i saw the artist formerly known as prince, who is prince once again

Actually, it was a friend of Jeff's (non-blogging husband's bro) who was dressed as Prince for Halloween. The guy is not only short, but....he LOOKS like Prince. Heh.

We drove down to Williamsburg (a section in Brooklyn) early Saturday morning. We took the Merritt Parkway through the southern part of Connecticut. DAMN that is a beautiful drive. I'd driven it once before, but the people driving it annoyed me because they do not understand the concept of a passing lane. Sides, we usually head to New Jersey to stay with Elke when we head down to NYC. Anyway, that's a must drive, folks. Bootiful.

Had lunch at a groovy place near Jeff's and then went and saw Shaun of the Dead at a theatre in Union Square. OH MY GOD that movie is funny. Go see it. Now. Anyway, we then walked around, went on the subway to the Soho Apple store (crowded beyond belief). Walked some more. Window shopped. Walked into stores but didn't buy anything. Talked. Walked. It was fun, even though it was misty out and I don't like to get my glasses all wet.

The drinking began at 6p.m. when we arrived at El Cid a little early. So I started with wine. Once Devo and Jen arrived, we were seated and continued with the Sangrias. After dinner we parted and went back to Williamsburg with Jeff's friend, Tom, to a local bar that had pictures of beautiful naked women on the walls. Drawings, not photos. Proceeded to drink more wine. Got to see many different costumes, including a milk maid with a cowbell around her neck, but nobody else said they saw it, so I'm not sure if I did.

We were home by 11, however, and then proceeded to watch whatever. Uh, I think it was a South Park. Oh yeah, with A.W.E.S.O.M-O. hahaha. Weeaak.

This morning we went for brunch at this awesome place called the Williamsburg Cafe where we met up with a friend of Jeff's, Rich. (oh my god, he's a cute, british guy....drool....smart, too, and reads science fiction). I had a really good cheese omelett. And bacon. I shoulda had the pumpkin pancakes, tho. Oh well. Then we went home and I'm sleepy.

It was also nice trying not to talk about politics....very refreshing and a much needed break.

Posted by jennj at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)

the only reason to stay up late on tuesday

The Daily Show will be live, 10-11p.m. EST on election day. Okay, I'll be staying up for that.

We're off to NYC early tomorrow morning and back Sunday evening. Quick trip to see non-blogging husband's bro. And to kill some brain cells.

Posted by jennj at 08:21 PM | Comments (0)

are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet?

I can't believe I've got to deal with an 8:30a.m. meeting next Wednesday. I will be staying up as late as possible to look at the returns Tuesday. But if (when) things start to look wacky, I might as well go to bed and read the paper the next morning. Oh, wait, they're already looking wacky.

For those of you who think that the safety of drugs being bought in Canada is an issue, know this: it's a big, freakin' red herring. This guy sums it up pretty nicely.

Posted by jennj at 09:52 AM | Comments (8)

productivity in boston down 90%

I just made that up. The Red Sox win and everyone is tired at the office today. Even the servers here at work are tired. I've had *three* separate servers be unavailable today. Jesus. It's really irritating because I have a deadline oh, like, RIGHT NOW and I can't get into our document management system. Grrr.

Posted by jennj at 01:00 PM | Comments (3)

clash of the titans

Lunar Eclipse tonight, best viewing time 9:14pm EST, however, things should start around 8pm EST. It looks like we may have a fairly clear sky here for it, too.

And have you been checking out some of the images from the Cassini probe of Titan?? oooh. ahhh. oooo. Pretty.

Actually, it's been Turner-ized (colorization)......

Posted by jennj at 07:17 PM | Comments (5)

hey kimpy

I'd buy one if you started knitting them.

iPod sock.

It's getting cold out.

Posted by jennj at 01:12 PM | Comments (0)

shut up if you don't vote

I've always believed that if you don't vote, you don't get to bitch about our elected officials, etc. Anybody else feel that way?

Non-sequitor: I could swear that the milk/cream dispenser upstairs in the cafeteria was mooing....in reality, there appears to be a problem with the machine and it just *sounds* like mooing...I'm amused anyway.

Posted by jennj at 10:52 AM | Comments (5)

supersize me

The minute I put "Supersize Me" in the DVD player I wanted to eat something. Not McDonald's, but just any food. Heh. Anyway, I wasn't really impressed. It was boring and repetitive. It was boring and repetitive. I ended up skipping to the end to see the results - yuck. If I hadn't of given up fast food three years ago, that would make me do it now.

