47 posts from 2006

Wow wow wow. Sorry I haven't written in so long. It really didn't seem like that long ago but it was a month ago today and I didn't think I could get away with not posting much longer. How far we've all come in a month. Ok, not really. It just sounded so learned to say something like that. I am quickly approaching grinch zone. Why, you ask? Because I've only got one present this year that I feel is really any good. I like to buy thoughtful gifts. Not crap that I wander around to various stores and pick out because it's sitting there and I can then tick another name off my list. This year, though, I can't really seem to tap into my magical gift giving gene to produce anything fabulous. I suppose everyone has years like that. Besides, I hate shopping. If I can't do it online, I don't want to do it. And, it's getting to the point where I will now have to leave my sanctuary and travel out to compete with the masses for a few presents that I will wind up hating to give the poor recipients but will purchase anyway out of my "duty" to purchase gifts. Does that sound too grincy? Wait, don't answer that.

Nancy had her cookie exchange on Saturday night. I made 10 dozen Lemon Drop cookies for the event. I think I came home with more cookies than I left with. The really unfortunate thing is that since everyone in the family was there anyway, we will all now have the same cookies on our cookie trays. I'm thinking of bringing a bunch in to work for our student workers. I brought pumpkin bars in last week and they were quickly consumed (mostly by our Bosnian student who lives in the dorms whose diet, I suspect, consists mostly of Ramen noodles).

Kim had her cocktail party on Friday night and that was really a lot of fun. By the end of the night we were gambling and, at the same time, singing Christmas Carols Karaoke style. Wow. You KNOW there was drinking involved there. Needless to say, I didn't manage to drag myself out of bed until 10am on Saturday. Not that I was sleeping, I just couldn't make myself get up. Saturday afternoon I went caroling with a group to the homes of some shut-ins in the area. I have to say that has probably been the highlight of my Christmas season so far. I didn't really want to go but I did and I'm now really glad I did because it helps to remind you of what Christmas is really supposed to be about.

The one gift I have purchased this year that I am SO thrilled about is Brad's present. I managed to camp out early on the morning of Dec. 6 and get him a Wii! Yes, I braved the 10 degree weather and stood in line before Target even opened hoping to get one. I was the 2nd person in line and got one of the 14 they had that day. People are Wii crazy! One old woman came late and went to head directly to the front of the line where she proceeded to say she was first and then cussed everyone else already in line out. It was nuts. Finally the manager came out and handed out numbers and everyone rebelled against her and she had to go to the back of the line. The funniest thing was that she was swearing up a storm and repeatedly said that us young people had no respect. Ummmm, excuse me? We were all waiting in line, nice and ordely, and she was the one with no respect. Welcome to the club lady, you aren't the only one trying to get a Wii! Anyway, I know he will never even think that I would buy him a Wii so I can't wait for him to open it.

I also made my mom some really cool coasters using the photos she took in NYC this year. I just bought some tiles and transfer paper and then printed out the pics on my inkject and transferred them to the tiles. They look really cool. Kinda antiquey.

I have to get the desk, so I'd better go ahead and post this. I PROMISE to be more dilligent in posting. Maybe even more later today? We'll see......

Show us your desktop.
Submitted by Anthony.

Desktop

It's 3am. Ok, 2:58am. I can't sleep. For one, I can't stop coughing when I lie down. I tried bringing my blanket/pillow into the living room and sleeping in the big chair in a more upright position but it isn't helping. So, I gave it up and decided to just get up. So here I am with Tecas and a cup of tea with honey typing in the silence of a 3am household. The clock seems to be ticking abnormally loud. The clicklng of the keys on my laptop does as well. It's snowing lightly outside and the air has that super still feeling that only winter has. If I wasn't feeling so poorly it would be ok. Instead, I cough and am alone with my thoughts and they are taking over. Propositioning me with all of the things I need to fix, get done, take care of. And I can't do any of it at 3am. 

What's your favorite kind of Girl Scout cookie?
Submitted by My Lovely One.

Why do I buy those things? I am the type of person who never ever makes cookies from a mix or, heaven forbid, cake from a box. Yet, the old girl scout cookie calls to me and I buy them even though they are a little too expensive and a little bit waxy. *sigh* There are so many kinds to enjoy, how can I pick just one? If I must, I'll go with the Samoa. What's Samoa, you ask? Up nort' here that's what they call the ones with the caramel and coconut. I think they are also called Carmel Delights so you may know them as that. I find it strange that the same cookie has a different name depending on where you get it from. I guess there are 2 bakers of GS Cookies and it depends on the baker. I also know that one baker last year was still using trans fats and the other wasn't. Wow, I have too much time on my hands.

