spinning-jennie :: consumer whore

pizza pizza
My mom liked the name Rebecca so much, she used it twice. Once as my middle name, and twice as my sister's first name.

I have never been given a satisfactory answer as to why.
2/28/2003 11:03:23 AM

2/28/2003 08:17:31 AM

with a song for you...

taping in Russia, 1987 (PBS)

Picture Picture was always my favorite Mister Rogers segment.
2/27/2003 07:08:37 AM

last breakfast
Last night was The Board Meeting. I imagine it wasn't pretty. Which is why I couldn't force myself to go. Watching people's lives treated like nothing more than a ledger line - in public - really leaves me cold.

I'll go in and get the news from a friendlier face today, armed with a full night's sleep and an arsenal of coffee.
2/27/2003 06:54:34 AM

mailbox overkill
Dear West Elm,

I enjoy receiving your catalog. Someday, if I have money to spend on things like decorating, I'll even order from it.

But I don't understand why you feel the need to send a card announcing the imminent arrival of each catalog. Please stop.

Sincerely,
Overwhelmed by Useless Shiny Postal Bits

P.S. An online catalog would rock.
2/25/2003 09:27:47 PM

GIGS (Grass is Greener Syndrome)
1999, suburb of Large Industrialopolis in lower Michigan. The Big Move idea was rapidly solidifying, but direction still quite unclear.

I was in love with the middle East Coast. Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina. The history, the Atlantic, the Appalachians. D., of course, had his mind set on the Pacific Northwest.

Sacramento wasn't a compromise, really, but the first nice-looking place a viable job appeared. And, overall, it's not been bad. Last summer was unbearably long and hot, and if I lose my job Wednesday night I likely won't find another to replace it, but I'd still say it's a vast improvement.

So is it terribly wrong to think about heading north a little? That maybe D. was right in the first place? Oh, I feel so guilty tampering with fate - even in my head.
2/24/2003 04:59:54 PM

well, that's something, at least
Spring seems to have arrived in Sacramento (robins, buds, flowers, leaves, etc.). Still finding that odd for February, but. I can't wait for baby duckies on the pond.
2/24/2003 06:45:25 AM

out and about
We accidentally bumped into a Tower Books and Records while driving through unfamiliar territory, looking for something else. And it was so nice and bright and uncrowded (bookstores with too many people are just a cruel joke and waste of time) - got to sit in one of the coveted cushy chairs. While there, I met and fell in love with the Ultra-Lounge series. I've just ordered Bossa Novaville, but the choice was difficult. They all sound great.

We stopped at the Burger King next to the mall for a quench. Our quiet corner was invaded by a loudmouthed manager, who decided to use it to upbraid a couple of her employees in front of us.

There's no better way on earth to lose our business, that's what.
2/22/2003 10:52:59 PM

day-veeeeeee...
Hmm, maybe my childhood garb of the seventies wasn't all that bad...
2/21/2003 12:25:26 PM

thousand words
I'm working on restoring the defunct visiblog, I promise. It will be much prettier - and daily-er! It's a shame to waste such a nice little camera (which also has some video capabilities, as yet untapped, hmmm). And it'll be a nice challenge to my increasingly flaccid artistic creativity and photosensibility.
2/20/2003 11:24:23 AM

cranky midnight
I'm sitting here, not at all able to sleep, and these helicopters are circling above. Over and over and over again, for the past fifteen minutes.

I couldn't say why, but it's really peeving me off.
2/20/2003 12:00:39 AM

don't forget The Pill
"In May 1960, the FDA approved the sale of a pill that arguably would have a greater impact on American culture than any other drug in the nation's history. For women across the country, the contraceptive pill was liberating: it allowed them to pursue careers, fueled the feminist and pro-choice movements and encouraged more open attitudes towards sex.

"Among the key players in the development of the drug were two elderly female activists who demanded a contraceptive women could eat like aspirin and then paid for the scientific research; a devout Catholic gynecologist who believed a robust sex life made for a good marriage and argued tirelessly that the Pill was a natural form of birth control; and a brilliant biologist who bullied a pharmaceutical company into risking a possibly crippling boycott to develop this revolutionary contraceptive. In describing the obstacles they all hurdled, The Pill presents a compelling account of a society in transition."

Part of the American Experience, airing on PBS next Monday at 9 pm. Until then, join the panel discussion.
2/19/2003 07:20:52 PM

"raising the bars"
"Details need to be worked out, but I want every child in California to be given a 13-year prison sentence at age 5, with the possibility of a four-year extension.

"That way, the $7,000 the state spends per student each year could immediately be raised to $27,000 -- what the state spends on each inmate annually. And our criminally under-funded schools would qualify for the only category in the governor's proposed budget that's slated to get more money this year."

