I seriously think I have a problem; I’m not sure if there are any 12 step programs out there for it though. You see, I can’t stop browsing online if I’m sitting in front of a computer connected to the internet. Even if I’ve already gone through all of my bookmarks and caught up on all the blogs I read, I still have to do more.

I will close the browser window when I am finished looking at stuff, and often times I will click to reopen it mere moments later, because I remember something else I wanted to look at. Of course, sometimes I get sidetracked by random clicking and forget what I meant to look at and close the browser again. This means I have to reopen AGAIN when I remember.

My other habit is to know that I’ve looked at everything I can think of, close the window, and then click to reopen it moments later, knowing that I have nothing to visit. If only all the pages I visited updated every 5 minutes or so, I wouldn’t have a problem! It’s funny because it’s not like I require up to date news, I think I just like something to look at/do while I’m sitting in front of the computer screen, and with the laptop on my lap, it’s easy to just keep browsing.

Posted at 12:31 PM | (6)

This weekend I went out both Friday and Saturday night. On Friday I went out because many members of the old track team were in town for a reunion/banquet thing. I hadn’t seen many of them in years, so it was cool to get to see all of them.

Last night a bunch of us went out to celebrate Jenn’s birthday. 2 of us went with her to go shopping for an outfit to wear later that night, and we all wound up getting a few things—I got 2 shirts which are coincidentally the exact same shade of pink, hehe. We then went and got ready for dinner, where other people would be joining us.

We ate dinner, and I was a little bitter that when the bill came, it was treated like those days in HS where, somehow, even though you only ordered $20 worth of food, you wind up paying $60. That’s what I get for not having enough cash on me and having to resort to credit card. EVERYONE only had credit card. So, someone got a good deal, food-wise, not counting the share we all had of making sure Jenn didn’t pay for her meal.

But anyway, my bitterness abated once the guy who suggested the $60/person scheme bought ALL of our drinks—and we all had like 6 each or something. So, the amount I paid over in food was about what I would’ve paid in drinks. Whatever. I’m still bringing lots of cash next time, in multiple denominations. Times like this I wish my mom was at the table with us—she’d whip out her calculator and make everyone pay their fair share.

We started out at Indochine and at one point in the beginning, a bunch of tequila shots got ordered. I had said I didn’t want to do a shot, but one got ordered anyway. I refused to do it, so Jenn said, “OK, I’m going to go give this to the first hot guy I see.” So I went with her towards the back of the bar to find a suitable guy. As we are walking, the first guy that walks towards us is….RON LIVINGSTON, the Office Space guy (among other things.)! So she goes up to him and is all “Hey it’s my birthday, will you do this shot for me?” He looked taken aback, because this probably isn’t the usual line people give him when trying to strike up conversation. But, like a good sport, he shrugs and says sure, and obligingly does the shot (with NO salt or lime! Hard core, yo).

As he proceeds to then walk away, Jenn realizes she should get a picture too, so she stops him again, gets him to agree to a photo (yay for the birthday excuse), and lets him go on his way. Lucky girl.

The rest of the night was spent at Indochine and Wildcat, where we stayed until just before closing. Made it easier to get a cab, since we didn’t have to fight the crowds right after closing. All in all it was a fun outing, and maybe next time I’ll get my own brush with celebrity.

Posted at 11:06 AM | (1)

Awhile ago I wore some bad shoes, or…at least, I walked badly or something in said shoes (as I had worn them many times before without incident) and did something to my toe. If I walked on it, the underside of the toe where it bends would feel like I was hitting the nerve or something—not painful, just awfully weird feeling. As a result, I unconsciously avoided walking on it, hoping it would get better.

Instead, I managed to make the heel of my foot start hurting one day, probably as a result of all the weird walking I was doing to compensate. The heel hurt quite a bit, to where I didn’t want to walk on it. So, my solution was to walk as little as possible, and walk on my toes when I did have to go somewhere, so that I didn’t step on the heel. If it didn’t get better over the weekend, I was actually going to have it looked at.

But, my method worked and come Monday my heel felt almost normal. As a side benefit, from all the walking on the toes (at least, this is what I assume), my one toe no longer feels weird to step on it that I can tell. So one thing wrong made another thing wrong, but this second wrong corrected the first. In any case, I’m just glad it’s all going away. Who knew the cost of going out was so high? Stupid women’s dress shoes! I never have any of these problems when I only wear flip flops.

Posted at 9:34 AM | (0)

Last night I went downtown for 80s night at Q’s with Steve. He brought a friend of his, and I brought one of mine. We had each tried to get a couple other people to go as well, but did not succeed. Everyone always has an excuse to say no to downtown, especially midweek, but dude, it’s 80s night! With Bon Jovi! And Guns ‘N Roses! (Though, total sidenote, they played Ice Ice Baby, which I took umbrage at because that song was totally released in 1990 and overplayed in 1991, and is therefore clearly NOT an 80s song!)

