I am thinking that I should move my cell phone to another part of my desk. It is in such a place that when my desktop monitor goes into screensaver mode, it reflects the windows logo. When viewed from the corner of my eye, it gives the illusion that the phone is lighting up, as if to receive a call or text message. Considering that this doesn’t happen super often, it always intrigues and excites me.

And then I see that it’s just the stupid reflection…

Posted at 8:06 PM | (2)

Today is looking pretty blah outside, so it’s pretty uninspiring as far as new posts go. Also uninspiring is the fact that I have some stuff around the apartment that should be put away. I was mistaken when I thought that working from home would give me all this time to clean up!

Anyway, since I don’t want to be the Seinfeld of blogs and have an entire post dedicated to absolutely nothing, I shall mention that I am going to knit a tiered skirt that I saw in Spring/Summer 2006 Vogue Knitting. This is the first knitting magazine I’ve bought. I didn’t go seek it out, but I happened to be in Borders and I leafed through it and it had several cute patterns. I’ve heard that this magazine is often hit or miss, but it looks like this one is pretty good. The skirt on the cover is super-cute, but pretty involved, so who knows if I’d ever get around to making it.

Below you will find the skirt I am making. I am doing it in just a plain white cotton/rayon/silk blend yarn which is quite soft—I have wanted to buy a white skirt like this (I already own one in black), but either they were too funky or see-through. Of course, this skirt could turn out to be see-through as well, in which case I will never mention it again (I’m hoping not as it is DK weight yarn on small needles, so the stitches are fairly small)! At the very least, it gives me something to do when I’m watching TV or need to otherwise occupy myself.

Oh, look, time for lunch! :)

Posted at 11:52 AM | (3)

Hooray, I finally got my spiffy Edhat t-shirt today. I had sent them an email with my address last week, but they didn’t come, so I emailed them again this morning (since they go around delivering shirts to all the winners on Fridays) and they came knocking today!

I think I had asked for a medium, because they swore that the shirts run really small, but they brought me a small and it fits, so I guess I’m glad I didn’t get what I asked for. I prefer tighter shirts anyway, so I don’t know what I was thinking.

In addition to the shirts, I also received two stickers—awesome!

Posted at 3:07 PM | (0)

I am now back in SB after my family outing to Vegas. We stayed in the NY:NY since my mom had some comp points or something and got the rooms cheaper.

Since the weather was in the upper 70’s when I went the previous weekend, I naturally only packed a bunch of tank tops, some skirts, and one pair of pants. I meant to bring a jacket, but left it at my parents’ house, which naturally meant that the weather was crisp, with a cold wind, probably in the low to mid 60s. I was freezing—it’s a good thing I found this shawl thing I knitted in my bag.

We took the monorail from one end of the strip down to the other and walked around several casinos, including the overhyped Wynn. My mom and sister agreed that the hotel wasn’t all that—especially since those BJ tables weren’t so nice to them. I should mention that the monorail is obviously overcomplicated for most of the people trying to use it. There are way too many things that can go wrong, as evidenced by the amount of times you can hear it beeping furiously at someone. Either you put the ticket in the wrong way, in the wrong entryway, don’t remove it when it pops up at the top before trying to walk forward, etc. It is probably for this reason, more than people trying to hop turnstiles, that there are often people employed to watch the gates. I wonder if they enjoy getting to tell hundreds of people a day that they are morons for not figuring out that “this side up” means that’s the side that goes on top.

We also went shopping at the Outlets and had more luck with the tables at NY:NY. I won a little bit with my mom’s money and she let me keep the winnings, but I lost a little bit of it while killing time at Stateline. Yes, I know the odds are crappy at Stateline, but hey last time I won! ;)

Anyway, now I’m back, and I guess I have to get back into work mode for two days. On the good side, my paycheck was waiting for me at my door—more money, woo! :)

Posted at 11:00 PM | (1)

Last night my mom and I went to visit my sister at the Chili’s where she works in order to order some margaritas. There is apparently a contest going on in the company and you win something if you sell the most? I’m a little sketchy on details, I just know she wanted us to drink margaritas. So, we went, and we each drank one, and they really were pretty good, so hopefully that puts her that much closer to winning.

Anyway, today is Easter, which means lots of marshmallow Peeps and Cadbury Creme Eggs (mmm, the bestest candy in the whole wide world!). It also means my extended family is coming over as usual to have dinner—small gathering this year though, only about 21 people (or, peeps, if you’re into that kind of slang. Which would make this post quite interesting. For instance, would we be inviting peeps to dinner, in an imaginary tea party sort of way, or perhaps having them for dinner, and eschewing the traditional foods in favor of sugar-coated marshmallow chicks?)

Hmm, I obviously digress today!

More importantly, today is my 4 year blogiversary! Yes, on this day, 4 years ago, I created my first official post. Weird how it doesn’t seem nearly that long ago. I’m not big on change, but since that time I’ve changed quite a few things including where I live (once) and where I work (twice!). It’s funny that I, by far, have not been doing this the longest of anybody, and yet, it’s still touted as such a new phenomenon by the media. Even more interesting is that now it’s been incorporated as a pretty sizable part of my new job. How much does that kick ass?

Have a great day, everyone!

Posted at 11:51 AM | (3)

I drove home to my parents house last night—I am here for Easter and then for the trip to Vegas, woo! For some reason I kept thinking yesterday was Saturday. Hmm, I can’t think of anything else to say, but perhaps that is because it is almost noon and I just woke up. ;)

Uhh, Happy Tax Day, everyone!

Posted at 11:41 AM | (0)

If the latter portion of your Wednesday is dragging, then play along! Guess the song lyrics and earn eternal fame and glory.

