a good friend of mine is proposing to his girlfriend tonight. i don't know why this bugs me, but it does. i won't try to psychoanalyze myself. maybe i'll just chalk it up to the fact that i'm coming down with a migraine at the moment, can't see well, and am stuck at work until my peripheral vision returns enough so that i can drive. maybe i'm just tired, grumpy, ready to have my time back to do the things i want. then again, maybe i don't know what i want. i don't know.
it's hard to type when you really can only see out of one eye.
wow. i was looking at one of cornell's sites, wishing i was as good as them. i clicked on the "about us" link and was clicking through the design team's web site. *blink* andy reid. i've danced with him. *peers* yep he's a minnie's moocher. wow! andy reid! this is so weird! (yeah. so I spazzed. big deal. i've lindy hopped with a developer who's a part of an awesome web design team and is a moocher - like, *the* best performing swing group in the nation. calm. oh yeah. i'm so calm.) :)
anyway. so my day's been slow. can you tell? at least i have projects to start working on that i had forgotten about. (that's how far away their back burner status was...)
yoga tonight and then...nothing. maybe i'll play on my computer...maybe i'll just go to bed. who knows. :) the possibilities are endless!! ahem.
sometimes i think that your paycheck should be based on the actual amount of work you do, or how many goals you meet. sometimes i feel like i'm penalized for being an efficient employee. (yeah. vacation frustration.) when i'm out of school (yeah, i've been saying that a lot lately) my vacation time will definitely stretch a lot further. guess i ought to come in over the weekend and work. the problem is - on what? even though i complain, sometimes it's nice to have a huge project that you should be working on...
ugh.
sometimes i wonder if it's better when people don't know what's out on our college webpages. i was initially happy when the dean's assistant sent out an email out to the college advertising all the cool stuff we have on the intranet. unfortunately, now everyone's pitching a fit about incorrect information in the directory. they act like it's our fault that it's incorrect. most of this stuff was added by a person in each department several years ago. not my fault! :)
oh well, i suppose i should be happy that people are actually looking at it now. maybe they'll quit asking me for the information that's out there. then again, maybe my old boss will finally realize that i'm not his assistant anymore. (no, actually that's on the computer where i *used* to be - ask my replacement for that!)
sun is great!
the sun has finally reappeared. judging by the number of people that are outside, it looks as if everyone is enjoying the weather as much as possible. it's cool, but not cold; warm, but not hot. It's - perfect. :) Few clouds, beautiful blue sky.
driving in the rain is icky
last night i drove, no, waded down to houston for my hammered dulcimer lesson. we were running late because the weather was so awful between here and there. i really should have called, but i was busy driving in the pouring rain. peggy's husband snapped at us about peggy giving up 'cause she didn't think i was coming. i was really sorry :( there was nothing i could have done. next time i'll call, i guess.
until then, i'm beginning work on jig patterns. yay :) and nick's and my work on the - secret song (it's a suprise!) - is progressing pretty well. i just need to learn the second half of it.
...and that's all for now. yoga tonight (and on thursdays for the next two weeks - no dulcimer lessons) and a project for the negotations class. whee!
new cd just arrived that i forgot i had ordered about a month ago (backorder sucks).
graham colton is awesome! :)
procrastination.
i did lots of it this weekend. it was nice. :) slept in late, played with linux (do i get any geekier than that?), went grocery and sundries shopping, talked to my mom about her trip, watched charlie's angels, went to sleep, got up late, went to caldwell for a lunch, came back home, made two huge pots of soup (split pea and pistou), thought about doing homework, thought about scrapbooking, thought about reading a magazine, then went to bed.
today's supposed to be the last day of rain - thank goodness. let the sun shine in!
yeah. i think i might start building an ark too. flash flood warning all day today. but i've got my rain shoes! :D
dear God,
remember that lightning on tuesday? on the way home from work?
that was cool.
love,
kendra
a break in the inundation
no, actually i'm not referring to the rain - i'm talking about work. i've finally finished the big projects that were looming on the horizon, then sitting on me. now i'm trying to play catchup on all the small things that kind of fell by the wayside while i took care of the big things.
my mom's on her way back from africa! :)
when it seems you've done nothing but turn in circles?
when it seems that everyone wants their stuff *right now* even though they've done without the document since 1998, but *heavens* the world will end in 30 seconds if it isn't available on the intranet *right* *this* *second*!!! (yeesh. chill people.)
i think i'm going to go home, curl up with some soup and skip one of the meetings I was thinking about going to tonight - otherwise i'll be a beasty-type person this evening...
