Happy New Year's Eve!!

Please have a SAFE and fun end of the old year and beginning of the new.

For Christmas this year, I bought pots (with bases) and sheets of beeswax. I painted the pots (and their bases) in nice colors, and made candles out of the sheets of beeswax. I meant to plant seeds in the pots, and then I meant to plant the candles in the pots. I even bought dirt to do the planting. The dirt, however, remains in the trunk of my car and I basically just gave people the pots and the candles. Despite their state of unwrappedness, I hope the recipients appreciate that I meant to wrap them, I just didn't have time to go and gets gift bags before the holiday.

The above serves only to introduce the real reason for this post. At the moment, there is but one gift left to deliver. One of my friends could not make time for a gift exchange before Christmas, so we agreed to meet after the New Year to do the deed. So as I sit here and try to edit the Heather post into something you might want to read and won't embarrass myself too much later on, I am looking at a pretty blue and white pot containing two pink and white beeswax candles.

And that's what this is all about. The beeswax candles. The smell is wonderful. I go to bed at night with this smell, and I wake up in the morning with this smell, and at odd times of the day as I putter around my bedroom, it washes over me. At the moment, I can't think of anything I like better than the smell of real beeswax candles. I kinda wish I had bought enough wax to make a couple of candles for myself, but that'll have to wait till I can justify spending money on myself again.

However, if you would like a candle, and you live in the SF Bay area, and you don't mind paying $2/sheet (which is a good price, apparently - one sheet makes at least two candles), I'll make the candles for you - this way, you get the candles, and I get to be around the beeswax. Just let me know, and we'll see what we can do.

So I got some spam today (surprise!). The interesting thing about this spam is the targeted list of other people it was sent to, such as Claire and Leia, as well as Julie and the owner of luminescent.org.

The text follows:

****
Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by
(HeatherJ19@aol.com) on Friday, December 28, 2001 at 21:27:36
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

message: Hi, my name is Heather and I am a 19 year old female from San Diego, California. Ever since my 14th birthday, I have been really sexually active, but I am still a virgin. Now I am 19 and away from home, attending school at San Diego State University and sharing a dorm with four of my girlfriends and are all VERY turned on to meet a guy and satisfy ALL of his pleasures. To see our sexy pictures we took just last week and to meet some other couples, go to our site: ::site url erased to protect everyone involved::
*****

Now, your definition of "really sexually active" and how that relates to one's virginity aside, why did Heather bother with such a specific mailing? Do you suppose she reads our sites and wanted to grace us with her ... offer? If so, why would she send this to females? There are lots more questions here, but I don't really feel like voicing them right now.

The mystery, however, is almost enough to make me write to her and ask. Almost.

Via Eric:

The "How the hell did I get on my kitchen Floor" medicine.

And two rather humorous parody ads:
Parody #1
Parody #2

Heh. I got a postcard the other day from someone named Bryan. Bryan, you can write email to me with your snailmail address and then I'll write to you and include my address on it. There's something just not right about having my address online for all to see.

And btw, the address you mailed the postcard to is no longer my current address. Heck, even my current address won't be my address for much longer. *sigh* My new greeting is "Here's my new address. Write it in pencil, 'cause it's going to change soon."

I found a microwave last night at Fry's and Roommie found my toaster oven last night stored over my truck.

I still need some chairs for the dining table she's leaving me and a pair of oven mitts and I'm good to go. Oh, and a coffee table would be wonderful. You know, something to put my feet up on when I'm watching tv.

With the prospect of her leaving, and probably myself as well within the next month, I find that I am reluctant to do anything that resembles cleaning or taking care of my living space. I know that this is not a very healthy attitude, but that's just the way it is. There are boxes everywhere, from her moving out and from my getting stuff to replace that which she's taking, and I'm not exactly sure how long it's been since the bathroom or the kitchen was cleaned.

Essentially what has happened is that my apartment is no longer my home and I don't really care about it. Even when she's gone and I'm the only one there, I don't want to get too comfortable, as I don't intend to keep it. It's too big, and I'm afraid that if I stay there, not only will it bleed my savings account dry, but my possessions will expand to fill it and then, when I really do move, I'll have too much stuff and I'll have to get rid of most of it. I really need to get moved into someplace I like and expect to stay for at least a year, so that I can feel grounded again.

