My Page-a-day calendar had this gem for me today.

Not looking forward to that sales conference in Dayton, Ohio? Help is here! Ever tries making towel origami, dental-floss pompoms or soap scrimshaw? How about toilet tennis or in-line tray skating? Hotel Hobbies offers 50 boredom-banishing and completely legal ways to have fun while you're cooped up and far from home."

Far from home? I might have to try some of these AT home.

I spent most of yesterday putting together a brand new blog. No, don't worry. Chachi In Charge isn't going anywhere. But I decided that I have too much passion and excitement about all the crafty-goodness I've been up to lately. Rather than try to keep that all in, I decided to give it its own space where it can run free.

I introduce: Like I Need Another Project. It's a place for me to document projects that I'm working on. As well as ideas, patterns, books, tools and tips. Come on by and take a look!

Wow! My brain has been firing off ideas non-stop ever since I got home from the BlogHer conference last night. I have so many ideas for posts and projects, as well as big chunky thoughts that deserve sitting with and thinking about for awhile. I hardly know where to begin.

Rather than post a conference review, I thought I'd post some quotes I heard throughout the weekend that stuck with me. I tried to capture who spoke the words where I could.

"The universe bows down to the power of women blogging." Jane Goodwin

"It takes a village not just to raise a child, but to nourish the adult. " - Jane Goodwin

"It's karma. It's linky love."

"Writing is not about the words, it's about connecting brains together." - Amy Gahran

"Writing is enforced reflection"

"How you think about writing is as important as the writing itself. It's about the *process*." - Amy Gahran

"I think better through conversation. I don't have to know the answer up front."

"People are more engaged by conversations than monologue." - Amy Gahran

"Blogging is like the mob. I try to get out and they pull me back in." - Mena Trott

I also want to thank the lovely ladies that I had the pleasure of chatting with during and between sessions and over lunches. Some were new faces. Others are dear friends I love so much. You all helped me have a really great experience this year. Thank you.

• Intelleto


• Bipolar Lawyer Cook


• The Marketing Eggspert Blog


• Emergiblog


• Some Silken Moment


• Semi-Charmed Wife


• Not Just About Cancer (a blog)


• Marie Millard


• Yertle


• Left Coast Cowboys

You are The Lovers

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.

The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.

Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that's actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that the you have or will come across a person, career, challenge or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Watch out, here I come! I just booked my plane ticket, so it is now official. I am flying to Amsterdam on Sept 24 (arriving the 25). I'll be speaking at the EuroIA Conference Sept 26-27 in Amsterdam.

The next thing on the agenda is UX Intensive Copenhagen Oct 13-16. (Register before the price goes up June 30 and be sure to use the code FOCF to save an extra 15%!)

Sandwiched between those two events is two weeks of lovely, lovely vacation. E and I haven't been on a proper vacation (e.g., one that doesn't involve family and is longer than 3 days) since we went to Maui in 2005.

Right now we are thinking of getting a houseboat for a week+ in Amsterdam and just relax and get to know the city really well. We really enjoyed our short trip there last year. We know we want to take the train to Copenhagen and have a few days there together before E goes home and I go to UX Intensive. But what else shall we do? More time in Denmark? Should we get off the train and explore Germany? We're thinking possibly a few days in Berlin.

The major goal of this time is to relax. We definitely want to see the sights, but it's not going to be a rush-rush-must-see-EVERYTHING kind of trip. It's so exciting!

Phoenix has a lovely airport. I can't speak to the rest of the city, since I have only ever been in the airport. But I know the Phoenix airport really well. How is that you may wonder? Let me tell you about my trip to Minneapolis for UX Intensive.

I knew better than to book a flight straight on NorthWest to Minneapolis. I opted for the US Airways one with a stop in Phoenix simply so I would still get miles on United. I WILL get Premier status this year!