sleeping in, staying home and catching up on for-fun reading, taking naps, scrapbooking, painting, catching up on housework...basically anything but sitting at work.
it's raining here today. i'm at work. *sigh*
what mays business online won: a silver quill award of merit. yay!
oh yeah. brought that scanning idea up to mom. she was actually really excited about it. she was also pretty sure that she had most of the pictures. we'll see. they sneak out into the daylight periodically. i bet people have more than she thinks they do.
before bed last night i started to write the book. ok, ok. so it's just the 'forward' - but it's a start. :) guess i should send out those questionnaires soon... just had a thought - maybe i should send one to each family member old or young. no harm in getting the kiddos' impression of the parents and other relatives, right?
why do i feel like a neutral third party in my family anymore? they're all having their fights, but somehow, though i'm not on their "side," i don't feel like i'm on anyone's "side." guess it's a benefit of being two states away from everyone else. i miss them though...
after three new web designs in the space of about two months, i'm ready for a creativity boost. maybe i'll start with my desk. the lamp stays. the three african violets stay. the cool things that my boss makes for me in celebration of the end of a project stay. everything else is subject to go. well - i suppose the ivy can stay too. it's rather happy. (this whole plant thing freaks me out. i'm in an office with no windows, and i have an african violet that gone from leaves to a mass of blooms five inches across and an ivy that's gone from one leaf to seven since july. i thought plants needed light?!) anyway. i have a bunch of extra decorating stuff at home. maybe it's time to switch it up.
mom left for africa today. i can't imagine - i can't wait to hear all about her trip when she gets back. :) me? i'm traveling too - to houston. heh. yeah, i know. not as exciting, is it? ;)
but just think - an entire saturday to myself to do what i want. maybe i'll get my mom's calligraphy done so it can be waiting for her when she gets back from her trip. also have two group projects to work on as well. yippee. at least one is on the israeli / palestinian conflict which is interesting. i know that's an odd thing for an ms/mis major to be studying, but it's for my negotiations class. *that* i'm sure you can understand.
are people nuts?
what is with the sniper shootings? people are not animals. we do not shoot them. did we fail kindergarten? the whole 'no violence' thing? yeesh. i have to wonder what this ...thing (not even going to say person - no person in their right mind would do this) is thinking. *shakes head*
after six months, i've finally got my scanner working. hurray! now i can start working on my college scrapbooks again. i have to wonder - did i have nothing else better to do with my time than cut out newspaper articles? i have a ton and they are all falling apart. enter the scanner...
speaking of, i have this wild idea that i hope is going to go over well with my family. i think my mom has finally agreed to let me take the old family pictures and get them in a scrapbook (read - protected environment) so that they'll quit floating around in boxes and getting bent, torn, and disintegrating in general. i think she's the last one in the family line who knows who all these people are too - and i want to get that down before that information gets lost. but before i do that, i'd like to scan in all the pictures. why, you ask? my family (as i'm sure all do) fight over family pictures. my way of putting that to rest - scan 'em all in and put them on a cd. burn copies. hand out to all family members. ta da - you have copies! now...if i can just convince extended family to let me borrow their pictures long enough to scan them...then everyone will have a copy of everything. my mom wants me to write a book about our family history someday. it'd be great to have pictures to go along with the stories and the genealogical information. (step one in genealogy: learning how to spell 'genealogy.')
so anyway - it should be interesting to see how this all plays out. once i'm done with my degree, i should have enough time to start working on this...along with my dulcimer lessons and multitude of other things i don't have time for right now that i keep putting off... i guess my life is never dull. :)
ok, ok. i'm going to bed. i'm tired...
that's right. saturday after the workshop i went ahead and bought my own dulcimer and all the fun stuff that goes along with it. :) yay!
pictures ('cause i'm sure you want to see..):
first, the dulcimer i was using before - the one i rented to make sure that i really loved to play...
the new dulcimer:
from the side - the sides are cherry and the top is adirondack spruce
the front
closeup of the soundhole carving
you'd think with a bigger apartment, i'd have more room, but no. i have it in my room right now, squished between two doors - see?
so, that's the new dulcimer. i'm hoping to get some of the pictures i've been taking outdoors up soon. look for those linked up here.
