self-portrait.net: journalling online since 1999

Very briefly here is what I learned from my experiences yesterday:

* Remember to turn the heat back on; preferably before 6 a.m.

* After plugging in the coffee maker, flip the switch to the "on" position.

* Check to see that both my purse and wallet are in my car before leaving the house. (As I had the purse, and just assumed by wallet was in it, which it wasn't.)

* Push down on the soap despener slowly and carefully.

* Um, maybe don't let the gas gauge get quite that low ever again? Hmm? Sound like a plan? Mmmkay.

Oh, and I completely forgot to mention in yesterday's entry that I suddenly and inexplicably broke out with big, red pulsating zits all over my face. Gah! Thank you so very, very much! The worst offender is a great glowing red lump on my chin that hurts like the Dickens, and will take forever and a day to disappear. Gah!

March 28, 2005
Monday, Monday

Monday, Monday, can't trust that day. Monday, Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way.

Boy, the Mamas and the Papas sure had that right! This was one of those Mondays that was so totally a Monday, it couldn't have been worse if it'd been Friday the 13th!

* I forgot to turn the heat back on Sunday evening. (Even though our thermostat is programmable for weekdays, it just runs all weekend unless you shut it off. We don't need heat on during the day, so we shut it off in the morning, and turn it back on again at night. Unless we forget, like I did.) It was only 60 degrees in the house when I got up, and while that's hardly freezing, it is a bit brisk.

* I made the coffee, but forgot to turn the machine on, and didn't realize it until I went out to get my first cup. Gah! Luckily our new coffee maker brews pretty fast!

* As I was driving to work my low-gas indicater started flashing. I totally forgot that I was low on gas. Gah!

* When I was washing my hands in the ladies room, the soap dispenser shot pink liquid soap onto my shirt and cardigan. Gah!

* I suddenly realized my wallet was in my mom's car. In my garage. At home.

* I suddenly realized I couldn't buy gas.

* I suddenly realized I was driving without a license!!

* I drove home, very carefully with the low-gas indicator light flashing the whole way, the arrow pointing below the "E", and praying the entire time. I went 45mph over the Grade, and 55 - 60mph the rest of the way. (I've heard that driving slowly conserves gas.) I know I pissed people off. I'm sorry! I'm out of gas! And, I have no money!!

Phew! Luckily, I made it all the way home, grabbed my wallet, and ran down to put gas in my car. I checked the trip meter and found I'd managed to squeeze 424 miles out of that tank of gas, which gave me a MPG of 40! I love my car. I really do! Another Monday like this one, however, I can totally do without!

March 25, 2005
A Very Good Friday

Today being Good Friday, the office gave us the afternoon off. In a perfect world, I would've been a good girl and gone to church, but we all know this is not a perfect world, and I am far from a good girl. I decided rather than go home and mow the lawn like a responsible homeowner, I would instead to go downtown, treat myself to lunch, and browse the funky little shops that have made Downtown San Luis Obispo famous. It was a perfect day for that: sunshine, blue sky, a few fluffy white clouds, and a slight breeze.

Greetings from Sunny California!

I had lunch at Mission Grill, and got a table on the patio by the creek. At the sandwich shop across the creek, a guy was playing classical guitar, and the music drifted over the dozens of Birds of Paradise and into my ears. I dined on chicken Caesar salad and sipped Chardonnay, and all my cares, worries, and stresses melted away.

A view from my table at the Mission Grill.

Birds of Paradise.

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.

After my delicious lunch, I headed down to Jim's Campus Camera for a box of Polaroid SX-70 film. I purchased an SX-70 camera some time ago off Ebay with the intention of playing around with photo manipulation, but have had a devil of a time finding the dang film! I searched grocery stores and drug stores, Kmart, Target and Wal-Mart with no luck. Luckily Jim's keeps it in stock!

