Work update

Things got a lot better today. All week we've been struggling with this big issue, and as I talked about in one of my earlier posts, I was unsure of my place and job security. Today, everything was set into motion so that things are starting to get taken care of, and I was assured that none of this mess we're in has put my job in danger. It felt good to have people sit up and take notice, and back us up on how ridiculous all of this has been. I'm sure that we'll still have some fallout from some of this, but we have support now and the right people behind us to make a difference. Makes me happy to go back to work next week!

Paid off

Wheeeee! I paid off my last credit card this month, which means that I officially own all of the furniture and items I bought to make my condo a home after the divorce. It feels really good to be done with that. Not too shabby either - one year to pay for it all including my car.

Now, I can finish paying back my grandparents, who lent me money for my technical communications program a few years ago, and who kindly forgave the debt immediately after they lent it. But, I'm still going to pay them back because it means a lot to me that they did that and helped me to get to this place in life.

Now, next steps are to put some money in savings - what a novel idea. And buy a new washer and dryer. It's quite different owning my own place, and being responsible for such expenses. But, it feels wonderful to be supporting myself and making it in the world.

Birthday weekend

This weekend turned out to be very nice. I wasn't very excited about my birthday due to a lot of stuff going on at work that has had me feeling like a chicken with my head cut off, and frankly being a bit worried about my job security. But, I went out with some co-worker friends after work on Friday, and they treated me to dinner, drinks, and an amazing cake with frosting that I just can't come close to explaining. It was so fabulous.

On Saturday night, L. took me downtown The Metropolitan Grill with a couple of our friends. I had the most incredible steak, and a Pomtini (a pomogranite martini) which was really good. Then we headed to 88 Keys for some dueling piano action. They played our request for Rick James's Superfreak, and even merged it with M.C. Hammer's Can't Touch This. So, that was really fun.

Yesterday, my mom fulfilled my request for one of my favorite homemade meals. She made a mean potato salad, and her fried chicken was perfect. My sister came down with her new Schnoodle puppy, who had a blast playing with my mom's poodle. They were so cute together. My cousin brought her son, and we had a good time playing. I can't believe he's almost 2 years old already. He's so smart for his age.

In any case, it was a really nice weekend, and I got lots of phone calls from friends and family to wish me a happy birthday. It's always nice to be remembered, especially when you haven't been feeling particularly confident. It just reminded me that no matter what happens, I have a lot of people who care. And I'm sure that all of the current chaos will pass in time, just like everything else. It's just hard to remember that when you're deep in the middle of it.

Food bank leftovers found in desert

This is really gross, and begs the question of not only why would a pig farmer be feeding his pigs expired foodstuffs, but also why would pigs be eating things like Redi Whip, Egg nog, and canned food? Bizarre.

Nation's Snowmen March Against Global Warming

Man, I love The Onion. This article just made me giggle.

Nation's Snowmen March Against Global Warming

WASHINGTON, DC-Millions of scarfless snowmen gathered in Washington to protest global warming, which has caused many of them to melt before their time.

"Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case to be heard by the Supreme Court

This is an interesting case. Personally, it almost seems to be making a mountain out of a mole hill. It's a pretty nonsensical phrase, and Joseph Frederick wasn't even on school property at the time. It seems like something more suited to Frederick's parents to figure out.

Kenneth Starr is representing the principal, Deborah Morse, who suspended Frederick for the stunt. I was pretty floored, although not surprised, by the following:

"Starr, joined by the Bush administration, also asked the court to adopt a broad rule that could essentially give public schools the right to clamp down on any speech with which they disagree. That argument did not appear to have widespread support among the justices."

That doesn't seem like opening a can of worms...

In related news, I swear that there used to be a public access TV show or radio show called "Bong Hits 4 Jesus", but a quick online search yielded nothing. Anyone else out there remember this, or am I just making things up?

Sorority is kicked off of campus

DePauw University severs ties with sorority

I've been following this story, as I am an alumni of Delta Zeta (although not this particular chapter). It's very sad actually. One of the reasons that I was drawn to DZ in college was because of the diversity in my house. On a campus where most of the sororities were stacked full young women of the same cookie-cutter image and little academic focus, I found DZ to be very refreshing. Several of my (then) soon-to-be sisters were involved in very complicated degrees and had high academic standards. Of course, not everyone in the house was like that, but I think that's what made it so interesting. We had all kinds of girls with different interests, personalities, and looks. I think it made us much stronger.

