Time Warner channel 1008 has horror movies on demand.
An F train can sometimes be in disguise as an E train.
An F train stops equally as close to my work as an E train if I let it.
I’m not good at letting people walk all over me. As I shouldn’t be.
Hale & Hearty’s potato and sausage soup isn’t good.
If both metro card replenishing machines are in use a line of impatient people will form behind you.
A life-sized figure of Boba Fett is affixed to the IT department wall in my business (yah, I’m observant). Apparently they aren’t Trekkies. Or -ers.
If I go to any other Starbucks than the one I normally frequent I can still get bold coffee this week as opposed to the weakass shit they pass off as coffee but tastes like old tea water. Helllllllo, new Starbucks!
There are really cool Japanese restaurants on W 55 between 5 Ave and 6 Ave! And one is open for breakfast!
If a shop doesn’t look like a shop on the outside then I probably don’t have enough money to my name to even walk in there, much less shop there.
I am equally as honored, even more so since he sees me every single day and could think I’m pretty spectacularly boring by now, but… nope! That man dorks me out every day. (Please, no dirty thoughts here.)
In other news, my Facebook status says it all: Stef doesn’t know what to say. (That sounds more dramatic than I mean it.)
This means: EOF
For the non-geeks, that means: end of file.
For those who translate geek to speak that means: this post is over.
Stop & Shop maple bacon -- baked in the oven, Cabot Hunter's extra
sharp cheddar -- warmed slightly in the microwave, Hellmann's real
mayonnaise -- room temperature, Thomas's English muffin -- toasted.
Yes, it was fucking delicious.
A bigger size so you can see every glistening bit of it is here.
The lovely and vivacious Sheila interviewed me! Because I asked her to! Because I think she’s fascinating so I figured her asking me questions would continue the fascinating streak! And it did! Why am I exclamating? ! Shouldn’t that be exclaiming? ! Whatever!
1. I have noticed that you have a couple of babies but I can’t seem to keep up with them. How many do you have and what are there names?
This is Allie, who is almost 12:
This is Ripley, who is 7:
This is Georgie, who is 4:
My childhood cat Little Kitty is cremated and sits in a box in my floating end table drawer.
I claim ownership over many other cats when I am in their physical presence, but I’m not technically their mama.
2. Was Dawg always a cat person or was that one of those things that he just had to learn to love? As in “Love Me, Love My Kitties”.
Dawg was always a cat person, and had cats growing up. If he had hated my cats it would have been a deal breaker because that would have meant he hated a part of me. The girls are my kids. Honestly, though, I was very surprised to learn he is a cat person because I totally pegged him as a dog person.
3. How is the adjustment going as far as living in New York versus Vermont?
I love living in New York, although I think part of the reason is because I love having the craziness of Manhattan as my work life and the quiet solitude (yes, really) of Queens as my personal life. I also really enjoy making loose plans but not necessarily keeping them because then my OCD can’t kick in when we’re five minutes late for anything. I do miss my family and friends, but when I lived in Vermont I didn’t keep in touch with them as well as I do now, so it’s one of those “blessing in disguise” things. Also, I love riding the subway and I LOVE living with Dawg. Who knew living with someone could be so much fun?!???!!!!??!!!!!
4. How did your family react when you said you were moving there to be with a guy you met online?
My dad:
My mom:
My brother was shocked but then he saw videos of me and Dawg on Cereal Wednesday and he realized how absolutely in love I am with that man.
I told Break Boy during one of our Guitar Hero jams at the new datacenter. He was shocked and really sad that I wouldn’t be staying. He asked if I was happy. I showed him this video:
He knew I was happy. His wife Knitting Girl and their kids EZA, and LLA were very sad I was leaving but were content that I’d be visiting on occasion. (I do when there isn’t an effing snowstorm!!!)
PiC and da Bomb were their version of sad to see me go, but they knew it was a very good thing considering how things at work were going from bad to much, much worse.
