10/31/12

1. My sister coming home, joining us in our powerless state. 
2. Meeting with AL where she was really receptive to all my repeated feedback and also didn't mind that my cat kept meowing to get into the room.
3. Finding my replacement Provident card in the mail at home.
4. Settling cash owed from my mom.
5. Deciding to cancel my trip to Boston with how long it might take to get settled back in after the storm.
6. Going for a drive at night with my mom and sister to check out the nearby neighborhoods. Eerily dark and quiet.

A year ago today.

10/30/12

1. My mom still managing to pull together warm meals from us with the gas stove outside.
2. Generator bringing internet/power back!!!!! 
3. Helping my dad clean up around the yard and house a bit.
4. Going for a walk to check out the damage to our neighborhood. Giant trees pulling down the power lines in two places.
5. Plenty of mini-flashlights on hand.
6. Being able to go back upstairs to sleep in beds.

A year ago today.

10/29/12

1. Helping my dad prep the house and yard for the storm.
2. Power staying on until 7 or so.
3. Giant tree in the backyard falling before we tried to go to sleep at night, so we weren't jerked awake by it.
4. No dogs or humans hit by tree branches.
5. Camping out near the front door for the night with my mom.
6. Watching CSI with my mom on her laptop to try to stay awake a bit longer.

A year ago today.

10/28/12

1. Waking up and getting to the airport in plenty of time even though I didn't sleep much.
2. Keeping my business class seat for the flight back even though the flight was really crowded.
3. Catching up on sleep thanks to the lie flat seat.
4. Finishing up the end of Brave and starting in on House of Lies just because Kristen Bell is in it, but I still quite liked its mocking tone.
5. The lady whose seat I traded for so she could sit with her husband coming up to me later to thank me again for it, even though I ended up getting a nice solitary seat in the middle.
6. My dad coming to pick me up from the airport.

A year ago today.

10/27/12

1. Getting upgraded to business class! Lie flat seats with a nice pillow and blanket!
2. Ice cream with caramel and fudge sauce for dessert.
3. Surprisingly good toppings for the congee for breakfast, including preserved eggs.
4. Taking a nap in the hotel room after being able to check in early.
   
5. Making in to the city in time to buy a card and find an ATM before needing to be there for the cocktail hour.
6. Getting a ride back to the hotel from Uncle #8 from CW's wedding.

A year ago today.

10/26/12

1. Went for a swim in the morning and was the only person in the hotel pool and hot tub.
2. One last massage at the office.
3. Grabbing dinner with co-workers and speaking pretty much all in Chinese.
4. Going to karaoke with co-workers.
5. Finding all sorts of old pop music in English in the karaoke song list, like BSB and Spice Girls!
6. Seeing the note left by the hotel to contact my mom about my dad canceling his trip to CA.

A year ago today.

10/25/12

1. Skyping with Dan in the morning.
2. Watching someone come to the realization that a project would be more difficult than they first thought it would be.
3. Another massage at work, this time all on the lower back.
4. Going for a milk tea break in the afternoon from downstairs.
5. Getting dinner from Hai Di Lao.
6. Noodle dancing guy being even more interactive than previously shown in the YouTube video, with the noodle being tossed over our heads at various points.

A year ago today.

10/24/12

1. Good breakfast again in the morning.
2. Less crushed ride on the subway at the slightly later end of rush hour.
3. My mom and Uncle Liu picking me up from the subway station.
4. Huge amount of crayfish for me at dinner.
5. My mom and her friends teaching me to play the 80 points game.
6. Getting a ride back to the hotel from Uncle Liu.

A year ago today.

10/23/12

1. Getting in early for an 8am meeting with SH in MTV.
2. Great shao mai at breakfast.
3. Successfully signing in my mom and her two friends in to visit the office for lunch.
4. Good lower back massage at work.
5. Dinner at Din Tai Fung of noodles and vegetables that were quite good in addition to the soup buns.
6. Staying at the office through until the late evening meetings.
   

