Oh the things we have seen!

I has been a busy, busy past few days for M. and I! We took a road trip to visit friends this weekend. M. got to go golfing Saturday afternoon and I hung out with M.'s best friend's wife and her kiddos. Sunday evening M. and I went to see Radiohead - live - in person - up close! We were only about eight rows back from the stage. Thom York singing, dancing and giving the audience 'the eye,' Jonny Greenwood rocking out on all sorts of instruments, Ed O'Brien strumming his guitar, Colin and Phil were there too - they were just heard more than seen. It was M.'s dream and I was fortunate enough to be the one with him when that dream was realized.

Radiohead respectfully asked fans to 'keep the show live' and to not take videos or photos so M. and I left all our cameras at home or in the car. Of course, there are bootleg videos all over YouTube. None of the videos are especially good. It was an outdoor concert, it was dark, and the LED light displays don't video well on the type of camera people would have had to smuggle in - lots of cell phone cameras, I am guessing. Here is one video showing Thom dancing. The crowd goes wild! This one is pretty good too. In the videos you can see the pit peoples' heads (they had to stand mushed together the entire time). M. and I were off to the left side in the seated area, but not so far we couldn't make out facial features of the band! I would so follow M. to any Radiohead concert anywhere! Don't tell M., but I totally have a crush on Thom! ;)

The opening band was Grizzly Bear. I am now awaiting one of their CDs to arrive from Amazon.com.

We took Monday off so we could rest up before venturing back into real life. We slept in, I made a delectable chicken tortilla soup, and then treated ourselves to the new X Files movie and dinner out. Not extremely X Files-ish, but a good movie anyway.

So now we are coming down off our concert high and getting back into the grind at work. Not fun - I'm going to quit and become a Radiohead groupie. M., your welcome to tag along too... We are shorthanded at work this week, particularly in the front office. I am helping out, but I have to say there are some aspects of helping out up there that I cannot stand. For instance, when we have two people out on vacation, another calls in sick, and the remaining person up front comes in late then has to go get some water before she can help out and that takes another 15-20 minutes. And this is after she has clocked in. Ok, didn't know your water was in Timbuktu.

And, if you read this blog, you know Wednesday is meeting day at the office. RR. had a snarky moment when asking that the front office not send calls back when she has clearly marked herself unavailable on our OfficeView program. Someone has to comment that sometimes the caller says they were just contacted, blah, blah, blah. I could see the daggers shooting from RR's eyes. And then, I offer to do some front office coverage so others can go to lunch. Well, this same particular person logs herself out for lunch, then spends about 30-45 minutes checking personal email and Facebook. Then she leaves the office for over an hour. Granted, I have taken long lunches and do check my personal email at work, but not when we are shorthanded and have to have everyone pitching in.

Oh, I am going back to my concert-induced high and Radiohead fog. I hear some Radioheaddrifting out of M.'s room now...


PS - M. and I now have a cute little Flip video camera, so I will need to try out some video skills and post them to my little piece of the world wide web. Stay tuned!

Library Debate

As the week winds down I am having an obstinately difficult time concentrating on my work. So here I am at my blog, taking a break. Don't turn me in for wasting company time - I do get my work done! ;)

One of my favorite blogs - Mental Floss - had a link to a blog on one of my other favorite topics - libraries and reading! (I see M. rolling his eyes or shaking his head in mild disgust right now...) The blog is called MyLibBlog and is written by a librarian in Colorado. The specific post that was linked in my Morning Cup O'Links over at Mental Floss was a letter to a library patron who challenged one of the books in the children's section of the library. The book in question is Uncle Bobby's Wedding.

The library patron was challenging the book because she felt it promoted homosexuality and that homosexuality is not a topic appropriate for children. If you read the reply Jamie, the author of MyLibBlog, has written, I think he makes excellent points about how the book deals with subject matter that is very relevant to children in today's society and that it is the parents of the child who need to decide if this book is appropriate for their children. I agree with these points even though I have not read the book in question.

I've not explored the MyLibBlog thoroughly yet, but plan to add it to my Google Reader selection for now to see if it's something I want to keep up with.

Best Wishes and No Farewells **EDIT**

7/28/08: Had to write an edit worthy of my little brother this morning. By the way, as my brother so lovingly <insert major sarcasm here> pointed out, he is 25, not 26. But he will be 26 at the end of August. I just subtracted 3 years from my own age and ended up a month and a half off... Anyway, back to this post's edit.

M. was reading my post last night at home and said, "You've never been to the west coast?" At that exact moment I remembered I have been to the west coast, once, briefly, back in 2003 or 2004. When I was in graduate school I attended a conference in San Francisco. I didn't see a lot of the west coast, but was there. So, I amend my post. I've never been to the northwest coast...

Portland, Oregon. This is likely a city I would never have thought of much in my entire life if the past couple years had not happened. In the past couple years I've had two dear friends whom I met at work go through some life-changing events and then decided to move on to Portland. (And how ironic is it that the book I started on Saturday is set in Portland and the movie M. and I watched last night is as well?)

