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I always find it quite odd that i can be typing away in Skype but it can show me as "Not Available" because i left skype running on a computer in another room. Yet when Christine's been asleep for hours, as she sleeps next to me i see her "Online" status all cheery and alert.
--==∞==--
Yesterday i ended up working a eastern timezone day, no breaks at all. In a way, that was just fine. After 5:30 Eastern time Christine came in while i was just wrapping up a call, laden with balloons and carrying cheesecake. A great big giant balloon sings a happy birthday cheer when tapped, and the silliness and Christine's great big smile just popped away any gloom or resentment i might have been carrying.
Christine and i drove over to a Supercuts where i had the "tea tree experience" ("a tingly shampoo and conditioning treatment, a head/neck massage and a warm towel to finish"), trim, and then the stylist spent forever drying my hair in segments to give it as much body as possible. Christine and i then proceeded to downtown Mountain View for an early dinner at Scratch.
Oh, my.
It feels like a fine restaurant, the detail in the plates is delightful, and it offers foods that i can really enjoy. We created our own three course meal: a seafood, then appetizer, then salad. Christine and i split the seafood "plateau" with half a sweet lobster, four oysters with complex flavors on the half shell and four large shrimp served on seaweed and ice. The difference between eastern and western oysters is so significant: i had a plate of six in the North Carolina airport just a week before so i could really appreciate the difference. NC Oysters are familiar to me, so i did enjoy them, but west coast oysters are far more complex and layered in their flavors.
I chose the cheese plate from the appetizer menu: this could easily have been shared. Christine really enjoyed the Vermont Cheddar so she ended up having much of that. I had the soft goat cheese, the sharp blue cheese, and a Sonoma cows cheese. The plate had honey, almonds, a tiny fan of apple and another tiny fan of pear, and i indulged in the toasted raisin bread. When the cheese plate came, Christine's wedge salad came. She'd simplified it (removing the bacon and radish) and enjoyed it.
Then there was a little confusion on the part of our server, the desert menu presented, and we had to point out we'd ordered my salad and Christine's appetizer. Reminded, he dashed off and made it right, and Christine had a delectable crab cake brought with the shaved rainbow radish on the side -- which she found she did enjoy. (The arugula might have been a bit too much rabbit food for her, but she finished it off.) My salad was a greens mix with blue cheese, pomegranate pips, and walnuts. It was delightful, but i'll need to go back for the pear salad. We both drank a glass of sparkling wine through the meal: if you enjoy spirits, the dense menu of American made alcohol looks like it would be a delight.
It was a fabulous feast and felt like a three course meal at a place like Gary Danko in the city. The service was attentive and mostly unobtrusive. When we first saved our silverware, trained by countless experiences of having the server have to be asked to bring back a piece between courses, the waiter tut-tutted as he was bringing us fresh silverware for the next course. The water carafe was kept filled, allowing us to drink as we wished, without constant queries of whether we needed more.
It was an extravagant meal, made all the more delightful, i think, by not having to queue up reservations and plans. I suspect arriving early helped us get a seat: when we left the large restaurant seemed packed. It's only been open two months: at some point i suspect reservations will be the only way in.
We returned home to a tiny slice of cheesecake, opening a few gifts, and then to bed, early, as it had been a long day. I did finally make a lexulous move -- and got another bingo with FONDANT. I don't often play this well and feel Christine gave me her mojo for a gift.
--==∞==--
Work wise, i mentioned to my boss at the very end of my work day that i would like to figure our how to be reclassed (promoted) to senior manager. He said he'd been wondering about that too, and noted how this last attempt to get someone reclassed went awry. (This is part of his poor relationship with the VP; the person didn't get the reclass but is now reporting to some other person where that person gets to assess the candidate's abilities.) I think i'm ready to admit that i want the higher management position: vacuums in the larger system drive me more nuts than vacuums in my team. On the other hand, i do like that my current boss is a firewall between me and some of the more annoying management rituals.
--==∞==--
My engagement spoons are quite low: work has been all engagement the past three days. I hope today is quieter. Maybe i'll even take a walk during the work day: i am exercise deficient.
