oh my god!!!!

DS and I voted this morning. Had to stand in line for an hour and a half, but it was so worth it. Now, we're drinking Reisling (DELICIOUS) and watching the results come in. It's looking pretty good for Obama!!!! So exciting!! We're coloring in an "electoral college map" as it happens :)

And now, because real news sucks, we're going to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Update: 10:12 pm
wow. i'm speechless. this is maybe one of the most important nights of my life so far. i'm so glad i voted.

Trip to Tampa - aka Kim's Wedding

I had a great time in Tampa. I went to Kim's wedding, and the Lowry Park Zoo, and learned to knit, and had dessert in the craziest restaurant I've ever been in. It was an awesome trip. Here are a LOT of photos. Sorry, I'm too lazy to go to the trouble of putting together an actual coherent story/slideshow.

on my own

First thing tomorrow morning (and by my standards, that's technically well before tomorrow morning) I'll be on a plane to Tampa, FL to attend a wedding.  DS isn't going.  It was partially a money thing, but I think even if we'd had the money he would have stayed behind.  The climbing gym he goes to is having a competition in his honor on Saturday.  It's name after him, by which I mean Dragonslayer, which has vaulted the nickname from those few who read this and who were around when it began to almost every single person that frequents the gym.  Apparently his name was even changed in the computer system there.  The MWC (madison women climbers) mailing list even advertised for the comp, claiming the winner would get to do some adventure thing with "the dragonslayer".  I found it highly suspect, as I'm sure they didn't know who or what they were talking about at the time.  It's very bizarre to get third hand information about your husband from people who don't know either of you.

Anyhow, the point is, I'm heading to Tampa alone.  It's been a long time since I've traveled alone.  DS does it frequently for work, but even if I fly alone, it's always to see him or go home.  And while I obviously know the bride, and I'm even familiar with several others through reading her blog, I won't know anyone other than her.  So it could be a stressful four-day weekend.  But then, something tells me that things will be lovely and that I'll meet everyone and be fine.  Even with my anti-social tendencies. 

I'm taking the laptop, but who knows if you'll hear from me.  If not, I expect to update Tuesday.  In the meanwhile, you should go vote!

it begins

The last few days there have been rumors of flurries. Today, I walked through them myself just an hour ago. That's a full month earlier than last year, though admittedly the Thanksgiving snow last year actually accumulated...

It's hard to believe that in less than two months I will be living in perpetual spring.

crash and burn

so um.. computers have been dying fiery deaths here right and left. i suppose that makes it lucky i have so many. the good news is that several new parts later, the two dead pcs have been grafted into one working gaming computer. the bad news is that the imac is now gone, which is where i do all my photo and business stuff. the genius bar has helped, but i still have to transfer the 100 GB worth of data they saved back onto the thing. whenever i get up the desire to tackle that beast after the pc disaster, expect several back-posts cataloging our recent adventures.

other than that, all is well, and i'm looking forward to being in tampa halloween weekend for kimberlina's wedding (by which i mean after party).

Governor Dodge and Peck's

Every fall, DS and I go on a hike through Governor Dodge State Park. We start with the fire tree, and then pick a trail. This year, it was a short one to a waterfall, because we'd just come from Taliesin.

While we were out that way, we stopped at Peck's to get our pumpkins and gourds, along with essentials like fresh apple cider and beef sticks.

Taliesin

My birthday present this was from DS was the four hour estate tour of Taliesin. Having studied it extensively in college, living so close without going for the past three years has been difficult. As the move approached, it didn't even occur to me that I was losing my opportunity to easily go. Luckily, my husband is amazing, and thought of this all on his own. Be prepared for LOTS of photos. But no interior photos, as those are strictly forbidden.

A Walk in the Arboretum

One of the last warm days of the year, my friends Luke and Becky invited me out for a long walk in the arboretum.

The Wedding

Chuck e Cheese!

For my 27th birthday, my friends and I went to Chuck e Cheese.

