Your Slip is Complete

I called my sissy today to chat about life, and boys, and, well, who am I kidding, BOYS! It's been a while since we talked, so I caught her up on the last three weeks.

When I told her that I turned down a guy who asked me to hang out with him on Friday night so I could install Ubuntu (erm, my Linux distro) she laughed, "That's almost as bad as 'I have to wash my hair.' Your slip into geek-hood is complete!"

I think she's right.

Incidentally, I related part of the Sunday get-your-number story to RC today (I stopped at the point where he asked for my number). His reaction, "You can't ask out girls who are interested in computers. It's just not natural!"

Remind me again why I have an office crush on him? Oh yeah, that's right, he's hot.

Goes to Show

Today at Church we were talking about sanctifying ourselves to be better people and bringing ourselves closer to Christ. During our discussion on the "Sunday School answers" (go to church, read your scriptures, pray...) the teacher asked if we had time for all of these things. I raised my hand and made the following point, "I have kind of a busy life, as I'm sure we all do. However, we just need to make the time. For example, Friday night I stayed in and was up until 4 am installing a new operating system on my computer. Since I usually try to go to bed around 10, this means I lost about 6 hours of sleep. Why? Because it just came out and I find it interesting, and I was really excited for it! So we just need to make time for reading our scriptures, and doing these things because, ultimately, my eternal salvation is far more important than if I have OpenSource software of my computer." I noticed when I mentioned the installation of the new OS that one of the boys in the ward who is quite the computer nerd (and happened to be sitting a few rows in front of me) gave a thumbs up sign, and appreciated the comment a bit. (Incidentally, the eternal salvation vs OpenSource got a good laugh out of just about everyone.)

After church I was standing in the hall chatting with people when the aforementioned nerd came up and joined the conversation. Eventually people moved on to talk to others, and it was just the two of us. "Hey," he lead in, "are you seeing anyone right now?" What the crap!?!

"Uh, no." I shared, shaking my head in the negative.

"Well, in that case, can I get your number?" He asked, as he pulled his notebook out of his pocket.

"Sure." I said, slightly surprised, hoping my voice lacked the utter hesitation I was feeling. I gave it to him, then he said, "Great. Thanks. This way, when I finally get up the courage to ask you out, I'll be prepared."

I smiled, encouragingly, "Cool."

I can't believe it! When it rains it freaking pours. I'm not really interested in seeing him socially. He's a nice guy, but a little odd (helllooo did you miss the computer nerd comments?). That said, I have a rule: Always say yes to the first date. With the notable hee-bee-gee-bies caveat. Why? Isn't this unfair and leading them on? No. Here's why: (1) you never really know unless you spend some one on one time with someone away from everyone else if you're going to click — they could be the totally right person for you, but circumstances hasn't allowed that to be displayed; (2) How would I feel if someone I was interested in shot me down with out giving me the courtesy of a shot?; and (3) Asking someone out is really hard, they've managed to get up the courage to do it, striking them out when they've barely stepped to the plate is just plain wrong.

Honestly, I would say yes, and it wouldn't be a courtesy date, but I hope it takes him a little bit to get up the courage. That, and I hope Musician lights a fire under his butt and asks me out, and soon.

But really, who knew that admitting to staying in on a Friday night to install the latest Ubuntu distro was going to incite a digit request. That just goes to show: you never know what's going to work for some people. (Oh yeah, and that I'm a monstrous geek.)

Halloween Dance

Nanny, Sweetheart, and I went as "Satan and Her Minions" for the big Halloween dance. It was super cool! We had such a great time.

Not much else to say on that, but just a report. Fun, fun!

Geek

Last night just as I was about to go to bed I checked slashdot to see if there was anything new in the world of geek. I discovered that the latest Ubuntu distro had been released just that day. So, while I was busy telling myself that I was getting ready for bed I secretly (yes, from myself) downloaded the iso. Then, I burned the cd.

This morning I woke up and checked the cd. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to install it to my box, so I decided to wait until this evening.

When I got home I started installing, but got distracted helping Lurch with his Halloween costume. When I got home, again, this time at 11 pm, I decided to install it. So, many hours later, I've installed, I've configured, and I'm moderately happy with what I've got. More than that, though, I finally have a Linux partition on my hard drive. Let's hear it for dual-boot!!! (yeahhhhhhh)

Oh, and, naturally, this post is coming to you, live from my Linux box.

It's about time!

Some Decisions Are Hard to Make

I've decided to allow myself to be interested in Musician. I spend so much of my time being interested in boys that I don't have a chance with, why not go for someone I can get? Anyway, it's kind of fun to have a realistic crush again. Now, if I could just get the girls to stop teasing me.

