Please Fasten Your Seatbelts

*****
And prepare for takeoff.

www.yzbft.blogspot.com

~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

Returning to a Reader Near You!

****
I am awake, I am inspired, I am ready.

T-24 hrs and counting......

~Yvette

Status Update

*****
Hi there. I know that I planned to debut my new blog today, but, I'm running behind schedule. I do have a few days off this week, so I'm planning to work on it. It's like 75% done.

So if you RSS, I'll post a post redirecting you to my new blog. If you don't, you can either keep checking back starting around Wednesday, or just check back on Saturday for sure.

~The Big YZ

Last Blog of the Year

*****
Hi there. I had planned to go out as my verbose self and post a really big blog post. But, that is not going to be the case. So here is the gist of the matter:

I'm really busy living my life.

I need a break from my blog.

I'm tired of pink.

I'm sick and tired of some other crap that's going on in the backstage of my life.

So I'm taking a break from blogging for a while. My tentative return date is sometime between January 21 and February 1. The goal is to have a new look, new links, new focus, just be new. Yet, be more me at the same time. I may or may not have a new address, if I do, I'll post a link.

My resolution for 2008 is to fully embrace my Yvetteness. I'm ready, the haze of the last decade is wearing off. Thank goodness.

As for you, my friends, Happy New Year. Push your boundaries and make them bigger.

~Yvette
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

I Miss You

*****
I miss blogging.

If I could, I would freeze time like Piper just so I'd have more time to blog. There's so much I want to say. It's that big blog. I have bits and pieces of it on paper, but no time to commit it to the computer. Hopefully soon. Stay tuned.

~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

WARNING Contains Foul Language

*****
This was just too funny not to repost. I snatched this off a blog I read.


~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

Right Now, Right Now-Right Now

*****
(Not later-later)

It is absolutely mind-blowing crazy at REI. No time to pause, no time to breathe, no time to think.

Loving it!!!!!!! I love the chaos!!!!!!!!

Bring it.

~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

Random Post

*****
I was really bored today at work, so I took my camera and went outside and shot some pictures. Just because.

Rainy Day

Other than that, I have a big post coming up but not done with it yet. So stay tuned.

Here are pictures with my new Christmas decorations. Enjoy.

~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

iPod Post pt 3

*******
Okay, so I bought my iPod on Wednesday during my lunch break, and was just thrilled. I got it home and plugged it into my computer so I could charge it. After a couple of hours, my new iPod was fully charge, but uh-oh, my computer wasn't recognizing the iPod. Oh shit!!!!

Okay, let me tell you about my computer. I bought it right after I bought my car. I paid off my car this past March. So, in computer years, my computer is..... old. It originally had a 20Gb hard drive, 128Mb of RAM, and still isn't USB 2.0. I've upgraded my hard drive and RAM, but the USB, meh. (I need a new computer, but I'm scared of Vista)
So now I'm ready to go into pitch a fit mode. I'm hoping my only issue the USB thing. I have an open slot in my computer, I guess I could go to CompUSA and buy something to fix it (I sound so gosh darn technical, don't I?) So, I go online to take a look around. Very lucky for me, I am spied online by my friend, fellow cyclist (if I can still call myself one these days), and former colleague Carlos. Carlos knows all things Apple. If he can't help me, I'm screwed.

I tell Carlos my troubles and ask for his assistance. In all his Apple wisdom, he asks me one simple question: What version of iTunes are you running? Hell if I know. So I click Help > About, and check out the version. I'm running v4.0. I heard his laughter from Northern California. The most current version of iTunes is v7.5. I guess I'm a little behind the times. He tells me to update and try again, we'll go from there.

So I download v7.5 and install. Voila!!!! Hello Yvette Z.'s iPod!!!! *whew*

Now my iPod is set up and ready to be filled with all my beautiful music. So what do you think I uploaded first? Take a guess. If you know me, you know my song.

Yes, this is a crappy picture. My batteries in my digital camera died so I took a picture of my iPod with my phone's camera. Here's what it says:

In Your Eyes

Peter Gabriel

So

1 of 1

Of course, after taking the picture, I uploaded the entire album plus a couple others. When I sat down to listen, the first song I listened to was In Your Eyes, and the first album I listened to in it's entirety was So.

As of right now, I have 8 albums loaded for a total of 93 songs. I'll give updates as I gain progress. Oh, and as far as my iPod is concerned, I have 73.6Gb free. I have less than a gig of music on my player, I don't really know where my missing gigs went. *shrug*

~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

iPod News pt 2

*******
First, shout out to my friend Steveo, today is his birthday. Happy birthday Steve, I love you!
(yes, his birthday is Pearl Harbor Day)

So, this is my Christmas present to myself, a new mp3 player, an iPod. An 80Gb iPod. Mmmmmm......music........

Those of you who know me know that I sprang forth from my Mommy's forehead fully formed, singing and dancing A Chorus Line (ONE singular sensation, every little step she takes). I love music. I sing, I dance, I play instruments. When I work, I sing. When I'm at the frontline at REI, I'm dancing. Just ask anyone!!!

