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Monday, July 13th, 2009
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11:00 am - Happy birthday!
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Happy birthday ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) haceldama! =)
Can we sing to you at ConTEXT?
current mood:  jubilant
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10:53 am - Monday musing
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There's a Subway outlet in the building where I work. Every morning when I come in, I'm greeted by the smell of baking bread. B) I find this bizarrely cheerful.
I saw the green maintenance golf cart again today. This one is memorable because some wit put a pair of deer's antlers on the roof, pointing straight up. It's a pretty nice rack... looks like a six or seven point buck. I keep wondering if they ran it over in the golf cart to get the antlers. Someday, I will get a picture of the antlered golf cart and post it.
current mood:  cheerful
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| Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
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1:08 pm - Sorry. Amusing meme. Will post real update.
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| Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
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12:17 pm - Adjusting to life in Texas...
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Let's see.
My Quest for Good Tofu and/or Good Deli has lead me to discover that:
The 'Asian/Indian Market' in walking distance of my house is really 'Indian' and not 'Asian' (at least as I think of it). However, they have yummy inexpensive fresh chicken and lots of supplies for making Indian food. Sweet. I foresee a shift in our diet.
The Culebra Meat Market appears to be a good local butcher of quality and cheapness. Sadly, their deli didn't have what I wanted. They have lots of Mexican ingredients for cooking. (I found an honest to God poblano pepper. I thought those only existed in cook books! ;) Minus - I still talk funny to native Spanish speakers, so I'm certain they think my IQ is 2. Happily, they don't mind IQ too terribly as long as you buy stuff. (I hope. We'll see what happens the next time I show up.)
The NorthSide Asian Market actually had tofu! Woot. Unfortunately, they're a bit far off for convienent showing up after work before they close. But I can get silken tofu again, and their tub tofu is good too.
So I can get by with occaisional trips to the Northside as well as the tofu from the HEB (local chain, letters read off individually. For some reason they looked a bit upset when I asked 'what's heeb stand for?' =). I'd really like to find a close-by farmers market if possible, though. The produce at the HEB looks nice, but their prices are high compared to the more ethnic markets. Narf. The tub tofu at the HEB is not bad, but not great, and it seems to be priced as a 'health food' rather than a 'staple'. *rolls eyes* On the other hand, though, it does have the state of Texas stamped on the bottom.
Oh, and we're having a heat wave. The natives are complaining about the heat. This makes me feel a little better.
I also got used to the MA legislation that said that milk in gas stations can be really cheap to attract customers. Here, a gallon of 1% in a gas station is almost $5. You can get two for $5 at the Super Target or the HEB.
I miss MA's recycling program. Must figure out workarounds.
OK, off to lunch. :)
current mood:  hungry
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| Thursday, June 11th, 2009
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11:13 am - Happy Birthday!
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Happy Birthday ddrpolaris!
Turned on TCM last night when we got the TV hooked up, saw it was "The Lady Eve"... and missed you. :)
Go have fun with that hot fella of yours!
current mood: jubilant
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| Sunday, June 7th, 2009
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7:06 pm - Texas Musings 2
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7:03 pm - Texas musings 1 (ran a bit long)
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| Friday, June 5th, 2009
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7:17 pm - Happy Birthday!
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Happy Birthday ladyscience!
Missed you by >< much! Woopsy!
*many birthday hugs*
current mood: jubilant
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| Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
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12:14 am - Made of win and awesome
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are nightskyre and anitra for throwing a great BBQ, with many awesome friends there.
are expoeticsoul and doompuppy for helping us with the Great Library Move.
We love you, man.
Pardon me, but I'm going to go fall on my face now. Nap time!
current mood:  exhausted
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| Monday, May 18th, 2009
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10:34 am - venting
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My patience with bureaucracy is at a nadir. Oy. This is not surprising, but if you hear a howling noise, that's me venting frustration. Move along! :D
current mood:  frustrated
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| Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
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4:28 pm
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Books read: Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson. I really enjoyed this... although the tech isn't as fantastical-seeming as when the book was first published, I thought the personalities and the stories held up well. :) I still find myself wishing that the Kourier had a different abbreviation for the harpoon gun to attach itself to cars. (They get around by using a harpoon gun, shooting a car, and then skateboard/street-skiing behind it.) The phrase 'She hit it with her poon' just makes me giggle inappropriately.
