Beautiful Sunday

In addition to about six other drugs for various post-surgical issues (bring on the Percocet!), my surgeon wants me to take an herb called Arnica Montana to reduce bruising and inflammation. Well, having worked in pharmaceutical research and as a science-minded individual, I am skeptical of and have never taken homeopathic "medicines," for both safety and efficacy concerns. I still don't want to do it now. So I asked the homeopathy dude at Central Market, "This isn't going to kill me, is it?"

"This is homeopathic stuff. You could take the whole bottle and nothing would happen!"

Truer words were probably never spoken.

Sunday Stealing: The Ninja Meme, Part One

1. What do you add to your coffee?
cream (or creamer) and Equal

2. What are you reading now?
this meme

3. Do you own a gun?
No

4. Are you registered to vote?
Yep. Scary, ain't it?

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
depends on what kind of doctor it is

6. What do you think of hot dogs?
They're good every once in a while.

7. Favorite Christmas Song?
Oh Holy Night

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
merlot

9. Can you do push ups?
sort of

10. What was the name of your first boyfriend/girlfriend?
John

11. What’s your favorite piece of jewelery?
my wedding ring

12. Favorite hobby?
punkin' chunkin'

13. Do you work with people who idolize you?
Of course.

14. Do you have ADD?
nope

15. What’s one trait that you hate about yourself?
I don't "hate" anything, but I need to be more patient with idiot drivers.

16. What’s your Middle name?
Marguerite

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment.
need to take a Claritin, these kittens sure are troublemakers, wonder what movies came out on Friday

18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday.
I power shopped for Christmas presents yesterday! I could tell you what I bought, but then I'd have to kill you. In the spirit of the season and all.

19. Name 3 beverages you regularly drink.
tea, lemonade, scotch (that's a joke. I never want another drop of scotch to touch my tongue. Yucko.)

20. Current worry right now?
how I'm supposed to get a whole new wardrobe of bras next week, during the holiday crush

21. What side do you dress to?
um, neither

22. Favorite place to be?
anywhere next to a blue ocean

23. How did you bring in the New Year?
with a bottle of wine at home

24. Where would you like to go?
Italy is next on my vacation wishlist.

25. Name three people who you will see today.
JeffC, Jeff and Lauren

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Double-Meme Day

Jeff gets ultimate brownie points for surprising me last night at dinner. There was a vase of roses on our table when we arrived. Melting Pot will handle that for you. Who knew? So sweet! You even get to keep them.

The last time we went to Melting Pot, we were there with Lauren and they sat us in one of their closed-off booth thingies with the sliding door, which we always thought would be so cool. Well, it isn't. The walls between the booths don't go all the way to the ceiling, so you can hear every single word from the tables on either side of you, exactly as if you were all sitting at the same table. So noisy! Not to mention you have to be careful what you say, because ten other people you don't know are listening, whether they want to or not.

I kept wanting to jump in on a conversation at the next table with something like, "Mark, you should go to NYU! They have the better film program!" Ahahahaa.

The table they had for us last night was in the back corner, a table for two (or three, if you're into that) with walls all around that went all the way to the ceiling. Cozy! Plus... flowers!

Saturday 9: Reason to Believe

1. Has anyone asked you to believe in something that called for a huge leap of faith on your part?
We once made a fairly substantial business loan to someone in a developing country as a part of a church-related project. I didn't figure we'd ever see that money again, so I guess I didn't exactly do the leap of faith thing. LOL. But the question is if someone asked me to believe in something. Jeff and his parents asked me to make that leap of faith. In the end, we did get the money back with interest. :)

2. When is the last time you moved? Why did you move?
15 years ago we moved because we wanted a bigger house in the same general area of town.

3. Malls? ..or Internet? Are you doing more online shopping this year? The polls say we are, but I'm curious about what the real people are doing.
I have yet to do most of my shopping, but the things I have gotten so far have been at local stores. If something is less expensive online, I will definitely buy it there.

4. Do you remember the first meme you participated in and if so, what was it?
I've added it at the bottom of this entry. For reference (if you look) "the board" refers to the message board of a now-defunct fansite I was running with a friend at the time.

5. If you could invent something, what would it be?
A device you could wave over someone and their physical pain would completely disappear for a certain amount of time. (Usually docs have to know whether things are still hurting, or if the pain has moved, is different, etc., so you can't remove it forever) I'd say 4 hours a pop.

