Unofficially official

My friend Kate had told me to write about all my different temp jobs on my blog. (Apparently there are some crazy ones out there.) Well, sorry to say that my admin gig at Onyx Pharmaceuticals is the only one I will write about. (And I am glad I lucked out and didn't have to experience the really weird temp jobs.)
I am unofficially official here. I am still a temp. There is definitely room in the budget for me next year. And me being permanent could happen sooner.
I am the Legal Administrative Assistant. I really like working here. My supervisor (paralegal) and I work really well together. We make a good team. I like all the people I work with. The lawyer is really cool and layed back. I like that he takes the time to explain things to me. I am learning a lot of new stuff here. Biotechnology is 180 from newspapers. And I like working Monday thru Friday, 9-5, no holidays.
I do miss newspapers. It is much different experiencing news as just a reader or watcher (CNN, no Fox News here). I can only imagine how busy The Republic has been with the hurricane. But I do have to say that I do enjoy just being a reader.

Lake Tahoe

So we were invited to stay with friends at a condo in King's Beach the weekend of Aug. 5. Curt and I drove up after work that Friday night. We got to the condo about 10:30 or so. My friend Alex and her fiance, Donald, were there and their friends Randee and Steven. (Donald's parents own the condo.) They were playing cards. I just sat and watched, but Curt was dealt in. He ended up winning.
Saturday morning was lazy. Randee made sausages and peppers. Good stuff! Then we headed to the beach. The sand was HOT!!! It was so nice just lying around on the beach. Eventually we headed back to the condo.
Alex and Donald headed to Reno for Hot August Nights. (I think that is what it was called.) It's a car show. Us older folks stayed home. Randee, Steven, Curt and I stuck around and had dinner at a nice restaurant. We had great food and good wine. Everything about that meal was amazing. Afterward we came home and played Taboo. I get crazy when it comes to that game. It wasn't too wild since it was just the four of us. But we still had fun.
Sunday late morning we all headed home. It was a nice little vacation.

Spagers????

Why do people feel the need to comment on my blog postings with spam? UGH!
Isn't junk mail in your snail mailbox and junk mail in your e-mail inbox enough???
OK, that is my rant. Thank you for listening.

By the way, whenever I see a spager posting I delete it.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww

World Cup ...

... here we come! So Curt (and our friend Martin--who is German and lives in Germany) entered a lottery for World Cup tickets. Curt wasn't picked in the first round, but he was reentered. Well he got picked the second time around for three USA games. (I believe Curt said that Martin said [whew!] he doesn't know anyone in Germany who has gotten tickets.)
Our original plan was to go to the World Cup in Germany next year and other lovely places in Europe. But we realized that it would be costly. So we decided to go this year instead. Well, once we moved to the Bay Area we spent most of our "Europe money" on silly things like rent, deposits, etc. So we figured 2007 would be our year to go to. But these tickets change everything.
So this means I finally have to get a passport. Yup, I have never had a passport cuz I have never needed one.

Why you haven't posted on your blog lately?

This is what one of my blogging fans asked me recently. Well, I do have lots to write about. I have this issue--I need to put my photos online--and I never remember how. So I have to ask Curt ... and I just need to write the steps down. Laziness I tell ya.
--Anyway, I need to tell you about our visit with Erica and Casey over the weekend. (I don't think I took a lot of pics. Casey took a lot on his cell phone--so we will probably never see them.)
--In July the Reuterman clan was here. Have pics from that visit.
--We went to Lake Tahoe the first weekend of August. Had a great, relaxing time. Didn't bring the camera. Ooops.
Will write soon. Hold tight.

Apparently you have to be careful whom you send e-mails to ...

So Curt was recently goggling himself or me. I can't remember which. Anyway, he found a posting about us in "The Cursor," which is the UA journalism department alumni paper, which comes out twice a year.
I am proud of my liberalism and will never deny it or be ashamed. But I still laughed when I read this.

1997
Ann “Chihak” Poff and husband Curt Poff have moved
to San Francisco. Ann says in an e-mail, “Curt inter-
viewed for a job in San Francisco. Well, he was offered
it, and we decided it was time for a change. We are very
excited ... and this is a little bit scary. I will be jobless
initially. I may try something new, hopefully working
with children.” Ann says she is “excited to live in a
‘blue’ state.”

Good reads

I have to say the San Fran Chron Web site has some good reads today. Enjoy:

Morford column
Petition story--hilarious!!!

Movie reviews

So I watched "The Forgotten" last night. All I can say is I am so glad I didn't spend good money on that movie. Luckily with Netflix it was practically free. It is considered a psychological thriller. But it was just weird. Some things were never explained. At first it was interesting--but weird stuff happened. And I never quite figured out why.
Last week I watched "Radio." That was a great movie. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Ed Harris are so great in it. There are some sad moments, but for the most part it is a feel-good movie. I was smiling most of the time I was watching it. I highly recommend this one.

FINALLY!!!

I was watching CNN this morning. The weather guy was on. He was talking about Phoenix. The little map said 100 degrees. Then the weather guy said, With monsoons it is NOT a dry heat. Thank you CNN weather guy! It drives me nuts when people say, Well, it's a dry heat. Yea, come live in Tucson or Phoenix in monsoon season and tell me how dry it feels.

Yikes!!!!

"Sam" won the World's Ugliest Dog Contest. I don't think anyone would dispute it. He has won it three years running.
Go here if you want to read the whole story on azcentral.com.

Some observations

Over the weekend Curt and I had dinner at two different pubs. The first one is called The Patio. We both had sandwiches: I had grilled cheese with avocado, and Curt had a lamb sandwich. He said his was good and so was mine. YUM!
While we were there we sat on the patio along with some college students. I think they like that place because it is cheap and you can smoke on the patio. (You can't smoke in bars or restaurants in the whole state of California. It's wonderful!) Anyway, a monk sat at the patio and had a soda. And then all of a sudden he is smoking a cigarette. I found this very odd.
Saturday morning I was doing laundry at the laundromat. (Yes, we have to schelp our clothes to the laundromat. Our apartment building shares a laundry room with another small apartment building. But the 2 washers and dryers are small and the dryers you usually have to run twice. It is too much of a pain to do a whole bunch of laundry.) Anyway, I was folding and this older couple walked in with lots of laundry. I heard the old guy make some noise. I looked up and I realized they were kissing noises. Then he told his wife that he loved her. I thought it was so cute and sweet.
I will write and post pics from our Reuterman visit. I just haven't uploaded my pics yet. Before we had a digital camera I would go to Target immediately to develop film. Now that technology has made it easier for me to get pics I am lazier. Very sad.
Oh, the other pub we went to was called Cato's Ale House. The food was good. And they had a huge variety of beer and drinks. The table next to us was a bunch of employees and they were playing some game that was loud and obnoxious. But other than that it was a good experience. And not to bad on the wallet either.

Is this cute or what?