There are no words for my joy

Yesterday was Wednesday and I was wildly busy. I went to work. After work I knew I had to go to the Restorative Justice Council and have eaten by the time I got there. So I went to the Mercado and get tamales. Yum. And the volunteered.

I knew my kitchen would be more ready for me to cook in it so I went to the co-op. And they had Passion Fruit! I was almost speechless. Don't know what a passion fruit is or what it looks like? I've included pictures.



Oh, they were so good. I sat down and ate like four of them. They're really expensive too. But yummy. The seeds are edible. I just eat it with a spoon. If you're interested in trying your own, passion fruit goes great in fruit salads, mango salsas and marinades. And, to cap my day off, Men in Trees was on (which is good to begin with) and it was a new episode.

I had a less wild but still eventful day today. Bright and early I went to the eye doctor (a new one because I changed insurance) to get a new contact prescription. And the dilated my eyes. Sucks. She sent me off right away after that too. Driving to work was fine but trying to read my messages once I got there was hilarious.

Work was good. I went to Noodles and Co for lunch. I know, but I didn't get to actually cook last night, I just bought the food. I had their pan fried Japanese... something. They have broccoli which Amanda would like and mushrooms which I love. And their noodles. And they have the word fried in the name. What other information is needed here?

After work I went to the Y and ran which I haven't done in a while. I did the run one lap walk half lap deal. That got hard after 45 minutes. I think I get done with work early tomorrow so maybe I'll make it back to the Y before I go to that other job this week. Yeah, maybe not.

I came home and cooked Pad Thai (what else) as the first meal on the new stove. I thought my stove was just making weird smells (like a new stove thing or something). Turns out I'm just an idiot. I forgot to put water in the bottom of the pan to steam the broccoli so I just had a steaming basket and broccoli on a burner. Woops. It turned out fine in the end. Nothing got burned to a crisp (although there was that potential).

I have a couple more photos of the kitchen progress. I think the whole "Lizzie buys lights" fiasco happened during that time I wasn't really blogging. Here's how it went. I went to Home Depot to check out their selection of track lights. I did amazingly well (in even going to home depot) at not freaking out or feeling overwhelmed. I got to the lighting aisle and started looking at my choices. There were many. And I kept looking. I thought carefully about the pros and cons of each light, the brightness of the light, how it would look, if it can be aimed, and so on. And I kept standing there looking at the lights. Then I had to think of the number of fixtures I wanted on the track. There was one thing I really liked but they only had three fixtures in stock. And then I stood there and looked some more. By this point, at least 20 minutes had passed. Of just standing and looking. Eventually I called Amanda and she had some brief but quite helpful input that led me to select the fixtures pictured. (I refer to them as "Amanda's lights.) I really like them. They fit in nicely. I'm also happy I had a professional do the installation because it involved cutting the wire (which was about 3 feet long to begin with) before installing the fixture.





Since you've made it past all the pictures, let me suggest some other things for you to check out today:
What I hope to be doing at 101. My favorite part is that he came back from retirement. Two years of retirement. Do the math. Hilarious.
Boys and Girls Really Do Think Differently. Especially useful when fighting with your husband thinking about teaching the future generations of America as Kelly will.
That bar in Maplewood made it into Time Magazine. I'm not sure if Time's standards or slipping or if the idea is really that clever.
Chairs that Kelly should consider buying when she moves into her new house. Not. (Sorry, I know the old one isn't even on the market. I'm choosing to plan ahead.

All the fun stuff I've read

All the fun stuff I've read that I couldn't share because I was typing on Amanda's computer (that didn't have my bookmarks).

Usually when we get together on Tuesday nights, we order out. I want to suggest that at least once, we try cooking these. Yum.

The worst ice storm ever. Brrr.

What life will be like in 100 years (from 1900). Some of these are way off base (no exposed food) or so far fetched they're sad (we'll all walk 10 miles a day) but some of them are pretty accurate, even if they are described in 1900's language.

10 videos for Amanda (because she loves chemistry). I haven't watched them, but the title reminded me of Amanda and there's fire so we should all be entertained.

Is it sad that this actually makes sense to me?

Great look at nursing home staffing. Let me tell you, I hear about the good and bad places too.

The consumerist wanted to know about the really bad companies in the US. Turns out people had such strong feelings (mostly about Comcast and AT&T) that they broke that first site. Here's take two. Most people were sad they could only blast comcast once. Comcast hasn't pissed me off to that degree yet. Two companies with a reputation for poor customer service (AOL and Circuit City) aren't even on the list. I'm also surprised Apple is so high. They tend to have really good customer service in my experience. Also, "Hallmark / Westland Meat Packing Co"? Huh?

Just so everyone knows, Mark did call me. He's getting married (congratulations) and it's not clear if I'm going to be there for that. That makes me really sad. But it sounds like there will be a second wedding (after his fiance gets the first marriage annulled?) and that's the bigger deal to Mark, so maybe I'll just try to be there for that.

Wow

So my mom just called and told me my cousin is getting married. Wtf? Not that he's getting married but that he didn't call me. I'm kind of hurt by that.

I just left him a message. I hadn't heard from him in a while and (as a looser cousin, and as someone whose kitchen just started being under construction) I didn't call and tell him happy birthday.

But still. I went crazy in Africa and then lived with him. You'd think he could call me and say, "hey, I'm getting married". Mom said Gramma said something but then it wasn't clear if it was supposed to be a secret. What the hell? Uncle Dave is going to marry him. It's shocking to me that he's not going to be married in the catholic church.

See why he needs to call me?

Amanda should get the greasemonkey script that makes this more fun

I'm posting on Amanda's computer right now. I've decided that she should get the Greasemonkey extension for Firefox. And then she can get this script and it will make the editing box the width of the entire screen. It makes it very nice to write blog posts. Maybe then you'd write in your blog more.

Also, just because I say "four" then "three" they can still be random.

Before and After Kitchen Picture

I wanted some before and after shots for effect. The old cabinets were really dark (in addition to being unfinished on the inside). And yes, that is the original stove.

There are no words to describe how sick of these cabinets I was. I'm so happy I odn't have to look at them anymore.

Nope. Still don't like them. Don't like looking at the back of my appliances either.


The new stove actually hangs on the counter top partially so that no food (or kitchen utensils) get lost in the gap between the stove and the counter top. I'm happy with how it looks. There was a moment of panic when I thought there was going to be a gap in the back, but the counter goes around three edges just like I wanted it.

And the light shone down from heaven and the angles sang. And there were these cabinets. Obviously the electrician hasn't been by and there's more work to be done here.

And nice light wood with dark appliances instead of dark wood and brown appliances. There are no words for my joy.

