Insignifica

Happy Holidays, Rain, Tofurky, Cheesecake, Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!

Picture of the day!

My daughter and all her cousins at Thanksgiving 2006. That's me holding her in the frame.

Made a cheesecake last night, from scratch. I'd really like to try it, but I'm bringing it to my family's Thanksgiving on Friday, so it stays whole until then. I really need to find a good way to transport/store cakes I make. I'm sure there are plastic options aplenty, if I go looking.

I wonder how many people know Tofurky is a brand name. I'd bet "not most".

It's wet out - we had an inch and a half of rain, all in about 8 hours. No major landsliding (which, if it's gonna happen, is gonna happen with rain like that). Here's to hoping my holiday is free from emergency on-call telephone calls from work.

Speaking of work, all my deadlines have moved up, so I'm gonna be a busy bee at today. Also, this may be the last post until Monday, since I won't have a lot of "sit at the computer" time this weekend. Happy Holidays!

That's That, Chip-Dipping, Heroes Issues, Tofurky, Many Days, Joz Birthday

Happy Tuesday friends! Happy Birthday to Joz!

Picture of the day!

A bunch of wacky faces. Cinco de Mayo, 2005.

Today's my Tuesday (cause it's Tuesday), Wednesday (cause it's the middle day of my work week) and Thursday (cause it's the second-to-last day of my work week). I love holiday work schedules.

Mostly walked my 1.4 miles today, as I could be coming down with something. Maybe I'm just overwhelmed with stuff, and feeling that. Maybe it's alien parasites. It's really hard to know anymore.

Gotta get me a Tofurky tonight. Those things are tasty.

Man...no spoilers here, but Heroes has really been committing a faux pas for geek shows - not paying attention to its own continuity. The writers have totally mixed up the events from "Genesis" (the pilot) and "Six Months Ago" (a first season episode), and are representing them in a weird (or wrong) order now. It's really annoying. They also need a storyline besides "we saw a dark future, and have to stop it" - it's been the theme of each season. These are people with super powers - I'm sure they can do other things besides fight the future.

Say what you will, but for standard chip-dipping, Pace's picante sauce is one of my favorite salsas.

That's that, folks! Have a great day!

What's Up, Holidays, Bundt, Cake Fail, Stiff and Sore, Weather, Birthday

Happy Monday! Happy Birthday to Eric yesterday!

Picture of the day!

Jen and Eric, at someone's birthday a while ago.

It's really bright outside. It's hazy, but it just seems brighter than usual. But it's gonna be all cloudy and rainy and stuff this week. Except for the possibility of mudslides, the prospect isn't too undesirable.

I'm a little stiff and sore - the Girlfriend had a cold, of sorts, yesterday, I may have the same thing. Or maybe I just slept funny. It's hard to know. I did sleep 8 hours - that's nice and rare.

Cake fail! I finally found a non-Chinese made spring form pan at Cost Plus, and as a bonus, it also has a bundt pan attachment. I adapted a sweet potato spice cake to use pumpkin, but apparently the moisture content was far too high in mine, and the middle looks like a pudding instead of a cake (though the toothpick test didn't indicate this). It's exactly "undercooked", but it's also not exactly "edible". Hopefully the pan will work as needed for the cheesecake.

(As an aside, Firefox's auto form spell check didn't have "bundt". That's strange.)

Three day week this week - with two Thanksgivings. That's awesome. I've also been able to pretty much avoid holiday music until this past weekend, so it likely won't be too annoying in December. We haven't totally dropped out of Christmas, but we're pretty much limiting it to homemade and "small remembrance" type presents (and asking the same in exchange) - it worked well for us last year, and should again. I'll still get the nieces and nephews more traditional stuff, but that's cause I'm an awesome uncle.

That's all I got. what's up?

Food and Weekending, Spring Form Pan, Basil, Soda Cans, Happy Friday

Happy Friday, friends!

