Blinky Lights and Shiny Objects

DSCF3091 Originally uploaded by prismglass I spotted this sign hanging from this historic plant in a Kew Garden greenhouse the first time I was in London. I then had to find it again on my second trip, both to show B and to get a photo of it. The language joke is a bit juvenile, but come on, that plant is older than our country! (Yes, this post is nowhere near topical or timely - I'm just poking through some of my Flickr data and it jumped out as something I'd like to share with all of you. Don't you feel special?)

DSCN1348 Originally uploaded by prismglass Here's our front walkway, shoveled this morning by B. The snow was coming down in huge flakes today, but I was grateful the temperatures were much higher than earlier this week. Merry Christmas to everyone, if you are so inclined.

Here's how I made the gravy for Thanksgiving this year. 1) B cooked Alton Brown's Roast Turkey , it turned out like this: 2) After that was lifted out of the roasting pan and the rack removed, I set the pan over two burners on medium and added one of these mini bottles of wine: 3) Using a flat whisk, I deglazed all the stuff from the bottom of the pan (wasn't much - the turkey retained most of its fat and juices) and stirred until it had mostly melted. B then helped pour everything out of the roasting pan into a medium size sauce pot. 4) The sauce pot went on another burner, also on medium. I had two measuring cups nearby: one had two Tbsp of flour dissolved into half a cup of water, the other was just a cup of water. Nowhere near all of either of these went into the gravy. Stirring constantly, after the solids had almost all dissolved (I got impatient) I started by drizzling a bit of the flour mixture into the pot. Since it was near boiling, this thickened the mixture...

I lost my voice last night because of the cold I've been fighting this week. I CAN talk normally, if I don't mind coughing up a tonsil after each sentence. Today at work I managed to communicate verbally by whispering. It worked fairly well over the phone, because I could be very quiet and the other person heard me just fine. Face-to-face was interesting because everyone tended to whisper back as a trained reaction when someone whispers to them. But, my ears are also clogged from the cold, so I couldn't understand what they were saying. So, I had to let each individual I talked to know that they needed to talk back to me at a normal volume. (Apparently this is difficult.) I got a lot more funny looks than normal today. (Dad, are you proud of the pun in the title? I'm sure it is well aged.)

I don't have any mobile devices that can see the Internet. My phone is so old you can't even send it photos. (Well, you can try and send me a wad of data, which it will not display.) BUT, I am loving the "mobile" versions of websites. Several sites that I try to use regularly take up so much bandwidth (*cough* my bank *cough*) or have slightly broken widgets (*cough* Weight Watchers *cough*) that I can't get reliable operation out of them. Ah, but the Mobile versions are OPTIMIZED for tiny bandwidth and "just the basics" functionality. So, say it is lunch time at work so the network may as well be dial-up: in this case I can still check transactions at the bank or enter my meal into the online WW planner. Since I'm using a regular browser, this only works for sites that let you "force" mobile, rather than asking the browser if I am really an iPhone before giving me the goods. If you want to try this out, usually the link to the mobile...

Hiding, You're Doing it Wrong. (Modeled by Nigel, who is just happy to have found a sunbeam.)

First, thanks to everyone who responded to my post about vacation time. It reminded me how valuable it is to have flexibility, not just quantity, in work arrangements. So, my watch stopped working this week. I went to put it on Tuesday morning, and realized the date display still thought it was Monday evening. The hands were not moving, either. I even pulled the knob out and pushed it back in, just in case that had been stuck again. I had just had the battery replaced not two months ago, so I was concerned something else was wrong. I took it in to the Fossil store in the mall, where they replaced the battery to see if that was the problem. No luck, it must be a mechanical problem. So, I get to dig up the warranty booklet (ha!) and send it in for repairs. In the meantime, I'm reminded that I have no natural sense of time. I just can't tell how much time has passed without looking at a clock. I burnt two hours in the mall, when I thought only about 45 minutes had gone b...

