Monday, May 08, 2006

A grump

That would be me. I am in a funky mood today. I don’t even really know how to explain it, other than to just call myself a grump. I don’t really feel like being here at work.

My travel request for the conference was confirmed and my division director approved my information request for my abstract. He e-mailed me this morning, a really nice note actually; I was surprised as I never get nice notes from him. Every note from him I imagine including a tagline that says “it’s not your imagination, my tone in this e-mail should be interpreted as extreme annoyance because you annoy me that much”. Anyways, he asked what exactly I planned to present and told me he had second thoughts on exposing too much of this particular research because other institutions are jumping on the bandwagon and are not above “stealing” plans/strategies/clients… So in essence, please don’t present our strategy if I can avoid it. All the while I sat there thinking “wow, he said our strategy”. And then wondered to myself what that strategy might be… doh.

We had a nice weekend. Ordered out pizza on Friday night to celebrate AB being done with the semester. (We had planned on getting a sitter and going out to dinner to celebrate – but our priorities have been reshuffled…) Saturday we got up and went to Michaels where I bought Mother’s Day craft supplies for Leif to make surprises for his grandmas (grandma is “baa-ma” - grandpa is “bom-pa” – I love that). We went to PetSmart where Leif reaffirmed his love for all creatures great and small. He insisted on sitting himself on the floor of PetSmart (ick) and giggled and squealed with delight at the rat and guinea pig. Then we watched the birds (“buds”) and looked at the fish. He only stuck his hand in 2 or 3 tanks… oops. (He didn’t catch anything.)

We needed a quick trip to Lowes to get a few “craft” supplies that Michaels didn’t have. Yes, I am sending out the bomb Mother’s Day presents from Leif this year. They are going to be gorgeous – albeit late for my MIL. We left Lowes with “a few” more things than were on the list going in.

At that point it was nearing noon, but AB suggested we push on to the grocery store and therefore finish all weekend errands. I was skeptical, but we did it. The new local grocery store is fabulous. I loved it and the produce was spectacular. We really do get great produce in this area, particularly at the Farmer’s Markets. But for some reason the local Albertsons (that is oh so convenient) seems to miss this mark. We once again bought far more than was on the list.

Once home, Leif napped and AB got a tri-tip on smoking on the BBQ. Mmmm. You just cannot even imagine how wonderful those turn out. After a winter off, AB still has it going on. I ate WAY too much of this deliciousness.

Sunday was a dreary day here, a little rainy, not very warm. We got dressed and walked down to Starbucks. Yes, *every* good Washington state resident does this (or at least that is what it seemed at Starbucks that morning). We made our way back home where we hung out around the house all day. Leif napped, I made pesto, AB read his book. I watched Food Network and was thrilled to see a one hour show on the Reno Rib CookOff. Yet another thing to make me “homesick” for Reno. The backdrop was so familiar… a few local personalities were on the show I remembered. *sigh* We loved the Rib CookOff when we lived there. AB lost his wedding ring at the Rib CookOff a mere 5 months after we were married. (Not such a fond memory from the RCO…)

I am excited to go there in June and was pleased to see that one of our favorite wine producing areas, El Dorado, is having a Solstice event that weekend. Lots of super bold zins produced in small batches. Yum. There is a little voice inside my head reminding me the region is about 2 hours away and we now sport a toddler. Just a little voice… I can shut it off and dream right now about shipping a few cases back.

Ah well. AB picked Leifers (the kids at daycare have renamed him) up and they are enjoying the sunny afternoon in the back yard. Shortly I will be heading out of here and hopefully my mood will improve upon setting foot in my car and directing it towards home… a big glass of wine… a tri-tip sandwich… and another big glass of wine.

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