As many of you know, I love Christian Bale. He has a new movie out, The Machinist, and I want to go see it. It probably won't be the best movie ever made, and he's not going to be his usual hot self due to the weight loss he sustained for the character he plays. But hey, he *is* a good actor. And I'm gonna go see it. So there.

More movie stuff: If you haven't checked out the cute trailer for Madagascar, you should. Especially if you like penguins.

Besides these few minor diversions (and a great brunch on Sunday with the Lazzaro's at Appetito in Newton Centre), I was home doing homework. Lots of it. Classes are going well, no major issues. Just humming along. It was a good weekend, but isolated. And sometimes that's okay. Especially considering we're blowing off halloween parties in Boston this coming weekend in order to go down to NYC to visit non-blogging husband's brother. I have no idea what sort of parties he's been invited to or what his halloween plans are, whatever. It'll be fun, nonetheless.

And finally: Have newspapers *always* endorsed presidential candidates? Anybody know?

Oh! And I fixed the link to the song I mention in my "our song" post.

Posted by jennj at 11:52 AM | Comments (9)

william shatner and dave navarro

Never thought I'd ever utter those two names in the same sentence.

Apparently, Virgin Galactic already has $1.45 billion in pledges from future astronauts. Suh-weet.

Posted by jennj at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)

our song

Feel the love.

MP3 format. And folks, listen to it all the way through. The funny part comes in about a quarter of the way through and runs to the end.

gonna make you happy tonight.

Posted by jennj at 08:01 PM | Comments (2)

virgin galactic

I just received this:

Dear Future Astronaut,

Richard Branson and everyone on the Virgin Galactic team were delighted to receive your response to the Virgin Galactic website.

The support shown for this amazing project has been overwhelming and we will very shortly be in a position to discuss with you the next steps on your journey to become a Virgin Galactic Astronaut!

Over the next few days we will contact you again with more details, so there is no need for you to respond to this message.

Many thanks for your interest in Virgin Galactic.

Best wishes,
Stephen Attenborough
Head of Astronaut Liaison
http://www.virgin.com/galactic

"Future Astronaut". Suh-weet. Now, how many penny jars does it take to get two seats on virgin galactic.....first, get some HUGE jars....

Posted by jennj at 07:09 PM | Comments (4)

*blink* *blink*

The first words I heard this morning, I kid you not, was the radio alarm blaring, "The first game of the world series will be held at Fenway. They did it." At South Station this morning the PA announcer was hysterical: "Good morning everyone. Who's your daddy? Who'ssss yourrrr dadddyyyyyy?" People cheered and laughed. For a second there I thought there was going to be a love-in. The party we are invited to this Saturday has now turned into a world series party - the good news for us is that I hadn't even had a chance to talk to non-blogging husband about it (this week has been hell...I worked 12 hours yesterday) so we hadn't responded. Which means we can politely decline. I may still watch the game Saturday night (mmm...high definition...), cause, well, it's a part of local history. We'll see.

eBay already has world series tickets for Saturday's game for sale, current bid is $3,500...ouch. But understandable.

And on a TOTALLY different, but humorous vein:
The data manager working on one of our trials sent out draft database requirements. One of the data drop down lists involves anterior and posterior selections: "anterior right leg" "posterior right leg" "anterior left leg" "posterior left leg", etc. He got so involved in doing the anterior and posterior that he wrote these selections: "anterior buttocks" "posterior buttocks". hahaha. Oops.

Posted by jennj at 09:03 AM | Comments (4)

red sox fever

I'm not a big baseball fan. But I'm catching the red sox fever and it's fun. I haven't really watched the games, but I am happy when I wake up the next morning and see that they won. I had a smile on my face when driving in this morning and the freeway signs said "Red Sox 4; Yankees 2; BELIEVE". Everyone at work is happy and talking about it, but also worried about tonight. Go Sox.

Posted by jennj at 04:23 PM | Comments (4)

i'm feeling like a freak and that's freaking me out

Addendum (thinking about this on the train home): I'm talking about personal e-mail. I have no judgment against someone keeping e-mail mementoes. I'm just wondering that my deleting them (after a certain time has passed, not, like, the day they died) is freakish and wrong.

Over on my friend Ulrika's blog, she posted how she felt when she would come across a friends' e-mail who had passed away. She's keeping them. She asked if she was psycho for keeping them. I was the *only* one on the list who suggested she delete them as a part of the grieving process. I don't keep old e-mails (alive or dead). I also remove them from my address book/cell phone when it's time (not immediately...). I did just remove Jeff from my address book/phone cause it was creeping me out more that his name appeared whenever I sent Sue an e-mail or called her than it was having him on the list. Am I a freak? Am I that uncaring towards loved ones who have died?? It's not that I don't think about them when certain songs are played (by my initiation or the radio), or certain word or phrases are spoken, etc. But isn't that the same as actively seeking out an old e-mail?

