That’s right, today is the first day of my sixth year of employment at the state. In other words, I’ve been here 5 years! I now earn more vacation time, which is exciting. Lots of changes potentially coming up in the next year, namely that will be retiring (date still TBD).

In other calendar-related news… Happy Halloween! dressed up as “young Chuck Norris” based on an SNL Digital Short. I did not dress up, because we don’t do that here. I think we’re carving a pumpkin tonight when I get home from class though.

It’s hard to avoid thinking about Christmas already, though I’d prefer the season not start so early. But Macy’s has had their stuff up for a few weeks now, which has me thinking about gift ideas and so forth. Here’s my Christmas-in-the-works list:

• For Grandma (’s side), knit scarf
• For Grandpa (’s side), figure out some sort of gift that he would enjoy - what does a 94 year old man want?
• For and , figure out gift
• For , wait for return email about proposed gift idea
• For and , have no idea
• For , pick out something cute. Also, find or make ornament to continue that tradition left by our aunt (note: discuss with first to make sure she’s OK with that).
• For , come up with idea (wanna suggest something?)
• For , go to [store] and pick up [stuff] and then convince to help [in an undisclosed way so as to not give away what my awesome idea is]
• Decide if “let it snow” home decor idea from Macy’s really would be cute
• Christmas cards… need I say more?
• Make Christmas cookies and perhaps peanut brittle, decorated pretzels, or something else equally fun (note that I still haven’t successfully made apple crisp this fall, but hopefully Christmas baking will not fall behind because of this), and bring some to Christmas Eve in Illinois.

Conveniently, I think that and I decided (perhaps unofficially) not to do gifts, or just do stockings, or something like that.

Anything else calendar-related? Um… not really. You might have noticed a few subtle changes on the blog. Hopefully, there will be something more visible within a week or so.

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1. Inaugural :: Speech
2. Pledge :: of Allegiance
3. String :: Theory
4. Trot :: Walk
5. Fitness :: Center
6. Cinder :: Block
7. Edge :: of Sanity
8. 31 :: Days
9. Blue :: Skies
10. Leather :: Chaps

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Like the earlier book list, bolded are the ones I’ve seen…. (From AFI’s top 100 movies). I’m eliminating the 3 the original poster added as well as the idea to add 3 of my own to the end. I also italicized the ones I intend on never watching, just to emphasize that I will never complete this list (to be fair, there were a whole bunch I’d prefer to never watch, but thought that it could happen some day and I wouldn’t die, so I tried to be very cautious about what I said I’d never watch, as one tends to have to eat things like that). read the rest »

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“Here (in the extended entry) is a little summer reading list. Bold what you’ve read, italicize those you’ve started and not finished, add three of your own to the end, and post.”

, you might like this, since you were talking about reading some more classic books… perhaps a place to start? read the rest »

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1. What’s special in your life right now?  I’m getting a lot of blog love this week, and that’s pretty special to me.  Dorky perhaps, but there ya have it.
2. What’s your best experience in school? This semester, it was when my Econ professor asked me during a break if he could hand out my paper to the class as an example of a good paper.  It was also pretty cool last week when my Geography professor recommended a book to me.
3. What’s the nicest imperfection of your partner? I’m not sure about ‘imperfection,” but in the realm of “not always as expected” could go the idea that he is not your traditional macho male with the sports and loud bodily functions and inappropriately scratching onesself and so forth.  He is much more subtly macho, in that he does “manly things” like own power tools (that he can use correctly without danger to life and limb) and can fix stuff and other less-obvious-but-still-stereotypical things.  Hope I didn’t just make him blush or anything.
4. What’s the coolest invention ever made? Ever?  That’s kind of a big idea to take on.  How about the coolest thing I’ve come across this week?  That would be self-laminating tags; we use them at work to label our rental equipment, and they’re so easy and obvious but amazing and have made my life so much easier.
5. What’s the best gift to leave humanity long after you’re gone? No footprints, in an ecological sense.  I realize this is impossible, but I will consider it my last gift to the earth to be cremated and not take up space that could be used for much better things.

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I need to clean up some bookmarks I have scattered about Firefox, and figured that I could follow ’s example and just post a bunch of them at a time.

