*a.k.a Whipped Boy

This weekend, a very large project will be underway at work. Luckily, I'm not involved in said project. CNfH has been very involved in it and has actually been quiet due to his involvement over the past 4 months or so. I believe his car naps have been at an all time minimum and the annoying calls from his wife have subsided to maybe one or two a day. FnC gal was stuck working with him though. I'm sure she had to deal with stuff like this daily.

Unfortunately, since this project is winding down, he has been less busy. The idiosyncrasies are starting to rear their ugly heads. He's started 'sharing' his music with his fellow cube neighbors this past week. I haven't been too bothered because Cedric let me borrow his Outkast cd which I've ripped and been happily stuck on. Pretty soon though, CNfH will start bringing in stuff his wife has mandated that he try to pawn off on us.

Today CNfH rode his bike in which is a pretty cool idea. I can actually add this to the list of good points about him. I noticed he was in bike riding gear when he walked in so I asked him a couple of questions about his ride. He answered but looked away slightly troubled. He was concerned about where he had left his bike so he decided to wheel it inside.

The rattiest bike I have seen in a very long time was wheeled in with care and placed in an empty cube. I'm not talking about just an older bike that you can tell has been used. This thing was rusted, dirty and had duct tape on the handle bars. It looked like it would crumble if you sneezed on it.

This is not a surprise. Not at all. Damned funny though. The reactions of the two newish contractors that started in February were priceless. I can't wait until he tries to give them used saline solution.

Labels: CNfH, Work MI

a random fact about Vin Diesel:

Bruce Campbell is the only being in our dimension capable of killing Vin Diesel, but the vacuum left by his absence would collapse the universe. To this day, the actors refuse to be wthin a thousand miles of eachother's presence."

This random fact was found on http://www.4q.cc/vin/ For more random facts, keep hitting your reload button when at the site.

This has been my comic entertainment for the past two days. Some are lame, some are pretty funny.

Thanks to Mr. Poon

Labels: Blog Spotlight, Comedy

I am completely disgruntled by the lack of spring-like weather this week. The wind chill was 28 degrees fareheit this morning. Why am I in this winter loving state to begin with?

When I was getting ready to graduate from UNC Chapel Hill (which is known as Carolina by the locals), my plan was to live in South Florida for as little as possible. I was tired of it. Unfriendly was tired of it. He didn't really care where we moved to, but he mentioned that he couldn't really see himself living in Chapel Hill. That was a bit of a downer since I really loved the little patch of cool among Republican and redneck hell that is Chapel Hill. Though, since my next goal was grad school, staying in Chapel Hill was not a possiblity. What I wanted to pursue was not offered anywhere in NC.

I was looking into computational linguistics. At the time, not many places offered it as a discipline to study. The places that did offer it were out of the country, in states that held no interest at all for me or were possibly out of my league (M.I.T for example). There were courses that were offered at other univerisites and many of those courses were usually tied into Schools of Information / Library Science. Some were tied into HCI programs, and such. I had it narrowed down to University of Michigan and Indiana University. At the time, they were top ranked. I settled on Umich because of it being nearer to a bigger city though I was dreading the thought of winter every step of the way.

I moved back to FL and Unfriendly and I lived with his folks for about 6 months before we made the move to Ypsilanti, Michigan. The way we went about our move usually shocks people. We didn't visit MI before moving. Unfriendly had done the bulk of the research about the area. We had some $ saved up but we were pretty strapped in retrospect. After six months, we were so sick of Florida, that we just picked a weekend to move and did. Unfriendly found an apartment and voila, we were out of FL.

We had no jobs lined up and a little money saved. We had no family here to 'help us out'. Unfriendly's high school buddy, the Nerd God lived in the same city (out of pure coincidence, might I add) He was probably poorer than us combined though. We just had each other.
I had some techie experience but not enough to get a techie job. I ended up in recruiting due to my contractor background as an HR grunt. I was working within the second week of our move. Unfriendly's luck in finding a job took longer though. I think he was unemployed for a month. He did finally land a job at Domino's World Headquarters doing help desk work. We were working. We were set.

