In the interest of combating my eternal perfectionism and self-berating tendencies, my therapist has instructed me to "try to do a half-assed job of something" (while, presumably, also trying not to tear my hair out in frustration at my lack of perfect performance.)

This is gonna be hard.

First I need to decide what task, activity or hobby to half-assedly take on... any suggestions?

Birthday adventure at Hampton Beach this week was SUPER fun despite the horrendous rain. While we did not manage a walk on the beach, we did play lots of arcade games and eat yummy treats. Who knew that chocolate-dipped Oreos could be so good?? (....OK, that's not too surprising akshully...). Now that I've scoped out the scene there, I'd HIGHLY recommend a big group trip up there at some point this summer -- ideally on a sunny day this time, and with some adult beverages thrown into the mix!

We rearranged our living room furniture recently, and I FINALLY have room in front of the TV to do my belly dance DVD. It rocks! I love it! It's really fun and easy to follow, yet challenging enough that I will not get bored doing the same routine several more times. I especially liked the part where the woman explained that skinny girls would have trouble getting the right "jiggle" that you're aiming for with the shimmy. I don't think I will have that problem! I'm really excited about the possibility of my tummy pooch being put to good use :)

Normally I don't do the celebrity gossip thing, but I've had this morbid curiousity about Michael Jackson's kids that I just couldn't shake. I *almost* bought a copy of People or some such at the drug store yesterday, but I decided to turn to the free interwebz instead. While I (obviously?) don't feel any personal loss over his death, I was surprised at how sad I got watching the YouTube clip of his daughter Paris at the memorial service. From the outside, it seems bizarre for anyone to think of The King of Pop as "Dad." But ultimately, he'll be mourned by his family just as anyone would be. 

Zero migraines in 2 weeks, and all it took was lots of people showering me with attention and presents!  *grin* 

Our honeymoon in Cancun is a mere 4 weeks away, and Mexico is on travel advisory because of swine flu. fuuuuuuck! Now I miss the days of only worrying about those pesky drug cartels.

I now have two nephews!
Damon Scott, born April 5, 2009
6lbs. 9oz



Can't get enough of these adorable faces :)

Iron Chef was lots of delicious fun, except I got a killer migraine that just kept coming.  Apologies to komos  and faux_eonix  for ducking out at the earliest possible moment; I had to go home, crawl into bed and suffer for like 4 more hours before starting to feel better. And if Sunday was any indication, I can probably expect a rebound headache today. Meh.

Sunday was a frenetic Zipcar shopping run. New fishies were obtained. We got the world's tiniest cory catfish. So. Freaking. Cute! The big cory looks like a whale next to this guy. I love tiny things that look like miniatures of bigger things! eeee!  We also got another female molly to balance out the 2 males who would not leave the original lone female (now pregnant, we believe) alone. While we have yet to see if we get overrun by molly fry, the trick seemed to work and the males have calmed down a lot. Apparently they no longer feel like they have to guard the one female constantly. The tank is flourishing and we are thrilled. It really feels like a mini ecosystem.

Speaking of tiny cute things, I have a new nephew!! Damon Scott was born at 1:30pm pacific time, apparently not a giant like my first nephew, he only weighed in at 6lbs 9oz. No pictures yet. I can't wait to see him when I visit LA in a few weeks!!!

Funny work news: In a committee meeting yesterday, the chair kept referring to our reduced doctoral numbers as "shrinkage." It took a lot of self control not to snicker each time.

Non-funny work news: The Dean of the school announced yesterday that they will most likely have to make some staff layoffs in order to meet our budget targets for next year. As someone whose job is up for renewal or termination in June, I think now is the time to get scared.

This salon piece about reproductive issues mentions some really scary cases of women not being allowed control over their bodies. Yikes.

I like this comment from reader bernbart:

I think these people have the brain power equivalent to an undeveloped fetus for which they want to give personhood.

The religious fascists should restate: "We won't rest until every state recognizes that pre-born babies are persons, just like you and me,"

to this..

"Screw the Constitution and Separation of church and state.