• Seven Financial To-Dos for New Couples - from Motley Fool, a pretty good article. and I have done good on this list except for writing wills, power of attorney, etc. Well, the name change thing is slow-going, but that’s not my fault. I’m still waiting for the DMV to get me my new Driver’s License.
• Men: Want More Sex? Do The Laundry! - from CBS, an interesting article that originally sparked an idea to write about gender roles in marriage etc, just as a philosophical piece, but I never got around to it. Oh well.
• Pushing Five O’Clock Shadow Back a Few Hours - from NYTimes, an article I thought might be interested in. I don’t think I have that many guy readers, so I’m not sure how helpful this will be to anyone else.
• Finding the Perfect Exercise Routine - I’m beginning to think I’ll never have the time to even fully read this article, let alone attempt exercise. Wishful thinking, I guess.

I’ve also amassed a pretty good list of recipes to try. I can’t vouch for any of them, having not tried them, but maybe with all our collective power we can get some evaluation going….

• Recipes for Lunches - from the Pioneer Press , to help parents deal with packing lunches for the school year, but helpful to all, I think
• Grilled Chicken with Roasted Garlic-Oregano Vinaigrette and Grilled Fingerling Potatoes - from the Food Network, the newest addition to my list of recipes to try
• No-Knead Bread - after getting rid of my bread machine during the big move, recipes like this could come in handy. Maybe I should try this weekend… but there’s all that homework to do. I think the key is having recipes that allow for long cooking times where I can get other stuff done, or minimal prep time, or… something. I do know, however, that we don’t have yeast, so that could be a problem.
• Two recipes from Average Betty that I’m not sure will want to eat, but could be good at a party or something.
  • Fajquitos
  • Hoffepenos
• 25 Dark Chocolate Deserts - to make up for any Tex-Mex meals that might have to suffer through.
• Chocolate Milkshake Recipes - to celebrate Chocolate Milkshake Day, which I missed celebrating (in my defense, I was on my honeymoon), but I think could probably be celebrated any day of the year.

Whew! Now I just have to re-organize what’s left, but you don’t have to suffer through that.

And, my apologies, but I am now going to attempt half-a-dozen memes, because that’s how I’m feeling today.

*We watched 30 Rock last night and Tina Fey’s character got a Followship Award for being a follower.

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1. The last good thing that came in the mail was _for me, a reimbursement check from my flex spending account; for , my Victoria’s Secret catalog_ .
2. This week I’m grateful for _the weather, which was significantly better than the previous weeks_.
3. _Chocolate (duh)_ is the most delicious thing ever.
4. _Sunny fall days____ inspire me.
5. I’m most happy when I _am well-rested, among other things_ .
6. And all the roads we have to walk along are _challenging in their own way_ .
7. As for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to _maybe finishing Episode III of Lego Star Wars (if I can convince to play again)_ , tomorrow my plans include _sleeping in and too much homework_ and Sunday, I want to _sleep in (but I think I should go to church), and try a new apple crisp recipe_ !

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That’s how many spam comments I had to deal with this morning. It’s been getting worse all this week, usually 5-15 at a time. But this morning, 37 were being held in cue waiting for my approval. Now, I’d like to think this was because my blog is vastly popular, but I’m real sure that’s not it. MyBlogLog tells me exactly how many readers I have, which links have been clicked on, what weird Google searches they did to get to my site (most recently: wedding ring - the post I had back in June or whenever it was that we bought my wedding band is quite popular and actually comes up on the fifth page of image results).

That’s a ridiculous amount of spam to deal with. This is why I have the thing set up to deal with it, at least to hold it in cue so y’all don’t have to deal with it. At least all I have to do is hit the “bulk moderate all spam” button and it takes care of it.

