Insignifica

shock treatment

Does anyone else care that the version of the song "Shock Treatment" (from the movie of the same name) is different on the soundtrack and the "Songs From The Vaults" album? I'll have to watch the film to see which it's the same as, or to see if it's a third version.

The sport utility vehicle Ford Explorer is offered in "standard" or "sport".

third of the day!

Lookie at me and all my updates! Decided the gallery was getting stale, so I added a few pictures.

baseball quote of the day

Baseball quote of the day -

"My goodness, this team is definitely better without me on it," Austin said. "I'm surprised I've stayed here this long."

- Cincinnati Reds pitcher Jeff Austin after giving up back-to-back-to-back home runs to start Wednesday's game, one start after giving up 5 runs in the first inning to become the first player in 11 years pulled in the first inning in consecutive starts. Austin was demoted to AAA after the game.

world poker tour

Really exciting stuff on World Poker Tour this week - an amateur got to the final two, but cracked a bit at the end - still walked away with $250,000+ for his initial buy-in of $200 in a satellite tourney - makes me want to play. This week's show was held at the Commerce Casino, about 15 miles from my home. I haven't been there, and had heard it's a dump, but apparently it's one of the premier poker establishments on the west coast, Vegas included. I may have to check it out.

again, it's been a while...

Wow, I feel like I've been neglecting Insignifica lately - work keeps me busy, I'm moving in a couple months, so that's starting to take up time, and I've just been doing other things with my time other than sitting in front of the computer. Questions and comments:

testing

I'm now using MT 2.63. Just thought I'd let you all know.

lots of notes

Wow, so many little things to catch up on. In fairly short, bullet-pointed order:

space

If you've sent me email in the last few days, I might not have received it as my hosting account's been full. Free free to try to send again.

wil and vegas

Wil puts into words what I think to myself almost every night around 10 pm.

weekend recap

Had a great weekend in Santa Cruz - traveled Saturday morning, arrived Saturday afternoon, ate at Little Shanghai, then rested up before Rocky. Col put on an amazing show, great cast, very funny, the perfect amount of acting out of character, great synch, and lots of college-aged T&A - all in all a very funny and sexy show, and better organized (at least on the show night level) than any show I ever put on.

Stayed up late afterward at an old favorite diner, then back to my hotel room with some of the cast for wine tasting and winding down - ended up getting to bed at about 7 and sleeping until 2. It's like college all over again!

Beside Colleen, I saw a host of old friends that I hadn't seen in ages, including Scott (3 years), John (3 months, but 15 months before that), Garote (8 months), Alex and Helen (7 months), Elena (3 years) and Tori (2 years). Tori and I have been talking a lot recently, and it's was awesome seeing her again - she's doing some really big things in her life, and we really reconnected this weekend. Can't wait to see her again, as well as everyone else.

I was thinking how much I miss college, and it's true - I was really involved with life at school, and made amazing connections there. But then Gary reminded me why I don't really miss it - he's got two 15-page papers due Monday. Yikes. I do miss the college atmosphere, and living on campus, and being part of that community, and learning - but I don't miss the harsh deadlines.

No rest for the wicked, as I follow up the Birthday Celebration, Camping and Santa Cruz with the Ren Faire this weekend, then Memorial weekend next, then an engagement party, then we're having the house repainted and recarpeted for moving - I've been and will continue to be busy. I'll enjoy a weekend off sometime in late July.

justice served

The wheels of justice rolled right by me, splashing just a little mud on my shoes.

Was called to report at 10am today (same time I start work, and the same distance from home, in the other direction) for jury duty. I get in before 10, have a seat, listen to some instructions, watch a short film, then get my named called to go into the courtroom when they need me. Turns out they don't need us until 1:30pm, so they sent us on a 2h45m lunch.

Went home, took my mamma to lunch. Came back.

I get back to the jury room, read some more of Stupid White Men, wait around another hour, and the nice jury lady finally tells us it's time to go up to the courtroom. This is exciting; I haven't been in a court room since my mock trial days, and while I didn't particularly want to serve on a jury this time around, I was excited to see how the whole process worked. We were taken upstairs to one of the criminal courtrooms (it had a cage), sat us in rows (87 of us, we filled up the entire gallery), took roll a couple of times, talked to us about telling the truth and being objective, then had us fill out questionnaires. By this time it's after 3, and they kick us out at 5. While I was pretty sure they could be quick if they wanted to, I doubted they'd be able to choose the jury that quickly. They dismissed a couple of people the defendant claimed to know, then called up 18 people to start asking questions of. It's 3:50 at this point, and the judge says that there's no jury selection on Fridays, and it's too late to finish today, so we'd all have to report back at 9am on Monday.