1. Do you see me? Do you see? Do you like me?

2. So I told you lies, even made you cry. Baby, I was so wrong.

3. Pardon me, sir, can I ask you a favor? Make me a cowboy like my next-door neighbor.

4. I started out clean, but I’m jaded. Just phoning it in, just breaking the skin.

5. I still want you by my side, just to help me dry the tears that I cried. First Cut is the Deepest by Sheryl Crow guessed by: Lisa

6. I turned off the lights, the TV, and the radio, but I still I can’t escape this ghost of you. Ordinary World by Duran Duran guessed by: Cephyn

7. Long nights crying by the record machine, dreaming of my Chevy and my old blue jeans. Crocodile Rock by Elton John guessed by: Barbe

8. Look what you built. Now, are you proud of your deceitful quilt? Well, I won’t cover myself in it.

9. Maybe we’re just trying too hard, when really it’s closer than it is too far. In Too Deep by Sum 41 guessed by: Lisa

10. The choo-choo train left right on time; the ticket cost only your mind.

Posted at 1:02 PM | (4)

This weekend Steve and I took a trip to Vegas. We left work a little early, around 3pm, to get a head start on the Friday rush-hour traffic, and made it into town around 9pm—not too bad for a Friday.

While we only stayed about 36 hours, we definitely had a nice time. We won a couple buck, walked around, and Steve even bought us some cool touristy clothing like shirts and hats! You’d never know we’d been there dozens of times already based on the glee with which we Las Vegas emblazened items to purchase.

Speaking of winning though, I think the cocktail waitresses were trying to sabotage me. While playing at the tables, I ordered strawberry daiquiris. The first one tasted like all strawberry and whipped creme, but each successive one tasted a bit more alcoholic. I think I had 4 or 5? This isn’t quite as bad as it sounds because the glasses are super tiny, and as I said, not usually very alcoholic. Though, Steve tasted one of my later ones and commented on the strength, so I wasn’t just imaginging it. Normally when one drinks, the opposite happens—things don’t taste as strong! The end result was that I was friendly and had fun chatting with everyone at the table, but woke up with a headache.

Also during this trip we took the time to check out a newly opened casino….Hooters. I wouldn’t recommend it. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t exactly a classy establishment. There were of course lots of males there, and it could be the perfect atmosphere if you want to have a cheap bachelor party, but it was a little odd being female in there and not an employee.

I loved how warm the weather was already over there. It was in the upper 70s, which wasn’t extremely hot by Vegas standards, but quite nice for this time of year when you compare it to all the coldness and rain that Santa Barbara has experienced lately. I always love the hot weather. The thing I love most about Vegas is how once the hot weather hits, it stays nice and pleasantly warm at night. I know my mom hates it, but I love when it’s 70 at night.

Mentioning my mom provides a nice segue and explains why this entry is titled: part 1. The reason is this: I am going to Vegas again in about a week with my mom and sister. Woohoo. Um, not that I like the place or anything.

Posted at 6:06 PM | (3)

Hooray, I won another Edhat contest today! I just checked my archives, and it appears that I last won back in February 2005. Wow! It hardly seems like it was that long ago, but the archives don’t lie. I can’t believe it took me over a year to win again. There were a couple other times where I had the right answer, but another name was chosen—but THIS time I beat out 16 other people for the prize of the coveted Edhat T-shirt.

This time, I guessed the number of doggies that would be at Hendry’s Beach at the time the staff went to go count (12). I rock. Now, if only I could get more of their “Wednesday Where Is It” photos. Those are SO hard. I’m totally not a native of this town, but it doesn’t help that I’m also pretty unobservant. They had 2 pictures a day every day last month and I only got like 3 right. But, it’s fun to see how many random things are around town.

Posted at 9:37 AM | (1)

Tonight I just got a phone call from an area code I didn’t recognize. I usually answer, because I’ve found that if I don’t, the people call back repeatedly until they find out I’m not who they are looking for.

Anyway, I answered and was greeted with an automated message in Spanish. I couldn’t understand what it was saying, but it obviously wasn’t carefully targeted toward me if they picked Spanish, so I hung up. I then promptly did the thing most people with a laptop with wireless internet would do—I googled the number.

Turns out, TONS of cell phone customers around the country are getting hit with calls from this number. Lots of hits when you google the number (786-879-6669), including some amusing blog entries.

So, my PSA for the day is this: if you see this number, you’ll know what it is. Apparently it doesn’t much matter if you answer or not because sometimes they are there when you answer, sometimes not. Sometimes they leave a voice mail, sometimes not. At any rate, the above blog entry gives some amusing theories.

I just hope they don’t keep calling back. Apparently they have for some people…

Posted at 6:48 PM | (0)

I had this great idea that I would check out some knitting books from the library. The theory behind this was that I’d make copies of the patterns I liked, and then return the books, saving myself from having to spend over $20 filled with dozens of crappy patterns, just to get 2 or 3 that I did really like. I would be scanning the files instead of going to Kinkos or something to make color copies,so I’d save on that as well.

My plan, however, didn’t go quite as planned. It seems that I am not all that motivated to sit and scan a bunch of pages. My scanner isn’t the speediest, and due to space contstraints, it is located on my floor. This means that in order to scan, I have to kneel on the floor (if I sat, I couldn’t see my computer monitor) and press the scanner cover down for however long it takes to scan. Sore knees aren’t exactly a great motivator.

The end result is this: 3 weeks is apparently not enough time for me to scan the patterns, and what was once a brilliant scheme to stock up on free patterns has now cost me over $3.00 in late book fees. I couldn’t renew the books because someone already put a hold on them. Doh.

So I guess the moral is: either scan the stuff right away, or don’t assume I’m getting anything for free. And to think I scoffed at the idea of paying a dollar or two for patterns I could download online.

Posted at 10:54 AM | (1)