Date: 2009-05-13 18:42 Subject: sweet! Security: Public

Your results:
You are Will Riker

Will Riker 65% Spock 50% Jean-Luc Picard 50% Beverly Crusher 45% James T. Kirk (Captain) 40% Mr. Sulu 40% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 35% Geordi LaForge 35% Mr. Scott 30% Data 30% Deanna Troi 25% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 25% Chekov 20% Worf 5% Uhura 0%

At times you are self-centered but you have many friends. You love many women, but the right woman could get you to settle down.

Date: 2009-01-21 10:49 Subject: Going to Chicago again Security: Public

And therefore I need pizza recommendations. Didn't have any time to go out the last time I was there this summer, but I have essentially 2 full days to fill this time, and there will definitely be a happy hour one evening after work. We'll be at 500 South Dearborn St, near State St. and Congress, gMaps tells me. Is there any great quintessential Chicago pizza place within walking distance? Or any good bar/pub for happy hour? I know nothing of Chicago other than that it will be freaking freezing there on the 28th!

Date: 2009-01-12 13:05 Subject: yikes! Security: Public

My December 2008 YTD rate of return on my 401(k) with my previous employer: -46.06%. Yep. Almost half gone. And in the last quarter, I contributed something over $200 and lost over $500. Lovely. At least the whole account isn't very big yet since I've only been working for 2 1/2 years, so I don't have that much to lose.

Date: 2009-01-03 17:10 Subject: A sign? Security: Public Mood: skeptical

2009 sure is starting off great. On new year's day, I got an infection in my left eyelid that was exactly the same as one I got in my right eyelid a year or so ago. Fortunately I still have the medicine from the first encounter, and it hasn't expired. The swelling is slightly down but not gone, and it still hurts pretty badly. Then on the 2nd, I come home from a night of relaxing dancing, nothing too strenuous, no awkward movements all day, and I'm putting on some socks and my left shoulder starts to cramp up and get a knot deep down, just like my right shoulder did last spring. The first one left me unable to move my head around for about 3 days, so I'm attacking this new occurrence with determination that that's not going to happen. From the way it feels, I don't think I'm going to succeed. It's getting worse by the hour.

Surely, a recurrence of two ailments from the previous year, together at the beginning of a new year, must be some portent. Probably a bad one. Also, I haven't got my insurance cards yet, so couldn't go to a doctor even if I needed to. I certainly hope I don't need to.

Date: 2008-12-30 10:38 Subject: i haz a visa Security: Public

So. I have plane tickets, I have a 6-month tourist visa in my passport, and I have a mother-in-law who's taking off work for two whole weeks and coming to the airport at 3 am to meet us and whisk us safely away to their house so Shreyas and I don't have to figure out how to get there at such an ungodly hour. Yay! And I have a sister who is about to be the owner of a townhouse, so she and her fiance will also be the babysitter of 3 annoying cats for two weeks. It seems like things are falling into place and that I actually will be on a trip to another country halfway around the world here in less than 3 months! Squee!

Date: 2008-12-18 07:52 Subject: *loooove* Security: Public

to the jalenstrix, for she has graced me with the Vosges chocolates. Yum yum yum. Could they possibly be better than homemade christmas cookies? It's definitely a toss-up.

Date: 2008-12-09 10:00 Subject: yay! Security: Public

Last night Shreyas and I bought our tickets to India! We are actually going! Yay!


Dear Supervisor,

Thank you for letting me have leave that I haven't yet earned so that I can go meet my parents-in-law for the first time after two years of marriage. You are the best supervisor ever. If it weren't inappropriate, I would totally hug you.

Love,
Kate

Date: 2008-11-24 15:38 Subject: mind-meld with a coworker Security: Public

Here's a screenshot of my conversation with my coworker earlier. Note the synergy. Are we one and the same person? Those messages came not more than 2 seconds apart.
( Large pic behind the cut )

Date: 2008-11-20 15:17 Subject: ponder Security: Public

What does one buy as a housewarming gift for one's in-laws, whom one has never met before and who are Indian? They just bought a new flat, so obviously a housewarming gift is necessary. What do Indians like to have in their houses? What would be clever/thoughtful/something they couldn't get in Kochi? They also need something to make them love me. It has to be able to be taken by plane, so can't be too fragile. I have no ideas!

