life in stennieville

2002-07-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

2002-07-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

2002-07-27T05:49:00.000-07:00

Today's regularly-scheduled weblog has been pre-empted so that we may bring you a special presentation of Blogathon 2002. Click here to tune in!

2002-07-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

#3 below isn't correct, actually -- I did move the whole site over here to stennieville.com a few months back. Before that it was at my Earthlink webspace. Tomorrow's the Blogathon! I have ten sponsors so far (thanks, Chrisp!), and a total of $181.00! Woooooooo! Only nineteen dollars shy of $200, so if you're thinking about sponsoring, go for it! Tonight will be a whirlwind of preparation -- renting videos, grocery shopping, rearranging the desk so it faces the TV in the next room, etc. Then early to bed. If you want to tune in for the Blogathon tomorrow, you'll find me blogging here.

2002-07-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

It's The Friday Five! All about blogging today... 1. How long have you had a weblog? Since March 1, 2002. 2. What was your first post about? It was about how my friend ThePete had been nagging me to put a blog on my site, but how I refused to call it a blog. I guess I've come around on that a little, although I still don't care for the word "blog." It's an ugly sounding word, isn't it? 3. How many changes (name, location, etc.) of your weblog have there been, if more than one? None, actually. But it's still young yet. 4. What CMS (content management system) do you use? Do you like it or do you want to try something else? I use Blogger currently for this blog, but I've installed GreyMatter for my Blogathon blog and I suspect I'm going to like it much much better. It was pretty tough to set up, especially the template (which doesn't even look all that good), but I enjoy taking on a project like that now and again and getting it figured out. In any case, after the Blogathon, I will probably move my everyday blog over to GreyMatter as well. 5. Do you read people who have both a journal and a weblog? Or do you prefer to read people who have all of their writing in one central place? Well, I don't really know what the difference is, to be honest with you. I've seen a few sites where people have two or three different blogs going on -- a personal blog, and then two topic-specific blogs, for example. But a journal and a weblog... what's the difference? Feel free to enlighten me.

2002-07-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

Cordle (�cuidado, hay llamas!) writes in his blog: "I've decided to sponsor someone for the Blogathon. I picked Stennie because her 24 hours of blogging will support the World Cancer Research Fund, she takes part in the Monday Mission, and she lived in Bellingham." My heart still lives there, Cordle. And a bunch of my friends, too. And people who smoke lots of pot (those are not necessarily the same people. Necessarily).

2002-07-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

Why can't they make Raid in "Fresh Spring Fragrance" or something?

2002-07-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

I was talking to customer service rep Shane today at my former insurance company, and he was most helpful and cheery -- which is more than I expected, since I dumped them for another insurance company (who, incidentally, hung up on me today). Anyway, Shane was very understanding and helped me out with some paperwork I needed, and when we were all done he said, "Also, listen, I'm sure you've heard this before, but you should be on the radio, because your voice is just perfect for something like that." !!! So I said to him, "SHANE, COME BACK!!! COME BACK, SHANE!!! MA'S GOT CHORES FOR YOU!!" Oh, sorry. Where was I? Oh yes -- thank you, Shane, wherever you may be. You made my day today. Cordle has sponsored me for the Blogathon! I'm touched by this, because Cordle is a complete stranger to me, other than I've seen his site linked at PromoGuy.net and clicked over there once or twice. Thank you, Cordle! Everyone go visit Cordle's site now, and tell him Stennie sent you. Wooo, Cordle will see a HUGE increase of traffic now! The three people who visit my site are going to come stampeding over, Cordle! Hope you've got enough bandwidth. Heh. Just being sarcastic little me. I didn't blog yesterday because I had a shitty day, and I didn't want to take it out on you, my dear readers. All three of you. Four now, including Cordle. But all is well today, or at least all is better than yesterday. My Dad is super-excited because the Fred Meyer near him has just opened up its self-serve scanning register, where you scan your own groceries and pay using an ATM machine. Dad can't wait to go shopping. "If any of you are trying to find me," he e-mails (to me and just about everyone he knows), "I will be there scanning my groceries. This is more fun than a video game." Dad's been waiting years for something like this. Some bastard stole my mom's FIRST tomato from her garden, right off her back porch! Mom writes: "I'm learning to live with it. :(" Poor Mom. When I find the thieving scum... something very bad will happen.