Anyway, the underlying purpose of this outing was to introduce our two friends, as Steve has a certain affinity for matchmaking; he’s a regular modern-day Emma Woodhouse at times.

Not sure if the meeting was successful or not, although the pair did talk. Unfortunately, it seems my friend knows every guy in town and found at least 3 such guys while we were out and about and talked to them. At the end of the night she went off without us to meet up with some friend she found, so not really sure what that does to Steve’s vision of the matchup.

I still had fun at any rate, although I am going to make a not-so-mental note that if I’m going to agree to do a shot of tequila, that I will first refrain from ordering really sweet drinks like amaretto sours. Nothing that drinking a bottle of water shortly after didn’t cure, but definitely something to keep in mind.

Posted at 2:17 PM | (2)

I have finally finished!

For the past 3 months (give or take) I have been working on a sweater for Steve. It sounds like an awfully long time, but I am a little slow and easily distracted. I picked this sweater because it was pretty mindless for the most part, so I could do it while watching TV or other things. I also wanted to make something for him (and hopefully something he’d actually use).

More significantly, I have completed this project and not succumbed to the dreaded Sweater Curse—though, I guess technically I haven’t GIVEN the gift yet, so anything is still possible.

Marvel in my mad knitting skillz or walk the plank!

Pattern: Avast, Fall 2006 Knitty
Yarn: Knitpicks Swish in Coast Grey
Needles: US 5 and US 7
Started: October 2006
Finished: January 2006

Posted at 7:06 PM | (6)

This morning upon signing online for work I was asked what RSS reader I use (if any). I replied with Bloglines, to which my colleague responded with a frowny face. Apparently I am the minority, as the other members of my company use Google Reader.

I tried it once when it first came out and wasn’t impressed. I tried it again today and it is indeed improved, but I’m still not convinced.

Kevin, or any other avid fans, convince me. Why should I use Google Reader instead of Bloglines?

Posted at 1:19 PM | (10)

When it is particularly cold and your hands consist of 10 tiny fingercicles it is quite satisfying to turn your hair dryer on and point the warm air at your hands for extended periods of time. It also helps if you don’t have to pay the electrical bill!

Posted at 2:15 PM | (2)

There is this commercial for Maxwell House coffee that often airs during daytime soap operas. Most of the time, when I watch these soaps, I skip commercials on my Tivo. However, if I’m busy doing other stuff, I’ll often just let the commercials run instead of bothering to find the remote. So, I often hear this commercial play, and every time it makes me do a double take.

In this particular commercial, there are a bunch of people who are supposed to be employees singing about how great their coffee is. They are singing a song to the tune of that 80’s “Our House” song. You know… “Our house, in the middle of our street…”

Anyway, there is a part where they sing “Our house, each bean is custom roasted to its peak”, but instead of “bean is” it sounds an awful lot like a part of the male anatomy. I’ll give you a hint, it rhymes with those two words quoted above. When I say it sounds an awful lot like it’s obscene, I mean I actually had to rewind it the first time I heard it and figure out what they REALLY said because I assume—I hope rightfully—that body parts are not roasted for consumption in caffeinated bevereages. And even now, every time I hear it, I can’t help but think it sounds more obscene than not.

Considering how close it sounds to what I think it sounds like, I’m constantly amazed that it not only got on the air, but is still aired repeatedly. I encourage you to listen to this wav file I’ve made and judge for yourself. What do you think? Am I just crazy and hearing things??

Coffee Commercial Audio

Posted at 11:07 PM | (2)

Better go find someone to snuggle with, or invest in some good blankets and space heaters! Just when you get get used to the idea of 70 degree temperatures in the middle of winter, Old Man Winter has started watching Emeril or something, because he has suddenly decided to kick things up a notch.

All kinds of frost warnings are in effect for the weekend, and it seems to be a given that there will be snow along the pass. This weekend is supposed to be the coldest in 9 years, and I believe them! It’s after noon and my hands still feel super cold (they don’t call me Icy for nothing, I guess!).

Stay warm everyone! Is it cold where you’re at?

Posted at 12:31 PM | (3)

Last night I attended the first book club meeting of the new year. It has been a bit longer than usual in between meetings, due to the holidays. We met at one of the girls’ apartments, and the best part was that 8 people showed up this time. While that may not sound like a lot of people, considering it was usually only 2 or 3 of us for the last few meetings, 8 is pretty exciting. In addition, two of the members were male.

Part of the reason for the larger number is the fact that the organizer of the group had posted another notice about the book club, so 4 of the people in attendance last night were brand-new. What also made the larger number nicer is that pretty much everyone brought a snack of some sort, so we had all kinds of things to eat while we talked.

Like most book clubs, we did talk a little bit about the book, but also quite a bit about random things that spin off on tangents because of the book, or in the process of getting to know the new people. The book we had read was pretty disturbing, and one of the girls remarked that she got a weird look from the bookstore clerk when she said she was buying it for a book club—apparently we very well might be the first to pick this book for a group reading.

