| 42 comments and the rich ain't one |
[06 Jan 2010|02:24am] |
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Man, with all this attention, I just wish someone had said something about my total Dubai-related ennui yesterday.
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| Giant Load |
[05 Jan 2010|11:23pm] |
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Went up to Ellendale to do laundry at that laundromat. They replaced a couple machines with a giant loader maytag. The decal says it should handle 4 basket loads. Well, possibly. Still it handled all of our towel load and still had room. very very cool.
Still very cold. It did get above zero today.
Time for bed. *hugs*
She could always count on her myrmidon to come through in the end.
Word of the Day for Tuesday January 5, 2010
myrmidon • \MER-muh-dahn\ • noun
: a loyal follower; especially : a subordinate who executes orders unquestioningly or unscrupulously
Did you know?
The Myrmidons, legendary inhabitants of Thessaly in Greece, were known for their fierce devotion to their king, Achilles, who led them in the Trojan War. "Myrmex" means "ant" in Greek, an image that evokes small and insignificant workers mindlessly fulfilling their duty. Whether the original Myrmidons were given their name for that reason is open to question. The "ant" association is strong, however. Some say the name is from a legendary ancestor who once had the form of an ant; others say the Myrmidons were actually transformed from ants. In any case, since the 1400s, we've employed "myrmidon" in its not-always-complimentary, ant-evoking, figurative sense.
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| The long drive back from Tennessee |
[05 Jan 2010|12:25pm] |
So, last Wednesday night we ended up leaving for Nashville at about 2 in the morning. Errr, we left for Nashville early Thursday morning (somehow, it doesn't seem to be the next day until the sun actually starts rising). I drove first shift, and got to see a fabulous sunrise in Kansas before attempting to conk out in the folded down backseat of Drew's car. There's enough room for a person to stretch out and sleep, but it doesn't work so well when the car is driving and I'm used to a glorious mattress. We got to Nashville at 11:00 central time. Unfortunately for us, most of the people there were East Coast elitists, so they had just finished watching the ball drop when we went inside, declared it a new year, and went to bed. New Year's Central Time went unnoticed, and we were conked out in bed by the time Mountain Time New Years happened.
Now here's something I'm curious about: New York has the ball drop and all, but what about the other time zones? Seems to be that Chicago should have a ball drop for the Central time zone, Denver for the Mountain time zone, and I suppose Seattle for the Pacific time zone. Don't let New York get all the glory! I'd suggest more southern cities, but it seems that people have this idea that the holidays should be all gobbed up with snow, even though many parts of the US don't see snow around the holidays at all. However, I'm open to a ball drop in .
We were there 2.5 days, whereupon I received stuff and ate stuff and hung out with Drew's relations. We decided to split up the drive back into two parts, and ended up getting a motel room in Topeka after having eaten some incredibly delicious BBQ in Missouri earlier. I need to either make or get ahold of some St. Louis style BBQ sauce, as it's really good. I'm a sucker for some sweet and smoky. We might have driven further that night, but at some point the roads got slushy, then icy, and it would have been a waste. It's interesting to observe weather driving west. It was really cold in Nashville with no snow, bitterly cold in Topeka with bunches of snow, and the further west we drove across Kansas the warmer it got, and it's gonna hit close to 50 in Denver today.
Incidentally, next time we've got this kind of distance to go, we're gonna try to fly instead. Driving is fun if you aren't really familiar with the route so much, but we've both seen the 430 mile stretch on I-70 across Kansas waaay more then we need to at this point.
And here's a few thoughts on hotels. I like nicer hotels, but only if someone else is totally covering it. As Drew and I were splitting the tab, we stayed at a Motel 6. In terms of cheap hotels/motels, it often seems better to choose chains over non-chains. With non-chains it's questionable as to how livable the room will actually end up being. However, it doesn't matter much for that chain if whoever stays there thinks it sucks, as they're just passing through and so repeat business isn't too much of a concern. So, if they're sheisty or lazy, they can get away with lower standards. However, staying at a chain place, there's a possibility that you'll continue to visit their other locations when you travel. Thus, the Motel 6 was as bare-bones as the price suggested, but had the benefit of being appropriately clean and not being sketchy.