Picture of the day!

Beast at the SD Zoo, 2005. He's playing with a cardboard box.

Drinkin' coffee this morning. I'm concerned about my soda can usage - 5+ cans a day seems like a lot of aluminum to me. Coffee certainly uses fewer resources per gallon in terms of materials, though it's imported and requires labor, which is a whole other can of worms. Are there any soda fountains for home/office use in existence? I wanna buy that huge box of syrup and have a go.

Any of you out there grow basil? We've been buying the small plants from Trader Joe's, and they're beautiful, full of lush leaves (and cheaper than buying it any other way). But no matter what I do, we're not getting nearly the same kind of growth afterward. Thoughts?

Still need that spring form pan. Will trade use for cheesecake.

Wow, all three paragraphs above (and this one) are about food. Nice. I'll leave you with that. Have fantastic weekending!

That's It, Prop 8, Holiday Cooking, Free Cheesecake, Busy, Thursday

Happy Thursday!

Picture of the day!

Yosemite.

Busy day at work - lots going on later, plus I'm on deadline. It's been busy every day since I got my new position, though - such is life at work.

One week off from Thanksgiving - I'm really looking forward to the cooking. If you've got a good spring form pan I can borrow, I'll give you a cheesecake. Inquire within.

Speaking of cooking and baked goods, I'll be making lots and lots of cookies and other holiday treats in December - if you're interested in exchanging, let me know, and we'll set something up.

Prop 8's going to the courts - very cool. I wish they would keep allowing marriages until it's resolved (since they're legal, and the new law is the one being challenged), but it's better than the prop just immediately taking effect. I'm still optimistic.

That's it for today. Have a great one!

Happy Wednesday, Auto Industry, Cupcakes, Phone Skin, Veggie Grill, Oh Hai

Oh hai! Happy Wednesday!

Picture of the day!

Katie doing things. This picture is almost a year old, which is a lot in baby years.

Had a delicious dinner at Veggie Grill last night. Looking forward to the new one opening at the Spectrum - though it'll likely be busier than the other Irvine location. Still, we go to the mall much more often than we go to that shopping center.

Got a sweet Flying Spaghetti Monster skin for my phone yesterday. I can't take a picture of it, cause it's already on my phone. But trust me. It's sweet.

Come have a cupcake. They're delicious.

Awesome story: Big Three CEOs Flew Private Jets to Plead for Public Funds. I'm of two minds about the auto industry bailout. First, part of me thinks that if companies can't stay competitive, they should probably go out of business. But I also realized that there are many thousands of jobs at risk, and the government help that would be needed to help both the individuals AND towns affected could very well add up to more than the $25 billion being asked for. That said, if we give them money, it has to be on super strict terms - and honestly, I don't know if there are terms strict enough when the CEOs make 1/10th of 1% of that bailout money as a salary every year.

Vegas/Nevada plans are still happening, just not sure when. But there will be donuts. Happy Wednesday!

Happy Birthday, Vegas Donut Run, Work, Out to Eat

Happy Birthday to my baby's mamma today!

Picture of the day!

The Girlfriend and Katie at the Grand Canyon.

I didn't know she was taking the day off, so I'm at work while the birthday girl's going out to eat with the munchkin. We're all going out later tonight to one of the local vegan restaurants, though, so that'll be enjoyable.

...Now it's 3 hours after I started this post, and I've been working straight through (with lunch in the middle) - good thing I didn't take the day off. It'll be interesting to see how things go when I'm out of town for a week - this job really isn't meant to be done just by one person.

The Vegas Donut run is happening - December 27. I'm staying for a couple days, but if you want to make a trip out of it, you should!

That's all for today. Happy birthday again to my lady!

Monday, Salvation Army, Holiday Trip, Weekend, Fires, Good Day

Good day, friends!

Picture of the day!

My new workspace. Same office, but for the most part, I'm the only one in here.

