When It's Time To Change.....

Change is a good thing, right???

I have to keep telling myself that.

I just found out yesterday that my team is going to be moving to a different office, out of the city and into the 'burbs.
Here's a little background, to catch y'all up:

I started working in IT (software testing) for company 'A' back in 2001.
In 2007, company 'A' was bought by a much larger company - company 'B' (complete with a Boogie, Woogie, Bugle Boy....Anybody?....Nobody.)
Even though I work for company 'B' - I'm still only supporting the systems for company 'A'. Until all the systems convert from 'A' to 'B' I'll continue to do my 'old' job.
In the past few months, there has been an effort (albeit VERY minimal) to integrate my teammate and I (there are only two of us who remain from company 'A') into the 'new' team. Basically, the goal is to teach us how their systems work and how things are done in the IT world of company 'B'. That's why I've been working out of a different office once a week for the past few weeks.
Are you still with me?

That being said, we're ALL (all the testers) being moved to a central location within the next 4-6 weeks. Just to make things more confusing, the place we're moving to - isn't the place that I've been working out of once a week for the past few weeks, but a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT place which I've never even seen. Nice.


As far as the commute is concerned, I'll no longer have to pay $4 a day to park and I won't have to shell out $223 a month for a commuter rail pass. Instead, I'll be driving 22.44 miles on what could be a very congested stretch of highway (actually a couple of highways).
Of course, if my hours stay the same I may be OK, but who knows?

There are definitely pros and cons to the entire situation.

On the 'con' side, I'll totally miss the people I've been working with and sitting near for the past few years, I'll miss all the reading I was able to do on the train, and most of all I'll miss working in the city. Everything is right here and if I needed to run any errands during the day or simply go for a walk it's all so incredibly convenient.

On the 'pro' side, I'll be saving a lot of money (over $3,000 a year) by not taking the train, my commute will be a lot shorter even with traffic, and I'll still have a job. :-)
I'm not going to worry about it. I spent the first 5 years of my 'work life' doing a very similar commute and I managed to survive. In fact, I clearly remember going into a minor panic about having to work in the city.
It'll all turn out just fine.

In other news (as if this post isn't long enough) - the two Cardinals that took up residence in the azalea bush outside our living room window are now the proud parents of a little, baby bird. It's so cool to watch the mother and father interact with one another, as well as the baby - and it's crazy how they keep a VERY close eye on the nest anytime were outside. They're always watching.
Bird parents are awesome.

Have a GREAT Tuesday!!!!

This isn't the actual bird couple that live with us, but they look just like them. :-)

I'm totally buying this for them....I hope they like it.

It's Monday.

Oh me, oh my, it's Monday.

The sun is shining and it looks like it's going to be a nice day.

I think I have a pretty easy day ahead, which is nice - since I'm still recovering from the weekend. Or should I say my liver is recovering from the weekend?

Yikes.

Friday night, our friends from New York arrived and we invited a few local friends over for a little BBQ. (and lots of beer) It was great to see all of them and take my word for it - there is nothing like watching two drunks trying to play Wii Mario Kart.

It was a very fun night!

Saturday morning we got up and had a big breakfast (made by Jim) which was EXCELLENT.

I said my goodbyes and headed out to my softball game.

We had a GREAT game and won, which is always nice. After the game, I headed to my sister-in-law's house where they were celebrating my niece's First Communion. It was nice seeing everyone and even better to eat. :-) I get hungry after softball!!

Fun little side note - my mother-in-law ended up getting the cake for free because when she went to go pick it up, she told the woman that it was a little 'gaudy' and not what she wanted. She'd asked for white frosting with pale pink, and instead got white frosting with HOT pink frosting. While it would have been fine for your average run-of-the-mill teen girl's birthday party....it wasn't exactly what I'd expect to see as a First Communion cake.

Clearly the cake decorator hasn't ever met a Catholic.

That being said....the cake was great....and in addition to that, Jim's sister made ambrosia.

LOVE IT!!!!!