We got back last night around 8:30, and Estha was super glad to see us. We now have giant piles of crap sitting everywhere which we should probably deal with at some point. Also, so much junk food. My goal is to not eat it all today. Incidentally, my New Year's resolution is to not gain too much weight. Screw losing weight. And screw not gaining weight. I've accepted the fact that, every winter, I put on lbs. Conversely, every summer, I lose those lbs. All I want is to not gain so many lbs that my bras stop fitting, as that is a royal pain. Mind you, I've got summer bras and winter bras for this precise purpose, but when I start outgrowing the winter bras things start getting really pissy for me.
Anyhow, we scored a giant bag of miniature candy (kisses and teeny Reeses cups and such), which pleases the little Martha Stewart part of me as it means we have stuff to put in our candy dish for the next month or so. Incidentally, we decided that we're gonna keep our Christmas tree and lights up until the beginning of February. See, I get depressed in the winter. I think the excitement of the holidays helps, but January is generally pretty bleak. So, I shall experiment with leaving bonus Xmas light cheer up, to see if that combats seasonal affective disorder type issues.
And on a final note, today is Drew's and my 4 year anniversary, yay! Unfortunately, Drew is currently passed out in bed with whatever disease he picked up on this trip. We'll be hitting the Macaroni Grill later for anniversary dinner, whereupon I will gorge myself on sea life and exciting beverages. Until then, I will hang out with Drupal and try to figure out what the heck to get Drew for our anniversary that he hasn't already received over this long holiday season.
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| Lulz vs. the Cult of Mac |
[05 Jan 2010|12:00am] |
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 I CAN TYPE TOO |
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It's interesting how reticent Macintologists are to admit that they paid twice as much as a PC for a product from their Religious Technology Center when they could have had a more secure system that's more intuitively functional and more compatible with PCs than theirs... for free.
It's also interesting that people who screen comments for content rather than privacy don't seem to recognize the existence of the CTRL+PrntScrn function.
Not to be a complete tard for Linux, here. It's just that I put Ubuntu on my laptop a couple weeks ago and my most problematic piece of machinery hasn't given me hell since.
Edit: I think I know what makes people go crazy over their OS, now. It is essentially a religion, or an ideology, in that it's a set of philosophical assumptions over which a large portion of people's lives (i.e. their computing life) is draped.
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| Sad Day |
[04 Jan 2010|10:48pm] |
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Deja died sometime last night or early this morning. Mom found her in her pen. It appeared she had a seizure, stroke, or a heart attack. So, Dad and I put her in a container and will have to wait until spring to bury her. Going to disappoint Ulrich, because he loved being around her.
Still very cold again tonight.
Time for bed. *hugs*
The movie was a felicitous romp.
Word of the Day for Monday January 4, 2010
felicitous • \fih-LISS-uh-tus\ • adjective
1 : very well suited or expressed : apt
2 : pleasant, delightful
Did you know?
The adjective "felicitous" has been a part of our language since the late 18th century, but "felicity," the noun meaning "great happiness," and later, "aptness," was around even in Middle English (as "felicite," a borrowing from Anglo-French). Both words ultimately derive from the Latin adjective "felix," meaning "fruitful" or "happy." The connection between "happy" and "felicitous" continues today in that both words can mean "notably fitting, effective, or well adapted." "Happy" typically suggests what is effectively or successfully appropriate (as in "a happy choice of words"), and "felicitous" often implies an aptness that is opportune, telling, or graceful (as in "a felicitous phrase").
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| Straßgefühl: Construction Will Continue Until Demand Improves |
[04 Jan 2010|05:24pm] |
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The following is crossposted from Straßgefühl. Comment is free.
The half-mile-tall Burj Dubai opened to the public today, and while I tend to treat Dubai as my personal rage ATM, delivering targets for my ire in a breathtakingly efficient and regular manner, I'm just not feeling it today. Maybe this means I'll be less mad about it in the New Year - new decade? - or maybe I'm just plumb tuckered out.
