Happy Birthday Honey!!!!!

Honey turned 2 years old today, March 3rd, 2007. She looks so Happy in this picture. And look, I have a little lawn growing in my small yard.

For her birthday, we checked out a new dog run in Dublin. It is in the center playa of a very large condo community. Its like a small town within the city of Dublin. Papa Dan is playing chuck-it with Honey, one of her favorite activities.

One of my favorite things about Honey is her submissive behavior towards all other dogs, kids and adults. She is very loving and always takes on the submissive role in the relationship. I have seen her coward down to a 5 lb., 13 year old, miniature poodle with only two teeth. She is such a good girl.

Our favorite thing about the dog park is that Honey runs all of her energy out leaving us with a very peaceful evening. Rat Terriers have a great deal of energy and usually don't grow out of it until they reach 5 years of age. Daily walks and weekend visits to the dog park seem to do the trick.

So this is where I spend most of my time, my new job. I am a Help Desk Support Specialist for the Information Systems Department which means I take on all types of hardware and software support issues. We have doubled in size, now 300 employees as we have merged with another company in the past few weeks. 95% of the employees are off site which means I tackle the problems remotely. Its been a lot of fun and a great learning experience.

This is our server room, much smaller than where I got my IT experience at Acumed.

This is the coolest part of the server room, its a collection of energy drinks. A third shelf has been started in the 2nd portion of the server room to add to the collection. These guys have bought energy drinks from all over the world, its pretty awesome.

My latest project was to set up this Polycom video conference system. As you can see, the snapshot shows three picture in picture, I just called the guy on the left (he's in Texas and doesn't know me) but I called him anyways. This system will allow Management to meet from three different locations so that they can have in-person meetings without the cost of flying to each location. The monitor is 36" HDTV LCD and we have been begging our boss to let us bring in the Wii for testing purposes only.

This is our IS Department office, I work with two other people, Mike and Don. Its a bit of a boys club but most of I.T./I.S. is that way. Boys are stinky!!!

This is me at my desk! I have a terrible habit of not wearing makeup to work. I am still working on that.

And this is today's sky above my work! LOL. Just thought this was pretty.

Hello from San Francisco! This weekend we had a wonderful surprise visit from Mom and Tim. On Saturday, the ladies took in some shopping and lunch. On Sunday, we gathered together at the Fisherman's Wharf. Early celebrations had began and some children were adorn in clothing fit for the Chinese New Year (the year of the pig), Happy New Year from Chinatown. Pier 1 was filled with bicycles, healthy strong people and an enthusiastic energy as the city celebrated the Tour of California. Tour of California began in San Francisco today and is an eight-day, 600 mile bicycle race across the state.

Mom and I meeting up at the Embarcadero Station.

Tim and Gary at the starting point of our day, Pier 1. Tim is happy to be visiting the city where he grew up.


Mom, Tim and Daniel...Alcatraz is the island to the left of Tim.

Uncle Gary finds his heart in San Francisco.

I am thrilled at how well the seagull posed for me. Its as if she wanted her photo taken.

Every visit to the wharf means a visit with the seals. The background is pretty cool.



Dan gets bibbed up for a crab and chowder lunch at the Crab House.

Tim, Mom and Valerie taking in the view and enjoying the sunshine.

Alisha and Dan, its good to be home.

Me, taking a moment to watch the tulips bloom.

Coit Tower and a crappy sign that I need to photoshop out of this picture. Coit Tower sits on top of Telegraph Hill. We walked from Pier 39 to Pier 1. This was one of the many views we passed along the way back to the Bart Station. A common tourist trip is to walk up to the top of the Coit Tower. Dan and I made the journey once in 1998.

My Mom, "I like Bling Bling".

A day in San Francisco is a day filled with expressionism and art.

I enjoy the lighting in this photo.

A trolley passes by.

Mom and Tim, leaving the City. We love you and are so grateful that you came down this weekend.

Happy 1st Birthday Logan!!! We had a great time at Chuck E Cheese. I took over 100 pictures so I thought I would share a few. Interesting enough, the kids were awesome with the camera. Each one of them posed like pro's. However, I could not seem to figure out how to get the adults to behave. I had tongues sticking out at me and aggrivated smiles from the Grandparents, very interesting indeed.

Jim and Michelle, the proud parents of Logan.

Austin, Logans older brother, gettin' down with Chuck.

