Vicodin Haze

For the past several work days I’ve been testing code written by a developer who recently had foot surgery and is taking Vicodin. Vicodin and code writing is not a good combination. I’ve tested code for three product lines and all of the loads have major issues. I wonder why his manager didn’t suggest he stay out on sick leave until he stopped taking Vicodin. His Vicodin haze is creating more work for both of us.

In other news, our cat, Ferdinand, went out the other day around 10 in the morning without a collar. He came home a little after noon with a collar on. Apparently, a neighbor found one of the four collars Ferdinand has lost and put in back on him.

It’s snowing again in Denver this morning. Even though the snow is light the roads are icy and the morning rush hour traffic was a mess. Thankfully, I’m working from home.

Can I Have Some Tonic With My Gin?

The ARTMA benefit was a lot of fun. It was a sold out event. The place was packed and the art was a higher quality than most charity art auctions. Most of the big name local artists had donated pieces. Cindi donated a monotype so the tickets were comped along with six drink tickets. I ordered a gin and tonic. It turned out to be a glass of gin with ice and a splash of tonic. I nursed that drink all night. I was driving so I elected not to have a second drink. I contemplated bidding on several pieces but the pending end of income was enough to restrain me. Cindi and I went to Racines for a little nosh and drinks after leaving the event before the live auction. She had red wine and I had water. It was nice to sit back and enjoy the conversation. It reminded me of the times in years past when Cindi, K and I would go to Racines after the openings of gallery she used to own.

It’s Sunday morning at it’s finally snowing in Denver. All of the recent storms have bypassed our area. The forecast calls for up to three inches today and possibly two inches tomorrow. That’s not a lot of snow considering what happened to the eastern states.

I’m having a lazy day. I may make a batch of ginger cookies and then go to the gym. I’ll probably watch the Super Bowl later today since there doesn’t seem to be very many good alternatives. I enjoy watching the commercials. I could care less about who wins.

Party Recap

The birthday party was a lot of fun. There were close to fifty people there. Mike fixed me a really strong gin and tonic that I sipped on all evening. The food was great. The red velvet cake was delicious. I walked home around ten and was in bed by 10:30.

This morning I started doing user acceptance testing at 8. I should be done in a few minutes. I’m waiting for the conference call to end. I’ll be able to take comp time off during the coming week.

I have a day filled with chores. I need to clean the house, go to the grocery store and get in a cardio workout.

The newly single Cindi has invited me to attend the ATRMA charity art auction tonight. I expect to be invited to a lot of fundraisers now that the boyfriend is out of her life. Cindi is involved in many charitable causes. She also provides décor for many of the larger events and is usually given tickets to attend the event. The events can be a lot of fun especially if there is an open bar.

Partytime

Mike, my car broker, friend and neighbor, called a few days ago to invite me to a surprise birthday party he is hosting for a mutual friend tonight. Mike planned a 50th birthday celebration for Bill. He ordered a cake decorated with happy 50th birthday and bought the typical insulting 50th birthday decorations. Yesterday Mike called to tell me found out that Bill is only turning 48. I couldn’t stop laughing. Mike is always a prankster and now the joke is on him. He’ll probably use the cake anyway.

After we finished discussing the party Mike informs me he has decided to order a 2011 BMW 5 series since the lease is expiring on his 2009 5 series. He going to order a custom color since it only costs $3k more (his words, not mine). He’s wants a red exterior with a black interior. In a few months I’ll get to see my dream car every day parked in a driveway around the corner. I probably wouldn’t buy a red one. Sigh!

Getting Dumped On

My office mate, T, has been out sick a lot lately. She was out sick last Thursday and Friday. Do you think she came into work on Monday? Of course she didn’t because she doesn’t work on Mondays. My manager was expecting her to show up on Monday but she didn’t. Today is the last day of test cycle for the new software load being delivered this weekend. Guess who hasn’t finished her testing? Guess who told me she didn’t need any help on Tuesday. Guess who discovered a major problem in the code this morning? Guess who caused the developers to back out the code because they don’t have time to correct the problem before the load gets locked down. If T hadn’t been out of the office for three days the problem would have been detected earlier and fixed for the February. Guess who the work is getting reassigned to for the March load? Guess who is pissed off today?

My New Dream Car

2011 BMW 5 Series

Dramaland

Cindi’s boyfriend moved out on Saturday. Two policemen were there for the five hours it took to load his belongings into a twenty-four foot truck. The police advised the boyfriend to hire a mediator to resolve a few disputed items. The boyfriend went so far as to dig rocks out of yard he claimed were his. This was rather stupid given that the house is built in a canyon on property filled with rocks. Now the boyfriend wants Cindi to pay him $200,000 for his share of the equity in the house. What an idiot. His name isn’t on the mortgage because he couldn’t provide copies of tax returns. He hasn’t filed taxes for at least ten years. He also refused to sign a living together agreement that outlined a financial payment due to him if the relationship ended under certain conditions. He screwed himself on both counts. The police warned him to stay away from the house because he would be held accountable for any vandalism to the property. Let’s hope he stays away.

