30.12.06

I'm not even...

I'm not even going to try to upload photos this time. I can only bang my head against a concrete wall so many times.

Today while I was running I met a lady I knew from a long time ago. I used to babysit for her kids. So I ran a ways with her too. That's how the run I planned to be short got so long.

The family Christmas party was fun. I got a set of knives so the universe has deemed that safe again appearently. Spellcheck isn't working properly on this computer so I'm going to play with that in a while but first

1. Apple Faces Suit over iTunes-iPod link. It's like the Microsoft suit all over again.

2. Best Buy Calls the Police on Customer Returning CD. This is a ridiculous story. Remember this post which linked to this story about the 10 best and 10 worst customer service companies. I can't believe Best Buy is only number 2 on that list. Interestingly I've never had a problem at Best Buy, although the corporate office is down the street from the store where I shop.

Also, reading the customer service story makes me not want to buy a Dell but to go for a Mac. I am so confused. Really I'm waiting for Vista to come out so I can hear about it and Macworld so Apple can announce the new Leopard OS. I need to weigh my options.
7:46 and I'm uploading three small images. Let's see... Anyone know why blogger keeps giving me error messages when I try to upload my pictures?

I ran 4.25 miles today. I'd tell you more but I think I need to go hypnotize my Mom soon.

29.12.06

Since I can finally upload pictures

This is Uncle Jesse. He's the one in the family who we never thought we'd see touch a baby.


This is his brother. See the resemblance?



This is my favorite picture ever.



Another baby picture.



World, meet Mocha.

Boring Friday

I ran this morning. I ran 5.2 miles in 58 minutes or 11:10 minutes. I had Starbucks afterwords. I love lattes.

After lunch Gramma, Mom and I went to Howdy Carwash. Mom "washed" my car for me, really she just financed the expidition. My car badly needed to be vacuumed but while she was out she got a wax and rain-x too. Then we saw Mom's office. She has a window now, she never used to. I used to feel like a bat when I went into her office. Now it's all sunshine. Then we went to the library and I got a bunch of CDs. Good use of time.

Also on the agenda today, Dad installed the camera software onto the computer and practiced taking pictures off his camera and onto the computer. Now I can shrink the quality and file size of my images so they upload to my blog in a reasonable amount of time.

At the end of the day I went with Jenny to a suprise party for a person I used to work for. It was basically all of Danielle's inlaws who threw this party. Luckily Jenny and I just sat in the corner and talked and the family did their thing. I did get to chat with Dani for a few minutes. I'm glad I'm not a teacher.



Fun things I saw on the web:
1. Projecting Fear, this looks like something I'll try when I have high speed internet again.
2. The Year of the Widget?.
3. The Most Important Science Stories of 2006.
4. Hussein Hanged, lawyer confirms. I think this is really sad.
5. Top 10 Kids Books for Amanda who enjoys them.
6. Top 10 Dangerous Jobs in America. Crop dusters aren't where you think they are. Also, electrical powerline installers...
7. This is Your Brain on Tetris. I've totally had the experience of lying in bed and having my brain still playing Tetris. The cool part is at the end when it talks about how the chemicals in first time users brains are changed and the brain becomes more efficient.
8. IE 7 Quick Reference Guide for those of you who've made the switch.
9. 100 Things We Didn't Know Last Year. This one's from the BBC.

28.12.06

Running and picture update

11:31, let the uploads begin. Blogger is still giving me errors and unable to upload photos. I can't wait to have hi-speed internet again. It turns out I can upload them to my Yahoo Photos page though.

I ran 5.2 miles today at 11:21 miles. I remember this one day when I ran an 11:06 mile and thought that was the fastest thing ever. I need new goals.

What'd I do today on my vacation? After I ran Jenny and I walked at Shawnee Lookout Park. We didn't go that far but it was all up and down hills so after the run it felt far enough. Then we had Skyline, something every Cincinnati native should do on a visit home. We watched Pirates of the Carribean 2. It didn't get good reviews. I watched it and now need the third one to come out so I can find out how the story ends. After that I was sleepy and so Jenny brought me home.

From 3X Thursday which does not have an RSS feed by the way:
1. So, what did you think of 2006? Was it a good year? How so/not? Yes, it was good. Seemed like a year of a lot of new technical invetions/things on the web being popularized. It was a fun year.
2. What was the best thing that happened in 2006? What was the worst? I turned 25. Same answer.
3. What is your forecast for 2007? Got anything big planned? I'm hoping to graduate and get a job. Possibly a new computer and a clean apartment. We'll see.

Also, something every woman can understand.

27.12.06

It's 10:59, let the uploads begin. I'm doing three this time so it might take longer. 11:35. Still no joy. 11:40: Blogger was unable to complete my request. Bite me.

Here's what's been going on:
Mom and I went shopping today. I found the "easy science answer page a day calendar" for one of my little cousins and my Mom suggested I also get it for my kids. I totally bought it.

Then we went to dinner with Erin and Matt and their new baby who is 9mos old and I've never met. She's a total cutie pie. That's where most of my pictures are from. They're still uploading.

1. Find out if your mind is male or female.
2. A Red Flag for Jet Lag. Find out why it's dangerous and why it's worse to go east.
3. 12 Ideas to Keep Off Holiday Pounds.
4. Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design. I'm totally guilty of number 9, all of my links open to new windows, although in Firefox they're just tabs.
5. 50 Things We Know Now that We Didn't Know This Time Last Year.
6. The 35 Most Outrageous Fees and How to Avoid Them. Basically don't fly or deal with airlines.
7. Race on CNN and SMM. There's a link to a cool quiz here.
8. Something every grad student should know but doesn't.
9. 20 Most Innovative Products of the Year. I haven't read this yet, but it seems worth a look.
10. A Caffeine Graph, it's pretty funny and illuminating.

