• 14:19 This afternoon's plans: brewing English milk stout. #fb

So, I joined Groupon back in October to take advantage of an awesome deal they had on hot yoga. In addition to the ten sessions I got one free week, sweet! It is seriously sweaty business and not all happy fun time, but after a few classes I could feel and see a considerable difference. It seems like a good activity to balance with running and avoid injury, so I'm trying to stick with it.

Anyways, back to Groupon. I should perhaps unsubscribe from the daily emails because I am a total sucker for a good deal. It probably doesn't help that you don't even enter your info and cc once you're registered, skipping right over those precious "do I really need this?" seconds. Case in point, I bought trapeze lessons last night.

• 18:05 Against my better judgement, I'm at Thirsty Bear. This may just be the first pint I've left unfinished. And for only $6!
• 21:02 Google should have a "search by date" feature. If I'm looking for tech stuff, I don't want the top sites to all be 3-year old forum posts.
• 10:21 I'm pretty sure Quickbooks Point of Sale is the worst program ever written. They really meant it by calling it POS. #fb

Remember when 2000 was The Future? 2010 feels like The Future to me, maybe even moreso than 2000. I blame the movies.

Aaaand Jonathan Coulton already beat me to that exact sentiment. Curse you, JC!

Christmas in Columbus was quiet and restful. Brought BFF Beaky with me, but Trickie ended up having to go to Richmond instead.

Spent most of the week between Christmas and New Year's playing We Ski (surprisingly not "Wii Ski") on the Wii. It is exactly what it sounds like. I justified the timesink by saying I was practicing for the actual ski trip we're tentatively planning for next month.

I am tired tired tired. I think it's safe to call the packing "almost done" and I am just too tired to think anymore so I'm going to go to bed and get up at 5:00 in the morning to do the rest of it. If things go as planned tomorrow (and they really might) I'll be in the new house and the movers will be gone before noon, so I'll have time to grab a nap before people show up to help me unpack.

Even though I've been prepping for this for months, it really hasn't sunk in that this is my last night here. This is the first property I've owned, and I've lived here almost twice as long as any other place I've been since I was 18. I guess theoretically I could move back in at some point, but it would take a pretty major setback for that to happen. Weird. I guess I'm not sad or nostalgic about it since I'll still own it.

OK. Off to bed.

• 23:40 Spoils of victory: team Vulcan's Bare Bobble Butt wins the inaugural pub trivia at Lucky 13. yfrog.com/1eka1bj
• 10:10 The Bicycle Revolver! Always ready for dogs and hobos! yfrog.com/3g2nbij

So, one of the best gifts we received this year was a little 8" All-Clad Copper Core pan. We are astounded at how awesome it is! There was a little bit of a learning curve with it and realizing how low of a heat tolerance olive oil has, but a looong and tedious bout of scrubbing will make that lesson stick. Could it be that all this time I just needed the right gear to get into this? Too bad it's so freaking expensive.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a diet tracker online? I had been using sparkpeople.com but it's not perfect. I like nutritiondata.com except that it doesn't have daily calorie tracking. weightwatchers.com is just too expensive (or is it?). I'm looking at fitday now (I had an account from 2002 on there! I didn't meet my weight loss goal of 125 pounds by 1/1/2005) but again you can't enter a custom recipe.

If weightwatchers were, like, $5 a month instead of $20 then I think that it would be my choice.

Ultimately, I'd like something that let me enter recipe ingredients and calculates the nutrition per portion/ounce. If there were a mobile (iphone) version for tracking then that would be nice, too.

You know, I feel like I had a pretty great 2009. I've seen a lot of people happy to slam the door on 2009 but I think I really lucked out and avoided a lot of the stresses that 2009 was ladling out all over the U.S. and elsewhere.

Although come to think of it... I think this might just be selective memory. I had a good, solid December and I suspect that's just tinting my view of the 11 months preceding it.

And I just spent another hour on the phone with Comcast because they disconnected me on the wrong day, again.

The packing continues. I pick up the keys tomorrow at 11. I think I'm about 95% of the way there, but the last bits are always the toughest odds and ends to deal with. If we have an earthquake in the next 36 hours, somebody please come dig me out? I've got stuff stacked to within six inches of the ceiling now.

Earlier tonight I took down my pictures and Bosco has decided the hooks left on the walls are prey to be hunted. He's doing laps across the back of the couch, trying to get a running start at knocking them off the wall. Silly critter.

• 20:05 Never heard the Gogos at 13 before. They lasted all of one verse.

• 08:47 As an Orlando expat, I'm greatly enjoying @doctorow's WDW tweets. Been over a decade and the memories are still crystal clear.
• 14:07 Looks like my Windows machine just bought the bullet... again. I guess Y2K+10 was too much for it. Its only purpose was to run iTunes.
• 14:07 Perhaps I'll just wait and see what Apple is unveiling.

