Newsworthy

I should really start watching the news. I haven't really seen a weather report in a while. Who knew we were supposed to get all this snow today? Well, apparently everyone but me.

We got out of work early again today. I'm loving this salary thing more and more. Although, I feel like I'm getting nothing accomplished at work. I keep getting interrupted in the middle of things.

Also, I managed to get a paper cut today in the lunch room on some tin foil. I haven't done that before, but let me tell you... Ouch! That hurts way more than regular paper cuts. And it bled a whole lot too. So, I played with the first aid kit in the lab today so I didn't contaminate all the stuff I was looking at. Especially since I was doing a lot of confirmation tests for blood.

It took me an hour to drive home. It usually takes about 25 minutes, but people really freak out about snow. Once we hit the bridge, no one did over 15 miles per hour. Don't you think that's overly conservative? I do. I mean, you have to at least do 40 so that you don't need to use your windshield wipers. Sadly, mine were a big mess of snow and ice and not actually all that helpful the last, oh... 10 miles of the trip.

Now that I'm home and the car's parked in the lot they're working wonderfully. But my feet are really very cold.

It's currently 18 degrees outside. With the wind chill it's supposed to feel like 5. The forecast claims we're getting 6-10 inches of snow. And me, without my shovel. I knew there was something I was supposed to do...

Whoops.


End Blog.

PS - Remy likes the snow. I need a fenced yard or something so I can really play with her. I know she wants to run around in it, but I have to keep her on a leash. It's kind of sad.

Lost and Found

I had a dream that I was at the airport with my dog and I lost her. Not only did I lose her, but I didn't realize she was missing. Someone brough her back to me and said, "Um, isn't this your dog?" It was an hour since I remembered seeing her.

Are we sure I'm cut out for this whole "dog ownership" thing? I mean, I'm still nowhere close to being a grown-up, right? Isn't the rule if you still use the word grown-up then you aren't really one because only adults use the word adult?

I'm pretty sure I'm not a grown-up.

And I may be prone to losing dogs.


End Blog.

Driving in Ice and Snow: A How To

Obviously I have a good father. I know this because I had a lecture on how to drive in ice and snow. Actually, I probably had several. Eventually I rolled my eyes and tuned them out. But everyone should have that at some point in their lives so they don't end up like the drivers I saw on the road today.

People don't know how to drive in ice and snow. Although, I'm not really happy about their driving in the rain either, so I didn't really expect much from them.

Therefore, I've come up with several tips for everyone on how to drive in the hazardous weather conditions today:

1. The faster you drive, the more friction and heat your quickly rotating tires are forming with the pavement. Heat melts ice. So, the faster you drive, the less chance you have of ice under your tires. Simple physics, really. Aren't all the well traveled highways always better than unused side streets? I rest my case.

2. Stop as quickly as possible. This also creates heat on the pavement, melting ice directly beneath your tires. People who take their time stopping have a much greater chance of sliding or skidding as they do so. Not only are they producing less heat, they're giving the ice a greater chance to get them. Stopping fast prevents this.

3. If you are already moving and come to a side street that looks to have a considerable amount of snow on it, don’t worry! Your car is large and will be able to drive through that snow without any trouble at all. After all, it’s only frozen water. No big deal.

4. It's been said that you shouldn’t drive at all in blizzard conditions or "snow emergencies", but that’s actually the best time to drive anywhere because no one else is on the road. Finally! All those other people won't be in your way. The officials are just trying to scare you off the roads so they can have them all to themselves.

If you follow these rules, you shouldn't ever find yourself out of control in your vehicle, regardless of rear/front/four wheel drive. But, should you forget them and start skidding, sit back and enjoy the ride as if you are in an amusement park. It's likely one of the biggest thrills you'll have and you didn't even have to pay for it!

I hope that you find these tips useful. Stay safe out there.

Remember, always use your seat belt.

End Blog.

(Disclaimer: The author of this post is not responsible for you or anything that happens to you. In fact, should you try to sue her, she will counter with a lawsuit of her own based on your complete lack of understanding of sarcasm. Also, please note, these are not words of wisdom from the author's father, as she has previously stated she tunes him out regularly.)

