Sunday already

Dear Internets,

Is it just me, or does it seem unfair that the weekend is almost over already?

Here are some pictures of Bailey enjoying the fall weather. I think he's happy that the leaves actually changed color this year (Don't even try to tell him that dogs are color blind. He loves the leaves!):



Valentino (the betta fish) was feeling left out, so I took a picture of him, too. He's an art aficionado who does a bit of Java fern gardening and bubble nest blowing on the side:



Hmmm... It's probably a good thing that I'll have to go back to work and start interacting with adults tomorrow. Hope you enjoy what's left of your weekend, Internets!

Love always,
Jane

Like I need to spend more time online...

Dear FreeRice,

You are my new favorite way to waste time online.

Love,
Jane

Happy Thanksgiving

Dear Wonderful Internets,

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

I have spent the past two days eating, drinking, and being merry with Achilles' and my friends and families. My sister announced last night that she's pregnant (although really, we've mostly all known or suspected for a couple of weeks), so we're all very excited and happy. This guy is going to be a fantastic big brother:



This morning, after eating breakfast with two of Achilles' friends that stayed with us last night, we went by Sears for Black Friday shopping. I got a new front-loading energy efficient washer and dryer for $599 (for the pair!). The salesperson at Sears told me that the city of Austin offers rebates for replacing your old washing machine with a high efficiency model, so I'll get a $100 check in a month or so. If I can sell my old washer and dryer on Craigslist for $75 or $100, I will only have ended up spending about $450 out of pocket. High five for efficiency!

Now I'm listening to rain fall gently outside my window while I catch up on blog reading. It has been a nice holiday.

Love,
Jane

Miss Jane, in the conservatory, with the laptop

Dear Internets,

This is what I did last night:

Hey Homo! Presents: CLUE
Rated Unkown; 94min; Director:Jonathan Lynn (1985)

Location: Alamo Downtown*

Have ya' ever been trapped in a big ol' fancy house in cold weather with a rope around ya' neck, a dagger in ya' back, a candle stick on ya' head, a wrench in ya' teeth, a revolver in ya' face and a lead pipe up ya' butt? We'll I have!...and I gotta say it was one hell of a party! REBECCA HAVEMEYER here sayin', "It's November, Turkey Necks!"..and HEY HOMO! is cordially inviting you to join your enthusiastically ignorant hostess as I emcee the one and only...CLUE at the Alamo Ritz! It's gonna be a night of boozey murder, special guests, chilled monkey's brains and after party shufflin' at Rain! You'd be a sad duck to miss this one, honey! All's I gotta say is...Flames, Flames from the side of my head! Booya!

PS: I'd like to thank RAIN for being our first sponsor so be sure you make it out after the show to hang out with your favorite Homos!

I surprised my friends with hot cocoa while we waited in line for the show. Unfortunately, we got there early enough that the line hadn't yet stretched outside, but I think my friends appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

Clue itself was awesome. I hadn't seen it since I was a kid, so this was the first time I got all the double entendres and dirty jokes. The whole audience quoted along with the movie. (Madeline Kahn pretty much completes me. If the Alamo Drafthouse ever does a showing of What's Up, Doc? my mom and I will be the happiest people ever.) The hosts acted out their own murder mystery on stage before the movie. It was fantastic.

We didn't hit the gay bars after the movie with the rest of the audience (it was a Tuesday; we have our limits), but the night was just what I needed. As I walked down the street to my car, surrounded by the sounds (ZZ Top, Daddy Yankee, jazz piano) and smells (cigar smoke, beer, broke musician) of 6th Street, I realized that despite how trapped I sometimes feel, I really do love Austin.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Internets!

Love,
Jane

P.S. I was thinking about how I'd write/cast a Monopoly movie last night. Who knew I could be so prescient?


*For the uninitiated among you, the Alamo Drafthouse is pretty much the best movie theater ever. The ticket prices generally don't require taking out a second mortgage on your house, the food is pretty decent (pizza, hamburgers, hummus, queso), AND they sell beer (and wine, and mixed drinks). Plus they host awesome events, like "Ladies of the 80's Sing-a-Longs" and a vampire ball for the Twilight movie. Things like the Alamo (Drafthouse - the Alamo Alamo is in San Antonio) are what's great about living in Austin. (I sound like an advertisement. But I love the Alamo Drafthouse. Come visit me - we'll go see a movie and then sing in the streets.)

