2006 archive at Evilsciencechick’s

Archive for August, 2006

you know what would be awesome?

Published Thursday, August 31, 2006 in rants and science!. 5 Comments

If I get home from choir practice and spend a few hours working on my presentation today, and then make the decision that because I am SO COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED, unusually exhausted, really, that I’m going to go to be before 1am…

…and then the biggest loudest fucking thunderstorm ever parks itself right above us and keeps me awake until 3am?

yeah….awesome.

I…am….so…tired…

Kev slept right through it. Bastard.

I have to give seminar today at 4. Fortunately, I just cut and paste together the powerpoint from previous lab meetings and my last committee meeting, adding A NEW DATA SLIDE HOORAY! and calling it a day. I hope I don’t fall asleep at the podium.

oh SON of a…

Published Wednesday, August 30, 2006 in rants, craftiness and photos. 13 Comments

I started a pair of socks for myself. I mentioned this on the knitting site - the yarn turned out to be something called “self striping” yarn, which just means that you get very cool stripes without changing yarns - the stripes are built into the dyed yarn. So I decided to use a pattern out of sensational knitted socks, which has become my SOCK BIBLE that’s specifically designed for self-striping yarn.

The only issue is that I’ve only done toe up socks before - that is, start knitting at the toe end, and then moving up to the leg and cuff. The chevron self-striping sock pattern starts at the cuff and leg, and then moves down to the toe. This doesn’t seem like such a big deal, but it is when it comes to the heel. There are all kinds of ways to turn a heel, and they’re all a bit complicated. With the toe first socks, I used a short row heel. OK, I did start at the cuff for the baby socks I made a while back, and I used a flap heel. But they were tiny and easy.

This pattern uses something called an “afterthought” heel. I believe this is a way of doing the heel so that the stripes will match up perfectly. Maybe other methods would do the same, I’m not sure. Whatever, I’ll deal with it when I get there, right? I happily knit away at the cuff and leg of the sock.

Now I’m at the part where I should start the heel. I have to use another needle and do a provisional cast on (blah blah blah, to the non-knitters), OK, done…
And I read this:

Take yarn from other side of skein. Locate part of painted pattern you’re currently working in, and start using that.

What’s the problem? you ask. Just pull the yarn from the other side of the skein!

THIS IS THE PROBLEM!!!

damned chevron stripey socks

Do you see a skein???? NO. It’s a ball. I wind EVERY skein into a ball, because inevitably, if I use a skein as is, halfway through I pull out some god-awful knot of satan that is PAIN to straighten out. So I wind everything into balls.

Leaving the yarn from the “other end” quite inaccessible.

OK, 3 choices, and I ask the knitters out there.

1. Unwind the ball into another ball to get to the other end, and then REWIND it back when the heel is finished.

2. Cut the yarn and try to match up color patterns when all joining occurs.

3. try another heel method that works with self-striping yarns.

any ideas?

and OH MY GOD, if a pattern is going to call for using BOTH ends of the yarn, they SHOULD WARN YOU ABOUT THAT AHEAD OF TIME, BEFORE YOU WIND IT INTO A FUCKING BALL!!!!

dooby dooby dooo

Published Tuesday, August 29, 2006 in in dreams. 11 Comments

Last night, I dreamt that I was at an unfamiliar school with lots of friends whom I didn’t recognize. I was in graduate school, I think, but studying what? Who knows. Actually, I think the school was in a mall. Classy. Anyway, we were all excited because a good friend (again, someone I don’t currently know) was opening up a brand new store, and teaching a class in it.

We all eagerly piled into her store, and she began teaching, and it was GREAT because she was our friend. At one point, she pulled out a very complicated machine and said she was going to demonstrate blood dialysis. Then a guy stood out, obviously a school administrator who looked vaguely like this actor, and started yelling. He told the instructor that she was out of line doing this demonstrationg, that it was innappropriate and dangerous, because the dialysis machine’s battery was unstable. There was lots of yelling from all of us. I was yelling, too, and I was DETERMINED to write a letter of complaint to…someone.

Then my friends and I left with the instructor. We were hanging out, and someone had…pot. I think it might have been the instructor. She expertly sprinkled some on a wrapper, rolled it up, licked it, and lit up. Then she handed me the bag and left. I looked in the bag - it looked like pot pourri. It was a mess. I tried to pick out what looked like the good bits, but I had never smoked pot before so I didn’t really know what I was doing. I tried to roll it into the paper, but it looked all wonky and wrong. I kept licking the edge to seal it, until the paper ripped. I was too nervous to ask for another one because I didn’t want my friends thinking I was lame.

Eventually, I got something that looked about right, but there were too many people around to light up. I put it in my pocket. For the rest of my dream, I wandered around this mall/campus looking for a place to smoke it, and completely paranoid that I would get caught. I kept looking around for drug sniffing dogs.

And that was my dream. By the way, I’ve NEVER smoked pot before, so I have NO idea where this all came from.

new love

Published Monday, August 28, 2006 in aside. 3 Comments

I have a new love. And it is Hershey’s Syrup Special Dark in my coffee.

mmmmmmmmm……

Am I the only one who giggles a bit when they say “Special Dark?” Doesn’t that sound like a porn name?

weekend warriors

Published Sunday, August 27, 2006 in photos and weekend warriors. 3 Comments

ghostly footprints

freshly painted entryway

painted entry!

dinner and conversation

Published Sunday, August 27, 2006 in relationship/sex, food and conversations. 1 Comment

Kev and I have talked about the name thing a couple of times, especially recently (with the blog post)

Dinner: grilled cheese sammiches made with extra sharp vermont cheddar, thin sliced granny smith apple, and bacon. And tuscan white bean soup. From…a mix. I can’t be gourmet all the time. Darned good, though!

Conversation:

ESC: you still OK with whatever I choose for my name?

Kev: yesss…of course! Just…two rules.

ESC: yeah?

Kev: my name has to be in there, and we don’t do that hyphenated thing with the kids you wrote about in your comments. We can hyphenate their names, but it has to be consistant.
ESC: Oh yeah, I wouldn’t hyphenate the kids* names.

Kev: OK then. Whatever you decide is fine.

ESC: *grins* love you!

Kev: love YOU!

*KIDS??? No. Kid. One. ONE ONLLLLYYYYYYY!!!!!

other blog updates

Published Saturday, August 26, 2006 in aside. 6 Comments

I’ve updated the knitting blog AND at long last…the wedding site! Email me if you forgot the address of the wedding site.

A very important opinion poll

Published Friday, August 25, 2006 in relationship/sex, favorites, science! and ask blogland. 40 Comments

Mostly for the ladies, but I’d like some male input as well.