I left San Francisco at 8:25 this morning, on a United flight. Got to Phoenix early. Which was good because United and USAirways are in different terminals. I had a leisurely lunch and then headed back through security to my gate. Where I discovered they had overbooked the flight. Lovely.

BUT! They had another flight they could put you on that got in 10 minutes earlier than the oversold one. Great! So I volunteered. Two other folks also volunteered and the three of us got our paperwork (I now have 1 free ticket on US Airways, go me!) and headed over to terminal 3 where NorthWest is. It will be okay, I thought. NorthWest isn't as bad as I remember. Heh. Famous. Last. Words.

We get over the terminal 3 and head up to the counter. The woman at the desk gives us dirty looks and tells us that she has no seats, all her planes are full. Don't we see that our paperwork has code UCI on it? That means it wasn't confirmed. After a huffy call to US Airways, she tells us that she can't do anything for us and we have to go back to US Airways. Lovely.

So, we shelp back out into the 100 degrees, again, to terminal 4. The two folks with me are beside themselves with worry and angst. I walk up to the first class ticket counter and explain our story to the woman. She was lovely. She made multiple calls and even got a supervisor when I asked what other compensation they could give us.

They kindly explained that they never move volunteers over unless the other airline has seats to give. One of the folks I was with watched the guy call NorthWorst and check there were seats. What happened in the 15 minutes it took us to get over to the other terminal is anyone's guess. Someone read the computer wrong or was looking at old data, is my guess.

The two other folks are now headed to American Airlines where they will fly to Chicago and then transfer to Minneapolis, getting in at 11:10 tonight. If they checked in early enough they'll get first class seats on the CHI-MIN leg.

I am now sitting in the food court of the mall that is Terminal 4. I'm on the 6:20 flight out of Phoenix, but at least I'm direct to Minneapolis. I'm scheduled to get in at 11:50. The only saving grace is that I'm first class. Oh, and I have a $5 meal voucher to spend in the food court here.

At least they have free wifi. I guess I'll go over my slides for tomorrow.

To get away from all the hungry people.

Tonight I ate meat for the first time since the summer of 1993.

Okay, technically that isn't true. I've had the random bite of fried chicken or such every now and then since '93. And in Mexico once I had a ground chicken burger cause it was the least offensive meat on the menu.

But tonight, tonight I made meat and potatoes. A whole roasted chicken with thyme and lemon with potatoes and carrots. I came home from work and started cooking. Felt very old-skool house-wifey. Everything was in the oven when E came home. Around 8 I had had it and was starving. We took the bird out -- the leg seemed loose in the socket to me and the juices ran clear. But when E cut into the thigh he said it was undercooked. So he popped it back in the oven. I left it to him to finish dinner. We finally sat down to eat around 9.

Now that I've eaten it, I feel... weird. It wasn't as bad as I was afraid it might be. The texture was a bit stringy and I had to chew more than I'm used to. But there wasn't tons of flavor, actually. At least it didn't taste like blood (guess it was a good thing that it was dried out after all). My mouth feels kinda greasy now, though. So far my stomach feels okay, which is also good.

I'm hoping that I see a big spike in my energy levels now. We've decided to add back soy later this week and then call off the food challenge. I really can't believe that I'm allergic to tomatoes or oranges. Soy could be a likely culprit, so we'll test that one. Otherwise we're just going back on Weight Watchers. The plan is little to no processed foods, as little refined sugar as possible, and chicken maybe once a week.

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to eat meat again. I stopped eating it all those years ago for mostly animal rights and environmental reasons. At times I had said that if I could afford to get the free-range, organic, local, happy chicken I would. Price is no longer a reason to not eat it. And I would only get the happy chickens. I'm actually okay with the animal rights part of it since I wouldn't be paying into the factory farm aspect. Which is a main reason for not getting meat at a restaurant.

But I've realized that so much of my identity is wrapped up with being vegetarian. I mean, it's been almost 15 years now -- all my adult life. It's just who I am. Who am I if I'm not a vegetarian? Am I somehow not being true to myself? I know lots of people go back to eating meat. It's not like I'm doing it because I suddenly hate chickens. I'm hoping it's part of the solution for stopping my constant exhaustion. That's a good reason to do it.

