August 2003 Archives

I went to the Detroit Shock first round playoff game against the Cleveland Rockers this afternoon.

The Shock lost. They didn't rebound for shit. Right before the game they presented Bill Laimbeer with the Coach of the Year Award and Cheryl Ford with the Rookie of the Year Award. We might go again on Tuesday for Game 3. Thunder sticks are the best thing ever.

More importantly, Cheryl Ford looks just like her dad. And Helen Darling is so fine (and reminds me a lot of Dawn Staley, whom I also lurve).

Dubya's resume has one helluva list of accomplishments.

(via feministe)

I have found myself the subject of this week's edition of David's Sunday Seven.

His questions:

1. When was the last time you laughed until your stomach hurt? What was so funny?
2. What's your position on homosexuals and marriage? (Don't be shy.)
3. What motivated you to start your blog? When did you start it?
4. What makes you wanna holler?
5. What's your favorite sport to play? To watch? Why don't more people who watch sports ever actually play sports?
6. Do you dream in color? What's your favorite color?
7. Why can't we all just get along?

My answers.

I was in the car and I reached over the wrong way and pinched my nipple between my left arm and the edge of the seatbelt. It fucking hurt.

Something or someone you want to bitch about? Maybe something you wanted to blog about but didn't because of who might see it? Post your bitchery anonymously at Digital Prozac.

Darren McCarty went back into rehab over the summer. I'm totally not surprised. He's a rich celebrity; that's what they do, right? Hell, seeing the Red Wings go out in the first round of the playoffs drove every Detroiter to drinking.

(via Alexia at SportsBlog)

I just set up Refer. You can never have too many traffic tracking tools, I say. It needs some stylesheet adjustment.

I'm doing some other general maintenance, too. Need to make MT earn its keep. Link up all the templates and stylesheets and such. Clean up the crap dump on the sidebars. And don't even get me started on the plugins.

No, there's nothing else that I need to be doing.

John Kusch recently gave testimony to the Joint Legislatve Committee of the Wisconsin State Legislature regarding the proposed Defense of Marriage Act. It's good stuff.

I am experiencing one of my periodic intense cravings for affection. I am in dire need of human contact. I want hugs. I want a nice platonic cuddle on the couch while watching tv. I wanna drape myself on someone and just lay there. Spoon me. Something. Anything. Just snuggle up and keep me company.

Coincidentally, I've been horny as all get out this week. I blame it on David. Listening to him sing gets me going. Maybe last week's self-love furlough did it.

I promise, those two items are not directly related.

I bet I can figure out how to program my sangria recipe into my graphing calculator. So I can select a batch size or determine the amounts based on the quantity of limiting ingredient.

Kevin at Wizbang is running a caption contest based on last night's MTV Video Music Awards.

I couldn't be content to just point you in that direction. I totally took these pictures from him. I'm betting the onscreen action was retarded, but damned if the pictures aren't fun. What? I'm not a Nielsen household.

UPDATE: And Tanya gets the Quote of the Day.

every other washed-up has-been in hollywood is reviving their careers by publicly screwing around with kids half their age; why shouldn't madonna?

Today is Holiday Inn Towel Amnesty Day. If you return a stolen towel they'll donate money to charity and enter you in a drawing for collector's edition towels.

I've never stolen a Holiday Inn towel, but I have borrowed a towel from Atlantis in the Bahamas and a velour blanket from a Girl Scout camp in upstate New York.

(via Queer Day)

My ass looks really good in these jeans.

UPDATE: Okay, Alexia. You asked for it.

Power Cuts in London Cause Travel Chaos: The British energy regulator Ofgem says that National Grid Transco, which operates Britain's power lines, is at fault. National Grid also operates Niagara Mohawak in the U.S. which we all know had problems recently. Coincidence...?

Genentech, Amgen Settle Patent Dispute Over Lucrative Infection-Fighting Drug Neupogen: Actually it only caught my eye because a friend of mine works for Genentech. Amgen made $1.3 billion last year on Neupogen alone. That boggles my mind.

