I feel like crap today! I stayed home from work, and I always hate staying home, but I would do no good at work in the shape I'm in.

Anyway, this weekend I'm going to be in the wedding of one of my best friends from high school. It's been about 8 or so years since we've really seen each other, but I know this is going to be tons of fun. I'm going to bring all my band geek memoribilia and we're going to have a good time running up and down memory lane. The weddings about 3 hours away, so we're just going to stay there the weekend. I'll share are the band camp stories when I get back. Poor Dave, he's gotta be the picture boy andhe's got to sit there and listen to all of us yap yap yap...

Well, it was not a great day today, but better than it was yesterday. I think I could be getting sick. My stomach is all knotted and my head hurts and my body is just exhausted. I pulled almost 12 hours today, and it's getting to be much. But at least we're getting somewhere with this client. Yesterday I took a real beating, but things were looking somewhat positive today.

But once again, the people around me help me get through it with good spirits. Me and Bryan took a walk to the Sony store (and hoping that we MIGHT see Julia again) and played some rugby on PS2 for a while. Then we had some ice cream. And I had to stay late again, so I couldn't work out with Dan, but he stayed and helped me do my testing. And we had a mini workout in the office, jamming to 'Baby got Back' and 'Rico Suave'. Good times, good times.

But my head still hurts. But I'm not so sad anymore. :)

I worked 12 hours yesterday. SUCKS! This stress is really getting to me. Problem after problem after problem. All I want to do is just go home and sleep, and not talk to anyone. I'm a big stress knot. Yesterday made the last couple of days look like a walk in the park. Not fun. Not fun at all. There weren't even any highlights to the day. Argh!

Today is a little better, but I may be talking too soon. At least the guys have given me a couple good laughs, and I had ONE good meeting where I felt any sort of positivity. But enough of my bitching and moaning. It gets tiring.

Bryan passed by Julia Roberts today at Cosi. He keeps on bringing it up. It's funny. She actually mumbled something to him when he said 'How's it going?' but he couldn't hear what she said.

Ahh...it's the little things that make me happy. Before I reflect on this little thing, let me take you back to the day I met Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor from Smallville):
[I was explaining to my parents the reasons why I went to the Chicago Comic Convention]I also said that Michael Rosenbaum would be there. And it was dad's turn to say 'Who is that?' and I replied, 'He's Lex Luthor from Smallville'. And my dad's face lit up and he said, 'Are you going to meet him?' and I replied 'I'm going to try and get an autograph for Kristine. So my dad says, 'When you meet him, tell him that your dad told you to tell him 'I like you in Smallville. I think that you're a really great actor.' Dude, I didn't even know that he watched the show! ...So when we got up there, I had the 8x10 that Kathy bought for Kristine, and I asked him to sign it. As he was signing, I said, 'My dad told me to tell you that he likes you a lot. He thinks you're a great actor.' I wasn't really expecting him to say anything back. But he then said, 'Cool! Where's he at?', to which I replied, 'He's not here, he's not into comics'. And then Fatima took a picture of me and Michael. I said thanks, and before I left, he said, 'Hey, tell your dad that I said HI'. I thought Michael was cute before, but he's even cuter in my eyes now! So after that, I called up my dad and told him about the exchange. My dad was pretty excited. It was really cute. Then he asked me, 'Did you get me his autograph?'. What a funny guy.

So I get home, and my dad's watching TV.

"What are you watching?" I ask.

"I'm watching my man Rosenbaum!" he says enthusiastically. Then he completely zoned me out. [*He was watching Smallville - sorry!]

How cute. That definitely brought a smile to my face last night...

Today Dave's got his medical boards. He's been studying for the past 6 months for them. I know that he's really worried and stressed out about it, but he's one of the smartest, most hard working people I know. (and he's got a cute face and a hot bod to match!) I know he's going to do great. It's not like I'm biased or anything. *wink* I wish him lots of luck.

