Merry Christmas!

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Las Vegas Long Weekend Recap

Well one thing that I noticed that I guess you can say is part of the je ne sais quoi of Las Vegas is the incessant flicking and flapping of prostitute cards by men wearing naked women tee shirts with advertisements for phone numbers and other points of contact. Other than that, I'd have to say I really enjoyed my Las Vegas trip and to be honest, is it Vegas without the hooker cards being flicked in front of your face?? I don't think so...

I was surprised by the amount of construction going on in that desert. Wow. There were some interesting risks being taken with steel and such and I can only amount it to the fact that there is no snow and no seismic events out there, just wind. Pictures to follow once I get a chance to upload them all.

Also, great Blackjack tables and dealers. We were able to snag a good $15 table around 11 AM, but by the time I got the cojones to actually play, the pit boss had turned it to a $25 table. :-( I won back some of my cojones though with free drinks and at the video blackjack tables, my problem is that I get intimidated by the dealer's and the other player's proficiency. But I'd say I'm decent for a $20 table, so I may have to take another wack at it then next time I'm at Mohegan or Foxwoods.

So yeah, I had a great time and as a result have the beginnings of a cold forming because of the good times affecting my sleep. So naps and soups are in order so that I don't explode into sickies.

Las Vegas NIN stage.

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"They like me...they really like me!"

So yes, I had a successful "performance review" on Monday. At it was a performance review in the sense that they "are happy with me" and that they "want to make sure I'm happy coming into work in the morning," however, both were short since this company has never done them before and it really consisted of them going "you are awesome and keep it up."

To be honest, I'm not going to complain much, I like working for a small company that is really a large company, but hasn't gone sterile yet. I like that I can wear what I want and that I don't have to practice my diction or grammar skills and I love that I can blast my music if I want too. However, now that I think of it, I have received some real criticisms and help towards improving my calculations and how I do my work. I work very closely with my structural boss and we have a good "thing" going on where we dive onto a project and pick it apart. Then I run with it, ask questions along the way and then he'll do a review of it. He'll suggest better ways of doing something or easier methods of construction and then I'll apply those to the project. Then he'll review it again and then give it to the big boss for final review.

I think the best thing gleaned from the review was both my bosses saying, "we don't really care what you do or how you do it, just make sure you meet those deadlines and don't kill anyone."

As for the question of the raise, because of our economic times especially in my industry, I've been put on the secret bonus list and will be up for a full raise in 4-6 months. We have to get some more projects coming in and definitely a few construction projects as well. That'll grease our financial engine a bit more and that'll mean a larger raise for me. So a real sign of the times indeed, but I understand.

Mongoose

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Lemurs!

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Snow Leopards

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Polar Bears!

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Tigers!

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Deer!

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Bronx Zoo

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Winter Lights

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A New Haven Christmas

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Lobster Bisque

This is the epic win soup that I made with my own two widdle hands last night.

And for me, anything above heating some canned soup up over the stove is a milestone in itself. Hence why I'm so proud of myself for being able to handle making a soup from scratch.
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"The Thrill is Gone..."

I'll be visiting a friend of mine in the city tomorrow and it just hit me at how driving/training into the city no longer gives me the jitters and butterflies that it used to. It wasn't too long ago that preparing to go into New York was, not exactly nerve racking, but treated as any other trip would in my head: figuring out what to wear, should I bring this purse and these shoes, oh my god the weather, which train should I take, oh god why is he sitting next to me!?

I actually had to remind myself that I'll be going down their tomorrow, yikes. That's a first. Usually going into the city took priority in my head space stacking.