Archive for the ‘Rambles’ Category

Hyperactive Rambles

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Yes, I have a bad case of ADHD today. Probably doesn’t help I’m listening to my most hyper of my music right now either. (I just got a Last.fm account.)

Ever since mom lost her job, I’ve been in a very strange mood. On one hand, I’m very nostaligic — remembering things I used to love and things from my childhood — and on the other, I’ve thrown out a lot of things that should have made me very nostalgic. My Ronin Warrior tapes… the ones I fought so hard to get? Out with the trash a couple weeks ago. I’ll buy the DVDs someday. Trading cards and comics? To Goodwill, baby!

I have this huge box of vintage My Little Pony stuff ready to go out with the trash next week. (Before anyone has kittens, it’s the houses and accessories. They’re nasty, yellowed, brittle, and filled with dead bugs and mouse droppings.)

By the way… if anyone knows anyone who turns old My Little Ponies into art, let them know I have close to 100 I would be willing to sell. I cross-posted this a million places. ^^;

Job Scams… since I have my resume up on Monster.com and Career Builder, I keep getting these hilarious e-mail scams. “Work from home! Give us your bank account information! All you have to do is cash checks for us!” lol Or my favorite “Unlimited earning potential! Just send us a check for $1000 and we’ll send you our guaranteed training materials!” Latest one made it sound like it was from a bank, but when you followed the link, it went to a web site in the Czech Republic. *shakes her head*

What’s sad is there’s probably a disturbing number of people that go for those.

Anyway, in the mood I’m in expect another spam… err… blog post in another hour. (Raid tonight can’t come fast enough… give me something to focus on.)

Directly proportional

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

SlimerBack when I was in Junior High School, my favorite science teacher had this great poster up in her classroom. It read “The chances of someone being caught is directly proportional to the stupidity of their actions.” The graphic itself was a photograph of a kitten that had fallen head-first into a flowerpot.

It was so true and cute all at the same time.

Well, I am directly proving that myself today.

Thanks to the extra long heating season Michigan is experiencing, my hair is very dry. It’s beyond the point where conditioners do any good. So, I went hunting on the web and found a recipe for a homemade, conditioning hair mask using eggs, olive oil, apple-cider vinegar, and essential oils. It sounded great, it smells fantastic… I hoped it was going to give me great results.

So, I got out a small cereal bowl and whisked everything together. Then I grabbed our oldest pastry brush and trucked down to the bathroom.

I am now sitting here with cheerful, bright yellow slime — about the perfect consistency to allow me to fantasize that I’ve been slimed a la Ghostbusters — dripping in a steady stream down my face, back, and chest despite the plastic cap I’d bought for just his occasion.

Yes, I can just imagine being caught right about now. “Umm, Hello Mr. Building Super…. why yes, I had a really hot date with Slimer and he offered to help me do my hair. Want him to do yours too?” After which point I miraculously find pictures of myself on YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace looking stupid for all the world to see.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.

EDIT: It was just gross. *giggles* No real effect on my hair aside from making it smell nice for a short time. I’ll be buying a hair mask from Lush as soon as I can.

Contemplating the Next Steps

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Still unemployed, still looking. I’m down to this feeling of malaise that sometimes borders on a panic attack… mainly from thinking about the bills.

When I’m not thinking about bills, I’m finding myself doing a lot of thinking about what I need to do next.

World of Warcraft makes it a little easier to put the thoughts out of my mind for a few hours, but it’s slowly getting so nothing can truly make me stop thinking about it. It’s completely impossible to even feel like playing with my site, even though it needs it. There’s just too much quiet time, I guess.

I’ve been working so hard and for what? Nothing so far. *sigh* I have all those student loans and no job and no prospects to show for it. I admit… I’m more than a little burnt out. For the past 10 years, each and every month has been a battle. And I’m tired.

I’m a computer programming and web design student. I enjoy both the code and the graphics, which is why I’ve chosen Web Design and Development. (Though; frankly, if I can even be doing something with computers I’m reasonably happy.) The problem here in Michigan is that most job openings in what I want to do require a minimum of 3 years doing this sort of stuff in an actual business setting, plus a bachelor’s degree. There’s quite a lot of job titles like Senior Designer, Senior Programmer, Senior Analyst, Senior Developer… almost nothing for Entry Level or Junior.

