catastic

Fact: Ripley is cute.

This is my last word post until Tuesday. Hope you have a happy Monday. I'll be reading blogs tomorrow and will have a lot to say on Tuesday, including a post about cleaning the boat, climbing a 20 ft ladder and 12 ft scaffolding, and caring for three pups.

And, everyone including Spéncèr (hehe): Go do the contest. Choose twenty false statements -- no more, no less.

A bientôt,
Poppy

Poppy's channa masala

Last night I made my version of channa masala.



Today Hay and I ate it. We loved it. More photos at flickr.

The very loose recipe (sans quantities or cooking instructions because I'm lazy): Dopiaza, Madras curry cooking sauce, sour cream, butter, chickpeas, sweet onion, garlic, peanut oil, curry powder, cumin, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, roasted baby white potatoes, Jasmati rice.

DON'T STEAL MUSIC, YO!!!!!@@! Or answer the phone at dinner.

And I've been waiting to post this since yesterday so I'm gonna just do it.

It'll make you punch babies:



Also, this one has the music from one of my favorite movies, Clockwatchers:



More videos at Awkward Pictures.

Could everyone please be my friend? Thanks.

Sunday Garden Party - 4:30am edition

Could someone remind my body that it always feels sick to its stomach at 4:30 in the morning and therefore should never, ever, never never be awake at this time? Especially since no one else is up at this hour to play with? Yah.

Here is a gemini teaser photo from this week's SGP set:



The rest of the set is over at flickr.

I'm off to wash a boat in a few hours. What are you doing today?

Newest acquisition

I shall be sporting this across my chest very soon. You know you want your own.

sneaky snake

Yesterday I took some photos then promptly lost my camera somewhere in the house. Today I did not have my camera for the birthday party which meant I missed out on about 15 million photo opportunities. While the birthday girl was opening presents I got to steal my friends' camera and take a ton of photos, but I have to wait for them to post my photos (that I just happened to take with their camera) in order to show you any of the cuteness.

After the birthday party Hay and I went to Home Depot to purchase 100 feet of perforated flexible drainage pipe. In case you're wondering, this fits in a Honda Accord if you cut the ties holding it in its circular shape. Don't believe me? Here's the proof:


The full-size images are available at flickr. Hay found my camera 3 seconds after he walked into the house. Wish I'd said something before we left the house. :)


You like your brains eaten. You want to click here. (Okay, so that was dishonest. But isn't that the point?)

Alabama hillbillies make the best clocks / Asking Jesus questions

Dear Jesus,

Why are you so pretty?

Love, Poppy

Magical words

Today's magical words are: "I hafta pee!" I have locked Georgie in my walk-in closet with water, super frou-frou Fancy Feast medley of white meat chicken and whipped egg soufflé with garden greens (yah, that's really fancy), and a litter box lined with clear plastic wrap. Her objective: To pee in the litter box before 2:00pm today so that I can bring the sample to the vet and they can tell me if Georgie is actually better or still has a UTI. This task is complicated by two things:

1. Georgie is not fond of the plastic wrap, it makes her feeties feel funny.
2. Hay and I must attend a birthday party that is approximately 45 minutes away which starts at 11:00am.

Time is not on my side.


Update: Short version is that Hay scared Georgie (totally by mistake, but to our benefit) and she peed in the box. I took the sample to the vet and the verdict is that she needs 2 weeks more medication. :( They're upping her steroid. She's going to be The Hulk when she's done with this thing! I misunderstood what Hay told me. The vet actually eliminated the steroid and now Georgie will only take an antibiotic and a muscle relaxer. Such a champ! She's being all cute on the couch next to me. She says hi to everyone. :)


I remind you all that there is a contest in effect. You should enter. It's fun. If you don't enter then I think you don't like me. If your obstacles are that you think you don't know me well enough or that you don't want to win a prize then my magical words to you are: Don't worry about it. The quiz is impossibly difficult in a very fun way, so please try it. And if you don't want me knowing where you live I'll gladly send you an electronic gift if you win. :) So, do the quiz! Go! Get!

Direct link to the quiz: clickie

Direct link to explanation of the contest: clickie some more

Good news!

Finlandia cheeses are lactose free! The product line includes: Swiss, Muenster, Havarti, Gouda, Viola, and Lappi.

Baby burgers!!!!

An entire set of these adorable burgers is over at flickr. Thanks to Slashfood for the heads up.

Surprise! (but not in the good way)

I've been keeping quiet about this because I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it seems like resolve is occurring.

In the middle of last week Hay's paternal grandmother woke up from her slumber to find that both her legs, which had been working just fine the day before, were no longer working. (Surprise!) She couldn't walk, couldn't move them, couldn't anything with them. Details of what happened between then and now are not going to be discussed here, but luckily she has regained her ability to get around a bit.

When Hay told me about his grandmother my mind kept on spinning, wondering what it would be like to fall asleep with perfect use of your legs and then wake up to the (well, initial shock and horror) of possibly never walking again. Obviously I'd adjust mentally and modify my life to compensate for this new addition to the complications of life, but I doubt I'd be too happy about it. I'm glad for Hay's grandmother's sake that the situation isn't permanent but I can't even imagine how unsettling that must have been for her.

And I have no ending to my post. Just quiet contemplation.

BEARS, BEETS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA redux

I assure you that the spoilers are in the comments.

Remember when I shared this YouTube video and you laughed so hard you cried and peed? :



I have to give "Product Recall" my vote for most favoritest Office episode ever. And here's why...



And, yup, reminder: You can go do the contest now.

I just peed myself.

Thanks to G for making me pee my pants.

Avi strikes again

From ShortNews.com:

Captain America Arrested Sporting Burrito Down His Tights

A doctor dressed as Captain America was arrested in Florida after groping a woman at a bar while sporting a burrito down his tights, authorities have said.

The culprit was identified after all Captain America's were asked line up for an indetity parade outside the restaurant for a identification.

The Incident happened when 54-year-old Dr. Raymond Adamcik was on on a bar-crawl with a number of other costume-wearing doctors. Police claim Adamcik tried to flush marijuana down a toilet at a police station following his arrest.

Although Avi claims not to be the perpetrator there are just a few too similarities to his real life here: He lives in Florida. His name is Adam. He reads and distributes comic books. He eats burritos. He wears tights. He has a doctorate. He could pass for 54 if a really young cop arrested him. :P


Thanks to Hay for passing on the story. You rock!