6. Are you finished with your shopping? Do you still have a few things to go? What? Not even a game plan? ...or is there just one person you're having trouble finding something for?
Most of my shopping remains to be done. I have ideas for almost everyone. The in-laws are always the most difficult, because I like to give them things they can use up- tickets to events and that sort of thing- rather than items that will sit in their house.

7. What's left to do at your place (or where you are going)? Is the tree up? ...or maybe you're just happy you found the Christmas coffee mug and are calling that good?
I got out all the decorations, and we quickly decided that with two kittens we couldn't put up the tree and our precious ornaments from over the years. So we bought a small tree, which they immediately climbed and knocked over. So we won't have a tree this year. I'm going to put out some of my other decorations. Right now, I have a Santa on my mantle and that is it.

8. Is your life turning out the way you thought it would when you were a kid? If not, is it better or worse?
It's neither better, nor worse than I imagined. Definitely different. That's the fun of living your life- it's always a surprise what's going to happen next!

9. Tell us about something you'll miss about 2010.
2010 didn't really have anything that I won't have in 2011 as well. Bye bye, 2010!

Here is my very first meme, dated April 11, 2003:

01. Name: Kathy
02. Age: 30-something
03. DOB: April 2
04. Height: 5'4
05. Weight: Yeah.
06. Eye color: Green
07. Hair color: Auburn
08. Piercing: Ears
09. Tattoos: No way
10. Scars: tiny scratch scars from the former Cat from Hell
11. Body shape: Girly
12. Current taste in mouth: Godiva raspberry truffle (thanks hubby!)
13. Current clothing: denim capris and peasant shirt
14. Current music: The Scabs "Tarantula"
15. Current desktop: JC from BMAs, sans Tara
16. Current thought in head: How the hell does all this LJ stuff work?
17. Current IM sessions: Carrie
18. Current time: 5:29 CST
19. Current weather: 76 sunny
20. Current feeling: Scholarly. Am learning LJ technical junk.
21. Current Status: Married
22. Current location: Office chair in front of computer

~*Last Times / This Or That More Lame Questions*~
23.  Last time you smiled: Seeing my best friend Laura, who teaches at DD's  school, in a Little House on the Prairie dress for Pioneer Day this  morning
24. Last time you frowned: Ten minutes ago when I had no idea how to get back to my own journal screen
25. Last time you hugged someone: DH this morning
26.  Last time you cried: watching CNN, when the Iraqi man in Baghdad spoke  to the marine in broken English, saying he was so thankful he was free
27. Last time you laughed: reading the board about 20 minutes ago (those girls crack me up)
28. Last time you yawned: an hour ago
29. Last time you lied: truly cannot remember, probably college
30. Last time you thought of suicide: never
31. Last time you got angry: 1pm
32. Last time you ate: truffle- about 5 minutes ago
33. Last time you went potty: 1 hour ago
34. Last time you slept: til 6:15 this morning
35. You or Me: Well, since these questions refer to me as "you", what exactly does this mean? ;)
36. This or That: This
37. Optimistic or Pessimistic: optimistic
38. Sad or Happy: happy
39. Fork or Spoon: spoon
40. Pepsi or Coke: Coke
41. Pepsi Blue or Code Red: Neither
42. Friends or Family: Friends
43. Sleeping or Eating: Eating
44. TV or Internet: Internet.
45. Condoms or The Pill: PILL. Just say no to condoms.
47. Sarcasm or Insults: Sarcasm
48. Zero or 0: 0.00
49. Cheating or Faithful: Faithful
50. Al Gore or George Bush: Is there another option?

~*extras*~
51. Are you enjoying this quiz?: Yes, it is keeping me from boring a larger audience at the board.
52. What are you going to do after this?: Check on sick DD
53. What time is it now?: 5:39 pm
54. Say one nice thing about the person you got this from: Gropey is one of the funniest people at the board.
55. Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend?: I have a husband.
56. Do you have any talents?: I sing. No really.
57. What was the last movie(s) you saw?: The Two Towers... again.
58. Why are you on the internet?: I am on an endless quest for information to update the fansite.
59. AIM names?: none
60. Do you smoke?: no
61. Do you do drugs?: no
64. Is this quiz too long?: no
65. Should it end here?: Unless you're expecting me to come up with additional questions- yes..

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The Sing-Off

Okay, I'm finally caught up on the new season of "The Sing-Off." They're still using that cardboard cutout of Nick Lachey as a host, when Joey Fatone is the obvious choice for that job. Nicole Schirzinger just sort of rubs me the wrong way, but I so adore and respect Ben Folds and Shawn Stockman.

