walk the plank

It turns out, not only do they bone you on their alcoholic beverages on the cruise, but I was looking at their internet costs and they definitely bone you there too. $100 for 250 minutes of wireless access. Let's see, how much did I pay for 4 hours of internet access in Amsterdam? What, 12 euros? Granted, we're out on a ship in the middle of the ocean. But still. I thought I'd blog a bit and post photos during the vacation. Forget it. I'll just have to write one of my famed trip reports (haha).

Have fun kids and I'll catch up with you all when I come back from the sunny, warm carribean in a week!

Posted by jennj at 01:16 AM | Comments (6)

i've been upgraded

Actually, it was my powerbook. The non-blogging husband upgraded me to Panther the other day when he was "working from home". Note: If his boss or co-workers are reading this, he did it on his "lunch hour".

Pretty cool, not much of a difference that I've seen so far. However, I now seem to have Warcraft III on the machine......hmm. I don't play this game. Oh, look, high scores "CSE" (non-blogging husband initials).

Posted by jennj at 08:49 AM | Comments (1)

i've been deflowered

I got my first comment spam this morning. Fucking spammers.

Posted by jennj at 12:26 PM | Comments (2)

there are good things going on..

First of all, thank you all for your support. Hugs.

My dad is definitely doing well. How do I know? He's making jokes. He's got a pulse oximeter on his finger. The pulse oximeter has a little red light on the end of it. He keeps pretending he's E.T., pointing his finger and going "ooouuuccchhh". He's such a dork.

So, I rekindled my relationship with my therapist last night, Jane. And, in the usual way, the main thing I was stressing about and why I went to see her she managed to help me see clarity on before we were even done. Like, she wants me to check in with her when I come back from the cruise but we probably won't continue. I guess I just needed a tune-up.

The great news is that my friends, Cheryl and Mike, had their third child yesterday! Tristan. Their other two kids are incredibly intelligent, as in, I hope I can at least be a minion of theirs when they rule the world intelligence. I'm sure Tristan will continue in that tradition.

I was watching "She's All That" on one of those tntbravotbs superstation channels with the non-blogging husband and actually enjoyed it in a cotton-candy for the brain kind of way. I have to admit, I do have a soft spot in my heart for teenage movies that are "remakes" of classic tales. Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, etc. So, this was right up my alley. It was fun to have the brain off for awhile.

And apparantly my blog is the bubbles powerpuff girl.

Posted by jennj at 09:07 AM | Comments (0)

insert title here

This was a busy weekend, despite wanting to just curl up and sleep and not really wanting to be around anyone. April and I went out Friday evening to shop for the cruise to get some last minute things. I bought a new bathing suit. It�s cute. Saturday night, Bob and Donna, Peter and Rebecca and April and Kevin came over for dinner and I made tacos and enchiladas. This had been planned for a month and it was actually nice having good friends close. Sunday afternoon we went to Annika�s �Daisy Pinning� ceremony. Daisies are the pre-brownie phase of the girl scouts. I then spent the rest of the day watching the Patriots kick some ass.

I have decided that I like the iTrip. I�m very happy that we didn�t buy two of them as I don�t drive much due to the commuter rail. So, 87.9 is the station that works for us. The iTrip fits snugly on top of the iPod using both the headset jack and remote control slot. So, you don�t get to use the remote control. You also need to install some software on the iPod to tune to the appropriate signal, so if you were thinking you could switch FM stations when one was starting to get static, it�s not that simple. You should also setup a library of tunes you want to listen to ahead of time, because you don�t want to be driving along and trying to switch albums/artists. :-) Safety is important.

Testing the iPod in Boston: It worked well for the most part. I started getting static after I had gotten off the Pike and was heading towards Central Square. Once I reached Mass Ave. I gave up and turned it off. The next day I drove in and decided to take Soldiers Field Road after getting off the Pike to get to Kendall Square. I didn�t get far down the road when the static started to get annoying, so I turned it off. Not bad, considering. I also spent Saturday morning doing a ton of errands in the Marlboro/Framingham/Natick area and except for a few instances where I got a quick, static buzz, it was wonderful. I recommend it.

I talked to Sue a bit over the weekend. She�s doing the best she can, considering � although she kept repeating things that she had said earlier. Her sister has now arrived and will be there for two weeks. So she�ll be taken care of very well. I keep picturing in my mind Jeff, alive, and then realizing that he�s not. The autopsy has shown that there is no physiological reason why Jeff died. No heart attack, stroke, aneurysm, etc. Now, we wait for the toxicology report in 6-8 weeks. It looks like it could have been an accidental overdose or combination of the wrong medicines that put him in such a restful state that his heart stopped.