I dunno how anyone else felt about the matter because I didn’t bother asking. I don’t really like dealing with goodbyes.
It sucks to miss people, but that’s life.
5. Do you guys ever have to battle over who gets the blog fodder when something insane happens to the two of you?
I like surprises and he knows that, so I generally don’t know what’s being posted to his blog until everyone else knows too. The only time I know what Dawg is blogging about is when he asks me to read his post before it launches or he has a great idea and tells it to me before he gets a chance to write it down. If we both have an experience it’s fair game for us both to blog it because we each have a very different perspective on any given event. We also have different readers. And we also each consider writing on our blogs as a way of sorting through the mess in our minds, so being able to write anything down is therapeutic. :smiles:
Ok, that was beyond fun. I still owe one person her interview questions, which means I suck. Sorry!!! If you want to interview me please let me know, if you want me to interview you please let me know. And, again, the idea and offer still stands — if you have any interview questions for Dawg please let me know so I can interview him on camera. We got a few questions, but I’d rather have a bunch more. I just don’t believe there aren’t people out there dying to ask the tough questions of NYC Watchdog.
In Dawg‘s world Christmas starts on the eve. I am part of Dawg’s world now. Ergo.
I worked until 2:45pm on Christmas eve then went home and crashed for a nap since we’d been out late for Ninja food the night before and I’d gotten up on time to go to work before experiencing my second major holiday away from Vermont. B and DH were supposed to join us for the big event but DH hadn’t been feeling well the day before, so around 1pm I learned the news that they would not be in attendance that evening, and this was a pretty big blow to my happy quota at the time because (I never mentioned this, heh) I had a small meltdown at Thanksgiving because I was away from all the people back home and then the Vermont trip got cancelled because of the snow so I was honestly very concerned that without B there I would have a far larger meltdown than before. Apparently I don’t trust myself to be A Big Girl and Suck It Up and Handle Shit, but we’ll get to that later. When Dawg got home from work he slipped into bed and gently woke me up. I was very happy to see him.
I got up and showered and got dressed for the big event then we were off to Mama Dawg’s to meet up with Dawg’s parents, Pudding, Pudding’s SO (who will from now on be referred to as TYOB), The Wolves, and Dawg’s other girlfriend Gwennie (TYOB’s sky terrier). We all hung out for a bit and caught a few minutes of the first showing of A Christmas Story in marathon form on TBS then took off in as few cars as possible to London Lennie’s for our 8pm holiday dinner reservation. When we got there Dawg and his dad Hollywood parked the cars while everyone else but me went inside. I stood outside the front door and called my mom for a pep talk. I just didn’t want a Thanksgiving repeat, so I needed to talk to my mom and hear her voice and just fill up on a happy chat. That’s exactly what my mom did for me so I went into the restaurant a few minutes later, jazzed and ready for the night. We were seated right away and we all ordered our meals. Baked clams and calamari were passed around the table for appetizers. I tried the calamari but didn’t care for the texture, which I hear was much chewier than last year, so I’ll try again next year. The taste was ok, just the texture skeeved me out and the piece I chose looked like a deep-fried baby octopus, then everyone explained that calamari is baby squid. Have I ever mentioned to you all that I try my hardest not to eat baby animals? I gave this horrified look to TYOB but then didn’t explain why, heh. All the grown-ups except me had seafood. I had a Caesar salad (I’d return just for that salad) and a rib eye steak with baked potato. I know the kids had chicken fingers or fried shrimp, depending on the kid. Everyone was happy with their meal. We had great conversation and everything went great! We all had coffee or dessert after. Because I knew this wasn’t even close to the end of our evening I had a cappuccino. At the very end Blinky handed me the kids page she had been coloring on all night and written in her handwriting it said To: (Poppy) From: (Blinky) on it. You know that went directly on the fridge as soon as we got home many hours later. It’s the only thing on the fridge besides a sticker that tells me how to recycle and a Yankees pendant magnet Dawg got from work, so it’s very special.