BNL IM

Hay: If I had a million dollars I'd build a tree fort in our yard.
Poppy: hehehehehe
Poppy: and put a little tiny fridge in there somewhere?
Hay: Yes!
Hay: :D
Hay: By the way, I have always wanted a monkey.
Poppy: Haven't you?
Hay: I have!
Poppy: How about some Kraft? or a fur coat?
Poppy: (but not a real fur coat, that's cruel)

50 more things - the contest!!!!!!!!!

I know, today's Thursday, not Monday but I'm ready already! I even have descriptions explaining why each of the 50 things is true or false. I finished my homework ahead of schedule, might as well hand it in. Also, I wasn't counting on Monday being special (thanks to B for the heads up) and I'm going to try my hardest to honor that.

You still have until 11:59pm Eastern Daylight Saving Time on Friday, May 4 (atomic time) to enter the contest.

So that I didn't try to be clever and mistakenly give away hints I used the sort feature in Microsoft Word to sort the 50 more things alphabetically. The order of the items will not give any hints.

Click here to fill out the form. The point is to only checkmark the 20 items you believe are false about me, and therefore not checkmark the 30 things you think are true about me. Please only select 20 because I have to DQ people who just select everything and therefore get all 20 right the cheater way. This is like The Price Is Right - bid the closest without going over. Please also be sure to give me your valid email address so that you are eligible for the prize. Good luck, everyone! And let the delurking begin!


For those scratching their heads: "Contest? What contest?"

It is too small of a world here. Seriously.

Remember when I told you about Alan's chick committing suicide in a baby food jar while mine died of natural causes? He was on the news tonight because his apartment was on fire. So weird. I haven't seen him for (math, ...) 21 years! And just like with Julie it wasn't for something good. Time to go someplace bigger where I won't know anyone... Hay, are you coming with me??

Sooooo wrong.

"Don't poo on my hand boy. I'm just tryin' ta dance, boy."



The best My Humps lyrics ever, although the best overall version goes to Alanis's super dark version in which you can actually understand the lyrics.

Anonymous comments now welcome...

In case Miss Britt does actually stop by here I've lifted the anonymous commenting ban on my blog. Perhaps that was the obstacle for several of you lurking here? If so, here's your chance to leave comments!

Notez bien: If I receive comments that are hurtful to me or others via the anonymous option I'll just delete them so perhaps you'd rather not waste your time if that's your intention here. Poppy's playground rules 1 through 4 are still in effect. :)

Update: And because Britt is smart I now have a way for you to subscribe to my comments as well as to my blog which are both at the bottom of my page but I'll put them here for your benefit:

Comments: http://poppycede.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/full

Posts: http://poppycede.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
 ...or: http://poppycede.blogspot.com/atom.xml

The new plan

Molly and I have just decided via IM that we are moving to Orlando to be closer to Avi so he can support us while we get Molly's brothel up and running and Avi trained as a man-whore. Once it is established I will be the chief information security officer for said brothel and Molly and I will sip Mai Tais while we watch Fynn (pictured to the right) become the smartest kid on the planet. Doesn't that sound like a good plan? Yes, yes it does. I love it when a good plan comes together...

(BTW, Avi doesn't know about this plan. Well, okay, he does now that he's reading it. Hi! *wave*)

SQUEE!!!!!

NYCWD mentioned me and Hay for Cereal Wednesday!!!!!!!!! I think I just fan fainted.

CONTEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ZOMG!!!!!!!!!!!!@~~!111

I really enjoyed how Avi did his 50 things so I've decided to copycat him, but in text form only. Next Monday I will post 50 more things, 30 true and 20 false. Your mission will be to decide which 20 are false (without choosing more than 20) and submit your answers to me. The person who guesses the most false wins a prize. A good prize. Not a car, not a house, not a boat, not a $2200 trip to South Beach, but something good.

Anyone lurking, DELURK and do the contest! :) It'd be totally rad if some people I didn't even know were here played along. With 250-550 visits a day I'm guessing I have some lurkers. So, here's your chance to introduce yourselves! I really like you! I just don't know you!!

Set your clocks for Monday and come back around to fill out your answers. I'll leave the contest up for a week so make sure to get your answers in by Friday, May 4* at 11:59pm Eastern Daylight Saving Time (I will be using atomic time, please do the same).

Yay yay yay!


*Yes, that's a different end date than I put before. I'm an idiot and can't tell what day it is. Luckily my form building helper is smarter than I am.

"My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard."

I have it on good authority that these are very tasty:



I also have it on good authority that this is the best milkshake video on the planet:



*giggle*


Okay, and I just tried one two and they're delicious. Is he ever wrong?! No, he is not.

And theeeeeen?

...?

WTF?!

I have been following the story of a man who (allegedly, sigh) raped two teenage girls in his "dungeon" over at A Feast of Crumbs. Today Joefish posted a follow-up that the man was acquitted.

...
...
...
...
...
...

My brain just imploded.

BAD Poppy.

Despite the fact that I just said I like to respond to all your comments, I haven't been responding. Rest assured, if you commented between the Friday FYIs post and the Text Messaging! post (inclusively) I have just responded to you. Very sorry. Hard to keep a comment thread going if the author doesn't play along...


And, just to be clear, my current tagline (see above) has nothing to do with any of you. I actually don't have anyone in mind for that at the moment, I just thought it was super funny so I needed to post it. (Did you not know I was random? Hmm.)


Oh, and Boris Yeltsin died. I got the Breaking News!!!!!! item this morning but I don't know Boris so it didn't really make me feel one way or the other.

Text messaging!

I just figured out how to use text messaging on my phone! Happy Poppy! (Yes, I'm an idiot. I have a Nokia Tracfone, so my phone is never on unless I'm expecting contact by others.)

Also related to the messaging topic, I found Gecko! He's back! (Look, Gecko — I'm talking about you! :P ) He is currently locked out of his Wordpress account, but is working with them to be reinstated. Expect him to blog blog blog real soon.

Dance Dance Revolution

I love watching people play that game...

Yesterday I was feed reading Perez's site and found this post about Jason Schwartzman having a singing career. You know Jason from Rushmore. Yes, yes, you do. I promise.

I checked out Jason's music and am now the proud owner of Nighttiming via iTunes, but you can get it from lots of places via his band's website, Coconut Records. I know, confusing.



Jason's sound: Beatles meets Beach Boys meets Modest Mouse (but just a smidge of MM, to clarify for the MM haters) with an occasional touch of folk and country. Totally rad in a very not-80s way.

To listen to a few of the songs all the way through or see a totally adorable pic of Jason in his PJs making music visit the band's myspace page.