A year ago today.

10/22/12

1. Getting for a quiet breakfast at the office by myself.
2. Feeling like I could get a head start on the week with the time zone advantage.
3. Seeing some really cool commenting designs.
4. Getting to the meeting point with my mom at exactly the time I said I'd be there, even with rush hour on the subway.
5. Another nice long massage, this time with my mom's preferred masseuse.
6. Not falling asleep on the subway ride back.
   

A year ago today.

10/21/12

1. Going to Fuxing Park and finding it free of commerce and all sorts of people just doing their thing, like calligraphy in water on the floor, many many dancing and karaoke groups, yo-yos, badminton…really quite delightful!
2. Being taken out for a tasty Sichuan lunch by some colleagues here.
3. Getting to the marriage market in People's Square and discovering it to be astoundingly vast.
4. Finally finding the Shanghai Museum 5 minutes before they were going to stop letting people in and getting to see a Faberge egg and jewelry exhibit.
5. Dumplings and other northern cuisine for dinner.
6. Yet another massage, this time a foot massage.
   

A year ago today.

10/20/12

1. Getting to the meeting point with my mom 15 minutes early despite leaving 15 minutes later than I had planned.
2. Getting a 90 minute massage.
3. Spicy hot pot for lunch.
4. Aunt Sun buying me a pearl necklace and earrings.
5. Trying a new kind of steamed soup bun (pan-fried on one side) for dinner.
6. Deciding to take a taxi home because I was getting so tired from jet lag.

A year ago today.

10/19/12

1. Karma kicking in for people who cut in front of me in the immigration line (I only stopped to tie my shoe!) when me and everyone behind me got waved over to a new section with no line.
2. No troubles getting a taxi to the hotel.
3. Verrry fancy hotel room.
4. Running into a couple people I knew in Shanghai office to show me around a bit and offer suggestions for what to do this weekend.
5. Meeting up with my mom for dinner.
6. Realizing fairly quickly that I'd taken a wrong turn on the walk back to the hotel

A year ago today.

10/18/12

1. Checking up on the roof plants and finding them to be ok.
2. Whisking through security at Newark quite quickly.
3. Oatmeal with bananas and brown sugar from Jamba Juice for breakfast.
4. Catching up on Google Reader while waiting for my flight.
5. Sleeping for about half of the flight.
6. Finishing watching Pride & Prejudice with the computer's remaining battery.
   

A year ago today.

10/17/12

1. Pulling out a black wool work shift dress from J.Crew Factory that I bought ages ago for the first time and finding it to still fit very well and comfortable to wear with the lining.
2. Grabbing breakfast after 8-8:30 meeting but before 9am event started.
3. Breakout sessions working out to actually be very small so my demo didn't really feel like a presentation at all.
4. Picking up a few things at Bed Bath & Beyond for my mom and using their shopping cart escalator for the first time.
5. Dan giving me the last of the lentils for dinner.
6. Watching TV with Dan and relaxing a bit in the evening before starting to pack.

A year ago today.

10/16/12

1. Waking up at 7am feeling rejuvenated. 
2. Biking to and from PATH station (not raining, wearing casual clothing, and mostly warm enough not to need a coat).
3. Trying some of Dan's new favorite snack of kettle corn from Costco.
4. Lunch with AS while she's in town. 
5. Tea break with EM/AJ to give EM her early birthday present.
6. Not falling asleep quite so early this evening so got some personal emails done.

A year ago today.

10/15/12

1. BG getting in to the office in time to join an 11am meeting.
2. Randomly seeing RC in the morning as he popped in for a few hours before his flight home.
3. No one stopping by office hours in the afternoon so I could use it get some email done.
4. Having a much needed 1:1 with my manager for the first time in a couple weeks.
5. Staying mostly dry in the rain on the way home.
6. Going to sleep at 8pm.

A year ago today.

