Random Natterings

For resolute

2008-02-13T19:03:39Z

Thanks to

resolute, I actually got today's Something Positive! I post a link in case she doesn't read SP, because this is TOO up her alley.

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp02122008.shtml

It's kudzu!

2008-01-31T15:42:45Z

I'm feeling sheepy today, so here's a meme I found on fairoriana's journal.

Cut-n-paste the empty questions in a comment, if you'd like. You could even post the questions in your own journal!

1) Are you currently in a serious relationship?

2) What was your dream growing up?

3) What talent do you wish you had?

4) If I bought you a drink what would it be?

5) Favorite vegetable?

6) What was the last book you read?

7) What zodiac sign are you?

8) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where.

9) Worst Habit?

10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?

11) What is your favorite sport?

12) Do you have a Negative or Optimistic attitude?

13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?

14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?

15) Tell me one weird fact about you.

16) Do you have any pets?

17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?

18) What was your first impression of me? (hmmm...careful!)

19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?

20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?

21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?

22) What color eyes do you have?

23) Ever been arrested?

24) Bottle or can soda?

25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?

27) What's your favorite place to hang at?

28) Do you believe in ghosts?

29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?

30) Do you swear a lot?

31) Biggest pet peeve?

32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?

33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?

34) If you could live anywhere in the world where would you chose?

35) Do you believe in God?

36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?

Interesting Take on Things

2008-01-02T18:40:40Z

I swiped this meme from

fairorianaand tammylc. I find it interesting. In many ways, growing up, I was quite aware that we did not have a bunch of money and that we didn't have anything we wanted. On the other hand, I can bold quite a few of these.

Father went to college

Father finished college

Mother went to college

Mother finished college

Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor

Were the same or higher (social) class than your high school teachers

Had more than 50 books in your childhood home

Had more than 500 books in your childhood home

Were read children's books by a parent

Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18

Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18

The people in the media who dress and talk like you were portrayed positively.
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18

Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs

Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs

Went to a private high school

Went to summer camp

Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels

Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18

Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them

There was original art in your house when you were a child

Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house

Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home

You had your own room as a child

Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course

Had your own TV in your room in High School

Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College

Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16

Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family

Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

Knitting ADD

2007-11-20T16:27:10Z

There are a few downsides to this sudden return of knitting energy. I want to start all kinds of new projects! I really should finish a few first. :) Part of the impetus for this has been trying to decide on what knitting to take for the trip to Seattle.

I ripped out my current sock in progress, because I'd made the leg too long, resulting in not enough yarn for the foot. I could just take the other ball of that yarn and start over. I've brought the book to work to photocopy the pattern.

I'm not taking Lina's blanket, because it is large/bulky. That shouldn't take too much longer to finish, though.

If I were virtuous, I would take the Christmas stocking I promised to make for my sister-in-law. Heck, I need to make one for that brand-new brother-in-law I picked up this past weekend. Not too bulky, very simple knitting (essentially, make a giant sock). Must remember to bring in the old pattern to scan next week. Mom promised to make the crocheted snowmen required. I'll have to remind her that the yarn is at her house. At least that way, if she doesn't get the crochet done, it's not my fault the stockings aren't ready! I also need to check and see where the color balance is at on the mantel. The girls' stockings were both green, because that balanced things. I'm not sure where we're at now.

I'm currently frustrated with my lace stole. I was stupid and relied on the magnets, which, of course, slipped in my bag. Now I have to figure out where I am and why I'm off by a stitch. Plus, it's a large chart and not easily transportable. Thus, it's not going with to Seattle. Fortunately, I've been listening to the Knit Picks podcast, and I got some good ideas to figure out how to do that.

I'm itching to do something with the beautiful periwinkle laceweight LT brought me from Madrona last year. The only problem is that we misplaced the ball band and I have no idea how much I have. I think this means I'm doing a triangle from the point up, so I just quit when I run out of yarn! I'm thinking if I decide I want an edging, I could do it a contrasting color, but I'm not sure if that will look well. Decisions, Decisions. I'm currently trying hard to resist taking the laceweight with me on the trip. I love knitting laceweight and lace, and it's so lovely and compact!

Christmas baking planning

2007-11-19T20:59:54Z

It seems a bit early to be planning this, but I'm the designated baker in my family. I have a terrible tendency to over-commit myself, so I'm trying to avoid that this year. I'll confess that I can't wait for next year, when I will have a chest freezer and can start nicely ahead of time!

