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The past four days ...

Thursday and Friday I had training in the city. It was a training from the company called CPI. As they state on their Web site, "Computer Packages is the oldest company (over 40 years) providing Intellectual Property Management Systems and Patent Annuity Payment Services." So to maintain deadlines and run reports on Onyx's patent portfolio I use CPI's docketing database. Onyx also uses CPI to pay our patent annuity maintenance payments--you have to pay a yearly fee to maintain your patents.

There's a little background some of what I do. I went to this same training about two years ago. But I was pretty new at the job and we had Version 1 of the system. About a year and a half ago we upgraded, and now we have Version 6. So yea, a lot of changes.

I met some interesting people. Saw someone I know who does the same thing I do at another company. She and I see each other at trainings, our bosses are married to each other and we use the same consultant. I also met someone who works at Clorox. I was intrigued to find out all the companies Clorox owns, such as Fresh Step, Glad, Tilex, KC Masterpiece, etc. She was so sweet and brought me a Clorox gel pen on Day 2.

CPI treats you well. They provide breakfast both days, lunch and dinner on Day 1. And a happy hour.

Friday evening I hit my yoga class. I haven't been to the Friday evening class in months. After yoga I met Alicia and Sue for dinner to celebrate Sue's birthday. We had a good time, as always.

Saturday I spent my usual two hours at the gym. Did a little house cleaning and straightening up of our spare room and laundry. Jacob came over and he and Curt brewed some beer. So Saturday was loungy, yet productive.

Today we headed to Alicia and Darren's for good eats, beer and football. It was a good time. A & D just moved into a new place in San Rafael. They have this huge TV mounted to the wall and a pretty sweet surround sound system. It was a good time. And the football was exciting. The commercials were eh. But there were some funny ones. But there were also a lot of lame ones. I heart Betty White hardcore, Doritos, E*Trade, Bud Light. Some decent entertaining commercials--just not a lot of them.

Oh, and the past two years I have gotten sick the first week of February ... so far so good. (I rarely do get sick. I get a cold about once a year and it hits me pretty good. Bleh!) Wish me luck on staying cootie free.

Guest Post Tuesday

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Wine tasting, beer tasting kind of weekend

So Friday morning about 9:30 in the morning a limo came to work to pick me and my fellow Legal team members and whisk us up to Napa for the day.

The Legal department had their very first offsite. It was a great bonding experience.

On the drive up I handed out the little goodie bags Amy and I put together for everyone. They were a hit. Everyone got a bottle of water, Slim Jims, Pringles, trail mix and granola bars.

Let me just say, this was the first time I had ever gone wine tasting and dumped some of my wine. I have NEVER done that ... until Friday. Since it was a work function I didn't want to get drunk. We have a couple of light weights in the group--so I did partake in some of their unwanted tastes.

We first hit Cakebread Cellars for some wine tasting and a tour. We learned some cool stuff and tasted some yummy wines. (The above photo is of me at Cakebread. The lighting and the angle make me look really skinny. I am not that skinny--no worries!)

After Cakebread we hit Brix for lunch. We had some super yummy appetizers. I stuck with water as my beverage. I had amazing steak fries and this awesome burger. Definitely a fuu-fuu burger. I wanted something hearty to eat since there would be more wine drinking.

After lunch we headed to Mumm, which has sparkling wine. Super yummy. I tried two sparkling reds.

And our last stop was Peju. We did a wine tasting there. I bought a bottle of Provence. It was quite yummy. The Fifty/Fifty was awesome, but also 85 bucks. Let's just say I didn't do any dumping of that wine.

On the way back to the office we did a little work talk. Some projects were discussed. We also talked about reality TV, our families, friends, past experiences, etc. It was a good time to hang out and get to know each other even better.

Saturday I hit the gym for my regular 2-hour workout.

About 2 Jacob and Aileen picked us up and we headed to the Winter Brews Festival. We tried all different types of beer. I tried a sour beer and it was sour. I do like sour--but I couldn't imagine drinking a whole glass. I tried a cherry beer, which was pretty good. The bacon brown was hmmm ... different. I had a really delicious flat bread. Man, that was good.

The weather was beautiful and sunny. We had a great time hanging out.

Saturday night we met our friends John & Nicole and Nancy for sushi at Sushiya. Dinner was delicious. And ... Nicole is pregnant. We had no idea!

Today I hit the grocery and did some end of the year shredding. Trying to get our spare room back into shape again. (That is an ongoing battle.)

Between shredding there was lounging and watching movies on Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network.

Now I am watching Big Love.

Hey litterbug!

So tonight on the way home after spin class some idiot who drove in a lane that wasn't a lane almost hit me at one point ... he slightly swerved into my lane while he was throwing trash out of his window.

Uh, nice!

Doesn't he know that he is a litterbug?