Why do I do these interactive posts on friday, just before the weekend when everyone stops reading blogs and commenting? Maybe I’ll leave this up for a while.

OK, I am getting married in 6 WEEKS OH MY GOD!!! One MAJOR decision I have to make at some point is…my last name.

On the one hand…I’ve had my last name for a long time. I’ll be thirty in December, so almost thirty years of the same last name. My relationship with that name has been rocky, it’s often mispronounced, and it’s easy to make fun of. Though growing up, most people made fun of my first name, and it was my brothers who bore the brunt of the taunting for the last name (those of you privy to my last name can probably figure out why).

But…I’m proud of that name. It’s my family. And though there are some members of my extended family that I’d rather not have to deal with…dammit…I love my family! And there have been long years of emotional and financial support, putting me through college and grad school, that it would almost be a slap in the face to say “OK! Now I’m Dr. [Kev’s last name]!

On the OTHER hand, getting married means becoming part of a new family. And I have been so lucky in that Kev’s family has welcomed me as a member of the family, almost since the first time I met them. Though we come from very different backgrounds, they have embraced me as one of their own. I want to be able to honor that, and symbolize that I have indeed become a member of their family by taking their name.

The OBVIOUS answer here, and the one I’m sure everyone is thinking, is “gee, why don’t you just hyphenate?” Which is definately a possibility. While both of our names are unique, they don’t sound all that terrible together. It’s not like we’re both Polish and have 12 sylable names containing many W’s and Z’s.

However, at least one person in my lab who has a hyphenated last name has warned me off of it, saying that having a hyphen in your name is a major PAIN IN THE PATOOTY, as credit card companies and the like have a difficult time recognizing the hyphen. Which to me just seems silly, because I know ALOT of people who have hyphenated names, and it seems like these companies need to get with the times.

One of our post docs kept her maiden name. However, privately she is known by her maiden name, as she lives in the conservative, family oriented suburbs (much to her chagrin at times - it’s the county that used to have the warning lable on science books in the schools “WARNING! THIS BOOK CONTAINS INFORMATION ON EVOLUTION, WHICH IS A THEORY, AND THEREFORE IS BLASPHEMOUS AND OFFENSIVE TO JESUS!” or some shit like that) call her by her married name, because that is her husband and children’s last name, and by gosh that ~~must~~ will be her name too! I suppose it’s easier to accept it than to keep correcting them.
I’ve already emailed my advisor. She hyphenated, but I think in her private life just goes by her married name.

Of course, my data pool could be biased. Alot of women in science seem to hyphenate or keep their maiden name. The reason for this, I’ve been told, is that it becomes difficult for people to search for all your papers if you’ve published under two different names. Hyphenating solves much of that problem. So it could be that hyphenating is extremely rare and weird in the “real” world.

So I’m throwing this out to blogland. Women! Married women! Did you keep your husband’s name? Keep your maiden name? Hyphenate? Create some weird hybrid of the two? Why? And have you had any problems with this decision? - ie, credit cards, SS cards, taxes, PTA meetings. If you had to do it all over again, would you make the same decision?

I’d also like the input of the single girls, if this is something you’ve thought about already.

AND, I’d like the opinion of men. What did your wife decide, and were you supportive? Or hurt? Was there any familial backlash if she decided to keep her name or hyphenate?

I must gather data before making my decision!!!!

I don’t like the sound of this…

Published Thursday, August 24, 2006 in daily. 3 Comments

Directions for my new prescription:

1. pour contents of one packet into a glass or cup

2. add 2 ounces of your favorite beverage (orange juice is a popular choice) and stir vigorously

3. at at least 2 - 4 more ounces of beverage to suit individual taste and stir vigorously again

4. the slightly-textured mixture is now ready to drink

“slightly-textured?”

oh dear.

***edit***

yep. gritty orange juice. yum.

oh well, if it WORKS it will be so worth it!

I’ve been saying that alot lately…

Dear NPR,

Published Thursday, August 24, 2006 in rants. 3 Comments

Specifically, All Songs Considered.

I enjoy listening to your podcast. I find the blend of music you play to be very interesting, and it allows me to be exposed to new artists and new styles of music that otherwise wouldn’t be available to me. Many times, I have found myself thinking “I need to find that person’s CD and buy it.” Then I forget the name. Then I forget to look it up. But still… the thought is there.

I’m writing to you to voice my displeasure at something that occurs in nearly every one of your podcasts. It seems that every week, there is at least some kind of fusion/experimental/instrumental piece that is…just awful.
OK, that kind of music really isn’t my thing…but who’s thing is it? It wouldn’t be SO bad, except that it’s the one song in the program that is 10 minutes long. And most of that is crap. The last 5 minutes of the last one I heard, consisted solely of some high pitched car alarm noice combined with sci/fi lazer sounds.

for

whole

minutes.

NPR, your program is not “all songs that make your ears bleed.” Who likes this music? No one, that’s whol

Actually, I can think of only one type of person who might find this type of music entertaining, and while I know that more liberal types tend to listen to your fine programming, I seriously doubt the phrase “dude, let’s get stoned and listen to NPR!” has EVER been uttered by ANYONE.

Please leave me the singer songwriter, please leave me the jazz…but please OH PLEASE…dump the experimental drug music. OR at the very least, give it a 5 minute minimum.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to find a q-tip to clean the blood out of my ears.

ABOUT DAMNED TIME!

Published Thursday, August 24, 2006 in aside. 1 Comment

ABOUT DAMNED TIME! FDA approves OTC for Plan B!!!

oh my god…MORE HEALTH NEWS FROM ME!

Published Thursday, August 24, 2006 in daily, blogging and TMI. 6 Comments

Quick little note: you’ll notice I nixed the little slider archives thingy at the top, there. I think that might have been behind all the problems I’ve been having with my host lately - I’d go to post or edit a post, and I’d get a SUSPENDED page, telling me I’ve gone over my cpu usage. I’d have to wait a few minutes and try again.

So if you’ve come to the site and seen that page instead, now you know why. I don’t know why the rolling archives would do that, and I’d still like to keep it, but instead have it on my archives page. But I don’t know how to do that, and so far no help from the K2 community forums.

Dammit. Anyway, since I seem to have a “health” theme going on, I might as well blog about my doctor’s appointment this morning. But if you don’t care, don’t click!

Continue reading ‘oh my god…MORE HEALTH NEWS FROM ME!’

#8!

Published Wednesday, August 23, 2006 in aside. 2 Comments

w00t! #8, baby! my HERITAGE! I am so proud. Atlanta, though, did not make the list. Too busy stuck in traffic to drink, I guess.

public transfrustration

Published Wednesday, August 23, 2006 in rants, daily and craftiness. 5 Comments

The school added a new shuttle route that stops very close to where I live. Basically, you can park at the ghetto mall, and catch the shuttle right from the parking lot. Sweet. We’ve been getting emails about it all damn summer.