The plan was to live in MI long enough for Umich to consider me a resident, get my Master's in HCI and go on our merry way in about two years. I did visit Umich's School of Info during an open house only to find that the program they touted on their website (which was nowhere as developed as it is now) and glorified in their literature was not as fleshed out as they made it appear to be. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I know I was a bit of a fool to not visit and investigate the school before making such a momentous decision. I blame it on just how sucky S FL can be.

So, my Master's career was on hold. I enjoyed working at the small company where I dealt with resumes, etc for about 2 years. Unfriendly learned a lot at Domino's and enjoyed the folks he worked with. After two years, I was starting to get bored. I'm the type of person who needs intellectual stimulation in order to be happy. This wasn't happening. I was being paid quite generously for what I did but bored out of my mind. By now, more schools offered comp ling and Georgetown required some background in object oriented programming for acceptance.

Programming? The mere though made me a bit ill. I studied Haskell at Carolina for a semester and felt like the dumbest girl in the world. I decided to study C++ programming at the local community college and expected to hate it, be satisfied with the comfirmation of hating it and come to terms with the fact that I either had to find another course of study or nix the idea of higher education for now. I enrolled in Intro to C++ in the Fall of 2001 and found my new love. I realized that the reason why I felt I was floundering in Haskell was due to lack of time. I took 16 credits my final semester at Carolina and any intro to programming course requires boatloads of study time unless you are just naturally inclined to it.

By this time Unfriendly was moving up in the IT world skill-wise. His certifications had been paid through work and he was excelling. Well, as well as work would let him. Unfriendly was pissed at the politics of Domino's and got himself a rep for being a negative influence. He was bringing down morale because he wouldn't stop discussing the flaws/issues that he was finding. Though I was happy with being a student again, work was bringing me down as well and I really, really just wanted to quit and find something more technical. Unfriendly had started looking for work outside of MI.

In late February of 2002, we had been in MI for two and a half years. I came home one day after work and an evening class to find out that Unfriendly had been fired. "Crap," I thought to myself. So much for quitting my job....

Labels: About Glitzy, Ann Arbor, Linguistics

I don't know all the in depth stuff like the art consultant, etc. Ergo, I am ...

Hoggle Congratulations! You scored 75%!

You are noble and caring and know many things of the Labyrinth, but are distracted by a pretty face and shiny... oooh, shiny! (Clears throat!) But you have avoided the kiss of the eternal stentch.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 80% on Goblinpoints

Link: The Labyrinth Test written by bear_faerie on Ok Cupid

Labels: Movies, Online Quizzes

I need to put in a Firefox/Mozilla button that says that this site is best viewed in that. Either that or by clicking the individual entry you want to read in either IE or Firefox. My tables are doing weird overlapping things in the default blog view in IE.

Labels: Blog Update

Last weekend I decided it was high time I go outside and start working on the tiny patch of lawn that I have. It's actually mostly patio with some green trimming. The previous tenants of our townhouse had actually planted some daffodils, tulips and another type of flowering plant. (Yeah, green thumb glitzy I am not)

So, last Sunday I was out trying to remove a bunch of rocks from one side of the yard and took Pumpkin out with me. She wasn't too thrilled that we weren't doing a neighborhood prowl where she could delight in getting me tangled around bushes and fences. She decideded that the best way she could re-enact getting me tangled was to hang out in the neighbors yard, on the opposite side of the fence.

Check out her 'You Can't See Me' pose here. See how the leash is pulling against that concrete bit? Cats are funny. Well, at least I think my cats are funny. Luckily, this neighbor has two cats of her own and thinks Pumpkin is adorable.

The other neighbor isn't a big fan of cats. Actually, she's probably not a big fan of either me or Unfriendly right now. She just sent her older kid over to ask us to turn the music down. Unfriendly decided it was time to play Queen really loudly. Oh well.

