New job
I found out today that I will be transitioning into a new position at work. I will still be a QA engineer at the same company, but on a slightly different team. For the last year I was the German QA engineer for Flash. Now I will be one of several (English) QA engineers for Central. Central is basically a platform and container for Flash applications. My company has recently partnered with AOL to make AIM available inside of Flash and Central. I will be working on the AIM API as part of my new job.
I think this is going to be a good move for me.
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.: posted by Vera 
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Dancing blind-folded
I went to a shamanic trance dance last night. It was held at CELLspace. I keep finding myself drawn back to CELLspace - for hooping, for parties, and now for the trance dance. The occasion for the trance dance was the Pisces New Moon. Even though as of Tuesday, I felt that I had overcome the February Blues, I still thought it probably couldn't hurt to face head on some of the issues floating around in my head.
I was right. I came out of the blind-fold completely elated. There is something about dancing like nobody is watching (all the people around me, of course, were blind-folded as well) but there is also something about dancing without being able to see. It gave me a whole new bodily feeling. And somehow, during that dance, I was able to turn all of my fears and challenges into positivity and strength. It was amazing. I usually try to avoid my fears. I think that if I don't look at them, they won't look at me. If I ever accidentally did confront them, it was a very frightening experience. But facing them during this dance was only frightening for a moment. Then I was able to wrap my fears up in pink ribbons and send them into the night.
I left CELLspace with a gigantic smile on my face. You should try dancing blind-folded sometimes. I recommend it.
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.: posted by Vera
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I love finding patterns
It happened again: I heard about something for the first time and then within hours, I hear about the exact same thing again. So basically, after living my life for years and years and years completely oblivious to something, I then learn about it and hear it about it again in a completely different context within a very short period of time. I wrote about this last year.
Last night it was the term bible thumpers. My friend Kristin mentioned it over dinner last night. Even though I had never heard the term, I basically knew what she meant. Then, after I got home, I read Amy Leblanc's blog to discover she had mentioned bible thumpers in one of her most recent blog entries! It is fascinating how this stuff happens.
In other news: I just realized that not one, but two of my favorite things in the world can be meaningfully put together with the word News -
News Flash
News Breaks
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.: posted by Vera
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The February Blues are back
I have been in such good spirits for the past six months, that I thought I might be spared this year. But you can't run and you can't hide from the February Blues. They will find you. And they are stronger than you, even when you are resilient.
This weekend they hit me with full force after I took the wrong turn at a party on Friday night. Please excuse the crypticism but I'd rather not elaborate here. If you're dying to know, email me, but only if you're really dying.
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.: posted by Vera
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Road rage
I have twice been the victim of road rage now. Even though my car or myself weren't physically hurt, I still consider it road rage and myself a victim.
The first time was when I was driving through Oregon in November on my way back from Seattle. It was about 7pm and dark outside, and I was driving right behind this Jeepish vehicle on a one-line highway in the middle of the forest for several miles. I don't know if what ticked them off was that I was too close behind them, or that my headlights were too bright (I definitely did not have my brights on), or that they were simply irritable, or a combination of all these things. So I was driving behind them. At one point they pulled over to the side of the road so that I could pass them. As soon as I was past them, they got RIGHT BEHIND me and deliberately put on their brights and started chasing me down the road. I started going faster to get away from them, but since their brights were on, I couldn't really see where I was going. It was really quite dangerous. After two minutes or so, they flashed their brights on and off at me a few times and finally slowed down and let me go. Whew.
The second time was last night when I was driving home from a friend's house at about 9pm. I approached a 4-stop intersection. There was a car right at the intersection on my side of the street, against the curb. I could see that the tires were turning. I wasn't sure if they were still in the process of parking their car or if they were getting ready to leave. There was enough room to the left of them, so that I could stop next to them at the stop sign. I rolled by them and came to a full stop. It was at this point that they started honking. They then got RIGHT BEHIND me and chased me across the intersection. They proceeded to chase me down the next block, honking the whole time. I was afraid to stop at the stop sign at the next intersection for fear of getting run over. So I made half of a right turn at the intersection before I came to a half-assed stop, checked for oncoming traffic from the left and got the hell out of there. I really wanted to go straight at that intersection, but I didn't want to be chased for any additional blocks, you see. Chill out, buddy.
