What I love! | Peaches Prattlings

{May 5, 2016} A special meal just for Lil Ole me?

You bet your sweet bippie!

I checked into the Hilton at the airport using the digital key for the first time, too cool! Then, when room service was a busy went down to the bar and dug in.

I asked about vegan options and was batting zero when the chef cane out. What would I like? Well, something with no meat or dairy, how about the eggplant?

“We are debuting a new menu, I can make you something from it…a vegan, gluten-free pizza”. What? Yes, please!

I started with minestrone, it was ok, then the pizza came out. It was a small personal pizza with eggplant, sauce and vegan cheese, fabulous! It was the vegan cheese I am not crazy about, but I had a pizza and it read made just for me!

The chef came out and asked how I liked it, I said it was great, that this wasn’t my favorite cheese, but I really enjoyed it! So thankful and happy! Yum!

I couldn’t finish it all, guess what’s for breakfast!

{May 4, 2016} Happy Hour and Dinner

It wad a good day, ended very nicely.

After a good day of training, I joined the team for happy hour at a bar near the office. It was great, I met more people, got to know others better and blend in even more.

Our numbers started to dwindle and eventually, there were just a few of us left. MS, the implementation lead and very smart man who brought me on to the project, and I left to get some dinner.

We went to a great place called La Scarola,
http://www.lascarola.com/. It is an Italian restaurant, two rooms, but small almost hole on the wall feeling. The place was packed and the got us at one of the last tables in the corner in front of the window.

It was a little get to know each other, what are my goals, where to you see yourself, that sort of thing. Then it was families, travel, life outside of work, quite enjoyable. It’s nice when you have the opportunity to get to know someone one on one, away from everything else, better working relationship.

We had grilled calamari, I ate some, it was really good, but I think that might be it for me for calamari. It was Italian and I went for it, eggplant parmigiano, fabulous mistake! So good, but so bad. I couldn’t finish any of it, the portions were huge! Looking for someone who might be hungry today!

By the time we finished it was about ten pm, time to catch a cab and head back to our respective domiciles.

I put on my jammies and started talking to you and let’s just say I was so tired I dozed off a few times trying to finish!

But I did it and now…zzzzzzz

PS…Maybe the fourth be with you!

{May 4, 2016} Ask and ye shall receive. I did and I did!

Today I was talking to someone and I said that I wanted to go to a White Sox game while I was here in Chicago.

I don’t know if you remember me telling you about going to a Cubs game two years ago with KLS. I was telling someone about going to sporting events in the city I am working in. I was talking to a coworker as another walked by and asked if I would like to go to White Sox game tonight. Suweet!

So…I’m going to a Sox game, awesome! Guess who they’re playing…the Boston Red Sox! Omg! Guess who won!

Ask and ye shall receive. I did!

{May 2, 2016} OMG! YUM! Happy Happy!

It’s the little things, right?

I told you about the vegan restaurant I found last week, Native Foods, and then chicken salad and peanut butter pudding, which was fabulous. Well…

Today, I went back for exactly what I wanted…a vegan ruben and oh my goodnesss, it was freaking fantastic! I’m not kidding! It had Seiten “meat”, sourkraut, thousand island dressing and cheese, on rye bread. The “meat” looked real, the cheese was made from cashews. I couldn’t believe it!

I accompanied the sandwich with sweet potato fries and never even got to the oatmeal pie for dessert, I ate the second half of the sandwich. Yes, it was that good!

Tomorrow? Again? Maybe! It’s the little things, right?

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{May 2, 2016} I’m not sure they could have cut that any closer!

Don’t you just love flight delays?

Friday’s delay was delightful because of my dear friend RJS. Today, not so much.

The flight was scheduled to take off at 4:50pm, we were on the plane, settled in and at some point they came over the loudspeaker to tell us there was a delay due to a faulty wire. Oh goody.

“We’re only six minutes behind”. Uh huh..and six turned to seven, turned to eight, turned to…

We arrived about the time my next flight was just starting to board, great. Luckily people actually listened when the flight attendants asked people to stay in their seats if Cincinnati was their final destination.

