Happy Birthday You Big Ass

Today I came in late to work and there waiting for me on my desk was a pan of brownies that said "Happy Birthday Meghan." It was made by the one and only Sandy featured in yesterday's blog. Wow! I sure feel like an ass... (but let me tell you - these are damn good brownies!)

Meany came in shortly after that and gave me a birthday present and The Big Spin told me to leave early. (I didn't actually leave early because technically I hadn't done any work today when he said that (at 2:00). I told myself I had to stay to finish a couple of things off before I leave on vacation. (I won't be back in the office until next Thursday - hooray!) But really, I had to get coffee with Calendar Girl and catch up. Now I'll put up my out of office messages, and then, officially...I am outta here!!!!

A Story

This is a difficult one to tell. Not because it’s sad or disturbing, but because although it’s true, I still have a hard time believing it myself. This story is about 4 people in my department: the Management Trainee (Sandy); Madam Boss Lady (Meany); and Big Boss (The Big Spin) and Me (Mingle).

It started almost 2 years ago, when Sandy first rotated through my department (before I was here) and met THE BIG SPIN. Sandy loved this department and wanted to stay. At the time they weren’t hiring, but THE BIG SPIN told her that if she would rotate through all these other areas then she could come back to the department later and be hired. So Sandy went away and kept working, eager for the day she would return.

THE BIG SPIN in the meantime hired MEANY and others, including myself, and the department changed drastically. And then Sandy came back four months ago. She was put in my group reporting to MEANY and basically told by THE BIG SPIN that she would be hired at the end of this last rotation. MEANY on the other hand did not like this idea at all. So, she basically made Sandy report to me and stopped talking to her altogether. This put me in a very awkward position where I would often find myself in the middle of the two of them trying to smooth things over. I was the mediator for the last 4 months. Balancing on one side - a young woman who was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and on the other side - an uncaring angry person.

I like Sandy a lot, she’s a very nice girl, but she’s also very high strung and unfortunately told everyone in the office about her job woes and her worries that she would not be hired. She told me over and over (and over) again about her concerns, and over and over (and over) again I told her that she would be hired and she should try not to get herself so worked up. One day during this time she made me so upset I actually got angry and yelled at her. This was the “dark period”. MEANY in the meantime continued to treat Sandy like a POS and I continued to be stuck in the middle.

I’m happy to say, that as of yesterday, this story has been resolved. However the ending to this story is different depending on whom you talk to. First MEANY talked to me and said that Sandy had been offered a job in our department, however she would not be reporting to MEANY – she would be reporting to another lady, in a different group. She said that she had told THE BIG SPIN that Sandy is not yet ready to work in our group because she doesn’t have enough experience and that MEANY and I are too busy to take her under our wing and mentor her. (This was right after I walked into her office and said things are very slow for me right now and I was looking for work that I could begin for next year.) She said that THE BIG SPIN was very angry when she told him this.

THE BIG SPIN then came into the office and started to tell me that Sandy was hired, but would now be reporting to another lady. He then started to explain that this was no reflection on MEANY and I, at which point I smirked. He then went on to explain that Sandy needs more guidance, she needs to be “nurtured”, at which point I literally had to turn away my head and laugh out loud. MEANY explained to THE BIG SPIN that I was already very aware of all of this. THE BIG SPIN did not listen, but continued to explain the situation, during all of which I was not able to wipe off the smirk on my face.

Next comes Sandy…she asked me to go to coffee with her in the afternoon so she could share her “good news!” She didn’t know how it happened, but one day THE BIG SPIN told her she would have a job and would be reporting to MEANY, but then the next day he talked to Sandy and said, “I’ve been thinking about this more, and I believe it would be better if you reported to this other lady because...blah, blah, blah” Apparently, this is the work that she wanted to do all along (which was news to me). She was giddy with excitement – “I can’t believe this has all worked out so perfectly!” she exclaimed. “I really like the people in our department and it would make me sad to leave” (Fortunately, I was able to control my smirk when she said this – because I do not enjoy the people in our department.) She was concerned however, that MEANY would be upset when she learned that Sandy would now be reporting to another lady. To which I wanted to reply, “Are you #$@& kidding me?! Do you remember the hell of the last 4 months?? She has never said a nice word to you!” However, the diplomatic side took over, and instead I assured her that it probably works out best for MEANY too because she doesn’t have time to mentor Sandy. Sandy was “super relieved”, and went away happy.

I however went away shaking my head, amazed that I had heard 3 different versions of the same story. And all I really wanted to hear was, “Mingle, I’m sorry for the hell you have been put through for the last 4 months, we promise we will all grow up now.”

Boy Babies

I’m concerned for the next generation. And no…not for the obvious reasons... war, global warming, etc.. I’m concerned that there won’t be enough boys in this world. Over the weekend I made a startling realization – of all the friends I have with children, they are all girls. Wait, does that make grammatical sense? Some of my friends are men, but all of their children are girls. Oh.. whatever… my point is that I don’t know a single boy child. But I do know 7 girls all under the age of 5. Not to mention another friend just had a newborn who is not included in the 7 (because I haven’t met her) and yet another friend is going to have a girl. What if all of these cute little girls grow up and there are no boys to date? Oh sure, their dads will be happy, but just think!