I went to California Blonde next, hoping to find out if any of my consignment stuff has sold, and if not, to get the stuff back so I can sell it myself on Ebay. Sadly, CB was closed for the day, so I'll have to try again another time. Gah! I stopped into Penelope's, which has been going out of business for about three months, now, but saw nothing worth buying there; ditto with Therapy, a funky little shop that carries funky stuff like Sigmund Freud action figures and seatbelt purses. It was quite disappointing.

The infamous and rather disgusting Bubblegum Alley.

It is seriously gross, but fascinating at the same time.

Apparently Mike is fond of Bonnie.

Around 3pm I gave up on San Luis, and headed down to Santa Maria to shop at Avenue. As opposed to the last time I tried shopping there, I managed to find several nice items to enhance my spring wardrobe: I picked up a white cami with built-in bra, and a new white tank top (which I love to lounge around the house in, but the white always gets dirty so quickly, and eventually turns a nasty yellow colour), a pair of lavender twill capris, a pair of light grey trouser capris, a embroidered white blouse and a pink and black floral blouse. I was quite thrilled with my purchases, and will have to go through my closet to make room for them this weekend.

I returned to SLO and had a rather nice pedicure at the Sky Nail Spa, which is next to the Borders where I was planning on finishing up my shopping. I originally planned on getting a nice light lavender colour, but found a darker, bolder purple, and went with that instead. Unlike the nail place I normally go to, this one had a large flat-screen television, and cushier chairs. Mmmm. I'm not saying I'm going to switch, but the pedi was only three dollars more than what I pay at the other place, and the young man did just as good a job as the girls at Marigold, so who knows. Maybe. After the pedi I headed over to Borders to pick up some new music - Zoegirl Room to Breathe, and Jet Get Born (based on the recommendation by Lori). I was hoping to pick up the new CD by Everlife, but it wasn't in stock. Neither was the DVD I ordered nearly three weeks ago (Starsky and Hutch: The Complete Third Season), which is getting really annoying, but maybe it's just that popular, who knows?

I left with plenty to keep me busy, but just out of curiosity, I went next door to Best Buy to see if they had either the CD or DVD I wanted, but they didn't. I did stand and drool over the new iPod Photo for a few moments, which was beyond temping, but I resisted. Do I want it? Hell, yeah! Do I really need it? I don't know.

Anyway, I got home at about my usual time after a quick stop at the grocery store, and am now slightly buzzed on Chardonnay, and ready to hit the sack. How sad is that? It's only 9:30 on a Friday evening, and I'm ready for bed! Gah!

March 23, 2005
Photo Entry

This morning as I was pulling into San Luis, I saw a beautiful rainbow in the sky.

When I got to work, I managed to get a few really good photographs of it.

That's all I have today. Cheers!

March 19, 2005
WeetaCon: The Ending

I don't know why it's taken me so long to finish up my Weetacon entry. I guess I thought if I didn't write about it, it would never really end. We could all still be there, in Green Bay, going on sleigh rides, passing the Doctor and the Jack, and singing Karaoke, forever.

But, the fact is, it did end. Sunday came, we all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

There really isn't much more for me to write about my final day in Green Bay. Sunday afternoon, Weet and I hung out for a few hours, drinking coffee in the Starbucks with the drive-thru window, and wandering through the Wildlife Sanctuary looking at some beautiful birds of prey and trying to feed the already fed ducks and Canada geese. We had planned to do more, but were both pretty beat, and elected to just call it a night. I had dinner at the hotel restaurant and read my book. I soaked in the whirlpool tub one last time, got my bags all packed and ready to go, and ended up getting to bed by 10pm. It's sad. I just can't party like I used to.

The next morning I spent about a half hour indulging in the wonderful rainfall shower, then checked out of the totally awesome Saint Brendan's Inn. Weet met me there and drove me to the airport. After two beautiful, warm sunny days, the cold and snow returned. I had been contemplating a move to Green Bay - going so far as to scan the Want Ads for a paralegal position, and estimating just how big a house I could afford to buy. But, with the freezing wind blowing the freezing cold snow sideways at the airport, I changed my mind. Sorry, Weet, love ya, but I'm going back to Cali!