26.12.06

hee hee

Two more funny things I saw on the internet:
The Perfect Human is about an extreme runner. It's a wild read. Can you imagine running that far?

50 Reasons Why It's Great to be A Guy. I'm only posting this to protest a few of the points.

Like #3: A five day vacation requires only one suitcase. Totally done a week vacation with a carry-on. I've done a week in India on my period (where most of the space was consumed by personal products) in a backpack.
12. You understand why Stripes is funny. What is this?
16. You never have to clean the toilet. Oh yes you do.
26. You can be president. This is equally so wrong and so true.
28. You never have to worry about other people's feelings. This one is unfair. Guys don't want to go around hurting other people just as much as women.
31. You can eat a banana in a hardware store. I don't get it.
44. The remote is yours and yours alone. No it's not.
46. You have a normal and healthy relationship with your mother. There's so much I could do with this one my brain will explode just thinking about it.

Things I'd like to do to my computer

Authors note: this will be an extremely boring post. Don't feel compelled to read it.

Things I'd like to do to my computer:
I'm coming to grips with the fact that I'm going to have to do a system restore to the poor Toshiba and loose my current settings. I know, it is sad. However, it's given me some time to think about the way I want to set up my comptuer this time around.

1. Parition the hard drive properly. I don't think I can do this on my own. I will buy a friend Chipotle and have her hlep me. Here's what I know so far about paritioning hard drives:
Best Practices for Partitioning a Hard Disk and the the Wiki on the subject.

2. Change the file format on windows media player. My PDA plays music but only in mp3. The defaul is for the media player to rip disks into .wma files, but all that can be chaged. Right now I had to get freeware to convert all my .wma files into mp3. That was just silly.

3. Also to do with music, change the destination file to something like "my music\music ripped from cds" so I know when I bakcup my music, which I acutally do from time to time I know not to back those things up.

4. Find a better way to store photos. I'm seriously thinking about Picasa. It's gotten good reviews and allows photo tagging. Anyone else know of another freeware program that allows tagging?
In an unrelated question, anyone know how in iPhoto (on a Mac) to not make every photo on my computer load every single time I open iPhoto?


5. Find a better way to store music. I'd like a program that allows tagging of music as well. I was poking around the internet last night and found a few. Media Monkey looked really good. Nothing ever gets five stars from CNet. There were actually a couple other freeware media players that also got five stars. This one looked the best because it said it can rip DVDs.

6. Find a better way to back up files. The biggest reason I was a slacker about backing up files is because I could never remember which ones were already on a disk somewhere. My computer is a "slow burning computer" and I get impatient. Big surpise there. I think in every thing, like my school folder, music folder, photo folder, I need to have a subfolder of stuff that's already backed up somewhere.

7. Find a better way to track my bookmarks. I love Del.icio.us for storing tons of bookmarks in a way I wont loose, but I really love having them integrated into the browser so I can click on "open all in tabs" and go through my morning or evening routine of checking blogs. I also have to have some integrated into the browser for proper RSS feeds.

I wish I could customize my view of del.icio.us a little more than seems possible. I can't figure out how to go back and edit tags of something I bookmared, especially when the tags are spelled wrong, and I wish I had different options for how to organize the view of my bookmarks.

8. Actually back data up to disk more often than I do now.

9. What are things you wish you had done to your computer when you got it? Apparently I have a second chance (really it's like the 4th time I've had to restore it).
It's 8:59. Let the image uploads begin. 9:12 and here we are.
This is how much chaos I can create in a room I'm only staying in for a week or two.


Today I hung out with a friend of mine I hadn't seen in a really long time. I guage it by the last time I saw her, her younger son was 4 weeks old. Now he's 18 months. Both her kids are cute.

We actually ran together. She's in really good shape. I think everyone in the world runs faster than me. I would really like to run a marathon at some point, but I think I'd run it too slow. They'd be shutting down the course in front of me. I'll have to work on my speed this winter. By the way, the shirt my parents got me is really nice.

Here's the meme's I found for today:
From In Other Words:Quote for , Dec 26: Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem. -- W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence
My reaction:Uh yeah, people change. I'm also reminded of a quote from The West Wing", "act as if he have faith and faith shal be given to thee, in other words, fake it 'till you make it".

From Tuesday Twosome:
1. Do you celebrate a religious meaning to this season and if so, what (Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.)? If not, why? I don't celebrate things according to the traditions of an organized religion. Why not? I didn't grow up with an organized religion, or with those traditions.
2. What does this holiday season mean to you and why? I've answered this before, for now I'll say it means I get to see my family.
3. Which do you enjoy the most: giving presents or receiving presents and why? I like them both a lot.
4. Name two holiday movies that best describes the season for you: Love Actually and The Muppet's Christmas Carol are the only two I can think of. The first one definitley doesn't describe my holiday, well, maybe the people who sit alone and slightly heartbroken. That's not a good outloud story though.
5. Name two holiday songs that best describes the season for you: I like "Little Drummer Boy" and Handel's "Hallelujiah Chorus".

From Tuesday's Tales:
* What is the best present you recieved this year? I like them all. The one I used the most today was the running shirt.
* What is the worst present you received this year? No gifts are bad, they are all given in the Christmas spirit.
* Will you shop today? The day after Christmas? I did not go shopping today. I would have if someone else wanted to go. Shopping on days like this is really an excuse to hang out with the person I'm with. And when I went on Black Friday with my aunt I cleaned house so it was a doubly good day.
* What is still on your wish list? Someone else to show my Dad how to use a digital camera.

Also seen on the web:
101 Amazing Facts of Earth, a cool site to poke around in. Great for you trivia buffs out there.
A great Christmas gift: a cake with a hacksaw in it. Check out how it's decorated.

