I have been ofline for over a week. No email, no LJ. I don’t know when/if I will catch up on my friends list. If you have made an announcement or spread info around that I aught to have, send a link my way.

I took a week of for vacation. I am very glad I did. rabbling on of vaction details for those that are interested

Yes, as all my friends know, I am insane. I get these weird little ideas and I run with them. I started a green trend in the beginning of March. Then I tried to see if I could stretch it out. I decided that I would see if I could wear green for every day until St Patrick’s Day without repeating anything, not the green and for the most part, not the other items at well. I ended up wearing skirts more than usual because I only have so many pants.

I decided I would would stop on St Patrick’s day because everyone else would be wearing green and I don’t want to be part of a large herd (I like special small herds).

This is what I am wearing today. (click images for larger version)

Wearing green for 17 days and stopping on the day most other people join in is bad enough but then I decided that I needed to take a picture of all the green things I wore for 17 days (I started on Feb 28).

This is everything green I wore in a pile of variations of greens.

This is everything I wore in the order I wore it Monday through Sunday of each week (the last week was only M-W). I did stop at pulling out everything I wore and only stuck to the green things.

Yes, I do have a list of what was on what day as well as what else was in the outfit. I thought to be nice to everyone (and not bore them) and not write it all out here. I would have taken daily pictures if I knew at the beginning that this was something I was going to do.

And I just couldn’t stop. This is most of the other things of green that I could wear but didn’t for different reasons. Some have holes in them, some are skirts that are way to short to wear to work or on a windy day, some are to big but still wearable. Some are just inappropriate for where I had to wear them. Some could have worked but I just didn’t have enough days to include them.

I was upset with my lack of planning after the first week because I had worn multiple green items when I didn’t realize I might have the ability and the clothes and the insanity to stretch it out to the 17th. I felt I wasted them when I could have used them later as individual green items. Then I really dug into my closet and realized I have a lot more clothes than I ever think I do. I did not repeat a single green item. My greens ranged from emerald to khaki to sea green to grass green to light green to dark green to olive green to sage green. Just a few greens. The odd thing is that for some reason, each of these greens actually looks good on me. I would expect some of them to be good and some to be bad, but I think they all work. At least that is my impression and no one has admitted to me that a green didn’t work when asked. They could be lying to me but surely I am not that imposing.

And no, green is not my favorite color and not the color I have the most of. I just have a lot of a lot of colors, green being one of them.

Someone suggested that I finish out March wearing green every day. I think that is more than even I could handle. I just don’t have that much green. Although, I didn’t count things that have some green in them somewhere…

To quote furycom, I am such a freak.

As a general service announcement: I am going to be gone next week. I am taking the train to visit friends in Redding. Probably going to spend most of the time sitting around the house. I may do some sewing, a friend my get me hooked on City of Heros, who knows.

I probably won’t be checking email or LJ. I might, depending on how bored I get but I am looking forward to a break from the computer so I figure not. I will not be checking voice mail but that really isn’t an issue.

I will be back sometime on the 25th. Most of you won’t even know I am gone.

I have a backlog of LJ posts that have run through my head in the last week and they keep getting booted for things that seem more important or more ready to bubble to the surface. This is yet another one.

medancer posted about being cross, itchy, intolerant (plus a list of other things) and was wondering if it was Spring Fever. It sounds just like how I feel when it is windy.

I know that rain causes one kind of ion and wind causes the other but I couldn’t remember which was positive and which was negative. But I have this handy tool in front of me, the internet. I found an article that explained that friction causes positive ions. Friction between air masses, air and ground when the wind blows, between air and the particles in it as it moves around, etc. The positive ions sets my nerves on edge and then everything bothers me. No wonder I hate the wind.

