Other random bits from my life: flying, money, cheese, work, language

[cjsmith]

1. Went flying last Sunday with a friend of mine who has had his pilot's license for months and had not taken a single passenger. It was a lovely, scenic trip: up the coast, across to Santa Rosa, and down the landward side of the hills. He handled it perfectly, Class B transition and all. He was still stoked about the trip days later! Now that he's taken a pilot passenger, that frees up the rest of his queue. Apparently buddies of his have been waiting. :-)

2. The check I wrote to the feds for taxes this year is the largest check I have ever written. I've dealt with larger financial transactions overall, but that was the largest single check. That did not feel good.

3. Last night I attended a two-hour course called "Inside the World of Cheese". It was mostly about wine, which was also fine with me. Many, MANY thanks to tenacious_snail for instigating, for prodding me to go when I was thinking of just staying at work, and for her immense thoughtfulness in bringing extra wine glasses so I wouldn't go without. I seriously needed a break and that was perfect. A big wave to the_ogre, whom I was also glad to see there! Best cheese in the entire UUUUUUUNIVERSE: Rosey Goat (scroll down). I lust after this cheese. I think I have a major crush on this cheese.

4. There is a small but growing chance that the project I'm working on at my job, the one that has taken most of my waking hours since late December, the one that is actually starting to cause relationship strife between Rob and me, could simply get killed in the next few days. After all this work and all this progress, we've found a technical hurdle that may mean we'd have to start over completely. That would almost certainly cause the customer to wander away in search of something shinier. Much as I want a break, that would suck.

5. I'm learning Italian from Pimsleur tapes! woohoo! My commute is almost exactly the right length.

Comments

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

thank you so much for coming to class. I had such a delightful time (but probably will wait until Monday to write about it.) OMG, that cheese...really, *those* cheeses, not a bad one in the bunch.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

That was super-duper-licious. I want to be wrapped up in ultrathin Rosey Goat cheese slices like a big cloak. And that third wine, that Zin, mmmm was that ever good. I had to have a discussion with myself about not having the time for a trip to the Summit Shop today. :-)

[excessor.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about cheese except that I absolutely adore it. The standbys, for me, are the bleu triple cremes. But I adore the goat cheeses, the runny cheeses, and the hard nutty cheeses. Let's face it: I love cheese.

If you ever get a chance, the cheese department at Draeger's in Menlo Park is heaven. But I just discovered the cheese section at the Whole Foods in Mountain View. You will not want to leave ever.

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

they gave us a list of cheese tasting places/stores with cheesemongers. The woman who did the cheese for this class is from Summit Store in Los Gatos, but sometimes a guy from Whole Foods does it. Very very muchly yum.

While there is no cheesemonger, I am also a big fan of the Milk Pail in Mountain View

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm. I don't know anything either, except that if you put just about any cheese in a meal I'll eat it.

I should check out the Whole Foods near me, in Cupertino; it might have just as lovely a selection of cheeses as in Mountain View. Thanks for the idea!

[yoak.livejournal.com]

Boy, that's tough about the project. After all of this time, discovering a possible start-over event is murder. I feel for you.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It just seems so unfair. A month ago, the "latest firmware version" worked fine & our product could run on it. So we polished it up & got it ready to roll... and the NEW "latest firmware version" does not work. Sadly, that's what we will be tested against. There may be no way around this.

[yoak.livejournal.com]

I'm generally in a position when this sort of thing comes up to be able to offer helpful advice and it is frustrating that this isn't such a case. Durn it girl, you work way too far down close to the machine. "Firmware" is the lightest of abstractions for me.

All I can say is good luck. Good luck!

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Sounds like at least some good mixed with the big bad. Keep an eye on the good stuff, while you keep working on the bad stuff!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

And oh yeah, more good stuff: Little Girl got her sutures out and her collar off today! She spent the first half hour scraping her head against everything in sight, and then groomed herself into a state of collapse. She's napping now. :-) Yay happy kitty!

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a relief that must be, for all concerned. Sounds like she's quite the trouper.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! Give her scritches from me?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

That is one thing she can really get into, right now -- scritches where the collar rested on her neck! She stretches toward my hand and leans into it, and she looks almost disappointed when I stop.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

http://www.friendsoffoamy.com/index.php?id=98

Didja ever see this? All the cheese talk reminded me of it (though I have no clue if you actually like cream cheese. It's not my favorite, but it IS cheese). It might not be work-safe (a four-letter word here and there, I think).

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

mmm, creamy creamy cheesy cheese! :-)

Vegetarian sandwich I had at Stuart Bunch in Florida: pick some kind of nutty bread, and mash some dried cranberries into cream cheese for the filling. Not bad.

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling a release of stress from you in SPITE of the work situation.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Weekends are a definite plus.

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

DAMN that technical hurdle, damn it to *HELL*. That would indeed suck. Grrr.

Have some more cheese, my dear, you've earned it.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's, uh... I'm really hoping we can either find a way to work with the new (broken?) firmware, or convince someone it's broken and get waived back to the older version.

[rampling.livejournal.com]

a two-hour course called "Inside the World of Cheese"

*ENVY*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It was really just a "Here taste this wine/cheese pairing" class. There was no learning involved. But it was yummy! :-)

[firecat]

CHEESE! Let me know if you ever come across a class about cheese that is actually about cheese and not wine. ;-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Will do! This one was a little bit about cheese, but really, it was just an excuse to taste cheese-and-wine pairings and talk about them. I know zilch more about cheese in general than I did when I started. I do know one cheese I like a lot. :-)

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

Cheese. I so miss cheese. (I still can't eat dairy due to S.'s reflux).

On the tax front, we too had to write our largest single check ever for taxes this year. And that's saying a lot as we recently purchased a new car with a single check. Urgh.

But, CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!!!!!! I envy you.

Sorry about the work stuff. That is beyond sucking.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yep, I did the car that way too. (The house down payment in 1999 was a larger transaction, but it was wire-transfer money.) And I had the usual withholding throughout the year, of course, on top of this big check. That tax bill, it stings.

Will you be able to have dairy again in... what, another year or less? I know squat about such stuff except that it varies.