MetaChat - Midweek 3-point update

Senyar, bullet riddled car? Scary.

1. Dinner out with two of my greatest friends this evening. One of them is off to visit her family in Oz for a month, so it is a bit of a farewell for 2010. I will miss her.

2. It is so freaking cold again here today. The meteorology department at a local university had predicted a warmer, dryer winter this year. So far they have been wrong on both counts. I may need to move farther south.

3. I am finding myself at odds with my neurologist, and will be searching for a new one once the new year comes 'round. Otherwise, I LOVE my hematologist, who is quiet, capable and wise. My neurologist does not inspire the same confidence. Not only is he younger than I, his mannerisms lead me to believe that he spends his free time ripping bong hits and playing Halo with the sound turned down so they can jam to some Phish. Oh yeah, wearing a baseball cap backwards.

posted by msali 08 December | 12:08

1. Waiting to go get lunch from the library. I have a paranoia that the doctor in charge of the events these lunches are for secretly thinks I'm a cow for always stealing his food (the food his program pays for, anyway). I have no reason to believe that's true.
2. After lunch, gym. So quiet here today, a trip to the gym will be nice.
3. Tonight, council. We have 3 members who, if absent tonight, will have been absent 4 meetings in a row and will have their seats declared vacant. We'll see what happens.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 08 December | 12:25

1. I'm new to MetaChat, so I'm hitting the boards and loving the hell out of it. I have a hard time jumping in on the blue. Turns out, I don't have a lot of clever things to say, I'm just chatty.

2. Drinking a soda from the sev, munchin on granola snacks and gazing at my christmas tree! I love this time of year.

3. Avoiding school and work for some downtime. Like, all week.

his mannerisms lead me to believe that he spends his free time ripping bong hits and playing Halo with the sound turned down so they can jam to some Phish

I wish that was one of my three.

posted by cheminatrix 08 December | 12:28

1. Out for absinthe after class with my ok cupid friend Tim. For not having chemistry right off the bat, things have worked out quite well. I don't know if he wants more but his no pressure style has been great.

2. Classes are pretty much over Tuesday with last finals. Suck it, semester! It will be a great relief to have nothing to do for a couple weeks before it all starts up again, only harder.

3. Second ok cupid date was so so so very bad. Ok cupid seems very random. But the twenty five year old really wants to text me so I just let him know he can. The age thing doesn't really bother me so much except I am old and saggy and that will just have to be accepted, and I feel obligated to think about kids at my age even though I think I may never have kids. The last guy I went out with was much younger than me and I only seem to be getting attention from people younger than me or much older than me. I get a lot of surprise about my age so I guess I'm passing for the most part, but I'm old dammit even though I have little to show for it. Is this a good thing?

Oh, procrastination, how you let me run on.

posted by ethylene 08 December | 12:36

1. Yesterday: I slept twelve hours last night. TWELVE HOURS. I needed it badly, so that was swell!

2. Tomorrow: a good friend who recently moved out of town just emailed to say she'll be in the area tomorrow, am I free for a visit in the afternoon? And I AM SO FREE. Very happy!

3. Today: going to fiiiiiiinally strip down one of the a moldy old pair of Danish modern lounge chairs from my sister's barn, and see what I'm dealing with. This will be my first time properly re-upholstering something (as opposed to recovering something), so I'm equal parts interested and intimidated. I bought gorgeous bright red fabric and I'm hoping I have enough to re-upholster both chairs.

posted by Elsa 08 December | 12:37

I don't have a lot of clever things to say, I'm just chatty.

Welcome; you are among your people!

posted by Miko 08 December | 12:41

I think I know that neurologist.

1. Still waiting on my new glasses (but, wish me luck, today might be the day). Wearing old prescription sunglasses all day is leaving me with a constant low-level headache and the feeling that people think I'm either trying to look cool, or that I'm blind. I'm hoping for the latter.

2. I'm on vacation until the end of this week. Yesterday, I baked bread, brewed beer and got rid of a bunch of old records. I should do this more often.

3. My desktop computer's power supply and motherboard went bad. It's about seven years old, so I'm doing research in order to buy the parts to build a new one. So far, I'm not enjoying this process as much as I did the last time around.

posted by box 08 December | 12:43

I don't have a lot of clever things to say, I'm just chatty.