Also, LJ is suddenly no longer blocked at work. I wonder how long it's been this way. This is good because my iphone doesn't seem to recognize the "post" link as a working link, so I can't post from my phone lately.

Date: 2008-07-28 13:13 Subject: wow Security: Public

I am posting this from work.

Work?, you say. I thought they blocked LJ at work.

They did, my friend. But I got an iPhone. And it works great! It's just like the demos. Now I can dick around even more!

Date: 2008-07-10 19:46 Subject: Wheee! Security: Public

Now I feel like we're officially going to Hawai'i. We just booked our hotel, the Wyland Waikiki. All the reviews are quite positive, and at only $129 a night, it's cheaper than the hotel I stayed at in Chicago last month. What a deal! Only a couple blocks from the beach, and it's got a marine art theme, from some allegedly famous artist.

I've been reading the travel guide that I bought in Portland and checking out vegetarian-acceptable eateries. I'm getting quite excited and am convinced that we will have to try some water activity like snorkeling or parasailing. Of course, we'll do lots of hiking, so I need to start thinking about what to pack, especially seeing as how we'll have to pay $15 and $25 for our bags since we're flying American. Next up: is there ballroom dancing?

Let the planning commence!

Date: 2008-06-25 14:44 Subject: fuck Security: Public

Well, it's 2:45, and I haven't gotten on any of the Chicago flights. There's one more at 5:02, that the ticketing woman said I have a small chance of getting on. If I don't get on that, however, I've decided that I'm giving up. I'm abandoning the rest of my trip, rebooking on some red-eye flight to BWI, paying however much it costs, and desperately trying to have them recover my bag. There's no point to me continuing on if I can't get on a flight tonight; the meeting is at 8 am. Hell, I don't even really need to be there. I'm not going to try desperately to make it to Chicago since I'm not useful, so I won't try for one of the red-eyes there.

Of course, I could stick with my itinerary, possibly get on the flight at 11:30 tonight, get in Thursday at some ungodly hour of 5 am, not sleep, and keep my itinerary, going home Friday morning. But that would just save some money on flights, while spending it on hotel. I wonder if my company will pay for this whole mess, or whether I'll have to. Heck, I guess getting in at 5 am wouldn't be so bad. I'd have to make sure they held my hotel room until tomorrow. I wonder if I'd still be charged for today. I could nap in the airport and on the plane. Oh, I just don't know. Why did I have to miss my flight this morning?! This is the most miserable situation I've ever been in.

Date: 2008-06-25 09:26 Subject: (no subject) Security: Public

Hm, where did we end? Ah yes, Monday evening. Coworkers arrived and we met up for dinner. Unfortunately, they went to a nearby seafood restaurant. Fortunately, I wasn't that hungry anyway, so I had a salad and a couple glasses of shiraz. Yum. Then sleep.

Tuesday the meeting went smoothly. We breaked for lunch at 12, and rather than going to the hotel's cafe yet again, I decided to walk to the nearby mall to see if there was anything decent at the food court. Well, it was a food court. There was a "mediterranean" place from which i got some pita and hummus, falafel, greek salad, and a "cheese pie". Thoroughly unremarkable, but it filled me for many hours and was cheap and I didn't feel disgusting afterward. I rushed to get back to the meeting, where only two people had statements to make, and it was therefore over in 15 minutes. Why we couldn't have just done those statements and then had ample time for a nice lunch, I do not know.

Anyway, I decided to take advantage of the finally gorgeous weather and the early ending of the meeting and went to the Hoyt Arboretum. It is truly beautiful. I walked many of the trails, and, even though I am not a photographer, I tried to get shots of the amazing plants. I'll post them when I get home, since I forgot to bring my cable with me. I wandered around for an hour or so, saw their lovely Vietnam Vets' Memorial (which is much lovelier than ours, I think), then Max'ed back into the city.