I don't mind moving. I just don't like looking for a place.

No testing done. I'm off to get a microwave and a toaster oven. And if Fry's has chairs, they will be the best darn store in existence.

The best Christmas ever…

Back in the saddle again! Yep, I'm at work - as much to get some testing done as for the high-speed access and the opportunity to leave my foodless and microwaveless apartment to get some food.

And look online for apartments. *sigh*

Christmas was good. Grandma came over, gifts were opened, and lots and lots of food was eaten. I think everyone was happy with what they got, and that they got to spend time with those they love.

Other than that, the whole weekend was a success: Daisy got hair all over the place (the drawback to having a black and white dog is that no matter what you wear, her hair is going to show up on it.) and I got to hang out with my brothers. Now I'm back, and helping Roommie get herself packed up and ready to go before we head up to Seattle next week.

Ringing debate over origin of 'Jingle Bells':

``Jingle Bells'' was what you might call pre-Civil War rock 'n' roll. In its seldom-heard original form, it's about having a flashy vehicle, driving it too fast and using it to pick up girls.

Via Unxmaal, who has to work this holiday season.

I'm a two-timing Catholic.

That's right - I go twice a year: Christmas and Easter.

I had forgotten how much singing goes on during Mass. And standing up and sitting down. I have not forgotten, though, all the responses. 21 years of rote learning doesn't disappear just because you stop going to church.

It's a little eerie out there - I had to go to the post office and the grocery store for some things this morning, and I felt like I was the only one there. I even brought a book along with me, anticipating lines out the wazooo. But I didn't even have a chance to open it.

I guess procrastinating has its benefits.

Two holiday tidbits:

I went to the post office the other day to get holiday stamps. And I figured as long as I'd spent that much time in line, I might as well stock up on my regular stamps and the stamps I send to the bill collectors (they don't warrant the nice ones). I narrowly escaped getting the Islamic stamps (there's nothing wrong with these, they're beautiful, just not my religion - don't worry, I avoided the Madonna stamps too, even though they are my religion), and settled on some Santa Claus stamps, picked up a sheet of breast cancer stamps and asked also for a sheet of Love stamps. The lady behind the counter was more than helpful with all my purchases except,

Her: We don't have any Love.
Me: *blank look*
Me: You don't have any Love for sale?
Her: No, I'm sorry, I can't give you any Love.

She smiled. I was pleased that she saw the humor in the situation.

The second story happened a few nights ago when Jish took me to a Christmas party thrown by some of his co-workers. I wore a red sweater I rarely wear, partly because it is so very, very red and also because it is a turtleneck, which usually makes me feel like I'm being suffocated by my clothing, a sensation I generally try to avoid. Anyway, these are two issues I can get past if it's the holiday season and I'm not going to be out for long.

Anyway, I had rushed home in order to change, not having a very clear idea of what I was going to wear until I pulled the items out of my dresser. So dressing wasn't done with the same amount of care and forethought that I usually put into my ensembles. But I was pleased with what I came up with, and congratulated myself on the outcome. So halfway through the party, I was standing there, listening to those around me talk about their work stuff and remembered this particular sweater's penchant for riding up in the collar area and decided that was as good a time as any to fix it. I fiddled with the edge, I fiddled with the bottom, I decided to pull from the inside and ... found the tag.

Yes, I had put the sweater on backwards. And I couldn't do a darn thing about it. I was pleased that Jish saw the humor in the situation.

There isn't any more to either of these stories. They just occur to me every once in a while and make me smile, so I thought I'd share.

Happy Holidays!!!

I went home early yesterday, slightly ill. That's why the blogging ended in the a.m. hours. A few hours of sleep and some Advil, and things were peachy ... at least until the Advil wore off. But I spent a completely enjoyable time having dinner with some friends from my hometown.

Today I drove and drove and drove till I arrived Home, encountering only a few idiots who felt that their need was great enough to risk driving recklessly through rain and heavy traffic. Now I'm here, and Daisy is very happy to see me, as are my parents, since they have been waiting for two weeks for me to come Home and set up their brand new computer. It's funny, in the groups I usually hang out in, I'm the non-technical one, the newbie, the one who must have everything explained to her in very simple terms. When I come Home, I'm the expert. It's kinda scary.