When I made this realization over the weekend, I told Mr. Mingle that R & J have to have a boy next, and then told him about my discovery. To which he replied, “Wait…you want R & J to have a boy, so you will know a boy baby? Doesn’t that sound a little selfish, and frankly weird?” Well, OK, so maybe he did have a point, but still how many boys and girls do all of you know?? I’m sure that there is going to be a huge majority of women walking this earth in the future. Wait a minute…maybe that isn’t such a bad thing afterall…

Calendar Girl Gets Her Mingle On

Calendar Girl: This is a part of my horoscope today
Calendar Girl: All the most auspicious energies of the week—and with Venus, Jupiter and Uranus in a grand water trine, there are lots of 'em—will swirl around you when you're out, getting your mingle on.
Mingle: no way!
Calendar Girl: oh yes way
Calendar Girl: I'll be 'getting my mingle on' only you won't have anything to do with it
Calendar Girl: however,
Calendar Girl: this new development bodes well for a new Phrase of Summer
Calendar Girl: like on Friday?
Calendar Girl: I'm going to Get My Mingle On when we get the birthday cookies
Calendar Girl: I got my Mingle On last Friday too
Calendar Girl: I'd say it'd have to be a planned event
Calendar Girl: so seeing you in the hallway this morning was NOT an instance of 'getting my mingle on'
Calendar Girl: you see?
Calendar Girl: have I given this too much thought?
Calendar Girl: (don't answer that)

…
Mingle: are you trying to go for another blog mention with this IM chain?
Calendar Girl: no, I hadn't thought about trying to get a blog mention, unfortunately, this is just me
Calendar Girl: but would this qualify for a blog mention?
Mingle: perhaps...
Calendar Girl: so uh, you want a Moroccan mint or anything?
Mingle: now you are thinking...
Calendar Girl: something from the vending machine?
Calendar Girl: a foot massage?
Mingle: no, no - a beverage would be just fine
Calendar Girl: does this mean I've made the blog?
Mingle: does this mean I get a beverage?

What a girl would do to get a Moroccan Mint Tea from Whole Foods…

Here's An Idea

Madam Boss Lady called me into her office yesterday to ask my opinions on what she should bring up at her 2-Day meeting with her boss and counterparts to discuss the future of our grand ol’ department.

I initially started by dancing around a few different issues that I see here, and then finally fell into a 15 minute period of verbal diarrhea where I unloaded such phrases as “I’m not very happy here”, “This department is dysfunctional”, “It’s an extremely negative environment”, “I like some of the work that I do, but that will only get me so far…”, and one of my personal favorites, “I go to the Dublin office to get away from here” (usually I just tell them it’s to save gas), and so it went...

I was actually quite surprised by how calmly she sat and listened to me without putting on one of her facial expressions that I call ‘disgust’. We then discussed the situation a little bit more, until finally it wrapped up by her saying, “Well, I completely agree with you and I’m unhappy too. And although I should probably be more positive with you, I don’t see things ever improving either.”

Ok then! That was pretty much the last straw that I needed to kick me into job-hunt land. Why stay at a job that shows no sign of improving? Even after our long painful discussion she pretty much said that she didn’t see the point of her 2-Day Management meeting and probably wouldn’t say anything. I told her at the very least she could bring me back some free coffee.

Today I am sitting in Dublin (“to save gas”) as I write this. I have to go back tomorrow, but considering nothing will change, at least I know what to expect. However, now I have an idea of something to work on thanks to a well-timed article a coworker sent to me from The Onion.

No, I will not be putting together a suicide note Powerpoint presentation, but perhaps a Resignation Presentation would be appropriate. Mine might have four categories too… like, “Why I Quit”; “Why you Suck”; “Why this department will fold in under a year”; and “Ha Ha I was Right”, although I am open to suggestions…

An Addendum

As a follow-up to the last two days of posting:

First of all, my "Ex-Coworker/Friend" who is referenced in the IM conversation from two days ago read my blog and then complained that she needed a better name then "Ex-Coworker/Friend". Then today she sent me this IM after reading yesterday's entry about our special calendar:

Ex-Coworker/Friend: I use the calendar all the time (when I'm at my desk) and wouldn't ya know it...
Ex-Coworker/Friend: I never noticed that it was Monday - Sunday
Ex-Coworker/Friend: oh man, that's a good one!

************************************************************************************
Dear Ex-Coworker/Friend:

You are right, you do deserve a better blog name. From now on you will be referenced as Goofball.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Mingle

My Favorite Calendar

At the beginning of the year my company gave us all a monthly desk calendar with the theme “The Art of Currency”. And let me just tell you, this calendar is really, really special. The first time I realized this was when I saw that the weeks on this calendar run from Monday to Sunday. I think there was a period of about a month there when everyone in the company was probably scheduling meetings on the wrong day, when they would glance quickly down at the calendar, send out a meeting request for say, Monday, Jan. 17 and then discover later that Monday is actually January 16.