The latest friend, Ms. E., will be taking a flight out there on Tuesday to start her new life. We had a get-together Friday evening at a bar for her. M. and I went, not planning to stay long (bars are not our scene), and ended up being the last ones standing outside the bar with E. as the warm, sultry night air enveloped us. We stood there, finding one last thing to say after one last thing to say to delay the inevitable hug before parting ways. Finally, we had to let her go. But this is just best wishes to E. - not a farewell!

I for one plan to keep up with E. as she makes her way our there on the west coast. M. and I will also try to make it out there next summer for a visit - stopping first in North Dakota to see my family and my brother's new house. I've never been to the west coast, so I'm already excited and want to plan the trip NOW.

Dearest E., email me often, send lots of pictures, and don't forget to use chat! I send you best wishes for a safe flight tomorrow and for a wonderful life in Portland. All warm snarkies today are dedicated to you. Don't forget about us back here!

PS- thanks for the 'Free Fla-Vor-Ice' sign - almost didn't see it this morning!

Aprons and Green Tea Bathes

Pioneer Woman Ree did a post today about a cute cowgirl apron she just got on her Home & Garden blog. When someone on one of the blogs I regularly read posts about something they found online I head right over to the website. In this case, PW's apron came from Sommer Designs. They do have cute aprons, but the ones they have available for sale right now are hostess aprons, you know, those ones that tie only around your waist and don't cover anything up top. Now, this just isn't practical for me. When I cook the most likely place for me to end up with slops is the area this apron doesn't cover - both because of my height (or lack thereof) and an ample chest. Sommer Designs' full coverage aprons don't go on sale until mid-October, but that's okay because I made my own apron some time ago - I just have to remember to put it on when I am cooking! And my apron covers me all the way down to my knees!!

What I really liked on the Sommer Designs website - and it came as a shock to me because typically I am not really into this kind of thing - was the handcrafted handbags. But, wouldn't you know it, the Malaga Bag in lime paisley which I just love is sold out. :( The Del Cerro Tote in Toile fabrics are pretty cool too - just not as much as the Malaga in lime paisley...

And while I am doing a post on stuff I like online, when I visited my parents in North Dakota earlier this month, my mom set out some Cru de Provence green tea bath products that came in a gift basket her boss bought her. I used the body wash and lotion during my visit and just love the scent! She gave me the travel size lotion and body wash to take home since that is about all I was allowed per airline security regulations on liquids and gels. Once home I did some research and found out these products are sold by Wind Country Gift Baskets. Mom got the lovely 'Day Off' basket. (Her boss spoils her employees!)

Just a quick post this afternoon to take a quick break from work! :)

Random, useless workday thoughts...

We have a couple single-seater restrooms in the back of our building. The doorstop in the lady's room is one of those metal rings with the rubber ring on the inside. I can't help looking at it when I'm in there and wondering how much bacteria has gathered in that rubber ring, or do small insects find it a suitable, dark place to build their homes?

Also, several people in the office are wearing bright, limey greens today. Yea! I love green...

And, check out the new header at Suburban Turmoil. I love the picture. The look on little Bruiser's face is priceless!

What's Been Up?

I've been enslaved by a copier, that's what has been up! We found out that for one of our accreditations we need to send all our reports (burned to CD) from all of history to the accrediting entity. Well, we had reports saved electronically from 2004-present, so I've got those CDs all wrapped up and they have already been sent where they need to go. Anything before 2004 was not saved electronically, so I have been working with our summer helper to get the paper files pulled from the hot, steamy attic and then drug downstairs where our copies are.

Once the files are downstairs, someone needs to plow through them to pull out the applicable reports (sometimes up to 4 reports per file), scan them in and then save them so they can be burnt to CD. Of course, during the entire year we worked on this accreditation it was never mentioned we would need to do this - only after we've received our accreditation does this come up, and of course, it is now URGENT that we get this done. This could not have been done over the course of the year, especially not in the winter when it would have been cooler in the attic...

And, of course this is URGENT so it falls me to me to plow through these files by myself because our summer helper is at camp this week. I will be so glad when she is back! Apparently, it was also policy here in the office back in the day to use a staple per every 2 pages. So, for each report I have to pull out about a dozen staples before I can run the thing through the copier. So, please, fellow workers, please be careful not to trip over my chain and shackles while working near the back copier... I will likely be there all week!!

So because I don't and likely won't have a lot to snark about during this all encompassing project at work, I thought I'd let you all know what I have been up to outside of work. I know you all want to know desperately!

Movies: M. and I went to see The Strangers over the weekend. I was excited about this movie because scary movies and thrillers are my favorite movie genre. Unfortunately, this is one of those movies that did not live up to the previews for me (or for M. who also wanted to see it). I did not have that 'movie high' when leaving the theater. Do you get that 'movie high?' You know, that feeling when you leave a theater that the movie was just great, or that it might have changed the way you look at something or think about things? Well, that wasn't this movie. This movie was just okay for me. M. pointed out about 5 minutes in that the camera work was very shaky, even more so than Cloverfield, which we watched about a week ago. As with many little eccentricities, I really didn't notice this until M. pointed it out, but then it was annoying. Also, as M. says, you really don't get to know the main characters, James and Kristen, so it is hard to feel anything for them when the three strangers start attacking them simply because they 'were home.' I think with some more story background and a steadier camera this might have been a good movie and not just okay.

