October 2008 Archives

"Fringe" caught my interest when I first heard about it, primarily because of how similar it sounded to "The X-Files." It doesn't hurt any that it has Joshua Jackson in it, either. I meant to check it out on Hulu but kept forgetting until this week, and once I saw the pilot, I was hooked, for a few reasons.

The subject matter: "Fringe" deals with unusual events and is similar enough to "The X-Files" to fill that void for me. In fact, I kind of like "Fringe" a wee bit more because it doesn't just leave things dangling as paranormal events, it delves a little bit more into the scientific possibilities behind them.

Joshua Jackson: I used to grit my teeth through Dawson's Creek just for Pacey, and now I can see him every week (sort of) without having to listen to Paula Cole too. (When I called my sister this week to squeak excitedly at her about the show, her first response to the Joshua Jackson point was, "Ohhh. But...isn't he getting kind of old?" He's two years older than I am. I SUPPOSE some people consider 30 "old," but I'll continue to think that it's not.)

The level of detail: I love the little things that are woven into the episodes - clues to the next episode, the repeated appearances of The Observer (even before the episode where he's a major player), subtle references to Massive Dynamics, etc. - and the attention to detail outside of the episodes as well, to include a pretty comprehensive Massive Dynamics website.

I'm not crazy about everything on the show, but I like it enough that I'm glad it was picked up for a full season, and I'm very interested in seeing how the bigger "Fringe" picture comes together.

I'm pretty sure my pups are allergic to something in their food. I plan to have them tested for allergies when I take them all in to have their teeth cleaned in January, but in the meantime, I'm trying to eliminate some of the more common allergens from their diet (starting with corn and wheat), and in my quest to take good care of my dogs, it appears that I may have stumbled on the smelliest dog food evar: Purina's Pro Plan salmon and brown rice formula. I knew it was going to be a smelly food when I grabbed the bag off the shelf at PetSmart and caught a whiff of salmon, but that didn't prepare me for how strong it would be after I actually opened the bag. The dogs love it, of course, but their breath right after they eat? HORRIBLE. I'm currently mixing the new food half-and-half with their old food to transition them to it, and I'm a little worried that once they start eating just the new food, I'll have to try to explain to them why Mama doesn't want kisses until after they've had a bowlful (or three) of water.

I have a midterm to take after work today, so I'm busy studying, procrastinating, and panicking, although not necessarily in that order. 100 questions - all multiple choice or t/f, thankfully. The class average at this point? 51.8%. Holy shit, that does nothing to make me feel any more confident about this thing. What this means is that really all you'll hear out of me till at least 5pm is, "Meep! Exam!"

According to this article from MSNBC, the Virginia State Board of Elections voted yesterday that Virginians aren't allowed to wear clothing, hats, buttons, or "other paraphernalia that directly advocate the election or defeat of a specific candidate or issue" on Election Day this coming November. I haven't been able to confirm this yet with the Board of Elections - I didn't see anything on their website about it, and I've been on hold for over half an hour to try to speak with someone about this - so I'm interested to hear what they have to say about it whenever someone finally picks up the phone.

Personally, I don't see how a t-shirt or button is any different from walking in with literature that I've been given by one of the people outside the polling place. If someone is going to be intimidated by a candidate t-shirt, that's a pretty sad state of affairs, and if someone is going to get pissy with another voter because they don't like who or what their "paraphernalia" is promoting, that is even sadder. When did it become necessary for the government to act like a babysitter to adults?

My eyebrow ring fell out sometime between when I went to bed on Thursday and when I took a shower Friday morning. It's still AWOL, so I haven't had one in since Friday, and so far no one has noticed it until I call their attention to it. My family and co-workers may not notice anything different, but I feel like I'm missing a limb. It feels really weird to dry my face off after a shower and not have the towel tug on my left eyebrow anymore. I tried getting a new ring over the weekend, but after a painful attempt to put the new ring through the hole in my eyebrow, I realized that one shop's idea of a starter eyebrow ring is not necessarily the same as another's, so I had to turn to the internets for a new eyebrow ring - one that is the correct gauge this time. I got an e-mail yesterday letting me know that it had shipped, so I'm going to be haunting the mailbox this week, hoping that I can finally have an eyebrow ring in again by the time the weekend is here.

When assured by the ER that, yes, they got the insurance info for your husband, they ALWAYS get that, that may or may not actually be the case. And if it is not the case, be prepared to spend two-thirds of the next two days on the phone with billing companies trying to give them said insurance info so they can get more money than they would if they actually expected you to pay that entire bill by yourself. Most of that time will be spent trying to call a company with extremely unhelpful business hours and vague "out to lunch, call back soon" messages.

If you've been on hold for hours over 20 minutes, make sure you've actually pressed the "speaker" button before you put the receiver down to finish out your hold-time on speakerphone, because if you don't press it and accidentally hang up on your call, when you immediately call back to start the process all over again, the billing department will be closed. At 3:30pm.

When I read distracted spunk's words this morning as I was catching up on the internets, this part in particular hit home:

I'm tired of falseness. I'm tired of perceived relationships that faded out years ago and pretensions and status updates from people who can't type words properly. Let the past be the past. I know who my friends are and I know who will be there when the chips fall. I know who I want to keep friendly tabs on, and I know who I could care less about. I'm tired of trying to be something I'm not, and until I am, I'm not all that interested in being social.