Could I be posting twice in one day, that seems unlikely

Never the less, here I am. The original point of this post was to share a few links with you, but then I wrote everything and added pictures. So even though I'm typing them last, these links appear first.
The new six word motto for the US and my favorite runner up. I didn't vote, but I bet you can guess how I would have voted. I can guess how Amanda would have voted too.
Thank god this doesn't sound like my experience with the bank. See my comments below for what I did with the bank today.
So many bad companies the damn survey can't handle it. Oh the irony. There's so much material here, I just can't put any of it together to make a joke. It's an embarrassment of riches in the humor and irony departments. Apparently there's a strong Anit-Best Buy and Anti-Comcast movement.
I want this for a job. I bet I could do the "Rain Man" thing too. Careful, this one is totally safe for work but you may laugh out loud at times.

Today I went and bought a house. No, seriously. I just did my budget and it's about what I expected in terms of payments. And I can afford it. I may have to lay off the Carribou in the mornings. Then I went to work. Work was, well, to be honest, kind of slow. A couple of my people aren't doing well but there's not a whole lot I can do to help them. Other than that, the end of the month is sometimes slower than the beginning of the month. So I'm already arranging things for next month to keep myself busy. One of the things I did to keep myself busy was make an appointment with an eye doc for new contacts and the dentist because it's been a while. I need a cleaning. I had some excitement with the dentist. It's not clear whether my dental coverage is continuing in March. Although it should.

After work I drove home in the slush. Rush hour actually wasn't sooo bad. It wasn't great. I've definitely been in much worse though. And then I went out with my mentee. That was fun. I hadn't seen her in a couple of weeks. I went out with her once when I was so sick I thought I was going to die, and then one other time and then we weren't able to connect for like three weeks. We went to the YWCA and ran around and had fun. She's not so into the running. Maybe after we run a race she'll want to do it more. Maybe after we run a race she'll never want to run again. After that is when the slush on the roads got really out of control.

For fun, I went to my co-op where I'm sure I hadn't been in like a month. I miss it so much. I had a milk shake for dinner. Yum. I think I got all my servings of fruit for the whole day. And did I mention, YUM.

Last night when I got home there was tile but no grout. And did I mention the stove wasn't connected. It'll get connected next week. So I was bummed that I couldn't cook. But I was sick of having everything in my bedroom. So I put it all back in the cabinets. I'm not sure I've got everything exactly where I want it. And I need a new holder for my silverware. Amanda and Kelly will be pleased that I'm asking for help because they both think the one I currently have is tragic. I agree.

Here's the no-grout-tile.

I'm happy with my silverware and utensil placement. I'm happy with my tupperware and pots and pans placement because really, where else would those things go? I'm not sure about the dishes. I had an issue where I couldn't get one of the shelves out to move it around. So I have three shelves right now instead of four. That could be different and I'd be ok with it. Seriously, I don't understand how the thing is anchored in there.

I went to Ikea for shelf paper (which sucks by the way) and a couple of other things. I keep forgetting how great Ikea is for some random things. Kitchen scissors (which are usually ridiculously expensive), scrub brushes, little stuff like that. Ikea's not the first place I think of. It should be. 5:00 on a weeknight is the time to go too. Don't worry Amanda and Kelly, I still need more stuff. Nothing is getting done in the kitchen until next Tuesday. The lighting, six more knobs and some trim still needs completed. That's really about it.

Here's the post-grout shot. It's hard to tell in the photo but it really makes a big difference.

This one seemed relevant

Finally a Wednesday Mind Hump I can relate to.

This or That?

Ice in your drink, or no ice? If there is a straw, ice is good. Otherwise, even in drinks that ice would typically accompany, no ice. Ever.

Shoes or barefoot? Barefoot! Seriously, all of the Kentucky genes just sunk right down to the bottom and my feet hate enclosure of any kind now. I'd go barefoot all year but for the fear of losing my toes.

Newspapers or online news? Online news for sure. Some of my favorites (most of them have probably appeared here before) are:
Freakonomics which always has a unique point of view, Time for the high brow news stories, and Digg for the (often) lower-brow news stories.

Zoos or amusement parks? Zoos. I hate roller coasters, typically the best part of amusement parks. The only thing that could get me on a roller coaster is a really hot guy who's going to put his arm around me the whole way. Then I'll do just about anything, also long as it stays within 50 feet of the ground.

Baseball or football? Baseball. I'm a Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins fan. At least I was until they traded Johan Santana. We'll see how I feel about the Twins now.

Movies or TV? Lately I haven't done much of either. Movies if I can go out with people. TV if I'm alone.

Here comes the kitchen

I've had a request for, well first to update my blog at all (sorry) and then for some pictures.

The kitchen remodel has been exciting. It's wrapping up too which makes it more exciting and a little scary. Like a rock rolling down the mountain, it's fun to watch, but a little terrifying if it gets out of control. Tomorrow is the electrician, the plumber and the tiler. I think the only thing going on Thursday is the grout for the tiles. And maybe a little wood work.

I'm planning on doing some preview shopping so that this weekend I can go out and get exactly what I want. I need to compare Target to Bed, Bath and Beyond. Who has what at what quality and what price kind of thing. And I need a trip to Ikea. I know. I always need a trip to Ikea. Who doesn't really?

So, here's the kitchen.
This first shot is pre-hardware and pre-counter top. It's actually pre-floor too, but that's not the point of this shot.

Here's with some hardware and all counter top.

Floor.

And the money shot. That's for Amanda.

Stories from the kitchen remodel

The biggest lesson I've learned from the kitchen remodel is letting go. Letting go of expectations, privacy, cleanliness, time lines, deadlines. I am letting go. Here's some stories about my letting go.

The counter top, part 1: My contractor called me and set up a time to come out with the counter top measurer. I was going to have to come in late, but it was a time that worked for everyone. So, 9:00am rolls around and my contractor calls me letting me know there were going to be another 45 minutes late. At which point I said, "Do I need to be there for this?" And he thought about it and decided he could do it on his own. I went to work.

The counter top, part 2: After the counter top was measured, they ordered it and planned an install date. On the morning of the install, I left the condo and went out to my car. When I got to the main door of the building, I thought "what's that big black thing in front of the door?" and I got closer and I thought, "oh, that's my counter". Just sitting there. Outside. And then I thought, "Ok. I'm going to work." I didn't ask any questions and it got installed ifne. I'm so glad I didn't worry about it.

The floor, chapter 1: Did I mention the floor had to sit in my house for a week? You should have seen the look on my face when they told me that.
The floor, revisited: This morning, the guy came to install the floor. He was pretty high strung. (Not like on drugs, just had a lot of energy.) So he had to figure out if he could glue the floor straight down on the linoleum. Which he can. So I said, "do you need me here?" And when he said no, I went to work. (This is a different person that's not through my other contractor.) When I got to work, I told people my story about the flooring going in. And they all said, "and you just left him there?" Everyone thought this was strange. I had no problem with it and thought it was the best thing I could have done.
And then he called me and said, "I have to run out and get straps to hold the floor together while the glue dries" (and I can hear him turning on his truck while he's calling me) and proceeds to tell me his plan for how he's going to get back into my condo without keys. Did I have a choice at this point?

