Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Vacation

It has once again been a long time since I've posted something here. It has been over a month, in fact. As to be expected, things have been extremely busy at work, but I'm not all work and no play. I went home for a Thanksgiving vacation. I always go home for Thanksgiving, but in the past I've only gone home for a week. I always been very conscious of work and deadlines and I tend to plan everything around work and deadlines. As I got close to planning my vacation, I contacted the HR department to ask them how many personal and vacation days I had left. When you added everything up, I had nearly 20 personal and vacation days available for the rest of the year. Seeing that number made me realize that I don't take enough time off, and that probably explains why I'm often so tired. This year I think I reached a point of being so tired and so desperate for a break, a real break. So I said "screw it" and made arrangements to take an extra-long vacation. I was at home for almost two whole weeks! In terms of work days, it ended up being seven personal/vacation days, so, yay for me!

While at home I did nothing but relax, eat good food, hang out with the family, and play with the dogs. Yes, I will admit that I did check work e-mail while I was at home to make sure everything was going OK with my projects, but other than that, it was a very relaxing and much needed break. It is always hard to come back to work after such a wonderful time, but now I have a Christmas vacation to look forward to!

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Baking Disasters

Just a few days after I proudly wrote a post about my baking adventures and how skilled and adept I was getting at baking, I had the ultimate baking failure on Thursday night. At work there is a food club and every week two people in the club bring in treats for everyone else. The schedule rotates every Friday and we all take turns bringing treats in. We usually gather in the mornings or afternoons, depending on the treats, and we usually spend about half an hour to an hour just eating and visiting with one another.

This week was my week to bring in treats and my partner and I decided to bring in breakfast treats. I had planned to "wow" everyone with my banana chocolate chip muffins, and he was going to bring in coffee, orange juice, and a fruit salad. I bought a large bunch of bananas the week before, and I hoped that the bananas would be ripe enough by the end of the week to make the muffins. Whenever you make banana muffins or banana bread, the bananas need to be really ripe. Actually they need to be beyond ripe and it's best when the skin is already completely black. The extra-ripe bananas make the bread or muffins taste better for whatever reason. Usually when I buy bananas just for eating, they are usually over-ripe by the end of the week. But for whatever reason, the bunch of bananas that I bought were still very yellow and under-ripe by the end of the middle of the week. The bananas at that stage, would have been great in cereal or just for a snack, but they weren't at the right stage for baking.

I read online that if you want your bananas to ripen faster, you can put them in a brown paper bag with an apple. When you close the paper bag, the apple gives off a gas that makes the bananas ripen faster. So on Wednesday I tried that trick and absolutely nothing happened. The bananas weren't any more ripe than when I put them in the bag.

So, because my bananas weren't ready for baking, I had to come up with a new plan. I decided that I could make blueberry muffins instead. I have never made blueberry muffins before, but I found a recipe that looked easy and you could use frozen blueberries instead of fresh ones. I went shopping on Thursday after work to buy the ingredients I needed. I decided to buy extra ingredients, just in case I screwed up and needed to make an extra batch. I guess I had a psychic moment.

Because there are 24 people in our food club, I had to make at least three batches of muffins. When I made the first batch, I thought I made everything according to the directions. The recipe said that the batter would be a bit lumpy, and my batter didn't seem lumpy at all. The batter was a bit on the watery side, but how would I know what it was supposed to really look and feel like when I haven't made it before. I put it in the oven and when I kept checking on them, they didn't look so great. They looked dark brown (not golden brown) and they didn't rise and puff up like they should have (they looked like hockey pucks). Even though this was my first time making them with a new recipe, I had a feeling that something was wrong.

I pulled them out when they were ready and set them aside and started to make the second batch. As I made the new batch, the batter immediately felt different. The batter was much thicker, a bit doughier, and, yes, lumpy. It was at that moment when I realized that I might have totally screwed up the first batch. I put the second batch of muffins in the oven and when I checked on them, they looked like real muffins. They were light, golden brown, and they were puffed up and had the rounded tops that muffins are supposed to have.

So, what happened? What happened is that I'm a giant moron and screwed up the measurements of the first batch. The recipe calls for 2 cups of flour, and even though I do have a 1 cup measuring scoop, it wouldn't fit in the flour bag. So, instead, I used my 1/2 measuring cup and told myself that I would just double the scoops I needed. Well apparently I can't count or I just lost count, because I added only half the amount of flour that I needed. In my defense, however, I was also trying to double the recipe for the first batch, so I needed a total of 8 scoops of flour. Apparently I have a difficult time counting to 8.

In spite of feeling like a giant moron and failure for a few hours, the next batches of muffins I made turned out OK. They tasted good to me, and when I took them to work my co-workers seemed to like them. Maybe they were just being nice, but at least no one choked on them or spit them out. So maybe with a little more practice, I will soon be able to perfect blueberry muffins.

Apartment Living

Well, as I might have mentioned in past posts, when you live in an apartment, you're bound to experience occasional noise from your neighbors. In the past, I've listened to my upstairs neighbors get into arguments about their child's haircut. And I've also listened to their children run and jump above me. Those neighbors moved out last month, and things have been really quiet since...until a few nights ago...

Part of my apartment shares a wall with the townhouse next to me. Unfortunately my bedroom and their living room share the wall. On Wednesday night I went to bed at my usual time a little after 10:30. I was all settled in and ready to fall asleep when I started to hear noises through the wall. It wasn't the TV or radio or just loud talking, but it was the sound of really loud and noisy sex. Oh my God! The girl was especially loud and I unfortunately had to listen to every moan, scream, and word she said. The worst part of it—but I guess the best part for them—was that it went on forever. Over an hour and three orgasms later they finally got to the "big one" that ended with the girl either laughing or crying (I couldn't quite tell) and it finally ended with a "wahoo" screamed by the girl. Yes, she really did yell "wahoo" as if she were watching a Nuggets game or something. Listening to the whole thing was gross, horrifying, and amusing all at the same time. But on the bright side, in the process I learned that my neighbor's name is David...

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Demands

Last night's elections results are more or less final with the Democrats retaining control of the Senate and the Republicans taking control of the House. Just with the very fact that Republicans took control of the House, Republicans are immediately claiming that this is a "referendum" and that the voters are "sending a message" that they disagree with the "Obama/Pelosi agenda" and the pace of change.

It's no surprise that conservatives have had high expectations and have been extremely demanding to turn the country around. After all, it should be fairly easy to turn around an economic recession and set the country on the right path, right? And, therefore, the President is a failure for not meeting every goal, right? So now that conservatives are in charge, all the country's problems will be solved more quickly and easily. So, because that is the case, I've come up with a list of demands (in no particular order) that I would like the new Republican congress to meet.

1. Turn the deficit into a surplus
2. Reduce unemployment to 0%
3. End all wars and bring peace to the world
4. Make sure no home is foreclosed
5. Make sure no one defaults on his/her debt
6. Reduce childhood obesity by 75%
7. Reduce adult obesity by 50% (adults are dumber and lazier while children are still malleable and easier to influence, therefore the lower percentage number for adults)
8. Explore (with more enthusiasm) alternative energy sources such as wind and solar
9. Encourage more research into potentially curable diseases such as Alzheimer's, MS, Parkinson, etc.
10. Repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell
11. Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and federally recognize same-sex marriage (can't blame me for trying)
12. Pass a law that guarantees everyone will have health insurance (oh wait...)
13. Fill the hole at Ground Zero with something, anything. (Seriously, the ancient Greeks built the Parthenon in 9 years, why can't we build something.)
14. Bring manufacturing jobs back to the country. (Hey, how about building solar panels and wind turbines or cleaner cars?)
15. Do something to improve education in this country so that we're not lagging behind other countries in the world.
16. Ban offshore oil drilling
17. Repair the nation's failing infrastructure
18. Provide training programs to people who will lose their jobs as we move away from oil dependence so that they will have new skills that can be applied in new fields

And I want the Republican led congress to make sure all of these demands are met within 22 months and they can't spend any money to make these things happen. If they spend money and don't achieve these things right away, they will be considered failures and there might be another "referendum" in the next election cycle. Now, get to work people...

This is just a partial list of my demands, and I'll continue to add to it as I think of things. Stay tuned...