What's With the Boys

Nanny, Sweetheart, and I went to the mall tonight. While there we ran into a friend from church. We were all standing around chatting when she suddenly asked, "So, Granola, what's up with all the boy stuff?"

"What 'boy stuff'?" I asked, trying to play off my current drama.

"What boy stuff, indeed!"

We talked about it briefly, then she concluded that my hesitation to go forward with either of these relationships is just fear of relationships.

No, I countered, it's fear of commitment. I don't mind being in a relationship, as long as I don't have to commit. How pathetic am I?

Run-ins

On Tuesday I was in Provo for the usual battery of appointments. I had to do some work so I stopped by BYU campus. I walked into the art building and ran into one of my favorite former roommates. We stood there talking for almost an hour. It was so good to run into her! I really miss her so much. She sounds like she's doing well, which is most stellar, I hope she really is. I also wish her the most happiness a person can possibly find in life — she deserves it.

Conundrum

So, there's Musician, and there's the guy I took to the symphony. I think I'm interested in both of them. But, I have known the symphony dude a lot longer. I'm hesitant to pick one over the other at this point because I'd like to take the opportunity with either of them, but I'm loath to just forget about the other one. I think with minimal effort I could be dating Musician shortly. With a lot of effort I could be dating the other guy in a while. Blissfully, Musician is having massive surgery this week (that's a bad thing, really), so I won't have to worry about a relationship screaming along in the next two weeks or so (which is the good bit). Anyway, who really knows anyway. If guy A hasn't made a move yet, can I really expect him to anytime in the next decade? Probably not. Why not just go for the guy who seems really into me already? sigh.

Getting to Know You

I invited Lurch, LittleBro (Lurch's little brother, who, at this point deserves a name), Nanny, and Musician over for dinner tonight. They all accepted, but Musician said he'd hate to eat and run, but he had a family thing tonight (he lives with his brother and sister-in-law). I reassured him that it would be ok, and he was more than welcome to join us. He accepted.

Nanny and Musician were going to choir practice, so I came home to cook. I was planning on corn-on-the-cob and mashed potatoes, but when I got home I discovered I have just 3 ears of corn. Now, at some point in my college career I mastered higher math, and I can assure you that 3 ears of corn will not feed five people. Especially if one of them is Lurch. I decided to go with acorn squash. As I was baking the squash in preparation for adding the carmelized onions I discovered (much to my horror) that I was completely out of margarine. I called Lurch, certain he would have butter. Tragically, he didn't. I went across the hall to ask my lovely neighbors if they had butter, they didn't. Crud! I had no idea what I was going to do at this point.

I cooked and stewed about it for a while, then there was a knock at my door — Musician had arrived. I invited him in, then returned to the kitchen to monitor my cooking. He was loitering in the entry way, so I kind of hollered for him to come on in. He eventually did. As he wandered about my living room he asked me if I paint. Now, there is an easel set up, with a half painted canvas on it, and lots of painting throughout the room, oh, and right next to the easel is a shelf full of painting paraphernalia. Typically, when I get asked that question I reply, "No. I just have the stuff around as a conversation piece." I thought about doing so again. I changed my mind. "Uh, yeah," was all I said. I wonder if he caught that I was weighing my response. Who knows. He asked if I had done one painting in particular and when I answered to the affirmative he told me that he really liked it. As do I.

He eventually made his way into the kitchen and offered his assistance. I told him he could cut potatoes while I freaked out about not having butter. "Do you need me to go get some?" He offered.

"You carry it around in your car?"

"No, but I'm not opposed to going if your ox is in the mire."

I hemmed and hawed, and eventually gave in and let him go to the store for me. I feel really bad having someone break the Sabbath so I can have a nice dinner, but I really appreciate him doing it for me.

While he was leaving Nanny arrived, and let herself in, as is custom. Musician left, and upon returning knocked as he walked in. Good. I'm glad he feels comfortable doing that, already.

He resumed his admiration of my artwork, and I eventually pointed out my favorite piece. It happens to have a reed arrangement in front of it. He asked why I blocked it, and I told him that it was part of the statement, and blah blah blah. He asked what the statement of my decor was. You know, I don't think a single on of my friends who has walked in my house has asked me that question. I explained it to him, and he seemed genuinely interested as he listened. Then, he asked me, "Who's your favorite artist?" I couldn't think of a single artist. Well, Freida, but I hate her work. Eventually I came up with Dahli, but it took me a while.

As I went back to cooking he went back to exploring my living room. He looked at the books on my bookshelf, and actually read the titles of them. I glanced over as he was reading the titles on my feminism shelf. Particularly, Bitch. I glanced at Nanny, and kind of nodded in his direction. "I hear the Feminine Mystique is a good book," was all he said.

