A place for reflection and commentary on a life well lived. Sort of. Well.... we try.
I own all ramblings made here...
© WhizGidget/AMS
I own all ramblings made here...
© WhizGidget/AMS
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Friday, April 30, 2004
It's Friday...
...which means I would have had an evil meeting at 1 pm PDT with my old team, and I was trying to find a way to cancel it because I think it's going to be an ambush and not a meeting. Thankfully, the gods of scheduling or something else smiled upon me, and the ex-boss rescheduled it for next Wednesday at 2pm. I leave work by 3:20 on Wednesdays so that I can go work out, so I have a hard stop on the meeting.
I'm not sacrificing my workout routine for them.
It's also time for the Friday Five... since there isn't a new one, I chose an old one. I've been picking a few of these at random over the last few months and building replies for them so that I could catch up or just have stuff to discuss. It's a good thing that I did, since the archives are offline too.
1. What is your favorite restaurant and why?
Amazingly enough, I don't have a favorite restaurant - I have several that I really like, but I don't think that I have a favorite. There's Palermo's - they make some awesome pasta... Original Joe's (also awesome pasta and meat), Los Pericos (pretty good Mexican food - it's more of a takeout dive), Royal Taco (another strip mall takeout dive, but the fajitas rock), A Bellagio (which took over the spot of another longtime favorite, Guiseppe's).... See the theme of Italian and Mexican food? I have to break that, however, with the entry of Tsing Tao (my local Chinese joint).
Like I said, I have lots of restaurants that I like (the list is waaaay longer), but I don't have any hands down 'squealing oooo that's my favorite place' favorites.
2. What fast food restaurant are you partial to?
Ah hah! A question I can answer definitively. Sort of.
If I want a cheap fast food burger, then it has to be Burger King. Love the burgers. The fries could use some help, but the onion rings rule. The chicken salad that they've introduced is quite incredible as well.
For french fries, however, McDonald's has to take the prize. And THEIR grilled chicken salads are excellent as well.
....but for a good juicy old style fast food burger... In-N-Out Burger. No doubt about it.
3. What are your standards and rules for tipping?
I try to stay with the new standard of 15%. If the waitstaff is particularly attentive to moods and knows when to stay away or when to stick around, then they get a nicer tip. I've been especially generous to the ones that are genuinely nice and make sure that you're doing good without being nervous and eager to please about it.
I have been known to throw a penny on the table as a tip for horrible service. Not a pleasant experience. I suppose I should change that to a nickel so that they could go buy a clue. Let me share with you one of those experiences.
I was 8 1/2 months pregnant with A when I went to Old Spaghetti Factory (I think that was the very last time I was there - which would make it about 8 1/2 years since I've been). I was wearing a long knit sweater - you know the kind that goes to about an inch above your knees and needs to be stretched and laid out for HOURS to dry because it's like a sponge? The waiter knocked over my water glass as he was putting it down and it spilled on me. I got up as fast as I could (I was still carrying small for as pregnant as I was) so the damage wasn't that bad, but I had this huge wet spot on the lower half of my sweater right at the bottom half of my tummy. And the tablecloth is wet too.
We (my dinner companion and I) figured that he ran off to get a towel. 3 or 4 minutes later we see him waiting on someone else in the general area. So we get the nearest waitress' attention, point out the issue, and she gives me the towel that's stuffed in her pocket and goes to get another. On the way she directs our guy LOUDLY to reseat us elsewhere. What does he do? He goes and gets another tablecloth and setting and re-sets our existing table. She comes back to find us in the same place and apologizes since the dinner hour just picked up and our guy must have thought that that was easier.
So we asked for another waiter. Sorry - they were short. The waiter never apologized for tipping water on me, and I sat through dinner half wet. It was a long dinner too, since our waiter decided that every other table was more important than ours. We even had someone at another table wave him down and point out that we've been waiting an awfully long time to get our food - turns out he'd never placed the order. We'd already been there an hour (but it was the only place we wanted to eat too).
I put two pennies on the table as a tip and made sure that the bill said 'See table for tip'. I also spoke with the manager on the way out and made sure that he knew I left two pennies for a tip and all of the reasons why. He apologized but didn't make any concessions for what was a two and a half hour horrible experience. Yes, two and a half hours.
I *know* the wait and service at Old Spaghetti isn't normally that bad, and that's not the reason that I've not been back. It's just that I know of so many other, more convenient, good Italian places that I don't need to go there.
4. Do you usually order an appetizer and/or dessert?
Sadly, no. I'd love to get appetizers more often... Dessert depends on what's on the menu. I won't get dessert if it's going to be some hastily scooped out ice cream or something like that. Dessert needs to be a lavish something that I know takes a little effort to prepare. If I can smell sugar baking from the kitchen, then that's a dessert menu that I want to review.
I have a good nose, I can pick up the smell of baking sugar even in the most garlicky of Italian restaurants, trust me.
5. What do you usually order to drink at a restaurant?
Depends on the place. I used to order soda all the time. When I have Thai or Chinese, I tend to get green or jasmine tea and water. Most other places I'll get juice or stick with the water. Even eating fast food I've not gotten soda lately (of course, I've not gotten fast food lately either) - I've been sticking with lemonade or water. It's better for me anyway since I'll be eating somewhere where I have no control over the ingredients.
So, that's it for today... I hope y'all have a great weekend!
Thursday, April 29, 2004
A few random things...
...Ezboard...work...neopets...more work... lots more work... if you don't like work rants (and it's a mild controlled rant... more of a whine, really, but you could classify it as rant-like), you might not want to read this, but I've tried to break it up with other stuff...
It's amazing the things people talk about, and the ways they bond over something like an outage of an online community. There's a distinct group of 6 or 7 of us that were trading emails fast and furious each time the downtime was extended. There were quite a few IM windows that popped up on my screen. I approved at least 25 new members of the Yahoo group that I mentioned earlier.
I think some new friendships were made yesterday throughout the TWBB'ers. Or some that were already there were strengthened. Rare flowers bloom amid adversity - if you could really call the board downtime an adverse situation, but I suspect that there were some who were very uncomfortable or rattled over the almost 24 hour absence of the board.
I know there were - I have the email messages to prove it.
Despite Ezboard's insistence that the network would be down until 6 am today, I found it back up around 5:15 pm last night. But there are still a few things that are buggy - I can't get to my control center (where I keep all my favorite boards bookmarked). The network is very very slow. I can't get to the help boards to find out what kept them offline - although I fully expect a message in my ez-inbox sometime today. Wonder who made the main boxes go boom...?
Got issues with the ex-boss again, and I don't think he even knows it.
Yesterday I found out, because I happened to be in the right place at the right time, that there's a large BBQ going on at the new building today. All of production is going (obviously), I have no idea about CS, and a separate email was sent to the management staff.
I got no such email alerting me to this.
Two people have told me I should just crash. One says I should make sure that the ex-boss sees me there to enlighten him of his obvious oversight. Honestly, I'd rather not be there because I don't think it was an obvious oversight. I think it may have been a deliberate snub. I was a useful individual who was on his team, and I left it. Despite attempting to leave on good terms, history has shown with other individuals who've moved into new positions that he is very fickle and I am most likely viewed as a traitor.
A traitor, however, who is very useful if he (or his team) needs something in the data realm. Sad part is, they ignore almost anything I say to them, and I end up repeating myself until I get rather frustrated and loud...
...and I think that's his goal - get me frustrated and loud, and then complain (or slap me down in front of his team) about an ego complex that's out of control, or state that I refuse to help them.
Neither of which is true.
Neopets.
Wheel of Monotony.
Click-click-click-click-click.
Shoot the creator of it.
Now. It's evil.
Don't even try it folks... you don't even get the prize it's supposed to give you. You get nothing. That's all OVER the Neoboards. I lodged my NeoComplaint about it, but I suspect that they'll ignore it for a week like they usually do.
Speaking of data needs, the ex-boss called a meeting with me last week to go over data inconsistencies and sources. He reminded me of all the issues that his team has.
What issues? Apparently there's been emails that I was never copied on about all sorts of data issues. So, I asked him to make sure either those emails are forwarded to me for my review, or a list of issues is sent to me so that I can address them at the meeting.
The meeting was supposed to be two days ago, but no one sent me anything by the morning of the meeting, so I emailed him and asked if it were still on because clearly there are no issues. The meeting is rescheduled for tomorrow, and the issues I got are.... special.
One manager wants to know where things are in a spreadsheet that's 100 lines long *and* wants links to all those specific lines of data. Personally, I think he's a flaming moron who should be shot. He's also turning into a direct clone of the ex-boss.
Another manager actually has some valid questions - she's good, but I think we're going to lose her. If anyone else is going to leave that team, she's going to be the first to go, I suspect. Sad, because she's really good.
A third manager has asked me about something that has the hairs standing up on the back of my neck because she should have been taking care of this data for at least a month now, and she's asking how to trace old data back. You can't. The monitor only keeps it for a week. I'm sure, if I dare go review it, I'll find that I'll probably have to rebuild it. This is probably some twisted way to get it off her desk and back onto mine.
Honestly, I could address all of these concerns in emails back to them, but the ex-boss wants to have a meeting. He's probably got his own questions, and I refuse to be blindsighted by anything he throws at me, which is why I'm going to stop by his office today and ask if *HE* has any questions for me to address...
...and then I'll address the issues that I see with some of the questions that his folks are posing. I'll also be playing stupid about the BBQ if he brings it up, which I suspect he will because he likes to talk about things he puts together all by himself.
