WOOHOO!!!!! It's here!!! Halloween!!!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!! I love halloween. I have not just one costume but two. I get to do a costume change today. How exciting. I am heretofore known as Miss Conception afterwhich I will become this witchy looking thing for my friend's living room window. My friends like to put this thing on, I think I've gone through this before so I'm not covering it again. Anyhoo, it's fun wearing a costume to work. I can't remember the last time I did that. I feel like a little kid. Opening doors with your pregnant belly is fun too. Going to the bathroom will not be. Fun, that is.
Damn it, coffee's kicking in.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
She's Got Bette Davis Eyes...if Bette Davis had purple eyes
Another day, another nine hours of pouring through paper with large amounts of tiny numbers on them and staring at webpage after webpage filled with large amounts of tiny numbers. I started wearing glasses when I was about nine and have periodically broken them numerous times. They aren't really broken now, they just have their screws loose and I don't have a little screw driver to fix them. When I got my first pair, I wanted them to be big like Linda Carter's on Wonder Woman. My mom vetoed that so I got a smaller pair but still had the cool turtle-shell type, mottled-looking design on the rims. When I got into junior high, I wanted a pair where the temples came out from my ears but then curved down to attach at the bottom part of the frame. I got them and they soon became a pain in the ass. I barely ever wore them. I haven't worn the pair I have now for so long that I can't remember what they look like. I should look for them tonight after work. It'll be like opening a present. I should also fix them and put them on because I end up squinting by the end of the day.
I was never able to get contacts because I was told that my particular eyesight problem could not be accommodated by contacts. Whatever happened to that huge rage over colored contacts? It started when I was in high school. An Asian friend of mine wanted blue eyes so she got the blue contacts but when put over her dark brown eyes, they only made her look like she had cataracts, or like an aging dog. I'm not calling her a dog but I'm saying her eyes looked like a dog's eyes who is nearing the end of it's life span. I would have wanted purple eyes. Why? Because I saw them in a magazine and they looked really cool.
You know what I miss the most about not having cable? Scary movies around Halloween. There haven't really been any on network TV except for Fallen last weekend. I love that movie but I've seen it a million times so it's not really scary or creepy, I just consider it to be a good movie. I could watch it around christmas and enjoy it just as much. I also miss watching Bravo's Top 100 (or whatever number) Most Scary Movie Moments. Is that even on anymore? It was a great show because it was like one long trailer for a ton of scary movies you may never have heard about before.
Other than that, I don't really miss cable except for C-Span 2 because Comcast moved it off of the basic lineup and up to the package where the digital box is required. Remember when the History Channel used to be about historical stuff? All different kinds of historical stuff? And Bravo was an artsy-cutting edge type of channel that aired good independent movies, widescreen and without commercials? Heidi Klum is not a good independent movie.
Time to get back to squinting. Don't forget to wear your costume to work tomorrow. Someone asked if I was going to wear my "renaissance costume" on Halloween and I almost punched them. Great, now I've become one of those sensitive snobs who insists that you refer to my fest clothing as "garb".
I was never able to get contacts because I was told that my particular eyesight problem could not be accommodated by contacts. Whatever happened to that huge rage over colored contacts? It started when I was in high school. An Asian friend of mine wanted blue eyes so she got the blue contacts but when put over her dark brown eyes, they only made her look like she had cataracts, or like an aging dog. I'm not calling her a dog but I'm saying her eyes looked like a dog's eyes who is nearing the end of it's life span. I would have wanted purple eyes. Why? Because I saw them in a magazine and they looked really cool.
You know what I miss the most about not having cable? Scary movies around Halloween. There haven't really been any on network TV except for Fallen last weekend. I love that movie but I've seen it a million times so it's not really scary or creepy, I just consider it to be a good movie. I could watch it around christmas and enjoy it just as much. I also miss watching Bravo's Top 100 (or whatever number) Most Scary Movie Moments. Is that even on anymore? It was a great show because it was like one long trailer for a ton of scary movies you may never have heard about before.
Other than that, I don't really miss cable except for C-Span 2 because Comcast moved it off of the basic lineup and up to the package where the digital box is required. Remember when the History Channel used to be about historical stuff? All different kinds of historical stuff? And Bravo was an artsy-cutting edge type of channel that aired good independent movies, widescreen and without commercials? Heidi Klum is not a good independent movie.
Time to get back to squinting. Don't forget to wear your costume to work tomorrow. Someone asked if I was going to wear my "renaissance costume" on Halloween and I almost punched them. Great, now I've become one of those sensitive snobs who insists that you refer to my fest clothing as "garb".
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
It's Time to Play the Music, It's Time to Light the Lights
So the North East is experiencing some flurries and a bit of wind? The Weather Channel is stating that it could be a historical snow storm? Can someone please give me a small fucking break? Three feet of snow on Halloween in Duluth (the Twin Cities only got 2.3 feet, pansies), with all the roads completely shut down unless you had a snowmobile (which most people did) and my '79 Camaro completely buried to the point where I had to walk forward slowly hoping I would eventually run into the hood, now THAT'S a snow storm. So shut your cake hole Jersey Shore.
I found the first three seasons of The Muppet Show on sale at Barnes & Noble so I have been awash in the bliss that is puppet sketch comedy. I've only gotten through 3/4 of season one, but so far Rita Moreno is in the lead for the best episode. Of course the "Fever" number with Animal is awesome enough to be a big hit on YouTube, but her opening number is phenomenal. It's a dance with a human wearing a muppet head which cuts to a life-size stuffed muppet she whips around over the bar, then goes back to the human, etc. The editing is really good but there are also points at which they couldn't edit so someone had to get the human dancer off and the stuffed muppet on before Rita danced her way back again. Really good stuff. Now it can get as cold as it wants, I've got Muppets to watch.
Cloris Leachman hit the bricks last night on Dancing With The Stars although she claims that she's not going to leave. They may have voted her off but she's not leaving. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I hope I can be like her when I grow up.
Time to go to argue/work.
I found the first three seasons of The Muppet Show on sale at Barnes & Noble so I have been awash in the bliss that is puppet sketch comedy. I've only gotten through 3/4 of season one, but so far Rita Moreno is in the lead for the best episode. Of course the "Fever" number with Animal is awesome enough to be a big hit on YouTube, but her opening number is phenomenal. It's a dance with a human wearing a muppet head which cuts to a life-size stuffed muppet she whips around over the bar, then goes back to the human, etc. The editing is really good but there are also points at which they couldn't edit so someone had to get the human dancer off and the stuffed muppet on before Rita danced her way back again. Really good stuff. Now it can get as cold as it wants, I've got Muppets to watch.
Cloris Leachman hit the bricks last night on Dancing With The Stars although she claims that she's not going to leave. They may have voted her off but she's not leaving. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I hope I can be like her when I grow up.
Time to go to argue/work.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday already?
There's finally a reason to watch CNN...for D.L. Hughley. He has a new show on Sunday nights called "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News" and although most of the content was on the election, we did learn from the international correspondents that India doesn't give a rats ass about our elections because they just sent someone into space and they won a big cricket match.
I had a rather nice weekend although it seemed too short. This means that I've reached the saturation point with relaxation and need to cram more things into the weekend. I'm still on the hunt for a part-time job but I must admit, I haven't been trying all that hard lately. Now I'm going to step it up again because places are hiring for the holiday season. I want to try to get into one of those places and earn at least a few bucks before they realize they don't need any extra help due to the economy.
I finally attended a Villification Tennis show at the BLB Saturday night which was a great show and where Linda did a good job although she REFUSES TO BELIEVE IT!!! The show included a segment of Rik Reppe storytelling. I love this man. I could listen to him for hours. He can tell a story unlike anyone you've ever heard before. No one can touch him. He's a part of the Rockstar Storytellers group that also performs at the BLB once a month (?) and has a performance this Tuesday.
While I would love to see Reppe again on Tuesday, I can't swing the $12 to get in because I'm putting myself back on the Spartan budget plan. I've decided that I really like heat so I'd rather pay for that. Instead, I may try to catch a Six Ring show at the BNW which I haven't seen for quite awhile. Only $1, plenty left over for heat.
Speaking of heat, I love this weather. I really loved it yesterday. I was out in it for a little while and it felt really good to come back inside. That kind of weather gives you a reason to come back inside and get all cuddly. I appreciate it more. I know, I'm weird. I'm also irritated that the word "weird" doesn't follow the "i before e except after c" rule.