Go Home Jack Frost

I was just listening to the news and the weather came on. The forecaster started talking about this "winter storm" that we're currently having. (It's been raining for 2 days.) First of all, you can't call anything a winter storm unless it's cold outside. It's been nearly 70 the past 2 days. Secondly, as weather people know, it's not winter yet. That doesn't actually happen until the end of December. This is not a winter storm.

Now that I've said all of this – I'll let you know what he was actually talking about.

Apparently it's about to get way cold here. The high – yes, the HIGH – on Thursday is 28. Brrr. Today at work I wore a long sleeved t-shirt, a sweater, and my coat all day because I was freezing. It was 69 degrees outside today. Have I mentioned that I work indoors?

Anyway, we're supposed to have sleet and possible snow Wednesday night into Thursday, with no accumulation. I also don't think that qualifies as a "winter storm" though. I mean… Missouri gets real snow, right?

I'm so not looking forward to the temperature change. It's been so nice. Winter is the worst season. What happened to all that "global warming" that's happening all over the place? Where is El Niño?

I'm not sure why that bothered me so much that I had to complain about it. But it did. Stupid Winter Storm Watch. *clings to nice weather*

Don't leave me!

End Blog.

Thanksgiving Photo Log

Here are a few photos from the holiday. Possibly if I'm ambitious I shall tell you stories of travel. Like how I continually miss exits, the "Don't Drive Into Smoke" signs, and the confusing toll system. Although, you may never read about those things because there were like, 12 things I thought I should write about on the drive and I already don't remember most of them. I should have a dictaphone or someone that follows me around that knows shorthand. That could be fun, no?

But nothing's more fun than pictures! This is more enjoyable anyway.


Upon arrival in Texas, we attempt to settle the yellow dogs down and take a "girls only" picture. Sadly, you can see Dad's whole left side. Pretend he isn't there.

Don't I look nice after 9 hours of travel?



A doggie family photo. No easy task. Isn't it really weird to see 4 dogs inside? I still can't get over it.

Look, Remy's smiling.



Thanksgiving. My dog eats way fast and in the laying position - Closer to the food that way.

I shoveled food into my mouth in much the same fashion. Nothing beats Mom's stuffing. Yumm-o.



Zonked out on all that tryptophan. She's taking after me already.

Man, that couch is evil. It's so comfy and you kinda just fall into it. Snoooooooze.



My sleepin' Remikins. We're not big enough football fans to stay awake. Though, she was cheering for the Longhorns. See that team color around her neck?



Bookends. Savvy and Remy, my two girls. It's somewhat eerie how similar they are.



I must have just woken up. I don't even remember this being taken.


Overall it was a lovely trip. Rem was well behaved and everyone got along. It was nice to see the 'rents as well. And I swindled a free oil change out of my dad and enough food to feed an army out of mom.

My car now has almost 22,000 miles on it and I'm quite sure it no longer has a new car smell. (I couldn't smell it but others could.) Now, I think it mostly smells a little doggie. But, such is life. All my things will smell like that soon. She's worth it though. Remy likes to love you. Lots.

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Opposable Thumbs

Remy didn't pack a single thing for the trip to Texas. I told her we were leaving in the morning but she didn't seem to care. There was an excuse about not having opposable thumbs, but I think that's pretty lame. I mean, I hate to pack and I did it anyway.

We just went outside before turning in for the night. Something in the darkness scared the bajeezus out of both of us. I'm not really sure what it was, but I'm telling myself it was a raccoon that scampered back off into the woods when it saw us. Whatever it was, it was pretty creepy. I need a good flashlight, me thinks. Not just for me, but for crime scenes as well. So, if you're in the market for a Christmas gift... I want a really good rechargable flashlight.

Anyway, after being scared by the "raccoon", Remy had a hard time focusing on why she was outside in the first place. So, don't be surprised if we get mauled by a raccoon someday. Or... you know... whatever the heck it was out there lurking in the dark - opposable thumbs or not.


