30.1.07

One more for the road

From the Tuesday Twosome:
1. How often do you update your blog/site and why?
I update my site every day. I try to post photos or little stories about my day. I've kind of gotten away from posting all the fun websites I find. I'm still looking though.

2. How often do you comment on other people’s sites and why?
Not too often, usually it's only on people I know. Usually to say something nice or funny (or both, but that's hard for me to pull off).

3. How often do you change the layout of your site and why?
I rarely change the layout of my site. To all of you who are into designing templates for blogger, here's my input: There's like two templates in the whole world that look good on wide screen computers. The two column ones, the big column isn't wide enough, same goes for the three column templates too. The template I have, the wide column is super wide and it's the only thing I like for my blog. The only other thing I monkey with sometimes is the links in the side column.

4. Do you ever feel guilty that you don’t reciprocate comments or you really don’t care?
No, I don't feel guilty. It never occurred to me 'till now. Thanks for putting it in my head though.

5. How many sites on average do you visit daily and of those, how many do you comment on? Every day I visit the following sites, besides my blog to see if the people have spoken.
Kelly's blog
The private blog I'm not linking to
Overheard in the Office which is an hysterically funny site.
PostSecret even though it's only updated once a week.
Eyeteeth because the guy is from Minneapolis and sometimes has cool stuff.
And Indexed which is a blog my friend Cindee would love if she'd give it a chance.

Ok

Ok, I think I've figured out some of the problem. It's possible that at least part of the whole "blogger won't upload my photos" issue was my responsibility because I was using a bookmark that took me to... well it's a long story but I've updated the bookmark accordingly. We'll see if I can actually post photos now.

While I'm waiting for the upload, from Ten on Tuesday: 10 Things I'd Like to Change About My Country
1. Universal health care
2. Afford homosexual couples the same rights as married heterosexual partners. I've decided we can call it marriage or "unions" or whatever, but couples should have equal rights.
3. Outlaw smoking. Sorry Kentucky.
4. Change the way prisons "work". Clearly locking people isn't doing the job.
5. Abolish the death penalty. There are like five other places in the world that put to death people who are under the age of 18 when they committed the crime. It's not a good list to be on.
6. Abolish the global gag rule.
7. Reform public education. Schools should be palaces. They should have at least as much money as our national defense because smart people are the countries best defense against whatever comes our way.
8. Acknowledge global warming.
9. Stop celebrating Columbus Day. It's the most racist holiday we have.
10. I wish all the news stations would stop running stories about "illegal immigrants". "Illegals" is just as bad a slur a the N word or any other unkind words we use to describe people.

Now, here's the "no ring" picture:


And here's the blogger errors of doom:

A sad sad day

First off, blogger still won't let me upload photos. Anyone who knows that this error means: bX-yvtdin, drop me a line. Also, Blogger your support, what support?

That's only part of the reason it's a sad sad day. The other reason is that I dropped a ring I've had since I was in high school. It wasn't an expensive ring, I think it only cost like $3, and it didn't have any real sentimental value. So when I say "dropped" I mean into the toilet. Since it was not expensive or particularly meaningful, and didn't have a diamond attached, I didn't go after it.

If I could've posted pictures, I would show you my bare finger. If I could've posted pictures last night, I would have shown you pictures (not screen caps, actual pictures) of the error messages blogger wanted me to have.

29.1.07

While I was annoyed...

While I was annoyed that Blogger (and now Picasa) can never upload my photos, I started poking around the web looking for other Blog services. One I found was Squarespace which is not that easy to figure out. I tried a couple others but nothing was as easy to use as what I've got now.

From Monday's a B!tch:
Random Joy
1. How do you feel about karaoke?(eg.Fun? Painful? Worst invention ever?)
It's only good in groups.
2. Have you ever accidentally lit something on fire?
Yes, the last time I did it was with a teenager watching. How good a role model am I?
3. Do you wear slippers around the house?
Sometimes, or my super fuzzy socks.
4. Plaid: stylish or offensive?
I don't know, I'd have to ask Kelly.
5. What's on top of your fridge?
A basket with a thing of pennies and some other stuff, and the requisite amount of dust for any fridge.

Also, this was on Digg, but I thought I'd show it to you: The Pop vs. Soda Debate Map. Do you know what you're drinking?

Besides fight with Blogger all night...

Besides fighting with Blogger all night, I exercised and watched Studio 60. This episode just makes me want to know what's going to happen next. Just like last week.

I think I've missed my calling. It's possible I should have been a rower. Tonight I decided (since there was no way I was running) that I'd take a turn on the stair machine and while I was doing that the rowing machine looked fun. I'd read somewhere that rowing machines actually give the most full body workout of any machine. I thought it was relaxing to just sit there and move forward and backwards. Clearly I wasn't working hard enough, but I'd already climbed stairs for 25 minutes.

I did the exercise bike yesterday. I might still be sore from that one...

These are the pics I was trying to post

Now, who can tell me why they're blurry...




Blogger Sucks and Picasa is Eating My Brain

I've tried to post something with photos several times. Ooh, nuts, I still need a photo for today. Anyone else having trouble uploading photos to blogger. It didn't even work when I tried to post through Picasa. Grrr.

Here's the photos that have been uploaded through Flickr. We'll see how this goes.

Blogger Sucks.

28.1.07

Where's the rest?

"But Liz" you say, "where's the rest of the pictures for this week?" Well, they're right here.


Mmmm, coffee. I went out after work with a couple of friends from school for a "study group".
It's a great idea. It's more like a support group. I really enjoy it. (24 Jan 07)



Another in the long line of "Bat things" people give me. (Thanks Sue.)
Bats don't have red eyes. They're not that scary. They eat bugs. (25 Jan 07)


This was Friday night, when I literally got home just in time to take a picture for the day.
(26 Jan 07) Right after I took that picture I got absolutely the worst nosebleed I've ever had in my life.
I was pretty scared. This one took ice to make it stop.


After the nosebleed I realized I wouldn't have any other opportunities on Saturday to take a picture either,
so I just took another one of the clock.
(I did take other pictures that day, but they were mostly of the nosebleed and so would be weird to post to this blog.)
(27 Jan 07).

Some hilarious questions and one of my own

From Randomness:
week of Jan28: Finish these sentences....
1. Someday I want to rule the world. No seriously, I just want to be able to take care of myself and be a good person.
2. I hate it when I get a sinus infection.
3. Last nite I dreamt something about the aquarium since that's where I was. I got a great night of sleep last night.
4. My greatest fear is oh boy....
5. I'm most proud of I'm not sure, probably something I did at the Science Museum.