I smiled, "Thanks for not commenting on the other one. Seems that's the only one people ever notice."

"Bitch?"

"Yeah, that one."

"I haven't heard anything about it." At this point, dear reader, let's stop and ponder what he thinks about me. Last night at dinner I was talking to a friend of mine about a book I lent her (Do They Hear You When You Cry?) and how powerful it was. MapGuy, Lurch and Musician were sitting there and asked what it was about. That was actually started when MapGuy asked, "Who does 'They' refer to?" Assuming it was 'MEN'. I told him that it was, "us, everyone." Then explained the story-line. While so doing I tossed out the phrase "FGM" as if they would know it. I suppose I really didn't want to say "Female Genital Mutilation" at (a) dinner, and (2) Denny's. They did ask what it was, and I explained briefly, "female circumcision." The conversation eventually moved on. And, now, tonight, he's seeing a shelf full of feminist novels. Now, do I care that he knows I'm a feminist? Absolutely not! He'd learn it soon enough with out the aid of my bookshelf. If he's half the guy he seems to be he'll take time to get to know my brand of feminism before he judges me on it.

He also asked me to play Lydia (my cello) for him. I can't believe I actually did! It was terrible. I need to get back into practicing again. We had a really pleasant dinner, then he had to leave. He did give me a hug when he left, which was really nice of him. Oh, and he also gave me a hard time when I asked him to pick up margarine rather than butter. "You cook with margarine?" "Yeah, I can't eat butter." "Oh yeah. What about olive oil?" "I use olive oil a lot, but I don't think you guys want it on your mashed potatoes?" "Oh. I'll be right back."

Anyway, all-in-all, I think it was a really successful evening.

Feminist

Tonight at the concert there was a brief pause in events so the MC decided to read some jokes he had found while trying to prepare for the event. He started out like this:

"You know, there are some huge differences between men and women, and the way we define things. For example, a successful man is one who earns more money than his wife can spend, while a successful woman is one who finds such a man."

I sat through one and a half more of these, and when it became evident that it was going to continue I got up and walked out. As I was leaving I felt someone kind of brush her hand on my hair and back. I assumed it was the Relief Society President offering me support. I was right.

As I stormed out the doors I ran into Musician and (the woman I would later learn the identity of) his ex-girlfriend (more on this below). I had a hard time being nice and flirty since I was busy being offended and pissed off. I smiled and greeted them before heading over to the water table.

"Uh! I hate that!" I exclaimed to my friend. She said simply, "I know, it's stupid." I don't really know if I said more, but I doubt it. I just tried to calm myself down.

You know, in this day and age people might find that to be true for some, but to assume it applies across the board, and to treat people as if it does, simply undermines what countless women before me have fought so hard for. It makes me so mad that people still find humor in that kind of "joke."

Cars, Concert, and Boy

Nanny, Sweetheart and I went car shopping again today. Good golly, I need to find a car I like and just buy the thing already! Sheesh.

After that we went to a YSA activity called "Sound Off." Basically, it was 3 or 4 local bands playing. It wasn't all that fantastic, except the last band was pretty awesome. We called the new guy in the ward, Musician, to see if he was planning on coming. He had to do some work around the house, but told us if we were going out afterwards to give him a call and he'd join us.

He eventually showed up, and just as I noticed that he was looking in the door for us a blond girl walked up and gave him a huge hug. He looked awfully happy to see her. I just let that happen. I thought he liked me, guess I was wrong. Oh well.

After a bit I decided that I needed some water, so I left the auditorium to get some (There's much more to this, but I'll post it next). I walked out the door and practically right into him. He smiled at me, and I at him, but he was still with the blond chick, and I was having a moment, so I just headed over for the water. He kept glancing my way, so I decided to be sociable, and went over to him. He introduced us, and the three of us chatted for a bit before I excused myself and headed back inside. I really felt like I was being measured up for something. I can't really say if I fell short or not.

Afterwards, I asked, "So, who was that girl? Girlfriend?" "Uh, ex." Oh. Whoops. Well, there we have it. I was being sized up to see if I had next-girlfriend material or not. That's kind of cool. I guess.

After the concert Nanny, Sweetheart, Musician, Lurch, 2 other girls, and MapGuy (who met us at the restaurant) went to Denny's for dinner. We had a really great time. Afterwards Musician asked if I needed a ride, well, Nanny left her car at my place, so she had to come back here to get it anyway, and Lurch lives in my apartment complex, so, no, I didn't really need> a ride. I said yes, that'd be great.

