"You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star." - Nietzsche

Strike that last entry...

2005-04-13T06:13:35Z

Soooooo...

It turns out that I'm not going to be moving to my own hosted blog, The Fenix's Nest, because of technical issues and also the need to eat our own dogfood.

I'm actually going to move to Yahoo 360. It's pretty sweet - it's basically a combination of Friendster with Yahoo's own properties, like Launch, Yahoo email and IM, Yahoo Photo Album, and Yahoo Groups, with blogging capabilities thrown in. It's still in Beta stage, and as such has a definite early-adopter feel to it, but even at this stage, the possibilities are quite apparent.

Anyway, if you're feeling up to it, drop by and say "hi" at my new site: http://360.yahoo.com/aerin!

Moving time!

2005-03-08T15:43:05Z

I started my new job at Yahoo yesterday, and as part of my fresh start, I'm moving my blog over to my own domain. If for some reason you want to keep tabs on my life, feel free to drop by sometime.

My main site, www.fenixfire.net, is still sorely underdeveloped, but I made a resolution to get it all up and running by the end of this year.

Why? Mostly because I'm hankering to be creative, and this gives me an outlet. I also think it wouldn't hurt to understand the mechanics of how sites are made. Even though it's very "Bubble-era" of me, I truly believe we've only scratched the surface of how the Internet is going to change our individual lives and the course of humanity as a whole. I believe this with all my soul, and I want to be an integral part of that change. As such, it's only fitting that I understand as much about this thing I believe in as I can, both on the surface and under the hood.

Anyway, goodbye LJ. I'll miss the cute little emoticons and the easy to use "Friends" aggregation screen. Say hello to The Fenix' Nest!

Super Toys Last All Summer Long

2005-03-03T19:40:36Z

Here's an interesting new toy from Microsoft that reminds me a bit of the short story that served as the basis for Spielberg's "AI".

fenix808 @ 2005-02-24T11:52:00

2005-02-24T19:53:10Z

I am become Shiva, destroyer of worlds.

Not quite as funny...

2005-02-21T02:15:11Z

...as the blue screen of death we saw on the MGM Grand's billboard during an early trip to Vegas, but still slightly humorous.

I'm in the market for a nice wedding album to (finally) put all our wedding pictures in, now that it's been a whole year since the event. So I went to Martha Stewart Weddings since they have some nifty ideas and nice products and searched for albums.

With Martha doing her time, it looks like QC over at the company is falling down on the job. Somebody half-assed the Marthasflowers.com banner ad and published it without updating the dummy text:

Who knows? Maybe "There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks after it and wants to have it, simply because it is pain . . .".
" really does communicate their key marketing message...

Random question...

2005-02-17T03:54:26Z

So, does anyone know if Anthony Fedorov, the contestant on American Idol, is at all related to the Fedorov Brothers (Fedor and Sergei), the hockey stars cum rock...er... stars?

Just asking...

Breakthru

2005-02-16T06:24:33Z

I ran a 4 miler with the Idealab crew tonight. I finally broke through the rut I was in with my 3 milers. Maybe I'll try for the full 5 miler next week. I think trying for it on Thursday might be pushing it a bit, especially after how sore my ass was from the squats in Monday's express fitness class.

Speaking of asses, Tony seriously kicked some tonight. 2nd time running, and he did a 4 miler. Not too shabby. That boy is as stubborn as a mule and a complete overachiever, but I think it'll serve him damn well in life. I'd work with him at a startup any day of the week (or weekend).

Change is good...

2005-02-16T06:14:11Z

So, a stage of my life has come to an end. Next Friday, Feb. 25, is my last day at Omnilux. I've spent three and a half years of my life working at this company. I moved from Denver to Pasadena for this company. I've seen it grow from a 5 person affair stuck in a little room at Idealab to the 40+ company it is today. I've made new friendships and strengthened old ones. I was at this company when I got engaged and married. I've honed my professional skills, and proved to myself that I can truly do anything I set my mind to. I shall not underestimate my capabilities again.

