Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Look Out, She's Learning How to Use It

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. I had a busy and social weekend and got to spend time with a ton of great people, except for my sister (see Jen, validating the last post). I also got an insane amount of 'Merry Christmas' texts from friends yesterday. At first, I found it a little odd, but then joined in and sent some out too. I found that it was better than interrupting family dinners and present opening time. While I do intend to actually send cards again next year, the 'thoughts' coming in throughout the day were cute. My favorite came from Maureen who said, 'Happy winter gift giving day!'

For now, the only other thing I would like to announce is that I have finally joined the land of digital photography. My very in-tune and slightly perfect other half (that'd be Justin by the way) surprised me with a tiny little Canon Powershot SD450 Digital Elph. I love it because I will be able to take it everywhere with me and annoy everyone by shouting "this is a perfect picture taking moment!"

Technical difficulties (i.e...Sarah doesn't like to read ALL the directions) have allowed me to erase all my pictures from my memory card twice, and to fail to connect my camera to my computer correctly until midnite, so I have no great pics to show you yet. I have decided to spend some quality time with the 'basics' manual tomorrow, so you should start to see some camera happy action in the next few days. Memories of me with a camera for my high school yearbook class are pouring in...prepare accordingly.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Slacker Me and Wind-Up Dogs

I am still irritated that we got snowed in up here in Portland on Sunday and lost a day of useful holiday prep time. I even took a personal day on Monday to grieve the loss. Anyway, here's what I have to say at the moment...

I have decided not to send off Holiday cards this year. Really, this lies completely on the fact that Christmas has snuck up on me and I have run out of time. I didn't even put up my little fake alpine Christmas trees and decorate them...I just went to Hallmark, picked up the annual ornament, and then tossed it down at home.

That doesn't mean I am missing the Christmas spirit, though I am pretty convinced that Peacock Lane in Portland is out of the loop. I went on a family adventure on Monday night with my dad and that crew (uh-huh, ten of us rolling in a huge white van) to view this once amazing spectacle of lights and holiday cheer. Gotta say that the effort and warmth of the street has diminished greatly since my last viewing in 1995. What is that about?

In other completely unrelated news, my roomies have decided to purchase a puppy. Make that a wind-up toy. Yes, two pound, seven week old Max has joined the household. He is a long haired Chihuahua, and he is actually really cute. Tomorrow, Jess will travel to Medford to pick up ANOTHER wind-up toy...a Maltese puppy, probably about two pounds too. We got a picture of Bailey behind Max, and Max is about the size of Bailey's snout. Bay shows little interest in Max actually, but having two in the house may bring out his herding genes...stay tuned. I am guessing that the puppy thing will be a much more successful venture than their attempt at a pet last year...Lola, the indoor Pygmy goat that sprayed poo pellets all over the house and head butted people. She made for great video, but that's about it.

On Friday, I get to meet Justin's sister Jennifer (hmm, I have one of those too). She is coming from Oklahoma and bringing her twin five month old son and daughter along for the week. I have been helping to set up baby stuff and have to say that for baby stuff, some of it is incredibly complicated. How about another what's that about? I guess babies aren't putting the stuff together, but come on already!

Alright, I may not get around to this again before the holiday madness really sets in sooooo, have a great Christmas, or whatever you prefer to celebrate or not celebrate. Be safe, be happy, and spend time with all the people who really matter to you. That's what I will be doing.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Happy B'day to Many and Aggh!

Besides knowing that at this moment in time, I feel the need to take some days off from work and just mellow out, this is what is on my agenda:

First off, happy birthdays go out to my roomie Bill on the 16th, my dad's wife Sandy on the 18th, and Vince on the 19th. Ryan, who gets mentioned in a minute, also just had one on the 11th, so that's a lot of cake and presents. We will be hitting Alibi on Saturday night to celebrate Bill's bday. Vince, we'd come to see you if you weren't so damn far away, so have a good one.

Justin has been on a business trip for a couple days and has been travelling on a small corporate jet from place to place. I hate small planes and don't like the idea of them. Who cares if they are safer than going by car from place to place...I am of course going to just generalize irrational thoughts in my head about the people who are important to me, and Justin in particular, is of increasingly greater importance to me with each passing day (and not back until tomorrow either, sigh). Better be a good damn pilot on board.

