I had a very relaxing holiday. We were broke so it was very low key. I spent it on the XBox 360 and Jake on the computer. We hung out with my sister and her wonderful family Christmas Day. It started with chowing down on breakfast then taking off to watch Avatar in 3-D. I think it's a movie most people would enjoy but I'd say to nix the 3-D part. It was a tad too blurry and hard to make out some of the darker scenes. It still made for a great movie I plan on renting/buying when it comes out on Blu-Ray. Afterward we went back for the best Chinese Food I've had in years. Seriously, I am craving it right now.

The rest of our vacation was spent hanging out with each other and chatting with friends. New Years was almost non existent, which I am kind of grateful for. 2009 was a hell of a year for me and slipping into a new year quietly was all that I could have wished for. Speaking of slipping... I managed to faint in the bath tub this past weekend. I was cleaning/showering and everything got spotty. I screamed for Jake and remember looking at him. The next thing I know I'm laying in the tub all crumpled up with a panicked boyfriend staring over me. I was wet and he didn't have a shirt on so I got dinged up pretty bad. He managed to stop me from really hurting myself. I know that I haven't been taking great care of myself and showering with cleaning fumes sure didn't help. Whatever it was I decided I'd rest for the weekend and start trying to do better health-wise. Yay for 2010. :P

I got to work this morning only to find that none of my work had been entered while I was away. My coworker also announced that it was too much and that she would be unable to relieve me if I needed time off in the future. I bit my tongue and started entering all the work. I know that she has trouble entering data in general, but I was hoping she'd at least do some of it. I figure that if she's unable to do my work it will be visa versa so she's going to have to find someone to relieve her. It's only fair.

Today I reminded my coworker ONCE AGAIN that I need to train her on my reports. Excel might as well be Notepad with her so all my formulas are a waste. I'm dreading what I will come back to. I've had to explain how to cut and paste three times and that's just the beginning of my report data. As much as I dread it I need the vacation so bad I'm willing to risk a few days of fucked up data. In the end she's higher than me title wise so if she fucks it up they'll be looking at her over me. In the end I'm training on the report, not the programs used. I don't care how she gets the numbers. Hell... she can pop off her shoes and count fingers and toes for all I care. A week and a half of nothing to do with UCLA is all I ask. I plan on being low key and really enjoying my time with Jake.

I totally forgot to talk about my funny birthday dinner moment in San Francisco. So we walk into Morton's, a VERY nice restaurant that serves humongous sized portions. Our waitress was super nice and explained that they used a visual menu and excused herself to prepare it. A few minutes later she rolls out this cart filled with all sorts of food and pushes it beside us. HUGE cuts of meat, a Lobster and vegetables. Before beginning she asks if I have a problem with the Lobster being next to me. I shrug it off at first... then say, "Well it's not like it's alive or anything." She tells me that it is and my eyes get huge and I have to force myself not to jump out of my seat. Jake, on the other hand, starts to chuckle. I start to babble and she quickly switches the plates, leaving me embarrassed and Jake with a huge smile. The waitress tries to make me feel better, telling me about stories of people dodging and even her own experience of dropping one that started flailing. All I could think of was she just got another story to add to the list. I'm just glad she mentioned that it was alive. If she hadn't and it moved while next to me I would have been screaming and knocking patrons/tables over to get out of the way.

I've had to deal with live lobsters twice in my life. Both were as a child and both ended comically. When I was in third grade dad invited my favorite teacher, Ms. Bell, and my special Ed teacher, Mr. Ross, for dinner. I have Dyslexia and went to classes. Anyway, dad bought live lobsters and put them in the tub. I was excited about our new 'pets' and asked if we could keep them. Dad said no, saying that they needed salt water to live and went back to preparing the meal. A moment later he saw me running out of the kitchen with salt shaker in hand. I was inches away before he realized and caught up with me. The second time he had taken us to The Palm, another swanky restaurant. After ordering lobster tail the waiter excused himself and came back with a Lobster in hand. He asked if this was appropriate and I replied, "For what?" He explained it was going to be my meal before dad could stop him. I have always been sensitive about animals and such, so this didn't end well. I started bawling my eyes out and dad asked the perplexed waiter to take it way. Dad started consoling me, asking if I wanted Scallops instead. I said (while crying), "Wi.. will they bring that out too?" Both the waiter and my dad said "NO" in unison. Scallops it was.