We also tried out Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. M. had seen something about these movies and that they had received good viewer ratings, in fact, were consider cult classics. I am always up for horror flicks, even the old ones, so I sat down with M. to watch these films. We watched all of the first one although I don't know why. It was entirely hokey. I know, you need to expect a degree of that in many of the older flicks, but this was just too much hokey for me. Zombie dead people who sit in doorways and just giggle are not my thing. I watched about 15 minutes of the second one and it was even worse, so I decided making our bed would be entirely more interesting. M. watched a bit more than me and while I was tucking in bedding I heard "Give me back my hand," come from the living room. Later M. would tell me that the main character's hand was possessed and was trying to kill him. Oh, please! Also, that damn giggly zombie was back in the second film...

The final movie I want to mention is P2. We also watched this movie over the weekend (yes, we watch a lot of movies). While also not a great movie, it was better than the others mentioned above. We definitely felt more for Angela who was imprisoned in a parking garage by a demented parking attendee who had a crush on her than for James and Kristen out in the woods tormented by three strangers. Too bad we didn't go see Iron Man instead of The Strangers in the theater...

Games: We've had a Nintendo Wii for some time now and both M. and I enjoy it. I picked up a Wii Fit last week and it only took me one evening of calling around and a dash to our local Toys R Us to get it - unlike our console which we had to stalk stores for 2 weeks to get. Actually, I picked up 2 Wii Fits last week. One was for M.'s mom who had been wanting one before I even knew what they were. Unfortunately, M.'s parents have had console problems and apparently the 2nd console Nintendo sent them does not like the Wii Fit, so they have to contact Nintendo and have a third console sent out. Until then, M.'s mom doesn't get to use her Wii Fit game or balance board.

I've used my Wii Fit almost every day since we got it. For those who don't know about the Wii Fit (I only recently got the concept), you get a balance board and compatible game for the purchase price of $89.99. With your Wii Fit you can do a body test which will measure your weight, BMI, balance, and give you an estimated age based on those measurements. It also has yoga, strength training, balance, and aerobic activities to help keep your measurements in check. What I really like about it is that you need to bank time doing these activities to unlock new activities, so you have an incentive to work out. I just unlocked rhythm boxing last night and love it! My plan was to do yoga each day and alternate aerobic and strength training. Tonight was to be strength training, but I may slip some rhythm boxing in too!

Last night M. went on an impulse buy trip to town to pick up Rock Band for our PS3 (yes, we have a lot of game systems). The game is a bit pricey and I wasn't sure about getting it, but M. seemed pretty excited, so I gave him the go ahead to get it while I worked on my aerobics with my Wii Fit. I banked 45 minutes on the Wii Fit, unloaded the dishwasher, setup the cats' drinking fountain (after it went through the dishwasher), gathered household trash from our little cans around the house, and scooped the litter box while M. was on his shopping trip. He had to go to three stores, but eventually found the game. (Why do the things we want always have to be so hard to find?)

I left M. in the living room to unpack the box (and it was a big box) while I showered off my Wii sweat. When I came out he had the guitar and microphone unpacked and was beginning to work on the drum set. If you've not heard of Rock Band, this game is kind of like the Guitar Hero games in that you can play a guitar along with popular songs, but in addition to the guitar, you can also have someone on the drums and someone singing, hence making up your rock band!

I wasn't exactly excited about this game, but I am glad M. went out and got it. We rocked the night away - M. on the drums and me on vocals. I am not a good singer, but on 'easy' level I did pretty good. We got to create characters for ourselves and name our band. We ended up being The Beavers - a throw back to M.'s past (don't ask, I don't have the finger strength to finish this post and tell you about that story). M. is the outrageous drummer Storm and I am the Gothic rocker Lil'Seed. What is especially nice about this game is it's song list. Lots of songs M. and I have heard and like (unlike some of those other singing games). You can also purchase additional songs from the music store.

M. and I rocked so much last night we were able to unlock several new venues, gained about 2,000 fans, and even got a crappy van to tour in so we can make it from venue to venue! M. was ready to get to his drums again this morning, but of course, we have to work...

Books: I finally finished Sophie's Choice. Like The Strangers, this was just okay for me. I picked up this book because I had heard vague murmurings about it, and of course, knew it was a movie. I've never seen the movie and I really didn't know what the book was about before actually reading it. The first problem I had was that the paperback copy I got at the library had very small, cramped text. My eyes are okay and I do a lot of reading, but that was hard to get through. Secondly, you don't even learn what Sophie's choice is until the last quarter of the book and by that time there has been so much other drama in Sophie's life (past and present) that it is hard to get caught up in her choice. I don't think the author gave enough text to the actual choice and how it impacted Sophie. Maybe the movie focuses more on the choice?

