7 6 letter word for abandonment

I know lots of other bloggers are doing it too so I'm just going to be added to that pile.

I'm taking a break from the blog to take care of some personal business. I'll still be reading your blogs.

See ya.


Mel informs me that hiatus is not 7 letters. Duh. Although Hay points out I should just spell it hiatuss and then there's no misunderstanding.

One more reason to love Survivorman

The Sun reports:

SURVIVAL expert Bear Grylls faked a bear attack by getting a colleague to dress up as one in fancy dress, it was claimed yeterday.

The star of TV's Born Survivor [US title: Man vs. Wild] was filmed creeping out of a tent in a bear-infested forest, nervously looking at a shadow moving a few yards away.

Back inside shelter Grylls, 33, says: “It might well have moved away, but sure as hell it knows I’m here.”

But an adviser for the Discovery Channel documentary, shown on Channel 4 last year, claimed the sinister shadow was a fake.

Ron Hood said programme makers asked him to find a bear suit when plans to hire a tame grizzly for the shot fell through.

Mr Hood added: “They decided they wanted to somehow dramatise the attack on the shelter.”

A Discovery spokesman insisted that the pantomime outfit was hired as a prank by the crew — and no footage which included the bear costume was broadcast.

Last week it emerged Grylls does not sleep rough in the woods during episodes of Born Survivor but instead stays in hotels.

Thanks to Pat for alerting me. He and I are hardcore Les Stroud/Survivorman fans and think Bear deserves whatever horrible fallout he gets from all this fakery. Why have a pretend survival show? Oh yah, because everyone loves Survivor (Jeff Probst). I've seen probably one whole episode of that and know it's more real than Man vs. Wild.

B rocks so hard I lost my socks in San Francisco

That title makes sense only to me, I think. Just watch the video and see how hard B rocks.

Update: I missed a present! The best present of allllllll!!! B sent me art of ... well, me! Check it out:



This will display prominently in my office (to replace the one we both don't like, B ;). Yeee, she double-rocks!

big fat buddha bliss

I was just able to make myself channa masala with basmati rice in 3.5 minutes, thanks to microwave technology.

I ate all 3 servings of it myself.

I am pretty sure I'm in that state of nirvana everyone's always talking about...

a review of my new favoritest sunscreen products

It's so gorgeous outside today that I used my new fun-in-the-sun products for mowing the lawn.

These products:



work super well at keeping you from being burned. They spray on CLEAR, the best part. They apply quickly. They kinda coat everything around you in the mist so just be careful what's around you. They also make your skin super shiny. And if you get it in your hair it kinda acts the same as hair spray.

I'm not saying those are bad things, I'm just informing.

If you want to know more, Coppertone | Banana Boat.

Yes, I use SPF 50 products because I am very fair-skinned and burn like a lobster otherwise. Poppy Lobster is not sexy.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Just ew.

(You're gonna hafta click that because I am not posting it here.)

Walken, talkin', chicken hockin'

I'm clearly running low on title creativity.

I think about less than a handful of you look at SGP so I am going to start off with food stuff instead. This morning I was feed reading my food blogs and found this post about Ilan from Top Chef having a big announcement. I can't stand Ilan so I went to leave a comment about how I assume his big announcement is that he's having Sam's baby and found that someone had left a "Christopher Walken cooking chicken and pears" comment. Intrigued, I followed the link, and here's what I found.


The ending is my favorite part. Christopher talking about the pear bottoms as tasty cookies is my second favorite part. The unveiling of the cute chicken after it was cooked is my third. Have I mentioned that I used to hate Christopher Walken because he creeped me out as a kid but now that I'm an adult and understand The Man I think he's awesome? No? Well, pretend I just did.

On to SGP. I did visit the in-laws yesterday. Their gardens take up almost all their lawn, save for foot paths in between the beds, so there was a lot to take in. Some of the photos in this week's set are from my gardens but most are from theirs. Some of my most favorite shots:





The full 118-photo set is at flickr.

a quiet rage

Not a rage, actually, but when B and I decided not to go to BlogHer in Chicago* I had no idea it meant I would miss a golden opportunity to MEET MY FAVORITEST CELEBRITY ON THE PLANET, AMY SEDARIS (one and two).



FUCK.

(Merci, Maman.)



*B and I decided not to go to BlogHer because:

a) We've never met in person before, we want our first time meeting to be all about us;
b) we would have skipped going to BlogHer and just hung out in Chicago anyway;
c) there are people at BlogHer that neither of us want to see, so why put ourselves through that?;
d) when I come to Texas to visit in October after my Orlando conference we are going to party at her house like it's 1999 and I get to meet all the kittos while we get drunk and smoke (actual) cigars and eat steak and run around the house in our underwear since her husband will be away at a festival. :D (Yes, we will make videos. No, not while in our underwear or naked.)

