onlyaymie

changing subversion repository in RAD/Websphere Commerce

2011-10-20T13:00:00.002-05:00

This week I had to change from one subversion repository to another for my Websphere Commerce (RAD) development environment. I tried to google it first, with little success. I also tried to use the tortoise Switch feature. That did not work because even though the contents were the same, it was an actual different repository, not the same one just moved somewhere else (I'm assuming).

My first try was unsuccessful - I managed to do something bad so that WebsphereCommerceServerExtensionsLogic would not compile and WebsphereCommerceServerExtensionsData wouldn't recognize the src folder. So don't do it this way: overwrite existing folders using File -> New -> Other -> SVN -> Checkout Projects from SVN.

After getting my virtual restored from backup I tried a second way: for each version controlled project, right click and choose Team -> Disconnect. Click the radio for deleting all SVN files and click OK. Then right click the project and choose Team -> Share Project... then pick the location of the project in the new SVN. You should get a warning that the location already exists and this will just connect you. That's what you want, so click OK. There were a few cases where I still had to do a synchronize and update, but in the end it worked and everything compiled.

Netherlands pics

2009-06-21T03:25:00.000-05:00

netherlands

assumption crushed

2009-06-20T13:18:00.002-05:00

So I was eating dinner in Amsterdam next to the window. Watching all the people go by was a trip. I was trying to guess their nationalities. And, I was across the street from a coffee house, so I could watch people's expressions as they went by. The kids...I mean young adults...cracked me up. Anywho, not the point. There was this lesbian couple who stopped in front of the souvenir store. They were both pretty girls. Now let me digress and say that sometimes my husband messes with my hair, which I hate when we are out and I went to the trouble of fixing it. I always thought that if both members of a couple were girls, they would both recognize this and not mess up each other's hair. This couple proved me wrong and messed with each other's hair. And that made me sad - guess you can only get away from hair messing through careful training of partner.

Local news

2009-01-25T13:21:00.003-05:00

http://www.wsbtv.com/video/18552314/

This cracked me up. Perhaps if you don't watch the Smyrna city council meetings, you won't see why. But this is not new news. Ergo, not news, perhaps. And the one local citizen they interviewed is a little crazy, as seen in the citizen input of the city council meetings. Guess there wasn't much going on in the world on Friday.

concerts in 2008

2009-01-10T13:23:00.003-05:00

I did pretty good in going to concerts last year. I will probably never get back up to the volume of my college days, but 2008 yielded a pretty impressive list.

Shawn Mullins
George Michael (at last!!!!!)
Indigo Girls
Amy Ray
Marc Broussard
4 Dave FM acoustic sunset shows
REM
Jimmy Buffett

crap, I think there's more, but my memory isn't what it used to be.... I'll add them as I think of it.

non-music:
Colin Machry and Brad Sherwood
Jon Stewart (front row!)

feel....guilty....

2008-06-21T16:49:00.002-05:00

The neighborhood sushi place we used to go to regularly lost its alcohol license probably a year or more ago. Since the day we went in and couldn't order an adult beverage, we have probably been back once. Maybe. So we went there the other day, because it is close and we're drinking less trying to lose weight. The waitress, who I think is the co-owner, remembered us, and when we ordered, said something about "the same thing" and something about how they didn't sell wine anymore. Sigh, so sweet. We really like being remembered. Then, she had to leave early because her child was sick, so the sushi chef, who is her husband and I think the other co-owner, started talking to us, and he remembered us too! And then we felt very guilty for not going for such a long time. Plus, it is really good. And close by, which can't be discounted w/ today's high cost of gas.

another commercial

2008-04-16T19:27:00.003-05:00

OK, apparently I watch too much TV. The new VW commercials http://www.coloribus.com/paedia/reels/volkswagen_interview_with_beetle featuring an old VW beetle interviewing various people perplex me a bit. Not just because they are boring and stupid, but because they highlight how much nicer the old beetle body style is than the new beetle's body style. I don't think they are changing the body style though, the web site doesn't hint at it. So it perplexes me. Why make me want a shiny old body style beetle when they only sell new body style beetles? Why?

awesome commercial

2008-04-07T20:50:00.002-05:00

I just saw the best commercial with Meatloaf in it, singing the Paradise by the Dashboard Light song modified to sell AT&T Wireless. It was awesome. http://youtube.com/watch?v=o5YMVO7-8ns It also had this woman bringing in a large piece of raw meat which I wonder was supposed to allude to his role as Eddie (and dinner) in Rocky Horror. I could be reading to much into it.

Which reminds me of another AT&T commercial that bugs the hell out of me. There is some dude playing pool and his alter-telephone-ego says that he won't answer the phone because he is a "dillweed" and doesn't have coverage blah blah blah. However, a dill weed is a rather pleasant herb. The correct word is "dickweed". Duh. And I can see that even with today's lax standards on profanity on TV that "dickweed" is probably not allowed. So choose another word, not something that sounds somewhat like the right word but has nothing similar in meaning! I did find that one: http://youtube.com/watch?v=lZY3zKl3px8&feature=related

2008-02-20T18:42:00.001-05:00

Apparently not everyone can wink with either eye. Yay me.

Sun Tech Days

2008-01-11T18:49:00.002-05:00

I finally got to go to Sun Tech Days this year. I had tried last year but was not able to get off from work. They do a really nice job with it. The first day I went to one of the training classes. It was good, but a little superficial. It is hard to cover much in depth in a day. They provided lunch and snacks. The second day was technically the "Tech Day". The seminars were good, and it was interesting that the emphasis was more of ease of development and GUI type things than on enterprise and scalability. GUIs are very in nowadays though.

The seminar notes and everything are on the site. Here's what you don't know until you are there. They provide breakfast danish, and box lunches. Unfortunately, I had no idea they would provide boxed lunches and had already purchased lunch before I found out. They also had a cake in the afternoon break that was delicious. They gave away a lot of tshirts and backpacks. They had about 10 computers set up with internet access. You could bring your laptop for help installing Solaris. After the last seminar was over, they had heavy hors d'ouvres and beer and wine. And amazingly enough, all that goodness was FREE!! I can only imagine how nice JavaOne must be considering you have to pay to go to it.

Indigo Girls

2007-08-28T18:50:00.000-05:00

Last month Mandy and I did three nights of Indigo Girls concerts in a row. Although I might be getting a little old for 3 late nights in row, it was still lots of fun. It was hot that weekend, but after over a week of 100+ temps, in retrospect we were really lucky with the weather. The third night was filmed for HDNet - can't wait to see that on TV!!!

old new job

2007-06-27T14:42:00.000-05:00

So I just realized I hadn't written anything since I left the new job. It was contract to perm and I was bored out of my mind with the work, so I decided not to go perm. This was the weekend before Memorial Day. So I get home from work the Friday before Memorial Day - I had to leave early since the office closed early and my manager said that meant contractors had to leave too. Since it was about 3, I decided to take a nap. After I woke up from my nap, probably a little after 5, I got a phone call from the company I was contracting with. The recruiter said that had been my last day, and I couldn't go back to get my stuff - the salesguy would pick it up the next week. I was rather upset to be rather coldly dismissed with no notice - I mean, I'm a professional - you can give me a little notice so I can wrap things up and check code in. Plus, that very day I had just added ten dollars to my lunch room card.

So over the long weekend I recovered from my hurt and indignation and began to look forward to the free week ahead. I stayed up late Monday night, and got up early Tuesday morning with the intent of taking an afternoon nap. The recruiter called that morning a little before 10 and asked for the list of stuff I needed from my desk. Then about 20 minutes later, the salesguy called, "Uh... we made a mistake... this Friday is supposed to be your last day of work - could you go on in today?" Seriously. Hilarious. So I went in a little after noon. Going back to a job you have mentally divorced yourself from, however, is excruciating. I should have just said no. It was nice to make the extra money, but what really made me go was the ten dollars that would have been wasted on my lunch room card. I read an article a couple of weeks ago about the problem with the assumption in economics that people are rational - look at me case in point. That was a long excruciating week.

Anyway, been off all of June, which is totally awesome, but start new job next week. I was much more careful in selecting a job this time. In retrospect, I don't know what I was thinking when I took that job. Like seriously. No idea what I was thinking. Must have been the insanity inspired by my senioritis.

Ugh!

2007-05-10T18:54:00.000-05:00

Just in case I forget again - I don't like catfish! I hadn't had any in probably 5 years, so I order a catfish po boy for lunch, thinking it was just the bones that put me off. As soon as I took my first bite, I quickly remembered that was indeed not the case. I hate the way it tastes. It makes me think of frogs. Since then I've been trying to figure out why I think of frogs, because I never interacted much with frogs. It just hit me though - when I was in high school biology we dissected frogs. The taste reminds me of the smell of them. EWWWWWW! I've totally grossed myself out - talk about a good diet plan.

School exit survey

2007-04-11T18:07:00.000-05:00

I have a feeling that I won't be getting any kind of exit survey with my impending, and very welcome, graduation. If I did though, and it had a question on it asking, "What could be changed to make your time here more enjoyable?" Then my answer would be, "Keep the classroom building fucking clean!! The classrooms look like they never clean the floors, much less the desks and chairs; the bathrooms look like they only clean the floor once a week. I try to avoid touching things as much as possible when I'm there, and immediately wash my hands when I get home. You know how much traffic the buildings will get - hire more janitors or get them to clean more. There is no reason for it to be so constantly nasty."

Anyway, just in case anyone was wondering. :)

Lent

2007-02-21T13:09:00.000-05:00

I am giving up procrastination for Lent this year. Today is day 1, and results do not look promising - this is hard!! Maybe I'll just start tomorrow. Ha-ha.

