Sooooo....
I have to give a presentation at a Regional conference tomorrow. I'm not sure how many people will be there- maybe 100 or so. I'm scared to death.
There is not much I hate more than public speaking. I am DREADING it, so I can't wait til it's over.
Also, my topic sucks, and I don't know that much about it (it's complex), so hopefully they won't ask me any hard questions. And my boss/mentor won't be there (for the first time since he founded the conference 20+ years ago, b/c his daughter won regionals in cross country so he's going to nationals with her)- which I guess is good and bad. Good b/c I don't want to do a bad job in front of him. Bad b/c if I do a good job he'll miss it. And bad b/c if he is there, people won't dare pick on us [his fellows].
My DAD is going to be there... good and bad for the same reasons. He said he'd be a plant in the audience to ask really easy questions to make me look brilliant. :D
The other good thing is that it's only a 4 minute presentation. I really shouldn't stress. But of course I do. So my goal is to run long, if anything, so there's no time for questions.
And, I'm at the very very end, so hopefully most of the audience will have left by then.

But the worst part of all...
So last night I was working on my powerpoint, so I could give a 'dress rehearsal' at work this morning.
I had finally finished, and everything was perfect.
clicked save.
No problems.
Went to quit powerpoint, and got some error like 'powerpoint has a problem and needs to quit. Please save your work and restart powerpoint." So I hit save, again. Tried to quit. Same error.
So I hit save as, and gave it a new name. then quit. No error. Phew!
Then went to transfer the file to my flash drive.
Aaaaand it's not there.
NOWHERE. I searched the entire HD. It's GONE.
An old version was there, but I lost about 50% of my presentation.
FUCK YOU MICROSOFT! ack.
and what about all the autosave crap it does? it interrupts me to save like every 5 min. Where are those copies?
OMG I'm livid.
So, instead of getting a good night's sleep, I get to spend the night re-doing all my slides.

But on a happier note, here's a new picture of the bebe.
I cannot get over the dress. Or the legs. Or those freaking little shoes.

Ok, this is a question/rant for the (e:ladies)... ((e:gents), feel free to read on, but don't say I didn't warn you.)

Ok, so one time this summer when I was home, my mom took me bra shopping. There's some little lingerie shop, and the woman prides herself on fitting you perfectly and finding your perfect bra. Sounds good to me!

So, I went, and tried a bunch of stuff on... she insists I'm a size X. (I have been a Y my whole life.) I mean, I know I lost weight, but still. I had a hard time believing her, but she insisted these were perfect.
So, I bought (well my mom bought me) 4 bras. At $60-80 each.

So I came back here and wore them a few times... and every day when I'd come home I'd look in the mirror and notice that really horrible thing where you're bubbling out of the top of a bra. Horrible!!

I finally decided the bras just don't fit. I mean, if I spend 5 min adjusting them and then stand perfectly still, they're ok. But as soon as I move or do anything, I come popping out of the top.

So I only wore each one a couple times. I kept the receipt. And I just never had a chance to go to the shop when I was home (b/c they're barely open on weekends).

So, this friday I went back. Took all my bras and the receipts. They said they can't take them back b/c it's been months, and b/c I've worn them. Which I guess I understand, but still, bummer. But she suggested I try them on again for Deb, and see if we can figure out what's wrong.

So, I tried them on. And, as I had predicted, they didn't fit right.

She brought out a Z. Which seemed better. But still not perfect. But so I was trying to figure out what was wrong... was it the straps? Something I could adjust? she wouldn't even consider going up a size. And she never once apologized to me... just got very accusatory. Saying things like "I can't remember all the way back to this summer, but I KNOW I would NOT have sent you out in a bra like this." And then, the icing on the cake, told me it's my fault. That I must have gained weight. Whatever happened to "the customer is always right"?

But despite that... I bought the newly recommended one. (and she didn't give me ANY sort of discount or anything.)

And put it on tonight- and it's exactly the same. Looked ok in the store, but as soon as I put a sweater on, went and put on makeup, and came back out- popping out of the top.

WTF.

So, enough is enough. I'm going to keep the tags on it, and ask for my $75 back.

And I don't care what she says... my good old cotton VS secret bras that I've been wearing forever seem to fit just fine. Even if she insists they're "garbage". And my favorite, sexiest, best fitting bra ever? $12.99 at Target.

But is it just me, or is it kind of awful that she just sat there and blamed me?

I guess I should have known something was up when this (very average sized) woman told me she's a 32F.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you all had a lovely time.

