Babies are sooooooooo cute!

Short snippet today. My new baby arrived on Monday. She weighs in at 4.5 pounds and is machined from a single piece of aluminum. Even the box she came in is cool. I talking, of course, about my new MacBook. Go student loans whichiwillbepayingoffuntili'mdeadanyway! So I should be up and running and back on the interwebs for absurd amounts of time very soon.

Went to see Pride and Glory yesterday. It could have been good, maybe even great, but they just went a little too far and wrecked the whole thing. What a waste of perfectly good Ed Norton. One side note, whoever was done costumes on this film should be shot. He or she put jeans on E.N. that gave him total squishy girl butt. Now, I realize he doesn't always look like he did in American History X, but he does not have girl butt, dammit. That is all.

Otherwise, just going to school and having a very trippy experience with my very first internet stalker. OK, not really a stalker, but still, it sounds cooler to say stalker. More on this as events unfold. TTFN!!!

So, rabies

I suppose I should do that one first. Last Thursday I was doing my usual shift at the shelter and got bitten on my right ring finger by a fat cat who was wedged underneath a shelf. No biggie, right? I just slapped on a band-aid and went on with my life. Well, I got home that night and as soon as I removed the bandage the finger started to swell. Pretty soon I had a red, throbbing sausage attached to my hand. Now, I know infections from cat bites are the nastiest thing next to infections from human bites. So, did I go to the ER? Oh heck no. I think there was a Wild game on or something, and I didn't want to go out. So I wake up Friday morning and it still looks awful, so I call the clinic to get an appointment and called my English prof. to tell him I wouldn't be in class. When I did get to the clinic I got a bunch of disapproving looks because I didn't take care of this as soon as it happened. Anyway, my NP looked at it and then called in the Internal Medicine MD that was there. He told me to get a dog because they tear when they bite so they don't usually get infected. Other than that, I got mega-antibiotics and instructions about soaking and going to the ER immediately if anything changed. I went back to the Dr. on Saturday and Monday mornings. Whee.

Anyhoo, the cat that bit me was a stray who hadn't had any shots from us yet. Super. So the cat had to go to the vet to be euthanized so samples of her brain could be sent to the U of M for testing. The rabies test came back negative, though, and everything looks peachy. At this point you can't tell that boo-boo from the four hundred other boo-boos I have because I'm a klutz. So that's the story of how I didn't get rabies. Exciting, right?

More coming. Don't worry. TTFN!!

I don't have rabies!

Which is good, right? I know I have been blog-less for quite a while, but this school thing has been harder than I expected. The good news, though, is it's midterm time and I have an A and a solid B so far. I'm just posting a teensy bit today, but I should be getting my own computer back sometime this week, so I'll go crazy then. I'll make a list:

• The rabies thing
• School
• Shelter
• Family
• Whatever.

I promise by this time next week you'll be so sick of me you'll want to hide in the corner. Alas, I have to go to class now, so farewell. TTFN!!

OMGWTFBBQTMNTAFLCIO?!?!?!?!?

Is it just me, or is Trent Reznor way less angry now that he's famous? I heard one of his new songs in the car and he's all, "man, this sucks I should really do something about it lalala," (or something like that) when in the past he would have been all, "man, this sucks and I'm going to kill everyone I see until I feel less empty which will never happen so fuck you all lalala," (or something like that). Maybe he's just growing up, or maybe having lots of money makes you less angry. I wouldn't know.

I started my history class last night, which is going to be interesting. I think I'm going to like it, but I don't think I'll be talking much, since about 90% of the class are history majors and have a better understanding of context, etc. We'll see. My English class starts tomorrow, which I'm really excited about. The professor is one I've had before, and he's charmingly odd. He's got long white hair and a beard and he always looks surprised to see that there are students in his class. He carries around a briefcase overflowing with stuff he doesn't actually use for class. And he wears corduroy and hiking boots. Win!