OK, SERIOUSLY

I get it, you're a boy and it's legal for you to run around without your shirt on. But do you have to VLOG WITHOUT A SHIRT ON AND RUB IT IN MY FACE?!

YAH, YOU KNOW WHO YOU (PLURALLLLLLLL!!!!!!) ARE!!!!!

:)


Now, back to watching that video...

(No, Avi, this post isn't [all] about you.)

(Yes, Spénce, this post is partially about you.)

(NO, I AM NOT VLOGGING WITHOUT A SHIRT ON.)

road trip

Going to take flower pictures at the in-laws' today. It'll be an awesome SGP. :)

Mama's girl

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!

I'm sorry, I know I just hurt a lot of ear drums. But for a very good reason. Dawg is awesome:

Adventures in grooming

Just the one: When I pulled the cat carrier out of the Kia the door of it popped off and Ripley had a clear shot of the busy highway where people can go 50 mph but go much faster. I FAR-EAKED out and held the carrier at an impossible angle so she couldn't get out then scooped up the door and shoved it inside, holding her at bay. I then scurried over to the entrance of the groomer's which has this gate door you have to undo to get to the main door. I somehow managed to keep Ripley inside the carrier and open that damn gate. I slammed the gate shut behind me, set the carrier on the ground, and refastened the door. I dropped her off with Auntie Joanne then went to the parking lot and saw blood on my thumb and index finger. I guess I cut my thumb open while trying to keep my cat from running out into the street. My maternal instincts are sound. :)

Since grooming Ripley takes 30-45 minutes I went food shopping. When I came back to pick her up I noticed the door was on completely the wrong way, which means it came back off while she was being taken out or put back into her carrier by Joanne.

Oh well. Time for a new carrier.

Taking Ripley to get her belly shaved by Auntie Joanne! Yip!

spection

Quand je parle en français le monde ne semble plus mauvais. Mais, si je parle en français seulement deux personnes peuvent me comprendre.

C'est la vie. C'est la guerre. C'est la underwear.

intro

Do you go into things assuming you're going to win, going to be the best, going to accomplish the goal? Or, the exact opposite?

I'm realizing I'm super fucking cocky which confuses the hell out of me because I'm also an introvert and somehow I have it in my head that introversion and cockiness can't co-exist. Maybe cocky isn't the right word. Maybe I'm confident.

blanking

Other things that generated a spectrum of emotions occurred on my birthday, but I am choosing to focus on just one thing because I'm random like that.

Avi called me around lunch time yesterday after I tried to call him and got one of his employees instead so then emailed saying "YOU SHOULD CALL ME". When he finally did call me he asked me to look outside for a package from him (hehehehehe) and I finally found it next to the garage. I opened it while on the phone with him and now I think he is 10% deafer because I SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEd into his ear. I present to you my new favorite shirt, complete with magic marker:



My plan is to leave the lines blank because I think the shirt's meaning is much dirtier when left to the minds of others, then I'll use the marker for something else completely unnefarious (which isn't a word). Actually, so that the other geeks don't think I'm a tard, I think I will write bLank blAnk bLANk on the lines.

just ducky

Let's just admit it, I wouldn't have bothered to post this if it weren't for Mel guilt tripping me. Which totally doesn't work on me because I don't feel guilt, but I still do owe her a video.



There ya go, sweetie!

in which fauxmicah admits to being from MA

On Top Chef: Watch What Happens all three seasons of contestants come together to answer fan questions.

A fan calls out Micah for her yearbook pics on the web. She admits she's American, that she grew up in Massachusetts, that her dad is South African, that she eats Stroganoff and Hungarian Goulash, all with her South African accent. ... Fauxmicah.

RW, do you believe me now?

Further "proof" from a sibling over at Amuse Biatch:

ABSOLUTELY FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trust me, I grew up in the same house as her, she is my younger sister!

Our father is from Cape Town, South Africa, and we have been there. But we were all born and raised in Massachusetts, but we absolutely don't have the typical pak the cah accent, but neither our younger brother or me sound like Micah.

All our family and friends have no clue where she invented this from.

Ciao
[redacted], nee Edelstein

I can't confirm that person is really her sister, but let's trust that the person is who she says she is. Anyone else on the planet seems more trustworthy than fauxmicah right now.

sYTYCd real-time blogging

Top 10.

Shane's choreography is amazing. That mechanical spider thing at the start of the routine blew my fucking mind. Pasha annoys the fucking piss out of me when he's not dancing because he is so immature, but I think he and Lauren did a fucking incredible job with the hip hop. Best Russian hip hop dancer? Meh, but still very good. It's his sharp movements and checking in with his partner without making it seem like he's just trying to see what comes next that is so amazing about his dancing.

