The Sunpilots

Usually when I receive Myspace or YouTube requests in my Yahoo email for musical groups to add me as a friend or contact I swear at them and delete the email without reviewing their profile or their request on My or You. Today I received an email from a group and did the swearing, but I checked out the request. I am so glad I did. If you haven't heard of The Sunpilots perhaps you would really like to familiarize yourself with them before they get huge in the States. Especially Raj (pictured in red). Who is beautiful. And will be my crush tomorrow, for shore. I have purchased their album from Amazon. I was not able to wait for the album to arrive so I have changed my MySpace song to Spotlight in the Sun. Yummmm.

Here's the video for Spotlight which I'm not crazy about, but I love the song:

light reading

A book I found on the floor next to Hay's couch:



He has very interesting recreational reading taste. Or, perhaps it's Georgie's book since there's one of her kitty hairs on it.

Pet food recalled after deaths

The following pet foods are being recalled after several pet deaths were linked to consumption of products found in these brands:

Recalled cat foods

America's Choice, Preferred Pets; Authority; Best Choice; Companion; Compliments; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat, Shep Dog; Food Lion; Foodtown; Giant Companion; Good n Meaty; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Li'l Red; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Nutriplan; Nutro Max Gourmet Classics; Nutro Natural Choice; Paws; Presidents Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Sophistacat; Special Kitty; Springfield Pride; Sprout; Total Pet; My True Friend; Wegmans; Western Family; White Rose; and Winn Dixie.


Recalled dog foods

America's Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Award; Best Choice; Big Bet; Big Red; Bloom; Bruiser; Cadillac; Companion; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat; Shep Dog; Food Lion; Giant Companion; Great Choice; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Mixables; Nutriplan; Nutro Max; Nutro Natural Choice; Nutro; Ol'Roy; Paws; Pet Essentials; Pet Pride; President's Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Publix; Roche Bros; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Springsfield Pride; Sprout; Stater Bros; Total Pet; My True Friend; Western Family; White Rose; Winn Dixie and Your Pet.

Snippet of the article: “WASHINGTON (AP) -- A major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of kidney failure and deaths.

An unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, Menu Foods said in announcing the North American recall. Product testing has not revealed a link explaining the reported cases of illness and death, the company said.”

For more information: www.menufoods.com ; 1-866-895-2708

Article source: CNN

Yummy2

When I was a kid I dreamed of growing up and having lots of exotic cats, a dark house à la Elvis's bedroom, and a never-ending supply of Doritos. Seriously.



I really enjoy this commercial's cleverness of integrating the words that describe the product into also describing the situation. And the physical comedy is hilarious, too. :)

Totally unrelated, Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you get a pot of gold and no hangover. And maybe a visit from Colin. :D

Jeopardy Brat Pack

Three contestants tied for first place in the third round of the long-running game show:

NEW YORK - All those years of answers and questions, and it's never happened before on "Jeopardy!" What is a three-way tie, Alex?

The three contestants on the venerable game show all finished with $16,000 after each answering the final question correctly in the category, "Women of the 1930s," on Friday's show. They identified Bonnie Parker, of the famed Bonnie and Clyde crime duo, as a woman who, as a waitress, once served one of the men who shot her.

"We've had a lot of crazy things happen on `Jeopardy!' but in 23 years I've never seen anything like this before," host Alex Trebek said.

The show contacted a mathematician who calculated the odds of such a three-way tie happening — one in 25 million.

The three contestants, Jamey Kirby of Gainesville, Fla.; Anders Martinson of Union City, Calif.; and Scott Weiss of Walkersville, Md; were all declared champions and taped a rematch that will air Monday. (AP)

Might I suggest a harder final jeopardy question? :) I used to love Jeopardy as a teenager living with my mom at my grandmother's house. Grandma and I would sit in the living room with dinner plates in our laps and watch Alex be condescending to the contestants who didn't always know the answers but he did. (Alex? They're right in front of you.) Good show. Glad this happened, because Alex definitely didn't see that coming. ;)

I like this pie.*

I must be “maturing”. In my youth I didn't want one thing to do with limes of any sort. Now one of my favorite desserts is key lime pie and I just drooled on the keyboard a little bit.



*Not just any old pie.

What?!?!?!? WHY??????

I just heard from GMMR that Veronica Mars is probably being cancelled. :( :( :(

I just started getting into this show thanks to Avi.

Damn you, TV executives! You cancelled Firefly, you cancelled Dead Like Me, you cancelled HUFF!, and now you cancel Veronica Mars?!?!? FOR SHAME. You all can just go jump off a cliff. (Wow, that was weak...)

Edit: Fresher news from E! explains that it might not be cancelled, but it might change to be four years in the future with Veronica being an FBI agent. I'd rather see that than no show at all, and I *love* FBI shows, so bring it!

I am (not) I am (not) I am (not) Superman and I can do anything

In case anyone needs a reminder of the lyrics they are here. Love that song...

Warning: This post contains TMI.

This morning I found one of my favorite pairs of underwear in the gigantic stack of unfolded laundry that lives on our master bedroom bed*, the cotton blue Hanes low rise something-or-other cut bikini brief, and picked them up to put them on. I saw a dangling thread so I pulled on it. Three revolutions around the entire band later and I thought, “oh no, I am going to have to retire my Superman undies!” Silly me for thinking that my Superman undies were so easily destructible. They are still holding together just fine, thank you very much. I'm not sure why I think they're Superman undies, since his outer underwear (hehe) is red, but I do.

