Tuesday, March 30, 2004
I'm not gonna lie. That reused (from last year) Toys R Us ad with the hundreds of singing bunnies... (You know the one. "Here comes Peter Cottontail. Hoppin' down the bunny trail, Hippity hoppin', Easter's on its way.") It makes me SHREEK with laughter everytime I see it. I cannot (CAN NOT) stand it! If anyone can find a audio clip of it anywhere they can be my new best friend.
Let's face it. There is nothing funnier. Nothing.
"Here comes Peter Cottontail. Hoppin' down the bunny trail, Hippity hoppin', Easter's on its way." HA!
Monday, March 29, 2004
Big news for my "family". I'll keep you posted, but it's not my place to spill the beans to this mixed audience yet, I guess.
I know I'm excited though!
This afternoon I am going to get my first cavities filled ever in my long 28 years. I am not very excited about this, though Brian seems thrilled by the memory of novacain and nitrous, and whatever else they may pump me full of.
My poor little teeth. Hopefully it will go well, or I'll be too afraid to go back next week for MORE! :(
Sad times.
**************
Update:
I survived the dentist and now have some lovely teeth! I wish I had taken a "before" shot. They weren't so bad, but they are noticeably prettier now. And yeah for feeling my upper lip again... that was weird.
Saturday, March 27, 2004
Don't even get me started on my thoughts about the Orlando Sentinel... but I just had to point this out.
Apparently earlier this month they sent a few "unofficial inspectors" to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. I guess they were looking for signs of decay and disrepair, representative of the state of the company or something.
What a bunch of bull. I absolutely love the pictures they took. Yes, Disney is all a-shambles. What a mecca of filth and dilapidation. What has become of the Disney magic? I mean, my god... after 30 years tiny cracks have appeared in the pavement and in a few shady and out of the way areas they are unable to sustain lush grass in the height of the dry season! The place should be condemned! The fact that through three decades and an impossible amount of traffic a little paint has chipped is insulting enough, but that they would have the gall to repaint an occasional facade in plain view of the guests! My god, who do they think they are? Universal Studios? And trash cans that aren't themed?!? I want my vacation comped!
Yes, Orlando Sentinel... you've caught them now. You sure have shown us what a horrible state the Disney Company is in.
Here's to another 30 years of exceeding impossible standards that no other company or place on earth could live up to, fellow Mouseketeers. Cheers!
Friday, March 26, 2004
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
a) Thank you to those who, by pirating new movies, facilitated the earlier release of DVDs after films leave the theater. I can't wait to get it and watch it 10 more times.
b) Made my brain hurt, but not so much as Memento. Also made me consider dying my hair "agent orange".
c) Reminds me in a less cliche way than I can say that without the lows, the highs are just... Flats. So thank you for the painful memories (you know who you are). Without them, the happy memories would mean nothing (hopefully you know who you are too... I guess we're all a little of both. And that's the point.)
d) Cold medicine again. Sorry about that.
Great idea of the day for diligent armchair e-activists like myself:
Join Click Back America where each time you participate in a campaign (sign a petition etc.), one dollar will be contributed on your behalf to the MoveOn.org Voter Fund.
Please join us to Reject George Bush’s Credit at:
http://www.clickbackamerica.org/petition1.php?id=17
If you have even the tiniest bit of social consciousness and a spare 2 minutes while surfing the web at work trying to look busy, then you have no excuses. You can even enter your college name and be a part of the College Click Drive. (The Big Ten is doing some serious damage, FYI)
Once you sign up, make sure to check back regularly for upcoming campaigns and ways to "earn" additional dollars for MoveOn.org
Thursday, March 25, 2004
I don't know why I haven't yet set aside a few minutes of every day to just praise the almighty Mike. He has once again saved the day, helping me work out a nasty layout kink... though the solution was so silly even *i* could have come up with it... if I weren't prone to overthinking my sorry excuse for code writing.
The moral of the story is: Kink fixed. The Mike rocks.
Even though I don't get paid squat, let's face it: my job could not be cooler... unless I got to ride roller coasters while doing it.
And speaking of paid... I have one of those temporary commas in my savings account balance. yippy! Unfortunately they are all too fleeting.
