Thursday, November 29, 2007

Another Redecorating Effort

So decorating project #2 was The Girl's bathroom. She picked out the colors and all the accoutrements with no guidance from me. Good taste must be genetic. Interestingly, the red she chose is the exact same red I painted my office in 2004, which was the last time I had time to think about decor. So without further ado, pictures:
I'm horrible about taking pictures and forgot to take before pictures but the walls were white, the shower curtain was beige and there was this hideous bird print fabric from the early 80's when the house was built on the backsplash and furdown. It was with much delight that she removed it - and she insisted upon removing it herself, by hand no less.

Oh and 4,000 visits since last December? Thanks y'all.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Another Snag

Just when I thought I was done... The proofreader's corrections have been handled and my dissertation is ready to publish except for one huge detail. I needed permissions from 3 people to use graphics and a modified table from their research in order for UMI to publish my dissertation. I sent emails asking for those 2 & 1/2 weeks ago when I found out I needed to get permissions for these (why someone -anyone- didn't clue me in to that little nugget months ago, I have no idea). Two of the people responded within an hour of my initial request and gave me permission not only to use their work now but in the future in the event I go completely insane and decide to do more research based on my results. Nice huh - even though monkeys are more likely to fly out of my ass than I will voluntarily engage in more research. The third guy is seriously pissing me off. After 3 emails and a voicemail from me, plus a voicemail from him Monday morning apologizing for the delay and promising said permission by the end of business Monday, I still don't have it. It's not like it's a difficult process. Because of today's reliance on electronic communication, all he has to do is reply to one of my emails and say, "Yes, you have my permission to use this table in your published dissertation." That's it. It took him longer to dial my phone number and leave me a message than it took to type that sentence. I can't start my postdoc and get on with the rest of my non-academic life until I have that permission, get the thing printed and the final copies land on the dissertation coordinator's desk at the school.

What the hell is it with people? You know, this is America - everyone is so busy they can't find their own asses with both hands - EVERYONE! Sadly, such the nature of our society. Some people adapt and overcome and get things done anyway - especially no-brainer stuff. Others, use their particular level of "busy" as an excuse, when in reality they're no busier than the next person.

All is not lost though. The work is in the public domain. I was just asking permission as a professional courtesy. I'm giving him until tomorrow. If I don't hear from him by then, I'm citing it as such, getting the damn thing printed and moving on.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

New Driver

Please don't let The Girl know I'm half in tears this morning. I can hardly believe that as of yesterday, my sweet, precious baby girl is licensed to drive a car - all by herself. You know, of all the "firsts" in a child's life, this one has to be the scariest. I'm about to send her to school alone, driving her own car by herself for the first time. Oh, I'm not worried about her. She's a good driver with a good head on her shoulders - very conscientious and polite, watches her speed (mine, too when I'm driving) and isn't a road-rage event waiting to happen. No, I'm worried about all you other fools out there driving around on "auto pilot" while you're talking on your cell phones, putting on your makeup, reading your mail, et cetera. Take it easy out there and pay attention please - that blonde in the cute little red 4X4 truck is my baby. I'd like her to come home in one piece.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Condemned Cartoon Carnival - Aliens



This week I give you Aliens. Frankly, I think it's arrogant to think we're alone in the cosmos.

Why they leave us alone (mostly):


How to Survive an Alien Attack:


Aliens Schmaliens:


Contact:



Next week: I have no clue.

Calling all demons, poltergeists, minions and wraiths: You are hereby commanded by the fires of hell to submit your favorite videos from You Tube, MySpace, your crazy aunt Hattie's attic or wherever for inclusion in my regular feature "Condemned Cartoon Carnival." Wanna play? The rules are simple:

1) The video has to make me laugh - out loud.
b) Bonus points if it's wrong on so many levels that it leaves me in tears.

Although there are no sacred cows, there is one caveat: I am a tough customer, so your quest will not be an easy one.
The videos will be posted bright and skippy every Monday morning, to give everyone a twisted start to the week.

What do you get? Everlasting life via special shoutout in the blog and a link to your blog (if you have one).

Go ahead, submit. You know you want to. Just send your videos or links with your username and a link to your blog to:
condemnedcartooncarnival@gmail.com

tags technorati :

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!


