Sleighride home

On my flight yesterday, a portly old man with a white beard and long, curly white hair sat in my row. He was dressed in a bright crimson jumpsuit with "S. Claus" embroidered in white on the front. On the back was more white embroidery: "NORTH POLE FLIGHT SCHOOL."

When kids approached him (and why were there approximately 90 kids on my flight?), he entertained their questions directed at Santa Claus and he played the part of a Santa whose annual business has just ended and was ready for a break.

I wanted desperately to snap a photograph of him, but I thought it would be weird. He probably wouldn't have minded, but I wanted to catch him enjoying the rum and cokes he ordered.

Movie note: Avatar

FOUR STARS

What a long piece of animated leftist propaganda!

Holiday sloth

You guys, I've been so lazy! During my two weeks in California, I basically sat in front of the television, ate a ton, saw a couple of movies and slept in. I tried to go to the gym once or twice, but really, the only thing I really managed was getting through some of my netflix queue.

And upon returning to Boston yesterday (thank goodness I missed the big blizzard), I decided to skip work today and use one of my vacation days. I could definitely get used to this.

Movie note: The Lovely Bones

TWO STARS

I remember liking the book. The movie, not so much.

Movie note: Easy A

FIVE STARS

A new classic! I watched this twice in two days and I think I love Emma Stone.

Chasing the wild goose

Yesterday, my sister and I spent the morning running errands (groceries, Christmas gifts for our father, etc.) and doing a little shopping for ourselves. We visited a store where I receive a generous employee discount and she found a butter-soft leather bomber jacket that she liked. The only problem was that it was available only in a size 2.

So, the very helpful saleslady directed us to a nearby store that had a size 10 in stock, and thus began our dayof chasing the jacket around the country. When we arrived at the other store, 30 minutes away, it turned out the size 10 didn't fit properly, and neither did the 12 petite.

The salesladies called stores all around the country in search of a size 12 while we ate our lunches, but when we returned, all the other stores turned out to be liars and we weren't able to locate the elusive leather bomber in size 12.

So in the end, we traveled around the Bay Area for no reason, but we really had nothing better to do, anyway.

Movie note: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

TWO STARS

If I were an HR director for this movie franchise, I would put Kristen Stewart on a performance improvement plan. Or promote Anna Kendrick to lead.

I'm like a bird

As part of my cityside vacay, Roommate J, Beetle and I went to see a matinee of "Black Swan." And since, I've had images of glass shards and cracking bones dancing in my head. No sugarplum fairies in this ballet!

Basically, I spent the entire movie clenched up in my seat, peeking through my fingers and making variations on pursed lips. And after the movie, I think I spent 45 minutes just breathing. Before pulling myself together to get a drink!

San Frandisco days, San Frandisco nights

On Friday, I took Caltrain for the first time to escape from suburbia and return to the land of the living in San Francisco. The train journey was pretty easy, and I thought it was a deal at $6, but I realized some people use it to commute round-trip every day!

So, for four days, I enjoyed visiting with friends, celebrating the holidays, doing a little maxxing and relaxxing and eating everything in sight. It was a self-indulgent few days, but I deserved it!

Whenever I come back to SF, I sort of slip back into a routine. I may hit the gym. I definitely enjoy drinks at the bar with Beetle, Roommates A&J, Mahogany Sparkle and Lucy Ricardo. I end up on at least one big night out (this time courtesy of Blanca and Mattress). I eat Mexican and Japanese food. I get to meet recently born babies. I even end up doing some work-type activities.

I do miss my SF life.

Soccer mom Panda!!!!

Something I detest about spending the holidays in the 'burbs is that I am without a vehicle. In a city, this is a relatively minor irritation, but in suburbia, it's akin to being a prisoner!

After meeting Wang and her family for breakfast, I promptly had to high-tail it home so my mom could take her car to an appointment while my dad was at the dentist with his car. Fortunately, my mother works within walking distance from the house, so I'll be able to use it most of the time, but when both parents need their vehicles, I have nothing better to do than work or watch the netflix I brought with me.

My mom, it should be said, drives the ultimate bougie suburban soccer mom car: a silver mercedes m class. Picture Annette Bening in American Beauty but with much less pent-up rage (Whatever happened to Mena Suvari, anyway?). So, here I am, trying to maneuver this gigantor car around town. It certainly handles differently than my little Ford Fusion, but fortunately the California roadways are made for SUVs, not horse-drawn carriages like Massachusetts.