*sigh* I just don't know. I do know that I want to feel better. And if eating chicken again is the price I have to pay, well, I think I very likely will suck it up and do that.

The elimination diet is officially over! Yippie! While this brings the end of the g'nasty shakes and drinks, it marks the beginning of the Food Challenge Period (tm). Over the the course of the month I get to slowly add foods back to my "okay to eat list" and see if I can tolerate it or not.

This past Sunday we started with dairy. I had about 2.5 glasses of cow's milk and some cheese. It was so wonderful to have cheese again. Yum. Sadly though, my intestinal track didn't think it was so wonderful, if you know what I mean. So, officially, I'm lactose intolerant.

I'm suppose to wait 3 days between challenging foods to make sure I'm not having any carryover symptoms. But I felt fine on Monday and E had brought home a loaf of Italian bread, so we added wheat on Monday night. With some farmer's cheese. Cause dammit, I'm not sure a life without cheese is something I want to live. I've had some more wheat yesterday too.

I can't tell if I'm having a reaction to the wheat or not though. Tiredness is suppose to be the big symptom. Yes, I'm tired. But I also stayed up until close to 2 on Sunday night and have been up to at least 11 or later each night this week. So am I tired because of the wheat or because of the not getting enough sleep?

E made an interesting observation. When I was drinking the g'nasty protein shake and we were really good about having beans and rice or some such protein at each meal at the beginning of this adventure, I was feeling better. A lot better. Maybe I'm protein deficient. Could it be as simple as that?

So, now I'm wondering if it makes sense to add back some meat to my diet. Eat local, happy, free-range chicken from Whole Paycheck once a week type of thing. I've thought about doing this before, but never got up the nerve to do it. I'm not sure what to DO with chicken. It's been so long since I've cooked it. And the idea of eating it still makes my tummy do back flips a bit. But if that's what it takes to make be feel better, maybe it's worth it.

Last night E and I went to the Greek Theater in Berkeley to see REM. This is the second time we've seen then there, the fourth time I've seen them. It was a great show.

Modest Mouse was one of the opening acts, as where The Nationals. We only saw MM since we got there a bit late. They reminded me a bit of when I saw Live for the first time, at the WOMAD concert in 1994. I bet they are amazing in a small venue, but they just didn't have enough stage presence for a venue as big as the Greek.

REM was amazing, per usual. Stipe is just so cute, I want to scoop him up. It's always interesting to see what they do with the stage decoration and lighting effects. This time they were filming close-ups of them playing and singing and projecting it in real-time on various digital screens behind them.

They did a very nice mixture of classic songs and newer stuff. Stipe joked that this song was written in 1064 and things like that. They played one of my most favorite songs, "Driver 8." It's the first time I've seen them play it live and it was wonderful.

We didn't get home until fairly late, but it was worth it. I'm so glad that they are touring again.

It's 8PM on Sunday night, and as usual, I'm having that moment of panic where I can't believe the weekend is over already. That I didn't get anything accomplished and am starting the week in a type of chore-debt.

In an effort to prove to myself that this is irrational thinking (and so I can feel good about what I *did* do), I'm going to list it out here. Please bare with me. These are in no particular order.

1. Eight loads of laundry. Washed and folded (yet to be put away).


2. Made roasted potatoes, baked potatoes, and chickpea stew for lunches this week.


3. Washed and changed towels.


4. Played games with C & B.


5. Played on the Wii with E and by myself.


6. Bought a Wii.


7. Got a fire extinguisher for upstairs (already have one in kitchen).


8. Ordered new tires for my car.


9. Paid renter's insurance and sponsored A for her school walk-a-thon.


10. Completed 8 days of elimination diet!!!


11. Grocery shopping for the week.


12. Went through mail and sorted it.


13. Watered plants.


14. Talked with E about feelings.


15. Ordered additional games for the Wii.


16. Charged phone and iPod.

Well, no wonder I'm tired. :)

I am so very proud of the city and state I live in!!