I wandered around for a while, got some chai from an Indian food cart (better than the chai I had the day before from the other food cart), sat at Pioneer Square and sipped and read for a while, then decided to head into the Pioneer Center, the nice mall. There was a lovely scent wafting out of the Origins store, so I went inside to investigate. Silly me, after talking with a cute saleswoman for half an hour or so, I came out with $88 in products. Yeah, 3 products. So expensive. But if they work, then they're worth it. Also I got a couple free gifts. These people know how to hook a customer, I tell you. Be careful if you go in.

Coworker called, said they were going to meet up for dinner around 6 and head to downtown, so I would meet up with them. They would give me a call when they knew where they were going. So I went back to the sunny square to read to kill time. 6 comes and goes and there is no call. I waited until 6:45 and my tummy started rumbling, and there was no call. So I decided to go in search of the pasta that I was craving. After about 20 minute of walking around and getting thisclose to giving up, I finally found a place. I ordered some fettuccine and chianti, which may be my new favorite kind of wine, called Shreyas to bother him. Still no call from the coworkers. Finally at 8 they called, saying they couldn't get dinner reservations until 8:30, and would I like to join them afterward since I was already eating. Sure, I said. Just call me when you're done, I said. So I ordered a second glass of wine and some tiramisu to enjoy myself while waiting. My mom called, so I chatted with her. 9 o'clock was rolling around and I was getting cold and a bit tipsy, and no phone call, so I decided to head back to the hotel.

Good thing I did too, because no phone call from the coworkers ever came. I'm beginning to think they don't really like me. So I packed up my stuff, set the alarm for 6, and went to sleep.

Got up this morning, quickly packed and was out of the hotel by 6:30. Got on the Max after a bit of a wait and got to the airport to see a monstrous line at the United counter. Since I had bought those Origins products yesterday, and they're liquid and larger than 3 oz, and I had the 15 lbs of books from the previous day, I had decided to check my bag. It took about 20 minutes to get through the line, and by the time I got there, I was past the 45 minute cutoff point for my flight. So the machine said I was on standby. Fuck. I got through security and went to the gate, where the gate agent told me that I was actually not on standby but on the next flight out, at 11:20 rather than 8:14. All because of my stupid impulse purchase. So I'm sitting here at the gate, looking at the sign above the gate agent station, which says that flight 928, if that's the one I'm on, from here to Chicago to Heathrow, is delayed. So I really have no idea whatsoever when I'll actually get to Chicago. At least the meeting isn't until tomorrow. I don't know if my bag got on the 8:14 flight or if it'll get on the 11:20 flight. If I couldn't get on, I doubt my bag could either. I hear there is quite nasty weather in Chi-town.

Oh well. I don't even know why I'm on this trip, as I'm not doing anything useful. I'm just taking advantage of the time I have. Right now, I'm learning about missing flights!

Date: 2008-06-23 16:53 Subject: Portland - days 1 and 2 Security: Public

I arrived in Portland at about 10:15 on Sunday after an uneventful but long flight. I didn't check any luggage, and man, is it a pain in the ass to deal with a suitcase and a heavy computer bag and some tea. But it was nice not to have to worry about losing it. I also managed to figure out, after a lot of looking at their website beforehand, Portland's light rail system, so I took that to my hotel. My room wasn't ready when I arrived, so I left my luggage there and decided to wander around and look for real food. I headed down MLK Blvd and east on Burnside. Didn't really see anything, until I came across a cafe that I had read about on the internet. I had a very tasty cheese omelet with a tomatillo sauce and roasted sesame yams. Very filling and good. I walked around a little more looking for the dance studio I intended to visit later, but couldn't remember which street it was on, so I didn't find it then. I walked back to the hotel at 1:30, and the room still wasn't ready. So I sat in the lobby and used their free wireless until 3, when I finally got my room. I unpacked my things, got cleaned up, and headed out at 4:30 to the dance studio. It was only about 5 blocks south of where I had been walking.