The economic situation isn’t making living easy in any state but Michigan is creeping up to a 10% unemployment rate. Given the emphasis, even today, on the auto industry in this state I really am scared to think what might happen if one of the Detroit Three goes under. Almost all we hear about is the Auto Industry and Healthcare for area jobs. Do I stay in Michigan and attempt to find just any job? (And I know myself… I’ll quickly become frustrated since I’m not doing what I’ve been working towards.) Or, do I count my losses and move out of state?

I’m beginning to feel that I’ve been taken in by some great scam in regards to Baker College Online. I go to college to learn how to do things related to my chosen career. While I understand a lot of this is supposed to be the foundations so I can learn the different languages on my own, a lot of the courses seem to be a sampler. Beyond the samplers, I’m supposed to learn everything on my own. That’s thousands of dollars beyond college I just don’t have. Many instructors I’ve had aren’t really teaching, they’ve just been there to grade the papers (maybe).

I keep finding myself being presented with material that assumes you’re already in the field, not attempting to learn it. I voiced my concerns and found myself ridiculed by my classmates. However, that could also be my classmates attempting to fulfill the college’s “participation” requirement and criticism comes easily for many people. Back at Central Michigan University, I was able to attend class and many times I didn’t have to speak. I just handed my work in, passed the exams, life went on. So, do I continue with Baker College Online or do I go back to a physical campus? I already lost my financial aid because I couldn’t complete the internship, though I believe I still have an appeal left. Do I really want to fight for my financial aid when I’m not getting the support from the college in the first place?

I know I can’t stop going to college. That Bachelor’s degree is something I need in this world… and it will likely be manditory in the economic world after we get through this mess.

On the subject of relationships…. *sigh* Dating on the whole is just a stress I don’t need right now. A lot of guys want to look at only one facet of my personality and ignore the rest. My diabetes doesn’t help either. The first time I have a Low around them, their inner Knight in Shining Armor or Superman comes out wanting to save me when all I need is a regular soda and a bag of chips to stabilize my blood sugar levels. Then there’s the aggression towards other males or the suddenly fragile egos. It makes me want to whack them a few times with a rolled up newspaper.

Lost my backpack

Friday, June 6th, 2008

To be fair, I haven’t exactly lost my backpack. It’s hanging up in the laundry room. But it has — finally — worn out.

Have you ever had one of those pieces of clothing or accessories that you love? It’s your favorite and/or has lasted practically forever and you just know you’re going to cry when it finally wears out?

About fifteen years ago, I found this great, dark green backpack. It was heavy canvas, had a ton of pockets, and has worn like iron for all these years. I had it all through High School and most of college; its hauled books, countless groceries, and even a cat or two. Back when I was in school, it was my portable locker. (I seldom kept anything but my coat in my locker. My partner wasn’t exactly known for securing it when she was done. In fact, it was actually pretty risky even being at the locker whenever she was there. More than once, I had a heavy book dropped on my head because she was in such a god-forsaken rush.)

In college, it held martial arts equipment, fencing equipment, books, gym clothes, photography things, and incredibly huge books. More than once over all those years, I emptied it out and used it to go buy groceries.

Lately, it’s been hauling my tools, clipboards, jacket, extra drinks, and other items for work. It’s been thrown under tables, hung up on rough pipes, and exposed to who-knows-what.

So it’s not like it didn’t have every right to eventually fall apart. But all the same, it did.

The neighbors have been letting their cats loose, which doesn’t sit well with any of my girls. I should have known and hung the bag up. It didn’t help that I played hooky on Tuesday for a variety of reasons, which always makes things worse. Either way, I left it on the floor and right in harm’s way. So, Echo kind of expressed her irritation by anointing it. I didn’t think, sprayed a little Simple Solution on it, and threw it in the washer like I’ve done for years.

And… it now has several huge holes in it.

Which leaves me with the task of finding a brand new bag that will (hopefully) last me as long as this one has. In the meantime, I am bummed about loosing my favorite bag!

Hey LiveJournal!

Friday, January 11th, 2008

I mean seriously — the S2 source code is a good way to learn but it would be much better facilitated by properly documenting your code like you’re supposed to!

Still trying to get my new LiveJournal layout coded. I know I could have just re-styled an existing layout using CSS, but I wanted to use my full design — not LiveJournal’s. Besides, none of my attempts really resulted in anything usable.

So, I’m actually coding my layout using S2. Trust me, it’s way more complicated than Wordpress or any of the other blog systems I’ve used. Couldn’t they have used a template system?? Oh well, I guess. I am pretty thankful for my experience in C++, Visual Basic, and Java.