I had a wonderful vacation last week. San Francisco was... nice. We drove the cheap way there (no toll roads listed via Google) and ended up being accosted by bugs and the smell of cow shit. HOURS of bugs and cow shit. Every time I'd try to squeegee off the carcasses they'd be replaced by ones that were twice as big. It was like a story right out of Night Gallery. You know... where the guy washes the spider down the drain. Each time he hears the drip he finds a bigger spider. then there's one the size of a pony... anyway, I've totally dated myself.

San Francisco. What can I say about San Francisco that hasn't been said? I was led to believe it was a gorgeous city filled with sites and sounds unlike anyplace in California. I'll be honest... I expected something like West Hollywood, only with nicer buildings. What we got was streets filled with tourists and homeless people. Don't get me wrong, I had a wonderful time. I just hate when people build something up to where you're expecting the next best thing to traveling to Europe. My first thought when someone asks me about my trip is "Fuck those streets". That's what I said most. They were steep and made me feel out of shape. Really, really out of shape. I wanted climbing gear. Seriously... mountain goats would be bitching.The buildings were nice and the eateries where wonderful. We found a few cafes that really stuck out. Jake got sick the night before my birthday and spent that day in bed. That night we went out to the most awesome dinner. The steaks were humongous. It was like a side of cow. The prices were pretty steep too, but worth every penny. We had a wonderful waitress and the ambiance was super romantic. I think the only WTF moment was when two German men were seated next to us. Both were well over 300 pounds and ordered the biggest steaks, side dishes and appetizers. It was insane. I don't think I could put away the amount of food they did in a week. The next day we walked through China town. The shops on both sides were FILLED with touristy items. I was quite sad as this was one of the places Jake wanted to go. We walked through and to Fisherman's wharf where we could catch the boat to Alcatraz. Out of everything I was looking forward to this day most. The boat ride was fast and all their warnings of 13 stories worth of steps turned out to be an easy walk. We did the audio tour (HIGHLY recommended) and I was in heaven. That day was my favorite. On the way back to the docks Jake and I looked around and all we saw was tourists. Ironically it was the same thing when we walked outside of our hotel. We looked at each other and Jake said he wouldn't mind leaving a day early. I jumped at the idea. We took the bus back (again, fuck those streets) and that was an experience in itself. People packed in like sardines and shoved each other for space. Ironically no one bitched. When I got up to leave there was a whole lot of bitching going on... from me. Three people dove for my spot, practically knocking me over. They literally pushed me out of the way. I was so glad to be off that bus. We walked back to the hotel, paid the insane parking fees (with a HUGE discount even) and off we went. This time we took the partial toll road route (which ended up not having any toll) to snip off a few hours and our save our sinuses. Over all I'd have to say this was the best birthday ever and I just love Jake for it.

So I had a pissy moment when I got back. I looked on nct and noticed 3 people had wished me happy birthday. Others who hadn't even been on the board for a while had gotten much more. I know it's totally childish... but felt ignored. People mentioned that they had wished me well via text messages and on Facebook... which is totally true. Then I started thinking about it... and for the most part I chat with friends everywhere else BUT the board. Text messages, Facebook... even IMs (although I've been neglectful of that lately). Yet every morning I rack my brains for some lame rant that I type out before rushing out the door and spend a few hours at night searching for links. Jake spends the same time helping me by finding news links. The rant went from a place to share my thoughts to a chore. I stick to my blog for personal thoughts so it's really like the poor step child. Second hand everything and hardly any loving. This morning I took a deep breath and posted the end of the front page. I'm not removing the forum. That stays intact until there is no activity. It's where Jake and I met. Where Jenn Jenn roamed. Where my life flourished for the past eight years. So many memories. So many wonderful people stepped through it. I can't bring myself to shut it down. But cutting out the front page will give Jake and myself more time to relax together. More time to go on evening walks and just be together. There has to be a time when you make changes for the good of the relationship. For me... that time was today.