Changing jobs

2007-02-21T13:02:00.000-05:00

So, in a week and a half I'll be leaving my comfy current job with the most likable coworkers I've ever had for, for a new job. Hope it goes well. Unfortunately, liking people isn't the best reason to keep a job when you are writing code in a language that is not growing in popularity in your area. Bummer.

Good things about the new job include (no particular order):

People will no longer ask, "What do they do?" when I say where I work.
~5 miles from home!
Get to work from home once a week!
Near restaurants that I am not sick and tired of.
Will be doing Java again.
Company probably has Christmas parties (hooray!).
Get to learn new and exciting things.
Hopefully new job computer will be faster than old work computer (nicknamed "Pokie")
Highly secured entryway.

I'm sure I'll come up with more after I actually start the job. I'm hoping they have their own gym. We'll see.

In case you were wondering...

2007-02-21T12:48:00.000-05:00

You paid attention during 97% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Create a Quiz

sweet, sweet Costco

2006-10-26T14:25:00.000-05:00

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391725/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote

Aveda Institutes Atlanta

2006-10-26T14:00:00.000-05:00

So yesterday (well, it was really Tuesday when I made the appointment) I let my inner cheapskate get the best of me. I made an appointment at the Aveda Institute Atlanta for a brow tint and brow wax. Total cost: $16. Total cost at regular salon: at least double. Now, I've been to schools before; I used to go to International School of Skin & Nailcare frequently. Although barebones, there estheticians were always relatively fast and did a good job. (Unfortunately the time I went there for a mani and pedi, that took 2 hours.) I thought that since the Aveda Institute was Aveda, it would be similarly efficient and good. Heh. First, it wasn't even that nice - they didn't offer me a smock or even put a clean towel on the table. My brows came out too dark. And, the girl didn't do a good job with the waxing step so there was a whole lot of tweezing. And she didn't trim them. Damn, damn, damn. And, it took over an hour. Guess I'll go back to paying full price. Lesson learned.

How many of me?

2006-10-16T13:39:00.000-05:00

Number of mes:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
2
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Oddly enough, I know the other me does live in the same city - we have even used the same salon before. Would it be too weird to call and say hi?

Number of mes if I had changed my name when I married (and a good part of the reason I didn't want to change):

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
250
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

How many there are of my husband:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
1,749
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

today's notes to self

2006-09-20T14:15:00.000-05:00

1. Leaving early for work only results in arriving at work pissed off at all the idiots who think it is more important for them to get somewhere than you.

2. Although a corned beef and pastrami sandwich sounds like a good idea, it is really like eating a whole shaker of salt. (Without the margarita)

3. Never go into to Fedex Kinkos expecting it to "just take a second".

disillusioned

2006-09-07T10:50:00.000-05:00

So last night I found out my husband works with adulterers. And apparently not the secret kind either, or he wouldn't have found out. I'm not naive enough to have thought such things didn't happen, but it is still disturbing. I wouldn't necessarily say that I have high moral standards across all things, but I do very much believe that cheating is wrong. Very, very wrong. So wrong that I am now sickened by the thought of seeing these immoral people again. And really upset that he will be with them hours a day too. One of which in particular I had always suspected was trouble anyway.

And there isn't anything mysterious about not cheating. I mean, you don't accidentally cheat - you had to put yourself in the situation where cheating would be a possibility in the first place. Grrr.

The Notebook

2006-08-14T12:05:00.000-05:00

I watched The Notebook yesterday afternoon. I think I missed the first 30 minutes or so. What a tear jerker. I sat there and cried off and on for the last 30-45 minutes of the movie. And then when I told Rob about it afterward, I started crying again. This is not typically behavior for me. I have never cried when telling about a movie. Not sure if this is a recommendation or not...

Note to self

2006-03-29T16:31:00.000-05:00

Do not use wireless mike - hands shake too much. Mike on stand or podium or pinned on or headset best.

Do not forget this again.

Load of crap

2006-03-23T12:27:00.000-05:00

So I'm reading this article, about the inaccurate scoring of the SAT. And the whole time I'm reading it, I'm thinking, "if so many people got inaccurate low scores, weren't there inaccurate high scores?" Then I get to the last line in the article:

"At least 600 students overall received incorrectly high scores on the exam, but those scores will not be lowered."

That's bullshit.

More news from back home...

2006-03-20T16:18:00.000-05:00

From www.barnesville.com - copied because they don't archive.

I've probably said it before, but the difference between living in a small town and living in a big city is that in a small town, you know the crooks...

English indicted, booked on theft charges

Former Griffin circuit public defender Arthur H. (Brutz) English IV was indicted on seven counts by the March term Lamar County grand jury last week, arrested and subsequently released on bond. English was booked at 9:10 am. March 15 and freed on a $20,000 property bond shortly thereafter. The grand jury indicted him on four counts of theft by receiving stolen property, one count each of making false statements, concealment of facts - all felonies -and one misdemeanor count of theft by receiving stolen property. English resigned the Griffin circuit post in November after an investigation into allegations that concluded he improperly used his office. He had been working as an assistant public defender in Henry County but has been suspended from that post, according to Mike Mears, director of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council. The indictment alleges English was in possession of a front-end loader, washer-dryer, ATV and trailer, all of which were stolen. Deputies from Upson County seized a washer-dryer from his Holmes Street residence last month. The false statements charge arises from information English allegedly gave to local tax officials that the trailer was homemade and had no serial number. The misdemeanor theft by receiving count alleges English was in possession of a stolen microwave oven. English denied any knowledge the items were stolen in a brief media interview last week. The arrest was the latest incident in a run of misfortune for English. His brother Mac English was convicted of trying to hire a hitman to kill two DNR rangers and sent to prison last year. One of the rangers, Joe Buice, is now sheriff of Lamar County. The other, Al White, is an investigator for the public defender’s office. White’s wife, Claire, is sheriff Buice’s administrative chief. English was also involved in a traffic accident in Griffin in which he rear-ended another vehicle. Several days later, the driver of the other vehicle died of his injuries. English subsequently entered a nolo plea to a charge of second degree vehicular homicide and was placed on probation.

Sushi Haru

2006-03-15T20:45:00.000-05:00

Sushi Haru is our sushi place. It's funny how when you get used to a sushi menu, you feel sort of lost when you see someone else's sushi menu. My favorites are the New York roll and the Marietta roll. Yummy.

Not much on the net about them, this is the most I found, and its pretty lame.

My updated states I've visited...

2006-02-01T11:27:00.000-05:00

Not much left...!

lenny and aerosmith

2006-01-30T13:37:00.000-05:00

Saw them. It was awesome. We were next to the stage cat walks. Lenny gave me a high five.

Willamette dammit

2006-01-30T13:36:00.000-05:00

Over the New Years' holiday we were in the Portland area. It was lots of fun seeing my cousin and some friends from college. And we went to wine country. Twice. It was great. I want to go back. Now.

Here is information about the area we were in.

You should go there too.

twinalicious

2006-01-30T13:31:00.000-05:00

Scanning my hometown newspaper today, another girl I graduated high school with just had twins. That makes three people (that I know of, and I am certainly not up to date on these folks) that were in my graduating class that had twins. There were only 45 people in my graduating class so 6.7% of my class that I know of has twins.

I have a theory, based purely on personal observation, that there are more twins than there used to be. We know a lot of people with twins now, but growing up, I only remember knowing one set. And I don't think it is just the fertility drugs - at least 2 sets were definitely au naturale.

Meter reader on a Segway

2005-12-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

This morning the meter reader almost gave me a heart attack. I was going out to my car, and I heard tires, and then I heard them slow down. So I turned to look, and didn't see a car. But then I saw a man in a red jumpsuit. He was on a Segway. For some reason I just felt really confused and sort of alarmed. I live in the suburbs in a subdivision, so I wasn't expecting to see Segways. Especially before 9 AM in my driveway. It was the meter reader. Clever.

anticipating (shall we say?) Christmas

2005-12-21T12:41:00.000-05:00

So we get to see the in-laws for the first time in 2 years and 4 months. Collectively speaking; some in-laws have been seen more recently. I am trying not to stress too much. But I don't really believe anything will have changed. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Seeing niece and nephews.
2. Seeing cousins.
3. Meeting cousins' fiances. (Yay, more fellow outsiders!)
4. Sleeping.
5. Seeing snow. sorta.

Things I'm worried about:
1. Existance being ignored.
2. Crazy crying people.
3. Getting sinus infection from fools who smoke inside.
4. People being inappropriately affectionate toward my husband.
5. Falling in ice.
6. Niece not wanting to play with me. (She's 6, so starting to be at board game age.) (Ok, I'm not worried, I just hope there will be time.)
7. Seeing other people that I hold grudges against for not having the common courtesy to RSVP for our wedding or show up for that matter although they were hot for my husband to go to their town no matter what it did to our relationship. And of course they will act like nothing happened. Fuckers.
8. Seeing girl with creepy attachment to husband, that husband doesn't sense the creepiness of. Grrr.

Looking back, I should have ended with positive things, b/c now I'm just pissed off. On the up side, we get to stay at his dad's house which is really nice. Close to the kids, but across town from other people.

Also, we are driving, so we can leave at any time. Haha!

sugarland...

2005-12-20T09:57:00.000-05:00

Last night I was flipping around channels and came across Sugarland performing. Still so weird. I just found out about a month ago about them, and that Jennifer Nettles was in the band. How did I find out? From my Bon Jovi mailing list of course, in an email about the CMT Crossroads appearance. When I saw it, I was like, nah-uh. I saw her several times in Soul Miner's Daughter concert, and even met her and Cory once before a show. I think it was at Eddie's Attic. My friend Christina's roommate was friends with one or both of them. Anyway, they were great. And now she's all famous and shit. How cool.