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Baking Adventures

By now my loyal readers know that I love to cook and they have probably read about my various cooking adventures. Even though I love to experiment with cooking, one of the things I haven't done much of is baking. The first, little apartment I lived in had a very small and very old stove/oven. The oven seemed to take forever to get going, and it would take about two hours to make a simple baked potato. Now that I've been living in apartments with a real oven, I've been able to use it more often. I've used it for baking pastas and roasting vegetables, but it's only recently when I've tried my hand at baking.

I've made Baklava Bars and I'm at the point where I've more or less perfected those. One of the things I love about the Baklava Bar recipe is that it uses sugar cookie mix as a short cut. The recipe requires a few different stages, but it is still fairly easy.

I love banana bread but while looking online for banana bread recipes, I stumbled across a recipe for Chocolate Chip–Banana Muffins. This recipe also uses a handy shortcut, Bisquick mix, and is super easy to make. I've made it two times already, and everything has turned out great.

And recently I've tried to make another one of my favorites, corn bread. A few weeks ago I tried to make corn bread muffins from a box of Jiffy Mix. That did not turn out as great as I wanted it to. For one, it didn't make many muffins. After I ate one, I had an unusual feeling and taste in my mouth, and when I took a second look at the box I saw that lard was one of the ingredients. And, maybe I did something wrong, but those muffins seemed a bit dry and gritty; when I tried to put butter on the muffin, it crumbled in my hand. So today I tried to make corn bread from scratch. I had a recipe in my Betty Crocker cookbook and there was also a recipe on the canister of cornmeal. The recipes are more or less the same with the exception that one uses butter and the other uses vegetable oil. I made it with the oil this time and it turned out really good. It looks like corn bread, smells like corn bread, feels like corn bread, and tastes like corn bread. Yay! Next time I'm going to try it with the butter to see if it tastes different and see which I like better.

Monday, October 25, 2010

New Car Battery + A Free Pint of Ice Cream = Win-Win

I woke up today and had planned and expected to spend most of the morning taking care of my car after the battery died over the weekend. I sent an e-mail to my boss to let her know that I would probably be in late, then I called a towing company to see what kinds of services they offered. Their website said that the had a battery replacement service, meaning they would just come out to your car and install a new battery. But they said that service was offered to AAA customers—note to self, sign up for AAA—and that if I paid it out of pocket it would be really expensive. So I naturally didn't go for that service, but they did come out to my apartment to jump my car so that I could at least drive it to a shop.

I took my car to a shop that I've been to before for some minor fixes. The guys at the shop were surprised that I still had the original battery in my car; they said most car batteries last only about five years. My car is a 2001 Toyota, so the battery had a good life of ten years. It took only about fifteen minutes to replace the battery, and I was on my way to work. As it turned out, I arrived at work at about the same time when everyone else normally shows up. (I'm usually at work a little before 8:00, so 9:00 is "late" for me, but normal for everyone else.)

So now my car is running just fine. Again, I'm glad that this problem happened over the weekend while I was at home. I'm glad I didn't end up stranded somewhere late at night or something like that. And I'm really grateful that this happened before the weather starts to turn bad for the winter. At least now I know that I have a new, strong battery to get me through the winter. So it's a blessing all around.

And the best part of the whole thing is that I got a free pint of ice cream from the auto shop. That might sound strange, but they are located right next door to an ice cream factory, and I suppose the shop gets a lot of ice cream from the ice cream place (the shop has a freezer full of ice cream next to their counter). Whenever you spend $100 or more at the shop, you get a free pint of ice cream. Because I spent $108, I picked a pint of espresso chocolate chip ice cream. Yay!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Photo Editing - Wedding

For my next photo editing experiment I decided to play with a photo that I took at my friend's wedding. The aisle that she walked down was covered with red and pink flower petals, so I decided to take advantage of that burst of color.

Original photo in color


b/w + red, Lomo-ish


b/w + red, boost, vignette

Photo Editing - Flower

Another photo editing experiment. This is just a photo of a flower that I took while on a hike. The original is good, but I wanted to "warm" it up a bit and I also created a blurred effect around the flower.


Photo Editing - Sunset

Here is another photo editing experiment with a tree and sunset. It's a little more subtle and not as dramatic a change as my edited photos of the Flatirons, but I still think it has a cool look to it. The edited photo has an interesting effect where it looks like sunbeams are shooting out of the clouds.


Photo Editing - Flatirons

Because I couldn't go out shopping yesterday, I decided to spend my day playing around with a new photo editor. I found something online called Picnik and you upload your photo to their site and you edit it online. All of the basic editing features—and there are several of them—are free, but you can also upgrade your features by paying a small monthly fee. So far I've just been playing with the basic features, and I really like them. I'm holding off on upgrading to the premium edition until I decide that I really want it, and, more importantly, decided that I will use it enough to justify the cost. Here are a few of my photos that I've edited.





Saturday, October 23, 2010

Neglect

Well, I suppose that it's been obvious that I've been neglecting the blog for the past month. And, once again, it's sad to say that I've been neglecting it because I've been really busy over the past month. It's really a shame, too, because I've had so many brilliant and profound things to say over the past few weeks. But, alas, I've been leaving my loyal readers hanging.

As I mentioned, I've been busy and work is the primary cause. This happens to be our really busy time of year, as opposed to the regular busy times of year. But this is when we are at our busiest as we try to finish projects before the end of the year. That would be much easier if we didn't have a bunch of new projects coming in at the same time. But I really can't complain—actually I could complain, but I won't because being busy and overworked is much better than being unemployed. In a nutshell, things at work are busy but still good.

In other news, I've had my first "major" car problem this morning. I was planning on going out to do some shopping, but when I turned the ignition all I got was a lot of clicking noises. The dashboard lights and radio turned on, but the engine wouldn't turn over. I suspect the problem might be with the battery or the starter, but I've e-mailed my co-worker's husband, who is a mechanic and owns an auto shop, to see what he might think it is. So I'm not too worried about it yet until I know what's really wrong, but it's just an inconvenience and an unexpected expense that I never like to deal with. Fortunately it happened on a weekend while I was at home and not while I was out and about. And, in other ways, this probably saved me from spending money that I don't need to spend. Maybe the universe is telling me that I don't need to buy a bundt pan or an electric hand mixer, or, as one of my lovely friends said, maybe this is the universe's way of telling me that I should stay home for a week and not go anywhere, including work.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Fires

It's been a week since the Fourmile Canyon fire broke out outside of Boulder and it's now 100 percent contained. You never know what they mean when they say something like that. The flames might be out, but I'm sure there are still hot spots and smoldering embers. The initial report of how the fire started was that a truck crashed into a propane tank. It turned out that the fire was caused by some embers in someone's fire pit and sadly the fire pit belonged to a former volunteer firefighter. He was burning brush in the fire pit several days before the fire started, and in spite of dousing the fire pit with water and turning the ash, the winds somehow reignited the embers and the fire spread. The whole story is sad when you think about it because you don't expect this to happen to a 71-year-old man and a former firefighter. It was just a case of bad luck.

The Fourmile Canyon fire wasn't the only fire in the area, surprisingly. On Sunday a fire broke out outside of Loveland, which is about 36 miles north of Boulder. I think as of right now that fire is about 20 percent contained and fortunately the winds have been calm enough to keep it from spreading too far too fast. We're expecting more winds later this week, so hopefully they can contain it a little more before that happens. As it turns out, this fire was caused by another person who was burning brush in a fire pit. Although the Boulder fire sounds like a horrible accident, this fire sounds like a horrible lapse in judgment. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't think it would be a good idea to burn anything a week after another wildfire burned 6,000+ acres and destroyed about 160 homes.

And to keep things interesting, a smaller fire broke out in a park in Arvada. That was small enough to contain within a few hours. That fire was caused by a family playing with model rockets. Apparently a rocket went out of control and landed in the grass and the grass caught fire.

Hopefully we've seen the last of the fires this season. And to keep the rest of the state safe, I think from now on people should just stay home and maybe read a book until we get our first snowfall. It's far too dangerous out there!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Boulder Fires

Those of you who watched the news earlier this week might have heard about the fires we've had near Boulder. It's been called the Fourmile Canyon Fire and it was in the mountains to the northwest of Boulder.