 

 

Yes, if you know my schedule — I’m playing hooky tonight. We had heavy rain today, which changed over to heavy snow by the time we had to set out for work at 10pm.

Visibility was down to maybe 5 – 10 feet and mom could barely keep control of the car at 15mph. It was really scary when we had to pass the swamp and then the lake; both have steep ravines down to the water. By the time we reached the firehouse (a truck pulled out just before we got there with full lights and sirens) we decided that retreat was the better part of valor. So anyway, still at home. Second week in a row we didn’t make it for the Friday shift.

Oh well, I guess. Gives me a chance to catch up on havocmangawip’s yummy Havoc/Sciezka fic and code my LJ layout until I pass out. (Of course, the paper I have to write for WEB411 hasn’t found it’s way in front of me.)

Christmas – In a Nutshell

Sunday, December 30th, 2007

Merry Belated Christmas, everyone! Seriously belated, I know. ^^;

I hope the holidays went well for everyone and you made out like a bandit. (Including not too much family drama!)

Mine went surprisingly well this year. No drama from my step-great-grandmother, though for the past several years she’s had to constantly lament her Celiac and that she can’t eat anything and everything tastes like crap. There was actually an even exchange of normal, Celiac-, and diabetic- friendly foods on the table this year. This is a huge improvement over last year where I ended up eating sea-food salad for my Christmas dinner and having a lime yogurt for dessert.

Nothing significant to report for gifts for us. I guess the rest of our family is just as stumped on what to get everyone as we are. I got a gift certificate to Express, a couple checks, and a mini food processor. (Which I plan to use, because fine-mincing herbs and vegetables for some of my recipes is a pain.) The rest of the family got gift certificates too. (Not that I’m complaining.)

I think next year I’m going to put together some jewelry like I’ve been wanting to do for a while or I’ll find one of those universal or multi-store gift cards. I keep threatening to make jewelry for everyone, but I’ve never done it because of the cost involved. Good beads and findings that don’t look flimsy or cheap are really expensive. However, now that all of us are employed, I think I can do it.

Anyway, aside from the snow, Christmas went really well this year. We’re still working on getting the leftovers out of the house, but we’re making progress. Though if I ever make my own low-carb cranberry sauce again, I’m either going to have to use more sweetener or else use a little orange juice instead. That was just a bit too tart. Maybe using the orange rind as a garnish instead of cooking it with the cranberries would be better too. (I’ll have to post it once I have more time to experiment.)

I’m also getting over a slight sore throat, but nothing major beyond a little cough and a bit of a runny nose. My Aunt Karla took mom and I out on a “Girl’s Day Out” at Woodland Mall on the 21st and found out Jass and I like clothes from Express. I went and tried on jeans, but between not wearing the right underwear for trying on low-rise jeans, being exhausted from work, and sticker shock at the $70 price-tag, I didn’t have the right mind-set to buy anything. Actually, I didn’t buy much at the mall total, but I did find a new purse, some new underwear from Victoria’s Secret, and had my first Starbucks cappuccino.

I told my Aunt she was going to have to kidnap me again sometime, probably a Saturday so I could be more awake to hit the mall. OH, and I had the best Japanese-style lunch at the mall too. They have this food court with different, little restaurants. They have everything from pizza to different ethnic foods all set up in little booths. I hit up the Japanese one and got myself some teriyaki chicken, steamed rice, and then some steamed vegetables. It wasn’t the sushi I’ve been craving, but it was still really good. Mom went next-door to the Chinese booth and got some great sesame chicken. I don’t remember what my aunt got, I think she hit the Thai or the other Japanese booth.

With the way Christmas was situated this year, I had to go back to work for Wednesday, Thursday, and then Friday night. Friday night, I got to work with Ryan over in the rework area and let me tell you he had me geeking out. He actually knew what anime was! That part of the conversation didn’t last long, since those are the only two he’s seen, but it was nice being able to talk with someone with interests more like mine for a change. He’s a Cowboy Bebop fan and likes what little he’s seen of Full Metal Alchemist, though he hasn’t seen much. I didn’t care. Someone actually knew about anime! I had so much fun! It was great!

Anyway, I guess I’ve rambled enough. Much love, everyone!

My summer so far

Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

So far, my summer seems to be going well. I’m partipating in the eFiction Project actively for the first time in a long while, though probably not as much as I could be. (Actually, I’m probably being downright annoying.)

