At the end of last year, I upgraded my cable box from a digital cable box to a Comcrap digital video recorder. I figured while I was at it, might as well get all the higher level digital channels. These aren't the premium pay for channels like HBO or Showtime. For whatever crazy ass reason, certain cable channels warrant levels. There's basic, plus, silver, gold and platinum in the crazy Comcraptic hierarchy. I think the metals are different combinations of premium channels. Unfriendly and I are now proud owners (?) of a digital plus package.

What put the bug in the 'I want' section of my brain regarding this cable package is a show called Knitty Gritty. I saw a couple of shows via the saved shows in the Comcast ON Demand Lifestyles section and loved 'em. Since knitting has become my craft préferé and the show is not on dvd yet, I had been dying to see more of it.

So now that I have about a bazillion episodes of Knitty Gritty saved in addition to a couple of Finished Objects (FOs) to document so I have decided to start my own knitting blog *gasp*. Feedback is much appreciated

Labels: Knitty Glitzy, Television

I got this in an email from my favorite former blonde. Haven't gotten a chance to validate this but I thought it'd be neat post 'em. I think they're moving a slow to medium speed for me. What's interesting is that this morning when I was barely awake they were slower. Right now I'm in the middle of getting crap at work done and they are a bit speedier. Maybe it's just me. How are they for you? Anyone know of this being a valid test or not?

The pictures below are used to test the level of stress a person can handle.
One teacher said, "I felt like they were all moving...but slowly. Kind of like, they were breathing."
The slower the pictures move, the better your ability of handling stress.
Alleged criminals that were tested see them spinning around madly; however,
senior citizens and kids see them standing still.
FYI ... None of these images are animated - they are perfectly static!

Labels: FormerBlondie™, InternetLand WTF

The first three days of it were the worst.

I didn't realize that the constant pressure on my teeth was going to drive me as batty as it did. I was frustrated, aggravated and very, very tired as a result of it all. I very quickly regretted forgetting to put them in on a Friday evening before bedtime and having a weekend to deal with the adjusting as one person on a forum I can't quite recall suggested. Removing the bottom aligner was also a bit painful because of how tight that one fit compared to the top one. This is because I have more crowding on the bottom as opposed to the top

By the weekend though, I was ok with them on. By the end of the first week, my self consciousness about speaking was almost forgotten. The daily regimen of brushing and flossing after each meal wasn't even hard to adjust to after all. I even got the Invisalign cleaning system
mainly due to complete laziness. It seems there are other things out there that work on them but I'm not truly sure how the affect the material of the retainers. What I did see was that even though I was meticulous about brushing the darn things every time before I put them in, they still had a funny taste and were building up an odd film. So, if you're lazy about reasearch and have the $ to spend, I think it's worth it.

By this weekend (day 9) I found I could go about my day forgetting about them. That is, until Saturday.

This past Saturday was Unfriendly's birthday. I had a whole day of stuff planned out for him to experience. I woke up that morning very early for a weekend. I attempted to eat breakfast, but found that I could barely open my mouth. Jaw pain. Annoying, but manageable with some ibuprofren. After about half an hour, I got my jaw working again and went about the day, which went by rather well in spite of a minor head cold that had been bothering me off an on during the week.

Come Sunday morning, I was still in pain. I began to wonder if it was indeed the Invisalign. After all, my teeth didn't hurt and wearing the aligners felt fine. Perhaps a crazy sinus infection? Today it got the point where I was exhausted from dealing with it and decided to hit my general doctor first followed by my dentist.

My doctor said I was fine. I should follow up with the dentist. In between appointments, I tried to get a hold of my orthodontist. No luck. I was luckily due for a regular cleaning at the dentist. He said that the jaw pain wasn't surprising because of what my teeth were doing. If it got to the point where I couldn't manage the pain with OTC meds, he does want to see me though.