I’m not sure why the calendar is like this – I suspect it was given out to our employees in our international offices too – do they usually think of weeks as Monday – Sunday? No matter, when the realization occurred, many threw the calendar away rather then deal with the confusion.

I, however, kept the calendar but drew clear vertical lines on each month separating Monday-Friday from Saturday and Sunday. But then in May, I got a little nervous when Mother’s Day appeared on the calendar on Wednesday, May 10. “Oh!” I pondered, “I thought Mother’s Day was on Sunday!” Of course it was, as it is every year, on Sunday, May 14 (also the day that I took my mom out to lunch where we all got food poisoning).

But today my calendar proved to be the best ever, because as I was looking at it to make plans for the weekend of July 28, I realized that there is no July 29. Nope, according to my calendar, we are not acknowledging that day this year. Instead we will have Friday, July 28, Saturday July 28 and Sunday, July 30. This new found knowledge made me extremely happy – after all, my birthday is July 28, so now I get to celebrate twice!

The Banality of Work

A typical IM conversation that occured with one of my old co-workers today
(I sure do miss them)

Mingle: hey there
Ex Coworker/Friend: hi
Mingle: I have something for you
Ex Coworker/Friend: ooh goody
Mingle: yes, it's VERY big
Ex Coworker/Friend: what? what???
Mingle: and...let's just say it has something to do with Peet's
Ex Coworker/Friend: (gasp!)
Mingle: a..
Mingle: 50
Mingle: cent
Mingle: giftcard!!
Ex Coworker/Friend: ooooooh!!!!
Mingle: (and don't spend it all in one place)
Ex Coworker/Friend: how exactly, did you come by such a wondrous gift?
Mingle: well...someone else gave me the giftcard to Peet’s so, I went there and asked them (with eager excitement) “how much does this have??”
Mingle: imagining a latte...
Mingle: and she said…
Mingle: “$2.00”
Mingle: so.. I got a small coffee, and then thought I'd save the rest to share the wealth with you
Ex Coworker/Friend: aw shucks!!!!
Ex Coworker/Friend: thank you!!!!
Ex Coworker/Friend: $2 is pretty paltry
Mingle: (I was just hoping for $5)

and so it went... on and on...

Summer TV Line-Up

I know that it’s summertime because the line-up on my Tivo has changed. No longer are we recording new episodes of Lost, Prison Break and Desparate Housewives. The new shows of the summer consist of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show (I know this is on year-round, but we are slow starters), Rockstar SUPERNOVA (you must say “SUPERNOVA!” with a growl when talking about this show), and the newest and favorite show of the Mingle house: The Backyardigans.

I feel like I’m giving up a little of my personality here… I watch Jon Stewart on the Comedy Channel for current events, Rockstar SUPERNOVA, the second cousin to American Idol (although, I’d have to argue it’s by far the more talented cousin), and The Backyardigans – a show made for Nickelodeon Jr. Yep – it’s a cartoon, and not even one for adults or older kids – it’s for 5 year-olds.

If you have not seen this yet – I highly recommend that you check it out. I came across it one Sunday when I was flipping through channels and was immediately transfixed. It’s about a group of friends (who just happen to be talking animals) that create big adventures in their backyard every episode. So far we have seen them chase a yetti, ride on the prairie, and search for dinosaur bones. In each episode the characters will sing songs about their adventures that have clever lyrics and they dance in time to the music. What makes this show so outstanding is the choreography. The animation is simple, yet they’ve got the characters even doing hip hop – I bet they could do the Running Man.

I'm not sure how we reconcile watching Tommy Lee and cute cartoon characters in the same night, and I'm not even sure why we love this animated show so much. The funny thing is that Mr. Mingle and I don’t always agree on movies and TV. He usually likes the more serious, thought-provoking shows from say Discovery or PBS, and the independent films that require way to much brain power for me. I tend to like the blockbuster type films, and the popular dramas and sitcoms. Yet if there is one thing that we agree on, it’s The Backyardigans! So please, before you start judging me and my cartoon selection, check it out, I think you may be surprised!

Houseboat 2006

I can't keep track of how many houseboats I've been on over the years. I'd say more then 10, but less then 20. But perhaps 20. Maybe. They get hazier and hazier as I get older. Perhaps that's due to the alcohol consumption as I've gotten older. Up until I was, say, 21, the ratio of alcoholic drinks to skis per day was 0 to 3. Now, I'd say it's more like 6 to 2. I certainly don't remember doing much more then playing cards and water skiing when I was 10. I certainly don't remember much at all as a 31-year-old.

Houseboat 2006 was a lot of fun and it was so nice to be back after a 3 year absence. If you want the PG-13 (or R-Rated) version, you may want to check with Karin's Chronicles (just ask her what her catch-phrase of the week was), and if you want the pictorial version, you may want to check out Swiss Miss (she and Mr. B took over 500 photos between the two of them), but if you want my version (AKA Mingle's Meltdown) then please stick with me here...

