MetaChat - three point status update

Leaving in a few minutes for a weekend out of town visiting old friends. A quasi family reunion, in that all will be blood or married relatives but me. So excited.

Just made a sandwich for breakfast for which I sliced sharp cheddar and put it on day-old baguette. Face down (cheese on the bottom) in a cast iron pan until the cheese was browned and crispy. Highly recommended for those who like browned cheese.

Big garden harvest today. Cukes, tomatoes (!!), peppers, plums. Yum.

Have a great weekend, everyone!!

posted by Stewriffic 27 June | 09:19

MOAR KITTEH PIX PLS!

1. Vaguely annoyed at my midwife who is tending towards the uncommunicative and patronizing. It's a problem because I hate conflict and am reasonably slow on the uptake so I never call her on it while I'm there and now I'm all grumpy thinking about ways to call her and talk to her about an issue, and that means I have to talk on the phone which just compounds everything. I wish I had her email address.

2. Also freaking out about finding a pediatrician and making wills, which neither of us have. Too much to do!!

3. Sister in law and her boyfriend are coming up for the weekend! Yay!

posted by gaspode 27 June | 09:29

1. The wildfire haze seems to have turned into actual fog, which I'm hoping will clear out the air around here a bit, as the sun yesterday was a bright blood red and it's feeling a little End of Days.

2. I have discovered green rooibos and it makes me happy.

3. I have to finalize my "diversity is bad!" memo/article thingy with my co-worker today, so I'm trying to plot out ways of getting her to stop talking or ways to tune out so that I don't care that she's talking. I suspect it'll be less of the former and more of the latter.

posted by occhiblu 27 June | 09:34

1. I am trying to eat more protein.

2. I have a DVR now and feel very powerful and godlike when I pause live tv.

3. I can haz camera now. Wednesday afternoon I walked into Staples (infinitely quieter and more pleasant than BestCircuitBuyCity) and they had a Sony Cybershot on clearance, and I said to myself, "Hey! Lots of those bunnies mentioned that!" so I bought one. They tried to make me buy more memory but I wouldn't.

posted by JanetLand 27 June | 09:40

1. I just found out I have to work tomorrow. I've only had three days off this month. (whine)

2. My high-strung cat had a bad experience at the groomer's yesterday (not the groomer's fault) which has left her depressed and weird, and that's had me down a little, too.

3. On the plus side, I brought tuna-pasta salad for lunch, which is one of my favorites, so in a little while I'm going to go eat that and turn on the classical internet radio station and have a calming few minutes in this crazy, not-so-great day.

PS- congrats on the camera, JanetLand! Whoo!

posted by BoringPostcards 27 June | 10:00

1. Cute guy upstairs at work, who flat-out and clearly rejected my suggestion that we should take our friendship further, is now flirting with me again. A lot. I don't understand it. I think he hinted that we should go out to dinner, but I don't do subtleties well, and besides, WTF?!

2. It's Friday, and therefore Chinese food for dinner! Woo-hoo!

3. My mother just gave me her old TV after buying a new one, and it's much nicer and bigger than mine. I worry that she spends too much money, but I'll take the TV anyway.

posted by Melismata 27 June | 10:07

1. I just bought Springsteen tickets, which makes me feel shakey because it's so much money, but he's in town next month, and neither he nor The Husband are getting any younger, so I just did it. They are nosebleedy, but definately in front of the stage, and it's small for a coliseum.

2. I am going to accept a directing gig that I am not excited about, but the money is too good to refuse. I should spend money AFTER I earn it, but I can't seem to get the hang of that.

3. The magnolias are almost done blooming.

posted by rainbaby 27 June | 10:10

1. rainbaby - where did you get the shoes in that picture on the front page? I want them!

2. BoPo - my still-pooping-on-the-floor Persian is going to the groomer's tomorrow morning. Evidently, some Persians won't defecate in the litter box unless their "pants fur" is trimmed. Keep your fingers crossed that this does the trick.

3. JanetLand - I ate Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal today for the first time. It's really good and has 9 grams of protein a serving.

posted by amro 27 June | 10:22

1. The Olympic Trials start today here. It should be exciting, but the whole town has been amped up about it for a year, and it's impossible to get close to the venue. Civic life in Eugene always strikes me as kinda lame (we're really cool, why can't the rest of you see that?).

2. Got Daughter a new MacBook. Due to the largess of someone here, I got a legit copy of Microsoft Office to put on it. I just found a .ppt file about cheese to put on it, as sort of an easter egg. RE: here

3. There is this semi-major issue I have been working on, which will be in the local daily paper. They keep putting it back and the latest is that they will run it tomorrow. There will be a pic of me, and I will be quoted at length. I am trying to be casual about it but I am also nervous about how they will spin the issue, and whether I'll look OK. You guys are the only ones to know that I am not as unconcerned about it all as I appear.

posted by danf 27 June | 10:24

1. going to see wall-e with co workers, since we now have an animation lab, so cool. Also taking small children, so not-so-cool. But also taking the hub, which is semi-cool. We've been doing more as a family unit lately.