We only get 12 vacation days per year. It increases to 15 days after 10 years of service, then 20 days after 15 years of service. Is this good, normal, or poor? It doesn't seem like enough, especially to both take a see-new-places trip and do a family visit in the same year. We do get 12 holidays as days off with pay, mostly clumped at the end of the year for Christmas shutdown. Also, sick days aren't levied against us, so that is fair. Comp-time is an option, but that doesn't really count in my mind as time off (we can get paid for any overtime instead). So, a quick poll: is your vacation policy better or worse than mine is? Do you feel like you get enough time off? Do you even get to use your vacation time?

Somehow I totally missed this last year, though it seems to be an age-old tradition at my new church. Harvest Festival, also called Harvest Days, is November 7th and 8th (Friday and Saturday) 2008, at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church. Hours are 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. It is a combination craft fair and bake sale, with ALL of the stuff made by members of the congregation. Lunch is also a big deal, with BBQ and "Apple Slices" made from scratch at the church. (From how they have been described, Apple Slices are like apple pies the size of sheet pans.) Craft items include: jewelry, floral arrangements, woodcrafts, holiday decorations, fabric art, ornaments, greeting cards, quilts, and even a White Elephant table. (I don't think the White Elephant stuff is made by the congregation, more like DISCARDED by the congregation...) Bake sale items include bread, cookies, pies, and cakes. St. John is located at 1800 S Rodenburg Rd. Schaumburg, IL 60193. They are at the interse...

We went to Six Flags Great America one last time for the season on Saturday, their last long open day. Apparently, the draw of being the last Saturday in Fright Fest trumped the weather. Lines were 2X longer (time-wise) than any of the other days we went this year. So, not only did we wait an hour and a half for Raging Bull, our toes and fingers were going numb. Still, it was worth it for a day outside and riding 5 coasters. (Viper, Batman, Raging Bull, Batman, Viper) That last Viper ride, we got in line 15 minutes before close, and got on the LAST car of the LAST train of the night. Here are my opinions of the significant roller coasters in the park: 1) Raging Bull: BEST ride at Six Flags Great America. Smooth ride the whole way, you aren't distracted by physical pain from noticing the height and speed. Designed to trick your mind a bit, there aren't really loops, but it does tilt the track to one side and another at the top of the tallest sections. Rather than being ...

I think I got home too late (but still before 6pm) and missed most of the Trick-or-Treaters walking past our house. They are still showing up, but only one group every 10 to 15 minutes or so. Costumes aren't fancy this year, but everyone is at least wearing something resembling a costume so far. Age range is mixed, including small children carried by parents and teenagers helping take their younger siblings around the neighborhood. We give out toys, which I love doing because none of the kids are expecting it and I get great reactions. I can get a gross of bouncy balls for cheap from Oriental Trading company, plus activity books, glow-in-the-dark stickers, and other fun items. Any leftovers get stored for next year. I had my Halloween dress-up fun last night by pretending to be a rock star at Live Band Karaoke. Yes, I've been there every week for the past four weeks, and it is still fun. There are only two more weeks for the band to make a good impression on the nightc...

A while back I got a link from a friend to the website of the Freeplay Foundation , and today is Blog Action Day 2008 so it seemed like a good time to write about it. This charity fights poverty by designing and delivering electronic equipment to communities in need. But, nothing as glamorous as a laptop. They make radios and lights. There are still places in the world where artificial light is rare and dangerous! I'll be donating a $30 Lifelight in a few minutes here, and I encourage you to think about giving the gift of Blinky Lights as well.

Thanks to the gaming equipment museum that exists behind the TV at pikafoop 's apartment, I was able to get this classic multi-generational photo. Nintendo Power Glove holding Nintendo Wiimote . (Power Glove modeled by pikafoop.)

Mini-golf = fun. Mini-golf at dusk = mosquitoes = less fun. There is a wind farm in Indiana . If you take 41 between Kentland and Boswell you will drive through it. Those windmills are enormous! Live Band Karaoke is now happening every Thursday night at Heat Nightclub in Schaumburg . October 9th was the first night, and we went early enough that they let us in free. Despite what the marketing material says, you don't need to call anyone or register ahead of time. Almost no one else was there to sing, so I got to do five songs in about one and a half hours. Having a live band, rather than an unforgiving recording, to sing along with, made it a better experience. The Karaoke Dokies are fun and supportive. Not-fun things happened too. Our prayers and thoughts are with Amanda, Tony, and Olivia. I showed Hannah, the three-year-old daughter of friends, how to use my point-and-shoot digital camera while she was visiting our house for a cookout. It made me think about how much b...