Jaimie's rendition of Wade's peace-not-war solo is doing nothing for me. Nothing at all. I'm looking forward to the other dancers doing the exact same routine so I can see if it's Wade's solo I'm not connecting with or if it's Jaimie. Wade's choreography is generally quirky hotness. Hmm.

Dominic doing the solo. Ahhhh... I get it now. Yup, Jaimie was just bad at it. Dominic's version connected me. Now I'm curious if it's the aggressive or the fact that he's a man, while Jaimie was delicate and ... feminine.

Kameron and Sabra are paired up for contemporary. Not my favorite style, and Amazing Grace is a song I always feel like I'm supposed to be moved by but never am. Those two strikes against don't stop me from enjoying their performance. Oooh, nice spinny kick, Kam! I wish Sabra didn't have to keep showing her undies. Not a fan of seeing the undies when dancers are dancing, too distracting. I agree with Nigel that Sabra connected with the piece but Kam didn't, and it felt like they were dancing solo next to each other.

Sarah's solo. She's a bgirl so she has the aggressive movements needed, and incredible facial expressions. Best solo so far, best interpretation.

Pasha's solo. Wow, so much different than the other interpreations. So much more fluid, and tender without the aggression. He may have finally hit the correct interpretation of this peace-not-war thing. His emotion is spot on. (But he still annoys the shit out of me. It's the "I'm a good boy, right?" look. Be confident, man.)

Lacey and the kiss of death Danny are paired up. Lacey is a sex kitten and Danny calls her out on it in the interview. They are dancing the samba, and their extensions and lines are very clean. I read: Danny is disconnected from Lacey while she tries to pull him into her world. He is resistant to her feminine whiles, which isn't a good thing for a samba. Ooh, but he knows how to griiiiiiiiiind (by himself). Thanks to hot Dmitri from last season for choreographing. I totally disagree with Nigel, I think it was Lacey connecting with Danny while Danny didn't try. Nigel said the 100% opposite. Mary and Mia got it right.

Lauren's solo -- great extension! Wow, I cannot believe how high she gets up in the air! K, this is my favorite version. Hands down. So glad she didn't get kicked off the show last week.

Neil's solo is boring for me, except when he does the jumpkick.

Sabra's turn ath the solo, and WOW she does a powerful scream. I've decided I don't like it when they all perform the same solo. It gets dull. Love Sabra, but... I'm over the solo.

Ooops, hi Kam. His solo is sloppy and the extensions are fumbly. He looks like he's in a mosh pit. It's not supposed to look like he's in a mosh pit.

Jaimie and Dominic couple up for the Viennese waltz with Spanish flair. Jaimie just isn't doing anything for me. Hmm. Let's hope this resolves for next week but Dom is still around. Nigel saying Dominic overcharacterized was not true for me. Nigel, the reason you weren't focused on Jaimie is because she was boring. Ugh, Mary! You too? It was Jaimie who sucked!! Mia brings the sense, her bluntness focusing on the technique is what makes me warm up to the idea that anything wrong happened with Dominic.

Lacey's solo. Someone was (not heckling, but being very loud) and threw her off during a big portion of the performance. I didn't enjoy anything about her solo.

Danny has clean lines for the solo but does not connect emotion to the piece.

Sarah and Neil do disco. Have I ever mentioned I love disco? Sad, but true. Oh, this performance is hot, and Sarah does incredible movements. My bgirl knows how to clean up! I'm sure these two wouldn't mind being paired up every week. Incredible...

Hmm, I think Sarah is suddenly my favorite. Sexy with awesome technique, and HUGE THIGHS. YAR. :)


Ending on a euphoric note. Kick off Jaimie and Danny, SVP.

Yes, it is true.

It is my birthday today. :) Yee. :)

And I have the day off!

I was supposed to be on my way to Texas to visit B but unforeseen circumstances changed that so now instead I am going to see her in October.

Today, I blog my perfectly round age:

33

Hi, I'm 33 and I'm drunk as a skunk. *giggle*

Thanks to Avi for the great post, you big softie. :P

in which Poppy reveals her true self

What color is your soul painted? Orange Your soul is painted the color orange, which embodies the characteristics of balance, heat, enthusiasm, flamboyance, playfulness, aggression, over-emotion, danger, desire, strengthens the ability to concentrate, attraction, adaptability, and stimulation. Orange falls under the element of Fire, and symbolizes glory and fruits of the earth. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests

stupid, sad, half-assed, drunk

My home internet keeps going down at the most inopportune moments.

CheezyCatz is all done, or rather Sour's and my participation is done. We had discussed it a few times in the past, held on, but our hearts are no longer in it. I'm very sad about that, but it's time. (B, K, Spénce -- sorry.)

