Party On...
I love New Year parties. I'm very excited to be hosting one tonight. I actually wasn't planning to have a gaming party this month because of all the holidays and everyone being gone, but I got a good response for a New Year gaming party, so rock on :) I'm not sure if I'm more excited about having a projector for GameCube on our wall, or having a new bar to serve drinks. I guess I'll have to wait and see :)

Amazing Dumb People
I was looking at the website for the Dayton Air Force Musuem since Eric and I are going to visit it Sunday. I decided to run through the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) just in case they had some weird rule(s). I was initially a little "duh" with the musuem when I ran across this:

Frequently Asked Questions
General Information
What hours are you open?
The USAF Museum is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day).
Are you open on Sunday?
Yes

However, upon further thought, I decided that they probably have to do that because the attention span of the average American is too short for them to read the entire sentence in response to "What hours are you open" where it clearly states that the musuem is open seven days a week. Why would asking if the musuem is open on Sunday still be frequent? I don't know, but I certainly believe it!

OH, and BTW...
Never, ever, plan to eat at St. Elmo's Steakhouse unless you are ready to shell out serious bucks. When I mean serious, I mean, nothing is on the menu below $25. The $25 entrees are apparently dogfood based on the other entrees. Eric seemed to be struggling with justifying a $40 porterhouse. This really amazed me because I personally can't justify $4.95 for a little plate of green lettuce, or spending money at any restaurant. The point of eating out is to enjoy the service provided, and well prepared food that you did not have to slave over to make. Once this was conveyed, he ordered the porterhouse and seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. I must say though, if you do go, I would highly recommend St. Elmo's, as the food is simply fabulous. Getting the shrimp cocktail appetizer is absolutely required. It's like eating straight wasabi.

Age Reflection
I was quite startled when I suddenly realised, as I stared at the microwave heating my steak and potatoes, that I will be 25 years old in March. My god. 25 years old? I suddenly had this reckless desire to return to 18, then on further reflection, decided that I didn't want to ever re-live my life. Growing up was hard enough with multiple mistakes made. Why endure that again? People amaze when they say, "I want to be young again and avoid the mistakes I made." Let's think this through. If they're really young again, they probably have the same reckless stupidity, and will undoubtably make the same mistakes again! Anyway, I don't feel 25, and I definitely don't feel like I've accomplished anything yet, so I don't want to be 25 either. I then went to CNN to read since my steak and potatoes was heated for my breakfast (leftovers that won't make it to lunch), and they had an article that said,

"ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- The average age at which American women are having their first child has climbed to an all-time high of 25.1, the government said Wednesday."

What? 25 years old is a later age for kids???? I'm almost there and the prospect of having a child is monstrously terrifying. A cat, rabbit, and kitten is traumatic enough for me now.

Better...
I'm definitely better (referring to my cancelled holiday). Not quite as crabby and bitter, but still bad enough that avoiding me would be considered intelligent. It doesn't help that after running through all my excuses to remain crabby bitter, I realised that I haven't actually taken a vacation this year, except for Tae Kwon Do Nationals, and that was work, not play. This would be a good time to note that in a typical work year I take two to three vacations, which often results into leaves of absences for a week or so because I always run out of vacation days. Not that I ever cared though. I have been partially subdued by the promise of cooperation from my boss that I can still take my two weeks in February/March that I had already planned, and also go to England in the Spring. Wow. Three weeks in the same quarter? That's not too bad.

I'm not the only one I guess...
In a heroic effort to make me feel better about making a complete idiot of myself, my friend who I originally had intended for the email (see post below for reference) sent me an article about email and posting fax paus'. Apparently, they happen somewhat frequently. These two especially amused me.

"A client asked for a rather time-consuming research project . . . in fact, it became kind of a boondoggle," he writes. "So when the junior staff member working on it forwarded the results to the team leader, she slugged the e-mail 'Your dumb-ass project.' Unfortunately, the team leader simply forwarded the e-mail to the client without changing the subject line."

"During the recent telecom crash, I was involved in executing a major downsizing," recalls a reader who asked not to be named. "In e-mailing one of the near-final plans late one night, I accidentally selected the wrong 'Jim' in my address list - instead of sending the layoff list to my divisional vice president, I sent it to one of our most troublesome and underperforming employees. This individual would have been on the layoff list even if it were only one person long. . . . You can imagine the painful phone call I had to make, asking this usually uncooperative person to please not disclose the news until the entire plan was executed. To his credit, he did cooperate, but I think it was mostly due to the generous severance they all received."

Worst Fax Paus Ever
Ever have a fear of posting something that you will never be able to delete? I have, but no more. There is nothing to fear once you've done it, right? I wasn't going to post on this, but why not? My humiliation is with my school peers, not you, so I figured I could at least make excuses to you. My excuses are as follows:

1) I'm very sick with the stupid flu
2) I had to cancel my trip to England next week because of my fever
3) My favourite relative ever in England has Alzheimers and has officially forgotten me. I just found this out.

One would think that a combination of these circumstances would consider it wise to not react to anything, or put myself in a position to react, because it's likely to be emotional and distorted. However, I truddle out of bed and go to my online class to see how another team has evaluated a course design that I had been working on with my team for an Instructional Design class. They had all good comments except for the assessments not being clear and questioning why we put references. Being mentally and physically unstable, I stomp-typed an email off to one of my team members and friend that was sarcastic about why we used references (to not plagerize!!) and how defensive I was feeling with their assessment comments.

*click* It's posted.

Oops, that was to the main (public) newsgroup, not the personal email to my friend. Now, my friend is well aware of my thoughts, as well as the instructor, other team, and anybody else in the class.

Never, ever, again, will I post, respond, or read things that will impact me when I'm already really upset.

I have deemed it ... unwise.

So true, so true....

Given that I have an impatient temperment on the road, therefore resulting in speeding, I think this would really help me prepare me for my upcoming bad mood. Sometimes, warnings help :)

Credit Card Suit
Annoyed because my credit card balance was off by $.08 from my expected balance (yes, I am that obsessive about my bank and credit card balances), I discovered the problem. Apparently there was a lawsuit that involved my credit card company, and my settlement refund was a whopping $.08. Very impressive.

Some babbling...
Have you ever been able to take pleasure in deleting a voice mail only half way through when you know the voice mail contains complaining, whining, and other annoying aspects? I was extremely gratified to do just that this morning. Normally, if you can't get your name and number on my voice mail within 5 or 6 seconds, it has been deleted. Unfortunately, I cannot always do that with work voice mails. However, I was lucky enough to recognize the annoying pitch of of whiner this time, and since I had already addressed her issue via her email, I took great satisfaction of slamming 76 to forever blot her voice from my phone system.

I feel better now.

I was reading Might Matt's blog, and noticed his comment about playing Mario Kart on GameCube with Ball. Eric and I just bought each other the GameBoy Advance SP (another stellar example of my ability to wait until the appropriate time to exchange gifts) and I have heard that GB Advance SP games can be played on GameCube? Is that correct? Since I get RCA employee discounts, I had wanted to purchase a large screen TV, buy GameCube, PS, N64 (we have that), etc. and put them all in a lovely entertainment center that can be closed when not in use. I wanted the center to be custom made to hold appropriate handlers, etc. and give it to Eric for next year's anniversary or some kind of event. Unfortunately, I have zero idea of how to go about creating such a gigantic game arena, thus the reason why I'm sharing it where Eric can see it. I think it's a nice idea though. *sigh* Back to the drawing board of creative thinking...

This is for Baa Baaa....
As a whole, my T-Day weekend was good. I have to average it as good because while T-Day itself and the shopping day thereafter was fabulous, the next two days stuck in the wilderness of Ohio was not so hot. OK, they don't even have a mall until Columbus. That's pre-historic.

My offical T-day meal consisted of the most awesome biscuits and gravy made by my dad at noon, shrimp cocktails during the afternoon, and White Castles in the evening. I consider my meal plan a complete success.

My shopping day after T-day (please understand that T-day crawls by for me because I have to wait until T-day to justify a fully functional Christmas shopping day, along with decorating the house) was very exciting for me with the car piled full of gifts and a 6 foot tree strapped to the roof of my car.

Let's just skip the in-law trip. They are nice people though.

Sunday evening was perfected by my typical inability to wait until the appropriate time to exchange gifts. Although our 1st wedding anniversary is not until December 14, I could no longer wait! Eric pronouced my gift a huge success, leaving me the impression that it was so great that I can only go down after this. I literally saw tears in his eyes, so I knew it was a good one :) The only discouraging issue is that he beats me at chess somewhat regularly.

There you go Baa Baaa, my synopsis :) :)

Real Customer Service Coming?
Finally, Dell is understanding that Americans like to speak to someone regarding computer customer service support that speaks English...

