Found it!

Sept 11 Pass 2
Originally uploaded by minnaloushe232.

I just realized I put it away in another box I have for the Uber Keepsakes.

I don't know why, today, it became important for me to find this. Obviously this day everyone's life in America changed..and I was not participating in that change. I was over Pennsylvania while all this was going on. We departed on time - at 6:56 which was nearly 8am eastern time. 90 minutes later, the attacks on NYC and DC started.

The boarding pass is deteriorating but, I've made a copy of it and now I have a scan. It was never intended to be saved nor does it have the year which disgusts me, but oh well. It's important to me and that's all that matters.

Click on the pic to see it closer, if you like.

Addendum to my post from yesterday.

I saw three Charcoal Matrix's (Matrices?), 1 Black and finally, 1 Cosmic Blue. So everyone has Charcoal Matrix, not a Cosmic Bloo!

Spring Cleaning

It's that time of year and I've not been willing to be online as long as I can have alll the windows open and get busy with Spring Cleaning. I'm taking my Aunt's suggestion to do a little each day and it's working out (so far) very well. I cleaned off my desk and threw a bagful of stuff away of old mail, papers, expired coupons and adverts for refinancing my home at 50% interest..

There's one thing I've lost that I'm utterly disgusted by and am going to focus on that while Spring Cleaning. I've lost my American Airlines boarding pass from 9/11. I wanted to preserve it (lamination or something) and I cannot find it anywhere. I am sure I put it somewhere very safe and sound but no clue where that might be. I looked in my keepsake case but it's not in there either. I might have pressed it into a book..

My CD burning project is going well. I should be able to put two boxes of CD's away. My office already looks less cluttered. I need to put more away but that was a really good start. If I can just get my office cleaned up and put away, the rest will fall into place. I'm thinking about going to Wal Mart or Target and buying one of those closet organizer pieces that look like a cabinet to store some stuff in. I don't know - I just need more storage. Kim's husband and brother in law are excellent custom furniture makers. I might ask how much it would cost to get a custom cupboard put into the office with a counter on it. Probably more than I can afford.

Unfortunately not much else exciting going on here. Just the usual wash, rinse, repeat routine.

Here she is!

matrixfl
Originally uploaded by minnaloushe232.

I finally got around to taking pictures of the new car this morning. Interestingly, the white car in the background is also a Corolla - of which is the parent car of the Matrix. They've come a long way, baby.

The colour is "Cosmic Blue" with a charcoal interior. I read on the internet that "everyone" has a Cosmic Blue Matrix. I've never seen one on the road before, I've only seen Navy blue as far as the blue colour family goes.

Anyway.

Very happy with it.

The Gay Cowboy Movie

Last night I went with friends to see "Brokeback Mountain." We all went to see it for the same reason - we're intelligent, open-mind people looking into a movie that is causing a lot of fuss among the straight male population.

This is what I have to say about the movie: It was a good movie, not a great one. It was not shocking (unless you live in a cave), it didn't creep me out, it was beautifully shot (as all Ang Lee films are), and very very quiet. It was, in fact, a non-event. I'd never see it again because it was only a good film.

I belong to a large population of people who have an opinion about the film. Some may say it's immoral, sacrilegious, ground-breaking or digusting. But I am the first person I know to have seen the movie ergo I belong to an extremely small population of middle Americans who have actually seen the movie and posess an opinion about it.

This, truly, is nothing to get in arms about. Why are we all in an absolute rage and controversy over a love story and not over a violent horror film like "Underworld"? They had police at the theater because of the Goth crowd the Underworld movie draws.

I'm not stating an opinion about homosexuality and its morality or social place in our society. I'm just saying, there's a lot of things in this world to worry about than gay cowboys. I found more to worry about in "Memoirs of a Geisha." This movie, truly, is nothing.

Civil Servitude

I work in a building that has a lot of county public workers. People who are paid via tax dollars I am forced to pay.

