After three weeks of being out of the office, I’m back!  Unfortunately, I’m not feeling so good this morning and I’m wondering whether I will make it through the day (tummy trouble and I seem to be doing my best to try to pass-out).  I’m hoping it’s just a case of “workitus” that will improve as I get back into the swing of things.  Anyhow, I remember writing a list of things I wanted to do during my break.  Here’s what I wanted to do:

• Plan next year’s spring/summer vacation — Nope
• Defeat the 7-headed junk mail beast that now occupies my office and kitchen table — DONE
• Take the piles of clothes that don’t fit me or my husband to Goodwill — DONE
• Read manga and watch anime until the wee hours of the morning — DONE
• Finish “Mass Effect” — Nope
• Finally get rid of this nagging cold! — I’m still sniffling

Junk Mail Beast Before:

After 2 Days of battle (4 Hefty bags of paper removed, the death of my shredder, and the purchase of a new one):

OMG!!!  We have a wood floor!  I still have a couple of cord fairies to exterminate and a lot more desktop mess to deal with, but overall, I’m pleased with the result.  And, yes that’s a Halloween table cloth hanging over the window … sigh … I swear I’ll get around to ordering blinds one day.

I didn’t make it to Goodwill before the turn of the year, however, I did manage to unload 3 Hefty bags full of clothes that no longer fit me or my husband.  It always feels good to give our sweaters and some of my “work” clothes a second life.  Most of the clothes were worn only once or twice before they no longer fit — I lost weight and my husband gained.  I also found out, after buying many sweaters, that my husband doesn’t wear sweaters because he always runs hot.  Doh!

On the anime and manga front, I watched all 78 episodes of “Kyou Kara Maou”, an excellent anime series that is available on Netflix — check it out!  I also translated the second volume of Arakure (“Wild Ones” in the US).

As for summer vacation — well the Blackbird 002 was on special … 🙂  So I guess we’ll be vacationing at home this summer.  I got bored with “Mass Effect” (my husband finished it, though), and my cold is probably allergies.  Sigh …

Ahh CES2008 … well, I didn’t feel that blogging while there did justice to my experience.  Much to my husband’s dismay, I talked to quite a few people for some time (I find that engineers from Japanese companies are very proud of their products and will spend lots of geeky quality time with you if start asking questions and talking) and I took over 200 pictures.  There are some specific products and trends that I would like to highlight and as always, in a couple of weeks I will put out a formal report.  I will put the entries in this blog. 

As for the bar bet … sigh … I ended up cancelling most of our dinner reservations in Las Vegas because I couldn’t enjoy eating dishes and desserts my husband couldn’t even taste.  So we played it my ear and ate mostly in restaurants within the Summerlin area.  Needless to say, we will be splurging at PMA starting Feb 1st.  My husband’s co-workers will be having “fun” come February :).  I’m quite proud of his effort 🙂