A Two Hour Nap, A Two Hour Nap

I just woke up from a two hour nap. What? I haven't taken a nap on a Saturday afternoon in I can't remember how long! Now I'm feeling sleepy and lethargic, and am just waiting around for my second wind.

Funny note: I just started watching Bridget Jones's Diary, and have noticed something funny. Shirley Henderson's character Jude is described as spending most of her days at work locked in the women's bathroom, crying about her boyfriend/husband. Shirley Henderson also plays Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter movies (which came out one year after Bridget Jones). In case you don't know, Moaning Myrtle is a ghost who spends all of her time crying in the girls' bathroom. Coincidence? I think not! :-) Also interesting...I had no idea she was not a young adult (around the age of the rest of the kids in HP) -- she was born in 1965!

I went to IKEA today and used about half of the $80 gift card I received when I purchased my couch to buy the kind of almost-frivolous home decor I would probably not use my own money for...things like candle dishes, baskets to organize my linen closet, and a spring-form cake pan. And a garlic press, and an egg slicer, and a bread basket, and some super cute candle holders. I love having "free money" at IKEA. I am such a nerd.

Now I am on a hunt for some pretty looking and pretty smelling block candles. It's easy to find the Christmas or "holiday" smelling ones (and actually, I already have an apple cinnamon candle ready in the linen closet...I bring it out every year for a month or so), but I'm having a hard time finding something pumpkin-y. We were at The Boy's cousin's house the other night, and they had these gorgeous orange candles that were almost mosaic-like, and they smelled deliciously like fall. Not like pumpkin pie, but definitely pumpkin. I would love to find some of these! Any ideas in/near Berkeley? The scented candles at Walgreens and IKEA are just not doing it for me.

Ok, now for a list of links I've been saving up for far too long:

• Barack Obama came to work last week. The line to get in was intense. It was standing room only. And I thought he was a very very good speaker. The link will take you to information about the visit, as well as to a video of his speech/Q&A.
• This puzzle floor is way cool. Way cool.
• Not that I need another tote-type bag, but check this out. I really, really like it. And now that it was just payday (in 3-paycheck November!), I'm having a very hard time resisting...
• GradGirl wrote about her recent transition into being the boss at her work. One thing she doesn't like is the loss of that feeling of employee camaraderie. Now, I'm not going to say that there's no manager-employee boundary at Google, or that there isn't a definite difference between employees and their superiors, but it's definitely different from most places. It's a very odd sort of non-hierarchy here, especially in the engineering departments. I mean, there are different levels of employees and managers, but it's just a very open communication line. There is a lot of freedom, and a lot of this sort of trust, I guess. Also, the managers of my team came with us on our recent off-site trip to Sky High Sports, where even the "higher up" engineering directors played Extreme Dodgeball, getting really into it when we ended up playing "grown ups vs. kids" against a very talented group of 10 year old boys who had the day off school.
  
• If you want to know about some really cool new Gmail features, click here. It's actually a very nice and friendly explanation of the features.
• An article about my friend Peter.

My downstairs neighbors have been playing very loud music for the last hour and a half (maybe more, since I was asleep). Le sigh. Time to be productive.