isn’t coming in today - she’s not feeling well. I have work to do, but it’s all crap. At some point yesterday afternoon I did some homework because I couldn’t deal with the work that needed to be done. But, it is Friday, so that’s something. Tons of homework this weekend, but no plans that I know of. And ’s Grandma is coming to clean the house today, so we won’t have to spend time doing that this weekend. Before anyone gets uppity about that, we pay her, and she does this for a living, and it’s totally worth $50 to have her come once a month Before we got married, her family kept joking that once we did, she’d be out of a job, and I kept telling people I didn’t “come with that service.”  Because, you know, that’s not the definition of a wife, nor is it necessarily part of whatever agreement two people who decide to live together come up with.  It’s not like I have a problem with cleaning, I just don’t want to be cleaning up after someone else for the rest of my life.  Someone else who’s an adult, that is.  I discovered that through living with roommates: adults should be able to take care of themselves, and that includes cleaning up their own messes.  And children should be taught to do that as soon as possible.  I also don’t do his laundry, we trade off whose turn it is to make dinner, and jointly go grocery shopping.  We’re attempting equity and to not fall into traditional gender roles, though that’s a lot more work than it seems like at first glance, mostly because so many notions are held sub-consciously.

I’m glad I have a bit of a cold at the moment, because everyone is complaining that it smells like tar downtown and in our building (they’re probably roofing), and I can barely smell it. Lucky me.

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Home sweet home… it’s amazing how inspiring a sunny day in the middle of fall can be!

Obligatory Starbucks run. But this almost never happens - Starbucks in the cup holder in my car!

That’s because I went to Starbucks in Eagan (at the Transit Center, which I didn’t fully utilize), instead of the one downtown in Macy’s. Because I didn’t go to work (well, I drove by and stopped outside while a co-worker brought down some boxes and loaded up my car, but that hardly counts).

The view of downtown from New Main on Metro State’s campus. We had just gotten done staring into that sun for an hour while a presentation was made and a fairly interesting panel discussion was had. But on the bright side (ha!), as someone was introducing the award recipient, a bald eagle flew by the huge wall of windows that we were all staring at. That was cool.

A view of Metro State’s campus from New Main.

And here’s where the mystery begins…. Let me explain how this will work. Below are 40 (yes, 40) thumbnails of pictures I took after class on Tuesday. Clicking on each one will bring you to the large version of the picture. When you think you know where I was, note the # of the picture you’re on and include it in the comments with your guess (for example, the picture below is entitled “mystery1.jpg” so you’d say “I think you were at the Mall of America, and I only needed 1 picture!”). Understood? I’ll include my regular witty comments as we go, and for those of you who don’t feel like playing, there will be clues along the way (links you can click on to get more information, which you can also click on once you’ve made your guess officially in the comments). Now, no cheating! Let it be known that I get a report daily of what links are clicked on and how many times, so I’ll know. And don’t go Googling for the answer either.

read the rest »

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Well, I was hoping to get a very clever post up today (or at least a pretty post) with pictures I took yesterday. But, alas, I just finished editing them and I have to leave work now or I don’t get dinner. So, I’ll leave you with these instead:

and I made shish-kabobs (I have no idea how that’s officially supposed to be spelled and I don’t care) on Sunday. What was amazing? We used the big plate. The platter we got for our wedding. We had no idea how big it was. And what was even more shocking, we used it for just the two of us! (I mean, after all, the platter lives with the cookie sheets, if that helps you understand how big it is.)

So I took some pictures to prove it (click for large versions).

This one didn’t seem to show the perspective enough, so note in the following one my glasses sitting in the top left corner.

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1. Las Vegas :: Nevada
2. Linus :: Larraby
3. Struck :: Hard
4. Movie :: of the Week
5. Anxious :: Feeling
6. Bandit :: the dog
7. Picks :: This Week’s
8. Lasso :: Cowboy
9. Dinner :: Tonight
10. Bargain :: Bin

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I am sadly addicted to these.  I realize that this is quite possibly the lowest quality ever.  I don’t care.  They’re yummy.

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Plain and simple. It’s been a long week.

Yesterday was painful at work. There are currently only two of us to answer phones, since our receptionist retired last week. Yesterday morning, the other girl called in sick, so it was just me. came in from 10-2, so I had some relief in the middle of the day, but other than that it was just me and the phones. And a crap-ton of work. I spent less than 5 minutes on Etsy, if that’s any indication. I actually sat in my chair typing consumer stories into text files from 12 to 4:15. I took short breaks to answer the phone. I’m going to start answering it “Directory Assistance,” instead of “Name of Government Organization Here.” Yesterday, I took no less than 6 phone calls for Social Security, almost a dozen for Unemployment (though to be fair, one guy called three times, and the last time I was really rude to him because… we’re not them and he should call someone else), and one where a guy demanded I find the white pages and look up a business for him (that had the most generic name that there were over 100 businesses with said name in the Twin Cities Metro). I was rude to him too. Because, really, that’s not my job. Answer phones, yes. Sometimes direct people to SSA because there are some overlapping programs and services? Yes. Unemployment and Directory Assistance, however, are not some of the things I am being paid to do.

