Corporate DNA

After basic intro high school biology I knew that you passed along your own DNA when you have a child. What nobody clued me into was that somehow corporate DNA can be passed along too.

Case in point:

I do not karaoke (okay, maybe once or twice in college with my Neil Diamond obsessed roommate). My husband does not karaoke.

On the flip side, nine out of ten of my colleagues love, I mean L-O-V-E, to karaoke. Anyone that has been to one of our company retreats knows that every year at least one or two people go hoarse from dominating the mic. We even own our own karaoke machine (and it's a beaut)that can be found in the Palo Alto lounge.

Now, check out my son's performance below. Someone explain to me how our corporate DNA got passed along to my child. Osmosis? Subliminal messaging? Someone spiked my Frappucinos?

The one boob wonder

My mom is the strongest, most amazing woman I know. She endured hours of surgery yesterday (masectomy, if you couldn't guess by the title) and still managed to call last night to let us know she was doing well and feeling good. She was even cracking jokes and asking for more pics of the grandkids so she could check them out online.

I hope I am even half as strong a woman as she is when I'm old enough to be known as "Grandma".

Two battles down, one more to go.

A special thanks also goes out to "Nurse Grandpa", who has been taking good care of our VIP patient.

Happy Trypto Day!

From one mother to another

Mother Nature is not cooperating this year and is messing with a favorite family tradition. For the past several years we’ve had a Ski’n’Turkey Thanksgiving where we (read: my husband, the chef) prep the Turkey and other staples like green bean casserole (my contribution) and then our family of four would head out for a few hours of skiing and/or sledding fun. Then, tuckered out from the outdoor activity we’d return to the wonderful smell of a nearly-done turkey and the anticipation of hanging with friends and family. Ahhh…I am getting nostalgic and giddy just thinking about it.

This year, though, there is no snow. They’re even delaying the opening of the mountain until SATURDAY. Boooo. I mean, this is where we’ve scored 99% of our holiday card pics since everyone is thoroughly and genuinely enjoying their first day out. We’ll still take our two future Olympians skiing on the kiddie slopes where we can use our own vim vigor to get them up the hill and the manmade snow is bountiful, and they will inevitably have a blast. But wouldn’t it be nice if it just dumped snow tonight through Thursday? C’mon, Mother Nature. Don’t you want to help this taurine-lovin’ mom out? :)


Below is a short vid of our youngest skiing at 22 months old (last January).

Happy Halloween!

Those that truly know me also know that Halloween is my favorite holiday of all.

If you're a local reader...maybe I'll see you tomorrow night. I'll be the one dressed as Helen Roper - my hubby will be Stanley Roper, of course. And, I'll be with the ladybug (or maybe Tinkerbell for round 2) and the mini SF Giants baseball player.

And, in case you're caught unprepared, I leave you with some last-minute costume ideas from Adam Sandler.

Update: How did we look??

Eye Spy...

As my daughter says... "I spy with my little eye" something very familiar in the trailer for The Heartbreak Kid (see #8).

Cancer Sucks

This week I am working from my hometown, hanging with my parents. Sounds “normal”, but usually I would be hanging here with my whole circus, I mean family, including my hubby and two kids.

This time I made the trip solo because my mom starts her chemo treatment on Wednesday and I wanted to be here for moral support, and to help around the house. (My dad is great and has been helpful and very supportive, but sometimes thinks that relish, napkins and other items simply dance their way from the fridge to the dinner table on their own.)

I have done lots and lots of reading on what chemo is, food you can eat to fuel your body and prepare for chemo, and about potential side effects. (My mom and I are going wig shopping on Wednesday too.) But all the reading in the world does not prepare me for how to watch the woman who has given me more strength than anyone in this world suffer. How do you do that?

Maybe I will have an answer after this week, but I bet I won’t.

I forgot how much I loved this movie

Aaaaack!

Down with the OOP, yea you know me

For any other Harry Potter fan out there you'll know that OOP stands for Order of the Phoenix (yes, I left out the "t").