10/14/12

1. Getting Fire on my Kindle from the library for real this time.
2. Spending pretty much all day reading/watching random TV on the couch.
3. Dan making lentils again with further tweaks to the method resulting in no burned bits in the Dutch oven at all.
4. Google Hangout with SP/AL/CP about politics but also just general quick catching up.
5. Watching a few episodes of Jeopardy from last week with one particularly good contestant.
6. Putting away the huge pile of clothes from the last week.

A year ago today.

10/13/12

1. Getting to Prospect Park in plenty of time for the 10K.
2. Chatting up friendly strangers before the race, one family where the mom was racing and the baby was carted along by the dad, and another couple girls in our fellow corral #12 (the last one).
3. Lovely day and lovely run! There wasn't constant music but what there was was helpful for marking distance and there was enough fun people watching and eavesdropping on fellow runners' conversations to keep things interesting.
4. Stopping over at AJ/MT's for some tea (and to use the bathroom).
5. Coming up with the idea to use one of the pickle buckets for an ice bath for my feet.
6. Attending MF/CD's wedding, with delicious food and even getting Dan to dance.

A year ago today.

10/12/12

1. Sleeping in in the morning after the late night at the office the night before.
2. Watching the first half of the Bill Cunningham documentary on Netflix while at the dentist.
3. Feeling the stress from the week dissipate in the face of admiring beautiful old clothes at the vintage clothing show.
4. Spending time with AJ at the vintage show and later at dinner.
5. Substantial turkey burger at Grey Dog.
6. Dan introducing me to the series on fieldstormers.

A year ago today.

10/11/12

1. Harvesting another few handfuls of green beans and spinach. The former were boiled and the latter sautéed with eggs for my breakfast. 
2. Cleaning the apartment a bit after I was running late enough to definitely miss breakfast so figured might as well just go in a bit late.
3. Lunch with AJ.
4. Grilled cheese with bacon and apples on a nice thick bread for lunch.
5. Only leaving one flat of half pint jars at the office (picked up from Ace Hardware in the morning), fitting the other jars + CSA into the cart to bring home tonight.
6. Dan going to Best Buy to pick up an iPad my mom wanted me to bring to China for her.

A year ago today.

10/10/12

1. Potato pancakes at breakfast.
2. Re-reading Pride & Prejudice now that I don't have anything new to read.
3. Indulging in some ranting with JM.
4. Catching up on Megan McArdle's blog posts.
5. Putting in a four mile run at the gym.
6. Hauling out the comforter for winter and using the magic burrito method to get the duvet cover on.

A year ago today.

10/9/12

1. Finding a new storage place for the half-pint jar--under the dresser!
2. Breaking out my bright flame red-orange coat to help deal with the dreary weather.
3. Avocado slices with scrambled eggs available at breakfast.
4. Lunch out to a Venezuelan place with the eng team.
5. Picking up two pickle buckets from the deli.
6. Dan letting me stay in control of the TV remote.

A year ago today.

10/8/12

1. Taking a sick day to get over my cold.
2. Two hour nap at noon.
3. Tabbouleh leftovers for breakfast and lentil soup leftovers for lunch and dinner so didn't have to cook to feed myself at all today.
4. Converting the box of paste tomatoes into six pints of tasty marinara sauce. This sauce came out sweeter than the first time I made tomato sauce with other kinds of tomatoes.
5. Making homemade vanilla extract.
6. Getting laundry done--clean socks replenished.

A year ago today.

10/7/12

1. Dan getting us safely getting home after the hotel fiasco.
2. Waking up at 10:30 not feeling too bad.
3. Re-reading bits of Ender's Game.
4. Trying a new way of making lentil soup by pre-soaking and baking the lentils in the oven first.
5. Finally finishing making sauces and jams out of the large box of pears.
6. Dan doing all the dishes for the night.

A year ago today.

10/6/12

1. Being able to take my time in cleaning up the apartment a bit and packing in the morning.
2. Chick-Fil-A for lunch.
3. Dozing most of the drive down the Maryland.
4. Getting there just in time for the mini-bachelorette celebration for BB.
5. BB and DL getting married!
6. Making smores by the bonfire.