I had one of the nicest New Year's Eves I can ever recall celebrating. We went to the local hockey arena to see a game with my sister's family. Afterwards, we skipped the free (and crowded!) open skate and just headed back to our hotel. As soon as we entered, we could hear the noise from the hotel's party. They had told us at check-in that they host a free, family-friendly dance on NYE, but I hadn't planned on going becuase my husband isn't much of a dancer and I doubted my son was.

Well I was wrong about that last one. We decided to check it out, and kidlet was eager to hit the dance floor. We spent the last 90 minutes of 2009 cutting a rug, with Mark being a good sport and joining us occasionally. It was way fun. And it was very sweet surrounded by all these families, parents dancing with toddlers in pajamas in their arms, dads dancing with daughters, moms dancing with sons, circles of siblings and cousins bustin' out their best moves.

Now we are in omaha, having survived another check-in SNAFU (although nowhere near as epic as last year). Today's plans include swimming, watching my cousin's daughter play basketball for UN-O, and continually screwing up the names of my cousins' offspring.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Tags: via ljapp on the ol' iphone
Current Location: US, Nebraska, Omaha

Happy New Year!

Party at Jim and Anna's was awesome. Played Rock Band, DJ Hero, I think I might have danced around a bit. Had a nice buzz going until the second or third bottle of Champagne came out and Absinthe was being poured in the glasses along with it. I was feeling pretty beat up this morning, luckily Anna nursed me back to health with an IV of saline. Well, she poked my left arm and couldn't get my vein, so Vince poked my right arm and got it. We lounged around their place all day watching movies and eating snackie things. Great way to ring in 2010.


me and Vinnie in our PJs being silly last night.

• 02:21 Kona just got some love from Jimbo Mathus. Yeah, I'd say 2010's off to a great start.
• 09:54 Just registered for NERT training. That's one resolution down.

Long time no talk everyone. I still read LJ, but never feel motivated to post to it. I downloaded the LJ app for my phone, so maybe that will cause me to post stupid quick things while away from the computer now or then. I know everyone would just love that! "Why are there blueberries, but no redberries?" "Do you think scabs would taste better if salted?" "Let's remember Jm J Bullock in our prayers today."

The cancer/chemo/radiation/surgery stuff is all done. The last couple of Cat(meow) scans have come back clean and hopefully that will continue. Unfortunately, a new problem has popped up that is stopping me from getting back to CA. I've had a bunch of tests for it and it is some dumb disease. Since it isn't even fatal I won't even bother mentioning it. Ironically, through the cancer, the major surgeries, radiation and chemo I never felt as bad as I do now. I have trouble getting more than a couple of hours of sleep and my awake time is filled with uncomfortableness and or pain. But, luckily, next week I will start receiving an infusion of a medicine that will hopefully alleviate the symptoms. Eventually, I will have to go in for an infusion every 8 weeks for a while. Hopefully, once I am to the point where I am at a baseline of healthy I can figure out plans to head back west in the 2 month gap and find a doctor where I can restart the treatments.

On a good note I have been finding fun stuff to do all over the place. I got Netflix so I could try out streaming through the PS3. That is seriously pretty awesome. I have been watching a ton of stuff I never even thought to try before. First season of Dexter(thanks daisy_petals!), First season of Friday Night Lights (thanks bristlesage!), Coupling (thanks srb!), some old MST3k (It sometimes holds up to how awesome I remember it (yay Joel!) other times it is just annoying.), Dr. Who not the old crappy stuff with the loser in a scarf but a new awesome one. I have only gotten through half of the first season (series for you stuffy brits) and it is really enjoyable. I know the next one features a new actor in the doctor part I hope he is as good, the IT Crowd Surprisingly good and funny, and a ton of other stuff that I forget about or I just have playing as background noise while I am doing other things. I consider Netflix streaming to be awesome. I wish the wire was on there because that is a show I need to finally enjoy.

I got Dragon Age:Origins for the PS3. I was holding off until I had a desktop computer I could use, because the Bioware games seem better on the PC. Finally, I saw it at a good price and grabbed it. It is fun and distracting and so very good! One complaint about the game I saw was that there is too many conversations with Non Player Characters. I think the opposite! I love all the conversations. Especially when you can be a jerk and make them fight you, or be really nice and make them love you with all their hearts. So, if you are into games I would suggest getting Dragon Age. Super Fun!

My brother and sister and I chipped in to get my Mom a sewing machine for Christmas. I was pretty excited. I looked forward to seeing her reaction after all of my research and the adventure I had going out to Princeton to find the store that carried the kind I wanted to get. Happily, she loves it and it was a huge surprise when she opened it.

I read Shutter Island. Great book! I look forward to seeing how well they handle the story in the movie.

I got stereo bluetooth headphones for my phone.Listening to music wirelessly is super awesome. It's also neat that I can take phone calls without even worrying about digging out my phone.