"In contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation," the court said in the 120-page ruling, "and, more generally, that an individual's sexual orientation -- like a person's race or gender -- does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights.

"We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples."

Read more about the steps to making gay marriage legal.

I just found out about the World Wide Knit in Public Day (WWKIP). It's where knitters gather together in a public space and, well, knit. Sounds fun, don't it?

There are a bunch of WWKIP day events this year in the Bay Area, such as Berkeley, Lafayette, San Mateo, Menlo Park, Los Gatos, Redwood City, San Rafael, Pleasanton, and Albany. Check the website for the one near you. I'm going to try to attend the one in San Francisco proper. Here's the skinny:

World Wide Knit In Public Day
Saturday, June 14, 2008
11-1
Union Square (underground Macy's food court if weather is icky)
Bring a chair, water, sunscreen, hat and of course, your knitting!

Is the part of the whole detox-diet thing that I was dreading. I knew it was coming. It always comes. It always derails me. It always sets me back. I had just been hoping it would take me longer than 2.5 days to get here. *sigh*

I left work hungry. Never a good sign. I stopped at Safeway to get the soup for the base of the chickpea stew I wanted to make for dinner. I figured I'd make the stew to go over the rice I cooked last night. Then I waited for Muni. For over 40 minutes. *sigh* I had a headache by the time I got home. But, I started making the stew as soon as I got home and things were going well. It was easy to put together and I cleaned up as I went.

I checked another cookbook and realized I could make the chickpea flatbread and they should both be done about the same time. Great! I wasn't sure that the stew would be enough, but with the flatbread it would be perfect. I was mixing the flatbread when E came home. I knew he had forgotten his drink today, didn't eat breakfast, and was over-hungry. I had hoped to have things ready by the time he got home, but Muni saw that that didn't happen. With about 20 minutes left before dinner, he left to do an errand with his bike.

The flatbread looked watery -- it called for 4 cups of water or more! -- but I popped it in the oven anyway. In 15 minutes it was still soup. As it was after 30 minutes. After about a hour it had set to a soft pudding-like consistency. And E still wasn't home. All this time my headache was growing as were my feelings of defeat and grumpiness.

I had just given up and was about to start eating without him when E came home. The stew was tasty, though I'll add potatoes next time to bulk it up a bit. The flatbread... well, E said it tasted good, but I don't really believe him. It was nasty and gross and I want to go bury it in the backyard.

I know that not every attempt in the kitchen pans out. I know that this will become a story that we tell and laugh about in the future. "Remember that flatbread pudding? Hahaha." But right now... I feel defeated, tired, I have a headache, and I just don't care. Which is making me pissy and grouchy. And I really want a cookie. Not one of the rice flour fruit juice sweetened cookies we have either. A REAL cookie.

This is the hard part of the cleanse, when I don't care. I feel poopy and want to comfort myself with food. Yes, I know this is the habit/cycle I need to break. But it's just so damn hard. I was feeling really good about making this work. I hope I can get that feeling back and let this go.

Yesterday was my favorite kind of Sunday. The kind where I don't leave the house. I putter around the house, cooking, tidying, playing on the 'puter, and snuggling with the cats.

However, I am in desperate need of a pedicure. And since I didn't leave the house, it meant that I had to take my feet into my own hands. The problem with that is that I can't paint polish on my nails to save my life. You'd think after 34 years, and a Girl Scout badge in "Fashion, Fitness and Make-up," I would have figured it out, but no. My nails end up looking like a coked up 4-year old did them.

So, my toenails are now nice and short and in the buff. I keep glancing at my feet and wondering who's feet they are -- I'm so used to seeing color there. I also find that I'm walking softer in the house, padding around like one of the cats instead of striding to and from rooms. Funny the difference some color -- or lack there of -- can have.