Transcripts of Sept. 11 Emergency Calls From World Trade Center to Be Released: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey made a deal with the New York Times to release them, and then tried to renege. I'm not really opposed to the idea, but I sure don't want to listen to any of it.

University of Michigan Undergraduate Admissions Policy to Use Affirmative Action Standards: The new undergrad policy is supposed to be more like the law school policy, and "academic criteria will continue to be the most important factors in considering a student for admission." The revised admissions form "includes several new questions designed to elicit more information about a student's background, personal achievement, and ways in which that student may contribute to the intellectual vibrancy and diversity of the student body." U of M's Undergraduate Admissions website has more info as well. This all goes into effect starting with students applying for Winter '04 admission.

I logged on to iChat last night and next thing I knew I was in the middle of one helluva chat with some very cool people! And as such I was up half the night. But it's a gorgeous day today so as soon as I bust through yet another complete rewrite of my resume, I'll be heading outside. I think that'll perk me up. Or maybe I'll just take the laptop out on the porch. Don't want to get too crazy.

I just got a secret message email notification that Maroon 5 will be playing on Letterman tonight (Wednesday)! If you're into a groovy funky rock sort of thing and are looking for someone new to check out, here's your chance for a free listen.

UPDATE: They were so good! I'm gonna have to get to a live show of theirs for sure. Bonus: Venus and Serena Williams do the Top Ten Real Reasons We're Not Playing In The U.S. Open.

I stumbled across the code for inline trackbacks at scriptygoddess. How fun is this?! Okay it's not such a huge deal since I don't get pinged much, but it's kinda neat. And it made me totally forget what I was looking for in the first place.

If someone wanted to ping me to see it work, that would be cool. But don't feel like you have to.

I had one eye on the news when my mom called out "Are you watching channel 7?" from the other room. I looked up and there was a story about the Hamtramck cop that got shot while investigating a jewelry store looting during the blackout. My cousin's mug shot was straight up on Channel 7!

He has something like 10 aliases, faces 10 different criminal charges (some are older I think) including assault with intent to murder, and could face up to life in prison. I knew the kid had issues. I knew he had been arrested at least once and violated probation at least once. I knew he was all up in the drugs and alcohol. But damn.

He's 23. Right between my sister and I. We used to play Harlem Globetrotters and Blue Angels and try to dig to China in my grandma's backyard. We all cried together when we saw Benji. We still joke over that horrible family road trip to Alabama.

I can't say I'm really surprised.

His arraignment is on Thursday so I guess I'll find out more after that.

When I was in college, I would sometimes lay in bed and watch Crunch Fitness on ESPN2.

I was watching Montel Williams and he was doing a show on tv news anchors (all women) that were stalked. And I recognized two of them! Kam Carman from WJBK in Detroit and Harris Faulkner from KSTP in the Twin Cities. I saw Harris in the audience on The View once, too. Weird.

I came across a photo gallery entitled Voyeur (that's not safe for work). It's not earth-shattering or anything. Well, maybe some of the subjects were experiencing some earth-shattering. By the title I'm sure you can figure out what it's about. It's all black and white photos. Some date back as far as the 1850s. Some are as recent as the late '90s. It was kind of interesting to see how some things haven't changed.

There are a bunch of other galleries at ZoneZero, too, if you are so inclined.

(via Trader Mike at Move The Crowd)

Since neither Venus Williams nor Serena Williams is playing in the U.S. Open, I find myself not caring nearly as much. Of course there's still Jennifer and Amelie. I mean, damn. But still.

L.T. Smash has finally made it home from Kuwait after an 8-month tour of duty. He finally reveals where he was and what he was doing, and tells the story of his last day there, the flights around the world, and laying his eyes on his wife. I'm verklempt.

A couple folks on my blogroll have recently acquired their own domains!

Kat now resides at www.schoolgirlsophistry.com. She's off vacationing at Glacier NP but promises a new non-Blogger look soon.

Buddha has moved from his room at Buzz's into his own pad, www.buddhasden.com.

And the watergirl is still on Blogspot, but she has escaped the bowels of SE Michigan and is now a Boston resident.