Around 10:15pm we got back to Mama Dawg’s and ate cookies while we exchanged gifts with Pudding, TYOB, and The Wolves. It was a fantastic time. The Professor was thoroughly shocked and awed by his gift of an iPod nano. Blinky didn’t actually get her gift because Dell still hasn’t shipped the laptop Dawg ordered on December 1. Pudding and TYOB were very generous in their gifts to me and I was very thankful. TYOB loved her gift from me and Dawg (really just Dawg, but I wrapped it and tagged it) of an orange coffee maker that she kept hugging and saying no gift could ever top it. The other wolves got good gifts too. I think my personal favorite was the Spanish-English Miriam Webster electronic dictionary that went to the oldest wolf who had sassed Pudding earlier in the week when she told him he needed to improve his grade in that class. Note to world: Never sass your mom, it’ll come back to bite you right in the ass. :winks: He just rolled around on the floor laughing when he opened that gift. I have to mention somewhere, in between all the chaos we threw love to Kit Kat, Yin, and Yang who were dancing around the house trying to stay away from Gwen and out from under everyone’s feet. They did a great job, and even let us hold them a bit. When it was midnight Pudding, TYOB, and The Wolves packed up their things and they headed home to New Jersey with Gwen.
Dawg and I stayed behind to exchange gifts with his parents and brother and with each other. His family was very generous to me as well, and I’ll just say that the tangible objects they gave me are very much appreciated, but their acceptance of me into their family means so much more. Also, Dawg’s favorite aunt sent a gift, and Mama Dawg got gifts for the kittos which they loved. And, of course, it was (beyond words, but we’ll choose the word) nice to open gifts with Dawg on the love seat and each get to squee over them. He got me the Dewey the cat book for my subway reading and (SQUEEEEE) the iPod Touch, engraved with a very clever inscription of love, for my subway listening and watching pleasure. *sniffle* He said he wanted to get me a protective case for it too but wants me to pick it out since there are so many choices, YAYAYAYAY!!! The kitties got him a hooded black Jedi robe so that Ripley stops staring at him naked in that lustful way (it’s really naughty and disturbing) then from me he got a Mighty Mouse journal with pen, two sets of no-longer-being-made Star Wars lego figure magnets, and a digital picture frame. We were both very happy with our gifts and went home around 2am to wish each other Merry Christmas then crash in our own bed.
At 11am today Dawg jumped up out of bed unexpectedly, which roused Georgie who woke me so I got up and said Merry Christmas again then fed the girls. I didn’t realize I was interrupting any sort of flow, but when I was done feeding the girls I went into the living room and sat down on the couch. Dawg snuck in with that innocent look on his face he gets when he’s trying to temporarily hide something from me, with his hands tucked behind his back. I knew that meant I should smile and not ask questions so I turned to the TV to continue watching the marathon of A Christmas Story on TBS. A few minutes later he was sitting on the couch and I looked over at my chair and there was a gift bag there. Inside the gift bag: peanut M&Ms, a donkey/democrat Pez dispenser, a Starbucks gift card (I’ve become a regular at the corporate monger’s again… love the venti bold coffee of the day and the signature hot chocolate with whipped cream), as well as shortbread Chanukah cookies that had a cut-out dradel on the back! I told him I didn’t have anything else for him but he pointed out we still had Saint Nicholas items left unused as of yet so he was happy. :winks:
After grab bag present opening Dawg loaded photos onto his new digital photo frame while I loaded things (including the iTrans NYC Subway app) onto my iPod Touch. My mom called and we chatted, then I chatted with my stepdad and we all wished each other a merry Christmas. Then Dawg laid down on the couch underneath a super soft blankie that Pudding and TYOB gave me the night before and took a nap. Mama Dawg called and asked us to come over for steaks so we agreed to do that. I took a nap under the super soft blankie. After the nap we got ready and headed over and had steaks and potato pancakes and croissants with Mama Dawg, Hollywood, and Brother Dawg then we hung out and finished off the A Christmas Story marathon then watched the tail end of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and it was suddenly 9pm so we went home to get some rest before work.
