Yvette's Inner Geek Blog

Reason #3,045 that I want a Mac: Delicious Monster, which is software for people with supersonic OCD. I love using LibraryThing to keep track of all of my books, but damn that Delicious Monster makes me drool. Of course I don't have a Mac. Yet.

Someday.

In the meantime, my other new favorite (and free!) application for organization is Todoist.com. I am a habitual list maker and procrastinator, and so far this magical website has both satisfied my base need for list organization and for friendly (yet hard to ignore) reminders of the stuff for which I'm procrastinating. You can upgrade for $3/month to get extra task management perks like text reminders, if you like.

I also went back to del.icio.us to help me keep track of my bookmarks. When I initially signed up a while back, I didn't quite understand why I would need to bookmark sites on a web page when all the sites I needed were in my Firefox bookmarks. After a little more time in the Web 2.0 world, and probably largely because of the fun I had with tagging my books on LibraryThing, I finally get the need and wondrous delight that comes with tagging and organizing sites on a web page. I can access my bookmarks from work (even though that's not an issue at the moment), from my old and occasionally used laptop, from a friend's computer or from anywhere.

But as ooey-gooey as I am over these organization applications and their social interaction integration, I still have a hard time embracing MySpace or Facebook. They contradict everything I ever learned about privacy on the internet, no matter how private they say that can set your profile. And while I accept them as a part of 21st century media, I do not love them.

I have, however, fallen in love with Twitter. When I'm not blogging here, chances are good that you can find me twittering here, especially now that I have a small text message plan and a QWERTY keypad on my new phone (the LG enV2).  I guess I'm not too old to be enticed by all this new stuff the kids are talking about these days.  

Posted by Yvette at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Computers & Tech | Geeky | Nerd Alert | Personal | Review | Teh Interweb

After the first full day alone in my house as a laid-off writer/editor, I've had plenty of Thinking time and Doing time and Reading time. (I'll get Exercise time tomorrow, I swear.)

The Doing time was more tedious and less rewarding than I would have liked it to be, but I tied up some loose ends with my former employer and spent some time on my resume and job sites. 

Then the Thinking time took over and caused bouts of anxiety about The Future and Becoming a Writer. Oh gawd, THIS again? Haven't I already droned on about my "becoming a writer" drama enough, like back THEN and THEN and pretty much every November when NaNoWriMo comes around? Yes, I have. And yes, it all still scares me.

Reading time was the highlight of the day for me, because I caught up on blogs, news, random internet pages, and a book that one of my coworkers loaned me a couple months ago that sat neglected on my shelf for too long (Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, which was a good YA story based on a fairy tale but with some distracting choppiness). For me, Reading time generally leads to Thinking time, which then sometimes leads to Writing time. Obviously, it's Writing time as I write this.

My friend Steev is in the throes of a defining period in his comedy career with Blewt Productions, and I'm wildly happy for him and my other friends from college who have followed down that same path. If they make it big, it's because of serious hard work and dedication in addition to raw and crazy talent and imagination. I feel really lazy in comparison. But I found inspiration in something that Steev wrote while blogging his adventures in L.A.:

"Act like a big production company, do the things a big production company does, and before you know it, you’re a big production company."

I'm starting to act like a writer and do the things that a writer does. Sooner or later, I hope to discover that I'm actually a writer. Until then, I have a lot of work ahead of me.

(But oh, please, never let me stoop to even whispering the cliche that it turns out I was a writer all along, even if it's really true.)

Posted by Yvette at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Box of Chocolates | Friends & Relationships | Personal | Reading, Writing & Books

Not far from my house, there is a pond about 1/3 acre big outside of a local corporation's building complex. Early last week on my way home from work, I peered to my right (because just driving is so boooooring, you know?) to look at the waterfowl that like to hang out there. Most of the time I see white geese and mallard ducks.

Then I noticed the pelicans.

"What the...?" I said to myself, at a loss for words even inside my head. I pulled off the road and got out of my car to see if I actually saw what I thought I saw. Sure enough:

As I crept closer, they slowly moved into the water. One spread its wings, presumably to show me how big and powerful and scary he/she was so that I wouldn't come closer. Like I was going to jump in and try to eat it, right? But the beautiful black banding on the underside of its impressive wingspan was amazing.

Not something that I expected from a boring drive home from work. I've never seen pelicans in the wild (if you count a man-made pond as the wild). I only had my phone with me at the time and the photos I took with it didn't really come out, so I stopped by again last night to see if they were still there. I had to trespass on the company's property and walk halfway around the pond to get these shots, stepping over curiously large mounds of duck poop both ways.

I'm still trying to sort out my reaction to being laid off, so writing about the beauty of unexpected roadside pelicans is a nice diversion and more zen than dwelling on my underlying anxiety of an uncertain future.

Yesterday afternoon, after the initial shock of the conference room group lay-off, I spent an hour or so talking with several of my coworkers who weren't laid off. They were all very apologetic and shocked themselves, similar to how I've reacted during previous lay-offs when I was not affected. I was touched by the genuine nature of their consolation, their immediate efforts to help me find a new job through their own networks, and their assurance that it will be easy for me find another job with my "level of talent."  I already miss working with them.

My biggest anxiety yesterday afternoon was how to tell Ben, who kept leaving messages on my desk phone because he wanted to know when I could leave work for a special no-occasion weeknight dinner at the Chinese Buffet. (That's what I wrote about yesterday: When life hands you lemons, buy a fish.)

Other than that, I focused my attention on obtaining contacts from my coworkers and making sure that people I liked and respected had my personal contact information. My boss is "transitioning" back to the sales department, so I offered my services as a contractor to his boss, who is now in charge of what's left of the marketing department.

As the writer and editor, I worked with a lot of different people in different departments. My job is being split among three different people, and it makes me sad that my efforts to create and maintain cohesive and creative branded communication will most certainly disappear quickly in the hands of people who don't care, don't have the time, or don't have the talent to make that happen. That may sound pompous, but I take pride in my writing and have learned that it's a vocation above all else. That was a really hard lesson to learn. I've been thinking about creating a separate blog that is strictly about my journey as a writer.

Ironically, I spent my lunch hour the day before I was laid off looking at "becoming a full-time freelance writer" books at Barnes & Noble. I've been seriously thinking about pursuing freelance writing gigs and had been working out a plan to transition out of my job in the next year. So while the lay-off was unexpected, it won't hurt me as much as it did my other coworkers who needed the insurance, were the family breadwinners, etc.

Ben and I will be on a more strict budget in the near future, but it won't be that much of a change for us considering that the majority of our extra pennies were begrudgingly going toward home improvement anyway.

I'm going into the office this afternoon to collect my personal belongings from my cubicle and to share some tidbits of importance with the VP who will be over marketing. Though I do kind of want to stomp up and down and scream an obscenity or two, just to be immature because things didn't pan out the way I wanted them to, I'm not dumb enough to burn a bridge where I think I could easily be hired back part-time as a contactor or full-time in the future if/when the company gets its act together. Not that I necessarily want to go back there full-time.

I was told that I was the most difficult lay-off decision they had to make, and whether or not that's total bullshit, I can't help but daydream about the day that I get a phone call begging me to come back.

Sounds like a classic break-up emotion, doesn't it?  

I'm still trying to parse all of the things that are running through my mind right now, but overall I'm feeling good about being dumped by my company. It's given me motivation to do something productive and enjoyable rather than plodding along because I'm too wimpy to give up a steady paycheck. I've really gained confidence as a writer in the past couple years and have proven myself as an editor and valuable "creative" on a talented marketing team.

I have no idea what challenges lay ahead of me, but I'm not going to sit around and wait for opportunity to knock on my door. I'm going out with a telescoping lens and a bullhorn to find it. And then I'll write about it.    

Posted by Yvette at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: Nature and Weather | Personal | Reading, Writing & Books

A few years ago when I worked in Cincinnati, several of my coworkers and I kept small fish tanks on our desks. The day that I was laid off, Ben and I had carpooled and I had the car. The first thing that Ben saw when he got into the car was the fish tank on the passenger seat floor, and he said sarcastically, "What, were you laid off?" He was shocked when I said yes.  

So today, after being completely caught off guard by my small company's 22-person lay-off, I stopped by PetSmart to buy a fish.

Ben and I had already decided to eat at the Chinese Buffet right after work, so it was easy for me to suggest that I pick him up rather than meet him there. I didn't tell him I was laid off until he got into the car and saw a betta fish swimming around in my dashboard cupholder.  

He thought I was kidding at first, but we had previously agreed that if one of us were ever laid off we would tell the other person by bringing home a fish. I didn't really have a chioce. Ultimately, Ben appreciated the fact that I upheld our pact.

And now we have a fish on our kitchen counter as a symbol of new opportunity and our inside joke.

Posted by Yvette at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags: Memories | Personal

In case you were wondering, this is my view about 75% of the time when I am sitting in front of my computer at home:

Sometimes she sits directly in the middle and just stares at me. 

Phoebe is approximately one year old now. Her head finally grew into her body, and she spends her free time meowing pathetically next to a toy mouse until someone throws it for her. She loves to chase the mouse up the stairs (going downstairs is just okay) and will play fetch for as long as her humans are willing, or until she is nearly hyperventilating (at which point she flops down on top of the mouse to indicate that she is done, but you cannot have her toy).

She's about 40 times the size of Isis now, and not too scared of her anymore (though still very respectful when Isis hisses and beats on her). And she's still BFF with Loki (who is still approximately 4,000 times the size of Isis).

Today, before I came home from work, Ben said that Loki was lying on the bed and Phoebe jumped up and nose-dived into his big belly. This prompted Loki to start licking her head. Phoebe responded by biting his elbow, and he in turn bit her ears. It turned into a (typical) scrimmage, which Loki always wins by pinning Phoebe down and squashing her poor little kitty ribs while biting her.

The weird/cool thing is that we've never seen a scratch on Phoebe after one of their rough scrimmages. If they weren't both neutered, I'd think that they were lovers.

Posted by Yvette at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: My 3 Cats | Personal

Posted by Yvette at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Tags: Friends & Relationships | Geeky | Personal

Comic Con 2008 is July 24-17. I have been wanting to go since my first con experience at Wizard World Philly in 2003 (hey, I was a late con bloomer, okay?).

[Also because of Comic Book: The Movie, starring Mark Hamill. It's my favorite mockumentary. Netflix has it, but if you're any sort of comics fan, you probably should just go ahead and buy it. Make sure to watch all of the extras, which mostly consist of  documentary footage of the mockumentary.]

Now that I live in Utah, a mere 10 hour drive from San Diego, my desire to attend Comic Con has grown stronger. The hardest part is justifying the expense of the trip, because to stay anywhere in proximity of the convention center means shelling out a couple hundred bucks a night.

The second hardest part is to convince Ben that the cost is worth it and that he needs to come along. He's not into comics or the whole geeky convention scene as much as I am, so that has been a little bit of a challenge. The San Diego Padres will be playing a home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, though... and a baseball games always a way to draw him toward my side.

But regardless of what the final outcome of my wishing and hoping and planning may be, yesterday I took a solid step forward.

I have a hotel reservation in San Diego! It's 5 blocks away from the trolley line, which will drop us off right in front of the convention center. And it has free breakfast and free internet access. I was able to get a (relatively) good rate, even though it's still waaaay more than I'm used to paying for a hotel room. Then again, I used to work for a hotel and got insanely cheap rates at any chain hotel in the family.

The next major decision (after Ben says yes to going) will be whether to fly or drive. With the cost of gas creeping toward $4 a gallon, it might be worth a little extra money to NOT spend 10-12 hours in the car together and opt instead for a 2 hour flight.

Anyway, I'm totally stoked and will probably be very, very crushed if it turns out that I don't (finally) go this year. Ben, are you reading? CRUSHED.

Posted by Yvette at 02:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: Events & Happenings | Geeky | Personal

Spoiler Alert: I definitely cover what happened at the end of the Kids in the Hall tour performance in this post.

One thing I forgot to mention in Part 1 of my recap of the KITH Salt Lake City show: though some of characters in their sketches were originally from the TV show, the tour's material and a lot of the characters were all new.  And after watching a few clips from other live shows on YouTube, it seems that the premise of a lot of the sketches was consistent but, like any good improv, the majority of it was deliciously unique.

The last sketch of the show had all five of the Kids in it, and I guessed it was the end of the show when they came together for a company bow and the theme song started blaring again over the clapping and cheering of the audience, who stood up for an exuberant (though not rowdy) standing ovation.

They thanked the audience and said something about how excited they were for the 13 hour bus ride to Seattle that lay ahead of them. And that they loved their SLC fans so much, they were going to keep the show going for just a little longer. Encore! Hooray! Everyone sat back down.

And then Mark McKinney came out with a handheld video camera pointed toward the audience, dressed as his head-crushing character. The footage was shown on the big screen behind him, and the crowd was very, very happy with this little surprise.

He ripped on a few people in the audience, and used that criticism as justification for crushing their heads. I was too far back for him to focus on me, but I was sitting in the center and think I saw my hands waving on the big screen a couple times. Thrilling!

Mark also panned around the entire theater (which is not a really huge venue, btw). There were a smattering of people in the balcony, which was otherwise very empty. That raised a big (and hilarious) WTF reaction from Mark, as you might imagine. It made me a little embarrassed for the lame Salt Lake City crowd... why wasn't the theater packed? Then again, I'm not actually from here, so I didn't stay embarrassed for too long.

The final, final feature of the performance was when Mark (still as the Head Crusher) lined up the other 4 guys and individually called them out on their "crimes" before crushing their heads. Kevin got really close to the camera, a la Blair Witch Project, and Mark started patting his face. That led to Kevin sucking on Mark's fingers... which led to Mark sticking a wet finger up Kevin's nostril... which led to the total gross-out of Kevin sucking on that same finger again. Blarghblecch!!!!

I leave you with a YouTube clip of the 5 Kids in the Hall taking a final bow as the theme song plays. It is not from the show I saw, even though I filmed something similar, because my memory card went kaput after I opened up a couple of the photos. Sad. It would have been a tragedy if I had been able to take my picture with any of the Kids, but we didn't stick around long enough after the show to see them come out (if they did at all).

Posted by Yvette at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Events & Happenings | Fun! | Personal | Review

The Kids in the Hall performance last night was a refreshing change of scenery after living in Utah for almost three years. It was our first time on the University of Utah campus (which is not religiously affiliated) and I giggled with glee when I stepped inside of the Kinsbury Hall Theater...  there was a large screen hanging down with a static collage of images projected upon it, including a box with the phrase "What the fuck were you thinking?"

I giggled because unless I watch a movie or have some very specific friends over to my house, I rarely hear the "F word" anymore. I was definitely treated to some fantastic use of cursing during the course of the 1.5 hour KITH performance. And the crowd in the theater could take it... I don't think that there were too many conservative, non-swearing audience members. (Interesting note: Ben and I were solidly on the younger end of the audience age spectrum. I wonder what the average demographics are of show attendees?)

Liz doesn't want spoilers. Stop reading right now, Liz, if you really want to be surprised when you see it in Seattle tomorrow.

The show started out with the KITH theme song as the lights went down, and that was awwwwsome! Then there was a pre-filmed skit shown on the big screen to introduce the tour, including a gag where they blatantly dubbed "Salt Lake City" over some other word that Bruce McCullough mouthed in a generic Your Town reference. They pulled that gag a couple other times during the performance.

The show felt very much like a Kids in the Hall TV episode, but on stage with no censorship and several moments when the guys broke character... which was okay because some of their shit was really funny and seeing them break character made it better (which usually isn't the case, but I have a feeling that they had to do several takes to get the footage they needed back when they taped their shows).

The set-up was low-key, with bare bones scenery consisting mostly of folding chairs and images projected onto the screen behind the actors. Costumes and familiarity with a lot of the characters (Buddy Cole, Cathy and Kathie, the Chicken Lady, etc.) set the stage for an all-around good show.

Scott Thompson had some blasphemous fun as Buddy Cole, monologuing about how Jesus was clearly gay. He prefaced that with pokes at Mormons, like... "Many of you are probably risking excommunication by coming here tonight, so the least we could do is make it worth your while!" 

Hallelujah! 

Then, in a skit that (I think) followed Buddy Cole's monologue, Kevin McDonald and Mark McKinney walked onto stage together dressed like this: 

When these guys walked on, the Salt Lake City audience roared because it was probably assumed that Kevin McDonald and Mark McKinney were playing Mormon missionaries. They turned out to be Jehovah's Witnesses who made the mistake of requesting entrance to the house of Bruce McCullough's annoying, nerdy kid character (Gavin, I think?).  Still funny.

And then Mark McKinney came out wearing a mini skirt for a scene, except the mini skirt was pulled up around his underwear. Yup, tighty whities in full view! He pulled the skirt down as soon as he realized it was up... but the damage was done and I'm pretty sure that wasn't a planned gag.

Then, after much hilarity, including a second and not-really-hilarious pre-filmed sketch on the big screen, the show ended with some head crushing. As it should have.

And that's all I'm saying for now  because I know that Liz is still reading and I don't want to ruin it completely for her.