Posted by jennj at 03:50 PM | Comments (4)

i love our TiVo

Interview with the CEO of TiVo.

Posted by jennj at 03:33 PM | Comments (0)

election consumption

For those of you in a consuming mood during this election season, I bring to you some shopping considerations:

Bush is a Liar playing cards - These can also be re-phrased as Trivial Pursuit questions. I hear they may publish 3-4 more decks cause there are more lies to add.

Fourth amendment tote bag - This would have been great to have during the DNC in Boston, but for now, it'll complement your loyalty oath.

And for those of you who have needed a little extra help during the past four years, Kerry-Edwards pill cases for your anti-depressants.

Posted by jennj at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

whedon fans for kerry/edwards

Well. Maybe we need to host a fundraiser at our house on Oct. 24. Hmm. Not sure I feel comfortable asking people to attend a party and donate money, tho. Feels odd. Would anyone show up if they had to donate at least $35? Would you?

High Stakes 2004.

Posted by jennj at 08:21 PM | Comments (3)

lord of the cha siu bow: the fellowship of the food

There were seven of us who set out this morning to eat dim sum in chinatown and then head over to the museum of science to see the LOTR: The Movie Exhibit before it leaves town next weekend.

Michele, Chrism, Sean, Bob, Donna, nbh and myself met around 11a.m. at the chinatown arch. Grabbed some dim sum. I ate four cha siu bow (bbq pork bow) along with too many other shrimp dumplings and other good stuff. It's great going to dim sum with Michele cause she knows what everything (and I mean everything) is.

The LOTR exhibit is awesome. It's only here through next weekend, so it's not too late. They had original costumes (mmm..."Aragorn sweated in that") and armour and and....they had a 3-D simulation where you could pretend you were fighting - it transitioned from an elf with a bow, to an orc to a Gondor soldier. Anyway, here's a picture to commemorate the visit:

I'm a hobbit! hahahahaha....

I've also updated my "kitties" link to a whole new photo album. You should check our kitties out. They're cute.

Posted by jennj at 06:27 PM | Comments (8)

breast feeding aphrodisiac

Okay, like, I don't think I want to ever get desperate enough that I need to have a menage a trois with a nursing mother. If anything, this seems like a big turnoff to me.

I think this is needs to be an Ig Nobel nominee.

Posted by jennj at 04:18 PM | Comments (2)

bootiful day

Wow it's georgous out. So what am I doing? Inside blogging and catching up on some TiVo stuff with the non-blogging husband.

Summer blues and head pigeons are coming over tonight. We're going to go over to Dah-Mee and get something Kris says is awesome, stone pot something. It's Korean. We'll then come back here to drink heavily and play Mario Kart. If you want to head out with us, gimme a call or send an e-mail. We're meeting here at 6. (You can always join us for the drinking/mario kart later, if'n you want).

In preparation for tonight and not sure I agree with it - especially the artistic and charming stuff. Heh. And I don't like Zinfandels. Yeesh.

You are a Zinfandel!
Which Wine Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Lemme know what you guys all are....hehehehe

Posted by jennj at 01:19 PM | Comments (12)

kerry is screwed

If Kerry wins, he's still screwed. It's a lot easier and faster to lose trust than to rebuild it and that's what's happened to America in four years. I feel that we need to be vigilant during his first term and make sure that Kerry sticks around for eight years. Why? Cause it'll probably take that long to get some of this shit out of our systems.

On a side note, it's kind of jarring to be listening to a capella Moxy Fruvous "I've Got To Get A Message To You" and then the ipod shuffle play segues into "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Especially when you had the volume blasting on MF....

Good morning everyone.

Posted by jennj at 11:11 AM | Comments (8)

my head s'plode

I just watched Fahrenheit 9/11 for the first time this evening. It's a great movie. I haven't gone to do the investigation on what's spin and what isn't (except things I definitely know about), yet. But let's say if only 50% of it's not spin....why the hell is anyone still supporting Bush?

It was sickening seeing the images of Iraqi's beating burned, dead U.S. soldiers bodies. It was disturbing listening to Youssef Sleiman address a room full of company executives interested in bidding on contracts on the reconstruction of Iraq say "how do we get a piece of this big action? cause it's big and once the oil starts flowing, it'll be even bigger." It was disturbing just hearing Bush address a crowd of fat cats jokingly say, "some of you are the haves and the rest are the have mores. some of you are called the elite. I like to call you my base." "ha ha" - Doesn't matter to me where or when or what context he said it, it's still disgusting to see someone gloating like that. Screw you. Yes, I recognize that Moore wants me to feel this way...and frankly, in some of these instances, I'm ok with that.

