I’m back from Vegas. The trip wasn’t that long, and there wasn’t a lot of sleep, but Steve managed to make a few bucks, so that was cool. My sister also happened to be there as well, so I met up with her for a bit of gambling and food.

The worst part about leaving for a weekend is the amount of catchup you have to do. I mean, I’ve spent the better part of the morning trying to read all my emails and, most importantly of all, all the blogs. Normally the weekends are a little slower, but apparently everyone decided to post so I had lots to read.

As a side note, I would like to know just how spammers know when I go out of town. I swear that every time I am without internet access I get 300x more spam than when I can check up on it quickly. Thank god for MT-Blacklist though. I’d say I got over 100 spam attempts over the weekend, and not a single one made it through. Ugh, can you imagine if they did?! Instead of reading awesome blogs, I’d be weeding through the spam.

Posted at 11:11 AM | (2)

It’s such a quiet, blah day. The day is going by slow, it’s been raining a little, and it seems like no one is at work. I want it to be time to go already.

I have so much to do. I have to pack—I am going to Vegas this weekend. I have to work on my 20-page website for my class. I have to do some freelance work I said I’d do. I have to put away the laundry I did last night that is now strewn all over my floor in a frantic morning attempt to find my newly-washed bathrobe.

Although, I did get SOMETHING done. I filed my taxes this morning. Decent sized refund from federal—not as much as last year, but then, I make more this year. Owed the state a tiny bit since I now make too much to claim the renter’s credit. Bastards. Once I get my refund maybe I can add it to my new IRA account that seems to be losing money at the moment—stupid stock market.

Posted at 1:51 PM | (0)

No, I’m not referring to the crazy people in your office (although, that might not be such a bad thing!). I think there should be a policy where people are not allowed to bring in food that contains nuts. Or, if they do decide to bring in such foods, they should provide that food in a non-nut form.

My reasoning is mostly selfish—I hate nuts. But I know I can’t be the only such person; there are other nut-haters out there. Not to mention there are many people who are deathly allergic to nuts. Accidentally biting into an innocent looking brownie could lead to death!

Someone must put a stop to the dealing of death brownies!

Anyway, I’m really just referring to an uncomfortable situation yesterday. There was a party with brownies in the office, and I went over and took one. It looked safe—all chocolatey, with chocolate powder and chocolate chips on top. It was only after I bit into it that I discovered there were walnuts inside. So now that I already touched it and bit into it, there was no way I could put it back.

Everyone else was raving about how wonderful the brownies were, so spitting it out and yelling “Ew, gross” also didn’t seem appropriate. So I kinda ate around the walnuts and when I felt that no one was paying attention, I threw the rest of the dessert away.

It would be so much easier if treats were properly labeled, and non-nut varieties were offered. Of course, if I were allergic, I probably would’ve been way more cautious. I got careless. The last few brownie batches in the office didn’t have nuts, so I let my guard down. Needless to say, I will not make that mistake again.

It’s not easy being the only person who isn’t nuts about nuts.

Posted at 9:35 AM | (4)

Is anyone else sometimes confused by the similarities in branding of regular and vanilla Coke? Like seriously, at first glance they look VERY similar. The only real difference is one has more whitish swirls, while the other has more black. And of course, if you took the time to read the words on the logo—but who thinks to do that when you know what you’re looking for? When I go to a soda machine, I just scout out the familiar red logo color and fill up my cup with regular (no diet for ME!) soda.

There are few things stranger than drinking something you believe to be one thing, but that tastes VERY different than what you expected.

Yea, guess who did that today? It wasn’t the first time it’s happened to me, and until I pay more attention, I’m sure it won’t be the last.

Posted at 12:15 PM | (35)

Everyone knows that there are a heck of a lot of Starbucks locations out there. It’s gotten to the point where there is a Starbucks across the street from another Starbucks. I came across a fun little experiment on Kottke.org.

How many Starbucks are there within a 5 mile radius of your home/work? Put your address into the Starbuck locator and find out! For example, from my apartment in SB there are 5 Starbucks, but surprisingly, near my house in Whittier there are 15.

Try it and see if you can top that.