Whoa. Today was a killer day at work. I was on a 3 1/2 conference call with a client, and we didn't even fix their problem. It's the same client that I've been working on for the last week. Big client. Big problems. And I've been working with a whole bunch of people on this, and no one can pinpoint what's going on. And the last thing you want to tell a client is that you don't know what's going on. I am mentally and physically exhausted right now. My body is so tense, even hours later. I feel like my spirit has been sucked away. My head hurts from thinking too much. I was seriously ready to crack at work, if it hadn't been for people trying to cheer me up. Bryan kept on saying 'Strawbeasies', which is how his niece says 'strawberries'. For some reason, it cracks me up. Amy gave me a Kit Kat. And the late night birdies did their little song and dance, which definitely brought a smile to my face. Ahh, it's times like these that you realize how wonderful the people around you are...

Today's lunch will consist of Taco Bell's Chicken Bowl. It's mighty tasty and I like to pretend that it's low fat. I was supposed to work out today, but I woke up late, and I'm also not feeling too well. Maybe I'll work out tomorrow. We'll see.

So I've been playing around with the formatting for this blog. Just needed a little change. Nothing big, just a change. Work is super busy today, I've got a MAJOR client with major problems. Luckily, the higher-ups here aren't breathing down my neck (yet). It's a gorgeous day in Chicago today. That helps reduce the stress level.

Don't ask why I'm up this late. Made some changes with the style sheet on this page, but there's still a few kinks to work out. We'll see how the linkages go.

Anyway, here's a cool site to check out. It's Slice Puzzles by Bugimus. It's really helped me get my mind off things, and it's damn addicting. Eventually, I'll go through my pictures and send him one. It's the least I could do for going through all his puzzles. Try it out. It's a lot of fun. Just don't beat my scores.

My Healthy Eating Campaign
Breakfast: 1/4 bag of Fritos Sabrositas
Pre-Lunch: 2 chocolate glazed donuts, 1 glass of 2% milk with ice
Lunch: 1 chocolate glazed donut, 1 glass of 2% milk with ice
Dinner: 2 pieces of fried chicken, rice

As I said, diet be damned. Who needs to be skinny anyway?

Spent most of the morning watching the National Skateboarding Championships and beach volleyball. I seriously have to get my hands on a skateboard. I think I'm ready to start practicing my moves. At the very least, it's time to dust off my copy of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. I heard a rumor that they're coming out with THPS4, so I need to finish 3 first. I've only got about 5 more skaters to go. God, I love that game.

Still sorting out comics. Should get done with that today. Damn, I've got a lot. Seeing how many comics I have makes it easier for me to decide which ones I'm going to stop collecting. Since I'm on this subject, here's some great comics to pick up:

Fray

Ultimate Spiderman

Elektra

Fathom (YAY Michael Turner!)

Ruse

New X-Men

Origin

Meridian

Batgirl

Posted by Yano at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)

Well, I guess I can share with you all what's been up with me lately.

Several years ago, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. After operations, chemotherapy, drugs and a lot of inner strength, she made it through. Of course, it was a difficult time for her, and our whole family. But she persevered. Over the past couple months, my mother had a very bad cold, which produced this AWFUL cough. After going to the doctor a couple times, going in for tests and such, earlier this week it was revealed that the cancer had moved to her lungs. Luckily, it's in the early stages. The doctors are very optimistic. But it's still hard, you know? She already went through all that crap, and she's got to go through it again? So it's been a little hard on the family, and we're each dealing with it in different ways. When things like this happen, your mind gets full of 'what if?s' and about how unfair life seems to be. And all the miniscule things that you had worried about in the last couple months seem completely insignificant, and when you hear other people complaining about their problems, you almost want to yell in their faces how lucky they actually have it. I was on such an emotional roller coaster over the past couple days. On Thursday I had gone to lunch a couple of the guys and I burst out crying in the middle of the food court. Poor things didn't know what hit 'em. I try to keep myself busy, so I can't stop and dwell on it. I've been teetering between being in an awful, bitchy mood and really quiet and introspective. But I think my mom's attitude has really helped us all. She's being really strong, and really positive about everything. I really admire her for it. So the best I can do right now is help out as much as I can around the house, and give her a lot of hugs and 'I love you's. It helped a lot the last time.

And so today, I'm just hanging at home with my mom. Tried to keep myself busy by rearranging and sorting out my comic book collection and watching 'American Pie 2'. Which was really funny because my mom came by and started watching it with me, and it's really hard to explain the humor of the movie to her. Note: Never watch a man pee on another man's head when your mom is in the room. She just won't get it. And we've had people coming all day visiting and seeing how my mom is doing. It's really nice, but I know that she could probably use the rest, too. But it's really heart warming to see her best friends come by and sit around her and talk.

