Maca Maca Maca!!

If you guessed by naming my post this, I just wanted an excuse to Google images of Fozzy, you'd be correct!!

But seriously folks, I'm here to tell you all about maca! Maca powder is actually a ground up root vegetable from Peru - it's related to the radish family - and it's jam-packed with vitamins and minerals and protein as well as being an adaptogen - which means its a trigger to your body to kick into high gear and start raising its defenses and start functioning at a really high level...basically, it makes you feel really good and is also terrific for you..it smells not so nice and tastes just so-so - I've either been adding a teaspoon of the stuff to some miso soup or to some herbal tea - and then I'm off like a rocket! It really does elevate your energy... so anyway, I'm just letting you in on the MACA MAGIC!!!!! One word of caution, DO NOT take it anywhere near your beddybyetime - I made the mistake of thinking it was like the supergreen drink I make and I had it with my dinner two nights in a row around 8pm and then couldn't fall asleep until 3am and couldn't figure out why until I did some research. Now I'll drink it no later than 5pm or so and even that I think is pushing it...

Click here for more info should you find yourself intrigued...
http://www.macaroot.com/benefits/index.html

Quote of the Day

From the great "Jitterbug Perfume":

"The unhappy person resents it when you try to cheer him up, because that means he has to stop dwelling on himself and start paying attention to the universe. Unhappiness is the ultimate form of self-indulgence. When you're unhappy, you get to pay a lot of attention to yourself. You get to take yourself oh so very seriously."
- Tom Robbins

Evil Car Salesman Face

Look at him... I saw this pic in the Daily News this morning with the article about the 490 BILLION $ defecit he's leaving to OBAMA and it just RILED me up - that stupid-evil-beady-eyed-son-of-Alfred E. Newman-monkey face of his ... if he ruled during the French Revolution, he'd be headed to the guillotine for sure...well my countdown calendar says we have 176 days left of this mockery to democracy...

Monday, Monday...

Monday Morning Staff Meeting Notes for Nicole Incorporated:

1. The Mets are STILL in first place...and again I will state emphatically: FOR NOW. It's tight, people ... but that's part of the fun, isn't it?

2. Massive laundry was done - I'm a clean clothes person once more and no need to shun me from society. As Chuckie says, if you are clean, you are happy - and therefore it follows that you can only be happy if you are clean. And so it is.

3. Hair remains grey-streaked, but I'm thinking I like the Gandalf look...ha ha ha...oh come ON, it's not that bad...I could care less...but I'm going to get that remedied this week in any case.

4. Work stuff is hectic but progressing nicely - we have now moved on to our SIT phase (System Integration Testing) and the month of August will translate to chaotic hustle and bustle - but I kind of enjoy all this, so I'm not complaining. Plus, I'll be gone for 10 days and it will be nice to be missed :-)

5. I was very pleased with myself and life in general all weekend for various reasons only I can understand - it started on Thursday and has continued on into today...things are rockin' and rollin' as they should be...all in accordance with the prophecy...

6. And I'm totally focused on California next week and the peace...the ocean, the ocean...

Let us raise a glass, for the work week is TOAST

Shall we toast to it? It was another good week - I wasn't feeling very confident about it earlier but it has ended finely and Santa has delivered yet another metaphorical Red Rider BB Gun under the proverbial Christmas tree and so to quote Ralphie, "all is right with the world".

I have a huge to do list so large, it gives me heart palpitations - most notably:
1. magically turn gray hair to blonde and brown streaks
2. do massive amounts of laundry - I will admit to buying more pairs of underwear over the past week or so in order to avoid doing it but the time is come - carpe diem!!

Now its 5pm and my boss was off today and I thought I'd accomplish some of this terrifying to do list - but alas and alack, I was swamped, overrun with Other People's Issues, all work/conversion related and I feel my teeth grinding down to a fine powder, I'm holding my jaw so tight. RELAX.

And by the by: the Mets are now sole owners of 1st Place. At least for now - that can all change this weekend, so I'm enjoying the moment while I can. Sometimes, one day is all you get, so make the most of it .

I've also forgotten to mention - to those of you keeping track of my culinary adventures - I tried sweetbreads last Saturday. And I LOVED them. The dish was veal sweetbreads - I found out it can be thymus gland or pancreas, but I have no clue which one I ate - mixed with veal liver, chicken bits, and sausage. This in no way puts me on the same level as Sexy Megan (who eats and seduces everyone) - her recent list of conquests include blood sausage, sweetbreads, and kidney - did I miss anything? She's got tastebud and stomach cojones!

And another reason to love Jimmy Kimmel? Apart from the fact that I think he's pretty funny, is from Las Vegas and I grew up with his cousin in Girl Scouts and I know his Aunt Chippy, he is putting Ed McMahon back to work by using him to do on-show commercials (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25852011/) I was wondering when someone, anyone, would help Ed out ...

UPDATE NS_MOOD SET CURRENT_ ATTITUDE = "YUMMY"

Sorry, I've been doing queries and such up the wazoo and am only thinking in SQL WHERE clauses, defining criteria, and aggregrate functions ... back to "real" English and the activation of communication skills! Happy Monday to you, hope you are as feeling fine fine fine and smiley as I am. Yes? Good! Some good - I'm using the word GOOD too much, what a poor Lit major I've become - things are starting to roll down the pike to me - I won't go into details as they haven't happened yet, but you know, wishful thinking is always helpful in bringing things to fruition. So yay for me... And I'm still counting down to my California trip...ah bliss will soon be mine. And I got a fantastic three hours with this week's Best Person in the Universe - you know who you are!!! Thanks to you as always for keeping me SANE in an INSANE world. Hey, you made an excellent move! (See I'd forgotten about that one!!). And the Mets are still tied for 1st place...and lets see what else? Saw Mamma Mia the Movie on Saturday and its totally joyful - go see it if you want something to make you smile and feel happy. I liked it MUCH better than the Broadway version - the acting was excellent (but come on, it's Meryl Streep, she's just amazing anyway) and that's my problem with most Broadway schlock - the crappy acting! It reminds me of the Theater majors in college who tried so hard but...fell so short and yet thought they were...Meryl Streep. Don't get me wrong, the Broadway version was fun too, but the quality is definitly at a higher level - the music, the singing, acting, etc...

