I leave tomorrow for a week long adventure with Angie, one of my best friends. We are going to shop, hang, go to concerts, see cool exhibits, and cause all the mayhem we can. It's going to be a week long slumber party and I can't wait.
Sadly, Angie doesn't have a computer so I won't be keeping it touch with my extensis fan base. You all will just have to go on without me.
| January 31, 2004 11:52pm | 
| opinionated (0)
I just recieved a hard case for my pda. It looks like it would be at home in an episode of Star Trek. I love it. It's all silver and sleek looking.
The bonus is that it holds my pda in it's protective casing while letting me have complete access to all the buttons.
The extra bonus is that the cover folds all the way underneath the pda so it can rest solidly on a desk or table.
The extra super-duper special bonus is that I got it because I happened to check mail right before packing for my week-long trip out of town.
Now I can look cool and keep my pda from getting trashed while on vacation. Life is good my friend. Life is good.
......... 
| January 31, 2004 11:39pm |
| opinionated (1)
Note I gave to my supervisor:
"We need more floppies."
Note back from the supervisor:
"...said the sales manager to his team of Viagra salesmen."
| January 29, 2004 08:05am |
| opinionated (0)
Today is Valette's birthday. Happy 23rd. The evening will involve Mexican Chocolate Cake, homemade ice cream and Donkey Kong Country. Saturday will serve as an extension of the festivities with miniature golf, going to a restaurant, and seeing a concert. Hoorah for birthdays.
| January 28, 2004 12:02pm |
| opinionated (1)
Yesterday I said goodbye to something that has been a major part of my life for the last four years. The home church and band has been a success in so many ways in my life. It's time has passed and God told me that he now has something else he wants for me. It's very painful to let go of something into which I invested so much energy and emotion. Because I knew on some level that this was coming, my mourning is mingled with excitement about what lies ahead. Instead of an empty void I'm seeing a cleared path. Here's to the future.
| January 27, 2004 10:29am |
| opinionated (0)
In the last week, three people have been shocked to find that I am nearly 32 years old. The concensus is that I look like I'm 25...
I can handle that.
| January 27, 2004 09:41am |
| opinionated (0)
"I don't put my fingers there anymore."
| January 24, 2004 09:39am |
| opinionated (0)
I just had a meeting with a pastor at whose church building I would like to begin teaching piano. The meeting consisted of him grilling me on my church involvement, questioning the veracity of my home church, making judgemental statements about my musical abilities, and inviting me to attend his church. The whole thing was so churchy and condescending. What the freak is wrong with people!!?! God didn't say "Let there be judgemental people assembled together under the auspices of being holier-than-thou." Neither did God say "Let pastors who act like used car salesmen govern my people." That's not part of God's plan. I think I've just deepened my disdain of the institution of "church" quadruple-fold.
| January 23, 2004 01:53pm | 
| opinionated (1)
My friends think that my smelling capabilities are a mark of the devil so take this for what you will. Some people really smell. I don't mean like haven't-bathed-since-woodstock sort of smell. These people can step right out of a shower and they still have this odor about them. It's a raw meat sort of smell. More specifically it's a sausage smell. It's kinda like a cross between summer sausage and raw hot dogs, though generally not as appealing. I'd say that about 20% of the people I meet have this smell in varying degrees. I know of at least one other person that can smell this so if I'm crazy at least I'm part of a club.
So now the reason I'm telling you about this satanic incarnation of my olfactory glands: I was teaching piano on Tuesday and there was the smell. It was permeating the room where I teach. The staff often have lunch in that area before I teach, so the smell had to be from what they were cooking. Maybe they had hot dogs or some freaky variation thereof, but I swear it smelled just like human meat. Like human sausages to be exact. Since this smell really makes me ill, teaching in that room was very disgusting for me. On top of that I'm wondering if the church staff have resorted to human sacrifices. I'm picturing the staff grinding up the loud-mouthed old lady who sits in the back left pew and adding seasonings to make the resulting sausage taste just so. If they start having sausage fund-raisers I'm outta there.
| January 22, 2004 08:30am |
| opinionated (4)
A few weeks ago I bought some turkey breakfast sausages in the health food freezer section because sausages sounded good and I thought I'd be all healthy and crap (I've avoiding pork). Since buying them I've been scared to try them so they've sat in my freezer. This morning I decided to be brave and cook them.
I really hadn't expected them to look like brain matter. They were a veiny grey color and smelled disgusting while cooking. I kept hearing my psychology teacher saying, "Brains are squishy" while he passed around a brain in a ziploc bag.