Other than that, not much happening. Except me being lazy about blogging. But hey, my thyroid ultrasound was normal, so that's good. TTFN!!

Memeage (aka two posts in two days wtf!?!)

But first, a few thoughts. First, yes, I have seen The Dark Knight. Twice (so far). I am not going to go into it, but if anyone wants to sit around and squee about the awesomeness that is this once in a lifetime cinematic event, just let me know. I'm pretty sure I could go on and on and on and...well, you get the picture.

Second, I saw The Pineapple Express and it is hella funny. And Huey Lewis and the News do the theme song! (And no, it isn't "I Want a New Drug".)

Here's the meme part. One of my LJ friends picked seven interests off of my profile. I can has telling you about them nao, k?

gopher hockey - I *heart* hockey. In the context of hockey, I *heart* college hockey. In the context of college hockey I *heart* WCHA hockey. In the context of WCHA hockey, I *heart* several teams, but the Gophers are the ones I can actually watch on TV, since I don't live close enough to any other team and they are the FSN North team. (I suppose I could watch the Sioux, but that would make me an evil person with a heart as black as pitch, so why would I? (Why does anyone?))

it's happy bunny - I swear, I liked Happy Bunny before it showed up on every teenage girl's backpack. I love the combo of the cute bunny and the horrible, horrible things they say. I have a sign book which I have in my cubicle (when I have a cubicle) and I have gotten many notes on my desk from people on other shifts who admire and adore the Happiness as well.

lupus - And/or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. I am interested in it because I have it. Right now, I am pretty asymptomatic (without symptoms), which is great, but can change without much warning. It's kind of like living with a bomb that could go off at any time and really fuck up your shit. So far I have only had one really bad flare, but most of the time I live with aches, pain, random swelling, rashes, extreme fatigue, depression and all kinds of other fun stuff. Lots of Lupus patients end up needing kidney transplants, which sucks, but so far I haven't had any kidney involvement, which is great. The thing that's really hard is that I don't know when I go to bed at night what I'm going to feel like in the morning. I mean, I can kind of gauge from how I've been feeling, what I've been doing, and what I've been eating, but to a certain degree it's always a surprise. But like I said, I feel pretty damn good right now, so I'm just going to go with it. It's all good.

Hoban Washburne - Mmmmmmmmmm...Firefly... I love ALL the Firefly folk, but Wash is the one I think I'd get along with the best. He has all the best lines in the show. We have a very similar sense of humor, although I have to admit he's better at witty retorts than I am.

David Hewlett's heart-shaped ass - I saw this on someone's profile and thought it was hi-larious, so I stole it. I do like Stargate Atlantis and Rodney McKay and David Hewlett, but I've never been particularly obsessed with his ass, heart-shaped or not. Not that it isn't nice, because it is.

Philip K. Dick - One of my favorite sci-fi authors. I bet there are lots of you reading who are more familiar with him than you think. His stories have been the basis of tons of movies. Like Minority Report, Paycheck, Blade Runner, Total Recall, just to name a few off the top of my head. I like his stories because they always contain an unexpected element. I also like his version of the "future", which is clean and sleek. As with all sci-fi, the stories are really about society or some universal truth, but he disguises it better than some.

King Arthur - I don't know what to say, man, I LOVE this movie. I've never been into the whole Camelot thing, but this movie! Yummy boys in tight pants with swords?!?!?! What could be better? Yes, the acting is a bit much, and yes, the story is terribly predictable, but WHO CARES?!?! Ioan Gruffudd and Clive Owen in TIGHTS, people?!?!?!? Need I say more?

Anyhoo, that's about all of that. TTFN!!

Whee

Two posts in one week?!?! What is the world coming to? I have news, though. My baby brother is officially engaged. It's crazy, right? No word yet on dates/etc. for the wedding, but I would guess sooner rather than later. His fiancee's name is Becky and she's pretty awesome. I definitely could have done a lot worse for a sister-in-law. So think a good thought for them. Or at least for Becky. If she's marrying my brother, she's going to need all the help she can get ;-)

I guess this officially flings me into old maid territory, huh? That and Shawn saying he only has one bachelor party left are really making me feel old. Also the fact that I know what that new JCPenny commercial (the Breakfast Club one) is referring to.

