I fell into a deep chasm in the last week - the chasm called "trying to decide if I should leave my job". Over the past month I have been going through the interview/job process with two companies. They are very different places of employment who essentially offer the same services. One is a small start-uppy company that is doing really well and one is a massive corporation that is doing really well. Both were looking to hire me as a non-travelling SharePoint consultant. Meaning I would go to clients in the Chicagoland area and develop on the SharePoints for them.

So now I have two job offers. I've turned the smaller company down. Their benefits weren't that great and loml and I are talking about trying to start a family at some point in the nearish future (near being relative). And I was about to accept big company's offer today - when my organization pretty shockingly decided to counteroffer. 

All this is just to say, I haven't fallen off of the plan to write a blog post twice a week. I'm still committed to keeping this up, as soon as my life is in order again. I hope that means that regular posting will resume next week.

In the meantime, I'll be deciding where I want to spend my future employment.

meep moop meep

Happy Sunday.

To answer some comment questions:

I was thinking about dowries because I was thinking about trousseaux. I just learned that that is the plural of trousseau. Learn something everyday. Anyway, I was thinking about trousseaux because my huge knit afghan (reaching completion!!) would be a brilliant addition to a trousseau. At which point I decided that if I ever get married, I think I will create a modern-day trousseaux (mostly full of lingerie). Then, of course, I jumped to modern-day dowries. And dowry explained.

Would I want a man who wanted my dowry? Possibly. The only issue would be the cases of wine as I don't really drink much and I don't want to marry a lush. Other than that, I think a guy who likes guitars, games, golf, dogs...might be an OK match.

And, yes, a wii would be a delightful addition to a dowry. Or to my household right now.

Why should we be concerned about the truth?

I started a blog post right when I got home from work, but it was crap. So instead I'm going to talk about nothing. And you're going to like it. But I'll keep the original blog title.

For the past few days (maybe weeks?) I've been obsessed with robots. I don't know why. I think it all stems from the robot key chain I saw, wanted and was gifted some time in December. Since then I've not only purchased robot valentines (sorry if that ruins things, kids) but I've also vowed to horrify my mother and get a robot tattoo. Horrified, mooj?

I also have been feeling like a pile of lazy lard lately. Motivation to work out and stop eating cheese would be great. I'm just not sure where it's going to come from yet. Anyone?

I'm being bombarded with instances of truth vs. what we want/expect to be truth.

And thus ends this poorly concocted post.

What I didn't do this weekend...

I didn't watch any TV.

Some of you may shrug - but for me, who loves to have the TV on at all times (adds a certain background charm) this is huge. I think I will have successfully not watched TV for 48 hours. And by not watched I mean, hasn't even been turned on.

I have been sitting in front of my computer though. And struggling over how to stay engaged with a project while I am completely and totally bored.

I don't think the boredom has to do with the lack of TV...more to do with the lack of anything interesting at all. I spent hours wasting time (and intermittently writing a paper) on the internet with fun new things (new to me at least - I've moved from bloglines to google reader and so have a new blogroll up and I jumped on to the last.fm bandwagon so you should see a widget appearing in my sidebar any day now). I also spent hours on etsy which is sucking my will to not spend money. Budget be damned! I need that [button, print, scarf, ornament, card, stationery]. I haven't bought anything, although my wish list is increasing exponentially.

Gotta go do something involving schoolwork. Project due on Thursday and another on Sunday and then I imagine I won't talk about school much anymore at all.

Katie is...

totally obsessed with facebook. You should join. Here's why:

• we can play scrabulous (scrabble). Which I love. I'm mediocre at it but words and letters are fun.
  
• pokes. Ok, probably nobody else enjoys this part. Basically you can poke people. They get told that they were poked. Then they can poke back. It's really meaningless. Except that I have such fun imagining my pokes. I don't poke you. I poke you lightly in the arm. Or I jab you in the ribs. Or I repeatedly poke your arm in one spot. A poke to your dimple. A quick kick to the knee. That's violent isn't it? Anyway..all those pokes are just fodder for my overactive imagination (fodder, good scrabble word!).
• status updates. Not only do I get to read everyone's updates but I also get to write them. And that again, is just like handing a girl who is overfull of silly little quips and imagination a big juicy bone (or in my case, I'd prefer a steaming, gooey cookie). My favorite (although unused, because I haven't grown the balls yet: Katie is in need of a good poke.
  

Sometimes, I become overwhelmed by my obsession with technology (blogs, facebook, yelp, what's next?). Soon I'll be sitting in front of my computer for all of my waking hours...oh wait, I basically already do.

My feelings about Apple...

iPhone smy-Phone.