Which reminds me, I don't remember if I mentioned it, but I randomly saw Shawn Mullins at a benefit concert at Eddies Attic a few months ago.

I don't have many brushes with fame, so I take the little I can get.

Expected percentage of happiness

2005-12-08T11:37:00.000-05:00

So I was thinking last night, what is a reasonable percentage of time to expect to be happy? (on average) Obviously, 100% is not really attainable without excellent drugs and probably an endless supply of money to buy the excellent drugs, there are always some sorrows in life. But 50% certainly seems too low. Really, 75% of the time seems low too. But then what about neutral time - does that count as happy, when you just keep on keepin' on doing something.

Oh well. It was interesting last night.

In an unrelated note, I was reading my Forbes last night, and it had a lot of pieces about the imminent domain ruling, which actually happened like 6 months ago. I think that was b/c there is a proposed law to "overturn" it, but I think I was getting Forbes this summer and don't remember articles about it when it happened.

What a great night - not!

2005-12-08T09:59:00.000-05:00

I know every couple has their fights, and every couple has their recurring "issues" that they fight about. I think ours (well, its really his) is particularly odd. We have a wireless network, and I run 2000 and my husband runs XP. My connectivity works fine, with the exception of sometimes having to restart the cable modem and router. But my computer always finds the router, even if the router is having a hard time finding the internet. My husband's machine, however, has had problems several times with either forgetting the connection was set up altogether, or knowing it has the connection set up, but not being able to connect. I know 2000 pretty well, but I don't really know XP.

So, every time my husband's computer, which I never use, do not administer, and am not even sure I have a logon to, decides it doesn't want to connect to the internet, he gets mad. At me! And gets huffy and yelly and asks like a big baby. Because I bought the router. I have googled multiple times on the problem, and we have turned off his Windows firewall which is a known conflict for wireless cards. And he starts going off about how it can't be right that the firewall should have to be turned off. So last night he was stomping around, mad that his computer wouldn't work. What a ridiculous couple fight. Apparently, I am supposed to fix it, somehow it is my responsibility, along with everything else in our lives. Yay. I don't know why XP is stupid - that is why I use 2000. And he starts going off about how I must have something set up in the router so it works for me but is unpredictable for him. Routers aren't that advanced! ARGH! This morning he said that we should use two cable modems instead of a router. We don't even have cable installed where the computers are, and I'm not sure you can even have multiple modems on the same line. Up till a few months ago, he thought we were using one machine as the server to connect to the internet. ITS NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY TO FIX HIS STUPID COMPUTER!!! For all I know, he may have another virus.

And this morning, he is still mad. Because I am supposed to fix it. Yay. So I found two more options to try on Google. It is just so unreasonable. Why is everything my damn responsibility? It isn't enough that I bring home the bacon and take care of everything from laundry to finding contractors to ironing his damn workshirts and go to school and have to do Christmas shopping and have to take care of the bills. I have to administer HIS damn computer too? That he had long before we met, so presumably knows how to use. Does Google not work for him to find answers? It only responds to me?

Anyway, thats my dirty laundry. I know you're supposed to keep the fact that your husband is an idiot and drives you nuts on the down low, but you also aren't supposed to get mad at your wife when your dumbass can't use a computer.

Not responsible for whereabouts of bare ass...

2005-11-07T09:50:00.000-05:00

So I tried to find this guy's website in the hopes that I could put a comment there, but with the gazillion news stories that come up when I google "home depot, glue, toilet", and his poor diction on the today show this morning when he said the url, I just can't find it. I read about it Friday, but apparently the news has really caught on.

This guy sat on a toilet at the Home Depot that had glue on it and was then stuck and no one helped him quickly enough for his taste. On the Today show, he said that they had the little holder for the toilet seat covers, but no toilet seat covers. Maybe this is just another example of how men are stupid and gross, but when there is not a toilet seat cover, one can still use the tried and true toilet paper method. One would hope that if the guy was planning on pooping, he had at least checked that there was indeed TP for umm, cleanup afterward. As I understand, pooping is the reason men sit on toilets. I am having a hard time expressing myself because I find this so infuriating. He is apparently not responsible for the whereabouts of his bare ass. I mean, how can you perform this course of events and then blame someone for not rescuing you quickly enough:

look for seat cover;
if seat cover not found:
plop bare ass on seat

when the proper sequence would be:
examine seat for icky-ness;
if icky found{
clean with tp
if cleaning works{
look for seat cover;
if seat cover not found{
line seat w/ TP}
}
}else{
abort}
I did leave out the all-important first step of examining all the available stalls for the least icky candidate. However, note that in the proper sequence, there is no bare ass on toilet option.

Glad this guy can twist his lack of hygiene into Home Depot's fault. I hope his wife makes him shower before bed so he doesn't get public toilet germs on the sheets. Ew, and makes him use a different toilet.

worst Halloween showing yet

2005-11-01T09:33:00.000-05:00

Last night was the worst showing of trick-or-treaters in the 3 years we've been at our house. We had one group of four, and only two of them were in costumes! We had the porch lights on and everything. Hubby says next year we need a pumpkin or decorations. At least we didn't over-buy the candy as much as we usually do. The first year we went overboard and had 2 Costco boxes of full-sized bars. We were giving those to people for months after.

School

2005-10-19T15:59:00.000-05:00

Just in case anyone was wondering how or if school was going... I'm back in for fall semester, and just finished my midterms. This semester I am going to 2 classes back to back for a total of 5 hours. I think that has led me to notice things that make me hate it more. I now have to eat between classes. My choices are:
Landmark Diner - tooooo expensive for what it is
Subway - slightly icky and dirty
Pizza Hut/Taco Bell/KFC (all one place) - nasty nasty dirty
Moe's - seems clean, but not the best food to sit still for 2 hours after eating
Quiznos - mmmm toasty, but a hike and they close at 7 which is whack
Fogao Gaucho - way too expensive and they don't cash in on the potential carry-out market
I usually end up at Subway or PH/TB/KFC. Subway, the bread is usually dry. PH/TB/KFC is incredibly dirty, and usually contains one or more people who could be homeless.
So thats the first thing I hate - the icky disgusting dinner I have to eat. Could I carry dinner with me? Maybe, but there is no microwave and I have to carry enough crap around.
Second, the icky disgusting bathrooms in the classroom building. I know, a lot of it probably because I'm not used to being in places with lots of women, so I'm used to lightly used restrooms. And there is a lot of traffic in the building. But the bathrooms are just always dirty, including the floors, and its gross.
Third, the creepy people hanging around outside. Now, this probably makes me sound cold and heartless, and I swear, I'm sad that people go homeless. But does that mean they have to hang around outside the classroom building and be creepy? Do they have to do it in the dark right beside the parking lot? Is that their right? Is it not my right to not feel threatened? I mean, not that I would (or maybe I do...), but people are not allowed to carry weapons on school property. So here I go, lil' ol' me, with no weapon to speak of, being leared at by people who do not have the same constraint of no weapon. Sure, maybe they just want to talk or ask for money. But if I had enough money to be doling it out to people, would I be going to school at night?? I hate it!
The class before my second class refuses to get out on time. It is ridiculous. They are in there at least 10 minutes too long almost every week.

Other than hating everything, my classes are going well. I'm just icked out all the time and come home feeling nasty.

Stupid hurricane

2005-10-19T15:50:00.000-05:00

So I've been trying to decide whether or not to sell my Georgia-Georgia Tech tickets. We'll be in town, but they usually fetch a good price. On the other hand, I love being there when GT wins. Not so much fun when we lose. So this morning, I had a brainstorm: I'll keep them if we beat Miami this weekend. That seems like a pretty good indicator as to whether or not we can beat Georgia. So, I'm all pleased, and feeling like I have a plan. Even told my friend about it at lunch. So just a few minutes ago, I'm like, "lalala, I'll read the news..." The game is cancelled because of the hurricane. And has not been rescheduled. And probably won't be until November. Crap! Why they don't just come up here and play it is beyond me - maybe its more complicated to put on a game than it seems. So now I have to either just decide or come up with a new indicator. Poo.

smoky coworker

2005-09-29T12:49:00.000-05:00

Is there anything you can do to make a co-worker less smelly? Or to make HR make the co-worker less smelly? This guy at work sat next to me in a meeting yesterday, right after smoking. I am allergic to cigarettes, but not usually just to the after smell. He must smoke reds or something, because I was feeling ill by the time the meeting was over and could feel my lymph nodes swelling. I tried to google some employment law to see if it was ok for a company to ask an employee to not be stinky at work, but couldn't really find anything. But his right to smoke shouldn't trample my right to not be sick. I still feel a little icky sick today too. Whah!

Speaking of smelly, one of my classmates reaks too, but in the BO way.

How bout them apples?

2005-09-22T12:36:00.000-05:00

I saw the most beautiful apples today. Snow White apples. Garden of Eden apples. I mean, just beautiful. Fat and redddy pink and glistening. They were in the stupid cafeteria in my office building. I wish I had a camera with me, b/c they were the prettiest apples I've ever seen. I didn't buy one though - I hate red apples.

Today will now be known as "Beautiful Apple Day".

What are the chances?

2005-09-22T08:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had yummy cheesecakes at work for September birtdays. There are actually two people in my group with the same birthday. The very same birthday, in fact, day, month, and year. As it came up again, someone of course said, "What are the chances of that?" While most people would idly say, "Yeah, pretty rare I bet," and return to the eating of yummy cheesecake, one of them said, "Well, I could calculate it when I get back to my computer." He and another co-worker then proceeded to try and calculate it while sitting at the table. For at least fifteen minutes. Anybody want to guess my industry...? Sigh - classic nerd moment.

