WoW

I just found out that Blizzard is hiring people for in-game customer support right here in Austin, TX. I know that I won’t be hired by them anymore than I’ll be hired by the other 4 companies I applied to today, but at least I can apply. Previously all the opportunities involved needing to live in Irvine, CA. I’m not really ready to relocate for a CS job.

You know what the best part of the IGRS job is? You don’t have to listen to customers whine on the phone! You communicate with them in-game through a typed-chat client. I already have to decipher all sorts of illiterate drivel here at work, and at least they’d be talking about something that I care about. I’m going to stare into space now, and day dream about getting a response to my resume.

GRRRRR

You know what’s even cooler than having your manager ask you every day about one of the seven jobs he’s assigned you? Finishing one task, and going to start another one only to find a hand written note from said manager, “These need to move. When? – Ira” I saw that and wanted to write back, “When you figure out how to take care of it yourself, cause I quit, you stupid dickhole.” I restrained myself. I wrote back, “I’m working on it.” and then bitched to my supervisor. I explained that maybe if I didn’t have 1 critical task taking up all my time, almost every day, that perhaps this other thing would have been done faster. Poor guy, he’s not used to my crazed bitching yet. Still, he’s gonna have to get broken in sometime, so I guess today is as good a time as any. He seems to be recovering okay. He even came back to my office after that, so I didn’t totally scare him off. I think my supervisor even sympathized with me a little bit.

So Sugar-Free It’s Saccharin

I feel the need to mention that today is my Sweetie Pie’s birthday. (Don’t tell anyone, but he’s 31 years old today.)

The problem is I know what I want to do. I want to talk about how we first met, and all sorts of squishy-lovey-dovey stuff. I’m not really that girl though, and our relationship wasn’t really one of those by the numbers kinds of things. So I’ll just tell you what I remember.

Jeff used to live on the same floor in Jester as the guy I was dating when I moved to Austin. I guess we saw each other in the halls, elevators, and out on the slab. We didn’t really talk though. I’m not a very outgoing person, and I pretty much only talk to people I already know. Well that guy from high school became an ex during the spring of 1995. When I went back to UT that fall I still hung out at Jester, but I had to make some new friends. Things were a little weird with the ex, and that meant things were a little weird with all the friends that were his friends first and mine second. I don’t remember exactly why I decided that I wasn’t going to date anyone. It could have been because of the stupid ex, or maybe I just decided all the guys that were interested in me were freaks (in a bad way).

In steps “sensitive ponytail guy”, played by Jeff. We all know SPG. SPG is the guy that listens to his female friends as they cry over various exes or bitch about men sucking. He’s the guy that you grab for lunch, or call after some weirdo makes a pass at you. He nods in all the right places, and he doesn’t get any action, because he’s such a good friend. Only something went wrong, because somehow we ended up dating. We slipped very easily from friends to more than friends. The only awkwardness was in the fact that Jeff’s room in Jester that year was directly across the hall from my ex. There was no denying that I had moved on.

Things were so gradually sudden that we don’t even have an exact date to celebrate for when we started dating.… Neither of us know exactly when it happened. (If only the blog had been invented back then.) Together we came to the conclusion that we started dating in September of 1995. Hell we had a whole month to celebrate, which is better than just one day anyway.

At least I had the forethought to write on a calendar when we got engaged. Jeff asked me to marry him on Christmas Eve in 2002. I hope when we finally do get married that I remember to write that day down, because knowing me I’ll forget otherwise. Still it’s nice to know that it wasn’t history teachers failing me all those years; I’m just really no good at remembering dates.

So it’s been eleven and a half years since we first started reading comics together. They haven’t all been easy, but I’m glad that I’ve shared them with him. We’ve had an interesting ride so far, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Happy Birthday Jeff! I love you.

Doll Knits

I went shopping Tuesday after work at the Hancock Fabrics that is closing. I heard that they had knitting books, and that they would be on sale. I picked up 4 books, and I think they are all worth it. One is a scarf book that was mentioned in my knitting class a week and a half ago. One book is a stitch dictionary type book, no patterns just technique. One book is a knitted bag book, I might have an idea for DQ's b-day in there, and it's not girly. But it's the fourth book that I really want to talk about. I have no practical reason to purchase this book, but I was drawn to it, and I could not resist.

