Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Deanish

Wired's 101 Ways To Save The Internet

#70: Keep blogging, Howard Dean

and..

Found in comments on Blog For America:

On a 5x8 card, address it to:

The Next President Howard Dean
C/O The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

On the other side:

Please hold for Howard Dean. He will be arriving shortly.

The post office has to deliver it.

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

NewYorkish: A Collage of Size

Need a laugh? Go see NewYorkish's Collage of Size.

A New Year Brings...

A few weeks back I mentioned that I would give more details about some things that were changing in my life. I decided to break my own embargo a few weeks early since I have had to tell the news to many of my friends already. It's not an uncommon story. In fact, over half a million people have been telling it this past year.

The News

As of the end of 2004, I will be out of a job. It could have been as soon as January 20th, but I'm taking advantage of an incentive being offered to managers that states I may work part-time hours for part-time pay with full health insurance until the end of 2004.

How Did This Come About?

At the October budget meeting of the Audit & Control Committee of the Legislature, a Republican Legislator proposed cutting a staff position from our office. The suggestion was approved by the Committee, then as part of the budget approval process by the full Legislature, and then signed into law by my boss.

Why Was I Cut and Not Someone Else?

No one in our office is eligible for retirement and I'm the most junior staff member.

What's Next?

I've had one interview and I have submitted my application into another place. I'm looking locally for a job since Matt is practically guaranteed one for the next four years. In the meantime, I'm full-time in my position until January 16th and then I work Tuesday and Thursdays, regular hours, and Wednesdays 10-2pm. I'm hoping to have a job lined up by the end of February, but I'm not holding my breath just yet. I'm also considering various options to traditional employment including writing, self-employment via opening a business in whatever form that may be, and any other ideas that come to mind.

So while it's not an ideal situation to be in less than eight months before our wedding, I'm trying to take it all in stride. I figured I would be in the job market by the end of 2005 anyway when my boss' term is up, so I had started saving money just in case. It's a decent nest egg and with me still earning some money and Matt's full-time pay, we'll get through it okay. I promise to keep you updated as I hear more.

Hot Damn This Is Cool!

I'm grinning. Why? Because I made Leah's Quote of Last Week. Better late then never, right?

Sunday, December 28, 2003

Where The Hell Did THAT Come From???

I was fixing a floor rug at the base of the stairs that go to the second floor of our house when I noticed a white tube on the floor. Curious, I picked it up to see that the label read "Equate: Lubricating Jelly". It was empty. I called for Matt and asked him if he knew what it was for. He looked at it and looked at me with an ultra-confused look on his face. "That's not your's is it??" "No!" I answered. We stared at the tube some more. "Who would have been here that would have used that?" I asked. "I have no idea!" he answered. We mulled over possible people, but came to no conclusions. Matt's latest guess is that one of our friends put it there as a joke. Still, it's pretty disturbing to find an empty container of a generic form of KY Jelly just laying around your house and you have no idea how it got there.

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

This Says It All

Instead of me going on a mini-rant, I'll let Shep do it for me. What he says pretty much sums it up for me. However, I'd add in something to the effect of "since I'm not a Christian, a big chunk of why we observe this holiday is lost on me." Right. Even going home to decorate cookies with my dad last weekend didn't completely drag me out of the seasonal doldrums. However, I am still thankful for the family and friends that I do have. I've been a very lucky girl in that sense. Some year I'll figure out what I need to do in order to properly enjoy this holiday again. In the meantime, I'm wishing you all health, wealth, and happiness in the New Year!

Thoughts On Christmas

All right. I lied. I do have time to do a little blogging today. It's mostly to redirect you to Lileks, who ponders Orange Alert while shopping in the Mall of America. He also hits it right on the nose about Krispy Kreme. That reminds me of the fact that since one of our secretaries bought a cd off of me that I was planning on returning to Borders in Cheektovegas, I now will no longer be able to make a covert mission to the Krispy Kreme that's next door for a hot, sugary-goodness doughnut before filling my gullet with too much other kinds of food at my grandparent's house. Blast! I'm feeling more posts coming up today. Do I want to inflict on you, the reader, my feelings about the holidays? Maybe I do but you really don't want me to.

Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Wesolych Swiat! Bozego Narodzenia!

It's debatable whether I'll post again before the onslaught of the holidays, so I'm taking a moment to wish you all Happy Holidays! As tradition holds, I will be going up to Buffalo on Christmas Eve for Wigilia at my grandparent's house, then Midnight Mass in Lackawanna, then Christmas dinner around noon, and finally Christmas dinner with Matt's family back in Jamestown around 5pm-ish. That's a lot of food to be eaten in less than 24 hours! May you all have a merry merry and happy happy no matter what you do or don't celebrate.

Sunday, December 21, 2003

Don't Cry Wolf

The recent news that our Nation's threat level has been raised to orange for the holidays doesn't leave me feeling too convinced. I guess that's due to previous threat level increases all the way up to red in the past. Yes, I'm gratified that nothing has happened since 9-11, but you can't help but feel that the threat level chart is a sham. Here's hoping that things remain peaceful.

