NaNoWriMo Word Count so far:
13: There once was a guy named Dave, who seemed to need a shave...
just kidding!
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November 2002 Archives
November 1, 2002
I KNEW it!
Caffeine is good for you! And now there is a whole book about it.. which I don't time to read, but still!
The Caffeine Advantage: How to Sharpen Your Mind, Improve Your Physical Performance, and Achieve Your Goals--The Healthy Way
Welcome to the new domain!
I decided to get an easier to remember domain name.. one that was actually coordinated with the site name. WO! I registered the domain on a whim awhile ago and decided to move on over before the writing fest consumed me.
November 2, 2002
Procrastination or Just a Break?
I'm writing this morning, because I'm a writer now, you know. I'm not finding the writing so difficult. My main character is a girl, living in Boston, a little disgruntled with her job, wants to escape her cube to do bigger and better things. She's kind of a sarcastic wiseass (which gets her into trouble sometimes) who rolls her eyes frequently. Don't know who that could be - obviously my imagination has gone wild! Of course when you have no outline, no pre thought out characters or plot, one has no choice but to base their writing on what they know. It's sort of like an autobiography, except it's more the life I want to be living. I'm starting to think of it as free therapy.
I'm having some trouble settling on telling the story in the first or third person. First seems so much more personal, yet I find it easier to form the sentences in the third person, which is odd because 99% of what I write in my regular life is in the first person (as it's mainly here and emails). Maybe it's a way of distancing myself from what I'm writing. I don't know.
p.s. Blogger seems to be smoking some serious crack today. I had to change the time of this post to like 3 am to get it post because it kept making the post time 10 hours later, meaning it wouldn't show up because Blogger considered it a future post. what?
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Jam Master Jay Tribute Page
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November 3, 2002
48 hours from now..
will be election day in the U.S., a very important election day. Take some time today to find out where your polling location is and plan your Tuesday so you can make it in to vote. But only vote if you know what you are voting for, an uniformed voter is better off not voting. If you haven't been paying attention you have 2 whole days to get it together and find out what is going on in your local area. If you don't inform yourself and take advantage of your right to vote, don't complain later if you don't like the results. And if you live in Florida, be sure to look at your ballot carefully...
Now that I know...
how easy it is to change the colors around here, I may just do it randomly to suit my whim..
November 4, 2002
Editorial.
I was thinking about also having an Op-Ed section, but this is my site so I don't have to. Please feel free to leave your opinon in "Talk Back".
Because I just can't live with Bush as my president and Romney as my governor.. my diehard liberal sentiment won't allow it.
I don't know if I'm allowed to do this, but I found this banner ad today, so I'm putting it up here. If the O'Brien campaign has a problem with free advertising, please let me know.
November 5, 2002
Bring on the election returns..
yippee.. I'm all set up for a night in front of the various news stations following all the races. Can't wait to see Tim Russert and his white board. Bring on the Democracy! I walked by 2 different polling places on my way home and there were lines... yeah. Go voters go.
I do think it's pathetic that it's news that Florida hasn't appeared to have an voter fraud today.
Oh and I'm very sad that Dr. Smith has died, even though he was a really mean villain.
November 6, 2002
Disappointment.
Yes, I'm very disappointed with the election results. I had a bad feeling about Romney yesterday, but I really, really thought O'Brien would win. But what completely flabbergasts me are the results of the referendums we had in MA. I'm shocked that 74% of people voted against funding clean elections. You want change, as long as you don't have to pay for it? And 68% voted to end transitional bilingual education in the state. So some research on the issue and what teachers have to say before you vote. And the most appalling is the vote on ending the state income tax. This fortunately didn't pass, but 47% of people voted for it. I would really like it if someone who voted for this could email me or leave me a comment to explain how you thought creating a $9 billion deficit in the MA state budget (on top of the billion dollar one we already have) was going to be beneficial to anyone, because I don't understand this vote at all.
It pains me that both congress and the senate are in Republican control. Phrases like "now Bush can really push through his agenda items" will keep me up at night. But I'm going to look at it like this: at least it isn't as bad as 1994, when I literally thought the world would come to an end.. but things went on. AND the republicans have less than the 60 senators needed for many votes. The people have spoken, so I hope they enjoy what they voted for: a way with Iraq, less civil liberties (via our friend Mr. Ashcroft), more tax cuts for the rich which will drive our budget deficit higher, lower corporate accountability (yet more talk about how much they are doing about it!), more conservative judge nominations getting approved? think the Treaty for the Rights of Women is going to pass? Not a chance. 170 countries have ratified this treaty, check out the others who haven't ratified. Great to be in that club, eh? More battles over who can kill criminals the fastest ? wo ho! Oh and I hope you don't like the environment too much.. or want education to improve (except for children of the wealthy), but I'm not too bitter. The democrats have a lot of work to do! Hillary said she wouldn't run for President, but did she ever rule out VP? How about Kerry/Clinton or (my dream) Feingold/Clinton?? Hehe.
