Day 1

Day 1 of what?

I'm kind of hoping today is the start to a new semi-lifestyle that will make me feel better. Last week after Allen had left, I was grumpy pretty much the entire week. Finally last night I told myself I'm tired of being grumpy so I would do something about it. I have a plan to make myself healthier first, by cutting my portions in half and making them more nutritious, cutting out sugar as much as I can, and exercising. So far it's worked for one day. I had almonds and tea for breakfast, bean and bacon soup and grilled cheese for lunch, and for supper I had two slices of pizza only because I needed to finish it up. I also walked a mile on the treadmill, burning about 200 calories according to the treadmill. We'll see if I can keep it up tomorrow.

Last weekend Allen came to visit and we went to San Francisco one night and Monterey the next day. It was a lot of fun really getting to see Monterey Bay and visit the aquarium. I got a shirt for my sister's baby, that reads "The otter made me do it". I want to get Leah exposure to the west coast while I'm out here. Growing up, the furthest I ever got to experience was Russellville, Arkansas, or Colorado Springs. I want her to know that more exists beyond 500 miles from Topeka.

1 Year Anniversary

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, marking one year since I packed up and left Kansas.
Hard to believe it's been a year already, then again it's difficult thinking it's been only a year when it's felt like several years. A lot of things have happened in the last year, from getting my apartment, finding a few new friends down by the bay, getting a roommate, getting a cat, getting a niece... Some things are pretty much the same though.
Last year when I packed up, I left Kansas City with a truck full of my stuff, much like the Clampetts left Arkansas on their way out to California. Only thing I was missing was a rocker and granny sitting in it with a shotgun. My dad had wanted me to go to sunrise service with them, and I declined, since I was going to be travelling so much the next few days I didn't want to get up at 5am to make a 630am service.
I had Easter dinner with the folks, said my goodbyes, and headed towards Allen's house 20 miles west of Hutchinson, KS. Spending the night there, getting a five and a half hour portion out of the way of my two and a half day trip, I started the next day at about 8am towards Tucumcari, NM. I made it all the way to Flagstaff that evening, and then the following day drove through San Bernadino county, CA to Barstow, through the mountains to Bakersfield, then up 99 to Stockton before finally making it to Sacramento. Three days, 2000 miles, 33 hours driving total.
So Easter Sunday marks a year since I was officially a California resident. I still am not sure about remaining out here for good, but my 5-10 year plan to move to Tampa, FL changed to a 3-5 year plan then back and forth. Right now I think I'll just go with whatever works. I'm making decent money, enough to live on and pay off all my bills, but I'm dealing without close friends.
I have tried one of those online dating things. I tried matchmaker.com, and after spending a couple nights working on my profile I got a hit! However, with the email sent to me, I have to spend $35 just to view the email. What kind of crap is that? I said forget it right away. They could at least give you a $10 trial, a couple emails or something but the least amount is that much and it isn't even worth it to me. I feel bad for the person on the other side of the email who will probably think I'm some jerk for not responding. I'll think about it for some time... maybe I'll cough up the ridiculous amount of money to view the email and give it a try. I just think that $35 could be spent on a tank of gas to drive somewhere and see something.
Happy California anniversary.

Sweet 16!