25.12.06

Happy Christmas

9:55 and I'm trying to upload 1 image. I'll let you know...

10:13, for some reason, it loaded the picture twice. I don't ask questions.

My favorite holiday food: Uncle Tom's Spaghetti.


We had a nice Christmas. Mom and Dad liked their gifts. I think Dad simultaneously likes the digital camera and is so frustrated by it he could cry. He did sit down with the instruction manual but he didn't try anything or take any pictures. That's so the opposite of me. Try first and ask questions later.

Jim and Jerry and Brooke came over. We had a nice time. Jim and Brook had to leave early to go to her family's thing but Jerry stayed for a while. He got me the cute "Aflac Duck" things Macy's has. He works at Macy's now. Plus I got a gift card to Macy's that will finance a nice pair of jeans and maybe dress pants too.

Later we had spaghetti and Mark made canolis at Mark's house. I love holidays, I love seeing Mark and I love seeing Mark on holidays when he cooks. Mmmmm.

I found some cool Meme's that I'm going to try:
From Everyday's a Monday: What do the holidays mean to you? It means I get to see my family. That's really all I'm putting into this answer for the moment. I just started my period and am totally emotional so no good would come of it.

From Monday's a B!tch:
1. How much money did gift giving cost you this season? A lot. Most of it was on my parents and this is the one time of year they get nice new things so it's worth it.
2. Was getting ready for the holidays more fun, or more stressful this year? I think it was fun until I realized exactly how much money I had left in my bank account, and then I figured out I need to get a new computer soon... I think I'm going back to working two jobs soon though so that should make up for most of it.
3. What was your favourite gift that you received this year? Amanda took me to see the Barenaked Ladies, that was a blast. Kelly got me mittens which I badly wanted. Mom and Dad got me a cool running shirt. I can't wait to try it out.
4. Have you ever incorporated pets into your holiday celebrations? (ie. Do any of your pets have stockings?) I have no pets, the pet owners in my family all give their pets stockings.
5. If you were one of Santa's Elves, what would your name be? "Lizzie" or "Sneezy" or is there one named "Goofball"?

Today I ran 4.1 miles in 48 minutes or 11:39 minutes. I suspect most of my miles were faster than that and the mondo Cincinnati hill at the end slowed me down drastically.

24.12.06

Let's see how long it takes these images to upload. It's 12:05a here right now. I just hit "go".

It's 12:24 here now. Still no luck. There are 3 pics and they're all a the high resolution. Haven't learned how to copy the image, shrink the size and in so doing, shrink the size of the actual file on my computer. I think I can do it with my software at home, just not here.

What did I do today? I ran this morning, 3.2 miles or so. I haven't checked. Dial-up. Note: it's the next day, Merry Christmas. I ran 3.5 miles at 11:25 miles. I think most of my miles were faster and the uber-Cincinnati-hill at the end slowed me waaay down.

Mike and Linda and my family went to brunch at the restaurant where Em is a cook. I had a vegan pumpkin waffle with pear and craberry topping. It was good.

Then I came home and decided I needed to get going on my present for Mark. Same as everyone else on my list right now, I decided to make him the DIY Christmas Photo Ornament which is still a really cool idea. Well, really that's where the drama began because I started looking through old pictures. I had a hard time stopping.

My parents store said photos in an old "side board" or like a low cabinent. It looked like a few thousand photo albums threw up in there. I couldn't handle that. Like four hours later I had their pictures organized and everything. They're in categories:
  • Family Known Date

  • Family Unknown Date

  • Mom's Family Known Date

  • Mom's Family Uknown Date. This is a rather large pile.

  • Dad's Family Known Date

  • Dad's Family Unkown Date

  • Vacations of Unknown Date

  • Friends Known Date

  • Friends Unknown Date

  • My Friends Known Date. This is different from the one above because this one is only my friends where as the above one my parents will know who is in the pictures.

  • My Friends Unknown Date


By that time dinner company was here. We had a nice meal and a good dessert. It's good to see Mark. I haven't seen him in like two years.

Then we watched "Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants". I forgot how much I like that movie.

All right, it's now 12:38. I haven't been writing this whole time but at some point, I will want sleep. How long should I wait for the photos to upload?

All right. It's 12:56 and I've got pics.
This first one is from two days ago. It's what my Dad calls "an experiment in mildew". I call it foul. There's no way water coming out of this is clean. I did teach my Mom the Baking Soda and Vinegar Trick.


This is my picture from yesterday. Mom and I did the tree. Ahem, Charlie Brown, I have your tree. You'll get it back after Christmas.

Did I say I'm glad Mark is back?

Some cool memes

Since I can't post pictures right now, here are some cool memes I found.

The Question of the Day asks "My daughter is spending the day in her bedroom today because she's been grounded. When was the last time you were grounded?" I've never been grounded. I tended to loose my TV priveleges. It's been a long time.