Well, I guess that's it in a nutshell...Thanks for everyone's support. Right now, I'm going to finish sorting my comics out. And I'm patiently waiting for Marian and Derrick to bring me my White Castle. Diet be damned. I need comfort food. I'll just hold my breath in that bridesmaid dress!

All right. I'm debating on whether to color my hair back to basic black (or dark brown). It's been quite a chore maintaining my blond highlights, and I'm trying to save money, too. But I don't know if I want to go back. I'm wavering. What do you guys think? Stay with the blond, or go au naturel?
<--Blond Streaks
Basic Black-->

The meeting was as non-eventful as I thought it was going to be. I caught myself napping 7 times in the two hours. I then resorted to pretending to take notes, even though no one else in the room was taking notes. I've got some really pretty drawings on my notepad.

Today, I'm just going to stay at home. I'm really tired, and it's Fatima's last day at home and we're going to watch 'Serendipity'. I've seen it already, so I'm going to sort out my comics while we're watching. Multitasking, that's me...

I also drove to work today. I've been late for the past couple days, and I didn't want to be late again. Luckily, my car is back from the shop. A person, who shall go unnamed here, got my car into a little fender bender while I was in Atlanta last week. Grr...I couldn't bear to look at the damage because I don't want to get angry at this unnamed person, thought it was really nice torturing this person with guilt over busting up my baby.
CD for the Commute to Work: Mama Mia! Original Cast Recording - Yeah, I'm an ABBA fan. I admit it! And this was a great show. I'd advise you all to go out and watch it! It's a blast! However, I actually got out of work early enough to catch the B96 Traffic Jam, which had a lot of tasty treats, like the mysterious and sexy (ha!) Emininem, Brandy, Nelly, and P. Diddy. Damn, I hate his new name. But it was a great mix.

OK, so I had a Spanish Omelette bagel from McDonalds. Uh...the diet will start tomorrow. Yeah...right.

So I saw the first guy I dated on the train the other day. I didn't say hello, because I was so weirded out. And DAMN...he's really good looking now! Well, he was kinda cute then, but right now he's got this Brad Pitt/Matt Damon thing going on. Have mercy. I know I shoulda said hello or something, but I looked absolutely awful. I had my hair up in a ponytail, no makeup or anything, and this big zit on my upper lip. I wasn't going to start conversation with anyone that day.

Does anyone watch American Idol? It's my guilty little pleasure to watch. Anyway, I don't know what America was thinking voting off Tamyra! My theory is that everyone thought that Tamyra was a sure thing, so they voted for their favorites to keep them in the game, thinking that everyone ELSE was going to vote for Tamyra. So everyone was so busy voting for their favorite underdog that no one voted for poor Tamyra. Shocking. Definitely shocking. But that's ok. She's going to get a kick ass record deal out of this, and she'll go farther than the winner. But for now, I'm all for Kelly to win it all. I love white girls that can sing the blues.

We've got a two hour company meeting today. Wish me luck on staying awake. I'll keep a tally of how many times I nod off, and I'll report later. I'm not looking forward to this!

Wow. I didn't think that so many people would respond to yesterday's blog.

Well, the situation hasn't changed, but after some sleep and some thinking, I'm in a better mood. When I can tell you guys what's REALLY going on, I promise you I will. But I want to thank everyone for their words of encouragement. Y'all are great.

So I'm really sore today from Tuesday's workout with Dan. He was actually quite surprised that I didn't complain, and that I was actually stronger than he thought I was. I'm no girlie-girl! I'm TOUGH! Anyway, working out wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'll probably go again. After this soreness is gone.

Yesterday I got the bridesmaid dress for this wedding that I'm going to be in next week. I was afraid that it wouldn't come in on time. I tried it on, and it's gorgeous, but a little snug. Looks like I'll have to drop a pound or two before next week. Then again, I've been saying that for the past couple months. We'll see. Dan and Sammy have just persuaded me to go to Taco Bell with them. I can never say no to that place. I'll start my mini-diet tomorrow.