Saturday, December 20, 2003

Gave My Best For Three Years...

I'm not a big lyrics poster on here just because it's not quite the same as being able to hear the song at the same time. However, if you can find a way to check out "The First Single" by The Format, off the album Interventions & Lullabies, do it. It's an incredible song (Longer than 30 second sound clip here). I know they're playing it on WBER right now because that's where I heard it last weekend on the Internet site. This song, the theme song for Queer Eye, and Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet are three songs that currently can get me out of seat and dance like I mean it.

In the meantime, here are the lyrics to "The First Single":

i can't stand to think about, a heart so big it hurts like hell
oh my god i gave my best but for three whole years to end like this
well do you want to fall apart, i can't stop if you cant start
do you want to fall apart, i could if you can try to fix what i've undone
cause i hate what ive become

(chorus) you know me, oh you think you do you just dont seem to see
i've been waiting all this time to be, something i can't define
so lets cause a scene, clap our hands and stomp our feet or something, yeah something
i've just got to get myself over me

i could stand to do without, all the people i have left behind
whats the point in going around when its a straight line baby, a straight line down
so lets make a list of who me need and its not much, if anything
lets make a list of who we need and we'll throw it away
cause we dont need anyone
no we dont need anyone

(chorus)

and i hate what i've become
you know the night life is just not for me
cause all you really need are a few good friends
i dont want to go out and be on my own you know they started something
i cant stand you leave for the city,
well count me out cause all this time is wasted on everything ive done

(chorus)

Thursday, December 18, 2003

Ethical Philosophy Selector

Your Results:

1. John Stuart Mill (100%)
2. Jean-Paul Sartre (84%)
3. Aristotle (83%)
4. Aquinas (80%)
5. Epicureans (80%)
6. Ayn Rand (78%)
7. Kant (77%)
8. Jeremy Bentham (72%)
9. Spinoza (68%)
10. David Hume (66%)
11. Nietzsche (66%)
12. Stoics (65%)
13. Nel Noddings (58%)
14. Prescriptivism (57%)
15. Thomas Hobbes (56%)
16. Ockham (49%)
17. Cynics (47%)
18. St. Augustine (36%)
19. Plato (31%)

Try the Ethical Philosophy Selector

Be courteous, Be legal

I'm having a great time browsing around The Big Yellow Box's site, especially the new section that gives tips on using your mobile phone camera. Check out this tip on being courteous and legal for a picture of Matt being "illegal". See if you can spot Jenny on other pages too.

What's Wrong With This Story?

I was reading this story about how New York State Unemployment Rates Have Fallen from 6.2 to 6.1 and I'm feeling a little confused. This is only because in one breath they claim all these jobs have been created and then farther down in the story, they list a bunch of counties/regions and their unemployment rates. There's only one area that has seen any improvement over the previous month, NYC at 7.8 percent from 8.3 percent the previous month. I guess that must be where the jobs were created because the other area's figures are way up in some cases (Utica-Rome, 5.2 percent compared with 4.7 the previous month). Is the economy really "rebounding" as some economists would like us to believe?

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

It's the Quiet Ones You Have to Worry About *wink*

quite result
Quiet Girl


What kind of little girl were YOU?
brought to you by Quizilla

Just To Clear One Thing Up

Contrary to all sorts of guessing from some people. I am NOT pregnant. There. I've said it. You'll just have to learn what deferred gratification is for the meantime. I will post news when it makes sense to due to several items.

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Saddam Hussein Captured

I'm sure all the warblogs and sites of related punditry are simply buzzing over the news that Saddam Hussein has been captured. Yes, it is a good thing. It still doesn't change the fact that we haven't found any weapons of mass destruction. It still doesn't change the fact that friends of Bush & Cheney are profiting enormously off our takeover of Iraq. But yes, let's bring Saddam to trial and let justice be served.

Friday, December 12, 2003

Winter Wonderland

Just in time for the Holiday Parade tonight and Jamestown's first semi-pro hockey game tomorrow night: Lake Effect Snow Warning for Chautauqua County, NY. Bring it on!

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Interesting Things Afoote

I might have better news than I anticipated. I won't count my chickens before they're hatched of course. Watch this space for periodic updates on things I can't talk about just yet!

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

The Lights Are Shining Bright

The tree is decorated. Next year we'll need to buy a bigger tree since our current tree is sagging a little under the weight of our ornaments. In fact, since the tree is in a corner and I had hung a lot of ornaments in the front, the tree threatened to wobble over until I hung some heavier-but-necessarily-"important" ornaments in the back. I also was forced to put some heavier ornaments that could stand on their own on the mantle of our fireplace. I can't really say forced since they look nice there, but I'd like to have them all on the tree next year. I now suspect that we're one of the few couples I know that has a Winnie-the-Pooh/Death Star themed Christmas tree. There's only one Death Star ornament, but what more do you need?

