Sunday, January 06, 2008

2008 starting off busy

Hope everyone I know had a good New Year's. I want to say a big thank-you to all the friends and family who sent me Christmas cards, e-mails, red envelopes with money and special gifts. My not-so-secret Santas gave me lots of goodies. I'm not sure I deserved so much but I'm very happy and grateful. What I found under the proverbial tree:

-A Dwight bobblehead doll (as seen on "The Office") which now is the cornerstone of my office desk
-Two cupcake desk calendars (from two different people). I have one for work and one for at home. Yah!
-A baking tin for mini cupcakes
-a one-cupcake carrier (I'm sure y'all sense a theme here)
-A picture frame
-Soap made in Canada
-Trader Joe's gift card
-an assortment of food colorings to go to town on frosting ideas
-a mechanical pastry bag from Williams-Sonoma (OK, I bought that for myself. It's like Harry Potter buying himself a Nimbus 2000)

Twas a good holiday except for an unwanted visitor in the form of a cold that still lingers. The congestion is affecting how I feel when I run. I got nauseous yesterday after only going three miles. Not good. Hopefully come race day, this Sunday (gulp), I'll feel normal.

Besides thinking about the race, this week, I'll be devoting a lot of time to two Super Bowl oriented stories. In case you haven't heard, the big game is in the city of Glendale, Ariz. this year, which is part of metropolitan Phoenix, the west side. But all the major parties will be in Scottsdale, which is on the east side of the "Valley" that houses all of metro Phoenix. I'm doing a preview of the parties which means I've been going on Web sites for hot-shot men's magazines like Playboy and Maxim. I have to remember to alert my boss every time I have to go to a "questionable" site. My co-worker said he knew someone who wrote about seedy clubs and features for a newspaper. This reporter was always going to weird places under the guise of research. Well, one day, his computer had to go the company IT and they discovered he had downloaded the Paris Hilton sex tape. Couldn't explain himself out of that one and was shown the door. Oops!

The other story I'm working on is just a simple rundown travel story of Super Bowl activities going on and places visitors can check out around metro Phoenix.

The weekend after the PF Chang's marathon is Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. I get that Monday off. Woo-hoo! So, I'm treating myself to a few days away in So-Cal. I plan to do a cupcake crawl and see some old friends, and possibly my younger cousin Wilson.

Then the last weekend of January, I have a high school friend coming to visit. Not sure what I can show her around Phoenix but I'll do my best. Wow, measured in this way, February seems like it's just outside my door.

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