| Monday January 19, 2004 -- 2:05pm I have oddly good luck when it comes to aquiring decent and/or expensive items for fee. As a result of someone's bizarre and sketchy behavior, I have scored an awesome new futon! The kind that is like an actual couch instead of a floor-level thing made of scrap wood! It has magazine racks and places to put remote controls!!! (Now, if only my remote control worked...) This is highly awesome. I just hope the futon isn't cursed with some bad drug dealer karma or anything. Saturday January 17, 2004 -- 8:45pm Well, it was comparatively balmy today. Steve and I even went for a walk wearing nothing more than jeans, long-sleeved shirts, sweaters, winter coats, hats and gloves! And we were hardly cold at all! Friday January 16, 2004 -- 3:20pm I just have to say thank you for all of the nice emails I've gotten since posting the new website last night! It has really boosted my confidence and helped me to think that the bottles actually are cool, not just in my mind. There's a lot of work to be done on it. Please feel free to point out problems or make suggestions for improvement. Currently, I am at work, feeling rather bored. I thought about writing creatively for a while, but haven't yet been hit with the inspiration stick. I am open to suggestions. Thursday January 15, 2004 -- 8:10pm And now, for a special announcement: Everyone go check out my new website: www.geocities.com/alltheraege and then tell everyone you know about it! Saturday January 10, 2004 -- 12:30pm New kid on the block: Sima! -- 9:15am Amazing but true: Sima currently weighs about what Bennett weighed the first time I took him to the vet as a kitten. 3 pounds. Marc is very positive and says that she's doing great, so I'm going to go with that. But 3 pounds! It makes my eyes fill up with tears. It is extremely ridiculously cold today. My car refuses to start, despite negotiations. Steve had to take a cab back to his place so he could go to work! I'm thinking that it might start when the sun gets over to it... if I didn't drain the battery trying to get her going. Have I mentioned that I hate winter? Thursday January 8, 2004 -- 8:10pm Well, hey! A completely unexpected Welcome to the World to Sima Rae Miller, born today, a whopping 2 months ahead of schedule. Already an overachiever! I can't believe two of my best friends have given their babies my middle name. I can't begin to explain how warm and wonderful that makes me feel! -- 1:25pm All of a sudden, I don't have access to the agency website. This is a problem, as I maintain the agency's website. Just the latest in a rapid pile-up of job-related irritations. Only 35 more years before I can retire. Wednesday January 7, 2004 -- 9:20am I have started to put in my Newfoundland Adventures. Take a look! More to come... maybe even tonight! Tuesday January 6, 2004 -- 8:05pm (Not really, but let's pretend) HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE!!!!!!!!! Saturday January 3, 2004 -- 9:20pm (Albany Time) I am home. It's always sad to leave Newfoundland, but it's really good to be home. I love my apartment, my friends, my pets... my neighborhood. I'm feeling a little sad about my neighborhood at the moment, due to a stupid and completely random recent tragedy - but I guess it wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't love my neighborhood. Anyway, belate Merry December Stuff and Happy New Years to all. Multitudes of Newfie pictures and updates to come... Monday December 29, 2003 -- 12:30am (Newfoundland Time) Am in Newfoundland. Very full. Slightly intoxicated. And 30 years old. w00t! I'll be back in dear old Albany and functional sometime Saturday and will catch up with everything then. Perhaps not all at once. Got to go now, as I am AWOL from my own birthday party! Sunday December 21, 2003 -- 8:30am Argh! I've run out of time! In fact, I am supposed to be somewhere else right now. So, an elaborate description of my pre-vacation/trip/holiday/birthday/new year anxiety will just have to wait. Sorry. Happy and safe (sign of getting old there) holiday loveliness to everyone. I'll be back in January! And I'll be 30! Wednesday December 17, 2003 -- 9:50am Winter: ptooey! I have been experiencing the down side of my otherwise wonderful apartment and neighborhood, and that down side is called "Winter." I parked closer to my old apartment than to my current one last night - and then had to walk back there in the rain this morning. The sad thing is that I probably parked right near someone else's apartment, and they probably ended up driving around and around, eventually finding a spot right near mine. Winter is the Great Equalizer: Everybody loses! Then, of course, there was the morning commute, which turned into an ice skating party just as I got off the highway (which is only about half way through my drive). Of course, the ice was no match for the Superoo and my mad winter driving skillz, but there were all those other people on the roads too. It's really funny how everyone you talk to about winter driving says the same thing. "I'M fine... it's other drivers I worry about!" Monday December 15, 2003 -- 9:05am The Baby Blue Soccer Mom Superoo kicks snow ass! I wonder how many nor'easters I could get through without a shovel. I'm up to 2 so far. I even got to work on time today. Of course, I'm the only one here, and the director already called me to say she won't be in. Mom leaves (hopefully) for Newfoundland today. I can't believe I'll be there myself in less than one week! I can't believe I have less than one week to finish my shopping! Augh! I did manage to get all of my holiday greeting cards out before Christmas this year though. Except for the ones going to people whose addresses I don't have. Still some investigative work to do there. I guess it will be a mellow day here - I'm hoping for that anyway. I can get my reports done, or at least set up so all I have to do is plug in the numbers when I get back from vacation. Speaking of which, have I mentioned that I'm going on vacation? I'll be in Newfoundland for 2 weeks. If you want to burgle my apartment, now's your chance. Please