1 MAdult

Slow start, totally awesome middle and end. We will own this movie when it comes out. YAR(p)!

More NASA drama

Clearly I'm not in touch with the world unless I read Jen's blog because I had no idea this happened:

Performance review may have sparked NASA shooting



HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- Police said Saturday that a bad performance review may have led a NASA contractor to fatally shoot his supervisor and take another employee hostage before killing himself.

Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said Saturday an e-mail critical of an employee's work set Friday's events in motion at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The gunman, a career NASA civil servant identified as Bill Phillips, received an e-mail from NASA employee and supervisor David Beverly last month. The e-mail detailed Phillips' "job deficiencies" and outlined a plan for improvement. (more at CNN)

I would like to counsel anyone who owns a gun and who has a bad performance review that the act of bringing your gun to work to solve this problem is never going to end in your favor. Just saying.

Sunday Garden Party MAXI set - countryside road trip edition

This week's photo obstacles: glare from the sun; power lines; my camera complaining that it didn't want to focus. An awesome set, nonetheless. GO SEE IT.

There's a little bit of this:

And a lotta bit of this:

Road trip music was: Oh No ~ OK Go and The Photo Album ~ Death Cab for Cutie. We were too exhausted to listen to music on the way back. Lucy the Devil Dog tired us out. Example of said Devil Dog:



I had a lot to say about yesterday and today but Firefox crashed and Blogger didn't have a recovered post version. Synopsis: Yesterday was super busy, but the highlight was learning that my FIL once worked for Gerald Bull at Space Research Corp (eeeeek!). Today is super busy with visiting Hay's meme (français for grandmother) in the hospital, checking on Georgie's UTI situation, yard work, buying bird and critter food at Home Depot, cashing a rebate check from Circuit City that expires the week that starts today, going to see Hot Fuzz at the only theater around here that feels like playing it, cleaning the house, saving the world, eating pie, and not having coffee with Spéncèr even though he's currently down the street (figuratively) from me because we're both too busy — c'est la vie, c'est la guerre.

Oh, one more thing I'm hoping to do today is pick out a semi-permanent hair color in the red family to see if I enjoy being a redhead. It has been suggested to me by certain men in my life that this color might suit me. I personally believe I need to stick to the blonde and brown colors with red as an accent, but pretty persuasion has won me over. I will blog this if I don't look completely awful (aka my hair falls out or looks like a used toilet). Not sure when I'll actually get the chance, but hoping to start the browsing process sometime today if we go to the store which we need to do.


And, for your viewing pleasure, Hot Fuzz:



Happy Sunday!

Cupcakes and bunnies

Prity cuppy-cakes from A.


Hay and I are off to see the in-laws for Easter. Obvious point to be made is that Easter was like a year ago. Life got in the way of us going sooner, so we're going now. I am totally dressed for the occasion in a cobalt blue long-sleeved t-shirt, dark blue jeans, and pink socks. Totally Easter bunny! :P

Later, blogland!

xoxo,
~P

Spot check

I like to reply to comments now that I know all y'all appreciate it. However, Blogger is being a (see label) and many of your comments are not arriving to my email address so I don't even know you've left a comment unless I click on each and every post's comments section. Gah. So, if you really were expecting me to reply to a comment and I didn't you might wanna nudge me. I'm still receiving email, just not all the blogger comments. PARTICULARLY Spéncèr's, although others are affected. (Spénce, see your email.)

And now I must go lobotomize myself run a meeting. YAR! Hmm, and I've just been informed that my "TPS reports [are] DUE!!" Later!


PS - "BEARS, BEETS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!!!!"



(Warning: That's likely a spoiler of next week's "Product Recall" episode of The Office.)

Friday FYIs

My mind is not what it used to be. I know I have more of these, so I'll add them as my mind recalls what it is I have to tell you.

---

"Sugar on snow" is clean snow topped with maple syrup. One eats this, then chases it with dill pickle slices and donut holes. Coffee is the preferred beverage. The best music to listen to while consuming sugar on snow is bluegrass.



One tends to consume this after the winter is over as a reminder of how happy we are that the maple syrup season was successful. Contrary to popular Floridian belief, the act of consuming sugar on snow is not weird. :P

---

It's 4/20. Around here that makes life difficult. The police are roaming, and rightly so.

Multi-grain cheese puffs are still really bad for you, although they do have 40% less fat than the other cheese puffs. They're also really dry and nasty. Stick with the regular.

I'm bringing SexyBack. Single-handedly. JT and Prince can follow my lead.




It smells like urine in my office, not by my doing.

Crys is the most hysterical movie maker ever. I feel manic when I watch her videos, because she is manic for the both of us but she still seeps it into me.

No, I did not see The Office last night.

It was recorded but Hay was asleep by 8:00pm and I don't try not to watch it without him. Please do not ruin it for me. Thank you. :)

Stef points out that it was a repeat, and GMMR confirms it. I had a feeling I remembered that it was a rerun, but I hate it when surprises are ruined for me so I didn't even dare go poking around to find out.

"It's 2:45am, do you know where your kitty is?"

I just hit Georgie in the head with my laptop while groggily trying to set it down in the pitch dark after "flipping switches" to make web pages go live that needed to go live today (but not before today). Poor Georgie... Poor Poppy. Poor laptop. Wait, can I go to bed now? Ahhhh, thank you. :)

Okay, one more thing. In other news, my blog is now a whore. It received 540 hits for the first time in one day. This blog. Right here. That for a while barely averaged 100 hits, but typically averages 200-300. What is going on? Why is there a shortage of traffic over at the very fascinating CheezyCatz but Poppy and Daily Crush are getting hit so hard? Did we sell out and I didn't get the memo? I'll stop dwelling on this now. I just expected warmer weather to yield worse traffic for all my blogs, not just the one that I think is the most interesting. ?

Right. Going back to bed now. At least I can sleep until 7:00am instead of 6:00am now. Woo... *zzz*

geeks + server room + Blade servers + $10 bill = OMFGLMAOROFL funny

Break Boy and I had a little fun in the server room today.



*grin*

He unplugged the Blade servers from their power source and 30 seconds later they started cooling themselves off. WIND STORM.

We were supposed to be having a confidential conversation about the thing I mentioned earlier. We eventually did. Fun first. It was, after all, off the clock time. (Like he or I are ever off the clock...)


In case you need to learn what a Blade server is, Wikipedia will hook you UP.

VMwarez

New Veronica Mars May 1st at 9pm. Sneak peek?! Of course I'll hook you up with one!