Here's a scene from the elevator:

Man: (Holds door open) Don't run! I'll hold it!
[10 seconds later]
Woman: Oh thank you for holding it.
Man: No problem, there's no point in running! We're here all day, no need to rush right?
Woman: You're right!

Me: [Bangs head against the wall and considers tax evasion]

Ahahah!

I forgot to mention, in one of the consumer reviews I read on the matrix, it said it would appeal to people who like "European styling."

Most people think European and picture BMW, Mercedes et al. But, the Matrix does have a Euro look to it, more like an Opel or VW Golf thing. I described it to someone as "not unlike an inflated Mini Cooper."

I parked next to a Lexus SUV and my car looked almost identical from the back, albeit smaller. It looks like the SUV's little sister.

Sleep At Last!

Finally after a few weeks of limited insomnia, I finally fell asleep a bit before 10 and the alarm woke me up. No more 4am wakey.

Not much to report today, but it's looking to be a full weekend. I've got a party to go to tonight, tomorrow I'm having friends over for a brunch and spending time with my relatives on Sunday afternoon. I need to get my house cleaned up too at some point because my Dad has decided to come down Feb 7th and I need to get organized by then. I've been working on a house project upstairs where the guest room is and using the guest room as a "staging" area. Unfortunately because of the hours at work it makes it very hard to finish anything I start but I will get it done.

Now, off to work!

Done & Dusted

Nothing good ever comes easy. Getting a good deal on a car proves that to be the case, but with a little bit of focus and hard work and sizing up the competition, the consensus is in: I beat the dealership at their own game.

If I told the GM and all the managers of this dealership that this was the first car I ever negotiated, I think they'd freak out. But, the end result is, I've gotten the car for $1800 UNDER invoice, free floor mats (which I thought they were taking out) and a few free tanks of gas. What happened, apparently, is when I got aggressive with the salesman about justifying the under invoice cost and accusing them of hiding and inflating fees it got him flustered. He ended up double dipping on some figures and gave me a price that essentially put the car at fleet pricing. I got the car for the same price a corporation purchasing 40 vehicles got!

More to the point, I got a brand new '06 Matrix for $200 LESS than a USED '04 Matrix. Hahaha!

So I'm very chuffed but it didn't come easy. I thought I'd have buyers remorse, sticker shock (though it's an inexpensive car, it's still a lot of money) but I don't. For many reasons.. Firstly, after I was on disability 2 years ago and making only 40% of my income that was going mainly into medical bills, I nearly lost my house and badly hurt my credit. So, this purchase will help repair my credit. Secondly, you can't get a car with low mileage (under 70,000 miles), good safety and reliability for under $11,000 these days. Even little tin boxes like the Focus or Echo are nearly $13,000 new. So, I realized that I got such a good deal that being remorseful is a waste of energy.

Thirdly, as I sit here and wait for sticker shock and a dawning of "what on earth have I gotten myself into?", I noticed that I didn't drive off the lot wanting to throw up. Unlike when I had the timing belt and water pump replaced, unlike when I paid $400 for the battery explosion and ensuing clean up and repairs, unlike when i had to get the struts replaced and drive on bad rims, unlike when I had the front brakes redone.. Because everytime I sunk big bucks into the car, I drove out of the service center feeling sick like I had thrown money into a black hole and wondering what else was going to go wrong. And it's something of a treat to get in the car and know it will start the first time and every time.

Anyway, I'm happy now and I feel SO MUCH safer financially and personally. That's quite priceless. The stress of that question mark that has been hanging over my head ever since last year when the A/C first broke of "is my car dying?" is now over. Granted, the car payments have 100% eaten up my raise increase, but again, that's OK because it's life, I need to drive to work every day and this car I'm committing to for 10 years.

I got an inquiry about my old car today so hopefully it will be sold by the weekend.

I thought once the catharsis of the decision to ditch the money pit and the whole new car sale process over I'd be able to sleep a full night. I fell asleep around 9 last night but woke up again at 4am. So, I'm still having trouble sleeping but at least I got to bed early. Here I thought I was getting good at sleeping in!