Am I a terrible driver? Or did I just happen to have two complete psychopaths behind me on the road recently?
The funny thing about this is that about two years ago I read a blog entry by a complete stranger who had just eyewitnessed a much more severe case of road rage: A woman was repeatedly steering her car perpendicularly into another car in the lane next to her on a highway. At the time I read this, I had been considering starting a blog myself but was still having some doubts. Reading that entry really discouraged me along the lines of "I could never be a blogger. Nothing like that ever happens to me and I won't have anything to write about!" I was wrong on several levels.
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.: posted by Vera
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Just in case you were wondering
This is what my soul looks like. I painted this tonight at Lura's house. According to my own mental image, my soul has looked like this ever since I was about 8. It's like a lit cave buried inside my body. It looks the same, whether I am happy or sad.
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.: posted by Vera
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Accidental art
On Friday night I did something really, really stupid.
The weekend before, Joe had taken a picture of him and I in the kitchen. He printed out a nice black and white copy on shiny paper and gave it to me. I was going to hang it up eventually and temporarily placed it on a suitable surface - my printer.
Right before leaving for Tahoe on Friday, I grabbed the directions I printed out and was in for a little surprise.
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.: posted by Vera
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Snow
This weekend I went to Lake Tahoe for the first time in my life. On Friday night after work, I made a quick run for ski goggles, and then I packed myself, my roommate Zaina, and my old school Euro style ski pants into my car, and we drove off. We were to meet my other roommate Joe and seven of his closest friends at a rented house in South Lake Tahoe. By the time we got there, my bug was wearing a new outfit: tire chains.
We skiied during the day and drank beer in the hot tub at night. It was fabulous. I had almost forgotten how much fun skiing is. I must remember to do that more often. I had also almost forgotten how many cute boys in helmets and snowboard pants can usually be found on the slopes.
My favorite part of the weekend was perhaps when my roommates started making out with each other in the hot tub. As the third roommate, I might have reasons to be concerned about this, but I can't be bothered to.
My favorite character of the weekend was perhaps Joe's friend from Washington, D.C., John, who was passed out when Zaina and I arrived, and whose member I accidentally saw the next night.
Editor's Note: There are pictures.
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.: posted by Vera
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Power buns
A guy from work came up with a new name for my favorite hair style: Power buns. When I laughed, he said "What else would you call those really high up pig tails?" Exactly. I like to wear power buns. It's a no-brainer.
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.: posted by Vera
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Blogger baby
After I have been following her hilarious tales of pregnancy online for the last nine months, Dooce has finally given birth to Leta. And yes, she looks just like her father. Congratulations! She was born on a really cool date, too: 02/03/04 - that spells 2,3,4!
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.: posted by Vera
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Out of control
After almost ten years of taking birth control pills, I just went off them. My births are now uncontrolled.
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.: posted by Vera
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I wish I was a little bit taller
Sometimes I wish I was more into Trance music because then I could be cool like my friend David and say "I'm a Trancer."
And sometimes I wish I had a laptop because then I could be cool like all the people with laptops at the Office and look all busy and focused and important at the beginning of a meeting instead of sitting there, smiling shyly at people entering the room with my hands folded in my lap.
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.: posted by Vera
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Apparently, my blog is of note
I can't believe I didn't notice this sooner: My blog (not this one, but my other one) is listed on blogger.com under the Blogs of Note section. Woo-fucking-hoo!
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.: posted by Vera
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Roomies
I absolutely adore both of my roommates. Here they are about five seconds after a shot of Vodka on Friday night.
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.: posted by Vera
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