Monday morning was Labor Day so I was home for the holiday. At about 11:30 or so, I looked out the window and saw an extremely eerie orange glow on the building across from me. There was a moment when I thought that the glow might have been normal. How would I know because I'm usually never home at that time; I'm always at work. But the glow as just too eerie. Then I started to smell smoke. Having lived in Southern California where we've had our share of fires, I immediately knew that smell. And the smell of the smoke was bad and really strong. I went outside to look around to see where it was coming from and the sky was filled with smoke and the sun behind the smoke was red. It was odd and it felt like I was suddenly living on a different planet.




The fire itself was in the mountains maybe 15–20miles directly west of me, but the winds were blowing east and therefore blowing all the smoke in my direction. I immediately closed all my windows to keep the smoke out because it was really strong and almost too much to take. After about an hour or so I noticed that the sky was completely covered with smoke and ash started to fall from the sky.

There were mandatory evacuations once the fire broke out and thousands of people had to flee their homes and neighborhoods. Some had to leave immediately and didn't have much time to grab what they needed before leaving. Others, fortunately, had a few hours to pack up their cars.

I went back to work on Tuesday and the office smelled like smoke. The winds were still blowing the smoke in our direction and the air conditioner must have pulled the smoke in the office. A few people had to go home because they couldn't take it and I was starting to get headaches. We can see the mountains from our office, so naturally a few of us spent most of the day watching the smoke rise from the mountains. Every now and then we would see flames flash over the tops of the different mountain ranges.

As of right now, the fire is already 56 percent contained. Over 6,000 acres were burned and by the current count 169 homes were destroyed. A few firefighters were injured but were able to return to the lines, and so far, amazingly, there were no human lives lost in the fire. Now it is estimated that the fire destroyed $76.9 million in property. In spite of an occasional smell of smoke, it seems like things are relatively under control.

In spite of this tragedy that broke out, it was absolutely wonderful to see the Boulder community come together to help the evacuees. People were opening their homes and offering complete strangers a place to stay. The Humane Society was taking in pets to care for while people were displaced. And restaurants were offering free meals to evacuees and firefighters. It was simply comforting and heartwarming to see.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Cooking Adventures - Penne Pasta with Tomatoes, Spinach, and Cannellini Beans

Today I'm continuing my healthy cooking adventures after last week's rather unhealthy assortment of lunches and dinners. I'm also turning this week into a vegetarian cooking adventure. No, I'm not a vegetarian. Even though I consider myself an omnivore and I do love the taste of certain meats, I'm not the type of person who has to have meat every day. I'd never turn my nose up at a vegetarian or vegan meal, and I always try to keep an open mind toward different diets. Because I have a lot of vegetarian friends—including some who are kind enough to respect me as an omnivore and who don't disparage me for eating meat—I've been exposed to a lot of different vegetarian meals. More often than not, I've really enjoyed these meals. So, being a person who likes to both eat and cook, I've decided to expand my vegetarian cooking repertoire. Today I tried my had at a Penne Pasta with Tomatoes, Spinach, and Cannellini Beans.

I found the recipe on MyRecipes.com and on the site the recipe was called Greek Pasta with Tomatoes and White Beans. I suppose the fact that the recipe includes feta cheese and spinach makes it somewhat Greek. But, even with my love of all things Greek, I'll just refer to my recipe by simpler terms. And as is becoming typical of my cooking, I improvised here and there and didn't do a whole lot of official measuring. And because I usually cook for just myself and not 4-6 people, I halved the recipe. So here is what I did...

Ingredients:
Olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 small onion or shallot, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Dried oregano
Dried basil
Penne pasta
2-3 handfulls of baby spinach
Feta cheese
Parmesean cheese

Directions:
1. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute onions and garlic in olive oil for about 3 minutes.
2. Add tomatoes and beans and season with salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. Bring to a slight boil, then reduce heat and simmer.


3. Cook pasta according to package directions.
4. When the pasta has about 2-3 more minutes of cooking time, add the spinach to the tomato sauce.
5. Drain pasta and dish sauce over it. Top with feta and parmesean cheese.


Cooking Tip: Whenever I'm seasoning dishes like this, I always go really light on the salt because you'll get a little bit of saltiness from the cheese that you add later. There also tends to be higher sodium levels in canned tomatoes and beans. Whenever possible, try to look for kinds that are low sodium or have no salt added. If the dish isn't salty enough for you when you start eating, you can always add more as you see fit—or better yet add more cheese. You can always add salt later but you can never really take it away once it's there, so go easy in the beginning.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Cooking Adventures - Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes, Spinach, and Other Yummy Stuff

For the past few weeks, I've been really busy. When I get busy, I'm often too tired or lazy to take the time to cook nicer, healthier meals. I usually cook something quick and easy, and lately that means things like frozen pizza, grilled cheese, pork chops, and sausages of various types. These things have been heavy in fats and sodium and pretty much lacking in any nutritional value. I also haven't been eating my vegetables like I usually do. So, I decided that it was time for me to get back on track with a healthier diet that has more veggies and better proteins.

Earlier this week I stumbled upon a recipe for Cherry Tomato Pine Nut Spaghetti at Vintage Victuals. Just from the pictures alone, the dish looked yummy, so I was determined to try it out.

For the most part, I followed the recipe fairly closely and improvised when I had to. Instead of panko breadcrumbs, I just had plain, regular breadcrumbs on hand. I didn't have official Italian seasoning, but I just used oregano and basil. I altered the measurements on somethings and other things I didn't measure at all.

Here is my recipe, inspired by Vintage Victuals.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
olive oil - I just splash it in and don't measure it
garlic powder
1 tub (10.5 oz.) cherry tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
dried oregano
dried basil
salt and pepper
whole wheat spaghetti
1-2 handfuls baby spinach
feta cheese, crumbled
parmesean cheese

Directions:
1. Toast pine nuts in a dry, non-stick skillet on low heat until fragrant.

2. In a large skillet on medium heat, add the breadcrumbs, garlic powder, and a splash of olive oil. Toss together until the breadcrumbs are lightly toasted. Set aside.

3. In the same skillet, add another good splash of olive oil. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes start to get wrinkly and release a little bit of their juice.


4. Add the garlic, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. Add a smidge more olive oil if you think the mixture and pan might be a bit too dry. Reduce the heat to low, and let the tomato mixture simmer.

5. Cook the spaghetti according to package directions.

6. When the spaghetti has about 4-5 more minutes of cooking time, add the spinach to the tomato mixture and toss gently. We just want to warm and wilt the spinach. By this time the tomatoes might get fragile and might squish or break apart. This is OK because they'll release more juice.


7. When spaghetti has finished cooking, reserve a few cups of the pasta water in case you need to thin out the pasta later. (I didn't do this when I made the dish tonight but wish I had and that's why I'm adding the instruction here.) Drain the spaghetti and add it to the tomatoes and spinach. Add the breadcrumbs, toasted pine nuts, and feta cheese, and toss the whole thing together. If you think the dish looks a little too dry, gradually add the reserved pasta liquid until it looks or feels right to you. (Yes, I realize that these are vague directions, but, for me, my cooking methods are often based on look, feel, and smell. It's not sophisticated, but somehow it works.)

8. Dish it out and top with parmesean cheese.


I realize that these aren't the greatest photos and the last one especially is a smidge blurry. But, trust me, the dish tasted wonderful!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Long Weekend

This weekend will be a long weekend for me. There isn't an official holiday from work, I'm just taking the day off tomorrow. The past few weeks have been absolutely crazy. I was working on some horribly difficult project and I was putting in some very long hours. After sending six books to press—that's a lot in a two week period—I've been feeling incredibly tired and in need of a break. So I arranged to take some time off. It's just one extra day, but, believe me, that one extra day makes a difference.

I just need to figure out what I'm going to do. I have a certain amount of household chores that I need to do and I need to do some grocery shopping because my refrigerator and cupboards are getting empty. The weather has been nice lately, although hot, so I would like to go out for a hike if I can. Or, maybe I'll just be lazy and sleep in and lie around the apartment doing nothing.

Banned Butts

Having been an English major and now working in publishing, little gets my blood boiling more than censorship and attempts to ban books. Typically people try to ban books from libraries or schools or bookstores because of the content of the books. Often books are banned because they contain foul language or violence or deal with sensitive themes like sexuality. Although these things might offend some, I don't believe that should be ground to ban the book and keep it out of everyone's hands.