So yeah, it's been fiery this weekend - not huge in terms of acreage, but lots of homes lost - lack of water in Yorba Linda led to spot fires consuming whole houses. We, interestingly enough, didn't get a lot of smoke here until last night, when the winds stopped - for most of the weekend, it was blowing due west, making LA even dirtier than it usually is. If you looked east or south this weekend from here, all you saw was blue skies.

Other than the fires, we had a great weekend -- lots of birthday related activities for my baby's mamma. Her actual birthday is tomorrow.

Winter vacation plans are being finalized - most of the family's heading to San Diego, where I may join them for a day before heading to Nevada. I'm likely staying in Primm, but coming into Vegas at least one day, both for gambling and donuts. Good times! This is all happening the weekend after Christmas.

I'm urging everyone I know not to donate to the Salvation Army this year. We stopped a long time ago, but with Prop 8 in the news, now's a good time to remind everyone that they're basically an evangelical church with strict anti-gay policies - not someone you should support. Find a non-religious or other charity in your community - there are plenty - and donate to them instead.

That's what I got or you this Monday. What's happening?

Rock On, Weight Loss Contest, Better, Holidays, Busy, Birthdays

Happy Friday, and happy birthday to my sister Suzanne today, and my friend Jessica tomorrow!

Picture of the day!

Suzanne and Katie, Easter 2007.

Busy morning! I'm finally learning all the things my boss and coworkers did, now that I'm responsible for doing them.

This is a weekend full of things to do - many birthday related. October - January are the heavy-duty birthday months in our families. Throw in Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, and there's not much time for anything else.

I'm feeling better today - still congested, but my energy levels are returning to normal. Hopefully my family can now go a while without some or all of us being sick.

Today's the official last day of the weight loss contest I didn't succeed at. At my lowest (and I'm a pound or two above it now), I was down to 202.7 - more than 12 pounds off my start. That's a pretty good beginning. I'd still like to get to 190 or so, but it's much easier now to see it.

Hope everyone out there has a fantastic weekend - rock on!

What's Up, New Desk, XM Sirius, Cheesecake, Eating, Birthday

Happy Thursday, and happy birthday Mariah!

Picture of the day!

Mariah, at her wedding, holding my daughter, July 2006.

I've been bad, and between being sick and not being able to reach my weight loss goal, I'm eating like normal - and it's awesome. I still hope to lose weight, but I'll take a slower pace doing it.

Speaking of awesome food, if you've got a good spring form pan (it's cheesecake season), I'd like to borrow it (in exchange for cheesecake, surely). For the life of me, I can't find one not made in China.

Starting this week, XM and Sirius finally got all their programming together, and a variety of channels have changed. Ethel, Fred and Lucy are gone - the Ethel and Lucy replacements are pretty much the same, but the replacement for Fred is much less "deep tracks" than the old channel - more pop new wave. I happen to like it better, but I'm sure a lot of fans are pissed. I'll have to dig through and see what's new out there.

I'm in my new desk, got my phone and my filing cabinets, and I'm pretty much all set up. Only complaint so far is that it's hot back here - the air doesn't come on until about 9:45 each morning (I get in at 10), and the large East-facing window means lots of sunshine. Still, it's perfectly nice by about 11.

What's up?

Fantastic, Ubuntu Upgrades, Holiday Gifts, Better, Work Changes, Good Day

Good day!

Picture of the day!

Blurry Katie with blurry jellyfish.

With a quickness I wasn't expecting, I moved to my new spot at work yesterday, and got a new computer (a laptop, so I can work at home, too - exciting!) Now I'm closer to the window, have a lot more space, and actually have some usable table room. It's a nice change.

My cold is a lot better today - I fully expect my head to drain in the next few minutes, and to feel pretty normal.

I'm finding it hard to believe that it's mid-November already. For those of you interested, once again this year I'm not doing any traditional gift exchanging (for the most part), but I'm very interested in exchanging cards, cookies and homemade stuff, no matter where you live. Inquire within, and I'll have more details in the coming weeks.