I very much enjoyed seeing Nota, the winners from the first season, on Wednesday's episode. It's just too bad I am sick to death of that Black-Eyed Peas song. Love-love-LOVE when Nota adds a Latin beat somewhere in a song to make it a little bit Puerto Rico!

My faves from this season are/were On the Rocks from U of Oregon (whom I've mentioned here before), The Backbeats from USC and UCLA (or more accurately their lead singer Joanna), The Whiffenpoofs from Yale (who are already out, but nailed that Mika song on night 1) and the church group Committed from Alabama. I like Street Corner Symphony from Nashville, but the lead singer is a little wispy. His voice is really nice, but he seems timid on stage and like Ben said, he has a sadness in his persona that may be better conveyed by singing in a lower register.

Here is video of The BackBeats from night 1, singing Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy." Does Joanna rock or what?!



TGIF. Today is my last day of work before three weeks off! Christmas shopping is looming over me. Must get it done by Monday, I think. Tuesday is my surgery!

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Mid-Week Randomness

We went to dinner downtown with Jeff's boss from Boston and a couple of other co-workers and wives last night. Very fun! Throughout the evening, there was a battle royale between Gil's iPhone and Jeff's Droid. Mostly we determined they are pretty much the same.

Listened to 101X quite a bit the past two days. It's really great. During the morning show, Deb the DJ talked about coloring her grays (which I've never done), so I think my assumption that the listeners are mostly college students was inaccurate. :)

I'm not typically the mom who knows any household hints, but here's one for ya'. Jeff found it online, so a shout out to Google on that. (holla.) If your kitchen sink develops a weird smell, not even necessarily a gross one- ours was a strange plastic-ish with a little "mildew-y?" thrown in- try cleaning underneath the rubber gasket in the drain on the disposal side. Our new sink (installed a couple of years ago) has a large basin on the garbage disposal side and a smaller one on the other side, so I wash dishes in the small side. I used to wash them in the disposal side in my old sink, so it had a lot of soap regularly running through it. I think since this one doesn't, it allowed gunge to build up under there more than it should. Jeff took a toilet brush with dish soap and pushed it through to clean under the gasket. It was very gross! Who knew?

The Social Network an Oscar front-runner for Best Picture? Wow. That is about as strange as James Franco and Ann Hathaway hosting the show. Maybe I won't watch this year.

Have a great day, y'all!

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Not Shazam... Sound Hound

Correction: In yesterday's blog post, I said Shazam was the awesome app that recognizes music. It is SoundHound that Lauren uses, and she says it is "much better than Shazam." So, there ya' go!

Lauren went on a date with a brand new guy last night. New to us anyway. They've known each other for a while at school. By the time he brought her home after their movie, I was in my PJs, so I didn't get to meet him. Sad! Jeff met him though. They saw 127 Hours and said unfortunately it was not good. A full fifteen minutes of the film is a guy cutting off his own arm with a multi-tool, and Lauren tells me, "Oh my gosh, the grossest part of the whole movie was when he drank his own pee!!"

I am working full time this week, for the first time in 17 years. I have to make myself a bag lunch and everything, because of a half-hour lunch (if that). I'm just hoping to make it through five whole days without the usual soap operas, bon bons and a nap. ;)


Monday Mayhem

1. Do you RSVP to all of your invites over the holidays?
I RSVP to all my invites all year long.

2. What's your best excuse for not attending a holiday function?
Already going to another holiday function.

3. Have you ever had 'a little too much' of anything in front of your boss at a holiday celebration or done anything else that may come back to haunt you in the future? 
Nah.

4. How many cards do you send via 'snail mail' (regular mail)?
Usually around 40, but this year, probably 5 or so. And I write something in them. None of this just signing at the bottom malarkey. *eyes Sheryl* Actually, I usually include a newsletter, too. It's not even too obnoxious.

5. How many cards do you send via email?
I don't send cards via email.

6.What is your exercise routine during the holiday season?
Same as all year- work out five days a week for at least half an hour a day. This holiday season has already been difficult with my schedule, and I won't be able to do any intense workouts for at least three weeks after my surgery- BLAH.

7. What is your least favorite thing about the holiday season?
Traffic around the shopping areas.

8. Tell us what is your regifting policy?
I have only regifted like two items in my life.
Required for me to regift:
a) gift is new, in the original closed packaging
b) gift is something I received from a random gift exchange or some other impersonal way, not from a friend
c) giftee must be a casual acquaintance or a service provider, like the mailman... not a friend or relative

9. Ever been the recipient of a re-gift?
Once, I'm fairly sure.

10. What is your basic 'fat outfit' to wear after you have been sampling too much of the holiday festivities?
I wear workout clothes, like yoga pants and a tshirt, because they're stretchy. Also, it gets me in the mood to work out!