Also, there is a sick amount of cat hair on my bed. Need to work on that...
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
living on chocolate chip cookies and dayquil.
my bed is great but i do kind of miss seeing other human beings that aren't standing in the magical talking black box on my dresser...
cold medicine kicking in... bedtime.
Monday, March 22, 2004
Crush of the Day:
Tyron Leitso. As adorably dorky as last week's dream boy, Adam Brody, with the added bonus of being 28 years old and Canadian. I love him...
You can love him too... weekly on Wonderfalls. Surprisingly quirky and delightful. Makes me want to pack everything I own into my car and move to Niagra.
Odd, since I tell everyone I packed everything I own into my car and moved away from Orlando because it reminds me of Niagra. I won't lie... I like Niagra more than Orlando. hmmm....
Sunday, March 21, 2004
So, there is a particular adult film star whose name is that of a large grassland in Africa followed by a type of precipitation that falls about daily in Florida. She has a website and on that website is a directory of other sites dedicated to this lovely lady.
I was thrilled to see, thanks to posts related to my Safari Driving experience for DISNEY of all places, I am about #20 on that list! That Furniture Porn link I had for awhile probably didn't help.
stupid web crawlers...
Props to McDonald's for planning to ax Super Sized drinks and fries from their menus by the end of the year. I'll point you to this BBC article which I found interesting because it talks about portion sizes in the UK. The numbers differ quite a bit from a WebMD article I read based on American portions. Our Super Sized drinks are about 100 calories more and fries are about 200 calories more! Yikes!
Related Bonus Link:
http://supersizeme.com/
"Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock hit the road and interviewed experts in 20 U.S. cities, including Houston, the "Fattest City" in America."
Must have been before Letty left for Orlando... (oops, did I just say that??? must be the cold medicine talking...)
Saturday, March 20, 2004
Makes raised and discolored scars look and feel... more natural.
Another ad I hate. There is nothing "unnatural" about scars... are they not the bodies natural way of healing? Wouldn't doing anything to remove or reduce the scars actual be more UNnatural? yeah. That's what I thought.
The important thing to note about these ads is that, while I know what type of product they are for... I can't tell you the brand. Nice.
"see i knew it. i thought you might have been but then you weren't and then i joked about it and then you said no and i was like ok fine then and you were like blah blah and brought it back up again."
Do you see what I have to put up with? My friends are completely incoherent...
Thursday, March 18, 2004
I rue the day I met Brian Wilson! grr...
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
A MUST SEE:
Grand Theft America
(Warning: Not for those with weak stomachs or who are prone to becoming physically ill at the thought of being robbed of another four years.)
Monday, March 15, 2004
I have never noticed caffeine to have a strong effect on me, other than getting caffeine headaches if i drink a lot for a few days then go without.
Recently I have discovered that I get an unreal buzz off of coffee. Surprise, Surprise... it reminds me a lot of my short-lived ritalin days. I kind of like it.
Yeah for coffee!
I anticipate an invasion of LGMs (Little Green Men) in less than 48 hours. I will need assistance saving the galaxy from all the alien green beer. Sign up now, Cadets!
Sunday, March 14, 2004
What a fun weekend!
I worked an outreach event on Saturday which was lots of fun. I went from never having done a Slime demonstration to having done about a million of them, all in about 5 hours. I also realized that, while I don't want to use my ability to sell anybody anything to further our society's overconsumption, I can use my exceptional skills to sell other things... like science center memberships!
Saturday night the I5 gang met at the Green Door Lounge to see The Surrogate Band. They're this pretty cool Pink Floyd tribute band and they did put on a decent show. We left around midnight though and made the unfortunate decision to go to Rum Runner's for some dancing. Ew. First of all... maybe I'm used to the wholesome Disney goodness of Jellyrolls, but the deuling pianists and Rum Runners are so vile I had to leave the room. I am not the kind of person who can't handle a well placed raunchy joke, but that was about all they could muster. It was so vulgar. The downstairs dance floor wasn't much better. A bunch of past-their prime skanks and slightly creepy guys for the most part. It's apparently where the Greek System's college drop-outs go to die. You get the idea. All things considered it was a good time, though again I am left wondering where all the cool guys hang out.
