10 on Tuesday

1. What a freaking fabulous weekend.  Weekends like that make coming back to work even harder than usual!  But between half a Xanax and a cup of coffee, I'm feeling almost human today.  Now I'm going to cheat and break down my weekend activities so as to make it easier for me to come up with 10 things to tell you about.  Whoever said cheaters never prosper? 

2. On Saturday I went to a friend's bridal shower, which was just lovely!  And as usual, I won a prize, because I am the shower game queen and I almost always win a prize whenever I go to showers.  It was a picture frame, in case you were wondering.  My friend A won a prize too, but she already owned the exact thing she won (a nice little makeup kit) so she gave it to me!  Win-win!!

3. Hubs and I joined some friends for a day of bar-hopping on Sunday Bloody Funday (that's the British use of "bloody," FYI. Don't worry, no one was hurt).  All told, we visited six bars and drank for about 8 hours straight.  We ended the day by dancing our butts off at a local club, which is a testament to how good a time I had because for everyone's sake, I normally do NOT dance in public.

4. We held a semi-impromptu bbq at my house yesterday.  I first worried that too many people would show up, then when no one responded on our FB announcements I worried that no one would show up.  Yes, there's always something for me to fret over!  But of course, it turned out just fine.  I got to spend some time with a few friends I haven't seen in a while, and it was even nice to see my almost 7 months pregnant friend.  The green-eyed monster was nowhere to be found.

5. I have tomatoes!!!  Our Early Girl has two little green tomatoes on it already!  I really hope I get to eat them before the bugs do.  Any tips on organic pest control?  I don't know that we'll have a problem, but I want to be prepared just in case.

6. It's taken me all flipping day to get to #6.

7. We have a "new" TV and it is GIGANTIC.  Well, 56" is gigantic for my 884 square foot house anyway.  It belonged to my younger brother who recently upgraded to the latest and greatest, so we got his hand-me-down for a deep discount.  Hubs set it up today and now I'm itching to go home and enjoy HD for the first time in my own living room!  I have a feeling it's going to be like sitting in a movie theater.

8. I meant to be more clever and witty in this post, but I clearly failed in that endeavor.  My apologies.  It's been a busy day and AF is seriously kicking me right in the uterus today.  Now I'm just trying to finish this up so I can clean up my desk and go home!

9. Hubs and I have started planning our next road trip, which won't be until next summer, but I'm nothing if not a planner!  We'll be driving up the coast to Vancouver, BC, with stops along the way including Sacramento, Napa, Portland, and Seattle.  We visited Vancouver once, but only got to stay for a day.  We both loved it though so we're excited to go back and actually spend some time there.

10. I made it to the end of the workday, and now I'm going home to snuggle up with my hubby and watch my new TV.  TGI-No Longer Tuesday!

Ten on Tuesday

It's that time again!  Thank you, Marla, for hosting Ten on Tuesday!

1. Today's my Thursday and thank GOD for that.  Yesterday was one of those wretched days that reminded me why I really need to send out more resumes.  You know it's time to find a new job when you go to lunch and hope you get in a car accident or something else horrible happens to prevent you from going back to work.

2. This Thursday (the real Thursday, not my faux Tuesday/Thursday) is Hubs' and my 4 year wedding anniversary! To celebrate we're taking Thursday and Friday off work and getting some stuff done around the house.  Wee!  My goal is to paint the front and back doors and (finally!) put up the trim.  Hubs keeps trying to sneak in more and more projects but I made him promise that we won't be doing work the entire weekend.  I've been anticipating this weekend for WEEKS and I'm going to enjoy relaxing, dammit!

3. We're still planning on going to dinner here for our anniversary, and I think we may also go here at some point this weekend.  One of Hubs's best friends is the executive chef at the second place, so we debated going there instead of the first, but really, why choose one when we can go to both?

4. I actually had a pretty non-emotional Mothers Day.  Okay, that's not entirely accurate.  I was very emotional but it wasn't because of the holiday; it was because I was exhausted from the hectic week and yet I for some reason thought it would be a fabulous idea to host brunch at my house for both of our families on Saturday.  True, it was a fabulous idea and everyone had a good time, but holy cow it's a lot of work to host a meal for 20 people, even a potluck (heck yes it was a potluck, I'm not completely nuts!).  Then I really lucked out on Sunday - it was Hubs's grandma's birthday so dinner at his parents' house was much more of a b-day thing than an m-day thing.  So aside from my tired moodiness it was actually a good weekend for the Von D's.

