the search for horace

'who's horace?' you might be asking yourself...horace is our thanksgiving turkey. this year, due to my mother's recent avid pursuit of all things organic and soy, a fresh organic turkey was requested. after a sequence of events involving a requisite pre-order of said turkey and a family characteristic of procrastination, no turkey was found. a few frantic monday morning phone calls and we found horace. not organic, not fresh, but a frozen natural turkey...company motto? our turkey's don't do drugs. that's right, no 12-step program for this turkey, horace is antibiotic free and free range. all 17 pounds of him now resides in our fridge, defrosting away.

it's tough to lose at monopoly

not that it's easy to win, but if your aim is to actually go bankrupt, it can be difficult. i spent part of my weekend at a cabin just off of the appalachian trail in front royal, va (3.5 hours north of here). the cabin was a 2 mile hike from the parking lot (which puts a whole new twist on packing for us city girls), and had no running water or electricity. it did however have a huge fireplace, mattresses for 12, a cast iron wood burning stove/oven, and a beautiful front porch complete with swing.
back to the monopoly game, i got tired after a two dinners (frito pie and spaghetti) and wine. so i wanted out! but i'm no quitter, so i thought i'd actually lose before heading off to bed. i was unsucessful at failing it turns out. i didn't win, but i didn't lose. just somewhere in the grey middle.
in other news, i also got to play tour guide sunday evening yet again to danaher hopefuls and spent some time at work on saturday morning. and while i'm being chronologically backwards, friday night was spent at the basketball game and watching 'eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.' which i got into trouble for sleeping through. so i woke up and watched it. it was a good movie, but odd. interesting plot.
only 1.5 more days of work! yippee! and then the parents show up wednesday night, hopefully they'll go easy on those they're meeting ;)
happy (organic) turkey day!

i love my dictionary

"There are times when I think that the ideal library is composed solely of reference books. They are like understanding friends- always ready to meet your mood, always ready to change the subject when you have had enough of this or that."
- J. Donald Adams

flaws

"Do not be too quick to pull out your flaws. They endure dry seasons, thrive uncared for. They have deeper roots than you. They hold the slope in place."
-James Richardson

nice to see you again larry

ryan, for your benefit, i'll throw in as many japanese words as i can come up with :) so it's day four of the kaizen, and we're knee deep in poka yokes, searching for opportunities for jidoka and implementing kanbans for inventory :) that being said, i am TIRED! we worked from 7 am until 10 pm lastnight, luckily, they bring in food since it's my aim in life to never miss a meal. except breakfast, i'm happy with coffee for breakfast. tonight, my hope is that we will leave here in time to go to a nice dinner, but i have a feeling that's an empty hope... ah well :) i'm still having fun and that's what counts.

off to a place that's colder than here!

got back from unc lastnight after a fantastic win by the hokies (note, the hokies - not my hokies - the boilers are the only ones i claim). had tons of fun doing the hokie pokie with ash and jules in the middle of unc's student section and getting pelted with what they could find to throw ;) i also think it's possible i missed my calling as a yuppie intellectual who went to unc and hung out in wine bars, but ah well, we can't do it all, right?

today it's off to michigan for a shingijutsu kaizen event in saginaw. should be pretty crazy, our CEO is participating in the event. i'll be tired and full of good by next friday when i make it back to blacksburg :)

Halloween :)

Happy Halloween from Cleo and I!

And the pumpkin too!

From the left, a Tornado, a Runaway Bride, Cruella de Ville (sp?), and Hugh Hefner. Happy Halloween!

oracle, not the one from the matrix

yawn. just another day at work on a saturday (yes, i'm whining). our plant is in the middle of migration to a new MRP system, and it's quite the undertaking.
but it's a lot of "hurry up and wait," so currently, i'm waiting. on the bright side, there's enough food around here to provide for a small village for a week or so. and coffee of course. caffeine - the productivity tool of champions.
tomorrow is st. hallow's eve, if you haven't gotten the memo. tonight, we're all headed to downtown blacksburg for a night of fun in costume. still haven't come to a final decision on what to wear though.
in the meantime, i'm going to go grab another cup of coffee....

happy birthday ryan hanlon!

In Which Autumn Attends a Beach Party

so this one is super old -- dredged up from September 2000 -- but i think most are aware of my long running obsession with all things fall:


In which Autumn attends a beach party

There’s a chill in the air tonight that I had long forgotten,
as if Autumn had suddenly strolled into a beach party
draped in a cloak of fiery leaves-
(just yesterday, I could have sworn they were green)
but now here she is, surrounded by them,
with her auburn hair tumbling over bare shoulders.

How could anyone have forgotten her beauty?
Her presence is striking, and suddenly the Sun
seems too harsh for the setting.
Knowingly, he fades into the sky and the light becomes softer.

Unsure now if she plans to stay, we glance wistfully at the trees,
then the calendar. How did the months slip by
when only minutes ago the Sun burned so intensely?

Autumn seems to sense our reluctance-
with a soft smile and a nod of reprieve,
she slips through the crowd and disappears.
A single flame-colored leaf floats to the ground where she stood,
a reminder that Autumn is close by and Summer grows distant.

Fog by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

arizona here i come!

sampling of purdue pics as promised

the engineering fountain (without water!)

University Hall...