Saving the Day at Work

I was on my lunch break when my computer froze up. It wouldn't respond when I clicked on any icons. I rebooted it, and it wouldn't let me log in. Then I found out it was happening to everyone else in the facility!

I called Erik our head IT guy at our Portland site. When we opened up the tiny closet that holds all of our computer hardware & server stuff, it smelt like sparklers on the fourth of July. The switch had fried. Erik found a replacement at Fry's Electronics, so I went to go buy it. Mean time, everything but the production line at work is non-functional.

I pick up the switch box, bring it back, hook it up, and see that it's working. However, when we test to see if that solves our problem of not being able to log in, it doesn't. No luck. Back to the server room I go while talking with Erik on my cell phone. We found out the our site's server hard drive thing doesn't have a green light like the other hard drives. A little over a hour later, we get the server to work, and the computers are good to go! Hurray!!

What made this so challenging is that both my office manager and director where out of the office that day. When we hire another customer service person, which will hopfully be soon, I will begin taking on some IT duties. When IT issues arise, I'll be the one communicating with Erik about them while the new CSR will be taking care of customers.

Any way, I'm really proud of myself for learning on the spot and getting the shop up and going with only a 4 hour down time. :)

#64 Best Idea Ever!

Number 64 on my 101/1001 list is to write Marshall 1001 little love notes over the space of 1001 days. So far, I'm up to 17, and Marshall is loving this little scavenger hunt. He tells me when he finds them and how he reacted. I love it when they make him laugh! Before I made some more tonight, he had shown me all the ones he had found. I then confided that no more remained inside the house. Marshall said he spent 30 minutes searching for this missing love note, even being creative enough to lift the lid off of the grill on the back deck. It wasn't there, but it did give me an idea!!!

Gonna Have Abs!

Tonight I was browsing through the channels on TV, and I came across the HSN channel. It's the constant, "You need this; buy it now!" one. I'm sure you've seen it or another similar program. Well, the product they were featuring was really interesting to me. It was the Ab Circle Mini, which looked like a lot of fun. Moreover, it appeared to me that the user's body weight and momentum really contributes to the movements. It's a full body work-out that really focuses on the core and lower body. I asked Marshall to come see it to get his opinion. He thought it looked like a good product, which to me meant that he would use it too. I listened to a testimonial from a woman who sounded just like me, meaning that all of her "trouble" areas we'll call them were the same as mine. After using this Ab Circle Mini, they are disappearing.

Part of my 101/1001 is to lower my BMI, so if I can burn fat and build muscle by using this machine for just minutes at a time throughout the entire day, why not? It even had free shipping. I hope it is here by next weekend!

#30 Painting with a Twist

My boss at work told me about this small organization called Painting with a Twist. The instructor teaches you step by step how to complete the evening's painting. They all come out very, very similar, just with variances due to each painter being different.

On Tuesday, my neighbor and I went for a girl's night. We didn't bring any wine like some of the other ladies, but still had a great time. I wanted to do this hibiscus picture for our Hawaii bathroom.

So, this painting checks off #30 on my 101/1001 list and sets my #77 in motion with my first of 50 pictures taken of me at different times. Amy is on the far left and I'm next to her in the back; we're both doing the Vanna White pose.

#5 Teach the neighbor girls how to make friendship bracelets

My neighbors next door are a foster family and currently have 7 kids in their home. Sometimes I ask if I can borrow the oldest girls for a fun activity away from the same-'ol-same. It also relieves the parents for just a bit. Today I invited over the 8 year old, 7 year old and 5 year old so I could teach them how to make friendship bracelets.

This morning I went to Michaels and bought a package of embroidery floss for this little adventure. They each picked out three colors they wanted in their bracelet, then I cut the string to length for them. I had the strands tied at the top, which formed a loop that went around their big toe.

They thought the activity was really fun and each of them made it about three fourths of the way through their bracelet before their attention span started to wane. I encouraged them to keep going be telling them what a great job they were doing and how beautiful their new anklets were going to be.