I don't know if you all remember, but back in February, my computer crashed spectacularly, bringing down my mood, all of my homework and numerous hard to install programs. I blamed it on my iPod because it seemed to fit. I plugged the pooder in and the whole computer froze, hiccuped and died.

It threatened me again just now. There is clearly something wrong with my iPod. The kicker here is that it works some of the time. Sometimes I plug the iPod in, update it and sing a joyous tune because I have new music. But other times (like just a few minutes ago) iTunes freezes. I shut it down. I restart the computer. And the fucker (pardon kids) doesn't want to boot back up. This time, being the ever-intelligent computer wizard that I am, I brought her back from the brink (ok, fine, I got lucky. I hit every button on that horrible blue Intel boot screen and nothing happened. Then, I unplugged my iPod, banged more buttons and voila! I was suddenly at the boot options screen. Unplugging the iPod was the key. You asshole iPod video. Asshole).

So I'm a little grumpity. My expensive, pretty iPod is certainly unpredictable. And while I am confidant my computer is safe and healthy - I can't help but worry about plugging that sucker in. And I wanted new music for tomorrow...(although that may be a pipe dream, because now my iPod is stuck on the Do not Disconnect screen. And I dare not plug it back in. So I have to wait for the battery to die before it gets plugged back in. 8 hours from now...will it be dead?). Buble, you'll have to wait one more day til I get to know you before our upcoming, forced meeting in July....

So Apple, I have no desire for your new-fangled phone. I imagine frustration and annoyance will come hand in hand with that iPhone for quite a while...

Keep me honest...

This may be a long post...

I hope you all had a good weekend...I've started this Monday with some happiness and the formulation of some plans. How about we start with the happiness?

• Fun mail day! Yay for having some friendly snail mail again (Al, I'm going to try!). I also received (I'd love to lead you on that someone sent it to me - but I bought it - it just went through the mail really, really slowly which led me to believe it might be lost. Blame it on Chicago because the postmark is about 13 days ago) this:The color is a little off because I had to take the picture without flash to avoid glare, but it's pretty fun, huh? I should have probably given it to my Mom and giggled (there's a whole Mom/owl joke in my family)...but I want it. So too bad Mom. It was super cheap too, without shipping it cost me a total of $5. I'm going to buy a frame and plunk that thing on my wall and, voila, art! The only thing I worry about is that the "red" is really, really deep and rusty. But, it'll still fit in around here. If you're curious about the artist - hit etsy here.
  
• I'm having Indian for dinner because it sounds so good.
• I actually finished a project today at work. One down, 1,000,000 to go.

Moving on to plans:

• I realized today that I have to have a website up and running by the end of this summer. While that website doesn't have to have a blog, it has to have an area for my past projects. It basically has to just be a resume boost at first - a site to send people to that I designed (emphasis on I) that contains a bunch of "coding" samples or links to any work I've done on live sites. It's just a must. So, starting next Monday, every night after work I'm going to spend some time on website work.
• I don't want to start spending all my time on a computer if this apartment is still a dump. So, during the week this week I'm going to amass all the necessary supplies and then Saturday is the day. On Saturday this place will be completely clean - tidied and scrubbed. There are no IFs or BUTs.
  
• I have the following knitting planned that I sort of want finished by tomorrow but will probably have to wait weeks for (since my time seems to be leaking away):
• Fingerless gloves for work - it is SO COLD there
• A pair of knitted socks for the same reason (since i prefer to walk to work in sandals)

Hope I didn't bore you too much - but I need to type up the plans sometimes just to keep me honest - if you all know my apartment will be spotless on Sunday, then maybe I have a better chance of actually sticking to that promise...

The googliest...

Some nerdy nerdery for you tonight...

Since near the inception of this site, I've had a visit/pageview statistics counter (see way down below, at the very bottom of this page). As of this moment in time there have been 27,679 visitors to this site. Yes, that's a lot. But...remember, if you came here once a day for most of this blog's life, you were counted more than 600 times in that total...

My nerdy friends out there - I've found the MOST FUN, free traffic analyzer ever (and I've only been using it for four days). Google Analytics. I can see search words, locations, lots of cool trends including how loyal you are (how often do you come back to me, you loyal readers? Four of you in the past 4 days have been to my site between 9 and 14 times. That's a lot you nerdos. I usually post every other day at most - what are you doing here at least twice a day?).

Google analytics. Go. Add it to your site. It takes a bit for it to start functioning (I think I did it on Saturday and it fully worked on Sunday) but oooh boy, that's some fun stuff. And it's FREE.

Activity list...

Today I:

• Got my hair cut (by maybe 1/2 an inch).
• Made an appointment to lop my ponytail OFF.
  
