Things I learned this week:

1. It is possible to work 80 hours in a week and still have a LOT of work to do.
2. Bandwidth is not cheap.
3. Cheap bandwidth is not good.
4. Colocation Data Centers are not cheap.
5. Cheap Colocation Data Centers are darn scary.
6. You can not buy Kevlar at The Army Navy Store, to visit cheap colocations.
7. Driving around for eight hours listening to sales pitches is exhausting.
8. Impossible deadlines can be met.
9. It feels good to meet impossible deadlines.
10. Ordering pizza online rules. Delivery is pretty darn awesome too.

Yes, I learned a lot this week and I loved it. I’m tired, I have this headache on the right side of my forehead that won’t go away and my house looks like a pigsty, but I really had a great week and I feel like I gained a years worth of knowledge.

Things have been so crazy at work lately. We’re moving our servers from one colocation facility to another - and if that wasn’t stressful enough, we’re also moving all of our sites from one network, to another, more robust one. Each one of the tasks is difficult, on a good day, with no pressure and no bumps…but to do both, over the course of two weeks…wow. I might have to develop a crack addiction to make it through.

At any rate, I felt real bad about not posting all week and thought I should provide my ‘excuse’ for the masses. I’ll try my best to avoid long stretches of silence in the future…even if it kills me!

I wish, oh how I wish, I didn’t know anything about the topic of rental foreclosure. The sad fact is, I know way to much about it - having lived through two property foreclosures of rental properties we were leasing. My husband and I have ‘commitment issues’ when it comes to purchasing a home. We’ve done it once as a married couple and it backfired on us like crazy. We’ve made the decision, as a couple, to wait until we’re sure we’re where we want to be, regardless of employment status. At any rate, we rent.

When we relocated to the Phoenix suburbs in 2006, we moved into a home that we discovered several months later was going through the foreclosure process. Thankfully, for us, we were able to get out before the actual ‘event’ took place. Imagine our shock and surprise when we came home a few weeks ago and discovered a ‘Notice of Foreclosure’ sign on the front door of the house we were currently renting.

To make matters worse, the property management company we were using was not only unhelpful in their response, they stopped responding all together. This time, we made the decision not to get ’sucked in’ by renting ‘investment properties’ purchased at incredibly inflated prices during the market upswing of 2004-2005. We started looking at homes owned by owners who had actually lived in their houses.

I really love this house. It’s 3384 Sq. Ft. of blissful space…and if I weren’t so freaked out about buying right now, I would buy it in a heart beat. Aside from needing new flooring (Carpet, tile) and a slight change to the configuration of the kitchen cabinets - it’s perfect. You’d never know I hated it when we looked at it and only signed the lease after much heated *ehem* discussion.

I will miss this house

I will miss the neighbors who don’t care that we don’t want to be friends simply because we happen to be neighbors.

I will miss being able to go to my office and shut the door and work (or shop, or blog, or hide from my family).

*sigh*

At any rate, we found a place, a few miles away. I hate moving. Hate it. Loathe it. I never dreamed that we’d be moving ever 12 months. It really really sucks. But the new place isn’t that bad. The benefit of living out here in the desert is you have a number of landscaping options - and this house is ‘desert landscaped’ front and back. Glory Be. It has the all important ’sun screens’ - those of you who live out in the desert know exactly what I’m talking about here. It has a decent sized covered patio in the back and a ‘water feature’, go figure.

The downside, you might be asking? It’s small. We’ve lost roughly 1300 sq. ft. That’s an entire house, for those of you who are counting. The kitchen is smallish (not galley small, but it certainly bolsters that ‘a womans place is in the kitchen’ attitude, since no one else will fit in there). The bedrooms are also smallish and there is only three of them. No more ‘office’ for me. I don’t know, the old man keeps telling me that it’ll ‘grow’ on me, like this one did - but I am skeptical, as usual.

So, we’re packing up, yet again, and moving. This time, we’re doing it alone…I don’t feel right asking people to help us move so often, so we won’t. But, feel free to offer, if you’re in the Phx area and I’ve never asked you before!

It’s that time again. Time for all the newspapers to run stories of rumors, presented as fact and corporate America to write big fat checks to men and women, in hopes of capturing their favor once (if) they reach office.