I've been given a job offer that I can't refuse. I'll be moving to Overture (just like everyone else and their brother). I'll be working as a product marketing manager for Overture's Precision Match and Mobile products. The position is a combination of sales-deck-creation (yay Powerpoint!) and database analytics, two of my passions. Not only that, but this job will plunge me back into the field that I truly love - the Internet. Not building the infrastructure, like Omnilux does, but actually harnessing the power and vision of the Internet through the wonders of Search. Taking all the various bits and pieces of information that is available out there and making them USABLE.

I know Search is the hot thing nowadays, but I believe with all my heart that we have barely scratched the surface of what this industry can and will become. To get involved with this field during its nascence is an opportunity I cannot pass up.

Anyway, change can hurt like a mofo. But in the end, it is almost always good.

WHOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

2005-02-15T00:46:12Z

OMG!!!!!

I just found out that one of my best friends, Carter, just proposed to his girlfriend Elizabeth, and she accepted!!!!! I'M SO HAPPY FOR THEM!!!!! They're totally good for each other, and I KNOW that they're going to make a great married couple!

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Blood.

2005-01-27T05:12:19Z

I gave blood today, for the first time in over a year. With today's train crash in Glendale, the Red Cross was asking for walk-in donations from anyone who could make it over at Overture. I went in right after lunch, which turned out to be an incredibly stupid idea.

About halfway through my bloodletting, I started feeling really queasy. They put the cold compresses on my forehead and neck, and my stomache calmed down a little. After what seemed like an eternity, they were done, and I just chilled for about 5 minutes or so on the bench to try to get my stomache to calm down. Hoping that some orange juice would help out I finally got up and went over to the concession area. Unfortunately, that was the wrong move. I ended up puking in a trash can, and Henry had to come and take me home. I didn't feel better for several hours. Man, what a lame day.

I'm feeling much better now, but there is NO WAY I'm ever going to give blood during a workday ever again. After work, weekend, sure, but not when I actually have to do crap that day. Oy.

Skiing!!!

2005-01-27T05:00:54Z

This past weekend was our annual Omnilux Ski Trip to Mammoth Mountain that Carter so kindly organizes. Three full days of skiing - Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We actually had a huge group this year - 12 people!!! It made for a fun time, but it definitely felt different, since Chris and Patty didn't show up due to prior plans.

This is my 3rd year of skiing (and enjoying it), and I really feel like I'm starting to come into my own with it. I took a short 1 hour class on Saturday morning. It helped, if only to confirm where I believe my skill level is. I need to break out of what my dad calls "stem-christies", and start really carving. The instructor (who also by chance was named "Heidi"), basically took me through all the same steps that I read about in "Breakthrough on the New Skis". It's good to know that the book gives standard instructions. I just need to actually follow what it says.

Anyway, we did our standard set of blues and blacks, but we also tried a few new blacks. I got a chance to try Upper Dry Creek, both smooth and moguled all to heck, and we also gimped down Dave's Run. Actually, we took the slightly easier "Roma's Run", named after Dave's wife, but it still scared the hell out of us. Looking back on it, I know I've done runs at least as bad as that one, but I guess the fear of the unknown, as well as the small trees scattered in the path scared me. My goal is to do that run again next year, and keep on doing it until I get comfortable with it, just like we did with the Santiago Bowl on the backside of the mountain.

One thing that I discovered this weekend - I think with a little more practice, I'm going to REALLY like skiing moguls. I'm not so great at this point, but when I do them and really get into the flow, it feels very meditative. There's something about having to concentrate on picking your path through the mogul field, having to plan out where you take your turns, that's very soothing. It's weird to describe it this way, but it feels "logical". Like when you're doing a hard math problem, and you're thinking really hard about how to unwind it, and then it unfolds itself in such a natural manner that you have a glimpse at the perfection that is the universe. It just feels...right.