Upgrading both home machines to Ubuntu 8.10 today. I hope it doesn't break the changes I've made on the laptop to get wireless to work. Also, my wireless (G) connection speed on my laptop is about 1/10th what my wired upstairs computer gets. Is this normal for a 50% signal? It's usable for most things, but large downloads are annoying.

That's all for today. Have a fantastic one!

Leave a Comment, OC Atheists, Heroes, New Cold, Hello

Hello friends!

Picture of the day!

Birds at the San Diego Zoo. Or maybe Wild Animal Park. I dunno, they poop on you, that's all I remember.

Given as I'm starting new responsibilities at work and it's pretty important that I actually be here, I have a cold. I thought it was just allergies, and while I'm sure they contributed, this is a real cold. Not sure if it's the same thing The Girlfriend had - I kinda hope so, as that'd be there's nothing new in the house. It'd be neat if there were someday a way to see exactly what illness is affecting your body at a given time, and how much overlap there is, especially in the "cold season".

I won't give anything away, and I did enjoy the episode, but last night's Heroes had some major continuity issues. You'd think, by now, that sci-fi television producers and writers would know that the fans are keeping very careful check of everything.

OC Atheists meets tomorrow. More information here.

Lots to do here - leave a comment and say hello!

What's Happening, Lav, Prop 8, Stupid Cute Cat, Good Morning

Good morning!

Picture of the day!

Packing the baby for vacation.

Had a great weekend, until I hung around the cat too long at my mom's yesterday, and pretty much started exploding with sneezes. I'm still stuffed up this morning, 15 hours later, on every allergy med I usually take, and then some.

Prop 8 protests continue, and the governor came out and said that he regrets that it passed, and that it's very likely the courts will overturn it. Still seeing lots of uneducated comments about the "will of the people" and "majority rule". Yeah, y'all aren't very good at constitutional law or history.

It's weird not writing at the LAV blog, like I've done just about every weekday for the last year and a half. It's a relief, but still weird.

That's it for today. What's happening?

Weekend, Weight, Potluck, Work Changes, Friday

Happy Friday, friends!

Picture of the day!

The Girlfriend, wearing The Hat, at Cinco de Mayo 2007.

Today's a big day at work. Our photo librarian, an archivist, and my boss are all leaving the paper, leaving me in charge of the department. Due to the new workload (and because it's gotten harder and hard to fill every day), I'm also retiring the Liberal Atheist Vegetarian blog. On one hand, I hate doing it because it's great having an atheist (and liberal, and vegetarian) voice in a large forum, but on the other, it was taking up a lot of my day. I'm also working on some new projects with Orange County Atheists that'll take up time (and be a weird conflict of interest), so it's for the best.

As part of the goodbye to everyone leaving, the company's having a big potluck - I got inspired and made a vegan pesto pasta salad, with artichoke hearts, green onions and toasted pine nuts. It's really good for a "first shot" dish.

1.7 miles today, and it's windy out. Since I won't drop 10+ pounds in the next week without losing a limb, my "less than 200" goal is in reach.

Seeing some friends this weekend, assuming the Girlfriend gets better (she's a victim of one of many colds going around). On Monday, I'm in charge. And that's weird.

What's New, Busy at Work, Special Election Project, Weather, No on 8, Hello

Hello Friends!

Picture of the day!

Katie at 15 months. I don't remember ever seeing this picture. Must have gotten by me in an upload.

It's good to see that the no on 8 folks aren't backing down. Protests yesterday and today, lawsuits being filed, and still lots of anger. I really do think we'll win this one, friends.

Another 1.4 miles today. It's clear and beautiful (if a little dry) out - not unusual early November weather.

Check out Newsweek's Special Election Project - featuring information, news and tidbits from embedded reporters that don't report until after polls have closed. Lots of neat insider information. It's pretty awesome. Also, Palin is a scary bitch.