The hardware: This wasn't a letting go so much as admitting I was wrong (thanks Amanda). Amanda and I went to Menard's and Target and picked out a bunch of different hardware. I really thought I'd want handles instead of knobs. (Who's thinking of a "your Mom" joke right now?) But there was this one knob Amanda really liked so I bought it. My hesitation had to do with the price and the fact that I wanted handles, but I didn't want to have hurt feelings. Want to know what my contractor did today? That's right, he installed those very knobs on like half the cabinets in my kitchen. And they look great.

Cleaning house

I have missed my blog. However, I've kept it in mind and have collected lovely pages I'd like to share. Let's do that before I update you on my life.

Prozac effectiveness rates are truly depressing. Sorry. It doesn't work for as many people as it should to be clinically significant.

Left handers truly do rule the world. I'm just saying.

Didn't even read the story, just looked at the picture. Hilarious. Totally safe for work.

Caution: When buying a house, know who your neighbors are.

Ten churches I'm likely to attend. Hee hee.

Best subject line ever.

I've heard that at Baptisms, you're supposed to get little babies a kind of religious gift. The next kid to get baptized is getting one of these.

Business I'm likely to patronize.

Pictures that changed the world. This one is too serious to make a joke with the link. Wow.

I told Kelly about this story where the church leader told all their married members to have sex every day for a month. That's a church I might actually attend.

They're making a Smurf Movie!? Cool.

Bats in the news. They could fly before they had radar. Cool.

I have customized firefox too much for it to be useful... woops

I've spent much of the night trying to figure out which extension broke Firefox now. Given my success in reporting a Firefox bug before, I thought I'd try it again. Let me know if anyone else is having this problem while I'm here: I try to re-open a tab that I've just closed. No success. It's one of the extensions I have installed. I'm not sure which one. It's one I recently installed I think, but I'm not sure.

So I started poking around in Firefox, created a new profile without all of the extensions installed, and I was able to find a completely unrelated bug so I reported that one. I haven't found the source of this problem. The next step is to create a new profile without all of the extensions and install them one at a time to see what's going on.

In other news, I bought no food at all from restaurants today including coffee. Wow.

And here's all the fun things I found on the internet before this not being able to re-open tabs I accidentally closed really got to bothering me.
I can relate to this comic on so many levels.
No blog should ever have this name. Even though it does sound like a name that's come out of my mouth on more than one occasion.

Too many tabs open

Usually, when I see a story I want to share, I mark it as a permanent tab (see the permatabs extension for Firefox) so that I can save tabs across sessions. I've got far too many tabs open right now which means I haven't posted in forever. Woops.

My next vacation spot? I wonder where that really is.
All the ways health insurance tries to screw you Some little known facts about your insurance.
Knitting projects for Kelly and Amanda. I'm sure a baby you know would like a Mario Pillow or a PacMan hat.
Read about the worlds six smallest countries. Hilarity ensues.

Now I want to say a word about the political events in this country. Many people have asked me who I voted for or came to discoveries of their own that will impact their political choices in November. I was poking around and found this forty-minute video (which is safe for work if you can watch a video of any kind at your job). It's a speech Sen. Obama made in 2006 at a Church (I believe in Chicago). It's a very interesting speech about the role of faith, spirituality, religion in people's lives, and the best way to incorporate those values into politics. It's quite an eloquent statement. If you don't have 40 minutes to spare, there's excerpts and comments over on the Digg page. Ignore the title of this Digg page, that's not what the video is about.

I was really moved by this video, and I agreed with most of what Sen. Obama had to say, particularly about the level of respect that needs to be brought to the table when discussing these issues. I also like the part in the beginning where he talks about his faith and why it's important to him.

Oh oh oh

Let me just say ahead of time, I'm not emotionally prepared to discuss how things are going with the kitchen, specifically the timeline of the work actually completing.



One of the things slowing me down is the floor. Here's my choices for bamboo flooring which I've heard is really nice. There are four wood blocks sitting on top of a cabinet panel. I'm choosing the one on the right, it's a light vertical grain. If you want the hi res picture, let me know. Don't ask how long it takes for the floor to arrive and be installed.

I want this day to be over

I am tired and grumpy. I want this day to be over. And I want my condo back in one piece. I'm not going to get the second wish anytime soon. Why not? Remember on Saturday when my contractor came in and I told him that I hadn't talked to the flooring people? Apparently there was a miscommunication there. The floor needs to be installed before the stove can be installed. The stove and the countertop need to go in at approximately the same time and the counter needs to be down before they can tile. Seriously. My kitchen is now a jigsaw puzzle.

Here's my day:
8:00ish Wake up. I am surprisingly well rested. That's good. Make a call before leaving Amanda's house to verify that I can start the morning with a visit to someone I need to see.
8:45 Try to do visit. In defence of the people I called, he was there. He just wasn't feeling well and was asleep. Woops. I didn't wake him up.
9:00 Get to work and the chaos begins.
11:20 Determine that I don't want to drive in the snow and call the client I was meant to be seeing in ten minutes to make alternate arrangements. Now I get to start calling home care agencies and tell them a client wants to move to a different agency. Normally this is less than pleasant but at least the phone calls are short. Three phone calls later, from the same person, I was just done talking to them. Nothing really got resolved from their end. I felt really bad because I know there's a whole culture thing happening that makes the business owners want me to know they do a good job. But after three phone calls I just lost patience. That all ended sometime around 2:00.
3:45 Make a beeline for the door. I have to go meet a tile guy.
4:10 The snow did not screw up traffic as bad as I feared. I got home, talked to my contractor and then called my parents.
4:30 Tile guy shows up. The ultimate recommendation (I am in agreement) is limestone tile. I think it's very much my personality. The other recommendation was "subway" tile which is the 3x6 rectangles that are slightly offset from each other. Ha. You think I can handle a rectangle? I need four sides of equal length. Tile guy also highly recommended the bamboo floor I picked out. Good thing too because it's going to take forever for it to get installed. I think it takes like a week or two for them to order it. I wonder how quickly they can get over to my house. And how much work I'm going to have to miss this time.
6:00 Here I am at Chipotle again. I miss being able to cook.
6:30 Get to Amanda's house and am strongly encouraged to check for any outstanding snow emergencies. The internet is slow but I find none. Then I decide to find out where my caucus is, in case I want to vote tomorrow. The website declines to provide that or any other useful information. So I called my parents again.

I have negotiated with my contractor to have a relatively empty living room and bedroom in the near future as well as a microwave and refrigeration. Exciting. Although I still miss my stove top. I wonder if I can plug in my toaster oven somewhere. Hmmm. And the blender. Maybe I could let Amanda test my blender while I'm without a kitchen. Then she would understand the value...

I have mixed emotions about moving home. I want to go back for all the obvious reasons. But I've really enjoyed having someone to talk with at the end of the night and the shorter commute to work (but mostly the having someone else to hand out with at the end of the night). Plus my apartment is still a construction zone and mildly depressing.

I'm tired and cranky. And of all the things on my to-do list for the next little while, I'd like you to know that "shower" is not one of them. Don't worry. Probably tomorrow night.

