College, Life, and Other Strife

An Open Letter to Bad Drivers

2010-09-01T15:38:00.002-04:00

Dear Awful Driver (You Know Who You Are):

If you or your vehicle are unable to drive the speed limit, you shouldn't be allowed on the road during commuter hours except in a dire emergency. No, I'm not talking to you, drivers of buses and large trucks; I take no issue with you. I wouldn't want to drive something that large on back roads, either. Trucks and buses, however, are rarely a problem for me.

I left the house this morning in plenty of time to make my commute without needing to speed - but I still arrived more than ten minutes late. What happened? I got behind a series of idiotic, toad-licking morons to whom the concept of driving a car on a road seemed totally unfamiliar.

It was a clear, sunny morning. The roads were dry and there was no wind. So if the speed limit is 50 and you're doing 35, I have one question for you: WHY?! I don't understand.

Are you out for a Sunday drive (on a Wednesday...)? Then let those of us who actually need to get somewhere go by. Is your car broken? It shouldn't be on the road. Are you that scared of driving? You shouldn't have a driver's license.

I've grown accustomed over the summer to commuting on the interstate. I enjoy it because when I come up behind you doing 60 (in a 65) in the passing lane, I can usually get the point across that you need to move over. On the interstate, you're not much of a problem. On my back-roads commute to school, however, you are a huge problem.

Only one vehicle out of five this morning had an obvious reason to be going as slow as it was, and that was a pickup truck with two kayaks in the bed. You don't want to drop those kayaks, fine, I understand. But if you're doing significantly less than the speed limit, you should still pull over and let the tail of thirteen cars behind you go by. It's not our fault you can't tie your shit down properly.

Here's another problem I see all the time. You're terrified of cop cars. It really pisses me off to be driving along and have someone in front of me slam on their brakes just because they saw a cruiser somewhere. There are two things you don't realize. One, if you're going that much under the speed limit, a cop can actually pull you over for obstructing traffic. Two, cops look for brake lights when they're trying to catch speeders. You will more often get away with cruising merrily by a cop at speed limit + 5 than you will with slamming on your brakes and doing speed limit -1, because you drew attention to yourself with those bright red lights.

I'm also accustomed to getting stuck behind tractors and other farm equipment, living in the very rural area that I do. That doesn't bother me. The farmers need to go about their business just like the rest of us. However, just because you're crawling along behind a tractor doing 7 miles an hour in a 40 doesn't give you the right to pass if there's oncoming traffic.

One morning at the end of last semester I was headed north to school for a day of finals. There was no one in front of me, and I was approaching the bottom of a hill and the entrance to a curve. Needless to say, the line in the road was a double yellow, as there's no more than 30-40 feet of visibility into that curve. A tractor was on its way down the hill in the other lane, followed by a long line of cars. Suddenly the first car in the line veered out and came at me in my lane doing well over the speed limit.

My reflexes are good, and I barely avoided a head-on collision. When I passed the tractor, I caught sight of a couple of horrified faces in the other cars waiting for their chance to go around.

Now what would you have done, stupid driver, if you'd hit me? My first guess is that you would have yelled at me, because this is Massachusetts and that's what happens here. Dane Cook's line "Why did you stop at a red light and let me hit you doing 80?!" is not a joke in this state, it's everyday life. Anyway, I was doing about 45, so you were probably doing at least 55 to 60, meaning we would most likely have both ended up in the hospital. Was your destination so damn important that it was really worth it to risk seriously injuring or even killing us both to get there 30 seconds earlier? Do you realize that if you'd been killed, you wouldn't have made it to that destination at all? Could you be any more of a dickweed?

I'm not even going to get started right now on the topic of rotaries, because that's another letter in itself, to be written another time. So, Awful Driver, the next time you go out for a jaunt at 8am doing 15 under the speed limit, think about it. I'm sure it's nice not having anywhere to be, but that doesn't make it right or polite of you to rub it in the rest of our faces that we have to work for a living.

Sincerely,

KK, Who Needs to Be Somewhere

Winter Break Recap

2010-01-15T21:51:00.004-05:00

I managed to finish out last semester with all A's, despite my worries about Software Engineering. When we got our grade reports in the middle of the semester, I wasn't doing so well - that class was nothing like I expected it to be, and I was expecting it to be much more interesting. Turned out there was no programming at all, just charts and graphs and enough theory to gag on.

Christmas was pretty quiet - on Christmas day, Craig and I went to his parents' house, and then to a movie with a couple of friends. The day after, we went up to mom's house and celebrated with her, and then to Marie and Dan's. For New Years', we went to the Monkey Bar in Amherst. We had a few drinks, hung out with the bartender when he got off shift, stayed until close, then went home and went to bed.

The rest of winter break has been split between drawing and doing web design. I'm in the messy middle of reconstructing Northeast2WayComm - every time I think I've got it figured out, Drupal throws me another curve ball. I will get it done, it's just a lot more frustrating than I expected.

School starts up again next week, on Tuesday, since Monday is MLK day. I'm signed up for Computer Math Foundations (I've got more than enough extra math classes that I should have been able to sub out of that one, but no such luck), UNIX, Database Project, American Revolution, and E-commerce. I've already started reading one of the books for the Revolution class, which is about Thomas Paine. I'm over halfway through it and am looking forward to finishing it before the class starts. The less I have to read during the semester, the better!

Tablet Art

2010-01-02T01:52:00.003-05:00

I got the tablet I was hoping for on Christmas, and I've been spending a whole lot of time with it. Tonight's project was a self-portrait to use as an icon on websites.

TGIO 2009

2009-12-03T13:36:00.003-05:00

TGIO...that's NaNo speak for Thank God It's Over. November, that is. I won again this year, barely. I dropped way behind in week three and had to play massive catchup on the last weekend. Here's my stats graph (in words per day):

Yeah, I made it. Yeah, it's a complete mess. The story's not done - I'm thinking the first draft will probably be around 80k - but I can't bring myself to go back and look at it. It veered so far off course so many times that I think it's going to take a baseball bat to get it to submit.

Still have a few homework assignments left, but the semester is almost over. Today is the last day of the penultimate week, and the week after next we have finals. I still have to do two more homeworks for Software Engineering, two more for Database Systems, a homework, a group project, and the final for Internet Programming, and a worksheet and the final for Economics.

Marie and Dan are coming down to the house this weekend (yay!). They're going to stay over Saturday night and we're all going to the S&W range on Sunday. Mm, cordite therapy...

Breakfast Bread

2009-11-08T02:28:00.001-05:00

This stuff is amazing. It's super easy to make, doesn't take many ingredients, and is much tastier than it sounds from the recipe. It's really more like a cake made into a bread shape; somewhat like banana bread.

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 9x5-inch loaf pan. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, eggs and butter in large bowl until well blended. Beat in milk. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. Add to butter mixture and beat just until blended.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until golden brown and tester inserted into center of bread comes out clean, about 1 hour. Transfer pan to rack and cool 10 minutes. Using small knife, cut around sides of pan to loosen bread. Turn bread out onto rack and cool completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap in foil and store at room temperature.)

NaNo Recipes

2009-11-06T13:18:00.004-05:00

It's that time again - NaNoWriMo! I'm two days behind, but not doing too badly. Of course, NaNo always means the conundrum of, "I want dessert, but I don't have time to make anything involved, like a pie." So I'm collecting quick recipes for good treats. Right now I've got a breakfast bread in the oven, but I won't post the recipe until I see how it comes out. Over the weekend, I made these:

Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 cups flour

3 tsps. baking powder

2 tbsps. sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

1 egg

3 tbsps. butter, melted

1 cup milk, warmed

2 tbsps. cocoa

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Melt the butter and add it to the warm milk. Stir the butter mixture and the egg into the dry ingredients and whisk until just blended. Add the cocoa, the chocolate chips, and the vanilla. Whisk until the cocoa is not entirely blended for a marbled look. Bake 20-25 minutes. Makes ~12 muffins.

Big Slick

2009-10-18T16:01:00.005-04:00

The installing of camera systems went well, although we're not nearly done yet. There's a total of thirty-nine buses, and we're through ten of them. Friday was incredibly slow. Craig did a demo install in one bus so Ed and I could watch, then took off to Bristol, CT to do another job while we stayed in Watertown to work on the cameras. We got almost through two buses, finishing everything except for putting the actual recording box into the holder.

I asked the office if we could leave our tools in Bus 26, and they told me no, 26 was about to leave. So I moved everything to Bus 1, the next one on the list, then checked to make sure it wasn't going anywhere. Nope, every single bus was leaving in ten minutes.

No, wait, Bus 27 is staying - work on that one. So I told Ed to finish up 16 while I put our things in 27. But wait - 27 is actually leaving, but 1 is staying. I moved everything back into Bus 1, Ed finished 16, and we started tearing the panels off 1.

Oh, no, Bus 12 is broken, and we need Bus 1! We screwed everything back together, having accomplished nothing more than drilling a hole, then waited fifteen minutes for Bus 12 to return. Hey, at least we can work on that one, since it's broken.

Craig returned from Bristol just as Bus 12 was getting back. We moved everything into 12 and took down the panels. Uh oh - another bus is broken. We need to get 12 back on the road. Ed and I screwed 12 back together again, joking about how annoying it would be if they suddenly told us we could keep 12 after all.

Hey, guess what - the other bus is going to make it. You guys can keep 12! But we just put it back together...do we dare tear it apart again?

We waited for a bit, listening to the radio for anymore breakdown reports. I texted Craig to ask if he wanted us to do the bus or not, but he didn't reply, so finally I decided that we were going to go ahead and do it. Craig came back when we had the panels down (again), and we got all the wiring run, then packed up and left for the day, rather frustrated.

Saturday was much better, since most buses stay in the lot on weekends. I did five full installs by myself, and Craig and Ed did another five. (I'm not as fast as all that; they kept getting the buses that had all sorts of annoying quirks that required workarounds.) I never thought I would know as much about school buses as I do now. I even figured out how to hot-wire one by accident, as I was wiring in the side panel with the ignition on, and I crossed two terminals with a wrench and the bus flipped out and started honking. I've also learned where the fuse is for the damn alarm.

After getting out of the lot on Friday, we went to see Anne at the vet's office where she works in Meriden, because she said she had a cat that I needed to meet. When we got there, she was in an appointment with a client, so we hung out in the waiting room, all decked out in our stylish holy-shit-yellow safety vests. The girl behind the counter asked if we were there about the cats, and when I said yes, she showed me a picture on the counter.

Anne had said he was a Persian, but I got confused and was thinking of a Himalayan. My first impression of this cat was "Oh god, he's ugly!" I don't like the way Persians look anyway - I can't get over the squished-in faces - but these two had been shaved when they arrived at the vet because they were so matted. Well, their bodies had been shaved. Their heads, paws, and the tips of their tails were as furry as ever, and they looked ridiculous.

Pumpkin won us over, though. He may be the sweetest cat I have ever met. He was completely unfazed by the appearance of three dirty strangers in shiny vests, and in under a minute was purring madly and climbing all over us.

He came from a house with thirty-something cats. Apparently the owner was a breeder, but she died, and all the cats ended up at the vet. She didn't have the resources to properly care for all of them, although they were at least up to date on their shots and physicals. They lived in cages and didn't get to run around and play. Anne said that he had already developed a lot of muscle tone since he came in a month ago, but he still falls over when he plays because his back legs are weak. He's really clumsy, spontaneously falling off tables and chairs, but I suspect that when he's stronger and his whiskers have grown back on the left (somebody slipped with the clippers), he'll be a little more graceful.

The other cat who was there with him could have been his twin, although they weren't litter mates. Spice, however, was painfully shy and wanted nothing to do with us. Besides, we've got three female cats already, and neither of us want any more.

Pumpkin rode contentedly in the car for two hours. He's so accustomed to being in a cage that he walked right into the carrier on his own, then settled down and purred while I drove. When we got to Larry's house to drop off Ed, Pumpkin was curled up on Craig's lap, fast asleep and purring like crazy.

The girls aren't too fond of him yet. He seems disappointed when he goes over to say hello and gets hissed at in return, but I suspect they'll end up getting along. We have changed his name; Pumpkin just didn't seem appropriate. Meet Big Slick.

Busy Weekend

2009-10-12T19:28:00.004-04:00

I don't remember the last time I had a weekend as busy as this one has been, and certainly not as varied. At least most of it was work, which is a nice thing to have these days.

Friday Craig and I went to Branford, CT, to one of First's bus yards, to install and repair some radio equipment. He's gotten a partnership with TransVu for his business, so as long as they get all the parts business, he gets all the work to install said parts. We put radios into a truck and an SUV that already had antennas and power; those were super easy jobs, pretty much just screw in the radio and go. We then did a full install in a van, including antenna/coax and power, for which I had to climb onto the roof in the rain to drill a hole and install the antenna. After some diagnostic work on a few buses, which turned out to all be chalked up to "damn ancient radios, get new ones!", we were done.

Saturday I had a job for Elm Farm Bakery's catering service. I'd thought I was bartending, since that's what I did the last time I took a job for them, but when I arrived at Warfield House they said they didn't need bartenders, so I was kitchen staff instead. When they found out I could carry trays, I was made a runner instead of a server. I actually preferred that, because it was an outdoor wedding and it was COLD in the dining room (ceiling, but no walls), and going in and out of the kitchen and putting in so much physical effort kept me warm. After several hours of countless fully-loaded trays, my carrying arm started to give out. All in all, though, it was a pretty good time. Mike is awesome to work for.

Sunday we went to a gun show in West Springfield, and then went to Larry and April's new apartment to install a base station antenna for Larry. We beat him there, and while we were standing outside waiting for him, April poked her nose out the door - with a kitten. She was an orange tabby, no more than eight weeks old, with bulging eyes that took over her face and an adorably pathetic squeak. When Larry eventually showed up, I didn't want to go back outside.

Just as we were about to piece together the antenna, their landlord showed up to do paperwork, so we hung out for another half an hour. We almost left, since we were losing daylight to do the project, but finally Larry emerged from the house, the landlord left, and we got going. It took over two hours just to get the antenna up and the coax run as far as the lightning rod, and by halfway through it was completely dark. All we had up on the balcony was a crappy flashlight that entertained itself by spontaneously turning off when it was needed most, but somehow we got everything tied and clamped and soldered and clipped and otherwise attached. Unfortunately, one minuscule but essential brass pin did break, and the project can't be finished until Craig orders another one.

I felt rather unfortunately useless as an assistant. Since I couldn't lift my left arm more than a few inches, all I could really do was carry tools and hold things in place, which was frustrating since I do know how to clamp and solder and generally get an antenna project together. My arm is feeling a bit better today, though, and I'm hoping I will be fully functional by the end of the week, since I'm working Friday and Saturday with Craig and Ed in another bus yard, this time installing camera systems.

LTC Course Day

2009-08-23T21:06:00.002-04:00

It's one of those days when I have something to post about! After getting up at 6:30 this morning, I spent all day at the Smith & Wesson Academy in Springfield, taking the firearms safety course. It was taught by a really entertaining instructor, whom I had seen at the range before but never spoken with. He was actually lively enough to keep me from falling asleep when class began at 8am.

