Rant

I may be a bit preoccupied lately, but I did manage to become aware of this, because, of course everyone in town is talking about it. It just makes me sick. In 2006, in a "civilization" such as ours, a woman can't quietly go about her business without being kidnapped in broad daylight? It was 6:30 p.m.! At a busy gas station? And someone who's mentally ill enough to act like that isn't in care somewhere? What the hell? This level of violence isn't common around here, thank heaven, but being a female alone still places you at some risk and it damned well shouldn't.

Only a few weeks ago, a co-worker's friend was grabbed from behind while on one of the walking trails. That happened around 6:30 p.m. as well. Only for the fact that she had a big, honking water bottle and she started wailing on him with it, then a jogger came along, did she not become the victim of a sexual assault. After that incident, everyone said, "Don't walk alone!" But scheduling a buddy to go for a walk isn't always an option for all of us. Now it seems we shouldn't drive alone, either. So that leaves me the option of what, exactly? Being a prisoner in my own home?

I don't think so. Damn. I'm so angry I could spit.

/end rant... for now...

Two weeks

Two weeks until opening night. And counting. This pic was taken last weekend. The set pieces are much further long now.

And let's see, what else is going on?

*crickets*

Yep. That's about it. I'm so hyper-focused on the play, I'm completely unaware of what else is going on around me.

I am geek

Hear me download.

So, what does a middle-aged geek do when she can't make up her mind about a new piece of gadgetry? Find another piece of gadgetry she can make her mind up about and buy it!

I am now the proud owner of a Palm Z22, the eensy-weensy baby of the Palm Pilot family. I was dragging around a daytimer, granted a small one as daytimers go, but it was starting to feel cumbersome. And writing really teeny tiny words was getting on my nerves.

So...off I go to 'Stapleless' and low and behold, the Z22, which I have been coveting for at least a year, is on sale! If there's anything I like better than a gadget, it's a sale. And a GADGET ON SALE??? Oh, the bliss! The joy!

It synchronizes with my PC and I have downloaded (uploaded? transferred!) my calendar and contacts with the tap of a stylus. It has eReader! I can carry several books around with me in the palm of my hand! And entertain myself during the innumerable times I find myself sitting/standing around waiting for a doctor's appointment or whatever by reading something other than a 10-year old magazine.

It holds photos! I can "beam" information to other Palm owners. Okay, I only know one, but she and I have already used this feature. It has a grocery list, a world clock so I can know if it's a good time to look for both my friend in Australia and my friends in England online or whether they're snoozing. Yeah, I know. It's called a clock. But that involves math. And none of my clocks have the cute little pic of the globe with the spleepy bits in shadow.

And what is the benefit to you, you may well ask. Well, now you never have to worry again about whether it would be appropriate to use an exclamation mark or not, for I have used up the entire world's quota in this post alone. You don't have to thank me now.

And now to find the "vacuum the living room" function... I know it's here somewhere...

Ricardipus Speaks!

Today's (in fact my first) guest blogger is Ricardipus, he of the cryptic pseudonym, distinctive hand-drawn (by himself!) avatar and many witty comments in various areas of the blogosphere and yet mysteriously, no blog of his own. I tagged him with the stupendous, riveting, pithy and yet simple and straightforward Meme of 3. But let's let Ricardipus speak for himself... [insert radio dial tuning in squeaky sounds here]

-------------------------------

First thing this morning - I've been virtually tagged, in hyper-cyber-space, that part of cyberspace that is inhabited by those of us with completely imaginary blogs.

Answers on a postcard, please, to:

Ricardipus
c/o Should Be Doing Something Else, Inc.
The Small Nook(TM)
Slightly behind and to the left of Dawn's Blog
Canada

1. Things that scare me
handguns
military jets flying overhead
bumping into weeds when swimming in the lake

2. People who make me laugh
Scaryduck
Mikey Teutul of American Chopper
David Morgan-Mar of The Irregular Webcomic

3. Things I hate the most
people who make my life difficult through incompetence
commuting
that feeling you get when you think you've lost your wallet

4. Things I don't understand
microarray data analysis
how anybody has enough spare time to write a blog
why everything needs to be so bloody complicated

5. Things I'm doing right now
listening to 90's ambient techno while typing an email to Dawn
thinking about getting a coffee
putting off reviewing a scientific manuscript about molecular genetics (yes really)

6. Things I want to do before I die
visit Australia
learn to juggle
drive a Ferrari

7. Things I can do
make bad electronic music
type fairly fast and relatively accurately
speak coherently in public

8. Ways to describe my personality
generally optimistic
mainly easy to get along with
probably too trusting

9. Things I can't do
get to the point quickly
be totally patient with the kids all of the time
drive a stick shift

10. Things I think you should listen to
gamelan music
the ocean
silence

11. Things you should never listen to
Britney Spears or her husband
all Windows default beep, startup and other sounds
artillery at close range

12. Things I'd like to learn
how to play guitar properly
race car driving
statistical genetics (yes really)

13. Favorite foods
Italian meatball sandwich
pasta arrabbiatta
barbeque'd anything

14. Beverages I drink regularly
green tea
coffee
water

15. Shows I watched as a kid
Dr. Who
The Wombles
The Dukes of Hazzard

Bonus question
16. Words I like
crepuscular
expunge
whiffle

-----------------------

And there it is, folks. Out of the depths of hyper-cyber-space, Ricardipus revealed. Well, kind of. A little bit. I really think he should have a blog of his own, don't you?

