sit and stare

I realized driving today that not only is my life very routine for the most part (which I don't mind terribly), I live the day through a series of screens (or conceptual screens). Wake up, look at my oatmeal cooking through the microwave window. Drive to work viewing the world through my glass window (Driving is almost like watching TV sometimes to me, just kinda going along). Get to work, see the world and, for the most part, my position in life as an employee, through my computer screen. Drive back home, watch the news or more likely Seinfeld at the gym, go home, watch things through the oven, then sit and watch TV. Not to mention every time I check/use my cell phone. Kinda weird if you think about it; always seeing things through something else.

free market!

This is very interesting; I've certainly noticed the "UL" on product labels, but never considered what it meant. What a genius company.

http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=193

salad daze

The best salad I've ever made (that was also my lunch):
Mesclun greens
fresh blueberries
almonds (toasted a bit)
blue cheese
turkey
olive oil & balsamic vinegar

For some reason I'm not as sure about the dressing... may need some tweaking. Also, must be a bombshell of antioxidants. Yeah!

?!

So, this case against a man who brutally beat and killed dogs (not even PEOPLE; seems to be more outrage about animals most of the time) is already being labeled as a race case. What the hell?! It's not like he could have been framed; he admitted to it, there's a LOT of physical evidence, and even his friends bailed on him.
http://www.cbs46.com/news/13938060/detail.html

This weekend was really, really great. Hope and I did our plans, Sun Studio is very cool. Turns out my grandfather's friend designed the logo...some time ago. Learned some cool stuff. Then we ate Indian food. Blues on the Bluff was cool too, I felt much better than last time and was actually able to help this time (last time I felt like I was pretty much standing around for the most part). Michael and I watched a movie, Delicatessan; VERY weird. Even by my standards. It's post-Apocalyptic France, and in a little suburb separated from the city, a group of people are confined to their apartment building. The rest of the country is resorting to cannibalism, so everyone is terrified of leaving. But, the cruel delicatessan is killing off his weaker tenants and selling their meat (everyone is aware of what's going on). And so on, weird movie.

Sunday we went downtown and drank a lot during the day, which always seems like a good idea. Then we rode the Ducks and got a tour of the city, which was fun even though most of it is pretty everyday for us. Then dinner at my parents', then SUPERBAD, which was very funny. I highly recommend it.

shiny happy people

http://www.mises.org/story/2670 excellent point, as always.

Today is a very slow day. I can't really complain; I plan on working on Atlas Shrugged a bit. ALWAYS great. I can't say enough about that book. Michael and I are trying to go to the gym today (it's tough to go on Fridays), and then we have a dinner date. Rachel has gone to St. Louis to visit Hurricane Harbor; I SO wish I could have gone. Best place to be in this heat.

They'll Need a Crane

I am GOING to have a website. I don't care HOW painful it is, it's about time I conquer this fear of web design and get the fuck over it. I'm not too stupid, I should be able to figure it out, right?

This week has been fairly painless, actually. Kinda nice, time is on my side. At least relatively. It's been rockin' living with Rachel. And-- I think she and my friend are getting along swimmingly, not sure if they're an item though. I love it.

So far I've spent the morning adding music to iTunes. And resisting the urge to buy out Amazon.com's music dept. WHICH I cannot do. This weekend is Hope in Memphis weekend--Sun Studio/India Palace/India Fest '08 and Blues on the Bluff Pt. 2 on Saturday. Sunday is riding the Ducks and going to see SUPERBAD, which should be superAWESOME.

my job

is just like this:

http://www.businessofdesignonline.com/dyer-straits-client-crisis/

I did nothing all weekend. VERY lazy. It was also about 103 degrees Fahrenheit for the last 4 days.

fantastic links!

jenstark.com & cottonmonster.com

a preliminary?

whoa

The show. was. amazing. Not EVEN exaggerating a bit; we met up with Joe and Lloyd and got drinks (big, BIG drinks) and made it there right as the opener was finishing and before it got too packed in. They rocked SO hard, we were all loving it. Good times. Then afterwards, I was convinced (easily) to go out on Beale, which was lethal, but did it anyway. I paid for it last night and so far today! The time is passing very, very slowly, and I feel flattened. Dinner with Michael's family tonight! I hope to impress them with my bloodshot eyes and raspy voice. Although I won't be able to hear them anyway due to the ringing in my ears. ROCK & ROLL!

here's a kittie from Sarah's house.

