Ralph

This is Ralph, the transpo dog. I'm not sure how old he is, but old enough to have some problems with his back legs. He's a real sweetheart, but he does drool. The transpo office is across the hall from mine, next to locations. They'd been letting him hang out in the office, but for some reason they stuck him outside on Friday - chained him to one of the posts. The poor boy cried and stared in the door most of the day. I lost what respect I had for his owner because of that. He's has the habit of walking up to me and putting his head against my knees so I can scratch behind his ears. It must have felt particularly good one day because he nearly toppled over when I stopped. He's a good boy and I'm going to sneak him treats. I'm hoping he'll get along with Sofie and that she's not too rambunctious for him.

Book List #7

"You Are a Dog" by Terry Bain is my current read. I saw it on Daily Candy and went out and bought it. It's life from the dog's point of view and it made me laugh out loud. I can just imagine the same thoughts running through Sofie's head. Of course, it also has some moments where I hope Sofie doesn't feel that way because it breaks my heart. It's a fast read and I'll finish it tonight. Gonna make the husband read this one...

Jinx?

Worked out this morning with a trainer for the first time since my last trainer had a nervous breakdown (sometime in October?). I seem to be a jinx on trainers but I'm not sure why. I show up on time and pay in advance. My first trainer just disappeared on me. He'd been having personal and financial problems and just stopped showing up. Then I had a great bootcamp that lost it's lease. Then I had a trainer who was fine, but I wanted another bootcamp, so I left him. I guess he's not really part of my jinx... Anyway, my next bootcamp instructor had the gym sold out from under her at the same time her mom got really sick. She just kind of disappeared as well, but she's popped back up now that I'm out of town. We'll see what happens when I get back to LA.

The workout was good, a bit on the easy get-to-know-you side, but I can tell it'll get harder once she's figured out how hard she can push me. Which is a good thing.

I have a lot of cleaning and laundry to do tonight. Sped is coming to visit(!) and I have to get some of the cat hair picked up. TG she's not allergic, but her hubby is and I'd hate to send her home all furry. So that's my project this evening and what little I have of tomorrow until I have to drive to Abq to pick her up. Being here would be a lot nicer if you didn't have to drive an hour to get to the airport, but it's an hour to LAX from my condo and that's due to traffic, not distance. Here it's just that far away and the speed limit is 70 or 75 most of the way.

The husband and I are trying to plan a trip for December when I'm done with this show. Right now we're looking at Disney World for a week. Probably stay in one of their better resorts and have a good time. Maybe visit some friends in the area while we're there. Definitely go to Giant Comic Book Warehouse. Other options include a coast drive up to Seattle or a stay in Colorado. Depends on what we do with Sofie. Man, I miss that dog.

I really need to bring my camera to work and take a pic of Ralph, the tranpso dog. He's a sweetheart.

Training Goals

During my meeting with my new trainer this morning, I was asked if I had any goals. Anything past or future that was driving my desire to get into shape. I've never been that interested in running marathons or doing triathalons, so I answered that I hoped to hike the Grand Canyon again. Sped and I hiked it in 1995, but we only went down and back up the same trail and didn't have time to get all the way to the river. Not to say it wasn't exhausting and thrilling, but I'd like to do something that involves staying down there overnight.

On the way back from buying cat food, I realized I do have another goal. I've always wanted to learn to ride a unicycle. I'm not sure if that's something I couldn't do right now, but it'd have to be easier if I was in better shape. So that's my goal. I'm going to get in shape and learn to ride a unicycle - maybe in a race!

Char the Trainer

I met with my new trainer this morning and went thru an "orientation". I was supposed to be attending her Core class, but no one else showed up and we decided to meet today so we could start training tomorrow instead on next Tuesday. I'm pretty excited about starting. I enjoy working out, but I don't like doing it on my own. I'm too easily distracted I guess. Now that I'm eating better and starting to exercise, I'm hopeful I'll drop the 40 pounds I gained. We'll see what I can do in the next 3 months.