Pictures from Oz

I thought that those of you who aren't living with me (Kelly, that's basically you) would like some pictures of the chaos that is the kitchen remodel and bedroom insulation project.

That's right. Three buildings full of people had their water shut off for me. It turns out my old shut off valves didn't quite turn the water off as much as we'd like. They did make it go down to a dull trickle. So they shut off the water to the whole building to install new shutoffs. Wow. My neighbors have a good sense of humor.

Here's basically what my living room looks like. If you look closely you can identify the refrigerator. There's a stove and a wet saw too. Now you see why I can't get to my DVDs, or my tax forms. I guess those will just have to wait.

Here's the shot Amanda wanted. That's what the new cabinets look like, and how tall they are. I thought they'd be maybe a little darker and less blonde, more grey. Oh well. I'm happy they're here. I think I can't really judge until I see the whole thing with the black appliances.

Oh plastic, how I love you.


Here's some shots of the destruction that is my kitchen. Where are things right now? Well all the cabinets are hung, actually most of the cabinets are installed except the island. None of the doors are on the cabinets except the ones over the island and over the fridge. They have to cut the back out of one cabinet to do duct work, apparently my duct goes off at an odd angle and tin bending is required. I have to meet the tiler and choose my backsplash. Once that's on, the counter will be laid and the stove and dishwasher can then be installed. Party. I'm wondering if Ed will save the island for last because it will take up the most room. Hmmm. Can't push a stove in if the island is in the way. That makes sense.

And a closeup of the cabinet inlay. It's a bit different and a bit simpler on the drawers.

It's possible that I'm awake enough to write

It's possible I'm awake enough to write, although I'm doubting it.

Amanda and I went to Longfellow Grill this morning for yummy pancakes. Then I came home and did laundry. I'm overwhelmed by the mess here right now. It's so bad I can't even hang up my laundry, it's folded on my bed. Although that could have to do with how tired I am and how really little I've had to eat today. Chipotle anyone? At least they're folded up. It's a small stack really.

Then I thought about watching a free movie on Netflix. That's when I realized the movies that are instantly on basically suck. Why is that? I couldn't really find anything I wanted to watch. I dorked around and listened to some music. I contemplated getting my DVDs. It's one of those "I think I could get back there" situations that I just don't have the energy for right now. Seriously, can I go back and sleep more?

What led to me being so tired?
Friday: Lizzie is sicker than a dog. Woke up late. Went to work late. Left early. Slept. Went to job number two. Ordinarily, I would have called in sick to this job. But I couldn't this time due to a very specific set of circumstances. After sleeping at Amanda's on my air mattress, I felt mildly better.

Saturday: Wake up at work. Have to go find donuts. Thanks Grandma's Bakery. Your customer service sucks. Had a good morning with the overnight group. Went back to my house and showered. I took the plastic off of my bed and crawled in. It was then that my contractor showed up. Thank god I was dressed. He worked while I slept and he didn't really bother me. I was still having symptoms of my illness. I went out to lunch and then to meet the girl I'm paired with from Bolder Options.

I picked her up and we went to the Aquarium. See now why I couldn't call in sick? She decided that I was too quiet, needed to do something different with my hair and needed to dress in different clothes. (I can see Amanda and Kelly grinning now, especially about the clothes.) I was sick and pretty quiet. The thing about me is that if I'm quiet around you it means I'm not nervous. It's when I try to make mindless conversation with people I don't know that things are going south. I had a really nice time. She seems like a really thoughtful person, both in the considerate connotation, and meaning she seems interested in things and people around her. I think that's great.

After I dropped her off I went home, picked up my stuff, experienced more symptoms of my illness and went to look at drawer pulls. I had a bad customer service experience at one place so I went to pick up Amanda and go to Menards. I don't need that many drawer pulls after all. We picked out a few different things that I intended to try out. Then we went home and she studied. I basically had a bowl of soup and fell asleep.

Sunday: Hey, that's today. I tried out the pulls. I hate them all. The knob is the only one I like. Thanks Amanda. I'd try to take a picture but I can't find my camera. It must still be at Amanda's house. It's ok, I'm going back there soon anyways. I guess this means I get to look at a bunch more knobs now to pick one out. I've decided I like the distressed metal look. As a rule I don't like matte metal, and glossy metal will just look dirty. It's funny, I thought I'd really want pulls. Oh well. Maybe I will get the drawer pull Amanda liked. The ones I picked look stupid.

Right now I'm seriously considering Chipotle for dinner. It's either that or more soup. Although that soup's really good. Hmmm. Maybe I'll just go back and see what Amanda is eating. The good thing is my breakfast and lunch are planned for the next few days. Score. I've stashed a bunch of homemade goodies in the freezer at work. I considered going down there for some breakfast food today before Amanda proved she was serious about breakfast.

When I get back to Amanda's we have to fix her couch. This should be hilarious. I think when we drug it up the stairs to her current apartment, the frame got separated from something that should still be attached (like the bed). Although I don't think that's what made the bed so uncomfortable unexpected. We'll see how this goes. Amanda has three screws, my drill and a plan.

In the mean time, here's some proof that Kelly was right and we never should have given her a hard time. Sorry.

fun things from the internet

Here's what I've been looking at while sitting on Amanda's couch (at least she's not coughing tonight).

• Why glasses are bad a great thing to wear.


• If you have red hair and just got married, this link is for you!


• Press F1 to put the cart before the horse


• A place for Amanda to take her computer.


• Cool fish picture


• All the newest MacBooks, hippie friendly (although when weren't they?)


• And finally, in an act of stupidity, insanity great customer service TSA has created a blog where travelers can complain about stupid TSA policies like having to take your flip flops off and not being allowed to take water or drinks in sealed containers through security.

Timeline of my life

I think a timeline of recent events would be helpful. Especially for me because my head is still spinning.

Sunday: Kelly and Amanda are awesome friends and helped me clean up and plastic my apartment. I then packed food and clothing for a week away from my apartment. And I have to work on Friday night so I packed that crap too.
Apartment status: Plasticed, mostly intact.
Bank status: They're closed on Sunday so we'll allow that.

Monday: In the morning, I packed everything in my car, red bag, blue gym pack, blue overnight bag, hammock (for working Friday night), and suitcase. Ed came over and I showed him around and then the appliances came. That's when it was clear there was nothing else I could do so I left for work. After work I went to Amanda's and had some nice alone time. I went back to my gym and had Chipotle for dinner.
Apartment status: About to be destroyed.
Bank status: No communication.

Tuesday: Wake up from my first night on the torture rack Amanda's couch. Was very warm. Also very aware of metal in my back. I now understand why Kelly didn't unfold the thing after the first night when she lived here. The day started at about 45*, wonderful. I worked all day, and by the evening when I came back to Amanda's, it was about -3*. Brrrr. There was a note saying Amanda had gone to urgent care. It was about that time I realized the dishes and garbage fairy were not going to visit, so I did those things and just told Amanda it was magic. (Hey you'd believe it too after the amount of drugs they gave her.) And then she magically got me Papa John's and beer for dinner. I don't ask questions about magic. Do you?
Apartment status: I'm trying hard not to think about it.
Bank status: Have you ever tried contacting the Mars Lander? The one they lost? It's about like that.

