Mother's Day Cards considered and rejected:

- So drenched in roses they appeared to be Valentine's Day cards
- Suggesting that mom is a superhero solely because she cleans things
- Suggesting that mom should make a mess instead of clean one
- Suggesting that mom should take one day of the year to "be like dad/kids" and do nothing
- Reversed the intent of the holiday by implying that mom should be glad to have kids
- Offered brief thanks for mom's work then demanded more of it

Cards remaining on the entire internet: 6.
This holiday screams out for feminist critique.

Mom, I hope you like the one I finally did pick. Which will be late, because the site won't send it ON Mother's Day.

My master's thesis groupmates aren't really prone to swearing (any more than other American twenty-somethings). But I am noticing tonight that the closer we get to being finished with this project, the more curse words are creeping into the emails flying back and forth. And it's not that things are going wrong; we're in very good shape. We're just "so fucking done with this shit."

It's baaa-ack.

The Rules:
1. Reply to this post with 'Icons', and I will pick five of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will - allegedly - create a never-ending cycle of icon glee.

1. stained glass

Got this one when I was looking for something generic and craft-y or medievalish to use on SCA communities. I tend to use "illumination" more, and should probably lose the stained glass to make room for icons I will use, but what the heck? I have room for 35 yet, it's not like I'm running out of space! (illumination is: )

2. duck butt

This is my happy-surreal one. I use this when I want to comment on something utterly random but good/amusing. "Dancing fish are love." That sort of thing.

3. mm-hmm

Good West Wing icons are in short supply. This was one of the few I found that I liked/could see myself using. And it's a great 'you are talking but no sense is coming out' sort of icon.

4. plotbunny

Ah, one of my earliest, when I thought I'd use my journal for writing stuff more. Also the result of my not having the time/energy to animate -- originally that was going to say "Plotbunny of..." in black, with a nice innocent bunny and then "DOOM!" in red jagged letters with glowing red eye effect. And possibly teeth. Then I got lazy.

5. iFigment

FIGMENT!!
Seriously, what else do you need to know? :)

*sigh*

Teaching self php.
Can't get INSERT INTO to work off a form $_POST. Even went so far as to copy-and-paste directly out of two different tutorials. Neither worked. Can add just fine inputting the fields directly, but the form is epic fail. And I kinda need it for what I want to do.

*grumps, wanders off to look for still more help forums*

Definitely a conspiracy. Yes.

There is a cosmic conspiracy preventing me from getting the pint of Daiquiri Ice I've been trying to get since Sunday when it appeared in the local Baskie's.

This makes me sad.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have achieved the holy grail of homemade junkfood -- Get-crisp, stay-crisp french fries! How? Hint: Think 'bagels'

You will need:
Use-'em-or-plant-'em old potatoes (I have no idea whether this has bearing on the success of the recipe, but it's what I used)
Water
Oil
Salt

( Directions )

Edit: Updates to recipe --
1. Thick fries definitely need to be boiled longer.
2. It may be better to cook the fries in medium-high oil for a longer period than to cook quickly in high temp oil. Further experimentation required.

Time for a cross-stitch update before I finish the project. It's going faster than expected; all that half-cross flies.

( latest pics behind cut )

Here's the bottom half of the new project...

( Picture behind the cut )

You should imagine it a little brighter, since even after a first-pass color correction, it's not as bright as life.

I finished the cranes project. (Scan to come; the photo I took doesn't do it proper justice.) Started on a new one, and the last in my queue... for now. Haven't seen any other patterns that sing to me. But I'm really enjoying this new one.

( Here's why. )

I'm getting a little sick, so naturally I'm looking for warm liquids. Tea's no problem. Soup, now -- soup is becoming a headache.

I have two "comfort food" soups. One is wonton. The other is your bog standard: chicken noodle. I've spent the last year and a half utterly striking out at finding a place that makes wonton soup with pork filling, dammit. You wouldn't think this would be so hard, as to the best of my knowledge pork is traditional. But noooooo.... I live in LA, home of the psuedo-healthy everything, and it's chicken, chicken, chicken. Fine, whatever.

Chicken noodle soup! Easy! Except that I can never finish a can of the stuff. *sigh* I've been getting Lipton Cup-a-Soup since college and those are fine. Not as tasty as some of the better canned brands, but quick, easy, flavorful enough when you can barely taste things anyway, and the proper portion size. I'm out of it. I tried to get some at Ralph's the other day, but they didn't have any. Went out tonight to the Vons. They didn't have any either. Neither store even had shelf-space for 'em. All either had was Lipton Noodle Soup packets... which make as much (or more) than your average can.

*grump* *grump* *grump*

Would someone please hit me with a heavy object? I'm far too wide-awake here. Considering just plain staying up through my noon class at this point.

Gabriel went to the car doctor today. I'm not supposed to be fretting like she was a living being, right?


On a completely different note, I've been thinking that it might be time to change my journal theme a little. Much as I love Figment (and love getting random Figment-squee comments in various communities), I've had him for a while. Opinions?


Now I am hungry, and I think there are hot dogs calling my name.

Ok, ok... see it four times on my f-list, follow like a sheep, that's me... Baa.

Empire Magazine has revealed its list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows ever .

1. Bold the shows you watch/used to watch
2. Italicize the shows you've seen at least one episode of.
3. Underline the shows you own on DVD (or VCR tape).
4. Post your answers.

50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City
45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
42. Only Fools and Horses
41. Band of Brothers
40. Life on Mars
39. Monty Python
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted
35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood
30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf
25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks
23. The Office
22. The Shield
21. Angel
20. Blackadder
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Dr Who (current series)
15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13.Battlestar Galactica (old series) / Battlestar Galactica (new series. exactly 2.)
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld
10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24
05. Lost
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01. The Simpsons

Why do I think better with a pen in my hand? I'm sitting here writing my take-home longhand. I've tried several times to go type directly into the file, but it's like pulling teeth. Pen-to-paper and the words flow. I suppose in the long run it saves time, since the writing goes faster, but typing it up is a pain. It's done! Or it should be. Why am I redoing it? Oh, yeah, because I need to email it. Bleh.

I wonder how decent (and pricey) handwriting recognition software is these days? I do a lot of this longhand-vs-typing warring.

( ... that I am not a sheep. Baa. )

I need a good meme icon.

Is anyone else suddenly not getting email notifications? I was getting them just fine until a couple weeks ago, but the last comment mail I have is from 10/27.

Tried to register for classes on Tuesday. Every single course bounced back as needed department clearance, for reasons unknown -- and nonsensical, since there are no prereqs but proper graduate standing for any of them. Wrote immediately to the person who can clear me for them.

She just got back to me this evening. And in the 4 days since I tried to register, two of the classes filled, and I'm now wait-listed for them. One of them, I NEED to graduate, so I WILL get in it, I'm sure, but the other I don't know about, and this schedule was hard enough to craft as it was!

This SUCKS!

Oh, and this is the same problem I had getting THIS semester's courses set up -- course had spots open, web registration bounced, course closed.

*rustle* *rustle* *thump* *rustle* *thud* *curse* *rustle* *scratch* *thump* *thump* *curse* *mutter* *rustle* *CRASH* *curse* *curse* *curse* *grumble* *rustle* *rustle* *thwack* *rustle* *grumble* *rustle* *rustle*

*pause*

( ARRRGGGH!! )