What? No turkey? Nah - even though I'll buy one or two around this time of year because they're on sale, I just throw them in the freezer for later. We eat turkey at weird times of the year - like for no reason other than I'm craving it. Ever oppositional and not likely to do what we're "supposed" to do, my family is just as likely to have a good lasagne or tamales or jambalaya as anything else on major holidays with pre-scripted menus. This year, I'm taking The Girl to my mom's and The Man & I are headed to some land that we lease for hunting. Three days, just the two of us...with any luck there will be much nekkidness and debauchery out there in the woods. Oh, and this year he's cooking for me. His culinary skills are rather limited so we'll be having steak, baked potato and salad tonight and grilled pork chop, some kind of potatoes and salad tomorrow night. We'll probably stop for a Sonic burger on the way home Saturday night. Life is good.

I don't care about taking a deer. We still haven't eaten all of the one The Girl gook last year. What I want is feral hog. Oh. Mah. Gawd. Becky. That's some good eatin' right thar. All they eat is acorns and bugs and they aren't hammered with the antibiotics, growth hormones or other additives, that make the meat taste weird. The meat doesn't get dried out and the flavor! Man I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Okay, so what am I thankful for? All of my wonderful family and friends, plenty to eat, lots to laugh about and relatively few worries. I'm thankful that I finally finished that neverending writing project and now people are supposed to call me "Doctor," (even though I don't insist upon it). I'm thankful that despite my having spent the last ten years pursuing my education, my teenager is relatively trouble and drama-free, as are my relationships with my spouse and my mom. I'm thankful for my new car, which is just too damn much fun to drive. I'm thankful that my postdoc is about to begin and will be just as I have envisioned it (love me some manifesting, I do!). I'm thankful that we're healthy and happy and all of our needs are more than met, as are most of our wants. Finally though, I am thankful that The Man will work his last day at the crazy-making place next Friday November 30. That's right - just one more work week and he's coming back home to me. He'll be able to work with his cattle and hay and do some consulting on the side. He'll get to set the pay rate and the rules for when, where and with whom he works.

Life is good. I wish the same and so much more for all of you.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Condemned Cartoon Carnival - Turkey Day



In honor of our national holiday, Thanksgiving, where really all we do is gather 'round a huge turkey dinner (after mom has worked her ass off cooking for the previous 3 days) then we're too miserable to do anything else for the rest of the day, this week I give you Turkey Day.

Celebrity Bric-a-Brac Theatre:


Thanksgiving: The Movie


Butterball Test:


Dot's Thanksgiving Play:


Thanksgiving with James Brown & Kenny Rogers:



Next week: Aliens

Calling all demons, poltergeists, minions and wraiths: You are hereby commanded by the fires of hell to submit your favorite videos from You Tube, MySpace, your crazy aunt Hattie's attic or wherever for inclusion in my regular feature "Condemned Cartoon Carnival." Wanna play? The rules are simple:

1) The video has to make me laugh - out loud.
b) Bonus points if it's wrong on so many levels that it leaves me in tears.

Although there are no sacred cows, there is one caveat: I am a tough customer, so your quest will not be an easy one.
The videos will be posted bright and skippy every Monday morning, to give everyone a twisted start to the week.

What do you get? Everlasting life via special shoutout in the blog and a link to your blog (if you have one).

Go ahead, submit. You know you want to. Just send your videos or links with your username and a link to your blog to:
condemnedcartooncarnival@gmail.com

tags technorati :

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Oasis


Really the best way to describe the old look of the master bedroom was "Quilt Overload." Boooooorrrriiiinnngggg!! When I last painted, The Man informed me that I could paint the house any color I wanted as long as it was white. This, from a man who requires assistance in matching his ties to the rest of his work attire every morning. Once I painted The Girl's bedroom yellow, our bathroom a pale green (mental institution green if I'm being honest), and my home office a deep burgundy three years ago, and he actually liked them, that whole idea of white being the only suitable color for walls has gone out the window. Good thing too, because once I turned 40 I do as I damn well please. That wouldn't fly today - in fact I'd paint it baby shit green just to be oppositional if he tried that now.

Deep in the throes of the internship and the neverending writing project I didn't have time to do much in the way of anything, much less redecorating since my last major undertaking. Since I seem to have nothing but time for the next few weeks, it's on. I finished the master bedroom yesterday, despite having to take one can of paint back to Lowe's so they could put color in the paint. Don't get me started on the stupid little twit at the returns desk. Even The Girl noted the level of stupidity.