Getting back to the topic, I was out in the nice warm sun trying to make the lawn areas I have fecund. The lawn was supposed to be a happy place, ready for sod, grass seed, other flowers...err...or whatever order that's supposed to go in. And I was tickled that my kitty-girl was enjoying herself too.




This weekend I planned on continuing my efforts to become green thumb glitzy. Well, I completely FORGOT that I live in stupid Michigan.

This is how close Pumpkin got to being my gardening helper today.

What the?

I wanna go OUT

Yes. That is snow that is outside my office window. Snow. In April. In LATE April. The forecast calls for...more SNOW. Until Monday. Now, It's supposed to get up to 52 degrees on Monday so at least it will melt.

*sigh*

So, I've been going throught the rest of my New York pictures and trying to contstruct the rest of my travel-blog entries. (I had no clue just how many pictures I took in the Museum of Modern Art) and playing some World of Warcraft. No outside for me. Not until I have to dig out my car.

Hopefully, next weekend won't look like this.


These two pics were taken by Unfriendly

Berries and snow.

Labels: Kitty Kids, Pumpkin, Winter

Barbie.

Perhaps she is the quintessence of what all little girls dream to be. This can currently be seen as a sad statement, bound to incite all women who rally against this stereotypical standard of “All American” beauty. However at age five, I idolized Barbie with impunity. After all, she who had the most Barbie toys won, or so it seemed at St. Timothy’s Lutheran Kindergarten. Yet, my aim was not to be the champion of all things Barbie since Legos provided more long-term play satisfaction. No, I wanted to LOOK like her.

I would play a game with God. I’d take a chair into the bathroom so I could stand up and reach the mirror. I’d close my eyes and pray with a fervor unknown to most zealots for a MIRACLE. After all, Mrs. Kipp told all of her kindergartners that miracles only happened to good people and I was good . . . uh. . . mostly good. And for some reason, I thought that the faster you prayed, the quicker the miracle would occur so my mental prayer would sound something like:

“Deargodthisisglitzyhereandi’vereallytriedtobegoodthisweekandi’veonlymademamimad
oncethisweeksowon’tyoupleasepleasepleasechangethesethreelittlethingsandthankyouvery
muchamen.”

I wanted creamy pale skin, blue eyes, blonde hair . . . and when I opened my eyes, the mirror sadly reflected back those same brown eyes, that same black hair and the same bronze skin time and time again.

Mami had Barbie’s creamy skin, but had dark hair and dark eyes like me. Sunday mornings when we’d get ready for church, she would pull out a container full of loose powder and apply it to her face. At the time, I didn’t understand the need for this ritual. She was obviously the same shade as the powder, so she didn’t look any different after applying it. This was clearly another one of those things that I would have automatic understanding of when I reached that magical stage of “being older.” But for now, I was in kindergarten and the only thing that was unfathomable to me there was why Heidi, my best friend at the time, could swing so much higher than me. After all, I was taller.

It was almost Christmas. At school, Mrs. Kipp was showing us how to make construction paper Christmas trees, decked in glitter and marker. We were also making lists of what we wanted in order to mail them to Santa Claus. That was it!!! Santa! After all, couldn’t I ask for what I wanted for Christmas? Imagine my family’s surprise on Christmas morning when I showed up in the living room with blonde ringlets hanging down my shoulders instead of my black ones! To see the world with blue eyes . . . would that be so much different than with my brown ones?

After I finished decorating my tree, I started on my list. Of course I wanted more Lego-land stuff. There was no such thing as too many Legos. I drew some Lego blocks and wrote the word, ‘Legos’ next to my picture. And, of course I wanted more Barbie clothes, Barbie’s horse and Western Barbie. If you pressed her back, she blinked. I drew a makeshift horse ridden by a stick figure Barbie, some extra clothes and wrote this next to my pictures : ‘Barbie, Barbie Horse and clothes for Barbie and p.s. you know what.’ Mrs. Kipp was doing her rounds as we worked on our trees and lists. When she got to mine she told me she liked my picture and tried to get more information on my mysterious post-script. I just smiled.