People are always making fun of me for liking it, but I'm not ashamed to admit I really love the stuff.

After eating my fill,we took off for home. Jim napped while I showered and then we headed into Boston for my softball team's fundraiser. On the way into the city, we stopped at my sister's house to drop off her birthday present....belated Happy Birthday wishes, sis! (Her birthday was Friday the 8th)

We chatted for a bit and then went to FRITZ for the fundraiser.

We had a really good time at the event and made lots of money. I spent a majority of the evening selling 50/50 raffle tickets, which allowed me to chat with several strangers and take their money...which is always fun. After all, I AM a 'people person'.

Sunday morning, Jim's Mom and Dad stopped by for coffee so we could give her her Mother's Day gift and see her for a bit before we took off for the day. As luck would have it, shortly after they arrived, we discovered that Jim's sister (who lives in South Boston) was locked out of her apartment, and had NO way to get back in. Yikes.

Since Jim and I were heading into the city (I had 2 softball games) we said that we'd stop by and let her in. With our Mother's Day visit cut short, Jim and I quickly got out stuff together and flew out the door to save his sister.

When we arrived, she was sitting in her pajamas on the stairs outside her door (thankfully, one of her neighbors had let her back into the building) and had read the entire Sunday Globe and done the crossword. We let her in, and then we took off for the softball fields.

We had two games and won both. The first one was kind of a massacre (sorry RG!) but in their defense, they really don't belong in Division 2. I'm pretty sure that the team knows that, but for some reason (which RG can maybe explain?) they didn't move down a division in spite of the fact that they have a really new team. Either way - they were still a very fun team to play, and never got angry or discouraged. Hip, hip hooray for them!!!

The second game was against the team that we had beat on Saturday afternoon. This time it was more of a challenge, but we managed to keep it together, played really well and won the game.

OK - enough of all this chatter...I'm heading to get some coffee!!

This afternoon I have to go to a meeting in another office, which means that I'm leaving here at noon, and should be leaving for the day at 3!!! That's awesome.

Have a GREAT Monday!!

xoxo

F-R-I-D-A-Y!!!!!

After a rainy, chilly and overall yucky week - Friday has arrived, and it's a lovely day...so far.

Speaking of lovely days....the song and musical I was referring to last week was the song 'Angry Guy/Lovely Day' from the musical Three Guys Naked From The Waist Down - a 1985 off-Broadway show...which was produced back in 1992-1993 at SpeakEasy Stage Company in Boston.
There's your answer...and a bit of musical theatre trivia for you to tuck away somewhere.
There was no winner, but Jim gets an honorable mention for mentioning 'The Life' - a Broadway show which is near and dear to our hearts.

"Fat Girls to the BACK!!!"

This is the CD artwork from Three Guys Naked....



Yes, if you were wondering, that is Scott Bakula (from Quantum Leap) wearing the sunglasses.

Last night we (the Scoops) had a VERY productive softball practice, with a lot of our time spent on hitting. Since we were NOT hitting the way that we should in last Saturday's game, it was time well spent. We have 3 games this weekend (1 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday) so I'm hoping that we show significant improvement.

Speaking of softball....if any of you Boston area readers are looking for something to do on Saturday night, come to Fritz and support our team. We're having our annual fundraiser that night and would LOVE to have a lot of people there. There will be door prizes, a raffle with prizes that include; Red Sox tickets, Celtics tickets, and some other delightful things. In addition to all that, there will be a 50/50 raffle and make your own sundaes!!! I'm pretty sure we're doing the sundae thing....we did it last year and it was a success...and the ice cream is REALLY good.

Even if the sundae thing isn't happening, there will be lots of cute softball players, a chance to win some great prizes, and alcohol. :-)

Tonight Jim and I are having some friends stay over who are visiting from New York, and we're VERY excited to see them...it's been a really long time and I'm sure we'll have a fun night.

I hope you all have a great weekend!!!!

Oh - and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY you all you mothers that are reading my blog.

Ta-Ta!!!