Holiday rush

Because I've accumulated a bunch of "comp days" due to work travel, I technically don't need to return to work until February, when our next Fiscal Year begins. So, I'm taking two weeks off to return to California tomorrow. You know, visiting the fam and stuff.

Sadly, no one else is on the extended vacation schedule I'm on, so work continues to pile up and it looks like I'll be dialing into conference calls next week when I'm back home. Plus, I've been asked to work on goals for 2011, which seems to be a necessary evil of corporate America. We make these goals every year and barely look at them throughout the year, let alone review them at the end. And if we don't get a bonus, what's the point except to take up my precious time?

It's also been a busy few days on the social side. VALedictorian is in town and staying with us, so we've been hanging out in the evenings. Her late arrival into town forced me to miss a dinner party at Puppy's friends' home, which was sad mostly because he returned home with a santa hat!

Somehow, I've got to get through it all and pack all my belongings and figure out my plans for the holiday. This must be what people mean when they say the holidays are a stressful time of year.

I probably should try Toastmasters

For the past few weeks, I've been working with our Chief Supply Chain Officer to develop a presentation for our company's quarterly all-employee meeting. These meetings are typically "state-of-the-business" type presentations where our executive leadership team give updates on their respective areas of the business. Like a re-cap of our earnings calls to shareholders, but kind of dumbed-down for all employees.

I think our Chief Supply Chain Officer realized the meetings can be kind of dry, so he thought it would be nice to spice up his presentation by including me and giving me the stage to discuss some of the more "heartwarming" work I'm in charge of.

So, I found myself in the position of creating a presentation and video to show off my work, heavily edited through many, many, many rounds of review. I believe we landed on version 15 of the presentation and version 9 of the video.

In any case, when I walked into the meeting room yesterday to practice with the A/V, I kind of got very nervous. 800 chairs were set up for all our headquarters employees, two giant screens flanked a big stage with two podiums and a very pretty backdrop of gold-painted branches adorned the stage (It's the holidays, after all!). Very intimidating for this panda.

I got mic'ed up, took a seat, and waited for everyone to file in. Because of my presentation, I sat in the very front row, next to our CEO and other members of the executive leadership team. And since my presentation was about an hour into the meeting, I had plenty of time to psych myself out. By the time it was my turn to present, my heart was racing and my palms were sweaty.

I felt like I raced through my slides and at several moments, I could hear my voice quivering. I tried to ignore the camera that was trained on me, broadcasting my presentation to employees in other locations around the country and I tried to remember to breathe.

When it was finally over, I basically ran down the stairs to get off the stage and returned to my seat in the audience. I thought about all the things I forgot to say and the things I could have said better, but in the end, I think it went very well. Our CEO congratulated me for being a "natural" at public speaking and many employees either came up to me or e-mailed me to say that it was one of the more inspiring or interesting presentations they'd heard at one of these meetings.

I received an e-mail from a colleague in our New York office who admitted that mine was the only presentation that received applause. And one employee, who was recognized for 35 years of service to the company earlier in the meeting, e-mailed our CEO to say that the supply chain presentation made her feel even more proud to work for our company.

I guess all the work, the rehearsing in my car and the nervousness about what I would wear paid off. It certainly was the largest (and most important) audience I've ever presented to, so let's hope it reverses any damage I may have done my career in the past.

Movie note: Before Sunset

THREE STARS

Ethan Hawke's face and teeth serve as a good PSA for the dangers of meth! For whatever reason, I liked this much better than the first.

Of dumbbells and dumb blondes

The other night marked my triumphant return to the gym on weeknights! It was the first time I visited the gym on a weeknight since we returned to standard time so many weeks ago. It's hard to go outside when it's dark, y'all! Stop judging.

Much to my dismay, it was one of those nights I hate, where the gym tries to be all too-cool-for-school and throws a party. The DJ's music was too loud, the vendors were in the way and the two drunk girls who were playing with dumbbells and taking up my much-needed floor space were way too irritating.

These two, dressed in heels and dresses, were singing to the music, giggling, admiring their hair in the mirrors and playing with weights! I was hoping that one of them would drop a weight on the other, ending their revelry.

The worst part of this was that none of the staff seemed to care! I believe these girls might either work at the gym or be friends with someone "influential."

Another wintery meal

My Monday night plans didn't seem very bold: get home from work, go to the gym, return home and watch television. However, when I returned home from work on the later side (these days, after 7pm is late), and there were a few little snowflakes in the air, I couldn't motivate to get to the gym.