Just 2 more election tidbits..
1. I have to admit, I did not vote for Dave as a write in candidate. Sorry, Dave..
2. I received an email from one of my liberal Boston friends who thinks the country has gone mad: "J thinks Canada is too close to move to. She thinks Europe should be our new home. I think France or Italy." I say stay here and live to fight another day.
And now on to post election life...
This is an excellent article (The ten reasons ease of use doesn't happen on engineering projects). It's full of common sense, but as Steve Krug says: common sense ain't so common.
oh and are we really supossed to care about the Winona Ryder shoplifting trial? Larry King is doing an hour on this tonight. Is this a joke?
November 8, 2002
Writing.
Every time I think of something to blog about I think: no! must save words for nanowrimo... though theoretically I could use the words twice, but it's too much effort to consider. Despite all my word scraping, I'm about 5,000 words off the pace I should be writing at to finish by 11/30. yikes. I now have an idea of a plot and some characters.. but I am afraid that the plot isn't going anywhere, but perhaps my subconscious will surprise me and come up with something good while I sleep or something.
And for those of you concerned about my hard drive - I wasn't in my home office today, so I'm sure it died while I wasn't looking or I lost all my files. But I can't think about that now because it's a long weekend... weeeeeee..
oh and when I use Blogger's spell check, it suggests manowar for nanowrimo.. ha! Of course, it doesn't consider blog a word, either.
November 9, 2002
In the "you've got to be kidding category..."
"DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL" V. THE WAR ON TERRORISM.
Perverse. Although there is an alarming lack of arabic speakers in the U.S. Intelligence agencies, they have actually fired some because they were gay. Yup, it's only bible thumpin' heterosexual white males can keep us safe..
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Let's Go Orange!
Wo-ho!
4 hours
3 OT's
Over 1000 offensive yards between the 2 teams
AND the Syracuse Orangemen have upset the #7 ranked Virginia Tech Hokies 50 - 42. What the hell is a Hokie, anyway? Yowza!
> Syracuse tops No. 7 Va. Tech in 3 OTs
> Orangemen Win Triple Overtime Thriller, 50-42
> Orangemen finally prevail after Hokies' kicks miss
> Virginia Tech at Syracuse
Yes, the same Orangemen who are not really having the best season.. being 3 - 6 going into this game and their 3 wins were against Rhode Island, Rutgers and Central Florida. They didn't even show up to play against Pittsburgh the day I went to the game at the Dome. But today, they were there and kickin' butt. It was a receiver slug fest, with plenty of heart stopping long throws, missed kicks, high drama. I swear I lost weight watching this game. The fans rushed the field at the end of the game as if they had won a bowl game. If only this had been the homecoming game, how much more fun we would have had. Do not let the ending of the LSU/Kentucky game overshadow this great victory!
Games like this are why I love college sports. Syracuse fought for it even though it doesn't matter if they win, their season sucks, they can't win the Big East, they can't go to a bowl. It's just pride, love of the game that makes them go. I find this somewhat lacking in professional sports (but I'm sure someone will disagree with that statement and tell me about it), and that's fine, but I'd take a college game any day of the week over a pro game. Ok, I'll amend that statement, I'll take a Syracuse game any day of the week - I have to be selective with my time and they are the team closest to my heart.
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November 10, 2002
Journeys with George....
is a documentary/home movie of the Bush 2000 campaign by a member of the campaign press corp, Alexandra Pelosi*. It was on HBO election night, but I since don't have HBO (and wouldn't have this on election night anyway), I'm very lucky that my friend with HBO taped it and I got it see it yesterday. Anyway, it was a fascinating look at the behind the scenes of a campaign, and you got to see a different side of W. It was entertaining, funny, scary, disturbing and very educational. So if they play it again, try and catch it or request that it come back.
* if her name doesn't look familiar to you, it should. Her mother is Nancy Pelosi, who is currently running for minority leader of the house. While some people are playing this down, I think it's very important because if she wins, she will be the first woman ever elected to the highest leadership position in the house. Not to mention she is actually a liberal, not a centrist democrat. Go Nancy Go.
November 11, 2002
More about writing...
this weekend I made up 2000 words in my nanowrimo efforts (in part due to a plot twist idea I came up with while walking home from the gym. See the gym helps you with more than just the physical!), so I'm only 3000 words off pace. I will catch up, I will, I will. Committing to writing this much is like being in school again. You always feel like you should be doing something.. you could be thinking about what is going to happen next in the plot, or a new type of character development, but mostly it's just spending time getting the words out there.