In the middle of the EzBoard outage, I decided that I'm going to re-do this blog template. With what I don't know yet, but I may try and design my own. Yes, I must have cracked slightly during the outage, you don't have to tell me that. I still do have a good grasp on the obvious.
Honestly, I really like these people on my old team, I don't want that to be misconstrued, but I don't think that they *ever* liked or respected me when I was part of the team.
Back to the 50 worst songs ever...
How come Christopher Cross' 'Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)' (also known as the Moon and New York City song) didn't make the list? Someone please justify to me why Jackson Browne's 'Lawyers in Love' didn't make the list either.
I heard both of these songs in the last half hour on Netscape radio and they really deserve a spot on the list.
Speaking of Netscape radio - since when is 'Werewolves of London' a one hit wonder? I can name LOTS of songs that Warren Zevon put out that were very successful, 'Lawyers, Guns and Money' and 'Excitable Boy' among them. Those folks at Netscape have lost their minds - especially by making the free NetScape Radio player shut off after exactly two hours. Don't they know that they're losing listeners....
... heck, I've already moved over to Virgin Radio Classic Rock (excellent stuff on that channel, folks... and unlimited listening time)...
*sigh* I'm sorry for the rants folks, but there's just been too much going on lately, and I really can't take this anymore. I can't go to HR, however, because that's just the way the ex-boss is and they can't do anything about him because they don't see eye to eye with him. I can't go to the current boss - he knows that the ex-boss is a problem, I'm sure of it. But some of us on his team are wondering why he hasn't done anything about the guy. I can't go to anyone trusted or influential on the old team - I think they're all becoming clones of the ex-boss (slowly but surely) and they're getting out of control as a team.
Someone pointed out to me that they started going downhill after I left the team. We don't know if there's a direct correlation, or if it's just coincidence, but either way it's not a good situation from any angle. I'm just glad I'm not part of it anymore.
Hopefully I'll be back to good insightful topics in the coming week... I've got a few good ones drafted, I just need to polish and shine them. See you tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
...and one more...
...hopefully the last for the night...
I came home and accidentally (force of habit) clicked the link for the board.
It came up!!!!
Try the following link: TWBB
That is all. For the evening. I hope.
...and another update...
...for those who are watching this space...
1 - Haloscan seems to be behaving again... but...
2 - Ezboard is not. If you cannot reach the Ezboard home page, the downtime alert has been updated. The system will be down until 6 am PST tomorrow morning. They apologize and will answer all inquiries then.
So, we still have no reason why, but we have yet another deadline time... that will make 34 hours of downtime... who's betting on TWO days of free Gold Community benefits?
For those who want to sign up at the Yahoo Group I mentioned earlier, all new memberships requested after this point in time (3:20 pm Pacific) will be approved around 5:15 pm Pacific... I'm heading for the gym now....
...and really, I will approve you at 5:15 pm Pacific (+/- 10 minutes depending on traffic or other occurances) - this time estimate is not using the same calculations that Ezboard does.
And yet another update....
...(if you've not already, scroll down and read from the bottom up all the previous entries for today)
If you can't get to EzBoard's home page, they still have the 11 am PDT time up. For those internationally and/or time challenged, the time stamp of this post will occur close to 2 pm PDT, and the board is still not up. I've also no inside information or any clue as to why it's still down or when it will come back up. Wish I did, else I'd share it.
The Yahoo Group is starting to thrive. I'm approving members as soon as I see them. I've started JPC like conversations in there too - we need to have some stitching conversations starting up too. This tells me we need an emergency disaster plan for the BB for those who need that fix. I bet that this isn't the end of the problems - it will probably be a rough couple of weeks post-this-move of EzBoard's.
I've noticed just a couple of other bloggers out there referencing the outage. If one of them had comments on her blog, I'd tell her I miss it too...
... speaking of comments - Haloscan has chosen today to be tempermental, and that could be why it's taking a long time for this page to load, and why you might not see a comment link. Now, I thought since Ezboard was going to be down longer than expected that comments here will be enough to satisfy my peeking in at other things in between long data draws, but alas, Haloscan and EzBoard are in cahoots today.
I also wonder how many people actually took down or bookmarked the change to the TWBB location before the board went down....
....3 people have asked so far... and I bet there's gonna be more.
...and we're still not back....
...and I think people are starting to be adversely affected.
There's been an increase in conversations between people that don't normally converse with me. There's been an increase in traffic to this blog.
There's been more IM's than I know what to do with.
...and I think plans to shoot ezboard are afoot, since they said 6 am, and then 9 am, and here it is, 9:15 am, and they're still not back up. Honestly, I expected them to be down for a long while... and 13 hours is optimistic for the amount of data/equipment that they have to move.
Edited to add According to someone who *can* access http:/www.ezboard.com, we're to try again after 11 am Pacific. That would be 15 hours of downtime... who's betting on 24 hours downtime and a couple free days of Gold benefits???
Two of the more interesting observations came from within a group of us that have been emailing: 1) we're bonding over this (Thanks L!) and 2) it makes you realize that there are real people out there existing just like us (Thanks N!) who are also bereft of the board... and are probably communicating with other folks out there too.
I certainly hope so. This is a great time to communicate with other folks - it's too bad I didn't think of posting the link to the alternate TW Yahoo group pre-outage...
...and for those interested, here's the group address: The Yahoo TW Group
Maybe I'll see you there.
What do you do...
...when your favorite community has scheduled downtime? Especially when you've known about that downtime for a few days...
...you wonder why all you want to do is read that BB. Which is odd, because you don't tend to read that BB that late at night.
So, then what else do you do? In my case, I sat in front of my computer for the evening while watching 'Navy NCIS' and '24' and wrote up blog ideas. I didn't touch a needle to stitch at all. I have drafts enough to last me a week. I've drafted tomorrow's blog already. It's pseudo-insane. But I bet there was a lot of blogging going on too... or reading of blogs.
It's the epitome of wanting what you cannot have. It's not that I'm languishing away into nothingness, as I joked on the board. I did spend the earlier part of the afternoon playing chess and 'Lunch Money' and reviewing 'Lord of the Fries' with my kids as I said I would. But I missed having that one last check in to make sure everything's going ok on the board.
I guess it has to be, since there isn't anyone else there to post either. Most of the other side of the world is missing a full day, while I'm missing an evening and a good night's worth of sleep. It's not big in the scheme of all important things. I felt silly opening my browser this morning at 5:35 am and going to the board, when I know that it's not going to be up until 6 am. 6 am is five minutes from the moment I'm writing this sentence.
I'm sure everyone will be happy once the board is back after the 10 hour downtime...
...assuming they're back right on time.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Thinking about books...
...Here's a little something that's making the rounds that I picked it up off someone else's blog... (trust me, I'll be talking books in this)
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
Ok... ready folks? Here's the sentence from the book that was closest to me when I first saw this:
"A second and better way to summarize the rentals is to organize them directly into a frequency distribution." Enlightening, isn't it? Boring is more like it. Or scary.
No joke. The closest book to me was the 7th edition of "Statistical Techniques in Business and Economics" by Robert D. Mason and Douglas A. Lind. It was the text from my stats course in college. Keep in mind, I graduated over 10 years ago. I just keep the book around on my desk at work because it's handy if I've forgotten how to do a histogram.
Really. That's why I dug it out and have kept it at work for the last 15 months.
But that's radically different than the first book that I would find in any other room at my house. If I were at my desk at home it would probably be either the Sims strategy guide, or the new Jack Reacher paperback (Persuader is out in paperback for those who love following Lee Child's hero). In my bedroom, it would be Clayton Christensen's 'Innovator's Dilemma' or Mitch Albom's 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven'.
This gives a bit of insight - I'm an analyst who likes to play games and read. I have lots of books. There are books in almost every room of the house. In DH's office it would most likely be a toss up between some Sci-Fi and Business books... in our bedroom, depending on where I'm standing it could be more sci-fi, business, or pure relationship fiction. Or a Kellerman book (either Jonathan or Faye, I have all of both of their series').
In the hallway upstairs it could be more fiction, some childhood favorite, or a 'classic' story. In the kids bedroom it would most likely be a Nancy Drew Notebook story or a Mercer Mayer. In the kitchen? Cookbooks... anything ranging from Mexican to Asian, Better Homes and Garden's to Betty Crocker, and all sorts of other specialty Italian books and speciality cookbooks in general... Oh, and baking.
It's a little mind-boggling when you think about it. There's books and bookcases everywhere in the house. And boxes of books in the garage (of this I am fairly sure). Even in the front entryway with all the garage sale stuff - there's books there too. It's almost a disease - I love to read, I pick up a book, and it ends up somewhere in the house unless I truly hate it and then it gets donated to the Book Go Round.
I should visit the Book Go Round more often - more books for less money. I guess that's part of why I'm looking forward to this weekend when they have their paperback sale. 25 cents a paperback. And on Sunday is the $2 a bag sale. *Can you picture the grin on my face? Yeah? I thought you could.*
It's a crying shame I don't have a library card, but it's like going to the video store - I could be after something specific and if they don't have it, then I walk away disappointed. Yeah, I could roam the shelves but when I used to do that at the video store I'd usually find that I've seen everything already and anything that I *would* want to see, I already owned a copy of. I've never trusted the recommendations someone at the video store gives me when I'm searching for something to watch, and I equally don't trust the blind recommendations someone at the library gives me. They don't know my tastes, or my mood, or what I would truly be interested in. Even if I explain it, they usually are off the mark.