Granted, The Man & I almost came to blows over the stupid drapery hardware for which it's necessary to have an advanced engineering degree to put them back together, but we figured it out. I hate drapes anyway. They block my beautiful views of the trees, fields, et cetera. Their days may be numbered as I am seriously considering putting big ol' plantation shutters in there, but we'll see.

The little fan back chair in the corner (given to me 20 years ago by a much beloved late great aunt) will be taken to the upholsterer in the next few days to be re-covered in material closer to that of the bedspread. Interestingly enough, the new stuff will be similar to the upholstery it originally sported back in the 1950's when the chair was made through about ten years ago when I began living here.
I may need to learn to watch TV so I have a reason to just "be" in here.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Condemned Cartoon Carnival - Open Season



This week: Open Season

Our first submission this week is once again from ghost hunter Romulus Crowe, noting that it covers "open season," "hunting season," and "in season," all in one shot:


Canned hunts for Everyman:


Someone actually gave The Man one of these last year...


It's safer on the sofa...


Smack-talking hood ornament:


Aaaaand finally, If it's Brown, it's Down:


Next week: Turkey Day

Calling all demons, poltergeists, minions and wraiths: You are hereby commanded by the fires of hell to submit your favorite videos from You Tube, MySpace, your crazy aunt Hattie's attic or wherever for inclusion in my regular feature "Condemned Cartoon Carnival." Wanna play? The rules are simple:

1) The video has to make me laugh - out loud.
b) Bonus points if it's wrong on so many levels that it leaves me in tears.

Although there are no sacred cows, there is one caveat: I am a tough customer, so your quest will not be an easy one.
The videos will be posted bright and skippy every Monday morning, to give everyone a twisted start to the week.

What do you get? Everlasting life via special shoutout in the blog and a link to your blog (if you have one).

Go ahead, submit. You know you want to. Just send your videos or links with your username and a link to your blog to:
condemnedcartooncarnival@gmail.com

tags technorati :

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Overall, It's All Guuuud



Friday, my dissertation arrived from the Proofreader - only about 2 weeks late but whatever. You know, you'd think that as strong as my writing skills are and with as many eyeballs as have viewed that document as it has developed over the last couple of years, that there wouldn't have been THAT FUCKING MUCH RED INK all over the goddamn thing. Honestly, I had a little bit of a come-apart over it Friday afternoon, but finished everything by noon today. I'm still waiting on official permissions from original copyright holders to use a couple of graphics but it should be on its way to the printer in a couple of days. None too soon, either. I'm so way past sick of looking at it...gaaaah.

In other news, The Girl's football team won their game Friday night, thus winning the district championship for the umpteenth year in a row. The good news is that the upcoming playoff game will only about 45 minutes away and will be played on Friday night. This, of course, is good news for the football team because it means that their game won't have to be canceled ;o) and The Girl's party will be celebrated on schedule. Aside from food, all we really have left to pick up are the HotWheels plates, plastic forks & spoons and helium for those badass balloons. The Man even hooked up the trailer for the hayride this afternoon when he came home from hunting.

Speaking of food, any suggestions for good (preferably blacklight-reactive) snack foods that are teen-friendly?

Last night, The Girl had her All-District concert. I had to have her happy ass at school at 6:30 am. Of course I came home and went back to bed instead of working on the proofreader's corrections but I'd been in the concession stand slinging popcorn all by myself from 3:30 until nearly 11:30 Friday night. I did get to work on the corrections for about an hour & 1/2 before it was time to go to the concert 90 miles away. That was enough time to wade through the first chapter. The concert was really nice, as always. The kids that make the bands are the cream of the crop so of course the music is good. The drive back in the new car was awesome, too - even in the dark and I hate driving in the dark. I had another band mom along and we could talk without shouting - even with that huge ass sunroof all the way open. I really dig that car...I might have to keep it.

The coming week will be busy. Monday & Tuesday we're having a new air conditioning/heating system installed. The old one is pushing 30 years old and the AC side of it went tits-up last week. We had the option of just replacing the AC at around 2500 with only the AC guaranteed for the next 5 years or replacing the whole thing for 6K including a 10 year warranty, a $500 rebate from the power company and a tax break, plus about a 35-40% reduction in our power bills year 'round. Needless to say, we don't have to be hit over the head to understand that sometimes you have to spend a dime to make a dollar. While all that's going on, I'll be painting this week - the master bedroom Monday, the living room Tuesday and The Girl's bathroom Wednesday. I'll try to post before & after pictures, but they may not be up until next week due to party-readiness. I knew you'd understand.