After Sophie's Choice I read The Virgin of Small Plains. Loved this book! I will have to pick up some more books by Nancy Pickard next time I'm at the library. This is a mystery set in 1987 and 2004 Kansas. The book does jump from the past to 'present' 2004, so if you don't like that in a book, this may not be for you, but it didn't bother me. In 1987 a girl is found naked and dead on a ranch and the mystery is who is she and why did she end up dead (and frozen to boot) on a cattle ranch.

Currently, I am reading Bastard Out Of Carolina. Not very far yet, but I'm enjoying it so far. I have seen the movie version of this book staring Jennifer Jason Leigh. I liked the movie, so am anticipating liking the book. I may have to pick up some other books by Dorothy Allison after this.

Each time I go to the library I update the 'Book Bag' section of this blog on the right side. I know you need to know what I am reading, so keep up to date over there.

This ends our first edition of 'What's Up.' I hope you have enjoyed reading about what fun and oh so exciting things I have been doing. I must now depart for my beloved copier. Tune in again some other time... Adieu.

Credit Card Sigs - Who the Heck Cares?

Mental Floss had a very amusing link in my Morning Cup O'Links today. It made me think of my dear, sweet M.

M. and I have credit cards, we use credit cards. In fact, cash and checks have become unknown entities to us. Green paper that acts like a credit card - really? Pieces of paper where I have to fill in a bunch of junk, including the amount of purchase - what the hell?

Now we all know you're supposed to be a good credit card user and sign the back of that thing just as soon as it arrives in the mail. And why are we supposed to do this, why to prevent credit card fraud, of course!

I dutifully sign my cards, maybe not upon moment of receiving them, but at least prior to first use. Even though I sign my name to the back of the cards, I am skeptical of the actual accuracy this has in preventing Joe Blow to steal my card, swipe it to make his $1 billion purchase, and then sign my name, or even his own name, and have the transaction go through. Heck, lots of places he wouldn't even have to sign anything, just swipe that baby until he's put me into the dredges of credit card debit oblivion.

Now, M., he is even more skeptical of the whole 'sign this card or other people will use it until the credit card gods smite you down.' M. writes 'CHECK ID ' on the back of his cards. He writes it big, all caps, and very dark. How many times has M. used his cards and had someone check his ID? Probably less than 2% of the uses.

Because you know what, people are in too much of a hurry now and those check out clerks, waiters, and others who see our credit cards just don't care. In fact, my card is usually back in my wallet before I even sign the receipt. Yes, I am such a rebel - I totally ignore those 'Leave card out for signature verification' signs.

So anyway, back to the original intent of this post: the Mental Floss links. Some guy did a couple neat experiments. He wanted to find out just how crazy he could make his signature on credit card receipts before someone noticed and called him on it. The answer: pretty much anything goes and no one is going to bat an eyelash. This made me think of M. because he likes it when people take the time to check his ID, as his credit card signature line requests. He also likes it when the credit card company calls us to check to see if any 'suspicious activity' on our account is valid. I don't mind those things either, M. is just much more adamant about such things (plus, of course I think of M. every waking moment of every day - he's my husband, duh!).

So, without further ado and more typing from me, here are the links to the experiments:
Credit Card Prank I
Credit Card Prank II

Enjoy!

Oh by the way Ms. CS...

I have a birthday coming up. I'm not one to bemoan getting a year older, especially since I still feel the same as I did when I first married M., which was now almost 9 years ago. But at the office this means you get together with coworkers for some lunchtime fun and get cards and stuff like that.

Well, coworker CS came down to my office today and she hands me a card. The card's in an envelope and CS has made a note on the front reading, "DON'T OPEN UNTIL B-day" (that's her capitalization). My birthday is Saturday which means I must hold onto this card until then unopened - if I follow CS's directions, that is.

Hey CS, did you know that my sister, brother, and I did expert pre-Christmas snooping because we just had to know what we were getting even though it ruined the surprise? When my mom caught on and started wrapping the presents before hiding them, we delicately removed the tape, took a peek, and then re-taped them. That's how much we had to know what was in those packages! So, do you really think your envelope glue is going to hold up against that?

Just some morning thoughts...

It's primary election day here. M. and I voted early at one of the local libraries, so all taken care of. This is the first time I've made any kind of vote in a presidential election - much to M.'s chagrin. The only time I have made any kind of vote previously had been in a school-based issue.

I ended up stopping by AB and KE's office today. Seem to get stuck there a lot (and not to do work). We talked about the election and who we voted for. Normally I stay pretty quite when political discussions come up because 1) I am not politically minded, 2) I typically don't vote, and 3) my parents never talked about voting and politics, so I'm just following what I was taught. But with certain people in this office you can basically discuss most anything and it's okay - mostly the people I've shared this blog with (even though the original intent was no real life person would know about it).

So I told who I voted for and mentioned that I had never voted previously. There was a slight incredulity about my never having voted, but no outrage as I would get elsewhere. I couldn't imagine bossman's reaction to my not voting... but this led to an even less talked about subject for me - religion.

