Quick notes from the past several weeks

Whew! I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. Nutty days right now. Some highlights:

* My team at work moved from the serene boonies of Redmond (a suburb of Seattle) to the downtown area of a nearby city. Talk about culture shock! Plus I also parted ways with my officemate of nearly five years (to add insult to injury, he's three floors away!). Yes, I have my own office, which is often the dream at Microsoft, but being all alone really makes time crawl!

* Seattle had a lovely 29-day streak without rain. Yowsa! We even had a couple 90-degree days a few weeks back, which was just WAY too hot for most Seattleites (including myself). We live here for the milder weather! We had rain Friday of last week, but we're back to sun now.

* Saw "The Hangover" -- hilarious! Later this week I'm off to "Public Enemies," and then the much anticipated "Bruno" on the 7th.

* Turned 31, which for some reason was harder than turning 30.

* Got back into the swimming pool after about 18 years (I don't count the one season of diving I did in high school). I got a fancy triathlon suit to address my modesty issues (it has shorts attached, kind of like a unitard thing). I'm hoping to go swimming for just over an hour every Tuesday night with some friends; tonight will be my third outing. I'm happy to report that my body knew exactly what to do once I got into the water (I was forced through lessons from about age 4 to 13 and HATED them). I spent this past Tuesday doing laps of breast stroke and freestyle the entire hour, though I had to take a little breather between each lap.

* After cleaning my freezer and discovering at least 8 cartons of ice cream (some little, some medium), I bit the bullet and bought an ice cream maker at Costco. My first batch, which was coconut-pineapple ice cream, was so-so; I tried to be healthy and use low-fat coconut milk, which meant the ice cream didn't freeze properly and became hard as a rock after spending a few hours in the freezer. I made batch two last night -- avocado! -- and it turned out really good, though very rich. There's not even any heavy whipping cream in the recipe; it's just the avocados themselves that make it so creamy and rich.

* I just finished the fifth and final season of "The Wire." So good!! (Though as a heads up, if you watch it, be sure to turn the captions/subtitles on, or else you miss a lot. I finally had a light-bulb moment after rewinding/replaying for the third time during the first episode, trying to figure out what folks were saying.)

* Got an answer to an unasked question I'd had about a boy for a few years. Not good news, but at least now I know!