Class last night was good, though I’m not sure if I learned anything. On break, the professor recommended a book to me that’s all about geography concepts that should be taught to any age group. Next week I’m going early to my Tuesday class and not going to work, so perhaps I’ll stop in to the library and see if they have it. I’m crossing my fingers that my new driver’s license comes before then so I can take the time to change that with the school as well.

Several things have come together with the result of very few of my co-workers being in the rest of the week. This is good, because some of them were really getting on my nerves with the constant demands for more and more piddly tasks to be done for them. Immediately. Because, you know, they’re my only priority. Unfortunately, the co-worker across from me will not be taking any time off, and in the 20 minutes he’s been here this morning, he’s already managed to irritate me. Oh well. At least I get to take a lunch break today. And I’m looking forward to getting together with and on Saturday.

I’m not sure where this falls into the Stages of Grief, but where I’m at right now with my Aunt’s death is that I’m having a hard time comprehending that she’s actually gone. It seems so illogical that I won’t see her again on this earth. I can’t really get my head around that, and so I’m kinda stuck there. And it doesn’t really make sense, because I understand that she’s not a part of my life any more and I miss her and I’m very sad about that (some days more than others), but it’s more like… a lost friendship, where there’s always this idea in the back of your mind that you might someday reconcile or run into each other again. So that’s where I’m at with that, in case you were wondering.

The new cat, and are getting along pretty good now. It’s been almost two weeks. It’s eerie how similar they are. They look nearly identical, unless you’re looking at their faces head-on. Just like , he is a huge attention whore (though much friendlier and not afraid of people), is quite whiny, adores food, loves to play, and like me, loves to sleep. , however, is quite long and lanky and we’re trying to fatten him up, which doesn’t appreciate or understand. It’s not that we don’t love her and that’s why she doesn’t get the wet cat food, it’s because she’s already a chunky-butt. Oh well. He hasn’t fully adjusted to the new cat food either, so that’s been, ahem, fun. Maybe I should post some pictures? (Don’t remind me that I should probably post some wedding pictures too.)

We bought some bamboo and a vase while at Ikea this weekend, and I finally brought it into work today. It’s supposed to make me calm (my idea), or make me lucky in health, happiness and wealth (says Feng-Shui). I’m still trying to make my cubicle ideal (though some could argue that there’s nothing ideal about a cubicle), and while I keep making improvements, I’m not satisfied yet. I’m not sure what to try next. I’ve got pictures, plants, a new filing system… The co-worker behind me has a zen sand garden thing. I used to have fish, but that was more work than it was worth. If you’ve worked in a cubicle, do you have any suggestions? And not the normal stuff I can do a Google search for, but things that have actually worked for you?

Speaking of plants… on Tuesday when I gave blood (I thankfully didn’t have to take Advil this morning when I got up, because my arm only hurts slightly today, unlike yesterday when I had to swallow a yelp while getting ready to shower), the lady gave me a small (12oz) bottled water to drink with my Lorna-Doones (my treat of choice when giving blood). It’s Dasani. I’ve gotta say, it tastes so bad that, even though it was free, I couldn’t bring myself to drink any more than the first gulp. But I brought it back to my office, thinking… I’m not sure what. I’ve been using it to water my other plant, and I almost feel bad about making it taste the crap-tasticness of Dasani. On the bright side, now I know for certain which of the two main bottled waters (Dasani and Aquafina) it is that I don’t like. I couldn’t remember, and wasn’t will to spend $1.50 to find out.

Is it TMI* to refer you to this post of Pickled Beef, ask you to scroll part-way down to the “Daily Hoop Conversation,” and say that I could totally see saying the same thing? Not that he’d take a nap at 9 at night. Of course, probably pretty much every guy would likely say this to their significant other, so perhaps it’s not TMI*.