Anyway, we're hoping to get one more ski trip in this season. We're starting to plan a trip out to Colorado to Copper Mountain for our anniversary. And in a similar fashion to our honeymoon, we're hoping some of our friends and family will join. If any of you out there are interesting in doing some skiing with us at the end of February, let me know!

Catch-up

2005-01-18T06:19:16Z

Boy, it's been a while since I've updated. Now, what to update about? Ah. Flooding. With this "severe weather" that Southern California has been having, I've come to realize that houses out here in California just aren't built as robustly as they are in other places. The rains we've had probably were a drop in the bucket compared to a place like Seattle, but almost everyone I know has had major issues with how not watertight their houses were. Our bedroom carpets near our sliding glass doors became a marsh for awhile there, and our garage became a tropical waterfall and reflecting pool. We managed to fix the latter through some ingenious engineering - I built a dam in the driveway made from bricks out of our flower garden. But the musty mouldy smell still pervades the entire household.

After valiantly assisting us in bailing out our flooded driveway in order to build said dam, Collin moved out last Tuesday and went back to Arizona for school. After a year and a half of having his company, the place seems pretty empty and quiet now. And we’re still making way more food than we need for dinner. Not sure how long that will take to wear off. I know it’s for the best, but we’re definitely going to miss him.

Anyway, this past weekend we painted our newly empty spare room and turned it into an office. It is nice having an actual desk to sit at now, and having all our supplies right here around us. Much more efficient that way. Unfortunately, in the process of moving I managed to drop a desk drawer on my bare toe, and now it’s quite large and blood-blistery. Ah well, such is the life of Heidi. As long as I can still ski this weekend, it’s all good.

We’re heading up to Mammoth Mountain on Thursday night for a nice full weekend of skiing. I’m pretty psyched – it’ll be our first trip of the year. It’ll be nice if we can make it once more this year, preferably in Colorado. But with our SD trip the weekend after, Vegas in March, and a potential weekend in Chicago, it may be pushing it a bit to get there.

Anyway, that was a quick update. I'll make sure to post details and pics of the trip next week.

Playing CEO...

2005-01-14T19:40:53Z

Well, since it's looking more and more like I have virtually zero career mobility at my current job, at least I can play CEO in the privacy of my own home...

Help out...

2004-12-29T19:51:07Z

At this time, the casualty rate for the Earthquake / Tsunami Disaster in Asia is at 88,000 and is projected to top 100,000. If you work in technology, there's an extreme probability that you know people from that area of the world, many of whom may have friends or family who were affected by this geological cataclysm.

Let's help the US maintain it's status of being the country that donates the most to world aid. Help out if you can:

You can make a difference.
Just by spreading the call for help.

Payback's a bitch...

2004-12-21T05:14:15Z

So, back in July/August, my parents really came to my aid with regards to my condo. The place had been on the market for 5 months without a single offer as a result of a highly unresponsive and unhelpful realtor. Finally, in late June, we decided to kick things up a notch and stage the empty place. My stepmom gathered up my relatives and held a condo decorating party. The place looked awesome, and that plus a nice price reduction moved the condo rather quickly.

Anyway, this was just one more instance of my parents really coming through and helping me out when I was in a bind. They've done it so many times over the years, there's no way I'll ever be able to pay them back.

However, I finally have the opportunity to help them through a similar spot. I'm out in Colorado on vacation for a couple of weeks, and it turns out that their general contractor on their new house that they're building has decided to take a 2 week Christmas vacation through a really critical time of the build. The house needs to be sealed by next Monday so that the roofers and electricians can come in and start work. I know it's a bit heartless to say "No, you cannot take a vacation during Christmas", but the house was supposed to be sealed before Thanksgiving. The contractor's inexperience and lack of management skills got my parents stuck in this position, so in the next week I'm going to help them out by making sure that ONLY the critical tasks get worked on, and that they get finished by this friday evening. It's like my own little Monster House show, with me playing the role of Steve. Without the mad carpentry skillz.