Humpty Dumpty Day

I've never really thought about what a HORRIBLE name that is for a nursery rhyme character.

Not only does it have the word HUMP in it, but it also has DUMP in it.

Gross...I'm never reciting that nursery rhyme ever again.

And I think he's quite creepy....

Can I just say that Jim has only had his blog for 3 days and he already has more followers than I do?!?!

It's up to you people to change that....you know what to do.

In case you can't tell, I'm kind of scatter-brained today. It's very chilly here, and it's been raining like crazy the past couple of days. It's true that all this rain is great for our lawn and all the flowers in our gardens, but it really sucks for us humans. Especially us softball playing humans who are going to be dealing with mud puddles and horrible conditions at the softball fields all weekend unless things dry out - and fast!

There's so much going on right now at work, it's kind of insane. Not anything bad, but it's really busy....which is good, I suppose - except that I'm tired and don't feel like using my noggin.

Clearly, I have no choice. If I don't use my brain, the work won't get done, and if the work isn't done, then I don't keep my job...which is wicked bad.

On that note - I'm going back to work....Happy Hump Day to you and yours.....now go to that side bar thingy and follow me. ;-)

Tony, Tony, Tony!!!!

Good day everyone!!

I’m working in a different office this morning, so I have to be brief…..two quick things.

The TONY Award nominations were announced this morning, and my BELOVED [title of show] picked itself up one nomination.
Hunter Bell was nominated for Best Book of a Musical….and I’m sure he’s beside himself with glee.
Yes, I would have loved for them to get more nominations, but the fact that they were nominated at all (since the show closed in October) is pretty amazing.

I’m not too surprised at the way things went, but I bet the gang over at ‘9 to 5’ were counting on a Best Musical nod….OOPS!!!!
I bet they’ll still perform during the show, especially since Dolly Parton was nominated for Best Musical score. We shall see.

The second thing is that my husband has caved into peer pressure and joined the blog world. I’m sure his blog will be chock full of fun and entertaining things.
Stop by and check it out!!!!

Have a great day and I’ll write more tomorrow, when I’m more at ‘home’.

Here's a picture of Jim and I with TONY NOMINATED Hunter Bell from [title of show] - and fellow [tos] castmate, the ridiculously talented Heidi Blickenstaff....

A Gray, Gray Monday.

Well, well, well. It's Monday...and it certainly feels it. Blah.

I wonder if Mondays would be so horrible if the weekends weren't always so much fun?

Maybe I should try to have a HORRIBLE weekend and see if Monday is a better day.....

Yes, this weekend was a lot of fun.

Friday night we had our pre-opening day 'party' (for softball) at The Alley and then some of my teammates, Jim and I headed over to Machine for drinks and dancing in celebration of Kevin's birthday. I can't remember the last time I went out 'dancing'.....but we had a LOT of fun!!!

Can I just say how GREAT the staff at The Alley are? They were extremely accommodating to all of us, and were so great to let us have the event there. Hip, hip hooray for The Alley!!!

We got up on Saturday morning (we slept in a bit later than usual) and I headed to the fields to catch the Opening Day Ceremony....which I ended up missing because I had the time wrong.

Ooops!

It was nice to get there early though and watch a few games before we had to play.

Unfortunately we got KILLED in our game, but we still managed to have a good time. In spite of the loss, I played well, so that made me happy. Unfortunately, we had a lot of 'off-season kinks' to work out. Now that they're gone, I'm anticipating a huge improvement this Saturday when we play our next game.

After the massacre, Jim and I went out to dinner to celebrate his birthday and then headed to 'The Grille' for drinks and to watch the Celtics game. We sat at the bar to watch the game (as well as the Red Sox game) and ended up being 2 of the last 4 people left in the entire place by the time the game ended. The bartender was nice enough to stay there until the end, even though it was past their normal closing time and she didn't seem too interested in the game.

Both teams won so Jim's birthday got of to a very good start.