Today is a horrible day. It started out horrible, and it's getting worse and worse. Seriously, on a scale from 1-10, it started out a 2.5 and has been downgraded to a 2.

You know what sucks about having a blog that you know other people read? When you want to really pour your heart out about something, but you can't, because you know that people who read you words may tell other people, and it's not something that everyone needs to know right now. Sorry for being mysterious and everything, but there are some hard times coming ahead, and it breaks my heart to think of it. Eventually I'll put it down here, but right now I can't, for two reasons - 1) It's too early for me to broadcast it to the world, and 2) I'll start crying if I talk about it. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with me, Dave or the wedding.

And when you're having a bad day, little things just make it worse and worse. You try to keep yourself busy, but you end up in a meeting where you zone out and just start dwelling on things. Damn meetings that I don't really need to attend. And work doesn't help my mood much. But then again, little moments of laughter that people give you let you know that there's a light at the end of this dark tunnel. I love working with some of these guys.

On a lighter note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAUDINE! Poor thing has an exam on her birthday. Aww. Well, I wish my wonderful sisterfriend a great birthday and many happy ones to come.

Today I'm going to work out with Dan. This will be first time I'll be working out in a health club since 1998. I'm a little apprehensive about all this! I'm so dead. I get worn out walking up the stairs to the second floor of the Gap.

what an absolutely gloomy and rainy day in Chicago! Well, it's a nice change of pace for me. I haven't had a rainy day in Chicago for a while. It seems that every time it rains here I'm out of town. And who doesn't need rain? I know we need it! It was also nice to hear the thunder in the middle of the night last night. I love thunder. But I love lightning more!

I'm absolutely sluggish here at work today. Working on consultant and expense reports, and paying bills while I'm at it, too. I really need to change my spending habits if I'm going to save my money. The sad thing is that I don't even know what I've been spending my money on! I'll be back again later.

So me and Dave went on our second stop in the 'Dave and Christine's Lookin for a Church Tour 2002'. And let me tell you, I've fallen in love!!! This church, actually a basilica, was absolutely gorgeous and dreamy. It's by my house, and I pass it all the time, but I've never gone inside. Anyway, it has this beautiful front lawn, and the inside has this long isle and a beautiful painting right above the altar. And it's HUGE! (not like we're going to have tons of people attending the wedding anyway) It's so big there was a time delay with the music when we were sitting in the back. I loved it! Afterwards, me and Fatima did some surveillance with my camera. The first pic turned out ok. But I sent Fatima in for a quick pic inside, and she got nervous because there was a baptism going on inside, so the picture isn't too focused. But you can get a glimpse of how massive it is inside. Ahh...the visions going on inside my head. Now the main question is if we can get a date there. I'm crossing my fingers!

And I finally got a new phone today. I've been putting it off for months. But yesterday I pulled a sticker off my faceplate, andt he whole thing came off. I was able to put it back on, but it was a sign. So I gave Fatima my phone, and she's now part of the cell phone community. Now we'll be able to find Fatima. We'd always call her at school and she was NEVER home! Now we've got a tracking device. But let's not tell her that. She still thinks that having a cell phone is a good thing.

Ohh...I forgot to add this one to my previous post. I had my first 'Car Bomb' yesterday. It's a half pint of Guiness, with a shot of Jameson and Bailey's. What you do is drop the shot of Jameson that's topped off with Bailey's into the pint of Guiness and chug the whole thing. I've been putting it off for a while because it looks pretty intense, but DAMN. It's tasty. Really good. Yum yum. Like chocolate milk.

Well, we had some good times yesterday. OK, not some really OK times, but the drinks were good. It was great to see my fellow stalker Tina. I would have liked to go out dancing after Howl at the Moon, but we stopped by Tina's, and we just couldn't decide where to go after. So I passed out around the time Tina was doing her interpretive dance to the Aerosmith CD. Then I woke up at 3 in the morning not knowing where I was. That's always a strange feeling! I looked around to see if anyone else fell asleep there, but it was pretty dark, so I just snuck out. There was almost that one night stand feeling going on. This morning I got a call from Sam thanking me for leaving him at Tina's alone. He woke up with that dirty one night stand feeling, too. :)

So me and Fatima started watching Mulholland Drive yesterday, and the DVD wouldn't work halfway through the movie. Grrr. I'll have to take it back in tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get a free rental or something like that outta this.