The movie rocked. I had somewhat lower expectations for this installment of the series because this was one of my least favorite of the books. Why? I thought Harry was whiney and stupid for not ever shutting his mouth. In this novel he was the Geroge Bush of wizards since he knows what he should do/say to make things go well for him but just doesn't do it anyway and ends up in trouble (and being uber annoying). I also thought the Dumbledore dissing (DD) Harry part was lame in the book as well. Duh. Dumbledore adores Harry no matter what, so that was just lame meandering.

The movie cut a lot of that sassing out and downplayed the DD, or at least trivialized it compared to the other subplot points living in the movie. So, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would -- which is always a pleasant surprise when you see only about two movies a year in the theater.

What was bad? While I find it hard to criticize anything that brings such happiness, I did think they could have spent some more time on the turning point/more developed relationship with Sirius during the beginning/middle of the movie so the end and next installments might be that much more emotionally charged, but I guess that's not the end of the world.

I also took the opportunity to eat some candy (Red Vines, of course) and pound some caffeine in the theater (I did have to go back to my two toddlers, after all). Red Vines make any movie better, so that's an extra thumbs up for my movie-going experience.

Hoooray for Harry!

Phew, it's not just me (not that it helps)

This CNN story on "mommy guilt" struck a chord with me. The anchor/author, Judy Fortin, and her interviewees hit on some of the emotions I feel every day.

It's hard to be a stay-at-home mom -- it's a lot of work. I "temped" at it for 9 months cumulatively (with 2 kids) and it's more challenging than anyone that hasn't been there can ever imagine. Makes the lunch breaks and benefits offered by Wal-Mart look luxurious.

But, it's also hard to be a worker bee and mother too. If I didn't work where I do...I am not sure I would be sane (or am I anyway?). I feel lucky I work where I do because it gives me flexibility many other working moms don't have. I get to do the Mother's Day "Mommy and Me Tea Party" with my two year old. I get to watch both kids and the ensuing mayhem in their Hop-a-Thon, Bike-A-Thon, etc. when they roll around. And, I get to attend each Winter/Spring program where my son yells the words instead of singing them while fist pumping all over the place and my daughter would rather lift her dress over her head and then laugh maniacally.

However, it *seems* no matter what choice I make (Hop-a-Thon versus con call) I feel guilty about something. Am I shortchanging my kids by dropping them off to school in the morning and saying goodbye to them until 5? Am I letting my colleagues down by bolting early to go do the preschool pickup? And... to top all that off I then feel guilty that all the decisions are between kids and work and I don't take care of me and my health.

Or maybe I should just let go and realize I can't be the end all be all for everyone.

Naahh...that doesn't feel right either. ;)

Right on, lady

I have no idea who this is but found her post while looking for an image to use for my post tomorrow because I am going to see the new HP flick (FINALLY).



I vibe with this girl. Right on, right on....



This is as great as my coworker that found the recipe for butterbeer and made it to bring along with her to the movie. That also rocks. Or, what about my other coworker that has let me know that she will be requesting time off when the new Harry Potter theme park opens. Also sweeet.

IT = Information Technology or IT = Irrational Times

Since June I’ve had IT woes. Missed emails, latency issues and sporadic disconnects with our corporate email server. Oh the joys of working remote. 99% of the time I consider myself very lucky to live the life I have, but on days when email isn’t working for me I live in fear of missing an important client assignment or email invite and generally am floundering. It ain't easy being 800 miles from our office.

Thankfully, we have a very patient and thorough IT dude at work. After work one night he spent two (very boring and frustrating, I’m sure) hours on the phone with me in order to get my new wireless router up and running.

But wow. The new one kicks arse! I’ve had it up and running for a business week basically and so far its uber reliable and the reach is all the way down my block (lucky neighbors). Yay, NetGear!

Still waiting...

...for my guest blogger to submit his/her Transformers review (if said person was not intoxicated during the screening).

Giddyup already!

