January 2008

Twitterlog for January 1, 2008

  • 12:07 AM PT: The west coast slackers have finally hit 2008. Happy new year to any of you who are still sober.
  • 12:41 AM PT: I see you, @crazybutable - hugs to you and your girls. :)
  • 1:55 AM PT: Quiet chat with @adamrg, now snuggled up under greatest blanket gift EVAR. Warm toes and hands? Happy Amy.
  • 8:57 AM PT: Boiling water for tea. Soon, reading as the house wakes up.

homecoming.

Just after midnight, Pacific time. We've played our games of Munchkin, I've infected Debbie with a fascination for the card game Set, and our night is done. I'm not packed, but all the Gessamans are in varying stages of bedding down for a long winter's nap.

It's time to go home.

Twitterlog for January 2, 2008

  • 12:38 AM PT: [cat.net] homecoming. - http://domesticat.net/node/1437
  • 10:15 AM PT: Best. Repacking. Job. EVER. I'm afraid to breathe on my bag lest it explodes.
  • 11:49 AM PT: Last meal in Seattle. Subway by the airport.
  • 12:46 PM PT: Last coffee in Seattle.
  • 12:52 PM PT: As I walk the airport I think: hoodie, hiking boots, coffee. I think I have my answer.
  • 12:54 PM PT: At gate, hoping I'll sleep on the cross country flight.

criminal activity

I've said little publicly about an event that happened at the Huntsville main library last month, but now that a local TV station has provided a video article about the armed kidnapping and robbery of a librarian, I feel a little safer in acknowledging that the incident happened.

(Link will probably spawn a popup, requires Flash, and has audio. However, I don't think it has cooties.)

ominous scawy storm clouds booga booga!

Weird. It's not spring yet, but the chickens have all gathered outside and are screaming their fool heads off while staring at the skies. Everyone in Huntsville seems to have gotten the memo that the sky is falling. However, I feel obligated to point out some obvious things amidst the frantic clucking.

The Huntsville city schools closed at 12:30 today, provoking a mad scramble among my co-workers who are parents, in order to make arrangements for all snowflakes to arrive safely home (or to the loving eyes of caregivers elsewhere). The only problem with this scenario?

About me

Hi. I'm Amy. I generally look like this:.

wandering soul

I suited up early this morning, intending to be out the door well before 7. I know that my daytime minutes start at seven a.m., and that any call that starts prior to 7:00 gets entirely counted under night and weekend minutes.

Jody lives in Atlanta, and works the overnight shift. I don't call him as often as I should, but the timing of our lives means that he is finishing up his day as I am readying to start mine. I take a perverse delight in making sure my calls to him start just a couple of minutes before 7, with earpiece tucked securely in my left ear as I drive.

Public version: private entries at last!

I finally have private entries working, and properly!

If you log in to domesticat.net, you'll discover a new-to-you entry. It's got details on how to update the link your RSS feedreader uses so that you'll see all the entries you're entitled to see.

(ObNote for anyone who finds this via a search engine: you want the Simple Access module and the Token Authentication module to make this work.)

I would also like to add this related note: beer drunk in celebration is doubly tasty.

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Schism of friends

Twenty-four names. I scrolled through every user account on this site and enabled twenty-four of them, one by one, each time asking myself if I felt like I could trust this person with my life. Maybe that's making too much of it.

Yes and no, I think.

Even I got THAT hint

Dateline: New Westminster, BC.
(Note to self: Go see the old one sometime.)

As I've retold this story countless times in the time since I've returned, I figured the least I could do is share it here as well. I suspect it loses some of its boozy, imperative nature when committed to the written word, though; I think it's probably far funnier in person.

A cultural difference worth knowing: I was raised to hear pretty words, but not to take all of them at face value. An invitation to come stay with someone, if not repeated or mentioned again, was very likely someone just being polite -- not something to be acted upon. It turns out this is not true of everyone: some people issue an invitation only once, really hoping you'll take them up on it, and then shut up if you don't act on it. Ah, North versus South, are there any gaffes this cultural divide can't inspire?

