Busy Busy Busy

I am so glad it is Saturday that I don't even mind that I've been doing work for the past hour. Its that time of year (or my practice) where I have so much to do that its impossible to keep track and my head won't stop spinning. Poor Josh - it hasn't been much fun lately. One more week and maybe things will calm down, if I survive several hearings, oral argument, teaching a class (ack- teaching a class at Willamette Law School!! who'd have thought?) multiple discovery responses and the assorted flotsam and jetsom of the desk. Lately, its been like a riding a racehorse and seeing that finish line (i.e., Friday) just around the third turn. Time for me to go out to pasture (but not turned into glue!) The ironic part is its really interesting work right now, but when it rains it pours and its better than sitting around with nothing to do. I think I will take a bit of a break today and do some crafting, after locating some coffee and breakfast yummies.

SPHR, thank you very much

It has been a while since the last blog because 1) I had to study like mad for my SPHR exam (see www.shrm.org) and 2) I am really superstitious when it comes to things like that, so I didn't want to blog until I knew the outcome, lest I tempt the testing gods to smite my multiple-choice test taking ability. Fortunately, I passed (yeah!!) and I don't have to take it ever again! It brought way too many bar-studying memories back, and not the good ones of Chrissie and I camped out in the empty Lewis & Clark undergrad dining room in one of the booths writing out endless outlines, taking practice multi-state exams, and scarffing on the mini jawbreakers they sold at the University Store. Josh was a trooper and husband-extraordinaire during the week of studying and supplied brainfood (double-stuffed Oreos and homecooked meals) and support, which I could not have made it through without.

So, what does this big test mean? Well, one less thing I have to put on my attorney plan (which in retrospect, might not be a good thing since I have to come up with something to put on there and fast). I do get to get new business cards, and as much as I don't care to ever hear about 'balanced scorecards' or the 'adaptive theory of learning in a declining organization' again, studying for the test was in a weird sort of way, interesting. I learned a heck of a lot more about unions and labor law than I knew before, and some of the HR/corporate babblespeak was interesting. It also means I don't really have any more excuses for not getting my other work done, and there's plenty of that to do. Plus, having the certification can't hurt if (when?) I make any moves of the occupational sort.

It has also been a while since the last blog since it was the weekend of the BIG ICE STORM 2005 - which in reality turned out to be the little brother to the ice storm of 2004. That was truly a bad ice storm! Josh and I survived, and he used his adverse-weather driving skills to get us to Freddy Meyers and back with fixins for chili, which really turned out to be more of a tomato-y beef stew with kidney beans. I think I may have forgotten cumin, or not put enough in, but it was still pretty tasty. When its cold out, our basement doubles as a meatlocker since there are no heating vents (yet).

Today was MLK Day, so the office was closed (double yeah!!). I went in for a bit, then decided to hit the sales a bit. Now its off to do some quilting, or maybe card making - I can't decide which. For once, I am a bit ahead in card making - I have my valentine's cards mostly ready and if I do say so myself, they are really pretty nice this year. I am in love with the cosmopolitan papers from Memories: http://www.memories.com/catalog/productdetail.cfm?ItemNumber=23924 (Maybe Josh will show me how to hide a link so you can clink on the key word and get to the site; obviously time for me to learn more HTML.)

Oh - and I have officially discovered the wonders (or should I say, evils?) of eBay. I won (meaning probably overspent!) the Winter 2002/2003 edition of Interweave so I can try and make the cute little beaded Koigu bag in it (size 2 needles and 120 stitches is all I can remember!). I am also (im)patiently waiting for the auction on 2 skeins of blueberry Trendsetter Aura to close - stay tuned for updates on whether my next foray into eBay is successful!

Back up and running

Now that Josh worked his computer magic on my temporary computer (only 2 more days til the new bits get in - can't wait!!!), we're mostly back in action. Unfortunately, his computer caught a few viruses (boo on Norton anti-virus for missing them), so its being coddled with computer medicine as I type.

Not much new, work is work, but at least tomorrow is the half-way point. Too bad its the half way point between now and my upcoming SHRM (www.shrm.org) test. I will be hitting the books this weekend. It could be worse - I could be studying to take another bar exam. But if I were, and I was similarly lackadaisical in my studying, I'd be pretty much totally freaked out right about now.

Anyways, as a reward to anyone kind enough to check out this site, let me direct you to one of my favorite sites of all time: www.orisinal.com. The maker of this site is a graphic artist genius, and his designs definitely get a Melo-like award for cuteness. The games are great fun (who are those people who get those high scores), and the music is quite soothing. Enjoy!

Site Temporarily Unavailable

Well, not really. But Rosenbaum luck with computers has not been so good lately. Fortunately, we are waiting on some really great parts (my computer will be rockin' soon!) and Josh fashioned a good temporary fix. Poor guy-he's been fixing computers left and right over the past few weeks but seems to be getting them all back on track. I can't recall a computer problem yet that Josh can't fix in some fashion. So while Diablo might not be running too smoothly right now, this way I don't lose several hours playing away in one sitting and I will soon have a much happier computer!

New Year's Eve was great - Gail came down and we went to a Winterhawks game. Sadly, the Hawks fell to evil Seattle 3 to 1. Jenn, Rob and Jack scored great tickets and Jack did great at his first hockey game. Who needs the NHL and a bunch of spoiled athletes - the WHL is just fine with me! After the game, we headed over to the Rushers for some snacks and fireworks. (No pics yet - have to wait for the new computer to be up and running) Jack and Rob seemed to love their matching Christmas presents - ZipZaps (tm). These are very cool little remote control cars that have working front and rear headlights and can be tricked out with bigger/better wheels, motors, etc. Big thanks to Ted who gave Josh and me some last year for Hanukkah/Christmas - next thing you know we'll be racing at PIR - already know the track from our Christmas lights drive-thru.

Today was the restful last day before we all have to go back to work - its so much nicer right before the Holidays. Everyone is in (generally) a good mood, everyone is like 'let me get back to you after the holidays' response, and there are those lovely short weeks thrown in the mix. So tomorrow is catch up day when everyone is back and they are just sure whatever project they were content to wait on before is now a must-have, pants on fire item. And to make it worse, a Monday. And even worse, I have to start studying for my SHRM test (plus, it might be a good idea to check what day I am taking it and where.) There is some good news - there's only one Monday this week.

Since there's no heat in the basement, and 'Behind Enemy Lines' is on tv, so I'm headed upstairs. [Why is it so much more fun to watch a movie you have on DVD when its on TV on Sunday nights - must be something linked to my childhood when I'd try and be really quiet so my parents wouldn't notice I was still up when the ABC Sunday Night movie start-up would come on in the hope that they'd let me stay up just a bit longer!] The wristwarmers I made from some great Debbie Bliss kid alpaca and silk have kept my hands nice and toasty, but a snuggly couch, husband and Melo are calling!