Wednesday: Day two of the torture rack. Still nice and warm. Except, now it's like -15* and there's a -40* wind chill. Brrrr. I went down to start my car, which started under serious protest. Needless to say, I didn't leave the office all day until it was time to go meet the person I'm paired with for Bolder Options. That was neat. Then I went to the gym, got some food at the co-op and then went to my apartment. I hadn't picked up mail, and by this time I'd actually heard from the bank so I was less freaked out about that.
And then I got to the apartment. Wow. ::Looks around with mouth open:: Just, Wow.
Apartment status: Total destruction. One cabinet mildly installed.
Bank status: Thank you.

Today: Did I mention I picked up an air mattress at home last night. That was a good idea. Slept much better. Work was wild and in the middle of it I had to go pick up a check for roughly the same value as my tuition for a Master of Social Work degree. And then I had to deposit it at my other bank (where I have a checking account). I thought I could do that in the drive thru lane. Hey, I sent my ID in. That's enough right? Turns out my bank puts a two day hold on checks that big. It's ok, I can still pay the contractor on Monday. After work I went to the gym and then Amanda and I had dinner together.
Apartment status: More cabinets hung. Still not livable (excepting the bathroom which remains largely untouched.)
Bank status: Back in my good graces.

First, some relaxing memes

The Friday Five:
01. What types of portable audio devices do you use? I love my iPods. I used to have a Palm that also played music, but the iPods hold much more music and are less fussy about the wma/mp3 formats. I know, the iPods are fussy which should tell you exactly how fussy the palm is. I plug my iPod into my car stereo when I drive.
02. What format of music do you listen to most often? Whatever the iPod wants, AAC or Mp3. I don't have a real preference. I have a mac so I can't really play windows media files.
03. How do you get your electronic music files? (pay service [i.e Napster, iTunes, eMusic, etc.], file sharing, artist/label web sites, etc.) A lot of it came from old CDs I owned, or CDs I'd borrowed from the library in Cincinnati. Possibly the most awesome government inspired thing in Cincinnati is the library system which really puts Minneapolis to shame. For example, in Cincinnati I can get a video, dvd, or CD that was published after the year 2000. I'd also like to recommend to your attention, AlltheWeb Audio Search, Skreemr, and Mp3Realm as good sound search engines. I buy songs or full albums for iTunes sometimes as well. That's a rare practice, but maybe increasing in frequency.
04. What type of headphones do you use? I like my Sony headphones, the sport ones are great for running and working out. I also sometimes use the buds that come with the iPods. In general I prefer ear buds to any other form of ear phone.
05. What is currently on your portable music player that you are using? (Post artist, album title, please.) Some of my most listened to right now include Michael Buble, Sarah McLachlan, Elton John, Amos Lee and "I'll Fly Away" by Jars of Clay (thank you Kelly).

And, Randomness:
week of Jan 27: Yes or No?

Here's a few simple 'yes' or 'no' questions for ya.
Of course you can always answer 'don't know' or 'none of your business'...lol
1. Are you a fun person? Heck yes. What's not fun about legos and packing my kitchen? Sorry, those are the only two things I can remember about my self right now.
2. Is Star Trek cool? No. I loved Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was slightly less uncool than the original. But no, I don't think Star Trek can ever be classified as cool, even by the biggest fan.
3. Do you smoke? No.
4. Do Aliens exist? Yes.
5. Do you like your job? Yes I do actually.
6. Have you ever seen a ghost? I'm not really sure how to answer this question. Seen like with my eyes or was aware of it?
7. Is Math fun? Yes. Not cool perhaps, but still fun.
8. Are dogs mans best friend? No. This would make dog and man equal. But dogs are loyal companions to man.
9. Do freaks really come out at night? In the day time too I guess.
10. Do you like to read? This is not a yes or no question. It really depends. I like the book I'm reading now (Great Expectations) and I just got the Golden Compass trilogy so I'm excited about reading that one too.

Following up on comics

I'm following up on a discussion about comics from Wednesday night. First, Kelly wrote this blog entry and cited this comic (which is not xkdc, which is why I couldn't find it at Amanda's.)

Then I left a comment on Kelly's blog speculating about the general identity of each person in the comic. (Read the original comment.)

Then Kelly said that she disagreed with my comment and (for reasons passing my understanding) thinks that she is the one with the pot on her head. I gave this consideration, especially in light of the fact that she tried to lock herself in my storage closet one time. I am not convinced but open to interpretation.

And then I thought about how comfortable I'd be allowing Amanda to come at my head with a sword. Take a guess. But then I thought Amanda would be the person I'd want taking care of me if I had some other physical ailment. So maybe that is in character.

And using google to find some obscure point is most like me and least like the other two although I've never used it to find a fetish community before.

But I still think I'm right about the chickens.

CHAOS

A brief update on my day:
This should explain everything. If not, here's an illustration.

Oh, little blog, how I've neglected you

I've just felt fat and lazy lately. A problem compounded by me recent absence from the gym. What the heck did I do this week? And it's freaking cold. I have to get up and the crack of dawn tomorrow. And I mean early, like before the sun is up.

What have I been up to lately?

Friday night: I worked at the aquarium. Which leads us to..
Saturday morning: Start at O'dark-thirty when the donuts were delivered to the aquarium. About 45 minutes before they were expected. Wow. But when I went to get the donuts, I also saw all of the volunteers for the diabetes walk (oh, the irony). Amanda and her family walked in the walk and we went to the aquarium (where I'd just stopped working) and checked that out too.
Saturday evening: I skipped Saturday afternoon because I was asleep. I went over to Amanda's and hung out with her nieces and nephew. It was there I learned there is such a thing as too much sirachi sauce, your tongue will swell if you reach that limit, and they make sour sugar straws as tall as I am. We also played apples to apples and built things with legos. (Hee hee, at first I typed "legs".)
Sunday: I did nothing of any consequence except running the dishwasher before bed.
Today: I decided that it was rude to work today even though the agency I work for is open. So I stayed home. The fire alarm went off in the building. I do believe something very bad happened to our boiler. I still have heat though so I'm not asking. I did laundry and cleaned my car out in anticipation of my early departure tomorrow morning.

What have I seen on the internet lately? You'd think I'd have found more.
Fun with telephones. Number two is the most useful tip ever. I totally didn't know that but it makes sense.
That story lead me to this hilarious web site. What a good idea.
This takes me back to the gold old days of m Toshiba.
All this week, I'd bee so hungry I could eat a horse and couldn't figure out why, now I know. I wasn't getting enough protein. Don't worry, I'm eating eggs after this.
And an eye-opening look at how tech savvy kids really are. The hardest (and one of the last) things I learned was how to do internet searches that produced useful results. I think the more information I have about a subject before I start out, the better off I'll be. Otherwise, I throw the word "wiki" behind my search term and read some more 'till I can understand what I'm looking for.