I am going to be taking a self defense class starting the week after next. I've always wanted to take one but I'm an introvert so I have trouble committing in even the most basic way to people I don't know. Example: I prefer to only go to convenience stores, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. where I am considered a regular. How I ever started being a regular is somehow magical to me, and must have been done in a moment of extroversion. Back to the story: When I met the officers at the station the other day I was introduced to the female officer who teaches self defense for women in our community, so now she is someone I have bonded to and will gladly follow to the ends of the earth like a lemming. (I love that game...) She is the nicest person, but I can tell she can kick some serious ass. I shall be drawing from childhood experiences in order to amp up my aggression level, assuming aggression is appreciated while I'm beating the crap out of an imaginary attacker. Even if it's not, it will be therapeutic. :)

We started watching Casino Royale (2006) last night. I say started because we had to stop the movie one trillion times for a variety of reasons (phone call breaks, bathroom breaks, Pinwheels breaks, house check breaks, cat breaks). I eventually got super ticked off after suggesting multiple times that we just wait until tonight to see it and I grabbed all the remotes and shut everything off. Hay was not in the room when I did this, because he was off doing one of those break things, so no one actually witnessed my mini meltdown of muttering insanity. I just hate having really good movies ruined by interruptions, and seriously the movie was interrupted at least 6 times in the first 54 minutes of it. So, we'll probably rewatch the entire thing tonight. Very much looking forward to that. Daniel Craig is a beautiful aggressive Bond. I didn't think I would like him in this role, but I opposite-of-dislike him in it. I wish he had taken it down about two notches with his muscular body. He's just a bit too buff for my taste. I don't have a favorite body type, but I know that I don't like bulging muscles. Unless they belong to Superman, and then it's okay. :)


*Yes, we are still sleeping in the guest room. It's been 16 months now. I have no idea why we're still doing that, other than it takes effort to move back into the master, and then where will all our unfolded laundry go?! Guess how long it's been since anyone has stayed over and needed access to our guest room? Yah...

conceited?

Sometimes I really enjoy reading my own blog archives because it reminds me of the person I am. Sometimes I forget. At first I thought it was because I'm narcissistic, but I think it's because I'm senile.

I like pie.*

I have returned. Did you miss me? I missed being here.

At lunch time I actually snuck back to my office for a moment alone and found this MSN search about the male oral contraceptive pill. I like men, I really do. I like you! But if I don't want to get pregnant I'm taking my own damn pill. Just sayin'. You take your pill, I'll take mine, and we'll all feel better about the whooooole thing.

I'm slightly exhausted from my day because I didn't really eat lunch and I was giving or attending presentations all day. They're tiring! I'm having an afternoon Starbucks pre-packaged mocha to get me through until Hay comes to pick me up and take me home. I am actually glad there isn't a new episode of The Office tonight so that I don't have to feel bummed about being tired while I watch it. I like to be well rested for the Jam vs. Jaren war. (You know Jam will ultimately win.)

Oh! If you vote for American Idol, Hay begs of you to vote for Sanjaya next week. He wants the kid to make it to the top 10 so that AI is forced to let him do the tour. :D Just like that red-hedded crooner kid from last year! I fully support Hay in this endeavor.



*What? I do!

cheat sheet

My tagline says it all. Yes, I'm making you translate multiple times. I'm evil that way.

Update: No one bothered with:

在星期四我是去。警告された! 넋두리 - я уязвлять вас!

So, either you figured it out or you gave up. It basically says that (Chinese) I am away on Thursday, (Japanese) I warned you, (Korean) if you complain (Russian) I'll bite you. That's funny stuff!

Grindhouse

If for no other reason, I'm seeing this to watch Rose McGowan with a machine gun leg:



Could April 6 please hurry up?

What makes this day so special?!

So far today I've heard it's:

• Steak and blowjob day
  
• Potato chip day
  
• Pi(e) day

How many other causes must share this day?!



Photo cred: Neatorama via Slashfood

Someone needs more fiber in his diet...

Okay, animal lovers, I need your help: The Cede family home is located next to wetlands in the northeastern United States. We have noticed two trees in two different spots within a mile radius of our home, but next to roadways, where trees have been stripped of the front side of their bark and there are wood chips lying on the ground in front of the tree. The wood chips seem to be very similar in size, approximately 1-2" long. The tree trunk seems (glancing at it from within my car) to be undamaged, but a lot of bark is missing so those trees aren't going to survive long. The stripping starts a foot or two off the ground but then goes as high as eight or ten feet. I read online that beavers aren't good climbers. What's doing this to the trees?

I'm sorry, I don't have photos. If photos are required to identify the source I'll get them sometime soon.

April 1 joke foods by A_Muffin and Rodney

Jell-O-filled eggs. Genius!

mishy

I think Apple and Lisa Loeb have conspired. I have one album from Lisa that I purchased after watching her show "Singled Out" and now all that iTunes wants to play in shuffle mode is 3 songs of varying artists then another Lisa Loeb song. I'm going to delete all but my starred songs from her album and that will solve that problem.

...

For once I planned ahead and actually made a PowerPoint presentation a month ago for a training session I'm doing tomorrow. Yesterday I was reviewing the presentation before printing out the slides with notes (for note taking, because people seem to need to take notes when I talk :) and noticed a term I didn't remember adding so I went to follow the hyperlink and found that it was missing. Huh. I know that I added one, I just didn't remember to where. I started spot checking the other 29 links that I had already spent hours researching and adding to this presentation. They were all missing. I don't normally curse in front of my female co-worker because she's like a mom to me and my mom doesn't like it when I swear so I just transfer the courtesy to my female co-worker, but yesterday I did a lot of "f f f f f f f f f" exclaiming. At least I abbreviated it.

I read online from a Microsoft MVP that there was a known problem with my version of Office and hyperlinks vanishing. The suggested solutions were: update Office; remove Office completely, reinstall, and don't update. I've done both those things. My presentation's links are still missing. Looks like I'm redoing all my research. The thing that really chafes is that I could have sworn I saved every single link to a bookmarks folder in Safari back before my computer was sent in for service. I have all my bookmarks on the computer but I cannot locate any such folder. The backup version of my presentation works just fine, but I made significant changes to it so it's basically useless to me.