From The Sunday 7: Name your seven favorite varieties of nuts.
1. Pistachios
2. Walnuts
3. Almonds
4. Coconuts (which are not a nut, but sound like one)
5. Hazelnuts (I can't believe it took me 'till 5 to remember that one)
6. Pecans
7. Peanuts (which are also not a nut, but everyone thinks they are)

And from Unconscious Mutterings:

  1. Limit :: No

  2. Voice :: Face

  3. Change :: another person is impossible

  4. Expression :: saying

  5. Tailor :: Sona's uncle

  6. Lemonade :: Minneapolis Police

  7. Thought :: Idea

  8. Phoebe :: Friends

  9. Impression :: Idea

  10. Sister :: Kelly and Amanda



Now, for my question: Why does Blogger not ever seem to want me to post pictures to my blog. I can only post through Picasa. Is this a conspiracy? Are my files too big? I keep them at a really high resolution.

A nice shot of Amanda and Kelly at dinner. This was before Amanda started playing with her food. Also before Kelly became "Wine Kelly" who everyone should really get a chance to meet.


I like this picture.
Posted by Picasa

Wow

It's been a wild weekend. Two overnights later and I'm still here. Last night the overnight was even more wild than usual because the Twins were filming a commercial in the aquarium which meant that not only were all of the regular lights on way later than usual, they brought extra TV lights as well. (It's kind of hard to lay kids down for bed when there's TV lights all over the place.)

Today I had dinner with Kelly and Amanda and Eric and a friend of his. Good veggie pot pie. Good crust. I also played my old favorite Nintendo game ever, Mario Brothers 3. I never really played it to win, I just liked some of the levels. Level 2 with the sand was ok, but Level 5 with the swirly castles was always the one I wanted to get to.

25.1.07

Taking a break

I'm taking a break from doing homework. Here's what I've found from 3X Thursday:

1. Do you like kids? Do you have them? If not, do you want them? Why/why not?

For now I like kids, especially when I get to give them back at the end of the day. I don't have any of my own. I think I'd like to have kids some day, but I'd like to, you know, meet their Dad first.

2. It's the beginning of the year, and that usually means new clothes or items you've gotten during the holidays. Get anything groovy (given or bought) so far?

I have a couple gift certificates I still need to spend. I got a pair of warm fuzzy black socks that are my laying around socks now and a cool running shirt for when I can run outside again.

3. Do you consider yourself selfish or selfless? Why?

I am both. My selfless (and also social work) side is probably nothing more than an attempt to atone for my total selfishness in every other aspect of my life. (Hi, my name is Liz and I'm the queen of the world.)

23.1.07

Picture Update


22 Jan 07
I have chapped lips. Why don't I use chap stick? I don't like stuff touching my lips.


23 Jan 07
These are baby artichokes. They make me happy.

how have you been

I've slowly been getting better. I'm watching a repeat of Studio 60 right now. There was a new one on last night. I was excited to see it but it just turned out to be a set-up for whatever is going to happen in the next couple of episodes.

On the exercise front, I haven't run in a while. Hopefully I do that tomorrow morning. (We'll see what time I wake up.) Saturday=nothing. Sunday=nothing, although I was cleaning up from an overnight so that is technically physical work. Monday I rode a bike on "fat burn" mode. I found out "fat burn" mode involves keeping my heart rate elevated but not as elevated as it would have been in "cardio" mode. Tonight I swam. I may have mentioned before that my "gaydar" goes totally haywire when guys get in bathing suits. There may have been an instance when I needed it. Grr.

21.1.07

Why


Why is this a cool picutre? Look closely, you can see the reflection of the camera that took it. (Also, it was snowing outside at the time. But you can't really see that from the picture.)
What did I do this weekend? Well first,
My friend Amanda came to see me. (This isn't a picture from that night. I have a good one of her, but she'd kill me if I posted it here.) Sadly, I was sicker than a dog when she visited me. Which brings me to my picture of the day for Saturday:
'Nuff said.

In other exciting news, the hole in my ceiling is now filled in and mud has been placed over most of the walls. Here's the work so far.

To anyone who's considering it, I highly recommend having a man just come and work on your house from time to time. Sit on the couch and do nothing while he's working. Just enjoy having someone else work for you.

The Lizzie Update

Alright, here's what's been going on in my life. Given the recent success someone else in my life had on Geek 2 Geek I thought I'd try it out a while ago so I signed up for a free account.

Then one day this dude emailed me and sent me a message. I looked at his picture. I didn't want to go out with him. I am that shallow. I am a bad person. Seriously, women are always all over men for judging us on our looks and the shape of our body. I shouldn't do it too. And yet...

I read a book where the author talked about these people who smoked and knew it was bad for them but didn't stop. But these people were pet owners and wouldn't smoke around their dogs and cats because they didn't want to hurt their animals. The doctor said, "Why can't you love yourself enough to stop smoking? Why can't you love yourself as much as you love your pets?" I think it's the same thing for me. I just want someone who loves themselves enough to take care of themselves. Trust me, if you take care of yourself there's no way you can handle me.

I didn't write this guy back. Before you go thinking I'm a total scoundrel, here's the thing. I signed up and made a free account and did a profile. I didn't put all the pieces together about the free accounts. I can create a profile. People can "wink" at me. I can "wink" at other people. However, I can't send messages or read messages without signing up for a paid account. So, I got an email notification the message was received, and I tried to open it. I couldn't. I just don't have the money to invest right now and I get so few matches on that site it's not really worth it at this point.

Some funny questions

For some reason or other, it seemed like a good idea to take a personality test this morning. Apparently I have the same personality with 3 hours of sleep as I do with many more. I am an INFJ, go here and scroll down to see what they say about INFJs. Note the psychic abilities. For a longer explanation, go here.

From the Sunday Seven:
Name seven pet peeves other drivers commit.
1. Cutting me off.
2. Cutting me off and then slamming on your brakes to make a left turn.
3. Not giving the bus the right of way. I remember my time on the bus.
4. Slowing down when the light is still green but the "don't walk" sign is starting to flash.
5. Driving in the passing lane. Ohioans, you know who you are. It's only you that do this.
6. Driving slower than the semi you're supposedly passing.
7. Staying next to a semi in a rain storm. I know it's a little daunting with all that water being splashed on your windshield. I know it makes you want to slow down, which keeps you next to the truck and prolongs the situation. I promise, less water will get on your windshield if you'd just pass the truck.

From Randomness: What's Your Favorite Comfort Food?
I have so many. I always love Spaghetti. Sadly, I've decided to be a "vegetarian" so no more bacon cheeseburgers. Fried chicken is good. Sometimes chocolate. Sometimes a latte. Egg drop soup. Hmmmm, maybe I should make lunch soon...

