Oh such fun interesting times. I have been in Rochester for over a week now. And that’s the first that has happened in over 4 months. So I feel like I have a few moments to catch you up.
I’m getting on top of the house thing in Rochester, having hired a lawn service and found some handy help. Thinking about what to do for living in CA when I’m out there. I have started looking through the classifieds to see what’s available. A condo perhaps?
I had a great time last visit to California. Went out with Renee, who took a look at what I was wearing and said “Oh no, you’ve gotta try this!”
I would have never even seen this dress in the store. But it was a good look for me. And, it was great fun. Who knew? Of course, the cosmos may have helped. All of a sudden I started feeling the cougar thing. This is getting interesting. I think I’ll let that play out . . .
A couple days after that, I visited Kristen and told her the story. She thought I should go shopping in her closet to see what look we could pull out of there. None of the dresses were any good for me, but then she pulled out this scarf. A couple of knots and it looked elegant.
I swanned around her place, having her take pics. And then we went shopping in Santa Cruz. It was really interesting to stroll around town dressed only in a scarf. Well, I had shoes too.
We ended up in one store where I fell victim to several more dresses. Most of which are now hanging in my storage space in Saratoga. It’s still got stuff in it from when I started preparing the house to rent out, in March 05, before I moved to Germany. The plan was to rent the house out furnished, and I started clearing out the bits I wouldn’t want a renter to have. A couple weeks into that, got advice from a property manager to rent the place out empty. The movers then came and packed & stored all the other stuff, about a third of which is now in my house. But all the sentimental bits stayed in California. Hmmm, do we think there’s a metaphor in that?
Leaving California the last time, I looked at all the clothing I had, and the very very small likelihood of wearing the great dresses in Rochester. Ran to WalMart and bought a free standing clothing rack which I assembled in the storage space. Glad I bought two racks, between them I got one unit put together. What is it with cheap stuff? I guess the warning is that there’s always an insert in the package that says “If there’s a problem with this product do not return it to the retailer. Call this 800 number.” They were missing pieces and the instructions only vaguely resembled what was in the box. But there were enough supports to create one finished rack – with dust cover – so my booty is safely hanging there.
My addiction for little black dresses is getting worse. I think I now have 4 in each state. And they have friends – a beautiful coral dress (in which, I’m told, I look like a princess!) and a gold trench/safari thing. They’re all insisting I take them out. I need to remedy this soon. And Kristen pointed out that I should start buying dresses that I can wear to work. Gee, ya think? Duh!! I can wear most of them to work. … Some of them.
Months ago I had planned to go to a seminar in NYC, June 28 – 30th. Since I “live” so close, it was going to be just a quick hop down & back. Of course, I ended up flying in from CA instead. It was at the Plaza. My god, it was good to be back in NYC. I think it’s been a decade since I’d been. I must plan a touristy weekend there soon.
I got back to Rochester very early July 1. Was supposed to be home 6 hours before I actually arrived, thunderstorms had the eastern seaboard shut down for a few hours. Has anyone else noticed the weather-related travel disruption this summer? Is it worse than it’s ever been?
Rochester was a good place to be, for the Fourth. Low-key evening for me, us, we ended up across the street from my brother’s house, at Jamie’s on Long Pond. They had lots of food and a bonfire set to go. As the day ended – before it was even dark - the fireworks started. There were 2 barges in the pond, 5 or 6 big displays straight across, and several to either side of us. And we could see displays going off at the shore of Lake Ontario too. The show went on for 2 hours. All put on by the local homeowners and one of the better displays I’ve ever seen – reflecting in the pond; with the fire going; several of my favorite things on this planet all in one place!
It’s been hot & humid here. The pool was slightly green. I’ve chemicaled it into submission, and had the family over a couple times. It was so good to have the pool to cool off in. This being upstate New York, the weather changed abruptly – it poured rained yesterday and the temperature dropped from 90 to 60, last night.
I’ve been working so much that I have hardly gotten out to do anything since I’ve been here.
This morning I rolled out of bed around 6:30, headed, down to the computer. Took a break at 11 to go pick up Gavin from Youth Adventure Camp (YAC, such an unfortunate acronym) as his mom had a doctor appointment this morning. We got back to his house, I pulled out my computer, plugged in my phone and fired it up. Through the VPN, into the dev servers where I’m finishing our VAR portal. Worked on that into the afternoon, got back home, continued. Stopped at 7 p.m. Flung myself onto my bike and got out for a ride. That’s been a typical day. 12 hours and still I’m up 300 emails in my inbox this week. Still love the job and the people I work with.
This project has been going on for weeks, but I think it’s finally going to be finished. I look forward to the next phase – which includes a couple weeks of vacation in September. But first, back to CA for the last couple weeks in July. In August, who knows?
