Halloween Hype

At work it’s my job to decorate the lobby of our floor, set the candy out and let everyone know that they can bring their kids in for Halloween.

I like holidays, so I tend to go overboard. This year, since no one else seemed to care, I didn’t blow up 50 balloons, plug the fog machine in or get out the face paints. I pulled last years decorations out of the closet, set up a little Halloween display and dumped a bunch of candy in the bowls.

Last year we had activities for kids. This year I just printed out some pages for kids to color.

Someone walked by this morning and said, “Are you going to put the big spider out in the hall?” I had thought of it, but it’s just a big, dumb spider, so who cares? I put it out and I’m glad I did. The kids care. One of the first things I heard one of the princesses say was, “can we go back to the spider place?” The spider’s a hit. The spider's a landmark.

So, whatever. I put all this crap out and everyone who works here cleared out! Everyone left! I can’t believe it! The clued-in ones left a chair outside their office door with a candy bowl on it. The kids don’t even have to say the magic words! The fine art of trick-or-treating is becoming extinct!

The only kids here don’t belong to folks on our team. I have my camera here ready to take pics of the little people, but… crickets… there are none.

That’s it. I’m going hunting.

I found my office mate and her son, who is 18 months and dressed as Batman. He is one of those kids who really is cute. I took a few pictures of him.

Another guy on my team said that his wife is bringing their kids in and that traffic is bad. A few people promised (after noticing how distraught I am, sniff) that more people will be here around 4:00.

My boss just came by with her daughter. She was an American Idol and had a pink wig. Her son was a power ranger.

I’ll just keep waiting and working and eating the York mints I have here “for trick-or-treaters”.

Weekend Update

Britney and K-Fed Costume
To follow up on the Britney and K-Fed costume story... we were not recognized at the grocery store as B and K. The checker just thought we were unfortunately dressed individuals. At the party we received a few blank stares, particularly when we weren’t standing next to each other. When we were together, we heard "oh, I get it!" We also won a prize in the costume contest for "least likely pair to have a platinum album in the future.” Sweet!

“Have a Nice Day, Ma’am”
At which point did I go from "miss" to "ma'am"? Was it when the clerks at Walgreens started getting younger than me? Is it because I’m pregnant? Or have I become wrinkly in my old age? Either way, the ma'am/ miss dilemma happens over and over. I hate it when a "younger" guy (below 30 years old) calls old ladies "girls." Are you girls out to do some shopping today? Give me a break. They know they're old. Don't be annoying sbout it. But then, some old chicks might like that. There's no right answer.

Racial Relations
So, I was watching a Shirley Temple DVD tonight and kinda freaked out when I realized that it's in "Dimples" that they have the black folk all act stupid and when white people are acting like black people in the theater, they paint their faces black and their lips white. Do I want my kid watching this "classic" stuff? Is this educational or historical?

Christmas Cards
Damn you Martha Stewart for your article on hand made holiday cards. I spent waaay too much money buying stuff for my cards this weekend (bad) and spent hours making the cards (fun, but lonely), thus the two films.

Audrey H.
I also watched "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn. It wasn't nearly the catastrophe that Shirley Temple was. Audrey was a real person and I could totally hang out with her. Natalie Portman is today’s Audrey, but I couldn’t chill with Natalie.

VS
I'm wearing horribly adorable pajamas that looked really cute in the store, but I resemble Strawberry Shortcake with them on. Fortunately, they're comfy (good!) but I paid for them with my credit card (damn!)

Day light savings, good!

31 Flavors of Britney Spears

B and I are dressing up as K-Fed and Britney for a Halloween party tonight.

His costume was pretty easy. He's wearing baggy jeans, new tennis shoes with the tongues pulled up over the bottom of his jeans, a too big t-shirt, a leather jacket and a dopey baseball hat.

I however, have many options of which Britney Spears I could be, but I'm kind of relegated to pregnant Britney since I can't wear any normal clothing. She went around last summer with her fat belly hanging out of her clothing~ showing off the bump! I'm not that... brave/ stupid, so I think I'm going to wear what she did at the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory premier. She had a blue tank top on that said "I've got the golden ticket" with an arrow pointing to the bun in her oven... wish I could be hot Britney in skinny jeans.

Sigh. I'd better figure it out, cause it's time to go.

Crib? Check!

We bought a baby crib!

Even though we had to go to Southcenter (ick, i know), we didn't actually have to go to the Southcenter mall. Instead, there was a store called USA Baby which someone had told me about. It kind of had a warehouse feel, but they had a bunch of discontinued beds and kid furniture. We got one that was super on sale for $340 and they had it in their warehouse so we even got to bring it home today.