Congratulations to Ethan and Becky!!

I'm lazy and I just don't care...

AKA, the title of the book I'm going to write just as soon as I become motivated and interested in stuff. I'm not dead, just resting. I will talk about my trip to Michigan at some point, but not right now. In lieu of a real post, I'm going to post something from failblog.org, which is one of the best places to find funny shit. Viola:

see more pwn and owned pictures

Two whole days

Well, almost. That's how long The Dark Knight has been out without being seen by me. Shocked? You should be. I have had the countdown to this movie on my desktop for six months now. So why? Why have I not partaken of the grisly goodness? I'm going to blame my brother. I'm going to visit him this next week and he calls me on Friday all "Dude, we should totally go see it at the IMAX while you're here." And I says, "Hey. good idea!" It seemed like a no-brainer due to the fact that the closest IMAX screen around here is at the MN Zoo in Apple Valley. However, everywhere I look I see stuff about this movie. I may end up seeing Mamma Mia! just to give my brain something to chew on whilst waiting for the awesomeness of The Dark Knight. I'll probably live, though.

Yes, yes, I'm going visiting. I'm leaving Frazee on Tuesday to stay at my cousin Sue's house Tuesday night. I will leave painfully early on Wednesday morning to drive to Milwaukee (it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land.") to take the Lake Express ferry to Muskegon, Michigan where I will be picked up by said brother. I will return on Sunday to Milwaukee, from whence I will drive to Two Harbors to pick up my father. My plan is to just go with the flow. As long as there's Batman somewhere in there, I'm happy. There have been various activities mentioned, including Taste of Grand Rapids and a steak on the grill. Is it just me, or is anything more fun when there's food involved?

Other than that, there isn't much going on. I'm still volunteering at the Shelter, still planning to start classes at NDSU on Aug 25th. Still struggling with slogging through my accumulated crap from the past 15 years and throwing what I don't need. I'm also (apparently) randomly capitalizing things. I know you can't tell, because I fixed it, but trust me. Anyhoo, I'm going to eat a beef stick and go to bed early. TTFN!!

First of all..

You guys suck at audience participation. I've decided that, as a punishment, I will not bother with a real post and instead subject you to the funniest gosh darned thing I've seen in ages. Even if you aren't a comic book geek, you WILL squirt milk out your nose, so, you know, point it away from the computer.

I don't wanna

Blog, that is. So I'm going to cheat. This meme has been going around for a while, so I don't know who to credit it to, but whatever.


1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

(First of all, I'm not going to tag five people, since I don't know if there are even five people who read this thing. Second, if you feel like doing it, post your answer in the comments. If not, well, I don't like you, either! Nyah!)

My book is The Regulators by Stephen King, which I just finished last night. I never pick up my crap, so it's still on the floor next to my bed. Anyhoo...

He could smell the grass, like some sweet wet perfume. It was spiced with a tang of cedar smoke. God bless the lightning, he thought.

Wow. Probably the three shortest sentences in the whole book. Good sentences, though. I don't think I could've done better even if I cheated.

Garlic breath, I has it.

I make the best Caesar salad dressing in the whole world. For real. Definitely not something you want to eat just before your Senate testimony, though. Just a quick post before I head to The Lake for the weekend. Nothing much going on around here. I did go yesterday and sign a bunch of papers so that Vocational Rehab can help me pay for school, so that's good. They're even going to pay mileage, which is a really good thing. We're going to try out the new cat harness this weekend. Hopefully it won't result in injury for anyone. Anyhoo, like I said, short post. TTFN!!

Somebody win the lottery, dammit...