In any case, I'm hoping next week will end up being a much more relaxing, restful week. We'll be spending time with Henry's family and with our Denver friends, and hopefully will enjoy a day of skiing.

I knew he'd succeed...

2004-12-12T18:48:09Z

I just found out a friend of mine from GWHS won the L. Ron Hubbard Gold Quill Award last year for the Writers of the Future contest. (Yes, that really is David Carradine standing on his right.)

I met Matt Candelaria and his group of friends my freshman year on the school bus. In elementary school and middle school I never found anyone I could talk to who could really engage my brain. But that first year on the bus, Matt, David, James and I had incredibly intelligent discussions that actually made me think. After spending years as a quiet little girl not very interested in having friends because they were all boring, Matt was one of the people who helped to change the person I was back then to the person I am today.

I wasn't the only one who Matt had such a big influence on. My sister idolized him. He wore an army trenchcoat and backpack with poetic and philosophical statements written all over them, and so she adopted the same outfit. My best friend Christina, who also enjoyed our busride discussions, also has the same feelings about him.

Anyway, he's now a grad student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. And he seems poised to become the great writer that we all knew he would eventually become. I'm so happy for him.

In the news...

2004-12-12T18:01:49Z

Here's an interesting (albeit not very well written) article from the Denver Post about Tim Gill, the founder of Quark. While I was there, Quark's commitment to philanthropy was always very strong, and came from both Fred and Tim. I've always respected both of them for that.

One of the major reasons I left in the end was that the same desire to help people that allows Quark to be very philanthropic was no longer being directed towards either the customers or the employees. I think that coincided to an extent with Tim leaving the company and leaving Fred in full control of the company. Fred strongly believes he is a father figure for the employees, who are his family in a sense. In some cases, this can be a very good thing - for example, Quark's benefits were some of the best I've seen out there. However, it can very easily turn into a dysfunctional family free-for-all. During the dot com boom, Fred decided that the employees (his family) were betraying his trust by demanding larger and larger salaries, and then leaving to other companies when they didn't get those salaries. In revenge, during the dot com bust Fred lashed out and moved most operations to India where he felt he could "trust the people. The amount of pain and turmoil caused to the employees during that time was immense.

I've heard recently that Quark is thinking about moving back to Denver, and that the India office didn't pan out as well as Fred thought it would. I had a few friends over in the India office, and they indicated to me that most of the employees there wanted to stay at Quark for only a year or two to get the experience, and then go off to a more prestigious company, like IBM or Sun. How's that for company loyalty? Not much different than here in the US. Maybe Fred finally realized that.

In any case, I no longer have to worry about it. My emotional scars from Quark have healed over the past few years, and I can think on my time there as educational. My sympathies go out to the few I know remain there back in Denver.

I feel like I'm in high school again...

2004-12-07T07:13:01Z

So, I took the GMAT today. 4 hours of unadulterated bliss. Or not. Anyway, after 2 30 minute essays, a 75 minute quantitative test, and a 75 minute reading test, my head was pounding. At the end of it, they estimated my score to be around 710, which is in the 94 %ile. Yeah well. Let's see what they say when they see my essays...

Half of me wants to take the test over, just to see if I can push that number up to my high school standards of 96-99 %ile. But the lazy, pain-averse part of me says to just be happy with what I've got. I'm not applying to any B-school until next fall (for fall '06 admittance). I have some time to practice up a bit and retry if I want to. I'm not sure that it would help much though. I guess I better ping some of my wannabe MBA friends to see what they think.

Anyway, I arrived home to enjoy some Sushi Roku and Pierre Jouet champagne to celebrate getting the ordeal over with. That right there is almost the only reason I need to try the whole thing again! That, coupled with watching "Run, Lola, Run" (props to Collin for renting it) for the first time made it a very good night!

Geography fun!

2004-11-10T06:25:58Z

So, as a year-long school project, our nieces have sent out "Geography Notebooks" to Henry and I. We're supposed to write a few pages about where we live, and then send the book on to a friend or family member in another exotic location. It's a fun little project that helps teach the kids about geography and different cultures that live all over the world. Everyone who receives the book is also supposed to send the kid a postcard from their locale. I'm assuming that this helps to keep the kids excited about the project through the year as the book goes from location to location.

