Anyone got any cool Halloween plans? I’m still not sure what I’m doing…

I am almost tempted to go out into IV and see the craziness. I did the Halloween thing 3 out of the 6 Halloweens I’ve been here in SB—but it was never on a Friday, which of course invites extra craziness. While I’m not much of a partier, the costumes and craziness kinda make it worth it to check out. Although, when I went in the past, I was attending a party with people I knew, so it was a more comfortable atmosphere than walking around aimlessly among the throngs of 18 year old Freshmen.

Gosh, I am getting OLD! I wish I was still young enough to Trick-or-Treat—free candy is the best. :)

Posted at 9:30 AM | (1)

That’s the sound of me going up 8 flights of stairs at a rapid pace.

We just had a building-wide meeting on the 8th floor, and I opted to take the stairs instead of being stuck with some weird coworkers in the elevator.

Man, I must be really out of shape, because my heart was beating SO fast and I was a little out of breath. Although, I didn’t feel like dying until I stopped, so maybe I could’ve gone farther. Also to my credit is that I walked up the stairs pretty briskly—no slow meandering for this power walker!

Posted at 4:07 PM | (5)

Around the building where I work, we have a case of the Grinch Who Stole Halloween!

A few of the departments have at separate times attempted to put up some Halloween decorations in order to make the place look more festive. In each instance, the decorations were ordered to be removed shortly after. The reason given is that “patrons might get offended.”

HELLO!! There are decorations all over the campus bookstore, and I just saw some in the UCen dining area when I went to lunch. Both areas are much more frequently visited than the library! I personally think they should leave the stuff up and only take it down if several people complain, instead of doing these proactive, preventative measures. Besides, Halloween is a secular holiday, not religious. I could see being offended by Christmas decorations, but Halloween?!

Just to make matters more confusing, we are allowed to dress up for Halloween. Why doesn’t THAT offend anyone?! I almost want to dress up really inappropriately just on principle.

Are people really this easily offended these days? Or is it as we all suspect, and someone in administration is the one offended, but wants to make it seem like “the public” is making these demands.

Posted at 12:29 PM | (5)

If you can read this entry, it means that the switch has completed, everything is running properly, and I am back in business!

Welcome back! :)

UPDATE: Comments are back up too, FYI. There were subtle things that didn’t look right after the transfer, but I think I fixed them all. Let me know if you come across something that doesn’t look/work right. Thanks! :)

Posted at 5:59 PM | (3)

There is fire everywhere! All over Southern California, several fires are raging. There are fires in Simi Valley, fires near Arrowhead in San Bernadino, San Diego, and a few other areas. The Governor has asked the President to declare it a disaster area in Ventura, San Bernadino, LA, and San Diego counties.

Luckily the fires are far away from SB, and far enough away from everyone I love in LA. Unfortunately though, I know others who aren’t as lucky. Steve’s parents live just miles from where one of the large fires is blazing. They made it out OK, but I hope that nothing bad happens to their home.

None of the fires have been contained yet, in what is said to be the worst blaze in 10 years. Scary stuff.

Posted at 5:45 PM | (4)

I watched Scary Movie 3 and burst out in tears?

I don’t watch Horror Films because they terrified me as a little kid and always gave me nightmares. However, I have seen the Scream Trilogy. Those 3 movies were a little different because they were actually comedies making fun of the scary (to me) slasher flicks. Even those movies came perilously close to crossing the line for me though.

Scary Movie 3 was AWFUL for me. I purposely haven’t seen The Ring because I knew it would freak me out, and yet here I was subjected to a parody of it that was supposed to be funny, but lasted entirely too long, and showed this really scary, ugly looking chick for like 1/3 of the movie. I spent all that time averting my gaze, but after awhile it made me cry anyway, because I just wanted it to end.

I’m not sure what’s worse—the fact that it made me cry, or that there were dozens of little kids (don’t even get me started on parental responsibility) watching this horror and violence, and actually LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY.

I AM a wuss! *Hides face in embarrassment*

Posted at 5:37 PM | (6)

Wow, I just encountered the worst traffic I’ve ever experienced in SB during my workday commute.

I arrived home at about 5:20 after leaving my office at 4:50.

Total travel time: 30 minutes
Total distance traveled: 5 miles

Does that seem a bit excessive to anyone else?! I normally make that trip in 10-15 minutes—part of the reason I leave before 5.

Ugh, TGIF I guess!!

Posted at 5:43 PM | (4)

I’m sick!