I'm supposed to be in Santa Cruz until Monday night.

A line of people queue up in front of the bailiff, and all I can hear is he saying, over and over, "I'm sorry but you're still going to have to come back on Monday". I'm near the end of the line, and I tell him I have existing vacation plans, and have for 2 months (this is true). To me, in a quiet voice as if he didn't want the other jurors to know it was able to be negotiated, he said "have a seat". I sat down (along with one other lady), told the judge I was traveling, and she said "No problem, you're excused. Return to jury selection, you have to serve again on another trial". I left and went downstairs, turned in my badge, and the nice jury lady said I was all done. No trial, no reporting on Monday. Quite interesting; I look forward to serving on a jury sometime when I have the time and no existing plans.

civic duty

For the first time in my life, I actually need to report to a county courthouse and serve jury duty. Both Ryan and my lady have also had to serve in the past month as well. And while I do want to perform my civic duty, I'd rather be at work makin' money. I'm also traveling this weekend, and I'd rather not have to cut the trip short so I can be back on Monday to be on a jury. I'll have more to report tomorrow...I'm just hoping the courthouse I'm going to has internet capable workstations like the main county courthouse.

camping, etc.

Had a great time camping this weekend. While I'm not a big fan of sleeping outdoors (I slept in the car Saturday night, as our air mattress proved easily flattened), I love the cookouts (we had plenty to eat, thanks for the snacks and cookware we used of Joe's), the sing-a-longs (thanks Chris), the fresh air and being outside with friends.

The lake was a little cold to go swimming in, but we did take a nice walk near it, and saw a good deal of flora and fauna. The weather was variable; it rained from about 11pm Friday (bedtime anyway) until 5am Saturday, then again from about 10am Saturday until 1pm. While damp, it really wasn't a hindrance, and it made horseshoes more interesting. I was also glad there was no thunder or lightning to report. Saturday afternoon turned sunny (enough to give me a slight burn), but nothing too bad. My team won the wiffle ball matchup, and I was soundly beaten in horseshoes by an 8 year old girl.

My only real problem with camping continues to be sleeping - I've yet to have an air mattress that didn't deflate in the middle of the night, and my weight (declining as it is - I'm under 230 for the first time in years) still requires me to avoid too much movement unless I want to hit hard ground during turning. All the thinking about hard ground and holey mattresses makes for a stiff sleep. Depending on local conditions, my allergies also assault when I'm sleeping too near the ground. If I could do everything associated with camping but sleep in a real bed, I'd do it all the time.

The camping trip has inspired me to organize a "travels through California" week long RV/camping trip for either later this year (sept-oct) or next Spring. I'd like to rent a smallish RV, gather 2-4 friends, and travel up and around California for 7 days. I think it'd be a grand adventure.

I'll be traveling to Santa Cruz this weekend to see Rocky performed by the cast I used to direct (well, kinda, most of the players are different), see some other old friends, and eat at my favorite Santa Cruz restaurants. I'll also likely meet up with Gary and Emily there, who'll be returning to Sactown from their own camping trip at Big Sur. Should be a great time.

good morning and camping

Good morning, folks! I'm taking an early day at work because I'm heading out to Lake Perris (about 40 miles east of here) to camp for the weekend with the group. My only issue with camping this time around is the forecast of rain, but the tent's waterproof, so it'll be an adventure, if not a wet one.

I'm also happy to report that the fine folks at the IRS have gotten back to me with my tax return. When combined with my new job (with more hours and pay raise), it looks like I'm in the market for a new automobile. I'm leaning toward the Hyundai Elantra: good gas milage, 4 doors, inexpensive and a 10 year, 100,000 mile warrenty. Any other suggestions?

I got an email from a reader today with some great comments about one of my quotes. I love knowing that people are reading. I'd write even if no one was, but it's great to know that I'm providing something to other people. Say hello!