swirlspice

You are a sick mofo.

Posted by Erica at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

My first impression of pharmaceutical production is that it is very clean. Food production I thought was pretty clean because, well, it's food. Not, like, oil and shit. But drugs are even cleaner. I guess they should be. I would hope they are. And then you remember that those are active ingredients puffing in the air and on the floor there (in small quantities, mind you). People seem to particularly enjoy running the allergy medication. The anti-depressant we ran today makes some people feel a little happier and some people feel a little sleepy. And the system is so much smaller. And quieter.

There is documentation up the wazoo. Oh my fucking god there is an SOP* for everything and you have to sign off on every single thing. There's even a standard way to write your numbers and the date (I have to make my 7s differently now). If you half miswrite a digit you can't even write over it; you have to cross it out, write down the proper error code, initial and date it, then write it again.

Folks were all very nice but a little forward with the getting to know you questions. "How old are you?" "Are you married?" "Do you have kids?" "Do you have siblings?" Some people are obviously the types I would never hang out with, but that's to be expected at work. People who particularly enjoy throwing aerosol cans into bonfires, routinely drink and drive, hunt and fish and snowmobile and all that Minnesota jazz.

The woman who's training me is very nice. The shift supervisors are pretty cool. One guy is the most adorable long-eyelashed, blonde-goateed, blue-eyed, bald guy who knows a lot about this system. I picture him drinking in a bowling alley (I don't know why). The woman who's taking over for him as supervisor when he moves to another shift is also pretty cool and I suspect younger than me. Maybe she's my age. They seem to hire a lot of Iowa State engineers here.

I was handed a three-inch-thick stack of SOPs* and training procedures. I spent about half my shift reading and going through them. Half the shift we were down because of a computer problem with one of the machines. This 486 piece of crap had a full hard drive and screwed things all up. And then when they finally got the IT guy in to fix it, he mumbled a lot about DOS and German. I suspect he needed to know both to fix the problem. Whatever the issue, they finally got it up in time to finish off the last 10 minutes worth of product just before shift change.

12 hours is a long ass time to be on your feet. But because of all that documentation required, as long as things are running smoothly, it goes by pretty quickly.

Traffic turned out to be not as bad as I thought. I'm going against the traffic flow by heading south in the evening and north in the morning, so I should be fine taking the highway every day. It was kind of neat to see the beginnings of sunrise on the drive home today. I almost never see a sunrise.

*Standard Operating Procedure

Posted by Erica at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

I tried staying up all night last night so I could get used to doing so. I mostly caught up on blog reading. Come 5 a.m. I was exhausted.

Went to sleep, got up about 1 p.m. Got in the shower. About halfway through, I heard this super loud buzzing sound and it freaked me the fuck out. So I finished up real quick and hopped out to discover the smoke alarm (which is right outside the bathroom door) going off. I had left the door open and neglected to turn the fan on, so the steam set it off. I couldn't find an off switch or figure out how to pull the battery out, so I ended up just ripping it from the ceiling. I don't think I caused irreparable damage. I was a little paranoid that one of the neighbors might be home and wonder what was going on and I'd have to answer the door in my towel and tell my embarrassing story.

I got dressed, decided I needed to get some food so I can stop going out to get it and so I have stuff to take with me to work. I peek outside to check the weather to see what kind of coat I should put on, decide it's cool and select my leather coat. Turn around to exit the door and it's pouring down rain. Switched to a hooded, water resistant variety of coat. Also discovered the gutter is plugged up, judging by the wall of water cascading over the side of it. Go out to the grocery store which is teeming with seniors and toddlers on a weekday afternoon. I'm going back to grocery shopping in the middle of the night.

Grocery shopped while hungry (bad idea) and returned home to find that not only is the freezer space lacking, it's jammed full in a completely unorganized way. So I just jammed more in. I'll go back and organize later. There's probably tons of space in there.