The shuttle will run from 7:30am to 7pm, every 20 minutes. It will make several stops: law school, hospital, C hall, and W circle. OK, I can get off at C hall and walk a couple of minutes to work, and if the weather is terrible, I can get off at the hospital and take the B shuttle right to my building.

Also, I should add that my decision to do this was not based on some desire to help the environment (although that is a nice side bonus) but because parking fees went up another $100, and I don’t plan on being here a full year anyway. Free shuttle? Thank you, yes.

I decide to try it out today, even though I can still drive for another two weeks on my current parking pass. We JUST GOT an email yesterday with shuttle updates, relisting the times and stops for all the shuttles. So I’m golden.

For a variety of reasons (power went out, couldn’t sleep in stuffy, no A/C room, took antihistimines to knock me out) I slept in later than I really wanted to. But hey, no problem. Every 20 minutes, right?

I get to the mall around 10am. There are people already waiting, and the one guy says he’s been there 15 minutes already, so a shuttle should be coming shortly. So we wait.

And wait.

And I sit on the curb and finish knitting the second sock for my mom.

And wait some more.

Now it’s 10:45, and I’m thinking SCREW THIS, I am going to drive. That’s when a shuttle shows up, with OUT OF SERVICE on the messageboard. Crapola. He picks us up anyway.

Then we find out the scoop, from the driver, and from the well dressed man on the cellphone on the shuttle, who apparently works for the shuttle service.

Oh, so by the way? Shuttle service is going to stop at 9:30am, and then start up again at 3.

Oh, and also? It’s only making two campus stops: law school and W circle.

So let me get this straight…classes are about to start for fall semester, and they are CUTTING BACK TIMES AND STOPS FOR THIS SHUTTLE???

Holy fuck. And wouldn’t have been nice to have this information ahead of time, like MAYBE IN THAT LAST EMAIL WE GOT YESTERDAY?

“well…they said it should be on the website…”

OH NO, MOTHERFUCKER! I checked that website LAST NIGHT. 7:30am to 7pm, every damned 20 minutes.

Fortunately, W circle isn’t so much further from C Hall, so I don’t have that far a walk. But I’m definately going to have to make sure I drag my ass out of bed in time to catch the shuttle (ohhh…poor me!) except that remember, I plan on doing much writing, and originally intended to write in the mornings at home, eat lunch, then head in to do lab work. This seriously craps out that plan.
Dammit.

First day of double medication? yeah. not going so smoothly.

(but the socks are done! and before I thought to wait to take a picture…they’re off in the US mail, on their way to my mother. Oh, and by the way, if you plan on finishing a knitting project on your way to work in order to mail it somewhere, and you get to work and realize you forgot to bring a needle to help you weave in your loose ends, a straightened out paperclip with a bent loop on one end works beautifully)

double your pleasure

Published Tuesday, August 22, 2006 in mental health. 12 Comments

They say that Jesus and mental health
Are just for those who can help themselves
But what good is that when you live in hell on earth?

From the very fear that makes you want to die
Is just the same as what keeps you alive
It’s way more trouble than some suicide is worth

No, not contemplating suicide. Just giving a little mental health update. Snaps to whoever identifies the song and band without using google.

So for those keeping score, two weeks ago I was put on a couple of drugs: clonezepam and wellbutrin to help ease my anxiety and to help me focus. Both were teeny tiny doses.

The clonezapam was great…for the first week. Then my anxieties came screaming back. Dammit.

Today I had my two week follow up. Since I seem to be tollerating the wellbutrin, she’s upped me to the normal dose, as we had discussed. And since the teeny tiny dose of the clonezapam seems not to be enough, she’s doubling that, too. To just a tiny dose.

She assures me, however, that it’s still a very very small dose. Half a milligram. Which is nothing. She told me she’s prescribed 2 to 3mgs for people before.

Another followup in a month, unless something goes wrong. And she recommends cognative something or other therapy. Which…even with insurance, I’m not sure I can afford right now.

hooray.

melting the grouchiest of hearts

Published Tuesday, August 22, 2006 in photos and friends. 11 Comments

Lil' L

Lil’ L, my friend Elizabeth’s baby bugaboo. Just a few weeks old and smiling away.

Go ahead. Try to be grumpy and mean right now. YOU CAN’T DO IT, CAN YOU?

Emo cervix

Published Monday, August 21, 2006 in TMI. 9 Comments

Number of doctor/nurse appointments this week: 4

Amount of money I have spent on prescription drugs this month (WITH insurance): $100

Number of additional tests kitty doctor said I could have done if I wanted to: 2

Number I agreed to: 1, but only because I had to get blood drawn anyway.

This is why I am almost afraid to bring little things up to my doctors. Somehow, it always gets blown out of proportion.

Here’s the thing…(guys, stop reading. go somewhere else, this is gross girl talk involving blood from places.)

Continue reading ‘Emo cervix’

nonononono!

Published Sunday, August 20, 2006 in aside. 4 Comments

WHAT? Ohhh…HELL no! NONONONONO! WRONG!

Saturday night fun

Published Saturday, August 19, 2006 in dog and photos. 7 Comments

Shaved magazine!

Acceptance

ohhhhhh yeahhh…friday quickie!

Published Friday, August 18, 2006 in blogging, food, wedding and friends. 5 Comments

First, oooo look! I enabled rolling archives. You can scroll around that little bar up there to go back into my archives and view older posts…WITHOUT RELOADING THE WHOLE PAGE!

amazing.

Second, OK, yes. The cheesecake did not turn out exactly as planned. But it’s delicious. It’s lighter than most cheesecakes, so you can eat a big piece without feeling you’d just ingested a brick. A delicious, cheesey brick. And the flavor of the lemon and the blackberries is almost magical: tangy and sweet. Almost sorbet-esque. In cheesecake form. And shut up with your “cheesecake should be pure and not messed around with” bullshit. If that were true, The Cheesecake Factory would not have a two hour wait every damn night. Cheesecake is a way of combing two of the most perfect foods known to mankind: cheese and chocolate. If someone ever find a way of adding bacon to that equation in a way that would be equally delicious, that person will be instantly taken up to heaven and given a place of honor among the angels.

I am determined to keep experimenting. I can add more cream cheese, or I can try baking it longer. This one baked for an hour 15 minutes. Any food chemists out there want to chime in? (right, like alton brown reads my blog. ohh…wouldn’t that be awesome, though?)

as far as the REST of Kev’s birthday celebration…welll….rest assured, he was well taken care of

Third…OH MY GOD!

