Alexandria, June 2008

A few pics from our week on Lake Ida in Alexandria.

All I can say is that I'm glad SOMEONE was serious about driving the boat.

Pictures

I'll get the toolbox!

This is why I call him Snugglebutt.

Trevor and I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Unfortunately we picked an afternoon with storms - in the middle of the movie we had to spent 45 minutes sitting in the hallway under the stadium seating waiting for a tornado to pass! (but we still think Indy still rocks! I don't know what I'm going to do when Trevor goes back home - who's going to be Indy-obsessed with me? I'll have to find a new best friend.)

We have been having too much weather lately. This is lightening from the first of today's storms. I really love having a window cube at work. :)

REM

Anyone want to go see REM? email me!

Cute shoes

Yes, it's me - the most boring blogger in the world - back again to thrill you with stuff you don't care about. :)

I just can't get over how cute these shoes are.





(and also, we have some very lovely carpet at work, don't we? I should find a better place to take photos than under my desk.)

Saw a show tonight. You guys must know who that is. :)

You'd never guess where I am tonight!

I am in fabulous Branson, Missouri. Yes, I'm at a vacation destination known for it's shows featuring patriotic music, hillbilly humor and country music stars from the 70's. This isn't where I'd choose to vacation, but my parents offered to take me with them and things have been so horrible lately (ok, like in the last 6+ months - but hey, I'm on drugs so at any time now things should be looking better, right? Right? I'm well into my second year of these and things are only marginally better. But I guess that's better than nothing. and I'd hate so see what I would be like now with nothing. this is all probably tmi - sorry. but you know I'm good at that. ha!) that I would pretty much jump at the chance to go anywhere right now just to get away. And at least the weather is warmer here - no snow either!

I saw a show featuring1950's music tonight. It was a pretty good show and I took pictures like I always do. But I can't show them to you because the hotel we're at has their wifi all nice and secured with WPA. Which makes it pretty hard for people without a password to connect to their network. The guys behind the desk tell me that I don't actually need a password, I can just hit enter and their network will let me connect. Except that it doesn't - it just tells me I need a password to connect. (This is totally beside the fact that there really isn't much point in securing a network and then not actually having a password. but whatever. This obviously isn't their forte.)

So this is a pretty pointless blog without bad pictures of an Elvis tribute artist (not impersonator!) on stage. but I don't care! so there!

And I'm kind of thinking I should tell my parents to go on their drive without me tomorrow. For one thing, just driving around in the mountains doesn't excite me. And then there's that small issue of me getting car sick almost every time I get in a car. Pointlessly wandering around in the mountains is not car sick compatible. (I could always take some motion sickness pills, but then instead of feeling like shit I'd just be asleep. :P) And I have to admit that I want to stay here at the hotel with my computer so I can watch Andy Roddick play at Indian Wells. I'm still obsessed with this whole tennis thing and I know it's not normal but I can't help it. Andy's been doing so well the last few weeks. He's been awesome and I really hope he can keep kicking butt this week. That would be so much fun. :)

Of course, for me to be able to watch Andy play on my computer I need to have a wifi connection. Which I don't have at the hotel. Do you think they'd mind if I just camped out on the computer in the lobby for the whole match? Or they could just un-secure their wifi. In fact I could even do that for them, I can see their computer in the lobby if I lean over the front desk far enough... hmmm... (sometimes it is hard knowing all this stuff like I do. ;)

Finished Falling Leaves Socks

What does it say about me that none of my coworkers even looked at me funny as I took these pictures at work in the middle of the day? I think they're used to me taking strange pictures at work. Or maybe they're just used to me being strange.

These fall socks should have been finished... you know, back in the fall. It didn't happen.

Pattern: Falling Leaves
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersocke, Indian Summer colorway
Needle: US 1½ / 2.5 mm
Pattern mods: Substituted a different toe, made them longer to fit my big feet. They're very comfy - they fit perfectly!

