Servers, servers, servers

This morning, I arrived to work early because I had an 8am call to discuss efforts to reduce the environmental impact of our data centers. Every time I'm pulled into these conversations, I realize just how little I know. There's discussion about servers, heating, cooling, racks, PUE ratios and other nonsense and I sort of listen in and offer my very limited opinion.

And now, everyone around me is talking about our servers because our e-mail system is down! I cannot send or receive e-mail messages right now, so I'm sort of hanging out, blogging and surfing the internets. I wonder what I should have for lunch.

Celeb sighting: Drag Race

While getting sunburned at the Pride festivities yesterday, Puppy, Roommates A&J and I saw the diminutive Ongina from Ru Paul's Drag Race! She was in a booth, signing photographs and posing for pictures, but since we didn't want to stand in line, we just peeked at her from around the corner.

Hunting

This morning, I spotted a spider on the ceiling, so I waved it down with a piece of cardboard and let Stefano DiMera at it! I'm not at all fond of spiders and I hate to go near them at all, so it was nice to watch Stefano chase it around, bat at it and gobble it up!

Pride in the mirror

So, Michael Jackson died unexpectedly and that's truly sad, but couldn't this have happened after pride weekend? I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but last night, when Puppy, Roommates A&J and I were out and about in the 'stro, every single bar was playing MJ hits from the past. One song is fine. Two, even. But after 10 songs, the "tribute" turns tired and I just want to hear something more current! I wish Farrah Fawcett had released a single or two, just for some variety.

Only five?

Instead of going into the office today, four members of my team at work gathered at a local hotel for a "teambuilding" workshop. The session was based on The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, a "corporate fable" (WTF?) that describes executives at a fictional company who try to work more effectively together.

Like most business books, this one seems all common sensey to me, but this one wasn't such a bad read. So, basically we spent the day digging deep and getting vulnerable and giving each other the "gift" of feedback. Surprisingly, it went more harmoniously than I anticipated and I didn't want to stab my eyes out with the marks-a-lot pens or bang my head against the flip charts.

Tomorrow is day two of our offsite, but it will focus more on things we need to get accomplished. Sadly, tomorrow's agenda is in my hands and I have to facilitate. I'm not exactly sure how it's going to go, but my hope is that it will go quickly so we can all leave early for the weekend!

Special delivery

The other day, I picked up two parcels from the Post Office and was thrilled to see that my purchases from the Pan-African Market had arrived! I had totally written them off, so this made me very happy.

Expecting that some of my purchases would not have survived the journey across the sea, I braced myself as I unwrapped the packages. In the first package, I found my beloved wooden giraffe, wrapped in soft padding and duct tape. When it was fully unwrapped, I realized that the legs had snapped off, but strangely, I couldn't find the legs and the stand.

Until I unwrapped the second package, that is. It turns out that the geniuses who packaged my goods snapped the giraffe in two pieces and shipped them to me in separate packages! It was simply astounding.

Going meatless

Since I moved into my new home, I've been doing a little home entertaining and awakening my inner Barefoot Contessa. It's been fun having my friends over for dinner and exploring recipes.

Last night, however, posed an interesting challenge. What do you make when someone is a vegetarian? Well, fortunately, Hellenica is mostly vegetarian. She also eats fish, which is a new development since our college days. She, Linda and Linda's husband joined Puppy and me for a fun Monday meal of salad (with salmon), mac & cheese (thank goodness no one is vegan) and a "Greek caponata," which was a medley of summer squashes all roasted together.

I was suspicious of the caponata, but it turned out to be my favorite part of the meal ... until Hellenica broke out her mini "coconut cream pies." Unlike normal pies, these were the raw version, meaning that none of the ingredients had been heated over some specific temperature - a detail that I don't really care about. In any case, we were kind of skeptical, but they turned out to be quite yummy and they tasted sort of decadent!

Of course, Hellenica had to go to a lot of trouble to make the little buggers. Apparently, she made date paste and some other coconut product that were unavailable at the grocery store. But in the end, we all enjoyed the mostly vegetarian feast.