I know you're all gloating that bad things happen to IT people too. It's okay to do. Go ahead, get it out of your system. Just know that Murphy's Law applies to you too so make sure to plan ahead and have a backup (whether that be the data itself or a plan for how to accomplish your task if your technology fails you). This advice is rarely heeded.

Update: I finished editing alllll the links, saved the file, viewed the show, and the links are all “off”. For example, if I hover over a Microsoft link I get a link to a Wikipedia definition. The hyperlinks aren't blank, but they're totally useless when they don't point you to the right place. I'm redoing the entire presentation now to see if that fixes the problem. Effing A².

Update 2: That seems to have worked, although I've lost all confidence that the links will stay put. The worst that happens is that people have to play a memory game of matching appropriate links to appropriate keywords. If they don't like it they don't have to come to the presentation ever again. Works for me. :)

Update: 3: Yup, the links reverted to their preferred squirrelliness again. I am officially hating on a certain big company right now.

Update 4: It cannot be said that I am not persistent. I copied and pasted from PowerPoint to Keynote (Mac version of presentation software) then redid all the links then exported to PowerPoint. Magically, all is well now. Well, not magically. The only thing magical about this is that my computers are still on their desks rather than out the freakin' window.

...

This doesn't deserve its own post. AI top 12 was the worst I've ever experienced. I would stop watching the show, but we really enjoy hearing the judges tell almost every contestant what a disaster their performance was. I think this season we need to vote off two at a time until we get to the top 6: Blake, Chris, Jordin, Stephanie, LaKisha, and ... Okay, never mind, top 5. (No, I don't like Melinda.)

certified adult

I'm an adult, apparently! And I saw 300. Amazing. My biggest criticism: Even though none of the animals in the film were real they were killed in battle. I can watch a lot of people die (if I know it's coming) but I just can't watch the animals. Breaks my heart. I think I might want to own this movie when it comes out. I thought it was really well done (not that I'm that picky, but I know what I like and I don't go out buying tons of movies). Yes, it really only costs $7.25 for me to see a movie at night. That's not a discount. It's one of the few things in my county that still has a reasonable price tag on it.

you're it

Please note: Until I am sick of Morse code I will randomly be changing my tagline. It has been changed from yesterday's tagline. Enjoy. And, if you want to respond in Morse code I like that very much. Especially when Jen does it. :D

Out of season Poppy Award

Best post title goes to AnonymousCoworker for I wish my lawn was emo so it would cut itself. Niiiice, ACW, niiiiice. :)

caps ON part 2

Another day that RAWKED (so far). I don't normally talk about work at all so I am going against my better judgment because I want to share what a freakin' awesome morning I just had.

My supervisor asked me to work on a project with our local police because the station has a few Macs and they weren't able to do something they really needed to do. Today I went over and helped “make it happen”. Everyone there was SO NICE, even the detective that found me sitting in the officer's chair and stared at me while I very hurriedly explained who I was. Then, while I was on the phone with the station's regular IT staff the officer whose computer I was configuring came in and saw me sitting in her chair and had no idea who I was so I again hurriedly explained who I was. For law enforcement they sure are nice about strangers at their desk. :)

After I was done helping with the one thing that was actually asked of me I was asked to show the detectives how to use video editing and viewing software on the Mac so that they could analyze some recent crime footage. I was then asked (jokingly) if I could pick the criminals out of a line-up. Although the footage was super grainy, I think I actually could pick one of them out because the person was dumb enough to LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE VIDEO CAMERA, at which point I paused the video, shook my finger at the screen, and yelled, “BUSTED!” which made everyone laugh. Note to criminals: If you're going to commit a crime perhaps you'd like to cover your face or at least not look directly into the camera?

The IT staff member who provides PC support then gave me a tour of the station. Can I just say that I hope I never need to be put in the timeout room? It's scary in there...

I was not able to see the chief again today, although I did talk to him prior to showing up because I kinda needed permission to be in the offices in the back. So, at least I didn't have to act all awkward and say, “I love you, you're so hot, let's take a tour of the timeout room together” because I know that's what would have come out of my mouth instead of, “hi, thanks so much for working with me on this project.” Embarrassing moment averted. :)

Don't you wish you worked with me? You do. Trust me.

hurry UP.

You know when it's half an hour before you're going home but you can't go yet but you wanna but you really need to stay but you just can't stand it one more second?! Me too.

tug of love

Warning: A bit crass. :D

dully noted

I'm not very good about planning ahead. In fact, I really prefer not to do that. This results in me occasionally finding no inspiration and therefore having nothing interesting to say. Today, right now, is one of those occasions.

So, I'm going to cop out and ask you to tell me something interesting that's happening in your life today. The most interesting thing happening to me today is probably going to be me reading your comments, so please make them good. Please?


Oh, one thing: Look up. No, no. Not up in the air. Look above the post, but below my blog name. Heed my advice. It will save your life.

Three words or less

I actually saw this at Tense Teacher and completed it, but then I decided I didn't like my answers. Since then I've seen it crop up everywhere. I'm a follower, so I'm doing it again.