Must have items:
Shortbread
Great-Aunt Lina's bread
Cranberry bread
Banana-Apricot bread
Caramels
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Cornflake Wreaths

Really want items:
Lemon cream
Candy cane cookies
Carol's mint brownies
Mint Meringues

Nice to have:
Good sugar cookies, decorated
Root beer cookies
Chocolate chip cookies

I'm probably insane to be contemplating this much, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. I'd love to add both cardamom bread and julekake to my repertoire. Then there's krumkake and rosettes. Hello, I'm a compulsive Christmas baker. The worst part is that I'll do all of this in about 48 hours of just insane baking. This is why I'm so looking forward to getting a freezer I can fight some baking in!

Can't I just stay home and knit?

2007-10-31T21:02:02Z

I'm finally coming out of a knitting slump, brought on by too much obligation knitting. Now that I'm finally knitting for myself, it's really gotten me back into knitting. So, I headed off to visit Knitty and take a look at their new fall issue. It's been over a year since I visited, largely because I wasn't finding inspiration in the patterns. Not this time! Largely so I can remember what I liked and why:

Muir: This could be very nice in the lovely periwinkle blue lace-weight yarn LT brought me from Madrona last winter. It calls for 1030 yds of yarn, and LT said there was almost half a mile of yarn, so I should have plenty. It's on a size 6 needle, so it should be fairly comfy to knit.

Henry: I really have no desire to make a scarf knit lengthwise, but I really like the stitch pattern. I agree with the designer that this could make a great baby blanket. I'm not so sure about working an entire blanket in fingering weight though. Hmm ... maybe more of a car seat blanket.

Roam: One of the things I'm really appreciating about Knitty that is a change is the nice range of sizes in the patterns. This is a hooded cardigan in sizes that would fit me. It has some really nice details, including shaping. I also like the variegated yarn more than I thought I would.

Mr. Greenjeans: I really like this sweater, and again, I like the variegated yarn more than I thought I would. One thing I like is the way it's shaped. Also, it should be fairly easy to lengthen the cabled bottom a bit to hit at a more flattering length for me.

Totally Autumn: One of the things that every member of the family noticed when we moved my grandmother to the hospice unit at North Memorial was the beautfiul hand-made bright pink quilt on her bed. One of the nurses explained that the blankets and nightgowns/pajamas were made for the patients by volunteers. Right then and there, I decided I wanted to knit a blanket for the unit. The patient across the hall had a lovely crocheted blanket in fall colors. Originally I thought I'd finally get around to trying the Great American Aran Afghan. That's a rather large afghan, and I think it might be a bit much for that. This pattern is better, I think. It's of a good size (not too big), interesting to knit, and makes good use of variegated yarn. When did I suddenly become in love with variegated yarn? Rummaging around on the 'nets, I've found a couple of yarns that will wash well and won't break the bank. Paton's Melody is currently at the top of the list, although Bernat's Boucle Stripes is good too. Bernat's Masala has some good colorways.

Not a Knitty pattern, but I also really want to make myself some knee-highs. Now that I can dress much more casually at work, I'm really not interested in wearing hose when I don't have to. Also, I mostly wear shoes that need something a wee bit heavier than hose or even trouser socks. So, I think I shall embark up on making up my own pattern. If I do them toe-up, I can continue to try them on and make sure I'm getting the shaping right. Elizabeth Zimmerman gives the math for doing calf-shaping in one of her books. I think I can do this!

LIfe is rather busy right now, although it's full of good things. Tonight, we decorate the heck out of the yard (actually, LT will likely have most of it done before I get home), and I get to hand out large quantities of candy to hopefully large quantities of kids. I'm hoping that the weather cooperates so we can break our record. Tomorrow it's off to ICON where I'll get back to running an Art Show. It's been long enough that I think I'll be able to have fun at it again. It helps that I'll have Nate, the uber staffer to help.

Stuff

2007-10-26T16:04:35Z

Life is chugging along. Last night was date night for LT and I, so we went to the Champlin 5-8, which was fabulous as usual. I need to remember that Thursday nights there are bingo nights. This makes for a much more crowded and loud restaurant. Also, holy moly, the caller is from Minnesota. I suspect a bunch of time "up north." It's really funny to watch LT trying to make that Minnesota "o" sound.

Work is perking along. Right now, I'm frankly bored. I've played with the spreadsheets I can. Everyone else is fantastically busy writing up the attributions from the holdings I requested (no, that shouldn't make sense to anyone not in this industry). So, I'm left with one of two truly fascinating projects:
1. Try to take apart the stack of wire-bound books in my bottom drawer. Scan them in. Upload them to the portal site.
2. Upload stuff from the network drive to the portal.

