May 30, 2003 3:36:30 PM

Well, I did get a lot of job applications out this week - probably ten or so. The market looks a lot better than it did two years ago, when I couldn't even find three jobs I qualified for in any given week. I wonder if now I'll finally wind up working at some corporate machine like WaMu or Starbucks? We'll see. God only knows I'd welcome a little stability in my life, although of course I'm welcoming paid time off in the lovely month of June, too.

I'm off to work at the animal shelter on the Furry Five K. Wish me luck getting a working computer or these entries will continue to be short and spaced far apart.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 30, 2003 3:36:30 PM [Link]

May 28, 2003 6:41:56 PM

I've been back from Albuquerque for a few days now, and I am just dying because I don't have a computer at home I can use right now. Well, I did have one I could use, only not to connect to the internet, and my video card died so the only thing it's good for now is that nice white noise sound the box makes when the fan is running. I've been at Worthy Opponent's workplace for almost two hours now sending off job applications and just trying to empty all of the crap out of my email inbox. What a hassle! Plus I want to blog so bad it's killing me. We had someone come over to try to fix it (thereby killing the video card) today, and I am really hoping that sometime soon I'll have email again. Anyway, if you're looking for me, call me at home. I don't have much else to do besides wait for calls.

Also, I qualified for the federal extended unemployment benefits program, which is a BIG FUCKING RELIEF, especially since earlier in the day Worthy Opponent was told that everyone at the company was getting a 10% pay cut. I'm thrilled I don't have to go back to doing coffee just to keep us from starving (or losing the house, not like a coffee job would keep that from happening).
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 28, 2003 6:41:56 PM [Link]

May 14, 2003 11:23:51 AM

There goes my job again. Part of general layoffs. Guess I'd better get the DSL working at home again.

Update

Wow, they laid off the head developer and the development manager. This is quite ugly.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 14, 2003 11:23:51 AM [Link]

May 14, 2003 9:04:19 AM

Q (at work yesterday): What do you mean the Sandman was taking his time last night? Who's the Sandman?
A: He's the guy who beats me up every morning.

I actually got to bed around 11 last night, which means I'm feeling much better today than Monday or Tuesday. I need to get the reservations made today. I think I've decided against staying in Las Vegas, and settled on the Doña Luz in Taos (the link goes to the particular room I am hoping for us to stay in) and the Laughing Lizard in Jemez Springs. We're bagging on Las Vegas altogether.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 14, 2003 9:04:19 AM [Link]

May 13, 2003 4:11:32 PM

Another sales person was just let go. I feel like the Catholic Priest talking about how he just stood by and watched the Nazis cart people away until they finally came for him. War Pig's quote was "the eagle flies alone," but I still am looking over my shoulder.

I've discovered that I'll have no problem finding cheap rooms in Taos. One hotel actually has $36 singles, but I'm inclined to go for about $20 more atmosphere at La Doña Luz or the Taos Inn. If we do a two day stay there I can probably negotiate a little bit.

Meanwhile I'm worried by the trailer-park like photos of the Canyon Inn in Jemez and am considering the Giggling Star (I admit mostly because of the pictures of their private hot spring) or the Laughing Lizard (liking those $50 rooms!). At any rate I'd better make reservations for Fri, Sat, and Sun in ABQ (De Anza Motor Lodge or Downtown Inn?), and also for the cooking school in Santa Fe for Sunday morning. Imagine me making my own flour tortillas and carne adovada!
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 13, 2003 4:11:32 PM [Link]

May 13, 2003 12:49:54 AM

I'm getting very excited about our upcoming trip to Albuquerque/New Mexico. We may not be able to get into Georgia O'Keefe's house in Abiquiu, but I do have a list of exciting restaurants in Albuquerque, a couple of different hotels we might stay at (in Abiquiu, Jemez Springs, Taos, and Las Vegas), and some other fun activities. Whee!

On the other hand, having my grandma ask me if we were going to have time to come visit her in May made me feel like a bit of a schmuck, although the news that my cousin had quit her job and moved back to Filthy Mining Town, AZ and is now living in the forest-service discount rent trailer the father of her third child maintains outside of town reminded me of the reasons I don't like to visit: too much damn misery to have wiped in my face, and too little I can do about it given the disinterest the people involved have in changing their lives.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 13, 2003 12:49:54 AM [Link]

May 10, 2003 12:38:09 AM

I have a date with Michael Moorcock for lunch today, or shall I say I have a date with the Prince in the Scarlet Robe?