Other guest posts welcome from friendlies, send 'em my way via email (if you're a friendly, you'll have my email, eh). :)

Rumor confirmed... Bionic Woman Airs this Fall

As discussed in a post here in October, there's an updated Bionic Woman comin' to town! Check out the site here for video previews. I'm not sold based on the "trailers" but will give it a look-see.

In my prior post, I threw out a few names of who I thought might fit the bill. Well, I was wrong wrong wrong. The new badass is someone named Michelle Ryan.

She'll never be Lindsay Wagner!

Summer TV Sucks but...

...there are a few highlights for the RBM.

Grey's Anatomy reruns are still going (on ABC and Lifetime on Sundays). Considering I tried being an anti-bandwagoner and didn't start watching the series until the 2nd half of this season, this is good news for me. Yay for smutty brain candy.

Entourage has a good twist this season w the demise of Vince's fortune and the somewhat separate storyline for Ari. You just love to hate Ari. And, even though Drama has a sucessful series now, he still has heinous luck -- that has to be karma for his HM ways.

John from Cincinnati is a trip and I've told myself I don't care if I watch it again but I keep feeling compelled to watch again, and am even anxious for the next one. It's mysteriously intriguing. Even though the intrigue is not engaging, the very intense characters are. Also, I think I keep tuned in to figure out who, exactly, the main cast includes because it's got a solid ensemble -- and then they keep adding more (like the Doc in the last episode, who I feel will be around for a while).

Drive Thru - Caribbean. Those silly surfer boys are at it again. My fave is Benji. They're all real, but Benji seems the most "even" wrt being a normal person (normal is subjective of course). And, he freakin' cracks me up - I still have the image of him riding the ostrich from last season and it makes me chuckle every time. I liked Pat this trip more than I did in South Africa, he seems to be more comfortable this time around. And, you gotta get a kick out of Donovan every time. The dude is chronic chill.

Thank all that's holy for the Giants (even though they're NLW cellar dwellers right now).

Apparently I took an unintended quarter-long sabbatical. Perhaps it was because my double life kept pulling me in many directions. In the past several months I've been a nurse (a horrible one), a comms consultant on the road for 2+ weeks (hopefully a good one), a cheerleader (yay for using the potty!), and an IT person in training as my laptop took a crapper and we had to get an entirely new one (which many of you will know means loading many apps back on, transfering data from an external drive, etc.).

Does this all make me more like Cybil than the Red Bull Mom? (BTW, I've moved on to Rock Star now for budgetary reasons -- ssshh don't tell Red Bull or it will ruin my non-existent sponsorship with them).

The "Cold Sweat" Interview

Some nights I have to work late. We could all work late every night though. Tonight I did not. Tonight I watched American Idol (go, Blake!) and surfed my favorite reading grounds.

I found a post on one of the blogs (What I hear you saying is...) that I check out once a month or so and it reminded me of our own office and our interviewing techniques. The post is titled "On Interviewing" and it's about questions that he asks recruiting candidates and then what it is he's really asking for with the question.

From the post:

I like to ask questions to which the only right answer is the one you will inevitably give me. For example: What was the best day of your life? ... and What did you eat for dinner last night?

The post is more substantial than just those two Qs but... This reminds me of one very respected and seasoned peep in our office that nearly scared away one of our finest recruits. And it wasn't the first time...

He always liked (I use past tense because I think I harrassed him enough about it) to ask "Where do you see yourself in five years?" I think this is a completey fair question for someone with ~5 years in the industry under their belt. However, ask a "still finding themselves" 23 year old and it might be as scary as the first time their parents told them "you're on your own" (assuming they had help). Five years was just the longest time of their lives (in their eyes).

Anyway, it all worked itself out for the best. The guy ended up joining our clan of crazies anyway, despite not knowing if he was signing away five years of his life to us for reals or not (he'll hit his 3 year anniversary this July).

Now, one of my favorite things to do is poll the "new hires" a year or so after they've been at the company about their interview experiences. I get some frickin' funnnnny stories.

So, esteemed readers, tell me some of the interview questions that have sent you for a tailspin - and don't leave me hanging!?