Neither of these involves much brain work at all. I could also work on writing up the procedures for the quarterly international attribution. I've been putting that off. I'm very comfortable with gathering the data. I'm mostly comfortable with writing the procedures out. I'm not comfortable at all with how to format the darn things. I've bugged wiredferret for guidance before, and she's been very kind about it. Googling failed to find me any appropriate resources.

Finally it occurred to me that someone had to have written some books on this. So, off to Amazon I went. After some fruitless searching, I finally stumbled on something that's relatively close. Fortunately, in the related books, I found a much more closely related title. Woot! It looks like there is information out there. But it isn't cheap, and I didn't want to ask my new company to spend much more money on me right now. Hmm .... Time to see just how much paying off my civic contribution (aka my library fines) was going to cost. Fortunately, it was something I could swing. Further digging revealed that I can actually make ILL requests online. Ooooooh these people are DOOMED. DOOMED, I tell you! *evil chuckling*

Yesterday, two of the books came in. Technical Writing for Dummies is utterly pointless. It tries to cover far too much in one book. Also, none of it relates to the particular type of writing I'm doing. However, the other book How to Write Policies, Procedures, and Task Outlines, this one is worth the time. I've got several others coming via ILL, but I don't know how long it will take to get them. So, I'm reading at work, and thinking about how to apply this.

Oh what the heck

2007-10-18T21:47:45Z

Look! It's another attempt to post something more than memes and when something awful happens.

The biggest change in my life is that I have an absolutely fabulous new job! I'm now a Research Assistant at Jeffrey Slocum & Associates ( www.jslocum.com ). It's an institutional investment advice firm; what I really like is that the focus is on non-profit clients. Basically, I'm the admin for a research team. I do a lot of calendar stuff. I'm also doing a lot of work on the spreadsheets they use. The guys I work with are all wonderfully smart, but dear gods they have no sense for formatting at all! Apparently, they're in awe of some basic formatting changes. Look! Change the labels so you can read them! Oooooh conditional formatting tells you when you're late! Okay, even I was impressed with conditional data validation - fortunately, I found a website that made that spectacularly easy. A lot of the spreadsheets they use make me itch, so I think I'll have plenty to do that way. My other big focus is on processes and documentation of such. Less glamorous, but it is much needed, especially because we're a financial firm. SEC audits are not fun nor glamorous.

Fortunately, despite the fact that I haven't even been here a month, the new job has been fabulous about flexible hours and bereavement leave and my brain being mush for a while. I would not have gotten that at the old job.

Last night I finally hit the wall and totally melted down.

lthomas987was fabulous and fed me and took care of me. I'd kind of been wondering when that would happen.

Not a ton of excitement, but tonight wiredferretcomes to visit! I'm really looking forward to dinner and stuff tonight. It will be very good to see her. I owe her big thanks for letting me debrief to her every night on the way home from the hospital. Poor LT didn't need to be awoken at 12:30 am so I could tell her all about it.

Yay! A real entry!

Help!

2007-10-18T15:56:12Z

Well, the details have been settled. But now I need someone to come let the poor beagle boys out on Saturday. Because I'll be gone from 9 am until god only knows when. Does anyone have time to come spend an hour or so at my house with two adorable but rambunctious beagles on Saturday between about 2pm and 7 pm? It would really help to know that I don't have to rush back from Duluth (where the internment will be).

Gah, I'm not fond of asking for help, but unless the weather suddenly decides to cooperate, Saturday is going to be the only day dry enough to mow the lawn. Could anyone just come run the mower over the lawn at some point on Saturday? The back practically qualifies as hay.

As LT reminded me last night while I was finally melting down, I'm not exactly good at asking for help. I need to remember that it makes me happy to be able to help my friends, I need to share that happiness with others. Or something.

No more grandparents

2007-10-15T21:42:00Z

I have been invisible for the last week. My grandmother went into the hospital a week ago Saturday with pneumonia in one lung and aspirated food in the other. She went steadily down hill, despite IV antibiotics and oxygen. She went to Critical Care for 2 days when we tried using a Bi-PAP machine to give her a rest from the extreme effort she was putting into breathing. She promptly became dependent on the machine. Fortunately, she had a very clear healthcare directive. We moved her to hospice care on Saturday, and she died six hours later.

