Tuesday, November 23, 2004

tuesday is chooseday

    Would you rather:
  1. have every driver but you be a "student driver" OR have every driver but you be over 75 years old?

    oooh, tough one - i'll take students - they're slow, too, but at least they're predictable


  2. be dating someone who insists that every electric device in both of your homes be controlled by those "clap on, clap off" devices OR that every piece of furniture have plastic covers?

    i'd rather be not dating them


  3. have regular encounters with aliens and not have any proof OR have your best friend be invisible?

    i kind of like the idea of an invisible best friend


  4. stick your hand into a sealed box of rattlesnakes OR stick your hand into a box filled with unknown contents that are making a mechanical buzzing sound?

    given my tremendous fear of snakes, i'll take the scary mechanical box

Best laugh I've had in a while - The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Via Beancounter

Monday, November 22, 2004

Glorious peace and quiet in the office today. Of the 25 people in my department, there are about 9 of us here this week. I was going to take the three days off, but then I figured, why burn up the vacation days when I can come to work and leave when I like and get tons of stuff done? I'm sitting here, getting caught up on paperwork from my vacation, listening to "Morning Becomes Eclectic" on KCRW, via the Internet. I also learned this week that I can listen to the iTunes folder of anyone at work, if they're logged onto the network. Unfortunately, some of the music that my coworkers listen to is not exactly my taste - none of them have Crystal Method or Outkast or Beyonce or Lyle Lovett or U2 or any of the stuff I like to listen to during the day...

Friday, November 19, 2004

There's a project at work that I'm on, which is the specification and implementation of a new document management system - online, password-protected, etc. We've had one piece of software that my company has used for years, but it's clunky and not user-friendly, plus the 150+ seat licenses have become incredibly expensive. We're replacing it with an open-source (read: no documentation, do-it-all-yourself) solution, so I've been asked to help administer the new site, and learn the software and programming language behind it. Yikes. It's proving to be a brand-new, full-time job, for which I receive exactly $0. I'm trying to angle for a new job next year where I do this exclusively, but my company is of the mind that you have to actually do the two jobs for a year before they let you have just the better one. There's not even any guarantee that they'll let me move to the new role, because it would be considered a promotion, and you have to be on the "promotion track" with all of the appropriate approvals, etc. already in place. Totally screwy. Ah well, who cares. It's Friday, and next week I'll be pretty much the only person in my department who actually comes in to the office - plenty of time to myself to work on new projects and test new toys.

Thursday, November 18, 2004


Birthday cube
It's hard to be back at work!! All I want to do is go home, sit with my dog, and knit. Luckily, there's just today and tomorrow until the weekend, and then next week will only be a couple of days. I walked into this office today to find my cube covered with birthday streamers, balloons, confetti - my friend Tara has been a busy girl! I haven't stopped laughing all day.

While I didn't get to do everything that I had planned for Chicago (missed the Sears tower, Trader Joe's and the knitting store), I did take a trip with A to a little jeweler in the Water Tower...and picked out an engagement ring! Oh my gosh, I can hardly believe it. We're talking about a date next summer, when my niece and nephew will be visiting, and it'll be a little easier to try and corral both sets of family.

As soon as I can get my camera to focus on my hand, I'll post a picture.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Greetings from Chi-town. It's my birthday, and we're celebrating with dinner at a tapas bar downtown. The trip has been great. I went to the Art Institute and shopped at Filene's Basement and H&M (the best store in the whole world, by the way). I've just returned from the hotel gym, and am getting cleaned up and headed back downtown again - have to pick up my birthday present by 6pm. More on that later.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Apologies to the world, from those who didn't vote for Shrub:

sorryeverybody.com

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

And now, for a bit of outrage....

I am sickened that I live in a country where ELEVEN states voted for constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. I am angry that there are millions of people in my own country who think it is their right, much less their business, to tell anyone whom they can love. I am ashamed that more than 20 years after we first began to worry about AIDS, it's still a taboo subject, money for research is still scarce, and people of all races and both sexes continue to die.

I am the daughter of a gay man. My dad was a really good guy. He had a smile that made me feel like I was the center of his world. He was easy going, liked his scotch and listening to opera, and watching college football. He loved animals. He was kind to everyone. He lived happily with another man for the last 12 years of his life. I had the privilege of being part of their lives, and witnessing how much they cared for each other, how much kindness they showed each other. We should all be so lucky.

My dad has been gone for 12 years. My heart aches as I write those words. Twelve years, and not much closer to recognizing the good, loving family that he had made for himself.

