And now I'm listening to Techno Squirrels

You know, it might seem bizarre to switch from Vaz Hoil to Techno Squirrels, but they're actually closely related and strangely good together. =) Do check them out, and enjoy!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm listening to Vaz Hoil

Luv Spackle, to be precise. It's music like this that puts a smile on my face and helps me to get through the work day. ;)

Thanks, Vaz Hoil!

I'm old.

I just got home from a business trip. I was upset at the lack of organization and planning for our arrival -- they didn't even really know why we were there. And I was really thirsty, but they didn't provide free drinking water to anyone, so I had to buy it for 55 cents. I thought that was an outrage. Not even drinking fountains for their workers. Unheard of.

Let's get back to that first sentence.. business trip. Wha? Am I old? Shouldn't I be running around Europe with a backpack and no permanent address at this stage of my life?

On top of that, while in Sacramento on said trip, I met up with an old friend from High School. We haven't spoken in five years. FIVE YEARS. Where does time go? This means that, while Travis and I were very good friends from sixth grade through high school, Jesse has never even met him. That's just weird.

My life is beginning to get segmented into eras. But, with any luck, the Era of Poop will be drawing to a close soon...

Illness, business, entertainment and #2

I've been sick for the past several days. It started in my throat on Saturday, then became general congestion/coughing/sneezing. Today it's basically congestion. I worked from home Monday-Wednesday, and I'm making an appearance at work today, though I'm probably just passing my germs around. =( Sorry, work people.

Anyway, life's good. Jess and I are trying to spend time together, but it sometimes feels like we're still long-distance. He went on a business trip last week, and I'm going on a business trip next week -- weekends are too short as it is, and I'm leaving Sunday night for Sacramento. Yay, work. =( ...it's like we have careers or something.

On another work-related note, Jess bought me Tetris last week (while he was down in LA on business), which was awesome. I have to get better at that game, so that when people play it at work, I have a chance of playing for more than 5 minutes without getting my butt kicked.

On a non-work-related note, I've begun to read The Da Vinci Code, which is probably the most entertaining book I've read since my junior year of High School (I essentially stopped reading for pleasure after my senior year, because they gave me so much to read that I cracked!). I'm not a particularly fast reader (I sort of have to absorb every word on the page -- I can't just skim. I have to hear all the dialogue in my head), but on the first day, I read 50 pages or so. Then yesterday, I read another 200. I only have another 250 pages to go or so, so I might just finish it tonight. Totally addictive.

While we're not talking about work, I should bring up that Jess and I watched the new reality show premier of Brat Camp last night. These "brat" teenagers are dropped off at a survival camp aimed at teaching them about routine, respect and resposibility. All the kids look like my friends from high school. It was entertaining, and I want to see what happens in later episodes -- I guess that means it's good TV. And who doesn't like a good story about campers being confronted by the fact that someone anonymously went number two out by a bush (and was dubbed the "phantom dooker" until they confessed)?

Anyway, talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic: Jess and I seem to be surrounded by random poop right now in our lives. What's that all about?

Flaming passionate love.

Some guy set himself on fire before proposing to his girlfriend.

Wow. I'm not really impressed -- I'm mostly just disturbed by this. I hope they're really just nice, normal people (is it possible to label them as normal at this point?) who will have a long life together, complete with interesting stories to tell their grandchildren... Good luck, guys!

Weekend Ketchup

If you're one of those weird Americans who pronounces that word [k a tS * p], then you get it. If you're like me, pronouncing it [k E tS * p], you're probably slightly confused, and maybe the post won't even help much.. but here goes:

It was a long weekend for me. I notified my manager long ago that I'd be taking Friday off, because it was the day I was due to be out of my old apartment, etc.. so I knew I'd need it for unpacking at the very least. Turns out, my work gives two days off for the Fourth, so I had Friday, Monday and Tuesday.. that's a five-day weekend. Sort of like a work week, when you consider that we mostly unpacked and coaxed our new kitty out from under the sofabed in the office. In any case, there was no romantic camping or picnicking for the five-day weekend. Just hanging out at home and erranding out occasionally.