(I want to know so I can try them out on our interviewee tomorrow - kidding!)

Making my fave TV show a "write off"

As you all know (if you have been following along), The Office is one of my favorite shows. Well, now, I've found a way to make it more educational. There is a blogger, Julie Elgar, out there that specializes in HR, with a focus on The Office -- a petri dish of infractions. After each episode the HR Hero blog evaluates the potential damage Dunder Mifflin may incur based on the latest crazy behavior in the Scranton Branch.

For example, for last Thursday's episode where Dwight "heroically" pepper sprayed Roy (and many others) in the office and Michael negotiates a salary increase by using sex as a bargaining chip with Jan, Elgar places a $350k price tag on last week's show.

From Elgar's recent post:

Employers who fail to fire employees who tape pepper spray canisters, nunchucks,
and throwing stars to the bottom of their desks are playing with fire. Expensive
fire. Sure, Roy started it, and I’m glad Dunder Mifflin fired him. But what
about Dwight? After all, the man kept weapons at work for God knows how long.
And if Roy can prove that Dunder Mifflin knew about them and failed to take
action, then he just might have a claim for damages (e.g. eye doctor
appointments, pain and suffering, etc.). Maybe Toby should go ahead and start to
prepare for this deposition too while he is at it.

Check her site out, pretty eucational AND humorous. Tough to do for this "litigation happy" time in HR. ;)

The Amercan Idol Debate

In a recent post one of my fave bloggers (with a Double Life of her own) throws the chips on the table for Melinda Doolittle to win American Idol.

Lakisha and Melinda are absolutely talented without a doubt. However, for some reason, I also find them boring (in the nicest way possible). If I were to pick the winner right now, based on talent, uniqueness and star quality, I'd pick Blake.

Just for fun, here's the link to the "Laundromat" Ford commercial that appeared on last week's results show. It was one of the persuaders pushing me to think Blake may arrive in the finals (which, let's face it, is practically the same thing as winning - read: Clay Aiken, Katherine McPhee, etc.).

Now if he could just keep the beat boxing down a little bit...

He was the one that I wanted!

Congrats, Max! I actually voted for him every week like a reality tv goober, but I am glad I did. He won!!! Now...am I really considering going to Ticketmaster and buying tix for my first Broadway show since Miss Saigon back in 1997??

Just call me Weezie!

Cause' we're movin' on up in the world. Heard there may be free city-sponsored WiFi soon in Ketchum. Of course, not in my neighborhood since I live on the outskirts of town, but still.

http://www.sunvalleyonline.com/news/article.asp?ID_Article=3237

DisneyHowInTheWorldCanTheyStayUpSoLong?

Just returned back from a week’s vacation in sunny (and half the time rainy) Orlando to take the kids to Disneyworld. I think I returned more exhausted than when I left. However, it’s an “I’ve never seen my kids this exhilarated” type of exhaustion rather than a “case of the Mondays” type of exhaustion that comes around after individuals pass their vacation deprivation threshold (I have a low one).

Highlights
~ Who knew my daughter was so in love with Goofy? It’s the cutest when my son (who at this point <3s everything my daughter does) yells “Ooofy! Ooofy!”
~ Watching my son fearlessly cannonball into his dads arms in the pool at the resort time and time again. Keep in mind he turned two the day after we got back. He’s a crazy lad.
~ Seeing my daughter barrel down a 40 ft tall water slide with perma-grin – and her dad (hey, no need for Social Services, I am no Britney!).
~ Wearing sundresses and shorts every day for a week.
~ Watching my kids spend quality time with their grandparents, and the genuine joy they bring to each other. Yes, Velveeta comment but true.
~ Hearing the story that my daughter told my sister that her shoes were ugly.
~ The Expedition Everest roller coaster at Animal Kingdom. Ask to go in the front car. If you like Space Mountain, but want even a bit more extreme, go for it. My dad howled with delight the whole ride and I swallowed two bugs.
~ There is nothing like returning home to your own bed.