I suppose this comes as no surprise, considering that EVERYONE in my office is coughing and sniffling. However, I thought I had escaped. This is not even close to the worst cold I’ve had, so I’m not doing TOO bad, but it still sucks! Bring back Summer!!

The other exciting thing (to me), is that I am in the process of switching web hosts. My current one is kinda slow, doesn’t offer a lot of web space, and only has 24/5 email support. My new one is MUCH faster, has A LOT more space (for a lot cheaper than if I were to purchase a comparable amount of space with the old host) and has 24/7 support via message boards, IM, email, or phone!

I’m in the process of setting everything up on the new server, and so far I have been able to reinstall MT on the first try and import the MySQL database. Anyway, when I make the switch, my site might go down briefly while the domain name transfer takes effect, but I’ll let you know when I’m gonna do it.

Posted at 10:39 AM | (2)

I am SO glad to see this article criticizing the latest Quizno’s commercial.

I’d recount the commercial here, but it is described in the article and available for viewing on the Quizno’s site. (I also want to avoid getting some REALLY disturbing hits) At any rate, the thought of this commercial TOTALLY grosses me out, and I actually have to avert my gaze or leave the room whenever it comes on.

I think they’ve totally crossed the line with this commercial, and if I didn’t really really like their sandwiches, I’d totally never eat there again. As the guy in the article says, not all publicity is good publicity. I’d rather not associate my turkey and mozzarella sandwich with nausea!

Posted at 2:56 PM | (3)

AAAAAAAAAH!!!

Today I came *THIS* close to getting into an accident on my way to work, and I only travel about 5 miles!

I think it was a combination of the fact that I wasn’t fully awake yet, along with a sudden stop in traffic, but next thing I know, I see brake lights and as hard as I brake, it’s obvious I’m not gonna be able to stop before I ram into the van in front of me at 50mph.

My solution was to kinda quickly glance at the lane to my left, and then swerve into that—hoping that there wasn’t a car there that I didn’t see! (There wasn’t, luckily.) So, I safely continued on my way to work, unscathed.

This is actually the 2nd near-death experience I’ve had on that part of the freeway. The first time, everyone getting on was accelerating too fast to brake in time when the cars straight ahead were stopped. The car behind me was totally ON MY ASS, and while I could’ve stopped without hitting the car in front of me, the car behind surely would’ve hit me. If I stopped slow enough to give the car behind me time to stop, I would’ve hit the car in front of me. In that case, I swerved into the shoulder so I could take longer to stop without hitting or being hit. The thing that really ticked me off in that case, was that after everyone started going again, the guy behind me insisted on being on my ass again! While that 1st time wouldn’t have been my fault, this most recent time probably would’ve.

*Sigh* I should get hazard pay for this!

Posted at 8:17 AM | (3)

1. Country::City
2. G::String
3. Offer::Propose
4. Connection::Internet
5. Quest::For Glory
6. Lighthouse::Maine
7. Sycamore::Tree
8. Inhumane::Cruel
9. Sneer::Glare
10. Weapon::Gun

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Since the addition of the Photography category to my website, I have wanted the ability to do “Previous” and “Next” navigation of the entries in that category—exactly like the navigation on the regular individual entries.

Luckily, someone has already posted instructions on Scriptygoddess.

Now, on entries that I have Categorized as Photography, there are additional links in the “Posted by” info. These links ONLY appear when I use a category.

I think it makes it SO much easier to navigate all the photos. Before, you would have to go to the Photography page, click on an entry, and then return to that main page in order to view another photo. This way, while you’re looking at an individual photo page, you can simply cycle through all of them, using the “Previous” and “Next” links.

Anyway, it all seems to work fine (despite my breaking the code a few times), but let me know if you don’t think the navigation of it is intuitive enough. I’m SO excited this works! :)

UPDATE: I added those little icons for the comments and trackback links. Also, I made modifications to my monthly archive pages—now each page shows the calendar for that month, so you can visually see how I was posting. Hopefully more changes to come…

Posted at 11:56 AM | (2)

Today, after much anticipatory freaking out, I finally had a physical exam. I haven’t had one in a decade—the last time was August, 1993. I decided that I really should find out that I’m not in danger of dying suddenly from a hidden illness anytime in the near future.

It seems that I am healthy, so when I told the doctor that I am completely needle phobic, she said that blood tests weren’t really necessary at this point in time. Maybe I should’ve gotten it done anyway, just to make sure, but she didn’t seem concerned at all that I wasn’t going to be tested. If she didn’t care, I sure as hell wasn’t going to volunteer!