The biggest news of my day is my alma mater won! KSU beat BYU today, and second biggest news is KU lost. I feel bad for all the legitimate fans, but the worst part of KU's loss is going to be all the wining fans claiming how the refs sucked or how they had the toughest bracket of all the 1 seeds. It's unfortunate but I am sure we'll hear some excuse. I also hope KSU fans don't end up getting big egos and make stupid comments in return. But great news for KSU, first time to the sweet 16 in 22 years!
I've been making really good friends with Toni at work now. I like her company. She keeps it real, and is someone to talk to about all the goofy things that go on at work, who would understand where I'm coming from. She helps remind me that in the end, it's just a job. There's no need for the drama, the stress, the emotional responses that occur too frequently. I can talk to her about things that I just need to get off my chest, and she's becoming a really good friend.
Josh ended up getting denied the apartment where he wanted to move, unfortunately. However, as part of that application rejection, we found out that the last apartment we lived in together had turned us into a collection agency over $60! It was on both of our credits that we had an outstanding debt. Long story short, those idiots at the last apartments told us the wrong amount to pay, less than what we owed. We expected to get a continued bill for what extra, and we got it with a late fee of $120! Ridiculous, since it was their mistake and not ours. So they said because of the confusion they would reduce it down to half that. Still completely unfair, so we didn't pay it and they turned it into a collection agency. This last week I found out, and paid it, plus the collection fee, plus the credit card convenience fee, summing to $110. Almost the original late fee we owed. Sometimes you just can't win, but at least it's going to be off our credit reports.
In other news, this week has calmed down a lot from the stress of the past few weeks. Things seem to be settling, and we are working together efficiently again at work. Not all of my ideas are being heard, but it just doesn't make sense. One moment we're bragging about how good our finished work packet looks, including the request, all of the emails and decisions, the QC checks, the finished product, and the next moment it's just too tough to do all of that in a timely manner. I so want to point out that you can't brag about something you're not willing to do. It's a work in progress I guess.
Go KSU!

Frustration

My week is ending about as fun as it began. That was full of sarcasm, by the way. I suppose it makes sense to end this way... downstairs neighbors playing their ranchero music loud enough for me to hear it. For anyone who doesn't know what that is, it sounds like polka, but with spanish vocals. On top of that, the pipes are still whistling anytime someone showers. So a high pitched squealing noise to add to the polka. You'd think at least one would drown the other out!
It completes a the frustration of K-State losing to Iowa State today, in addition to their loss to Kansas on Wednesday. Even if they run the Big 12 tourney, I doubt they would get a 1 seed now. In fact, probably drop out of the top 10 rankings altogether on Monday.
The week started with some drama at work too. Honestly it seems like it was a pissing contest more than anything. Emotional reactions to something that should have been solved easily by taking a breath, and looking at it from a different viewpoint, then solving it. I guess I was lucky that my supervisor hadn't responded initially when it happened, because while she was offended by it, I saw it as his joking attitude and didn't take any offense to it. I told her I would work with him on the responses and get it fixed, but when another person had filled out the form incorrectly as well, she just 'had' to write an email, thinking it would solve it. Her response was they had done it on purpose to hamper our problem, and I told her again I could try to resolve it myself. But her email went out anyways and was responded back and forth until finally the mid-boss responded with 'this stops now'. Later he called me a trouble maker, jokingly I am sure, but still he had hints of annoyance in his tone. What do you do when your boss won't listen to you? She still thinks she is in the right.. Apparently we get to settle our differences next week. Fun.

Squeaky Floorboards

Several days in Kansas City now... things at work are going great. I presented yesterday at work on our GIS request forms. I had some interesting comments about it. Questions such as how can it work for us, and who created it. I was happy to admit it was entirely my creation. The form layout was not, but the database design and the programming behind it was. It was exciting to show the people who I used to work with what I am still able to do. I also was able to admit that my progress on the topic I'm actually presenting at our technology conference was not only applicable but used to help decide the direction of research, steering millions of dollars to a specific topic based upon my research and analysis. It was chosen to be used instead of another company's similar analysis because it was more defensible. Today I helped present another topic, only a few minutes, but on using pivot tables to more quickly perform analysis. It really got the lightbulbs turned on around the room so I was excited that they saw the tool as something they could use!
In other news, Heather texted me tonight with a picture of Moxie sitting on her lap. She was apparently getting along with Spike, Heather's cat, finally, and sitting beside both of them. That's promising. She won't have such a tough week after all. I'll be happy to see her again on Sunday.
I don't care much for staying at Josh's house not becuase he's not a wonderful host so much as the floorboards above me creak and squeak constantly when someone so much as looks at them. What makes it worse is that Josh's friend has a live-in who walks really heavy everywhere he goes. So whenever he touches anything he stomps. He doesnt know how to walk quietly. So with him, it's awful. Then when they all get together, especially with the dog, squeak, creak, moan, squeak, back and forth. It sounds like someone is just standing on the creakiest board and swaying back and forth. I was praying that they go to bed quickly so I didn't have to hear it. But.. other than that, I get the entire basement, a futon and a nice blanket to keep warm with. It's comfy other than the noise.
Tomorrow is my presentation so hopefully it will go well. I think it will really be good except for the questions that I know I won't have an answer to.