Meme of 3

I have been tagged by The Random Think...

1. Things that scare me
flying in planes
flying outside of planes
something bad happening to one of my kids

2. People who make me laugh
Ricardipus (the blogless)
AuntyMarianne
Mir

3. Things I hate the most
mowing the lawn
trying to explain graphic design requirements to non-geeks
liver

4. Things I don't understand
trigonometry
Greek
men

5. Things I'm doing right now
this meme
trying to get the dog to sit and stay
putting off laying out a theatre program

6. Things I want to do before I die
get over my fear of flying
travel
finish this meme

7. Things I can do
sing
stage manage
swim

8. Ways to describe my personality
cheerful
funny
sociable

9. Things I can't do
find a date
go to bed on time
stop being goofy

10. Things I think you should listen to
your conscience
Mozart
Schubert

11. Things you should never listen to
James Blunt
Michael Bolton
me

12. Things I'd like to learn
flute
html
how not to be such a screw up

13. Favorite foods
eggs
roast chicken
blueberries

14. Beverages I drink regularly
Coffee
Tea
Water

15. Shows I watched as a kid
Dr Who
Bonanza
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

16. People I'm tagging (to do this meme)
Mr. Fab ('cause he do love him some meme)
Ricardipus (who can email his answers to me and I'll post 'em here. You're not getting off that easily, bubb!)
Helene (who I hope is feeling better after a nasty fall)

Confession

Bless me, internets, for I have sinned. It has been 12 days since my last post. I've been somewhat busy. We're in the middle of rehearsing Jesus Christ Superstar, for which I'm assistant stage manager and program designer and I'm also the group's webmaster, so that's taking up a bit of my time.

I've also agreed to help out a friend who's hit a bit of a staffing crunch at work by doing some data entry for her. Add to that the usual home maintenance and that pesky day job (I love you, day job!) and there just aren't enough hours.

Yeah, I know. Excuses, excuses.

There's pictures and stories of the usual weirdness in my neighbourhood coming to a blog near you soon. If I can ever get to the computer before I need to pass out for the night...

But right now, as Misty would say, I need spleep...

In the meantime, hurry on over to Scaryduck's before he puts things back to rights. He left Misty in charge of his blog whilst he swanned off to Spain for a couple of weeks and all I can say is, she's very easily led. Not that she needs help creating chaos and destruction, mind you. She's just very open to my... I mean, some people's suggestions.

Spleep. Flop.hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


What? Oh. Sorry. I should publish the post before I fall face first into the keyboard, shouldn't I. My bad.

To MP3 or not to MP3

That is the burning question at Chez Wrath today. They are down nicely in price - $69.99 for 1 GB, which I think is good. (Isn't it?) The problem is, will I use it enough to make it worthwhile? And am I too lazy to copy the music I already own on CD and too lazy/cheap to download music? The thought of the hours I would have to spend to load the thing up is daunting. And I'm not sure if I want one because I think I'll use it or just because all the other kids have one.

I don't need one for the gym - there's already music and TVs there. I don't need it for the five-minute car ride to work, unless I decide to walk (which wouldn't be a bad idea). I couldn't wear it at work. The only time I'd really use it is while walking for exercise and I'd really enjoy it then, but that's unlikely to ever be more than an hour or so a day. But they're so pretty and all the other kids have them!

And so I pose the question to my thousands of readers worldwide... okay the half dozen Canucks, Yanks and Brits (and a couple of Antipodeans) who read this - do you have an MP3 player? Was it worth the price/trouble? Should I not bother or am I just being an old fart?

Wet paint

Sorry I've been so quiet lately. I'm very busy acquiring repetitive strain injuries via painting. The house, not pictures. But not to worry. As long as I keep mainlining the ibuprophen, I'll be fine. But it doesn't provide much blog fodder, house painting doesn't. Especially the wrought iron railing on the front steps. Eye-crossingly boring, that is. Three hours of eye-crossing boredom, to be precise. There was that one exciting moment when the wind blew my hair into the wet paint on the hand rail while I was painting the bit on the bottom, which will teach me to paint outside without wearing a baseball cap, but that's about it. Oh, and there's the bug wars, but the ants and spiders don't stand a chance against me. But those dandelion seeds are gonna be the death of me...

There's new pics up on Flickr, though, so amuse yourselves there whilst I finish painting.

Blinded by the light...

Two of the people listed in my links have been "dooced" this year. Petite Anglaise in April (although she just recently felt safe disclosing it) and more recently Pointless Drivel.

I have just finished scanning my entire blog (talk about pointless drivel) looking for anything incriminating. I didn't see anything, but then I didn't see anything damning on their blogs, either.

I rarely refer to my job here. I like my job, the people I work with and the people we work for, so the likelihood of me saying anything fire-worthy should be pretty slim. But just in case, if you ever see anything you think is going to get me in trouble, you'll let me know, right?

Let the paranoia begin.