The challenge: Answer each question in three words or less. Did I even need to explain? :)

1. Where is your cell phone? in my jacket
2. Boyfriend/girlfriend? no
3. Hair? needs a cut
4. Your mother? awesome
5. Your father? not as awesome
6. Your favorite item? my computer?
7. Your dream last night? it was fun :)
8. Your favorite drink? ice cold Coke
9. Your dream guy? smart, funny, hot
10. The room you are in? living room
11. Your fear? enclosed spaces, death
12. What do you want to be in 10 years? 10 years wiser
13. Who did you hang out with last night? Hay and kittos
14. What are you not? obvious, forthcoming, uncomplicated
15. Are you in love? yes
16. One of your wish list items? vacation somewhere hot
17. What time is it? 13:11
18. The last thing you did? loaded the dishwasher
19. What are you wearing? t-shirt, shirt, sweats
20. Your favorite book? Confederacy of Dunces
21. The last thing you ate? more chef salad
22. Your life? always in flux
23. Your mood? mellow
24. Your friends? need to relax
25. What are you thinking about right now? Tell Her Tonight
26. Your car? not driven much
27. What are you doing at this moment? listening to music
28. Your summer? way too short
29. Your relationship status? married
30. What is on your TV screen? Veronica Mars, paused
31. When is the last time you laughed? in the car
32. Last time you cried? early Monday morning
33. School? too much pressure
34. Wishin hopin thinkin prayin? Sitting, Wishing, Waiting!
35. What are you listening to? Franz Ferdinand
36. Where do you want to be right now? where I am

Spring forward, SVP

We are turning our clocks an hour ahead 3 weeks early this year, thanks to some plan about energy conservation that might possibly work if we can stop having such ridiculously cold weather in much of the nation.

We'll be falling back 1 week early on November 4. I'll remind you when we're closer to the date. ;)

double indulgence

I'm going to a children's birthday party in an hour. Guess what I'm eating for breakfast right now, before going to the party?



(It's not very pretty, but it's freaking amazing.)


Guess who fully intends to eat more cake at said party?

Shelby

Congratulations to Molly for the addition to her family!



Isn't she gorgeous?!

the ultimate reason to love Slashfood

They have a regular segment called Food Porn. The photos always deliver.



I find absolutely nothing appealing about pistachios or dates, but this sticky bun makes me squishy inside.

Other examples of sexy Slashfood:

• the ultimate cream-filled “donut”
  
• lemon cream tartlets
  
• chocolate crème caramel
  
• naughty ice cream sandwiches

caps ON

THAT DAY EFFING RAWKED. 10 OUTTA 10. I EFFING LIVE FOR THAT PANDEMIC PLANNING SHIT.

I really should quit my current job and go specifically into consulting for BCP/DRP/EOC/IH/ anything to do with emergency planning.

Oh, and now I am in love with the chief of police. Since he's a real person in my life he will not be making an appearance on The Daily Crush, but I do confess that I may have sexually assaulted him with my eyes all day today. MEOW. I think he noticed, too. Poor guy...

“Elle n'est pas là.”

I'm at a thing. All day. So, have yourself a fun Friday! Don't drink too much unless your name is Mel or Sourpuss. Anyone want to volunteer to be their designated driver?

security through obscurity*

Some days I wish I was⁺ Catholic. You know, for the confessional. And the “grape juice”. *sigh*




*And now I'm going to get a bunch of hits from people looking up that term who instead find a post where I'd really like to get something off my chest but it ain't gonna happen. Or, maybe I don't actually want to get it off my chest. Maybe I like it on my chest. Hmm. Something to ponder.

⁺I know that's supposed to be “were” but I'm slangin' it up.

My favorite girl is a doll

From J².

Angus third-pounders at Mickey D's

Three varieties:

• Angus Deluxe: American cheese, sliced red onions and sliced red tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, mustard and mayonnaise.
  
• Angus Mushroom and Swiss: sauteed mushrooms, Swiss cheese and mayonnaise.
  
• Angus Bacon and Cheese: bacon, merican cheese, sliced red onions, mustard, ketchup and pickles.

MSRP: $3.99

I am so getting me an Angus Bacon and Cheese when they come to my area. An Angus Deluxe sounds awesome as well.


Source: Slashfood

So effing stupid I can't effing stand it.!!.

Why is this a news story?!?!?!

If you poll the entire world on pop culture, world events, general trivia, or any-piece-of- information-there-possibly-is-to-know items you'll find that most don't have any clue what you're talking about. DUR.


(I am not on break, I'm just annoyed. And, apparently by telling you I won't be posting it guarantees that I'll post even more than usual, so expect 10 posts by the end of today.)

get your coffee on

It's a bit early to mention, but I want to make sure to share:

March 15 10am-12pm - Free 12 oz cup of hot coffee from Starbucks
March 21 no time specified - Free 16 oz ICED coffee from Dunkin' Donuts

Someone had free coffee this week or last week from 5am-8am (McD's I think) but I heard about it was on my local radio station at 8:23am (oops) so maybe it was just a local promo.

Thanks to Slashfood for sharing the news.

(Yes, I needed a break already.)

eat this

Poppy is busy today, and even busier tomorrow, although perhaps more posts will magically arrive to the blog as breaks from busy-ness are needed. For now, please enjoy last night's dinner with me, a homemade chef's salad piled 2+ inches high:



Ingredients: cottage cheese*, iceberg lettuce, green pepper, tomato, sweet onion, cucumber, carrot, purple cabbage, honey ham, bacon, Hunter's extra stinky cheddar, Ken's blue cheese dressing, cheese and garlic croutons, and black pepper. Hay also made boiled egg, but I was too impatient to wait for it. :)

More photos at flickr.


*The cottage cheese was fat free. :)

Less is more.

Someone was playing with Avi's swag...




...and it wasn't me.

journaling

Click to see the full craziness.

Georgie and the aloe

Despite having a superiorly bad day yesterday and feeling really awful by the time I left work (stress-related headache and stomach ache), it was necessary for me to go with Hay to the grocery store. I had a list and we mostly stuck to it, but didn't get home until about 7:30pm. When we did get home the first thing I noticed was two cats instead of three. (No worries, this ends fine.) I set down the groceries I had in my hand then went searching. Soon after I found this:





I then called the missing kitty, Georgia, to come see her mommy right away. She slinked toward me. I patted her on the head and told her not to worry, she wasn't in trouble. I grabbed the mini broom and dustpan from the coat closet and went to work cleaning up the mess while Georgie pointed to the milk ring that had caused her to knock the planter and stand over. Poor George had just been playing with her toy and the plant tumbled down on top of her fun. :(

I finished cleaning up, gave the kitties their crunchy treats, put away groceries, scooped the litter boxes, turned on the sink water for the cats, poured myself a tall glass of ice water, then vegged out on the couch while Hay made dinner. After dinner I grabbed a box of Dove cookies, set them down for a moment, then turned around to find Georgie rubbing up against the cookies:



       

Moral of the story: Georgie is so cute that she could pretty much get away with anything and we'd still coo after her.