So, aside from getting the cat, my only news is that Jesse is gone for the next few days, and I'll be "mostly hanging out at home and erranding out occasionally" for the rest of the week. =P

Oh, and here's a "shout out": my friend from college (and work now, too), Chelsea, got married on June 25th (she just got back to work today, so that's why it's coming up now -- you don't want to post about these things before it has been confirmed!). ;) (I'm kidding -- sheesh!) But the best part is that she got married on the beach in Jamaica. Congratulations, Chelsea and Shaun!

...ahh, NOW it makes sense why my weekend wasn't all that notable.

Let's help the guy out...

If not for the science, then at least do it because MIT houses the famous Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Noam Chomsky.

Show some love for Linguistics (or MIT...and blogging). =D

Sooner rather than later...

We're going to get Phillip early! Since Jesse and I have decided to dedicate our long weekend to rest and relaxation instead of camping (which is a form of R&R, but not when you've already been packing and unpacking living supplies from your car for weeks), we're going to bring Phillip home on Friday instead of Tuesday.

Since Phillip is generally unpredictable, but usually in the garage at night, we're actually going to go over to my mom's house tomorrow night, and wait for the cat. My mom said she'd lock Phip in the garage, if she saw her around tonight.. otherwise, we're just going to have to hope she's there Thursday night.

We're pretty much ready.. we went to a pet store last night and bought various scratchable things (a carpeted post, a hanging thing for a door, a box of cardboard strips) and other supplies, like cushy pads we can insert-under-cat wherever she decides she likes to sleep, a few toys, and a litter pan & scoop. Oh, and I ended up getting that sliding glass door cat flap (from Craigslist), so... Bring on the pet guardianship!

While we're talking pets, you should check out BadRap.

Music and Philli-Prep

Bonjour mes amis.. =D

I'm excited about welcoming Phillip the cat into a beautiful retirement. She's due to join us as a member of the house on July 5th. (For those who didn't already know: Pip was an indoor cat until my mom got a dog. The cat promptly moved out to the garage because the dog wanted to eat her .. now, we're going to give her a dog-free environment for the rest of her days!)

I found a nice cat door on Craigslist that won't drain the bank, so I hope that works out.. and I want to go on a shopping spree for pet supplies as soon as we get two minutes of spare time (we're still big into the unpacking thing).

Aaaand Jesse got me a present yesterday -- the new Black Eyed Peas album, Monkey Business. Very nice. So, here's my shortquick review: it's great. It's a well-produced variety of high energy, club-style tracks with some great guest talent. I especially like the Jack Johnson-assisted track, Gone Going. Good stuff. It's definitely keeping me awake today. =) Thanks, Bug!

I mean, what do you think this is, a free country?

I'm so glad that, in this country, we have property rights, so that we don't have to worry about having our lives trampled on by private industry or the government. Oh wait a second, that was until the Supreme Court decided today that building "a riverfront hotel, health club and offices" ... "in a working-class neighborhood in New London, Conn." ... "served a public purpose of boosting economic growth that outweighed the homeowners' property rights."

Why would anyone want to vacation or work in a community that doesn't support the rights of its own residents?

Hard to imagine.

Listen to George Dubya take a walk on the wild side, in full mash-up style...

Unfortunately, it's ridiculous.

The Big Move.

We did it! Jesse and I are now co-habitating. The big (read: enormous) move happened on Saturday (which was Fran's birthday -- happy birthday, Fran!). Jesse rented the truck, I got the breakfast, and we waited for the crew to arrive: our friends Teresa and Mark, my brothers, Matthew and Jonathan, and my dad. We packed up my apartment, which took all of an hour and 10 minutes. Then we drove for over an hour to Jesse's place and packed up his apartment, which took longer (he has some heavy stuff!). Then there was much starvation and fatigue, so we drove over 40 minutes back to the new area for lots of pizza and sitting down.

Then it was on to the unload. Ugh. So many, many heavy things. Such a small entrance into the apartment for so many people to share. The ridiculously heavy entertainment center had one reparable flaw from the move, and the only casualty was my veneered particle board desk. One side snapped, and we were going to just get rid of it, but now I'm thinking that it's sturdy enough just to use as-is. So, no real losses to report. Everyone worked so hard. We were/are so grateful!