Sunday morning, Jim and I got up, ate breakfast, showered and headed out to go grocery shopping. Once that was done, we got home and cleaned the house in preparation for his family's arrival at 1pm. In true Sullivan fashion, his parent's arrived about 25 minutes early, followed by one of his sisters about 10 minutes later. Even though we were just finishing up cleaning, it was fine. They're family so it's not like we're trying to impress them or anything.

We should really know by now that they'll be arriving up to a half hour earlier than the decided time. It's totally fine though...my parents do the EXACT same thing.

Ah, parents.

Everything with the day went well....there was lots of great food, lots of games and I think Jim had a great time. He got a couple of gift cards to Miltons so he can buy a new suit, some clothes, a few yards of mulch for the yard (doesn't everyone get mulch for their birthday???) and a Lowe's gift card. I got him Mario Kart for Wii, an extra steering wheel (so that we can race), a 'Wii Speak' for his Animal Crossing game (so that he, Barrie and Melissa can all chat with one another when they're at home playing - Barrie and Melissa, go and get yours today!!) and I got him an LG Xenon cell phone.

I don't think it's exactly what he wanted - because it doesn't seem to be able to do all the things he wants it for. He's going to look at it more today and stop by the AT & T store to talk to the person there in more detail about it. If it's not going to allow him to check his Gmail and do the stuff he wants, he can get a different phone, but at least it's a starting point.

It's really odd because there are 12 numbers (all the same AT & T phone number) that are saved in his 'Contacts' - and they're not deletable. Which means that the first 12 numbers in his phone book are all AT & T numbers that he can't get rid of. Is that not the dumbest thing ever?

We called two different times and both people said that it's just the way it is. D-U-M-B!!!

Anyway - hopefully he'll be able to get that settled today....he's been 'cell phoneless' since the middle of March.

OK everyone...enjoy the start of your week and in spite of the yucky weather (up here at least) keep smiling!!!

xoxo

"Please dear, your Auntie Mame is hung......"

And so am I.

After an EXCELLENT final dress for softball opening day - Kevin and I (Kevin is our 2nd baseman who is almost 100% recovered from knee surgery) decided to go to Fritz for a drink.
Well, needless to say, the Celtics game was on so I ended up staying until the game was over, which got me home WELL after midnight.
So, while I'm not really hung over, I feel like I've been hit by a small truck.
Old people need their sleep!!!!!

Speaking of old people....it's Kevin's birthday today!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my friend!

Here's a little something for you:





By the way - we were called "Discourteous C*nts" by a guy on another softball team (not in our league) because we wouldn't scrimmage them, or share the field with them.
Sorry, but whoever gets there first, gets the field.
And to be honest, at this point in the season, scrimmaging a giant team of straight guys woulnd't do a damn thing for us....we need to practice, not get slaughtered by a bunch of meatheads.
Maybe later in the season, but not this soon.

Initially there was a little bit of confusion as to whether they were entirely straight or not.
I'm not sure that "Discourteous C*nts" would be a straight guy's 'go-to insult' to a bunch of other guys.
Either way, it made for a GREAT laugh....once they were far away. ;-)

I'm not ready to give up on you people as far as yesterday's contest was concerned....there were a few GREAT guesses, but no one was correct.
Uncle Richard (not my real uncle - just a surrogate) gets a special shout out for quoting Val.
Absolutely hysterical....

Speaking of Uncle Richard...here's a hint:

The show that the quote comes from ('Cause it's a lovely day') is from a show that Richard has been in before. I didn't see it (I was away at college when he was in it) but I know he was in it.

I'm sure he'll get it now...and if not, he'll call Brian M. and put him on the case.


OK folks....I'm going to get coffee. I got in here late, and need to play catch up.

I'm off to The Alley (YAY!) after work for a pre-opening day 'party' so I'll be sure and have a drink for you all.

Have a great weekend, and pray for decent weather!

xoxo

PS - I just received word that the angry team from last night IS in fact a straight team, who just happened to get their asses handed to them last year by the only gay team in their league.

Most excellent.