All well and good if we actually get to a gate. Which happened eventually…not to worry we were four gates away, about a five minute walk, with only minutes to spare.

But…we made it, took off and about 47 minutes later we landed in Chicago and here I am at The Palmer House hotel, snuggled in, eating a contraband apple, glorious, writing to you and when I’m done, sleep, well, try…

Sweet dreams my friends!

{April 30, 2016} A crazy, wonderful at home day.

Back to life on the road…ahhh…

When you’re a road warrior, as it were, meaning that you are on the road each week, for some it’s one or a few days a week, for me, as you know, it’s 100%, Monday thru Thursday or Friday and depending on the training or go-live schedule, it could be weeks in a row.

That being said, when you’re on the road that much, your home time is precious, you want to get things done and you seem to jam a lot of stuff in a short amount of time, you get good at it.

Today, I thought…I was at least going to get to sleep in, after the first week on the project, I could have used it. Well, what I thought and the fur beasts thought was different. It was barely 6am…really? Sigh

I got up and protested by not getting out of bed until at least 7:30/8am, so there, take that! I got up, gathered all items for laundry, I didn’t think it was going to be that much, but someone..not saying who, Jymy or Peanut…puked on my blankets, ick.

Laundry collected, check. I bought this giant rolling suitcase when I was in Colorado to bring stuff back and let me tell you, keeping it! It’s perfect to get my laundry, including blankets to the laundromat. Yessireeebob!

First order of business…food. I have no eggs in the house, so to the local diner I go,[ after a stop at the drug store to pick up a prescription. [IF I didn’t have insurance it would have been over $1000! Omg!]. Then breakfast. While eating, got some work done, gotta fit it in somewhere!

After breakfast head back to the apartment to pick up the laundry and head to the washers. The place was packed! I missed out on the giant washers, so two medium washers. One giant dryer and one medium. Two hours later I was done, the comforter took forever!

I took a picture of a set of socks GES got me for Chanukah. One of the women on the team had a shirt on that almost matched. Then we showed off our socks, it was goofy, I know! So, I sent the picture to her!

What did you think this post a about with a picture of socks

Back home, drop off laundry, grab grocery bags, head to the store. Eggs: check, litter: check, other stuff I don’t really need: check!

Back to the house, clean, clean, clean: litter box, bathroom, vacuum, bedroom. Clean…ahhh… somewhere in there I made egg salad and veggies chicken salad, fabulous!

All of a sudden it was 7pm and time to meet GES, ACS and some other friends to break Passover. What does that mean? Bread!!! Pasta! Bread!!! It was a lot of fun, always it, friends out, grownup conversation and silliness.

Back to the apartment, thinking about putting the laundry away and what I might need to pack for the week. Washing and folding is easy..putting away is hard! [Same thing for the dishwasher!]

Now, I am writing you and shortly, I will settle in, turn off the lights, watch Netflix until I fade out completely! Tomorrow is another day, heading back out to the client site. Who wants to come with me?

{April 29, 2016} A travel day treat!

Today was a travel day, heading back to Boston.

My very dear friend RJS was traveling to Chicago this weekend for a conference and we realized we would be like ships passing in the night, my flight was leaving at 3:30pm and she was getting in at 4pm.

As I go to the airport I got notice that my flight was delayed, guess who I texted first! Perfect, she was just landing!

She came into another terminal and decided to come my way and hang out with me while I waited for my flight. Fabulous!

We found each other, hugged a bunch then went to get something to seat, tea and fruit tarts, yum! Not to worry my Passover following friends, I only ate the fruit and custard. Tee hee hee. Guess who got to eat the crust, lucky girl!

This visit was fantastic and made my wait all the better! Ah…

I hope you have the best time RJS!!

{April 28, 2016} What a day! It started blech…and got better!

When I say it started early, I wasn’t kidding. 3:30AM! Yes, I said 3:30AM!