Eat your heart out Merry-go-Round! $1,000 ha!

One Small Step for HR, One Big Step for Productivity

Behold the power of Coffee!

The human resources director at work has been making changes for the better. Since early this year our company now has online grocery shopping with delivery to the office, a dry cleaning service with pickup and drop-off from/to the office, new menu items in the cafeteria and more. One of the grass roots improvements is a coffee machine on each floor. We went from Farmer Brothers to Starbucks beans.

It was Christmas morning when the machines finally arrived on Tuesday. After large meetings and during lunch time, people gathered around the kitchenette like a celebrity sighting. People casually circled the shiny, new coffee maker in the kitchenette like a tiger sneaking up on its prey.

The audience watched as caffeinated or decaffeinated beans sank from the glass display portion into the grinding innards, magically producing a crisp cup of steamy coffee.

With all the hype, I waited a couple days to make my move and partake of the sacred bean. I’m not a drip-coffee fan, so I opted for hot chocolate. And I’ll be honest, I’ve been waiting to try the chocolate, but the shiny buttons and two-step process frightened me. I had to be alone with the coffee machine to figure it out. Like an old Western shoot-out, it was me against the machine.

I took my mug, not a Styrofoam cup as usual (http://ultracafe.blogspot.com/) and placed it under the spout. I pressed “short” then frantically hit cancel because I was sure a “tall” would fit into my chosen vessel. I pressed “tall” then, step two. I pressed “hot chocolate” and let it work its magic.

A few moments later I was proudly carrying a nice, rich mug of cocoa back to my office. I can say that I enjoyed every sip and even now, as I’m looking down into my empty mug, I am enjoying the chocolaty aroma.

As one may conclude, everyone in the office is now jittery and uncharacteristically energetic. People are cracking jokes in the hall. I think I saw a couple people making out in an office. Someone literally, just walked by my office and said …“it’s kind of like porn.” What is that? A corner has been turned! People here have changed. It will take a couple weeks before everyone becomes accustomed to the influx of caffeine in their systems. HR is brilliant. The creative juices are flowing and people are actually smiling.

Baby Gear Sticker Shock

Under the advisement of several friends with babies, we began perusing local children’s furniture stores for a crib and a comfy rocking chair.

Apparently, it can take up to 12 weeks for a product to ship. If we waited until December, as planned, to buy a crib, our little tyke might be sleeping in a dresser drawer.

We stopped in the ultimate baby store in Bellevue, Washington. It’s called “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle”. Just kidding, it’s called “Merry-Go-Round”. If you know anything about Bellevue, you’ll recall that people there have money. It wouldn’t be too far off the mark to assert that yuppies originated in Bellevue.

So there we were in Merry-Go-Round with all the other pregnant women and shell-shocked (dad’s to be) or weathered (dads) looking for the perfect bedding, outfit, book or stroller for their little munchkin. I finally felt like I belonged in the store because I’m visibly showing. I’m not one of those looking-for-a-friend people. Not that I don’t like looking for gifts for friends; I love it.

First on our list was the crib. All the cribs were big, almost huge, sturdy and made of wood. And the prices match! $750- $950 for a freakin’ baby bed? I understand that the kid is going to sleep there for a good two or three years, and we’ll get additional mileage out of it when we have our second kid, but dang, add tax and shipping and we’re looking at $1,000! Hello sticker shock.

We passed on the bed, risking the child-in-the-drawer scenario. We had only just begun our quest for the crib.

Once we got home, I went to http://www.ikea.com/ to check the competition. Sadly, there were only three crib options and they were rickety, they looked like little jail cells and they were only built to spec in Great Britain and Australia. Of course the cost was much less; $100- $300.

The good news is that we found the perfect chair at Merry-Go-Round. It’s covered with soft material, it rocks and it comes with an ottoman. It will ship in December. I almost laughed out loud when the clerk told us that we will have to pick it up from a warehouse in Monroe. Turns out he wasn't kidding. I didn't speak until we left the store.

We started a registry at Merry-Go-Round; mostly so I could remember what I need to get. I haven’t finished completing all my baby-supply research. How much of that stuff are we really going to use? How much of it is marketing? I have no idea and the advice people give me is contradictory.

I’m trying to avoid Babies R Us because I think it’s tacky, but I’m sure I’ll find myself there one of these weekends. I’ll also probably look at Target for baby gear. I’m sure the prices will better suit me.

Why? Why? Why?