If I have to name one thing M. probably deep down detests about me it is my religious views, or lack there of. I've briefly mentioned my views on this blog before. Even the particular post did not get any comments, for me, it was one of my most revealing because this is something I never talk about. Like not mentioning my previous non-voter status, being non-religious can also spark some very heated reactions of the kind I would rather avoid.

Of course, AB and KE did not give me any snark about my views, they were accepting and for that I am grateful. It's good to be somewhere where you know you can talk to people and even if you have opposing views, the discussion can be orderly and productive rather than rage infested.

This post really doesn't have much of a focused point. My stop in at KE and AB's office just got me thinking about things, and even talking about them a bit today. During the brief religion discussion KE said something to the effect that our beliefs are our own and as long as we live our lives as good people, then that is what matters. Made me think about my life - do I see myself as a good person? Sure, I make lots of quips about how great am I, but is that how I really feel? Overall, I see my life divided into two parts: pre-M. and the now. During one part I was okay, but had a rebellious streak, in the other part I do basically see myself as a good person. Now which do you think is which?

Just some introspection for a Tuesday morning. Thanks for joining me.

My Halcyon Place

I really, really, really do not want to work today. I have been struggling with JDWW Syndrome all week (Just Don't Wanna Work), but today is the climax of every other day this week and I feel like just sitting here and staring blankly at my screen doing absolutely nothing. But since I can't do that I am writing this blog post instead which gives at least the appearance of working.

Prior to writing the post I did a number of other non-work related items to avoid actual work for today: renewed my driver's license (which gave me an excuse to get out of the office for about 20 minutes), checked my email, caught up on blogs I read, and scrolled through the ticker thingy at the top of my Gmail.

While scrolling through the ticker I saw that today's 'Dictionary.com Word of the Day ' is halcyon. I've never seen or heard of this word before, but it is oddly fitting for today. I need my halcyon place today to escape from work.

In case you, too, are clueless about the meaning of the word halcyon, it means, 'peaceful, undisturbed, happy.' So halcyon place = happy place. I don't know where that is today, but it's not here in my office...

Online Forums

One of my favorite scrapping blogs has expanded their site to include more areas than just the blog and with that comes a forum. They used to post challenges on the blog, which I have in my Google reader for easy follow-along. Where have they moved the challenge postings? Into the forum.

As you probably do when reading many of my posts, you're thinking, "So what?" Well, mostly I really hate online forums. Most of them make me very snarky. There are several reasons (not all pertaining to the particular forum mentioned above):

• Many forum-owner, runners, whatever they are called, do not know how to adequately organize their forums or set them up right, whatever. I hate having to search around a forum for the info I want or need because the organization sucks. I also hate scrolling through 10 pages to find the most recent post, or the intent of the entire thread.
• Often times the thread headings/titles are misleading and I spend time scrolling through a thread that sounded helpful from the title, but in reality, has nothing to do with what I was originally looking for.
• Insane avatars and "blinkies" - good lord! Some people have the most annoying and distracting avatars on these forums. I can't read through the threads because it takes an hour for the page to load because of the insane avatars. Also affecting page loads (especially on craft/scrapping forums) are these things called "blinkies." They are flashy graphics that scroll store names, "fan of," and other messages. Some have the intent to give people seizures, I think.
• People who have signatures that go on for a paragraph snark me off! Sure, a nice short quote is lovely in a signature. But do we need to have five graphics, a poem, all the members of our household, plus our name (in flashing, glittery graphics) in the signature line? Seriously, often times these people's actual post message are shorter than their signatures.
• Speaking of messages, one of the most annoying aspects of online forums, at least to me, are the no-purpose messages. Do we really need to dedicate an entire post in a thread to say "ok," "yes," "no," "I agree?" I have to scroll through about 50 of these little quips just to get to a post of substance. Grrrr!

So there you have it - online forums are not my friends!

Little Snark, Lots of 'Net Perusing

I have been busy at work today, but found a little downtime to look at some links from Mental Floss and to type up this post, which I am sure has been much anticipated by my faithful readers.

I found some interesting things through this morning's dose of links. Here are some my readers might be interested in:

• Bugs can be snarky too, especially when you look at electron photographs of them. I personally think the Spiny Assassin Bug is the snarkiest. Do you think he's an assassin because he's snarky?
• This was quite amusing: 15 Pet Products We Can't Believe Exist from Cracked.com. #6 kind of got to me - that dog looks like the crystal encrusted dress it is wearing makes it snarky. It would make me snarky. #4 is also quite funny - be a slut wearing your itty bitty doggie, or try slapping a great dane on your front side.
• Radar Magazine brings us some letters written by Billy Geerhart (a 30-something posing as a 10 year old) to various famous and infamous characters - including several serial killers. Anyone else think it is odd that the Night Stalker starts his letters just like bossman?! Anyone else at work think his signature looks a little like bossman's too? Weird! Also, I sure am glad I don't have to type Mr. Charles Manson's letters! (people who work with me will appreciate these little snarkies about the letters more than other readers...)
• And for more interesting insect fun, check out how one artist is helping arachnids beautify their homes, even if they don't appreciate it!