I gobble because I play by the rules

Dear Internets,

This is what goes through my head when I get a blog award:

Oh! I got a blog award! Goodiegoodieyay! Wait... really? Wow, really! Yes! Really! Yay! I'm so excited! I wonder who I'll give this to? Holy smokes, there are 75 blogs in my Google Reader... Maybe my friend was right about me spending too much time online... How could I possibly choose? I love that blog, but I gave them an award last time... But maybe that is allowed, like how you could win the Heisman Trophy more than once? Well, I mean, you could win it more than once if you were really good at football at a young age and didn't get injured, I guess... What was I thinking about? Oh yeah, blog awards... All of the bloggers I subscribe to are so intimidating... Maybe they would not even want an award from me. I mean, who wants an award from someone who writes so much about how she loves bananas? Mmm... I like bananas. They're such a portable fruit... I should create a blog award. It could be the "I'm bananas for your blog" blog award... Hmmm... But that doesn't solve the current dilemma: who should I give this award to? I was going to give my next blog award to A Perfectly Cursed Life for sure, but she gave one to me first... I love her blog... She likes chocolate as much as I do. Mmmm... Chocolate... I wonder if I should take my friends hot cocoa while they're waiting in line for the movie tonight? That would be a nice surprise, but it would probably make everyone else in line kind of jealous. Also, it would be cold if they spilled it on themselves. Actually, I guess it would be hot first. Speaking of spills, I can't believe I spilled soda all over myself AGAIN today, especially not after I went home and changed my shirt after the first time. I really am a lot like Pig-Pen... My desk is a mess... So is my blogroll... Argh...

Sorry about that frightening glimpse into my psyche, Internets. If you skipped ahead, the point is, basically:

• YAY! A PERFECTLY CURSED LIFE GAVE ME A BLOG AWARD!
• I LOVE BANANAS!
• I'm sort of a clumsy slob.

Here is the award that I won:

Here are the rules:

1. Each recipient who receives a TYFBA must give away at least four TYFBAs
2. Each recipient must describe, in at least three words why they are giving that person the award.
3. Each recipient must gobble. Just kidding…I just wanted three rules.

Isn't it great? I am passing this one along to:

• Diary of Why. Rachel is way cooler than me so it makes me super-nervous to give her a blog award, but she deserves it. Her blog was a big part of what made me decide to start blogging again; I was leaving so many comments that I was beginning to feel like sort of a creepy, identity-less stalker.
• Dan Does Blog. I love Dan. He is a real-life friend and a great guy. He is even nice to me even though he is a lot cooler than me. You should go to his blog and answer this question.
• The State That I Am In. Georgia is probably not the type to do blog awards. I'm nervous to give her one anyway, because she's going to be a famous writer someday, I think, and my little blog award will look silly next to her Pulitzer. But I am absolutely enamored with her writing, and get a warm and fuzzy feeling when she hints about her budding romance.*
• Sleepy Jane. I love her Top Ten Tuesdays. And her blog is hilarious - you should check out the story about the wiener fire that occurred at her house recently (and no, I'm not talking about her dachshunds).
• Gorgeous footsteps in the sand. Katelin deserves an award based solely on the awesomeness of her hair (as a fellow curly girl, I don't know whether to be jealous or impressed). But her blog is as awesome as her curls - it always leaves me with a smile on my face.

Don't be sad if you didn't get an award this time, Internets. You are in the running for a 'Nanner Award as soon as I get off my rearsy and make one.

Love always,
Jane

*I can't believe I just used the phrase "budding romance." Hee...

Biting my tongue

Dear Internets,

I decided to tag myself on a meme today to avoid talking about things I shouldn't talk about on my blog. (Don't worry - they are not interesting things; they're mostly just whiny things.)