They're still practicing for the air show. All I hear is the sound of the planes coming by. It's pretty cool. Unfortunately it's kinda cloudy today.

Any, have I ever told you that I hate butt kissers? Well I do. I've been getting the silent treatment from certain managerial people in the company, but I have no idea what I did wrong. I'm so tired of this cold shoulder treatment. The only time I get spoken to by this person is when they REALLY need something from me. Any other communication is relayed to me by third parties. I mean, come on, at least have the guts to reprimand me on your own. And you know what? It sucks when you know that someone is making more than twice the money that you are, but you can do the same job, and better. And people like you more. Sometimes I think that all this work politic stuff really sucks ass.

On the brighter side, we're going out for drinks today. We haven't done the happy hour in a while, so it should bring some good times. And Tina is going to join us, and I haven't seen my fellow stalker in a while. It'll be fun to catch up.

Saturday is the Air and Water show here, and the Blue Angels are practicing today. They've been flying around downtown and over the lake all day, doing some pretty cool tricks and formations. It's fucking cool. All I hear is the sound of them passing by, but when I look up, they're already far away. Damn that speed of sound! I've been trying to take pictures, but those buggers are just too fast for me. Tomorrow should be even better, because the rest of the planes should be doing their practice runs, too. Man, I miss that desk that overlooks the lake! But that's ok, because I get to see them fly around the buildings from my view here.

Where is Yano Today? Sweet Home Chicago!

I'm back home! Whoo hoo!

Just wanted to wish my mom a very Happy Birthday. She's like a million years old now.

On the airplane, I saw a rainbow. It was so pretty, but it was fading away. I went to get my camera, but by the time I got it, it was gone. But I love seeing rainbows. Every time it rains, and the sun is coming out, I always look for one. But what's best is when you aren't really expecting to see a rainbow, and BAM! there it is, right when you turn around. Almost like it's sneaking up on you. Anyway, it always lifts up my spirits.

Where is Yano Today? Alpharetta, GA

Whoo hoo! It's my last day in Alpharetta, and I come home tonight. I'm glad to go home, because there's a lot of wedding stuff that I need to get accomplished by the end of the week. I'm REALLY tired right now. I got suckered into watching this cheesey almost B movie called '100 Women' or something like that late last night. Never heard of it before, but it was really cute.

Anyway, I've had my fill of sql queries and triggers. When I get back to the office, I'm going to stay away from them. And for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, your life is better not knowing.

Here's the interesting link of the day. I haven't mentioned any speedskaters lately, so Emer will have to forgive me this one time for making my link of the day The OhnoZone. It's their 6 month anniversary. Hooray to them!

BORED. I'm fricken bored. so Christine told me to write something...here's where my boredom starts. i'm Christine's Bridal Bitch, see? now, how that got started was that her maid of honor is in Florida doin her disney thang, and since Claudine is in Iowa, i'm the next sensible choice (yeaah :D). so she really hasn't given me anything to do, even tho i kinda ask her alot...anyways, i finally get to do something, and it only takes me like 30 minutes. great. so now i'm bored again. but i guess i should enjoy it while it lasts...

Two adorable links from some pretty little birds...
You make me wanna
Mr. Nice
Ahh...a little piece of happiness those two are...

Where is Yano Today? Alpharetta, GA

I put up my LA and Comic Convention pics on the pics page. Enjoy!

Still in Alpharetta. You know, I used to have a problem with getting into conversation with clients (ok, sometimes, not all the time) but every since I got engaged, all I need to do is talk about the wedding. EVERYONE has advice about the wedding. All I have to do is mention that I'm engaged, and people will just talk and talk, and I just need to throw in my two cents in every now and then. Not that the advice isn't helpful. It's really great to hear other people's wedding horror stories.

Today's Fortune Cookie Says: 'Happiness is an attitude' Um, DUH! Why can't I get a good fortune? Like 'You'll be going on a trip very soon'. Wait, scratch that one. 'You'll be getting a proposal very soon'. Scratch that one, too. 'This fortune good for one free meal'. Ahh...I like that one.