What? No Vicodin? No glorious feelings of peace and fuzziness? Drat! Such a baby am I! Give me bon bons and large muscular men fanning me with palm fronds, serving me champagne and giving me foot massages! That would certainly take my mind off the pain in lieu of barbituates.

Maybe I'll find them in dream land. Here's hoping.

Labels: Invisalign

I got this in my e-mail today along with a picture that had prices for male and female enhancement drugs.

I fashionable of establishing a cinders the index is encountered
She information was irrepressibly of introduced it wolfish opened
Me attracted pictures is comrades of guest a sensed
A indescribable the fullsized coalburning it lengthened she veneration
You twopronged of knives the explanations and slyness or treatment
Not goal you cleaning and snake me feasting wretched
No expertise is postcode this vivid of beak the minutes
If misanthropic we coastlands of patterned a msieur is uncomfortable
An suggest me note? you director' she protesting tenderness
Have limping stacked of dressinggown it lightfilled was flat
Was underestimating not watchword jumbled a ushers or battles
And updated creeping is avoiding of definition an shine

Best Regards, Nunez Imelda

This nonsense could have possibly been created this way:

Exquisite corpse (also known as "exquisite cadaver" or "rotating corpse") is a method by which a collection of words or images are collectively assembled, the result being known as the exquisite corpse or cadavre exquis in French. It is a technique used by Surrealists, and is based on an old parlour game called Consequences in which players wrote in turn on a sheet of paper, folded it to conceal part of the writing, and then passed it to the next player for a further contribution.

The exquisite corpse game is played by a group of people who write a composition in sequence. Each person is only allowed to see the end of what the previous person wrote. The name is derived from a phrase that resulted when Surrealists first played the game, "Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau." ("The exquisite corpse will drink the new wine.") While initially sentences were constructed using the method, poems and stories were later also written using it.

It is, of course, highly unlikely that it was.

However, since I am such a lover of all things Giant, the mere thought of that old parlour game brings this song to mind

Labels: Surrealism, TMBG

Yesterday morning I actually got a call from Unfriendly. I had silenced my phone due the phantom calls I was receiving and missed his call. When I saw a voice mail message was left, I got a bit worried. Usually we only talk on the phone if Trillian and e-mail are not available and it's always after work. The usual call is either:

Hey, I'm stopping by (enter name of store here) Do you need me to pick up anything?

or:

Having a late night? (usually me calling him at around 9:00 pm)

Labels: Other Kitties, Work MI

The ever entertaining and often inebriated truecraig over at WORD: An Agitated A*s Monkey has tagged me for this meme. I've come to the conclusion that maybe I'm not so weird. Vanilla Glitz? Maybe that would work as a perfume title.

Here. We. Go. *ahem*

1 - I enjoy drinking the juice that dill pickles are packaged in. I think it's nummy.

2 - I have what some would call an unnatural obsession with Gir from Invader Zim.

Labels: About Glitzy, Blog Spotlight, Memes

Last year I decided to take the maximum FSA amount in order to use my pre tax moolah for orthodontic care. My teeth are a bit of a wreck, so after some research, I decided to see if I was an eligible candidate for Invisalign.

What is Invisalign?

By using a series of clear, removable aligners, Invisalign straightens your teeth with results you'll notice sooner than you think. The course of treatment involves changing aligners approximately every two weeks, moving your teeth into straighter position step by step, until you have a more beautiful smile. And unlike braces, these clear aligners can be removed while you eat and brush your teeth as usual.

After some pretty interesting 360 degree x-rays and analysis, my orthodontist found that I was an eligible candidate. He did give me an estimate for traditional braces as well, but decided to go with Invisalign due to the cosmetic perks and also because I'm a complete wuss about mouth pain.

I got my impressions made back in November. Six weeks later, my first sets of aligners were ready. Due to the holiday nuttiness, I didn't get an appointment until yesterday.