One of the large sites must have pissed people off again, my site has had a massive surge in visits and new authors. I keep checking my stats, but I can’t tell what site is referring them. I’m actually very glad I brought in all those extra moderators. I’m used to the sudden hush the RL/AR used to get; all this activity is a tab unnerving. ^^;

eFiction 3.0 is going to be very very cool, but I’m dreading switching us over. I’ve added so many extras there is going no easy way to upgrade. ^^;; But… ooh, it is awesome. There’s just so many new things in this release, it’s just going to be pure awesomeness. (Is that even a word??)

My Kiwi layout has hit a bump, since I don’t remember what I wanted to do with it anymore. I can’t find my original design sketch either, so I can check my plan. XD I might just trash it and work on Green tea instead.

While I’m thinking about it, I need up re-do my blog. I’ve begun posting my eFiction junk to it, which is kind of cluttering it. I also want it to have a more professional look, since I’m going to put a portfolio and my resume on it. (I probably should clean up the language too *grimace, laugh*)

For the first time in years, we have a garden. It’s nothing special, just some tomatos, strawberries, and some flowering plants that I’ve planted in pots so if I need to move again they can come with me.

Local news has me feeling a little more optimistic:

Google to bring 1000 jobs to Michigan

LANSING — High tech – and high-tech jobs — hits Michigan with Tuesday’s announcement that Google will open a facility in Ann Arbor.

At a morning press conference, Governor Granholm officially unveiled the project that will add 1,000 jobs to Michigan’s workforce.

The new facility involves Google’s AdWords unit, which handles “pay-per-click” advertising to Google’s users. To sweeten the deal, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation gave Google a high-tech business tax credit worth more than $38 million over 20 years. (more…)

I sincerely don’t want to move to Ann Arbor, that’s way too close to one of my mom’s aunts… who is just way too much like Sheba for my tastes. BUT if it means I can get a good job doing what I enjoy doing, then by the Gods of warfare — I’ll do it! (What Karla doesn’t know won’t hurt her me.)

Other than that, we’re holding on. Mom blew a tire last night on her way to work and had to get a ride from our neighbor, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The local tire shop quoted her about $80 for a new tire plus installation, but then the owner decuded ti only charge her $50. ^___^

DTE Energy keeps calling, demanding their money. Maryann still wants her $600 back, plus we keep getting letters from collection agencies for some of the bills we incured trying to get out of Alpine Medows… so we’re not out of the woods yet. The pressure has just been let up a bit.

I’m trying to work with a lady who bought one of my books off from Amazon.com. There were 4 audio chapter review CDs that came with the book and I said they were included in my post. I remember putting them in the envelope with the book and so does mom and Jasson, but apparently the CDs didn’t make it there. The envelope was apparently intact, so they didn’t fall out. *sighs* Being good, I retraced my steps to see if I lost them on the way to the post office. Nothing in lost and found. I called the publisher and distribution center to see if could buy new copies, they’re only part of a bundle deal.

I’m more than a little dubious about the whole thing. First of all, she waited a month to e-mail me and is now taking anywhere from 5 days to weeks to write me back each time. She says she absolutely has to have those CDs for her class. I’ll admit that they were helpful in allowing me to study during the eviction and while moving, but they weren’t that helpful nor essential. I have no idea what’s going on. I finally offered her a refund and it’s going on about two weeks since I last heard from her.

Mom has come right out and wondered if she isn’t trying to weasel copies of the CDs out of me so she can have two. She’s also wondered if they CDs aren’t/weren’t in the bottom of the envelope. *shrugs* Her guess is as good as mine.

I swear, if I sell anything else on Amazon — they only thing I’m writing is the book’s condition. No information on infotrac or anything extra that comes with it. And then I’m going to mummify the damned thing so nothing falls out.

Anyroad, that’s my summer so far. Much love to everyone.

HP & the HBP

Wednesday, April 5th, 2006

Please don’t laugh, but… I’ve finally finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

All I have to say is DAMN! What a way to end a book. From here on out, you’ll have to highlight if you want to see what I’ve written. (more…)

I hate banks

Thursday, September 15th, 2005

Well, my english class is finally over. So far I’m getting a straight A, but lets see what happens after my final paper is graded. I wrote my proposal about geothermal furnaces and suggested that more people got them for their homes – then maybe they wouldn’t pay so much to heat their home. (I’ll post it sometime, once my grade isn’t hinging on it.) I put WAY too many quotes and citations in it, but I’m not sure how else I could put in ALL those government statistics. Of course, when dealing with government anything there’s no easy way to do it. The names of their various agencies have to contain — at minimum — 5 words? 10 words? 12 words? And the various statistics you’d think would be in just ONE place will be spread out across nearly every office in existence. >_>