Right now I mostly find interest in the building - which is so tall that, if you open the airlocks at the top and bottom simultaneously, it would generate a terrific windstorm that would destroy everything inside - for its design aesthetics. It clearly takes cues from Frank Lloyd Wright's "taproot" building, and seems like it would be a fantastic template for a Two Mile Tower I've long dreamed of rising a full mile above mile-high Denver, Colorado.
Of course, that's unlikely to happen, because no one in Denver is ever likely to have the hubris, monomania, or intense magical thinking of the powers that be in Dubai.
Unfortunately, I can't take credit for the title. Fortunately, though, it's from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dubaiwalla, whom everyone should read.
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| Cold to cold |
[03 Jan 2010|11:17pm] |
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It got above zero today. Just for a short part of the afternoon.
Gas Price: $2.60/gallon
So far, both dogs have left the towels I nailed up alone. They seem to tolerate going in and out by moving the towel with their heads. Or at least figured it out enough.
Time for bed. *hugs*
He gloze over the risks while emphasizing the potential profits of his scheme.
Word of the Day for Sunday January 3, 2010
gloze • \GLOHZ\ • verb
1 : to mask the true nature of : give a deceptively attractive appearance to -- often used with "over"
2 : to deal with (a subject or problem) too lightly or not at all -- often used with "over"
Did you know?
"Gloze" and its synonym "gloss" have long, intertwined histories. "Gloze," which comes from Middle English "glose," meaning "flattery," "plausible pretext," or "explanation of a difficult word," is the older of the two; it has been used as both a verb and noun since the 14th century. The noun "gloss," referring to an explanation or interpretation, first appeared in the mid-16th century as an alteration of "gloze," and the verb "gloss" followed about a century later." During the 19th century, "gloze" briefly took on the additional meaning "to brighten" (adapting the meaning of another, unrelated "gloss" referring to luster or brightness), but by the end of that century all uses of "gloze" had faded into relative obscurity. "Gloss," on the other hand, flourished and continues to be the more common term by far today.
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| Itty bitty rant |
[03 Jan 2010|10:07pm] |
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I can't wait till football season is over so my Facebook becomes readable again.
There I said it. Here's a Beaker gif for the football fans to make up for my anti-sportness. Because everyone hearts Beaker.
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| Arctic breakdown |
[03 Jan 2010|12:12am] |
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Cold enough this morning that the electronic temp sensor gave an error code instead of a temp. -25 or so according to the old thermometer that is outside.
Feel like hibernating. *sighs*
Time for bed. *hugs*
They placed an embargo on their trade goods.
Word of the Day for Saturday January 2, 2010
embargo • \im-BAHR-goh\ • noun
1 : an order of a government prohibiting the departure of commercial ships from its ports
2 : a legal prohibition on commerce
3 : stoppage, impediment; especially : prohibition
Did you know?
Embargoes may be put in place for any number of reasons. For instance, a government may place a trade embargo against another country to express its disapproval with that country’s policies. But governments are not the only bodies that can place embargoes. A publisher, for example, could place an embargo on a highly anticipated book to prevent stores from selling it before its official release date. The word "embargo," dating from the late 16th century, derives via Spanish "embargar" from Vulgar Latin "imbarricare," formed from the prefix "in-" and the noun "barra" ("bar").
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| Bitterly cold arctic night and day |
[01 Jan 2010|11:06pm] |
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Dad and I got the loader put back together today. Definitely a two person job, getting parts aligned so pins will get into place. Works well. Dad plowed some snow. I used the snow blower where I could.
Missed the tournament of roses parade. Ulrich wanted to watch Up.
In replacement of the plastic, I put up some folded in half towels in the openings for the dog house. Hopefully that will cut down on the drafts and will last more than a night. Used some roofing nails to attach them, so it will take a bit for them to bit ripped off.
it's below zero fahrenheit. Only going to get colder. Could see the full moon clearly when I went out to warm the car and truck up.
Ulrich is back home, now. Mom took him home after lunch.
Time for bed. *hugs*
It was her beatific smile that made her memorable.