The place is about 1/4 the size of Promenade, and it smelled like a combination of old people and public toilet when I walked in. I was a few minutes early for the lesson, so I chatted with a friendly-looking guy who was also there. Then the lesson began. Oh my. What can I say? It was pretty bad. The teacher didn't really teach. She just showed and then expected people to be able to do it. Additionally, I don't think the teacher was very competent. The big giveaway was the way she did promenade - namely, by turning totally away from her partner. Her foot positions weren't right, and she did things totally wrong. She led a corte by sticking her butt out. Karen would be appalled. I was appalled. All the people there, who were mostly middle-aged, were completely unable to dance. They were so very impressed by my frame and dance position, except for several of the asian men, who kept trying to tell me to "turn more" in promenade. Haha. There was only one man there who was a competent leader, and he was wearing two hearing aids! How ironic, the partly deaf guy is the best dancer. But when the (painful) lesson was over, I had a very nice time. Lots of people asked me to dance, and if they weren't the most talented people, they were certainly the nicest. There was one man, I wasn't sure if he was trying to flirt or if he was gay, but he had a grand time doing cha cha with me. They had a mixer, and that was fun. The teacher was a bit of a nazi about it, hollering "this is still a mixer!" about ten times during the last song. I guess people have a tendency to stick with each other? Anyway, she came over to me as I was changing my shoes and asked where I danced and who my teacher was, and tried to get me to come to another class that she's teaching tonight. But I have things to do. So I walked back and had a light dinner at the hotel's cafe, then went to sleep.

Monday morning I woke up relatively early, chatted with my hubby, and made my itinerary. I headed out to the Max, across the river to downtown. I went to City Coffee upon the recommendation of auroracita. Though they didn't have the chocolate hazelnut croissant, they did have a regular chocolate one, which was pretty sinful, especially when coupled with their very good hot chocolate. I hung out there for a bit reading my book, and then headed out to walk around. I ended up at the Waterfront Park, which was beautiful even in the overcast conditions. I even took a few pictures of the gorgeous flowers and plants. Then it got later and I decided to head to Powell's. Had not a lick of trouble getting there, and saw a good bit of downtown in my walk. I think I was in the store for a couple hours. I ended up getting 8 books, 3 of which are entirely in Hindi and I have no idea what sort of books they are. They'll be my practice reading books. I also found an Oahu travel guide for our upcoming trip and a couple scifi novels. Then I went to Powell's Technical Books, a couple blocks away, and got a book for Shreyas. It's full of math.

I wasn't yet hungry for lunch, so I wandered a bit more and ended up at Pioneer Square, where I sat for a while reading my book. I realized that I hadn't planned my day well, and that I wouldn't be able to get to the arboretum carrying 15 lbs of books in a plastic bag, so I decided to get lunch at a chaat cart I found online. It was just a few blocks from the Square, so I brought it back to eat, where there was a crazy guy preaching to everyone about Jesus. I actually vaguely remember him from my previous trip many years ago.

I was tired of carrying those heavy books, so I came back to the hotel to rest. And there I am now. Two of my coworkers have arrived, and I think we'll go out to dinner later. I imagine we'll go somewhere downtown, since I saw two Irish bars on my way back, and they do love their drinking.

Our first public meeting last Thursday ended by noon, rather than the 4:30 it was scheduled until, so maybe the meeting tomorrow will be similarly short and I'll have time to do my outdoorsy things then. Let us hope.

I really love Portland. I would love to live here if it weren't so cold and overcast all the time. There's just something about the weather that chills me to the bone, even when it's not that cold. The people are so laid-back and friendly, the public transportation is so easy, straightforward, clean, and cheap. Not to mention colorful. It's refreshing to be somewhere that's not obsessed with a red-white-and-blue color scheme. I love that so much of the city is purple. And pedestrian-friendly! It's so easy to walk everywhere, and I think I already have a passing familiarity with the street layout. I haven't been even slightly lost once. Oh, I even saw a three-wheeled electric car plugged in outside one of the city buildings! How cool is that?