New Bar!
Since I have had an interest recently with cocktails and parties, Eric and I decided a bar would fit in our dining room. Actually the concept never hit me until I overhead somebody talking about the house size ones. So we went to Watson's and found the perfect one :) I searched high and low for a picture online, but I can't find one, and I haven't taken a picture of it yet, so those who attend my New Year's Eve party will get to see it. It's obviously small because our dining room isn't exactly huge, but it really fits. Rounded, with an art deco/futuristic look, the wooden table obviously can't stay in the dining room, but that's all right since we don't eat at the table that often! It just sits there for all our visitors, trying to convince them that it is used on a regular basis, and that our family is normal with the meal rotation. Ha. So this glass topped, black based rounded bar will be matched with a glass topped bar table. It'll be more open in that room. If you can't tell, I'm very excited about this household addition. While young married couples get excited about their human additions (babies), I get excited about the new bar....boy, do I have a long way to go before babies.

Oh, and don't panic gamers. I'll just set up another card table that I keep upstairs, and the 10 person table is still in the basement :)

Lawsuit Pending
I did not snap when my morning's anticipated productivity was destroyed by the evil broker...
I did not snap when more of my morning was wasted on a stupid birthday celebration...
I did not snap when unreasonable demands were made by unreasonable people within an unreasonable time period...
I did not snap when it was painfully apparent that the Financial group did not invoice as I had directed, thus screwing it up...
I did not snap when the sheer hopelessness of it all started sinking in...
I did not snap when the IMTs starting making demands, obviously unaware of their lack of status on my radar screen...
I did not snap when it was apparant that many more hours this week were necessary than my usual time, which happens to be one of the busiest personal life weeks also...

...I snapped when, after I scrounged, stole, and dug into trash cans for 10 dimes for my precious drug - Pepsi, I staggered to the Pepsi machine, and hit the top button - Diet Pepsi.

That was the point of explosion and the contacting of my attorney for suit against Pepsi for putting THE DIET PEPSI BUTTON FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marking Down History
Allow me to revel in the following moment...

*on the phone*

Eric: I have a question about Excel...
Marian: *suprised because don't all engineers know everything?*
Eric: How do I unhide a sheet that I know is hidden?
Marian: *struggling with the emotion of "ha! I finally know something in computers that YOU DO NOT!"*
Marian: You really don't know? That's like the basics!
Eric: I know, but I need to unhide this sheet and you know a lot of the Excel user functions.
Marian: *not sure if she's been just insulted or complimented as she proceeds to tell him how to unhide the sheet*

You have to understand that I will forever be under the same roof as the computer geek that seems to know everything about them. He tells me that I do know a lot for a non-engineer/geek, but I never will one-up him in the computer world...UNTIL NOW! BWA HA HA. Of course, now he knows and my one-up is gone. *sigh*

HELP!
OK, I generally don't like using a blog to get help from others. I mean, the whole point of a blog is to vent and share, right? However, this is for a great cause, and it won't be any skin off your noses.

Background:
If you've read my Tae Kwon Do blog, you'll know about Jireh Academy and how Dan Shi Club has been involved with training the students (4 of them), and how I've been more involved with their academic education. These boys struggled greatly with grade issues, among others, so the purpose of Jireh Academy is to fill those "gaps" in their heads up through their current grade status, and give them all around support. They are extremely gifted and intelligent kids, and have a lot of potential that both Jireh Academy and Dan Shi Club is hoping will bloom.

Request:
Motivating them can be difficult. Karen, the head academic instructor, has devised Jireh money for each kid. (A picture of the kid on the money.) Based on how much schoolwork they get done (and accurately!), they get a certain amount of Jireh money. Once they accumulate some money, they can spend it at the Jireh Store. We're looking for used items that haven't been too beat up or anything :) Here's some stuff that would motivate these kids to work for it:

Hip Hop CDs
Sports and Movie posters
Sports equipment of any sort
Games, card or board
Puzzles
Basic drum, violin and piano music
Piano Keyboards

...and just think back when you were 13 or 14. What did you like?

These kids like playing the piano and violin (beginners) and drums (intermediate). All four are either on acrobatics teams or wrestling teams, and are doing well enough in Tae Kwon Do to train for some harder tournaments in the spring.

If you want to donate, please let me know! I guarantee it will be appreciated and utilised. If you don't know who I am or how to get it to me, just leave a comment with your email address, or email me at marianheather@hotmail.com.

Thanks!

Memories
In remembrance of my boss, who is leaving the company today, I shall impart to you a little story that will show you my suffering endurance of stupidity this past year, and help you understand my ecstatic feelings about his departure...

SCENE: Vice President, Director of EHS, Director of Risk Mgmt (my boss), secretary, EHS Coordinator, and Risk Mgmt Rep (me)...all eating lunch in jubilant celebration of my boss' departure.

Secretary: ...so you know why the Chinese girl in Finance went to China during the SARS breakout...

Naive EHS Director: I thought she got married...

All women: *looks at EHS Director like he's nuts*

Secretary: No, she's already married, but she's trying to get pregnant.

Me: Oh, well that make's sense why she was so determined to leave during THAT week then.

Very naive boss: Why would she need only THAT week to get pregnant?

Vice President: You know, the window of opportunity??

Very naive boss: No, what window?

Everybody: *stunned silence*

Secretary: OK, when you get pregnant, there's only a certain window of time that it's possible...

Very naive boss: Really?!?! That's very interesting...how about that?

Please note that the Very Naive Boss has three children. The bajillion smart remarks about his personal sex life that came to my mind all at once was successful controlled.

Beanie Baby Episode Follow-Up
I had sent the dude that was selling the Beanie Babies an email, and it turns out that his expertise is beer, thus pen named The Drunken Sailor. I thought I would share his response:

More News from the Land of Stale Ale and Power Tools!

Thanks for all the emails and such!

The Drunken Sailor is proud to introduce to you the new home for people like
us.click below!

www.TheDrunkenSailorAndMuggStein.com

Cooler things to talk about...
Now that rant below is out of my system, I can talk with happiness about a really cool acrobatic trick I learned last week. If you read my Tae Kwon Do blog, you know that I teach Tae Kwon Do in the daytime to the Jireh Academy kids. While I help them with their studies and teach them Tae Kwon Do, they have taught me a lot also, mostly patience. Anyway, during one lunch break, Paul Canada, the director and lead acrobatic instructor was letting them practice their flips on the trampoline. Then he let Karen, the educational instructor do it, with the aid of a little belt thing around her waist, so he could help her gain height for a good backflip, and control the backflip. After she was done, he looked at me. I was so excited to try it, but terrified too because I hate heights. Flipping (backwards or forwards) in mid air was not my cup of tea, but then I always want to try anything once, except bungee jumping.

So...I stepped on the trampoline and he taught me how to jump and gain the most height. That was not a pleasant experience, but I really wanted to backflip. When I got the hang of the the arm movements, he put me into the waist thing. It took three attempts to the backflip before I realised how hard I had yank my knees up to my ears for my body to natural flip backwards, but when it finally happened it was the most exhilerating experience!! My students were there, all trying to teach me and encourage me, so I had to be cool when it was over and just step out, but I actually really wanted to faint. I couldn't believe I did it...

Update on Annoying Coworker
...at least I assume she's a coworker since I have to pass her cubicle in order to exit the my floor.

Anyway, you may remember my rant on a certain lady who doesn't seem to grasp fashion, or what seasons she should wear certain colours and fabrics. It wasn't a malicious rant, but more of a "I've-got-to-get-it-out-of-my-system rant". She's really pushing it now though. Incorrectly spoken English is somewhat common, but sometimes you have to search for people who slaughter the language. My search is complete. As I passed her cubicle this morning and noted with satisfaction that she wearing appropriate colours, I hear her saying, "well, I don't think that's gooder, but it's not too bad."

There is nothing else to say. She is a lost soul. I have actually heard people say my pet peeve word (gooder), but not by an accountant. Truly horrifying.

My thoughts exactly!
This is a great opinion on the ever famous Beanie Baby, or the lack thereof :)

PS Be sure to read the whole thing, especially the last follow-up: totally hysterical!

Ironic...
I found this article very ironic, given that I have posted in over two weeks!

One study of 3,634 blogs found that two-thirds had not been updated for at least two months and a quarter not since Day One.

*cough*

Anyway, some glorious news reached me yesterday that stirs the old blogging blood. My boss, Lumbard of Office Space reincarnated, has quit! He told me somewhat ceremoniously that due to an excellent offer and frustrations at the current position, he has resigned as of November 14.

