what I learned on my summer vacation

1. Flavored Vodka does not work as a sno-cone flavor.
2. You do not get to call science fiction fans weird when you have flipper like hands (my sister encountered someone who said this when she explained to them what kind of convention it was. He said "You guys are weird". Then she noticed their hands were misshapen and didn't really have fingers and she thought, "You're calling US weird?!")
3. I got to pet penguins!!!!!
4. They changed the Pirates ride at Disneyland and have included three animatronic Jack Sparrows. Hehe.
5. I need to keep track of my friends better. It was great seeing many of them again.
6. "Don't make me peck you!"

Did not get to see as many people at Worldcon as I thought I would (some I never saw at all or saw briefly in the hallway but had no chance to follow up). I'm not sure there's much to report. We were only there for wednesday night, all day friday and saturday. And we did not go to any parties (except for the wednesday night star trek anniversary thing). I got to spend a lot of time with Ulrika (yay!). I got to spend brunch with Terry and finally meet Maia (yay!). I then saw other friends off and on, talked, caught up, etc. And dinner with Mark, Brian and Kathy was fun!

Saw many people who have known me pretty much all my life and got the obligatory "I remember when you were a kid..." stuff. Even though I know I saw many of them at ConJose a few years ago. So it's not like they haven't seen me since I was "a kid". I'm sure that this can't be pleasant cause it probably just reminds them that they're getting older. Of course, I'm getting older too. I just find it kind of annoying in a "Can we get over this now, please? I'm not a kid anymore." I try very hard not to say such stuff to the people I've known since they were born and saw at the con (and there were many).

Anyway, it was fun but I'm glad we're home. I missed the kitties and some sort of normalcy. Or whatever passes for that around here.

Posted by jennj at 10:09 PM | Comments (3)

so.very.tired

We're home. I hate red eye flights. I've taken today off as a vacation day. More later.

Posted by jennj at 12:05 PM | Comments (2)

penguins is practically chickens (that's from a cartoon...know which one?)

I'm not sure where to begin. Petting penguins rocks. So, everyone got to pet the Humboldt penguin, U-Turn (named that way because her tag number is 180) in the nursery rookerie. Then, Lora, nbh and I got to go into the arctic Penguin Encounter area and pet King, Macaroni and Gentoo penguins. King Tut is the name of the king penguin you'll see in most of the photos (including the one below). His girlfriend BeBe came by cause she seemed a little upset that lora and I were constantly petting her man. Highly amusing. I'm still in awe of the experience. You'll find the photos here.

Posted by jennj at 07:39 PM | Comments (5)

at the airport.....

Apparently there is an unsecure wifi connection here....as we've got free wifi...suh-weet. We'll be gone for like ten days to see the family, go to worldcon, I GET TO PET PENGUINS and such in the los angeles area. I may blog during that time. I may not. However, I will be checking e-mail and probably reading others blogs. Later.

And nbh suggests the following horror movie: Kids on a Plane!

Posted by jennj at 06:25 AM | Comments (4)

hopefully this will hold up when it goes to the supreme court

But yay.

"Judge Anna Diggs Taylor said the controversial practice of warrantless wiretapping known as the "Terrorist Surveillance Program" violated free speech rights, protections against unreasonable searches and the constitutional check on the power of the presidency."

But I suspect nobody will try to impeach. I mean, this is soooo not on the level of lying about a blow job. *sarcasm*

p.s. Note I'm not saying that Clinton's lying about the blow job is or isn't high crimes and misdemeanors. I'm sarcastically saying that if there is inaction in Congress to start impeachment proceedings for this then it seems that lying is impeachable but this isn't. Which scares me.

Posted by jennj at 03:42 PM | Comments (0)

someone's not happy

Apparently Joe Scarborough is not happy with Bush.... You can see the video here. And the picture below? Not photoshopped, it's from Scarborough's show. But, hey, it's a sentiment I can get behind.

Posted by jennj at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)

mmm......donuts.......

First it was Sally Struthers telling us to donate money to feed the hungry and poor. Now the call for help is for Sally Struthers.

"There are more overweight people than hungry in the world".

Posted by jennj at 09:18 AM | Comments (9)

tucker carlson

Oh sweet jeebus. I've never watched Dancing With The Stars, but on the next season, Tucker "I'm a d*ckhead with a bow tie" Carlson will be on it. Oh lord, I might actually check this thing out. Hi-larious.

Posted by jennj at 03:52 PM | Comments (0)

do not throw stones...

If you have a "got brains?" bumper sticker on your car, keeping your left turn signal flashing for three miles and not once turning left or getting in the left lane is so hypocritical. I'm just sayin'.

Posted by jennj at 10:30 AM | Comments (4)

very, very, very depressed

The cats were running through the house and knocked my laptop off the coffee table. The hard drive got banged. Hard. As in, it's now completely dead. Everything is lost. And I don't want to talk about how long it has been since I'd backed it up. I'm lucky that I have my itunes on my ipod (that's always recent). Many of my iphotos that hadn't been copied over to chris's iphoto are gone. Any homework (thank god classes are done) that I may have wanted to keep for future reference. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. We checked into data recovery services. Forget about it. Anywhere from $500-$2,000. I don't think I have anything that's worth _that_ much money. Except the photos. And that's a hard thing to decide: are my photos and memories worth that kind of money? Unfortunately, I can't justify it. Gone. And I'm a dumb ass.

Posted by jennj at 01:45 PM | Comments (5)

walkies

Nbh and I headed out earlier to walk down to the dunkin donuts to get me a cup o' joe (no donuts or any other crap!). It was an excuse to get out in this beautiful weather and walk around. Anyway, as we were walking back we walked through our town square and there was this guy hopping around and playing a ukulele and just having a grand old time. People crack me up.

