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January 31, 2008
Logging out and getting on
In 1982, my mom landed this awesome job with a local software company. She was working on an English degree at the local state university, and as part of her technical writing course she had to interview someone working in the field.
Somehow it was that she wound up interviewing a woman named Alice who worked at this local software company. Once she was done interviewing Alice, Alice then started interviewing my mom-- for a job. Which she gave her.
So my mom has worked there for 26 years. In 1985 or so, she arranged for me to have a summer job there. I went on to have one or two more summer jobs at this company, then wound up being hired full time in January of 1990.
So for the last 18 years, I've worked full time at the same place, and my mom has always been there, too. We almost never interacted professionally, but we had conversations online and saw each other from time to time. When I wound up in the company health care center with a broken arm, and couldn't raise any of my co-workers on the phone, I called my mom and she was there.
This morning I pulled into the parking lot of a building I don't normally visit. I had to go into a meeting of colleagues from around the globe and stand up in front of them and be introduced. As I was parking, my iPod tossed up the following song lyric:
"...no one knows you better..."
and I burst into tears. Then I pulled it together, drank my coffee, stood up in front of those people and did my bit.
4:30pm was her retirement party. As I hoped, it was a jolly affair. People were happy to see each other, some who had not seen my brother Daniel since he was a baby. Everyone was there and it was a nice time.
After it all dispersed, I helped mom clear out some things from her office. "You're about to watch me log off for the last time!" she said, dramatically. "Do you think I should set an Out Of Office message?" I provided some amusing ideas for what the message should say. "I'm out of the office and won't be checking my mail. EVER."
Me, mom and Wayne went to the fancypants hotel on campus for a drink. It was nice. It was just like always. I think it is easier for me than for some of her co-workers who have known her since the beginning. I know I'll be seeing her regularly. They don't know when they'll see her again.
So there it is. After almost two decades, my mom won't be there at work. And eventually, after she moves to the beach, she won't be in town, either. As Wayne said, "Logging out, and getting on!"
Posted by lisa at 08:26 PM
January 26, 2008
nice tights
i blame cyntata.
from the Library of Congress photos that were recently uploaded to Flickr.
Posted by lisa at 12:36 AM
January 25, 2008
whee!
i just replaced my DSL with a high-speed cable connection.
i've had my DSL connection for years, and i swear it seemed faster in the past. or maybe it's just because i use a cable connection whenever i am at J's house, so the difference is way more obvious.
anyway, the difference is clearly noticeable. surely there is something i need to go download now.
the real trick will be to turn off the DSL without eliminating my earthlink account. my confidence in earthlink customer support was shaken when i called them to set all of this up, and they told me this service wasn't available.
Posted by lisa at 07:39 PM
January 23, 2008
where is my neural interface, my hovercar, and my jet pack?
i have a song stuck in my head that i can't identify.
i can't even really tell what the lyrics are. it kind of sounds like the singer is saying "isabelle" but i can't find a song of that name that sounds like this song.
i don't have any idea who the artist is. i can't sing it or even hum it with any kind of accuracy.
i need to do a brain dump directly to the internets but sadly, the future isn't here yet.
damn future!
Posted by lisa at 10:44 PM
January 21, 2008
FWDFA, v3.0
OH YEAH. Ice pellets. That sounds like fun!
Posted by lisa at 01:51 PM
January 20, 2008
weekend roundup
eat local
saturday morning we walked to the farmer's market and talked to one of the farmers selling beef. i came close to buying some, but it's so expensive that i wanted to be sure i planned well before buying. i decided to see this as my fact-finding mission.
after, we had breakfast at piedmont, which was fabulous as usual. i would love to know where they get their bacon. it's always so amazing.
move it
we stayed out of the house all day on saturday. after walking home we went out shopping, and picked up my new eye glasses lenses. i had been very careful not to look at frames because my lenses are so expensive and i didn't want to add to the expense. my current frames will be okay for another two years.
we had lunch at one of those places that serves many odd pizzas; ours featured vast piles of roasted garlic cloves and onions. by this point in the day, it was raining, and it was cold, but i don't think it was quite snowing yet. we were sitting next to a window and i was freezing the entire time. we visited the apple store somewhere along the way, and then i think we just made a beeline for the car. it was miserable out.
