{ { { who am I? worldly»about me. what's with the grasshopper? random»why sbg. not inside frames? reload. } } }
3:27 PM | link
I went to Eeyore's Birthday Party yesterday. I love Austin. It's full of a bunch of freaks.
12:47 PM | link
Girls, next time you're out shopping, watch out for flying semen.
11:38 AM | link
My boyfriend tells me he's dating Lisa Simpson. I take that as a compliment, by golly! Lisa flying a kite now resides on my desktop. [via mutability]
12:18 AM | link
Pithy questions for folks on the right. My favorite? "If my parents hadn't had sex, I wouldn't have been born. Should women have to spread their legs every time they ovulate?" Ha!
11:37 PM | link
God help me, but I love to peek in on naughty searches. A voyeur I am. An exhibitionist, too. I guess I'm just a horny mofo.
10:51 PM | link
If you can't make it to the Million Mom March in DC on May 14th, go to a march in your area. And don't forget to register.
10:48 PM | link
Forget that Ann Landers crap. Uncle Bob is my new personal hero.
7:16 PM | link
Oh, how I love Tom Tomorrow. Pay special attention to the note to readers at the very end. I think I should add a disclaimer like that to my up and coming political section.
7:03 PM | link
He does have too much time on his hands. But I can overlook it, because he made Fraggle Rock little people! [via metafilter]
3:42 PM | link
Hey look! I'm a bug! You can even vote for me, if you want.
1:35 PM | link
Finally, a doll with a realistic body shape for young girls to play with. No more anorexic role models. And she has pubic hair, too!
7:59 PM | link
Absolutely beautiful. Well, if you're into the beauty of the universe that we live in, that is. More here.
4:36 PM | link
I went to Fado's last night to watch some local musicians play Irish music. Not a performance, more like a jam session. Ryan and I just happened to sit next to Eddy, an old Irish guy on vacation here in Austin. I guess that's like the equivalent of Americans on vacation in Europe going to a McDonald's. He seemed to enjoy himself pretty thoroughly, though. And when he left, he told Ryan, "that's a pretty young colleen you have there." Heehee.
11:22 PM | link
To vote, that is. (Non-Austinites, please forgive me. You should vote in your own local elections, too, y'know.)
City elections are upon us. The AISD School Board and Austin City Council make daily decisions about your city, so now's your chance to have a say in the matter. You can vote early until May 2nd or wait until election day, May 6th, and vote in your precinct.
I'm definitely voting for Clare Barry and Raul Alvarez. I used the League of Women Voters Guide to help me decide.
2:38 PM | link
Thanks to Kandee at Thoughtful Thoughts, I've found a fabulous new site to go in my "when I'm horny" bookmarks. The most interesting article in this issue? Why I Like Ass Licking. And there's always the photography section.
12:03 PM | link
Well, it sounds good to me. Maybe I can get Ryan to volunteer. Then again, why limit myself?
11:59 AM | link
malkovich! [via malapropism]
2:45 PM | link
I've taken to using this email signature lately. Heh.
--
Whatever you do, don't vote for George W. Bush!
http://www.georgybush.com/
1:49 PM | link
Oh-so-cool SETI news. I need to take a road trip to an observatory one of these days -- maybe Arecibo, just because of its size. (Am I a size queen? Maybe.)
Sign up for SETI@Home, if you haven't already, by golly!
10:00 AM | link
What kind of driver are you? On a scale of 0 to 100, my driving personality = 8 and my frequency of road rage behavior = 20: "You are one calm, cool driver. You don't jeopardize your own mental and physical well-being and you certainly don't endanger the lives of others with whom you share the road."
Heh...yeah, if you don't count the fact that I never drive the speed limit... ;-)
8:41 AM | link
Should other states recognize same-sex civil unions licensed in Vermont? Vote and they'll send your vote to state governors, Congress, and the President.