Posted by Yvette at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags: Around Town & Beyond | Events & Happenings | Fun! | Personal | Politics & Religion | Review | TV & Movies

Tonight, I'm going to see the Kids in the Hall "in concert" in Salt Lake City. Yes, those Kids in the Hall! Fangirl rave in motion!

Special thanks to Liz, who tipped me off to their tour in time for me to snag center seats in row N. I wonder how different the show will be in Utah vs. the show in Seattle on Thursday? Or how it will be for my Chicago friends on May 29th? Or if you've already seen the show in another location, what did you think of it? Are the KITH still as hilarious and relevant as they were 15-20 years ago?

At least the KITH know their way around a Whirlyball game, according to my friend Steve. That lucky son of monkey's uncle!

Posted by Yvette at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: Events & Happenings | Friends & Relationships | Fun! | Geeky | Personal | TV & Movies

What do I have to say for myself on this Monday morning? I had a good weekend, though not a hell of a lot really got done. I ended up having to work a half day on Sunday (blargh, I thought weekend work was over after quitting my hotel job). I didn't finish any of the posts I wrote; even the one I'm most excited about which is an overview of all the 2008 summer movies for geeks. Iron Man is the first one on the list, and it opened already... man, I wish I had finished that Friday night. But now it's Coming Soon to a blog near you.

But Free Comic Book Day on Saturday!  W007! Last year, I got there too late and a lot of the free stuff was gone. But this year I got a nice stack that hopefully will turn out to be good swag when I read through them. I did read through the Simpsons comic, though, because it's generally my favorite free comic book.  

But the family room has a third coat of red paint on it now, and while it still needs more touch-up work (plus a second coat of white on the ceiling and new canister lights installed and Ben wants to tear out the two doors so they're straight and put on new trim), it's getting closer to the Most Awesome Hang-out Room Evar!!!1111 

I've been pushing for a foosball table ever since we moved in. Ben will someday give in and we will play and he will pwn me and I will be sad. But it will be worth it because foosball rocks! And my occasional victories will be cause for celebration! Fuzzy navels all around!  (Or just orange juice with 7up in it if you're my Mormon friends or my friends' kids.) A pool table would be cool, too... but same story on the pwning I'm sure and really, I've been spending too much time console gaming lately (in our beautiful red-walled room that I really love despite it's unfinished nature) to even think about having another worthy piece of gaming equipment in my house. Besides, we have a big screen TV in the spot where a pool table would otherwise go.

Also, I beat The Simpsons Game last night. I had to play "Dance Dance Revelation" against God on three consoles: the Praystation, Xodus Box and Hii. The existensial ending wasn't as contemplative as it could have been because I found out that I'd only "completed" 68% of the game... so now, if I want to be OCD about it, I have to go back through many of the challenges and collect game cliches, bottlecaps, coupons, Krusty cards and Malibu Stacy cards. Which of course I'll do, and probably rely on a game cheat website for the really hard ones. Hey, OCD doesn't necessarily mean not lazy, m'kay?

Here's what the final Dance Dance Revelation scene resembled (though I played it on the Xbox 360, with all the family members on the dance pad rather than just Bart). The best part (aside from the Scorpions' "Rock you like a hurricane" song) are God's lines. And the fact that he's a gamer. But don't watch it if you plan to play the game and want to experience the whole story line for yourself....  

Posted by Yvette at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: Fun! | Gaming | Geeky | House & Home | Personal

This past weekend, Ben and I had planned to drive to Las Vegas for a much-needed long weekend away from Utah and the house. Unfortunately, the house kept us here... because we decided that it wouldn't be prudent to spend money in Vegas immediately after making the first, very-very large payment for our roof.

Being responsible. Teh Suck.

(Besides, this gives me more ammo to push for a trip to San Diego Comic Con in July!) 

Oh yeah, have I mentioned that our roof is finished and the skylights that we purchased in October are finally installed? That HUGE headache might be easier to write about after it's really done, because  we still have to fix drywall in several places upstairs and stain the inside trim of the skylights (which we could have done before they were installed, as it turns out, but we were so occupied with finding someone to install them that we never even took them out of the box). And I have to call the manufacturer from whom we purchased said skylights because one of the handles is broken and the pole for opening the mini-blinds (that we still need to install on the inside) is not long enough for my short arms like Sales Guy said it would be. Ben doesn't even need the pole because of his height.  He has a freakishily large armspan, not unlike that of a condor.

(I was going to say golden condor, and then link to the Wikipedia page about the freakish 30-foot or whatever wingspan of that amazing bird. But then I discovered that the cartoon condor I imagine every time I think of a condor was actually an ornithopter [a mechanical bird] from the shown-on-Nickelodeon-in-the-eighties Japanese TV show "The Mysterious Cities of Gold." Damn cable television interfering with factual knowledge. See, creators of cartoons? See what power you have over the young minds that turn into older minds? Oh, wait, you were already QUITE aware of that power, and you perpetually laugh in the face of responsibility that should accompany it, don't you?)

Wow, I'm already way off topic from what I thought I was going to write about.

Where was I? The damn house? God, do I have anything else to talk about? Of course not. I bought a house and it will never ever be anywhere close to finished in the way that I once imagined. Oh, those were nice times... times when I thought that the house would be "pretty much perfect" in a couple years. HA!  HA HA!  I laugh at your naïvete, former self!

Ahem. 

This weekend, after having a nice anniversary dinner at the Macaroni Grill (after waiting an hour for a table because it was also BYU graduation weekend but we didn't mind because we talked and "reconnected" and all that smooshy relationship stuff), we accomplished some more house-related stuff and tried not to think about how we could be in Vegas right now, dammit. We pitched the oldish and somewhat mildew-y tent, which I then spent precious daytime hours cleaning with a sponge, smelly lysol solution and a garden hose. That was a sonofabitch to clean, because it's a huge 4-16 person tent (depending on the size of the people and their stuff, I guess).

Incidentally, if you own an Armadillo tent made by Walrus, that company went out of business and there are NO ONLINE INSTRUCTION MANUALS TO BE FOUND. If I'm irresponsible enough to let my tent grow some mildew, how could Tent Company possibly expect me to hold on to the instructions for setting it up? Anyway, with the help of Ben's gargantuan armspan and our combined we-should-be-in-Vegas brainpower, we figured it out. Ben retreated to the garage to clean (and maybe find one of the fifty screwdrivers he owns so that he doesn't have to borrow my ONE ratchet screwdriver that I keep very close tabs on because I need to know where to find one when I need it).

We had also planned to paint that third coat of red on the family room walls, but didn't. Ben painted a couple of coats of white on the top half of the back wall that primed for red, and also put a coat of white on the ceiling. It's looking really sweet. Hopefully this week we'll buckle down and spend a whole evening just doing a final nice, even red coat so we don't have to think about it anymore and can enjoy the red room.

What other exciting, boring stuff went on? Ben changed the oil in his car and I cleaned up inside and did the cookin' like a proper wife. Yeah, we had breakfast for three meals in a row! We also planned out where we will transplant the weirdly placed tulips and the still-surviving young hawthorn trees in our yard (farther away from the house than they are now, thanks to stupid previous flip-this-house homeowners) and where we will plant two more trees. And all of that will help decide where the future sprinkler system will go because if you want grass in Utah, you have to water it, and Ben has been using a garden hose and moving sprinklers around the old fashioned way for two summers and it's time we install a more efficient, less time-consuming system.

Ah, gardening. I also spent a little time with my two square foot gardens. It's a neat system and I recommend it for fisrt-time gardeners, even if you're like me and really are only sort of on the ball in the third year of gardening. My gardens have not yet looked like Mel's do in his book, video or website, though.

There, that's my weekend update. Stay tuned for LOTS more excitement. Maybe someday! 

Posted by Yvette at 07:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: DIY | Friends & Relationships | House & Home | Personal | TV & Movies

Happy Anniversary, Ben. Here's to four years of never fighting, always saying the right thing, buying the perfect home, and simply having the perfect life. It's all turned out exactly the way we expected it to!

Oh, not quite. In fact, that's a load of horseshit. But I wouldn't want to have had any of the good, bad, horrible, amazing, sweet, gruesome, stupid, incredible or character-building experiences in these last 4 years (officially speaking, and many more years unofficially speaking) without you.

I love you, you big handsome turd.

(Remember, don't ever change unless it's exactly the way I want you to. And I'll try to do the same. Also, let's try to follow our dreams and not get caught up too much in life's little tragedies. That sounds cheesy, but dammit, I mean it!)

Photos taken by eatch other at a Starbucks near Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco last month. We were seriously enjoying our experience away from Utah and the fact that lots of people were drinking coffee and walking and recycling all around us. Not all at the same time, of course.

Posted by Yvette at 04:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Tags: Box of Chocolates | Friends & Relationships | Personal

A couple days of stress later, we've decided to keep the satin-sheen red paint on the walls of our family room.

I managed to cconvince Ben that he did NOT need to repaint the entire family room again with primer plus two coats of paint.  The walls still need a third coat of red, though, and hopefully that will even out the splotchiness a little. I am very happy with this decision and hope that everyone is happy after the third coat of paint is on and the white accent wall is finished.

I wish I had done a little more research on red walls before diving in. Apparently it's a lot harder to paint a room red than any other color. WTF? It's just another color. But it's also the color of red after it's exposed to oxygen, so maybe that has something to do with the level of difficulty? The shade has a natural coagulant or some shit? Whatever, as long as it doesn't scab up. That's gross.

And suddenly I realize that I'm more tired than I thought and I may edit this post tomorrow morning to rub out that last paragraph. But then I'll leave this paragraph in and leave you wondering if the scab paragraph is the one I'm talking about, or if there was another grosser paragraph that you never got to read.

Oh, what mysteries lie ahead of us! Joy and excitement and a good night's sleep all around! 

Posted by Yvette at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Tags: DIY | House & Home | Personal

This post was mostly written and should have been published on March 11, 2008. 

According to a poster at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center Emergency Room, the average  (national?) time spent in the emergency room is 2.5 hours. Ben and I were fortunate, because our trip there Monday evening, from entrance to exit, was a short two hours.

Ben dislocated his shoulder last night [March 10] in a pretty bad way. He has a history of shoulder dislocation, and because of that we'll never know how far he may have gone as a baseball player. He runs like a gazelle and fields like nobody's business... but throwing a ball in is pretty much out of the question.

Was he playing baseball when he dislocated it this time? No. Was he playing another sport? Nope. He was upstairs working on the house after work and the phone rang, but there is no phone upstairs right now, so he ran downstairs and grabbed the ball at the end of the banister to help him make the 180 degree turn into the hallway to reach the room with the nearest phone. Except... *pop* his right shoulder came out of its socket and he didn't make it to the phone.

I was the one calling. Just to let him know that I'd stopped by the store after work and would be home late.

So my poor husband was writhing in pain and finally made it to the phone to call me back. But I was at the store, so I didn't hear the phone ring the first two times... and when I did pick up the phone about fifteen minutes later, he told me in very short, frustrated sentences that he'd dislocated his shoulder... and I mistook Ben's communication of pain for him being mad at me for not coming home sooner. Whoops.

I didn't stick around the store much longer, and when Ben called me again I was in the car on the way home... and it was clear that I needed to get him to the emergency room STAT. Normally he can ease his shoulder back in on its own, but this one was staying belligerently out of its socket.

As I drove home, I was overwhelmed with guilt from not recognizing that he was in a serious amount of pain over the phone, from not being able to come home more quickly as soon as I realized what was going on, and (the big kicker...) from being the one to call and technically cause the dislocation. Oh, and I felt terrible for him for being in so much pain in the first place.

When I finally got home, I left the car running in the driveway (though I did tack on some extra guilt to my conscious for letting the car idle, even in an emergency situation). I escorted Ben into the car and tried to get him to take some ibuprofen to start reducing the swelling, but my man does NOT like to take "unnecessary" medication and wouldn't take any. We even had some extra Lortab heavy duty painkillers left over from his visit to the emergency room in August he tore his leg muscle... but no, he refused to take anything. I wasn't going to fight too hard against his stupidity while he was in pain, so I just became the ambulance driver and tried to avoid bumps because it quickly became apparent that they are the worst thing for someone whose shoulder is out of its socket.

A pretty sucky ambulance driver, though, because I wasn't confident that I'd be able to find the hospital without taking a wrong turn. I knew how to get to the hospital further North because that's where we went in August, but the one that's closer to home is in an area with twists and turns that still confuse me when I have to drive around there. So I called one of our friends and had to briefly explain the situation.

While I was on the phone, before we'd hit the freeway, Ben started telling me to pull over because his shoulder was slipping back in. So I got off the phone, pulled over, and sure enough his shoulder "undislocated." And Ben breathed a sigh of relief and told me to just go home and not waste a trip to the emergency room.

"Though it did make kind of a crunching sound when it went back in," he said.

I laughed, threw up a little in my mouth, called him a dumb ass, and kept on driving to the hospital. Something instinctual telling me that if a shoulder is dislocated for an hour, and especially if it slips back in with a crunching sound, that an x-ray is probably in order. He admitted that it was still hurting, though not as critically as it did while it was out of place.

Then Ben got mad at me when I made him get out at the entrance to the emergency room while I went to park the car in the boonies. "I can walk," he said, clearly not envisioning his shoulder popping out of its socket as we walked like I was.

I think he said something like he'd never talk to me again if I made him to the apparent "walk of shame" into the emergency room. I rolled my eyes, as any sane person would, and told him something along the lines of "I'll dislocate your other shoulder if you don't get out of the fucking car." God, he's a pain in the ass when he's in pain. Remember, he still hadn't taken any sort of pain medication.

We waited for a little while in the emergency room and humbly watched other people arrive after us and actually be seen by the doctor before us. People with heart or stroke issues or probably high fevers. Still, even when we were almost the last ones being forced to watch the awful local news station (I really, really hate local newscasts), we still made it back to radiology pretty quickly.

Ben had four x-rays taken, and reported that he had to move his shoulder in very uncomfortable ways to get into the positions that tech wanted him to. Happens to the best of us, right? Anyway, the emergency room doctor examined him and told him that everything looked okay in the x-rays, but strapped Ben into a serious immobilizing harness and made us take more Lortabs home.

Then we learned something that gave us hope and practically turned this sneaker-wearing emergency room doctor into Obi-Wan: that there was a surgery Ben could have that might repair his shoulder to workable order. He'd had an arthroscopic surgery 11 years ago, but apparently that was the "light" shoulder surgery and clearly hadn't worked for him. The other option is more of an open surgery that would put Ben's arm completely out of commission for several weeks, but the end result (with proper physical therapy) could mean that Ben would one day be able to throw a baseball overhand again. Not Major League fast, but overhand at least.

For me, and I think for Ben, it made the emergency room trip worth it.

Since then, he's seen an orthopedic surgeon who was eager to cut his shoulder open ASAP and promised a good recovery. Ben wants to wait until fall to have the surgery so that he can finish some more stuff around the house and take care of the yard over the summer. We're both excited about the prospect of his shoulder recovering to a normal capacity, but nervous about the actual surgery part. And we've put off discovering what percentage of the surgery our insurance will cover.

Don't worry, we still have a few Lortabs leftover from the hospital "starter pack" to carry us through the shock of how much the surgery might cost us...

Posted by Yvette at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: Friends & Relationships | House & Home | Personal | Science

If you want to read my random thoughts throughout the day, and I haven't posted on my blog, maybe you'll find something interesting in my new twitter feed:

http://twitter.com//innergeek

I think that this may come in handy if/when I go to San Diego Comic Con in July, since I can post a thought to twitter from my mobile phone. How exciting! Seriously, I can't stop thinking about Comic Con and how much I really want to go. 

Posted by Yvette at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Tags: Geek Test & innergeek.us | Geeky | Personal | Teh Interweb

Last weekend, Ben and I primed the finished portion of our basement that is the family room with the big TV. Like all areas of the house that we have not yet painted, it had shiny, textured beige walls and ceilings. Ick.

We finally decided that we would be brave and paint it red. Yes, a lovely red that's not too bright and not too dark... Behr has a color called "Cherry Cobbler" that we decided would be perfect. (Hurry up and buy it before we change our minds!!!)

So after spending a few evenings this last week touching up the (dark base) primer and painting the edges of the ceiling white (we'll finish that last because we have plans for ceiling lighting), yesterday we started coating the walls with red.

It was exhilarating, and because the room is fairly large, took some time. 3 CDs and a movie's worth of time, to be exact....

"I am Sam" movie soundtrack
The Barenaked Ladies' "Rock Spectacle"
Green Day's "Insomniac" album
and the first "Back to the Future" movie 

And after we finished, we noted how brilliant the room seemed, and how the light still reflected off the walls. The color is fantastic and I love it. But... a little more shiny than we were expecting.

In fact, just as shiny as the icky beige walls had been. WTF? Turns out that the beige walls were Satin enamel, just like the new Cherry Cobbler paint that we'd purchased. We never looked at the cans the previous homeowners left for us.

I don't mind the shiny red as much as the shiny beige, but the sheen is driving Ben to the brink of insanity. What to do? Should we suck it up and buy another can or two of Eggshell-sheen Cherry Cobbler? Would that work? Or should we just sell the house and move into a double-wide to avoid the hassles of being a privileged homeowner?

I see a red wall and I want to paint it black.... 

