Hugs

What’s the feeling you get when someone hugs you? Whether it be family, a friend, or your boyfriend / girlfriend.

I know most people don’t really think twice about how they feel when someone hugs them … but really … think about it … how do you feel when they give you a hug?

The sensation of all your worries and doubts being melted away?

The sensation that everything is going to be all right?

The sensation of that other person just being there for you at that moment and time?

Or maybe … the hug creates this euphoric sense that brings all the chaos in your life to a standstill?

I don’t know … everyone experiences something different when given a hug.

(Photo Credit: Flickr)

I’m not going to lie and pretend everything is fantastic, that life seems perfect … the birds are singing, sun is shining and smiling down … none of that. Everyone including me gets into these depressed moods where the outlook in life seems bleak and dark. I feel like I’m in another rut … where my life is in a standstill and isn’t going anywhere fast.

All I want right now is to have someone give me a hug, hold me tight and just say that everything is going to be okay. To have that feeling of not being worried or self-conscious of myself (which is basically what’s bugging me right now), to have that feeling of knowing someone is there for you and to have that feeling of being loved.

That’s one thing single’s life can’t bring you … friends can only do so much … family can only do so much … and finally I can only do so much. If I did have someone right now, I would probably be snuggling against his chest, slowly falling asleep, and knowing that all my troubles do not exist at this moment in time.

- A

Don’t Ever Have Expectations

(Photo Credit: Gizmodo)

My best buddy always tells me never to have expectations … why? Because you’ll be let down when it doesn’t happen and he’s right about that. (I secretly won’t tell him that because I don’t want him to have the satisfaction of knowing he’s right, haha.)

If you don’t know, I’m a huge Apple fanatic, not to the point where I decorate my entire room with Apple paraphernalia. But I do love their way of thinking and developing the most awesome products ever! So ever since October, Mr. Steve Jobs mentioned that he’ll have a SDK out for the iPhone and iPod Touch in February.

Ummm … Steve? There’s just one more week of February … so where’s our SDK buddy? In an article from BusinessWeek, it was stated that the SDK could be late, “by anywhere from one to three weeks.” Okay … I’ll admit I can be patient just a tad longer because I’d rather have it stable than a piece of … well you know what.

Whether this is just a rumor or not … we’ll wait and see because there was another rumor awhile back that Apple would be hosting an event on the 26th of February … so we’ll see. I have my fingers crossed! At least give us something … anything about the SDK … mphhh.

I had high expectations that something would come out of Cupertino … but haven’t heard anything a buzz in the rumor mill’s at all. Which makes me somewhat disappointed … Apple … you’re letting me down … what happened?

- A

Thank You?

I was in the restroom this morning at work and noticed a pair of shoes next to me. White ones with black trim around it, but they were … “different” in some way. My first thought was, “They look like shoes Hallway Guy would wear.” I’ve mentioned him before in a previous post.

As I finished I went to wash my hands and looked in the mirror to see if it was him … and you know what? It was HALLWAY GUY! I missed seeing him so much for some reason. So I washed my hands and went to get some paper towels to dry off, check myself in the mirror to see if everything was okay and proceded to the door.

This was not planned on purpose but we both walked to the door at the same time. Not sure if he was planning on opening the door for me, but he did. “Thank You”, I said to him … thank you? Seriously!?

That’s all I said to him … thank you? Well he never said anything back … I mean a, “You’re Welcome” would do or something … geez, haha. Again … I didn’t have the balls to just say, “Hey … how are you?”. I really wanted to … you guy’s have no clue.

He was wearing his tight jeans as usual, a really low cut v-neck shirt with some type of cardigan over it. I was going to make a comment about whether he was cold or not, but didn’t because it may have been an awkward conversation starter, ha! I wouldn’t mind warming him up …

- A

Lunar Eclipse (UPDATE)

(Photo Credit: NASA)

There’s going to be a lunar eclipse tonight. So if you have the opportunity to see it … take it … all you have to do is tilt your head up … . We won’t get this opportunity again until December 2010.

Maximum eclipse occurs at 10:26 p.m. EST and for us Cali people … it’s 07:26 p.m. PST. So I’m hoping the cloud cover isn’t too bad later on at night because it’s raining today.

