May 2005 Archives
Then no more computer.It's gorgeous out.
- The history of Memorial Day.
- Quote of the Day from Chaz: "I wish I could just go to the medicine cabinet, pop open a bottle marked "Perspective," and drink deeply therefrom...."
- Kelley and PandAmanda on Robby Gordon's refusal to race against Danica Patrick. If it's really about the weight advantage, he should take his fat ass on a diet.
- I have mixed feelings on unions, especially coming from Detroit. Ezra's got a good point on the UAW's willingness to give things up (or not). "[T]the idea that workers no longer see the top rungs sacrificing even as concessions are demanded of them is, indeed, a powerful one for explaining why so few unions seem interested in pitching in during periods of hardship. After all, it's pretty hard to explain to your union why you agreed to chip away at their health care coverage while the shareholders were paid a dividend and the executives got a bonus and the company's afloat in cash (if not profits)."
- Forbidden Words, Phrases and Acronyms of 2006 Funny if you've read even one political blog entry in the last six months. (via)
To Sacramento. So close! Details over at Metblog.
P.S. I'm positive it was Tamika Williams I saw at the grocery store.
Emily bought a house. She moved back to Detroit and bought a house.
I'm excited beyond words. I don't even know what to say.
....
MY BABY SISTER BOUGHT A HOUSE! Go 'head on wit yo bad self, girl. *happy dance*
Today's run was my final one in the Couch-to-5k plan.
As a present to myself, I bought new shoes which I wore today. Lake Calhoun is 3.1 miles/5k around, and I did it in 30:37. When I run my first race, I want to do it in 30 minutes.
Speaking of first races, I officially signed up for the Walk on the Wild Side race at Como Park on Sunday, June 12. "Building partnerships with our community to provide recreational opportunities to people with disabilities served by Dakota Communities, Inc." is not a favorite cause of mine, but it was the soonest race I felt ready for, and I'd like to run Como Park.
I'll probably also do the TC Front Runners Pride Run on Saturday, June 25 (which is Pride weekend, of course). There are a couple other ones that day, both for children's health causes, one in Minneapolis (Stone Arch Bridge) and one in St. Paul (Harriet Island). So both are very scenic, but obviously I felt more love for the Pride Run, so Pride Run it shall be.
On top of all that, Sherri threw down the gauntlet. She wants to run the Big Sur International Marathon in 2007, and she wants me and Malia to do it with her. She might as well have said "I dare you" because now I'm all about that shit. I can't run much more than three miles at the moment, but I've got 23 months to work on it. Plus the idea of meeting up around the country for an intermediate training race here or there sounds like fun, too. It'll be April 29, 2007, the day before my 29th birthday. Sounds like a nice present to myself. So yeah, Sherri. BRING IT.
I saw Tamika Williams coming out of Uptown Rainbow this afternoon.
At least, I think it was her. But maybe not. She had on a sort of official-looking Ohio State t-shirt and mesh shorts combo. She's an assistant coach there.
And if it wasn't her, it was certainly some sort of athlete. It didn't click in my head who it might be until after I had passed her in the parking lot and gone into the store. Although if I had gotten it together fast enough, I would've been too chicken to say anything.
As an added bonus, the $1.99 loaf of Vienna bread from the bakery was on sale for $1.29.
I don't know, kids. Whaddya think?
| A gigantic Portia de Rossi picture was here. | You scored as The Surprise! Dyke. Despite the dead giveaways, such as the tattoos and love of the L Word, people still seem to think that you're straight.
What Type of Lesbian Are You? (Inspired by Curve Mag.) created with QuizFarm.com |
(via Lesbionick)
- NYT article on cross-class marriages
- discussion at feministe
- further discussion at Pandagon
The gist of the article is that marriages in which the woman is more educated than the man are more likely to end in divorce. The discussions are more interesting. Great comments and observations on what class is, exactly, and how the classes interact.
Not because I hate the dog. Because it would devastate her.
Quote of the Day goes to Dee:
When your sweetie's mother is dying, sweetheart, it's not all about you.
Okay. That just needed to be said. Out loud. But preferably not to the person who needs to hear it. *smack*
The smack-needing person in question is seriously one of the most messed up people I've (n)ever met. And I'm far past the point of sympathy or pity or giving a shit. It'd be entertaining if it wasn't so scratchafrickin' annoying. And I can't even escape. She's like a booger that I can't fling off.