I'm back at work and raring to go. I had five (count em... FIVE) days of fun filled rest and relaxation. Jake was wonderful and took over the main site as far as rants are concerned and I just fucked off as far as chatting and anything else was concerned. Go me! Things are starting to come together as far as my office is concerned which is fabulous. My new computer, fax, printer and everything else is on it's way. The only thing left is for me to have it installed so I can get my ass out of here and not be in everyone's way. The BB has been very kind, but I know seeing me here all day isn't great. He wants things to get going... the only trouble is they need to be ironed out. My cell phone was delivered last week, which is a big step. I still need to get my phone line in so my cards can be made. Plus, they still need to set down the main rules. I can't even say exactly how I go about admitting a patient, which is a HUGE deal. They want me to jump into my job, but the job isn't even ironed out. Oy. My boss told me not to even worry about it, but it's hard not to. I am so used to the security of knowing exactly what I need to do that this is pretty unnerving. Don't get me wrong, everything is running smoothly... just not where I'd want it to be before I can take a deep breath and start my job comfortably. I *should* be in my new office in about a week. Woo hoo! Once that happens I think it will be much better.

I got to have lunch with an old friend yesterday. It was so good to see "E". Most of it was spent reminiscing about who's still around and the usual office gossip. From the looks of things I got out of my job in the Operating Room just in time. We also updated each other on our current personal lives and basically shot the shit for an hour. "E" and I used to hang out a lot and went to dinner all the time. I miss talking to him, so it was a nice surprise. Ironically he hasn't changed a bit. It's good to be back... *grins*

birthday 2008
Originally uploaded by j00wish

The evening rocked my socks off. Cat and Mark showed up with TWO cakes (vanilla for my boring ass and chocolate to mix things up). We hopped in the dirty Rav4 and headed over to Houstons. Jake called beforehand and they said the earliest reservation was 9pm. He called at 5pm. We did it just in case and walked in to a 20 minute wait. Awesome... Two glasses of wine later I was feeling no pain and we enjoyed a great dinner. Once we arrived home I changed into something a little more comfortable (sweats... how romantic) and they brought out the cake. It was awesome. All sorts of awesome.

On Sunday I drove Cat and Jake up the wall trying to find new outfits. People think I'm joking when I give them the 'I HATE shopping and am miserable to be with' warning. Now they know... Monday I took the car in to get the damn radio replaced (thank G-d for warranties) and have it serviced. Tuesday... Tuesday I was a total bum.

I can't tell you the rest of my weekend just yet... but lets just say I was really happy with how it turned out.

My boss *finally* got the approval for her vacation time. That means for the next six days she'll be hanging out with family and having fun. Meanwhile I'll be fucking around at work and having fun. Lately we've been getting along great, which is a really nice change. This vacation is just what the doctor ordered. Plus, her whole ordeal with having to wait until the last minute to know about her vacation helps us in the long run. She'll be more mindful when approving ours now that she knows what a strain it is to make tentative plans. Meanwhile... I am just sooo fucking happy that this weekend is the end of daylight savings. One more hour of sleep, baby!

This weekend I finally got to meet my online friend, Kittyroze and her wonderful boyfriend Caufield. We had a blast driving around and just chatting about everything and anything. They scored early on a great little apartment building and was able to enjoy their time in LA, which was bonus for me. It was nice to have people over who were down to earth and had similar views. Jake and Caufield were like two peas in a pod (inset spooning joke here) and we spent half the time teasing them. On Sunday we went to Jerry's Famous Deli and had an interesting conversation. Kitty and I had ours and Jake and Caufield had theirs. The people next to us watching in amazement, which was humorous in itself. I did the typical blonde move and managed to go from West Hollywood to the Valley in one wrong turn. Yay me.

They leave tomorrow to go and pack, which I feel saddened by. I know they're moving here but I had such an enjoyable time I didn't want it to end. I'm such a wuss.

After FINALLY getting my DSL back up and running we were off to vacation. Figures... Let me do a re-cap:

The 4th of July was spent on the phone with Verizon Online Support. That's right, I spent my day off fucking around with my computer. After a few hours we finally located the problem: My boyfriend is a dork. Instead of hooking up the modem to the router he just hooked it up to my computer, then hooked the router to an empty cord. After realizing the blunder it was pretty easy to reset the router and get both computers back online. Then came the speed test. It was not as fast as they claimed it would be so I waited for a half hour to get a call back about that. I was told that I actually COULD get the 3mb speed and they were going to work on it. Meanwhile I'm trying to find the pricing difference to see if I really wanted it. I get the call back that my speed is now at the maximum. I was just so relieved that I didn't bother asking about the billing.

