It's Friday! Hallelujah! So far it seems like a good one, too. I was late getting out of the house (because I couldn't haul my lazy ass out of bed) but there was so little traffic that the bus zipped along and I was only 10 minutes late getting into work. I actually almost missed my bus stop. I've been re-reading The Two Towers (the second book of Tolkein's Ring Trilogy) and got so absorbed in it that I wasn't paying attention. Traffic has been so bad on 3rd Avenue lately that I expected I'd have far more time to read than I actually did.

I wonder why it is that I can read on the bus (most of the time) but not in a moving car? On the bus I feel OK, but in a car, anything more than a quick map consultation and I am looking for the barf bag. I'm sure you're excited to hear that.

I am excited to have learned that Ryan and I have way more than enough AAdvantage miles to fly first-class to Hawaii for our honeymoon! I must extend some of my gratitude towards the mostly defunct Scient, where I, in particular, earned a good number of miles during the year that we both worked there. Between business trips and our first vacation to Hawaii in May '00, we earned Gold status and lots of mileage. Now we are going to put it to good use.

Current thinking on the honeymoon is that we won't leave the traditional day after the wedding. The wedding is a Sunday afternoon (June 15th), and Monday morning is way too fast. So we're thinking of leaving maybe that Friday. And maybe I will take Monday and Friday off work, but actually come to the office Tuesday through Thursday in order to save a few vacation days. This is all very preliminary thinking. But if we leave Friday the 20th, the second week of the trip (we definitely need 2 weeks) will include Independence Day, which is Friday, thus saving another vacation day. I know, I'm anal retentive about the vacation days. But you really need to strategize in order to not get screwed in the end. If I am still here at my present job, I will get three weeks vacation next year, and I don't want to miss any of it! I also don't want to use every last drop for the honeymoon and not be able to take a day here or there beforehand or later in the year.

Sorry for boring you with my vacation day spiel. I know you really want to hear about knitting. But I didn't do any, so you're SOL. Last night I cleaned the cat box, the bathroom, and the dishes, and pretty much lazed away the rest of the night without picking up needles. I think finishing that Moo blankie wore me out for a bit. Plus it took away my "urgent" project. Then again, the hat contest hat should be urgent, given that there are only 10 days until the deadline. But I know I can finish it fairly quickly, and if I have to, hand-deliver it to Staceyjoy in Brooklyn at the last minute. Ah yes, I may be a procrastinator, but I am a procrastinator with a plan!

Oh who cares about disappearing archives or working late? ANNIE'S DOG IS HOME SAFE AND SOUND!!!

Trying one more time to fix my archives.

I switched to Blogger Pro a week or so ago, and now I notice that my archives are missing. Hmm. I have done "republish all" a few times, and nothing shows up. Wondering whether one thing has to do with the other. Hmm. Will have to investigate further. OK, actually I just did investigate further and did what the help system said (set my archive settings to "no archive" and publish, then set it back to "weekly archive" and publish again. Here goes the publish again part.

Other than archive issues, not a lot to talk about today. The photographer meeting went well last night, and we want to work with him. But it opened up a can of worms that I didn't expect to be a problem anymore. Namely, the Jewish ceremony vs. a secular ceremony. I'm Jewish, he's a Christian-born athiest. I think that's a tougher issue than just an interfaith marriage, because it's not my religion vs. your religion, it's anti-religion vs. some religion. As I've said before, I am not traditionally religious, but I feel a very strong connection to Judaism and Jewish culture. Maybe someone who didn't grow up with that can't possibly understand it. I don't know. Honestly I don't want to go deeply into it here on my public blog, but it's really weighing on me heavily and I'd love to talk to anyone who's been in a similar situation.

Well, I didn't go to Stitch-n-Bitch because my friend wanted to go to dinner last night. Poor guy. His hopes and dreams are all dashed and he feels totally lost. He was crazy to have put so much stock in a woman who has never shown any true interest in him and has been dating other men (including her fiance) for years, but this isn't really something that's worth saying to him. Especially at this point. He's a very smart guy, too smart for his own good, so he can see his problems. But of course they are pretty tough to solve on your own, and he is not interested in seeing a professional. So, I'll just try and be a good friend.

Not much other stuff of interest to report. Ryan and I are going to meet with our probable wedding photographer tonight, which I am looking forward to. Work is a ridiculous pile of crap that I don't even want to get into at the moment. Just really frustrating.

I need to finish my super-secret hat contest hat soon. I shouldn't work on anything else until I do, which won't take long once I sit down and do it. Right now, I am going to stand up and go get some lunch.

Back to work today. More projects that I worked hard on got canceled by the client. Whee!

I’m not sure if I will make it to Stitch-n-Bitch tonight. I was planning on going, even though I don’t have a specific project I want to work on. But a friend of mine is having a very rough day. He got a call last night from a woman he has been in love with since high school (yes, it’s an unrequited love of epic proportions, made worse by her inability to come straight out and break his heart in one fell swoop). She’s getting married. He is totally devastated. Everyone around knew this day would come, but he always hoped against hope, and now he is paying for that hope. So, if he is willing to go out and get a bite to eat, I am going to take him. If he wants to be alone, I’ll come to S-n-B.

In happier news, Ryan and I had fun at Bloomingdale’s this weekend. We picked out our dishes! I know, that is astoundingly exciting news to most people. Well, it’s still exciting to us – we’re the ones who are going to eat off this stuff. This was all prompted because my cousin asked my Mom if we were registered anywhere yet, and then another friend’s Mom asked my friend the same question. Well, you don’t have to hit me over the head with a hammer! We’ll probably go back this weekend to pick out flatware, glassware, etc. At least get the basics done so we don’t have to worry about it so much later.

We’re also talking about invitations. Being an artist, Ryan would prefer to design them himself (with my input). Somehow that ended up being very stressful to me on Sunday. While I love the idea, it overwhelmed me for a bit and made me wish we could just do “normal” invitations like other people, since it is far less hassle and doesn’t involve dealing with paper stock, printers, etc. Fewer choices = fewer decisions = less stress. I think we came up with a good design solution, though, and I am feeling better about it. Now I just need to find some printers and see if it’s feasible both from a production and a financial standpoint.

Not much to say today. I'm fasting for Yom Kippur, so my head is a bit fuzzy! Had a good weekend, though no knitting got done. Went to an odd party at a colleague's apartment on Saturday. Just a very strange crowd. We didn't stay too long.

Had to wash my hair on Sunday, so it's back to curliness. Going to look online for a good flat-iron so I can try straightening it again myself sometime soon. Other than that, I can't really think of anything exciting, so I won't bore you any further!