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Family Pictures

What I really need is a better camera that doesn't have a broken self timer. Because I'm sure I could take way cuter pictures if I could actually use a flash and have the camera an appropriate distance away. Alas, that's not the case.



Of course, there's a high chance that these pictures would be waaaaaaay cuter if I wasn't in them. =) Surprisingly enough, I'm not torturing her. She really likes to be right on top of you. She fell alseep in my lap earlier... just snoring away. I'm certain this dog is part lab and not golden retriever.



Speaking of retrieving... We played fetch today. She's actually a pretty good retriever. She was so incredibly excited to play. She would run and get her toy and sprint back to me, sliding head first across the carpet and into my lap. Adorable. She makes me laugh.

Oh, and she loves Marrowbones more than life itself, I think. Thank goodness she's come to live with me. I'm certain she wasn't being treated correctly in her last home. She was a dog there, not family.

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Remington

I may have accidentally named my dog.

I've been "trying out" the name Remi (Remy? I haven't decided on spelling) and she started to actually respond to it. Can dogs relearn their names that quickly? Should I keep it as Remington by default? She seemed to accept it quite readily.

Her head snaps my way and the ears perk up when she hears it. And she just trotted in from another room after I yelled, "Remi?" She may be highly intelligent.

I'm looking for something not very common and not insanely girly. I think I could swing Remington as a girl's name. Depsite the fact that Remington Steele was created specifically because it sounded masculine so Laura Holt could get some business. (Speaking of, that seems like a series that's screaming, "Nikki, watch me!" so I put it in my Blockbuster queue.)

She likes to follow me around when I move. And when I went into the kitchen to get a drink, she took a drink of water too. It was kind of cute, but I'm sure completely coincidental. I ordered pizza tonight. For several reasons.

1. Easy.
2. I have no food in my house.
3. Pizza delivery comes with a complimentary knock on your door.
4. No dog of mine will strictly eat dog food. The first approved "people food" a dog should have is pizza crust. (Yes, I know, she'll be completely spoiled.)

I learned a couple things tonight.

1. My dog still doesn't bark when someone's at the door.
2. She also behaves extremely well - no jumping, no trying to tackle the pizza guy. She stays inside while I stand with the door open and sign my name for the credit card. This is an amazingly awesome trait. But probably also bad... I don't think she understands her job as "protector".
3. Every dog likes pizza crust.
4. She can only kind of catch food flung at her head. But the sit pretty thing should be relatively easy to teach.

I was supposed to leave for a few hours today to make sure she could handle being alone. Except... I really had no desire to leave my apartment today. So... I didn't. I think she'll be okay on her own tomorrow while I'm at work. But, if she's not... well, it's my own fault for not testing that theory out. This also means that I didn't buy her new food dishes. The Tupperware's working just fine.

I'm expecting something to go horribly wrong soon though. I mean, everything's been going so smoothly since she came home. No dog can possibly be this good, right?

End Blog.

The Nameless Wonder

My new roommate moved in this afternoon and Thor, reluctantly moved on to his next security job. She's a cutie, idn't she? I haven't found a name fitting of her yet, but we're getting along well so far. She's well bahaved and a lover. She's considered a Golden Retriever mix, but she hasn't retrieved anything for me yet, so I'm skeptical. I love her just the same though.




Doesn't she look nice in her brand new spiffy collar? Orange is the new pink.



She didn't seem too pleased to have me taking pictures with the flash, but she did sit still for a bit.



Until I fed her and she laid down. Lazy. My kind of girl. Don't worry, I'm buying real dishes for her tomorrow. I was unimpressed with the PetSmart selection.



See? I told you she wasn't a fan of the flash. But lookit that cute little brown nose.

She likes to lick things. If you do not like to be licked, you probably shouldn't come over.

But do think of a good name for her. I'm having trouble finding the right one.

End Blog.

Lock Down

Today I purchased renter's insurance and got a dead bolt installed on my back door. The place is far from fortified, but things are better than they were. My saftey latch thing has been replaced and I have all new locks. My stalker is going to have to break a whole lot more than a little piece of metal next time.

You know, like glass. But, I feel there's nothing I can really do about that.