And that, boys and girls, was our first Christmas together. :love:
On Tuesday night I rode the E train with B and her DH to 25 Hudson Street and went underground to Ninja New York. Dawg joined us about 20 minutes later and we had a 4-hour ninja experience.
It was lady’s night so B and I got free champagne. B also ordered a sake tasting. DH had gin and tonics. Dawg, B, and I had Ninja Pepsi. Everyone had Ninja Tapwater. :grins:
And then… the food.
B’s 5-course meal:
Dawg’s 5-course meal:
My 5-course meal:
DH’s defiant 2-course meal:
Everything was delicious. It was my first time trying roe, and Dawg’s first time with sushi!
Highlights of the evening included: Lots of components of the meal being intentionally set on fire by the ninjas. B eating the carrot out of DH’s miso soup AFTER the ninja had warned us if he didn’t save his carrot he would be kept in the kitchen and carved into steaks. B having to make up for this error by effectively karate chopping her kirikabu with her bare hand before she even got a photo of it. B’s ninja star dessert arriving as an actual ninja throwing star instead of chocolate dessert, then ninja magic turning it into a chocolate dessert. Dawg’s rose mist dessert being activated (dry ice!). Seeing flashes of fire from other tables and hearing screams when people got scared by the ninjas. A (ok, I know how to say this in Chinese, not Japanese) baipeng/”whitey” ninja showing up to our table to do magic tricks for us. B and DH refusing to let us pay and paying for us, despite the fact that we had no way of driving them back home because Dawg had his work truck that has no back seat room. And the best highlight to everyone but me: Toilets that cleaned you “front to back” then dried you too. (I chose not to use those features, they freaked me out.)
UNFORTUNATELY Dawg’s camera had died earlier in the day during another event, and I had prepared my camera to put in my bag that morning before work then promptly forgot it on top of the couch. So, the only photos of this event are in B’s possession and I’m pretty sure she’s not putting any up until next week at the earliest. When/if she puts up photos I will point you in their direction.
Suffice it to say, despite DH coming down with the flu during dinner ( :frown: ), we all still had a fantastic time together. We were all supposed to spend Christmas Eve together too, but that’s a story for another post, and in retrospect at least we had ninja holiday together. :smiles:
One of my co-workers finally noticed my calendar turned to October and asked, “is that your boyfriend?” I slunk down in my chair and said “mebbe” and then he said, “Cereal Wednesday? I’ll have to check that out…” and I hissed “Ssshshshhshsshhhhhhh! You gotta keep it to yourself!” The irony is that he noticed the photo of me and Dawg a few weeks ago and asked about that, but I guess he didn’t put 2 and 2 together for the 4 on the two photos… or he noticed weeks ago and just didn’t say anything until now about the calendar.
And then I had lunch with B and DH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At HALE and Hearty!!!!!!! I had the three lentil chili!!!!!!!! Who’s surprised?!!!!!!!!! And then I wasn’t actually sure I could bring B and DH back to work with me (confidentiality agreement, remember?) so I kinda backed out of my offer to bring them. But… I found out when I got back to work that I totally could have brought them up so long as I didn’t give away any of our trade secrets. And then I worked late so I could take time tomorrow morning to mail Mom and Marvin’s gifts!!!!!!!!!! (Yah, late. Oh well.)
Tonight B, DH, Dawg, and I are supposed to do something pretty spectacular. The only way it won’t happen at all is if everyone comes down with the stomach flu. There is a small chance Dawg won’t be able to show up because he has the kindest heart of anyone I know, and that’s all I’ll say about that. I will blog about it tomorrow and you will be happy I built it up because it will be worth the wait.
I started reading Infidel. I’m only 12 pages in but I’m enjoying it very much. I’m aware it doesn’t end favorably, but that’s life for you.