*pops the champagne cork*

Gee, I'm sorry, I'm going to miss your stimulating mental exercises of stupidity!

To be honest, I am a little worried about training my new manager...not in the sense of his duties, but rather in the sense of RESPECTING MY WORK! I am still bloody bitter about all that time and effort I spent on a project, and not fitting the political scheme, it hit the shelf. He stated, after my "reaction" that I was being a little emotional about it. Gee, you think? However, he was started to get somewhat "with it", except for talking. I always had this incredible urge to kick him whenever he spoke. It was SO Lumbard. If you haven't watched Office Space, you probably should see it once, just to know the worst kind of boss that is out there.

I'll keep you posted...

*hmph*


My life is rated R.
What is your life rated?

Celebrities and their Stupidity
This statement, made by Pamela Anderson, tops them all: "Cruelty is cruelty, and KFC is being cruel in the extreme. I am calling for a boycott of all KFC restaurants until my friends at PETA tell me that you have agreed to be kinder in your practices." The article does not specify the cruelty that angers Ms. Anderson, but when she says, "If people knew how KFC treats its chickens, they'd never eat another drumstick," you have to ask yourself, what is crueler than killing the chicken for personal eating pleasure? Since this particular aspect doesn't bother her, I find her position of "chicken cruelity" a little far-fetched.

Corporate Translations
I love getting our monthly newsletter because it's so easy to make fun of it. Here's the basic translations to the monthly bullshit:

Within XYZ Division, the group's strategy is to broaden the revenue base.
Translation: Get more money.

Within ABC Division, the group's strategy is to orient its production base towards lower-cost markets.
Translation: We're screwing the USA employees and going to China.

Within the MNO Division, the group's strategy is to transition its business towards higher value-added services.
Translation: We don't have time to mess with the consumer demands, so we're going to buy out a company, downsize half of them, and use their accessories to fill in our stuff.

Meanwhile, the lowly slaves in Corporate are forced to suffer purchasing power indignities while the company hauls in another 2.008 billion euros...this quarter. Rough quarter.

I can't take this anymore!!!!!!
Although I work very hard at not being petty with people's complete lack of fashion taste, I have to say something about a new girl at work. Not because I have any dislike towards her, but I have to pass her cube everytime I go towards...anywhere, since going the other way ends in a wall. Now that I have written my disclaimer....

...she has a short pink shell jumper, white hose, white something-in-her-hair-that-is-out-of-style, and white shoes. Is this Spring? Even disregarding the old fashioned rule about no while shoes, hose, pants, or dresses except between Memorial Day and Labour Day, she has to know that shell pink and white doesn't exactly match this ... colder weather.

All right. I feel better now. Maybe I won't be so wonked off when I walk next to her cube again.

Dreams...
Ever have dream re-runs?

I woke up this morning, and after considering my dream, realized that I had already dreamed the same thing a few days prior.

What's up with that?

Exciting Events at the Willeke Home

1. Eric tried to order two new grill plates to replace the one that phased on us in a grease fire a few weeks ago, but it was on back order. Devestated, Eric managed to accept this, but was happily rewarded with both grill plates arriving late last week :) Now we actually have something to grill on for our game nights!

2. Eric bought me a bread machine. It become very clear to us that we needed to go more dates or something, because our life basically revolved around the first loaf of bread to be produced. Never straying far from the machine, we entertained ourselves with mindless games during the rising times, and rushed madly to watch if we heard anything unusual. We even set the oven timer to give us approximate warning when another cycle of kneading or something would start. Very scary. Very good bread though!

3. We had a cocktail party Saturday for our neighborhood, partly because I love giving parties, and partly because I wanted to see if the whole neighborhood was mean like our neighbors to the east of us. While those particularly rude neighbors stiffed our party, to my great delight, Eric and I were both thrilled to discover that we have quite wonderful neighbors all around us! Very sweet and thoughtful, full compliments for our landscaping this past Spring, and just really getting to know each other. We took the tour of my mum's artwork throughout the house, of which I think I could have sold tickets to some of those ladies :) We have an extremely cool younger person right across the street from us that brought Q a toy with her hostess gift. My cynicism of neighbors are greatly diminished.

4. I am very excited personally because I have finally learned the trick of getting past the recipe bound cocktails, and able to understand 4-1 or 3-2 type of thinking, which greatly speeds up my process, and I think it produces better alcohol mixtures than when I panicked if I was a milliliter under what the recipe called for.

All around, it was an fun weekend.

Rose Homecoming
So did anyone go to homecoming? I actually felt guilty since Eric didn't make it over there. I had schoolwork, so Friday and Saturday were out, and Sunday we went to Turkey Run. In case you guys decide to wear a kilt to trail run, never do it on Trail 3. Yes, I knew better, but proceeded to endanger my new skirt anyway. Fortunately nothing happened to it as I struggled to not slip in the canyons and carefully went down the ladders. Anyway, as we went through Crawfordsville to get to Turkey Run, I that my family favours Wabash as a colleg.I was unaware of the apparent hatred between Wabash and Rose, as Eric went into an absolute fury. Well, maybe not fury, but definitely a heated discussion ensued. I found it interested how male sporting testosterone can create enmity between two colleges that have two opposite reasons for existing.

Crucial Issues
As this war torn, disease infested, politically driven world struggles on in it's tireless effort for survival, I am much relieved to discover that a team of scientists has been pursuing the more crucial issues of life, such as the understanding of why cookies crumble.

Lesson Learned
When it's forecasted to frost, be sure and remember to roll your windows up, unless you don't mind scrapping both the inside and outside of the windshield, or having your rear end turn to a chunk of ice by the time you get to work.

Good...
It appears that the Russian Labor Ministry finds Volochkova's dismissal story a little shady as well...

New Game!
In better news, Eric and I bought a really fun game that's just come out....Blokus.

Gorilla issues...
This gorilla incident really bothers me. Especially the quote..."Needless to say, until further notice, he is not going to be on exhibit." Why? Do they expect that if the gorilla has an opportunity to move beyond his little sphere, that he or she is not going to escape? Does that statement tell me that they believe animals are going to just walk in circles, entertaining the masses? The point of a zoo is to show wild animals, not tame little creatures that are going to sit in their cage peaceably. They seem to cover their excuse of the cage not holding them properly with, "They go through a stage where, physically and psychologically, they're growing much stronger, and become much more lean and long, and containment can be an increasing challenge at that age,". Ummm...it's a ZOO! Again, make a cage that works, or don't show beasts that will obviously maim or kill people if they get out. Don't take it on the stupid gorilla.

One great thing about the French is...
...that you don't have to even bother coming up with wise cracks about them. They make jokes out of themselves on a regular basis.

New Card Games
I'm so proud of the fact that I learned two new card games at the last Game Night Saturday. Euchre and Spades. I really enjoyed both once I got the "sort of" hang of it. I still need to work on the strategies, but I grasp the concept at least. My repertoire now exists of: Rummy, Gin Rummy, Euchre, and Spades.

Oh, and Grasshoppers rock!

I'm a wimp
Break my bones...no problem. Cut me? Life has ended. I sliced off a wee bit of skin trying to cut potatoes. The wailing was heard from quite a distance. I'm not sure why I cannot deal with cuts or missing bits of skin, but I would much rather break the finger. Then I'll just re-set it and move on.

Drawing update
As I have mentioned previously, I have decided to take up the hobby of drawing because I don't have to be competitive, and I enjoy it. I'm still not to the point of scanning one to post, but I'm definitely developing a style. Actually, I'm getting to the point of drawing something for the first time, and half-way liking it. We won't discuss the amount of erasing that occurs during the sketch, but hey, nobody's perfect! I've decided that I really like action sketching, but I've also discovered the difficulty of action over still. Eric's promised me an art model that has adjustable joints for the artist to get used to sketching movement. Maybe that will help :)

Blimped Dancer...
My my...how Volochkova has blimped out! 5'7" tall at 110 pounds? Unspeakable!!

*roll eyes*

If that's too heavy, that's claiming that about 95% of American women are blimps as well. While I do believe that the obesity levels keep rising in the States, Volochkova's weight is not proportionate to her height. I am 5'6" and looked like a scarecrow [sickly] at 115. How can they expect her to be muscularly strong, look good, and be lighter?

OK, I'm done with my rant now.

totally lost beyond hope
Sterno's blog has confused me beyond repair. So I'll wait until I see him next time and he can explain how I'm supposed to comment without choosing to be anonymous. I'm not stupid, just dumb ;)

THE visit
Eric and I just had one of THOSE visits (in-laws) in Ohio, but I was amazed with the unexpected nice visit. The whole mum-in-law thing wasn't too smooth, and the 4 hours between us seemed rather unreasonable in that it was to close; but I'm discovered when she's not stressed out about stuff, she can be very nice. It pays to keep an open mind...