Then I was catching up on email and realized I need to figure out how to tape TS tonight. So I ran out to Target to get tapes (and light bulbs, batteries, and contact solution). Returned home to fiddle with Roommate's VCR upstairs trying to figure out how to record, because I still think the cable downstairs is messed up. Notice that amongst the 8 remote controls, none of them belong to the VCR. Then I notice there's a tape already in the VCR and take it out. Yup, it's porn. Climax Shots 108. Decided I'd rather go back and figure out what's going on downstairs. Plug a different TV directly into the cable and run the channel setup and it works just fine. So I hook the home theater back up and discover my VCR was on the wrong setting ("TV" instead of "Cable"). Run the auto channel discovery and it works just fine. Woot!

Now I have 20 minutes before I have to leave for my first day of work. I'm not nervous. I am not nervous.

Posted by Erica at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

I have a whole bunch of bloggy bits in the queue, but catching up on several days of blog reading in my first attempt at staying up overnight to acclimate myself to my new work schedule has left me too damn tired to further process them for your reading pleasure. So go read this week's Cul-de-Sac instead. Now with logo!

Posted by Erica at 4:37 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I'm tired of pushing, pulling, ripping, tearing, and screwing/plugging in things.

You can tell a boy lives here. I'm told that he cleaned it up pretty good. Aside from getting the carpets cleaned, he put some things away. It's such a boy house. Heavy on electronics, light on... um... taste. He bought this house from some little old lady and most of the furniture and the artwork on the walls came with it. I walked in the door and as I looked around I thought "Projects!" (as in "things to do," not "ghe-heh-heh-to-ho-ho"). Once I get settled, the first order of business will be lighting. Higher wattage. Better fixtures. Something will eventually have to be done about this wallpaper. Oy, the wallpaper. And window treatments.

But it's nice. Pretty spacious. I have the downstairs to myself. Bedroom, bathroom, and a den-type room.

I'm setting up my own entertainment center and electronics in the den since he's already got all that upstairs in the living room. I'm pretty sure I've got all the components hooked up properly. DVDs and videos play and sound fine. But there's a problem with the cable, because I get 2 channels in and they look really bad through the tv and through the VCR. I think the jack might be bad. I'll check the jack in the bedroom and if it works okay I'll just get a splitter and run a cable into the den from there so I can still have TV/DVD/VCR in my room. I found an extra TV and DVD/VCR combo thingy sitting around, so the extra TV, which is bigger than mine, is going in the entertainment center, and the combo thingy will go in my room with my TV.

I'm enjoying having cable tv again. I've been watching mostly TLC non-stop. But we get no friggin' Oxygen! I hate you, Comcast.

I put a bunch of clothes away last night. I prefer to have all my clothing options visible in my closet. I like things hung up, and those things that are folded need to be on shelves that I can see. I hate to put things in my dresser drawers. Except underwear. That needs to stay in a drawer. All the time I was at home I never hung anything up. I didn't feel like digging out hangers and I was trying to maintain my state of ready-to-move-ness. So the clothes situation is about half-finished. I still have a lot I need to get rid of.

I washed two sets of sheets and the mattress pad. I had some new sets that I bought and I refuse to use them until they've been laundered. And then I didn't even put the newly washed ones on the bed. I just threw a third set in the dryer to freshen it up a bit and put that on the bed.

I missed my bed something fierce. That was my first major purchase after I got my first real job. I picked out just for me. My first night back in it was blissful.

Posted by Erica at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Friday was my 1 Year Blogiversary. Tuesday it will be a year since I officially moved back home. I only know that because I blogged about it. I took a look back at last September and it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. I still crack myself up.

Posted by Erica at 8:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I am one tired muthafucka.

I made it to Minnesota all in one piece. As did all my stuff. I think it's all intact. I haven't started to unpack any of it yet.

I can't believe I made it all the way up here in the usual amount of time. That trailer didn't slow me down at all. And I can't believe I made it all the way up here without a speeding ticket (which means I made it 6 months without another infraction).

I found the house without incident. It took me a few several many tries to get the trailer backed up to the garage. The driveway is sloped and I heard some horrible creaking squeaking noises as I moved back and forth up and down it. I was so paranoid the trailer was gonna come off the hitch or pick the back of the car up or something. But nothing flipped over or broke. A whole lot of neighbors slowed down to gawk as they drove by.

