September 2006 Archives
Did I say Friday? I meant Tuesday. Jesus.
Anyway, four years of swirlspice.com. Where does the time go?
September '05
September '04
September '03
September '02
So different. Yet not so much.
I'm way too busy to work up any big to-do-da to mark the occasion, but I figured I'd do the CSS equivalent of changing the sheets. Because as much as I like orange, and even though we're heading into fall, I'm tired of it. Once work eases up, I'll do some work around here. Long overdue, I think. Right after I get all my San Francisco and relay race pictures up. Seriously.
Here. Tunes.
Heiruspecs - 5ves (Local band! They're hip-hop-y, and original.)
Justin Timberlake - Sexy Back
And recent song of the day at work... New Age Girl. Hello, 11th grade. (Don't judge.)
*hiss*
The appropriately named organic farming industry watchdog, The Cornucopia Institute, is all over it. Mac pretty much says it all:
I’m sure this will work in some locations. However, the thing about those of us who care enough about what we put in our bodies to buy organic, well, we are not a stupid bunch. I would guess that a large portion of those who eat organic foods also care about doing what’s best for their communities. They do research. They’re well-informed. Many probably make efforts to buy from local growers. They’re willing to pay more to really know that the food they’re buying is not just organic, but ethically grown.
I'm appalled, unsurprised, and really just hoping the whole thing will fail.
Evil, I tell you.
Woo, lawdy, I love her.
Reflective this week. Fitting, as Friday will mark my 4-year blogiversary.
1. Comparing your life as it currently is to the way it was a year or two or five ago, are you more content? If so, why? If not, why? Oh, lordy, yes. Five years ago, I was just realizing how much I didn't like my cereal-making job and had no idea what to do about it. Two years ago I was only slightly less broke than I've ever been. I was bitter about my tablet monkey job and hadn't made any discernible (to me) progress in the year I'd been there. A year ago I'd just been promoted, and I had applied for an engineering job several months prior but hadn't heard anything about it. Things with Fly Girl were going as well as they ever had (or ever would).
At the moment I'm lamenting the fact that I can't seem to get everything going right all at once. Things are not where I'd like them to be socially, but overall things are as much in order as they have been otherwise. For the first time ever (excluding my sophomore year single dorm room), I have my own place. Financially things could be much better, but I'm far less stressed about it than I have been in years. That's huge. For once, I feel secure.
2. What do you hope the next year will bring? Do you expect things to more or less stay the same? Or do you see big changes? How do you feel about that? I hope to make significant progress towards reducing my debt. Job-wise, I expect things to be pretty much the same, but I'll be seriously evaluating whether I want to stay where I am. At that point I'll have some experience under my belt that I can leverage in a move. Don't have that at the moment, so here I stay.
I really need to get some new friends. I need to branch out. I've got friends in various groups, but nobody (local) that I'm close with, and no one that I feel I really connect with. A girl's gotta have that. And I suppose I ought to date someone, but the idea of "actively dating" is not appealing, and frankly I wouldn't be surprised if I just don't. That's the way it's been for all but the last two years anyway. I kinda feel like I have enough to worry about with everything else to be fretting over this. Maybe that's part of my problem. It's that whole thing about feeling like I don't have enough to offer until I get my own stuff in order. Which is possibly unrealistic, because I think I'm pretty well-adjusted.
Although if there's one thing I got out of being with FG, it was that being happy in your relationship can make a lot of those other worries a lot less worrisome. For me, it seems to take a lot of "other" to balance the relationship part of life. So in the absence of a happy relationship, I have to have a whole lot of other stuff going right to feel half as content. Which, at the moment, I kind of do.
I'm not wild about the fact that I expect things to be much the same a year from now, but if all that means that I've made a dent in my debt, then it'll be okay.
I also expect to have nicer furniture a year from now.
3. What would your ideal life situation be? Do you feel that it's within your grasp, or merely a pipe dream? My ideal life situation involves me enjoying my job, being able to travel a fair bit, living somewhere on the west coast, having a girl who loves me as much as I love her, and having some awesome friends to hang out with. Can't define it any more than that. I feel like eventually I'll get enough of those things to be happy, but it won't ever be ideal, and it won't be anytime soon. So I wouldn't call it a pipe dream, but I'm certainly not close to it. Maybe once I get closer to Happy, i'll be more able to focus on ideal. For now I'd just be happy with, uh, Happy. Because as I said above, I'm content, but I sure wouldn't say I'm Happy.
