Here it is way past my bedtime, and I’m still awake and on the computer. I had a long day today, and have an even longer day tomorrow, so I really do need to get to sleep. I mean, tomorrow I get to do a presentation before some of the Pharmacy faculty, and then teach any of that group who show up in the afternoon, how to use the software I’m presenting.

Really should be asleep.

Yup. I’m tired and worn out.

Not sleeping yet.

(sigh)

I hate computers.

That is all, please carry on with the rest of your day.

While I am amused by the “Things that Irk Me” Lists and understand how cathartic they can be, it’s not safe for me to think about things that either make me sad or make me angry, as I don’t need to make myself more sad or angry than I already am.

So instead, you get a list of things that make me happy. Because everyone needs more happy. Especially me.

So some things that make me happy are:

My cat being cute. He has a bad attitude most of the time, so when he does something cute I can’t help but smile.

Snow. I love new fallen snow. I love how it covers everything. I love seeing an expanse of new fallen snow on a moonlit night. Could there be anything more beautiful in nature?

New books by my favorite authors. Not just any author, but those who time and again have drawn me into their worlds away from y own. I love a new adventure with characters as familiar as old friends.

My garden. Yes, I could have done many things better, and am always considering possible improvements, but I love looking around and seeing the fruits of my labors blooming from spring to fall.

Flowers. Not just the flowers in my garden, but almost any flower. I love looking at them, I love smelling them (except lilies, they give me a headache), I love sending them to people I love to brighten their day. It’s hard to be gloomy in a room that has a vase of flowers.

Chocolate. Good chocolate. I love the sensation of taking a bite of dark chocolate and having it melt on my tongue. I love the crunch of nuts in brownies and moist chocolate cookies. I love the icy chill of chocolate ice cream.

Teaching. Not the whole process, because that is sometimes frustrating, but I love the moment when I am teaching someone and they suddenly get it. I love to hear people gasp and go, “you can do that?” I love it when people walk away from me knowing more than they knew before, and knowing something that will make their lives better, if only in a little tiny way.

My husband. :) Not because he gives me gifts (lets not even discuss his ability to find gifts). Not because he gives me flowers (he doesn’t). Not even because he allows me to be myself, (though that is a very good thing). What makes me happy is that he is my center and my sanity he contains the things missing from me and makes me into a whole person. A whole and sane person.

But I’m obviously not.

We went to see Wanted, and were the only people in the theater. (15 minutes of commercials/previews, but the movie was five minutes late getting started. Perhaps the projectionist was off doing something untoward.)

First, I KNOW better than to sit so close to the screen. 3/4 of the way back is best, but we sat more like halfway back, so towards the end of the movie I started to get motion sick.

BAH.

Despite that, we both liked it. Michael liked that he had no idea at any point where the hell the story was going. I liked the ending.

And the car chases.

And the fight scenes.

Why is it that the things I like best are the things that make me motion sick? Stupid brain.

Would I have wanted to pay full price to see Wanted? Probably not. But matinée prices were perfectly fine. (Do I remember the last movie I paid full price for? No. So take that under advisement.)

It also reminded me that we never made it to see Shoot ‘Em Up, which I also wanted to see.

Now I really need to try to go to sleep because I’ve got a very long day ahead of me, and another long day on Friday.

Longevity checks came today!

(happy dance)

Another busy morning at work, and then Michael and I are taking the afternoon off. Probably going to go to the movies, but who knows for sure?

Why today? Because this is pretty much the last chance for him to take any time off until after the semester starts.

Feel free to entertain yourselves in the interim. Just don’t leave any beer bottles on the floor where my grandmother might trip over them.

Two things:
1) Appalling!
2) 27″ TV Guy

Discuss.

I know a good meme to swipe when I see one!

As requested elsewhere, he is our favorite chocolate pudding recipe. It’s easy enough that Michael was able to make it by himself when I had the flu.