While I was finishing up my demo, the girls organized all the floss colors into "boy" and "girl" colors. Everything was, "Oh, this would be cute!" They liked it when I took the photo below. :)

Turkey Surprise

So far it's been a great Labor Day weekend, and we will have one more day to go--hurray! Jenn and her boyfriend Joel came up from Corpus Cristi to spend some time with us. While they were on their way from San Antonio to Austin, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things including a bouqet of sunflowers for their room because they are Jenn's favorite. They arrive, and this is the first time we are meeting Joel. We're chatting in the kitchen as I'm preparing ingredients for fajitas for lunch. All of a sudden Jenn blurts out that she and Joel went down to the courthouse on July 9th and got married. Marshall and I were stunned! Then I noticed that she had rings on her left hand, which I had to inspect. I believe they said they were just temporary and that custom ones were in the works. Both are in the Navy, which is why they live so close to us, but there is a good chance that they will be moving to San Diego within six months. Frown-y face.

My surprise for them was that I was going to be cooking a turkey and that the four of us were going over to our neighbor's house for a Thanksgiving style meal. Both Jenn and Joel love to eat good food (which is why Jenn likes to frequent our house), so I knew they would be all for this idea. Dinner went well although I over cooked the turkey and it came out dry. Now I won't mess it up for Thanksgiving in November though. We really enjoy spending time with Amy and Carlos next door, and the first time we had dinner at someone else's house while living in Austin. :D

Sunday morning we went to Waffle House for breakfast because we didn't have any more clean dishes in the house after cooking on Saturday, plus I didn't have anything prepared. Afterwards, Jenn, Joel, and I went to the outlet mall in San Marcos. We spent 2 1/2 hours walking around the plaza style set-up, and that was only half of it! Overall it primarily had clothing stores, which doesn't do me any good because I dispise clothes shopping. None of us had been there before, so now it's nice to finally say, "yes, I've been there." We said our good-byes; they drove off to hang out in San Antonio, and I drove home to see Marshall. I spent the rest of the day taking it easy and finishing up my book I'd started a couple of days ago.

While we were eating our salads for dinner, we were making a 101/1001 list for our lover boy cat Santa Ana. Some of his tasks are:

1. Meow so much that the humans throw mice.
2. Meow so much that the humans give me tuna.
3. Meow so much that both of them want to pet me.
4. Take 10 naps in a single day.
5. Play fight with Misti at least once a day.
6. Meow so much that the humans open a window.
7. Spend 15 hours on blankets.
8. Rinse and repeat until they equal 101!

Needless to say we were busting up laughing!!

Monday is going to be my first non-working Labor Day that I'm getting paid for. I kinda like it. :)

Day Zero Project 101/1001

I've decided to my own Day Zero Project. It is a challenge to complete 101 pre-set tasks in 1001 days, which is roughly 2.75 years. My 1001th day is June 2, 2013. Below are my 101 tasks, and I'll be blogging about when I complete each one.