The theme of the week was "Backflips!" Our new friend Tim joined us this year and was a crazy man when it came to special dives, jumps and leaps (in a chair) off of the houseboat. We caught on to his excitement and all tried doing backflips off the back of the boat. A couple of the braver ones did it off the top, but to my recollection none of us ladies did. I was impressed enough that I was able to do a backflip off the back of the boat without losing my swimsuit in the process.

There were lots of tumbles and crashes in the water as everyone spent the week wakeboarding, skiing, and surfing. Wait, wait - surfing? yes, that's right. One of the new toys this year was a small surfboard type thing that we tried out. Once you get up (which fortunately is quite easy) then you try to ride the boat wake as if on a surfboard. I particularly liked this one because I was not bound to the board and we traveled at very low speeds so falling usually did not hurt. I cannot say the same about the wakeboard however. I have not quite grasped the whole 'edge' thing, and caught the front edge real good, which led to huge face-plants - so hard it literally knocked me out of my boots. Twice. In a row.

My face-plants occurred on Tuesday and for the whole week after that I suffered different amounts of dizziness which continue even now. However, a visit to the doctor today confirmed that, NO, it was not a head injury. Somehow, I came down with a case of vertigo, which is a result of a virus in the inner ear. Unfortunately there is no medication for it, I just have to wait it out (hopefully no more then another week).

I was ecstatic when I learned on Monday that Mr. Mingle would be joining me up at the houseboat on Wednesday. Once he arrived, he joined us wakeboarding and surfing, but also spent at least 2 hours a day hiking. On his first hike he even came across a bear in the woods, which fortunately was more scared then he was and ran away. Of course this also prompted Krin to sing my famous bear song from Girl Scouts over and over again for the rest of the trip. "The Other day...the other day...[Mr. Mingle] saw a bear...Mr. Mingle saw a bear..." He was also the only one to spend any significant amounts of time on land and take photos from a perspective other then at lake level:

In summary, I'd say the following words sum up the trip for me: Butterflies, Backflips, Booze, Beauties, Falls and Fashion. We were on the lake for a full week with no shower, except for the natural bathing in a lake, so naturally we were bound to have beauties and fashion. Booze just masked everything, including falls.

Butterflies

Each morning these visited our front deck, sometimes up to about 30 at a time

Backflips

Krin gives the backflip a shot

Booze

Tim saves the booze!

Falls

Mr. Mingle is caught in the act of falling

Fashion

The men take home fashion awards this year

Mr. Obus shows us that no glasses or hat are too big

Mr. Mingle knows how to arrive with style

Beauties

Swiss Miss shows off her butterfly glasses

Mrs. Mingle has fun with her glasses

Sneak Preview

Mr. Mingle and I were told that our wedding would be featured in the next edition of the The Knot Magazine – Northern California edition, and I have been eagerly waiting to see what our “spread” will look like. We contributed to the story, but our photographer sent in all the pictures so we have no clue what will be in there. Last we heard, back in February, was that we would definitely be in the magazine and it is supposed to come out in July.

This morning Gonzaleska surprised me with a sneak preview and although it goes against my desire to share names, I cannot resist sharing this link…


The Mingles on The Knot

My Cubicle

I'm sure many of you have heard the constantly played James Blunt song, "You're Beautiful" on the radio, but have you heard this parody?

To my friends who are locked in cubicles on a daily basis, this is for you:

My Cubicle

Growing Up

Last night my “little” cousin graduated from High School. I don’t feel myself getting older until I see kids like J all grown up. And I say “kid” but she is 18. I remember changing her diapers with Fossie when we were just teenagers ourselves. That one night probably scarred us for life when we realized that little babies could cause nuclear explosions in their diapers. I remember J brushing my hair with awe and wonder when she was 3. I remember watching her and a friend floating around the houseboat when they weren’t much older. I remember going to a dance review, and middle school concert. But before I knew it she wore more make-up then me and was far more fashion conscious then I ever was or have been. J was always the youngest by far at family and friends events, which must have been pretty boring for her at times, but she never complained. She was also quieter then most of us and I think preferred just taking in the loud conversation around her rather then participating. After all, it can’t be very interesting for a high-schooler to hear the constant job talk, or the growing aches and pains of her elders.

Lately the big news was her Senior Ball and my fashion savvy cousin looked like a shining star. She had her dress picked out long before the dance occurred, and before she had a date. But she was confident. The Senior Ball lived up to all of her expectations and she glowed as she talked about that night. And then last night was graduation…

We all went, and fully expected to see her afterwards in her cap and gown so her self-proclaimed photo-crazy mom could get every shot imaginable. J with parents, J with Mingle, J with Auntie S, and on and on. But after the graduation she was not to be found. In a sea of 500 plus graduates it wasn’t surprising but we still canvassed the local area to find her and saw at least 450 of the kids. Finally she was located near the busses (and far from the football stadium where the ceremony occurred) that were to whisk her and her friends off to grad night. We have never seen J so excited or animated – it was obvious that photos were not on her mind – she was ready to GO. She was chatting amiably with friends and her big smile took up half of her face – it was wonderful to see her so happy. We all said our congratulations, forced her to put the cap and gown on for a few required photos, and then said our goodbyes as she ran back to her friends.

