My mom's yard in November

Our Yard Nov 2005
Originally uploaded by tj's mom.

She says the temperature hit 60 the next day. It's weird like that in the CO. (And yes, my mother is now on Flickr. Go look.)

Did you know? I've been on a leave of absence since Oct. 27. The time has been invaluable and has allowed me to take care of lots of stuff. But just one week remains until I'm back in the 9-to-5 (well, 7:30-to-4:30), in a more senior position. My excitement/depression ratio is 50/50.

Schoolhouse

Schoolhouse
Originally uploaded by tjdee.

Merry Christmas from the schoolhouse.

Smirk

Smirk
Originally uploaded by tjdee.

This was an old splash page image. The picture, taken when I was eight, sums up my childhood.

Yes, I did forget to remove the plastic before putting an aluminum cake pan in the oven. Yes, it did take about 10 minutes before my mother realized something was burning. Yes, the entire house filled with smoke and an atrocious odor. Yes, said odor remains half an hour later. Yes, despite our quick work to scrape off as much hot plastic as possible, there is a rather large thin circle of residue on the bottom of the oven. Yes, Christmas dinner is to be cooked in 36 hours.

Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

Date Time Location Event Details
Dec 23, 2005 02:40:00 AM ENGLEWOOD CO US Out for delivery
Dec 22, 2005 10:50:00 PM ENGLEWOOD CO US Arrival Scan
Dec 22, 2005 10:16:00 PM COMMERCE CITY CO US Departure Scan
Dec 22, 2005 07:28:40 PM COMMERCE CITY CO US Arrival Scan
Dec 22, 2005 07:05:40 PM COMMERCE CITY CO US Arrival Scan
Dec 22, 2005 07:00:00 PM COMMERCE CITY CO US Arrival Scan
Dec 22, 2005 04:54:00 PM COMMERCE CITY CO US Departure Scan
Dec 22, 2005 04:13:00 PM COMMERCE CITY CO US Arrival Scan
Dec 22, 2005 03:16:00 PM DES MOINES IA US Departure Scan
Dec 22, 2005 07:47:22 AM DES MOINES IA US Arrival Scan
Dec 21, 2005 12:59:58 PM US Carrier notified to pick up package

Really? Three arrivals in a row? And don't even get me started on "Commerce City." It's just truly annoying that no matter when I ordered my Christmas booty, everything is arriving on the 23rd.

Declan

Declan
Originally uploaded by tjdee.

The first time I met Declan, my third cousin to be born within about a year, he was asleep the entire time. Didn't get to see the kid's real personality until this trip. He is super cute and chatty. And those eyes!

Seriously, seriously?! I might have lost my ipod. Flying. It was in the same demon bag that somehow spit Ben's car keys into the limbo that holds all lost socks.

But, in better news, SFO to Denver is a much nicer flight than JFK to Oakland, which I've done countless times during the past five years.

Also lovely is coming home to find chicken parmasian (!) and a newly installed wireless network (!!).

Say it with me: Loves it!

Now, if only I could get this farkatke Dish Network to work...

San Francisco is SO FREAKING GAY!

I met a friend at the Embarcadero Center to see Brokeback Mountain and the next three showings were sold out. The entire day had been sold out, and it was playing on three screens (this is the only place in SF it's playing right now, during its limited release). We wound up buying tickets for tomorrow night. I gots to see me some cowboy lovin' before I leave for Colorado.

A last-minute dinner party at my place last night. On the menu, which I, obviously, did not create, was: a smoked salmon and olive appetizer, a salad with a lot of onion, shrimp (scrimps), regular salmon and brussel sprouts. I ate a ... decent amount of everything except the shrimp, which I was not going to mess with. Memories of the kale/chard soup of 2002 came flooding back.

Being an adult sucks. It's OK to only like pizza and french fries when you're in college. But 25?

It's true: I love me the Dollar Tree! Went to the one in El Cerrito today and it was huge; a Dollar Tree super center. I hope everyone likes their 7-cent Christmas cards!

Anyone who would need this, reads this page, so: Amazon wishlist. I love me the Christ holiday.

HOLY CRAP. I guess our seemingly bizarre nickname, Carl, makes a bit more sense now. But he'll always be Princess Roberta Sanchez to me.

Perhaps Sue Logris is right about the gods not wanting me to head west. I somehow lost my house keys and Ben's car keys between security at JFK and my front door. That made my seemingly fantastic plan to store a huge bag at the airport and pick it up (in Ben's car) the next day fall apart. And my first day here (during which I had to drag said bag from BART to my house) can best be described by a guy chatting on his cell at the North berkeley station: "Dude, it's like Noah's Arc out here."