The Saturday 8 asks the following:

1. i'm HOME! it was a long, two-week trip, but i'm back Stateside. what was the last travel experience you had? That was the drive from Minneapolis to Cincinnati that I just did. See the photos on this blog.
2. i read 3 books in a week. what was the last book you completed? I'm in grad school and so not allowed to read books for fun. It may have been The Second Summer of the Sisterhood follow up to Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
3. i saw 6 or 7 movies in the last two weeks. what was the last movie that you watched? Bridges of Madison County
4. my flight was 7.5 hours long to and from iceland. what was your last flight, and where was it to/from? My last flight was home to Minneapolis after Thanksgiving.
5. i have decided to skip christmas cards this year due to the fact that i worked my 2 jobs right up until i left for iceland. did you send out christmas/hanukkah/new year's cards this year?No, but that's not different from any other time.
6. i have been sick with a stomach bug i picked up in iceland since wednesday. what was the last illness that you had? I got "intestinal distress" last night. As Kelly would say, "my body entered into negotiations..."
7. while in iceland, Bank of America LOCKED my debit card ... twice. i'd let them know that i was travelling, but they decided to lock it anyway due to the fact that no one was smart enough to put the required code on my account. i now have to get back $100 in cellphone bills from them that was NOT necessary as i'd taken care of my responsibilities before i'd left. when was the last time you were 'screwed' by a corporation/service? I'm choosing not to count today when the software I installed on my computer killed it because that could have been my own fault. I think that makes it the class action suit against Toshiba.
8. i am not sure what i'm doing for christmas and have no idea where i'm spending it or if i'm going to be travelling that day, etc. what are your christmas plans if you celebrate? if not, what are you doing on the 25th? Morning: open gifts with Mom and Dad. Lunch: Uncle Jerry and Jimmy and Brooke will come over for lunch. Evening: I get to eat spaghetti and see Mark. Other family will be there too I guess.

The Saturday Six:
1. How many Christmas Cards did you receive from people you hadn't sent cards to, after the "mailing deadline?" Did you send a card anyway? I didn't send any Christmas cards.
2. At this point, do you weigh more or less than you did on January 1, 2006? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I'm going to guess less because of the running. I'm not sure. I've thought about getting a scale. I never have.
3. When the clock strikes Midnight on New Year's, will you be at home, at a party, or somewhere else? I have no idea. It certainly won't be kissing any boys.
4. Take the quiz: What's your holiday stress level?
My Holiday Stress Level is Moderate

The holidays sometimes stress you out, but mostly because they wear you down. I'm saying, especially when my computer freaks out on me.
Take it easy! You can have a fun holiday without running yourself ragged.

5. Have you ever been the designated driver at a party or outing with your friends?Yes.
6. Have you ever taken the keys and driven home a friend that you felt was too drunk to drive? If not, do you think you would attempt to if that situation ever arose? There was once I wish I had. I'm not sure what I would do. I really try to avoid things that would lead to that situation.

It's everyone's worst nightmare

That's right, my computer died. I blame software to sync a cell phone to the laptop. No one knows what I was thinking. Somewhere on Tasha The Toshiba there's a .dll file that is killing it.

I was about in tears when I figured all this out. Mercifully my friend Chris was able to pull off my pictures and my important documents. I just let the music library go. I didn't have that many CD-Rs with me.

How did they do it you ask? Well, I have no idea. Chris and his friend Geoff who is equally a computer nerd were going to put Knoppix onto the computer but that was too big of a download. Geoff suggested Damn Small Linux or "DSL" which is what we used. How small is it? It's a 50MB operating system. Why is it so small? There's like no GUI so it's all typing commands.

All of you who know Linux line commands please stand up. Yeah, that's what I thought. Eventually Chris connected my computer running DSL to his home network and copied the files I needed. They only took up two CDs worth. I told you I didn't put music on there. Sadly I can't figure out how to make DSL find the wireless network I've been pirating so I'm relagated to dial up. I'm still trying to load pictures.

In other news, (while I wait for my pictures to load) I ran 5.2 miles today at an 11:09 mile. I may not be running as far tomorrow though because I think I have to get up and have brunch.

Ok, I just realized the photos I was trying to upload are ginormous files. I'll play with them and do this later.

22.12.06

Running

I ran this morning. It's the winter solstice. I was in shorts and a t-shirt. Hee hee. I ran 5.1 miles. I can't believe I ran that far.

Also:
My Bumper Sticker Should Be

If you can read this, I can stop suddenly and sue you

Friday Fun

I like some of the things I see on Kelly's blog. Here's another one:

1. Favorite gifts that you bought/made for someone else that you wanted for yourself! Those picture ornaments that I made for Amanda and Kelly and the kids at the science museum.

2. Favorite holiday treats to eat or drink. Dude, I seriously can't think of anything. We go over to family and my Uncle Tom makes spaghetti (like homemade sauce) and that makes me happy. It's not a typical Christmas treat, but I associate it with holidays since that's when I have it.

3. Gifts you would have like to to buy/make for someone else if money was no object. Vacation to Florida, Mexico, Caribbean... Where do you want to go today?

4. Gifts you would like for yourself if money was no object! See number 3/

5. Things you still have to do for the holidays! Shop for Mark, put up the tree (still my job), do homework.

Anti-virus software review

I've been updating my anti-virus software. No good can come of it.

I thought AVG Anti-Virus which is what I have, was no longer going to be free. So I went to Tech Support Alert to read about "The Best 46 Free Utilities Ever" and CNet to read about good antivirus freeware programs.

Then I unistalled AVG except for somereason it didn't uninstall correctly so the only part of the program that uninstalled was the uninstaller itself. Then I was really stuck. So I went and downloaded the AVG freeware again, installed it over the current version and then uninstalled it.

I downloaded ClamWin which is really popular. I'd been running it for a while. I liked it except it slowed my computer down when I was starting it up or pulling it out of hibernation.

Then I tried Avast which would have been good if it was not freaking impossibile to install. I had to uninstall Norton and Symantec to get it to work right and even then I wasn't sure if it was working correctly.

Luckilly it was about then that I figured out AVG is still free, it's just a new version so I put that back on my computer and am happy once again. Soon I'll do the same thing to my parents computer. Hi, my name is Liz and I'll be your IT support for Christmas break.

Found on the web

My parents shower head is disgusting. It's possible I'll soon have the plague. If I come down with something unknown, go there for cultures first.