Posted by Yvette at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Tags: DIY | House & Home | Music | Personal | TV & Movies

Even with a work day that extended until 8:15pm, I finished my taxes with 24 hours to spare. Hooray!

Probably would have been done sooner had I not encountered unclear and cyclical instructions for something really minor that ended up not being an issue after all. At least I'm 99% sure.  And so is Ben. So hopefully that adds up to 100%.

Here's another April 15th resolution: to keep better records and document more receipts. I think I improved over last year, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.

Maybe I'll also shoot for getting everything done by April 13th? Errr... best not to be making too many promises!

Posted by Yvette at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: Personal

You'll never believe what I'm doing today.

I am working on innergeek.us and going through geekmaster emails that have long been neglected. Which mostly means deleting all the spam.

Occasionally, there are curious emails about specific questions on the geek test. It's not that I don't appreciate the fact that people still email me when the site and test are clearly outdated, but just how exactly am I supposed to respond to emails like this?

Hi,
one of the questions in the geek test is "I have looked forward to dissecting a frog, pig, etc.".  Perhaps you didn't notice, but relatively a large percent of the geeks are vegetarian, or close to be ones. So I afraid that this is not so good question.

I guess I should put that one on the list of crazy emails I've received in the past.  It's not really crazy... just weird. I would argue that geeks are more likely to be meat eaters than vegetarians. Feel free to leave your own thoughts in the comments. 

In other news, the whole ansty situation of what does my website mean in conjunction with what does my life mean and will I ever be a writer is really getting on my nerves, and maybe this is the finally-somewhat-like-spring-weather talking, but I'm ready to do something about it. With baby steps, I think, to prevent an insta-overwhelm.

Of course I still need to finish up my taxes and get that off my shoulders by Tuesday. Blech. Normally I love figuring out taxes (nerd alert), but this year it's a little more complicated and it's making me nervous that I'm going to screw it up. And that's just asking for procrastination... 

Posted by Yvette at 04:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags: Geek Test & innergeek.us | Geeky | Nerd Alert | Personal

Posted by Yvette at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Tags: Box of Chocolates | Friends & Relationships | Memories | Personal

Unlike children, cats won't repeat what they hear. Normally I just grunt my grumpiness in the morning, but I actually went to bed before midnight last night so the swearing started early.

"Get the HELL away from me." (to Loki after my first alarm went off)

"Mother fucker!" (to Loki, still before my second alarm went off, while trying to shove his purring, drooling, 21-pound dead weight off the bed)

"Get your head out of the fridge, stupid." (to Isis, our recently picky eater who tries to get her head and/or tail and/or body slammed by the fridge as many times a day as possible)

"Stop chewing on my shiznit." (to Phoebe, who likes to sleep on my desk but has a slight obsession with chewing paper) 

Posted by Yvette at 07:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: My 3 Cats | Personal

Things aren't going as well for me this weekend as I would have liked them to. That's about as personal as I feel like being today.

Watching "Shakespeare in Love" on DVD gave me a little inspiration to write, at least. 

Posted by Yvette at 01:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Personal

How could I not delight with the title of this article on BBC.com?

Daily caffeine 'protects brain'

Coffee may cut the risk of dementia by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on the body, research suggests.

The drink has already been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer's Disease, and a study by a US team for the Journal of Neuroinflammation may explain why.

A vital barrier between the brain and the main blood supply of rabbits fed a fat-rich diet was protected in those given a caffeine supplement.

Can I get a big HELL YEAH? This is stuff I definitely want to believe. Also, the quote a little later on: "This is the best evidence yet that caffeine equivalent to one cup of coffee a day can help protect the brain against cholesterol" means that I am taking the right step to avoid ever having to go on statins or whatever other miracle drug of the future they've created to lower the is-it-genetics-or-just-freedom-fries surge of cholesterol in Americans today.

Now can just come up with an alternative to Splenda for prevention of high sugar intake that contributes to Diabetes? I'm not a huge afficionado of straight sugary things (like hard candy or even candy bars) and I drink black coffee 99% of the time, but I know that I probably eat more sugar than I should in brownies, ice cream, soy milk, etc. I don't mind Nutrasweet/aspartame for the most part, but Splenda is Teh Enemy in my book. Too sweet and such a bad aftertaste.

Also, if Coca Cola ever starts making Diet Coke exclusively with Splenda instead of aspartame, they will have to answer to my wrathful rage, bitches. It's bad enough that I just have to watch for that evil, happy-yellow/white/blue logo on my precious gray and red 12-packs of caffeinated sody-pop. It actually burns my skin if I touch the box, I swear.

Okay, maybe I shouldn't swear until after this little first thing in the morning caffeine buzz calms down a little.  But boy, I feel good right now!

Except that I really have to publish this post and go to the bathroom stat... 

Posted by Yvette at 07:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Food, Drinks & Dining | News Bites | Personal | Science | Teh Interweb

I had a refreshing opportunity to participate in an April Fool's prank today at work. I'm not a huge prankster, but I can hold a straight face when I need to...

My manager and one of my coworkers have been playing jokes on a woman, a friend and former customer, for about five years. Most of the jokes are akin to convincing her to watch an online video where a scary monster suddenly jumps out and scares the crap out the viewer... but today they asked me to call her from the company phone with a trickster scenario in which I masqueraded as a member of the accounting team. I took on the persona of an uncaring, hard-nosed customer service employee, based of course on actual experience (thank you, Stanislavski).

This phone call was (by some magical feat of corporate technology) put on muted speakerphone in a nearby cubicle so that others could listen and was simultaneously recorded to our voice mail system. Names have been censored to protect the victim and my job.

Me: Hello, is this Ms. M--------?
Her: Yes, it is.
Me: Hi, this is Yvette from [company] and I work in accounting. I'm in charge of monitoring fraudelent activity on eBay. The reason I'm calling is that there has been some suspicious activity that has been linked to your account.
Her: What? I don't know what you're talking about, I don't even have an account----
(I just keep talking over her while she's protesting)
Me: There are eight [products] listed on eBay under your account, and they need to be taken down or you may be subject to legal action for selling products without being an authorized retailer.
Her: But I don't even have an eBay account!
Me: (sigh) Ma'am, we contacted eBay and they gave us your information directly. Now I do have to tell you that if you don't take down those items then you may be subject to legal action.
Her: How can I take them down if I don't even have an account?
Me: (sigh) Everybody says that.
Her: What account name is it?
Me: [her full name]?
Her: Spell it.
Me: E-X-A-M-P-L-E. One.
Her: I don't even know what that is, but that's not my account.
Me: I hear that all the time.  The thing is, our records show that these items match up with a recent purchase you made.
Her: But I've never had an eBay account! You're being rude! I deal with [company] all the time.
Me: That actually raises another interesting question. I see that you've been getting a retailer discount when I don't have you listed as an authorized retailer...
Her: This is ridiculous! You talk to [my manager] and he'll tell you!
Me: (sigh) Look, I...
Her: It's not me! I don't have an eBay account! Talk to [my manager]!
Me: Let me get my manager on the phone, hold on. Just... hold on. (I pass the phone over)
My Manager: April Fool's, [her name].
Her: ... [MY MANAGER]!!! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!

She calmed down after a minute and took on the "you really got me good" attitude that my manager was hoping for. She had forgotten that it was April 1st, even though my coworkers apparently get her every single year.

I took the phone back briefly to apologize for being a part of the prank and she told me to punch my manager several times... and then she vowed to get him back and I offered my services.  I'd never met her before, but now I doubt she'll forget my name in association with [company]. 

Because the call was recorded, it was played back a couple more times for people who'd missed the first time. I was surprised to hear my own voice sound as convincing as it did. If I can ever turn that into a sound clip, I will. It was exhilarating to be devious in the name of fun, even if I did really feel bad for causing an extreme case of blood boiling frustration in that poor woman.

I'll edit the transcript to be more exact tomorrow... I know that it's a little off the real thing. Also, I'll see if I can format it to be easier to read.

Posted by Yvette at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Fun! | Personal

It's not yet 8am and I'm at my computer ready to work, and feeling good about getting some work and personal shit done today. Working from home probably helps that attitude out a lot.

That, and some loud, bitchin' streaming internet radio from WOXY.com, the Future of Rock n' Roll.  

I've been missing Ohio lately. Or maybe missing life outside of Utah? I always have that feeling when the Sunday paper arrives with a major special "LDS Week" section in it (that is seriously bigger than the rest of the "news" portion of the newspaper). For the uninitated, that means it's Mormon week here in Utah: the biannual opportunity for Mormons from around the world to feel extra Mormon as they flock to Salt Lake City and/or their televisions to spend an entire weekend engrossed in the dictated-to-be-prophetic General Conference.

From what I've seen and been told, it's celebrated like the Superbowl, but with less beer and coffee and more dressed-up clothing and crock-pot foods.  And Jello with all sorts of weird things floating in it.

During this particular extra Mormon time in the area where I now own a home, these are the things I miss from Life Before Utah:

• More than one tiny Starbucks (or any other coffee shop) in the area.
• Stores open on Sunday that should be open on Sunday (like Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Old Navy, the GREAT used bookstore in downtown SLC)
  
• Major League Baseball (it's opening day today, and the closest team is a day's drive away in Arizona... I miss baseball a lot, but Ben misses it SO much more)
• Bars. Local Holes in the Wall, Sports Bars, Microbreweries, even the opportunity to go to dance clubs (not that I necessarily would, but who the hell knows?)
• Friends (I do have some here, Mormon and non-Mormon, but it's not nearly the same as the base of geeky, vice-laden local college and work friends I used to have)
• Being within driving distance of Michigan, Chicago, anywhere in Ohio, Philadelphia, St. Louis (still kicking myself for not driving to St. Louis to visit friends when I had the chance)
• Drivers who actually understood how to drive (and followed the rules for the most part)
  

There are still good things about Utah. In fact, I made a list of things that I want to do and/or see while we are living here. But that's for another blog post... I need to get to work like I said I was going to this morning. I'm feeling bloggy, though.  

I'm back, baby! 

Posted by Yvette at 06:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Around Town & Beyond | Friends & Relationships | Personal

My Norwegians have gone, and I've almost made it through the work week that started at 5am on Monday with the two hour round-trip drive to the airport to drop them and my sister off. Ben had to drive his car, too, because we couldn't fit all of them and their luggage into just one of our cars.

OMG, I'm just done. Done with this day, done with this week, and done with a lot of other things. I've been in a self-imposed blogging hiatus that didn't start intentionally, but now is dangerously close to becoming a groove. I've written notes in my little journal that I sometimes carry in my purse, but turning those into blog fodder hasn't been extraordinarily successful in the past. Gah.

It was great to see my Norwegian friends-who-feel-like-family, and they weren't repulsed by the imperfect state of our house. But as with any visitors, it does feel good to get back to normal after they leave... though there a vacant spot left from the lack of their company, and frankly I feel jetlagged even though I have no real reason to. Oh, and my stomach has been upset today which is just fantastic.

Oh, and the contractor guys started to replace our skylights and tear off shingles and then recommended that we have the whole roof replaced. We were under the impression that our roof was new when we bought the house. But apparently just the top layer was newish, and like everything in our house, had been a cosmetic patch-up job over a damaged foundation. So what the hell, Ben doesn't really need a new car this year, right? After the initial shock, and then consultation with various other friends and family, we gave them the green light just to get it all done so we can move on with our lives. 

So maybe all of that is contributing to the stomach cramping and general hate-it-all feeling. Plus the fact that I still have to do our taxes and it's almost April. Maybe I'll be in a sunnier disposition next time I blog, because for God's sake, nobody wants to read emo drivel from their friend, let alone a stranger. Sorry 'boot that.

Please give me a couple days, and I'll get back on track. I have a few blog drafts saved and a lot to say about more interesting stuff than my personal level of distress.  

Posted by Yvette at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags: Friends & Relationships | House & Home | Personal

Several times this week, I've started blog entries and not finished them. This week has been a feverish flurry of working at work and at home and doing some necessary shopping in between to prepare for My Norwegians, as I began to call them recently. See, they're more than friends, but not technically family... it makes sense to me and is easier to say than "My host family from when I was an exchange student eleven years ago in Norway.

O GAWD, has it been eleven years?

My day has been filled with true Norwenglish, as we spoke a blend of Norwegian and English to each other and to Ben (who only understands English and is really nice about not being included in snippets of conversation where we barely realize what language we're speaking). They have gone to bed, I drank a little more coffee, wine and Norwegian aquavit than my stomach would prefer, and now I am thinking about going to bed at 10:30 on Saturday night. Lame.

I am taking all of next week off and will be traveling to San Francisco for a couple days with Ben and My Norwegians. Hopefully I will be able to finish the blog entries that I started to write about before we leave. Ooooo, suspense! 

Posted by Yvette at 09:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Friends & Relationships | House & Home | Personal

Phoebe eats about everything she finds that will fit in her mouth. If it is on the floor and should be swept up, chances are good that our little feline Roomba will eat it before it can be thrown away.

This is particularly disconcerting while Ben is in the middle of home improvement projects like drywall repair, paint removal, and fiberglass anything.

On Friday, Ben cut a hole in a wall upstairs so he could crawl through it to put a hole in the floorboard to prepare for ductwork related to installing a new bathroom fan. He also removed some ductwork that was rendered useless after we had a new furnace installed that separated the upstairs into two HVAC zones.

He made sure that the door was closed to the room where the hole was cut so that none of the cats would wander in. Well, Phoebe found a way to endanger herself regardless.

The old ductwork led to a vent in the upstairs bedroom, where the the door was not closed because it was in the process of being replaced. Phoebe managed to pull the vent cover away from the hole and crawled into the fiberglass-laden area with a dangerously big gaping hole in floor, plus a myriad of other dangers to a pet who tastes and/or eats everything not bolted down.

We're not sure how long she was up there, but Ben noticed the vent pulled off and heard a mew... it didn't take too long to coerce her out safely, but still. This is an area in which Ben wore a ventilating mask without me asking him to... fiberglass in the lungs being something that we agree is plain awful, and not a symbol of manhood like fiberglass in the hands.

I wiped her down with a wet washcloth after Ben pulled her out, and she was apparently fine after that. With the exception of her crying for the entirety of Sunday morning and into the afternoon that worried me greatly. We've already determined that she has anxiety problems (and they even make kitty Zoloft for that, but we haven't gone to a kitty psychologist yet) so the crying could be from a number of things: general anxiety from a closed bedroom door that had been open, a toy mouse left upstairs that she wanted, fiberglass in the lungs, fiberglass in the digestive system, or who knows. The last two obviously being of the most concern. 

She finally stopped crying after we opened the (now replaced) bedroom door. We watched as she ran directly to the (now replaced and blocked with a paint can) vent cover that she had pulled off before. She tried everything in her kitty power to pull it off again, and it was interesting to watch. Luckily she didn't suspect that it was one of us who put that paint can there. She finally gave up and, having mildly satisfied her curiosty/anxieties (OMG did I close that vent cover after going in I can't remember maybe I need to go back up there and double check and OMG did I pace back and forth and taste every bit of loose fiberglass I could find, etc.) and was quiet after that.

WEAK STOMACHS DO NOT READ. Later on, she exploded some of her insides politely within the litter box. The smell was anything but polite, so she must have gotten into something up there. Early Monday morning, around 4am, she started hacking up a hairball/fiberglassball, which if you've ever been jolted awake to that sound you know how pleasant it is. But nothing actually came out. It just sounded like we were going to have to watch her die slowly and painfully as her insides expanded like a pigeon that ate dry rice and whatever was inside blocked her esophogus and there wasn't a thing we could do about it.

Luckily it didn't come to that and she's been her perky, anxious, Roomba self after that. She'll still cry like she's stuck in a bear trap once in a while, which we're good at ignoring nowadays. But LOOK at that face. When we pick her up while she's crying, she starts purring like a rattly, well-loved old car and everything is forgiven. And isn't that what love is all about? 

Posted by Yvette at 01:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: DIY | House & Home | My 3 Cats | Personal

On the two year anniversary of the day we signed the papers for our house, you'd think that Ben and I would be having a big ol' celerbration. Technically we have until March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, to celebrate homeownership because the processing of the title took so goddamn long.

But no, we're at the tail-end of a two month "we can do this" whirlwind of home improvements and "settling in" things that needed to be done before our international visitors arrive on Friday night. I channeled my natural project management skillz and made a checklist with a March 14 deadline that will still have items unchecked before the weekend, but we've done a good chunk of work and I'm proud of us.

This past weekend's accomplishments include (but are not limited to):

• Having a new mattress delivered!
• Moving older mattress upstairs to the guest room (big pain in the ass)
  
• Cleaning and clearing away most of the clutter in the dining room and kitchen (big countertops are great, once you can find them under all your stuff)
• Clearing away a good portion of clutter from my office
• Going to Home Depot for the one millionth time
  
• Patching drywall around more shitty, dangerous outlets (that will probably be replaced tonight)
  
• Nearly finishing the replacement of the guest room door
  
• Nearly finishing the installation of a new fan in the bathroom*
  

Most of the cleaning/de-cluttering fell into my court and the "man stuff," of course, into Ben's. As much of a feminist as I am, there's something to be said about division of labor working out for everyone. I'm better at organizing (though I'm not allowed to use my label maker nearly as much as I'd like), putting away laundry where I want it and planning/preparing the house for guests; Ben is better at electrical wiring, fending off fiberglass, inhaling paint fumes, and heavy lifting.