Posted at 2:46 PM | (7)

For the Dreamweaver class I’m taking, I have to design a 20 page site. Rather than make up a totally fake one, I decided to redo my photolog site. Depending on the results, you may see a facelift on that site. We’ll see though—right now I’m not putting all the functionality into it because I’m not doing it through MT at the moment. Once I see how it looks with all the links and stuff, I’ll make my decision.

Exciting stuff, huh? Don’t you hate how some days you have enough random stuff for 5 blog entries, and other days you really have to stretch to even make 1??

Posted at 9:42 AM | (2)

So last night I had a little headache and decided to take a nap. Half-asleep, I hear a knock on my door. Silly me, I blindly throw the door open and find myself face to face with my very first soliciter.

It would’ve been so easy to just tell him I wasn’t interested in buying his rust remover or sidewalk cleaner except that he wasn’t selling a tangible product. He was selling world peace.

It turns out he was from some grass-roots type organization that tries to overturn legislation that promotes nuclear weapons, increased military spending, and tries to get it used for education and stuff. At least, I THINK that’s what he said…I kinda tuned him out.

He just kept going and going and I had a headache and didn’t have a chance to interrupt him. Besides, what was I going to say, “I’m sorry, I can’t save the world right now because I need to go take a nap.” So he finally gets to the part where I can say no: he asks for the donation. I say that I’m sorry, but that with my rent, car payment, and student loans that I can barely make ends meet. So of course he counters with a lower amount. “Ohhh, sorry,” I reply, “But I really shouldn’t. Christmas bills coming due and all.” I was getting good at this! Then he starts offering ridiculously low contributions of like a contribution of $5/month for 2 months or something. Surely I could afford that, but I still say I’m poor.

So then he asks if he can put me on their email list. Fine, I agree to this thinking that if I give him SOMETHING, he’ll leave me alone. For some reason I thought I’d just have to give an address, but he asks me for my name.

“Jennifer,” I say, but then realize that I don’t want them to have my real name. So I must provide a fake last name, I decide. I think quickly for a last name that is not my own and come up with….Smith. All the last names in the world and I pick SMITH. So now Jennifer Smith gives him a bogus AOL email address, and while I feel slightly lame, I am at least glad that the email is fake and I will not be spammed.

But no, this guy is not done yet! He mentions how they also write letters to congress-people asking them not to vote on certain bills and asks if I have stamps. I say no, because I never have stamps (although I realize I do, because of that stamp fiasco last month), so then he asks if I even just have a dollar so that they could mail some. Fine, I rummage in my wallet and find a dollar, hoping that now that I have provided money, he will leave.

But no, it turns out the money bought ME postcards. For ME to send to the congress-people. IMMEDIATELY. So crap, now I can’t change my mind because I’ve already given him a dollar, and I can’t just say I’ll mail them later because he wants them back (presumably to make sure people don’t forget or change their minds once he’s gone). And he tells me that I am required to sign them. But now that I’ve given him a fake name, I can’t sign my real name, because he’d know I lied. But at the same time, signing a fake name seems like a bad idea given that it’s going to lawmakers. I also can’t tell him “I’m sorry, I can’t sign these because I gave you a fake name, but I don’t want to tell you my real name.”

So, I sign “Jennifer Smith” on all 3 postcards that now have my address on them. My attempt at an alternate identity consisted merely of changing the way I write the letter “J” and signing a little more illegibly than usual. Despite my new role as criminal mastermind, I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard for someone to deduce that it is my handwriting. My last attempt at forgery was at the age of 10 when I signed my mom’s name on a white slip I obtained for eating candy in class. It didn’t work. Hopefully this time won’t land me a trip in detention and a note home to a mom who is now more angry about forgery than she would’ve been about candy.

If I suddenly disappear, it could be because I’m in jail for identity fraud, although I’m optimistic that this signature doesn’t really matter. But I warn you, if you live in SB and see a young, idealistic City College student in a black beret, black sport coat, anti-Bush t-shirt, and a hemp peace sign necklage, don’t open your door! Unless of course you WANT to donate to this organization. Because trust me, if you answer the door, you WILL be donating…could be a dollar, could be your soul. I am never opening my door if I’m not expecting company again!