I've gotten more into crochet recently, especially since finding projects that are shorter-term and wearable. Learning the foundation-extended crochet stitch so I no longer work into the dreaded chain is a big help, too. If you care about this paragraph, my Ravelry user name is prismglass, find me and friend me! Realizing that the only content I'd be sorry to lose on my laptop hard drive (in case of loss or damage) is my thousands of photos, I now have a pro account on Flickr . Unlimited uploads and storage for 2 years for $48, plus I got three months free. Most of the photos I've uploaded are viewable by "friends and family" only. (Not everything is online yet.) You can get a free account to view the pictures, then let me know so I can add you as a contact. Again, my user name is prismglass . Sense a pattern? I came up with the name in High School to play Yahoo! games. It seemed both professional (optics) and feminine at the same time. There are a few ...

It was one of those weeks this week at work, and now we have a rainy weekend. Puddles have formed in the front yard already, which usually has good drainage. At least the pressure is off to get anything done outside. And, I don't feel as bad for not signing up to run the Dundee Road Race 5k this year, which is scheduled for tomorrow morning - so is a 90% chance of getting an inch of rain. Still, I'm very glad it is not a hurricane, or any other form of weather that is trying to kill us. Maybe I'll finish that crochet project I haven't worked on all summer. Or one of the books I'm theoretically reading. My minimum goal is to re-hang the sliding doors and track in front of the washer/dryer, to clear the last of the bathroom stuff from my sewing room. Oh, and to recover from work enough that I can face next week a bit less grumpy.

I have seriously got to get back into finding photography gigs, so I can justify buying the Sony A900 . Anyone need a wedding photographer? I did three weddings as the official photographer in 2006, and it is something I could see myself doing in the future as a more serious side business. At this point, we just call it "hobby income" on the tax forms. But, you say, "I was going to invite you as a guest to the wedding, will you only take photos if we pay you?" No, of course not, but if you pay me I will bring the big cameras, haul around a tripod and lighting equipment, and not drink at the reception. I also do not feel right taking pictures of all of the other guests unless I'm official. Your "real" photographer would start glaring at me. So, when I'm just a guest I concentrate on getting fun photos of people I know already. Here are some pointers for wedding photographers and the wedding party, no matter who is taking the pictures: 1) Do n...

Okay, most of the time, I am glad that my washing machine does not move around easily. Even when it gets imbalanced it will only move about an inch. But whatever makes it difficult to move on-accident is also making it difficult to move on-purpose. Lifting up the front edge from the bottom and dragging backwards works well enough for moving it away from the wall. But putting it back was much more involved, and I found myself needing to brace my feet against the opposite cabinet to get enough leverage. And that was just for the washing and masking step, I have to do that two more times for the primer then the paint. If only there were a switch to flip between "high friction" and "low friction" modes? (If you are an appliance designer, maybe you could drop this into the feature suggestion box?) At least the dryer is much easier to deal with by comparison.

Why do I have such a hard time getting myself to the gym on a regular basis, when I always end up feeling so great while I'm working out? Lifting weights demands so much concentration that I am forced to not think or worry about anything else. Just movement, form, and counting for 45 minutes to an hour, a nice vacation for my brain while my body gets a challenge. Because, for the rest of the day, my body is sitting still in a chair while my brain runs laps on the computer. But I let myself forget this, too often.

I love travel, but I just do not get enough vacation time from work to leave town as often as I would like. Rather than wait until retirement, I figured out a way to go on more trips more often. A month or two ago, I let my manager know that I loved to travel, and would love to go on more business trips. It worked! At the beginning of August, I was sent to Israel for a three-day meeting. We (one program manager was on the trip with me) left on Sunday afternoon, got there on Monday, and had meetings on Tuesday (which ended early) and Wednesday. Since the meetings were so successful, we took Thursday off. Flight home left early Friday, and I was back home Friday afternoon. The hotel we stayed in is on the hill in Haifa. Here is a view out my window: On Tuesday after the meeting was over we drove to Akko, which is an old city on the Mediterranean Sea. Here I am, in front of the sea, the ruins of an old sea wall, and a random tour bus: This is the most foreign place I have ever vi...