just make sure you close the door/window when you leave so the cats don't get out. Thanks. Tuesday December 9, 2003 -- 7:40pm A big old Welcome to the World to Benjamin Frederick Randall, who checked in a week ago on December 2nd with a fine amount of high drama. Here's hoping the rest of your life goes a little more smoothly than your first day. And much love to Bob and Suzanne. Now that everyone is home and doing well, I know you'll enjoy your life as a family. Monday December 8, 2003 -- 10:15 So, maybe hoping the snow - and my need for a shovel - would hold off until after Christmas was just a little overly optimistic. Sunday December 7, 2003 -- 4:10pm Not sure what to get me for the holidays and running out of time? Check out my Wish List! Most recent additions on the bottom. -- 1:40pm It's nice light, fluffy snow, so that's nice anyway. Armed only with a snow brush, I managed to clear off the Superoo, and by kicking away at the more packed mounds on the street side of the thing, even semi-cleared the tires. I even moved it approximately 1/2 inch forward before the scent of burning rubber convinced me it was time to go back home and watch football with a glass of beer and deal with the snow later. Like, maybe in April. In other news, I am bound up by my fears. It is worse than gas. -- 11:40am I have zero interest in going out there and trying to find my car under its mound of snow today. Zero. Maybe even, like, -5. Saturday December 6, 2003 -- 5:00pm I amuse myself. My Christmas Tree. And, while I'm here, Happy Birthday to Tadji! and a belated Happy Birthday to Marc and Cousin Steve! Friday December 5, 2003 -- 11:20am Winter has ceased to cooperate. So has my toilet! I discovered this morning, prior to using it thankfully, that it isn't flushing. Most people already know that I have a fairly serious fear of toilets overflowing, so I just fled the scene and decided I could make it to work without using the toilet. And I did, although not without some discomfort, and rushed into the bathroom at work, only to find it clogged up as well! This follows on the heels of what seemed to be a bizarre sighting while driving home last night: a man walking up the street in Arbor Hill carrying a toilet plunger. Coincidence? I think not! Tuesday December 2, 2003 -- 2:10pm I woke up in the dark at 5:30 this morning. Wide awake. I tried for a while to convince myself to go back to sleep, but my brain was already churning up ways I could spend the extra morning hours. So I got up. I was still 10 minutes late for work because there had been snow and, apparently, everyone needs a little refresher course on how to behave in it after a whole 7 months without. It didn't matter though. I was still 5 minutes ahead of anyone else in the office. I liked the holiday. I want to go back. I am less and less satisfied with my job every day. There's nothing wrong with it... I just don't like it. I have no idea what to do about this fact. Thursday November 27, 2003 -- Happy Thanksgiving! -- 9:10pm Thanksgiving Observation #5: Fuuuuuuullllllllll. -- 12:00 noon Thanksgiving Observation #4: You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant. -- 11:35am Thanksgiving Observation #3: There are oh-so-many ways to distribute cranberries throughout the room! -- 10:45am Thanksgiving Observation #2: I hate Blink 182. -- 9:50am The politically correct thing these days is to poo-poo Thanksgiving as a celebration of the mass genocide by European settlers on the Native Americans. I poo-poo that. Even though Thanksgiving is an invention, created by - I think it was Abraham Lincoln, but I'd have to look it up - the idea behind it was of people sharing each other's knowledge and resources and enjoying each other's company and the products of the land. So, like, shut up and stuff and just eat your damn cranberry sauce! Columbus Day is a far better occasion for righteous indignation, because he was just after gold and slaves and, by all accounts, he was a big asshole. Thanksgiving Observation #1: Cats do not like cranberries. Wednesday November 26, 2003 -- 1:10pm Oh. And here's a bummer: The director here just announced that we could all leave at 3:00 today. Alas, by then I should be knee-deep in young adolescent minds, eagerly awaiting what stimulating brain exercises I might have to offer them. Or at least their snacks. No early dismissal for me. I do plan, however, to make the after-school session exceptionally enjoyable by not even attempting to make the little angels do their academic time. The closest I might come to that is offering to read aloud to them from one of my favorite youth-oriented novels of all time, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. -- 1:00pm This morning as I walked down the stairs and past Strange Neighbor Bob's door, he suddenly burst into an operatic rendition of "My Boyfriend's Back." Does this strike anyone else as just the slightest bit odd? I had a dream last night that The Idiot banned me from ever returning to the museum, even though he's not there anymore. For some reason, I ended up driving away in his expensive, top-of-the-line new car. It was very confusing to drive. It had 5 foot peddles, including one that you could use to steer the car. Unfortunately for my passenget (who happened to be my friend, Alyce) I thought that particlar peddle was the clutch, so I kept pushing it down and trying to change gears. That had the unexpected result of sending us careening toward walls and other undrivable objects. Furthermore, this car tended to start driving off before the driver got into it, and, in order to stop it, you had to bring it to a stop, jump out - at which point, because your foot was no longer on the brake, the car would begin to drive off - and click some button on the key chain which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. I woke up feeling very tired. Tuesday November 25, 2003 -- 10:30am I had to scrape ice from my windsheild this morning. I am trying to ease my way into Winter this year, emotionally. Nature seems to be generally cooperating. |
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