I decided to modify the meme a little in the interest of over-sharing. So, without further ado, I present:

Six embarrassing things you (probably) don't know about me

1. I had an unhealthy obsession with My Little Ponies as a child. I (secretly) played with mine until well into middle school.
2. I can't stand mini paper clips. I just don't understand the point of a paper clip that can only hold two or three pages together. But they're so utterly recyclable, I feel guilty just throwing them away. So if I have mini paper clips, I always try to use them first.
3. I have an addiction to self improvement books. I never really follow their instructions (and thus, they are pretty much completely useless to me), but I still can't stop reading them. Also, I really like those "how I changed my life in one year using some ridiculous premise" memoirs.
4. I went through a phase where I bought dental floss almost every time I went to the grocery store, because I could never remember if I was running low or not. I still have about 8 rolls left. Same with deodorant. I won't run out until 2012.
5. I have been too afraid to open up my IRA statements for the past few months. So... I haven't. They are sitting unopened at the bottom of a pile of receipts by my desk at home.
6. I regret buying my condo. I feel like I bought at the worst time to buy in Austin. Also, owning a condo just makes me feel really tied down.
   

I'm not going to tag anyone with this (I think that would be kind of mean), but feel free to share your own dirty little secrets.

Love,
Jane

And one to grow on

Dear Internets,

So... You know what's happening in 8 days?

Britney Spears is releasing her album "Circus" on her 27th birthday, you say?

Well, yes, that's true. But more importantly, I am turning 28*. Cue the fireworks.

I have no idea what to do for my birthday. To be honest, I'm not feeling super festive. Turning 28 feels like I'm officially in my late twenties (27 was a little more marginal). I don't do well with the types of questions I've been asking myself lately (Am I happy? Is this where I want to be in my life? Have I accomplished the things I set out to do?) Thus, I don't really feel much like celebrating.

My first thought was to have my friends over for cupcakes and ice cream. Then I realized that I am kind of burned out on being a hostess right now. My second thought was to invite everyone to a bar for happy hour, but I'm kind of "blah" about that too. My next thought was the most appealing: just let everyone forget about it. Achilles and I will go see Jim Gaffigan and I'll have dinner with my parents, but other than that, I'll let my birthday get lost in the post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas bustle.

*CONFIDENTIAL TO MY FELLOW MATH NERDS: At least my age will be a perfect number, right?

In other news, I just tore a contact lens. My vision is 20/400 uncorrected (20/200 is considered legally blind), so I'm not sure how much work I'm going to get done today. Or how I'll get home. Whee!

Love always,
Jane

Dog days of November

Dear Internets,

I just deleted a post about how awesome the "PediPaws" tool is. It sounded like an advertisement.

But for reals, if you have a dog who 1.) would love nothing more than to have an excuse to sit in your lap, and 2.) turns into Cujo when he gets within 20 feet of a pair of nail clippers, it's worth checking out.

Deep down, Bailey is just a lap dog in a horse's body.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:


I think Bailey and I are going to head out for a walk to enjoy the dreary (but lovely) fall weather. Achilles is brewing beer right now, and the whole house reeks of hops. Hops have a fairly pleasant smell, I guess, but right now I sort of feel like I've fallen into a fermented feed silo.

When we get back, I'm going to make ham, cheese, and cornmeal muffins for dinner. I think they'll be delicious served with black beans.

Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon, Internets!

Love,
Jane

They just don't, like, "get" me

Dear Internets,

Yesterday I sent some of my friends an email with some of the funniest (and creepiest) things I've seen on the Internets in the past week or so. One of my friends replied back with this:

yeah...what do you do all day!?

Sigh. Some people just don't get the magic of the blogiverse. I spent all of five minutes finding the links (through awesome blogs in my Google Reader), grabbing a picture of Achilles and me from Flickr for the creepy baby picture generator, and sending the email to my friends.

I do sometimes end up wasting a lot of time online finding things that may only appeal to me, but for the most part, I don't feel like I waste a lot of time online. (Besides, the friend who sent the email used to watch "Sex and the City" all day at work at her boring office job. Then she went back to grad school and got all judgmental, but whatever.)