I've made a friend in the Shoal Creek patrol. He was at my apartment last night taking my information for a police report and dusting for prints. You know, that's one thing I've always appreciated. Really. I mean, fingerprint powder is some messy stuff. I've always been happy I wasn't printing my own things and didn't have to clean up afterwards. Sadly, I didn't have that luxury last night. I need to get out my vacuum, but even then, I don't know that it'll pick up all the extra powder settling into my carpet. And sure, soap and water does the job, but man, is it messy.

Right now, my new watchdog, Thor, is resting comfortably in the living room in all his "King of the Castle" glory. He thinks he's the boss of me. It's very likely true.

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Sic 'Em, Thor!

I'm getting the biggest, meanest, scariest dog that money can buy. I see stitches and bruises and bleeding in my future. No one will ever want to come to my house ever again.

But they won't be breaking in, either.

How do we feel about the name Thor? I'm not quite sure it's macho enough.


End Blog.

Math is Hard

I helped a 15 year old figure out how to do her algebra homework this evening because she missed her last class.

It was actually pretty fun.

Sometimes I think I would have been a really awesome teacher.


End Blog.

Rock on Virginia

Hey! Allen finally conceded!

Guess he's regretting that “macaca" comment now, as he was comfortably ahead in the polls until that happened.

You know, I hadn't heard about it until I saw it on Jon Stewart. So, I guess I have him to thank for the Democrats taking control of the Senate.

Stewart/Colbert 2008!


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Insanity

I actually thought I was going crazy tonight. I was sitting, watching TV - the second episode of Wonderfalls - and I could swear I could hear the Veronica Mars theme. I've just recently gotten this song out of my head. But, there it was.

Was I imagining it?
Was I just hearing it in my head?
Were my neighbors up and watching the show?

No. No. No...

The song is actually playing in the background of several scenes during this episode. It took me forever to finally realize that. I wish you could have seen me. I'm sure I actually looked quite insane.

So wierd. Who knew that anyone had every really heard that song before? I mean, I hadn't... and now it seems to be everywhere.

It's also back in my head. Likely for the next few days.


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Overzealousness

Yes, I jumped the gun last night (or rather, early this morning) in reporting the winners of the Senate race. I was certain Montana was more of a sure thing than either Virginia or Missouri, and the good guys were (basically) winning there. But, I suppose there was a reason Fox News and CNN hadn’t called it yet. But, the good news is in - they're finally calling Montana.

I’m still wearing my indigo glasses though, so things are looking pretty blue all around from here. Especially since McCaskill won. Plus, I just learned an interesting little tidbit.

Remember Amendment 2, Missouri’s stem cell initiative? It totally passed. 1,024,136 to 996,584. (Or if you’re a percent kind of person: 50.7% to 49.3% - but I’m sure these numbers will change again.) Amazing! I really didn’t think it was going to because so many people were confused by the stupid advertising going on; labeling it “Tricky 2”.

However, one thing that didn’t pass was the tobacco tax. Damn. Would ya’ll just stop smoking already? I wish I could vote all the indoor places like bars and restaurants smoke free. I’m so sick of coming home smelling like smoke. Stupid cigarettes.

But… Yay! Stem cells! Now we can find cures to your cancers, you stupid smokers.

Oh yeah, and Donald Rumsfeld (good ol' Rummy!) has resigned. Things are looking up.


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PS… as a former resident of Pennsylvania I’d just like to say scream, “Suck it, Santorum!”

Blue

I'm blogging to you from a remote undisclosed location where, through my indigo colored classes, I see the Democrats taking majority control over both the House and the Senate and Republicans consecutively thanking God during their concession speeches.

Amen to that.

I know that you don't believe that I have such influence over politics, but do you really think it was a coincidence that both Virginia and Missouri were the most hotly contested Senate races? I lived in both states this year alone. Too bad I only got to vote in one of them.

Virginia passed a law banning gay unions and defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.

Missouri voted no on their stem cell research initiative. So, Missouri didn't ban cloning. In fact, all it did was keep stem cell research entirely unrestricted. In a way a guess that's a win. The research is just not getting state funding or any regulations (good or bad) anytime soon.

