October 26, 2012

Friday Tunes

Day 18: A Song I Wish I Heard on the Radio

2011: "Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenocerous" by Flight of the Conchords



What I said: "They really should play Flight of the Conchords on the radio..."

2012: "Velvet Elvis" by Alex Winston



I absolutely love Alex Winston. According to the top comments this video was somehow involved in a Google Chrome ad. I'm gonna go all hipster on you, but I was an Alex Winston fan WAY before any Chrome ad. 8P

October 19, 2012

Friday Tunes

Day 17: A Song I Hear Often on the Radio

2011: "Rumor Has It" by Adele


What I said: "I really like this one. Her voice is amazing, and the song is fun."


2012: "Good Time" by Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen


I think it's funny that I was bashing Adele's music in my last Friday Tunes post and back in 2011 she was just getting popular and I really enjoyed her music. I really hope they aren't still playing this song as much as they are now next year. For to I like it enough for it to amuse me (most of the time), but I will lose my mind if they keep playing it. Also? Dude in Owl City is waay to old to be around all those kids. Creeper.

October 17, 2012

TMI Baby Update (This is a long one!)

tl;dr: No babies for three months! (Starting back in August.)

If you've been keeping up with these (I know you haven't 8P), I haven't posted one in awhile.

No, I'm not pregnant! Goodness gracious... I just got on a new kind of birth control - the Depo Provera shot. I wanted to get the Implanon Rod, but my doctor told me people can have weird side effects from it and decide it's not worth it. But if you don't leave it in for at least a year, you lose money (compared to other forms of BC, like the pill). Once you've had it in for a year or two (it lasts three years) you've saved money (compared to other forms of BC, like the pill). So, anyway - the shot has the same hormones (read: same side effects) as the rod, it's just less of a commitment. It only lasts three months, instead of three years. And the idea of it freaks me out less. That rod is freaking huge (that's what she said) to be shoving it into my arm! I mean, they numb the skin and everything, but geeze...freaky.

So...yeah - Depo Provera. I've had it in for about two months now. No period the first month, which was sweet! But then I spotted for an entire month. >.< For those of you who don't know - "spotting" is when you don't really have a period, but you bleed a little. I knew it was a potential side effect, so I didn't really care at first. I just used it as a way to finally throw away some old underwear. 8D But then it didn't go away! I finally started using super-light tampons. I only needed them for the first half of the day - wore one until just after lunch then tossed it. So, yeah - not a HUGE deal, but it was annoying. It finally stopped this past week, though!

And now I don't know what to do. I want to get the shot ASAP because I want to leave it in for as long as possible (we're planning on starting to try to have kids somewhere around August 2015 which is now just under three years). But if I'm going to have month-long periods (or worse - the doctor said it's pretty bad for having "irregularly irregular" periods, in that you never know when you're going to have one, how long it's going to last, or how heavy it's going to be), I'm not sure I want to commit to living with it for three years. BUT! I did read (and the doctor confirmed) that most of the side effects wear off after the first year - once your body adjusts to the hormones. Sooo....is it worth it then?

Then - ANOTHER hitch in the plan - I just got offered a permanent position at work (yayayayay!). Which is great...except that puts a huge '?' on top of my insurance. I'm not sure when my official start date is here, but once it happens I won't have insurance for a month. And then I won't have the same insurance I have now. So I may not even be able to go back to the same doctor (that I only just started going to because the insurance I got through the contracting agency didn't cover the doctor I've been going to for the past six years). Oy!

And that's my baby update!

October 15, 2012

(Mis)Adventures in Cooking

Okay, so even more than my weekend plans had already fallen apart....my weekend plans fell apart.

Friday I did buy groceries. I did not finish that stupid photo book (the bane of my existence). I did do laundry. (I just didn't get it put away!)