2002-07-22T23:01:00.000-07:00

Big Pimpin' Did I mention you can still SPONSOR ME for the Blogathon? Anonymous did it, why not you, too? I thank you, and the World Cancer Research Fund thanks you.

2002-07-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

Everything But the Bathroom Sink Well, so much for my little home improvement project. I couldn't even get started on it -- the old faucet head won't come off. At first I thought maybe it wasn't threaded, but upon closer inspection, it is indeed screwed on there. And cemented, evidently. So much for that.

2002-07-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

PromoGuy's Monday Mission! 1. Do you remember your first encounter with computers? Tell me about that. My roommate Glen, during my last year at college, had a 286 that ran MS-DOS and had a word processing program on it called PFS Pro-Write. I used it for all of my essays at school, and also for the one-act play I was working on at the time. 2. How late can you stay up and still be functional the next day? Do you do that very often? Well, last night, for example, I didn't go to bed until 1 AM. Although I did snooze on the couch in the hour between midnight and one. I'd say I'm functional today. I do it way too often. I'm always angry at myself in the morning, but at night I can't sleep until one or two AM anyway, so why not stay up? 3. When was the last really good hug you got from another adult? Who was it and what was the situation? I get good hugs from people all the time. I got one from Scotty B last night. That wasn't a REALLY good hug, but it was a fine hug, as hugs go. Randy & Heather both gave me good hugs when I got back from Alaska. Everyone in my family gave me good hugs *in* Alaska. 4. Do you still like to draw? (Not do you think you draw well, or do others, but do you like to?) If not, how come? Did you get discouraged at some point? I don't like to draw; I don't know that I ever did. Maybe I am the one exception to your "all kids like to draw" rule, but I doubt it -- I suspect there's many of us. When I was a kid, I preferred to read or write than draw. However, my kindergarten art teacher, Mrs. Pallingston, told my mother (in a lovely note that Mom showed me many years later) that I had real artistic talent and that I should be encouraged in that direction. Which is really funny, because all I can really remember about Mrs. Pallingston is how she used to look at all my paintings, say "It needs more purple," and smear paint across my work. Which doesn't seem all that encouraging to me. 5. Have you ever overslept on a day you had something important going on? What's the story there? YES. When I was at CalArts, I was directing a scene for a theatre class, a scene from And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, which turned out to be a TERRIBLY difficult play. Anyway, on the day that our scene was to be previewed in class, I suggested to the cast that we meet at 8 AM, one hour before class, to have one more rehearsal and polish off some rough edges. I woke up at 9:15, over an hour late for rehearsal and fifteen minutes late for class. I felt AWFUL. I wouldn't have blamed them if my actors decided to quit right there and leave me holding the bag. I bought them all a box of chocolates (it was a prop in the play) and apologized profusely, and they eventually forgave me. I still can't believe I did that. Slept right through my alarm. I still feel unbelieveably bad about that. Because I'll tell you this much: if it had been one of the actors instead of me, I would have fired her on the spot, no questions asked. "You can't be bothered to make it to rehearsal? You're gone." I've always had a very low tolerance for that sort of thing, especially when the end result is that you waste other people's time, people who are there to work. So I'm still ashamed that I made the same mistake myself -- on the other hand, it's taught me to be a little more tolerant about lateness. 6. Ever go shopping for something you know you can't afford? You look at it and even think about how it will look when you get it home, somehow you justify the cost and believe it can happen? And just before you get to the counter come to your senses? What was the last thing you almost bought, but thought better of it? And why the heck do we do that to ourselves? I don't think I've ever made it as far as checkout with a purchase and not gone through with buying it. I'm not much of a window-shopper -- if I go out shopping, it's because I want to buy something and I have the money (or more likely because I need to buy something). And if I go to the mall to buy one particular thing and spend more than a half hour trying to find it, I refuse to go home empty-handed. Can't find the right shoes? Fine, then I'll buy a book. Just something to make my time worthwhile. 7. (It begins again...) It's all such a blur now. I'd asked you to help me wake up but the alarm didn't go off. It was 10 till and just I knew I'd be late. Somehow you got me here on time. How did you do that? It's all done with mirrors. In actuality, you aren't here at all. You're still home in bed. BONUS: Can't you see, you belong to me? I belong to NO ONE but myself. Sorry, Promo.