There were many interesting ideas in this book about language, understanding, and emotion, and I'm still pondering it all. Good read!
X-Men: The Last Stand, by Chris Claremont. I had this media tie-in verson of movie 3 knocking about for a while, and I decided to give it a go. I don't know if reading it made the book story seem 'better' than the movie, but I got more of the story rationale. (It provides answers to 'yes, I agree Scott Summers is a tool and I'm chipping for Jean and Logan. But why did he die so early in the movie?' and 'whatthehell is Jean doing standing around like eye candy for all the goddamn time?') I still have a fundamental problem with 'antibodies' being used as a permanent 'mutation cure' (because antibodies are temporary by nature), but hey, it's X-Men. I don't read X-Men for the science, nor do I watch it for the science. :)
I was entertained, but I'm probably not going to read it again. If dark_towhead doesn't want to read this one, I'm giving it away.
Working on: A Hymn Before Battle, by John Ringo. I tried to read this a while ago and was just not in the mood for it. However, on this trip a little men's adventure fiction seemed just the thing. It premises an alien federation uplifting Earth in return for being defenders against an invading species. (Posleen. I don't remember how to spell the 'good' ones.) This has been fun so far because unlike the 'Paladin of Shadows' series, the characters are more nuanced in gray. (Paladin of Shadows reads like anime. Really. All the Bad Guys are Really Bad. All the Girls are young and nubile, the guns are big and black, and the cars are hawt. The Anti-Hero is not a Good Person, but does Good Things for a Greater Cause.) Also unlike Paladin of Shadows, the characters in A Hymn Before Battle aren't made of win all the time. Hehehehe. I like 'em both, but for different reasons.
I also knitted my way through the increases on my Clapotis, (In Knit Picks Twist, Red Beach Ball) which is why my reading intake was down for this trip. :) I'm in the straight bit now, and still enjoying the pattern. I decided to purl the sts that will be dropped since I didn't want to deal with jumping stitch markers on the plane... and so now I'm curious how wide 5 repeats of the increase pattern will end up being. We'll find out.
Movies dark_towhead and I watched:
Gone Baby Gone: This was a wrenching drama about choices. A romantically linked team of PIs are tapped to find a kidnapped little girl. The police are seeking her also in this high-profile case. ( spoilers ) Ben Affleck directed this; I found it quite compelling. (And I usually hate hate hate family dramas. It was probably the crime that kept me going.)
Hancock: John Hancock is a rude, depressed, amnesiac asshole of a superhero who feels compelled to help people, even though he has no friends or family and doesn't understand what's going on. Through the course of the story, he doesn't precisely get his memory back, but a lot of his questions are answered. While this IS an Akiva Goldsman story, and therefore 'acceptance by community' is very important, there's enough humor and plot twists going on to keep my interest. Another movie that's hard to peg, but that I really enjoyed.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Confession time. I don't have crushes on many movie actors/actresses. Right now I can think of three guys and one girl who can make me swoon... and one of those guys is dead. However, Hugh Jackman is on that short list, especially when he's done up as Wolverine. Mmmn. dark_towhead wins the Tolerant Prize for watching this turkey with me. :)
I went to this movie expecting it to be a fetid pile of flaming monkey poop. I came out feeling that it was a very silly movie about getting to see Liev Schreiber and Hugh Jackman sans shirt. People who'd like to see comic book accuracy (why is Scott Summers even in this movie?!? and why do they hit that Emma Frost isn't telepathic and is at least half Native American?!?) or who wonder why dating Wolverine is a death sentence (There's a reason we've never seen HER before...) would probably be best served passing this one by.