I had a rather nice weekend although it seemed too short. This means that I've reached the saturation point with relaxation and need to cram more things into the weekend. I'm still on the hunt for a part-time job but I must admit, I haven't been trying all that hard lately. Now I'm going to step it up again because places are hiring for the holiday season. I want to try to get into one of those places and earn at least a few bucks before they realize they don't need any extra help due to the economy.
I finally attended a Villification Tennis show at the BLB Saturday night which was a great show and where Linda did a good job although she REFUSES TO BELIEVE IT!!! The show included a segment of Rik Reppe storytelling. I love this man. I could listen to him for hours. He can tell a story unlike anyone you've ever heard before. No one can touch him. He's a part of the Rockstar Storytellers group that also performs at the BLB once a month (?) and has a performance this Tuesday.
While I would love to see Reppe again on Tuesday, I can't swing the $12 to get in because I'm putting myself back on the Spartan budget plan. I've decided that I really like heat so I'd rather pay for that. Instead, I may try to catch a Six Ring show at the BNW which I haven't seen for quite awhile. Only $1, plenty left over for heat.
Speaking of heat, I love this weather. I really loved it yesterday. I was out in it for a little while and it felt really good to come back inside. That kind of weather gives you a reason to come back inside and get all cuddly. I appreciate it more. I know, I'm weird. I'm also irritated that the word "weird" doesn't follow the "i before e except after c" rule.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Last Chance at a Campfire Mocha
Have you ever seen a black squirrel? I have. There's one in the neighborhood. I see it when I'm walking home from work along the river road. He's really quite striking but the poor thing keeps getting pushed around by the grey squirrels. They pick on him incessantly, always putting the black squirrel down, brother can't get a break.
The Caribou in Dinkytown is closing. Dinkydome will be expanding on that block by building underground parking and a 12 to 15 floor housing complex. This will take until September 2010, or so the PR people claim. In the meantime, Caribou must close. This is enough to drive my poor co-worker, Georgia, over the edge. Georgia has worked at the U for close to 20 years but she had a break in there for about a year where she officially terminated her appointment so she doesn't get the retirement benefits of a twenty-year veteran. If you terminate and then come back, you start over. She was eligible for the early retirement package offered this year but can't take it because the retirement benefits are not enough for her to live on. She has to keep working. She's a nervous type, a big worrier. She's also scared to try new things, not just apprehensive or uneasy about trying new things, she's downright scared. She's told me this several times. She's complimented me several times on my courage to go out and try to learn the new system. Georgia is floundering in the sea of change.
On the other side of the spectrum, there's Fred in Facilities Management. Fred is not just in Facilities Management, he is Facilities Management, he's the whole department. He alone is responsible for all of the physical space the college occupies which includes about 13 buildings across two campuses. He oversees all of the physical office moves which have been extensive and non-relenting since 2006. Plans are made and begun then plans suddenly change. Fred is the most anal-retentive person I have ever met. He puts me to shame. To look at him, you'd think he would be more like Georgia but he's the exact opposite. He's doing just fine with all of the chaos. We had a meeting last week where he mentioned that one has to be flexible throughout every aspect of their life if they want to get through it well. So while his office is perfectly laid out with every pencil in it's proper drawer tray and piles of documents laid out at 90-degree angles to each other, there's this whirlwind of activity around him. He's like the eye of the hurricane. Nothing bothers him. The only thing I don't get is why he painted his office dark navy blue. It's like working in the middle of the night every day.
Personality assessments aside, another weekend is upon us. I'll be attending the VilTen performance at BLB (hopefully it isn't sold out yet) and getting back to IAGG. Speaking of IAGG, I caught a small portion of the Second City documentary on PBS last night. Since the topic was Second City, I wasn't surprised to hear people gushing over how great Second City is and how awful it would be if Second City never existed but I think the Brave New Workshop is better. I could be biased, I'm not sure. I want every one to know how great the place is and how talented every one is that ever performs there but I don't want any bigwigs coming in trying to take over the place or worse yet, trying to take the talent away. Sorry improvers, you'll just have to sacrifice your future financial security for my own selfish wants. Stay here where I can easily see you.
The Caribou in Dinkytown is closing. Dinkydome will be expanding on that block by building underground parking and a 12 to 15 floor housing complex. This will take until September 2010, or so the PR people claim. In the meantime, Caribou must close. This is enough to drive my poor co-worker, Georgia, over the edge. Georgia has worked at the U for close to 20 years but she had a break in there for about a year where she officially terminated her appointment so she doesn't get the retirement benefits of a twenty-year veteran. If you terminate and then come back, you start over. She was eligible for the early retirement package offered this year but can't take it because the retirement benefits are not enough for her to live on. She has to keep working. She's a nervous type, a big worrier. She's also scared to try new things, not just apprehensive or uneasy about trying new things, she's downright scared. She's told me this several times. She's complimented me several times on my courage to go out and try to learn the new system. Georgia is floundering in the sea of change.
On the other side of the spectrum, there's Fred in Facilities Management. Fred is not just in Facilities Management, he is Facilities Management, he's the whole department. He alone is responsible for all of the physical space the college occupies which includes about 13 buildings across two campuses. He oversees all of the physical office moves which have been extensive and non-relenting since 2006. Plans are made and begun then plans suddenly change. Fred is the most anal-retentive person I have ever met. He puts me to shame. To look at him, you'd think he would be more like Georgia but he's the exact opposite. He's doing just fine with all of the chaos. We had a meeting last week where he mentioned that one has to be flexible throughout every aspect of their life if they want to get through it well. So while his office is perfectly laid out with every pencil in it's proper drawer tray and piles of documents laid out at 90-degree angles to each other, there's this whirlwind of activity around him. He's like the eye of the hurricane. Nothing bothers him. The only thing I don't get is why he painted his office dark navy blue. It's like working in the middle of the night every day.
Personality assessments aside, another weekend is upon us. I'll be attending the VilTen performance at BLB (hopefully it isn't sold out yet) and getting back to IAGG. Speaking of IAGG, I caught a small portion of the Second City documentary on PBS last night. Since the topic was Second City, I wasn't surprised to hear people gushing over how great Second City is and how awful it would be if Second City never existed but I think the Brave New Workshop is better. I could be biased, I'm not sure. I want every one to know how great the place is and how talented every one is that ever performs there but I don't want any bigwigs coming in trying to take over the place or worse yet, trying to take the talent away. Sorry improvers, you'll just have to sacrifice your future financial security for my own selfish wants. Stay here where I can easily see you.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
No, You Can Not Walk With Me
It seems like only two years and some odd days ago when Senator Obama took the podium at St. Louis Park Junior High and spat out a collection of short sentences as if he were Freddie Mercury trying to get the crowd whipped up to vote for Amy Klobuchar. I said to my unimpressed self "Gee, he'll probably be president one day." And then it seems like only like a year and a month since Obama drove through town stopping long enough to draft a letter to U of M President Bruininks telling him how to behave although Obama had no idea what he was talking about. I said to my annoyed self "Gee, he'll make a good talking head for someone else's agendas."
It seems like before I was born since McCain was sitting in a hovel-type cell in Southeast Asia dreaming of being president one day (okay, probably dreaming of not being tortured) then giving it a valiant try in 2000 and losing, then giving it a half-hearted try in 2004 and losing, now using what ever means necessary in 2008. I get the feeling that he's sick of losing and has taken notes on how the others have won and will now employ the same tactics, anything to get himself into the White House. I'd say something about "my fill-in-the-blank self" but I can't seem to about someone who was a prisoner so I'll pick on his wife. Woman, have a sandwich.
Now there's only two weeks left and a part of me, the unimpressed, annoyed part of me, will miss this hubbub. That's a very small part of me though.
I like Dancing With The Stars. I didn't like it at first because it was in direct competition with America's Next Top Model so therefore didn't get watched. Ever since Penn Jillette was on, I've been oddly addicted. I miss a good portion of it because my dance lessons usually fall on one of the nights or interrupts the last portion. I think this current cast is highly entertaining. I've always liked Cloris Leachman but holy crap that woman is hilarious!!! I hope I'm like her when I grow up. She may be making a lot of jokes but you can also see on her face that she's taking it seriously when she's dancing and also waiting to hear whether she's getting the axe or not.
