Saturday, June 19, 2004
halfway there
I'm working towards rotating pictures, or whatever they call that. But I also took so much out of the template and converted it to the style sheet that I no longer have any idea how this looks to you guys.I know it looks good from here and as much as I'd love to be the kind of person who says, "I really couldn't give two shits how it looks to anyone else.", I'm not. Not yet, anyways.
So, tell me what you think and tell me if it's working for you. Thanks!
Shit! In my preview, the boxes/columns were separated by spaces, but they're not now when I look at it here, so tell me if they are for you are not.
LATER: I think I fixed that. Can you also try playing with the size of the window? Pleaaaase? I don't mind the way it shrinks down, except for me the title mushes over right to the pic. So, tell me if it does that for you to. :)
Going away now. Must.lie.down.
Friday, June 18, 2004
forewarned is forearmed, or something like that
...still not really liking the 'new' look and inspired by the Zen Garden, I am endeavoring to completely rewrite my css this weekend for a new look. Hopefully, to write more than one so I can change it periodically whilst still allowing it to load fast without the backgrounds. Incorporating e's idea of using a smaller picture instead.Just so you know, this is way over my head and will require intense learning and a whole lot of fucking it up.
Apologies in advance. You've been warned.
stupidity is my mother tongue
The following email exchange occurred in our office this morning. (for ease of reading it is split into M- male rather than confusing the issue with the individual men involved - by this example I can only conclude that the large majority of them were all sharing the same brain today anyways).M- Quote of the day
"I'm a very deep person. My husband, who is one of the smartest men in the world, never would have married a floozy." -- JESSICA SIMPSON
M- Yeah, she's deep alright. Deep as a puddle.
M- But she makes up for it with hotness.
M- The DB is clearly a fussy man.
Jen- Who apparantly doesn't mind announcing that he is a shining example of chauvinism. Go, DB!
M- I like to set the bar high. Who would have thought that using the word "hot" makes me a chauvenist...(?)
M- Calling someone hot is chauvinistic? Huh?
M- (the youngest guy in the office) - You guys spoken with women much before? Referring to another woman as 'hot' is dangerous... implying that her alleged hotness covers all personality flaws is suicide.
Jen- Bit sad that DB and PL made it to such an advanced age without learning what constitutes chauvinism (or how to spell chauvinist). That's okay though, since you're both so HOT.
M- Those who spelled apparently wrong shouldn't throw stones.
M- That's my biggest pet peeve! I HATE it when people spell apparently wrong!
M- Chauvinism: "bellicose patriotism"; fervent support for a cause. So according to the Oxford, one must specify the cause to which chauvinism is applied.
The things I find frightening about this are:
-not one woman replied to this except me.
-the only men who got how inherently wrong it was were T2 and the youngest guy in the office.
-the rest of them are still insisting that there was absolutely nothing wrong with that comment, but then again, nor do they understand why I find being called a 'chick' offensive.
Fuckwits.
Thursday, June 17, 2004
nutbar alert
In the last 10 days or so, Cabot the Cat has managed to bash his head on something twice. I've never actually seen him do it but I come home and he's sporting bleeding, swollen gashes on his head.I have this sneaking suspicion the scars all over his entire body aren't from fighting off other cats when he lived on the streets, but instead, are reminders of the simple fact that he's a hopeless and accident prone klutz.
Or maybe he's just a traumatized shell of a feline who finds strange comfort in spending his 'rescued' life wandering around the house slamming into things face first.
"Take THAT, you nasty couch. You wan a piece of me, hideous cupboard door? C'mon, c'mon let's see wut you got, lurking chair leg!"
the postman always knocks twice
Periodically I am unable to head off one of those automatic shipments from a book club I joined in a weaker moment a few years ago and a box will show up at the post office for me. A box which is never opened and promptly 'returned to sender' the next day. After which, for the next four months, I receive increasingly nasty letters demanding payment because unfortunately so many books are returned that it takes them five months to show up on your account as being rejected.I came home today to find a package for me in the foyer of my building. Torn open. I guess since it contained books, the illiterate and pathetic human being who ripped it open must not have felt it was worth stealing.
