Menage à Trois Bingo

So my workplace is working on a new software project. Whenever the designers talk about a potential user who is a customer service representative, they use the pronoun "she". Whenever they talk about a potential user who is a technician of some sort, they use the pronoun "he". I scribbled the word "they" on my notepad as a reminder to myself to make sure not to fall into that habit.

I just committed all my work on the current bastarding project from hell. Phew!

Our floor at the office is being remodeled from 8x8 cubes to 6x4 cubelets, and the teardown of our area happens this weekend/Monday, so we have to have all our stuff packed and/or moved somewhere else by end of today.

New cubelets will not have enough wall or desk space for my immense collection of cube decor, so I've already moved three boxes and a pile of pictures to the car (there's not really anywhere at home for it either) and my plants are going today.

As of right now, all my remaining stuff is packed up except for the computer setup itself, and I'm pretending to work for another couple hours or so before packing that up too and calling it a day.

The new space my team is moving into is actually not being built until Monday week, so I'll be working at home all of next week along with the rest of my whole team (well, obvs they'll be working at *their* homes, not mine).

Not at all thrilled to be losing so much space and any modicum of privacy, but I suppose needs must.

1. In honor of Prop. H8 being overturned, I bring back the Hope icon. This morning I even had a surprisingly positive conversation with several coworkers who were also pleased by the outcome. Even in Missouri, folks, the world is changing.

2. Rosa just got back from Camp yesterday afternoon. I haven't seen her yet but I talked to her on the phone for a while and it sounds like she had a good time. She didn't enjoy canoeing but it was due more to the other girls in her canoe shrieking every time they wobbled than to the exercise.

3. Read Julian Comstock the other night. I requested it from the library after reading the thread on Making Light. It's well-written and frightening, the world-building is quite convincing, and I didn't like it. For several reasons: one, I can imagine a theocratic nightmare dystopia just fine for myself, and it's not a world I want to reside in even for the length of a book; two, preaching to the choir, dude!; three, I found the narrator's extreme and willful naivete annoying; four, hope-dashing ending.

4. This has been a very exhausting week. The city sent us a nastygram for excessive weeds in the back yard, and I spent most of Saturday, part of Sunday and part of Monday weeding. It's been the hottest week of the year, and I am only now recovering from all that exertion and the near heat prostration I suffered on Monday.

5. I got a shiny new computer at work on Tuesday, and suddenly I find the computer is actually waiting for me rather than the other way around. Wahoo!

When I arrived at the office this morning, all the way across the room I could see a group of balloons. Bet those are for me, I thought.

Sure enough...


When I got to my desk, I also found a bouquet of daisies (see new userpic) and a German chocolate cake. Amanda strikes again!

In something of a coincidence, since there was a conversation about cows at dinner last night, too...And no, I did not bring up the topic. I can't remember who did. But anyway, at the daily meeting, somehow the subject of Cow Tipping comes up.

Terry: "Hey, you're from Wisconsin, did you ever tip cows?"

Someone: "Is it even really possible?"

Me: "Cow weighs nearly a ton, you'd need some damn good leverage." [my weight estimate is doubtless wildly inaccurate]

Amanda: "I think it's probably like hunting snipes."

So Matt goes off and comes back with this in an email:

from Wikipedia

According to popular belief, cows can easily be pushed over without much force because they are slow-moving, slow-witted and weak-legged, have a high center of gravity and sleep standing up. Numerous publications have debunked cow-tipping as a myth. Cows do not sleep standing up, nor do their knees lock, making the act of cow-tipping impossible.[2]

A variety of calculations have been performed to determine if cow tipping is physically possible.[1][3] A study led by Margo Lillie, a doctor of zoology at the University of British Columbia, concludes that cow tipping by a single person is impossible. Her calculations found that it would take at least two people to apply enough force to push over a cow if the cow does not react and reorient its footing. If the cow does react, it would take at least four people to push it over. Professor Lillie noted that, contrary to the myth, cows are well aware of their surroundings (they have excellent senses of smell and hearing) and are very difficult to sneak up upon.[1][4][5][6]

Just thought all y'all would want to know that.

Valentine's Day was a busy one for the Rivendell household. lavendargrrl went to work at the yarn shop, and I logged in remotely and spent three hours or so working myself. Then I sneaked upstairs to wrap the supersecrets before ohari, the Baby and I took ourselves to Poly Munch.

But not directly. I was driving, and Chris doled out the directions for the side trip as we went.

Chris: Go north on Kingshighway.

Me: Is it okay if I pick it up at Chippewa, or are we going somewhere between?

Chris: No, that's fine.

*drive drive drive*

Chris: Turn right at Vandeventer; go .4 mile. Turn right at Shaw; go 264 feet.

Me: Are we going to Gringo Jones or the Bug Store? Cause that's all there is right there...

Gringo Jones it was. My big Valentine's present is a new pair of griffins for the front steps, to replace the ones that went walkies three years ago during the time this house was being rented out. (Tenants said, "We never saw them!" Yeah right. But I discovered their absence after I'd already returned their deposit.) They weren't in stock and will have to be ordered, so we'll probably get them in mid-March. This time they will be epoxied to the porch, TYVM.

Stopped by the String Store to check in on Tammie and see if we could extricate her for the rest of the afternoon. String Store was bouncy with puppies (a 12-week-old chocolate lab/shepherd/something mix that Sandy is fostering, as well as her own two dogs), but we got Tammie out of there anyway.

