2005 Is No More

Happy New Year Everyone! Your 2005 Song Is

Don't Cha by the Pussycat Dolls "Dont cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me Dont cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me" What happens in 2005, stays in 2005!

What Hit Song of 2005 Are You?

This was my favorite song of the year - how uncanny...

In The Footsteps Of Monday

Your Christmas Song Is

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year It's the most wonderful time of the year With the kids jingle-belling And everyone telling you Be of good cheer It's the most wonderful time of the year Hands down, Christmas is your favorite holiday ever And you always enjoy every moment of it

What Christmas Carol Are You?

Your Christmas Stocking Will Be Filled With a Puppy

Well - one cute, soft, cuddly puppy... And a very soiled Christmas stocking.

What Will Be In Your Christmas Stocking?

Christmas Entry Early

I was pondering what to blog about this morning when I was speaking with my mom. She recommended a "Bah Humbug" entry about Christmas. I countered that I, in fact, really love Christmas. She was excited that she had possibly stumbled onto a 'positive' blog entry. Apparently, my entries are not always in the most positive tenor. Hmmph.

I guess I do tend to focus on issues that upset me in this blog. That's why I call it my rant-a-litious blog. How often would anyone check in if everything I wrote was about how great everything is? I dunno. Maybe they would read regularly. I know that I just get bored with blogs that are all about how great their lives are. Good things happening or inspirational stories are wonderful. But life is pretty boring if everything is always peaches and cream. Besides, I already have a complex. I don't need to start comparing myself to perfection. Perhaps this is why I don't read "happy" blogs nor do I wish to try to write one.

So, that brings us to the topic of Christmas. I love the holiday. I'm not particularly religious but don't want to delve into that at this point. I do, however, fully support "good will towards others". And I love trees. This applies to pretty much all trees. I love being outside. What's better than a holiday where it is acceptable to bring trees inside and the celebrate them by decorating them with lights and shiny things? Weeee!

My favorite color is green, followed by red, and finally blue. It's like the world is decorated just for me. Excellent.

The biggest thing I cannot stand about the holidays... The crowds, oh, the crowds. How I hate the crowds. I don't like driving in traffic, shopping in people traffic, or standing in hour-long lines. Plus, people tend to forget what is (imho) the point of it all. No matter what holiday you celebrate this time of year, none of them use monetary spending as an indicator of the amount of faith you have. The totals that I see being rung up on the registers are just mind boggling. The buyers aren't people that look like they have money to burn. I realize that there would be an axis of rotation change if we went back to the days before credit cards but... can you imagine what it would be like if people had to pay with CASH! OMG! The horror. Hey, I might be calling the kettle black because I carry a card but at least my family is making an attempt at reason. We capped spending and we drew names so we only get one gift for one sibling in addition to each parent. Even the bf and I instituted a limit. (mostly for my benefit as I am the one with debt and no job) So, being surrounded by rabid gift buyers who may or may not have the finances to back it up is my least favorite part of the holiday. Always has been. Probably always will be.

Oh well, my shopping is done (for the most part) and we have a tree in the house with snow outside. I am thoroughly enjoying my time leading up to "the day". I'm looking forward to gorging on xmas cookies, playing cards, and drinking wine. Good times. And then when that is over, I get to look forward to flying up to canadia! :) Even if I am jobless and poor, right now I am feeling like my life is pretty damn good. Yeay! A happy blog.

Snow, and MORE Snow!

I think it has been over a week. A whole week and then some. Every day it has snowed. We started with the snow "storm" that brought half a foot and then have just continued to add to the mass since. I'm watching it snow right now. At this point I am really hoping that it doesn't get up to, say, 36 degrees F and melt it all. I say 36 instead of 32 because it needs to be a few extra degrees above freezing to really take care of all of the melting during the day. I really, really hate that muddy slop from melted snow. Ick.

I am assured by my brother that the forecast does not include any temperature above 27 degrees for the next week. I didn't even ask about the snow forecast. Maybe we are going to have a spectacularly white xmas. That would be fine.

Speaking of snow and xmas, I really want cross country skis. I don't have any and I plan to spend the winter months in the great white north. Too bad I can't actually get them for christmas because I would have no way to fly them up with me. Boohiss on airline travel and the resulting limited baggage arrangement. Oh well. I guess I wil rent for occasional skiing in yet another season of snow.

In the spirit of neverending snow (!) and Christmas, here are some holiday quizzes for Fry-day.

How can this be??

this is interesting...

You Are Dancer

Carefree and fun, you always find reasons to do a happy dance. Why You're Naughty: That dark stint you had as Santa's private dancer. Why You're Nice: You're friendly. Very friendly.

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

Your Christmas is Most Like: A Christmas Story

Loving, fun, and totally crazy. Don't shoot your eye out!

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

Christmas Elf Name My Christmas Elf Name is Get your Christmas Elf Name

Secret Santa This year my Secret Santa bought me : A Pie In The Face Get your Secret Santa gift

Call Me... Or Not

I read a post over at Acade(me) about using the phone a few weeks ago. I thought it seemed particularly similar to my own love/hate relationship with the phone. I was going to just leave a rambling long comment on her site but decided to "borrow" her post topic instead.

