…and my Harley girl… 
30 August 2005
19 August 2005
even better…
…today i found out for sure that i get to work on this new project. everything just worked out perfectly — i think Someone Up There gave me some assistance in a crappy job situation. Thanks God! 
…and about 5 minutes after that, i found out that i will *finally* get a laptop for work. i have been on “the list” since about January, and it has sometimes been a total pain in the ass to work from home & remotely access my work PC b/c it doesn’t always connect, and i am left S.O.L
…so, even though i have a bit of a hangover headache today (veal & kopetsky stayed with us last night on their way to iowa), i got to wake up amongst friends & get good news from work. sweet.
18 August 2005
instant increase in job satisfaction…
YIPPEE – i think i may have just found my way out of the hugely complex and uninteresting project that i was working on, and into a managable project that i am actually interested in. FABULOUS. i can feel the job satisfaction rising already.
today i had a meeting with my manager, who told me that i would be a good candidate for leadership, either managerial or team leadership (sort of like a project team leader). sweet.
today i also presented to the highest IBM executive in Minnesota (3 people away from the CEO of IBM). that was actually fun – it was kind of nice to see everything abstracted up a layer, and to watch things get delegated. it would be kind of cool to be the delegator, rather than the delegatee someday…
15 August 2005
*almost* a great dog show…
on saturday, we made our debut in the Open level of obedience. harley did really well — better than i expected — and *almost* won her class. (notice the *almost*) she was doing really great, but there is one exercise called “Retriever Over the High Jump” where the dog sits next to you, and you throw a wooden dumbell over a jump. the dog has to jump the jump, pick up the dumbell, then jump the jump again and sit in front of you with the dumbell. when harley went to retrieve the dumbell, she hit it with her foot and knocked it under the fence and out of the ring. she tried REALLY hard to get it back, but couldn’t reach it by sticking her head under the fence. so…we were disqualified. it’s too bad though — otherwise, we would have had the highest score and won our class. oh well. i am disappointed, but i am actually really proud of harley for the rest of her performance, and the face that she tried *so* hard to get that dumbell.
then we did another class called Rally Obedience that has a course with stations where you do a different thing at each station, and are judged on how you do. harley did very well, but because of a nit-picky judge (i technically had to run at one point, and i walked…we lost points and did not place. otherwise, we would have had second place. oh well – harley did well, and that is all that matters. plenty of shows this fall, and i’m sure all will go well.
5 August 2005
friday five
this is from a different friday…but i have been thinking about money and debt a lot lately, so it seemed like a good set.
1. How much money is in your wallet right now? none – just check card & credit card. i very rarely carry any cash to reduce impulse purchases of pop & snacks, etc. that isn’t working as well though, now that most places take credit.
2. How much money would you need in the bank to feel secure? Rich? – hmmm. security to me would be 3 months worth of salary. rich would be 2 years worth.
3. If someone gave you $100, no strings attached, what would you do with it? go out for a nice dinner & date with chris.
4. If someone gave you $1 Million, no strings attached, what would you do with it? pay off my house, car, & our student loans. buy two new cars. then invest the rest & quit my job and become a dog trainer.
5. How much does something have to cost before it starts counting as “real” money, as a purchase to be considered and evaluated, but below which you’ll buy without really thinking about it? i really think about every purchase…i would have to say under $10 is something i would buy without thinking too much. above that, though, it would depend upon what type of purchase it is (for fun, or “necessary”) and budgeting concerns.
