Like family

Yesterday I left work early to pick up my partner and his wife, who are visiting from Toronto.  They were staying in the city and took BART out East.  We had time to kill before meeting Pete back in Alamo then driving out to Livermore for dinner at my boss’ house.

We ended up enjoying a glass of wine at Va de Vi then a bit of window shopping in Walnut Creek.

When we all got to Livermore, my boss and his wife gave us big welcoming hugs and drinks were poured.  They are a family with 4 kids ranging in age fro 16 to 8.  Great kids.  At dinner, my boss said Grace.  Yes, Grace!  I have not said Grace in YEARS… probably not since Thanksgiving when I was like 10 years old!

It’s really icing on the cake when you truly enjoy the company of those who you work with.  Yesterday’s experience went beyond just enjoyment.  I truly felt like I was part of a family.  A family who respects each other and has fun together.  After dinner, a bunch of us (not me of course) played poker.  My boss’ 10 year old son had such a blast winning hands against the adults.

It is interesting how this is one of the first jobs I’ve been in for over a year that I don’t often find myself perusing Craigslist or other job sites just to see “what else is out there”.

Life is Precious…

I have always said it is the saddest scenario when a parent outlives their child.

We received sad news this past weekend that Pete’s – cousin’s – husband’s – nephew (follow that?) had suddenly passed away. He was 23 years old.

He had been staying with them. Apparently he went to a music festival over the weekend. The next day after he returned, he felt ill with a fever. He went to sleep and started to feel better, but in the morning felt worse. They took him to the hospital and he died within a few hours.

This is not supposed to happen to healthy 23 year old boys. He somehow contracted Meningitis and, because it was in his blood, it traveled through his body quickly.

Fortunately he had family by his side at the hospital, but it’s another sad story of a life taken much too soon.

Tell your loved ones that you do. Cherish life… yours and everyone else’s… cause you just never know. Life is precious.

The problem with blogging as an online diary

First off, this is a picture of me & my family celebrating a belated Father’s Day. We feasted on homemade breadsticks, salad, grilled asparagus & cauliflower and baked pork tenderloins. Dessert was a refreshing, cool, smooth vanilla flavored panna cotta with fresh mint and raspberry puree as a sauce.

My mom is amazing. The reality is she could fry up some plastic forks and it would be delicious.

I forget how great my nephew is. I miss him and hope we can have him over for a long weekend sometime soon. He’s 13 years old and just plain fun. We played “telephone” and his word/phrase was, “Mytosis Green” — we all thought he said “my toes are green”.

I was not very productive today. I’m still in weekend mode but I think it’s more like NEXT weekend mode. Too bad I have a gazillion meetings this week to survive first. What’s going on next weekend? WELL, it’s the girl’s (Ayelet & Jackie) bday celebration up at Healdsburg. We are staying at a fabulous 5 bedroom private home in Wine Country. There is a jacuzzi, deck, bbq, wifi, and all the amenities. http://www.vrbo.com/174516

It’s been a while but here’s my one thoughtful comment for the day… This is something that has actually been bugging me for a while. Okay, you probably recognize that I do love to blog, when I’m in town. For me, it’s a rather therapeutic way to process the random thoughts that run through my haphazard mind. You’d agree that blogging is like an online diary. But what if you feel a STRONG need to blog (vent, gossip, criticize, talk smack about, etc) someone or some people that you know are regular readers of your blog? You just can’t – unless you are willing to have your family disown you. Oops, did I give it away? Anyhoo, that is why I would really love to find a blog medium that allows you to create multi-tiered access levels: a ridiculously small set of friends or lovers would have access to everything, friends/FAMILY would have access to certain juicy posts, and the general public would have access to the most mundane and bland of the posts. I would feel a lot more free to speak my mind truly and freely (to the privileged few of course). I have yet to find such a tool. Hell, I might actually pay for such a product!

So… you software developers out there, get to work. And then when you are done, let me know, so I can sell your product to others. yeah, any chance to work it… I will!

another sad story

Every now and then you hear a tragic story… a parent accidentally leaves their kid in a heated car, or a toddler drowns in a pool, etc. These stories break my heart every time. I seem to read about these episodes too often for my comfort level.

This morning a woman in Pittsburgh accidentally ran over her 6 year old daughter who was riding a tricycle behind her car. The girl died.

How do you live with yourself if you are the mother? I cannot fathom it. I like to think I will be a parent with awareness. But accidents happen, and you can never guarantee they won’t happen to you.

Monday Monday

No… I didn’t win the lottery. C’mon now…You KNOW I would not be sitting here at my desk at 8:40am writing in my Blog if I HAD won. ; )

Anyways, it’s Monday morning. Mondays are always the worst for me as the long week ahead seems so daunting and unsurmountable.

Luckily I tend to pack things in over the weekend… and as usual, it was a satisfying weekend full of fun, time with friends, chill out time with Pete & Lucy and as much outdoor activity as I could handle, given it was oh so COLD. I got used to the 85 degree weather we experienced the previous weekend and I’m quick to get spoiled.

Saturday night, Pete & I attended a Passover Seder. We felt very honored to be invited to a family event. I had never been to a Seder before, so I assumed it would be a very religious experience.

If you have never been to a Jewish Seder, it’s a ritualistic ceremony commemorating the freedom of slaves in Egypt and the liberation of Israelites. There are rules regarding what is acceptable to eat and the event follows a procedure that is dictated in a book called the “Haggadeh”. Certain foods are eaten in a special sequence symbolizing aspects of the historical event. For example, at one point, we ate matzo with “mortar” — symbolizing the mortar the Jews had used to build pyramids. This mortar was a ground paste made from almonds, berries and other items. It was quite tasty… kind of reminded me oatmeal. Everyone participated in the ceremony, reading passages from the Haggadeh at designated times. The main purpose of the Seder is to ensure the younger generations retain the Jewish History and tradition. Considering everyone is an active participant, I am sure young children learn and retain the knowledge as they participate year by year.

I had no idea that this would be one of the most fun Holiday events I had experienced in a long time! Of course, I do believe the reason why it was such fun is our hostesses are very non-traditional Jews. They are also quite easy going with a great senses of humor. The family members all joked and laughed heartily during the entire 3 hour event. This was no somber event.

Oh, and the food was DELICOUS!