I felt an itch on my leg, so I reached down to scratch it and came away with blood and bug carcass all over my fingers. I think I caught a mosquito in mid-suck.

I'm not particularly excited about that San Diego job. That concerns me. I like that I could be moving to San Diego, but I dread the logistics and expense of it. I like that they were interested in me and it sounds like something I can do, but it doesn't sound all that enjoyable. Frankly, now that I'm pretty sure I want to give up on the engineer thing, I'm annoyed that this has popped up and is causing me to WhatIf all over the place and hesitate carrying out my contingency plan.

I've spent all this time saying "I could do this or I could do that" and I haven't done a damn thing and now I'm ready to do something and I'm getting held up. I'm supposed to get back with that woman this week and talk about getting down there to interview and check things out. But maybe I'll just turn it down. I wondered if I had talked myself out of being interested in this kind of job out of frustration with the search. I don't think I did. I knew I didn't love it when I was doing it before.

Swimming Pool is about a British mystery writer who goes on retreat at her publicist's house in France and runs into the publicist's daughter while she's there. I was following it, I was liking it, then it got a little silly, and then there's a twist at the end. Now I totally can't figure out what the hell happened. Roger Ebert sort of gave a clue in his review, but I'm gonna have to work on this some more. It's driving me nuts. Verdict: Good, but confusing. Go see it, and if you figure it out, let me know.

When I first heard about Laurel Canyon I thought I'd like it, and then I started hearing some enh reviews about it. But it ended up being okay. The story doesn't seem overly original. It's a little odd in places. It's humorous enough. Frances McDormand is hot. I kept thinking of Christian Bale as a cross between Noah Wyle and Keanu Reeves doing Ted. Verdict: A'ight. I'm glad I saw it, but you can take it or leave it.

And then we saw Swimming on the shelf at the video store and picked it up. I had never heard of it before, but it looked interesting. Lauren Ambrose (from Six Feet Under, and I keep thinking she reminds me of someone I know but I can't think of who) is a teenager living in Myrtle Beach. She's the typical tomboy who's really sweet and would actually be totally hot if you made her over. She runs a burger joint with her brother. Her childhood friend runs the piercing shop next door. She befriends the new waitress at the burger joint whom the childhood friend doesn't like. And then she hooks up with a quirkily adorable guy who lives out of his van and sells tie-dye t-shirts. It was cute enough. Verdict: Cute enough. Watch it if you've already seen all the other smaller/independent films on your list.

And I finally saw Orgazmo. Two words: Stunt cock! Verdict: Highly silly. Watch it so you can at least add the one-liners to your vocabulary.

I'm back home. It sucks. Okay, I haven't been home long enough for it to suck. Except that I keep talking about how oppressed I feel here and sure enough, the second I walked in the door I could feel it. And I think I have heartburn now. It's a sign.

I continually underestimate how long it takes to get between Madison and Detroit, so I'm declaring here and now that it is an 8 hour trip. Expect no less.

The remainder of my weekend consisted of alternately vegging and drinking. We went to some bars, we watched some movies, we ate, we drank, we partied, we chilled. Good stuff. I missed it as soon as I was gone. I was genuinely a little verklempt when I left.

I just talked to a the R&D manager at a bakery goods company in San Diego and she wants me to come visit and check things out and interview with people.

The company is small. Really small. But sales apparently are rapidly expanding. So I'd be doing all sorts of R&D things but I'd also be supporting a QA Manager (as soon as they get one).

Somebody wants me. This is my best shot since I've started looking. I'm not positive I want them, but it may be a means to an end.

Rossi has a new Memoirable up. Step lively.

I just talked to good ol' Bernie at Russ Darrow Chrysler. He told me they don't even have the parts for the driver door handle so the soonest I could get it taken care of is Monday. I'll leave that one until I get back home. No idea how much that even costs.

Then he said they noticed several leaks under the car. The transfer case seals are leaking transmission fluid. The shocks are leaking oil. Bernie said I can drive home on the shocks but I really should get the transfer case taken care of.

So transfer case and oil change are being completed to the tune of $333 plus tax. He said the factory replacement for the shocks costs $500. I'll have to let Tony take care of that one, too. I don't care if the part is factory as long as it works.