We got our FIRST OFFICIAL WEDDING GIFT FROM A BLOGGER!!! From Nicole! She of the un-updated blog! It came yesterday, and when I saw the box at the front door when I got home, I thought it was a birthday gift for Kev. But it had MY NAME ON IT! A gift for MEEE!

OK….us. BUT it was the pie plate from the registry, and seriously, how many pies will Kev be making in our marriage? Zero. That’s how many.

(I’m hoping he will take offense at that statement and maybe make me a pie. Mmmm….pie)
So THANK YOU, NICOLE! You need to email me your address so I can send you a proper thank you card. And for everyone else, NICOLE is officially now my favorite blogger friend.

UH UHHH! NO BITCHING!! Did I get a pie plate from YOU? No. You are not favored.

cluster of updates

Published Thursday, August 17, 2006 in craftiness, food, photos and wedding. 5 Comments

You wish you were Kevin right now. Because if you WERE Kevin, you’d be enjoying a big piece of this:

birfday cheeeeeesecake!

Blackberry-lemon swirl cheesecake. My own creation. So…it turned out not QUITE as set as I’d hoped…it still was yummy. mmmmm….

Knitta alert:

birfday socks

Socks for mom are almost done. The more astute of you will notice two things: they no longer look like elf condoms, and that’s not the same pattern. Exactly. I finished the entire elf condom sock, and I couldn’t even get my hand into it. My worst fear had come true: WAY too small. I had to frog the WHOLE THING! At least starting over allowed me to change the pattern. I wasn’t liking the yarn-over-cable pattern - the yarn is too fuzzy to really let the pattern show. This one is just the beaded rib, and I think it’s turning out much nicer.
And if you think 2nd sock malaise is bad…let me tell you about 3RD SOCK MALAISE!!!

As promised: the wedding dress update

I went to the shop today to pick up the dress. The woman I had been working with wasn’t there, but I talked to another nice lady, who confirmed that yes, my dress was in.

My dress, and the underthingy, right?

What do you mean, the underthingy isn’t on the slip?

I NEED THE UNDERTHINGY! MUCH SUCKING IN OF FAT MUST OCCUR UNDER MY DRESS!!!

Fortunately, they had the correct underthingy in stock. A very “push up the girls and HEY how ya doing!!!” kind of underthingy.

And the dress fit. And I looked good.

And then she said…would you like to try it on again with a Squeem?

A what?

A squeem. Essentially, a hugely wide extra strong piece of elastic that manages to take every lump of fat in the lower belly and squeeze it into…somewhere. Narnia. I don’t know and I DON’T CARE! And…it’s COMFORTABLE! I can BREATHE in it. With the underthingy + squeem, it looked as if I had a waist and hips. Something which, in reality, I don’t have.

And then…then I looked not just good, but FABULOUS in the dress! Honestly. I wanted to cry. Very little altering needs to be done. A little tuck in around the armpits and a bustle. The length is perfect.

I practiced walking around the shop in my dress and shoes. I twirled. I danced. The nice ladies said I could do that as long as I wanted. I felt like a princess.

The only catch was that they didn’t actually have any squeems to sell left in the shop - what I had on was the demo model. More are coming next week. So next week, I will pick up the dress, the underthingy and the marvelous Squeem and THEN go in for alterations.

I CAN’T FUCKING WAIT!!!

Continue with the birthday wishes below…

Published Thursday, August 17, 2006 in science! and conversations. 3 Comments

Conversation in the lab

ESC: *making a buffer* It’s always bugged me…why isn’t SDS called SLS?

N: what?

ESC: *points at bucket* “sodium lauryl sulfate” - SLS

N: that’s not SDS. SDS is sodium dodecyl sulfate

ESC: what?

N: we should have some…*looks at chemical shelf*

ESC: but…this is what I’ve been using for SDS! *panic setting in* it’s SOAPY! Just like SDS!!

N: let me see if there’s some in the other lab

I: *piping up from her desk* look in the Maniatis!

ESC: where is the Maniatis??? oh my god, what if I’ve screwed up every experiment…?

N: I can’t find any….I’m SURE it’s called sodium dodecyl sulfate

ESC: oh crap…

I: *triumphantly* it’s BOTH!!!

*we all peer at the Maniatis*

It IS both. THANK YOU GOD! I KNEW I couldn’t have been that stupid.

One of the fun things about bein a biologist is that I’m a terrible chemist. When I make these buffers and things, I have NO IDEA if what I’m using is dangerous, if I should make it in the hood, or if I should wear gloves, hold my breath, etc. I make them all in complete ignorance. Yes, I could check the Maniatis every time. But I’m lazy.

For those not in the sciencey fields, “the maniatis” is kind of like a lab bible. It’s actually a 3 volume set of laboratory manuals called “molecular cloning,” and they contain common techniques, protocols, and recipes. The editors USED to be a guy named Maniatis and two other guys. Now it’s edited by Sambrook (one of the “other guys”) and Russel. But if you told someone to look something up in the “sambrook and russel,” they wouldn’t know what you were talking about. Poor Sanbrook. He will ALWAYS be in the shadow of Maniatis.

Stay tuned later for a wedding dress update!

Happy Birthday, My Love

Published Thursday, August 17, 2006 in daily, relationship/sex and photos. 9 Comments

Today is my sweetie’s birthday. Send him some love, won’t you? I know I will be

dress!

Published Tuesday, August 15, 2006 in aside. 4 Comments

MY WEDDING DRESS IS FINALLY IN!!! OH MY GOD I AM SO EXCITED!!!!
Now I have to find a place to get it altered. The seamstress the store works with is “full” through the end of the year. Dammit.

gah! yay! uhhh…blargh!

Published Tuesday, August 15, 2006 in science! and mental health. 8 Comments

Holy crap! I JUST SENT MY FIRST EVER FIRST DRAFT OF A PAPER TO MY COMMITTEE AND ADVISOR!!!

I feel like I’ve just thrown up part of my soul, then attached it to an email. It’s a feeling of exultation and nausea…all at the same time. I’m not exactly sure what to feel. Also, the drugs are helping to numb the more extreme edges, so while some deep part of me either wants to jump up and down, or throw up…what I’m really doing is sitting here thinking “ahhh…finally…uhh…I think I’ll blog.”

Really, I’ve been remarkably calm the past couple of days. Very abnormal for me. Can I tell you how wonderful the drugs are? Let me tell you: because of the drugs, upon discovery of some forgotten data that hadn’t made it into the paper today in the final hours, I did NOT freak out as normal. Rather, I calmly made the additions to the tables, and then included a few more sentences in the results and discussion sections. I didn’t even twitch.
Now THAT THERE, ladies and gentlemen…is some good stuff.