I had asked some friends to help me unload, but I hadn't heard back from anybody, so I kinda hoped that some people would just show up. I had wanted to get to the house a little before they did so I could decide where I wanted to put things. I scoped out the joint, and started to move boxes. And kept moving them and kept moving them and when it got to be 30 minutes after I asked people to show up (and 90 minutes after I started unloading), I figured nobody was gonna come. So I just kept going, and managed to get everything but the entertainment center by myself. I'm kind of glad that nobody showed up, because I was feeling less than social. And I wasn't obligated to buy anybody dinner.

Just when I was about to ask the neighbor to help me, one friend called and said he was on his way over. It seemed strange to him that no one else had showed up, but he didn't see anything weird about how he napped all afternoon after his soccer game and forgot what time I had told him on the message I left him at noon. He helped with the entertainment center and then very kindly took me to get something to eat so I didn't have to drive with the trailer.

This is so obviously a guy's house. I'll talk more about the house later. I'm gonna go raid Roommate's bathroom for some drugs for this headache.

Posted by Erica at 8:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (2)

I know my parents mean well and would like to be of assistance, but if they would just back off and let me do what I need to do, that would be supremely fucking helpful. If you cannot figure out on your own that you just need to pick up a box (any box) and put it somewhere in the trailer (anywhere), then just don't bother. And do not tell me to go to bed when I obviously still have things to do.

I will have the biggest grin on my face when I pull out of here in the morning. I also anticipate extreme fatigue. How did it get to be 2:00 already?

I will be driving all day tomorrow today. You can amuse yourself with those little polls on the right there (not my best work, but I'm tired and uninspired). Have a good day and a good weekend and I'll hit you back from the other side of Lake Michigan.

Posted by Erica at 12:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

24 hours 'til Madison.
44 hours 'til Minneapolis.

Posted by Erica at 7:51 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The Venomous Letter of the Day is C.

C is for Critter's Mom. Hi, Alexia! She's been having a rough time of late so go show her some love.

C is for Car driving, when it's not something you do often.

C is for Caterwauling.

C is for Cookies. Made of meat. Disgustilicious!

C is for Craving.

Posted by Erica at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (1)

I'm going to pick my trailer up from U-Haul in an hour. And my tummy is doing flip-flops. I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that I still haven't cleaned or packed anything.

I didn't think I'd have anyone to help me carry heavy stuff, but my dad's coming home earlier than expected. We're gonna go clear everything out of my storage unit and bring back the couple of things that my folks will keep that we were just leaving in there because we could. I didn't think I'd be able to get in there until later and that I'd have to go back tomorrow when the office opened to clean it and close it out.

I'm thinking/hoping that I'll have plenty of space, so I'm sort of just waiting to see the trailer get filled up with furniture and boxes and then I'll throw my remaining clothes and papers and electronics into boxes and duffles and those can go in the back of my truck.

I'll have to go through and do some more throwing away and paring down of stuff after I move since I didn't bother to do it beforehand. I find this process easier when unpacking. It's easy to just throw things in a box and go, but when you have to take them out and decide where to put them, that's when I'm more likely to say forget it and toss it.

I should probably get dressed.

Posted by Erica at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Jesse is running a contest. If you can correctly guess just how badly the Detroit Tigers will finish, you can win a copy of Paul Krugman's latest book (or another book of equivalent price if you really don't want that one).

Posted by Erica at 1:08 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I'm in some serious lust, y'all. I'm confident that it's a passing phase. I wish it would pass already; my shit is on fire. I'll be pretty busy the next couple of days to think much about it so maybe it'll simmer down a bit. Except I'll be spending all damn day Friday in the car. That's nothing but time to think about it. I'm not fixating. GrrrRRRR.

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I just downloaded iChatStatus from Version Tracker. So now you can see in iChat what I'm listening to on iTunes. I have no idea if you can see this from AIM.

Hey, it entertains me.

(Thanks, Dave!)

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The letter of the day is D, so sayeth Kate.

D is for Dennis. As in Dennis Prager, who says it's a marriage gap, not a gender gap. (via Moe)

D is for Disaster (almost).

D is for Dereliction of Duty. The aftermath.

D is for Dooce's Daughter!