“Is that a big secret?” she asked me

“No. I just don’t want to mess anything up. He knows what I want!” She patted my back before she moved onto the next table.

In retrospect, Mrs. Kipp probably thought I was one of her silliest little kids. Later on that day we were very rambunctious. She told us all to zip our lips and lock them with a key. Since I was the last one in line to go out for recess, I walked over to her desk and handed her my imaginary key. She looked confused.

“What is this?”

I looked up at her and thought to myself, “I can’t say anything. I’ve just locked my mouth up! If I’m not good, Santa won’t bring me my presents.” I unlocked a corner of my mouth and unzipped it a little.

“The key,” I said out of the corner of my mouth. I promptly zipped my mouth back up and locked it. After I gave her the key, I scampered off to join the rest of my class.

On Christmas Eve I was excited. I didn’t fall asleep after Mass like I did the year before. I knew that I had to get to sleep somehow because if not, Santa couldn’t give me my post-script. Wait a minute! What if Santa couldn’t grant wishes? I sat up in bed, very distressed by the idea. Well, there was only one way to find out. I lay back down and eventually, sleep came.

When I woke up that Christmas, I jumped out of bed and looked at myself in my mirror. Nothing. Nothing had changed. Though I was a little sad, I wasn’t completely disconsolate. After all, I still had one last thing to try - - my mother’s powder. Since I knew where she kept this powder that I thought might have the potential to change one of my physical attributes to fit a more Barbie-like image, I waited patiently to take matters into my own hands. Especially since my behavior was probably not up to God’s or Mrs. Kipp’s standards for miracle work.

One morning, I woke up earlier than usual and found that my older sister was not around. This wasn’t astonishing news. It was Saturday and she always had bowling practice or something on Saturday mornings. My father the ever-working mechanic was also not home, and Mami . . . was in the shower! My mother never took short showers. Instead of running into the living room to watch a whole extra hour or so of cartoons I decided to take a chance and finally experiment with the mysterious powder. I tip toed into my parents’ room and sat at my mother’s vanity table. She happened to have her powder out, along with an assortment of other cosmetics. However, it was not time for play. This was serious.

The sound of the shower had not stopped. I was safe. I held my breath as I pulled off the top of the container. The woman drawn on the cover was a Spanish dancer. The product name was Talisman. Though I didn’t know what that word meant in either Spanish or English, I did need luck. And I did want something to produce a magical effect. I picked up the puff and made sure it had enough powder by imitating the same set of movements I had seen my mother perform Sunday after Sunday. I closed my eyes and felt quite sure that this time something was bound to work in my favor. I patted my face and neck with the powder puff, opened my eyes and looked down at my arms. I decided to include them as well. Pat, pat, pat . . .a cloud of powder had enveloped me. I had gotten so involved in the act that I didn’t realize that the shower had stopped.

I looked in the mirror and was surprised at what I saw. My eyelashes were powdered and gave my eyes an odd bug out effect. My lips were the same powdery color and texture as the rest of my face. I was pale but I didn’t look natural. I looked like I was covered in flour! I looked past myself in the mirror and saw Mami standing in the doorway to the bathroom, wearing one of her many housedresses. I thought she was mad but then I realized that she was holding her hand to her mouth, stifling the laughter that was threatening to escape her.

“What are you doing, mi niña?” she said. It was then that I knew that her powder wasn’t magical. To state the obvious would further deflate me. I put the puff down. The tears started rolling down my face. I looked in the mirror once more and saw the paths they were cutting through the powder on my face. Mami scooped me up and sat me down on her lap on her bed. She wiped my tears away with a tissue.