Work's busy, and only going to get busier. But this is good. Really.

What's happening with you, friends? The holiday season is upon us, and it's exciting. What's new?

Weight Loss, Letdown, Better News, Bigots, Obama

OH Bama!

Picture of the day!

A bunch of happy people.

Many congrats to Barack Obama, the next president of the United States. Not only a victory, but an overwhelming one. In less than 2 generations, we've gone from institutional bigotry to a black president. Speaking of institutional bigotry...

Californians, what the fuck happened? We're progressive people - Prop 8 should have failed wildly. Not only that, but thousands of people who voted FOR Obama also voted for Prop 8. That's shocking to me. The fight isn't over - you don't write bigotry and hate into the Constitution and get away with it. Hopefully this will get immediately challenged, with marriages remaining legal in the meantime. This result has energized me more than anything else this election.

In better news, Prop 1A (high speed trains) and Prop 2 (animal rights) both passed - that's refreshing. Prop 4 is failing, so that's also nice.

Even with an Obama win, it's letdown time, if only because the election excitement is over and done. So many of us have been so riled up for so long that we'll have to find something to do besides watch MSNBC and read websites all day.

In non-election news, I'm not going to reach my weight loss goal - if I'm lucky, I'll get below 200. Oddly enough, I don't feel that bad. I've done very well, and found what works for me. That's the important part. I'm gonna try to lose or at least maintain through the holidays. I'm pretty sure I can do that. Happy Day!

Busy, Voting, Election Day!

Election day!

Picture of the day!

The family at the Grand Canyon, May 2007.

I voted this morning, and for the first time in a long time, had a line to wait in. I still got out in under 20 minutes - these 4-6 hour lines I'm seeing back east are absurd.

Either way - get out and vote! If you're in California, remember to vote Yes on 2 (helps facilitate animal rights) and No on 4 (parental notification for minor abortions) and 8 (abolishing right for gays to marry).

It's been such a busy day here that I just noticed I haven't posted anything, and it's nearing 5pm. Good day, and good night! Let's hope we have many reasons to celebrate tomorrow!

What's Happening, Cold, New Fan, Busy Weekend, Meat Loaf Recap, Hallwoeen Season, November

Happy Monday, and Happy November!

Picture of the day!

Monster Katie at home, last month.

So ends the Halloween season and the month of such images here - I hope you enjoyed them. On to the end-of-year holidays, and lots of baking goodness. Yesterday's pumpkin muffins were victims of poor muffin paper integrity, but the resulting pumpkin UFOs are rather tasty.

Friday I finally got to see Meat Loaf in concert - awesome show. Still rocks for an old dude. It was very much a "fan's" show - two cuts from the new album at the very beginning, then on to the hits, mostly from Bats 1 and 2. And while I often scoff at the price for front row seats, lemme tell ya - worth every penny here. I often feel the same about hotels - I don't want to pay a lot for a room, but when I get a nice one, it's always special.

Got a lot of other stuff done this weekend - bought and put together Katie's new Big Girl bed (a twin bed) and rearranged her room to match, cleaned up all the rest of the Halloween party stuff from downstairs and put most of the prep stuff away, and got other little things done. Relaxing stuff.

Speaking of relaxing, when I first got my desktop machine, I remarked that it was loud - loud enough that it was hard to hear music over. I got used to it over time, but when I wasn't using it as often and we moved that machine into the bedroom, it became too loud to leave on. Yesterday, I finally went fan shopping, spent $15, and got a slower speed fan that's so quiet I can hardly tell the machine is on (our DVR is louder). I could even hear RAM click noises and drives spinning up. I should have done this 3 years ago.

Katie has a cold, and I may too, though I don't feel too bad yet. It's already been a season of colds, and while I'd say it was just me, much of work and my social circle has had them too.

Busy week here - more on that later. What's happening with you?