Such a sad example of a human being aside, what would possess the postman to do this, I have no idea. The post office outlet is roughly 100 feet from the door of my building. Even if this were a hamlet of 1,000 people with unlocked doors, car keys in the visors and applie pies cooling on windowsills, under no circumstances should a postman do such a thing. It's not even an excuse if he'd arrived in town this morning on the back of a turnip truck.
Fortunately for me, the losers in the building didn't just pick it up and take it. Because then I'd owe $100 to the book club because I would be unable to prove I hadn't recieved the package.
A hundred dollars for something I don't want, didn't ask for and would never pay such an exorbitant price for in the first place.
Come to think of it, if I wanted to do exactly that, I'd pay my taxes, now wouldn't I?
lyric at post:
..hold tight, wait till the party's over
hold tight, we're in for nasty weather..
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
ohhh, that's nifty
Not like I have a million archives but l@@k - over there! - on the left!The archive drop down menu!
Sometimes it does pay to strap on your wellies and slog through the blogger info quagmire. The code is here.
To still be nice to those without javascript, there's a code to display the old list for them at the bottom of this page.
Now, just need to figure out the tweaking to make the font/size match. But not tonight.
thank god, it's not ALL teenagers, it's US!
Study Shows Blog Readers Defy Stereotypes.talking myself into (and back out of) travelling toys
So, yeah, I'm a little bored. There's lots of work to do but I'm too tired to concentrate. Instead, I wandered around asking the guys here about their various accroutrements.Within the office, there are blackberries, treos, four or five different kinds of laptops and a couple iPods. Feel free to follow along as I learn.
1. Laptops. The only choice here would be the Inspiron 300M (or the 'ultra mobile road warrior'). Height and Weight: 2.99lbs and 0.96" thin when closed.
As absolutely lovely and sexy as that sounds (and looks), I'd have to replace it a few times once it inevitably gets stolen at least once per continent, not to mention having to find somewhere to plug it in for an internet connection and the most obvious - lugging it around. Admittedly, not that bad in cities. But in the Daintree? For a month? In the middle of a rainforest with one phone line you're not allowed to use except for emergencies during a 7 month season called only "The Wet"? That becomes slightly more problematic. Why would I want a laptop over anything else you ask? A REAL keyboard. Again, a REAL keyboard. A normal screen. A sense of 'realness' (that may make sense only to me, that bit).
As much as I'm sure that 'thumb-typing' isn't as mind numbing and excruciating as it sounds, nor anything like typing text messages on my cell phone, it would only be viable if I spoke in one word sentences. Can you imagine my posts? -Here. Wet. Bats. Bye.- then on to Africa -Here. Hot. Lions. Bye.- And of course, Ireland -Here. Green. Peaty. Guinness. - Not so much fun for either of us, methinks, not to mention a not particularly gripping chronicle of my travels to enjoy in my declining years.
2. Blackberry. Apart from the fact that I absolutely loathe these nasty little things, currently the providers for BB available in Canada have no 'partners' in Australia or New Zealand (you know, those people I've just divorced after 8 years). I'm assuming someone will get their shit together to partner by the time I leave, but again, I loathe blackberrys. The only truly good thing about the Blackberry is the waterproof, roll-up external keyboard. If it actually works, that is.
3. Treo. See above, although I don't hate it like I hate the Blackberry. (only cause it actually looks more like a phone instead of a calculator).
4. Which brings me to the hip-top offering of my current lovely provider. (if you knew my phone number, you could text me for free from their home page, isn't that cute?) Anyways, I like it, it's tiny, it folds out to be bigger, it's fairly inexpensive, it's quite obviously superior to the Blackberry. Service partners all over. But no external keyboard. I've emailed the developers to ask about compatibility with the other external keyboards and/or if/when they expect to have their own.
Since I'm assuming they will have one by 2006, I shall be fashionably carrying about a lovely light and compact hip-top, to places where there may even be cell service in the middle of the rainforest, believe it or not.
