they're not ionic, but they'll do

Well. If you've been here before today, you might notice some things look different now. I finally - finally! - got the three-column layout I'd been hoping for since about day one. It took me forever to find the one tiny scrap of information I needed to get the right column all the way to the right, and then I had to tinker to get the middle content column centered between the other two... Anyway, I couldn't have done it without Elizabeth Castro's HTML for the World Wide Web, Fifth Edition (linked in my new "what I'm reading offline" section), which my DH conveniently had on his bookshelf.

I also switched my comments over from the standard blogger comment system to HaloScan comments, on the recommendation of one of my blogging knitbuds. As a result, the two (count 'em, two!) comments I have already received aren't linked as comments anymore... but I'm planning on editing the post to which they were attached and adding a link to them.

Oh, and I did just discover, while checking the blog on another computer, that my archives are all wonky, and my comment boxes aren't formatted. *sigh* A blogger's work is never done, huh? Well, I guess if you're cruising around the blog in the next few days and you come across something that looks wonky, or a link that doesn't work, just leave me a comment here (using the still-ugly, I know, comment box) and I'll try to fix it.

In the meantime, I have more links to post and stuff I want to babble about, but I think I need to give that stuff its own entry.

I know somebody famous!!!

I was driving out to one of my local craft stores this afternoon, listening to public radio (WRVO, represent!), and Studio 360 was on. They were doing a show about youth (much like To the Best of Our Knowledge recently did, as I mentioned a couple posts ago). For part of that theme, they had a custom action figure made of the show's host. Pretty cool idea, right? Turns out I know the guy who made the action figure! No kidding! They were going on about how there's this company, Highly Flammable Toys, which is basically a one-man operation. It's this guy in Brooklyn who makes these custom action figures, to your specifications. And they said his name, Russ Tucker, and I was like, "I know that name!" And then Russ started talking, and I was like, "I know that voice! It's him!!" And now I get to be all gloating and proud, 'cause I know a guy who was interviewed on NPR for doing something really cool... Hee.

I know Russ from college - he lived down the hall from me in my dorm. He was, in fact, the guy I had a crush on my freshman year (I know, the freshman crush, how dorky can I get? But, seriously, look at him - scroll down, he's "the one with the beard" - obviously I'd be smitten. How could I possibly resist?). He was one of the guys behind this fantastic puppet show, The Day Room, on our college TV station. I was a cast member - my first ICTV experience (and one of my best ICTV experiences in general). It was just your average sitcom set in a mental health facility, only all the patients were puppets from children's shows, and they interacted with their human therapists. Okay, maybe it's kind of hard to explain, but it's really funny once you settle into the alternate reality (never a problem for me), and it was very well-written (no really! It won awards and stuff). Remember that show Greg the Bunny which was on Fox for all of three minutes? It was like that, only funnier. Russ was our puppet-making-master, and he also played the protagonist, Wenmouth, a little red puppet who was terrified of children (which made getting a job on a kids' TV show rather difficult for him). Even after I got over the embarrassing little crush thing, I still thought Russ was one of the coolest people on campus, and I'm really glad I got a chance to know him. The custom action figure thing seems right up his alley. If someone out there is doing it, I'm glad it's Russ.

I will, of course, be ordering my own action figure - once I've saved up the money. I figure that'll be right around the time I graduate from medical school (in, if all goes well, about seven years), because I'm anticipating being somewhat on the poor side until then. Naturally, custom action figures don't come cheap. But I do believe it's worth it. So if you want one, go, order one now! Tell 'im Madelaine from Maynard Hills sent you - see if it gets you anywhere. ;)

geeky Where's George update

Some interesting hits I've gotten recently:

• I spent this bill at the Ithaca Festival to buy some artwork from one of the local artists who was there selling stuff. She hit the bill! Of course, she thought she picked it up at a different festival (and I suppose it is within the realm of possibility that, after she got the bill from me, she spent it somewhere and it ended up back in her hands at the other festival - but, hello Occam's Razor, it's more likely she just didn't notice the marked bill in her cashbox until after the Buffalo festival. She was, after all, pretty distracted when I paid her). I should mention that her name is Meghan Kennedy, and here is her website. Her stuff is pretty bitchin'. I don't even think she's got the best of it up on the website yet, and of course the colors on your monitor don't do her colors justice.
  