Plus, Puppy had made plans to eat with SexMex and Jimmy Jam and when I walked through the door, I could smell the makings of some yummy chicken and dumplings! So, I ditched my workout plans (yet again) and I sat down for a delicious, season-appropriate meal.

It was nice to catch up with friends, but Puppy must have made a knock-out of a meal since SexMex spent much of the evening lying on the couch, falling into and out of sleep, unable to resist the after-effects of dinner!

Movie note: House Bunny

THREE STARS

Who knew so many "musicians" wanted to be "actors"?

Festival of oil

To celebrate the arrival of Jillian's new baby boy (and Hanukkah), some of us gathered together at her home on Sunday for a little feast. Jillian made potato latkes, Flabs and her clan brought some rotisserie chicken and dessert, and I was in charge of a side dish.

Since it's the Jewish Festival of Lights, I started to research some appropriate side dishes. I decided against kugel because Puppy doesn't care for raisins, but there weren't many other options. Especially ones with vegetables. One item that kept coming up, however, was the donut. This perplexed me, because I had no idea what donuts had to do with Hanukkah.

So, I asked around and no one seemed to have a definitive answer, but people guessed that it had to do with the oil. In essence, anything deep-fried is a Hanukkah-appropriate dish!

Well, I didn't deep fry anything, but I did douse some vegetables in plenty of oil before roasting them in the oven. It seemed like a healthier alternative to bringing a bag of Dunkin' Donuts over.

Melt-a-meal

The winter coldness has set in, and after a day of Christmas shopping yesterday, I had a hankering for fondue. I mean, what could be better than melted cheese for dinner? There's a Boston outpost of this fondue chain I went to when I used to live in DC, so I called up, made a reservation and anticipated the melty yumminess!

The restaurant was as I remembered it - each table had a burner and the server would prepare the fondue in front of you. We had all three courses: cheese, meat and dessert, even though neither of us was very hungry when it came time to eat the dessert course.

Puppy and I decided that the meat course was kind of a letdown since all you essentially did was poach the meat. Instead, some grilled meats would have been nice to dunk in the cheese course. Why hasn't anyone thought of that?

Movie note: Elizabeth

FOUR STARS

One of those stylish, beautiful movies I wish I'd seen in the theater. And who knew Lily Allen once wanted to be an "actress"?

And I suppose you want me to actually use my utensils

At my last job, I came into contact with a communications firm that works with executives to find appropriate platforms for speeches. As I understand it, the firm basically keeps a calendar of conferences and suggests ones at which their clients present. I sort of cannot believe companies pay for this type of service, but there you go...

So, this firm has been moving into the corporate social responsibility arena recently and is based outside of Boston, so the founder continues to reach out to me in order to tap into my network. I, of course, am not at a senior enough level to actually qualify as a client, nor does my company pay for such foolishness.

After several months of chasing me down for dinner, I finally gave in and met up with the founder and COO last night at a French restaurant near my house. The company founder, an older gentleman who's always in a suit and has thick, tortoise-shell spectacles, was seated at his favorite table (where we met for lunch several months ago) and the COO, a woman about my age, sat next to him, also in a suit. I plopped into place in my jeans and sweater.

It's so awkward spending dinner with people who are so formal with each other. Ms. COO kept doting on the founder, serving him and offering him bread, water, etc. The company founder took it upon himself to order for the table, even though I had not shared with him what I wanted to eat. So, I had to correct him and let our waiter know that I did not want the skate fish. Instead, I wanted the moules frites. Frites!

And once our meals arrived, the two of them inhaled their food and left me picking at each individual mussel. When I was nearly done, I felt like I was holding everyone up so I pretended that I didn't want my French fries and left all the delicious, soupy sauce to sit in the bowl (normally, I would have dunked the bread into the sauce, using it to sponge-paint my tastebuds).

But our forced conversation was so aggravating! Everything was "lovely" or "exquisite" or "divine." I had to endure phrases like "We have been summering on Block Island in the same charming cottage every year for the past 25 years" or "We take an annual trip to a delightful island in the Caribbean that imports mussels from Bretagne every Thursday."

I am very glad to be leaving Boston for a West Coast getaway in a few weeks!

Acronymous

Kids these days! I am an old geezer who can't quite get used to typing "u" for "you" or "b" for "be," even on the texts or the IMs. I appreciate when something's labeled as "NSFW," but can't get into writing "ROFL." I do, however, throw in an occasional "LOL" or "OMG," but rarely do I use "TTFN" or "TTYL."

