Sunday, February 20, 2005

I wasn’t really interested in watching Wicker Park until Jared put it in his Top Ten for 2004. I’m glad I watched it, although I don’t know that I would put it in my Top Ten list.

What I liked was the way it’s put together. Just when I thought I was tracking with the storyline a new angle would crop up and it headed in a new direction. I love the ending. The soundtrack is great.

What I didn’t like was the feeling that it dragged. I think this story could have been told in less than the 2 hours it was given.

I can’t really say much about it without revealing spoilers. However, I can recommend it with 3 stars out of 5.

Despite Robert’s attempts to thwart my successful implementation of the emoticons, Jon was able to provide the help I needed. So there! *sticks tongue out at Robbo* [ed. - ooh, I just noticed that they work in the posts as well - ]

Thanks, Jon, for the technical support. It is much appreciated.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Taking a page from the publishers who have decided that the translations of the Bible that we have aren’t quite PC enough, Robert the Llama Butcher has offered his own Revised Lord’s Prayer. It starts ...

GROUP HUG

Our Friend, in your Happy Place,
We’re really comfortable with who you are.

Go read the rest. Hilarious.

I’ve modified the code for the smileys, but still something is not right. Anyone willing to take a look at my code and tell me what I need to fix?

For some reason it’s not calling the smileys template correctly, but I don’t know what needs to be modified in the comments page code.

Friday, February 18, 2005

You knew it was a matter of time before I put a graphic on the background, right?

I’m ready for spring - so it’s florals. I’m having a hard time deciding which to use, so you may see a few different looks this weekend. If you like one, say so in the comments, please.

For now (Friday night) it’s Coral Flowers.

UPDATE (8:00am Sat): I thought I’d give you the tiles to peruse.

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And I’m looking for more pretty backgrounds today as well. I’ll add them as I find them.

A few more ...

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It’s been months since my last haircut. I was growing it out from the shorter cut I had last year and trying to decide what I wanted to do with it. It finally reached the point where the layers were out of whack and it needed a serious reshaping. So I called this place near the office and got an appointment on my lunch hour.

The result? The same basic look, but better. She only took about 1” off the length, but trimmed up the layers. Much better.

Exciting, no?

Meanwhile, ECD was confused that I did this seemingly on a whim and that I didn’t try to control every aspect of the haircut. “It’s just hair - it’ll grow back,” is my thinking, but apparently that’s not in keeping with my control freakishness. Here’s the thing - I’m a complete nut about some things but there are many other things about which I could not care less. A haircut falls into that latter category for me. Weird for a woman, I know. That’s part of my charm.

Yeah, this is me ...

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

Thursday, February 17, 2005

I’m constantly taken for 10 years younger than I am. This quiz result verifies that, which is a little disconcerting. I think I scored this result because of my answer regarding my housing situation - how many people in their 30s have roommates instead of living alone or with spouses?

Courtesy: Dave

Because I promised Bryan:

WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE NAME?
Elizabeth

WHAT COLOR PANTS ARE YOU WEARING?
Sand colored khakis

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Sean Hannity

DEAD OR ALIVE, NAME THREE PEOPLE YOU WOULD LOVE TO MEET.
Presidents Bush (yes, both of them and I will count them as one)
Peter, the disciple of Jesus (he’s the most knuckleheaded of the lot and I relate to that)
Laura Ingraham (she cracks me up)

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
An orange

IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Burnt sienna

HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW?
Partly cloudy and chilly

LAST PERSON YOU TALKED WITH ON THE PHONE?
A guy from our HQ

THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX?
His frame/size

SHOES YOU LOVE TO WEAR.
Birkenstocks

HOW ARE YOU TODAY?
About 85% on the wellness scale, but cheerful

FAVORITE DRINK?
Vanilla Diet Coke or sweetened iced tea

FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK?
Corona

FAVORITE SPORTS?
Professional baseball and football

HAIR COLOR?
Natural color is probably a dark blonde/light brown. I am a chemical blonde.

EYE COLOR?
green

DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Not anymore. I stick with the glasses these days.

TYPE OF VEHICLE YOU DRIVE.
Toyota Corolla

TOP FIVE FAVORITE FOOD?
Mexican
All seafood
Italian
Chinese
Indian

LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Manchurian Candidate (2004)

TOP THREE PET PEEVES.
Mental laziness or lack of common sense
When people don’t use their turn signals
The phone

ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT?
Absolutely and I wouldn’t anyway. I’m traditional enough that I expect the guy to ask me out.

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS BETTER?
Both, either, depending on the situation.

WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER, FALL?
I prefer the cooler seasons - winter and fall. But I do love the fresh blooming flowers and trees of spring.

HUGS OR KISSES?
Yes. Depends on the person and the circumstance.

RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS?
One night stands are stupid, not to mention immoral. Yes, I’m making a judgment statement.

CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA?
Depends on the vehicle - candy? chocolate. Ice cream? Vanilla.

THREE ANIMALS YOU WANT TO OWN.
I’d love to have a pure-bred dachshund that I would name Oscar
Or a cat that I would name Mr. Kitty
Maybe a Norfolk Terrier that I would name Sparky

NAME FOUR PLACES YOU HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO VISIT.
Ireland
Australia/New Zealand
Alaska
Canadian Rockies

FIRST CONCERT YOU EVER WENT TO?
I have no clue, but it was probably a Christian artist.

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS?
1 single family dwelling, 2 adults, one child, 2 dogs, one cat, 2 birds, one hamster.

WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING?
The Bible and In His Image (Book 1 of the Christ Clone Trilogy) by James BeauSeigneur.

WHAT IS ON YOUR SCREEN SAVER AT HOME?
The meadow graphic from the top of my blog without the text. This is my wallpaper. My screensaver is from TWoP - the Amazing Race Tubey version.

FAVORITE CARTOON?
Looney Toons or Superfriends.

FAVORITE SMELLS.
Pumpkin pie, vanilla, popcorn, men

SMELLS YOU HATE.
Body odor, vomit, poop, and the desperation of a liberal argument. (I stole Bryan’s answer.)

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?
What day is it?

FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT THE SINGLE LIFE.
I can do what I want when I want

HOW DO YOU EAT AN OREO?
Eat one side of the shell first, then lick the white center, then eat the other half of the shell.

WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG? By blog, I assume the writer meant post. No telling since lots of people pick random memes and run with them. If you’re one, let me know in the comments or with a trackback.

There ya go.

LATER: I forgot the 3rd person I want to meet and punted the screensaver questions because I was summoned to a meeting. I hit submit before I was actually ready to submit. The corrections have been added in italics above.

I saw this meme at Tony’s yesterday, but resisted the temptation to do it myself. Then this morning, I found that Craig called me out! So, Craig, here ya go.

What’s your favorite kind of cookie? Too many to narrow it down to one. Chocolate Chip, Samoas, ginger snaps/’Nilla wafers. My mother’s oatmeal cookies.

Who is America’s most overrated actor? I have two legends that I’m a bit “meh” about - Robert DeNiro or Al Pacino.

Name a guilty pleasure. I’ve mentioned this before - Bill & Gloria Gaither’s Homecoming stuff.

“Scrubs” or “Everybody Loves Raymond”? Is death an option? I don’t watch either regularly, but I’ve seen enough of both to have to select Scrubs. It’s snarkier, sharper, wittier.

Name two things you can’t live without. Craig had the obvious answers of “Oxygen and water. Seriously.” My answer can’t top that, but I’ll say my faith and my family. *everybody say, AW!*

Your first pet’s name + your mother’s maiden name = your porn star name. I believe our first pet was Pretzel and my mother’s maiden name is Getchell - Pretzel Getchell. And that is hi-lar-i-ous!

What song are you listening to right now? I’m not listening to music at the moment - I’m listening to Laura Ingraham’s talk radio show.

Name your celebrity crush. Regular readers know that I’ve got a thing for Hugh Jackman.

Favorite punchline from a joke. I know no jokes. Seriously. I am humorless.

Who do you want to pass this meme off to? Jared, for sure - he always bites the meme apple. I’ll also add Eric, Bryan, and Jaynee.

OK, tigers, go get ‘em.

At dinner last night, Nee was telling us that she signed up at this kid’s website game place as Holly. ECD and I just looked at each other and then ...

ME: You want me to start calling you Holly at my blog?

Nee: Yes!

So, let it be known, that Nee is now Holly. I can it is now ... posts in the near future will make mention of Holly (nee Nee), which means I need to find the keystroke for the accented “e” in “nee”.

LATER: I forgot to mention also, that she kind of muttered at the end of the conversation, “I’ve always wanted my name to be Holly.” Heh.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

I just noticed that I’m edging up to 100,000 visitors on the stats counter. Of course, this is a very fluid number that dates back from my old blog*spot blog to the last domain blog to this one. So there’s no telling what the true stats are at this point.

It’s not that I care overly much about how many people visit - it’s the quality of the people that I care about. However, it’s a nice, round, large number and it’ll be nice to get over that hurdle.

And now I’m going home to confirm the fever I’m pretty sure I have (ECD was trying to convince me that I was running an elevated temp in the car this morning - I pooh-poohed her) and hit the hay for a few hours of blessed rest.

Via my sister, I’ve learned that my little college is in the hunt for an NCAA tourney berth. Weird.

Run little Bulldogs, run!

Probably won’t be posting much today, so take a gander at the links in the blogrolls to the right. My blog friends are posting up a storm with good stuff.

At the risk of sounding like the gal who cried wolf, I think I’m taking ill again - or maybe this is the second wave of the bug that’s going around? I don’t know. I felt a little off yesterday afternoon with a kind of carsick feeling - the headache and slightly queasy stomach, but not truly nauseous - it was just that early stage feeling, if you know what I’m talking about. Anyway, that was off and on enough yesterday that I thought I was imagining it. And I was fine when I made and ate dinner last night. Yet I woke up feeling the same “off” thing and it’s getting slightly worse as the morning progresses.

I’m reluctant to bag the workday - I have a lot to do. And I have the worship team meeting/audition tonight. So I’m battling the urge to sleep at my desk and praying for the day to go quickly.

What’s new with you?

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

I found a great sounding recipe in a magazine that I get as a member of the Cooking Club of America. I decided to give it a try tonight and it turned out to be very easy, quick, and tasty.

Cumin Crusted Salmon

2 Tbsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 salmon fillets, skin removed
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup guacamole

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, blend the cumin, salt, and pepper together. Rub the spice blend on both sides of the salmon generously. Heat an oven-safe saute pan medium heat and add the olive oil. Place the salmon in the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Turn the salmon and place the pan in the oven for 5-8 minutes (depending on the size of the fillets) or until the fish is cooked through and flaky. (If you prefer to transfer the fish to a baking sheet, spray the sheet with cooking spray first.)

When the salmon is cooked through, place it on a plate or platter and spoon a generoud dollop of guacamole over each fillet.

Serve with a green salad, corn, and crusty rolls.