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Hello everyone!

I just wanted to pop on in here on this historic day of days. Scott Brown is in the senate, and I hope that this is a message that rings loud and clear to the rest of the country. It's been an exciting day, and I wanted you all to know that I played my part by voting for him! :-D ;-)

The Fellow did English translations at a well known Japanese company for a while.(He is American) We would talk during the wee hours of the morning (for me) because he would need to ask me about certain technical or science concepts in order to accurately translate them, etc. (At least, that was the excuse that he gave!) He also taught English at a firm that was specifically for teaching English to regular people and business people. From what I understand through The Fellow, the Japanese are very friendly and hospitable, but also very nationalistic, which is why it's so hard to get a job if you are a foreigner. The also have all sorts of very particular social and etiquette rules. When we go out to grab Soba noodles or other Japanese food, (there are some authentic Japanese food stalls in Boston) he drives me crazy when he slurps his noodles, (this is OK in Japan) and I drive him crazy because I do lots of rude things with chopsticks. Once I was in San Jose and we were eating in Japan town. I tried grabbing sushi from his chopsticks (he was passing it to me) aaaand apparently that's something that you only do at funerals. ooops. (I say just give me a darn fork... I burn more calories than I consume just getting the food from my plate to my mouth!)

I'm a little uneasy with things that are Japanese for personal reasons. The Fellow misses Japan terribly, so I always find real Japanese things for him for Christmas or his birthday. I've discovered just about every Japanese owned restaurant in Boston as well. (there are only a handful) So, in my own way, I do try, and I absorb what cultural tidbits he passes on. :-)(Even though he thinks that I don't!). I would like to visit someday. If we go to the wedding, we'll be in Tokyo for a bit, then the Okinawa prefecture somewhere. (February is not the best time to go!)

Hey Tuffy!

The Fellow lived in Japan for three years while teaching English. Is your nephew American? (Please don't take offense) From what I understand, it's extremely difficult to be non-japanese and get a job other than teaching English or doing English translation. Kudos to your nephew. Is your brother-in-law on Okinawa? I have a friend whose husband is stationed there. The whole family moved over there this summer. They're living on the military base there.

I'm so sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. Cancer is a scary road. I'll say a few prayers.

I'll happily post some photos when I get a chance today. Not sure when that'll be but I'll be sure to Ping you.

Hi Tuffy!

I'm hanging in there. Life has thrown me a couple of curve balls that I'm not quite prepared for, but life is tricky like that. Poland was a blast and one of the greatest experiences that I have ever had. The Fellow has a friend in Japan who is getting married, and we may or may not go to the wedding. That will be exciting if we do. I've spent a lot of time traveling back and forth to Chicago because The Fellow was at business school, but I haven't set foot on a plane since June.

It's good to hear from you. I'm sorry about your pony. You did a fantastic job managing his Cushings for all of this time.

I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. If I don't hear from you, have a very Merry Christmas. The same goes for everyone.

Hello everyone!

Remember me? :-)

It looks like it's been a while since anyone has posted here. Life has been difficult and keeping me busy so I haven't had any time for freeping at all. I just wanted to poke my head in and see if anyone was up to anything. I miss you ladies, and think of you. I lurk on Hair's Baywind forum, but don't post. Hair has done a fantastic job. Here it's, I don't know, cozy.
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Are you gearing up for Christmas at all? I'm already hearing Christmas songs on the radio. They didn't even wait until after Thanksgiving on some stations. We just had our first snow fall last night, only an inch or two, but it's starting to feel more like "The season".

Hi Frog!

Great pics! Life is ok. Still employed, but the job is the pits... but at least I'm still employed. I chant the mantra every time I walk in the door! The Fellow is great, he will be graduating in June, but he is having trouble finding a job. I'm worried about him. I was just in Chicago this past weekend at a formal that his school hosted. There was a pro photographer and we got some decent pics. If I can get my hands on the electronic copies, I'll post them. In two weeks we're dashing off to Poland for a week. We're staying in Cracow for a few days in a very nice hotel, and then we'll be staying with some of his extended family. That will be interesting. He promised to take me to see a castle! And apparently there is an underground salt mine that has shops and places to eat and things? I will be sure to get pictures. I'm excited and terrified all at the same time. I've never been abroad before.

I've been lurking over at the baywind forum, but I haven't joined. Hair did a wonderful job, though. (And Ecrubh too!) I prefer the format of this forum... and plus I know everyone. I miss everyone too!

Hi everyone,

Just thought that I would pop in to say hello! Looks like there hasn't been any activity on the thread lately. I hope that everyone is well!

Spring weather would be lovely. We’re in the teens right now but on Sunday we had sixty degree weather. Go figure. The Fellow wants to go on a trail ride. I don’t feel right taking him on one because he’s never been on a horse before and these aren’t straight and level trails. We sometimes have to bushwhack it a la “Man From Snowy River”, and I’m afraid of him falling off. The last time that I was out, I almost got knocked off of my horse from a fallen tree branch. The lead horse went cantering down the hill and my horse felt it was necessary to hurry up and follow. However, I’m not worried about the horse being unsafe, I’m worried about him being unsafe because of balance and being able to control the horse. I worry about him getting left behind if his horse decided to get fast going up or down a hill- and we have some pretty steep hills. We know how to anticipate what a horse is going to do, so we can be ready, but maybe I just worry too much. He thinks that he’ll be fine, but you know men and their egos! :-)

I forgot to tell everyone:

A couple of weeks ago, our barn took a trip to a private fancy pants warmblood farm, where this woman and her daughter have BEAUTIFUL horses. Most of their horses were young stock, mostly colts and fillies. but you could tell that they were going to grow up to be lovely movers. Lots of style and class. She wants to start a quadrille group, and we'll get to ride her horses. If everything pans out, it'll be quite the opportunity!