I guess you could say that I protest-eth too much. I have to admit, her remark stung. I am kind of a quirky (read: introverted, impulsive, daydreamy, distracted) person, and I don't spend enough time thinking about how I come across to other people. I don't really want my friends to think of me as a giant flake, but maybe that's what I am? Sometimes I do sort of feel like a human beagle: when I find something interesting, I "follow my nose" until something more interesting comes along.

Oh well. Beagles are pretty happy dogs, right?

Have a good weekend, Internets.

Love,
Jane

NoMo NaBloPoMo... Moving on...

Dear Gmail,

When I logged in and everything looked... different (but not enough that I could be 100% sure that anything had actually changed), I was confused.

Now, I think I'm in love. High five for Themes!

The only downside is that now I have one more thing to match to my Firefox, blog, and iGoogle themes. It's a lot of pressure, but hopefully I'll survive.

Love,
Jane

Jane, circa 1950

Dear Barbara,

You would have been me, if I'd been a teenager in the 1950's.



No wonder so many women with ADD are depressed.

Love,
Jane

P.S. The narrator is a real jerk about drumming your fingers, but you probably got it from your mom (5:35). Hmpf.
P.P.S. I think I fixed the code so that the video would stop auto-playing any time the page loads. Please let me know if it didn't work.

Blogs, dogs, and... logs? bogs? cogs?

Dear Internets,

In the interest of not being a total Debbie Downer, I'm going to hold off on posting until my ear infection starts to get better. (I'm a little bit of a grouch right now. Send Achilles flowers.)

I do have exciting news, though: one of my favorite bloggers just moved to Austin! If you aren't reading Elizabeth's blog (or Who's Your Dachshund), I highly recommend both sites. And if you're in Austin, I smell a bloggy/doggy meet-up in the works. (In the interest of full disclosure, Bailey may not make it to the blogger meet-up. He tends to get overly-excited meeting new dogs, which leads to several days of -ahem- stomach troubles all over the house. I think he has doggy social anxiety or something.)

What about you, Internets? Do you have any exciting news?

Have a great week!

Love,
Jane

Bingo was his name-o

Dear Internets,

Ooh look! Bullet points! With whining!

• I'm really not very good at posting every day. I think if I do this next year, I'll make up some sort of game with prizes. Like blogging bingo, or something... (I am learning some verrrrry basic game programming - maybe I'll even make it fancy. A lot could happen in a year...)
• In other news, my ear infection rages on. My doctor called in a prescription for antibiotics, but it's still in the phase where it will get worse before it gets better. I am trying (mostly unsuccessfully) not to whine to much about it; I go through phases where I get ear infections all the time, and I don't want to use up everyone's sympathy on the first one. It is frustrating not to be able to hear out of one ear; it makes me realize how inconsiderate some people are toward people that have hearing difficulties.
• I am so ready for Thanksgiving break. I really want to take a trip out West - I love the desert and the mountains - but that's not really in the budget right now, and Achilles has a friend coming into town anyway. I am planning to sleep, eat, and drink cocoa.
• The 70's party was not really as much fun as I had hoped. I liked my outfit OK, but I didn't really feel up to doing wild hair and makeup, so I felt a little out of place. (Not being able to drink - stupid antibiotics - probably didn't help much either.) Also, Achilles was being a little bit of a dunderhead.
  

I'll stop whining now. Here's the Sunday Bailey:



Despite the creepy white eyes (stupid flash), I love this picture; I took it about 15 minutes after I gave Bailey that toy bumblebee. He looks so pleased with himself. I think he may have been a revolutionary in a past life. (Also, I miss having hardwood floors. Le sigh.)

I hope your weekend has been footloose and ear infection-free.

Love,
Jane

Saturday Night Fever

Dear Internets,

As (I think) I've mentioned before, I've been teaching/tutoring a class of high school boys for the past few weekends. I think the most frustrating thing about them is that just when I've gotten to the point that I'm ready to commit murder if it would get them to behave, out of nowhere they'll start acting like perfectly reasonable individuals. I'll start to question my judgment, like maybe I was imagining the bad behavior in the first place. Then something will set them off and we're back to square one. I could swear they're practicing for future relationships.