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus
I have never been to a circus, so I'm seriously pumped about getting to go to the Fieldhouse Friday night! Now I have to go out and buy new outfit, but I'm having difficulty getting Eric to comprehend this important issue...

mmm...much better!
I have discovered today that life is much better when you can have ice cream and vent with a friend of the day's trials. I think I have the self control now to not kill my boss. Venting should be a therapy. Oh yeah, that's right, it is...and people get paid booku bucks to listen ;)

Culture in Indianapolis?
Finally! Designer fasions enter Indianapolis to prevent two year delays of the fasion market of New York and Europe :) We just need Sophora (OK how can they not have a website?), a better ballet group, and get rid of some those nasty pieces of "art" in the IMA and life in Indy will definitely improve the quality of living.

BTW
Are those people in the Jerry Springer shows for real? I couldn't pull my attention away, I was so fascinated. It totally blew the stupidity of Friends out of the water. While I believe that it's somewhat possible that one of the 3-4 members of the let's-tell-the-world-of-the-family-issues might be on drugs and want to be public with it, but I have great difficulty believing that everyone that's involved with the moron that got them all involved in the first place would be so stupid about it publicly. It's all about seeing who can swear the most and be the dumbest...or maybe I'm mistaken. Maybe the whole concept is just above my head socially and I need to stick to quiet teas with intelligent conversations...*dripping sarcasm*

Much better...
Not feeling well at all (food poisoning is not all that fun), I decided that watching the two LOTR DVDs that are currently out would be helpful. I watched the Fellowship's regular DVD, then thought, how stupid, I wanted to watch the extended version. However, that would involve getting up, interrupting the already running Fellowship DVD, and changing it to the extended version. So I waiting until it was over, and then put in the extended version. Although I curse Hollywood, yet compliment their marketing schemes for not distributing the extended Two Towers until November, I contended with the regular Two Towers just following the extended Fellowship. All in all, I think the 10 hours of LOTR helped immensely. I feel much better.

Blah
Yesterday was such a disaster. By the end of the working part of it, I was in the perfect mood to burn somebody's home or stop behind a car sitting at a red light and honk until the light changed...just to inflict my bad day onto somebody else. What makes it bad was that there wasn't anything in particular that ruined, it was just the whole culmination of the day. Blah.

I'm a lot better now. A lot more educated too. I never have time to watch TV, so since I got my schoolwork papers written earlier than usual, I dedicated the remainder of my evening to watch in complete amazement the complete stupidity of sit coms. Will and Grace, Everyone Loves Raymond, or something titled like that, and Friends were among the worst. I've watched Friends many times in my college years, never realizing until now how starved for entertainment I must have been.

So I had a bowl of ice cream and went to sleep.

*hmph*
There's something slightly discouraging about teaching your dad how to play Rummy for the first time when his first hand ever goes out with 210 points, and the second hand ends somewhat quickly when his newly received cards are suddenly slapped down with three Aces, three 3s, another set of 3, with one card in his hand...to discard of course. Don't play cards with a preacher. They look all clueless and innocent, and then *boom*...

Gaming
Saturday night Eric and I hosted a Game Party, which was quite a bit fun! I got to practice my drink mixes while discovering that I really like Apples to Apples and that Munckins is a really long game, although I would really like to try playing it. Anything that makes fun of roleplaying has to be good. Anyway, I'm seriously considering doing this more often (like once a month or something) because it really was fun to both play games and host. I must say though, I was very amused with Tim's bringing his own steak for the grill...simply brilliant! BTW, Tim, you left your spice on the counter in case you were missing it...oh, and thank you Sterno for buying more hamburger and brats...I found out later :)

...and please note (all of you that are of the male species) that while none of you noticed my great Burberry sunglasses, Ellen went nutz over them...I'm starting to think that designers create great and expensive items for females, move stars, and gay people :)

??
My husband emails this to me...

I bought a Reeses cup because I was hungry and felt like I needed chocolate,
but after I ate my Doritos, I don't think I want it. Now I don't know what
to do, and if it sits there much longer, I'll not resist it and just eat it.

I am between confused as to the purpose of this statement to me and thinking he really needs some work to do, but then I could be just spacing the real purpose of this information since I am selfishly focused on the issue that it is a few minutes past 3pm and a few minutes past the time I should be OUT OF HERE!

On that note, goodbye :)

*twitch*
When entertainment goes beyond wrong, and into hopelessness...

BURBERRY!!!!
I love Burberry, one of the greatest designer lines. I just won these sunglasses on eBay, so I'm all excited now :)

Clarification to the male species that will probably not recognize the totally obvious Burberry characteristics of the sunglasses: the pictured sunglasses are Burberry.

Stupid, stupid, stupid people.
I stroll down to the cafeteria to get my usual biscuit and gravy. I contemplate getting my sometimes seseme bagel with cream cheese (the cream cheese flavor varies from time to time), but decide I'm in the "hot breakfast" mood because I had just written about snow in my previous blog. After the lady in front of me leaves after picking up her coke, lunch bag, and purse that was scattered across the entire counter that prevented anyone else to get hot breakfast items, I reach in great anticipation for the plastic plate. I get the lid ready to pop over the plate immediately to keep the heat and reach for the biscuits...

...it was toast.

Toast? Where's the biscuits? A frantic search for biscuits brought me to the unacceptable conclusion that they had replaced biscuits with toast. I was too disgusted, horrified, grossed out, and mortified to even move...frozen in place, I stared at the toast, only to find it staring back, leering at me.

I can't continue. I'm too upset. I had the bagel.

Thinking...
I was stuck in traffic yesterday, so I got to watch some lumber guys cut a tree down in someone's yard. I was totally smitten with jealousy. Have you ever just wanted to work outside, even though it is hot and a lot of hard work instead of going into the allergy ridden, full-of-catty-women, back-getting-sore-in-chair-from-sitting-all-day, vending machine dependent office? I think you have just determined my take on that. Perhaps being allergic to most things in the office (or just inside) and not being allergic to anything outside makes me itchy to get out there. I also just get so sore sitting in one place, even with frequent walks. So, I sat there trying to find a reason why I wouldn't want outside odd jobs, and of course - winter! Who wants to work in the winter? I would say it would be loads of fun (and you could earn a ton) to clear snow, but Indiana isn't dependable enough for that. Maybe it's just early in the week and I'm hating these last two weeks of full time work too ;)

YAY! My Favourite Character...or one of them at least.

"
You are Storm!

You are very strong and very protective of those
you love. You are in tune with nature and are
very concerned with justice and humanity.
Unfortunately, certain apprehensions and fears
are very hard for you to overcome, and can
often inhibit you when most need to be strong.


Which X-Men character are you most like?
brought to you by Quizilla

My good side...
Considering that Balrog was my evil side, I am happy to see there is a good side as well :)



Possessing a rare combination of wisdom and humility, while serenely dominating your environment you selflessly use your powers to care for others.

Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.

Galadriel is a character in the Middle-Earth universe. You can read more about her at the Galadriel Worshippers Army.

My kitty...
I have this sudden to go home and make sure Q is all right, especially after reading Calima's emotion separation with Dodi, her cat, and now Anne's cat's death. John's blog about the accidental death of the ever popular neighborhood cat has left me a paranoid wreck, forcing me to realize that I am so not ready to have children because I'd probably be an overprotective mother!

Anyway, Sunday evening was lots of fun at the State Fair. Neal, Eric and I went to the swine and cow barn. I felt SO badly for the poor cows because Neal and Eric kept discussing where the best meat is located on the cow...right in front of the cow!! I think they crushed the poor thing's feelings. OK, I maybe going slightly overboard, but I do think it's animal cruelty to have delicious smelling steaks of themselves right outside their barn...wafting through their nostrils. *sniffles* They were so cute too.

We then went to the rodeo, which I love! I was into horses for years, and just as much into them as Tae Kwon Do, before I started Tae Kwon Do. I even won some showing awards. I really miss them, and would love to have another horse. Although I've ridden "bucking broncs," I've never ridden anything like what those cowboys do; I never had the courage :) Barrel racing is more my style...I'll stick to appreciation for the horse bucking and bull riding. I was once reminded how dangerous and tough the cowboy life was as we watched a horse buck a rider face first into the fence. The guy got stitches, and was on another horse within 15 minutes or so. *shudder* I get stitches in Tae Kwon Do and I'm probably done for those rounds!

Watching the Belgium drawn cart show was fun too. I am pretty upset that the harness racing is at 10am on Friday, when I have to work, but life will probably go on...

