After taking turns being the "Content Boy" and "Pretty Boy", Mark's nickname du jour is "Brand Boy."

Feelin' the linky and commentary love today. Thanks, y'all (you know who you are :)

The drawback to having a good old-fashioned emotional breakdown is that it leaves you really tired the next day.

Needed a tearjerker or two this evening, and I lucked out at the local Hollywood Video:

Autumn in New York
Solomon and Gaenor

Neither one is exceptional in storyline or acting, but they were both well made and entertaining and not a waste of my time. More importantly for tonight, they were also pretty darn sad. All I needed was a catalyst to open the floodgates.

I feel better now. And tired. Going to bed ...

Complements of Jessajune, may I present Broon (aka, Brian Howard).

If you are at all into Renaissance Faire and watching a guy in velvet tights eat fire, then you should make every effort to see his show.

My horoscope this week:

Words can't describe the things that will happen to you this week. Fortunately, the mathematics of nuclear fusion can.

Quandry of the Day

A recent phenomenon, I now know what invisibility feels like. But again, as usual, someone else says it better.

Except that I don't practice being invisible. I just find that people don't hear me, see me, know I'm there. It's strange.

Once I notice it, I fear it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, that the more I think I'm invisible, the more true it will become and the harder to get out of. But I don't know how to become visible again without trying to get attention. And I am so not into trying to attract attention.

Note to self:

When picking the jeans that you wore yesterday up from the floor in preparation for putting them on today, check to see that the underwear you were also wearing yesterday are no longer in them... BEFORE YOU PUT THEM ON.

When your tv doesn't work, here's a backup, offering the full value of the couch-potato experience: test pattern

Heather is definitely worth reading today. (This is not to say she's not worth reading every day. I just felt the need to point out today's entry in particular.) The comment about costume changes and dialogue coaching and plates almost had me on the floor laughing.

Some funnies she points to are dishes for dummies and prawn boy.

Some people just have a way with words and saying what needs to be said.

Tee hee... I was looking up stanford taiko drumming and Google wanted to know if I really meant stanford taco drumming. What's funny is that it comes up with 12 results.

By the way, the info on Taiko Drumming at Stanford can be found here. Better hurry if you're interested - it's almost sold out!

MetaGrrrl has Blogvoices.

Go tell her how cool you know she is.

Books, books and more books.

Now where in the world am I going to put them??

Note: while looking for those links, I came across this "recommendation" from Amazon. It's a rather amusing simile, don't you think??

"Women are like golf courses," writes sex educator Lou Paget. "Even though you may have played a course a hundred times, chances are your approach shot rarely lands in the same place on the green."

It's another glorious day, and all I can think about is the fact that I will soon be entering into my fourth decade. I've never understood people who freaked out when approaching 30, and I still don't give it too much significance, but it's strange sometimes to realize just how long that time span is. I don't think there are many other species on this planet that live that long - elephants, parrots, and apes are the only ones that come to mind.

What is getting to me now is that it also makes me think about being an adult. Certain events, like not having to tell my mom where I'm going, getting an apartment, opening a checking account, getting a real job, graduating with a masters degree ... all these things tell me I'm an adult, but I've never really thought of myself as a grown-up, because deep down I still feel like I'm 16 years old. Facing 30 is just another event that tells me I'm an adult, even though the rest of me has a hard time believing it.

I'm not one of those people who believe that certain milestones have to be passed by some arbitrary age. Since I'm not looking for marriage and I'm not going to have children, there goes two main reasons why I think a lot of people attach more significance to 30 than it deserves.

It's not a big deal, and I'll be over it by lunchtime (which is in about half an hour). It's just something I thought about when I woke up and looked out the window this morning.

And by the way, I'm turning 29 next month, not 30.

Not only is it coming back, it is back!!! Yippeee!!!

Just heard from Jessajune that Blogvoices will be back soon, thanks to our wonderful friends over at Pyra. I second her vote that Pyra rocks.

What a glorious day!! The sun is shining, the sky is crystal clear ... I wish I was working on more than 4 hours of sleep to appreciate all this beauty.

The reason I am conscious after only 4 hours of sleep on a Saturday morning is 'cause I'm going to part 2 of the tutor training for The Reading Program. Someday soon, I'll be doing something that will benefit someone other than myself.

Oh, and I stayed out way too late last night. It's not the training's fault that I am sleep depr

Would anyone like to make a contribution to help out the victims of the Indian earthquake?? They give addresses to mail checks, or you can contribute via credit card on the site. Very convenient.