1. Pac Man Graffiti. This is cool, I love that it slows traffic down.
2. More good press for cheerleaders.
3. More good press for lesbians or people who think they know how to be one.
4. There are no words....
5. An interesting article about Neuroscience and freewill made even more interesting given our recent discussion on mental health.
6. Blogger is out of beta. I didn't even know that.
7. Check out the new features of the non-beta blogger.
8. Fun way to browse google images. This would be cool.
9. 20 Amazing facts about voting in the US for all you conspiracy theorists out there.
10. Napkin Quotes.
11. 100 Most Useful Sites on the Web
12. Guide to anonymous blogging, something I should show my teens.
Also, go check out the Dilbert for today.

21.12.06

3x Thursday

1. Do you believe there's such a thing as a chemical imbalance? Do you think that treating these problems with drugs is a good thing? Why/why not? Ok, someone who usually does these didn't do this weeks questions and I wanted to acknowledge that. I will say from experience that those suicide warnings for young children they put on antidepressants and antianxiety meds, those things are for real.

2. What about drugs for brain-related stuff like depression? Do you think one should be able to get over it themselves, or do you think sometimes we all need a little help, and sometimes we need meds for awhile? This, like number 1 above, is a flawed question. It's using "brain related stuff" to mean the same thing as "chemical imbalance". Those are both phrases that hurt people.

3. Who do you turn to when you have emotional crisis? Why? They know who they are, they also know how to help me. They're also probably reading this right now.

Are you ready to deal with Xmas? Will you be happy or sad when the holidays are over? I can't wait to see Mark. I can't wait to eat the food Mark is going to make. It's good to know the chef.

Hee hee

It's funny that someone Kelly knows was wearing a yellow sweater today. I was wearing a yellow sweatshirt today. My sweatshirt is allowed though because it's a "Minnesota Golden Gophers" sweatshirt.

Road trips are hard. I saw waaay too many Wal-Mart trucks and an equally alarming number of Bud Light trucks.


There were lots and lots of slow trucks today. I can only imagine they were bringing things to stores for all of you people to buy.


Illinois is going to "open road tolling".
I don't think they've got the hang of it yet.



Insert "your mom" joke here.

20.12.06

I'm tired and I need to watch a movie

I'm tired and I need to watch a movie so I can return it to Netflix. Why am I tired? Because I've been packing to go home, always a daunting task.

This is a stark contrast between the things I want to do (music and DVDs) and the things I should do (homework).
1. Weight and Gut Bacteria"
2. Top 10 Animal Geeks.
3. 100 Ways to Help the Environment.
4. You know, gullible's not in the dictionary. This is so funny but so wrong. I bet it's every CSR's dream to do this.

I ran yesterday too

I ran this morning and yesterday morning. I don't know why I didn't write that last night. Could it have been because I didn't get home 'till after 10p and I totally spaced it?

Yesterday: 4.25 miles at 11:20 mile.
Today: 3.6 miles at 11:40 miles. I know, I am slow today. I think really the longer I run the faster I get, so yesterday and today I probably ran similar paces but if I had run longer today the minutes per mile would have looked faster.

19.12.06

It's nice and a little scary

It's nice and more than a little scary how well I know my friend Amanda. I did a really good gag gift before giving her the real presents. This is either before or right after Amanda figured out it was a gag.

Then to ignore me, Amanda tried to open her gift from Kelly. Amanda makes good facial expressions while she's doing this.


Thank you to Kelly for the mittens and the fun making cookies. Kelly "made" and by that I mean ate rice krispy treats too.


And then there was the phone call to a parent (not mine, I'm just avoiding a joke by phrasing it that way) that literally left me speechless.



1. I was telling Amanda about PostSecret so I wanted to put a link up.
2. For all the Kentuckians out there.
3. This is sad. He really doesn't love it. To all of the women reading this: we wouldn't allow a man to treat us that way. Don't treat men this way.
4. I have been in the position of the professor here.
5. My old roommate used to do this. It's against the rules. That is even more against the rules than blue tooth headsets.
6. MSNBC Year in Review Quiz. That sucker's hard. Especially the one about space.
7. I like this story. Watch, Mac will have something to say about this with the new Mac OS.
8. Five Best Political Moments of 2006. I wouldn't say "best" I would say "noteworthy". While Dick Cheney shooting another hunter is fodder for the news, there have been too many hunting accidents up here for that to be "good" or even "funny". Ditto to the whole Foley thing.
9. 25 Gadgets That Actually Save Money. These are really cool. Those of you who have wish lists at Amazon, add some of these to them. I want to get some of these now.
10. Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2006. I know I missed them and I read the news all the time.
11. 8 Tools for 8 Hours of Energy Boosting Sleep. I love my memory foam pillow. I just wanted you to know that.

This picture begged to be taken. Everyone was making fun of the jammies, except the people who liked them.

18.12.06

I really did take pictures yesterday and today

Again, who's lazy?

I was tired yesterday. I need to clean again too by the way.

Yesterday I went shopping for Amanda's present. Total bust by the way. I'm writing about it here because Amanda doesn't love me enough to read my blog any more. While I was out, I saw Santa Claus at Cub and Finger Candy at Bed Bath and Beyond. No, I wasn't buying Amanda's present at Cub. Turns out I didn't buy much of it at Bed Bath and Beyond either.





Today I went "shopping" at the Gifts for Seniors program from my internship.
Here's the stack-o-gifts we got.

After a long day or working, more shopping, and volunteering on my restorative justice council, I did finally get Amanda's gift. More on that later just in case she does pop over during the day tomorrow. Then I came home and wrapped everything and did the DIY Christmas Ornaments. I protest the 15 Minutes part. They're really cool though. If you're reading this post, it's possible I did this (cut) my thumb while making your gift.


