Holiday Fun

Merry Christmas to all! I hope everyone had a great time with their families and friends. This year's Christmas was one of the more entertaining holidays I've celebrated. After partially recovering from a nasty head cold that put me out of commission on Tuesday (still not 100%, but getting there), I got up early on Wednesday to bake pecan pies to contribute to the meal. I headed to Aunt Tai's house a little before 2 and actually beat my parents there. The rest of the family had already arrived, although Richard and Betsy weren't there, so we didn't have their two little babies to entertain us. When my parents got there, mom was still riled up from dad's wrong turns that led to their slight delay. After mom had announced my dad's incompetence, and my uncle handed my dad a consolation beer, we tucked into the Christmas feast. The menu was somewhat scaled down this year, as I later learned that we had actually forgotten to take some of the other dishes out of the fridge or microwave where they were jammed because we were running out of space: turkey, beef Wellington, wild rice & sausage stuffing, roasted potatoes, curry beef pastries, spring rolls, barbecue ribs, potato salad, cinnamon rolls, meatballs and tomato sauce. From the menu, you can see that my family does not really stick to the traditional - it's really more about what everyone likes, regardless of what time of year it happens to be.

After everyone had sufficiently stuffed themselves, my uncle mentioned that he had Iron Man on blue ray, so he set that up for me and most of my cousins joined me for the movie on the big screen in the basement. The movie was awesome, and I will definitely make an effort to catch the sequel when it comes out in theaters. When the movie ended, we went upstairs for dessert, which consisted of my pies, apple pie, ice cream, fruit cake, chocolate rum balls, Godiva chocolates, and a rum cake made by the aunt that no one in my family likes. All of the desserts were sampled except for the rum cake, which only my dad was brave enough to try. In all honesty, it was probably fine, but my mom and her siblings had enough unpleasant experiences with the lady that they weren't taking any chances. As we were eating dessert, one of my uncles moved on to the harder alcohol in the liquor cabinet and had a glass of cognac. I only mention this because my uncle, who usually speaks his mind, was clearly having a great time, talking very loudly about almost everything. It must have sounded like a massive domestic dispute to anyone who could have heard us, but it was really just the sound of my big crazy family having a good time.

While everyone was sitting around chatting, I handed out my Christmas presents. The family had agreed that only the little kids would get presents from the extended family, which was ok with me. That just meant that we all got stuff for our immediate family. The first part of his gift was a couple of really fragrant teas to go with all the biscuits that I had brought him from England. The second part of his gift was actually for him and mom, and it was a gift card to Fogo de Chao. Dad seemed a little perplexed that I got him a gift card, but when I showed him the menu (really, just a picture of various cuts of juicy steak), he did a 180 and looked pretty excited. Mom seemed pretty happy with the gift card too, especially when I told her that she if she and dad went for lunch instead of dinner, they could go twice. Clearly, the key to my family's heart is through its enormous, iron-clad stomach. I got my mom a sweater, too, and for Mel, I bought a tailored shirt and some Bumble & Bumble hair stuff that she likes. They all seemed happy with their presents, so I think that was a pretty successful shopping trip this year.

And speaking of shopping, I did manage to brave the crowds today and went to the mall with Aunt Tai. She is the "cool aunt" and is definitely much more fashion forward than the rest of the family. She picked out some pieces that I probably would not have considered, but they actually looked quite decent and I ended up buying a jacket and some "fun" shirts ("fun" being defined as not appropriate for work and therefore can only be worn at bars or other places where I should be up to no good).

And so went another Christmas with the family, with everyone well-fed and content.

Where the Heck Am I?

I consider myself a fairly experienced traveller, given that I take at least a dozen flights each year for business. This past week was a bit unusual, though, as I started in DC, flew out to California, then Texas, then back home...in the span of 3 days. My system is pretty much out of whack to begin with, but all the travelling and time zone changes led to me getting by on about 3-4 hours of sleep a night, although I was still functional. Good sign for busy season!

The trips were for site visits for my new client, and I have to say that it was one of the more enjoyable business trips that I've ever taken. The teams were both extremely well-prepared for myself and the partner, so we had very efficient meetings to go over their status. The cool part, though, was the tour of the facilities. I've been at the firm for just over 7 years, and this is the first client that I've had which actually makes something. So the first tour we took was to view the satellites that were currently being built. The satellites are assembled in a clean room, so we went through the standard cleaning procedures (clean jackets, hair nets, booties, air shower) and headed into the assembly area. I really didn't understand the technical information that the client rep provided, but I did gather that the satellite we were looking at was just one of several that would ultimately be sent into orbit in the next few years to help speed up communications around the world. The satellite itself was what I expected - a very large boxy thing with solar panels and other attachments jutting out from various places. For a multi-million dollar piece of equipment, there were certainly some pieces that looked like they were held together by duct tape.