5. We hit Ta.rg.et this weekend too and ended up getting everything I needed to finish decorating the second bedroom (a.k.a. The Lounge).  So I get to cross that off my list of goals :)  It looks so great in there now, like a real room with a purpose rather than a catchall place to stash our crap.  I got a new slipcover for the loveseat, some shelves, and a little storage ottoman.  I wish I'd taken a "before" photo so I could show you the transformation, but I haven't taken an "after" photo either, so you'll just have to take my word for how cute it looks!

6. I also got some super cute tile decals from Ta.rg.et to use in the kitchen.  The counter and backsplash tiles are bland, boring white so I'm excited to liven them up and create a little more visual interest in there.

7. I've been getting these funky pink patches of skin all over the place for the past several months, so I finally manned up and went to the dermatologist last week aaaand...found out I have psoriasis.  Ugh.  That would be a genetic gift from my father, thanks Dad!  My poor ugly skin :(  And it used to be so nice.  Sigh...  The doc says it looks manageable and gave me a bunch of samples of what is apparently a very, very, very expensive goop that my insurance doesn't cover, so at least there's that.  Hopefully it'll get better when I quit my job or things mellow out and I'm not so stressed all the time.

8. I'm tired.

9. I'm a little hungover.

10. In light of #9 and #10, that's all I've got for today!

10 on Tuesday

Ten on Tuesday is fun! You should play too! Go over to the Chronicles of Marla and sign up, okay?  Okay.

1. I got to play Easter Bunny not once, not twice, but thrice on Sunday for my nieces and nephew.  First at my in-laws' for my adorable little blondie nieces, and twice at my parents' house for my equally adorable brunette nieces and nephew.  We had to have two at my parents' house because my 8 year old nephew found 9 out of the 12 eggs, and his 7 year old sister was in tears after finding only one of them.  Luckily my 14 year old niece had the genius idea of assigning each of the three little kids one of the three colors of eggs (I think my mom's getting tired of dying Easter eggs, she's really starting to slack), and they could only hunt for the color they were assigned to.  Worked like a charm!  And even my little 2 year old niece studiously avoided picking up any pink or blue eggs, just the yellow ones.  What a bunch of geniuses in my family!
2. Our veggie garden now has THREE sprouts!!  I maintain that they are all three zucchini, but Hubs insists on arguing with me that one is a cucumber.  Did I mention I'm the one who planted the seeds while he was nowhere to be found?

3. Last week I switched up my bowling technique a little bit because of a sore knee.  For some reason I've always stepped off on my right foot, even though I'm right-handed.  Well, it was my right knee that was hurting so I tried stepping off on my left foot instead (like a normal person would to begin with) and lo and behold I'm suddenly playing a lot more consistently!  Who knew?  *Update: I wrote this part yesterday, and last night I thoroughly SUCKED at bowling.  So now I know I have no excuses, I'm just bad at it.

4. Hubs and I went to a wedding on Saturday and it was just beautiful.  Plus, we got to sit with some awesome friends of ours that we don't spend nearly enough time with, and we all had a lot of fun.  I managed to be a tad overdressed for a garden wedding, but whatever, I looked hawt!  (The bride looked good too.)

5. I love Spring, but I hate this time of year because my house is absolutely COVERED in hair.  Atticus is shedding like nobody's business and it's really disgusting.  My brother and SIL have two cats (three up until a month or so ago) and their shedding situation doesn't hold a candle to Atticus's.  I did not foresee this problem when I adopted him.  I just thought he was soft and fluffy and would be a good cuddle-buddy.  Well, he is very soft and fluffy, but he's not much for cuddling.  I should have gotten a hairless cat.

6. How many pairs of shoes do you own?  I'm not sure how many I have, I've never counted.  But last week I overheard a conversation between two coworkers, one asked the other how many pairs of shoes she had, and she answered, "Around forty."  The first coworker said, "That's it?"  My eyes about popped out of my head!  I probably have more shoes than I think, but forty seems like a LOT to me.  Sheesh.

7. I get to have lunch with my friend Tracy today (she comments here pretty regularly, so you sort of know her)!  We're going out for pizza in about 25 minutes.  I LOVE working near my friends, it makes work a little more bearable.  I work near Hubs too, and we go to lunch together ocasionally as well.