My sister sent me two little videos of my niece all dressed up, and WALKING! Apparently she loves these travel mugs and won't put them down.
Let's see if the videos upload.
(and I apologize that they're sideways- she sent them to me this way and I'm not sure how to rotate them).

CUTE CUTE CUTE!
(She reminds me of "Pearl the landlord" in those will ferrell skits)

::Download Flash Video::

::Download Flash Video::

oh! and here's a leftover pic from her birthday- first taste of birthday cake.

So, some friends came to town this weekend, and we went to New Haven for the Harvard-Yale game. In an effort to control traffic, this year you could only park in the tailgate lots if you had pre-purchased a parking pass. So, I bought one, and thought I was being good and thinking ahead. Well, it took is TWO HOURS to get out of the parking lot after the game. NEVER AGAIN! haha.
So, it was a fun day, but... it just made me realize I'm getting older. Tailgating is just not as fun as it used to be. Standing outside in a muddy field drinking shitty keg beer with a zillion drunk undergrads... yeah. not so fun anymore. It also sucks b/c I don't know everyone there anymore (obviously). Yale doesn't feel 'mine' anymore, which makes me sad.
And then we (of course) lost. It was 10-0 (Yale winning) until 3.5 min left in the game... and then harvard scored two touchdowns. Bastards. Way to go Yale... bringing it Bills-style. Boooooo! And as much as I couldn't actually care less about the football- I actually found myself getting pretty excited when it looked like we'd win, and then feeling completely let down when we didn't.
I was also really excited to show people campus etc- but it took so damn long to get out of there that we didn't even go back downtown at all.
Oh well, next time.

And on a different note, here's an example of how ridiculously gullible I am.

So my two girlfriends were driving into town on friday night. I was planning on having them stay on the foldout sofa. And my bf and I would stay in the bedroom. One of the girls is muslim.

So, here is the text conversation:

K: T can't sleep in an apt with a man she's not married to. (she's muslim).

So... I have the rattles and the wreaths... the music... and the salamander... we'll have a quickie islamic wedding before bed. Do you have a hookah?

Man! T's strict! We had to stop and pray towards mecca like 3 times on the car ride!

It's fecking cold. She made me pray with her. Can you map out which wall she has to face so we know where to start the ceremony?

Also, she said she can't cheer for Yale either b/c your mascot's a dog. (who invited this broad?!)

---
Now, at this point, I know she's joking around about the wedding and praying and stuff. But at the same time, I had never thought about the fact that having a man around might be an issue... I really didn't want to offend, but also didn't know if they were just teasing me...

me: LOL... I think....? Should I send C home?!

K: She called her mom to see if it's ok. We left a message. We're going to try her cell.

me: omg... are you serious?? Crap...

K: I can't believe your a doctor.

I heart you.

and I can't believe that after AP english I don't know you're from your.

me: phew. i hate you. how did you not know I'm super gullible?

K: well it's not a problem anyway. T choked from laughing so hard.
So it will just be me tonight.
Do you have any unbleached white linen? If I wrap her body in anything else she goes straight to hell.

Me: shit. I just bleached my last linen today!
C just asked me if he needs to have pants on when you get here.
[it was like 1am and he wanted to go to bed]

K: Two pairs of pants, and a towel wrapped around his waist. Do you have a chastity belt? T has a washable one if you need it. It's only been worn once. It's probably cleanish.

Seriously, where is the nearest hookah bar? she needs to pray, meditate, and do penance tomorrow.

me: I have a bong, will that work? I think Allah cuts you some slack on the weekends.

K: She's going to have to be buried with two newborn ewes to give the gods. Those are expensive. You're going to have to wash with their blood. But you're a surgeon, so it should be ok.

me: cool

---

Then they finally arrived.

So (e:hodown)'s alaska pix with the mushroom reminded me that I have pix to post...

First- my sister's family's amazing halloween costumes. (my sister would like to take credit for these, but really all credit goes to my amazingly crafty mother.) It started out with the idea of making the baby a garden gnome. Then sis and BIL decided to be other forest 'creatures'- namely a mushroom and a flower. I was curious to see how they'd come out, and all I can say is WOW. Also, I think my sister looks like a freaking model. (someone told me recently she looks just like me, which I think is completely untrue, but also a huge compliment, so I'll take it!)





And then to round things out, a few pix of my niece's first birthday.


Wearing the birthday hat my aunt knit for her.


what little kid DOESN'T love balloons?!

And finally- she got a rocking horse, which she absolutely loves. She gives it hugs and kisses all the time, and loves to pet and cuddle it. And then when she rides it she has the hugest smile. So freaking cute!!!!