Recently several news sources have been reporting about a new story about a banned book. I stumbled upon the story in the New Yorker. The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon is a novel about Aristotle and Alexander the Great. With Alexander the Great as one of the main characters, you'd think that maybe people want the book banned because there might be a little bit of homosexuality in the story. But that's not why the novel is being banned. BC Ferries, a transportation service in British Columbia Canada, wants the book banned from their shops because of the risque cover.


The cover shows a naked man lying on a horse, and, oh my God, you can see his naked butt! BC Ferries expressed their concern that children might see the cover and that would be a bad thing. This just seems insane to me. Everyone pretty much has the same body parts—though in varying shapes, sizes, and colors—but why is there so much shame associated with the human body? Have people not yet recovered from the shame in that silly Garden of Eden? The cover shows a simple butt. It's just a man's butt, and, in my opinion, there's nothing really pornographic about it. Now if the cover showed a man having sex with someone, then maybe that might be more cause for concern. That's probably something you don't want to leave out for children. But this is just a butt, a butt that apparently needed to be banned from the shelves.

You might want to criticize the Canadians for their prudishness, but here is the cover for the US edition of the same book. It is completely different and there isn't any nakedness at all. There is a bare chest but all of the private parts are properly covered. But there is blood. Blood is OK. We don't need to shield children from blood.


Needless to say, I hope the folks at BC Ferries never see an ancient Greek statue. There are naked butts everywhere. There are even naked boobs and penises.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

When a Plain Bagel Is More Than Just a Plain Bagel

At a a time when the "Ground Zero Mosque" (even though it's not a mosque and not at ground zero) is the biggest story in New York, another news story is gaining traction and causing a stir of reactions.

Here is the picture, which sounds like an opening to a joke: An English professor walks into a Starbucks and orders a "plain multigrain bagel." The barista behind the counter asks her if she would like that with butter or cream cheese. This question apparently upset the professor who restated the fact that she wanted it "plain," meaning she didn't want anything on it. At some point she launched into a tirade against the barista and used some not-so-polite words, and she was eventually kicked out of the Starbucks.

The professor told the New York Post that she "just wanted a plain bagel" and "refused to say 'without butter or cheese'" because "linguistically it's stupid, and I'm a sticker for correct English." The professor went on to criticize Starbucks for the language they use on their menus and said that their use of language is just a way to control people and to create a different reality. Um, really? Sure, I never remember whether a venti is bigger or smaller than a grande, but I don't assume that being in the presence of those words will somehow suck my soul down to hell or into the arms of an evil corporate or governmental power. I just say small and usually still get a small and walk out of the store relatively unscathed.

The professor turned this situation into a valiant battle for the English language. Considering I have a degree in English and Classics and work as an editor for a living, I can appreciate anyone who upholds the value of grammar and vocabulary. But did it ever occur to the professor that maybe the poor barista asks every bagel customer if he or she wants butter or cream cheese on the bagel? Maybe that's just a standard question, a polite offer for optional toppings. Sometimes they even ask you if you want the bagel toasted, perish the thought. If you're going to be picky about the word plain, will you be picky about everything? When you order coffee, the barista will often ask you if you'd like room for cream. If you do, they don't fill your cup to the top of the cup; if you don't they fill it up. It's just a polite (and sensible) question. And will you throw a tirade over the fact that they ask if you'd like room for cream when you might put 2% milk in it or half-and-half or soy milk? I WANT ROOM FOR SOY NOT CREAM, GOD DAMNIT! Sounds a little foolish, doesn't it?

Putting aside the linguistic argument over the entire event, what really blew me away was the simple interaction between customer and server. The big problem with a LOT of people in the world is that many people treat servers as servers, in the sense that they are there to serve the customer in a submissive and subservient way. These people might be bringing you your food or coffee or cleaning your tables, but they are still human beings. Maybe I was raised differently and maybe I was taught to respect everyone regardless of whether the person is the president of a company or the person who empties that president's trash can at the end of the day. A person is still a person no matter what they do and they generally deserve some level of respect.

What a lot of people also don't realize is that when you treat your servers well, if you're polite to them, and if you respect them, they will appreciate you and will remember you. And if they appreciate and remember you, you will be treated like gold. I can't even begin to count how many free drinks or appetizers or desserts my family received from waiters and waitresses, because we treated them well like they were friends.

So while people might be discussing this event in terms of language or whether Starbucks is too snooty and pretentious, a lot of people fail to see the complete failure of social skills and human interaction.

And my last question is: If this lady ordered a multigrain bagel, you'd assume that she'd have enough fiber in her system to keep herself unconstipated, so why is she so gosh darn cranky?

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Routine

Several months ago I got into a workout routine and was really dedicated and was actually able to stick to it for a long time—longer than I've been able to in the past. But then things got really busy at work and then I was taken by surprise with a sudden move. With all the craziness going on, I took a few weeks off from my typical workout routine. I was too busy working and too busy packing and just didn't have time to exercise. Besides, I was also carrying heavy boxes up and down three flights of stairs several times a day. So I considered that my workout for about a week.

But now that I've been living in my new place for a little over a month and now that I'm finally settled—for the most part—I think it's time to get back into my workout routine before I start to get a little beer belly. Plus I've been feeling a little tired and lethargic and very lazy and unmotivated, so maybe the workouts will give me a much-needed boost of energy. So, starting tomorrow, I'll be working out and lifting weights again. Yay me!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Crazy Neighbors

Ever since I moved to this apartment complex a few years ago, I've been relatively free of crazy neighbors. Loyal readers will remember my stories and posts about the cray neighbors at my previous apartment complex. Because I lived close to campus, I had the occasional drunk student mistake my apartment for his. I've been woken up a few times in the middle of the night by the sound of someone trying to get in my apartment. Fortunately the students were nice enough to apologize before going on their drunk merry way. I've had drunk students throw up on the sidewalk in the complex. And I've had the noisy neighbor who would talk loudly on phone outside my windows.

But when I moved to my current complex, everything was quite and peaceful. I heard my neighbors coming and going and I spoke to them in passing. But for the most part the people living around here are older, working people and not students. If they are students they are older grad students. So things have been quiet. But after moving into my current unit, I have had to deal with a little more noise now that I'm on the first floor and living under a couple and their two kids. Apart from the running and jumping and occasional screaming from the kids, I have never heard a peep out of the adults. Until yesterday.

Just as I was about to make my dinner, I was distracted by an argument coming from upstairs. At first it was just some muffled arguing until the couple went outside on their balcony. Then I and the entire complex became privy to their entire argument. Wife/girlfriend began by yelling at husband/boyfriend about the haircut that the older child got during the day.

She began with something like, "what the f*ck were you thinking? how could you do that?!"
He responded with something like, "are you f*cking kidding?"
"I work all day and I give you one thing to do and you f*ck it up! I told you to get his hair trimmed and you go and do this! I don't want my child looking like a cancer patient" (At this point I gathered that maybe the haircut was probably a buzz cut.)
"It's just a haircut, it's what he wanted." the boyfriend/husband yelled back.
"Maybe your dad let you do what you wanted to do when you were his age, but that's not going to happen to my son. He's not old enough to make his own decisions." The husband/boyfriend started to argue back but I didn't understand what he was saying, but then the wife/girlfriend yelled back, "You need to get out of my house, because I can't even stand to look at you."

Oh dear! That last line sounded pretty dramatic. You might even say a little melodramatic. As I listened to this entire argument, I found myself starting to take sides in spite of not knowing the people and not knowing what else was going on. Although the guy might have screwed up on getting the kid a buzz cut, it is just a haircut and hair grows back. The gal's reaction seemed a little too emotional for the circumstances. But what do I know.

Needless to say, it made for an entertaining and exciting afternoon experience.

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Bike Sharing, the Next Destroyer of America

Politics can be a crazy thing and in Colorado they can be really crazy.

One of the many things I love about Colorado is that it can be progressive and forward thinking. Two things that Coloradoans really love are the environment and a healthy lifestyle. Think about it. We have beautiful mountains running through our state and people want to preserve that beauty. And the mountains and open space also open themselves to hiking, running, biking, and other outdoor activities. It's no wonder that Colorado often tops lists of most eco-friendly and healthiest states.