The meetings are entertaining though, and although I haven’t really forged any friendships with any of the members outside of the club, everyone is very nice and it’s a nice change of scenery every couple weeks. Plus, it prompts me to read more—something I probably wouldn’t do otherwise.

Posted at 2:21 PM | (2)

Yesterday afternoon I “did lunch” with Stan, the guy who introduced me to my current boss, and is thus at least partly responsible for my change in careers. So while I’ve said it before, Stan rules. :)

Anyway, I noticed the other day that he, along with the woman who usually helps TA the Extension classes he teaches, had revamped our public library website. It looks a million times better than it did before—looks modern instead of circa 1999—so I shot him an email saying I saw he did the site and that it looked great. He responded saying thanks and said we should go to lunch sometime, and yesterday at noon was agreed upon.

When I met up with him, the place we chose was not open for some reason, so we went to the place directly across. They got my order wrong (they put lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo on my burger when I said “plain: meat, cheese, and bun only”) but the way the place is set up it would be a pain to take it back, so I scraped the stuff off and ate it anyway. Luckily of all the condiments, mayo is the one I can tolerate the most.

We wound up chatting for like an hour and a half or so, talking about how our work is going, things we’ve been up to, and how awesome my boss is, since we have him in common. I usually just lunch in my apartment so it’s usually a pretty short break, so this was one of those rare occasions where I took a long lunch.

At any rate, it was nice to get out of the apartment, especially since it was really nice out (in the 70s, go figure), and to talk to someone about my job who understands what it is exactly that I do. :)

Posted at 4:59 PM | (0)

OMG, I totally just remembered this random thing from Saturday night. There were 11 or so girls at the house party I went to. Of those 11, 4 of us were named Jennifer.

I guess that’s not REALLY so random when you consider it was the #1 name for girls for over a decade, but not since my school days have I been in a room with so many. I mean, I was amused enough that one of the main girls I go out with now is a Jennifer (she was also at this party), especially because it makes it fun to introduce ourselves to people (“Hi, I’m Jennifer, and this is…Jennifer”)

Random or not, it was still kinda amusing. :)

Posted at 10:54 AM | (2)

Well, 2 of my 3 weekend plans ended up not working out, but I did go out last night to help celebrate the birthday of a girl I’ve hung out with downtown.

Her celebration started at an Indian restaurant, so I skipped that part of the festivities and instead just joined everyone when they got back to her place. All the people I go downtown were there, so that was nice and ensured that i knew several people there. We mostly just sat around and talked and played some games. Did you know I’m really good at Taboo??

The party was in Goleta and I drove back home at like 3am. I am still a little sleepy. Hope you all had a good weekend—today I’m just gonna do something like knit or watch TV or something.

Posted at 1:14 PM | (0)

I just wanted to say that down-filled slippers are the most awesome thing ever. They are so soft and keep my feet nice and toasty—an important thing in the winter when all you have is a tiny space heater. I haven’t used my heater yet, but the slippers are pretty much a daily adornment.

Also awesome are soft fuzzy socks, for those times when bulky slippers won’t do.

Anyway, that is all I have to say at the moment, as things have been pretty quiet since New Year’s. Carry on! :)

Posted at 2:20 PM | (0)

Hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year’s Eve and that 2007 holds many wonderful things in store.

Last night I met up with Jenn at Soho. I was there early so I already had my hand stamp by the time she arrived, but I waited in line again with her since, what else is there to do if you’re at a place by yourself? After an absurdly slow line where they only seemed to collect the cover charge at a rate of 2 people per 20 minutes, we finally got in and heard the band play, the reason for picking this locale in the first place.

I hadn’t heard them before, but they were good, and attracted an eclectic mix of people—young, old, varying ethnicities, etc. During the listening of the band I had AT LEAST 6 drinks spilled on my left arm. Never my right arm, just my left. And 6! Good grief, I have never had so many drinks spilled on me in my life. Not sure what’s up with that.

We stayed until the place closed and then hit up some afterparty Jenn was excited to attend—apparently whenever this band plays in town, they have an afterparty. Jenn had gone to such a party the last time she saw them play, so really wanted to go again.

So, after FINALLY managing to hail a cab (NOT an easy feat in SB, especially on a popular night like NYE) we made it to the party, where we ate chips, listened to music, danced a little more, and mostly just socialized until…..6:15am! Yikes.

I mean, it seemed pretty late and I was sleepy and might have left earlier, but I came with Jenn and we arrived via cab, so I wasn’t really in a position to leave. At least the people were all friendly and stuff. We got a ride back to my place, where I then drove Jenn to her car, and came got to lay in my bed around 6:40am.

Other than the sun starting to come up and making the room progressively brighter as I tried to sleep, I did manage to sleep until about 3pm (though waking a few times due to the sun). I didn’t drink too much and I am already rested enough from the long night, so I guess I am all good to resume working tomorrow. Oh, how hard it will be to return to working all day after having over a week off…

Posted at 5:00 PM | (0)