I wrote all this last night and decided to put it aside and let it sit for a bit. But I woke up today and I'm sort of still experiencing it all. So even though I'm not sharing the complete story, I feel like I need to put it out there because this is my reality today. It's long (still, after I cut half of it out), it's boring, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, even to me.

I am not happy with the outcome of The Amazing Race.

I know what I want. I know where I want it. I had sort of made a deal with Carla that I'd get another one if she got one. And then the next thing I know I'm all signed up and she still has no idea what she wants. So I'm off at 1:30 (CDT) to get jabbed repeatedly with a very sharp needle.

UPDATE: That's my left hip.

If there are any Mac OS X users out there using Mail, I ran across this tip for creating a rule to block the w32.sobig.f spam worm.

Had lunch with Kat and Jona. Noodles & Co. Mmmmm. So full. Need nap.

9:30: Think about getting up.
9:40: Realize host has not yet left the building.
9:42: Put can of Slim-Fast breakfast in the freezer.
9:43: Plop down on couch and wait for The View to come on.
10:00: Begin to watch The View. Realize it is a rerun. Switch to Xena.
10:30: Get online. Discover solution to annoying inability to send mail from mail program. Plow through Inbox.
11:00: Next episode of Xena comes on (ooh, it's a good one). Flip through various job-related emails and bookmarks.
12:00: Think about taking a shower.
12:10: Put a CD in. Rock out.
12:20: Turn the shower on. Rock out.
12:25: Take shower. Rock out.
12:37: Lose contact lens down drain. Experience mild relief that at least it was the eye that's only a little astigmatic and not the one that's really nearsighted.
12:40: Think about running errands.
12:42: Squint at computer.
12:44: Start to panic because hair is beginning to dry without a drop of product applied. Realize it probably doesn't make a damn bit of difference, but spritz liberally with spray-in conditioner anyway.
12:54: Get dressed. Select closest matching bandana.
1:27: Finally decide to go to post office. Look out window and see large delivery truck parked behind me. Go back to e-mail.
1:28: Make mental note to rave about Kung-Log.
1:53: Return from post office having completely forgotten to get gas since car is running on fumes.
1:59: Call friendly neighborhood Jeep dealer to schedule service appointment.
2:00: Wonder why I actually thought I'd be able to get up at 7:00 on Friday and make mental note to call back about night drop.
2:01: Giggle in anticipation thinking Trading Spaces is about to come on. Groan when realizing that the computer clock is still on EDT and I have another hour to go.
2:07: Drink Slim-Fast lunch. Ponder fixing a better tasting and more potent liquid lunch.
2:45: Fix myself some a nice Captain 'n Coke with extra lime juice.
3:05: Flip on Trading Spaces. Smile at Genevieve's bosoms. Grimace at Hilde.
4:11: Wonder what the web addresses are for pinging weblogs.com and blo.gs because I noticed that didn't happen when I lasted posted via Kung-Log. Try to come up with something to post about directly from MT so I can see the "Pinging Sites" message.
4:14: While using the facilities, it occurs to me that I should probably make dinner for me and Carla.
4:50: Use the facilities for the 4th time in 2 hours.
4:48: Fix another Captain 'n Coke with extra lime juice. Decide I should have some solid food and retrieve a Blue Bunny Sweet Freedom No Sugar Added mint ice cream sandwich from the freezer.
4:54: Remember that part of my reason for getting out of town for a week was to have time to do some thinking and thus think that I should really get off the computer. Rationalize that it's been 2 whole days since I last checked all blogs on the blogroll.
4:57: Remember that I'm on the webcam and feel bad about licking ice cream sandwich off my fingers. Mentally say "fuck it" and have a piece of candy.
5:23: It occurs to me that I feel some guilt coming all the way to Madison, WI and not continuing on to the Twin Cities. So close, yet so far away. I miss my friends (but not the ones that are pissing me off). It also occurs to me that the last few times I've gone up there I've been perfectly happy to enjoy the city and not necessarily see people.
6:25: Am glad that the webcam does not broadcast audio because my personal approximation of The Nields is not very good.
6:37: Am reminded that tonight is 2-for-1 margarita night. Guilt for not getting dinner together vanishes.
7:11: Decide to drink some water so margaritas don't knock me on my ass.
7:18: Decide further rocking out is necessary to sweat work excess Captain Morgan from system.
10:50: Return from dinner where two honking mugs of margarita were consumed. Attempt to counsel sister in her life decisions.
11:00: First actual viewing of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy! Highly enjoyable. Wish yet again that parents had cable.