2002-07-21T01:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, so, I lied. Yesterday was NOT the last day for you to sign up to sponsor me. You can sponsor me right up until the end of the event. Yesterday was the last day for bloggers to sign up, and all bloggers had to have at least three sponsors in order to participate as of yesterday. However, I'd like to thank my Mom and two anonymous sponsors. One of them I know, the other is a mystery! I have a home improvement project! I bought a water faucet strainer today, and I'm going to take the bathroom sink apart. YES! "But Stennie," I hear you say, "what do you want to go and do that for? You rent an apartment. Your landlord should take care of that for you." Well, yes. "Should" is the operative word there. Here's what happens on the rare occasions that I ask for something to be fixed: 1) Call landlord, leave message on voice mail. 2) Two days later, call back, leave another message. 3) At 11 PM, receive a call back from the landlord. Give permission for workers to enter my apartment in my absence, with the strict instructions not to let the cats out. 4) Return home from work two days later, discover that the workers have been there. Can tell because there is a huge mess, and the thing that was broken is now even more broken. I don't have the patience. Plus, I like a bit of do-it-myselfing sometimes. Tune in tomorrow to see me completely change my stance on the subject of home improvement, after I've actually attempted it.

2002-07-20T00:43:00.000-07:00

Another new sponsor for the Blogathon! krpm1 (a.k.a. Kelly, my friend from work) has climbed aboard the Stennieville bandwagon. Why don't you? Today is your LAST DAY if you want to sponsor me, so the good news is, this is the last time I'll be pimping it. Mom -- this means you! Sponsor me now! Total sponsors so far: five. Total pledged so far: $114. Woo hoo! Once again, all proceeds go to the World Cancer Research Fund. One theme I've seriously considered for the Blogathon is "12 Movies in 24 Hours," but I'm afraid I'll get a couple of duds and they'll put me to sleep. Best to steer clear of that. I will be doing a few "live" movie reviews, though, and of course there is the awesome list that my sponsor Mike gave me, and I have a few other things planned. You'll just have to tune in to see -- one week from today! I'm sleepy just thinking about it.

2002-07-19T00:09:00.000-07:00

It's The Friday Five! 1. Where were you born? Seattle General Hospital in Seattle, Washington. 2. If you still live there, where would you rather move to? If you don't live there, do you want to move back? Why or why not? I do not live there, but I would definitely consider moving back, and in fact have many times. Actually, I say "moving back," but I've never actually lived there, aside from the first two years of my life (which I don't remember all that well). But my family's all from there, and my mom lives there now, and I know the area very well and love it. 3. Where in the world do you feel the safest? Bellingham, Washington (and outlying areas -- such as Birch Bay, Deception Pass, LaConner... and all those old places I miss). This is not "safe" in a physical sense -- I don't fear for my safety here any more than I have any other place I've lived. Bellingham provides more of an emotional and mental safety. Maybe that was why I had to leave. 4. Do you feel you are well-traveled? No. I am poorly-traveled, if such a thing exists. When I was younger I would talk about the places I wanted to go, and the things I'd like to see, but now as I'm approaching my mid-thirties I'm really itching to travel. I've never even been out of this country, unless you count Canada (which I don't) and Tijuana (ditto). I've never had a passport in my life, nor had the need for one. I want a passport. I want to need one. 5. Where is the most interesting place you've been? New York City is probably the most interesting place anybody's ever been. It's certainly the most interesting place I've ever been. I could probably spend ten years there and not see all it has to offer.