Online Videos by Veoh.com

I have no flipping idea what's going on in this clip because I've only watched through disc 2 of season 2, but I'm sure I'll catch up shortly since I just bought a season pass of season 3 at iTunes.

Thanks to GMMR for the linkage!

les secrets

If you have a secret you need to offload then I'm your girl. I keep a mean secret and require very little in reciprocation (flowers, candy, cheese, alcohol, foot massage [ew, ew, ew,ew], a prity pikshur* -- that kind of stuff). Be forewarned, however, that I might divulge all the secrets in my memoirs book to be published when I die.

*And Sour? I promise you that I will be sending your consolation prize prity pikshur soon. I'm still scheming on the deets. If you have a special request please let me know. It won't be as fantastic as Stef's or Avi's artwork. Remember when I drew this:



? It'll be more like that. :P


And since I mentioned it the last time I posted that artwork, I shall remind the last two innocent viewers of my blog that stfu = shut the fuck up.



PS - Best note evah which was almost left on a car? Stef's gym note:



Hil-AR-ious.

Mission critical

I have a very important mission today. Let's start at the start. No worries, it's a quick story.

Five years ago I arrived to my current job and was taken under the wing of my very good friend since I was 15 years old. She brought me to get my ID card picture taken. It was an awful photo, one of my "squirrel caught in the headlights" photos, with me wearing this horizontal striped number.

Today, three days shy of exactly five years from that fateful day, her husband (Break Boy) and I are going to get our ID card pictures retaken so that we can be reissued new ID cards without that pesky SSN encoded in the barcode strip on the back. Break Boy asked me to go with him yesterday evening when we were talking on the phone about other pressing work matters. I am Break Boy's favorite eye candy, hence the special invitation. :)

See? Short story. Fascinating, wasn't it? I enjoy getting my ID card picture taken about as much as I enjoy having my eyes gouged out, but it is a necessary evil.

Joke's over - *SPOILER ALERT*

I can't tuck stuff with Blogger, so don't look down if you don't wanna know.



Bye, Sanjaya.

(Go, Blake! :)

Bad seed

I do not eat olives. You should not eat some olives. Here are the olives you should not eat at this time: Charlie Brown di Rutigliano & Figli wich bottles the olives under the names Borrelli, Cento, Flora, Roland, Vantia, Bonta di Puglia, Corrado's, Dal Raccolto, (and "other names"). Recalled jars have codes which start with the letter G and have 3 or 4 digits after the G.

Unless, of course, you want to risk getting botulism. In that case, you go right ahead and eat those olives.

Wonder woman

Why is it that while you are sore and bruised from being tossed around like a sack of potatoes by Hot Cop is when the world decides you are totally huggable and squeezable for any and everything you do? A random person who has done no more than fake-smile at me for the past five years completely happy-squeezed both my shoulders today because I hacked into her computer after another IT person left it in a state of unloginableness. I'd probably have a similar reaction if someone else did this for me, but... why now? I had to pretend it didn't hurt, but it severely did. No squeezing the Poppy this week. Thanks.

DC -comics +yummy

Remember when I said The Daily Crush had gotten out of hand? I wasn't kidding:



Those are my StatCounter hits for the last eight days. I've added four authors to compensate. Thanks to Avi, B, Mel, and Molly (in alphabetical order, not in order of love and devotion :) for agreeing to post on occasion. It's a lot more fun there to arrive to crushes I didn't put there. I *love* surprises. :) (Did I mention my affinity for surprises just now? Because I really really really really enjoy them.)

If anyone is super sad and offended that I didn't ask you to be an author then send me a comment or email and I will consider your petition. :) There are two other people* I considered adding to the mix but didn't send invites to for fear of rejection reasons more than anything. I'm sorry to you both, and if either of you says "yes please" without me asking then you're definitely in the club.

*One person figured out I was talking about her. Thanks to SourPuss for also agreeing to crush with the cool kids. ;)

And thanks to Spéncèr for also authoring, I now have seven authors! We aren't restricting ourselves to one author per day of the week, but we could. :P

Weighing in on the Simon "controversy"

Last night Hay noticed Simon rolling his eyes when Chris Richardson used the VT massacre as his excuse for severely sucking last night:

I know for a fact (because once I have an idea in my head it's a fact) that Simon was only rolling his eyes because:

a) this season has been a joke
b) Sanjaya is still around
c) and now CHRIS is throwing around a TRAGIC EVENT to garner more VOTES to keep him around?!

I'd roll my eyes, too. And then I'd figure a way to get out of my contract and only do X Factor where the contestants aren't so fucking melodramatic.

I'm looking for the video. I'll post it when I find it.


Update: I didn't find a video (didn't even look after I posted) but Hay just sent me this article which explains that Simon didn't even hear what Chris said. (Neither did I, by the way.) Simon was rolling his eyes about Chris's performance which he was discussing with Paula while Ryan talked to Chris. What annoys me most is that my local radio station tried to play the "he's not from America, he's a jerk about our news" card. Stupidity.

Poppy peeves

People who put vanity plates on their car that say "RUT ROH".

The Best Damn Thing

Just got Avril Lavigne's new album. I have decided that it is bubble gum punk. It rawks. Hard. Yar. (YAR!!!!)


Is it Cereal Wednesday yet? No? Hmph.

I met NYC Watchdog through Avi's comments but I didn't really pay much attention because there is A LOT of action going on in those comments. I happened to be strolling through Avi's awesome YouTube videos, and somehow stumbled onto NYCWD's. Vlogs about cereal? Hmm, interesting concept. Five videos later, particularly after the PUPPY MONSTER/Shrek video, and I was hooked. Go on, you know you wanna meet NYCWD and Puppy Monster:



And you wanna read NYCWD's blog.

And you wanna keep watching his Cereal Wednesday vlogs.

And then you wanna tell him how awesome he is. :)

Hay and I have actually had a few philosophical discussions about NYCWD's Cereal Wednesday concept and we'll continue to anxiously await each week's post so that we know what cereals to eat, how big a bowl to use for said cereal, and how cold our cereal's milk is actually supposed to be.

Edit: Woohoo! It's up! And, as all things are in the world, this week's Cereal Wednesday was influenced by none other than Avi:



Apparently it's now time for NYCWD to rename his blog A Pile of Avi Bones. Hehehehe.

Free Cone Day is in effect

I repeat, free cone day is in effect. That is all.

In between meetings...