*The new fan is not a simple replacement. The retarded monkeys who built this house did not actually install a vent from the bathroom exhaust fan to the outside world. Also, it was decided that we needed a bigger fan.  So Ben spent much of the weekend in a tiny attic crawl space, where he cut a hole in the floorboards, fought through insulation that will surely need to be replaced and fixed up all the wiring to accomodate a larger fan. There was a cloud of testosterone oozing out of his pores for most of the weekend, particularly after his jaunt with power tools in the crawl space. And he proudly showed off all the cuts and red bumps on his hands from imbedded fiberglass and only needed help removing one splinter.

"Why the hell weren't you wearing gloves up there?" I asked.
"Cuts and splinters are a symbol of manhood," he said.
"You're stupid," I said.

Later on, for a completely different reason, Ben inspired a one-liner that I warned him would be a little harsh. He still wanted to hear it.

"You have to get a degree in Stupid to be that stupid." 

Overall, Ben and I had a good and fairly productive weekend. Probably because I barely touched my computer... which I plan to be touchin' lots (in addition to touchin' my Wii remote) after our visitors leave. We're really looking forward to seeing them and spending time with them, but we're definitely ready for a break from housework.

Oh, and maybe, just maybe, those DAMN SKYLIGHTS will be installed the week after our visitors leave. 

Posted by Yvette at 07:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: DIY | House & Home | Personal

Does it mean that I'm a writer if, when I de-clutter my house, I find bits of paper and napkins with story ideas scrawled on them? And journals or semi-personal notebooks that I had forgotten ever existed?

One of the more interesting things I found amongst the multitude of Boxes of Unknown (ultimately knowable as school papers, awards, notes and miscellaneous bits of memorabilia from elementary school through college) was a hand-drawn postcard I made and painted with watercolors.

As you can see below, I obviously intended to send it to my religious (Catholic) grandmother but somehow ended up keeping it instead. Perhaps I selfishly decided that I couldn't bear to part with my own artwork, or maybe my mother didn't think it was a good idea for my grandmother to know that I had gone to a Methodist Sunday School lesson after spending the night at my best friend's house. It's dated a month or two after my eight-year-old chihuahua mix dog, Sprinkles, escaped from a kennel while we were on vacation and was subsequently hit by a car.  

I'm sure that my grandmother would have appreciated receiving this postcard if for nothing more than to know that I was thinking about her. She passed away almost two years ago so it's too late to surprise her with it at this point.

But if there's a heaven, and if the Internet is available up there, I hope that she knows I'm thinking about her now and I regret not sending her that postcard fifteen years ago.

Posted by Yvette at 09:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: Friends & Relationships | Memories | Personal | Politics & Religion | Reading, Writing & Books

It's been another hard-working weekend for me as Ben and I continue to prepare for the arrival of our Norwegian visitors in (yikes) less than two weeks.

Ben took a break from sawing, sanding, painting, banging, swearing, etc to bottle his four batches of nearly-complete liquid bread: a blacker-than-black stout, an India Pale Ale, a Honey Wheat and a Blueberry Wheat. I helped by using my labeling the bottlecaps with my otherwise underused stamps and inks (I know I'll use these! They're awesome! I said when I thought I was going to be crafty on a regular basis).

I've been digging through old papers and boxes of CRAP that have moved with me for many years and also some relatively new stuff. It sucks to be a pack rat, and I've been better about throwing and giving things away lately. But sorting through everything I already have is a pain in the ass, as well as in my back from too much hunching over while sitting on the floor... I can hear my mother telling me that I'll get scoliosis.  But our junk storage room with a futon is slowly turning into a more usable guest room with a crafting area. It turns out that a 5 foot brown folding table can actually look nice when it's covered with a tablecloth that hangs close to the floor.

Will our house be ready to impress the people who took me in as an exchange student eleven years ago? Probably Definitely not as much as we would like. The skylights will not be replaced in time due to our contractor not understanding that we WANTED THEM REPLACED LAST YEAR and we do not want to wait until he has a bid for the specific back door we also want him to install. At this point, I'm hoping that they will finish with all the work we need them to do by the middle of April (because we don't want them here while we have visitors). We had to add one more delightful project to the contractor's list: installing a pipe that will actually lead smelly air and humidity away from the house once bathroom fans suck it up. The original builders didn't think of that, apparently?

Yep. Our house was built by retarded buffoons, previously "maintained" by drunken monkeys and then flipped by corner-cutting assholes.

For all the work he's done around the house, at least Ben has been able to derive some pleasure out of the whole thing by acquiring more power tools.

Posted by Yvette at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: House & Home | Personal | Review

I have been scrolling pages on Teh interwebz too much lately and it's catching up to me.  

For as much time as I spend with my hand on my mouse (that's not innuendo, thanks very much) and on the computer, I'm fortunate not to not (yet) suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome. Today, however, I realized that the underside of my middle finger is tender.

At work, I use a semi-ergonomic wireless Microsoft mouse with a scroll wheel. My middle finger logs many hours on the slightly raised bumps, pulling repetitively as my brain demands more, better, faster visual input on the screen in front of me. My right hand middle finger is much more of a workhorse than I give it credit for.  

(My left hand middle finger also works diligently in tandem with my left hand thumb, resting on the Tab and Alt keys respectively as I frequently switch views on my taskbar.)

At home, my preferred mouse for the last couple of years is a Logitech with an optical Trackman Wheel. It stays in one place and I move my on-screen cursor around with a red track ball... and I absolutely love it. It took a couple days for my thumb to adjust to the new movement, and now I can go effortlessly between different mice without even noticing (like hopefully someday I will do with  Dvorak and QWERTY keyboards).

But it also has a scrolling wheel upon which I rely heavily for my internet needs. And isn't it always embarrassing to talk about a seemingly benign injury that is related to a cushy desk job? Well, whatever. At least the underside of my middle finger gets a break when I'm playing the Wii.

On a side note, it absolutely drives me crazy to watch people surf the internet, wholly dependent upon their mouse to scroll down a page, etc. in a painfully slow manner. If I just described you, dear reader, please do not take offense. Just learn the faster way or let me do the fingerwork while we're looking at something together next time, okay?

In the meantime, I better go check into what kinds of rehab I might expect to endure if I continue to abuse for my poor, tender middle finger. But I'm thinking that there also has to be a fancy gadget out there that will allow me to scroll down pages through eye movement!

Posted by Yvette at 06:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Computers & Tech | Geeky | Personal | Review | Teh Interweb

I just took a bite of reheated leftover zucchini that tasted like fish. And... I don't like fish.

It wasn't straight zucchini, and it was only that one bite that made my taste buds freak out. The original meal was a Hawaiian Teriyaki rice bowl from Rumbi Island Grill that I had no problems with yesterday. (I order the full-size bowl so that it feeds me for 2-3 lunches--hooray!) The ingredients in the rice bowl are: brown rice, mixed vegetables (carrots, zucchini, celery, maybe a hint of onion or other squash), tofu and Hawaiian Teriyaki sauce.

Normally yum-yum. But why the fish taste today?

What natural or artificial chemicals are found in fish that make me gag, anyway? And is it possible that one of those checmicals is also found in zucchini, which I'm not particularly fond of anyway? I might be able to look this up on the interwebz, but I'm wondering if anybody who is reading this blog entry might have some special insight for me.

I hate the fact that I am picky about certain foods. But what am I to do when certain foods induce a gag reflex?

Any help with this scientific mystery is greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

Posted by Yvette at 01:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags: Food, Drinks & Dining | Personal | Science

If you're in the San Francisco area, I hope that you're going to WonderCon for me. I'm really hoping to make it to the San Diego Comic Con this year for the first time. I've never lived closer to California, and yet after 2.5 years in Utah I still haven't visited.

I may be going to San Francisco for a couple of days to see the big sights (Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Pacific Ocean, etc.) while my Norwegian visitors are here in March. The only other time I've been in California was in San Francisco, but I don't have any memories because I was only a year old. Bummer.

How's this for weirdness: as I was typing that last "San Francisco," Shirley Simms was singing the name through my computer speakers--I'm listening to the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs: Part 1 and I didn't realize that track number seven "Come Back From San Francisco" had started playing.

Now here's something that we all have to wait for, no matter where in the world we live: the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Coraline. I like the novella (though it's not my favorite Neil Gaiman book), but the movie looks like it will be absolutely delicious... it's an animated stop-motion film done by the same people who brought you that little cult classic called Nightmare Before Christmas. The Soundtrack will be by They Might Be Giants. Squeeeee!

Neil Gaiman just announced this little (official) teaser trailer:

January 2009 is very far away. I'd put it on my calendar, but I don't have a 2009 calendar yet!

Posted by Yvette at 08:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Around Town & Beyond | Music | Personal | Reading, Writing & Books | TV & Movies | Teh Interweb

This is one of my favorite recent photos of Isis. She spends a lot of her time looking at us with disdain, and occasionally with disdain while upside down. Here she is exhibiting her extraordinary power over the sun, the floating air particles above her, and Phoebe (who is peering out cautiously from underneath the couch).

Captain's Log for today: spent all afternoon making long-overdue returns to stores and subsequently spent more than had been refunded. It's all good. I bought new bath towels and honey roasted mixed nuts. 

Posted by Yvette at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: House & Home | My 3 Cats | Personal

More cleaning and doing shit around the house today. The pressure is on because my former host parents and little host sister from Norway are coming to visit us in a month. Even though our house has gradually improved in the nearly two years that we've been here, both in terms of clutter and home improvements, there's a still a lot that's potentially embarrasing to show our international visitors.

We still don't have our skylights replaced nor the roof around them fixed. The general contractor we're dealing with now has been slooooow to keep in touch... but that's still a huge improvement over the people who would never call us back. I wouldn't put money on having new skylights before my Norwegians arrive, but I have a secret burning hope that they will be. Chilly winter weather is also a factor, which brings me to my next topic...

My main task today was sorting through various piles and boxes of clothes to give to charity. I diligently recorded each item so that we can claim them as a deduction on 2008 taxes. Nevermind that most of the clothes in the bags and boxes should have been donated to charity in 2003 or eariler... including one sweatshirt of unknown origin that I wish I had known I'd had for the Cheesy Christmas Sweater Day at work. Check it out:

My favorite part is that it's a cheesy knitted pattern that is puffy screen printed onto a standard sweatshirt. Also, it serves a double purpose as delightful holiday apparel and a souvenir from Charleston, SC. Why, Lord, why? Also, why is it in a box of my old clothes?

I honestly don't remember where this sweatshirt came from. Nor do I remember wearing it, though I guess it wouldn't have been totally out of fashion in the early nineties in the podunk town where I grew up. And it's been washed a couple times at least. Here's a closeup of the puffy printing over the actual weave of the sweatshirt:

I went to Charleston once with my family when I was in high school, but I'm pretty sure it was springtime. It's likely that this gem of high fashion was given to me as a gift... maybe from a parent who traveled to Charleston on business? In any case, it's now buried in a bag destined for the thrift store. 

Though I'm mildly tempted to pull it out so that I have something to wear at this December's Cheesy Sweater Day. Meh. I'd rather pare down my closet at this point. Besides, I still have a few sweatshirts from high school plays that I can't bear to part with yet--I mean, they have my name on the back and are the ultimate proof that my sixth grade dream (to be in high school plays and musicals) came true.

So tomorrow I'll drop everything off and be done. Clothing I'll probably never wear again will become clothing I will officially never wear again. I hope that my mystery Christmas sweater finds a good home with someone who genuinely likes it or with someone who purchases it as a purposefully Cheesy Sweater. Or maybe it will end up with someone who loves it because it reminds them of Charleston, SC.

Posted by Yvette at 08:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags: Holidays | House & Home | Memories | Personal

Happy Birthday, Liz!  If we lived closer, I'd be taking you out to PAR-TAY tonight. But we don't. :( Hope you're having fun anyway.

Ben and I have spent today completely inside, listening to music and doing crap around the house. For me, that means laundry, making food, putting away the last of the Christmas decorations (shut up!) and other domestic cleaning types of things. For Ben, that means putting the final touches on the new trim around the new hall bathroom door (the exisiting door frame was crooked and wouldn't even latch) and replacing outlets, replacing light switches, patching drywall and other manly home repair stuff.

Haven't I already talked about Ben replacing outlets and light switches before? Why yes, I have. But every single outlet and light switch needs/needed to be replaced in this house. Some of the outlets were as loose as... [insert your own prostitute joke here 'cause I'm all out of funny]. Seriously, they wouldn't even half-assedly hold a plug. And the rest would hold plugs only half-assedly. He also had the bright idea (unlike the previous homeowners) to put GFCI outlets in the kitchen and bathrooms.

I love my handyman husband. But he's sick of repairing all of the retarded stuff that needs to be repaired around the house (see Exhibit A), and I'm sick of him having to do all of the repairs. Can we please be done now?

Exhibit A:

Posted by Yvette at 07:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Tags: House & Home | Personal

This is how my night and early morning went, only imagine a cat that weighs 20 pounds and drools excessively and crawls up to the top of the bed for more IN YOUR FACE action:

Actually, my biggest problem of late is that my feet get hot and I try to roll over in my sleep and I can't. The culprit? A 20-pound bulk of Loki asleep at my feet, constricting the covers and creating near thermonuclear levels of heat. This is compounded by Phoebe, who is a normal-size cat and will generally move when I start pushing her away with my feet.

Loki maintains his dead weight, and I've tried everything I can with my early morning foot/leg strength to let him know that he is no longer welcome. I can push my foot underneath him (I'm under the covers, he's on top of them) and shove shove shove with no results. If my eyes were open at that time and it was not dark in the room, I'm sure he'd look at me with an O Hai and chirp a little morning purr for me.

Painfully adorable at many hours, but not at 3am. Or 4am or 5am... or any hour at which I am still blissfully unaware of reality.

So I shove harder, and I'm sure at some point I've actually pushed him to the point where all four paws are in standing position--and yet somehow he maintains his dead weight. One time, and I still feel really bad about this, I only nudged Loki and he rolled off the side of the bed and he thumped onto the floor. It's not my waking-hours wish to hurt him, but 3am Yvette-who-you-disturbed-from-slumber can occasionally (okay, often) be angry and wrathful.

So at this point, Phoebe has already jumped off the bed. Loki is refusing to move. At this point, I sometimes give up and move myself into a cooler, less comfortable position and try to fall back asleep. Or, if I'm determined to go back to sleep in the position I desire because I'm the human in charge, dammit, this is usually how it goes:

1. Sit up and attempt to pick up Loki.
   
2. Fail.
   
3. Move closer and pick him up from a better angle where I can use the strength in my back and/or knees.
4. Release him onto the floor.
5. Growl at him.
6. Flop back onto the bed.
7. Feel my blood boil as he jumps back on the bed.
8. Repeat steps 3-6, with more teeth grinding.
   
9. Realize that I'm not in charge when Phoebe jumps back on the bed and flops down between me and Ben.
10. Fall asleep hoping that when Loki jumps back on the bed, he'll stay on Ben's side.

I need to remember to put the spray bottle full of water next to my bed again. That usually helps. But it often disappears from my nightstand for various home improvement projects.

Speaking of Ben, he's usually unaware of my nighttime cat ritual. Sometimes he's the victim of my squirming (do you really need more details?) but he still doesn't totally understand because his feet extend to the end of our queen size mattress and the cats don't have room to be a thermonuclear heating pad on his side. 

Yet somehow, through all the trials of living with Loki for over 7 years, I still love the big fatass.

Posted by Yvette at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: House & Home | My 3 Cats | Personal

Working until 8pm on Friday evening sucked. Working again for another couple hours on Saturday  sucked even more, even though I was working remotely from home. The hour that I worked on Sunday sucked the worst. Overall, suckage in conjuction with recent working hours. I will be taking a break to get my damn hair cut (and colorized? who knows?) sometime this week.

In the meantime, Neil Gaiman has this to say about what I should do about writing my damn Sundance stories on this blog, as well as how to proceed with my writing career:

So I guess I better get on that or risk being eaten by flowers (that kind of make me want to sneeze just looking at them... that would be a double whammy to be eaten by flowers while silmutaneously having an allergic reaction to them. Sounds like stuff from a B-movie horror flick to me.

In case you were wondering, American Gods: A Novel is my favorite book by Neil Gaiman. It's a beautifully told story (because Neil Gaiman is teh awesome) with darkness a humor, great prose, mystery, a travel adventure, and an anachronistic mash-up of deities and heroes from all sorts of world myths in modern rural America. It's probably my favorite book period, but as I am a great lover of books (Valentine's Day is hell for me--trying to convince all those books that they're each the only one) I think it's safer to say that American Gods will always be in my Top 5.

If I ever went back to school for a Master's degree in something literary, it would most likely be folklore and fairy tales. I think I'm most fascinated with their ability to survive and thrive across so many centuries and how one idea can transcend so many different cultures and yet still be the same basic story. And all that without the Internet! OMG how fab!

Okay, the literary geek-out is over (for now), and I should be leaving for work.  