New computer (part 2)

I was going to post the specs about my new computer in that last post, but I got distracted by pics of the cat. lol I've had a few people ask me though, so here's what I got:

Inspiron 1520
Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 (1.5GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache)
System Color: Midnight Blue
Memory: 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
LCD Panel: High Resolution, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch display (1440x900)
Video Card: 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GS
Hard Drive: Size: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
Network Card and Modem: Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Combo or DVD+RW Drive: CD / DVD writer (DVD+/-RW Drive)
Sound Card: High Definition Audio 2.0
Wireless Networking Cards: Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini-Card
Camera: Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
Battery Options: 85Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell)
Bluetooth and Wireless USB: Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)

I had no problems buying from Dell. I like how they let you customize your computer, but they have so many choices it's not easy to choose. lol I tried to go for the middle of the line on some things to balance cost and need. I spend a lot of time on the computer, and even if I'm not actively doing something on the computer I have it turned on. I use my computer for email/im, the Web, music and photo editing/storage. Sometimes I do a little video editing (nothing fancy) or play games. That's pretty much it. I had a hard time choosing the processor - how on earth am I supposed to know how much/how fast I really need? I used my usual method of choosing when I have no idea what to choose - I pick something that's not the cheapest/lowest or the most expensive/highest. That usually works pretty well. lol

I was a little nervous about going with Vista, but I haven't had any issues with it. I'm kind of wondering what people were complaining about. I haven't had any problems plugging stuff in to it (camera, mp3 player, printer) but then again I usually don't bother installing all the software that comes with these things (all that unnecessary software just seems to screw things up and make things harder to use. :P). I haven't had any problems installing software either.

The only thing that I'm not sure I like is the screen. I chose a higher resolution screen (1440 x 900). I love how it makes pictures big and crisp and I do like having that extra screen space (I'm so used to having two 17" monitors at work that the one dinky little screen isn't enough for me anymore lol). But it makes all the text so small! They always bug me at work about having tiny text on my monitors (they've all got to get out their reading glasses to read anything on my screen lol) but the text on this laptop is super tiny. I've been able to make it bigger on a lot of things, but not all websites will let you do that. I'm getting used to it though.

There's one little thing I love that I haven't even thought about before - the touchpad has these little scroll bars on it. That's the worst part of using a laptop without a mouse - scrolling. But I can scroll just by moving my finger up/down on the touchpad. I can even flick it and have it keep scrolling until i tap the pad again. I've never seen something like this on a laptop (although I haven't used too many recent laptops lol maybe this is a standard thing now). Sometimes I don't even use my mouse anymore, that's how much I love this feature. (Although I'm constantly trying to do it on my work laptop - a basic black work-issued ThinkPad T61 - which doesn't have this feature (or at least I haven't found it yet!). And of course they don't understand why I want a wireless mouse to go with my laptop so they won't buy me one. :P)

I got the matching blue wireless mouse to go with the laptop. It's the only wireless mouse I've seen where the USB thing snaps into the mouse when you're not using it. This means I won't loose the little USB thing and make the mouse useless. Yay! Plus when you slide the USB part into the mouse it turns the mouse off so the battery will last a super long time.

and just in case you didn't already know this - I'm one big giant dork. This laptop has made my life complete. I can now spend every Saturday night snuggled up in bed with Spike reading Pirates of the Caribbean fan fiction on the Internet and eating ice cream. My snugglebug (Spike), flannel pj's, my computer, cookies 'n cream and Captain Jack. What more could I ask for? (hmmm... don't answer that. ;))

New laptop! Spike has issues.

As most of you know, I got a new laptop a few weeks ago. I'm loving it! My old computer is about 4.5 years old, which you all know is ancient. lol This is so much nicer. This time I got all the extra stuff I wanted instead of just getting enough to get by. I even got it in a pretty metallic blue color. :)

I also finally got DSL and set up wifi. I love being able to tote it with me from chair to chair. I've even been using it in bed. Ok, not just using it in bed, but taking it to bed with me and sleeping with it under the comforter and everything so I have it right there in the morning. lol

Spike is having a few issues with the laptop. The laptop keeps getting in his way, even when we're snuggled up in bed at 3 AM.(I think taking it to bed with me was the final straw!) He's finally come up with a good solution. There's no way I can ignore him now... Every time I'm away from the computer for more than 5 seconds this is what I find when I return!

Pics from New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve 2007 Pics

New shoes... CAT SHOES!

It seems like all I've been doing lately is shopping. But who cares how much money I've spent lately - I got the cutest shoes ever! They have cats on them! They even have tails!





I wasn't 100% sure that these shoes would be totally "work appropriate", but I wore them to work today anyway. All the ladies at work seem to like them. :)

If anyone's wondering, they're the Anarchic cat head shoes.

The view from my desk

I know I said I'd post a picture of the view from my new cube... but I don't think I ever got around to it. (not surprised, are you? lol) Well here it is. The sunset tonight was spectacular. This picture doesn't do it justice. and I didn't even have to get out of my chair!