I decided to just check all my bags (except for the Shop-Co bag with my Cheese Head Hat, my book, and a few other Green Bay/Packers goodies I picked up in the airport, and my wallet) right there at the airport. I knew I would be sitting in Cincinnati for four hours, and I just didn't feel like dealing with the backpack from hell. So, I checked it. Cost me something like $40 to check that third piece of luggage, but at the time it was well worth it. My flights were uneventful, and even the time spent in Cincinnati was not too bad. I was in Concourse B this time, so I had new stores to browse through and new restaurants to choose from. LA was easy, too, and it was there I finished The Graveyard Game by Kage Baker, which was another in her fantastic Company series, and started getting a blister on my heel from the Faux Uggs. But it didn't matter, because I was almost home, and everything was going smoothly.

It was when we were descending into San Luis Obispo that it hit me: my car keys are still in the backpack I checked in Green Bay! Man. If that bag gets lost, I'm screwed.

I'm sure you can guess what happened next. In fact, you could probably write the rest of this entry for me, the outcome is so damn obvious: the backpack didn't make it. In fact none of my bags made it to SLO. And, nobody knew where they were!

"They might be on the next flight from LA," I was told. "Sometimes the bags don't make that connection between Delta and American Eage, so they just put them on the next flight."

"Okay," I said. "Well, can you check to see if they are, in fact, on that flight? I have the numbers and bar codes and stuff right here."

"Oh, no, we can't tell exactly where they are."

"So, you don't even know if they left Green Bay?"

"Um, no, but I'm sure they did. They'll either be on this next flight or the first one in the morning."

"Er, okay." (What I wanted to say was, "So lemme get this straight: UPS and FedEx can tract my packages to the exact shelf they're sitting on at the warehouse, or what truck they're being delivered in, and can even tell me what time they'll be delivered, but Delta/American Eagle can't tell me if my three bags with bar codes on them are on the next plane from LA, or if they even left Green Bay? Are you kiding me?!" But, I didn't.) Gah!

*sigh*

I ended up just filling out a Missing Luggage Report for all three bags. The next flight from LA wouldn't be there for another hour and a half, and I just didn't feel like waiting; particularly since they couldn't even guarantee my bags would be on it. So, I caught a ride home in a taxi, and drank heavily upon arrival. I bitched and moaned to my mom about it for about an hour, then broke down into hysterics. Because it's funny, really. I mean, how stupid could I be to check the bag that has my car keys in it? I always have my car keys with me. ALWAYS!! Gah!

Still, everything turned out okay: the next day I caught a ride over to the airport to pick up my car (with my spare key), and decided to check and see if my bags had in fact arrived. They had. On the following flight. I played "coulda, shoulda, woulda" all the way home, but finally decided that was a waste of time. I had my bags, I had my car keys, and I had my car. And, I still had a day and a half before I had to return to work. AND, by some delicious twist of fate, I didn't get sick!

And, so now it is truly over. I'm back at work, my Wisconsin accent has disappeared (although, periodically, I can stretch a vowel out for a few extra seconds), and instead of shoveling show off my sidewalk and scraping ice off my windshield, I'm mowing my lawn and pulling weeds. It was the best weekend I've had in a long, long time. I can't wait till next time!

March 18, 2005
The To-Do List

Things to Do This Weekend

Kind of a lame topic for a journal entry, I know, but it's where my head's at right now.

On the Home Front

1. Play "Clean Sweep: The Home Game", i.e., go through my closet and the bins in the garage, and get rid of old clothes and shoes I'll never wear again or simply don't like anymore.

2. Ditto with CDs, DVDs and video tapes.

3. Go through box of loose photos, scan the ones I like, and toss the rest. Organize and/or get rid of old negatives.

4. Put stuff for sale on Ebay. This week I'm thinking of doing my dad's old field scope - it's really cool, but it doesn't make for a good star-gazing-type telescope, and let's face it, I'm probably never going to go hunting (Not that I could even if I wanted to because my dad's brother stole my guns after we got back from my dad's funeral, the arsehole ... ahem ... sorry 'bout that.). I might try to sell some rubber stamps, too. I'm thinking they're going to be hard to sell; I don't know that very many people are still into stamping. Anyway ...