Fast-forward.

Romance novels, plagiarized? The hell you say!

Lunch with Wendy today led to a snicker-filled discussion about a flap in the publishing world I hadn't heard about yet. Apparently a prolific romance novelist, Cassie Edwards, who has authored over a hundred romance novels, was outed as a plagiarist by the romance-novel review blog Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books, whose contributors used Google Book Search to spot numerous similarities between Edwards' work and other works.

If you're curious, check the site; Smart Bitches has posted transcripts. (Ouchie.)

Linkfood of the day

Two links, partly because they both interest me and partly because I need to test whether or not my changes have fixed the permissions problems I was seeing yesterday (HT to Geof for tipping me off) --

Sun acquires mySQL - cue standard O NOES from all involved geeks until we have some idea how this will actually shake out. I won't bother to pretend I know, but I'll be watching with avid interest ...

and

...an excerpt of Iain Banks' new novel is available on Orbit books -- and yes, it is a Culture novel. I've heard references that indicate his Culture novels are each intended to serve as a different perspective on the same civilization (from inside, from those they conquer, from those who run it, etc.). (Thanks, Patrick)

straight and narrow?

As part of today's haircut, the stylist offered to style my hair. She pitched the idea of ironing out my hair. Curiosity got the better of me. I've never actually had my hair straightened before, and I wondered what it would look like.

Clearly not hatched

From Jeff's grandmother's surprise 80th birthday party this weekend, I present definitive photographic proof that Jeff was not hatched. The 'hatched' theory holds no water when you see how much the entire family resembles each other. Link goes to photoset, or click the photo below:

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personal eye

We joke about people being married to their jobs, but the numbers in my own life tell quite a tale. A typical workday sees me awake for 17 hours. I spend nine of those with co-workers. Since Jeff and I keep slightly different work schedules, I only see him for about five hours per weekday.

The jokes become less comfortable when you realize that you're spending more hours per day with your co-workers than you do with the person you married. Co-workers don't have the same commitment to permanence that spouses do; they are people you spend time with, but not people you share everything with. I marvel at how few people find this strange or unusual.

comfort zone

I realized with a physical jerk that I can write this, can say this now. I've used circumspect, veiled references for so long that being able to speak plainly and openly feels strange, like I'm getting away with something naughty and terrible.

Infect yourself

I have to get this out of my head and now. I have been obsessed with this album for over a week and it JUST WON'T LEAVE ME BE. Here I am, sitting at my desk, headphones on, playing this album yet again (and looking longingly at that Caps Lock key) and wondering if perhaps that next cup of tea might be the one that finally crosses the line between 'overcaffeinated' and 'outright levitation.'

So here -- one of the best parts about being able to restrict posts to specific user groups - I can make downloads available for a short period of time.

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Overheard

Amy: "You're such a cliché, Charles."
Sherry: "Yeah! There you are, with your Admiral Ackbar profile photo, sucking down your Mountain Dew while eating your chili cheese Fritos."
Amy: "..and are those Converse you're wearing?"
Charles: "Yeah, but they aren't Chuck Taylors, so it's not totally bad."

solecists of the world unites!

I'm trying out a new way to aggregate some things I'm doing in different places. End result: solecist.net. If I'm being honest, cat.net is for long-form writing, and always has been. solecist.net is a tumblelog with more traditional bloggy things, like quotes, links, and flickr photos.

It's like cat.net, only short-form and with even less context. :)

(Oh, and if you're lazy like me: http://solecist.net/rss is what you're looking for.)

Having Jesus over for tea

Welcome to another one of those can't-speak-publicly entries. I can smart off on solecist but cat.net is for thinking. Make no mistake, that is what this entry is -- thinking through keys -- and I write it with a great deal of worry about how it will go over.

I have never stated my religion publicly on this site. There are reasons for that: among other reasons, I am not sure if there's a name for people like me. In cases of religion, I am negative space, more easily defined by what I'm not than what I am.

I'm not Christian.