We won't rest until every state recognizes that our religious beliefs must be the law of the land, and you must all be forced to believe that pre-born babies are persons, just like you and me,".

Eating a salad for lunch cancels out the heavily frosted cake I ate for dessert... right?

*sigh* I am so hopeless at dieting. At least I've been exercising, but it's hard to say if I'm ahead of the game once you factor in the bad eating habits.

I highly recommend Totally looks like to anyone as bored at work as I am.

I am home sick, with CNN.com in one room and NPR in the other, and no TV in between... but it's cool, I think the excitement is coming through. I just wish my intestines weren't trying to tie themselves into knots. What did I eat?

EEEE!!!  The history-making is about to begin!! It sounds so hokey, but I feel remarkably proud today. Haven't felt that in a patriotic way since.... ever?

Greetings, peoples of the interwebs! I hail from the scary land of Overwork, where lolcats and LJ posts are just a memory. But it's 4:30pm, my boss is already gone for the holidays, and it's like a ghost town in my office. Hence, I take a moment for slack. Hi!!

Not much exciting to report. Except that it's been a while since I griped about migraines so I shall mention that
( I am feeling a bit better these days! )

We'll be leaving the squishies behind as we travel to Connecticut for Xmas. I always feel guilty leaving my babies, although it's for a much shorter trip than last time, and anyway they still got fed in our absence so I'm not really sure they noticed the difference.

My appetite has been a little out of control lately. I can't seem to get enough of the sweet stuff! This is nothing new, although it seems like I'm giving in even more that usual. (I'll attribute that to January looming ahead with resolutions and restrictions.) Now that it's for-real winter, I've definitely lost whatever exercise advantage I had from moving to the new place and walking more every day. BUT I just sprang for our very own rowing machine. We're gonna get so buff using this thing! Hells yeah! I have yet to properly break it in, so I'll have to let you know if it lives up to expectations. But the hope is that it will circumvent the I-hate-the-gym excuse for not exercising. It should also provide a fantastic cardio and core body workout. HOT WEDDING BODY, HERE I COME!

Forget about the collapsing economy. Forget about terrifying right wing she-beasts. What you need is a giant turkey leg to gnaw on, and a yard of beer to wash it down.

By which I mean, who's up for a trip to King Richard's Faire in Carver???

( clicky for scheduling if you're interested! )

Perhaps you've seen this already, but I had to share. I was tickled to find out that a couple of organic chemists put together NanoPutians, i.e. anthropomorphic molecules. These are actual molecular structures which happen to look amazingly like stick figures. Not only is it hilarious, it is apparently Actual Science, as it was published in the Journal of Organic Chemistry!

I think my favorites are the NanoMonarch



and the NanoScholar :)


Yes I am a nerd, but c'mon, this is pretty cute.

After a few weeks of walking to the T along the bike path (aka dog park), I can confirm that this is reliably true. Plus, science says it's so! See funny photos here.

My work presentation this week went very well. I've gotten "great job" emails from several of the office directors, and the dean whose baseline facial expression always strikes me as vaguely disapproving said "it couldn't have gone better!" GO ME!!

In other good news, I treated myself recently to an Amazon splurge, and the spoils are finally arriving! I have a new George Winston CD, a copy of Gaiman's The Dream Hunters, and one of those big exercise balls - purple of course! - to encourage me to pick up an exercise routine again. Thanks go to Nearly Hubby for inflating it for me, even though it required several minutes of energetic and very suggestive pumping. *snicker*

Unfortunately, the migraines are royally kicking my ass yet again. I'm basically back up to the highest point of headache frequency I've ever had (which is a few to several per week). It feels like everything that could potentially be a trigger, IS a trigger for me. The pills I'm on aren't helping, and the neurologist who prescribed them is still "on sabbatical" until the second week of September. Admittedly, I've been slacking on my wellness routine since the packing phase of the move. I feel like I never have the time for it anymore. But I've reached that point where the choices are to stay in bed and cry a lot (which would totally lead to more migraines and require more sick days than I have) or once again do all the little things within my power to prevent migraines. Steps 1, 2 and 3 will be getting more exercise, starting up the meditation habit again, and going in for regular massage therapy appointments... all of which will begin this very weekend. MOTIVAYSHUN, I HAS IT.