By the way, it's 7* and feels like -3*. Brrr.

Lizzie = Exhausted

The appraiser is coming tomorrow and it seemed like the best thing to do would be to have a clean apartment for the occasion. So I cleaned. And cleaned. And began to wonder when exactly I last scrubbed my tub. (I gave up thinking about that. Should I be alarmed I can't recall?) I don't think I'd vacuumed in a while either. It felt good. And the place looks great. Good enough that I'll at least be able to have someone over to take pictures of it.

While preparing my house (and working and stuff), I've found lots of fun things on the internet to show you.
Great comments about computers, some of which I understand. When it gets into programming languages, my eyes glaze over. Sorry. I wish I knew more about that. Totally don't.

We make fun of people not knowing how to sit on the toilet but I've actually been places where the apparatus was so totally unfamiliar to me that I did need a diagram. In India they had convenient foot pads so I at least knew which way to face. In Africa there was just a hole so I could do pretty much whatever I pleased. But Japan, China and Vietnam were baffling. Japan seemed the worst because it was the first time I'd ever experienced anything that looked like that. And back in Africa, where there are holes, the Africans did sometimes repeat what's in the NOT picture there. Ahh, memories.

I love it when the University of Minnesota is in the news for something awesome.

Store names for those of us who are easily amused. I love what happens when words mean one thing in a language and a totally different thing in English.

The best picture on any digg page I've ever seen. I laughed out loud for two minutes. Oh, boy. I'm about to start laughing again. Safe for work.

Baby Jesus now a shark. Wait. What?

And finally, I read these two stories on the local news page. The first one is just a goofy story about some yokel who built a really powerful bomb, especially for an amateur. A quarter-mile? But this story shows why it's really funny. If anyone would have been killed, there would have been a Darwin Award for sure. Hee hee. Oh. Wow. It's almost as good as that picture up there.

Dreams and other fun stuff

In doing my Year in Review post, I realized the great number of posts that were meme based in the beginning of 2007 and how those dwindled down over the year. Probably because once the homework and the papers were done, it was fun to write again.

I'd also like to mention a recurring dream I have. Not so much one dream as many different dreams around a recurring theme. Get your mind out of the gutter. I keep dreaming about going back to Africa. And in every dream, I really want to be there and I'm excited to go. Every time the arrival is hard, everyone knows I left suddenly in the past, but once I get there and get settled, I'm always happy to be there any everyone else is happy to have me. Not that I've bought my plane ticket yet. But I told my mom there might be a time when I'm ready to go back. And then we discussed my mental health. I'm really much better than I was then. Plus I can hypnotize myself now. What a treat. Don't knock it 'till you've tried it.

Now, for a little blast to the past, a couple of meme's that looked worthy of my time. First, The Friday Five:

What is your favourite fruit? Passion Fruit. Hands down. Now, if anybody sees passion fruit within driving distance of Minnesota, I need to be alerted at once. Because it is yummy and I miss it.
What is the last book you read? I'm in the middle of Great Expectations. Before that, I'm sure it was Harry Potter related.
Do you like any of your school photos? Not many. Although I like the pictures that's on my U of M ID.
Do you ever blowdry your armpits to get the deodorant to dry quicker? ::blank stare::
What was the last film you watched? Pride and Prejudice. Still, anyone want to admit causing destruction to my DVD? I cannot figure out what happened to it. Lucky I have the other Pride and Prejudice too, or I would have been most disappointed. Wow, who's watched too much Jane Austen and read too much Dickens?

And, for my personal pleasure, The Saturday 8:
1. did you go out for new year's this year? No. I sat on my couch all alone and ate pizza and drank beer. It was great. It was the first time I'd had pizza delivered to anywhere I've lived in Minnesota.
2. did you do any travelling during the holidays? Yes. I'll refer you to posts here, here, here, here, and here for the plane story for more information.
3. what was the best gift you gave this holiday season? I think the pictures from the orchard and the chicken pictures were the most from my own interests to the interests of the receiver, so I was glad to give those. The stuff I gave to my parents was cool too. They use their cookbook a lot.
4. the best gift you received? For some reason I can't stop wearing this gray fleece and playing with legos. I don't know what the attraction is.
5. are you off of work on MLK, Jr. day? if so, any plans for the long weekend? This is a bit of a pickle for me. Where I grew up, if you were going to work on Martin Luther King day in a non-retail/service/entertainment capacity, you might as well walk around under a sheet burning crosses on people's lawns. It was disrespectful not to stop and honor that day somehow. So I'm really troubled by the number of agencies that have come to my attention in this state that don't take off MLK day, and don't do anything to acknowledge the importance of the day. On that day, I have a meeting with a family which I must attend in my capacity as a professional, and I'm not the least bit bothered by it. Even if it is an hour away. But I really don't want to go to the regular office afterwards. I'll feel like I've just set civil rights back 60 years. ::Steps off soap box::
6. did you make any new year's resolutions this year? if so, what are they? if not, why not? No. I already have a gym membership.
7. a look back - what was the best thing about 2007? Graduation was certainly a high point. Also, just hanging out and having a good time.
8. a look back - what was the worst thing about 2007? One of the hardest things I did was leave my job at the museum. I know it was the right time to go. But that job was an absolute blessing. My heart was always happy with those kids. I wonder if I'll ever do anything like that again.

A big bowl full of yummy and other stuff I did this weekend

This weekend, I was a hermit. I'm noticing that any weekend when Amanda works I turn into a hermit. I'm not opposed to the situation. I'm just saying, I've noticed it. I did go out of the house both days but those were quick events. Saturday morning I realized I needed soda (and coffee). I also realized it had snowed over night. After I got home with the coffee and soda, I didn't see another person all day.

I tried to watch Pride and Prejudice but I faced some difficulty. Would anyone like to admit that they borrowed my DVDs and got something sticky on one of them before returning it and hoping I just wouldn't watch that one? If not, it must have been my fault. But I really don't have anything that sticky in my house that would wind up on my DVD. Seriously. Anybody want to blame a former roommate just for old times sake?

Anyways, the more fun DVD to watch is really the second one. So it was ok. But not even two or three passes with windex got this gunk off disc number one. Although I'm hopeful much more of it will be watchable now that I've made my cleaning efforts.

I also played with my legos. Thank you. I took apart the bulldozer and built the crane that was on the cover. It's quite a contraption. I decided I need more legos. Then I looked at my bank account. I'm lucky I have enough food to eat right now. Buying a house is big bucks. Wow. Legos will have to wait.

Today, I tried to take a shower. It was met with mild success. As it was, I took the coldest shower I've ever taken without meaning to have water that temperature. (Not for that. Remember, I run outside in the summer.) I don't know what's up with the hot water in the building. I decided that tomorrow I'm going to the Y in the morning so I'll just get ready there. The real excitement at the Y centers on whether or not I'll get a hair dryer. Exciting.

I did go to the Y today but I just walked around the track. I saw this woman who used to be my boss. I didn't say hi to her. She was talking with someone else. I didn't feel like stopping. I actually liked her as a boss.