like tears in rain
the main event of the day was seeing the new cut of blade runner at the Carolina. this is an all-time favorite film for both J and I. he had never seen it on the big screen. the new cut is great; in particular i enjoyed the detailed soundscape that i had never really noticed before despite having seen the movie on VHS and DVD countless times. we kept discussing it for the rest of the evening and on into sunday; every so often one of us would say, "you know, i never noticed before how something something something," and we would start again discussing the movie.
afterwards we went to city beverage for dinner; we shared the crab cake appetizer, which was just big lumps of crab, barely bound together and lightly pan fried, with a spicy homemade tartar sauce underneath. i had a fabulous steak that had been treated with a spice rub and then topped with roasted tomatoes, onions and etc; i took a gamble and ordered it medium rare, which can be too rare for me in real steak houses, but as expected was just right. J got a roasted pork loin and although the pork loin was good, i think the vegetables that were served with it were not to his liking.
one of the things i love about city beverage is the tiki drink menu. J was driving so I was free to have whatever i wanted. i started with a pink pussycat, which is still my favorite, and then i was trying to think of the name of a pina colada with no success. it was the oddest thing; i could think of all the ingredients but not the name. i described it to our waiter, who described it to the bartender and neither of them recognized it either (which is crazy, but oh well). so the bartender made me something along those lines; he used malibu rum, pineapple juice, something with banana, and a drizzle of blue Curacao. it was delicious. i don't normally like banana, but it was so just right in this drink.
so let's stay in
the snow didn't really stick, and was just a dusting anyway, but after being out all day saturday i really wanted to stay home on sunday. it was wicked cold, anyway. i decided to try a biscuit recipe that sarah had recommended in her blog; i did not forget the salt! and indeed, they turned out very well.
we just took it easy for the most part all day; we took reese out walking in forest hills park, because we'd never taken him there before. after we got home, J installed my birthday present, one of those nice chrome curved shower curtain rods like they have at fancy hotels. and bb and m stopped by while out walking. fortunately i had put the living room back in order last week and there were actually places to sit and stuff. crazy.
Posted by lisa at 09:40 PM
January 18, 2008
Drought, national perspective
So odd to look at that map and see that the drought really is focused on NC and a couple of nearby states.
RDU is reporting getting about a half inch of precipitation today which puts us about an inch and a half behind average for the year. You know, the year that's only seventeen days old?
More is supposed to fall on Saturday, let's hope so.
Posted by lisa at 12:08 AM
January 17, 2008
status: disappointing.
there is no Frozen White Death From Above here at the Charming English Cottage O' Death.
none, i tell you!!! (shakes fist at sky, gets ready for work.)
Posted by lisa at 08:58 AM
January 16, 2008
wotta day!
took mo in for a checkup this morning-- he's doing great, PCV looks really good, Dr. C smiled a lot and said "excellent" at least once. Those visits are much better than the ones where he looks sad and says "aww."
worked from home in the morning then went in to work for an afternoon full of meetings. i actually had a pretty good time talking with people about future projects, so long as i could push back that feeling of panic that we'll never get it all done.
after work i met m. for vietnamese night at Bahns. i used to eat the regular chinese menu there back when i was a vegetarian but i'd never had the vietnamese. i think the quality of the vietnamese food is probably better there than at dalat, but i like the breadth of the dalat menu. m and i talked about the ENIAC programmers because i'd heard one of them give an interview on the radio this afternoon. for some reason, i always find documentary information about early computing to be almost hair-raising. the first time i saw footage of the first windowing interface developed at Xerox PARC i almost fell out of my chair.
after dinner i ran some errands including, yes, believe it or not, buying bread (though not milk, as i'd gotten that last night). when the weather threatens i tend to buy more cans of soup that i can heat on my camp stove than i do bread and milk. i also got mo a special treat: ham baby food. i routinely mix chicken and turkey baby food into his food; ham is a special treat because they don't carry it at my normal store.
once home i did some chores, got mo all fixed up with a nice meal featuring some bits of cheese as an "appetizer", then his regular food + ham all warmed up in the microwave. he is as spoiled as any cat i have ever personally known. caught up on correspondence with J while watching some Simpsons reruns, and gave Mo a thorough grooming.
and so here it is, just after midnight, the day is officially over.
i really, really hope they delay work tomorrow. or close. i wanna stay home.
