Football Pool

One of my stories I love to share is about the first football pool I was in.  I was straight out of school, working at my first engineering firm, starting right when the football season started.  It was simple, you pay in $2 each week (or was it $5) and you pick the winner for each game and rank the games (10 being the game you were most sure of, 1 being that game that's going to be really close).  Each week, high score took all the winnings.  Ben ran the pool and come Tuesday morning, we'd divvy up the entries and run the numbers.  A pattern started to emerge, Ben and I would do well consistently each week, but not quite good enough to win and take home the weekly winnings.  Each week someone else in the office would take the cash and the only redeeming thing was that it was tradition for the winner to buy pastries and pocket the extra cash. By the end of the season, neither Ben or I had won a single game.

So come the next season, I suggested to Ben we change things slightly.  Instead of paying out 100% of the money each week, I proposed we hold back a little and include a season winner based on the cumulative score.  Guess who took home the big pay day the next two years?

The moral of the story is that if the rules don't work for you, change the rules!

Fast forward many many years to now.  I'm back working at another engineering firm and decided to join the football pool.  This year it's just a straight picked.  And I've been doing horrible.  Each week I'm decent or not so good.  Forget taking home the season end jack pot.  I'm not even coming close to winning a weekly game either.  I realized that back in the earlier years I had forgotten a critical component.  In addition to learning to change the rules, I also had learned to delegate.  I would call my brother back in high school and he would work with his friend Pat to make the picks.  Basically I just provided the cash for the entries and I never did give the guys a cut.  Well this year I was on my own.  And it wasn't working.  I tried to get my brother to help - no luck.  He's been out of the country for years and hadn't been following sports.  I even tried to talk him into hitting up Pat for help, even though it had been several years since he had touched base with him.  Nothing - I was stuck figuring it out on my own.

And I won this week!  I think.  Yesterday I got a call from a coworker and first thing she said was "really! Really,". We both had picked all the games correctly.  It was all down to Monday nights game last night.  And since Seattle was pretty sure to win it was all coming down to the final score which is the tiebreaker.  I was stunned yesterday that I had picked twelve games correctly with about four major upsets.  I had decided to take the risk and go against the grain.  Another coworker who takes sports seriously kept asking me how I did it.  Honestly, I picked the cities I've either lived in or had relatives live in.  I have a feeling this is a fluke but I'll take it!

Fall - for real

This morning I was running around getting ready for work and just before I left, I realized it's gotten pretty cold these days and that poor Winston would be cold, home all alone today.  So I quickly ran around and closed the last of the windows.  Fall is officially here.  No more warm days I think.  I have plans this weekend but think next weekend might be time to swap out the screen windows for the storm windows and maybe give them a good cleaning while I'm at it.  How do windows get so dirty?  I love the look of my windows with all the mullions but cleaning 12 small rectangles of glass on each window (two sides) gets pretty tedious.  Happy fall everyone!

Fall

It’s that time of year when I walk out the door without a jacket and am fine but coming home after work I wonder what I was thinking.  I think I’m finally back in the habit of grabbing something now on the way out, even if it’s not needed.  And our new tree that the city planted out front this year was a nice brilliant red.  I had to snap a picture on my way to work one morning.

 

My traveling has increased for work this year it seems but I still squeeze in some personal trips.  I made it up to Vermont to visit dad and Barbro.  It was strange driving the route I’ve driven so many times over the years by myself, with Nick now.  I finally made it to Scott’s farm’s annual apple tasting event.  They grow hundreds of varieties of heirloom apples and have a nice Sunday morning talk about some of the apples, passing plates with slices of apples amongst the audience for tasting.  It’s like a wine tasting but with apples. 

 

 

 

A coworker of mine, Wayne, is an apple enthusiast and goes annually so it was nice to be able to meet up with him finally.  Also, dad and Barbro had some friends visiting the same weekend so it was a packed weekend of seeing the sites and hiking through the woods.  Still managed to get in a few card games with dad.  I held my own with Jungle Board but lost out on Rummy 500, but not as badly as I usually do.