Whoever invented money was a complete idiot. I'm sure it's nice when you have some, but when you don't it sucks almost as much as the underlying premise of the latest Indiana Jones movie. (I actually liked the movie, but the whole basis for the story was puh-leeze!) I've been going back and forth with myself about moving out of the parental homestead and when I crunch the numbers, it just isn't worth it. Yes, I would have more privacy and independence. And yes, I would have no cable, internet, gas money and possibly, by the end of the month, toilet paper. I also wouldn't be able to run an air conditioner very much at all. I've discussed this all with the mother and the father and they are in agreement. So I'm here for a while longer, anyway.

In other news, though, I am going back to school. Now, please don't sprain anything rolling your eyes, people, I'm just going to finish the degree I was working on at NDSU in Fargo. I'll take a half load to start with. Classes begin August 25th, and I'm actually pretty excited. Not necessarily about the degree itself (I'll graduate with a Bachelor of University Studies, or B.U.S. I'll have a bus!) but about actually, for once in my life, finishing SOMETHING. Yay for finishing stuff! So that's what's what around here. Hope you all are having a swell summer so far! TTFN!!

So, yeah

Last weekend was fun. I haven't gone anywhere or done anything is so long, it was like a vacation. Shawn and I had a good time on Friday night. We went to see You Don't Mess With the Zohan, which was really quite enjoyable. Obviously, it was fairly stupid, but within the context of an Adam Sandler movie, I really liked it.

On Saturday, I spent the afternoon at the Mall of, and stimulated the ever-lovin' crap out of the economy. Good times. Then I went over to my cousin's house in St. Paul. We went to a Cambodian/Chinese buffet which was really good. We had originally planned on seeing the new Indiana Jones movie, but both decided that sounded too much like work, so we rented The Mist instead. I'll have to say, it's one of the better movies adapted from a Stephen King story. I have to go read the story now, because my bro says the movie ending is different. And the movie ending was just brutal. Seriously messed-up.

On Sunday I slept in and then farted around in Maple Grove for a while. I'm totally in love with Trader Joe's. Their mandarin orange chicken is soooooooo good. Cheap and easy, too. Drove home the rest of the way in and out of rain. Actually, driving in and out of rain pretty much sums up the last two weeks worth of weather. Getting really old. Anyhoo, nothing interesting has happened since then, except that we didn't go to The Lake this weekend because of the crappy weather. Summer can arrive any old time, thankyouverymuch. Wishing you all sunshine days and caviar nights. Or something. TTFN!!

A bucket of prednisone it is!

Well, that and some more CellCept. Hopefully I'll be able to get away with just a short course of prednisone this time. Got my blood work results today and my white cell count is a little low, but nothing major, and my Sed rate is a little high, but nothing major. So, really, nothing drastic happening on the health front, just trying to get used to not feeling great all the time. I need to get my "Lupus brain" back. I'm getting there, but "healthy brain" keeps popping in to say hi.

I don't really feel like blogging today, but I thought I'd better get something up before I start forgetting what I wrote about last time. I promise a recap of last weekend's festivities tomorrow or Sunday. TTFN!!!

Sad lazy goober-head...

Yep, that's me. Actually I have been feeling pretty dang crappy for going on 2 weeks now. My temporary respite from most Lupus symptoms is sadly over. I haven't had a decent night's sleep in a week because of the pain from the pleurisy and I'm typing this with only 9 fingers because the middle one on my left hand won't bend. It's nothing compared to how I have felt at various other times, but it's harder to deal with because I had been feeling so great for so long. I just need to get back into the "Lupus mindset" that I had almost perfected before this recent spell of goodness. I'm seeing my Rheumatologist tomorrow, so hopefully he'll have some words of wisdom. Either that or a bucket of prednisone.

In other news, I have spent my "economic stimulus" check on something I feel confident 'ol GW would find terribly offensive. I don't really feel like going into the whole thing tonight, so I'll just say it's a website, and it has nothing to do with fishing. More later, I promise. I just need to craft a rather lengthy explanation of things before I go public.

