February, 2011

My dad will be fifty-seven tomorrow. He was born thirty years before me, during the same month. Happy birthday, old man! I love you tons and you have always been one of my greatest teachers.

On the 3rd, I will be eight years clean and sober. I don't even have room in my life alcohol and drugs. I don't know where I would put them between my awesome job, schoolwork, my awesome fiancé and all the wonderful, healthy people and things I keep in my life these days.

My stepmom and cousin both have birthdays coming up around "Forced Romance Day." I think Kathy is turning thirty-nine or something. I don't know how my dad got so lucky with such a young, hot babe. Happy birthday to them both!

My birthday is also coming up near the end of the month, and the day after that, my nephew's, who will be turning eleven. I think I'm turning 24. Sure. Why not?

And that, folks, is February 2011

Wedding Things

I'm trying to keep my wedding simple. I really don't have the budget for anything grand. I'm not even having an official wedding party because I don't want to put a financial strain on my friends who also happen to be getting married (Seriously, we're one of three couples in my tightest circle of friends who got engaged in 2010). I've also spent nothing so far on a dress, but we'll see how that works out.

Chris's mom has a vintage, lace wedding dress that is so me I can hardly believe it. I know that I wouldn't look right in a silky, rumply, long-train stylish mod wedding dress that you find at all the bridal shops. Then again, I haven't tried any on.

The one time I tried to look at wedding dresses, I went to Renfro's on Main St in Placerville and they were snooty, snobby bitches whose first words to me and my friend as we were trying to look at their selection were, "Excuse me, what are you girls doing?" I said, "Looking for a wedding dress..." They asked, "Are you getting married?" Really? You really think I'm looking for a wedding dress to wear to the bar or something? They asked if I'd like to make an appointment to which I gave an emphatic, "No, thank you," and walked out the door. So that's the equivalent of my gown shopping so far.

I have only lost ten pounds and felt comfortable enough with that to let the cold weather and short days be a perfect excuse to stop exercising. Boo, right? But starting the ASL class has got me at least out of the house two days a week and I walk a lot at work to take the clients to the mall or the bowling alley or wherever we might go. I've also committed to eating fruit every day. If it doesn't mean less weight, it has at least made me feel better. So we'll see in the months to come if I can find the motivation and will to stand up and go (ugh) running. Maybe we'll have warm, longer days soon enough that I'll be able to go on the bike rides I enjoyed.

Since I began writing this blog post, I've set up time to play with makeup and hair with my big sister, Talia and to go to a bridal show with my Mom at Cal Expo next month. Talia also knows a tailor that is really good at letting out fabric. Her husband does some carpentry work for him and their kids play together, so I know I can trust him. I've also had a call from someone in my class who wants to meet a half hour before each class and on the weekends. My life is full and wonderful and I have more support than I could ever ask for.

January in the New Year

I haven't really updated in awhile. I have about an hour before I have to get ready for class. That should be enough time.

I've started an ASL class at the Sac City College Davis Extension. I am enjoying it immensely. While it is a bit more unsettling than French was at the beginning (in French, my teachers spoke English to explain concepts; in ASL the teacher uses only ASL), it is almost more fun. I am getting better at fingerspelling quickly.

I got an iPhone 4 about a week and a half ago. T-mobile lost me as a customer because their customer service used to be all it had going for it. Now that they don't have that, I figured if I'm going to be treated like crap, I might as well have a good phone, so I made the switch back to ATT after three years. Bye, T-mo, go screw yourself.

I have been introduced by a friend from work to a website that breathed fresh air right into Hip Hop. I don't listen to the mainstream stuff that much-haven't really in years, but Word Is Bond has got me listening to dope tracks, foo's spittin, and some tight beats once more. I'm super pleased with this website and encourage anyone with an appreciation for that genre to go check it out. If you don't like Hip Hop or rap because of what it's become on the radio, by all means, check this site out. You won't be disappointed.

Chris and I are still dealing with trying to get our wedding clothes to fit. His classes take up a chunk of our evenings on most nights, however, so we have to get things done this weekend. He in a Kilt and I in lace. It's going to be to Victorian Scottish! I love it. Now I just have to figure out what I'm doing for silverware and decorations. I'm really excited.

I might update more later; we'll see. I'm still wanting to use up most of what's left of my hour perusing every inch of Word Is Bond. I'm like a kid in a candy shop right now! Peace all.

The Pros and Cons of Geolocation Apps

I'm not going into the "Pro, your friends can find you, Cons, pleaserobme.com" debate because anyone with half a brain will check the privacy settings on any of their social networks before they post anything at all and I didn't originally join 4square for friends, but for the game aspect of it.

I'm going to complain about the two big contenders in the geolocation game world and then predict their demises.

Foursquare: I liked foursquare at first. The mayorship battle for our apartment complex was fun between me and my fiance for a while, but mayorships just aren't all that exiting here on the West Coast. You see, even in a large city like Sacramento or town with a large concentration of young, college age kids (the target demographic for many social networks), the number of people playing foursquare is relatively small. I have had weeks where I've created more venues than checked into already-existing ones.