Now that the initial shock has passed, it tickles me so. It may have to become a sidebar fixture. I'll think on it some more.

This Five Questions meme is really getting around. I'm seeing it all over the damn place. Thank you, Kathy Howe. :)

Can I just talk about how awesome Kung-Log is? I've already raved about Kung-Tunes. They're both developed by Adriaan and he's super nice about answering questions.

I love being able to put blog entries together offline without the bother of typing it all into TextEdit and having to cut and paste. The Preview feature is beautiful; I can see how my posts will actually look on the blog (instead of the generic MT version). I can insert iTunes track info into individual posts. I love it I love it I love it!

... so I thought I'd share my poor friend Frank's tale of woe. Because I feel really horrible for the guy, even though I secretly find it hilarious. Beware if you are sensitive about damage to private parts.

Happy Birthday, Mel! :)

First, the bad news.

I had a potential job opportunity with a(nother) food company in Minneapolis and was kind of expecting that I might have to go up there soon. This is the same company I had that bullshit interview and jacked up conversation with the recruiter over. Anyhoo, Recruiter Woman From Minnesota called me this morning and said they thought I was "too technical" so they don't want to interview me now. I'm thinking two things. One, the salary thing really bit me in the ass. Two, I did a damn good job of spinning my resume if they thought I was too engineering-y and not R&D-y enough, because all I've done is R&D. Whateva. A small part of me is glad that decision was taken out of my hands though because that salary thing seriously pissed me off and I wasn't at all sure how I wanted to handle that.

Now, the good news.

I got another call from a different recruiter this morning and yadda yadda yadda I have a phone interview on Wednesday morning. I'm totally ambivalent over this, but that's another story for another day.

Did I mention I was going to Wisconsin? I drove on up hyeah to Madison yesterday. I wish there was a way to just skip Illinois all together. Construction blah traffic Chicago blah blah. Oh, and the part of Indiana where you get backed up trying to get into Illinois. I hate you both.

I'm staying with my friend Carla. She told me not to censor the blog and if I found dust bunnies or anything to let it fly. So far all I have to report is that her sheets smell really good. (It ain't that kinda visit, shutup.)

On my agenda for the week: some lounging, watching cable tv, getting my car worked on, and maybe a drink or two.

My armpits grow hair like an Indian man's chin: quickly and thickly. I have 5 o'clock shadow by noon. This necessitates strategic shirt choices and sometimes a frank lack of caring.

I'm doing laundry now. I did, however, have to buy new drawers* to go with the dress I wore to the wedding today (they were cute, too), because it was too damn hot to go without. Please don't make me explain the logistics of that.

*That's pronounced draws.

Yeah, so, we got caught in that big ass blackout. I've been watching some of the national network news and they're blowing the conditions around here out of proportion a little. Traffic around the Detroit area was pretty bad yesterday when the traffic lights were out, but now it's not that bad. Crime is not up. There's a little bit of craziness at the gas stations, but there are no riots or violence. Sounds like emergency management took over and did its thing pretty well getting resources in and distributed. This photo gallery pretty well sums it up.

My house was without power for about 24 hours. Uncomfortable, but not disastrous. I don't think we even lost much food. As of right now we're still under boil water advisory, but we can flush the toilets and take showers (!) and wash dishes and stuff. My most critical need is laundry (I've been going commando for a week now).

What tickles me is the methods my out-of-town friends have deployed to try and track me down. Is the blog updated? Has somebody called? Who lives nearby? Thanks, guys. I'm glad to know y'all are keeping an eye out.

UPDATE: More on where I was and stuff.

