i dreamed about work last night, and i burnt my toast this morning

and those two statements are not related in any way other than they have added up to a rather miserable kerry this morning thus far. i burnt the damn toast so bad i had to open windows, it's like nuclear toast. and i wanted to take a picture to prove it, but now i don't know where my camera is. and i realize i haven't seen it in a while. crap. and guatemala is crime ridden(more on why this matters later). ugh. and once i get going, today is going to be a long day of meetings and installs-which will eventually be a yay! but as of now are just things looming on me. and i hate to be loomed on.

so yesterday was an emotional rollercoaster. ok, it was actually a great day with a really annoying part in the middle, but im undercaffeinated (and working on it) and over dramatic (always have been) and cranky (perpetually?), so there.

the bad:
-last night, i was going to go to the baltimore knitting group meetup and elinor was going to teach me to make socks and at the last minute i got a call from my boss informing me of a deadline he had volunteered me for but forgotten to mention. cue me, turning around to get back home to work, still ignorant of the magic that is sock making. how sad. will i be barefoot forever?
- i dreamed about work. i dreamed about instructional design and user interfaces. i had the best dream about how my development team listened to me and turned back to me a product just like what i have always wanted. and then i woke up. the fact that i dreamed about work was sad enough, the fact that i was bummed out when i realized it was a dream and i didnt really get my wish was just disturbing.

BUT
the good: (in no particular order of timing or importance)

-after said mini tragedy above, the night took a turn for the better which involved dinner (delicious steak kabobs on the grill) and cake. chocolate cake, with chocolate chips in it. yes, hello perfect cake where have you been all my life? in the kitchen? that's ok then, let's see what you have to show for it.

AND
- a decision has been made regarding my fabulous summer vacation destination plans. up until now, i've bandied about a lot of ideas and talked a lot about the maybes and mights and since this has gone on for about a month now, i have been getting rather impatient- one of the things about being a planner is that now i want to know how things are going to go so i can start doing risk assessment, making plans, making backup plans and allocating resources. i know, how sad. it seriously is permeating my life.

-i found a new dog park yesterday! i totally tripped over it while on my way out to a local yarn store to find some more double pointed needles (for the ill fated sock making lesson) i had the dog with me b/c we were going to go to oregon ridge after the store, and as i was being "situationally aware kerry", i.e. paying attention for once in my life, i noticed a sign for another dog park right next to the yarn store. figuring i had nothing to lose and time to save i checked it out and it was pretty sweet!

check it out:

How you know when you are leaving the urban part of town I guess?

anyhow, after entering nature we found lots of trails for star to romp on, some water that looked too dirty for me to feel comfortable letting her swim in (which was confirmed by a call to base camp/tech support. thanks tech support!). it was a good time and the convenience factor is HUGE here people. i see more trips to this one in our "faffing off while should be working" future. i'm pretty sure it is going to be jammed on weekends though, so it's mainly for workday getaways. but it does allow a quick hour out when i need it, and this is good.

-also in the sweepstakes of goodness, Edward Tufte is coming to town and giving a seminar and i'm totally trying to convince my work to send me in the name of professional development.
Edward Tufte (according to reliable sources) is *the man* of information presentation, and since instructional design and interface design are my dirty little secret hobbies, i'm really hot to go to this. (yeah, i really said that) this is not how i saw myself when i was younger but it's cool. (do i sound at all as if im trying to convince myself of this here?)

-i climbed a 5.10c at the gym yesterday. because of the 13 hour day i pulled monday, i gave myself a half day off yesterday, so after the dog park i finished The Sun Also Rises (which thankfully was much easier on my soul than For Whom the Bell Tolls), and then i hit the climbing gym. i made a couple of new friends in the bouldering cave and then katie showed up early so i was nice and warmed up and primed and hit the 10.c like it owed me money. next up 5.10d, which i think i might try later this week and then 5.11.

hmmm. i think that's all the excitement going on these days at chez animal fur (aside. we need to think of an appropriate ranch name for my house. because i want one, and also possibly a logo). i'm off to nameless soulsucker institution today, but it should be ok. as you may be able to tell by the increasing coherence of my thoughts, the coffee has kicked in and i feel ready. and also, i'm meeting with tech people, and they tend on the whole to be a lot saner and less freakishly egotistical than the medical half of the contingent, so i might actually leave there with my soul intact for a change. and furthermore, i should have a test environment set up on a virtual machine, which is just a crap load of things progressing to 100% on my project plan of doom. it's the little things people.

so i'm out. i hope you all have a great day, and if i don't i will be sure to whine about it later. cheers!