2. Got the new-new organizational chart finally official, and I'll get a significant raise in the next few months. Yay!

3. Like BTGOG, having anxiety issues, so I'm back on my medications and meditations on a regular basis.

posted by lysdexic 27 June | 10:26

(Melismata- maybe he changed his mind. Next time he hints about dinner or something, say "Ok, how about Wednesday?" and gauge his reaction)

1. Brought the bunny in to work today. He is doing well and is very popular. I wish I could be so popular for just sitting around wand occasionally washing my face.

2. About to eat some really goood pasta I made with sundried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, hot peppers, and white beans.

3. Deciding what to do tonight now that my friend is unexpectedly in town from PA. Do I break plans with my other friend and her mom or keep them and miss my last-minute friend?

posted by rmless2 27 June | 11:42

amro - you can't get those shoes right now, as they have a square heel above three inches and a rounded toe. Everything is still pointy or platformy around here. I've had them several years. I forget the maker. I love them with a love that is twisted and true.

posted by rainbaby 27 June | 12:09

BTGOG, I want kitten pictures!

posted by small_ruminant 27 June | 12:14

I forgot to change out of my (perscription) sun glasses coming back in to work. Many people have left early today, and it's too darn hot to go back outside. So I have my lamp on and am working in shades. If someone comes to my desk to talk to me face to face, I take them off, but they are on for the next few hours.

posted by rainbaby 27 June | 12:20

Leave them on, rainbaby! People will think you've gone all Hollywood.

(Or else that you're hungover... ok, maybe not a good idea after all.)

posted by BoringPostcards 27 June | 12:27

3a. Woo! My co-worker went over my head and sent her edits of the Diversity Is Bad article directly to our CEO (it's going to be his byline), so he called me in this morning to go over what still needed changes, and then he specifically said he didn't want to make me take any heat from Right-Wing Co-Worker Who Will Not Stop Talking, so he'd inform her of the edits she needed to make. Woo!

posted by occhiblu 27 June | 12:27

why is diversity bad?

posted by By the Grace of God 27 June | 12:39

1. My cousin who is like totally super ossem but lives in Wisconsin called us last night and said he's in town! Yay!

2. My brother filled out his application for community college online yesterday. He didn't know his Social Security number, so we had to go dig out a tax return and find it. We fill out the FAFSA tonight with Mom; we're guessing that he'll qualify for the Cal Grant (non-California bunnies: this is free money for college based on one's grades in high school and/or one's family income, and which one doesn't have to pay back!), which will pretty much cover everything. Very, very excited.

3. My decluttering mission has been going swimmingly: yesterday I emptied a cabinet and threw out - I weighed it - FOUR POUNDS of paper. I found a Christmas ornament, a picture of my mom and I from when I was four, and a box of checks from 2004.

posted by mdonley 27 June | 12:47

why is diversity bad?

It's not, unless you're my co-worker and/or our board of directors. In which case, affirmative-action - type programs are eeeeeeeeeeevil scary gubmint conspiracies designed to take away the right to decide what's best for everyone else from out-of-touch rich white men.

posted by occhiblu 27 June | 12:48

pfoo! I hope they get a lot of bird poop on their heads, occhiblu.

posted by By the Grace of God 27 June | 12:52

1. I've been shopping for a dress to wear to a wedding, with a remarkable lack of success, since I'm neither Paris Hilton nor The Mother of The Bride.
2. I feel slack and flabby and sad and worn-looking. Astute readers might note a connection between #1 & #2.
3. Thunderstorms predicted again. I like storms, but this is the bazillionth day in a row of "hazy and wet with possible thunderstorms" and everything in the apartment is coated with a thin glaze of humidity. And oh, my hair: the hair-ometer is up to Rosanne Rosannadanna alert levels. Yikes.

rainbaby: I used to have shoes like those, with the curvy-thick heel and the rounded toes and a sexy T-strap. I too loved them with a love that is hard to describe. They were perfect for dancing: well-balanced wide-based heel, and the T-strap kept me from kicking them off into an unsuspecting face nearby. What can I say? I'm an exuberant dancer. And clumsy, so clumsy.

posted by Elsa 27 June | 13:01

1. My stomach hurts and I generally don't feel well; I am chalking this up to the Period from Hell I am currently experiencing and hopefully that's all it is.

2. My aunt with the stroke does not want to live with me, which is fine, but now we have to find some other option for her, and soon, since she and my mother are starting to majorly get on each other's nerves. We the family think she cannot go live alone in NYC again since she a) still sometimes can't remember her name and b) can't read or write and c) has all kinds of weird and freaky time/spatial/numerical issues going on whereby she can't tell time and doesn't know where she is and says things like, "I'm 15,000 years old!" "No, Annie," I say, "You're only 14,979." But she is starting to feel that she is being kept prisoner. Argh. This is not fun.

