Hollywog's Pond

Goodness me!

Did not realize I never got around to posting last week. Oops. Work was blech. Had an unending string of failed assays continue from previous weeks which pushes back project time lines further and further, making my goal of being finished by Q4 largely unattainable. Which didn't exactly put me in a good mood for writing my performance review. It's hard to say, "Everything I touched in the last month has failed - please give me a promotion/raise". To be sure, it was not my fault that all these assays failed. But fail they did and all I can say is that I busted my butt and with the help of a few key people (or really, person) the problems have been solved. Yippee! So next week should be busy playing catch-up. Yeah.

Last weekend, however, was AWESOME. I get a lovely little email from my friend Kelly saying, "Do you want to go to the MLS final for free?" Um. Yes, yes I do. And so we did. We started things off with a book signing at a local pub by Grant Wahl for The Beckham Experiment. I think it is hilarious, by the way, that when I googled just now for his name, because I forgot, one of the first results was this:

LONDON - Former Spice girl Victoria Beckham needs surgery to remove her bunions, a painful toe problem, and has been advised not to wear high heels.

Back to soccer. While at the pub waiting for halftime of an English match to commence so the book signing/reading could also commence I mused over the sponsorship of soccer teams in general. I was flummoxed over how to tell just who was playing whom. For the longest time all I could tell you was that Motorola was gaining over Fly Emirates. Turns out it was Sunderland vs Arsenal, respectively. Most of the pub patrons were wearing red Arsenal gear but were cheering for the guys in blue (Motorola) and not red (Fly Emirates). Very confusing. Took me almost ten minutes of non-stop playing with intermittent cheering/booing to work it all out in my head.

Unfortunately Seattle's best green players and fans suffer from this as well and appear to love XBox Live more than anything else and you can't buy an official jersey that says otherwise. Phhhht to that.

Next we attended the MLS Cup Final Party downtown. The panel discussion was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be and the food was tasty, especially the frozen custard from Peaks.

Sunday was the big day and while my beloved guys in green weren't playing it was spectacular. Kelly and I met up for the march to the stadium a couple of hours before the match. Lo and behold! When, what my wondering eyes should appear? But all of the Sounders players, signing autographs in good cheer. Eek! Penless, we begged and borrowed our way to five signatures total for our scarves plus one fabulous pic of Kelly and Kasey Keller (my fantasy sports husband). I have discovered two things: 1. the Sounders players are very nice and friendly to their adoring fans. 2. Every soccer player I saw lied about their height. Do they really think people won't find out? Or is it standard practice to add 2+ inches onto their stats? They all look so little in person. Guess I should stick to basketball players but they are decidedly less cute and don't have as nice legs. I never thought I would admire a man's legs but soccer players have the best. I guess you don't know what's out there until you see it/start paying attention.

March, march, march. Concert. Yup, there was a concert. Third Eye Blind was there and it was fun to have such an intimate affair in the parking lot. I was maybe ten rows back from the stage with a clear view - times like these it was fabulous to be at a greater altitude than the general population. I haven't followed them at all so their new songs didn't do much for me but the oldies but goodies took me back to high school for sure. Very fun. Even the weather held out and didn't rain!

Into the stadium, pick up free schwag (by that I mean the second accepted definition for this on urbandictionary.com) and to the seats! But then NO! Shock and horror! I have forgotten my glasses! While myopic tendancies have not required a special notation on my license as yet, corrective lenses are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for checking out certain famous British soccer stars that Grant Wahl includes in the title of his aforementioned book. What to do?!? I plead for my friend to point out the object of my secret obsession since viewing "Bend it Like Beckham" which I watched because it was supposed to be a fun Bollywood type film and not because I had ever heard of anyone in fútbol other than Pelé. She pointed him out and then informed me that I was free to walk down to the very front of the stadium and gawk at him there along with everyone else as he warmed up with his teammates.

Bless you Kelly.

So I got my fix. Sigh. Which was actually a little disappointing. He's itty bitty. As my friend Kara would say, "He's so little and cute I just wanna put him on a shelf and dust him". Totally ruins the fantasy. Even if he is oh-so-pretty and talented. But the game was fun and it was nice to see the Cinderella team triumph. The only downside besides the crushing of my pretty-boy fantasy was how bloody cold it was in the stadium. When you aren't really moving a whole lot and there is a steady, chill wind blowing over you it is hard to maintain your core temperature. But Kelly was fine so I guess it was just me, the royal we and no one else, that was slowly descending into a state of hypothermia. I tried to tough it out but when it became obvious that there would be at least 30 minutes of regulation over time play (i.e. closer to an hour in real time) I broke down and headed to the team store in the stadium. I am now the proud owner of an ultra-soft, Seahawks fleece blanket (because there weren't any Sounders ones). Wrapped up in my cocoon that was bound around me tighter than a straight jacket I hooted and hollared with the best of them - only with much less gesticulating.

'Twas a grand time.

Which brings us to Thanksgiving. It was supposed to be a short work week but I put in many more hours than required trying to resolve the failing assay issues. I was relieved to finally get home and start baking some pie when I realized that, sadly, I had neglected to pass along the emergency pager to the next co-worker for their week of fridge/freezer alarm babysitting. Poo. So far it hasn't gone off and I hope it stays that way. My pie turned out very well indeed. No, I did not slave over the perfect crust from scratch nor did I eviscerate a sugar pumpkin but I did use tiny cookie cutters to make a leaf border for the pie as well as some cute decorations in the middle. So there was some above and beyond effort involved. :P

Went to momma's for the feast and stuffed myself stupid which is my assessment of a succesful get together. This was preceeded and followed by a Top Gear dvd marathon, if you can call one dvd a marathon. Most excellent indeed. But why oh why, Netflix, do you only have season ten available? This does not include the best episode ever (three parts, three links) but - enter youtube.com stage left. And so that is why there is a red beat-to-hell Toyota pick-up in the background for all their stage broadcasts. :)

Speaking of red, my mind has turned to the Christmas season. I'm up for feast preparations and hosting. Let's hope I can have it as organized and low stress as momma managed for turkey day. I really don't think I will try to cram a tree in my apt so I will have to get my fix for tree smell like I do for my puppy fix - go where they hang out en masse. I will do my best to be a hanger on at a friend's tree purchase so I don't feel too guilty snooping around tree lots breathing deeply and purchasing nothing. Ooh, maybe I could get a live wreath instead!

I did manage to finish my book club book Julie & Julia. It was an interesting read but I don't think it will go down in my Hall of Fame list. Will be fun to chat about it tomorrow since I missed October's Secret Life of Bees meeting. Can't remember what is up for December other than I have never heard of the book before reading the title on the list of books to read. Let's hope it doesn't suck.

Via a work purchase/vendor promotion I received a FREE Kindle. Yippee! I am being extra patient and not using it until the protective cover I ordered from amazon comes next week. It is purple. Yeah! Super excited about reading something on it but am decidedly not super excited about the price of book downloads (only slightly cheaper than a current paperback). Will have to see how other users are dealing with this issue.

I think I'm tapped for news that is mildly interesting. Hasta luego mes amis.