Word of the Day for Friday January 1, 2010
beatific • \bee-uh-TIFF-ik\ • adjective
1 : of, possessing, or imparting a state of utmost bliss
2 : having a blissful appearance
Did you know?
"Beatific," from Latin "beatificus" ("making happy"), first occurred in English in the phrase "beatific vision," a theological allusion to the direct sight of God enjoyed by the blessed in heaven. Although "beatific" originally meant "conferring happiness," the word now more frequently means "expressing happiness," and a blissfully joyful look or appearance may be called "beatific." A closely related word is "beatitude," which can refer to a state of utmost bliss. (You may also know "the beatitudes" as a series of blessings from Jesus in the Bible.)
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| Congrats! |
[01 Jan 2010|03:37pm] |
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Happy New Year...
My head hurts. I lost my Joes Crab Shack ;_; However we are going to Schmidt's tonight to eat the traditional sour kraut and sausage! MMmmmMMMm sausage buffet
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| 2010 OR BUST |
[01 Jan 2010|12:15am] |
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the piss-poor excuse for fireworks outside and the bloopbleeps of skype |
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I can’t believe it’s already been almost a week since Christmas. Time flies, I guess. Here's to making 2010 totally rad.
Resolutions, you ask? Let’s see:
- eat. No seriously.
- do jumping jacks and crunches and whatever every day cause I’m a limp noodle
- follow through on all commitments to friends
- be smart enough with my money to still be able to cosplay/travel
- draw. Draw -MORE-. Start growing as an artist again, dammit!
how am I spending New Year's? as I do best, of course. completely alone. ♥ but it's okay, I have skype friends and a whole bottle of sparkling cider (downed the first one all by myself, tummy hurts ow)
♥
-Moogie.
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| Xmas presents on New Years |
[01 Jan 2010|12:47am] |
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Gas Price: $2.62/gallon
Weather was sunny but cold.
Long car trip over, Vanessa and Ulrich were along.
Aidan and Althea were a bit friendlier. Handled being around me better. Mom was glad to see them for the first time. Ulrich, Aidan, Althea and I played a game of sorry together. I lost bad. (Though I had to keep after them so they didn't try to changed the rules, turn order etc on me.)
Meal was good. Got to have the good desserts after present opening. Ulrich now has bakugan. Aidan loves it.
Made it home about 10:30 pm. The dogs weren't too happy. Mom had given them some of the canned food in the morning.
TIme for bed. *hugs*
Word of the Day for Thursday December 31, 2009
homogeneous • \hoh-muh-JEEN-yus\ • adjective
1 : of the same or a similar kind or nature
2 : of uniform structure or composition throughout
Example sentence:
"In my opinion the solar system is a solid homogeneous body; the planets which compose it are in actual contact with each other." (Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon)
Did you know?
The scientific theories of Jules Verne's bold French adventurer, Michel Ardan, might have been a bit flawed (it's more accurate to classify the solar system as "heterogenous" -- that is, consisting of dissimilar ingredients or constituents), but his use of the English word "homogeneous" was perfectly correct. "Homogeneous," which derives from the Greek roots "homos," meaning "same," and "genos," meaning "kind," has been used in English since the mid-1600s. The similar word "homogenous" (originally created for the science of genetics and used with the meaning "of, relating to, or derived from another individual of the same species") can also be a synonym of "homogeneous." The words need not be used exclusively in scientific contexts -- one can speak of, for example, "a homogenous/homogeneous community."
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| My annual last day of the year meme |
[31 Dec 2009|07:49am] |
1. What were your biggest accomplishments this year?
Pulled of an awesome, amazing wedding which was mostly paid out of Matt's and my own pockets. Earned a legit raise. Took off and kept off 30 pounds. Added some recipes to my baking/cooking repertoire.
2. What were your biggest disappointments?
No major disappoints, just little day to day nerve wracking things (mainly at work)
Slightly disappointed that 2009 couldn't take Rush away (haha joking... partially. Cockroaches do live forever.)
3. Will you be making any new year's resolutions?
Fuck Resolutions!
