Journal Entries
A bit of happiness in the news, for once...
Posted Feb 23, 2004
Stories like this one just make me happy.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/02/21/MNGEP55KOA1.DTL
Discuss this Journal entry [5]
Latest reply: Feb 23, 2004
Welcome to bizarroworld....
Posted Feb 21, 2004
So I was at the mall today -- Nordstrom's in fact. Don't normally go there, but received a surprise gift certificate in the mail this morning for having done a survey awhile back and won the subsequent raffle, and wanted to pick up some shoes.
Anyway, I overheard some teenage girls (looked to be about 15-16, which means they were likely a bit younger) talking excitedly about maternity clothes.
"Oh my gosh, those pregnant clothes are like, so adorable. Let's go try them on!"
"Yeah, but, you're not even, you know, pregnant or anything."
"No, but wouldn't it be cool to wear clothes like that to school? And maybe I will be pregnant someday, you know? It couldn't hurt to buy some cool outfits now, just in case."
I kept glancing over at them, desperately hoping for some clue that they were just joking, but to no avail.
Not entirely sure whether to 
or to 
, but needed to share.
Discuss this Journal entry [6]
Latest reply: Feb 21, 2004
Decisions, decisions, decisions....
Posted Feb 20, 2004
OK, now that I know I'm going to be staying here in town and employed for the time being, I'm looking for a new place to live.
The place I'm in isn't bad, but it's a bear of a commute to my office, and has significant maintenance problems this past year -- it took 3 floodings before they sealed my porch door correctly, and I'm still getting rodents despite the fact that the exterminator has been out and told them where the holes are and what needs to be sealed up. 
So, time to move.
But there are so many options, and it may just drive me crazy.
I've gone out to see maybe 15-20 places in the last week, and have narrowed it down to 3:
1) This one is out in the suburbs a bit, but is still only a 20-25 minute drive to the office, a little shorter than what I have now. The price is about $50/month less than I have now, and the apartment is much larger and nicer. It has the biggest kitchen I've ever seen in an apartment, a separate dining room, a laundry closet with a washer/dryer, a tremendous living room, 2 large bedrooms, and good closets. It's also right next to a bus station that would take me to work or campus, should I not want to drive. There are plenty of wooded areas and parks nearby, a plus for me. It's in a large apartment complex with onsite maintenance people, which means that problems would probably be addressed relatively easily. The biggest problem is the distance -- not so much that it's farther from work, but that it's far enough away from where my friends live that it would be an annoyance.
2) This one is in town, and closer to work - maybe a 15 minute drive to the office. The rent is the same as the one above. It's within walking distance of a decent shopping mall, and also right next to a good bus station. It's a townhome, which means 2 stories -- which is good, in that it's huge, and feels like a real home rather than an apartment, but bad, in that I can't always do so well on stairs. And when I say huge, I mean huge -- probably close to twice the size of where I live now, with 2 bathrooms and tons of closets and extra storage, it's own laundry room, and covered parking. The decor in parts of the apartment is quite outdated, but the current tenant has redecorated some of it quite decently, and the landlord seems quite okay with tenants modifying the unit. In fact, the landlord seems really nice, which is always a plus. I would guess that the main drawbacks would be the stairs and the location -- although it's close to work and other things, the location is not necessarily in an area known to be nice. On the other hand, I felt perfectly comfortable walking around there, and the landlord told me that the other units in the building are also occupied by single women, some of whom happen to work where I do! So that's somewhat reassuring. It's also relatively close to the areas where my friends and I sometimes hang out, so that would be convenient.
3) This one is in town and only about 7-10 minutes from the office. It's an older house that was converted to a duplex. Quite nice (recently remodeled), about $150 cheaper than the two above, and quite tiny. No dishwasher, and shares a washer and dryer with the people in the unit above. Tremendous closets (all built-in, all wood), built in bookshelves everywhere. Did I mention how tiny it was? 
I would have to get rid of quite a bit of stuff, and even then it would be a squeeze. The landlords seemed nice, albeit a bit stiff. The main pluses are the location -- not only convenient to work and friends, but also within walking distances of nice shops and places to eat, and in one of those "nice" neighborhoods where people want to live (albeit only 2 blocks away from a noisy high school). Oh, and obviously the cheaper price is a plus.
All in all, I'm leaning towards #2 at this point -- if #1 were in town, it would be a shoo-in, but I feel like #2 has a good combination of decent enough location and what I need as far as space. #3 would be perfect if only it was a tiny bit bigger, and perhaps if the washer and dryer was just for that unit. What do other people think? Advice? Suggestions? Decorating ideas? Anyone want to come help me pack and move? 
Discuss this Journal entry [5]
Latest reply: Feb 20, 2004
My earth has been shattered....
Posted Feb 16, 2004
Cathy, from the comic strip by Cathy Guisewite, is now engaged. You know, the Cathy who always wore pink sweatsuits with a heart on them?
I am now the last single, unattached female in the country.
Never mind that I'm not, really. Never mind that Cathy is solely two dimensional, and not even animated at that.
It's still quite a shock to the system.
http://www.ucomics.com/cathy/
Mikey
Discuss this Journal entry [4]
Latest reply: Feb 16, 2004
A real vacation
Posted Feb 3, 2004
I'm not sure if I've ever had a real vacation like this before.
I have a week off from work, and I'm not traveling anywhere, I've not brought work home to deal with, no relatives or friends have come to guest -- I truly have a week entirely to myself. I'm almost 30, and I think this is the first time I've ever had something like this.
It's amazing.
Not only have I read several books already, I've also managed to take care of an amazing amount of errands that had been piling up.
And I also discovered something interesting about errands. They seem to get done much quicker on a vacation day like this than when I am trying to squeeze them in before or after work, or on my lunch break. I've a couple theories for why this may be the case:
1) I'm less distracted.
2) The shops and whatnot are far less busy when you go in a 2 in the afternoon than they are at the times when I normally dash out. The staff clearly have more time and patience as a result.
At one place, I had taken my car in for an estimate on some repairs, and the guy convinced me that I would be better off doing it myself, and took the time to show me how.
I took some pictures in to be framed, and the guy gave me some of the materials for free as a "thank you" for helping him with his computer.
Two clerks at the grocery store helped me search for mizithra cheese. Turns out they were out of stock, but they are putting some on the list of orders for me.
These things simply *don't* happen when you are one of 50 people trying to "dash in and out" at 6pm on the way home from the office....
Truly amazing.
Discuss this Journal entry [6]
Latest reply: Feb 3, 2004
Back to Mikey the Humming Mouse - A3938628 Learn More About the Edited Guide!'s Personal Space Home
Mikey the Humming Mouse - A3938628 Learn More About the Edited Guide!
Researcher U99875
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."