• Thought about putting progress bars on this blog for my knitting projects. Any thoughts readers? Would anyone look at them but me?
• Thought about putting a countdown to the "ponytail lop-off" on this blog (DOING IT).
  
• Bought wood for the first time (for leveraging up the A/C unit that I'm hoping to install successfully in my window).
• Spent way too much money on eco-friendly litter. If it works like it's supposed to, then I won't regret the purchase because it's supposed to last forever. If it doesn't, then I'm out $33 (and I had a $5 coupon).
• Got my eyebrows waxed.
• Created a custom control for my website project (it's a survey site - and it looks pretty cool if you ask me).
• Almost finished assignment 1 of 2 for one of my classes. One more paragraph of BS and I'm done.
• Bought some yarn I didn't need (sale at my knitting store! It's time to have a stash!).
• Suffered through a headache ALL. DAY.

Maybe I'll watch a movie tonight while I do my homework...wouldn't that be exciting?

Cats, buttons, yarn...oh my!

This post may bore the cool kids out there as it will focus on the best and brightest parts of my nerdery. Today, one of my coworkers said something along the lines of "Oh, you really ARE a nerd." At which point I said...um, doesn't my job and pursuing a masters in computer wizardry confirm that? And he made an excellent point that some join the computer field because they've heard about the buckets of gold that fall from the sky into the pockets of anyone who works with computers. I am not one of them, I am one of the true nerds.

Cats...(two things):

• I never mentioned it, but while I was sick last week, I was laying on the couch for hours at a time. At one point while I was bundled under a blanket and completely still, Boku jumped on the couch with me. And then she laid in my lap. Are you shocked? Yes, well, the truth is, I don't think she knew she was in my lap/on my legs. She lasted about 10 minutes before her nervous jitters took over and she jumped down. But, I'm telling you...we're closer to a major break-through than ever before.
• Today, Mona did the weirdest, weirdest thing. No really, no exaggeration. And suddenly, I am convinced she is intelligent (this is the cat that licks the wall and fell in the toilet more than once). She loves pipe cleaners. Today, she's sitting on the floor, facing me, with the very end of the pipe cleaner in her mouth. Hitting the other end repeatedly with her paw. For minutes. A long, long time. The pipe cleaner was rotating around in her mouth like a pinwheel. Once the pipe cleaner had been abandoned (to stalk the window/some animal) I noticed that the very end of that pipe cleaner is pretty bare - almost all metal. And I can't help but think that she was using it to itch/feel the movement in her mouth. Almost like the damn cat was using a tool. I was astounded. Shocked. Amazed. So here's a little pic showing her tool use...because she did it for so long that I could find my camera, figure out what the best setting would be (motion setting) and take pictures.

Buttons - if you haven't been, you should go see them here! If you see any, you should see the one from today, which is my favorite.

Yarn...I've managed to start a bunch of projects and finish some. I made a lovely baby blanket for my cousin and his soon-to-be-here baby. I don't have a picture because...I suck at that. I also finished some fingerless mittens/gloves for my sister. At some point a picture should be coming out of that apartment to appear on this blog. I started a blanket (and am on row 16 or 17 of the actual pattern after knitting quite a large border), some socks (which I am close to finishing one) and some fingerless gloves that are becoming a gauging nightmare (which is why I haven't done much on them).

Hope you all have a nice weekend - I may blog again since I need to do a lot of work this weekend and blogging is a procrastination device (I'm actually listening/sort of watching a class right now. I actually take in a LOT when I knit and listen. I wonder how bad it would be to knit at class.....)

Why I am at home and not at class...

Because I am a class-skipper. I have always been a skipper. I think maybe most of you out there don't realize just how much I skip class. Here's how it happens:

1. I start to get feed back from homework, tests, etc.
2. I realize I am getting/most likely going to get an A.
3. I grow complacent.
   

And there you have it. Plus I had a good day today and I didn't feel like ruining it by going to class. I'm going to blurb you today - flit from topic to topic at random.

First, anonymous that left a comment on that last blog post - are you a cousin? I think you are. You and the sister can fight over who gets to borrow the games first after I start winning them (since I should be receiving the package at the beginning of next week).

Today, at work, I finally got to spend a chunk of time with my new co-workers. Usually I sit in a room with 5 cubicles by myself (3 of the other cubes belong to people, it's just that they are rarely around - one is part-time and the other two spend time on other campuses often). I think I'm going to call my co-workers the "generics" since every single person (self-included) in my new office has the most generic, normal first name in the history of the world. Honestly. I'd list the names but that feels wrong, so just take my word for it. Either way, I like these guys - they are totally weird and cynical. It's led me to believe that all computer people of a certain age range have the same sense of humor and I fit right in to it. It should be fun.