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Finally! Music Recs!

MIX 94.7's morning show used to be GREAT. Now it's become about 50% garbage. That wasted time is split between advertising masked as impromptu conversation about things like laser hair removal and vision correction surgery, and lengthy "previews" of what's coming up in fifteen/thirty minutes. Sometimes they talk more about what's coming up than they eventually say in the segment itself. Very annoying.

So KathyL and I were hanging out last night at her place, listening to her iPod over speakers, like we usually do. I started keeping a list of songs I liked as they played, so I could download some new stuff today. 94.7 doesn't play much alt rock, so I don't hear the new songs unless Lauren is listening to them (or at Kathy's). Kathy asked me why I'm not listening to the awesome alternative station on satellite radio. Uhhhhh... I don't have satellite radio!

Now I've done my research and found 101X, which is an alt rock radio station here in Austin. Will be switching from MIX 94.7 posthaste. It even appears 101X has a morning show. The station looks skewed towards the college demographic, but I'm excited to give it a shot.

I'm downloading several songs from The Airborne Toxic Event, Hockey, 3OH!3, Neon Trees and a few others. Kathy's a fan of Arcade Fire, who I had heard snagged a few Grammy noms this week, but there's something about their sound I'm not so fond of. Eh. She has a love/hate relationship with Nickelback, and played a couple of their harder rock songs for me, which she likes but I'd never heard- "Burn It to the Ground" and "Something in Your Mouth." I'll get those as well.

What did she get in return for giving me a bunch of new music suggestions? A recommendation for one of my favorite songs, Theory of a Deadman's "Bad Girlfriend" AND a bonus suggestion of the Shazam application for her iPhone, which thrilled her to no end. She had never heard of it. HA. (Julie actually sang into Lauren's iPad the other night and it guessed the song. Freakin' amazing. Check it out!) ETA: Oops. It's actually SoundHound that Lauren uses. :)

And your extra bonus recommendation of the day (thanks Shane!) for those who aren't on Facebook...

Ben Moody (the genius behind Evanescence's first album "Fallen"), and original Ev members Rocky Gray and John Lecompt have gotten back together with bassist Marty O'Brien (Disturbed/StaticX) & American Idol Finalist Carly Smithson to form the band "We Are The Fallen".

It sounds a LOT like Evanescence, but I love them, so that's okay with me. 

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Fritz Not Felix

Random memory-
While I was at college, A&M showed Fritz the Cat (an animated film with an X rating, for those who are unfamiliar) at The Grove on campus. Tons of our football players were there, which only added to the hilarity. And my t.u. friends wonder how I never knew, in all the years I was there, that A&M is considered to be a "conservative school." University-sanctioned porn, people. Animated animal porn with a social message, but porn nonetheless.


Saturday 9: Hard Habit to Break

1. Do you have any habits or rituals at this time of year?
I have to drink a little egg nog at some point. I'm not a huge fan of it, but my parents loved it and always had it around during the Christmas season when I was growing up, so it reminds me of childhood.

2. Polar bears seem to do well in the snow... How about you? Is snow just another thing you deal with when it shows up, or is it shutdown time? ...and if you're posting from a non-snowy locale, do you make trips to actually see snow? It's okay to admit it...
It doesn't really snow here, and I don't make trips to see it, although fairly often it has snowed in Dallas while we're there over the holidays. I wouldn't like living in a snowy location and dealing with it every day, but I do like playing in it on occasion.

3. Tell about a toy you remember from your childhood.
I had one of those large, metal, spinning tops, with the pump-action post in the center. I would spin that thing on our kitchen floor when I was a preschooler.

4. If you could make one thing in the world absolutely free for everyone, what would it be?
Healthcare. And not in a socialist way, where we pump more and more cash into the system while the quality of care tanks. I'm talking about providing high quality care by managing costs via taking out all the BS and reducing the enormous profits of service and product providers. Make a profit, but not a ridiculously-high one on the backs of sick people. If you want to make mountains of money, do it with an awesome iPhone app or the new pet rock. Don't strangle it out of people who are just trying to live another day.

5. Do you live close to your immediate family members? If not, how far away are they?
Nope. My Dad lives in upstate New York. Jeff's parents and brother live in Dallas.

