What Entertains Me: journal

Showing posts with label journal. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Boys and Their Toys

Okay, as I may have mentioned before, I've been dating someone now for about 2 months. We met on Valentine's Day...yes, I'm not lying, it was Valentine's Day.

Anyway, so, he just bought a house in November, and he's trying to set up a home theater in his basement. He's got all of the equipment, but he doesn't have any home theater furniture. Well, he doesn't have much furniture, period. He was going to get this sofa he found "as-is" at IKEA for $110, with the slipcover. But, they sold it before he could get back with a truck to haul it in. Bummer. So, he's keeping an eye out for some cheap, decent-looking furniture for this room. Because once he does, it will be a sweet setup. I know I'll be over watching movies...that is, when he's not playing in one of his bands. :)

Click

I think I've found my hobby, finally, something that I love doing...photography. Well, I actually fell in love with it in college when I took a photography class, developing in a darkroom and all. I had my parents ancient Konica manual focus camera, when everyone else had their parents' SLRs. I felt slightly inadequate at first, until my art professor practically drooled over my camera, telling me it was a classic. That made me feel a little better. Then I started taking pictures and developing them, and I started feeling really, really good about it. Granted, I had no flash, so all of my pictures were in broad daylight. But, I found some really interesting subject matter that lent itself to great pics (black and white, mind you). When I had to display my portfolio, one of the other art professors was very taken with a lot of my work, and told me I should think about pursuing a career in photography. I would have loved to, but I didn't have access to a dark room, or any of the equipment for developing film. So, I dropped it.

Fast forward to 2008, when I started dating someone who plays in two local bands (In Ten Cities and The Smoky Basement Project). I started taking pictures of the shows with my fairly decent Kodak, which has manual settings for f-Stops, apertures, shutter speed, etc. But because the shows are all in very low-light conditions, I've been having to use flash, which takes away some of the ambience of the lighting that's used. Enter the Olympus E-Volt E-510, which I fell in love with online and bought this weekend. It's shipping next week (thank you, Dell...what, are you building it or something??). My next step is to find some classes I can take, especially using Photoshop (really interested in swapping out backgrounds).

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Time after Time

The other day, I was going through my jewelry box and drawer, and I realized I have a TON of watches...a TON. But, none of them works. I've been too lazy to get the battery replaced in any of them. So now I'm wearing a cheap digital watch, which has actually lasted longer than any of the luxury watches I have (well okay, they're not luxury watches like Tag Heuer, but they are nice). How about that, sports fans? My favorite is my Anne Klein II watch, and I keep meaning to take it to a jeweler to replace the battery. But, as with most things in my life, I procrastinate...so it's just sitting there, gathering dust.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Stressed? You Betcha

I think with the stress of moving, losing my friend (and manager) to a reorg, having to "follow the job" with the reorg, the holidays (which are never easy since Mom passed on Thanksgiving back in 2003), and my dad having surgery tomorrow, my stress level is at maximum. My tummy is telling me this, because my appetite is completely whacked. I'm having gall bladder pain, and lots and lots of indigestion. Guess the lecithin I started taking for all of that isn't working anymore. And I'm not (repeat NOT) going to do a colon cleanse, even though they're all the rage. I tend to react awfully to anything like that. So I'm hoping that once things have settled down a little, that my tummy will be all settled down too. Here's hoping 2008 is better than 2007...

Cars

A friend of mine and I were talking about cars, selling them, getting new ones, etc. And she said she actually donated hers to a local charity. It was pretty old, but still. That's something I've honestly never thought of doing, car donations. I've always sold my car, or had the dealer apply any money they'd give me toward my new car purchase. Maybe when it's time to retire Karma, I'll look into something like Car Angel, which is a non-profit that uses donations like cars to make videos for the less fortunate younger folks, kids and teens mainly. They've given away over 2.4 million videos...which is kinda cool. The money they raise goes toward making the videos, mainly religious. You can see them at http://youtube.com/user/boatangel.

The Real Estate Crunch

You know, on NPR, I heard there was a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio where almost every house was empty due to foreclosure, or being very close to foreclosure. That is totally scary. And I see all of these new home sites going up around where I live, advertising homes from $800,000 to $2 million. What?!?!?! Who can afford all of these? It's insane. People get an adjustable rate mortgage so they can get the house they want. But with record lows in interest rates, you can bet they aren't going to go down, but up. I've also heard that real estate flipping (buying a house and quickly reselling it) isn't as profitable as it once was, because no one wants to buy a house right now...not even ones that have been foreclosed on. I know I don't, not until stuff has settled a little. And, I just moved in here, so it won't be for another year or two that I even begin to look. So I'll just sit tight and watch how this all pans out. I just hope the interest rates aren't much higher than they are now, that's for sure.