So I love my friends (a lot really). But I'm starting to believe that no matter how much I want to be a good correspondent/pen-pal, it's just impossible to keep sending snail mail after snail mail and never getting a response. I keep berating myself - I should want to send them all letters, give them love - I shouldn't do it and need anything in return. In theory, I feel that way - but it's like if I was constantly leaving detailed voice-mails and never getting a call back. That wouldn't be ok, right? So, constantly sending real mail and never hearing back (since these are usually real letters, they have actual content)....it's like you can only give so much...you know? I'm still going to try to send cards every now and again, but I guess it's time to come to the hard-realization that having a "correspondence" requires 2 people...so friends, I heart you...but expect less mail...

Now, I'm going to go enjoy my good mood, watch some Ugly Betty (being home on Thursday night sure has it's perks!) and waste time that I should be studying by working on...nothing!

My nerdy roots...

I don't really know how most people in my age group were introduced to computers, but my Dad had computers around the house from the very beginning. I remember playing old school horse racing games (with blobs for horses). Jones in the Fast Lane (ah the memories). But particularly I remember King's Quest. I yearn for games like that (because yes, I still heart a good computer game).

And I just found out...they re-released all of the quest games compatible with XP. I can't decide if I should buy it (it's $20!) and pretend it's a Valentine's Day gift for myself...or if I should let it rot on my wish list (there are a lot of reasons to do that - the most important being that if I have the games around, I'm going to want to play them. Which will decrease my productivity about 75%).

There is also a Space Quest and a Leisure Suit Larry compilation (good stuff!). I remember sitting and watching my Dad play those games (probably for hours). Maybe that's why I'm the computer nerd I am today....

There's beauty in the breakdown...

Is there? Really? Right now I wish I could see it. Yesterday (besides sort of watching the Bears breakdown) my computer crashed. Not just a sad little crash, but a full, needed to go through recovery, lost all my programs crash. Luckily, due to my back-up, I didn't lose all of my documents. But I still have to go back and reinstall my programs...which is going to take hours. One of my programs requires 6 CD's. And the computer that crashed is my school computer, so I lost one homework assignment (but luckily didn't lose the code behind it since that was already on the school's server) due to the fact that my back-up was a little older than a day.

Oh, and when it crashed, it took my new iPod down with it. So while I'm sure I can go ahead and reset it...I hate that I have to. And who knows what music stayed on my computer?

Not a good start to my week. Or my February really.

And I have to go traipsing out into the cold. Sigh.

Update: after the iPod's battery died, it came back to life with all of my music intact. Hooray.

The beginning of the end?

I no longer have a down arrow on my computer. The button was sticking, so I tried to pull it off to see what was up (they usually pull off quite easily) and when I pulled it off, it broke.

I can still push the little down sensor...but I am one key down. The computer...it's looking a little ragged. It's in its 4th year now, and I know for a laptop that can be pretty ancient. But a big piece of me doesn't want to replace it. I know a new one would be faster. More fun. But I have a beautiful desktop upstairs. Do I really need to have a "couch" computer and a "work" computer? And does that couch computer really have to be first rate?

So for now, me and my down "sensor" are going to become great friends...

Toooot and a letter...

No I am not gaseous. Just tooting my own horn a little as my final project is pretty damn cool. I'm such a nerd. The whole process of creating a website just excites me. I have always been the type of person who likes to build things up from nothing and then just appreciate the end product. I still love Legos. Yes, I am a 25-year old woman that still loves Legos. I should be ashamed, but I'm not. I should qualify that most of the Legos I've loved recently have been of the Harry Potter variety. Lego has done some amazing crap with the Harry Potter series....all kinds of secret nooks and hidden doors. I would recommend HP Legos to any lover of the books or Lego nerd. Weirdly I feel a little apprehensive about putting my Lego love on the web. All you judgers out there - there's nothing wrong with a little joy in a simple thing (be it toy, book, knitting or website creation).

A letter:

Dear Food Network,

I love your challenges. I love your competitions. But I frequently find myself watching Iron Chef and thinking: what about the picky eaters? Or the vegetarians? Or the dietary restriction crowd? I would find it endlessly entertaining to see an Iron Chef or some kind of challenge for picky eaters...or just using the ingredient chicken. Or cheese, yes, cheese! Sure, the chefs can do great things with nice cuts of meat or fish. But what about making them compete vegetarian style? Let's see some thinking outside the box (you can do better than venison. You can do better than "superstars" Iron Chef...although this is compelling and I will probably tune in).

Katie