I already knew the basic handgun safety procedures, and I was bored stiff by the "shooting" portion of things (15 students, 6 guns...need I say more?). The laws regarding firearms are what I really needed the information about, especially since even the parts I thought I knew turned out to be wrong due to some recent and rather sneaky changes to the Castle Doctrine.

Anyway, I successfully completed the course and got my State Po-sponsered certificate, and I did manage to have a good time doing it. I got an especially hearty laugh when the instructions for loading a revolver included the reminder that the bullets go in "pointy end forward."

I could drag this out, but I'm learning a new method of typing which has temporarily slowed my typing speed from 90wpm to about 5wpm. If you're really that curious, it's called Dvorak, and I heard about it through Holly Lisle.

"I Think It's on Fire..."

2009-07-01T12:04:00.002-04:00

Sunday morning Colleen hosted breakfast at her house, and most of the family showed up, except for Steve and Ann, who had already started their drive back. Beth has a new puppy, and having heard that my mom actually liked him, I asked to witness this unusual phenomenon. I was properly amazed to see the die-hard cat person pick up Remy and cuddle him on her lap, then melt into a puddle of "awww" when he curled up and put his head on her knee.

As we were leaving, Beth said, "Hey Skip, don't take my puppy! I never thought I'd say those words!"

Craig and I returned to Mom's long enough to unload the car and repack it, then said our goodbyes and headed off. With no particular need to be anywhere for the rest of the day, we headed for the new poker room, The River, that opened up over the winter in Milford. It didn't open for another hour, so we wandered into Nashua. We poked around in Headlines for a while, then went and got pizza. After lunch, we went back to The River, which had become startlingly busy in the last hour. It turned out they had just started a freeroll, so we took table cards and sat down.

This was a new experience for me. I play a lot online, and I've played against Craig and a couple of other friends with real chips, but I've never really played live, certainly not against people I don't know, with actual money for prizes. I did ok for my first time, although after a spectacular double-up (I had pocket sixes, she had pocket nines, and I flopped a set), I found myself card-dead and eventually got blinded out.

Craig had been knocked out a while before, and when I went to find him, he was involved in another tourney. So I went to the window, grabbed a seat card, and found a table. I folded the first hand and raised with the second, the A-J of clubs. With three of us in the hand, the flop came Qc-Kc-blank. Check, bet, call, call. The turn was another blank. Check, bet, call, fold; heads-up with my monster draw. The river was the 10c. He bet enough to put me all in and I called instantly. When I flipped over the royal flush, the table erupted, and I broke my poker face in favor of a big grin.

"You're lucky she didn't have more chips!" said the guy on the left. "She woulda wiped you out!" I wished I had had more chips.

"What does she get for that?" asked someone else, and the dealer asked me, "You want a t-shirt?" When I gave her a strange look, she said, "I'm serious, royal flushes get t-shirts. You want one?"

"Sure!" I said, and the tournament director appeared two minutes later with a card room t-shirt.

"I've never made one of those," said the guy across the table, and several other people agreed.

"It was my first," I said, leaving out that that included all of my online play. I don't like to advertise that I'm an internet player, since people make assumptions about your image.

A few hands later our table broke, and I sat down at a short-handed table in the back. By the break, I was doing pretty well and had a good read on my table. One hand back from break, Craig got knocked out again, and he came and hung out by my table to watch me play.

My table image was working well for me; I'd been folding a lot of hands, and when I did play, I was getting respect. I raised on the button with K-K and got a call from the big blind and another from the cutoff. The flop came Q-10-3, the big blind checked, and the cutoff made a small raise. Feeling my moment, I shoved.

The old guy in the big blind looked at me for a while, then said, "Set of Queens?" I didn't respond. "I'm going to make you rich, young lady," he said, and called. After some deliberation, the cutoff folded, and the big blind flipped over A-K. Happy to see that I was ahead, I waited for the rest of the cards. The turn was a blank, and I tried not to get excited about doubling up. The river was an Ace.

The entire table groaned in sympathy at the suck-out, and I shook the guy's hand, then stood up and headed for the rail.

At the first table we had played, it came up in conversation that there was another card room at the Best Western in Keene, so we decided to go home that way and check it out. We arrived there at 5:30, saw there was a freeroll at 6:00, and sat down in the bar for some food. The food took twenty minutes, and after stuffing down a fish sandwich at record speed, I followed Craig back to the poker room. We grabbed seat cards, but the table I was assigned was still full from another tournament. I asked the director if that table was part of the freeroll, and he said yes, then returned several minutes later and switched my card to another table. It turned out the freeroll didn't start until 6:30, so I sat at an empty table for a while and waited.

I chatted with the dealer when he showed up, and eventually the rest of the table filled up as well.

"Hey can I sit with you?" A college-aged guy seemed to pop out of thin air, and this question was directed at me from an uncomfortably close distance.

"What table are you at?" I asked, and was relieved to see that it was not mine. He introduced himself as Mike and I reluctantly gave him my name, then said I would see him at the final table and gave him knuckles. Just as I was retrieving my attention from the encounter, he showed up again with a new seat card.

"I traded," he said proudly, and sat down on my right. I was too polite to actually smack myself in the forehead, but I really wanted to.

"Hey," he said suddenly in my ear, and I jumped, then realized it was a different guy who was leaning in between our seats. "If my brother bothers you, just tell me and I'll get your boyfriend to kick his ass," the new guy said. "By the way, I'm Phil."

"I don't need him," I assured them. "I can beat the shit outta him all by myself."

"Awesome!" said Phil, who was clearly Mike's twin, and went back to his final table and his monster chip stack.

When the tournament eventually began, Mike spent the entire time stirring up the table and raising with shit. I doubled up once, but couldn't seem to get any real traction, and was struggling to keep my concentration with all the chaos. The dealer was annoyed too, especially after he actually had to tell the table to settle down and play poker. That's for high-school classrooms, not poker events. I was disgusted, but I couldn't say anything because everyone seemed to know this guy. When he had first walked away, the lady in seat one commented that he wouldn't be sitting here, and I said, "Thank goodness!" That earned me a glare, and after that I shut up, not wanting my ass handed to me by an in-bred group of yokels.

I bitched vociferously to Craig on the break, and he told me to rebuy so I could get ahead. I said no, I would rather bust out just to be away from Mike. When we returned, my table broke and I got seated next to Craig. Now I wanted to play, but when I got out money to rebuy, the dealer said I had missed it by fifty seconds. I doubled up once, then shoved again with Q-6 on a vain hope and got felted by pocket deuces.

Since Craig was clearly going to be a while, I told him I was going to go find something to do elsewhere, because hanging out in a hot, stuffy, cramped room to watch him play was not how I wanted to spend the evening. He said his cell phone was dead and he would have no way to reach me, so I coudn't go anywhere. I went outside and called Marie and whined about my predicament, but she couldn't pick me up, because she was on her way to her mom's house and then to the house where she's staying for a month to pet-sit for one of her professors.

On a whim, I went to the car to check Craig's phone. I found both of them, one with half charge and the other with full charge, so I delivered them to him and then left again. I texted Marie to tell her I could leave after all, and ended up meeting her at her mom's house. I was talking with her mom in the kitchen when we heard a panicked voice from her room: "Oh my god I think he's dead!"

She had gone in there to collect her hamster to take with her, and when I went in to see if she was right, I found a very cold, stiff Trevor. We took a few minutes to bury him out in the woods and say goodbye, then put her cat Phoebe in her carrier and headed out. We stopped at Wal-Mart to get mac 'n' cheese, then I followed her to her professor's apartment. It was hot as hell inside, and I ran around opening all the windows while she let out Phoebe and unpacked the few groceries she'd bought.

We found two copper pots and put them on the stove to boil water, then went into the next room and started unpacking the new window fan. Marie went back into the kitchen for something and I heard her say, "Uh, I think we're setting something on fire." I figured the burners were smoking off and she was overreacting, since she's somewhat fire-phobic, but I got up anyway to make her feel better.

I walked into the kitchen to see eight-inch flames shooting out of the stove.

"Oh my, I guess we are," I said, startled. Marie stood there frozen while I kicked into emergency mode. Looking around for a fire extinguisher, I didn't see one. I reached over the fire to turn on the hood fan so we wouldn't set off the smoke alarm, then peered under the pot to see what was going on.

"Ugh, no wonder," I said, seeing that the drip-pan was full of black goo.

"Is that gonna burn out?" asked Marie.

"Yeah, it should," I said, as the flames got higher. Deciding that the less we smoked the apartment the better, I grabbed the pot of hot water and poured it into the stove. The flames immediately went out, and I stood for a second in a mild state of shock. Then I felt something warm touch my feet, and when I looked down, hot brown water was pouring across the floor from the stove. "Ew." I backed up and wiped my toes on my jeans while Marie got a towel.

We came to the uneasy conclusion that there was only one smoke detector in the apartment, and it would never detect a kitchen fire until it was way too late for any occupants. Marie had the brilliant idea for us to drop off my car back at the hotel so I wouldn't have to pick up Craig, so we shut everything off and left. I left the car and went inside to give him the keys. He had been texting me periodic updates, so I knew he was at the final table with a monster chip lead, but he felt the need to tell me again, since his phone was on silent and he didn't know I'd replied.

Marie and I returned to the apartment and I showed her how to take apart the burners and clean out the drip trays. Then we made mac 'n' cheese with no mishaps, and while I was eating, I got to meet the resident kitten. I wasn't sure at first if Paolo was skinny because he was old or because he was young, but it turned out he was about 14 weeks. He was all black with long, silky fur and a beautiful bushy tail, which he used to dust my back while I finished my dinner.

A while later, while I was trying to find internet for Marie, Craig texted me "2nd place 450" and I gave him directions to find us. He showed up a few minutes later, waving $450 in cash. I congratulated him and the three of us chatted for a few minutes, then headed out so Marie could get some sleep. Freeroll to $450 - I like this poker thing.

Memorial

2009-07-01T11:53:00.002-04:00

So Saturday was the big memorial service for Dad. Mom, Craig and I arrived at the church about an hour before the service, and mom parked herself in the kitchen at the Red House to set up the reception while Craig and I provided tech support at the church itself, setting up everything that was needed for the slideshow. My accompanist who was doubling as the service organist was there practicing, and he helped us to move the pulpit and the chairs into the back room so everything was set up the way mom wanted it. I let Craig set up the rest of our equipment while I got out my violin for a quick practice.

Marie had come in about forty minutes early, and I pointed her to the Red House when she asked for a bathroom. When she failed to reappear, I realized mom had roped her into kitchen duty. Snaric showed up just as I finished tightening my bow, and I was so excited to see him that I ran the length of the church before I realized I hadn't put the instrument down. Not wanting to put it on the floor, I bear-hugged him anyway and tried not to whack him in the head with it.

Theoretically I knew the guest list for the service, but in all the frenzy I hadn't bothered to remember just how many people from my past were showing up. Fortunately they were all good surprises when I spotted them, and all received hugs and "Oh my god I haven't seen you in so long!" Mom's neighbor Carolyn, my second violin teacher Juliana, my grade-school teacher Linda, and Caroline's mom and Dad, Will and Deborah, who separated several years ago but are still civil to each other. I haven't heard a thing from Caroline in years, and I still miss her. When her mom informed me that she was no longer three thousand miles away and was in fact only one state over, I just about jumped up and down in excitement. I have to find her before she disappears again.

Anyway, the service itself was absolutely perfect. While some might say that Mom took on too much of the work herself, that's just the way she operates (kinda like me...hm...), and she did a beautiful job. She even managed to say everything she wanted to say without breaking down, something I wouldn't even have attempted. As I said to someone afterwards, it's nice to have a fallback that doesn't look like a fallback, so I didn't have to talk. Uncle Paul, uncle Steve, and dad's friend John shared stories about him, the Freemasons did their traditional service, and I played Pachelbel's Canon and Gigue in D with Dan.

Struggling with the sheet music, I managed to miss a few notes, but I'm good at catching up again without making any accompanying musicians wait for me - a talent all orchestral players are forced to learn, and fast. I wasn't too worried about the mistakes, but I was still surprised at the number of people who came up to me afterwards with comments such as, "That was so beautiful! You play so well!" The first one was Marie; she was sitting behind me, and when I sat back down she whispered, "Wow, I didn't know you could do that." Most of my college friends, with the exception of Snaric, have never heard me play anything at all.

By the time the reception started, I had the full-body shakes from lack of food, and I headed straight for the table and started stuffing my face. It was a whirlwind of talking and food, greeting people who were completely unfamiliar but who apparently remembered me. "We met you when you were this tall!" they said, holding a hand three feet off the floor and smiling inanely.

Great, and who are you again?

Marie eventually took off to meet up with her boyfriend Dan, not the same Dan who played the piano and the organ, after helping us to take down our stuff and put the church back together. Snaric followed me and Craig to Colleen's house where the family was gathering, then took off when the party moved to Mom's place. There was more food and more family craziness, and by the time everyone took off I was exhausted. All-in-all, though, the day was so much better than I had anticipated.

Wednesday Weirdness

2009-06-04T00:28:00.003-04:00

1.) If you had to either shop for your groceries in your underwear only (bra&panties or boxers/briefs/whatever) or run streaking through the mall totally naked for no less than 4 minutes, which will you pick?

Streaking! I want to see the reactions - and if I get to run, I can run from security too.

2.) You're having dinner at the inlaws (your boyfriend/girlfriend's parents if not married) and the food is so awful you would rather eat the table cloth. Your mother in law (bf/gf mother) calls you out and asks if there is anything wrong with the food. You can't say you're "just not that hungry" because you had earlier claimed to be "starving" so now, how do you respond to her?

With my particular set of "in-laws," I'm sure by that point it's already been said for me by my boyfriend, at which point a hesitant agreement would be reasonably inoffensive. I'd still eat some, though.

4.) Would you rather have to walk 30 feet over burning hot coals or walk 70 feet over broken shards of glass? Why?

I would prefer the glass. Although I know it's possible to walk on coals without burning your feet, my feet are sensitive (hey, they've been in shoes all winter) and I'd rather get cut than burned.

5.) Would you rather have to have sex with your partner with a room full of your former highschool classmates watching or have sex with your partner in a room full with a mix of each of your former exes watching?

Usually I delete these questions to keep this blog appropriate...but that one is just hilarious. I don't even think I'm going to answer it, just leave it up for laughs.

Wednesday Weirdness 58

Wednesday Weirdness 56

2009-05-21T15:54:00.002-04:00

1. If your boss says, "I would like to talk to you about your internet usage" what would your first reaction be?
What boss?

2. If you SO asks you "Does this make me look fat?" how do you answer?

He would never ask that, so I'd probably just be confused.

3. What is one thing that you pay for, but resent having to do so?

Actually, I'm very lucky not to have anything in that category. Damn unemployment.

4. A day is being created in honor of you. How should we celebrate it?

By doing whatever makes you happiest.

5. What CD or Album in your music collection do you secretly enjoy, but would be embarrassed if others heard you grooving to it?

I refused to be ashamed of my music! You can laugh if you like, but I will own up to everything from Kiss to the Dixie Chicks to Ashlee Simpson.

6. How long do you think you would last if you were a contestant on Survivor?

I've never actually seen the show, but from what I've heard...quite a while. I have a high pain tolerance, I'm not sqeamish, I have a cool head, and I've got a few survival skills packed away in my brain.

