Does is surprise anyone that I've started a new folder of just pictures of Spike?
www.picasaweb.google.com/spikeandi

Doug suggested I try the black and white. I think that's the pciture he was talking about. Anyway, I like it - thanks Doug!

I got my invite to the new Picasa Web Album thing Google has so I just set up my first album. Go check it out: http://picasaweb.google.com/spikeandi

I also downloaded and used the Picasa software for the first time too. And it was fun. Probably too much fun. So here's the process:

• Import your pictures into the Picasa software (on your computer)
• Edit your photos, add captions and tags, save in folders
• Click on the "Web Albums" button to upload your pictures to Picasa Web Albums
• Send the link to other people so they can all look at your pics and tell you how fantastic they are

So what are you waiting for? Go! (and yes, tell me how fantastic my pictures are ;) )

I have a couple issues with the Web Albums part of it though. You can add tags to pictures in Picasa, but they don't seem to be used for anything in the Web Albums. 250 mb is pretty small for total storage space. and hello - there's no search function. Come on - no search? you're Google, of all people. how am I supposed to find pictures of other people's cats without searching and tags? And most importantly, how are other people going to find pictures of Spike?!?

I guess the pot of gold is at Kwik Trip!

You know Sven Sundgaard, the weekend weather guy on channel 11? I'm not exactly sure what it is about him - his size? tiny! his enthusiasm? huge and infectious! his youthful looks? he'd pass for a teenager! - but he's just so darn cute. (I know grown men don't appreciate being called cute, especially when it's puppy cute and not, say, Brad Pitt cute. But he is cute. My mom thinks so too.) Well, Sven has his own blog. An extremely cute blog. He posts pictures of his pet goat, talks about his grandma and shares his grocery lists with us (he likes blueberry waffles and salsa!). He even uses multiple punctuation marks - how cute is that?!? Go check it out. It made my morning.

I'm thinking about sending Sven some fan mail. (you know I would, too! ;)

For all you garden gnome fans -

The rain gauge in action. See that little half inch of rain there at the bottom?


You guys know I like coupons, right? I had two B&N membership coupons to use today - a free Frappachino drink and an extra 15% off any item in the store. I love those frappachino things - and it was free! (and it lasted about 30 seconds after I took that picture. and it was good.) I used the 15% off coupon on a British music magazine. I used to love reading these things back when I had money. This one had one of my favorite bands on the cover (Oasis) and the free cd included the band Travis (also one of my old favorites) covering Hit Me Baby One More Time, which I've been trying to get on cd for a long time. People kept telling me that they'd make me a copy of it and then they'd never do it. grrrr. so I got it today - cheap!

This just happens to be free coffee week. I had the free drink coupon I used today and I got a flyer in the mail on Thursday that included an any drink/any size coupon at Caribou. They're passing out free cooler drinks on June 21st 2 - 3 pm too! I know a couple of you will be interested in that! I'll see you there. ;)

Cats can be supermodels, too.

I. am. so. bored.

and probably you are too after reading this. Don't worry - I took 75+ pictures of Spike the other night, so soon I'll have a whole slew of cat pics to bore you with. At least he's a very handsome cat. (yes, I tell him that all the time. He just looks at me like 'yes, I already know that. Open some Whiskas for me. Now.') Oooo - an old but good picture. This is Spike caught in the act of shredding half a roll of tp.

I just noticed that I dripped coffee on my t-shirt. It was already half dry, so it may very well never come out. This is really disappointing - I only have like 7 shirts that fit that I can wear to work as it is. If I have to put this shirt into the sitting-around-at-home pile and pull it from the wear-to-work rotation I'll have to replace it with something else so I actually have enough stuff to wear to work without doing laundry every five minutes.

If you catch me wearing a skull t-shirt at work, well, you'll know I didn't get around to doing the laundry. again.

Turkeys and Iris Garden

I could write all kinds of interesting and funny stories to put up on my blog. They'd be so fantastic, I swear. I have whole folders of them hidden on my hard drive and I have about 50 more running through my head at any given time. (I can be interesting and funny. Other people have told me I am. Just so you know I'm not making this stuff up.)

I can't actually post any of them here though because the chance that you, yes, YOU, dear reader would be featured in a story in a possibly unflattering light at some point is pretty high.

Then you'd be all mad at me and would never ever come back. Or even email me. And while I love my daily enlightening and entertaining conversation with Spike, sometimes even crazy-cat-ladies-in-training like me need to communicate with other human people. Just don't tell Spike that.

I could tell you stories about me, but all the most entertaining ones are about how stupid I am sometimes. And I already worry that you all think I'm super stupid all the time anyway, so why would I want to encourage that kind of thinking in all of you? (Yes, I have pictures of me being stupid even. And you're never, ever going to

Here's what's going to happen: You guys will get lots and lots of pictures of my cat and a knitting picture once in a while. I'll get the occasional email from you people and a daily discussion with Spike about why he can't have 5 packets of Whiskas' Choice Cuts (Turkey Giblets flavor) every night, even though he says it's the best cat food ever. (I can't really argue with him about that since I absolutely refuse to taste it. It smells horrible though. Especially when he's breathing on me three hours later in bed while he's attempting to find the most comfortable position for sleeping on my face.)