I tried to find the answer online, but to no avail, all I found was the day month answer. It seems like it would be hard to calculate a general solution for "any year" when the birth rates across years and generations seem to vary wildly. Oh well. I myself have more important things to cycle through my head...

Icky stars

2005-09-09T14:48:00.000-05:00

This picture is from a Slate article, Star Gazing. I guess this is supposed to be flattering, but to me it shows what an ugly freaky looking girl Jessica Simpson is. And what is it with the huge heads girls have today? They look like blow pops w/ there anorexic figures and mondo noggins. How on earth is that attractive? (Which isn't to say blow pops, at least the sour apple ones, aren't attractive...) Ick!

This giggled me through lunch

2005-09-07T11:59:00.000-05:00

The Gaming Graybeards

Yay football weekend

2005-09-06T10:22:00.000-05:00

At last college football has begun. Enjoyed much football watching this weekend.

We had to make an emergency trip to Frankie's Saturday because our cable company wouldn't let us have the espn gameplan PPV to watch the Michigan game. Very weird. Yay, Frankie's now has pear cider on tap! Yum.

Watched Georgia beat an awful yet ranked Boise State. And then everybody makes a big deal of it like it was a quality win. Bleh!

The highlight of the day, of course was watching Georgia Tech beat Auburn. Again. Ha-ha! May the whole season be like that. Please. Can't wait for the home opener this weekend.

Am I the only one who noticed how awful the announcers, and really the entire coverage of the Virginia Tech - NC State game was?? I mean, how many times can 2 men get the name wrong of the quarterback and it be ok??? At one point they said Michael Vick played a great first quarter. Which is pretty amazing, considering he plays for the Falcons, and his brother was playing for VT. It drove me nuts. I didn't count accurately, but there were at least 3 times in the hour that I watched where they said Michael instead of Marcus. Then, almost every freaking play they would pan to Michael on the sidelines to see his reaction to the play. That's great that he shows up for his brother, but does the coverage really need to give him more airtime than the players??

Dantanna's for lunch :(

2005-09-01T11:40:00.000-05:00

I seemed to be plagued by bad restaurant going lately. Went to Dantanna's for lunch today with hubby. I had fish tacos; he had a hamburger. My fish tacos were really more like seafood burritos, but were really pretty good. Unlike most fish tacos, which have only one kind of fish, these had little pieces of all sorts of fish. The fish by itself was not that good, but mixed up in all the taco yumminess it was. The service was the main problem. It was worse than inattentive. I don't think it is too much to expect you water glass to be filled when you are paying $9 for a burger or $12 for tacos. Then, when we finally got the bill, and then finally got the card swiped, I noticed that he overcharged us! We got charged for 2 teas when we only ordered one. They were $2 each - which is ridiculous! Tea costs pennies to make. So we didn't want to wait on the waiter to take it off because judging for the rate so far we would have been there another half hour. I told my husband to subtract the $2 ($2.16 really - stupid sales tax) from the tip amount. Then I looked and he didn't! So I'm all worked up and pissed off. Bad service and overcharged, BAH!

New Orleans

2005-09-01T08:07:00.000-05:00

There are people closer to it than I to document what is happening. But its my favorite city in the world and I'm just so sorry...

Tin Lizzy's

2005-08-26T12:08:00.000-05:00

Went to Tin Lizzy's for lunch. No website I can find, but it is at Piedmont and Roswell. It was Po Boy's for about 2 years, and I really did like their buffalo grouper bites. The service was usually bad and slow, but the food was pretty good. And they gave idine (now rewardsnetwork) Skymiles. Well one day I drove by and all the signage was changed and it said Tin Lizzy's. I was sad, but on the other hand I do love a good taqueria. Unfortunately, as I found out today, Tin Lizzy's is not a good taqueria. They still have table service, which is still bad and crazy slow, just now they have a teeny tiny menu of teeny tiny overpriced tacos. It was very frustrating. Some things weird though: they use the same dishes as Po Boys, and I got an email for my idine points from this trip calling it Po Boys. Don't know what to make of that. So, it was nothing exciting, the buffalo grouper is gone, and I don't think I'll go there again.

Green Day

2005-08-24T13:14:00.000-05:00

Went to the Green Day concert last night. The first thing we noticed is that we are apparently not the age group Green Day is most popular with. This is probably the first concert I have ever been to where I was not about the average age. Nope, last night the average age was probably right about 15. The reason it was that high was the assortment of parents bringing their kids. Being that the members of Green Day are in their thirties, and were popular when I was in high school, I was a little shocked.

They were, apparently, not shocked. I gathered this from the comment the opener, Jimmy Eat World, made, to the effect of "sorry to curse in front of your moms". Crazy.

Advantages of so many younguns:
No beer spilled on me.
No smoking.
Easy to see over their heads.
Our nephews may think us cool.

The concert was good. Our seats were good, but I wish we had been a little closer. I also wish I had brought my ear plugs - my ears are still ringing.

As an aside, there was a family in front of us, and at first it looked like the kids wanted to come so the parents brought them. Except when Green Day came on, the mom popped up and started jamming, so the initial assessment may have been incorrect...

And, I almost forgot. Apparently the cellphone is the new cigarette lighter. Because that is what was being waved during the anthem type songs. It was pretty, but sort of lame and terribly yuppie all at once. Nice that it isn't a fire hazard of course - lighters always made me nervous. I may have been the only person there without my phone - I left it at home so I could go purse-less.

And Europe...

2005-08-19T15:24:00.000-05:00

State map

2005-08-19T15:21:00.000-05:00

Not as impressive as I had hoped...

Country Map :(

2005-08-19T15:17:00.000-05:00

Bahama mama

2005-08-16T11:49:00.000-05:00

and no, that doesn't mean I am pregnant... :)

We went to the Bahamas this weekend for our anniversary. Yay! It was a great trip!

But first, the lessons learned:
1. Just because the Delta flight attendants say you need one customs form per family does not mean that you need one customs form per family. In fact, you need one form per person, no matter what size the person.
2. The transfer bus will have no indication that it and the tour company on your transfer voucher are related.
3. The Radisson Cable Beach thinks it is ok to overbook and send vacationers to other hotels.
4. The Paradise Island Riu rocks.
5. People at the airport are nicer when you are arriving than when you are leaving.
6. Although Atlanta lets corkscrews through security, Nassau does not.

Our reservations were at the Radisson Cable Beach. When we arrived, there were a lot of pissed off looking people, and many stories being passed about that they were out of rooms and exiling people to other hotels. We waited in line for freaking ever, probably an hour. There was a woman 2 people in front of us telling her sob story about not getting a room and having to come back every day to check or something like that. So it was with some trepidation that we finally approached the desk. No room for us either. They sent us to some place on Paradise Island called Rio. Rather than waste the energy arguing like most of our compatriots, we just went with the flow, had a few drinks while waiting for transportation, then got in our taxi to go across the island and over the bridge.

The trip took quite a while, but when we arrived at our new hotel, the Riu, all was well. They even gave us a drink at the checkin desk. After that (with the exception of the airport when we left) it was a great great trip. Lots of drinkin' and swimmin' and eatin' and sunnin'...

Can I go back now?

And, a special shout out to hubby for planning it - though the Riu part was just luck of the draw.

You just never know...

2005-08-09T10:03:00.000-05:00

The below pieces of articles are from the Barnesville Herald-Gazette, copied because they don't archive so I can't perma link to them. Pieces because they won't print the whole article online, and the "more..." link at the end takes you to a page to subscribe to the paper version. Which is whack.

Anyway, in another illustration of my fabulous taste in men, it is possible I had a crush on the guy these articles are about back in 3rd grade. In fact, he sat behind me in elementary school. Or in front, don't completely remember. That's right, I sat in front of (or behind - poor memory) a felon. Just never know I guess...

I also went to school with the kids of one of the guys he tried to have killed.

Yep, I'm from the best place in the world!

In another twist of irony, his mom (at least used to) run the old jail museum.

English guilty on all three counts

By Walter Geiger
After a grueling week in Lamar County superior court, John McNaughton (Mac) English was found guilty of soliciting another man to kill two local DNR rangers. English’s convictions came after a trial that featured unprecedented courthouse security measures, one instance of witness tampering and expert legal maneuvering on the parts of both the prosecution and defense. English will be sentenced August 4 by Judge Tommy Wilson after being found guilty of two counts of solicitation of murder and one count of solicitation of the concealment of the death of another. He was charged with trying to hire an acquaintance, Steve Scott, to kill DNR rangers Joe Buice and Al White and of conspiring to hide the body of Buice. His trial began Monday morning with jury selection and ended just before 5 p.m. Friday when the jury returned its verdict. “I think it (the trial) was rigged,” commented English’s father, Arthur English, after the verdicts were read. “We are disappointed with the verdict. However, we are glad the people of Lamar County gave the effort to see the legal process through. We will now go through those appeals available to us,” noted defense attorney Ricky Morris. Morris put up a valiant effort on English’s behalf but, in the end, it was not enough to overcome evidence recorded by confidential informant Steve Scott working under the direction of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the efforts of the prosecution team led by district attorney Richard Milam and assistant DA Bill Golden. The surreptitious conversations captured by body bugs worn by Scott were ripe with English’s dislike for Buice and White and riddled with obscenities. The prosecution painted English as an “outlaw” who disregarded game and fish regulations, stole from others at will and felt he was being harassed by Buice and White. English testified in court that he “pretty much hunts and fishes anywhere I want and anytime I want”. On the tapes, English and Scott discussed multiple ways to kill Buic (more...)