From The Saturday 8:
1. a high-paying job (with great benefits and minimal actual effor) at krappe hours ... take it or leave it?
I think 9-5 are crap hours. I'd love a job where I didn't have to drive at rush hour.
2. do you have a "one that got away" in your past romantic life?
I think I might be that for someone. For me, I don't know.
3. what is one job you would never take, no matter how much they paid you?
Hang man.
4. what behaviour is completely unacceptable in someone you're dating?
Dating someone else at the same time.
5. have you ever dated a co-worker? how did that work out?
Yes. It was fine. We're actually still friends, years later.
6. have you ever been sexually harrassed, witnessed someone get sexually harrassed, or had a friend be sexually harrassed in the workplace?
I choose not to answer this question.
7. the opposite of #3 ... aside from being paid to loaf around and relax on a beach somewhere (or your lazy activity of choice), what's your dream job?
I love my job at the Science Museum. It makes me sad that I'll have to give that up to go be a social worker.
8. my new boss was totally shitty to me this week "on principle," and even snapped at me quite bitchily; my colleagues were horrified. you have the support of your colleagues, but not your boss ... you love your job - what do you do?
Avoid the boss. Luckily I can do that in almost every job I have.

From Unconscious Mutterings:
1. Audition ::Play
2. Urgent ::Now
3. Lunch ::Chipotle
4. Adult ::Movie
5. Mug ::Coffee
6. Awful ::Bad
7. Comics ::Cartoons
8. Damage ::-d goods
9. Kicks ::Shits and giggles
10. Experience :: I have some (seriously, that's what came to my mind first, no matter how dirty it sounds).

19.1.07



This is the hole in my bathroom ceiling that got patched this morning. See, it's not that big.

Catching up

I'm using this post to catch up on a few things.

First exercise: Tuesday night I swam masters. Wednesday I ran 4 miles. Thursday night I swam masters and two cool things happened. First, I completed the whole workout which rarely happens. Second, I wasn't in the slow lane. I was in the second slowest lane. This morning I ran 2.5 miles and then had to stop due to uh... digestive issues. I rode the bike for 20 minutes in "fat burner" mode. I don't know what that means.

Second, 18,000 questions of the day:
17 Jan 07
You’ve been given 3 parachutes, but there are 4 people who need them. Who will you not give one to: Your boss, your spouse (or significant other), the last person who called you on the telephone, or the last person who rang your doorbell? (Of course, all 4 of them are up really super duper high in the air, and the parachute is truly the only way to save them. You are safe on the ground, so there is no need to give yourself a parachute.)

I don't have a significant other, so this is dramatically simplified for me. Also, the last person to knock on my door is the repair man who fixed my light and is currently mending the hole in my bathroom ceiling. Even though I don't know him too well, he definitely gets a parachute. The last person who called me was... I think it was Amanda. She gets a parachute too. This question because it assumes I have only one boss. How quaint.

Have you ever been stuck in an elevator?
No.

What is your middle name?
Elizabeth

Well, here we are! A new home for the question of the day! I like it, simple and easy to use. Nice big box to type into, WYSIWYG editor. Yeh, I feel very at home :o)So, in honour (hey I’m Welsh that’s how I spell it!) of the new home let me ask you … have you stayed put very long? Do you like moving? How many times have you moved? Have you always lived in a house / flat? And finally … how long does it take to unpack?

I considered not answering this question because of the trauma.
I have not stayed put for long. Sort of. I moved to Minneapolis and lived here 1.5 years and this is where all the drama starts. I lived in Africa for 2 months, Florida for 1 month, Pennsylvania for 2 months and then back to Minneapolis. I've been here for a little over 2 years but have moved from an apartment to a condo since I've moved back. It was a move of ten blocks but it was still...
I am not a fan of moving. I am a fan of my friends who helped me move, one of whom got engaged last night
(congratulations). As an adult I have lived in one part of a two family house and now in a condo. As a kid I grew up in a two family house.
It took me a while to unpack this time because the place I moved into was a mess. Like it hadn't been lived in for a while and was dusty. (My nose is running just thinking about it.) Most of the times before that I either car moved (Minneapolis both times) or had one or two suitcases (Malawi, Florida, Pennsylvania) so those didn't take too long to unpack.


18 Jan 2007
Have you ever worn your slippers in public? What kind of slippers do you have? Visions of pink bunny slippers come to mind...

No. I bring slippers with me when I'm staying at someone's house, or (and this only makes sense to people who live in Minnesota and all those similarly situated) when I'm going to friends' houses in the winter and I need inside shoes.

So, tell us, right here in the comment box, what’s the weather like wherever you are today?

I'll answer this for yesterday since that's the day of the question. It was snowing a little, less than an inch but warmer than it has been. I almost got to 30*. Again, only those in Minnesota or those similarly situated get why that's so cool.

Finally: the light in my living room is on. How excited am I?

Foto Pherrets


This is my first time doing the Foto Pherrets meme. The word for the week is "drop". This is me "dropping" a tissue in front of my camera while it's on busrt mode. This picture looked cool to me. I wonder what I was watching on TV in the background. (18 Jan 07)

Photo Update


I did laundry (which seemed like a good idea at the time) and one of my socks wasn't completey uncrumpled. So when I pulled the socks out of the dryer to put them away, they were two different sizes. The crumpled (wet) one was slightly longer. I'm hoping that problem will just correct itself. 16 Jan 07


Something else I learned while doing laundry: my patio door is frozen shut. How cool is that? 16 Jan 07


One of my new favorite meals from the Eating Well magazing I just got. There's more to it than potatoes. I just thought that was a cool picture. 17 Jan 07

16.1.07

not sure if I put this up already

I'm not sure if I put this up already but it looks like a good read. Again, I haven't read it yet because I'm trying to factor in homework and sleep into this equation.

The Healing Power of Water.

My own personal story with water: For the past couple of days, yesterday in particular I've been hungrier than a horse. I was wondering if I had a tape work but I decided that's gross and I couldn't possibly have one. Why was I so hungry? I think I was thirsty. I didn't drink a lot of water Sunday night after running which was silly and I didn't drink a lot of water yesterday because I knew I wasn't exercising 'till tonight (I swam Master's again by the way). I was afraid my stomach was going to digest itself today until I started filling up on water. And then I was fine...

I Should Be Doing Homework

I should be doing homework. I wish I had Kelly's discipline.

While I was eating dinner, I found some funny things:
1. My kind of vegetarian.
2. Can Jews and Evangelicals Get Along? I haven't read this article, but it looks interesting.
3. The Nuclear Plant in Monticello Shut Down. It doesn't sound so bad when you start reading the story and see that a metal box fell and triggered and automatic shut down which worked properly and the incident was outside the reactor and no radiation was released. Keep reading... I'll make my comment at the end.
4. Your Boss Really is Clueless. Another one I haven't read, but it looks good.
5. The freakiest picture ever. I'm putting the link here specifically for Cindee because she will find it particularly cool.