4. Ask me something. What's keeping you from making your next move?
A couple weeks ago I decided I wanted some goodies for my bike. I wanted to be able to ride my bike more often, and that means riding in the dark at this time of year. So I got lights. A white one for the front, a red one for the back. And I got a bike computer because I'd rather not rely on the GPS. And I always need to know the numbers.
New toys!
So I've been on a few night rides since. A trip to Target. Today I got home from work late and felt like I'd be safer biking than running in the dark, so I rode. There were quite a few people out around the nearby lakes. Running, walking dogs, whatnot. Kinda surprising. But great weather for it. Clear and 60°. Just dark.
Today I treated myself to leaving work 30 minutes early. Except that I went in 30 minutes early.
I love that Liberty Mutual ad with that song Half Acre by Hem. That probably rings no bells, but you'll know it when you see it.
I am holding half an acre
Torn from the map of Michigan
And folded in this scrap of paper
Is the land I grew in
Think of every town you've lived in
Every room you lay your head
And what is it that you remember
Do you carry every sadness with you
Every hour your heart was broken
Every night the fear and darkness
Lay down with you
A man is walking on the highway
A woman stares out at the sea
And light is only now just breaking
So we carry every sadness with us
Every hour our hearts were broken
Every night the fear and darkness
Lay down with us
But I am holding half an acre
Torn from the map of Michigan
I am carrying this scrap of paper
That can crack the darkest sky wide open
Every burden taken from me
Every night my heart unfolding
My home
I'm a little shocked that Team USA lost. In a semfinal (to Russia). In a final, I could deal with. But in the semis?
(We're talking about the women's FIBA World Championships, currently ongoing in Brazil.)
It also irks me that it takes a loss to immediately hit the front page of ESPN. All the winning they've done, and it's the loss that makes the news.
The U.S. women no longer rule the world of basketball. Team USA lost to Russia 75-68 in the World Championship semifinals Thursday, snapping a 50-game international winning streak. It was the first loss by the Americans since the '94 Worlds.
Dang, I'm disappointed. I didn't actually watch the game, but the word is there were very questionable substitution patterns on the part of our coaching staff. And Russia didn't even play that well. We just played that badly. The phrase of the day is, "At least it's not the Olympics."
Dang.
1. What are/were your relationship dealbreakers? I started to answer this. And then I realized that while the things I was listing were things I didn't like, I hadn't necessarily let them be dealbreakers in practice. And then it occurred to me that the things that would prevent me from starting to date someone in the first place are different from what would cause me to break up with someone. See, I need structure. Concrete guidelines. I can't just answer the damn question.
Here's a stab:
- cheating/lying/deceit
- general grossness/lack of hygiene in its various forms
- strict fundamentalist beliefs/an inability to accommodate differences in religious philosophy
- immaturity
- lack of intellect
2. Ask me something. What's one thing you want to accomplish by the end of this week?
Sherri mentioned she likes Meredith Vieira on The Today Show. I've been trying to remember to flip it on in the morning. I usually just turn the radio on. I don't expect to get a big dose of the news in the morning. I figure I'll hear anything really important on the radio at some point during the day. And I'm not awake and at home long enough in the morning to see very much of the show anyway. But I love Meredith. So far I like what I see.
I totally lost all interest in The View when she left. I had stopped watching anyway because Star was just ridiculous, but Meredith leaving was the "I'll never watch it again" final straw. Although I have renewed interest now that Rosie's on. I'll confess, I've gone back to taping The View every day. I mostly just like to see Hot Topics. She's done pretty well. She's not as overbearing as I thought she would be. I haven't seen her wanting to throttle Elizabeth yet. She's certainly got an opinion or some kind of input on everything. Good stuff.
I'm easily pleased.
I went to bed beyond a reasonable hour, but not too late last night. Got up this a.m. fairly early, but after plenty of sleep hour. Went for my long run, then hopped on my bike to go downtown for a bit. Biked back home and was dead tired. So I napped on the couch for a good chunk of the afternoon. The couch ain't that comfortable, but it's in front of the only tv. I floated in and out of various football games, watched the season premier of TAR, and now it's 9:30 p.m. and I'm wide awake.
Sure, I could do something productive now. Like iron some clothes, or put some other clothes away, or put the dishes away, or send a couple emails I've been meaning to send. But instead I've got one eye on still more football, and I'm reading up on basketball. And I've got videoblogs to catch up on.