It was more than time. She was miserable and exhausted. When she was trying to talk, earlier in the week, she'd just tell me that she wanted to go home and be with my grandfather in heaven. My mother did not give us nearly as much trouble as I was afraid she would. That had been one of my major stressors through all of this. My mom is not at all comfortable with turning anything off on anyone. She clings to every story she's ever heard of people who have woken up or suddenly recovered. She also held my grandmother's healthcare power of attorney. I had nightmares all week of her fighting us on letting Nana go. The in-patient hospice at North Memorial is an amazing place. She wasn't there for long, but it made a difference for her and for us. They had a binder of very helpful articles that gave us the key information we needed to be comfortable turning off her feeding tube and IV fluids.

Right now, I'm mostly exhausted. I had the evening shift at the hospital all week, and I was staying the night Saturday. We're still sorting out when the funeral will be. Hopefully, it will be this Saturday in Cambridge. We'll then drive up to Duluth for the internment. Once I've managed some decent sleep, I'm sure it will hit me much harder. I've been so focused on being with her and trying to sort out care needs, that normal life seems a bit surreal. It was very odd not to go to the hospital yesterday, and I had to remind myself that I don't have to go today.

Career meme

2007-09-14T18:23:11Z

This one is actually extra fascinating to me, seeing as how I'm job hunting these days. I saw it on resolute's journal first.

Go to www.careercruising.com.
Put in Username: nycareers - Password: landmark
Take the 'Career Matchmaker' questions at the upper left corner
Post your top ten/twenty/whatever makes you happy.

1.	Anthropologist
2.	Professor
3.	Archivist
4.	Historian
5.	Lobbyist
6.	ESL Teacher
7.	Foreign Language Instructor
8.	Music Teacher / Instructor
9.	Corporate Trainer
10.	Customer Service Representative
11.	Computer Trainer
12.	Criminologist
13.	Librarian
14.	Human Resources Specialist
15.	Dental Assistant
16.	Career Counselor
17.	High School Teacher
18.	Industrial-Organizational Psychologist
19.	Curator
20.	Conservator
21.	Economic Development Officer
22.	Activist
23.	Communications Specialist
24.	Political Aide
25.	Library Technician
26.	Public Policy Analyst
27.	Writer
28.	Optician
29.	GIS Specialist
30.	Public Relations Specialist
31.	Market Research Analyst
32.	Print Journalist
33.	Critic
34.	Airline Customer Service Agent
35.	Dispatcher
36.	Translator
37.	Cashier
38.	Association Manager
39.	Nail Technician
40.	Religious Worker

I find it highly amusing that my chosen career is nowhere on here.

Senior Meme

2007-09-08T06:35:26Z

resolute started this one!

Senior Year Meme

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be. For some highly variable and ill-defined value of "fun."

First, there needs to be a clarification of my "senior year". I didn't attend a high school for my senior year. Minnesota had a program known as PSEO that allowed a student to take college classes at no cost if they were qualified. Bethel College (now Bethel University) was pleased to accept me as a full-time student. This did mean that I officially graduated from a high school which I never attended. Prior to taking classes at Bethel, I had been at a small private high school. The PSEO program worked by accessing the funding given to the public school for the student. Thus, I had to attend a public school.

1. Who was your best friend?
Looking back, Pete and John. It seems odd that such a thoroughly femme girl as I was then had two guys for her best friends, but that's what happened.

2.What sports did you play?
Senior year, I wasn't playing any sports. I'd already done the knee in.

3. What kind of car did you drive?
I drove either the brown 1985 full-size van or the car semi-affectionately known as either the "Metallic Pee" or the "Chernobyl Car." It was a 1978 Ford Fairmont, purchased at a government surplus auction. It didn't have power anything and an AM radio. Pete used to get frustrated and reach over and pull the wheel when I was trying to perform a tight turn.

4. It's Friday night, where were you?
Hanging out with Pete, John, and some other kids from youth group. We usually ended up watching a movie at someone's house.

5. Were you a party animal?
I'd have fallen over dead if I'd been to a party where one could be an animal. I was a good girl!

6. Were you considered a flirt?
Honestly, I have no idea. I certainly have no memory of anyone stating that I was a flirt. It was not a goal of mine.

7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
I played in the handbell choir and sang in the Women's Singers at Bethel. I was also taking piano lessons.

8. Were you a nerd?
Let's see ... I was a high school senior functioning as a full-time college freshman/sophomore. Goodness yes!

9. Did you get suspended/expelled?
Are you kidding? I was the perfect child, and I worked damned hard to be so.

10. Can you sing the fight song?
Not for either school. I can't even remember the song for the school for which I was a cheerleader.