“Traviesa,” she said as she hugged me. That was true. I was mischievous. I snuggled into her and inhaled her soapy clean smell. As she held me, she told me that I was too little to realize that I couldn’t become whiter though I could get darker in the sun and that I’d understand why things were the way they were when I was older.

It is almost twenty years later and I am older. I have a general understanding of the complexities of my genetic traits and proudly accept my non Barbie-ness. What is more difficult for me to easily embrace is adulthood. Remembering being little seems somewhat easier and I hadn’t really done that until recently. This is due mainly to Rachelle Ann. She is what I call my niece-to-be, just as Atilla-The-Mom, her mother, is my sister-in-law-to-be. Unfriendly just shakes his head at me. He has thoroughly accepted that the woman he is going to marry is thoroughly odd and he likes that just fine, thank you very much.*

Rachelle just had her fifth birthday this past August. Over the summer, Barbie displays had actually caught my eye because of her. The thought of Barbie as a role model for the young girls of America had also not crossed my mind until this summer. How bad was it for me to want to look like Barbie? At five I didn’t see that as denying my Hispanic roots. How bad was it for Rachelle to only wear pink clothing, a tiara and Barbie slippers? Was buying her a Barbie lunchbox for her birthday part of a ploy to brainwash kindergarten girls and perpetuate an unrealistic standard of female beauty? My ideas during a simple trip to Wal-Mart were quickly becoming the introductory paragraph to some women’s studies essay. I turned to Unfriendly and asked him if he thought his sister had bought the kids school supplies for the coming year. Since he wasn’t sure I decided to wait on the Barbie lunchbox idea.

One weekend morning Rachelle and her family appeared at Unfriendly's parent’s house right after we woke up. He and I were in the kitchen, getting some sort of breakfast together. Rachelle was standing on the other side of the counter looking at me with her big brown eyes. Her blonde ringlets spilled over her shoulders and framed the pink hearts on her tee shirt nicely. She was missing her tiara today, but I didn’t say anything about that. After a couple of minutes of staring at me she asked,

“Are you my Aunt Glitzy?”

I couldn’t help but smile to myself. I wasn’t wearing my glasses and I’m sure I looked a lot different. I decided to confirm her suspicions by chasing her down the hall and tickling her, a favorite game of ours.

Her question did cause me to think about those physical attributes that I wanted to change when I was five. If I fed her love of Barbie paraphernalia, would she eventually come to see Barbie as her personal savior like the waitress in Barbara Kingsolver’s, Pig’s in Heaven and only buy clothes that matched the latest Barbie fashions? Would she not go to that extreme and, instead, edit the next version of Mondo Barbie or maybe write for it? Would she come to feel odd about the fact that her Auntie G was the antithesis of Barbie? I voiced my concerns to Unfriendly.

“Maybe what will happen is that she’ll outgrow Barbie dolls, just like you did and turn out just fine,” he said to me while trying not to smirk to himself.

I bought her the lunchbox that afternoon.

*This was written in 1998 long before we decided to be 'Marriage Free'

Labels: About Glitzy, Ethnicity, Nostalgic Glitzy

Today is surreal. My eyes seem like they're stretchy like taffy and my jaw feels slightly numb.

Why?

I could not fall asleep last night. Not at all. I'm blaming it on Delirium Nocturnum
Unfriendly and I decided to hit a store for a beer run last night at 9 ish. The local party store, Big Ten, was closed so we tried another local shop, Bello Vino. It was also closed. So, we went to Whole Foods which was open 'til 10. We got a nice assortment of beers along with some smoked mozzerella pasta and parfaits. After munching, we decided to try the Delirium Nocturum. Not bad. Not as good as the Delirium Tremens we had a while back, but drinkable. After a bit, Unfriendly and I got nice and friendly and after all was said and done, he was out. I was not. I. Was. Wide. Awake.

Dammit.

I lay there until 3 am, attempting to sleep and fighting the urge to get up and get a glass of water. At 3 am, I figured it would be best to not sleep because that's less painful for me.