3. So far, two rats dead. I was idiotically relieved not to have to dispose of another rat corpse this morning but then I started worrying that maybe this was a bad thing in that there were still live rats around. Must. Move. Out. ASAP.

posted by mygothlaundry 27 June | 13:24

1. I'm in San Francisco. Which is very different from the Netherlands; it has hills. I can tell because I went running yesterday and now my butt hurts
2. blood red sun yesterday as occhiblu noticed already. As long as its not the moon that's as blood and the sun black like a sackcloth of hair.
3. I'm wondering whether I should see the sights or just decompress, read, write a bit. Hm. To be honest; I find SF general architecture rather monotonic. On account of the earthquake of course. Lisbon has the same problem.

posted by jouke 27 June | 13:42

1. I just woke up for the day. And I only did that because my mother was pounding on the door because she thought I was dead.

2. While yesterday's testing was a bit weird and completely not what I had anticipated, I'm glad that I can finally put the last remaining question about my last relationship behind me. I just have to wait until next week for my results. Argh.

3. I require food. And there is none in this house that is suitable. Goddamnit.

posted by sperose 27 June | 13:48

1. GOT PAUL WELLER TIX FOR SEPT. 2-3!

2. GOT PAUL WELLER TIX FOR SEPT. 2-3!

3. work is crazy but I don't care because SEE #1-2!!!

posted by scody 27 June | 14:43

It's not, unless you're my co-worker and/or our board of directors. In which case, affirmative-action - type programs are eeeeeeeeeeevil scary gubmint conspiracies designed to take away the right to decide what's best for everyone else from out-of-touch rich white men.

At the risk of the wrath of occhiblu I will say that running across these people is always a treat- they're such rare birds in Berkeley. People here like to set them off and then sit back and watch them go.

Unfortunately they eventually wise up and stop rising to the bait, so it only works on the newbies.

posted by small_ruminant 27 June | 16:58

1. As others have noted, the sky out here is full of smoke. It's creepy, especially the haze over the salt flats. I can't see the hills from here.

2. My parents (who've been here since the end of January) are going back to Montreal in a few weeks.

3. Been feeling physically ironclad and emotionally flimsy. That's an odd combination.

posted by tangerine 27 June | 17:01

At the risk of the wrath of occhiblu I will say that running across these people is always a treat- they're such rare birds in Berkeley.

It's less of a treat when you work for them and have to ghostwrite their opinion pieces, really. At least not when they also want to give you lectures on why racial minorities should be thankful for the charitable help we're giving them and stop assuming they should have any say in that help, and you can't really argue back because you can't think of any way of phrasing your immense inner rage in a way that will not cost you your job.

On the other hand, I've turned in my resignation already, so maybe I will just start screaming "RAAAAAAAACIST BUUUUUUUULLLSHIIIIIIT!" if it starts up again. Cuz.... dude.

posted by occhiblu 27 June | 17:31

1. I left my key ring at home this morning. Not a huge problem but (a) I'm locked out of the apartment complex, (b) I bike to work, (c) work is 15 miles away, (d) I now have to bike home to call my landlord AND get my keys (e) AND bike all the way back to Venice to pick up my car for the weekend - (f) Which means a total of 45 miles and three hours of biking today. Hooray!

2. Assuming I don't sleep for 100 hours after getting home from my third bike ride at 9PM, I'm going out dancing tonight for the first time in a month. Hopefully teh Gheys won't be lame (i.e., I'll get a little man-snogging action for all my trouble today).

3. Money has evaporated and I am sad. Fortunately, I don't spend money on gas by biking all week. Unfortunately, I eat ten times as much, so that gas money goes directly to Trader Joe's anyway.

posted by mykescipark 27 June | 17:39

Gaspode, I know this is short notice, but if you'd like I can ask my friend who had two babies with a midwife at St. Luke's for the name of the person she used.

1. The crown that was replaced after a root canal has become a food trap and the dentist says I'll need a retainer to push back the tooth. I'm 40 years old!!!!

2.Managed to make a major dent in the master bedroom, but it is still not presentable. One of the reasons I chose the place is because the elevator is self-service, but the penthouse owner made one of the doormen be elevator man over the weekend. Construction is still going on.

3. I leave for Switzerland tomorrow and I have gotten too fat for my shirts. I know I'll be doing lots of walking, but I don't know if it will be enough.

posted by brujita 27 June | 17:58

BTGoG -- saw the kitty pics in another thread -- don't know if they have any Bengal, but they are SO cute! And they like water which is even cuter!

occhiblu -- sigh. People like this make things ever so slightly less pleasant, don't they?

Divabat -- been thinking of you. Keep your eyes open for the opportunity that is calling your name. I sincerely believe this.

Now, my 3-point:

1) Been on a cleaning and decluttering binge in our small house. It is completed! We are not completely decluttered (we need more space, especally in the kitchen) but doing much, much better.

2) My cats are all laying around like they've melted. Except for the senior citizen, Opalina (17 years old) who is purring because I am in the living room.

3) Iraqi tajine for supper -- lamb, preserved lemon, cinnamon, allspice, veggies, raisins, almonds. With brown rice and yogurt on the side. (Got the recipe from an Iraqi officemate of mine in grad school. YUM.

posted by lleachie 27 June | 18:16

(thanks brujita, but on the whole I like our midwife - she just did something that pissed me off yesterday. I've worked out how to address it though.)

posted by gaspode 27 June | 18:39

27 June 2008