Posted by lisa at 11:59 PM
January 15, 2008
and one less thing...
well, if you don't pantingly refresh the liveblog of the macworld keynote speech, but actually care about what apple is up to, you may not know (and yet may be interested in knowing) that i only got half of what i wanted: they did announce a new, verrrry thin laptop called the "macbook air" that only communicates wirelessly-- that includes software installs, there's no optical drive. but they did not announce an iMac-like dock for it.
however, the dock seems so logical given what the air cannot do that i'm hoping they'll announce that later in the year. but who knows?
my resolve to wait it out and not get an iphone yet has been ground down a little by the update today-- the maps stuff sounds cool-- and by the completely unassuming and fuss-free way that friend BB looked up movie listings the other night while we were at dinner. it was like, M and i were talking about movies, and a moment later he was listing out what was showing near by.
the "time capsule" announced today is appealing, too. i don't know what a terabyte of storage normally goes for these days, but does it usually come with a wireless hub, too? neat.
Posted by lisa at 06:59 PM
Full of it
Lately I've been putting Mo to bed at night in the back bedroom. He's got a nice bed in front of the heat vent, his food and water, and of course the litter box. I put the pet gate up in the doorway so he's stuck back there. This way, I don't have to listen to him come into my bedroom every night as I'm drifting off, or every morning just before my alarm, and piss on his bedding.
This has all worked great for a while now, but this morning at 7:15 (over an hour before I planned to get up) he starts caterwaulin'. It's unbelievable how much his voice has changed as he's gotten older; he really does sound like a crazy tomcat now. I swear, a year ago he was all, "mew, mew!" Now it's like, "MIAUOW. MIAUOW."
Well, he really got going, and clearly wasn't going to let me go back to sleep, so I got up. It turns out that he'd pooped neatly in the center of his bed. Pee he is, unfortunately, willing to sleep in. Happily, not so much with the poo.
I gave him a big speech about how maybe he shouldn't use his bed as a litter box, cleaned it off and told him to eat his breakfast. So now I'm awake (and feel horrible), and he seems pretty content.
Tomorrow marks five months to the day since he was diagnosed with CRF. Go Moses!
Posted by lisa at 07:25 AM
January 14, 2008
Update
- I'm actually looking forward to Jobs' keynote at MacWorld tomorrow with great anticipation, hoping that the "Oh, and one more thing..." turns out to be a mini macbook pro that docks inside a 24" iMac screen. It would, I think, be a great replacement for both my aging Powerbook and my only semi-functional Cube.
- I am finally going to switch from DSL to cable modem, thus joining the current century and all. And it's actually going to be cheaper, not to mention light years faster. I placed the order tonight, to be installed 1/26.
- It's a good thing I didn't win any ebay auctions lately and that DSW has nothing interesting in the store due to a massive clearance, because I just bought replacement lenses for my glasses and the part my insurance won't cover is about the cost of one of those pairs of 'vogs.
- I made a list of unfinished projects tonight and the van is right near the top. Whenever I think about the van, my head goes in circles, thusly:
- I should sell the van.
- I don't think I can sell it the way it is– with no paint, maybe needing some mechanical work.
- Okay, so just take it to Maaco for a cheap paint job.
- I can't even drive it the way it is right now, to take it to Maaco, and they'd just replace all the bondo I removed. What a shame that would be.
- I don't have that far to go on it, I should just finish it.
- AAAAAUUUUGGHHHH!
- The other unfinished project of note is the back bedroom. I never really finished it! I need to finish it real soon or it'll get out of control again– I can see it starting to happen.
right, then.
Posted by lisa at 10:50 PM
January 13, 2008
fiscal responsibility over shoes
another pair of fluevogs were auctioned today, a pair i was pretty excited about when i first saw the auction. i bid a couple of times but in the end, i allowed myself to be outbid. i think that was a good call.