OK, enough yabberdabber. I'm going to get ready for work and go in since I did sod all yesterday. I need to go in early.. Plus, I can't wait to drive my car!!

The $1 Christmas Tree

Another long, draining day.

After getting estimates on how much it will cost for me to get the starter, A/C and rear brakes fixed..actually, fixed is a generous word - they need to be outright replaced. Looking through my repair record, I have sunk WAY too much money into this car. Here's a list of what I have put into it the last 2-3 years:
Timing Belt
Water Pump
4 New Tires
Battery (seems innocuous but the batter prior to it exploded and corroded parts of the engine)
Struts
2 rims
2 alignments
Front brake replacement
A/C Repairs - "patch" fixes that failed six months after

What's next? Transmission?

I already knew I had $1500 in repairs to deal with so I anticipated that the financial issue would only grow if not stay stagnant. I started working on financing and I've been researching cars ever since Tamara and I almost got ourselves killed on Osceola Parkway when my car steamed up during a rain storm and I couldn't see the road. That was a highlight - driving down the high way with the windows rolled down during a tropical rain storm (Irene, I think?).

Anyway, I could gripe about the problems I've had with the car but suffice to say, this latest $2000 bill officially would I paid more in repairs than what I paid for the car in the first place. So, that's the end.

So, tonight I left work to negotiate the car of my choice, which has worked out to the Toyota Matrix. I test drove it and loved it. But, I've never bought a new car or any thing from a dealer so I was worried about negotiations. Then I thought, I deal with people infinitely smarter and more challenging than car salesmen every day of the week, I can deal with this.

I used my natural talents (talking very fast and being able to think fast) to be just as much of a salesman back. I had all my data from the internet and found discrepencies between their internet pricing schema, invoice and sticker. I forced them to justify every single item other than the car and options I asked for. I told them I was an auditor and I acted like one! I ticked, tied and got very hardline about the padded profits. And, frankly, I became a jerk. I became a literal jerk in this process. It went a little something like this:

Salesman: I've already given you my best price, how much of this profit are you going to ask me to keep?
[pause, mutual stare down]
Me: A dollar.
[stare down]
Salesman: I'll go talk to my manager.

So I got it for almost $1500 under invoice (and almost $3K off MSRP), which I believe is quite good for a Toyota. I feel very good and proud of the deal I got, especially being a woman. Women are always jerked around and I didn't feel that I negotiated like a woman. He tried the whole, "Oh this is Jenny's first sale.." and all kinds of nutty stuff like that but I was totally unmoved by it and very frank by what I thought was B.S.

And really, it's my birthright. My mother was a shrewed negotiator and so was my grandfather. He bought negotiated a Christmas tree to a $1 once and when I named the dealer profit, that dollar was in honor of my Grandpa.

Here are pictures, anyway.

Here's the exterior in the color I got, "Cosmic Blue:













Here's a view of the interior:

Live Wire

As you can see from the post time on this entry, it's either very early in the morning or in the middle of the night depending on your point of view. I'm extremely annoyed at present because irrespective of how much I've been working, how little sleep I've gotten, I don't have to be at work til 9am today. So I could have slept til 6:30 - which would have been an enormous treat since I couldn't fall asleep last night til midnight.

There's a lot of anxiety drivers in my life right now:
1. Company Merger on the horizon
2. A system flaw that must be overcome by my team - major issue with huge visibility that is adding dramatically to stress level
3. February is the Month of Visitors..which is not the problem, but I want to see everyone and I have testing and this enormous gap to fill before March 1st. Work/Life Balance is tipped in favor of work
4. Car problems. My car is 11 years old going on 12. The Trade In Value is lower than the repairs that would need to be made.
5. A lot of politics at work

As you can see, work is the main anxiety. The car is causing me a lot of anxiety. It's totally not suitable for my back (it sits very low to the ground and it causes me pain to get in and out of it), and with over 150,000 miles on it, it's not an appropriate vehicle for driving on I-4 regularly in stop and go commuting traffic. Though the last thing I want at present is a car payment, I did get a good deal from Capital One on financing with no downpayment required. So, I am going to shop for cars this week. I talked to my dad at length and it seems that given how much I drive now, putting more than the value of the car in repairs in is a bad idea. My fear is I'll get the rear brakes and new AC put in and then something else could go wrong a year from now. I've already put $1000 in it this year and last year I spent $1500 on repairs to the struts and suspension.

