Janet’s Webpage

Here’s the first piece:

I think we don’t have enough greens…

Here’s how it would look like when pieced together:

I think the green at “2″ should be placed at location “5″. Then use the beige at “10″ and “11″ for location “2″… What do you think?

Jennifer and I purchased some fabrics for a log cabin quilt. I want to piece it together on the computer before working on the real thing. Here are the 10 different fabrics we got:

I heard my name over the cube wall today and pulled off my headphones to eavesdrop. It was a conversation between Sid and Scott, talking about my next assignment. I heard Scott said that there’s nothing he can do if I am busy on the security job. A minute later, Sid came over and ask if I’ll be free in July. I told him that I’m taking a week off to attend a conference. Sid then proceeded to tell me to review his package.
This pissed me off to no end.
I like Sid, he’s personable. But it’s not his place to give me assignments, especially since Scott doesn’t think I should take the job either.
He persisted throughout the day, making his case worse by implying several times that I’m a sleazy reviewer and he’s just out to get a quick signature.
It’s pretty clear what’s happening after piecing things together: Kippy told me a few months ago that Sid wanted to lead a few jobs. Dan said that after sifted through everything on Dan’s plate, Kippy decided that PASS would be the most painless job to hand off. Sid’s been telling me that he hates PASS, that it’s a crap job, and that he has no idea how he landed such assignment. And now, he wants me to review it because he’s afraid the work’s dodgy.
Do I really give off the air that I’m an easy reviewer?

It feels like I committed a whole blog on office politics… I need to think of something else better to write about.

Yes, the title is not grammatically correct.
Let’s start from the present and work backwards:
I’m incredibly unnerved right now. I got about 5 projects on my hands right now, each with something wrong. The apartment is a mess again and I need to clean it up before Jason gets here. I haven’t had time to quilt lately due to all the traveling. And I’m still upset over the recent news.
It didn’t help that I was out of the office for most of the day. I spent exactly 2 hours and 40 minutes in Birmingham, AL, which is the amount of time it takes to get from the airport to corporate for fingerprinting then back again.
My flight this morning was 7:40AM in BWI, an hour from Frederick. I had to get up at 5:30 and I didn’t get back from NYC till 2:30 in the morning. URRRRRRRRRGGGGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No sleep at all!!! I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE late nights + early mornings!!

Okay, on a happier note, this weekend was a blast. Jennifer and I stayed in Kingston on Friday and Saturday. Our plan was to hike Mt. Tremper on Saturday before going to Emerson Resort for a few hours at the spa. About 15 minutes into the hike, it started pouring. We didn’t even make it to the trail head. It was a good thing though, since we got to spend an extra hour in Emerson’s steam and sauna rooms.
Jennifer treated me to Peekamoose for dinner. Afterward we went to Joann’s to pick out the fabrics she wanted for her quilt. On the way up Catskill, we stopped at this shop that had a log-cabin-edged-with-bears-and-moose-applique quilt. It was cute, and Jennifer said she wanted one like it. It shouldn’t be too hard; I’ll start designing it… as soon as I finish the rest of my chores…

Pictures from the hike to come.

I was getting ready to run out the door for the NY trip when I turned on BCC radio. 豆子 was playing a series of Michael Jackson’s top hits and I thought I would cry.
I heard the news during dinner last night. Sid first saw it on TV in the restaurant and read out the headline. I thought he was joking, but didn’t think much of it afterward either.
It’s hard to be sad when it’s your birthday and you’re celebrating with a lobster meal. But listening to clips of his songs now, I realized that, deep down, all of his music had always been with me and it hurts so bad to think that he’s gone.
I start to think about all the unfair things… If you asked me yesterday morning, I would have said that he hasn’t done anything good for the past decade and his come-back tour probably wouldn’t help his cause. I’m not talking about issues in his personal life, none of those bothered me much. But even as a fan, I haven’t been awed by his recent work. It’s unfair to him that it takes death to arouse sympathy, even from his admirer.
It’s also unfair to Grandpa. His was the first death that I cried real tears for. We never been real close, I saw him once a week when I was little, but he was a kind man and I was sad when he passed away. To cry over an artist’s death makes me feel like I’m betraying his memory. It shows how little impact a person may have on others.