Speaking of the axe, I was sorry to see Toni Braxton go because she's married to a guy I went to junior high and high school with. Kerry Lewis is related to Terry Lewis from that Minneapolis power Flyte Time producer duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. I think Terry is his brother but I could be off by a branch. Anyhoo, Kerry is the coolest person that I have ever met in my life. He was cool in 7th grade and never stopped being cool. I can't remember in what class we had first met but I do remember one health class we took in high school. He missed a class and asked if he could copy my notes. The next day he came in and asked if I can actually read my own notes. Of course I could, they were mine. Well, I could read most of it. He said that he had really tried, but he just couldn't get through most of it. It was a really cool way of telling me that I have horrible handwriting. I caught a few glimpses of him in the audience every now and then (I'm talking about the show again) and he still looks cool.
If you get a chance, try to catch the Chicago 10 episode of Independent Lens on PBS. Since there were no actual photos of the court case, a director put together a film using animation and the court transcripts. It's a really good documentary combining the Democratic Convention protests/riots in 1968 and the resulting court case. Okay really, even in 1968 were there many people who could listen to Alan Ginsberg without going crazy?
Ooh! That reminds me...yesterday after work as I'm walking down Pillsbury drive, a girl stops me and says "Excuse me, hi, I'm Katie" I stare at her waiting to explain why I should care that she's Katie. She continues with "I was wondering if I could walk with you and talk a bit" and again I stare waiting for her to explain what she's going to talk about. She comes to the climax with "I'm Christian" and pauses to I think let me hoop and hollar about the fact that she's christian. When I don't, she keeps continuing with "I wanted to talk to you about..." but I cut her off with "NO WAY!" and even laugh a little as I say it because that was the funniest thing someone had said to me all day. She looked quite insulted. My work here is done.
It seems like before I was born since McCain was sitting in a hovel-type cell in Southeast Asia dreaming of being president one day (okay, probably dreaming of not being tortured) then giving it a valiant try in 2000 and losing, then giving it a half-hearted try in 2004 and losing, now using what ever means necessary in 2008. I get the feeling that he's sick of losing and has taken notes on how the others have won and will now employ the same tactics, anything to get himself into the White House. I'd say something about "my fill-in-the-blank self" but I can't seem to about someone who was a prisoner so I'll pick on his wife. Woman, have a sandwich.
Now there's only two weeks left and a part of me, the unimpressed, annoyed part of me, will miss this hubbub. That's a very small part of me though.
I like Dancing With The Stars. I didn't like it at first because it was in direct competition with America's Next Top Model so therefore didn't get watched. Ever since Penn Jillette was on, I've been oddly addicted. I miss a good portion of it because my dance lessons usually fall on one of the nights or interrupts the last portion. I think this current cast is highly entertaining. I've always liked Cloris Leachman but holy crap that woman is hilarious!!! I hope I'm like her when I grow up. She may be making a lot of jokes but you can also see on her face that she's taking it seriously when she's dancing and also waiting to hear whether she's getting the axe or not.
Speaking of the axe, I was sorry to see Toni Braxton go because she's married to a guy I went to junior high and high school with. Kerry Lewis is related to Terry Lewis from that Minneapolis power Flyte Time producer duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. I think Terry is his brother but I could be off by a branch. Anyhoo, Kerry is the coolest person that I have ever met in my life. He was cool in 7th grade and never stopped being cool. I can't remember in what class we had first met but I do remember one health class we took in high school. He missed a class and asked if he could copy my notes. The next day he came in and asked if I can actually read my own notes. Of course I could, they were mine. Well, I could read most of it. He said that he had really tried, but he just couldn't get through most of it. It was a really cool way of telling me that I have horrible handwriting. I caught a few glimpses of him in the audience every now and then (I'm talking about the show again) and he still looks cool.
If you get a chance, try to catch the Chicago 10 episode of Independent Lens on PBS. Since there were no actual photos of the court case, a director put together a film using animation and the court transcripts. It's a really good documentary combining the Democratic Convention protests/riots in 1968 and the resulting court case. Okay really, even in 1968 were there many people who could listen to Alan Ginsberg without going crazy?
Ooh! That reminds me...yesterday after work as I'm walking down Pillsbury drive, a girl stops me and says "Excuse me, hi, I'm Katie" I stare at her waiting to explain why I should care that she's Katie. She continues with "I was wondering if I could walk with you and talk a bit" and again I stare waiting for her to explain what she's going to talk about. She comes to the climax with "I'm Christian" and pauses to I think let me hoop and hollar about the fact that she's christian. When I don't, she keeps continuing with "I wanted to talk to you about..." but I cut her off with "NO WAY!" and even laugh a little as I say it because that was the funniest thing someone had said to me all day. She looked quite insulted. My work here is done.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Get Off My Island
I've just gotten word last night that Minneapolis is not suffering from recession so I'm constructing a mote to keep you losers out. I already have the river on the side closest to me so only three sides to go. Yes, a square mote. With ramparts.
I actually had to don a scarf this morning and kept it on the entire duration of my walk to work. I don't view that as a bad thing. I love winter so this is just a gentle reminder that snow is on it's way.
Back in March when I had first heard that our chart of account strings were changing from seven digits to anywhere from fourteen to thirty-something, I thought there was no way in hell to ever learn what all of those fucking numbers meant. I can now read them like they were text so this proves that anything is possible. 1701-11182-20280-UMF0005216-2731156 means that this is a restricted nonsponsored account for a professor in CEHD's Dean's Office that is used to pay Admin. Fellows funded specifically by an endowment account. Cool huh? Just when you think you're too old to learn something. I can also stand on my head.
It's been ten days since my neighbor's abandoned house caught on fire and no one from his family has been over to see it yet. What happens to houses in a situation like that? Does the bank have to now take back a house that is uninhabitable? I'm not anticipating any tellers coming over soon to rake. Whatever does happen, I'm sure it won't happen over night. I feel bad for the son. His family had a chance to try and sell the house and put the proceeds into an account for him but now he has nothing. Way to go, family. Is that comma in the right place?
Well, on to the day's tragedies and triumphs.
I actually had to don a scarf this morning and kept it on the entire duration of my walk to work. I don't view that as a bad thing. I love winter so this is just a gentle reminder that snow is on it's way.
Back in March when I had first heard that our chart of account strings were changing from seven digits to anywhere from fourteen to thirty-something, I thought there was no way in hell to ever learn what all of those fucking numbers meant. I can now read them like they were text so this proves that anything is possible. 1701-11182-20280-UMF0005216-2731156 means that this is a restricted nonsponsored account for a professor in CEHD's Dean's Office that is used to pay Admin. Fellows funded specifically by an endowment account. Cool huh? Just when you think you're too old to learn something. I can also stand on my head.
It's been ten days since my neighbor's abandoned house caught on fire and no one from his family has been over to see it yet. What happens to houses in a situation like that? Does the bank have to now take back a house that is uninhabitable? I'm not anticipating any tellers coming over soon to rake. Whatever does happen, I'm sure it won't happen over night. I feel bad for the son. His family had a chance to try and sell the house and put the proceeds into an account for him but now he has nothing. Way to go, family. Is that comma in the right place?
Well, on to the day's tragedies and triumphs.
Monday, October 20, 2008
It's Nice Out (I Couldn't Think Of Another Title)
I'm thinking of moving to some location in Anoka County just so I can NOT vote for Michele Bachmann. I used to work in Ham Lake for the Anoka Conservation District, which is the local equivalent of the DNR. I did GIS mapping for the DNR's land cover inventory project and some other crap. Anoka county is beautiful but a couple of things confused me; Bethel and East Bethel. Did you know that East Bethel is bigger than Bethel? Bethel's location looks like a band-aid between St. Francis and East Bethel (tinyurl.com). How did East Bethel get to be so big? When Bethel was formed, why didn't they just take up more room? Something about that configuration bothers me.
I spent the weekend renovating my small red room. I call it my red room because I painted it red, with red oil paint. If you're going to use oil-based paint, use it on a small room. Oil-based paint is a tremendous pain in the ass to work with but you end up with really great results and really big forearms. Anyways, I put in new flooring and added two big mirrors so now I can use it as a dance studio. Dance studio sounds almost too big for the room since it's only 8.5 feet by 9 feet but it sounds nice so I'm sticking with it.