Book List #6

Last night I read "It's Not Easy Being Green: And Other Things To Consider" a collection of quotes by and about Jim Henson. It's a sweet book and a nice reminder of the wonderful things he gave to our world. There's at least one quote in there I want to send to the husband specifically, but I'm thinking it might me nice to make a "quote of the day" from some of the rest.

Book List #5

I read the Alan Moore graphic novel "V for Vendetta." The husband and I had gone to see the movie and he was so upset with the changes they made we left fairly quickly. I figured I'd better read the source material.

It's a good story, even though I kept hoping they'd reveal V's identity, but I understand the point of not doing so. I'm not sure an audience would have liked the movie as much if they had stuck to the story more closely, but I'd have to finish watching the film to see what they did end up doing to it. V, in the graphic novel, is not a typical Hollywood hero nor is he one of those "heart of gold" type characters, either. He has a point and he's very ruthless in making it. He does some despicable things that I can't imagine they let him do in the movie. And I'm not surprised they didn't let Portman be a hooker, as the original Evey was.

FYI - I finished "Rasputin's Daughter" which wasn't great, but wasn't bad either. It attempts to dispel some of the myth surrounding the man, but I'm not sure if I should believe it anymore than I can believe the myths. I'd need to look into the research that was done to support the theories but I don't know that I care enough to bother.

Waterfall

Here's one of the waterfalls from the hike. You couldn't really see it from the trail, so I climbed over some boulders and went right up to the edge of the ravine. I love doing stuff like that, especially when I'm with people who are afraid to even try. Now, I'm not planning on plunging to my death, but I don't see the harm in climbing out a bit farther to see what's there.

Stupid Fax

I'm sitting here at work, way past time to go home, waiting for my payroll to fax through. I hate faxing payroll. It's so friggin' slow.

Anyway, I'm especially peeved since I went on an 8 hour hike yesterday. We didn't plan for it to be an 8 hour hike, but that's how it turned out. We took a wrong turn and decided to keep going and by the time we realized how far it was, it was too late. We only had a few granola bars and some trail mix and we ran out of water. We ended up filling our bottles from the stream, hoping to dog the water wasn't going to kill us or make us sick. Turns out we have 7 days to wait and see if anything's going to happen. Ugh. But part of the hike was beautiful, with waterfalls every 20 feet or so. I'll post a pic from the laptop when I get home.

I'm hoping to stop by the gym on my way home and work out a bit of the stiffness. It depends on the fax, but I really should.

Busier

Today's been busier for me than it has been, but I'm still finding time to surf and play games.

The location guys across the hall have a fart machine and a program on their computer that speaks. They've been saying some pretty rude things then farting. It's amusing to say the least. I don't know what I'd do without them there. I get so bored.

Everybody's going to see some band tomorrow night. I'm not sure if I'm going, since I'm hiking on Sunday morning. I kind of feel like I should hang out at home with the cats and do laundry. I need to get my new sheets washed before Sped comes in on Friday. I do have to go shopping, try to find some decent hiking shoes. I don't need anything fancy, but my sneakers don't cut it for working out anymore, much less walking on dirt paths strewn with rocks. So I need hiking shoes and new cross-trainers. At least I should be able to get those in one place.

The husband and I were talking about what to do when this show is over and we're thinking of going to New Zealand. If anybody has any suggestions for planning such a trip, I'd love to hear them.

Sped has a LiveJournal blog that I check on every day. She doesn't update that often, but I check. Anyway, I realized yesterday that she gets a lot of comments from friends who are always there to cheer her up or give her advise and I'm jealous. Not of the comments, just the fact that she has that circle of friends who care enough about her to check up on her. Most of the people I know are from work and nobody seems to keep in touch after a show is over. N is about the only exception- I hear from her about regular stuff. The rest only write when they're looking for work or have a payroll question. Makes me feel very lonely, especially with no Sofie to go home to...

