Connected by Stereo MCs

A couple kids, sitting in the car in the Safeway parking lot in the outer Richmond district, listening to Manuela B's latest mix tape.  Connected is playing, following by Sabotage by the Beastie Boys which Bastian said was an inappropriate song for my mom to overhear.  We were in the middle of an epic day in San Francisco.

It was Bastian's first ever trip to the US, to California, to visit me. It was me, Bastian, my Mom, Uncle Bill, and my sister Catherine and we were likely all crammed into my mom's Honda Civic.  I don't remember the exact order, but we drove through Golden Gate Park, stopped to see the bison and windmill, then stopped into the Safeway for lunch provisions.  It was the same store my mom used to shop at when she and my dad lived on 48th and Balboa.  We went to the beach for lunch and it was my favorite kind of lunch - a bunch of yummy this and that.  Bread and cheese and meat for sandwiches, fruit, cookies, drinks....the perfect picnic, a little something for everyone.  It was late December, just after Christmas, but it's never too cold (or too hot) in San Francisco.  We walked partway across the Golden Gate Bridge and took turns spitting off the bridge.  There is a great picture with only my sister spitting in the background and you can't tell if she is spitting or possibly barfing.  No trip would be complete without a ride on the cable car and ice cream at Ghirardelli Square.  To top it all off, I was with my boyfriend and I looked super cute - vintage corduroy blazer, super cute hat, perfect boot cut jeans, good hair day... Definition of a perfect day!

You'll have to trust the "super cute" claim, but this picture is a classic!

Sexyback by Justin Timberlake

Call it six degrees of separation.  Call it a small world.  I love finding out I know someone because of someone else or I was in the same place at the same time as someone.  It delights me to no end.  Cue 2007.  Remember that neighbor of ours?  It turned out that he worked with this guy who was married to this girl who was Nick's neighbor.  Not only was she Nick's neighbor, but she roomed with a girl from my high school at camp.  SMALL WORLD!  Heidi U. (nee T.) was a really fun girl, full of personality and a lot like me.  We hit it off right away and had a fun little dinner party with our neighbor and Heidi. 
A few months later, after moving into our new home, we invited Heidi and her husband over for dinner.  I remember making fancy burgers (from the Rachael Ray cookbook) and we had appetizers and drinks.  Her husband had been at work that morning and he arrived separately.  When he arrived, he barely had time to say hello before immediately bee-lining it to the apps and started shoveling them into his mouth as fast as possible.  It was bizarre, but I know it happened because Nick still talks about it, too!
We enjoyed a nice lunch and when her husband said he had to get back to work, we invited Heidi to stay awhile.  Over lunch, we talked about having watched the Justin Timberlake concert on TV and Heidi really wanted to see it, so the 3 of us cozied up on the couch to watch it.  It was a great show, just as good the second time around.  Heidi shared with us her misheard lyric.  When the backup singers say "go ahead be gone with it", apparently Heidi hears "go hippie go!"  Nonsensical?  Sure.  As the best of all misheard lyrics are.  Thank you to Heidi for completely changing the way I hear the song. 

Always With Me, Always With You by Joe Satriani

I appear to be stuck at work at Allegiance Telecom, for here we are again.  For a change, let's go back to the (short amount of ) time when I was successful at work.  During the summer of 2000, I was hitting my quota, getting my name called during national conference calls, and generally having a blast at work.  I loved my boss and my team.  I had a window seat next to my cubicle facing the Transamerica Tower and I was one of the lucky few who got their own computer.
We had a lot of fun in the office that summer with tons of contests and activities to drive everyone to exceed their monthly quota.  In August we kicked off with a scavenger hunt of sorts, cold calling until we set our appointments.  The reward was a big reveal that we were all meeting at Pier 23 for lots of drinks and food.  It was a gorgeous day, to boot, and I was in a great mood.  We all had to take a picture and the following Monday, we learned we were all on Telecom Survivor.  At the end of each day we would gather in the conference room.  If you set an appointment that day, you improved your chances of staying on the island.  A name would be drawn and some trivia was read.  One day I proudly correctly guessed my teammate Don H.  He was very new to Allegiance and to my team and he was just a great guy!  Friendly, funny, smart.  I think he gave me one of my most favorite nicknames ever that summer (Stouty). 
Later that month, during one of my marathon downloading sessions, I asked Don for some song ideas.  He enjoyed techno as much as I did, but that day he suggested a song by Joe Satriani.  It came out that this was his seduction song, used to romance the ladies.  I think someone said that Don had mad game with the ladies and I scoffed at this, which totally hurt his feelings.  What I was trying to impart was that Don didn't seem like this love 'em and leave 'em ladies man....a Mr. Big...a douchebag.  He didn't seem like a game player to me and I meant it as a good thing!  I don't remember if I ever got my point across or if it just got awkward.  It probably just got awkward.  So sorry Don!  I wonder what he is up to now?