The redeeming quality of the app was that I could score badges by going to interesting places around me. Those soon dried up, however, as most of those badges are given out for tech-convention goers and people on the East Coast. Most of the badges are made for New York. You'd think New Yorkers had enough badges already. With all the mobsters running around, you'd think they'd have better things to do, right? I have never been to New York, but foursquare has made me resent it for alienating the rest of the 300 million people who choose not to live in it's hell-hole just to get a Bravo badge (am I right?).

Foursquare eventually started offering a few more "universal" badges, but after such a tease, there they go again. More Convention badges, more exclusive badges tied to interests and places that a small, select number of (probably hipster assholes) people go. Ski resorts, tanning salons, etc, and of course, more places to eat in New fucking York. I've never been really into the "East Coast, West Coast" thing, but hey, after foursquare has been keeping us in the dark, I've just got to say, we don't need no stinking batches!!! West Siiiide!!

The good thing about foursquare is you can create venues and report edits from your home computer. This brings me to Gowalla. As soon as I got an iPhone 4, I downloaded Gowalla because their passport is much more fun, the graphics are nicer, and there is an extremely large number of "pins" (their version of badges) that can be unlocked universally.

Then I tried to create a venue. There was nothing on the site that I saw that would create one from my desk top, so I used my phone. I wanted to input the Sac City College Davis Extension where I'll be taking my ASL class so I wouldn't have to do it before class. So I put in the title on the iPhone app, picked a category and hit next, thinking the next screen would be address info, and it told me thank you. Sac City College can now be checked into from the other side of town in my apartment building. Thank you, Gowalla for fail.

At this point, I won't even go into the stupidity of using Waze and parking my car and it thinking I was in a traffic jam. I'm just going to say that I think geolocation apps are going to slowly peter out as I've seen my friends slowly use the apps less and less and none (NONE) of my other friends have come into the fold since I joined. And yes, I have a lot of friends...

That is all the ranting and raving for now. I'm off to a friend's birthday celebration now. Here's to good times NOT checking in!

January 3, 2011

I, like many today, had to go back through the paperwork I did this morning to correct the date from 2010 to 2011. How many New Years have I had and I still don't catch myself that first day back at work! It's good to be back at work. I drove the Jetta today because my Camry has a coolant leak. Of course, the transmission in the VW is slipping a bit when it's cold, but I guess it's just a matter of which problem I think I'll have an easier time dealing with. Overheating is not my first choice. Warming up the car and being careful with the gas is a much better prospect.

Today is also the start of the UC Davis quarter, which means I'll be going home to an empty house after work most days while my sweetheart is grading papers and helping undergrads understand the basics of things like morphology and phonology, the former of which sounds like something a Power Ranger needs to learn.

I've worked two of the last ten days before today with the Christmas and New Years holidays taking a big chunk out of my work time (and, subsequently, my last and next paychecks) so getting back to work has made my brain a bit fuzzy today. I think I can cure that with a hot chai, but I don't have anyone to meet at a coffee shop. I miss my friends most right after I see them, and as you all know, they were here Friday for the party.

I still haven't made any new friends in the Davis area. I have work friends, some I consider allies, but no one to call up and meet downtown yet. I'm looking into volunteer work and I start an ASL class at the Davis extension of Sac City College in a couple weeks. It will be good for me to get out, maybe make some friends I can invite over. I tend to clean more when I know people are coming (what an excuse, huh).

I just got a call from Chris as I was writing this. His section just ended and he's headed home on the Schwinn. I won't be lonely much longer, so I guess I'll end this post with that. Anyway, Happy New Year to anyone who hasn't heard it yet.

New Year's Party and True Grit

I'd like to say that my meatballs were a huge hit. I plan on making more next time because they went way too fast. We all had a great time. Poor Chris, who has never, in four years I've known him drank more than his share, did just that and had to be cleaned up taken to bed early in the evening. I have some of the greatest friends in the world, though, and everyone was willing to help. We found it funny that we were all ready to go to bed by 10:30 anyway, and so we watched Bruno and a couple people set alarms on their phones for midnight.

We woke up pretty early. Due to some laundry issues from Chris's overindulgence (I won't go into detail, but just say that vermouth smells bad enough from the bottle...) we didn't have a whole lot of blankets to go around when the temperature suddenly dropped overnight. So I made waffles, some friends went and got hash browns and we had Zombie Black Ops and Madden matches for the boys. Chris was feeling better by this time.

After everyone left, I cleaned up a little and then took a nap on the couch. I was super worn out still, and I didn't even drink! Chris and I decided to go watch a movie. We chose True Grit at the Woodland theater because I had a Cinemark gift card and it was the closest one. I haven't seen the original, but I thought it was very well done and I liked it a lot.

We came back from the movie and I turned in pretty early. I still have a lot to do around the house and Chris and I want to go check out some mattress stores today. It's time to get something more comfortable.

Anyway, I had a great time and the New Year is starting of great, even all things considered. I am looking forward to 2011.