While walking I was listening to car talk when I heard a caller from White Bear Lake Minnesota who accidentally set his car on fire and was most hilarious in telling the tale. I'm glad people don't mind that I laugh out loud with headphones on while I'm at the track. Otherwise they'd think I was weird.

When I got home Jenny called me and let me know that this week on PBS is Jane Austen week. Tonight was Persuasion which I've never read. I'm not sure if any of my favorites will make an appearance. I haven't looked.

And I made my wheat-berry lentil bowl full of yummy soup. I told my mom that I'm going to try to have at least one meal I make every week be vegan. I can't stop eating yogurt for breakfast (or drinking lattes) but I will make a difference in smaller ways. At least I'm not still eating cows. Yes, I know milk and yogurt both comes from cows. Quiet.

And I totally skipped Brothers and Sisters tonight. It was a good show but I just wasn't that interested. Instead I wrote to you all and told you of my cold shower.

Now I'm thinking of going to continue reading Great Expectations which I've been trying to get through for a while. Pip's just got to London.

Today has been freaking wild

This morning, I almost got up and exercised. I decided I'd like to run outside but running in almost any other form was uninteresting to me. So I went back to bed and was almost late for work. I would have been but the line at Caribou was out of control and I didn't stop. (Talk about making lemonade.)

Work was non-stop ridiculousness. To everyone: stop going into the hospital. I want you all to stay well. In addition, please put your name on the waiting list for an assisted living facility now. What's that? You're only 30. It's never too early. That way when you get old and have a social worker, her job will be easier.

After work I went to the gym. And got an elliptical. At 4:45. No, seriously. And then I went to my Restorative Justice committee. There was a discharge tonight. It's always nice when people successfully complete the program. Way to go.

To complete my day of productivity, I did laundry. I now have plenty of socks to wear. Along with all the other clothes that needed to be cleaned. There always seems to be like one thing that I run out of before everything else that forces me to do laundry. Right now it's exercise shorts. That's not likely to change. Exercise shirts too because I'm a snob and picky as hell about what I wear. I'm about as bad as someone else I know who is picky about colors of outfits. I'm picky about material and cut.

I'm having my last beer from New Year's tonight. I know. It did take me a while to finish a six pack. That's the thing about the ultimate kitchen challenge: Everything must go. I've upgraded the alert from just "the freezer challenge.

Now, if you'll allow, a brief rant about co-worker. Co-worker is out of town right now. When co-worker is in town, she wears a lot of perfume or body spray or some such scented product. And I always sneeze around her. And she always notes that I sneeze around her and am probably allergic to the crap she's wearing. And then she wears it, still. And then sticks her arm in my face and says "here, I wonder if this is what's making you sneeze." Number one: Stop. Number two: I read this article and thought of co-worker immediately. I'm not diagnosing depression or anything. It's just fascinating (and slightly a relief) that there's a biological reason for this behavior in some people, even if that's not co-worker's issue.

Here's the 100 funniest things I've read today (safe for work other than James Carlin), and I'd like to direct your special attention to number 99. Hilarious.

The floss wants to know the geekiest thing I've ever done, which I can't remember while I'm drinking. I'm lucky I can type "drinking". For Amanda, it's going to be disregarding the warning on this page and then telling me which resident had which diagnosis after supper tonight. If I'm lucky I'll also get to hear about size and color too.

And this picture is like the time we saw the dude just walking on the dock with no shirt and a plunger in his hand. Fantastic (and safe for work).

(Wrong Squash)+(Ultimate Freezer Challenge)=One Big Fiasco

That's pretty much how my night went. No, I think I must being earlier.

It all started about 3:00 today. That's when my boss got a call that someone got evicted from their home and needed housing. Today. It was about 3:02 that this became my problem. Ultimately we were able to find a good solution. It took some time but no one really went into crisis mode. The person from my agency who would normally do this is out of town. That was about 90 minutes that were spent in a way I hadn't planned, although ultimately productive.

So it was about 4:30 when I got my next call and 4:50 when I got the one after that. Both of those calls were my problem too. Come on people, it's 4:50. I want to go home. So I stayed late today. Really for so much going on, it was ultimately fairly stress free. Except I'm a bonehead and forgot to pack the file I need for my first-thing meeting tomorrow. Woops.

When I got home I picked out three recipes out of my magazines that I thought I'd like to make. They were

• Calabacitas. They were the last thing I made, but definitely didn't turn out well. I had an issue where I didn't have the right kind of squash. Instead I found the only substance harder than diamonds: winter squash. In the end, I had pumpkin left over from our orchard trip that was much easier to use. I haven't tried that one. I'll let you know.


• Chard with Green Olives, Currants, and Goat Cheese. Yum. I only have two helpings. I'm having one right now. I wish I had more because this is a big bowl full of goodness. I'm having a beer with it. Goat Cheese and beer were meant for each other. Also, what is a currant?


• Edemame Succotash. Another bowl full of yum although I haven't really tried it.

I'm trying to cook my meals ahead, so now everything is set for the whole week. I'll let you know if it works. I'm not sure yet. I'm also on the Ultimate Freezer Challenge in an attempt to have my old freezer and fridge empty by the time it needs to be traded in. I'm doing ok with it. Those five pounds of raspberries I bought the other day are almost gone. (Amanda, were you with me when I bought those?)

After picking out my meals I went to the gym. I ran intervals today. I ran 1 lap (1/6 of a mile) and walked half a lap for 35 minutes or until I had run two miles. That is hard work. Wanna know how hard? I ran 3 miles in 35 minutes the last time I ran at the Y. This time, I still went three miles in the same amount of time, but I walked one of those miles. So how fast was I running the other two? Wow. I did the rowing machine too. I love the rowing machine. It's relaxing and a great arms work out, and I think underestimated as an abs workout.

Then I went shopping. My food was expensive. I guess I better eat it all. I came home and cooked everything (as noted above) and am now enjoying a beer before bed. I'm hoping that I can get up and go to the gym tomorrow. I'm a little behind on my eight visits.

Just a couple updates before I go:
the link that's supposed to say "awesome" still doesn't. No, seriously. On any of the Overheard in the Office pages. Woops.

The coolest password ever. I wonder if the password cracking software check this one at the top of any of their lists. Hee hee.

And, sadly, there is a new "Your Mom" player and we have all been schooled.

2007: The Year in Review

I decided to go ahead and remind you of my favorite blog posts through the year, and review what 2007 was like for me.

January started out cold and tragic when my brand new digital camera nearly drowned in my bag. I was tired and looking forward to the last semester of school, taking a licensing exam, and looking for a job. Apparently, it was all just too much.

February was mostly taken up by school but I did manage to have some fun even though it didn't work out with that guy. Writing that post was quite a moment. Its one of the moments I'm quite proud of from 2007.

March just happened to be spring break and an awesome trip to Florida. I'm not sure if there will be a repeat this year or not. I might be ready for one by March. You never know.

April involved a licensing exam and the companion piece, homework forever, sleep is for the weak. Maybe that's why I love coffee so much now.