 

I rewrote a post from earlier this month three times and it still didn’t make it up.  I was doing it on my phone and every time I put my phone down and it locked up it cleared the draft.  Here’s the super abridged version:

Last week I was traveling down to NYC office.  The Acela train was having power issues so had to fly through LaGuardia.  I started to second guess the time I had allotted myself to make the flight and rushed out the door sans breakfast/make-up and randomly throwing stuff into the suitcase.  It all worked out, found one of the last parking spots, security was light and there was even a make-up mirror in the bathroom.  I was strongly aware that I was flying to NYC as I queued up for boarding.  It was me, about 50 dark suits and this one random guy in tourist get-up.  They even had a set-up for you to grab a breakfast bag (bagels, etc) and a paper (I chose NYTimes over Wall Street Journal).  I felt very corporate in my get up, in amongst the rest of the suits.

On the flight back, I got to trump some of the suits and even though I was the last one to the gate for an earlier flight, I trumped the other 3 suits to grab the last stand-by seat.  I think it’s because of my sky mileage.    I still think it’s strange flying to NYC since the entire flight lasts only about 15-20 minutes.  You ascend and straightaway start to descend.  It was a good visit - NYC still hasn’t gotten old for me yet.  Such a unique city with the tall buildings and the busy busy energy in the streets.  Very different than the California visit.

 

I’m at that stage of transition with work.  I’ve managed staff before but am shifting to the next role up which means work has gotten even busier - taking on more responsibilities but not being able to properly delegate the more senior work.  I’ve been looking for new staff, but it’s hard to find the right person.  In the meantime, I’ve been working on developing the skills of my current crew.  Today I sat in on a conference call and instead of leading it had the engineer lead it all.  I sat there silently and bit my tongue.  It was challenging and I realize I do love to talk, but worth it since he did a good job and it builds the skill so I’m no longer needed to attend.  And then this afternoon I was proud that ??  I started writing this a few weeks ago and now can’t remember the rest of that sentence.  Another good reason to post more frequently.  I do feel like I’m getting over the hump of just focusing on the fact I have too much work and working on how to change it.  The secret being that it’s on me.  I’m senior enough that I don’t have a boss to go to and say I can’t take on x project, etc.  It’s my responsibility to figure it all out and work out a solution, not just for me, but for my staff and the company as a whole.  So when it gets hectic, I focus on my zen epiphanies and when that doesn’t work I think about my latest home project that has nothing to do with work worries.  I was talking with a coworker and she said that she runs to deal with work stress and couldn’t believe I didn’t have a stress reliever.  I couldn’t think of one then, but I think that’s what it is.  I’ve always been a nester.  I could stay at home for weeks on end and not have cabin fever.  I love having my little projects and working away on stuff, even if it’s just organizing the pantry.  BTW, did that other day and have a small pile of food that is near or past it’s date that I need to cook with soon.  Half of it is some form of baking chocolate (bittersweet, unsweetend, semi-sweet chips, cocoa powder).  I think I need to do some baking!

Oh, and on a final note, I ran errands this morning.  At CVS I found that the cheap mouth guard you buy over the counter is $40… on sale.  I’m waiting a little while to get acclimated to the price.  Also, my car was making noises from the Vermont trip so dropped it off this morning at the mechanic and found out it had something rusted out and so the brake pads were worn out as a result.  Big price tag to fix it.  And this just after I deposited a nice big check from work (all reimbursable expenses, so it was just getting my money back).  So I felt rich for a moment and now I’m back to feeling poor.  The ups and downs of life!

 

Berkeley Visit

My trip to California was jam packed, and no pictures!  After my day visiting in San Francisco I was at Berkeley for a special industry event.  I thought I might know one or two people but was surprised how many people I actually knew.  It was strange visiting Berkeley too.  I got off at the BART stop and couldn’t quite connect Shattuck Ave in my memory, but by the second day, it was all coming back.  Remembering the first bar I had gone too and had to use my passport since I was still waiting for my license.  The area was pretty much unchanged.  Walking on campus to the Faculty Club for dinner I was amazed at exactly how much had stayed exactly the same for a decade plus.  It was surreal. 