Unpatriotic?
I going to probably be extremely unpatriotic and rude by asking what is so special about Private Lynch. I really felt for the family and was thrilled that she lived through the Iraqi attack when her unit went the wrong way. It rang of American "toughness" to survive what she endured. However, many other people have survived the war through similar circumstances and some have died. What of them? Maybe one or two CNN stories? It's like Lynch is some kind of celebrated hero, being an upcoming movie icon and now possibly a book publication, while the others just quietly head home or are forgotten. Although I am happy for her and understand the community bond that resulted from her homecoming, I don't understand the National level of interest.

A Review of Emotions
There is a big difference in the excitement of being "sick" so you can bum at home all day watching Star Trek, mooching pure slavery out the husband, and being desperately ill. I define desperately ill as "stomach pain, constant nauseousness, back pain (from lying down for so long), dizziness, and a lack of focus to even watch a Stak Trek! BTW, I blame the 2 Arby's roast beef sandwiches for my nausea and anguish.

Calima made my day a happier one (besides the blessed fact that Friday is now upon us and I have only 15 days left of full time work) by linking me to her blog. It wasn't the linking itself, rather the comment she put under the link: "Always insightful, always brilliant". Thank you Calima!

WHAT?!?!?


Threat rating: High. The Bush administration is
concerned that it may not get a second term.
Therefore, we are going to change the rules so
that each Democrat vote only counts as 0.2
votes because Democrat is a shorter word than
Republican


What threat to the Bush administration are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Actually, I'm NOT a democrat, though I have a couple more liberal views. BTW, if you take this test and wonder what they mean when they ask you if you have "busked," it is asking you if you ever playing an instrument or tortured somebody's ears with your singing on the street for money...

I have found a lone purpose...
...for the existance of SUVs. As I had totally stuffed my little SC2 Coupe with purchased good at IKEA in Chicago this weekend, making for a rather miserable ride home, since both of us were totally rammed into the dashboard, I started realizing how handy a SUV would be for such crucial shopping trips!

yyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I just saw an employee wearing TAFATTA pants. Ladies, you'll understand my horror. For your education men, tafatta is strictly formal. That is a sin that is simply not committed...until now.

Horrible Days
These last two days can be chocked up to two of my most miserable days, at least of recent.

Tuesday: I work really hard to improve a database at work that I created awhile ago. It works great, but there were some things that I wanted to streamline and reports that I wanted to add. To add the reports, I had to change around some things. Anyway, at that moment in time the devil with all of his forces of evil caused a network glitch. We won't discuss the devastating results. I'm still angry...and YES, thank you! I KNOW that I should have backed it up! Actually, I did, but it wasn't very recent. At least I have something to work from since I did back it up awhile ago though. I didn't lose any data integrity either, which is a huge relief, but I am still angry because the whole thing could have been avoided if the dice didn't get rolled to torture me needlessly. Eric gave me roses for my horrible day though, so that was good :)

Wednesday: That was a short enough time ago that I probably shouldn't discuss it, but I'm going to anyway. I took a vacation day to

• edit the Dan Shi Promotion Log (several edits)


• do my homework (recently homework has ranged from 2-7 hours a day...and no, I'm not stupid! I never would have believe that the Masters level was so different than the Bachelors until now.)


• eBay some stuff I want to sell


• work on putting the database forms (mentioned above) back together, and


• finish another work project

Well, let's just say between the Park conversation and the fact that my husband decided that Wednesday would be the perfect day to set up the new computer, thus delaying all my work (which you might notice is all computer work!) to a disasterous late hour.

My positives: Our marriage will survive the decision to set up the computer that day, I did get a new computer with a flat panel monitor, and I had a really good Tae Kwon Do class ;)

Too many girls?
I was a little annoyed at the statement of an Iraqi-American's statement on TV...

Uday and Qusay were very bad people...they hurt too many people and raped too many girls...

Whoa, wait a minute. Too many? I realize that he might have been just trying to say they were bad because they hurt and raped, but I felt a little offended by the "too many" comment. How many is too many? You get the first five free then you're bad? I don't know...maybe I'm just touchy.

Life is returning!
My life seems to be coming to a wonderful new level! Because of the required reading, research and papers involved with the Masters, and the growth of Dan Shi Club, AND my new marriage, I have come to the recent decision that I simply cannot keep working at full time level anymore. I enjoy my position (a weird mix of insurance knowledge, organizational skills, and technical ability) as a Risk Management Rep, but the hours eat into some of my most valuable time in the afternoon. So over a period of time, this coversation ensued:

Me: Given the huge amount of time that I have saved through streamlining processes, would you consider part time?

Employers: No.

Me: Then due to the time involved with my husband, further education, and Dan Shi Club, I do not feel that I can continue in this position.

Employers: So what kind of part time where you thinking?

Me: How about 8-12 M-F with freedom to take unpaid vacation without any problems?

Employers: errr...we think that we need more hours. We'll take 8-1, no lunch, M-F.

Me: How about 8-12 M-F with freedom to take unpaid vacation without any problems?

Employers: That'll work.

Naked?
This is what kitty thinks of you naked :)
Be sure to have audio on!

Be still my breaking heart...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In theory, pursuing with intent to kill violates a long-standing policy banning political assassination. It was the misfortune of Saddam Hussein's sons that the Bush administration has not bothered to enforce the prohibition.

Need the Internet?
Well, here you go! Warning, this may take some time...

Our Justices
I've never really considered our Supreme Court Justices to have a personality or style of decorating in their office. So I found this article interesting, as well as the gallery of pictures going through the offices.

Opposite sex
I have fallen in love with a certain yoga tape that has really helped my strength level, so I had Eric give it a try. I stuck in the tape and started mediating in the typical yoga manner. Suddenly, my world is invaded with the horrified voice of my husband, "is he gay"? My first feeling was annoyance of my interrupted mediation for this somewhat obvious and pointless statement. Who cares? I tend to appreciate gays because they dress a lot better anyway, and hey, I'm certainly not bothered with any sexual advances! They tend to be very sensitive about emotions, feelings, and health too. Later I started wondering why straight guys are so repulsed by gays. Trying to put the shoe on the other foot, I made myself think of lesbian contact I've had. I prefer not to be "eyed", but I don't have a problem with being with them either. Granted, I don't want to go out and just "bum" with them, but no, I am not repulsed and slide towards the nearest exit. Maybe it's just me, but guys seem a lot more sensitive about each other's sexual preference than women. I don't think of it as a negative or positive, but just wonder why sometimes.

Whoa!
Totally awesome food site! Thank you Karin :)

Ow!
I've been stubbing and spraining my left pinkie toe pretty regularly recently, but I really went and did it last night on the table leg. Somehow I got the leg caught on the toe and it went in a direction is not supposed to go! After much wailing and getting all the attention I could possibly squeeze out of Eric, I realized that I would have to break down and buddy-splint it. I typically don't wrap or splint toes or fingers if they become injured because I almost feel like something will heal faster or I won't feel pain if I just ignore it, but there is no ignoring this one.

I started my Masters online today with University of Pheonix. I was initially turned off from the university because it's very annoying advertising, but it turns out that they are accredited, and the place that my alma mater (Bachelors degreee) copied their online program, which is pretty decent. I took the classroom style Bachelors, but ended up taking some online elective courses to get done more quickly. I hate first classes though. It's always the "team bonding" thing, and for those who know me, I don't "bond" well. Oh well...from what I've seen so far, which isn't much, I think it will go all right.

Bwa ha ha
It was my unfortunate lot to get the network printer, so my coworkers can bop in and out of my office. Normally, I wouldn't take offense to this except they also break into my hermit-like working atmosphere for multiple social moments at a time, making me ... irritable. Therefore, I take great enjoyment in hitting "CANCEL" when it runs out of paper and the dialog box comes on my computer screen to retry or cancel for the print job...I think what amuses me mostly is that nobody can figure out why they print jobs are not consistently running. I overheard one person suggesting to call the Help Desk :) I think I should feel guilty for such unproductive action, but I can't help myself!

Why me?
How many people get a cold in the summer? *arg* It's ridiculous that I have one. I get them all the time in the winter, but the summer? On a better note, I think I've found a nice little hobby. I have this huge problem in that I make hobbies either competitive, or a major way of life, therefore eliminating them from "hobby" mode. So I was standing in Bates Art Store with my mother, completely bored out of my mind because I had nothing in particular to do for the day except to dread work. I start flipping through sketch books and was looking through the colored pencils and off handedly remarked that I loved colored pencils and wished I could sketch better. My mother seized the moment, ever joyful that her wayward daughter that has rejected creating art (I do appreciate it), was perhaps returning to the family fold of artistry. Mum is a lovely artist who is constantly critical of her own work, even though it's totally fabulous. So she loaded me up with a sketch book that is my level, i.e., children's level, Mars eraser, pencil sharpener stipends, or something like that. They are little pencils that smudge color together. I dared not hang my first sketch on the wall of my office though (I am immensely proud of it) because my co-workers will probably ask if one of my child Tae Kwon Do students made it for me. I found it totally relaxing and enjoyable though...and non-competitive!