Book List #4

I started a new book last night since I didn't feel like watching TV. It's "Rasputin's Daughter" by Robert Alexander (also wrote "The Kitchen Boy"). Another Russian revolution historical fiction novel. It's pretty good and I stayed up too late reading it.

A Crappy Day

Today is the 2nd anniversary of Betty's death. Has it really been 2 years? It seems like so long ago but only yesterday. I'm not at home and I think it's making it worse for me, but probably better for the husband. I cry too easily for him.

I miss her. Every now and again, I forget and think we'd better give her a call - that it's been awhile. I know when we travel, I always think to call her when we reach our destination. She would have loved Sofie. And Sofie would have loved her, because Betty would have spoiled that dog no end.

It's just not fair and that's all there is to it.

Not Much to Tell

I haven't written much because there's nothing going on here. I'm so bored! We had that 2 week push and have just recently started hiring again, but it's still slow. I know it'll get crazy-busy soon enough, but I'm so over this.

Ok, I do have a bit of gossip. Turns out one of our stars is a big fan of motorcycles and owns quite a few. He's bringing a truckload to SF and they're going to put my Vespa in with them. I can't be more specific, because it's an insurance issue. We have to insure these actors and if they are known to engage in dangerous activities, the rates are astronomical or no one will issue a policy. So sorry, no names on this one.

The other bit of news I have is a check I got from my parents. My grandfather owned a small farm in southern Indiana and his kids finally decided to sell it. They divided the proceeds among the 4 of them, then my mom and dad decided to send each of their kids a share. The grandkids got some too, but not the spouses. It was a pretty cool thing for them to do and I'm going to have to think of something cool to do with the money. Although my current idea is to use it to join a fairly expensive gym here in SF now that my 2 week trial membership is up. Maybe I'll get a massage, too.

I enjoyed "A History if Violence" if anybody cares. It wasn't the greatest movie ever, but it kept me interested and even had some nice twists. Kind of hard to watch at the beginning, but I got thru it.

The husband tells me that Sofie is wigging out on him. She demands to be right with him at all times and goes wild when he has to leave her at home. I feel responsible, since I'm sure she's afraid he'll disappear like I did. Another reason to not take location shows, I guess. And when I got home last night, I saw Quincy on the staircase outside the apartment. I guess I didn't get the door locked and it tends to get blown open by the wind. I don't know how long it was open, but only Quincy had made it outside and he turned and ran back in when he saw me. I managed to stay calm until I was sure the other 2 were still inside, then I freaked out. Man, my worst nightmares...

Back to Reality

I figured I'd better blog now, as I'm going to go home and watch "A History of Violence" then crawl into bed.

I had a great weekend at home. I got my hair done on Friday and everybody's complimenting me on it. I think it's because it looked so bad before (inch plus roots!) The husband and I ran some errands, saw a movie, ate out, generally just took it easy. Sofie was as excited to see me as I was to see her, but as she did all the licking it may have been hard to tell.

We saw "Brick" which has been described as teen noir. I guess if I had known that going in, I might have liked it better. The plot was ok, it's just hearing noir dialogue come out of the mouths of high school students was weird. Plus, they had some Twin Peaks moments that threw me right out of the action. After all that, it is nice to see someone do something different for a change.

It's almost harder coming back to Santa Fe after that trip. I'm not sure this was the best idea I've ever had, but it's something I needed to do. The husband's planning on coming this way for the next visit and he's decided to drive and bring the dog. Yay! The cats will be pissed, but so what... man I love that dog.

The Art Department Coordinator from LA has shown up here. This is a recent development and we're not all that pleased, because she kind of a bitch - she'd been condescending and rude on the phone. So she gets here and she's got a dog, a 4 year old cutie named Owen. I think he's a black lab mix. Anyway, I decided to give her a 2nd chance when I saw the dog. Didn't take long for her to lose those dog points, though. I found out that when Loretta (the APOC) went to introduce herself and shake hands, the ADC put her hands out to her sides and said "Oh no, I'm not here until tomorrow." Now, I can understand not wanting to get a bunch of crap dumped on you just because you show up to drop off some boxes, but to so blatantly avoid shaking someone's hand in introduction is just plain RUDE!