What the 1134 was that?

Blake Lewis and Chris Sligh may advance. The rest of you guys: GO HOME. NOW. That was awful. I can sing better when I have laryngitis, f's sake.

To top off this bad day...

Okay, I promise you're not in any trouble but I would like to know exactly who stole my Franz Ferdinand CD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!@!!@!!!@@!@!@##!~!!!~!! I am so gonna lose my shit in a minute... Keep the electric razors and bedsheets away from me, please.*



*That's just a bad joke about a pop star, but I may actually start crying in a minute.

dead fish

Found this guy dead on the bottom of the office fishtank:


In the net


Fresh out of water


Several hours later

Click any image to see the huge version.

Block addresses without having your own server so you don't inflate your hit count

Edit: At Avi's suggestion that this wasn't what I thought it was I looked at the settings and found that this feature is just so you don't inflate your daily hit count. Here's the official wording from their site:

"IP Blocking
You can specify your IP Address or a range such as 212.14.23.* or even 212.*.*.* to be blocked. This prevents you or someone from your organisation inflating your count. Put each IP address on a new line with no spaces if you want it blocked. Or empty the box if you want to count all visits."

Still useful, just not in the way I had hoped. I wasn't thinking clearly. It's been a day, as you know already. But, perhaps you find this feature useful so I'll leave it up.

StatCounter is kind enough to offer a blocking service on any blog or site they help you manage traffic. Here's the details via email:

Dear Poppy Cede,

-----------------------------------------------
Get your BLOCKs off....
-----------------------------------------------
Well no actually, get your blocks on....because we've added another new
feature to StatCounter!

Rather than just blocking individual IP addresses, you can now block a
whole range.

And yes - before you ask - you can block an IP address range across all
your projects now with just one click!

To use this feature simply login to your account.

- Click the 'wrench' icon beside one of your projects.
- Click 'edit settings'.
- Enter the ip addresses and ranges you would like to block.
- If you want to update all projects with this, click the box below it.

That's it!

uplifiting this is not

I used to work with Hay many years back at a company that pretty much loves its client base. Today we found out that one of (our) clients was killed in a head-on car accident when another driver crossed the center line. Both the client and the other driver were killed instantly.

This isn't even the reason why I wrote that I was having one of those days, but it's certainly perpetuating the sentiment.

Lessons learned:

1. Have a will.
   
2. Tell your family and friends how much you care for them as often as you possibly can.
   
3. If you're not already living life to the fullest then start doing it.
   
4. Don't drive. Just stay home and let a plane fall on your head.

So, to my blog family: I like you. I really, really like you.

I'm having one of those days...

Something you may not know about me that doesn't fit into my 50 things

I love the ocean. I love lighthouses. I love the beach. I love anything to do with those three items. My favorite places on the planet are next to the ocean and two of them have lighthouses (York, ME and its surrounding towns; Peggys Cove, Halifax, NS, Canada). I particularly enjoyed Peggys Cove when I was in Nova Scotia a few year's back because it's a lighthouse on the ocean with a restaurant attached. You can get soaked by the roaring waves and spitting ocean spray then go into the lighthouse to buy stamps then into the restaurant to buy waffles. What's not to love?!

Also, it's totally rad that they decided in 1976 to just drop their apostrophe, since my apostrophe key doesn't work very well.



1 - The restaurant at which you eat the waffles.
* - The best place to sit in order to be sprayed by the ocean and feel like you're about to die (cliffs of insanity).
2 - Where you buy stamps, because that's what you do when you're at a lighthouse...? :)


Images borrowed from Wikipedia. Stunning...

Dead Silence

Coming to theaters March 16. Thanks to MK. Saving to Netflix queue now... :)

cinquante choses

I have completed my 50 things project way ahead of schedule, thanks to Avi sending me the artwork via overnight delivery and then me getting some free time this afternoon to record each segment.

The project is inspired by my favorite YouTuber Paperlilies who posted her 50 things that she has done/experienced in her lifetime on her Stickam account.

Because Avi offered to make me 50 separate pieces of art to represent each thing I chose not to do costume changes in my video like Paperlilies did, but rather just hold up the artwork for you to stare at while I said the thing it represented.

Please take a visit over to Stickam to view my video. Since it represents my life there is a lot of adult-themed behavior mentioned. And, since Avi drew the pictures and he's a dirty old man there's a lot of stick figure nakedness.

Thanks again to Avi for the artwork, and thanks to the beautiful and talented xPLx for inspiring me. :)

imagini

Are you like me?

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Thank you, Tense Teacher.

Couples Counseling by Poppy

I've explained this to Hay before, and I'd like to extend my advice to you. If you stop liking your mate, and in fact start hating your mate, GET A DIVORCE. Or, SEPARATE. No need to kill each other. Crying out loud!


(You really can click on Full Story to read the article. Or, you can even click on Psycho Guy's face.)

Today's symptom: lungs on fire. I went with Hay to Starbucks to get a decaf iced mocha with whip and came home with lungs on fire. Silly me for wanting to get out of this damn house for a minute.

We watched Tenacious D last night. I loved it. I was actually scared of the Satan character, which means I was overtired. When I'm overtired I'm scared of heavy metal music and evil icons. No idea why, it's just how I am. I absolutely loved the beginning of the movie with Meat Loaf as Jack's father and the young version of Jack. I laughed hysterically for a solid three minutes.




(Wade past about a minute of drug and fart jokes and then the funny part starts.)

I'm all done for now. Happy Saturday, internets!