That's not meant to be a slam on librarians, library lovers, or those who work in video stores... that's just the experiences that I've had over time. So, I'll stick with my own private collections of books, and be happy with them....
.... so how many rooms in your place have books in them?
Monday, April 26, 2004
It's the Stitcher's Five!
...because I didn't think up another topic this weekend to wonder about...
1. Which do you prefer, Kits or Charts?
Charts, most definitely charts, unless it's something that I cannot get in any other format and must have it (like TW's Guardian or Enchanter).
2. Why?
I have a bunch of stash, and charts make better sense to me - I can use the stash I have. Besides, I've found that a lot of kit materials are of poor quality, and if I'm going to spend a whole bunch of time working on something, I want it to be with materials that are of good quality that I'm going to like working with.
Or maybe I just feel like changing something out, and I don't want to feel guilty about having all this extra stuff around that I probably won't use. Yes, I know, trade fodder - but how many people want kit materials for trade? I've got kit floss from Enchanter that I'll never use and no one's ever taken me up on it (in the non-TW trading forum with all the other stuff I have up there)...
3. How do you organise your materials before you stitch?
Does throwing them on the floor of the closet count? Actually, I tend to gather up all my supplies carefully and put them in a nice fully enclosed plastic mesh bag - fabric, beads, floss, chart, scissors - they all go in. Then I put the bag in the WIP drawer and forget it's there until I'm ready to start something new... which usually isn't until I've finished something old.
4. Do you do anything to the sides of your fabric before starting?
Serge, serge, serge. That's what I bought my tiny serger for. I don't know how people do it - stitching without doing anything to the sides of the fabric, because I always tend to catch the edge, or it starts fraying on its own. So I pull out my serger and make sure those edges are taken care of. Makes it easier when I'm framing anyway.
5. What do you do with the leftovers when your done?
Any leftover materials get put away into their proper places after making sure that I don't need them for another active (or about to be active) project.
Well, that's it for today, I hope I have a couple of things to talk about for the rest of the week... and I hope y'all have a good week.
Friday, April 23, 2004
The Friday Five...
...since I know that the admin of the Five probably isn't going to post anything, I've pulled an old Five to work with.
Before I do that, however, I want to crow about something: I made my 100 workouts at Curves. I'm very proud of myself for this, I think DH is pretty proud of me for making this milestone, and I don't think anyone else cares, but they can just stuff it. I'm happy.
1. What does it say in the signature line of your emails?
It doesn't say anything. The sig line for me on ezboard says lots and lots of things like 'Minds are for people who think' and 'People are entitled to be stupid but some abuse the privledge'. I suppose if my sig line for my work email said anything it would have my name, the title 'Sr. Business Analyst', my company name and quite possibly my phone number. I leave the fun stuff for the fun places, and the business stuff for the business places.
2. Did you have a senior quote in your high school yearbook? What was it? If you haven't graduated yet, what would you like your quote to be?
I most certainly did. I used words from James Taylor's 'Never Die Young'...
We were ring-around-the-rosy children
They were circles around the sun
Never give up, never slow down
Never grow old, never ever die young
Other hearts were broken
Other dreams ran dry
But our golden ones sail on
To another land beneath another sky
3. If you had vanity plates on your car, what would they read? If you already have them, what do they say?
They'd probably say WIZGDGT - I've been meaning to line that up, but I just haven't gotten around to it. It will probably have to wait until I get that new Forester I want (I'm just waiting on power seats and that climate control system from the Outback to be put into the Forester)... yeah, like *that* is going to happen anytime soon.
4. Have you received any gifts with messages engraved upon them? What did the inscription say?
I've never received anything that I can recall that has been engraved. I've given a couple of things, but never received anything like that. Unless you could the name KitchenAid being stamped into my stand mixer from a couple of years ago.
5. What would you like your epitaph to be?
I've never given that any thought... And I can't think of anything unfortunately.
Well, that's the Five I chose for this week, and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Thursday, April 22, 2004
The 50 worst songs of all time...
... has been complied by VH1 and Blender magazine. And I have to disagree with them on a lot of counts. The following includes quite a bit of my own opinions (of course) about music and other people's opinions on music. Take your bathroom breaks now and grab a cup of tea, we're going to chat for awhile today.
Now, before I begin, maybe I'm not the right person to comment. Maybe I'm not in their target demographic, but I can't imagine who would want to alienate a 30-something, female, employed, internet savvy individual who's up on most of the trends... that's a marketing department's wet dream right?
Apparently, I must be in a minority that doesn't follow the same trends or tastes that VH1 and Blender does. Heck, I sometimes wonder about the music tastes of my DH, who has so kindly decided (when I started writing this) to play 2 of his 5 versions of 'MacArthur Park' that he has... in a row... loudly... So I told him if he does that, he needs to put up with playing all the Barry Manilow tracks we've got too.
At the top of the VH1 list is Starship (a.k.a. Jefferson Starship, a.k.a. Jefferson Airplane) with "We Built This City". I'm sorry. Excuse me? That's the #1 worst song? Ever? *sits back stunned* I can think of so many more, and so can my friends. I've been discussing this with a few people, and together we came up with a lot more songs that could be added to the list, and others that could be dropped from the list.
First of all, I still want to know what bender these guys were on when they compiled this list of so-called worst songs of all time. I should have taken it as a sign when Netscape Radio's Classic Rock station played 'Casey Jones' (Grateful Dead), 'That Smell' (Lynyrd Skynyrd), and 'Bohemian Rhapsody' (Queen), one right after the other. I was seriously considering heavy drinking and suicide by the time the third song was done. It's not that any of those songs are bad - it's just combining all three of them together is a little too much to take at 7 in the morning. Especially when you follow it with The Kinks' 'Celluloid Heroes'.
And then I got hit with the Worst Songs of All Time list. What the heck were they thinking with putting stuff like "The Sounds of Silence" or "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" on the list? A Beatles song making the top 50 for bad songs? George and John must be spinning in their graves. Then again, maybe John's having a good laugh over this one. I've never seen anyone try and besmirch a Beatles song - aren't they supposed to be music gods or something?
I can't imagine that anything they recorded would be worse than anything Eminem has put out.
Could someone please tell me why there isn't anything by Eminem on the list, and stuff like 'We Didn't Start the Fire' and 'Shiny Happy People' *is* on the list? How many people were involved with picking these songs, and how drunk *were* they when they compiled it? The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards copious amounts of alcohol and illegal substances being ingested during the selection process.
And just what made them think of putting together a 50 Worst Songs list in the first place? There's definitely got to be some hallucinogenic substance involved with that decision. Of course, it could be that they were just listening to some adult contemporary station while coming off a really bad hangover and this is the 50 first songs that were played in order. I could then possibly make a case for vocals sounding like nails across a chalkboard then to justify it. But again, I don't know their logic, and I've not read the Blender article... yet.
A great majority of the songs on their list are from the 80s and the 90s, and only one from the 70s. The lone 70s entry, Dan Fogelberg's 'Longer' was actually released at the very tail end of the year, and therefore can actually qualify as a song for the 80s. I wish I could say that that tells me the age or musical tastes of the people who compiled the list, but anyone that I know that's stuck in the 70s actually hates Eminem, and half the list would have been full of his songs.
But that would explain some omissions that I'll cover further down.
Songs that are, and deserve to be, on the list
'Ice Ice Baby' and 'I'll Be There For You' (a.k.a. the theme song to "Friends") should be on the list. They've earned it. 'Ice Ice Baby' just ripped off the melody to a Queen song, and 'I'll Be There For You' has just been overplayed to death, never mind the fact that NBC has run it every Thursday night at 8pm for almost 10 years.
'The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me is You' - what the heck was Bryan Adams thinking when he wrote that song? Heck, his whole album deserved to be on the list. But we'll forgive him this one bad album since he's had such a great career with wonderful music. Moving on... 'Pumps and a Bump' from MC Hammer & 'Hangin' Tough'- 'nuff said.
There's not a lot else I can comment on because I've never heard of some of these songs - like the one from Puff Daddy, or Toby Keith. So I'll have to take their word for it that they deserve to be on the list, but honestly, based on the next section, I don't think that I should.
Songs that are, and DON'T deserve to be, on the list
Well, I've already mentioned one of them. I really don't think that 'We Built This City' deserves to be on the list, especially at #1. 'Everybody Have Fun Tonight' from Wang Chung - that's the ultimate Get-The-Party-STARTED song (at least it is for me). 'The Heart of Rock 'n' Roll' - the list's second shot at a San Francisco Bay Area band (Starship being the first) - that certainly doesn't belong on the list.
All three of those are fantastic driving songs, and I don't mean driving the car off the Golden Gate bridge. Don't Worry, Be Happy, I'll cover great driving songs later on in another blog. Speaking of...
'Don't Worry Be Happy' - what the heck did Bobby McFerrin do to these guys to earn a place in the top 10? I know his song, like the Beach Boys' 'Kokomo', is musical Prozac, but come on people.... worst song of all time?
'Shiny Happy People', 'We Didn't Start the Fire', 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' and 'Your Body is a Wonderland' (which won John Mayer a Grammy) aren't loser songs either. I wonder what qualities of these songs set them off.