Spanaway man first arrest under state's new bestiality law
By The Associated Press

TACOMA, Wash. — A Spanaway man accused of having sex with a dog is apparently the first person in the Washington charged under a new bestiality law.

Pierce County prosecutors say 26-year-old Michael Patrick McPhail was caught by his wife on Wednesday night having intercourse on the back porch with their four-year-old female pit bull terrier.

The wife took photos with a cell phone and called police.
Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer says "There's pretty clear proof what happened to this dog."

McPhail was arrested that night. He is held on $300,000 bail and is reportedly on suicide watch in the jail in Tacoma.

Charged with animal cruelty, he could be sentenced to a year in jail if convicted.

The bestiality law took effect in June. It was prompted by an incident in Enumclaw where a man died after having sex with a horse.

Hollister

I'm sitting at my desk at work wearing my Hollister sweatshirt. It's hooded and cozy and still zips up over my belly.

A guy on my team walked in and said, "Hollister? Have you been there? I've been there! It's in California."

I told him that Hollister is a chain clothing store. It's a suf brand.

He laughed because Hollister is inland, not even near the ocean.

It's a Girl!

Last week we had an ultrasound to check out our baby's development. We finally discovered that it's a girl!

She is in tact, was very active and we could see her kicking and moving around. These days I feel her move frequently.

I am 20 weeks now, (5 months) and half way through with the pregnancy. My belly is rapidly expanding and sleep has been somewhat elusive even though I am exhausted. I have to lay on my side. I still may buy a body pillow. Some women swear by them, others believe they are just clever marketing.

Last week I was still trying to wear my normal clothing. I bought what I call a "belly bra" which is a stretchy thingie that looks like a woman's tube top. It is designed to be worn over the top of one's pants when the zipper and button can no longer be fastened. It was successful at holding up my pants, but it was restrictive over my stomach. Despite my earlier disdain for elastic-waist pants, I happily purchased every pair of maternity pants in my size at Old Navy; all four of them.

The pants are not ugly and they feel like... freedom. I can breath, I don't feel ugly and they make me happy. I'm still wearing normal shirts. Thank goodness I went on a "long shirt" kick last summer. Everything that was long, now fits nicely over the bump.

I am relieved we don't have to come up with (and agree on) a name for a boy. I've had my girl name chosen for 3 years, so it's nice she has decided to make her debut. We are not releasing the name (via blog ever) to folks until she arrives. Email me in March if you're interested.

I also bought a ridiculously soft bathrobe at the Navy which I love and in which I will now go read.

Back at Home

We're home. We arrived in Seattle on Friday.

I feel like a zombie even though I've had all weekend to conquer the jet lag.

Back in the office... back to the rat race.

On my way

I'm on my way back home.

We're in Narita, Japan for a 2-hour lay over. Fortunately, we get to spend this time in the United Premier Exec Lounge. B logs a lot of miles, so when he/we are traveling internationally, we get to come in here and enjoy good lighting, fine furniture, snacks, beverages, free internet and nice restrooms. There are a lot of men in here. Almost everyone has a laptop open. I feel displaced; like I belong in a gym because of the clothing I'm wearing and because I have a pot belly.

I just had a cup of real, Japanese Miso and it was exceptional. Sadly, in my haste I burnt my tongue.

It's 3:40 pm on Friday here, 12:40 am Thursday night at home. I'm going to try to sleep on our next flight, but la petit is feeling a little cramped in there, so we're both uncomfortable. It's pouring rain and windy here. Our landing was shaky, but I've experienced worse. Some flights here have already been delayed. Ours is not delayed.

Time to wander the airport and get some exercise.

Time to Go Home

Today we went back to a few places we have already been through, just to walk around.

We hit Little India, Sun Tec City and Takashimaya again.

I had a facial since they wont massage pregnant women at the hotel spa... Something about insurance reasons. The facial was nice, but then my lady lectured me about Buddhism for a half hour. I may have actually learned something.

We had a horrible dinner at the hotel "Italian" restaurant. A far cry from actual Italian food.

Time to pack up and go to bed for our 7 am flight to Narita.

Email to Mom- Dinner at Mezza 9

Ohmygosh. We just had the ultimate culinary experience. In our hotel there is a restaurant called Mezza 9 that has four kitchens in different areas throughout the restaurant. People sit around the kitchens and can watch the chefs prepare different dishes. There is a Thai, Chinese and American kitchen and a bakery.

