Hilarious mistake? or technological genius?

I don't think this is a mistake, I think google knows EXACTLY what its doing!!! hahaha a good laugh.

Was this a mistake on Google's part?

1. Go to www.Google.com

2. Type in Failure

3. Look at the first listing

Why I love my job

Some of you who were with me back when I was starting out on this blog, will remember me talking about my career change, from a full-time employee, to contract, self-employment. It has been an interesting journey, and I have learned so much. But today, I was reminded why I really do enjoy being able to work for clients that I WANT to work for, rather than be pigeon-holed into a cubicle and called up only when disaster strikes.

MissingLink Networks is one of my clients. My work for them involves software for the wine industry and I work directly with their clients, the wineries, and the winery staff. Of all the industries to work in, this is the one for me. Hehehe. So, I get back from lunch today, and there is a bottle of 2002 Rudd Oakville Estate Proprietary Red sitting on my desk. A little bonus for all of the work I'd done for this particular client, Rudd Wines (owned by the same people that own Dean & DeLuca). This is a $125 bottle of wine that you can only buy if you are a member of their club or have shipped from D&D.

That's not all! Two weeks ago, I had arranged a meeting of some of MissingLink's key clients to discuss requirements for an upcoming project. The very nice and charming young woman from Cain Five brought me a bottle of, of course, 2002 Cain Five. This one was a $100 bottle of wine. And the list continues. I've been given high end bottles from several of Napa's best small production wineries.

So now I don't mind when the clients call up and I have to help them. Heck, I WANT them to call up. You never know when you'll need a favor, and in Napa Valley, favors are worth more than the wine sometimes!

Now I just have to make sure that none of these collectibles end up on the table while I'm not home!!!

Oblivious... and one hell of a weekend

I did it. I sent the last of the information off to my lawyer, so there will be a formal letter in the mail by Thursday detailing the terms of the buyout for my portion of the house. I have that same sinking feeling you get just as you start to crest the first drop on a roller coaster. That excited "oh sh*t" feeling.

My ex, however, is still completely oblivious to the whole thing. He asked me this evening when I was moving out, and if I'd have a prorated portion of the taxes, etc. This is going to get so ugly on Friday or Monday, whenever that letter arrives.

Which is fine, because I have to leave the house this weekend because his aunt and uncle are coming to visit. I asked him if he could at least spare me $40 to pay for meals since I'm not allowed to come home and eat. I figured this is fair, since I'm having to pay to be elsewhere instead of my own house. He looked at me like I had a fetus growing out of my head. I told him to forget it.

Which segues me into the real topic of this post! My upcoming weekend. Since I've agreed to be out of the house this weekend, I figured I should do something fun. And as fortune and fate would have it, Justin, a friend of mine with whom I ran the Bay to Breakers naked, emailed me and asked if I wanted to drive down to Temptation Ranch with him for the weekend! I couldn't believe my luck! Now, now. Brenton is in the Gold Coast of Australia on a paid holiday, getting to romp around and do all sorts of fun stuff and get paid. I'll definitely be taking him there when we're both in the same time zone! Lounging in the lake in the summer would be quite nice. [NOTE: This pic is from the website for the Ranch. I don't know who it is, and I'm only using it because it doesn't show his face so I don't have to worry much about rights. But hell, with abs like that who cares what his face looks like!!)

I plan on taking my camera and I will be back with something worth posting on this site. I'm sure you all are as tired of this long drawn out text and drama as I am. Oh, and I'll be sure and leave the lube and Advocate Men magazines in the guest bathroom. Who knows, maybe uncle and aunt Ex will want to get frisky while I'm gone!!

Oh.. it's Friday...

Yes, my peeps, it is Friday. I am sitting here at the table of my friends house working and I'm SOOO looking forward to this weekend. My ex is going back to Rochester, NY for his 20th high school reunion. Even if we were together I wouldn't have been invited so I don't feel the least bit of anguish.

This week has been busy, despite the fact that I'm mostly working from the living room.

Updates:

1) My dinner the other evening went very, very well. It was sort of a group birthday dinner for a group of friends in Napa. These friends are older and all pretty well connected. It is becoming apparent to me that homemade Thai food might just be the next big thing up here. Two of the ladies in the group want me to cater dinner parties for them now! Two of the friends in the group are the president and v-president of the International Wine and Food Socity chapter there in Napa. They're going to get me to do a dinner/food pairing at one of their upcoming wine tasting events! How f*cking cool is that? Oh, and I charge per head so I'm making money off this now.

2) House-sitting has been an interesting experience. My friends here in Oakland are, shall we say, eclectic in their accumulation of things. I know they went to the grocery store for me last weekend, so I would have food in the house. But to be honest, I can't tell what is new and what isn't? And while it's not totally a bad thing, it seems all they have to drink in the house is good wine and liquor. If I were in my 20s again, that would be perfect! LOL, but I don't drink alone. Okay... I don't get drunk alone. I glass of wine now and then is good. But I made spicy guacamole last night, and after scarfing down the whole bowl, I couldn't find anything to put out the fire in my mouth. Where's that damn tequila?