Wednesday Weirdness 56

World's Oddest Cars

2009-05-08T16:58:00.004-04:00

Think you've seen some odd cars? Not until you've seen these! Gosh I love the internet...

So tomorrow I get to go up to Keene and watch all my friends graduate. Well, most of my friends. Liz, Marie, Snaric, and a bunch of former friends and some acquaintences I used to hang out with. I'm sure there will be people there I don't want to see, but hopefully I won't have to have any face-offs. I'm certainly not going to start anything or go near anyone I dislike, but I'm not sure I trust some of them to have the same courtesy. Oh well, we shall see.

In either case, the party at Marie's house has been cancelled since she was dumped by her boyfriend and doesn't feel like celebrating anything. She said Craig and I could still go up and hang out, but there's going to be a couple of relatives at her house and I'm not sure what we're going to do. Could be awkward if we're expected to hang out with her grandmother. She just told me that her cat bit said granny and she was ecstatic because Marie hates her. Currently she, her mother, her uncle, her granny, and two cats are crammed in their trailer, and I think she's about to go insane. I would too, from what I hear of her family!

In other news, the owner of the Monkey Bar and La Piazza has expressed interest once again in hiring me. Keep your fingers crossed - I turned in my resume yesterday, and he told me what to buy for a uniform, so my hopes are high. I finally made some business cards for Snaille Maille, and they look nice, but I think it will be awhile before that really gets going.

Kicking Fences

2009-05-04T16:57:00.002-04:00

Never try to kick down a fence unless you have fully inspected the workings of the fence first.

Wednesday Weirdness

2009-04-29T11:42:00.003-04:00

I figured out the problem with Blogger; it wasn't them at all, it was the new Internet Explorer 8. Now that I'm using Google Chrome, it's all better. More points for Google!

2. Have you ever tried or considered trying a Master Cleanse type method to lose weight?

Ugh, hell no. I would rather wear an extra few pounds than turn into a grumpy bitch for a month. I'll exercise, thanks.

3. When you browsing a book store for reading material, do you find yourself checking out a book solely based on the cover design?

Sometimes; it depends on what I'm looking for. Mostly I hang out in the poker section, where I choose my books by their reputations and authors.

4. Which 80's trend were you least happy to see come back this year; big shoulder pads or neon?

I haven't noticed big shoulder pads (although they sound enormously stupid) and I don't mind neon. What, I like the 80s look!

5. How long do you think could you disappear for until someone would notice your absence and start looking for you?

Not long. The real question is, How long could I keep them from finding me? Quite a while!

6. Have you ever walked out of a movie and asked for your money back? Which movie(s) and why?

Nope, never done that.

7. Have you ever changed your plans because of something you read in your horoscope?

Hell no. That stuff is bullshit. They're funny to read sometimes, but only as entertainment.

WW 53

Sweet Shot

2009-04-29T11:37:00.003-04:00

Check out this amazing pool trick shot! All I can say is, "Holy shit..."

And if you've run into somebody you're not fond of recently, insult them.

Flower Boxes

2009-04-27T14:08:00.003-04:00

The weather is finally nice, and I couldn't be happier about it. This winter was so cold and nasty...probably not any colder and nastier than usual, if you look at the numbers, but I'm sicker than usual of the cold. Since it was warm and sunny last weekend and everybody's flowers and flowering trees were popping up, I decided to do a little gardening myself. But where to do it? The yard is entirely grass, interspersed with some bare dirt and some bushes by the house. So what was the obvious solution? A carpentry project, of course!

...side note: Blogger still won't let me paste things, so these links are all hand-copied. If any of them are broken, let me know.

Me with my favorite tool - the power drill:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/DSCN0772.jpg

Finished and planted:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/DSCN0775.jpg

This picture looks sideways no matter how I rotate it:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/DSCN0776.jpg

Snaille Maille

2009-04-24T10:57:00.003-04:00

I haven't been posting too much lately because I haven't had much to post...at least that's what I thought. Now I think I just haven't been paying attention to what I could have been posting. So I'm going to put a little effort into catching up this weekend.

Firstly, since I'm no longer working at Bdubs (more on that another time), I've decided to get serious about my hobby of chainmaille jewelry and turn it into a business. Check out my Etsy, The Snaille's Maille, and if you like my pieces, recommend me to your friends! I'm going to print up some business cards, too, but I haven't designed them yet. Until then it's word-of-mouth...which is the best advertising, after all.

Funny Cats

2009-04-24T09:45:00.001-04:00

Thank my friend Tiger for the latest funny cats video...this one is a combination of old clips and new ones. Enjoy!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=56138606

Wednesday-Thursday Weirdness

2009-04-23T16:49:00.003-04:00

Blogger is failing - it won't let me do the simple operation of copy-and-paste! So Wednesday Weirdness is a day late and hand-typed. Oh well, here it is anyway.

1. What items (if any) do you get embarrassed to purchase?
I don't. After being a cashier for a while myself, I realized there was a point where nothing really seemed weird anymore. I will not be embarrassed until I'm the woman who paid a $13 bill with a huge jar of pennies and nickels.

3. Do you untie your shoes every time you take them on and off or do you slip them on and off?
Depends on the type of shoes. Standard sneakers I will tie and untie, but my skateboarding shoes are slip-ons.

4. What is the last thing you broke by accident?
As opposed to the last thing I broke on purpose? I remember the last thing I watched be broken, which was a glass at the Hatfield Pub...but I don't remember the last break I perpetrated.

5. If you had to lose one of your body parts, what would it be and why?
If I could choose a small, unnoticable one, probably a toe. The average person can function just fine without one toe, and most people never even have to know.

7. If you could have the ability to solve problems quickly and easily or the ability to know without doubt every time a person told a lie, which ability would you want and why?
I'd choose the first, because I'm already reasonably good at the second.

Wednesday Weirdness original post #52.

Wednesday Weirdness

2009-04-08T10:45:00.002-04:00

1.) What condiment goes best with french fries?
Definitely ketchup. There's no other option.

2.) What condiment do you feel best represents your personality?
Spicy mustard! It may look innocent, but watch out...

3.) If the love of your life was a different religion from you, would you convert for them if they asked you to?
Why would they ask me to? I don't care what religion they are as long as they don't try to convert me/other people. I would educate them if they wished, but I would never try to convert anybody.

4.) What is your favorite thing to eat with peanut butter?
Apples.

5.) If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
Definitely not. It would probably change my life a whole lot, and not for the better. I want to concentrate on my life, not my demise.

6.) If you could change your eye color to anything in the world you wanted, what would you change it to?
Purple :) Really bright purple!

7.) Are you more often the partner in crime or the good conscience with your friends and family?
The partner. Hey, I haven't been arrested yet!

Go see the original at Wednesday Weirdness!

Commuter Update

2009-03-27T15:55:00.002-04:00

Whirlwind update here...I'm living with Marie for now, and though the commute is obnoxious, the whole roommate thing is working out very well. (Knock on wood.) She said to me Wednesday night, "You know, I never thought I'd do well with a roommate." Having done badly with some myself at Keene, I explained that you have to have the right roommate; it helps to have one whose OCD is similar to yours, and who doesn't get worked up about small stuff.

The drive to Sunderland is an hour, the drive to UMass an hour and ten, but I'm getting used to it already. I have days' worth of music on my iPod, and there's something therapeutic about just driving and singing, especially in nice weather like we're having today.

Bdubs has been giving me all crap shifts, but fortunately I've picked up some good ones from people who want days off, so it evens out. I worked last night, and if I've talked to you in person, you know that story. Anyway, I was the closer, and the dining room was done by 11:00. I then stood around and watched Heath work like crazy in the bar for the rest of the night, and tried to look busy when the manager came around. I did all right in tips, not great. I broke my record for lowest tip ever: 12 cents. And it wasn't that she tossed her change on the table, either; she actually wrote out ".12" on her credit card slip. Her bill was only $3-change, but still, what is wrong with people?

Return Trip

2009-03-21T15:47:00.002-04:00

I'm back early from Virginia. I was supposed to stay through the weekend, and don't get me wrong, I would have loved to...but Tuesday night we went out with Alex's friends for St. Patty's Day and got drunk, and Wendesday morning we got in a fight. Normally I can put up with a lot, but since I had gone down there in the first place to escape some local drama and bullshit, I couldn't handle any more. When she went to pick up her brother at the airport, I wrote her a letter, packed my suitcase, and left.

Since I had nowhere to be, I stopped less than an hour north of Roanoke to see one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World: Natural Bridge. I took a bunch of pictures that I have yet to take off my camera, but you know the drill: I'll post when I do. The walk was really nice, and I did my best to enjoy the beautiful summer weather before heading back up north.

The drive home was not quite as uneventful as the drive down, though nothing terrible happened. I got stuck in two hours worth of stop-and-go from route 66 in Virginia to the 495 beltway in Maryland into I-95. By the time I reached the outskirts of Philadelphia, the sun was down, and it was pitch dark when I pulled off the highway. My cell phone was dead, so I called mom from a pay phone in what seemed to the sketchiest district of Philly I could possibly have found. I explained why I was on my home, and she told me to get a hotel for the night if I was too tired.

Not tired yet, I got dinner at McD's (after having had lunch at the same) and got back on the road. In New Jersey I started looking for a hotel, but somehow I ended up over the bay and lost in Manhattan. Well, I can say I've been to New York now! After recovering from that, I wandered around for a while in Secaucus, then got back on the turnpike. I was really getting tired when I hit Stamford, Connecticut, but after getting lost there too, couldn't find a hotel less than $180. Back on the turnpike.

I finally found a Motel 6 somewhere just south of the Massachusetts border off of I-91 and crashed at about 1:30 in the morning. I finished the drive to mom's house the next day, and that's where I still am. I still have not caught up on the reading I that I swore I'd do. Some of drama has finally cooled off, due mostly to various people studiously ignoring each other. I'm moving in with Marie tomorrow, returning to work on Monday and school on Tuesday. It'll be one hell of an obnoxious commute from her place to the corner of Massachusetts where most of my life is, but I'll survive. The worst part will be the times I get out of work at 2am...

Solo Road Trip

2009-03-16T01:21:00.002-04:00

Hm. I have posted absolutely nothing of what's actually been going on lately. I think for the most I'll keep it that way...but the result of the drama is that I'm not going to Atlantic City with Craig for spring break. We were supposed to leave this morning. Instead, I left by myself and went to Virginia to visit Alex. Eleven hours of driving by myself was certainly not my ideal way to spend a day, but it actually wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been. There's something therapeutic about just sailing along by yourself, listening to whatever music you want, singing if you want, and stopping where and when you want.

Of course, being me, I did manage to get a bit lost in New York, but with the help of mom and Google Maps I got out again and the rest of the trip went fine. I skipped Pennsylvania entirely, which was a large part of my original route, but I found a good way to get here and it worked out. I called Alex from the city of Roanoke, and she came and found me and we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Alejandro's. They had something I've never seen before but am a huge fan of: a salsa bar. They set a basket of chips on the table and you go get whatever types of salsa you want to go with it. I'm a salsa whore - it was a little piece of food heaven for me.

Thinking about it now is making me hungry again. Damn.

Alex has class all day tomorrow, so I'm going to hang out in her apartment and get as much school catchup work done as I can. Having recently failed two exams, I've got plenty to work on. But first, I sleep in, since I went to sleep at 2:30 this morning, was woken again at 4am, and then again at 6:30, and have been up since then. I just wish I had some way to work the kinks out of my neck and back that came from all the driving.

Oh, and in other wonderful news: my car needs a new engine. When it rains, it pours, right?

Wednesday Weirdness

2009-03-11T11:29:00.002-04:00

1. What makes a person sexy to you?

It's all in the personality...and even though it's technically a physical thing, I include someone's smile as part of their personality. A good smile generally means a good sense of humor.

2. When having the 'number of sex partners' talk with a potential significant other, would you be turned off if they had slept with more than a certain number of people? If yes, what is that number?

Ha. Haha. Ha. NO. I have no number.

3. Once and for all, pocketbook sized dogs and the people who carry them in pocketbooks. Cute or crazy?

CRAZY! Anything small enough to fly when kicked is too damn small. And why would you want to carry something in your purse that might shit in said purse?

4. Do you give up anything for Lent? If so, what?

If I was religious in the least I might have an answer.

Wednesday Weirdness #46

Looky Here...

2009-03-04T16:20:00.007-05:00

...it's me! Well, not in the picture, but quoted in the article about the UMass Juggling Club.

There are two more pictures that Craig managed to dig up, as well:

This one's too wide for the page:

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/2317640623.jpg

(For anyone wondering, I'm swinging poi.)

Fangs/Wednesday Weirdness

2009-03-04T10:59:00.006-05:00

Tuesday and Wednesday - most of you know by now that means Haven and Wednesday Weirdness. Marie came down last night to join us at Haven, finally! I don't see that girl enough...moving sucks sometimes. I haven't seen Snaric in about two months either.

Anyway, Marie, Craig and I went to dinner at Bdubs, so Marie could see where I'm working. Abel was cut just as we got there, so after he finished his sidework he came and joined us, and the four of us hung out for a while. Then he went home, and the three of us got gothed up and headed for NoHo.

Marie finally gave in to the call of RJ's handmade vampire fangs, and I kept her company while she sat in the spotlight and had them made. They came out looking really nice - I'll post pictures later. I made the mistake of following my spicy buffalo wings with a Long Island Ice Tea and then shaking up the whole mix on the dance floor. I didn't get drunk, and nothing terrible happened, but my stomach wasn't happy with me. I'd like to think I won't do that again.

Now for Wednesday Weirdness (some questions removed to keep this blog PG)...

1. What is one thing one of your closest friends does that drives you batshit crazy?

Marie worries way too much. I had to convince her last week that going out to look for Matt in a snowstorm because he had stopped answering texts was a bad idea.

3. If you woke up the opposite gender for one day, what would be the biggest downside to that for you?

Having my wardrobe be suddenly so limited. A girl can wear pretty much whatever she wants and be accepted...a guy, not so much. Then again, I might put on eyeliner just to see what would happen.

4. Do you use curse words in front of children?

I'm not around children all that much. If I'm sitting near one in a restaurant, I still curse, but I try to make sure they don't hear me.

5. If you were zapped with a laser and turned into an animated character, what Disney movie would you hate to play a part in?

Finding Nemo. Too much water!

7. What are three things you want to try doing but haven't yet?

a) racing cars

b) writing a computer game, concept to graphics to code

c) snowboarding the half-pipe

Brought to you by Wednesday Weirdness.

The Door

2009-02-28T03:01:00.004-05:00

It's 3am, and here I am...why? I didn't get out of work until 1:30 again. I was tentatively scheduled to be out at 10:00, but for some reason the closers got cut and I was the one left to do the duties in the dining room.

Today wasn't a terribly spectacular day for any reason. I did manage to cut myself - not with a knife, not with broken glass, not with any of the myriad dangerous things you can find in a restaurant. No, I cut myself with a cupboard door. Twice. In two completely separate areas of my body. Not knowing where to find bandaids, I wandered around for at least five minutes looking for a trainer or manager, unable to get my customers their drinks for fear of bleeding on them. But it's all good - as I said to Doug, I can laugh at my own pain, and it was pretty funny.