I went to the Minnesota Lynx home opener tonight. Sunshine Sinatra got me a pair of tickets for my birthday. My friend Renae usually goes to these with me, but she was out of town, so Reanne very kindly stepped in and kept me company.
I was fully expecting the Lynx to get their asses kicked by the L.A Sparks. Not only did they not get their asses kicked, they won! Although they did their best to almost give it away at the end. There weren't a whole lot of people there (surprise). I chalk that up to it being a weeknight. But those that were there, or at least those sitting around us, were pretty into it. I love it when folks show up and enjoy the game.
Amber Jacobs looked pretty good. I enjoyed her minutes on the floor better than Kristi Harrower's. Katie Smith didn't look like she was doing much at all, but she led all scorers with 24 points. Nicole Ohlde was rock solid. In fact, most of the Lynx had some pretty good moments on the floor.
For L.A., Lisa Leslie was completely ineffective and I'm sure she'll be bitching about the refs. She should maybe think about less traveling and less fouling first. Chamique Holdsclaw didn't score a whole lot, but it looked like she was the only one keeping it together for a while.
P.S. There was a guy sitting in front of us (with the cutest baby girl) that had on a black baseball hat with a dogtag logo. One tag said DET and the other said 313. I asked him where he got it. He said he got it at a Foot Locker in Detroit. I couldn't find anything like it online. I must have this hat.
P.P.S. Pistons lost. Boo.
Happy Birthday, Spiderman!
*lovies*
I'd just like to emphasize the fact that Miami has averaged something like 102 ppg all season, and they only scored 81 last night.
But not quite.
I slept in my car last night because I locked myself out of my house.
1. What is the last movie you saw in a theater? Uhhh... I think it was The Passion of the Christ, but there might have been something else after that.
2. If you could create your own reality TV show, what would it be? It would definitely be a competition of some sort. And I'd be the host, of course. And that's all I can think of on short notice.
3. What was your favorite Crayola crayon color? Pine green. I had a particularly strong aversion to periwinkle.
4. When it comes to chocolate, do you prefer dark of milk? Milk chocolate. Though I don't really like chocolate much at all. Unless it's got peanut butter in it. Though I don't really like peanut butter much at all.
5. How old were you when you had your first kiss? I think it was 7th or 8th grade, so maybe 12-ish.
6. If you could be a fly on the wall during a major historical meeting, which one would you choose to observe? Maybe one of the Continental Congresses. (There were two, right...?)
7. What is something you do for the benefit of others? Blog. J/K. Whenever I buy new clothes I always give some away to Goodwill. I'm not a particularly giving person.
8. Have you ever had a dirty dream about someone you know online? Yes.
9. You have $50 to spend on lunch. Where do you go and what do you eat? Manny's. Prime rib, some kind of potato, and some red wine.
10. Do you have any nicknames? Yes. The most prominent being "Irk." There are also a number of folks who call me by my last name.
Things that currently require further exploration, organization, and/or explanation:
- grocery shopping
- a to-do list for this week
- my local commute
- hybrid SUVs
- Metroblog
- Bloglines
- the homebrew
- Nick & Jessica
- my weekend on Long Island
- my meeting with HR
- Reasons to Fear Canada
- Things This City Was Built On, Besides Rock 'n' Roll
- Titles of Sermons to Which Congregants Might Actually Pay Attention
- The Settings That Would Be On a Blender Today If the Blender Had Been Invented, Say, 100 Years Before Its Actual Invention Date of 1922
- Things That Are Just Barely Thicker Than Peter Gallagher's Eyebrows
Lately, I've eaten a lot of bread and cheese. And bread. And cheese. And bread and cheese. And it's starting to come back to haunt me.
Hopefully the rigors of airport travel will help me work it out, because I'm on my way in a few hours to head to New York for Mel's wedding! w00t!
And I'll be hanging out with Sherri and Malia for the weekend. I met Sherri and Mel once three years ago, and I've never met Malia, even though I've "known" them all for ... shit ... five-and-a-half years now. I would have met Malia three years ago, but she got in a car accident on the way to see me. I still feel guilty about that.
But anyway, I'm beyond excited. Words cannot express. So I shall perform an interpretive squeal.
*EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*
Y'all have a nice weekend. Seacrest Swirlspice out.
From Sherri, whom I get to see on Friday, yay! :D
1. Do you own any power tools? Nope.
2. Did you pass your driver's test on your first try? Of course I did.
3. Would you rather have a constant itch or a constant headache? Itch.
4. What color looks best on you? Oy. Actually, most colors look good on me. I'm a nice shade of brown like that. But I guess I'll say black.