I'm sure if you're not from the SF Bay area, you can surf around the site and find the appropriate link to pay from your location.

Pointed out to me by Stefan, Team-Handball, a sport largely ignored here in the U.S. According to him, our team (we have a team?) is losing badly at the World Championship in France. The Germans just beat America 40:12.

They'll be making movies some day about the hardships of American handball players, and how they were ignored until they started winning. As usual.

So I'm reading over a business proposal here at work and I come across this description of value. It's pretty standard, and says all the right things to the person we're trying to sell to:

Value to User
-trusted names
-financial security
-valuable service at a low price
-reliability
-predictability
-simplicity

And the thought came to me "Sounds like the world's most boring date."

And I giggled so much to myself that I couldn't read any more.

Still giggling.

For me to mail to a certain someone later on. Damn megacorp's mail servers can't find my personal address book. Grrr.

the burrito page

Percussive maintenance. The preferred method for keeping that pesky printer producing papers, with print.

Ahh, I am tired.

If you're in doubt, or maybe unsure of a woman's right to choose, read this. Please.

Check it out!! It's the Google Search String of the Day. Classic.

Thanks to Jerwin for that link.

Made a few changes to the online homestead tonight. Real estate is valuable, even on a personal website. Actually, I only made one change: I put my list o' blogs in a dropdown list. However, this will lead to more changes, like putting the nonblogs in a dropdown list, maybe changing the font on those items off to the right. Who knows, maybe one day I'll go so far as to implement a complete site redesign.

In the meantime, if you're not a fan of dropdown menus - I'm not, but I had to make the lists available without taking up so much darn space - I've created a page for links alone. Click here to reach it. I'll make a more permanent link in the morning.

After my recent furniture rearranging episode, followed by this site adjustment, a friend of mine commented that I was always moving something. I replied that, hey, if I can't move myself anywhere, then I'll just move everything around me. At least the scenery changes.

On that oh-so-witty note, g'night.

Lucky us, we get to hear the Chef song. Repeatedly. We'd change the music, if I could stop giggling.

ps
the above is a .wav file. If you want the page it comes from, click here.

zzzzzzzzz.

Comments for today:

I have no hair!!!

I'm exaggerating, of course. But I do have a lot less hair today than I did yesterday. In fact, it feels like I'm walking around with about 10-15 lbs less stuff hanging from my head than earlier. Makes for a curiously lightheaded experience. Not to mention the curls. Damn. I might actually have to invest in a brush and a blowdryer.

I'll say it so you don't have to. Airhead.

I am suffering from some serious email withdrawal today. Someone is training on my computer, so I don't have access to my megacorp email, and our email server is down, so I can't get to my company's email via the web. I am stuck with the booboolina's email. If you have any humanity left in you, please write.

Finally, I found the cutest site today. Everyone else seems to have known about it, but I just caught on. So I'll say hello to Fiona Elise's site as well.

Happy Hump Day!

Preface: these were collected last Friday. It is only now that I'm taking the time to post them. So much for my "blogging less to say more relevant things, or relevanter things." Maybe tomorrow.

Words to live by:
As for the railing...eventually, I let go. Tomorrow night, maybe I'll fall.
**
The walls I've built around my heart serve a dual function: they don't allow people to hurt me, and they don't allow people to get too close to me. But, as usual, Heather says it better.
**
Grown Up?

Well, I qualify for all but
F: I don't believe in umbrellas, and the weather channel is boring
I: If it's a really nice sweater, and your jeans are clean, what's the problem?
L: most stay open all night. Those that don't, close at 3 a.m.
M: my insurance has gone down, but I'm still driving my little old truck - no car payments for me!
N: don't have a dog, and I never would have fed it McDonald's
Q: well, if I even went on a date, that is
X: hardly, as evidenced by the activity on this site
**
The effect of cyberculture on my life has been a good one. But that could be because I actually live close to some of the people I read online, and can meet them once in a while. And I have something to talk about on planes.
**
Indeed.
**
Cool Australian travel posters. Makes ya want to jump in a plane and head down under. Thanks to Loobylu for that one.
**
When you decide to be evil, remember also to work on making your voice sound like you've been on Broadway for a few years.
**
The dorks across the cube wall are broadcasting their pertinent, relevant, germane and significant views on the intelligence of other people (how's that for the pot calling the kettle black?!). It's Ricky time. He's good for drowning them out.
**
Boobooolina, Chef-style

My Mob Nickname:

Gandhi Mangler

Gosh darn it!! When will all be right with the world again?!? FTP, dammit!