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

Take A Ride On the WayBack Machine

In my various ramblings about the web, I found pictures to Matt's Mardi Gras party in 1999. I saved the pictures and uploaded them to Imagestation so you could also enjoy the inaugural performance of The Hunky Dories. In case you're wondering who the various performers are, we all had stage names based on where the first letter of our first names fell in the alphabet. This number was connected to past Presidents. Add the last name "Dory" and it was one big happy family. I was McKinley Dory for those who are counting. Otherwise by t-shirt/instrument: Grey shirt/dancer = John, Green shirt/tamborine= Nate, Red shirt/moraccas= Kristen, blue jean shirt/violin = Me, black shirt/guitar= Paul, and accordian/blue shirt= Glenn.

Incentive To Change

This weekend we had planned to put up all our holiday decorations, however, we decided we needed to remodel the furniture layout for our living room first. There's nothing like moving furniture and trying to make it fit in new ways in a not very large space. The dust hiding underneath our couches was obscene! The redesign stretched into the dining room and upstairs as well since we ended up with end tables or other living room items that just didn't have a spot in the new design. The best news about the new design is that our two couches now form an "L", so that all parties present can see our fireplace and the tv. It also created a very visible space to put our Christmas tree in the dining room, which was the main reason for the redesign in the first place. The downside is that the tree isn't decorated and the bulk of our decorations remain scattered across our living room n the various boxes and bags that Matt brought down from our upstairs "Christmas Closet". We hope to decorate tonight. Here's to envisioning a fire in the fireplace, Polish Christmas carols on the stereo, and hot chocolate tonight.

Saturday, December 06, 2003

Oh Come ON People!

Why do people always forget the part about "being the bigger person"? Guaranteed my comments about hate mail might not have appeared as tongue in cheek as I would have liked it, but today's D&C article titled:Welcome to Toronto?, is just not called for. All cities have problems. And when you consider two of those cities are trying to work together on a tourism-related project, the last thing your news reporters should be doing is bashing the hell out of each other in a high school football rivalry way. It's about working together to be successful together people!

In related news, Jan Wong is planning a return visit to Rochester. I plead with the citizens of Monroe County to give her a pleasant welcome. It's not often you could a second chance to make a good impression.

Friday, December 05, 2003

Garbage Plate Still Sizzles

And the on-going media saga of Rochester and some Canadians against Jan Wong continues in the following article: Garbage plate still sizzles. In the wee hours following Thanksgiving Day, my friends and I enjoyed a garbage plate. It was good. And sure, there are better places to get garbage plates in Rochester, but nothing beats getting one from Nick's. Which reminds me, I wonder what it will take to get Matt to concoct one for us this weekend? Kind of defeats the exercising I'm doing, but it's better than eating out, right?

Thursday, December 04, 2003

The Next Chapter

I've just been given the opportunity to decide how I want the next year of my life to be like at work. I wish I wasn't given the choice, but I'm trying to be positive and figure out what I'm going to do next. I'll fill you in more come closer to January 19th.

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Need A New Person To Send Hate Mail To?

I have a huge problem with an article by Jan Wong that ran in the Globe and Mail about Rochester, NY and the fast ferry. Now my subject line about hate mail sounds strong, but this woman seriously needs to be enlightened as does the cousin-in-law she mentions in her article.

The D&C has ran two articles including this one talking about how "irked" Mayor Bill Johnson is about this. The Globe & Mail also ran their own follow-up article that cited that quite a few readers were put off by Ms. Wong's "article". Shep joined the fray and blogged about the whole deal.

I agree that the problem partially lies with the leaders of the Rochester Metro area. They not only need to open residents' eyes to the greatness that exists in Rochester, but they must also work on the areas that are lacking. No place is perfect, but Rochester is still a damn, fine place to live if you don't let yourself be turned off by the negativity that some of the close-minded residents seem to have. Believe me, I've now lived in an area for four years that has had that "no-good" self-esteem so long that they actually to sue hotels from developing downtown. Come on people!

Did I Mention How Much I Love Howard Dean?

According to Drudge, Dean wants to break up the media conglomorates. It's stuff like that that makes me all squishy and happy inside. What a day that would be when that happens!

Go Wil!

The incomparable Wil Wheaton made an epic announcement today about a book deal he signed. I say incomparable because I haven't read another celebrity blog that's come close to his.

Monday, December 01, 2003

For We Need A Little Christmas! Right This Very Minute!

Ahhh... it's like what Meg says about old ornaments. It's time to roll out the holly and nostalgia for a side-splitting repeat of: 'Tis the Season. Treat it like the 24-7 repeats of A Christmas Story, and read it over and over again.

Cutting to the Scene with the Pixie

Ten years ago, I decided to do one of the most drastic things I had ever done to my hair. I went from a long style (below collarbone) to a p...