So ah well, at least I didn’t try to save the world in a 7 page paper like some of my classmates. ^_^;;

Tried to purchase my math book off from Amazon.com, but it looks like the bank decided our debit card didn’t exist anymore. Actually, we have no idea what’s wrong, only that we can’t check our balance or buy anything with it. So we get to call the bank tomorrow morning to figure out what’s going on. I’m really tempted to skip math this semester – I seriously didn’t want to take it anyway. The fact that it’s math aside, I really don’t want to burn $123 of my financial aid on a silly book. Not that I wanted to burn $45 on Amazon either. But darnit, just when we think we’ve finally found a bank we like, BOOM. *shakes her head* Anyway, I’ll let mom take care of that – thank you much.

Dropping math wouldn’t be too bad either, so far I’m holding a perfect 4.0, so it’s not like I haven’t made satisfactory progress. I would be taking the exact number of credit hours I took this semester, so I wouldn’t be short there either. Besides, that would leave me with a little more time and money to concentrate on my other classes . . . and well, life in general. Seriously though — I’m dreading math. I can’t pass it to save my life and I’d REALLY like to keep that 4.0 for as long as I possibly can. But I’m running out of classes that don’t need it. All the real Web design and programming classes have it listed as a prereq, so I’m going to have to take it sometime in the next couple semesters. I really thought I’d get it taken care of right away, but the more crap I go through to get this damn book, the more I’m dreading it.

*sighs*

Found an awesome program today, makes a wee calendar with a to-do list appear in the corner of my screen. It’s called Rainlendar – very nice program. ^_^ Taken by a sudden urge to be fashionable, I’ve been hunting for skins sets for my other desktop programs. WinAMP is easy and so is Rainlendar, but Trillian is a pain to find good skins for. Everything is either outdated or uses impossible-to-read fonts. Haven’t found anything I’ve really liked so far.

With finals, I haven’t had a chance to do much with eFiction other than read their forums on my breaks. I really need to edit my template so it uses HTML 4.0 Transitional instead of my usual XHTML Transitional and adhere more to their templates. I still haven’t gotten an answer back yet on how they want blocks done, so I’m going to assume they don’t want custom blocks and go from there.

I’m trying to be on chat more, but I can’t guarantee anything. I’m really not used to it anymore. Unless I’m talking with a very good friend, all I can think about is “Can’t I turn it off already?” Doesn’t help that people are just plain weird. How should I know why I’m on your contact list? You’re the one who put me there. Yeah, I went and wiped out most of my contact list. Broke my heart deleting my old Guide contacts, but I doubt I’ll probably hear from them. I rarely spoke to anyone outside EQ when I was participating, thanks to the old machine’s quirkiness. *sighs* But I miss everyone terribly. I don’t dare rejoin or even begin any new games until I’m done with school. I know myself and new games far too well.

Anyway, I think I’ve done more than enough rambling for tonight. Here’s hoping the bank didn’t just screw us over.

Shoot me now

Monday, July 25th, 2005

Well, our fate is sealed. Wednesday, July 27th, we’ll be going out for dinner with Sheba. Then, on the 31st, we’ve been invited to go for a sort of impromtu family reunion at a local diner.

But at the very least, we won’t be alone with her. Maybe she’ll behave. ^^;; (Wishful thinking on my part.)

I’d like to offer my sincerest thanks to Bevey for the offer to come down and visit her for the week. Sorry we couldn’t accept. *HUGS*

College is kicking my ass, though not too hard. I only have one week of class left for Human Relations and then I move on to the next batch. The extra financial aid should be coming in sometime during the next month, so we can do the new computer thang. I keep pricing factory built machines so I can get the best deal so maybe I can get some extra software. (Photoshop would be very nice!) Hopefully with two more computers we can stop fighting over the one we have.

The only thing I wish for is a decent digital camera, but I doubt I’ll have that much money left over. Lately, I’ve been posting my photos to Deviant Art and I’m getting some pretty neat reactions. ^_^ They’re so old, though, that I don’t really have any of my notes for them anymore. It’d be so much easier to simply import photos from a camera than waste the time and money for development. This latest layout actually cost me money to make, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Anyway, I should get off so Mom’s the one at the computer when Sheba calls. :-P