You can learn about the lunar eclipse and more at NASA’s website here … enjoy!

Blah … traffic was horrible … hour and forty minutes … grrrrr, lol.

As I was driving back home tonight I tried my best to watch the lunar eclipse. Granted it’s not wise to constantly look at it while driving at the same time … don’t do this by the way. It was fascinating because I got to see it slowly happen, but by the time I got home the clouds covered the moon. I wanted to take a picture but due to cloud cover … was not able to. Maybe next time …

- A

Outbreak

(Photo Credit: Flickr)

Have you guy’s seen the movie, “Outbreak” … the scene where a guy is in the hospital and he sneezes. After he does, you see his germs fly into a ventilation shaft and start spreading through other parts of the hospital?

Well if you haven’t, that’s how I’m feeling these day’s. It’s like everyone is sick, coughing or sneezing everywhere I go and I may have fallen victim to it. I woke up last Wednesday with my throat somewhat scratchy. I want to call it my, “Sexy voice”, the term is from an episode of Friends (really miss that show).

So I didn’t think twice about it, I mean I wasn’t coughing or anything. Now my nose is running, I’m coughing like I’ve been smoking for a decade, but yet … I don’t feel sick (thank-goodness). Kind of feel bad for my co-worker because he’s sits directly behind me and I don’t want to spread it around.

Love my new best friend: feels soft to the touch, is always there when you need it (for those good and bad moments), dispensable and finally you can always find one lying around somewhere … I Love You Kleenex!!!

Anywho … I’m hoping this cough and running nose will go away soon so I can be back up and running at 110%!

- A

Cooking Mishap: Part Deux

In my first cooking mishap, I was making some chicken and it caught on fire. The fire wasn’t big at all, the flame was a couple of inches high … not too bad. But my latest cooking mishap was a tad worst … more like, “Oh my shit, the kitchen is REALLY going to burn down this time”, not even joking about it … haha.

Okay let’s setup the scene … our prevalent cook is standing at the stove wondering what to make for his lunch this week. I decided on a dish and went to get my ingredients. So I grabbed some frozen veggies and shrimp out of the freezer to defrost for a minute or two. I turn on the stove (medium heat) and put the skillet on to warm it up.

As I’m waiting I go and eat a mini-scone because I was hungry. The skillet is finally hot and I pour some oil in it … noticed that I put just a tad too much than I normally would. The shrimp and veggies were still frozen and thought they would be all right to cook, there was no ice on them or anything. Plus I knew (from past experience) not to mix oil and water together because it creates some interesting results (not good ones by the way).

So I grab a shrimp and slide it into the skillet, it starts to pop. Okay that’s normal because the shrimp is still frozen … fine, it’s happened before. What I wasn’t counting on was the flame that erupted from the skillet … I estimated the flame was at least 2 feet high. Our range hood is somewhat low so it scared me when the flame reached it. If our fire alarm was actually working … I think this would have set it off.

(Photo Credit: Flickr)

The picture above is just a random one I found on Flickr, but it gives you guy’s a better way to see what happened. And the flame in the pic looks about right (height wise).

I was scared out of my mind thinking that the flame would catch onto the hood and continue onto the cabinets. My initial thought was, “SHIIIIIIT! The fu*king house is going to burn!” I immediately grab the skillet off the stove and stood in the middle of the kitchen holding it. The flame diminished (thankfully) and thought my immediate problem was over. “Whew that was a close one”, I thought.

Why I did this, your guess is as good as mine, but I shook the skillet a little to move the shrimp around (bad idea by the way). As soon as I did this, another flame erupted from the skillet and this time it looked like it was about 3 feet high. So a bit frightening because it wasn’t dying down. I wanted to run over to the sink and use water to put it out … but was afraid it would make the flame bigger.

I didn’t have a stove cover near me at all and had no clue what to do. So I stood in the middle of the kitchen holding the skillet while still in flames. I was afraid that the flame wouldn’t die down and continue to grow. Thankfully … after a couple more seconds of it burning … it finally diminished and was gone. I set the skillet back onto the stove and just stood there wondering what I just did.

