I didn't do it!

by Pinky Blinkie

It has come to my attention that several folks have assumed that *I* made the blinkies you see at the beginning of my posts of late. I assure you, I did not. I discovered blinkies when Stacey started making them (hey Stacey, you need to get your blinky pages back up!), and then I found out that lots of other folks made them, too! Most sites have them as linkware (free if credited with a link back to the creator and hosted on your own server), and the ones I have featured have always been linked back to the site of their creators, assuming credit was required (some sites do not require it, so I didn't necessarily note where those came from). I didn't realize that no one else realized they were linked. Sorry about that.

My collection is quite extensive! And can you believe I still have trouble finding one to go with the posts sometimes? Probably because I can't find the ones I'm looking for half the time. I really *must* get a better organizational system. I have, um.... let me go take a quick count (and embarrass myself to no end in the process). Okay, looks like 1800+ blinkies by over 60 different creators, presently filed by creator only, so I know who to link back to. (Does that qualify as an obsession?) I don't think I'll be running out any time soon. But I *will* do a better job of explicitly pointing out who *did* make the blinkies so that you can go adopt some yourself, if you are interested. I even went back and updated my previous posts, so there will be no more confusion. Have fun! :-)

Currently feeling: embarrassed

Luke Photo Overload

by Blinkies by Otto

I think the title says it all. Hey, don't roll your eyes! I haven't posted any in a couple of months. And sadly, we have become slack parents and not taken a *single* REAL photograph (digital, of course, but with the real 4MP 10x zoom camera) of our child since Christmas, though my parents have taken lots when they have visited. Instead, I've been snapping spontaneous shots with my camera phone when we've been out at various places. Most of the time, had I known we'd be doing such things, I definitely would have taken my real camera, but it was all spur of the moment. But I now understand the camera phone thing! It was made for parents like me who find themselves thinking "what I wouldn't give for a camera right now!" Well, now I have one. Still learning how to use it (note to self, *don't* use zoom; makes photos super blurry due to increased shutter time), but overall, worth having the shot over not. Hope you enjoy!



Let us start with Luke's first visit to a playground. McDonald's Playland no less! He was so excited to be around the other kids. I feel rather guilty now that it is such a rare occurrence for him. I wish I could provide more child-interaction opportunities for him. I'm working on it. And sadly, I am pretty much convinced that this very first interaction with other germy children and rarely-sanitized playground items is what lead to the baby virus. (Don't worry, I will *never* allow him in one of those ball pit things; way too many horror stories.) I can also tell you that this experience taught me what is going to be the hardest thing for me personally to handle: kids being kids. It was all I could do to keep from shredding a six year old who pushed him out of the way. Granted, I did say (very nicely) to her that she shouldn't push other kids, especially those so much smaller, but the Mama Bear in me wanted to smack her. How DARE you push my child!!! Especially when he wasn't in your way! (growls fiercely and bares teeth) Ah well, I guess I can't keep him away from kids (and germs) forever. At least he had fun, right?



Next up, we have Luke's first ever experience on a slide. Yes, there were slides at McD's, but he didn't use them. You had to climb through the labyrinth to get to them (reminded me of elaborate gerbil tunnels), and he was just too small. (He didn't show any interest in climbing in, and I didn't encourage him; he stayed in that little open room you see playing with the abacus thingy the entire time, which was fine by me.) We took him to a new mall a week or so later, and they had a little padded play area in the middle. Ironically enough, just a few days prior, we had seen a segment on Unwrapped about a company who makes soft food-shaped playground-type items for malls and such, and we said "too bad we don't have one of those around here." Well, we do, at this new mall we hadn't been to yet. We'd been to eat at the restaurants around there before, several times in fact, we'd just never bothered to go in until that day. (Too bad it's so far away.) The play area wasn't as big as the one we saw on TV, but that's okay (and this one was surrounded by padded benches for parents, too!). Anyway, there were only a couple of other kids there, fairly near his age, so we just let him play. He didn't want to go down the slide facing forward, but he loved going down. Based on his reaction to various baby-tossing and "dropping" type games DH plays with him, I definitely think we have a roller coaster junkie on our hands. Yay for me! (DH hates them.)