Posted by Yvette at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: Box of Chocolates | Nerd Alert | Personal | Reading, Writing & Books | Teh Interweb

What have I been doing, and why haven't I posted any additional stories about volunteering at the Sundance Film Festival?

Saturday: Played Super Mario Galaxy almost all day. I think it's the best video game ever and am still seeing star bits even when the game it turned off. Did some laundry and waited for Sunday.

Sunday: Went to Park City for the SFF. Got home around 2am, finally went to sleep around 3am. More on that later.

Monday: Woke up at normal time to go to work. Computer told me it had a critical RAID array problem. Called Ben, who had the day off (my company doesn't care about MLK or civil rights, apparently) and he said he would check it when he came home. Went to work, where I had to restart my computer twice to get it to boot correctly. Ben called me with "worst case scenario" that I'd lost everything. I was overcome with panic for an hour or so, when Ben (still casual in tone, which pissed me off and comforted me at the same time) called to say that there was a glimmer of hope. Still panicked. Ben finally called back to tell me that the one hard drive had failed, and the other still had my data. Relief, finally, as well as perpetual panic because I am way overdue for backing stuff up. I needed to prune my data that evening, so instead I came home and ate dinner and pretty much crashed for the night.

Tuesday (today): Computer is working with one hard drive. I'm making copies of the most important documents (I think) on my drive but I need to go to work. I will write more about the SFF later today.

My experience at Sundance was incredible. I already know that I will volunteer again next year if possible. And I can't wait to go back this weekend! Or some evening after work this week to see a movie. 

Posted by Yvette at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Computers & Tech | Gaming | Personal | Sundance Film Festival

Playing Super Mario Galaxy last night right before bed caused some weird planetary dreams to seep into my head overnight. 

Maybe that's how those wacky Japanese game creators get their bizarre ideas... they just take a nap right after playing something a little weird, then build upon that with ideas from their subsequently crazy dreams. Lather, rinse, repeat. Maybe eating sushi right before bed helps them, too.

Point 1: Mario games can be crazy weird and I love them.
Point 2: I was upside down in parts of my dreams. Blargh!

Posted by Yvette at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Gaming | Personal

Posted by Yvette at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Tags: Friends & Relationships | Gaming | Memories | Personal | Teh Interweb

This week has been filled with productivity at work and excitement about two upcoming events: volunteering part-time at the Sundance Film Festival (starting next week) and a pending visit in March by my Norwegian parents and sister (not my real family, but the people I'm still close to after living with them while I was a foreign exchange student many years ago).

I picked up another shift at the SFF (it's what the hip kids call it) on Wednesday. I have to drive up to Park City (an hour fifteen, without festival traffic) for orientation/training/schmoozing and the kickoff party for volunteers anyway, so I figured I'd take the day off work and just spend the whole day up there.

It's not a sick day, it's a fuckit day. I don't give myself those very often.

I'm also going to take a chunk of days off in March to show the Kristiansens around and see some of the local sights I haven't seen yet.  It will be the first time that they visit me here in the USA... they did come to my wedding a few years ago, but that was in my Ohio hometown and I haven't lived there since I was 16. Now I have a house and I'm all grown up and living in Utah (*pathetic cheer*).

Speaking of being a homeowner... this lame joke has persisted since we bought the house:

Ben: "Did you just call me a homo?"
Me: "-ner. Yes."

Another guy came over to give an estimate on installing those damn skylights that we bought a couple months ago. He's a general contractor and was highly recommended by one of my coworkers as a guy who "knows how to get stuff done and knows people when he needs help." Exactly what we're looking for. He was nice and seemed to be one of the most competent contractors we've dealt with so far as far as knowledge and customer service go.

There's some drywall that needs to be repaired around the skylights, as well as some minor roofing, and it sounds like everything is going to be taken care of to make sure that leaks never happen again.  We haven't seen the estimate yet... but I'm so looking forward to getting this DONE that I'm almost willing to just close my eyes and hand over the credit card. Well, not quite.

Posted by Yvette at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Around Town & Beyond | Friends & Relationships | House & Home | Personal | Sundance Film Festival

Posted by Yvette at 08:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Box of Chocolates | Geeky | House & Home | Personal

A couple months ago, I filled out an online form to volunteer at the Sundance Film Festival. Then I forgot about it until this weekend, when enough time had passed that I figured that they didn't need/want me. And what do you know; yesterday I got a phone call and scheduled myself for 20.5 hours of volunteer work in a couple weeks!

I'll be stationed at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City, where the festival now takes place. It's a much longer drive to Park City than to the Sundance Resort from where I live, but I don't care. One of the screening questions I was asked over the phone (and answered in my application, but whatever) was why I'm interested in volunteering. The truth is somewhat lame and fangirlish, but I said it anyway: I like independent films and recently moved to Utah so I thought it would be a cool opportunity. The woman who called me (a volunteer herself) assured me that they ask that question to ensure that I won't try to promote my screenplay while I'm volunteering.

"Do you have--I mean have you written--a screenplay?" she asked tentatively.

"No," I said with a chortle; tickled that she would ask in the first place and somehow disappointed that I haven't written a screenplay. 

Posted by Yvette at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Around Town & Beyond | Personal | Sundance Film Festival

Hey, whaddya know, it's 2008. The last couple of weeks blurred right by me, with periods of work and stress and zoning and eating and sleeping and [repeat].

I'm looking forward to a better year than 2007 in many areas of my life and accomplishments. I generally have more of the "life is a journey, not a destination" mindset, but this year I need to get shit done. I started by cleaning off my desk, filing papers and throwing away unnecessary papers, and stealing the scanner back from Ben. We'll be getting another scanner in the next couple of weeks so that we can both continue with our individual scanning projects simultaneously.

The next thing on my Goals for 2008 is to write down a list of Goals for 2008.  I don't think I've ever officially written a goals list other than the general "I should exercise more and eat healthier."  Well, accomplishing one goal of writing goals would be a good start to the year. I'll give myself at least a  couple of days to fuck that up.

Posted by Yvette at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Personal

Sorting through things the past couple days had left a small stack of books on my desk, including "Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe" by Nancy Goldstone, published this year. I picked it up at a used bookstore in Brooklyn while I was there (staying with my aunt) on business in early October. This is the first time since then that I picked it up.

"Women, too, felt the allure of poetry and rambled around the south of France composing songs; they were called trobairitz. Although known today primarily as songwriters, they were also by turns journalists, political columnists, war correspondents, gossipmongers, actors, writers, directors; they were satirists, pageant artists, spin-doctors, and spies."

 Neato, I say, and I think I might enjoy reading this book during my 4-day Christmas weekend. Especially if it continues to be, according to the dust jacket blurb, "a compulsively readable narrative" that "shatters the myth that women were pawns in a society that celebrated physical prowess and masculine intellect."

I do love a good myth-shattering. 

On a more personal note, I had a bunch of crap to finish at work today, so I was the last one in the office. Add on top of that the fact that it looks like there is no company bonus for me this year and I didn't even receive well-wishes from the company.  So I popped open a dusty bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon when I came home and retreated to my office. It's been a very long time since I've had wine, and after only one glass I'm starting to feel more relaxed and more pleasant. I'll probably not feel the same way tomorrow, especially if I have another glass with dinner (boxed lasagna is in the oven now). But I'm enjoying it now.

Posted by Yvette at 06:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Feminism | Food, Drinks & Dining | History & Genealogy | Nerd Alert | Personal | Reading, Writing & Books

The wedding reception on Friday evening was very nice, and my friend/coworker was beautiful and happy and put together a great party. I would just like to confirm that there was no alcohol or coffee served, as I suspected. (There was coffee at Ben's office party on Thursday, probably because of the number of "outsiders" who have recently moved to Utah for their jobs, like us.)

There were only a handful of people I knew at the reception, all through work. So when the dancing started, we weren't keen on joining the hordes of siblings and cousins rocking out to Snoop Dog and other songs like Fergie's "My Humps." Quite the difference from the classic crooning of Sinatra-type songs that had been playing as we came in and ate dinner. Whenever I hear "My Humps" (which is not that often), my mind drifts to one of my favorite music videos: Alanis Morissette on YouTube singing "My Humps" in her own style.

Love it!

Anyway, that was the second Mormon wedding reception that I've attended since moving here (Ben's first). It was more of a typical, semi-formal wedding reception (appetizers and mingling, dinner buffet, speeches, photos, cutting the cake, dancing), than the "open house" reception style that is more common out here (bridal party stands in a receiving line almost the whole time, guests arrive to say hello and eat from a buffet and then leave whenever).

We went to bed pretty soon after we got home Friday night (because we're lame). This weekend has mostly been spent cleaning, eating and shopping with a little holiday decorating and present-wrapping. There is still snow on the ground outside, but it's struggling to blanket the yard completely because the sun is shining and the temperature is hovering right around freezing. It's supposed to stay cold throughout the next week, with a 60% chance of snow showers on Christmas (according to the weather.com 10-day forecast, that is). Woohoo!

Posted by Yvette at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Around Town & Beyond | Food, Drinks & Dining | Friends & Relationships | Holidays | Personal | Politics & Religion

Last night, Ben and I drove to his company's Christmas party. It started snowing late afternoon, so getting home from work and then driving back the same way (argh) through stupid traffic was... stupid. But we got there in time for a yummy dinner and an interesting jazz band concert immediately following, where talking was not really encouraged... so we felt trapped and wondered what was going to happen after the band stopped playing jazzy versions of Christmas songs. Well, the party ended and people went home, that's what. Oh well.

But I was in a major panic yesterday because I had nothing to wear... and that even forced me to go to the mall last minute to try to find something. And a Christmas miracle occurred, because I found an amazing green dress (not a real green dress, that's cruel) that fits well, covers my scar and dammit all if I don't look kinda purdy in it, too.

Which is great, because I'm wearing it again tonight at a semi-formal reception of one of my coworkers (they were married earlier today in the SLC Temple and I'm not a "Temple-ready" Mormon so naturally I wasn't invited). I have already ended my work day because it's a long drive up to the University of Utah area of SLC through Friday rush hour traffic.

I started to recover from all that stress (see my last post) after I found the dress. I hugged the salesgirl I was so happy.

More later. I have to go be social for the second night in a row. Ack! Weird! I'm looking forward to my regular stress levels returning late tonight when we make it back safely from the party. Don't worry, I doubt there will be alcohol there (or even coffee). I'll keep you posted.

Posted by Yvette at 03:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Around Town & Beyond | Holidays | Personal

I'm going to lunch with the somewhat large group of Sales and Marketing people from my place of employment. We're going to The Happy Sumo, which is a boon* for people who like sushi. I'm not included in that group, so I'm going to hope that whatever chicken or vegetarian thing I order will be tasty and not smell like seafood (particularly shellfish; actually eating that stuff will cause hives and possibly anaphylaxis).

We're also having a White Elephant Party. Before, during and after lunch, probably. I took a picture of the gift I'm bringing, but naturally the memory card reader has disappeared again. This year I'm asking Santa for a shiny new built-in memory card reader for my computer. That way the little naughty elf who hides CDs, the camera and its accessories, and other pertinent equipment can't walk away with  it anymore.

Said elf, however, has been doing a lot of laundry... and for that I could kiss him. Especially because I *know* that it's a different elf who mysteriously leaves hangers all over the house.

Anyway, I'll ask Ben to help me find the card reader later today. Meanwhile, I have to accept that I'm not going to win the contest for "Cheesiest Christmas Sweater or Vest" that is also occurring at lunch today. I didn't go to the thrift store, and (thankfully) I don't think that I own one that would really even qualify. But I have to go check the really-needs-to-be-donated pile upstairs to see if I still have a red sweatshirt I got as a gift in 1992 that might qualify. 

*Out of curiosity, I checked the etymology of the word "boon." It's from the Indo-European word "bon" or "bone" which means "prayer." So by not saying "blessing" like everyone else here in Utah County, I'm still effectively referencing religion by using "boon" in its place, albeit in an archaic manner. Unfortunately, I was not using the really cool definition of "boon" that I plan to use sometime (somehow) in the near future: "the ligneous waste product obtained by braking and scutching flax."

Posted by Yvette at 08:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Around Town & Beyond | Box of Chocolates | Food, Drinks & Dining | Friends & Relationships | Holidays | Personal | Politics & Religion | Reading, Writing & Books

I had a nice lunchtime break with a former coworker (and now pregnant stay-at-home mom) today whom I haven't seen in several months. Julie and her little 20-month-old girl picked me up and we went to Starbucks.

It was nice to catch up with her, and nice to remember why we became friends outside of work in the first place. It can be hard to find friends as a post-college adult, so I really appreciate the rare ones with whom I click nowadays. I just need to do a better job at balancing my "busy schedule" with staying in touch and hanging out.

A twenty minute drive is not as far as Seattle or Cincinnati or Chicago or Denver, where my far-flung but still-dear friends live. 

It's also nice to realize that there are other people around my age who feel like they don't have many friends. Ten years ago, in college, friends were easy to come by and easy to corrale into social gatherings.

Such are the hazards of getting older and moving away from your core group of friends (or having them move away from you).  That would be one benfit of the old-time society in which people were born, lived and died in the same place. Friends and relatives all around. Adventuring out in the modern world can be exciting, but a bit lonely at times.

I think I'm homesick; I just don't know where the place is that I would call home.  

(Is it schizoid paranoia or just existential blues?) 

Posted by Yvette at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Friends & Relationships | Personal

Posted by Yvette at 09:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: History & Genealogy | Personal | Politics & Religion

I didn't quite break the 10,000 mark for NaNoWriMo, even though I was on a really good roll the first week of November. I could spend the next three days writing over 40,000 words... but I'll be going to work and probably trying not to think about it again.

At least I've written more this year than I have in the past, which is the same thing that happened last year. And this year I think I have a pretty solid story. SO what's the problem? Why do I set myself up for this every year if I continue to disappoint myself and those who are cheering me on?

Maybe November is a bad month for me. I seem to go out of town in the beginning of the month (from the 8-12 this year), and then there's the hulabaloo of Thanksgiving and the introduction to the holiday season. This year I had a two-week cold that kicked my ass, and then before it was over I started a medication that is making me tired and very thirsty. It's so much easier to sit in front of the TV and let my brain be consumed by HD entertainment. Maybe if I had gone to the local write-ins that other NaNoWriMoers arranged I would have been more motivated.

The more difficult realization that I don't want to write here--because writing it here makes it more real--is that I have a serious problem with following through on promises to myself. Most of the time I can follow through with promises to others because they are holding me accountable. I just don't hold myself accountable as much as I should. How the hell do you change that kind of lifelong habit?

Step by step, I'm sure. And maybe writing just a little more each year for NaNoWriMo is the small step that I'm taking as far as that goes... so next year, I damn well better break that 10,000 word mark. At that rate, I might actually "win" it (by reaching 50,000 words) by 2020. 

Posted by Yvette at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Personal | Reading, Writing & Books

Ben and I made it known to our families, friends and coworkers that we would be spending Thanksgiving by ourselves this year. We made our trip to visit his family and my Mom in Ohio a couple weeks ago, and my dad drove to spend the holiday with my sister in Colorado, leaving us in solitude as we wished. Two of my coworkers invited me to come and eat Thanksgiving dinner at their families' houses, despite the fact that I had just said that we were looking forward to having time

We felt a little guilty for not spending time with family this family-centered holiday, but frankly it has been a long-overdue vacation for us and we've enjoyed it immensely. I'm 95% over my two-week attack of acute viral nasopharyngitis (though there's nothing cute about a bad common cold) and Ben is lagging behind, if lagging behind means eating breakfast, taking cough syrup and then falling asleep mid-morning on the living room floor (poor baby).

I bought a 4.75 pound boneless turkey breast from Sam's Club that suited us quite nicely for Thanksgiving dinner. We also ate mashed potatoes, candied yams, stuffing with lots of celery and onions and pumpkin pie for dessert. I spent a lot of the day cooking and preparing... as soon as the pumpkin pies were in the oven (did them first for a change so that they'd be plenty cool for dessert) I made a cheese ball and veggie tray for us to snack on throughout the day. I also made meatloaf, which was a nice break yesterday from our all-turkey-all-the-time meals. So now I'm happy because we'll keep eating leftovers for at least a few more days.

Other than food, I went shopping on Black Friday (that experience should hold me over for a few years) and we've watched several movies, many hours of the Heroes marathon that was on the new Mojo HD channel, played some video games and pulled out Christmas decorations. We went for a brisk walk around the neighborhood yesterday in the evening sun and chilly weather, and that was nice.  It's been a good long weekend for our emotional health as well as physical.

We'll be back to holidays with family at Christmas, and after a restful Thanksgiving, I know that at least I'm looking forward to it. 

Posted by Yvette at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: Holidays | Personal

I can't seem to kick this bug that I have, so I think I might actually have to go to the doctor. I hope I don't have strep... though in a way I do, because then antibiotics will kill it. Otherwise, I get to stick it out with a sore throat, congested head and icky, hurtful cough. Green tea in the morning is not really helping.

I want to take the day off work, but I have to send out two email newsletters this morning and try to get other stuff done before Thanksgiving vacation. Luckily, Ben and I were planning to stay home this year without having any visitors. He started getting sick on Sunday, so we'll probably spend the day eating chicken soup, napping and watching movies. Maybe playing games if we're up to it.