Also, I was able to keep it together enough so that instead of cramming last minute corrections and additions all day, I took an hour and a half out of my day to take a workshop at the library to learn how to use endnote. Because at some point, I’m going to have to replace all those [REFS] in my draft with actual references.

uhh…drugs are good, m’kay?

explains alot…

Published Monday, August 14, 2006 in family and conversations. 8 Comments

on the phone with mom

ESC: so…I finally decided to see a psychiatrist

Mom - Oh?

ESC: yeah. so I’m on some medications now.

Mom - which ones?

ESC: - wellbutrin to help me focus…

Mom - oh! you know your brother was on that for a while. They also use it to help people stop smoking

ESC: yeah, I remember. and something called clonezapam for my anxiety.

Mom - anxiety?

ESC: well, yeah…I’ve got a lot going on right now, you know…wedding, writing, getting the condo ready to sell…

Mom - well, you know it doesn’t get any easier in life, right? the stress never really goes away.

ESC: I know mom…

Mom - I’ve got things for the wedding to do too…and everything going on with your grandfather*…life is just stressful! it doesn’t ever go away!

ESC: I KNOW mom…this is just to help me get through this next year.

Mom - well, whatever you need to do, I guess.

I get no sympathy from my mother.

* my grandfather fell at the alzheimer’s home and broke his hip. he had to have surgery to put a pin in, and they also found he had infected sludge in his gall bladder. so a week in the hospital recovering from surgery and to drain his gall bladder (yes, they can do that), and now he’s in a real nursing home to recover…HOPEFULL temporary, and he can go back to the alzheimer’s home when he’s recovered.

oh YOU wanna piece of me, too?

Published Saturday, August 12, 2006 in rants. 10 Comments

or “ESC must hate all charities.”

Fuck you, Salvation army.

We had an almost perfectly good washer/dryer set and a slightly worn and wobbly armchair sitting in the breezeway, just BEGGING for a pickup.

I have tried to call your pickup line all week. Always, it is either busy, or I have been put on hold. For a long time. Salvation Army, you are not the cable company. I should not have to listen to an hour of “thank you for your donation, your call is important to us” for that long.

All. Week.

Nothing.

Then…this morning…a Salvation Army truck! In the complex! Picking up some other person’s stuff!

Please, we have stuff for you! Come take our stuff!

“sorry. we can’t pick up without a pickup number.”

what?

but…our stuff…is…and…you’re here…and…

what?

No pick up.

Fuck you, salvation army.

We loaded it all up ourselves and Kev drove it to Goodwill.

Take THAT motherfuckers!

Dear charity organization,

Published Friday, August 11, 2006 in rants and daily. 10 Comments

I believe your name is “clothing for a cure” or something like that. A cure for what? I don’t remember. But I doubt it’s a cure for sucking ass.

For the past month….MONTH! There has been a number on my caller ID. CURE CLOTHI it read, with a local area code. This number would call 2 or 3 times a day…EVERY DAY. Cure clothing? Someone trying to get me to dress all black and emo?

I was confused.

Then you started calling early in the morning. But the phone is two rooms over from the bedroom, so by the time my sleepy brain registered that the phone was ringing, got my feet off the side of the bed so I could stumble over the shoes I left in the middle of the room last night and make a lurching sprint to catch the phone…hangup. The caller id…CURE CLOTHI!!!

Sometimes just for fun, you’d leave a voicemail: 3 seconds of silence and a click. I was beginning to get nervous. Was I being stalked? I even tried calling the number, but all I got were clicks and beeps. The calls kept coming, though. Waking me up, or sitting on my caller ID. Four calls a day. EVERY DAY! EVERY GODDAMNED DAY!!!

Was there a bill I hadn’t paid? What could cause someone to pursue me so vigilantly? OH MY GOD, PLEASE STOP CALLING! WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE????

Until finally…FINALLY one evening I was home, sitting next to the phone when it rang. Caller ID: CURE CLOTHI. HA! CAUGHT YA, BASTARD! I answered the phone, and very bored sounding woman informed me that Clothing for the Cure (the cure for what???) would be around on friday to collect donated clothing, would I please leave a bag in front of my door with a note on it that says “CfC” on it?

What?

Before I could mumble something, she tells me thank you for my donation, and that they’ll give me a reminder call on thursday. Thank you and have a nice evening.

What?

Oh yeah, I got a reminder call. Three reminder calls. At 4:56pm, 6:27pm, and 7:43pm. When I wasn’t at home…no voicemail left. Bastards.
Clothing for the cure, you are the WORST charity ever. You think that just because you are immune to the “no call list,” you can abuse the system. Holy fucking christ, people, if you’d just left me a voicemail to begin with, we all could have moved on with our lives.

But you kept CALLING and CALLING!

When you come to my door today, and find NO bag of clothing waiting for you? I hope you cry.

And don’t EVER call me again. E-V-E-R!!!

all over the map, but very calm about it

Published Thursday, August 10, 2006 in wedding and mental health. 14 Comments

It’s day two of operation Drug Me Up!

Waaay too early for me to be making any conclusions on the wellbutrin. It won’t kick in for a while yet. However, the clonazapam has kicked in immediately and is pretty damn amazing. Except for the fact that it makes me very tired all the time. But I was tired all the time BEFORE, so really, there is no difference.

But the EVENESS and the CALMNESS is amazing!

Before drug:

*typing* “strains containing the mutant gene did not show a significant…” hmmm…wait…I still need to find a place for the rehearsal dinner! HOLY SHIT I NEED TO DO THAT! OH MY GOD, WHAT IF I CAN’T FIND A PLACE!!! AND MY PAPER! WILL NEVER! BE DONE! WHAT WILL I DO??? I CAN’T DO THIS ALL AT ONCE!!!

*heart palpitations…a trip to the bathroom…deep breaths…and then…stop writing and check blogs to distract myself.*

After drug:

Hmmm…I still need to find a place for the rehearsal dinner. OK. *goes back to checking blogs*

see the difference? totally different reactions! except in both cases very little writing is getting done. My hope is, once my brain is trained to realize that just by thinking about something that needs to be done doesn’t trigger some crazed overreaction, it can then concentrate on actually getting that thing done! Instead of attempting distractions by turning on CNN and learning hair gel is now considered a weapon of mass distruction on airplanes.

Thank god we are driving for our honeymoon.

Speaking of wedding…

I am the only female involved in the ceremony who does NOT have their dress yet. This seems wildly unfair, as it is ALL ABOUT ME! WHERE IS MY DRESS! Much apologies from the dress shop. Apparently, the company in Californica shipped it late, and it will be here early next week. STUPID CALIFORNIA! Much anxiety will be quelled once my dress is physically here, except instead of anxiety, I am just really annoyed. THANK YOU, MIND ALTERING DRUGS!

