Thursday

I'm a little late on Thursday but here it is!

3 something am Wake up. This waking up at 3 is really getting old. Go back to sleep.

4:41am Wake up. Lie in bed trying to go back to sleep.

4:48am Give up trying to fall back asleep and get up. Head to the shower.

5:38am Realize I probably shouldn't have left picking out what I was going to wear to the Christmas party at work until the last minute. Try on several different tops before finally deciding. I start looking for the shoes I was going to wear and realize that when I went through that whole clean out the closet phase awhile back, I got rid of some shoes. One pair having slightly higher heels than I normally wear which is perfect for when I wear my slightly longer dress pants. Oh well. Nothing I can do about it now. Will suffer with my pants dragging on the ground.

6:03am Drink my protein shake and finish getting ready.

6:18am Leave for work.

6:32am Arrive at work. Decide to take the stairs since I didn't workout yesterday and most likely won't today either. (It's only 4 flights or 68 total stairs.)

6:40am Computer is all booted up and ready to go. Look at my calendar and remember I've got an 8:30 meeting. Prepare for the meeting.

8:01am Get email from the VP there are Christmas treats in the breakroom. Debate going to get one. Remember there will be treats at the 8:30 meeting and decide to wait until then.

8:30am I had requested a slice of the gingerbread loaf from Starbucks to be brought in for the meeting, which it was and it was yummy! I'm not even going to look to see how many weight watcher points it was.

9:09am Meeting is ended and I'm back at my desk pulling out the a project that has me stumped to see if a day away will help me to see why I can't reconcile.

11:32am Leave for department meeting at the Meydenbauer Center. I left early as downtown Bellevue traffic is never fun and then add in Christmas traffic!! But I was able to use the new carpool only NE 6th exit which dropped me off a block away and cut out a lot of the side streets. Which is why I arrived early....

11:44am Arrive at Meydenbauer. Upstairs, we realize we are the first people to arrive. People start trickling in. My boss declares that everyone must sit by someone not in their functional group. This will be interesting to see how many people actually follow directions. For the most part people are mixed up. I am an observer so I sit back and watch. The thing about it is, in general, people want to sit by someone they know and you usually know the people you work with closely which is why I migrate towards people in my own group. It's not that I am trying to be exclusive, it's who I am comfortable with. It is good to mix it up and have people outside of their comfort zone. Lunch is finally set up and we can eat.

1:00pm Meeting starts. There is an email funny that circulates every once in awhile about BS Bingo - basically corporate buzz words. You mark off when these words are said in meeting in an attempt to get a bingo. We've talked about actually putting together one for our meetings but never have. But I still play a modified version in my head. It may be a little juvenile but it helps me pay attention. I try and listen for the word "du jour", which until recently has been mitigate, and count how many times it is said. You could count on mitigate being used several times during a meeting. It was not said once yesterday. I'm trying to figure out what our new word du jour is but I'm not sure. I think it might be coordinate.

3:00pm Meeting ends. I head back to the office to change into my holiday party top. After changing into my top I realize I liked it better this morning, but as it's the only top I brought, I wear it.

3:40pm Head for the Christmas Party which is out in Issaquah.

3:57pm Arrive at the Christmas Party. It is at a wine bar which is going for a European atmosphere. It may be trying a little too hard by labelling the bathroom the "WC". It's actually a very nice place - a little out of the way, but very nice. The appetizers are yummy, especially the mini hamburgers. And they have a very nice chianti. I'm not much of a wine person but I know I like chianti (I also like syrah or shiraz - couldn't tell you why, I just know I like them). They have a chianti on the menu so I have a glass. When at a wine bar... The rest of the evening is spent in a mixture of schmoozing, mingling, and chatting with various different people. You are not usually going to find me on the dance floor unless I'm with people I'm super comfortable with. Especially not at a work function, but I did make an exception for one song which was Justin Timberlake's SexyBack. There is a story behind this - last year we were in a very intensive project and they put everyone working on the project in the backroom and we would play music. Somehow SexyBack became our theme song which is why I did get out on the dance floor for that one song.

8:51pm Leave the party. Drive home. Realize exactly how tired I am.

9:13pm Arrive home and pretty much go straight to bed.