I purchased Knits for Barbie doll by Nicky Epstein. I don't know if I even have any Barbies right now. If I do they are hiding in some box being eaten by spiders or something. I did love my Barbies growing up though. I never had very many, but I had a decent number of accessories. I wasn't even very kind to them at times. I remember one of them sacrificed her head to become a pencil topper that I gave to a fellow Flag.

This book has some of the most beautiful clothes that I've ever seen for Barbie. Just look at that jacket on the cover. There are 75 patterns in this book. There are sweaters, jackets, hats, dresses, and even blanket and rug patterns. If I had a Barbie home she would getting a rug ASAP. I still feel it's an odd purchase, but it was 30% off. I never would have bought it online, but being able to check out all the patterns in advance convinced me that I wanted to own it. My current favorite is the Loop Ensemble on pg 86.

Riley Lost His Initiative

House tonight was pretty good. I had a hard time taking it seriously because the patient was Riley Finn from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Watching House need to pee for most of the night was a little odd, and I'm not sure that I want the show to turn into the Chase and Cameron porn half-hour. We'll see what happens next week. It must be spring because there will be a pregnant mother on the next show. I believe the actress playing the mother will be Anne Ramsay, the same actress that played Lisa in Mad About You.... Ah, the hours of television that I've watched.

House of Pain

I don’t know that it’s necessarily a source of pride, but I can pretty much do my job in my sleep. If I can keep my eyes open and my fingers tapping away at the keyboard then all is well. I’m not boasting that I’m that good mind you, it’s just that my job is that easy. I have no idea why we can’t seem to hire anyone else that can do it, but it is not a hard job at all. I usually feel like I’m babysitting people that can barely tie their shoes, so I’m not surprised when they can’t figure out a computer.

It turns out that although I am able to work while hyped up on caffeine, or falling asleep at the console, I cannot work through dental pain. I had some fillings done yesterday morning and around noon I thought that I was going to be fine. The numbness was wearing off, but I wasn’t hurting. By 1 pm I was a whining crybaby that just wanted to go home. It felt like I hurt in 3 fifths of my head. The lower left half of my jaw was fine, and part of my upper left head was okay, but mid-eye over all through to the right side just freaking hurt.

I tried to work for a while. I had things that were somewhat urgent that I felt I should take care before I bailed, and I did what I had to. I made so many errors doing ordinary transactions that I’ve done billions of times before. By the time I drove home I wasn’t really able to hold a conversation because I would lose track of what I was talking about. I probably shouldn’t have driven, but I had to get home somehow and I had the car. I got home and eventually managed to take some ibuprofen and over the course of a few hours the pain subsided.

It was so strange. I’ve been in worse pain before. That pain was nothing compared to the aftermath of my root canals or having my wisdom teeth removed. I just couldn’t function through it. It’s like the nerves were shooting signals right through some vital part of my brain, and disrupting everything I tried to do. I am completely better today, and just in awe of how one fixed tooth brought me to my knees yesterday.

P.S. - There is supposed to be a new episode of House on today at 8 central.

Mug Wins

Look how lucky you are! Julie was sweet enough to send me a photo of Stella unwrapping her purse at her birthday party. I swear she liked it, and she's not sleeping in this photo. If you look along the bottom edge of the picture you can see the top of a red mug that was another gift. It was pretty obvious by the end of the party that the mug was a new favorite. Stella kept smacking it on the table, and then pretending to drink out of it. This is a behavior that Erin and I were all to willing to encourage. At least you can tell Tim liked the purse, and although Julie is on the wrong side of the camera to be in the picture, she says she likes it too.

Stella's New Purse and Tote Progress

So I made this really cute purse for Stella for her 1st birthday gift. It's all girly. It's pink with an accent yarn that's got some sparkle to it. I held both together for the top border, and then the main body is just the light pink with the two held together again to make a heart on both sides. I decided to do a garter stitch strap for some sturdiness, and I am really happy with how it came out. There's only one problem... I flaming forgot to take a picture. Ah well, there are some steps that I forgot to write down as well, so I'll probably make another one for my niece, and I'll get pics then.