Conversation as a result of a gift from Kevin:

Metagrrrl: oo, dang these are yummy candies...
Me: Yes, they are. I'm hoping *someone* else shows up and eats some, or I will eat more than I deserve.
Metagrrrl: Nay, nay, not more than you deserve. More than is prudent.
Me: Ok, I can go with that.
Metagrrrl: You *deserve* a whole tray of them, fed to you by attractive men, who also sing, dance & give foot massages.
Me: Ooooh, foot massages.
Metagrrrl: Yesss.... Oh. And they can give pedicures and are expert polish appliers.
Metagrrrl: And gourmet chefs

Poor poinsettia. It never had a chance. There is not a single leaf left alive. I'm declaring it dead as of today.

So today is Friday. I get to go Home tomorrow. I'm wearing one of my favorite green t-shirts with my other Christmas pin, and the green version of my nifty shoes. Christmas is almost here, I've finished all my presents - delivering them before I leave tomorrow is the only logistical problem left to work out. And I realized that I had better get the rest of my cards mailed today if people are to get them anywhere close to the Tuesday.

And for reasons you'll never know, I slept on the floor and then my couch last night, and my neck, shoulders, and lower back are complaining incessantly. Really, next time I'd like to come back as an invertebrate.

Could you work on that? Thanks.

Dinah's giving me a sheep this holiday season. Lucky me.

Guess who's getting ducks?? Quack, quack.

It is difficult to run an acceptance test in a timely manner when you have an overprotective engineer looking over your shoulder.

I am currently back at my own computer because I got tired of him reaching over me to use the keyboard on the testing system.

I'd like to note that, much as I dislike all things Microsoft, Netscape browser sucks. And Solaris is a difficult OS to work with.

Because Roommie is moving out this month, we're not having Christmas in the way we'd envisioned when I moved in. All my decorations are still stored above my car, we don't have a tree and I didn't even put up any lights. In lieu of unpacking stuff that I will just have to pack again, maybe I'll try making some Paper Snowflakes.

Via Bob The Corgi.

So I'm chatting with my 11 year-old friend and she asked what I was doing. Normally, I would just copy the link of the site I'm reading and send it along, but I felt a twinge of conscience at thought of sending her the reactions to Davezilla's posts on an adolescent encounter with Canadian "dancers" and Bibleman.

As the (ahem) adult in the conversation, I feel responsible for preserving her innocence for as long as I can. Or at least not contributing to its erosion.

I'm so glad I don't have kids.

Along the lines of Kevin's letter-writing project (as well as my own): EcoPaper.Com

Good things about today:

It's Thursday. Which means tomorrow's Friday. And then I get to go Home for the holiday.

I'm wearing a pretty, dark green sweater and sporting my Christmas pin. Oh, and a nifty pair of red shoes.

It's raining. And thundering.

I get to have lunch with a group named the Mutual Admiration Society. And tonight I'm having dinner with a group of friends at one of my favorite restaurants.

And did I mention that I'm going Home on Saturday?? I'm going Home on Saturday.

Rhymes with Orange! presents: RWO Solves the Recession.

Do your part to help the economy.

Need something silly to read? Check out the BritneyBlog.

mayfly project 2001

Found a friend. Fell in love, but all by myself. The friendship survives, stronger. Moved. Moving again. sigh. Learning alot.

Via JessaJune.

I'd heard that Lord of the Rings was pretty darn good, but this review makes me a believer. I think I need to see this movie soon.

Warning: If you haven't read the book or aren't familiar with the story, and you care about that sort of thing, then perhaps you shouldn't read the review.

Via Kevin.

U.S. Indicts Tyson Foods for Alien Smuggling

I think you can make your own jokes here.

Via Dave.

As disturbing as makeup for men, along comes Mantyhose. I guess I prefer the more archaic notion of masculinity that disdains the use of products traditionally made only for women.

Mantyhose via Jisheroo.

A Trader Joe's tin of Earl Grey tea showed up in the office recently and I was showing Dinah how beautiful it was. I lamented my dislike of Earl Grey, more because of the flavor than the caffeine, and how I wished I did like it, just as I wish I liked coffee or alcohol. You know, to bring me more into the mainstream, so that I can enjoy the same things that so many others seem to get pleasure from.

At the very least, it would make me more like Captain Pickard.

Via Kevin: hugs for everyone!