The biggest event in May was finally being done with all of that homework, though for several weeks I kept dreaming that I hadn't turned stuff in or that I needed to save my textbooks and things.

In June I found gainful employment as a social worker.

I started said gainful employment in July. The paper clip story is still one of my favorites. It was paper clip induced mania.

August has always been Milk Run time for me thanks to Amanda's great idea a couple of years ago.

September was the month that Kelly got married. I think the biggest thing that happened in my life though was the bedroom makeover which was a great success. I had a great time at Kelly's wedding too.

October seemed to be standard although I stopped running then and have been exercising since then, but still struggling to return to running.

November was mostly filled with Thanksgiving.

December was obviously a big time for family as well.

I just deleted 1,869 pictures, and I feel good

Kelly and Amanda and I did Christmas last night. It's quite obvious there was wine because Amanda gave us bedroom eyes and Kelly's eyes were so dialated it took me 30 minutes of red-eye editing in iPhoto to get her back to normal. I, on the other hand, am perfect in ever way... I took lots of pictures last night, here are some of the good ones.

No, seriously, Amanda did give us bedroom eyes.


I wanted to take a picture of the mirrors I helped Amanda hang up before her birthday party. Note: Every mirror in that picture is level and perfectly spaced. If you don't think so, maybe you've had to much to drink.


This will be referred to as the "monkey butt" picture, where Kelly misheard Amanda and we all got a bad image in our minds. I


After the monkey butt incident, we opened presents. (Maybe the presents came first. Anyways.) I got Amanda fuzzy slippers and hilarious chicken pictures. I couldn't find a way to work in the horse, the pig, or pictures I have of a sea turtle or several dogs. There's always next year. I got Kelly pictures of the three of us hanging upside down and her usual magazine subscription. But we all got distracted by Amanda's gift to Kelly, a 3-d puzzle of the earth. Which we then had to put together.


We all helped.


And then Kelly had to make sure it wouldn't fall apart so she could take it home in its completed state. I hope no puzzle pieces fell out in her car. I haven't heard.

And, this is the comic to which Kelly and I referred. Heh heh.

I am powerful

At least, running makes me feel powerful. It doesn't seem right that I can just not run for three months and then go run three miles. It seems even less right that I can not work out at all for two weeks and then go run three miles. Never the less, that's what I did tonight. My body just felt that it needed to move, and sweat, and run.

And the gym was packed. I love all the news years people. I love even more that I won't have to deal with them after February because that's about how long it will take them to get over the whole workout thing. Even more fun was that parents brought their kids and they ran around the track together. I thought that was pretty cool.

Today was a wild day just because it was really busy. I had Pineda Tacos for lunch. Yum. Amanda's thinking about friend cheese right now. I guarantee it. Yum again. I had a meeting, a training, and a home visit. And good coffee. And I got up really late and didn't take a shower. I kind of regretted that all day. I was tired. It's harder to get up on cloudy days because it's that much darker.

Also, someone please remind me to go to work tomorrow night.

While you're pondering that, let me show you some of the great things I found on the internet today:
All the things Google can do that we never knew. I'm really excited about the flight tracker and currency converter. Points 1 and 2 seem pretty obvious though.

What you would crochet if you were married to a geek. Or knit. I guess you could make that design in some form with either method. Shows what I know.

A sad typo on a Minneapolis church sign that makes me giggle every time I think about it. Hee hee. That's right, I'm ten years old. I'm ok with it.

How OCD limits my design ideas: I could never have this table. I'm just saying. All those different size knobs would drive me nuts.

Why I can never use IBM or Bayer again. Thank goodness for my Mac. I'm not too sad about Hugo Boss or the Volkswagen. I'm also not sure if I find the kittens more disturbing given the subject matter but the picture of Vanilla Ice is absolutely brilliant and perfectly placed.

On that happy note... I'm going to finish my juice and go to bed.

Sharing a moment of glory while I avoid cooking dinner

It's not that I don't like cooking. I feel as though I don't have anything I'd like to cook, hence I'm avoiding it, But let me tell you about my day because it was quite exciting.

First, I woke up super later. Not from drinking a lot of beer or a hangover, just from not having to go to work.
Once awake, I feasted on leftover pizza (hmm, that may be dinner tonight too) and watched a movie called Stranger Than Fiction. Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed the movie. It's surprising because I generally don't enjoy Will Farrell movies. Although, I tend to love Emma Thompson movies, and today that instinct won out.

Then, for the really exciting part of my day, I went and dropped several thousand dollars on appliances. No buyers remorse, but I about had a nervous breakdown while I was applying for the Sears card. I need to read the terms of that whole "no interest for one year" deal. See what they're really selling. What did I buy?

• Slide in stove, all black


• note how the door style and handle style match the slide in stove. I decided that would make me happy. Especially since I'll be able to see it from where I sit on the couch.


• thank goodness for clear shelves and drawers. Now maybe less of my food will spoil.


• the most used, and almost most expensive appliance in my house. It would have been the most expensive but I wanted the glass top stove.

After those purchases I walked around the mall for a few minutes to calm down and called my parents. Mom is studying for her comprehensive exams, part of the hazing you go through to get a PhD. I think it's cool she's doing it but she's really nervous right now. Only part of it is test anxiety. There's a whole other thing about writing and essay on the laptop that's freaking her out.

I poked around on the computer a little this afternoon and yesterday. I found the obligatory "Best of 2007" lists and altogether, this wasn't the most impressive year for me. Oooh, maybe I should review my blog posts for the year and put up my favorite one from each month for you to remember. Well, that's for another day. The really neat one I found reminds us of the 100 most interesting, or pointless but good for television, things that we learned this year. I'd like to direct your special attention to points six (Kelly), forty-six, eighty-seven, and especially number fifty (for all my left handed friends).

I'm also wondering how many of you can do the "magic eye" illusions. I had to learn at a young age because I had to prove to my dad I could do it. A pattern that hasn't changed much in my adult life I have to say. Here's some to practice on pic 1, pic 2, pic 3, and pic 4 which is the only one that doesn't have a helpful title for knowing what you're supposed to see. You'll know if you can do it. If you've never been able to before, basically you have to change the focus of your eyes. When we look at the computer screen, our eyes are focusing on something like eighteen inches from our face. When you look up, it takes your eyes a (brief) moment to refocus on looking at things that are far away. To see these pictures, look at the computer screen but focus your eyes like you're trying to see something about ten feet away. Like I said, you'll know it when you see it.

For the ultimate in blogging meem laziness, go ahead and answer the annual question. One post per year is all it takes. It's actually such a thoughtful question, I'm not going to try to answer it yet.

And finally, I have answered the question and successfully joined the two percent of the population who can solve Einstein's Logic Riddle. It took me two tries and a switch from pen to pencil to properly set up the grid. But once I did, I solved the puzzle. I thought it was going to take longer than it did. I love these things because we covered them in geometry (no one knows why exactly) and they were the only thing I was good at or really got into that year. So I remember them fondly. And I did it.