Earlier this year Denver launched a large bike-share program. There are about forty bike share stations throughout the city and you pay by the hour to rent a bicycle. One would think that this is a great thing. For those who don't own cars, this is a way for them to get around town. Riding a bike is healthy and one less vehicle on the road is good for the environment. Totally harmless and a great idea, right? Not so, according to Republican gubernatorial candidate, Dan Maes. Let's just say that Maes puts the "guber" in gubernatorial.

Maes has criticized the bike share program and has implied that there is something evil lurking in the program. Denver happens to be a member of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), an international organization that promotes sustainable development, and the ICLEI happens to promote and encourage bike sharing. You'd think that sustainable development would be a good thing, but apparently the "international" part of the organization is what terrifies Maes. Maes has said that the bike share program threatens to convert Denver into a United Nations community and that the program could threaten our personal freedoms. Um, really?

Let's ignore the fact that Denver joined the ICLEI in 1992 along with about 600 other cities in the United States, apparently in this political climate anything influenced or inspired by an international organization or foreign countries is a dangerous thing. Maybe Maes thinks that by being a member of this organization we will sign our rights away to the United Nations and we will become like other European countries—because, you know, guaranteed government-sponsored health care, civil rights for gays and lesbians, religious freedom, and politics that are not influenced by religion are bad things.

The only thing that could possibly make matters worse is the fact that the bicycles are all painted red, and I'm surprised that Maes didn't bring that up. Red bicycles are obviously socialist or communist or fascist or something un-American. If people start sharing and borrowing bikes, what else could that lead to? Renting and borrowing books? Sharing knowledge? God help our society!

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Jackpot

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm the type of person who often scans the ground for dropped change and I'm also not ashamed to say that I'll stop to pick up whatever coin I find. I guess I'm like my Oma in that way. Money is money even if it is just a penny or two. And, who knows, it might really bring you luck some day. I'm rarely successful, however, in getting the bigger payoffs. Until yesterday.

Yesterday I was doing my laundry and was ready to start the dryer. When my coin got stuck I thought I lost my quarter for good, but when I pushed the coin return button, two quarters came out. I got an extra quarter! I tried to put my quarter in again but it got stuck again, and when I pushed the coin return button more quarters kept coming out. I eventually got the dryer to take my four quarters to start the load, but somehow I had seven new quarters in my pocket. That almost covers a whole other load of laundry that I can do!

This might be as exciting as finding a $100 on the ground, but I'll take what I can get!

Stupid Reviews

Whenever hearing or reading a review, whether it be a book review or a movie review or any kind of review, I always try to take it with a grain of salt. Unless the review is coming from a family member or a close friend who knows my style and taste, I know to not get my hopes up or to get too excited. People just have different interests and tastes, and that's perfectly fine. I've been given glowing reviews and recommendations on things that I ended up not liking, and I'm sure there are a lot of things I really like that others would not like. It's just the way of the world and that's what keeps things fun and interesting.

But there is such a thing as a stupid review. Last night, while looking for something good to watch from Netflix, I stumbled across North Face. It was listed under the "Popular in Boulder, Colorado" category. The movie is set in the 1930s and it is about two German mountain climbers and their Austrian rivals who set out on a treacherous mountain climb of the Eiger in the Swiss Alps. The movie is absolutely beautiful, stunning, intense, exciting, and moving, and I would recommend it to family and friends (and they can take that review and recommendation with a grain of salt, if they wish).

But now I must return to the stupid review part of this post. In addition to being listed under "Popular in Boulder," North Face is also listed under "Foreign Films" and "German Language." It's a foreign film, and, to Americans, that usually means that the movie is not in English. Yep, that's why they call it a foreign film, buddy...

Sunday, July 25, 2010

This and That - Weekend Edition

Well, as you can see from my lack of posts over the past week, there hasn't been that much to report. But here is a brief rundown.

Friends: On the previous weekend, I spent some time with my wonderful friends. On Friday I met friends for happy hour at Boulder Beer. It was over 90 degrees that day, I think, and on a day like that it's wonderful to have a nice Boulder-brewed beer to cool off. And, of course, the company and conversation was wonderful and a lot of fun. On Sunday, I met other friends at a cool little place in Denver called the Red Trolley. It's a little cafe that sells hot dogs and gelato. I had a bison hot dog and for dessert I had mint chocolate chip gelato. It was so yummy! And again, and of course, the company was lovely and wonderful. That weekend gave me plenty of warm, fuzzy, happy feelings that carried me through this week at work.

Work: Work has been surprisingly slow over this past week. All of my projects are at a stage when they are in someone else's hands. I'm waiting for a lot of work to come back to me or I'm waiting for people to give me important answers or to make important decisions before I can move on with other projects. Until that happens, there isn't much I can do. Although I very much appreciate the calm before the inevitable storm, I have to admit that it is incredibly boring to be at work with absolutely nothing to do. Fortunately over the past few days we've had job interviews and those have taken up enough time in the day to keep me from going crazy.

New Apartment: Things in my new apartment are coming together nicely. Everything is more or less in its place and organized. I still have little piles of papers scattered about, but that's the general status of my apartment. There are always papers or books scattered somewhere on the floor no matter how long I've been living in a place. But, all in all, everything is in order and I am enjoying the new place. The weather has been really hot over the past week—temperatures were in the high 90s and low 100s on some days—but my apartment has stayed cool, as I mentioned in previous posts. The temperature inside didn't go far above 75 degrees. So I'm grateful to not waste energy to run the air conditioner; however, I generally have to turn on a light or two because I don't get much direct sunlight into my new place. The worst part of my new place is living under people and hearing every step they take. And I happen to live under a family with an infant and a toddler, who obviously likes to run, jump, and crash about so much so that my light fixtures and chandeliers often shake and rattle. Apparently these days parents no longer tell their children to not run in the house. Oh well.

Lazy: For the most part, I've been incredibly lazy this weekend. There are several errands I could run or chores I need to do, but I've been feeling just too lazy to do any of them. I'd rather just sit on the couch and read a book or watch a movie. I enjoy being lazy.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Friday...

...right now I can't think of a better post title than "Friday"...

I haven't had all that much to report over the past few weeks. After I got all moved in, I've basically been spending time unpacking, organizing, and getting settled. There are still several piles of stuff lying all over the place, but eventually everything will get put away in its place. So far there isn't much of a rush to get things finished, and I've also been kind of lazy. Oh well, it will all get done in time.

In terms of work, things have been both busy and slow. Things were busy earlier this week both with my "real" job and with my freelance job. But for the past two days at my "real" job I have had absolutely nothing to do. Right now all of my projects are being worked on by someone else, and I can't do anything with the projects until those people return them to me. So I spent most of the day yesterday cleaning my cubicle and, if you could imagine, just reading some of our books (and maybe surfing the Web a lot). Today was slow as well, but fortunately we're on summer hours so our office closed at 1:00 today.

This weekend will be a combination of work and fun. I have a freelance project to finish up, and I've also been considering applying for more freelance work to do online copy editing. All I have to do is take the tests and see if they want to hire me. I'm not thrilled about doing more freelance work during the day, but it would be nice to have some extra money in the bank account. Fortunately the weekend won't be all work. Tonight there is happy hour with some friends and former co-workers and on Sunday there will be brunch or lunch with other friends. Should be a nice weekend.

Monday, July 05, 2010

Moving Day - Day 5

Today was finally the last day of my move, and I couldn't be more grateful. As I mentioned in my previous post, yesterday I took a break from all the lifting and carrying and moving and instead spent time trying to unpack and organize everything. And because today was my last day off from work, I considered today to be my last opportunity to actually move things. The last thing I'd want to do after a long day at work was to move. Fortunately I had only about ten loads left to carry down, so I was able to make quick work of it. And after these past five days, I'm happy that I never have to climb those stairs again!

Now I just have to continue to unpack and organize things, and thankfully there is no rush to get this done. I only wish I had another week off from work so that I could take time to recover and get resettled. Oh well.

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Moving Day - Day 4

A thunderstorm woke me up this morning at about 6:00. I listened to it and enjoyed it for a while, but then fell asleep and continued to sleep until about 10:00. I slept in much later than I wanted, but obviously I needed it.

I didn't do much in terms of actual moving today. I started to get tired of stepping over boxes and piles of stuff, so instead of moving more stuff down, I decided to just unpack and organize what I already moved. So far my kitchen, bathroom, and closets are mostly organized. And I've unpacked several boxes books and put them back on my bookcases. There is still a lot of organizing I need to do, but I'm still making good progress.