He's elusive, and apparently only makes a 10 minute appearance for certain children's birthdays. I wasn't one of those children.

I was, however, given a birthday balloon by a manager, whom I'm sure was avoiding a scene due to my friends persistently asking for one. It was very quickly stolen by this adorable little girl who kept... licking it.

Being an adult at this place rocks. You actually have real money to put in the token machine.

People were putting in entire $20 bills. Renae enjoyed seeing how long she could make her ticket strings.

The real motivation for going there was that I wanted to play Skeeball for my birthday. Somehow, I'm not as incredibly awesome as I remember being, but it was still lots of fun. Luke was incredibly awesome at always getting somewhere between 23 and 25,000 points.

It was the highlight of the trip. The other games were fun, but not as fun as Skeeball.

Being the birthday girl came with the sweet perk that everyone gave their tickets to me. We were aiming for 2000 so I could get a big Care Bear. At the end of the night, I had 2031.

Afterwards we made a pit stop at the grocery store to get some cake and ice cream. Most of the cakes were either lame, or not a flavor I like. So Pokemon it was!

Since my birthday was on a Friday, and I had a midday appointment to pick up my bridesmaid dress for Kel's wedding, I took the day off from work. When I returned on Monday, my office was wrapped like a present. Some of it, like one of the monitors, had to be unwrapped so I could function. But the rest, like that pink chair, are still sporting the birthday love.

Save the Farnsworth House!

Possibly my favorite piece of architecture ever is sitting in water. On Sunday, the water was a foot deep within the house, which is saying something considering it's already on stilts. It's only a couple of hours from where I live. So close, and I've never been... and now it may be a very long time before I get to. The National Trust for Historic Preservation bought it within recent years and opened it to the public, but now it is closed until further notice due to the damage. I can't see it being completely restored within the next three months. :(

Please, if you can, help save this building. If I had to choose one building in the entire country to save, it would be this one.

http://www.farnsworthhouse.org/

Birthday Shenanigans

You have perfect color vision!

FM Hue Test Results

A lower score is better, with ZERO being the perfect score. The bars above show the regions of the color spectrum where hue discrimination is low.

As you can see, I'm doing very important things on my birthday.

I took the day off from work, and have spent the day getting my hair cut, my brows waxed, buying new clothes, picking up my bridesmaid dress for an upcoming wedding, and just generally feeling very posh.

And because we just can't have that for too long, later this evening I'll be playing skee ball at Chuck e Cheese. Huzzah!

Winston Saved My Life

*sorry about the quality; click the image to see it bigger

drool

DS and I have recently returned from the grocery. The bad news is that half of the amazing cat litter I bragged about just a few posts ago has suddenly disappeared. Neither Woodman's (the local co-op that has everything), or PetSmart are carrying Nature's Miracle. We just bought it 2-3 weeks ago!! Oh well, I guess it's just World's Best for us for now.

The good news is that my kitchen is crammed full of my new "healthy" snacks. I made a list from this month's Self magazine. Every fall they have a "choose your goal" issue with four different goals. There are meal suggestions, and I created my grocery list from them. A lot of the stuff I searched and searched and only found in the single "healthy foods" aisle. There are like 50 aisles at this grocery store, and only one they deem "healthy"! And why isn't almond butter grouped with the peanut butter?

Anyway, I'm now the proud owner of ground flaxseed, almond butter, dried cranberries, pears, peaches, apples and bananas! I've also bought soy milk for the first time ever. It's vanilla flavored, and I'm going to attempt making a smoothie for breakfast with it in the morning.

The best thing was my box of 200 popsicles! The kind you get as a kid when your parents know better than to buy you anything more expensive than kool-aid in a small plastic see-through tube. So some of those are freezing right now, and tomorrow I should indulge! Only 25 calories per popsicle, which means I could have 5 every day and still be under my "snack" calorie limit!! Woo-HOO!!!