That's all I know right now. Y'all have a great week.

Friday, November 9, 2007

The View from Here

So - where have I been since Tuesday? Putting over 400 miles on my new ride, and getting sunburned from its freakishly large sunroof(s). Said ride (2007 Ford Edge) was lovingly delivered by The Man Tuesday evening. Since he's officially given notice that November 30 is his last day working at the crazy-making place (yippee!!) and I'm about to go back to work (any day now, really!), and will be burning up the highways in a manner that will make Texaco proud, I needed to get out of my gas-sucking Tahoe and get into something more economical while we can still get employee pricing.
Of course, although I've been researching them online and seen the commercials, I wasn't counting on the damn thing being so cute in person. Not to mention fun to drive, with great handling & road manners, no engine noise (seriously - my dad didn't think it was running when I showed it to him) and minimal road noise - even with the freakishly huge sunroof all the way open and barreling 80mph down the highway! No shit - and I am not making this up - in addition to holding conversations with The Girl using a normal tone of voice, I have been able to have actual cell phone conversations with the sunroof open - not just vented - but gaping all the way open - and it opens to double or more the size of a normal sunroof. It has the 3 things most important to me in a car-buying decision: leather seats, iPod jack and sunroof - and this one basically has TWO - one really fucking huge one in the front that slides over the smoked glass in the back so the folks in the back seat have a view, too. --Not that anyone ever really rides in my back seat, but if they did - wow would they be able to see stuff!

A few years ago I stepped down from an Eddie Bauer Expedition (I loved that truck!) to an Escape - again for fuel economy. While the little Escape was cute and all, it didn't always have the space I needed for hauling stuff and after the Expedition, it felt a lot like driving a roller skate, so I was wary of the Edge because even though it's waythehell cuter than the Escape, it didn't seem much bigger and I didn't want to be stuck driving a car I didn't really like again. Since The Man brought the Escape home in the dark, just like this car, and one 16-mile round trip in the dark to the little town of Fundietonfieldvilleview and back just isn't enough of a test drive for me to make an adequately informed decision, I told him I wasn't going to decide until I drove it in the daytime for a busy day of errand-running to Lowes, Linens & Things and the grocery store. I figured the best way to decide if I wanted to buy it was to put it through a typical day of hardcore shopping just to see if it could keep up. Groceries were no problem, considering that I used to keep the 3rd row seats folded up in the Tahoe, leaving about the same amount of room as in the back of the Edge. Later that day, the Edge had plenty of room for paint for 3 rooms and assorted supplies, the 2 banquet tables and an entire suite of new bedding - comforter, pillows, and all, with plenty of room to spare. The little button in the back hatch area that flips the back seats down was really cool, too.

Honestly, in driving this car and going down from a huge full-size SUV, this car doesn't feel smaller. Aside from the fact that The Man works in the automobile industry, so we can usually get some really awesome deals on cars, one big reason I've driven SUVs is because I am so impossibly tall (all of 5') that being up higher helps me see what's happening around me on the road. A smaller car typically leaves me feeling as if I'm dragging my ass on the ground and can't really see what's going on. I didn't get that "I wish I were up higher," feeling in the Edge. It felt airy and spacious and "up high enough" for me. Speaking of space, the center console is also freakishly huge - big enough for my 13" MacBook - and has a jack for my iPod and a power port (there are 4 of these total) for the charger with a little cutout on the side lip of the console for the iPod cable to slip through. The Man bought the Tahoe for me when I got my Master's (awwww) but so far the only things I'm going to miss about it are the heated seats (much loved on the dozen or so days when it's actually cold outside) and the temperature gauge on the rearview mirror, but I can buy a new rearview that has that so it's no big deal. I won't miss the parking difficulties I've encountered in the last 3 & 1/2 years or paying $60-75 to fill the beast.

