urban earth mother

It's my mom's birthday today and I don't get to call her and give her greetings :( By the time I get off the plane at Heathrow, she'll be off at work at her new job and when she get's home (she's doing 2nd shift) it will be the wee hours in London.

I'm going to London on Monday. This will be my second overseas birthday, and buch less of a whirlwind trip than the one for the Big Three Oh was. And I get to see The Doc sigh . He has planned breakfast in bed for the birthday and then we are going to a matinee of The Moustrap . Comments My comments were off-line for a bit as the company I was using is no more. But the good folks at HaloScan have taken up the hosting, even retaining the old comments.

Just let me finish up the semester and get these silly work trainings out of the way. Oh, and it might not be until I get back from London either (no, I'll be good and blog before then)

I just looked up "Teru" on Google and an I was the second listing! I wonder what it will take for me to be the I'm Feeling Lucky result

Well I was wrong about the snow being all gone. It cooled down enough the there's still a bit left in the grass and a few light flurries are whiping about in the air

I knew it was going to be cold this morning (30s moving down into the teens tonight), so I hauled out the wool pants and layered up with shorts, knee socks (the pants are unlined military surplus and really itchy without the extra layer), JOP t-shirt and turtleneck. It wasn't until I was dressed and looking for my winter coat that I finally looked outside and saw the dusting of snow we got during the night. Snow! I love snow, and don't see nearly enough of it in the city. All my winter memories are of growing up on the mountain and the huge snowfalls we would get every winter. Snow made everything more magical. When the trees were heavy with their white canopy, the woods took on an element of the surreal. They could hide fairy castles and be alien worlds all in the same game. We lived on a hill (actually the side of a mountain, but our whole yard was on an incline) and it was perfect for sledding. The long stretch between the house and the yard, or the back fenc...

Give them the Ann Coulter Talking Action Figure . Says 14 different phrases, including such gems as. "“Why not go to war for oil? We need oil. What do Hollywood celebrities think fuels their jets? How do they think their cocaine is delivered?" and "Liberals can't just come out and say they want to take more of our money, kill babies, and discriminate on the basis of race." This woman just makes my skin crawl. (bonus horror for the kids: TOP GUN George W. Bush Action Figure )

My JOP shirt finally arrived today! It got lost due to the Royal Mail strike and they were going to send me a new one, but then lo and behold, the original one I ordered on October 1 showed up today. I've no idea if they already sent the replacement out yet (although I emailed to say this one arrived), but hey, two shirts is cool too. And, I was their first US customer!

*sigh* Payraise not in this cheque. But it, and the restro pay should be in the next one (in two weeks)

"Miss Digital World is the first ever virtual beauty contest, strictly for the most beautiful and intriguing virtual models made using the most advanced 3D graphics tools." What I'm not understanding is who this contest is gared toward. They seem to be soliciting images from women, but don't say how the artists enter the contest. What if I wanted to do both? Sure, I don't have that sort of software just lying about, but I'm on a pretty big campus and it would be fun to try it.

Fuckin' A Dittybag, I got me a pay raise! And not just a raise, mind you, but a raise that is retroactive back to May 1!!! If they managed to get all the paper work in on time, I should be seeing a VERY nice paycheck next week.

From Boston.com Massachusetts' highest court ruled Tuesday that same-sex couples are legally entitled to wed under the state constitution, but stopped short of allowing marriage licenses to be issued to the couples who challenged the law. The court ruled 4-3, ordering the Legislature to come up with a solution within 180 days. The Supreme Judicial Court's ruling closely matches the 1999 Vermont Supreme Court decision, which led there to the Legislature's approval in 2000 of civil unions that give couples many of the same benefits of marriage. The decision is the latest in a series of victories for gay rights advocates, but fell short of what the seven couples who sued the state had hoped to receive: the right to marry their longtime companion. The Massachusetts question will now return to the Legislature, which already is considering a constitutional amendment that would legally define a marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The state's powerful...

I'm ill again. This is the third time since July. That is much more than normal for me. Glad tomorrow's a holiday so I can just sleep.

For some of you, it's just another Guy Fawkes Day. For other's it's just Wednesday. For me, it's The Doc's birthday. Happy Birthday sweetheart! But November 5th isn't just a day for cute babies to be born in Croydon. It's also a day for cute babies to be born in Manila, evidenced by today also being the birthday of Accordion Guy Jose Martin "Joey" deVilla . Making it a good day overall for Martins of the world. Joey blogs other birthdays today , most notable, for me at least, Armin Shimerman.

Herr Doktor is, as I write, getting some much needed rest, somewhere in London. He went down this morning to look at some roommate situations and ended up doing a lot of biking before setting in at a café in Fulham to email me. Last night, as I was going to bed, belly and brain full of wine, he called me as he had just gotten up. He's been really stressed about taking a new job and moving away and he's been really pissy all week. But I tried to let it roll off me as I know change can be hard and there is always that fear of the unknown. But, as I was saying, he called me and it was so good to hear his voice again. We don't talk on the phone as much as we did before I went to London. This is probably a good thing as even though he had some wonderful international rates (so much better than mine that he was almost always the one to call), it still adds up when you call every day and talk for at least an hour each time. Most of the time we communicate through emai...

I had originally planned to be Tinkerbell at work for Halloween, but then the thought occurred that with my new shorter hair and better figure, I could be Mr. B Natural , known best to fans of MST3K from the short before War of the Colossal Beast (ep 319, if you're counting). Tried to make a jacket, but then I got sick and had no desire to sit down and sew, so I cheated and bought a blazer at the Goodwill for $6 and accessorized with the felt that I bought. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite capture the full appeal of Mr B as the jacket is kind of big and doesn't show off my breasts, but the shiny leotard is visible (the word "Speedo" fortunately covered) and it is, I think, a suitable scary image for the feast of the dead. See Buzz, it's fun to be psychotic

The Visual Thesaurus, a Dictionary of the English Language is a techno word nerd wet dream! I could spend weeks playing with this

I guess it's neat that everyone wants to be a dork these days, but it sure makes me feel trendy. But then, I think I might have even been invisble to the dorks. If Ian R. Williams, in the article 'Twilight of the dorks?' in today's Salon , is to be believed, I'm more of a loser since I didn't have any particular thing that I gravitated towards It's important to define what I truly mean by "dork," just so he or she doesn't get casually lumped in with "losers," "burnouts" and "lone psychopath bullies." To me, the dork is somebody who didn't fit in at school and who therefore sought consolation in a particular field -- computers, "Star Trek," theater, heavy metal, medieval war reenactments, fantasy, sports trivia, even isolation sports like cross-country and ice skating. I'd also include the Anne Rice obsessed (goths), the car enthusiasts (gearheads), and the seemingly homosexual (gaywads). Being...

I like online tests. So far this week I've learned that I have not been http://www.angelfire.com/crazy2/you17/aliens/AAtest.html">abducted by aliens and that I'm a flaming liberal . Neither really suprised me. My Political Compass: Economic Left/Right: -6.38 Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.95

Boss Lady sent me home. Hey, I've got a ton of sick days saved up, so I might as well be here feeling mildly nauseous than at work feeling mildly nauseous. I still have to go out later and buy cat food, but I can nap and read and all that other day-off stuff first. And eat bland bread products. Joy.