3) Another job interview. This one should be on the phone today. Just yesterday I sent my resume in for some job posting on the internet, and 3 hours later the recruiter was calling me! Where was this 4 years ago when I was desperately searching for a job?? It never fails. When you don't need something, there's plenty of it lying around.

Okay, back to the grindstone. I've got to get this project out of the way so I can move on to bigger and better things. Namely, the couch and some somosas from Berkeley Bowl!

So if you'll excuse me, I need to open another bottle of wine.

So much has happened

Yeah, I haven't posted anything in nearly 2 weeks. I need to get back into posting daily, especially since so much has happened.

1) Ex and I had a dinner party where I cooked Thai food for friends. Bizarrely, he acted like we were still together and the last 9 months had never happened. Then after they were all gone and I went to give him a hug for such a nice evening, he acted like I was covered in sewage. Ah well. Life goes on.

2) I interviewed for a job with a tech company in the city. I don't need a job, as my consulting business seems to be stabilizing and I'm not hurting financially. Hopefully I'll get to add them as a client rather than go full time.

3) Cooking dinner for friends tomorrow night. Actually, this is more of a gig, than a freebie thing. Someone at one of my dinners told me I should cook professionally. I graciously took the compliment, but I didn't realize he had been the executive chef for Mecca, a higher end restaurant in San Fran!!! So I'm going to start cooking for small dinner parties and pairing it with wine. Hence the name, Wine Me Up, Thai Me Down. Napa is always looking for something unique when entertaining, and this will be a unique twist on just another catered dinner.

4) Accidentally walked in on my ex having sex last night. That was truly a weird experience.

5) I'm house sitting in Oakland at friends. I don't know what it is with me and big dogs. They have two Bernese (sp?) Mountain Dogs. They have BIG fur. I mean HUGE fur. They could run around the house and their coats will clean everything, assuming the don't shed.

6) I've got the dollar amount that I'm going to have my lawyer give to my ex as part of the buyout terms. He will go ballistic, and refuse. I'm expecting that. He still thinks I'm going to sign over title, remain on the mortgage, move out and take a couple of thousand dollars. Umm... okay. Maybe after I've been lobotomized. So I'm going to have to file for partition, which will force the sale of the house and a judge will decide how to split the remaining monies. So my next few months are going to be a tad stressful.

B and I are doing okay. The distance is beginning to get frustrating, but with everything else going on in my life, starting a real relationship would be too distracting. Hopefully I will get some of this situated by the time that B actually finds something here in the US.

Okay... it's late and I need to get to bed. I'm driving up to Calistoga tomorrow and will have to stop by the house to pick up some things for the dinner I'm cooking. Here's hoping that my ex isn't having any more house guests.

This weekend...

Okay.. pics will have to come later, when I get some editing software installed on my laptop. This past weekend I decided, at the last minute, to go to San Diego for Pride. Now this was a VERY last minute decision and the hotels were all pretty much booked. I ended up with a room at a Motel 6 that was surprisingly close to the Hillcrest area of SD. For those of you who aren't familiar with SD, Hillcrest is the gay area of town.

Now, I'd love to be able to post something about how much fun I had, and what kind of crazy times there were. But there weren't. Well... I take that back. There was one incident that wasn't your typical run of the mill normal event.

On Saturday night I went out to Rich's, a bar in the ghetto. It was crowded and I couldn't find my friends. So I left and went down to Flick's for the rest of the night. When Flick's closed, I was hungry so I hopped in my car and ran through the only open drive thru, Jack in the Box. The line was quite long so I pulled up and put my car in park. Well.. next thing I know, my phone ringing wakes me up! I had fallen asleep while waiting in line! I look up and realize that the car ahead of me has already pulled ahead. There are also two guys walking toward my car and one is starting to knock on my window. The phone call is from my friend who I'm trying to get ahold of, and the car behind me starts honking. My brain was going through overload at this point. It's 2:30am and I'm in a strange city in a drive through for a fast food restaurant I would never choose if I had other options. There is a very happy asian guy waiting for me to roll down my window and talk to him. My friend on the phone is trying to find out where I'm at. Hell, I barely know where I'm at.

Anyway, I hang up with my friend. I roll down the window and find out that the two guys at standing next to my car are trying to get food in the drive thru but don't have a car, and the drive thru personnel won't serve them food unless they are in a car. So they want to know if they can get in my car! Or if I at least order for them.

The car behind me has stopped honking. I just pull out of the line and leave. Now all this has happening in the space of about 20 seconds. I finally wake up enough to call my friend back and find out where he's at. I spent the rest of the night dancing and having a great time. I got to bed around 5:30am Sunday morning and woke up to start my day around 11:30am.

Other than that, my weekend was pretty regular. I did make it to the beach, but the weather was a bit overcast all weekend. The closing party at the San Diego zoo was fun, and the music was good, but it was just another dance party. I went back to my hotel room and got some sleep.

One of the most exciting parts of my weekend was only having to fill up my gas tank once. Yes, my Toyota Prius Hybrid drove my butt 504 miles on one 10.5 gallon tank.