Finally, the Question fof the Day:
Name one thing you did in the past that you no longer do but wish you did?
I miss playing with bats. It's a great summer job.
Fox's new show "Dirt" takes a dark look at the relationship between the entertainment industry and the tabloids as it follows Cox as the hard-charging editor. Do you read the tabloids? Do you think that the entertainment industry needs the tabloids? And finally, would you ever be a tabloid reporter?
I don't read the tabloids. I think they're fairly hurtful. I don't think any industry needs the tabloids, but if they're making money, it's because there's a market for that kind of stuff. (Shame on us, but there's a market none the less.) No, I don't think as an introvert, I'd be good at any kind of reporting, especially not tabloid reporting.

The comment on the story: They wait 'till I'm already engrossed in the story and not freaking out to mention the box that fell was 35,000 lbs?

15.1.07

Photo Update

My packing for the overnight I wound up not having. Oh well. At least I'm packed for next time.
13 Jan 2007

It's cold enough that I turned on my thermostat. This is truly amazing and you know that if you've ever been to my house this time of year.

14 Jan 2007

Yes, that's right, it does snow in Minnesota. Apparently it also gets really cold. I'll let you know how I do with that.

15 Jan 07

One more for the road

It snowed today, so I'm not planning on hurrying right in to work tomorrow. Add to that it's MLK day tomorrow and I'm the only one that has to work, not enough people driving on the express ways to clear it off and melt the snow.

Here's what I just found:
1. Another MySpace Phishing Scheme, odd given that I just talked about the last one with my team.
2. Firefox 3 Alpha 1 has been released. I love the "Alpha=Crashes" comment. I don't know if it's true, but it is funny.
3. The Colorblind Test reminds me of Little Miss Sunshine.

From The Sunday Seven
Name seven celebrities whom you'd be happy to go a year without hearing another word about: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, Rosie and Donald Trump, Courtney Love. That's all I got. I considered Brangelina but they do nice work for the developing world so they can stay in the news.

From Curious as A Cat:
If you could follow your heart and do something that would take you outside your daily existence, what would you do? How would you accomplish it? Why?
It's getting to be the time of year I miss Africa. I miss the singing. I don't know if I could really go back there or not, but it makes my heart hurt not to be there sometimes.

What is your most favorite saying? What one thing (word or phrase) do you say the most?
My favorite saying is from Edgar Cayce:
Cultivate the ability to to see the ridiculous and retain the ability to laugh. For, know, only in those that God hath favored is there the ability to laugh, even when clouds of doubt arise, or when every form of disturbance arises.

(Really I just use the first part.) I also love the Marianne Williamson Quote about "Out Deepest Fears". That one's so popular even Nelson Mandela quoted it. The phrase I say the most is typically some variation on "that's the pot calling the kettle black".

What one job in history would you have wanted?
I actually like the job I have right now. I would've liked to ride horses maybe.

Here's the full Marianne Williamson Quote:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

14.1.07

Running, too much internet shopping and other fun things

First off, I ran outside today. Before it snowed. I couldn't go to the YWCA because they were having an Indoor Triathlon. How cool is that? Well, I could've gone later, but I wanted to run... I ran 3.6 miles (the short run). I did not time myself. I was too busy trying to keep my face from freezing off. It actually wasn't that cold but the wind chill was a bear. Thanks again to the parents for the cool running shirt I got for Christmas. It kept me nice and warm.

I was supposed to do an overnight last night. It got canceled under circumstances which were fine for me, but someone was hurt so I hope that person is ok. I'll do my first overnight next week instead.

I went to a party for a co-worker last night since I didn't have to work. The part was about 1/2 mile from my house and I didn't want to drive because I was promised good margaritas upon my arrival. So, I set out from my house on this walk, and I thought, "this would be so much shorter if I ran. It's only half mile." So I ran there. It was pretty quick. And I ran intervals. Run two blocks walk one. It was really too cold to be walking anyways.

I've tried doing some homework today. I'm not sure how well it worked. I actually haven't spent too much time horsing around on the web today. Keep in my mind, I'm also about to post stuff I saw yesterday.

1. President Bush's Comments on Iraq made on 60 Minutes, later echoed by Vice President Cheney on CNN. This is truly terrifying.
2. Hens are laying eggs with cancer fighting proteins.
3. Canada may change their copy right laws to end fair use. I've been really interested in this whole DRM meets iPod meets Zune meets the record companies meets the artist who are now asking for the DRM to be removed. I'm not really sure what to make of it all. If you get it, please let me know.
4. A 200 Year Study Changes the Way We Manage Forests. What's more boring than watching the grass grow? Studying how logs grow mold? It actually sounds cool in the "I'm a geek" kind of way.
5. The Bonsai Potato Project. Could be a fun gardening project with the seniors.
6. A Map of GDP Density. The biggest surprise to me: I always forget there's nothing in the middle of Australia, and really not much on the west coast either. Also, what's in the middle of Alaska up near the Canadian border? It's so far inland.
7. Speaking of DRM, Boingboing's take on the iPhone.
8. Remember Mario 3?, my favorite Nintendo game ever. (Links to Youtube Video.)
9. Thinkature. Anyone know anything about this site?
10. Foods that make you feel bad. I love my Alfredo too. Love the comment about Pork Rinds.
11. Aids for the busy housewife (to remain in servitude for the rest of her natural life).
12. An Ultra-Compact Calendar. How cool is this? Ok, it may not be that cool, but every once in a while I think something like this would be super useful.
13. 500 Useless Facts because some of you might be on my Trivial Pursuit team sometime.
14. A really funny test that Kelly and Amanda should do but probably not at work. It asks if you know which urinal to use if various other urinals are being used. It's funny to look at the answers, some of which I didn't know. Nice commentary in the answer section as well.

Now, for the memes:
From The Question of the Day
For Saturday:The IT planning for year 4 that took me hours! I have looked everywhere :o( I'm going to have to re-write it *swears loudly* "#$%&*!!"

So, tell us, have you lost anything lately? And do you have any tips for finding the planning?

Most of you remember when my computer crashed and planning and actually restoring my computer took forever. I'm still not actually done.

For finding the planning, you can do a search on your computer for files that were edited during a specific time, like specific days. If you've looked for 4 hours, I'm assuming you've tried that already. In the future, use a Mac.

and
Have you ever been in a hot air balloon?
No.

For Sunday: What is the oldest television show you actually remember watching as a child?
I think it was probably M*A*S*H that I was when I was young. I watched Andy Griffith, but not 'till I was a teen or almost teen.