In other words - it’s time to vote for our next presidential leader. If you’re like me and unsure who you should vote for this year, then Davenport, Iowa’s WQAD Select a Candidate Quiz might be a great tool for you. It asks the important questions and then matches you with a candidate who best fits your personal beliefs.

Anymore, it’s hard to know where the candidate stand, with all the flip-flopping going on. I still recall the first time I voted for president. Thinking back on it, it’s still really ticks me off. It was the year that Ross Perot ran for President. At the time, I lived in Texas and Ross was a big thing there. Bill Clinton ended up winning that race and we became a country lead by a saxophone playing pot smoker (who didn’t inhale). He’d go on to ‘not have sexual relations’ with Monica Lewinsky and leave office after two terms in a cloud of shame.

The bottom line for me is that I’m just darn confused about what candidate best fits my personal convictions. If you know where you stand, then like I said, the above tool is great, so I highly recommend everyone use it, to see if you’ve deciphered the double talk we’ve been subjected to for the last year.

I wont even get started on the media and their irresponsible reporting of their ‘opinion’ as fact. Ugh.

It’s hard to imagine, personally, how different day to day life is for people in other countries. Sure, we visit their tourist meccas and we get their stamps in our passport, but rarely do we take the time to immerse ourselves in and embrace the cultural differences of other countries.

Recently, the company I work for brought two of the contractors we work closely with over from India. They’ll be staying for two months, so we opted to get them a month to month apartment, rather than a hotel room. What that means is that they get to ‘have a little home’ in the home they are staying in while their here. What that means for me is that I get to learn new things, become exposed to new ideas and explore things that I find strange, yet intriguing. For example, foods and dietary differences. Religion and faith differences and most notably, familial differences.

I learned, just yesterday, that one of the guys here visiting just had a child just a few weeks before coming. I questioned the sanity of leaving his wife, who had just given birth, at home alone with a newborn baby - and he was quick to point out the custom in India of a pregnant wife moving home to live with her parents while still pregnant, then staying with her parents for at least two months post-delivery. He went on to explain that they wait several months to name the babe, which I also thought was interesting, but pretty logical.

Over all, this has been an interesting learning experience. From scaring the hell out of them while driving a (rather tame) 60 MPH on the freeway to ordering special meal items to accommodate their vegetarian lifestyle, which is an important discipline in their Hindu faith.

I have a lot of respect for the work these guys do for us and a lot of respect for them personally, simply because they seem to find so much joy in their lives, even in light of all the difficulties they face, living in a country where the pay is low, the employment turn over is high and the available space to live, laugh and love is sparse, to say the least.

I have also really enjoyed working with people who seem to have a very dedicated and strong work ethic and the attitude that the day doesn’t end until the job is done and if it isn’t done, the day isn’t over. It’s such an absent mentality in the U.S. these days.

Write it down folks - this is good stuff! I was at work a few days ago and the president of our company brought in the ‘fixin’s’ for this salad and made it for everyone. I was in love…man was it good!

So, here we go with your list of ingredients:

• 3 Avocados, ripe and ready to eat
• 3 tomatoes
• 1 white sweet onion
• 1 can of black olives (sliced, or not, up to you!)
• 1 bottle of Italian dressing from Olive Garden (this is key, its fantastico)

The steps are important, because if done incorrectly, you might end up with Avocado dip, rather than Salad. So, when preparing the salad, you will need to do it in the following order:

1. Slice your white onion in very thin slices then cut them into bite sized pieces
2. Put your slices into a bowl of cold water and put it in the refrigerator
3. Cut the tomatoes up into bite sized pieces and place in a large bowl
4. Open the can of black olives and drain, then place them in the bowl
5. Drain the water from the onions and add them to the mix
6. Add the Salad Dressing to the mix of tomatoes, olives and onions - just enough to cover them
7. Stir
8. Peel and pit your avocados taking care not to mash them
9. Cut the peeled and pitted avocados into chunks
10. Add the avocados to the mix and lightly stir, coating the avocados in the dressing

This recipe is best served cold, in fact, the colder the better. Once you’ve cooled the salad down, you can serve it as a ‘dip’ with tortilla chips or as a side with your favorite main course.

I can’t wait for you to try it and tell me what you think! Have a recipe you think we should feature? Leave a comment.

It’s a great summer salad or a salad enjoyed in warmer climates, since it’s served ice cold.