I Hate My Payroll Company

I'm working with a payroll company for this show that I don't usually work with and I don't like them. Too many issues with stuff, a lot of which weren't issues for 3 or 4 weeks then become huge, paycheck stopping things.

My current gripe involves a woman named Linda. I called her twice and left messages indicating I needed an old invoice sent over for backup to a current one. I hear nothing back. Then this morning I get an email from here that is CC'd to the 1st Asst Acct and starts with "Thanks James." So basically, I call her for 2 days and she responds to James instead of me. I wondered why he asked me for my email yesterday...

That just really bugs me. I don't care what kind of relationship you have with any other member of the accounting office - if someone calls, you should respond to them, not go thru a third party. Damn that pisses me off the more I think about it.

Long live EP!

Diet Update

I finally came up with an eating plan that seems to be working for me. I don't have a scale and it's only been 3 days, but so far so good. I've been able to stick with it and I have to say the tattoo helps. It's on my right thumb, so I can't reach for anything without seeing it and reminding myself that overeating is never worth it, but I am. I'm aiming for a couple of pounds a week, but I'll be happy with 1 per week. Basically, as long as I'm losing, I don't care how long it takes.

It helps that I'm working out again. So far fairly basic stuff, but I'm hoping to work back up to a boot-camp. I just need Heidi to get something going again. The elevation is really hard, though. I tried to go out the other night and jump rope, but I just can't breathe. Being at 7000' and having sinus congestion sucks.

As for work, we've started hiring again. Nothing special to report, yet, but I'm keeping my ears open. Several of us are clearing out for the 3-day weekend. Gonna go home and see the husband and the Sofie - got a meat stick with her name on it!

Let's Try It Again...

There's the view shot I couldn't get to load the other day. Prettier in person, but still nice.

Pics

This is Nani in the Tesuque creek. She's my boss's dog and my Sofie substitute.

I tried to post a pic of the landscape, but it came up too small. I'll try at home later.

Hiking

A group of us from work went hiking yesterday up in the Santa Fe National Forest. It was a beautiful day, not too hot but still sunny. The trail took us to the Tesuque creek and was about 2 1/4 miles each way. We went uphill for awhile, then downhill to the creek, then back up to the top and down a different trail to the car - took about 2 1/2 hours. If I think about it at home, I'll post a photo of the view or the creek.

I was worried about participating, since I feel I'm so out of shape, but I made it. I wasn't the only one who had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath and I never felt like I was dying. I probably would have been fine if I had been able to breath thru my nose - my sinuses are all clogged from allergies - or if the elevation hadn't been as high as 8000'. All in all, I had a good time and hope to go again. I'm not even that sore today, except for my bottom.

H, S, and I went to El Farol for happy hour last night. We had tapas and sangria and chatted for about an hour. It was nice and relaxing and helps me not miss the husband so much.

Speaking of the husband, it's his birthday today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! Any more and I'll get in trouble...

I've finally noticed all 3 of my cats making the effort to drink out of the faucets at the apartment. Apparently they don't like drinking the water out of the water bowl. They have a recycling fountain at home and I guess it's spoiled them. So of course I'm going to the pet store today for a fountain. I'm such a pushover and they know it.

Book List #3

I picked up a book for the husband yesterday that he had found when he was here but hadn't bought - "Replay" by Ken Grimwood. After getting it, I went to finally have my car washed and decided to take a look at it while I was waiting. It was intriguing enough that I started reading it and now I have to have it done before I go back to LA for the 3 day Easter weekend. I'm really enjoying it and since some of it is set in Atlanta, it's a blast from the past for me. I hope he comes up with a good reason for what's happening, though. I'd hate for it to be a waste.

Late Nite

Just finished watching the new Charlie and the Choc Factory. What were they thinking? It's got some good bits, but it's nothing compared to the Gene Wilder version. Of course, it's still better than the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That one totally sucked - makes you wonder if they bothered to even read the book before they sat down and wrote it or if they just cribbed something together from internet chat rooms and old reviews.