English receives harsh sentence

By Walter Geiger
Judge Tommy Wilson hammered Mac English with the harshest possible sentence Thursday for conspiring to arrange the murders of two former DNR rangers. “Mr. English, I am sorry for what has happened to you. I watched you all during your trial. You laughed a lot. And, quite frankly, you laughed when it wasn’t funny,” the judge said before imposing the maximum sentence of 13 years in prison. English, 28, was convicted last month of attempting to hire Steve Scott to kill then rangers Joe Buice and Al White. Buice is now sheriff of Lamar County while White is an investigator for the public defender’s office. Judge Wilson sentenced English as a repeat offender which means he will serve the full 13 years in prison. He got five years each on two counts of solicitation of murder and three years on one count of solicitation to conceal the death of another. The judge ran the sentences consecutively. English has three prior felony convictions with two of those convictions tied to the murder plots. English showed no emotion. He met briefly with his parents and other family members outside the courtroom before being returned to the state penal system. Assistant district attorney Bill Golden told the judge he had victim impact statements from Buice and his wife, Barbara. Their statements were entered into evidence and judge Wilson said he had read them. District at-torney Rich-ard Milam had suggested Wilson sentence English to 10 years in prison and three years on probation and banish him from Lamar, Butts and Monroe counties for life. “If they ever see him again, the victims will always wonder if he still wants to kill them,” Milam argued. Golden termed the English case “the most heinous I have ever indicted”. Saying he was not going to argue the severity of the charge, defense attorney Ricky Morris gave the judge other, lesser sentencing options and argued against banishment, noting English had lived here his whole life. “Perhaps it is time that this chapter of this book be closed. We need closure but there is no reason to institutionalize Mac English for 35 or 38 years,” said Morris who has indicated he plans to appeal. Judge Wilson then asked for comments from others present in the court. Shanna English, mother of the defendant, asked the judge not to banish her son. “He won’t ever be able to see his father,” she pleaded while fighting back tears.(more...)

GBI probing witness tampering

By Walter Geiger
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is probing an alleged case of witness tampering in the Mac English murder for hire trial and the impacted juror has reported a second attempt to intimidate her. Sherry Wise, an original juror in the English trial, was removed from the jury and replaced by an alternate after telling Judge Tommy Wilson she had been contacted during court proceedings by someone seeking acquittal for English. GBI spokesperson Vickie Metz confirmed Friday that GBI agents are investigating at the request of sheriff Joe Buice. “It involves the English case but that is all I can say,” Metz told The Herald-Gazette. Wise, proprietor of the Lighthouse Restaurant, said she was at work when the call came. “I usually don’t answer the phone but my cashier was on a smoke break. The caller was an older male, real country. I didn’t recognize the voice,” Wise said Thursday. The caller’s message and intent were clear, Wise said. “He called me by name and asked me not to find Mac guilty. He said Mac was a good boy. He said I should know how boys can be since I have one and then told me what time my son got home the night before. That scared me,” Wise said. The second intimidation attempt was even more frightening. English’s convictions on all three counts he faced were handed down by the jury late on Friday, July 22. On Monday, July 25 Wise met with sheriff’s investigators and GBI agents. “I gave them permission to dump all my phone calls and check all the incoming and outgoing calls,” Wise said. That night, she left her isolated rural home at dusk to attend a baby shower. When she returned at about 10 p.m., her home had been entered. Buice and investigator Rene Chamblee both said entry was not forced but gave no other details. “They opened all my cabinets. They opened my desk. They went in my bathroom. They turned all the lights I had left on off. I keep my shoes really neat on a shoe rack and they piled them all up in a little volcano,” Wise said. “This was definitely an attempt to intimidate her into not talking to us,” Chamblee said. Buice agreed. “They definitely knew what they were doing. They didn’t take anything although there were valuables in plain sight. That means it stays a misdemeanor. The entire judicial system has been (more...)

my guilty secret... or what I do at 7pm on weekdays

2005-08-03T11:52:00.000-05:00

Ok, maybe it isn't that guilty. And it isn't a secret for any particular reason... But if I'm home at 7 on a weekday night, I am watching Days of Our Lives on Soapnet. Is it brainfood? No. Is it relaxing after a day of work? Oh yeah. And I've been watching it so long (off and on) - really my whole life. My grandma used to watch it and I watched it with her. So I know all these long detailed character histories and its just... comfortable.

Last night was exciting though - usually there are news article about characters coming back way before they show up. But last night, there was this doctor who was there to treat Marlena. And they said some things that were sort of odd, and I took a close look, and it was the original Roman! And I thought, maybe he is just back playing someone else and the stuff they said were in-jokes for old viewers. After all, there are 2 people on there right now who used to play completely different characters on the show. But then at the end, he talked in his head and had a flashback and it was real Roman! So exciting! Though that means there are currently 3 people on the show who think they are or have at one point thought that they were Roman.

Anyway, that is my lameness for today.

funny feeling

2005-08-03T11:46:00.000-05:00

I drive an Explorer, and my husband drives a Maxima. Though we used to trade out a good bit, and for a while I did drive the Maxima every day, I haven't really driven it in over a year. Today we switched vehicles, and driving the Maxima is the funniest feeling. I feel like a midget, because I have to look up at everything. It is a crazy weird feeling.

grumpy

2005-07-27T15:19:00.000-05:00

At work the receptionist sends out a monthly list of birthdays and employment anniversaries. The one for August came out today. My first day here was August 6. My name wasn't on it. I emailed the receptionist and told her I started August 6, and she said the list was based on permanent employment and I was contract from August until September 1. So my name would be on the September list. There is this other guy who started a few weeks after me in my department - his name was on the list, and I thought he started contract too. I asked though, and he didn't. So I am all bummed out about not being on the August list. I started in August! I know this is incredibly silly - but I have waited all year to have my one year anniversary acknowledged, and now it will be done incorrectly. Whah! Last year my birthday didn't make it on the birthday list either.

Which reminds me - the worst was when at my old job they had birthday cake for this sales guy whose birthday was 2 days before mine, and then didn't acknowledge my birthday at all. I think I cried privately some about that. The blatant wrongness of it! And it wasn't a large office, either. There were like 15 people tops. And I had worked there longer than him. That job was like that though. Another office location of the same company had moved into our office, and they were clique-y and exclusive from the start. The director of the office was the director for everyone, but one year he had a Christmas party, during work hours, at his house, and only invited that side of the office. That is so totally wrong. Sure, they kept it on the down low, other than everyone over there disappearing at once. I knew though, because my husband (at the time boyfriend) worked on that side.

This weekend...

2005-07-19T16:07:00.000-05:00

Saturday we finally got our track lighting up. Yay! It looks great. Makes me want to do the whole house with track. That is, unfortunately, prohibitively expensive. I have basically decided that when we sell the house (unless I am feeling lazy about it by then) we will take all the kitchen lights with us, and just buy cheap lights to put up. I want to keep the pretty ones. Plus, most people replace lights anyway, when you think about it.

That reminds me, I need to get glass put in the cabinet door. I was waiting until the track was up so the glass would not have the chance to be shattered during track installation. Wow. I can't believe it.

Just when I thought we were done searching for furniture, we are at it again. I may not have mentioned the sofa quest. It was long and arduous and finally ended in the purchase of a chofa and love seat last weekend. The chofa idea is just too too clever.

Anyway, we were going to continue using our occasional tables we had for the living room (our $35 specials). But I was putting felt on the bottom of the legs of my favorite, and got to looking at it. To my great sadness, I saw what looked like powder post beetle holes. After that, I couldn't bear to keep it. Sigh. That is the second thing from the auction that had the symptoms too - the first was a pair of chairs. And on the chairs, we didn't notice it until I had done all the work of taking the upholstery off the first one. That sucked. Anyway, so now we are on the quest for occasional tables. I may have to give in to my husband's desire for a cocktail table. I hate cocktail tables.

I am totally slammed at work right now. This was my 5 o'clock break. Back to the salt mines for me!

Willy Wonka

2005-07-13T08:56:00.000-05:00

So, I thought I had this original thought - I've been seeing the previews and interviews for the upcoming Willy Wonka release. And I thought, "am I the only one who notices that Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka has a resemblance to Michael Jackson?"

Apparently I am not the only one, as I found several articles saying the same thing when I googled willy wonka, johnny depp, michael jackson.

Oh well.

Sad today

2005-07-12T15:01:00.000-05:00

Today is one of those days when I just feel very sad, but for no particular reason. I know there are people with real problems in the world who have much more reason to feel sad than I do, but since sad has an inexaustible supply, I don't worry too much about hogging someone else's share of sad. When I was younger, I fancied I was the only one with occasional unexplained sadness. Now I am older and realize that I am not special - there are plenty of other sad people too. So now I can also be sad about being not particularly special. Ok, that last sentence was a joke. Sad days for me seem to correlate highly with how much I liked what I ate. Today for lunch I had yogurt. I am currently having a snack on Reduced Fat Toastchee. I didn't have the yogurt so much for diet purposes as because there was nothing at home to bring and I didn't want to buy something. The Toastchee is for fun - I love Toastchee. When I was on Weight Watchers, losing weight also had some correlation to less sad days. Weight Watchers is hard work. It was at least easy to go to the meetings when I worked at a place that had meetings at work. After leaving, I just couldn't make it to meetings anymore.

It looks like it may rain again. Geez. I remember when summers used to be dry for weeks. I know the rain is better, but I feel like I should start building a boat.

stolen link...but its really funny!

2005-07-12T14:59:00.000-05:00

Family of faggot fans fly the flag

Back to the mechanic...again

2005-07-08T12:42:00.000-05:00

Funny how the world moves so quickly...until you have car trouble, that is. This morning I went out to go to work, and the Explorer wouldn't start. It wouldn't even really make any noise. Having just got a new battery 2 weeks ago, I was dumbfounded. And being that it was 9 AM on a weekday morning, I was dumbfounded. There is no one around to jump you off at that time of day, and it is hard to flag someone down when your car is sitting in your driveway. I think I weirded one guy in a jeep out, he was driving by, and I was standing outside looking at him wondering if I could get him to stop - he waved at me. It was then I realized how obviously I was looking at him. I called the shop I go to, which is only like a mile away, but they couldn't spare someone to come jump me off. So I called AAA. They recommended a tow truck, since the Explorer didn't show any signs of starting.