In other news, I saw Bowling for Columbine. I have alot of thoughts, but they are not organized. I do encourage everyone to see it, because it really does make you think about alot of things that are going on in the U.S. Also, I will never live in Michigan. I don't even want to drive through.
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November 12, 2002
I don't wanna work..
I want to bang on my drum all day!
Let's review...
ok, I know that I have a limited amount of time to write each day and I also know that I'm behind on my word count. So what am I doing with my writing time? Playing minesweeper.. a game I haven't played in ages and used to be quite good at. Now I suck and yet I continue to play. Crazy girl.
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November 13, 2002
Excuse me...
While shopping on Amazon, I have noticed that they now have an apparel section. But I had never looked closely at the new section where they tell you what types of clothes other people who are shopping for your book wear (though I have wondered how they know..). Today was the day that I looked closely and here is what I saw:
What does this mean? That among customers who wear clothes (and only those customers?), those who are interested in the same book I am, also enjoy clean underwear?! Excellent! I feel I'm in good company.
This has led me down a bizarre thought process: are their customers that don't wear clothes, in which case they don't need clean underwear (or cashmere sweaters or performance fleece or tommy bahama shirts, whatever those are). Is Amazon watching us to see if we're wearing clothes (and clean underwear)? Inquiring minds want to know!
November 14, 2002
House Democrats Elect Pelosi as Their New Leader
yeah!
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Music: the soundtrack to our lives.
Someone in a cube near mine has brought in a music box. At first I liked it, the little song is soothing and nice. That was this morning. Now, after 5 hours of the same song, I'm about to friggin' kill someone. I want to go and find that thing and smash it to friggin' smithereens - it is making me crazy!
Guy to watch..
keep your eye on this guy: Carmelo Anthony
Syracuse U. freshman his debut basketball game at Madison Square Garden scores 27 points.. although he does seem to have the Syracuse free throw curse, and Su did lose. He was reason for optimism.
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November 15, 2002
FBI warns al Qaeda possibly planning 'spectacular' attack
"that meet(s) several criteria: High symbolic value, mass casualties, severe damage to the U.S. economy and maximum psychological trauma", but we aren't going to increase that silly color coded threat ranking thing to elevated. What does that mean: just be a little afraid or we are just warning you to cover our butts in case anything actually does happen?
Or maybe it's this..
a guy I work with sent me this: www.despair.com, and I haven't been able to stop laughing about that either.
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November 16, 2002
And she won't stop..
someone sent this to me and it's too good not to post. I don't even know how to describe it except for freudian slip. http://media.salon.com/mov/jlo.wmv (you need Windows Media Player)
November 17, 2002
Why is When Harry Met Sally so addicting?
Why.. even though I own it do I have to watch it if I discover it's on tv - with commercials! I'm watching it right now.. it's on TNT.
Shopping stupidity.
Today in line at the grocery store I was both in back of and in front of idiots. The lady in front of me had about 100 items (in the 15 items or less line), after she pays, she just stands there looking between the bags and the checkout girl. The girl stares back at her. Finally we have this conversation:
Woman: Am I supposed to take these bags myself?
Checkout girl: yes
Woman: But I can't carry them by myself. (and she is looking at the checkout girl as if she is insane).
Checkout girl: well, you could put them in the cart and push it.
Woman: oh.
Checkout girl: (squinting at the woman, who no accent of any kind) Have you been in the United States long?
I almost died. I wanted to high five her, but I refrained.
Meanwhile the dufus behind me, who for some reason has a shopping cart, although the only thing he was buying was a candy bar, which he had eaten while in line. So he had a cart and an empty candy wrapper. And he keeps pushing the cart up and hitting me with it. Then he reaches across me and practically pushes me out of the way so he can get to a Dean Koonz novel on the stand. I was about to push him back he was so annoying, but again I refrained.
Looking for a new color scheme for your site?
Check this out: ColorMatch 5K. You give it one color you like, it gives you a color scheme with 6 colors that compliment each other. Cool!
Link sited at: BizStone
November 18, 2002
November 19, 2002
Scatterbrain
At point today so many things were going on at once, that I lost it. I remember thinking: I really need to reply to A's email. Then people were at my desk, on the phone.. 4 different issues were being discussed at once. It was chaos. The next thing I know I get another email from A which said: what?? And I looked below to see what I had sent him... it was an email which consisted of the word: "reply".
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Project status update conference call quote of the day:
business person to project manager: so you are asking me to not consider this showstopping issue a showstopper so we can launch?