• My 1978th individual bill to get a hit!
  
• It's been a while, but I finally got another 5-hitter! According to my YB report, it's my 6th - I was thinking it was like, my 4th or something (which tells you how long it's been since I got a new one of these things). Based on the user note, it's probably not going to go on to be my 2nd 6-hitter, but you can never rely on what people say in their user notes. I've had the whole "I'm not going to spend this bill ever, hahaha!" thing before, and that bill went on to get two more hits. Back to the bill at hand - another reason not to trust the user note is that, dude's dumb enough to ask a real question in his user note, but then not register for the site, so there's no way to get him an answer. Like, hello, you sorta missed the point. We'd have been happy to answer your question about the pyramid thing, but since you didn't register, we have no way to reach you. Oops, sorry. I think we need to add the term "loser note" (or "luser note") to the Encyclopaedia Georgetannica, just to describe notes like these.

That's it for now. The only thing I can think to add is that I didn't get any hits at all yesterday, so I'd like to nag the hit gods here. No clue if an off-forum nag will work, but I'm giving it a shot, anyway.

a load of links

(Or, "what I've been browsing lately.")

Got this link from one of the recent TMBG newsletters: Giant Battle Monsters. It's some pretty decent mindless fun. Also a helpful decision-making aid, if you're choosing between two options. Type one option in one side, the other in the other, set them to battle, and presto! Your decision is made. Don't know if you want pizza or Chinese for dinner? Battle! Pizza wins! Call Dorian's!

Here's another one of those patterns that it seems like everyone's doing nowadays (like the Rogue hoodie or Nothin' But a T-shirt or the damn Clapotis from Knitty), which I'm sure I'll end up doing because I am a herd-follower like that (witness, this blog): the Ribby Cardi from ChicKnits. It looks like a garment that, if I ever managed to finish it, would get a lot of wear. That "if" is a pretty big one, tho'.

Apparently these patterns from a yarn company that went under will be heading the same way as the company soon. If you see any you like, download 'em before September 1, 2005!

To the Best of Our Knowledge is a great NPR show, and I especially liked one of their recent episodes: Kid Cool, about the burgeoning phenomenon of adults who refuse to grow up. Sounds like me, right? Well, sort of. I think there's a difference between retaining one's youthful demeanor and outlook and appreciation for cartoons and sugary cereal, and refusing to acknowledge any maturity and responsibility. One has to strike the right balance. At any rate, it's an issue I like to ponder.

Some evidence of how big a nasty bitch Ann Coulter is (as if we really needed any more), from the pretty neat-o site Slang City.

Jonesing for some weird regional soda from back home which you simply can't find where you currently reside? Try sodafinder.com. Now, if they could only ship me a Moon Pie with my RC Cola... well, I'd be able to just slip right into diabetic coma bliss.

Hmm. There's more, but I'm trying to keep my posts on the shorter side, so I'll stop here for now.

Now Playing: "Sweet Little Bluebird" ~ Grey DeLisle

why I love Safari (even tho' I prefer Firefox on Windows)

Because I can have 36 tabs open (I shit you not, I just counted 'em) and the thing's not crashing. That's why.

Now playing: Chuck Prophet ~ "I Bow Down and Pray to Every Woman I See"

The Tragic Saga of Lucy

Well, Lucy (my dear little Mini - and I am not really the car-naming type, but she insisted on that name) has new tires on her front wheels, finally. Backstory: I woke up to this e-mail from my dear husband one day a couple weeks ago:

Subject: Whoops...

Hey! I'm going to be back a bit late tonight... I nicked your car because A-I was running late, B-it's freaking hot today and C (most important)- so I could go to the grocery store on the way home to buy dinner. And, anyway... I brushed the curb turning around to park and I sort of blew out one of the tires a bit. So, I'll be heading to the tire store when I get out to see if I can actually buy a replacement in this town. If I'm lucky, there will be two new tires on the car when I get home. If not, there will be two new tires on the car when they can get them in to the store.

Naturally, the car place didn't have the weird Mini tires in stock, so we had to wait for them to order 'em, and then they got shipped to Rochester instead of here... Moral of the story: don't let the dear husband drive your precious car.