5. List 3 foods you don't eat. Beets, Asian seafood delicacies that might still be moving at the time of consumption, and ... I'm sure there's something else but I can't think of it right now.
6. In the shower, do you use bar soap or liquid soap? Liquid. I'm a poof kinda girl.
7. When is the last time your rode a bike? A couple summers ago, briefly.
8. Have you signed the petition over at one.org yet? Uh, no....
9. Have you ever had braces? Unfortunately, yes.
10. If you could re-live one year of your life, which year would it be? A year that was maybe so good that I'd do it again, just for fun, might be 12th grade. I can think of a couple years (namely, the last couple years), that I might like to do over to correct some things, but I wouldn't be where I am today, and there are good things about where I am today, so... maybe I'd do 2003 over (the year I spent unemployed and living with my parents).
I never get to these things in a timely fashion. If at all. It's not that I don't love you guys and your memes. I'm just slow. And lazy.
Sherri awarded me with this gem. I'm supposed to select and complete 5 of the following statements, then make 3 other people do the same. I'll pick 5, and let the cycle end here. Mainly because I think everyone else has already done this meme.
If I could be a scientist
If I could be a farmer
If I could be a musician
If I could be a doctor
If I could be a painter
If I could be a gardener
If I could be a missionary
If I could be a chef... all the girls would swoon over my food porn speak.
If I could be an architect... I'd plan my own city.
If I could be a linguist
If I could be a psychologist
If I could be a librarian
If I could be an athlete... I'd play in the WNBA.
If I could be a lawyer
If I could be an inn-keeper... I'd also have a brewpub attached to my B&B.
If I could be a professor
If I could be a writer
If I could be a llama-rider
If I could be a bonnie pirate
If I could be an astronaut
If I could be a world famous blogger
If I could be a justice on any one court in the world
If I could be married to any current famous political figure... then that would mean gay marriage is legal in this country and I'm down with that.
I swear to gawd, I just came from work. How is it time to go back already?
It is 37° and rainy here today in the TC. Perfect sleeping weather. Days like today, I'm glad I can't see outside from where I work. The fluorescent lighting, carefully filtered air, and strict temperature and humidity control are strangely comforting.
I was resigned to a day of crapitude until Laura put the idea of taking a sick day in my head. Because if I'm gonna take today off, I might as well take tomorrow off, too, since I can take up to three days without a doctor's note.
And even though I just want to go back to sleep, the excitement of playing hooky has me motivated to get all kinds of crap done.
But instead I'll go to work, and I'll rush to get there because I'm sitting here writing this instead of getting my lunch together. And the traffic will be crap because, you know, the ground's a little wet.
*grumble*
- Wonder Showzen is my new favorite show. A Sesame Street parody that's TV-MA. I must have said "oh my god" about 20 times throughout one 20-minute episode. And thank gawd for the internet, because who gets MTV2? I love the Boogie Noogie Bunch. No shoogie! (via)
- Now that Stephenie's out of Survivor, I don't even want to watch anymore.
- Jack and Bobby. What a good show. The finale was presented as if you've been watching a documentary all season. I mean, the show was constructed that way all along, but at the end they say, "You've been watching a documentary on president McCallister." And it ends such that methinks it's not coming on for another season. Which is too bad because it's an enjoyable show. But maybe a limited run, sort of like a mini-series, is a good thing. Tell the story and be done with it.
- I accidentally found out who won The Amazing Race. I'm still several episodes behind. I hate that.
I watched Troop Beverly Hills a couple weekends ago. Shelley Morrison who played "Rosa the Maid" also plays Rosario on Will & Grace.
Some days the only thing that gets me out of bed is knowing I can have coffee when I get up.
Asketh Sherri....
1. What kind of lip balm do you use? Generally Burt's Bees. The regular stuff, not the lifeguard stuff.
2. Do you wear sunblock everyday? Nope.
3. Have you ever had your eyelashes tinted? Nope. Do people do that? I guess if folks will bleach their anuses, they'll bleach their eyelashes.
4. Do you drink diet beverages? Only Diet Coke with Lime. Nothing else.
5. What's your favorite Girl Scout Cookie? Thin Mints. Mmmm... Thin Mints... :9 Actually, my favoritest Girl Scout cookie ever was this maple-flavored thing they did when I was young. I forget what they were called, but I haven't seen 'em since.