4. Where will you be at midnight? Do you wish you could be somewhere else?
At home with my husband and fur babies and a big old glass of sparkling cider (Team Sober for life!)
There's nowhere I'd rather be :)
5. Aside from (possibly) staying up late, do you have any other new year's traditions?
Kissing my now husband when the clock strikes 12.
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| Snowy Musical Chairs |
[30 Dec 2009|10:32pm] |
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( This morning's drama )
Ulrich is coming along tomorrow. Hopefully the long drive to Elgin won't be too much.
Gas Price: $2.62/gallon
Snowed almost all day. Flurries, mostly.
TIme for bed. *hugs*
She rose above the canaille to high society.
Word of the Day for Wednesday December 30, 2009
canaille • \kuh-NYE\ • noun
1 : rabble, riffraff
2 : proletarian
Did you know?
For a creature said to be man’s best friend, the dog doesn’t get a whole lot of respect in the English language. Something that has "gone to the dogs," for example, has gone to ruin, and the Britishism "dog’s breakfast" means a confused mess of something. The word "canaille," which debuted in English in the 17th century, shows that we have no qualms about associating dogs with the lower levels of human society; it derives via French from Italian "canaglia," and ultimately from "canis," the Latin word for "dog." "Canis," of course, is also the source of "canine," meaning "of or relating to dogs or to the family to which they belong."
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| Watch out for little rubber thingies when you change your oil |
[30 Dec 2009|08:37pm] |
So we attempted to change Drew's oil yesterday. I couldn't get the up-until-now-machine-screwed-in oil plug off, but he could, so that was alright. The oil filter was located in a godawful place behind a bunch of various car innards such that I really needed a few extra joints to reach it properly. Our new wrench is also a pale comparison to the wrench I used to use. Again, Drew managed to get back to it and wrench it off. He also put the new filter on, tightening it as much as he could with his hand. I screwed the oil plug back in, it didn't go in as smoothly as mine usually does, but seemed to tighten ok.
Drew starts the car, and there's a "bloop" noise and gushing...then dripping. A bunch of oil slowly oozed out of the car. As it was getting on towards dusk and we had no idea what was going on, we stopped for the night. The internet mentioned a few possibilities, with a few curses thrown in the direction of Jiffy Lube and their ilk. I was able to snake my hand in from the top and grab the oil filter, and it seemed tight enough. Today, I peered under the car and tried to make out where the oil plug was. I couldn't see it, and, reaching around amongst the oily patches, I thought I felt a hole with oil around it (neglecting to realize that the entire freaking underside of the car had oil on it at this point).
So we headed over to Advance Auto, where, along with dumping the old oil, we pick up some new oil plus an oil plug. In this fabulous overcast 30some degree weather with the parking lot still partially covered in snow (and the remainder now covered in motor oil, unfortunately), we rolled the car back onto the ramps. I get underneath, and the plug's still there. Looking up, I can also see that the oil definitely came from the filter. However, I can't seem to tighten it any more with my hand. So Drew gets under the car, and can't tighten it any further, either. So then we switch tactics, and he removes the oil filter altogether. Oil filter looks fine. Then I decide to stick my hand down where the oil filter used to be, and poke around to look for any funny business. After I'd grown a few new joints in my forearm, I manage to get my hand into where the filter goes...and pull out a twisted little rubber ring, left behind from the last filter. Hooray!
Drew screws the oil filter back in, saying that it screwed in both tighter and easier then the last time. And the car is fine, now. Which is good, as that would have put a serious damper in our upcoming trip otherwise. Now all we have to go is go get a bunch of kitty litter and some newspapers to take care of the mess we left in the parking lot!
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| update... |
[30 Dec 2009|06:13pm] |
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2009...
I went to Mexico & Japan & New York & DC & Calgary
I graduated University
I learned the ukulele
Ich habe Deutsch gelernt
2010...
I will backpack around Europe & India for 3 months
Happy Holidays & Happy New Year, everyone!
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| And then Gab dual wields pie cannons |
[29 Dec 2009|10:45pm] |
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Dad didn't get home from work until 3:30 am. He really didn't feel up to working on the tractor loader. So that will have to be put off.