As a lifelong Chicago fan (read: blind loyalty statement to follow), I can't agree with 'You're the Inspiration' being on the list. I could very easily agree with Chicago's 'If You Leave Me Now' being on the list. As much as I love the band, I cringe when I hear that song, and wonder why I didn't bring earplugs for when I see them in concert. It's nothing against their lead singer, or the fine technical performance of the song - it's the song itself. I just can't stand it (and neither can DH who had to endure someone singing it over and over again during a band trip when the song was new). Think about it for awhile - I bet you can't stand it either.
'Dancing on the Ceiling'? That's certainly not one of the best songs, but not one of the worst. They should have put Lionel's sappy love ballad, 'Hello', on the list instead.
I wonder if in some of these cases it wasn't a matter of the artist being on the list, but that they just listed an easy target that's known to justify the artist's presence. I'm sure I can think of lots of bad songs by the artists I'm defending, but the songs that are listed here DON'T belong on the list.
Songs that aren't on the list, and really should be
Gary Jules re-recorded Tears for Fears' 'Mad World' - any of his versions should be on the list. I didn't even recognize the song from the original because it's so... down, dark and depressing. I'm usually a pretty happy and stable person, but Jules' versions of it inspire me to feel like I want to toss myself off the nearest bridge.
I saw someone had 'Season in the Sun' on their list of worst songs. While I'm sure that someone would agree that it's a depressing song, along the same lines as the aforementioned 'Mad World', I certainly wouldn't put it in the same category. That's an up and happy tempoed song (much like the original version Tears for Fears did of 'Mad World') - it would just take one person to record it and make it depressing. Now that I've said that, let's move onto a song that's happy and uptempo but really should never have come into existance, and I crave Lysol for the brain whenever I hear it.
Toni Basil's 'Mickey' (yes, I know I'm going to hear it for this one) - this one really belongs on the list. It's the most annoying piece of dreck that I've ever heard. While the melody itself is catchy, the words just ruin it. And her voice. And that video that went with it. Icky. (DH turned this one on after a few minutes of silence, and ran in to ask if he'd found one...and happy to find that he had). Oh Mickey, you blow my mind - more specifically, you do make me want to blow my brains out when I hear this chick sing this song.
Piece of advice for David Lee Roth - hey, man, you should never have recorded 'California Girls' according to a friend of mine. Oh, and you screwed up Van Halen too.
'MacArthur Park' was another notable mention from a couple of people, including myself who heard a version with a woman singing it at Curves (and no, it wasn't written to give DJ's bathroom breaks - that's what 'Stairway to Heaven' was for
.
The B-52s weren't immune from criticism of other people: 'Rock Lobster' (for someone's personal reasons) and 'Love Shack' (sorry, I can't agree with this one, but you're entitled to your opinions) made some personal worst 5 lists.
Anyone remember a small club band called The Waitresses? They had a hit with a song called 'I Know What Boys Like'. The singer couldn't sing, the lyrics seemed out of sync with the over processed synthesizer, and the lyrics themselves... eww. This is that so-called 'classic' about the girl who teases boys and thinks it's fun (and funny). What I have a hard time with is that it's been re-done so many times (and it's still bad).
VH1 is running a poll about some of the worst songs in specific categories such as 'awesomely bad break up song' or 'bad boy band song'. I have to say that almost all of the songs listed there aren't on the official list ('Achy Breaky Heart' being the standout exception), but many of them should be. Tell me why Air Supply's 'All Out Of Love' or LFO's 'Summer Girls' (a.k.a. the Abercrombie & Fitch song) aren't on the list? Ok, I'll have to admit it, I really like 'Summer Girls', but I acknowledge that it's a horribly bad song and deserves to be on the list.
VH1 mention Ricky Martin's 'She Bangs' in the 'bad Latin Explosion' category - ok, I'll buy into that one, if they also put William Hung's version on the list too (he's calling himself the Hong Kong Ricky Martin after all). There's no way you can convince me to change my mind on that one after I had to watch video of him singing it 5 times in a row prior to a recent company meeting (don't ask). I don't care that he loves what he's doing - he's very VERY bad at it. It only took one showing of that video for me to realize that.
I do have to take issue with VH1's 'Awesomely bad Hair Metal Ballad' category. Or, rather, I have to admit a deep dark secret. I love Hair Metal. I grew up in the years of Hair Metal. The 5 that VH1 picked are all good songs, except for Motley Crue's 'Home Sweet Home' - that one never grew on me. They list Stryper's 'Honestly', Warrant's 'Heaven', the Crue song, Poison's 'Every Rose Has It's Thorn' and Bon Jovi's 'I'll Be There For You'. I'm sorry... I just choke at those choices. There were worse hair metal love ballads, I just know there were. I just have to figure out what they were.
And if anyone suggests Winger's 'Miles Away' as one being worse, I'll have to come throttle you myself.
Remember earlier when I mentioned that the folks might have some biased opinions towards 70s songs, but it didn't seem possible because the list surely would have had Eminem's entire catalog of whatever-it-is he records (because it certainly isn't music in my opinion) on the list... The bias *would* explain why things like 'Afternoon Delight', 'Muskrat Love', and 'You Light Up My Life' aren't on the list. Where's 'And the Beat Goes On' and 'I Got You Babe' - heck, where's ANYTHING by Sonny and Cher? They forgot the Carpenters too (although I'm sure my mom would disagree with me and then veer off into some discussion about that poor girl who starved herself to death).
And honestly, shouldn't those songs be on the list? Aren't they songs (and artists) that are so bad that they should never have been recorded in the first place?
Tell me where the Milli Vanilli songs are... and Sister Sledge's 'We Are Family'. Those two surely belong on the list. I'm thinking that The Kinks' 'Celluloid Heroes' belongs on the list too, but that might be because I heard it after the drugged up suicide trilogy this morning. So I won't make a decision on that song until I've listened to it on its own.
So, I don't agree with the list (I think that's pretty clear), but the people who picked them out are entitled to their opinons...
...even if I think they're the worst music critics of all time. *wanders off humming 'we built this city on rock and roll'*
The 50 Worst Songs of all time can be found (for the moment) here at the Houston Chronicle's website.
And a great big THANK YOU to all who helped out with song suggestions and comments about those songs for this entry.
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
This week's Stitcher's Five...
... Oh, I could go on for hours, on this one... but I won't.
1. Do you like to use specialty stitches when you stitch?
Oh my yes, I love specialty stitches. They add such dimension and texture to a piece. And I love band samplers that are almost all specialty stitches, with just a little standard cross stitch. Like Jeannette Douglas' 'Bug Collector' - that's got to be my favorite piece of all. So far. There's also the Tranquility Sampler that someone sent to me as a surprise (I'm still in awe of that).
2. Can you do a perfect French knot?
Can *you* do a perfect colonial knot? I can. I use that instead of a French knot. Or I use beads. And I know a lot of people reading this fall back on beads as an alternate instead of learning a different (and easier, in my opinion) knot that is a perfect substitute for a French knot.
3. What is your favourite stitch?
Waffle stitch... done in Needle Necessities Calypso. See Bug Collector for the line of them. They're sooooo gorgeous when done with just the right threads. There are some really nice pulled thread stitches that I want to experiment further with before I put them ahead of the waffle. Rhodes butterflies are up there too. I LOVE Rhodes Butterflies... especially done in a nice spring-like variegated color... oooooo.
4. Are you currently working on any projects with specialty stitches and if so which ones?
Desiderata and Butterfly Garden are the ones that come immediately to mind. I don't think that anything else I'm working on requires more than a French knot (which will be a colonial instead). I am designing a few band samplers that will be entirely specialty stitches, and I hope to launch those before my 33rd birthday. I just have to find the time to stitch them first, so I can't officially call them WIPs yet.
5. Name a specialty stitch you would most love to learn how to do.
Bullion Roses/Bullion Knots. They're the only things that scare me even with documentation as to how to do them. Everything else? Just set me down with a couple of books that have pretty pictures on how to do the stitch, and leave me alone for about a half hour. I'll have read everything twice, and have practiced at least 2 of the stitches by the time you return. They may not be the prettiest examples of the stitch, but they set me on my way to doing them.
I employ copies of Eileen Bennet's stitching notebooks, Janice Love's hardanger basics books, and the Embroidery Stitch Bible to keep me on the straight course for completing a stitch that I'm not familiar with. So far, I've been undeterred from anything but those Bullion knots. But then, I've only sat down to try them once, instead of the half hour of silence method either, and I haven't *needed* to try them for a piece I want to do....
...I promise, however, I'll try to do them soon.
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
...Well, it’s that time again to update y’all with the state of my stitching since the last address. Sorry if you're looking for some in-depth commentary on my weekend or the state of affairs in the world as I view them - I'll be back with more of that stuff tomorrow probably.
Right now, we're talking stitching. I’ve made some good progress, and have left some other goals by the wayside. B actually finished something of her own in Q1 too.
I still have to finish the mat cuts and framing for that wedding sampler (no, I'm not including the link to the pic here) and get it off in the mail. The frame was backordered, and backordered, and backordered again, but I think it’s finally in transit to me now. It’s about time too. I really should have picked another frame, but the one I saw was THE FRAME.
I did manage to obtain the frame for a piece that DH’s Mom entrusted me with that badly needed a reframing job (well, I stole it off her wall because it was starting to sag, and it was a bad framing job to begin with). I’d have to say that I did a pretty darn good job with the frame and mat selection and with the job itself. I had to lace it twice because the first time came off crooked. Turns out, the piece was catawampus to begin with after the way it was framed the first time. I took good care of it, and it’s 99.8% straight – there’s just a slight lean on one side, but it’s not noticeable unless you look for it. Or unless you’re me and know exactly where it is because I framed it.