Saturday I slept in supa late, so I did not get the bathroom organized. I did go shoot with Mr. T and Company - well, I did not shoot, but I did go! I did get the bedroom organized! Mostly. I started on the filing cabinet. I would say I'm 95% done. I did vacuum the house downstairs, which was supposed to happen on Sunday. But go me for getting stuff done early! And we did take Tony out to eat. OM NOM NOM

Sunday. Oh, Sunday. This is where all the things fell apart. I did vacuum - on Saturday. Can't find the dustpan, though, so I did not sweep. Well, I tried to sweep. Mr. T is sick, so we did not go to church or his grandmother's for lunch. We did get ready to go to the wedding. And we did even leave FOR the wedding. However, I did not take into account the time zone change. So we left in time to get there at 5:00...Central Time. The wedding was in the Eastern Time Zone, though. So we would have been an hour late. >.< So we did not go to the wedding. Which really freed up our Sunday evening. 8P Which means I did get to cook my Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup! Which prompted this post...

Let me give a blow-by-blow of all the near-fails of this cooking experience.

First, shopping:

  1. Olive Oil didn't transfer over to my shopping list for some reason, so I didn't buy any.
    • Used vegetable oil instead!
  2. Somehow I picked up vegetable broth instead of chicken broth (still don't know how this happened).
    • Oh, well - use vegetable broth instead!
  3. Where the F do you find "chipotle chili in adobo sauce"????
    • Never did find it - looked it up and it just makes things spicy...so left it out!
  4. Didn't find cilantro, either.
    • Don't really think it's necessary, move on!
  5. I had scallions on my list, AND green onions (for another recipe). Had no clue what scallions were, so had to look them up. They're green onions...
    • Didn't end up using them, anyway. Too lazy to cut them up for a topping.
  6. Didn't buy sour cream.
    • It's optional, and gross.
Now, the cooking:
  1. Does anyone know how to mince garlic? I just chopped it up into tiny pieces. WORKED.
    • Also, sauteing the onions and garlic? SMELLED AMAZING.
  2. The super nice can opener I'd bought suddenly decided to stop working! I mean, it's not that nice - you still have to hand crank it. But it stopped working!
    • Had to use our super ghetto old can openers. They get the job done, but aren't as easy to turn as the new one (used to be).
  3. Made a huge mess opening the tomato sauce.
    • Still don't know what happened there.
  4. Defrosting the chicken was a nightmare. I had just thrown it in the freezer when I got back from Kroger on Friday (bought the kind that comes on the Styrofoam with the little juice collector at the bottom), so it was all frozen together. 
    • Tried running hot water over it and burned the crap out of my hands (Mr. T still hasn't turned the hot water heater down from "boil"). Took it forever to thaw enough for me to pull all that off to thaw it in the microwave, but by then it was so thawed it started to COOK while "thawing" in the microwave!
  5. Don't have measuring spoons (wtf, me?!).
    • I had to guesstimate with an eating spoon that I'm assuming is a teaspoon or so.
  6. The chicken was a little tough (I'm assuming from getting half-cooked in the microwave), so shredding it wasn't as easy as I was led to believe by my own brain when I read the directions earlier. 
    • I got it hacked up anyway. Some of the pieces are a bit too big to pick up with a spoon, though. OH WELL.
All-in-all it turned out alright. The chicken was a bit tough and tasteless - it didn't absorb flavors like it should've after soaking in the crock pot for 5 hours. I blame it on the microwave over-defrosting it. Next time (if I plan ahead enough) I'll just defrost it in the refrigerator for 24 hours like you're supposed to.


October 12, 2012

Friday Tunes

Day 16: A Song I Used to Love but Now Hate

2011: "Bangers, Beans and Mash" by Infant Sorrow


What I said: Haha - just kidding! Still love Infant Sorrow. I just couldn't think of a song I now hate. I tend to either like it immediately or dislike it. Occasionally I'll start liking one I didn't before, once I've heard it enough and it's a stupid freaking catchy pop song (Katy Perry), but I've never gone the other way. That I can think of.


2012: "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele



Okay, so I don't *hate* this song. I'm just sooooo sick of hearing it! Adele EXPLODED on the music scene, and I was all over it. Loved her! But radio stations latched on to about 2 or 3 of her songs and are STILL playing them allllll the d*mn time! She's got more songs!