Posted at 12:36 PM | (5)

Doesn’t it seem that some books are banned or challenged for silly reasons? During the last week of September, the ALA encourages people to read books that have been banned. I know that’s a long time away, but I thought I’d jump on the meme wagon and highlight the books I’ve read from ALA’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000.

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling (Well ok, only the first one SO FAR)
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (LOVED this book as a 7 year old kid! Oh the blasphemy!)
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Hmm, so I haven’t read TOO many off this list, but keep in mind that every year the list is somewhat different. What I find funny is that several of these books were assigned to me in elementary and middle school. But of course, the funniest thing is that WHERE’S WALDO? is on the list! What the hell is so controversial about finding a guy in a striped shirt amongst a crowd??

Posted at 8:58 AM | (14)

Hooray, today I went to lunch with the two girls in my section who are also in their 20s. The only other times I’ve eaten with them were when we had lunches as a company or department thing. It’s a good thing I waited longer than usual to take my lunchbreak or else I would’ve missed out.

It was nice, and hopefully we’ll do it again sometime. Taking a leisurely lunch out with them while exchanging stories and ranting beats the 15 minute lunch by myself I would’ve had otherwise.

AND, you know what that means? OMG, I hung out with GIRLS!

Posted at 3:39 PM | (3)

Does anyone actually *get* the cartoons that appear in the New Yorker?

Last year my office had a Dilbert page-a-day calendar, but this year the guy who went to purchase another one decided to spice things up a bit by buying one featuring New Yorker cartoons.

I admit that I am not up on many current events, so I don’t usually understand the political ones, but even ones where I DO understand what is going on, I usually don’t find them funny! I’ve flipped through the magazine a few times in the past and I’ve MAYBE found 1 or 2 to be amusing, which is sad when you consider that almost every page has a cartoon or two.

So this makes me wonder, are all the cartoons super-witty and I’m just too dumb to understand them, or do 90% of them make absolutely no sense and the only people who find them funny are those PRETENDING to get them so that they feel smart?

Posted at 1:07 PM | (1)

This weekend Steve’s mom and grandma drove up to visit. Their timing was just right, as the weather was gorgeous and the 101 opened back up on Friday afternoon. Of course, they originally planned to take the train, but what with part of the track missing, that was no longer an option.

He spent most of the time showing them around town—especially for the sake of his grandma, who has never been up here before. I met up with the trio for dinner. The wait was unusually long, but we also stayed in the restaurant for a long time, so I suppose that made up for it. I’d never met his grandma before, but she was very cute and nice. It also turns out that she is probably the exact age as MY grandma—since they have the same birthday.

I think we all had a nice time, and I hope that they enjoyed their visit. Steve’s mom is very nice, so it was nice to see her again. Hehe, I wonder how many more times I can use the word “nice” in this entry. :)

Posted at 6:09 PM | (1)

The other day Steve read that in order to be a cop on the SBPD, one must complete a series of tests. One of these tests is an 880-yard run, which is 2 laps around a track, or half a mile. An officer must be able to run this distance within 4 minutes, 30 seconds.

Of course, since he is a runner, he finds this time to be laughably slow. I suppose it’s hard to have perspective, when you’d already be done running a whole mile before that cop crossed the finish line for half that distance.

To see how easy it would be for someone with absolutely no training to be able to complete this test, he asked me to run it. I, who haven’t run AT ALL in over a decade, would make a fine choice to test it out.

So last night I donned my sportiest outfit (my ONLY sporty outfit, as I don’t really do anything “sporty”) and headed to the track. He ran along with me, and as we began the run, I proclaimed “This is easy!” to which he shushed me and told me not to waste energy. I just laughed.

3/4th of the way into the first lap, I wasn’t laughing so much anymore. I could’ve stopped at the end of the first lap and been perfectly happy; why did there have to be ANOTHER lap?!

At about that point my shoe came untied, but it would’ve ruined the results to stop and fix it, so i ran (if you could call it running by that point) on. I started to fall behind Steve, despite the fact that he wasn’t going very fast at all. It wasn’t even that my body felt bad—my legs felt fine, I wasn’t dying of thirst—but I obviously have some cardiovascular issues.