At The Park

More Photos

It seems like it's been forever since I blogged. I can't even remember what happened to the month of November. It just kind of disappeared. Well, maybe I just don't want to remember the things that happened in November.

I finally got around to putting up the few pictures I took in November. I've added a few slideshows to the right side of my blog - do you like those or are they just annoying?

An offer I can't refuse

I just got an exciting email. A very exciting email. I've been offered a window cube.

A window cube! YES!

Now I know that probably doesn't seem that exciting to you guys, but these window cubes are highly coveted here at work. Back at our old building, when we were talking about moving, there were a lot of really pissed off people. Management made the mistake of posting a map of where people would be sitting in the new building. There was a lot of talk about who should get a window cube - should they assign cubes by seniority? or by position? or just group people together by department? Oddly enough, the admin woman who helped create the map got the best window cube. (How did that happen, hmmm?) Incidentally, I had one of the worst cubes in our old building - I was in the darkest corner imaginable with the mailboxes, hallway, freight elevator and kitchen on the other side of the cloth cube divider. It was sooo loud there. Although I did enjoy hearing all that gossip.

I have a nice cube here now - I'm on the end of the room so there's a conference room behind me instead of more cubes. But it's also kind of noisy with people coming and going to meetings all day. I don't know if it will be much quieter in my new cube, but the view will be much better. Right now I see the hallway and the kitchen. From the window cube I'll get a floor-to-ceiling view of the St. Paul Cathedral, the James J Hill house, the Summit neighborhood, winter sunsets, and, on a clear day, the skyscrapers in downtown Minneapolis. Plus I'll get direct sunlight most afternoons (hello dark tropical tan! ha ha - who's going to be making fun of me for keeping sunscreen in my desk now, huh?).

And just think of all the weather watching opportunities!

I'm actually kind of excited. lol Now the paperwork better go through ok or I'll be REALLY disappointed.

Pics to come later this afternoon, after everyone else who sits over there has left - they all think I'm strange for taking pictures of things like that. :P

Oooh - crazy knife guy will no longer know where I sit! And he won't be able to leer at me every time he walks around the corner! bonus!

p.s. - I know I haven't blogged in a long time. But I'm still alive. And I have something else really cool to blog about too! :)

Pics from Working in the Barn

Pics from the Minnesota State Fair

Pics from Sammy's First Birthday Party

something you never would have guessed

You guys know I'm not really into sports, right? Sure, I'll go to a high school football game or a baseball game at the dome, but I really only go because they have nachos and lots of goofy people to watch and there's nothing good on tv anyway. But, oddly enough, this summer I've really been in to tennis. I watched the US Open on tv pretty much all Labor Day weekend (although I'd also like to point out I had a nasty cold and was coughing a lot - so no one wanted me to go out anyway).

I'm excited because Andy Roddick is playing Roger Federer tonight. Andy's my favorite. I'm not quite sure why. He's cute, but not in a you-should-be-an-underwear-model way. He's cute in a you'd-be-a-lot-of-fun-to-hang-out-with way. He's often funny in interviews. He's got a wicked serve - he holds the record for fastest serve (155 mph or something like that).

No one expects Andy to win over Roger Federer. Federer is a great tennis player. Some people argue he's the greatest player ever. On tv they keep showing clips of people saying "I'd really like Andy to win, but he won't." Andy has some things going for him tonight - he's been playing well and the crowd will be cheering for him.

But can Andy win? It's not probable, but it is possible. And that's what makes it fun.

Spike and I are rooting for you, Andy!

Are you surprised? Me, obsessed with a sport? lol

p.s. - Unfortunately Spike and I do not have cable tv. We'll be rooting for Andy while listening to live internet radio. *sigh* It's just not the same. I so need to get faster internet - then I could just watch live online.

Lake Miltona

A few weekends ago my family went up to Lake Miltona near Alexandria. We were all ready for a fun weekend playing on the lake. But it rained pretty much all weekend. We were a little disappointed. oh well - there's always next year, right?

It's hard to see in this picture since the camera flash
highlighted the shiny gold clock hands, but we were all
confused by this clock. Everyone kept saying "It's
twenty to two? I thought it was much later!"
(or earlier as the case may be!)


This is why you should make sure the camera timer
is on the correct setting - 10 seconds vs. 2 seconds.
oops.