Well, that's enough for now, if you're even still reading.

Date: 2008-06-18 18:15 Subject: One for the annals of miscategorization Security: Public

The Coast Guard has decided that LJ is a "Dating/Personals" site and has therefore blocked it from being accessed from my workplace. Dang. All my rants about how stupid the people I work with are are going to be forgotten by the time I get home. Or at least filled with fewer colorful adjectives.

Date: 2008-06-17 20:26 Subject: Hee - dancing Security: Public

I have already found a place to go social dancing in Portland on Sunday night when I arrive. And it's only a mile from my hotel! And it's half the price of Promenade (also 1/4 the floor space). And there's a free American Tango lesson beforehand, and it only goes until 9:30, so I won't be super tired on Monday. So I have a Portland plan coming together:

Arrive in PDX
Check into hotel
Cross the river and go to Powell's and wander around
Find various places to eat lunch and/or dinner
Go back to hotel, change
Walk or take public transportation to Paradise Ballroom by 5:30
Dance!
Take public transportation back to hotel since my mother will yell at me if I walk after dark in a "strange city"
Sleep.

I wonder what the scene is like in Portland. I hope people are friendly.

In other news, it seems that my workplace has finally blocked LJ. At least I wasn't able to access it today - there was a very strange error message. And it wasn't even our typical Coast Guard "you are attempting to reach a restricted page" message either. Instead it was something about port 9015. I wonder what that one's for. Also trying to reach LJ through google resulted in a bunch of search results for ":9015". So very odd.

Date: 2008-06-16 14:29 Subject: Recommendations needed - Portland and Chicago Security: Public

Going to Portland (OR) next week for work. Will arrive Sunday around 11 am, will have all of that day and likely much of Monday to kill all by myself, before everyone else arrives and we have to start planning. I am currently familiarizing myself with their public transport system, as I have ridden it once before, long ago, memories of which are lost in the mists of time. I have every intention of buying lots of books from Powell's and finding as many vegetarian restaurants as I can. But what else should I do? I won't have a car. I have vague memories of a pretty rose garden somewhere, but mostly when I was there long ago I just hung out with my friend at his house, or he drove us around.

Then I will be in Chicago on Wednesday and will have about half the day to kill. Also will be confined to the downtown area without a car, but I likely won't have as much time to myself, since the rest of my colleagues will be coming at similar times. Are there any good restaurants near the Avenue Hotel on East Huron Street? Anyone know? I've never been to Chicago before. I suppose there ought to be some pizza in my future.

Date: 2008-06-02 07:45 Subject: New ways to take your money! Security: Public

So while at Tyson's shopping for my beloved Bare Minerals this weekend, we stopped at the Apple store to look around and to buy a new battery for my ibook ('cause it lasts about 4 minutes and is only 3 years old). I tell you what, things are so shiny in that store. We were standing in line when a blue-t-shirt-clad guy asked if we were ready to check out (yes) and if we would pay by credit card (yes). So he busted out a portable credit card reader from a hip holster and rung up my purchase while just standing around in the aisle! And he emailed me my receipt! Way to save time and paper, Apple! I still won't buy your shiny, overpriced gadgets anytime soon, and I will stick to my beloved, tried-and-true ibook G4 with Tiger, but I do appreciate your innovative ways to take our money faster.

Also, after playing with the ipod touch and iphone, I decided I'll never buy one because my hands are just too sweaty and I was leaving fingerprints all over the things. So sad. Also I'm too poor.