Something's rotten in the state of ... well, the state of my website.

Found this thanks to Dinah.

Beautiful pictures.

And so it starts. Bush to Block Abortion Funds for Worldwide Family Groups

A fascinating site, to be explored when I have a whole lot more time (or maybe just when I'm not at work :) : Nobody Here

What is with this big empty space?? I can assure you, it's not a planned thing. Looking at the source code again ...

I can be such a dork sometimes.

Another cool library site: the Redwood City Public Library has started something called the LibLog: A Library Weblog, powered by our friends at Blogger. As per usual with a library's mission to make sure you have all the information available to you, they even include a list to other blogs with links to library issues.

My Yahoo horoscope for this weekend: ...Give a party if you're able to do so with grace. Some sense of limitation with your home environment may compel you to postpone entertaining. It's your companionship that people care about, not your decor.

Despite the recent rearrangement of my furniture, I think most of my friends (or at least those who have seen my apartment) would agree that I have a "sense of limitation with [my] home environment" which might "compel [me] to postpone entertaining."

However, as one friend pointed out, company was something I could offer my friends this weekend.

My new favorite site: Librarian Avengers

Thanks to LithiumBoy for the link.

I am going to see U2. In concert. In Dallas.

I am lucky to have such a hip and groovy family.

I had lots of relevant and not-so-relevant stuff to say today, but I forgot to post it to the site before I left work. I guess it'll have to wait till Monday.

In the meantime, I went with some wonderful friends to see Suburban Motel: Part 1 tonight.

If you have the opportunity to see the play, do so. It's funny, it's sad, and it says a lot about (or aboot) personal responsibility and the hard places people get themselves into, without feeling forced or preachy.

Parental warning: DCW (Dirty Canadian Words).

testing?

After the last, depressing post, here's a ray of sunshine - my friend Silvia, one of the few people I've kept in touch with since high school, called me tonight (wish I'd been here, but I was out doing the damn laundry) to tell me she delivered her second daughter the day after Christmas!!

After two miscarriages, this little bundle of joy (aka, Kathrine Elise) comes as a blessing to my friends. I wish them all the love and luck in the world.

Relevant points from today:

Mark has been declared my "content boy." He was also declared a web tease today. As he puts it, he's just a walking "Coming Soon" page. If that's not a tease, what is??
**
"Stir occasionally" means that you have to stay in the kitchen and stir more than once every 5 minutes. If you leave to clean up your apartment and turn on the computer, you will come back to stuff stuck to the bottom of your no-stick pot.
**
I get so friggin' lonely sometimes. I get all nostalgic and sad when I think back to the love, the friendship, the warmth I used to have that is gone now. These episodes don't last long and they're mercifully rare, but they're rather intense when they happen. Grrr. It doesn't help when you listen to this song over and over.

However, I find that the moods pass more quickly when I just immerse myself in them, let them wash over me, around me, and through me. Then I get something more than pain out of the experience.

So I'm reminiscing and feeling sorry for myself, hoping he's happy wherever he is, wishing he was here with me, but knowing at the same time that what happened had to happen. We weren't right for each other, but we had a good time trying.

It's a good thing these phases don't last long and don't happen often.
**
Coffee mugs make good soup bowls.
**
And doing laundry when you don't want to sucks. It sucks big time.

How's this for relevant? A run-down of the important points of our company meeting tonight:

New tagline: "At some point of time, someone should do something."
The next bowling night is Feb. 3rd.
We need to find a pinball machine for the office.
Mark has to stop eating his keys. Hip-left: unlock. Hip-right: lock. We didn't get a demonstration of the alarm or the hatchback opening functions :) Maybe next meeting.

Highlights of the dinner afterward:
Where did I file my dinner?
The logistics of sock-filtered coffee
Making me laugh with food in my mouth
Seeing how many glasses of water I could drink. Total: 4.5 8 oz. glasses. I am now going to the bathroom every 20 minutes.

I'm glad we're small and we can have a good time like this. I am not looking forward to the hairball all successful companies eventually become. I hope we can maintain some of the fun, though. And remember that we all started out as friends.

Wow, that was sugary, wasn't it? I'll excuse myself by saying I haven't had dessert yet. Now I'm satisfied. And trying to brush the fur off my teeth. Pthftth!

Very useful term. Especially for those of us who support other computer users, or are frequently stupid ourselves.

I am one of those special individuals who do both.