We have gone to this restaurant 4 times since we've been here, but tonight I ordered the tasting menu, we sat in the Thai section and we sat at the bar so we could watch everything. I thought of you the whole time and knew you would be so jealous if you knew how cool it is. This restaurant setup is the most ideal for chefs! Imagine working in a gorgeous kitchen, surrounded by your customers, everything works like clockwork and you're creating different meals all the time!

Let me see if I can remember what was on the tasting menu...

1. Cosmo to drink- I gave it to B and had a fruit drink made with passion fruit, orange and two other fruits, house recipe
2. Foie gras, white toast, diced potato and veggie side
3. Chicken (on the bone) soup in a miso-sized bowl, a very bitter veggie and mushrooms. I was able to get the chicken off the bone with chopsticks and it was good, but I couldn't eat the broth or veggies because they were so bitter. It really caught me off guard since I was expecting salty broth. I added a little soy sauce and it helped.
4. 3 kinds of sushi: tuna on rice, mackerel and a small salmon and rice roll
5. Half a small lobster soaked in butter (but no salt :( and herbs) with lemon, not too rich, but I was stuffed by then
6. Pistachio ice cream and bread with bread pudding, didn't finish it all
7. Box of 9 house made, chocolate truffles to take home

The servings were small, but perfect for you or I. The waiter told me not to order the tasting menu and was very worried I would be hungry. Of course I'm stuffed. Everything was gorgeous.

Had to share this with you.

Thai one on!

I Love Vacation, Singapore Days 5-7

I love living in a hotel with a concierge, several restaurants, a spa and a pool. I love living in the middle of a shopping district. I love daily room service. I love having my laptop and digi camera with me on vacation and I love listening to N’Sync while I write.

I miss my pets. I miss my people and I can’t wait to get home to put pumpkins on my front porch. I cannot express how much I love pumpkins. How can an orange vegetable make me so happy? I don’t know, but I don’t fight it.

We have the opportunity to live in Europe for a couple years and we’re kicking around the idea of living in Switzerland so B can build relationships with his European distributors. Being here in Singapore, where I’m removed from my usual day-to-day element (and liking it) makes me think that I could handle living away from Seattle for a couple years.

People here speak what they call "Singlish". I forget if I mentioned this, but they add "lah" to the end of phrases. I don't know what lah means, but I kinda snicker when I hear someone say it. "Try this fish lah."

Ok, back to the task at hand! I haven’t written in a few days because we actually started doing touristy things and by the time we get back to our lair, I’m too pooped to write. Now I’m going to have to remember what the heck we’ve been doing. Time to brainstorm…

Sunday: Final day of the wakeboard tournament. By the time we had dinner, we were too exhausted to party with the riders and sponsors that night, so we crashed instead.

Another Photo of Boys

Winners stand on the podium and carry oversized checks

Monday: We went straight to Little India after sleeping in until 11 am. We arrived in Little India, walked into a market mecca and all my circuits fried instantly. Information overload! Too much amazing stuff! Handmade quilts! Handmade everything in gorgeous colors! Carved furniture, hand painted boxes, hand beaded clothing, silk everywhere!! I didn’t buy anything for like 10 minutes and then the dams broke. We got a bunch of baby stuff and definitely chose our baby theme room, which I’m not disclosing via blog. It’s an animal. That’s the hint. The coolest baby thing we got was a handmade mobile to hang from the ceiling above the crib. Is this what they call “nesting”?

The end of Little India came quickly as we were too overloaded to carry anything and walk at the same time. There I was with my real camera (not digital, holds film) putting my bags down every 10 steps to take a shot. We intend to go back, maybe even tonight to spend some more time there and not buy much; take pictures and have dinner. I didn't take any digi pix.

After Little India we recharged at the hotel and then took a taxi to Raffles Hotel. Raffles is a British homey who hung out with the East India Trading company and (probably exploited locals) to establish a British presence here. There is a huge hotel here in his name and it’s now a tourist attraction. The Long Bar at Raffles is where the writers and poets hung out back in the day. The Singapore Sling was invented there. We had a beverage at the Long bar (mocktail for me) and ate peanuts and as is the custom there, threw the shells on the floor. The floor was filthy with peanut shells.

It’s moon cake season and so we bought a tin of Raffles moon cakes. We haven’t opened them. I intend to take them home. Plus, I was really in to the tin, not so much the cakes. How many times must I say it? It’s all about the packaging!!!

Finally, a photo I look good in. Ha ha!

Sikh's still stand guard at the Raffles. These days they hail taxi's.