I’ve made an exception to the “no models but one I hope to get” rule for 2004. I decided to help out an LNS that I’ve helped out before by providing one small model. Unfortunately, they haven’t sent me the supplies yet for the job and it’s due in a month. Thankfully, it’s a small thing and I could probably get it done and back to them in about two weeks, but I don’t want those two weeks to be a rush deal. So an email went off, only to find that they *did* ship the supplies – they’ve not arrived yet. And I should have had the supplies early last week. This is not a good sign.
I don’t think that I’ve been helping my friend keep her 2004 stitching goals on track. In fact, we’ve not talked about them much lately. We haven’t talked much between ourselves lately either, other than the quick email here and there about other minor things. I haven’t kept up my ornament or two a month deal either. The Mill Hill kits are so quick to stitch up, but I haven’t worked on one since finishing the first one back in January. That's probably because I received (for Christmas) the Victoria Sampler cyberclass for Butterfly Garden, and was working on that - it's still not done, but once I pick it up again, I think I'll be in the finishing sprint for it - I just have to finish all the ribbon leaves and then do the stumpwork. Then it can sit in a drawer with DragonFly Lace until I get just the right shadowbox frames for them.
So, now that we’ve dispensed with some of the minor things, let’s recap the larger works I had in progress. I put some more work into Teresa Wentzler's The Guardian. The dragon is almost fully completed, sans backstitching, and I moved into the background and border wasteland (as you can see here). As I stated previously. I've had that as a WIP since May 2001. I put him down again a little while ago because I was getting tired of all that gold and green and needed some other colors in the spectrum in my range.
So I picked up Because Nice Matters. And finished it. I didn’t do all the scallops around the border because I decided I wanted to do a quick and simple frame. Which I didn’t order when I ordered the other frames. Nor did I remember to take a picture of it when I pulled out the camera. I have pictures that I need to post eventually of that piece because it was an anonymous gift, and I need to thank the person who sent it to me. Nice really does matter… I just hope that they still think that way about me.
After finishing that piece, I moved onto Mirabilia's Shimmering Mermaid. It's a really fun sparkly piece to work on, and I couldn't have chosen better than the Silkweaver Charizma fabric that my SS sent me (that I actually picked out myself in a conversation with my SS, who I didn't know was my SS at the time). I’ve made great progress with the piece since I last updated the State of the Stitching. The picture shows the fabric well, but not quite as pretty as it actually is... I’ve finished just about all of the floss stitching (except her upper body) and am just about ready to move into the metallics and beads. This puts me on a finishing track for her. I’ll have to make a note to order the frame for Because Nice Matters at the same time that I order the frame for this one. And I think this one will hang in A & B’s room – they’re in agreement with this too. But, since DH is the one that pounds the nails into the wall, I suspect that he may move the Seaside Kingdom into their room and leave Shimmering Mermaid at the top of the stairs.
And that’s fine with me. After all, he’s the one that took down a Disney concept drawing off the wall and hung Dragon Ride in its place. We still haven’t moved Dragon Ride from that perch either.
I’m part of a Dimples Designs Round Robin where we’re only working on the bugs that Terry designed. So I gathered the supplies and worked up ‘Queen of the Bumblebees’ for the person’s RR that I have. Got that done, and decided I needed to put something else up on the stand. I didn’t feel like working on Guardian anymore, but I knew I wanted to work on a TW.
So I dug around and picked up Above the Clouds, which has been languishing for some time. I’ve revisited a reservation I had about this dragon early on – that the blue colors are going to fade into the fabric, but I’ve constantly reassured myself that the backstitching and the surrounding colors will help resolve that issue. That and if he fades a little into the background after the surrounding colors and the backstitching is put in, I can always say that he’s camouflaged nicely. I’ve been stitching away at him for a few nights now, and he’s coming along quite nicely and quickly, even though the photo shows fabric to be lighter than it actually is.
I’ve not given any thought to Celestial Dragon so he's still in the same shape he's been in for a while. The same holds true for Floral Bellpull, which you can see here. Same is true for Noah's Ark and Storyteller. They can be viewed together The same stands true for Desiderata and The Fortunate Traveller as well. I think I’ve decided that Desiderata will stay on the bone lugana that its on, so that’s one less thing to think about.
The Fortunate Traveller… now that’s something to think a little more on. I’ve been feeling the pull to work on him again, and I’m thinking that after I’m finished with this round on Above the Clouds, I should pull Traveller out again and work on him. I think my poor Trav Draggie is feeling a little unloved.
So, this concludes the Q2 State of the Stitching Address. As you can tell, I’ve made a little progress, but not leaps and bounds. I expect that the Q3 Address will have more to talk about in terms of completion of pieces, some framing, and maybe (just maaaaaybeeeee) a new piece started.
Until then… happy stitching.
Monday, April 19, 2004
Random Ramblings...
...I've been collecting a few thoughts lately, and they're not worth creating a full entry on each of them, so I've put them together here. I hope you find something to wonder about here too... or something to laugh at... or identify with...
Don't you hate it when someone stands there and says something and then gives off that aura of Expectation that you're going to ask a follow up question? But you have no interest in asking for more information about the statement that they make, and don't ask, but they tell you anyway?
Makes you wonder if they're either seriously trying to engage you in conversation, or just like hearing themselves talk. Or try to come off as being a Person Of Importance, since they have information that you don't. I suspect the latter part of the first sentence, and the entire second sentence when it comes to my ex-boss.
Pretty sure that he loves to hear himself talk...regardless of whether or not anyone is listening, just as long as a body is present.
The purpose of a vacuum cleaner is to remove dust and dirt from the carpets, right? I use my vacuum fairly regularly for this purpose. So, why does my vacuum have dust ON it?
Doesn't make sense.
So, if the United States is a free country, then why am I paying the government to live here?
Can you tell that I thought of that one on April 15...?
If there isn't a glass ceiling, then what is that that I keep bumping my head against when I stand up to be noticed as a female business analyst with 12 years of experience and should have the same salary as my male counterpart (who does his job at the corporate office, has the magic word "Manager" against his title, and has less experience than I do)?
One morning, when sitting in bed, DH noticed dust in the sunbeam just above the bed. My nose was a little stuffy at the time, and we figured it was probably dust that was aggravating it. When I reached for a tissue to blow my nose, he noticed that there was significantly *more* dust in the sunbeam than before.
The solution added to the problem.
Makes you wonder if Kleenex knew this before they took over the tissue market...
People like coffee. People like fresh ground coffee. People buy coffee grinders to have fresh ground coffee. Subset of those people hate the dust mess that the coffee grinder makes in getting them their fresh grounds, and they complain.
If they really hate coffee dust, then why the heck are they grinding coffee for in the first place? Coffee grounds are just a thicker version of coffee dust.
Boy, if I were syndicated in a press market somewhere, Starbucks and other coffee places would probably hate me by now, especially because I'm a dedicated tea drinker. Except for that rare Starbucks hot chocolate with an extra pump of raspberry syrup in it that I get.
If Spyware is so smart, then why doesn't it figure out that I don't want it, have repeatedly removed it, and just go away.
Can you tell that I'm still fighting the demons and am about to turn my beloved box over to the IT group to fix it?
Well, that's all from me for the moment, and tomorrow I should have the Q2 State of the Stitching Address up. As always, I welcome wonderings in the comments section... I bet y'all have some good ones to add to this discussion that I've probably missed.
Friday, April 16, 2004
...still waiting on the Friday Five...
...and I'll post it as soon as I see it, or I'll post some derivative column that's related to it... but in the meantime, I found a random inspiration site, and I'm going to muse on a couple of the things I found there...
As per usual, the taxes were done at the last minute. So to the last minute that it was an extension with a check and DH will whittle away at them a little more later on. No one wanted to go on the annual trek to the post office. The thing that really gets me is this: it could have been worse. That completely scares me.
I haven't eaten anything today other than a chocolate doughnut that someone just placed in front of me, and some green tea. I did say that I was going to have a Claritin earlier, and I still need one, but I'm holding off. Those things usually last for 48-72 hours for me instead of the usual 24, but I want to make doubly sure that I can make it through tomorrow without needing one.
Tomorrow is a stitching get-together. I'm going. We'll see if anyone has any issues with me being there when I get there, since there was at least one person who wasn't happy with me over the April Fool's Joke. Hopefully all will be well. I might even pack up the RR in question and bring it with me to show off.
I'm on workout #97 at Curves. 3 more and I get a t-shirt. It's not going to be Wednesday that I make #100 though. DH has to drop his sister and her family at the airport tomorrow morning, and I suspect that he's not going to be back before I want to jet off to the gym before the GTG. It's ok though. I'll still make #100 next week, and get my Curves shirt.
I'm taking the kids to see Ella Enchanted today. I found out when I checked the listing that it's PG rated, and went to investigate it on one of those kid-safe ratings sites. Boy, they're so coldly technical about what's in the film that it makes your skin crawl. I had DH read it because I was a little concerned about taking the kids to see it, but his response was priceless (I'm paraphrasing because I don't recall the exact words):
It's got ogre butts in it. If it's got ogre butts in it, it's a must-see.
That's DH for ya. Gotta love him.
The more I hear about a certain individual and the things she's pulled, the more I wonder how her moral, ethical and psychological wiring got so screwed up. *shakes head* As DH said, she should find a guy she deserves. I agree. She should find someone just like her instead of the one that she's trying to screw over because, honestly, he's waaaaay too good for her. And as I recently added to my sig line: People are entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privledge.