We spent the rest of the holiday relaxing at home and nixed the holiday crowd. Holidays suck balls when they are right in the middle of the week. Your day off is the night before and you can't enjoy the holiday because you know work is the next day. Add to the fact that we only had one computer online and this holiday was less than festive. The only good part is I took Friday off to go to San Diego so I came back for one day and was off again.

Part 2 tomorrow: San Diego here we come!

I just finished the first of two wonderful days off. On Wednesday my boss broke the news that she would be out next week. That blew my chances of taking Thursday and Friday off. I mentioned it to her and she said, "Why not take tomorrow and Friday off instead?" Oh hell to the yeah! I busted my ass to finish up all my reports and smiled all the way home. Today was spent just relaxing. I cleaned up the logs for this site and NoChickTrix, and just stayed away from the IMs. I plan on doing the same tomorrow. Not being social, that is. I am probably going to sleep in, watch some movies and just not think about anything.

Jake stayed after work today to play some basketball with the guys, which was nice. I missed him but the alone time was kick ass. It's been so long since I just had time to myself like that. I remember when he first came out here. I wondered how I would be able to deal with someone in the same home for a whole month. Three and a half years later I miss him when he goes to the store. It's strange... I went from wondering how I was going to deal with him in my life to how I deal with him not being there... even for an hour or two. Okay, enough with the sappy shit. Back to my vacation. Weeee!

Getting back into the swing of things is harder than I thought. My mind is still on vacation-mode. Work has been hell the past two days, so hopefully it will mellow out by the end of the week. My boss has been in an uber cranky mood and everyone else is taking that as a cue to bash her. Honestly she's not the evil person they want to make her out to be.

In other news I have yet to get that raise that goes along with all the extra shit I am taking on. If it doesn't come by next week I'm going to go on strike. You want the work? Pay me for the job.

I woke up this morning and realized the wonderful (but short) vacation was over. Eight days of disconnecting myself from the web (for the most part) and just being a complete bum. I slept in, stayed up late and played with the kittens. Jake played his games, we watched movies and *sigh* it was wonderful. Now it's over. I had an overwhelming urge to call my boss and ask for another day, but figured that would be pushing it. Jake was up until past 3:30am last night and will be hurting today. Swift move, ace. I finally had to threaten to get the squirt bottle to get him up. And I thought that only worked on the cats...

Jake and I are taking a much needed vacation. We've got one week or sleeping in, staying up late, drinking and just enjoying each other's company. Here's $10.00 Go to the movies or something and call before you come home. ;)

It's so good to be home. I had a blast in Texas but the novelty wore off on Friday. Which was fine except we were stuck there til Sunday. After deep thought and much consideration (and his mother pitching a fit over half a dozen times) we decided that if we move to Texas it will be AT LEAST an hour or two from his family. Close enough for emergencies and weekend trips (not every month, mind you), but far enough to ward off any daily visits or expectations of chores. That woman almost puts a Jewish mother to shame. I love her dearly but damn... My only defense was pure sarcasm. I'm surprised she didn't haul off and slap me. I still think she secretly hopes we'll break up so she'll have her son back. Here's just a few of the tantrums I thwarted.

Example one:
Jake's step dad, Wayne, says the word 'fucking' and his mom yells "Don't you cuss around the kids!" So I pipe up, "Yeah. What the fuck do you think you're doing?" She ended up laughing and he got a kick out of it.

Example two:
His mom tosses the top to some food platter to him in a huff to throw away and he crumbles it. She yells "'I don't want to hear ANY more noise!" I say, "Uhhh... can we breath, or is that too distracting to the cooking?" Wayne and Jake laughed while his mother simmered.