Posted by jennj at 08:51 AM | Comments (2)

i'm already ready for this year to be over with

My father had a heart attack this morning. He's doing fine. They did angioplasty and then a stent in his left artery. They're going to put a stent in his right artery on Friday. He's in ICU but stabilized. All his vitals are great. My sister and mom said it's not necessary for me to fly out right now. It sounds as though he's going to be just fine.

And my first appointment with Jane is tonight. Good thing.

Posted by jennj at 05:53 AM | Comments (3)

it's all about choices

I�ve decided not to go to the wake. Right now, Sue has a ton of people who are grabbing that immediate �I�ve got to go and help� feeling and running with it. His mother and sister are there, her sister is flying in tomorrow and will be there for two weeks, friends have rallied around her. In a month, three months, their anniversary...they�ll be gone and she�ll need someone then. I�m going to send something special her way for now. I�m going to �hoist a drink for the otter�, as she said to me last night, on Sunday evening.

I think that just made sense. Oh well, it does to me. This sucks.

Posted by jennj at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

the otter

A friend of mine, Jeff, passed away Tuesday night. His wife, Sue, a pagan priestess, officiated our wedding. I knew Sue first, but when Sue moved up to Seattle to marry this Jeff guy, I soon became fast friends with him too.

When I lived in Seattle I saw them constantly. We had an inside joke about him being "the otter" and "it's good to be the otter". Since otters are cute and cuddly. Which he was.

Jeff always flirted. He always tried to do what was right. He was one of the most supportive people I've ever known. Oh man, he and I once bet that if the other one was right about whatever it was (can't remember the bet topic now - this was like 10 years ago), they would have to wear a french maid outfit at the next sf convention we attended. It turned out that we were both right on this particular topic. Now, the thought of a 5'3" male who is chubby and hairy wearing fishnets and a french maid's outfit is quite humorous. We never called each other on that bet. Which, frankly, I'm OK with.

I'm still trying to get my head around this, as I found out late this afternoon. I just talked to Sue and found out the wake is this Sunday. I'm trying to figure out if I can manage to fly out for it or not. I really really want to go, but I'd have to miss work on Monday, pretty much. And since I leave in a little over a week on a cruise, I just don't know. It's like, do you let work influence your life this much? Jeez. Not that my boss wouldn't let me have Monday off. That's not the issue. Or do I do something here on Sunday at the same time as the wake as a "ceremony" to help me grieve?

I just talked to Jeff like a week ago. He was fine.

Posted by jennj at 07:46 AM | Comments (0)

a quick whine for the morning

Overheard on commuter rail today:
Man 1: "The thermometer read -4 this morning."
Man 2: "That's not so bad."

Well, f*k the "it can always be worse" attitude in this case. Yes, it IS bad. -4 is f*king cold when you're waiting for the train.

Thanks for listening.

Posted by jennj at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)

up periscope

This is the first time in *days* I've felt like I'm actually able to sit back and relax. Work has interfered entirely too much with my life over the past week. I do not even know what the hell has been happening in the news. I have not looked at a news website since Sunday afternoon. What's happening?

I've realized something about the cruise: I have fun no matter where I go. Duh.

The non-blogging husband had dinner ready for me when I walked into the house at 8p.m. last night. Chicken parm. Yum.

I will be trying out the iTrip tomorrow on my commute into work for the 8a.m. meeting. (One of the agenda items is to discuss a different time. Yay.). The non-blogging husband has been using the iTrip for about a month now successfully on his commute to work (Natick to Maynard/vice versa) and I've been itching to see if it'll work in Boston.

Off to call a ton o' people back and maybe find out what's been happenin' in the world...

Posted by jennj at 07:35 AM | Comments (2)

obviously, I'm distracted

It's been a long, stressful day and it seems all I want to do until I have to leave for my train is blog.

I've given up on God's Secretaries for now. I allowed myself to read other books while it's been listed on my "What I'm reading" so I think it's time to put it aside for the moment. I've just started (this morning on the train) The Orion Protocol. We'll see how that one goes. It was recommended to me.