1. I almost burnt down the kitchen … AGAIN
2. I could have seriously injured myself by holding the skillet the entire time of this ordeal
3. And lastly … I wasn’t thinking at all today for some stupid reason. Just had other things on my mind

Oh my goodness … I shouldn’t be allowed near a stove … ever. Thankfully the flame didn’t get out of control and nothing was damaged. Maybe the skillet though. This was the most exciting thing that happened to me all weekend. Or maybe realizing that one of my friends is dating someone (an assumption) and I never realized it or just told myself it wasn’t true.

- A

What I Did On Valentine’s Day

Being confused is a torment that no one should ever go through … it messes with your mind a lot. So Valentines Day was a couple of day’s ago and again … spent it alone, well not really. I had training at work this week and some people didn’t want to sit through traffic nor did I want to experience the “91 Freeway”.

I had nothing planned, so a couple of them decided to grab dinner and let traffic die down and of course celebrate, “Single Awareness Day” … haha. We had dinner at Lucille’s BBQ, really delicious if you haven’t gone there before by the way. We ordered the Family Style meal and let me tell you guy’s … it was a lot of food. A plate full or ribs, another plate full of chicken and 4 side dishes.

The ribs and chicken could have fed an entire village! I wanted to be courteous and not look like a slob, so I ate the ribs using a fork and knife. Here’s a hint, ribs were not meant to be eaten using a knife and fork. I don’t know how I did it, but I carved that sucker little by little. It took some time … but I did it, I know if my friend James were there he would be making fun of me for doing that.

NY Guy did it too, how? Your guess is as good as mine, but he seemed like he was still hungry after we all finished. Nice to know he has a good appetite and did I mention he has the cutest dimples ever?

There were 7 of us and thank goodness we finished most of it, all was left was a rib, one corn stock and some beans I think. NY Guy took the left overs, apparently no one else wanted it. After dinner we walked through the mall and to our cars. Said our goodbye’s and left around 07:30 pm because we had training still the next day.

You would think that around 07:30 – 07:45 p.m. there wouldn’t be any traffic and if there was, it would be light. Oh hell no … not in my situation. Once I got onto the 91 East, there was immediate traffic, but as I got closer to where I live it lightened up more. Darn that 91 freeway, never seems to let up. It took about 45 minutes to get home though, better than siting there for an hour and a half.

I got home, talked to my sister a bit. Found out she went to the Viper Room in L.A. to watch a concert (she watches more concert’s than I can count) forgot what band she and her friends went to watch. Anyways she said that she got a Midori Sour but it tasted funny. (I swear she drinks more than I do, haha)

After about a minute or so she felt really queasy and dizzy. So she went to, of all places, the women’s restroom to sit in the stall because it was really loud outside. She eventually got up and went back out to rejoin her friends. She did this about 3 times (going to the restroom / rejoining her friends) before asking her friend to sit in their car. While sitting there and texting another friend she notices a piece of paper on her friends car.

Yup .. a parking ticket because the meter went out on them. That sucked big time …

We talked a little bit more and I eventually got tired and went to sleep. So it wasn’t the most thrilling Valentines ever … at least I wasn’t alone and had some company. Which was fun …

On a side note, I haven’t spoken to my friend Ryan for over a month. So I decided to just text him randomly and ask how he is. I thought maybe … just maybe he would text me back. At least say he’s fine or something, but he never did. Nothing, zilch, nada … confusion is a torment that no one should ever go through.

If I could … I would do it … no matter how selfish the action may be.

- A

NY Guy

(Photo Credit: Flickr)

This post is dedicated to NY Guy … and who is this guy anyways? Well he transferred into our group a couple of months ago … now that I think of it … it was actually last year during the fall. Anyways, he worked at the NY project but transferred here to work on the LA project.

He’s tall, a couple of inches taller than me … so I’m thinking 6′ 3″ or 6′ 4″, short brown hair, he has the most adorable small ears ever, great smile, cutest dimples whenever he laughs or smiles and the best thing about him … his ass. I’ll admit to you guy’s … he has one sweet ass.

It’s perfect, not too big, not too small … just right. I have a nasty habit of actually just looking at it whenever he passes by or if he’s walking. There was one time when a couple of us were walking up some stairs and he was in front of me. Well I mean when you’re walking up stairs, you have to look straight right? When I did that his ass was right in front of me *grins* and I was focused on his ass the entire time by the way, haha!