A year ago today.

10/5/12

1. No rain in the forecast so could bike to the train station and back.
2. Getting in with plenty of time to leisurely eat breakfast before joining a 9am meeting.
3. Avocado slices available to make up an avocado bagel for breakfast.
4. Getting to eyebrow appointment right on time.
5. Going for a run on the way home.
6. Cooking up sausage, Swiss chard, and tomatoes for dinner. I think I have genuinely developed a taste for Swiss chard!

A year ago today.

10/4/12

1. Getting to read my book with breakfast with the morning review meeting being canceled.
2. No one yelling me about the emails I sent out about the potential crisis issue.
3. Massage with AS that felt longer than an hour. He also rubbed the medicinal oil onto my lower back which I love the smell of and it also felt hot for a little while.
4. Grabbing dinner on the way up from the CSA cleanup.
5. Catching with SN for the first time in awhile.
6. Bringing home a box of paste tomatoes to make tomato sauce with.

A year ago today.

10/3/12

1. Not getting caught in any rain myself.
2. Catching up with AJ for the first time in ages over an afternoon cup of tea.
3. Getting to the library just in time to return a book.
4. Deciding to go home and do some canning instead of going to the gym.
5. Canning a batch of pickled pears.
6. Vanilla beans came in the mail and smell soooo good. Made pear vanilla jam with them.

A year ago today.

10/2/12

1. Putting the visa packet together and mailing it off.
2. Giving feedback to UX and PM on some awesome new designs.
3. Finding whole cloves for 92% cheaper than at Shop-Rite in Chelsea Market.
4. Eventually succeeding in finding crystallized ginger in the bulk bin section at Whole Foods.
5. Finding vanilla bean paste at Food Emporium of all places.
6. Catching up with CP over the phone.

A year ago today.

10/1/12

1. Deciding to work from home for the day.
2. All meetings for the day getting canceled from my calendar.
3. Going for a long run around Hoboken (6.5 miles!).
4. Ice water bottles helping my feet and shin soreness post-run.
5. Dan cleaning out the sink of my dishes from the day.
6. Feeling clean after showering.

A year ago today.

9/30/12

1. Getting the September photobook of the family Big Sur vacation done in record time (~7 hours).
2. Reconciling finances for the month going pretty quickly too.
3. Making several more meals of tomatoes and eggs with noodles.
4. Succeeding at killing one of the large fruit flies buzzing around the apartment.
5. Randomly coming across the season premier of Once Upon a Time on the TV Guide to know to record it.
6. Winning a wetsuit credit giveaway from the triathlon training group.

A year ago today.

9/29/12

1. Canning all day: tomatoes, pickled carrots, apple cider jelly.
2. Cool weather outside keeping the temperature of the kitchen down.
3. Clearing out shelving space to store canned goods.
4. Vacuuming the apartment for the first time in two weeks.
5. Harvesting greens from dinner from my plants! Several handfuls of green beans and even some spinach.
6. Resting my feet and watching TV.

A year ago today.

9/28/12

1. Being able to wear rubber flip flops on the walk to work again to deal with the rain.
2. Getting in to the office in time for breakfast.
3. Lunch with EM.
4. Falafel platter for dinner with JE/AS/KK.
5. Finishing peer reviews before leaving the office.
6. Lounging on the couch watching TV.

A year ago today.

9/27/12

1. Finishing frosting the cupcakes for JE's baby shower with AQ's help just in time before my flu shot appointment.
2. Onion rings at TGIAF.
3. Relatively little to do at the CSA pickup volunteer shift.
4. Rain holding off on my way home.
5. Several strangers helping me at various points with my heavy load of extra CSA tomatoes and pears.
6. Remembering that I had leftovers in the fridge to eat for dinner rather than having to cook anything.

A year ago today.

