behold, the most perfectly formed ejecta pattern ever. this reminds me of something (all too easy)…what (blast ’em!) could (nerf herder) it (rebel scum) be (that’s no moon, it’s a space station!)?
Archives for the month of: July, 2004
after months of should haves, could haves and maybes, eric and i finally hit up 6 flags on saturday! it was a great day to go, not very hot at all, and the park wasn’t too crowded. we got fast lane passes and they were TOTALLY worth it. we rode all of the major coasters – and the raging bull twice. while we were up there we ate breakfast at cracker barrel too.
afterwards eric went to see the bobby conn show (recording a live album) and i sort of collapsed on my couch and watched the extended edition of ‘robin hood: prince of thieves.’
sunday i made the last of my big purchases for the apartment (at least for a little while). i got a nice stand for my new tv and other electronics, some wall mounts for my speakers, an xbox, ddr ultramix, gta: vice city, and the component video adapter for the xbox since my new tv has component ins. yeah that’s right. i got an xbox. i just threw that in the middle there like it was nothin’ yeah that’s right! 🙂 anyway, the component video looks great. the tv looks awesome on that new stand. all wires and cables are finally sort of organized in a way that doesn’t make my head hurt when i look at it. i just have to mount my speakers and my a/v setup is complete! eric and i spent all last night eating pizza and playing vice city. i am not very good at it (because i am ultimately pretty crappy at video games) but i had a great time running people over and setting my car on fire. if you deliberately try to set your car on fire, say by ramming it full-tilt into a cement wall, it actually takes a good deal of effort.
bonus: vice city items & jumps map – oooh, no linking! bastards.
bonus bonus: k-chat radio transcript
trying to get my photo gallery up, but running into some snags – namely, what to do about conflicting aspect ratios. i had it all automated with a moveable type plugin, but i’m not happy with some of the functionality – it doesn’t make all the thumbnails the same size, just the same width which makes for some messy looking pages. so, i’m looking into other options.
…with component inputs! and a flat tube! yay!
check out this pineapple pillow from linens ‘n things. are you kidding me? kudos to the photographer for taking the picture with that big seam up front and center. and i quote:
This LNT Home Pineapple Pillow makes a great conversation piece for use with any décor.
ANY décor? really??
kara: who would want this
andrew: wtf, indeed i do not know
andrew: you are what you…sleep on?
kara: ha prickly and…uh
andrew: pinepillow?
andrew: pilapple?
kara: sounds sort of like falafel
andrew: plapple?
kara: PLAPPLE
andrew: not sure where the L comes from, but i think we have a winner
andrew: “honey, can you pass me my plapple?” response:
andrew: “get your own” or rather “get your own plapple”
kara: plapple should be the new word for the confused noise one makes when confronted with a questionable design choice
andrew: i like your idea
andrew: slight head-cocking should accompany
andrew: plapple?
kara: she has plastic flamingoes in her yard! oh man, talk about a plapple!
kara: straight woman: what do you think of this zebra print hat with a REAL zebra head on the top? isn’t it SO lion king mid 90s?
kara: gay male friend: oh HONEY no…plapple city! [insert stereotypical loose-wristed hand flip here]
andrew: wow lol plapple city
andrew: like circuit city but with more plapple
[…]
andrew: “plapple.com” is available.
saturday was fran’s birthday, so i went over for some awesome food and bennison’s cake. holly came into town! so did robyn! it was cool to see everyone. holly has been working out and looks awesome. also her hair is so long, she looks totally different (in a great way). angie brought her husband, who was sadly the only male in attendance (eric was at a concert with jon & co). we did a little dance dance revolution, which fran is so good at, it’s scary. she was even kicking ass on the mode where one player dances with TWO pads. she was all dancing around and doing turns and doing it backwards and everything! we watched the ‘all for one’ video a few times (of course) and talked a lot. i got fran a set of lotr maps…a special edition with a full gazetteer and prints of hand painted maps and everything. i found the map set at borders earlier in the day – it like hit me out of nowhere and i realized it was the perfect gift. i wrote the tag in elvish too. i ended up spending $100-something at borders, buying enough books to last for a month or two.