Does that work for you? Seriously, who doesn't want to look at pictures of someone else's cat online when they're bored at work? I know I do.

Most days I'm pretty sure I'm not crazy but there are times when I wonder if, just maybe, I am.

I've been busy knitting. This is actually an old photo - this sleeve was finished a while ago. BUT the cables look great in this shot. :)



Car accident (don't worry - no one was hurt in the making of this photo)



I got a postcard from Finland. It's pretending to be a tourist.



This is how Spike likes to spend his Saturday mornings -- literally sleeping like a baby in my arms. My left arm is actually stronger than my right from holding/carrying him around like this.



Just made me laugh...

More pictures. Because I can't stop taking them. :)

Garden gnome rain gauge

Sunset...

... as interpreted by the computer.

Clouds...

... as interpreted by the computer (very cool, no?)

I'm so mean for not letting him go out!

Screen door/rain self portrait ;)

Birds I wish I had taken photos of this week:

• The little pink chirp things that like my birdfeeder (and that Spike loves to watch!)
• The black bird that was chasing a hawk over the parking lot at work
• The bald eagle that flew low over the cars as I sat in traffic on the bridge over the river.

I'm thinking about moving my furniture this weekend. Well, I've been thinking about it for a long time. I think about it all the time, actually. I almost never get around to doing it though because it means I have to do all that extra vacuuming (mopboards and stuff) and deal with the giant pile of computer cables back in the corner. I'm ready to see things from a new angle though.

I've started being mean at work. Well, I don't think I'm really being mean, but I feel like I'm being mean. I get ignored a lot here. I've been told that I need to pretty much tell people that they've got a certain period of time to respond to my request and if I don't hear from them I'm just going to do what I want (well, not just what I want... you know.). I hate doing that, but people always respond. and I'm tired of being ignored.

Today's walk with the ladies from work - http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=187062

I thought the cop was cute until I saw him eat. It was really disappointing.

I've been busy this week. I can't remember what I've actually done, but I know I've been busy. Let's see... I visited my mom in the hospital after her hip replacement surgery (she's doing great except for the whole not being about to go anywhere thing. and I think she'd like to be able to put on her own socks. Good thing it's (almost!) summer and she can wear sandals, huh?), I baked cookies, I went on three hour long walks, I finished my super fancy cabled sweater sleeve, and somehow managed to buy gas at $2.59 a gallon without even waiting for the price to go down. It's been a pretty good week.

They're not space age cookies. I just like the tin foil/no clean up way to bake.

Poor Spike can never catch that laser beam no matter how hard he tries.

He was a little offended that I would post such a ridiculous photo of him, so here he is being serious. (are you happy now, cat?)

Check this out - it's the route I walked today at lunch (we went three times around the block there!). The satellite picture must be old - the building I work in doesn't even exist yet according to this picture! http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=177207 How cool is that?!?

T$ - you'll always be OPRTLC to me! and you too, Doug! ;)

I'm overwhelmed all of a sudden. I had a meeting this morning where it was me vs. 13 other people. Ok, really it wasn't like that, but it sure felt that way. I asked if we could fix the help feature - when you click on "Help" you get a message saying something about not connecting to a database. I asked 1) do we have any help information? 2) can we either move the files to where the program is looking for them OR change the program so it looks for the help files where they are? I had 10 people tell me "That's just how it works! We can't change it." and one person saying "I want to know this too!" and two people who just looked completely confused.

Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall for a minute.

And then I was going to look for three-column blog templates so I can make this thing do what I want it to do and instead I ended up wanting Firefox and wanting to completely make up my own template and figure out what that del.ici.ous thing is (I probably didn't even get those periods right!) and it's all too much stuff.

So I'm just going to post pictures instead.

It's not actually crashing. It just looks like it.

Garlic cheeseburger!

Secret spy pic of a strange looking woman. look closely - she's got two faces! so she looks strange in real life and in pictures! cool! Nice shot, Scott! Although, it kind of looks like she was turning to look at the camera. I sure hope she didn't notice that we were taking her picture!

The gnome at night.

Re: Garden Gnomes

I've turned into a garden gnome pimp or something. I told the women I work with that I bought a little garden gnome rain gauge at Target. They both said that they hadn't seen those at their Targets in the dollar section. I enthused "They're really cute! and only a dollar!" They both whipped out cash and asked if I'd pick up rain gauges for them. Of course I said "Sure! I'm always at Target!" This sucks because I was planning on not going to Target this week at all. I usually go to Target at least 3 times a week (sad, I know) and I always end up spending money when I go. I can walk in thinking I'm only going to buy milk and bread and ice cream (it's a staple at my house. Spike loves it. (yeah, I know, pathetic attempt to justify buy/eating ice cream. but it's true!)) and I walk out with ice cream, pink barrettes, a brown "Rock 'n Roll will never die!" t-shirt with a skull printed on it, and a garden gnome rain gauge. The next morning when I'm fixing my coffee and there's no milk I realize - crud, I have to go to Target again! And then, secretly, part of me jumps up and down, squealing with glee. I get to go to Target again!

