Who Moved My Cheese

This weekend I read the quick little story, "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson. It is a quick little book (both Rob and I read it in under 1 hour) about adapting to change, because change is always going to happen whether you want it to or not.

Recently our work did layoffs, and one of the young guys who was laid off wrote the key themes of the book on his whiteboard before he left -- I'll post it here, but it really makes more sense if you read the book--

Change Happens

They Keep Moving The Cheese

Anticipate Change

Get Ready For The Cheese To Move

Monitor Change

Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old

Adapt To Change Quickly

The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese

Change

Move With The Cheese

Enjoy Change!

Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!

Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again & Again

They Keep Moving The Cheese.

I think my generation especially has not had to deal a lot with change -- we haven't really had any big wars which people have been drafted for or which the general population has had to suffer for (although I thank the millitary for their service!), and we really haven't had any big disasters. We've had disasters which seem devastating at the time, but didn't affect the majority of Americans a few years later (not like WW2 or the Depression). Anyways, I think change is hard for me, and many of my friends. But, now is as good as a time of any to embrace change and enjoy it! So go seize the day!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day (almost!)

As part of our cookie decorating extravaganza, we made a lot of St. Patrick's day cookies.

Thanks Mom for making all the cookies for us to decorate!



Some of the chocolate candy melts used on top of the cookies...

Cookie Time!

This weekend I went home to spend some time with my parents -- my mom had a special treat ready -- a whole bunch of cookies ready to be decorated!

We spent a good portion of the weekend decorating cookies -- boy, if I do say so myself, they turned out quite nicely!

Here are some of the Easter cookies we decorated.... complete with chocolate bunnies, bunny shaped cookies, Easter eggs, Easter baskets, flowers, and carrots! I think the carrots were my favorite!

I'm Back!

Wow, where in the world did February go? I mean really, I knew it had been a little while since I had signed online, but I did not think it had been THAT long! Well regardless, I am back on the blogosphere and back in business!

I think one of the reasons I haven't been blogging is because I've been swamped at work.... completely, super, busy! Right as I left for CES, I heard of a new opportunity in a partner lab of ours. The opportunity was to do program management for 50% of the time. I've been thinking about program management a lot, and so I decided to jump on that opportunity. I spoke to my manager, and after a few weeks, I got the job! So for the last 1 1/2 months (the time I haven't been blogging), I've been doing 2 roles -- one as an engineer and one as a program manager. It is really the best of both worlds -- I get exposure and experience as a program manager and yet I didn't have to leave my old team behind, as I was getting some neat development areas there as well. (getting to design RTL code, which is pretty hard to get that opportunity in my lab).

So, although I am really enjoying both jobs, and I *should* be working the same as 50%-50% on each, it is turning out to be 60%-60% each, as they both have deadlines, they are both behind, etc, etc.

And, to make things even more busy, I am on a committee for the Grace Hopper Conference for Women In Computing. Each member has to have a proposal due for a panel by Friday! So I've been coordinating people from across the industry and academia to put together a panel on new assistive technology. I just finished that last weekend, so now I can take a breath!

Well, I feel like I could keep writing, but maybe I better stop there for now... don't worry, it won't be another 2 months!

Feeling better

Last week was a rough one for our family--- Rob was sick with H1N1, and hence had a temperature all week and was sure that every night he was 'dying'. He tried going to the doctor, but they siad since he wasn't an 'at-risk' person, no medicine for him. But after a fever for a week, they gave him some antibiotics which finally seemd to break the fever .... alas, he has pulled through and is ready to start living life again! (besides the residual cough which will probably last for a while) Hooray! I am glad to have my husband back! And, the miracle is that I did not get sick myself!

Eve also had a rough week. I had to take Eve to the emergency vet on Friday night because I got home from work and BOTH her eyes were swollen. One was about the size of a ping pong ball --- I thought it was going to explode! It was scary! I rushed her to the vet, and they gave her some steriods and concentrated benadryl. Then that wasn't enough so 20 minutes later they gave her a second dose. Finally the swelling started to go away. They think it was probably a spider bite since the swelling was so severe. But by the next morning she was doing much better (still a little swollen, but much better). I had to give her benadryl for 2 more days, but now she is back to normal.

So, I think we've had our share of sickness and pet emergency room visits for 2010. Lets hope so!

Eve and the Clone

Last night one of the dogs in our club needed someone to watch her for a few hours. And since Eve hadn't seen any other dogs for a long time, I decided that I could handle two dogs for the evening. We puppy-sat another dog named Mulan, but the really fun part was that Mulan looks VERY similar to Eve. We had fun chilling with Rob while he's sick. I love puppies so much!

Can you tell who is who? Which one is Eve?

Awww, if you hold their bone then they will pay attention to you!

Consumer Electronic Show or Celebrity Electronic Show?

So I was really suprised, but there were quite a few celebrities at the CES (I guess different ones are there every year). This year I personally only saw Lady Gaga and the guy below from Parks and Recreation. He was on a skit for Intel's keynote presentation. They were pretending they were in the future, but in reality they were just in front of a green screen on the side of the theater. I also saw Shannon Miller ( a gold medal US gymnast).

I guess Dr. Dre was there, as was Drew Carey, and some MLB and NBA players too.

Lady Gaga (her hat at least!) I didn't even know who it was at first, but I knew from all the pictures it must be someone important/famous!