No, no, I kid. He couldn't do worse to her than has been done to her while just parked on our street (or in a fancy shopping center parking lot). Since I'm already on the subject, here's the list of all the crap that's happened to my poor car since I moved to Syracuse in July 2003:

• Sometime in August 2003, while looking for parking, driving down a narrow street in our neighborhood with cars parked up both sides of it, I misjudged the width of the road and sideswiped this girl's car. Ouch. Totally my fault. Knocked the passenger side mirror off Lucy and the driver's side mirror off the other car, and put a decent-sized (yet surprisingly not that noticeable) dent in my front passenger side quarter panel (I think it's called). I got the mirror fixed (after a few months driving around with it duct-taped into place), but the dented quarter panel is still not repaired (and my damn insurance went up, argh!).
  
• A few months after that, we went to Albany to see They Might Be Giants do a mini-show and book signing in this little independent bookstore which is in a pretty upscale shopping center. In between the show and getting in line for the signing, I went back out to the car to either get something or put something away - and I noticed a big, ass-shaped dent in the hood of my car. Like someone had sat down right in the middle of the hood, and the hood had buckled under their weight. WTF??? Who sits on the hood of someone else's car in a parking lot?? Grrr. So my husband knocked the dent out as best he could, but if you look closely, it still shows. The hood just looks weirdly warped. Still haven't gotten it fixed properly, because I don't have the money.
  
• Sometime last summer, while she was parked on the street right in front of our house, Lucy got tagged. Someone spray-painted a big white stripe right down her driver's side. Pretty surprising, because we don't live in that kind of neighborhood (but that kind of neighborhood isn't all that far away, either). I cried when I saw it - mostly because I thought it was going to take so much money to clean off, money I didn't (and still don't) have. But it came off just fine with some special spray-on stuff and a bit of elbow grease, except for where the paint had gotten on some plastic bits (it only partially came off those).
  
• A few weeks after that, while she was parked on the street right in front of our house, someone did a hit-and-run right into the middle of her driver's side door. I know it was a white car, because they left a good bit of their paint job behind. But there wasn't any real damage (most likely - more on that in a sec). Just a nice, ugly dent in the door. When I took her in for her regular maintenance, they cleaned it up a bit. But I still haven't had it fixed because I don't have the money.
  
• Over this past winter, some water got into the door on one of those freakish warm-ish days and then froze when the temperature dipped again. So I was driving down one of the busiest streets in town one night when all of a sudden, the windows started jerking like someone was opening the doors (the windows have no frames, so when you open the doors, the windows have to jerk down just a tiny bit), and the dome light came on. And they just kept doing it over and over again. The doors didn't actually unlatch, thank goodness. But the only way we could get it to stop was to unhook the battery. I took it in to the nearest dealer (two and a half hours away) and they said they fixed it so it would never happen again... (Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it.) But now the driver's side window makes a horrible noise when you roll it back up from being anything more than half the way down. And the more I think about it, the more I think that maybe all this driver's side window weirdness might be related to the big dent in the damn door.
  
• Oh, but we're not done yet. Just a few weeks ago, again while she was parked right out on the street in front of our house, someone hit her driver's side door again. I didn't see any addition to the dent that's there, but the shiny covering for the door handle was knocked clean off, and the mirror was knocked askew (luckily, I was able to just snap that right back into place). So, great, another thing I need to have fixed for which I, as previously mentioned, don't have the money.

So my poor, fabulous baby is actually looking kind of ghetto now, if you look closely (if you don't look too closely, she still looks just loverly). I'd love to go to a Mini owners' gathering sometime, but right now I'd just be too embarrassed.

You might be wondering why, after all this shit has happened to her while parked on the street in front of our house, we don't just park her in the driveway instead of on the street. The short answer would be because our driveway is a piece of crap. There's no way to get her in or out without scraping the bottom of the car at least once (usually twice) on a big pothole or the abrupt drop-off between the end of the driveway and the street. There's not really too much we can do about the driveway, because we're just renting, and we're probably not going to be here that much longer, anway. Oh, and what with the two other cars already in the driveway (one of which is no longer operational and needs to be towed away, as soon as my DH cleans all his crap out of it), there's really just no room.