I talked to Patty four two hours on Sunday night. She hates the haircut Helena gave her. Patty said Helena cut her hair six inches shorter than what she wanted. Patty ranted about the haircut for forty five minutes. She feels Helena didn’t listen to her since K and I paid for the haircut. I offered to pay for hair extensions but she declined the offer. I haven’t seen the haircut but I can’t imagine that it could be that bad. Patty had not cut her hair for two years. Her last haircut was with Stephen when his hair was buzzed off during chemo. I think the haircut dredged up a lot of difficult emotions and Helena is getting blamed for giving a bad haircut that may not be bad at all. After moving on from the haircut disaster the conversation turned to her romance with her new boyfriend. It’s in a bad place too. It’s a very complicated mess involving the ceasing of sexual relations, the upcoming Valentine’s Day along with the one year anniversary of his wife’s death. That’s the short version. The long version took an hour and fifteen minutes. Patty is a mess again.

It’s not wonder I couldn’t sleep on Sunday night.

Weekend Summary

Friday night was the highlight of my weekend. I was late for dinner because I had to wait for a train pulling what seemed like two thousand hopper cars full of coal to cross Santa Fe Drive. At dinner Dave told about a job opening at his company. It’s a software testing position. I’ll be sending my resume to Dave. There a few negatives about the job. The company has an opening now and I’m under contract through March. Also, the pay range is only 60 – 80k. Taking the job will be another significant reduction in pay. On the bright side it pays better than unemployment and will give me more experience testing software.

The Sue Simon show was great. The theme was water. One large complex piece was $9,000. The others were more reasonably priced. Sue was sharing the space with photographer Barbara Carpenter. She has some excellent water pictures that had been manipulated in photo shop.

After the gallery opening we kicked around the idea of jumping into Dave’s jag and driving to Santa Fe, NM to check out an art show on Saturday. It would only take six hours. Lena would drive since she loves to drive fast. We would arrive before dawn so we could watch the sunrise and then have breakfast. We could spend the day in Santa Fe and drive back to Denver. Then we came to our senses. We realized that we couldn’t just blow off all of our responsibilities and take a road trip to Santa Fe. Lena had a set to complete for a play opening in two weeks. Pat had a class to attend. I had a house to clean. Well, perhaps I could blow off house cleaning.

Saturday was a day of chores. I slept in and watched TV in the morning. I ate lunch, cleaned house, washed the twelve windows in the master bedroom, went to the gym and did the grocery shopping. I talked to Cindi three times (the boyfriend was moving out but that’s a story for another post). After dinner I made three dozen tahini shortbread cookies and watched the end of the Miss America pageant (Did you see Miss Colorado’s dress? She bragged about her mother making all of her prom dresses. It looked like her mother made her evening gown. It was awful. She’s from the Denver area so why didn’t she buy a decent dress as Saks or Neiman Marcus?) followed by the second episode of Spartacus on Starz. After watching the 250th episode of What Not To Wear I headed to bed.

I slept in on Sunday too. I watched TV and read blogs in the morning. I did a few chores around the house and then headed to the gym. After the gym I stopped by Patty’s house to drop off a dozen tahini shortbread cookies (I don’t want to jeopardize project Cabo) while she was a work. I worked on my resume for what seemed like hours. I had dinner and watched Big Love on HBO. I talked to Patty about the drama in her life for almost two hours (that’s also another story for another post). Then it was off to bed. Another weekend was over before I knew it.

What Housing Crisis?

Another elder lady in the neighborhood moved on and now her house is for sale. You can pick up her three bedroom, three bath house on about a half acre for only $1,050,000. Buy it now before a developer snaps it up and tears it down.

If you need bigger digs you can buy the house two doors down. This spec house is a five bedroom, 8 bath house with 6200 square feet of finished living space and 3,900 square foot basement. The house also has a pool. It can be yours for only $3,785,000.
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Food & Art

I’m having dinner with Lena, Pat and Dave tonight at El Noa Noa on Santa Fe. After dinner we’re heading up the street to check out the Sue Simon show at Spark. Sue is a very talented painter. Early in her career she created illustrations for science textbooks. She incorporates scientific formulas and images into her work, which in my opinion, is outstanding. K loves her work too. I hope it’s a good show.