I’ve been puzzling over the labeling issue for the bed quilt I’ve been making.
So far, I used a permanent marker to write on a piece of fabric, which I attach onto the quilt using whip stitches. I think stitching the label would be a more sophisticated way, but I worry about the stitching coming loose in the wash.
Here’s part of the label:

I read up a bit more on the subject and it seems like there’s quite a lot to labeling quilts. The label is to be attached at the bottom right hand corner before quilting the sandwich. That way it will be firmly integrated into the piece. I’m also thinking about cutting a window in the backing fabric and sewing the label in its place. I’ll have to practice on something else though… can’t imagine making a mistake while cutting the backing right now, when the quilt’s almost completed.

I spent the evening scrubbing.
Next year, I must remember to clean the house before my birthday. It had been a couple of weeks since I vacuumed and the whole apartment was littered with suitcases from traveling. I’ve been moving around so much that my electric bill was cut down to 1/3 since I’m hardly at home anymore.
Sid took me out to dinner. I was really surprised that he would consider doing so. Back in MI, Chet and Katina would usually go out with me on my birthday, but we’ve known each other for over 5 years now. When I got back from dinner, I saw that Jasper sent me a message asking me if I had a date for dinner tonight. I guess birthdays increase your popularity.
I got a beautiful Mauviel stockpot from SO. It’s really sweet, he timed it so that the package would arrive on the exact day. I used it right away to make the chicken corn soup I’m planning to bring to Catskill tomorrow

There are a few hotels I like to stay in during business travels. Mainly Hilton hotels, which also includes Hamptons. Their real attraction lies in the treats provided in the afternoon. Usually warm chocolate chip cookies, lemonade, or crackers and dips. I feel like a kid again (but not really, since no one ever made me snacks when I was little )
I wonder why I never do that for myself, but it seems like a lot of trouble to buy a cookie and warm it up 10 seconds in the microwave. Lately though, I got into a routine of wine and cheese after work.
It sounds horrible, but the first thing on my mind when I get home is hitting the bottle. It’s just a habit I got into and now I look forward to it. Wine and cheese is a brilliant combination though.
You see, it takes time to cut up the cheese cubes, which normally I wouldn’t bother. But when you’re sipping wine, moving a knife up and down doesn’t seem like a lot of work. Then, the cheese curb the wine intake. After eating a couple ounces of cheese, I would be done with my glass of wine and full enough not to pour a second glass. In the end, I get my 2 servings of dairy and 1 serving of alcohol. Good for the body and soul.

Sometimes I wonder if I use the same post titles over and over… This one sounded real familiar.

I got a stellar annual review from Kippy today. I don’t think my parents had praised me so highly. While reading the review he wrote, I chuckled a few times. One of those nervous chuckles. There’s nothing he doesn’t say to me on a weekly bases, but just seemed weird to be put on paper. In my last position, I don’t think I got more than a “you’re doing good” out of Jay.

Been real tired lately… 7 hours of sleep just isn’t enough.

Around 4PM today, I suddenly woke up and realized that I should probably get some assignments.
The security project I’m on had halted due to… well, security issues. My fingerprints came out badly and I can’t view anything before this is resolved. The earliest I can fly to headquarters is on Monday, so I’ve been bumming around, waiting for a decision.
I went to Scott and offered myself up for a couple of days. He listed two of Barry’s jobs then, sheepishly, mentioned that DF can probably use a hand as well.
I know that DF’s been reviewing those damn vendor drawings for weeks now. I told Scott that I have no idea what DF’s doing since I went through the whole roll of drawings already. Scott talked about how some people are like sharks, who get straight to the point, and some are like catfish, who are meandering bottom feeders. (Scott didn’t say the meandering bottom feeder part, that’s my input.) We then got on a tangent about shark steaks, which Scott said taste similar to swordfish but Brent, on the other side of the cube wall, countered that they taste like catfish.

… did absolutely nothing today