day two... of staying home from work. I really dislike being sick. Thought it was strep again, but the test came back negative yesterday. Still not sure if I believe the test was accurate. Ugh, more sleep now... I hope it's not swine flu, dear gods, that would be fun.
You think with your heart. It's maybe not the most effective way of leading, but your sensitivity and compassion are strengths when it comes to dealing with people. However, "heart" gets a bad rap these days; ruthlessness and ambition are more prized qualities. But you get the job done, and you're usually able to live with yourself the next day. Now, about that little affair with Owen...
Just a data point for you if you ever have the ear of someone at USAC regarding the blizzard of service certifications their invoicing unit is burying applicants with...
Between 7-1-08 and 6-30-09 I filled out 112 service certifications. Given the research required to fill out the payment section, plus the rest of the fill out - print - proof - sign - scan - email cycle, it takes me roughly 20 minutes for each document. That adds up to over 37 hours preparing service certifications.
There has got to be a better way.
A hundred and twelve service certifications (a USAC form I have to fill out and sign to say yes, the vendor sent us the stuff/did the work they are invoicing you for. We have paid our share and it's OK for you to pay yours) is on the order of five times as many service certs. as I have been required to prepare in the past six years combined. Why? As I told an exasperated vendor today:
You -- and every other service provider -- are getting hammered with service certs because the FCC is hammering USAC to do more to combat fraud. USAC has trippled their number of on-site audits in addition to massively increasing the number of service certs.
I know it's all in the name of keeping crooks from ripping off a program that helps schools and libraries in poor municipalities, but there has got to be a better way.
Current Mood: contemplative Current Music:Cats going bump in the night
(It's nearly 10pm and it is 98 degrees outside.) Today was crappy for many. I slept for two hours I think, but kept biting my tongue in my sleep until the pain woke me. That and the cat pawing my face. So, maybe we should all just look at cute animals on the internet until this day goes away.
books Books, books, books. I love them. I have enormous quanitities of books at home, everything from Russian textbooks to biographies of strange 19th and 20th century figures to a plethora of the best modern speculative fiction to a half dozen different translations of Crime & Punishment. I love books. The only time I have not loved books was while working at Half Price, when crazy customers brought in boxes of moldering, silverfish infested boxes of dead books.
beads I love shiny objects too. Beads are great, though I have to remember not to put them in my mouth. They are not for eating.
pears Pears have an inherently sorrowful quality to them that I love.
cooking I enjoy cooking. Mostly it is a spur of the moment thing for me. I'm the opposite of what a good baker should be because I'm so reckless and never measure things right or plan ahead. But it works and that makes me happy.
Texas Oh home of mine, we have a hard relationship. I hated you and wanted to dump you for a long time. I ignored all your beautiful qualities. These days I try to do a better job of treating your right and appreciating you, even while we fix up the broken parts.
"Surprise! Pelvic exam! Yay!" I seem to be doing a lot more updating over at jennifer_brozek right now. Mostly because I'm pretty focused on writing stuff. Other than that, I'm focused on my upcoming surgery. I'm pretty excited about it.
I had a pre-op check up on Monday that can only be summarized as "Surprise! Pelvic exam! Yay!" Yes, really. I didn't know why I was going in for the appointment other than it was "pre-op" so the "Oh, yes, I need to do a pelvic exam on her," comment from the OBGYN to her assistant surprised the heck out of me. All-in-all, it was painless but, really, "surprise" should never be paired with anything medical related unless the word is "recovery."
Turns out she needed to fondle my ovaries to make sure they were normal she didn't have any surprises in surgery. Ok. I can see why it was needed. It was just a little startling.
Kind of reminds me of my very first pelvic exam. It was done at a military hospital for my AFROTC DODMERB (I think that's the acronym – Department of Defense Medical Exam Review Board) qualification. I learned two things on that day:
1. Never wear pink in a military hospital. You will stick out like a sore thumb.
2. You will get to know the female nurse who invariably has to follow you around to all of your medical exams because you are 17 and 98% of the doctors are male.
I also had that whole "Surprise! Pelvic exam! Yay!" experience along with the "Surprise! Anal probe tool! Yay!" experience. Yes, really. My mother said that she had never seen me so indignant when I was done with that doctor in my short life. Granted, the doctor (who was frakkin' gorgeous) had been very nice and kind and assured me he wasn't going to hurt me. He did not lie.
That is only because I didn't know what a pap smear was. When he asked, "Do you need a pap smear?" I was mystified why an OBGYN would want a throat culture from me. So, I said, "No." Otherwise, I would have been introduced to Mr. Speculum as well as Mr. Slimy Anal Probe.
Wow. Just wow. So if you're a "private" club, you're allowed to discriminate all you want. Way to Go Valley Swim Club and John Duesler - nothing shows off your superiority like kicking a bunch of kids out of the pool. More like John Douchebag.