I am staying at a hotel I really like in Chicago on my new project, The Palmer House, http://www.palmerhousehiltonhotel.com/about-our-hotel/. It’s a grand and historic hotel, I don’t know if you remember me telling you about the weekend I spent in Chicago about two years ago.

I checked in, headed up to my room, changed into my jammies and settled in to eat some dinner and get some work done. I was tired and crashed out early, you know, for me that’s about 11:30pm/12am. There were loud voices coming from one of the rooms, I didn’t see anyone in the hallway and let it go.

At 3:30AM when I woke the voices were still going and getting louder, including the room across the hall. I can’t believe it, but I “narc-ed”, I called down to the front desk to voice my concern. I don’t think they actually sent security up to do anything about it, because the only thing I heard was more voices coming down the hall, calling out room numbers, looking for…yup, the room across the hall.

I opened the door and they just looked at me, no apologies, gee thanks. When I closed the door, I heard them continue to knock and the people inside the room, talking and “shush”ing. Please shut up!

And…as you know, with my trouble with insomnia, I couldn’t fall back asleep, pook. I did fall asleep about 6am for an hour, it was a glorious hour!

Ok, so that was the start. Then…when I went to take a shower…after 15 minutes I gave up and took a sponge bath in the sink, fun, at least there was hot water. I got dressed and headed to the office, it should take about 20 minutes.

I missed my turn, the sign is very small, so, I walked the quarter mile back to my turn and then on to the office. I really didn’t want to be late and…I wasn’t. It was a decent walk and it added to my steps, priorities you know. The flowers are all in bloom.

The training day was good, I learned a lot, got to know people even better, welcomed a new person and I trained them on what I learned yesterday, pretty cool!

After work, I walked back to the hotel, no issues this time! I decided to say something, so I ended up at the front desk talking to a manager, told him what happened last night and this morning. He upgraded me to a king room on the executive level, you know…need a key to get onto the elevator and it’s a special elevator that holds just a few people, with a bench, love it!

Part of the reason for noises is that the NFL Draft is happening in Chicago, this weekend and a bunch of them are staying at this hotel! Go figure! Sorry, I don’t know football players, couldn’t tell you who is here, but there are some massive guys walking around the hotel, blocking the doorways!

I went up to my new room…ahhhh. Then off to find some dinner and found a fabulous vegan restaurant, Native Foods Cafe, https://www.nativefoods.com/. I’m looking forward to going next week to get something in sandwich form! I got a chicken salad and a peanut butter pudding for dessert, just finished it, fabulous! And I feel great! All vegan! Wahoo!

On the way back to the hotel, I gave a homeless guy the rest of my salad, it felt good to be able to share my meal with someone who was in need. I missed that from my days in Michigan.

When I got in, I decided to take a shower, just to be on the safe side, in case I have the same problem in the morning and it was hot and glorious! Fingers crossed I don’t have an issue in the morning.

So…the day started out not so great, improved along the way, Hilton pulled it out and I had a great meal and now I’m sitting here talking to you, what could be better? Please keep your fingers crossed I get to sleep past 3, 4, 5, 6am even!

{April 28, 2016} A new project!

I am on a new project and I’m excited about it!

I am sure I’ve told you that I’m a software trainer, I’m not sure what else I’ve told you. As a trainer, I’ve trained on a multitude of applications for different industries, soft drinks to transportation to electronic medical records, variety is the spice of life after all!

Each time I get a new project, especially when it’s for something I know nothing about, it’s a new opportunity with a new set of challenges. It can be scary and exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time!

I am coming later to the project, the other trainers have been here for several weeks, participating in T3 or Train The Trainer. This is where the experts teach the trainers what they will be training on.

Today, I arrived and hit the ground running! I was paired with a trainer that’s leaving the project and she ran through several classes in a few hours. Now, keep in mind, when I teach, these classes will last all day, they just want me to have a glimpse and understanding of the application. It was a lot to take in on 3 hours of sleep, but I think I’ve got a good start.