After Raffles, we walked a few blocks to Sun Tec City, which is where the Microsoft Singapore branch is. It’s also the Convention Center and (who guessed?) another ginormous mall. Malls here go for miles and this one was no exception. Not only did it lead us underground to our next destination two blocks away, but at one point it was four stories tall. They also have those little carts that sit in the middle of the mall, but some of them actually have local, art. I saw one with some kick-ass Japanese pop art bags. I didn’t have any cash, so I have to return. They have a Japanese girl on them saying something about how cute the bag is, “but is it as cute as me”? My sentiments exactly.

At Sun Tec we walked around the Fountain of Wealth three times (as required) and B dropped a $5 bill on the way out. Fortunately, a woman picked it up and gave it back to him. Ironic?

Fountain of Wealth

We walked through the Sun Tec mall (a hallway lined with hundreds of stores… such a distance that there were sometimes two of the same store) to the Swiss Hotel. Someone from work recommended that we have dinner at the top of the Swiss Hotel in Equinox. (Jcairns, we toasted you that night!) I had our concierge make us reservations and I could tell the Equinox hostess was disappointed when she saw B’s dirty skate shoes and found our reservations. We zoomed up 70 stories to the restaurant. Our seat was near, but not next to the window. B had the heebie-jeebies since he’s uncomfortable with heights, but we managed. The view was of the typical photo on postcards from Singapore. We could see the curve of the river and the whole city. The food was good too.

Tuesday: Yesterday… what did we do? We hung out on Orchard Road where our hotel is located. We went to Takashimaya, which is a huge department store. We stopped in the souvenir section to grab a gift for B’s mom. When you buy something there, you leave the item in the department, they give you a tag and then you pay at a central location. This concept didn’t work for me because I wanted to buy things on different floors and then I had to go back and collect thing that I purchased. It’s a little backwards, but I guess the concept is that you can buy things and not have to carry them around until you leave.

There were entire departments in the store for kitsch. I don’t know what other word to use for this. They have tons of little, cute items. Small things with little use. Of course that didn’t stop me from partaking. On the bottom floor we found a food court with stalls of different types of Asian food & bakery, a Burger King, KFC and a few other random establishments. I was in heaven. I finally got some steamed bbq pork buns! They really hit the spot. I tried a funny little pancake with some fruity compote, which was nasty. I had a fried wonton shish. Instead of meat on the inside, there was white, almost tofu-looking, but rubbery stuff. I was a little weirded out, but ate part of it anyway. I also had chicken and pork on a stick. It was super good.

We wandered through 20 stalls of Moon Cake for sale and I found another tin I liked. : )

Last night we ate at an Italian restaurant that was started by an Australian chef. The food was originally presented and tasty.

Wednesday- Today: We went to Sentosa Island. There are two ways to get on to the island. You can take a taxi, or a cablecar. We took the cablecar to the island and took a taxi back home. The cablecar was very high and I was a little nervous. B said, “I'll be fine as long as there’s no wind.” The further out we got on the line, the windier it got. We were very high, over a waterway, over huge cargo ships, over thick jungle… I think I was more freaked out than he was.

View from the Cablecar

Sentosa is a natural island that has been turned into a tourist area. There are several things to do and they charge individually for everything. We saw mini-golf, a 5 story tall lion’s head that people can climb into to get a view of the distant city. Fortunately, the bus service from attraction to attraction is free. Unfortunately, there were a lot of other people joining us; some of whom bathe infrequently and don’t mind getting up close and personal while cramming onto the bus. We went to the bug and butterfly exhibit. We saw some huge (dead) beetles and some butterflies (alive and dead) from all around the world.

This beetle is as big as my hand.

If I came across this beetle in the jungle, I would just faint and it would swallow me whole.

We saw pink dolphins at the dolphin water park. We watched them do the show. They waved to the crowd, did flips in the air, balanced a ball on their noses, swung a little hula hoop on their noses, slapped the water with their fins, gave kisses and ate lots of little fish as a reward. It was cute. The dolphins down here naturally turn pink as they mature.

"Gimme some Fish lah!"

Lastly, we went to the underwater aquarium. There were too many people, but we managed to see everything. It’s a small aquarium, but they have fish I haven’t seen at the Pacific Science Center, or Seattle Aquarium. It was interesting to see the southern hemisphere versions of the fishies up north.

Before we left, we said hi to the big turtles, grabbed a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and took a taxi back.

Now, the sun is setting and it’s 3:45 am at home. We have one more day and two nights here. We check out early Friday morning and arrive home a couple hours after we leave Japan. Our 17+ hours turns out to be 2 hours. I want to see my dog.

I think I will miss the hot weather here. It’s going to make Seattle seem so cold!
Vacation is good. Vacation I like.