I hope everyone is doing really well and had a great Christmas and an even better New Years! Let's hope for (wo)men in 2010!

• 07:00 Having a tough time readjusting to Pacific time. I may just have to celebrate New Year at GMT, since I may not make it til midnight.
• 08:44 Frustration: got generator hub, but no one willing & able to make wheel until next Friday. Told I shouldn't try myself on that hub.
• 09:50 I'm REALLY loving my new Internet Pants. Might just have to order a few more pairs. bit.ly/8X32f3

At home in Nebraska. Not much to report. My sister's family and mine are going to a hockey game tonight for our exciting new years eve outing. Tomorrow we go to Omaha for Christmas with my aunts & uncles and cousins and their kids. Yes, it's an eviable exciting life I lead.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Tags: via ljapp on the ol' iphone
Current Location: US, Nebraska, Kearney

Happy NYE, everyone! One year ago, I rolled back into town around noon after being fogged out of San Diego and having to overnight in Las Vegas. This year, it's easy-peasy, no such troubles since we had a no-travel Christmas.

When NYE follows one of the big every-other-year family holidays, I'm in a wonderful mood after reconnecting with everyone, but do enjoy the switch to the friends environment. This year, the people we usually go out with are leaning towards something low-key, which will be a nice change. I may even go out in jeans (gasp!). I already got to sate my pretty-dress hankerings with Justin's company party and a friend's bday shindig. I got super killer discounts on those two dresses. Both are that bandage (banded?) style, one looks more cocktail and the other in a bit more casual sweater knit.

ION, the hardwood floor installation wrapped up last night and we stayed up until we had everything put back in its place. I am almost more thrilled about the amount of stuff we were able to gut out of the closets. The name of the game was "let it go". It's all bagged and loaded in the car, and I'll drop it off at Goodwill later today. Ah, clear(er) space!

Greetings from Easley, SC. My trip has gone quite well so far. Bob's family is great and they all seemed to like me. We spent a ton of time in the car Friday evening through Sunday - Atlanta, Marietta, Rome, Alcoa/Maryville/Knoxville, Easley.

We got back here late Sunday night and Bob had to work this week, so I've been hanging out at the house by myself. He's been all apologetic about me being bored, but I've had three solid days where I didn't have to do a thing except lounge around in bed reading and surfing the internet for fun. I'm kind of bummed that today is the last one, honestly.

He's been coming back here for lunch every day, and we've been going out either on our own or with friends every evening. Tonight we're on our own, tomorrow he has the day off and we might go for a walk in a riverfront park in downtown Greenville if it's not raining, and then we're having dinner tomorrow night with one of his friends from work and her husband. I think we'll probably ring in the new year at home. We'll hang out here until about noon on Friday and then head for Atlanta. If all goes well I'll be back in LA by 6:30 Friday night.

• 10:52 Tasting my first imperial pilsner, Lion from Sri Lanka. Quite tasty. Very dangerous, a strong beer you can drink on a hot day.
• 12:39 Just got patted down by TSA on the ramp. Just searched my upper body, not bags or tactical Internet Pants.

• 09:07 Bucking the standard trend, I have now worn 100% of the clothing I brought on this trip.

• 21:25 The guys in my family are easy to shop for. yfrog.com/4i6mnqj
• 05:42 Saw a boy riding a brand new Trek. Nice to see that a) not all kids want video games and b) he had a good bike that'll last him years.
• 05:43 ...and yes, I'm well aware of the irony of that statement coming from someone who as a kid rarely wanted anything BUT video games.
• 06:01 Happy Boxing Day (Canada) everyone! #fb
• 06:24 "Pop Goes the Weasel" sounds remarkably like Prokofiev's "Montagues and Capulets" when sung by a 3-year-old. j.mp/6ThFvI%20from.mp3
• 06:33 Working link. Skip to 1:40 for the melody in question (or any melody at all, for that matter). j.mp/5etKXw
• 15:41 Is there any better way to draw attention to yourself than to wear camoflauge?

The nicer gift I got my husband this year was a framed Motawi tile.

So I was very amused to unwrap his gifts to me and find among them....two Motawi tiles.

Hee. No duplicates, thankfully.

• 19:03 I'm pretty sure I've never seen "A Christmas Story" all the way through from the beginning, but I still have the whole dang thing memorized.
• 22:14 I think Gumby said it best: "MERRY CHRISTMAS, DAMMIT!" #fb
• 23:42 Delightful and TERRIFYING! RT @Ecofriend_org Eco Tech: Siemens Lights Up World’s Biggest Revolving Christmas Star - bit.ly/8KiL6X

• 20:37 Back in the land of biscuits and fried oysters. We'll see how my waist holds out.
• 20:39 Also, Kay told me there was no way I could pack everything for my trip into a carry-on. So I tossed it all in a messenger bag instead.
• 07:47 Alabama has become a much more liveable state since I was last here. yfrog.com/3l36bcj