I just bought an accessory to something I don't own

Why I Bought an iPod Dock Adaptor When I Don't Own A Dock
by Margaret

Many months ago I sent in a claim form for a $50 settlement because my original iPod battery crapped out. It arrived in the mail in April. Naturally, this doesn't come in the form of a check, it comes in the form of a store credit that you can only use online. (I found that out after I tried to use it at the Apple Store.) Today I went online to use it to buy the iPod radio remote, so I can listen to the radio with my Nano. This little accessory costs $49. Guess what! You have to spend over $50 to use the credit. But once you spend over $50 the shipping is free. So in order to get over $50, I also ordered the Universal Dock Adapter 3-Pack for iPod Nano, which cost $9. It was the cheapest thing I could find. Now I'll be all prepared if I ever get a Dock, which I won't, because I'm perfectly happy to plug the Nano in using the included usb cable. Therefore, I just spent $8 to get a radio remote, with a useless free prize included. Really, I still won. But it's just silly how difficult they make it to spend your rebate bux.

new shoes

I just bought a pair of shoes on eBay. I have done this before with success. You just have to buy the exact thing you already know you like. I got these. I have a pair already, and as I was taking my morning constitutional yesterday (wearing them) it occured to me that it might not be a bad idea to get another pair. I got a good deal too, I paid $70 (+ tax) for my pair in the store, and on eBay I paid $38 shipped. I highly recommend the Ecco Receptor if you're looking for a shoe with good arch support. Also, they have stretchy shoelaces that lock in place so you just pull them on.

In other news, there is no other news. I did pretty much nothing on Monday. On Tuesday I walked 2+ miles, did 4 loads of laundry, played Oblivion, made a simple and unexciting dinner, washed dishes, and read a book.

brought to you by the word "zone"

I'm fairly certain that the reason people used to watch The Twilight Zone was that it had tricky plot twists, good stories and interesting characters played by talented actors. Now however, Jessica Simpson is on it and I knew how the story would end about 2 minutes in. You see, she played the babysitter, and the little girl had a collection of dolls. But they aren't just dolls- they USED to BE babysitters!!1!one!!11! I wish I had that half hour of my life back. Unsurprisingly, the little girl (while eye-rollingly crummy) was a better actor than J. Simpson.

Tonight at the coffeehouse, Donald and I were all set to get our coffee to go, since the tables were all full. Luckily, one opened up just as we were ordering. Unluckily, it was the tall table next to creepy guy's napping zone. Furthermore, I was sitting so that he was directly in my line of sight, right past my book. The guy at the table on our other side left a bit later, so we scooted over, to put as much distance as possible between us and the Creepy Zone. A couple minutes later, creepy napping dude started snoring. Loudly. So loudly, that Justin the barista had to wake him up. So creepy dude resumed his nap, but quietly. I don't understand why they don't just tell him to leave. It's a coffee shop, not a god damned nap-restaurant. People who actually pay for a drink, then hang out a bit and leave when they're done should get to sit at tables. Not creepy jerks who friggin sleep there for hours. Gawd.

I taped the Emmy awards this evening, so I could fast forward all the boring bits. Conan O'Brien was a very entertaining host. I watched the whole tape in about an hour and a half, halving the broadcast time! Take that TIVO, I can still use my primative videocassette recorder and I didn't even pay 200 bucks for it. (I'll take suggestions on how to incorporate "zone" into this paragraph, cause I got nuthin.')

visit

I'm back in civilization, after 2 days visiting my grandma's farm. I could never live in a small town. It seems like everyone is waiting for something to happen, but it never does. Or maybe that's because I spent most of the visit with old people who have nothing much to do. It was a good visit though. My grandma and I spent a lot of time looking at old pictures of the family which was fun. She has pictures of her grandparents, which are very old. I'll post some pictures OF the pictures sometime. :)

Dad and I went with grandma to the Senior Center 2 days, where she plays cards or dominoes with the other old people. On Wednesdays they have lunch there, so there are a lot of them. After lunch there were 14 people playing pitch at 3 tables. The way they do it, they play 4 hands then 2 people from each table rotate to the next table. That way, you get to play with different people, but nobody ever wins, because you can't get to 50 points in four hands! It was kind of odd, but who am I to question? They have their process down to a science. They were generally pretty sharp players too.

Has anybody else had trouble logging in to blogger? It's been driving me nuts for several days. But I'm in for the moment so I should make the most of it. Except... I don't really have anything to say.