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Moving Day - Day 3

So the moving continues. Today I decided to sleep in a bit, because, well, I thought I deserved it. After walking up and down the stairs so many times and carrying so much stuff, I thought that by now my thighs and back would be sore. But when I first got out of bed, I immediately felt that my calves and shins were tight and sore. I also noticed that my deltoids were sore. Apparently I walk on my toes when I'm going up stairs and I do most of the lifting and carrying with my arms without straining my back. Anyway, after a shower and breakfast, I watched the World Cup while trying to unpack and organize my new apartment. I still have a long way to go. Then, later in the afternoon, I moved more stuff downstairs and I'm still making good progress. There are only a few more boxes left and all of my pictures still hanging on the walls. I think that by tomorrow I should have everything completely cleared out. Hopefully.

Even though all of this sounds like extremely slow going, I think I'm doing pretty well considering I'm moving everything by myself. With the exception of the movers who helped a few days ago, I've been all on my own. Good thing I'm a tough little girl!

Friday, July 02, 2010

Moving Day - Day 2

Today I continued my move. As I mentioned in my last post, I still have quite a few things in my old apartment, so my move is going to continue over the next few days. Because I was tired from yesterday, I decided to sleep in this morning. Then I spent the rest of the morning relaxing, having breakfast, and watching the World Cup. Hup Holland! After breakfast and the soccer game, I had to go grocery shopping. Because I knew that I was going to move and didn't want to carry all the contents of my refrigerator downstairs, I haven't been grocery shopping in a week or two. That, however, meant that I had nothing in my fridge except for a pitcher of water, an almost empty carton of milk, butter, cheese, and bread. Needless to say, I had a lot of shopping to do. And after all that I bought, I'm grateful that I didn't have to carry it up three flights of stairs!

After my grocery shopping, I started to move more of my stuff. Today I was just trying to clear out the kitchen, bathroom, and closets. I never realized how much clothes and shoes I had until I started to move everything. And, as I mentioned in an earlier post, most of it are things that I almost never wear. I even have a few skirts and dresses that I never wear, but you never know if there is that once in a lifetime moment when I might actually need it. But, other than that, there are a lot of donatable items that I should really get rid of. (I'm not sure if donatable is a real word, but I'm using it anyway.) Unfortunately my closets are are also full of a lot of other junk, so I think it might take another day to clear everything out.

For the most part I'm making good progress of clearing out my old place. My new place, however, is overrun with piles of stuff that needs to be sorted, organized, and put away. Who knows how long that will take, but fortunately there isn't a deadline for that.

P.S. Happy birthday to my lovely friend, Anna!

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Home Sweet Home

Well, I am finally moved into my new apartment...for the most part. I took the day off from work yesterday to finish some packing and to get a few things organized. I was very productive and jamming and dancing to a radio station from Hesperia, California. Then suddenly the music went silent. I was listening to the station online, but Comcast disconnected my cable and internet service yesterday afternoon. It wasn't exactly a surprise, though. I originally scheduled to have my service disconnected and reconnected yesterday, but that was before I found out that I couldn't move into my new place for another few days. So I was without TV for the rest of the day—perish the thought!—and I had to rely on my cell phone if I needed to get online or check e-mail. And thank God for iTunes so I wouldn't have to spend the entire afternoon in silence. (My internet and cable service was reconnected today.)

Today was the day of the big move. The movers came at about 9:15 and they were out the door by 10:45. I basically had them move all of the big and/or heavy items, and I moved the smaller, lighter boxes and furniture. After the movers left, I continued to move what was left. There is still a lot upstairs that I need to bring down, but fortunately I have a week to clear everything out. And all I have to say is that running up and down three flights of stairs all day is extremely exhausting. I already have a feeling that my legs are going to be really sore tomorrow.

My new apartment is very nice. It's the exact same floor plan, but it's flipped in the opposite direction, if that makes sense. So, where in my old place I'd have to turn right to walk into the kitchen, in my new place I have to turn left. In my old place, the bedroom was on the right, now it's on the left, and several wrong turns into the bathroom leads me to believe that it might take a while for me to get used to it. Light switches are also on the wrong walls!

My new apartment has brand new carpet, not hardwood, which, I think, will be nicer in the winter when it gets cold. The kitchen has brand new appliances, new cherry wood–style cabinets, and new counter tops. The walls are taupe (I think) and there is white crown molding. Everything in the bathroom is also brand new. The shower fixtures are different from what I had in my old apartment. When I used it for the first time this afternoon, I felt like I was in a hotel room and trying to figure out how to turn on a new shower. And I have a shower rod!! In my previous unit I had an awful shower door, so I'm grateful to have a shower rod again. Plus, I have a cool Greek-themed shower curtain that I can use again!

Being on the first floor is nice because I don't have to walk up the stairs. My apartment also feels about 20 degrees cooler than my third-floor apartment. But, as to be expected, first-floor apartments also come with a few negatives. Now that my apartment faces other apartments and not a greenbelt, I have to be more conscious of privacy. I can't just walk around naked because people might actually see me, so I have to at least make sure that the blinds are closed. And, being on the first floor, you're naturally going to hear everything above you, and I just happen to have a woman above me with her two children, a toddler and an infant. The toddler sounds like the hyperactive, running around type.

All in all, the new place is very nice and I think I made a very wise decision.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Wrenches and Wrinkles

Well, I was supposed to already have my keys to my new apartment, but unfortunately the remodel on the new unit isn't quite finished yet. I got a call earlier this week (or was it late last week) from the office telling me that they needed more time to finish their work. That definitely threw a wrench into my plans. They said that I could probably get my keys on Wednesday, June 30, and I really hope that I can because I have movers coming on the morning of July 1 to move everything down. And in the afternoon on July 1 the cable/internet people are coming to set up my new place. So, needless to say, I'm really hoping I will get my keys on the 30th, otherwise there will be a few problems.

I was hoping that I could start moving the smaller stuff over this weekend, with the intention that the more I can move myself the less the movers will have to move, and therefore the less time it will take them and therefore the less it will cost me. But unfortunately that is not happening according to plan. So, instead, I just have to continue packing. Fortunately I don't have to be completely out of my current place until July 11. So, in theory, I can switch my plan—just have the movers move all of the furniture and heavy boxes, and I can do some of the smaller things later. (I'm also starting to run out of boxes, so I might have to move more things later so that I can reuse the boxes I already packed.)

And as I'm writing this, I'm thinking about all of the other odds and ends that I need to move—things like all the food from my fridge and cabinets and all the alcohol in my liquor cabinet. Yep, I'm definitely going to need an extra week...

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Collectibles

Many of the things I've managed to collect over the years are office supplies. I don't know why, but for whatever reason I've always loved office supplies. When I was younger and when my dad took me to work with him, he would let me take a pen or two home. Ever since, I've loved to collect different pens and pencils. There are just so many different styles and colors! And you have to try them all to know which one is perfect. When I was in college and grad school I would take notes or make vocabulary lists in different colors. Yes, I would color code my notes, because I'm just that crazy. But I'm also a visual learner, I suppose, and I would always associate certain words or notes with colors and somehow that helped me to remember things. So, I've collected quite a variety of pens from my school days, but then I managed to collect more when I started working. Why wouldn't I take every single style and color of pen from the supply closet when it's all free? And when given the opportunity to order them from a supply catalog, oh my God, hold me back!

Needless to say, I've manged to amass a lot of pens. The amount I have is a little crazy, even by my standards. Now that I'm no longer in school and not taking notes every day or doing homework every night, I don't go through pens as much as I used to. Because I write so little, one pen can last forever. So, given my latest quest to minimize my worldly possessions, this afternoon I went through all my office supplies in a painful effort to get rid of half of what I own. Let's face it, I don't own anything fancy. It's not like I'm holding on to them because there is 14k gold inlaid into the barrel. And it's not like I write with a fountain pen every day. These are just your basic ink pens or ballpoints. Parting with these pens might have been a little painful, but it wasn't as devastating or tragic as I thought it would be. So now I can proudly take all of the pens I've given up and put them in the supply closet at work to share with my co-workers.

Yes, I'm this crazy...