Posted by jennj at 03:57 AM | Comments (0)

maybe I can save my shoes

The never-ending project from hell. So, I worked this weekend on it. And I'm going to have to finish up some stuff on it tonight so I can send it out first thing tomorrow morning. Oh wait, shit. I've got a dentist appointment and won't be in until 10a.m.ish. Which means e-mailing it tonight. Fine. Whatever. I'm going on a cruise in two weeks.

Posted by jennj at 03:38 AM | Comments (0)

all-star survivor

Yippee. The premiere of the All-Star Survivor first episode will be right after the super bowl. Read here.

Rupert and Rob will be back. Cool.

Posted by jennj at 01:53 AM | Comments (5)

t-minus

Well, I'll be heading out on a cruise through the carribean in less than two weeks. I never thought I'd go on a cruise. My concept of a cruise is: mall on water. I'm scared I'll jump ship and swim to shore and never look back. But I'm a travel slut, and when April called and said, "Hey, can you live without the husband for a week? The women in my family go on a cruise every year and I'd like someone else along my age..." I said, "Hell yes."

We planned our off-shore excursions on Friday. Bike and Kayak tour. Stingray City Observatory. Suncat, snorkel and party cruise (the snorkeling will be in a coral reef...I've never done snorkeling in a coral reef, i'm looking forward to the beautiful colors. And to top it off an all day at the Chicen-Itza Mayan Ruins. Definitely looking forward to those...they have internet access so I'm looking forward to blogging on the seas. Okay, I'm getting excited now.

Posted by jennj at 09:48 AM | Comments (4)

smells like chicken

The non-blogging husband is currently cooking up some chicken teriyaki and rice. Mmm.

Well, I have been busy for the past few days. The Kohrt's came over Friday night to do dinner and catch up on two episodes of Monster House. The jurassic house was freakin' awesome. I want a volcano hot tub.

I spent most of the weekend working and catching up on some personal things. I had to turn around a functional specification to segway dude before the end of the weekend, so I was knee deep in that. However, I did manage to watch a few rented movies with the non-blogging husband. We watched American Wedding, which wasn't worth our time. We watched S.W.A.T. which was only a minimal improvement. I e-mailed the document around 2:30 and we sat down to watch the third film: Underworld. I actually enjoyed it. I wouldn't own it, but it wasn't half bad. But then, I have a soft spot for vampire films.

Meanwhile, have decided to have the cool birthday party April 10. I had completely forgotten that snowboard girl's birthday is the day before mine, and it would be tres' tacky to have a bday party on a friend's bday.

Have you seen the ads for the sci-fi channel reality show called mad mad house? I can't wait to see it. Mundanes mixed with circus freaks, someone who believes they are a vampire, etc. How cool is that?

It was a lot of fun getting together with Bridget and Donna for breakfast this morning, however, when we arrived at the Rotary Diner in Westborough, we discovered that it was closed...and it looks like it's either being renovated or closed for good! Wahh. We went to a new place (for me) in Westborough called Christine's. Had some really good buttermilk pancakes.

Dinner's ready.

Posted by jennj at 06:43 AM | Comments (7)

shit

I might actually end up *liking* something Bush is responsible for? Shit. Apparantly he's going to outline sometime next week his vision of the future of the space program, see article. And it could include manned, I said, manned missions to the moon and mars. Which I would love to see.

Shit.

Posted by jennj at 01:34 AM | Comments (6)

ah, flashback humor

You know that scene in Fight Club after they feed all the pigeons and the cars in the dealership are all covered with bird shit? That's the scene that greeted me this a.m. when I went out to warm up my car for the early morning drive to work for a stupid 8a.m. meeting (only time I drive). Except, the bird shit on my car was freakin' brown, not white.

I should have known that was a sign of how the 8a.m. meeting would go, but noooo, did I listen?

I love my little camera. I know I promised photos last night but I really wanted to watch the queer eye episode on the TiVo and then I went to bed. My precious is with me at work today.

And have you seen the new iPod mini's? No, I'm not getting one, I already have an iPod. But damn, they're cute! And I could have a green one (my fav color). What I think Apple is seriously making a mistake on is the price! $249 (arm strap extra) for 4 gigs? When for $50 more one could get the 15gig iPod? Granted, the purpose for the mini's are ease of carrying around, sports, etc. But still.

Posted by jennj at 12:34 PM | Comments (3)

when it rains, you get wet

So busy. The vet basically told nbh today that it's very optimistic that pepper will last the year. As such, we decided to forego trying to fix her glaucoma problem. She goes in for a heart ultrasound on friday, and if it's a problem that can be fixed with meds, we can get meds that you rub into her ears. And then the only other thing is we've got an iv now of electrolytes that we'll dispense to her every other day and the wet, kidney formula cat food. Try to make her last months here happy.