Excited again
I am very happy now because we just made flight and hotel reservations to London for our Christmas holiday (week before Christmas). I would go every year, sometimes twice a year before I got married, so it's been annoying to me that I couldn't go this year. However, I have discovered that you can get some really awesome rates if you buy the flight/hotel package. The package cost about the same as what the total flight or total hotel bill for the week would have cost on it's own, so keep that in mind for your travels! The coolest part is that we'll be arriving the morning of our wedding day anniversary, so that will be very special. AND, the hotel is only 3 blocks from Herrod's, the world's most awesome place to Christmas shop :) Life is glorious.

Back in the Grind
I've rediscovered my hatred for work. At least corporate work.

The summer holiday was great, although I refuse to fully classify it as a holiday since I worked and starved for most of it. More details here. Oh, and FYI, NEVER vacation in Knoxville. There is nothing there except Arby's, the funky little bistro that has good queso, and this awesome Italian restaurant that has great food and ambiance.

Once the tournament was over, Eric and I went down to Smokey Mountain National Park since I've discovered that my husband has not been anywhere except Pennsylvania and Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg as a kid. Even though he was that close to the park, he was apparently deprived of the lovely nature there, so he was in 7th Heaven as I drove through the top portion of the park and showed him Meig's waterfall. Thank you, mom and dad, for taking me on a lot of vacations!

I was barely aware, with all of the Tae Kwon Do festivities, that there was a major holiday involved with the weekend, so I was mildly suprised that there was a fireworks show in Knoxville. Firstly, because I had forgotten that it was July 4, and secondly, because I didn't realize that dead town had the resources. Apparently, people do live there though because there was quite a turn-out. I was relieved that it was no longer a ghost town. I also found it ironic that it was my boss' French counterpart that emailed me a "Happy 227th Fourth of July". Until then, I hadn't really noticed that it was the 227th anniversary.

Holiday...sort of!
Not that you could comment anyway, since the original "day-long under-maintenance" has been obviously extended, but I'll be on holiday until next Monday. I'm getting downright excited about competing in the AAU Nationals for Tae Kwon Do. I have weigh-in Wednesday, which is the most traumatizing since I have been having difficulty staying in my weight class (I discovered that working out a lot builds muscles, which adds weight!). Thursday is forms, Friday is Olympic sparring, and Saturday is Point sparring. One of the more important events is stopping by the Laura Ashley boutique in Lexington on our way back ;)

I think this cube dweller either believes he needs a lot more oxygen, or he's complete plant nut. I can't decide which.

Chicken anyone?
If anyone's interesting in adopting *ahem* a chicken, you might just get your chance!

Valuable Lesson
I have discovered the valuable lesson of "skimming conference calls". When people are babbling about something and seem to be stuck in some kind of loop because they have no agenda or clue how to run a meeting, just say "right" when your name is called, and you can get a lot of work done at your desk!

Poll
Please comment your vote on whether girls look better, same, or worse in nicely (this means you don't include your vote based on the girls that cake it on or don't seem to understand it's use) applied make-up, accenting their features. I realize there's a big difference in make-up and let's-change-the-way-I-look make-up; but I'm really curious as to what guys think about it overall.

Short? Or Tall?

I can't decide if Sharon is really short, or Powell really tall.

In other news, it's nice to see that the "upload file" option FINALLY works!

New project = New husband
I'm so excited! I think, I KNOW, that life is going to be so much happier without the stupid politics and insecurities of the last project. Now I don't have to go kick around a certain person for her INSANITY!

Job Searching
Since everybody in the world is job searching, except certain employees, because who else in the universe allows so much foosball playing during the day, I thought I would share this valuable information about your cover letter, which I have discovered will make or break your chances (Keith) shared by Joel. By the way, I am NOT plagerizing; I just don't know how to link just one blog if it's not the most recent one, so here it is in quotes:

"Here's some advice for people writing cover letters. Don't take any of the standard career-services-office advice for writing cover letters, or your cover letter will look exactly like everyone else's cover letter. If you write one of those "I work great on teams but am also a strong independent worker" cover letters, your cover letter will look just like everyone else's, and you won't stand out. The way to stand out is to write a letter that reflects your unique personality and highlights the reasons why you want to work at the place to which you are applying. 95% of the cover letters I receive do not include anything about Fog Creek and show no sign that they have been customized in any way for the job in question. This sends a signal that you are simply spamming your resume to hundreds of jobs, which, in turn, sends a signal that you are both desperate and not willing to work very hard.

Here's the thing: the very best candidates have come to realize that they have a choice of where to work, and when they apply for a job, they are applying because there's something intriguing about that particular job, not because they'll take any work that comes along. And you can see it in their cover letters. For example, if I were to see something like 'I'm happy where I am, but I've always wanted to move to New York and if Fog Creek is anything like you describe it on your website, it sounds like a great place' you would sound a lot more desirable than someone who writes, 'You will find that I am a very hard worker.' If you make your cover letter interesting, make it personal, and drop hints that you have choices in the world, you will sound more like one of the top 1% candidates.

By the way, we received something like eighty applications for our opening. Probably 50% of those people were qualified and at least ten of them were great. I won't say more because we're still in the interviewing stage."

Ummm...
I was just using Google in English, then when to another site. When I returned to Google, it was in Chinese! Wierd.

I'm getting really stressed out with all of these changes for blogging. My mouse used to just "go" automatically to the appropriate commands, but now I have to re-evaluate the posting page each time I go in just to find the basics, such as "post and publish", "template", and "upload file..."; even though the latter STILL doesn't work. *growl* Anybody else noticing this?

Rant
Now I'm all upset because I went to "help" to try and discover why my files won't upload. The "help" has no search capabilities, and the little they do offer is essentially worthless. I can't even email to them my problem!!! I would think people who blog would be on some level of computer geek anyway, right? I mean, all right, yes, it looks really pretty, but we can write our own "pretty" for our blogs. I want something to WORK! *grr* I had the coolest pictures too :(

St. Louis Trip
Firstly, I must say something about the improved interface of Blogger. I like it, if nothing else but for the colors of my posting screens (I love blues). I just hope they've improved the service.

Moving on. Eric and my six month anniversary was Saturday (June 14), and being the zoo lover that I am, he sweetly arranged a quick pop-over to St. Louis, which has an awesome zoo. This brings me to an update on my zoo website. It's coming along nicely. I have most of the page templates created, and have focused it to discuss the importance of animals on the Earth, as well as our stewardship responsibilities to keep ecologies intact for species still remaining. My two biggest pages are zoos, and you can click into all of the zoos I've been to and the pictures I have taken there, then I have a page with all of the continents, and it will have pictures I have taken of animals that are from that continent. For example, I seem to be still fascinated (as I cannot get it out of my mind) that honey bees are actually from Europe, but were brought to America in the 1600s. It's a fun project though.

Then we went to the Arch and waited an hour to get our 2 minutes looking at the muddy Mississippi River. I wasn't very impressed, but then, it can be very difficult to impress me. I've been by it a lot, but have never been up it, so I had to do it at least once...oh, I was impressed that the 6 year old next to me in line knew that it was 630 feet high!

The final leg of our journey was of course Rose Hulman ;) Eric showed me his memories on and off campus, which included the disc golf course and the most important item of any college guy's knowledge: the local Chinese restaurant. I must say, their General Tso's was fabulous!

PS Apparently the Blogger still is worthless in the uploading realm. It won't add any of my pictures, and you have to tab to even get to the "done" button because the window's not big enough! *arg* I'll try and add the pictures in the morning.

Selling Items
If you know anyone that you think would be interested in a solid walnut hutch and table/chairs set, please let me know! Here are some pictures. I also have it on eBay, but if it's not bid on yet, and you would like to make an offer, I'm all ears! I can easily pull it from the auction. If you go to eBay, the numbers are 2328417053 and 2328419604. Oh, I'm also selling an oak headboard that we aren't using anymore.

Car trouble
I believe that Fate has decided to always make sure that warrantied items are under $50 and all items not under warranty (wearable item) is set at $250 or above.