Well, that's about it for now. I'll update when I get an alert that the Friday Five is up, or I'll just have to find a suitable substitute...
...and if I don't, then have a great weekend.
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Online quizzes...
... there's tons of them out there to tell you what Harry Potter character you are, to what color you are, to what Care Bear (icky) you are... even something called Blog-inality. Heck, I think some people are addicted to them, but there's nothing wrong with that. Who am I to stop someone from having some fun...
...and then there was the dragon quiz. I thought that I'd take this one for kicks and grins and analysis. I also took the Blog-inality one, and you'll find those results further down.
A SILVER Dragon Lies Beneath!
My inner dragon is to dragons what the Ranger is to humans. I possess considerable intelligence and self-confidence. I live by my own code of ethics and I stick to it at all times. Click the image to try the Inner Dragon Online Quiz for yourself.
Your Inner Dragon is to dragons what the Ranger is to humans. Silvers are one of three types of metallic dragon, the others being Gold and Copper. Like all metallics, Silvers rigidly adhere to an internal code of conduct. Unlike the other two metallics, however, this code is not universal. Each Silver must develop their code individually, a fact which explains their unique dispositions and actions. Silvers are often considered outcasts or shadows dwelling on the periphery of dragon culture (much like human Rangers), but they can always be counted upon to speak the truth and help their allies. Because no one but a Silver knows what they'll do next, their alignment is "Chaotic Neutral."
Ok, this definitely describes me - I created my own code of conduct, my own rules, people don't necessarily agree with me, I can slip in and out of conflicts carefully, and I do have quite the reputation for being a dependable problem-solver.
But the point of this blog entry isn't to talk about me and my affinity for silver dragons. It's about what the lure of these quizzes really is. Why does one do one of these? Is it for fun, pure curiosity, or is a body in search of something that would describe them to a "t" because they can't describe themselves?
In all honesty, I have a problem with trying to describe myself when people ask. I'm a little bit of everything, I say: fun and shy, outgoing, and a stick in the mud at times. I stick to the rules and break them as necessary... but who can't say that for themselves at one point or another in their lives?
Another thing to keep in mind when you take these random quizzes - you don't know where they came from in the first place, nor are they necessarily from reputable sites. Recently on the TWBB someone posted a link to a quiz. Shortly afterward, folks started complaining about getting more pop-up ads and various system things going wrong. Someone reported a trojan virus attempting to load. So, I cleaned my machine up really good, and then I took the quiz, and ran all my diagnostics again. There was so much junk loaded as a result of that quiz it wasn't even funny. I had at least 65 new pieces of tracking cookies and registry edits combined when that diagnostic was finished. And some of them were not pretty looking with all the registry keys that were edited and inserted.
I'm really torqued because I'm *still* battling spyware and unauthorized pop-ups and pop-unders (even with TWO pop-up blockers running in tandem) from this little excursion. At least it didn't give me a virus - my corporate virus checker is very good about catching those. I'm a responsible web surfer, and I take care with my security settings, but I never thought that one of these quizzes would take my system for the ride that it has.
And considering how responsibly careful I am, spending an hour and a half every day since cleaning up more and more spyware as fast as I can find it in the registry and as fast as Spy-bot and Ad-Aware can release new reference files does *not* make me a happy camper. In fact, quite the opposite. And while it's my own fault for clicking the link, I'm not happy with the individual who posted the damn thing in the first place. She should have been more responsible - and should have noticed something odd happening with her computer. If there is anything going south with her 'puter, she certainly hasn't brought it up on board, but she's also been conspicuously absent since I edited her post to state that spyware runs rampant if you follow through with the quiz. If she didn't notice anything, or didn't care, or wrote it off as an "oh well, that's what happens on the web", then that's stupidly irresponsible and inconsiderate of her fellow web surfers.
But, it's another lesson of the web - click at your own risk when you follow that yellow brick road of a link.
Bloginality - thanks to Stasha and Belinda for putting this up on their blogs to haunt me, tease me, and make me take the test... which, by the way, is spyware free as far as I could tell - I took this quiz on my system at home, and that's still running spyware free.
My results
You are an INTJ!
As an INTJ, you are Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging.
This makes your primary focus on Introverted Thinking with an Extraverted Intuition.
This is defined as a NT personality, which is part of Carl Jung's Rational (Knowledge Seeking) type, and more specifically the Mastermind or Scientist.
You aren't as openly affectionate as some of your NT counterparts, and this may cause other bloggers to assume you aren't as friendly. Your ideas and actual applications for these ideas are brilliant, however, and you might be more likely to create something masterful on your journal.
How very true. Sort of. I could have picked right down the middle of the road on this test, and I'd be willing to bet that if there were more options I'd be an Extroverted Thinking with Introverted Intuition.
I *am* a little bit of both when I am so inclined. I have been accused of being cold or standoffish in my emails, but when I write an email answering someone that I don't normally converse with, I go into professional writing mode. That's just the way that I am. Somehow it's different here in the blog window - perhaps because it's more stream of consciousness writing for me I don't go into that same analytical mode. It puts off people - I find myself apologizing more often than not when someone rants back after a well thought out email that I obviously don't give a flying fig about them. *sigh*
Can't please everyone. Not even gonna try. Of course, my absence in a certain venue has probably made quite a few individuals ecstatic with joy, while a few others are still wondering where the heck I am. I'm right here. I haven't moved, I'm not in professional or personal turmoil. But I digress.... I think.
I'm having a hard time focusing in on a specific point today, but in looking back, I think I made two of them. #1: Only you can figure out what you're really about - an online quiz of just a few questions can't pinpoint anyone - they're too general. #2: Click at your own risk when being directed to something online. Even if its someone you know well who is directing you there...
...else you'll be as frustrated as I am with spyware. *puts on steel toed shoes and ponders a new definition for 'rebooting'*
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
The Stitcher's Five
... But before I post the Stitcher's Five... A very Happy Birthday to the trio of Suz, Annette and Terry...
Yes, in addition to the Friday Five, I'll occasionally work in the Stitcher's Five (they are totally unrelated to each other, found in separate locations, and are published on different days).
1. What is your favourite theme to stitch (i.e. primitive, fantasy, samplers, etc)
The answer to that is easy: Fantasy, hands down. Dragons, dragons and more dragons. And griffins. Although I have to say that I've been veering slightly towards speciality stitch samplers because that's what I've got some sketchy designs for myself.
2. Has this always been your favourite theme (i.e as your tastes change)?
Yes, fantasy has stuck with me over these last few years, with samplers edging in slightly, but I doubt they'll ever overcome my love for dragons.
3. How many WIPs/UFOS do you have currently in this theme?
About 6, unless you count Noah's Ark by Teresa Wenztler as fantasy, in which case, it would be 7. I have 10 WIPs total at the moment. And I doubt I'll ever get much higher than that, but I do aim to get a bit lower... down to about 5 is the goal. I've got a ways to go, that's for darn sure. Especially because I want to finish something now and then work in another pattern for A that I promised her.
4. And how many finished?
Counting Mirabilia's Seaside Kingdom... 5. All TW's except that Mirabilia. Stretch, Tempest in a Teacup, Dragon Ride, and The Castle.
5. Name three favourite designs in your overall favourite theme.
Oh boy, this is a hard one....
Dracolair's Midnight Hunting
Teresa Wentzler's The Fortunate Traveller
Teresa Wentzler's The Storyteller
...although, I have to add that the other Dracolair dragons, and TW's other works - most especially 'The Castle' (shown here with my red conversion and full wing but a little more orange that it is in reality) rank right up there. Asking me to choose 3 within the Fantasy realm is almost impossible. But I do find it interesting to note that of the three I picked, two are current WIPs, and one is my very first model job...
...that reminds me... I still have to do the Q2 State of the Stitching Address. I'll try and work that in later in the week.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Meanwhile, at Curves...
...I was working out last Wednesday, when I had my measurements done. I had forgotten to request a printout of my results, and after I was done I went to get said information.
I had to wait politely while a Curves employee was explaining the place to a woman and her son, and since it's a small lobby, I managed to overhear most of the conversation even though I tried to politely stay out of earshot. The boy was about as tall as I, and probably outweighed me by at least 50 pounds, but was clearly young. I guessed him to be about 12, but I was a little far off. He's 14.
The woman who was inquiring about the place was quietly insistent that Curves is for her - she's partially deaf, does not like being in large crowds of people (she seemed shy, or hesitant), and needed something that would help control her Type I diabetes. Her doctor had recommended exercise, and she was pretty sure that Curves was the place for her.
There was one small problem. She doesn't like to talk to people much, and therefore doesn't make friends, so she wanted to be able to bring someone with her while working out. The employee thought that this would be fine until it was determined that the person the potential client would be bringing in with her would be her son.
Her son had no motivation to work out (his words) and is convinced that he is fat. And he's frustrated about it from the tone I picked up in his voice when he declared that he was fat. I didn't think that there was anything wrong with him other than a clear lack of self-esteem. From the sound of his voice I got the idea that he might have some hearing loss or something else himself. While the employee tried to re-explain that this is a gym for women, the potential client kept insisting that this is where she needed to come to work out and that her son *has* to come with her.
Her son reassured the Curves employee that he doesn't mind working out with a bunch of women. While that's very self-assured of him, I don't think that street goes both ways. They both left shortly afterward, pamphlets and information in hand.