Posted by jennj at 09:13 AM | Comments (0)

it had to happen....

Spoof "I'm a Mac/"I'm a PC" ads....the networking one is pretty funny...

Posted by jennj at 07:52 PM | Comments (2)

*blink*

Yo, if you're a breast feeding mother out in public? You might want to develop some situational awareness skills.

The non-blogging husband and I were wandering around the mall last night cause I had to stop at the Coach store. As we passed a store called little lu's (or something like that) we looked over and a woman was sitting on a chair breast feeding her infant. Okay, fine. But the situational awareness that I speak of? She was facing out the display window TOWARDS the mall atrium and looked like a breast feeding mannequin. And dudes, this store does not sell breast pumps.

Have some decorum, my dear, that's all I ask! Or at least show more cleavage next time.

Posted by jennj at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)

update on flying

Well, that's the last time I'll trust my travel office. There are no restrictions for bringing laptops on the plane. Just liquids.

Official TSA FAQ about the issue is here. (Thanks, John)

Posted by jennj at 04:05 PM | Comments (14)

frequent fliers

I know you've probably already thought about this if you have to travel by air during this time, but, in case you haven't, I have some advice. If you check _anything_ electronic in checked baggage you should make sure there's a record of the serial number and description (e.g. Macintosh 12" powerbook) filed with the airline upon check-in. Or something that is on record you've checked this equipment in. Heck, I'd probably want the serial number, description and _which bag_ (bar code on the sticker) it was in recorded officially. Getting laptops or other high price items stolen sucks. Trying to get them replaced and paid for by the airline sucks even more.

We leave in 8 days for Los Angeles. This should be interesting if things have not changed by then. Especially travelling with a CPAP device (Must investigate cushioning options for device...already have this kind of stuff for laptop...hmm...). On the plus side, we don't have to deal with overcrowded overhead bins.

p.s. if you can afford it, freakin' send it fedex insured

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

buckle up bonehead, you're going for a ride

So, nbh and I are going to see Evil Dead: The Musical in New York with some friends on December 2. Tickets have been purchased. I asked that we opt out of the "Splatter Zone". _That_ should be interesting. This musical has the potential to be really, really bad or a lot of fun. Alas, no Bruce Campbell so the guy playing Ash has big shoes to fill....

Posted by jennj at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)

might as well face it, i'm addicted to....

...Smallville. That really doesn't scan at all. Whatever.

Can I say that a guy is "hawt"? Or is that only to refer to girls like, "She's hawt"?

Anyway, nbh and I have discovered Smallville. I'm really enjoying it. The guy who plays Lex Luthor is hot (hawt?). Good lord. Yum.

Anyway, it's not perfect, and it's kinda fluffy, but it can be clever, bittersweet, funny and self-referential and it makes me feel good and I'm charmed.

Posted by jennj at 09:13 PM | Comments (2)

whaaa?

Is this for real? I understand memorials. I understand people's need to collect things. But commemorative 9/11 coins? It feels so dirty. And do they have to use so many exclamation points?!!!!!!!

Posted by jennj at 10:51 PM | Comments (4)

deep breath

Well, the project with a**hole is _finally_ going to move forward. Which means for the next six to eight months I have to work with said a**hole. He sent an e-mail late yesterday that reminded me why I don't like working with him. I wouldn't put up with my boss micro managing me, and I'm even less inclined to do so with a peer. So, I'm going to have to give him a call and try to sort this out in the next day or two. If I don't call and talk with him, then my feelings will fester and at some point I'll explode. Sides, this does nobody any good and it will impair my ability to be professional. Bleah.

Posted by jennj at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)

okay...I'll go see it....

A trailer (you have to "p*enetrate" the site to get to the trailer) for Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny. It looks bad, but I can't help myself when it comes to Jack Black.

Posted by jennj at 09:57 PM | Comments (2)

calling all locals

My friend jhimm's band, lisp, will be performing on September 7, at the Skybar in Somerville. Skybar opens at 8p.m., lisp will go on at 9p.m.

Nbh and I will be attending, and are willing to meet up for dinner some place beforehand. Let me know.

Posted by jennj at 12:50 PM | Comments (2)

net neutrality...whaa?

This woman from this site looks like Super Condom Woman and disturbs me like Teletubbies disturb me. I do not think of net neutrality when I see this:

Posted by jennj at 10:50 AM | Comments (1)

sunday cat blogging

Posted by jennj at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)

oh my god, this will make me the happiest girl on the planet

Firefly is being remastered in High Def. They f*ing shot on film which means I get my Firefly HD goodness. HOLY SH*T. Oh my god. oh my god. Too excited to even type.

"Twentieth Century Fox Television has remastered the show's 35mm print to 1080i high definition for a Sept. 24 debut on UHD."

What's UHD?

News here. When will it be available for me to BUY?

Posted by jennj at 12:39 PM | Comments (4)

done.done.done

Finished the last of coursework for summer semester just a few minutes ago. Jeebus. Accelerated courses during the summer sucks.

The evening is beautiful. The heat has broken, we have the door open to the screened in porch and the cats are enjoying hanging out there.

I think I'll go join them....

Posted by jennj at 08:14 PM | Comments (1)

not much going on

Have you ever worked with anyone who uses humor in order to hide their incompetence? As in, "Hey, if everyone thinks I'm a swell person, then they won't notice or will excuse my incompetence!" I'm dealing with that right now with someone I thought knew what they were doing. Turns out, they don't. *sigh* I feel like this person is blowing smoke up my butt. Which makes me dislike them, not like them. Bleah.

Posted by jennj at 12:47 PM | Comments (10)