Wow. Just read something that hit me like a ton of bricks with the pain it reminded me of ... and so I turn to my trusty dusty little desk calendar to change the day and hopefully change my outlook, and all it can tell me is that "Mistakes are really not that big a deal."

Maybe I'll look back a few years from now and be able to say that with some truthfulness, but right now, it's a little too close to my heart and it does seem like a very big deal.

Reading up on how to administer pills to smart kittens, I learned how to make the ¢ symbol. It's amazing what you can pick up in the normal course of your day ...

CostCo. A story I'm sure many of us can relate to in one way or another.

*sniffle*
I was out and about this afternoon doing errands and heard on the radio that Stuart Adamson of Big Country was found dead this weekend. The Crossing was one of my favorite tapes ... so much so that I wore it out and had to buy the CD.

*snicker*
On another note entirely, Caterina cites an article about one ingenious method of stopping terrorism. As she states, "Thus fighting fire with fire is not always the way to go. Fighting fire with marshmallows, sand or rain might be the better solution."

It's so nice when you mis-hear stuff in meetings that lead you to believe that you have a lot more work to do than is actually the case, 'cause the relief that you experience when you discover your mistake is (almost) worth the anxiety.

Although there was this whole testing thing that I missed and still might have to stay late. But it's way easier to test and compile a bug report than make up nice text to tell people how to do stuff.

Email as content (but you can see why the subject line caught my eye):

Chocolate is a Vegetable

Chocolate is derived from cocoa beans.
Bean = vegetable.
Sugar is derived from either sugar CANE or sugar BEETS.

Both are plants, which places them in the vegetable category. Thus, chocolate is a vegetable.

To go one step further, chocolate candy bars also contain milk, which is dairy. So candy bars are a health food.

Chocolate-covered raisins, cherries, orange slices and strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want.

Christmas has officially begun here at Maison de Booboolina. Two! Count 'em, Two! boxes arrived for me today.

And I can't open them. It was hard enough avoiding the "Reveal purchased items" on the wishlist. This is torture.

Yesterday's little tidbit from my desk calendar: "There's an almost universal tendency to overexaggerate our workloads."

I don't think I could overexaggerate my workload this week even if I tried. Maybe this week in the calendar was not the best place to put that reminder in, as most people are trying to get two weeks of work done in one so they can take off for the holiday, while getting all the last-minute Christmas stuff done at the same time. Not to mention that yesterday was the busiest day of the year for the post office. I'm sure those poor people would not take kindly to this particular sentiment.

Or maybe I'm making too much of the platitudes of a desk calendar.

A silly rant:

Edmond recently cited an article that stated, among other interesting tidbits, that "women who drive the new Volkswagen Beetles and Minis are the most fun." I was referred to as one of these women, since I happen to drive one of those very bright yellow Beetles.

I guess there are people out there who are not aware of how much I dislike this car. Don't get me wrong - I drive it almost everywhere. I mean, it's a company car, so it's free. And my truck has over 120,000 miles on it and doesn't need any more. And it has a 6-CD changer. And a sunroof. And it can seat more than 2 normal sized people, or 1 normal person and 2 skinny people. And those would be the only reasons I drive it.

Why?

I don't like yellow cars and I don't like the new Beetles. I feel like I'm in a fishbowl when I'm driving it. This is, in part, because the dashboard takes up about a third of the interior space. You could eat a 5-course meal off that dashboard. And the backseat is uncomfortable. And it's trendy, which I'm anything but. Most of all, I really don't like the idea that people see me in this car and think, "she's the kind of girl who would buy a yellow Bug." Because I'm not. I'm so not that kind of girl (not that there's anything wrong with that).

It's only recently that I have been financially able to start saying No when people offer me free stuff, because I feel like I'm at a point in my life where I want the things I own and use to reflect me and my style. I use the car for the reasons stated above, but I don't particularly like it.

But I am a fun person, regardless of the car I drive.

Perfect for a Tuesday morning: The Insanity Test.

Via Unxmaal.

Speaking of excessive shopping, I did all of my online shopping today. I now know my credit card number by heart and I can tell you the pros and cons of certain online businesses and their checkout process.

Oy.

Today was another lesson in shopping while hungry. At Cost Plus.

I held back though, and bought only one square of chocolate. And a box of all-natural macaroni and cheese. And some jam. And a candle.

But it could have been worse. Oh yes. Much, much worse.