Roommate J just wrote "BBL" which makes me think "bubble." I sort of like it as a closing sentiment. "I'm heading into a meeting. Bubble!"

Movie note: The Kids Are All Right

FOUR STARS

The costume department really nailed the lesbionic clothes.

Movie note: Gia

THREE STARS

I was a bit shocked to see Juliet from Lost being all naked and lesbiany!

Cat people

Walking home after dinner with Reebs and her husband, Puppy and I were discussing our cat nanny, the lady who visits with Stefano Di Mera and Victor Kiriakis when we're both out of town. We described how she got around with a cane, loves to eat the sweets in our home and leaves cards describing how she spends her time with the cats.

Just seconds after we discussed the nanny, we heard a lady exclaim, "Hello cat people!" and lo and behold, it was her! She was making her way down the street, wrapped in a black wool coat, a hat and a fur muffler around her neck, which she said was "a former client." Cane in hand, she intercepted us, gave us hugs and asked what special treats we'd leave for her during her Christmastime visit. She complimented Puppy on the banana pudding he made when she last visited.

I don't know how I feel about being referred to as "cat people" in the neighborhood.

Photographer Panda!!!!

After a very tasty dinner last night with Puppy's friends from New York and friends from Lynn, we all went to the nearby gay bar and enjoyed some Friday night libations. DJ Mother Nature met up with us and it was a pretty fun night out.

A tall, pasty, dull-seeming fellow took a liking to Puppy and started chatting him up and doing some lash-batting. Apparently, he was in town for the weekend from Austin and he was looking for fun things to do. Discussion turned to where we should go next and DJ Mother Nature offered to take the new fellow to a different, hopefully more lively bar. But before they left, our friend from Austin wanted to remember his night with Puppy forever, so he pulled out his phone and asked me to take their photo together. The first two didn't come out properly, so I had to do it three times.

Fortunately for everyone involved, Puppy went home with me, but DJ Mother Nature did take the Texan to his next destination. Maybe he pulled a Jersey Shore-style "robbery!"

Stuffed

I have got to stop eating all the Thanksgiving leftovers in the house.

Movie note: Before Sunrise

TWO STARS

This was a pretty boring movie and Ethan Hawke's teeth are kinda jacked, no?

Panda!!!!'s best dishes

Our department admin has been on my case about having too many vacation days that won't carry over to next year, so I took today, Thanksgiving Eve, off from work. It's been a nice, leisurely day so far that began with a visit to my neighborhood Starbucks where I ran into two co-workers who were working from "home."

I visited my gym for a bit, went to the supermarket (horrors!), the post office and returned home to give the cats some treats. After checking in on some work issues, I started baking some pumpkin bars for tomorrow night's feasting. I hope they turn out or I'll have ruined Thanksgiving!

Wintery curry

It's a pretty cold day in the Northeast. I think the high was 41 degrees or something like that, so it seemed like a good idea to make another hearty, hot meal.

But instead of taking a page out of Julia Child's playbook, I decided to put last year's workplace strategery session to use. I dug out a can of coconut milk that moved across the country with me, shopped for additional ingredients and fixed up some hot, tasty Thai green curry.

We were done with dinner by 6pm.

Happy birthday, whoever you are

Fleshjack came to town for a good friend's birthday, so Puppy and I joined him for the festivities. We hoped that the party, located around the corner from us, would be a good way to meet people in Boston and would serve as a fun Saturday night event.

It had all the makings of a good party - a beautiful home, red velvet cupcakes, bacon-wrapped hot dogs, a boozey punch and a pageant theme. We didn't, however, do a great job at mingling. As soon as I met a couple who attended my undergraduate alma mater, we basically stood in a corner and chatted for the duration of the night.

And when it was time to leave the home and head out to dance, dance, dance all night, Puppy and I opted to just go home. We are, after all, very old.

The outcome was sort of disappointing since I still cannot recall the name of the birthday boy. Puppy also reported that the red velvet cupcakes were dry.

Health care reform

When it comes to healthcare and benefits and such, I am a dummy. Ironic, given my brief stint in the industry, where I apparently learned nothing.

It's the last day of open enrollment and I just spent more than an hour trying to figure out what my options are for coverage next year. I tried (unsuccessfully) to figure out my benefits options online, so I had to spend some time with a very unfriendly customer service agent who made me feel dumb when she finally directed me to the correct part of the website.

Per usual, I elected the coverage option that takes the least out of my paycheck. With the changes introduced this year, however, it probably is a bad year to get in an accident or need surgery. I'm sure I won't be able to afford the out-of-pocket expenses!

