Snow... hope for snow...

It's been a long week and it's Tuesday. Work is chaos and I'm trying to hold onto hope while feeling very frustrated at all there is to do and the lack of time to do the multiple things in. While I know the group goals and priorities it just seems like that is how we got into this mess... head down and ignore the giant pretty purple snuffleupagus in the room. If I only do what is required (like I admit I should) it would not be the best thing for the community I spent years working with and want to get back into. But if I address the issues and work on the solutions it is good but not always something that I have authority to truly delve into like it should be done.

So I feel like I'm back at the airplane hanger in college pulling out the baling wire and grabbing the duct tape in the shop the night before the Picnic Day parade (UC Davis- Go Ags!). It's the old well if I have 8 hours of work and 6 hours to do it in... yup I can figure out a way to get it done. I guess if the people at the top were cheering the whole time it would be easier... instead it's the occasional- well aren't you psychic? No? Really? Well you should be. I need a cheerleader... oh heck I need to just go to the mountains and enjoy more snow and that will cheer me up. Winter storm advisories right now and it was 75+ last Sunday. Colorado is keeps me on my toes.

Don't get me wrong- it's not all bad- I'm getting to play with some seriously cool technology and making maps occasionally (even if it's just for demos) and next month I'll be going to Washington DC (c/o work) and playing with the most adorable babies ever- my nephews!

It's the little things in life that make everything worth it... and the little guys are definately among those kind of things.

Spring is here....

Spring in Denver is different than I'm used to. First-off there are little bulb flowers such as tulips and crocuses around before the trees are even budding out. I've never  seen so many bulb flowers just randomly planted around. The trees are finally starting to leaf out though. I guess in San Diego there is more dedication to plants with year-round bloom so the annuals are not as prevelant.

Yesterday I went snowshoeing with they guy and I was snowshoeing in my normal hiking outfit. It was craziness as I even had to reduce some layers (have you ever tried to pull off 2 layers of pants over your boots behind a rock and get re-dressed in less than 2 minutes... while tryinng NOT to sit in the snow?). By the end I was hiking in a shirt and light hiking pants which were luckily water repellant seeing as I ended up sliding down the hill a bit on my bum due to the occasionally slushy snow. No fleece for me yesterday- of course the guy was in shorts but he's crazy like that. We were exploring an amaing trail in Rocky Mountain National Park and I am becoming more and more of a fan of the place everytime I go. We ended up taking the long route driving back down 7 and 72 which was such an amazing drive... even found a darling Catholic Chapel seemingly in the middle of a river area at some random retreat center. The stained glass was stunning and the location was head turning.

Today has been wandering around in shorts and sandals (though rumor has it the snow will come later this week). I actually met a couple neighbors as I sat on my porch stoop eating some fruit and reading the NY Times. Ah Sundays are magnificent... I've done most everything on my to-do list except for the 2 things I really need to do but are not as fun as e-mails and updating my blog...

Last week was crazy with teaching and stress and rewriting what at times seemed like the universe. This week should be calmer and hopefully I'll be a bit more plugged in. By the way after hanging out with my high school sweetheart's best friend for a night last week as he passed through town...  I fully endorse facebook as a way of finding people you would otherwise never find :-)

San Diego dreaming...

Okay so that was a long pause on the Portland thing- I met washington office folks, and management folks, and drank a lot of microbrews. Rouge River Brewery won as the favorite  of the week. Oh and the young planners wine party was quite the entertainment on the 22nd floor of the hotel... lots of wine a little bit of candy (gummy bears go amazingly well with a good red wine from the Willamette Valley). 

Oh and my presentation went quite well- a few bigger wigs were there and I stayed up way late fixing  up my demo and dialed into the office. I think the perfect presentation mix for me is about 3-4 hours of sleep, a large mocha, and some serious pressure... it makes me all relaxed, happy, chatty, and when it's GISy stuff- well I just had a blast.  A few people even said they enjoyed my presentation so that was really nice. 

After the Portland trip I headed down to San Diego to visit Mom. Ah sun and gorgeous weather make for a lovely weekend. We gardened- I was thining bushes and mom was taking care of the roses. I also pruned the lemons- I mean really when taking off one branch that is sky high means taking off 15 lemons in one fell swoop... yeah it needed thinning. But I went to the old haunts having real TJ style mexican food and fish sandwiches. I do love the San Diego cuisine. 

Oh and I did stop by the movers- nothing like showing them the three (mind you conflicting) manifests. They were impressed with my knowledge of tracking packages and how things work and my persistance. Did I mention the 4 page documented telephone logs that I've been keeping? I even got a tour of the lost and found section of the warehouse. Unfortunately no matter how many prayers I said I didn't find my box. The manager sent out an e-mail to some higher ups to see if they could help me but I'm truly loosing hope. Something wierd happened- paperwork doesn't match up and someone has a box that no one else cares about but me.  So say a prayer or send out some good vibes to the universe...

Presenting on a national stage...

Have I said it lately.... I have the job of a peon but the tendancy to think in national implementation scope kinda ways.  I had at least 5 washinton DC officey types at my presentation today and I think it went rather well. Someone asked me my position on the project and it was funny to say- just a trainer.  But I get to play geospatial so it was nice to give a rah rah spatial presentation today  and it went over pretty well...

Well I just realized I'm missing a presentation I'm supposed to be in so I shall update later :-)

On the road again....

I'm traveling for work... wow it's been awhile since I was packing up the laptop to head to DIA for work. Actually it's only been about 3 months but a lifetime  has occurred in the last 3 months. It was nice that I got a ride to the airport- thanks hon! Yesterday was wandering around Portland enjoying the shops, seafood, and Powells. Yesterday I already ran into someone I knew from my former BLM life so it's great to think I'm around my element. 

Today was walking around to grab breakfast and coffee from some local stores- why hang out at the hotel when within 5 bloccks there are so many great places.  Now the pre-conference has kicked into gear and I've been having fun editing graphics- gotta love implementing new logos! Luckily for this graphics challeged person there is Snag-It which has tons of power but for me it's graphics editing for dummies. 

I don't present till Thursday so I won't start getting stressed till later in the week. Then on Friday I'm flying to San Diego for the weekend- yay home home and hanging out with Mom! 

By the way sorry about the petering off of posting... it's been a crazy week between catching a couple of nights of the Banff film festival, hanging out with the new guy, and trying to get all that work and life stuff done...