1. My dad's birthday was yesterday and he called me in (happy) tears after watching the movie I'd gotten him a few days before. It was a film he'd never seen but that his dad had loved, and he couldn't find it. But I did! And he loves it, and had a great birthday, and I'm glad. He's had a tough time lately. We tried to use this birthday to show him how much he's loved, and I hope we succeeded.

2. My laptop repair has been thwarted by four screws that won't come out. I'm considering putting the whole thing in the freezer to shrinkify the metal a little. Bad idea? Good idea?

3. I've finally started to do stuff to prepare for my move in six weeks, and it's fantastic. I love the detox aspect of moving...getting rid of so much, even though I've never been very thing-heavy. Still, it's nice.

Update to 2: I asked our IT guy if he had a tiny Phillips-head screwdriver I could borrow, and he did. So I'll try that before I freeze the laptop.

1. Heard from one job that I didn't get it, and from another that the process is taking longer than they expected. Haven't heard from the third one I interviewed for yet, but I suspect no good will come of it. There are two more jobs I applied for, both at the same organization, and I keep hoping they're going to call or email, but they haven't yet. I've applied for several more positions, but I'm getting anxious. My GOD this process can take forever!

2. North Carolina's state legislature is moving our society back by at least two generations. They've made huge cuts to education, defunded Planned Parenthood, are passing an omnibus anti-choice bill, and overturned the Governor's veto of the budget. I listened to the budget override last night and almost vomited I was so angry.

3. I've got a super-seekrit volunteer opportunity coming up, and it's a little scary, but thrilling at the same time. I'll be going undercover, into the lion's den, so to speak, for a cause I believe greatly in. There's no real risk of danger, don't worry. I hesitate even to mention it, because I don't want to go into details on a public forum, but I'm so excited I'm bursting.

1. It's likely a combination of placebo, getting back to my normal diet, and returning to work (instead of it being due to meds that I've only been on for a little over a week), but I've had 2 good days in a row (and today is shaping up to be the third). I see the pdoc on Friday, so hopefully there will be continued goodness.

2. My summer class (Instructional Methods for Librarians) opened on Blackboard today. I'm so not ready for school to start up again! (At least I'm almost done: one class in the summer term and 2 in the fall.)

3. I wonder when I'm going to get the money that was attached to the award that I won at work. Granted, it's going to be used for fall tuition and not anything exciting, but I'd like to have it so I can budget for the fall (and see just how much of a shortfall I'm going to have :/ )

1a: Found out from another friend who applied at the organization I hadn't heard from that she's had a phone interview and is being scheduled for an in-person one, too. They're hiring for the junior position first, and if I didn't even get called for that I'm supremely bummed. Freaking out a little here.

1. Glad to get a chance to glance again at MetaChat. It was fun going to NYC for law school reunion (and being appropriately dressed due to bunny help) but I've lacked the time for MeFi land and bunny land.

2. Kind of astonished all over again how much I love living in Seattle. Being in NYC for awhile, despite the wonderful features it has, reminded me how glad I am that I'm in the Pacific NW these days.

3. It is my BIRTHDAY and I have gotten some really sweet cards. And my husband is taking me out for sushi tonight. And he says he's buying me a bike. Pretty darn cool.

Stewriffic -- you should never listen to legislative debate. That way lies madness.

1. Am at work and will probably not get home before midnight, if then. Luckily I brought many tasty snacks.

2. Had time to run yesterday for the first time in days and days and it felt wonderful. Oh, glorious exercise!

3. Am trying very hard not to listen to legislative debate.

1. Got the keys to our new apartment today! Got to dance around in it. So preeeeeetty. Now to buy FURNITURE YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!! There's a place downtown having a sale tonight, maybe they will have something nice for meeee!
2. Class tonight. Week 4 of my 6 week online Finance class. I'm totally burnt out on learning with the move and the summer and all, thank goodness this class is over in 2 weeks.
3. My Dad wasn't feeling well the other day and went to the doctor, who found a blood clot in his leg. So now he's on blood thinners, including some stuff HIS father was on 20 years ago. I think he's feeling a little down about that; he was looking through and commenting on old baby pictures of my sisters and I that were posted years ago. I know he hates feeling old.

Happy birthday, Bearwife! Bikes are great birthday gifts.

1. Rented out our house to a very nice couple that we know, and since they are acquaintances, we are not putting ourselves through the rigmarole of credit checks and other bureaucratic nonsense. They are good friends of a good friend of ours, and that is good enough.

2. Pretty sure I have narrowed in on the place that we want to live once we get back to Brazil, I am going to send my friend to go check out the place on Friday.

3. Completely and utterly freaking out by the fact that OH MY GOD we are moving again in SIX WEEKS. This time we have a dog, to boot! I suspect my posts here are going to get increasingly incoherent and general batshit-ty until we get settled in down there. Ah, life.