So now you know the saga of my beautiful, abused baby car. I guess I should also note at this point that she is still young enough to be under warranty (until October), and I am still paying for her (though she'll be paid off soon - like before the end of the summer). Yet she's already had so much bad crap happen to her. She's like a crap-magnet. I am wondering if there's something I can do to de-crap-magnetize her, like burning some sage in the back seat and chanting or something. Maybe plastering the interior with milagros? I don't know. I'm just afraid that, once I do have the money to make her all spiffy again, she'll just have more assholes run into her and bash her up in different places. For all that it looks ghetto, there are some advantages to driving a car that's already had the crap kicked out of it - namely, you don't care if it gets even more banged up.

Wow. This post was supposed to be about how the DH's work had a clambake at the Drumlins country club today, and we went because, hey, free food (and it was good food, too!), and the DH won a nice SU sweatshirt in their little prize giveaway thing - a sweatshirt I had almost bought just a couple months ago. Now we are going to have to fight over who gets to wear it. And I had somehow known when I got there that that sweatshirt would be leaving with us. I don't know how, but I knew. *cue Twilight Zone theme* And I suffered from a moment of acute camera envy when I saw one of his fellow bookstore employees with a Philips keyring camera which is just about as small as my trusty Sony DSC-U50 (but which, I have since discovered through some Google research, is not nearly as fully-featured). And now we are home, settling in for an evening of Dr. Who. And blogging. We are such nerds...

"I need a martini, a Chagall, and a rabies shot!"

I discovered at yesterday's knit meeting at the new Starbucks in Armory Square that my knitbud Diana (my very first knitbud!) has a blog! I had no idea! So I added her to my list of knitbuds over there on the left (which, it should be noted, is in the order I found the links in my bookmarks folder, not in something proper like alphabetical order - I probably oughta change that, eh?). I'm wondering if I should also add a link to our group's MSN site... but admission is by admin approval only, and I'm not one of the admins. I'd hate to be a tease like that.

Liz B. and I are always the last ones to leave the knit meetings (of course, we're always the last ones to get there, too - hooray for the late girls!). Yesterday we were there for an hour and a half after everyone else had left, bitching about how evil George Bush is. Hee.

And then I spent the entire rest of the afternoon shopping for new glasses frames, craft supplies, and more craft supplies (I had coupons I had to use, okay?). I checked out that new glasses place Sherry told me about, America's Best. It's actually in the Marshall's plaza, conveniently located between the Village Yarn Shop and A.C. Moore (hee - but on a disappointing note, I learned when I arrived there at 3:15 that the Village Yarn Shop's summer hours are 10-3. Argh!).

Their selection of frames didn't seem that much more extensive than any other place, but they were cheap (as long as you stick with the cheapie lenses, I think). I found a lot of frames I sorta liked - but see, here's the thing with me and glasses: I need glasses with nosepads. I can't do those big plastic frames that have the nosepads built right into the frame shape, because they either sit so far down on my nose that I'm looking over the lenses instead of through them, or so close to my eyes that my eyelashes brush the lenses and I have to take the glasses off and clean them eighty times a day.

But those are the frame shapes that I love! I want a pair of glasses that look like these ones from this site:

The Dragonfly

The Bebe Cholita

Or these ones from this place:

The Glitz

The Soho 22

Cat-eye, baby! I could so totally work that. But, no, I can't, because of the nosepad thing.

My old frames, which I love, are by Brooks Brothers, and they actually had the retro chunky plasticky look, but with nosepads. But a) I've discovered it's pretty much just as expensive everywhere to get a whole new pair of glasses as it is to have new lenses put into old frames, so I figure why not just get new ones; and b) my trusty old Brooks Bros are not really so cat-eye in shape - and I really want the cat-eyes. It's just impossible to find those with nosepads. Really, I've looked.

If I wanted to spend an exorbitant amount of money on glasses, I could go with vintage frames from somewhere like vintageiwear.com or Four Your Eyes - I mean, look, faboo:

from vintageiwear

from Four Your Eyes

But, hello, I'm a poor student. I'm not made of money - I can't afford to pay more for the frames alone than I would for a whole new pair of glasses at LensCrafters. Plus, still no nosepads! In a perfect world, all the glasses on this page from Debby Burk Optical would be available as prescription frames, with nosepads. Alas for me, I do not live in that world.