Posted by Erica at 4:27 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Banned in Russia: the immoral activities of currency.

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I want this to be my new voicemail message.

Anyone who can identify the reference will get... something. I don't know what. We can negotiate.

Posted by Erica at 2:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (0)

I went out with my Ann Arbor friends for the last time last night. We went to Arbor Brewing Company (because it's an iDine restaurant). I had good food (Jerk Burger) and good beer (the porter). I had a good time with good company. I like it when my various groups of friends meet and get along.

We walked by to check out some potential new office space for my friends' company, and lo and behold several of their employees were out goofing off and were in the parking lot doing the same thing we were. But that meant I got to see Jim one last time, so that was good.

And then we were walking past my car, a last round of hugs were dispensed, and my friends continued on down the street without me. It was disconcerting and rather anti-climatic. And damned if I didn't get the sniffles on the way home. That 40-minute drive can go by really quickly, or it can seem like a lifetime. This time it was a long one.

So I will miss them. I will think of them as I drive through Ann Arbor for the last time in a while on Friday. I will continue to think of them frequently thereafter. I can't imagine how unbearable my year here would have been without them.

That said, I am more than ready to move along. Is it Friday yet?

Posted by Erica at 2:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

WE NEED A CHIMPANZEE ADOPTION STREET TEAM

Reply to: media@prim8.org
Date: 2003-09-23, 2:08PM

http://www.prim8.org

The Prim8 Fund is now forming a STREET TEAM to help get the word out about the protection of the last of the GREAT APES.

We need volunteers to send out press releases and promote the Prim8 Fund web site.

http://www.prim8.org

Posted by Erica at 1:48 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I is for Identity Blogging. If you still haven't read through Prometheus 6's collection on the subject, you should. Or start here and follow the links.

I is for intergalactic. China's about ready to send people into space.

I is for immigrant. As in the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride. Folks are getting on a bus and riding around the country to learn about undocumented immigrants and labor issues in the United States.

I is for internet. The real tragedy of Hurricane Isabel.

I is for Irish. Leprechaun hurling: yay or nay?

I is for international. The EU makes it easier for unmarried or same-sex partners to travel and live in Europe.

Brought to you by the letter Electric and the number Venom.

Posted by Erica at 5:11 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

[Part 1] [Part 2] [The P6 Collection]

Here ya go, Lauren.

What It Means To Be White

We all know by now that I'm biracial. Half black, half white. I thought about trying to answer these questions as they are. As if I'm white. And it's not possible. Because I never think of myself as white. I think of myself as half white, too, ya know. Sometimes. If the questions were about being black, it might be easier, but only a little. Mostly I just think of myself as being mixed (or swirl). Because, as I believe Halle Berry said her mom told her, you look black and the world's gonna treat you that way. I see brown skin in the mirror. Most times, people can't even tell by looking that I'm mixed. I don't think. It's not like people ask. So my answers come more from the standpoint of what it's like to be biracial. Neither black nor white.

1. what does it mean to be white? what does it mean to be White?

To be white means nobody looks at you twice (usually). Nobody looks at you with fear (usually). To be white means nobody's trying to figure out what's "in" you. To be white means you blend in. You belong. You look like most people around you. To be white amongst other white people means the issue of race never comes up. That's not true for non-white people. Black people joke amongst themselves about being black. Latino people do it. Asian people do it. Indian people do it. White people don't.

I don't look at being White as being the Majority. I look at it as not being a Minority. We create labels for things that are different, and Whites are not different. Whites are not advantaged; they are free of handicaps. Whatever the starting point, Whites can proceed through life without preconceived notions of their relative ability to succeed, accomplish, advance. Non-Whites bear the weight of lowered expectations. When they perform to similar standards, it's either viewed as exceptional, or still not good enough.

2. how has whiteness affected your worldview?

Whiteness has affected my worldview in that, for better or for worse, it keeps me from feeling wholly black. Mostly it changes the way I think people perceive me.

My mother's family is the black side of the family. They're riddled with some of the stereotypical problems lower-middle-class black people often find themselves in. And they're pretty tight knit. This is where I learned what I know about being black. I'm much closer to them than my father's side of the family. They look on the outside like a typical middle-to-upper-middle-class achieving bunch. But they have no sense of how to relate to each other and how to stick together.