Lady Marmalade by Christina Aguilera, Li'l Kim, Mya, and P!nk

So after experiencing a moderate amount of success in my telecom sales career, back in 2000, I promptly spiraled into a deep, dark whole of depression and funk.  Once again, there is no reason why I shouldn't have been fired, but someone saw something in me and instead promoted me to National Accounts Manager.  Yep - I was rewarded with a raise and an even higher sales quota.  Gulp.  It was a complete disaster and I don't think I ever came close to landing a national account or coming close to meeting my quota.  You'll be as surprised as I was to learn I STILL managed to keep my job after that, but today's story is about not about that.

After a long recovery from a devastating breakup, I was embracing what I envisioned to be my own version of Sex and the City.  I had cultivated a nice group of girlfriends and was mostly avoiding men and dating.  My boss had put together a group that was almost all female and we all got along fairly well.  For a short time, we ended our workday by playing Lady Marmalade and having a mini dance party in our area.  All that positive girl power energy quickly lent into to Jen N's great idea of starting the Cosmo Club (as in the very popular drink of the time, natch!).  The concept is simple: each person pitches in $10 and there is a drawing.  The winner receives the pot (between $60-100!) with 2 conditions:  the money could only be spent on something frivolous, not for bills; the winner had to plan the next event and share how they spent their spoils.

The Cosmo Club was so much fun and was really important to me and helped me through some difficult times.  It was a diverse group of ladies and everyone enjoyed and looked forward to the monthly event.  We did some really cool stuff, from candlemaking to a ferry ride across the Bay for cocktails to dinner at Asia SF where drag queens dance on the bar to Cocktails and Manis at the Beauty Bar.  There was a later iteration of the Cosmo Club years later when I moved to Oakland, but it just wasn't the same as the original.

Who Let the Dogs Out by Baja Men

It was December 1999 and I was very excited to be going to my first ever company holiday party.  It was being held at Scott's Seafood on Jack London Square so I made plans to take BART with my co-worker Todd L so we could change at his house and drive to the party together.  Todd was super nice and we spent a lot of time walking around San Francisco together "working" because we both agreed that outside sales for Allegiance Telecom was about the worst job of all time.  For about the first 9 months, I was a terrible salesperson.  I never came close to meeting my quota and in fact, I have no idea how I stayed employed for as long as I did!  I eventually hit my groove for a couple months, but in December, I was about 4 months into it and absolutely awful!  I was however very social and observant and funny.  I kept a diary of the funny comments people made during meetings or in the break room or around the water cooler.  The RVP got wind of this and asked me if I might like to give a little talk at the party.  WOULD I EVER?!?!

I remember feeling pretty cute in a slim fitting black skirt with a slit and a red, form fitting top with a very in, very flattering neckline.  All 3 offices in the Bay Area were at the party, San Francisco (where I worked), Oakland, and San Jose.  I was a little nervous, but I quickly got into the groove and I killed it.  There was much laughter.  I closed the speech with something I had worked out with the DJ.  And now....with no further ado.... (queue the DJ)... Who Let the Dogs Out!!  Several people jumped up and the dance portion of the evening began.  Being December 1999, there was no way the evening could go by without dancing to Mambo No. 5, especially considering the line "a little bit of Rita" which we loved singing loudly because of our very own Rita J.

This pictures perfectly showcases my signature dance move.

I'd like to say that evening was the turning point in my career....but it wasn't until April when I finally made my quota and really started making the big bucks....for a couple of months at lease. 

Footloose by Kenny Loggins

It strikes me that I seem to have several childhood dancing memories with Lauren Y which is funny because we have never once gone dancing as adults!  Last year when we attended a concert together, I barely remember us so much as moving our hips (well maybe we moved them just a little). 

When Footloose came out in theaters, it was a huge hit, as was the soundtrack.  We listened to it a lot at my house.  I loved so many of the songs, especially the title track Footloose.  I remember that I begged and pleaded to see the movie, but it was rated R and appropriately so.  In other words, a completely inappropriate movie for 7 year old me.  My parents finally gave in and let me watch ... the opening credits.  The opening credits are actually pretty awesome, just a bunch of feet dancing to Footloose.  Years later I finally did watch the movie and it is.... ok.  There are some great parts, it's definite an 80's classic, but also some not so great parts.  For the record I'm not at all sure why they felt the need to remake it.  The original was definitely better than the remake.

I can't remember if it was before or after I saw the opening credits, but in any case, one day Lauren and I were at her house and we decided to make up a little dance to Footloose.  There is a line in the song about kicking off our Sunday shoes.  So of course, the most important part of our little routine was kicking off our shoes at the moment when Kenny Loggins sings the line.  Easier said than done, so we practiced that fun move a lot!