I've almost finished nesting meaning that I've gotten everything put away, covered up, sealed and emptied for the winter. I just need some more leaves. Luckily, my friends have lots of leaves and I didn't even have to rake them. I showed up Sunday morning and there was the pile. Now I can comfortably hole myself up in my abode and ride out this economic storm. Maybe when I step out next spring I'll be able to afford a new car. A new-used car. While Buick's are very nice, it's a pain to not have the ability to strap a ladder or kayak to my roof. I don't need much space in the back seat because I don't often drive other people around. Maybe an El Camino. Then I'd have the cargo space without the testosterone-driven pick-up. Plus El Camino's are really cool.
This week at work is shaping up to be very exciting. Tomorrow is the official announcement that my director is moving on to another college. It'll be interesting to see how many people in the room are actually surprised by this. See, rumors fly quite quickly in our college so I'm sure almost everyone already knows about this news piece. Hopefully the rest of us will learn what will happen with us too. We're due for another organizational structure. We'll either end up back in the departments (decentralized) or all together completely in the college (centralized). Up to this point, we've tried to combine decentralized with centralized. One problem with this is that there's no term for it. You can't call it decentralized because there is some centralization and any step away from centralization is decentralization but this isn't it because there's some centralization. See the problem? We don't know what to call ourselves. Others have some good names for us but I don't like any of them.
I have to go reorganize my iTunes playlists.
I spent the weekend renovating my small red room. I call it my red room because I painted it red, with red oil paint. If you're going to use oil-based paint, use it on a small room. Oil-based paint is a tremendous pain in the ass to work with but you end up with really great results and really big forearms. Anyways, I put in new flooring and added two big mirrors so now I can use it as a dance studio. Dance studio sounds almost too big for the room since it's only 8.5 feet by 9 feet but it sounds nice so I'm sticking with it.
I've almost finished nesting meaning that I've gotten everything put away, covered up, sealed and emptied for the winter. I just need some more leaves. Luckily, my friends have lots of leaves and I didn't even have to rake them. I showed up Sunday morning and there was the pile. Now I can comfortably hole myself up in my abode and ride out this economic storm. Maybe when I step out next spring I'll be able to afford a new car. A new-used car. While Buick's are very nice, it's a pain to not have the ability to strap a ladder or kayak to my roof. I don't need much space in the back seat because I don't often drive other people around. Maybe an El Camino. Then I'd have the cargo space without the testosterone-driven pick-up. Plus El Camino's are really cool.
This week at work is shaping up to be very exciting. Tomorrow is the official announcement that my director is moving on to another college. It'll be interesting to see how many people in the room are actually surprised by this. See, rumors fly quite quickly in our college so I'm sure almost everyone already knows about this news piece. Hopefully the rest of us will learn what will happen with us too. We're due for another organizational structure. We'll either end up back in the departments (decentralized) or all together completely in the college (centralized). Up to this point, we've tried to combine decentralized with centralized. One problem with this is that there's no term for it. You can't call it decentralized because there is some centralization and any step away from centralization is decentralization but this isn't it because there's some centralization. See the problem? We don't know what to call ourselves. Others have some good names for us but I don't like any of them.
I have to go reorganize my iTunes playlists.
Friday, October 17, 2008
So A Rabbi Walks Into A Bar....
I hate to talk about politics BUT.....did you catch the Alfred E. Smith charity event last night on C-SPAN (and partially on CNN but with screen shots of Bill Maher and Larry King)? I've never heard of this before. Apparently the descendants of Alfred E. Smith who was governor of New York and the first catholic presidential nominee in 1928 have held a big-ass dinner inviting all of the cool people and a bishop and put it on TV. McCain and Obama were together wearing the same type of tux (how embarrassing!) and both recited a medium-length "humorous" monologue. Oh, and the event allegedly raised 2.5 million for catholic causes...like banning gay marriage, banning gays, banning free thought and promoting guilt.
I only caught the last part of McCain's performance. I tried to pay attention but the old man sitting behind him distracted me with his constant eating. I don't know who this man was but he was clearly not impressed with the floor show. He never laughed, chuckled, guffawed, popped his shoulders, smirked, nothing. He just kept filling his pie-hole with, well, probably pie. AND he chewed with his mouth open. That was the intriguing part. This man is important enough to be seated in a very strategic seat at possibly one of the most self-gratifying "charity" events but he can't even chew with his mouth closed. Maybe no one will say anything to him because they figure now that he's 100 years old, he can do whatever he wants. My 92-year old grandmother used to fart a lot towards the end of her life. She stopped caring whether anyone would mind. Although she still hid her gin and crackers in a closet.
Out of the two, I'd have to say that McCain had better delivery. Obama seemed like he really didn't want to read much of what was in front of him. He didn't read through it much beforehand but then again, maybe it was still going through revision before his turn at the mic. He did have a great zinger though when he made fun of Rudolph Guliani's makeup-wearing escapades and turned to McCain and said "Gee John, heck of a primary you had there!" There were actually a few boo's in response to this but I thought it was funny. I bet on the inside, McCain thought it was funny too.
Hilary was there but Bill wasn't. The place would probably burn down if Bill Clinton showed up to anything associated with catholicism. The big name TV hoo-ha's were there too like Katie Couric and what's-his-face from NBC. Dark-haired guy, you know the one. Interesting gathering of people all in one place. I wonder what the security was like. If that room blew up, we'd be without a large majority of leaders and no one to tell us about it.
So the weekend is here. Do you have your pumpkin yet? I don't. I'm going to get one this year. I didn't last year and I believe that was the reason I didn't get one goddamn kid at my door demanding candy. Since I no longer have broadleaf trees in my yard, I'll have to go scrounging for leaves to cover my gardens up with. I may even have to go down to the river road and rake the boulevard. I'll do it at night so no one sees me.
The Dregs have their CD release party Saturday night at Tillie's Bean. Show up, they're awesome.
I only caught the last part of McCain's performance. I tried to pay attention but the old man sitting behind him distracted me with his constant eating. I don't know who this man was but he was clearly not impressed with the floor show. He never laughed, chuckled, guffawed, popped his shoulders, smirked, nothing. He just kept filling his pie-hole with, well, probably pie. AND he chewed with his mouth open. That was the intriguing part. This man is important enough to be seated in a very strategic seat at possibly one of the most self-gratifying "charity" events but he can't even chew with his mouth closed. Maybe no one will say anything to him because they figure now that he's 100 years old, he can do whatever he wants. My 92-year old grandmother used to fart a lot towards the end of her life. She stopped caring whether anyone would mind. Although she still hid her gin and crackers in a closet.
Out of the two, I'd have to say that McCain had better delivery. Obama seemed like he really didn't want to read much of what was in front of him. He didn't read through it much beforehand but then again, maybe it was still going through revision before his turn at the mic. He did have a great zinger though when he made fun of Rudolph Guliani's makeup-wearing escapades and turned to McCain and said "Gee John, heck of a primary you had there!" There were actually a few boo's in response to this but I thought it was funny. I bet on the inside, McCain thought it was funny too.
Hilary was there but Bill wasn't. The place would probably burn down if Bill Clinton showed up to anything associated with catholicism. The big name TV hoo-ha's were there too like Katie Couric and what's-his-face from NBC. Dark-haired guy, you know the one. Interesting gathering of people all in one place. I wonder what the security was like. If that room blew up, we'd be without a large majority of leaders and no one to tell us about it.
So the weekend is here. Do you have your pumpkin yet? I don't. I'm going to get one this year. I didn't last year and I believe that was the reason I didn't get one goddamn kid at my door demanding candy. Since I no longer have broadleaf trees in my yard, I'll have to go scrounging for leaves to cover my gardens up with. I may even have to go down to the river road and rake the boulevard. I'll do it at night so no one sees me.
The Dregs have their CD release party Saturday night at Tillie's Bean. Show up, they're awesome.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Boo! Hee hee
Ah Thursday. Only one day away from Friday. I've always liked Thursdays because of the very fact that they're one day away from Friday. It's like a pre-preparation for the prepping you'll do on Friday for the weekend.