Spring, please?

I am ill again today so I stayed home to recover. At about 4:00pm I was finally feeling well enough to walk myself up the stairs to take a shower. Before I actually got into the shower I looked out the window and saw that the snowstorm that had stopped for a while earlier today had started back up again. We now have several inches of fresh snow to go on top of the 2+ feet we received a few weeks back. It's pretty, but I want it to go away. Before January it was so warm here that my spring bulbs were starting to burst out of the ground. Now the little red squirrel who visits our feeders is having to dig tunnels underneath the snow so that he can get back and forth between the two sets of feeders and the pine tree. I think everyone's done with winter. Can we please have some warm weather? Without precipitation? Or other freaky weather elements? Please?

Source of tainted peanut butter identified

A few weeks ago salmonella was found in Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butters. Today the source of the contamination was found in Georgia. Isolated incident. No need for widespread panic. Can we put the peanut butter back on the restaurant tables now? Thanks.

balloooooon

I apologize for the inflated traffic to my favorite blogs. This morning I switched from Bloglines to Google Reader after finally getting a kick in the ass from Molly. (Thanks, Molly! And everyone else who already told me to DO IT, but I didn't listen.) I think I visited everyone's blog about 5 times this morning while I straightened out the subscriptions, but I love Google Reader. Yay!

Cheese, sauce, and crust without human interaction — what's not to love?!

Perhaps I should just tell you to read Slashfood every day, or perhaps I'll just continue stealing their thunder.

Today's thunder: vending machine pizza made just for you in 2 minutes. WONDERPIZZA! of Italy!

maybe worth your time

Reuters has an article about low fat milk making women infertile. I drink nonfat milk. I'm not drinking whole milk just to get pregnant. I don't drink that much milk anymore to begin with, because when I do drink milk I OD on its lusciousness.

Did you know that milk is considered both a beverage and a food? It makes sense, but it's not something that everyone allows into their conscious thoughts until someone points it out.

pretty in pink

Charlotte Church has some news, and it's actually official:



According to IMDb, Charlotte just turned 21. Huh. :)

Google's yummy secrets

Want to know the trade secrets of Google? I bet you do. Here you go!

Thanks to Slashfood for making my tummy flip-flop but my mouth water.

on my mind

Why do people double-kiss each other? I'm not talking about European kissing on either cheek, I mean the quick or slightly lingering double-kiss on the mouth.

I don't do that. My mom and my stepdad have done it since they've been together. I thought that was weird because it was the first time I'd ever seen it. I have seen other people on TV do it so now I'm wondering how common it is, and what the specific reasoning is behind it.

Why not triple-kiss?

Maybe I'm overthinking it.

blurg

Poppy is not feeling well today.

I woke up at dark o'clock to the sensation of “oh gawd, I'm gonna die” and I'm not feeling a whole lot better this morning. I have been sneezing a bunch lately, but I'm not one to believe that sneezing and upset GI tract are related in any way... Shoulda known, my eyes have been bloodshot for three days and my appetite hasn't been its stellar self.

Okay, all done. I'll post more later when I'm feeling a bit better.

holy shit!

Hugh Hefner is marrying Holly Madison!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe. :)

If it's true, I'm so happy for them! Holly is the only one of the three girlfriends who seems to genuinely be in love with Hugh. She has said on The Girls Next Door numerous times that she wants to have kids with him before 30. She's 27. (He's almost 81.)

Yay for Holly! Hope that Bridget and Kendra get a nice severance package before the mansion door hits them in the bunny tail on the way out.

in love lust with a blog ; new flavas

Do you think it's okay to be in love with a blog? Because I just found one that gives me that squishy, “I hope (s)he kisses me” feeling. How...wrong.

Beautiful photos, intriguing story lines, fooooooooood, and robots! It's called Fancy Food... and we're running away to Vegas together tomorrow morning.





If you want to see more of just Rodney and the cupcakes go here.


Also: Ben & Jerry's announced their new flavors:

Lighten Up! Strawberries & Cream; Lighten Up! Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough; Lighten Up! Phish Food; Crème Brûlée; Mint Chocolate Chunk; Banana Split; Americone Dream; Cinnamon Buns; Strawberry Cheesecake; Lighten Up! Raspberry Chocolate Chunk

Boooooring. The only one I care about is mint chocolate chunk, which I've been able to get at scoop shops for years. Happy to be able to get it pre-packed, but it's not a new flavor. Congrats to Stephen Colbert for getting his own flavor, though!

handwriting

Depending on what I'm doing my handwriting changes drastically. Following are examples of different styles of writing I have. Click on any image to enlarge. The only doctored one is the grocery list, from which I removed Hay's real name. The rest are not identifying in any way, but you're welcome to read every single line of every single page image and see for yourself. :)

Live meeting notes (from a live webcast I “attended” yesterday; the inspiration for this post):





Study notes (from a C++ class I took back in 2002):





Homework notes (same C++ class):





Grocery list (from a few years ago -- no more kitten chow for the girls):





Take-out order for me and Hay:





Brainstorming (with myself) notes:





Live presentation (from a conference at MIT in 2003):



(Please note that LDAP + Kerberos + OS X has come a long way in 4+ years so none of that information is particularly relevant anymore. Like you care.)


In case it's not obvious, I keep all my notes. :) I'm guessing if my handwriting were to be analyzed it would say: crazy, sociopath, psycho, schizophrenic, and a host of other buzz words to do with general unfitfulness. Take-out order is my favorite.


The more thoughtful I am about the subject the better my penmanship becomes. Hay makes me do all the holiday cards because he thinks my handwriting is pretty. I'm flattered and ungrateful at the very same time! ;)

I am teh awesome

So far I have received two “thank you, you are so awesome!” emails at work today, and it's not even noon. On a roll.