From The Saturday 8:
1. the millionaire "secret santa" has passed. do you contribute to charity?
I'm a Social Worker.
2. if you had a million dollars to donate to any charity or group, where would you give it?
To Anti-Malaria research. Malaria in Africa kills more people than AIDS. There was a West Wing Ep about this where this fake Bill Gates typer character wanted to spend $1 Billion and asked the chief of staff where it would be most helpful. She basically said, "go build roads in Africa and if you get done with that, think about plumbing.
3. do you think that the tax deduction benefit is worth giving?
I don't itemize my taxes so I don't really get that benefit.
4. do you patronise goodwill or any other community charity store?
I don't, but I do take clients there sometimes.
5. do you give money to people who are begging?
Depends on my mood. Not often although more here than when I'm in other countries.
6. many cities are starting ordinances that bar or limit charities from giving out free food/clothing to homeless people in municipal areas. do you agree or disagree with this limitation, and why?
Oh lord, let's not go there again.
7. many homeless are mentally ill and it is difficult to locate them, diagnose them, and monitor their medication/intake. do you think that the federal government does enough for the mentally-ill homeless in your country, and why?
I'm not sure where this blogger is from, but in the US it's typically local government (cities and counties) that serve the homeless. One of the cool things Minneapolis did recently was divert some tax money so that a shelter could stay open 24 hours in the cold. Before that funding came through, the shelter woke everyone and made them leave by 7am. Do you know how could it is in Minneapolis at 7am?
8. how "giving" are you with friends? have you been burned in the past lending money/time to someone who either does not pay you back or is ungrateful/expectant of your time/money, or have you had relatively good experiences with giving/lending?
I'm not sure. I think all of my friends and I are much more generous with things like time (Thank You to Amanda and Kelly for helping me move that one time, and then painting my bathroom later, and...), and food (Thank you to Amanda and Kelly for everything you've ever cooked and fed me. It's all been great, except the garlic boca burgers with the bacon Amanda. That was a woops.)

From The Saturday 6:
1. If you knew you would die the following day, what would you do with your blog: edit some parts of it and leave it up for posterity, leave it as it is, or delete it?
Wow, I have no idea. Hopefully I haven't written anything too bad here. It's the other blog I'd worry about...
2. Other than your own blog, what single website do you visit the most?
Uhhh... This should be easy. My Del.icio.us account, and Singingfish, Kelly's blog, and Cindde's web site because I have artwork there. Also, I read tons of RSS feeds.
3. How many different email accounts do you currently own, counting work and home?
Oh lord. Lemme see, yahoo, fastmail, excite, UMN, Science Museum, UWA, DARTS. Seven. They all serve different purposes. The Excite one is exclusively to give to places I know will spam me.
4. Take the quiz: How addicted to the internet are you?
I Am 33% Addicted to the Internet

Internet? Please. I'm definitely not geeky enough to be that addicted.
I have a full life off your computer - and the internet is just a small pastime (that keeps me from doing my homework).


5. Are you more likely to visit the internet the first thing in the morning or the last thing at night? Night. That way I can tell you all how far I ran or swam. (It's nice to be able to keep track of that here.)

6. Who was the last person you had an email/instant message conversation with? When was the last time you saw that person in person? Uhhh, I email a lot to people at work. Most recently it was over a situation where someone wasn't getting paid and they should've been. It was a whole bunch of people on those emails but I saw those people yesterday. I don't use IM.

Finally from Unconscious Mutterings:
1. Episode ::Studio 60
2. Source ::Code
3. Jerk ::Mean person
4. Introduce ::me at a party
5. Ralph :: Barf
6. Stare :: down
7. Cast :: and crew
8. Scenario :: doesn't sound that good to me either (line from The American President)
9. Flu :: Sick
10. Mad :: as hell

13.1.07




Blogger gave me an error when I tried to upload this to their server (as usual), some I'm trying the Picasa route. These are banana corn fritters and they make me happy.

12.1.07

I need sleep

I meant to run today. I didn't. I did have lunch with Kelly. (I hope you feel better soon.)

From The Question of the Day:
Long queues
It took me over an hour (normally takes 20 mins) to get home last night! Gale force winds in the UK have made for horrendous driving conditions and roads were chock-a-block. The port of Dover (just down the road) is closed and a lorry had toppled over on the road! So I sat in the car, listened to Radio 2 ~ Steve Wright and then Mark Goodier (at least I think that's who was standing in for Chris Evans) and spoke to my mum on the phone.

So, tell us, what do you do in traffic jams?

It depends. I get aggravated or listen to good music. Sometimes both. Hopefully just the good music. My legs tend to hurt really bad in traffic jams. Anyone else have this? Who else drives a stick?

Here's what I've seen in my internet travels today:
1. A selection of Robert Anton Wilson Essays. The site itself is fine, I just found it odd this was on the del.icio.us hotlist.
2. I do believe my jaw dropped when I read this.
3. See which blogs are popular. Sorry, I'm not on there.
4. The state of New Orleans. There have actually been a lot of murders in Minneapolis this year too. Triple the rate of last year.
5. Update on the first 100 hours of congress. I only get the significance of this, and why politicians have to front load so much legislation from all those years of watching The West Wing.
6. What does Barak Obama know. Short cool story.
7. How do you get free parking in NYC? Work for the government.
8. Yahoo getting around Adblock. Yahoo also still thinks I'm a spammer. I can't send emails from them right now. I still get all their spam from people who think I'm a millionaire homeowner who needs new health and life insurance to pay for my larger breasts, f*ck buddies, and enhanced penis.
9. Mars Rover may have spotted sojurner and then come over to say "hi". How cute is that?
10. Top 10 Foods to Help Fight Cholesterol. I had no idea about the mushrooms. Whole grains didn't even make the list.
11. Adventures in raw food. I knew someone who did that once. I think it's a really hard diet to keep up. Buy a food dehydrator.
12. learn to be a curious photographer. Like I have to be told twice.
13. This guy lived in the woods for twenty years. I wonder what sent him there in the first place.
14. Simple perspective technique.
15. 13 reasons to doubt the iPhone hype.
16. This one speaks for itself.

11.1.07

3x Thursday

And finally:

3x Thursday: 01/11/y2k+7: Transportation

1. How do you get from one place to the next? Car? Train? Walk? Something else? Do you like that mode of transportation? Why/why not? I use my car almost exclusively now. I work in the suburbs and I use my car to make home visits to BFE where they don't allow buses. I love my car. I particularly love that I can sing as loud as I want to and not bother anyone while I'm in my car. (I'd be bothering people because I'm a bad singer you see.)

2. Do you have a car? Do you like it? Do you like having it? Would you consider not having one? Why/why not? See number one. I think for now I'm fairly attached because almost every social work job in life requires a car, and because it's not convenient for me to use the bus to shop for groceries.