8. I had this great plan to call in sick on Thursday, seeing as it's Hubs's day off and last week was hellacious so I figured I earned it.  But now one of my employees is actually sick (well, she appears to have a cold), so I feel kinda guilty.  I mean, I'm still pretty sure I'm going to do it, but now I'm going to have to come up with a really good excuse.

9. I've been slacking on my book.  I'm supposed to write something every day, but I haven't written anything in days.  I just know I'm going to get about halfway through it and decide I can't stand it.  I need to get over these ridiculous fears, don't I?

10. I may have mentioned that I'm reading "Committed" right now, by Elizabeth Gilbert.  Well, I read a section of it last night that really spoke to me, and now I'm finding myself with some seriously life-altering things to think about.  I'll definitely be sharing more with you when I start getting my thoughts sorted out!  Should be soon...

10 on Tuesday

Join in the Ten on Tuesday fun by going over to the Chronicles of Marla and adding your blog to the list!

1. I started writing my book!  So far I think it's terrible, but hey I just started, how great can I expect it to be?  I finally decided to toss my insecurities aside and just buckle down and go for it, so that's what I did last night.  And what I need to do every night until it's finished!

2. Hubs and I have been mulling over an idea to start our own business.  We finally came to an agreement on what type of business we think we'd both enjoy running, now we have to figure out if it's something we can actually do.  Our plan of attack is to talk to everyone we can think of that might have some good advice for us, then figure out the money situation.  I really hope we can afford it!

3. We have sprouts!  Our veggie garden is far from thriving, but two of our seeds sprouted (zucchini, yum!) and have the most adorable little leaves.  (Yes, my crops are cute.)  I don't think the others are going to make it, so we'll probably have to re-plant those soon.  It's just as well, we haven't planted tomatoes yet at all, and that was my whole reason for wanting a vegetable garden.

4. The auditors are here at work, but they haven't started asking me questions yet.  I suspect that will start today.  In my big-boss's (my boss's boss) words they're "a couple of young pricks," meaning they're new to auditing and therefore go above and beyond to try to find problems with our work.  Because of that and the fact that they're both men around my age I suggested that all the ladies in my department wear their skirts, cleavage tops and four inch heels all week, y'know, to distract them.  Hey, might as well do whatever it takes, right? 

5. The weather was absolutely glorious this past weekend, and in true Kit fashion I got overly excited about the sunshine and spent way too much time in it without sunscreen.  Oops.  Now my chest is lobster red in the shape of the sundress I was wearing on Sunday, and double oops, I'm going to a wedding this weekend.  Rats!  I hate it when I have nasty tan lines (or sunburn lines as the case may be).

6. In three short (read: long) weeks I have a four day weekend to look forward to!  However, I'm thinking I might need a mental health day sometime before then.  Maybe if I wish for it hard enough, it will just happen to coincide with Hubs's next day off.  Wouldn't that be something?  I'll let you know if it works out.

7. The reason Hubs and I are taking a four day weekend next month is to celebrate our fourth anniversary.  We're not planning on going out of town or anything, but we are going out to a special dinner.  You know Fabio from Top Chef?  His restaurant is in our county and we've been meaning to go forever, so that's where we're headed.  It's supposed to be yum-a-licious, I'm pretty excited to try it.

8. Speaking of (not) going out of town, we actually are going to be getting out of town sometime in the next year.  My cancelled trip to Austin actually worked out to my advantage; not only did the bank reimburse me for Hubs's and my plane tickets, but since they were non-refundable we're getting vouchers from the airline too!  We're still arguing over figuring out where it is we want to go, but we have a handful of options for flights that would be totally covered.

9. Taxes and termites are making me poor.  Termites in particular are making a smorgasbord out of my window frames!  But we got good news from the exterminator that we may not have to tent.  He seems to think it's not too bad and that we can probably get away with the electrical treatment instead of the gas.  I hope he's right.  Packing up the cat, all our stuff, and taking the food out of the cabinets for a weekend sounds like a huge freakin' pain in the arse.  (Can you tell I'm running out of things to talk about?)

10. Okay I'm officially spent.  Today is draaaaaagging and I want nothing more than this whole week to fly by.  But of course, that's the exact reason it's dragging!  Hurry up, clock!