11. Who were your favorite teachers?
My Spanish professor, Lori Swanson, and one of my history teachers.

12. Where did you sit during lunch?
I usually had lunch in my office. I was a TA for the freshman College Writing course, so I actually had a little table in the tiny office shared by the two professors who taught the course.

13.What was your school's full name?
The high school? Robbinsdale Senior High School. The college? Bethel College.

14. School mascot?
No clue for either of them.

15. Did you go to Prom?
No, although we did have a "Spring Formal Dinner" at church. The church I grew up in did not hold with dancing, and at Bethel, you had to sign a lifestyle statement promising that you would not dance while a student at Bethel.

16. If you could go back and do it over, would you?
No, that wasn't an easy year in many ways. It had profound effects on who I am today, but I really would not want to be there again.

17. What do you remember most about graduation?
The high school did multiple valedictorians and salutatorians, and I qualified as a salutatorian. I was a bit bitter about that, as the valedictorians had all received weighted grades (5.0 on a 4.0 scale) for their AP classes. I was taking full-blown college courses and got no weighting of my grades at all. When my name was announced, there was almost total silence. I could mostly hear people saying "who?" and then my grandmother screaming my name.

18. What was your fave class?
Economics. It was very hard, but I studied like crazy and aced the class. Sadly, a career in econ involved a great deal more math than I thought I was capable of.

19. Where were you on senior skip day?
At home, since Bethel's classes were already done.

20. Did you have a job your senior year?
I was a TA for the freshman college writing class. It was a lot of fun, if a bit terrifying. I remember feeling desperately important and terrified when my prof was ill and left a message that I would have to take the class. Here I was 17 and standing in front of an entire classroom of students older than I, as their teacher. Also, it is because of this job that I can still do MLA-style citations with almost no recourse to a stylebook.

21. Where did you go most often for lunch?
The grill on campus. They did a fabulous grilled cheese with ham or turkey on texas toast. Mmmmm texas toast.

22. Have you gained weight since then?
Oh my yes.

23. What did you do after graduation?
That night? I went home with my family and we had ice cream cake and took pictures. My mom was desperately disappointed I didn't go to the senior party. I failed to see why I wanted to go to an all-night party at the Medina Ballroom with 600 people I didn't know. I knew all of three people in my graduating class.

24. When did you graduate?
1991

25. Who was your Senior prom date?
Dewey came down for the Spring Formal Dinner.

26. Are you going to your 10 year reunion?
No. I'm not invited to the reunion I'd like to go to because I didn't actually graduate from that school. As I knew all of three people in my graduating class (and I'm still in touch with two of them), there is absolutely no point.

27. How often did you skip school?
I took great delight in my ability to just not go to class. I always went to campus, unless I was sick. There were classes I just didn't bother to go to, however.

28. What was your favorite thing to eat at lunch?
The grilled cheese with turkey or ham and swiss cheese on texas toast.

29. Who was your boy/girlfriend?
I was dating Dewey for all of my senior year. He was almost four years older than me. He was the rebound guy (after the first disastrous attempt to date Pete, my best friend). Sadly, I did things rather thoroughly. Thus, I spent much of my senior year planning my wedding to Dewey. It is a measure of my stupidity and stubbornness that we continued to date after I graduated. Two days before my graduation party, a mutual friend called me to say that he couldn't keep quiet any longer. He let me know that Dewey was seeing some other girl up north and was even sleeping with her. I was flabbergasted.

30. What was your favorite memory your senior year?
My mom threw a surprise party for my 18th birthday. My birthday is December 20, so actual birthday parties have been rare things, usually hurriedly thrown together. My 16th birthday had involved me getting home after 11 pm after a basketball game, having a piece of pie, and opening my gift of towels. (They were really nice towels - I'm still using one of them.) My mom felt bad about that, so she threw me a surprise party. I was told that the youth group was getting together at the church to do some prep for Christmas. I was VERY startled when I walked in the door and discovered the party.

31. Did you like how you looked in your senior picture?
It's probably my favorite photograph ever taken of me.

32. Who will repost this after you?
Good heavens, I have no idea. Maybe shylabrat?

33. How have you changed since high school?
Radically. I am no longer a heterosexual, extremely conservative Christian, highly sheltered girl. I can see tiny seeds of who I became, but I would have never imagined my life as it is today. I'd have honestly been horrified.

toadnae @ 2007-08-01T20:25:00

2007-08-02T01:27:18Z

lthomas987 and I are both fine, as is mmpantsless. I think everyone in our immediate circle is okay.