I was productive. Laundry? Done. Dishes? Somewhat done. I worked out to my new Crunch Cardio Salsa dvd, did ab work on my stability ball and got ready for work. Got to work at 6am which means I was out by 3pm.

I am now in a state where I feel very tired but can't quite sleep yet. Frustrating.

I'm hoping this doesn't turn into an evening where I'm worrying about falling asleep. Isn't that how insomnia starts?

Hopefully, I'll look something like this soon ->

Labels: Glitzy: Alcoholic

Double penetration ! In vogue

Labels: Comedy, InternetLand WTF

Ever since I've come back from vacation, everything has felt off. I can't seem to get back into the swing of my life. I think this is because I didn't really have a proper vacation.

Errands? Monday is my errand day. I haven't really felt like doing them. I think the dinner options for the rest of the week are very slim seeing as how all there is in the freezer are frozen veggies, frozen ground turkey and ice cream. Oh, and ice cubes. Maybe Unfriendly and I will just eat ice cubes tonight.

Working out? I've somehow managed to re-sprain my right ankle and my right hip has been killing me on and off for about two weeks. I bought a stability ball and have been using that. It doesn't compensate for 45 minutes of sweating my tuckus off though.

Blogging? Well, you all have witnessed my lack of posting the rest of my travelogue. (I hope to by the weekend though. I have other neat pictures to share.)

Today I think has been the 'most off' I've felt so far though

Mister Underhill's post on programming got me thinking about why I got into it to begin with. It was completely accidental. I took a course in C++ to see if I would like it because a Master's degree program I was looking into required knowledge of object oriented programming. No one was more surprised than me when I found I loved it. I majored in English literature and Linguistics and tried to avoid math as much as possible even though I did secretely enjoy it. I love having to use my brain to solve problems / puzzles and I absolutely loved logic class in college. That should have been a big old hint, but I didn't take it. Happens when you're 20 and more concerned with other stuff and just want to get the school thing OVER with.

Luckily enough, I got hired in someplace as a newbie programmer with zero prior on the job programming experience two years ago. I've learned a great deal in the past two years. And though I have had bouts with boredom here at CurrentJob, it's been 100 times better than PastJob where I was stuck in the hell that is HR. I never, ever, ever want to have to review resumes and interview people for a living.

There I went off into Tangent Land again...forgive me...back to my point...

Today started off bad because, I woke up in a crabby, crabby mood which is highly unusual for me. When I got to work, I got to thinking about how I haven't really gotten to work on anything new that I was hoping to work on this year and how, as a result of it, my brain feels like it's been dying. The crap I have been "working" on isn't even in house code. It's crap. Crap I've had to standardize (read that as copy, paste, format and make work for CurrentJob) which just makes me feel like a trained rat. And crabby. Super, mondo pissy glitzy.

I've got something new to work on now that does require me to use my brain so at least I have that as a bright light at the end of my tunnel.

And maybe now that I've vented a bit, I'll be able to get back on track.

Labels: Glitzy: Crabby, Programming, Work MI

This is the first project I started working on after completing my swatch of many stitches. I wanted to make a scalloped edge scarf. I think it's coming out ok. It's spring now though. Can't wear it 'til next October so I'm not to eager to have to finish it. To say I've been lazy about working on it is a complete understatement. So, I decided to start up on a new project before heading to NY.

I have some Homespun yarn that was gifted to me by FormerBlondie™ along with my Art of Knitting DVD. In my opinion, it's not really a beginner's yarn. It is neat yarn though. After doing most of what you see here, I figured I'd try my hand at the Homespun yarn again. I figured I'd just work in garter stitch so I wouldn't have to think about what stitch to do on what row, etc. and came up with this

The marker is where I increased a stitch on each side. I figured I could try to make this into a little bag. Everything below the marker would be the flap of the bag and when I get the part above the marker long enough, I'm going to fold it and connect the sides. I'm not sure how well that will work. I tend to wing my crafting projects after I've learned stitches or techniques.