The Hmmms…
~ We had a two bedroom “flat” for me, my husband, our two kids, my sister and my parents. I was no math major but those numbers don’t add up right for me. Now, peanut gallery, be kind – I know my folks (who sported the pad for us free of charge) will probably read this post!
~ How does a three year old have the energy to go-go-go from 6 am to 10 pm every night? Cinderella adrenaline fixes? Dumbo rush?
~ I believe it’s stupid that you have to ask a flight attendant for a barf bag. Obviously, in that circumstance, it’s already too late. To shout out the obvious consequence, my husband and I spent the ~4 hour flight and then the 1+ hour layover in SLC and the remaining 50 minute flight back to ID covered in our son’s barf.
~ My daughter thought for several days after our return that her new bedtime was 10 pm. WRONG.
~ I had grand ambitions of coming back w a tan. It rained at some point almost every day and I am just as pasty as when I left. Dammit.

Back in the Sticks

Just returned home from another road trip. This time I went solo. Boo hoo!

Lowlights:
Missing my family something fierce. Luckily, my hubby sent some bitchin videos of the kids taking part in one of their fave activities, cafeteria tray sledding.

Highlights:
Miraculously, there was no lost baggage. No busses. No tug-of-war with my carry on and a flight attendant (a la Meet the Parents). No lost items. No barfing, no snot. Keep in mind this is unheard of odds since the venture included four flights and two different hotels in a “short” five days.

Lunch with a girlfriend. A two hour catch up session out in the beautiful sunshine goes a long way for old college roommates separated by ~800 miles for 99% of the time.

Dinner with my professional brethren at Bong Su in SF. About 33 of us comms freaks dined in the back room of the restaurant enjoying yummy food and cocktails. GREAT time with my colleagues. iChar was large and NOT in charge.

The featherbed topper at the Marriott Waterfront in Seattle. Mmmmm. Or should I say, zzzzzzzzzzzz?

To my silent readers...

I have not gone back into hibernation. I will be back. Bear with me!

Live, from New York...it's DWIGHT!

The Office is one of my favorite shows. Any 30 minute story that can make you so physically uncomfortable (cue Michael dragging Phyllis' dad's wheelchair down the aisle when upstaged at her wedding or Ryan knocking the bouquet from Kelly's reach during the toss) yet leave you wanting more (cue Jim and Pam) is a true work of art.

I also like to think it's educational for me too, since I learn tons about how NOT to handle HR issues in an office. (You're PMSing pretty bad, huh?)

So when one of my "where the red bull flows" tracked bloggers (Laptop Television) clued me into the fact that Rainn Wilson would host SNL on February 24th, this weekend house rat was thrilled!

To quote a post from the Rainn Wilson fan site, "I hope he doesn't SCHRUTE the monologue."

Listing here.

Tivos...start your engines (yes, we have two)!

The One That I Want

That's right. I watch that show. And enjoy it thoroughly.

reason #1,097,923 why my mom rocks

My mom has always set a good example for me to follow in regards to paying attention (to many things in life). Example number 1,097,923 follows in the form of an email I received from my mom the other day.

I had the opportunity to attend a NARAL luncheon in Napa and hear Sarah Weddington, the lady who argued the winning side of the landmark case Roe v. Wade before the Supreme Court which gave women the right to chose whether or not they wanted an abortion. It was like seeing and touching a part of history. She told how when she graduated with her law class she was one of 5 women and couldn’t find a job. Going before the Supreme Court was actually her first case! She was such a good speaker, setting the scene for going into the Supreme Court and giving the background. She also was a close friend and colleague of Ann Richardson, deceased ex-governer of Texas and Molly Ivens who just passed away. She was awesome!!

