Bazaarvoice

I'd really like to post about Alex's birthday and Disney World but I also really want to include pictures. The camera is currently on the dresser about 3 or 4 feet away and well, I'm just too lazy to get out of my comfortable chair to get it and upload pictures. Instead I am going to enlighten you all to the company called Bazaarvoice that is now Mike's home away from home.

If you want all of the details on when it was founded, exactly what they do, all of that stuff, you can check out their website (www.bazaarvoice.com)

I think I mentioned that Mike's first week was a scavenger hunt of sorts, a great way for him to meet people and truly learn the ins and outs of the company. Bazaarvoice has a "Serenity" Room, pretty much what it sounds like, big comfortable massage chairs, dim lights, soft music, a way to get away and relax. No, apparently Mike has not been in there yet. They also have a game room with every imaginable game console currently on the market, enough guitars from guitar hero et al. for about 5 different bands. Nope, Mike hasn't been in there yet either.

Then there is the never ending Bazaarvoice buffet. The day I went up to see Mike's cube there was some function going on where they had ordered enough pizza to feed all 200+ employees lunch. I have never seen so many pizza boxes in my life - not even in a pizza restaurant. Crazy! The buffet is seemingly endless, dozens of bagels, Tiff's Treats (it's a local place that makes AWESOME cookies & brownies, an endless supply of catered lunches, and one day even an ice sculpture with a shot luge through it (yes they were offering employees vodka and tequila shots at 9 a.m. apparently). That doesn't even include the apparently very well and fully stocked kitchen. In short, Mike really never has to take food. I think now I know why they have the fitness reimbursement plan - they have to do something to encourage their employees to work off all the food!

Then there are the quarterly meetings. The last one was at the Alamo Drafthouse, complete with the Bazaarvoice Band - exactly what it sounds. Employees were allowed to order anything off the menu (alcohol included) all day long, all at the expense of BV. Apparently they have outgrown the Alamo though and will be moving the meeting to the Salt Lick, a barbecue place in Dripping Springs. They will be busing the employees down there and one of the requirements for finding a new space for the meeting was that alcohol had to be allowed.

BV also has a "bizaare team" whose entire job is to think of ways to make the work environment fun. For valentine's day everyone got a carnation and apparently there was a poetry contest. They brought in one of those money boxes for people that won awards at the last quarterly meeting - they got 30 seconds in the box to grab as much as possible. They bring in masseuses periodically for free massages, the list just goes on and on and on.

Mike also said that there is an ergonomics specialist that comes around and watches you work, then helps rearrange your cube to make it as comfortable as possible for you.

So, that's some of the "perks" of bazaarvoice. It's no wonder they were ranked as the number 1 place to work in Austin last year. Now it's time for me to go get my Kiddos, because I'm not sure what they are into.

I should be cleaning

for you see, tomorrow is my little man's 4th birthday. I know I'm a day early in celebrating but I just can't help it. All of the kids birthdays have been fun and special in their very own way. I think I am looking forward to tomorrow so much because for the first time, so is Alex. This year he is very much aware of his birthday, how old he is, how old he will be, his party (or lack thereof, but don't tell him that...), and everything else. He picked out a cake for me to make, it's going to be a lemon cake. I will actually make it today so it is done on time. I don't have a great track record with birthday cakes. Daddy is out and about doing some last minute shopping. We are on the hunt for a toy school bus, who knew they were so hard to find??? As for tomorrow, well I will try not to have any expectations, that way the day should go smoothly. We'll put up some decorations after the boys go to bed tonight so it should be a fun and festive day right from the start.

We had a little unexpected pre-birthday celebration today, with a funny little twist. As we were out and about it ran into lunchtime, which so often happens to us on Saturdays. We ended up at a restaurant for lunch and the waiter overheard us talking about Alex's birthday and how it was his very last day of being 3 ever. The waiter then said, ah, that's good to know and with Mom & Dad's permission can we bring Alex some cake. Of course we accepted the cake. So they come out with all of their restaurant hoop-la to make a big deal of our almost 4 year old's special day. Initially Alex was very excited, then he started bawling. We finally got him calmed down only to discover that he thought if they gave him cake today then he wouldn't get any tomorrow for his REAL birthday. Now, the tears could have been easily avoided if mommy and daddy had clued Alex into what was going on. No, we decided it would be a nice little surprise to get this special cake after lunch. Stupidly, we have learned nothing in 4 years of parenting, Alex is NOT a child that likes to be surprised. Anyway, they also gave Alex a card and a certificate for a free meal, so all is well. Alex even managed to say thank you to the waiter for the special cake and the card. Mike and I had a good laugh over it all.

So now I really should go and clean the house and make a cake and all of that other fun stuff.

Oh yeah, happy valentine's day :-) That kind of takes second fiddle to the big birthday!

Survival

This is a post that I have thought about for quite some time, but true to form, have never gotten around to until now. Again, I can't believe nearly a month has gone by since the last update, arrgghh! I swear I think about this all the time. Anyway, the point of the post. Initially I was going to do this after our very hard freeze and several nights of temps in the teens. It was going to be about the gardens or what was left of them. So I might as well do that now. Wow, even stuff that should do very well here in TX took a very hard hit. Only time will tell what exactly comes back this year. My aloe plant is brobably 50-75% gone, I lost my big avocado plant (which I had started from a pit of an avocado I got at the grocery store). The prickly pear cactus, this is the really sad one for me, the gorgeous cactus out front is by far the worst one now. They all kind of bent over and the small ones have mostly recovered but the ones of any size are just all but destroyed. In the back large hunks have broken off, these pieces are now piled around what remains of the original plant. They will take root and grow again. The one in front though, I just don't know what to do with it. It's worthy of a before and after picture, but I don't have that to post. I really don't know what else in the front garden is truly dead and what will come back. Some of the plants had gone dormant earlier but it is too soon to tell if they actually survived the cold or not. I lost most of my geraniums as well. Some of the herbs survived, the lemon and oliver trees are fine.

Anyway, enough of the garden, the title of this post seems to reflect our current state of being as well, in a good way. Mike is officially back at work, this is week 2 on the job. He is very happy, and while it started off being rough for me, I have settled into his routine and am well, surviving, just fine thank you very much.

OH Yeah, and we went to Disney World for a week. We had a blast, it was amazing, the boys were in 7th heaven and it really could not have been a better week. More on that later!