Welcome; you are among your people!

Yup, you found us! (I notice that oftentimes some cleverness and wit slips in amongst the chattering for some of our companions here, but I don't hold that against them.)

posted by Elsa 08 December | 12:48

Thanks guys!

Elsa, how hard is it to re-upholster a chair? Seems like a very rewarding hobby.

posted by cheminatrix 08 December | 12:58

Just back from running after work over the heath. Running through the snow with the sun already below the horizon. The snow reflected the reddish dark sky which resulted in a faint pink landscape.
I got lost immediately but because the heath landscape is so open I spotted some lights. So I returned off road directed by the lights. A few roe deer suddenly shot away.
The running was very enjoyable; the snow was soft and crispy.

Now I'll have to think of something to eat.

posted by jouke 08 December | 13:02

1. I think I may need reading glasses. Sad.

2. You would think that, with only two people applying for an internal promotion, it wouldn't be that hard to just pick one. But no, several days after THREE interviews there is still no word. Flip a coin, fer cryin' out loud!

3. Closed down my online profiles and quit dating again. It's too discouraging. I think I'll just watch hockey instead.

posted by JanetLand 08 December | 13:06

1. Have a less than half day of work today. Should have been finished a couple of hours ago but what did I do? You guessed it... wasted time on the internet. As I am doing now, with about half an hour more work to do.

2. When I *do* finish work, I have to wrap some Christmas gifts, go for a run, write some more cards, separate and freeze the big batch of marinara sauce I'm simmering, get my eyebrows threaded, take back my library books, drop off stuff at goodwill, pick up a photo clip holder thingy (I know what i mean) for my MIL, watch Glee, (can of course do that while wrapping gifts) and make a MeCha new users post. Have to be done that by 4.30.

3. I did get to the post office this morning, so at least my secret quonsar is en route to its recipient.

posted by gaspode 08 December | 13:09

Is the new users post just the usual 'Welcome new users, please introduce yourselves' kinda thing, 'pode? Because I bet somebody would be willing to do that for you.

posted by box 08 December | 13:14

Elsa, how hard is it to re-upholster a chair? Seems like a very rewarding hobby.

cheminatrix, that's what I'm going to find out! Re-covering a chair is a doddle: just strip off the old fabric and padding, cut new padding and fabric, pull the fabric taut, and nail it into place with upholstery nails. (At least that's all I did, and the chairs have held up fine for several years.)

But a full-on re-upholstering job means taking the chair down to its wooden frame and replacing or securing all the soft parts: webbed strapping, burlap, batting, and fabric. I've never done it before, and I don't really know what's going to be under the brittle, mildewy naugahyde that's covering these chairs right now.

My sister, who has re-upholstered Serious and Valuable Armchairs (with springs and all) says it shouldn't be too bad, and I think she's right: these are very simple wood-armed chairs (much like these in shape and style), so they're a good choice for my first upholstery project.

And if there's any fabric left over, I'm turning a low table into an ottoman, too! YAY!

posted by Elsa 08 December | 13:15

Or, for a better view of what re-upholstering a wood-armed chair might entail, look here. You can see all the strapping and interior support in this entry.

posted by Elsa 08 December | 13:18

Oh wow. That second link has some interesting stuff, thank you. I'm looking around this place for something to re-upholster.....

posted by cheminatrix 08 December | 13:22

1. I have had a sinus headache for weeks now. It's a real drag. I finally went to the doctor on Monday and got some antibiotics, but so far I don't think they're working. So maybe it's not a sinus infection after all.

1a. Not feeling well has seriously impacted my productivity at work. I am so behind.

2. Taking December off from the attempts at babymaking. I just need a break from it, all of it. And I have been unusually sad about being single lately, and feel like my head's more in a dating place than a single parenthood place right now. It's a risky break to take given the constant barrage of "Every month counts! Your fertility is steeply declining!" that I get from various sources. but this is not something that one should do if one's heart and head are not fully in it.

3. Somewhat connected to the above, I have been talking to a really interesting guy on OKCupid. Hopefully we will meet up this week.

posted by amro 08 December | 13:23

1. I'm in the middle of a vacation (stay-cation) week, and am enjoying my time off SO much. The last couple of months have been incredibly stressful for me, both at home* and at work.