QotSA

This must be what the inside of my mind looks like at 4pm when I'm desperately ready to leave work. I would've expected much duller colors. Kinda looks like a planet or a Tide ad.
Driving home last night, I got a desperate call from my sister telling me to go to the FedEx forum RIGHT NOW--they were giving away the last pair of tickets to Justin Timberlake. I made it home, skipped the gym, and after a long argument involving my sister dad AND mom made it down there. They did the drawing, picked no less than 4 entries (you had to be there at 7 to accept if you won). All H names; my sister was freaking out. We didn't win, but we stayed home and watched Grandma's Boy and drank lemonade cocktails. By no means a dissappointing night!

And TONIGHT is Queens of the Stone Age. Way psyched. I'm feeling pretty good at work today, so I really hope that this translates into an exploration day into new design tools and tricks.

THIS is infuriating. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/07/terrorist.surveillance.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

let's just say...

...you are not the destroyer!

I can't believe how much I've slacked on this. Boo for me. Harry Potter was fantastic, I went through it in roughly 18 hours. Beautiful. And now I'm feeling very choked up every time something Harry Potter related comes on TV or interweb. I also found a great band, Harry and the Potters, that is two guys around my agge who are the official founders of Wizard Rock.

My BFF has moved in with me! It's been about a week now, very fun. She's the most considerate person I've ever met, I aspire to be that way towards others. Tomorrow night we will be attending Queens of the Stone Age at the New Daisy. I've been waiting several years to see them, and now I'll have my chance! And then Harlan T Bobo and Daniel Johnston on Thursday. A very sleepless and expensive week. Tonight, Mr. Justin Timberlake is performing at the FedEx Forum, and I'm really, really, VERY sad that I cannot attend. It 'll be spectacular, I'm sure. Very $$$ though. Rachel and I will watch Grandma's Boy and make jewelry instead for consolation.

Work is about the same, I'm terribly unmotivated and fairly dissappointed in myself. I need to branch out. I had a terrible freelance experience this past few weeks with a certain mayoral candidate that ended badly (not her fault, more so on her coordinator). I was hoping that it would be my breakout into Memphis freelance.

simpsonized!

...and only one more day until the long-awaited book!

RAWR!

So I had this dream that my sister and I were in a beach house, and she had kind of acquired a jaguar. He just kinda hung out, didn't do much of anything. Very odd. However, I do have a black cat... maybe she's manifesting her self-image through my dreams.
I went to Atlanta on my first business trip! I left with my co-designer on Thursday, and we cut it very close with our time. But everything went ok, and we got there on time. My director took us to lunch at a very nice Italian restaurant there, and that night we had a party for the opening of our new showroom at the Atlanta mart. WHICH is an enormously huge complex, by Friday evening my feet were suffering. Then my flight home got cancelled and through a difficult series of events, I got home Saturday morning. My wonderful boyfriend picked me up VERY early on a Saturday, which was really sweet. After a good long nap through the middle of the day, my sister and I got ready for 311 at Mud Island, went for giant beers with an old friend and fellow 311 devotee, and then finally met up with my best friend. It was fantastic.
Now it's back to work. I'm getting some opportunities at WEVL to fool around with some graphics, and I want to take advantage of that as much as possible!

hissing fauna...?

I case you can't see it, this is a very sad story about a horribly abused little boy. However, the ad placements around it make for an interesting match. Weight Watchers next to dinner recipes is bad enough, but mixed into a story about starvation!? Ridiculous.
Tomorrow's the big day! For movie geeks. Like me. I'm almost done rereading the book, its pathetic how much I don't remember. I'll finish it at work today and start #6 tonight, I'm on a roll. And 311 this Saturday? Splendid. I also just recently found out that Queens of the Stone Age will be coming, and I've been wanting to see them forever! Forever being as long as I've listened to them. Thursday I'll be heading to Atlanta, so there's a lot to do between now and the weekend!

