hanukkah in april?

seriously, it felt like that today!! 50-something degrees!! now that’s an early hanukkah present

and of course, i got another early hanukkah present yesterday…

man, it was great to have everything up and running…I had last minute holiday stuff to do, which meant me trekking from uptown to midtown, from the west side to the east side and back…was nice to be able to just hop on a subway or bus again

and today, with the temps at 50-something degrees, was a shorts day for running for the first time in god knows how long! ran the 6-mile loop clockwise (at pretty much a 9-even pace) which i like doing every once in awhile…since most run counterclockwise, you can see who else is running and it’s fun to acknowledge each other with a hi or a smile or something.

my original plan for tonite was to do the “matzo ball“…the typical jewish singles thing for XMas Eve. My “Jewish partner in crime” friend from work and I have gone the last coupla years. But this year neither of us were really that into it. Personally…I can think of better things I can be doing with my $30 and do I honestly really have any luck at these things? no. so it’ll be a chill XMas Eve for me, then off to see la familia tomorrow for Hanukkah.

So to all my faithful readers (and to those who aren’t, haha)-happy holidaze to you all!!

now playing: “mad about you” ~ belinda carlisle

living on a prayer

hey, i’m a jersey girl at heart. and as a jersey girl, there are some songs you grow up with…

“Tommy used to work on the docks
Union’s been on strike
He’s down on his luck…it’s tough, so tough”
-”Living On A Prayer” ~ Bon Jovi

I loved that song growing up, and now too…but it’s funny, I heard that song tonite, and a certain line…well, it just has some relevance to what’s been going on now, hasn’t it?

Anyway, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved that the transit strike is over. I can’t believe I’m saying this…but I was actually sick of working from home! I felt like I had such cabin fever…I need my commute!! (But I don’t need it to be an hour walk either. and yes, i know i coulda shoulda woulda ran to work, but don’t forget, i’m supposed to be building up gradually. and i’m not sure 7 miles a day, 5 days a week, was something the doctor would have ordered.) Plus all things considered, I knew I didn’t have it that bad and I felt for those who did have it worse due to the strike. So I never thought I’d be saying this, but I’m glad to be going into the office on Tuesday (the next 2 days are office holidays.)

So tonite, I met up with MF and a few of her friends at Time Out on the west side…toasting the end of the strike in addition to other things. Was a lot of fun…played a few round of beer-pong…while I couldn’t seem to hit any shots in the beginning, the last round I played, I was en fuego Plus, Malibu Rum seemed to be a sponsor tonite…as a result, we got a coupla free rounds of Malibu Bay Breezes…hey, can’t say no to free alcohol, right? All in all, a fun nite.

biting the bullet

so, day 2 into the transit strike, i actually had to go into the office for a group meeting and to do some stuff that i couldn’t do from home, so i decided to suck it up and walk the 70 blocks/3.5 miles…just slipped on the Asics 2100s and went. Took me just under an hour…wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but not something i’d want to do everyday (especially if it were colder or raining/snowing!)

but it was worth it to come into the office…my group did our annual holiday gift exchange, plus our group and the interactive group had a nice little holiday lunch on the company (Republic…good stuff!) definitely the high point of the week…and luckily for me, another co-worker had driven today and so he gave me and others a ride home. which left me not as tired as i thought i would be, so i joined a coupla Flyers for the wednesday night group run-did the middle 4 (plus another mile for me to get to/from the meeting place)…and i’m sure you can imagine, most of the conversation revolved around the strike and our battle stories.

i’m working from home again tomorrow, then no work til next tuesday. we’ll see what’s what then…hoping for the best, still expecting the worst.

now playing: “it’s my life” ~ no doubt

strike three…you’re out!!!

ok, so the winter of ’99…a transit strike was threatened (however, as i was living in NJ at the time, i would not have been overly affected, but i know my other colleagues would have been.) didn’t happen.

then, december ’02. once again, a strike threatened. averted at the last minute, if i recall correctly.

[sarcasm]guess third time’s the charm, huh?[/sarcasm]

yep, i was glued to NY1 for a good part of the nite. even now, it still seems kinda surreal-i can’t believe the transit strike is actually happening.

today, i’m working from home…tomorrow, i will have to make the trek into the office for a group meeting and to do other things where i will need access to some office resources. this should be fun. i guess i’ll be walking. i’m sure as hell not staying in the office for a full workday though.

but honestly, what’s scary about this whole thing is that i truly do not see an end in sight…

waiting for the other shoe to drop…

…or for the buses and subways to stop running.

yeah, it’s sorta good news that we were spared today…but today walking down 23rd St and seeing quite a few busses that said “Not in Service”…or waiting for the uptown subway and seeing the downtown subway bypassing the station. it just makes you nervous, not knowing what is gonna happen, when it’s gonna happen!! (heck, it’s even affected my plans for tonite…instead of multi-tasking 2 parties, i’m just going to one that is within walking distance.)

in other news today, after having it up to here with my cell phone lately (only one call and the battery would be on only one bar!!) i took advantage of my “new every 2″ deal and got a cool new camera-phone. i’m already having fun playing around with it

now playing: “not in love (extended vocal remix)” ~ enrique iglesias/kelis

where did this year go?

seriously. it felt like just yesterday that i was approached at the Flyers’ awards party back in January by our newly elected president, asking if i wanted to be social chair. it too also seemed like yesterday that I was running for e-board for the first time.

but there i was last nite. my co-social chair and i raising a shot to ourselves at this, our last big event of ’05. you know the event is a success when we stay so long that we get “kicked out.” last nite’s holiday party at Blondies on the east side…good food, open bar, good company, can’t ask for much more sometimes. oh yeah, a surprise visit from Santa too…let’s just say i knew who in our club would be perfect for playing Santa…and he went for it. i’m sure he had lots of fun having people sit on his lap

and yes…i was well behaved when it came to the open bar…hey, this girl had campaigning to do!! and it just felt so good to not feel like i was constantly being watched…see, i can pace myself. and i can learn from mistakes

oh and brightroom posted the pics from the Kleinerman 10K…this one picture of me didn’t turn out half-bad…who knew i was capable of anything resembling a smile in the last mile of a 10k…

ah…so nice to have today and tomorrow off. especially in case the MTA does strike tomorrow…which i really hope does not happen. ever since i’ve been living/working in the city, every time a strike has been threatened, it’s been averted at the 11th hour. but i am a little surprised that my company hasn’t given us any contingency plans…there is no way i am walking the 70-something blocks in each direction every day…and this chick does not make enough to take cabs to/from work on a regular basis. and i know i’m not the only one in that boat. i could work from home, but there is only limited stuff i could do.

Update-just got a memo from my company saying that we are still expected to come in to work-and those who cant go into work due to the strike will have to charge it to vacation/personal time. I’m lucky that I’m carrying over a shitload of vacation days to ’06, but what about those employees who exhausted all their ’05 vacation/personal time already? i’m sorry, but i think my company could have done a little better job at a contingency plan.

let’s just hope, for everyone’s sake, it doesn’t get to this point…

now playing: “i’m outta love” ~ anastacia