My friend Ryan has decided to go anonymous on all the strangers in the world and only give his new blog address to a selective group of people (me being one, thanks man). So unfortunately, you will not be able to enjoy any further entertaining from the likes of Ryan. But I still encourage you to read his tales from Korea in the now defunct Nuprin Diaries. How he spins stories is great. Sadly, Adeiu is the last entry you unlucky folks will get to enjoy.

I finally scored some new contacts in my eyes today and have a little clearer vision. I am pretty pissed that my sight continues to go down the tube, but appreciate the sharper vision that my new -4.75 and -5.5 Rx supplies me. Anyone want to donate their perfect sight to me?

Well, I need to go now and get my thoughts wrapped around what the heck to get everyone for Christmas. I have YET to start shopping this year, and have a feeling I should probably get that going sometime soon. I am not one of those crazy Christmas Eve shoppers, but I come pretty damn close because I spend way too much time trying to figure out the PERFECT gift for each person. The decision fairy said she's paying me a visit by Saturday though, so I should be good to get started and finished all at once.

Oh one more thing...a bar Justin and I drove by in Portland called O'Briens had this written on their reader board:

Ho Y'all

God, that cracked me up.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Left of the Holiday Ramblings

The ego in me must declare that I have enjoyed catching heat from people who actually read this thing and are wondering where the heck my posts are. Most speculate correctly that I am off in la-la-land with a specific significant other. That's as much as I will report about him except that things are good there and that you would probably want to spend time with Justin too. Well, now I am just playing favorites, but anyway...

So I broke the console cubby in my Saturn. This pisses me off because I did the same thing in my Red Rocket in 1999. Of course, that time, I was kind of taking out my aggression on the console in lieu of frustrations toward a college boyfriend (don't worry, I've mellowed out to some degree since then), but the fact of the matter is that it was already damaged and I think the breaks have something to do with being left handed. I slam those things down because I just don't have the nice control with my right hand that I do with the left. Though, some people just refer to me as a 'slammer' in general. Hmm, maybe I need to go to finishing school.

My officemates and I have decided to go politically correct and decorate our door with trinkets and cutouts from every winter holiday. This really started as a 'point to make' over some coworkers getting frustrated that we are having a 'holiday party' instead of a Christmas party. I, for one, was pretty demanding that it be referred to as a holiday party because not everyone celebrates Christmas. Actually, most celebrate Xcess-mas in my mind. Not that I am into the religion element myself. I mean, in my house, we watched Godspell on Easter instead of going to church.

Oh, and to sound even more hypocritical in response to my own 'X-cessmas' statement...I love getting Christmas presents...but I think it should be a give and get kind of thing. I am heading downtown to Pioneer Square with my dad and my younger sibs to help serve food on Christmas morning. Additionally, I am buying presents for friends and family. But it won't be about size and price...I'll put thought into it all. Anyway my other point, which I didn't make yet, is that I have no problem with people saying "Merry Christmas" and all, but I think it is important to represent everyone who attends your party. And in the end, everyone likes our bizarre collection of decorations on the door, so it just works.

Moving on, and now I may just sound like a damn hypocrite again, but it's getting pretty ridiculous out there with the political correctness surrounding the holidays. As seen on CNN this morning, some city is referring to their Christmas tree as a 'grand tree.' What the fuck? As Marni mentioned today, "They're not going to start calling menorahs 'little candle thingies' are they?" Lets celebrate all the holidays alright? Set up a damn manger in your front yard if you please. Hoist a stuffed Santa onto your roof. Light 'those little candle thingies' on your windowsill. Have a happy bleeping holiday, whatever one you choose to observe.

Lets switch gears. I have managed to fix the dreadful Portland to Salem to Portland commute by getting to work around 9:30 and leaving no earlier than 5:30. This cuts the crammed mad rush of cars on both ends and provides me with extra sleep in the morning and an extra half hour of quiet work time in the evening. And of course, you are all free to call me during my commute hours to chat because we all know how safe driving and talking is. I've decided that my iPod will get cremated with me one day when I die too because that thing saves the hell out of my sanity. Not that I am going anywhere anytime soon. Remember I am shooting for 111.

Alright, I gotta get on with the sleep process, so I leave with some birthday wishes to Greg. This morning when I wrote the date down on a document at work, I realized he'd have hit 28 today. Damn.

Oh, and my song of the moment is still Carry Me Ohio by Sun Kil Moon. That and Santa Clause by Harry Connick Jr. That's a worthy Christmas song.