The real treat was actually Friday night. It was spent in true FAP style: drinks with great old friends! The old gang was all there and it was just like old times. I can’t believe it has been something like 3 years! I missed those kids! It had been too long!
We all got together to watch the MSU basketball game. It’s funny, I never realized how integral a part MSU basketball played in my social life until I started thinking about those guys.
Erin is an old high school friend and college roommate. She had to put up with me in the height of my obsession with Jon Garavaglia. Also, I convinced her to join me on the MSU Lacrosse team. Now she's teaching and coaching Lacrosse! So cool. (I'm pretty sure her dad was a Hawkeye too!)
Then there is Jason, the virtual step-brother. We have been aquaintences since middle school but were never really friends until the NCAA Basketball tournament started in March 1999. We were both home over spring break and ended up staying up really late Friday night talking about whatever (and creating a bunch of imaginary friends). During the course of the night we thought it would be a good idea to wake up early and drive to Milwaukee to watch MSU's first round game. This was perhaps the start of my insane roadtripping habit.
I slept with Andy the first night I met him. HA! Ok, so a bunch of us were camping out to get tickets to see MSU in the Final Four in St. Pete. He was a friend of Jason's who I hadn't met... but we did all SLEEP together that night, I suppose. I just saw Andy in Florida in December. I got to give him and his family the royal treatment at Walt Disney World. He has lost a ton of weight and looks fantastic.
One of my favorite Brians was there too. He also went to my high school but I didn’t really know him until a fantastic roadtrip to Madison, WI with the Izzone. (The year MSU beat Wisconsin 4 times in one season!) And in another basketball tournament related story, he once bailed on me at virtually the last minute as my date for a Phi Mu Spring Formal. He got to see MSU in some intermediate round of the NCAA tourny, so I ended up taking the infamous Mr. Glass one last time. Brian missed out. I was hot that night! I’m sure he’s over it.
Amy was there too... and needless to say I pretty much know her completely through MSU basketball related experiences. This is barely scratching the surface on everything I have been through with these guys and MSU basketball. I guess the only person really missing from this picture is Wysocki.
But, now that we're all back in town I'm looking forward to seeing them more often. And unlike everyone else I know, Brian, Andy and Amy are all single. (When did everyone I know get married and engaged?) So they’ll be fun to hang out with. Maybe I'll even miss the YES kids a little less. fat chance...
Thursday, March 11, 2004
The Women's Rights movement is an issue that is very important to me.
NARAL Pro-Choice America is a great organization that fights hard for women's right to choose. I just made a gift to NARAL Pro-Choice America that has twice the impact! You can too -- just take the "Enough is Enough!" Challenge today and your gift will be matched dollar for dollar. It's an easy way to help protect freedom of choice and it's a great time to do it as your money will go twice as far! Their goal is to raise $50,000 by March 25th, one month before the March for Women's Lives in Washington D.C. on April 25th.
Just click here to make your gift today:
https://secure.ga3.org/02/match_1/rG71T0r91EpAZ
Not for her,
not for you.
It's not easy honoring a decision
you wouldn't make for yourself.
The hardest choice of your life
may be to let her make what may be
the hardest choice of her life.
Choose to let her choose.
PRO-choice is better than NO-choice."
-March for Women's Lives poster
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Quiero esta camiseta. I sure do like pinball.
It's wednesday night. You know what that means...
The O.C. drinking game!
O.K., not really. You know I'll actually be taping the O.C. while I draw naked people on campus... but these rules are still highly amusing... if only to me.
i (heart) seth cohen.... *sigh*
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Today was my first day at the new job.
If you know me at all, you know that also means while scraping my windows this morning, I locked my car keys, house keys and cell phone in my running car, had to pull the screen off my living room window and shimmy through the window in my professional attire in order to get my spare keys.
Fortunately, and unlike my last several "First Days of Work", I was able to arrive at work RIGHT on time. Everyone was amused by my frantic phone message I left while driving, especially since it ended up being unnecessary.
It was a great day though and I am pumped about the job... if only it actually paid money and not peanuts.