Here are some pictures from the trip. First, this gas station in San Francisco has solar panels on its roof. Next, I love the text on the side of this building. Unfortunately, the attraction was closed. Of course, I took plenty of pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. According to the guidebook, the bridge is orange because people liked the color of the primer so much the builder decided to stick with it. And I'll leave you with this warning sign from the Botanical Garden in the Golden Gate Park. Think they covered everything?

We returned late last night from our vacation in San Francisco. I've never done so little planning for a trip before, but it worked out really well. Thanks to Travelocity's Last Minute Packages , we got a four-night stay plus airfare for two for a total of $1070. And this time I didn't need to spend a whole Saturday researching hotels and B&Bs like I have for the last few trips. We stayed at the Executive Hotel Vintage Court . Their location is convenient to cable cars and buses, and not too far a walk from the Powell street BART station. Front desk staff were friendly (but not that fake-smile friendly) and helpful. The room was a decent size, pleasantly decorated, and well maintained. Bonus: free wine in the lobby between 5 and 6 pm, free coffee and danishes in the lobby between 7 and 9 am. Instead of renting a car and attempting to drive in the city, we were all about the public transit. We used BART for rides to and from the airport for $10.70 round trip. Th...

Start with a bowl of plain popped popcorn . Spray your popcorn with PAM to help the spices stick. Generously sprinkle with kosher salt, sparsely sprinkle with granulated sugar, sparsely sprinkle with red (cayenne) pepper, and generously sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice. Shake the bowl a little to let the spices settle and distribute more evenly. OR Try these combos on plain popped popcorn: PAM, salt, an even amount of Chinese five-spice powder and garlic powder. PAM, salt, Italian seasoning, with extra garlic powder if you like. PAM, salt, cocoa powder, chili powder, and cinnamon. (I like a bit of heat with my sweeter choices.) Popcorn is so accepting of any other flavor, you could probably steal the seasoning mixture from any favorite recipe and come out with a good result. What is the worst that happens? You pop more popcorn and try again?

It is so nice when the exact item you are shopping for is on Clearance or Deep Discount in several stores. I got five short-sleeved polo shirts for an average of $15 each. And these are nice brands: Liz Golf, Martin & Osa, and Eddie Bauer. So, they should last a few seasons longer than shirts that are usually at this price point. It was a Good Hunt. (I've been using that phrase for a successful shopping trip since I was much younger. Arriving at home with my Mom after an outing to the Bridgewater Commons, Dad would ask us how it went. If we found what we were looking for a good prices, the answer was, "It was a Good Hunt." If you think this implies that shopping would often be frustrating, with us unable to find anything that fit, you'd be correct.) A piece of information that I had not realized until I read it on a blog, possibly this bra blog , is that all ready-to-wear women's clothing is sized for a B cup. It makes everything make sense now: why ha...

Thanks to some correspondence with people involved in the new LEGOLAND, here are a bunch of details that are not yet on their website. "Soft" opening will be on July 25th, for press only in the morning and general public in the afternoon. The Grand Opening, with ribbon cutting, will be on July 31st. They will be open at 10 am each day. Tickets cost $15 children, $19 adults, $17 seniors. Year Passes for weekdays are $38 children, $48 adults. Year Passes for all days are $53 children, $67 adults. (I am considering the weekday year pass. I do not want to think about how insane this place is going to be on weekends!) The literature says "Children 2-12 and their families". Well, I don't meet that criteria, so I asked, "are adults without children allowed to attend and participate? I am 29 years old, with no kids, and many of my friends (also with no children) are big LEGO fans. Which of the exhibits and attractions would we be allowed to work with, and whi...