But I love the feeling after a rain storm. I feel calm and settled. At peace with what is around me. Moving water clears the air of positive ions moving the balance over to negative ions. A friend who also is driven nuts by the dry wind affect lived in a natural wind tunnel in Colorado. He would go to the far end of his house away from the wind, which happened to be the bathroom, and sit under the shower for as long as he could. When it is windy, I try to do something to increase the water in the air. I turn on the shower, do something to get humidity in the air, turn on a table top fountain, go somewhere there is water. The only time the wind has not driven me up the walls was when I was living in San Bruno near the SF airport. It was usually windy to some kind of level since it was a dip in the land to the coast but for some reason it didn’t seem to bug me often. I think that is because the wind was blowing the fog and mist in and the water content of the air kept the positive ions down to a livable level. That is my guess.

There are air purifiers that use ions to clean particles out of the air. I haven’t had time to do the research yet, but if they do it by producing negative ions, I think I may have to invest in one after all.

I figure this information would be useful to people if they have been easily frustrated, irritable, cross, stressed, restless, etc the last couple of days (I really noticed the wind yesterday). This could be the reason or part of the reason and it gives you something to do to try to alleviate the problem.

So, in ion-land, Positive=bad, Negative=good.

Most of my life, I have felt like I was on the edge of things. Sometimes belonging, sometimes being an outcast. A lot of my childhood was spent being an outcast. Belonging is very very important to me. I long for it and have a tendency to dive in too quickly when offered it.

But I have noticed something. A lot of my choices result in me being the odd one out. I have very definite likes and dislikes and the personal integrity to stand by them even when the rest of the group wants to do something else. I choose to not be a part of the group rather than do something I don’t want to do. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it means I am a pain-in-the-ass when it comes time to plan things with my friends. There is an awful lot of things I am flexible on, I can find many options to resolve some differences if given a chance, but I do know what I like and what I don’t.

At a very intense time, I had someone who told me that I would never be alone again, she would always be there for me. It was wonderful to hear at the time. I really held on to it. Then I started to learn what it entailed. I thought it would mean that we would have each other in our lives and if I reached out, sooner or later, she would be there. What it seems like it really meant was that if I showed up or contacted her and if she wasn’t busy with something else, then I was welcome. I would always have to go to her and I would have to do it over and over until she wasn’t busy. I believe I have many people that would welcome me if I reached out or showed up. That isn’t what I wanted or needed. I am sure if it was an emergency, she would drop a lot for me, but I don’t want to live my life in emergency mode to feel connected. I would rather be alone. That is when I figured out the value of being alone.

I can stand on my own feet. Having others in my life is my choice, not a requirement. I do still need people. I used to really resent that fact. But it doesn’t have to be particular people. Also it is everything in moderation.

One of the reasons I was such an outcast as a child was because I was surrounded by “normal” people otherwise called mundanes. It wasn’t until I found fandom that I felt like I had friends (yes, I know I had them before that, I just didn’t feel like I did. I was ready for them to disappear at any moment.) These fan-folk are what I call “my type of people.” I don’t care to be around others that aren’t my type of people. I don’t like the things mundanes like very much. Mundanes have a tendency to have trouble with who I am and the way I act. My type of people include those that go to cons, work ren faire, costume, are geeks, pagen, dance, etc. Pretty much every person that reads my LJ is one of my type of people. Recently I realized that it wasn’t because these people were like me that I consider them my type of people. It is because we are all so different that they can appreciate and accept and enjoy the differences I have. I am different from all of them but I have a niche within the group that I fit. I just wish the niche didn’t feel like it comes and goes.

This article is about nerds and popular people in high school. One thing it states is that nerds are not socially unskilled because they can’t be, they are socially awkward because they just see no worth in spending their time learning and playing the games you have to to be popular.

I would really like to belong. It is still a deep craving inside me. But I realize I am not willing to pay the price to always follow the crowd. I just don’t have it in me.

Came across this quiz and thought others might be interested.

This was my answer:

Bridget,
Celtic Goddess of Wisdom and Healing.