There's nothing like looking forward to a four-day weekend when you know you'll be sick. 

Posted by Yvette at 08:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Personal

Have you seen this cool selection of Science Tattoos? I like the DNA dragon one a lot.

Posted by Yvette at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Geeky | Nerd Alert | Personal

I played the hobbit Dwalin in a 1993 high school production of "The Hobbit," and I think of this stanza when I see mist over the mountains here in Utah. (Is it geeky to know it by heart and repeat it to no end in my head?) In the play, the whole hobbiting troupe of adventurers repeated it during an exeunt with fade to black. The full poem is longer in the book. This photo is a zoomed image taken from our backyard after the first snows appeared.  

I'm back in the West now. The trip to Ohio went well. Effective communication astonishly occurred between me and my mother and between Ben and both of his parents. Ben wished he had spent less time fixing his sister's computer while we were there, but I know that she was happy just to see him again... and during my shorter time with her, I feel like we connected more than we have before. We all had a nice lunch at the Olive Garden on Sunday... me, Ben, my mom, Ben's mom, Ben's sister and his sister's friend instead of Ben's dad. Ben and his sister forgot to tell their mother what time to be there, though, so there was a lot of apologizing when she finally arrived.

We also spent almost three hours visiting Ben's grandparents, which we skipped last year while we were in town. I'm so glad that we went. We brought them fresh flowers (Grandma later told Ben's dad over the phone to save money and just bring short stem carnations next time, and only one... even though we'd only spent $11 for the fresh bouquet from a local nursery). Grandpa has had a couple strokes recently, but was doing way better than my step-grandmother had even 5 years after her stroke at a much younger age. Having asked my own grandparents about their family histories before they died, and being thankful that I did, I worked in a question or two that led to me and Ben learning more about his family history than he had previously known. That was cool, and Grandpa was more than happy to share what he knew... and both he and Grandma were impressed with how much he actually recalled.

Great, now I have two sides of family history to research, though I think a lot more of my own family history is recorded than Ben's. And Ben will probably be more interested in helping with the detective work of his own family.

I came down with a cold while I was in Ohio and I'm still feeling it. WTF? I rarely get sick and I've been sick with a cold three times in the past 6 months or so.  

Posted by Yvette at 08:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Around Town & Beyond | Friends & Relationships | Geeky | History & Genealogy | House & Home | Personal

I had an early appointment this morning with my dermatologist, whom I’ve seen only once before. That was six weeks ago, and he was very personable. We talked about Ohio and where I went to college, what brought me to Utah, plus his own background and experience in struggling to start a family.

It was a complete change from my other experiences with dermatologists, who have been very clinical and barely interested in me as a person. You know, the typical doctor—treat the symptoms, not the patient. This new Dr. B is probably close to retirement, so being part of an older generation with a small office mentality may contribute to his excellent bedside manner. It’s probably also his personality.

Well, this morning’s appointment was tougher than the first (pain-wise), and I was glad that my new dermatologist was friendly and caring. I was a little miffed, though, because he asked questions that made it clear he didn’t remember much of anything we’d talked about only six weeks ago—what brought you to Utah, do you have any children, etc. At no point did any of my answers seem to remind him of our previous conversation.

The bizarreness of answering the same questions made me start imagining a life in which everyone but me had long-term memory loss, and conversations among people were rarely fresh. What would happen to me, the one person who could remember everything? Would I go crazy? Maybe the reason that I could remember is because I was the only person who didn’t drink the water or eat the tainted fish (a la Airplane!).

Weird fantasy worlds aside (have I been watching too much Scrubs?), I wonder if Dr. B will ask me the same ones again next time. He's a good doctor otherwise. His male nurse/assistant is roughly my age and surely remembered the previous conversations for which he was present, but he didn’t say anything.

I’m a couple thousand words behind on NaNoWriMo, but I stayed up last night to make sure I at least didn’t fall any further behind. Current word count: 6,955. I’m flying out tomorrow morning to visit Ben’s family and my mom in Ohio for a few days and hope to have some quiet writing time while I’m there.

Posted by Yvette at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Personal | Reading, Writing & Books

Doing a little each day can actually make a difference. This is not a new concept, but one that I am actualizing for the first time in a while (unless you count playing Super Paper Mario in doses... then again, maybe that was the practice I needed to remember that it all adds up in the end).

I went on two business trips in the course of a month, which is a lot more than I'm used to. The main area of our house is cleaner than usual, thanks to a weekend dedicated to cleaning and organizing back in September. Hopefully we can keep it that way. It's at least in a condition that can be fairly quickly tidied up in case we have company. It helps that we're not cleaning up any "presents" from a sick cat anymore... that was exhausting, especially when you consider the mental exhaustion associated with trips to vet that cost more than we were expecting. But all the cats are healthy now and we can sleep through the night.

We did run very low on food for a little while and definitely ate out more often this past month. Ben is happy to make dinner for us, but he usually needs me to decide what to make... so I'm the main grocery shopper. Clearly, that one's a difficult job while you're out of town. I did some basic grocery shopping on Sunday (there are a couple grocery stores that aren't open on Sunday, but Albertson's is open) and went to Sam's Club last night to bulk up on the necessities: a huge box of brownie mix, canned fruit, pumpkin puree, toilet paper, detergent, etc. I also bought a huge bag of Halloween candy that Ben offered to hide in a special place (his tummy), but I told him was for trick-or-treaters and he could eat the leftovers on November 1. Yeah, we'll see how that goes.   

Before Sam's Club (Costco is too far away, otherwise I'd have a membership there), I stopped into JoAnn's to buy a bigger basket bed for Phoebe. Her body still fits in the little one that she's used for the last three months, but her head has to be tucked in a way that can't be comfortable if it is to stay in the basket. Well, they didn't have any baskets I liked and I was talking to Liz on the phone and she told me not to buy one that I didn't like, so I didn't. I bought a "fall wreath" for my front door instead, which probably won't provide the necessary distraction from our woefully neglected front garden. Colorful dead leaves on the door are better than really dead leaves and plants, right?

I also picked up a pair of devil horn barrettes. What the hell are those, you ask? They're an ingenious way to wear devil horns that don't require a stupid headband!

This image is basically what they look like... just bits of stuffed fabric that are sewn onto basic red snap barrettes. Craftzine.com blogged about someone named Cat Morley who wrote a tutorial on how to make the cute devil horn barrettes, but the link isn't working. So just go to JoAnn's (or probably Target, Michael's, etc.) and buy them for a couple bucks. I don't really know how I'm going to dress up for Halloween, but I'm going to start wearing my horns to work before then.

On a somewhat related note, I watched an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess last night that involved Xena traveling to the Underworld (what wasn't much spookier than Super Paper Mario level 7-1) and fixing corruption that led to the evildoers taking over the Elysian Fields and the innocents and good people being forced into Tartarus. This resulted in some weird dreams last night about the Greek Underworld, Hades, etc. When I first learned about Tartarus, I was grossed out because I related the word to the tartar that can collect on teeth. That was the ultimate sin in my household, with my mom as my dentist!  

Posted by Yvette at 06:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Box of Chocolates | Holidays | My 3 Cats | Personal | TV & Movies

October 9, 1987: My first birthday party together with people other than my immediate family, held at McDonald's. The cake had hard sugary characters of Ronald McDonald and friends on top. I still have the small, white teddy bear from David, on whom I had a big crush.

October 9, 1988: My birthday fell on Columbus Day weekend, and my mom had a dental seminar in Washington, DC. I was bored in some kids' seminar/activity session and pulled out one of my teeth (it was already loose). That was fun to lose a tooth at a dental seminar.  

October 9, 1989: I don't remember celebrating the actual day, which would have been a Sunday, with my family. My class sang happy birthday to me at school the next day, but it was kind of lame. It was kind of a crappy day-after-birthday, until dinnertime, when the birthday cake my parents presented to me was round and frosted to look like the largest hamburger ever. I don't know why they picked a hamburger... I wasn't a huge hamburger fan or anything (I'm thinking of Wimpy, from Popeye, as the biggest iconic hamburger fan). Actually, I think that's the birthday that I received my Skip-it, the toy that slips around one ankle and you spin it around and skip over it with the other foot. It had a counter.

October 9, 1995: My mom picked me up from school in the middle of the day to go take my driver's license test. I drove our stick shift Saturn SL2 and I passed. I returned to class in 6th period, I think, and showed off my new license to my "pod" in English class, which included my good friends John, Danielle and who-knew-he'd-be-my-future-husband Ben. Ben couldn't believe that I skipped school to get my driver's license. I guess he got over it.

October 9, 1996: My host parents in Norway gave me some beautiful, scratchy wool mittens that were (machine-)knitted in a traditional Selbu star pattern, as well as pressed wool slippers that I still wear now when a chill sets in. They are amazing slippers. My new friends at school lit a match and stuck it in a sweet roll at lunch.

October 9, 1997: In my first year at Miami University, I couldn't believe that it was warm enough that I had to wear shorts on my birthday. I had missed El Nino while in Scandinavia but was feeling the effects of La Nina, plus it was the first year I lived below 40 degrees latitude.

October 9, 2000: Another Monday birthday. I feel like I've had more than my share. I went to class, then Ben drove up from Cincinnati to go out with me and a couple of my over-21 friends. The first over-21 bar we went to that evening didn't card me, but I made the bouncer look at my license anyway. Then later, at Mac and Joe's, Riggy bought me a Smurf shot, which was okay. Then Scotty brought me two shots and told me to put them in my mouth at the same time, and to get the full flavor, he told me make chomping motions while my lips were closed. I did, and suddenly felt chunks in my mouth that I didn't put there... and of course Scotty was dying laughing. It's called a "cement mixer" and is made of two shots: lime juice and Bailey's. I swallowed mine, but Scotty said that it's quite normal for the victim to spray it all over when the coagulation starts. I got home quite late that evening, not totally drunk, but threw up because of alcohol for the first time.  Maybe I wouldn't have thrown up if I hadn't had a Smurf followed by a cement mixer.  

October 9, 2002: I had the day off from my job as hotel front desk manager, but I decided to come in for the weekly Wednesday managers' meeting because I knew they'd have cake. I was running errands in my first new car, which was only one-month-old Subaru Impreza, and gas was low. The only car I'd driven regularly was the same stick-shift Saturn SL2 in which I'd learned how to drive, and the needle would dip below "E" before the low gas light came on. I ran out of gas in my new car about a half-mile away from the hotel, right off the freeway exit, but luckily the maintenance staff kept a couple gallons of gas on hand for whatever reason and I was rescued. I walked into the meeting late and was thoroughly (and deservedly) harrassed for my stupidity while eating cake.

October 9, 2007: Ben brought a mug of coffee to me after my alarm went off and said happy birthday. I arrived late to work to discover that my cubicle had been decorated with balloons and streamers, and sitting on my desk was a bottle of OJ, a large cinnamon roll (from a delicious local bakery in Provo called Shirley's), and a happy birthday post-it note from my boss friend. There was also a small from my friend and co-worker Laura with Hiro on the front!

She used "funnest" because that's one of my biggest grammar pet peeves, and many people on the sales and marketing team use it regularly. They don't know that you should say "most fun" instead, and once they learn that it gives me an eye tick when I hear it, they use it whenever possible. Except I've never told the CEO, whom I see occasionally, and I've still heard him use it. Oh, Utah. I'm the official grammar police at work.

Anyway, that's some background as to why my department gave me this card at the end of the day. They even spelled birthday with a u! Inside, my darling coworkers did their best to write in a way that would make my insides turn out, both from horror and laughter. It was one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received! I'll post the inside comments in my next blog entry.

Everyone who walked by my cubicle said happy birthday and chatted for a little while, which I enjoyed but also came to be a little annoying. So I left work in a good mood and came home to find the kitchen and dining room quite clean, and fresh fall air blowing in through the windows. Ben had come home early, and I knew something was up when I saw the gallon of milk in the fridge... we're both pretty lactose intolerant, and when we buy milk, it's usually only a half gallon. Sure enough, our friends and their kids (who are big milk drinkers) came over to wish me a happy birthday and share the yummy frosted brownies that Ben made. I didn't even smell the evidence because all of the windows had been open!

Ben gave me a sweet, funny card and a couple things from my Amazon.com wishlist, and my mom sent me a generous gift certificate from Amazon.com (see a pattern?). My dad said he wanted to take me and Ben out to dinner this weekend.  I received phone calls at work from my sister, my long-distance friend Liz, and my family in Norway. I received email greetings from a few other extended family members.

Overall, I really have to say that my birthday was totally awesome this year. I'm not used to receiving so much attention, and it really made me reflect how much love there is in my life from many sources. In the year that follows, when I'm feeling depressed and unloved, I will think about this day.

I care less and less about material birthday gifts, probably because I've been working long enough where I can generally afford the things I really want. But it's an invigorating, joyful experience to have one day in which the people you love make a point of remembering you, even if it's just emailing to say hello. Do I do the same for the people I love? I feel like the world would be a better place if everyone had a day or two every year like I had on this birthday. I think that a really good day can make up for a long string of crappy ones.

Posted by Yvette at 07:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Box of Chocolates | Friends & Relationships | Holidays | Personal

This is my 101st blog entry on this blog. Woo hoo!

I am having another night-before-leaving-for-a-trip frustrated apathy session. Even though I made a list of what needs to be packed for my 8:30am flight tomorrow (meaning that I will have to get up at 5:30am) , I'm still struggling to make it all happen.

My biggest hurdle that I just need to get past? I wanted to just take a carry-on suitcase. But I have slightly too much stuff to take, plus I'd have to rethink my toiletry liquids that normally just get thrown into checked luggage. Would it be easier if I were a guy and didn't have to worry about all the extra stuff that even not-too-girly girls have to worry about? Who knows.

I'm flying to New York, then taking a taxi to my aunt's house in Brooklyn. From there, we'll be driving upstate to a friend's house for the night and most of Sunday. Then it's back to Brooklyn where I'll work remotely on Monday (and hopefully catch Heroes that night), attend a seminar in Manhattan on Tuesday, and then leave on Wednesday.

I need dress shoes and clothes, as well as jeans and sneakers and t-shirts and sweaters (polar fleece and lighter, slightly more dressy sweaters). Plus toiletries and undergarments, a laptop, books for the 5-hour flights... and also some of my company's products to give to my aunt and her family.

Still, I think it's ridiculous that I can't just fit everything into one small suitcase and my laptop backpack. Well, I'm not getting any less sleepy and I've managed to procrastinate a good 25 minutes away just by convincing myself to turn on my computer and check this week's weather.

Phoebe (who is growing into a teenaged cat) is sleeping in front of me on my desk and not helping. She looks so cozy... 

Posted by Yvette at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Personal

A nice cold front came through the Utah Valley on Saturday, and Ben and I celebrated with a big hip-hip-hurrah! It's Fall! It's also been cloudy all weekend and raining on and off, which is weird. We were (are?) in a drought throughout the summer with the hottest, dryest July on record... many days topped 100 degrees (F). That reminded me of the summer I spent studying near Madrid, when the local thermometers touched 40 degrees Celsius and the apartment where I was living with an older couple and another American student didn't have air conditioning I said "Never again." Well, I haven't been to Spain since, but I didn't expect Spain heat in Utah. At least we have air conditioning.

Weather? Who cares about weather! Talk about something else.

Like how I went to a summer camp in Dayton, Ohio when I was fifteen and met a girl who desperately wanted to be a meteorologist. At the same time, our early-eighties TV at home only went up to channel 39, which incidentally was the Weather Channel. I learned early on in life that the Weather Channel was a much better predictor of a snow day than the local weather. But the local news is what I had to watch at butt-ass-early-o-clock in the morning to see if my school was closed. Hooray for Northeastern Ohio Lake Effect snow!

I think the point of all this is that I woke up shivering, since we'd left a couple windows cracked for fresh air as we cleaned all day yesterday (with some impressive results late in the game).

There's still a lot more cleaning and organizing to be done, but maybe now that the kitchen/dining room/living room area is tidy and clean (like with real all-purpose cleaner and everything) the rest of the house will be easier to maintain. Ben is still working on the family room in the basement... I'd say that nearly half of that is clean. The rest is Ben's personal disaster area, but he's taken his  precious time away from the last throes of fantasy baseball and even turned off the attention-demanding sights and sounds of Harvery Birdman Volume 1 on DVD ("Why watch it for free when you could pay for it?" as the insert says).

I am hoping that Ben and I can keep the place clean (if not cleaner) through the holidays. I want to have people over (a small gathering of friends, not a "party", Ben, even though you're turning <censored> this year) around our October birthdays. Then my aunt and uncle are coming to visit at the end of October, and then we'll probably be taking a trip home to NE Ohio to visit various parental units and other relatives and someone will probably have to come in to make sure that the cats haven't eaten each other, and then it's already Thanksgiving time and then Christmas and then holy shit 2008.

Wow, is it really Fall already? 