Anyway, I finished The Kitchen Boy last night. It was very good. They set it up so you think you know what's going to happen, then they throw a couple of twists in that make it even better. I did kind of guess one, but the other was a shock. I'm definitely going to read the next in the series, but I think I'll put it off by one. Not sure what's next, too late to start anything tonight.

Have to say, I got another tattoo tonight. It's a couple of flowers on my right thumb. Didn't hurt too bad when it was done, but it's kind of sore now with the bandage rubbing on it. I decided to get it for one reason: I needed a visual reminder of the fact that whenever I choose to go overboard with my eating (binge eating, really) it's never worth it. The food never tastes as good as I think it will and I usually get sick. But I never remembered that when the next urge to binge came on. At first I was going to get "NWI" for never worth it, but when I went in and looked around, I realized I didn't want to have to explain or avoid explaining what it meant. So I got the flowers. I'll post a pic after I take the bandage off and it heals up. It'll be my first truly visible tat. Yeah!

Naming Stuff

The accountant is having a little contest where we're supposed to come up with a caption for a photo she took of our location manager. I love that kind of stuff and of course I entered.

The point is it reminded me of the other work competitions I've entered and the 2 I won.

The first was on Freaky Friday. The writer of the final version of the script only had a couple of weeks to bang out her pages. She apparently got burned out and wanted help coming up with the title for JLC'c character's book. I worked pretty hard on that for an afternoon and came up with the winner. Of course, I can't remember what the title was, but it's in the movie, so you can just look it up (look for LL in the tv studio - she's supposed to be doing an interview on it). The book was about growing older so I found one of those obscure words that nobody's ever heard, no they don't know what it means or even how to pronounce it.

The second was on Sky High. This time, the director was looking for a name for a Chinese restaurant and for a super-hero team - the prize was $50 for each. I put in my suggestions and won for the restaurant (Paper Lantern). They ended up changing the script and not needing the super-hero team, so we never found out who "won" that one.

Now, this may not seem like a big deal and it probably isn't, but the trick to coming up with names like this is they have to pass clearance. Most studios have a department, or they hire an independent company, whose job is to take all the names used in a script and make sure there won't be any legal challenges to using them. It's probably as easy as running them through a huge database, but it's not something I'd care to do. Whatever the process, most of the really clever names for stuff are taken by somebody, somewhere. It's not easy to come up with a good name that isn't already being used.

Ok, I just got on a dictionary site and looked up the word - senescence. The title was something like "Through the Looking Glass: Senescene in Retrograde". It was supposed to be new-agey and only the last part was mine. Like I said, it's obscure and they made it's unknown pronunciation part of the dialogue.

Book List #2

I started "The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar" by Robert Alexander last night. We picked it up in ABQ at the used bookstore there. Actually, I picked up the second book ("Rasputin's Daughter"), saw that there was first and got both. I'll save the review for afterward, but so far I like it.

And I got lazy last night and watched House rather than list all of my future reading... love that show and Hugh Laurie (yes, the husband knows all about it).

Book List #1

Since I can't figure out how to modify the right-hand-side to put in a book list, I've decided to just post each time I read something.

I just finished a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury entitled "The Cat's Pajamas." I really liked Bradbury when I was younger and even managed to use his work for a lot of my English papers. I was very disappointed to find that he didn't age with me; I wasn't enjoying most of his more recent efforts. But I liked this book and I'm glad I took the chance on it.

Tonight I'm starting something new, but I'm not sure what. I brought several books with me and we bought several more in ABQ. I think I'll just put them in a pile and pull one out. When I get home I'll edit this blog and list everything I've got here in SF to read...

Credit

I finally got my internet credit listing for Snakes - I just hope I get one on the actual movie. That movie is going to be so bad and I'm proud to be a part of it.