After I got my printout, I got caught into a conversation with another client and the manager on duty. The lady and her son came back and motioned for the employee to go outside. This raised eyebrows between myself and the other two women there. We chatted lightly until the employee came back in, and found out that the lady and her son had an appointment for the following evening. There's no way they could turn the business away, as that would just be asking for a discrimination lawsuit.
The employee reminded us that the potential client's son doesn't mind working out with a bunch of women. I wondered aloud how much would a bunch of women mind working out with him? I was asked that question of myself almost immediately.
Honestly. I'm on the fence, I told them, because I would have to see what the boy is like when actually working out. I also said that I wasn't 100% comfortable with that idea either. I asked them how many 12, 13, 14-year old boys they knew and what their behavior was like. I got lots and lots of negative descriptions from the other two ladies (who were overweight) - they point, they laugh, they tease, they're mean, they don't have any tact, etc etc. While I agreed that that is true, I told them about the other end of the spectrum. They watch, they're rude or they stare. I had no idea how on target I was with that assessment.
That's why I don't go to a co-ed gym. I don't want anyone watching me intently or staring at me while I work out. That's why I go to a women's gym - I am highly less likely to experience the "ogling factor" while I'm there. I'm in reasonably good shape - I hover around 134 pounds on average, I'm 5' 7", and I'm, ahem, well built in the chest region. I don't need a 14 year old hormone factory working out right next to me, or working out right across from me. Or working out in the same room with me.
If I wanted to work out with a member of the opposite sex, then I would have joined the same gym as my husband. And honestly, I think if I had done that, I wouldn't still be working out now. I think his attempts to "help" me get more out of my workout would have turned me off to the gym, and I wouldn't be in the shape that I am now.
That being, considerably better than it was when I started 8 months ago. I have some muscle tone and I'm doing this all by myself with no pressure from anyone, including the employees at Curves.
I'm comfortable at Curves because it's all women, and because there's a comfortable easy going air in there between the regulars. I'm not pushed to work harder than I'm comfortable with at the time. I don't have to talk to anyone - I can always look at the floor, and they'll leave me alone. I've been in other gyms where I look at the floor and someone jabbers away at me, and I just get fed up and hurry to get out of there. That and it's social hour at a great many gyms. I'm afraid that if this boy is allowed to come in there's going to be quite a different atmosphere coming on board, and a few less regulars, and I think that I might be one of the people who stops going there.
Sure, I can always figure out when they're going to be working out and avoid them as much as possible. I can always get a travel pass and visit a different facility (there's a Curves within walking distance of my new building location for the company, and I should be moved in there by September). I shouldn't let something like this keep me from doing something that's so excellent (and addicting) for me. I can just sit here and hope that they weren't satisfied with their first tryout of the place and decide that it's not for them. I hope, I hope.
Heck, it's just plain wrong for me to be thinking like this. It's discrimination wrong, that's how bad it is. I've always been one to say that women and men are equal and they should have equal pay, equal rights, equal time off, perks, benefits, and the list goes on and on and on. I know that there are some things that a man can do that a woman probably shouldn't - like play pro-football. Well, a woman probably shouldn't play on a men's pro-football team, and I don't know many women who could withstand the rigors of the game. Or would want to.
Likewise, I don't know any men who would willingly want to endure pregnancy or childbirth (even if there's a c-section involved). Or could handle it.
Gyms and clubs, however, are different. Women have pushed on that for years. Men can't have a men's only club - some woman makes sure that the place will change its rules and allow women. Personally, I wouldn't mind if there were a men's only gym chain around. If men want to work out among other men, and only other men, then that's fine with me and women shouldn't intrude. There are co-ed gyms for the women and men to co-exist in peace, sweat and harmony. There's Curves and Linda Evans for women who want a low-pressure comfortable exercise experience. A women's only place... it's only fair to have a men's only place. Which, I've just found out, they do. Something called Axxion, or Axtion - not sure what the name is, but it's a men's Curves and it's just started up. I wish them the best of success.
I found out that they came for their first appointment, and they haven't been back. During the free consultation appointment, it was explained that this is a women's gym, and women do blow off steam here, vent, bash men (although I've not seen this), etc. The boy fired back with a comment about not minding about working out among women. He was told that he might be a little uncomfortable with some of the conversation because it's going to be coming from older women, and not from his own peer group. He snapped at the Curves manager about her insinuation that he doesn't have any girlfriends (where did *that* come from) and that he's got 8 girlfriends. The rest of the conversation went downhill from there - he was increasingly rude, and when it came time to work out he decided to sit in the lobby with his cd player and headphones and sing loudly along with the music, ignoring the requests to be quiet. And he stared... he would get up and block the doorway or the check in computer where we wand in, and he would stare into the workout area. I don't know if he targeted staring at any one person or just was equal opportunity ogling.
Both the manager and I and a few others are hoping against hope that he and his mother, who did nothing to reign in his behavior, don't come back. They were referred to The Right Stuff, just down the street. Great. They can work out with my husband at his co-ed gym where those two (the mom and son) belong. I didn't sign up at Curves to be stared at - I signed up to feel better about myself and be comfortable.
I can understand the potential client's initial issue (and thus stating that she needs her son with her) - it's hard to make friends in new places. Especially places where you may be judged, critiqued, evaluated by strangers. I had the same issue walking into my Curves for the first time - despite all that I had heard, I was nervous about being around some of these women who had been there a while. Some who may be wondering why I'm there in the first place; others just searching for and finding my imperfections. When you have a disability that makes that much harder, it's nice to have a familiar face around you...
...I just wish that that face she wants around didn't belong to her 14 year old son.
Sunday, April 11, 2004
The Evolution of an Easter Weekend.
...I'm doing something a little different this time - I've started this entry after 10pm on a Saturday night, and will post it on Sunday evening (which is when you're most likely reading it) and I probably won't have an entry on Monday.
Before I begin, I hope that you all had a wonderful, safe, and enjoyable Easter Sunday. And for those who have already had Easter Sunday, or don't celebrate, I hope you had a nice weekend.
Saturday
So, here I sit, late in the night, energized by a glass of tangerine juice I drained and waiting for Easter morning. I love Easter - it's a day of rebirth, re-energy, and chocolate hangovers.
DH and I have just about finished being the Easter Bunny. B's basket is hidden with a tie wrap between the shower curtain in the downstairs bathroom. A's basket is yet to be hidden, but we're thinking in the dishwasher. 16 eggs have been filled and hidden around the downstairs portion of the house - now I just have to explain how I know that there's 16 eggs when the kids come up short. I suppose this year I could state that the bunny leaves twice the amount of eggs as the oldest child's age. Hopefully A won't work the math and think that there should be 17.
The girls were so excited when we tucked them into bed. B has really missed ice cream, and can't wait to see what's in her Easter basket. They've not quite learned all the other significant things about what the day means. Yes, we're behind on them having formal religious education - but they're doing fine anyway and we do sit and chat with them about it once in a while. It's no good excuse, but it's what I've got for the moment.
For those who have been following this blog you know that I gave up chocolate, candies of all kinds, and sodas for Lent. Tomorrow I can have them all back. Honestly, one soda and the chocolate bunny ears that B promised me will probably be enough for me to handle tomorrow. That and some deviled eggs. And maybe a chocolate lava cake later on in the week. Oh yes, I missed chocolate a lot. Next year, I'm rethinking the soda thing - a really cold highly carbonated soda puts the quick ka-bonch on an allergic sneeze fit and I could have used that a couple of times in the last couple of weeks. I don't think I'll give up chocolate, but I will give up ice cream and candy. Thus, I can still have a piece of chocolate birthday cake should I end up at a party where it's being served - like the three parties I went to during this Lent that had chocolate cake... or chocolate ice cream. Yes, I understand the sacrifice that it represents, but that was just pure torture.
I think I'll give up pizza too, which will make meatless Fridays an even more creative challenge when looking for things to eat - really, a pizza with spinach, tomato and black olive is really good (and drop the black olive, add ham instead for those non-meatless days and you have a winner of a pizza). Ah, I'll have to look back at this next year and see what I end up doing.
Anyway, it's late and I think I'll switch on the television with a glass of water and stitch for a short while before bed. Tomorrow we have Mass to attend, a few eggs to find, and family to visit with. Hopefully I'll be able to sit down and get a few thoughts in while they're still fresh in my mind.
Sunday Morning
Oh boy, I stayed up way too late last night watching Saturday Night Live - this is my first thought when I crack my eyes open around 6:30am. I hear the girls wandering around and making exclamations about the bunny having been in the house. I know that DH & I will be invaded upon shortly, so I close my eyes and try to grab a few more minutes worth of sleep. The girls come in no less than 6 times before DH & I get up to see what they've found. During one of the trips we were informed that B helped A find her basket because the silverware basket from the dishwasher wasn't in the dishwasher. A was going to leave it there until B finds her basket.
I come downstairs around 7:30, with no intention of going to Mass because I don't want to embarrass the family by falling asleep, and there is still a basket to be found. I find B laying down on the floor staring 20 feet up at the entryway ceiling. I follow her eyes up and see nothing. "There's no basket there, B" to which she asks if the bunny could hide the basket up on one of the high windowsills in the entryway. I look up and smile, knowing that that was one of the places that DH was thinking of last night for a basket perch. "Oh, I don't know, perhaps."
