cool

My letter got published in today's Boston Metro. Not quite the WSJ, but I'll take it.

Posted by jennj at 09:04 AM | Comments (2)

owquitit

I sprained my ankle. I'm in pain. No doc trip cause we're pretty sure it's a sprain and we're doing what they would tell you to do for a sprain: elevate, ice, take some tylenol. Repeat.

Nothing spectacular. Walking. The pavement of the sidewalk sloped down and my ankle zigged when it should have zagged. And my knee has a serious scrape on it. This is not a good week to be working from home with the sh*t going on at work. Oh well. Thank goodness I _can_ work from home!

Posted by jennj at 05:36 PM | Comments (0)

hey runners...

If you ever make it to Antarctica, here's some suggested running routes. Hehe.

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

p.s.

I f*ing love our TiVo Series 3. We've had it for a week now and it's my precious.

Posted by jennj at 07:08 PM | Comments (12)

hahahaha

Weird Al has released a music video on YouTube. White & Nerdy. You've GOT to check it out.

Posted by jennj at 07:05 PM | Comments (4)

letter to metro

I read the free Metro in the morning just cause it amuses me and it'll kick start me to do real news investigation on the items it mentions. A letter appeared in the letter section from another reader that really pissed me off. So I sent the following. Hopefully it'll get published:

Hello,

Regarding "Better ways to spend $20 million" (Sept. 21): Constance Wright says "[Anousheh Ansari] needs to re-think their priorities and stop being so selfish and self-centered". If you had done any research on her you would have found out the following: that she works with a number of non-profit organizations including the Ashoka Foundation in its support of social entrepreneurs. She has served on the boards of directors for Make-a-Wish Foundation of North Texas and Collin County Children's Advocacy Center. Why is it that you are speaking up now instead of when the three male space tourists before her spent $20 million on their rides? Maybe you should do some research on them and see what their dedication is to others on the planet. You might learn that these people aren't as selfish as you think.

She came to America from Iran when she was 16 and had to learn English. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree in electronics and computer engineering from George Mason University, followed by a master's degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University. She is currently working toward a master's degree in astronomy from Swinburne University. She should not be disparaged, she should be held up as a role model for young girls for her entrepreneurial spirit, educational accomplishments and that all of us can achieve our dreams if we put our minds to it.

Sincerely,
XXXXXX

Posted by jennj at 12:01 PM | Comments (2)

poor little blog, all lonely....

Do you miss me?

Seriously, tho, so much is going on at work and personal life that I haven't really thought about the blog. Including commute time, work, going to the gym after work, I'm not getting home until like 7:30p.m. Then I spend time with the nbh, kitties, eat some dinner, watch some tv and do my homework and then it's 10p.m. and I'm tired and go to bed.

Add to that the travel, trying to see friends (although woefully bad at it...when was the last time I saw any of you locals who may be reading this?), wanting to take some sort of art class or something fun and I got no time (and nothing to say) for the blog.

So, just a general state of the union. Hugs.

Posted by jennj at 04:28 PM | Comments (6)

it's about freakin' time

The first female "space tourist", Anousheh Ansari, leaves tomorrow to spend time on the ISS.

Rock. On.

Her last name should be familiar to you. Her and her family started the Ansari X Prize.

Posted by jennj at 04:50 PM | Comments (5)

stumbled across this entry in wikipedia

In case you're writing a paper or want to settle a bet:

List of people known as father or mother of something

It doesn't seem to be as long as I would have thought.....

Posted by jennj at 09:10 AM | Comments (0)

what would you do?

A co-worker this morning asked me the following question as it just happened to them:

Say you walk into the dunkin donuts and nobody else is in line in front of you or at the counter ordering. As you walk towards the counter, you notice that there's a $5 bill lying on the floor. It's too far away for the counter person to have flung it out there while giving change. And nobody else is around. Do you pick up the $5 and pocket it or do you give it to the counter person and tell them to hold it for whoever may come back and pick it up? Or?

My answer was pocket the $5. My logic? Nobody is around so you can't even ask anyone if it's theirs and if someone had noticed they're missing $5, they're probably long gone and won't come back for $5.

But then my answer gives me another conundrum: What amount would get me to hand it to the counter person and tell them to hold it for the person who may come back? I can't quite come up with my answer for that.

p.s. they pocketed the $5.

Posted by jennj at 07:45 PM | Comments (3)

*giggle*

I overheard a guy ask the sales clerk, "Do you have any sweet spots?" at the sporting goods store this evening. I giggled. I'm not sure what the guy was really asking for. I'm assuming it's some sort of sporting equipment with an unfortunate name or I missed part of the discussion.