Next year she’s off to college to experience a new adventure, and while I am so excited for her, I really wish we could stop time. Because frankly, I don’t want to grow up!

Congratulations J!!!!!

Cabo San Lucas

A Mingle vacation would never be complete without a few unplanned mishaps. However, we Mingles like to look on the bright side and embrace these events whole- heartedly, since more then likely, they provide a lot of color and character for the entire trip. And, without these misadventures, what then my dear friends, would I have to write about?

Before I continue with the good and the bad (from here on known as “funny”), I would like to caveat this by announcing – that we had a fantastic time. That is no lie, Mr. Mingle planned a wonderful trip, and I would go back to Cabo San Lucas in a heartbeat – it was very, very difficult to come home after the nice time that we had. And now…let me take you back to the beginning…

Mr. Mingle planned a 4-night, 5-day trip for the two of us to celebrate our first year anniversary in Cabo San Lucas. We love to travel together, but we also appreciate good deals and he found one. Two things made our trip less expensive:

1) We transferred through Houston (thus adding 5-7 hours onto both our travel days)
2) Our hotel was half-built.

Okay, so the second might sound a little disarming, but we were fully aware of this before we arrived – he had checked out all reviews, and they were positive, despite the construction. What they lacked in building, they made up for in service. The detours through Houston were the biggest downfall of the trip. Not because we were in the air longer, or had layovers in Houston – because we can amuse ourselves and laugh through those - but because they lost my luggage. When we got to Cabo Thursday night, we watched them unload all the bags (it was a small plane) and we watched all the bags get taken away and the luggage cart shut down. Mr. Mingle’s arrived, however mine did not. I was immediately distressed by this because I had nothing to wear except for the clothes I had on and almost everything in the bag was brand new so I thought I’d lost it forever without ever having the chance to wear my new clothes.

On the ride to the hotel I was very sad, which made me even more upset, because at this point I should have been happy, after all, we were in Cabo San Lucas! As I said, we knew the hotel was half-built, so we were not surprised when the taxi drove off into a dirt road, past a half-structure and dropped us off in front of the finished portion by the beach. The lobby was one of the things not built yet, so instead, we checked in at a desk located in the restaurant. There we were greeted by a lovely woman who had good news – the airline had already called and said they found my suitcase which would be delivered late the following day. At that point both of us resisted the urge to leap over the table and hug the woman. Then she said, “I have bad news and good news…” oh..here it comes… “The bad news is we have run out of the studio rooms that you reserved, but the good news is we have given you a free upgrade to a one bedroom suite.” At which point, we were both confused about what the bad news was... “what does that mean?” we asked. That meant that we got a one bedroom suite larger then our apartment, complete with a kitchen, laundry room, two bathrooms and a balcony overlooking the beach. Suite? Sweet!!!

On Friday morning I woke up and was reading on a lounge chair on the balcony while Mr. Mingle continued to sleep. I was enjoying the view, the ocean breeze, and the construction noises in the background when I became aware of a clicking sound that seemed to be getting closer. I turned around and to my surprise found two Mexican construction workers hanging outside my 6th floor balcony hoisting themselves up the building. I quickly departed the balcony, but not without first getting a picture.

Since I didn’t have any of my beachwear, we killed the morning by attending a time share presentation for the place we were staying in and got free breakfast and some other stuff out of it, as well as discounts on our future activities for the weekend. However, we stuck to our guns and did not purchase anything even though they pushed and pushed. Later, I borrowed a shirt and shorts from Mr. Mingle and we walked along the beach to have lunch at The Office, which was supposed to be a fun place. It was obviously located in the party section of the beach. Everyone was tanned and gorgeous and walking around in their little suits with drinks in hand. I felt out of place wearing my husband’s clothes and not feeling glamorous in the least, not to mention we were, by far, the whitest couple on the beach. No worries though – it was just great to be there. My suitcase arrived around 3:00 so we quickly changed into swimsuits and went to the pool complete with a pirate ship in the middle.