There are so many facets of phone ownership and usage. I'll start with land line phones. I hate not having a land line. It is so nice to have a phone call that isn't dropped, has sound/speech clarity, and can't be picked up by nearby radio receivers. I'm old enough that cell phones were not something you carried around in elementary school. The phone was the somewhat 'scary' thing in the kitchen that we didn't use much.

When I was a kid, I was never big into talking on the phone with anyone. This has not really changed as I've gotten older. I did spend a chunk of time on the phone as a "typical teenager" but I think it was more a problem of boredom than a real need to keep in touch with friends. Plus, there wasn't always an opportunity to hang out with my friends anytime but at school. There were a few conversations you wouldn't want other people to overhear. So, during that period of my life I did talk on the phone a lot. Not as much as some other people I knew but it was a lot for me.

On going to college, I reverted to my old ways of not talking on the phone. I just didn't need to have that oral outlet. I did enough talking with my classmates, friends, roommates, and other random people that there was no need to speak even more.

When I started working in industry that changed a little. I was a little more cut off from friends and family plus I worked the second shift so there were just generally less people around. There were days where I could (literally) not speak for approximately six hours. I found a need to make phone calls occasionally.

During the first part of graduate school, I again was surrounded by classmates, friends, coworkers, and a very chatty roommate. I think there were times that I didn't use the phone for weeks. Really. By this point in time, just about everyone I knew had an email account or I saw them on a regular basis. The phone just seemed over rated.

I actually went through a period when I moved from one apartment to another that I didn't have a phone at all. I didn't have a cell phone (yet) because I never saw the need. We had a land line at the old apartment and that was good enough. I moved to a new location and my new roommate had a cell. He didn't want to get a landline. The cost of having a land line or having a cell for one person is about the same. The only difference is that one is more mobile and can move with you if you relocate whereas the other one can't. But I didn't really want either kind of phone. People just couldn't believe that I didn't have a phone for over a month. I dunno. Between working 16 hours a day at a lab (where there was a phone) and e-mail there just didn't seem to be much use in a cell.

My boyfriend motivated me to get one. He was tired of calling me at work. Sigh. So I got a cell.

Now I am not sure what I would do without my phone. Up until this past month, I had regularly used about 150 minutes out of 600 "anytime" minutes. Now, I get free minutes at night and over the weekends so I don't know how much time I was actually on the phone during "free" time. However, I never even got close to using all of my allotted "anytime" minutes. Last month I used over 600! I am at 540 for this month. Good thing my billing cycle resets in three days! Why am I on the phone so much these months? Why am I in love with my phone right now? Because almost every person I know in this world was not local and I didn't see any of them on any sort of regular basis while I was at 'school'! Like Professor Me ("Acade(me)"), I was using the phone to keep my sanity as I was surrounded by places and people that didn't seem particularly friendly (for different reasons than hers).

I'm sure that when I return to canadia at the end of this month I will revert to my old ways again. I can go for weeks without talking on the phone if I have other outlets. It will just depend on how much of a social life I develop.

Oh, and on a different but sorta related topic, why can't you get a cell phone plan without call waiting? I hate when someone rings in and I am on the other line. It forces me to be rude to at least one person, probably two! In order for me to decline the call, I have to at least stop the conversation so I can take the phone away from my ear in order to decline the call on the touchpad. Otherwise, the annoying clicking in my ear goes on for eight cycles before the call is finally diverted to voice mail. Oh, and the clicking supercedes the current caller so the conversation is broken up. PLUS, because the caller doesn't get a busy signal, they don't know why I'm not picking up. Is my phone on vibrate and I don't know it's ringing? Have I gone to bed? Am I busy? They have no idea that I just happen to be on the phone with someone else. Oh, and because the caller can't possibly know why I don't pick up, sometimes I feel compelled to swap calls just to tell them why I can't talk and can I call them back?! I wish they would have a voice mail system that picks up right away and explains the caller is taking another call. Oh, wouldn't that be glorious?

Something I adore about cell phones... personalized ring tones. Oh yes. I am one of those people. I have a different ring for my dad, mom, sisters, bf, best friend, lab people and bossman. Bossman got the Funeral March ringtone. My sisters got "Don't Cha" by the pussycat dolls. The others are very suitable as well. teeheehee.

Anyone else out there have any love/hate feelings concerning phones?

Job Prospects

Oh boy, do I feel like I am a crossroads. I need to get a job. This is a little complicated by the no residence/no work visa/no citizenship thing for Canada.

I've been looking for academic jobs that are a good fit for some time. There just aren't that many schools that need a chemistry curriculum but aren't big R1 type schools. A bunch of the schools in the area I am interested in are more along the lines of trade schools. There are two large universities but both are looking for faculty that want to run a big research lab. Blah.