Riding along

I've managed to get myself going somewhat.  Last week I read an entire book!  (It was Physik, book three in the Septimus Heap series; a children's book and a fast read, but an entire book none the less.)  I also finally made the jewelry for my best friend's wedding, which gave me the itch to make even more jewelry.  Look for new things in the shop soon!  

The apartment is clean, my plants are getting daily waterings, and I even rode my bike today.  It was one of my best bike rides in a long time.  My brakes finally work again.  Or perhaps they just finally work.  I'm not sure they were ever good.  While DS was climbing today I went for an hour long ride around the bike trails and through some neighborhoods.  I had my headphones on, and was singing loudly the whole time.  Luckily I saw very few people, and the one or two that I didn't manage see in time to quiet down actually smiled instead of giving me weird looks.  So that was pretty awesome.  It was a wonderful feeling having the wind in my hair and singing away.

The temperature today was lovely.  Only a high of 77, and no humidity that I could tell.   All last week it was in the 80's, which meant we had the a/c on.  But today, just perfect.

A new release cycle is ramping up at work, which means I'm probably going to start working late again soon.  Which is just crummy timing, because I'm really starting to get into the swing of things again, life-wise.  DS and I even went to a "high class wine and cheese tasting party" on Friday night.  We all dressed up, and went through probably 10 bottles of wine and waaay too much cheese.  It was delicious though, and we even found my favorite, Pinnochio.  There aren't too many wines I really enjoy, so that was really exciting.

Right now I'm waiting on the super slow and crummy dryer to get the clothes at least dry enough that I can hang them around the house and finish drying them.  I think I'll sit here and make some jewelry while I ponder what I want for my birthday.  It's only a few weeks away, and I'm having trouble answering people when they ask what I want...  time to brainstorm!

Pillow

Apparently this is how I sleep...  as a pillow for Felix.  Good to know that she still lays with me sometimes.  She used to do it before I fell asleep, and she doesn't really do that anymore.

Boooooo

I find life in general to be challenging these days.  Work is turning into a disaster.  I'm being told simultaneously to start letting go of my responsibility and not to "check out" too early.  As one might expect, I'm failing.  When did caring about the company you work for become such a bad thing?

The upcoming move is starting to scare the crap out of me.  I have no idea where we're going to find the money to actually get there, much less live there.  And it doesn't help that so many people we know are getting married this fall.  Not that the weddings in and of themselves are bad, but none of those weddings are anywhere near here.  

I can't seem to maintain interest any much of anything either.  My brain has decided that it can't do anything new until after we move, pushing me into a sort of limbo that is highly uncomfortable.  I can't make myself start a new book, or make jewelry, or even finish setting up my craft desk.  I did finally start playing Soul Calibur IV, but that, Soltrio (a solitaire game on xbox live) and watching the Olympics is about all I can muster at the moment.

Can it just be next summer already?

stupid sleep

Every time DS leaves the country, I'm reminded of how much he keeps me functioning more or less normally. I keep not going to bed, so I'm running on little sleep. I'm also eating like crap. But on the plus side, I've been actually socializing (by which I mean leaving my apartment for something other than work, and talking to people face to face).

Winston is antsy. I guess I'm not entertaining enough for him. Felix doesn't care who's here as long as they rub her belly.

Oh.. and I think I'm not sleeping well also because I'm afraid. I'm not used to living on the ground floor, and I keep thinking someone is going to get in, and DS isn't here to save me! And it doesn't help that I want to have the windows open because of the very expensive "window" unit, but I'm sleeping better using the a/c.

Delivery Fail

August 3, 2008	07:39:00 PM	JACKSONVILLE FL	Arrival Scan
July 31, 2008	01:51:00 AM	JACKSONVILLE FL	Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit

It took nearly 4 days to stay in the same city?  WTF?