I started internet shopping and got the Stamp of Approval on vehicle choices from my friend's husband who is a Lexus tech and he gave me the scoop on the dealer process (he works for a dealer). He confirmed internet pricing is in fact at Invoice and possibly below. Mechanically he likes the Matrix and some of his buddies at work has one and of course the Civic I can't go wrong. So everything is in order. Tam helped me with financing shopping, Dad helped with deciding to buy or investing in repairs and budgeting. I called the insurance company and got insurance quotes for the cars I'm considering (which is now down to two). All ducks are in a row.
Now I just need to make the decision. My financing packet arrives tomorrow so it's not a done deal til I fill the check out (it's one of those blank check loans, no muss no fuss).

I just don't know if I want a car payment right now. But I also know I can't afford to keep paying big repair fees every six months - credit card can't take any more.

So the cars I'm looking at are the Toyota Matrix and Honda Civic. Here's what the Matrix looks like:




They seem to offer the most car for your money. And it's the same price as the Corolla which is an insanely good deal.

Four Things Survey

Four Jobs I Have Had:
1. Dishwasher
2. Nanny
3. Radio Broadcaster - Sports & Traffic
4. Consultant (IT and Business Analyst)

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over:
(not to be confused with what I think are good movies, mind you)
1. Pirates of the Caribbean
2. Clue
3. A Room With A View
4. Under The Tuscan Sun

Four Books I Could Read Over and Over:
1. Charlotte's Web, E.B. White
2. Delta of Venus, Anais Nin
3. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
4. The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles

Four Places I Have Lived:
(only four?)
1. Zurich
2. Winter Park
3. Chicago
4. Celebration

Four TV Shows I Watch:
1. Scrubs
2. Survivor
3. Desperate Housewives
4. Food Network (anything)

Four Places I Have Been On Vacation:
1. Thailand
2. Morocco
3. Italy (Tuscany, Rome & Venice)
4. Germany

Four Websites I Visit Daily:
1. The Onion
2. Friend's Blogs
3. My Yahoo
4. Google

Four Favourite Foods:
1. Veal Saltimbocca
2. Spaghetti alla Carbonara
3. Tacos
4. Thai Crispy Rice Salad

Four Places I’d Like To Be Right Now:
1. Campo di Fiori in Roma, having dinner (aforementioned Carbonara!)
2. Schweinfurt, shopping at the E-Center with Marie
3. Tokyo, seeing Alta Square for the first time
4. Interlaken, having fondue

That was a fun diversion.

Numb

What a world, what a world!

SO many changes at work, cold still lingering ever so slightly, not getting enough sleep..

This is why I have been offline, but I hope that I will sort myself out SOON and get back in the routine of things.

Forever In Blue Jeans

Is Neil Diamond making a comeback?

Per the Oprah show, he's getting rave reviews all of a sudden. He performed on the show and the audience was going nuts and I have to admit even I was shouting out some "So good, So good, So good!" at the telly.

If this is true, that Neil Diamond is making a popular and even more scary, a critical comeback.. I owe The Kid an apology.

I shall persue iTunes. It's possible I may be downloading some Neil Diamond tonight.

Both Sides Now

Here you go Marie..


BOTH SIDES, NOW
By Joni Mitchell

Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons ev'rywhere
I've looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on ev'ryone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As ev'ry fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way

But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living ev'ry day

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

Don't Sleep In The Subway, Darling

Oh I have SO many things to accomplish today I don't know where I shall find the time.

