Back to Life, Back to Reality, Back to the Here and Now

Besides my pregnancy posts, I have been postless for almost a month. Its been a long month for work, filled with lots of 12 hour days. But our last huge conference ended yesterday and... I'M FREEEEE!

I feel like I'm on vacation. It's 6:30 pm and I'm not working. I have been busy with other things besides work and now I have to update you. This will be a long, rambling post, so you should probably get something to drink and get comfortable. We are gonna be here awhile.

So....the day after Larry and I found out I was pregnant, we had plans to go to dinner at Fogo de Chão in Baltimore, a Brazilian style steakhouse where gauchos come around with spits of various delicious meats and carve unlimited meat for you right at your table. You have a coaster with red on one side and green on the other, and they will only visit you if you have your green light on. They also have a salad bar and sides that they serve, but mostly, it's about the meat. Mostly. And so, we ate A LOT of meat. I kept forgetting to turn my green light off, so they just kept coming by, and if I did have my red side showing, they would stop by someone else's green light at our twenty person party and, "Ohh, you have filet mignon wrapped in bacon", and just like that, my green light was on again. It was tasty, and I think it was worth the price ($48), if for nothing other than the experience, but I don't think that I would do it again, at least not for a while. Kind of like Medieval Times, if you've been there once, you get the point.

Random aside - while entering names for one of our conferences, I found the best porn name ever. Electra Cummings. But instead of being a porn star, she is a first grade teacher.

Andy and Amanda came by so that Amanda could encase me in tape as I have done to her, and immortalize my pre-baby form. Here are the "during" photos:

You may be wondering why I am laying down in three out of four of them. That would be because I almost passed out. Four times. The first time I realized I needed to lie down, Amanda thought I was kidding, apparently until she saw my face and I was ghost white. I proceeded to lay down three more times throughout the process, and ended up pushing our delicious homemade chicken carbonara dinner until 9 PM. But now it's done. Well almost done. I still need to stuff it and close off the bottom of it. I will post a picture once it's finished.

Another aside- ever since we found out that I am pregnant, Larry has been nesting. He has been cooking amazing meals for me most nights, and taking great care of me, mostly while I sat for hours on the couch working. He is just proving to me what I already knew, that he is going to make a great Dad.

Larry and I had a night out in Annapolis to celebrate Chrissy's 30th birthday with a surprise dinner party. About one minute in, Barbie, Chrissy's sister, accidentally let out the news that Chrissy is pregnant again. It was also David and Nicole's one year anniversary of their first date. Everyone was in a great mood, only half of us could actually drink, and we sat and talked for 4 hours. There was a whole-ma-lotta baby talk, and while it was interesting for awhile, I definitely got tired of it.
It's only three weeks into to pregnancy, so this worries me a little. It's not like I can hide it as I get farther along, and I have already been warned that complete strangers will want to talk to me about being pregnant and will touch my stomach without prompting, and that is not OK. Touching people that you do not know is not acceptable, and especially not on the stomach, and extra especially not when they are their most vulnerable. Its like touching some random person's sling when they have a broken arm. Or poking someone in the eye patch. You just don't do it.

This past weekend, I had my big conference in Arlington. It actually went very smoothly. Nothing went wrong with registration and the only drama had nothing to do with me. Sure, one of the employee's of the organization that put on the conference quit in the middle of the conference in a drunken, frustrated rage, but it made for good gossip. I hate office gossip, unless it's about someone else's office. Then I eat it up. And when I've had enough, I head home to my office, where I never have to worry about Jezebel and Putty talking about me behind my back.

Today, I went to a Fight the Tech Tax rally in Annapolis to urge Maryland state legislators to repeal the tech tax that was passed with very little research or thought as to its effects. It is a 6% tax on technology businesses, the highest in the country, and while it has been passed, it will not go into effect until July 1st. This tax will cause many technology businesses to move into one of the many neighboring states and will force those that currently employ Maryland-based technology companies to look out-of-state for their tech services. There were a couple hundred people there, carrying signs and chanting "Axe the tax!".

Many of the legislators are against it, but others want to know "If we don't tax you, who should we tax?". As one of the speakers today said, "We need to come up with a new solution, instead of making our deal at the expense of another group. Just remember, we were the last group's deal". It was exciting to see all of these business people out en mass, in their suits, carrying signs and chanting to get their point across. There are many more rallies to come. If you want to help repeal the tax, come to the next one.

I Like Money

I decided to wait to post about my pregnancy until I told my boss. I told him today. The same day that he gave me a $500 bonus just for doing a good job. He was thrilled for me and said "This company is all about kids and pets." He was at my house and started suggesting that I could put a crib right over in this corner, and how great it will be to be working where I can be around my kids. And then, since it has been a year since I started, he decided to do a review right away and gave me a 5% raise. And that's just pretty much an awesome day.

Are you sure you are ready? Because I am positive!

Positive, as in pregnant. Plus signs on the pee stick and everything.


Larry and I are thrilled. We found out on Valentine's Day and have been on cloud nine ever since. I am about 6 1/2 weeks along and we are so excited. I will keep you posted on all the big details, and we have been taking daily pictures of me and my rapid growth. The flip book style movie we will have at the end should be pretty cool. Oh yeah, and the baby will be nice to have, too.

Kiss my Glass, Pt.1

Just finished my first glass blowing class and it was awesome. There were only two of us in the class (though the teacher is switching us to the 1PM class with his other two students so that he doesn't have to run the equipment for quite as long, which is expensive). I learned about the parts of the studio and how to work the glass. I made a marble and a glass snowman, which I will get back next class since it needed to anneal (cool slowly) so that it wouldn't crack.

Marble-y goodness.

The teacher was great, very patient and easygoing. He is in his early 30's and has only been running the studio for a year and a half. The first floor of his house is the gallery. I didn't get a chance to tour it yet, but I will be sure to next class and take some pics. I did however, need to use the restroom, and this is what I found.

Crazy bathroom sink!


Bathroom ceiling filled with glass.

I am super excited about it! I had a great time and could see wanting to take another class once this one is over. I told the teacher, as I was making my snowman, that I felt comfortable doing it, almost like I had done it before. Maybe in a previous life, I WAS one of those renaissance glass artists that I have drooled over all these years.

Happy VD

Here's a cool video from a site I like, called PostSecret, where people send anonymous secrets via postcards to be displayed online..

Happy Valetine's Day!

Strange but True

Want to waste an hour?

Only in America

You know how sometimes you are hungry for cheese cake, but you are too lazy to go to all the trouble of making one, you reach for the frozen Sara Lee cheesecake.

But you run into your next stumbling block - waiting for the cheesecake to defrost. (Who invented stumbling blocks, anyway? Seems like a bad design idea, and even worse to try to market. Think of the legal team that wrote up those warning instructions: Caution! If used correctly, product will cause stumbling.) Turns out, Sara Lee has worked around this issue, as it clearly states with its "Ready in 20 Seconds in the Microwave" emblem emblazoned on the box.

So why, I ask , has Philadelphia Cream Cheese (is there any other brand?) invented this:

It seems like all of the laziness of Sara Lee, but messier, and more time consuming. They suggest putting the filling into pre-made graham or Oreo cookie pie crusts. Notice that word PIE, i.e. not CAKE.

I think this product has been made for one demographic only; the one that will eat this filling straight from the tub with a spoon. The same one that may need to lift folds of fat to wash themselves and may, if they are not careful, grow into their couch.

And I'm proud to be an American!