Speaking of sports. I've been unable to justify the expense of getting cable. Actually it wouldn't be cable, it'd be satellite. My rental company has some sort of deal, so I could get satellite for relatively cheap. But I've been telling myself that I don't need to spend that money. Except I've spent for more than that on a monthly basis going to NBA City to watch this stuff on tv. It's $7-10 if I just have a drink. More like $20 or $25 if I have food. Two trips a month to NBA City and I've already paid my satellite tv bill. And I'm not guaranteed to see what I want there anyway.
Now that the WNBA season is over and the women's FIBA World Championship will be over in a couple weeks, it's probably not such a big deal. Unless I decide I want to dive into college b-ball. Maybe I do, so I'll be up on things when it comes time for next year's WNBA draft. Really, I just want ESPN and ESPN2. And Fox Sports. That's all I want. You know, I'd pay $10/month just to get those three channels.
#2 Notre Dame 21
#11 Michigan 47
Hell. Yes.
*strut*
I started out watching the game with the U-M Alumni Club of the Twin Cities. Which was great. Except I had a screaming headache so I left at halftime, but not before scoring some gear. A local Nike rep who sells Gopher gear is somehow required to sell Michigan gear as well, but it doesn't sell very well and he just wanted to get rid of it, so he was there unloading his stuff on us at wholesale prices. (I got three shirts, including one Dri-Fit shirt I can wear when I run races, though it's not exactly what I've been looking for.)
Props to NBCsports.com for all their video coverage. Full postgame press conference. Nice.
P.S. Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis looks exactly like Fly Girl's friend Maestro. It's creepy.
Yay, Katie!
Also, the Shock outsold Mariah Carey, whose concert at the Palace forced them to play at the Joe. Her DJ gave the Shock a shout-out during a costume change.
'Kay, I answer the RPM questions, and then I flip over to Sherri's post, because I always read all her answers to the questions everyone asks her. And I see her say this in the comments:
Sometimes I just get stressed out about something(s) and the last thing I want to do is engage other people. I tend to work through stuff either by bitching endlessly about it (which anyone who reads this site knows all too well) or by just keeping my trap shut and being a loner until I feel better. And when I'm in loner mode, I'm *really* in loner mode.
Emphasis mine and oh my god, get outta my head! That is me exactly.
What do you do when you're stressed out?
A la Sherri.
1. Are you as sick as I am of being smacked in the face with 9/11 every 5 seconds? Yes, it was a big, awful tragedy, but why the need to devote so much time, energy and money to making us all re-live it over and over and over again? Yes. My favorite part is the network that is re-broadcasting their coverage from that day. Pffffft. (Actually, I couldn't say what network it is. I just heard that in a rant by a similarly annoyed person.) Whatever happened to forward-looking people? It's not like anybody's forgotten.
2. What's your favorite kind of cookie? It's a toss up between chocolate chip and snickerdoodles.
3. Do you wear a watch? Usually, yes.
4. Coffee or tea? Or me? Heh. Coffee.
5. Would you rather eat a roll of toilet paper or eat a kitchen sponge with a scrubby side? Toilet paper.
6. Do you regularly burn candles at home? Not regularly, no. And now that you've mentioned it, I'm going to light one right now.
7. What is the last thing you did to treat yourself? I left work on time today. Wow. That's sad. I went to Target yesterday and in addition to the items I really did need to purchase, I also bought new underwear. Hrm, that's not much better. That's it, I'm having some ice cream.
8. Would you rather be lied to by someone you love or forced to lie to someone you love? Aw, hell. They both suck. My first thought was that I'd rather be the liar, because I'd know in my head that I probably had a good reason and maybe have their best interests at heart in some way. And I wouldn't necessarily trust someone else to do the same (have a good reason, that is). Which I suppose doesn't say much for my relationship with them. Or maybe it's just reflective of my personality. And now I'm paranoid.
9. Have you attended any of your high school or college reunions? Nope. I did actually want to attend my 10th high school reunion last year, but it just didn't work out.
10. Ask me something. Selfishly: How do you combat burnout? What do you to to rejuve? (You like how I just made that a word there? "Rejuve.")
...you're at the bar with some co-workers, and you say the sideline reporter for the NFL on NBC looks like a Cheri Oteri character, and the guy you're talking to doesn't know who Cheri Oteri is.
Via Dawn.
*snerk*
Detroit beats Sacramento in Game 5 to win the WNBA championship and Katie Smith finally gets her ring. Deanna Nolan is the MVP. Looked like Joe Louis Arena was nice and full, but not quite sold out.