I received Nosferatu from Netflix yesterday. I love Netflix. You ask for something and they send it to you. Anyhoo, I was a little disappointed in the movie. The parts are wonderful but the whole is uneventful. The black and white, grainy film is creepy enough but the fact that Max Schreck, who by far is the creepiest monster ever because that's really him except for the fingers and a little makeup, is on that black and white grainy film is super creepy. Even Nina is creepy. The soundtrack is a full orchestra playing absolutely beautiful classical music but unfortunately, none of it matched up with the action on screen. The scary parts had light-hearted flute music playing over them which made it seem comical. At the end, I thought the whole thing was rather cute instead of terrifying. Max Schreck actually looks like what my grandmother would look like if she shaved her head and was very surprised (his eyes were popping out through the whole film).
My day job is shaping up to go through another major change. I've just gotten word that the director of my unit is leaving that position and moving to another unit. This is a prime example of how sometimes you just have to let the bad stuff play out because it will bring a change at the end of it which may seem bad at first but will be good in the long run. It's needed. I have strong loyalties to my director because I worked with her in my old college and I think she's very good at her job. She's been miserable here though for some time so it's a good change for her.
This hasn't been officially announced yet, that'll happen next Tuesday. Until that time, I will no longer abide by procedures I feel are convoluted and instead do things the way I can clearly see are more efficient. Arrogant? Yes. Fed up? Yup. Maverick? Oooooo! Sarah Palin look the hell out, there's a new maverick in town! You know, I used to like that word, maverick. No longer. In fact I hate it. Too bad, it's a cool word.
So, is anyone interested in getting some maple for their fireplace and have a chainsaw? I'd like to cut my two enormous trunks down a bit. If so, let me know.
I received Nosferatu from Netflix yesterday. I love Netflix. You ask for something and they send it to you. Anyhoo, I was a little disappointed in the movie. The parts are wonderful but the whole is uneventful. The black and white, grainy film is creepy enough but the fact that Max Schreck, who by far is the creepiest monster ever because that's really him except for the fingers and a little makeup, is on that black and white grainy film is super creepy. Even Nina is creepy. The soundtrack is a full orchestra playing absolutely beautiful classical music but unfortunately, none of it matched up with the action on screen. The scary parts had light-hearted flute music playing over them which made it seem comical. At the end, I thought the whole thing was rather cute instead of terrifying. Max Schreck actually looks like what my grandmother would look like if she shaved her head and was very surprised (his eyes were popping out through the whole film).
My day job is shaping up to go through another major change. I've just gotten word that the director of my unit is leaving that position and moving to another unit. This is a prime example of how sometimes you just have to let the bad stuff play out because it will bring a change at the end of it which may seem bad at first but will be good in the long run. It's needed. I have strong loyalties to my director because I worked with her in my old college and I think she's very good at her job. She's been miserable here though for some time so it's a good change for her.
This hasn't been officially announced yet, that'll happen next Tuesday. Until that time, I will no longer abide by procedures I feel are convoluted and instead do things the way I can clearly see are more efficient. Arrogant? Yes. Fed up? Yup. Maverick? Oooooo! Sarah Palin look the hell out, there's a new maverick in town! You know, I used to like that word, maverick. No longer. In fact I hate it. Too bad, it's a cool word.
So, is anyone interested in getting some maple for their fireplace and have a chainsaw? I'd like to cut my two enormous trunks down a bit. If so, let me know.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Ladies and Gentleman, Put Your Hands Together For.....
It's done! Whew! Did it! I got my glittery butt on stage (although a very small stage, it's still a stage) last night at the Mediterranean Cruise Cafe and did some stuff with my arms and hips in conclusion to the lovely Miss Leslie Kennedy's performance course. I can happily report that I made it out alive. Here's a brief re-telling of the evening in an attempt to give you a sense of really "being there" with me:
4:17pm - left work early and am now flipping out but controlling it by making lists and planning out every minute working backwards:
6:15 - leave
6:00 - finish make-up
5:42 - flip out
5:30 - start make-up
5:27 - get a drink of water
5:25 - non-frizzy hair will be done
5:10 - run around packing bag while drying hair
5:00 - start hair
4:59 - finish watching Judge Judy
4:22pm - make note to self to look up the Clean Water Lake amendment thingy
4:23pm - didn't map out 4:24 - 4:59 so I'm wandering aimlessly
4:41pm - finished the dishes...what? Yes, this is what happens when I wander aimlessly
5:49pm - WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR??!!! I mean afterwords, when I'm done
5:59pm - I HAVE NO ARM BANDS!!!! I have enough glitter to make up for it
6:25pm - arrive 35 minutes early to the restaurant but yet am the third one there - whew, not alone in my neurosis
As I was walking back to put my stuff in the closet aka dressing room, which was pointed out to me by one of the bar regulars, the bar regular said "Erin's here. I showed her where to put her stuff." I figured she meant Erin Nelson who has probably danced there before so I didn't correct her because it's no bad thing to be mistaken for Erin (sorry Erin). Then I thought that the bar regular probably now thinks Erin put on a few pounds...geez, sorry Erin.
The long walk down the plank began at 7:30pm. While we've been in class together for eight weeks, we all became pretty close within those 2 proceeding hours; we were all terrified. That's why we all took the class to begin with. One dancer is incredibly good and to watch her you wouldn't know that she was ready to puke just minutes before.
I got up there and once I was there, I felt much better. I tried approaching it like the wine show; welcome to my show, you are now in my show. It was over much faster than I thought it would be, although I kept shaking for some time afterwords.
It feels great to have that first time over with. Now I'm ready to do it again tonight. Oh! AND the hockey game was on which we won! How much better can it get than that? It can't I tell you.
P.S. Notice how there's no mention of warming up? Yeah, I'm paying for that this morning.
4:17pm - left work early and am now flipping out but controlling it by making lists and planning out every minute working backwards:
6:15 - leave
6:00 - finish make-up
5:42 - flip out
5:30 - start make-up
5:27 - get a drink of water
5:25 - non-frizzy hair will be done
5:10 - run around packing bag while drying hair
5:00 - start hair
4:59 - finish watching Judge Judy
4:22pm - make note to self to look up the Clean Water Lake amendment thingy
4:23pm - didn't map out 4:24 - 4:59 so I'm wandering aimlessly
4:41pm - finished the dishes...what? Yes, this is what happens when I wander aimlessly
5:49pm - WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR??!!! I mean afterwords, when I'm done
5:59pm - I HAVE NO ARM BANDS!!!! I have enough glitter to make up for it
6:25pm - arrive 35 minutes early to the restaurant but yet am the third one there - whew, not alone in my neurosis
As I was walking back to put my stuff in the closet aka dressing room, which was pointed out to me by one of the bar regulars, the bar regular said "Erin's here. I showed her where to put her stuff." I figured she meant Erin Nelson who has probably danced there before so I didn't correct her because it's no bad thing to be mistaken for Erin (sorry Erin). Then I thought that the bar regular probably now thinks Erin put on a few pounds...geez, sorry Erin.
The long walk down the plank began at 7:30pm. While we've been in class together for eight weeks, we all became pretty close within those 2 proceeding hours; we were all terrified. That's why we all took the class to begin with. One dancer is incredibly good and to watch her you wouldn't know that she was ready to puke just minutes before.
I got up there and once I was there, I felt much better. I tried approaching it like the wine show; welcome to my show, you are now in my show. It was over much faster than I thought it would be, although I kept shaking for some time afterwords.
It feels great to have that first time over with. Now I'm ready to do it again tonight. Oh! AND the hockey game was on which we won! How much better can it get than that? It can't I tell you.
P.S. Notice how there's no mention of warming up? Yeah, I'm paying for that this morning.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
A little cholesterol with your breakfast?
I had breakfast at Al's Breakfast this morning and I feel like I'm about to explode. It's a great place for breakfast. There's no yogurt or fruit but plenty of eggs (eggs everywhere!) and flour and coffee. Oh wait, there's blueberries for the pancakes. There's your fruit. You can also sit and watch how to properly make hashbrowns. People often times turn them too much. You have to let them sit on the grill until you're positive that they've burned completely and then flip.
NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month is almost upon us again. It's the writing challenge online where the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel between November 1 - 30th. I gave it a shot last year and got to about 20,000 before creativity dwindled. I have 16 days to try and build up more creativity to last 30 days.
With a possible long-term chill in the air, I'm hoping that this week is the last time I'll have to mow my lawn. I think I said this last week. Oh well.
NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month is almost upon us again. It's the writing challenge online where the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel between November 1 - 30th. I gave it a shot last year and got to about 20,000 before creativity dwindled. I have 16 days to try and build up more creativity to last 30 days.