Weekend Plans

Gah! I have to get back in the habit of blogging again! So sorry!! Anyway, here is my schedule for this weekend. Let's see how closely I follow it...

Friday: Buy groceries.
Go home, finish the photo book I started forEVER ago - the one for our Secret Santa LAST. YEAR.
Do laundry.
Saturday: Get our bathroom organized.
Go shooting with Mr. T, his Manager, and Manager's GF. >.<
Get our bedroom organized.
Get the filing cabinet sorted and in the bedroom.
Put all our important papers in the filing cabinet before we lose them!
Take Tony out to eat because we owe him an Olive Garden meal. 8P
Sunday: Vacuum/sweep the house.
Church.
Eat with Mr. T's grandmother.
Start my Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada so we can have it for dinner.
Vacuum/sweep the house.

Balls! I forgot about the wedding on Sunday! All my plans are ruined! And by "ruined" I mean altered slightly. 8P

I did a GIS for "madness" and got this. I guess it's a band?

October 10, 2012

Well Hello There

Long time no chat, blogosphere.

I don't really have anything to say now, either. I just feel bad that I haven't posted in so long. My life has been pretty dull lately. I mean, what with buying a house and getting a permanent job offer from my company...Mom being in the hospital for three days...eh - what is there to talk about?

I guess it's because I spend all day in front of a computer at work. Eight hours staring at a screen, you don't really want to go home and stare at another screen. Plus, Miss C and I are trying to start up a workout regime (keep up with it on our blog!) and I am trying to unpack, even though I never have any free time to get anything done!

My photographer friend, along with her husband and their roommate, came over Monday night for spaghetti and The Avengers. Yesterday Miss C and I walked the dogs then got down to the very serious business of watching stupid stuff on TV. Love It or List It, TMZTattoo Master, and some sort of tattoo show like Restaurant Nightmares or whatever it's called. Tonight is more dog walking and hopefully some exercise, instead of reverting to our natural state (vegetative).

October 5, 2012

Bit of a Scare

Dad calls me at 6:00am yesterday. I honestly didn't think about it - Sister said it freaked her out immediately. I'm generally oblivious at 6:00am. Well, anway, Dad says "I took your mom to the ER this morning - just a bit of a heart thing." Well now I'm awake! He told me they were transferring her to the hospital an hour away from my hometown (two hours away from my now-town) because the doctors there were more specialized. I asked if he thought I should go to the hospital and he said "Oh, no - carry on with business as usual."

Now, my dear darling father is terrible at letting you know about serious things. Mom was in the ER a few months ago and none of the kids knew until THREE DAYS LATER. So I had no idea how serious this was. I sent Sister a text along the lines of "What are your plans with this Mom thing? Should we go see her? Did you get more from Dad than 'It's a heart thing'?" Sister calls me about 30 minutes later almost in tears. She's talked to Mama N who talked to our parents' pastor who had actually seen Mom in the ER. He said she didn't look good at all and they were originally planning on airlifting her, but it was too foggy.

So of course we decide to go.

Apparently she felt bad all day on Wednesday and noticed her blood pressure was a little high before she went to bed (she's been monitoring it for her Primary Care doctor). She woke up with a bad headache around 4:00am and took some medicine. At some point she stopped being able to breathe. So they finally decided she should probably go to the ER. And not tell their children for about two hours. 8P

By the time we get there (the story could be much longer and less interesting - you're welcome) Mom is feeling much better. They have her on oxygen and she's able to breathe and talk without any problems. They determined she had fluid on her lungs. Sister was guessing (I'm not sure if a doctor every confirmed this) that Mom had had fluid on her lungs for at least a couple of months - Mom has had trouble sleeping for awhile.

We sit around all day and finally a doctor comes in. He listens to her lungs and asks her a bajillion questions. He tells her the fluid is the main concern - her inability to breathe probably caused her to panic and then raised her blood pressure. They need to figure out what caused the fluid and she will most definitely be in the hospital all weekend. Then Sister, Dad, and I all leave. Dad has to go pick up some clothes and stuff for Mom and Sister and I need to get back home.