1. Donate $25 worth of non-perishable food items to a food pantry once a month for a year. (12/12)
2. Visit DC for at least four days. September 2011
3. Spend a long weekend at hubby's family cabin in Wyoming.
4. Complete 100 logic puzzles.
5. Teach my neighbor girls how to make friendship bracelets. (9/6/10)
6. Create awesome bookmarks for every family member for either their birthday or Christmas.
7. Open up an account with kiva.org.
8. Donate $200 to donorschoose.org.
9. Donate $150 to Heifer Int'l.
10. Go camping for a weekend.
11. Write a short story. (12/25/10)
12. Donate blood.
13. Leave an inspirational note in a book for someone to find.
14. Send out 50 letters to anonymous people, one in each state.
15. Volunteer at a soup kitchen.
16. Help with a Girl Scout troop. 12/11
17. Influence someone to make a 101/1001 list.
18. Read Cien Anos de Solidad in Spanish.
19. Take a cake decorating class.
20. Try Zumba once a week for two months.
21. Use my 5 passes to work out with a trainer at the gym.
22. Run a 7:30 mile on the elliptical at the gym. (2/6/11)
23. Write a short story. (12/25/10)
24. Try 10 different flavors of ice cream at Amy's. (4/10)
25. Get a pedicure. (12/11/10)
26. Drive a jetski.
27. Drink a beer.
28. Write a letter to myself to be opened on my 40th birthday.
29. Take a parenting class.
30. Do a painting. (9/7/10)
31. Go to a wine tasting event. (8/11)
32. Play a board game or cards with a senior at a residence community.
33. Design and make 10 cards instead of buying them.  Christmas 2011
34. Sing karaoke at a bar.
35. Go up in the sky in something other than an airplane.
36. Try 10 different martinis. (1/10)
37. Visit an art, history, and science museum.
38. Spend a day at the River Walk in San Antonio. (9/25/10)
39. Go to a Renaissance Festival (11/13/10)
40. Learn three new recipes that include artichoke hearts.
41. Bake 100 cookies and deliver them to a fire station.
42. Lower my BMI to 26.8.
43. Make a collage of our cats in all their silly poses.
44. Buy a bicycle. (2/11)
45. Bike inside of McKinney State Falls Park.
46. Owe $100,000 on our house by December 2012.
47. Take a picture of Marshall and me every year on our anniversary.
48. Have a card game party at our house.
49. Go horseback riding. 12/10/11
50. Have Thanksgiving at my parents' house. (8/13/11)
51. Learn 30 phrases in Vietnamese. (1/30)
52. Make my own pizza dough. (9/30)
53. Go to the Austin zoo.
54. Go to a zoo in a different city. 9/12/11
55. Go to a local high school play.
56. Go to a local high school band concert.
57. Update my passport with married name.
58. Start a new family tradition.
59. Make a piece of artwork incorporating our family motto.
60. Expand my vocabulary by 100 words. (3/100)
61. Make genealogy charts for each of my siblings.
62. Give money to a street musician.
63. Volunteer at the library.
64. Leave 1001 love notes for my husband to find. (49/1001)
65. Own a clarinet and start playing again.
66. Read the Freakonomics books.
67. Sketch a drawing and have it framed.
68. Write blog entries about 101 moments in time that I wish I could have been present at.
69. Update Thiele family album.
70. Choose 3 guys and 3 gals from Facebook and read their favorite book.
71. Stay in a B&B.
72. Buy a king size bed. (9/25/10)
73. Do all kitchen clean up for two weeks.
74. Buy flowers for someone just because. (9/4/10)
75. Make a birthday cake for someone.
76. Earn another raise at work.
77. Have someone take 50 pictures of me at different times. (4/50)
78. Throw a college graduation party for husband.
79. Take prenatal pills.
80. Sing Christmas carols in a group.
81. Plant native Texas plants in yard.
82. Build a complete first aid kit for the house.
83. Get my car washed by a youth organized fund raising group.
84. Write a letter in Spanish to myself to be opened in 10 years.
85. Update my resume.
86. Own new pajamas.
87. Take a train somewhere out of state.
88. Visit 5 Austinite restaurants.
89. Babysit for free. (9/18/10)
90. Create or go on a scavenger hunt.
91. Do pilates every day for two weeks.
92. Read a book on the couch while under a blanket when it is raining outside.
93. Get a fake tattoo. (11/13/10)
94. Play fetch with the cats for 50 consecutive throws.
95. Surprise my husband by putting gas in his car when he doesn't expect it. November 2011
96. Create a living will.
97. Participate in a 5K. (5/1/11)
98. Write a letter to myself to be read on my 100th birthday.
99. Do 100 push-ups in one day.
100. Visit the Austin capital building.
101. Take a glass blowing class. (8/21/11)