15 years and still going!

2007-04-19T23:35:16Z

Today is the day that LT and I declared to be our anniversary many years ago. There's an adorable story that goes with why we chose today, but I won't inflict up on you, my poor few readers. We've been together for 15 years now. This makes me very, very happy.

Thanks to shylabrat

2007-04-12T18:20:57Z

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want -- good or bad. When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or mortified) about what people remember about you.

Interviews!

2007-02-25T20:39:37Z

I decided to play along with the interview meme that's going around.

Here's the rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2.I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better. If I already know you well, expect the questions may be a little more intimate!
3. You will update your lj with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

First up, the questions from cjdoyle

1) We've met somewhere before, haven't we? What's your first rememberance of me?
We first met at the first Supercon you and jenx went to, although I'd been following you on LJ for a while before then. At some point before you guys came to MN, lthomas987 figured out that you two had been in the same social circle in high school. The first thing I remember about you was following a link from someone else's LJ to yours and the Mini-Mizer.

2) If you knew then what you know now, would third grade have varried much?
I'd like to think I wouldn't have hated poor Mrs. Tewinkle quite so much. I had no idea I made her cry! Otherwise, at that age, I was actually pretty okay with how I defined myself as a bookworm. I think I would have pushed my parents harder to take me to the public library for greater variety of books, but I'm not sure we could have managed to afford the amount of fines I'm sure I would have racked up.

3) What's the flimsiest excuse you've used to justify traveling somewhere?
Probably that the guy I was dating suddenly freed up a Saturday evening, so I drove from Ames, Iowa, to the cities, leaving the dogs to the care of a couple of friends. That was not exactly the wisest decision I ever made.

4) A week at a con with no repsonsibilities or a week at a tropical resort alone.Your choice? Why?
Right now, a week at a con with no responsibilities. I really need a reminder of why I do this. I think I've moved beyond burn-out into wispy little ashes blowing around. I desperately need my alone time, but an entire week on my own would not be good for me. About day 4, I start getting trapped inside my own head.

5) How much of an apple must you eat before you consider it "core" and can throw it away without a second thought?
I have to cut apples up to eat them, thanks to permanent bonded retainers top and bottom. So whatever is left after I push the corer/slicer thing down, goes away.

Next up, the questions from laffingbuddha

1.)When did you first realize you liked girls....you know, in THAT way?
When lthomas987 kissed me and my brain didn't break and it was just so right.

2.)What is your favorite comfort food?
Depends on why I need comfort. :) If I hate the world because I'm a girl, Triscuits and Easy Cheese. If I'm just plain stressed, really good dark chocolate. If I'm spun up and stressed and can't get off the merry-go-round, anything in sight.

3.)What was the hardest thing you've ever done?
Realizing that despite 10 years of love and involvement, a relationship just wasn't going to work.

4.)What is your secret dream?
To figure out how to act like a grown up without losing the joy and flexibility of youth.

5.) When was the last time you flew a kite? I think it was about 2 years ago. lthomas987 has lots of fun kites and we like to go fly them. Last summer, most of the good kite flying time, I was way too drugged to do much.

And last but not least, questions from amblypygid.

1. What is your favorite food?
This is very dependent on context. The most long-standing is probably my mom's round steak. One of these days I'm going to have the guts to try to make it myself. Althought Great-Aunt Lina's bread is pretty close, too. It's tasty and moist and has so many memories wrapped up in it.

2. What and when was your first knitting project?
I knit lthomas987 a garter stitch scarf in a nice muted variegated acrylic yarn. I bought needles and yarn at the Ben Franklin in Cambridge, MN, in November of 2002. My grandmother had just had surgery to remove a small recurrence of her breast cancer and needed someone to sit with her and coax her to eat, etc. She didn't want to watch TV and I hadn't brought enough books with me. So I spent most of a weekend teaching myself to knit. This was part of my plan to actually have something ready for the arrival of my niece in March 2003. It was about a month later that I realized I'd misunderstood the directions in the book birdfigment lent me and was knitting twisted.

3. You get $5000 to spend on yourself. What do you do with it?
Decisions, decisions. First thing, the really nice front-loading washer and matching dryer. I'm one of the few people in this world who chortles with glee at the thought of all those buttons. What's worse, I'd use every last one of them. Then, probably a very nice new laptop, so I can play the games I like and not be hiding in the library. That would about cover it, I think. I have expensive taste in appliances and computers.