While I'm not in the same place she is, I am working on figuring out who I am and refining myself until I'm the person I am capable of being, or at least closer to it than I am now. As the saying goes, "Be true to yourself." I'm trying to do this, and at the same time I'm trying to learn more about who the self I'm being true to is. This year has marked the beginning of that journey, especially the past few months as we move into fall and winter. As the season changes over, I find myself more motivated to make changes too. There have been casualties online and in real life as I asses relationships and determine how or if they fit with my current path. I'm actually doing things when I say I will instead of putting them off endlessly. The discipline I've allowed myself to slack on for so long is slowly being reintroduced, and I'm finding I'm much happier for it.

Mike and I picked up Iron Man over the weekend, which meant we had a date to watch it again that night. I still love it every bit as much as when we saw it in the theater. I also loved watching some of the behind-the-scenes special features. The more RDJr, the better! We watched some of the cut scenes, too, and, as much as it pains me to say it, I think the movie was better off without them. I might feel differently if I'd seen the movie with them first, but having seen it as-is, there's no way that adding them back in would make it any better.

My thoughts on the bailout situation as expressed through a small collection of comments I've posted/letters I've written:

Mr. Wittman/Webb/Warner,

I am writing to you this morning to express my concerns about the current bailout solution. I feel that the pressure to find and implement a solution immediately may cause people to make hasty decisions about a quick-fix answer to the problem. I am not pleased that some elected officials want to use my tax-payer dollars to help bail out businesses, especially when the CEOs of some of those businesses have extravagantly large salaries and bonuses, etc. I hope you will vote against passing the bailout measure(s) until a solution is proposed that is not a hasty solution to the problem - a solution that will help keep our country strong instead of continuing the trend of the government "rescuing" businesses that cannot make it on their own, especially ones that are having problems because of circumstances of their own making.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Kate

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Something bad happens, our leaders rush into a solution, never mind whether or not that solution will actually make things better. How about they address the nation: Look, this situation sucks. We are aware of that, and we're aware of the plight of so many of our fellow countrymen and constituents. We want to make the right decision and find a solution that will benefit those impacted by this situation, but we don't want to rush into a solution that will eventually prove to be the wrong one. Because of this, we are going to hold a series of meetings over the next few weeks to discuss the situation and work together to determine the best way to handle this. Please understand our concern and be patient while we work to find that solution.

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I DETEST the current "sky is falling" hand-flapping attitude. The airlines are in the red? OH NOES, BAIL THEM OUT. Mortgage companies gave pricy loans to people who didn't really qualify? USE THE TAX-PAYERS' MONEY, SAVE THE MORTGAGE COMPANIES!!1!1! I'm going to have high blood pressure by the time this is all over with.

This is how Max ends up whenever the puppies sleep with us in the big people bed. She always starts off under the covers by our feet, but by the time we wake up, there she is, head and shoulders on a pillow, the rest of her under the covers - and, more often than not, it's my pillow she winds up sleeping on.

It took me over 2.5 hours to get in to work today. OVER 2.5 HOURS. I live approximately 26 miles from work, give or take one or two, and with the traffic it took me 2.25 hours to go ~16 miles. Insane. However, all is not lost! Thanks to my pretty little PDA I was able to enter a month's worth of receipts into my financial spreadsheet while I and my fellow commuters were at a standstill. Walking in and being able to shred a wad of receipts right off the bat helped calm me down a little bit, although I still wish I'd been in a position to just turn around and go home.

• I bought a rice cooker yesterday. I am fantastic cook except when it comes to rice, so when I was in Target yesterday and saw one for under $15, I picked it up. Mike and the kids will appreciate non-crunchy rice, I think.
• Last night I ordered this. I'm not a huge tea drinker, and I've never played with loose tea before, but it has a dachshund on the tin. How can I NOT buy it? I also ordered a couple of other samples (chai and chocolate flake) and an infusing wheel so I can give the tea a proper try when it arrives.
• Thyme does not work well in chicken pot pies, or at least not in the recipe I make.
• Fall is supposed to be here but it's still hot outside. This makes me sad until I walk outside to go to work in the mornings and it's delightfully chilly. Cuddling in the fall and winter is so much more appealing than summertime cuddles.
• I currently have a 94 in my network security class. It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I'm still counting down the weeks (8 assignment weeks left!) till it's over. I will be thrilled when I finally have my Associates.
• As of yesterday, I was 7 weeks post-surgery. My incisions are healing nicely (after an at-home stitch removal episode last week - dissolving stitches do not always dissolve, apparently), I'm cleared to go back to life as normal again as long as I take it easy, and my original pains are gone. I'm very grateful to not need painkillers anymore.
• I've been on a productive streak lately. It feels fantastic to get things done and be able to mark them off a to-do list, and I feel even better about it knowing that I haven't put it off for over a month first. Having said that, there are three loads of laundry that I need to fold and put away this afternoon.
• I saw a 2009 Iron Man calendar yesterday while I was getting the batteries in my watches replaced. Much to my dismay, it was all pictures of Iron Man in his suit, none of RDJr. I put it back sadly and moved on to the doxie calendars.
• Now that my watches work again I can tell the time without relying on my cell phone. This makes me feel a bit more like an adult.