The very next day, we were up and out of the hotel by 4:30 to catch a 6AM flight to Dallas for the second site visit. We landed in the very overcast Dallas-Fort Worth area and headed to the client site, where we talked business for a couple of hours before jumping in the car and driving down the road to the air base where the planes were being built. Walking into the building and passing by the various program offices with the titles Program Director and Chief Test Pilot, I had a sudden, almost violent urge to start spewing out lines from Top Gun (I feel the need, the need for speed!!!). I've had a lifelong interest in military jets (actually had my heart set on applying to the USNA to become a pilot before mom and dad nixed that idea), so this was about as close as I'd ever get to sitting in the cockpit. The planes were in various states of assembly, and the factory itself was enormous. We walked about a half mile down one wing of the factory to take a look at the newest model that was being built, and that was only about a half of the line. Since it was overcast, none of the jets were being put through their paces, but there were enough models and pictures of the finished product displayed around the building for me to have a pretty good appreciation of the incredible amount of firepower that those planes could unleash. I could only muster two words when the partner asked me what I thought: So...Cool!

We went out to dinner that night in downtown Fort Worth. I'd heard the saying that everything is bigger in Texas, and I totally believed it when my dinner came out. I had carne asada with a couple of enchiladas, which also came with sides of rice, beans, guacamole, and fresh salsa. My arteries are currently seizing in protest as I think about that meal. I mainly got it because I'd never had carne asada before, and if I ever go back to Fort Worth, I am definitely getting that dish again. I managed to eat about a quarter of the plate and stopped so I could save some room for dessert (apple crumb with fresh cinnamon ice cream...so good!).

The next day, I worked from the hotel and left for the airport around 4PM, only to have my flight delayed due to weather. I ultimately got home around midnight, and was pretty tired, so I slept pretty well. I woke up the next morning not really knowing where I was. I realized I was home when I rolled over and saw the ceiling fan...then the clock and realized that I was also quite late for work.

And so went another week at work. I am looking forward to at least a much quieter week starting tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to catch up on all those things that got pushed to the end of the year. At least I'll be able

Amusement (and Annoyance) of the Day

I'm still in the getting-to-know-you phase at my newer client, and lunch is really the best time to talk about non-work things with the team and start to bond with them. Since I'm one of the few girls on the team who actually likes and follows football, today at lunch I was talking to the staff about the 'Skins loss (see? I told you so!) and Division I-AA college football. Penn just so happens to be a AA football school and used to be pretty good, at least when I went there. So I let it slip that I went to Penn, and the reactions I got were pretty amusing. Every once in a while, I'll get someone who actually seems genuinely impressed that I got into that school. Most of the time, the people who find out that tidbit try to mask their look of shock (as in, "Are you serious? They let you in to Penn?"). I think the partner had a little bit of the latter going on and seemed to be trying not to laugh. That would have been unfortunate (snarfing milk = funny; snarfing sauteed vegetables = gross/painful...although still pretty funny). After all, I am the over-enthusiastic manager who thinks that fighter jets and missile defense systems are cool but doesn't really know how they all get accounted for, which is kind of my job. I am all about setting low expectations and then over-delivering...an Ivy League degree kind of raises the bar. Then again, Dubya went to an Ivy, so maybe I'm not so disappointing in comparison...

Now on to the annoyance - my microwave blew out. I know, not a huge deal to most, but when more than 50% of your meals are either leftovers or frozen into a compressed brick, that kitchen appliance becomes critically important to your survival. I am now back in the stone age, actually cooking meals during the weekday. This is highly unusual behavior. Guess I will have to make a run to Costco this weekend to buy a new microwave...and a carload of frozen food to break it in!

My Life is Like the Stock Market….

…some days I’m way up, and other days I’m so down there’s a circuit breaker that gets tripped and I just shut down. Warning – there’s a decent amount of whine here, so if you’re pregnant or underage, step away from this post.

Yesterday was an up day. I spent some quality time at my other big client, had a pretty productive day, answered almost all of the questions that were fired at me, and had a chat with the partner about my performance that wasn’t too bad. All in all, it was a good day. I felt like I was making some progress out there and wasn’t going to be fired in the next few months. Of course, it also didn’t hurt that I left at 5:45, made it to back to Columbia in a record 45 minutes despite the rain, and met up with the girls for Anne’s birthday dinner. Any day that ends with good friends and frozen/fruity/alcoholic beverages can only be described as good. Oh, and there was a decent episode of Grey’s on when I got home (except for the crazy Izzie/ zombie Denny crap).

Today started out as a circuit breaker day and ended about even. I got in late to work because of an appointment in the morning (because I’m a complete clod and manage to break my glasses or other valuables or injure myself on an alarmingly frequent basis). The first 4 emails I read when I got in the car were pretty bad – I screwed up at work (apparently pretty badly) and since I wasn’t in the office, the rest of the team was cleaning up after me. If there’s one thing that my strict Chinese/Republican upbringing has taught me, it’s that you are responsible for and clean up your own messes. I apologized to Anne and sent Dan an “I completely suck” email. It did get smoothed over with the client, but it took me a few hours to not dwell on it and be productive on the mountain of work I had piling up. I’m not a complete basket case, but there is definitely a decline in quality and speed when I screw up – until I get over it, I pretty much second and triple guess every move I make, whether it's writing emails or making a phone call. I did eventually suck it up and deal, so the rest of the afternoon was spent getting through some memos and writing reviews, so at least I ended on a relatively productive note. Hopefully this weekend will give me a chance to go for a long run and get all this self-loathing out of my system.