Tomorrow is more of the same and then Friday or Monday, at the latest, I will join the other trainers to sit through their teach backs. This is where they teach the experts what they’ve been taught, to get the opportunity to present the material, have others watch and give feedback. I’m looking forward to that, the full class in action.

I will be co-training the first week, that’s the week of May 9th and the following week I’m on my own! I have one week and two days to get ramped up! Can I do it? I’m up for the challenge!

{April 26, 2016} The day started in a tube and ended in a stadium

Or, I could say it started and ended with imaging, so to speak.

I keep hearing The Muppet Show announcer “The continuing saga” of a nauseous girl. I saw the GI yesterday who I continue to perplex, go me! She still has no idea what’s causing the nausea, so next step…gall bladder. Huh? Ok

Today, I went in for a gall bladder emptying study. I know, you’re excited and on the edge of your seat! This was similar to the gastric emptying, as in no eating four hours prior to the test and time in an open MRI machine.

What there was not…food! At least with the gastric emptying, they feed me. This one, nor so lucky. So, four plus hours after breakfast, start test, food came three hours later, what? Ok

They start with an IV, saline and then the dye, which, let me tell you, that saline is cold and felt weird going through my shoulder. A new experience. Then they lie me down and put me into the imaging machine and monitor my gall bladder as I go night night, and a hour later, what a nap! Did they see my gall bladder and intestine? Yup, no blockage.

I had to sit cross legged in the chair while I waited to go to imaging, my feet didn’t quite touch the floor. No jokes from the peanut gallery, thank you!

Next, wake up and the nurse comes in to give you the medication in your IV. Wait, wait, wait. Then she attaches, but we wait for the technician to start whatever else needs to be started. Wait, wait, wait.

Lay back down, start the machine and…no nap for this hour, unfortunately, sleep did not come, oh well, at least Netflix did!

When it was over, buh bye, that’s it. Away I went, in search of…yes, you guessed it! Food! I found a Starbucks in the lobby of the hospital, go figure, and got a cup of fruit. Go figure, the only thing I could have from there, remember, it’s Passover, was the one thing that made me more nauseous! I can have certain fruits in moderation, good apparently was too much! Oh well, tasted good!

Now that that’s over, on to the fun…spending time with my sister, just us, well us and over 100 of her closest friends. No, I’m kidding. The Dana Farber Cancer Institute, which I’ll have you know is the place that saved my sister’s life, was hosting an event for people who have done fundraising for the organization.
http://www.dana-farber.org/mobile/default.aspx

It was hosted at Fenway Park, I know, two Yankee fans in Red Sox territory, amazingly enough, we survived!

It started with a tour of the stadium, the Green Monster seating and my favorite part, the rooftop garden. It’s approximately 1800 square feet and brings in about 5000 pounds of fresh produce each year! The vegetables are used in the EMC restaurant. Now that’s green!

After the tour, there were drinks and appetizers at the club level. You could tell there were quite a few people celebrating passover because there were slider buns still in the trays and the meat was gone. They did have some black bean/quinoa burgers, little kick, but good, I was just happy to have a little something.

After the cocktail hour, we went upstairs to the EMC Restaurant for dessert and talks. There were five main speakers, the opening speaker was a three time survivor and the four who followed were doctors and researchers all giving a “Ted Talk” of sorts about exciting things happening in research and the fight or race to find a cure for cancer.

It was fascinating to hear what they had to say, how they each had a story to tell, some how they were touched by their patients and the strides and contributions not just by them but by the entire medical and research communities and Dana Farber, not just what it represents, but what it means to so many people.

After they all spoke there was a question and answer period, then discussions at our own tables.

It really was interesting and eye opening and anything that supports my sister works for me!

After the event we walked to the train station, said goodbye and went our separate ways, literally.

Here I am to tell you all about it and my day, share pictures and then get some sleep, the alarm is coming very early and I have a new project starting tomorrow, I’ll tell you all about it…tomorrow!

Goodnight!

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