Donald put our new computers together this weekend, so I have to reinstall all my programs, and restore settings to the way I like them and all that. I have to try to remember passwords to old email accounts now. Robyn and I made it to the craft store and back without spending all our dollars. There was a nice sale so we got good deals. Mike came over and some games were played. We had a nice time.

Who's still alive?

Are you guys dead? Donald just necromancy-ed himself out of the blog tomb. Heather returned from the dead (vacation) and Robyn and Chrissy were alive all along. So what about the rest of you? I want to hear about all the boring and/or interesting stuff in your life. C'mon. It won't hurt.

Alert! Cutest hamster ever on cute overload.



Yesterday I walked again. This time I went past 59th St, so I got to look at some new (to me) houses, which was cool. There are a lot of really neat houses to look at in the area, with cool yard landscaping. The yards are all pretty small, so it's neat to see the different things people do with them. I like walking in the residential area because it's pleasantly shady, and looking at houses is entertaining. One thing I've learned on my walks is that a lot of people are getting their roofs redone. I've seen lots of yard signs and several crews hard at work. Surprisingly, I haven't been barked at by a lot of dogs.

I made chocolate chip cookies yesterday. I did my baking across the street because my mom likes the company and her kitchen is set up nicely to cook. I also lack several ingredients you need for cooking, like eggs and margarine. My dad decided he wanted a chocolate chip cookie with raspberries in it. I scoffed at him, but let him do it. Well, I had a bite of that raspberry chip cookie while it was still warm, and it was damn good. If that one hadn't been in the last batch I'd have made more. I'm still surprised at how tasty it was. I took Anna along, and she spent about half an hour in an intense stalking pose, watching a chipmunk in the bushes just outside the window. It must have been very tiring, since she spent the rest of the day sleeping.

When I got home I opened the new computer parts that ups delivered and touched them to take off Donald's curse. More computer parts are due to arrive today and tomorrow. The invitation to my cousin's wedding in October arrived, so I opened that too. It's on handmade paper, which is nice. There is one weird thing. Their reception is on the Air Force base, so we're supposed to provide SSNs and driver's license info for all people attending. I'm a little irked at this. I know they are concerned about security, but come on. Why do I have to give out my SSN at every turn?

Children's books

The other day we were talking about books we read when we were kids. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Beany, by Jane Feder. The story is just about a boy and how his cat is his friend. The illustrations are great. There was a copy of this book at my grandparent's house, and I must have made my grandpa read it to me a hundred times.



Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Everything goes wrong for this kid. I got a little paperback copy of this from a box of Cheerios a couple years ago!



Each Peach Pear Plum. First book I learned to read, because I pretty much memorized the whole thing.
"Each Peach Pear Plum. I spy Tom Thumb!" In this engaging, interactive book for the very young, familiar nursery-rhyme characters such as Mother Hubbard and Baby Bunting sneak their way into the gentle drawings. Even young children who might not know all the fairy-tale stars can find them lurking in the cupboard, on the stairs, or deep in the woods."



Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
"If food dropped like rain from the sky, wouldn't it be marvelous! Or would it? It could, after all, be messy. And you'd have no choice. What if you didn't like what fell? Or what if too much came? Have you ever thought of what it might be like to be squashed flat by a pancake?
Life is delicious in the town of Chewandswallow where it rains soup and juice, snows mashed potatoes, and blows storms of hamburgers--until the weather takes a turn for the worse. "



Harold and the Purple Crayon: "One evening Harold decided to go for a walk in the moonlight. But there was no moon, and Harold needed a moon for a walk in the moonlight. Fortunately, Harold had his purple crayon. So he drew a moon. He also needed something to walk on. So he drew a path . . . And thus begins one of the most imaginative and enchanting adventures in children's books."



Who doesn't love Where the Wild Things Are?



and The Very Hungry Caterpillar




You people do realize that when you have kids, Donald and I will be giving them books.

Wonderfalls- it's like looking for an Irish Johnny Cash in a haystack

Donald and I have watched 5 episodes of Wonderfalls, and like many good TV shows, we're almost half done. Because it was cancelled. The premise is that inanimate objects start talking to the girl, and wackiness ensues. The girl is kind of like George from Dead Like Me, but not quite as good. Tim Minear is one of the producers, so there's your Firefly connection. :) I've been told Jewel Staite's in an episode, but I haven't gotten to it yet. The dialogue is very amusing. You should watch it.