The more these lovely brain logs cooked the more queasy I became. By the time the sausages had turned to a slighty darker shade of brain I was done. There was no way I was going to eat them. The cooked brain matter went into the garbage along with the rest of it's frozen buddies. I can't say I ever envisioned how queasy one might be after a morning of cooking turkey brains. I can say that I will never experience that little adventure again. Ever.
| January 22, 2004 08:16am |
| opinionated (0)
I got a design job from a customer for whom I've done several projects. They wanted another postcard made with the exact same layout as previous cards with a new photo and text. Apparently, they were concerned that the project might not be simple enough for my tiny little brain:
Very thorough directions, but I'm having troubles because he didn't tell me how to turn on the computer...
| January 21, 2004 09:35am |
| opinionated (2)
I was recently contracted to design a very complex packet for a small airline. The project would include designing folders, brochures, postcards, other misc. pieces, and some serious Photoshopping of photos. Awesome! Big money and fun stuff. Or so I thought...
One person had been assigned to interface with me. Well, I got a call from the boss yesterday and through a long conversation found out that they, in fact, only want me to layout the cover of the folders. Not only that, but really all they want is their name in the upper left hand corner and their logo in the lower right hand corner. No photos, no background color, no design at all. Suddenly my $1000+ design job turned into a $75 exercise in cutting and pasting.
To add bitterness to insult I've been researching printing options for them because they had no idea how much this was going to run them. The discussion with the boss yesterday revealed that this airline's headquarters has it's own printing company so they don't need me to do research after all... Hm.
Last night I received a call from the person I've been working with who was in full rant mode. I guess that the boss hasn't gone through any of the proper channels with headquarters to get this project approved. Also, besides HQ having a printing company they also have an entire marketing department with graphic designers who do all the work for the airline. So basically the boss is pissing off everyone in upper management and should have never hired me in the first place. I did get my measley $75 check today so I'll do the cut and paste they want and call it done.
Grrrrrrr.
| January 21, 2004 09:19am |
| opinionated (0)
| January 21, 2004 09:03am | 
| opinionated (2)
I had a booth at a local bridal show yesterday to advertise my piano services. It's the first time I've ever had a booth and I was really nervous that it would be a huge flop. I created cds to be given away with samples of the music I play at weddings. I was worried no one would take any cds or take business cards or even notice my existence. By 2pm (half way through the show) I had given out all 100 cds and was wishing that I had created more. All my flyers were taken as well as about 70 of my business cards. Tons of people stopped by and seemed genuinely interested. I played keyboard through the event while k brilliantly interacted with people. While I was exhausted, I actually enjoyed myself. The show was an awesome success in getting my name out there and gaining a lot of interest.
Still, I didn't have anyone make any firm commitments and I was concerned that I wouldn't actually see any money from the event. Well, 2 hours after the show's completion I received a call from a bride who wanted to book me for a date in July. She's going to have me play for the wedding and the reception which will bring in a couple hundred dollars. This one gig will nearly cover my costs for participating in the bridal show. Since I was sure that I would fail miserably I'm in complete shock at the turn of events. Perhaps after a few days it'll settle in and I'll be able to cheer and dance appropriately. At the moment I'll just pretend that none of it even happened.
| January 19, 2004 08:21am |
| opinionated (1)
It is forty below (fahrenheit). I was just plugging in my truck at work when a person rode by on a bicycle... at forty below... on a bike...
| January 19, 2004 08:10am |
| opinionated (0)
I've had my GameCube of platinum goodness for about a month now and I've already purchased a bunch of games and tried a few others. Here's a orgasmic review of the games I've been playing:
| January 16, 2004 11:46am |
| opinionated (2)
Whomever decided that treatment for jock itch should include a spray can of subzero, frost-inducing substance... should be shot.
| January 16, 2004 07:28am |
| opinionated (0)
I am now the proud owner of a 52x CD-RW drive. Envy me.
| January 15, 2004 09:33am |
| opinionated (4)
I got up at 5am this morning because Seby had been whining to be let out for an hour. I stayed up and started doing all sort of productive crap. I got so much done and feel awesome. The best thing was that I got nearly three hours of alone time this morning which is pure bliss. Add that to the excellent conversation k and I had last night about balancing our time/priorities/emotional health and I'm just plain giddy. Never fear, I'm sure this will wear off around 11am when my body realizes that I'm not actually going back to bed...
| January 15, 2004 08:30am |
| opinionated (0)
I finally ditched my 142.5 cubic inches, 2.5 lb day planner to move to something younger and slimmer. My Palm is a 4.4 cubic inch, 4.2 oz machine of ecstasy. I feel younger already.