Date: 2008-05-27 12:25 Subject: Super-long post on the new apartment Security: Public

Shreyas and I are fully moved in to our new apartment. Heroic efforts on the part of my husband, my brother, and my parents were made on Friday. They made me stay in and direct the placement of the boxes, so unfortunately I did not burn as many calories as I had planned to. ( Musings on all the crap we have )

Anyway. We went to bed on Friday night to discover that the garage lights on the building next door made it seem like broad daylight, even with the blinds closed. ( Some crappy things about the apartment )

So those are the things that suck. Some good things are that the kitchen is nice and big and there's plenty of room for our things. We figured out a good layout for the living room, despite its small size and the enormity of my furniture, and now it's pretty cozy. The office is coming along and we have the sexy shelves of servers set up and humming away. And the cats seem to be more equal now. Fred has only tried to beat up Cyd 3 times that I've seen, and they've been halfhearted attempts. I guess since the house didn't smell like anything, she feels more secure, like it's her home too. She's been super-cuddly since we brought them over, too. Maybe she got scared for those two nights that they were all at the old place without us that we would abandon her. Silly cat, I could never give her up.

( And now, some pictures of this place )

Date: 2008-05-20 08:53 Subject: New apartment Security: Public

Went to bring our first few boxes of things into the new apartment last night. It's okay. Not as great as it seemed at first, but I think we'll be able to deal, especially since the commute will be so much shorter. Some observations:

-The windows are old. They're single-paned, metal frames, crappy, just like the windows in my ghetto Springhill Lake apartment. They were covered, and I mean covered, in mildew. I'm glad I brought the Tilex; it was really disgusting. We're definitely complaining about that.

-The kitchen and living room windows are the only ones that have the promised wooden plantation blinds. The rest have only vinyl ones. And the ones in the living room are about to fall down. We're complaining about that.

-Range is electric, which sucks but which we knew, but the really bad part is that it only has one large burner, not two. This will make it extremely difficult to cook, seeing as how we usually do 2 or 3 large dishes at once. I fear we won't get very even or high heat throughout the pots and pans. However, the burner trays are the removable kind, so we'll be able to keep this range cleaner than our current one.

-The countertops are nice. They're a laminate that's designed to look like stone. Very shiny. They only replaced the cabinet and drawer fronts, so the cabinets and shelves are still cheap MDF. Pantry is small, but we finally have one.

-The sink is gorgeous, double, deep, stainless steel, gooseneck faucet, with a high-pressure sprayer. There is more counter space than we have currently.

-Bathrooms have the old-style MDF cabinets and drawers. But they have cabinets and drawers, which is more than we have now. Also nice counters, sinks, hardware, and lighting. The tubs look like they've been used, which I suppose is only expected. We have linen closets.

-Bedroom closets are slightly smaller than we have now, but I think that'll be okay. It's not like we spend hours a day in there, after all.

-Dining room area is tiny. There may be issues, even after we take the leaf out of our table. We'll have to see.

-Utility room is good. Away from the living room, full door (not slats), nice hard floors, plenty of room to feed the cats. Ugly, older W/D though.

The overall impression is one of something that used to be low-quality trying to be high-quality, but not entirely succeeding yet. The walls are rough, things look like they've been painted over and re-caulked rather than actually repaired. In fact, when I was killing all the window mildew, I managed to rub off massive amounts of caulk that the mildew had weakened, or that hadn't fully cured from recent efforts. All the windows have holes in the plastic bits between the upper panes and the lower panes and the screens aren't securely attached. Lots of space is wasted in the hallway - the design of the whole apartment could be better. The light switches and outlets are old and cheap looking - I wonder if they'll let us replace them.

It just seems like we should be getting really great quality for what we're paying, and what we see isn't really great quality. We do have the less-upgraded apartment; there are others that have cherry cabinets and probably nicer windows and new drywall, but they cost several hundred dollars more a month. I guess we're paying for location (not like College Park is that nice). But my commute will be so much shorter, and Shreyas' will be essentially nonexistent, that I think we'll be able to come to terms with only having a veneer of quality rather than actual quality.

We prefer Montgomery County, and the suburbs, and the kinds of nice things you get out there. But we definitely don't prefer wasting 3 hours each day getting to and from jobs that we don't really like that much. So I guess this is life: compromise. And hey, we can always move after a year if we can't take it.