Last night Hay and I went to the movies to see Harry Potter but for spur of the moment less hassle reasons saw Transformers instead. The first hour rocked so hard I wondered why I had been told that this movie was so terrible. And then Megatron showed up and the movie went stupid. It was so bad after this point that both Hay and I zoned out during the ending and totally missed it. We were whispering to each other, "what the fuck just happened?" While walking out of the theater Hay was still saying he had no idea what happened so I said, "I know someone who could just tell us." I pulled out my cell phone, turned it back on (cuz I do what the theater tells me to do, like a monkey), and called Avi, except I called his cell phone number instead of his work number and got all flustered when he didn't pick up (because he and Amy were in a theater watching Harry Potter) so I didn't leave a message. When I got home I signed into chat and B was there and she said hi to me almost the second I signed on, and I knew her husband had seen the movie, so I asked her. DH explained what had happened, but it still seemed lame. Then Avi IM'd me and we discussed the whole ending, the one redeeming part of the ending being Shia LaBeouf's comedic timing genius. I really did laugh quite hard for the first hour, so I'd like to see that half again.


So, tomorrow's my birthday and I'm pretty sure I'm going to spend the day drunk. Advice on what to drink to get to that state of mind? (Please, no wine recommendations. The smell of it still makes me queasy from the last time I poured an entire bottle down my throat in 30 minutes. Thanks. ;)

eeek

Do you suppose if I change my name it gets me off the hook for the hyperbolized number of tasks my current name is attached to on this big, long list?

Oh well, worth a try.

STOP!

DAMN YOU, iTUNES, NO MORE SAD SONGS!

I am not shuffling any more ever again. *mutter*

knitted robots

All you knitters and all you geeks, you're coming together for a moment to witness the phenomenon that is the knitted robot:



*bzzzt bzzzt*

Sour is trying to seduce me

Saturday in the mail I received a package from Canada. While I was trying to open it I somehow brought the envelope up near my face and thought, “mmmm, yummy, that smells really nice. Did she do that or did someone else get their perfume on the package?”

And then I finally got the package open to find this note:



Which accompanied porn:





(But not kitty porn, like the photo montage would suggest.)

She is soooooo trying to get in my pants! Right??

(SP, that envelope smelled incredible. I might need to pick me up some. ;)

some awe? lots of awe!

I am awesome.

For a variety of reason.

I'm even awelots.



That is all.

<3 movie rave

Vlog, vlog, vlog: You know I'm obsessed with Paperlilies, right? She's, like, my sister. Except she barely knows I exist. ... And I talk about some other stuff and look (sechsee? sessee? whatever you all call it) while I do it.



Yes, I have an itchy trigger finger. So, I'll say it properly here: Bye!

¡que rica!

"You can lose weight at a Jenny center."

What is meant: Jenny Craig
What it means to me: vagina


I blame de la soul for this misunderstanding.

Sunday Garden Party, now with more butter!

...flies. Butterflies. Yes. Not buttery.

Lots of butterflies and bugs on the flowers this week. My favoritest combination.



I even had a butterfly on my leg!



The rest of the 51 photos are at flickr.

Well, that was painful

We called Verizon last night because our internet kept dropping. They fucked up our DSL modem. Well, okay, technically, we fucked it up by DOING WHAT THEY SAID.

Fixed now, because of the wonderful Verizon tech support lady in India. She only had to mutter "oh my god" under her breath once. ;)

stupid PPP

Verizon keeps going down and up and down and up. Not that I'm really doing anything online today, it's just annoying.

giggles

Sunday, July 22: I wrote this post yesterday when PPP was being a bitchy bitch. It is still relevant.

I was looking for the "dance for your life footage" for Hok on the last results show of SYTYCD and instead I found this video:



I giggled and drooled through the whole thing. Hok and Dominic must be friends because Dominic's in a lot of candid shots with him.

Still can't find the video I'm looking for.

A video would be nice

I have been up since 6:30am for no reason other than that shiny orb outside is evil.

I have since been trying to make you a video but iMovie has gone all tardy on me and keeps crashing when I try to open it from any user account. I'll fix it later.

What I was going to say in a video:

1. Harry Potter dies in the end. It's very macabre. (You know I actually have no idea, right? I didn't see spoilers, I'm just messing with you.)