Posted by Yvette at 07:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Box of Chocolates | Friends & Relationships | Personal

In the past few weeks, Ben and I have taken a combined three trips to the new IKEA in the Southern Suburbia of Salt Lake City. We were overwhelmed the first time we went there (and someone was a little cranky about being there at all, but I'm not going to name names), but wrote down a lot of product numbers and went home to think about it. It was such a refreshing change of scenery than the standard furniture stores (boring, expensive, mostly not our style) and Target selections. It was even cool to see alternative stuff to Bed Bath and Beyond (though I'm still not sick of their selections, since I bring a little home with me each time I go.... 20% off at a time with the frequent coupons).

I ended up choosing this (desperately needed) shelving unit for my office:

So today I cleaned up my office a little and made space to assemble the almost-five-feet-tall-and-wide unit. Well, it wasn't quite enough space with the current placement of my desk. But Ben helped  and everything turned out well. I then spent a good chunk of time sorting through the piles of crap laying around the room and feeling giddy with delight while organizing. I think I got lazy on my OCD, so just organizing now makes my adrenaline rush. Nice.

Meanwhile, Ben has been downstairs in the semi-finished portion of the basement fixing MORE idiot wiring in the house. This time, we decided to move the TV to the wall where there is a light switch, and then remembered that the outlet there was actually connected to the light switch that also controls the overhead lights.

So he fixed that with only one trip to Home Depot. He also reported that the wiring scenario behind the light switch was not up to code and he fixed that too, whatever the problem was. All I know is that he had wire clippers and pliers and said at one point, "I'm going to turn the power back on now in the basement. If you hear screaming, please take me to the emergency room." 

I guess he felt he had to say that, considering last week when I was not interested in taking him to the emergency room, even if he needed it. 

We've been very busy and handy around the house today. And no injuries so far. I also put together some accessory drawers for my new shelves (kind of a pain to put together, but they look really nice and I sure do like drawers). Ben also made a screen (from scratch!) for our basement family room window. He's kicking himself for not doing it a year ago, considering how easy it was to do. Oh well. Now we can have some fresh air down there and not risk losing our kitties to the big, bad world. Or letting any mosquitos inside that are infected with the West Nile virus. Not that there's any water in the area!

I really think that I'm incapable of writing short posts. Is all of what I said important? Probably not, but bandwidth is not an issue for me, so.... I guess it stays. 

Posted by Yvette at 09:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Around Town & Beyond | House & Home | Personal

Wednesday night was my company's second week of pre-season double-header co-ed softball games. Ben is playing on the team, too. We never got together to practice, and consequently got our butts kicked pretty badly last week.

This week wasn't too bad, except Ben gave himself "micro tears" in his right quad muscle while running to first base in the first game.  I asked him how bad it was after helping him to his feet, and he said that if he still felt the same after the second game, then he "might ask to be taken to the emergency room." Yeah... he absolutely refused to go until I had played through the second game (for which we really gave up a fight before also losing).

We spent some good quality time - a little over three hours - in various stages of waiting at the ER. We didn't know what was wrong, except that any time he moved his leg at all, it caused him excruciating pain. A few people were ushered into the ER from the waiting room who had arrived later than us, which initially gave me a fleeting "hey, wait a minute" thought that was quickly replaced by "their problem must be more severe, yikes, I hope they're okay." We finally got in and the nice doctor gave Ben a prescription for 800 mg tabs of ibuprofen and Loritab for bedtime. Ben's not a big pill popper, so we haven't filled either one. He's been taking 800 mg of ibuprofen, just from the regular containter we had in the cupboard. I need to get more of that today, though.

Why 2 gimps? Well, after we got home and I put Ben to bed in the guest room (so that neither I nor the cats would accidentally touch his leg that night--plus it's a lower bed so he'd have an easier time getting in and out) I went to bed myself. I noticed that my right knee was swollen a little and tender. I've injured that knee before, so I just went to sleep and decided to look at it in the morning.

Yesterday morning it was still tender, but okay.  I put out the trash and tried to prevent Ben from doing anything except sitting with ice on his knee while he worked from home, then went to work. By mid-morning, it had swelled up again and was starting to be painful. By the time I got home yesterday evening, it was swollen pretty badly and I laid down to watch some tv with the ice bag on my knee that Ben wasn't using. Gah!

I'm debating spending the copay to go to the regular doctor (no ER for me, thank you). I know that the only solution is RICE (rest, ice, compress, elevate) and gentle exercise when it's healed. Ben is concerned because I don't remember doing anything at the game or after to cause this... and it's been a few years since it bothered me. Who knows. I have to hobble over to the shower and get ready before my coworker picks me up. I have to drive Ben's car home tonight (it's parked at my office parking lot, luckily) because it's still another couple days before he can bend his left leg enough to sit in either one of our cars. 

Ben is out for the softball season, though hinted this morning that he might play anyway. Why does man's love of certain sports sometimes supercede his own capability for reason? 

Posted by Yvette at 07:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Personal

I made it to level 8-4! And I have 55 hit points! I leveled-up just in the nick of time, too. So tonight I have a date with Count Bleck. I hope to whoop his ass so that I can get on with my life.

Actually, it's been really nice having a game that I'm into. Yesterday and the day before, I worked in my company's warehouse as we prepared to ship a major order. I'm a Marketing Editor, so I don't normally work in the warehouse... but it was definitely all hands on deck that past couple of days. I worked on the assembly line next to our company president for a little while. Not too often you hear about that, right? And that's with over 100 employees. I wonder if he's feeling as sore as I am in my knees and arms!

A guy from Pella Windows should be here soon to talk to us about replacing our skylights upstairs. He just called to say he'll be here in five minutes.

One other thing... it's possible that all of the photos we've taken since December are lost, plus a lot of other data on our home network Linux server. I don't know what because Ben was too busy cursing at it and trying to find out what happened and if there's any chance of recovery. Hopefully I'll have better news later tonight. Ack.

Posted by Yvette at 07:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Gaming | Geeky | Personal

Posted by Yvette at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: My 3 Cats | Personal | Reading, Writing & Books

I tried to comment on my own blog, and Typepad is barfing out on me. WithaK, I have this to say:

Ben has already expressed interest in Resident Evil. It will be interesting to see which games he decides that he wants first. As for me, Zelda is on the list!  Thanks!

In other Wii news (what else is there right now?), I finished chapter 2-4 last night and have the third heart right now. I was going to find the pillar so that I could just place the heart and go to bed, but I got distracted by the pipe that led to the "Pit of 100 Trials." It's easy so far... just kill all the Goombas or whatever and one of them will have a key that leads you to the next room.

Except I got tired and offed myself. I enjoy the fact that I can restart the game from before that point when I go back to it. Tonight, maybe? My parents are both coming to stay with us for a couple days to celebrate the holiday of BBQ. I'm going to set them up playing some of the mini games on Wii Sports and Wii Play and I think they each might find at least one that they enjoy. That will be amusing.

I have a big day ahead of me at work today, so I better get going. Especially if I want to take advantage of the low-key "sneak out a little early the day before a holiday" tradition.

Ben and I need to get a new camera before the family reunion in two weeks. We have a nicer digital camera from a few years ago that is sputtering more and more at inconvenient times. It's probably okay that we missed taking a few more pictures of our adorable cats (hey, we don't have kids to brag about!) but there were some other things that we missed, too. And all of our other cameras died long ago.

Maybe with the new camera, Ben will be motivated to share the photo files with me over the network...  our computers are on different floors now, so it's even harder for me to keep tabs on what happens to the photos after he pulls them off the camera. I want to post more photos here.

Also, I want to fix the blog fugliness that currently spreads across your entire browser and doesn't look like anything fun. Don't worry, I'm not going to make it black with green type. I just need to spice it up a little. But using Movable Type through Yahoo! Web Hosting makes it a little difficult... I'm not technically a Movable Type customer, so they don't want to support me, and Yahoo! has told me that Movable Type is its own thing so they don't support it, either. Niiiiiiiice.

Gah!  Must go earn paycheck!

Posted by Yvette at 07:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Gaming | Geeky | Personal

Little by little, the smallest bedroom in our house has been transformed into my office. Well, it was technically my office before, but a little paint and planning where shelves and artwork will go makes it suddenly feel like... like what I've not had for many years.

A room of my own.

Cue the melancholy of Virginia Woolf.

No melancholy for me today, though. The whole-house beige (wall AND ceiling color) has received a smack in the face. When we were house-hunting, we saw some pretty ugly room colors and carpet, so we lucked out in a way by buying a place that was all neutral. I just wasn't aware that neutral could really start to irritate me as much as it did!

So that's two rooms down and many more to go. We're leaving the neutral carpets in place for now since they're all still new (someone half-flipped the house before we bought it... there's still a ton of work that we've been doing).

Enough boring house stuff already! Why the hell haven't I updated my site in a long time or put up that new forum? Well, it's not because I haven't been thinking about it. Procrastination aside, here's what's going on.

Continue reading "Blue walls, white ceiling; Feeling accomplished. Sort of." »

Posted by Yvette at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Geek Test & innergeek.us | House & Home | Personal

I'm not sure what it is about blogging my personal life that bothers me.

There are lots of things that I have to say that end up in a journal, either on my hard drive or handwritten (so old-fashioned!). Although I think I've been writing more overall since the beginning of this blog, it still disappoints me that I'm scared of revealing myself to strangers, online acquaintances and friends. I say revealing because I am not one of those types of people who has no secrets and tells everybody everything they ever wanted to know about me. I'm not a real introvert, either... I just try to keep a balance. But, as my general clutziness reveals, balance is hard.

Continue reading "Writing Career: Still sputtering after twenty years" »

Posted by Yvette at 08:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: Personal | Reading, Writing & Books

A few weeks ago I bought a humongous bag of coffee from Sam's Club with my new membership. What better way to start the day than with freshly ground beans (with the Rainforest Alliance's stamp of approval) purchased at a discount?

Well, the coffee is gross and there are frankly a lot of other things I could be drinking in the morning to start off my days on a happier note. But I am stubborn and am not going to just throw that money I saved out the window.

The bottom of the bag is nearing and today I will hopefully be able to stop by the grocery store and pick up some better tasting grounds. I haven't been feeling great lately and I'm wondering if it's the coffee or some other sickdom going around the office (I think I finally got over the illness that accompanies having a full house with relatives over the holidays)

Work is busy and stressful right now as we prepare for a huge trade show starting this weekend. I'll have to make sure some things are working properly, then I should be able to pause for a breather. Maybe I'll have some time to send out Christmas cards...

Posted by Yvette at 08:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Food, Drinks & Dining | Personal

Wired has a review of "She's Such a Geek" written by one of the editors of the book. It links to the book's blog.

This is the book for which I submitted an essay, which I haven't read or touched since the Rejection. I know that I'm going to read this collection of essays eventually, but I am dreading it a little. I'll try to be positive, and I'll probably geek inferiority complex while reading all the deliciously geeky things these other ladies have done. What have I done? Oh, pretty much been interested in geekology. Hmph. 

I also purchased a big screen tv tonight with my husband. It will be delivered on Thursday. It's a good thing that there is a lot of time of work starting next Saturday, because I have a feeling that my productivity will fall with 60" of gorgeous talking pictures to watch and interactively manipulate (game playing). So booyah, editors of She's Such a Geek!

Oh, and here's an early New Year's resolution: to get off my ass (er, rather, stay on it?) and write something goddamned worthwhile. Including updating the geek test and returning some of the clever emails I've received of late. Do I dare to look at the first blog post I wrote this past January? Jury's still out on that.

In the meantime, if all goes well, Ben and I will be running PVC pipe through walls in the house tomorrow and then snaking more coax and Cat 5e cables through them to wire additional rooms.   

Posted by Yvette at 02:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Geeky | House & Home | Personal | Reading, Writing & Books

The new Toyfare magazine (#113) came in the mail today. I started to browse through it after dinner while I was eating a cookie and drinking some soy milk. Ben looked over my shoulder when I called "Transformers!" and scoffed at Hasbro's "A Blast from the Past" ad for a redesigned Megatron. "That's not Megatron," he said, and walked away.

I ho-hummed a lot of the Incoming! annoucements, but perked up at the news of a new series coming out next summer from DC Direct: Fables! I love that series, so of course I put down my cookie and starting gushing about the new toys to Ben, who was by now sitting at his computer absorbing remnants of the 2006 baseball season. He (predictably) rolled his eyes, called me a geek and said that we didn't need more toys, but that didn't stop me from squealing and gushing, nor from giggling about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the next page.

Then I called "Transformers!" again and quoted from page 53, "New Transformers Classics run rampant over Kentucky at BotCon 2006!"

"New Transformers Classics?," he hissed. "They all suck."

I brought him the magazine and he did his whole spiel of "they'll never be as good as they used to be, these aren't real Transformers, etc." peppered with a little "Why didn't I know there was a BotCon in Lexington when we lived in Cincinnati?" I said that I would be happy to take the magazine back, and he said "In a minute." He turned the page and giggled a little "cool!" to himself and kept reading.

Then he turned to page 58 and I watched my husband (a self-proclaimed Not-a-Toy-Collector, except for model railroads which don't count) turn into a nine-year-old boy. 

"SOUNDWAVE! The ORIGINAL! They're re-releasing it just like they re-released some of them a few years ago!"

(I bought him the G1 reissues of Jazz and Optimus Prime to his pure, unabated delight) 

He proceeded to read me the blurb about the reissue as well as the captions... "And then Soundwave says 'My crotch says 'STOP' but my heart says GO' and Ravage, the cassette, says '...what does an MP3 look like?' Tee hee! This is a GOTTA have. I have to have this! I can't live without it! SOUNDWAVE!" 

I smiled as he geeked out and reverted to little boy excitement. "When does it come out?" I asked, taking the last bite of my cookie and a swig of milk.

"Let's see... Spring 2007." Wait for it. "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

I knew it wouldn't be out yet, and I knew he wouldn't like having to wait. Yet I sat there with my mouth on my glass and inhaled with laughter at his reaction... then spit, as in near-vomit spit, all over the table and across it, all over Ben's jacket that was hanging on the opposite chair.

I started choking and crying and when Ben came over and asked if I was okay, I nearly peed myself. I haven't laughed that hard... ever, actually! It was a mix of pain and trying to gasp for breath with some milk still in my mouth and that cookie, that precious cookie that I did not want to lose.

I ran to the bathroom to let loose the flood of urine that threatened my dignity, laughing and crying all the way. It took me about 10 minutes to recover, and my chest still hurts. None of it came out of my nose, but wow.

Thank you, Transformers, for making my night.

Posted by Yvette at 09:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Food, Drinks & Dining | Friends & Relationships | Geeky | Personal | Toys & Gadgets

I've been hunched over at one of my two desks--home and work--for seemingly forever. Sure, it's easy to sit up straight for a little while, but once you've misbehaved and your neck and shoulders start to ache, it can only go downhill until you rest more, exercise and stretch more. 

Great, it's only Tuesday. I doubt this whole neckache thing is going to get better before Friday with all the time I have to put in at the computer. Grrr.

When I was a teenager sitting in front of my parents' awesome Mac Quadra, I never imagined that I would complain about getting too much computer time. Of course back then, it was Crystal Quest or bust.  God, I miss that game.

Great, I just did a search to find that link for Crystal Quest and discovered that you can download it for the Xbox 360 (informational link). We have only the first Xbox.

The Mac Quadra is actually sitting in my basement and is still functional as far I know... but I can't seem to find the keyboard, mouse, or power cables. There is a floppy disk somewhere with Crystal Quest on it, too. 

Not that I should be doing anything right now but writing a novel, relaxing my tense muscles and practicing my fanfare trumpet and wooden recorder for a Medieval music demo at a local school tomorrow evening (my fellow SCAdians will also be playing).

Heh, feeling a little more geeky after writing this post. 

Posted by Yvette at 07:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Computers & Tech | Memories | Music | Personal

The truth is that I am overwhelmed by the number of things in which I have fallen behind, ranging from projects at work to trying to get settled into my house to keeping up with everything I want to be (or think I should be) online and with my website.

I am also torn with not wanting to be too personal on this blog or my website, and yet feeling that I am being dishonest to my readers (assuming that there are still any of you out there) by censoring the raw me writer inside who is too afraid of being exposed and vulnerable to the outside world.

I have a voice that I want to get out there. And at the same time I want to selfishly keep it to myself. There's also a fair amount of "will people like me?" that any writer, no matter how much of an egoistical narcissist they are, cannot avoid feeling.

Does it really matter if you like me?  No, probably not in the scheme of things. Going public with a blog is like standing up for karaoke or running in an election. I've done both a couple times and failed. It sucked. I also submitted an essay about my journey and self-realization of what it means to be geek to potentially be published in a book. I cut the deadline too close, probably. I was rejected. Was it because of the narrowly missed deadline (two hours, we're talking) or because my writing and/or story wasn't good enough? Was it not what they were looking for? I don't know.

That book, called "She's Such a Geek" is out now. I don't have a copy yet. I'm not sure I want to read it yet. I would like to appreciate the stories in the collection and not be overly judgmental or critical for the petty reason that my essay wasn't selected. I think I have to get over myself and maybe learn something from the whole experience.

I am also already behind in my fourth time trying to write 50,000 words in thirty days. November is National Novel Writing Month: nanowrimo.org. My buddy Brianna, whom I had to coerce to try again, even though she made it past 50,000 words last year, is about 9,000 words into it. My other buddy, Erica, is about that far along as well. I have a story line and notes, with very little actually written. I have the house to myself tonight while my husband is out playing poker. I've already spent most of the night playing Simpsons Road Rage on the Xbox and giving the cats treats and attention and just dilly-dallying in general.

