don't know how long this ad will last

Go now and check out this homemade ad before Chevy removes it from their site.

They're having a contest to develop your own Chevy Tahoe ad.....

Posted by jennj at 03:35 PM | Comments (10)

yayayayayayay!

After ten days of not seeing nbh, he's coming home tonight! By way of New Jersey. I'm carpooling down to Elke's abode in New Jersey for the weekend and nbh is driving up from Richmond. I can't wait to see him!!!!!

Nbh's mom is doing well. She won't be living with us, we've found other options for her. And it's time for nbh to come home.

Posted by jennj at 07:39 AM | Comments (2)

show me the money

I like making and spending money. Do not take what I say next the wrong way and note, this post isn't about why I have to work (duh, I need the money) but why I stay with my current employer. Much of the time what keeps me here (or motivates me) is not about money, but the other stuff. Great boss (I left my previous company because my boss was horrible and well, they were going to tank soon anyway). Great work environment (except for those days I allow myself to work too much). Ability to be autonomous. All kinds of projects that are always different and exciting. Belief in what the company is doing.

Apparently, there's some economists who have measured this....

"Trust in management is by far the biggest component to consider. Say you get a new boss and your trust in management goes up a bit at your job (say, up one point on a 10-point scale). That's like getting a 36 percent pay raise, Helliwell and Huang calculate."

Posted by jennj at 05:32 PM | Comments (3)

f*ing intranet web designers

We have a new home page for our intranet. It now takes four clicks in order for me to get to the conference room listing. It used to be on the main page, one click. Why didn't they run a report of hit counts to find out their most popular links in order to figure out what is valuable on the main page? I'm sure this would have had a high count. Jeebus.

Posted by jennj at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

bad experiences

So, in line with yesterday's post, what has been your worst movie going experience to date?

I think my worst movie going experience was when the police came and raided the theatre cause two guys were smoking pot. What made it suck was that I didn't get to finish watching the movie and I had to go back with my free ticket. Maybe this is my most annnoying movie going experience in that I was inconvenienced. I have to admit, that all I've had to endure are the similar stories of having to tell someone to shut up and turn off their cell phone or a laser pointer. Nothing too over the top.

Posted by jennj at 08:51 AM | Comments (13)

movies movies movies

This guy always cracks me up. I love the way he writes. The other day he posted the following, "How to Save the Movie Theatre Industry".

"I will now save your industry:

Hire. Fucking. USHERS.

The number one reason that every single person I know gives for not going to the movies anymore is the annoyance of dealing with people who just don't behave in the theater. Yes, yes, theater owners, your cell phone adds are cute. But how many of us have dealt with the idiots around us who dutifully turn off their cellphones, and then turn and chat -- not whisper, fucking coffee-klatch -- with the person beside them?"

Posted by jennj at 01:07 PM | Comments (4)

simpsons and my life

I think last night's episode with the high definition stuff was freakin' hysterical and so familiar.....nbh called me from RIchmond before the first commercial so we could laugh together.....I miss him.

"I can see the soulless eyes of Charlie Sheen"

Posted by jennj at 08:02 PM | Comments (2)

dazed and impressed

Because I couldn't find some of the movies suggested (Ulrika's, actually) and didn't have time for Netflix to send me them, I rented Murderball. F*ing brilliant. Mad max meets disability meets rugby sports movie meets real life. I may just keep it in the Netflix queue to watch it again.

Posted by jennj at 09:14 AM | Comments (2)

f/u

I have a follow up to my earlier post about the indian reservation in South Dakota that wants to open up a planned parenthood clinic.

If you want to donate to the Oglala Sioux Tribe for this project, more info can be found here.

Posted by jennj at 08:36 AM | Comments (8)

is this wrong?

One of the courses I'm taking this semester for humanities fulfillment is "Intro to Disabilities".

We have an assignment to watch a movie that has main character(s) who are disabled and then write a "movie report". How did the film handle the disability and portray the person, blah blah.

Would it be politically incorrect if I chose Johnny Knoxville's The Ringer?

p.s. if you have any suggestions, that'd be cool.
p.p.s. downside: having to watch a johnny knoxville film.

Posted by jennj at 10:02 AM | Comments (19)

it was bound to happen

It's official. I'm old.

As I drove into work this morning, I realized that this "new" (to me, cause I don't listen to the radio much anymore) nifty 80's music station I was listening to is a local _classic rock_ station. I have always wanted an 80's station in the area, I just had to wait 10 years.

Posted by jennj at 10:18 AM | Comments (23)

i _like_ it

"To me, it is now a question of sovereignty," she said to me last week. "I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction."

Thanks to betnoir for the heads up.

Posted by jennj at 03:12 PM | Comments (2)

home...

Thanks, Mike, for getting me at the Logan Express this afternoon.

Now, for a cranky rant. I have used walkie-talkie's when skiing wth friends so we can locate each other easily on the mountain. I have used walkie-talkie's when caravaning. Why, passenger seated next to me, do you think that using your cell phone as a walkie-talkie is a good idea on a crowded plane? Not only do I have to hear your side of the conversation, but _now I have to hear theirs_. Which is just as boring and insipid as yours.

And since I'm cranky: Newark airport, you suck. I had to go through security _again_ in order to catch my connecting flight. WTF?