*TMI: Too Much Information

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KathyHowe wrote this beautiful piece of prose today:

I talked to my dad today. He’s wondering when I plan to get married again. Once again I am reminded I need to speak slowly to the elderly. I reminded him that it was my cervix that was removed. Not my brain.

I thought that was beautiful.

However, there will be no such beautiful blogging from me.  The guy who facilitated my blood donation maimed me, and I am currently unable to use my left arm without pain, or fear of opening up the whole that stubbornly refused to clot.  And typing with one hand just isn’t conducive to long, poignant blog entries.

So instead, I’ll leave you with this cute cat picture (not my cat).

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and I went shopping this weekend for a wedding gift for my cousin who is getting married in 3 weeks. He’s the one with the cute proposal story that I talked about last winter sometime. Let me get it right out there that I like his fiancee - I think she’s cute and sweet, and while I don’t have much opportunity to interact with her, I’m cool with her marrying my cousin (as if I had a say in it anyways). Their wedding is going to be very different than what ours was like, no surprise there. The bridesmaids dresses are red, and while it’s only an hour later in the day, I’m pretty sure it will be swankier. His sister got married last fall and there was a country club involved. So, you know.

Anyways, thought was totally cool. He wanted to buy a power tool. So we went to Menards this weekend and, all comments about their computer system and store in general being crap and about three decades behind the times, we were nevertheless quite disappointed, because all the power tools had already been purchased. So we settled for a power cord and kitchen towels and a $10 stud sensor. Oh, and as a bonus, some bags of candy. Their Menards registry was actually kind of a bummer in general, but whatever. My cousin, however, had given us a very nice check for our wedding, so I feel obligated to find more than $40 worth of stuff for him (including candy).

I didn’t have any of their other registry information ( said it’s on their website, which I didn’t know they had, and the invite isn’t here with me, so I guess I’ll just have to look that up at home), so I just took a guess. I looked up Target, and theknot.com led me to a Macy’s registry. The Target one was nice - all the cool stuff had already been purchased (which is totally the opposite of our wedding - two weeks beforehand nobody had bought stuff yet). But the Macy’s one floored me. First of all, they registered for china. Who does that anymore? What does one do with china? I know that has two sets, and and I are going to have to fight over the one (because the other is not so pretty) when she kicks it. Yes, I know other people who have registered for china. I don’t get it. I mean, this included a $79 gravy boat stand. The gravy boat came separate (and was more expensive). And people had already bought this stuff!

It just left me speechless. She must come from money, though she doesn’t really exude that aura, because people bought some really expensive crap stuff lovely gifts for them. My cousin is not so much that kind of guy. He’s the one who served in the army in Afghanistan for 3 years. His mom is a retired special ed teacher and his dad has his own woodworking shop (and built their house). It doesn’t seem like the two pieces add up right now.

But who am I to judge, right? I’m sure people on the outside could say that about just about any relationship, if they don’t know enough of the details.

Man, the day just flew by. Full of crappy work and people asking me to do way too many things. All of a sudden it got busy, and it’s the sudden transition that kills me. Feast or famine here, I tell ya. But, I get to leave in 15 minutes, so that’s cool.

On ’s suggestion, I tried Cherry Coke Zero from the vending machine today. It’s pretty good. I like Coke Zero, so I figured it would be good. I wish I had a glass and some ice though, because it’s a little too fizzy for me to drink from the can (as are all carbonated beverages - I’m weird that way).

[Editor's Note: looking back over this, I realized some people might think it's crass the way I talked about 's future death. It's not like it's scheduled or anything. One can be honest about the fact that it will happen sometime, because, after all, she's human and that's what happens. She's always been fairly forthright about her wishes etc, and I know that her will is up to date and what she wants done with her body (cremated) and what to do if she's in a permanent vegetative state, and so on and so forth. She's just practical like that, and open. It's not morbid, and I wasn't being crass. OK, maybe I was being crass, but I don't think she would be offended. If she knew. Of course, if she knew I'd said it, it would mean that she knew about my blog, and that would induce a heart attack and I would die instantaneously, and then or would have to be consulted, since both of them know what to do with my corpse when that time comes. So I'm practical too. Sue me.]

popularity: 42%