well, it took me a bit longer than the week i projected at the start of this blog for me to slow down in posting, but i've been busy, dammit! last week i headed down to palm springs for the desert managers group's arid southwest lands habitat restoration conference. the reason i was supposed to go down there was to continue to develop our partnership with the desert managers group. however, the crux of the planning and managements parts of the conference took place on monday and tuesday, and i was only allowed to go wednesday to friday. wed-fri was all presentations on work going on down in the desert region, including restoration, ohv mitigation, riparian zone protection, invasive species management, etc. it was all very interesting (and there's a ton of good work in action), but it really wasn't the reason i was there. oh well.

so, i got back early evening on friday, at which point kat picked me up and we went to dinner in fremont for her college roommate anna's 25th birthday. yummy! we stuck around for a few foos-ball games afterwards, but not too much longer than that because i was tired as hell. evidently sung and mimi got engaged up in alameda that evening while we were goofing off around the foos-ball. congratulations, sung and mimi!

saturday morning, my coworker lora and i headed up to south lake tahoe, where several other nfwf-ers had rented a cabin for the weekend. i hadn't intended on going, since i was away half the week and knew i'd be tired, but lora was driving up saturday so i decided to go. we got up there around noon on saturday and headed out to kirkwood to meet heather and claire (other coworkers) at the cross-country skiing trails. we rented our skis, grabbed some lunch at the little lodge there, and started out on what had been designated as an easy trail. heather and claire had spent the morning in the meadow (flat-land skiing) and felt ready to try some hills. so, we go out on the easy trail, do okay with a few minors spills but nothing too terrible. we figure we've sort of gotten our ski legs, so we head out to another, slightly more difficult trail. this trail turns out to be a bevy of hills and sharp turns, which we weren't exactly prepared for. lora, who has been skiing her whole life, had no problem. claire, who has been cross-country skiing a few times, did okay. heather and i, who hadn't ever been (okay, i've been once, but it was 15 or so years ago... so essentially my skill level indicates i've never been), were flying all over the place! heather did a few gnarly face-plants, including one that ended up partly down the side of the hill. scary! i mostly fell backwards and sideways (and even a few spills when i was just standing in place!), but pretty much on every hill we bit it, and bit it hard. it was a pretty hilarious sight though, since skis and legs and poles were flailing everywhere. i'm certain that lora was amused. the worst part was that the snow was incredibly icy, and so we had no way of stopping ourselves. instead of being able to snowplow to stop, we'd go skidding over the top of the icy snow. yikes!

then sunday night, i had theater tickets with the parental units to see les misérables in san jose. it was a decent production although nowhere nearly as good as the broadway touring company i saw when the original cast was touring through san francisco. now *that* was an amazing show. not that i didn't enjoy this one, because i did. i think les mis is my favorite musical (although i love man of la mancha quite a bit as well), and i'd enjoy it even if it was an amateur show. one of the best voices in the show belonged to my favorite character, eponine. the main male characters had nice voices, but at times they were somewhat nasal or somewhat weak on the high parts. understandable, since it's not exactly the easiest music to sing, but still. the boy who played gavroche was pretty sad, too. he was too young for the role. he could sing well enough, but he was a very stiff actor. oh well. all in all a good time, though.

so yes, i've been running around a lot lately. last night i didn't get home until around 9:30pm because i was working out with marla, and tonight i don't get home until after 10pm. no rest for the weary. and my eyeballs are still itching like crazy!

i also got the "write-off" phone call last night from wisconsin boy. i was on the other line so i didn't pick up when he called, and he left an "i don't care anymore, don't call me ever again" voice mail. i love how he jumps to conclusions all the time, although i didn't feel like talking to him since he just grunts at me and never really has anything to say. he's having surgery on april 2 to take care of a hernia, and he claims that his parents refuse to help him out financially. he's not working, nor really trying to find work, so he doesn't have much money (although he claims to be "saving" the money he owes me. for what? i have no clue). he says his parents won't help, and all of his grandma's (who might help him out) and his own money is tied up in CDs. what about insurance? what about a loan, from a bank or from his parents? his parents aren't exactly poor, either. i think he's just being whiny and self-absorbed, but what do i know. the short of it is that i'm never going to get my damn money back from him. bastard.

yes, i deserve the i-told-you-so.