Bright eyes

Today I had to film a segment for a video we'll be showing at our next all-employee meeting, so our video people set up all sorts of microphones, cameras and lights for me to look my "best."

Directly in front of me they put a small panel composed of a bunch of little LED lights, shining into my face. This, I'm told, is a light to make the video subject's eyes sparkle! I want to carry one with me every day.

The big greasy

It's been a few days since I've returned from New Orleans, and I still haven't fully recovered. I think I'm still catching up on sleep and my body is still detoxing from all the excess. I haven't been to the gym and my gut has grown increasingly soft. I guess I'm just not as resilient as I used to be.

New Orleans is a city known for its rich, delicous food and I believe I sampled my fair share during the weekend (not that I remember everything). For the big birthday dinner bash, Lezzie N organized a very nice 3-course meal accompanied by an open bar. Clearly, that meal is lost somewhere in my "memory."

While everyone else did a swamp tour, Selives and I had some local lunch favorites. I opted for a nice jambalaya and he had red beans and rice. It was a good way to line our stomachs with grease while I recovered from the previous night out. No boat rides for this panda!

And in the hour before I flew back home, I ran back into the French Quarter, ordered up a fried shrimp po boy and ate it by the river. It was like a little picnic with the homeless! Only I had a really good meal and the others had none.

The big easy

I just landed in New Orleans to celebrate Mahogany Sparkle's and Lezzie P's joint birthday party. With a rowdy group of 21, I don't know that the French Quarter will be the same again.

The old stomping grounds

Like my recent tease of a visit in Sydney, I'm in back in San Francisco for the blink of an eye.

I landed this morning, checked into my hotel and went straight to my old gym. It's been about two years since I visited this particular gym and it was kind of refreshing to see that little had changed. I recognized the reception-folks, a few trainers and I ran into a friend who was getting his lunchtime workout in.

It's an absolutely beautiful day, which makes my early morning departure tomorrow that much more difficult. I'm due to speak at a conference in an hour (the whole reason I'm here in the first place), so I'd best put on my suit and get downstairs to the conference area.

Good thing I'll be back in a few weeks for the holidays!

Pandie & Pandia

It is officially the first day I feel cold after a summer/fall in Boston. Maybe it has to do with turning back to standard time. Maybe it's just that it's nearing mid-November. Whatever it is, I guess I'm in for winter's long haul!

After a disappointing beef bourguignon the other night (I believe there was ketchup in it!), I decided I would slow cook my own tonight! And all day, I've been saying "boeuf bourguignon" like Meryl Streep did in Julie & Julia. I think Puppy's pretty annoyed by now, but hopefully the dinner will turn out tastycakes.

Career limiting comment

For the past two days, I've been sequestered away in a cross-functional leadership development seminar with 10 other employees from my company. We've been learning things about ourselves, collaboration, project management and other such skills that are supposed to help propel us forward in our careers with the company.

But more than anything, we've been eating nonstop. Not only has there been food available throughout the two days, we all gathered last night for a very nice dinner with three key company executives. And whenever there was a lull in the conversation (aka, when we were eating our food), the trainer would pull out a stack of cards on which were printed "conversation starters."

One card posited the question, "If you could bring back one celebrity from the dead for one last, great performance, who would it be?" The awkward silence continued, so I blurted out, "Jon Benet Ramsey!" And our COO (whom I'd never met before last night) nodded in my direction and asked, "Who's the joker who just made a career limiting comment?"

Movie note: The Exorcism of Emily Rose

THREE STARS

I sure am glad not to be epileptic!

Dinnertime reunion

Another good thing about visiting NYC for work is the chance to catch up with friends. Since Dickinator and I didn't have a proper catch-up when I was last in town, we decided to spend some time mano-a-mano at a cute little East Village restaurant.

It had been so long since we chatted that we had to reach back to mid-summer for our updates. I guess between my trips to Europe and Asia and Dickinator's trips to Europe and Asia, it's been tough nailing each other down for a proper chit-chat.

We'll have to make it a more frequent occurrence. Although maybe next time we can lay off the fat-making food like spinach & feta dip, mac & cheese with bacon and fried entrees.

Conference season

It's the time of year when I bounce from conference to conference, so I landed this morning in New York for another conference.

The past few days in Ann Arbor have been incredibly informative, inspiring and engaging. I lost my voice from speaking on my panels and yelling small talk across crowded dinner tables in loud restaurants. I deflected requests for jobs and informational interviews and I caught up with old friends.

