rowing

I dragged myself out of bed about 20 minutes earlier than usual and used the Concept II for 15 minutes, watching a little tv in the process. Our second room has a small desk chair for computer use, two small chairs that serve as a little “couch”, the Concept II and something called the Total Body Workout or something like that. I really wish there was a good way to fit in the ellipical rider in that room. It is much easier for me to exercise when I’m watching tv and I can shut the door so no one can see me. But I can’t really see how it will fit. It is, after all, a small room.

I am wondering if I should get up a chart and goal meter like I did for NaNoWriMo. It seemed to work really well as a motivator. We’ll see.

da ladeez

On a serious note: Check out the article titled A Place Where Women Rule to learn about the Kenyan village of Umoja, an all-women village that was built up by women who were raped and subsequently driven out of their homes. It is awesome and inspiring to hear about their successes in the midst of threats and harrassment. Apparently, they are making good trade with their cultural center and camping grounds. They provide shelter for women who run from unwanted marriages as well. [Via I Blame The Patriarchy.]

On a hysterical note: Ann Coulter has been caught plagarizing. I can only point and laugh. [Via Shakespeare’s Sister.]

On a really frivolous note: I was wondering what the new wave of women’s clothing trends is going to be. I feel like we’ve gone as far as we can with the ever-so-classic cleavage peep, which grew to include side- and under-boobage as well. Really, the only requirement seems to be hiding the nippleage. Please, no rehashing the Janet thing. As for the butt, we could (and do) go on and on (and some songs claim that it is the buttocks themselves that go for weeks) about how people feel about the bootay. I have seen more people’s bellies than I care to in my lifetime. Low-rise pants have gotten so low that I suspect that for some women, crotch-area grooming is a strict necessity. Either that, or leotards, but I guess that’s better than the alternative. I have two guesses for the next big thing, and one of them is based on the leotard thing.

• Butt cleavages – Oh yeah, I can see it now: sweetheart “necklines” for backs of pants to appropriately showcase the rear, sparklies for the top of the crack area, butt makeup to deepen the cleavage.
• Big, juicy calves – Yeah, I wish. I have a theory (or wistful wish) that one day, big calves will be as desireable as big boobies. Hee.

I hope at the very least that the next new trends are not just to be utterly ugly and hideously unflattering. Note who the designer is.

On a random note: I have a PSA for the women. If you are a man, turn your eyes. Ok, here I go. Try the DivaCup. You’ll be glad you did. Wow, that totally sounded like a commercial. Maybe I too am a plagarist.

luncha muncha

The last few weeks, on days when I can’t pack a lunch, I’ve been hitting the grocery store near Seppo’s work before heading down to my work. I’ve been picking up supplies for salads, sandwiches, fruit, soup, and the occasional microwave meal. It’s so much better than the food I can buy for lunch, and I can eat how much I want (or don’t want) without worrying that I am wasting food. And it’s much cheaper. And frankly, much tastier. It’s one of the best things I’m doing for myself on a daily basis.

Now if only I could get into the habit of exercising. I am going to try the tips in the article Installing a new habit and breaking an old one. It sounds reasonable.

strike one

We went to Lakeside Park this Sunday. It’s astounding how much stuff there was to do there, most of which we didn’t know anything about. Some features of the Lakeside Park:

• Bonsai Garden
• Bird Sanctuary
• Sailboat house (and general boat rental)
• Garden Center
• Children’s Fairlyland
• Junior Arts & Sciences Center
• Lawn Bowling Greens (complete with seniors in white hats!)
• Rotary Nature Center

We sat on the grass by the rotunda, where a band (brass & woodwind? I’m not sure. Seppo will correct me) played for a mellow crowd of Sunday parkgoers. Children rode by on tricycles and sat in trees. The ice cream vendors were out in full force. Families fed birds and sat on picnic blankets. It was a wonderful day.

We dropped by the Sailboat House and thought it would be a nice place to get married or have our reception. We called this morning and found that they were going to be renovating the building when we planned to get married. Oh well. I tried not to get my hopes up because I knew we were starting late to try to book a place, and I knew that this was just the first place we called, but it was a little sad. Oh well. There are other places. 🙂

squirreling

I just finished paying myself back for any “borrowing” I did from my savings account since the beginning of the year, and find that I have a nice tidy sum in my savings.

Logically, I know that any extra I have would be good to throw into the second mortgage, but I find that family emergencies come up often enough where I don’t want to have it even slightly inaccessible. Also, I have no sense of how much I’m “saving” when I simply throw extra money in, which I have been doing every payment to a limited amount. What I need to do is to pay in a bulk payment one month, so I know exactly how much I can pull back out of the second mortgage when I need it without feeling like I’m going into further debt. I think I can cut down my monthly interest by about 1/3 if I throw in all the saving I have.

It feels good to feel like I’m being responsible and frugal, while not really sacrificing my “standard of living” (let’s face it, I’m not a big spender to begin with). I feel like I have enough to help plan/pay for the wedding, help my family out, and keep a little in savings for backup, as well as go out and eat some really good food when I want it. Of course, this is heavily dependent on, say, not having any periods of unemployment in the near future. Keeping fingers crossed.

