Things that make me say "whee!"

Dear Internets,

Achilles, Bailey and I spent the weekend in Corpus visiting an old friend of mine from junior high. The trip was lovely. We stayed at a dog friendly hotel on the beach, so we had a lot of time just to hang out and play in the water and see the sights. The Texas coast is much cleaner than it used to be.

You know how after you haven't eaten for a while, and you get really, really hungry, the food tastes even better than normal? I think that was what happened with the vacation. It had been an awfully long time since I had two days off in a row, and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

In other news, I just paid off my car loan. Now my only consumer loan debt is my last (fairly smallish) student loan, which has a fixed interest rate of 2.85%. I can live with that!

Hope your week is also off to a good start.

Love always,
Jane

It's Fridaaaay!

Dear Internets,

I am sorry for all the bullet post-y posts lately, but I have been distracted. Go figure. This is what has been on my mind:

• I had a nightmare last night about health care reform. I didn't even think I *thought* much about health care reform, but in my dream, I was positive that if I could just get Hillary Clinton and Kay Bailey Hutchison together, they could fix everything. And I was *really* worried about it. SO WEIRD. Must be the zeitgeist or something.
• I kind of want to buy some clothes from Old Navy. However, I just went through all my stuff and donated about two file boxes worth of clothes, movies, etc. to Goodwill. I also threw out a bunch of old socks and underoosies. Should I let myself become accustomed to the empty space, or should I buy myself a couple of new things?
• I got some new rain boots. Overly optimistic? Perhaps, but I had been eying these boots for over a year, and finally found them on sale for 60% off. And El Nino's coming this fall, which should hopefully make it rain a lot. But now I have no idea how to wear them! I have fairly scary wide calves, so I'm pretty sure the whole "skinny jeans tucked into the boots" look won't work for me. Halp!
• Is it normal to have extreme anxiety about mailing packages? I have no anxiety about receiving packages, but something about mailing them makes me very antsy.
• I just picked up a bunch more hours at job #2. Which... I know! I was so happy to have a break. I'm ridiculous. But they are very manipulative.
  

I hope you have a nice weekend Internets!

Love,
Jane

I think things are turning around

Dear Internets,

I think things are beginning to look up, Internets:

• the Universe sent me breakfast tacos this morning
• I am down to only four hours a week at job #2 (from 20/week)
• I'm visiting my friend from junior high this weekend
• Since he got a job downtown, Achilles and I have been able to eat lunch together most of the days that I don't telecommute
• I am finally learning to type on my new fancy ergonomic keyboard
• It is supposed to finally start raining and cooling off soon (Austin has *lovely* weather eight months out of the year. Just not anytime between late May and mid-September)
• My friends and I are planning a trip to Lake Tahoe sometime around my birthday
• Tony Hale (aka Buster Bluth) has been in everything lately
  

• I learned to make fondant. And it doesn't even taste bad!
• My new hairdresser was able to mostly de-mullet me. High five for leaving the house!
  

I hope things are looking good for you too, Internets. I think we're all due for a little good news.

Love always,
Jane

Hiding

Dear Internets,

I've been sort of avoiding any activities (besides work) that would require me to leave the house. Don't worry; I'm not depressed - it's just that my "friends" seem determined to document the '09 Mullet in photographs. [Note from Jane: now taking applications for new friends.]

Mostly to stave off boredom, I made a couple of MyHeritage.com celebrity collages (I also wanted to look back fondly on days when my hair didn't make me look like I was trying to score a walk-on role on Jerry Springer, but that was secondary).

I was sort of distracted (go figure) and didn't look very closely at the first picture I uploaded. I realized when the software recognized my face that I'd been staring into the sun when the photo was taken. I figured, "what the heck," and ran the celebrity match anyway.

Apparently, when I'm squinting I look like a cross between Tony Blair (70%), Vicente Fox (68%), and Sylvia Plath (67%). Stand back boys, and prepare to be emasculated. Meow!

I ran the program again with a different picture and was matched with Kate Winslet (90%), Christian Slater (80%), Giselle Bundchen (78%), and Jimmy Stewart (74%). At that point, I decided to quit while I was ahead, and never never forget to wear sunglasses again.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend Internets.

Love,
Jane

P.S. The mullet will hopefully be fixed on Monday. Fingers crossed!

Bad haircut... Again.

Dear stylists who use thinning shears on curly hair despite being asked (nicely) not to:

You suck. There is a special place in fashion jail for you. The uniform requires that you sport a curly mullet.

Not your friend,
Jane

Virtual Reality, pt deux

Dear Internets,

I am glad that I'm not the only one whose family has taken up Facebook. Your comments were awesome. If I were not the "can you fix my computer?" girl, I would totally play the "I didn't get your friend request! Computers are weird!" card and ignore all of my family members' forays into social networking.

I realized that sleepyjane made a great point: I shouldn't hide who I am (she is awesome, that sleepyjane). I decided that I'm going to follow the same rules with family that I apply to non-family member Facebook friendships:

1. If I have no idea who you are, I am not going to accept your friend request
2. Ditto if I would feel the need to censor my page in order for you to look at it
3. Ditto if you are my creepy stalker ex-boyfriend from high school (that one does not apply to family, I suppose)
4. I will not put anything on my page that I would not feel comfortable talking about in a job interview (if you have a problem with me drinking a pina colada on the beach in Puerto Rico, I probably do not want to work for you. Actually, if you brought up my vacation photos in a job interview, I would probably not want to work for you either. Creep.)

My application of these rules meant that I accepted the friend requests from my aunt and cousin, who accept (even if they don't appreciate) my sense of irony. It also meant that I ignored the friend request from one of my mom's cousins, who was in clear violation of rules 1 and 2.*

Now I'm just hoping that Achilles' parents never figure out the Facebook. (Hillary - your mother-in-law's friend request is going to give me nightmares. Oh, the horror...)

Love,
Jane

*I don't want to make assumptions (I have never met the lady), but my mom's cousin is a Facebook "fan" of The Bible, THE Bible, THE BIBLE, The BIBLE,** I love Jesus, Jesus Daily, Fox News, Sarah Palin, God Guns & American Freedom, God, Jesus, and Old Fashioned Christian Sunday School Songs. I'm worried she would look at my page, take my religous views of "Extremist" literally, and try to sprinkle me with holy water at a family reunion or something.***
**Seriously... I had no idea that there were so many unique fan pages for the Bible.
***I am a horrible, judgmental jerk. Don't make assumptions about people, Internets. Do as I say, not as I do.

Virtual reality

Dear Internets,

My mom joined the Facebook this weekend. I'm not sure what the protocol is. I heart my mom (for reals, she's the best), and I think it's awesome that she's on Facebook and will be able to reconnect with old friends online.

On the flip side, after I added her, I immediately got 3 friend requests from very religious and conservative relatives.

I always figured my Facebook profile was fairly work/family safe, but now I'm not so sure. Do I need to untag myself from vacation and birthday party photos where I'm holding a drink? Do I delete the jokey comments my gay boyfriends occasionally leave on my page? Should I change my religious status to something other than "extremist"?

I've never felt that there's anything inappropriate about my life, online or off, but then again, I never really thought ahead to the day that my uber-conservative grandma would join Facebook. (It's coming.)

What do I doooo, Internets?

Love,
Jane