Figuring out what you can knit for kids in the summer is a bit of a pain. I had almost given up and decided that Stella was going to get a store bought gift, when I decided to make the purse. Still it was fun to make up my own pattern. It's a free license to do things my own way without trying to figure out how to make it fit into the pre-written pattern.

In other news I've made progress on my Entrelac Mini-Market tote. I've completed tier 5 out of 12. After two more tiers the squares will start getting smaller and things should really speed up. We'll see what it looks like before my final class on April 1st. This is such a fun pattern to knit on. Every time you finish the end of a tier you get to flip around and knit a new direction, so it's not just round and round. And each "round" is a billion rows tall, so it feels faster than other projects I've done, even though it really hasn't been.

Get Me Out of Here

Yeah, I'm just killing the last few seconds before I can clock out for the day. Nothing new or interesting. I've arranged for my dad to dogsit while we are on vacation this July, and I still absolutely hate my job. I know there are worse jobs out there, and I don't want to do them either. I want a better job that pays more and sucks less, but at the moment that appears to be too much to ask. Ahh.... there we go. It's 5 o'clock and I am outta here!

Summertime Orangy Socks

I finished up the orange pair of socks that I started knitting in Houston while visiting my dad. They are a cotton/wool blend and don’t seem to fuzz up as much in the wash as the wool ones do. It was knit using the basic sock pattern in the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. I highly recommend this book. It’s a bit intimidating at times, but it is a wealth of knowledge about everything from dyeing to spinning and knitting yarn.

My socks were knit with a self-striping yarn from Lana Grossa. (45% Cotton, 42% wool, 13% Polyamid) You can get the sock pattern in the book. It’s pretty basic. I knit these on two circulars, since that is my preferred method. In this case they were US size 1 Addis. There is a 1x1 rib for a cuff, and the toes were grafted closed with the Kitchener stitch. It still amazes me ever time I graft to watch the fabric close seamlessly.

On of the best parts of the sock was also from the book. It is the super-stretchy cast-on method. You cast on twice as many stitches as you intend to knit, and then in the first row decrease down to the correct number. This allows the edge of the sock to stretch as much as any other part, and eliminates the potential for calf strangulation. This is my 3^rd pair of of socks knit with actual “sock yarn” and it’s the first pair that are actually the same size! Hooray for learning how to make things match!

The Invaders

I just found the pattern for these socks over at Knitty and I am in love. I don't know if I will ever make them, but they are awesome. Here is a direct link to the bmp sock pattern. I might try one of the suggested alterations which is just to use a different stitch, instead of a second color of yarn. That technique would show the pattern as a relief, and be harder to see from a distance, but far easier to manage. Who knows, there are entirely too many patterns that I adore for me to be able to complete them all.

When Fun is Too Much Fun

You know what kind of sucks? It sucks to be driving to work thinking about what a great weekend you had. You know, you’re stuck in traffic so you think back on the fun you had and try to prolong that happy feeling as long as you can. When all of a sudden you remember the one thing that you were supposed to do over the weekend that you didn't.

When I go home tonight I get to complete my online defensive driving course. I meant to finish it before the end of Sunday night so that it could hit the mail system on Monday. I have only done 3 out of 12 segments. *sigh* I was having so much fun that I totally forgot about it. So now after a day of stupid work stuff I get to go home and slog through several hours of defensive driving. Blech!

Knitting and Movies all in One Day

I started my day with a knitting class at Hill Country Weavers today. The class was to learn how to make this Entrelac Mini Market Tote, pictured to the left. This promo picutre is of a tote made by Charlette. I suppose that I was one of the most experienced knitters in the class, and definitely the most talkative of the experienced ones. I wound up with people coming to ask me questions if the instructor (Deb) was busy. Like most things in knitting, it really isn't as hard as it looks.
This is my tote that I started knitting today. It's made from Noro Kureyon, colorway 92. I chose to utilize the color changes Noro had to offer, rather than pick individual colors like you see in the promotional photo. I've finished tier 2 out of 12 so far. We meet for the second half of the class on April 1st. I have a horrible desire to play a prank on our teacher. I'm not sure what I would do, but I'm not sure I have time to knit a disaster and knit my actual project in just two weeks. But it would be kind of funny. I bet if I didn't have Stella's birthday party, movie night, and Jeff's birthday coming up in between I would have time to devise something suitably scary to show her.
On the other hand I started and finished a little shawl yesterday. The yarn company Be Sweet did a trunk show at HCW, and I stopped by to take a gander. They have these skeins called magic balls that are all sorts of different yarn and even some ribbon tied together so that you get these stripes of different textures and colors without having to buy 12 different yarns. It was knit on size US 35 needles, and really didn't take long at all.