The nasty euro
Seen the euros? They are ugly, gross, and I hate the fact that Europe is linked into the Hive-Mind, I mean money. Maybe it's because I always liked the exchange rate when I went to Europe before the euro, but I didn't like to use them in December. There's something subatomically wrong with the concept. So I'm very glad that Chancellor Brown in the UK has decided that Britain isn't ready for it. I don't care that the pound is 60% more than the dollar; London just wouldn't be the same with an... an... *ugh* euro. I wouldn't go as far as stating that it is communistic, as my friend in London believes :), but then, there is a certain quality of borg-likeness to the whole thing. Here's the London viewpoint as well.

London Times Letter to the Editor

A question of WMD intelligence for the Prime Minister
From Professor Eric Moonman

Sir, It is deeply troubling that within a matter of a few weeks following the successful ending of the short Iraqi war, politicians and others have created such a vile atmosphere of distrust in challenging the available evidence provided by the Prime Minister (reports, June 5). At work here are the personal opportunists in his own party (Short, Cook) and those seeking party advantage (the Liberal Democrat leader).
The Prime Minister’s integrity has been damaged by charges of duplicity. And yet the evidence does not support such claims.

One charge is that he pressurised the intelligence service to provide better quality information before moving to war. What is so surprising or sinister about this demand? On a much lesser level, would not CEOs in business demand such assurances before taking a major policy issue?

A second charge against the Prime Minister is that the chemical and biological weapons have yet to be found. Is it not at least conceivable that even whilst the long-drawn-out UN negotiations were taking place for a suitable resolution, the raw materials were being shipped out?

Does no one recall that this is precisely what Saddam Hussein did on the eve of the first Gulf War, when he had his most sophisticated advanced planes dispatched to Iran? It really would not take a great deal of time to remove the various chemicals to another country near by.

The blame for the current mood of suspicion must surely lie with our intelligence services, which were clearly not up-to-date with their inquiries. They might have found valuable references on the concealment of major weaponry in the reports of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. In any event, a clear-out in the intelligence services would be most prudent.

Yours sincerely,
ERIC MOONMAN,
1 Beacon Hill, N7 9LY.
June 5.

Hillary Rodham Clinton
This is a woman that I highly dislike, yet highly respect. It's a very odd mix of feelings. I totally disagree with her politics, but I respect her ability to keep going regardless of her husband's idiocy and heartbreaking actions. To be able to move on, yet stay married to him, is something I would never expect. I want to read her book, but then, since I'm on the outs with her politically, it galls me to buy it. I'll probably end up breaking down and buying it though...

Webbie stuff
OK everybody, I need some advice. I want a commenting system in my wedding website, so I was going to copy and paste the code from my blog to the wedding website. Will that work, or do I need to start from scratch? Don't bug your eyes out in horror of my ignorance either! I sense it!

Also, I really want a message board on my Dan Shi Club website, but don't know where to start...

Any ideas anyone???

Death
Someone died at our office today. It was extremely sobering. I had to take the scene pictures and coordinate the the clean up. I've seen a lot of death, but there's nothing so futile and hopeless as a heartattack and subseqent fall in the bathroom, smashing your face. I can't imagine how the family would deal with that. Dad and husband goes to work, to never come back again. I hope my death will at least be a different exit, such as saving someone's life, or defending my family.

Hey!
I just won Indianapolis Indians' tickets for the game this Friday at my office. Not that I'm into the most boring sport in existence, but it's always nice to go to a real game...especially if it's free :)

Lunch
Lunch can be a problem when you consistently eat it for breakfast...

Cost savings gone too far...
My company distributed a newsletter with the following exciting news:

Some cost saving measures having immediate impact includes,
Eliminate all travel (since we are a global company, this should be interesting)
Discontinue consulting services (I hate consultants, so this works for me, except I'm sure we won't be hiring anybody with their expertise...)
Postpone training (Great! Now that we don't have consultants, and no expertise, why not forget training too? Sounds reasonable.)
Stop office supplies and consumables expenditures (Oh definitely. Especially when we can be making our own paper with the trees out front)
Hunt down non-quality costs (Since they've cut out quality costs, I'll be very curious to see what they define as non-quality costs. I personally vote for the quality and cost savings departments to be cut)

Terrorism
I was disgusted with the results of a quick-vote on whether the war on terrorism has made the world more dangerous or peaceful. 59% more dangerous and 41% more peaceful were the results. Maybe I'm confused. Was it not the terrorists that started this? Is not taking off with four planes and bringing down the Twin Towers dangerous? I believe it's more dangerous to travel in certain areas of the world simply because of the terrorists retaliation of being called into account; however, because of their existence, I wouldn't travel to those areas in the first place. But how is the world more dangerous?? I think it's becoming more safe. At least Palestine and Israel are talking seriously, Iraq is freed of one of the worst tyrannies, the Phillippines are making some headway with their homegrown terrorists, and Afghanistan is a free country as well. Yes, there's danger, but more dangerous? No. I have to disagree. There's finally some hope!

Except that...
I agree with this article except that in my experience, most of the people who use the stupid things could have gone through a long line a lot faster simply because they don't understand how to use it. Sometimes I just want to reach over and push the screen images for them as they stand and stare at it, desperately looking at the clerk who ignores everybody, and back at the screen again. It's like saying computers are so efficient, but if the person doesn't understand the basic principles of them, such as the difference between logging off and turning it off, and other various basic issues that seem to elude managers and directors, what is the point?

Blogging
So what is wrong with blogger? It's taking forever for me to get to my own blog, and many others as well...

Thought this was amusing...
Apparently the the tree trimmers were a little late from getting the tree away from the wires!

Weekend...
I'm very happy with my cooking Friday night. Eric seemed pretty pleased too. I'm really working on creating good food so I can invite people over for dinner parties.

Champagne
Shrimp with handmade cocktail sauce

Merlot
Fried portobello mushrooms with cooked in a light sauce (I did not have this myself as I despise mushrooms)
Filet Mignon - medium rare with an unamed, but good sauce

Port
Handmade chocolate mousse (the best of the evening - well, tied with the filet mignon

In other news...
I totally love gardening, so when I volunteered to help my friend move, I was assigned garden duty (based on experience). However, I was not too happy when three other people were also assigned to garden duty, although I should have been content since it was a pretty huge garden that was so overgrown that it would have taken days to clear and transplate stuff. They were pretty good themselves though, so I was really happy with the results. I tend to not want to affiliate myself with results that would be less because the other person(s) are bloody clueless. I realize how unrealistic this is, but I can't shake the feeling!

Family Picture...for now at least!

Counter
Please note the adorable frog counter just above my picture! I realize how stupid it is to have a counter on a blog since the same people return to your blog, but I can't use the other counters I created for my wedding website and Dan Shi Club website until I go home to upload them (which will be very shortly), so I had to play with it for my blog. I love the the frog...I'm going to use it for my Zoo website once I get that completed. :)

Wedding Website
Eric and Marian's Wedding
Well, I don't have the honeymoon pictures in it yet, but I have most of the wedding pictures!! As you can see if you go and look about it, Eric only has comments for the wedding ceremony, but he's *ahem* working on it ;)

Pets...
Based on the stress that my pets are causing, I'm thinking that a delay for children would be wise. Mazi (my new 12lb albino New Zelander bunny) and Q (my 8lb black short haired kitty) are not in love with each other in the slightest. In fact they are extremely territorial of entire floors of my 3 floor townhouse and very hateful, resulting in "boxing" each other, and shoving each other off of the window sills etc. Unfortunately, I have discovered that Mazi is quite adept at climbing stairs, so she's quite capable of roaming the entire house, which was quite obvious by the half eaten magazine (bunny's seem to be half cat, half goat), knocked over lamp, and the floor plant being eaten all around up to Mazi's height. Therefore, I have been forced to lock Q on the 3rd floor in the morning while Mazi's allowed to roam the first two floors, and then lock Mazi up in her rather spacious cage in the afternoon so Q gets the place to herself. That worked until Mazi learned how to break free of her cage. We won't discuss the condition of the living room when both animals were free that afternoon...

Angry
This shit makes me so mad. We can't defend ourselves? I know in England it's illegal to have guns (which is another debate entirely), but some parts do not carry this law. I don't know if it affected this case, but it angers me that we have defend ourselves, but not be allowed to defend ourselves. We have to sit by the phone shaking until the bobbies come to save us with the knightsticks? Get real. I have had to defend myself, and believe me, I would not be alive today if I didn't know how.

Busy
*arg* What's up with an employer that keeps you busy??? Hopefully this will pass...

*arg*
I never can wait to get out of the office so I can give my brain a rest from the computer, but then I go straight and and work on the home computer for hours! What's really stupid is that it's exactly the same type of work, except my office work is just "office work" and my personal stuff is more fun to me because it pertains to me more personally. I always just start with the rationale that "I'm only going to check email", and afterwards get wrapped in a project.