9/26/12

1. Going for a run in the morning.
2. SF being really understanding about me being really late to a morning meeting with her.
3. The receptionist of a nearby office noticing how I failed at getting into the women's bathroom and holding up his fingers to tell me the code. 
4. Grabbing a pretty delicious lunch from Hemi while rushing back to get back to the offsite on time.
5. Other people sufficiently carrying the conversation at the team dinner.
6. Creamed spinach and fish for dinner.

A year ago today.

9/25/12

1. Lunch with BB and MG.
2. Getting an intro to a new add-on product I got assigned to through a timely offsite.
3. Moving my bike indoors after remembering to check tomorrow's forecast. 
4. Making gluten-free strawberry cupcakes.
5. Discovering more cupcake liners in the cupboards.
6. Remembering to bring my passport into the office to get started on China visa application. 

A year ago today.

9/24/12

1. Re-discovering the goldfish and peanut M&Ms savory/sweet snack combo.
2. Catching up with my old ADS4 class on VC.
3. Getting an Enell sports bra from Paragon Sports.
4. Finally finding dill seed and star anise at various grocery stores between Union Square and the 14th St. PATH station.
5. Figuring out a way to mostly bend my bike's front basket back into shape after it somehow got all slanted while locked up near the PATH station over the weekend.
6. Going to bed early.

A year ago today.

9/23/12

1. Signed up for a meat CSA that delivers pretty close to work.
2. Catching up on TV with the DVR.
3. Making applesauce with yesterday's apple pickings.
4. Making a large quantity of The Soup for dinner. 
5. Getting up to check the roof plants right before it got dark.
6. Eventually succeeding in scrubbing off most of burned bits from applesauce out of the Dutch oven.

A year ago today.

9/22/12

1. Going apple picking with the whole family in the morning.
2. Going for a run outdoors in Thompson Park.
3. Thinking of using Dan's license ID to help my mom with a bag return.
4. Going to King Spa with my mom and sister.
5. Better handling the saunas with each successive King Spa visit.
6. My sister dropping me off in Hoboken on the way back.

A year ago today.

9/21/12

1. Packing my overnight bag quickly in the morning.
2. Getting to know VR in person after randomly running into him the day before.
3. Catching an express train from Penn Station.
4. Dinner at home.
5. Figuring out a search bug on Travelocity's site to be able to pull up the cheaper price I saw earlier in the day.
6. Buying my tickets to Shanghai!

A year ago today.

9/20/12

1. Really good run--just over 37 minutes for a 5K!
2. Remembering to bring the shopping cart to work.
3. Doing the volunteer clean up shift for the CSA and bringing extra produce home in the cart.
4. Grabbing dinner at the office.
5. Calling LW and catching up.
6. Getting positive interest in the 2016 Rio summer Olympics from college friends.

A year ago today.

9/19/12

1. Checking up on the roof plants and finding that one plant container had fallen over but didn't roll off the roof.
2. Dan picking up $35 tickets to a Springsteen concert at the Meadowlands on StubHub!
3. Getting to the library before having to go take the train from Hoboken.
4. Thinking of a way to hide my triathlon water bottle outside the arena to pick it up later and now have to throw it out just to get into the stadium past security.
5. Yummy sausage sandwich for dinner.
6. Dan lending me his suit jacket to ward off the cold.

A year ago today.

9/18/12

1. Dan sending me a post that's basically about a business idea I'd had before (use body scanner to get a model of your body for use in online clothes shopping fitting). I feel validated.
2. Finally finishing pulling together the feature list for the release.
   
3. Putting in the last Amazon Prime order off the free membership.
4. Lighter rain on Hoboken side.
5. Going to bed at 10. 
6. Falling asleep again pretty easily after Dan came home.

A year ago today.

9/17/12

1. Ranting to a few people about a pointless meeting with facilities folks.
2. Meeting up with AJ and MT for lunch.
3. Lots of meetings canceled in the afternoon.
4. Remembering to bring a couple oranges home to use for a jelly recipe.
5. Deciding not to go to the gym.
6. Enjoying having the apartment to myself while Dan was in class.

A year ago today.