Don't forget to watch the Perseid meteor shower tonight. It should be the strongest at around 6-9pm EST, but you'll still be able to see meteors throughout the night, especially those of you who aren't close to big cities. It's best to look in the lower northeast sky for meteors. Keep your eyes open! Some of my best childhood memories are of lying down on blankets in Melanie's backyard, having cousin sleepovers and staring at the night sky, waiting for falling stars. That's when we started the two person rule. If more than two people saw the meteor, than it was actually a meteor. If it was just one person, it was just that person's imagination. Get all your wishes ready for the falling stars tonight!

Wedding planning question: Does anyone know a good purplish color that I can use as my wedding theme? I was going to go with Periwinkle, but that might be a bit too bright.

Where is Yano Today? Alpharetta, GA

Here I am, back in Atlanta.  Actually, it's Alpharetta, GA, but close enough.  My rental car really sucks.  I should have paid the $2 to upgrade to a midsize.  I mean, it's not like I'm paying for it.  Got to work on my LA pics while I was on the plane.  They'll be up tomorrow, as well as my pics from the Chicago Comic Convention and our user forum for work.  You know what sucks?  The in flight movie was supposed to be those short TV show deals, but it didn't work, so they started playing 'Changing Lanes' with Ben Affleck and Samuel Jackson.  The sucky thing is that the movie is longer than the flight, so I don't know what happens at the end. Dammit!  And I had being in the eastern time zone.  I need to sleep earlier, and get up an hour earlier.  Ick.  That's ok, I'm sleepy right now anyway!  Tomorrow, I will have Chick-Fil-A to make myself feel better.  Muhahahahaha!

I don't know, but as much as I don't want to, I find Eminem sexy, in a weird sort of way. Scary.

And I don't know what it is about White Castle, but I cannot stay away. Maybe it's because they're so small and petite. Maybe it's because it's cheap. Maybe I like the thrill of not knowing what the mystery meat is. But I love the place. I can't help it!

Went church hunting with Dave. I don't want to get married in my church, because for some reason, I don't think that the 70's shag orange carpeting will go well with my dress. ;-) We went to his church today, and it's nice, but maybe a little too modern for my tastes. And the alter is as big as my computer desk. More hunting! If not, then Dave's church wins.

Just came home from a night out. Me, Fatima and Gil went over to Karen and Mariza's birthday soiree. It's always great to see people from school. I haven't seen those ladies for a while! And it was also great to see Marcel and Ann, visiting from San Francisco. Marcel told me that he reads my blog. I'm always amazed to find out that people I actually KNOW read my blog. Lots of lurkers out there reading about me. It was nice to go out, but I just couldn't get into the music. Maybe I'm getting old, but I just couldn't dance to the deep house that was playing. I was waiting for some hip hop or old Chicago House to play, but it never happened. So I just watched other people dance. That's ok, because Gil wasn't really enthused about the music either. I haven't seen that guy in a while, and it was cool to hang out again. Of course, he got tipsy after only a couple drinks. Ahh, just like the good old days. Maybe one of the reasons I was antsy today was because I really wanted to eat White Castle. Those little sliders were just dancing to the deep house inside my head, and I love their chicken sandwich. Afterwards, we drove over to the White Castle near Nikki's and had a feast. Yum Yum.

Must go to sleep now!

Drove the future mother-in-law to the airport today. I think she's enjoying all this wedding stuff, Dave doesn't have a sister, so I think she's going to live vicariously through me. That's fine, I need all the help I can get.

Anyway, we watched 'Signs' yesterday. It was a very good movie. I'd give it 3 1/4 stars. Not as scary as people told me it would be, though. But then again, I love aliens. I want them to be among us. Chances are, they are among us right now. It's the second time I watched it, so I was ready for all the jumps and clues. This was MUCH better than Unbreakable, but not as good as 6th Sense. M. Night always puts himself into his movies - every time he gets more and more lines. But hey, if I directed a movie, I'd put myself in it, too. But this was a great story, and more of a moral story than a horror flick. Good. Very good.

Today I finish up my last day of training. Whoo hoo! It was a pretty good class. Only a couple people got lost. Luckily, I was only assisting the class this time. So I was just helping the lost sheep find their way home. I'm SO exhausted.