Historically my closest friends have been white. My closest black friends in college were like me, growing up in majority white environments, preferring "white" activities, liking "white" music. I feel like I don't act black. I feel like even though I look black, the fact that I'm only half black makes it a little more okay to not act black. I can prefer those white activities and like that white music because I'm half white, too, ya know. I'm black, but not all black. I'm never white, but not all white.

Now I have a lot more black friends than I used to. But even amongst them, I feel like I'm passing. I only socialize with them as a group on occasion. I don't look to them first for entertainment (unless there's a step show I want to go to). I feel like I can maintain the "I'm like you" facade for only so long, and it's hard work to do so.

Think about what you think "black" is. That's about what I think it is. Going to church and being spiritual. Speaking a certain way amongst other black people. Liking a certain type of music. Feeling a need to connect and identify with my African roots. Preferring the company of black people.

In 12th grade my whole senior class (all 52 of us) went on retreat. We did some honesty circle thing where you could say anything you wanted to to anyone else in the circle. Up to this point I was well aware of the dichotomy I had going between my normal clique and my black friends from the basketball team. There was another black girl in my class that had a sort-of playful "I'm Your Black Friend" relationship with my clique that did not extend to me. She said to me, in that honesty circle, that she wanted to apologize because all this time she had thought less of me for being mixed. And I was completely floored. I'm not sure I even really processed that until years later. I had no idea that she thought that. I had no idea that someone could think that. I could see if she didn't like me because our personalities were incompatible, or because I said something to piss her off, but to have written me off right from the start just because of that? I couldn't fathom it.

3. how has whiteness affected your educational experience?

I went to catholic school in the suburbs, not to Detroit public schools. Throughout grade school and high school, the fraction of minorities was roughly a third. In grade school it was blacks and Chaldeans. In high school it was blacks and a few Asians and Filipinos. In my primary and secondary education, I don't think my race had much effect on how I learned. As I mentioned, I was already starting to maintain parallel friendships.

Then I went to the University of Michigan. A huge school. An academically challenging school. The school in the middle of that whole affirmative action mess. Supposing I did get accepted there on my own academic and extracurricular merits (which I'm 95% sure I did, and maybe that other 5% is only a lack of self-confidence), checking that African-American box certainly brought me some financial aid I wouldn't have otherwise had. In fact, U of M was one of my last choices and I ended up going there because it was the best of the few schools I could afford.

I spent the summer before my freshmen year on campus in a program for minority engineering students. There's a whole suite of programs, for kids as young as 7th grade and on up to incoming freshman. That was the first time I had ever hung out exclusively with other black people (and a couple Latino people). The program I was in included an internship at the local EPA lab and math and computer programming classes. There was also a strong emphasis on networking skills. The internship was great, but looking back, I wonder about the classes. We were all accepted into Michigan Engineering. There were kids from the three Detroit magnet high schools (pretty good), from Ann Arbor public schools (really good), and kids who had turned down MIT to come here. Why did we need extra help?

Once freshman year started (and every year after that), there was strong pressure to join the National Society of Black Engineers. I never did. I still do not belong. Never mind the society membership, the networking opportunities, the leadership opportunities, the resume filler. I never joined because I never felt comfortable with that group of people. Because I perceived it to be more about being black than anything else. It was as much a social activity as a professional activity.

I found the black students in my engineering classes to be among the more aggressive students. The ones who always went to office hours, who finished things early, who were more likely to convene in informal study groups. And I really think it's because they felt like they had something to prove.

And here I am saying they. Not we.

Once I got into my classes in my major, all 150 of us generally sat in the same areas of the lecture hall. The black students were always right down in front. My friends and I typically sat about 2/3rds of the way back, to the right of the aisle. I tried for one semester to do something different and sit with some black people I knew at the front of the class. I did terribly that semester. I didn't work well with them in groups. I didn't like sitting in the front of the class. I didn't even particularly enjoy their company. But the next semester when I went back to the back, I could tell that they noticed. They'd make comments when I'd come up to talk to them between classes or during breaks (because I was friendly with everyone, if not friends with them).