And lastly, these were taken just this week at Toys 'R Us. We have discovered that it is actually a pretty safe place to let him run around unrestrained (obviously, we don't go when they are busy). He discovers all kinds of things. Let's see, he loves to stack and unstack chairs (and cups, and boxes, and most anything else), he doesn't like rocking horses or push cars (the kind you sit on and push with your feet), and he loves balls (the bigger, the better, as in beach ball size). While we were there this week, he found these canisters, demonstrating his "World Strongest Baby" abilities. I don't even remember what they had in them (seems like fake food or something), but he carried and stacked and unstacked them for about 20 minutes. He could not, for the life of him, figure out how to stack all three of them on top of one another.



He just wasn't quite tall enough to hold the third one by the handle and get it on top without knocking off the second one. I literally watched him try every permutation of lower canisters to see if one would work better: red on blue, blue on red, yellow on blue, blue on yellow, yellow on red, red on yellow. I was rather impressed with his reasoning skills and memory on that one; it was fascinating! Once DH showed him to hold the third one by the sides, he did just fine, and he was so proud of himself (too bad I missed the photo!).

Currently feeling: proud

My Oscar 2006 results

by Joyful Mother Designs

Okay, I've had a few people ask me how I did predicting this year's Oscars. The answer? About average. I usually manage about 50% correct. Now, that doesn't sound like I did very well, but when you consider that there are several categories that I usually have to guess in (documentary long and short, animated and live action short, and a few other technical awards), and when you factor in that most categories have 5 choices (meaning pure guessing should yeild a 20% correct rate), 50% really isn't too shabby. A long way from 2004, when I managed 75% correct (which shocked even me!), but still, much better than last year which was something like 37%. I missed several of the key categories, though, including Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor *and* Actress, and Best Picture (I really believed Brokeback would pull it out in the end). I guess there's always next year; maybe I will have actually managed to see a few more of the nominated films.
Currently feeling: triumphant

LEGO Star Wars II coming soon

by HiddenMeaning.net

Many of you will probably remember my obsession with the LEGO Star Wars game that came out a while back. DH and I spent hours and hours enjoying each other's company and having fun playing this enchanting game. No one was more surprised than DH when he came home that day and I demanded that we go purchase a computer game. I just don't like to play them. Well, not most of them. This one, however, was great fun. I remember the agonizing wait after we finished Episode II, not wanting to play Episode III in case of film spoilers. We were so disappointed when it was over. After playing the bonus level, with a tantalizing look at what could be, all we could think was "when will one based on the original trilogy come out?"

Our wish has been granted. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy will be released "Fall 2006," whatever that means. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am! I know, I know, it's just a game, but boy what a game! I hear they have even encorporated one of the coolest parts about the Gameboy version into this new one (something I heard about from one of my bestest buds when she bought it for her son). Per an email from her: "when you change characters the old one breaks apart and reassembles into the new one." How cool is that!

Currently feeling: thrilled

No more brownies

by Blinkie Obsession

That's it. I give up. Apparently, I am not meant to make brownies. At least, not good ones. My brownies seem to have only two textures: bricks and goo. Usually, they tend towards bricks, but I did manage a nice batch of goo tonight. We won't even mention the fact that I had already messed up a *boxed* brownie mix before trying the "from scratch" recipe this evening. At least I rescued the chocolate chips from the mix (I put in 3 times the amount of oil it called for because I misread the box; no way to salvage) and put them into the scratch recipe. They were quite tasty, if a little, um, over-moist. ::rolls eyes:: I just hope they got hot enough and done enough to kill any bacteria so we don't get food poisoning from the still slightly gooey middle come tomorrow. I was smart enough to eat the center ones first (the most underdone). I think the edge ones will be okay.