Amen, sistah.
2/18/2003 08:24:09 PM

sick list (brought to you by Low-Grade Fever and the letter B)
Things I could really do without:

Higher taxes when filing jointly

People who apparently want nothing to do with me aside from sending email forwards

Neither of the back doors of my car opening

7 am staff meetings (yes, still)

Fox, for cancelling Firefly (yes, still)

My own inability to get through more than ten pages of Nicholas Nickleby at a time

Having no one to see Rabbit-Proof Fence with
2/18/2003 05:55:32 PM

another nightmare made real
Waking up to man-made horror is becoming a bad habit.
2/18/2003 05:54:27 AM

ugh
So very, very sick. I haven't had a sinus infection this bad since before my septoplasty (which was supposed to stop this kind of thing from happening) over three years ago.

But at least I'm keeping my first food of the day down - dry generic Cheerios.
2/17/2003 06:38:05 PM

hot damn!
Google + Blogger! (via Mefi)
2/16/2003 12:11:40 AM

outtathaway
I'm sorry, but I just can't stop laughing!
2/15/2003 09:54:10 AM

why exactly *is* it so hard to find large-gauge needles?
See how Michelle made her own custom knitting needles. It seems that lots of books tell you how to do this in a very general kind of way, but it's nicer to see it step-by-step.
2/15/2003 07:56:07 AM

more progress
Morbid thought of the day (for I find I can't help it): I wonder if they'd be cruel enough to have me move into the new building, just to immediately cut me?

Whatever happens, the building marches on.
2/14/2003 05:27:27 PM

an opiate dream
We Netflixed Mulholland Dr. last weekend. I knew nothing about this movie, other than that it was an Oscar nominee, pretty much unanimously lauded, and a good thriller.

I wasn't expecting all those heretofore unmatched steamy lesbian sex scenes (oh, what will those three words do to my search engine hits?). Not that movie sex makes me squeamy. But it was certainly surprising, at a time when I find it difficult to be surprised by any movie that isn't shushed in[dependently] beneath the laser (cha-ching!) eye of the SuperHypeMultiMediaSpoilerMachine.

Maybe I just wasn't reading as many reviews back in 2001.
2/14/2003 02:49:09 PM

the show must go on
Still planning for the new building full-steam, even if all our plans so far seem to be falling around our ears. I was in the building again today (imaginary mold and all), and I got a couple of shots, which I'll post later.

I need to find a set of basic international indoor flags, preferably ones that hang like a banner, vertically from a pole and rope. I guess about a dozen would do. And the inclusion of an Earth flag would be nice. I've been looking at flag seller sites for a couple of hours now, and I've found U.S. banner flags, but no international.

And Happy ♥♥♥ Day, if that's your thing.
2/14/2003 10:13:23 AM

ring-a-ding
Good: we're getting rid of the phone. Adios telemarketers and all those drug dealer-sounding people looking for someone named Andreas.

Bad: we're getting cell phones instead. But at least we can shut them off.

Ugly: I'm still getting telemarketing calls at work during class.
2/13/2003 08:31:07 AM

so whut if r kids kant reed
February 26th is D-Day in our neck of the budget-impaired woods.

I've been hearing disturbing things today. Disheartening and disappointing things. If I don't have a job in two weeks, you'll be a dear and remind me just how much I've complained about it these last three years, won't you?

As the day's frosting, construction on the new site could be delayed as long as a month. For mold evaluation. Because it sat there open to the elements nearly half a year.
2/12/2003 03:16:33 PM

wtf?
I'm sorry, but duct tape and plastic is going to save us?

As I've said before, I'll store food, water, flashlights, etc. Measures that might actually be useful/make some sense in an emergency situation.
2/12/2003 10:05:59 AM

did I mention it has a locking door?
I've been using some of my desk-bound time today to look for posters to adorn my new office walls.

Wheeeeee!

I'm going to put up blinds, too. Then I can eat my lunch in peace, the way it was meant to be eaten - in the company of a good book. At least theoretically.
2/11/2003 02:41:42 PM

I wish...
...that every week had a three-day weekend! Why, just today, I did the Crock Pot thing, laundry, and started a switchplate project (with this great find in the bargain bin at Borders).