I did not like Moore poking fun at the santa that the troops had at xmas in Iraq. It's not like we can understand how to make things livable when in a tough situation. We don't know and we shouldn't poke fun at any attempts to try to make life as normal as one can while deployed. Coping mechanisms are important and should not be made fun of.

I'm glad I watched it.

Posted by jennj at 08:34 PM | Comments (6)

debate debate debate

As they pan across the audience attending the debate, I wonder, "Did they have to sign a loyalty oath?"

Posted by jennj at 09:03 PM | Comments (0)

relational databases

Whoever put us on a mailing from the MetroWest Medical Center for an open house called "Expecting?" - complete with cute baby pictures - did not cross reference the non-blogging husbands' vasectomy....yikes. Creepy. Yuck.

In the meantime, I'm irritated that the local Hot Topic does not seem to have the Invader Zim Volume III DVD yet. Tomorrow is the official release date, maybe they'll have it then? They had the other two *early*. Bastards. However, I *am* going to get me one of these:

IZ license plate frame. Pitiful humans.

Oh, and nbh is off in the San Joser area on biz until late Thursday evening. Prolly just as well, cause I'm still working on the paper due....tomorrow at midnight. I miss my nbh.

Posted by jennj at 10:24 PM | Comments (2)

klingons for kerry

*snort*

According to the poll of eight local Klingons, a whopping 75 percent support the Democratic nominee.

Posted by jennj at 08:29 AM | Comments (2)

ketchup (catch up, get it?)

I wonder if pronouncing the word "ketchup" is like tomato, tomahto. Whatever.

So, last week I was almost in an accident. As in, thank god I pay attention to where I'm driving cause this was a doozy. I was in the left lane on Mem Drive and the person in the right lane decided they needed to turn left, now, onto the street I was just going to go past. I braked and turned left too as much as I could so we wouldn't hit, corrected a little bit to the right too. Our cars did not touch and the good news is she decided it was too late to turn left and she continued straight. What was really annoying is the cars that stopped behind us started *honking* when we didn't move as quickly as they wanted. Mass-holes. Excuse me while I take a moment to get my heart out of my throat and let the moron turn away from my car and get back into her lane.

But onto things that make me happy. I saw one of those new Porsche 911 Carrera's on the road this week. That's a sweet looking car. Mmmm.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was on The Daily Show this week. What a wonderful man. Loving, caring, cute (not in a sexual way, folks. ew.), happy. I like him. I may need to read his book(s) after I finish with The Baroque Cycle (except the 3rd, cause it's not out yet) and read The Daily Show book, America (The Book). Looks like they could be good xmas gifts (hint, hint).

And, last, but not least, Mark flew in zero-g yesterday. Bastard. I have as yet to manage talking to him on the phone, but he did send photos:

Mark and the head of the X-Prize, Peter Diamandis. Boy is that guy short. Mark is probably 2 inches taller than I am.

Mark floating.

Puking statistics: 8 out of 28. Mark was not one of them. Bastard.

Posted by jennj at 07:30 AM | Comments (6)

postin' fool

This is what happens when you're having a painful meeting. I wrote the question, my buddy Kathy wrote the response.

Posted by jennj at 06:12 PM | Comments (0)

virgin galactic

Yes, the website is already up. I'm trying to figure out how to get some schwag (sp?). I'd buy a t-shirt or coffee mug or something. I'm officially declaring myself a virgin galactic groupie.

Posted by jennj at 12:01 PM | Comments (4)

good stuff on the new commercial space industry

Check out Jerry's (Yes, I said Jerry. I grew up with his children. Yes, I'm name dropping. Deal with it.) comments and first-hand experience at the X-Prize press conference on Monday. Interesting tidbits:

* Pepsi and M&M sponsors
* Virgin Galactic has commissioned 5 space ships; Branson and Rutan to be the first passengers on the first flight
* Brian Binnie receiving astronaut wings from the FAA

I'm a dork, I had tears in my eyes as I read through this. Please don't make fun of my dreams.

Posted by jennj at 10:33 AM | Comments (2)

blog colors??

Am I the only one seeing white (which is making me see red ;-) on the right and left sides of my blog??? I get the appropriate dark green using Safari on my Mac. Otherwise, IE on the Mac and Windows and Firefox on the Mac show wide, WHITE, panes on the right and left of my freakin' blog. I want them to be my favorite green.