On the Creative Front

1. I would love to stamp something this weekend - Easter cards, or Spring cards, or even just a landscape or scene. Something! I just really, really, really want to stamp!

2. I would also like to play around with some of my photographs, make something out of them. Cards or something.

3. I'd like to take some pictures, too, but I don't know if I'll have the time.

On the Website Front

1. Reorganize journal website: reorganize entries, remove some of the more boring ones, download all to CDs for posterity. Heh.

2. Reorganize personal website, contemplate move to Moveable Type or Wordpress, reorganize photos (maybe install Gallery?), get rid of super old stuff no one reads/looks at anymore.

3. Catch up on blog/journal entries.

4. Answer e-mail.

That's probably more than enough to keep me busy on what promises to be a grey, drizzly weekend. I'll be lucky if I get half of it done!

March 8, 2005
WeetaCon: Squee!!

(Pictures are here!! Also, if I get any names and/or information wrong, please let me know and I'll fix is ASAP. The weekend went by too quickly as it was, and now it's become a blur of colours, sights, and sounds. Not that that's a bad thing. It just is. Cheers!)

Wow! What can I say about this past weekend that hasn't already been said?

Well, for one thing, I am intimately acquainted with Concourse C of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. I bet no one else can say that! (And, I'm pretty sure no one else would want to!) My original flight into Green Bay was cancelled, supposedly due to snow, and the next one wasn't leaving until the middle of the afternoon. I arrived around 5:30 a.m., and there was neither hide nor curly hair of Chauffi, so I had plenty of time to explore every nook and cranny of that lovely airport. I'm only being mildly sarcastic right there. I truly love airports - they can be a great deal of fun - but one or two hours is my limit. Spending what is basically a full workday in one? Gah! Just ... gah!

I did finally make it into Green Bay (as did Chauffi, who apparently had quite a travel adventure as well), with about an hour to spare before the bus left for the sleigh ride/traditional Wisconsin meal. I checked into my room and the Con simultaneously, and ran up to my room to dump off my luggage, don my cold-weather clothes, and freshen up. It was while I was quickly clicking pictures of my gorgeous hotel room that I realized my camera battery was near death, and I didn't have time to fully charge it. Sad, really, because there were dozens of fantastic photo opportunities on the sleigh ride and during dinner, and I only got a scant few.

We drank grog (which I used to break in my super cool pink leather flask!), the Doctor (Which Chauffi declared tasted like Liquid Candy Canes, and he is sooooo right!) and, of course, everybody's best friend Jack; we frolicked in the snow, and petted Sam and Joe (the horses; and yes, I did just suddenly realize that rhymes!); a proposal was made and accepted, and the last swig of Doctor was ceremoniously poured onto the snow by Chauffi in memory of a fellow online diarist who couldn't make the journey to Green Bay, then we headed back to the cabin for dinner, all of us flying high on the pure beauty and joy of the experience

So, what can I say about dinner? Besides, OMG, it was awesome!? Da brats? Sure, I've had brats before, but not brats done right, i.e., boiled in beer, butter and onions, grilled to perfection, then sent back to rest in a lovely beer-butter-onion bath. Cheese curds? Yes, please! And fluff? Load me up, baby, and don't be stingy with dem pretzels! Booyah? Booooooyah! It's more than just an expression of joyous victory, ya'll, it's chicken soup! The best chicken soup in the free world! So, yes. Dinner was exceptionally fantastic, thanks to Weet's delightful and talented MIL June. You rock out loud, June! You really do! Oh! And to Marcus, who made me that delicious Brandy Old Fashioned, you rock, too!

After the sleigh ride, we hit Mikey's Pub for some beverages and Karaoke. This was my first Karaoke experience (In D.C. we ended up with KaraNOke, and I missed the outtings during previous Cons), and all I can say is, WOW! There are some very talented folks in our little online journalling group! (As of this writing, the pictures (which I had to take on a disposable camera due to the dead digital camera batter) aren't back yet, but I'll hopefully have them up by this weekend!)