However, if you'd like sweaty Hugh Jackman / Liev Schreiber fan service battles and mutant power goodness, this is the movie for me you. Maybe not fetid flaming monkey poop. Maybe just a dessicated wolverine hairball. :)
Or, let some other folks put it better:
http://www.darkfantasy.org/fantasy/?p=2718
http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=1149
http://theangryblackwoman.com/2009/05/04/x-men-origins-wolverine/
Jersey Girl
current mood:  thoughtful
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| Monday, April 27th, 2009
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10:44 am - xkcd :)
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My favorite is the last one. Not embedded because it doesn't preserve the roll-over text. :)
http://xkcd.com/574/
I'm sorry Mexico City is under lockdown. Hopefully the disease is inconvenient and not deadly. Cross your fingers!
current mood:  amused
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| Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
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10:49 am - Tax Day
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This makes me giggle.
http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/04/bread-and-tea-bags.html
I have little wisdom on the tax subject, other than I like having roads, police and fire departments, the NIH, and a national military... so I think taxes are a good thing overall. The devil's in the details.
current mood:  calm
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| Monday, April 13th, 2009
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1:45 pm - This is your life. Start running.
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Somehow, life seems to be in fast-forward right now. It's been way fun, just busy!
( Nipped )
Hey all, we're getting together for tacos at Jose Murphy's at 6:30p. Wanna go? I'm hoping to see hazliya and go put together my colorfalls afterward. :)
current mood:  busy
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| Monday, April 6th, 2009
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2:14 pm - No, this has NEVER been me at work... =)
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| Friday, April 3rd, 2009
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2:58 pm - books
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Hrrm. I generally know when I'm fighting depression or anxiety, because I can't stay interested in reading. There was a long dry spell in my reading in March, and I'm going to need to go back and figure out whatthehell I read recently.
Books I remember (mostly that I read on the San Antonio trip, around writing, freaking out, prepping my talk, editing short stories, and reading journal articles.)
Ask For It, by Linda Babcock
Blood and Iron, by Elizabeth Bear
The Last Quarry, by Max Allen Collins
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, by Lauren Willig
Currently working on
'The Good Girl's Guide to Bad Girl Sex'. Which is an entertaining read. I picked this up in the bookstore and decided that some of its tips weren't worthless, so I got a used copy to read.
Going to have to go look at my shelf and see if there's anything else that we forgot. Not to mention that I need to decide if I want to read the next Bear in the series or something else for my fiction fix.
current mood:  sleepy
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10:01 am - The votes are in...
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and dark_towhead and I have decided to move to San Antonio, TX.
We're really going to miss our Worcester friends, though. :( We promise not to be internet strangers, and to come visit. (If we're lucky, we'll get the NIH to pay for some of those visits, too. Mwahahaha!)
My answers to anticipated questions:
I figure we'll be moving over the next 4-6 weeks. I have a couple weeks left in my last lab project that I want to wrap up, then I'm going to need to clean up things on this end, quit, and do serious packing and stuff downsizing. (I'll be posting stuff to give away to good homes, if anyone's interested.)
We've talked about buying a house down there, since we're going to be there for a while and we have the down payment. We're still finding out about temporary housing, help with moving expenses, and other stuff; I'll probably be posting about that as we figure it out.
dark_towhead will still be able to do his programming contracts from SA. However, if his contractor wants to fly him in to Worcester for occaisional project meet-ups, we definitely won't complain.
I still haven't made that inventory of stuff. So far, I have 27 moving company emails in my email box sitting unanswered. I'm thinking we'll be able to get a good price. ;) I'm also regretting that there isn't anyone I dislike intensely enough that I put their email addy down in that form as an April Fool's. ;)
current mood:  excited
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| Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
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8:50 am - But... it's litter?
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| Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
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4:04 pm - Wow. Just... wow.
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So, I'm considering moving to San Antonio.
I filled out the form on this page to get a general idea of how much it might cost to get all our shit from point A to point B.
http://www.mayflower-movers.com/estimate.asp?ref=1_[mayflowermoving]_google
Do not fill out this form unless you really mean it. If you have a by-the-minute cell phone, do not put that number on this form.
I've gotten no less than seven phone calls in four hours (the first of which was 5 minutes after filling out the form) from prospective movers wanting detailed lists of how much shit I had and how much it weighed, etc. I've gotten many, many more emails.
I'm just amazed. Apparently personal long distance moves are big business, with agents buying leads, selling your info, and other things. Yikes.
Too funny. Yeesh.
current mood: cheerful
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| Monday, March 23rd, 2009
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3:09 pm - I'm da splendamama!
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