Yet more wedding distractions - I checked my registry again, to add yet another item. A giant cooler! Every couple needs a giant cooler! At least we will for our honeymoon. Then it will sit dormant in storage or damp basements until we reproduce and are hit with the poorly conceived idea that a picnic would be a fun, family oriented activity.

Most of the picnic trips of my childhood were filled with tears, temper tantrums, water balloons, more tears, and lawn darts.

Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, the registry. Nothing new bought off the registry. This is because 95% of the “available in store” items were bought for my two bridal showers. Pretty much everything left is an internet ordering item.

Have I mentioned that both our families are totally computer-phobic? There will not be much of the online ordering, I’m afraid. This could go several ways for our wedding gifts:

our guests will forge their own path: “ohh…this set of ceramic monkeys playing instruments are LOVELY! What a perfect gift!”
our guests will realize that they don’t have to order online, they can order from the store kiosk with miminal struggle.
our guests will have some brains, and realize that just because I registered for Brand X plastic cutting boards does not neccessarily mean I have some kind of weird brand loyalty to brand x cutting boards. Any plastic cutting boards will do.

I have a horrible feeling (but not anxiety!)that option 1 will be the most popular.

I hope they include receipts.

shrinky dink

Published Tuesday, August 8, 2006 in daily, conversations and TMI. 18 Comments

Today was my very first appointment EVER with a psychiatrist.

diagnosis: bat shit crazy

HA! just kidding, of course. I am more bird shit crazy.

I knew this day was coming. For years now, I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t pay attention as well as I used to. I couldn’t focus. I would procrastinate so much that things would get very very bad for me. And the anxiety. And the worrying. And the deadlines. And with the next few months being what that will be…

I’m worried about falling apart.

So to the shrink I went. Nervous. ANXIETY!

But she was pleasant. Friendly. Young and understanding. We talked about several treatment options. We tried to decide if my lack of focus is caused by anxiety, or if my anxiety is caused by my lack of focus. I would get different meds depending on which.

I believe the second scenario is more likely. If I can get my head screwed on correctly, the stressful situations I cause for myself that are the root of my anxiety will go away, along with the anxiety. Plus with that treatmet, the side effects are less.

“My sex life is the only part of my life that’s GOOD right now. How would killing that make me feel better?”

“Exactly. If that’s a solid part of your life, let’s try not to mess it up.”

So wellbutrin it is. With a side of clonazapam which should start working immediately to curb the anxiety and let me fall asleep at night without playing hundreds of disaster scenarios over and over and over again in my head.

Both meds at low low, what she called “baby doses.” I am a psych med virgin, and we have NO idea how they’ll effect me.

However, if the anxiety is the root of my problems, then the wellbutrin could make it worse. I may have to be switched to something like Lexapro, a prozac cousin.

That scares me more. Which is why I wanted to try the wellbutrin. wellbutrin seems like a friendlier drug. Less scary.

I hope it works. If it makes things worse, I have a followup in two weeks. She can switch me.

yarrr….

It’s funny - when I have a physical problem - an infection, a sprain, a headache - I have NO problem taking drugs to treat it. I will take the full course of antibiotics, or pop OTC painkillers without giving a second thought. but BRAIN drugs…wow. My brain. That’s where I live! Taking medicines to tweak around with my brain…what if they change who I am? What if I’m LESS me, instead of a better me. And worse…what if I don’t realize it? What if the old me slips away and I don’t notice?

I know, I know…paranoia. I need the meds. Eventually, either they or some other combination of their relatives will help me. And I will still be me, just a better me
meanwhile, I will make myself feel better by reading the list of side effects on the clonazepam.

drowsiness (ok, not so bad. like drinking a cider)
dizziness (ummm..Ok, two ciders)
tiredness (still two ciders. OK, one. shut up)
reduced desire for sex (oh, like being married!)
menstrual cramps (not due for my period for…3 months. we’re good. thank you, birth control)
increased saliva production (whoa, seriously?)
common cold symptoms (swell. pass the tissues)

wow. I am going to be ONE SEXY BITCH for the next month.

*****special bonus conversation*****

Kev: what’s that?

ESC: my first entry into the world of brain drugs.

Kev: oh my.

ESC: it’s supposed to dissolve on my tongue.

*places pill on tongue*

Kev: how does it taste?

ESC: hmmm…ummm…kind of…fruity. like a slightly off candy.

Kev: *suggestively* sooo…how are you…FEELing???

ESC: suddenly, I have reduced sexual desire.

Kev: goddammit.

Shaved!

Published Tuesday, August 8, 2006 in dog and photos. 15 Comments

Now we’ll have a little contest: how many google hits will I get for “shaved,” and what percentage of them will be porn related?

I love Sadie dearly, but every year in the spring and summer, we have the same problem: she sheds like a motherfucker. It gets worse every year. There is no way I can keep up with the brushing, and inevitably, Kev and I live in a hair covered condo.

When we had carpeting, it was somewhat easy to ignore. Eventually, I would come home and admire my black carpet, until it would dawn on me that hey…my carpet isn’t supposed to be BLACK…it’s supposed to be BEIGE! Then I’d vacuum…but never quite get all the hair.

Now we have the wood laminate flooring. And dog hair collects in balls and roll like tumbleweeds across the floor whenever we walk by. Every time I would give Sadie a bath, I would take of enough hair to build an army of black cats.

This goes on for months.

I. HAVE. HAD IT!!!

It’s time for SHAVING PRIVATE SADIE!!! Lots of pics below, so click if your connection can handle it.

Continue reading ‘Shaved!’

training boys

Published Monday, August 7, 2006 in aside. 2 Comments

Mental note: must try this on Kev.

wishy washy

Published Monday, August 7, 2006 in craftiness, photos, ask blogland and weekend warriors. 13 Comments

Last weekend, our washing machine betrayed us, and we haven’t trusted it since. But we had to do something, quickly, or else both Kev and I would be wearing dirty underwear very very soon.

Fortunately, this is a cheap and easy fix. We have a “spare” washer and dryer in storage. They’re Kev’s. He bought them cheap at a pawn shop a few years back - and they’re in pretty good shape. MUCH newer and nicer than the ones my condo came with. The original plan was to take them with us when we moved.

New plan: donate old washer and dryer to salvation army (after all the washer still works…just every 100th wash or so, overflows water all over the floor) and move the storage set in.

The hitch: they’re in the back corner of the storage unit. We had to unload half of the unit just to get to them.

Oh, and it’s hot. And very very humid. And my legs were a smorgasbord for mosquitos (they never touched Kev. he must taste sour. “now you know why I don’t always swallow!” “HEYYYY! THAT WAS MEEEEAN!!!”)