With a possible long-term chill in the air, I'm hoping that this week is the last time I'll have to mow my lawn. I think I said this last week. Oh well.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Holy Smokes
Back from a lovely weekend and now sitting in my office looking out at the rain and hoping that I can just stay in my office the whole day and download my Prince CDs into iTunes and maybe work on some reporting.
The lovely weekend started out with a bang, or I should say with sirens and smoke when my dead neighbor's abandoned house caught on fire around 3am Saturday morning. Here's the intriguing lowdown. The neighbor died in April after having a heart attack at work one Saturday. His family came over to his house and set off his alarm and not knowing the code, they had to sit and wait for the Po-Po to show up and explain how they were the dead homeowners family and can someone please turn the damn alarm off. After a few days of the usual funeral preparations and little kids throwing rocks into my backyard, the nephew was left behind to inhabit the house under the conditions that he be the only one to live there. I would guess his age to be around early to mid-twenties. That condition wasn't upheld and instead, many different friends would arrive late at night (technically early in the morning) and always on a week night when I had to get up at 5am the next day.
One day in mid-July, the matriarch of the family came back and was talking with me and let it slip that the nephew was told not to have other people over. I may have given something away when I said "Ohhh!" combined with the enlarged-eyed lookaway which meant that he hadn't been doing that but I didn't want to say it out loud. She then responded non verbally with the "So he's been screwing around, I'm going to kill him" look. The next day the house was vacated and remained so up until last week when on Sunday evening around 9pm, three people came over to start moving more things out. The next thing to happen was at 3am this last Saturday morning when a blaze started in the bedroom and actually did damage to the adjoining neighbor's house. My side didn't get anything except for smoke and broken windows from the firefighters.
Once all flamage was out, they stayed to board up the newly broken windows and tear down some melted siding. No one has been over since so I don't think the dead neighbor's family is even aware of it yet.
Saturday morning, I went over to get a lesson on the serger I was going to borrow from my co-worker/friend. Serger's are different from sewing machines in that they have four threads instead of one creating four times the possibility of miss-threading. There's differences in how you feed the material through which ended up being the cause of my miss-threadings. After throwing down and challenging the machine to a ladder match with no disqualifications I finally conquered it Saturday evening and then serged everything I could get my hands on. I am now in love with a machine...wouldn't be the first time. ANYhoo......
I attended an absolutely fabulous show at the IAGG last night which was a great way to end the weekend. Ho-Ly-Smokes!!! I'm talking hilarious. I don't know if people realize how lucky we are to have such great entertainment around for a frickin' dollar. Actually, I don't want a lot of people to know because then I may not get a seat and some bigwig might try to steal one of them away to one of the failing TV sketch comedy shows. I don't care about other people's progress towards their dreams, I only care about my own pleasure.
This is long enough so I'll leave you now.
The lovely weekend started out with a bang, or I should say with sirens and smoke when my dead neighbor's abandoned house caught on fire around 3am Saturday morning. Here's the intriguing lowdown. The neighbor died in April after having a heart attack at work one Saturday. His family came over to his house and set off his alarm and not knowing the code, they had to sit and wait for the Po-Po to show up and explain how they were the dead homeowners family and can someone please turn the damn alarm off. After a few days of the usual funeral preparations and little kids throwing rocks into my backyard, the nephew was left behind to inhabit the house under the conditions that he be the only one to live there. I would guess his age to be around early to mid-twenties. That condition wasn't upheld and instead, many different friends would arrive late at night (technically early in the morning) and always on a week night when I had to get up at 5am the next day.
One day in mid-July, the matriarch of the family came back and was talking with me and let it slip that the nephew was told not to have other people over. I may have given something away when I said "Ohhh!" combined with the enlarged-eyed lookaway which meant that he hadn't been doing that but I didn't want to say it out loud. She then responded non verbally with the "So he's been screwing around, I'm going to kill him" look. The next day the house was vacated and remained so up until last week when on Sunday evening around 9pm, three people came over to start moving more things out. The next thing to happen was at 3am this last Saturday morning when a blaze started in the bedroom and actually did damage to the adjoining neighbor's house. My side didn't get anything except for smoke and broken windows from the firefighters.
Once all flamage was out, they stayed to board up the newly broken windows and tear down some melted siding. No one has been over since so I don't think the dead neighbor's family is even aware of it yet.
Saturday morning, I went over to get a lesson on the serger I was going to borrow from my co-worker/friend. Serger's are different from sewing machines in that they have four threads instead of one creating four times the possibility of miss-threading. There's differences in how you feed the material through which ended up being the cause of my miss-threadings. After throwing down and challenging the machine to a ladder match with no disqualifications I finally conquered it Saturday evening and then serged everything I could get my hands on. I am now in love with a machine...wouldn't be the first time. ANYhoo......
I attended an absolutely fabulous show at the IAGG last night which was a great way to end the weekend. Ho-Ly-Smokes!!! I'm talking hilarious. I don't know if people realize how lucky we are to have such great entertainment around for a frickin' dollar. Actually, I don't want a lot of people to know because then I may not get a seat and some bigwig might try to steal one of them away to one of the failing TV sketch comedy shows. I don't care about other people's progress towards their dreams, I only care about my own pleasure.
This is long enough so I'll leave you now.
Friday, October 10, 2008
It's Called Voicemail, People Often Try To Contact You Using It
I don't think the piano thing is going to fly. I've called the con artist twice leaving messages and he hasn't called me back yet. My mom went up to pick up her car from the shop he works in (many piano aficionados double as auto mechanics) she said he was perplexed as to why I hadn't called him yet. He's either a liar or a complete moron. I'm not particularly interested in buying anything from either one. This is a bummer because I did want to check out the hot merchandise. I don't have proof that the pianos are lifted but how exactly would one come upon 25 pianos that they must get rid of quickly?
I went to see Creature Feature last night at BNW and holy smokes what a great cast! This is my second favorite show next to the Christmas show and for the next two Thursdays, they'll be having shows earlier at 8pm for wimps like me who like to be in bed by 10:30pm. The total cost for a ticket is $12.04 but don't worry, they have a little pile of pennies in the event that you have none and therefore won't have to carry around $0.96 cents.
I was a good girl yesterday and paid all of my bills yesterday. Most of them are taken care of online but the car insurance still requires an actual check. I wrote it out, stuffed it in the envelope, sealed it and then promptly threw it in the document destruction bin along with other crap. I'm not someone who keeps envelopes at home so now I have to pay for an envelope and write a little letter with my insurance info on it so when they get the envelope they won't think it's some type of screwed up ransom note. A reverse ransom note since money will be included. Hmm, maybe I will cut out some letters from magazines and paste my words together just to give them a good story to tell their friends. Something like "HeRe iS my mONthLy PaymENt...I dEstROyed THE fiRst onE" There's nothing illegal about being weird right?
I'm in a really good mood this morning. I mean I'm actually in a very good mood this morning. Usually when I finally get into a good mood like this, something terrible happens. I'm not going to let that stop me from watching Bugs Bunny cartoons tomorrow morning. I love watching cartoons on cold mornings because it's morning so I want to be up but it's cold so I still want to cuddle. Sometimes I feel like a riddle wrapped in an enema. I mean enigma. Let the weekend silliness begin.
I went to see Creature Feature last night at BNW and holy smokes what a great cast! This is my second favorite show next to the Christmas show and for the next two Thursdays, they'll be having shows earlier at 8pm for wimps like me who like to be in bed by 10:30pm. The total cost for a ticket is $12.04 but don't worry, they have a little pile of pennies in the event that you have none and therefore won't have to carry around $0.96 cents.
I was a good girl yesterday and paid all of my bills yesterday. Most of them are taken care of online but the car insurance still requires an actual check. I wrote it out, stuffed it in the envelope, sealed it and then promptly threw it in the document destruction bin along with other crap. I'm not someone who keeps envelopes at home so now I have to pay for an envelope and write a little letter with my insurance info on it so when they get the envelope they won't think it's some type of screwed up ransom note. A reverse ransom note since money will be included. Hmm, maybe I will cut out some letters from magazines and paste my words together just to give them a good story to tell their friends. Something like "HeRe iS my mONthLy PaymENt...I dEstROyed THE fiRst onE" There's nothing illegal about being weird right?