The rest of the week

Wednesday Donald and I went for coffee, and managed to get a table that wasn't stolen by a creepy bastard. He already had one you see, and was taking up way too much space already. But enough about assholes. Donald brought his laptop, and I felt like drawing. The only problem with that is that we were at a round table near the register, so there aren't a lot of people easy to draw. I got a few nice sketches of people waiting in line though. Then I felt like watercoloring, since I'd brought my travel watercolor box so I did that too. We had a nice evening.

Thursday I figured that since it wasn't 100 degrees it would be a good time to do errands. I went to Office Depot to get a 2007 planner. I know I won't need it for four more months, but school supplies are plentiful now. I carefully examined all the different planners, and decided on the same one I've had for the last 2 years. Then I wandered around the store looking at stuff I don't need, thinking that I needed something else but I'd forgotten what. I never did remember, but I did manage not to buy anything that I didn't really need. I also went to the bank and Osco. Then I collected the cat, and went to my folk's to decorate a cake. That went quite well. The cake was blue with a yellow and Red Superman "S" symbol. Rock candy "kryptonite" finished it off. The "s" is a little wonky, but it's pretty decent for freehanding it.



Friday morning I got up early enough to take a walk before it got too hot. In the afternoon Robyn and I did some shopping. I tried on a pair of shoes that felt really good, but were inexplicable ugly. They looked normal until I put them on, then transformed into ugly. The shape was just weird. It's so rare that I find really comfortable shoes that I'm considering getting them anyway.

Saturday Donald and I went out for a little shopping. We went by the bookstore first so I could buy a backpack. The one I wanted was no longer there, of course. Then we went to the Apple store, where they told us the $50 refund coupon (which I got for my original iPod battery crapping out) was only good online. Of course. They do everything they can to prevent you from actually USING the money they gave back to you. Then we went to EB, and Donald bought me Wario Land 4 (GBA) to play on his DS. That's a fun game. I played it a lot yesterday. Donald, Robyn and Mike came to see the equity showcase, and then we got coffee. After that I was feeling guilty for not going to the party for Europe, so Donald and I went there even though it was late. We were there from about midnight to 1, and had a pretty nice time. Now I don't feel like a jerk for saying I'd do something and not doing it.

Here's Blackout in a shoebox:


and Blackout feigning nonchalance at Anna's intrusion into his world.

Table Stolen- Small One Annoyed

Donald and I just went to Muddy's. At first, it looked like there weren't any open tables. One just turned out to have newspapers on it that someone left behind. Donald went to stand in line, and I moved the papers to the pile on the end of the counter. I walked back over to tell Donald what I wanted, and when I turned around, Creepy Mc Handsypants swooped in and STOLE my fucking table. That creepy shit watched me move the newspapers, then sniped my goddamn table. What the fuck. Now instead of sitting at home, bored- I'm sitting at home bored and pissed.

I guess "preview" gave me overly optimistic ideas about who would show up for our show yesterday night. It was a good step up from Saturday. We had five people. Have hope, I say, there are at least 20 reservations for tonight. We were a little rocky, but that's why you have previews, to iron out the wrinkles.

Donald and I were going to go try out Egstc. for breakfast yesterday. It was very busy, so we went to Chubby's. I ordered slightly too much food and ended up with way too much food. They gave me an extra piece of toast, an extra biscuit and a large chocolate milk instead of a small. Donald was supposed to stop me from ordering so much food but he didn't try hard enough. :)

The rest of the day was spent feeling hot, occasionlly napping and mainly doing nothing. Around 11 it occured to me that we should have done the laundry. I was so damn bored. I was just waiting all day for the day to be over.

"You ruin the fourth of EVERYTHING"

I guess "invited dress" for Europe was an overly optimistic term for the rehearsal yesterday. There was exactly one person there who wasn't involved in the show. After the rehearsal I spent some time taping the bejesus out of the windows. They let in hella light, you see, and I can't have that. The set designer didn't do a very through job of it, and yet used up a LOT of my ill gotten gaff tape. So I used even more of it, and I think I've taken care of the worst of the light leaks. Tonight is our preview, and I sure hope there will be some people there! If people don't show up, I won't get paid. We still have to do a little more work cleaning up the room, but we're almost ready to go.

In the afternoon Donald and I did some errands, then got food. I was planning to eat something different from usual. By the time we were done with the errands (which honestly was not a long time) I was so damn hot, and tired from the hot, and hungry, that we just went to Kin Lin. I can't be mad about that. The waitress there knows what I want to order. Any longer and she'll just bring my Kin Lin chicken before I order it. Where else can I get 2 full meals from a $6.50 entree?