The truck took over an hour to arrive, which I guess isn't too bad. I got to ride in the cab to the shop. By that time it was 11. They had to push it into the garage at the shop because they couldn't start it. Turns out my starter is bad. Yay.

Now it is fixed, but I am at home. I could walk over there, but it is hot outside. I am not going in to work anyway now, I'm working from home. So better to wait, I think.

Husband at Six Flags...

2005-06-29T10:48:00.000-05:00

So my husband is at Six Flags with two other people from his work. I am pouty. I want to slack off and go to Six Flags! Apparently there was some dumb "contest" and this is the dumb "prize". Which sucks - at our old company the prizes involved sig figs - like one time we got a dinner out at Chops. That was an excellent prize. This prize sucks for the sig fig (me). I don't think it is appropriate for them to go there alone, in their skin-baring clothes, and experience the romance of an amusement park together. That's right, ROMANCE. All that standing together, pushed closer by the crowd. Riding side by side, screaming in unison. Going through Thunder River, all hot and wet. It isn't right! And don't get me started on Monster Mansion. They might as well go freaking park. That is not an appropriate coworker activity. Nor an appropriate activity for a married person, doing that with someone else. Argh! I am angst ridden.

In other news, IKEA is opening today. YAY!!!! Could H&M be far behind? I hope not. The TV news said there are some fools that have been camping out there for days. That is just crazy. Sure, the first 100 people get a free arm chair, but what if you don't even like the arm chair after sitting there for a week. Must be nice to have so much free time. I am going today after work to give IKEA all my money. I actually had a hair appointment tonight, but I rescheduled it to be able to go bask in inexpensive household goods.

We watched Ocean's 12 last night - between the mumbling and the dark sets, I am still not completely sure what was going on. Geez.

Most annoying interview ever

2005-06-24T10:14:00.000-05:00

I was thinking about this last night, for some reason. This particular interview still just eats me up. I looked back to make sure I hadn't written about this before and didn't see it, so forgive me if I am repeating myself.

Let me preface this with some background. I started college in 1995 - it was there, probably the first week, that I first met the internet. As well as the www, gopher (sweet gopher), ftp, telnet, newsgroups, etc. Those first few months, my hallmates and I were on all the time, we would go hang out in labs (no ethernet in the dormrooms yet) for hours, looking people and information up online. Although it had been around some years before, those were still the early days of the www, and I was there to see it grow and change over the next 4 years of college... My dorm had ethernet starting in 1996, and my computer stayed on, online, all day and night from then on whether I was in front of it or not. While we had a library, I don't remember ever checking a book out in four years, though I did occasionally make copies of some for papers. Most research I did online. Probably because I am lazy. Nonetheless, I was online probably 3 hours a day mininum in college. (Sadly enough, it is 8 minimum now, but what is a knowledge worker to do?)

Alrighty. It was probably the fall of 1998 still, my senior year of college, and I was doing the interview rounds trying to get a job for after graduation. I had a second round interview at CSC, which involved going into the office, taking a test, and being interviewed by 2-3 people. So I was being interviewed by this one guy, I wish I could remember his name so I could publicly shame him. We were talking about this project I did in one of my accounting classes where we picked a company and did research on it and profiled it, reviewed financials and did analysis on its growth prospects. He asked me about where I got the information. Annual reports. Him: Where else? SEC filings Him: Where else? (etc.) I don't remember all the places now, but I went through probably 5 different sources of information. I couldn't come up with anything else at this point - there are only so many places. So he takes a notepad, writes something in big letters on it, underlines it, and shows it to me. Guess what this word of wisdom said? INTERNET At the time I was mostly flustered, and said something to the effect of, "But that is where I was looking at all that stuff." I was honestly just so shocked. And it still just eats me up what a ass this guy was, and how behind the curve. Looking back, it was probably a generational difference. But ack! - it still just eats me up. Anyway, they didn't offer me a job. Big loss.

Another funny interview/job thing that happened - Microstrategy sent me a rejection letter in a Word document via email. It had a virus. Braniacs.

AARGH!

2005-06-23T11:09:00.000-05:00

Feeling overwhelmed with:
1. work
2. school
3. everything else as usual

Haven't even been able to come up w/ anything interesting to say in 2 weeks. Whah!

N64

2005-06-09T11:52:00.000-05:00

So, with the new projector, I have decided that I need more than one game for the Nintendo 64. What is my one game, you ask? The New Tetris. Which rocks, but does not inspire my husband to spend much time playing too. So I have been trolling ebay for about a week trying to buy up games. It is nice, because they are much cheaper than they were when new, but I wish I had thought to troll the rental places when they were selling the rental games instead, b/c shipping certainly adds to the cost.

Anyway, so far I have bought: Waieleau (sp?) Golf, Mario Golf, Mario Kart, and Extreme G. I really want Harvest Moon and Worms Armageddon. Of course, so does everyone else so they go crazy expensive (for a 6+ year old game). One funny thing I have noticed - looks like people can't give Perfect Dark away. I played it once, but kept getting disoriented. If anyone out there wanted to give me their old N64 games, that would be nice too!

This ebaying really is a crazy drain on time. I had forgotten how obsessive it can be since the last time I was actively buying was during my Viewmaster collecting frenzy a few years ago. And most of the auctions end at night, not during the middle of the day when I am online. Crikey.

basement

2005-05-31T12:32:00.000-05:00

Spent many hours yesterday looking for seating for the basement. We just got a projector for down there, so the issue of seating has risen in importance since there now will be something to actually do in the basement. For some strange reason, my husband is nearly obsessed with getting a sectional. I don't understand it. They are big and not very versatile. Bleh. We found one that was a good candidate. I really want a chaise somewhere in there too. We couldn't pull the trigger though. Which was probably for the best. After we got home and I hooked the projector up, we changed our minds about the wall we wanted to project onto. Which makes the measurements rather different.

The projector is awesome. Better than I had hoped. On a light green wall, the picture was still great. Just damn impressive.

Random stories I find amusing (and my annoying morning)

2005-05-27T14:59:00.000-05:00

This morning I was getting gas and some guy in a truck pulled up within maybe 2 feet of my back bumper. Why are you telling me this, you ask? Well, here's the thing - the car at the pump in front of me was within 1 foot of my front bumper so I could get the pump to the tank, and there was no pump behind me. Then, when I got in my vehicle to leave, my only way to get out was to back up. And yet, the fucker behind me didn't move. I honked. Nothing. It is hard to convincingly honk at someone behind you - unfortunate. I made hand motions. Nothing. I moved a little. Still nothing. I may have flipped out and yelled and beat my steering wheel in frustration. Just as I was about to turn off the engine to go - um - ask him to move, he finally backed up and waved me back. Thanks a lot dumbass. He had a Bama tag on his front bumper. That may be related. Very angry I was. Frustrated with being fucked with I get.

Funny things I thought of today:

1. When my husband and I had been dating a little over a year, he had a party at his condo. There were probably 2 framed pictures of us in the condo. This girl he invited said something to me about the picture, then said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but isn't a little soon to have pictures together up?" Um, not sure what the right way to take that is... She also said, "I mean, <her boyfriend> doesn't have any pictures of me up and we're living together." Bizarre. I have since realized that she says something snide everytime she talks to me. Haha - she and no picture boyfriend broke up and she got chubbbbbby. We went to a wedding she was at and the only place we saw her was right next to the buffet. Now I call that "pulling a <her>" - to stand by the buffet eating at all times.

2. When my husband and I first started dating, we worked at the same office in our company which had maybe 30 people, so we kept it on the down low for the first year or more. Very few people knew. By the time we got engaged, though, we thought everyone knew, because we were not secretive about it anymore. One day shortly after we were engaged, my project manager took me to lunch, and asked me to tell him about my fiance. Me: "Um, you know it's Rob, right?" Him: "Rob who?", puzzled look. Me: "Rob at work..." Him: "Ohhh, Rob.. Well, I'll have to tell him congratulations." Funny, funny, funny!!

feeling weird

2005-05-23T17:08:00.000-05:00

I think I am alone in the office, here doing my online class crap. Ok, maybe that isn't really what I am doing. Maybe I am reading blogs of people who I used to know. Since the people I know either don't have them or don't update enough <ahem>, I have started googling random people I used to know when I think of them, and then read their blogs. Sometimes I feel like my life hasn't really changed in the last 6 years, but everyone else's has. Objectively I suppose that isn't true. I must have been too absorbed in reading, b/c I feel really hazy. Like I used to when I was younger and got caught up in a novel and spent all night reading it. At the end, what you read seems more real and exciting than what is real.

When I opened this I thought it would be something deep and pensive. Oh well, sorry.

Almost time to go - I have a lot to do tonight to get ready for my stupid test tomorrow.

Obligatory Star Wars post

2005-05-23T09:28:00.000-05:00

So we're late movers - we saw it Friday night. Happily, the theatre was not full to capacity, so there was none of that deal whether the ushers come in and ask everyone to squeeze to the center, causing your carefully chosen spot to be given to some other late-comer schmuck.

It was fun, I guess, entertaining. Some parts were really funny b/c they were so silly.

So sure, there was the emperor trying to seduce the guy, and whah, he thought his buddies were suspicious of him, but he should have been home taking care of his pregnant wife. The lesson is this: If you let your husband run around and don't keep tabs on him, he'll end up seduced by evil (and he might lose his legs and have his skin burnt off in the process). I said it better right after the movie, but I forgot how I phrased it.