On Saturday we had reservations for a snorkeling trip for the afternoon. We went to the wharf to catch our boat and discovered another really nice place in Cabo. The wharf area was beautiful and full of restaurants and fun places to hang out. We caught our boat which came with an open bar and a promise of lunch later in the afternoon. We had a long drive out to the snorkeling beach – probably 45 minutes or so, and I quickly realized that this was going to be a tough day for me. I stopped drinking after one beer when I started to feel seasick. I have never experienced such seasickness in my life… I kept praying that we would get to our destination before I got sick, and luckily we did. I was enjoying the snorkeling and being in the cool water, but still feeling a little queasy, until I accidentally swallowed a large amount of salt water which sent me over the edge. Let’s just say it was unpleasant and I won’t explain further, but luckily no one was around except for Mr. Mingle who was far enough away from me not to get hit… ok, ok, really no more. After that episode I thought I felt better and had some lunch before we took off again for the long journey home. But alas, it wasn’t to be. Some pirates say “yo-ho” when on a boat, but this Mingle said “heave-ho” right over the side. Oh so sick, and unpleasant. I could not wait to get back to dry land. Finally we made it back and somehow I was able to stand enough to get off the boat. It took me awhile to get my strength back, but a little ice cream and a nap helped immensely. The topper to this whole boat trip was the fact that the spray-on sunblock we had was not applied too evenly so the tops of my legs and knees got burnt, and my back looks like a jigsaw puzzle with the red patches asymmetrically appearing around strap lines.

That night I felt much better and was able to enjoy our best dinner out of the whole trip. Mr. Mingle had made special reservations at a boutique hotel called Casa Rafael’s and it was wonderful. The service was impeccable – I think there were 4 or 5 people waiting on us at any one time. There was also a music group playing – a small mariachi band, but with only guitars – no horns. There was a 13 yearold boy in this group who looked like he had been dragged along by his father to occasionally accompany the group with sound effects. All of a sudden, this kid broke out singing with the operatic voice that stunned us – we were amazed. He was also very cheesy and really hammed it up and we enjoyed his performance immensely.

Sunday was our busiest day. First we started off by getting massages and then we rented a sea kayak for two and kayaked out to a place called Lover’s Beach which was quite far away and only accessible by water. We were about a third of the way there when we realized they had sent us out without life jackets. “Oh well, Mingle is a good swimmer” we thought, and carried on. We made it out to the beach with no trouble until we got caught in a mini whirlpool trying to pull up to the beach, but fortunately we didn’t tip and the next wave came and pushed our boat to shore. We walked around this beach for a bit and checked out both sides – the Pacific side and the bay-side. Then we kayaked back. We took a quick break in the pool at a nearby resort where we found a swim-up bar and enjoyed margaritas and ice cream. (As a side note – these do NOT go well together). After this, it was off for parasailing! I have wanted to go parasailing for 14 years, and I was finally going to get my chance. First we were picked up from the beach by a taxi boat which then transferred us to a ski boat in the middle of the bay from which we would parasail. Some other people were already there and while one of them was up in the air we heard a loud crack and then a funny sound. We soon discovered that the fiber glass on the side of the boat had literally cracked in two places and a 4 foot piece of it was flapping around in the breeze. The parasailer came down without incident, but we were worried about the fact that it appeared we had a large hole in our boat. Their boss came out to check the boat out and deemed it unsafe to continue (thank goodness – because I wanted off), and then were put back in a water taxi and transferred to yet another ski boat. Finally I had my chance to parasail, and it was truly amazing. I thought I’d be really frightened, but once I was up there it was so peaceful. They drove us around the bay and I just floated in the air while taking in all the sites, Cabo Bay, our hotel, sea lion rock, the arch, Lover’s Beach…all from a bird’s eye view. I’m so grateful I finally got to go parasailing, and I would do it again.

After Mr. Mingle got his chance to parasail we then went back to our hotel where we relaxed for the rest of the late afternoon by our pool, and then finally into town for one last dinner.

This was an extremely long narrative and if you have read this far – thank you! I had every intention of posting pictures, but am currently having technical difficulties – so those are to come. Our trip was not without its blunders, but as I said in the beginning, all in all it was fantastic. It was so nice to be on vacation together, relaxed and away from work, if only we could have stayed for another week. Mr. Mingle has set the bar very high for our next anniversary.

The Anniversary Trip

"Dear Mr. Mingle,
Thank you for taking me to New York for our anniversary."

This was the note I wrote to Mr. Mingle about 2 months ago when I found out he was planning a surprise four-night trip to celebrate our first year anniversary. I put my note in a sealed envelope and planned to give it to him after he told me where we were going. About 2 weeks ago he disclosed another bit of info: “Technically, we don’t need our passports for where we are going, but it would be helpful.” I knew he wasn’t trying to feed me bogus information because it all made sense with other things that he had said recently. At that point, I threw my New York guess out the window and wrote another note which I then sealed for later viewing:

"Dear Mr. Mingle,
Thank you for taking me on an amazing trip to Mexico."

It was also after this conversation that I tried to weasel a little more info out of him – you see, it was very important for me to know whether or not I needed to go shopping for “cute" clothes. i.e. Were we headed to the tropics or Canada? He confirmed that it might be nice to buy some “cute clothes” so I promptly went out shopping, which led to my whirlwind day last Monday.