4. How did you acquire beagles?
That would be entirely lthomas987's doing. She has wanted a beagle named Mortimer most of her life. Beagles are very social dogs, and trying to meet all of Mort's attention needs was very wearing. So, we got Shiva (the cat who thinks she's a beagle). Eventually, lthomas987 was volunteering at the local shelter, and there was this absolutely adorable beagle who was brought in because his former owners didnt' think he was housetrainable. Thus, our pets. I love them all and wouldn't give any of them up (unless one of them has recently stolen and eaten something I really liked. Like my Coach purse. )

5. How did you and LT get together?
This is a long story. We met through mutual friends while they were playing a practical joke on a girl who lived in LT's section. I swear there was an audible click as we talked. We instantly became extremely close friends. I, however, was still a good little fundie at this point (at least in my own head). Good little fundie girls did not like girls that way. We got closer and closer. Eventually, she was there as I started facing and dealing with my own trauma. That brought us into much closer physical proximity. Then one night, we kissed. The world did not end. My brain did not break. It was simply and incredibly right. And that was that.

These are fun!

Four questions meme?

2007-01-16T21:36:10Z

Does anyone remember the four questions meme that was running around about a year ago? I wanted to use it for our agency newsletter (which it is part of my job to make "dynamic"). I sent the questions to an agent, but as part of the new email retention thing, they took my archives away and haven't given them back yet, darn it! I've tried flipping through a few journals, but I think it pre-dates tags.

Many thanks!

Have you seen my motivation?

2007-01-09T22:37:32Z

How to know that I'm frustrated and feeling overwhelmed at work? I'm actually posting in my LJ! Right now, I'm currently trying to do my full-time job and do the customer service work of 7 agents. Gee, I wonder why I feel like I'm slowly going mad? My new manager is a very nice guy, but I really didn't think about how this was going to work. Instead of getting someone who could take some of this workload off me, I got someone else to train. Correction -- I'm really not worrying very much about my remaining problem agent, and the other problem child quit. Which leaves me doing all of his work and untangling all the crap he screwed up. I'm feeling very jaded about my job right now. It will pass, I'm sure, but right now I'm having a very hard time coming up with reasons to come to work beyond, "I have to." I don't even have the possibility of any reasonably fun projects until February. I'm beginning to really hope that things move faster than I originally wanted in terms of moving into a more training-focused position.

On the good side of things, Mort's knee is healing beautifully. Much better than the last surgery -- I'm so glad we switched vets! He is becoming very difficult to handle as he has plenty of energy and doesn't see why he shouldn't do whatever he wants.

Interesting in the chinese sense

2006-06-26T18:06:35Z

For those of you who haven't heard, I was a great big dumbass yesterday. I slipped and fell in the shower and broke the humerus in my right arm. It's an oblique break, which is good and bad. I don't have to have surgery, but I do have a brace/cast and sling for the next 8-12 weeks. After that, lots and lots of PT. I'm still in a fair amount of pain, although not as bad as before the brace. They have given me the good drugs, at least. Typing with one hand is really annoying on an ergonomic keyboard, so I'll stop now. Prayers and healing vibes are much appreciated.

Hang on for the ride!

2006-06-07T02:35:51Z

Work just got a WHOLE lot more interesting. My boss is leaving at the end of the month to move back to Colorado and become an agent again. Which leaves me effectively in charge of the office, but without the manager's pay or authority. We've got two new agents starting on Monday, which is going to make it really interesting. She thinks it will likely be September before they get us a new manager, so it's going to be a VERY interesting summer. As my boss keeps reminding me, I am not the manager, and I should not try to do the whole job. But, it isn't fair to the new agents to strand them without the proper training to really make a go at this business. So, I'll be doing the best I can to get them properly trained and through all the right schools, etc. It's pretty scary, because my boss and I work so well together that she's just handed over parts to me, and I just let her do her thing. This means I don't know as much as I would like to about some things I'll be responsible for.

Should be an interesting summer!

Well THAT just hit the fan ...

2006-03-31T21:08:52Z

Well, my life may be getting more interesting around the office quite shortly here. We've got a problem agent, let's call her Chickypoo. She's an employee agent who honestly doesn't believe she's an employee or that she needs to listen to the agency manager at all. She whines and complains and demands rules exceptions because she had one really big sale last October. She's pissed at me because I wrote my auto and renter's insurance with a different agent and didn't refer a friend to her.