Quote: "There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club," John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.
life in the summer I must recommend the simple genius of F.lux that kevinblanchard recently posted about. It truly makes an enormous difference on the eyes, especially in the evenings.
We obtained a small inflatable pool for the backyard. It is possibly one of the greatest things ever. I am hiding in the pool! I spent a bit of my afternoon blissfully floating. The top couple inches of water were rather warm from early during the day when it is under direct sunlight. I added a tiny bit of fresh water, scooped off the numerous blossoms from the crepe myrtle and added some frozen water balloons. They were quite effective at cooling the water, and it was sort of fun to play with them bobbing around the pool. My idyll was cut short when a spider landed on my glasses. Right. By. My. Eye. While I bravely did not scream, I did fling my glasses away with some force. Frankly I'm surprised they are intact.
So we ordered a very large and very expensive item to be shipped to us. Part of the reason we ordered this online was because it was not something we could easily brought home and the price was a factor. A large box arrived on our door step today. However, once we opened the box we discovered that the item in the box was not anything like what we ordered. In fact, it is a totally different item. Apparently we are not the only person with this problem, and their warehouse is in some chaos. Argh. Mike is re-packing the box. In theory UPS will take it away as mysteriously as they left it on the doorstep.
I can't be the only one who hates those freecreditreportdotcom commercials, can I? It's the guy singing, and the smug look on his face. I also hate, hate, hate one of their early commercials where he sings about how he wouldn't have married his dream girl if he knew her credit score. Ugh. That's a terrible thing to say, I think.
And I ganked it from another LJ post who said that it will be a fun movie but probably not one to think too heavily. And I like John Cusack but he does pick some weird ones at times.
The Annual Serious Post For the first time in my life I'm wearing a US size 8 pant (AU size 10).
And this aint no stretchy cloth deal either. These are proper stiff jeans. The kind that require their own special little dance to get into.
I have this memory of my mother when I was 12 or 13. She had this pair of size 8 jeans which were just PHENOMINOL! They were torn up, patched up, splattered with paint, drawn on - oh how I adored them. One day I asked if I could wear them to school because I was certain I'd get XP in Street Cred Punk if I wore them. She replied back "Hell no, you're too fucking fat! Stop eating, then maybe I'll lend them to you", then smacked me and walked off laughing.
About that time she stopped buying food for my brother and me, so I think in her own weird way she was trying to help. Just in a really really twisted, fucked up, demented and neglectful way o_O.
And now I'm wearing a size 8 pair of jeans. I have this weird sense of vindication. Like the first time I realised that I'd been making more money at 23 than she was at 48.
Sometimes I wonder how much I’ve achieved in my life has been fuelled by spite and anger towards her. Me? Got Mother issues? No!!
Heh, well, guess I’ll take the motivation where I can get it 8P
Lives of violence Michael Mann's films are incredible in their color and shape, the sounds and silences of such intensity that it feels as if your heart will shatter. We watched Public Enemies and I loved the burning fury of the flares lit for the cameras at night. He seems to understand the lives of men of violence and shows them vividly.
It's amazing. It's beautiful. Even knowing the story, knowing before I sat down how it would end, I could not look away. Everything from the actors to the cinematography to the font of the credits came together. The performances are riveting, cut right into the bone and blood. It rivals the magnificent intensity of Heat, which has to be one of the greatest movies about crime ever made. Go see it.
Today I cooked a big fillet of salmon in ginger, orange and mango juice with skinny asparagus spears. It was quite possibly one of the best off the top of my head things I've made in ages. The salmon was cooked perfectly too.
Up too late Watched some fireworks and played with some with the niece and nephew. The show started late but it was pretty good. And we didn't have to leave our house to see them! So, that was nice.
Then I couldn't sleep and didn't sleep well once I did fall asleep. So, nothing unusual there.
Monday Mixtape #4 - Guilty Pleasures (Singa Longa Moviegrrl) X-posted to spotification. This one is quite a personal one, as the title might suggest. As I put it together I realised these are all tracks that I really like to sing, dance around to and generally wig out in a totally undignified fashion. Still if you can't indulge in guilty pleasures on your birthday, when can you?