Best, I finally finished installing the "stained glass" film in the corner windows. Not flawlessly, I'm afraid. I was painstakingly careful, and yet there are still dozens of tiny bubbles beneath the film. I've been able to deflate a few with pinholes, but it still leaves a mark. Sigh. Elmo doesn't care - he just enjoys the muted light. It is pleasant, if not perfect.
2/10/2003 04:58:19 PM

now we're cooking
I'm cooking something in my new Crock Pot, right now! I wanted to be home the first time I tried it out, because I harbor a tiny but persistent mistrust of any appliance that involves heat and must be left on all day without supervision. But so far - very cool. I could, theoretically, chop up stuff the night before, toss it in, and come home to yummy dinner. The only problem being that, from the time I leave in the morning until the time D. gets home is usually over nine hours (the very longest cooking time at "low" I've seen in a recipe yet).

It's a "stew," of potatoes, carrots, chicken, white beans, wine, stock, and garlic.

It smells nice and garlicky and warm in here. And drinking wine on a weekday morning is fun.
2/10/2003 01:39:09 PM

Watch the construction of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum in Springfield, Illinois

Earliest Lincoln daguerreotype?

Libraries and museums with Abraham Lincoln collections

The Lincoln Gallery - writings and drawings by children

The A. Lincoln bibliophile
2/10/2003 11:15:34 AM

reliving the cinderblock days
I'm among one of the very few who can see their old dorm room (or at least the window) - live.
2/8/2003 12:25:45 PM

sad pooch
I can't say no to a fellow rescuer... Go see the little old Baron, and help if you can.

Via Paula
2/8/2003 09:45:53 AM

2/7/2003 08:35:27 AM

stunner
I just now realized. This was my last full week in this building. The next two weeks are four days short each (for Dead Presidents), and the week after that is only a couple of days, because it's the end of the trimester. Through March, I'll be busy moving everything over to the new site and taking inventory.

And then April begins shiny and new!
2/6/2003 02:36:36 PM

who knew?
I just found out that the impressive building past which we've driven a handful of times on our way into San Francisco is the Marin County Civic Center. Or - the last thing Frank Lloyd Wright ever designed.
2/6/2003 09:51:06 AM

art without the 2-day restriction
I have this giant, empty white wall in the living room. It's putting "Trading Spaces"-esque ideas in my head.

At Michael's, I saw the mother of all stretched canvases. And if I used the 40% Off One Regularly Priced Item coupon, it would almost be worth it (I guess $50 is fair for a wall-sized piece of art). I already have tubes of primary acrylics and brushes.

Lack of artistic talent might be a problem. Though that never stops the folks on the show.
2/6/2003 08:33:10 AM

thinking aloud
As strong as I've held with my conviction that I can't (physically or mentally) work full-time and raise a family at the same time, I admit that the two-job proponents started a few niggling doubts in my mind.

"You'll be so bored/you'll go nuts being with your kids all day! You won't have any spending money! What if something happens to your husband, and you haven't been working all that time - what will you do then?"

But when I stop to really think about it... I know one or the other would suffer something. I'm too single-minded, too easily overwhelmed and consumed by the task at hand.

And then I think of some of the things that made me happy when I was little. The smell of fresh cookies when I got off the bus. Summertime trips to the public library. Never returning to an empty home. My mom being at my school plays. Not that those things, by any means, make or break a happy childhood. But they're a small part of what I want to be able to provide.

Aside from twenty-four hour access to my vast wealth of wisdom and knowledge ;-)
2/5/2003 11:50:28 AM

not that I'm obsessed or anything
I was in the new building today again (sans camera, drat!). All fumey paint and sparkly windows and crisp shelves as yet unwrapped.

I almost hate to move in, gradually chipping away at all that perfection. Almost.
2/4/2003 02:22:26 PM

deja vu
The library is beginning to look like our apartment did three months ago. Boxes everywhere.

This is the one downside to getting a new building. Sore arms, bruised shins, and box-dirty pants every day.

Giant Thermos of home-ground and -brewed coffee, as always, I owe my sanity to thee.
2/4/2003 08:36:56 AM

tribute...
...in their own way.
2/3/2003 05:16:44 PM

into temptation
I am convinced that America owes its general state of overweight, in no small part, to child-driven fundraisers.

This year I'm scheduled to receive one box of Samoas, and another of Trefoils. That would be better than last year... until you throw in the carton o' sin we've already been scarfing - pre-formed cookie dough pucks. Far, far better than the dough you get in a tube at the store.

Those kids know how to work it. They wait until late morning, when the pictures take on an unbearably delicious, almost heavenly sheen. Devilly little salespeople, they are.
2/3/2003 04:39:50 PM

phoenix
That's what I feel like this morning. I slept all day yesterday (nearly literally), and, aside from curing me of a sinus infection, it seemed to raise me from my bout of mental funk. I guess I needed it.

So consider me back. Here are two new mirror shots.
2/3/2003 07:52:41 AM

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