I will now let you get back to whatever you might have been doing and I will get on with my typing up of letters and such.

All Gangly

A few years ago I noticed I had bump in my left wrist right below the base of my thumb. It was painful if I bumped it on something and since I am left-handed, I was prone to bump it every now and then. I get squeamish about the stupidest things. Give me all sorts of blood and gore, doesn't bother me, even if I'm eating. However, pull your eye lids down in front of me, flip them up, poke an eye, whatever and I have to look away. Same thing with this seemingly innocuous bump in my wrist.

So I decided to go see our family doctor about the bump in my left wrist. I do not live in my home state - I live in M.'s home state in the same area he grew up in. When I moved here with him his doctor became my doctor. M. really likes this doctor, and I don't blame him since Dr. U pretty much saved M.'s live. So, thanks for that Dr. U, but I've never really been 100% comfortable with him, so I was not eager to go see him about my bump. But I did go see him, just in case it was some kind of malignant tumor that needed to be immediately excised from my wrist rendering my unable to write or type since I am left-handed. (I could pretty much do everything else since the only thing I do with the left hand is write, so maybe I'm not left-handed, I don't know, I've always been considered left-handed... I digress...)

Dr. U didn't do much (although I paid the full office visit fee, which kind of sucked). He basically looked at it, he might have felt the bump, I don't remember, and told me what I had was a ganglion cyst. I had never heard of a ganglion cyst before that moment and to, ganglion cyst sounded pretty scary. It sounded kind of like some kind of alien life form had taken residence in my wrist. I almost wanted to tell Dr. U to grab his scalpel and cut the thing out. Instead, I asked him what that meant, and he probably briefly explained it to me, again, I don't remember. What I do remember is that he said it was my decision whether or not to have it removed. Basically, it wouldn't do me any harm, but if it bothered me Dr. U could refer me to a specialist. Well, paying the bill for some specialist sounded even scarier than some alien in my wrist, so I decided to keep my little ganglion. I call it Herve - no, not really.

So over the years I have lived with my ganglion cyst and once in awhile it bothers me, some times it hurts, but usually it's just there. Then last week I noticed a sharp pain in my right wrist. Low and behold, there was an almost identical bump in my right wrist to match my left! So I am guessing I have another ganglion cyst, this time in my right wrist. Instead of driving down to see Dr. U, I went to good old reliable WebMD for some information on my newest visitor.

In helping me identify exactly what a ganglion cyst is, WebMD was much more helpful than Dr. U.

A ganglion cyst is a tumor or swelling on top of a joint or the covering of a tendon (tissue that connects muscle to bone). It looks like a sac of liquid (cyst). Inside the
cyst is a thick, sticky, clear, colorless, jellylike material. Depending on the
size, cysts may feel firm or spongy.

Well, eeww! It does kind of sound like some alien creature. I also learned the following from WebMD that made me feel a little better, but did nothing for Herve and his new twin:

One large cyst or many smaller ones may develop. Multiple small cysts can give
the appearance of more than one cyst, but a common stalk within the deeper
tissue usually connects them. This type of cyst is not harmful and accounts for
about half of all soft tissue tumors of the hand. Ganglion cysts, also known as
Bible cysts, are more common in women, and 70% occur in people between the
ages of 20-40. Ganglion cysts most commonly occur on the back of the hand
(60-70%), at the wrist joint and can also develop on the palm side of the wrist.
When found on the back of the wrist, they become more prominent when the wrist
is flexed forward.

Yep, that pretty much describes what I have going on in both wrists. However, when it came to telling me how to resolve the pain inflicted by these little boogers, WebMD was not much more helpful than Dr. U. Basically, WebMD told me that in the past people would break the cysts by pounding them with a large book (like the Bible - also called 'Bible Therapy'). WebMD does not recommend I do this because it could cause further injury to the wrist. Gee, you think? Thanks, WebMD. Any solutions for what might help the pain and not cause me further problems?

WebMD suggests some remedies that involve doctors - having the cyst drained with a syringe, injection of an anti-inflammatory, or surgical removal. Basically, the only advice WebMD could give me that did not involve calling up Dr. U or some other doctor was gentle massage can help alleviate the pain. Well, I asked M. to rub my wrist and he really doesn't like to touch the alien thing either, and can I blame him since I don't even like looking at them? And more importantly, how do I snark at blobs of jellylike material in my wrists?! People might find me a little crazy if they came into my office and I was holding up both wrists and telling them how much I hate them...

More Snarkiness for Your Enjoyment

Okay, with my post this morning I had very little to snark about - even though I found a way to make that post very long... Well, if I had waited just a few more hours I could have been a very, very long post indeed.

M. and I traded in M.'s Dodge Ram pickup last October due to fuel efficiency (the thing had none) and because we really don't need a truck. I ended up getting the newer car even though we traded in M.'s truck. That's just how much of a sweetie he is (well, most of the time). The car I am now driving is a Chrysler 300M and I love that car. What I do not love is the dealership who sold it to us.