At this time I would also like to point out that one day, when Mr. Mingle was rushing off to work on a Saturday morning, he said, “Listen, I accidentally left some anniversary trip info on my dresser – please don’t look.” Normally, I would not rifle through the stuff on his dresser, but now that I knew something was there…it was ooh..soo… tempting. However, except for using my secret x-ray vision to try to look through the pile on the dresser without actually touching it – I did not look. I WAS HOME ALL FRIGGIN’ DAY WALKING BY HIS DRESSER BUT I DID NOT LOOK. Not that it was torture or anything.


This past Saturday was the big revealing of our anniversary trip. He made dinner reservations at the restaurant where we got engaged and told me that we are going to…

drum roll please…

Cabo San Lucas!

We are leaving on Thursday and I can’t wait! My Mexico guess was accurate, however considering I’ve never been anywhere other then Ensenada Mexico, anything was still going to be a surprise. Now that I know where we are going, I am even more excited and wish we could leave NOW. However, my shopping is not yet complete…I still need to buy a swimsuit and sunglasses. After all, what more will I need in Cabo??

Mingle the Sexpot

I went to my last Improv class on Tuesday and we did an activity where our classmates had to choose the characters they wanted to see other people perform. A piece of paper was passed around with my name on it and my classmates had to write down what character they wanted to see me portray on stage. I do not know why they chose the characters that they did, nor did I particularly care for any of them:

An aggravated yetti
A sexpot
A druggie
A waitress at a Reno casino
An overeater

After we all got our list of characters, then our teacher would pull together a scene: “I want to see the nervous cop, the other cop, the jabbering crackhead…and…who would make a good girlfriend? Ah..the sexpot.”

There were a few problems with this scene:

First of all, I’m not honestly sure what defines a ‘sexpot’, except I assumed it was someone who thought she was good looking and was trying to get some. All the time.

Secondly, I have never been a very flirtatious person anyway, and have trouble even acting this way on stage. Nevermind the fact that innocent flirting was the least of my worries in this scene.

Thirdly, I was playing the girlfriend of the “Jabbering Crackhead” who was being played by a guy named Joe, who is equally as square as I am. You should have seen us trying to light up imaginary crackpipes…I’m sorry, what? Let me put this to you in a different light – the best scene I acted in over the past 10 weeks was when I was partnered with this same guy Joe, and we both played 90 year-old women. We were comfortable with those roles. We were not comfortable with these new ones.

The first time we performed this scene, I basically tried to throw myself at everyone (tried being the keyword) – the crackhead, the nervous cop, and the brave cop (who happened to be bald) as they went about trying to arrest the crackhead. The bald head worked to my benefit since I was able to rub it sexily. Ummm…more info then you wanted eh?

When we were done, the teacher wanted to see the Jabbering Crackhead jabber more with a stream of consciousness so asked us to go back up onstage and do it again. He was to jabber more, I was to be more of a sexpot. This time he just jabbered and basically everything I caught him saying, I turned into some steamy sexual innuendo, and then finally dragged him back to my ‘bedroom’. I’ve never said the things to my husband that I said on stage in front of my whole class. It was a big, BIG stretch for my acting skills, and one which I found quite embarrassing.

The only other character I had to play that night from my list above was the “Aggravated Yetti”, however, I initially confused ‘yetti’ with ‘shirpa’. No, no. One is human, one is not. So, in that scene I just grunted my way across stage as a step-sister to Chewbacca, while a guy playing a drag queen tried to pick up on me. What a class. Or should I say, I've got some class.

A Good Weekend for Me/Not for the Hubby

Saturday: I went up to the Russian River with the younger Flosses where we played a fun game of golf, never mind the fact that two of us are really bad golfers. The weather was perfect, the course was surrounded by huge Sequioas, I never lost my ball, (which is quite easy if you really don’t hit it very far to begin with), and we enjoyed a cocktail on the 5th Hole. That night we had a BBQ back at the Cabin and relaxed on deck while hitting a volleyball back and forth as we tried not to send it flying over the deck into the poison oak below. Later that evening Krin introduced me to a new game called SayGo! which is somewhat similar to scrabble, only much faster, and not for points. For those of you who have played with competitive Krin before, I suggest you play a game with her where she has lost the directions. It really takes the competitive edge out of a game if you don’t know how to score it – and yet, it’s still fun!

Mr. Mingle on the other hand was left at home because he had to work, and then he went to a movie and a dinner that evening.

Sunday: Woke up relatively early to go boating at Lake Berryessa. I have never seen a lake so crowded or so choppy, but we still had a great time boating around. The weather was a little chilly, but if we were stopped it was warm enough in the sunshine to lay out and get a little tan. (Or a little splotchy in my case since I didn’t apply the sunblock evenly). The Big Floss went for a short wakeboard when we found a patch of semi-smooth water, but it didn’t last too long once the waves started up again. We amused ourselves by watching Krin and Zach swim the new dog – mini dachshund, Roxy – ashore so she could take a dump. (Roxy, not Krin) And cheered loudly when the mission was successful. (It’s the little things in life that make us happy). Later in the day we boated over to a bridge where there were tons of boats hanging out. It looked like Spring Break at Lake Havasu. If any of you are not familiar with “lake people”, they are a very, very special breed. As Big Floss said, we could have stayed and people-watched all day long. One boat in particular stuck out because the boat was called “Pimp Nasty”, and a bunch of skinheads were yelling out “White Power” and “Hey Mother$#%@” every time they passed. We stayed long enough to see what was going on, to see that it wasn’t our type of crowd, and then boated back to the ramp to go home for the day.