Beer Breaks
I'm moving to Denmark.

Gypped!!!!
I'm fuming. I bid on a cute toe ring on eBay and won. This is good, because it's really cute and I won it at a mere $3.55. After already winning, they charged me $4.50 for shipping! I was annoyed, but I paid it, thinking that they must live on a remote island with a once-a-week-stop-ferry, but when I got yesterday, the postage said $0.49. What a ripoff. If they're going to scam people, they should at least do it with the starting bid price, rather than sticking on the 127% increase in postage! :(

Upcoming Websites
I am very excited because I am endevouring to complete my two major website projects, "Willeke Wedding" and "Marian's Zoo Notes." The Willeke Wedding is a lot closer to being done than the Zoo one, but both are a lot of fun. Of course Eric has to do the hard part (initial set-up), because, well, that's confusing. BUT, it's getting less confusing, and I understand Dreamweaver more than I would with another software since I use it for my Tae Kwon Do club :) Although I know exactly what I want to do for my Zoo website (I love to visit Zoos and do comparisons based on their layout, animals, etc.), it's not set-up yet, so I'm hoping I can do it all by myself with that one as soon as I get my wedding one done. I've promised my family across the pond a wedding and honeymoon website for five months now, since they can't exactly "pop" over here to look at pictures, etc. So it looks like they'll finally get their wish in a couple weeks.

Fishing Anyone?
I'm not a great advocate for fishing, but more because it's deathly boring than cruel. However it has always bothered me that hooks rip the mouth of the fish so badly. Snagging season (in Michigan) really bothers me too. I could never watch it when my uncles and grandfather would go snagging because it just ripped into whatever they could literally "snag" to pull it out of the river. I never complained though because I love salmon!

An article quoting the head of PETA's just killed me though: "It's shocking that people will still go fishing for fun. We argue that for every cruel thing people do, there is a compassionate alternative." Ummm...would you rather us net them so they just suffocate instead of get mouth snagged? If you want to get down to it, all the methods of killing (especially fish) seem rather far from "compassionate." Considering that the fish market will not be going away, and the web of live will continue regardless of PETA, I thought that was a rather flimsy statement.

OH...
And if you want to do well on your next date guys, please note today and Saturday's "Cathy" comic on my sidebar. If you date is a normal girl (they usually are down deep even if they try and hide it) they will love you for this treatment. HINT ERIC

Nervewracking Adoption
...without the roller coaster. Bethany did not work out at all. She was the grumpiest rabbit in the world. She bit both Eric and me, and wouldn't let us touch her. *hmph* I like the advert line "...and she loves to be petted." Whatever. So I'm going to meet Elizabeth, an albino that looks identical to my first rabbit. I already met Rowan, and she is also a very good candidate, but is a lot smaller than what I would like. Rowan was extremely friendly though. I'm just really upset that the website made out like Bethany was loving, then the foster mum tells me that she's really grumpy and doesn't really like to be around humans. She even growled at us!!

I was able to go straight to a really nice cookout with some friends after the rabbit experience though, and that was really fun. It's been a long time since I've been to a cookout, but tis the season! It got me in the mood to host one. :)

I feel a bit "old." I was at the ballet tonight and there were a bunch of giggling high schoolers behind me, so I turned to give them the "look," which resulted in instant silence. *sigh* Is my face that grouchy???

On a lighter note, Peter Allen Webb's little digital camera is so cute!!!

Continuing the animal rights discussion...
I found this article most infuriating. (Thank you Neal for pointing me in that direction of the National Review Online.) Basically, I am being told by the animal rights people that we can't experiment on the monkeys so that we can better understand the virus that is currently killing hundreds, but we should "use humans diagnosed with permanent unconsciousness." This goes way beyond the rights of animals. I love animals. I think that they DO have a certain level of rights, especially to avoid extinction and to preserve ecologies that are necessary for a proper Earth environment. BUT, to experiment on people????, not a common animal species of which has no danger of extinction????

Does anybody notice that we experiment on animal species that are very productive, and that we breed species to specifically experiment in order to save lives? But now, we "should" experiment on comatosis or vegatable-state humans to save other humans? Where is the respect or logic? Animals do not have souls; they breed and die. Simple as that. But we'll advocate (not me though) to experiment on another soul?

Please explain.

*sigh*
I just had to explain the functional difference for data exposure between a database and a website to my boss. He truly did not know.

Ramblings to think about...
I found it very interesting upon noticing the kindness we humans are (sometimes) to technology, and how courtesy is (occasionally) lacking to fellow humans. For example, Eric drives up to the Taco Bell drive-thru and very nicely says "no thank you" to the automated welcome advertisement that blasts at you as soon as you pull up, but proceeds to treat the fellow at the drive-thru like crap...basically mumbling something totally incomprehesible as he grabbed the bag from the kid. I can't decide if it's more of a sporotic individual act, or if we tend to do that as a whole?

Animal rights wacko-ism?
I am an animal lover to the core. Tree Frogs are among my top favourites, as I sponsor one at the Cincinnati Zoo. I have been discouraged by my wonderful, but in this case, cruel, husband from having a Tree Frog as a pet. Therefore, I have extended my home to a poor homeless rabbit that needs adopted. Bethany (was already named) is 6.5 pounds and a rabbit mutt (no particular breed, it seems). Although I had some concerns about Bethany living with Q (our cat), they become less when I realized that Bethany was not much smaller than the cat. Also, Q is being declawed next week, and is prohibited from the basement, where Bethany will reside. (Bethany's litter trained, so that's good - and YES, rabbits can be litter trained!)

However, I was a little perturbed of the process of bunny-adoption. Upon application completion, you have to go through a telephone interview, and then endure a house visit. Ummm...OK I guess. I can see that a facility would want to make sure that the home was suitable for the rabbit, I think. I'm starting to think they're a little obsessive though. However, I was informed that follow-up visits would occur, to make sure that the rabbit was adapting well to the new environment. OK, that's nuts! It's a rabbit for god's sake, NOT a human baby!

Now watch...the adoption counselor's going to read my blog and not let me adopt Bethany...*yeesh*

Engineers
In two words: Exhausting Conversationists...and my reaction.

Let me explain. I was in my little happy world of Legal Beaglism when my world was suddenly infiltrated with engineers. Fortunately, I can usually follow the line of conversation relatively well, except I get to a snapping point, of which I have arrived tonight. This is when the constant battle of analytical logic is heaped onto the previous spat of analytical logic, hoping to disprove a different viewpoint that was also arrived with analytical logic. Born engineers have an amazing capacity to continue the onslaught of analytical logic to disprove or prove a point for eons. Born lawyers have an amazing capacity to not really give a damn of what another person thinks of their logic or point because they are right anyway. We also enjoy spats of analytical logic to prove or disprove a point, but when it gets down to it, and the conversation comes to a close (which happens far more quickly), you simply tell your disagreeing friend that they are wrong, in whatever terms you want, i.e., tell them to go to hell or whatever enters your mind because you are done with the conversation.

If you can't tell, I have recently come away fused from engineering analytical thinking...a lot of it. I mean, they can't even read the "store hours" sign without an analytical approach.

I probably shouldn't blog this, because it's late AND I'm fused, but hell, it's my blog, and I have a right to post my irritating thoughts as well as my good thoughts, with even a few insightful thoughts. Don't hold your breath for insightful ones though.

Back to School!
Yay! I start my Masters with the University of Pheonix online July 17, 2003. I'm going for a MA in Education, specializing in website design for facilitation and curriculum development for online training. Basically, I'm learning online how to be a professor online. It's going to be interesting! I'll be glad to get this done because there are a lot of business schools within universities that are going to the online version of education. Since my Bachelors is a BSM, I can stay home and teach from there. *happy*

Saturday
Since I was in major depression that my husband works for a worthless client that can't coordinate schedules intelligently, so he has to work ALL weekend (note my bitterness), I lapsed in a coma of watching Stargate for 5 hours. After that, I decided that I might change what was seeming to become a rut, so I played Dungeon Siege to improve my character that is running around in multi-player with Eric. (We both started with "no experience" characters in multi-player.) I had nightmares that night when I dreamed that I went through the Stargate and had to kill Krugs to save my life.

I have decided that his client must die...after I sue them for reckless endangerment of my sanity.

Look into yourself

I really didn't think I would find Balrog in my inner self though!


So which LOTR Villain are you? Hmm??
made by Michelle at EmptySpace.

Losers!
It didn't take them long to realize what side of the fence was preferrable! They sure have been walking it for long enough...

Bored at work?
I highly recommend this online Solitaire. It is a very good way to knock a few hours off of the day if it's a particularly boring day, such as today.