In an effort to say meaningful stuff, I am going to try not to post so much during the day. The theory being that if I wait for something relevant to occur to me, it might stand out and have more value, rather than being buried underneath posts about gum, my cold toes, doing laundry, and Naked News.

We'll see how long I can hold out.

Gum tip: If you wrap your pack o' gum in a rubber band, then it's easier to get one piece out at a time. Good for purses, cars, etc.

Compliments of Judy.

Apparently, all you need to do is voice a little complaint and your problem is solved!! Shortly after the last post, Chuck showed up and spent all of 10 seconds lighting the pilot in my oven. Now I know where it is and can do it myself the next time.

Now I'm waiting for the pizza I ordered to be delivered, and for my apartment to warm up. Ah well, I have last week's Ally McBeal and this week's X-Files to keep me entertained. The chair will get delivered just as soon as I've eatern. Email? Laundry? They'll get done eventually.

On a more sober note, I found this page, led there from the discussion on Plastic about the woman who was arrested for giving her 13-year-old sexually active son condoms. It's tragic that early sexual activity is linked to adolescent morbidity and mortality in these countries.

Plan for tonight: do laundry, get rid of the damn chair, eat dinner, write email. In that order. Get to bed at a normal hour.

Instead, I'm sitting here, freezing my toeseez off because I have a gas leak in my kitchen that I can't take care of, waiting for the PG&E guy to get here. The laundry is sitting here next to me, just as dirty as before. I can't leave to deliver the damn chair, and I can't cook dinner. I may be calling for a pizza soon. I took a chance and turned on my computer, so I guess it's email time.

Brrr. And I had to turn off the heat because I had to open all the windows and doors - it's a strong gas leak.

Something to look at soon. When I have time.

Pointed here from prolific.org

Cheesy indeed, but worth thinking about

Gosh. A day late, but this sort of thing (like Christmas) should concern us every day.

Pointed here from J

Guess what?!?! My birthday is coming up and I want this. (Thanks to DJ, the guy I met on the plane, for the suggestion)

But then, I want peace on earth, a flat stomach and a man in my life, too, so I'm used to disappointment.

Ok, this is just about the coolest thing I've seen on the 'net in a while: 101 Things to do Before You Die

Thanks to Jish for that one.

Random thought:
I had to explain a joke today and this line was used: "Just like my flirting, my jokes can be so obscure, no one gets them but me." At least I was amused.

Major pet peeve: people who can't get contractions right. For instance, the difference between your and you're. Just think about how it's being used, folks. If you are saying something that translates into YOU ARE, then use the you're version. If it concerns possession, such as drugs or jewelry, then it's your. Or yours. Whatever fits the occassion.

Same goes for their/there/they're. Their refers to possession, such as land, sanity, or rollerblades. There refers to location. And they're is a contraction of THEY ARE. Such as, THEY ARE going to the movies. This sentence could be shortened to THEY'RE going to the movies.

You could even say THEY'RE going over THERE to get THEIR belongings. Or, YOU'RE such a wonderful person for getting YOUR contractions correct.

But then, I can't get lay/lie correct, or keep i.e. vs. e.g. straight, so maybe I just shouldn't say anything.

Interesting. I have posted three times already to my site today, but I can't see them on my PC. In fact, the computer can't seem to see anything after last Friday, no matter how many times I shift-refresh. I can see all the recent postings on the blogs -> I've read today, just not on my own site.

And it doesn't seem to be Megalocorp's fault, since I have my laptop blugged in to my right and I can see all my postings from yesterday and today.

Hmmm. I don't want to flush my cache, 'cause then I'll have to remember all those URLs. Poor me. (sniff)

testing, testing. I think it's the megalocorp's problem this time ....

Ahem. It sounds like a tv

Thought fodder for the day: Let Slip The Wanting To Keep

One down and four to go. You'd think I would have gotten farther today.

And I haven't even been reading the blogs. Or doing anything else recreational.

Edit, write, edit, write, .......

Interesting idea brought up during a conversation regarding the benefits of using a PDA as an address book:

What if the number of friends you had was determined by the memory capabilities of your electronic device? Imagine someone introducing themselves, and you have to turn them away, saying "I'm sorry, I don't have any more room in my cell phone for your number." This might be remedied when you realize, "Oh, wait, I haven't talked to this other person in over six months. Let me erase their number and add yours."

Better make sure that you also have a backup somewhere else to ensure that you never lose friends' contact info. Those PDAs are awfully easy to drop (doh!) or lose.

Just a thought.