It was like my younger self and older self were converging.  I was staying at a hotel that was right across from the campus art gallery, and Friday when I was waiting for the van shuttle to take me to the airport (BART strike finally happened), I was flashed back to when I was parked across the street and had had to climb into the trunk through the back seat to get my spare umbrella - it was pouring down raining.  I can’t remember if it made a difference, having an umbrella.  I did have a half hour before dinner one night and stumbled upon a Half Price Bookstore in downtown Berkeley.  That brought back memories working there (although not the same store, the layout was fairly similar).  I was good and only walked away with 6 books, including one by an author of a book I had read when I was visiting in Paris and then gave away and forgot the author’s name.  And it was on clearance!

Wednesday night I was invited to break bread with some of the professors from Berkeley and got to sit next to a small legend in the industry.  Turns out we knew quite a few mutual acquaintances.  I’m just reminded how small the industry is and how putting in the years pays off.  My younger self would have probably stayed quiet and not mingled much.  By the end of Thursday I knew most people and had already had some bonding sessions with several other folks in similar roles as mine (it’s a challenging role - we should have a support group).

I’m glad I went, but it was ridiculous trying to juggle work emails and stay focused on the purpose of the visits.  At one point I was trying to juggle a meeting between London and Korea while on west coast time - nearly impossible.  Due to the time difference, I was often up early (4 am) and cranking on emails, then would be socializing until about 10 pm.  I was surprised I wasn’t crashing but went with the flow.  It was so nice to get home Friday night and collapse with no more work demands on my time until Monday.  Instead of trying to catch up on emails, I gave myself a proper rejuvenation weekend.  Saturday I spend sleeping in, napping, cooking and more napping.

Sunday was much more productive.  I finally made it back up to my loft project.  I had stripped out about 80% of the carpet this summer but still had a lot more work to do before I could even start the prep-work.  I realized I had put off the project some, since the space reminded me a lot of Walter, who passed away in August.  He would be the only one to come up and hang-out with me up there, trying to sneak into my lap anytime I took a break, or just hang out and keep me company.  Once I got into the swing of things I made great progress pulling up all the staples and carpet wood tacking strips.  Still not quite done with the demo work - turns out the railing was installed on top of the carpet, so not quite sure what to do there (don’t want to take the railing down).  I also pulled out any non-hard surface and send the pillows, fabric, etc downstairs to be bagged up. 

Last night I realized I need to make my place a sterile place.  Well, I’m using that term loosely.  I found that any place that accumulates dust, the little critters can survive.  So I’m bagging up all soft items and am slowly cleaning every single surface.  I’m tempted to box up some of the books in the bedroom since I seem to shed the most dander in the bedroom for some reason.  I keep looking on the bright side.  I’ve never been an uber-cleaner.  When I was in the mid-west I was amazed to find people vacuum daily.  I just clean when I have company coming over or the place gets dirty (and my standards are low).  This is a good reason to get me to do a big spring cleaning (in the fall) and really scrub everything down.  No cobwebs in the vaulted ceiling (I think I need to invest in another in-door ladder) and I may have to say farewell to my spider friends.  I keep thinking I’ve finally eradicated the bugs and then a month later I’ll see a moth fly by.  On the upside I’m good at catching them with my bare hands now, granted they are slow flyers.  One day I will have a moth-free house.  I just hope it’s in 2014 and not later!

SF visit

Just wrapping up my first day in San Francisco. It's been 12 years since I was last here and just packed into the day a series of visits. I'm now sitting at the old subway stop I used to take home. And it hasn't been remodeled since I left. It's been a very surreal day to say the least. 

I just finished having drinks with my old boss from the first engineering job I had out of school. I was the only female engineer at first and I think the second or third one the firm had had.   It was nice catching up with Dick and he was the same old Dick. Now divorced and feeling odd man out at the company.   We shared stories on dating, the new regime, and gossip about old coworkers and I felt like part of the old gang. So strange considering I was the bottom of the totem pole back then. And now we were swapping stories about business development. How far I've come. 

