island so we could see La Grotta Azzurra (The Blue Grotto). HOLY HELL was there some CHOP on the Med THAT day. I thought I was gonna toss! There was some serious nausea all around from the trip out to the Grotto. Anywho..the Grotto: It was “discovered” in 1826 by a German writer (August Kopisch). It is a natural cave and the magic of it is that sunglight, passing through an underwater cavity and shining through the water creates a blue reflection that illuminates the cavern. Breathtaking. To get into it, the big boat we took to the cave moors outside and these men in little row boats row up and help you down to their boat and you sit on the bottom of it. There are usually a max of 4 people in the boat with the “driver”. When he gets to the opening he tells you to duck – trust me he means it – and then pulls the boat via a chain anchored to the wall through the opening. The rock of the opening passes within about 6 inches of your head..creepy! Once inside, they row you around and when the boat turns you see the reflection. It is gorgeous. The whole time the drivers are sining opera. Lemme tell ya, there is nothing like it… Of course the drivers foot that ended up in Sarah’s “area” was an unexpected feature of the trip for her…

…The Gardens of Augustus – Mira’s work mate mentioned that we MUST go to the gardens if we want to see an absolutely beautiful view. She was right. Gorgeous. We have some amazing photos. The flowers were just beautiful and everything was so peaceful. The group ended up having a foto taken of us by a very nice lady (American) who was so patient. And funny. She made sure at least most of us had a photo of the group. Gotta hand it to that lady – she was able to figure out multiple digital cameras AND Sarah’s actual film camera (seriously.this camera is so old I expected an archeologist explination to accompany it).

…back upup (aka hotel) more booze

“Girls Day” – aka lazy day
K, Sarah, Mra and I decided to laze about one day while everyone else went downdowndown (aka Sorrento). We lounged by the pool and tried to recover from our hangovers…We read a bit and at about 3 decided to head upupup (aka Sant’Agata) for some lunch. Can you say 2 hours to get food? We were some seriously cranky women by the time our food arrived. The temperature also dropped at the village and being in shorts, sandals and various very light clothing (not gonna give you the low down on all our outfits..that would be way too girly for me) we hopped in a taxi back down.

…later dinner..and …um..more booze…

Shopping and the Marina
- we ambled through the shopping area and looked at the goods for sale…some interesting stuff there… like a WINE shop! Mmmm…wine…

…later…dinner and um…more booze…

Pompei
- The one thing that the Hotel manager guy actually got right..was his private guide for us for Pompei. Raefaelle (totally butchering the spelling). He was GREAT. He took all 10 of us on a 2 ½ hour tour of the ruins of Pompei and gave us a great history lesson. Very nice man! He was so worth the 100 euros for the 2 ½ hours…really..rockin. Pompei is a really great archeological site and if you ever have a chance to see it..GO! Some of the group wanted to see Vesuvius, but unfortunately the weather was way too cloudy for it. – sad. I have seen a volcano (an actual active one) and I was hoping that they could see it.

….right…more booze…

Summary
It was a great trip and we met some new people who are now counted as friends. I know I left a TON out of this ..but hey..my fingers are tried from typing…. Interesting note: the 49 Things may officially be 50. Sug has the final say, but it is nice to know that “IT” is an actual mute button… :)

Friday, October 14, 2005

Alcohol and emotion

Right, so the other night I was out with Mira and we had dinner..and a few drinks. So drinks turned into more drinks..and before I knew it I was a bit tipsy. I think we were preparing our livers for Italy. Anywhozamawhatzit..discussions turned to "Who do you turn to (partner's, husbands, wives..etc excluded) when you really need to talk or just wanna hang out without having to say much." Long topic I know, but after many drinks, condensed conversation is not even remotely possible. I don't think she even finished the question before I answered it. I am not trying to disrespect my other very close friends, but let's face it: Most people have a friend that they can tell anything to. That friend that can know what you are thinking just by looking at you..and sometimes they don't even have to do that. So close that you almost share a brain. You know the type. That friend that puts up with your moody crappy attitude when you are tired and hungry. That friend that will not tell you how much they are not fond of your current S.O until AFTER you break up. That friend that you can call at 3AM..broken down on the side of the road 100 miles away and they will come get you. The one who you can show up on their doorstep and with just a glance and no questions asked they know that you just need to "be" and they hand you a drink without pushing the subject. The friend who will look at you and say "You are being a complete bitch."...and coming from them you know it is true.

The friend who no matter how long it has been since you last spoke..when you call or they call..it is like you just finished a conversation 5 minutes ago and are picking up from where you left off before the stupid call waiting beeped in... That friend that you will drive 70 miles each way several times a week to feed their cats and clean the litter boxes cause they are on vacation. That same friend who you will totally forget to pick up at the airport because you are too stupid to put the return flight information on the CORRECT day in your calendar thus resulting in said friend and spouse spending ungodly amounts of money on a taxi home from the airport to an entirely different state, and they STILL talk to you.....

Hours and hours of laughing so hard you almost pull a muscle...The friend who will honestly look at you and say: Yes that DOES make you look fat... I don't think I have to keep going...

Anyway..so I looked at Mira and without even thinking about it "Sug" came out of my mouth.

Totally serious. Sug is that friend.

Nothin but love for you SUG.... and incase anyone was curious..her actual name is Beth...and even though I live 7,000 miles away from her right now..she is still my best friend and I wouldn't have it any other way.

...wow..I am way too mushy...

Monday, October 10, 2005

hmmm...

Have you ever had that moment where something is said at just the right time and in the right way that you start laughing...and can't stop. Everytime you try to stop, a new fit of giggles wracks your body. You laugh so hard your stomache muscles ache, you can't breathe, tears come streaming from your eyes...

...well if you haven't then you are missing out on a great thing. It happened to me this weekend. I laughed so hard I cried. My stomache hurt, my cheeks hurt from laughing so long and so hard. It was so liberating...

...try it sometime....

....one line did it..."...that's not Nancy..."

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Fusche 2:15

A reading from the Book of Fusche (ardent follower of the FSM) Chapter 2, verse 15:

And it was decreed if thou hast need of drawing of the blood thou must seek the
ministrations of the mystical metal implement which shall be wielded by those
adept and trained in its use. Thou must not subject thyself to charlatans posing
as an Adept in the vestments of the mystical white lab coat. If thou dost do so,
thou whilst be set upon by darkening of thy skin in those areas where the vile
impostor hath, as such, jabbed thine formerly pristine area. Ye shall suffer
great discomfort and agitation; bringing about great bitching and moaning which
shall fall upon thine companions ears much like the sound of one's fingernails
being draggeth upon a chalkboard. So go forth ye to the true Adept for thine
drawing of the blood. Ye shall know them by the mystical name of: Phlebotomist.
Cleanly and precisely shall this Adept place the mystical metal implement to
thine skin drawing forth many vials of thine valuable life force leaving not a
blemish to mark its passing."



One needle, one phlebotomist, 3 minutes, 5 vials of blood, no bruising. All praise to the FSM.

Now I can relax for my trip to Italy.

Monday, October 03, 2005

:)

Tom Delay - indicted
Judith Miller - singing the truth about Mr. Cheney's chief of staff
CT Civil Unions - same rights, different word..are gays now "civilized"?

Just wanted to share the happiness..

:)