Meanwhile on the web:
1. On Pretty Pretty's Blog there's fun questions I'll answer in a minute.
2. This is what my Dad used to do before he was a social worker or a lawyer.
3. This really is how interns get treated.
4. Best of 2006 Online.
5. Adult Brain Grows from Specialist Use. The only part of my brain that will grow is the part that thinks like a teenager and an old woman because that's all I do right now.
6. The Boston Globe told a user to "Stop Using Opera". Secretly I like Opera. Firefox is still my first choice, despite the recent string of problems I've had with it. But I have an iMac at work that can no longer handle Firefox 2.0 so I use Opera exclusively on that Machine.
7. This is a cool picture, I'm choosing to ignore the offensive comments about people who believe in God.
8. 15 Things You Didn't Know About Your Penis. I'm choosing to put this on here because I think it's interesting, it's not offensive, might even be safe for work, and I didn't know some of these things, which is not my fault because I'm a girl. Speaking of being a girl, see #4 if you are.
9. Drupal OpenSearch Aggregator. I have a blog that runs on Drupal. Maybe I just haven't found a way to love Drupal yet. It seems way too clunky to me.
10. Lighting Fast Browsing Trick. I haven't tried it yet, but I thought I'd put it up.

Ok, for the questions from Pretty Pretty's Blog

1.Your Name: Liz
2. Age: 25
3. Single or Taken: Painfully single
4. Favorite Movie: Right now, Pride and Prejudice.
5. Favorite Song: Agh, my brain is going to explode. I like Cities 97 Acoustic Sunrise.
6. Favorite Band/Artist: See number 5.
7. Dirty or Clean: Totally dirty. Remember the pictures?
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings: Only the regular ones in my ears.
9. Do we know each other outside of the blogosphere? We don't really even know each other in the blogosphere.
10. What's your philosophy on life? Life is just an opportunity to treat people better.
11. Would you have my back in a fight? See number 9.
12. What's one thing you always wanted to tell me? See number 9.
13. What is your favorite memory of us? See number 9.
14. Would you give me a kidney? See number 9.
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you: I am a bat biologist turned social worker. You'd be surprised how relatively often those two skill sets do cross.
16. Have you ever had a fantasy about me? See number 9.
17. Do you have a picture of the two of us? See number 9.
18. How did we meet? My friend Kelly told me to read a post on your blog and I just kept coming back.
19. Have you ever been to my house? No.
20. Do you think I'm a good person? Well sure. See number 10.
21. Would you drive across country with me? Wow, I don't know. What kind of music do you like?
22. Do you think I'm attractive? Sure.
23. If you could change anything about me, would you? No.
24. What do you wear to sleep? Uh...
25. Would you come over for no reason just to hang out? You bet.
26. Would you go on a date with me if i asked you? Well, I'm a girl who likes guys so no, but see number 25 for a self esteem booster.
27. When is the next time we will see each other? When's your next blog post.
28. Will you post this so I can fill it out for you? Yup.

Here's the blank one so you can do it at home:
1.Your Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Movie:
5. Favorite Song:
6. Favorite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of the blogosphere?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Would you have my back in a fight?
12. What's one thing you always wanted to tell me?
13. What is your favorite memory of us?
14. Would you give me a kidney?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. Have you ever had a fantasy about me?
17. Do you have a picture of the two of us?
18. How did we meet?
19. Have you ever been to my house?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. Would you drive across country with me?
22. Do you think I'm attractive?
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Would you come over for no reason just to hang out?
26. Would you go on a date with me if i asked you?
27. When is the next time we will see each other?
28. Will you post this so I can fill it out for you?

Lastly, my shoes keep breaking, on the outside of my left foot, right here:

17.12.06

Christmas shopping

I ran 4.26 miles today at an 11:17 mile. I really didn't think I was that fast. Now I need to go shopping for my last gift for my parents: a step ladder. I also need to go shopping for Amanda. I still have no idea what to get. Yes, I know I have a list. I'm still not inspired by anything on it. But that's the last person on my list, unless I go to the dollar store and pick up something for Jenny. There's a joke there, not just me being mean.

I've decided that while I'm out shopping there will be a sign from above, and that's how I'll know what to get Amanda.

Hey, maybe later I'll post pictures of all the wild Christmas shoppers!

16.12.06

It was a train



I got stopped on the way to work today because of a train. It seemed like a good idea to take a picture. (Hey, I had the time.)

In other news, I ran 4.5 miles today at an 11:20 mile. I don't really run an 11:20 mile, it's more like I start out way slower and end up way faster. That last half mile is down hill.

I found a boatload of things on the internet today. Here's the list.
1. This is too bad, I love Carribou.
2. Fox News is at it again over Keith Ellison. I can't wait 'till my Grandma brings this up over Christmas.
3. Aint that the truth.
4. You are the person on the year, well, me too.
5. Things people said in restaurants. This is funny.
6. What is net neutrality?

7. This is the scariest thing I've ever seen. It's really only alarming if people believe it. You don't get to be stupid today.

8. 10 Reasons why Microsoft will acquire Yahoo as net neutrality is totally thrown out the door.
9. Ten Future Energy Solutions
10. Ten Most Dangerous Toys of All Time, a well written piece every parent (or Chirstmas shopper, or potential target) should read. My personal favorites: Lawn Darts and The Bottle Rocket Ballerina.
11. Statistics Don't Lie: Americans Are Fat. Did we really need the census bureau to tell us this? I'm seriously, who was our competition?
12. Cities Better Than Condoms for Stopping Babies. Well that's reassuring.
12. Soda Constructor. I'm told this game is very addicting. I can't wait to play.
13. The Genius of Apples Interface Themes, a really good article. The expose feature is my very favorite part of apple ever.
14. Yo Mama Likes Ubuntu. 'Nuff said.
15. 15 Things Mac Should Change in OS X.