Aside from the frustrations of trying to figure out how to get adolescent boys to just sit still already (and an ear infection), the past few days have been pretty awesome. I was in such a good mood after finishing my C# training yesterday that I decided to make like a 1950's housewife and cook a pot roast for dinner (with a little bit of help from Achilles - raw meat kind of grosses me out). I made apple crisp for dessert. Both turned out pretty well, which made me happy.

[I hope staying in on a Friday night doesn't make me sound pathetic; even in my "WOOO!! Party!" days, I never really liked to go out on Friday nights (I need my transitions) so my new habit of cooking and catching up on my DVR-ed television programs suits me well.]

I'm in training for job #2 for the rest of the day today, and then tonight (if my ear infection isn't getting any worse) Achilles and I are headed to a 1970's party. Here's a picture we took in my friend's kitchen last year before we headed to the party:



Hopefully Achilles doesn't kill me for putting his picture on the Internets. Have a great weekend!

Love,
Jane

Ow. Owie ow ow.

Dear Jane,

I think you have an ear infection.

Love,
Your immune system

P.S. Have fun at work tomorrow.

Dinner party

Dear Internets,

I am NOT super sleepy today! It's a miracle.

I'm headed to a friend's house for a girls-only dinner party. It should be fun. I'm taking wine, because I have difficulties transporting food without spilling it all over everything I come within 20 feet of, and because you can never have too much wine.

I feel like I've been counting down the days until stressful things end (17 more days of NaBloPoMo; one more day of training; two more weekends of trying to corral obnoxious high school boys) rather than counting down the days to things I'm looking forward to (19 days until my birthday; 23 days until we go see Jim Gaffigan at the Paramount, two weeks until Thanksgiving). Hopefully a relaxing evening with friends will help me recharge.

Love always,
Jane

Joker laid an egg

Dear Internets,

This just in: I'm still sleepy, and I can't stop singing goofy Christmas songs.

I don't think I can keep blaming time change for my mental fogginess; in fact, I think my daze is a result of the training I've been in this week. I'm taking a course to learn C# and .Net.

Learning a computer language in a week might not be too difficult for the average person, but I have the following things working against me:

• I was a French/Art History major who thought it would be more practical to take geology classes to fulfill my science credits requirement than it would be to take computer science classes, and thus, I have a relatively small amount of programming experience.
• My brain is only slightly larger than a pea.

Therefore, my brain is pretty much full. All I have really had energy to do during the evenings is sit around and hum. (Yesterday I did manage to go get my hair cut, although I sat through my appointment in a daze. The stylist could not seem to stop fluffing my hair. "What a great curl!" she kept saying. I left looking like I'd stuck my finger in an electrical outlet.) If I held my knees and rocked back and forth, I'm pretty sure I'd rock myself to sleep.

Jingle bells, Batman smells.

Earlier, as I was humming "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," I remembered that as a child, I operated under the assumption that the story behind the song was set in Texas. I don't know what reminded me about that, but man, I was one misguided kid.

Nevermind that it rarely snows in Texas, let alone on Christmas Eve, or that I didn't meet anyone who drank eggnog until I was 17; Grandma was clearly from the Lone Star State. I am pretty sure I believed that people outside of Texas didn't have grandmothers and waited for Père Noël instead of Santa. (I also spent an inordinate amount of time worrying about tourists who wanted to "mess with" my state, but that is neither here nor there, except that WOW, look at what advertising DOES to children.)

Hmmm... I thought that I had a point there, but I think I forgot what it was.

I am going to go to bed now.

Love always,
Jane

Is it sad...

Dear Internets,

Is it sad that I still have a MySpace account? I don't really look at it anymore. I figure I'll just leave it until all my "friends" drop off like flies and my only remaining MySpace buddy is Bailey.



Sorry... All I have wanted to do since Daylight Saving Time ended is to go to sleep when it's dark outside (i.e. most of the time). I swear tomorrow will bring a real post.

Love,
Jane

So tired...