Well, I'm going to head for bed as I have a long day tomorrow. I'll be driving to St. Louis Park for the appointment, and then I'm going to stay with Shawn Friday night. Haven't seen him in ages so it should be good. Plus he's the only person I know who's a bigger pessimist than I am, so that should be fun. Saturday night I'm going to stay with my cousin Sue, who I also haven't seen in forever. I believe we will be taking in the new Indiana Jones picture. I'm keeping an open mind. TTFN!!

A whole weekend without internet

And I survived. I didn't even use a computer. I took it along when I went up to The Lake, but I just didn't take it out. I didn't start out the weekend intending to go cold turkey, but it ended up that way. Turns out there's other stuff to do. As a result, I have no words to write here right now. I guess I have to get back to my usual overly-wordy self gradually. More words soon, m'kay?

A little less needy...

So, Sarah reminded me about the time I had to have my appendix out. I'm guessing she's not the only one who felt bad about not being with me before the surgery, but the truth is the whole thing went so fast and I was pretty out of it, so I really don't even remember much. So stop feeling bad, people. The thing I DO remember is a ring of people around my bed when I woke up. The nurse told me they'd been there since before they even brought me up from recovery. That was pretty cool. Especially since my parents hadn't arrived yet (that's how fast the whole thing happened). It was pretty awesome to have such groovy friends. I still use the mug that held the plant everybody chipped in on for me. Every time I use it I think about how cool my friends were when I got sick that one time.

Shawn reminded me of the MS walkathon. I'm pretty sure none of us ever actually raised any money. I'm not sure the 15-mile walk was worth it for a t-shirt, and yet we did it more than once. I think Sarah was the smart one who sat out. I think that was the first time I met Shawn. I may or may not have had a bit of a crush on him. As for the summer of '97, I think that's all that needs to be said on that subject.

Keep 'em comimg, people. This is kind of fun! TTFN!!!

I'm feeling needy

I was going to post a really long rant about the so-called "series finale" of Scrubs the other night, but I've kind of run out of steam on that one. Instead, I'm going to shamelessly pander for positive reinforcement. I'd like this to be an interactive entry. You leave a comment about a memory of me that sticks out in your mind and I'll dedicate a whole post to something I remember about you. Is this shameless fishing for reminders of why I'm friend material? Absolutely. Had a crappy weekend and I'm in serious need of an ego boost. So, boost away... TTFN!!!

Movies that I'm not embarrassed to say I liked

One of which is Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. And I don't care who knows it. I laughed my arse off. If you go to see this movie, stick around until the very end of the credits. Awesome!!! And, as always, NPH stole the show. I am still crushed by the fact that he's gay. Apparently everyone in Hollywood has known forever, but I didn't find out until a year or so ago when my aunt gave me some old People magazines. Doogie was my fall-back guy. What am I going to do now? I still don't have a new backup. Why, NPH?!?!? Why!?!?!?

In other news, sorry I've been MIA lately. It took considerably longer than I thought it would to migrate to my "new" computer. Now that I've got most everything set up the way I want it, I am absolutely ecstatic about the switch. Now I just have to clean all my illegally obtained software off the old one so I can sell it for parts on eBay. Technically, it isn't completely dead yet, but it's definitely circling the drain. There is only so much pounding that it will respond to before the motherboard gives out completely.

In other news, there isn't any. Although the cat is starting to clean himself, so things are looking up. Hope you are all enjoying the snow-free May. So far, anyway, but I'm not holding my breath. TTFN!!

Crap noodles.

Is how I am feeling about the imminent death of my precious baby, my white knight of computing, my iBook. She's on her fifth motherboard, it's true, but I still love her in a way that is both poignant and slightly disturbing. She will be succeeded by a PowerBook that is a bit of an upgrade, but she will always hold a special place in my heart. At least until I sell her on eBay for parts. As soon as the new baby is broken in, I promise a long information-y post about all the cool stuff I've been doing. As if. TTFN!!!