We have so much work to do. We have to figure out where all those boxes from the living room go... then we have to unpack them. We need CD/media storage, and a new way of organizing -- we have lots of duplicate stuff. We need to make our kitchen usable, go grocery shopping, tile the "bonus room" out front, find lighting for the living room, hang artwork and other wall things, lay out rugs, buy/assemble nightstands for the bedroom, find my shoes.. lots to do. And I think we're going to need a couple of footstools for the closets in the bedroom and the cabinets in the kitchen.. why are things built up so high? The pro: lots of storage space, the con: can't get to stored items.

But we can't complain.. Jesse has confirmed that he has a beautiful commute, even though it's lengthy for the time being. And I have a choice of two commutes -- lovely or short. Not so bad! And we get to see each other every day. Bonus. ;)

Bachelorette Party

A friend of mine asked me today, "SO, how was the bachelorette party you went to?" and I thought, "Oh, not only should I answer that question, but I should blog about it!"

It was great. =) The party was not for me, of course, but for a friend who's getting married later this month. We stayed at a four-star hotel in the city, and went out to a different kind of dinner-show at AsiaSF. I didn't know what to expect, and when you look at the website, I suspect you won't either..

But I'm here to say it was awesome. =D When you arrive, you're carded and given a buzzer (lets you know when your table's ready), then ushered downstairs, where they have a whole nightclub set-up. So you check your coat, there's a bar and a DJ, and you can hang out in a club setting until your little buzzer goes off. Then you go back upstairs and get your table. That's good planning.

The show is all up on the rubberized bar, about 6 feet from your face.. and it's reminiscent of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (a classic). The "girls" wear more risque outfits, though, and there's a certain strip club feel to it, but not in the scummy way. And of course, there's no stripping (we probably wouldn't want to see what's under there anyway). Loud music, lip-synching, he-women dancing around in 5" stilettos, putting real women to shame.. Super entertaining, great food, great service, great atmosphere. I highly recommend it for any occasion! In fact, invite me if you go, will you? =)

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Please say it isn't so... Because of the terrible UI of MySpace.com, while I was trying to set up my username, I was concerned about which name would be displayed on my MySpace page: my username? my real name? a different, editable name? It should tell me, before I choose my username! Gah!

Well, in order to understand the details, I decided to create a fake account and go through the process with bogus information, in order to see what I could expect. =P Behold, my BOGUS MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/ferociousgravy

That's right! The BOGUS page got the actual URL I wanted on my REAL page. Stupidly, even though they say you can NEVER change your username/URL once you've chosen it, you actually CAN. I'll try to explain, but the frustration might veil the clarity...

I created an account with fake info -- my name was "Erase ThisAccount" and I chose this URL:

http://home.myspace.com/eraseaway

Cute? Sure. And it could never be changed, right? Well, wrong, obviously... I already had my regular account opened in another window, ready to set that username/URL as soon as I figured out how it could be edited after the fact. After I set up the fakie, I went back to the real account and chose my username: ferociousgravy, hit enter, and waited, proud of myself for investigating so thoroughly.

Then it loaded the new ferociousgravy URL and it displayed the name "Erase ThisAccount" -- wha wha wha?? Sure enough, the window with the real information somehow got bugged into believing it was the bogus account, and it re-assigned the right URL to the wrong account. In fact, if you try /eraseaway, it re-directs to the main site, because it apparently doesn't exist anymore. But of course, /ferociousgravy is gone now, forever, and I'm all ticked off...

As it stands now, I am without a username or URL for my real account... I thought I should cool off for a bit before attempting it again.

...and you got to hear all about it, here, at ferociousgravy.blogspot.com ... Stupid buggy sites with bad UI.

All kinds of frustrated..

Let's see, there's the Blogger.com kind, which is mostly related to the fact that you can't actually create a post from your own blog site -- you have to go to the blogger.com homepage, then log-in (or have it done automatically) and post from there. =P Bad UI.