Robyn and Mike helped me sample the goodies last night.

The yellow box on the left turned out to be bite sized mushrooms that consisted of a cookie stem and chocolate top. The packet to its right was chocolate covered sunflower seeds. I was kind of surprised at that, since I was only guessing on size and general color. Pretty tasty. The chocolate rocks are confrimed.

The thing above those in four flavors was actually 4 flavors of chocolate square with different fillings. The chocolate in general seems less sweet and waxier. After we'd tried one of each and guessed at flavors, I saw that the package had English descriptions- only they were on the inside, so you couldn't see until you opened them. Seems to me that you should print that on the outside. Those chocolates also had stickers of tiny cartoon scenes, where the characters are doing weird stuff. One seemed to be getting crushed by a giant bean, while another is making a huge omelette, another is brushing its teeth, and the weirdest one shows one character clearly vomiting on another. These are all shown on 1" square stickers. I have no idea. There was a website listed, and luckily an English option.

"Easy to take-out, one bite-size, lovely small chocolate
We have 4 flavors (Yogurut, Strawberry, Mocca , Amond)
Choose one what you want to have"

There's nothing about the crazy-ass stickers. Further googling reveals them to be licensed cartoon characters. http://www.doolynara.co.kr/e_html/dooly.htm


Whole Almond Candy tasted kinda like plastic until I decided to chew it, then it was like peanut brittle, but with almond. The grape and strawberry sour things are very tasty, and similar to Laffy Taffy. The blueberry favored stuff is yummy chewing gum.

Yesterday we finally teched Europe, with sound and lights. That all went fine. The evening was opening night for the Equity showcase, and that also went well. Once I'm into the booth and running the show, I switch into board operator mode and pay attention to the show only enough to run it properly. Which is to say I read a book most of the time. I will resolve myself to stick around after each show long enough to schmooze people who could potentially hire me. Intermission is also a good time for that.

Today we have our invited dress for Europe, and performance number 2 for the showcase. Tomorrow I leave the showcase in somebody else's hands, and we will have our first actual audience for Europe. I'm looking forward to that.

cookie

Update! The nibbles in the pink box at the bottom are bite sized cookies with chocolate inside. Pretty tasty.

goodies from afar

I went to a tech rehearsal from noon to 4:30 today, then came home to find that my Korean goodies arrived today!



The yellow box on the left looks like a chocolatey shroom shaped treat. The packet to its right could be chocolate covered sunflower seeds. Above those 2 I think we have some chocolate rocks with a dinosaur egg. Above that is something that comes in four flavors, and I'm guessing fruity. They feel like a starburst. Whole almond candy I understand, and they even put a picture of the candy. The top right corner of the packages boasts "Supreme Grade."

In the top right corner is something in grape and strawberry flavors, and probably sour judging from the very startled looking children. It has 100% of something. Beolow that is something blueberry flavored, with a refillable dispenser. Below those, something with a chocolate filling. Only English word there is "new."

Bottom left corner, we have a small American cat. She is more interested in the camera than the odd looking packets.

Cool stuff! Now I'm off to get dinner and go to the other tech rehearsal, from 5:30 until probably midnight. They repainted the floor black last night, so I'm eager to see how sticky it will be. I'm sure it'll be dry, but that new paint stickiness can be very annoying.

Mike is the best

Mike rules, for handing me down his old cell phone. And Donald rules, for spending a couple hours last night getting all my information switched over, and setting up the ringtone I've been bugging him about for months. Thank you thank you. It's so great to have a working screen again.

I've been in tech. Tuesday was the load in day in 116, so I was there from 9am until 11pm, except for about 45 minutes for lunch. It was a very tiring day. Yesterday I was there for 13 hours, but I got a very short lunch and nice long dinner break, making for less tired. Today I have the new experience of teching one show from noon to 4, then another show from 5:30 to 11ish. I think I'll be able to switch my brain over well enough.

Several more days of busy are to come. Robyn described it pretty well : "talk to ya later when you surface from rehearsals."

Come see things!

Equity Showcase in 116. There are 6 short plays, for the "suggested donation" price of $10.
Performances are 7:30 August 4-7 and August 10-13. Plays range from comedy to drama.

Europe in Grant Hall 306. One night only performance/live music/drinks/live auction/party. Did I mention the drinks are included in the ticket price? Tickets are $20, 7:30 August 7. There is one preview, of the play only, Sunday August 6, 7:30, tickets $10.