Alicia Cermak

My first dog, Mr. Wrinkles the pug, died in August, and my mum always said she’d never get another dog. However, unbeknown to her, my dad had been monitoring the Star Tribune classfied ads for pug puppies, and last week, he showed her the ad for an adorable litter of pugs, born on a farm in Clarissa, MN. My family looked at the ad for a few days, and on Tuesday night, after hours of family discussion, we finally decided to take the plunge. I was elected the family spokesperson, so I was the one to call the breeder and make arrangements. By the time we spoke, the breeder only had one left - a spunky little female who was the runt of the litter, but she was already spoken for. Heartbroken, I told my family she wasn’t available, and we agreed that maybe it wasn’t the right time yet.

Fast forward to Thursday morning, I’m sitting in the data center nursing a degraded RAID array, and I get a call from a number that I don’t recognize - it’s the breeder, and the woman was going to pick up the pug flaked! I made a call to her veterinarian, who said the pup was in good health, and after consulting Matt over IM and a quick talk with my dad, I called the breeder back to make arrangements. We agreed to meet around 3:30pm at the Holiday station in Sauk Centre, MN, which is about 30 minutes south of their farm in Clarissa, and about 1.5 hours from my home.

Matt and I drove out to Sauk Centre to pick her up this afternoon, and she greeted me by peeing on me. The drive home was pretty uneventful, and she basically just sat on Matt’s lap the entire time. We spent the entire evening playing with her - she’s a hoot.

This morning in Minneapolis it is -17°F with a -36°F windchill.

In related news, my mum’s car wouldn’t start this morning. We have a single driveway, so we all line up our cars LIFO. Since she was next to leave for work, my mum’s car was on the end with my cars blocked in behind it. After trying to start her car several times, my brother and I sprung into action and started pushing it down the driveway, thinking we could just move it into the street, pull my car out, and then push hers up into the driveway, but we quickly realized we just wouldn’t have the traction to push it back up the incline. Before pushing down to the point of no return, we decided to see if we could get the Mini around her car. It was really tight, but eventually we made it with inches to spare.

You know what made it possible? The standard electronic-dial-activated Mini Cooper folding mirrors. I’d say folding in both mirrors bought us about 6 inches on each side of the car, which in a situation like this is huge. I’ve never been too convinced of the overall usefulness of this particular feature, especially not after my saleswoman tried to tell me she used it “all the time”, but it really pulled through today.

I’m usually a little anti-new-year-resolution, as it seems foolish to select one day out of the year to set goals for yourself. Isn’t part of being successful mastering the art of setting and reaching goals… every day? In any case, I decided that it couldn’t hurt this year. 2009 should include a fresh start in a new home, so this seems like a great time to call out these changes and make them happen.

Personal Life

I’ve recently noticed that people I once considered close friends have become acquaintances. I’ve heard that this is part of “growing up” but I don’t believe that. In 2009, I want to do more to maintain and reestablish friendships.

Health

“To lose weight” is a nice resolution that just about everyone I know has done at one time or another. I’m not going that route, but I will say that in 2009 I want to eat better. I need to make sure that I’m eating balanced meals with more protein. I also need to eat fewer pre-packaged foods, and continue to cut back on eating out (having a kitchen will help!). In addition, I need to do something active every day, whether its going to the gym, the 100 pushups challenge or Wii Fit.

Work

In recent months I’ve felt as if what I’m doing at work isn’t making a dent. Without defined goals, I’m just treading water. In 2009, I need to start setting and reaching goals again.  (Is making a resolution to set goals a cop-out?)

Education

I haven’t felt like I’ve learned much (that isn’t tech related) since finishing my Bachelor’s degree, and I often find myself saying “my brain is hungry”. In 2009, I need to read more non-fiction, making a point to learn more about things that I have a deep interest in, especially those topics my formal education hasn’t delved into much, like ancient history, religion and archaeology. Additionally, I need to prepare for and take the GRE.

Happy New Year

7 years ago, I registered aliciacermak.com with the intention of creating an online portfolio of my web design and development work. During my first job search, I featured several of my projects there, but once I found a fulltime gig, the site fell by the wayside.

Instead of letting the URL go to waste, I’ve decided to return to the fabulous world of blogging. I’m sure I’ll feature some of the sites I’m working on, and I’m sure some of my old LiveJournal angst will come out here and there, but I’ll always try for a balance between life and tech.

♥ Leesha