I wish I could take good pictures.

http://www.abeautifulrevolution.com/photos/glorious_britannia/index.html

He seems to have a detached and almost hard view of things. Maybe it's the headless people walking or the fact that almost no one in his photos is looking at the camera. None of them seem to be smiling at the guy taking pictures - they seem to be strangers.

I remember feeling detached in London - does everyone? Physically the city seems hard and cold but the people seemed nice enough. I'm not sure if I could say I've been there twice - technically it was two times, but it was bookends for a longer trip that started and ended there. The first time I was there for less than 24 hours. I was completely exhausted and nervous about being in a strange place on my own. I don't know about you, but when I've only had 4 hours worth of sleep in two whole days I get really, really stupid. Knowing that a lack of sleep makes me stupid is makes things worse, too, because I can't trust myself to make any decisions because I know I'm probably making bad ones. So I was tired, nervous and second guessing everything I said or did. I couldn't even figure out how to make a phone call, I had to ask someone else to do it for me. That's how stupid I was that day. But I have to say the people were really very nice (and willing to help a completely crazy and stupid American tourist dial the phone, which was certainly not part of their job description). It was a very surreal day - I just felt completely out of context. And that's how this guy's photos feel to me.

Three strange things in London:

• Watching the queen on tv giving a speech, hitting the mute button and then being able to actually faintly hear the noise of the crowd cheering in response.
  
  
• Standing inside a small photo developing place watching a big black bird fly around inside, knocking over picture frames and packages of film, while the two people working behind the counter shrieked and flapped their hands. They had no idea how to get it back out the door.
  
  
• The cab driver called me sweetheart. Most people had been avoiding me for the past few days since I was continuously coughing up something nasty and green but he smiled at me, called me sweetheart and put my suitcase in the trunk for me (although he probably would have called it "the boot" or something else). I nearly asked if he'd hug me in exchange for the £20 note I was planning on using to buy exotic English Dramamine and magazines with at the airport.

They're firing a cannon off in front of the capitol building today. We can't figure out why, but it's really loud and makes me jump every time they do it. It's not often that you hear cannon fire around here.

See, I tried to make this more interesting than a vitamin report since people actually are reading this. lol Now you guys all have to get a blog of your own. (except for Erin, who already has one. (and I read it, Erin!)) so there.

So did anyone notice...

That I didn't actually do a spell check yesterday? (ha! too late - I already fixed it! lol)

Also that I seemed to have messed up something here and now my blog displays funny with the left column way down on the bottom? And I don't know why. :P

Does anyone read this anyway? I'm curious. Because if no one else reads this I'm going to start using it to record stuff I want to keep in my calendar but I don't have room for. Like the fact that today is the 7th day in a row that I remembered to take my vitamin! yay me!

Part of my job lately at work has been to test some software. The program is Rational ClearQuest, which, if I understand it right, is a part of a larger suite of products sold by IBM. One of the problems I found in the program was that the Help button/menu doesn't work. You click on it and you get an error message. That's it - no help. I asked if someone could fix it and the programmer told me "There is no help with this program. That's the way the Rational people designed it." uh huh. Then why is there a button on the toolbar that says "Help" on it? I'm so not buying this.

Why yes, that is Elvis

You've got some sharp eyes, OPRTLC! (I have to keep calling you that. ;)



That is Elvis on my fridge. That's one of my favorite Elvises actually. My favorite Elvis t-shirt has the exact same photo on it. It's from the 1968 Comeback Special (it was broadcast live on my birthday eight years before I was born!).

The magnet was a gift, brought back from Los Vegas by one of the guys from BB. It may or may not have been meant as kind of an apology. I was wearing the matching t-shirt the night he night he may or may not have done something he may or may not have felt he had to apologize for. He also did plastic dinosaur theater for me one night at work when I was having a really horrible day.

The t-shirt I got in the gift shop at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee, on spring break in 1993. It was on sale. (I definitely did not buy the souvenir Conway Twitty decorative plate in the gift shop down the road. It was brown with a cheesy "There's no one like Mother!" type quote in pink lettering and had a large picture of Conway Twitty in the middle. I'm not kidding. (Yes, sometimes I wish I could purge all this crap from my head and use the space for more important information. I'd like to remember that garbage pick up is Tuesday mornings.))

The picture it's holding up is a cat food ad I thought was funny. It's a kitten attacking a zebra. I like to think that's what Spike spends his day dreaming about. Think big, Spike, think big!

This is just too perfect!

I was reading blogs today at lunch and stumbled across this on someone else's blog:

One thing I am learning when working on this blog-is that the spell checker may check spelling but it doesn't check for grammer.

She might want to actually use that spell checker.