I love taking the commuter rail into boston and riding the T. There's something about public transportation that has always fascinated me. For instance, I love the underground in London. Love it. It probably has to do with the fact that I grew up in L.A. where public transportation is a joke and you need a car to get anywhere. Although, they are improving things.

However. Why oh why have I been blessed the past two mornings with a really stinky person sitting down next to me? And we're not talking too much perfume or B.O. kind of stench. We're talking, there's got to be some dried poo on their clothing that they've dipped in cat piss and then smeared it all over kind of stench. The joys of being around other human beings.

MY CAMERA ARRIVED!!! YAY!!! It's so cute! It is currently charging. Once it's charged, I will take pictures and post.

Posted by jennj at 07:19 AM | Comments (1)

i'm a geek groupie, i admit it.

I just found out that the guy I've been working with for the past 5 months on measurement devices we're using on a clinical trial worked on the segway. As in, spent 80 hours a week in the basement of Dean Kamen (inventor) creating the hardware, firmware and architecture of the segway.

What makes this especially cool to me is that I've ridden a segway on a segway tour of paris back in September.

Course, the segway has been recalled....wonder if he's working on that. Bet he can't talk about it. Oh well. Great, I'm going to be meeting with him on friday morning and all I'm going to think about is the segway.

Posted by jennj at 06:45 AM | Comments (1)

you know it's time to go back to the therapist..

When one starts feeling like they can't talk to anyone about what they are going through AND/OR doesn't feel like burdening their loved ones because their loved ones will a) try to help fix it when you really just want them to listen and b) are too emotionally involved in the situation(s) to be objective, it's time to talk to the therapist again. Intellectually I know I have people I can talk to - non-blogging husband, friends, family, etc. DUH. On a pure emotional level, that's another thing. Everyone has their own agenda. But not Jane (my therapist). Time to call Jane.

Note: It's not pepper that's prompting this, folks. That would be a bit over the top as a reason to get back into therapy, in my opinion.

Posted by jennj at 06:37 AM | Comments (0)

pepper update

She's stopped eating. She's still dehydrated. She's got glaucoma. She's got irregular heartbeat. Renal failure (not sure yet of what level it is). We talked this evening. We're willing to do an ultrasound on the heart and take her to see the opthamologist for her glaucoma, feed her the special kitty food to get her to eat (which she's stopped eating...so..) and take home the bags of electrolytes and try hydrating her for a little while at home. If this doesn't work...well, we're not going to spend much beyond that, let's just say. *sigh*

Posted by jennj at 09:26 AM | Comments (4)

mars spirit

Suh-weet. Lots of cool NASA/JPL stuff going on. The non-blogging husband and I just looked at the 3D panorama sent back from the spirit mars rover - I didn't know we had a pair of 3D glasses in the house. Glad we do!!! It's pretty freakin' cool. I wish they had more than the one 3D picture. *sniff*

And I'm totally pysched about getting comet dust back here on earth in 2006! How cool is that? And did you see the picture they got back of the comet's nucleus? Beautius.

Posted by jennj at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)

the cause of - and solution to- all of life's problems

Sunday Alcohol Sales Ban Ending at Noon.

When I moved out here from Seattle, I discovered one couldn't run down to the grocery store to grab a six pack of beer or a bottle of wine. I had to actually go to a liquor store. Then I discovered you couldn't purchase alcohol on Sundays. Weird. Suckage. Ah, home of the Puritans.

Now, at least, one can purchase alcohol on Sundays. Will ceases never miracle? This is important news. Now one doesn't have to think ahead about purchasing alcohol for a Sunday dinner party - you can pick it up at the last minute on your way. It's bad enough when the grocery stores are closed on certain holidays to make sure your lazy ass makes it to the store in time to eat on those holidays. But to remember, weekly, that you must buy your alcohol on any day but Sunday? Yeesh, that's just not right. But it's now fixed in the Commonwealth, and that's all that matters.

Posted by jennj at 09:50 AM | Comments (4)

verbal dyslexia

Sometimes what comes out of my mouth isn't what the brain originally had in mind (heh).

Yesterday the non-blogging husband and I were at Best Buy and I turned to a sales clerk and asked: "Do you sell head canceling headphones?" hahaha... I meant noise canceling.