There are 5 agents in our office and hopefully soon there will be more. Three of them have offices at the far end of the office which are closer to the back door than my desk. Understandably, they tend to use that door when they come and go. However, this has made it increasingly difficult to keep track of who is in and who is out. Additionally, I've got enough going on that I just plain forget on a regular basis. This makes dealing with clients a bit difficult.

To solve this problem we bought a in/out board that hangs near my desk. It is a quick, easy, visual check for me. I sent an email yesterday that asked that all the agents please be sure to mark themselves in or out. If they wanted to call me, I'd be happy to move the magnet, but I did emphasize that if they didn't get me, it was going to be their responsibility to mark themselves in or out. Quite frankly, in response to Chickypoo, I also emphasized that I was going to be relying on the status board. If you didn't bother to mark yourself as in, I would be telling your clients that you weren't in.

I'm not sure when Chickypoo arrived this morning, but I realized she was in at some point. Before lunch, I got a phone call for her from the home office; the caller was about to leave the offfice for the day and was concerned that she needed to talk with Chickypoo. As usual, Chickypoo left her "Do Not Disturb" signal on her phone, so I couldn't transfer the call through. I headed back to her office. I knocked on the door, stuck my head in, and casually mentioned that I'd marked her as in. She absolutely exploded at me, very upset that I'd done this. She was literally yelling at me that this in/out this was ridiculous, it was insulting, she didn't work for me, and she wasn't going to use it! Rather stunned, I tried to explain that it wasn't that she worked for me, but I needed to know when agents were in or out so I could deal with clients appropriately. She continued shrieking at me that this was stupid, she wasn't going to do it, she didn't have to, she wasn't going to do it. Backing up a bit, I said something about well, then she'd have to always be out then. Her response was along the lines of fine, whatever, still at a very raised voice. I then explained that I had this call for her, and the caller was leaving the office and very concerned to reach Chickypoo. However, Chickypoo's DND was on, so I couldn't give her the call. I honestly thought she was going to break the phone by the way she mashed at it to turn the darn thing off.

I went to lunch eventually, and when I got back, my manager was in the hall talking to another agent. We were walking back to the front together when I learned that Chickypoo had gone off on my manager about the in/out board. Not only had she shrieked again, she actually told our manager to "f*ck off". We headed back to my managers office so I could tell her what had happened with Chickypoo while my manager was gone. I went back to work.

A few minutes later, I heard Chickypoo shrieking from clear across the office. There was an amazing amount of anger and fear in her voice, and I heard her say "get out of my office!" Very concerned for my manager's safety at this point, I headed back that way to see if I needed to be of assistance. My manager and I are quite frankly convinced that she's having a nervous breakdown.

Sheesh, what a day.

ARGGGGH

2006-03-21T15:11:36Z

LJ password changed and that's all I'm saying on this subject.

Love languages

2006-03-15T16:00:24Z

Baaa ... couldn't resist this one, as it's actually pretty interesting.

The Five Love Languages

My primary love language is probably
Physical Touch
with a secondary love language being
Quality Time.

Complete set of results

Physical Touch:		11
Quality Time:		8
Acts of Service:		5
Words of Affirmation:		5
Receiving Gifts:		1

Information

Unhappiness in relationships, according to Dr. Gary Chapman, is often due to the fact that we speak different love languages. Sometimes we don't understand our partner's requirements, or even our own. We all have a "love tank" that needs to be filled in order for us to express love to others, but there are different means by which our tank can be filled, and there are different ways that we can express love to others.

Take the quiz

Geek Cooking

2005-11-12T04:09:56Z

I am a great big geek. I just spent most of an hour figuring exactly what I'm baking for Christmas, and then creating a spreadsheet to add up what ingredients I need. Damn, I do a LOT of baking at Christmas. I need 15 pounds of flour, 7 pounds of sugar, 3 pounds of brown sugar, 6 pounds of butter, and a list of other ingredients more than a page long. I didn't think I was doing THAT much baking ....

Which reminds me, I need start menu planning and making a schedule for Thanksgiving. Do all of you, my friends, have somewhere to go for Thanksgiving? I can't promise that we have room for everyone, but I'd love to have people over. You can save me from spending a holiday with my mother, and without adorable children to make it tolerable!

Must make schedule for Thanksgiving ... the first Thanksgiving we lived up here, I did a full Thanksgiving dinner at my house all by myself. LT had to go to Ohio. I panicked, because I'm NOT good at doing entire meals, much less something as complicated as a full Thanksgiving dinner. I had a 4-day, 3 page schedule.

Birthday!

2005-10-27T16:42:44Z

Happy birthday, buccaneer!