We also saw Pan's Labyrinth today, and it was wonderful and tragic. If you haven't seen it you should. Just go into knowing that not all fairy tales work out the way you wish, and that it is f'ing brutal in both the story line and the gore. This isn't by Disney, and it is not for children. I think I want to see it again, but I'll probably wait until it's on DVD so that I can see some director commentary or whatnot. It is an excellent film, and deserved even more awards than it won.

What's Up With Makeup

I wear makeup very infrequently. I decided to doll myself up today, and I mentioned to Jeff that I'd decided to "practice" wearing makeup. I tend not to bother, because mostly I'm at The Company and they can all bite my shiny metal ass, so I don't care how I look there. He looked at me noticed that I put a little on my eyes. I tried to point out that I actually put a fair amount of stuff on my eyes, but I forgot the word for eyeshadow. Jeff noticed the mascara, and I told him that I'd put on eyeliner, and also... ... I struggled and came up with eye-dust. He looked at me kind of oddly, and I struggled longer and finally shouted, "Eye shadow!" That's when Jeff laughed and hugged me and said, "You are so not a girl."

Is This Progress?

I must have done something right in order to warrant a personal rejection. I’ve been applying to all sorts of positions that I don’t technically have the right background for, but that I’m pretty damn sure I could handle. Today when I opened my gmail I saw:

“Dear Ms. DuBose,
Thank you for interest. At this point we are only considering experienced candidates who have worked as an Escrow Assistant for 2- 3 years.
Best of Luck in Your Job Search
Sincerely,
Douglas Plummer Managing Director"

Somehow this feels like progress, even though I’m really no closer to having a new job than I was before Doug here rejected me. I suppose it validates my attempts by implying that at least one person actually read what I submitted. It doesn’t do anything to eliminate my fear that The Company* has contaminated me and no other employer will ever hire me again, but I still feel better than I did yesterday about my job search. Hell, a complete stranger wished me luck, that’s got to help, right?

*Last year The Company actually published instructions on how we are not supposed to blog about The Company, because our behavior on the internets may reflect poorly on said company.

This Week on Lost

Charlie doesn't die, the gang climbs a fence, and Jack plays football.

I hope something new happens next week. The previews look promising, but it might still be all flashbacks. We'll just have to wait and see.

Where to Party

Jeff is considering not having a birthday party at our place this year. His reasoning is sound. Jeff always feels the need to prepare fancy/complicated food, and a lot of it. He wants his birthday party to be something special, not just for himself, but also for his guests. This year he wants to chill out and enjoy himself instead of sweating the night away in the kitchen and at the grill. He is considering having a birthday celebration get together at Opal’s instead. I suppose that’s okay, but it’s not really my thing. I mean, I’ll be going to his birthday deal, although I suppose that means I don’t get to drink. Wouldn’t really be fair to make the old man be his own designated driver, would it?

I’ll be having my party at our house. I prefer it in every way, except for the clean up. I like people being able to bring their own drinks instead of ordering from the bar. If I (or Jeff) make all the food then I know it was made the way that I enjoy it, and not how someone else thinks it should be. If I want to take my shoes off I don’t have to walk in a public area in my bare feet or socks. There’s the matter of being able to control the music playing and bust out a video game when the time is right. I also like the fact that I can get as hammered as I want in my house, because I don’t have to drive anywhere. The piles of dirty plates and glasses the next morning is always a little daunting, but I think that it’s worth it. Maybe I’ll feel different when I’m as old as he is. :)

I'm Lame and I Can't Cook

So I didn’t make it to the SXSW show last night. Let’s be honest here, we all knew that it wasn’t going to happen. People that fall asleep around 9pm don’t usually make it to events that start at 9pm. Well before the show got started I was already in my pjs sipping a last cup of tea.

