Weekend update

[days_unfolding]

Hi, I'm Adrienne...and you're not. (I'm really dating myself!)

Bait-and-switch: Sometimes the wires get crossed in my brain and I substitute words. The most frequent occurrence is switching the letter of the building that I'm in at work. I sit in building F, but often say that I'm sitting in building H, which is the building in which I spent most of the time before I left--and I can't tell that I made the switch. One time, I was on the phone with the Help Desk, made the switch and another writer corrected it, and I ran off to doublecheck my office number because I didn't trust myself. Checking was the right thing to do, but I couldn't help but wonder what the Help Desk guy was thinking.

This week, I did the same thing in a class. What I was trying to say was "parentheses S" (S), but wound up with "apostrophe S". When I heard other people give the answer, I realized what I was saying, and corrected myself. I continued to forge ahead because there wasn't much choice, but the impulse to walk out and keep walking was strong.

So now I'm looking at Toastmaster's as a possible low-impact forum in which to screw up in public and recover from it. I can certainly use the public speaking practice too, but I especially need to learn to not get shaken by the substitutions. Right now, they really shake me up and demoralize me. I can't take anything else on right now (see below), but maybe after September.

Portland: Originally, because of the way the release schedule was shaping up at work, it looked like I was going to take the rest of my vacation later in the year. I decided to go to Portland even though it would be the rainy season because I'm running out of vacation time. I planned a fairly short trip in which I'd mostly stay in the downtown area with the idea that I'd go back next year if I liked it.

Well, now we're shipping two releases simultaneously(!) to be generally available in December.(!) My manager suggested that I take vacation time "sooner rather than later". No kidding. Because I need some lead time to make travel arrangements, I started eyeing the Labor Day week, which is okay with my manager. The other challenge is that money is tight because of closing costs for the loan. I found a hotel with fairly reasonable rates (there are no cheap hotels in downtown Portland) that's near the Williamette River and the light-rail line.

I enjoyed reading the descriptions of some of the hotels in downtown Portland. The 5th Avenue Suites: "The decor is a playful mix of stripes and patterns in buttercup, yellow, sage, cream, and soft apricot." Judging by the picture that they showed, it's quite attractive, but the description makes me think of lunch -;) The Hotel Vintage Plaza: "Sleep under the stars in a special Starlight room featuring conservatory windows for stargazing from the comfort of your bed." Someday...I'm there. Portland has a famous bookstore, interesting hotels, rivers, municipal gardens, and lots of trees. It sounds very promising.

Assuming that I take off Labor Day week and a week around Christmas, that'll leave me one personal holiday to use at paint and carpet time. That might not be enough, but maybe I could work the prior weekend or put in some overtime that week (or both). The really challenging day will be when I take all three cats to the kennel. I'm going to have to do a divide-and-conquer routine.

Home-equity loan: The loan is moving along. I've returned the forms. The big holdup is my Homeowner's Association. The mortgage folks want them to fill out a short questionnaire, and the HOA told the mortgage folks that there's a $50 charge to do so. Furthermore, the fee had to come from me, not from the mortgage folks, so off I trotted to pay the fee. Now they say that it'll take 10 days to fill out the form. It's a two-page form, people! I might need to go back and nudge them. At least everything (work, home, and the HOA) is in the same neighborhood.

Home away from home: I've also added a new task. I'm looking for a place to board the cats while I'm having the painting and carpeting done. It'll be a dry run for boarding them when I move, which might mean boarding them for a couple of weeks. (The current plan of record is to board the cats a couple of days before the movers come, drive my car to <whereever> at the same time as the movers move my stuff, fly back to San Jose and meet my mom (although I might draft her to come with me on the drive too), pick up the cats, and fly the cats to <whereever>. Two of the cats will go in the cabin with us, and, unfortunately, one of them would have to go down in the hold. I think that flying them would be easier on them and offer fewer opportunities for them to run off. Flying them also means that I'd have to sell my place in the fall rather than the spring because the airlines won't put pets in the hold during the summer.) I'd like to find a place that's quiet with large cat runs, cat condos or trees, and a common room in which cats can socialize. I need to carve out time to visit a couple of facilities. Anyway, here's the current task list for roughly the next two months:

1. Dejunk my place.
2. Find paint and carpeting that I like
3. Rent cars for an extended test drive
4. Find a kennel to board the cats
5. Do closing activities for the loan
6. Go to Portland
7. Make arrangements for painting, installing carpeting, and boarding the cats
8. After the paint and carpeting are installed, initiate refinancing
9. Buy a new car

Then we go into crunch time at work. Time to eat a healthy breakfast -;)

Comments

Spoooons

[platofish.livejournal.com]

I stayed in the 5th Ave Suites two weeks ago. Pretty nice hotel.....the sitting room is nice, the rooms were nice, and the hotel bar/resturant (the red star) is more than good enough.

But....for the same money, I'd choose the Heathman hotel. Its not really nice, its just....more me.


5th Ave. Suites

Re: Spoooons

[days-unfolding.livejournal.com]

I've heard that the Heathman is very nice! I'm staying at the Sheraton Four Points this time around because it's cheaper, but I'd like to stay at the Heathman or 5th Ave. Suites some other time. I'm also intrigued by the Riverplace Hotel.

Spoooons

[platofish.livejournal.com]

Oh....Higgins for lunch! Most excellent!

If you want to splash out....the Heathman hotel for cocktails and dinner.

Re: Spoooons

[days-unfolding.livejournal.com]

What kind of food does Higgins have? Where is it?

Re: Spoooons

[platofish.livejournal.com]

Higgins is mostly northwest cuisine.....really excellent fish, and compared to the Bay area, pretty cheap too!

http://www.epicurious.com/erg/portland/higgins.html

[days-unfolding.livejournal.com]

Oh--I'll need to board the cats even longer when I sell the condo. I might need to board them for a month or more.