Hay: Allo?
Poppy: I'm here for a few minutes
Poppy: what's up?
Hay: It's really minor.
Hay: I had never played with the dog in the Windows XP Search box.
Hay: He does tricks.
Poppy: ahh
Hay: And there are other animations!
Poppy: yup
Hay: Apparently the dog scratches itself, and can be setup to make sound when it does so.
Hay: That would be annoying.
Hay: I don't get the lady with the big glasses that rides in a spaceship.
Poppy: hehehe
Poppy: dunno
Hay: I asked her to perform a "trick" and she flashed her headlights.
Hay: I know it sounds sexual...but it's kind of scary.
Poppy: hehehehehe
Poppy: that is so
Poppy: blogworthy

"Okay, except I'm not making babies just now..."

I received a new comment on Ripley's Cheez Nip video, which I shall post here so you can see what all the hype's about:



And the comment was:

Porcelaindeals: "Your video has made my life worth while. I want your babies."

With a spammy name of Porcelaindeals you bet I won't be clicking that person's name. Even if the person is real, wtf, ya know? It's my furry kid eating a cheese cracker.

FYI, I have one of those full day of meetings days, but I'd like to send a special shout-out to my boy ACW who GOT PROMOTED AND THAT'S WHY HE'S TOO BUSY TO VISIT AND COMMENT ON ANYONE'S BLOGS, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will now be honored to have my brains ett by you in July. :)

Georgie kicks ass

News from the vet: Georgie was thinking about having a UTI. Her pH was 7.5 and she had red and white cells in her urine indicative of inflammation. She is on two medications to stave off the actual UTI. Her urine will be retested just short of two weeks from now. If it still tests poorly or she gets another UTI soon she will permanently be placed on a medication typically used for kitty arthritis that also builds up the cells around the bladder. She's a champ.

I finished my kicking ass class this evening. Despite having been told to the contrary, it was in fact Hot Cop (with the dreamy blue eyes) who suited up and let us beat on him. I was not permitted to take my own video, but video was taken and we watched it at the end. Let's just say that I got the most laughs. In scenario 3 I totally faked out Hot Cop and made him turn his back to me while I ran out of the room to safety. (Hey, the objective is to get away and survive, I met that goal, but it was fun to have Hot Cop call it out as his favorite encounter. ;)

In scenario 4 we were in a dark room and two different men were taunting me. One of them asked if I wanted trouble but he sounded EXACTLY like Avi, so I giggled and said, "no" but with a smile in my voice. I think you can guess that situation quickly went downhill from there. Note to self: Even if an attacker sounds like someone you know you still need to defend yourself. :P

Ladies, if you live in the United States and are interested in taking a kicking ass class please visit the RAD Systems website. (That link takes you directly to the program locator page.) The class will in fact kick your ass, but it will give you the opportunity to practice physically and verbally defending yourself.

Oh, and Molly, surprisingly I did NO GROIN KICKS. WTF?! I told myself to, but the one opportunity where I even thought about doing it I couldn't get myself angled on him correctly. Murr. We are invited to return to class whenever we like, so perhaps I'll get a new opportunity in the future.

And now that you're all caught up with my Monday, I'm going to bed. Exhausted. Good night. Shut off the lights on your way out. *Zzzzz*

Hell in a handbasket

In case you can't get to Virginia Tech's site directly:

Updated at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, 04.17.2007

The Virginia Tech Police Department has confirmed the identification of the gunman responsible for the multiple fatalities at Norris Hall on the Virginia Tech campus Monday. Ballistics match at both crime scenes.

The individual has been identified as Cho Seung-Hui, 23. Cho was enrolled as an undergraduate student in his senior year as an English major at Virginia Tech. Cho, a South Korean native, was in the U.S. as a resident alien with a residence established in Centerville, Va.

Classes are canceled for the remainder of the week to allow students to mourn and begin healing. Campus will reopen Wednesday for administrative operations.

Norris Hall has been closed for the remainder of the semester.

See more details

University Advisory: Shootings close campus; gunman deceased

Updated at 10 p.m., Monday, 04.16.2007

Two shooting incidents on campus Monday left 33 dead. Thirty-one, including the gunman, died at Norris Hall; two died at West Ambler Johnston Hall. Fifteen other victims from Norris are being treated at area hospitals.

Officials are in the process of identifying victims and notifying next-of-kin. Names will not be released until that process is complete.

The university remains closed Tuesday. Essential personnel are to report for work. Classes are canceled.

See more details

Bad news. :(

Here's a podcast from Virginia Tech President Charles Steger.

Georgie is shia

Georgie is at the vet's because her bladder was completely empty. Poppy is sad. Ripley is sad. Allie is sleeping like a baby. Hay is at work putting on a brave face. I know she's fine, it's just a UTI, but... she's my kid. :(

Something to cheer me up, Shia LaBoeuf* actually is very funny:




*Who the hell spelled this family name? Boeuf is masculine, not feminine!

"Is it because I'm not Catholic?"

I've learned lately that many people who read my blog are Catholic, although perhaps not practicing. Have I ever mentioned? (yes I have.) that I am not Catholic?

I was born a Methodist and it never quite took. The only good thing that came out of my association with the Methodist church is that I got to crush on the same boy for 7 years of my younger life and that I continue to be invited to a barbecue and auction every July 4th at which most of my maternal family gathers. ... Yup, that's about it.

I'm not willing to admit my full philosophy about spirituality. I am willing to reiterate what I've mentioned before which is that I think Buddhism is the closest organized religion that matches my belief system. I won't be enlightened in this life, but I'm confident I'll come back a few steps closer in my next life.

Hay is Catholic and has all that Catholic guilt associated with it, which to me is such a foreign concept I can't relate at all. Sure, I've had guilt in my life, but I seem to have lost it along the path of my life. It's really just not anywhere to be found anymore, and I prefer my life this way. I'm not interesting in having my life ruled by fear, guilt, regret, Other People's Rules. I do still follow basic societal rules, but I enjoy bending them a bit.

I'm really asking this more to myself, because it's been bugging me a lot lately, but I am wondering: Will I ever be fully accepted by a Catholic if I myself never ever intend to be Catholic myself? If I live my life in a way that is so far from the life that a good Catholic is supposed to live? If I have such a different belief system that I quietly agree to disagree with your own? I definitely feel like an outsider on this one, and it bothers me that two people can be so incompatible but just because they have religion in common they are somehow more bonded than I can ever be just because of this one little matter of spiritual beliefs. And it bothers me that two people can be so compatible but religion will always divide them at a core level. Irritates the piss out of me, in fact.

Deep, I know. Happy Monday. :)

This hot girl is bringing you a sandwich.*

Reuse your CD spindles to store bagel sammies.