To be satisfied today, i would like to:
* exercise gently, ideally a walk with Christine this evening
* resume troubleshooting the Roomba
* contact the clerk of hospitality re Saturday's memorial meeting [oh so late, late, late] [DONE]
* spend half an hour either fiddling with patina and copper or planning dyes (need ammonia)
--==∞==--
Yesterday i ended up working a eastern timezone day, no breaks at all. In a way, that was just fine. After 5:30 Eastern time Christine came in while i was just wrapping up a call, laden with balloons and carrying cheesecake. A great big giant balloon sings a happy birthday cheer when tapped, and the silliness and Christine's great big smile just popped away any gloom or resentment i might have been carrying.
Christine and i drove over to a Supercuts where i had the "tea tree experience" ("a tingly shampoo and conditioning treatment, a head/neck massage and a warm towel to finish"), trim, and then the stylist spent forever drying my hair in segments to give it as much body as possible. Christine and i then proceeded to downtown Mountain View for an early dinner at Scratch.
Oh, my.
It feels like a fine restaurant, the detail in the plates is delightful, and it offers foods that i can really enjoy. We created our own three course meal: a seafood, then appetizer, then salad. Christine and i split the seafood "plateau" with half a sweet lobster, four oysters with complex flavors on the half shell and four large shrimp served on seaweed and ice. The difference between eastern and western oysters is so significant: i had a plate of six in the North Carolina airport just a week before so i could really appreciate the difference. NC Oysters are familiar to me, so i did enjoy them, but west coast oysters are far more complex and layered in their flavors.
I chose the cheese plate from the appetizer menu: this could easily have been shared. Christine really enjoyed the Vermont Cheddar so she ended up having much of that. I had the soft goat cheese, the sharp blue cheese, and a Sonoma cows cheese. The plate had honey, almonds, a tiny fan of apple and another tiny fan of pear, and i indulged in the toasted raisin bread. When the cheese plate came, Christine's wedge salad came. She'd simplified it (removing the bacon and radish) and enjoyed it.
Then there was a little confusion on the part of our server, the desert menu presented, and we had to point out we'd ordered my salad and Christine's appetizer. Reminded, he dashed off and made it right, and Christine had a delectable crab cake brought with the shaved rainbow radish on the side -- which she found she did enjoy. (The arugula might have been a bit too much rabbit food for her, but she finished it off.) My salad was a greens mix with blue cheese, pomegranate pips, and walnuts. It was delightful, but i'll need to go back for the pear salad. We both drank a glass of sparkling wine through the meal: if you enjoy spirits, the dense menu of American made alcohol looks like it would be a delight.
It was a fabulous feast and felt like a three course meal at a place like Gary Danko in the city. The service was attentive and mostly unobtrusive. When we first saved our silverware, trained by countless experiences of having the server have to be asked to bring back a piece between courses, the waiter tut-tutted as he was bringing us fresh silverware for the next course. The water carafe was kept filled, allowing us to drink as we wished, without constant queries of whether we needed more.
It was an extravagant meal, made all the more delightful, i think, by not having to queue up reservations and plans. I suspect arriving early helped us get a seat: when we left the large restaurant seemed packed. It's only been open two months: at some point i suspect reservations will be the only way in.
We returned home to a tiny slice of cheesecake, opening a few gifts, and then to bed, early, as it had been a long day. I did finally make a lexulous move -- and got another bingo with FONDANT. I don't often play this well and feel Christine gave me her mojo for a gift.
--==∞==--
Work wise, i mentioned to my boss at the very end of my work day that i would like to figure our how to be reclassed (promoted) to senior manager. He said he'd been wondering about that too, and noted how this last attempt to get someone reclassed went awry. (This is part of his poor relationship with the VP; the person didn't get the reclass but is now reporting to some other person where that person gets to assess the candidate's abilities.) I think i'm ready to admit that i want the higher management position: vacuums in the larger system drive me more nuts than vacuums in my team. On the other hand, i do like that my current boss is a firewall between me and some of the more annoying management rituals.
--==∞==--
My engagement spoons are quite low: work has been all engagement the past three days. I hope today is quieter. Maybe i'll even take a walk during the work day: i am exercise deficient.
To be satisfied today, i would like to:
* exercise gently, ideally a walk with Christine this evening
* resume troubleshooting the Roomba
* contact the clerk of hospitality re Saturday's memorial meeting [oh so late, late, late] [DONE]
* spend half an hour either fiddling with patina and copper or planning dyes (need ammonia)
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