All along, DZ headquarters have said that the events at DePauw were a mischaracterization. And that may be. But, I've also been in groups of girls all throughout my life where are certain idea takes over and people go along. I don't know whether that's what happened in this case, but I wouldn't say that it was out of the realm of possibility. And if it were true, that doesn't necessarily say anything specific about DZ, but rather more of something about human nature b/c group mentality can be hard to overcome sometimes. On my campus, there were sororities that were very stringent about looks, weight, etc. of the girls in the house. I was very happy that our sorority was not that way.

In any case, the events at one house on one campus don't speak to what the organization is as a whole. So, hopefully it won't affect the other DZ chapters, since I think that it is a good organization and has committed itself to a good philanthropy (speech and hearing sciences). And there are many alumni who I believe would agree with me.

Eggcorns

The article From Little Eggcorns on The Oxford Times is really interesting. I laughed the other day when I heard someone refer to a person as "an escape goat" instead of "a scapegoat". I also think it's funny when people say "for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes." Slightly different meanings there...

I enjoy finding funny spelling errors, too. For instance, when people get mixed up with words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Awhile back when I was looking to buy some luggage, I came across a description that lauded the design of the suitcase because it made it easy to maneuver in the "isles". Now, either the writer and copyeditor don't know their aisles from their isles, or the "a" was just dropped somehow, but it makes for a pretty funny picture. Can't you just imagine someone dragging their wonderfully designed suitcase all over a tropical paradise because it's that easy?

It's easy to see how people get mixed up, though. One eggcorn that I always hit is "give up the ghost". For some reason, I always want to say "give up the goat", which according to the article is a common one. I probably say others, but have no idea that I'm saying (or writing) them.

Spring forward

I really hate Daylight Savings Time (DST). It's not enough that we're usually subjected to it every April. This year, the government decided to move it up a few weeks so we'd be grumpier that much earlier in the year. Oh, and we have to wait a week later than usual to get that hour back this year.

I've been tossing and turning in bed all night, so I finally decided to get up and do something else so that L. can get some sleep. He's got his alarm clock set for 4:30 AM, so he needs his shut eye. The awful part is that I hate it even more when I can't sleep and he's here, because I absolutely love falling alseep in his arms. I'd much rather be an insomniac on the nights that we aren't together so that I don't miss cuddling up next to him.

Precision

I'm not sure what the point of this is, but precision is the key:

http://www.msnbc.com/modules/interactive.aspx?type=ss&launch=17522034,3842331&pg=7

Tomorrow is a new day

And all I can say is thank God. Ever have one of those days where you wish that you could start over knowing what you knew by the end of the day? That would have been a really great option today...

Project confusion

I'm so done with this work project. Not in actuality, but in spirit. The requirements passed down to me by my managers have been messed up several times to the point where a co-worker and I literally threw our hands up because we gave up trying to decipher what everyone was asking for or thought that someone else was asking for. Now, I'm stuck trying to make sense of the situation.

The shitty part is that I don't even think we should be doing this project. I can't elaborate more, but can say that I'll be really happy to hand this proposal off to my manager tomorrow, and God help me, be done with the friggin' thing. I love most things about my job, but this project is not one of them. Sometimes I wish that our voices were actually heard, because we really shouldn't be moving forward with this. I just hope that we have the power to curb some of what they want to do. Blech.

Backlash against Ann Coulter

Ooooh how I love it when the Republican golden children fall. Little could make me happier than to read that Ann Coulter is under fire for using a hateful word rhyming with "maggot" to refer to John Edwards. I actually flick her picture on book covers whenever I see them, because I think she's such scum.

In response to the backlash, she said that the comment was a joke and, "I'm so ashamed, I can’t stop laughing.” She also said that Edwards’ campaign chairman’s main job was “fronting for Arab terrorists.”

So remorseful and contemplative, isn't it? Nice words for someone who is so pious and moral.

I also love this part of the article:
“We conservatives have enough trouble overcoming the false things that are said about us without paying for a platform upon which we shoot ourselves annually in the foot,” Ridenour, whose group helped sponsor the conference, said in a statement on the center’s Web site.

Maybe if you want to overcome the "false things" that are said about conservatives, you'll stop using hatemongers like Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc. as poster children for the conservative ideal. Oh, and stop trying to turn bigotry into legislation in the form of anti-gay measures and other religious-backed policies. That'd be a good start...

Otherwise, we liberals will continue to associate such thoughts and actions with the conservative party. Because, I don't think we're seeing much different. Granted, Coulter is the stupid one who said it. But the actions of the conservative party often backup exactly the thinking that she and the other conservative fanatics spout from their pie holes.

Invasions made easy

Apparently Liechtenstein is up for grabs...or they wouldn't put up too big of a fight, anyway:

Company of Swiss troops marches into tiny Liechtenstein by mistake

Hehehehe...too funny.