5:07 PM | link
I went to a one-hour seminar at work today. I'm usually highly suspicious of and resistant to things like this, but I'm surprised at how much it's affected me already. Here's a short summary of the seminar. Maybe it will help you to start thinking in new ways, too:
When something happens to us, we give it a meaning. For example, if a dog bites us when we're a kid, we might take that to mean that all dogs are dangerous. That interpretation becomes a little "box" in our head and for each related situation thereafter, we create a meaning for it that will allow it to fit nicely in the box. We'll distort or generalize the situation until it fits our version of the reality. ("See? Dogs just don't like me!") And if we can't do that, we dismiss it as a fluke, i.e. delete it from the box.
We can't handle a life without meaning, so we're Meaning Manufacturing Machines. This means we have tons of "boxes" in our heads. Boxes aren't inherently bad, but you have to realize that you're in complete control of them. They are our reality and because we're making up the meanings ourselves, we can shift reality. Most times these pre-made boxes keep us from progressing and enjoying life. For example, if Eric T. does something to piss me off, I create a box that says "Eric T. is a turd." So then everything he does thereafter, I interpret as him being a turd. And when he's nice, I dismiss it as a fluke. But if I hadn't created that box, I might have actually enjoyed the times he was being nice, instead of automatically dismissing them.
Boxes tend to diminish freshness and excitement about life, because nothing is ever new to you. You're not really experiencing life, you're experiencing the boxes you've put everything and everyone in. This causes that "blah" feeling we all get. You've lost the sparkle you had as a child, but you can get it back if you take notice that it's you who is creating the boxes.
You can choose to create an empowering meaning or you can choose to create NO meaning at all. You can still learn from a situation and not hang onto it for every related situation thereafter. It's all up to you. You decide which "boxes" are good for you and which are bad. No one else can decide that for you. So if you think it makes your life easier and happier to think Eric is a turd, keep that box. If you think it's keeping you from enjoying Eric, the human being, get rid of the box. Take the time to communicate to the human being beneath the box and realize that not everything he does has to fit into some grand generalization about Eric.
5:04 PM | link
How does this man receive a standing ovation? One of my favorite quotes, attributed to Voltaire, is: "I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it."
But it disgusts me that he got a standing ovation. The audience is free to do it and I'm not proposing that anyone stop them or anything. But it is disheartening to know that there are that many bigots willing to show up to support another "good ole boy", as I saw on one of the signs a fan was holding up at the game.
As for the suspension itself, at first I thought it was unfair that he be suspended for saying that. I mean, hello? Free speech? But I can understand the suspension from a business standpoint. If an employee insults a significant amount of your customers in a (very) public forum, the company has to make some kind of show that they're punishing the employee. I highly doubt they suspended him because he offended their principles. It's just about money and image, that's all.
1:25 PM | link
In honor of yesterday's self-love post, try this on for size. Obviously, that man has a very low retention level in his Spank Bank.
4:48 PM | link
It's true that the civil rights movement managed to shut down Birmingham, Ala., even more effectively than protesters shut down Seattle, but their real victory came as Americans saw the suffering protesters were willing to undergo. In a million living rooms, people recalculated the depth of their commitment to racial equality, and thus began the real sea change in our national politics. People finally began to act on what they knew in their heart of hearts was right.
This struggle will be even harder, because almost all of us benefit, or at least think we do, from the fossil-fuel culture we've constructed. Cheap, easy mobility. Cheap, easy everything. Look at the anger unleashed by a 50-cent increase in the price of a gallon of gas (which still leaves it costing less than a gallon of bottled water), at a time when the popularity of sports utility vehicles is driving gas consumption up, not down.
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2:41 PM | link
According to the Kingdomality Personal Preference Profile [thanks PJ], I'm a Dreamer-Minstrel:
Your distinct personality, The Dreamer-Minstrel might be found in most of the thriving kingdoms of the time. You can always see the "Silver Lining" to every dark and dreary cloud. Look at the bright side is your motto and understanding why everything happens for the best is your goal. You are the positive optimist of the world who provides the hope for all humankind. There is nothing so terrible that you can not find some good within it. On the positive side, you are spontaneous, charismatic, idealistic and empathic. On the negative side, you may be a sentimental dreamer who is emotionally impractical. Interestingly, your preference is just as applicable in today's corporate kingdoms.