So from the standpoint of sitting in class and taking exams and writing papers and conducting labs and that godawful group math bullshit, I don't think the quality of my education as handed down by my instructors was affected by my race. But the way I conducted myself in class, based on my social habits dictated by race certainly had an impact.

4. how has whiteness affected your experience with authority?

I don't think it has. I don't think I've had any unwarranted brushes with the law. I've never felt like a superior kept something from me or treated me differently than my similarly-performing peers. I've never perceived a threat I thought was based on race. However, I've really only worked in blue collar environments, university environments, or for large corporations with huge (over?)emphasis on diversity.

5. how has whiteness affected your experiences with people of other races and ethnicities?

I always take a tally of who's around me. I've noted how diverse my group of friends looks (these are people I know from Minneapolis) and made jokes about being poster children for diversity. I joke with my other biracial friends about who's got better hair and how we swirls need to stick together. But because of the variety of this group of people I have fallen in with, I think less about how I stick out or blend in as an individual, because there are so many different ethnic groups represented, and because we all seem to mesh well on account of our interests. Plus, since the percentage of minorities is so much smaller in Minnesota, I think people are just relieved to have other minorities, period. I sort of approximated this in college. Prior to that, even though there are a lot of (and a lot of different kinds of) minorities in the Detroit area, I didn't have a whole lot of close personal exposure to people other than blacks, whites, and a few Chaldeans when I was too young to know what was going on.

I know I'm inclined to think that I feel better about a place if there are more minorities present. I always assume that it lends some diversity to your experience. However I've learned more about Indian and Asian culture from the few people I know (and know well) in Minneapolis than all the Asian and Indian people around me in Detroit.

Is it easier to be color blind? Is it better to be color blind? Or to acknowledge race and accept it? Is it even possible to look at someone and not take their color into account at all? Or does it make more sense to see someone, notice it, tuck it into the back of your mind along with that flat Midwest accent and the book they're talking about, and proceed?

Maybe I don't give my friends enough credit. Just because I can't see me and not think about how brown I am doesn't mean they can't. Or maybe on some level we're all seeing it and acknowleding it and moving right along because it's really not that big a deal.

Posted by Erica at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBacks (4)

Even though I hated every minute of every chemistry class I ever took (and there where many), I love the more folklore-ish stuff like this. See what potion you are, and tell me what you get when you mix with me.

(via Stupid Evil Bastard)

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Kevin at Wizbang has this week's Bonvire of the Vanities up. The antithesis of Carnival of the Vanities, it's sort of a This Week In Suckitude collection. I think more of my stuff falls in this category. I ought to submit for the next one.

Posted by Erica at 2:06 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Kat has arrived safely in Tokyo for her year of study abroad and she's gotten around to blogging about her first few days.

UPDATE: Seems there's an access problem with Kat's archives, so just go to her main page and start reading.

Posted by Erica at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

David Strain and Val Prieto are now taking submissions for Sudden Fiction: Short Stories by Bloggers. They're both excellent writers themselves. The reading promises to be good, but only if you submit something to be read. Don't be shy!

Posted by Erica at 12:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I wasn't even trying to play.

*strut*

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K is for komikal. Miss Alli from Television Without Pity talks about the Emmys.

K is for Kazoofus!

K is for Kung-Log, which I use to publish this blog. K is also for Kung-Tunes, which I use to publish my iTunes playlist over there on the left. Two very awesome programs for Mac users.

Kate has more Ks, if you're so inklined.

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I came across the The Hengiest Biscuit World Record Attempt (via Nth of Pril via Kate). It's an attempt to see which cookie/biscuit/snack product makes the best replica of Stonehenge.

All that fun with food reminded me of the Bunny Survival Tests. The purpose of the tests:

To determine specific weaknesses and/or strengths possessed by "Marshmallow Bunnies"

The tests include Laser Exposure Endurance, Slow Application of Heat, Flame Tolerance, Electrocution, Oxygen Deprivation, and Radiation Tolerance.

Naturally, after all that, the Bunnies Strike Back.