| January 15, 2004 07:16am |
| opinionated (3)
I've been teaching piano at a church of which I was a former staff member. I was just told that I have until May to find a new place to teach. This came, coincidentally, the week after my membership was removed at my request (because of my involvement in a home church). The reasons I'm being booted out are because the church's insurance doesn't cover non-member activities and the church is uncomfortable with a for-profit entity using the church building. Interesting. The profit thing didn't seem to be a problem in the past. Also, I might have been able to get my own insurance to cover liability while I'm using the building (like the non-profit organizations that use the building). Buuut no. Their reasons are fishy at best though I was assured that it had nothing to do with my membership withdrawl. Riiiiight. I'll be getting my official termination letter in the mail within the week. Fuck you too.
| January 14, 2004 07:35pm |
| opinionated (4)
| January 14, 2004 10:33am |
| opinionated (0)
Strongbad sure has some pretty cool games.
| January 13, 2004 09:24pm | 
| opinionated (1)
| January 12, 2004 09:39pm |
| opinionated (3)
I went to the supermarket to buy bleach for my hair because my roots needed re-bleaching:
Cashier: Isn't your hair blond enough?
Me: Well, my roots are starting to show.
Cashier: Oh. I thought you people were in to that.
"You people?" "You people!?" I guess you didn't know that my kind don't take well to being pigeon holed.
| January 11, 2004 06:55pm |
| opinionated (1)
This week I heard my first actual, real-life story of someone being busted for copyright issues. Evidently this local company used a copyrighted picture of the aurora as a background for a photo of their business and then printed it on thousands of distributed publications. It was a major lawsuit. I'm not sure about the financial damage, but it can't have been pretty.
I've now been tasked to redesign that publication and several other pieces for them in a way that doesn't break the law. And as far as limitations go, the not-breaking-the-law thing was really all I was given. Pretty much they want me to tell them what they need. That's both good and bad. They also didn't want a price estimate. They just want me to do it. I will still give them an estimate to protect myself, but basically I'm looking at making quite a bit of money on this thing. Sweet!
| January 10, 2004 11:24am |
| opinionated (0)
There is a musician I worked with when I was doing the music minister thing who still calls me anytime she needs advice for how to deal with an issue regarding her involvement in that music program. She usually calls when other people have dropped the ball again and needs to know whether she should take it upon herself to either fix it all or to receive the brunt of the chaos when things are thrown together at the last minute.
I'm honored that she values my insight so much.
| January 9, 2004 11:55am |
| opinionated (0)
I went to a local office supply store to check out the variety of stylus pens for my PDA...
"Where are your stylus pens?"
confused look
"You know, the pens used for PDAs?"
"Oooh. They are right over there. But we don't really have any stylish ones. They're all just the regular type."
| January 8, 2004 10:09pm |
| opinionated (0)
I think I'm going to stop setting my alarm, because - as evidenced this morning - my supervisor is more than willing to call and wake me up. Granted, that was 20 minutes after I was supposed to be at work, but still...
| January 8, 2004 08:59am |
| opinionated (2)
More is brilliant, artistic, and definitely worth the academy award nomination it received. It's a big file, but is worth the download time.
Thanks Valette for insisting that I watch it.
| January 7, 2004 09:10am |
| opinionated (0)
It all unravels
| January 6, 2004 12:19pm |
| opinionated (0)
A person who blames someone else for not only their own psychoses, but also for all of the problems surrounding their life is truly the lowest form of human being.
| January 5, 2004 11:46am |
| opinionated (3)
The fact that I have completed my morning's work as well as some much needed socialization all in the first 30 minutes of the day does not change the fact that I don't want to be here. The fact that I can spend the rest of the morning goofing off does not change the fact that I need a vacation. The fact that the day is looking good does not change the fact that I can still choose to be grumpy if I feel like it.
| January 5, 2004 08:33am |
| opinionated (0)
7 days, 7 adults, all related to each other.
It sounds like a reality show from hell... and it felt like one too. It certainly provided hours of entertainment on my blog. Of course, as I reflect back I realize that there is no way in hell that I'd do this with my own deranged family, so why did I think that we could make it work with k's family? We're just swapping dysfunctions there. Reeeeal smart.
| January 2, 2004 08:33am |
| opinionated (2)
According to Valette:
budget fireworks is the place where you can get a cheap bang.
| January 1, 2004 07:33pm |
| opinionated (0)
Party on, Wayne.
Party on, Garth.
| January 1, 2004 01:40pm |
| opinionated (0)
art