... have crossed the ocean
they now begin to pour
out from the boat and up the shore
Two by two they enter the jungle
and soon they number more
three by three as well as four by four

Women and Meeeeeeeeen

Little bit o' They Might Be Giants there for ya. Meanwhile, back at the subject...

Dean asked what women like about men. The gist of the ladies' responses was "they act and think differently," "they're protective," and "they look and smell nice."

He liked those responses so much he asked what men like about women. The men's answers? "They think and act differently," "they're nurturing," and "they look and smell nice."

My mom brought a new (version of the same) car home yesterday. Her lease on the old one wasn't up until next month, but she got a good deal this month and they didn't penalize her to turn it in early. She went to the same dealer she got the last one from. The same dealer her friend, Neighbor Lady, got hers from last week.

Turns out Mom got a better deal on her car than NL got. NL worked with Mike. Mom went in and said she didn't want to work with Mike, so she talked to Anthony.

When Mom went in to sign her paperwork, she found out NL has been calling the dealership wanting a better deal. Mike was under the impression that he was gonna get my mom's sale on a referral from NL, but when he found out that Anthony got it and now had NL in his ass, he accused Anthony of poaching the sale. Neither Anthony nor Mom knew anything about a referral or any kind of understanding between Mike and NL.

So far Mike's just been juvenile, right?

I can't decide how I feel about this.

Woot! Let us rejoice and be glad.

UPDATE: Well, it works. I can see myself. I can run it through Yahoo IM. No idea how to get it up here, though. If anybody knows of a Mac-friendly way to do so, I'm open to suggestions.

UPDATE #2: This FireWire cable is pretty heavy duty. I bet I could, I don't know, hang someonething big with it.

UPDATE #3: Mel is looking out for me. She sent me suggestions for webcam broadcasting software before I even got to look. And she's not even on a Mac. I went with EvoCam. I'm seeing myself over on the left there, so I guess it works. Thank you, Mel! *mwah*

When the iBook died, I went back to using my folks' PC. Which involved using Outlook for all my various POP mail accounts. Which is fine. Except that when I got the laptop back I wanted to transfer all those messages sitting in Outlook on the PC over to Mail on the Mac. Shouldn't be too hard, right?

That title sounds morbid, but that's about how it's been this year. My friend, Theresa, lost her grandfather on Friday. Not unexpected, but still difficult. And I didn't even know Gregory Hines was sick. He died of cancer Saturday. Only 57 years old.

My friend Deb invited me over for a bike ride. Man, I had forgotten how much fun that was. We went out on Friday and it couldn't have been a more perfect day. Nice and sunny but not too hot.

She drove us up Huron River Drive. We happened upon Dexter Daze so we walked around there a bit. I'd never actually been to Dexter before. I had a really bad elephant ear.

I took a class last year to learn how to ride, but I didn't get my permit beforehand so I never got the endorsement. Not to mention I don't have a bike of my own. I remembered more about riding than I thought I did. She let me drive around the parking lot at Dexter Cider Mill for a bit. On my first attempt at stopping I dumped the bike (oops). It's not as scary as it sounds. I stopped a little too quickly and then couldn't hold it up.

After we stood it back up (it took both of us), we found a puddle of stuff that looked like oil. We ignored it, I practiced some more, and then we drove to the friendly neighborhood motorcycle dealer where they said that the bike was only a smidge low on oil but probably needed an oil change soon. We perused bikes for me. I want a crotch rocket. It has to be low enough to the ground for my short legs and not super strong. That narrows down my options considerably.

Then we headed to a nearby movie theater parking lot which was delightfully deserted in the middle of the day so I had enough room to kick it into second gear. I did pretty okay with it. Deb confessed she was super nervous for the first few laps. I'm still alive to tell about it. We headed back into town, stopped by the post office, and then to Potbelly for lunch. The ability to park a bike in the same metered spot as a car (if there's room) is a highly desirable feature.

And then I was ready for a nap. So I went home and took one.

Let me count the ways:

1. I got my iBook back!
2. I bought some chai for making at home.
3. I finally found the scratchafrickin' Rocamojo soy coffee.
4. I got my iBook back!