Example three:
She yelled about him getting the fucking bananas. So of course I said, "Will the non fucking ones do?" She hushed and Wayne said, "So which ones do you want?" She snapped "What do you mean?" and he said, "The fucking or non fucking ones?" We all started laughing so she basically just said whichever they have. I could swear I heard her jaw snap at that one, though

For the most part she mellowed after I said something. There wasn't much she could do but save face and laugh along. I know that we're going to have a brawl one of these days, though. I love her to death but that woman needs a stern talking to. She treats Jake like a kid and expects everyone to read her mind on what she wants. No matter what is done it's not good enough. Jake's dad is a nice guy, as long as you don't discuss politics, religion or homosexuality. Then the redneck kicks in and everyone gets their feelings hurt. *sigh* It's been so many years since I had to deal with 'family' and all their quirks it's like trying to ride a bike. Every time I get frustrated I look at Jake and realize why I'm dealing with it. *smiles* It's worth every pulled hair.

On to better things. So I ran up their outside stairs and fell through a rotted out step. Right up to my knee. The bad news is my foot and knee are bruised. I'm guessing just soft tissue damage. The good news is that it's not my knee that I had surgery on. I may not be graceful but at least I've mastered fucking up one leg at a time. Oh joy. Oh rapture.

We are Texas bound as of 6am on Wednesday. You know what that means? A 3am wake-up call and out the door by 3:20am. It hurts to even type that early of an hour. It's not morning until the sun hits the window in my book, so this is a night flight by my standards. If all goes well we should be touching ground at 11am. Just in time to crawl into bed for a nap. That is... after the hour and a half drive to hicksville. I can't wait to see all of Jake's family again and pump some Jewish blood back into that household. His mother was worried about what to cook for dinner. She thought I'd be offended if she served pork. As long as it doesn't hit my plate I'm good to go.

Some years ago a friend dragged me to her family's house, insisting that it wasn't healthy to spend holidays alone. Apparently sitting at the table while people treated you like a charity case was supposed to lift my spirits. So here I was, plate in hand for the main course. They brought out this funky looking charred meat and placed it infront of me. I asked what it was and the mother smiled and said it's Por.... ohhh noo. There I was, twelve people staring at me as if they had just served my dad's head on a platter. I smiled and said, "peanut butter and jelly it is." After three hours of apologies I couldn't wait to get my ass home. Needless to say I passed on future invites. If I wanted guilt on that scale I'd go to Temple.

My first day back posting the rant for NoChickTrix and it was shit. I was so tired from tearing that tank apart on Sunday that Monday morning's rant was the last thing on my mind. It's hard to have any train of thought at 5:30am in the morning as it is. People tell me to try doing the rant the night before, but when I get home the last thing on my mind is doing anything work related. I wonder how some of these sites manage to turn out funny rants and levity on a daily basis. Jake says that it's all they do all day. Maybe they work on the 3rd floor of my work.:p

My friend arrived from Arizona today. I haven't seen him in a couple of years so it's a great to be able to kick back and chat. It's also a great excuse for me to take a couple of days off and relax after being bombarded at work.

The first order of business was to have some Tequila shots. Then he tackled our router problem. I finally get to annoy the neighbors. Go me!

Our power went out today. It went off... then on. Then off.. then on... Then stayed off for about 2 hours. It was looking like we would go home, too. It was a nice break from the usual work, but I would love to get my work done so that when I come back from my 4 day vacation it wont all be due at once. Did I mention I am taking four days off FOR MY BIRTHDAY? All presents and cards welcome. =D Meanwhile I am planning out my weekend already.

JakeD: Do you want to have margaritas this weekend?
Me: Oh yeah. Get something for Pina Coladas.
JakeD: Okay... Instead of Margaritas?
Me: No, get those too
JakeD: No Mikes Hard Lemonade then?
Me: No, get that too.
JakeD: Okay....
Me: I don't know what I'll have, but I'm going to get drunk.

First day back after a nice break from NCT. I love that site and really need to find a clear direction for it. It's always been the front page VS the forum. I guess it's because the front page came first. I ranted. I raved. I posted porn and news. Suddenly there was a community growing in the background and I didn't evolve with it. Now I have to figure out how to incorporate the two. The news and levity is what takes the longest. It sucks up about 3 hours a day. I've been trying to do it while at work, but I don't know how that's going to fly with all the changes. Then there's the rant. Some people may be bright and chipper at 6am... but I'm not one of them. A lot of my rants were more like whimpers. I've seen sites that have multiple people post rants, and in the beginning I was dead set against it. Now not so much. *sigh* I have too many ideas pulling at me at once. I think I'm going to go suck down some more coffee and think about it later.

In other news, Mondays suck monkey balls...