Mr. Mingle on the other hand was at home working again, and also feeling sick. He drove up to meet us at the Russian River cabin Sunday night but by the time he got there was so sick with food poisoning that it wasn’t a fun visit for him.

Monday: Mr. Mingle and I had originally planned to go to a winery and then stop by my dad’s for lunch. Then, we were going to go shopping after that. However, since he was still feeling really sick, we skipped the winery, stopped by my dad’s quickly to pick up some things and then went straight home. Both of us ended up taking a nap, but I woke up about 3 hours earlier then he did and decided that I needed to go shopping. We are going on vacation in a few weeks and I need some new summer clothes – you know how it is. I went to a mall nearby in Emeryville and, after a gluttonous dessert treat, decided to check out the GAP. It was one of those rare days where everything that was on sale, actually fit! I ended up leaving there with two big bags of clothes (for both Mr. Mingle and I) and went home happy.

All in all, I had a really great weekend – I just wish that Mr. Mingle could have enjoyed it too.

A Poem About Yesterday

As I sit here at this hotel on Fisherman's Wharf

it is a beautiful day.

Outside.

Inside, there are no windows, just long tables and chairs.

One man speaks for hours about something I do not know.

They let us out for lunch which is nice.

Good food, sat in the sun.

But then they said, "Come back in now."

There was no caffeine to keep me awake, only water,

and the bathroom is hard to get to.

I wait for a break

and write a poem called

Mingle at the Argonaut.

This was just one of many things I amused myself with as I attended a seminar in the city about something that meant nothing to me. It was all about upgrading some application that I don't use to begin with. If I found myself dozing I would concentrate for 5 minutes at a time and write down every random quote that I could. I'll share some with you so you can share in my 'fun' of yesterday...

"eurobucket"
"A concept that we call existing on or after"
"If I double-click into Avon, I have the Johnson family and the Smith family"
"Drill into the concentration percentage"
"Basically the answer is no."
"As you know, I don't have to click refresh everytime, because you can set it to refresh at any interval you choose, but I'm going to push it."
"What does test class really mean?"
"I don't have nearly enough time to walk through the enhancements or ease of use items in the new version." (And yet he was still able to talk for hours)

Sigh....I'm happy the weekend is here.

Interview

I decided to apply for the position of Director of my old department and had an interview for this on Wednesday. I thought that I might have a good chance at this position considering I actually trained the guy who previously filled it. I thought that I could walk in to the interviews with confidence and “talk the talk”. On Tuesday I met with a friend of mine in HR who proceeded to tell me “they are considering a stronger candidate, but it might be good for you to meet with the CIO anyway, so she can hear what you have to say.” What an intro.

I met with two people the next day – the CIO for an hour in person and then her counterpart for another half hour over the phone. Mind you, I used to work with these people and know their um...habits…they are very demanding. Still though, I went to the interview with as much confidence that I could muster. That’s when they pulled out the business jargon dictionary… “What value proposition can you bring to the table?” “What advice/ideas would you provide to help us build a stronger labor model?” “Tell me an example when you have worked with a matrix management situation…” and so on… (Fortunately, I had looked up “matrix management” on google right before the interview and got that one.) For the other questions, I would put into it into context with the rest of the conversation and just hope I was going down the right track with my answer. She then asked me, “How is your success measured in your current role”, to which I instantly replied, “That’s a really good question, I have no idea.” I could tell this shocked her – ‘you should know that’, she replied. I wanted to say, I KNOW – THIS IS WHY I’M APPLYING FOR A DIFFERENT JOB. But I didn’t, and then she proceeded to ask how I thought my success should be measured in the position I was applying for. To which I made up a long winded answer, which could be summarized by the first sentence that went something like, “I would guess my success would be measured on whether or not I do a good job, and accomplish everything you need.” At the end of the day why can’t we just ask our bosses, “Are you happy with the work I’m doing?” Yes or No. But I digress…


At the end of the interview she also echoed the HR lady with the news of “we have one strong candidate we are considering” thereby implying it was not me. Seriously though, if that interview is an inkling of what I would encounter on the job – then maybe it’s for the best. And to end on a lighter note – my proudest moment of recovery was when I almost fell forward out of the chair, caught myself, continued talking and didn’t bat an eye. She on the other hand said, “oh my!” If anything, they should really hire me for my comic relief.

Things That Make Me Happy

The 'Artwork' I've recently created for our office:

My clever cat and patient husband:

The mini-rosebush I've managed to keep alive that's doubled in size and is now blooming:

The fact that my cats now get along:

Tomorrow is Friday.