You learn something new everyday:
Comander Will Riker is from Alaska, USA (Earth).
You discover somthing new everyday:
Red Bull Flugtag USA
Monday, March 08, 2004
If you're looking for a place to meet some "cool" geeks (cuz you know I always am...), you should check this yahoo.com group. It's called date-a-geek... but even if you just want to unbore youreself, meet some funny people and whatnot, you should check it out. I'll be there... cuz I'm a geek.
I know you're bored. Go do it. Seriously.
(I promise someday to stop using the word "cuz". I think I'm totally on the verge of outgrowing it. How exciting!)
It's about that time, kids.
As much as many of us would like to see a departure from the long-standing two party system... now is not the time. We'll focus on that in 4 years, but right now let's focus on what's more important. Getting Bush out of the effing White House.
You can start by signing the Unity Pledge at Democrats.org.
Sunday, March 07, 2004
As you can see, things are changing around here... bare with me if you see any serious design flaws.
Saturday, March 06, 2004
Anyone is peaceful, and it is hoping for the pleasant days.
Friday, March 05, 2004
I am aware of the origin of the phrase "going postal", however it is my general experience that employees of the USPS are very nice people who don't really seem "on the edge". Ok, other than my nice Mail Carrier in Iowa (Ed?) who always smiled and handed me my mail as I passed him in the hallway, I have only really known one USPS employee. And considering the fact that the first time she laid eyes on me I was asleep in her 17 year old son's bed, she was always quite nice to me.
I just returned from the local Post Office branch, where it has been my experience that the employees seem friendly, but don't really listen to a thing you say. For example, I once approached the counter with a box and asked to know how much shipping would cost, but that I already had stamps that I would like to use. The woman said ok, and proceeded to check postage, print postage and charge me for postage. I didn't have time to argue, but was annoyed. Not only did I have to pay for postage that I didn't really want, I had these REALLY cool $1 Space Stamps that I wanted to use... and now they are just sitting on my desk.
Today I had a similar experience. I handed a box to the woman behind the counter. She asked when I wanted the package to arrive and I told her, "I just want it sent regular Parcel Post, please." She proceeded to weigh the box, ring up the total which I noticed was $1.25 more than I had anticipated, then started putting Priority Mail stickers on my box. The buyer had paid for Parcel Post and I had no intention of spending $1.25 for an upgrade when I only made about that much on the sale. I politely reminded her that I had asked for Parcel Post, which I clearly had. (I had even penciled "Parcel Post" on the top right corner of the package and the amount I had charged the buyer.) As I said this an amazing transformation came over her. This normally pleasant woman glared at me. Her pupils actually turned fiery red. She muttered something under her breath and as she did smoke billowed out of her nostrils. She huffed and snorted her way through peeling off the Priority Mail stickers and changing the transaction which I can imagine was very taxing as it took about 23 seconds. She snidely suggested that in the future I use stronger tape as she tossed my package in a bin. I heard the sound of shattering glass as it hit the other boxes. I asked if she thought the tape would hold and she spat back at me, "I hope so because we don't provide tape for packages going Parcel Post."
I'm pretty sure that if I had looked over my shoulder as I left the building there would have been an semi-automatic handgun pointed at my back.
A lifelong love of horror movies and other spooky sci-fi delights has instilled in me an unnerving ability to get seriously freaked out at the slightest out-of-the-ordinary noise. Even catching my own reflection out of the corner of my eye has incited panic.
It really doesn't take much. Being home alone for days, watching a good couple episodes of CSI and Without a Trace on a dark and rainy night will often do the trick.
Then it starts. The weird scratching noise at the one tiny window at the top of the wall in my little basement room. It's just the rain, I tell myself... or the wind. Every 15 minutes or so I hear it again. Murray and I look at each other. He's a scardier cat than I.
Occasionally I pop upstairs and glance out the front window, right above my little window. There's nothing there... nothing in sight. I turn off all the upstairs lights so I can see better. Nothing. No one's there.
I go back downstairs. A few quiet minutes pass, then the noise returns... startling Murray and I both. I get brave. I turn off all the lights in my room. I even turn off the TV which leaves the room eerily quiet. I slowly lift the mini-blinds. Nothing. But then as I start to lower the blinds a movement catches my eye. I flinch.