But I only left Ann Arbor yesterday, spent approximately 20 hours at home, then flew to New York this morning (seated next to one of my company's C-level executives - kinda awkward). My day was spent in the Hyatt adjacent to Grand Central Station, even though I'm staying many blocks away (trying my best to help the company save a dollar or two). And while the content has been fine, the networking has already proven to be helpful. Plus, I've gotten to see a bunch of old friends from a company I used to work for. And for that reason, I'll soak up the numerous conferences, even though I feel conferenced-out.

Go blue

I think I've arrived in the ultimate of all college towns: Ann Arbor, Michigan. I'm in town for The Nonprofit's annual conference and am staying right on the University of Michigan campus, convenient to the events.

Driving through the downtown area, everything seemed to cater toward the University. Barber shops sported blue and gold signs, pubs were clearly advertising to students and other stores had banners supporting the local teams.

People have told me this is a great time of year to be in Ann Arbor and that it's a shame there isn't a football game this weekend. Supposedly, it's the type of event that rivals Mardi Gras or New Year's in Times Square. For me, it would probably be too much, especially with thousands of people in town for The Nonprofit's conference.

My pal the professor

One afternoon last week, an old professor from grad school rang me up to say she was in town, consulting for a company. She didn't have much free time, but was hoping I could meet her for a drink to catch up at the W Hotel, where the company had put her up for the night. Since I rarely have plans in the evenings, I agreed to meet up with her and dutifully headed to the W bar that evening.

It's been several years since I last saw her, but through the grapevine (and facebook), I knew that she'd gotten divorced and had entered the dating scene. In fact, her older brother was an acquaintance of mine when I lived in DC - sort of an astonishing connection when we realized this while I was her student.

Our conversation was focused on typical things you'd expect from a professor and former student: my job, her research, moving to Boston, blah, blah, blah. But partway through the conversation, the topic took a decidedly personal turn and I learned a lot about her recent dating exploits and more about her sex life than I had expected to ever know! It seems we've easily moved past the professor/student relationship and are quite squarely in the "friends" zone now.

Movie note: Wes Craven's New Nightmare

ONE STAR

This movie made absolutely no sense. And I don't expect much "sense" from movies starring Heather Langenkamp.

Movie note: A Nightmare on Elm Street

TWO STARS

Not even Beaver Casablancas, Principal Tami Taylor and Ella Simms were able to save this movie.

Movie note: A Nightmare on Elm Street

THREE STARS

I guess Johnny Depp's acting talents developed after 1984.

The name game

On my way to work this morning, I was listening to a story on NPR about Taylor Swift and her tweeting. One of the commentators was an expert in social media. A professor at a university named ... Pinky Gonzales!

Imagine my surprise when Pinky began commenting on the story and turned out to be ... a man!

Bemoaning the budget

It's budget season here at my company and, weirdly, I haven't been asked to submit a budget for next year. Since I'm new to the organization, I took it upon myself to meet with Finance yesterday to learn the budgeting process so I could be prepared.

I learned that my manager had expressed the desire to create and propose a budget on my behalf, which was very concerning because he has direct visibility into only 50% of what I need for next year. The rest comes from initiatives that I work on with his boss.

Since he started traveling before I returned from my recent trip, my manager hasn't been available to discuss our budget (which is due in a week), so I rang him up this morning to understand his intentions. Part way through our conversation, he exclaimed that he'd have to call me back and hung up. Since it's now past midnight in his location, and since our Finance lead is asking for my proposed budget, I've taken it upon myself to create a budget for next year and I just submitted it, without having reviewed it with my manager.

Let's hope this wasn't one of those "career-limiting" moves.

Birthday balls

For Jimmy Jam's birthday, Puppy hosted an intimate dinner party the other night. It was a small gathering with Puppy, Jimmy Jam, me, and three other guests.

For dinner, the menu featured meatballs that burst with cheese filling. Very tasty and perfect for our little celebration.

Jimmy Jam started off the evening with a heartfelt moment, thanking each guest for being in his life. But then it descended into a boozey night and we shook off any pretensions of being civilized and just enjoyed the food and company. Just like any proper birthday celebration!

Back to the grind

Since returning to MA on Wednesday, I've been a busy, busy bee. I've arrived at work around 7am for the past two days and I feel like I've been catching up, working non-stop. And there's no end in sight!

Movie note: The Jonses

TWO STARS

Kim Zolciak wasn't tardy for the party scene!