Then, recently, I was commenting on someone else's blog and my entry came off as really bitter. I commented again today to basically explain that I am not really that bitter about the majority of students. However, in the last few hours I've been thinking about it some more. There are always those one, two or maybe three students who are just, well, ignorant. If someone emails me at 5am to meet at 7:30am, it is just not going to happen. And then they are pompous enough to think that this is a shortcoming on my part. What? Or how about the students who decide to vacation during finals week and then want a make up exam AFTER the semester. These finals weeks are schedule years in advance. I made a completely different exam so a student could take it at home because she was nine months pregnant. If a student has a real issue/illness/etc, if they take the time to explain what's going on BEFORE it is a "critical" moment then I am very willing to work with them. I am just really, really tired of the bs. A doctor's note about an illness - yeah that will work unless it is dated from three years ago! Emailing me with questions (quite literally) twenty minutes before the exam is not going to get you help.

Maybe I should more strongly consider industry...

There are many more job opportunities in industry in western canadia. It certainly pays more.

The downsides though...

I just don't like the 7 to 4 grind. I like working when I want to and normally that isn't at 7 or 8am. I like feeling that I have some control over what I do (even if it is a little superficial). I love when I am explaining a concept and a student has that "moment". You can almost see the light bulb over his or her head. It's so exciting and satisfying and just great.

Mmm, so, do I toss the idea of academia out the window? Academia certainly restricts my choices and possibilities. It also limits my money earning potential. And the bs of those select slacker students who drive me nuts. Sigh. If only the highs in academia weren't so high...

Home Sweet Home

What a hectic day! I think finishing up at a job is just like getting ready to move. You think you are all packed but then last minute chores and clean up take waaaaay too much time. I almost missed my train out of town! That would have sucked. As it worked out, I arrived at the station right during boarding and was able to get on without ever sitting in the waiting area. Weeee!

I'm now back to my "home". It's a long story for the reason for the "", just go with it. I'm looking forward to catching up on some massive tivo programming and walking the dog (literally). I suspect that until the 29th when I travel again that my posts may be a little lacking. Sorry 'bout that. My life is just a wee bit boring. I like it but there isn't much to tell.

What happened to my date and time stamp at the bottom of the page here? How annoying! I started this post many, many hours ago. However, to make it show the correct post date and time when published, I had to cut and paste my entry into an entirely 'new' post. grrrr.

"The" Hair Do

Okay, I think I am going through a mid-life-wanna-be-crisis... I'm not mid-life and it isn't a crisis but I am definitely busting out of my norm.

I recently sat in a chair for over 8 hours letting two women yank on every strand of my hair, seemingly one-by-one. In addition to braiding my hair in very small braids, I opted to get extensions (weave) put in. Oh, and since this kind of hair style is traditionally embraced by a certain "minority" group - they don't have weave that is really my hair color. I decided on yellow (this color is not natural enough to be 'blond'), burgundy, and a blend which is fairly close to my color while still being unnatural looking. I love it!

People I know seem to be undecided about it. Generally, they think it is kind of neat but don't really understand why I would choose to do it.

I had braids about ten years ago and loved them. I had forgotten how many people look at you funny. The bus ride this morning was interesting. It seems like people are just unsure what to do. Stare, or not to stare? It's really sort of amusing. I just hope people don't make assumptions about me that are totally off-base just because of my hair. I am not a 'wigger' or whatever the slang term is today. Mostly, I don't want to be harassed. I just like braids.

Here's a question for you...
My bf may not read this blog entry before I see him next (that's okay) but I haven't told him about the hair. Should I just show up at the end of the month at the airport like this? Is that unkind? Does he need to be "warned"? I would just like to see his immediate reaction in person.

My next trip up is right about the time I will probably take the braids out. I can't stand the itching for more than a few weeks. I have some anti-itch spray for my head but it is bound to drive me crazy anyway. Plus, the braids start to look a little too "fuzzy" after a month.

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Quizzed - Who/What Do I Match With?

He is a Man

You have yourself a perfect gentleman and a total keeper Your guy almost always acts appropriately He's probably even very upstanding when you're not around There's no boy left in your boyfriend - he's all man!

Is He A Boy or a Man?

Your 80s Heartthrob Is

Jason Bateman

Who's Your 80's Heartthrob?

Your Celebrity Style Twin is Gwen Stefani

Trendsetting, unique, and stylish.

I totally agree, particularly given my new hairdo. (see post above)

Who's Your Celebrity Style Twin?

Kelly Clarkson Shares Your Taste in Music

Which Musician (or Group) Shares Your Taste in Music?

You Should Get a MD (Doctor of Medicine)

You're both compassionate and brilliant - a rare combination. You were born to be a doctor.

Ooops, I guess the Ph.D. was the wrong route to take. Oh wait, I already knew that...

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

So Sorry!

The internet conection wasn't working Wednesday. I was at the hair salon for most of Thurs. (pics to be forthcomming so that all becomes clear). And today was wasted on public transit. In short, I plan to post a truely rant-a-litious blog on how much I hate Kinko's later this evening as well as my regular Friday quizzes. Plus, a special addition picture post of my faboo hair. I have another engagement in about 15 minutes so it can't happen now. I would recommend checking back tomorrow for all of the blogerific stuff. :)

Have a wonderful Fryday night!