Update: Oops. The guy using the cell phone was while we were on the tarmac taxing to the gate. Not while in flight.

Posted by jennj at 04:18 PM | Comments (4)

sloooooowwwwww

It's a sad day when your fastest internet connection is your blackberry.

Chris's mom has dial-up service. I know that it's been at least six years since I've used dial-up because that's when Chris and I moved into together in Natick. One of the reasons we picked Natick to live in is because they were one of the few areas at the time with high speed cable modem access.

Man this is painful. We're doing OK. Chris's mom is in the hospital right now. I will probably head back to Boston in the next few days. Chris will stay here longer, as he's self-employed and can.

Later, dudes.

Posted by jennj at 09:13 AM | Comments (1)

going away

Chris and I have to head down to Richmond, like, tomorrow to help his mom out with some things. I don't know when I'll be back online. I doubt I'll be reading friends' blogs while down there. Just thought I'd let you know if you even notice I'm not posting for awhile. :-)

Posted by jennj at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)

hehe

Apparently Minnesota has an official State Muffin. It was even written into law. Blueberry, in case you were wondering. Mmmmm...I love blueberry muffins with streusel on top.

Update: Massachusett's state muffin is the corn muffin. I'm OK with this, as long as real cornmeal is used.

I must find a comprehensive list of state muffins now.

Posted by jennj at 04:29 PM | Comments (5)

going to worldcon

We just purchased airline tickets to L.A. for the week surrounding Worldcon. Lora and I are going to pet penguins in San Diego!!! Yay!!! Thank goodness for frequent flier miles. $55 total for our tickets.

In the meantime, if you hear of anyone selling their membership(s), give me a holler.

Posted by jennj at 03:08 PM | Comments (3)

season finale

So, anybody catch the season finale of Battlestar Gallactica?

My thoughts are in extended entry.

****SPOILER*********

*****SPOILER**********

*******SPOILER**************

So. The last 30 minutes were a completely different show. I'm not sure I liked it. I've been thinking about this off and on over the weekend. At first we thought it was a dream sequence. Baltar's. Then the madame president's. Then we realized it wasn't. Why was that one guy asking for Starbuck? Is she a cylon? Is he a cylon? Even though Adama and the fleet left the planet, they don't have enough people to come back and rescue them. Heck, there aren't enough people left to fight the cylons after we've surrendered - regardless of the fleet or not. They could have pursued the cancer stuff. They could have pursued madame president knowing that Baltar consorted with a cylon back on Caprica. They have the cylon/human baby. I'm just not sure where they're going with it and I'm not sure it's going to be able to sustain my attention span.

What do you think?

Posted by jennj at 11:25 AM | Comments (4)

ad astra

Virgin Galactic has got to be happy. New Mexico just signed a bill to create the New Mexico Spaceport Authority to oversee the Southwest Regional Spaceport.

And this tourist tells you about his trip to find the future site of the Southwest Regional Spaceport. Hehe.

Posted by jennj at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)

for the record

When you come to me (and you will) and ask to extend the UAT timeline _during_ UAT because you don't have enough time to finish your test scripts, verify the results and consolidate your feedback to the vendor, I'm going to say "I told you so". Yes, I sent that e-mail out this afternoon urging you to reconsider in order to cover my a**. I blind cc'd my boss. So there.

Posted by jennj at 07:04 PM | Comments (3)

homer in the ...flesh?

This is a lifelike drawing of Homer Simpson. It's disturbing.

Posted by jennj at 08:51 PM | Comments (5)

it's happening again

I'm allowing work to interfere with my personal life. Again. Hence no posts. No posts on friends blogs. No email. Nada from me.

I didn't listen to my gut and experience a few months ago regarding timelines and I'm now in a position where we're....modifying the timelines to what I originally told the team they should be. Why do I go for long periods of time listening to my gut and experience and then on some random day, for no good reason, I ignore it? ARRRGGGHHH.

Posted by jennj at 10:13 PM | Comments (1)

back

Back from sunny and warm San Antonio. It got warm enough that I wished I had packed shorts. That was a nice break.

I've been meaning to post about this for awhile, but always forget. There are ads all over South Station for Seattle's Best Coffee. And one of the ads says, "When you have a bad experience with tea, come try a smooth cup of coffee." Or something like that. My question is:

Who has had a bad experience with _tea_ and then switches to coffee??!! Nbh doesn't like the smell or taste of coffee. I have friends who like the smell but not the taste. But I have as yet to meet someone (unless I've forgotten) who doesn't like tea.

Posted by jennj at 09:27 AM | Comments (0)

better hurry up, it's turning into a starbucks

Simpsons moment. Hopefully some of you will remember the episode the following exchange reminded me of:

Me asking hotel front desk: "Hey, is there a restaurant on the river walk called Fat Tuesday's?"

Front desk person: "It's a starbucks now."

And then I saw this article on BBC News....(granted, it appears the poll was commissioned by a museum dedicated to the first amendment...but still..):

Only one in four could name more than one of the five freedoms it upholds but more than half could name at least two members of the cartoon family.

About one in five thought the right to own a pet was one of the freedoms.

Posted by jennj at 05:01 PM | Comments (11)