2. I went to an event last night. At said event:

a. I got to hang out with the crew I used to work with fresh out of college.
b. I ordered "something yummy" from the cash bar and got a Cape Codder (not yummy, who thinks cranberry juice is "yummy"?!??).
c. The hors d'oeuvres were fucking amazing. I ate two black bean and corn empanadas and two veggie egg rolls in an Asian chili sauce.
d. I saw a rabbit. A biiiiiig rabbit.
e. Dinner was fucking amazing: green beans with ginger shallot butter, mixed greens with (tasty something or other) vinaigrette, fresh tomato and basil with balsamic vinegar, herbed rice pilaf, lemon chicken, spinach and cheese ravioli, and marinated flank steak. I ate it all. And I never "eat it all" when I'm at events because usually the food sucks ass. The guy next to me (not Hay, the other guy) went back to get a second plate and I stared longingly at it while I thought of stealing it from him.
f. Dessert sucked. Let me just explain that this is okay with me because dinner was so good that I didn't actually want dessert. The only good thing about dessert was the single, solitary strawberry that I ate. Perfectly sweet and juicy.
g. The after dinner coffee was also amazing. Kudos to whoever put the right amount of grounds into the coffee brewer. I like it BOLD, not like tea.
h. There was a live 80s cover band. I love 80s music so I had a very good time just sitting in my chair singing along and chair dancing (because I'm not coordinated enough to stand-up dance and nobody asked me and I'm not asking anybody there, thanks).
i. There were gift boxes on the table. When I opened mine I found inside of it one of those balls that if you squeeze it the inside flashes different colors of light. It was actually a necklace. One of the other people at the table received a Hello Kitty smarties dispenser (not Pez) and she didn't want it so she gave it to me. I shall be sending it to my mom. :)
j. I had great conversations with people at my table as well as when milling about. When I am completely comfortable with a group of people I'll chat everybody up. Those people are like family (the good members only, thanks) so it was a very enjoyable time.
k. I texted a few of you (Sour, H, and K) from the car when I was leaving the party and you all seemed to be doing very interesting things. Am I the only one who usually just sits at home on a Friday night?! Hmm.

3. I'm mowing the lawn at some point during this absolutely gorgeous day. I wonder what adventures I'll have. (My thumb and hand are completely better, by the way.)

4. I'm probably going to see the Harry Potter movie tonight and getting the book tomorrow or next week. I don't mind if you email me to tell me the ending, it's fine. ;)

Update: Avi told me the ending in IM. Now, now, people. I did ask him to. So, no throwing things at him. I still don't own book 7 and I still haven't gone to the theater to see the current film.

5. I have lots of days off next week because (it's my birthday...oh, you're still reading? hi!) so I'm a bit crazy with work at the moment. I'm probably going to do some of it this weekend so that it's just over with. I get to do mock-ups of a web page (I'm not sure how many I'm doing...20?) and my creative process is hindered by all the work interruptions, so doing this at home just makes sense. Avi's work ethic has rubbed off on me. (Stop humping my leg! YOU ARE SUCH A PERV. ;)

6. Feist is coming to visit me in September. I am quietly excited.

7. Speaking of visit, remember how I said I needed to hurry up and meet bloggers? In a two week period starting at the end of September I will be meeting seven bloggers. I am so very not quietly excited, but I'm (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT) playing it cool. If Crys gets that Newf this weekend I will be scheming a visit to her swath of the woods as well. (All of you living around her, watch out for the Poppy Tornado. [I'm pretty sure I just made a monkey noise.])

Is it unlucky to end a list at 7? Hm.

Kiss me I'm #!@*faced

It's not every day a girl gets called over to do an emergency work-related photo shoot with a drop-dead yummy boy who knows he's hot but is shy about it and another super yummy boy who has no idea he's yummy so he wears Dropkick Murphys shirts to compensate for his imaginary inadequacies.



I love my job.

Who does that?

I was just chatting with "the new girl" (who is so severely awesome I can't stand it) and she was telling me that the person she is replacing (who gave 2.5 months notice, wtf) has been on the phone all day with her realtor because someone has put an offer on her house contingent upon her letting them have her dog.

Her dog.

Her dog.

Dogs? Are family.

Dogs? Are not property.

Don't give me that legal mumbo jumbo bullshit. You take an animal into your fold and you keep it. You don't sell it with the house!!!!!!!!

The New Girl told me that she left her office because she was mad that The Old Girl was on the phone with her son trying to convince him that selling his childhood dog with his childhood house was for the best.

There are no words...

An open letter to The Johns that ends poorly

Dear John and John,

Kristen wrote you a letter a while back because she was disappointed. Now *I* am disappointed, which is a state I have never been in for the 15 years I have known you, and never thought I could be in.

At the last show? Remember? When I sang along to all the songs, and wore my Bears, Beets, Battlestar Galactica shirt, and yelled to Flans I loved him and he told me he loved me back? You promised you'd be back in July to whisk me away.

You broke that promise.

And my heart.

And now I realize you were just trying to get me to buy your new album.

Ana Ng was treated much better.