Like you, Bridget is concerned with healing both of body and soul. Her compassion gives direction and meaning to her quiet wisdom and made her welcome as both a Goddess and a Catholic Saint. She symbolizes the feminine ability to create healing and wholeness in any situation.

While I may be more drawn to Celtic than other styles, I am not so sure it Bridget that would relate to me. But then again, I don’t know what goddess would.

In doing laundry a week and a half ago, I noticed that I have enough of particular colors to justify loads all by themselves. I have the ubiquitous black load and white load. To this I now usually have a red load, a blue load, a green load, tan/brown load, and a grey load. The blue and green have only just recently been split into their own separate loads.

Prior to this last round of laundry, I have acquired two green new-to-me shirts, a mottled green one thanks to thsuma and an emerald green velvet one at the White Elephant Sale thanks to ren_wench. Following laundry day, I got to wear them for the first time last Monday and Tuesday. A co-worker and I were laughing about me wearing green two days in a row. She is at work only M-W so I made sure to wear green on Wednesday. Then I got this weird idea, how much green do I have? Can I wear green for every day of the week?

So, I finished out the work week wearing some item of green every day. Then I carried it into the weekend. Seven days of green. Monday was a green tank-top. Yesterday and today, it is items with green in them: a green and brown belt and khaki green skirt yesterday, today a very green plaid skirt. I have had to resort to skirts to continue the green trend. I think it would be really funny if I could keep it going for the rest of the week. That would take me to the 14th. If I could stretch it two more days after that, I could have worn green for every day in March before St Patrick’s day. I do have more green at home but not work appropriate clothes. I have a green linen blazer but I can’t find it. *le sigh*

Yes, I am entertained by some odd things.

I had a me weekend and in the process, I bought a new DVD player and a new DVD. My vast DVD collection now contains one (and only one) of every category of DVD I can think of.

Movie – Pirates of the Caribbean
TV show – Firefly
Theatrical performance – Cirque De Soleil Quidam
Stand-up comic – Eddie Izzard

And now Music videos – Trace Adkins.

Maybe another category would be Animation, but then again, that might fit under movie or TV show.

Speaking of Trace Adkins, my ticket for his concert May 11th arrived in the mail recently. I am all a’bounce about it. I am currently sqee’ing on him, he is so cute and man o man, I like the way he moves. The video dvd has most of his videos except my two favorites, his most recent: Songs About Me and Rough & Ready. Those were the ones that hooked me on him. But for $4, it is worth having Chrome and his others. He is my current flavor of yummy.

I realize that I am going to say something controversial and some people just won’t be able to believe it. Be warned. I am a little nervous exposing this to a wide forum.

I forgot how much fun PowerPoint can be. A co-worker came over and asked if there was some way to have white text and have the background be something else so you could see the text when you try to edit it. At first, I said no. Because with the way we use PowerPoint (we use it as a desktop publishing program, there is a story that goes with that), there is nothing that would work.

Then she said someone else thought there was a way, so I thought about it. Pulling out really rusty brain cells (I have been working here almost 5 years so the info was from before then), I remembered that you can change the background color and that will show up when you edit a text box. I then showed her the other possibilities you can use the Color Scheme for and it’s limitations. And the features of the Background dialog. Since she is working with a template from an external source, these things can work for her.

I had so much fun pulling that info out and getting to explore it again. It didn’t even phase me that I haven’t used it on this version of PowerPoint. I am bouncing.

The other day, someone asked me if it was possible to add a bell curve to a histogram distribution. At first I said no, then I went a’hunting on the internet (Love Google) and found a formula to calculate a normal distribution curve. I then worked it out to put in into the excel file on the page and viola… just what he asked for. I think in our department, there isn’t anyone else that understands Excel enough to do this besides me. I was using stuff I learned with Quatro Pro.

I really don’t have a problem with PowerPoint and Excel. I have pushed them to some of their limits, mapped them out and have learned to either step around them or just accept that is the way it is and move on. There are lots of things I can do with them that they really aren’t designed for. Weeee

I am such a freak.