No interesting stories to tell today. It's still pretty slow and we're on a hiring freeze. Just found out we're pushing for 2 weeks (sorry husband) because one of the stars is shooting another movie right now that pushed and he wants to have some time off between the two. So shit rolls downhill yet again...

My lonely office is across the hall from locations and I do get to hear some interesting tidbits from them every once in a while - it's not like I have to try very hard, they both talk pretty loudly. Right now, they're looking for houses for the stars to rent. You'd think the list of wants would be fairly extravagant, but it seems a pool and room for the nanny are about it. If anything weird comes up, I'll blog it.

Speaking of locations, the local guy worked on the Jessica Simpson movie that shot here not long ago (they just did some reshoots, I guess to cover some days when JS had gotten sick). He was telling someone on the phone yesterday that it seemed the paparazzi always seemed to know where she was, as if they had been tipped off. D'oh! No shit Sherlock. If I was making a movie with JS during all the drama of her impending divorce, I'd be faxing call sheets to the tabloids myself! Free publicity baby. It's all about the free publicity.

Gonna try a new font... if anybody's reading, let me know what you think.

Now the Pics!

Pretty swanky bird's nest, don't you think? I hope those babies are boys or they'll never be satisfied with a regular nest.



And Sofie just loves to rest her head in your hand...sleepy puppy. As Sped said, I'm dying from the cute!

Long Weekend

I was going to wait until I got home to post today, but I'm so bored and I'm afraid I'll forget something (which I always do). But I have pictures to add so you'll have to check back later for the visuals...

The husband and I drove home Friday night non-stop. Actually, he did most of the driving while I took a sleeping pill and passed out. That was the plan, though, because by the time I woke up he was tired and I took over. It was a long night and it was nice to finally pull into the parking garage. I had picked up some doggy downers for Sofie to help her not wig out so much and they seemed to help. She didn't spend the entire ride trembling, just some of it. And despite what the husband says, she prefers to sit in his lap while in the car. Whether or not he was driving, she wanted to be with him. So there.

Anyway, we pulled in around 4:30 am and crawled into bed. I woke up around 10:30 because the dog was making weird noises in her sleep and I was sure she was dying - some kind of reaction to the downers or something. But no, she was just making noises and when she saw I was awake, that was it for me. I got a paw to the head which is her signal that it's time to GO.

When we got back from walkies, I went thru the 2 weeks worth of mail that the neighbors had brought in for us. We get a lot of crap. Later, after the husband got up, we went shopping and stopped at the post office. Then we took S out - when I asked her if she wanted to go to the dog park, she actually got so excited she barked, twice. She's not a vocal dog so when she barked we knew it was a big thing. She had a good time and ran around a lot. Nice to not have to keep calling her back like in SF.

We came back and I did a little laundry, watched some tv, hung out... I noticed a bird had built a nest in a hanging candle holder thing on the back porch. I'd never lit a candle in there, so I guess they thought it was safe. On Sunday, I took some pics and saw that there were 4 eggs in it. Cool. I will post them later.

Saturday night we went to see V for Vendetta. I can't say much about it, it didn't make that much of an impression on me, but the husband disliked it so much we left about 30 minutes in. Maybe 40 minutes - not sure since the - previews seemd to last an hour by themselves. I'll probably Netflix it and finish it up, but it's not high on my list. Too bad. Alan Moore is a fantastic writer but they always fark up his movies. The Natalie Portman character in the graphic novel is a prostitue, which would put a different spin on things, don't you think?

Anyway, Sunday morning came and we didn't realize it was daylight savings time, which blew because we were going to take Sofie to the dog park on the way to the airport. By the time we realized the mistake, we had an hour to get there and had to dash out the door. Poor little girl was sitting by my luggage quivering and looking so sad. I tried to be cheerful and not make it seem like I was leaving for 2 weeks, but it was hard. Maybe she was just worried she's have to go on another long car ride and it had nothing to do with me. Gonna miss that dog. Gonna miss the husband, too, but I can talk to him on the phone. It's just not the same thing.