1. We Made You – Eminem 2. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey 3. Oh Sherrie –Steve Perry 4. Cuddly Toy - Roachford 5. Regulate – Warren G 6. Say You’ll Be There – Spice Girls 7. Crazy for You – Madonna 8. Here I Go Again (87) – Whitesnake 9. Since You Been Gone – Rainbow 10. More Than A Feeling – Boston 11. Cherry Pie – Warrant 12. She’s So Fine – Thunder 13. Wanted Dead or Alive – Bon Jovi 14. Addicted to Love – Robert Palmer 15. Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds 16. All for Love – Bryan Adams, Sting, Rod Stewart 17. Get into You – Dannii Minogue 18. I’m Your Man – Lisa Moorish 19. Don’t Let Go – En Vogue 20. Diary of Horace Wimp – ELO 21. Dance Hall Days – Wang Chung 22. Ordinary World – Duran Duran 23. Hourglass – Squeeze 24. Bitch Is a Bitch – NWA 25. Nasty – Janet Jackson 26. Labour of Love – Hue and Cry 27. Magic Dance – David Bowie 28. Temptation – Heaven 17 29. (Keep Feeling) Fascination – The Human League 30. In the Meantime – Spacehog 31. So What – Pink 32. Happy Together – The Turtles
oh modern world One of our new clients is Ticketmaster, and I have to say dealing with their stuff makes me boggle. It's fine to be sober or to not like beer. It's assinine and absurd to complain about people drinking beers at a Willie Nelson/Bob Dylan concert. Sometimes live music doesn't sound exactly like the album, and since when was rock music held to the exact repetition standards of a high school concert band? The guy who just wrote a 500 word review complaining that bands should perform their music note for note exactly the same way every time needs to loosen up or he may constrict all the blood out of his veins. Dude.
Is Scott Weiland back with Stone Temple Pilots since Velvet Revolver kicked him out for his drug habit? Huh. Also, there's an amazing amount of mainline pop music that all sounds so bad and I can only blame American Idol. Lyrnyrd Skynyrd is opening for Kid Rock? And why is New Kids On The Block even touring?I feel like the world has gone a sugar and cocaine induced spasm.
Waiting for my niece, nephew and b-i-l to show up to watch some fireworks. I wiped our outside chairs but don't know if they will be dry or not.
Working a lot with Masterplan. It's an awesome program! Even if you don't use 4E, check this out for ideas. Also, look for Labyrinth on his pages as well. I am using them for my campaigns, including the d20 Future one, and it works so well! And awesome program!
Long weekend but I could have used another day.
Finished the Dark Sun novel Brazen Gambit. It was good. It took a bit to get used to that author's style but I like the day to day look at the city of Urik. So, a good read.
Watched some Scare Tactics. I am still amused by it.
Watched Pirates of the Caribbean a few nights ago. Still an awesome movie!
Most of the RPG stuff via paperbackswap is gone. It went in less than twenty four hours. That's a LOT to mail. But, it's a good thing. I should do this more via there. I have a few more things that might go, including some DND stuff. Have to think about that.
Still haven't tested out the new monitor I got! Just been busy. Hopefully tomorrow.
Played a bit of BF2. It was fun and frustrating, as it normally is.
Didn't sleep well even though I was physically and mentally tired. I can't win with sleep.
Razor We're watching all of Battlestar Galactica via Netflix, because there's a lot more instant gratification and less agony of waiting between seasons. There are also the extended editions of episodes. I stopped around season 3 because the cliffhangers were inducing minor cardiac events every week.
Right now we're watching Raxor, which is heart breaking. I loathed Cain's behavior during the series and I still can't stand her. ButI have a better idea of what made her monstrous and it was tragic. Watching this reminds me of watching the initial episodes where the attacks on the Colonies and their destruction were so massively awful, the grief so clearly like New York and September 11th, that I wanted to burst into tears.
Everything is making me cry lately though, so I don't know. Every damned thing.
them! There was one last night, and three this morning... ants the size of raisins. They looked like fire ants but were gigantic - it was creepy. I've seen a lot of ants in almost three decades of living in the South, but I've never seen those before. It's enough to make me wonder if there was a nuclear accident and we will soon be running for our lives from Them! (One of my childhood favorites and incidentally one of the first and best nuclear monster/giant bug genre. I highly recommend watching it.)
I think the plants in the giant urns died due to lack of water while we were out of town. Completely my fault. I feel bad about it. I'm trying to figure out what I can plant there. Maybe some tiny rose bushes. It needs to be something that could grow tall. I am a terrible gardener, I am afraid.
Not for girls A pleasant weekend with the girl and we talked about advertisements. Not, like, for all the weekend. It was one topic of conversation.
Now, there's something I can't put my finger on here. Firstly, here's an advertisement for McCoys.
Both me and the girl hate this advertising campaign. There's something really laddish and unpleasant about it. It's enough to make me stop buying McCoy's crisps, which I probably will, for a while.
Now, here's an advertisement for Yorkie.
The girl also hates this campaign. I like it, but find it hard to explain why. Perhaps it's the fact that the woman in the advertisement is obviously funny and talented. Perhaps it's that being feminine isn't equated with stupidity.
But there's something else, too. In the Yorkie campaign, the stereotypes of masculinity and femininity (both of them) seem to be treated with irony. You're meant, I think, to laugh at both stereotypes: both are presented as ridiculous. In the McCoy's one, you're meant to laugh at the man behaving in a "feminine" way.
Still, I find it hard to articulate the difference.
I'd welcome your thoughts. Please reply if you're interested in discussion. Please don't reply if you want to tell me How It Is or Why I Am Wrong.
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