3. What do you think of public transportation? Do you have good public transportation where you live? Do you use it? Why/why not? I actually have a high opinion of public transportation. The Twin Cities has decent, although quite expensive, public transportation. I am in a logistically difficult location for public transportation. I have to transfer at least once to get almost anywhere now. The exception being Uptown and Bar Abeline where they make the guacamole right in front of me. The buses that I can walk to pretty much go downtown or east but not far enough east. I am a light rail fan as well. I take that to the airport all the time. I have used public transit here in varying degrees. Right now I use it less because of the internship in the burbs, and having a hard time taking the bus to like four jobs in one day.

I couldn't..

I couldn't go to sleep without showing y'all my web travels for the day:
1. Get Fit Twin Cities, another reason we're one of the skinniest cities in America. Anyone wanna do this with me?
2. Seven Things You Didn't Know About the Computer Electronics Show. What did I learn from this article, AOL employs hippies and Yahoo does not. That doesn't seem quite right.
3. Automatically Backup Your Harddrive, obviously something I should invest in.
4. What Does Love Mean? I'm going to give this blog a chance. Looks like it has potential.
5. Wii+Broadband=Porn, it's the new math.

In other news, I saw some people from my internship last year. I had a really good lunch at the Midtown Global Market. The Global Market really strikes me as a place where white people can go so they think they're not being racist. Sorry, I'll calm down.
 


I took this photo in my elation of the camera working. Really it was a test photo. I choose to post it because that whole big plastic box is full of the CDs I've been importing to my computer. I'm through all the regular CDs. The ones that are mixes I've made at various points in life are way more complicated to rip.
Posted by Picasa
 



I'm smiling here for two reasons. First, my camera is working again. I'm so happy I almost cried. Second, my hair is wet in this photo because I was swimming in the Masters Swim Lesson/Workout. The girl I was in the lane with said, "so this is you just started, wow." We were in the slow lane but I mostly kept up with her the whole night. I swim slower than most everyone else, but I really don't take long breaks in between the drills either so it all evens out.

I will now do my happy dance

I hit the power button on my camera and it turned on. It takes pictures and everything.

10.1.07

I read too much

A mostly uneventful day. I did read a lot.

The Questions of the Day:
What if some nice, polite, peaceful aliens landed at your house one day. What would you do?
I have no idea, but I think it'd be pretty cool.
We are now 10 days into 2007, how are you doing with any New Year's Resolutions you may have made? Did you make a resolution this year?
The stuff I wanted to try was cross training to preserve my legs for years of running to come and try being a vegetarian. There was a moment when I was forced to eat bacon, but it was in soup I made and froze long before the whole "let's be a vegetarian again" idea popped into my head. I have been swimming. I'm having a good time.
1. This made me laugh.
2. Open mouth, insert foot.
3. News about Health Care in Minnesota.
4. For those of you whose digital cameras didn't drown in your backpack.
5. Try Vista on the web. I haven't yet but it looks like a cool idea.
6. For the next time Kelly and Eric do a brunch. PS - Invite me.
7. An interesting map of American casualties hometowns. I was reading earlier a story about how the majority of soldiers who are dying are from small towns and how the loss of one person impacts a small town more than the loss of several soldiers from a large city.
8. This story isn't, well I didn't read it. I was more reacting to the headline. If they're stealth fighters aren't we not supposed to know where they are?
9. 25 Myths about personal finance. Check out number 6. You guys rock. Way to go with the whole "there is enough to go around theme.
10. A comment about bloggers and a comment about IS for the road.

9.1.07

Wow

I swam tonight, in the "Master's Group" at the YWCA. Basically it's adults who want to swim. As with all things in life, I am slow. Really I would be faster but I seldom kick when I do freestyle.

What else have I been doing? Playing on the internet, I still love RSS feeds. Best things since sliced bread.

1. The Question of the Day:
What is the secret to success? I have no idea, but it seems like there should be something about treating people well.
What color are your eyes? Would you permanently change their color if you could? My eyes are blue. I like them blue.
Do you have a hard time making eye contact when talking to people? Yes. I blame living in Malawi.

2. I can't believe this happened in Minnesota. I accept no responsibility for this.
3. This reminded me of work. Don't ask.
4. This made me laugh out loud. Not very many of these do that.
5. I just thought the picture in this story was cool. It's really only cool if you know the Metrodome.
6. This headline made me laugh out loud. Poor Jersey.
7. An article about how we study nutrition. It's really relevant given the renewed interest in health and nutrition of late, especially as linked to diabetes.
8. MIT's Open Course Ware Program. Don't they have an open source license too?
9. 15 Foods You Shouldn't Live Without, again relevant given the discussion of how we study these things. Although honestly, doesn't flax seed need all the help it can get?
10. Another Firefox Tweak.
11. 57 Tips for Writing Your Term Paper for all of my friends in school. My tip: 57 is too many of anything for a student to deal with.
12. Having low expectations makes you happier. Great, I can't wait to tell my kids.
13. The MacWorld Keynote for those of you who love or love to hate Macs.
14. Great commentary on blogging. For my friends who've adopted blogs and then let them die a slow death (you know who you are).
15. The Truck Number, one of the most randomly funny things I've read tonight. And that's saying something because there was good material tonight.

8.1.07

Ok, it's possible I've calmed down

It's possible I've calmed down some since the camera disaster. I'm not entirely sure.

Here's what I've been looking at to distract me:
1. From The Question of the Day there are two today:
Pick one: Die Hard or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?
Indiana Jones, hands down.
If you were to audition for Grease, what Grease song would you sing at your audition?
Uhhh, I was in a production of Grease as a band member (guitar player) but I didn't have to audition. My participation was sort of mandatory. I had a blast though.
2. An interesting look at the No Child Left Behind Act
3. A Look at Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2007
4. Pick the new PBS Science Show, I should totally do this with the kids.
5. 5 New Year's Resolutions You Owe it to Yourself to Keep. I do all of those except the one about alcohol. Hey, I can drink more, how cool is that?
6. The Whole "A Duck's Quack Doesn't Echo" thing, one of my favorite childhood myths.
7. Something about Polar Bears having invisible powers. I totally got you to click on the link.
8. Really bad news for my Diet Pepsi consumption.
9. Schools are now creating wellness programs although it looks like the implementations my leave something to be desired. I'm not sure if I side with the parents or the school in this whole thing. Supposedly the school is looking out for the interest of the child only is this case it comes out like, "hey parents, you're totally screwing up your kids and you're doing it so badly we noticed".
10. A way to tell when to buy at Target?
11. 3d printers, how cool is that?
12. I always love seeing statistics for who uses different sites. Here are the stats for who uses Digg
13. Big Brother Poster in Britain
14. Pencil Sculptures, possibly the coolest thing I've seen all day.
15. A cool quote from Emily Dickinson.