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I'm not convinced I could do a nude beach. I don't think I can just have my hooha all out like that. I wouldn't rule it out, though. I should add that to my List Of Things To Do. Maybe a topless beach. Maybe.

I can skinny dip. I've streaked before (in the dark of night, amongst shrubbery). But those are more covert.

It's fall, my favorite season, and now I'm thinking about the beach. I'm thinking of Puerto Rico. I'm thinking of Cathedral Cove in New Zealand (which is not topless per se). Actually at this moment I'm thinking of the lovely rain coming down outside, but I was thinking about the beach last night.

I don't even like that word, nude. But nekkid beach doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

I think it would depend on the company. If folks are inclined to do it, I'd do it, too. But I wouldn't instigate it. But maybe I'd rather do it without a crowd of my friends around. And how crowded is this beach, anyway? Hmmm. Yes, I won't rule it out. Who's with me? I promise not to stare at your bits (much).

Posted by Erica at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (1)

This week's Cul-de-Sac is up. This is Kelley's weekly collection of postings from around her neck of the blogging woods. There's a little bit of everything and an FAQ for those new to the Sac, so browse to your heart's content. If you look real hard, you can even find me.

No, I did not wait up for it. What are you talking about? And I don't know what gave you the idea that I'm even more intrigued by Kelley since she sang for me. Preposterous! "Sac" is fun to say. So much potential for evil. Sac. Sac. Heh.

Posted by Erica at 2:11 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I mentioned before that the subject of black bloggers is going around. It's morphed into more of a "blogging and identity" discussion. As an offshoot of that ms lauren at feministe has written an essay entitled Whiteness, As I Know It. The idea here is that if black people can explain what it is to be black, can white people do the same? It's long, but it's good. Really good. That is one smart woman.

UPDATE: I'm moving this back up top because I feel really strongly that these should be read. I'm adding aldahlia's essay. It's every bit as interesting as ms lauren's.

Interestingly, the more I read, the more people seem to say that their economic status had a bigger impact on their identity. I've heard it proposed that using socioeconomic status is a better way to ensure "diversity" on college campuses than using race.

Posted by Erica at 12:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

John Kusch has a blow by blow account of the difference between homosexuals and fundamentalist Christians. There's some further commentary so you should check the whole post for coherence. Here's the meaty part:

POINT: I do not feel that Christianity (belief or practice) should be illegal. COUNTERPOINT: Fundamentalist Christians believe that sexual intimacy between myself and my boyfriend (sometimes called "sodomy") -- even in the privacy of our home -- should be illegal and that in some cases, even homosexual desire should be criminalized or, at the very least, classified as a mental illness for which I could be committed to an institution.

POINT: I do not believe that homosexuality should be the law of the land, or that homosexuality should be a prerequisite for any public office or publicly-funded job.
COUNTERPOINT: Fundamentalist Christians believe that Christianity, as revealed through the Bible, is the basis of all law and that homosexuals should be barred from public service or employment.

POINT: I do not object to public displays of faith (even when they offend me), as long as they are not funded by my tax dollars.
COUNTERPOINT: Fundamentalist Christians object to any public acknowledgement or expression of homosexuality whatsoever, and use legislation and taxpayer funds to further that anti-gay agenda whenever possible.

POINT: I do not believe that Christians should be barred from military service, despite Christianity's clear admonitions against murder.
COUNTERPOINT: Fundamentalist Christians believe that homosexuality is incompatible with military service; and furthermore, that homosexuality is incompatible with just about everything except premature death and eternal damnation.

POINT: I believe that no one should be discriminated against in housing or employment on the basis of religion.
COUNTERPOINT: Fundamentalist Christians believe that discrimination against homosexulas in housing and employment is not only appropriate but desirable.

POINT: Despite the fact that they raise their children according to beliefs I find repugnant, I do not and would not seek to bar fundamentalist Christians from having or adopting children and raising them according to their beliefs -- as long as the children are in no physical danger.
COUNTERPOINT: Fundamentalist Christians believe that homosexual couples should be barred from having or raising children, and that their relationships should not be legally sanctioned in any way -- that, in short, homosexuals can not start or be a part of a family.