Wednesday Weirdness

2009-02-25T16:33:00.003-05:00

1.) You're on a trip taking a tour through the jungle. You have a backpack with some food, some first aid supplies, a pocket knife, a flashlight and a couple bottles of water. Some how, you get separated from your group. By night fall you haven't found your group and haven't heard them looking for you. How long do you think you would be able to survive on your own?

Most likely long enough that I would be rescued or find my way out. I've been to the jungle before and I have a few survival skills packed away in the back of my mind.

2.) Do you think it's okay to lie to spare someone's feelings? Why?

I really think the only reason people lie is out of fear; in this case, fear that someone would be mad at them for beind honest. So I guess it depends on how big a thing you're lying about and how mad the person will be if you tell them the truth. Decide whether they'd want to know in the long run.

3.) If a talking [Katherine] doll were made, what are THREE phrases it would say?

"Really?"

"Fuckin' A, that's awesome!"

"Aww, I'm sorry."

4.) If the super power to be able to read minds at your own will were possible, do you think it would be... cool and helpful, intrusive and wrong, manipulative or maddening? Explain why you would or wouldn't want to be able to read anyone's mind at your own will.

Those would all depend on the person using the power! It would certainly be maddening as hell at least until you learned to control it. After that, the rest is up to you...but I think it would be much easier to use it for manipulation than assistance.

5.) Drunk confessions, are they the things people can't bring themselves to say sober or just crazy ramblings of an influenced and intoxicated mind?

They are definitely always things that people can't bring themselves to say sober, but whether they're deep dark secrets or psychotic rantings depends on whether you have any deep dark secrets, and what kind of mood you're in.

6.) What brings out the worst in you?

Stupid people, angry drivers, ignorant people.

7.) Do you think long distance relationships work? Have you ever been in one before?

I was in one temporarily while in South America, and that worked, but I think it only worked because I knew it was temporary. I wouldn't do it long-term with no end in sight.

This is from Wednesday Weirdness.

The Car

2009-02-24T17:59:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I wonder if I look a little too much on the bright side of things...then again, if I didn't, where would I be? I hoped when my last car was totalled that the next one would provide less cause for concern, but it's turned out to be the other way around. Yeah, the Jetta had a lot of problems its first year, but they all got fixed, and after that it behaved itself pretty well. The Corolla, on the other hand...

I'll start with the short background: I took it to Autex in Keene for an oil change, after which it developed a small rattle, not terribly alarming. Three thousand or so miles later, I took it back to the same place for an inspection, since they'd offered me a free one. I requested that they check out the rattle, which had gotten quite a bit worse in the last couple of months.

The guy came back to me looking somewhat alarmed and informed me that they hadn't found a rattle, but the engine was rapping loudly (sounds the same to me...he couldn't have just figured that's what I'd heard?), and when they checked, the car contained no oil. I told them to do an oil change and check for leaks, and they did so and found none.

The rapping stopped for about twenty-four hours, then began again, getting progressively worse over a couple of weeks until it was even worse than before. I checked the oil often, but even after a drive to western New York and back the level hardly fell, so I wasn't overly worried. The exhaust looked and smelled as it should, and it left no puddle in the driveway.

This week marked another three thousand since the last oil change, so I took it to JiffyLube to have the job done. In the summer I would do it myself, but there's no way I'm lying down in the snow and ice at this time of year to save twenty bucks. Craig asked the tech how the oil looked when it came out of the car, and the answer was, "There wasn't enough to tell. Oh, and you're low on coolant, too." He also told us that they did find a leak, between the engine and the transmission. It wasn't leaving a puddle because it only leaks while I'm driving.

The engine rapping was very slightly better after the service, but as I figured, it came right back. It seems the cylinders and/or cylinder heads are too badly damaged from...whatever the hell happened...to recover. Now, missing oil and coolant, and a leak between the engine and transmission that only happens when it's running - put the clues together, and what do they suggest? Unfortunately, a cracked engine block.

Of course, just finding out if that's actually the problem could cost more than the car is worth, so I'm pretty well stuck. I'm going to try to find a local mechanic who will give me an opinion without charging me three months' paycheck, but I honestly don't have a lot of hope.

First Week of Work, with Pictures!

2009-02-21T20:02:00.008-05:00

This is my third day of work in a row, and I have one more tomorrow. I'm not complaining - I hardly got any hours for next week, so I'll take all I can get while I have it. I'm not feeling my sore feet, blisters, and bruises anymore, not because they've gone away, but because everything from my knees down has gone numb. It's probably unhealthy, but it's so much easier to work when I'm not in extreme pain.

Thursday night was good, since it was Thirsty Thursday for the college crowd, and there was some big game, and Bdubs brought in a DJ for the night. The bar was packed, and even though I was working Dining and not Bar Dining, I made $75. Last night, on the other hand, sucked. I was in Bar Dining, and though the crowd was decent, it wasn't huge. I would've done okay if three of my tables hadn't decided not to tip me. I was so fed up by the third one that I actually asked, and they assured me they would leave me money before they left the bar...but they disappeared without doing so. I came home pissed off and bitter at the world. What possesses people not to tip? Do they not know we get paid almost nothing as a wage? I make $2.63 an hour. I didn't even crack minimum wage yesterday.

I made $45 working day shift today, but the shift went well, and I don't expect to make as much during the day as the night. When they started cutting people at 3pm, I had four full tables, after doing just two all week, and it went really well. There was a screwup in the kitchen that meant one of my tables waited almost an hour for their order that should've taken 15 minutes, but they were very nice about it. The manager never figured out what happened; one of the other managers had done a fly ticket for a fish sandwich at my table, which no one had ordered, and somehow that resulted in their original (and correct) ticket getting lost.

Though the job depends entirely on the customers, and some of them are assholes, for the most part it's turning out to be enjoyable. Hopefully my blisters will heal eventually and turn into callouses, and I'll make some more money when they cut the shifts and give us each more tables. For now, though, I'm struggling to balance work and homework.

Liz, me, and Braulio at the Lab 'n' Lager in Keene on my 21st birthday:

Me and Craig at Haven:

Me and Leslie. Byrdy did her awesome hair.

Me and Abel. Somehow I failed to notice until I saw this picture that he was wearing eyeshadow. I really can't explain how I missed that. And yes, he was also wearing pigtails.

Two pictures that are too wide for this damn page.

Me, Pam, Paul, and Sarah:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/haven02.png

Me and Byrdy:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/haven05.png

And finally, me in my infinitely stylish Bdubs uniform, complete with cheerleader ribbons in my hair:

Grand Opening, Grand Party

2009-02-18T11:15:00.007-05:00

Buffalo Wild Wings of Hadley, Massachusetts opened its doors to the public on Monday, February 16th. The Hampshire Mall allowed people to camp in its hallways overnight in search of their year of free wings, starting at 11am on Sunday. We officially opened at 11am on Monday, but started letting people in the side door at 10:00 to avoid a huge rush.

All in all, it went pretty well, except that people who are given free food don't seem to feel the need to tip for the service that got them that food, so we all got stiffed for the first couple of hours. Once the paying customers started arriving, I had an exceedingly grumpy couple who, though they didn't complain about anything, seemed determined to be pissed off, and took it out on my tip for reasons unknown. The service industry is great when you have great customers...and it sucks when you don't.

I caused one problem that got blown into a major screwup when one of the trainers tried to fix my mistake and made another one, and it resulted in one table paying for their drinks but getting their food free. They, at least, left me a good tip, although I'm sure it was a thank-you for the free burgers. I was there from 9am to 5:30, and when I got home and took my shoes off, I discovered that my feet were covered in blisters, toes to heels. My shoes aren't uncomfortable - I guess I just have to get used to them.

My Massachusetts license arrived in the mail yesterday, too. We went to the DMV on Saturday like I said, but they no longer have any weekend hours, so I had to wait until Monday. I was expecting to walk out with my new license, like I used to in New Hampshire, but apparently they can't produce them on the spot here. You get a temporary paper copy, which says NOT VALID FOR IDENTIFICATION (although many places will take it anyway), and your actual license gets mailed to you. Once again, I get points for managing to have a good picture taken.

In other recent events, last night was Haven's 13th birthday party, which is the goth nightclub that Craig and I (and now a bunch of other people I know) hang out at. Normally I wouldn't go out partying on a Tuesday night, but that's the only night that Haven is open; every other night of the week they're a gay club called Diva's. Anyway, said party was enormous, the biggest group I've seen descend on Haven in quite a while, probably since the Saints & Sinners ball. Leslie, Byrdy, Sarah, and Eric were there (the crew from Eric's birthday party last weekend), as well as Craig's friend Paul, and Abel and Amanda. I've never not had fun at Haven, but it's even more fun now that I know a bunch of the regulars/old-schoolers. If any of the photos we took turn out decent, I'll post.

I did actually accomplish one thing besides just having crazy fun: I got Amanda (Abel's wife) to have a conversation with me. I wouldn't go so far as to say I got her to actually like me, but civil chat is a start. The fact that she brings their chihuahua with her makes it easier, too, as I can physically occupy myself with patting the dog while talking. While I don't want to be overly optimistic, it definitely could have gone worse.

And last but not least, a shout-out to uncle Carl: thanks for the birthday gift! Especially having been unemployed for a couple of months, it's very much appreciated. My car thanks you too, for the oil change it'll be getting this week, and its finally full tank.

Training Week

2009-02-14T22:22:00.004-05:00

I've been trying all week to get a chance to get some updates in here, but B-dubs has been keeping me way too busy. Starting Sunday night, they've had me every night, including a good chunk of today, for orientation, training, and practice.

Sunday was orientation round two (round one being last Tuesday). Honestly, I can barely remember what we did at this point - the week has quickly become a blur. It was definitely the day we got our uniforms and training manuals, but beyond that, I really can't tell you what we did. I only remember that we were there from 6:00 to past 9:00pm.

Monday night to Wednesday night, training ran from 5:00 to 10:00pm, and consisted of memorizing the menu, memorizing the 14+1 signature sauces (no, it's not 15, really), memorizing the drinks in the bar, learning techniques including pivot point table service, and figuring out how to use the POS. I heard it said about the computer that it's "user friendly but not intuitive," which I have to totally disagree with. If a system isn't intuitive, it's not user-friendly. The definition of user-friendly is that it's easy to get around without knowing too much about it...so wouldn't intuitiveness be a boon? You'd think.

Thursday night was the usual training, followed by a pep rally until 11:00. The theory of the company is that their teams of employees should be like a sports team. After all, everything else about them is sports-themed, including the menu. As silly as it is to sing songs like I'm back in girl scout camp and scream at the managers like they're rock stars, I'd honestly rather that than a general "Congrats, here's a job, now fuck off." Though I'm not too fond of some of our franchiser's policies, I do have to give the group credit for putting together a really good team. I have yet to find anyone there I dislike for any reason, and I've actually made a few friends.

Friday was Family and Friends day, where each of us was given a pass for two people for the lunch or dinner shift, so we could come in and get a meal with one other person. The food was on the house to give the staff practice at ordering, mixing, serving, and the rest of the deal without going 100% live. After all, you don't have to worry much about people comlaining when they're eating for free.

I got out a little bit early that night, at 9:30, because our shift did really well and cleaned up fast. I had a small fiasco with trying to split one family between two tabes which were in two different sections. I was told both tables were mine (giving me three tables, when no one was supposed to have more than two), but the second table was in someone else's section, so she thought it was hers. There was quite a bit of confusion until that was sorted out by the trainers...and it was the manager's family we were messing around with. The trainers said they were impressed with how well we did, especially compared to some of the other BWW's they've opened.

I ran home after work, showered, and then we went to Craig's friend Eric's birthday party. Almost as soon as we walked in the door, I was accosted by a girl named Kat who heard that my 21st was recently and said to Craig, "I get to corrupt your girlfriend!" She dragged me into the kitchen and poured me a drink, and I chatted with her and Sarah (who I knew from Haven) and a guy named Bob. We got free entertainment out of the deal when Bob's brother Ross wandered in completely smashed and proceeded to start patting Craig and talking loudly about things that would be inappropriate to post, but that caused a whole lot of laughter.

Somehow I forgot that I hadn't eaten since my dozen spicy wings at B-dubs at 11:30am, and by...okay, I have no clue what time it was...I was pretty well under. I sat for quite a while and talked with a guy with pink hair in a skirt whose name was either Brittany, Freddy, or Birdie - I never figured it out. Our intent had been to go home early, especially given the amount of cigarette smoke in the small apartment, but after having no time for anything all week, I was glad to be able to relax and meet some new people. Craig says we got home about 2am. I remember showering, then falling asleep on the couch, then waking up at...well, who knows, and going to bed.

This morning I was up at 9:00 again to be back at B-dubs by 10:00. The really ironic thing? I was there for ServSafe alchohol training! Abel and Laura laughed hysterically when they heard that. Fortunately for me, I only get hangovers if I'm already sick, so I felt fine, if a little tired. The course was boring as hell but not difficult. The most exciting part of the day was sprinting through the mall to Subway to get lunch on a 7-minute break. We made it back in time, just barely. The other funny moment came when I went to cross my legs under the table without realizing how close to the table said legs already were, and I whacked my knee so hard on the underside of the table that I think half the room must have heard it. I just about melted onto the table trying not to laugh out loud.

The course let out at 3:00, and I asked Abel what he was going to do for the next hour until his night shift started. (Tonight was another practice shift like the F&F one yesterday, but involving local "VIPs", whatever they consider those to be. I wasn't put on shift for this one.) He grabbed my arm and dragged me to Target, where I was informed that I was going to help him pick out a Valentine's Day card for his wife.

"That's ironic," I said, "Given how much she hates me."

"She doesn't hate you," he said, "She hates everyone." Okay, that's better then. I shan't pass on all the gory details, but suffice it to say that he and his wife have not been getting on so well of late.

"Isn't she convinced that you're cheating on her with me or something?" I asked. I met her during the F&F shift on Friday, and my friendly smile, handshake, and "Nice to finally meet you!" was answered by a death glare.

"I don't care what she thinks," was the answer. I have the distinct feeling I won't be spending very much time with her. "She yells at me for going to work, she yells at me for coming home late, she yells at me for having friends. And yesterday she said that if I'm going to be home after 10:30, I shouldn't bother coming home at all!"

"Where the hell are you supposed to go?" I asked.

"Beats me." Night shift, after all, lets out between midnight and 2am.

After our trip to Target, we hung out in the parking lot, and I juggled clubs while Abel spun poi. We got quite a few amused looks from the people in passing cars, which is always a fun way to pass time.

Tomorrow is the one day that everyone gets off. Translation: my one homework day. I'm glad I had tonight to just veg. Monday I've been put on day shift, which means that I'll be there for the grand opening, the first time that just anyone is allowed to come in and buy food, and for real money! I'll probably make a ton of mistakes, but I'm not nervous. The managers have been super patient about helping us to correct the mistakes we've made so far, and I haven't heard them yell at a single person, despite the chaos that is the definition of restaurant. I've said innumerable times that I hate foodservice, but I think I'm really going to like this job.