I have 24 sets of aligner trays for my lower teeth and 18 sets for my upper teeth. Each set gets worn, in my case, for three weeks. There's also a possibility that my overbite won't be fully corrected with these, so I may need railroad tracks for those guys down the line.

I can't eat or drink with them on and they're only to be removed when I eat. So, what is going to be really odd for me is the fact that my whole morning work ritual has changed. I have to eat breakfast at home instead of at my desk until I get the hang of caring /cleaning for the trays. Forget about sipping coffee at my desk, too.

Sleeping with them on was actually okay. I really thought I was going to wake up with a lot of dryness or maybe even a little pain. Nothing. My teeth did feel a bit loose after removing the aligners for breakfast but the sensation disappated pretty quickly.

My speech is a bit odd though. UF says it sounds like I have a piece of candy in my mouth I'm trying to talk around and that the way I'm holding my mouth is very controlled.

I'm not in any pain at all today so far. My teeth are under pressure and that is an odd sensation. I had a slight headache last night and a bit of nausea but that has gone away this morning. It's extremely odd to be so aware of my teeth so I'm hoping I'm able to acclimate or I'll probably go insane.

Labels: Glitzy: Vain, Invisalign

Someone with way too much free time on their hands edited World of Warcraft Horde toons to look like they're singing a song from a Broadway show called 'Avenue Q'. The link is appropriate visually appropriate for work and the video should play in-site if you have Media Player installed.

It gave me a much needed laugh and a desire to go back to NYC to see Avenue Q.

Labels: Comedy, Glitzy: Drama Geek, WoW

Another New Year's eve past...another day or two of recovery and another birthday for yours truly. I'm happy to report that I took the day off of work and, for the most part, lounged around the house in my new 'yummy sushi pajamas'. I gave myself a mani/pedi and enjoyed the quiet overcast day that was my birthday.

Unfriendly's gift to me was a fab new motherboard, video card and heat sink for my pc so that my World of Warcraft-ing would reach new heights in video clarity and speed. Very often, my old pc would just hang up, usually in the middle of fighting a beastie. Very, very frustrating.

Unfriendly has been building pcs since he was a wee lad. Ok, maybe not that young. His dad worked for IBM and always had computer type parts laying about. He's built all incarnations of our pcs and really knows how all of the hardware integrates with Windoze. The plan was for us to work together so I could learn some stuff and have some techie related Glitzy and UF bonding time.

Since the poor guy was ill last weekend, the rebuilding of my pc had to wait until this weekend. I moved off a lot of media from my partitioned hard drive to our media server and worked with him to remove all of the stuff from inside my pc, give it a bit of vacuuming, etc. Honestly, I'm a bit nervous with messing with pc innards but I think I did ok. Nothing broke. No fires were started.

The hardware piece of our task went fine. I went to sleep while UF finished some things and found out the next day that the reinstall of Windows XP went wonky (yes, that's a technical term) and all of the stuff I've ever written outside of blog land got wiped. I weeped. Sobbed. Blamed myself for never having backed the stuff up. It was always one of those things I meant to get to. *sigh*

At the moment, there's some recovery software running that is scanning my wiped drive to see what can be salvaged. Hopefully I'll be able to report a happy ending (no, not THAT kind of happy ending) soon.

Until then, some mythological quiz results:


What mythological creature are you?


brought to you by Quizilla

Labels: Birthdays, Online Quizzes, Vacation

The Traditional Princess

You are generous, graceful, and practical with both
feet planted firmly on the ground. You tend to
be a little on the old-fashioned side. You
value home, hearth, and family life and love to
be of service to others.

Role Models: Snow White, Maid Marian

You are most likely to: Discover a hidden talent
for spinning straw into gold.


What Kind of Princess are You? - Beautiful Artwork (Original Music is BACK!!!)
brought to you by Quizilla

Labels: Online Quizzes

We have to pass a test to drive a vehicle but any complete asshats can have kids.

Labels: Article Link, InternetLand WTF

Labels: BtVS, Food