Back to knitting

I am kinda excited. I started knitting again tonight. I realized the other day that it was weird to watch TV without knitting--but I didn't want to knit something just for the sake of knitting.

I can't remember if today was my 4th or 5th visit to Michaels in the past two weeks ... anyway, they finally had the cotton candy fun fur I have been needing. (Photos do not do justice to the pretty bright pinks and purple.) There are two little girls I am making a scoa (part scarf, part boa) for. I love making this scarf. Little girls love the colors. It is a quick knit, too.

I took it pretty easy over the weekend. I wasn't sure if I was getting sick. So I decided to not chance it and didn't do a whole lot. I worked late on Friday--well, about 7. Saturday I slept in. (Skipped the gym.) Watched some movies. Joey had a nail appointment. Then I did some house cleaning. Eventually I was on the couch with some Lambrusco, my Snuggie and movies and TV shows. Curt headed to Tahoe on the Snowbomb--a bus that picks you up at the BART station and drives you up there, you get to hang out or snowboard or ski or whatever, and then they drive you home.

Sunday Dad came over and the three of us had lunch. We had a nice visit. Then the rest of the day was pretty lazy.

I have to say my Monday went pretty quick. But this month seems to be dragging.

I am so over this rain. Geez! We had a tornado warning on Saturday. But apparently it didn't touch.

Breaking the rules

One of my new work rules for 2010 was to stop working 10-12 hour days. I broke it once in Week 1. (I was working late with our patent consultant.) And I broke it this week. I think yesterday. But I already can't remember when exactly that was. Tonight I came close. I did take a lunch break today so that made it a little better.

Work is already cranking up and it going to get busier. Not sure how I will handle it all again.

I think I really need to work on time management. But it seems like no matter what I have planned something else comes up.

I have been slacking in the gym department this week. But the plan is to get back in gear next week. I have been feeling really run down and I haven't been able to tell if I am just exhausted or getting a cold. The kinda sore throat seems to be gone.

I have been taking Nyquil at night and Zicam during the day.

I plan on taking it fairly easy this weekend.

When it rains it pours

Man, the weather is crazy here.
I was in Phoenix over the weekend so I missed the weekend downpour.
But it did rain some in Phoenix on Monday. I had a bumpy ride home. It was a miserable flight home. Pretty bad turbulence almost the whole time, canceled drink service to keep flight attendants safe (booze would have made the flight a little easier to handle). I was in a window seat and the guy in the middle seat was not petite. I don't want to harp on the whole paying for two seats issue. But I was either leaning into the "wall" and tweaking my back or my whole left arm was rubbing against this guy's arm. Not the most comfortable ride.
I took BART to work today, working in SSF office. My umbrella turned inside out. And I saw two large umbrellas get beat on and turn inside out, too. That was entertaining. My co-worker Melissa picked me up at the BART station and then drove to our SSF office. She called me at one point and said she was about 3 miles away. But people were driving like 20 mph so it was taking some time. No worries. I was under cover.

Guest Post Tuesday

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A21; B1

Finn was a total sweetheart last night. He slept the whole time Erica and Casey were gone. They went to see Sherlock Holmes. They said it was a good movie. Glad I was able to give them a little time out on a date. I mean, seriously, that was one of the easiest babysitting gigs I have ever had.I got a lot of sleep last night. I was so tired. (I am looking forward to my sleep tonight, too.)

This morning we kinda hung out and then headed to Wildflower again. This time Erica, Casey, Finn and I met Robert, Leah and Oliver.

We had some yummy food. Oliver was so sweet wanting to give Finn a piece of bread with butter. Mama had to explain that Finn doesn't have teeth. Finn was a little off schedule. So he started to get fussy. Casey left a little early to take Finn to the sitter for lunch and then a nap. About 12:30 we left and headed back to the Beckidads place. Leah hung out for a bit and then headed to the yarn store, where she works a few hours a week. Robert, Ollie and I visited. And then Ollie took a nap. Robert and I had a nice visit. Usually my visits to Phoenix I get so little time with Robert. Once I saw Robert for a mere 2-3 minutes.

Eventually Ollie woke up from his nap and we visited more. Then Leah came home and we headed to the airport. Ollie was so sweet sharing his cracker goldfish with me and giving me a hug when I got out of the car.

The flight home was fairly bumpy. Rain in Phoenix and in the Bay Area. It was so bumpy that they discontinued service and no drinks. Bummer.

Thursday night when I checked in for my flight I got A21, pretty good for not paying early bird fee. Last night I checked in right at 6:10 and I got B1. Dang!

I took a good amount of pictures over the weekend, and not a single one on the actual camera. I will share all later. But here are two of the cuties I visited over the weekend.

Man, that Finn is such a cutie. He is so smiley. He is a really good little guy. He is 6 months. Oliver (Ollie) just turned 3. He is posing with Eppie (sp?). He is so chatty. He kept grabbing my hand to show me stuff at his house.