In my travels over the last couple of days, I've had no less than 4 people stop me to ask about and look over the car. Of course I've been happy to show it off, even though it's taken me on a little trip in the Wayback Machine to the days when I sold cars. The Girl even likes it. She said the Tahoe was too much of a "Soccer Mom" car and was not cool enough to be a "Band Mom" car. This car, on the other hand, in her humble and considerate nearly 16 year old opinion, is entirely cool enough to be a Band Mom car - or it will be once we get the front windows tinted ;o) Yep - nothin' quite like having a car that the teenager thinks is "pimpable."

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Sweet 16 Party


The picture is of the cups I got for The Girl's sweet 16 party next weekend. They have two little glass vials inside that you break kind of like the glow sticks (but a lot more difficult) then the cups glow for about 10 hours. I got them in several colors. Is that just too gawddamn cool, or what? The snack table will have a white tablecloth accented with a piece of fluorescent fun fur and little color-changing stars, and the food will be served on vintage vaseline glass and manganese glass serving pieces, which glow under a blacklight. I'll also be grilling burgers and there will be a huge-ass chocolate cake. The Girl doesn't want a cheese tray, but a Chee-To tray. She's not sure if she wants a punch with dry ice in it for effect or to keep it simple with just soft drinks. DrPepper turns a sickly green under a blacklight but it will be fun to see which foods are blacklight reactive...

Suz and her hubby will be in charge of running the garage, which will be converted to a disco. It will be decked out with a strobe light, tropical-scented fog machine, bubble machine and disco ball and there will be white helium balloons with little colored blinking LED lights in them. They are bringing his ginormous stereo and all their music and they can use my Powerpoint projector if they want to show videos or do karaoke.

The kids can play pool in the gameroom, poker or board games in the sunroom, Guitar Hero II and III on the big screen in the living room. Outside, they can play glow-in-the-dark football, basketball and/or frisbee. The popcorn machine will be set up somewhere out of the way of the pool table, either the patio or the sunroom, and there will be a fire in the fire pit so they can toast marshmallows. The Man will also have a bunch of hay bales on a trailer hooked up to his big white farm truck for the hayride.

With all the festivities planned, a slight problem occurred to me this morning. The Girl's high school football team is going to the playoffs, those games are usually held on Saturday nights, and she has invited the entire band. What do do?

Monday, November 5, 2007

Condemned Cartoon Carnival - Old People



This week: Old People

Our first submission this week is once again from ghost hunter Romulus Crowe
The Old Gits:


Never too old to Rock & Roll:


What they're really doing on their Sunday drive:


Don't jack with the little old lady:


A plane, a jeep and a little old lady:


Next week: Open Season - (in honor of the highest holy holiday in Texas - the opening of deer season).

Calling all demons, poltergeists, minions and wraiths: You are hereby commanded by the fires of hell to submit your favorite videos from You Tube, MySpace, your crazy aunt Hattie's attic or wherever for inclusion in my regular feature "Condemned Cartoon Carnival." Wanna play? The rules are simple:

1) The video has to make me laugh - out loud.
b) Bonus points if it's wrong on so many levels that it leaves me in tears.

Although there are no sacred cows, there is one caveat: I am a tough customer, so your quest will not be an easy one.
The videos will be posted bright and skippy every Monday morning, to give everyone a twisted start to the week.

What do you get? Everlasting life via special shoutout in the blog and a link to your blog (if you have one).

Go ahead, submit. You know you want to. Just send your videos or links with your username and a link to your blog to:
condemnedcartooncarnival@gmail.com

tags technorati :

Sunday, November 4, 2007

The Audition



The Girl auditioned for the All-District Band yesterday and made 3rd chair out of about 40 high school girls who tried out. The two girls ahead of her were both seniors and everyone below her until the girl in 9th chair (a freshman who is one of my former students, thankyouverymuch), everyone who made the band was either a junior or a senior. All things considered, The Girl made an excellent showing so she can't really complain. The clinic and concert will be next Saturday, then she can work on improving the music for the All-Region Band tryout December 1. The competition will be stiffer then because now that marching season is over, they actually have time to work on the honor band music. At any rate, she was 7th chair All-Region last year with only seniors and 2 juniors ahead of her - yep, you guessed it - the 2 girls who are ahead of her in All-District this year. Taking that into consideration, we expect her to go to Area this year. We'll see. If she doesn't pass Geometry she will be ineligible to compete, and all the work she's done since January will have been in vain. Send her some positive math energy to pull her through.