The recipe comes from Nancy Baggett’s All American Dessert Book, which has fast become one of the first books I reach for when I want something sweet. Not only are the recipes easy to follow, the pictures in the book are real, and by that I mean the pans looked like they’ve been used for years, and the desserts look scrumptious but also look like they were prepared by a human being–things are spilled and just a little bit messy. I sometimes even flip through this book just to drool over the pictures.

I also like the paragraphs that accompany the recipes, talking about how she found the recipes, or something interesting she thought about the recipe.

Chocolate Pudding
2/3 cup sugar
3 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp cocoa (I use Dutch process cocoa)
1/8 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups whole or reduced fat milk (NO skim)
2 tbsp unsalted butter (if using 2% milk)
4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I use Mexican vanilla rather than Madagascar bourbon vanilla in this recipe.)

Stir together sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt. Add ~ 1/4 cup milk and stir until dry ingredients are incorporated. Add remaining milk and butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat, constantly stirring. Cook for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes, until mixture thickens, and then immediately remove from heat. Stir in chocolate, and then once all the chocolate is melted, add the vanilla.

Strain mixture through a sieve into individual serving ramekins. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 1/2 hours. Serve with fresh whipped cream.

I particularly like it with fresh strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

Happy Rain Day!

This years hat bettor is Luke Ravenstahl, mayor of Pittsburgh.

I’m somewhat startled to discover that I have at least three illiterate dogs taking my polls.

Kit is in trouble with Grandmom. Her furriness did not come upstairs at all today to talk to Grandmom, so when we got home, Grandmom was yelling down the stairs asking if the cats were ok, since she hadn’t seen them all day.

With that, Kit went sauntering up the stairs.

So why was Kit in the basement? Let’s go back to Saturday night. There were two sets of fireworks Friday night, on different sides of town, and we’re just enough in the middle that we couldn’t see either though we heard both. Though I was hoping we could see the ones they were shooting off downtown.

Why were there fireworks? Would you believe for my Dad’s birthday? No. My aunt didn’t believe that either. They were for MountainFest.

So at 9:45 the fireworks start. I jump up so I can run outside to see if we can see anything. Kit, on the other hand, jumps up to run away and hide, because she hates loud noises. Since we were both dashing in the same direction, Kit freaks out even more and runs into the stone elephant doorstop in her rush to get into the basement.

And knocks the doorstop down the stairs after herself, where it ended up crashing on the cement floor and breaking.

We didn’t see her again until late Sunday morning, and even then she was skittish.

Why that kept her from coming upstairs today to be fed treats from Grandmom, I have no idea. But she’s following Grandmom around now and chirping away as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

ADDENDUM the First:
Some stupid neighbor set off fire crackers. Who knows where she is now.

In the atrium/lobby area of our portion of the facility there are two types of lights. Large lights hanging the ceiling and slightly smaller metal lights attached to the walls.

Over the weekend, one of lights attached to the wall fell down.

If you look at it, you can see that the contracts did NOT, in fact, attach these large metal lights to a stud, but instead just used anchors to attach them to the wall.

Upon further inspection, several of the other lights are starting to pull away from the wall, including a light over a doorway, and a light near the front desk where people frequently stand.

And people wonder why the renovation of the old library is being done in-house.

He saw the teeth sitting on the glass shelf when he walked into the bathroom. His hand immediately came up to his mouth, as if there was a possibility someone could have stolen his teeth while he was asleep.
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Here’s the weeks flower pr0n. Apparently only yellow flowers are blooming right now.

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I was just doing bills, looked at Quicken, and realized we have only two payments left on our car.

TWO!

Then it’s ours, free and clear, and that’s extra money that can go into savings. Or pay for our trips this fall. Or pay for the new wood stove.

AWESOME!

Our plans are to go to the movies and see Hellboy.

Keep your fingers crossed for us, that we actually make it there.

ADDENDUM the First:
20 minutes of commercials and previews. Grr. Though at $5.75 for a ticket, guess I can’t complain that much.

It was fun.

We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, especially since there were only a handful of other people in the theater, so we had the WHOLE ROW to ourselves AND no one sat in front of us! WHEEEE!!!!