What I did find yesterday at America's Best were these frames by Converse, of all companies (makers of my favorite shoes!):

The Converse Freak Out

Ok, so they're very rectangular. But they actually looked okay on me, I thought. And look closely - those little dots on the front of the hinge parts? They're star-shaped. How freakin' neat is that?? And they come in this color called "Rootbeer" which is this weird layered purple-blue-brown, which is just the coolest. And, most importantly: nosepads. Yes!!! So if I can't get the cat-eyes I want, at least I could have these bitchin' things.

But the drawback was that the service at America's Best seemed really... iffy. I mean, the guy saw I was standing at his counter with a question I wanted to ask (he looked right at me, then looked away before I could say anything), and there were other people forming a line behind me, and he cleaned and refilled the printer and emptied the wastebasket before he even acknowledged my presence. No "I'll be right with you," no "Hang on just a sec," nothing. When he finally did say something to me, he just asked if I was the next person on his little appointments list. It's like they don't want to help you unless you've already paid them. Which, I mean, okay, whatever. I'm thinking that maybe I should just head elsewhere. I can get the frames online (because they're widely available, for slightly less than America's Best's price). And really, I should have a proper eye doctor anyway, not an office-in-a-glasses-store kind of doc (I say that in the sense of, really, I shouldn't switch docs every time I switch glasses stores, not in the sense of disrespecting docs who set up their practices in affiliation with optical shops).

Whoo, okay, I was going to mention some stuff in here about how Jo-Ann Fabrics was a zoo yesterday because of the fabulous sale they were having, and how, by the time I made it home, I was ready to quote the immortal Nathan Lane line: "I need a martini, a Chagall, and a rabies shot!" (from, as far as I can tell, his quickly-cancelled sitcom Encore! Encore! - let me know if I'm wrong about that. I only saw the line in an ad on Bravo! in like, 2001, and I totally forgot to note what show the ad was promoting). But I think this post has gone on plenty long enough now.

Now playing: "Karma Police" from some Radiohead live show John has on disc.

**Edit** Here are the comments I got on this post before I switched comment systems: clicky

Sooo...

Yesterday was an interesting day. I had my first job interview in like, I don't even know how long. It was at this place. I think it went pretty well, except for the fact that I forgot to bring the exact addresses and phone numbers for any of my previous employers or anyone I wanted to use as a reference. Oops. And furthermore, when I called my mom to check the contact info for some of her former employees with whom I worked when I spent that summer working in her office, I found they'd all retired and moved somewhere, and Mom can't get their current contact info until she gets home from vacation. Whee! I'm such fuckup sometimes. Did I mention I was up half the night revising my resume, which I literally hadn't updated since 2000? Ayyy... you can't see me now, but I'm hanging my head in shame. So, long story short, I'm heading back over there in a bit to give them my employers and references list.

Yesterday I also found out I won a pair of earrings in the Operation Kool-Aid raffle at the Where's George Saugatuck 2 gathering (organized by P3 in Michigan). Whew, that's a mouthful. But, anyway, yeah. I wanted to go to the gathering, but since I couldn't make it, I figured sending in money for the raffle was the next best thing. And to actually win something... I'm pretty pleased about that. I took a picture of the earrings, but there will be no pictures here until I have the time to sit down and mess with my camera and make it work with this computer. That's going to be a big production, because I haven't uploaded pictures from my camera in months. There's hundreds I need to sort through. I can't do that 'til I've got a good long block of time to just sit.

In other news, I got this e-mail the other day from MINI USA about this cute little desktop widget they've put together - it's a Mini-themed Word of the Day dictionary-style thing. Example entry: Brewnesia - n. The condition of forgetting your coffee on the roof of your car and driving off. Hee. I really need to get some pictures of my little baby car up on here. I mean, she's had the shit beat out of her lately (which, man, that's another post unto itself), so she's not exactly ready for her closeup... but I've got those baby pictures I took of her when she was new, pristine and unscarred. I just need to find them and scan/upload them. I also need to join this webring, while I'm at it.