21 Today

2009-02-07T10:47:00.005-05:00

Had orientation for B-dubs on Tuesday night, and though it was rather unnecessarily long, it went well. I got there right on time and took one of the last chairs in the room. The guy seated on my left was staring at me sideways in a somewhat stalkerish fashion, and I hoped that he would either say hello or stop looking at me. I scooted my chair as far away from him as I could in the cramped space. A minute later, someone else came in and took the last empty chair in the room, which was the one on my right. I reluctantly moved closer to the first guy again.

They started passing out paperwork, and the guy on my right introduced himself as Abel. I had to ask him what county I lived in for the forms, and we started talking. I had thought when he came in that he looked vaguely familiar, but I don't really know anyone around this area, so I dismissed the thought. Then he told me that he used to work at a goth/industrial club, and I asked if he meant Haven. When he said yes, I realized exactly where I recognized him from. Haven has been one of my favorite hang-out spots for the last year and a half or so, and he's an old-school Havenite - been there pretty much since it opened.

Both of us were glad to have encountered another smartass in a crowd of what looked to be largely Ugg-boots girls and Abercrombie boys, and we ended the night making snide comments about the "educational" video they showed us. These things were like 80s animation (think old Def Leppard music videos) meets Star Wars-brand scifi meets the worst of driver's ed videos, and they were on such topics as Kitchen Safety and Sexual Harrassment.

People's Bank put out an offer to the staff of B-dubs that if we open a new checking account with direct deposit, they'll give us $100. I'm not stupid - I went to the bank yesterday and opened the account. As I was leaving, I ran into Abel, who was doing the same thing. According to the bank manager, most of the staff had been there already, and there were more when I left. I don't know how they can afford an offer like that, but it sure as hell is a good one.

So today is my 21st birthday. [/END selfPlug]I'm going out in a few minutes to get a new driver's license, replacing my New Hampshire one with a Massachusetts version, and tonight I'm going up to Keene to see Marie, Liz and crew. Craig and I are going to stay at Marie's house (provided she's not too sick, as she had an upper respiratory infection the last time we talked) and then go visit mom for lunch on Sunday. Sunday night begins another round of B-dubs orientations and training that's going to last every day this week. Wish me luck getting any schoolwork done.

Pro-pain-in-the-Butt

2009-02-03T15:52:00.002-05:00

I felt so old-fashioned yesterday washing dishes over the stove with a pot of boiling water - dirty bean water from the previous night's dinner. It worked, though. The difference between me and Laura Ingalls Wilder (who, by the way, I share a birthday with) is that I have Palmolive. Fortunately, we got a delivery of gas yesterday afternoon - it turned out that Craig had actually prepaid and the company was just being a little slow.

He tried to give me instructions over the phone on how to turn on the hot water heater. I figured it couldn't be difficult, since I had to light the water heater with a match whenever I wanted to take a shower in Ecuador. It was, in fact, just turn a valve and flip a switch, no lighter necessary, but the burner was in a bad mood, having run itself completely dry. After fiddling with the water heater, then going outside and getting snow in my slippers and cold water down the back of my neck to fiddle with the tank, then more unsuccessful attempts at coaxing the heater to do its thing, I finally gave up. Craig somehow convinced it to work while I was at a meeting at school later, so we are back to having warm showers and clean dishes the easy way.

Cold Beans

2009-02-01T19:33:00.003-05:00

We're sitting here on the sofa waiting for our red beans & rice to finish cooking. It's taking so long I'm considering eating the ham and the rice and saying screw to the beans. I shall never again assume that dried beans can be eaten with 24 hours of leaving their package, no less within two. Now I understand why a recipe from my mom would contain a request for a *gasp* CANNED good: the beans. Damn.

Also, while striving to prepare said failing meal, there was no hot water to be had from the sink. An investigation has uncovered that we're out of propane, and neither of us can afford to pay for more right now. So Craig will be showering at work, and I'll be showering at the gym at school. The heat has already been off for a week and it's not really a big deal, as the electric can pick up the slack. The only real issue will probably be doing dishes. That's what used the last of the water, anyway, was the dishwasher. Stupid ungrateful machine. Or something.

As much as I'd like to post something scintillating, I haven't really got much right now. Today was spent alternating between doing homework and playing poker, and tonight is Poker Night, when we spend as many hours as humanly possible watching High Stakes Poker, usually followed by either the World Poker Tour or a World Series of Poker event. Last week it was reruns of the 2006 US Poker Championship, and last night was the Full Tilt Million Dollar Cash game. I'm such a junkie, but there are far worse things I could be addicted to.

Espresso Fail

2009-01-28T11:16:00.004-05:00

I made an attempt yesterday at using the espresso maker by myself...that was interesting. After mom gave me coffee for Christmas, Craig showed me how to use the thing, so I decided I was game for a solo effort. I put it all together very carefully and turned it on. It seemed to be functioning just fine, so I wandered away in search of the wall wart that belongs to the hand vac.

When I returned from the basement, the espresso maker was hissing angrily, and I stared at it for a few seconds, perplexed, before realizing the problem: my incorrect assumption that the steam valve had been closed when I removed it from the bag. It was enthusiastically steaming the counter and putting very little effort into making coffee.

This morning was another adventure in fail, as I forced my poor little car through the snow storm to school for my second day of classes. I made it to the parking garage and then slogged around the pond and up the hill to the science building...only to find it locked. The school was closed, but since I forgot my phone on the kitchen table when I left, I couldn't call the snow line to find out.

As I was walking back down the hill and around the pond, I had to stop and turn out of the wind to let my forehead thaw, and I found a little hidden patch of pond that hadn't iced over. There were a dozen or so Mallard ducks swimming around in circles. I know their feet are insulated and don't have much in the way of nerves, but I still had to wonder how they stay warm in that freezing water. I'd think they would want to migrate like Canada geese, but I guess they don't fly well enough. They were certainly a cheerful sight in the snow, either way.

Misbusadventure

2009-01-27T16:16:00.004-05:00

Sunday morning was the flea, as usual. We hadn't been in several weeks, but this weekend I wanted to try and find a display for the jewelry I've been making, to help both with creation and with photography. None of the jewelry vendors at the flea were willing to part with theirs, but one recommended a vendor who actually sells them new. As it happened, he had just taken most of his stock back to Connecticut because it wasn't selling. Figures. If I had been one week earlier...but he did have a couple of small ones left, and though they're no good for fitting, they'll be useful for display for picture-taking purposes. When I get more pics taken I'll post again.

In bigger news (at least in my world), today was my first day of classes at UMass! My schedule includes no classes on Mondays, so I'm hoping I can work those days. On Tuesdays I have three classes, although today I only had two, because the first one was cancelled. That's CMPSCI 201, Architecture and Algorithms, which will start on Thursday. Today I had Calculus and Programming Methodology...and instant lessons in the local bus system.

Calculus is taught by a grad student, which in itself is a new experience for me. Keene was too small for the classes to ever be taught by students or TAs, and they don't have much of a grad program, anyway. (Are you supposed to refer to him as a professor?) Thought I kept up with class today, I got the distinct sense that that could change easily and quickly, so it was a little scary. After all, it has been two years since I took precalc, and my A was due more to the teacher's lenient grading than to my thorough understanding of the material. Translation: I aced it without a clue.

Prog Methods has two instructors, a main professor and an assistant professor, plus two TAs. Today's class was boring in the extreme, since we didn't actually do anything but listen to Prof A lecture about the syllabus, which are all the same anyway...grading percentages, don't cheat, don't plagiarize, turn your shit in on time, etc. etc. etc. Once again, though, I got the sense that it's going to pick up, and fast. It seems we're already expected to know just about everything there is to know about Java. Now, I've had three Java classes at Keene, and I consider myself pretty fluent in the creation and use of classes, passing parameters, syntax, and other basic stuff. Since Data Structures was in Java, I can also build quite a few of said structures in the language. But they never made use of some of the more advanced features, and from what I gathered from Mr. Prof., previous classes at UMass have. "We expect facility, not just familiarity..." plus a lot more. Oh well, I'll figure it out.

On to the bus adventure. Not only are parking stickers expensive, but UMass actually discourages the students from buying them, so I decided to do park-and-ride instead. I drive to Sunderland in the morning and park in the mini-mall across from the Cliffside Apartments, then take the bus to UMass. Getting there was no problem - in fact, I was half an hour early, and I took a few minutes to walk around and find the best way between my classroom buildings. Getting back, however, was not quite so easy.

From Sunderland, there's pretty much only one bus, maybe two, that pass by the stop. From UMass, every bus from just about everywhere goes by. I hopped on the one labeled 31, since that's supposedly my route number, but it just took me for a long ride down to the lower parking lots, out to some deserted corners of campus, and finally back to where I'd started. When I asked the driver what bus to take to Sunderland, she looked at me like I was stupid and said, "Take one labeled Sunderland." What do you know - that one took me where I wanted to go. I have no idea what happened to Route 31, though. It seems the routes on the map don't match the routes posted on the buses. What's the point?

Earrings, Updated

2009-01-24T01:30:00.004-05:00

Euro 4-in-1 - silver earrings, updated

Chainmaille

2009-01-23T16:40:00.007-05:00

I promised a couple of posts ago to put up pictures of the jewelry I've been making. Today I finally took said pictures, so here they are! Any feedback on the jewelry (or on the pictures) is appreciated, as I'm hoping to sell some of it. Let me know what you like and don't like.

(Click on the pictures for larger versions.)

Rondo a la Byzantine - bracelet in silver

Picture 2

Picture 3

Rondo a la Byzantine - choker in nickel silver and blackened steel

Picture 2

Picture 3

Möbius Roses - bracelet in aluminum and anodized aluminum

Picture 2

European 4-in-1 - earrings in silver (no backings yet)

Turkish Orbital - necklace in silver with quartz beads (unfinished)

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Star design in silver - folds into a ring

Poker and Blackjack

2009-01-22T19:24:00.003-05:00

I'm looking forward to next week, when I should have something actually interesting to say. The most interesting thing to happen yesterday was me placing 25th out of 744 players in an online poker tournament (you're forgiven for the yawn), and then watching the movie 21, about the students from MIT who learned to count cards and took Vegas for millions of dollars.

The really interesting parts weren't in the actual movie, though. Firstly, MGM Grand, one of the casinos who got taken by the students, actually bought the production rights to the movie. They figured it would actually make them their money back, between movies sales and encouraging more people to come and try to count cards. The theory is simple, but not everyone's mind actually works like that. They probably did pretty well.

Secondly, as a special feature on the DVD, there was a tutorial on card-counting! I guess MGM wanted people to get as cocky as possible before taking a swipe at them. I can't imagine all the casinos were happy about that, but there's nothing they can do...it's out there now. And while the theory of card-counting makes sense to me now, and I might even be good at it (programmer's mind), I have no interest in blackjack. I'm really a poker nut. I'd rather win a million in a WPT tourney than steal it from a casino and then get the shit beat out of me by security. After all, what's the point of winning money if you have to turn right around and spend it on medical bills?

Oh, and a note I forgot to put in that last random entry: NaNoFiMo was a total fail. I expected it would be, so I'm not bothered about it. I'll finish the novel when I feel like it. I know, I can hear the voices..."Yeah, that's what they all say, you'll never finish it." I have only this protest: I did finish my last one, three months after the end of NaNoWriMo.

Random Stuff

2009-01-16T00:59:00.002-05:00

Every time I glance back over my previous posts, I find glaring omissions. That's what I get for doing so much damn stuff - I forget to keep up with it all. I'll throw in a few updates here, or at least some random interesting stuff.

I did manage to make all A's last semester. I don't know how I did it, except by panicking for the entire month of November, but somehow it happened. My GPA went up by .093...not like it matters, since I get to start all over again at UMass. They transfer credits but not grades.

The NaNo story still hasn't been finished, and I suspect it will be a while, although I still have ever intention of getting it done. I think it's sitting around 52k right now, and I'm taking a well-deserved break. While I was writing, Craig suggested that I give dad a cameo appearance, since he died two days before I began writing. At first I said no, but writing has its own personality and often gets away from you. I ended up putting in the cameo without even meaning to, as my character got hit by a car and dad stepped out of a crowd in the city and called an ambulance for her.

Grandma's brother Jim died on New Year's Day, after suffering from brain cancer for quite a while. We went to visit him in the nursing home while we were in New York, but Craig and I didn't go in, since he didn't know Craig and wouldn't have remembered me. Grandma was a mess, having lost her son, her grandson (my cousin Ben), and her brother in from October to January. I know she was glad to have visitors, although of course everyone's back to their homes now. At least Paul and Jacky still live close by.

After going to all the effort to get Elvis to write me a letter of recommendation to the computer science department at UMass, during orientation yesterday I declared my major. Apparently that was all it took. The professor/advisor asked if I wanted to declare so that he wouldn't have to override me into all the CS courses, and I said yes. They filled out the paperwork for me, and it was done. Was it really that easy? I hope so.

Speaking of orientations, the intro to the new job is on February 3rd. I was told to "bring a pen and an open mind - learn a lot." Michael said there would be 60-70 people at each of two orientations that day. That's a lot of employees. The only other place I've ever worked for that was so big was the Dining Commons at KSC. I'm looking forward to starting. When I'm bored, I cause trouble...and I've been really bored lately. I can only watch so much TV, and though I could chainmaille all day long, I have very limited money (none) with which to buy supplies.

On the subject of TV, I'm being distracted by the new show Destroyed in Seconds...I'll be back another time!

Sorry So Long

2009-01-14T16:39:00.007-05:00

It has been brought to my attention that I've apparently dropped off the face of the earth...wow, where'd I go??

Hehe. Sorry to anyone that missed me. I've been so caught up in doing absolutely nothing that I've done, well, nothing. I didn't wake up before noon for about two weeks, which was great, except for the part where I could no longer go to sleep when I went to bed again at midnight. I wish I could store up sleep in advance.

Anyway, trip to New York was fine, pretty quiet. Like all families, they're wonderful for the first 24 to 48 hours, and then you want to get the hell out. Fortunately we were only there about four days. After we came home, Craig and I spent a couple of days doing basically nothing at all, and then two more days madly cleaning the entire house top to bottom. I thought I was going to die afterwards of the resulting allergy attack, even though I was smart enough to wear a dust mask, but damn does the house look nice. We have a kitchen table again! And a kitchen! And an entire sofa!

Since Alex was home from Virginia on winter break, I convinced her to come down for a visit. She bargained with her brother to borrow his Jeep and came down Saturday night. Original plans were to go snowboarding on Sunday, but she couldn't find her boots and I was still suffering the deathly allergy attack, so we decided on option B: go to the shooting range. Smith & Wesson is never a bad choice.

Alex did pretty well for having never shot a gun before. Okay, we probably shouldn't have started her with the .40....but she survived to make friends with the .22, which has now become known as the "happy dance gun." I seem to remember that the .45 was my HDG the first time Craig took me shooting. The .38, however, is going to be mine when I get my license, so that's the one I practiced with the most.

On Friday, since we missed snowboarding the first time, we actually went. The Jeep was in the shop, so I drove up to New Hampshire and we went to Pat's Peak. It's a small place, but perfect for beginners and for getting back on your feet. It was my first boarding adventure in three years or so, and had been longer for Alex, but we did pretty well. Craig didn't go, since he had to work, but he wasn't too jealous of the boarding...until he heard we were having dinner at my mom's house. That resulted in pouty puppy eyes and a request for a doggy bag.