When I saw the finish line, I couldn’t keep running, so I probably lost a second or two on that. My final time: 5 minutes and 20 seconds—50 seconds slower than the qualifying time. I guess now I know that I can’t outrun a cop. I suppose it also means that people like me couldn’t just walk off the street and meet the qualifying time—despite that fact that any person in respectable shape could run a mile faster than 9 minutes. In other words, I failed.

Now, I know that my time sucks, but keep in mind that I don’t exercise. And even though I could barely seem to get enough air, I completed the task. Not sure how big a fan I am of having my lungs hurt though. How on earth do people do marathons?!

Posted at 10:05 AM | (4)

I hurt my elbow this morning while getting ready to go to work.

I was putting on a sweater, and tugged it quickly down. Since the sweater was covering my face at the time, I didn’t see where I was standing, and whacked my elbow REALLY hard on the edge of my desk. Since my sweater is now on, I haven’t looked at it—I’m afraid it might look freaky. I haven’t decided if it needs medical attention, but it’s not a sharp pain—more of an ache when I move it.

This isn’t even the first time I’ve injured this elbow! Back in 1993, while in Tall Flags (Colorguard), I managed to jam a flagpole in my elbow REALLY hard into my funnybone, causing a burning sensation, followed by a strong ache, that lasted for quite awhile. To this day, if I touch that nerve, even just slightly, it hurts as if I hit it hard. When I DO hit it hard, it sends a burning sensation all the way down the right side of my hand, down into my little finger, followed by an ache in my palm. I obviously did something to it, exposing the nerve, or damaging it, but since it feels normal as long as I avoid hitting it, I usually don’t worry about it.

Why does it always have to be my RIGHT elbow?! Arg!

Posted at 9:42 AM | (4)

I think the rain has made me run out of things to talk about. More rain expected this week, after raining all weekend. It tripped my power twice this weekend—not enough to reset the clocks, but just enough to reboot my computer.

Crazy weather happenings—roads closed due to mudslides and flooding. Supposedly the Amtrack can’t go below SLO because, well, part of the track has been eaten by a sinkhole!

My boss and assorted other coworkers couldn’t get to work today because the 101 is closed above Ventura. Also myterious rumors of a tornado watch in that area.

If you look at the ocean it looks nasty—it looks like frothy dirt, and it is angrily depositing bunches of seaweed and other nasty crap onto the shoreline.

It’s like El Nino all over again—only without the fallen trees and all the newscasters speaking in hyperbole, proclaiming all of SB to be underwater. Like El Nino, it’s surprisingly warm—I’ve gone out in just a sweatshirt and not felt cold.

Horrific tsunami disasters aside, is anyone else out there experiencing crazy or unusual weather??

UPDATE: Anyone in SB county wondering if they will be able to drive anywhere should consult SB Transportation Division’s list of road closures

Posted at 11:10 AM | (15)

Yesterday as I took out some change to pay for my lunch, I noticed that one of my nickels didn’t have the usual Monticello design. This took me completely by surprise, as I knew about the 50 state quarters (with California being issued some time this year, woo!), but had no idea that the Mint was releasing new nickels.

It seems that they have decided to commemorate 100 years since the Lousiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition. The nickel in my possession was the Fall design depicting the “Keelboat”. What amazes me though is that I don’t think I’ve even seen the ones that have been out since last Spring (which, in my opinion, looks like they are encouraging you to get high and then chop of someone’s hand at the wrist).

There are 2 more nickels scheduled for release this year, which now feature a huge portrait of Jefferson. Not quite sure if that picture is here to stay, but I guess Monticello is returning in 2006.

Hmm, I can’t believe I just wrote an entire entry on nickels, but I was just a bit taken aback that my money didn’t look how I expected it and that I wasn’t aware of the change ahead of time. I’m a little slow I guess.

Posted at 12:04 PM | (0)

Ok, since half my readership doesn’t even have a blog, most of you won’t care. But, it’s now official: Six Apart, the makers of Movable Type, have acquired Live Journal. They say that not much will change, and that it will remain open source, so I don’t think there’s a need to freak out.