POINT: My objection to fundamentalist Christianity is based on the real and direct threat it poses to my physical, financial and emotional well-being as a citizen of the United States.
COUNTERPOINT: The objection of fundamentalist Christians to homosexuality is based on a book and a tradition of cultural and gender bias.

POINT: If I get what I want, fundamentalist Christians don't lose their religious freedoms.
COUNTERPOINT: If fundamentalist Christians get what they want, I lose the freedom to enter into a relationship, to live and work where I choose, to raise children, to be a part of my community -- in the end, to be a free citizen of the United States.

Posted by Erica at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Once upon a time...

The End

Posted by Erica at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Come November, mobile phone numbers will be portable, meaning you can keep your same number even if you switch carriers. And thus the advertising has begun.

Fortunately my contract with Sprint PCS is up in November. I'd like to switch service, but I'm not really inclined to buy a new phone since my current one is only a little over a year old. Sprint PCS has a great price for a national plan, but only if you don't need a lot of anytime minutes. And I swear, no matter where I've lived, I always get the worst reception in my own house or apartment.

According to that article the cell phone market in the U.S. is saturated. 154 million people (54% ) have cell phones, and those that don't have bad credit.

Much less advertised (I hadn't heard of it until now) is the ability to transfer a phone number from a landline to a mobile phone, and vice versa (though the latter seems unlikely to occur much). So not only are the wireless companies being forced to compete more amongst themselves, they also have to compete with the traditional phone companies. (Though let's not forget that some of those wired companies own some of those wireless companies.)

But there's a hangup on how local phone numbers are assigned. The area code and prefix you get from a wired company is very tightly determined by your geography. Not so with wireless. Each wired and wireless company has an allotment of numbers they can give out.

The issue, which both landline and wireless carriers have asked the FCC ( news -web sites ) to clarify, is whether local phone companies must also hand over a landline number to a cellular company that doesn't already have similar numbers from the same rate center.

I didn't think this was such a big deal. But, as/if the wireless market grows, I expect one day I'll hear "We're sorry, we no longer have any Minnesota phone numbers left. We'll have to assign you one from North Dakota."

Posted by Erica at 5:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I was at a party yesterday and one of the attendees had an unfortunate case of cameltoe. Not that I was looking, but as I was sitting and she was standing it was right at eye level. I couldn't bring myself to take a picture.

Posted by Erica at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (2)

Now that I've discovered chai, I don't think I'll ever order go into a coffee shop and a latte again.

I just made myself a cup of coffee, and since we're out of flavored creamer, I dumped in a packet of Equal, two spoons of Nesquik, and two spoons of powdered creamer. It's just not right.

The only other way to do it is to put alcohol in it.

Posted by Erica at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I already put it on my license plate, but you can get your own WWXD gear from this girl if you're so inclined.

Posted by Erica at 12:49 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

O is for oh shit. Which is the first thing that came out of my mouth when I saw this, followed by a snort.

O is for Oregon. Beating Michigan. *sigh*

O is for oral exam. Notes on a lecture and informal interview with General Wesley Clark at a recent appearance in Iowa.

And now I can't get those Oh! Oxygen commercials out of my head.

Over here is where you can find some mo' O.

Posted by Erica at 1:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

Jane made me a button! So here it is for those of you that do the button thing. Thanks, Jane!

I also now have an RSS posts and comments feed. This means it refreshes when there are comments or trackbacks on a post (as opposed to just new or revised posts).

Posted by Erica at 8:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

No production of The Sound of Music will ever, EVER be better than the original movie. Not possible.

That's my favoritest movie ever. This seems to surprise people. And I can't believe that there are people that haven't seen it. Actually, I can believe that boys might skip it. But the girls? 'Sup widdat? I {heart} Julie Andrews.

Posted by Erica at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (1)

Z is for Zeus. Because I would like to throw a thunderbolt down on anyone who could let this happen.

Okay, Z was hard to do. But there are more.

Posted by Erica at 1:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

"I blew my nose and meat came out."

--Me

Posted by Erica at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

To have your dentist or your gynecologist be named Dr. Beaver?

Posted by Erica at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)