At this point I was far too tired to go any farther past the guy that said, "I've owned about 5 different types of MP3 players and I would never buy anything other than an iPod again." Good, cause when you buy the 4th or 5th or 1800th generation one in a year or so, I'll buy whatever you're upgrading from. Thanks.
...no need to worry, carry on
The local news on the radio this morning indicated that "police admit there MAY be a serial killer operating in Edmonton" and then went on to imply no one should worry, even though they figure he's been doing it for 20 years. Cause the victims are all prostitutes.(and yes, I say "he" because statistically 98% of serial killers are male).
On November 1st, they're also opening up the adoption records here (the province) so that adoptees and birth parents can access identifying information, including medical records. Seems awfully like forward thinking to me, what on earth is the world coming to? They should stop that right now.
I really do have to stop listening to the news.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
grinning like a teenager and tapping my toes
Doug and the Slugs are playing a patio on the 26th of June at an event called Blues, Brews and BBQ's. Obscure Canadian band to be sure, playing in a terrifyingly bad imitation of an Irish pub (not that I'd know what an Irish pub looks like *yet* but it's just one of those things you know to be true), but just mention 'Doug and the Slugs' to anyone and their faces light up with the goofiest grins. It's childhood revisited around here. Their first album cover (Cognac & Bologna) is one of those ones that just never leaves your mind.
I may even show up as I've never seen them play before.
This one was their biggest, I think, or maybe just one of my favorites but you can hear four of them right here.
Too bad that you had to get caught,
That's not like you to lose face.
So sad that you're not as smart,
As you thought you were in the first place.
Baby, I could use some of your persuasion,
(too bad .. persuasion .. too bad .. persuasion)
To wipe away (wipe, wipe, a-wipe, a-wipe a-wipe away)
the taste of your machinations.
(too bad .. machinations .. too bad .. machinations)
It's over,
Kaput except for the tail spin.
(too bad .. for the tail spin .. too bad .. for the tail spin)
Save the dialogue (baby set your dialouge)
for the old men in the pool room.
(too bad .. such a cool room .. in the pool room .. such a cool room)
Try it once, well I'm not so sure,
Try it twice and you're by my door.
Chorus
The money, no more than insulation.
(too bad .. insulation ... too bad .. insulation)
The getaway, (get get a-get a-get a-get away)
I watched with fascination.
(too bad .. fascination .. too bad .. fascination)
The hideway, Woooo! such imagination.
(too bad .. 'magination .. too bad .. 'magination)
Ah .. the 45! Goodbye!
I used it with no hesitation
(too bad .. hesitation .. too bad .. hesitation)
Monday, June 14, 2004
not much of anything, really
Dave over at Acerbia has posted a little and wonderful short story, for those of you who miss him like I do.Today. Tired. Went to bed at 11:30 to finish Wounds (which is one of the ickiest vampire books I've ever read - icky as in the horrible mental images it leaves you with, plus they really hurt an animal) only to decide to read the first chapter of In a Sunburned Country thinking it would be good to make me a little sleepier. Not so. Fabulous book. I laughed out loud, which I barely ever do (Kathy Lette can make me do that). I finally had to force myself to turn off the light at 2:30 am and resist the urge to sleep with it wrapped in my arms. I long for 5 pm so I can speed walk home, throw myself into the 'reading' chair and stay there until I finish it. Whereupon I shall cry little tears because it is done and I am unable to draw out the enjoyment. Instant gratification takes too long, dont'cha know.
In an effort to combat the annoyance of hair on my face (which I've had only one other time in 12 years) I have bobby-pinned my hair behind my ears. Little blue fancy bobby pins. Don't tell anyone - it's awfully girly.
lyric at post:
..go lightly underground, I'll be down there in another day,
I won't rest until you're found..
Sunday, June 13, 2004
now, waaaaait just a minute, there
Did I just watch Keanu Reeves give the impression he had more than one facial expression? *gasp* Was that a personality?hm. I think I've just had too much sugar. Some things in the world really are impossible.
Sometimes I forget that there's a million things to do on the internet. Besides blogs I mean. So, I've been here most of the day, but not HERE. I feel neglectful so I'm only here to leave you with a new toy. The Licence Maker.