Thanks to Slashfood who found the photo via the flickr photo stream of Rodrigo Piwonka.


*Yah, that was a Veronica Mars reference. Hardly anything about my blog is accidental. :)

The day has arrived

Today is the first day in existence where my Daily Crush blog is receiving more hits than my Poppy blog (where you are right now). This truly is bizarro world. I haven't even posted to Daily Crush yet today and it's already received 146 hits. Craaaazy.

Oh. Wait. Actually, yesterday was that fateful day. Crying out LOUD, DC received more hits yesterday than PC ever has! Que la?


First column of numbers represents today's hits, second column is yesterday's hits.

Big girls don't do cry

My little girl is growing up. I do believe Georgie has her first UTI:

1. Frequent alert crying way more than usual,
2. straining to urinate,
3. obvious discomfort when urinating,
4. frequent urination without passing much urine (between 9:30am and 10:30am we visited the litter box three four five times),
5. licking her "business" after each trip to the litter box.

:( Phooey. I shall be working from home tomorrow so that I can call the vet and say, "please dope up my kid so she's not sad anymore." The one amusing part about all of this is that this morning I instructed Georgie to tell me EVERY time she goes downstairs to use the box and she has kept her end of the bargain so well that I've moved a litter box up here and shut the basement door. She understands my English.

In other kitty news:

Flying Ripley

Laziest treat-eating Allie evah

One more thing, no Sunday Garden Party this week because nothing new is blooming outside. How about a squirrel instead?



Rest of the absolutely adorable chippy-squirrel images are at flickr. Sorry they're blurry. A combo of taking the photo through the kitchen window and only a 3x zoom will do that...

HOLY SHIT.

Okay, so I really just worked 9:00am-6:00pm?! On a Saturday? Without being told to do so?! What the flippin' a? Too bad I'm exempt and I'm too busy to ask for comp time. (Honestly, what would I do with comp time anyway? I already have too much vacation time...)

This also explains why the kitties have been crying at me. They wanted their treat. Bad Mama.

Happy Dance™

My NIN CDs arrived in the mail today!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If anybody needs me I'll be in the corner ODing on Trent and the gang.

And to answer the inquiries about the Wal*Mart versions being Clean or Explicit: F-bombs abound. :)

Observations

Cryptic: Sometimes even I don't catch on to the obvious. Although, to be fair, it wasn't obvious to anyone else either. Nice job, clever beetle. :)

Confused: I received 432 hits to my site on Friday. I cannot for the life of me figure out why. I poured through my keywords, through the 7 pages of visitor activity, and I just don't see a common theme. How is it that I only received about 10 comments yesterday if 432 people visited my site? STOP LURKING, EVERYONE! I LIKE YOU. :)

Calls: New Jersey, Idaho, and Georgia call us a lot. Oddly, we know no one in those states. Stop calling? Or leave a message. Seems simple...

Cacophony: It is easier for me to do my work if I am listening to or watching things. Today I have listened to the morning purchase of Don't You Fake It by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, watched two episodes of Veronica Mars season 2 (OMFG, WTF IS GOING ON?!??! SO RAWKS! MY EYES BUGGED OUTTA MY HEAD FOR THE BUS SCENE AMONG OTHER THINGS), and I stupidly watched two videos (whose content I shall never. speak. of. because it's waaaaaaay too disturbing) which are posted on a blog I reference way too much (Mel and Molly, have you watched the videos? gak.) In the process of watching and listening I have managed to edit all the articles for the newsletter I am to publish, although I have yet to write the final article I have charged myself with writing. And it's the one that should be the easiest but it's the one that's giving me the most grief. Perhaps I should pull out one of my favorite movies from the movie cabinet and try that for noise?

Convenience: Where a sandwich shop used to be inside our local gas station is now under construction but soon to become walk-in cooler space. Hay wondered aloud what would go there. I bet him it would be a liquor store because there was only one door so far and it looked like an actual door to walk through. When I bought breakfast drinks I asked the clerk if the area under construction was going to be a liquor store over in the corner and she said yes. But then she realized she didn't mean yes, she meant no, it will be for beer. Just beer. Funny thing is that there is already an entire wall of coolers dedicated to beer. Soooo, now there will be a walk-in cooler of beer plus an entire wall of beer? That's a lot of beer for a town that is in the middle of vitalization but isn't there yet. If they want to sell my favorite Belgian beers I will gladly shop there for more than just Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks mocha frappuccino drinks.

Cats: When I sit in my office Georgie sits underneath my chair, Ripley sits on my papers, and Allie sits on the couch behind me. When I sit downstairs they all pretty much completely ignore me. I should be in my office more often.

I want my money!!!!!!!!

We're all going to our equivalents of hell for watching this video. Oh, how I wish I could have embedded that... Best Will Ferrell video EVAH. (Watch it even if you hate Will, I promise it's worth your time.)

Molly?

So, it's waaaaaay past my bedtime but clearly not past Molly's because we've been chatting for 3 hours now and she has made the life decision to become a ninja nun (see question 2). To be more precise, Sister Mary Ninja:



Bring it? No no, it's already been broughted!!!!!


Sorry, Avi, looks like she won't be running that brothel after all... No dental for you!

In which Avi tricks me into giving him more information about myself, as if he doesn't have enough al-gd-ready.

Seriously, I should rename this blog Avi Cedes, because he basically runs the show here at least twice a week and he thinks Hay has a cute butt. (I made that last part up. But if he ever were to see Hay's butt he'd agree with me that it's adorable.) Yesterday Avi posted a meme in which he got Mr. Fab to ask him questions that he then answered. I agreed to also do the meme so Avi has given me the following questions to answer. At first glance I thought they looked terribly generic, but he gave good arguments for why they are not. I apologize once more for calling his questions generic, because they are, in fact, quite thoughtful.

Before you go stealing the questions you see here, please note the rules state that you request questions, so please do that.

Now, on to my questions! And please note that in question 4 Avi is asking me to talk about him, he's not calling me those things.

1. If you had to choose between giving up your favorite foods or sex, which would you choose and why?

I asked for clarification on this question because I LOVE food but the thought of no sex ever again was a bit daunting. Since Avi said that certain of my favorite solo activities were still fair game, just not physical sex with another person, I'm choosing to give up sex. (Sorry, Hay. :)


2. What is your favorite movie of all time?

I'll qualify that it's really hard for me to choose one of anything. If I got to pick one per genre I'd feel better about it. Since I'm only allowed to choose one total, I choose ... April Fool's Day.


3. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I'm living in a much warmer state with a zoo of animals loved by me but taken care of by my aninanny™. I'm very successful so I have a stylist to dress me, a chef to cook my meals, and a full housekeeping staff to clean up my dirty messes. I'm the CISO of a company that isn't my own because I hate the responsibility of running a business. I'm writing articles for several prominent trade magazines, and occasionally travelling the country to speak at conferences about security in the workplace. I'm in the middle of writing my memoirs, not to be published until the time of my death so that I don't have to be around for the aftermath. :) I've talked my way into the behind-the-scenes portion of the movie business, occasionally making cameo appearances in campy horror movies. I travel once a month to visit friends I met 10 years ago on this thing called a blog. I fully expect that Hay will be tired of me by then so will have divorced me and run off with a younger woman. I have a variety of lovers scattered around the world, pining away for me because I've told them they each must be exclusive to me. Life is gooooooood.


4. I'm a foul-mouthed pervert with no heart and no soul. Why am I so awesome?

No comment? Because you're spectacularly charming, and you know it, you attention whore. (Trust me, everyone, this is precisely what he hoped I'd say.)


5. What is your biggest regret?

As with guilt, I made a life decision not to acquire new regret, so it has to be something from childhood when I was allowing regret into my life. The biggest regret is super personal, so I apologize in advance for making anyone squirm. I regret not kicking more boys in the groin while I was still under 18, because I am told I will now go to jail if I do it, unless it's self defense or unless it's April 16, 2007 and I'm kicking a cop in my kicking ass class. (At least I get one more freebie!)


Here are the rules if you want to play:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your weblog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

I have a bet going with Avi about how many people are going to ask me to interview them (I say zero, he started listing everyone under the sun). If you prove me right then I'll be torturing him in a yet-to-be-specified manner. If you prove him right then this is going to be a lot more fun for everyone.

Detractor

Two items:

1. Happy Friday the 13th!
2. In case the newest Target commercial with "A little bit more, a little bit more" is haunting you in a good or bad way, here's the only version I could find at YouTube:



The song is done by Jamie Lidell, but he isn't the one singing "a little bit more," that's a background singer. I bought Jamie's album Multiply from iTunes last night. It's funky. Jamiroquai meets The Commodores meets a touch of Disco? :)

Posting this as older than the Interview Questions post because I want that to receive the top spot for the day. :)

Guess the cutie pie

Guess who this is:



(She's not a celebrity, but she is a blogebrity in my world.)

Could someone massage my head and shoulders?

Last night I was unavoidably detained from online activities for a reason that ends with me sitting in the shower with my clothes on and Hay putting a bucket on my side of the bed. I had a scheduled chat session with B at 8pm and plans to chat with Avi about the season 1 finale of Veronica Mars after I had watched the episode (thanks to Netflix). I was unable to accomplish either of those goals.

Following is the transcript of my IM session with Avi this morning. Please note the names have been changed to protect the innocent as well as the severely not innocent. Please also note that VM means Veronica Mars.

poppy: ohhh, do I have a story.
avi: yeah?
poppy: yah
poppy: I thought of calling you, but I would need to find a dark corner
avi: oh yeah?
poppy: it's too scandalous to say in front of my officemate and her client
avi: heh
avi: ok
avi: you can try anyway
poppy: try anyway what
avi: to find a dark corner
avi: heh
avi: or you can type it all out
poppy: I think I'll type
avi: k
poppy: so .
avi: i'll stay quiet and let you type it out
poppy: good idea
poppy: When I came home Hay decided to go outside and do work
poppy: so I went in the house and grabbed an entire bottle of wine and headed directly upstairs.
poppy: (stop judging me, I'm not there yet)
avi: heh
poppy: and then I opened the bottle of wine, started drinking SOME of it while I worked and watched episode 1 of VM
poppy: and then Hay popped his head upstairs and asked if I wanted steak and what to have with it
poppy: so I agreed to make potatoes
poppy: so I paused what I was doing upstairs
poppy: went downstairs and buzzedly washed potatoes
poppy: and forked them
poppy: and stuck them in the microwave
poppy: and went back upstairs and in my AWESOMELY judgment state I drank the rest of the bottle of wine
poppy: and continued VM
avi: heh
poppy: and then it was time to go downstairs and eat dinner
poppy: so I went down and severely fuckedupedly put together a plate of food
poppy: and started to eat it while we watched American Idol from last night
poppy: and I thought I finished it but I see this morning I didnt
poppy: and I put the plate down
poppy: and went upstairs to the bathroom
poppy: and stayed there.
poppy: just sitting there feeling awesome
poppy: and I eventually crawled into the bathtub
avi: awwwww
poppy: and turned on the water WITH my clothes on
poppy: but the door was locked
poppy: and Hay comes up half an hour later and says, "Poppy?"
poppy: and I say "I'm fiiiiine!"
poppy: and he says "are you okay"
poppy: and I say "yup"
poppy: "are you drunk?"
poppy: "nope"
poppy: "really?"
poppy: "nope"
poppy: "so you are?"
poppy: "yup"
poppy: "ok, the door's locked"
poppy: "yup"
avi: omg - i have tears in my eyes
poppy: "i'm breaking in"
poppy: "ok"
poppy: so he breaks into the bathroom
poppy: and he sees me with water running all over me
poppy: so I'm just sitting there
poppy: with water all over
poppy: and he comes over and hangs out with me and tries to get me to drink ice water
avi: my sides hurt
poppy: and I keep saying no
poppy: and he says "you need to"
poppy: and so I drink a little every few minutes
poppy: and then I say
poppy: "the water is too cold"
poppy: so he fixes the temp
poppy: and I say "it's too hot"
poppy: "HAAAAAAAAY"
poppy: "IT'S TOO HOT"
poppy: He leaves the room for a minute
poppy: and I
poppy: 'm just yelling
poppy: "hay hay hay hay"
avi: oh jesus
poppy: and he comes back and turns down the water
poppy: and then he starts telling me he's going to get me a bucket for bed
poppy: and then do you know what I say?
poppy: I say "they have seals on I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?"
avi: hahahahhahhaha
poppy: "and they're always looking for their buckets!"
avi: i KNEW you were going to say that
poppy: so
poppy: I totally never got to talk to B last night
poppy: didn't get to finish VM
poppy: and didn't get to talk to you
avi: oh my GOD
avi: i have tears streaming down my face
avi: and my sides hurt
poppy: :)
poppy: now I wish I had called you
avi: that is the funniest thing i have ever heard
poppy: I'm calling
poppy: JAS
avi: ok
(a conversation ensues in which avi laughs at poppy for several minutes while she tries to defend her decision to get drunk instead of watching VM or talking to her bestest friend ever for a SCHEDULED appointment)
avi: Yar!
poppy: except I'm crooked
avi: crooked?
poppy: I am off balance this morning
poppy: :)
avi: heh
poppy: I forgot about that detail until I just tried to walk back to my office
avi: heheheh
avi: maybe you're still slightly drunk
poppy: I totally am


This morning I received B's email asking if I was okay, and I responded with the condensed version of the above story. She was glad I wasn't dead. Avi just assumed I lost power, my DSL modem broke, or I was too busy to chat. Note to self: Don't get that drunk again OR at least practice mental telepathy so that B is informed of my stupidity and doesn't assume I'm dead in a ditch.