2. I've finished my ~~patriotic duty~~ Xmas shopping, gotten the cat to the vet and back, had a haircut, caught up on laundry, and yet still managed to drink some Guinness and play some video games. And it's only Wednesday. I need more weeks like this.

3. Thinking of having a little David Mamet double feature this afternoon, since I got the Criterion editions of Homicide and House of Games recently and haven't had time to check them out yet.

(*related to home repairs and the costs thereof, not relationship stress)

posted by BoringPostcards 08 December | 13:28

1. I am on one of my "Must go to the GYM! WOO!" kicks, which means I've been overdoing it a bit and am very sore. But it's nice to feel reasonably physically active again.

2. A lot of my clients are doing well (even those who don't realize they're doing well), which is nice to see. Though it's sometimes weird to have a job where "Got my clients to cry today" is a good thing, but the clients really, really needed to cry and hadn't been letting themselves; it was nice to see the bravado come down a bit.

3. Got a bunch of work stuff accomplished yesterday *and* made a really excellent dinner that even incorporated leftovers, which I'm notoriously bad at (I tend to let things molder away in the fridge). Salad with arugula, chickpeas, radishes, pickled shallots, and leftover sliced steak, topped with a dijon apple-cider vinaigrette. Yum yum yum.

posted by occhiblu 08 December | 13:31

1. My noise-cancelling headphones have Magical Phonecall Detecting Properties, and make that duh-dudu duh-dudu sound a few seconds before anyone in the room gets a call on their mobile. It makes me obscurely happy that I know when their calls/texts are coming in before they do.

2. Working too hard, need to unwind.

3. May get to do 2. tomorrow. WOOOOOOO

posted by altolinguistic 08 December | 13:40

On preview:

leftover sliced steak

WHAT? Why on earth would anyone have leftover steak? ;)

posted by altolinguistic 08 December | 13:41

1. They say one should take deep, deep breaths to calm down and relax during stressful times. Check. Except that when one is constantly doing those breaths for days at a time, one starts to hyperventilate.

2. Catsitting again, for the cats who are outraged that I'm not Mom. They poop outside the box every 3-4 days to communicate to me said outrage. This morning, one of them had not only pooped on the rug but had also done some butt-sliding, thus grinding the poop into the rug. And it's all my fault, of course.

3. I've had reading glasses for about a year now. Keep going back and forth about whether I should switch to bifocals. It's a pain to keep switching glasses, but it's also a pain to have your eye constantly drawn to one place or another. Hmmm.

posted by Melismata 08 December | 13:49

(oh, it only takes a couple of minutes, box. It's just there on my list and I really should just do it right now but I have to make a sandwich. So it goes.)

posted by gaspode 08 December | 13:49

WHAT? Why on earth would anyone have leftover steak? ;)

Because one shops at Costco, where steaks come in packages of "Oh my word how the hell am I going to eat that many steaks?" size, and one has a partner who has the foresight to grill them all anyway so that one has lovely lovely leftover steaks. :-)

posted by occhiblu 08 December | 13:51

Ooh. Here one shops at the lovely but expensive butcher, and steak is a buy-just-as-much-as-you-need-and-no-more Friday night treat.

A Costco has just opened in my city, and I've been trying to find a way to get membership... this only makes me want to try harder. I walk past the (small, independently-owned) butcher every day though, and I'm not sure I could handle the guilt.

posted by altolinguistic 08 December | 13:58

Alto, you can join Costco in the UK if you are:

"Current or retired employee of: -
Banking/Finance/Insurance; Civil Servant; Education; Fire/Rescue/Ambulance; Local Government; Medical/Health Service; Police Force; Post Office/Royal Mail; Airlines

Qualified as:
Chartered Architect; Chartered/Civil Engineer; Chartered Surveyor; Dentist; Optician; Pharmacist; Qualified/Certified/Chartered Accountant; Solicitor; Barrister; Magistrate; Doctor

Current or retired employee of USA or UK Gold Card company. Contact either central membership or your local warehouse to confirm whether the company you work for is a registered gold card company."

posted by Senyar 08 December | 14:52

thanks Senyar - I am none of those things, and my only options are to join as a Business Owner (and I think they had someone a bit more high-powered than a mere freelancer in mind when they made that rule, though I might be able to spin my qualifications into something that'll impress them) or via the enspousenation route, and the other half works for a very small firm and I'd be surprised if they had gold card membership.

posted by altolinguistic 08 December | 15:02

1. I had more than one line for once on the xmas episode of Warehouse 13. Anyone with SyFy see me? Tell me if I was terrible.