We ended up going to the same dealership that we got our previous two vehicles from - the Dodge Ram and a Buick Regal that M. is now driving. The sales were okay, but not enough that I would have said I would never buy another vehicle anywhere else. It just happened they had a car I really liked (it wasn't white, had a sunroof, and leather seats) and they ended up giving us the price we wanted plus the trade-in value we wanted on the truck. So, you think, everything is hunky dory? Well, no. As soon as I drove off the lot the night we purchased the thing the check engine light popped on. I checked the car's manual and since it was the solid light and not the flashy one, the manual recommended I drive it for a few "regular driving cycles" and if it remained on to get it serviced. So I drove it for a few days and that light stay on the entire time. Luckily, the car was under a 30 day warranty and we got the catalytic converter replaced for free. Check engine light off.

I drove the car until early this month and then that check engine light popped back on. I drove it for a few days, it stayed on. I had just gotten an oil change at a different service place, so I called and made an appointment for a diagnostic test for the following Saturday. Drove the car, drove the car, and then Friday, check engine light goes off. Great! I cancel my Saturday appointment.

The very next Tuesday, once again there is that darn orange check engine light staring at me. So I drive it a couple days and it's not going off, so I call the service center at the dealership we got the car from. About $400 later I have a new cylinder thingy and some kind of new pump. Car should be happy, check engine light should be appeased.

That was about a week ago. I got in my car this morning to go get the lenses for my glasses put in and there is that evil orange light. I was going to wait until after I had my lunch to call the service center yet again, so I called M. to tell him about the light and how pissed off I am. He sympathizes and tells me he's sleepy. I tell him poor you and get off the phone so I can stew in snarky rage over that stupid light. I decided I am not waiting to call that darn service center, so I find the number in my 'recent numbers' on my cell and call them up. "Service center, this is LilSeed. I had my Chrysler 300M in about a week ago because the check engine light was on." Service center remembers me. "Well, it's on again." Service center seems stumped and asks when I can bring it in. So tomorrow morning I make another trip to drop off my car and then wait to be shuttled back to work and wait anxiously for them to run another diagnostic test on my poor 300M.

Add to that I checked out the mega store where I got my lenses to see if they had the kind of cookbook I wanted and did they? Did they? Of course they didn't. One stop shopping my ass. I did get my index cards, but have yet to have any kind of book to put them in.

I hate the service center and the mega store.

Not Snarky Enough?

Apparently I have not been snarky enough for some readers (RR I am staring at you through the office walls!) I have a bit of the seasonal affect disorder, so as the weather gets nicer, my mood is prone to improvements as well and we've had some very nice springy weather here the past couple days. Of course, there was an earthquake and aftershock in there, but that was my first ever earthquake and it hit around 4:30am - I didn't quite know what was going on. Neither did my cats who had fits and furiously ran for wherever they like to hide. I couldn't even find Luigi after the rumbling stopped, but he showed up for his breakfast, so I guess he's okay, brains weren't shook too much. It is starting to cloud up outside my office window and is supposed to be rainy and cooler this weekend, so the snark may be back in full force soon, we'll have to wait and see...

I am in a spring-cleaning, purgey kind of mood this afternoon, so my office has become more minimalist and the office supply closet has been getting overloaded as well as the recycling bins. Also, I decided to give up on the NaBloPoMo thing. Most days I have at least one post in me (sometimes two or three), but this every day thing is not for me. I do intend to work more on my creative side, so look for more posts like the one the other day featuring my furry felines - and when I post stuff like that feel free to tell me how much you love, love, love it. ;)

I guess since this is a snarky blog, I could snark about an incident from this morning. I was quietly working on some work when RR came and exclaimed, "What happened to your eye?! You don't have pink eye, do you?" I told her nothing was wrong with it, it was fine, didn't even hurt. A crowd of coworkers then appeared to gawk at my eye and RR insisted on taking a picture of the eye. My eye is a little irritated from the new contacts I got yesterday, but truthfully, it doesn't hurt and no conjunctive-whatever-it-is, so not pink eye.

Oh, and if you're going to turn and there is a turn lane, please maneuver your entire vehicle into the turn lane. Sticking half in and half out of the turn lane does not help me - you get the 'big eye roll'. Thank you.

Gee, Thanks Alot!

Well, I am simply overwhelmed by the gracious responses to my requests for subjects since I am taking a photography course. Here's a couple:

M. "Negative!"
KE "Eek!"

Well blah! It's a portrait class and all I have to take pictures of it cats. This gets a big snark to all my "real life" readers. No more warm snarkies here! By the way, did anyone enjoy the lovely Olivia?

In other not so exciting news, work sucks today so I decided to take a short breather and headed over to Mental Floss where there was a list of famous ducks. One was Ping from the children's book The Story About Ping. We had this book in our house when I was growing up and I loved it.

And here's a video of a hedgehog spitting something all over itself. I had two of these animals as pets when I was in high school.

Sorry, that's all I've got right now...

Warm Snarkies *EDIT*

I initially called this post 'Shout Outs,' but that seemed too cheerleaderish for me, so decided to do 'Warm Snarkies' instead. Enjoy!