My New Home

I just moved into my new place about two weeks ago. And slowly but surely, it's coming together. Now, it's not quite as nice as where I used to live, but few places are. All I care about is that I now have two bedrooms (well, more like 1 1/2...wouldn't consider my office big enough for a bedroom). Their choice in bathroom vanities was very basic, and I'd say hasn't been updated in about 15 years. Although I do like my new tub...it's oval, and big enough to actually lounge in and take a soothing hot bath. Think I could also put candles around it and not have to worry about sloshing water all over them. How novel! Anyway, it's going to be slow-going getting everything in its place. It always does. Then once Dad has recovered from his surgery tomorrow, he can come over and help me hang pictures...I'm so bad at that! Perhaps then, it'll feel more like home, and less like a disaster area. :)

Amusement

Just the other day, I saw a commercial for Dollywood down in Pigeon Forge, Tennesee. I have absolutely no desire to go there, whatsoever. Now maybe, I wouldn't mind renting one of those Pigeon Forge cabins and enjoying the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. But really, I can't see myself ever setting foot in Dollywood. Why? Maybe it's because I'm not exactly a fan of country music. Perhaps it has nothing to do with it, and I'm just basing my lack of interest on a falsehood. But, I think I'd rather visit Disneyworld, since the last time I was there I was...8 years old! I hear they have some new-fangled stuff since I've been there...

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Moving, How I Hate Thee

I really, really need to buy a house. Why? Because then, it's less likely I will move ever again. Seriously. Going through all the stuff I've accumulated over two years is depressing, only because it shows me how bad of a pack-rat I am. And given I move next Thursday, I don't really have time to purge now, so everything is coming with me. Oh, unpacking will be just as fun, I just know it...

But then, every now and then, I have a fond memory of moving, mainly the ones having to do with new stuff my parents bought me when I moved into my first apartment. My mom got me one of those espresso machines, which I think she really wanted for herself...because she drank coffee, a lot, and I didn't. While I enjoy a latte every now and then, it's not my life's blood. So, it sits under my counter and collects dust. I should just give it away, but it holds too many memories, especially with my mother having departed this plane of existence 4 years ago this month. But that's another blog entry entirely, and one I don't want to write...because even thinking of writing it makes me tear up a little. *sigh* So maybe, tomorrow I will get out the espresso machine and have myself a latte in honor of Mom and her coffee-loving ways. :)

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Not Having to Sort Change...Priceless

Before I discovered the wonders of having a check card that works like a credit card (I love you, check card!), I was always awash in a sea of change. Every now and then, I'd wish I'd had a coin sorter. But then, I ended up taking all of my change to one of those Coinstar machines at my grocery store and just get a voucher. Made things a whole lot easier than rolling up coins and taking them to my bank to get some paper money that didn't weigh a ton in my wallet, haha.

Second Life: A Memory Hog, Indeed

My computer isn't that old, but in order to run Second Life, I've had to upgrade my computer memory to 1 GB so that I can have it and maybe one other application running. Last night, I think I tested the limits of my PC by having SL and two other applications open. Got a virtual memory warning! EEK! Yeah, it's not the blue screen of death or anything, but I never like getting warnings of any sort on my PC. And I've been told that Windows Vista is also a memory hog...so maybe I'll need to go up to 2 GB when I upgrade from XP to that (after the first service pack...need the first bugs worked out).

I Miss My Pens

Yes, you read the title right. Now that everything is checked on screen, I miss marking up hard copy with my red, purple, green, blue, or even in some cases, pink pen. I have all of these pens sitting here, waiting to be used. I think they're lonely (okay, not really). Now, I just open up an Adobe Acrobat PDF document and make corrections using its editing tools. It's a necessity, since we now use so many offshore vendors and can't exactly swap hard copy back and forth easily. But I do miss being able to make corrections on a piece of paper. Now everything's just stored on a server somewhere. If it crashes, I'm doomed!

Um, Where Did Spring Go???