"Want to see what happens when an Architect and two Mechanical Engineers go to the LEGO store?" - me, on Sunday I bought the first LEGO set for myself, with my own money, that I have in a very long time. (I'm not counting the boxes of simple bricks or the grab-bag of random LEGO parts that I have bought a few times.) I got the Scuderia Ferrari Truck set, number 8654, which includes a semi trailer that holds an F1 car and a whole pit crew (with tools!) for $40, marked down from $80. Slightly more exciting, I discovered that LEGO now offers the LEGO Digital Designer software for FREE download . They were even considerate enough to let it run on my computer, which is an iBook G4 from 2004 with Mac OS 10.3.9 running on it. I feel more comfortable designing in 3D CAD systems than I do on paper, and much more comfortable than just winging it. Once you have a model designed, you can upload it to the LEGO Factory and actually buy the pieces as a set. Apparently, it arrives...

As a relaxing activity for after lunch, I decided to bake a pan of brownies from a "lite" dessert cookbook. I dutifully separated the egg whites, used a small snack-size container of applesauce, and even swapped Splenda in for the white sugar. Not until AFTER putting the pan into the oven did I realize that I had microwaved and used the entire stick of butter, rather than the 3 tablespoons called for by the recipe. Ooops - auto pilot. Well, the texture will probably be wrong. But at least this screw-up can only make them taste better.

I've had a lot of time to think up a bad pun for the title of this post. A significant amount of the past week has been spent with a scraper in hand, attacking our bathroom walls. As far as I can tell, 20 years ago, whoever first laid paint on the fresh drywall of our bathroom did not use any primer. The paint is coming off of the walls in sheets up to a square foot in size, with very little coaxing. Everything was fine until last Friday. I thought that a three-day weekend with nice weather would be great to finally repaint the bathroom. It needed it, because almost a year and a half ago, Brian and his father re-did the tile in the shower area. They primed the new drywall they put up above the tile, and also the ceiling above the tub. So, the walls in the bathroom didn't match. I volunteered to finish the paint job, then proceeded to stall. Eventually I bought the ceiling and wall paint, then proceeded to stall. Last Thursday I went to the library and chose some books...

I hadn't noticed this one until the Bureau of Public Debt sent a reminder email. They've reduced the limit on annual purchasing of savings bonds to $5,000 per person. It used to be $30,000. The last time the limit was $5,000 was in 1973. I'm not even going to try to guess the real reason they did this. But what it means is that one of the best places to keep cash without losing purchasing power to inflation, the I Series bond, is not as useful as it was. I like I Bonds . The rates are continually adjusted to keep ahead of inflation. Right now, they are at 4.84%. They are sold at face value, have a minimum ownership time of 1 year, and only a 3 month interest penalty if sold before 5 years. You can buy directly from the Treasury Direct website for free, so there are no account fees or transaction fees to reduce the return. The interest income is even exempt from State income taxes. Of course, I'm being a bit silly, because I've never bought $5,000 worth of...

I am now the proud owner of a board game with a Class II laser warning. We can blame Karen, because she said that when I was first talking about PRISM (the DS game) she thought I was talking about Khet . She also mentioned that they were selling it at Gamer's Paradise in Woodfield Mall. The sales dude there introduced it as "laser chess" because of how the pieces can be moved. I'm terrible at chess, but I do have an affinity for bouncing light around with mirrors. He also mentioned that one can purchase a pair of beam-splitting pieces as an expansion. Then, he started to explain what those would do. At that point, I did let him know I was an optical engineer. (Flashbacks to engagement-ring diamond shopping, I do already know what an index of refraction is...) He then said that there are rumors of a second level that can be added on. I assume it will really start looking like that funky chess from Star Trek. But now that I think on it more, that could have s...

Why has it been so difficult for me to learn to let go a little and have fun, or even to take control and make fun happen? It would seem that fun is what other people have while we are getting work done. I'm in the last year of my twenties, which is, I think it has been said, when we are supposed to be having all of the craziest fun of our lives. I started my twenties at Rose (party central, if you count Denny's runs at 2 am on Tuesdays). Then, when that was over, I got a real job, got married, and we bought a house in the suburbs. Work Work Work. In an attempt to shove a decade worth of fun into the remaining two-in-the-tens-place time I have left, I have a proposal. Let's get together and do something fun! I'll still put in my hours at work, and I'll still get the laundry and the dishes done, eventually. But, I want to GET OUT. To DO MORE. But not BY MYSELF all the time! Example 1: last Friday at lunch, a coworker mentioned she would be going to a party ...