the e-zine that i do the design and webmastering for at work won an award at the iabc (international association of business communicators) region 5 conference. still not sure quite yet what we won, but we won something. yay! *pats self on back* :)
i'm glad it's friday. i'm sure people all over the world share this sentiment, but i'm really glad it's friday. :) i think nick and i are going to go see 'my big fat greek wedding' - people keep telling us how good it is. tomorrow, hammered dulcimer fun-ness in houston. sunday i might be helping friends scrapbook three very special books. one of the women has terminal brain cancer and is trying to get scrapbooks set up for her sons. if she feels up to it, we can hopefully get these finished in a day. we can at least get them layed out and sticky-notes stuck in with captions and stories about the pictures - that's the important part. makes me think, really, about what's important in life and about the rich treasure of family stories and the like that my parents and relatives have passed down to me. i guess that's part of the reason i'm working on the family genealogy...aside from the fact that my mom thinks i'm the only one who will really get the job done...well, that and she wants me to write a book about the family too. (dreaming big, she is. a designer? yes. a writer? that's debatable.)
i have to wonder sometimes why i'm always in such a hurry lately. rush here, rush there. got to get this done before...before what? most of this stuff is unimportant. the world won't end in the next second if i don't get it done. i don't have to prove myself to anyone, really. no one is expecting me to be perfect, except for me. (ah, the curse of the perfectionist.) i guess that's why being a "pixel pusher" (haha - a graphic designer) suits me so well. i can eyeball a design to the pixel now. rather scary, i think.
i dropped my car off again at lunch. it's ready for pick up and should be happy now - new brakes and axel boot and air filter. it's an expensive possession, that's for sure, but one that makes a lot of the rest of my life possible.
guess i'll wrap up the day now. have a great weekend!
driving in texas in a small car is a scary thing - there are big, menacing suvs and huge trucks all around. i look at the truck ahead of me and notice that the trailer hitch on it is just the right size to skim my hood into my windshield should we connect. yikes!
speaking of my car, the poor thing is doing better now. it got an oil change this morning and is waiting on new brake rotors, an axle boot, and an air filter. the repair shop is replacing the brake rotors free of charge - they're already warped, and i just had them replaced last august!! (i've been complaining about the vibration for about 6 months now - i had my car for two years without a problem, i don't know why all of a sudden it's going through brake rotors on a yearly basis...) you know i'm in there too much. they know me by my first name and today, when i was getting ready to pay for the oil change part of my repair, they were like, "you can just take care of it when you bring your car back in." talk about trust. :) not something you see in a big city, that's for sure!
yesterday was lovely. i would have gladly continued that time on the massage table.
going to the mall is not a good idea for me. :) i went for a pair of black sandals and emerged with a pair of black sandals (at least i got what i came for), a pair of black clogs, a pair of brown shoes (so payless was having a sale, ;) not like i spent a trillion dollars). also got birthday cards (the boyfriend's birthday was yesterday, dad's is on the 8th, plus other random friends and family coming up...) and some jewelry. i have a love for unusual jewelry. have i mentioned this? i found a pink rhinestone-flowered bracelet that matched the necklace (very retro) i bought a few weeks ago - which can be seen in the picture i posted a link to a few days ago - and a jade piece. it's a carved medallion probably about 2" across. it's currently a mottled amber color, but it will turn color with age. more detail than you wanted, i'm sure.
i'm ready for the weekend. saturday is a hammered dulcimer workshop - all christmas music - in houston. sunday? who knows. church and...maybe swing dancing. depends on the hurricane status since it's supposed to rain.
back to work. mbo goes out tomorrow and i've 5 more websites patiently awaiting a redesign. it's like having kiddos, i swear - always something... :)
i'm really liking stephen speaks - enough to order a cd and download and burn what i could. i also just found graham colton. he's definitely another must-hear.
otherwise, today is rather boring. (not as if i'm complaining.) just working on the new mays business online, which should go online on thursday or so, pending the previously mentioned college name change. and class in 45 minutes or so. whee. i get to be a recruiter in a mock negotiation. i shouldn't complain though - this class is much better than the other one. really, though, i'm just counting the days until december. after 20 or so years of school with very few breaks, i'm ready to be out. now. is there a treatment for senior-itis or short-timer's syndrome?
i need to clean off my desk - the paper's about to avalanche, i think. that's what happens when your entire life revolves around one task for an entire week. mail? pitch it in the inbox. a change for another webpage? pitch it in the inbox. tamcab membership form? pitch it in the inbox. you get the idea. :) speaking of inboxes, will someone please start taking email away from the people who are opening virus-infected messages? i mean, come on. if you can't tell by looking at the horrendous english and punctuation in some of these messages, you don't deserve to have email. it's ridiculous that i get at least 10-12 viruses each day. per email account. (let's see - that makes about 36 total for all the inboxes that i check...)
24 hours and i'll be on the massage table in the day spa. yay. after last night's pilates class and tonight's yoga, i hope i'll be able to move in the morning to get there...