2002-07-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

Note to anyone who is considering sponsoring me for the Blogathon: you only have two days left! You don't have to pay by Saturday but you need to fill out the pledge form by Saturday, July 20 if you're thinking about sponsoring me. Hint, hint. Thanks again to all my sponsors -- I'm really looking forward to the event. In fact, I had a dream about it last night. I dreamed I was doing the Blogathon -- everything was going great, I wasn't tired or anything and I had plenty to write about. Then for no reason at all, with three hours left to go, I suddenly decided to leave and go to a play. Just upped and left. Tomorrow the boss leaves for a week. I have a feeling next week will be a very stressful one, with the boss and one tech working 3,000 miles away and probably needing hardware and software they forgot to bring with them or order. And calling me and asking why I didn't just look into my crystal ball to see what they were going to need ahead of time and send it to them. Just call me Claire. Claire Voyant.

2002-07-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

Ants Marching, Part II: Revenge of the Ants The ants are back with a vengeance. Last night I came home to find them scurrying around the floor by my desk -- as well as on the desk, in the desk, and indeed in my keyboard. I couldn't find the Raid (is it possible I used it all last time??), so I pulled out this old leftover flea & tick spray I had from a few years back (do those things expire? what happens to them if they do -- they become less lethal?) and sprayed it liberally around my desk. I even sprayed it directly into the keyboard. That was kind of fun, watching the ants stagger out from between the keys, gasping for breath like little World War II air raid victims. Not that air raid victims are anything to laugh at, mind you. But the ants sure were amusing. Must be a bad year for insects. I haven't had problems with ants before, except the first week I moved in (when they all congregated around the cat's bowl). Hopefully this will be the last of them, although I do wish I could figure out where they're gaining access. I don't suppose it helps that I eat in front of the computer and leave crumbs lying around the desk. Today I brought home a can of compressed air from work to blow all the little ant corpses out of the keyboard. The Onion is back today after a long hiatus. Sample headline: Israeli Bus Driver Wants Really Big Raise. New reviews are up, for those who care about such things.

2002-07-17T12:46:00.000-07:00

CNN.com - Man arrested for burning kitten on grill - July 17, 2002. Fuckers.

2002-07-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

PromoGuy writes: Hey if you are gonna go to GreyMatter why not just go to MovableType? It's just about as much of a bother as GM, and there are lots of folks who could guide you along (ahem). Just a thought. My first instinct was to go with MT, just because it's spoken of so highly around the web. However, the installation instructions made my head explode. It wasn't pretty. I was cleaning up bits of brain and skull off my monitor for a week. GreyMatter's support forum included a link to "Installation for Dummies," which is right up my alley. Yesterday was the anti-blogathon. There was a supreme lack of bloggage amongst my pals and myself. It was like the Great American Blogout. I did mean to write yesterday but came up empty on subjects. Such is life sometimes. Hopefully, not on the day of the blogathon.

2002-07-15T22:46:00.000-07:00

Damn, YACCS commenting is down, and I'm dying to comment on Lily's blog. She writes: You mean everything in the paper isn't true? I'm shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you. Next you'll be telling me there's gambling going on at Rick's. Here's what I would have put in her comments if they were working: "I'm shocked, SHOCKED to hear there's gambling going on in this establishment!" -- "Here are your winnings, sir." -- "Oh, thank you." So, yeah. Comments are down. Bummer. Another problem I won't have when I transfer over to GreyMatter. I think the blog migration should be complete by August 1st. Right now I'm trying to figure out how (if possible) to transfer over my Blogger archives. Evidently the people in my neighborhood have grown tired of writing "WASH ME" on the windows of filthy cars and are starting to get creative. Seen scrawled on the dirty window of a car down the street: "LOVE BITES." Next to it, someone else agreed, "WORD!"