Oh! Another good thing. POOH on the nutritionist who acted like walking home from Harvard doesn't count for shit... because I have totally lost weight! I don't know how much because I haven't been willing to step on the scale. But all of my pants are noticeably bigger lately, to the point of needing to cinch in and pin the waistband of a pair without belt loops. That was inconvenient but uplifting. And while my love of tasty foods will likely remain unabated forever, I've been much more conscious of portion sizes and the need for additional veg (as has Chef Munki, kudos to him!).

I need to get a bridesmaid's dress taken in. I've used Eleni in Davis Sq. for hemming pants, but I don't know whether to trust her with a gown. Any recommendations? Preferably in Cambridge or Somerville.

The network at work was down all morning. As all of my files are saved on the shared drive, I rapidly gave up trying to work. 

To entertain myself, I started poking around in the documents saved to my computer (basically all personal stuff). Luckily I remembered that weeks ago I saved The Big Read list. I’ve been too busy to go through it, but this became the perfect opportunity.

A bit behind the LJ times, but here you go - The Executive Summary:

- I’ve read 27% of the books
- I loved 11%
- I hated or don’t ever intend to read 14%
- I actively intend to read 4%
- The remaining 44% do not clearly register on my radar.

As a book lover, I was pretty surprised at the small number of books I’d actually read off this list*, not to mention the scant number of ones I intend to read. I was also tempted to strike out several items which, in the end, I did not; I figure I should probably keep an open mind about books that many people consider to be culturally significant. Still, it confirmed for me that my tastes run more on the modern side, and my aversion to "classics" has held fast.** I actually feel like the list is a bit dated. There are oodles of amazing, significant, more recent books missing. Maybe in 25 years, all my favorites will be on the classics list??  

 *well… 26% sounds small to me, but thankfully it far exceeds the estimated 6% of the average adult…
**This is one reason why I'm actually looking forward to the classics meeting of Book Club. I'd love to hear plugs for classics from people whose opinions I trust! By the way, I intend to read Miller's Tropic of Cancer, another remarkable book not on this list, but one I've never read.

Forget new car smell, worry about this: Toxic Chemicals Found In Common Scented Laundry Products, Air Fresheners

I'm not sure if this qualifies for a Consumerist rant, but the asstards at UPS are driving me crazy! We bought a new mattress from costco.com, and getting it delivered has just been one hassle after another.

- Delivery attempt #1: Friday at 3pm. No "Info Notice" left on door, but tracking on UPS site indicates a delivery attempt was made. Do they not realize that people go to work?

- Friday/weekend: I am unable to make any changes to the delivery options online because I do not have an Info Notice number, because the guy failed to leave said notice on the door.

- Monday: called UPS to explain that I work during the day and cannot be home to meet the driver. They explain that a signature is required for the delivery, and they don't deliver on Saturdays, therefore I am SOL. The only other options are to have it delivered to a neighbor (not helpful - everyone fucking works! come on!) or have it delivered to the nearest UPS store (which, granted, is in Davis Sq., but the mattress is a monster weighing in at over 100lbs and I want it delivered to my door godsdamnit, is that too much to ask of a delivery company??).

- I talk to a supervisor, who agrees to contact the dispatcher, who will ask the driver to return after 5pm. I explain that we don't live at the apartment yet, so I'll only go there to meet the driver if he is in fact coming. So, the dispatcher kindly called back (after another reminder) to confirm that the post-5:00 delivery is on schedule.

- I leave work early to make sure I don't miss the guy.

- 5:01pm: What do I find? An Info Notice on the door, stating that the "first" delivery attempt had just been made. WTF? Even worse, the notice states that the driver will return on Tuesday, either from 2-5pm or after 5. NOT HELPFUL.

- I call UPS again and learn that the driver came to the house at 4:00.  Naturally the customer service drone on the other end of the line has no explanation. He says the dispatcher will call me back. This doesn't happen.

GRAH!

|-------| THIS FAR AWAY FROM A GUN-TOTING RAMPAGE.