I've created my ultimate play list (as you know ad nauseum) and have added a few goodies. Right now I'm listening to Don't Sleep In The Subway Darling, which always reminds me and two other damn fools of this man:



Hahahaha, jackass.

Anyway, I've added another one - Sting's Unplugged version of Tea In The Sahara which is absolutely amazing. I wish they'd put that concert on DVD. For all I and the rest of the world is tired of Sting, that concert was tremendously good.

It's windy here. By windy I mean 15 mph sustained winds with a lot of big gusts. Key West is having 35mph sustained winds which is, I think, 5 mph off from Tropical Force. It's also cold here, very cold and chilly.

The Kid arrives at 1 and we're going to spend the weekend doing something hopefully other than drinking Pina Coladas, eating a big mac and throwing up at Disney. Not that we've ever done that before. Oh no.

If It Doesn't Rain, It Will Pour

Mega meeting yesterday (and no, I didn't go to the All Hands. I decided blissful ignorance is the way for me!), four emails from people wanting to know where I've dropped off to, a promise to visit someone accidentally forgotten... But, at least I'm a bit less sick today (so far, the day is young of course). Then I have a hole in my tooth and my contacts are clearly out of commission and I'll have to got to eye doctor today or tomorrow.

The Yay of all this is we got our new vision insurance package this week and it's the best I have ever seen. It's actually kind of incredible - all small co-pays. Italian Frames here I come.

Being sick for me basically means, I put all my energy into trying to stay employed and then come home and pass out. I literally am falling asleep by 7:30 and it's only the teasers on Access Hollywood that keep me up til 8. Then the alarm wakes me up at 5:30 whereas it's usually me waking the alarm up.

So I have houseguests arriving tomorrow and thankfully they are friends as old as the hills because I frankly don't feel like doing the big spit and shine routine in the house.

Incidentally, according to iTunes, I have 1532 songs loaded comprising 5.68GB of data and a play time of Four Days and 16 hours. I remember when a .wav file of someone burping would bring your system to a halt.

Cut and Run

Today is one of those days where you just want to cut and run. I wake up still sick, still having respiratory issues. I get stuck in a massive traffic jam and then get myself into a worse traffic jam trying to avoid the other one. Then I get to work and have to deal with the most naive and sadly malicious troll in our Treasury Dept. He's sadly malicious because I think I'm supposed to feel his wrath but it actually feels like a ticklefeather he's so lame. Then I feel the pressure more than ever of building a system that will not only be progressive for a Fortune 500 company but now must consider its scaleabity to a top tier company. I spend the day trying to get people I always enjoy working with to spend time with me on new systems designs and they won't because they are embedded in the day to day.

I want to stand in the middle of the room and scream that I CANNOT put a system in like this BY MYSELF. It's utterly, utterly ludicrous to think I can but I cannot get the help I need and although I had an otherwise non-present boss, I at least had someone to be the heavy when I needed it. I feel more alone than ever in this monumental task and I don't need this level of stress. I'm frustrated to no end and I feel like if no one else cares, then why should I? Then a round of layoffs occur (that has nothing to do with any merger or buyout) that leaves people weeping and horrible looks to ME like I had something to do with it. So I spent the afternoon counseling people. Then it's implied to me I don't need to be at an all-hands meeting tomorrow because I'm not really involved in the department which is, excuse me, a fucking joke. I wanted to be there, I asked to be excused from a critical development meeting so I could be there and then it's as if my presence is completely optional and uneccessary. They are going to be talking about the system I'm implmenting reducing headcount and they don't think I need to be there?! NO one presenting tomorrow knows jack about what we're doing because no one comes to the design meetings!!! So HOW will they even know?

Personally, things stink and I want to shove that off too and throw the towel in because, frankly, it's just another source of grief for me.

This has been, literally, the worst day and I'm going to bed very shortly so this blasted day can end.

Awww

s_gas_014
Originally uploaded by minnaloushe232.