Vortex, sweet Vortex

2005-05-20T14:17:00.000-05:00

Last night we went by the Vortex for a bit. We don't go there very often this time of year since we don't live there anymore. In the fall we are there more. Anyway, I was so pleased when I sat down and Artie (the bartender) said, "Pear cider, right?" I love being remembered! We used to be weekly regulars, but not so much now, but we haven't found any other place to be regulars at. So I was very pleased.

Chat classes suck

2005-05-18T09:02:00.000-05:00

So I'm taking this maymester class that is and online class, 5 days a week. When I saw "online", I thought that meant there would at least be an audio component. We used vclass 2 semesters ago - it had online, whiteboard, application sharing, and chat. Right. This class is chat only, using old webct. And it is excruciating. When the professor is "lecturing", it is so slow, because he has to pause and type. Then, when he opens it up to questions/comments, it is too fast to read. I don't get why we are using such a limited technology when more advanced ones are available.

No shoes inside

2005-05-17T13:47:00.000-05:00

An issue my hubby and I have been somewhat disagreeing on lately is whether to have a shoeless house. We are replacing our flooring, and I would like to keep it nice as long as possible. One way to help keep it nice is to not wear shoes on it. Shoes bring in grit, and heels can leave marks and dents. To make it worse, we are both heel walkers. So, I want to have a shoeless house. Asian people do it, why can't we?

I did some research on it today. Here are some links I found.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/asktheexpert/2002235765_homehay10.html
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29826.asp
http://www.latitude13.com/archive/000135.html
http://www.wendyswhimsies.com/noshoes.htm
http://www.drdaveanddee.com/shoes.html
http://www.drdaveanddee.com/shoes2.html
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/entertain/msg0118553124292.html

I am now trying to find a sign, but the ones I have seen are so cheesy. Either Hawaiian or "country". Ick.

I plan to win this battle. These floors cost a lot of money. And shoe soles are icky. The floor is so nice and slick too, it is fun to walk on it barefoot. And I want to be able to lay on it too, and I won't do that if it gets walked on with outside shoes. Some of our friends already do this, so it shouldn't really be a problem. I don't know why he thinks it would be.

I still need to find some mats too. I'm having a hard time finding what I have in mind.

South City Kitchen

2005-05-14T07:44:00.000-05:00

South City Kitchen is very good. They also have a way with grits. We had Alliance season tickets this year and went there before every show for dinner.

For an appetizer, we had their interpretation of fried green tomatoes. The tomatoes had goat cheese on top of them, then the whole thing was breaded and fried. How they can do that without it falling apart is beyond me, but the result was mighty tasty.

I had the Pan Seared Halibut over crispy horseradish potato cake with cucumber-red onion-tomato salad, with a side of cheese grits. It was very good, but probably not my favorite. I usually get the Sautéed Shrimp, Scallops and Grits creamy stone-ground grits and garlic gravy.

My husband had the special, a smoked pork chop atop grits. It was yummy too. If it weren't for the fact that I don't like pork, I probably would have gotten that too.

One nice thing about South City Kitchen is that Costco in Atlanta sells gift cards for it (and all Fifth Group restaurants) at a discount. I think it is 20% off. Plus, if you are an Alliance season subscriber, you get 10% off the bill.

Quiznos

2005-05-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

MMM...Toasty. Quiznos for lunch today. I had the traditional italian. I love Quiznos. I don't really have much else to say about it though.

10 boxes of flooring!

2005-05-12T08:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday on my way home, I called Floor and Decor to do my every-other day "do you have my flooring in" check. Miracle of miracles, although they had not gotten a new shipment, they had gotten a return of 10 boxes. So I asked them to hold it and raced to the store. I went ahead and bought all ten, even though we probably don't need that much. I just didn't want a repeat of what happened this time, and it looks like they may be switching manufacturers. Plus, their return policy has become more generous, up from 7 days to 60 days.

I also bought some more trim pieces, a few reducers and some thresholds. I am just not sure what we need, so I figured we could take them back. I am in a quandary about what trim to put around the fireplace. I looked at bamboo quarter round, but the finish on every piece was so banged up, I didn't want to buy it. I don't know how good the white base shoe we are using on the wall would look. I have also thought about using reducer around it - that might be a neat look. Maybe today I will look to see if the internet has any ideas.

Rock Bottom Brewery

2005-05-11T12:53:00.000-05:00

In a new segment, I have decided to chronical where I eat. Today was lunch at Rock Bottom Brewery. Ok, here is something weird - the previous link has the same logo, but the location isn't listed - somehow the particular one I went to is part of Gordon Biersch. I wonder if this is related to when the menus changed several years ago - the menu used to be like the one on the Rock Bottom site, but now is missing some of the yummy things. But, I digress....

Today I had the fish and chips. It was thoroughly "ehn". The fish was cod, which is not the most coveted fish in the world. The crust was thick and crunchy and dark brown. Not the golden fried light crusted I prefer. And the whole dish w/ tax and gratuity was 11.33. Pricey for only "ehn". Our service was really bad too, and crazy slow.

There was a time, my senior year of college, where Rock Bottom was one of my favorite places to go. They had this asiago cheese dip in a bread bowl that was delicious. Unfortunately, shortly after I graduated they changed the menu. It just hasn't been as good since then. I have still been there several times a year though, because I have worked a block away for 5 years. Oh, the irony.

my week off

2005-05-10T15:35:00.000-05:00

From school, that is. Ok, its really been 2 weeks. And I like it. Though I do find myself sleepier lately. Lack of extra stress makes me sleepy. :)

Right now I am waiting on a siding estimator.

In other news, still no flooring at the store to buy. Yikes. And apparently the bulb in the light we just installed a few weeks ago is blown. So I have to take the very heavy glass globe down to figure out what bulb to go buy. Neverending...

Yesterday I primed the areas around the door trim in the kitchen. I was apparently a very bad judge of where the trim would come to.

web service == sex?

2005-05-05T15:05:00.000-05:00

"Web services are like high school sex. Everyone is talking about doing it, but hardly anyone is, and those that are probably aren't doing it well."

This was also shown under the description part when I searched for Apache Axis. http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLE,GGLE:1969-53,GGLE:en&q=apache+axis

Skimming it, I thought it was funnier, b/c I interpretted it as "Web services are like high school sex. Everyone is doing it but you."

Got my attention though....

The quest for the holy floor

2005-05-05T08:36:00.000-05:00

Sunday we went back to Floor and Decor to pick up a few more boxes of our flooring to finish the living room. What a surprise we were in when they didn't have any of it. Not the good kind of surprise either. And, it wasn't made any better when we asked a worker there and they said, "We're out, we should have some more by May 15....hopefully." "Hopefully" in that context never makes you feel good.

On a side note, they had a assload of the natural color bamboo flooring. Just none of the carbonized.

We left in something of a panic, with visions of months of the living room (and our bedroom, current home of our living room furniture) being in the state it is in now - the low side of partially finished.

We called the other stores in the state, as well as one in Florida. None of them had it either. Their forecasts on receiving it were more like June. Ack!

I contacted the manufacturer to see if they had other distributors near by. Unfortunately they do not. The fellow that I traded emails with was very helpful though, and let me know which Floor and Decor the next shipment was going to and when it was expected. He said it should be there early next week. Made me feel much better.

In this example we see the pitfalls of JIT inventorying though. And it was all my fault, because last time I went to buy more, I just bought some of what we needed, not enough to finish out. But I didn't know they would ever be out of stock - they had it in stock every other time I went. I would have bought more, but I was by myself and no one helped me and I was in my dress clothes and the boxes are really heavy. As it was I was sweating like a pig and cursing like a sailor just to pick up the 6 boxes I bought.

Finished with finals - yay!

2005-05-03T08:41:00.000-05:00

Took my last final (for this term) last night. It was not exactly what I expected, so we'll see what happens. Semesters last so long, I don't really feel like the term is over because at this point I am so accustomed to my classes. Oh, for the days of quarters. So, two weeks off, then an online class every afternoon for a month, then back to driving to school two days a week - but for only one class. Summer is two days a week instead of one. Which is a pain. But...this helps to meet the greater good of being done after spring. And having my free time back. And not paying tuition. Or parking.

Abattoir

2005-04-29T11:54:00.000-05:00

Not a word you see often, I am most familiar with it because of The Architect Sketch...

Found it today in this article: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=583&e=1&u=/nm/20050429/od_nm/odd_peru_frogs_dc The context is a bit confusing though, because it seems to use abattoir as a synonym for crate.

Sweet Chick-fil-A biscuit...

2005-04-29T10:43:00.000-05:00

This morning I had my last post-op for my gum graft. Yay, all well. They taught me how to properly brush my teeth. I guess what I learned as a kid was just wrong. That makes me rather angry at Sesame Street. I tried to find the lyrics to the song I remember online, but apparently no one ever documented it. And, apparently, Sesame Street has updated their toothbrushing guidance. Anyway, when I was a kid, the song went:

Brush your teeth up and down
Brush your teeth side to side
Brush your teeth round and round

Animated children tumbling in ways corresponding to the words was the visual. Well, apparently that is all wrong. Which is why I chased my gums down the side of my teeth trying to brush them and had to have new ones installed. The correct way, as I learned today, is to brush gently in small circles, flicking the gum only. Why no one told me before is beyond me.

Back to the point - Chick-fil-A is right next to my periodontist's office. I don't care for their food in general, however the chicken biscuit breakfast is DELICIOUS. And that is what I had today. Yummy. It is terribly filling though, and I am unsure now whether or not I should go to our Friday weekly lunch.

One word of warning though - the minis are not a mine version of the regular chicken biscuit - they use regular bread. And while I like regular bread, I don't like chicken sandwiches. Just chicken biscuits.

