Try new routines (1), take new classes (2) and discover new ways to be active (3)!
New Routines
Today decided to take a later bus and make some morning time for myself. So I made ice coffee and listened the NPR daily news update while getting ready for work. I was going to take 10 minutes to read, but got foundation on my crisp white shirt, so spent 10 minutes scrubbing the stain with non-Clorox bleach instead. It was a nice thought...
Lessons: it's okay to take a later bus. And, try not to spill on yourself first thing in the morning. And, homemade coffee is delicious.
New Classes
Today is my first day of a first of a 5-part class called "Foundations of Leaderships and Teamwork" at Google through gLearn. This is the first time I've made time for a program like this and this is the objective I shared with the class: "I'm hoping this class will help me get and stay on a path of upward trajectory at Google, where I continue to add value to my teams and co-workers, and where Google continues to add value to my professional and personal life".
discover new ways to be active
My abs hurt when I laugh from kickboxing two days ago. No picture necessary. I added a bunch of group fitness classes to my work calendar as a constant reminder that there's always an option to be active, even during the workday.
See you soon!
* No, not all steps, activities, trials will be numbered, but this seemed like a good place to start :)
It's May 2011. Life is San Francisco has been incredible. I know this isn't the only place any of you "follow" me, so no need to fill in the holes, but thanks for tuning in for the fresh start.
I feel the need for a little change. The job is getting a little monotonous, the routine a little grueling, ski season is over. I'm on a mission for some engaging, energizing, mini fresh starts.
So, before I get bored and complacent, I'm going to a try a few new things to bring a little breath back into life and a little wind back into my sails.
I decided I need a space to record activity, obstacles, links to helpful resources and to share the victories. I need you to keep me honest. There are no concrete goals like "I will run the marathon after this" or "I will get promoted and make + $X" and am not fishing for compliments and extensive encouragement. Just knowing you're there, or could be there, listening will make me check-in, update, and motivate.
I'd say long time no talk, but this isn't my main venue of conversation with any of you - which is good b/c I've neglected this arena for so long that a new life could have been created and entered the world during my period of silence. But, no apologies, and no filling in, just moving right along.
Show & Tell is about what's on your mind, or in your pocket at the moment the teachers calls you to the front of the room. Kids don't bring something they've loved for the last month (or 9 months...) to show & tell. They show their favorite object that day - or even that hour - for the class to oooh and ahh over...until the next kid gets in front of the class and the last object is as good as forgotten.
So here's to moving forward to future, and more frequent Show & Tells!
For a summary of undocumented adventures, you'll just wait for the Christmas card! :)
There are many reasons to sign into Facebook. Facebook can be a quick, efficient tool for necessary research and information gathering. There's a lot of useful, relevant information right on one screen that, ya, for your good friends you have somewhere else, but on Facebook it's all right there. And more...
So you sign on for, let's say, your friend's phone number and to see if their status says "sitting at home, bored, alone call if you want to do something..anything!!" or an equally desperate plea for company thus implying that they'll happily accept your invitation to go to the bar with the 80s dance jams that you've dying to try on the completely opposite side of town, since they clearly don't have anything better to do. Great. Call 'em up, or, since they're so bored and just updated their status, you know they're online. Quick Facebook chat and you've set up your rendez-vous! Bam.
Contrarily, their status could say, for example, something along the lines of "waaaaHOOO, LAS VEgaS WITH ThE GIRLS!!! WHAT HApPENS IN VegAS STAYS In VEGASsssS" in which case no, they're not free to get a drink with you. Additionally, the (mostly) caps and extended "ooo"s and "SssS" implies they've already had a few drinks yet are still sober enough to access Facebook on their mobile phons, mental note, you'll have make sure to encourage them to review their mobile uploads when they get back to the real world as they really do want whatever happened in Vegas to stay in Vegas.
But, you, as their good friend should probably keep an eye on all their Facebook activity over the weekend, just to make sure it doesn't get too incriminating or...Oh! There are already some pictures up! OMG, why did my friend invite HER over ME for the girls weekend...Look what she's wearing! Where did she go to school...omg, she WOULD have gone there. I wonder if she knows...And BOOM. Just like that. Facebook stalking. Before you know it you're spending hours diving deep into groups (who would join a group in celebration of condiments...oh, I'm in that group too, forgot about that...omg, we're in the same group!), friends, friends of friends, past, present, and future more-than-friends....
My gauge of when you've hit rock bottom: you've been digging for awhile, one more level and you'll probably hit Kevin Bacon. You're looking at party pix, baseball game pix, concert pix and then, there it is: the slightly faded, bent corner, off-center scan of your friend's, friend's, friend's, friend's, friend in the first grade sporting a florescent geometric shaped sweater tucked into matching leggings and a big, velvet scrunchy holding up an off-center poly tail all tied together with a front-toothless smile. You feel really awkward. Awkward for them. Awkward for you. Awkward that your stalking has brought you here. You quickly return to your profile, like you didn't see any of it, and vow not to be so nosy next time...
Thanks to Marshall for providing* this awkward (or, as he would say, awkward turtle) but adorable picture. *Okay, Marshall did not provide, nor has he yet approved the use of this photo, but we asked! If not approved I'm considering calling it awkward baby 1...
Julia Lowd's visit earlier this week was a good excuse to be a tourist in my new city...
Fisherman's Wharf, normally an elbows-out, tourist combat zone, showed off surprisingly well on this sunny mid-February weekday.
We gawked over the copious amounts of dungeness crab (February is crabfest month), oohed and awed over the cable car turnaround where they literally push the car to turn it around and admired flowers in mid-winter bloom.
We were very impressed with the sourdough artists at the Boudin Bakery
But we couldn't help the feeling that something was missing... The floating docks of Pier 39 are usually overflowing with the sight (and smell) of barking sealions. However, sometime earlier this winter they all* vaished!
*Editors Note: There were a few stragglers there for our viewing pleasure. However, their position (basking directly in the late afternoon sun) was not ideal for photographing and including them would have ruined the story of their mysterious disappearance, thus they have not been pictured here for artistic and dramatic affect.
Fear Not, brave reader! All was not lost. We made a new friend (pictured below) and had a great day...and some delicious sushi** for dinner!!
** For Jessica Popkin, and all other worried Harvardians out there, the sushi was not, nor could it ever be, as good as Takemura lunch sushi with you! Miss you!!!
Today we took a trip down 101 to Santa Cruz. The famous boardwalk was all boarded-up for the winter, but it was still fun to see the roller coasters from the pier and watch the off-season volleyball players. On the way back up the windy 1 we drove through Capitola, Aptos, Pecadero, and Half Moon Bay. Check out the updated pictures HERE. A few highlights below.