Labels: Crafty Projects, FormerBlondie™, Knitty Glitzy

WoW

Labels: Photos, Pumpkin, Unfriendly, WoW

http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/07/tv.cookie.lessmonster.ap/index.html

I learned about this earlier in the morning when I was listening to The Morning X. Chuck, one of the guy djs, brought up the following point -> Dave, the other guy dj has a toddler whose first taste of chocolate was this past Easter. He keeps asking for chocolate but since Dave and his wife are responsible parents, their son doesn't always get the chocolate whenever he wants.

Chuck concluded that some parents needed to be hit over the head with a metal object.

If folks are thinking that cookie monster is a reason why kids are obese, they do need to be bopped on the head.

Changing the personality of this childhood icon is annoying to me. Is Oscar now going to be pleasant and neat since kids should be neat and pleasant? I could see bringing in a new character that would be the opposite of Cookie Monster that would talk about how cookies should be a 'sometimes food'.

Thoughts? I'm curious.

Labels: Article Link, Interactive, InternetLand WTF

Stolen from bella....I know I've seen it around on other's blogs as well. Doing this took up all my working brain cells though. Mind you, the brain cells have been horribly affected by cold medicine and pain killer. More NY stuff to come.

"Choose a band/artist and answer these questions only in song titles by that band/artist"

Are you male or female:
Describe yourself:
How do some people feel about you:
How do you feel about yourself:
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend:
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend:
Describe where you want to be:
Describe what you want to be:
Describe how you live:
Describe how you love:
Share a few words of wisdom:

Version 1 - The Black Crowes

Are you male or female: Girl From A Pawnshop
Describe yourself: Downtown Money Waster
How do some people feel about you: She Gave Good Sunflower
How do you feel about yourself: Jealous Again / Soul Singing
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend: Thorn In My Pride
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend: Miracle To Me
Describe where you want to be: P. 25 London
Describe what you want to be: A Conspiracy
Describe how you live:Virtue and Vice
Describe how you love: Better When You're Not Alone
Share a few words of wisdom: No Speak No Slave

Version 2 - No Doubt

Are you male or female: Just A Girl
Describe yourself: Under Construction
How do some people feel about you: You Can Do It
How do you feel about yourself:Hella Good
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend: Comforting Lie
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend:You're So Foxy
Describe where you want to be: Sailin' On
Describe what you want to be: Sixteen
Describe how you live:Big Distraction
Describe how you love:Full Circle
Share a few words of wisdom: I Throw My Toys Around

Labels: About Glitzy, Memes, Music

Last Wednesday I actually worked. Unfriendly was smart and took that day off. Now that I've come back and found that what I've been assigned to has been changed via the vendor, I basically have to start all of my work over from scratch. NONE of the work I did prior to today matters. I should have just been irresponsible. Someday I will learn when saying 'fuck this' is appropriate.

Anytheways....

Unfriendly and I left on time to get to the airport only to discover that our flight had been delayed. Instead of flying out at 9:08, we weren't airborne until well after midnight. We passed the time by watching Invader Zim on dvd. I actually knitted while watching Invader Zim and got lots of funny looks because I have no problem laughing out loud inappropriately in public places while knitting and wearing a large floppy hat. The probablity of my glasses being tilted askew giving me what I call 'crazy librarian look' did not help matters, I'm sure.

We got to LaGuardia by 1:30 am or so and by the time we got our luggage, found transportation and arrived at the Hudson Hotel, it was about 3 am. This made waking up on Thursday HARD.

Thursday 3/24 - Daytime
Now, Unfriendly and I didn't do any hardcore planning about what to do / see when. We just figured we'd do whatever moved us on a particular day. I really wanted to visit Columbia again so after getting my dress for the opera to Gramercy Cleaners and eating brunch at the Cosmic Coffee Shop , we were Columbia bound.

