news: October 2007 Archives

If you'll recall, the CEO at my company gave me budget to throw a party, for no good reason.  So we had Wear Your Worst T-Shirt to Work Day/Come to the 4th Floor at 4:44PM to Drink Day on Wednesday.  I blew the budget on a Polaroid camera, prizes for the winners, and a birthday cake with 4 "4" candles on it.

The kids at work did good.  You can view the pictures on flickr, but here are my two favorites:

#1: "Happy 80th Birthday Norma" (Please note: this was the guy's actual grandma)


#2: "I Wish I Were Your Derivative So I Could Lie Tangent to Your Curves"

I am apparently going to the Van Halen Reunion show in December!?  I don't really know how this happened.  I was just sitting there, minding my own business...when I get an email from my crazy cousin in Dallas who loves Van Halen so hard and is so disappointed they're not playing in Dallas. So she's coming up to Seattle specifically for it, and will pay for my ticket if I let her stay at my place!

To do list prior to Van Halen show:

1. Get my name legally changed to Van Halee
2. Sew myself an evening gown made of Frankenstein-patterned fabric
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Load up on brown M&Ms to throw at the band during the concert
4. Watch Heavy Metal Parking Lot 700 times

Am I forgetting anything?

Today is October 10.  That's 10/10.  By no accident, this is also the day the metric enthusiasts of the world celebrate Metric Day.  Damn it, every single year I intend to make some "Happy Metric Day" greeting cards to send out to everyone, particularly my metric opponents. 

You should visit the US Metric Association's Metric Week page for metric quizzes and games to celebrate.

And you should take a look at the map below for a view of non-metric countries to mourn the US's inability to keep up with the greater global community:

A week or so ago, I went over to Matt's to present my powerpoint on potential options for costumes this year.  I would like to share that presentation with you:























So, apparently Matt already dressed up as Teen Wolf several years ago. (Although for the record, some people accused him of dressing up as Ruth Pointer of the Pointer Sisters.) I'm 90% sure I'm just going to be the stewardess again...only I'm going to do it up extra good this time and hand out tiny packets of peanuts and pretzels, along with tiny bottles of liquor.

I've been a bit out of pocket and incommunicado (and incognito?) for the past week, which sure isn't helping boost my readership to more than 2 visits a day.  I ended up going back to Texas unexpectedly, but completely expectedly.  Well, the unexpected part was "when."  The expected part was "why," which was that my grandma was declining quickly.  She was in stage 5 Alzheimer's, and hadn't been responsive in a while.  She passed away on Monday.

So I went back to Texas Wednesday in time for the rosary/vigil that night, then the funeral was Thursday morning.  It feels kinda wrong to say it, but it was really great to get the entire family together.  She has 23 grandkids (aka my first cousins) and all of us made it except 2, which is a 91.3% completion rate.  I honestly don't know if all of us have EVER been together at once like that.  It was very loud.

Grandma, I will never forget...

• The day you came over to our house wearing panties on your head, which when you explained how warm they kept your head, made perfect sense.
• The day you locked your keys in your car and Dad went over to help you look for the spare set, only for you to remember that you always kept the spare pinned to the inside of your bra.
• The day you came over to me and Staci at mass in your fancy little hat and shouted "LABOR DAY GREETINGS!!" to us in the silent church.
• How you would always say "Well, I swan..." which I never really understood.  I think it was like an ultra Southern way of saying "Well, I swear..." or "Well, I do declare..." but I have no idea.  But I say it, anyway.