That's all for now.

::Looks around::

Looks around and holds out arms...
I need a hug

ok, I'm only slightly (read: totally) near tears

I had water in my bag which leaked all over my digital camera.   I have the camera 
out, the battery out, the SD card out, and it's sitting on the top of my computer screen hopefully drying out. To top it off, my cookie settings at work are all cattywompus and won't allow me to post to blogger in Firefox (stupid Google). I'm going to go cry now...

7.1.07

I'm so happy that I'm amused by this

Well, this really could have aggravated me except it's really funny. I just blogged about Keynote, a freeware program. I was playing around with it and looking for keyboard shortcuts. One of the shortcuts I wanted was an increase tab indent shortcut because for unknown reasons hitting the tab key in this particular program doesn't do that. So, the shortcut is the ctrl key and that little backwards apostrophe at the upper left of most keyboards above the tab key and next tot he number 1. The other character on that key is the squiggle line that goes over the letter N in some Spanish words. That key is not on my keyboard. At this point all I can do is be amused.

In other news, I'm still adding CDs back onto my computer. I haven't totally made peace with Media Player 11 but it is really slick with the album art. For some reason it has trouble finding my internet connection sometimes.

I also found a couple other funny things on the internet in this study break:
NASA May Have Killed the Martians: perhaps the funniest Slashdot headline ever.
2. Weaning the Military from the GOP. The number of active duty military personnel identifying as republicans is declining at a more rapid than normal rate. It talks about the political implications as well.
3. 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written. I'm surprised the Old Testament isn't #1, that's something three religions share after all.
4. A great article about the impact of technology on social interaction. I love the cell phone statistics in particular. Maybe I'll show this to the kids.

It's possible I'll make progress on the independent study

It's possible I will make progress on the Independent Study. I have made some headway today. I read two chapters and it's only 8:00, I could read more. I'd like to take a moment to recommend a freeware program I read about called Keynote which is an Outliner. I'm testing it out by keeping my notes for each chapter of the book on the system instead of on paper. Please god don't let my computer crash 'till I get that backed up.

In the time I wasn't doing homework today, I watched The English Patient which I haven't quite finished. I'm saving the end 'till I can do a couple more chapters of reading. I also did laundry. In doing laundry I realized I needed to clean out both my clothes closet and my linens closet. Luckily I'd just read this post from Lifehacker about how to store sheets effectively. I also discovered lots of old clothes that I hadn't worn for a while, which brings me to my picture:


Why do I have a picture of me wearing a pair of pants? 'Cause I was so surprised they fit I had to take a picture.

I also had time to poke around the web, mostly I found memes but a couple stories as well.
1. The Question of the Day: What is your favorite ice cream topping?
Graeter's doesn't need toppings.
2. From Slashdot, Even the New York Times likes Firefox better than Microsoft. It doesn't really say that, I'm reading in between the lines.
3. From Randomness If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?
I think for now I'll have to say social worker. Secretly I've always wanted to be a rock star. When I say rock star, I mean "famous musician", I'm more interested in playing music for lots of people than the fame thing. (Obviously I'd be ok with the fortune part.)
4. From The Sunday Seven:Name your seven favorite television series finales.
Someone else said M*A*S*H which I agree with. I love the Friends finale and the Frasier finale. The Seinfeld episode was good. I also liked the NYPD Blue finale. I'm deliberately not putting The West Wing on here because while that show obviously has a special place in my heart the finale sucked rocks. Anyone else? I have two spots left. Wanna take 'em?
1. Incomplete ::Grade
2. Bobby ::Kennedy
3. Chopstick ::Kao, don't ask
4. Trauma ::ER
5. Hesitate ::uhhhh
6. Leap ::of faith
7. Magnify ::Magnifying glass
8. Yards ::grass
9. Alexander ::The Great
10. Fracture ::broken bone
These are really hard because when I see the words I get images in my head more than words, so what I write is usually a description of the image, except for Alexander the Great.

6. Finally, from Wordbeads, the challenge is to use the following words in a sentence, paragraph or story. This is my first try.
Hen, Reboot, Sequence, Sat, Raw

I've been rubbing my face raw with frustration. I sat in this same exact chair for 20 hours now trying to get my computer to reboot properly. The only break I've had from computer troubles all weekend was seeing my friend Hen and playing our favorite game, Sequence.

I'm not sure if the rules say I have to use the words exactly how they're defined. I really do have a friend whose nickname is Hen. Somehow I don't think that's the "Hen" Wordbead meant.


While totally lame, my old standby for pictures does seem to be the kinds of messes I can make. This is my table over run by mail. Can anyone make this stop? I would have done homework today (I think) but then Chris called me in the middle of the night, plus I had this mess to clean up.
Posted by Picasa

6.1.07

Wow

I think I wrote about being interested in some of the free media players. So I googled "best free media player" hoping for some reviews. I got some of the usual suspects, VLC media player, democracy player and winamp. I also got a bunch of sites that McAfee Site Advisor didn't like, including one that had "243 red downloads" which means spyware and adware. This is the Site Advisor report on the bad website. That's just too ridiculous not to mention.

A good nap

Sometimes on a Saturday, a good nap is just what's called for. Obviously, I've already had mine.

I woke up this morning (late) and ran at the Y. I think it's safe to say i won't be going to the YWCA after say 9am on Saturdays anymore. It was packed. I ran 5 miles and figured out that I'd been running too far before. I love it when my run gets shorter. After that I got in the pool, which was really crowded. I kicked ten laps just to let my legs cool down and then got in the hot tub. I really missed the hot tub. On the other hand, my skin may peel off at any moment.

I realized I hadn't written about exercising here for a while. I know no one else cares except possibly Amanda who's partially responsible for this, but it's nice for me to be able to go back and look at what I did. So, this week I joined on Tuesday and ran 5 miles. On Wednesday I also ran 5 miles. Thursday I swam. I think it was the highlight of my week to just get in the pool and swim a mile. That's ridiculous. I didn't think I'd be able to do that. My arms were tired afterwards but not particularly sore. Yesterday I ran 5 miles, which brings me to today. It's possible I'm the only distance runner on that track. Because it takes me almost an hour to run 5 miles I have some time on my hands to see who else is running and what they're doing. No one else is out there for an hour except maybe some walkers. I love watching all the walkers on the track. They're a fairly diverse group, ages, physical abilities, everything.