I still have to do: update my kitties picture link to iphoto web site, change comments to descending and fix some of my templates dealing with commenting. But tonight is homework and I have a paper due next Wednesday, so...we'll see when I get to fiddling with it.

Posted by jennj at 09:29 AM | Comments (12)

vice presidential debate

This is the first time I've really had a chance to focus on Edwards. I'm not impressed - but I only saw half of it, I'll see the second half tonight on the TiVo. He was stupid for saying that he "believes that marriage is between a man and a woman". He should have just started with the second part of his comment, which was that it should be left to the states, etc. That would have made me happier. And frankly, I liked Cheney's response to Edwards comments about gay marriage and Cheney's daughter: "Thank you, Mr. Edwards." That's it. Don't get me wrong, Cheney is still evil.

On to apple crisps: I learned Monday that I make a damn fine apple crisp. The mixture of golden delicious and granny smith was superb. The use of my Kitchen Aid mixer with the wire whip attachment created a perfect crumble top. I used the crisp recipe that came with the apple peeler/corer. Yay.

Posted by jennj at 09:09 AM | Comments (1)

SpaceShipOne; Government Zero

That was the sign that the first commerical astronaut (Mike Melvill) held after his flight. *snort* And then today, Brian Binnie helped get Scaled Composites the X-Prize.

If I won $1 million on Survivor, I would so spend $200,000 on Virgin Galactic when it starts it's flights.

Posted by jennj at 07:42 PM | Comments (3)

apple madness

I have an apple crisp in the oven right now. Mmm…..it smells good. I did a combination of granny smiths and golden delicious.

Yesterday, Kristin, Mike and I headed down to Kim & Josh’s to go apple picking with a bunch o’ peoples. It was a beautiful day and it was a ton of fun. I won’t go into too many more details because others will be talking about it on their blogs, I’m sure. I got to meet jhimm and we piled into his suh-weet car to/from the orchard. That’s a damn fun car.

In case you’re wondering, non-blogging husband woke up Sunday morning and found out that he had to stay home to support a build for a hopeful Friday gold release. On Thursday last week he was made the buildmeister while the normal guy goes on a sabbatical for four weeks.

We then headed back to Kim’s and people proceeded to bake up a storm. The use of an apple peeler/corer doo-dad immediately convinced me I needed one. Now. I bought one today and used it already. I had always kind of laughed at the thought of them. But after watching folks use it yesterday, I don’t know how I lived without one. I got the Williams-Sonoma one – and got to finish up my gift certificate from my birthday. I want to make mashed potatoes now, so I can try this thing on potatoes. I loves it.

Later this week, I’m makin’ a pie.

More pictures:

Kristin peeking from behind the trunk of a tree:

Peoples:

More Peoples:

Posted by jennj at 05:46 PM | Comments (2)

beer games

Peter and Rebecca are, quite suddenly, moving to the San Francisco bay area. Peter got a job at PalmOne at their headquarters, and he's always wanted to live in that area and Rebecca doesn't have a new job yet, so...why not?

Anyway, we went to their gbye party last night. Everyone decided to play anchorman, the beer game where you fill a huge, glass container with three random beers and try to sink a quarter in it by bouncing the quarter off a surface. I was the designated driver, so I conversed with other dd's and watched. Boy, did they get hammered.

At one point, when the song "It's Not Unusual" came on (you know, Tom Jones), Peter drunkenly started exclaiming that when they all fly out to Vegas for Bob's bachelor party that they have *got* to go see Tom Jones. And if Tom Jones isn't playing, the next act they should go see is:

"Those lion tamers. You know, Sigmund and Freud."

*bwahahahahah*

Posted by jennj at 10:52 AM | Comments (2)

free at last....free at last...

Well, folks. It's official. Midnight tonight, die.earthlink.die account will cease to exist. Praise be.

I've still got some tweaking to do, but if you find anything, please let me know. The links in the recent clue-ments aren't taking folks to the proper location. Some other stuff that's annoying me. Lemme know how it looks in your browser.

Man, what a week! I couldn't blog and there was so much to talk about.

The X-Prize was attempted by Scaled Composites. And it looks like they're a go for 10a.m. on Monday. Which apparently is the 47th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik. Hehehehe.

The project that was supposed to go live in JULY, went live today. Which is great, because there's already an avalanche of work piling on me and I need the free time.

Apparently, those of us who watch the Daily Show are more educated than the viewers of the O'Reilly show. I'm amused because it's a fake news show. I love Jon Stewart. *heart flutters*

And....and...and...YAY! I'm blogging again!

Posted by jennj at 06:55 PM | Comments (7)