Okay, that title really shouldn't make me smile the way it does. (And extra bonus points to anyone who gets the reference. No, you aren't eligible, E.)

I take two different meds for migraines. One to prevent them from happening. Another to stop a migraine cold in its tracks if I do get one. I put in for the renewal on the prophylactic *snicker* one two weeks ago. I ran out of them on Tuesday. They still haven't arrived.

Today... today I don't think the pain I feel is being tired. I think the migraine monster is rising from the deep. Curse you Kaiser! I'm off to battle your pharmacy department. But maybe after my head stops wanting to explode.

What the hell was wrong with me?

Okay, I'll admit it. 1999 wasn't my shining hour of good decision making and clearest judgment (for example). I vaguely remember seeing The Matrix. I'm pretty sure it was after it came out on video and I'm also pretty sure that I fell asleep during it. I remember thinking it was an interesting premise, but too much of a video game for me. When the second one came out, I had forgotten everything about the first one, so it made even less sense to me.

But lately I've had a hankering to watch it again. It arrived this past week from Netflix and we watched it last night.

OH. MY. GOD.

I don't understand how I did not love this movie. Keenau didn't even bug me. In fact, he was kinda hot. SO many things make SO much more sense to me now. From random quotes that folks say in the office to the boots that all the neko-kids wear in SecondLife. It's been awhile since a movie has griped me and grabbed my full attention like that. Usually I knit when we rent movies, but I didn't want to miss a single thing.

I don't know that I have any desire to watch the second and third (I know they are the suk). But I might just have to pick this one up on DVD for myself.

It can't be Sunday night already. I have too many things that I was going to do this weekend. Not the least of which was stop being so tired. Okay, that has been a goal for a really long time now. But I was starting to feel just tired, instead of completely exhausted. But the past two days I've slipped back towards exhaustion. It doesn't help that the cats have been playing demolition derby in the bedroom at 3 AM the last few nights.

I started a number of new crafty projects, though none are as far along as I would have liked. I also never got to writing up about the IA Summit. I wanted to capture those ideas before they completely disappeared into the ether. Jumping right back into a new project at work has been exciting, but greatly cut into any reflective time I had hoped to have.

Oh well. This week should be interesting. Continuing with discovery on the new project. Lots of planning and fine level scoping to be done.

I just read a "You know you are from Newtown when" list over at Facebook. Um, wow. Now, I know that I wasn't the most socially aware high schooler. I didn't find out that folks were selling heroin at the high school until after I was in college. Maybe grad school. But damn. Things sure aren't the way I remember them.

I remember that Drug Center was a place to hang out, but not THE place. That was the Grand Union parking lot.

Everyone had a Volvo station wagon - yup. That hasn't changed. Same with going to Town Hall. Or a party at the Amber Room.

I've heard of The Falls, but never found out where they actually were.

20 minutes to get to a friend's house, sure. Same with the Newtown Bee and photos in the paper.

That's about 8 of the 47. I guess I just can't relate to kids these days.

We are always coming up with new names for things. It's what we do at Adaptive Path. You get smart, geeky, creative people together and wordplay is bound to happen.

A couple years ago now, Dan started advocating for "topless" meetings, meaning no laptops. All too often our meetings were blogged down by folks staring at a screen and typing instead of participating in the conversations around them. Todd took up the call in a blog post against crackberries last November that caused some stir.

Well, it seems that other folks have really started to take notice. Yesterday, the LA Times published a front page story about topless meetings. Next thing we knew, film crews from ABC, CBS, and NBC were in the office. They interviewed Dan and shot some background images of the office.

The footage aired last night and is already up on the web:

On ABC nightly news. You can see me turn around in the background of one shot.

On the local CBS news. I'm in a lot of shots of this one.

On the local NBC station. I'm just out of frame on this one, but you get to see a lot of good shots of the office and my coworkers.