BTW -- must give honorable mention to the Thin Mint (yummy right from the freezer!) and the Lemon Sandwich cookie (so good with hot tea).

I laughed so hard when I saw that name as a track on a CD we were selling at the booksale that I just had to take it. I haven't listened to it yet because I fear that will just ruin it for me. So I'm just gonna wait a little while longer and then take a listen at which point I will probably throw the CD away. We had our booksale Wednesday, Thursday, and today. As part of our sale we had about 3,000 CDs that the campus radio station donated to us. They went digital so they had tons of promotional CDs that they donated to us. I perused the collection before the sale and picked out a few things Radiohead, North Mississippi Allstars, Tori Amos, and a bunch of chill out and electronica stuff. Mostly things that I would never buy myself but am happy to have gotten for free nonetheless. Anyway, today only the dregs were left over and I helped myself to a bunch of CDs that no one appears to want but that could be fun to listen to once.

I haven't written here in so long I don't even know what to write. I was sick some this week. I now have a nasty case of laryngitis which isn't good considering that I had to teach a class this morning. I had to get a co-worker to be my voice because I literally was just squeaking! It's a little funny. I feel fine now but I can tell my vocal chords are a bit stressed. So, I'm trying to keep quiet (which is hard by the by).

Brad and I finally watched some of our 16mm films that we got from the booksale a few years ago. We spent last Friday evening poring over some of them. Watched a few Charlie Chaplin films, the trailer for the movie Psycho, and a 1902 film considered to be the first science fiction film ever (Le Voyage Dans La Lune -- A Trip to the Moon). It was pretty cool to be sitting in the living room hearing the whir of the projector and watching these films. Now I just have to write some funky music to play while we watch the silent ones!

I've got to get ready for Thanksgiving this weekend. That's my big plan for now. I don't even have a menu planned yet except for the turkey! Brad went and picked it up last weekend. We get it from a local farmer. It's a little pricey but so worth it because 1) it tastes so much better and 2) we like to buy local whenever we can.

I guess Brad is heading out to a Primus concert on Saturday. I'm passing on that one seeing as I need some rest and need to get ready for Thursday. I don't have any days off this week so I need to get things in order as quickly as possible.

Dude. Heather just came back and told me that LUB "reported" to her that one of her student workers was looking at pictures of women in the internet. Know what he was looking at? Facebook. Good Lord. This place is so fab sometimes.

I know that sounds harsh and there's a little piece of me that feels bad about that. I try not to be a hater, but it's *really* tough this time around. So, yes, they can implode and I won't cry. Wait, maybe I will....tears of freakin' joy!
I'm ready for the long haul. Candles are lit, the MacBook is charged, a pizza is in the oven, and the TV is set up to flip between MSNBC and Comedy Central (c'mon, who's NOT gonna watch Stewart, Colbert, and Dan freakin' Rather! Sweetness). So far we've got a Dem Governor for Ohio that's as good as settled. Rick Santorum is goin' down next! Yeah Baby.

I went to vote about 5:30 and was out by 6:30. Not too bad. It was a lot of standing but most people were in pretty good moods. Only a little bit of bitching. Interestingly enough, my polling place had run out of traditional ballots so we were back to paper ballots which we then had to fold in half and stick in a box. I will admit to being a little concerned about my vote counting. But, it's my civic duty and I'm lucky to have the right to participate. As usual, I left with a feeling of pride. Of course, now I'm just out for blood.

Ok, I've gotta go check out DailyKos, Crooks and Liars, AmericaBlog, and Talking Points.

So I had to give someone a beatdown at my session on Friday. Back up, I know. What session on Friday? Friday was our annual Women in Technology Day here. I was on the planning committee. We get a bunch of career presenters together to do presentations for young (7th grade) girls and then they go to a bunch of hands-on labs where they get to do some tech-related projects. Anyway, while the girls are at their sessions, the adults attend a bunch of presentations too. I did a session for the adults called "At Least 30 Web Tips in 50 Minutes." I took them through a bunch of stuff. Some of it simple....like, put phrases in quotation marks.......some of it more difficult....like, setting up an RSS reader and subscribing to feeds. Anyway, getting to the beatdown. At one point I was explaining that little words can actually make a difference when doing a search. Doing a search for "what is the capital of the united states" yields different results than a search for capital united states. It was at this time that one of the guys at my presentation said that it would probably help the search if I spelled capital the right way. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't really jerky about it at all. However, I take great care to ensure that when I present, I cover all my bases. Soooooo, I had to point out to him that, in fact, I HAD spelled capital correctly. He thought it was spelled capitol. So, I took great pleasure in explaining to him that you only use the "ol" spelling for an actual building. So, if you are going to the capital you can visit the capitol.

You'd think they'd know not to mess with me.

