I thought I was in trouble today when I suddenly got a meeting request from one of the lead PMs to discuss some thing about the release I’ve been working on. Upon arriving in the dark meeting room, my co-workers jump out and yell “SURPRISE!”. They had cake for me and Spencer as it was our 1 year anniversary for being at the company. Man, a year has gone by. Can’t believe it! How sweet for everyone to have done that. Watched the American Idol finale tonight—good for Taylor. I liked both him and Katherine and they’re both going to do fine. But can I comment on how ridiculous the…

Okay, so I don’t even know where to begin with the trip to Portugal. There’s so much to tell and share because it was such an amazing trip (asides from getting engaged on it!). Instead of blogging about it, I’ll put together a neato parto of my site with photos and stories—so watch out for that! Meanwhile, I will mention some highlights from the trip, personally: Getting engaged! Listening to Fado singers at Café Luso in the Bairro Alto in Lisboa Riding Tram #28 through the Alfama district while 2 people cling onto the tram from the outside Tasting the yummy pasteis from Belém Standing at the westernmost point in…

Greetings from Portugal!! I´m currently in Braga staying at a lovely quinta and we just ate the yummiest Arroz con Mariscos dinner at Da Bouro restaurant. Today has been our first opportunity to jump on the internet since there´s one at the hotel. Since I´ll want to write about the entire week we´ve had in chronological order, I´ll wait until returning to give the full scoop on that. Meanwhile, I just wanted to share some wonderful news… Matt and I are engaged!! He completely (like, totally shocked) surprised me when we were in Casçais, staying at our lovely fortress by the sea. We had just finished having dinner with Debbie…

…before Kutta takes us to the airport and off we go to Boston. I’ve got a ton of work stuff to complete and basic packing stuff to do. Yeah–pack. I have yet to do that. I’ve got the suitcase open and that’s about it. I’ve started jotting down a list of everything I need to do: that’s the type of organizer I am—a list person. Before every trip, I write down a huge list of things I need to do. I also write down a list of things I need to pack that I haven’t packed yet, just so I don’t forget last minute. So much to do…

As y’all may’ve noticed by now, I’m about to take a lil’ trip to Portugal next week for about 2 weeks. Am I excited? Damn straight I am. Here’s the itinerary that we have laid out: Day 1Arrive in Lisbon. Relax. Day 2Explore more of Lisbon Day 3Explore more of Lisbon. Maybe check out some Fado. Day 4Head over to Cascais and check into a 17th century fortress on the beach. Suh-weet. Explore Cascais and Sintra. Day 5Explore more in the area. Maybe head to Obidos and Nazare if there’s time. Day 6Drive up to Oporto—port region!Check into the Hotel Pestana, which forms part of a block of town houses…

Over the past few years, I’ve experienced different IM clients, from ICQ to Yahoo to AOL to MSN. During that time, as an employee at Amazon, if I ever wanted to chat with my co-workers, I had to add them to an internal Windows Messenger IM client (mainly because all other IM clients were blocked). As a result, the majority of my buddies on my MSN Messenger are actual, personal friends. Since joining Microsoft, I notice that a lot of people use MSN Messenger and I get requests often from co-workers for my MSN Messenger account name so they can add me to their buddy list. So I’m now moving…

I got kicked out of my office at 5pm today because the movers came in. My whole team is moving literally across the street to the building next door, but because it’s a massive move, none of us really have offices available to work in until Monday morning. Meanwhile, those with laptops will chill out at home and continue work there (that’s ME!). What that also means is that today was essentially my last day, physically, in the office before I take off for Boston/Portugal this weekend. Woo hoo—cuz that means I have time at home to pack my stuff in between the e-mail and spec updates I’ll be doing.…