No matter which side of the Pro Choice/Pro Life fence you prefer to reside on there is one common denominator -- we should all pay attention to the issues facing us today. And, we could all learn a little something by paying attention to the past. Anyway... I think my mom rocks. I love that she is so involved and is passionate about the issues that matter to her.

the OTHER part of our trip

Traveling with toddlers. The kids did awesome at the airport and were great about getting on the plane. However, my kids (like me) are prone to getting motion sick. In a ‘bout of poor judgment we gave our three year old Cheetos (yes, I know they are unhealthy) as a snack at the airport. The result? Orange barf on the airplane. Sweetness. The flight attendants loved us, I know it.

Trying to make everyone happy (including me?). The goal was to spend as much time as I could with colleagues and clients while I was there. However, knowing my cute little tots were waiting for me at the in-laws made that tough. That is probably the hardest part of traveling for work when I have the whole fam with me.

The sickness sticks like stink on a fart. For the past year (seems like basically since the kids went into preschool/daycare) our house has been like the petri dish for all colds, flus and other illnesses floating out there. Regardless of geography, the germs found us. My hubby was yakking his brains out Wednesday. Yay for Round Table (that’s where I took the kids to get them out of the house)! I think I spent almost $5 on those dumb tattoos/stickers/jewelry/toy machines that now cost 50 cents a pop.

Thank God there isn’t a Target in Ketchum. Somehow we (either me or my hubby) found a reason to go to Target every day. By the time I took the kids on an errand there on Day 5 my daughter instructed me which way to go so that she could show me the Cinderella roller skates she wanted for her birthday (which is in October, btw).

Connecting with friends, and not. The truly great part about where our office is located is that it’s near a few of my dearest friends. However, when I travel with the kids it feels almost impossible to juggle work, nap, family and bed times so that I can successfully connect with friends. DRATS. I missed three of my fantabulous friends this time around, which really sucked. On the bright side, I did see one of my girlfriends that had just given birth to a very adorable baby boy the week before. I heart babies.

Making it official.

Technorati Profile

Diary of my last trip.

Commuting again. I used to live in the Bay Area for several years so for the life of me I can’t understand how I am so municipal transportationally challenged. I think my coworker wanted to kick my arse for asking so many “obvious” qs about CalTrain. The only reason she probably did not put on the hurt is because we’re on the same client team and it might have put her in a bind. The train ride was actually great for mental prep time. LAME though that none of the bullets have wireless yet. Isn’t this supposed to be the land of the original technology boom?

Recruiting. Met with two candidates last week while in Calif. Both were solid. Nice to see an upswing in the talent pool again. For a while there was a serious famine in the SCE/Supe/Director pool. Still seems very much like the employees’ market, but promising to see engaging, talented and bright folks back at that level. Yay for us!

Client lunch. Our “quick lunch date” turned ugly as it became “that hostess hates us” at P.F. Changs. Darn good thing my ground chicken and eggplant plate was MMMmmmmm good. Also solid company. Always a fun time when even after six+ years of working side-by-side w/ a client you still learn a little “dirt” on them. It’s also fun to lightly haze the “newer” (almost three years on the account as compared to my nearly seven) folks on the account too. Bingo, anyone?

Footloose. No blisters this time. Hallelujah. Of course, it’s winter and I wore only boots rather than strappy sandals and stilettos. Whatever. Just glad my extremities were happy with the shoe choices.

New faces. Got to physically meet a few of the folks that joined our crazy fam in recent months. Although entrenched in the new hire process, this was the first opportunity I’d had to meet two of our new peeps. Seem like very solid additions and I’m damn glad to have them onboard.

What the hell was that? We took one of our candidates to the Samovar Tea Lounge in S.F. Conversation and company were great. Tea was great. What they define as a “veggie” for the Japanese meal is not at all fair to a Western bacon cheeseburger-loving lady like me. Something green, slippery and horridly fragrant slithered down my throat unexpectedly while in the middle of the interview. I looked, wide eyed and aghast, to my colleague and although she kept the conversation moving and pretended not to notice for the sake of the interview, I could tell that she was laughing AT me on the inside – I saw that evil spark in her eye.

SAUSAGE. I had such fun playing the sausage game while in the office. Every office should have some version of this game.

And on that fond memory of playing sausage, I am signing off.

He's back. And so am I.