In all of this talk I have to say, I've decided I cannot own a Mac right now. I'm partly waiting for the release of Vista and the announcement of OS 10.5 to see for sure, but after reading how bad Apple is for the environment, something I've read other places, and knowing how much I like some of the windows features Mac doesn't have, I just can't get a mac right now.

15.12.06

The most boring training ever in life

I went to a really boring training today. It was so boring, I started taking pictures.

That was how I felt too.

That's just a cool picture.

These are the toys I played with in honor of the ADD.

This is the view from the training room.
I've also been poking around the web a ton.
1. Aussie Man Wearing Anti-Bush T-Shirt not allowed to board flight. I'm so glad they can't blame this one on the US.
2. Pottery Barn is accusing Target of Stealing Designs. Here's the thing, everyone in Minneapolis loves Target, including me. I just love them for not being Wal-Mart.
3. Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts.
4. What's the Best RSS Reader for Rich Media. I use Wizz RSS which is a Firefox ad-on. I'm sure it wasn't popular enough to be considered.
5. All of TV Writer Wants for Christmas Is... See number 34.
6. Blogging Heads for Slow Lane. But Blogging as a form of communication is hear to stay. (Obviously since this is like an open letter to Amanda and Kelly anyways...)
7. Weirdest Science Stories of 2006.
8. FCC Won't Release Cell Carrier Reliability Data. How does this relate to terrorism?
9. War and Faith, a nice article about Minnesota soldiers experiences.
10. World's Tallest Man Saves China Dolphin.
11. Kids with High IQs grow up to be Vegetarian. I'm not a vegetarian but I used to be. I've decided that I like to travel too much to worry about not being able to eat meat. Secretly I don't eat it that often.
12. Yahoo's Year in Review photos. Super cool. Check them out.

14.12.06

Pictures and today's stories

My stories for today: I ran 6 miles. I'm not really sure how long it took me. I forgot to look at the time when I started running. There were a bunch of dirty men looking at me on my way home. It's also possible I was flirting with a mailman.

I'm met a cute guy who lives in my building. I hope I run into him again.

I went in to work and created "Make It Jeopardy", a game we may have to play more than once. Hee hee.

I went shopping and then out to dinner with Amanda, and this is where the pictures come in. Amanda is getting over a cold and so is blowing her nose a lot and acting quite loopy.






Amanda says I look stoned in this one. It's only fair since I put up all those of her.



I thought I'd try the 3x Thursday questions I see on Kelly's blog all the time. Some of them look fun. So for today:

1. When the weather changes (say, it rains when it usually doesn't), do you think traffic behavior is different? How so/how not? It depends on the weather. Snow and ice can legitimately slow the traffic down. The biggest delays I know of are on I-94 East into St. Paul when the sun is shining. I always pray for clouds when I'm late and heading to school.

2. What about when the kiddies don't have school? Do you see the traffic patterns change then? Does it affect you at all? Only on roads that lead to shopping malls, zoos, aquariums, parks and museums.

3. Accidents...accidents *always* muck up traffic. Seen any bad ones lately? Are there more accidents when the weather changes? Mercifully I haven't seen any accidents lately. There are more accidents when there is ice and snow but they tend to be fender benders.

4. Bonus Question for Comments: Given the choice of driving or not ever driving (say, full public transportation is available), which would you choose? Why? I couldn't handle full public transportation, partly for my job and partly because I love to drive.

As seen on the web:
1. I think he's getting the phrase wrong. Very similar to my favorite phrase, "I think that's the pot calling the kettle the same thing."

2. I've never used this line, but it sounds like me.

3. Greenpeace Mocks Apple Lovingly, just another reason to think about a Dell.

4. 11 Misconceptions about Marijuana. A well written piece.

5. The Greenpeace Green Guide. See Number 3 above.

6. Me on a map of the internet. I am so close to Canada it's not funny.

7. Bioscapes image gallery with some really cool pictures of micro-things.

13.12.06

I'm seriously considering a Dell

I'm seriously considering a Dell. I'd like you to know that. Anyone who has an opinion on the matter, tell me now. I see that CNet has rated the Toshiba Satellite really high but I just can't buy another one.

This is my picture today because I think I haven't done enough to exalt the glory and power of Vinegar and Baking Soda as Super cleaning agents.



Although, every time I see these MacBooks they look really good. Hmmm...

I am so tired

I don't have any picture yet, but found lots of good stuff on the web.

First off, congratulations to Kelly who is now an aunt.

1. You know who you are: I have a couple of friends who talk about the size or lack thereof of their breasts. This is for you.

2. Minneapolis is getting shot spotter. I thought this would be a cool science story.

3. Getting Miles Per Gallon Estimates to Actually Stick. The EPA is changing the way manufacturers are required to measure and report estimated miles per gallon so it's uh, you know, correct.

4. Why Do Teens Do Stupid Things?. It's actually a good article.

5. Why a Hydrogen Economy doesn't make sense. Looks like no hydrogen powered cars for us.

6. Carbon Fiber MacBook. I'm sort of perpetually in the market for a new laptop. I've heard lots of good things about the MacBooks. I've also heard Dell and Compaq are good. Right now Toshiba is not on my good list. Tell me what you think.

7. Eight Ways the Tech Industry Tries to Screw Us and How to Avoid Them. I'd like to add "CompUSA" to the "worst offender" list for number eight.

8. 21 Traffic Triggers for Social Media Marketing. I'm really interested in this whole "social bookmarking" thing and other social sites so this is cool.

9. Vote for the Pictures of The Year 2006.

10. And finally...
I am a Snowman

Friendly and fun, I enjoy bringing holiday cheer to everyone I know!