Posted by jennj at 08:37 PM | Comments (1)

survivor starts thursday

I have been a survivor fan from the beginning. It's the only reality show that I always make time for. Maybe it's because I like seeing people go batshit crazy when they are deprived of food. Or maybe it's because I like watching people and how they react to each other. Or maybe because Jeff Probst is hawt.

It's the last one that this post is about. I've had this impression of Jeff as being a fairly intelligent guy for a reality show host. I mean, the way he calls people on their bullshit is downright brilliant. I like that in a guy. But then I came across the following article and suddenly I'm not so sure about that intelligence thing...:

"When you start talking to a person from Asia, you realize -- Wow! They have all different backgrounds!" gushed Probst, who described himself repeatedly as a 44-year-old white guy from Wichita.
.........
Asians, he explained, include Chinese and Japanese and Koreans and "they don't necessarily get along," adding, "This is stuff maybe I should know."

Reality show hosts: They all look alike to me.

Posted by jennj at 02:24 PM | Comments (3)

enough

Enough with the Crocodile Hunter. There are others who have done a lot more than offer the world the word "Crickey" and didn't get this much attention. Let me know when it's out of the news, cause right now if I see another announcement about his funeral or a special or made for tv movie or bobblehead I'm going to puke.

Posted by jennj at 09:10 AM | Comments (5)

glad that's over with

The past two days are over with and I fly home tomorrow. I was able to keep my sense of humor when dealing with asshat, so it wasn't so bad. I now have the next six months of dealing with asshat, but I'm in a better headspace and now that the work has started, I know it'll eventually end. That's a comfort.

I have a second asshat on the project who is a know it all. Greeaat. Why is it so hard for someone to show that they don't know something? I actually am beginning to think that this second asshat may be worse than the first one. *shudder*

Posted by jennj at 09:42 PM | Comments (1)

waiting for the other shoe to drop....?

The flight down and travel stuff have turned out pretty awesome so far. Let's see. Direct flight to Austin on JetBlue (which I love to fly, they're awesome) and no problems. Moved up to the 2nd row so that I could have two seats all to myself (the guy I was originally sitting next to in row 18 had hairy arms and he was trying to hog space..it was icky). First one off the plane. Went over to Hertz to get the car squared away before picking up luggage. Smart move. When I got to the carousel, my bag was just coming around. Grabbed bag. Hertz line had increased and there were six people in it. Avoided that wait.

Went up to car. Opened door and the cigarette smell wafted out. Crap. Didn't put anything in car, but sat down in driver's seat to see how bad it was. Bad. Walked over to the help person that's working on the floor. Asked if it was possible to have a non-smoking car, please.

Her: "Would you like to drive a Ford Mustang Standard Coupe at no extra charge? It's sporty."

Me: "Hell yes!"

Sorta nice drive down (spots of rain). I like the look of the car. The interior is very retro. But I wouldn't own it. There are issues with the blind spot, for example. I've looked at the weather on Friday and it's supposed to not rain, which should make the drive back a lot more fun!

I got to the hotel and when she handed me the room number I asked if the room was off the bar (I had a problem last time where I had to switch rooms because the bar was right outside my window). It was. I asked if she could move me, please. She then upgraded me to a room on the 8th floor that gives me access to the Concierge Lounge. Score. Free bottled water. Fruit. Snacks. Newspapers. There are happy hours at certain times.

And I actually managed to get to the fitness center and do a little workout.

Ahh....off to work a bit until our vendors arrive and then off to dinner with them.

Posted by jennj at 04:24 PM | Comments (0)

too much activity

I leave early tomorrow morning to fly down for Yet Another Business Trip to San Antonio. This time, I've decided to try something different. I'm flying to Austin and then driving the rest of the way to San Antonio. Direct flight. I figure, it's about an hour (with the way I drive) to SA from Austin and I spend at least that amount of time waiting in Houston or Dallas for my connection. Sides, I'll have my ipod and itrip. I come back on Friday.

May have time to blog. May not. Lately, more like not.

Posted by jennj at 09:54 PM | Comments (4)

how come nobody is mentioning this as an advantage?

$50,000 to add a inch to your kid's height seems a bit much so they can go on the rides at Disneyland.....hehe

p.s. God, the mother quoted in the article doesn't pay attention to what she says. In one sentence she says that she has experienced height discrimination and then in another sentence she says she doesn't believe girls (when asked why she didn't get her daughter the hormone shots, just the son) are discriminated for their height. Whaaa?

Posted by jennj at 04:56 PM | Comments (0)