This weekend was quiet, because Craig's been really sick for a week now, although we did have a low-key pizza party on Saturday night. Marie was there, along with Craig's friends Larry and April, Josh and Mary, and Ed. Snaric couldn't make it, so I went up to Keene yesterday to visit him. We had brunch and then pretty much spent the day, between the craft store and his house, talking chainmaille. It's a craft that I learned because I got paid to do it, then forgot about it when I quit the job, and have now picked up again because it's enormous fun. When I have a chance I'll post some pictures of the stuff I've been doing lately.

Today was probably the busiest day I've had in a month or so: the New Student Orientation at UMass. Check-in was at 8:30am (why??). That was followed by an overview of the day, some basic information, some more overview, some shuttling us around to different rooms, asking about various intended majors, more shuttling around, and finally being told that my advising appointment was at 1:00pm, and there was nothing for me to do. This was at 10:20am. I got my picture taken for my ID, then found a sofa and did some chainmailling for an hour or so. I took a wander through the resources fair when it was put up, found nothing of interest, had a slice of pizza in the Blue Wall, then went to advising.

After two and a half years of school, I've gotten pretty good at picking out a schedule that includes all required courses and doesn't necessitate that I get up obscenely early - and I can generally do it fast. But UMass has this clever little thing that they call "discussions." This means that you choose a class, fit it into your schedule, sign up for it...and then realize that it's got a fourth session on a random day at a random time that interferes with another class. So you start over. Repeat. And repeat.

When you get tired of this, you finally call over one of the helpers, who has you signed up for macroeconomics in three minutes, and you settle for it because even though that's not a class you wanted, it fits in the time block sheet. Then you remember that you have no honors courses, so you go to honors advising, and have to find a place in that wonderful block sheet for an honors course. All this time you're trying to keep your number of credits down to avoid total panic when the semester actually begins...

I hate SPIRE. I hate discussions and I haven't even been to one yet. Somehow I'm still looking forward to this. I must be nuts.

Oh yeah, and I officially have a job! I pretty much backed into a job as a waitress at Buffalo Wild Wings, a chain in the south that's starting to come up north. The place doesn't open until February 16th, but at least I know I'll have work when they do.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

2008-12-26T00:32:00.003-05:00

It has been so incredibly busy the last few days...I had something I was going to post, but I didn't get around to doing it before I forgot what it was. It's gone now. Maybe it'll return.

Anyway, Craig took the job of ripping all the insulation out of the basement while I put my efforts to baking three batches of speedbumps. For those who don't know, speedbumps are the traditional Christmas cookie for my dad's side of the family. They were originally called something like rum-butter logs or nutmeg logs, something along those lines. Grandma always used to make a ton of them for Christmas and keep them chilled in the garage. One year it got particularly cold in said garage, and when my uncle Steve went to eat a cookie and found it frozen rock-solid, he said, "Damn, these things are like speed bumps!" It stuck.

So I started the project by getting completely distracted by an OCD moment: I was just going to wipe the counter - I swear! - and somehow ended up cleaning and reorganizing most of the kitchen. Then, and only then, did I turn my attention to the cookies. As for those, I made them way too big and still came out with about 130 of them. I'm not worried. They'll get eaten. I've already made some inroads myself, and then I took some to Craig's aunt Prudy's house today and they were a hit.

I still haven't remembered what else I was going to say. It's been a whirlwind of cleaning, baking, organizing, moving shit around, fighting with the cats...and, of course, watching poker every night. Hey, you have to have something to relax to!

Right now, however, I shouldn't be relaxing but packing for the trip. Craig and mom and I are going to upstate New York tomorrow morning to see the aforementioned group of asylum should-be inmates known as my dad's family. Honestly, I really can't complain - they are fun. They're fun because they're so damn nuts. So I'm going to stop rambling and go do something useful. Maybe.

The Hunt, Day Three...and Wednesday Weirdness

2008-12-17T16:07:00.005-05:00

Yesterday's attempts:
Bluebonnet Diner
Amazing.net (I just had to.)
Spoleto
The Local (Just opened - they seemed happy to see someone.)
Eastside Grill
Spaghetti Freddy's (Had a stroke of luck - ran into the manager, who is also the manager of five other local places.)

Today's attempts:
Amherst Brewing Co.
Wolfie's (Met the manager there, too.)

And the list of places that wouldn't even take an application, which is actually against the law!
La Veracruzana
Judie's
Pasta E Basta
Crazy Noodles
Chez Albert
Fresh Side

It started snowing late last night, and by this morning we had about four inches. By this afternoon, it had rained and the snow had an icy crust, making it a little tough to get off my car. Fortunately Craig had a snowbrush for me, so things could have been worse. It's still pretty-looking outside, even if actually walking in it is rather unpleasant, but it's supposed to turn in "wintry mix" later. Translation: ugly, nasty, freezing crap.

I just discovered something known as Wednesday Weirdness, and given how much of a whore I am for MySpace surveys, I've gotta do it...

1. What is the one sexual act you would never do?
Anything containing the word "shit."

2. Is there anyone you know, that if they turned out to be a serial killer you would not be surprised?
Yes :) I love my friends!

3. What is the most annoying thing about the holiday season for you?
People who think the point of the holidays is shopping. You know the ones I mean, the ones that turn into assbags as soon as they get into their cars, who would run over a small child for a parking space at the mall.

4. If you saw a video of your celebrity crush picking their nose, would that change your opinion of their hotness?
Haha. No.

5. What is the one non-sexual thing you would be embarrassed to be caught doing?
Homework! Nah, I'm kidding. Honestly, I'm not sure.

7. As someone who ran a virtual cookie exchange, I have to ask what your favorite cookie is?
Chocolate chip.

Job-Hunting Begins Again

2008-12-15T16:30:00.003-05:00

I finally had a nice relaxing weekend, for the first time in months. It was great to be able to just sleep and veg for two whole days (even though we did sleep through the gun show - oops). Today I got out and began the obnoxious process of job-hunting again. I hate job-hunting, especially the way things are right now with the economy. All I've been hearing is, "We're not hiring right now, but I'll give you an application."

I just have to stay optimistic...there must be a job around here somewhere (that's better than Pride). I just have to find it. So far today I've applied to the Monkey Bar, Bertucci's, Rafters, The Pub, Applebee's, and Chili's. As much as I've hated food service jobs in the past, I want to get back into a job where I get tips as well as a paycheck.

Moving Day

2008-12-13T13:11:00.002-05:00

It's finally over. I did it. I completed the Semester from Hell. Murphy's law applied many times more than normal to this term, as nearly everything that could have gone wrong did, but it's finally over. Despite the ice storm, I moved all my stuff out of the dorm this week, and I'm back in Deerfield.

I went to a crafting party at Snaric's house on Thursday night, which was quiet and a load of fun. There were five of us, Snaric, me, Sam, Susanne, and Jill, and we were all working on something different. There was mulled cider along with various other beverages and snackies (I made crackle, i.e., crack. It has been renamed because it is so addictive).

My grades have yet to come in, but honestly, I'm not that worried. (I also hope I didn't jinx myself by saying that.) I know I have As in Visual Basic and Midrange Systems, since Matt let me out of the final exams for both classes. I never actually saw a number for my grade in Chemistry, but I did well on exams and got all the in-class points, so I should be fine. As for Data Structures, Elvis gave us a printout of our grades a couple of weeks ago, and I worked out that if I got a hundred on the last assignment, I needed a 90 on the final to make an A. However, when my assignment came back, I had gotten a 130, and I feel like I did really well on the final, so...we shall see. Either way, I also asked him to write a letter of reference to the comp sci department at UMass.

And now to go unpack all my stuff from the car...

Finals and the WWW

2008-12-10T09:50:00.005-05:00

I got out the VB exam with a 97 average (but did agree to go visit Matt today anyway). I've got mugs of candy and tea and a box of coffee to deliver to various professors and my advisor. I picked up an extra shift at work this morning in a desperate attempt to have money before Christmas. The Data Structures exam becomes available at 1pm today...got to have the car to the shop at 2 o'clock this afternoon...Matt's office at 3. I really hope Autex mean what they say about the inspection being a half hour, because that's all I've got!

For my chem professor, I got a plain white mug and wrote on it in Sharpie: "Caffeine: 1,3,7-trimethylzanthate". I figured it was pretty safe to assume that a professor would drink coffee, or at least heavily caffeinated tea. Most of them do.

Anyway, on top of the above-mentioned, some part of me seems to have decided that sleep is a useless endeavour and should not be attempted. It drives me crazy lying there in the dark staring at the ceiling, especially when I'm actually tired. I think it's because of finals week; Craig says I did the same thing last year, although personally I don't remember that. Hopefully it will disappear come Friday, when it's all over.

On a note of accomplishments, I finished the new version of the website for The Everyday Epicure this morning! Minimal fighting with Dreamweaver was involved, which is an accomplishment in itself, as anyone who's ever done web design knows. It's still a mystery to me how supposedly "unformatted" text appears on a full page as an inch-and-a-half wide column and stretches the page to a couple of feet in length...and all this because I had the balls to hit the Italicize key. Microsoft is such a mystery some days. Oh wait, ALL days.

Next project: finish sites for Northeast Two-Way Comm and N1PMA.org, and then for my own business. Yeah, priorities. They're a pain.

Finals Week

2008-12-09T16:40:00.003-05:00

Halfway through finals week already! I boxed up some stuff I'm not going to need and took it down to Deerfield yesterday, since I don't have any actual exams until Thursday. Remarkably, my room doesn't look that much more empty...I hate how that happens. I feel like I was so productive with my picking up boxes and running errands and packing and getting stuff moved, and I come back here to find it looks pretty much like it did yesterday morning. Just a few less books and a few less dishes.

Not a whole lot that's of interest to report today. I got my email address for UMass, so I'm going through the irritating process of trying to find every place on the web that I put my KSC address and change them all. For those of you who want it, please leave a comment or email me and I'll get you my new one. I just don't want to post it because I want to be sure that it's actual humans that are getting it, and not spam-bots.

Stumbled across something amusing a few minutes ago: Why it's better to date geeks! So true. Which is, of course, why it's so funny, like all good comedy. Speaking of comedy, check out George Carlin on airplanes, part 1 and part 2.

End of Classes

2008-12-05T08:07:00.004-05:00

I am all done with classes! I've just got finals left to go, and another week of work. I already got out of my Midrange Systems final because my average in the class was 100, and I have a meeting with Matt on Monday to see if I can do the same for Visual Basic. The Data Structures final is take-home and we've got twenty-four hours to do it. The only "sit-down-and-have-an-exam" final I've got (provided I get out of VB) is Chemistry, and I'm not worried about that one.

For the most part the other girls in my suite have been pretty good this semester, but last night was apparently too tempting a party night to be considerate. Twenty-four-hour quiet hours start tonight, which means no noise and no guests at any time for any reason. They said they were getting ready to go out to a party, which is no problem, but it took them three hours, a lot of noise, loud music, and pre-party booze. At 11:30 I finally went out and shut their door, telling them I needed to be at work at 7:30 in the morning.

Cat said, "Oh, we're leaving in just a sec." Yeah, sure. Half an hour later they finally went shrieking out the door and disappeared...and came back at 2am and repeated the whole thing. I almost had to get up again and tell them to shut it. The result: I'm dysfunctionally exhausted this morning, and it's not my fault. Argh. I'm glad I won't have to worry about dorms anymore after next week.

Writertopia Potato

2008-12-04T10:58:00.007-05:00

Wordcount progress for NaNoFiMo (not convinced I'll finish, but I'm giving it a whack anyway). I'll update this little thingy in this same post, so to check up on me, pop back here.

The easier-to-find version has also been posted under my original NaNoWriMo wordcounter widget in the top-right corner of the page.

Guitar Video

2008-12-03T21:24:00.003-05:00

And for those who want to see something really frigging cool:

Video on decorating a guitar.

End-of-Term Paperwork

2008-12-03T20:30:00.003-05:00

Somehow I always manage to forget just how much paperwork is involved in finishing up a semester. I think I wipe it from my memory because it's so irritating. It's especially bad this time around because not only do I have to finish up the usual stuff, but I also have to notify people that I'm not coming back here.

Check grades, get mail forwarded, make sure my last paycheck will be sent to me, turn in the "hey KSC, I'm leaving" paperwork, turn in the housing contract release, sort my finals schedule, make sure all my posted grades are as they should be, start changing my email address with various accounts since this one will be deleted in January...

And of course, no one could possibly be advanced enough that I could get all this crap done over the internet, or even over the phone. No, I have to run from one end of campus to the other to sign forms and deliver SASEs. It was bad at the end of last fall, too, because I was trying to get together my paperwork for study away. Speaking of the NIEC, Tim still hasn't gotten our last three credits to come through. I ran into Braulio earlier and he pointed this out to me. I just hope they were in the transcript that went to UMass; I'll have to check on that. One more thing to do.

Argh.

Book Cover

2008-12-01T22:20:00.004-05:00

There was a new feature introduced to the NaNoWriMo site this year, where you could upload a cover image for your novel as well as posting a synopsis and excerpt. I didn't get around to making a cover because I was too busy writing, but now that the writing bit is over, I found time to be a little graphic-creative. This is the first version of the cover; there is also a second version, which is similar but a little bit simpler.

Fleaing

2008-12-01T11:33:00.007-05:00

The letdown is here...no more NaNo. Granted, I haven't really written since Thursday anyway, but now it's really, officially over. I have signed up for NaNoFiMo, but am not sure I can really squeeze another 30k out of this novel. I'm gonna try, but...well, we'll see.

Craig and I went fleaing yesterday for the first time in several months. We're still determined to collect and refurbish as many guitars/bass guitars as we can get our hands on. There were no electric guitars at the Holyoke flea yesterday, but there were a couple of small practice amps. We picked up a nice 30-watt (ish) Peavey for $30, after the guy selling it said that it would be $30 if I bargained, but $35 if Craig did. It's in good shape and has a really nice sound. I like it better than my own Crate! But now we've got two amps to practice with, meaning we can actually play together instead of taking turns.

In the interest of procrastinating as long as humanly possible on a semester chemistry paper last night, I found a tab for Def Leppard's Promises and began learning it. I chose it because (a) it's a song I like and sing well and (b) it has an easy second-guitar line so that Craig, who is just learning guitar, can play it too. I'm still not sure how I rate as a teacher, but he did great. That was probably his experience on bass talking and not my teaching skills. I'm excited about this song - I love jamming with other musicians more than pretty much anything else in the world.

The chem paper did get done, by the way. Three and a half pages. Research and writing together took me less than two hours, and it looks good! Hey, the teacher has admitted that this is not his assignment and he really doesn't give a shit, so I'm pretty sure it's an A, heads or tails. We're heading fast now for the end of the semester. This weekend was my last chem assignment (the paper), my last i5 assignment, and my last Data Structures assignment. Just one to go, for Visual Basic, and it's already half-done. Yayyy!!! Finals are coming!!!