Quick Break and Deep Breaths

I'm taking a short break in between cleaning, purging, and packing. This has been a busy weekend for me so far, and the next two weeks ahead are going to get even more busy. I'm trying to do as much organizing and packing as I can this weekend, because I don't think I'll have much time to do it during the week. This happens to be my busiest time at work and I have a lot of deadlines and a lot books going to press this month. I have so much to do that I brought home a lot of work that I'd like to do before Monday. At times like this I envy people who work at jobs that aren't controlled by deadlines. Those people have the luxury of leaving their work at the office and it's easier for them to take time off whenever they want. Whenever I want to take time off, I have to constantly plan around my schedules and deadlines. Everyone always tells me that I need to take more time off and I need to take more vacations. While I agree with them and wouldn't argue, sometimes it's just hard to actually fit everything in. Although I love what I do, this is one of the biggest frustrations I have.

So with all the work I need to do—both professional and personal—I'm starting to panic and starting to feel stressed. I'm trying to figure out how I can make it all happen without sacrificing the basic needs in life, like eating and sleeping. Oh well. I'm sure it will all happen somehow.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Blogs and Greek Letters

οι μοι

As I've been packing, I've also been trying to organize all of my old notebooks and files. One of the notebooks I keep is my little web design book. I found other notes on scraps of paper, so I was just transferring them into my notebook.

I am, by no means, an experienced web designer, but I know how to use some of the most basic codes. I know how to create links and how to add special characters. I looked online for other important codes I might need in the future, and I stumbled across some codes to write Greek letters, which is what, hopefully, you'll see at the top of this post. Granted it would take forever to type up anything lengthy using these codes, but they might come in handy for something short and simple.

By the way, οι μοι is often translated as "alas" or "woe [is me]." You'll often see it in Greek tragedy when people are basically saying, well, "woe is me" because usually something bad has happened or is about to happen.

Purge

Packing and moving can be a huge hassle, but one of the benefits of moving is that it gives you an opportunity to reevaluate everything you own. I mentioned in several posts that I own a lot of books and books happen to be things that I collect and have a difficult time getting rid of. But there are other things I've grown less attached to. It's only now that I'm forced to go through these things that I realize, one, that I actually still own them, and, two, that I don't really need them.

For whatever reason I still have a lot of clothes that I know don't fit me very well. As I mentioned in an earlier post, a lot of clothes just don't fit in the shoulders and the back. Yet, I still have these clothes hanging in my closet and naturally I haven't worn them in years. What's the point of keeping them if I could at any minute rip through them like the Incredible Hulk? (Yes, I realize that many of you will laugh at that statement considering I'm 5'2" and 100 pounds, but still.) So those will go into a donation bag and maybe someone else can wear them.

I've also held on to a lot of things from my student days. I still have a hard time getting rid of papers and notes from class. Basically, anything that shows my actual hard work is something that I tend to keep. But over the years I've also collected copies and printouts of journal articles or chapters from books that I've used for research. These books and journals will always be around somewhere in some library, so there probably isn't a need for me to keep them. It's just a lot of wasted paper, wasted space, and added weight that I don't need right now. So I've gotten rid of all of these and dumped them into the recycling bin.

Even though I occasionally have a tendency to hold on to things that I think I might need someday or things I might have a sentimental attachment to, it feels really nice to get rid of things. It might be a cliche to say, but it's nice to get rid of the past when you're about to do something different or start something new. Even though I'm just moving downstairs, I might as well use it as an opportunity to clean out and start over, so to speak.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Books, Books, Books

Even though I don't officially move for another two weeks, I've decided to start packing. For now I've started to pack my books, because it's likely I won't need these at any time over the next few weeks. As I might have mentioned before, I have a lot of books. So far I've packed nine boxes just with books, and I still have more to go. Looking at the stacks of books placed randomly across my living room, I think I'll need about three or four more boxes to pack everything I have left.

I know that I'm just moving downstairs and could probably just carry these books down in smaller and somewhat lighter boxes. But if I'm going to have movers handle the big furniture anyway, I might as well let them handle the bigger and heavier boxes. Yes, I am strong enough to carry my 30- or 40-pound desk up three flights of stairs—the desk was still in a box and disassembled—but I'm just not in the mood to do that again. I'll stick with the lighter and easier stuff this time around.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Blogs, Blogs, Blogs

Because it is cold and raining outside, I've been staying home and inside—I'm not exactly eager to go out into 50 degree weather. I did enough of that in the winter. Although I should probably be packing, I've been playing around on the computer instead. With all of these new fancy blog templates, I've been updating and tinkering with my blogs. Yes, I said blogs, plural. This is my main blog where I do most of my writing, but I actually have a few other blogs dedicated to different things. One of these blogs is my photography blog, Eyes of the Muse, a blog I started in 2007. At the time I just bought a brand new digital camera and my plan was to post some of my photos on that blog. Well, over the past four years I posted about four things. The blog was left abandoned. But, four years and a few new cameras later, I've decided to revisit it and to start working on it again. So today I've been posting a few photos that I've taken over the past few years. We'll see how successful I am with keeping it up this time around...

Cold

Yes, I said cold. It has been a while since I've last written about the weather, and now seems as good a day as any. For most of the week we've had warm weather. It was even downright hot on some days. On Thursday we crept into the upper 80s and low 90s. Well, apparently a cold front has swept in. All day yesterday it was cloudy and overcast. The temperature was in the low 70s, which, in my opinion, is the perfect temperature. But as the afternoon passed, the clouds got darker and more ominous. Eventually it started to rain. And it rained hard. By the late afternoon and early evening, right when I started to eat my dinner, the lightning and thunder started. The rain was falling hard and the thunder was really loud. I was watching the news while eating dinner and I had to turn up the volume because the storm was so loud.

In Colorado the weather passes in bands, so you'll have a storm, a moment of peace, and another storm again. This went on during the night. When I went to bed we had more lightning and more thunder. When I woke up this morning, it was freezing! Right now the temperature is about 50 degrees. It seems kind of pathetic to turn on the heater in the middle of June, so I'm wearing my warmer clothes. Good thing I didn't pack them away!

Current mood: full from a big breakfast—French Toast!
Current drink: coffee

Friday, June 11, 2010

You've Come to the Right Place

Do not be alarmed. You've come to the right place. For whatever reason, I've decided to play around with the template settings on my blog. I guess I'm in the mood for change these days. I've tried to go for something that is a little cleaner and brighter. I also wanted something that was a little easier to read, hence the slightly larger fonts because everyone I know is having a harder time reading these days. The blog appearance probably also depends on your computer and monitor. My laptop has a nice somewhat widescreen monitor, so everything looks nice. But this might look different on smaller old-fashioned CRT monitors. Anyway, if anything looks strange send me an e-mail.

Packing

Now that I've started to narrow down when I'm going to move, I've decided to start packing. People might wonder why it would take me two weeks to pack a one-bedroom apartment, but if you looked at the amount of books I own, you'd know why. Over the years I've collected a large amount of books. When you're in school, you have to buy books for your classes. Then you buy more books when you have to do research. And when you're a nerd and just love to read and own books, you buy even more books because they look interesting. And to top things off, I work for a book publisher and can bring home books for free. Needless to say, I have a lot of books. I tried counting them a few days ago, but lost count when the phone rang. When I lost count, I was somewhere in the 300 range with probably another 100 or 200 to go. Even I would admit that this is a lot. Is it really too much? I don't know. The bookish part of me thinks that you can never have too many books. But it always feels like too many when you have to move them—books in boxes can get really heavy.

Well, after I get resettled into my new apartment, I suppose I can reevaluate my library. I bet I could make some money if I sold a few of them at a used bookstore or something. We'll see.

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Moving...Sort Of

Right now my apartment complex is in the process of renovating all of the units. Usually they renovate the apartment when someone moves out, but because I plan on staying her for another year, I had the option to either end my lease and move to a different place or simply move to a newly remodeled unit. Because I'm not exactly ready to move to a different complex, I agreed to move to a different unit. They are also keeping my rent at the same rate which is a big plus. The rent payment always leaves my bank account pretty tight at the beginning of the month, but my apartment is huge for the price I pay. There are some apartments in this city that are only 400 square feet going for the same rate I pay. So even though the rent is a bit much, it's a steal for the area where I'm living.

Fortunately I'll just be moving from the third floor to the first floor. Unfortunately I'll be losing my view of the mountains and clouds which I love so much. And I'll also be losing my southern exposure, meaning my apartment will get less sunlight and will be darker. But being on the first floor means I don't have to worry about carrying laundry and groceries up and down the stairs. And when my family comes to visit me, they won't have to worry about struggling up the stairs.