Noticed last night...

2005-04-28T15:50:00.000-05:00

At school, the male rarely lets the female in/out of the elevator first. At work, the male almost always lets the female in/out of the elevator first. I am unsure whether this is due to the population of males in the two places or because of a difference of social norm in the two places.

Interesting though.

I'm not sure I care either way, though I must admit I have become accustomed to being first gender off the elevator.

Trying to think of interesting things

2005-04-24T10:03:00.000-05:00

Apparently old age is making me less interesting instead of more.... Here is what I can come up with:

I am doing the XM radio online trial. So far, I give it a totally rules rating. I am thinking of buying the Roady2 - this is part of my research. The sad thing about it is how I decided that I wanted XM. There is this delicious pizza joint we go to, Bella's Pizzeria. Their regular food is mighty fine as well. Anywho, everytime we were there, the music they were playing was just great - old alternative and the like. I enjoyed it so much, I asked what it was and they said it was an XM radio station. Since then, I keep thinking of getting it for myself. My original plan for XM procurement was to get a new car with XM installed. But I am just not sure if I want to buy a car right now. So about 2 weeks ago I researched the XM receivers. Roady2 seems to be the favorite. It really isn't that much, but I am still debating on whether to pull the trigger.

Freecycling rules!

2005-04-24T07:03:00.000-05:00

http://www.freecycle.org/

Freecycling rules. Sure, it may be a little earthy-crunchy, but recycling and reusing are very important to me. So much gets thrown away that really shouldn't. So to become a freecycler, go to the website, and find the list in that area. To be truthful, I have never taken anything that was posted. I see myself as more of a giver. The truth is probably closer to: I have enough of my own crap (and hubby's!) - I certainly don't need more.

So far I have freecycled:

an outside oil lamp that came with the house
an outside table frame with no top that came with the house
several skeins of yarn I bought but never used
several coax cables we accumulated through the years
all the tile from our kitchen when we took it out
the carpet from our dining room
the carpet from our living room (as of today)

My parents are amazed that a) people want the tile and carpet and b) people pick it up so quickly. On the other hand, I was amazed that my dad wanted the old cabinets and sink from the kitchen. So I don't know why they are so surprised.

I also have some doors I need to go through to pick out to give away.

I can't swim

2005-04-22T09:59:00.000-05:00

It is a real bummer. Not only due to the possibility of drowning part, but also because not swimming rules out things like:

Snorkeling
Scuba diving
Snuba diving
Being a lifeguard
Having a pool
Skinnydipping

It is also rather embarrassing to have to stay in the shallow end as an adult. It is, however, not nearly the social handicap of not being able to drink beer.

I hate popcorn

2005-04-18T14:57:00.000-05:00

And I don't like its stinky smell either.

Rude

2005-04-08T10:13:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to share something that happened recently that amazed me by these people's rudeness. My husband didn't seem to understand why I was so appalled - I wonder if I am that old South...? Anyway:

There is a girl in my husband's office who is getting married. I have met her once, at the Christmas party last year, which lasted maybe 3 hours. So she is the equivalent of a stranger, basically. I don't think I would know her if I saw her on the street. Well, she was being thrown a shower, and decided to invite all the wives of the people at work. That, in of itself is appalling to me, because I always thought either the bride or groom or their family should personally know people who are invited to the shower. (Note, this was not an office shower, but a regular at-someone's-house shower.) Anyway, I had found that out from my husband, and forgot about it, after being appalled. Then, one THURSDAY, there was a message on my ANSWERING MACHINE: "Hi, Amy, this is Blah, and I am am giving a shower for OtherBlah, anyway, I didn't realize I was supposed to send you an invitation until just now, but the shower is on SATURDAY, so let me know if you can come." So I don't even get the trouble of a paper invitation to a shower for someone I don't know??? I get a phone call two days before??? I am still amazed. That is so rude. If you are going to have the audacity to invite a stranger, at least send them an invitation. And, if the invitation doesn't go out, just drop it, don't call 2 days in advance.

That is so whack.

Um, what is your blogging policy?

2005-04-06T13:44:00.000-05:00

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/Careers/04/05/blogging/index.html

Excuse while I cough up my lung

2005-04-05T11:42:00.000-05:00

Here we are on day 9 of my spring sickness. I am now having the pleasure of coughing all the time today. Poor coworkers, I am sure I am wonderful to listen to. Somehow this whole sick thing has also completely killed my appetite. Yesterday I forgot to have lunch, and still wasn't hungry at dinner. Today I went out for sushi buffet, but I am afraid I didn't get my money's worth. I made only one trip, got less than I normally got, and still couldn't finish it. Plus, some of the things I normally love made me feel nauseous, so they got left on the plate. Very weird.

I barely have any voice, and I have to give a presentation tomorrow night at school. Last time the prof dissed me on being too quiet; tomorrow I'll be lucky if anyone can hear me. It is so retarded the way they do it - it is a group project, and everyone has to take a turn presenting. It is an awkward setup to begin with, especially when you have a 10 minute time limit. In real life, you don't really take turns on a ten minute presentation, you just pick someone. Geez.

Off to go look at the presentation in the hope of making enough progress on it that we don't have to meet IRL tonight.

out sick

2005-03-31T10:44:00.000-05:00

Today is my third day home sick from work. I have been working some via the magic of vpn and remote desktop. Which is good - otherwise I would be out of sick days and it is still March. Luckily I don't get sick often - maybe once a year. When I do get sick, though, I get really sick. At the doctor Tuesday, he said he thought I had strep throat. This was my diagnosis as well, having had it twice before. Today though, I feel like I have a sinus infection as well. Yay! I still feel so guilty taking sick days, even though getting up to try to get ready for work was very painful and tiring. But I stayed home all the same. Really, not only is it good for me, it is good for my coworkers too.

In fact, for the last several months of 2004, I think the three people sitting around me and I passed around the same cold probably 5 times. I guess they feel even guiltier than I about staying home, and decided to work. Ah, presenteeism...

http://www.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/12/29/presenteeism.health/index.html

Things that are cute about my husband

2005-03-29T09:20:00.000-05:00

(maybe I should split this out in a separate blog to avoid tainting this one w/ gooey-ness)

He got me an Easter basket.
He hid it Easter morning and told me the Easter bunny had left me something.
He re-hid it after I couldn't find it/wouldn't look too hard b/c I was cooking.
He was upset that the Easter bunny didn't bring him anything.

Difference in (full time) undergrad and (part time) grad

2005-03-29T09:06:00.000-05:00

I have been meaning to document the differences I have found between being a full-time undergraduate student and being a part-time graduate student. These may not be general at all, but I have been amazed at the difference for myself.

As an undergrad, school was the most important thing, and I gave it all the effort I could so I could get good grades. I also cared very much about my grades.

As a grad, school is the 3rd or 4th most important thing, after husband, work, home maintenance, sleep.... There is a very finite amount of time that I am willing to invest in it. I would still like good grades, but I am just not invested in it like I was as an undergrad. I don't even feel like it is part of my identity.

This seemed more interesting when I thought about writing it. Perhaps my very sore throat is hindering me.

I don't know how people with children go to grad school and work, etc. etc. It is all I can handle now. It seems (from my limited experience) that most of the people in my classes with children are men. Of course, most of the people in my classes are men period; this semester, there are only 2 women in each of my classes. That may skew my observed statistics.

I will be glad to be done (only another year-ish) - it is such a pain. And I am not completely sure it is worthwhile.

Lunchtime congestion

2005-03-22T12:14:00.000-05:00

It is amazing how much the traffic picks up at lunch time (internet that is, well, the other too, I guess). I have been listening to the internet, um, the radio via the internet. All morning long the reception has been really good, but the last hour it has su-ucked. I even heard some packets rearrange themselves.

I forgot the point of this.

I am trying to win U2 tickets. I can't believe anyone ever wins - the lines are busy or all circuits are busy.

What a waste of a good dinner

2005-03-03T15:02:00.000-05:00

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/03/03/leviathan.lobster.ap/index.html

freeze dried strawberries

2005-03-02T09:46:00.000-05:00

The rush to put freeze dried strawberries in cereal must be the new gold rush. I first met the freeze dried strawberry in a box Peach Strawberry Fruit Harvest cereal that my husband bought. Being a lifelong fan of the fresh strawberry, I admit, I took to the cereal immediately. After a few boxes of that, I gave Special K Red Berries a shot. We became quick friends, meeting every morning for breakfast for several months. But then it got out of hand. My husband brought home Berry Burst Cheerios from CostCo (the first non-Kellogg of the bunch). The flavors in the double box are triple berry and strawberry banana. I have thankfully finished the strawberry banana. It was a challenge, but I powered through. I think there are two problems with that concept: 1) Cheerios are not meant to be combined with dried fruit and 2) freeze dried bananas are gross. This morning I started on the triple berry. It tasted better without the banana; however, there was still problem 1 and a new problem: my milk turned blue. Ick!

Last weekend I thought I saw Total with the strawberries, but I can't find it online - I may have just been confused by the picture on the box.

corrupt?!?

2005-02-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

Last night, my precious angel baby laptop started refusing to restart. Something is apparently rotten in the state of registry settings. I was frantic - time stood still as I tried (in vain) to fix it. I could barely sleep last night. Luckily, my good friend internet gave me some good ideas on how to fix it today. Hopefully without losing my data. Hopefully. I have been a very bad girl and have not been backing up my data like I should. Lesson learned - now give me my OS back!

stupid forecasted sleet

2005-01-28T14:44:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is supposed to be put up the kitchen trim day, but it looks like the forecasted sleet/freezing rain may interfere. I guess I won't know until I wake up in the morning though.

In other news, I am looking forward to Costco garlic bread tonight. Yummmmy.