This picture I found on the Migrol website. It's not the front of the pictures though the Produkete Preise is familiar. But in the background, it brings back lovely (sarcasm alert) memories of the Migrol petrol station where I dined daily during my tour of duty in Switzerland.

Actually, I am hoping to go back to Zurich soon and revisit the Migrol station. A lot of my life happened there.

Kojak Bang Bang

This is why I love the United States. Specifically, this is why I love Florida. Where else can you live in the Old West, Cuba, England, the Bahamas, the Jersey Suburbs and the deep south all in a single day? This little Bonnie & Clyde event happened just down the street from where I live. Next time bank robbers want to close down an entire area, why can't they include a few I-4 on ramps so I don't have to go to work and I can sit at home and watch the debacle from there?

I'm still sick. Yesterday the Mucinex I'm taking actually stopped working so well and I coughed throughout the day. So far this morning I'm coughing less but I also haven't tried talking yet. The Inner Circle of Trust (which is now operating smoothly under the policies of Mutually Assured Destruction) went to PF Changs and I had a bowl of their Pin Rice soup which is a fabulous soup. It helps with congestion but only temporarily. I think I might drink some green tea and ginseng since I spent an hour on the phone with our Hong Kong office once getting lectured about the benefits of ginseng and bronchitis. I got the impression no one from Hong Kong uses Tylenol Cold & Flu.

In probably more earth shattering news than my bronchial passageways, my company was bought out yesterday. Though a parent company has bought us, we're technically merging with a smaller company that is industry specific. Or so that's the spin. At any rate, this makes us a freakin enormous company now with massive purchasing power and revenues. Which means there are opportunities since this newly formed company that's resultant of the merger will be headquartered in Orlando. I was disappointed to hear that my project wasn't shot in the head and not only do I still have to do it, I still have to do it faster.

And the best news - though this has nothing to do with the merger at all - my boss is going to work for one of our vendors so he will no longer be an issue in my life after 90 days when he transitions out. It's not that he's the worst boss I've ever had. He's just the most non-present boss I've ever had. When he does show up, it's not always pleasant. I've never had a boss I can't talk to more than him. I feel that he constantly is hiding things from me and I don't feel compeled that he can help me with any of my issues. Technically we're peers so it doesn't matter anyway.

In social news, I finally was able to get back in touch with my old friend Floffy (shout out to the Floffster). That's of course not her real name, but I so rarely call her by her real name. We were friends back in high school and lost touch only for a few years. She's back and of course, shocking as always - :-D

So there's the big catch up post. I'm off to work now, sick sick sick.

Oh cold go away

I'm still sick. I am OK as long as I don't talk and definitely as long as I don't laugh. Once I start laughing, I start to choke and then a massive coughing attack. Ung.

Work was very dull today. I'm very bored with what I do. It's not challenging. It's laborious.

I'm so tired of being sick, I don't even like blogging.

Pooh.

At the Movies

I love reading Roger Eberts movie reviews because of sentences like these:

[People] who have serious money, as symbolized by the country house where the crowd assembles for the weekend. It's big enough to welcome two Merchant-Ivory productions at the same time.

Hah! That's from his review of Match Point, which I cannot wait to see since I quite like Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Scarlett Johannsen. The other movie I am looking forward to seeing is The White Countess, which is the last of the Merchant-Ivory productions as Ishmael Merchant passed away this year.

Ok, bedtime for bonzo.

Move over Bob Vila

Today marks a massive milestone. I have finally learned how to use wall anchors.

I made pencil marks
I drilled
I pushed the wall anchor in
I attached the towel rack.

Go me! Who says you can't teach a thirtysomething dog new tricks?

Ech

I'm so tired of being sick! I've been fighting this cold for a week now. It doesn't help that it's cold out (which is in the 30's and 40's for Orlando). In fact, I've got a quesy stomach from it all as well.

So, not much to blog today. Except, I will say that I'm fascinated by a new Yahoo service called Yahoo! Answers. It's fascinating - answers.yahoo.com

OK, so I'm off to run some errands and then take a nap. Go away, cold!