The past few weeks, Mother Nature has been playing tricks with some parts of the country. The calendar says it's spring, but the temperatures (and snow...yes, SNOW!) do not. Now, the days are getting longer, but still...when you have to run your heat, a lot, in April...something's wrong. It's enough to make me go online and look at an Orlando vacation home or two, just so I can imagine myself in sunny, warm weather. Because when I look outside, it's cold, rainy, and icky. I prefer my daydreams to reality, in this case.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Internet Censorship

My company has started blocking certain websites using Websense. It's rather annoying, really...as I usually like to surf during lunch and read some of my favorite blogs. One of them is tagged as "adult content" which sleighs me. Next thing you know, they'll be bringing in a telecom consulting firm. I dunno. I can see the need to band some websites...but really, an entertainment blog? That's all it is. At least they haven't banned blogs alltogether...not yet anyway. Guess I'll be doing mobile blogging if they start that.

Slave to Beauty

Every morning, I have to "put on my face" before going out into the world. That is, I have to put on makeup, lest I appear a bit pasty and ill. Last time I forgot to put on mascara, people kept asking me if I felt ok. Sorry, can't help having blonde eyelashes, folks! My bathroom mirror has nice, bright lights above it...but what I really need are some makeup mirrors with lights on the side. Sometimes, I just can't see everything I need to see in my current mirror. I only see it when I look in a mirror in broad daylight. That's always fun to find out something doesn't look as good as it did when you put it on, just due to bad lighting. Oh well.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

My Father, The Antique Collector

Since I mentioned my dad in my last post...I just had to bring up the fact that he's bought even more antique stuff, mostly silver. It's truly astonishing the amount of silver, china, and crystal the man owns. But, he collects it...so more power to him! I'd rather him collect stuff like this than have a ton of grandfather clocks, all going off at the same time (the two smaller ones he has are bad enough). It's just going to be very interesting...and very time consuming...when it's his time to go to the life of the world to come. I mean, my brother and I will keep some of it...but since it's not my thing, I can't see keeping all of it. Anything that has sentimental value or a family heirloom will definitely be kept, but if it doesn't...it'll get sold. Hate to do that, but since I'm not a collector of stuff like this (and neither is my brother), it's what will probably happen. Oh well, c'est la vie!

My Dad the Card Shark

My dad loves to play bridge, so it's a good thing there's a bridge club at his condo complex. Every now and then, he hosts the weekly event, which of course requires folding tables galore since this bridge club is actually quite large. He's always worried if he'll have enough chairs to go with it, not to mention enough food (although that's rarely a problem, since he makes enough to feed 50, it seems). What I love about his playing bridge is...he's terrible at math, yet he has this sort of sixth sense about bridge. He just knows what to bid, and usually comes in first or second with his partner. I've never played him for that reason...no sense in causing a family feud over a card game, haha (we're both rather competitive, in case you were wondering). Think he's not playing this Friday, due to it being Good Friday...and my brother going in for yet another lithotripsy for yet another kidney stone. But I'm sure he'll be back at it next weekend.

Yes, Virginia...I Have a Date Tonight

I signed up with eHarmony.com, and got matched up with a lot of guys, none of whom really seemed to stand out with me...except for one. He's a mechanical engineer, and a self-professed motorhead (probably would love to have a transfer tank in his garage)...but he seems like a really nice guy overall. When I asked what his three wishes were, they all had to do with other people besides himself (and his dog, who he'd like to make a puppy again). That's what I call being mindful of the wants and needs of others, and it's something I have to have in my partner. So, we'll see how it all goes tonight. Perhaps I'm not his type physically, or vice versa...or perhaps he's a little too much of a gearhead for me (although I dated an aerospace engineer who loved to work on his car and his Cessna all the time, which never got to me...he was just a jerk, haha). I'll keep my fingers crossed! :)

Uh Oh, Shorts Season Is Coming Up Soon....

And for women, that means shaving the legs, even moreso than usual (like, every other day in my case). I can't use any of those chemical hair removers, and every time I've had a wax, I have a terrible reaction. Even with shaving, I tend to get ingrown hairs, so I have to use Tend Skin just about every time I shave to keep that from happening. It stings a little at first, but it's worth it in my opinion. If you can't use Nair or go through waxing...it's a necessity!

I. Hate. WebEx.

Most of my conference calls take place via WebEx, where we get to go into comas while watching a PowerPoint presentation on someone else's computer, and having it read to us at the same time. I mean, I understand that we can't do video conferencing all of the time (we are set up to do it...it just costs money). But seriously, I think WebEx sessions are for the most part, evil...I can't stand to have something read to me as I watch it on screen. It's an automatic "tune out" for me, so I don't learn much of anything...even if I do pay attention. Oh well, it's not going to go anywhere anytime soon, so I guess I'll just have to cope and deal, like I do with everything else about corporate America.