Speaking of employment, my manager told me that he’s been talking to the director and to HR to try to get me a raise because I just passed my year mark with the company on June 1st. 🙂 Even if I don’t get anything, that is a good feeling that he’s going to bat for me.

I’ve been working crazy hours this past week to meet a deadline. In the past, this kind of thing had made me sort of angry with my old job, because it made me feel like they had really unreasonable deadlines that forced me into this mode. But in my current job, this is only because I had a hard time with a couple of bugs I was working on. I had been given plenty of time and not a large amount of pressure to get those done, so it has been ok. I made a breakthrough earlier this week, so I’m down to two bugs, one of which is almost done anyway. I’ve been feeling kind of energized from the workload. I think that I work best under sort of tight, but not impossible deadlines. I get into a zone where I can cruise through complicated problems quickly and come up with alternate strategies for fixing them. If I’m not in the zone, it takes much longer, so it is almost better for me to be slightly overworked than slightly underworked.

PostSecret

I saw a link to PostSecret again today. It reminded me that I like it.

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.

Overheard in New York

Once upon a time, some anonymous bastard listed websites he likes to read. I got a bunch of other websites from him, but I only recently started subscribing to Overheard in New York via bloglines, it having come up in my list of recommendations.

This is some seriously hysterical shizznit.

HS girl #1: I have a question. No. She gotta question, but she makin’ me ask you for her because she embarrassed. What’s “drag school”? Thas where you go to learn howda be a drag queen?

Teacher guy: What? Drag school?

HS girl #2: Yeah, you said you was leavin’ us because you gotta go to drag school.

Teacher guy: Grad school. I am leaving you because I am going to grad school.

–Prospect Park BBQ

Guy #1: That’s a cute dog.

Guy #2: Thanks, she’s my daughter.

Guy #1: …How is that possible?

Guy #2: Yeah, that’s right: I gave birth to her, she came out of my vagina.

Comedy gold.

on the spot

Crooks and Liars has links to video and audio of Scott McClellan being grilled. As satisfying as it was to hear the peeps (esp David Gregory) go to town on him, it was deeply unsatisfying in what it says about where we are.

omgwtfbbq!!!1!one!1!

We worked late for a Friday today, so Seppo and I stopped by In ‘N Out on the way home, then picked up our dog, then got home at the late hour of 9:15. I was tired after a long day, but was glad to be home. Besides, I always perk up after picking up Mobi, driving back home with him on my lap while I babble like a foolish idiot to him about his day.

I tried to open the downstairs door, and I didn’t have my keys, so Seppo laughed at me and started to walk upstairs. Apparently, he had his keys with him. I followed along, and noted that Joe’s light was on, but the rest of the house was dark. It seemed kind of weird, because whenever someone is home, at least one of the livingrooms has the light on, but I didn’t think anything of it. I entered the door after Seppo and turned around to turn on the porch light, noticing kind of absent-mindedly that there were a bunch of people in the livingroom.

My first fleeting thought was the Joe had guests over to watch a movie, but the tv wasn’t on. In the next split second, I thought, Oh no, am I walking into a bunch of people doing something bizarre (at our age, anyway) like playing Post Office? Or is Joe having a meeting of kinky sex orgy enthusiasts? Why are they all staring at me in the dark? Ack! Who turned on the light? Wait, who are these people? I know these people. They just said something, but I’m too busy processing the group. It just clicks that all these people are linked by me, and I finally chug through the words I had heard moments ago. I think it was “Happy Birthday” or “Surprise” but I honestly am not sure.

At some point, my brain decided to start working again, and it actually (finally) dawned on me that this is a surprise party! For me! Woo!

Seppo had gotten together a bunch of people behind my back. Hee. Sneaky. Alan, Becky, Dara, Lindsi, Joe, Stephen, Vis, Max, Claire, Nick, Gene, Heather, baby Aiden, Klay, Nana, Edy, Jeannie, Uyen, and Charles all showed up, coming from all over the bay area. So wonderful! I got a couple of incredibly thoughtful and personal presents (a book I really am itching to dig into and a personalized CD and a truffle-like cake ETA: and a Flickr Pro account), but mostly, I was so overwhelmed that all these people had spent their Friday night to come to see me. I got to see Gene and Heather’s baby for the first time, and he was really cute and tiny. I held him for a bit, but I must have been somewhat awkward, so he cried a little. Gene was really good at making him stop crying by making a vacuum-like sound.

There were friends from school, friends from jobs, friends made via Seppo, and a friend from high school, and it was so great to spend an evening with friends. As I get older, I get to value each friend more and more, and realize that I don’t really have a strong desire to make other, newer connections, but to really dedicate myself to the friends I already have. I forgot to take pics, but Edy took a bunch of pics which I will steal from him. 🙂

When we clean up the house, I vow to have more casual dinners where we hang out with our good friends. I wish I could have tried to figure out how to properly encourage friend mixing, but I’m so bad socially. Heh.

Thanks everyone. It’s one of those memories I’ll have for a while to come. :’)

purchase

I bought some makeup today. I have no idea what I’m doing with these things.