About 15 minutes later, they get a clue from DH - he had wandered around the house looking high and low, following the wall in the house. Once they had heard that he had seen B's basket, they ran off straight to the bathroom where it had been hidden. DH comments that he must have been thinking too loud; I just wonder if I'd given anything away when *I* looked around the house, but I know I avoided looking where the basket was hidden. A few minutes later A exclaims that she's found the basket.
They're entranced with the brown uni and the shadow gelert NeoPets that the bunny has graciously left in their baskets. And confused, since the bunny usually leaves the plushies somewhere else as another part of the hunt. But they quickly forgot that and happily ran off to introduce their new plushies to all their other soft friends.
I did get my bunny ears though, and now on a breakfast of one Nestle crunch egg, a square of Lindt extra creamy chocolate, and some See's bunny ears, I'm ready to get dressed and head to DH's parents house for the next egg hunt and a real brunch. I'm still waiting to get a taste of some good deviled eggs and a slice or two of bacon sounds really good right now as well.
Sunday afternoon and evening
We're back home after the brunch, swimming and egg hunt at grandma's house. Everyone seemed happy, healthy, and on various degrees of sugar highs. Anyway, we're back home, watching the Giants/Padres game which was tied at 0 in the 4th inning - slow start to the game but it's starting to pick up, since as I typed this the Padres scored 3 runs. Time to stop watching the game, I suppose.
Roasted chicken breast in a beef and golden mushroom sauce is in the oven, fresh sourdough bread, steamed broccoli and angel hair pasta with butter will round out the rest of the meal. Alias is on late tonight, so I'll stay up and watch it (addiction is a horrible thing, but it will give me some good stitching time).
The only bad part of the day? There weren't any deviled eggs!!!! That's all I was looking forward to. *grin* That's ok... I'll get to have the fun of making them this year with the leftover dyed eggs....
... now where did I set down the paprika?
Friday, April 09, 2004
...and the Friday Five is BACK!!!!
...the link can always be found on the left sidebar as a place to wander. And there's another entry under this one, so don't forget to read it - it's about why I blog.
1. What do you do for a living?
I am currently employed as a business/statistical analyst for an online DVD rental company. I also do database research and a small amount of coding, some development (at the specification and QC levels). I've always been one who branches out a lot within her job.
I used to do all of that and manage the millions of discs in inventory as well, but I don't do that anymore. Well, sort of. I still have my hand in it, whether I like it or not.
2. What do you like most about your job?
I like the fact that I don't have anyone breathing down my neck to get something done unless it's super critical. I make my own deadlines, and I usually develop my own projects. And I don't have to sit through 2 hour long daily staff meetings like I used to on the old team. We've pared them down to an hour once a week, and when that hour is up, we're done.
3. What do you like least about your job?
The fact that I still have to deal with my ex-boss. Don't get me wrong - he's a great guy, very intense, very focused. All that's good. He just has a hard time letting go of former employees. Or he writes you off as a traitor because you left him. The problem is that he waffles between the two behaviors with me instead of picking one and staying with it.
4. When you have a bad day at work it's usually because...
...because someone either massively screwed with something that I handed off to them and then came back to tell me after they attempt to fix it but have just screwed it even more, or the ex-boss is being a stupidhead and orders me to drop everything and attend to an issue that isn't my responsibility anymore.
5. What other career(s) are you interested in?
None. I think I found the one that I like.... For now. When I get bored here, I'll see what else I want to do that will still propel me forward and still do something a little different.
Why Do I Blog?
...This question was asked recently on the TWBB where I've been more of an observer than a participant lately, and when I went to comment on the poster's blog about it, I found myself starting to write a book. So I tamed down my answers for her comment box and saved them for here.
One aside before I start though: Yes, I would read my kids' blogs if they had one because I would want to know what they're putting out there. They could be violating my right to safety and privacy if they post my name or other details about our lives that are specific. And I would hope that they read mine too.
I blog because I started a journal when I was dating DH and wanted to remember things about us seeing each other. I didn't realize that I would end up marrying him, and I guess it's a good thing that I wrote everything down. It's nice to have that history. Writing everything down at the time - what I was thinking, what we did, how I felt - made it easier to figure out when he'd cross my mind while I was studying. It was like trying to empty my confused mind so that I could focus on what was important. Before DH I had 3 relationships that, as I look back on them, were all dysfunctional in different ways - some small, some not. Oh, one was very much not small - *that one* was a big dysfunctional relationship. Anyway, writing it all down made me feel better and made me be able to take a step back from it and see if there was anything that didn't seem quite right.
I blog because I stopped keeping that journal years ago (shame on me) and I really miss chronicling things that are important to me. So, why don't I keep a private file instead of posting it out here? Because I share this information with my friends, and sometimes I don't just write about what's going on in my life, but about other things that people might find interesting or worth thinking about.
I blog because writing things down became too slow for my hyperdrive brain and I would inevitably miss something. I can actually type to keep up with the thoughts that tumble out of my brain and therefore I can capture just about everything that I want to say about a subject in the order that I want to say it. I'm very stream of consciousness when I decide to write freeform and am not addressing a specific subject. That's why you sometimes get an abrupt change of topic that starts off with a "...and by the way..." and ends with a "... but I digress."
I blog because I need a creative outlet other than stitching by which to torque my thinking processes and writing does it for me. It can be fiction that never sees the light of day, or commentary that makes it here on the blog - either way, it's a release for me that I desperately crave. And it's one that works better than all the exercise and fresh air in the world because it excises things that can't leave through sweat and pain.
I blog because I think it's the best way to capture things that my children do or say and share them with my friends out there around the world that I might not have time to email - or they might not have time to email me. But they can still keep in touch with a quick read.
I blog because if I drop off any BB's that I visit, folks who don't want to email me know that they can drop by here and find out what I've been up to, or how I'm feeling, or why I might not be visiting the usual watering holes.
I blog because I get to finish my thoughts carefully, in my own time and without the pressure of being the first one to say something or being the one who kills the thread. I get to make my statements with little argument - unless someone wants to start something in the comments, but I'm okay with that too.
I think that covers most of the reasons that I blog.
I'd have the Friday Five here as well, but it seems that the Five webmaster is still MIA. I'm starting to worry...
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Good morning...
...every morning, the first words I hear from any person physically in my presence is "Good morning". Almost 100% of the time they're from DH. Oh yeah, I hear the radio, but they're not physically in the room with me.
And even if I'm stuffed up, or achy, or I don't look well, I still get a "good morning" - a wish for a good morning, not a statement on the day that's just getting started. I should be more appreciative of that because DH is simply being himself and being nice, instead of just grumbling a 'mornin' back at him with a kiss.
So, I wander off to work with the wishes of a good morning. When I get there I drop my things on the chair, unlock the computer screen and load email and my message services, and head for a cup of tea. That's my morning, and it's not likely to change anytime soon. I'm usually the only one in that part of the office at that hour, and even if there were 100 people there (which would make it crowded) I'd still have the same routine most likely.
Why should I change it? It's my routine, and it's part of me being me. I've never changed it for anyone who went with me to get tea, or that I've waited for to get tea with. And that is part of the point of today's effort. I was partly inspired by conversations with a friend (thanks, W) and partly because of a specific Question of the Week on the TWBB. Actually, I was more inspired by a couple of the answers, but one in particular stood out (and no, I'm not referring to mine). The person agreed that anyone could be anything they wanted on the 'net. I wrote about that long ago in this space, and am coming back to it with a fresh perspective in light of recent conversations, blogs, and this one answer.
When you post on the 'net, there's a lot of room for being misunderstood or to exaggerate issues to a point further than they are. The April Fool's Joke is a good example of how something can be exaggerated, people can be fooled, and things can be brought out of proportion. I created a situation and exaggerated it (with help from my cohort in crime), and people believed it.
In the retelling of the situation by other people, I've heard that I repeatedly assured folks that this was real and that I laughed hysterically at people who were fooled. Both allegations are untrue. I never repeatedly assured anyone in that thread that it wasn't true as I posted only twice to it before the official reveal (the first post, and one answering my cohort's first post). I never laughed hysterically at anyone either. Ah well, those people can think what they want to think - nothing would change their minds anyway.
But back to my point: The 'net, while a good place to meet some interesting people, might not be a place to meet some real people. I've seen my share of situations in the last 12 years where people have masqueraded on the board, or made something more out of something that isn't real. Or made something more of themselves.
That's the other point of this - why can't people just be themselves, or rather, why are they so afraid to be themselves? I put myself out there, and what people see is generally what they get. I'm pretty outgoing, fairly nice, and a little wary sometimes of people who push too hard to get to know me or dump their life story in my lap in under 5 minutes without me asking. I have a bizarre sense of humor, and I keep my friends very close. I'm protective of my family. Nothing wrong with any of that.
At the end of the day I still have to live with myself. So what's the thrill of living a different life online? Or even just adjusting the facts slightly to suit a BB post? What's the point? When someone lies about something - even if its as simple as telling a community that you've finished stitching something that you've never even seen in real life (it happens, folks) or you've finished something and you've never even touched a needle before (that happens, too), then what kind of person is that?
Not one that I'd want to ever meet in person, that's for sure. It's always better to be yourself than get trapped in a bunch of lies.
Here's a thought (thanks again W): Is it the 'Net that makes people into liars, or are people liars who exploit that character trait on the 'Net? Just a little food for thought.
And that's all I want to say today, since I kept y'all wrapped up in an extra long blog yesterday and I'm not having very cohesive thoughts today.
Remember, I own all ramblings made here...
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© 2003-2019 WhizGidget/AMS