Dear NaBloPoMo,

I'm only posting today because I have to. Which means I'm essentially wasting the Internets' time. But in 16 days, I will finally get a day off after working 38 days straight. Yay for Thanksgiving!

I'm going to go sleep now.

Love,
Jane

Sunday cop out

Dear Internets,

When friends visit my house, they always say Bailey looks a lot bigger in person than he does in pictures. The problem is, when I get on "dog level" to take pictures of Bailey, I get stepped on. And he is pretty big. And I am a wimp. But for you, Internets, I tried.

Big Bailey:


Small Bailey:


Don't let that innocent look fool you. He's a maniac.

Now I'm going to go eat a cupcake.

Love,
Jane

Question

Dear Internets,

Since I am posting every day in November, I think I'm going to make Sundays "pictures of my dog days." What do you think?

Love,
Jane

P.S. I got one of those Twitter thingamajigs. Lord help us all.
P.P.S. Firefox apparently recognizes a correct spelling for "thingamajig." Who knew?

The things about "easy listening"

Dear Internets,

Without the election or Halloween to capture my focus, I've been even more distracted than usual.

Distraction:
My office mate at work likes to listen to a "soft rock" radio station while we work. It doesn't bother me - the music fades into the background, and, except for the occasional annoying DJ or overly-enthusiastic advertisement, I don't even notice it.

There is one exception: "Baby I Love Your Way" (usually the UB40 cover on this particular station, but occasionally the Peter Effing Frampton original) breaks through my consciousness and worms its way into my brain at least once a day. It is the ear worm to end all ear worms. To make matters worse, when I get a song stuck in my head I have an awkward, almost-unconscious habit of singing aloud and substituting the lyrics with the names and habits of people who happen to be around me.

There's not an easy way to recover from singing to a coworker that you "love their way."

Distraction:
I should really start carrying a camera around with me more often. Signs I have seen posted lately (among others):

On a swimming pool: "Lap swim 2-4. Family swim 4-7. Full immersion baptism by appt."

At a massage parlor: "Special massage! $30"

On a restaurant door: "NOOO!!!! Public Restroom."

Distraction:
I'm working all weekend again. I'd like to make cupcakes tonight, but I don't know what I'd do with them. Normally I'll eat one or two and take the rest to work, but I don't think it's a good idea to give a room full of adolescent boys sugar and then expect them to pay attention for several hours.

Distraction:
Is it possible for cowlicks to migrate around your head? I've always had one just behind the crown of my head. Lately, though, it seems to have migrated out and apart so I have two little cowlick horns.

I'm off to go attempt (again) to tame them. Take care, Internets.

Love always,
Jane

***UPDATE***
They are playing "Baby I Love Your Way" AGAIN! I heard it over the Old 97's, which I'd been listening to through headphones to try to get "Baby" out of my head. Gah!

Out of things to say

Dear Internets,

I have started and deleted three blog posts today. They may or may not have involved in-depth discussions of the following topics:

• the casting of the Twilight movie
• sincere vs. insincere mullets
• why I am boring and you should not read my blog
• photographs of my betta fish
• how much I kind of totally want to see the Twilight movie, despite the fact that this kind of makes me feel like a 14-year-old girl
• my complete and utter lack of energy lately

I am going to spare you, though, because I love you. I'll try to do better tomorrow.

-J

Happy days are here again

Dear Champagne,

You seemed like such a good idea last night; less so, this morning.

Love,
Jane

So proud

Dear United States of America,

I am so proud.

Love,
Jane

P.S. To Sen. McCain: You are a good, honorable American. I am proud of you, too..

Sigh...

Dear News Media,

I keep reading news articles talking about how this election will have the biggest turnout since 1908.

Ummm... Last I checked, women and Native Americans couldn't vote in 1908, the voting age was 21, and Blacks were often kept from the polls by bigots.

I know you guys like to avoid superlatives, but I think it's safe to say "biggest of all" in this case.

Love anyway,
Jane

P.S. Polls start closing in 11 minutes..!

Go Vote

Dear Internets,

In honor of Election Day, I'm recycling a blog post from two years ago. Go vote.