I did get to have a fabulous dinner last night though. We had grilled pork tenderloin that was seasoned and wrapped in bacon, with a side of sautéed green beans, and a tasty little Pinot to round it off. I’ve been thinking that I should learn how to cook, but I’m just not sure how to go about it. So much of it seems to require a certain feel for cooking that I just don’t naturally have. I’m not sure if I can really learn. I can bake a bit, and I make a pretty damn good spaghetti sauce from scratch, and of course I excel at mixing things together. I’m not sure how I never learned to cook with meat.

I blame my dad. He was always out grilling in the backyard. If he had grilled dinner in front of the television or up in my room then maybe I would have learned something about it. All I know is Jeff’s going to have to make sure that if we have a kid he teaches it how to cook. I’ll handle tuna salad, deviled eggs, stuffed mushrooms, velveeta/rotel queso, and a few other “specialties” but he has to teach it how to cook “real” food.

I’m currently drinking another batch of the Green Tea Raspberry and it’s better today. Maybe since my tongue was more ready for the experience it was less offended, or maybe it’s cause I’m drinking it with peanuts (I’m hungry). It’s still a little funky, but I’ve been drinking it pretty steadily and not grimacing at it today. I’ve decided that it has a bit of a mangoish color to it, and that if I was expecting a fruit juice that I wouldn’t be offended by the color at all. I’ve just never had tea this shade or intensity before.

I don’t know if I’ll buy more of this one or not, but I am interested in trying out the White Tea Blueberry. I keep seeing it at the store and buying something else instead. I don’t believe that I mentioned it, when we were at HEB buying the Crystal Light To-Go boxes they had an in-store coupon for $1 off. This made a box of 10 $1.50, so it’s a pretty good deal. It may not be the best thing to drink, but it’s better than the sodas or nothing that I had been drinking at work. I’m far less dehydrated when I go home than I used to be. Of course this only works if you have access to a free water source. Adding a dollar to get a bottle of water every time you want to make some makes it far less cost effective.

Crystal Light Reviews

I tried two new flavors of Crystal Light To-Go packets today. The first one is easy to review, because I still haven’t finished it. This flavor is the Green Tea Raspberry. It kind of tastes like raspberry flavored grass. Maybe it’s an acquired taste, and after a few bottles (7 more to go) I’ll find it more palatable. For right now I’m having a hard time downing this massive 16oz serving. It’s also worth mentioning that the color leaves a LOT to be desired. It looks like some sort of toxic runoff or something, and not like a delicious beverage. I guess that’s okay, cause it doesn’t taste delicious either.

The other flavor that I tried today was an Energy formula, Wild Strawberry. This one has got B vitamins and Caffeine (about 120mg for a 16oz serving, if memory serves). I’m going to have to see what I think about this one the next time I drink it. My first impression is that it must have citric or ascorbic acid in it because it stings the back of my throat. I liked the flavor a lot, except that it made my throat a little raw. Instead of quenching my thirst it seemed to make me thirstier and I had a bit of a cough until I drank some water. I was kind of hyper later, so I think there’s enough caffeine there to make a difference on a tired day.

The Unbearables TONIGHT

I just got an email from Ian of the Unbearables. There is going to be an unofficial SXSW show at Trophy's tonight with some kick ass bands. I'll post the info here in case anyone wants to go. I'm not sure that I'll be able to make it, because I'm lame and fall asleep pretty early. If I were awake I would definately be heading out there.

Trophy’s Bar and Grill, 2008 S. Congress Ave.SXSW “Non-Official” Showcase
w/ Mojo Gurus, Just Guns, The Personals, The Unbearables, Porsches on the Autobahn
Wednesday, March 14. Starts at 9pm. FREE.