That was some cake!

Alisha and Logan!

Hello from Redwood City! Dan had an interview at Electronic Arts in Redwood City this past week. I went along for the ride and snuck off to take a few pictures. EA is located on Redwood Shores Blvd which leads to a shore line and some pretty awesome homes. I found one that I want but it had a hefty price tag of 1.5 million. Maybe someday but not today.

This is the San Mateo Bridge, drops into Foster City. The bridge is going over the San Francisco Bay. The bridge is south of San Francisco.

Some of the locals hanging out on the EA campus.

Me hanging out at the Redwood shores park next to my million dollar home.

For Christmas, I bought two Rubik's cubes knowing if there were any two people in the world that could figure out the cube, it would be Daniel and cousin Aaron. Sure enough, both of them have solved the Rubik's. It took several hours for both of them but Dan is now able to solve the cube in under 90 seconds...Amazing. Sorry, no pics or stats of cousin Aaron, maybe later! Brilliant, I tell ya, they are brilliant.

California has been good for me so far...I have lost 15 lbs since we moved, almost five months. Its a slow loss but I'll take it. A few things have changed about my diet program. Weight Watchers has been cancelled and Sparkpeople.com has been adopted to replace WW. I recently found sparkpeople and just love it. Best part, its FREE!!! They offer many more articles and awesome how-to videos for all types of workouts. Instead of tracking points, you track calories so its the same type of formula. The great thing about sparkpeople is that its for virtually anyone, whether you are wanting to lose weight or just be healthier. Sparkepeople offers an array of stuff to interact with, so you can choose an intense program or something very simple.

I am still involved in Kickboxing and love it! I finally fit into all the clothes that I wore just before we moved to Oregon. So I have officially lost all of my Oregon fat...LOL. Now its time to shed the California fat.

http://sparkpeople.com/

This is me 15 lbs thinner! To be honest, I don't really see a difference here but the shirt actually fits me now. I'm also wearing cargo pants which doesn't offer much flattery.

I love my sweet puppy!

The San Jose Sharks game was a blast!

Before the Game!

Sharks enter the tank! Go CheeChoo!!

Happy Holidays! This years memorabilia ornament is the San Jose glowing teal ball. Each year we buy an ornament that resembles the past years significance. This year we came for the technology but stayed for the Sharks. I started this collection when I graduated High School so I have many years worth of memories that dangle from our tree. Happy New Year from Nor Cal.

Merry Christmas!

Alisha and Logan, Dec. 2006. One of the sweetest boys I know.

Why does Honey always look guilty? And, where are my shoes?

Happy Holidays from the Meloy family!

Yeah, that's right, I'm calling myself a Meloy. Why? Because I can that's why. I want to be a Meloy but without the wedding hooplah. I guess as long as I'm not filling out a credit application, I can call myself whatever I want. And besides, you're just a blog, I don't have to explain myself to you. See below for some family fun holiday photos, ok, mostly they are of me...but whatever, for me a camera adds about 5 lbs of beauty so I am not shy.

The balcony construction appears to be somewhat complete. Once in a while a contstruction worker can be found jumping on the railing, measuring and even sawing off pieces of what was re-constructed. Our patio door does not shut all the way as a big 2X4 is in the middle of the entrance. Luckily we have our own gate to cover the gap so Honey doesn't run off. We should be seeing this fixed and some fresh paint here shortly. It has started to rain though, what a pisser!!! So we may have to live like this for a while.

Happy Holiday Shopping!!!

Dan and I spent the day Christmas shopping in San Jose. First stop, San Jose Shark Tank. Dan and I are big Hockey fans, we have been watching the Sharks for years and now we live less than 30 minutes from where they play locally. I surprised Dan with a Shark visit today where we bought some fine Sharks attire! I then bought two tickets to the game for December 26th. SSSShhhhh, it's a surprise for Christmas. Don't worry, he never reads my blog...LOL. I know, I am the most kick ass girlfriend to date.

Dan's new San Jose Sharks hat, sporting the teal in front of the Sharks Tank.

Now this is how you get your man to enjoy Christmas shopping.

Me, squinting on a sunny, beautiful December day...I love California!!! By the "weigh" (lol), I have lost 5 lbs on Weight Watchers as of today. I am in my 5th week so I am averaging a 1.5 lb loss per week. Yay me!!!