Anyway… welcome to my world. Democrats will take back the Senate. I'm giving them Missouri, Virginia, and Montana and hoping I don't wake up heartbroken in the morning.

Yay McCaskill!
Go big blue!

End Blog.

My Civic Duty

If you're voting in KC and haven't taken the time to look at some of the things that are showing up on your ballot tomorrow, here's a brief and non-encompassing overview of some of the issues:

Amendment 2 allows for research on stem cells taken from fertilized eggs only if they are left over from in vitro fertilization and are donated by the couple who produced them. Scientists would be prohibited from fertilizing a human egg solely for research purposes. However – and here's the major sticking point (you know, other than that pesky "cells are life" thing): Stem cells can also be created in the laboratory through somatic cell nuclear transfer, where the nucleus of a body cell is placed into an egg. Basically "cloning", as this cell starts to divide and begin to create a "new human". Of course, this would never actually happen because they wouldn't let the cells grow into a human. You'd need to implant them into a woman's uterus to do so.

All scientists are doing is growing a bunch of the donated person's cells in a dish. Those cells have the potential to become others, but never a whole human. Amendment 2 makes it illegal to implant these cells into a uterus, thus prohibiting cloning.

Currently, there is no law prohibiting cloning.

So, those billboards up everywhere that say "Vote No On 2, Stop Human Cloning" would be doing exactly the opposite of that. Voting yes on 2 bans cloning. Interesting, eh? Glad we're all informed.

Passing 2 would also make it illegal to pay women to donate eggs beyond reimbursing expenses and compensation paid by fertility clinics. Anyone doing stem cell research would also have to develop an oversight board, adopt ethical standards, and receive certification that the research is complying with federal law.

Lookit all them rules protecting us from evils! It's not tricky. It's a very well written proposal.

Amendment 3 adds four cents to the cost of every cigarette. I don't even care where that money goes. Here's my opinion, plain and simple: Don't smoke. Here's a great incentive not to. And don't talk to me about tobacco farmers and blah blah blah, boo hoo. They can grow something else, can't they? Oh, but they won't make as much money? Tell them to invest in oil. We've got nowhere to go but up.

Proposition B will raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50. This I know nothing about and don't really have a strong opinion on either way, now that I'm not making minimum wage. Yes, I'm like that. I don't know what effect this will have on the economy. But the cynical side of me suspects all that money will go right back into cigarettes. So, why not? If we have more money, we spend more money, right? Seems it'd be good for the market. However… will people get laid off when businesses can no longer pay their employees? What the hell do I know about it? I've never had an econ class. However, there is apparently a sentence in there that would increase the wage every year to account for inflation. Something to think about. You pass the proposition, you pass all of it.

Question 1 wants to charge businesses for fire code inspections and create some sort of city revenue. I'm thinking that's not a good idea. What if people don't have the money to pay it? Answer: they forgo the inspection entirely. That doesn't seem safe. Shouldn't this be a basic public service? Isn't this what taxes are supposed to be used for? Although, as a city employee, I think I'm supposed to be in favor of this proposal. More money for me and all that.

Question 2 is to extend our 3/8 cent transportation tax for another 25 years in order to build a light rail system, reroute all our car traffic around the green parks, and obtain a green fleet of shuttles. But get this! The money is also supposed to go towards an aerial gondola tram system. Excuse me? Aerial gondola tram system? WTF is that? Is it like a monorail? A cable car? Who made up that term? Because it's stupid. Yeah, I said it. Stupid. Although, good public transportation is likely a good thing. But I won't be taking it. Take that! I will spend insane amounts of money on gas simply because I've had enough public transportation to last me a lifetime. Yes, I know people do it more often than I have in the past. But my tolerance for public transportation is low, especially when inefficient and non-time saving.

So, I'll be at the polls tomorrow voting on these issues and for candidates that have been slinging mud at each other for a month on television ads. Thank goodness it's almost over. I'm starting to hate all of them.

And, I would just like to also state that it's about time government officials start giving us hope and stop spreading fear.

End Blog.