I have been known to do this occasionally. One time I said: "It's like gravy on the cake." I meant to say icing. I also coined the term "scaringly good". I meant to say "frighteningly good". I'm my own damn yogi berra.

Posted by jennj at 01:40 AM | Comments (2)

digital camera envy

First snowboard girl gets a new, cute camera. Then, my sister gets a new, cute camera at xmas. Now, I want a new, cute camera.

Snowboard girl and I were discussing that one really needs a purse (in her case an electronics carrying bag) so babes with technology (toys in babeland? - oh, wait, that's the name of a sex shop in seattle) can carry their stuph around. I use a purse. I have not seen what she has purchased. I have found that I keep buying bigger and bigger purses - purses that the-woman-who-gave-birth-to-me (henceforth, twwgbtm) would own. I have vowed that if I find in my purse a piece of used tissue with gum in it or a spoon that I'm getting rid of all my big purses. Technology be damned, I'm not going to have a purse that reminds me of twwgbtm.

Back to cameras. I've decided that I want a digital camera that uses SD cards, because that's what my palm uses which means I can buy the same media for both devices.

Here's what I'm looking at:
1st Choice: Canon PowerShot SD10 - Bronze colored
No particular order: Minolta DiMAGE x20; Kodak EasyShare DX6440.

Next step: go to the store and check them out.

Posted by jennj at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)

ben & jerry pint fits perfectly in our car cup holder

We struck out trying to find the Canon SD10 at the stores we went to this evening. Which made me want it more. So, I bought it on Amazon using gift certificates from xmas and will put other xmas cash towards it so that the actual amount out of my pocket is only about $120. Not bad. Now I have to wait for it to arrive. Grr.

The black one was tempting, but too classy for me. Heh.

I've also learned that I cannot play Mario Kart longer than 2.5 hours straight because I get motion sickness. And I've unlocked the purple car that I like to use over at snowboard girl and head pigeons. Yay!

Posted by jennj at 09:44 AM | Comments (0)

quiet day at the office

It's very quiet here at the office. It's kind of nice. It means that I won't be bugged too much by others and can...sleep at my desk. Just kidding. What is this I'm feeling? A desire to clean my desk and file folders. Man, I must be sick instead of tired. No matter, it really would be a good day to clean up the desk. Yikes, a boston globe from November 24. See what I mean?

Pepper is doing okay, but this morning she didn't want to eat much of her cat food and she wanted to drink from the shower. Which is freaking me out because those aren't good signs for her. Yet, last night when we were trying to sleep she was being all kitten-like and bothering us by roaming around on the bed. Hmm. No matter, she sees the vet at 3:30 today, so we'll see what the vet says.

I've been watching this show on TLC called "Clean Sweep". It's making me feel like I need to do something like that in my own house. Even though the office is "newly remodeled" I haven't put back the artwork and we haven't even looked at new shelving. Maybe that's what I'll tackle this weekend. Putting artwork back up. Also, maybe I'll fill some of my picture frames with cute photos of friends and family and hang them. Organize our desks. The nice thing about watching this tv show is that if you think your house is disorganized, man, you are so wrong. There are people who are worse than you are. WAY worse. Most of these rooms people can't even walk around in. Yikes. While I like to think of my house as cluttered, it's by no means a disaster like these other people. That makes me feel superior. Puny humans.

In the meantime, I'm very happy to see that the Oscars have been moved a month ahead to February. This means I can still have my Oscars soiree (tiny dinner party) and then throw my 35th birthday party April 3 - which is going to have an awesome theme. But I'm not telling. You'll have to wait until you receive the invite. I have also decided that if Peter Jackson doesn't win best movie and best director (it has to be both), then I won't be watching the Oscars ever again. Yes, I'm a fan girl.

Better get back to cleaning my desk.....

Posted by jennj at 08:35 AM | Comments (4)

lost skeleton of cadavra

Good heavens! I totally forgot to mention "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" trailer we saw before the showing of "Bubba Ho-Tep" awhile ago.

This looks truly campy. I used to love watching those old sci-fi serials and movies. This looks like an homage to them.

It opens February 6! Let's go!

Part of synopsis:
"It's 1961 and Dr. Paul Armstrong (Larry Blamire) and his lovely wife Betty (Fay Masterson) head into the mountains in search of a recently fallen meteor containing the rare element atmosphereum. Paul needs it to help him with his science work, but Betty'd just as soon have a vacation.".......

Posted by jennj at 04:07 AM | Comments (0)