Poppy's AI Q&A

Question: How come you never post about American Idol anymore?
Answer: Because this season is crap. Okay, let me qualify: All the guys are crap. A bunch of the women are good, but it's all been done before. We know Lakisha will be voted off by mistake and that will leave someone who shouldn't win to win. The only entertaining thing so far has been that Lakisha tries to dress like Aretha Franklin but ends up looking like a lady of the night. (Sorry, but that outfit last week said “I charge $20.”)

Question: What do you think about the Antonella Barba scandal?
Answer: (This one's for Jen.) That girl does not deserve to be on the show. (Dan, I know you disagree.) Her naughty pictures are inconsequential. The only thing carrying her through so far is VotefortheWorst.com. She will receive no more of my blog time.

Question: Will you ever be reviewing the Idol performances???
Answer: For now, please go see Dan at Steel Kaleidoscpes, Rickey.org, and MJ's Idol blog. All three do incredible reviews of the performances, and I always find myself being able to articulate my thoughts through their analyses. When we get to top 12 I will likely be much more chatty about the performances. I don't have much to say about people in which I am not yet invested, if that makes any sense.

Question: Do you think Paula is drunk?
Answer: I think she is crazy, but her hair was really pretty last night!

I have found my doppelganger.

If you were curious what Poppy is like in real life, Holly Hunter's character in The Big White is based on yours truly:



...They just forgot to ask my permission to chronicle my life.

Warning: Lots of swearing is involved in that clip, and it will make you laugh so hard you pee yourself.

If I knew knitting was this cute I would have started a long time ago...

Drunk knitting? CUTEST PHOTO EVER results. Click to see Molly's CUTIE PIE daughter wearing the hat Molly knitted while she was drunk. I need to convince Hay to buy me alcohol* and some knitting needles...

Molly, if you give me permission I'll post the photo directly on this page.

Thanks, Molly!



Isn't she SO CUTE?!


*I am perfectly capable of buying my own alcohol, but I told Hay that if he wants me to be drunk he has to do the work to make it happen. :P

Give It To Me (in a better format, please)

This video deserves a remake:



Only Nelly's pieces are professional enough for this dance track. Justin and Timba are just goofing off. *sigh* I really enjoy this song and I'm sure it's hitting the top of 40, but the video sucks.

yummy to my tummy; not yummy to my tummy

I do normally chew with my mouth closed, because I was raised properly in that one respect, but I think I may have just inhaled an entire snack bag of Lay's salt & vinegar chips without bothering to chew. NUM. In case you were wondering what Poppy's all-time favorite chip flavor is, you just found out. The brand of chip is inconsequential, just keep the vinegar coming to me.

Conversely, I'm not so keen on the Godiva dark chocolate coffee drink. Believe it or not (I don't), it's too sweet. These words come from a woman who adds 3-4 teaspoons of sugar to 8 oz of coffee. I guess I don't like Belgian chocolate mixed with coffee, because my tongue loves the sweet Starbucks equivalent which is made with American-made Ghirardelli, I believe. Don't get me wrong, I loooooove Belgian chocolates, especially when I'm standing in Belgium at the time, but I think they're complex enough without adding a coffee element to distract from their unique flavor. Anyone else have a comment about this? I assure you I don't prefer American chocolate over chocolates of the world, considering my favorite chocolates are Cadbury (made in England, not the Hershey kind) and Lindt.

50

As I've mentioned before, I love Paperlilies. I can't help it, she's just amazing to me. I have been figuring out this whole Stickam thing and added her as one of my friends at which time I checked out her video section. She has a great video inspired by Endlessjoe (her staring contest opponent) about 50 things she has done in her lifetime. I can't embed it, but here's a link to the page.




That one vlog-of-sorts makes her a completely real person to me rather than the celebrity she had been before. I think I'm totally going to steal the idea and post my own 50 things video in the next few weeks. If I do I'll let you all know so you can stare at me while I tell you all the things I've done in my life that are worth telling. :)

STARVING

Through every fault of my own, all I've had today are two bars of Nature Valley granola bar and a teeny tiny bag of Ritz peanut butter crackers. I'm really hungry. Good thing I just ordered us a nice big Sicilian. Mmmmmmmmmm. :) If I have enough self control I'll take pictures of said dinner before consuming. Although, you can just trust me that it's going to look delicious.

Oh, also, I was so hungry that I stole an expired Coke from the office fridge. I then asked Hay if he thought it was okay to drink. He responded by offering me this link. Hilarious, vulgar, homophobic, and ridiculous all at the same time!


Update: Photos of my pizza are available at CheezyCatz.

“radio killed the door to my car”*

I am not sure how I feel about this, other than I'm a bit freaked out by the idea of radio frequencies knocking out devices. I knew it was possible and that it happens, but I don't like thinking about it.

QUANTICO, Virginia (AP) -- For many suburbanites, life without garage door openers is unimaginable.

But neighbors of the Marine base here have been reduced to just that after a strong radio signal coming from the facility began neutralizing remote-control openers.

Residents have had to spend hundreds of dollars on new systems.

"I feel there should be some kind of compensation," said Queen Carroll, who is in her early 70s and was forced to buy a new receiver and remote. "I am a struggling widow, if you will, and I praise the Lord I'm still here, but I am on a budget. When things like this come up totally unexpected, it is very upsetting."

Repair shops started getting a flurry of calls when the base began using the frequency in late December.

Last fall, residents around an Air Force facility in Colorado Springs saw their garage-door remotes stop working when the 21st Space Wing began testing a frequency for use during homeland security emergencies or threats. Two years ago, testing of a similar system in Fort Detrick in Maryland resulted in similar problems.

For decades, the military has held a portion of the radio spectrum, from 138 to 450 megahertz, in reserve. That part was borrowed by remote-control manufacturers, with the understanding that the signal be weak enough to be overridden by the military.

The reserve frequencies became active after the September 11, 2001, attacks, when officials discovered that first responders could not communicate with one another because they were operating radios on different frequencies.

