The Adventures of Recalcitrant Toy

It would be great if you could go and support Team SNVC

I got an award at work today for outstanding performance during last quarter. I am very surprised and really happy about it. The sales bosses who gave it to me said that it was because "she makes the sales people dance. You should have heard her grill Steve about why he hadn't made the customer sign yet." Heh.

I'll take a picture of the actual award once it gets here. I'm still kinda shell shocked and thrilled.

I really appreciate a job where, if you go beyond the norm it is recognized and rewarded. Since our team worked the day after thanksgiving, we got two Fridays off. Today is the second one. The timing is great because I'm still a bit twingy from an allergic reaction to who knows what yesterday, causing some nice spots around the eyes where I look a bit uh...scary. The good news is that the benedryl seems to have helped, as did a bit of sleep. Yay.

On this lovely day off, I started looking through last year's archives of all the things that happened, the places I've been physically and mentally, and this strange tangle of the thing called life. It caused many nostalgic feelings and thoughts about where we've all been. From the ancient times of "finger" and "talk" on the ancient Unix boxen until now, with this great diary tool with multiple useful and wonderful filters where I can easily look back and quickly see various aspects of my life. I think that's really kinda cool. But then, I'm always rather surprised by the innovative uses people come up with for this Internet thing.

So today I will try to do some more cleaning, and perhaps have a nice Doctor Who Xmas Special showing tonight. We shall see if I'm feeling up to it.

I have BUSINESS CARDS! Oh boy! First set I haven't had to pay for myself in a long time.

The first incoming call on my nifty new phone was from a telemarketer.

And so it was that most of yesterday was spent sleeping blissfully, and upon waking finding my brain had been scrambled by others running in tight little circles, not unlike the Tazmanian Devil of Warner Brothers fame, to which my "zen-like" response was: "Whatever." The day was then punctuated with lovely BBQ'd burgers a la dogpooh.

Later that evening, the exsmof called to inform us of his transformation into a decapod crustacean of the family Homaridae in its cooked form. I am hoping to cast my eyes upon this amazing sight when I go to dance class this evening. For those who missed it, more followers are needed so get thee hence.

The rest of the day shall be spent watching the Dow plummet as investors run in tight little circles, more job hunting/product shipping/loose end nipping/etc. with a nice early bedtime planned after dance. Rehearsal tomorrow night, A visit to the doctor and then badmagic Wed., (I wonder if the two have anything in common :-)), NOTHING Thurs. night (what a concept) then more rollicking tragic fun with Julius Caesar on Friday and Saturday nights and then Mabon on Sunday to round off the week. *phew* I get tired just looking at it :-)

disc_sophist where are those PICTURES you spoke of? I just MUST see if my stoga is on straight. Heh.

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I went to bed early last night so I could study for my job interview. Took some benedryl in case the itchy stuff came back I'd fight it and get some sleep anyway :-). It seems to have worked. Yay.

exsmof helped me go through my closet and I did indeed find a suit that still fit. Yay. I actually had a choice of 2. All of the others ALMOST fit, which proves to me that with about 10 lbs more weight loss and I'll actually have a lot of stuff to wear.

This weekend was lots of fun, but I am SORE. There seem to be these two things attached to my shoulders that hurt whenever I move them. I believe this occurred when a "helpful" individual decided I was in the wrong place for a handstand on exsmof's knees and began trying to shove me forward while already in the handstand. I pulled back so as not to crash into exsmof and hurt both of us. vvalkyri helped save me from further pain. Nothing major happened, just pulled muscles but it could have been much worse.

The classes were wonderful this weekend, even considering Mr. Helpful. The first class I took was basically on adding spins to everything possible. That was a lot of fun. Then Aerials 1. The aerials were more than I expected for a "beginning" aerials class. Then we went to George Gee at Glen Echo to try SOME things out (not the aerials thank goodness). Sunday was dips which were fun, then Aerials 2 which proved to me that I really used to take things for granted, like leg strength. I ought to fix some of that and try to get back into shape. What a great idea, eh? :-). Tonight the World Champs teach us how to tune up our Lindy basics at Glen Echo. Drop ins are welcome. Then there's a dance til 11. Toy iz tired NOW, will be wreck after tonight :-).

So now I shall continue to get ready for job interview at FCC. Wish me luck :-).

I cruised many more job sites, filled out yet more government forms explaining why I wasn't filling out government forms, trying to dutifully fill out every bit of paper wanted for government jobs, and attempting to return phone calls. Then, I went OCD and went through all my old postings and made sure they were in the right filters (oops, some weren't), and added tags so I can find them more easily.

Then I went onto flickr and put up some pictures and tried to organize them. Well go me.

Now I'm playing NetHack some more, watching pictures magically arrive on my phone from exsmof at the wondermojz show tonight at Fells Point, and am thinking about sleep :-)

After technology kicked my ass the last few days, I received another kick in analog form through a certified letter from the Virginia Bar that somehow decided I was not in CLE compliance despite them telling me I was. Luckily, I have all the class certificates which I will dutifully send yet again to them.

Next fun - continuing the fight with Final Cut Pro and the Sony HC7. My research led me to believe that the only way to capture video appropriately would be on an Intel based mac running FCP. Knowing Gaige to have one, I asked for his assistance. Once again we had the same connectivity issues regardless of what settings we used. He, however, found an obscure reference I had not, that tells you that you must not ONLY tell the main menu to use firewire and output HDV, but you must also find a secondary and tertiary menu and do the same, only you must also remove the firewire cable and re-insert it at the proper time or it would not work. This routine must be repeated any time you lose connectivity.

Uh... what? Doesn't Sony have any user interface people? Human factors? Anything like that? And why didn't they bother to TELL ME this obscure ridiculous fact when I got hold of their tech support? Hmmmm?!?!?!?

However, despite getting that part working and happy and functional, and leaving Gaige's house with the camera and computer happily speaking to each other and capturing video, soon as we all left, it burped and failed yet again. Gaige is about to now pull HIS hair out as well, and since he knows just about everything technical about firewire protocols and video codecs etc., the fact that he is stymied as well underscores that something is WRONG with this picture and Apple and Sony need to get off their collective asses and fix it.

Next - vanquished the DVD technology problems. Hooray.

Next - Downloaded Photoshop CS3 30 day trial so I could get finished the photos I needed to process RIGHT NOW. Will continue looking for the 7.0 code so I can upgrade without having to buy the whole package over.

Next - The dogpooh is still trying to dry out the rug using fans and space heaters. It is not looking/smelling so good. I am not happy about any of this. It looks like we will have to take up the carpet and replace it. Perhaps stone tile would be useful given that the room is utility minded, the way to the pool, and where the doggies live.

And now to return to my regularly scheduled psychosis.

I try not to get hooked into daytime TV, but when I'm doing a repetitive task (like once again fixing Hendrik's website...no, I do not take credit for the boredom originally created, but I've been trying to clean it up) I generally have the TV on in the background. I have to say that I'm ever so glad to have Mythbusters on.

I adore that show, and love watching them blow things up with Adam cackling like a madman. Watching Adam sink to the bottom of a pool wearing "ninja shoes", Jamie playing straight man, Kerri the vegetarian faced with huge hunks o pork, are all images that make me smile. Wonderful amusement, making things ever so much fun during a boring task.

Next up was a debunking of alien implants. Mythbusters didn't do that one, but it was narrated by John DeLancie, whose wonderous Q'ness always makes for a fun day. Now I'm watching a really weird ghost terrifying family story while finishing up on my exercise bike and writing legal opinions.

While I could watch Mythbusters all day long, I have to wonder about those poor people who watch daytime TV day in and day out.