Ahh, finally getting some nice weather up here.  It's been pretty cold and rainy the past few days, but things are supposed to be clearer for a while now.  

It's proving slightly challenging, both technologically and focus..ly, to get a good amount of work done here so far  :\  It's kind of stressing me out.  Three days to set up my development environment on the MacBook, yeesh.  And it's still not exactly set up in the most ideal way.  Sigh.  Chris has the patience of a saint.

Anyway, I just posted some photos of the fun so far  :)  Most are private so if I know you and you haven't added me on Flickr, just do so!

 

I would like to point out a few things that are awesome with this picture:

First, the office side of our loft is kicking some serious tech butt. I mean, c'mon... cabling, soldering gear, compressed air, cable ties, tools, power strip, set of drawers filled with countless tech bits (just off camera to the left), all within arm's reach. Good lighting, peripherals handy... what more could a geek ask for?!

Also note the installation of Ubuntu onto this lovely small form factor PC we just put together for the cottage. I'm both excited and nervous, being a relative Linux n00b and setting it up for family. But hey, it beats having them know just enough about Windows to be dangerous, and being a bazillion miles away when they get the thing loaded with spyware.

I think I'm both the saviour and bane of existence of family and friends who hang out up there. It's going to be rigged with high speed internet over fixed wireless for six months of the year, and I'm attaching a computer to the wall. I mean.. I know this is the place that people go to get away from tech... but really, you can just ignore it if you want!

The plan is thus: we're going to be working remotely from the cottage (in Muskoka, a couple hours north of Toronto) for most of July, hence the need for intarwebs up there. We're also bringing Chris's sons up there the whole time! Beats hanging out with us boring people in an Oakland warehouse :) I'm so excited. Not only have I not spent much time at the beloved cottage since childhood, but the boys will get to do all sorts of cool stuff... tubing, finding interesting people to hang out with, sailing, swimming, hiking, etc etc.

Yes, this will be the view out our "office" window for a month... please, hold your sympathy cards until the end.

We'll also be going up to Deep River to see Marg shine in the lead of Evita at the end of the month, then spending some time in Toronto too (and going to see Evil Dead, go Nug!).

The cottage itself is even getting a little bit of fame, as it is apparently featured in the current edition of all magazines in The Beer Store throughout Ontario, in a feature on, uh, beer + cottages. So if anyone happens to pick it up, check for my photo credit :)

Flights are booked in this complicated little dance that involves us flying to Madison on the 5th to retrieve the boys, and then driving on up to Muskoka. We'll be rolling back into California on the 2nd of August. Suzann is graciously being surrogate kitty mom for the month.

So right now, we're working our butts off for CivicActions after just having closed yesterday on our part of the first stage of a major project, and kicking off on another even more major one tomorrow, which is the new website for... dun dun dun... Amnesty International! Such an exciting and huge project. So psyched.

My role: theme (ie. take their graphic designs/branding -> Drupal template) a base Drupal install in two weeks (and I work part time on it)... in English and Arabic. Suddenly wishing I'd pursued that desire to learn some Arabic after taking that singing class...

I am so truly lucky to have such a wonderful man in my life.  One who understands me in the face of hatred from others and a long, uphill battle.  One who can turn such bitterness and anger from family members into something calm and beautiful.  One who gives me strength and hope and joy like nothing else.