How are things with you guys? We’re getting hammered with snow(again!). Another 6 inches. We got slammed two weekends ago with more than a foot- it snowed for three days. I had to go to Boston to pick up the Fellow and it took 4 hours total. It was awful. I’m hoping that the weather is nice this weekend so that I can put him up on a horse. We’ve been trying to do it every time that he is out here, but have failed for one reason or another.

Hello everyone!

Becky, enjoy those blinds! They sound nice.

How has everyone been? I've been busy, which is why I haven't been on, but clearly I need to change that! I've missed everyone. Christmas was great, and now I'm gearing up for the new year. The Fellow has been home for a couple of weeks, and it has been good to have him around. He leaves on Sunday, and I'm already missing him. I'll be flying back and forth to Chicago to see him until he graduates, and hopefully we'll settle someplace once he does. It will probably be somewhere in MA or North Carolina.

Other than travels, nothing much has changed. Still have the same job, I finished up a business class this semester that was a lot of fun, and I'm trying to plan for a trip to Poland in March, if finances hold out. (I've never been outside of the country if you don't count Canada)

I've been trying to get out to ride when I can. I go to my trainer's and hack around and trail ride. With some of my health problems, I've been wiped out, and I've really taken it easy with the ponies, but I'm starting to feel better. I had my first lesson in a loong time last week, and it was good for me, but I felt it later!

I hope that everyone has a very merry new year!

Hi ladies,

Just checking in. Hope that everyone is well!

Hello everyone. Long time no see!

Life here has been a whirlwind of busy. I honestly haven't stopped since I got back from California in August. I will get around to posting pictures when I can. I've been very busy at work. They have me doing double duty doing my (real) job as a chemist and my other job as project lead for an internal customer thing that they are trying to set up for one of their products. It's extremely high profile, and between the two I've been working six days a week since I came back. They're finally giving me the outside support that I need (after a year) and it should be done by the beginning of December. And oh yeah, I'm also taking a graduate class in Business Management. I knew it was nuts, but I needed something to boost my self esteem. We'll see if it works.

I'm heading out to Chicago to see The Fellow in about a week and a half. He's finishing his last year getting his MBA at the U of C, and that has me in limbo too, because I don't know where we're going to end up. I'll send more in a Freepmail.

Hahaha yes :-)

I did get some gorgeous hiking pictures from castle rock.

That's an adorable little kitty. Did I ever tell you about my Possum story?

This was about oh... 8 years ago. There was a Very Large possum who had gotten himself tangled in a bread bag in the bottom of one of our trash cans. We fought over who was going to get it out, and in the end, I was the only one who lost. I put on a pair of thick leather gloves and reached in and gingerly shook the possum out of the bag, then shrieked and retreated a few feet. (Just because) I then went back and tipped the barrel over, and as I did so he started scrambling to get out. I shrieked again and leapt out of the way and beat it back to the porch, but there was a huge disconnect between my brain and my feet and I just couldn't get them to move fast enough. I think that Mr. Possum and I kept pace for a few feet, at least that the way my family tells it.

I’m right smack dab in the middle of silicon valley, right off of a part of El Camino Real. Every day when I drive the Fellow to work, I pass by places like Ebay and Yahoo, and SanDisk. It’s crazy. I’ve gotten used to driving around here, as long as I’m very careful about changing lanes, and try to plan ahead while picking them. I have a GPS with me, and that is immensely helpful. In many ways, the roads here make more sense than out in MA, and are definitely more clearly marked. However, often the right lane will suddenly end in a ramp, even on the main roads, and I’ve gotten sucked into god knows where many times already. And the ramps are banked too. That’s interesting. The highways are different out her because in MA, you can use the right lane to both get on and off the highway and to travel in... and I think that CA is the only place that I’ve been where the right lane is used only to get on and off the highway more often than not.

Hi ladies!

This is kind of a drive by posting, but I wanted to check in. I'm back in CA and having a great time. The Fellow has given me the car while he is at work, and driving around here is a scary/wow/insert exclaimation here experience. It's day two and I THINK that I'm getting used to it. But don't quote me. The freeways should be called free for all-ways. We went for a hike at Castle Rock state park and it was gorgeous.

It’s strange how the HF went offline so abruptly. I liked to read it for the popcorn factor. :-D

Hi ladies!

I'm going to try to get on here more often, I swear. Work has kept me quite busy- I've been pulling 50 hour weeks plus Saturdays. There has been a lot of drama going on (involving me no less), only no one will tell me what I've done WRONG, so thus I can't fix it. All that I've been told is that I can be abrupt, which people don't like, but neither my boss nor my section leader will cite examples when I have asked them to. So now I preface everything with "I'm not trying to be abrupt, rude, (insert whatever you want here)". That also stresses me out. What one must understand, though, is that I am probably the most polite person that you will ever come across, and it appalls me that I've made my coworkers "uncomfortable". I don't understand, and I don't know what to do, so I've stopped saying much all together, and just do my job and go home. It's all awful. I'm doing the very best job that I can, doing two jobs infact, with my real job as a chemist, and my other job as database project lead, and I just don't understand why my boss is trying to make my life as miserable as possible.

Whew. Anyway.

I've finally started going back to the barn. I go to work on Saturday as early as possible so that I can get out by 11 and dash down to the barn. I rode the App. mare for the first time today, and it was uneventful, mostly because it was really hot out and she didn't want to expend any more energy than she had to. This is fine by me, but it has also given me a false sense of security. :-) She has waaay more go than stop, but I kind of like that (a little). It's different, because I usually prefer horses with a more laid back alpha personality. My trainer told me to treat her like you would a TB, because she's just like a hot headed TB, only with spots. So I should have plenty of interesting stories to come. :-)