Ryan M sent me a pop up just before quittin' time and commented that it was just another week at Knoll. He was kidding. In addition to being a dramatic week for lots of peers, it was a long week with lots that did and did not get done.
We wrapped up our high school sports cheering season after work with the Allen girls at Parkland. They played well and won; good luck at states, girls. From 'the Taj Mahal on the left' we crossed Mauch Chunk to Grumpys before chugging home through a driving rain. Now it figures to be a quiet weekend and that's allllright.
I'm not an avid Facebook-er by today's standards but it is a great tool for finding out that one of your best good friends is having a baby; it cannot find out if the baby will come into the world reciting the 'A-Team' introduction in thick Scottish English.
Work has been long and hard this week. We're making progress and it's getting more exciting - as marketing collateral emerges - but there remain challenges, too. PD has been an experience about high-functioning/synergistic teams, but not in a smarmy, self-aggrandizing MBA way. There's also a lesson here about workspaces and teams and teamwork that I think Webb and Ross knew. The PD building exudes collaboration and is full of the things that makes teams work. People often laugh (jealously) about email fwds showing Google's offices, but I will nod in acknowledgment of the creativity that is engendered by such a great environment.
Last night we set off after work to find boots (insert scoreboard "nngngngngngngnnnnng" noise here) and to watch Allen's girls. Chicks v Konkrete Kids, 7:30. Parkland High School. We were there and it was a snoozer. Allen scored 25 points and lost. Like one irrationally angry fan yelled in the second quarter: "I'm not getting my $6 worth!"
Blue Mountain is moving up my list. We lapped three long runs served by a padded express quad and my legs were tired when the big crowds showed up after lunch. I think we both skied better than we had; there were a couple of afternoon blasts down Razor's Edge at top speed and lots of twin tracks carved into sun-softened snow.
On the way home we swung into a new Lehigh County attraction: roadside trailer barbeque. Brisket, pulled pork and beans from a guy in a trailer and a loaf of white bread from Wawa made a great dinner and will make a great lunch tomorrow, too. Ordinarily I'm not crazy about eating food that is sold by a guy in a building that can be removed in three minutes, but for Texas-style bbq an exception is justified.
Yowsa. That was a week and a half, all in four short official days. There were dinner shenanigans, designers from afar, troubles with heights and more. When it was all over this evening I met Jenelle at Rookies and then were off to Whitehall for a tourney tilt btw WAHS and Parkland in girls' hoops. It was another well-played game that Allen won with all-around better play down the stretch.
It was a four-day weekend for Jenelle and a two-day weekend for me, plus Valentine's Day and Presidents' Day and a lovely mid-winter stretch of sunshine.
We celebrated Valentine's in Philly; wonderful Chestnut Hill and Center City at Alma de Cuba for a great dinner. We loved the independent, artsy, foodie slant to Chestnut Hill (sound familiar?) and the loungey, white leather furniture Caribbean nightclub feel of Alma de Cuba. It was quite a treat that was accentuated by stepping onto the sidewalk at 10:30 and being home for SNL.
Sunday we skied the afternoon at BCMR. It was warm and we listened to Bruce in the parking lot while gearing up. Then we shredded the whole place - even mighty Sasquatch - and headed for home.
The monstrous windstorm that blew in last night and lasted all day is pretty much all-consuming. It's a bit of an odd sensation to have the house shake when the house is technically connected to a house-sized buttress on either side, but that's what's happening. The cats are freaked.
Here are the other stories we're working on: management meeting this week means that work has this weird email-driven aspect and also an air of 'what is going on' excitement/nervousness. It's also President's Day weekend this weekend so that's something to look forward to, doubly so for Jenelle who's off tomorrow. Also, we had ham braid for dinner last night. Jenelle's a genius.
These east-coast states are awesome. Where else can you roll out of bed in a leisurely Sunday-morning kind of way, notice the bright sun and think to yourself "let's cruise over to AC and check out the boat show"? Nowhere...but that's precisely what we did. It topped 60 degrees and the ocean clouds cleared out after we'd seen all the boats, so we strolled the boardwalk and the beach and kinda couldn't believe our good fortune. Then we went home for dinner - chicken chili and salad and bread in the loft.
Yesterday was kind of a lazy old day around the house and around town as we took care of this and that. In the evening we went to local Mediterranean hotspot Aladdin for dinner with our friends from down the hill. There was a belly dancer and enough pita for six and a half, so we had a fun time. This kicked-back weekend was perfect for recovering from a whirlwind trip to U-M for Tauber project recruiting and for recovering from a pretty nasty head cold that drained all of my energy Monday thru Friday.
Despite steady dosing of OTC this and that, I'm a little sick. I didn't choose this outcome but am dealing. Kind of like I didn't choose for Lamar Woodley to be the Michigan player that made the biggest play on Sunday, kind of like I didn't choose to stop eating wings and brownies, kind of like I didn't choose to have a bunch of stuff broken on the truck. It's funny how what we don't choose shapes our life, but I think you just have to adapt. I'm wearing sweats, drinking the most water, going to bed earlier, and taking naps so that I can be in top-notch shape for my interviewing trip to Tauber over the next two days.
posted at 10:00 PM - comments
Friday, February 27, 2009