Monthly Archives: February 2004

Europe vs Italy

There is a little flash animated short that I really enjoy. It does a comparison between European behavior and Italian behavior. An Italian at work was saying something about it and I was all excited it was available via the web. She was able to explain some of the sequences I didn’t understand before.
So for your viewing pleasure and maybe to bring a smile to your face for those that have had some experience with Italians in Europe, Europe-Italy.

Car-fu

Arggg.
I was a good little girl and getting my old car smogged before it went to a new home. Good thing too because it didn’t pass smog. It runs fine, seems ok but I did get a new car because I didn’t know when this one would need money poured into it. That time is now. The radiator needs to be replaced, it is leaking. The car is running hot and that might be why it didn’t pass smog. Other reasons might be (probably are) hiding behind that one and won’t be found until after that repair is done. laurelt was going to give me $750 for it. In a way it hurts to lose it and it a way it is ok because it is just potential money.

I also found out that a program to buy failed smogged cars ran out of money since my last smog check.

So, now what to do with the car. I can donate it to a charity. It would be a “good” thing to do but I don’t really itemize my taxes so it won’t be useful come tax time, at least not for me. Anyone want a fix-it-uper?

A’Labyrinthing

As some of you know or can figure out, I have gotten onto a kick about labyrinths. I found this website about Sonoma county labyrinths while hunting the web for info and an idea bloomed. I have been planning to go A’Hunting Labyrinths in the North Bay. Since I like the green of the countryside during Feb/March, I am scheduling this for the first Sat of March, the 6th. I am still researching where the labyrinths are and which are open/available when. I do know that it will probably be from Larkspur area up to Santa Rosa. One of the spots I really want to hit is the Snoopy Head Labyrinth at the Charles M. Schulz Museum. The plan is to leave in the morning and be done a little after sunset. Anyone who is interested in coming is welcome. Let me know and I will keep you in the loop.

The Triplets of Belleville recap

There was some interest in the movie Triplets of Belleville. To recap: 5:30 pm showing at the Emerybay 10 (not the AMC in Emeryville but the one by the Public Market). I figure I will be there between 5 and 5:15.
wordripples plans to attend
If vvvexation if free, she might show
If corva figures her kid will enjoy it, she and hers might come
Sounded like noirem was at least curious
Mr Price (who is a goof that doesn’t have LJ) might give it a try.

That is my list so far. Anyone else that wants to drop by is more than welcome. But I probably won’t be waiting for you since I don’t know you are on the way.

BTW wordripples, you are going to have to find me because I am not sure I will recognize you after our one meeting at Dickens. I’ll be the 6′ tall woman, there aren’t that many of us around.

Words

OooOoooOOooo,
I am not much of a wordsmith but I hit one today at work. Someone came to ask me about a word choice used in a presentation to see if it makes sense.

“While NYSE and Nasdaq average trade sizes decline monotonically”

Monotonically?
“I do not think it means, what you think it means.” ~Inigo Montoya

Merrian-Webster On-line dictionary
Monotonic:
1) characterized by the use of or uttered in a monotone
2) having the property either of never increasing or of never decreasing as the values of the independent variable or the subscripts of the terms increase [monotonic functions][a monotonic sequence]

This would mean that something can’t decline monotonically. The rate of decline could be monotonically. It could decline steadily.

The person who wrote this is a Managing Director (i.e. one of the big wigs) and I think has english as a second language. Guess what is being produced in the presentation…

We are keeping copies to giggle over.

Plough post

Another good night at the plough. Another day of not feeling like it. Remembering back, I had a great time at the plough last night. I saw people I haven’t seen in awhile. I danced a waltz, Haymakers, a four-hand reel and another waltz. In.A.Row. Without dying. I am getting better. I bounced and flew. I had a wonderful time last week too, showing off my new car. Lots of attention, hmmmm gotta love it. Left later than I normally do both times.

I am recording this here because I have to be on probation again. I made a promise to myself that I could go to the plough if I went to work on Tuesday. It is getting harder (last week, I was over an hour late). And on tuesday, I don’t feel like I had a good time. I know I did, I just don’t feel like I did. Bunch of reasons it could be that I am not allowing myself to admit to having fun: Life has been so “neither good or bad” for quite sometime, that having a good time would mess that balance up, open things up for more bad. Or it could be that I am bordering on a mild depression and it is too scary to have a good time, the fall is farther if I am up. It is safer/more familiar to be down than to be up. Or it could just be the after affect of a sparkly situation, normal life is dull in comparison. Whatever the reason, I figure if I make a big deal out of it, it might be easier to remember/feel the price of staying late at the plough and doing what I need to to keep it in my life.

Re-Evalution time followup

Thanks to the many people that have commented and got back to me about my previous post. I am posting this instead of commenting on the comments because so many people said the same thing. Turns out many people had already seen the link and didn’t bother to comment. Others were busy, others didn’t find it as funny as I did. I did consider that it might have made the rounds before but discounted this idea because, surely if others thought it was as funny as I did, I would have heard about it at that time, like the Very Secret Diaries and Naked Quidditch.

This is no real big deal, but it did make me realize that my version of reality doesn’t always match up to what reality really is. Ideas built logically on concepts that are not reality does lead to faulty ideas.

Re-Evaluation time

OK People, I am concerned. The link to the Once More with Hobbits has been posted for over 5 hours and there has not been one comment on it at all. I know that most of my friends that I would expect would really enjoy this read my journal regularly. I did send it via email to others who I wasn’t sure would get it via LJ.

I have gotten no emails and no comments. This could mean a couple of things.
Either my friends have been too busy to read LJ and follow the link.
That I am under the mistaken impression that my LJ is actually read frequently and it’s not.
Or
That nobody thought it was funny enough to deserve commenting on.

Considering a woman at work and I have been interrupting each other all day to laugh about the lyrics and we have pulled out the Buffy soundtrack to read the lyrics with to get an idea of how well they fit and have disturbed the entire office with peals of giggles coming from our desks at random moments, I am a little worried about the lack of response from my so-called friends. I was sure at least some of you would get as much of a kick out of this as I do (the ones that I *know* will enjoy this, I am giving the benefit of the doubt to and assuming that they haven’t had a chance to check LJ or check out the link yet).

If my assumptions about my friends are wrong in this instance, how wrong are they in other areas. Hmmmm, I may have to re-assess my friendships at this time.

Consider yourselves warned!!!
[/sarcasm]