Then there's the MySpace.com kind .. grr. I tried to set up an account, and it told me I couldn't because I had to be 16... Doh! "But I'm 24. Wha?" So I tried a bunch of times, messing around with my birthdate, etc, and eventually gave up. Then I went back over an hour later and tried again. Success! I found a few friends, then went back to work for a while, then went back to try and choose a username... it wouldn't let me log in. It gave me some seriously vague error that they're "forwarding to the technical people".. I still can't log in to the site. That site also has bad UI. And zero useful functionality, as far as I can tell.

I took my boss to the airport today, and he gave me $20 for my trouble ("for lunch")... and I was really uncomfortable with it -- I don't want his money. I would have taken him to the airport even if we were both flat broke. It was a favor I'd do for anyone (...within reason). I said "No, no.. Thanks, but I don't need your money. Take it back." and he said, "No, I know how much you make.. you need it." Ouch.

And this is a busy month. I feel like everyone up and got busy just because it's sunny outside. =P I have two parties to go to (I don't ever go to parties, really) and a wedding... and of course, I'm moving in a couple of weeks. I have to clean my current apartment so that prospective tenants aren't trampling over my clothing, dishes and junk mail while I'm at work. I think I need a spa weekend (I don't, actually.. what I really need is some quiet time).

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Is it time to go home yet?

current mood: ( x ),( ! ) busy

current music: Tori Amos "God"

Boxing Day & a new Lease on Life

I was at Jesse's house this weekend, helping him pack up his life. Small-to-medium boxes preferred, of course, because life is heavy.

It was a lot of stuff. There was virtually no stressing out all weekend, though, which was super great. Decisions were made, things were packed, et voila: all of the living room and most of the studio is packed up. Even though it was not as bad as I was expecting it to be, I'm still not looking forward to packing up my own crap. =P I'm an award-winning packrat.

We have an appointment to sign our new lease at 10:00AM on Friday, June 17th.

You have to check out that link. It lists other notable June 17th events from years past:

Events:
1994 - OJ Simpson involved in high speed chase and arrested for double homicide
1991 - South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act, which required all inhabitants to be racially classified in order to determine their rights in society
1944 - Icelandic Independence from Denmark (now a national holiday)
1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor

Births:
1980 - Venus Williams
1958 - Jello Biafra
1898 - MC Escher
1882 - Igor Stravinsky

Quite the interesting day. I'm sure June 17, 2005 will be equally as significant!

Fluorescent details...

I had a fluorescein angiogram today, which wasn't as terrible as I was expecting it to be. I'm an anxious person, and the staff at this doctor's office is gruff and unhelpful. The same tech I (silently) accuse of having no bedside manner every time I go in (he's no good at giving eyedrops) proved himself remarkably compassionate today. I explained that I'm not good around needles, and that I passed out the last time I had an angiogram. Based on this, he decided to get me the most gentle tech in the office to administer the injection, and held my hand while that guy stuck me. Very sweet.

Although I was given Valium, the actual needle stick made my anxiety flare up -- I got a short wave of dizziness just as the needle went in, but it went away. So, there was the all-too-bright camera flash to deal with, which again has the immediate side effect of only being able to see the color red for a little while. Blah!

(Psst, stop reading if you don't want to know any more personal details!)

The best part of a fluorescein angiogram is that your pee turns an unholy fluorescent yellow ("that seems reasonable, and even expected" you might say) .. but seriously, that's amusing. It boosted my spirits, anyway. It's like someone mixed a bunch of yellow finger paint into the toilet water. That's a high concentration of dye. Anyway, what's entertainment if you can't share it with your friends?

You're welcome. =)

Harlin Maneuver says, "Hiccup no more!"

A friend at work comes over to my desk today and says, "Amanda, what did you say was your miracle cure for hiccups? How do you make them stop? Someone by my desk has really bad hiccups and they won't go away."

Me: "Well, it's not my technique, but it's called the Harlin Maneuver. What you need to do is.." and he stopped me, "Just come show him."