Who hates it when she bites her tongue?

Poppy does.

Mama LIKE

Kim got new glasses.



I may have just made out with her through the screen. Sorry about that, Kim.

More couples opting for separate bedrooms

Hay just sent me this article. He assures me it's not a hint. :) Considering that if he wakes up and I am not in bed next to him he comes and seeks me out wherever I am in the house, I believe him.

US couples seek separate bedrooms

More and more couples in the US are ordering separate master bedrooms in their new homes to help ensure a more harmonious marriage, research suggests.
A survey by the National Association of Home Builders has predicted that by 2015, 60% of custom-built homes will have two master bedroom suites.

The quest for better rest is behind the trend as experts say the lack of decent sleep can cause marital tension.

The option of having separate rooms has often improved marriages, they say.

Gopal Ahluwalia, of the National Association of Home Builders, said the trend was a "market-driven demand that's going to continue".

'Flex suite'

Separate bedrooms have often been taken as a sign of a failing relationship, but for many people they appear to be becoming a practical necessity.

Snoring, night-time visits to the bathroom, child-care requirements and shift-working can deprive couples of the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep per night.

The situation has reportedly become more acute as gender roles have changed - with both men and women juggling work and childcare duties.

Families expert, Stephanie Coontz, told the New York Times there were many couples "confident enough that they have a nice marriage, but they don't particularly like sleeping in the same room".

"I don't think it says anything about their sex lives," she said.

Nevertheless, some builders call the extra room a "flex suite" to avoid any embarrassment.

The trend is not restricted to the upper end of the market, the newspaper says.

Lana Pepper of St Louis said she had switched things around in her new apartment to cope with a restless husband.

"My husband is still alive. I would have killed him," she said. (BBC News)

Soooooo Ozzie and Harriet.

If cheerleaders had been cool at my high school...

...then I probably would have been one.

Since it was actually harmful to one's reputation to be a cheerleader -- the lowest on the food chain, so to speak -- I chose not to affiliate myself with that sport, even though I secretly and so desperately wanted to participate.

Instead I was officially involved in National Honor Society, chorus, yearbook, and computer club as well as peripherally involved in whatever trouble or interesting things I could find to do after school so that I didn't have to take the bus home. I had my geek clique, but I wandered over to wherever I felt like wandering whenever I felt like doing it. In a totally wallflower capacity, of course. I just enjoyed observing, as is stated in superlative form in my 8th grade yearbook. To be fair, I was on that yearbook committee as well and had hoped to be added to the girl with the most socks superlative so that my picture would eternally be next to the boy I crushed on super hard (but whose name I didn't mention in my crush post). I still own probably 100, if not way more, pairs of socks, but I am also still very observant.

Despite the fact that the twins who I crushed HARD on (also not mentioned in the crush post; and I even got one of them to lay is head in my lap in front of many witnesses while I got the other one to sign my yearbook stating that I was his "funky cold medina" :) were in chorus, I chose to spend my entire high school career in computer club.

Yup, true geek. SysOp of the most popular and well-known BBS in my entire state at the time (I even had a key to unlock the system and to reboot it, oooooh) all four years, secretary freshman year, grant writer sophomore year, president junior and senior year, and resident girlfriend / crush for several members (officially dated four, crushed with too many to count) for all four years.

Computer club actually helped me to form social skills. Communicating in geek talk is still talking to others, and I didn't get a lot of practice with that in other venues. I also helped design and maintain a mailing list for a breast cancer survivor group, taught technology classes to senior citizens on Macs and PCs, did graphic design work for a local company who had an outreach program, and learned how to do hardware repairs and upgrades as well as software diagnostics on the school computers. Oh, and I also helped us go from 3 modems with local phone numbers to 8 modems with phone number exchanges that were a local charge for much of the county via my mad grant writing skillz.

Given the opportunity, I'd like to coach cheerleadering. Maybe cheerleaders for computer competitions? :)



Note: I had intended to speak about body odor in this post but I don't have time to speak about it. Please prepare yourselves for me to say that I learned from an early age to tolerate, accept, and in very many cases enjoy the body odor of people I know. Too busy to post that. I'd like to not have to work tonight, so nose to the grindstone and all that. Can't watch Veronica Mars season 1 final episodes if I'm working.

Clowning around

In switching the song I was listening to so that I could concentrate better on my work I noticed the album art in iTunes and realized that Justin Timberlake has really big feet. *giggle*



Okay, back to work for me...

Johnny Cash's home destroyed by fire :(

Good thing June and Johnny aren't around for this sad news.

Honestly?

I was visiting Molly and she posed a question she found at Snay's site:

"So here’s my question to you: if you had to rate yourself, how closely does your personality which appears through your blog reflect on you?"

My rating: 5.5 out of 10. I'm going to need to admit that all facets of my personality are not represented here. The only person who knows the complete and real me is me. Some of you know me quite well, for the sides of my personality I choose to display to you. I've become more blog chatty about my real life this year and revealing with a few blog-found friends, thanks to encouragement from some of you who seem interested in getting to know me better. Still, I'm pretty compartmentally reserved. (I understand that it's really hard for you all to believe that I am more reserved than what I am choosing to say here lately. Trust me, it's true.) Without naming names (because they/you know who they/you are), there are probably 5 people who know me best, but in different portions of my personality. If you all compared notes you'd have a composite of the real me. Almost. :) That isn't to say that if I were asked direct questions I wouldn't tell the truth. You'd just need to know what questions to ask.

How about you?


Oh, and to answer Molly's question, I have only kicked my brother in the groin (I was 10, he was 15.75). But next Monday I will be kicking a cop in the groin! Don't worry, I won't shouldn't be arrested for it. :)