10 on Tuesday

1. On my day off last Friday I took a friend up on his offer to show me around his start-up company.  We've been talking about the potential for me to work there when they start opening up positions for several departments in the coming months.  The company is only 8 months old and still unstable, but at least they're making money; that's huge in this economy.  So if all goes to plan, I may very well be out of the bank in just a couple of months!

2. I went with a metallic blue instead of the usual reds and purples for my pedi on Friday and I'm loving it!  It's so refreshing.  Nail polish is a cheap thrill for me.  Whenever I need a pick-me-up I head over to the drug store and buy a new color.  And now I know what my next nail polish purchase will be!

3. Hubs and I went out with some friends on Friday night and discovered that we're old and boring.  Sigh...  I guess we've been cooped up in the house for too long because we've both lost the gift of gab around our friends.  Overall we had a good time and stayed out way past our bedtime, so at least we know we're not total geriatrics yet.

4. Our raised veggie garden is sooo close to being done!  We couldn't finish it this weekend because of the rain, but we have the space for it all cleared out and the holes for the posts dug.  Now all we need to do is pick up a truckload of soil and get planting.  We should be able to finish it this weekend.

5. Saturday night I went to a yoga and meditation class with my friend A (of Consider Bliss fame).  It was definitely outside of both our comfort zones, but it ended up being a really positive experience.  Let me see if I can freak you out a little with the details:  We started off with Kundalini yoga, which is apparently different from "regular" yoga in that it's much faster and there's more sweating involved.  There was some chanting and singing, and the meditation portion centered around an "Earth Gong bath".  The gong was really cool actually, it went on throughout the meditation and the sound seemed to fill every inch of the room.  I don't know if it cleansed me like it was supposed to, but I liked it.  I'd do it again sometime for sure.  Only I'd bring my own blanket next time because the "house" blankets smelled like feet.

6. After the class, A gave me a copy of the Spring 2011 issue of Bitch magazine.  I'd never read it before, but there was a short article about IF blogs (immediately preceded by a longer article about mommy blogs, but that's neither here nor there) that I found somewhat interesting.  Check it out if you come across it.

7. I need to gush for just a minute about what an awesome time Hubs and I had together on our rainy Sunday.  I mean it was pouring and windy and just awful outside, so we were stuck indoors for most of the day.  To entertain ourselves we dragged a bunch of blankets out to the living room, made some popcorn, opened a bottle (or two) of wine, and hung out on the floor watching movies and talking (and... other stuff) for hours.  I guess there's really not much to tell, but it was such a good time.  Totally a Top Ten kinda day.

8.  Actually, the whole weekend just pretty much rocked.  If only every weekend was like that!  Only problem was dragging myself out of bed and to the seventh circle of hell work on Monday morning. 

9. I'm excited about my group's next meeting, which is this Thursday, because the topic is Goals.  I have so many goals for myself right now, but the main one - finding a new job - is really frustrating me.  Not only because of the job search itself, but because I have no idea what I want to do.  I think about going back to school, getting some kind of certificate (like today I found out a dental hygienist makes as much in three days per week as I do slaving away full time at the bank!), but I don't want to commit to a program that I'm not 100% sure I'll be interested in.  So what do I do?  I'm hoping I'll get some inspiration on Thursday night.

10. Oh - I got out of the baby shower this weekend easily enough - I have to work!  Seriously, I was hoping I'd have a better excuse than that.  Or at least a funner excuse.  ;)  Oh well, it could be worse; I could be working and going to a baby shower!

10 on Tuesday

1. Atticus is driving me insane.  He's always been very food-motivated (to put it mildly) but lately he's taking it to a whole new level.  He wakes us up before the alarm goes off every. single. morning. with nonstop whining and jumping up on the bed to meow in our faces.  Then God forbid I have to go to the bathroom before I feed him, he'll follow me in there and keep whining at me until I'm done.  And there's no point in kicking him out because then he scratches incessantly at the door to be let back in.  And it's not just the morning feedings, it's every feeding.  Thirty minutes to an hour before mealtime he sits by the kitchen and meows loudly, gets in our faces, and scratches at the back door (wanting to be let outside so he can eat the grass and then barf it up on my kitchen table, naturally).  It's getting to be ridiculous.  I am seriously reconsidering my interest in getting another cat.

2. Hubs, on the other hand, has not lost his interest in getting a dog.  He told me yesterday he was looking up Shiba Inu puppies online again.  I'm ready for something to irritate the cat as much as he's been irritating me, so I guess at this point I'm all for it!