Posted by lisa at 05:57 PM
January 12, 2008
cast of characters
lately my dreams-- and i've been remembering an awful lot of them, which makes me think that my alarm is waking me up while i'm still in REM sleep-- which in turn would explain why i've been so tired this week-- anyway, my dreams have featured a rotating cast of all of my friends.
i told xta that i dreamed of visiting her and that her place was incredibly messy. like, almost trash house messy, although the mess was mostly clothes-- and a lot of very fashionable boots. she assured me that no such thing was the case in reality.
this morning, it was stephanie and steph; we were watching a movie at a theater, and i was seated between them. at the very end of the movie, when all would be revealed, stephanie asked me to switch seats with her and i was distracted and didn't see the ending. i was so mad! and again, that's the exact opposite of how stephanie would really behave; she's an extremely considerate person. in fact, she may be the most considerate person i know-- just as xta may be the most tidy person i know.
so i don't know what's up with that, but apparently i'm honing in on what everyone is the epitome of, and flipping it. and apparently, i need to go to bed earlier so i can get through a full REM cycle during the night!
Posted by lisa at 12:27 PM
the ones that got away
okay, here's a picture of the 'vogs i was so disappointed to lose in a bidding war.
Sigh.
Posted by lisa at 12:20 PM
January 11, 2008
tease.
today has been massive, gray clouds moving by without a drop of damn rain falling from any of them.
exasperating. no sun; no rain.
Posted by lisa at 01:49 PM
January 10, 2008
the thrill of the chase
after a massive bidding war, i just lost an ebay auction for a pair of awesome vintage fluevogs.
GAH!
Posted by lisa at 08:10 PM
Disambiguation
Linn = Scottish.
Lin = Chinese.
I don't speak Chinese. REALLY.
Posted by lisa at 03:40 PM
January 06, 2008
a meeting of the landscaping committee
yesterday i pruned.
I also pruned today.
There's still more to be done.
Also, yesterday I saw Sweeney Todd, which was good, although not destined to become my favorite Tim Burton movie. Quite gross; I closed my eyes through certain bits. After the first time, I didn't need to see him do THAT, AGAIN. If you see the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Conversation after the movie inspired me to watch A Room With A View tonight for the ninety-million-ith time. Both to see Helena Bonham Carter at the opposite end of her career and because it's one of my all-time favorite films.
The house is in a shambles now, but there you go. Sometimes, the landscaping committee (of one) has to meet at the expense of the housekeeping staff (of one).
Posted by lisa at 08:19 PM
Far be it from Ford to be innovative
Ford Plans to Introduce More Fuel-Efficient Engine in 2009
I was intrigued; new engine technology that improves fuel economy is always of interest to me.
this was the money quote, for me:
"Turbocharging isn't a new technology. Some types of race cars have used turbochargers because they increase power by forcing more air through the engine. Ford, in its statement, said EcoBoost also will have what the company calls "direct injection," where small, precise amounts of fuel are injected into each cylinder."
Also, some types of non-race cars use turbocharging and direct injection. Let me spell this out for you:
Turbo Direct Injection = TDI.
Sound familiar? Yes, I've been driving a VW TDI since 1999, and VW has been selling TDI vehicles in the U.S. for a lot longer than that. Because my TDI is also a diesel, I can get fuel mileage into the 50's under good conditions, and typically get around 45mpg in normal conditions.
I'm glad market pressures are finally forcing Ford to put out something more efficient, but it makes me crazy when companies act like they're doing something really new and great when they aren't.
If the Ford TDI vehicles (oh, excuse me, "EcoBoost" vehicles) are gas-powered, not diesel, I have my doubts as to how much of a "boost" they'll get. The convertible was a gas-powered turbo, and it was quick but the fuel economy was kind of sucktastic, with 30mpg being the best it was capable of. That's in a small car; now picture that scenario in a heavy Ford truck or SUV. Yeah.
Posted by lisa at 01:14 PM
January 05, 2008
On this day in...
...2007 I blogged about weather trending (which kicked up a bit of a fuss on the LiveJournal side of my blog), and that I was free of the tyranny of the pager.
Being removed from oncall was entirely appropriate, well anticipated, and resulted in a noticeable decrease in my compensation. The sale of the convertible is a direct result of that, and something I also anticipated. The amazing thing is that it took a pile of veterinary bills to finally tip me over the financial edge into needing to sell it— I actually thought it would happen much more quickly.