Sorrowfully no longer yours,
~Poppy

zomghok

If the SYTYCD judges get rid of Hok they're stupid in the BAD way.

That solo was fucking AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I so cannot wait to post video of that.

Edit: Stupid judges.

a little bit

I would really like to borrow Lacey's outfit.

You know, just to wear in the back yard and to cheerleading practices.

Jupiter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stolen without permission (yet) Borrowed with permission from the blog of whall. :) :) :)

ants marching

On the walk back from a client's office to my car yesterday:



Thanks, DMB. :)

stfuwtf

I hate when Gmail is down. Bastards.

dinner

Last night I had the following:

• Harpoon's UFO raspberry hefeweizen*
  
• Pepperidge Farm roasted garlic bread with an arrabiata dipping sauce
  
• MorningStar Farms veggie corn dogs with yellow mustard
  
• Generic brand potato skins, straight up

It's one of the tastiest dinners I've had in a long time. And I love to eat.

Yes, I ate that entire plate of food. I don't know if that's a lot, but I was super full after for sure. :)


*I'm a simple girl and I will generally choose a cheap JW Dundee's honey brown for a flavored beer, but the grocery store only sells it in 12-packs and I just wanted a 6-pack. Cost-wise this is a dumb choice, but fridge space-wise it's a smart choice. :)

As you wish.

Your Love Life is Like The Princess Bride

"Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind." For you, love is like a fairy tale - albeit a fairly twisted one. You believe romance is all about loyalty, fate, and a good bit of goofy fun. Your love style: Idealistic yet quirky Your Hollywood Ending Will Be: Perfectly romantic What Movie Is Your Love Life Like?

Thanks to Sour for the nudge. :)

Legend

Since nobody seems to understand, I'm going to make a key.

When I say the following they mean the follow-up to the following:

stg - something
cx - change
yar - this makes me severely happy
blueberry - please stop doing what you're doing, my safe word has been activated

I'll post more of these as they occur to me.

An update on the whole hand thing

Sunday and Monday my hand was blown up like a balloooon. I think I still have a bit of cellulitis in the left thumb, but otherwise the hand looks awesome. At the advice of severely nefarious counsel I have decided not to consult a physician and instead risk amputation of the thumb. You'll all still love me if I'm missing a thumb, right? Right!

Comparisons...

The original hand:

The hand today:

(Click to enlarge any of my awesome hand images.)

I think I'll survive. Really. Thanks for your concern, though. And if I need my hand amputated I know who to sue. ;)

Bengal tigers?

My favorite kind of epiphany: The shower epiphany.

I've since forgotten what this morning's was, but it was soooo very, very good at the time. I at least remember the subject matter... Hmm.


Update: I have since remembered my epiphany, and realized I already took care of it. (Took care of an epiphany? *shrug*)

geekbot

I have this overwhelming urge to run around the house yelling "PEW PEW LAZORZ!"

Why?

fields of gold Gordon

I got stung by something yesterday while mowing after which my hand and thumb swelled up. Yesterday I took Benadryl and the hand swelling went away completely but my thumb still does any of the following at any given time: remains swollen; itches; hurts if I run any temperature of water across it; tingles; stings.

I took photos, but I have little hope you'd notice the difference.

Here it is (my left hand, thanks, stop making fun of my hands!):

Horritable

Avi sent out absolutely filthy, disgusting, horrible, only-Avi-can-be-so-naughty postcards the week of June 18 to anyone who wanted one. I got mine that Wednesday:







And then he made his postcards into a business which he calls Postcard Hell. And then he convinced Joefish to enter his batcave and do the design of the site. And then Avi sat on his ass not announcing the site for a month. And now he finally fucking has. :) GO BUY SOME POSTCARDS.

Adventures in mowing part II

I should perhaps make a label for this!

Today I was doing my big spinny circles on the long part again when I saw three neighbor kids running as fast as they could for my property. My first instinct is to seemingly ignore until I can calmly assess, so I turned my mower away from them then looked out of the very edge of my eye to see that the kids were not running for a ball, they were running for a puppy, and so was the neighbor kids' mom. She was yelling her head off at those kids while they yelled for and chased after the puppy. ...

Yah, that's gonna work.

I hopped off my mower, kneeled down on the ground, looked that puppy right in the eyes, and said, "oh, aren't you the cutest puppy? come here, sweetie!" and of course she bounds into my arms and I scoop her up and hand her over to neighbor mom while she is still shrieking at the kids that they can't run after the puppy. ...

You're welcome?

Cute little beagle named Sammy, which is the name of one of my childhood dogs so I instantly felt a bond. :) Such is the life of an animal lover. I secretly hope Sammy gets loose and runs over more often, but I also secretly hope she learns to look both ways before crossing the road.