PS to Stewriffic: The North Carolina legislature is one big body of SUCK, doncha think?

Okay, who here is moving within the next six weeks? I'm counting at least four or five thus far.

Happy Birthday bearwife!!!!

1. I think I just managed to arrange for a lawyer to take on a custody case for one of my clients, pro bono. Which would be awesome. Because otherwise I fear she would lose or be at an enormous disadvantage simply because she doesn't have money to pay for representation and the suing father does, and that would suck. So: Yay, nice lawyers!

2. I am totally wiped-out exhausted today and I'm not quite sure why. I'm rather hoping that my client who was supposed to be here 12 minutes ago does not show up, so that I can reserve brain power for my next client; I'm not really sure I have the capacity to be on the ball for both of them.

3. I am not moving any time soon and I am very grateful for that.

A realtor called this week wanting to know if I want to sell my house, if that counts.

1. I hate dusting, which explains why I almost never do, which explains why I hate it so much. Achoo!

2. With no warning, I lost a toenail last night. It just kinda... came off. And now it hurts. Ouch!

3. I'm really looking forward to taking a long, hot bath tonight, then lying down to read from my new stack of library books. Yesssssss.

I am not moving any time soon and I am very grateful for that.

Ditto! But I did decide that we should pretend-move: I'm going to go through each room, sort all our stuff, and get rid of anything I wouldn't pack if we were moving. It's so satisfying to clear out some of the insane amount of clutter and stuff.

Okay, who here is moving within the next six weeks?

1. I just moved! We bought a house, fixed up a bunch of stuff, painted every interior wall, and just today finished cleaning the old apartment, have the walkthrough with our landlord tonight.

1a. Landlord wants to take money from our deductible to pay for carpet shampooing. This is very clearly a violation of the Alaska Landlord Tenant laws and although I'm armed with statute citations, I'm not looking forward to the confrontation.

2. While cleaning the apartment last night our vacuum up and died. It had been sickly for some time, but we couldn't get it running again. So I took some time off work today and bought a Shiny! New! Vacuum! It's almost three times as expensive as any other vacuum I've ever owned, but damn does it work awesomely.

3. We had to buy all new appliances for the house because they were either missing or broken. Bought them all at Lowes, everything matches. But the delivery arrangements have been a nightmare. Communication has been awful, and one delivery guy told me i should wait until my husband got home. Then I yelled at him, OMG. The mister filed a formal complaint with the corporate office and then the manager called, offered a 10% refund on our entire $4000 order, and to make the final delivery tonight. Yay!

1. It's finally summer, which means I'm sitting here in the A/C, wearing as little as I can get away with, two different fans pointed at me, and I am still sweating. Oh well!

2. I'm suddenly obsessed with fly fishing and want to start learning to tie flies, but I can't afford the stuff yet. Am settling for YouTube videos instead. Oh, so wistful! The really silly thing about this -- and I think I've said it here before -- is that I love everything about fishing (the equipment, learning/practicing/mastering the knots, figuring out the flies to use, trying to outsmart the fish, being outside and on the river) except for the goddamn fish. I wish fish were oranges. If I could go fishing for oranges, it would be the perfect hobby for me. Why do there have to be fish involved??

3. I brought home a new cat toy from the Dollar Store today, and it's going to be an exciting night. They're both really into it. (Should have bought two.) It's a big fake mouse with a long fuzzy tail, and it's stuffed with mylar or something so that it makes crunchy noises. Zuzu flips it up by the tail and catches the mouse body between her paws, while Turtle is perfectly content and pleased with herself when she backs up to the toy and pins it down with her hind feet. Such a weird cat. Back-asswards.

1. I'm going to be moving in the next 4 to 6 weeks, but to where I'm not exactly sure. Most likely the boyfriend's for a few months while we either a) find a 1-bedroom apartment for move-in on August 1 or August 15 or b) wait till his lease ends and I have to find a month-to-month lease elsewhere while I store my things.

1b. Would any NYC-area bunnies have a spare furnished room I can rent to be used mostly on weekends and maybe Thursdays and Fridays to sleep in?

2. Tomorrow, I hopefully go see an apartment on the same block as a fancy new Italian Carroll Gardens/Park Slope-ish restaurant that we went to last night with my boyfriend's mom. We ordered three entrees and passed them around to share, and they were all excellent. Also, I'm going to see an apartment my boyfriend saw yesterday that's located on the same street as the restaurant he took me to for Valentine's Day.

3. Tomorrow, I also get to find out whether or not I've been exposed to the TB virus, as part of the pre-employment screening that the hospital is doing for the temp job I have. Sure hope I don't have TB!

1. My left knee, attached to the one broken in the accident, decided that it doesn't want to support my weight. Again. So it's cane in the house time. It will get better eventually, but I have to get at least one knee replacement in the future. Probably after my probable gall bladder removal.