Carpooling Sucks

There are a lot of good reasons to carpool, and a lot of benefits. I mean you get company for the ride home (although not on the way to work, because Jeff falls asleep most days) and you don't have to drive in the evening traffic. Still, I just want to scream at him and tell that he needs to fix his POS car so that he can drive around by himself on days like today. Ten minutes before I am due to leave the building, and when I call him because he was supposed to call me back about 45 minutes ago, he is getting ready to leave his clients house. Yeah well, I'm not impressed. I don't even have anything to do to keep myself entertained once I leave the building. I have no book, no laptop, and my knitting is in the freaking car that I don't have. I can't go to lunch if I'm hungry, and I can't leave early if I feel like it. *grrr*

I Work Too Hard

Not much going on here. I finished up all of the purges to remove bad/suspect material from the production floor, and now I’m waiting for it to be 5pm. I’m ready to go home and have a beer. Maybe we’ll get lucky again today and not have much traffic going home. It was awesome yesterday, we didn’t slow down really until Enfield; it was a little rough on the bridge, but that’s like a mile or two, so it’s not a big deal.

I do need to stop by the store on the way home. I’m almost out of my little Crystal Light packets. I finally started bringing them to work so that I can just refill a 20oz water bottle from the water fountain, but have it taste yummy instead of kind of icky. The water that comes out of the fountain is nice and cold, so it’s really convenient. I want to try some of the green tea flavors that I think they have. I also need to get some more “pink” flavors, maybe more of the Cherry Pomegranate that Jeff got, cause that was yummy.

I just got through looking at Greg’s honeymoon pictures from St Lucia. Wow, that is a beautiful island. I wish that I could go there some time. Everything was just amazing looking, and he has a lot of stories to tell just from the 5 days they were there. Not to mention there is apparently some outstanding beer. Well it’s just about that time. I need to wrap up a few things and then I’m out of here.

I'm Hooked on DVR

We hooked up the DVR last night, and I’m excited. I’ve already set up all sorts of recordings that I want it to do. The biggy for me, is Knitty Gritty. I hear about this show all the time, but it only comes on at 10:30 in the morning for some silly reason. So, not only will I finally be able to check it out, but I’ll be able to see it without commercials and I can fast forward through any bit that bores me, or pause it if I need to. I’ve already set up my recording schedules for House, The Closer, Riches, Knitty Gritty, Battlestar Galactica, and The Dresden Files. If there are other shows that I’ve been missing out on, that you think I should check out, let me know. I don’t have any of the “super premium” channels like HBO and the other billion movie channels.

I signed up for a class with Deb at Hill Country Weavers to make a Entrelac Mini Market Tote. It’s really cute, and I miss taking classes and hanging out with other knitters. I do enjoy knitting on my couch, but the social side of knitting is fun too. I’ll have to bring my knitting to Erin’s when I go over later in the week. We have some furniture re-arranging to do, and once that’s done we can sit on the furniture and knit. Good times.

Well, time to get ready for work and eat my breakfast Rueban. Before you get scared, it’s not some freaky egg and sauerkraut concoction. Jeff is just cooking us up a Rueban (on wheat cause I HATE rye bread) and we’re gonna eat it for breakfast. *shrug* They’re tasty, and we haven’t really got any other choices.

Recording Devices and Rock 'n' Roll

Man, Lost could really do with a slightly quicker plot. It’s getting to the point that I barely care what’s going on. They even through in a gratuitous explosion in the last episode and, meh. We only just now got around to watching it. We hardly ever watch tv on the night that it comes on. Not only is it not always our “veg” time when our shows come on, but watching commercials is the suck. Of course I’m such a spaz that I’m pretty bad at remembering to hit the record button. Hopefully this week I’m going to upgrade our cable box to the DVR. Maybe with some added computer help I’ll get to watch House on the Tuesdays on full moons with a low tide that it actually comes on.

I wonder if the box will work correctly for the next few weeks? I have a vague concern that the DVR will see what time shows are supposed to be on and screw up, but in theory it should sync up with the guide, and since they’re both from the same company they should match each other. I mean, I honestly don’t care what time my tv/cable/whatever thinks it is as long as it tapes the shows that I want to watch. Oooo… I can start taping the knitting shows with this! They only come on during the day, because of course no one that knits has a day job. Only old women and stay at home moms knit. *grrr*

Anyways, The Unbearables are going to be at The Victory Grill tonight, and I’ll be there. It’s the 1st birthday party for Stem and Leaf Records. Lots of cool bands, and it’s free. There’s also a show at The Long Branch Inn with more cool bands. The idea is that the bands will be staggered every 30 minutes so that you can wander back and forth and catch them all. Sounds like a party to me!