INFP SGP

An incredibly accurate test (except the guilt part, I don't possess the guilt genes, I threw them away when they didn't fit anymore) about personality which I stole from Avi who guessed I'd be INTP, but I teeter on T and F (T at work, F at play):

Your Score: Pollyanna- INFP
46% Extraversion, 73% Intuition, 20% Thinking, 40% Judging

So, you want to make the world a better place? Too bad it's never gonna happen.

Of all the types, you have to be one of the hardest to find fault in. You have a selfless and caring nature. You're a good listener and someone who wants to avoid conflict. You genuinely desire to do good.

Of course, these all add up to an incredibly overpowered conscience which makes you feel guilty and responsible when anything goes wrong. Of course, it MUST be your fault EVERYTIME.

Though you're constantly on a mission to find the truth, you have no use for hard facts and logic, which is a source of great confusion for those of us with brains. Despite this, in a losing argument, you're not above spouting off inaccurate fact after fact in an effort to protect your precious values.

You're most probably a perfectionist, which in this case, is a bad thing. Any group work is destined to fail because of your incredibly high standards.

Disregard what I said before. You're just easy to find fault in as everyone else!

Luckily, you're generally very hard on yourself, meaning I don't need to waste my precious time insulting you. Instead, just find all your own faults and insult yourself.

*****************

Link: The Brutally Honest Personality Test written by UltimateMaster on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

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And now, for SGP. It's a perfect set of 36 so I'm showing the entire thumbnail set right here:



To view the closer-ups go visit flickr.

double-edged stick of fire*

My brilliance is perhaps overshadowed by my stupidity.

Brilliance: I had a coffee to stay awake for the fireworks.

Stupidity: I had a coffee... to stay awake... for the fireworks.

A smack to the forehead would be wise at this juncture.

Also wise at this juncture? ME SHOWING YOU FIREWORKS PHOTOS! WOOOOOHOOOOOO!

One of the neighbor kids playing with sparklers:



I used the moon setting so that I could capture the movement. I think they were trying to spell the abbreviation for Iowa, which happens to be IA. Yes, you see that too? Awesome.

Here are the rest of the 61 photos. Go. Look! Do it! Stop reading my words! Go look at my mad photo skillz, yo!

Sigh.

You people don't "listen" very well..11!!!!!@!!!

Bye.


*I told you I live in France, where we celebrate Bastille Day. (But really this is just a do-over of the July 4th fireworks which were rained out on the day.)

pan-fried steak

Have I ever mentioned I love steak? I have? I have. I love steak! And now I love pan-fried steak, thanks to Melting Wok who has shared her recipe for a fantastically crispified hunk of moo.

Pan-fried Rib Eye Steak With Mushrooms And Onions

Ingredients :
1 piece 1/2 inch thick, rib eye steak ( approximately 14 oz )
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce ( preferably Lea & Perrin )
4 tbsp olive oil
7 oz button mushroom, sliced
1/2 a yellow onion, cut into rings

Method :
1) Rub both sides of the steak with salt first. Then with black pepper, cumin powder, cayenne pepper, worcestershire sauce, and lastly olive oil.
2) Refrigerate for an hour or preferably overnight.
3) Remove steak from refrigerator 15 minutes before cooking.
4) Heat pan until really hot. Saute onions until slightly fragrant in 1 tbsp olive oil. Add mushroom and continue stir-frying for 1 minute. Dish up and set aside.
5) Pan-fry steaks in 2 tbsp olive oil using the above cooking tips.

I am choosing to ignore the fact that there are mushrooms in this recipe. Anybody want mine?

Websites as graphs and handwriting calculators

Map out your blog into a pritty pikshur:

Everyday, we look at dozens of websites. The structure of these websites is defined in HTML, the lingua franca for publishing information on the web. Your browser's job is to render the HTML according to the specs (most of the time, at least). You can look at the code behind any website by selecting the "View source" tab somewhere in your browser's menu.

HTML consists of so-called tags, like the A tag for links, IMG tag for images and so on. Since tags are nested in other tags, they are arranged in a hierarchical manner, and that hierarchy can be represented as a graph…

I found this over in Joe's archives (the correct visual representation of his blog is here) and thought I'd try it on my own blog:



Apparently I'm a ginormous dandelion. Or my blog is. And it has ripped through the very fabric of the space-time continuum to create a black hole. ... Hmm.

On a completely different note, you know I love handwriting samples and you know I love vlogs but it never occurred to me to combine the two!!!:



Mesmerizing... :)

the perfect lunch on my day off

MorningStar Farms mini veggie corn dogs and french fries, pan fried in peanut oil.

