It’s 12:45 on a Monday night and I’m wide awake.  I brought this on myself.  The lure of coffee was too much for me to resist, although I knew it was past 6pm.  I should’ve have abstained so I could sleep…  But I didn’t – or rather, I couldn’t.  Coffee & I are way too involved for me to turn it down.  So because I had no will power to say “no” to the sweet aroma of freshly ground beans, I’m now struggling to find something to do so that my sleeplessness is not a complete waste.  I laid in bed for about an hour before finally deciding to get up and do something.

When in doubt, blog.

Thankfully I have the day off tomorrow so that once the caffeine wears off, I’ll be able to sleep in and not skip a beat.  Speaking of tomorrow (which is really technically today) I should give a shout out to Janelle & Sean whose 1-year anniversary is the 23rd!  Seems like yesterday that we were all standing on that yacht on Lake Washington as vows were said and they began their happily ever after.  Wow.  How’d that go by so quickly?  Well, I don’t really want to contemplate the passing of time, so instead I’ll just say HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JEL & SEAN!  LOVE YOU GUYS!

So what else is there to say?  What worthless tidbits of news can I dig up to share?  Not much has been going on to speak of… Oh, I fell down the stairs on Thursday.  I slipped on the carpet in my socks while talking to my sister on the phone.  I then proceeded to tumble down about two-thirds of the staircase on my ass which now has a bruise the size of Rhode Island.  That’s one for the record books.  Once I came to a complete stop, I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry.  I think I laughed, but since I’m still in pain now several days later, crying might be more apt.  Thankfully I’m not over 60 or I might have broken something.  In any case, it was an act of sheer grace & poise which surely would have qualified me for a gold medal if tumbling down stairs was an Olympic sport.  Maybe someday it will be.

Work is slow now that we’re nearing the end of the year.  We had our annual team Christmas party at AD’s house tonight which was fun as always.  The Yankee exchange gift time proved to be…well, interesting.  This year turned out some weird gifts including an illustrated children’s book on Obama and a “Control Your Woman Remote Control” – and guess who ended up the evening with that little gem.  What I’m going to do with it, I have no idea but I am determined to find a good use for it.

Aside from the odd gift assortment, we had a nice time eating, drinking, and visiting.  I find in general that these parties bring out another side to everyone…  Partly I think because we’re all out of the office and therefore not bound by all of the office etiquette that typically rules our interactions.  With this letting down of the guard, strange tales (some from far off lands) emerge as well.

For example, one of our new team members made a comment about how he had been robbed while in Spain.  The conversation went something like this:

“How did you get robbed in Spain?  Did you fall for the old banana-in-the-tailpipe?”
“No, I was swimming in the ocean at 2 a.m…”
“And someone mugged you IN the ocean?”
“Not quite…  They took my wallet and my pants which I had left on the shore.”
“I’m not really sure I would call that being ‘robbed’ – sounds more like ‘finders, keepers’ to me.”

I’m afraid the above loses something in translation being typed out, but it was really funny in the moment – trust me.

The evening ended with some unbelievable chocolate cake (which I’m quite sure I’m already sporting on my hips) followed by a bunch of the guys demonstrating their skill (or lack thereof) at Guitar Hero III for Wii.  Having just acquired my Wii not even a week ago, I’m not exactly well-versed yet on all of the available games, but after seeing it, I might be persuaded to try out that one…  It had some good tunes and apparently the less you know about actual guitar playing, the better at the game you’ll be so I should totally rock the stage then.

Speaking of my Wii, can I just say that I LOVE IT!  Really.  It’s my new favorite thing.  3 days of playing tennis and I could barely move my arms.  And apparently my Wii Fit has a lot to say about my current weight, balance, and other aspects of my physique and what I should be working towards…  It’s a little cheeky, if you ask me, but I’m not about to argue with a machine.

How long does it take caffeine to wear off?  Anyone know?  I wonder if there’s anything I can do to expedite its departure from my system.  Nothing like being exhausted but unable to sleep…  And then poor Chena is along for the ride because if I’m up, then really so is she.

Right, so maybe I should give bed another shot.  I’m finished trying to find something useful to do in the wee small hours of the morning anyway.  Maybe I should just read this post again after I publish…  It might just bore me to sleep.

So good night…I hope.