12.12.06

The Miracle Mile Part 2

Is it possible that I ran a 10:50 mile for 3.6 miles today? I just want to toss that out there. I ran after work again. Here's the things I've learned about running after work:
1. It's warmer than in the morning.
2. I try to be lit up, brighter than a Christmas tree because it's dark, people are tired, and I want to be as easy as possible to see.
3. Apparently, I tend to run faster than in the mornings, possibly because I'm already awake.
4. I don't like to run as far. Really what happened tonight was I thought I would run 4 miles but I looked at my watch after the third mile, and thought, "hmm, if I go straight I wonder how fast I can make it home" which put me on the 3.6 mile track.

I went shopping at the Wedge Co-op afterwards and ran into a girl I hadn't seen in a long time. It was nice to stop and chat. While there, I got my secret ingredient for my homemade creamy chicken wild rice soup.



That's right: Heavy Cream.

I'm trying to poke around the internet at high speed so I can sleep, something I've been sorely lacking the past couple of days. Here's the cool headlines that caught my eye.

1. First, a series of pages from Overheard in the Office. Social Worker #1, my first hero of the day. Social Worker #2 who apparently read how her colleague used "shut up" and literally brought it to a whole new level.

2. I can so relate to this.

3. CO Radio Host Challenges Ellison's Ethics, Morality. I haven't read this story yet (remember, speed browsing), but this whole story is very interesting to me since I live in Minnesota's Fifth District. To the rest of the country I can safely say, it's really not even a blip on the radar here. I know this next comment will get me in trouble... The Fifth District of Minnesota got together and elected this man knowing his story, his background, his faith. Do you really think the possibility that Keith Ellison would swear an oath on the Quran didn't cross our mind sometime before we voted?

4. Get Rich With God is a story I haven't read, but it has an interesting title so I thought I'd pass it along.

11.12.06

The Miracle Mile and Pictures of the Day

I am a slacker and so did not get up and run. I even got to work an hour late. There was a Christmas party at a staff's house. I went home and ran and then headed over. A couple of things. First it was raining. This is officially my first day running in the gortex. I also lost my headlight. I went to Target to get another one because I also learned I can't run without it. And I knew I had to run and then turn around and leave again so I decided I'd do 3.6 miles faster than I run 4.5 miles or 4.25 miles. I did. I ran it in 40 minutes or 11:06 miles. That's not impressive to anyone but me because I usually run a 12:15 mile.

Then I went to this party where they played a game called guesstures. I thought, "oh, good I need a photo for today".

At first I thought I would use Kathy's pretty and fuzzy socks.


Then I thought I would use this one of Lynn making sure the game is working right.


And then other Lynn tried to do something with a sock. I'm not sure what that was about, she wasn't on my team.
And this one is just funny.



And then Sue wanted to use my camera to take a picture of me. I think I look hairy in that picture.

One of the hints on Project 365 is to take a picture of yourself at least once a month. Also, please note the new sweater. Thanks, I like it too.

After the party I had to go to Target to get a new light and eighteen bottles of shampoo and conditioner because apparently they're the only store in the Twin Cities that has the big bottles of the conditioner I like, and that's when I saw what was destined to be my photo of the day.


These are the stickers we give out at the touch pool of the aquarium where I (sometimes) work. I have seen these things so many times. It's possible I've had dreams about them. I've been on leave from the aquarium for over a month and they're still following me around. Gah!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for:
1. This was my experience at Rainbow last night only there was a wild little boy in the shopping cart ahead of me.

2. 10 Promising Treatments for the World's Biggest Health Threats. I was glad to see many "3rd world diseases" like Dengue Fever and especially Malaria on this list. I'd like to have seen Cholera or Polio but I guess the breakthroughs there haven't been big enough.

3. Night Owls are More Creative. I write my best papers at 1am, although that's getting to be a painful experience.

4. Do It Yourself Ornaments. How cool are these?

10.12.06

Lessons learned while cleaning

1. Kelly, I have your pants.
2. My paper towel holder is right above the place on my counter where I make the biggest mess and splash the most stuff on the wall. I'm not counting right behind the sink when I make my splashing calculations. No good can come of this.
3. Amanda's baking soda and vinegar tricks are the best things ever. Especially for removing soap scum. I also appreciate that they're not toxic.
4. My condo has a utility sink in the laundry room that is perfect for cleaning out the filter of my vacuum cleaner. I learned that you if I get dust wet it wont fly up in my face and make me sneeze from the pilot episode of Dr. Quinn. I'm not ashamed..
5. The before and after pictures were cool to take. It gave me a real sense of accomplishment.
6. It's good to listen to music while cleaning.
7. Only one thing was growing mold. I threw it away.
8. Almost the entire mess made in my bedroom was made this morning before I ran.
9. I also cleaned my bathroom. I don't know why I didn't take pictures of that process. Clutter wise the bathroom was definitely the cleanest in the house. This is the room where the baking soda and vinegar trick removed soap scum that I think had been here since I moved in. Not even Soft Scrub could get it off. You rock, Amanda.
10. Amanda is fun to talk to when she has a head cold and has been driving around the Twin Cities all day.
11. I can't believe I put the before pictures on the blog. See how grad school is frying my brains?

The joys of Firefox continue

Firefox ate my bookmarks today. Yes, yes you have seen this before. For desert it ate my tool bar settings. Now every time I close Firefox and open it back the tool bars are reset and all of them appear, even the ones I don't use. I even uninstalled and reinstalled it. That didn't help. It's sad there's so many hits on a google search for this issue. We'll see if I have it fixed now.

Here's the "after" pictures of my cleaning experience today:







Any of the Blogger Beta users out there know if it's possible to do a side by side before and after picture. If there's html code involved I'm willing to learn but tell me what it is at first.

Also, Why do computers take so long to boot up?. I'd like to echo the writers sentiments.