I think it was comparable to the first, in that it didn’t take itself at all seriously and was silly in all the right places. I could have done without the singing, but hey, nothing’s perfect.

As usual, my favorite parts were the fight scenes. The guy who played the elf was very good, and I liked how his extra abilities made him seem even less human, even though they were things you see in all the fun kung fu movies.

So my opinion? Fun!

And very different from Iron Man, which we saw last weekend, which I also liked a lot, but in a very different way.

A friend had an excellent post come pouring out, but did not want the post to appear on their own site, for fear of upsetting loved ones. So I am posting it here. I will also post any comments or responses the author has to make, anonymously, if the author so desires.

And I may steal the idea for a post of my own later.

This week, I was running on empty and had nothing to write, so I turned to a writing site for writing prompts. The one that caught my attention was:

“I wish I could…”

Right now, I wish I could walk away from my tremendous load of stress and obligation. I’d trade being comfortably well off for being sane. If I could, I’d quit, now, and sell or give away as much of my possessions as possible. I’d simplify everything, and focus instead on living an interesting and rewarding life. I’d travel, make art, write, and trust the universe to provide.

But I have a family who requires the stability of a home, and I have an obligation to keep their daily routine and their stuff in place.

So I work fifty hours a week at a job that makes me crazy but pays a professional wage, I keep the home fires burning, and I store my dreams of freedom and travel and art in a box on a shelf, for someday.

I just wish there was a little more space in my life for me.

Yet it I am still continually surprised.

First and foremost, and the on-going game of Word Association is 1) Still on-going and 2) Becoming one of my top posts.

Second, by today’s search terms.

And it took me quite awhile to figure out where that search term came from.

Almost forgot. This weekend is MountainFest.

If they come over this way, I’ll take pictures, but so far I’ve only seen a handful of bikes at a time.

Quizzy Goodness!

Dunedain!

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For all his brutish tendencies, I still sometimes see Kat doing something and squeal, “He’s so cute!”

When he’s sleeping I try to squeal quietly.

Kit gets some attention this week.

But she has to share the spotlight with Michael on his birthday.

And with Grandmom, just because.

Kit pays very close attention to Grandmom throughout the day, for times like this, when Grandmom doles out the treats.

Here’s what my pedometer says:

Total steps: 17369
Aerobic steps: 11322
Aerobic activity: 98 minutes
Miles walked: 8.22

The miles walked is actually low, because my exercise steps are longer than my regular walking steps.

Which is good, because I’m not going to exercise at all tomorrow. :)

Keyboard commands for shutting down Vista.

Windows key, Right arrow, Right arrow, Right arrow, Enter key.

HA!

And since I modified the first button, on my computer I should be able to use Windows Key, Right arrow, Enter.

HA! HA!

Dinosaur

Well, we were. Just not here.

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The subject of gossip came up today, and I realized that gossip seems to be like pornography: I can’t tell you what it is, but I know it when I hear it.

Specifically, my friend and I were considering several cases.

If you pass along something that has happened to someone so others may know, such as a death in the family, a serious illness, or along happier lines an engagement, we don’t think that’s gossip. You’re sharing the news because you care about either the person to whom the incident happened, or you think the news will affect the person you are telling.

If your sharing information that may relate directly to you or your friends, I don’t think that’s gossip. I think this falls under the category of worrying about the future/bitching about the present.

The case that I wasn’t sure about was talking about your enemies and people you don’t like. If I gloat to my friend about something bad that happened to someone I don’t like, does this qualify as gossip? I’m not telling her so she’ll tell anyone else, I’m telling her because it makes my bitter little soul happy when bad things happen to bad people.

It seems to me that gossip primarily falls under the category of telling anyone who will listen news you know about other people. i.e. it isn’t personal in that you aren’t happy for the person, you aren’t worried about the person, the news does not affect you or the person you are telling directly, you’re just talking because you like talking about other people.

But I could be wrong. Maybe what I do falls into the category of gossip. If gossip is based upon intent, then I think I’m ok. But if it’s based solely upon talking about other people? Well, then I’m not so much of a good person.