To get you in the holiday mood: Snow-Bowling.

Via 3 Bruces

Oh my. Recent Engrish Discoveries

Via Nubbin.

Heron

Today, on a rare sunny morning, a heron stalks wee beasties in their tunnels under snow. The tyrrannosaur tiptoes through trees.

Hamlet died on the bus this morning. This afternoon, I take the 110 to Arden.

Most people, when they get their hair cut, go for a trim. If they're feeling adventurous, they might go for a whole 2 inches! Not JessaJune though. Oh no. She decided to take off 12 inches on Friday (by the same woman who cuts my hair, btw).

Partly out of a need for change, partly as a gift to her mother, she made a donation of the foot o' hair to Locks of Love, a "non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children across the U.S. under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss."

Which is just plain cool.

Lovely site: Banshee Studios

I do have the best friends, and they all came out of the woodwork this weekend. I celebrated a year of friendship with someone on Thursday, celebrated another good friend's impressive achievement on Friday, got to be creative and somewhat artistic on Saturday (Christmas gifts in the making), and brunch with friends and dinner with my parents and friends yesterday.

Not to mention that I received a DVD player as an early Christmas gift. How cool is that?

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you .

Now I'm off to change all my wishlist movies from VHS to DVD.

Two notes for the end of the day, and then I really have to avoid the internet altogether:

Glenn Miller rocks. So does Linkin Park.

And another good cartoon: The Soak, via my browser homepage.

Ok. The new Trillian comes complete with emotisounds. That is, they have a lot more emoticons available and some of them play the appropriate sounds when you send/receive them. I just had a 20 minute conversation with someone trying to figure out which emoticons came with what sounds. If you're using the tool, the recurring theme was:
(@)
(bum)
3:-0
(t)
:-p
:'-(

Forgive us. We're simple people. We're also cheap dates. Yes, that was a hint.

You'd have to be pretty much a loser (albeit a rich one) to have to resort to Coincidence Design to snag you a date.

You've found success; you drive an expensive car, own a mansion, and have money to burn. On top of all this, you're fairly young, you work out, and can make witty remarks. But you haven't found your dream wife yet. The women you date don't live up to your image of the ideal woman.
....
What's left? You aren't some law-breaking psycho. You can't STALK her.

But WE CAN.

Via Jisheroo.

Do you have issues? Problems that need talking out or fixing? Philosophies about life that you'd like to discuss with someone who can relate and understand and respond intelligently?

Talk to Dinah. She's your man the answer to your prayers.

After a very pleasant lunch (that I made much longer by needing to do stuff that I really should have taken care of at another time) and some good discussion, I have come back much less whiney. Why? I got to eat at my favorite restaurant. I figured out that I need to put off looking for a place to live till next month. This will allow me to focus on the important stuff right now, like putting together my Christmas gifts and handling Roommie leaving me. And finally, she reassured me that my hair will grow out.

It's really unfortunate when your plans for your hair length don't coincide with your hairdresser's plans for your hair length.

At least she's not an artist and only cut it a bit shorter than I wanted (at a time when I'm trying to grow it out, hence the whiny-ness) rather than making me outright ugly. The preceeding statement is borne of emotional baggage from previous hair nightmare experiences where I told them what I wanted, they said Ok and then proceeded to do whatever they had previously planned to do anyway. Ever since I started getting my hair professionally cut back in the 6th grade, these people have wanted me to have short hair. WTF??

*sigh* I really am in a whiney mood today.

I was given my first-ever poinsettia this year and it's dying. I've heard my mom complaining that it's difficult to keep these things alive, but I never realized just how difficult. Not that I've tried very hard, but most of my plants gave me a bit more time to fuck up before they died on me. This one has taken about a week and a half to lose almost all its leaves.

I water it. It's in a relatively bright part of the room. What am I doing wrong?!?!*

*Apparently I need to change the imood setting over to the right from 'pretty' to 'whiny'.

My little desk calendar says, "The next time you're feeling a little uptight in your home, try to imagine that a stranger is taking notes on your behavior."

I'm not sure how that is supposed to make things better.

A friend of mine is graduating tonight (she's getting her MBA). What should I get for her?

Wondering where to stay the next time you're in Houston?? I wouldn't suggest this place.

Via Kevin.

When things get so balled up that the people of a count