Here's a cool link that I found: What X-Men are you? I'm Jean Grey: Goodness Gracious, you're everyone's favourite do-gooder Jean Grey, also known as Phoenix. You look after your teammates, get along with everyone, have a wonderful man who loves you and have pretty much achieved perfection. But look out when you're PMSing and you become Dark Phoenix: a raging homicidal bitch with a knack for causing trouble.

Book I'm Reading: Blood Legacy: By Kerri Hawkins. This novel actually started out as a four issue comic by Top Cow. I loved the comic, and I love the book. She creates an intricate new spin on the legend of the Vampire by bringing these creatures of the night into the present day. Probably the most descriptive vampire novel I've read. You really get a feeling for the characters, and a new way of looking at what we think of as Vampires.

So other than yesterday's mega-long post, I really haven't been around. We've had our user forum for work all week. Basically, out clients come in, we give them workshops and take them out and stuff. So for the last week I've been schmoozing, training, testing, socializing, consulting, and presenting. It was pretty successful, but I hated wearing our asexual gray polo shirts. I look as feminine as a 10 year old boy.

But it's always great to see clients. And even better to take them out and see them act silly. We went to a piano bar named 'Howl at the Moon', which has dueling pianos, and it was a great time. We played Whirlyball the day after, and I scored 3 goals. YAY! I love that game. It's basically a cross between basketball, polo, and lacross played in bumper cars. Everyone had a great time. Lotsa fun, lotsa food, lotsa beer and lotsa bruises. Ouch. But worth it!

Finally, I get a chance to sit down and write my 'Yano Goes to L.A. Report'. Here goes. Get ready for a long long ride...

Thursday
Dan and I flew out late Thursday afternoon, and arrived at Long Beach airport at around 9:30. Dan was the Yano bodyguard for the weekend, ready to make a full report to Dave aat the end of the trip. Anyway, it was pretty neat at Long Beach because we got to get off on the tarmac and come down the stairs all Beatles style. And Long Beach is the tiniest airport! You get off the plane, go out the gate (which is all outside) and you're done! The baggage claim is outside. It's weird.

So we checked into Hotel Cajudo, which was a great place to stay. They had the best samples there, too. We got mouthwash, a toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, soap, and Scooby snacks. After checking in, we headed out to this place called the Yardhouse, where they have this endless selection of beer, and they serve it in these yardlong glasses. I had half a yard and I was already giggling like a little girl. But it was a good time. Met some really nice people.

Afterwards, I fell asleep on the couch while the guys were surfing the web, and I snored. Pretty embarrassing. But I admit it. I snore.

Friday

Dan made it plain and clear in the days before that he wanted to get to Magic Mountain early to be first in line for the roller coaster, 'X'. He's a real Roller coaster enthusiast. Rumor was that 'X' was reopened. So we got up early, got a great meal consisting of rice, spam and ketchup at the Cajudo Restaurant, and headed out to the park.

Unfortunately, 'X' was closed. Dan was as sad as a little boy who's been told that Santa wasn't real (Dan's comment: "I was pissed!!! Damn Six Flags Damn them). But we still got to ride a lot of the coasters at Magic Mountain. Dan still had a great time. I think my favorite was Goliath. It was a great ride, and even though the wait was about 45 minutes, they have little misters in line and the time passed by quickly. I didn't put on any sunscreen, so I got a little red on my shoulders. But sun is good. Rod was making fun of my neon white pasty legs. Hopefully they're best described now as just white, not pasty white. We had a great time. It's a big park, and there were a lot of great rides. The only thing was how expensive everything was - a drink for $3.50? Ouch.

That night, we drove along Sunset Boulevard and met up with Moises, Bryan and Jennifer at this club called Miyagi's. It was a pretty interesting place. The music was awesome and the third floor was basically a grinding pick up dance fest. A lot of eye candy on that third floor. It was really hard to imagine Bryan and Jennifer there, it didn't really seem like their scene. But we had a good time. It was a pretty mixed crowd, but a good lot of them were Asian and African American. It closed at 2, but I wished it was open later, because I really didn't get a chance to dance.