I don't think I'm going to try again. I've been trying off and on for two years to successfully make brownies; that is just plain ridiculous. I'm an engineer for goodness sake! I should be able to make a decent batch of brownies!! Guess I'll just have to settle for store-bought (bleck) or someone else's. ::sigh::

Currently feeling: frustrated

Too good to be true

by Kamla

I should have known. They always say that if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. But this was not a commercial or a sales pitch or a scam. This was a friend. And she didn't do anything wrong; it's not her fault. I guess that's just life.

Jennifer (former/supposed to be again boss) called today. *Her* boss is having issues with my proposed work hours. He's not sure this is going to work out. He wants to mull it over before giving the official go ahead. He'll let us know in two weeks (does that length of time seem a little ridiculous to anyone besides me?).

I've known this was brewing for a while. It is one of the two glitches I mentioned yesterday. She told me Monday that he was surprised that I wouldn't be working standard hours. She told him she didn't see the big deal. "Well, I was planning to use her some as well." Jennifer replied that this was not communicated to her before she went out looking for someone. "I just assumed you would be hiring someone who would be working normal hours." Now, in his defense, that *is* a reasonable assumption, generally speaking. But, he should have told her he was planning to use my services when she came to him about needing more help. Had that been the case (he wants me for conference calls and things), she would have known then that someone working off hours would not work very well, so she never would have approached me in the first place. He never said anything. She told him she needed help, asked if she could hire someone to do x, y, and z tasks, and he said yes, hire whoever you'd like. So she did. And now he's saying he's not comfortable with her choice. Make up your mind!

She's going to bat for me, she's fighting for me. She told him that this is the work that she is having to do at night because she doesn't have time during the day. What is the difference between her doing it at night and *me* doing it at night? She also mentioned that the company providing me as a contractor to her (but not the staffing agency who is actually paying me; it's so messed up) has already invested in a computer and everything, which is currently in my possession. It's not like the ball isn't rolling on this already. In fact, it has picked up quite a bit of steam. (Not that I've actually worked yet, due to a missing security device that I have yet to receive, but he doesn't know that.) She told him that these were the things she needed done, and that as an industrial engineer, I have the skills and the knowledge. Plus, I am a known quantity, so she doesn't have to worry about my abilities, or how well I "play with others," or my work ethic, or anything else. We just don't understand what the issue is. But in the end, he is the one who has to approve this, so it is ultimately his decision.

And what is the two week wait going to accomplish? If he is that convinced that it won't work out, then just tell us now! Don't make all of us agonize over the wait. Or, assuming we can get the security issues fixed, give me a two week trial. If you still think after the two weeks that it won't work, get rid of me. It will only have cost you two weeks of pay, Jen will have gotten a little bit of relief even if only for a brief time, and I will have made a little bit of extra money in the process (always a good thing).

If he had said he wanted to think about it and would give us an answer on Monday, I would think that might be in my favor. Maybe he just wants to take the weekend to convince himself it is okay. But I certainly don't see how waiting two weeks can be a good thing for me. She in no way implied this, but *I* think he took some of her remarks to mean "I've found the right person, and I don't think you can do better." He's going to spend the next two weeks looking for someone he approves of (skills and hours) and present that person to her as an alternative. Just my suspicion. But again, if that is the case, then just go ahead and tell her that he doesn't think it will work with my schedule and he will hire someone else to help her. Why drag it all out? It isn't good for anyone, including Jennifer, who is getting no help or relief in the meantime, plus she feels guilty about offering me something that she is now unable to come through on (through no fault of her own, but I know it bothers her). ::sigh::

Currently feeling: baffled

Blinkie catch-up

No credit required

Actually, there is no point. I was feeling the need to blog, but I don't know what to say. Lots I could say, serious and trivial, just not feeling up to it. One major job kink seems to be fixed, still working on the other one. That is all.

Took me several days to realize I forgot to post a blinkie with my last entry, so you get a bonus blinkie today.

Bonus blinkie:
No credit required

Currently feeling: out there