The Defense Department is using the mothballed frequencies in a system that eventually will link military and civilian emergency responders.

"Consumer wireless devices, such as garage door openers, operate on an unlicensed basis, meaning they are required to accept any interference from licensed spectrum users, including the Department of Defense," said Lt. Brian P. Donnelly, a spokesman for the Quantico base. (CNN)

*Please, someone tell me you get the reference.

apostrophes, typing, and feeling alive

Feeling quiet this morning. No specific reason why. Perhaps I need to line up a guest poster for the day. Although, I'm scared of the submissions I would receive. :)

My apostrophe key is not functioning properly. I have to really thwack it to get it to work. I'm a light-touch typer because I type so fast I don't really have a lot of time to spend on any particular key.

Speaking of typing, how and when did you learn to type?

I've been typing since I was six years old. I used to bang away on the family typewriter, pretending I had exciting and inciteful information to communicate to the world.

When I was 9 we got our first Commodore 64 and my brother, 5 1/2 years my senior, used to force me to type programs in for him. He would read them from C64 magazines and I would just type what he said. If I didn't understand what he was saying he'd walk over, show me, then walk back across the room and continue telling me what to type. If I didn't do what he said he'd bully me into it. I generally complied, although sometimes I would object just to see what creative bullying techniques my brother would use on me, but that's a whole other story.

Skip ahead to me at age 13. I adored my brother, but he didn't spend much time with me. One day while I was at my dad's house* my brother invited me into his room and showed me the world of the BBS. That was the day that Poppy was born, the day that I suddenly felt like anyone was listening, anyone even cared. It's where I found my first boyfriend who later became one of my best friends. It's where my first unpaid job was -- as a SysOp all four years of high school. It's where I hung out from the time I got home from school until the time I went to bed. That BBS doesn't exist anymore but if I ever mention to the local geeks that I was part of it they remember it and share in the nostalgia. Even Hay logged into that bulletin board, although we didn't really connect there other than some meaningless drivel chatting that neither of us specifically remembers.

That same year I had a proper typing class in school where we learned about home row on, ironically enough, a Commodore 64. I already knew how to type by then because I had already been using typing tutor software to type faster while I chatted on the BBS. I was the bestest student in the class. :)


And I thought I was quiet this morning... Hmm.


*My parents divorced when I was 3. My brother thought he was supposed to tell my parents he wanted to live with my dad so that's what he did. I went with my mom. Each weekend we switched off going to each other's house -- every two weeks I went to my dad's house for the weekend, then every weekend when I wasn't at Dad's my brother came to Mom's house.

Okay, seriously, if you didn't already see it you need to.

Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno) is cleaning UP at the Oscars this evening. The film has won Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, and Best Art Direction. Sadly, it did not win Best Foreign Language Film, which I think it deserves, but then again I didn't see the winner so what do I know. Go visit Popbytes for MK's live blogging post of the Academy Awards.

clappy hands!!!!!!!!

Hay just purchased us tickets to see Lindsey Buckingham in the not too distant future. I admit that I prefer Fleetwood Mac proper (or Stevie Nicks!!!!!!) to Lindsey himself, but I'll take what I can get. :)

Oh my flipping effing A.

Rainn Wilson is a genius. He makes SNL funny!



(Look! It's Rashida Jones/Karen!)

too smart

In the midst of a discussion of differing opinions* regarding the concept of time Hay may have mentioned that I am too smart and that perhaps he would prefer a dumb wife next time around, to which I may have recommended that he marry a certain family member related only by marriage who would fit the bill perfectly, thus making him shudder in disgust. That's what you get for saying smart(ass) stuff to your smart(minded) wife, I suppose.



*Not a fight. Because bloggers don't talk about fights with their spouses. In fact, bloggers don't even have fights with their spouses! Why is that? :)

progress

We cleaned out the car and returned it. We saw the movie. I finished Ceremony.

It's not time to eat steak yet and I'm still mulling over the sleep bit.

Speaking of the movie, if you are a Reno 911! fan then you will enjoy the movie. If you are expecting a movie version of Cops then you're going to be super embarrassed and confused by all the jokes, like the old couple sitting next to us with a stunned expression on their face through the entire movie. I sure hope there are more Reno movies to come...

If you're a cat person or a Bdogg person please go read this post and leave B a comment. Thanks.

Today is the day to...

...finally clean out the old car and drop it off at the dealership. (It was nice having 3 cars for a month...)

...go see Reno! 911 Miami.

...catch up on my sleep.

...finish Ceremony.

...eat steak.


And for you?

About being chatty

I can't help it, I have a lot of things to say that I don't think of, or don't know I have to say, all at once. If I don't write them down in my blog they spin around in my head like an unfinished task and I obsess about them. That's why I post so much in any given day, thus diluting my potential comment pool. I am certainly jealous of all the bloggers who get a great comment session going, but I would rather be OCD about clicking on the [Check Mail] button for new comments than about all the random events that happen to me, so here's another one that relates to chattiness.

A few weeks back I mentioned that Hay and I were going out to test drive cars. What I never mentioned after that is that we decided on a car that very same day and picked it up the Monday following. Totally by chance my father had been in talks with a car dealership in a more southernly county to purchase the exact same vehicle as ours. When we showed him our vehicle he wanted the exact same color as ours. And, since we really enjoyed our salesperson we convinced my dad to use the exact same dealership as ours. This probably wouldn't be quite so weird except my dad is our next door neighbor. So, Poppyland has two of the exact same car, with license plates that are almost identical.

In today's mail we received a letter:



We have a $50 gift card to go out to dinner. Yip! Perhaps after we see Reno 911!: Miami? :)

Pilated woodpecker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's BAAAAAAAaaaaack! Woohoo!



Please recall that the post he's hanging out on is normally 5 feet tall when the snow is gone, so he's over a foot tall.

See him hanging with the bluejays at flickr.