On our way home, Mama N calls us - another doctor came in and checked Mom out. He said the high blood pressure strained her heart and caused fluid to build up on her lungs, so all they need to do is straighten out her blood pressure and she should be fine. She should be able to go home today (Friday, that is). So...who's right? Mom's going with Doc #2, because she wants to come home. :)

They did an echocardiogram on her this morning but I don't think they have the results back. I haven't heard anything, anyway. So still no work on if she's going to be in the hospital another day. Mom's feeling fine, though. Said she thinks she's all back to normal. Which, with Mom, "back to normal" still isn't all that great. ;)

Oh, hey - I just realized tonight is homecoming at my old high school. I was going to go to that. Mmm....I don't think I am anymore.

October 3, 2012

This is (Part 3 of) a Story of a Girl

Alright, Parts 1 and 2 should be linked now...


So....this is how our (mine and MC's) “friendship” ended:

My office was on the fourth floor of the building. His was on the third, where all our classes were. Often when our last class would get out at 7:30pm, I just wanted to go home. Screw walking up an entire flight of stairs - I would just leave all my books and stuff in his office and pick them up the next day. Well, on this fine day I went to his office to get my laptop, or something. His office was open, but he wasn’t inside (this NEVER happened). I walked over to get my laptop and realized his computer wasn’t locked, either!! Mind. Blown.

I get on his IM account and message our mutual friend Cheese. I’m like “CHEESE - WHAT DO I DO?!?!” Cheese, realizing this is a golden moment that may never be replicated, is on board and suggests I rearrange his office. Brilliant idea, Cheese! As I’m chatting with her, I notice his browser is open to a page explaining the difference between the two...terms?...e.g. and i.e. I’ve never understood the difference, so I was like...whatev - he probably needed it for something and who just knows that off the top of their heads? WEIRDOS.

Since Cheese and I were in agreement, I decided to rearrange his office. All the chairs got moved to the center of the room...I put all the small items in either the fridge, microwave, or filing cabinets. And honestly that’s about it. I had no idea when he was going to show back up and I didn’t want to get caught. At the beginning of the semester he had gotten into my office and screwed with my monitors so badly it had taken me like 30 minutes to get them straightened out. We all had dual monitors - he had switched mine so left was on the right and right was on the left, turned one vertical, and I don’t know what else. I say that just so you know why I thought this kind of joke would be okay.

Anyway, I go back up to my office and log on to Facebook. And there in my newsfeed is a post by Mr. MC himself, discussing his thesis. It was some pompous status about how great his thesis was. I don’t remember the exact wording, but he used either e.g. or i.e. (I’m sure he used the correct one, too.) I was like “teehee” and commented along the lines of “Is this why you had that “e.g. vs. i.e.” site pulled up on your computer?!” See what I did there? I let him know that *I* was the culprit behind the office destruction. I’m so clever!!

Well, anyway. He’s a douche, so his rebuttal was something about how he wanted to make sure he did things right, but a good example of failure would be some of the homework assignments I had turned in. Well now. I told you before how he was pissing me off more and more frequently the last year or so we were friends....and this really pissed me off. So I cut deep (and spoke the truth) - I said a real example of failure would be his own personal life. Ooohhhhh......ouch. So that pissed him off. He deleted all my comments. (HARSH MOVE, MAN!)

I forget where he posted it, but he said that his retaliation against me would happen soon and you’d know it when I started freaking out. So I vowed right then to not let anyone know when it happened. Especially him. Later that evening (or maybe the next one), I was working on a project for one of my classes. I finished it up and a few minutes later someone asked a question, so I opened my file back up and showed them what I had done. Then I just left it up for awhile and did some other stuff...eventually went to close it and my default close was a save and close (“:wq” in VIM - took a long time to break that habit when I started my all MS all the time job). Well it said I couldn’t access the file anymore. I was like...that’s weird...but figured it was just because I had left it open so long my session had timed out or something.