2002-07-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

PromoGuy.net Presents: Monday Mission 2.28 1. Have you ever sold anything through an online auction? What did you sell and did you make very much? Haven't sold anything yet, but I may start doing that soon. 2. Have you ever bought anything through an online auction? How was your experience? I've bought lots of stuff. Most of the time my experience has been good. A few times I've had some slow shippers, but I've never had a problem with someone who walked off with my money or anything. 3. Do you like the sun? Getting a suntan? Have you ever had a bad sunburn? I like the sun better than rain, certainly. I'm not a sun worshipper, though. I have gotten several bad sunburns in my life, but none that really stick out in my memory. I tend to be more of a mole these days. 4. Are you a vegetarian? Why? If not, have you ever considered it? Nope. Never considered it. I like meat. Yum. Had steak last night. 5. Suppose you are getting into your car after you've just made your purchase from a store you visit twice a week. You suddenly realize you had a .35� item in your hand and you forgot to pay for it. What would you do next? Get in my car and drive away. Actually, I don't know. If the store isn't really busy and I wouldn't have to wait on line forever, I might walk back in the store and hand over 35 cents. But if the store is really busy and I would have to wait forever, I'd probably just shrug it off. It's not going to break anybody. No one's going to lose their job over a till balance that's off by 35 cents. Incidentally -- what the hell am I buying that only costs 35 cents?? 6. Sometimes it seems that there is just not enough time to do everything that must be done. Was there anything you wanted to accomplish this weekend that didn't get done? Yeah, I would have liked to get Mom's computer done and shipped out. That wasn't a time issue so much as a hardware issue (I think). There's always stuff I'd like to get done. I didn't vacuum or do my laundry, either. 7. What is your favorite game to play with a group and/or an individual? (board game, computer game, athletic, etc.) I like Trivial Pursuit, but no one seems to enjoy it as much as I do. Online, I enjoy a good game of Acronym, and on Saturday discovered AcroChallenge. BONUS: One headline why believe it? Uhh... I don't know.

2002-07-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

Success. I managed to get GreyMatter installed and configured, set up a template that I like and that almost matches this site (color scheme is the same, anyway), and I will be using it to publish my Blogathon Blog. Check out the beta version here. Blamb got a 50 on my quiz! That is a darned site better than some of you people who supposedly know me. However, Blamb -- Grease II? I should knock off 25 points just for that. Wanna hear something stupid and embarrassing and funny I did the other day while gassing up the car? Too bad, I'm going to tell you anyway; it's my blog. I pulled into the Thrify Gas around the corner from work on my way home, and while I was filling up the car I decided to squeegee off the back window because it's FILTHY (as is the whole car, the car I swore I would wash every weekend when I got it... whatever). The woman at the pump behind me was using the squeegee for our little station, so I wandered around trying to find another one. They were all in use! So I went back to my car and waited for this woman to finish with the squeegee, and she was TAKING FOREVER. Finally, she finishes off her windshield and starts back to the bucket. I walked over and met her there, smiled, and took the squeegee from her as she was about to put it back in the bucket. By this time my tank was full, so I washed off the back window quickly and then put the squeegee back in the bucket. As I was getting into my car, I noticed the lady behind me going back to the bucket to get the squeegee again! She hadn't done her back window yet! I had STOLEN it from her while she was still using it!! Silly me. Still, she was taking forever with it. For all I know, she's still there, squeegee-ing away.

2002-07-13T19:08:00.000-07:00

All right, let's see how I did on today's list... 1. Done as it can be. Mom's modem appears to be hosed; I'll have to replace it Monday. 2. Done. Pictures look good, but my workspace is a mess, so you'll all just have to wait to see scans. Sorry. 3. Not done yet. 4. Uh... not done. 5. One third done (bought it, haven't written or sent it). I went to Rite Aid to have them do my photos at the ONE HOUR PHOTO BOOTH (according to the great big signs all over Rite Aid). As I was filling out my envelope, I was told by the dork working there that they weren't taking any more one-hour orders today. This is the second time this has happened to me, at two separate Rite Aids, in a matter of days. The first time, at a Rite Aid store near my work, I was told by the lady at the counter, "We're out of the one hour envelopes. You'll have to do the next day ones. You'll get your pictures tomorrow afternoon." Because you RAN OUT OF ENVELOPES?? Today, apparently, at my local Rite Aid, "the guy" had a family emergency. I don't know who "the guy" is. Presumably he's "the guy" who does all the work at my local Rite Aid. "Your best bet," the cashier told me, practically over his shoulder as he was WALKING AWAY FROM ME, "is the Rite Aid off McBean." "Where's that?" I asked him. He began to describe to me where it was, still walking away and really not interested at all. This new Rite Aid store is about ten miles away. "Sounds to me like a better bet is the Savon across the street," I told him. Which is where I went, thank you very much. Then off to Walmart, usually a great source of blogging material, but today I found nothing to bitch about there. I even got a good parking spot. On the plus side today -- I'm making pretty good strides in deciphering the mystery that is GreyMatter. I managed to get the damn thing installed and configured. Now all I need to do is to figure out the template. Right now all I've got is black text on a white background. Too bad I can't figure out frames and stuff. I wonder if I could get DCG to pay for me to take web design classes.