...2006 I didn't blog about anything.
...2005 I fell and broke my arm, an experience that lead to one of the worst, most depressing years of my life. And even though it was only a crack, I can still feel it on rainy days.
...2004 I wrote about hoarders and collectors and then hoarders and collectors, addendum. This is a topic that in the last four years has received some media attention; I wonder if that documentary I was speculating on exists yet?
...2003 I was not yet blogging.
Posted by lisa at 01:06 PM
making things minty fresh around here
i've been doing some blog housekeeping tonight, mainly because of a renewed interest in my web site analysis tool of choice, Mint.
hopefully if you're reading this via RSS, you'll have a much friendlier experience now. i'd be interested in knowing about that.
otherwise the changes should all be behind the scenes.
i wish i could collect data for Mint from the LiveJournal side of my blog, but as i understand the Mint license, i can't do that; he generally seems to define a "site" as a domain, and you have to have one license per "site".
Posted by lisa at 12:50 AM
January 04, 2008
She's gone.
The convertible drove away with her new momma just a few minutes ago. A little sad to see her go, but the woman who bought her was so happy and excited that that made it better.
Plus, now I can kiss my credit card debt goodbye! Whee!
And in other pending departures... Gran is not doing so well and mom doesn't think she'll make it out of the hospital. Her blood thinners were causing some issues so they've taken her off of them, which will probably result in a second stroke. Her independent living apartment has already been cleaned out; if she does leave the hospital, it'll be to go to the full care facility.
And Thirteen is not doing so great today, either. Very sad.
Posted by lisa at 11:08 AM
round houses!!
today endangered durham profiles the round houses!
i heart those little round houses so. i've always wondered what they look like inside.
Posted by lisa at 12:42 AM
January 02, 2008
a good sturdy cat & other updates
a good checkup today. PCV is up near normal again at 34% (that is, he's not anemic and the Epo is definitely still working), his weight remains stable and his electrolytes are normal.
Dr. C is giving me the Epo to administer at home now so I have two weeks worth and we don't have to go back in during that time. Yay!
:|:
despite my best efforts to get my sleeping schedule back on track, i still could not fall asleep in time to get a full night's rest last night. i did get tired on time, so i am hopeful this will work itself out in a day or two. i may have to kick moses out of the bedroom for a few nights; as I was drifting off last night I heard him come in and pee on his bedding, which of course meant getting up again and cleaning it up. ugh. i think i need to change his name from mr. kittypants to mr. pissypants.
:|:
the thought of going to mickey death for breakfast was awfully tempting this morning, but i didn't. as i was thinking about it, i realized that i haven't eaten any fast food since before christmas-- probably right around when J came to visit. he's a good influence on me that way.
:|:
i spoke with someone at my credit union this morning and finally got some good information on the convertible: we're waiting for the title to be sent to the buyer's credit union, and that should happen later this week. so basically, we're waiting. i think i should probably start her up and run her around the neighborhood for a few minutes just to be on the safe side-- it's not good for her to sit unused in the cold for so long. i'm completely paranoid that something will happen to her between now and the completion of the sale, though.
Posted by lisa at 09:48 AM
back to scheduled.
i should go to bed.
it's early morning vet appointment tomorrow, then back to work for the first time in a week and a half or something.
damn schedule.
Posted by lisa at 12:10 AM
January 01, 2008
movie: Charlie Wilson's War
this movie takes place from 1980 until 1988-- while i was in junior high, high school, and college. during that time, i didn't watch the news, i didn't read the paper, and by the time i got to college i didn't even watch tv at all. i was clueless about a covert war in afghanistan.
so my only exposure to that event is a movie starring tom hanks and julia roberts. how sad is that?
it felt strange to laugh during a movie about such a serious topic, but that's the hollywood treatment: sugar makes the medicine go down. there were, in fact, some fairly comic bits in the movie. the refugee camp scenes (the most serious parts of the film) cannot be compared to those in 'beyond borders', which might be considered as an interesting companion to this movie.
it was nicely put together, smooth, entertaining, and probably largely factual.
Posted by lisa at 07:00 PM
triple threat.
today my neighbor came over and asked me if i work for a VW dealership.
Posted by lisa at 06:50 PM