2. Decided to update my iPhone to OS 4.3. The update bricked my phone. I am so fucking pissed off. Tried restore several times. Next stop, the Apple store. Restore or replace. Or maybe a molotov cocktail.

3. Made deconstructed breaded tuna steaks for dinner tonight. The steaks were thick. And so, insted of hovering over the pan, or using the oven to finish them...

I did the tuna steaks in the pan and a bread stuffing/bread coating in the toaster oven. Serve the steaks, drizzle with pan sauce, cover with a mound of breading. It came out pretty damn good. At least accoring to the wife.

2. My laptop repair has been thwarted by four screws that won't come out. I'm considering putting the whole thing in the freezer to shrinkify the metal a little. Bad idea? Good idea?

Extremely bad idea. The laptop will end up full of condensation and that is really problematic. Are they screwed into metal or plastic? I hope you used the correct size of screwdriver and didn't strip the slots. If you did you might have to drill them out. Of course, if you never did that before you shouldn't attempt it. I suggest a repair shop, just to have them remove the screws. Then you can do the rest yourself. Good luck.

Well, since you all asked... The breading was a mixture of egg matzoh, Fritos Corn Chips and freshly made popcorn. Also an onion, fresh chives from a pot in my backyard, butter, extra virgin olive oil, paprika, lemon salt and a bit of sage and thyme.

The sauce was lemon juice, butter and white wine. (A dryer Riesling) And a touch of teriyaki sauce.

The tuna was kosher tuna. It works decently if you can't find the fresh stuff. But it can be dry so you cook it very carefully.

Thanks for asking, my cheeky bunnies. :-)

If I could go fishing for oranges, it would be the perfect hobby for me. Why do there have to be fish involved??
I'm kind of the same - to me, though, the best thing about fishing is that it's an excuse to just do nothing for hours on end.

2. My laptop repair has been thwarted by four screws that won't come out. I'm considering putting the whole thing in the freezer to shrinkify the metal a little. Bad idea? Good idea?

Extremely bad idea. The laptop will end up full of condensation and that is really problematic

I was going to say the same thing, then forgot. The correct screwdriver should solve the problem, if you haven't already damaged the screws. They can be much tighter than you might think possible, even very small screws - I remember having trouble undoing the tiny screws holding my iPhone screen together when replacing the screen, mostly because the screwdriver supplied with the screen replacement kit was the wrong size :-(

Is it sad that there's really no new updates since the last three point update? Except we did find a third tiny baby fish in the aquarium - and they seem to be thriving and growing...yay, baby fish! Platys, if anyone was wondering.

I'm totally moving in the next six weeks!

I'm really hoping to be able to move in the next six weeks, but it doesn't seem likely.

1. So disappointed in the rioting Vancouverites. Shame on you all!
2. The mister had his 10 day eye check-up and it's healing great.
3. My cold has mostly disappeared so I'm feeling much better.

Note to mudpuppie: fly fishing, and fishing in general, is really fun. We usually do catch-and-release, with barb-less hooks, which is good because I don't like to eat fish either. Anyway, the best part is being outdoors and on a river or small lake.

1. I'm moving too!

2. I'll have a fireplace at the new place.

3. And I'm kind of overwhelmed by all the STUFF.

1. I was on a medication that came with the side effect of me being able to sleep all the way through the night. I didn't know how well I was sleeping until after I stopped taking the medicine and the insomnia came back. I am feeling more and more worthless each workday. Only two months until I can get back to the doctor. The insomnia isn't all bad though, because...

2. Our mice run in the wheel ALL NIGHT LONG. About an hour ago, I got up to say hi to them and realized the little ball in their water bottle was stuck! I usually check it once or twice a day, but must have missed it yesterday. They were some thirsty meeces!

3. I'm not moving.

Splunge - I ended up, yep, stripping one of the screws. Then I had a drink, turned the laptop over, and realized that I could pop the keyboard out from the top.

Despite some really bone-headed moves along the way, I'm going to count this as a win.

1. I will be moving soon too! As soon as we find a place. We found a great one but they had a no pets policy. We are being picky and brokers seem to think that is alright because there is going to be a bunch of stuff in our price range coming up next week. In my opinion, bf has some unreasonable expectations based on the tiny area we are looking in (he wants a duplex and there just aren't that many around), but we'll see what comes up. I am afraid nothing will compare to the great no-pets place.

2. I am in Madison, it's a cute town. I walked around the capitol yesterday and today I'll mostly be in the conference center but I am hoping to meet up with Madamina. My presentation went ok last night, and now I just have to help a client with hers and videotape her lecture and then I can go to whatever sessions I want.

3. I like hotels! I think part of why I like them is that I have so little stuff when I am in them. Makes me think I should get rid of everything I own, but the problem is that I love my stuff and even if it all burned up in a fire I am sure I would be out shopping again in no time flat.