It’s true that LJ and MT have different kinds of communities. For instance, I read MT-driven websites written by people I’ve never met, but I only read LJ journals of people I know. It’s just a different atmosphere I guess—especially with commenting. Plus, the stereotype seems kinda true from what I can tell—LJ seems to have more of the teenager crowd, while MT has more of the 20-something and up techier crowd. Not to say that there aren’t exceptions to the rule—there always are. I am just generalizing based on the little LJ surfing I’ve done.

Anyway, I obviously have a personal preference—I like to be in full control of my blog, what can I say! I guess I don’t really have much more to add on this point, so I figured I’d just confirm the rumors for those of you who didn’t already know.

Posted at 8:33 AM | (3)

Woohoo, I’m almost done with getting my graphic design certificate. I just need to finish two more classes—both of which are offered this quarter.

Last night I had my first class of Advanced Web Design with Dreamweaver. This is sort of a continuation of that Dreamweaver class I had back in the spring. Even though I’ll probably know about 90% of the material in the class, at least it’s entertaining and the instructor thinks I’m awesome. A few months ago he actually hooked me up with a guy who needed help learning MT and getting it set up, and was willing to pay rather generously to get it.

At least too I’ll be using Dreamweaver again—it will keep me from getting rusty. I haven’t updated the code of my site in awhile, so I haven’t loaded up that program. Maybe this will inspire me—it’s probably about time I added another skin. I just wish I was more creative. I’m great at implementing a design and doing all the coding—it’s just CREATING the design that I find so darn difficult.

Posted at 2:21 PM | (4)

It’s amazing how much faster the day goes when you’re actually….working! Not to say that I don’t normally work, of course. It’s just that a little variety is always nice. You know, spice things up a bit.

Normally I’m stuck doing one or two tasks—of which there is no end in sight. I don’t actually get to do my job-specific duties unless the coordinate decide to contact me or submit assignment. However, it seems that all those people had nothing better to do over the holidays, as I came in to work yesterday with no less than 8 people submitting assignments.

This means that I spent the day, importing data, creating new assignments, emailing, and other various stuff. This kept me so busy that by the time I was done, it was already 3:30pm! Today looks like more of the same, but to a lesser extent. I might run out of this stuff closer to 2pm.

At any rate, they say that variety is the spice of life, and while I’m not normally one to jump on this bandwagon, in this case I’m all for it!

Posted at 11:41 AM | (1)

Sheesh, it’s STILL raining. It’s been raining almost every day since right after Christmas. For people living in regions of higher precipitation, this may still mean nothing to you. For those of you used to living in the desert region that is Southern California, it’s practically unheard of.

Sure, we get SOME rain. It may even rain for two or three days in a row. But for over a week, where at times it seems that the sky has opened up and is dropping the entire contents of the Pacific Ocean upon us.

It’s a bit disconcerting, not to mention inconvenient. We SoCal people don’t know how to handle water falling from the sky—especially not for DAYS and WEEKS at a time.

Plus side: everything will be super green and pretty once the rain stops

Down side: The hole in the ceiling near my desk is dripping water constantly—already filling up 2 office trash cans.

Future down side: All the greenness will equally more dried up and dying brush in the summer, which I’m sure will equal more fires.

Make it stop, I want to go outside!!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Quicken? I’ve been using it for a few years now, and it’s just so much fun to organize your finances. Yea, I know, I’m weird. Who finds it fun to spend your free time entering transactions, downloading data, and staring at reports that tell you that you’re worth nothing—worse than nothing in fact, because you have a negative net worth thanks to those student loans and car payments?

However, since 2004 is now over, this means that it was time to review my financial info to see how I’ve been doing, as well as get ready for tax time. I can only hope that I don’t have to pay taxes this year—my new job bumps me up into a different tax bracket, and I’m not sure this employer is as overzealous in taking out deductions.

The good news is that for the first time since graduating college, I have a positive net worth! Woo! I was pretty close on my own, but was pushed over the top by a generous cash gift given to me by my wonderful grandma. I’m very excited about this net worth thing—it can be a tad depressing to have a piece of software telling you that you’re worthless (even if it is only financially speaking)! :)

Now I just have to wait for those W-2s so that I can see how this new job affects me.

Happy New Year everyone!

Posted at 11:09 AM | (1)