My sister and my brother and I are all straight. My brother is engaged, my sister was married, and I am in a long-term, committed relationship with a man who fears marriage, otherwise we would have already done it. We all have principles and morals and values that we got from both of our parents, and from the other people that they brought to our lives. We didn't turn out warped. We weren't tainted by our exposure to a home inhabited by two gay men.

So I guess my question is, to those who would vote for such a hideous intrusion into another person's private life, what are you so afraid of? Are your own values and principles so shaky? Do you honestly think that you are making the world a better place? Are you really instilling in your children the values that you think will earn you the e-ticket to Heaven?
"Ding dong, the witch is dead..." (well, one of them at least)

Ashcroft Quits Top Justice Post...

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

tuesday is chooseday

    Would you rather:
  1. join a band of rebel fighters in some south american country for three months OR a tibetan monastery for a year?
    quiet, peaceful Buddhist leanings

  2. wake up and find your name tattooed on your bicep OR find all your body hair shaved?
    yikes. shaved i think, at least it'll grow back

  3. find a time machine that only goes back to ancient egypt OR only goes back to 1920?
    take me to the Roaring Twenties

  4. have the ability to smell as well as a dog does OR see as good as an eagle does?
    i think there are some things i don't want to smell any better than i already can. definitely the sight


Sunday, November 07, 2004

I have lots of dogs again this weekend - Thor and Daisy are wrestling on the floor next to me, a normal early-morning ritual, according to my mother. They've been really good, not too clingy. Daisy still has to bring me every toy that she finds, and keeps swatting my legs with her enormous paw to get my attention. She's such a happy dog, so easy to look after. Thor is a little bit more work, he's pretty depressed when my mom leaves (especially after losing his master this year). Thor follows me everywhere. He would come into the shower with me, if I let him. Ruby doesn't quite know what to make of it all, but she gets insanely jealous if the other dogs are close to me - she'll race over, hurtle herself into my lap, and start growling at the others.

This is what happens when two fat dogs come to stay with my little sprinter of a Ruby...they get worn out.

Nappers

I'm babysitting Kasey this afternoon while Tara goes to get a massage (lucky girl). We'll see how Kasey likes football and three crazy dogs.

Saturday, November 06, 2004

A and I needed a nice meal out tonight, so we went to DaGabi Cucina in north Boulder - a little hole-in-the-wall place that is Boulder's best kept secret. We got there at 6:40, were seated immediately, and had a lovely meal. Unfortunately, I ordered the salad special, which was supposed to be spinach, strawberries, slivered almonds and gorgonzola. What I got was a huge plate of spinach, one strawberry (thinly sliced), one small pinch of almond slivers, and two pieces of gorgonzola. Grrr. Should have ordered the penne with grilled chicken and spinach. However, my squash soup was divine, and I had a nice glass of wine. For the two of us to have a nice, quiet meal in a nice restaurant and still be within Boulder city limits, you can't beat a $34 dollar tab.

Then we came home and found dogs where dogs are not meant to be...

What kids do when Mom's away

Oooohhh, their mom will be mad when she sees this...
The dogs woke me at 6am, needing to pee. The light in my bedroom was red - at first I thought there must be a fire close by, but then I saw the sky...

Sunrise

Friday, November 05, 2004

Three days post-election, my heart is healing and I feel like there is still reason to have hope that things can improve. I've read several great letters, stories, commentaries in the past two days, and I'll post them slowly. This one is from Salon.com, by my hero, Anne Lamott, in response to the question "What Do We Do Now?":

I don't have a clue what we're going to do, outside of what we always do when we are crushed -- when, say, a close friend dies suddenly, which is sort of how this leaves me feeling. We'll feel like shit for a while, together. We'll let some time pass, together. We'll take care of each other.

Read more

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

I'm so heartbroken, and so angry today. The following article made me feel a little bit better -

Wallow In Chaos, And Laugh
A pro-Bush outcome and one enormous bitter pill and you without your vodka


By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Oh dear God please not again.

Oh dear God please don't let it be all convoluted and depressing and messy and stupid and please don't let it all embarrass us on an international level all over again even more than it already has and even more than it already is and even more than we've endured lo these past four debilitating and soul-crushing years. Hello? Please? Is it already too late?

Why yes, yes it is.

Read more

Via a comment on Squoogy.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

tuesday is chooseday

    Would you rather:
  1. find out you had your fly unzipped all day OR sat in wet paint which left a mark on your butt?
    wet paint on my butt, because it's happened before

  2. assuming you could get all the nutrients you need, eat nothing but canned cat food OR nothing but spam?
    ewwww. i guess SPAM wins

  3. sweat green liquid OR pee blue?
    i'd be slightly less afraid of blue pee

  4. walk in on a couple engaging in sexual relations in a public bathroom OR walk in on your doctor masturbating?
    strangers having sex!