I'm in a really good mood this morning. I mean I'm actually in a very good mood this morning. Usually when I finally get into a good mood like this, something terrible happens. I'm not going to let that stop me from watching Bugs Bunny cartoons tomorrow morning. I love watching cartoons on cold mornings because it's morning so I want to be up but it's cold so I still want to cuddle. Sometimes I feel like a riddle wrapped in an enema. I mean enigma. Let the weekend silliness begin.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
I'll Go To A Meeting For Good Coffee
I have a meeting over on the St. Paul campus this morning. This is great news because it means I get to have coffee from Lori's Coffee House. Lori's makes the best coffee anywhere. Lori isn't actually there anymore, I think she's in Budapest. She sold it to a guy I've known since 1999 and I still don't know his name. He's extremely friendly and remembers what I drink no matter how long it's been since the last time I was there. He's done so well with it that he's bought the whole building and leases the apartments upstairs. There are three other units on the ground floor two of which he's turned into a Middle Eastern cafe called Mim's Cafe and you might think that his name is Mim but it's not. I don't know who Mim is. Best falafel's in the city.
I watched Batman Begins last night. Holy crap what a good movie. There are a ton of people in it too, as in really good people like Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Liam Neeson, Rutger Hauer and Gary Oldman. I've heard that Gary Oldman is completely crazy but good god can that man act. It was by far the best Batman movie except that I haven't seen the newest one with that one dead guy yet.
I want to have a fire in my Target fire pit and I want people to sit around it with me. What are you doing this weekend?
I watched Batman Begins last night. Holy crap what a good movie. There are a ton of people in it too, as in really good people like Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Liam Neeson, Rutger Hauer and Gary Oldman. I've heard that Gary Oldman is completely crazy but good god can that man act. It was by far the best Batman movie except that I haven't seen the newest one with that one dead guy yet.
I want to have a fire in my Target fire pit and I want people to sit around it with me. What are you doing this weekend?
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Just Hear Those Sleigh Bells Jinglin'
I'm getting into the holiday spirit. I realize that it's not even Halloween yet but for some odd reason, I'm getting excited for the holidays. I can't buy anyone presents and I can't afford to cook anyone a big meal, but I'm still excited. I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking forward to, but there's something.
Did you catch any of that fog last night? I drove through it around 10:00pm when coming home from dance class. I always take the parkway road that runs from 54th street past the V.A. Hospital down to the start of Minnehaha Ave. It would be really foggy in one area and then suddenly clear the next second. It reminded me of the times my friends and I would go down to "13 Graves" on the St. Paul side of the river road. I can't remember the cross streets now but it was supposedly near an old seminary. Does anyone remember this? The story was that if you walked along the path heading one way, you'd count 13 graves but when you headed back the other way, there were only 12. In addition, there was this old metal structure that was half broken which, when looked at against the river, looked really creepy like some big metal spider. Of course, it only worked when you went late at night with a group of friends with at least one person in the group convinced that a grave would mysteriously disappear and when you're a teenager, that combination will help to make you see what you want to see. So yes, I only counted 12 graves when I headed back the other way.
Not that I want everything to freeze up now but I'm looking forward to the day when I don't have to mow my lawn anymore this year. It looks like I'll have to do it at least once more this week. On the upside, I haven't seen any dumb bunnies around lately. One night I saw a cat chasing one down the alley so maybe a slew of tough rabbit-eating alley cats have moved in. Cats would be easier to hit with a sling shot because they aren't as scared of me and don't run away as fast as the dumb bunnies. Of course if I miss, the likelihood that they will get mad and jump on my face is a bit higher.
On to work.
Did you catch any of that fog last night? I drove through it around 10:00pm when coming home from dance class. I always take the parkway road that runs from 54th street past the V.A. Hospital down to the start of Minnehaha Ave. It would be really foggy in one area and then suddenly clear the next second. It reminded me of the times my friends and I would go down to "13 Graves" on the St. Paul side of the river road. I can't remember the cross streets now but it was supposedly near an old seminary. Does anyone remember this? The story was that if you walked along the path heading one way, you'd count 13 graves but when you headed back the other way, there were only 12. In addition, there was this old metal structure that was half broken which, when looked at against the river, looked really creepy like some big metal spider. Of course, it only worked when you went late at night with a group of friends with at least one person in the group convinced that a grave would mysteriously disappear and when you're a teenager, that combination will help to make you see what you want to see. So yes, I only counted 12 graves when I headed back the other way.
Not that I want everything to freeze up now but I'm looking forward to the day when I don't have to mow my lawn anymore this year. It looks like I'll have to do it at least once more this week. On the upside, I haven't seen any dumb bunnies around lately. One night I saw a cat chasing one down the alley so maybe a slew of tough rabbit-eating alley cats have moved in. Cats would be easier to hit with a sling shot because they aren't as scared of me and don't run away as fast as the dumb bunnies. Of course if I miss, the likelihood that they will get mad and jump on my face is a bit higher.
On to work.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
He Was Disqualified For Having a Foreign Object In The Ring
I've found someone with a serger. She's my co-worker and has the misfortune of living only three blocks from me. This means that I will begin to abuse her hospitality starting this Saturday. Poor sap, now that she's agreed to let me in, I might not go away. Sergers are needed for hemming up the difficult materials like chiffon and silks. See, now you've learned something new...or maybe not.
I'm going to go check out some pianos in a warehouse. See, there's this guy at the shop where my mom gets an oil change who says his friend has 25 pianos in a warehouse that he wants to sell. Sounds totally legit to me. If anything, it'll be amusing.
I'm so happy that there's only 28 days left before this silly media madness will end. Last night I had an exasperated chuckle from Charles Gibson's color commentary on the "all out brawl" between McCain and Obama. All out brawl? Really? Sweet! Don't tease me like that unless you mean it. Wait, if you mean it, it wouldn't be teasing. Just in case, I'm going to tape the debates tonight (Don't ANYONE tell me how it ends!) and then grab some popcorn and wait for someone to go flying over the top rope. If it doesn't happen, I'm going to sue Charles Gibson for false advertising...or bait and switch...or for just being a jerk.
I need to go water my plants now.
I'm going to go check out some pianos in a warehouse. See, there's this guy at the shop where my mom gets an oil change who says his friend has 25 pianos in a warehouse that he wants to sell. Sounds totally legit to me. If anything, it'll be amusing.
I'm so happy that there's only 28 days left before this silly media madness will end. Last night I had an exasperated chuckle from Charles Gibson's color commentary on the "all out brawl" between McCain and Obama. All out brawl? Really? Sweet! Don't tease me like that unless you mean it. Wait, if you mean it, it wouldn't be teasing. Just in case, I'm going to tape the debates tonight (Don't ANYONE tell me how it ends!) and then grab some popcorn and wait for someone to go flying over the top rope. If it doesn't happen, I'm going to sue Charles Gibson for false advertising...or bait and switch...or for just being a jerk.
I need to go water my plants now.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Welcome Back Kotter
I have returned. Alert the media. I have hanged (hung? No, hanged) the red fan in my office and have organized my instant cash slips by date so I can balance my checkbook. This task will be much faster now that I'm back to my ergonomic keyboard. I love my ergonomic keyboard. My wrists love it too.
I took my laptop home over my vacation and now that I've plugged it back in to my dock, it's been slow-going this morning. I don't know why that is. It always makes me paranoid. Did the U install some type of monitoring device so that they can now track all of my keystrokes and know that I am curiously searching through pages of belly dancing costuming which may be mistaken for me being a perv? Maybe if I mix it up with the New York Times webpage they'll think I'm just diversifying my cultural awareness. I don't know how the New York Times would fit into that but it may make me seem learned. Either that or my computer is synchronizing all of my files with the network which I've been away from for a week. I don't know. I know nothing about computers other than how to turn them on and then type really fast with an ergonomic keyboard.
I am determined not to let all of the emails, phone calls, and desperate pleas for help deter me from accomplishing things today. I will not be swayed by doe-eyed administrators asking me to do their stuff first. It's all going in order. First come, first serve with blog writing being the first thing to accomplish.
Boy what a difference a week makes. It's now dark the entire time I walk to work. When does that wonderful day arrive where we all get one extra hour of sleep? I love that day. I also love all of the leaves falling right now knowing that I won't have to rake my yard because I have no leaf-falling tree anymore.
I was just reminded of how joyous it is to have to share a bathroom with everyone on your floor...a bathroom with no fan.
I have to go now and get caught up on my emails and re prioritize my Netflix queue.