Fun surprise at church today: we could each take home a hymnal. They were dedicating the new hymnals (brown cover) to use from now on. The pastor announced that if we wanted, we could take one of the old ones (blue cover) with us, and give it a good home. I got one out of the choir loft, so it is in really great shape. Because of the occasion, and that it was Cantate Sunday, all of the songs today were about singing. Brian declared it meta-singing. Yesterday I tried adapting a cookie recipe to use all-Core ingredients. See, flour isn't Core, so there are no official Core baked goods. I did have luck the other week making pumpkin pie Core. (Start with the recipe from the can of pumpkin. Bake in a casserole dish with no crust, Splenda instead of Sugar, and fat-free evaporated milk.) But now I've discovered why the WW message boards all repeat the same thing: yes, you could bake a cookie with Core ingredients, but you aren't going to like it. I took a very simple coo...

[Edited post title on 7/9/08] http://www.americasnewtanker.com/ Here's the text of the automatic letter that you can send to your representatives through the website above: Subject: Support America's new tanker - Northrop Grumman's KC-45 Required text: (This text will be included in your message) As your constituent, I'm writing today to let you know of my support for the United States Air Force (USAF) decision to award Northrop Grumman a contract to build the KC-45 Tanker. The facts behind the USAF decision are straightforward and compelling. Northrop Grumman is an American company headquartered in Los Angeles with over 120,000 employees across the United States. The tanker decision was based on an open and transparent process and the best team won. The USAF ranked each bid on five criteria and Northrop Grumman won on four out of the five and tied in one category. Both sides praised the USAF for the fairness of the competition before the award was announced. Both sides...

Ugh. I just got off the phone with Discover Card. I had logged in to my account to pay my bill online, and was greeted with the message that my account number had been changed. Curious, I called their customer service line. They have actually changed the account number for EVERYONE with a Discover Card. EVERYONE. Now I, and everyone else, have to call all the places I have automatic billing through the Discover card, and tell them my new account number. And I've got to log in to all the websites that know my credit card number, and update it. IF I can remember all of them. Now Discover Card does say that they have "made an attempt" to contact all of the automatic billing places to update the numbers. But they still say that we need to "call to verify" that merchants have the corrected numbers. And since EVERYONE is calling to do the same thing, good luck getting through. Also, the rep said they only did this for MONTHLY billing places. So those yearly...

Multi-Topic Post! 1) Diagnosis: ITB tendonitis in my right knee. The massive dose of Ibuprofen gave me a headache for two days (how is that even possible?) then heartburn that felt like painful hunger. So, on to the next anti-inflammatory drug. It was also a lot of trouble to find someone with a Cho-Pat strap in my size - they were all out of mediums at the doctor and the home-health pharmacy. I had to drive to Elk Grove Village today after my physical therapy session to go to the other doctor's office and pick one up there. Oh well, at least I have a name for the pain now. And thank God for health insurance. 2) Take Jessie's survey on blog use . It is for her graduate class in market research, and it is about why people read blogs. Help us skew her data set! 3) My bike is in the shop for a tune-up. This is the first tune-up since I bought the bike, like, oh, seven years ago. I do intend to ride it this year, I promise! We've got such nice paved trails in the ...

For your online entertainment, here are four webcomics worth reading. All four are strong in writing, artwork, characterization, and timely uploading. I'm giving four links for each: an example strip that lets you see the "tone" of the comic without giving any plot away, the base of the archives, the main page, and the facebook fan group. Let me know what you think in the comments - if you are reading this through facebook, you will need to go to the main blog to leave comments. 1. Suburban Tribe by John Lee: example , archives , main , facebook . Based in an advertising agency in Louisville, KY, this strip is nominally about having a normal job. But it also has adventure and fantasy, from an intelligent cat who uses the internet to the Halloween horror stories. I happened upon the strip nearly by accident, while I was shopping on Cafe Press. It has been on hiatus recently, but is supposed to start up again in April. Mr. Lee could use some more readers, so check th...