I’m surprised no one saw me looking at it … and I love his laugh too … it makes me smile whenever I hear it. He’s tall like I mentioned before, but he’s not that skinny. If you look closely enough, you can see the outline of his upper body. His arms seem nice and strong, some pecks, and it looks like he as a gut … but nothing big though. So I’m assuming he’s toned … but kind of let himself go.

He’s really funny and witty and I know with my luck … straight as a pole like everyone else. I tried talking to him here and there, but if you know me. I absolutely hate doing small chit chat and whenever I do try and talk to him. I get this vibe that he’s uncomfortable … like he’s not at ease. Something just doesn’t feel right …

It’s not like I’m going to grab him, push him down to the floor, rip his shirt off and start making out with him like there’s no tomorrow, ha! But seriously … it feels weird, maybe he notices that I stare at him a lot, yikes!

On a side note … my throat has been feeling somewhat raspy, not sure if it’s the weather or if I’m starting to get sick. Hopefully not the latter because when I do get sick, I’m usually out for a week or two.

I’m crazy tired … blah and that evil 91 West freeway isn’t being too nice these day’s … not nice at all. Time to go to sleep and fantasize about NY Guy … hey a guy can dream …

- A

Data What Training?

Constantly learning new concepts and ideas is one thing I love about my career. It’s an ever-changing landscape that keeps my mind pondering and ticking away. There’s always so much to learn and grasp which makes it so interesting. I get bored easily so the job that I’m in is semi-perfect for me, but you have to go out and explore.

So to the point of this post, I’ll be attending data warehousing training for 3 day’s and I’m excited to go. I was reading over the agenda and it reminds me a whole lot of this data modeling class I took in college. “When I was in college”, gosh that makes me sound so old. Even though I only graduated 2 years ago.

Listed are some “objectives” that the course will entail:

• Understanding schemas and other data warehousing physical and logical objects

• Performing dimensional analysis of data warehouse information and building cubes.

• Discuss and demonstrate an ETL (Extraction-Transform-Load) process.

I’m not going to admit I know what the objectives are trying to describe or explain, but hey … that’s why we’re going tomorrow. But yeah, for me personally … being able to tinker away with new technology and applying it in real world situations just fascinates me.

Love messing with things, seeing how they work, taking things apart, and putting them back together again. Even though I have the biggest fear that I’ll somehow mess the operating system up or blow up the computer, haha. It’s a learning experience though.

L.A. feel’s like summer already, even though it should be winter weather, or at least spring weather for goodness sake. My co-worker and I went to get some Coldstones, well he got Jamba Juice and I got ice cream again; even though I had some last Friday after dinner. Weird to be eating ice cream in February where other parts of the country are freezing there little bottoms off.

It was delicious (a Like It with Strawberries and Roasted Almonds, yummy, ) and probably fattening too! I’m becoming quite a fatty these day’s, better watch what I eat or I’ll end up getting a big belly, haha.

I use to joke around with my friend Ryan about eating so much and him probably having a large belly. His lovely response was always, “I don’t care … I don’t care … I’ll eat whatever I want”. I would laugh quietly to myself whenever he said that. Okay I’m going off topic again, but training tomorrow, woot woot!

Damn it, I have to wake up at 05:45 a.m. because I’m carpooling with a couple more people. To me it doesn’t make sense because if you look at the map below, I’m driving from point, A -> B (Blue Line) then from B -> C (Red Line). Which you can see is like I’m driving in circles.

If I didn’t carpool, my drive would consist of point, A -> C (Teal Line), which makes more sense to me though. The only advantage that I have with carpooling is well … the carpool lane, so no sitting in traffic. But is it really worth it that I have to wake up early, drive back down to my starting point and then actually start the commute to where the training is … makes no sense to me at all.

- A

Pancake Day

If you didn’t know, today is National Pancake Day and IHOP is giving away a stack of pancakes for free. Yes .. a FREE stack (which is just three pancakes). All they ask is that you consider donating to the Children’s Miracle Network.

So go down to your local IHOP, get a free stack of pancakes and of course, if you can, please donate to the Children’s Miracle Network. It’s a win win situation for everyone!!

Click here for more information.

- A