Here are some good links:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/07/10/reluctant.juror.ap/index.html At least he's honest!
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/07/10/reluctant.juror.ap/index.html I really like what this article sums up, aside from the fact that Dr. Block is awesome.

mmmmm

WOW am I excited for this movie. Not to mention the book, which may merit a fairly emotional response. I'm unbelievably psyched. And I can't imagine that any of it will end well for Harry.

I realized that my little cat isn't just a little bitch, she's actually been sick for a bit. Poor little thing. I took her to the vet, which is poorly times due to my financial situation, but can't be helped. Things aren't terrible at work, so I can actually leave a little early, which is always exciting to me! Next week this time I'll be in Atlanta, and getting ready to come back to Memphis! I'm very interested to see what a trade show and marketplace is like, and not at all sad that I won't be there long.

Not much going on this weekend that I know of... mostly preparing for the trip and NOT spending anything I don't have to. Works for me, I've got the rest of the Order of the Phoenix to reread by Wednesday!

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday I turned 23! And it was a great birthday. I went to work, as usual. I hadn't told anybody really, I didn't want to be obnoxious. However, my friends at work must've remembered because they brought me cupcakes complete with candles! Then I went home and took my boyfriend and roommate over to my parents house where we stuffed ourselves to death. Then back to my house for a rousing game of Scrabble and Monopoly, in reverse order. I'm so terrible at board games, I'm more interested in changing the music... WHICH was my bf's contirbution; a copy of every cd he has!! I told him not to get me anything, and that was so thoughtful and awesome. Now I have all the White Stripes! And Abita from my gracious roommate. It's been a good year-- tough-- but good. This birthday was very different from any other one, in that I am employed full time, have a boyfriend, and on good terms with everyone. And I will be attending 311 next month, courtesy of my sister!

http://amyguip.com/

"crazies"

SO this couple in New Hampshire (I'm pretty sure) has decided that they refuse to pay taxes. They're refusing to leave their house and are being monitored (aka under the gun) by the Feds for a little bit now, and surviving off of food brought by friends. The entire news story on CNN protrayed them as disruptive crazy people who are hiding because they're too stupid to just suck it up and pay their taxes. Neighbors commented on them rudely, and all because these people have decided that they don't WANT to give away the money they've earned to a bunch of bullshit. It makes me so angry, the words "ranting" and "irrational" kept coming into use. Now, it DOES seem like some of the other topics of discussion were a little...weird. But damn I'm with them on the taxes. The Feds also got praise for handling the situation so well, as in NOT killing the people. A total propaganda piece.

I feel pathetic because my wrist and shoulder are getting so messed up from using a mouse. My wrist feels really weak. Hmmmm. I'm so psyched its the weekend though. Looong week.

good lord

Well last week was an eventful one...in that I got in the biggest fight of my life with my roommate. I think stress on both of us and just general tension came out in a particularly hurtful and ugly way. It makes me sick as hell and feeling physically dirty. HOWEVER, I think it's ok now. Ugly and hurtful, but smoothed out a little at least.

Work's been odd; lots to do and an enormous amount of disorganization. It makes me want to be a control freak and get everything in order. A lot of jobs for a lot of people, and none of them realize they're not the only one. Oh well, that's being on the bottom of the company I guess. Not forever though.

A week from now I'll be 23. Wahoo! If only I'd known how much fun being poor, bored, and stressed. But--it's been a pretty happy year. I'm with the one I love, and he loves me, and everyone's been pretty healthy, and I've made big steps for my career (and MAJOR steps back for my social life). Rachel and I tried to eat cherry bombs at the Deli (maraschino cherries in everclear) Saturday night, and realized that we've gotten older and less party-girl. Damn. Ooh, and Rogue Wave is on the radio... sweet.

sister's birthday

Yep, she's 19. Justin sends his best wishes, in reference to his classic hit, "Damn Girl." I gave her a pretty sweet watch. Work is work, it hasn't let up much. I like being busy, it's the disorganization and time wasting that drive me nuts. I can't stand wasting time!! There's not enough of it to begin with!