Off to Munch, where we ran into Modrid whom I haven't seen in quite a while, as well as most of the Usual Suspects and soraidh.

"Once you fall under the spell of Rivendell, forever shall it dominate your destiny..." - reannon (Correct the quote, ekd, if you remember, cause I don't think this is quite right at the beginning.)

After much eating of not-very-good pizza, Rosa had a date with Daddy. They had a Valentine's Day reservation at White Castle. Yeah, the idea boggled my mind too. But in any case we dropped her off and took ourselves to our next event: Coraline at Ronnies. Where we bumped into and sat next to tsita and her mystery date. *wink*

Before the movie, there was a text update from transplantmom...we decided to invite her to join us for our dinner reservation after the movie.

Movie was fantastic, in the original sense as well as the modern one. We, or some subset of us, will be going back to take the Baby. Not as creepy as it could have been, but plenty of satisfactory creepiness.

Then dinner at Onesto, where the Valentine's Day theme was "Lady and the Tramp". Tables had been re-dressed in red and white checked tablecloths, chianti bottles with candles, the whole bit. There was a photographer doing pictures with a backdrop from the movie and bits of spaghetti for posing; of course we had one taken. Tammie convinced them to give us the file, so when that arrives I will post it for your delectation. The chef had come up with some fabulous specials and desserts. Dinner was lovely, and it was great that Selena was able to join us. Tammie and I had wild mushroom spaghetti, Selena had lobster and goat cheese not-ravioli (they were stuffed pasta, but I can't remember the correct name), and Chris had a pizza.

Just now, Chris and I got home from breakfast and a quick grocery trip, just in time for Rosa to arrive back from Daddy's house. Daddy has a date (woohoo!) so we're "babysitting". Baby and I are going to decorate sugar cookie hearts for Valentine's Day. Maybe there will be pictures later.

And after that I have to work some more. Being on jury duty this week has put me quite a bit behind on my project due Monday.

I was having a really hard time driving to work today, since I didn't have time to get any coffee and the sleepies were attacking with ferocity. But that changed suddenly...

When I got to the third floor I could see a group of guys hanging around Rob's cube. And when I got there, what should I see but Terry brandishing a machete!

Today is Rob's last day before shipping out to a couple weeks of refresher training and then he's off to Iraq. The guys and Amanda got him a backpack full of useful stuff for his journey: mosquito netting, a camo sippy cup, a baggie labeled "personal sticky bomb kit", a plastic pith helmet, and the aforementioned machete.

After dropping Chris at work (8:52 am), I was driving along listening to the news. Several schools in St. Charles County have been closed for the day due to a massive manhunt around Hwy K, Bryan Road, Feise Road.

I drive along wondering why close the schools...dude is suspected of shooting a kid through the wall of a house in Granite City, yes, but that doesn't mean he's specifically preying on kids. Then I forget the whole thing since I don't go to school in St. Charles County and neither does my daughter.

I get off I-70 at Hwy K and drive along down to Feise Road, turn right (west). Huh. There is a backup of cars trying to go east and a large number of police cars. Wonder if there was a big accident. But that first car, the yellow van, has all its doors open, and then the cops walk away from it and she drives off. The cops move on to the next car. Light dawns. I'm not at my brightest first thing in the morning when I haven't had any coffee yet. Well, they're not stopping anyone going west, so I carry on.

Just before Bryan Road I find the roadblock for the westbound traffic. No backup to speak of, however, so my turn comes up right away. Officer asks me to pop the trunk. I push the remote button repeatedly, to no avail, and soon give up in favor of giving him the key. But the key won't come out of the ignition. Officer says, "Ma'am, put the car in park." I say, "Sorry, I'm flustered," extricate the key and hand it to him. He verifies that there are no murderers in my trunk, thanks me for my time, and I'm quickly on my way again.

When I get to work at 9:35ish, the normally-unlocked back door is locked. While I'm rummaging in my purse for my id badge/door key, my buddy Mark opens it for me and says, "Doors are all locked due to the manhunt." Aha, that's the point of closing the schools...it's a place the guy could've gotten into and hidden.

Get to my desk, and find that several co-workers who live in the immediate area have had far worse trouble getting here. John even ditched his car somewhere on Bryan and decided to walk the rest of the way--probably three or five miles. Matt's house is visible on the live feed from the police helicopter.

(Update, 10:35: just received an email announcing that the suspect had been captured.)

(Update 2, 10:39: John just got here, to a large prairie-dogging audience.)

I can has ethernet!

I'm here in Huntsville, Alabama. Chris had a business trip, and Tammie and I accompanied him. But because I have a project for work due soon, I needed to put in a few hours a day towards its completion. Hotel offers both wireless and ethernet.

My laptop does not have wireless. The card broke some time back, and I've had to use direct ethernet connection ever since.

Sunday night when we got here, I plugged it right in. No love from the wired internet. I called the tech service number, and the guy said it was probable that the whole hotel ethernet was down. Indeed, we switched rooms Monday[1], and it was down in the new room too.

I've been using Tammie's machine every day, preventing her from doing the things she needed to do. But every day, I've also checked my machine...and today, I can has ethernet!

Of course, I'm about to abandon it temporarily in order to acquire breakfast. Hopefully it will still be here when I get back. *crosses fingers*

[1] After the third time we had to call to have maintenance plunge the commode (it never did sound right even when it seemed to work)... we requested a room change.