Well, Henry and I decided to kick this project up a notch by using the POWER OF THE INTERNET!!! We're starting Travelog blogs for each girl, hoping that the people receiving the book will also log a quick posting in the blog so that the girls can see where their book is IN REAL TIME.

I've started Haylee's blog off with a posting which I hope others will follow into the future. I think it's a great way to not only talk about the location, but to also link to interesting places or events that happen in the location, in order to teach the kids even more.

The big risk is that no one who gets the book will be internet savvy enough to post to a blog. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the people in my 6-degrees are all tech-aficionados like me.

Roast Beast II

2004-11-09T06:06:55Z

Well, another year, another 14 lb., 2 foot long hunk of prime rib. We had the gang over on Saturday for Roast Beast II. Unfortunately, Amanda wasn't here this time around (we missed you!), but my sister Ika was. All told, we ended up with 14 people in our very small house. However, we did learn from last time, and I think we managed to orient the furniture to support (if barely) the load.

With the participation of all involved, we ended up with a lavish spread consisting of prime rib, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, tofurkey and gravy, green bean casserole, and apple crisp, among other things. We also celebrated Jill's 30th birthday with a yummy cake. Lots of good food!

Now, of course nothing can go smoothly in our household. Late in the day, it turns out our toilet is no longer flushing. Upon closer examination, it turns out our sewer outlet had overflowed in the front yard due to a blockage in the pipe going out to the street. With the toilet out of order and 14 people in the house, there was nothing to be done but for 4 guys to go out and troubleshoot the stinking pipe in the front yard in the dark, whilst I called in reinforcements. Did you know that Roto-rooter is a 24 hour service organization? Well now you do! The guys managed to get *some* water flowing through the pipe to the street, which held us over until the Roto-Rooter guys made it out. Not the way I had hoped we'd end the evening.

However, I will say this. You know your friends are true friends if they roll up their sleeves at a party and help you get your sewer pipe unstuck. Or they go about enjoying themselves at the party and don't make a big fuss about the adverse turn of events. And that's what makes a party a success in my book - being around great friends who are there with you in good times AND in bad.

Hi Card Lo Card

2004-11-05T06:47:02Z

Corey, Carter, this puts your hoopty little ripped dollar prize to shame...

Hopped up on goofballs

2004-10-22T05:08:00Z

Yeah, it's been a while since I've updated this thing, but I've been sucked in to The Sims 2 for the past month or so. It's pitiful. It's like playing Barbie. But I'm an adult. And I find it difficult to tear myself away from the stupid game.

Anyway, Henry has managed to pass along his wonderful head cold, so I nyked it tonight. Needless to say, this may be a stream-of-consciousness posting before I'm finished with it.

What's up with me? Well, we recently had a grandiose scheme to upgrade our electrical panel to support 200 Amps, but that crashed to the ground when we figured out we'd have to have the power shut off for an entire weekend to do it. That is leading to an even more grandiose plan to relocate the panel to the side of our house, completely rewire the place, and run Cat-5 cable to all the rooms at the same time. If you're fishing wire, I guess you might as well fish it all at once...

What else? Oh yeah! The condo finally sold! I got the thing off my hands in late September. It's such a great feeling to not have the thing hanging over my head. I ended up sending nice flowers to my parents and stepgrandparents, even after I said I wanted to do more for them. The "something more" is still in the works though... (Kind of like the "and then some" in that damn car commercial that gets stuck in my head. That commercial isn't as bad as the one where the white dude drives up to the beach in his lowered convertible, trying to look all bad-ass with his sunglasses and hat turned backwards, and then the 2 blonde chicks walk over and he's thinking he's gonna get some, but then they kneel down and check out his rims, and one of them mouths "that's phat!". I hate that commercial. I watch too much Fox News in the morning. Come to think of it, I haven't seen that commercial much anymore. Hmmmmmm. Now I kinda miss it. Like I miss the really low quality Rocky's Auto commercials from back in Denver. They're tragic when you see them, but just like eczema, they get under your skin and never quite let you go.)