So, I walked over to their desks and began, "This is called the Harlin Maneuver, and it has yet to fail. Follow these steps:

(1) Stand up
(2) Stretch your arms out to the sides
(3) Arch your back
(4) Extend your abdomen forward
(5) Breath slowly and deeply

... and that should do it." So he feels a little silly doing this in the middle of the office (most people feel like you're tricking them by getting them to do this silly pose) but he did it, and sure enough! No more hiccups.

Genius.

Eureka! We found it!

Not really in Eureka, but San Mateo. We were a little depressed about what we saw as our options for peninsula apartments, but we decided to go out for one more day of viewing this weekend. We looked at a few places:

(1) 9:00AM: a very large, bright 2-story apartment with hardwood floors throughout, a big kitchen, and some tacky extras, such as mirrors glued to several walls as accent decor, cottage cheese ceilings, and 2 "bonus rooms" (patios that have been enclosed with walls and windows). This is a 2 bed/1.5 bath, totally clean with tons of storage space.
But more on the bonus rooms: the front is about 5'x10' and has very 70s golden-orange-brown carpeting. The back is about 4'x8' and is only screened in (the sliding glass door wasn't to code, so they took out the sliding part and left the screen glued in place) with very tasteful green astroturf.

(2) 10:30AM: a sketchy duplex on the train tracks, sharing its neighborhood with a six-plex whose "courtyard" was covered in trash and old toys. We missed our appointment here.

(3) 10:45AM: Lakeshore Landing - now, www.ApartmentRatings.com warned us against renting here, because of bad parking and worse management. We thought we knew better - after all, we were always treated very well by our guide, Hilary. This was our third visit to the complex, and her tune had definitely changed. She sighed heavily when she stood up to show us around, and she only told us about one available apartment in the complex. Just the week before, there were 5 or so in our price range. We thought, "Wow, this place rents fast!" Well, while we were sitting there trying to figure out what to do, Hilary's co-worker comes over and says, "But, what about that apartment with a partial water view?" And Hilary sounded irked but said, "Oh, that tenant JUST gave notice.." The shady part is that Hilary had already mentioned that same unit to us the week before, one of the 5 available in our price range. Long story short, we walked away feeling like we'd seen her true colors, and that ApartmentRatings.com is right, again. Post there, whether you had a positive or negative experience -- it will help people to make the right decision.

So at about noon, we went home and sat around, depressed, wondering if we should even go back to our next appointment, at 2:30pm. We went, and what we saw was...

(4) 2:30PM: a gorgeous apartment. Gorgeous. Two bedroom, 2 full bathrooms. Totally clean, all new appliances, vaulted ceiling in living room, stylish light fixture in dining area, lots of greenery outside the windows, pretty terra cotta-tiled balcony backing up to a hill (no loud neighbors in the back). Off the street (quiet), and across the residential, 2-lane street from a sweet shopping center (Safeway, Longs Pharmacy, vet hospital, bakery, etc.)...

So we had a lot to think about. Numbers (2) and (3) were out. Number (1) offered slightly cheaper rent, some utilities, and a reasonable security deposit, but with no views to speak of, and had those crazy bonus rooms which I might be embarassed to show to friends. Number (4) offered EVERYTHING, perfect, but had an extortionately high security deposit, and the manager couldn't confirm that the owner would allow pets (we'll have one cat).

By 8:00PM, we had decided to go with number (1), on the condition that the owner allow us to change the flooring in the front bonus room from carpet to tile. We went to see her Sunday morning, and she consented, so we applied and gave her our security deposit. She said she's 99% sure we'll have it, but she needs to run the credit check anyway, and will let us know Tuesday... which is today. I'll keep you posted!

Cute avatar

So, don't get me wrong.. I love Google as much as the next inquisitive girl, and I obviously like Blogger enough to use the service for my own lame self-expression. But I'm a little bummed that, unlike LiveJournal (slow beast of a site), Blogger doesn't ask you to share the music you're listening to, and your current mood (complete with cute avatar), so I'm going to do it myself at the end of this post. Nyah.

When will this Friday end? I want to get on with my life!

current mood: ( ! ),( ? ) distracted

current music: Radiohead "Fake Plastic Trees (Acoustic)"