I set up a beach trip for the second weekend after we get back from our trip (giving us a weekend to recover), only I inadvertently set it up for the weekend when one of my best friends has a big event planned that basically controls her life for the six months prior. Crap! I feel like such a clod. I wonder if we should switch weekends? Only for some reason I think that Worthy Oppponent's dad is probably coming into town the following weekend, since he always has that big sales meeting the weekend before Father's day. And of course, since that weekend is Father's day, there will of course be lots of people bagging on going to the coast with us. I just can't seem to find a time that will work for everyone no matter how hard I try, although I'd rather skip being in town than go through the charade of acting like WOD gives a damn about being in the same town as his son on father's day.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 10, 2003 12:38:09 AM [Link]

May 8, 2003 2:03:17 AM

I'm still at work, and I'm getting tired now ... my eyelids are starting to stick together.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 8, 2003 2:03:17 AM [Link]

May 7, 2003 4:43:25 PM

I've been cranking away at making a test list for tonight, and I just now realized that I can't remember the last time I had to gear up for a release. Doing this has taken me to lots of the places where my company's product is currently being used, and has actually kind of cheered me up about the future. Plus I've got that Night of Release excitement thing going on! Wow! It's a LAUNCH!

Of course, when my boss asked me at 10 AM if I had done any load testing on the product, I was thinking, Holy baby Jesus on a Triscuit, did you consider this issue even as recently as last week? It was like when my old boyfriend Paul said we were going camping at the Grand Canyon, then told me once we got there that our campsite was (pointing toward the Colorado river) down there. I'll do what I can, but the results aren't going to be pretty.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 7, 2003 4:43:25 PM [Link]

May 7, 2003 9:24:18 AM

Today I get a full day of work, then not one but TWO meetings, followed by more work. Last night I was doing dishes at 10:30 because the housecleaner is coming over today and I (ahem) needed to clean up before she appeared. It was SO ridiculous to feel obliged to be cleaning my house when what I needed to do was go to bed! At least I can look forward to the meeting that is taking place at Shanghai Garden, especially after reading the review online. It sure makes me wish I could read the Chinese side of the menu.

However, I should mention that I chose to walk in to work today, because it was just SO FRIGGIN' NICE OUT. Then I felt happy. And you know what? It was wonderful outside, a half hour where I didn't feel obliged to do more than one thing at a time, but just walked along, writing a little poem in my head about all of the stuff I was seeing. Watching the clusters of kids coming down from Yesler Terrace to the elementary school near my house (Bailey Gatzert) was like watching flocks of songbirds shooting up over the Kansas prarie.

My boss and I had a sit-down yesterday afternoon (when, frankly, I needed to be leaving so I could get to my flamenco class on time), and he said ... how am I liking my job? And I could see there was no second agenda hiding under his smile, he was just checking in with me to see how I was doing. I told him I'd feel better after the release, which made him nod his head in agreement. However, what I meant was that I'd feel like I'd proven my worth after the release, provided it goes well, and that that would make me feel more confident in my job.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 7, 2003 9:24:18 AM [Link]

May 6, 2003 1:15:46 PM

I forgot to bring my wallet today, and Bakeman's got to see me for lunch twice in a row since they'll accept my checks. I had one half of my plate of stuffed bell peppers (only $5.50!), and can now say I've had a full month of hamburger in only two days.

The bait was accepted as I suspected. It's sad to have to edit what you write in a blog because of worrying about offending your audience, but then that's part of why I started doing a blog elsewhere in the first place. Every now and then I've ticked people off, though. In this case I considered using my server's security settings to block the bait-taker out of reading my blog, but that seems too paranoid, and I decided just to more or less post what I was intending on saying rather than sticking it in a closet to protect someone's tender sensibilities.