2002-07-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

How can I be out of Sudafed? I take about one Sudafed a year. Ehh, I guess if I found it, it would be expired anyway. I've been thinking of giving Stennieville a complete overhaul -- new design, new graphics, that kind of thing. Don't get too anxious, though, because I doubt you'll be seeing the results of it for some time. It'll just be something that I torture myself with on a nightly basis, until I'm completely bald from tearing my hair out. Things to do today: 1. Finish Mom's computer. 2. Get film developed. 3. Meet with the "movie club" (i.e., Paul) about The Quiet Man. 4. Website updates (Stennieville & Poundsqueeze.com) 5. Thank you card for Rob & Tami. Good golly, I truly have nothing to blog about at all this morning. I hope this doesn't happen the day of the Blogathon. Say, speaking of the Blogathon -- Thank you to my sponsors Bet and Michelle (Bet was my mystery sponsor). This brings my total sponsors up to four, with a total amount pledged of $104!! Woo hoo! Thanks gang! Thank you gifts will be forthcoming, so you should all make sure I have your snail mail addresses (I think the only one I'm missing is Michelle's).

2002-07-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

Well, hell, I didn't do the Friday Five last week (actually I DID, but Blogger was down and I couldn't post it). And since it's down today, I'll do last week's: 1. Where are you right now? At home, at my desk, chatting with the poundsqueeze gang. 2. What have you lost recently? I had a Bill Bryson book that I wanted to take with me to Alaska, and I turned the whole friggin' apartment upside down trying to find it. But I don't think I technically lost it recently -- it was probably lost a long time ago. I just didn't look for it until recently. 3. What was the first CD you ever purchased? Does that embarrass you now? John Cougar Mellencamp's Big Daddy. While it doesn't embarrass me, I don't have it anymore, either. 4. What is your favorite kind of writing pen? Sanford's Uniball Micro point, in either blue or black. 5. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Ben 'n' Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie.

2002-07-11T23:46:00.000-07:00

An update on my supposed mosquito bites. I think I've actually got poison ivy. Why do I think this? Because mosquito bites don't spread, in my experience. In any case, the Cortizone and Lanacane seem to be doing the trick, so that's a good thing. A word or two on the subject of poison ivy. If I were a comic book hero (Super Stennie, perhaps), my archnemesis would be Poison Ivy. Except I think that archnemesis name is taken already... maybe in the old Dick Tracy comic? Someone out there will know -- leave a comment if you do. When I was a youngster, I could get a raging case of poison ivy just by looking at it. If I happened to traipse through it in the woods, well, that was the end. I'm the only kid I know who ever missed a day of school on account of poison ivy. My pediatrician, Dr. Knoop, said I got the worst poison ivy he ever saw. The largest poison ivy blister I ever measured was on the middle finger of my right hand, and it was three inches long. This is at a time in my life when my middle finger itself was probably only three and a half inches long. I'd get poison ivy between my toes, which gave me the appearance of being web-footed. Summers in New Jersey were unbearable for two reasons: humidity, and poison ivy. Oh, and interminably long Monopoly games with my brother. I'm pleased to report that this particular case of poison ivy is quite benign by comparison. I'm concerned about the spreading, though, because it's impossible to treat it without touching it. Unless I want to run out and buy surgical gloves. Which, granted, could come in handy at a later date.