Of course, that means I did a whole bunch of freaking out for nothing. Anyway, I’d like to thank Steve for trying to help me with the blood test stuff—even though I didn’t wind up needing it. Also, thanks to everyone else who listened to me freaking out incessantly in anticipation of it.

Posted at 10:32 PM | (7)

This weekend I spent a short time at home with my parents. I drove home on Saturday afternoon so that I could attend a coworker’s wedding in OC. The location was a whole 4 miles away from my parents’ house, so I couldn’t ask for anything more convenient in terms of driving so far for a wedding.

I had to attend the event by myself, but it wasn’t so bad because a few other coworkers also attended, and we sat with some of the wedding party’s former neighbors.

The wedding itself was nice, and the bride looked really pretty. She had shown us all the stuff she bought online, but I had only seen the shoes in person. Since her father is no longer alive, she had her 10 year old nephew walk her down the aisle—it was very cute.

I didn’t have time to do anything else while I was down—although I tried to wrangle a lunch with Kev, but he had already made other plans by the time I asked. Hehe, I guess he doesn’t want the free meal I promised him for his birthday 2 months ago. ;)

Posted at 8:34 AM | (2)

Thanks to Kev for sending me this link to the Random Kitten Generator. It’s supposed to be cute, but for some reason I couldn’t stop laughing or clicking for more pics.

I think it’s past my bedtime…

Posted at 12:11 AM | (4)

Anyone out there feel like they’re having a Quarterlife Crisis? I think I know a few people who are, including myself. Wondering what I’m doing to do with my life, worrying that I’m not doing things everyone else has already done by now, wondering also about what I’ll have to show for myself by the time my 10 year reunion comes around. Now, I know what everyone says: that the 10 year is really pretentious and that everyone is trying to SOUND like they’ve made it, when really everyone is just afraid to sound like a “failure”. Still, I think it’ll be interesting, and it’s only 3 1/2 years away!

Anyway, my point wasn’t really to talk about reunions. I came across this article on MSN, talking about the “Quarterlife Crisis”.

Apparently two women compiled a website and have also written a book entitled: Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your 20s. I haven’t read it yet, but it seems like it could be interesting. At the very least, I guess it gives people perspective and they will know that if they don’t have it all figured out, they aren’t alone.

Just thought I’d share!

Posted at 8:37 AM | (8)

Well, I voted today, did you? (If you’re a CA resident, that is)

Final results aren’t tallied yet, but it looks like Davis will be out and Schwarzenegger will become our new Governor.

You all know the results, obviously—it’s the State Election that is an international phenomenon. Davis out, Schwarzenegger in. Now we just have to wait for the rest of the cast of Predator to become State Governors too!

This should be interesting…

Posted at 9:10 PM | (10)

Now that the two latest additions to the household have gotten settled, this house feels a lot more social than it used to. The median age is A LOT lower, and everyone is a lot nicer and more personable.

Adding to that feeling was tonight’s dinner. One of the new housemates suggested that we have a sort of house BBQ, which was immediately agreed upon by all. The BBQ turned into a Potluck, since the weather has been less than stellar.

Everyone contributed something—my landlady bought some cooked chickens, one person brought chips, another bread and wine, another salad, and I brought an apple pie for dessert.

Some of you may be amazed to learn that I tried to eat some of the salad—and lived to tell about it! There wasn’t much else to choose from, and I’ve never eaten with members of my household before, so I decided to try to pretend like I am a normal eater. Salad isn’t as horrible as I remember it, but it’s still kinda weird, and I just can’t understand how people can eat it willingly.

As for my pie, by the time it was time for dessert, everyone was too full, so people didn’t take very much. When they ate it, they said it was good, but I hope they weren’t just being nice. I thought it was fine—it tasted like normal apple pie, so who knows. I so rarely deviate from the 3 meals I know how to make, but I can follow directions, so stuff usually comes out OK.

Anyway, it was a nice evening overall, and I am glad that the people I’m living with are more social, and that it’s not as awkward to enter a room, because I can actually talk to these people.

Posted at 10:44 PM | (6)

Oh no!! Mere days after I visited the Mirage, it turns out that Roy of Siegfried and Roy has just been attacked by one of his white tigers onstage! It was apparently this tiger’s first appearance…

I’ve never seen their show, but they are obviously one of the Las Vegas legends. I hope that he is able to pull through OK—it must have been a horrific experience. Imagine being in the audience, and everyone thought it was part of the act!

Sad…

Posted at 12:53 AM | (4)