And this whole debate makes me wonder: do people mistakenly think that they are "keeping in touch" with me because they read this? I use Celine's blog as a way to see how I can make her life and mine intersect, because that in my mind is where real friendships occur. Are there people who read this that think this is as good as really seeing me? I'm guessing it might be true, but I'm a big Luddite and have always preferred face time to electro-magnetically mediated communication. It certainly makes it easier to tell when things have fallen apart when you "keep it real," that's for certain.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 6, 2003 1:15:46 PM [Link]

May 5, 2003 10:18:29 AM

My friend Cathy was recommending to us that we go to the Cowgirl Hall of Fame restaurant in Santa Fe, and while normally I'm very suspicious of any place with such a corny corporatey name, the fact that they use my personal logo as their company's logo makes it more tempting. But I don't really imagine myself going to New Mexico to eat ribs. Or maybe I do.

I was sent a hysterical "lost data" entry that a friend found at an Internet Cafe, stuck on the clipboard of the computer she was using. I've appended it to this entry for the amusement of the world. (See "more"/"link" to read it.)
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 5, 2003 10:18:29 AM [Link]

May 3, 2003 4:27:49 PM

The play last night (Parrot Fever) wasn't bad, but I felt it didn't really GO anywhere. There was plenty of good smut in the dialogue (making me wonder if the audience was primarily Smuterati), but sort of not much plot or character development. And I was irritated by the "I've Got a Friend Who Died from Cancer" part, which really didn't work with the show. It was too big to be as much of an aside as it was, and if the show was really (as I suspected) a record of How I Got Over It (or How I Admitted I Haven't Got Over It Yet) then it needed to really be about that and not all of the clutter that got appended to it (and which in fact I thought WAS what the show was about). It left me with the feeling that these Annex folks all need to get some therapy. And the playwright should have had the decency to use a pseudonym for her friend so we, the audience, can all pretend we're watching Art instead of Autobiography or Group Therapy. It really enhanced my desire to skip Spin the Bottle, which I am likely to never attend again. The cliquishness of the event makes me very uncomfortable - it's like the Lonelinest Cabaret Series Ever. You're either a Presenting Artist/Clique Member or one of the very few Outsiders, and I know where I stand, and the feeling of not being in high school anymore is generally one that I enjoy. Actually, I'm feeling very ambivalent about Annex in general because of my feelings toward the company members, a problem which affected the last show I saw by them. I wonder if I'll just stop going to see all of their productions because I can't handle the cultish vibe any more?
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 3, 2003 4:27:49 PM [Link]

May 2, 2003 9:27:39 AM

So much for my cultural aspirations yesterday. No museum, no arty movie, just a select group of friends and a never-ending pitcher of sangria. What a great night! However, I did pick up an anniversary present for Worthy Opponent that was highly cultural - an original painting that I saw and liked at the art walk. It was by Gary Hagar, who looked to be retired and quite the hobby painter, and it was (is) called "Vineyard" and looked very Cezanne. He even delivered it to my house (showing up around 9:30), which was great given that I couldn't have possibly carried it on my bike. And Worthy O seemed to like it, too. Yay! I'm pleased I chose "Beau Soleil" over "Beau Travail." Maybe I'll see the art exhibit tonight after the play. And I need to remember that when the days are long and sunny the collection of artists on Occidental Plaza for First Thursday is thick and heavy. I will definitely go again June 5th!

And, hey, the Tacoma Art Museum is officially opening in its new space this weekend. I'm pretty excited about it, since I'm a big fan of the Predock in Tempe. I visited it many times, both the gallery and the offices and theaters within it, and I watched the sun set on it hundreds of times when I worked across the street. If the TAM has one tenth of the intelligence of design of the Nelson, it will be a fabulous addition to the northwest, both for art and for architecture.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 2, 2003 9:27:39 AM [Link]

May 1, 2003 9:46:24 AM

Hmm, first day of May. I need to go to the Jacob Lawrence exhibit ASAP. Maybe before the movies tonight?

Good news: webcowgirl.com is now mine! Yay that the other person let it lapse. I'm not sure if I'd want to move the blog over there, though.

Bad news: today I'm testing AOL! Right now I'm using AOL 4, and I just got my second blue screen for the whole time I've been testing this thing.

My brother has become very sketchy about calling me. What's going on? I'm sure he's busy at work but I hate the idea of fading off of his radar just when I'd really gotten hopeful about finally getting a real family kind of thing going.
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Posted by webcowgirl @ May 1, 2003 9:46:24 AM [Link]