Winter Wonderland

One of my biggest joys of moving from Kansas was to get away from the cold weather and snow. What does it do as I land? Snows. Heavy flakes, nasty roads, people who can't drive. When I left about a year ago, I had gotten rear-ended in a brief snowstorm by a woman without insurance. If the roads are in crummy shape at all, I will tell my boss I'm working from home for at least the morning.
Last night I had to take Moxie over to Heather's house. I was a little nervous about it because Heather doesn't like visitors unless she is convinced her house is completely spotless without even a speck of dirt. However, last night, she kindly allowed me inside to hang for a few minutes to make sure I was comfortable with Moxie staying there. I greatly appreciated it, and it made me feel completely better about leaving her there for a little over a week.
I'm not entirely sure why I'm concerned about the cat. I've had cats my entire life, but I suppose this is the first time anyone's taken care one away from my place. I guess I figure Moxie is better off where someone is there overnight, and not just for feedings once a day. She is totally dependent on people company and would go stir crazy without someone there to hold her. The minute I get home from work she immediately crawls into my lap and makes me pet her for ten minutes. She sleeps right beside me most nights too. I've only had her a couple of months.
I'll be in Kansas for the entire week, so hopefully the weather improves.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

What an amazing weekend. Weather-wise, at least. It was 66 yesterday and 64 today. I didn't go do too much yesterday but today I went for about a 4-mile walk along the American River trail, a paved trail that leads from downtown Sacramento out towards Folsom and has some amazing scenery, paved for bike riders with some off-pavement bike and horse trails following alongside the river. I've walked about 8 miles of it so far, and so far it's pretty neat. I saw some nice scenery of the river as well as the lizard on the log and the bird in the tree when I was walking along the horse path. Of course, it was nice enough to open up my house all day and Moxie took full advantage of sitting in the window.
I like California mostly for this time of year and the wonderful weather that I will be getting for the next few months but I still want to move to Tampa, Florida eventually. I have changed my goal from a 5-10 year plan to a 3-5 year plan. Mostly because I am ready to get out of this place and go somewhere I can see thunderstorms and not deal with a state budget that taxes its citizens 9.3% yet still can't balance the budget.

The Oracle

Since I work in GIS, and our data is stored in databases, we have to deal with IT people. Information Technology, that is. Just like engineers, IT people are a whole different breed. Strange, often arrogant, what they do is unique and they are proud of it. Since our data is pushed out to an enterprise-wide server, that is, available to everyone in the entire project and more, we must use an enterprise geodatabase, namely, Oracle. One of the DBAs (database administrator) is a very big guy. Tall, built like a football player, and lethargic, and intimidating to most people. He is very difficult to work with. One day, when Diana was headed off to a meeting with him and someone else, someone asked "are you going to see the Oracle?" Since that day, his nickname has been "The Oracle." Of course, the other DBA we work with is named Dat. You can imagine all sorts of word-play with that one.
I will say, however, Dat is so much easier to work with than the Oracle.

Entry #3 (Might replace title later)