Love,
Jane

Top 5 Tuesday Special Edition: Don't Tip the Vote Over

Today is Election Day! This not only means it is the last day for irritating campaign ads, but also that it's time for you to get your arse down to vote if you haven't already.

So, in honor of the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, today we will discuss: The Top 5 Reasons it is Important that YOU Rock The Vote (or Vote or Die, or Whatever the Kids on MTV are Saying These Days).

5. If you don't vote, you can't complain
(And we all know how much you like complaining)

4. You may need to cancel out someone else's vote
For me, it's my crazy redneck relatives who want to control the bodies and love lives of strangers. For you, it may be someone else.



3. Stalking people on Facebook doesn't pay the bills
Hello Economy, I'd like you to meet The Toilet. Get cozy! You two will be spending quite a bit of time together!

2. Polar Bears are drowning
Sarah Palin may not care, but you should.

You know how many major cities would be affected by rising sea levels? To name a few: Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York, Mumbai, Shanghai, Jakarta, Bangkok, Sydney, Dhaka... It's like the world's most depressing game of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"

1. 4190 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since 2003
They don't get to vote this year.

Reason #139,928 why I love "The Simpsons"

Distracted again

Dear Internets,

I went to Target last night, looking for a coat rack* and a shoe rack, and found myself drawn like a magnet to the after-Halloween clearance items. Dog costumes on sale for $4.99? Good news for Jane; bad news for Bailey.

*It is weirdly difficult to find a coat rack in Austin. Do we not need cold weather clothing organizational systems just because it doesn't get very cold here? If you blast us with icy winds, do we not shiver???

In other news, I think that I should maybe take my Obama bumper sticker off my car tonight. Don't worry! It's not what you think. It's just that I'm a pretty horrendous driver, and I'm afraid I'll negatively influence a last-minute undecided voter. Maybe instead I should just give myself an extra 30 minutes to get places and drive extra-courteously, in hopes of influencing an undecided voter with my politeness? Probably it doesn't matter - I live in Texas. Sigh.

I'm doing pretty well on my eating healthfully/being active during NaBloPoMo. Yesterday, my only activity was a one mile walk with Bailey, but I fared better with the healthful eating; I made dinners and lunches for the rest of the week. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this up.

OK, time for a little bit of coffee...

Love,
Jane

Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, Happy, Bashful, Doc, and me

Dear Internets,

Happy end of Daylight Saving Time (for some of you, anyway). Despite the extra hour of sleep, I'm a little grouchy this morning. Last night, Achilles and I got into a silly argument that turned into a regular kind of argument (about the relative importance of football vs. politics. I'll let you guess who thought football was more important. HMPF).

I'm not a huge fan of Daylight Saving Time anyway - either you lose an hour of sleep, or an hour of sunshine - but it is nice to have an extra hour this morning. I think I'm going to stop for breakfast tacos on the way in to work. I think that'll make me feel better. Besides - eggs are good for you, so it won't completely derail my healthier eating in November.

Have a great Sunday, Internets.

Love,
Jane

NaBloPoMo Day 1: A boring blog title

Dear Blog,

I'm supposed to write in you every day for the next 30 days. Yay! We'll be BFF's after 30 days of daily communication, Blog. I can almost guarantee it.

Last night was kind of anti-climatic. After dressing Bailey up and taking pictures (he loved that SOOOO much), I went to dinner with some of my friends. I was supposed to meet them a party and then go meet another friend to watch her Queen cover band play. Instead, I drank about half of a margarita with dinner, then asked Achilles to take me home so that I could pass out. I'm a pretty hard-core drinker.

This morning, I was happy that I hadn't stayed out too late. I went to job #2 and then went on about a 15 mile bike ride with Saving Diva. Lawdy, Blog, the last hill I climbed on the bike ride just about did me in. It was kind of depressing - I used to regularly ride 15-20 miles and be rarin' to keep going. I have let myself get a little bit out of shape.

Speaking of being out of shape, since I pretty much write almost every day anyway, I thought I'd add in a little extra goal for myself and try to eat healthyier and be active every day in November. You can help keep me honest, Blog. What do you think?

XOXO,
Jane