You think you are hurting him, me, us as a family... but you are only hurting yourself.  It only deepens our love and your distance. 

~~~

And now, off for some fun in San Francisco to see the Picasso exhibit at the MOMA with the boys. 

So, when your father asks you very seriously what you and your life partner would like as a special and meaningful wedding gift for your home and future, your answer is?

Cookware?  Nah.

Furnishings?  Meh.

Something towards a car?  Naw. 

2.25 TB Infrant NAS?  Hell yes!

I love my dad.

I love that I was able to explain it and he understands we put a lot of thought into this and suggested something that has more impact than any kitchen supplies or bedding could.  It's something that we both desperately wanted as a foundation piece for our home, especially as our little shared Dell box runs out of space...  Our life is digital.  What better gift than fast, spacious, RAID5 storage?

It's officially on its way to us  :) 

*bounces* 

Flying across three time zones for only two days of visiting is more tiring than I thought. I don't think my body moved while sleeping at all last night. And I'm hearing some kind of high pitched noise that sounds like the noise a TV makes when it's on. Ugh, I hope that's related to my headache and will go away. I'd forgotten how much flying takes it out of you.

It is SO WEIRD going to the "US Citizens or Green Card Holders" line. I totally freaked out inside my head. No problems whatsoever through customs either way. In other news, the new terminal at Pearson Airport is absolutely stunning. It's like the airport of the future. Meagan's shower was so much fun :) One month until the wedding! I'm glad I got her what I did... all the other gifts were more practical things off their registry, which is great of course, but she's my best friend and I wanted something more personal for her, yet not mortifying to open in front of family.

So I got her this, but in "ivory":

 

She just kept saying "oh it's so pretty..." over and over again.  Happy sigh.  I really miss being around Meagan.

It was weird, she has these other three friends and the four of them are sort of a friendship foursome since high school.  I seem to have a very different and separate relationship with her (yes yes, snicker all you want).  They talk on the phone and seem to have a more girly relationship though.  I was blown away when she asked me to be the Maid of Honour and said I was her best friend.  But then even yesterday at the shower, one of them said something to me about how "she's different with you, she talks to you about these things".  I really treasure what her and I have, but sometimes I don't understand it  :)

Chris finally met my grandparents, who gave me endless crap about my hair.  My grandma, who is sweet and stubborn as hell was telling me about how she was going to remodel her kitchen and spend her money before I get it all!  Hah!  She asked what I'd do with the money and I said I'd buy lots of hair dye, and make sure I dyed my hair green, her favourite colour.  She didn't seem too impressed by that.  I told her about the work I was doing now and she said I needed to march back to Google so she could tell all her friends that her granddaughter worked there  :P  Gee, thanks.

And my dad and Chris had a multi-hour man-to-man talk that I'm still being filled in on... I must've looked like a deer in the headlights when Chris told me what he'd been doing while I was at the shower.  And of course we hung out with my sister and the kids for a while, who actually looked less different from the last time I saw them than I expected.  All in all, a great visit and it's nice to know we'll be back in just a few weeks rather than many months.

Now we both have a terrifying amount of work in the next few days before the boys arrive for spring break later this week.  Won't be around much this week...

Good news... I somehow managed to get enough sleep the whole time the boys and my dad were here visiting. It was a parade of family visits, restaurants, and SO. MUCH. DRIVING. Well, at least I wasn't the one doing the driving. But boo to cars.

My brain is mush :P Trying to pick up all the things I've been completely ignoring for over a week now amidst the holidays.

Happy 2007! My three words for this year are wishing that it will be peaceful, productive, and rejuvenating. What are yours?

This little anecdote from my childhood popped into my head the other day. One birthday, my tenth I believe, I got a present from my parents in the form of my own telephone line. I even remember the number: 822-6024.

See, when my older sister was a teenager, she spent a large amount of time on the phone and my parents wanted to head that one off before it became an annoyance with me. This was great bragging rights with my friends, and became handy years later for late-night phone calls with boyfriends... but honestly, it wasn't at the top of my list.

But, what I was excited about was how cool and grown-up it would be to have my name in the phone book!  I was kind of obsessed at around that age at being "grown up," and MY VERY OWN NAME in the phone book was enough to make me beg and plead with my mom who was was completely reluctant, afraid it would be a dangerous invasion of privacy. 

So she unlisted the number, right?

No.  She had it put in, but without using my name, using a general phrase for the listing instead:

"Teen line"

*slaps forehead*

At the time, my thought was just omgMom,sosuperlame.  Looking back with less innocent eyes now, I realize how hilariously ironic that was in the name of safety.

(No, I never got any weird phone calls.  Those came a couple years later, when we moved to Oakville and my phone number was 844-4258, while the Beer Store's was 845-4258.)