3. I finished planting my marigolds and pansies last night.  They look lovely in my new pots on the steps by the back door, if I do say so myself!  (And I do.)  Next I'll be planting some pink and red cyclamens.

4. I was feeling very sensitive last night when I read a post on FB from a seven months pregnant friend that said, "It's going to be a long two months." (Queue the peanut gallery of recently-pregnant women airing their late pregnancy woes. Cry me a frickin' river.)  I almost commented, "It's been an even longer three years, but I'm glad to hear everything is going smoothly."  Instead I think I'll just hide her.

5. I got an invitation to #4's baby shower in the mail last week.  I'm trying to come up with a response that's more polite than, "Oh, HELL no."

6. Work is crazy, crazy, crazy.  I'm mostly holding it together, but it's still just stressful enough to keep me motivated to look for a new job.  Well, in theory anyway.  It's been a couple of weeks since I sent out any resumes.  I need to get back on that.

7. Spring starts this weekend!  And I see it's supposed to rain here starting Saturday and going through most of next week.  Greeeaaat.  Way to ring in the season, Mother Nature!

8. Speaking of spring, I have big plans for spring cleaning this year.  So many plans, actually, that I'm not sure where to begin.  I've never done a real spring cleaning before.  Have/do any of you?

9. Hubs is pretty happy that I'm becoming more "domesticated" these days.  (I love it, it's like I'm a housetrained animal now.)  First with the gardening and now with the spring cleaning...  Next thing you know I'll be baking from scratch and knitting little Atticus outfits while I memorize the Joy of Cooking.

10. Wow, I think I'm totally out of things to say!  Happy Tuesday, at least it's not Monday :)

10 on Tuesday

1. Happy Fat Tuesday!  Lent starts tomorrow and even though I haven't been to church since...umm...I can't remember, I was thinking about partaking in the season.  Instead of giving something up, though, I am going to try to meditate every day.  I'm feeling a little low on spirituality lately.

2. As promised, here's the logo I slaved over on Saturday for my women's group.  Feel free to gush over how glorious it is:

(Obviously the copyright notice won't be there when it's in use.)  I'm pretty proud of her!  And A has already turned it into transfers which she ironed on to some shirts for us.  We're all official now!

3. Speaking of the women's group, after work today I'm joining up with them for the event I mentioned last Tuesday.  We're going to be in a very public place which makes me a little nervous, but it will be a good thing so I'm sucking it up!  I'll share pics with you soon.

4. I thought I had a dentist appointment this morning so I set my alarm to go off 45 minutes later than usual and dozed away...  Then while I was getting ready I thought, "Hmm... I should probably check the time on the reminder card, just in case."  Well I did have the time right, but I was off by two weeks on the date!  Crap!  Oh well, so I was 45 minutes late to work and told my boss they had to reschedule at the last minute so I didn't look like a complete idiot.

5. I've been bowling for crap lately!  I started off this season really strong (well, strong for me), which, if you've ever been in a bowling league you will know is a bad idea.  My average was high, my handicap was low, but since I haven't been able to maintain those good scores Team Aardvark isn't doing so hot.  Okay, it's not entirely my fault, Hubs and my brother haven't quite been pulling their weight either.  But we're halfway through our second season and I thought I'd be better by now!  I keep telling myself it's just for fun, but let's face it, I'm a poor sport.

6. A little over a month ago Atticus did something he's only done one time before:  He peed outside of the litter box.  Where, you ask?  On my BED! So I had to take our down comforter to the cleaners, and you will never guess what happened next.  They lost it!  Not only that, but they refused to admit they lost it, even though they've supposedly been looking for it for the past 4 weeks.  I'm pretty sure they gave it to someone else - how else does a king size comforter disappear?  The owner finally agreed to replace it for us (although he tried to get us to split the cost with him since it was "used."  Please.  What would my other option be, scour garage sales for a replacement??  I think not.) so Hubs is heading over there today to pick up our money.  I'm NOT happy with this service, especially considering we spend a pretty penny bringing them all of our work clothes every month for the past 3 years.

7. I need a haircut.  I'm getting really bored with my style, plus it's too long for my taste.  I just feel BLAH.

8. AF is due any day now and I find myself wishing she wouldn't show up - not because I want to be pregnant so much, but because I just really don't want to deal with it right now. 