I took my laptop home over my vacation and now that I've plugged it back in to my dock, it's been slow-going this morning. I don't know why that is. It always makes me paranoid. Did the U install some type of monitoring device so that they can now track all of my keystrokes and know that I am curiously searching through pages of belly dancing costuming which may be mistaken for me being a perv? Maybe if I mix it up with the New York Times webpage they'll think I'm just diversifying my cultural awareness. I don't know how the New York Times would fit into that but it may make me seem learned. Either that or my computer is synchronizing all of my files with the network which I've been away from for a week. I don't know. I know nothing about computers other than how to turn them on and then type really fast with an ergonomic keyboard.
I am determined not to let all of the emails, phone calls, and desperate pleas for help deter me from accomplishing things today. I will not be swayed by doe-eyed administrators asking me to do their stuff first. It's all going in order. First come, first serve with blog writing being the first thing to accomplish.
Boy what a difference a week makes. It's now dark the entire time I walk to work. When does that wonderful day arrive where we all get one extra hour of sleep? I love that day. I also love all of the leaves falling right now knowing that I won't have to rake my yard because I have no leaf-falling tree anymore.
I was just reminded of how joyous it is to have to share a bathroom with everyone on your floor...a bathroom with no fan.
I have to go now and get caught up on my emails and re prioritize my Netflix queue.
Friday, October 3, 2008
DON'T Say it, I don't want to hear it
I finally realized who Sara Palin reminds me of...the former dean of CEHD, Darlyne Bailey. Darlyne was the former president of Columbia Teachers College and left a position at a prestigious college where she was president of the ENTIRE PLACE to become a dean at a not-so-prestigious unit within the University of Minnesota. Everyone loved Darlyne the moment she arrived because she had "spunk" and "personality". What she really had was the ability to look and sound completely insincere when talking to you almost like a nurse talking to a mental patient trying to convince them that the little spongy things won't hurt much when pressed to the sides of their temples.
I haven't listened to any commentary on the debates yet. I really don't want to hear it. The policital pundits will continue to not voice anything close to my opinion. Sara Palin's demeaner was condensending and anyone who thinks she is one of them should be offended that Palin and her possy think the only way to win American's votes is to speak in what they think is the appropriate lingo. Yes, let's send her overseas to deal with anyone from a foreign nation and see how long it takes them to bomb us.
I can't remember who I've heard say this in the past but I completely agree that the positions of President and Vice President need to be good speakers. They need to be the best in the nation. They must represent what a proper speech is to us and the world. Sure there are a few other qualifications for the position but presenting an image that American's can be proud of, can gain motivation from and look to for inspiration is extremely important. What other position or person is there to unite our nation? There may be religious leaders but I'm not religious. I want someone I can look to with a source of pride and I haven't seen that since....since...um...help, anyone? Nader may not be very good at reading a written speech but he's really exciting to listen to when answering questions off the cuff. He's brilliant. I love listening to him answer anything. What time is it? What's your favorite color? Anything, ask him anything. THAT's inspirational to me. Someone who knows their material, their facts, has done the research and eats, sleeps and breathes it, there's nothing better than that.
I still miss people terribly. I only really need two days of relaxation before I want to get back into society and be surrounded by people. I'll even accept people standing really close to me. Can we all do the muppet dance again? I loved the muppet dance.
I need to go occupy my mind with something else.
I haven't listened to any commentary on the debates yet. I really don't want to hear it. The policital pundits will continue to not voice anything close to my opinion. Sara Palin's demeaner was condensending and anyone who thinks she is one of them should be offended that Palin and her possy think the only way to win American's votes is to speak in what they think is the appropriate lingo. Yes, let's send her overseas to deal with anyone from a foreign nation and see how long it takes them to bomb us.
I can't remember who I've heard say this in the past but I completely agree that the positions of President and Vice President need to be good speakers. They need to be the best in the nation. They must represent what a proper speech is to us and the world. Sure there are a few other qualifications for the position but presenting an image that American's can be proud of, can gain motivation from and look to for inspiration is extremely important. What other position or person is there to unite our nation? There may be religious leaders but I'm not religious. I want someone I can look to with a source of pride and I haven't seen that since....since...um...help, anyone? Nader may not be very good at reading a written speech but he's really exciting to listen to when answering questions off the cuff. He's brilliant. I love listening to him answer anything. What time is it? What's your favorite color? Anything, ask him anything. THAT's inspirational to me. Someone who knows their material, their facts, has done the research and eats, sleeps and breathes it, there's nothing better than that.
I still miss people terribly. I only really need two days of relaxation before I want to get back into society and be surrounded by people. I'll even accept people standing really close to me. Can we all do the muppet dance again? I loved the muppet dance.
I need to go occupy my mind with something else.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Where'd everyone go?
God I miss people. Vacation isn't fun unless there are people. Oh yeah, this is why I get so depressed every year. I go from being surrounded by thousands of people to nothing. Alone. Boo. If you're not sure whether you need a therapist or not, does that mean you need a therapist?
Sew sew sew sew sew
I'M ON VACATION!!!! WOO HOO!!! AND I feel like a girl again. Yes, the nails are painted. I went with Malaga Wine instead of Romeo and Joilet though because it was a brighter red. I guess that's neither here nor there.
Here's a little tip; when looking for something specific that you don't have much experience with like what cheese goes good with cabernet, ask the people behind the counter. These people are just chomping at the bit for someone to ask them something. You only need one question. They will then occupy your time for at least fifteen minutes and will fill your mouth will lots of samples. You'll also come away with a few catch-phrases or obscure information you can use to impress your friends. It works in places like Aveda too but there you have to be careful that you're dealing with an actual expert. They tend to stock their stores with graduates. Look for the people that are at least 35 years old.
So yesterday I followed this advice and scored a boatload of stuff from Aveda, MAC cosmetics, and Lunds. I may be near poor again but at least I'll look better and my tummy will be full.
I learned a bit of disturbing news yesterday morning. I have no cleanout pipe. I know, I was shocked and a bit frightened too. This means that my sewer line cannot be cleaned out. It also means that my hundred-year old house has, to my knowledge, never had it's sewer pipe cleaned out. Maybe I should just keep pouring sulfuric acid down my pipes after every shower...just to be on the safe side. I'm sure that wouldn't end badly.
Today's agenda includes a trip to S.R. Harris which is like a trip to LaLa Land. I can't drink coffee before I go there because I don't want to have to leave early. If you're not familiar, this is a warehouse the size of your average Rainbow or Cub Foods filled with material of all kinds, colors, sizes, and then there's the trim and the fur and the leather and -pant pant- brocades and interior design fabrics and -pant pant- did I mention the embroidered stuff? Don't worry, I'll have my phone with me in the event that I need assistance finding the exit.
Excuse me, but I need to exit now so that I can get back to my vacation.
Here's a little tip; when looking for something specific that you don't have much experience with like what cheese goes good with cabernet, ask the people behind the counter. These people are just chomping at the bit for someone to ask them something. You only need one question. They will then occupy your time for at least fifteen minutes and will fill your mouth will lots of samples. You'll also come away with a few catch-phrases or obscure information you can use to impress your friends. It works in places like Aveda too but there you have to be careful that you're dealing with an actual expert. They tend to stock their stores with graduates. Look for the people that are at least 35 years old.
So yesterday I followed this advice and scored a boatload of stuff from Aveda, MAC cosmetics, and Lunds. I may be near poor again but at least I'll look better and my tummy will be full.
I learned a bit of disturbing news yesterday morning. I have no cleanout pipe. I know, I was shocked and a bit frightened too. This means that my sewer line cannot be cleaned out. It also means that my hundred-year old house has, to my knowledge, never had it's sewer pipe cleaned out. Maybe I should just keep pouring sulfuric acid down my pipes after every shower...just to be on the safe side. I'm sure that wouldn't end badly.
Today's agenda includes a trip to S.R. Harris which is like a trip to LaLa Land. I can't drink coffee before I go there because I don't want to have to leave early. If you're not familiar, this is a warehouse the size of your average Rainbow or Cub Foods filled with material of all kinds, colors, sizes, and then there's the trim and the fur and the leather and -pant pant- brocades and interior design fabrics and -pant pant- did I mention the embroidered stuff? Don't worry, I'll have my phone with me in the event that I need assistance finding the exit.
Excuse me, but I need to exit now so that I can get back to my vacation.
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