I wanted to do this first warm snarky on Saturday, when my timing would have been right on, but if you read my previous post from today, you know I was asleep...

I just wanted to say 'Happy, Happy Birthday' to MH. Hope you had a super duper day! I would have been all over making you some cute little card or other paperart this weekend, but you know, when you get the flue for the first time in 12 years, it's pretty much all you can concentrate on. Do anything fun or special? Save this warm snarky for another day...

Second warm snarky out goes to AB down the hall. From the chatter I've picked up in the hall (and I pick up a lot from where my office is), you're having a rough day with a client who should have done some pre-planning. Hope that all gets sorted out for you. Leave it here when you leave the office tonight so you're entire day and evening are not ruined.

You gals are both great - had to do a quick post for you! Where did the nasty little snark go anyway?!

PS - A very warm snarky to M. for reasons mentioned in previous post.

Self-Diagnosis: NPD

Dear Everyone Who Knows Me In Real Life:

How many of you think of me as a nice person? Go ahead, raise your hands... hmmm... I have a confession for you if you raised your hand - you're wrong. I've been thinking about myself today (which will feed into this entire letter/post), and I figured something out. I may like to do nice things, but why do I do them? Mainly because I enjoy the attention it brings me.

I have a limited store of "nice." This is because I can only do so many nice things and then it gets old to me and the store has to refill. Being nice is exhausting to me. It uses a lot of my energy. I am not a naturally nice person, I have to work at it. That's why this is the Snark Chronicles and not the Miss Nicey Pants Chronicles.

I decided to do a little self analysis. I've self diagnosed myself as having "Narcissistic Personality Disorder," or NPD. The all-knowing Wikipedia give the following definition of NPD

a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy

A subject has to fit at least 5 of 9 indicators to have NPD. Any guesses which 6 I attribute to myself? M. could probably guess with good accuracy. Also, NPD afflicts about 1% of the general population - awesome possum! I'm in an elite group!

Oh, and just FYI - I have a bit of "nice" right now. Any takers? It won't last long...

Yours Truly,
LilSeed

PS - I am quietly adoring myself in my office today, please do not stop by and interrupt me. Thank you.

Get ready for dinner parties and sexy beards

Who missed me? Oh, you didn't notice I didn't post over the weekend? Maybe you didn't miss me. That's okay. I spent the weekend sleeping off cramps and steam cleaning my living room floor. M. is the official picker upper of wet cat hair the steam cleaner sucks up and deposits on the top of the carpet. We could probably make a new kitten out of the amount of hair that thing sucks up. Now doesn't that sounds like a weekend in heaven?

This post once a day for a whole month thing (NaBloPoMo) is kicking my butt this month. Workdays, easy peasy. Who wouldn't rather post than work? Weekends? Sleeping usually sounds better than posting. It's probably because most of my material comes from the office. Oh, that reminds me, The Office is back this week with an all new episode!! Get ready for Michael and Jan's dinner party. Dwight was not invited... Also, who thinks Ryan looks sexy with his new beard (well, it was new last season, or was that the beginning of this season? I can no longer tell since the writer's strike interrupted everything) . Anyway, tune in this Thursday for dinner parties and sexy beards. If you've never watched The Office, get the DVD's of the first three seasons and catch up! If you like my blog you will love The Office. Now that is a ringing endorsement!

Since I have no witty letter to post today (at least not yet...) here are some things that might entertain you this morning:

• Expressions by Ree the Pioneer Woman. Ree is one of my favorite bloggers right now. Her posts are funny, her photos are great, and she has some darn good recipes - just ask M. He has been amazed by my cooking lately and most of it is thanks to Ree!
• Spacesuit or swimsuit? That is the question posed by this article on forecast earth. Maybe it could be called the "Highlight those genitals" suit?
• Ewww - how dirty is your cell phone? Mine isn't too bad because I almost never use it. But here's an interesting video about all the bacteria living on your mobile device. The guy in the blue and white striped shirt is kinda cute, in a slightly dorky way. The bathroom scene reminds me of someone in my office... what's growing on his phone? Yucky!
• Maybe weekends off from my blog are a good thing (even though I have yet to earn any money from this blog..) Be careful how much you blog!
• One last thing, my new favorite digital scrapping site is Scrap Orchard. They've been having some 'freebee' giveaways the past week and some challenges to celebrate their grand opening. I did a few layouts this weekend to participate and plan to do another one tonight. Check out the gallery and see if you can find my lovely postings. I even used human subjects instead of my favorite furries.

Lists was the March NaBloPoMo theme. Not only is April kicking my butt, I am reverting to March. Oh well, I am allowed a few crazy days a month, right?

Clyde and Luigi Demand This

This is the house belonging to Rachel Hunter's dogs. Shhh, don't tell Cly and Lu - they would certainly demand a beautiful villa like this for themselves, well, one each. Cly certainly would not share a villa with Luigi given the choice. And you know what, if the price was reasonably in my budget I would buy them this villa... What spoiled boys they are!