Sleepless in Seattle

I surprise myself sometimes. 6 hrs ago, I feel like crap. After loads of over the counter medicine, I feel 10 times better with 4 hrs of sleep. I like to think they invented Tivos for imsoniacs like me. Watched the Engagement Ring starring Patricia Heaton. Never a fan of her or ELR but she was good in this show. It's worth taking up 2hr of our Tivo space indefinitely (at least for now).

...and the blues continue...

Well, after the crappy thanksgiving we had, I woke up late this morning feeling even crappier. I don't know what I have but this is not the first time. Worked at home. Checked my flight and noticed it was delayed and I WILL miss my next connection. Went to the airport and United offered American with no charge. Strange but kinda "help the poor traveller" nice. Fortunately for me, I was parked in short term parking and did not have my luggage with me and the AA flight was leaving in 5-10 min. I smiled and politely asked for a reschedule. The counter person (for a lack of better term) looked at me and said "You are a smart lady. Done this before???" I'm like "No" but I'm not stupid. I rather pay the exchange fee and spend an extra nite with the family. It's 100x better than missing my connection, get stuck in Chicago with the cold front coming and spending the night in a hotel or in the concourse, oh yah, feeling crappy as I do right now. Anyway, have an early flight out with a 3 hr layover and no extra fee. It's not great but it ain't bad either.

Thanksgiving blues

Woke up this morning feeling kinda sluggish. Crap, I don't need this today especially the day before I travel. Ugh! It's kinda a gloomy day too. The snow is melting after we had a night of thunderstorms and rain. It's 50 deg. Not much of an appetite either. Ugh! Hope I can sleep this off and feel better quick. It's going to be a rough week next week and I don't need this crummy feeling right now. Even my coffee tasted bitter. Yuck!

Too much information?

Went shopping yesterday to get daughter a snowsuit. Yes, we are a little late but I know better than to buy outerwear ahead of time and she would not wear them. Anyway, saw this pair of soft cords, decently priced (store closing) and then I saw the tag "Due to our dye finish, there may be color transfer on light clothing or uphostery." Now, who in their right mind would buy this?? Is that too much information? I guess it would be unethical not to disclose an inherent flaw but on the other hand, why would you? Why not take them off the shelves? Maybe they think some poor souls would just ignore the caution and buy it anyway? Just thought it's funny.

Snow peas

Bought some yesterday and daughter loves them. They were really sweet and it was surprising that she even ate them.

Magic eraser

You gotta check this out. We have our wall back with just one use. Not sure what it's made of but all you have to do is wet the sponge and gently scrub your walls. Crayons, pencils and smudges will be erased. Heed the "gently" seriously. It does leave a cakey feel if you scrub too hard. It costs $2.19 and comes in 2. Small price to pay to have your walls clean and presentable again.

Next trip

Yup, should have never said it. I am off to Dallas again next week. Never say never, I guess. My second home is the Marriott hotel in Las Colinas Blvd in Iriving, TX. A 5 min walk from our Corp HQ. Not looking forward to this trip. As always, my manager add more meetings to my agenda to fill up the week. The good part is I will get to see some my colleagues I've not seen for awhile. Everyone I wanted to see again will be in Irving next week. Looking back at my 11 trips this year, 8 of them were to TX. It's getting tiring.

Inuyasha: The Movie 3: Swords of the Honorable Ruler

Fantastic! Much better than the last 2 movies. This one explained a lot about Inuyasha's parents, his father the great demon dog and his human mom. It also revealed why his elder brother hated him. A lot of things made sense now. The focus of the movie is on the 3 swords once owned by Inuyasha's demon father. After his death, he willed each son to have one of his swords and the third one, the most evil of the 3, to be sheathed and protected for 700 yrs. The story started when the 3rd sword was unsheathed just only after 200 yrs. Highly recommended if you are an Inuyasha fan. Daughter and I truly enjoyed it. Not going to spoil the surprise, you'll just have to watch it for yourself.

What thanksgiving???