6. My mom ordered a turkey dinner from a local market. It was o.k., but not very good. How was your turkey (or last holiday meal) this year?
It was awesome. Had it at the Renaissance Austin Hotel.

7. In a one horse open sleigh: Have you ever been on a sleigh ride or a carriage ride? Do you even like horses? Or would you just rather travel by your own two feet?
Ohmigosh, I don't think I've ever been on a carriage or sleigh ride! Get that on the bucket list. I like horses just fine. Not my favorite animal of all time or anything, but they're nice.

8. What is your favorite Christmas song? ...and sung or played by whom? You know, the one you tend to listen for on the radio or hit 'repeat' on the player...
I have two. "Oh Holy Night" (NSYNC, Celine Dion or Josh Groban) and "All I Want for Christmas is You" (Mariah Carey)

9. What is your least favorite Christmas song? ...and sung or played by whom? You know, the one you tend to skip on the player...
"Last Christmas" (Wham!) and I am a huge Wham! fan, so that's how much I hate that song.

And now it's in my head. Thank you Saturday 9.

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Beginning of the Weekend!

Political issues seem to have my knickers in a twist this week. Just roll with it. I'm sure by Monday I'll be back to fluttering through the prairie flowers in slow-mo, farting rainbows like Tenley Molzahn.

Sure. I'll wait for you to Google.

.....

(We have a cat named Kiptyn. You know we watch "The Bachelor".)

Anyway, here's a little quote from this article on repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell. John McCain is speaking of heterosexual troops and their possible concerns about openly gay soldiers:

"We send these young people into combat. We think they're mature enough to fight and die. I think they're mature enough to make a judgment on who they want to serve with and the impact on their battle effectiveness."

HOLY TAP DANCIN' RICE KRISPIE TREATS. Did he just say people should get to select who they want to work with, based on their sexual preference?! How about their ethnicity or religion? Height? Hair color? Just... wow.

Moving on.

Song Lyrics of the Day

...And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for a while
'Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are...

Bruno Mars "Just the Way You Are" :)

One of Lauren's student groups has been doing fundraising for a single mom and her ill son, who were going to be evicted this month. So far, they have raised enough cash to pay her rent for over a year. Amazing! So proud of them.

"The Sing-Off" starts up a new season on Monday. Yay! Bring on those a cappella groups!

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It's a Beautiful Day

Wendy's status on FB-- "I like a man who is all action, no talk." So true.

An example of my very discriminating taste in international epicurean delights---

Me (in the break room): Mmmm! That smells wonderful. What is it?
Coworker: Ramen noodles!

Heh.

Tons of kids in the library yesterday, getting those last books before Christmas break. Things were really hopping! Hope it keeps up. :)

So Amazon decided it wasn't smart to host WikiLeaks (or they were "violating the terms of service", whatever...). Turns out they've been hosting it for a while. Australian Assange makes a snarky reference to our First Amendment when talking about the taking down of the website, when clearly the more fitting comment would have referenced a company worshiping the almighty dollar. That's the reason Amazon hosted the site in the first place, and when public backlash began to rear its ugly head, that is why they got rid of it. Just my humble opinion.

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Jackwagonry

That Wikileaks jackwagon, Julian Assange, is on an Interpol most-wanted list now for crimes in Sweden. (He says he's completely innocent of course.) I'm so suspect of his motives for all this leaking of government documents. If he had uncovered some real injustices or something, fine. This last thing he helped the world by releasing-- it's like someone at work went around and told all his coworkers the mocking names they've been called in closed-door meetings. I would have hoped the world's leaders could have a chuckle over it. Italy's Prime Minister Berlusconi could have texted Obama-

Yeah, well. I've called you a lot worse. Lol.

Really, it's so ridiculous. And I'm sorry, but we can't just release every government's secret documents. It would be total mayhem around the world. I believe most true crimes and injustices eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later, reveal themselves, not via some arrogant gossipmonger, but rather via the victims or participants themselves, or someone else who has a real stake in the matter.

Just saw this. Oh, Amazon. I used to be a fan...

WikiLeaks moves to Amazon cloud to weather DDOS attacks

On the surgery front- I have one more pre-op, because my doctor wasn't even at the one yesterday. It was more a mountain of paperwork than a visit. Our kitties are having their spay and neuter surgeries this morning. Awwww. They were very sad just to be in the car. Poor babies!

And now, speaking of jackwagons... your moment of Zen:



Crybaby.

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