6. Do you like to get dressed up for formal events? Not particularly, but now that I feel like I can look good when I do, I don't loathe it like I used to. And I kinda don't mind that people are sometimes impressed by how well I clean up.
7. Do you sing in the shower? Absolutely.
8. How did Katie Holmes get all those nasty sores on her mouth? From kissing a midget.
9. If you could go back in time to live in any historical period, which one would you choose? Ancient Greece or Egypt.
10. Ask your own question. Do you love cheese? Because I do.
If you usually read this site via RSS, then you may not have been seeing the miscellaneous links I've begun including. Hardly an original concept, but there they are.
They now have their own linklog. The linklog itself does not have its own RSS feed, but I think I have it worked out so the links are included with the feeds for the regular blog. Everything looked okay in NetNewsWire, but it was still a little wonky in Bloglines last I checked, so I'll keep an eye on that.
Questions or comments, let me know.
UPDATE: You can leave comments on those links now, if you're so inclined.
Malia is currently employed as a Senate staffer. She wrote up a little shumpin' shumpin' about her job vs us common folk. It's an interesting analogy. Here's Part 1:
For example, you're going grocery shopping but you only have $20 to spend. You need to get lunch for your kids as well as dinner for in-laws who are visiting, and you're out of toilet paper. The kids are screaming for pizza and pop, your father-in-law has diabetes but you know he loves your lemon bars, and the toilet paper's really not negotiable.
Here's Part 2:
Here we go: You're writing the national budget but you only have $20 billion to spend. You need to pay for public schools and maintain a college loan program as well as support Medicare and subsidize failing farms, and you're at war and need to increase military spending. The teachers are screaming for higher wages and more special ed funding, your governors can't afford the Medicare budget themselves but you promised to lower milk prices, too, and the war's really not negotiable.
I have an excuse. I was out of town on Monday. And I'm behind on my reading.
1. How many countries have you visited? Nine.
2. How many states? Thirty-nine.
3. What is your favorite ethnic cuisine? Mexican, followed closely by Arabic, and with a newfound love for Indian.
4. What is one culinary "delight" you don't think you could stomach? Some weird Asian seafood that's still moving.
5. What is one foreign tradition you'd like to see Americans pick up? Afternoon siesta. Or gap year traveling abroad.
6. What is one American tradition you'd like to see pawned off on another culture? What American tradition isn't pawned off on another culture? Seriously, I'm drawing a blank here.
7. What is your favorite condiment? Hidden Valley Ranch dressing.
8. What is your favorite way to prepare a potato? Baked, with butter, garlic salt, shredded cheddar, bacon, sour cream, and chives.
9. Are you planning any fun vacations this year? Just went to a wedding in the Caribbean. I'm excited to go to Mel's wedding and hang out with Sherri and Malia. I'm excited to go to another friend's wedding and hang out with the same people I just hung out in St. Thomas with. And, optionally, I'd really like to get to Seattle, maybe some time in the fall, to visit Lachlan and Bayou.
10. What is your Inner European? I'm Irish. Spirited and boisterous! I drink everyone under the table.
I've been at this job for 1.75 years. I was a tablet monkey for a year and a half. Now I'm cross-training as a foil monkey. I can also reasonably function as a carton monkey. I'm next in line for a team lead spot, which I think I could have by the end of the summer if I really pushed for that to happen. In fact, I've already been asked to act in that capacity if need be.
I've talked before about how the engineering department chiefly only hires kids from one particular school. One that I did not go to. I've talked to all the engineers and senior engineers. I've tried, with limited success, to talk to managers and directors.
A few weeks ago I set up an appointment with the VP. He went to that one particular school and is responsible for the fact that all the kiddies come from there. The meeting I set up got canceled, with a promise from his secretary that I would be rescheduled.
The reason for all this is that most of the time, open engineering positions are not internally posted. They just recruit the kids right out of school to fill them. Add to that, the only way to move around/get ahead in this company when you work in the monkey department is to network your ass off.
Upon my return to work yesterday, I was immediately informed by several people that an internal posting for an Associate Validation Engineer had gone up while I was on vacation.
I feel like this job is mine for the taking. I feel like I deserve it. I feel like it's mine to lose. If I don't get it, it'll be because I messed something up. I also feel like I'm treading a fine line between confidence and cockiness. Having the attitude that I'm not less qualified than a kid out of college probably isn't so great, either. I'm trying to rein it in a little.
I took an in-house application and a copy of the job posting home with me so I can really concentrate on it. I'm requiring myself to turn it in Friday.