Yeah, this is True Confessions.  It's time to come clean. I haven't updated Geek of the Week in a while and haven't been staying up with the forum on my very own website. I haven't really even been responding to email or sending good wishes and gifts to my friends in Cincinnati who recently got married.

 
Here's the stuff that I've been procrastinating with:

www.LibraryThing.org - I'm vetters if you want to look me up and see the hundreds of books I've cataloged and tagged. I love that fucking site. It's been a very satisfying distraction for me.

Reading - probably directly related to cataloging my books. I've read a ton of the short children's books that I recently cataloged. Here are some others:

The Wakefields of Sweet Valley Oh, yeah, believe it! It's in my collection. Never a huge fan of Sweet Valley High books, but I always wanted to have a twin and I loved historical fiction from an early age.

Mendel's Daughter Much different that Maus, but very good. I'm fascinated by my Jewish Heritage. It's removed by a generation, and I didn't ask enough questions of my grandfather before he died.

The Scent of God A memoir of a Catholic nun who fell in love with a priest. I'm fascinated by my recent knowledge that both of my grandmothers considered becoming nuns. Obviously, I wouldn't be here today if that had worked out for them. Today is my maternal grandmother's birthdays. She passed away last June. Saturday was my paternal grandfather's birthday. He would have turned 100 years old if he were still alive.

And that leads into the other thing keeping me busy - family and genealogy.  My dad revealed a dozen or so photo albums I had not seen before from his mother (yes, if you're counting, all of my grandparents have passed away).  I have more than my share of heritage photos and documents that I volunteered to scan and catalog for my mother's family and I'm very far behind. Now all of these new heritage photographs from my dad (which are thankfully better labeled) go directly to my "to do" pile. Not to mention the research I've been half-heartedly trying to do for the novel that I'm supposed to be writing right now. I want to include some specifics of doing genealogical research in it.

So naturally, when I tire of playing Road Rage and I come upstairs specifically to start writing that novel I promised myself (and Brianna) that I would really write this year, here I am writing a long-ass blog entry. I'm going to post it now and get to the novel. It's 10pm and I have a full day of needing-to-concentrate at work tomorrow... I guess I'll just see how long I last this evening.

Thanks to anyone who made it all the way through this post. I'm sorry it's so long. As always, I will express my intention to write in this blog more frequently so that my posts are shorter. For the most part, anyway. 

That was 943 words. I guess it's not so hard after all....

Posted by Yvette at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Personal | Reading, Writing & Books

For once, I'm going to go ahead and admit to having a nerdy day. Don't worry, I maintained my geeky side while exploring my nerdiness.  I need to get on that whole defining the difference between nerds and geeks (dweebs are much easier to classify).

Geeky activitiy of the day: playing Magic the Gathering with husband

Nerdy activity of the day: spending hard-earned weekend hours cataloguing my book collection on LibraryThing.com. Even the graphic novels and bathroom readers. Oh yeah, I'm hooked!

I entered the first 200 books yesterday, but that was the max allowed for a free account. My husband disagreed with the purchase of an upgrade (I'm sure the argument would have been very funny and appropriate in an geeky independent movie), so I received an emergency early birthday present from my sister of a lifetime membership to LibraryThing.com (a whopping $25).

Hooray! Thank you, Tim Spalding, for creating and maintaining a website that will surely be a large, pleasurable part of my life in the years to come. I can't wait to analyze my Web 2.0 data to assist in arranging my books in real life! 

Posted by Yvette at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: Nerd Alert | Personal | Reading, Writing & Books | Teh Interweb

I put my name, my husband's name and my dad's name into the lottery to get tickets to the Antiques Roadshow when they come to Salt Lake City on June 24.  The date passed for hearing if I got them, so I moved on.

A couple weeks ago, I found out from my co-worker that Garrison Keillor was coming to SLC to record a "Prairie Home Companion" radio episode, which struck me as an opportunity I didn't want to miss.  Hubby agreed, and we shelled out the cash for not cheap, but not too expensive tickets to go.

Two days later, my dad called me to tell me that he got two Antiques Roadshow tickets with an entry time of 3:30.

Garrison Keillor's show starts at 3:45.

I could go to both if the entry time to the Roadshow were earlier, and I've been trying to trade them with a posting on Craigslist and telling everyone I know out here.  No takers.  I could try selling them on eBay and purchasing tickets for an earlier time, which is what I should probably do if I really want to go.  Of course the tickets "are not for resale," so everybody on eBay has, for example, "a fancy white envelope, with bonus two Roadshow tickets" for sale.  Nice trick.

Anyway, I look at my situation and wonder how many people under age 30 have this kind of problem with two conflicting events when the events are Public Television vs. Public Radio. I don't care about being on television with my antiques (in fact I sort of hope that I'm not... unless the tv will shave off 20 pounds, I'm definitely not fit enough for a video documentation of any sort). 

I really hope that I can experience both.  It may be a long day, and my friends and future children may think I'm batty, but by golly I'm psyched.  

P.S. I would have said "by golly" before I ever moved to Utah. I am swearing less here, though. 

Posted by Yvette at 07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Around Town & Beyond | Nerd Alert | Personal | Radio | TV & Movies | Teh Interweb

It's been so long, I almost forgot how to add a new entry with Movable Type. Sheesh.  *Kermit face* Ready for some randomness as I get ready to start blogging again more regularaly?

Things are settling down a little bit with the house.  We are having some new windows put in this week, which will have screens, so that we can actually open the windows all the way without

1. the cats getting out
or
2. the spiders getting in

We're in the middle of figuring out a plan to wire the house for ethernet and cable.  Right now we have one working connection that we have to share, with cat5 cables draped to our respective computers and the Xbox.  I just got the urge to play DDR, but I should probably go to work instead.

Fefferbee, listen up - The next time I'm in Seattle, I want you to go here with me: The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. It's by the Space Needle.  I just learned that Neil Gaiman is MCing the induction of George Lucas, Anne McCaffrey, Frank Kelly Freas and Frank Herbert.  Sweet.

I went to the local library to sign up for a card yesterday, and when I got there I realized that I had forgotten proof of residence.  I went in anyway to look around, and I was impressed with the size of the library for the size of the town in which I now live.  I tried not to pick up too many books because I couldn't check anything out, but just got a feel for the library. 

People who go to libraries hopefully know what I mean by that.  Different libraries are just different.  I remember going to the downtown Cleveland library when I was a kid and being totally blown away by the "old" feeling and awesome architecture.  Smaller towns, and even the downtown Cincinnati library, don't have that.  But the good news is that I think I'll be comfortable in the new library.  The librarian at the desk was the nicest I remember a librarian being (to a stranger, at least) in a long time.

Fighting... DDR... coffee making me so awake... must use alertness for work.  See ya! 

Posted by Yvette at 07:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Around Town & Beyond | House & Home | Personal | Reading, Writing & Books

I still have many more woman-hours to put into the innergeek site to make it what I want it to be.  Not to mention the ever-needed update to the Geek Test.  It's always on my mind, and the guilt sets in and makes my go .

The good news is that I started a new job recently, and I love it.  It will help pay the bills and support my geek habit.  My husband and I are also in the process of buying a house.  If all goes well, the next couple of months will require lots of elbow grease in our spare time as we fix some things in the house and move our stuff over there.  This, of course, means less time for the website.  Ugh.

And also less time for expanding my geek essay that was so gently rejected for publication.  

Yes, I am aware that I could still make time for all of these things.  Instead I selfishly decide to spend the time sleeping, making dinner or watching Scrubs on Tuesday evenings. I also make time to feel guilty about not going to the gym, let's not forget that.

It's Sunday afternoon, and I am still in my pajamas.  My accomplishments for the day include marinating meat for dinner tonight and fixing a typo on the site that a stranger politely pointed out to me.  I'm too embarrassed to tell you what the typo was.  I can't believe I published it.  Okay, you've dragged it out of me.  It was a wandering apostrophe and I swear it'll never happen again.  I hope.

Posted by Yvette at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Geek Test & innergeek.us | House & Home | Personal

I received this email today from the editors of the upcoming book, She's Such a Geek:

----- 

Dear contributor:

Thanks so much for submitting your work to She's Such A Geek. We were blown away by the number and quality of submissions we received, and really excited that so many cool geeky women wanted to share their stories with us. We received nearly 200 submissions and had to choose around 20 from among those.

We really enjoyed your piece, but unfortunately we weren't able to use it in the book. This probably doesn't have anything to do with the quality of your work. Many of the pieces we received were well-written and interesting, but covered the same topics as too many other pieces, or didn't work with the format of the book. Thanks again for submitting it, and best of luck with your writing.

Best,
Annalee and Charlie

-----

I'm bummed, but at the same time, this may open up my essay to expansion into a full-length book.  I have a lot to say about geekhood, and who knows - somebody else might even be interested in what I have to say.  

I haven't been updating the site or this blog very often because I just started a new job and am also in the process of buying a house.  Wish I had more time in the day.  As it is, I've found that I'm sincerely enjoying my sleep-time of late. 

Posted by Yvette at 08:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Geeky | House & Home | Personal | Reading, Writing & Books

I knew that there were talks for Disney to buy Pixar, but I usually don't get involved or interested in corporate merger politics.  I think a lot of people are reacting to the purchase like me because Pixar was just... good. 

I had been anxiously awaiting the end of Pixar's contract with Disney so that they could create totally awesome shiznit without the mouse big brother.  It's interesting how it's played out.  Hopefully Pixar will continue to put out great quality films and, I think the best that I could hope for, is for Disney to suck less in general. 

Besides, I've been going on Pixar movie dates with my now-husband since Toy Story came out.  Steve Jobs and John Lasseter, this is personal.  We don't go to the movies that often, and I need to have the option to see something other than Kill Bill or King Kong-type movies once in a while.  And those Dreamworks movies just don't have the same punch. 

Come on, buddies, do it for your old pal Yvette.  Of course you know me.  Remember that one time, at that party?  No?  Well, then, I'll have to share the real history of Pixar with the public, won't I? :D

Posted by Yvette at 09:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: News Bites | Personal | TV & Movies

Last week, when Friday the 13th was almost over, I was doing a string of searches for some geeky stuff related to my website.  I came across a call for submissions for an anthology of essays entitled "She's Such a Geek," to be released in book format this fall.
The problem was that it was due at midnight on Sunday the 15th, and the word count requirement was 3,000 to 6,000 words.  I wasn't sure that I'd be able to do it.

But I did!

I wrote a little about the story of the Geek Test and about the acceptance of my own inner geek as time progressed.  That's a summary.   I think that I was able to put it in a more descriptive, literary form.  The final word count was just over 5,000 words.  Unfortunately, I was writing and editing right up until midnight, so the piece that I submitted was probably not the absolute best that it could have been, particularly towards the end.  The actual ending was good, I think, because I had already thought it out.  My husband read it and said he like the Tarantino/jumping-around-in-time effect.  But nobody died in my essay, so I don't think I would ever call it true Tarantino style.  I wanted to keep fixing it, like every non-published writer out there, but I decided to submit it as it was because the other option would not have even allowed for the chance to be published in this anthology.  The subject matter requested was just too irresistable not to submit something!  I do, after all, consider myself to know a few things about geeks, and certainly my own experiences as a geek.

In any case, the pain of waiting should last until Febrary 15th.  If I don't hear back from them by then, I am supposed to assume that they have thrown my essay into the trash or into their slush pile (to be discovered years after my death, I'm sure).  Here's the actual post on Seal Press' website:

SHE'S SUCH A GEEK
An Anthology by and for Women Obsessed
with Computers, Science, Comic Books,
Gaming, Spaceships, and Revolution

Slated for Fall 2006

Geeks are taking over the world. They make the most popular movies and games, pioneer new ways to communicate using technology, and create new ideas that will change the future. But the stereotype is that only men can be geeks. So when are we going to hear from the triumphant female nerds whose stories of outer space battles will inspire generations and whose inventions will change the future?

Female geeks are busting out of the labs and into the spotlight. They have the skills and knowledge that can inspire social progress, scientific breakthroughs, and change the world for the better, and they're making their voices heard, some for the first time, in the upcoming anthology She's Such a Geek. This anthology will celebrate women who have flourished in the male-dominated realms of technical and cultural arcana. We're looking for a wide range of personal essays about the meaning of female nerdhood by women who are in love with genomics, obsessed with blogging, learned about sex from Dungeons and Dragons, and aren't afraid to match wits with men or computers. The essays in She's Such a Geek will explain what it means to be passionately engaged with technical or obscure topics—and how to deal with it when people tell you that your interests are weird, especially for a girl. This book aims to bust stereotypes of what it means to be a geek, as well as what it means to be female.

More than anything, She's Such a Geek is a celebration and call to arms: it's a hopeful book which looks forward to a day when women will pilot spaceships, invent molecular motors, design the next ultra-tiny supercomputer, write epics, and run the government.

We want introspective essays that explain what being a geek has meant to you. Describe how you've fought stereotypes to be accepted among nerds. Explore why you are obsessed with topics and ideas that are supposed to be "for boys only." Tell us how you felt the day you realized that you would be devoting the rest of your life to discovering algorithms or collecting comic books. We want strong, personal writing that is also smart and critical. We don't mind if you use the word "fuck," and we don't mind if you use the word "telomerase." Be celebratory, polemical, wistful, angry, and just plain dorky.

Possible topics include:
• what turned you into a geek
• your career in science, technology, or engineering
• growing up geeky
• being a geek in high school today
• battling geek stereotypes (i.e racial stereotypes and geekdom, cultural analysis of geek chic and the truth about nerds, the idea that women have to choose between being sexually desirable and smart, stereotypes about geek professions such as computer programmers)
• sex and dating among geeks
• science fiction fandom
• role-playing game or comic-book subcultures
• the joys of math
• blogging or videogames
• female geek bonding
• geek role models for women
• feminist commentary on geek culture
• women's involvement in DiY science and technology groups
• Stories from women involved in geek pop and underground cultures. These might include comic book writers, science fiction writers, electronic music musicians, and women interested in the gaming world.
• women's web networks and web zine grrrl culture
• Issues of sexism in any of the above themes

EDITORS: Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders are geeky women writers. Annalee is a contributing editor at Wired magazine and writes the syndicated column Techsploitation. Charlie is the author of Choir Boy (Soft Skull Press) and publisher of other magazine.

PUBLISHER: Seal Press, an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group, publishes groundbreaking books by and for women in a variety of topics.

DEADLINE: January 15, 2006

LENGTH: 3,000-6,000 words

FORMAT: Essays must be typed, double-spaced, and paginated. Please include your address, phone number, email address, and a short bio on the last page. Essays will not be returned.

SUBMITTING: Send essay electronically as a Document or Rich Text Format file to Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders at sheissuchageek@gmail.com.

PAYMENT: $100 plus two books

REPLY: Please allow until February 15 for a response. If you haven't received a response by then, please assume your essay has not been selected. It is not possible to reply to every submission personally.

Posted by Yvette at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Feminism | Geeky | Personal | Reading, Writing & Books

Hello, World!

I used to have a "history" section on my old website that served as some form of blog... but now it'll be a lot easier to keep that updated with moveabletype.  As I add more features to my website and make changes, I'll try to post them here.  I introduced a forum, as well, for the more discussion-oriented readers. I guess we'll just have to see if either of those take off.  If not, well then I believe I will simply be entering the world of digital vanity publishing.

You might now be asking, "Who are you, and why should I care about your blog?" 

My name is Yvette Beaudoin, and I created and maintain innergeek.us, a site dedicated to geeks that features the near-famous Geek Test.  Yeah, there are a ton of geek tests out there, but mine is always a work in progress and is very thorough.  Too thorough for some (who are not geek enough) and not thorough enough for others (who think the test is not geeky enough).  The first version came to be in 1999 for a small circle of friends.  It grew and grew, and I put it online in January 2003.  Now the site is growing and growing as I expand my online purpose. 

I could probably write a whole manifesto, but here's the short version of why I maintain this website: I want to encourage people to embrace their inner geeks; to be proud of who they are and not be ashamed that they love Star Trek or collecting coins or playing Call of Cthulu.  I want to reach out to those who have been ostracized as a geek (in a negative light) and tell them that "being different" is one of the best things about them; and to encourage visitors to my site to smile or laugh when they recognize a geeky quirk as their own. 

In life, I love to make people laugh.  Sometimes I end up telling really stupid jokes or just simply making myself look stupid.  But every time I get someone to laugh or crack a smile - you know, a real one - it makes all of my other embarrassments worth it.  When I am on a job interview and start to explain what my website is to a professional with a blank stare on his face, and I start to feel the heat creeping up my neck into my cheeks, I think about my purpose.  It doesn't matter to me what Joe Normal (who, if I'm lucky, might pay me a salary to edit HTML or his company's press releases) thinks.  I'm here for the cackles and snorts from my friends and people I don't even know - think Donald O'Connor singing "Make 'em Laugh" in Singing in the Rain. I may not be that funny yet, but I'll keep trying in my own geeky way.

Posted by Yvette at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tags: Geek Test & innergeek.us | Personal