How cool

AKJan06_0034
Originally uploaded by minnaloushe232.

I just love this picture. It was a random over the head shot too.

Safari!

AKJan06_0069
Originally uploaded by minnaloushe232.

This weekend I went on "safari" the wild, wild kingdom of Disney. I took a lot of pictures and I particularly like this one. It's an above water and under water pictures but then this duck suddenly appeared when I snapped it. I thought it turned out kind of cool.

When I miss Chicago because there's not enough to do here, I forget about things like Animal Kingdom. While it's easy to write it off as a Disney money making machine (that it totally is..) if you look at this and my other pictures, you can see that I'm literally able to enter an entirely different world. While I would rather be in the real places, I am amazed sometimes at the replicas of fantasy destinations that I can pop into with a moment's notice. And that's why I like it here.

More pictures are at my Flickr site - of which you can find a link in the handy dandy links bit of this page.

Zippity Doo Dah

Matt brought me a new stick of RAM today. It was only a 512 but now which gives me a whopping total of 640mb of RAM.. Of which is interesting because I thought I was at 256 but apparently, non. I had 128 in there...

I'm so amazed at the performance difference. Now that means I can do more in less time. Or I can do less in more time. Or something.

Office Space

Yes, work in a major corporation is very fulfilling. Where else can you engage in fine conversation like this:

Ouiser: I'm the short one. How tall is Brad?
Me: We're all tall here. I think Brad is like 6'8
Roger*: I'm 6'2
Me: How 'bout you Darren?
Darren: I'm about 6'3
Matt (quickly): 4'1


*Not his real name. We decided he looks like a Roger so we call him Roger.

Roger brought us a fantastic present today. A high school year book picture of one of our project managers. He had comb fluffed up hair, sort of streaky blonde, and earring and flipped up collar. Quel Totally 80's Duuuuuude. He doesn't know we have this. Yet.

I have an iTunes giftcard and I've been shopping on iTunes for music to download. And what do I pick? Fine selections like:
Your Auntie Grizelda
Randy Scouse Git
Papa Gene's Blues
and of couse, Will Ferrell's "The Hop-Clop Goes On"

To give myself some credit, I also downloaded Lucienne Boyer's "Parlez-Moi D'Amour", a remastered version of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now", Annie Lennox's "No More I Love Yous", and my sister will be thrilled over The Blues Magoos, "Tobacco Road."

Yes, it's a weird eclectic mix of songs that I'm sure would confuse the fine market researchers at iTunes who tries to find music to recommend to me. But they all have some memory or meaning associated with them. For example, "Randy Scouse Git" reminds me of my friend's house in Satellite Beach and a crush she had on a Micky Dolenz (and his tightie whities creeping out over his waistband..weird!). The version of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now is because it reminds me of an astounding, very quiet yet so very real performance of Emma Thompson's in "Love, Actually" where she discovers in a roundabout way her husband is having an affair.

Tobacco Road - well.. That's totally a you have to be there thing but if you know the song and the speeder scene from Return of the Jedi and put it together it will all make sense.

I am going to bed now - I've been up excessively late and having a dreadful time picking up to go to work.

Oh I wanna be a Producerrrrr!

I went to see the Producers tonight and omg, it was so freaking funny. Will Ferrell has just the perfect amount of absolute shamelessness to pull this performance off. His Hop Clop number was funny enough but the reprise of it at the end credits is worth sitting in the theater for and listen to what he whispers at the end. I shan't spoil it but I laughed so hard I started wheezing again.

I love it when I laugh so hard I wheeze.

I had a brilliant day today but tomorrow I must return to work. Boo.

Oh I wanna be a Producerrrrr!

I went to see the Producers tonight and omg, it was so freaking funny. Will Ferrell has just the perfect amount of absolute shamelessness to pull this performance off. His Hop Clop number was funny enough but the reprise of it at the end credits is worth sitting in the theater for and listen to what he whispers at the end. I shan't spoil it but I laughed so hard I started wheezing again.