The remodeled unit will have either brand new carpet or hardwood floors. Hardwood floors would be nice and fancy, but I bet carpet will be warmer during the winter. The walls will have a fresh set of paint, and I think it will actually be a color—maybe taupe (whatever taupe is)—and the walls will not be white. The walls will also have crown molding, which is sort of fancy. The kitchen will have brand new counters, new cabinets, and brand new appliances. The bathroom will also be completely redone.

So, it will be an interesting change, but I just have to move in about two weeks. That's a bit sudden and I was hoping for more time to get everything settled, but I just have to work around the apartment complex. Then I have to think about getting my address changed for all the bills I pay and for insurance or bank information, then I have to arrange to have all of the utilities and cable and internet transferred to my new place. And, naturally, all of this is happening during my absolutely busiest month at work. Why would I want things to be easy and stress free?

Friday, June 04, 2010

Sleep Deprived

So I'm happy to report that the birds in the wall have flown away. Ironically they seemed to fly away the day I went to the apartment manager's office to complain. So I've had peace and quiet and have been able to get some sleep over the past few nights. But apparently I still need to catch up on some much needed sleep. I'm usually at my best in the morning. I get tired in the afternoons then I pick up a second wind in the evening. But I'm usually more productive in the mornings and I'm usually on top of my game, but this week I've been totally off. Yesterday morning when I was getting ready for work and making my lunch, I almost put sambal instead of jelly on my peanut butter sandwich. The jars are the same size and sitting next to each other in the fridge. Fortunately I caught myself before putting it on the sandwich. This morning I did something even worse. When I wake up I usually start the coffee then take my shower. By the time I'm finished with my shower the coffee is usually done brewing. Today I started the coffee but for some stupid reason didn't put the pot on the burner. So without the pot there, some of the coffee spilled all over the counter and the burner burned the coffee that spilled all over it. Sigh. I obviously need to catch up on a lot of sleep this weekend.

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Bird Drama

I think that about this time last year, I wrote a post about some woodpeckers that nested in the wall of the apartment complex, right outside my bedroom. After a while those birds went away and I thought I was in the clear. But the birds came back this spring. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. About three weeks ago, I noticed a lot of noise in the wall of my bedroom. It was obvious that the birds returned and were hatching new babies. Eventually they hatched and it sounded like there were about 40 chicks in my wall in addition to the parent birds. Actually it was probably only 2 or 3 chicks. At any rate, the noise in the wall was significantly louder once the baby birds hatched. At about 5:30 in the morning I would hear one of the parent birds slam into the wall where there nest is built and then the babies would chirp wildly...and loudly. I could deal with this in the morning, because I usually wake up for work at about 6:00 anyway. But recently over the past few weeks the birds have become more active at night...all night. I assumed that the babies were probably growing and the space was getting tight, because I could hear a lot of rustling against the wall. But over the past week, there has been more than rustling. The birds were now clawing, scratching, drumming, and pecking against the drywall. Even when I knocked on the wall to try to scare or quiet them, it did nothing. Whenever I knocked, they scratched back. No, this isn't a game, I'm trying to sleep. What has been frustrating is that they do this nonstop, all night long. My ears are good and my hearing is sensitive, so even when I tried to tune it out, I couldn't. I even put cotton and toilet paper in my ears and covered my head with pillows and I could still hear the birds clawing and pecking against the wall. One night, at 3:30 am, I had to leave my bed and sleep on my futon because I couldn't take it anymore.

I'm a nature lover and an animal person, so I tried to deal with it as best as I could. But I don't pay $850+ in rent to sleep on my couch, and I haven't been able to get more than 3 hours of sleep each night for the past week. My job isn't easy to do when you're sleep deprived, and when I don't get enough sleep I start to get severe headaches, and those usually knock me out for a few days. So, at my breaking point, I went to the office in the apartment complex to let them know that there has been some "woodpecker damage" outside my unit. But, unfortunately for me but fortunately for the birds, these birds are a protected species and there is nothing that you can do about them. All you can do is patch up the hole once they fly away and hope they don't come back. So, that's that.

On the bright side, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed, it has been really quiet tonight. When I looked at the hole where their nest is, I didn't see any baby bird heads pop out to look at me. And the wall in my bedroom seems really quiet and I don't hear any rustling. So I'm hoping that the babies finally learned to fly and maybe they flew away. It's dark now, so I suppose there is a chance that they'll come back to their nest. But I'm secretly hoping that they've found a new place to sleep, because I could really use more than 3 hours of sleep tonight. We'll see...

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Long Weekend and Playing Hooky

This Friday was the start of our summer hours at work. That means that we can go home at 1:00 on Fridays. But this week, that wasn't good enough for me. Other than standard holidays, I haven't had a day off since my Christmas vacation. I haven't taken any personal time off and unlike my co-workers I'm never sick. So, I decided it was time for me to be "sick" and to take an extra day off. Everyone plays hooky, and I decided that it was my turn. So I called in sick and went on a hike all morning.

It was my first real hike of the year, and naturally I was a little out of shape for hiking. It doesn't matter how much you walk on flat grounds or how much you lift weights, when you walk uphill at this elevation, you're going to feel it in your lungs. But I had fun and took a lot of pictures and I was able to take my mind off of work for the whole day. Monday is a holiday and we have the day off, so if the weather is nice I'm thinking about heading out on the trails again.

Other than that, this long weekend has been pretty relaxing. I've been lazy and I'm loving it.

Current mood: relaxing
Current music: iTunes on shuffle—Melissa Etheridge "In This Moment"

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Workouts Continue

A few weeks ago—maybe it was several weeks ago or even months, I'm losing track of time—I wrote a post about my workouts. Yes, surprisingly, I've kept up with them, and it has possibly been the longest time I've stuck to a workout routine without getting lazy and falling off the wagon. But so far, so good.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm tiny and I'll always be tiny, but I'm stronger than most people would think and I do have some muscle that most people would underestimate. (And, yes, the ego I have now comes from getting teased, picked on, and beat up when I was younger. How much would I love to cross paths now with the guys who picked on me then!) Because I've kept up with my workouts, I've been feeling better and healthier and I've been sleeping better. My clothes are starting to get too tight in the shoulders—thanks to my huge muscles!—but I've always had a hard time getting the right fit in the shoulders with most women's clothes. I might be tiny, but apparently my shoulders are broad compared to most small or petite women. That's why I always loved it when my mom made my clothes, because the clothes actually fit me properly. Oh well.

...this was an incredibly random post...

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Wonderful Weekend

It has once again been a long time since I've written my last post. And, sadly I once again use the excuse that I've been busy at work and therefore tired when I get home. I sense a trend here, and it's a problematic trend and a trend that I want to break. Another reason why I haven't written is because I haven't felt very inspired to write anything. But this weekend, I was suddenly reminded of what usually inspires me the most, wonderful people.

One of my dear friends and her boyfriend invited me over for a barbecue this weekend. The whole week prior, the weather was a mix of rain and occasionally snow. But on the weekend of the barbecue, the skies cleared and the temperature warmed. The weather was perfect. I know my friend from working with her in publishing, but her other life is in the theatre, so many of the other people at the barbecue were her theatre friends and naturally I didn't know them. But it was wonderful just to meet a lot of new people. It struck me after the party how a person can stuck in a rut and a routine. Sometimes you do the same things and deal with the same people day after day, and, let's face it, it can sometimes get boring or tiring or frustrating. Sometimes you need a break from the routine. Sometimes you just need something new, a new or different energy. So meeting a lot of new people from what is a completely different world to me was great. And what was especially nice was that they were all wonderful and outgoing and easy to talk to. They all seemed really happy and seemed to enjoy life. It was nice to spend the day with people who seemed to enjoy what they do and who appreciate what they have.

And needless to say it was wonderful to spend time with my friend. It was nice to be with someone who is calm and sane and level-headed and grounded, someone who is giving and caring, someone who can keep my spirits up, and someone who has a positive influence on my life. And it doesn't hurt that she is absolutely beautiful, too!

Going back to work after such a wonderful day was difficult, but at least the wonderful time has carried me through the week so far and the wonderful day has given me one more thing to appreciate.