I'm not in Florida! It can't be a lizard! I panic. There is something caught between the screen and the window. I'm not entirely convinced that it can't get inside. Some of you are well aware how I react when lizards get in my (or your) apartment. I am *not* the girliest of girls, but if you want to hear a piercing scream and see me hurdle a couch... let a lizard in the house.
I lift the blinds further. I get a better look. I gasp.
A mouse! A giant mouse. It had to be two feet long! Ok, it was a regular sized mouse but I freaked. I was afraid it might get in. Then I felt bad for it. It was obviously trying to get out of the rain and it got caught. I found a flashlight and started to creep out the front door. I had to try to get it out of there, but how? I wasn't going near that thing! Do you have any idea how fast those suckers are?? As soon as I opened the door I heard something crash through the leaves outside my window. I bolted back inside. When I thought it was safe I went back outside and shined the light on the window. Nothing. No one was there. One corner of the screen was peeled upward and there was another whole along the bottom. It seemed our friend had escaped.
So I came back downstairs. And I heard it again! Had it not left? Had it hidden so well? Had it started tunneling through the wall? Would I wake up with a mouse on my nose in the middle of the night?
I shined the flashlight on it from the inside. It crawled out of the hole and disappeared. Minutes later I heard it again. This time it was climbing the screen from the outside. He saw me and ran.
It has been nearly half an hour. I haven't heard him though several minutes ago when I glanced over my shoulder I saw him fall from the top of the outside of the screen to the leaves below. He has been doing that a lot. I tried to take a picture but he was gone too soon. I have my camera and flashlight ready.
I have no happy ending to the story. Just like any good horror movie... it seems our friend wants to leave us wondering if there will be a sequel.
Thursday, March 04, 2004
Has anyone read any of the Bill, the Galactic Hero series? Myles? (If anyone who reads this had, it would seems like it would be you!)
Anyway, the books look like they might be entertaining. I have quite a backlog of books I want to read (thanks in large part to Brian) so I'd have to add these to the end of the list anyway. Sounds kind of like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books.
I only even heard of the books because I was looking at my web stats and someone surfed in after doing a search for "galactic hero" on yahoo. I have checked google for "galactichero" before but it never really occured to me to see what came up when I tried "galactic hero". I'm much farther down the list that way... thanks entirely to Bill. Grrr...
Happy Founder's Day, Sisters!
I wore my Phi Mu badge proudly today while going in to fill out all the necessary paperwork for my new FULL TIME JOB! All very exciting, I know. I am now a PAID Museum Aide with Impression 5 Science Center. (Which means, of course, that I had to learn how to spell museum.) I'll be putting in my 40 hours a week playing with kids, doing demonstrations, leading special programs and events, and most importantly... getting paid. Yes, YES Kids. It's practically YES, but without Mickey Mouse or roller coasters... and you. And did I mention I'm getting paid? Though sadly, like 2/3 of what I would be getting paid if I were with you. What am I doing here again? Anyone? I need a refresher....
Next on the agenda is to knock out this writing class if it KILLS me. I would appreciate incessant reminders to get back to work from anyone who suspects I may be shirking my responsibilities. Seriously.
Monday, March 01, 2004
Thanks to Miss Oliver, I just wasted some time finding out which country I am and which book I am loosely based on. I think both results are quite funny... and I think there is only one other person on the planet who will understand. He knows who he is.
Without further ado, here are the results:
I'm France!
Most people think you're snobby, but it's really just that you're better than everyone else. At least you're more loyal to the real language, the fine arts, and the fine wines than anyone else. You aren't worth beans in a fight, unless you're really short, but you're so good at other things that it usually doesn't matter. Some of your finest works were intended to be short-term projects.
I'm not going to lie... I'm better than everyone else. (Self-deprication is out, remember?)
And even funnier to me:
I'm Watership Down!
Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.
That entire description made me chuckle. Aside for the young and childish part, which is obviously me, the rest sounds suspiciously like someone else I know... peas in a pod, my friend.
Now, go take the Country Quiz and the Book Quiz.
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