Speaking of eczema, I suffered a nasty flare up as a result of spending too much time in the spa this past Sunday. Took Chris out for her birthday (finally) and had a really nice time, but the heat really killed my skin for the last few days. I've been slathering on the steroid creams, and my legs have finally calmed down a bit, but it's a good reminder that I still have to watch myself else suffer the itching fury that will plague me for the rest of my life.

Well, I think I'm going to go to bed. My stream of consciousness is becoming a trickle. (Ha! I kill me!) I'm logging off before I embarrass myself even more...

Animal House

2004-09-16T14:33:35Z

So, Collin says that I just can't "live" in this house. I have to make it exciting. My head is a magnet for cookies falling off the fridge, my foot is a magnet for errant glass shards, and I tend to find black widows in the garage every so often. It doesn't really bother me - it's just life as an Eldenburg.

But last night I found something that made me shriek like a little girl. I walk into the living room and right there on the floor is a little black and white striped snake. I walk so fast in general that it took quite a bit to re-aim my path and not walk up and step on the thing. The poor thing freaked out when I came in as much as I did, and slithered under our table near the door.

Henry ran into the room thinking I had found a bat. Collin grabbed a pair of tongs and a towel, and coaxed the little guy out into the front yard. And the cats didn't calm down for several hours - Gauss especially would not come down off of the table tops.

Anyway, it looks like "my" snake was a California King Snake. I had always thought they were multi-colored with red, black and yellow bands, but it turns out those are Mountain King snakes. If I had known right off the bat that the guy was a King snake, I don't think I would have been so disturbed - I've always liked the idea of King snakes - they're helpful to farmers, non-venomous, and they're great as pets.

Well, now that I know what he is, it kinda makes me happy that we've got a little snake guy around in our yard. I think I'm going to name him George. And I hope the cats don't eat him.

"Social" outing...

2004-09-15T05:43:09Z

With so many weddings coming up, Elizabeth and Carter invited us to join them in the American Social Dancing at the PCC Extended Learning Center. For the next 7 weeks, we'll be learning how not to step on each others' feet while on the dance floor.

Tonight was our first night, in which we tried to learn the cha cha. I think we did pretty decently, although we haven't quite gotten the hang of all the spins and turns. But that's what practice is for, right?

Next week is swing, which is likely to be quite useful for Erich and Becky's upcoming wedding ("upcoming" means a little over a year from now). Not that there's any way we're going to look cool or anything, but hopefully we'll be able to hold our own.

Even if we don't learn much, it's still a really fun way to hang out with Liz and Carter in a setting that is different from the usual ones.

Caretaking...

2004-09-09T04:27:28Z

So, poor Henry came down with the same thing I had last week, so we're missing Gamenight at Stephs' place again. :(

I decided to take this chance to make a comfort food from my childhood to make him feel better - cabbage bread. Well, sort of a comfort food. I had it a few times when I was around 4 or 5, when my parents were getting divorced. My neighbor made it for us to help my mom out during her depression phase. So I guess it's a weird sort of comfort food.

So, since the age of 4 or 5, I never had the dish again. But I retained fond memories of this stuff being incredibly good. Armed with that, I searched down a recipe on the internet that *sounded* like what I remembered. I ended up taking filling from this recipe, sans pork sausage. I then rolled out some Pillsbury french bread dough into a large square. After covering the square with the filling, I rolled it up into a loaf, and popped it in the oven for 25 minutes at 320 degrees.

The loaf turned out quite tasty and very reminiscent of what I remember. Henry was all over it also - it turns out my sis-in-law Melissa makes something similar called "German Hamburgers". So it turned out to be comfort food for us both, and the perfect thing to make Henry feel better tonight.