9. I'm hungry and have no idea what to have for lunch.  Fascinating, right?  Hey, I'm running out of ideas for things to talk about here, don't judge!  ;)

10. Last night while we were bowling, for some reason I decided to look up our team's Chinese Astrological signs.  I found out my brother is a Fire Snake, I'm a Metal Monkey, and poor Hubs is an Earth Goat.  Not nearly as hardcore as bro and me.

Sorry for the cop-outs toward the end there!  I hope you're having a fabulous Tuesday!  And if you're not, well, at least the day is almost done. :)

10 on Tuesday

I got the idea to do 10 on Tuesday from Junebug's Musings (who, in case you were wondering, got it from this blog, who has apparently gone private).  Seeing as I'm low on inspiration (and yes, high on perspiration as a matter of fact, thanks for asking) lately, I figured this could jumpstart my creative juices and get me blogging more frequently.  So here goes!

1. Our new employee starts today.  She's currently sitting in HR getting the skinny on the Seventh Circle of Hell our fine institution here and will be joining me in Outer Purgatory my wonderful department shortly.

2. My women's group is going full swing!  Over the weekend my friend/partner in crime, A, heard about this event on Women for Women (http://www.womenforwomen.org/) and signed us up.  So next Tuesday evening we'll be standing on a bridge in our town, taking a stand against the injustices and brutal treatment of women in Afghanistan, and generally engaging in a symbolic movement to "bridge" women all over the world.  Our next meeting is this Thursday, so we'll see how many people we can get to join us.  There's only one other bridge event in the county, so we may even try to get the local paper to come out.

3. On Sunday I was talking to a friend of mine and Hubs's about a potential job opportunity.  This guy is a partner in a graphic design startup, and though they've only been around for about a year, they're growing fairly quickly.  He said he would hire me and even let me come in to test it out if I wanted to before I commit.  It's not entirely stable at this point, but if it works out there's HUGE potential.  I'm very, very seriously considering this option.

4. I think I'm wearing Hubs down on the subject of getting a kitten.  I've been bugging him about it for at least a year and he always telle me no.  Sigh...  Yes, I even try pulling the IF card from time to time, but I tell you that man has no soul.  (Just kidding, he totally has a soul.  Mine may have been stolen from me by my employer, but he's managed to keep his intact thus far.)  BUT!  On Sunday, I brought it up while we were at breakfast with some friends and they kind of took my side.  :)  Hubs is worried that bringing a new cat into the house will upset our chi and Atticus will hate it; to be honest I worry about that too.  We have a very mellow home and Atticus is happy.  But he's over 5 years old and lazy as shit so I think a playmate might be good for him.  And dammit, I want a kitten and it's never going to get any easier to introduce one into our home.  So now Hubs is sort of considering it!

5. Jeez it's hard to come up with 5 things to talk about, let alone 10!  Can that be my #5?  K, thx.

6. The man cave (a.k.a. garage) is coming along!  Did I already tell you this?  Well, it's almost completely insulated now, and we just have one wall left to drywall.  Hubs hung up some lights so we can finally stop using the floor lamp that we set up ages ago by the door.  We have big plans for this thing!  I want to get my piano in there (currently housed at my parents'), put the futon and a rug in, put in a basin sink next to the washer and dryer, and hopefully, you know - if there's any room left over, be able to park my car in there.  Slowly but surely...

7. It is COLD here.  Rainy, cold, and COLD.  I'm tired of it.  Spring needs to hurry the F up already.

8. I think Hubs solved the problem we've been having with stray cats.  We discovered a gap between our back fence and the next door neighbor's where the cats were getting in and out.  Hubs patched it up a week or two ago and we haven't seen any back there ever since.  Good thing too, if I found one more cat turd next to my half-dug-up rose bush I was going to put out the antifreeze for them to feast on.  (Okay not really, Hubs was about to do it and I stopped him. I'm not an animal killer, I just have some anger issues.)

9. Seriously, this is hard.  Have you ever tried to come up with 10 things to talk about in a row?  Or am I the only one with no life? 

10. I've taken so long to write this that the new employee is here and at her desk!  She's very nice and seems very capable.  Better yet, she has lots of experience using our system!  I have high hopes for this chick... not that it matters, since God willing I'll be leaving the company soon.  Until then, hopefully she'll make my life easier!