I love it when I laugh so hard I wheeze.

I had a brilliant day today but tomorrow I must return to work. Boo.

New Years Resolutions 2006

(before, I start - I'm still working on my CD project and I'm uploading a Coolio tune whilst listening to Petula Clark. Now tell me I don't have the oddest range of musical interest?)

There's a problem with lists of New Years Resolutions as I and many others have traditionally done them. Firstly, if you have too many resolutions you end up being overwhelmed by your failure to attend to every single one. The other problem is that resolutions tend to be all over the place and may not be in balance with real life. For example, if you have 20 resolutions to regarding housecleaning, but don't have any resolutions for not buying as much crap then you'll be out of balance..I.e., buying crap makes housecleaning hard. Then people make resolutions they can't possibly be in control of. For example, "Will have successful relationship." Well, it takes two to start and proceed with a successful relationship so that's pointless to resolve. You can say, "I will not be a clingy bimbo in my relationship," that's actually measurable and actionable. Provided you're not an absolute bimbo.

Ahem, anyway, so before diving into mine, I'll pay New Years homage to the original Gurl Blogger - Bridget Jones - I'll quote a few of her New Years Resolutions from her first book (credit Helen Fielding) :

I will: not waste money on: pasta makers, ice-cream machines or other culinary devices which will never use; books by unreadable lierary authors to put impressively on shelves; exotic underwear, since pointless as have no boyfriend.
I will: Go to gym three times a week no merly to buy sandwich.

So here's my version of my 2006 New Years Resolutions (in no particular order of importance):

Professional Resolution:
I will not let politics bother me to the point where I'm distracted
I will balance my hours with my personal life and keep my desk about 50% better organized
I will consider this year what I want to do with my professional life in the next three years

Health Resolution:
I will only eat small portions of french fries twice a week (wahhhh)
I will continue to eat healthier and prepare more meals at home
I will continue to ride my bike or at least walk or swim

Organization:
I will throw away and/or give away at least 30% of my possessions by Fall 2006
I will keep my closet clean so I know how many clothes I really have
I will not keep newspapers and old mail for posterity (clean out my In Box weekly)

Financial:
I will stay within my budget and pay all my bills on time
I will update my expenses vs budget weekly
I will not buy anything over $100 without a 3 week cooling off period
I will not buy any major or gadgety electronics this year (this is going to be EXTREMELY HARD, but this is so I can get new furniture next Christmas)

Personal:
I will not take everything so seriously
I will not do things that I feel 'obligated' to do but otherwise have no interest in
I will go to Europe/Abroad this year before my miles expire
I will always give myelf at least 1/2 day a weekend to get personal goals accomplished
I will give people a chance

I think that's enough for this year. It's a lot but some things are smaller than others or only need to be done once to be accomplished.

2006 will be a good year... At least, I suspect it will be a big year.

Gen X Meets Generation Next

I've undertaken a massive project that allows me to sit on my bum all day and feel like I'm accomplishing a major clean up task. I'm actually burning all my CD's to iTunes. I realized I only like 1-4 songs on a CD on average and so why do I have these things "decorating" my loft and collecting volumes of dust?

So I put stacks on my desk in lots of about 2o. I grabbed the next CD on the list and it turns out to be Christina Aguilera's "Stripped" and the album cover (which you can see below) is just as trashy as she is but I like two songs on this CD and I bought it with Per Diem money when I was working in Washington D.C. Then I pulled the next CD to burn off the stack at it was Natalie Merchant's 1995 solo work, "Tigerlily". The album cover features a close up of her pensive face sort of chewing on her nails.

In 1995 I was 23 years old, a young GenX girl buying Tigerlily and this album cover represented my generation. Stripped represents 23 year olds in this generation.

How did this migration happen, truly? How did we go from one..to the next?

Knights In White Satin

Can everyone join me in saying "well it's about bloody time!"

Oh brother.