Oh wait, he didn't know me until that moment. Well, I bet he won't mess with me from now on!

What's your dream career? 

Dream career? Besides collecting starfish on the beach and sending them back to the sea in some exotic locale?
I have often considered a career as a custom baker. I love baking. Mostly desserts. Baking and creating appetizers. In fact, I have even daydreamed about what I would call my custom business. If I had an apps and desserts business I'd call it "Starts and Finishes." If I had a bakeshop that I only operated during my summer vacay I'd call it "Summer Sweets." It's actually a wonder I don't weigh more than I do considering how I love to bake treats and eat them too. Lucky for me, I have a lot of family and workmates who also like them so I have people to share with.

I've been slipping. Slipping in posting any updates about what I've actually been *doing* over the last few weeks. So, I figured I had a little time (and I'm procrastinating on getting prepped for class and preparing a presentation for WIT on Friday) and thought I'd try to sit down and post. Here we go.

The weekend, as usual, went too fast. I left work about an hour early on Friday to get ready for dinner. We've been trying to get together with Matt and Anna at least once a month and I volunteered to make dinner and have them over to our place. I just made a pasta dish with homemade sauce, stuffed mushrooms, a nice salad (with glazed walnuts, dried cranberries, and goat cheese), and raspberry torte for dessert. Not too hard to get together as they are all things I've made many times before. Just time consuming. Besides, I had to stop at the Italian grocery on the way home to pick up some bread and pancetta. They didn't wind up getting to our place until about 8pm so we dined continental style. We just hung out and chatted and drank a little too much and they left about 12:30am. I was so happy to see them go! Don't get me wrong, I love having people over and I really enjoy their company but I was just so tired I was ready to fall into bed. Which I did. Promptly after they left. Seriously, I think I was asleep 10 minutes after they pulled out of the driveway.

Saturday we got up in the morning and just putzed around the house some. About noon we took leftovers to Janet's and had lunch with her. After that we all packed up and headed out to look at carpet for our living room and a new upright freezer for Janet. We had more luck with the freezer. I don't know what the hell kind of carpet to get. And, everything I like is waaaay to expensive. We decided to chuck it and instead invite Elyse (our neighbor) over to help us out. She works for a general contractor and has a great eye for design. All I know is that nasty carpeting in the living room now has GOT TO GO! Anyway, after our trip out, we came back with a new freezer for Janet and had to get that all unloaded and put downstairs. The benefit for us was that we got to take her old chest freezer home. I will now finally be able to open the freezer without getting beaned in the head with a pack of butter! We stayed there and had dinner and just chatted until about 10 when we went home.

Sunday I headed out to church and Brad stayed home to work more on the electrical for the barn. Poor Brad, it is just not going well for him. It always seems to be one step forward and two steps back. After I got home I tried to help him a bit but I think he just needs someone stronger than me! We did get the chest freezer from the truck into the basement so at least he could be happy about that. He thought he'd have to call Henry to help him. It was a pretty nice day out so I got to planting the last of the bulbs I've been meaning to plant all fall. I got 150 tulip and daffodil bulbs in and 24 crocus bulbs. I am hoping for a 50% return. Actually, I am just hoping for 1 bloom at all. Anything! Please? Later in the evening I hemmed some pants (only 3 pair to go), watched a little tv, and read some before heading to bed.

Exciting huh?

Yesterday it was about 67 here. Last nice day of the year, I fear. I'll take it though. It felt great to head to the grocery store after work and have no jacket on. I got home and rustled up some dinner and then set out to make pumpkin bars. I have to frost them tonight when I get home so I can take them over to Janet's tonight. We always go over there on Halloween. It's a tradition to have the family and kids over and we all eat pizza burgers until we are so stuffed you aren't comfortable sitting or standing. Ahhh, bliss.

So, a 4 mi run huh? That's funny because Brad and I are thinking of running the Turkey Day race here too. It's only a 5k though. You'd better get training! Speaking of running, two girls we know, Jessie and Jackie (yes, they're twins) ran the marathon this year too. We didn't know they were running. Anyway, Jessie's time was 2:54 and Jackie's was 3:15. How crazy is that???? Jessie is only behind the woman winner's time by 24 minutes. That's just nuts.

I get these email forwards frequently and thought I would just post my responses here.

34. Favorite dog breed? I have always liked Shelties and Australian Shepards
35. Number of keys on your key ring? I don't know and don't really care either.
36. How many years at your current job? It'll be 5 on Feb 1.
37. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
38. How many states have you lived in? 3 (wi, ill, tx)
39. Favorite Holidays? Thanksgiving! Yummy food and no presents.
40. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? Both! Brad taught me
to drive a motorcycle and I've driven a tractor before.