Blog entry #3 and I'm already out of things to talk about. It makes me think about "The Cat Who..." book series where James Qwilleran has a twice a week 1000 word post he has to fill for the local paper and when he runs out of things to say, pulls from his stack of notes on various subjects meant to fill the page. Instead of writing on one thing, I'll just pull together a few paragraphs with relatively little in common.
I watched two movies this weekend. "World's Greatest Dad" and "Surrogates." I promise you, Surrogates is a much better movie. I find myself a fan of Bruce Willis. Normally I'm a huge fan of Robin Williams, but his World's Greatest Dad movie left me wishing I hadn't really rented it. All I can really say is father gets popular by making up suicide note by his son's accidental auto-asphyxiation death, compounds the lie by creating false journals his son made which in turn inspire everyone around him, and in the end tells everyone it was a lie and takes a dive in the school pool in nothing but his socks. Story over. On the other hand, Surrogates was a very interesting movie that reminded me of I, Robot, and funny enough had the same actor as the inventor of the robot/surrogate in both movies. It took awhile to really get into the action, but I enjoyed it.
I put in about 12-14 hours on making three specific maps where I work, for each option, only to find out in the end that the maps weren't approved to be used anyways. Always gives you a warm feeling to know that busting your butt to get something done isn't going to make a difference anyways. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the last time something like that will happen.
I am enjoying Sacramento's weather, but I'd be more comfortable if the highs were in the 60s and low 70s instead of in the 50s. I know it's better than Kansas of course, where it's 30 degrees and snowing. One thing I really wish for is just one really good thunderstorm. Instead of that, they get high winds and little sprinkles that they call rain that might give them an inch in 24 hours and call it heavy rain storms. (I may be exaggerating on that but not by much!) I've seen one night in the year I've been here that I've actually seen lightning, but didn't even hear the thunder. If anything could drive me away from California, it's the lack of real weather. I'm just waiting for the six month period where it's nothing but sun every day with nary a cloud in the sky. I think Florida is perfect for that. Thunderstorms, tornadoes, and no snow.
The other thing that could drive me from California is politics. Government specifically. Where else can a state tax its citizens 9.3% on income and still come up short in the budget? It seems the politicians have voted in program after program and none of that money is really going to the citizens. Somewhere that money is lost. Most likely in the state employees who get per diem for driving more than two hours away. One employee's per diem was more than his yearly salary. The rest of us have to spend money on lunch, gas, and vehicle, why doesn't he? That's what our salary is for. I'm ready to go to a state that has no income tax. I think Florida is one of them! Florida is definitely in my 5-10 year plan.

You Lost Your Moxie

I was watching "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" a few days back and found something rather ironic. Amelia Earhart kept saying "You lost your Moxie" through the movie. What made it ironic was each time I heard it I looked down and saw my cat, Moxie, snuggled up against me.
I picked her up from the Sacramento SPCA on Monday, January 4th. A really pretty mostly white furred cat with tabby colored fur on her head and sides. She loves the meow especially when I get home, but is great for company and I always have someone there.
Then day I picked her out at the SPCA I can't forget. Sometimes you pick your pet and sometimes your pet picks you. Most the cats I viewed ran around the viewing room barely paying attention to me. Moxie crawled into my lap first thing and wouldn't leave my lap. I had her carrier all ready to go and took her up front ready to walk out the door with her, only to find out she had to stay until Monday to get spayed. I had the look that Josh calls "someone just kicked your puppy." I couldn't help it. I must've looked pathetic because they started giving me cat toys and a scratching post, and said I could come visit her on Sunday as well (which of course, I did!).
According to Wikipedia, Moxie is a carbonated beverage (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moxie) but according to Merriam-Webster, it means energy, pep, courage, determination, and know-how. She certainly has energy and pep, the way she runs about the house, and determination to meow and climb on me until I feed her or give her attention!

In The Beginning

This isn't really the beginning of anything except my blog. I figured it might catch someone's attention at least. I've now been to California for just a little over a year, and things are really starting to come together. Funny enough, never thought I'd end up in California. I used to look at maps when I was younger, and see the city insets for San Francisco, always figuring "I'll never visit San Francisco" so when I rode the BART and came up from the subway under the Embarcadero on Market Street, it was quite surreal.
I first came to California with Black and Veatch, on a project that I'd really only come to visit until it got underway and we got more people hired on in Sacramento. After a month-long visit, followed by a second three-week visit, I was suddenly driving out to California permanently. I felt a bit like the Clampetts driving from Arkansas to their Beverly Hills home, literally carrying all of my belongings in the back of my pickup. Unfortunately I left the granny rocking chair back in Kansas.
Here it is a year later, and I suddenly have a roommate (part-time, so I get weekends to myself!) and a new cat Moxie who keeps me company, especially when I'm trying to sleep. Her food dish runs out about 4am, and she is sure to let me know by crawling on top of my face and meowing at me. I am also starting to make more friends out here as well.
I decided to start a blog because for one, I have nothing better to do in the evenings and weekends, and because I saw Kerrie's blog from her website. It seemed like a good idea, and gives me a chance to say something important, dumb, or some random thoughts that just entered my head. I guess we'll see where it goes from here.