I've also had some time to poke around the web today (after watching Pride and Prejudice and taking a nap).
1. Immigrant Innovators is a story about the diversity in technology start ups, and the lack of Americans in STEM careers.
2. Mac OS X Shines in Comparison to Windows Vista compares the two operating systems. I haven't read the whole thing yet but I keep paying attention to these articles since I may be in the marked for a new laptop soon.
3. Golfing in Chicago, in January?. El Nino is back. When I was home over Christmas the highs were in the 50s every day. I thought, "oh this would be odd for Minnesota, but for Cincinnati this weather is almost normal." Guess not.
4. Ads on bins will boost travelers delight during TSA Screening. No they wont. I remember being at one airport (now, ask me which one) where the TSA guy wouldn't let people use the bins because it was slowing down the lines. It did actually make the line move faster when people just threw their coats and shoes on the belt and didn't neatly load those things. Obviously this was before laptops had to be screened separately and way before the whole liquid explosive things.
5. Movie Spider. I saw this site on Digg and Del.icio.us. Anyone know what it's about?
6. PCs Get to Scream in 2007. This is how fast your computer will be. I can hardly wait.
7. Wacky Warning Labels and possibly the coolest contest ever.

And finally, The Saturday 8.
1. i have a nasty head cold. when was the last time you were sick, and what ailed you? I'm sure it was a sinus infection. Possibly this summer. It'll be that time of year again soon.

2. i left my contacts out last night by accident, and they dried out. ugh. do you wear glasses or contacts to correct your vision? if so, for how long? Yes, I wear contacts or glasses. I got glasses in tenth grade and contacts not long after that. As a side story, one of my contacts came out this morning at the end of my run. I put it back in with a sweaty face and sweaty hands.

3. a stray dog was found wandering in our neighbourhood, which is rare. he was so thin you can see his ribs, spine, and hipbones. we took him in and are searching for the owner, although i really don't want to give him back due to his condition. what would you do if you found the owner of this dog after taking him in? I'd be interested in hearing the owners story. I'm specifically wondering how long the dog's been gone, how long the owner's been searching for him, and how far the dog walked. Some of you may remember the last time I found a stray dog. After that experience I'd at least like to give the owner a chance.

4. i have two friends who are interested in taking the dog. after putting up "found dog" posters all over, how long would you wait to hear from the old owners before giving him to a new home? I don't know the etiquette on that.

5. i am bringing the dog into the vet on monday to rule out a weird parasitic-worm thing for his weight loss, as i don't see the owners contacting me. my husband says that i've done more than i should for this pup, but i want to make sure he's OK health-wise. would you take the dog to the vet and spend your own money, or would you take him/her to the animal shelter first? The time before the last time we found a stray dog while we were bat netting in the middle of Ohio. Jackie, who is a dog person did take it to the vet and took care of it. That seems like the normal thing to do.

6. at this point in your life, if someone offered you a free young dog/cat of a breed/mix that you wanted, would you take it? I'm not allowed to have animals where I live. Except maybe a fish would be ok.

7. switching gears... Author's note: I'm declining to answer or even quote this question because I find it upsetting.

8. a bride in austria jokingly answered "no" to the question of "do you take this man," causing the official to call off the wedding immediately. not even the sobbing pleadings of the bride could prompt the official to continue with the wedding, and the couple will have to wait 2.5 months before they can marry again. do you think this was too harsh, that the woman got what she deserved for larking about during such a serious ceremony ... or perhaps she should thank her lucky stars and run for the hills with some hot czech nationals? I think the official is taking his job waay to seriously.

This is too good

So I just went to install IE 7. I googled "IE 7". Like the third hit is www.ie7.com. What's the web page do if you're Kelly and can't open it because of restrictions at work? It says "GET FIREFOX". In an equally hilarious move, Firefox didn't want to let me download the installer for IE 7 at first. I love technology. Hee Hee.

Anti-virus update

An update to this post about anti-virus software:

I love AVG. It makes me happy. I wasn't using it because for a while it was giving me this error about the Roxio easy CD creator driver (which I don't have on my computer). During this brief but painful time I went over to ClamWin. I think ClamWin is supposed to be a good program. I couldn't deal with it. Why? It updated the virus database at log on. Sounds good? It actually slowed my computer down so much it was crashing.

Also, Winpooch is an on demand scanner set up to run with ClamWin. Don't install it. It's a pain in the rear, and even when I tell it to allow things to install (I am setting my computer up again) it still won't let them install or even download properly.

I am happily back with AVG. I decided that it would be worth it to install some driver that I don't need even though that's what just killed my computer in order to not put up with these two looser programs. When I downloaded and installed AVG this time it didn't give me that error. I am so happy. I actually think AVG is even more seamless than Norton which is what came with my computer. It runs better in the background.

Other software changes to the little computer:
Picasa as I've already talked about. The jury is still out. I like it right now but I want to give it time to annoy me just to be safe. I don't think it will. The only real problem I've had is uploading photos to the blog and that's not a picasa issue, that's a blogger issue.

Also installed AVG anti-spyware over Adaware SE from lavasoft. I'll let you know.

The biggest change though is Windows Media Player 11 which is very slick. Again, the jury is still out, but so far it's ok. I just realized I don't have IE 7 on here yet...

Here's the other stuff I wanted to write about, if I can forgive blogger

What's with all the error messages uploading stuff anyways. By the way, try googling "blogger won't upload my photos". That search should not get over 1 million hits.

1. America's Best Ecofriendly Neighborhoods. Minneapolis made the list.
2. The Game. I read somewhere someone said this was really cool, perhaps on Digg. I can't get it to work. Maybe that's part of the riddle. I suspect it's how I have my Firefox settings. No script and cookiesafe get in the way a lot.
3. Here's what you'll be doing with your time if you're American. Yeah to all of you who volunteered last year.
4. The Usable House, just what I need.
5. How not to use interns.
6. Yeah, I'm a vegetarian specifically for this reason. (See the bacon dot.)

Here's what I missed yesterday from 3X Thursday.
1. There is crap to put up with in every family. How much do you put up with? At what point do you stop putting up with it? What do you do to resolve it? I live 12 hours away from home so when I do come home it's special. Also I am an only child and the second youngest of all the cousins. I get no crap.

2. What about with your boyfriend/girlfriend? How do you know when to say 'enough is enough'? How does that usually end? Sadly this does not apply to me.

3. We all need our jobs, but do you put up with much stuff at your job? If it gets to be too much, do you say something? *Can* you say something? I think a lot of people burn out in the job I'm in, I still like it. Amazingly I have a decent attitude about it.
 


We'll see if this direction works. 28 Dec 2006
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Last ones

Ok, I think these are the last "missing photos" from my whole computer-crashing-blogger-not-uploading-redoing-computer-blogger-still-not-uploading-picasa-not-uploading-either fiasco.

Guess what, I got an "error performing my request". Bite me.

I have no idea


Here's the "yule log" we ate on new years eve. Yes, it was good.

This is a wind farm in Illinois. I think the sky looks cool too. I've been trying to upload photos for a while. I have no idea what's going on with blogger and pictures.