Oh, and happy December, everyone. We got some shitty icy-type snow last night. Wasn't any good for playing in, but at least the back porch was white for a few hours.

The Finish Line (Numerically)

2008-11-28T20:43:00.011-05:00

I get to say it again - I did it! This time, though, I'm referring to NaNo. I made 50,132 last night. Yes, on Thanksgiving.

The novel's not finished yet; I'm guessing it will end up around 60k or 65k, but we'll see.

“Casey,” I heard a voice hiss, and was startled to see someone appear suddenly by his side, with no warning. The man was several inches shorter than I was, with greasy black hair that hung in his face. “Hey, Casey.”

Casey stood up straighter, clearly trying to get as far away from the guy as he could, the look of disgust on his face very thinly disguised. “What, Larry?” he asked shortly.

Larry looked up then and caught sight of me and Marielle, and flinched like someone had slapped him. Without saying another word, he ducked away from Casey and slunk out of the room. His gait was strange, weaving back and forth in a very deliberate pattern.

Casey’s face held comic disdain. “Oh, dear Larry,” he said with a dramatic sigh, and made a show of brushing off any part of him that might have been near the guy. He obviously liked to be sparkling clean all the time, possibly to the point of obsession. I wondered idly what would have happened if Larry had actually touched him, and laughed to myself at the resulting mental image.

“What?” asked Marielle, and Casey grinned.

“What?” I asked back, confused, then realized I must have laughed out loud. “Oh, nothing.”

“I know, Larry’s worth laughing at,” Casey said. “One of these days someone should teach him to shower. I keep telling the boss to hire a dog trainer, but he keeps saying no.”

It was a cruel thing to say, but I laughed anyway. Marielle didn’t; in fact, she was looking distinctly unhappy.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked her, patting her arm. She flinched away from me, and I frowned. “Do you want to leave?”

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, if you don’t mind.”

Wheeee!
In other news, the Turkey-Day pies were a big success. The apple recipe turned out great, so I made it again for the party at Mom's on Thursday (after borrowing a couple of pie pans from Kathy, since I left my good glass one in Keene). I got a little creative with the pumpkin pie, too, breaking tradition to add a layer of chocolate on the bottom.

The chocolate ganache that I used was from a recipe for black-bottom cream pie, which is chilled instead of baked, so the chocolate layer stays on the bottom and doesn't mix with the cream layer. A pumpkin pie, however, has to be baked (and for a long damn time), so the ganache melted. What ended up happening is that it mixed just a little bit with the pumpkin filling, not entirely, so there was a nice layer in between the two of chocolatey-pumpkin. It was really tasty...and the apple pie got finished for breakfast. There is no better breakfast than leftover fruit pie!

Pie and T-day

2008-11-26T16:02:00.005-05:00

Made 47,905 last night. Wanted to make 48k, but I got pretty close, so no big deal! After that, I was planning to make 50k tonight, but it hasn't quite worked out so far.

After getting out of bed at 11:15 this morning feeling like I'd just come out of a coma, I had to make coffee and ingest said coffee before I could even think about making pie. Then I had to find my pie bible. It turned up on top of the fridge (I would never have found it if Craig hadn't pointed it out). Crusts alone took a couple of hours, then I put together the filling and finished making the pie for the get-together at Kathy and Ron's place tonight. It's baking now, and as usual, I'm having a fight with the oven. Hopefully this one won't burn, or at least won't burn as badly, as the last one did.

I'm excited about this particular pie, though. There was no recipe in my book for a basic double-crust apple-cinnamon pie, so did I find another book? Look up a recipe online? Nope, I wung it! (Winged it? Wang it? ...that last one didn't sound right.) I put cinnamon in the crust and nutmeg in the filling, plus a little bit of lemon juice. I also didn't have any plain white sugar, so I made the crust with some packets of Sugar in the Raw that I found in the cupboard and the filling with brown sugar. I'm thinking the brown sugar will probably caramelize in the oven and make a nice thick filling...in which case, should I not have added the cornstarch? Ugh, I hate second-guessing myself. I'll just have to report back on how it comes out.

Likelihood is that I won't get to blogging tomorrow, so I'll say it now: Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Enjoy your turkey (or tofurkey, if you're one of those).

Day Twenty-Five

2008-11-25T16:47:00.003-05:00

Last night's wordcount: 45,091. Yes, 2,500 words over my goal! I don't have a specific goal for today/tonight, just that I want to hit 50k as soon as possible. I want to finish early. I can do it.

I can't post an excerpt, though, because everything in the last 5k has been essential enough to the plot that I would give things away. Yes, even though I haven't posted the whole story. Perhaps because I haven't posted the whole thing.

Day Twenty-Four

2008-11-24T09:25:00.004-05:00

Last night's count: 41,038! Today's goal: ~~40,008~~ 42,500. Yay, getting ahead!

In front of us was the counter, where a crowd of customers were ordering, paying for, and receiving various drinks. Through a large open doorway to the right was a room with scattered tables and chairs, and a sofa at each end. Out of maybe fifteen tables, only two were empty. Fin and I got in line at the counter, and I looked up at the blackboard hung near the ceiling. The Coffee Bug was written across the top, and various pastries, coffees, teas, and specials were written beneath the name in neat, cramped handwriting, with various colors of chalk.

Arbitrarily choosing a coffee from the list, I used the time we spent standing in line to look at everyone around me, carefully inspecting each male face to try and guess which one was Billy.

“Is he here?” I finally asked Fin, who as usual looked something between bemused and stoically calm.

“Not yet,” he said.

“You didn’t even look!” I accused him.

“Don’t need to,” he said. “I’ll know when he’s here, don’t worry. We’re not going to miss him.”

I fidgeted my way to the front of the line, paid for my coffee, and then got in the line to pick it up. By the time Fin and I had claimed what was now the last empty table in the other room, I was beginning to think that perhaps coffee was a bad idea, since I was already so jumpy.

“He’s here,” said Fin, seemingly out of the blue. I whirled around in my seat, but a hand on my shoulder pulled me back to a normal sitting position again.

“What?” I demanded, annoyed.

“He doesn’t like to stick out,” Fin explained. “Don’t make a big deal about it.”

I glared at him in frustration, but couldn’t really say anything. I had no idea who this guy was or what he was like, and I didn’t want to screw up the meeting. Gripping my paper coffee cup so hard I nearly squeezed the coffee out all over the table, I sat and stared determinedly at Fin while we waited for Billy to come sit with us. The minutes seemed to take years until finally Fin looked up and smiled at someone behind me.

“Hey man,” he said. “How’s it going?”

Day Twenty-Three

2008-11-23T17:39:00.004-05:00

Last night's final count: 38,005. (It shows up as partly today's work in my NaNo chart, because I posted it at 12:30am, but I consider that yesterday.) Today's goal according to the 1667-words-a-day calendar is 38,341, but I'm already well past that, so I changed the goal to an even 40k. If I make that, I'll have Monday complete tonight.

I also posted that cool little counter widget - see it up there on the top right? It takes my word-count data straight from the NaNo database, so if you want to know where I am RIGHT NOW, that will tell you. (Provided you press ctrl F5, because sometimes it's a little reluctant to update.)

“Why do you think he’ll be helpful to me?”

“He was helpful to me,” he said simply, and didn’t elaborate.

I wasn’t convinced. “About what?”

Though I wouldn’t have quite called it a death glare, the look Fin gave me told me I should shut my mouth immediately if not earlier. Wondering what I’d poked my nose into, I faced the seat in front of me and didn’t say another word.

It must have been pretty serious, I thought to myself, to bother Fin so much. I’d been impressed more than once by how calm he was no matter what was going on around him, whether he was pulling me out of the pond after I’d been attacked by crows, or explaining himself to me in the cafeteria after my friends had been so mean to him. The thought of something awful enough to alarm Fin scared me.

I risked a quick sideways glance at him through my hair, but he looked completely calm once again, like nothing had ever happened. I was reminded of a pond when a rock has been dropped in – it ripples, but once it stops, you would never know there had ever been a rock. Of course, you’ll probably also never see the rock again. I had dropped that rock in with my eyes closed, and now I wanted to know what it looked like, but I didn’t dare go searching for it.

Day Twenty-Two

2008-11-22T22:15:00.004-05:00

Yesterday's word count: 35,304. Today's goal: 36,674. Almost to the 3/4-point! (That's 37,500.)

I got my packet from UMass today. The majority of it was useless information about living on campus, but there was also essential information pertaining to fees, classes, orientation, and so on. Every time I look at that red-and-gold folder on the floor I can't help but grin.

Also, although I don't expect anyone else to be as excited as I am, my one-year anniversary with Craig was yesterday. I'll have to post a photo of the picture-frame thingy I made...when I take one. In the mean time, here are some other interesting pictures, since I finally installed the software for my computer's memory-card reader and offloaded everything that was on my camera, which is all the pictures I took over the summer.

A tractor seen in Deerfield:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/100_2230.jpg

I Kant...park, apparently:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/100_2240.jpg

A true ham car (on the way to NEARfest):
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/100_2241.jpg

Palm trees in Northampton:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/100_2245.jpg

Craig at the outdoor range in Northampton:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/100_2246.jpg

Me at the same range:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/100_2266.jpg

With the 7mm magnum. My shoulder hurt for a week after firing that damn thing:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/100_2270.jpg

No tailgating:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh276/keskipper/100_2286.jpg

OCD Happy

2008-11-21T09:03:00.004-05:00

I just hit the end of a chapter at exactly 33,000 words, at exactly 9:00am. This makes my OCD side extremely happy. The unfortunate part is that it also makes it harder to get going again, since writing another word will make the count no longer even. Then again, I really want to hit 35k today.

So I guess I lied about not posting any more excerpts. I wrote a paragraph I just love for some reason, and want to put it up somewhere. Here it is.

My phone rang just then and I answered it, even though I knew it was only my alarm. Distinctly uninterested in watching Jen work her boy magic, I had set it to go off at noon to save me from an awkward situation.

“Hi mom,” I said, loudly enough that they would both hear me, and started sidling away. “What’s up? Oh, really?” I continued to fake a conversation until I was out the door and well away from the building. When I reached the edge of the parking lot, I took a quick glance over my shoulder to be sure they weren’t following me, and broke into a run. Some part of me felt inexplicably guilty for doing what I’d just done to Fin. I knew Jen wreaked havoc on boys, and I probably shouldn’t have handed her one I was actually friends with; at least, not if I wanted to stay friends with him. Wishing I could undo what I had just done, but knowing it was already far too late, I went to lunch by myself and tried to drown my guilt in pizza.

Finally, Good News

2008-11-19T13:58:00.003-05:00

I did it I did it I did it!!! Sorry to shout in your virtual ear, but I'm too excited not to. I got into UMass!! The really awesome thing? That's not even the best of the news. The BEST of the news is that I got invited into Commonwealth College, which is UMass's honors program for super-awesome students.

I had hoped that would happen but figured it probably wouldn't. Hey, self-deprecation worked out: I got a great surprise! I'm not in the Computer Science program yet because I don't have all the pre-req's, but the admissions counselor I talked to told me that would probably happen. So next semester I'll take Calculus I and Assembly Language, then take Calculus II over the summer. I'll make some friends among the faculty of the CS department, get my current programming professors to write me a letter of recommendation, and everything should work out.

*does the happy dance*

Also, I hit 30k in my NaNo! 30,102, to be exact. Today's goal: 31,673.

I Stand Corrected

2008-11-18T13:40:00.002-05:00

It turns out that my claim to December being National Novel Editing Month was incorrect; NaNoEdMo is, in fact, in March. December is National Novel Finishing Month, NaNoFiMo. Thanks Michelle for pointing this out!

Geeky Blogger Networking

2008-11-17T12:42:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone, go check out my guest post on How Not to Write! People are saying it's giving them lots of laughs.

The Waiting!

2008-11-17T10:13:00.004-05:00

UMass finally got my transcript from PUCE (after I spent an hour in Tim's office doing mental troubleshooting - figures). The status of my application on their website tracker has changed from "complete application" to "under review." Now the nail-biting truly begins! Any day now I'll find out...and thus find out where I'll be living next semester, what job I'll have, what classes I'll be taking, and all sorts of other somewhat life-changing things.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm trying to keep mine out of my mouth, and trying not to check the website every half an hour.

Yesterday's word count: 27,030 (exactly 2,000 words written!). Today's goal: 28,339. The Helpdesk has been busy this morning, so I haven't gotten any writing done, with the obvious exception of that which you're reading. On the other (really awesome) hand, though, I only have one class today. Matt came down with the flu yesterday, and so cancelled my 2pm and 6pm classes, leaving me with just chemistry at 4pm. Time to get things done...or sleep.

Day Sixteen

2008-11-16T11:09:00.003-05:00

I've hit the half-way point! 25,030 official word count on Saturday the 15th. I'll cheer for myself since I can't hear the rest of you from here.

I've gotten wind, however, that my excerpts are disturbing some people. Apparently they are causing "wondering" about me. While there is always some amount of the writer in the writing, I wouldn't really call my novel a revealing psychological portrait of myself. However, I think I'll stop posting pieces of it, at least for a while. Perhaps until it's done.

Today's goal: 26,672.

Take a Break? Never!

2008-11-14T16:40:00.004-05:00

I'm taking a break from writing...to write. At least I'm writing something different.

Catching up with a day's missed word count is a little more of a struggle than I expected it to be. I've reached 22,518 as of a couple of minutes ago, but my progress is slowing down. I really want to get through the last 800 words today/tonight, but it's amazing how much effort a half day's wordcount can be when you've already done a couple of thousand and you're not in the middle of an inspiring scene.

I'm not one of those writers who can say "This scene is boring me, so I'll skip it and write the next one, and come back to this later." Some part of me demands of some other part of me that I write everything in order. (It's the same part that demands that I fix grammar and spelling errors, even though that's kind of against the rules of NaNo.) My inner Editor is too obsessive-compulsive to let me concetrate on anything else, like writing productively, until that typo staring at me is corrected. Fortunately I type fast, so it doesn't hold me up too much.

This is the point at which I should say "Time for a break!" and go do something ELSE else, that's not blogging, that actually requires me to get up and change my position and surroundings. However, it's raining and cold and dark outside, and I'm entirely uninspired to do anything but remain inside where it's warm and dry. Training myself to actually take breaks while I'm working on something is pretty difficult. Whether it's a novel or a programming project, it seems more productive to sit and stare at the screen and produce nothing than to walk away, even though theoretically I know otherwise.

So here I am, sitting and staring at the screen and producing nothing but whining, bloggable drivel and complaints.

In other news, though, UMass finally got my PUCE transcript. Now it's back to the waiting game. I have my fingers crossed!

Day Fourteen

2008-11-14T09:16:00.004-05:00

For the first time, I've actually gotten behind on my wordcount. I didn't write at all on the 12th; just didn't get to it. I'm playing the frantic catch-up game in all my classes, so I spent the day doing homework. I finally got my VB midterm done this morning (it was due Tuesday, but I got an extension). HW07B for Data Structures got finished yesterday (on time! Wow!), and I'm taking my chem exam next Tuesday (which was originally more than a week ago). I also need to start and finish two homeworks for my server class, which the prof says are the most important ones of the semester. Of course.