2. My sister comes back home tonight after 8 years of living in Hong Kong.

3. I have to finish my grad school application and get it ready for mailing tomorrow! Eeeeeek!

posted by typewriter 08 December | 15:02

You have to be qualified to join Costco in the UK? Here, you just pay.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 08 December | 15:02

Alto, if you're self-employed in any capacity you can join Costco, I think.

Yes, TPS, you have to qualify.

posted by Senyar 08 December | 15:18

Huh, how about that.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 08 December | 15:20

1. Called out of work today due to impossibleness of getting out of bed and the fact that I spent at least an hour at around 2am lying on the bathroom floor thinking I was dying. (I suspect my milk is to blame, even though I only bought it on Thursday and the sell by date isn't until the 17th.) Have spent majority of day in bed.

2. I now plan on watching The Vampire Diaries (Don't judge! I like the pretty! And the cheese!) and doing my holiday cards and doing more sudoku puzzles for the rest of the day.

3. I'm scared shitless about Friday. I go in for psych testing and I have a pdoc appointment later in the afternoon. I don't want to go back to work tomorrow (last day for the week though) and I realize that it probably looked really bad for me to have called out today because I'm already going to be out next Tuesday to go to a movie at NARA (goddamn them for not having evening events, the pricks) and then I'm out the whole next week because I need some time off. Oh well, too late now.

posted by sperose 08 December | 15:25

1. Sitting in Powell's in Portland, waiting for daughter to get done with final then I will streetcar up to Portland State and meet her and fart around before Leonard Cohen tonight. Took the train up, really nice, and have Maxed and walked up to Powell's.

2. Trying to figure out when the deadline for tuition payment is for said institution. . .my money still has not been transferred and may have to put it on a credit card, at least for a few days until the money from the other account lands in my checking.

3. Right now, nice and sunny, bustly day in the big city. Looking out at the Egg Beater Sculpture . . .if you have been in Portland, you know where that is. . .

posted by danf 08 December | 16:02

1. Just now able to say something: my aunt died Nov 20 (I didn't find out for a week due to a communication snafu). Fuck cancer.

2. The mister and I turned in some airmiles to get 10th anniversary gifts (Dec 2). He got an iPod and I got a new digital camera. I see the retail price is about two-thirds of what my old 3.1 MP camera cost.

3. We're having a relatively warm day (10C/50F) so I have some windows open to get some fresh air. It's nice if a bit chilly.

PS: You used to have to qualify for Costco in the U.S. way back when.

posted by deborah 08 December | 16:19

deborah, I'm so sorry you have to go through that right now.

posted by cheminatrix 08 December | 16:26

1. Sent out all Metachat Christmas cards yesterday. I also bought some Christmas presents for my kids and I bought a new camera for myself. I needed a new camera because I dropped my old one in the toilet at Tropicana Field. Everything worked but the flash.

2. My eldest son and I are training for a 5K. He is a great runner and will have no problem. I'm teaching him to pace himself.

3. I have been proud of my healthy eating of late. This morning was oatmeal. Lunch was veggie tomato and rice soup with gumbo and a yogurt. As soon as I got home I blew it and ate a banana with peanut butter and honey, a roast beef and cheddar on a big honkin' white roll and two Dare Lemon Creme cookies.

posted by LoriFLA 08 December | 16:42

Oh, deborah, I'm so sorry.

posted by Elsa 08 December | 16:44

1. My eye problems from the shingles have improved immensely in the past week. I still can't drive during the daytime though.

2. Between the thyroid pill and the step increase of my antidepressant dose, I am feeling really good generally.

3. I am jonesing for some chinese food.

posted by Ardiril 08 December | 19:30

*hugs deborah*

1.Broke down and bought a Droid. There are issues in the building I need to document and RAZRS are no longer made.

2.Getting over stomach flu/food poisoning.

3. My opthamologist says I need progressives too. What she said is, "point your nose at what you want to see". The prescription isn't ready yet.

posted by brujita 09 December | 02:12

08 December 2010