I was torn between going to NBA City to watch the game with no audio or staying at home and listening to the audio but not seeing it. I'm glad I chose to watch it, but I do really miss the commentary. (If only I had a little portable thingie to stream radio over the internet....) The only thing that I could get for sure from the announcers was that Nancy Lieberman's forehead doesn't move at all.
Shockeytown. Heh.
Just for the record, my lack of posting energy isn't really directly related to Fly Girl's moving.
The FG thing is just one item on the list of things I don't seem to have the energy for. And, actually, there just ain't that much to say. I wouldn't quite say I'm "enh" or "indifferent." But... yeah. Enh.
Seriously, the entirety of my mental capacity is consumed by work right now. I don't have it in me for much else at the end of the day. Day two of a four-day week and I've already got 23 hours in.
I've got to get my butt up and out and running in the mornings because it just doesn't happen when you get home at 7 or 8 at night. I had intended to do it this morning, but then I was stressed out and didn't get any sleep last night, so I stayed in bed the extra hour. And really, I need to fall asleep, oh, immediately in order to get enough Zs to do it tomorrow. I'll try it anyway.
So yeah. I felt a need to clarify. Carry on.
I know, I know. There's college. Not the same.
The Detroit Shock blew out the Sacramento Monarchs (held 'em to 2 points in the 4th quarter) in Sac to force a Game 5 in Detroit. w00t! (I'm too lazy to link at the moment.)
Game 5 will be played in Joe Louis Arena because Mariah Carey was already booked at the Palace.
There were complaints in L.A. when one of their playoff home games was scheduled to be played in Anaheim because American Idol was already booked at the Staples Center. I think it's totally a different story in Detroit. The Joe is not all that great for basketball, but Detroiters have no qualms about going downtown (for sports...). I don't think attendance will suffer from the change of venue at all. Hell, it might be better.
Also, earlier today, Cheryl Ford was named to the USA Senior National Women's Basketball team. Apparently Candace Parker has been dunking all over the place. I hope she does it in a game before Michelle Snow does. I bet Michelle does it, though, just because Candace does.
Yay, basketball!
Say you tell me that you want something done ASAP, even though when I ask you for a specific date you can't give me one.
Say I then tell you that I can't do that because as far as I know I have other priorities but if someone with more authority than you says that your stuff is a bigger priority and communicates that to someone with more authority than me, I'll be more than happy to fit you in.
An appropriate way to respond would be:
a) to tell me how it should be easy enough for me because it only takes x amount of time (which is false anyway)
b) to talk about how great and timely the guy before me was, conveniently forgetting the fact that he had two other people in the department with him at the time
c) to ask me if I've been trained properly on how to do any of this
d) none of the above
It really cheeses me off when people question my integrity. Seriously. So you'll understand, then, if I find myself needing to have a discussion about this with your manager and my director.
Comes via MN Stories:
I feel joy because I know who I am. I feel pain because I'm the only one who knows who I am.
I stopped dead when I heard that. Paused the video. Stared at the screen and let that repeat over and over in my head.
It don't think it's true that I'm the only person who knows who I am. But there are a very very few. "Few" like two. Maybe three. Part of that's my own fault. Because that's just the way my personality is. I'm a loner like that.
I like it that way, but I hate it that way.
So, when you don't want to talk about the important shit, you talk about the inanities. Isn't that how blogging works?
In the last 36 hours I have been to Target twice, to Bed Bath & Beyond, and to IKEA. (I also went to Best Buy, but I didn't find what I was looking for and didn't find out until later that it's not out yet anyway, so that trip doesn't count.) (Oh, and DSW. Oops....)
Here's my list:
Really really ought to get....
- step stool ('cause I have high ceilings and shelves I can't reach)
- toothpaste
- kitchen garbage can
- shower curtain and rings
- iron/ing board
Would really like to have, but it's not really critical....
- 2 floor lamps
- fry pan (I have sauce pans, but no fry pan, and I use the fry pan waaaay more)
- twin-sized comforter cover ('cause I have a light-weight twin-sized comforter that's nice for the fall before I break out the down comforter)
- end tables (for various uses)
- one (maybe two) of these chairs from IKEA that I still can't find online
- something to put all my stuff in/on when I come in the door (e.g., keys, mittens, etc.) (maybe something to hang on the wall)
What I actually got....
There's plenty, besides this, keeping me preoccupied but I'm not much feeling talkative about it. I could go on about work. I have a ton of photos I haven't uploaded. I haven't talked about the relay race.
It's all there. It just doesn't want out.
Which is weird, because generally when I don't feel like being around people, I'll blog up a storm. Not the case, though, at the moment.