last night i got an email from meghan, and she indeed got that big job! she’s currently in santa fe shooting episode #2; they are hitting branson next (oh boy) and maybe hawaii soon! she gets to travel with josh and will be soon moved up to camera operator! THIS IS AWESOME.
when i started working full-time there were the requisite salary negotiations. where i work, “reviews” only happen once a year, therefore raises only happen once a year. i, and probably everyone else, have consistently gotten the shaft in terms of appropriate pay; the price of working at a small company. i made more hourly while working part-time in college than i did when i became a full-time contract employee after graduation. i did not receive a raise upon becoming an actually full-time employee. in fact, the first offer extended to me was considerably lower than my yearly salary as a contractor. eventually i insisted upon a raise, citing past pay cuts (which i’m sure i wasn’t supposed to notice). i asked for a very fair amount, especially since some people unexpectedly quit and left their salaries (which were each higher than what i was getting) behind. thusly, my salary was “raised” to the same amount as when i was a contractor. granted, i did gain excellent health insurance, etc…but still. i mean, you’re kidding me right?
i agreed to this “new amount” contingent upon a review and $2000 raise in 5 months. this seemed pretty generous on my part, since this future amount was still probably less than what i could’ve earned elsewhere. i am a loyal, if crotchety, employee and despite other crappy things happening around that time, i was not willing to abandon the company and coworkers that were my chicago family.
the time for the review came and went and i decided not to push things by asking, “what happened to our deal?” or something similar. other more pressing worries were at work in my non-professional life and i needed to get through one obstacle at a time.
i collected my paycheck every month (only one time a month) as usual. as always, i didn’t look at the amount until i was depositing the check (i think it’s sort of rude and tacky to rip into it at work in front of everyone). i noticed that the amount seemed different. i couldn’t tell what was different, that is whether the number was higher or lower than usual, just that the number didn’t look the same as before. i thought nothing of this, attributing the discrepancy to adjusted taxes or the like. yesterday i received my paycheck and as usual, set it aside to deposit later on. then i remembered that odd change in numbers. so i opened my check at my desk (gasp!) and proceeded to do the ol’ multiplication. the amount was different all right. what did i find?
bounce on bosoms to win a prize at bikini bounce
when i got off the train today, there was the hottest bike messenger i’ve ever seen sitting at those tables near the food court. he was blond (usually i don’t go for blond guys!) and tall and thin and looked shockingly good in his orange reflective smock. he was reading…something…probably an order slip or something. i totally wanted to throw down (can you use ‘throw down’ when talking about sex?) right there in merchandise mart in front of who-the-hell-cares-who. does this happen to other people too? it must.
…sorry eric.
this weekend eric was out of town so i seized the opportunity to hang out with some friends from back in the day that live in chicago.
friday i organized my past bills and filed them. unfortunately the new filing cabinet i bought is sucking more every day, and standard-sized hanging files don’t reach across its bars. by about a quarter inch. i had fun anyway (yes, fun) throwing away old envelopes and putting things into chronological order. whee! i’m such a rebel!
saturday i got up early to get ready for the cable guy. he came really early (i was his first call of the day) and was very nice (and good-looking but i digress). i spent several hours trying, to no avail, to improve the reception of about half of my cable channels. i did get that great deal on cable and cable internet, but when the phone guy didn’t mention is how my basic cable would give me maybe 20 channels (that come in clearly) and most of them are the ‘ethnic’ channels that i never watch. where is my cartoon network and comedy central and discovery channel? what about spike for cryin’ out loud?? i felt sort of ripped off until i remembered that i was paying for 12 months about half of what it would’ve cost to just get the cable internet, plus i got very clear local channels and at least vh1.
my wireless set up is pretty sweet…at least it is NOW. my router was totally not working at first and i spent a few hours banging my head against that one. i really enjoy being able to carry my tibook around without wrangling a cable.