Saturday was sunny and warm, if you consider the mid-50s to be warm, which actually, I did. After setting up our swag in a small conference room Saint Brendan's graciously provided to us, we piled into a few cars and headed out for High Maintenance Hamburgers, which we discovered are called High Maintenance because they are located at Joe Rouer's Bar, which is very, very far away! The burgers are, however, more than worth it. Lord! Y'all? These burgers? Gah! There are no words to describe how wonderful, juicy, delicious, and totally super awesome these freakin' burgers are! They're simply incredible! And the fried cheese curds and fried onion thingies? Oh, yeah!

After that amazing lunch, I hooked up with the group going to Lambeau Field and then to ShopCo in search of cheesehead hats. As a Packers fan, it was very cool to be standing there looking up at the statium where the boys play! I got some nice shots of the two statues that stand in front of the Atrium - one of Vince Lombardi, the other of Curly Lambeau - and a few outside the stadium. We didn't have time to visit the Packer Hall of Fame or take the tour of Lambeau Field (which, now that I've checked out the schedule we couldn't have done anyway; poop on Delta for not gettin me in to Green Bay at 11:30 Friday morning! I totally could've squeezed a tour in then!), so we took our pictures, ran through the Pro Shop (Dude! You can totally buy Packers carpeting!), then headed out in search for the ShopCo, where we were told we could get cheesehead hats cheaper. (Yes, my mother is officially mortified that I purchased not only a cheesehead hat but also a Brett Farve jersey which I fully intend to wear while watching Packers games this coming season. She has promised to hide out in her room during the games.)

That evening was the trek to the Bad Bar. After returning from Lambeau, I settled in for a nap so I would be well rested for the experience, and woke up at 9:30. Gah! I contemplated getting up and going to the Bad Bar to join in the badness, but I was still a bit groggy from my extended nap, and I had my WeetaSwag wine, and the whirlpool tub was calling my name, so I decided to just stay in. I had a lovely, relaxing evening!

Gah! I was going to try to finish this in one sitting, but that's not going to happen. Part Two will come soon! (and will hopefully bring Karaoke pictures with it!) Cheers!

March 3, 2005
Gah! *face slap*

For some time now I've known I would be going to Green Bay, WI for an extended weekend of drunken debauchery with a bunch of online friends. Green Bay, WI is cold, people. Dang cold. I knew this going into it. Weetabix warned me. She gave me a list of items to wear/bring. I had plenty of time to gather the necessary items, and for the most part I have: I have a good winter coat, gloves, earmuffs, and my faux-Uggs. Sure I don't have long underwear or boiled wool socks, but seriously? Do I really need those things? How bad can it be? Exactly how much time will I be spending outside anyway? I'm only going to be there a few days, and with the exception of the sleigh ride Friday night, I'll probably be spending most of my time indoors. In crowded bars/restaurants/hotel lobbies. With dozens of other people. Yeah. I'll be fine. Besides, I can always just buy anything I need, right?

Okay, here's where I get stupid: For several months now I've been sitting on the other side of the cubicle partition from RenoGirl, who recently moved here from Nevada (hence her new nickname). Moved from Nevada being the relevant part, there, in case you missed it. She just moved here. From Nevada. Where it gets cold. And snows. A lot. Where a person needs long underwear and boiled wool socks. RenoGirl stopped by my cube at 8:30 this morning to squee excitedly with me about my trip to the Frozen Tundra, and to ask did I have everything, and blah, blah, blah, when it suddenly occurred to us that she had just moved here from Nevada, and is therefore well stocked with warm winter wear.

*face slap* Gah! She totally could've hooked me up with long silk underwear and boiled wool socks, and other super warm stuff! Why didn't I think of this before? She sits right over there! I talk to her every day! I know she's from Reno! Gah! *sigh* It's too late now - I'm all packed. Maybe next time I'll use the brain God gave me, and go off on vacation better prepared.

for what it's worth,
lmj (alias hez)