We took the 1 train to get there and wandered around campus for a bit. Then we pretended we were touring the college and sat in on an information session and took a campus tour. I am blanking out on my tour guide's name but do remember that she was an applied math major and had a pretty good sense of humor. I also learned from her tour that my beloved alma mater pays Columbia for the use of the 'Carolina Blue' color. I haven't done any research on this...YET.

While we were standing in front of the building, I noticed that Julia Stiles walked out of it and was headed elsewhere on campus. I forgot that she was a student there. Of course, I also forgot her name at the time so I watched her rush on past, probably hoping no one in our little tour group would notice her. Some smug looking giggly gals who were walking by us asked the group if they noticed that Julia Stiles just walked by. "That's her name," I thought to myself. The news that a celeb was in the vicinity caused a buzz around the mainly 17 -18 year old kids and their parents in our little tour group.

After a little bit, I decided that Unfriendly and I should ditch the tour group and head toward the bookstore for a Columbia fleece. Of course, it's in the 50s this week so I really don't need it. But, I have it for next winter! I also got some cool snaps of some some campus stuff.



Former library. Butler Library now holds most of the books.
The Visitors Center is located here.


Unfriendly liked this. I didn't note what it was.
I imagine I can look it up.

Sculpture in front of Uris Hall which is where I had
most of my classes during the summer of '91.

Erected in 2004.

We finished off our Columbia tour by walking past Schapiro Hall which is where I lived for a month and a half. That hadn't really changed at all.

Thursday 3/24 (Evening)
After freshening up at the hotel, we decided to head out to dinner. The Hudson plays Applevision on their tvs which gives you touristy information on neat spots to visit for dinner, plays, sights, etc. I don't think I've mentioned this in very much depth, but Unfriendly is a beer afficianado. Breweries have been his thing since 2003 or so. Whenever we go anywhere, we try to find neat brew pubs to check out. So, for our first night in the city, we decided to head to Heartland Brewery and Chophouse at Times Square for dinner. He had the seasonal sampler which gave5 oz samples of both their seasonal and standard beers. All together, that was 40 ounces of beer. Isn't it a sight to see?


I had a half pint of their Belgian Chocolate Wit which was just divine.

After dinner, we walked around Times Square.


We noticed that there was a gal playing in some studio and that there was a small crowd that also seemed to be trying to figure out who she was. We looked up and figured out the the Volvo For Life Awards were being held there. Um. Ok. So, we took a pic and then went on our merry way. It didn't come out very well so it's not here. Sorry to disappoint.

We wandered around the giant Toys R Us store and had a blast because we are just large children.



After about an hour of that, we went back out amongst the crowds. We did try to go into the Hershey store but were too late. It had already closed. When we made it back across the street from the studio, Unfriendly stopped and said, "Listen". I stopped. I listened. It was 'Sometimes Salvation'. I felt my eyes get really big as I realized with certainty that The Black Crowes were just feet away from me. I remember I said something to the effect of, "Cross. Now."

How often has one of your favorite bands been playing on the street that you just happen to be strolling on? Add to the fact that the last time I paid attention, they were broken up. As far as I knew, they were no more Black Crowes concerts for me to attend. I was giddy. Ridiculously giddy. And hot damn! I had a camera! And I had a tall person who could see over people to take those pictures for me! (Unfriendly is 6'5")






I should add that Unfriendly was extremely patient and getting a kick out of my complete and utter joy and insistence that he get good shots of Rich Robinson. The lighting and movement didn't bode well for shots but I have some movies. The one here is hosted at Yahoo so I'm sure my bandwith will be exceeded.

I only caught some of the set and actually found the set list here ... and it seems that this was their third performance as a rejoined band from what I read here.


Click me for more info about the Volvo for Life Awards

So, my first day in NYC was not too shabby. Tune in later for Friday - Sunday's report.

Labels: Glitzy: Alcoholic, Music, Photos, Vacation