Not even Babelfish can translate it

DS is in Warsaw, Poland.  I had a title that I tried to translate in Babelfish to Polish, but it would seem that it's not worth Babelfish's time to translate Polish...  He's there for another one of his science conferences.   Before you going thinking how lucky he is to travel places like that for free, you should know that other languages scare him and he's likely to spend the entire trip either listening to talks (which are all in English) or hiding out in his hotel room.  He was supposed to take my camera, but he forgot it.  Which is probably even more of an excuse to not leave his room...

Apparently they don't have internet there.  Or at least it's not mainstream enough for a hotel that hosts large conferences to have it.  He had to call the old fashioned way when he got there today.  I can't wait to see what that cost us.

So we've been in our new place for a week now.  We're on our second furniture arrangement already.  I originally thought I wanted my workspace in the living room so I could watch tv, but I quickly realized that meant there was no where else to go when I didn't want to be in the same room with DS and his video games.  Now the workstation is in the "dining room", which still lets me see the tv if I want, but it's just far enough away that he shouldn't be too distracting if the sound is low if I want to concentrate.

My initial reaction to this place was that it sucked.  The new layout has made it feel like we have more space, which is also greatly helped by the fact that I finally got the kitchen counters cleaned off yesterday.  For the most part, the boxes are all unpacked now.  So I'm thinking it's not quite so bad as I thought.  

Reasons I thought this place sucked:

1. No central air

2. What little a/c we have is a "window unit" installed in the wall on one end of the apartment.

3. That end is NOT the bedroom, so it's like 100 degrees in there.

4. I can't sleep when I'm that hot.

5. I'm told the little heater things along the floor (there's one for each room, and they each have their own thermostat) get hot enough to set things on fire if they come in contact with it....

6. The heater has the very helpful settings of low, medium and high.

7. There aren't overhead lights.

8. The light-switches control every single freakin outlet.

9. For some reason, it controls the bottom plug instead of the top one.

10. Between the closets, heater, balcony door and regular entry door, the bedroom has just enough room for the bed against the wall.  Only the bed...

11. The entryway smells very strongly of mold.

12. There are bugs and spiders all over the place (though thankfully much more rare in my actual apartment than in the building).

13. My garage isn't in my building, so I have five keys just for myself, not counting the garage opener.

14. The closets are awkward.

15. There isn't any place in the bathroom to store towels.

16. The balcony railing stops about 4-6 inches from the actual building.  I'm afraid my cats are going to jump/fall off.  It wouldn't be the first time...

16. Did I mention there's only one place I can put the bed without burning the place down?

Reasons it's not as sucky as I thought:

1. We've more or less figured out the optimal fan placement so we can live without a/c (I'm told that thing is hideously expensive).

2. After investing in some of those 1-to-3 plug things, everything can function without fear of someone flipping a light-switch and crashing my computer.

3. I managed to get things organized in my closets by making separate spaces consisting of boxes on their sides.  Almost like shelving, but not as sturdy.

4. Daily candle burnings and open windows are slowly removing the stank in the apartment.  (still no hope for the entryway)

5. I don't have to get up early just to drive DS to the bus stop anymore!

6. I live near real bike paths again.

7. I don't have to climb a hill from hell just to go somewhere, anywhere, on my bike.

Newly found suckiness:

1. The "dryer" that I now have to pay to use can't even get things dry with two full cycles... we might have to become laundromat people.  Luckily there's one just a block from here.

Now that I am a devoted Google reader reader (heh..), I've been getting a lot of updates from Apartment Therapy.  I'm happy to say that they were right about their cat litter mix, and it is absolutely, completely amazing.  My litter box has never been so easy to clean, or smelled so nice.  Best of all, it's biodegradable and non-toxic, something I definitely couldn't say about my old litter.  Also, my new litter box is the shit!  You just roll it one way, roll it back, and you're clean, no scooping required!  I love it so much I even took the time to post a review on PetSmart.com, where I found it.  I never do that.

hmm.. there was more too, but I feel like I've been typing forever and it's about time I went to bed.  Extra effort has to be made to get me in bed at a decent hour when DS isn't around to tell me it's bed time at 9:30.