Afterwards, Rod gave us a little late night tour of Rodeo Drive and Hollywood. We stopped by Mann's Chinese Theater and took some pics. I didn't really see any of my favorite actors on the cement, so I settled for Julie Andrews. :) We also went for a little walk, and we saw people who were camping out in line to get American Idol tickets. Since I had my camera, I took pictures and interviewed people, some of whom were encamped there since the afternoon. Seems like most of them there love Kelly Clarkson. I like her too. She's got personality. So we're talking to these people, and a cop car pulls up. Dan is talking to them, and pulls me over, and tells me to explain to the cop what American Idol was. So I get into conversation with him. It was pretty funny. Him and his partner ('Officer #2', as I called him) were pretty cool to talk to, and didn't seem to be in any hurry to 'Protect and Serve' LA. Things got a little hairy when I refused to tell them my name and officer #2 pulled out his handcuffs and said 'Oh, we have ways'. But I know that Rod and Dan were closeby to protect me if needed. I had to cut the conversation short when I asked Officer #1 if he had kids, and he said yes, and then I asked him if he had a wife, and he replied 'No, but I'm looking for one', and then he asked me if I wanted to take a ride. Eek! What's up with the LAPD? So I told them that I had to go, and they asked me if I wanted to hear the siren, and I said yes, so they turned on the lights and siren, and sped off into the night. Dan was laughing his ass off the entire time.

Saturday
Well, let's start with the afternoon, because we didn't get up til 1pm. We were so exhausted from the night before that Rod let us sleep in. It was quite pleasant. We then went to lunch, at this restaurant where I swear there was a bra size requirement for the waitresses. But the food was really good. We then went on a ride along the beaches, passing by Huntington and Newport beaches. And I finally know what Pacific Coast Highway is. Yay! It was a great ride around Cali.

Later that day, we went to Mo's house for his graduation party. It was a really great time. He's got a wonderful family. As soon as we got there his mom grabbed me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and a big hug. She was SO sweet! It was great to see Mo again, and he's looking really good. I miss having that guy around! When it came time to cut the cake, they asked Mo to make a speech. And he started off with 'Well, I haven't really prepared anything, so I'm sorry if this isn't good.' And then he went on to give one of the best speeches I've ever heard. It was so well worded, and so heartfelt, that you know that he meant every word he said. He talked about what an impact people have made on his life, and how special everyone in the room was to him, as well as what he wants to do with his life, and how he wants to make an impact on other people's lives. It was great. There was also some salsa dancing, which I was too intimidated to take part in, because Mo's brother is GOOD. But Dan did a little dancing with Mrs. Ortiz, and he did an ok job, for being extremely pigmently challenged (rod's term). Of course, the highlight of the night was when Dan ran into Mo's screen door and broke it. It was hilarious. For all the people who had run into that screen in all the years that they'd lived there, Dan breaks it in his drunken stupor. Classic.

Sunday
Got up, went home. And it was SO HOT at home! Geez, it's weird to think that the weather was better in Cali.

So, all in all, it was a great trip. Special thanks goes to the staff at Hotel Cajudo for not minding us stumbling in late at night and for offering the best accommodations Long Beach has to offer. Also to the Ortiz family, for throwing the best party that BF Egypt has ever seen. And it great to meet Lanie, Rick, Liz, Al and Rene as well as the whole Ortiz clan. We had a great time, and we met a lot of wonderful people. Can't wait to go back!

Sorry for not blogging. We've got our user forum right now, and I've been busy, training clients, consulting, schmoozing, drinking, taking clients out on scandalous excursions, etc. I'll post in a full report of LA later. I feel so out of touch with the internet world right now.

I'm in LA right now. Went to a place called 'Yardhouse'. It was pretty fun. Had me-self half a yard of some beer. Yay. Ok, that's all.

Well, I knew today was going to be a busy day at work, but it was absolutely CRAZY. Don and Orlando were out of work today, and Bryan was pretty much the only one left. I've got so much crap to do for our upcoming forum, but I've been trying to help out. There's just so much work to do! However, I'm leaving work soon, so it will be all over soon. Whoo! Then it's off to sunny California. ARGH!!! Well, I don't know if I'll be able to check in while I'm gone, but know that I'll give a full report, with pictures, once I get back!