What's better? (Rhetorical.)

dammitalltohell

A client appointment that should have taken the entire afternoon took an hour and a half because my partner in crime and I are too fucking efficient. Now I have to do more work? We even discussed playing hooky on the way back from that office but then we forgot to. Had it all schemed out to go read books at the bookstore. No one would have even noticed!! *sigh*

At least he just bought me a Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream bar? (WOOOT!) Good guy.

I think I shall now avoid projects and continue unpacking my office.

sliTher

Arizona Mountain Kingsnake:



(Including the smaller version because he looks better in it.) I held him first. Really the guy at the pet store (Adam) held him and I just grabbed the snake's back end and let it flow through my fingers over and over. This guy looks like the poisonous coral snake, but no worries, isn't. Avi told me that snakes aren't slimey so I was super surprised when this guy did feel slick like baby oil.


Ball Python:



I held him completely. A beautiful and tame snake. I was still weary of his head but the worst thing he did the whole time I held him was stick his tongue out at me and curl his tail into my rain jacket. This boy was not slimey at all, dry as a bone. Ironic that the pet store guy's name is Adam and I happened to take a photo that happens to look like Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam".


Green Tree Python:



I wanted to hold him but was not allowed because he is too aggressive. He is also $900. And gorgeous.


Adam said 5 years ago he had lizards and hated snakes. Five years later he owns zero lizards and 23 snakes. He was the right man to show us snakes. My co-worker who is working on her phobia did hold the ball python, which when it matures will be 3 feet long and 3-4 inches in diamater, if I remember correctly.

I could become a snake person if my family were compatible with such a thing. (My family is not compatible with such a thing.)

zomgzombies

Just today alone I have invited myself over to ... five? ... bloggers' homes or travel locations. Apparently I won't be satisfied until I actually MEET A BLOGGER.

Could someone please hurry up and meet me? Please?

mission aborted

I was about to go grab some food from the vending machine because I'm too lazy to walk outside and up or down the hill for food, but I heard the voice of a man I do not intentionally encounter. He gives me the "I am an equal opportunity molester" vibe.

I'm hungry, but not that hungry.

The secret one

I was strong. Until the end. Now I'm weak.

Green and Red makes shit. But at least it's fun shit. Sorta.

Yes, yes: I like the fact that I can look my supervisor in the eye and twirl my hand around in a circle facing the floor and say, "sorry I'm late, I had to do important things for the CIO" and she just smiles and says, "OK!"

No, no: I don't like it when people tape notes on my door that say, "please call me."

The move is (mostly) complete

Blur and all.

You want my office. It's okay to admit it. Say it.



I have photos too, but I'm too lazy just yet to post those.

A message from the desk of

...the somewhat malcontent but always adorable anyway Ms. Molly:

"Tell the internets I said hey, if they still remember me. Lol. I promise I'll be back! It just may not be until next month sometime."

If she doesn't come back I will be stealing her stapler, her puppy named Hershey, her snarky daughter Fynn (on Tuesdays only), and her meat-filled email.

(Please come back.)

There is a meeting titled Snake holdin' on my calendar. I did not put it there.

Giddy giddy giddy.

squeeeeeeeeee

I don't want to jinx it (too late, har) but my favoritest relative might come work with me. Giddy giddy giddy. That would soooooo rock. Oh, man. I am going to call tonight to convince. I am very convincing when I wanna be.

COME WORK WITH ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But stop reading my blog. :P

packed

Anyone seen my stapler? I kinda need it...

Contemplate.

So, here I am in my new office and I feel... so alone.

At least I can hear my former officemate through the hall. She's on the other side of the wall, but the walls are well insulated, apparently.

Hmm. My first office all to myself with full height walls and a door that locks and I miss my officemates.

thunderstorms

Lightning strikes so fast I couldn't process each one individually. They danced through the sky but didn't touch the ground so no thunder. It was beautiful.

But then when one would go against the pack and strike the ground a low belly rumble rolled through the air.

The rain was torrential.

There have never been so many thunderstorms with hail and tornado warnings any other year of my life, let alone in such a concentrated amount of time. Why, do you suppose?

BrainyQuote's funny quote of the day(??): "I have never been hurt by what I have not said." ~Calvin Coolidge

My reaction, verbalized to an empty room: "Well, that's a wussy thing to say!"

Overheard

As I motored between new and old office I heard this about me...

Previous officemate: *making a 3-foot-long gesture with hands* "She's got some really nice short ones."

I enjoy being spoken about so fondly! She was speaking about some short shelves that are in my new office which I won't be needing, but it's amusing to overhear.

Super mega Sunday Garden Party on a Monday instead

My internet connection went down last night, sorry I didn't get SGP in "on time" but really it's my schedule anyway.

I took a million pictures, and I'm giving you all million (except three or four).

Teasers:






And the full 428-photo set is at flickr. Please enjoy.