I need to be surrounded by music all the time. I do. Once upon a time I used to lug cassette tapes with me wherever I went. Then I graduated to CDs. Carrying a big book of CDs gets really heavy. When the mp3 player came out, I didn't get one right away because they cost more than I could afford. I did buy a disc-man (remember those?) that could read mp3 files, so I converted album after album to mp3 and I could put like 100 songs on a single CD. So then, instead of carrying a big book of CDs, I was carrying a little book of CDs. It was very nice to have all my Peter Gabriel albums on 1 CD.

I did get tired of it though, so I went out and bought myself a little mp3 player. I mean little, like 1Gb. Unfortunately I was only able to put like 200 songs on it. Now, to some of you, 200 songs may sound like alot, but when you listen to it while you're getting ready for work in the AM and then for 8 hours at your desk, after a while it gets really repetitive. My little mp3 player only allowed for one playlist too, I didn't like that. I ultimately wanted to be able to create a playlist for every mood I had: Happy, pissed-off, in a taiko mood, and most famously, when I'm in a wine and cheese mood. Having only the ability to have a certain amount of songs, I had to pick and choose only my favorite 1 or 2 songs off of any certain album. If I got a new CD and wanted to add a song or 2 to my player, I had to vote a song or 2 off the island. The only artist who had total immunity was Peter Gabriel. I hated having to choose. To me it's like having to choose, who do you love more, your cat or your boyfriend? Ugh.

So, with the second job, I was able to save up some dough and get myself something bigger. Okay, I admit, I really wanted the 160Gb one, but the price was pushing my limit. What I want, right now, is to be able to have ALL my music with me, wherever I go, whatever mood I'm in. I'm assuming 80 is going to be enough. I'm going to scream if it's not.

~Vet
"640K ought to be enough for anybody."

I Have An iPod Now

*******

Testy picture, blog post coming soon.

~Vet
"What? What do you mean I'm obsessive? I thought I was just enthusiastic."

I Can't Believe It Myself....

*****
I can't believe that I've got Christmas spirit this year. I'm not anti-Christmas, I love Christmas, but it's still November, and *I* have put up some (but not all) Christmas decorations in my office already. It's unbelieveable. Hopefully pictures will come soon, we'll see. For now, I leave you with this. It's as true in 2007 as it was in 1984.









~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

No, I Am Not Sorry

*****
I hope that didn't come across bitchy, it was not my intention, but I am clearly not apologetic about not blogging. There are not enough hours in my day to blog anymore. On one hand it's very good that my life is busy and filling in so many ways I cannot even begin to describe, but on the other hand it kinda sucks that I'm too busy to share what is going on in my life with you. (Okay, like all 5 of you) I really want to, but a busy girl like me needs her sleep. I went dancing last night with my dance partner Manny, and we had so much fun. We closed the club down and I didn't get home until 2:30. I was awake, and very tempted to log on and tell you about my evening, but my better judgement took hold and told me to take a shower and go straight to bed. And that is exactly what I did. Hopefully I will write more tonight, since I currently have no plans this evening once I get home from work. Don't tell anyone but I am on my lunch break using the computer in the breakroom.

Life is good.

~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

Happy Thanksgiving

Blessings to you all!

(now it's party time with the familia!!!!)

*****
~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

Volunteer Project

*****

Okay, I'm supposed to write about this volunteer project we did this past saturday, but I wanted to go ahead and post the picture of afterwards

From left: Sara, Alyson, Shane (from the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust), Jessica, Richard, me, and Jeri. (Thanks to Sara's friend for taking the picture)

~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

Weekend

*****
How was my weekend? It was jam-packed and fun-filled. Okay not quite exactly, but close. Friday evening I worked, no big surpise. It was fun as usual.

It's strange associating work with fun, but really, it is. Sometimes I stop and try to think back to during my interview and training, and wonder if they used any mind-control techniques on me. I'm reminded of a book I read, a sci-fi medical drama: During a med school application and testing process, this one medical school used subliminal messages on their applicants. If they responded positively, they were accepted, and subsiquently manipulated to have certain view points on world healthcare and research. These things included performing medical research on the homeless in the name of science.

Anyways, I did have a point in there somewhere. I'm not implying that I've been brainwashed, but I am more gung-ho about working at REI than I imagined. Well, there was that moment during my interview with Alyson and Joseph where I broke down crying and told them that if they didn't hire me I would die.... Well, I haven't agreed to drink any Flavor-Aid (to be historically accurate) so I think I'm doing ok.

I believe in the company's environmental practices, and I love that most of my fellow co-workers live these practices in their daily lives outside of REI. I love the outdoors, I guess I'm making up for spending my childhood indoors. I love the smell of being in the mountains- the trees, the grass. All the green, the open space, away from this city I live in. Beautiful majestic rocks, pleasantly reminding me of how tiny I am in God's universe. I love the vastness of the ocean, me sitting on the shore watching the waves come rolling in, the sound of the water smashing against the rocks. I love that I can't see to the other side. Just water to the horizon. It's just so much bigger than me. You would think that feeling so small would be a scary thing, but for me it's not. It's comforting knowing that there is something so huge out there, made in love.

And that's what I want to take care of, and protect.

~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."

Happy Halloween

***
And I am not telling you this to scare you, but the word out on the street is that Lance Armstrong is now dating Ashley Olsen. WTF???????

~Vet
"I am ready. The sky is not the limit."