But! after huffing and puffing…and removing one laundry room door, we got them in. And…after vacuuming out some mouse turds from the dryer exhaust (ew ew EW!! No lingering furry roommates left, though) we have clean laundrage!

Ummm…IMAGINE SOME KIND OF TRANSITION HERE!

So I started on the socks for my mom’s present, using the expensive nice sock yarn.

anal retentiveness

I was paranoid I wouldn’t get two socks out of one skank, so I wound it into one ball…then unwound to get two.

I started on a sock pattern similar to what I’ve done before - a great two up sock, so that I can take full advantage of all my expensive yarn - only with a different stitch pattern (”yarn over cable”). My mom is a size smaller than me…but with very narrow feet. I did what I was supposed to do…knit a swatch (6st/inch), consult the chart in my book, figure out how many stiches around I would need. But then I went DOWN one size, because I wanted the socks to fit snugly (I made mine the exact size of my foot, so they’re a little loose on).

So…I started knitting, and the pattern looks great, but the sock…the sock looks….

weird.
front of sock

It’s narrow. really narrow. It looks like…a knit condom. It does stretch ALOT, though. I can stick my hand it and stretch out my fingers well beyond the circumference of her foot.

But still…it looks REALLY weird. Here’s a side view, after I turned the heel:
weirdo looking sock

Looks like an elf sock.

I figured out part of the problem. Apparently I knit tighter in round on dpns than I do knitting strait. So instead of getting 6 st/inch, I’m getting 7. I should have gone for 50 stiches around instead of 40.
I’m afraid it won’t fit. In spite of the fact that it will stretch. And it SHOULD fit. It just LOOKS awful.

Any other knitters out there have any advice? Should I rip it apart and start all over? *weep*

Or should I trust in the stretchyness of the rib and keep going?

I am frustrated.

yarnsane!

Published Friday, August 4, 2006 in craftiness. 8 Comments

What is it about the yarn store (aka: Local Yarn Store, or LYS, to all savvy knitters) that makes me lose all sense of money and budget?

My mom’s birthday is in a few weeks. I thought maybe I’d knit her some socks, because even though my sock experience is limited, what I have done, I’ve done fast. I am a fast socker.

It’s too late to order something online (I’m not THAT fast), so I decide to head to LYS to see if I can pick up some fun sock yarn. I’m pointed to the shelves behind the counter, on the bottom, so I plop myself down on the floor and start examining my choices.

Hmmmm…I like this stuff, but it’s stretchy…I knit tightly, can I do stretchy? and it’s $6, and I’d need two…THIS stuff is nice, and I can get a pair or more from one ball, and it’s $9!

Just when I’d made up my mind for one of the $9 balls, one of the super friendly salesladies wheeled up to me, a hank of yarn in her hand.

“If you’d like some REALLY luxurious sock yarn, you should look at this!”

It was a soft, beautiful variagated superwash wool/cotton/nylon blend. Handpainted rich deep colors. Super soft feel.

$22

This is when the yarnsanity took over my brain. $22 is a lot…but…it’s for my mom! It’s a gift! Yes! That’s the ticket!

Plus, I can’t say no to a woman in a wheelchair. She showed me where the rest of the colors were, and I picked up a hank of a beautiful blue/green/gold colored yarn. yessss…my….preeccccioussssss….

But I really liked the $9 ball, too.

*sigh*

So I bought both. Plus a set of #2 double pointed needles to make the socks with.

See my head? See it? Right there…across the forehead?

S-U-C-K-E-R

taking a break from hyperventilation…

Published Thursday, August 3, 2006 in rants and Religion!. 12 Comments

What could distract me from my bout of bridezillaness-ness?

ahem.

ATTENTION SUPER-CHRISTIANS!

THE MIDDLE EAST HAS BEEN A HOTBED OF WARS AND RELIGIOUS TURMOIL FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS.

THIS RECENT…ERR…RE-ACTIVATION OF VIOLENCE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND LEBANON DOES NOT MEAN IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD!!!

ALSO, THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS WAS WRITTEN IN THE CONTEXT OF EARLY CHRISTIAN OPRESSION BY THE ROMAN EMPIRE. THE SYMBOLYSM CONTAINED WITHIN THE TEXT IS THOUGHT BY MOST REAL OLD TESTAMENT SCHOLARS TO REFER TO ROME, THE EMPIRE, AND THE EMPEROR AT THAT TIME. IT WAS MEANT TO PROVIDE A MEANS OF HOPE FOR CHRISTIANS UNDER TREMENDOUS PERSECUTION AT THE TIME.

YOU = NOT PERSECUTED

PLEASE STOP WAITING FOR THE RAPTURE. IT’S SILLY.

BESIDES, IF IT WERE THE RAPTURE, WOULD JESUS REALLY CALL UP A PHILLISTINE LIKE YOU? LIKELY NOT, ASSHOLE.

AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NEWS MEDIA? PLEASE STOP REPORTING ON THIS NONSENSE! YOU ARE GIVING THEM A FALSE SENCE OF LEGITIMACY. GET YOUR COLLECTIVE HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS, AND STOP IT. NOW.

Thank you. That is all.

taking deep breaths…

Published Thursday, August 3, 2006 in family and wedding. 15 Comments

So I think I mentioned a while back that my mother and I are making my wedding invitations by hand. Of course, everyone who hears this is all “ohhhh…WHY are you doing that? you can get cheap ones online!!!”

To which I respond that I don’t WANT cheap ones, I want nice invitations. And yes, I could get nice invitations, which get cheaper the more you order. But we don’t need alot. We need slightly under 100.

And it gets worse: because we’re having a big reception seperate from the wedding, and a small dinner reception after the ceremony with specific menu items to choose from, we have two different invitation wordings, a reception card, and 3 different response cards:

People invited to the wedding only: wedding invite, dinner reception RSVP with menu choices

People invited to the big reception only: reception invite, plain RSVP

People invite to BOTH: wedding invite, separate card with info for big reception, RSVP with spots menu selection for dinner, and response for big reception.

Yeah. How much would we be paying for that shit?

But here’s the tricky part. I’M doing all the printing, while my mother is doing all the assembling. I have the fancy gold vellum paper, and she has the burgandy cardstock paper that the vellum will be attached to.

She has pre-cut all the burgandy paper for the invitation and for each response card.

So when I printed out all those stupid response and reception cards, which have vastly different word count amounts, apparently, I made them the wrong size. They are too small, and, according to my mother, will “look weird” if she uses them as is.

And because the wedding is in TWO FUCKING MONTHS HOLY SHIT! the invites have to be out by next week. Which means I have to run to Michael’s tomorrow morning and buy 30 more sheets of the vellum (at $6/10 sheets), print them, and then get them in the mail by the afternoon. Probably have to overnight them. Which is MORE money.