2:21 PM | link
It seems Virgin Atlantic has just made it easier to join the mile-high club. Aw, yeah. I'm cursed with wussy significant others, though. Everyone I've dated and taken a trip with has been too embarrassed to try anything like that. Why would you be embarrassed about having sex? *breaking out into song* Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it...Let's do it!
As a kid I always thought it was "even educated trees do it." Could trees fall in love?
2:13 PM | link
Well, I did it. I might have made a fool out of myself in front of the entire company, but I finally admitted to my obsession. Parking at my company is scarce, so the folks that put out our internal newsletter sent out a request for amusing anecdotes about what we're doing in our long walks from the parking lot to the building.
During my hikes in from the parking lot, I've been known to take part in The Great Saving Caterpillars Project. I've noticed a lot of big, fat caterpillars (the kind that sting). When I see that they're trying to cross the road and they're not even halfway, I put a sheet of paper down in front of them so they crawl on it and then I take them to the other side of the road and put them in the grass. I'm a dork. Worse yet, I'm going to come off as a treehuggin' liberal freaky hippie! But wait. I am. Nevermind.
4:52 PM | link
According to the Austin Chronicle Calendar, today is Look up at the Sky Day. Who knows where the hell that originated. (If you can find out, share.)
In honor of Look up at the Sky Day, download SETI@Home and start running it today. My company has a team. And so does our arch nemesis. I've been trying to convince folks to use S@H as their screensaver here at work, because most of them leave their computers on all night. Sure would be nice if they could be doing something productive all night long. But they're not biting. Why in the world would you object to using a screensaver that would not impact your work and would be doing something useful? Better than floating toasters, I say. Especially when it could bring your company ahead of its enemy in the standings.
So, if you have any creative ideas on garnering support for S@H, I'd love to hear them.
3:32 PM | link
Excuse me while I be a girl, but I am absolutely in love with the new line at Victoria's Secret. I bought some a couple weekends ago and I've been wearing them every day since. (Different ones, of course. Or maybe not. Maybe I love them that much. You'll never know, will you?)
My favorites? The lace deep-V bra and the matching lace string thong.
VS always has fantabulous undies, but they're never very practical. You see, if you wear a miracle bra underneath a clingy shirt, it just looks dumb. So they finally have practical undies that are sexy, too. Like I said, mmm.
2:52 PM | link
Oh goody! Now I have a pillow to go with my vulvabed! What a lucky girl am I!
I would buy that comforter if it weren't so darn expensive. Just imagine how much fun you could have playing with both the pillow and the comforter! I'd never have to leave the house.
11:15 AM | link
I was mightily upset by the whole 2000 "primary". Most states never had a say in the matter. We had Iowa and New Hampshire and the media hyped them up enough to convince the Average Joe that the race was over. I don't have to sulk (as much) anymore. Now I can do something about it. The NASS came up with a kickass plan: a regional presidential primary. Party primaries would be grouped by region and rotate every four years. Nifty, eh?
Contact your Secretary of State today and see what you can do to get involved. State legislatures will soon be making the decisions about the 2004 primary, so now is the time to get off your duff and ask some questions.
I don't want another guy this good to slip away again.
8:45 AM | link
Rusty has definitely made the rounds. (Jeez, even pictures of his summer vacation got around. Can't a gay kid get any privacy, dammit?)
Rusty's biographer has quite a bit to offer himself, though. I particularly enjoyed the M-Day piece. If you have any influence at your place of employment, urge them to take their own steps towards M-Day. If they come up with some silly reason for not doing so, set 'em straight.
4:56 AM | link
If you haven't sent in your census yet, do it now. Don't be paranoid. You might think the questions are silly, but there's a rhyme and reason, I tell ya. The census determines important things like funding for our highways, schools, hospitals, etc. The census also helps with city planning, which is tres important in cities like Austin. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share your information with other government agencies, like the IRS, INS, courts, police, or military. If they breach that trust, they get big mambo jambo fines and prison time.
Either you send in your little form, or your taxes have to pay a census worker to come to your house and ask those questions in person.
So c'mon. It only happens once every 10 years. You might even be able to fill out your form online.
