karawynn

70 Days of Sweat:

May 9: 800 words.
May 10: 0 words.
May 11: 0 words.
May 12: 1,300 words.
May 13: 3,000 words.

Total: 63,800 words.

In other news: Zane's birthday party is on Saturday--why yes, his birthday was two months ago; why do you ask?--and I'm leaving for BayCon in 10 days. That blur you just saw with your peripheral vision? That was me.

Fitness report:

May 9: 1 hour on the treadmill, incl. 12 minutes jogging and 30 minutes walking on an incline. High speed of 4 mph. High incline of 10.

May 12: 1 hour on the treadmill, incl. 22 minutes jogging and 30 minutes walking on an incline. High speed of 5 mph. High incline of 15.

May 13: 45 minutes walking around my neighborhood. Pretty sky, pretty trees, wind.

Ojouchan said it.

I should note that by saying "mild sunburn," she's comparing it to the full range of sunburn, the kind of dangerous sunburns you'd see at a hospital. By the standards of us mere beachgoers, this is a bad sunburn, a don't-pat-me-on-the-shoulder-for-another-week-or-so sunburn.

(Cross-posted to wiscon)

If spontaneous programming is still going on this year, I'm going to be trying to grab some space for a couple of program items that came up after the programming suggestions deadline/didn't make the official program cut-off. Please check the board in Madison for scheduling details if you're interested in attending.

( Seal Press Boycott )

( Octavian Nothing Book Club )

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"Wachovia Dealer Services"

They called me yesterday. When I picked up and answered the phone, it was a robocall asking me to call them back. Their phone tree insists on an account number or a taxpayer ID (which is to say, a Social Security number). I don't have an account, and re the SS number, um... No.

I get through to a human being (eventually). She says she fills out a form. I ask if she could tell me the name on the account associated with our phone number, so I can verify that no, it really isn't us they're trying to reach. She tells me she doesn't have that information.

Riiiiiiight.

So, today, I get another call. First I go to FTC's Do Not Call Registry complaint form, and file. No fuss, no muss.

Then I go to Wachovia's web site. I click on "Contact Us." I compose a missive, and try to Submit.

It keeps saying it doesn't like what I'm trying to send. At first I think I might be up against their 2500 character limit in the actual "Message" field. I edit down a bit. Still no dice.

Then I notice that for "Name," I've included my apostrophe. You know I hate this problem. I take it out...

...and get a different invalid data message.

Bastards!

I take out any apostrophes in the Message field. I take out all the commas. The thing that finally trips it?

The colon when I mention they're calling me at "8:30."

{blink}

The stock symbol for Wachovia is WB. Short it. If you have any accounts there, close them down.

Because these guys have no idea how to program, which almost certainly means they have no idea if their balance sheet has any tether at all to empirical reality.

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The Seattle Polyamory Meetup

Tuesday May 13, 2008
Time: 7:30 pm - 9:30 pmt.
Location:Wayward Coffehouse, 8570 Greenwood Ave N
The Seattle Polyamory Meetup is a casual, social event for all people interested in honest, open non-monogamy. Come chat with old and new friends, snack and have a great time! This is an accessible, family-friendly event.
for more info, please see: http://polyamory.meetup.com/1/?gj=sj6

The Wayward Coffehouse in a great independent cafe with organic, fair-trade beverages, a play area for kids, comfy furniture and vegan donuts!

Please RSVP so we know how much space to reserve. Thanks!

I added a whole bunch of links to the website. Please do let me know of others you think belong there!

My basement has not yet flooded. Hopefully it will remain flood free.

Here's some of the places I've been going.

I'm posting this here because I know there are a few of you on my flist who are local-ish and may be interested.  The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Scotland Region are kicking off an introductory workshop which I'm leading.  Text and booking form attached below the cut.  Due to a number of reasons beyond our control we're quite late in announcing this, but we've decided to go ahead with it as planned.  Please pass the information along to anyone you know who may be interested!

If it comes to that... Here's Kim McFarland's gospel-tinged cover of "Dream On" that I've shared with a few folks.

I swear... this is the perfect song to have blasting as you drive through downtown. It instantly sounds like you're in the archetypal 1970's movie with soundtrack.

...who sounds a lot like Billie Holliday.

Anyway, here's the cover of "Dance Me to the End of Love" I was talking about to Jerry Kaufman and fringefaan at the Tun yesterday.

In Puerto Rico. Large room. Bad sunburn. Stealing wi-fi. More later.

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Any of you guys have an Asus EEE? How is it working out? Does the cute factor wear off quickly? Can you really slap it in a backpack and forget about it all day? If it's your first try at Linux, how'd it go, and do you have a problem converting between Windows machines? Are the screen and keyboard comfortable or just plain too small?

This weather is seriously fouling my mood. I am tired, cold and trying very hard not to let myself get depressed. I'm further irked by the fact that my Dell system has been delayed yet another week. Apparently the problem is that a lot of people ordered the exact same system, and I was somewhere near the bottom of the queue. Ah well, that's what I get for ordering a system that was on that big a sale.

Meanwhile...

Tallulah's digestion seems to be back on track. We tried giving the dogs organic pumpkin and that seems to have done the trick.

Saturday I went to go see Blade runner at the AFI. It was sort of a spur of the moment thing, but I am really glad I went. I'd never seen Blade Runner on a big screen before, and this was the "final cut" so to speak with no voice overs and restored a bit.

( Thoughts on Blade Runner )

Yesterday we took my Mom out to Blacks for brunch. It was actually kind of a late one...2:30 but it was also an all you can eat Oyster bar. She enjoyed it, and I have to say I rather enjoyed it myself.

Okay, no making fun of me for this, but I watched Bridget Jones's Diary for the very first time last night.

I had no idea Bridget Jones hung out with Gaius Baltar!

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