Another test result for you:


And now - laundry calls. I have more to post (much, much more - oh, you people have no idea what you're in for!), but it'll have to wait for a while.

Now playing: NPR - Day to Day

I'm stunned - sort of.

I was looking around at other folks' blogs so I could get some ideas and add some links to the sites of all the really cool people I know, and I found this: The Yankee or Dixie Quiz (linked from way back in the archives of Meg's site, Saucy Librarian).

I'm from Virginia, but I've always thought of myself psychologically as more of a Yankee - I mean, I went to college in New York, I married a New York native, I live here in New York now. I don't have a Southern accent of any sort (of which I was quite proud while growing up, but now I really wish I'd picked up a Tidewater accent, because it's a pleasant, subtle, dare I say it, genteel way of speaking, and it'll be a shame if it dies out). I've been told, repeatedly, that I sound like I'm from New York, Long Island (huh?), Pennsylvania, or Canada (again, huh?).

So I'm a little surprised that my Yankee or Dixie scores were 71% Dixie, 89% Dixie, and 63% Dixie for the three times I took the test. That's an average score of 74.33% Dixie. And I thought the most Southern thing about the way I speak is the fact that I sometimes say "y'all" (which confuses people because, like I said, no Southern accent).

Now Playing: NPR, of course - All Things Considered is on.

pay no attention to the girl behind the curtain...

Ok, more things for you to look at while I try to figure out what the heck I'm going to do to spruce this place up.

Here's a couple quiz results:

You are 53% geek

You are a geek. Good for you! Considering the endless complexity of the universe, as well as whatever discipline you happen to be most interested in, you'll never be bored as long as you have a good book store, a net connection, and thousands of dollars worth of expensive equipment. Assuming you're a technical geek, you'll be able to afford it, too. If you're not a technical geek, you're geek enough to mate with a technical geek and thereby get the needed dough. Dating tip: Don't date a geek of the same persuasion as you. You'll constantly try to out-geek the other.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

If i was a serial killer i would be Edmund Kemper. Anyone ever tell you its dangerous to hitch hike? Well, anyone who did was probably referring to Edmund Kemper. Edmund made a hobby out of picking up young UCSC students, strangling or stabbing them to death then taking them home to his mother's apartment where he would have his way with the bodies. After dissecting the bodies, he would take the head and hands and dispose of the remains. After murdering more then 6 hitch hikers, Edmund finished off his killing spree by decapitating his mother, murdering her best friend then later committing necrophilia with both of the bodies. Edmund confessed to all the killings days later. Kill count: 8-9 Find what serial killer you would be, Take the Serial Killer Quiz now!

Your SAT Score of 1*** Means:

You Scored Higher Than Howard Stern You Scored Higher Than George W. Bush You Scored Higher Than Al Gore You Scored Higher Than David Duchovny You Scored Higher Than Natalie Portman You Scored Lower Than Bill Gates

Your IQ is most likely in the 140-150 range

Equivalent ACT score: 32

Schools that Fit Your SAT Score: Deep Springs College Massachusetts Institute of Technology Pomona College Harvey Mudd College

What Does Your SAT Score Mean?


(Yeah, I ****'d my SAT score out, there - what, you think I'm actually going to tell you what I got? Yeah, right.)

You can also take a look at my very old message board which, I have just learned, lost all its old posts because it's an EZBoard and EZBoard was just hacked a few days ago. Dang. That's depressing. Eh, well, there's plenty of space there now for anyone who's reading this to post some ideas about what I should do with this place here (besides copious backups, I mean). *sigh*

Ok, I'm editing this so I can ask if anyone knows how I can make the borders around the linked pictures go away (yes, I did put border="0" in my img tags). And also to mention this:

Now Playing: "First Song" ~ Andrew Bird

great, more crap for me to do now

Ok, so I'm new at this whole blogging bit. I've got a lot of work to do on this thing before it even remotely resembles what I'd like it to look like. Be patient with me, alright? My dear husband just put dinner on the table, so I can't make everything all pretty just yet.

In the meantime, you can look at my Where's George profile, if you'd like.

*gulp*

Okay, I did it. I joined the wandering herds. I got myself a blog thing. Welcome to it.