Can I say that I don't remember people queuing up for boarding the subway. I just got in the subway and there were lines! That's new.  

 

That's what is strange. The old office was remodeled and there are different stores but in general the part of SF I was in today is pretty much the same. No new buildings. It's just like I left it. But it's all hazy and I can barely remember it all. And yet rushing down Market Street I had a flash back of running the same sidewalk, rushing to catch my ferry home. I was so young then. 

I loved chatting with Dick over bears at this old bar we'd go to. Back then they had a good happy hour of free food and motorcycles hanging from the ceiling. Which I always wondered about as a structural engineer in earthquake land. 

Now I'm on the subway where one of the trips home after the happy hour I had a horrible case of food poisoning and ended up locked in a public bathroom at the El Cerrito stop for a good hour before I was able to call my roommate to come get me. 

Mid-afternoon I caught up with Nicole who I worked with at my last job. We ended up talking a lot of shop about work stuff and at the very end realized how we could help each other out professionally. 

Lunch was with Ben and Rose. They are such wonderful good people. We had a great time catching up and sharing lessons learned about how to climb the ladder. 

And everyone was so sweet and treated me. I haven't paid for a thing!  Well except for the very expensive public transportation. 

Dentist

This morning I had all these grand plans to go into work early and then realized I had a dental cleaning. I just got done and I have to say that I'm glad I finally found a good dentist office. Although the cleaning was unpleasant (not my favorite thing) everyone is so nice and competent. I feel like I'm in good hands. And not just the dentist but also the dental hygienist and the front of the office. Which over the years I've found out that they all have to be good. 

It looks like I might be a grinder. Some of my fillings are starting to crack but the great news is that they are still under warranty so no extra cost. Which is a good thing since I was going through the books to see if I'm on target so far this year and found I'm behind on the savings. Two big ticket categories this year was the vet and the dentist which put a dent in the wallet. 

So I finish up this morning, scheduling the next appointment and joking with the ladies up front, head out the door to the bus stop just outside and a minute later the fast bus shows up and I'm on my way to work and still have a bunch of the morning left. Such a nice well oiled machine. And it's a gorgeous day out today too. Nice crisp fall morning and I think it's going to get into the 70s. I hope so since I didn't bring a jacket. 

Weekends

I feel like I've fallen behind in my postings. Mainly because when I go to post I don't have the pics with me. So here goes and I'll just add pictures later. 

Last weekend (like a week ago) was my weekend of college friends. Saturday I spent the day rooting on Cece as she swam across the Boston bay. They shut the bay down so no boats and apparently the waves in the middle were so high you lost sight of the shore. Forget how cold the water is and the distance too. Maggie and cece's mom and I were there in support. While we were waiting at the finish lane for the race to start, Maggie and I went exploring and had a fun time checking out all the big yachts docked. I felt like I could get away with more having a three year and so were more daring with where we explored - great cover. Cece ended up placing second in her age and we had celebratory lunch at the Daily Catch right next door. I hadn't been in years and then just had lunch the day before. So clam chowder two days in a row - my fav!

Then Sunday was a day of errands and then meeting up with Joanne. I finally bought some curtain rods - took me four years to make a decision and then get home and find they gave me one in the wrong finish - ugh. And I finally bought some house plants. I got six. Lets see how long they last. I think one is heading south already - a pretty red fern, that honestly was an impulse buy. Time will tell. 

Joanne was traveling with her daughter who I had seen before when she was a baby (I think she's two now) and was able to finally meet her son who is about six months old. We were able to catch up some and by the end of the night her daughter and I were best buddies. 

I've also been making some travel plans for work. I thought I was done with travel for awhile but you know how these things keep popping up. Heading down to NYC for a short trip and got invited to a private event at UC Berkeley. I was torn on wether to go since the trip is long but in the end decided it was a great opportunity. After I made the travel arrangements I've been setting up meetings. I'm able to meet with some people I've been working on a new venture with and have a little time left to squeeze in a visit with my old company. It's been almost 15 years since I've been back. Strange thinking about it all but exciting to catch up.