Last night's word count: 20,708. Today's goal: 23,338. I'm less than a day behind. Hopefully I can catch up this afternoon.

As far as UMass, they are still giving me a hard time about my application. I finally got the business with the fee sorted out, but now they are insisting that they can't look over my application until they have my transcript from PUCE. Since that has to come from Ecuador, one of the slowest countries in the world, I'm worried that it won't get there in time. I have to reply to UMass by December 1st to tell them whether I'll be going. It's November 14th and they're refusing to look over my application. Talk about getting down to the wire. I've emailed Tim and PUCE, my advisor, the admissions officer at UMass, and their dean of admissions (who hasn't seen fit to reply to me yet.) In short, I've talked to everyone I can, and now all I can do is just sit and twiddle and hope that transcript comes through ASAP.

Day Twelve

2008-11-12T13:30:00.003-05:00

Last night's word count: 18,317. Today's goal: 20,004.

I need a place to put these awesome little NaNo image thingies! So here they are. Like you hadn't figured out already that I'm a participant.

World's Smallest Girl

2008-11-11T15:41:00.002-05:00

Amazing pictures of the world's smallest girl, in India. She may be tiny, but what a beautiful smile!

In more serious news, today is Veterans' Day. I haven't personally seen a vet, given the small bubble in which I spend most of my time, but if any of you have come across one, I hope you've thanked them. I know I will; whether it's November 11th or not, it's always their day to be thanked and supported.

Day Eleven

2008-11-11T14:09:00.005-05:00

By some miracle, I am still on my word count. That miracle is, I believe, known as "having a laptop." Since I refuse to write by hand in favor of using a computer, having a portable version translates into the ability to write...well, anywhere, really. On the couch, in various houses, in random parts of campus, in the kitchen of my dorm while making dinner, or in the car on the way home from Vermont (I wasn't driving, I promise).

Last night's wordcount: 17,018. Today's goal: 18,337.

I've also been offered the opportunity to write a guest post for http://www.hownottowrite.com/. I'll probably make an attempt, even if it turns out to be a shameful one that I wouldn't actually send to anybody and end up trashing. After all, I have procrastination to get to!

I stopped, turned around, and jogged the other way. There was no way I was going to try to wade through them; somehow I doubted they would move. I’d just have to take the long way back.

As I reached the edge of the pond and came around the last tree into the parking lot, I was startled to see Fin. He was walking toward the path, but stopped when he saw me.

“You don’t want to go down there,” I warned him. “There’s crows, lots of them, and they look mean.”

He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

“You know? Then why are you going that way?”

He shrugged. “I was curious.”

“About what? Have you never seen a crow before?”

“I’ve seen a lot of them, actually,” he said. I was inching away from the head of the path as he spoke, not wanting to encounter the huge birds again. I hoped he would take the hint and either let me go or walk with me. I didn’t want to be rude by just walking away in the middle of a conversation, but I really wanted to be elsewhere at that moment.

“Um. Are you a birder?” I guessed.

“Nah, not my thing,” he said. “Just crows.” He didn’t explain further, but he did finally start walking away from the path. I followed quickly, unsure what else to say but glad to be getting away from the pond and the woods.

We walked in silence for a minute while I worried about various things. I had no idea what he was thinking, and after our conversations in class, I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know.

“Have you always attracted crows?” he asked suddenly, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Huh? Oh, um, no. I don’t think so,” I said. “I mean, there was this one last week, but before that, no.”

“Recent,” he muttered to himself, nodding like he had confirmed a suspicion. Then to me, “What happened? With the last crow, I mean.”

“It flew into my window,” I answered, shuddering at the memory. “It was dark, I guess he couldn’t see it or something. It…” I left it there. The rest just sounded completely nuts, which I probably was. This conversation undoubtedly meant nothing.

“What?” he prompted, but I shook my head.

“Nothing.”

He turned and stared at me as we walked along, and I stared back, wondering if this was a no-blinking contest like the kind I used to have with Marielle in third grade. If it was, I was going to lose; I’d never been good at them.

“Hm,” he finally said, and faced forward again.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head and clearly imitating me.

“Oh, I see,” I said. “If I don’t talk, you don’t either?” Usually that would get people to protest – and to start talking. Not this time.

“Yup,” he said amiably.

Well, I told myself, I could be just as stubborn. I didn’t say another word except for “bye” for the rest of the walk.

Day Seven

2008-11-07T23:49:00.001-05:00

Today's wordcount: 11,676. Tomorrow's goal: 13,336. Needless to say, I made it over the five-digit mark.

The only good thing I ever had to say about Professor Gray is that technically he knew his subject, which was Abnormal Psychology. Aside from that, he was nothing more than everything that his last name implied. Everything from his eyes to his tweed suit to his personality was gray. He probably had unsweetened oatmeal for breakfast and showered in dishwater. Even his voice matched his personal pallet.

“Good morning, class. Please settle down while I take attendance.” He required us all to sit in alphabetical order by last name; he was the only college professor I ever knew of who did so. We all sat in relative quiet while he went through his seating chart and checked us off row by row, starting in one corner and working his way to the opposing one. Those who were unfortunate enough to have quiet voices or to not pay attention the first time were marked absent.

“Here,” I said loudly the second he called my name. I wasn’t about to take an X on his sheet when I was sitting right in front of him.

When he was finished with his roster, he filed it in a manila folder, which went into a stack of other similar folders, and then pulled a sheaf of meticulous notes out of his textbook.

“Today,” he announced in a voice completely devoid of inflection or emotion, “We are going to do a comparison exercise. You will work in partners.” There was a general shifting noise throughout the classroom as people made to sit with their friends, but it was silenced when Professor Gray cleared his throat. “I have paired you up by name so that you won’t be working with people who will distract you.” Though no one actually said anything, there was a distinct feel of disappoint that wafted through the air at his statement. We should have known better than to think he would let us get away with enjoying his class.

“Abramson, Finlay,” he said. “Allen, Delano.” Having been the first name on the list, I immediately tuned out the rest and starting looking around for someone by the last name of Finlay. The last name might have been useful had we all been wearing nametags. It didn’t seem to occur to the man that most people referred to each other by their first names and not their last ones. For someone who also taught social psychology, he was distincly lacking in a functional understanding of people being social.

An Excerpt

2008-11-06T16:12:00.001-05:00

Last night's word count: 8,442. Today's goal: 10,002. Five digits, twenty percent of the novel. We can do it!

And now for a short excerpt to get you all wondering...

To say that I knew who Seth was, of course, was not to say that we were friends, or that I had ever exchanged more than a startled glance with him. Everybody who had gone to my high school during the four years he was there knew exactly who he was; he really couldn’t be missed. It seemed as though he looked in the mirror each morning and decided he wasn’t noticeable enough naturally, so he added things to make himself moreso. For the most part it was black clothing, studded with metal spikes and dripping with chains, but he was a little more creative than the school’s gothic crew. I had seen him add to the outfit, among other things, hunter-orange sneakers, a large drooping silk peony, a midnight-blue blazer, and various bright jewelry and even brighter nail polish. These things had not, fortunately, been all at the same time, though there were certainly days when looking at him was the visual equivalent of riding a roller coaster through a tropical forest.

I avoided him like I tried to avoid snakes in the woods, not always successful, but always enthusiastic. No one who was anyone at school spoke to him, and they too tried their best to leave him plenty of space, moreso than any human actually needed. On the occasions that he would appear somewhere that we were, the girls would make their way elsewhere, some more loudly and hastily than others. The guys would either walk away in contempt or else loudly announce to him what his proper place was: not there. The most noticeable thing about him was how he seemed never to take the slightest notice of these things. I had seen him yelled at, insulted, run from, and even pushed into walls, but he always continued whatever he was doing without missing a step, the look of freakish calm on his face never changing.

Day Five

2008-11-05T11:24:00.000-05:00

Day Five. As of last night, I've reached 6,770 words, just a little bit over the daily goal. Today's goal is 8,335.

I found a wonderfully inspiring thread in the NaNo forums yesterday, discussing how people have let their plots and their characters create themselves rather than trying to force them. I find this particularly inspiring because that's something I have a hard time with. I have a tendency to plot madly, carefully design my characters, and then force both to stay that way rather than letting them surprise me. It's probable that I'd be better off doing it the other way.

I have yet to see if I can actually convince myself to let that happen, of course.

Day Three

2008-11-04T00:38:00.000-05:00

Day Three of NaNo. (If you read the timestamp on the post, it claims that today is Tuesday. I disagree. For me it's still Monday, and therefore day 3).

5,123 words by the 12:04am. I really wish I had posted them five minutes earlier to the NaNo website, because now they appear in the awesome little graph thing as having been written on Tuesday and not Monday. The problem with that is that it now appears that I wrote nothing on Monday, and this is certainly not the case. In fact I wrote 1,614 words today.

Unfortunately, it's now time to go have a talk with my neighbor, who seems to think it's a good idea to play her crappy music at full volume at almost 1am.

Let The Chaos Begin

2008-11-01T19:04:00.000-04:00

It's November 1st. Most of you are probably saying, "So?" That means one thing for me, though: NaNoWriMo. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this recently, so I won't go into the background again. But today it has officially begun!

Novel is working-titled Retribution, but I don't like that very much, and hopefully I will come up with something better soon.

Today's wordcount: 1,702.

I kept a blog last year specifically devoted to NaNo, and I may resurrect it. If I decide to do so, I'll post the link here so you can follow.

On Global Warming

2008-10-19T11:41:00.000-04:00

I never thought I had it in me to care much about politics, and I still profess to a certain extent that I don't give a flying rat. But at the 2004 election, I was still a few months short of voting age, and so I now have more reason to care than I did before. Not that I think I actually have a say - I don't, and I won't unless and until this country gets rid of its electoral college.

Research, however, is still interesting, if only from an academic standpoint, and to know where things around us are headed and why. It's also fascinating, after reading a certain amount of research, to realize just how many people lie to how many other people; but I won't tell you what to think. Read this article and think for yourself. I challenge you not to be a lemming.

The Three Reasons I Almost Never Post

2008-10-07T20:23:00.001-04:00

Finally, I'm working more than three hours a week. It's about time. I had hours in the CS Lab as a tutor/monitor on Thursday and Sunday mornings, and now I'm working in the IT Helpdesk on Monday mornings, Tuesday nights, and Friday mornings.

Schedule says I have to be in here at 7:30am on Fridays. It's news to me that that's actually an hour at which people are awake and functional. But I suppose that if I have to be up at obscene a.m., I'm at least getting paid for it.

Hopefully this will give me something else to blog about, as I came to the conclusion yesterday that most of what happens in my life falls into one of three categories:
A) It's just not interesting enough to write down
B) It would appear as either braggery or sympathy-fishing if I wrote it down
C) It's something you don't need and/or want to know about.

Then there's category C.1: It's incriminating, and therefore I plead the 5th. Don't let this alarm you. (You know that putting things in other people's mail boxes is a federal offense? I think everyone has committed a crime at some point, and many of them are just unaware of it.) I like to think I'm too smart to leave trails, like announcing that I put things in mailboxes. Hey, at least they're business cards and not rotten eggs, right?

In other news, I'll be doing NaNoWriMo again in November. For those of you I haven't yet subjected to the speech, that stands for NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth. The goal is to write 50,000 words of fiction between November 1st and 30th - no cutting, editing, or over-thinking allowed. Just write, for quantity and not quality. (That's then followed by the optional NaNoEdMo: National Novel Editing Month, in December. If that has a website, I'm unaware of it.)

Certainly that will give me something to blog about, provided I don't wear my fingers out typing said novel (and programming for classes) before I can update the blog.

How Nerdy Are YOU?

2008-09-25T10:32:00.001-04:00

That Can-Do Attitude

2008-09-17T22:54:00.000-04:00

Note number one: never buy canned food if you do not have a can opener.
Note number two: never get in the way of a hungry college student.

Jobs on Campus

2008-09-14T20:18:00.001-04:00

I was all excited earlier today because I had thought of some material to post to the blog...and now, of course, I've forgotten what it was. Too many little to-do-list items on my mind to keep up with myself, I guess.

I have a job on campus now, and the odds are looking reasonable that I may have another one soon. I started last week as a monitor in the CS lab, which is a computer lab that's kept especially for CS101 students. (I think the department has to keep a lab for them because they're all too stupid to own their own computers. Oops, was that out loud?) Our job is to keep the lab from being abused and to tutor the CS101 students. I never took CS101 myself, although I remember that Chrysann did when we were roommates my freshman year, but given what I've seen so far of the projects and the level of computer knowledge of the students, I'm not worried.

The other job I've applied for is as a student tech at the school help desk. I interviewed for that one on Thursday, and I'm supposed to hear about it sometime on Monday. Eoin seemed impressed with my hardware diagnostic skills, and then promtply told me that I wouldn't actually need them, since we're not allowed to take apart anyone's computer. Our job is software support (like the KSC email system) and "classroom emergencies" (go press buttons when the professors can't get their DVDs to play).

I still can't imagine what else it was that I was planning to say. Hopefully I'll think of it. If not, apparently it wasn't that important.

Welcome to My Life (Again)

2008-09-02T21:20:00.000-04:00

Now back by popular demand: the rants and raves of Katherine!

I got so many sad comments when I ended my last blog, which was the tales of my trip to Ecuador, that I'm giving in to peer pressure and starting another one. This is just a general blog with no particular topic, where you can come and visit me and keep up-to-date with whatever trouble I'm causing. Ahem. I mean, whatever I'm working on at the moment.

August 25th marked the start of my junior year at Keene State. I moved into a single room in a suite-style dorm last Sunday, proving my coordination and grace in the process by falling over a grassy hillock with an armload of stuff. I didn't drop what I was carrying, but I did twist both ankles and remove several square inches of skin from one leg and knee. Though the scrapes are healing and the ankles feel all right, my knee is swollen and not so happy with life. We shall see how that progresses. In the meantime, I've once again stopped running to give it some rest. That's leaving ME rather restless, but there's not a lot I can do about that.

My class schedule this semester is pretty busy. Since I'm a semester behind in my major requirements (a product of my trip, during which I couldn't take any techie classes), I've loaded up the credits. Twenty credits is the top limit you can take without having to apply for more and pay lots of extra money, so that's what I've done: 20 credits, 5 classes. No fluff. My schedule is as follows:

CS 205: Visual Programming (in .NET Basic)
INCHEM 100: Introduction to Chemistry (all lecture, no lab)
CS 210: Midrange Systems Development (with an IBM i5 that has yet to actually function)
MU 116: History of Rock & Roll
CS 280: Data Structures (in Java)

You might see "History of Rock & Roll" in that list and protest my claim to no fluff classes, but you would be incorrect. While it's certainly not my number-one hardest class, it's not going to be an easy A. My guess is that chemistry will actually be my easiest class, just because I already had some of it when I took the introductory course in molecular biology. Easy or not, it promises to be interesting: the first day of class, the professor pulled out his first chemistry textbook "for nostalgic purposes" and started reading from it...and it burst into flames. This was followed by a grinning admission of being a pyro. This make me extremely happy.

The result of the 20-credit load, while I do like being kept busy, is that I spent all weekend doing homework and still haven't got it all done. I should probably stop telling you about this now and actually fix it. See you next time!