When I used to work in an office, there were times when I was caught up on all my work, but I needed to sit there and look busy. I never understood why it was frowned upon to read an actual book, but playing mindless games on my computer were okay as long as I ALT+Tab’d when someone came around the side of my cubicle where they could see my monitor.

I think Steen, must be an expert at the art of looking busy. First, you send me the link to this 3D Logic Puzzle that took me 3 hours to get through all 30 levels and now I can’t stop reading the posts on Overheard in the Office. I hate you, Steen — not really — but I actually have work to do!

Although, I found a couple of posts from offices I’ve worked in:

12PM They Decided to Go Dutch and Think about Sex with Other People

Male coworker: Hey, Liz*, let’s go to the movies tonight.
Female coworker: Are you gonna pay?
Male coworker: Are you gonna put out?

277 Park Avenue
New York, New York

and

4PM So We Can Punish the Innocent

Employee to systems guy: So, first of all, we want the truth.

1400 Douglas Street
Omaha, Nebraska

Small world.

Okay, so this is two weeks late and several pictures short. I possess no photography skillz at all and the only reason I have any pictures is because I got my idiot-proof Kodak EasyShare for Christmas two years ago.

I just lost all my coolness points. All the other BIFFs have killer cameras. I’m not jealous. Well, not really. Well, maybe a little. But my trusty CX7220 does the job and I’m not going to say anything disparaging about it because it needs to work this weekend. And we all know how inanimate objects hate me when I talk trash about them. Enough said.

So I finally got to meet Snickersnack Katie. I’ve talked to Katie a bunch of times and chat with her every so often on Google Chat. I’ve been looking forward to meeting her because “transplanted from the Northeast Texan” and we have a lot in common. The first time we chatted online we freaked each other out because we have a ton of things in common:

• We’re both Intellectual Property secretaries at big law firms.
• We work in the Patent & Trademark section of the IP department of our respective law firms.
• I interviewed at a name-recognizable law firm in Austin that she had worked at in Houston.
• We know some of the same attorneys at our respective law firms.
• When we’re bored at work we go to the USPTO website and read random freaky patents.
• We both moved to Texas in 2001.
• We both type the way we talk.
• We both have potty mouths.

We had been planning to meet on a couple of other occassions at one of Gaz’s cheerleading competitions in Houston, but for one reason or another those plans fell through. We finally met at United Cheer Nationals at the Berry Center in Houston.

Katie is awesome. That’s all I can say. It’s like I’ve known her FOREVER!!!! And folks, her photos don’t do her justice. She is STARK RAVING GORGEOUS. Gaz sez she looks like Bones and I totally agree.

See for yourself.

I know, right?

So Katie and my sleep-deprived self hung out while I was working at the competition. She helped Gaz & Kalli get cheerleaders registered for our giveaway bear and even assembled some bears. We went to IHOP for dinner with the two girls and Gaz freaked her out with this thing she does with her eyes.

We had a blast and I can’t wait until Katie, Patrick and Little Patick can come to Austin and hang with the whole Evil Family. She’ll probably run screaming from my teddybear-infested, cluttered house, but maybe I can lure her back with margaritas.

Katie, I lurrrrrrve you. (Even if you did post this horrible picture of me on the interweb.)

Katie is teh shit, yo.

coming soon…. BIFF adventures in Dallas.

I’m not photogenic. At. all.

I take maybe one good picture a year. I’ll probably have to live 437 years before I take another good picture since every picture taken of me on my wedding day 11 years ago (even the ones on the disposable cameras) were fantastic.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because I’m finally going to get to meet Katie in person this weekend. She’s going to help Kristi and I out this weekend at the competition we have booth space at this weekend in Houston.

Well, Katie and I were talking tonight to finalize arrangements, directions, etc. Kristi & I need to be at the venue at the ungodly hour 6:00 a.m. to load in and set up before the doors open at 8:00 a.m. I was all, “Dude, I don’t even want to be there at 6, I don’t expect you to be there at 6. Seriously.” So Katie’s just going to call me when she gets to the arena. She said, “I think I know what you look like, I mean you do have that one picture with your family.”

I realized that there’s only a couple of pictures of me out here on the internet. These which are fabulous, but 11 years old.

And this one, where it looks like I’m hiding behind Rico, but am in fact keeping him still so that the photographer could just “Take. the. damn. picture. already!”

Everywhere else, I’m identified by this:

or this:

Not very helpful for poor Katie.

Ugh! I can’t believe I’m actually doing this. Okay, I’m warning you. These may make you feel a bit stabby. Katie this is totally all your fault. Well, not really, but, never mind.

Here’s me & Gaz — in her full allstar cheerleading glory — at the Army Bowl.

Yeah, and then here’s me & Rico at a Christmas party where he stuck a bow on his head and declared himself a present.

Happy? Fine.

I can’t wait to see Katie this weekend!!! It’ll be worth posting these absolutely horrible, but recent photos of me.

It’s working!

I can finally do something here. Again, more thanks than I can possible give to Carrisa!

So now you all better blogroll me you bitches!

Carrisa! You rule girl.