And my mother is yelling at ME, because I didn’t know any better. Because SHE could have printed them out where she works (need a lazer printer, as inkjet on vellum smears like a mo-fo), except I HAD to have this fancy font that THEY don’t have, so I’M the one who has to print them, and…

*deep breaths*

It’s only going to get worse, I know.

Can I skip the wedding and go straight to the honeymoon???

inexplicably turning into a malaysian blog

Published Wednesday, August 2, 2006 in food and photos. 9 Comments

Except my food is not GROSS!

I’ve recently become fascinated with the idea of cooking more asian foods. Mostly because Kev and I spend a good deal of money having restaurants cook various and exotic dishes for us, and it would be easier to make them at home. Also, I feel a desperate need to take advantage of the wide variety of food market option available to me while we’re still here in atlanta. I’m sure NC has it’s ethnic groceries…but I’m guessing they are nothing compared to the almost intimidating array found in Atlanta.

However, I still have to find and follow recipes. With other styles of cooking that I am more familiar with (italian, mexican…uhh..”american.”) I know what combinations of flavorings go together almost instintively. But for asian cooking, I am mostly clueless. And I don’t want to do the “throw everything in the fridge into a wok and then drown it all in soy sauce” type cooking. I want the exotic and fun! The spicey! The delicious!

Anyway…after drooling over this picture and noting that it’s HOT AS FUCK out, and a nice cold but hearty summer dish would be welcomed right now, I decided to give it a try. Plus….it’s BUN! Certain people in blogland will think it’s very appropriate for me to be making bun.

I followed this recipe, more or less. I forgot the thai chiles, so I ended up using Kev’s hot chile garlic sauce (from the same company that makes sriracha) for the marinade and for the nuoc cham dressing. I used sliced up boneless pork chops for the meat.

Here is the result!

Bun!!!

GOD it was good! Hot and sweet and refreshing. Just perfect. Definately on my “make again” list.

ch-ch-ch-CHANGES!

Published Wednesday, August 2, 2006 in blogging. 10 Comments

In honor of my smacks, I changed my template. Go clear your cache, and then reload.

Now.

That’s better.

We welcome the return of the little stick EvilScienceChick, and now everyone give a warm welcome to the “Clone O’Matic!” It’s Science gone horribly horribly wrong! And it’s spitting out psuedo-evil-anime-esque chicks at lightening speed! EVERYBODY PANIC!

heehee. just a little fun
I was debating between the “clone o’matic” and a “pouring bleach in the genepool” kind of theme. Maybe next time.

I picked a new background from Squidfingers. I think this one is a little less eye watering. Let me know what you think!

smackage!

Published Tuesday, August 1, 2006 in blogging and links. 9 Comments

So against all better judgement, I submitted my site for review at I Talk 2 Much. I don’t need validation that my blog is super awesome (because is SO IS!!! ummm…right?), I just was curious what they’d say, really. You don’t submit your site for review there because you want an honest and unbiased opinion. You submit your site there because it’s funny, they will most likely trash you, but WILL probably have some good points about your template, and…it’s FUNNY!

It figures that my site would finally get reviewed right after a poop post. Swell! Welcome to my blog! I post about poop, yet I am not a mommy! Also, they all threw a major snit fest over there because some of the people who’s blogs they reviewed got all bitchy and whiny about how their blogs got trashed, and OH IT ISN’T FAIR! There was a “strike” and it got all kinds of “this really counts in the real world DAMMIT!” silliness. So, I’m guessing the reviewers aren’t in the best of moods ANYWAY.

All in all, I didn’t come off TOO badly. Two smacks, which is MUCH better than the steaming pile of shit that the next blog reviewed got.

You can see it here, but I’ll post what they said:

I’m really beginning to hate the wordpress template on this one. Everyone and their brother, sister, mother, cat and husband has taken that template and modififed it. I assume it’s a pre-loaded one because everyone has it. The header doesn’t kill me, but the background makes me want to kick somebody’s teeth out. It’s like nails on a chalkboard amplified.

First post I see has pooping and boogar talk in it. Nice introduction, thanks for that. There are some more appealing posts in there, but the archives are sort of hard to navigate. They don’t let you see the entire post without clicking on the title. I fucking hate that, especially when you only put 3 posts on the front page. The sidebar on this blog is nice and neat because of the tabs in the header. I like those except the stupid favicon blogroll. Quit that shit, it’s dorky.

There is a “side blog” in the sidebar that is thankfully short and sweet, and some of those look more exciting than the posts on the front page. It isn’t a bad blog, but it isn’t anything that I would read on a daily basis. Hopefully something can be done to that background.

Ok, I fixed the archive problem. I noticed it a while back, and resorted to posting it on the K2 forum. Seems to work.

One of the reasons I switched to wordpress is because I preferred the much cleaner looking templates, and I was able to better organize things (separate page for links, archives, etc). I know my background is a little eye buggifying right now. I’ll probably change it…eventually. But I like my clean design and simple, easy to change header (explanation for headless babies here). I did NOT want to resort to the cutesy girl blogs, with the header cartoon anime-esque skinny chick sitting in a bubble bath talking on the phone, or whatever*. WAY too girly for me. And SO MANY blogs have that now. So while my K2 template may be everywhere, if I see one more girl blog with the cartoony design, I may scream. But hey, if that’s your thing, fine. I like my basic template. It’s K2, it’s NOT the pre-loaded template, it’s a fancied up version of one of the many basic wordpress templates available. It came with some bells and whistles, and lots of people have it, so lots of people have done their own customizations…that I can steal and use myself. That is the reason I chose it.

*edited to add: that’s not to say I don’t enjoy a blog that happens to have a cartoon-like template. It’s not my intent to go around smack-talking cartoon blogs. If you have one that I read, just know what I will cringe just a little when the page loads. If you care, change it! (HA!) If you don’t care, write “ESC SMELLS!” all over your blog and I will be properly chastised. Seriously, I don’t want to start an “OH NO YOU DI’INT” war here with the skinny cartoon chicks. They may stab me with their pointy brightly colored hair. BwaHA!

And dammit, I like my favicon** blogroll. So much less boring than just a list. And DOUBLE dammit, it took WAY TOO LONG to set up for me to get rid of it now. So I’m not. So THERE! Uhh..nanner nanner boo boo!

**Some of them are actual favicons. The rest I had to make myself because SOME people haven’t figured out how to get rid of their awful blogger/wordpress default yet.

Right. I think I addressed everything there. If you want a fun laugh, submit your blog. It will take a few months, but they’ll get to it. Just know that 9 times out of 10, it won’t be a good review. Learn to laugh at yourself. Then read all the other blogs they ripped apart, and laugh at them, too.

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