Archives for the month of: October, 2007

yesterday was meghan’s bachelorette party up in santa barbara – meghan, her friend margaret and i went on a wine-tasting tour and drank wine until we couldn’t swallow any more. we went to four wineries and sampled about six wines at each one. the wine was delicious and the whole thing was pretty educational. our tour guide, jessica, was really nice. afterwards we went to opal for dinner and it was soooo good. i’m really excited about the wedding! so many people are coming to the wedding that i haven’t seen in a really long time. but, i’m nervous about my toast (even though i’m going to keep it short and simple and pretty much know what i’m going to say) and i don’t have as much time as i’d like to practice walking in my shoes (stupid procrastination). stilettos and grass are poor bedfellows, but they look so good. i also have to figure out what i’m going to do with my hair and make-up and accessories. meghan and i got earrings in santa barbara, but i don’t know if i should wear a bracelet too or what. all of these things to think about that i never bother with on a normal day.

this coming weekend is josh’s bachelor party – camping – so meghan is going to have a girls’ night at her place while she holds down the fort with the puppy. then the next weekend it’ll be the Main Event and a flurry of activity!

yes, i’m watching ‘bill nye the science guy’. yes i totally had a crush on him (“did you know this is the same compass that compass man uses?”). ok, so i still do. when he makes guest appearances on ‘numbers’ i lose my shit every time.

let’s go over other formative-years crushes. i think, like yesterday’s paper-product realization, there are some interesting insights to be had here as well.

  • macgyver: pretty much my dream guy. he’s like a spy, but he uses science.
  • david lightman: matthew broderick’s character in wargames. cute AND knows computers. every time he dials up the WOPR using that acoustic coupler, i fall in love all over again.
  • wesley crusher: cute, precocious, saves the enterprise, gets to PILOT the enterprise, makes out with ashley judd, saves picard’s life.
  • beaker: dr. bunsen honeydew’s beleaguered assistant. i can’t really explain this one.
  • egon: i was so in love with dr. egon spengler. i still am. he’s so smart he managed to put a nuclear accelerator on every ghostbuster’s back. plus the dry sense of humor. he’s perfect.
  • every guy in sneakers: i don’t think this needs any explaining. in fact, i think i’m going to play it in the background while i work this afternoon.

more recent nerd crushes:

  • dr. spencer reid: on ‘criminal minds’ he’s super smart, has total recall and a photographic memory. in real life, matthew gray gubler is a filmmaker and former model.
  • charlie eppes: on ‘numbers’, david krumholtz’s character is the genius-mathematician-younger-brother of rob morrow’s hot-fbi-agent. on this show, basically all of my dreams come true.
  • sheldon: on ‘the big bang theory’, sheldon is the taller and more sardonic of the two main characters (both physicists). i mean, the dude created a glow-in-the-dark goldfish and (oddly) seemed to be wearing a volcom tshirt in last week’s episode. clearly, we’re meant to be together.

my parents and grandma are getting me a nice digital piano for christmas (and next christmas…and my next birthday…for the next two years) and i just spent $60 on sheet music. are we noticing a theme here? sheet music, comics, notebooks, cards – if it’s made of paper i can’t control myself.

tonight meghan, josh and eric (in town on a layover between chicago and san francisco) came over for dinner and games. maria made her awesome mini meatloaves with spicy tomato sauce, josh and eric brought special autumn/belgian beer and i opened the bottle of cherry wine i bought in germany. afterwards we played apples to apples and buzzword. it was a really nice night and i’m excited to do it again! i hadn’t seen eric since…ehh…i don’t know – february? jon’s birthday i guess? so it was great to see him. chloe wore her little dog sweater-hoodie and we even turned on the fireplace. i’m glad i got the fun in while i could though – looks like i’ll be working through the weekend and i have to drive to costa mesa in the morning.

a lovely and serene animation of a whale by bruno dicolla. until it gets weird and the whale dies or goes to the underworld…yeah. whatevs. it’s awesome.

mirrored here.

three legged legs’ fantastic animation of the solar system and – heeeey…looks like you’ve got a case of the humans!

new beautiful ad – oh sony, what will you think of next?

We left Frankfurt early in the morning and set out on our Alpine adventure. Roberto, our bus driver, took us down the Romantic Road to Rothenburg. We spent most of the day walking around the medieval city’s streets and enjoying the medieval festival that was happening that weekend. We arrived in time to see the Meistertrunk recreation at the City Councilor’s Tavern. We climbed a lot of stairs to see the city from the top of a tower, then ate at a gasthaus’ outdoor cafe. That night we arrived in Munich. We checked into our hotel then walked to the Hofbrauhaus. We ordered beers the size of my head and tried our best to finish them.

complete trip itinerary

vote here – williamsburg says, “do it!” and believe me – he means business.

i started work yesterday and so far it’s pretty good. i got a nice work computer (dell m4300) with all the newest (windows) programs (vista business, office 2007, cs3) and the people are really nice. everyone’s really laid back and there’s a lot of joking around – reminds me a lot of mythryn during its golden age. i feel pretty comfortable in the ux group and am looking forward to kicking sharepoint’s ass.

what’s not good about this job? well, once i’m done training i’ll mostly work on-site at clients’ offices and from home. BUT while i’m training i have to drive down to costa mesa. in orange county. 55 miles away. a 45 minute – 2 hour drive depending on how craptastic the traffic is at the time. each of the past two days i’ve spent 8 hours at work and about 2.5 hours in the car. not. fun.

i’ve learned something though: it’s a MIRACLE there aren’t more accidents on the freeway. with the way some asshats drive and how narrow lanes are i can’t believe how accident free this city is! i mean – these aren’t open country roads. these are 12-lane interstates where (gridlock-free) cars drive at 70mph in the slow lanes and the lanes themselves are so narrow i can practically stick my hand out the window and touch the giant car-carrying semi next to me.

luckily i avoid the traffic circus tomorrow and thursday when i get to work from home. as a reward for keeping my nerve and not getting into an accident, i think i’ll sleep in till 8 like the good ol’ days before i was gainfully employed.

i’ve never heard of isketch but apparently it’s a pretty big deal.

via eric