The next day Little Hippo came up to me and told me MC had told him what he’d done. I guess it had been too long without any acknowledgement, so he had to tell someone. He had logged on to Ranger as root and removed all the permissions on all my files. Instantly pissed - I realized that’s why my file had messed up the day before. If he had done it 15 minutes earlier, I would have been working on that file and unable to save my work. Remembering my vow, I said not a word on FB or to MC. I got with my non-douchey-but-smart office-mate and we got it all fixed in about 20 minutes.

But....I kept thinking about it, and about how much he could have broken. And just kept getting more pissed. I had already had a bad semester with KC - reached a breaking point and emailed the head of the dept about him....so maybe I was just in a tattling mood. But I emailed the CS Lab Admin and told him the whole story. And he got super pissed, too. Told me MC could get expelled for such a serious abuse of power. Instead, he decided to give him a taste of his own medicine and removed all his privileges on Ranger.

Well, what the lab admin didn’t know was that MC had a big demo of his thesis project on campus the next day. It wouldn’t affect his thesis or graduation or anything - it was just a way for the best and brightest of each dept to show off to the uppity-ups of the university. He had won it the year before. I guess he didn’t test anything prior to his demo, though... When the dean of Basic and Applied Sciences showed up, MC tried to show him stuff his account was blocked.

MC texted the STUDENT lab admin (not the one who had blocked him) with the succinct text of “Fix my accounts - now.” And this guy (the one who is married to my photographer friend, actually) had not a clue what had happened. So he was like...f you - you’re not my boss. And ignored him. So...I’m guessing MC didn’t win that year. :D

A bunch of stuff happened after that, but none of it memorable. I had to talk to the CS Lab Admin and the chair of the dept, explain my side of the story. It was so stupid. I fluctuated between feeling bad that it had all gone down (feeling like it was my fault) to being pissed that MC had taken it that far (feeling like it was his fault). I really regret not having balls enough to break off our friendship years before when I realized he was a douche.

I finally sent an email to the chair, the lab admin, and MC apologizing for things getting so out of control. No one responded to it, but later the chair thanked me for it. The lab admin told me MC never admitted to having any blame and instead tried to push it all on me. And MC never talked to me again. So.... That took care of that! No more worrying about being MC’s friend.

Then I hear that he’s telling Cheese that she shouldn’t go to grad school. That there are some students who do well in grad school and some that just “get by”. And she’d obviously be one of the latter. Apparently he’s STILL telling her that. Luckily she’s ignoring him and starting grad school in the fall. Unfortunately, she’s still TALKING to him. He has told her that once he starts making friends at his new job (Oh, you didn’t hear - he’s working at Google now. Did you miss the hour-long presentation he gave about how awesome he was??) he’ll stop talking to her. I wouldn’t hold my breath on all those new friends, MC.

And finally...we reach the end of my tale (saga?). This is the reason I started writing this blog. Beardie, MC’s friend from before MC was my friend, sent me a FB message saying “I was talking to MC and he said you tried to get him kicked out of the department? That’s all he would tell me. I’d love it if you gave me the full story.”

Oy. Alllll that rage came back. So I told Beardie the full story. His reply?
Wow.... well I guess my original guess of "sexing up an undergrad in his office" was WAY off. That all sounds really awful.

He also treated me like sh!t. As soon as we graduated I pretty much discontinued any contact. We only bumped into each other a couple of times on campus after that... or rather... he came and found me when I was practicing in the music building... I must have still been driving my old car. How else would he have known? He would just tell me about all these things he was doing.. conferences I guess? I don't know. His friendship was a pretty toxic one. I avoided any ACM things after we graduated just so I wouldn't have to be around him...

Well I apologize for him being a tool to you. I honestly thought most people in the department liked him... Congratulations on graduating and finding a job!
lulz - everyone hates you, MC. Even your friends. Get a new personality.

October 2, 2012

Look at Me!

I'm posting from my new STANDING DESK in my new HOUSE! Weeeee!!!!

Weeee!!!!