Well I'm heading home, I got very little sleep last night - after being up until 4am on Saturday night, seems my REM cycles are a little screwed up. OH well - I aim for 11pm tonight and back on track as I finish up the first hell week here at work.

Did you know....

that there is such a being as a Cake Fairy? Well there is!!! YAY!!! Cake just miraculously appeared on my desk...and at the most perfectly perfect time, I was craving something sweet - and alas, despite what the instructor said at my nutrition class on Saturday, um seaweed wasn't going to cut it...


Also, just had to update you that I've decided my new favorite Met is Mike Pelfrey - sorry David Wright, I still think you are pretty cute - but Mike has won me over with his super trooper performance lately - I always felt bad for him last year when he'd try so hard and get booed and you could tell it was hard for him, he wore his heart on his sleeve a bit so I'm super happy that he's doing so well and getting the accolades lately - like last night getting chanted out for a curtain call ... and he's so tall...isn't that enough reason right there, height? Check him out on the Mets Site if you need to know more... http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=460059


And here's a great Mets fansite by the way for those who may be interested...
Brooklyn Met Fan
http://brooklynmetfan.com/

Just a few Murakami pics for you - no photography was allowed (I got screamed at a few times!) but I snuck a few in...the exhibit was cool, just because his stuff is cool but we felt like there should have been more to it - and more cutesy gift store stuff - like prints or postcards of the works, at least give me cute stickers or a pen with a character on top. But nothing really - although it was the final day of the show so maybe the store was super picked over? Also, we lucked out big time in getting there when we did - we left at about 3:30 and the line to get in circled out the door and was super crazy, so yay for us - we came, we saw, we conquered.

A Mister Softee seemed in order (since the truck was parked RIGHT THERE, why not, yes?) and then a leisurely walk to 7th Ave in Park Slope, a little window shopping and a little real shopping, and then a soothing Italian dinner - relaxing, outside, their patio enclosed by trees so it made us feel like we were removed from the city and the noise and all the hullabaloo a bit - quite a perfect end to the weekend - which was a little crazy and I felt as if I'd been on the go a little too much than I had planned to be. Once again, I seemed to not be home very much - how did that happen? And you know I got home in time to watch the Mets win their 9th in a row...so yes, a pretty good weekend all around

A Good Week

Yes, finally I can report to you a good week with much accomplished - workwise and otherwise. So yay. Workwise - sooooo busy, but in the best way, because of what I'm learning and also because I like it - it's like solving puzzles - why doesn't this work? Lets take a look. That's basically what I seem to be doing 85% of the time. OR here - make this work. Either way, this summer is shaping up to be similar to the Summer of 2005 with our conversion process, this time its just an upgrade to a newer version though so it's smoother, but now we are under the gun and the real "fun" i.e. stress begins. I need to be done with all my setup by July 24th. Um, yeah, that's just around the corner ... and then we test test test like crazy until the end of August, so a few late nights may be in order but I don't mind (at least not right now because I'm feeling good - you may need to catch me again on a 5150 BritBrit Hold day y'all) ... because I realized I'm just a few short weeks away from 10 days in California where I'll be walking on the beach every morning and every evening and spending time with my beautiful and wonderful parents - did you know they are the best? Well they are.

So I'll follow up the busy but good week with a busy but good weekend. Tomorrow I'm taking a workshop "Eating for Energy: Regain the Effortless Energy of Your Childhood" - I'll get back to you on how "childlike" I feel after this! - and then Sunday it's a Brooklyn Museum day where I have my last chance to see the Murakami exhibit that I've been meaning to see since it opened in April:



http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/murakami/

Special Mention Award

for the week of July 7th goes to...

Veronica Delgado - ah my little Texan Buddy.

As always, you rock the casbah!!

Much love to you,

The Skipper

A bit of beauty for you today...

A gift of a poem for you to memorize and take to heart this week:

A Blessing

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more, they begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl's wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.

- James Wright

Hmmmm...Mood Indicator Today is... :-\

Well Happy July 4th Weekend! Not too much planned on this side of the world, just a few things here and there and BBQ and Bowling in Astoria on Saturday - so that's the main excitement. I'm feeling a bit out of sorts - not sure whether I'm up or down, coming or going - I think I just need some Alone With Nicole Time to sort things out and separate what's really going on with me and how to weed out the bad energy that's coming from Others - you know, the ole sponge effect. I never appreciate it when the Others willingly dump the bad vibes or are mean or rude but I also don't shield myself from it properly because I know that I am really empathetic with those that I'm around a lot too so I can be in a just fine mood and then all of a sudden, I'll feel like crap and sad and not know why... until I slap my forehead and yell "DOH!" and remember its not me at all...its the Others...kind of like Thetans to you Xenu-Lovers out there. You know who you are...

So onward and upward - I shall not dwell on the Others any longer, but insist on smiles and giggles until we meet again...enjoy your hot dogs and fireworks..may your long weekend be EXPLOSIVE!