Ok, this thanksgiving royally sucked! Let me illuminate the situation which led to the suckiness of thanksgiving 2005. Twas' the nite before thanksgiving, daughter and I enjoyed a quiet evening with Inuyasha 3 (read my review in next posting). Hubby came home and everyone had the "thank goodness it's a 4 day weekend" look. Not too long after, hubby was muttering something about "S**T! The water is running!" What happened next was a nightmare and what a friend would say "Sue them!". It turned out that the lawn faucet was left running for 6 hrs after the lawn service guy winterized our sprinkler system. Hubby checked our basement and another "S**T!" came out. Part of our basement was flooded with at least 1" of water. Although he was pissed as hell, he calmly called Modernistic and help was on its way in 1 hr. Then he went into the other room which I am sure he left a very unpleasant voicemail with the lawn service company. Next, the insurance confirmed that we are covered for any damage. I was thinking to myself, "Now, about that new house.....". Modernistic was great and fast! Within an hour of their arrival, our basement was drying with 6 blowers. Thank you, Modernistic!!!!!!
Next morning, felt a hug from hubby with a whisper, "we lost power". Still half asleep, my mind muttered "S**T. " The next thing that came to my mind was - did the blowers trip the fuse? Checked the neighborhood street and no lights. Great! We took out the entire neighborhood power grid. Oh S**T! We spoiled thanksgiving for the entire neighborhood!!! Luckily, that was not the case but the entire neighborhood did lose power. Called consumer again and the ETR is 6am Nov 25th! Crap! (Sidenote: the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again, expecting a different result.). Thanksgiving does not mean as much as to us except it's a day to eat loads of turkey and veg out. On top of that, we had a winter storm warning and this lake effect crap was really getting nasty. I looked at hubby and gave him the "I'm not roughing it, let's get into a hotel or something." Ok, I publicly admit it, I am not a rough it out gal. I like my TIVOs, wireless Internet and DSL. Without them, it's roughing it. I can laugh now but it sure wasn't funny this morning. So, we packed an overnight bag with our dyson and went to my sis-in-laws apartment. Why the dyson? Don't get me wrong. I love dogs, I just don't love their DNA everywhere.
6 hrs later, we called home and the answering machine picked up. Yippeeee.... power's back on. We packed our bag, daughter and her bears and the dyson (never leave home without it) and headed home. Turkey anyone? Nah, will save it for tomorrow. What did I learn from the past 24 hours? While we may not have turkey on thanksgiving day, we are ever thankful for having each other and the warmth of our home (and all its high techie amenities) in this cold blastery winter in Nov. Safe travels to all travelling during this thanksgiving. I will be at home warming up with hubby and daughter. I hope your turkey tasted great coz ours is still raw in the fridge.

No Malaysian trip

Just broke the news to the folks that we are not coming home for the holidays. I did soften the blow a tiny bit with gifts my brother will bring back in his trip. It would have been nice if we were all there as a family but alas, it's not meant to be. Hubby reminded me that this is one year daughter did not get on a plane and she's bearly 3! Personally, I don't feel too bad since I've been travelling 25% of the time. Kinda nice to be able to stay at home for awhile.

HP3

Watched HP3 today. Pretty good story and comical at times. These kids have really grown up. Ron looks kinda dorky and Harry looks just about the same but with a uncombed do. Enter the lovely Cho, Harry's 1st love. I should read the books but I don't. I have hubby to explain some of the scenes since he "heard" the audio book. :-D

Little Einsteins

Daughter really likes this show. It has a classical music piece, a famous painting and a story. VEry entertaining and different. Worth watching.

Snow

It's a little too early for snow for me but daughter's eyes lit up (at 6:30am) and first word was "SNOWWWWWWWWWW". Yes, she's a winter baby and absolutely loves playing in it. It's amazing how this white powdery stuff have an effect on her. Suddenly, she does not mind the oversized heavy down jacket, the clunky snow boots and the ever umcomfortable water-proof mittens, as long as she can go outside and play! No need to worry about her getting chilled. When she's done playing (which is about 5 min), she's looks up and said, "Ok, I'm all done, Mommy! It's cold."

Stealth

Hey, gotta check this movie out - pretty cool. For the guys, you have Jessica B. Ladies, you have Josh L. :-)

Netflix

I just found out a whole new appreciation for Netflix. I get to watch all the Hong Kong / Cantonese / Chinese movies. Before, these movies are only available at oriental marketplaces and they are always in Mandarin, so you never know what you are renting. In Netflix, you can find out the plot and the actors and take a chance. How refreshing. aah.. contentment, is that allowed?

Prince and Me

Got this on Netflix today. Not bad, didn't quite like the ending but not bad. Not your typical chick flick - boy meets girls, boy likes girl, boy turns out to be prince, boy goes home, girl follows boy, boy proposes to girl, girl accepts, girl wakes up from fantasy, girl rejects proposal, girl finishes college (now, tell me how is that romantic???), girl wants to save the world, boy (ahem.. king) finds girl, king kisses girl and promises to wait till girl fulfills her life dreams. What type of ending is that??? No jealous friends, there was the usual line, "...you lied to me...." but has an interesting plot. Oh ok, who am I kidding? It is a typical chick flick.

Halloween

Thanks to the rainy weather, Halloween was a quiet evening. Daughter is very happy. We don't have to give away too much of HER candy.

Barbara Streisand

Got her CD and it's actually pretty good. Track #3 is my favorite so far. She has an amazing voice unlike the wanna-be's of Britney and the other techno-enhanced voices. Don't understand all the fuss about Barry Gibb except they are collaborating again. I personally think Barry sounded like a background singer - sorry Barry fans. Nonetheless, such a positive departure from the pop crap I've been listening to.