They finished producing a DVD of that play I directed at work back in December. And guess what, I'm allowed to show it to family and friends! So I'll definitely be taking it home when I go back to NJ for the weekend of March 29th for my brother's senior recital. My iPod has been very nice to have at work, to help keep me focused while churning out piles of drawings. But just putting it on shuffle was a little too, um, random. So I put together a smart playlist called "Unheard of" which has these criteria: -Play Count -Rating is not 1 star (this is how I flag songs I never want to hear again and will eventually delete) -Genre is not 9 Books/Spoken/Language (I've narrowed genres down to 9 broad categories. This one is the "not music" flag.) -Limit to 500 most recently added I then listen to this playlist on shuffle, and have fun hearing all the unfamiliar music.

Here is a pile of random items that have been banging around in my head: 1) Herb says "everyone is doing it" so I joined Facebook. 2) I think I want an Amazon Kindle, but I'm not sure if that is just because what I REALLY want is more time to read books. 3) The Mazda3 is now four years old, paid off, and has 40022 miles on it. 4) I'm more bothered by the sirens in GTA than any of the other offensive noises. 5) If you have to "do" your eyebrows, I recommend trying threading . The pain level varies, depending on who is wielding the thread. But it is cheap, $6 where I get it done, quick, and the results are very nice. 6) The stock market can stop going down now. Please. 7) I've resurrected my Palm IIIc from 1996. It works fine. 8) It can stop being winter now. Please.

I attended a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator training today, where they handed out the results of our personality tests. It even went to Step II, so now I can identify myself as an "Accepting, Open-Ended ENTJ". Those first two descriptors represent where I tested "out of preference" by not completely fitting into the classic description of the ENTJ . But some points made in the provided literature are SO true. For example, I "readily see illogical and inefficient procedures and feel a strong urge to correct them." Yup.

I made my own snow day today. We are on a 9-80 schedule at work, and this Friday would have been an off day. The weather forecast was very scary last night and this morning, so I decided to stay home today and go into work on Friday instead. I've been able to get a bunch of stuff crossed off my giant to-do list, so that is nice. Plus, I just got a call from the choir director: they've canceled the church service for the evening because of the snow. It has been rescheduled, so we will be having an Ash Thursday service tomorrow instead. Oh, and if anyone is wondering why suddenly there were so many more Democratic ballots cast in Illinois for the primary election yesterday, I've got your answer. Illinois lets you choose whatever ballot you want to use for the primary. Heck, they even had a Green party ballot this year! I know a LOT of Republican-leaning people who decided that their vote was worth more to help a certain Democratic candidate get more delegates than a c...

In a bit of amazing luck, I'm typing this right now from a hotel guest computer in Edinburgh, Scotland. I've always wanted to visit Scotland, especially after seeing London. Work is paying for this trip, so I could attend a design review by one of our subcontractors here. The meetings are over as of today, but I'm staying a few extra days on my own dime to do sightseeing. The city has hills and old stone buildings everywhere. It seems like there are dozens of "small" cathedrals scattered around. I saw Rembrandts and Van Gohs in the National Gallery a few hours ago. The scotch whisky selection at the pubs is encyclopedic - one coworker who grew up in this area helped me choose a few to try the last two nights. I'm taking notes of which ones I've got to get from Binny's once I'm back home. Yes, the exchange rate sucks. (It is pretty close to 2, so at least the math is easy.) The weather has been rainy, but at least my eyeballs aren't fre...

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a gift card from my parents to RoadID.com . They sell laser-engraved ID products that you can wear in several different ways. I bought the ankle ID, and since there was some money left on the gift card I also got a wrist strap and a shoe pouch. The stainless steel ID token can be switched between the different products. It came in the mail this week, and I'm very happy with the quality of the items. I haven't actually used it yet, considering I'm not addicted enough to running to be outside in this weather. But I know I'll use it all the time when spring gets here. I've got my name, birth date, town, state, zip, country, two phone numbers for Brian, one phone number for Jessie, contact lens warning, and NKA listed on the tag. I decided to get the regular rather than the online version. My main reasoning there was that I sometimes run or walk in places without cell phone coverage, and it would defeat the purpose of the I...