Sunny and bitterly cold overnight. Going to be cold again tonight. possible snow tomorrow which will make that a pain.
Time for bed. *hugs*
She saw dark, ominous clouds on the horizon.
Word of the Day for Tuesday December 29, 2009
ominous • \AH-muh-nus\ • adjective
: being or exhibiting an omen : portentous; especially : foreboding or foreshadowing evil : inauspicious
Did you know?
"Ominous" didn't always mean "foreshadowing evil." If you look closely, you can see the "omen" in "ominous," which gave it the original meaning of "presaging events to come" -- whether good or bad. It is ultimately derived from the Latin word "omen," which is both an ancestor and a synonym of our "omen." Today, however, "ominous" tends to suggest a menacing or threatening aspect. Its synonyms "portentous" and "fateful" are used similarly, but "ominous" is the most menacing of the three. It implies an alarming character that foreshadows evil or disaster. "Portentous" suggests being frighteningly big or impressive, but seldom gives a definite forewarning of calamity. "Fateful" implies that something is of momentous or decisive importance.
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| Drupal, the holidays, etc |
[29 Dec 2009|01:17pm] |
I feel like I've cracked a major milestone, or something, regarding Drupal. I finally figured out how to write a basic module, and it works. Still needs a lot of finessing, but it gives me confidence that I can finish this project I'm working on without that pesky guesswork of knowing what I needing to do, but having no clue how to do it and no clue how difficult it is to do it. I'm really hoping that I can clean up my module and make it more user-friendly, so I can publish it with other modules and future people could find it useful.
I think I might go ahead and convert the Salami Day website to Drupal. I was originally using it as my CakePHP learning experience, but since not getting the job that I originally tried to learn CakePHP to impress, I feel like Drupal is just a better direction to go in, for now at least. That was an unfortunate job experience, anyhow. It's really crappy when you go to an interview, find out that there's something they really want you to know that they never bothered to tell your recruiter about, or bothered to mention in the telephone interview you've already had with them. Then, when you mention you've been thinking about learning it and can pick it up in the next week, they give a dismissive comment, as if they don't believe you. Pretty much my entire design/development career has consisted of "Hey, I need to learn this program to do this thing. Guess I better do it." I mean, that's how you learn, right? Mind you, I didn't have any sort of fabulous grasp on CakePHP, but after a week I'd rebuilt Salami Day and had a decent enough understanding of it's structure. The job looked pretty nice, too. Oh well. Considering how many applicants they might have had who actually *knew* CakePHP, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I didn't get it. Nonetheless, I wish I could just jump up and down and flap my arms and scream that I'm a hard worker and love deadlines, and have them listen and fall in love with me and give me a bucket of dollars. If only!
In other news, I'm getting sick of ham + salad. We did Christmas with Drew's aunt Pam, and as she was fortunate enough to get invited to a friend's timeshare in Hawaii for the remainder of the holiday break, we got to take home all the food that Drew's cousin Travis wasn't going to eat. So, we have this gargantuan bag of salad, along with a nice pile of ham. Thus, ham salad! Goes great with Ken's Steak House honey mustard dressing! Also, mmm, Christmas latkes. They went fast. We also have a metric ton of chocolate. Pacing issues with that, of course. Also, a post Christmas present - me finding a workout machine for free on Craigslist! It's some sort of step resistance machine, nothing too fancy, but it's free, and that's the important part.
We leave for Nashville in two days. Drew's family reunion and all that stuff. I get my sewing machine back, which shall be glorious. My butt will also get numb and fall off from the driving. Less glorious.
Also! On the 6th, I go in to take an application to become a Census worker. Could be fun! I have been spending waay too much time playing Oasis, which is this fabulous "Civilization meets Minesweeper" type game, which came out a few years back and I'm playing on my computer and is really cheap through the Amazon game downloads section. Andrew has been similarly productive, in that he just finished reading all of Dragonball. Which is a godawful quantity of manga.
Hmm, about time for another infamous ham salad. Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!
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