Tragically, Lurch and Musician parked on the same side of the building, but Nanny and Sweetheart parked on the other and I had to get my backpack out of Sweetheart's car. Musician drove his car around to our side of the building and said, "So, apparently, Lurch lives in your same apartment complex." "Oh, duh! You're right!" I said trying to pass off like I had forgotten. We decided (quickly) that I would just catch a ride home with Lurch. He did offer me a ride back to the other side of the building. I thanked him, but assured him that "my walkers work." He left, and I called Lurch, thanked him for the offer, but, I'll just catch a ride with Nanny and Sweetheart. Yeah. Dork.

On the ride home Nanny said, "So, the other two girls were like, 'what's up with Granola and Musician? They look like they should be dating!' and I was like, 'I know, right?'"

What can one say to that, really? I argued that we talked to everyone else, and it wasn't like that, at all. Her reply? "They saw it, and that was the first time they even saw you two together! It's obvious!" Who knows. There's still the guy that I took to the symphony who I'm still kind of interested in — at least getting to know better. We'll see where this goes, I suppose.

Aren't You Glad You Asked?

RC and I were talking about marriage today. He asserted that he thought marriage was the only female-friendly institution, and was far from being male-friendly. I disagreed, telling him that the only reason he felt that was as because "you're not the woman being forced to abide by a misogynistic reality with which you vehemently disagree."

And, now, as they say, you know. Aren't you glad you asked why I'm still single?

Freudian Slip

Forgetting the word "Nerdo" Nanny accidentally called me "Nympho". In front of the new guy.

Potential

I called up the new guy in the ward (mentioned previously sans name in this post) tonight to ask if he wanted to join Sweetheart, Nanny, Lurch, maybe MapGuy, and myself for dinner. He was all up for it. It did end up being just Nanny, Sweetheart, him, and me, which was fine. We had a blast getting to know him better. He is so funny! That was awesome!

After dinner Nanny and Sweetheart were driving me home, "He totally likes you." Nanny announced. Yeah, I got that vibe, too. "You think so?"

"Yeah! It was like you two were on a date and me 'n' Sweetheart were on a date." As supporting evidence she offered up the following:

• He angled himself towards me the whole dinner.
  
• He touched me, a lot. As often as the situation/conversation would allow.
  
• He geeked out with me.
  
• Pretty much we had our own conversation and included the other two only on occasion.
  
• After we finished eating we sat around chatting about nothing, I moved my chair away from the table to better face him, and he did likewise. What they didn't see (and I wasn't about to point it out) was that we had to maneuver our feet around each other so that we didn't play "footsies". That was kind of intentional.

Synopsis: While it's fun to be liked, it's more fun being liked by a guy you could like back. In other words — I could like him. The other guy in our ward who is interested in me: not so much. Sometime I'll post about him. That'll be a good one.

Car Shopping Revisited

Lurch took me down to the car shops in Renton on Tuesday. We went to five dealerships. I can't believe how much I hate car salesmen.

Stop 1: Honda
I'm in the market for a responsible (read: boring) car, because that's what I should buy. Not what I want to buy, mind you, but what I should. We make our first stop at the Honda place.

Enter salesman1, stage right. I was tying my shoe when he walked up. He looked at the both of us, and went straight to Lurch to introduce himself. Then me. And, only after I extended my hand for the general shake. He asked Lurch what he was looking for in a car, to which Lurch replied (brownie points for this one), "Actually, I'm not looking. She is." That's pretty much all he said to the guy. Then I told him what I was looking for, and what I was not looking for. He showed me a traditional Outback right after I said, "I hate sports utility wagons." Nice. Eventually he gave up, and sent out:

Salesman2. My favorite part was when salesman2 asked me how I felt about a lease and I said, "I will never lease a vehicle." Then, he started to go into his lease spiel. I repeated myself a number of times, all of which he pointedly ignored. Finally, I let him give it to me, then I said, "That's nice. I'll never lease a vehicle."

Stop 2: Saturn
They were closed. Their cars are ok, but I'm not in love with them

Stop 3: Kia
We wandered around, looked at a lot of cars when (finally) a salesman came out to talk to us. He introduced himself to me first (!), then, when we expressed that we were just looking, he left us in peace. Gold star for the Kia dude.

Stop 4: Nissan
We were headed to Mazda, but Lurch missed the turn. We ended up looking at Xteras instead. I do like the Xtera. The salesman there was really pleasant. At one point Lurch said, "You get this, and I'll get a boat."

"Yeah, whatever!" I snorted.

The salesman didn't really say anything, he just kind of laughed, then lurch said, "Isn't this the point where you're supposed to be talking up boats?"

He laughed, "Yeah, well, she's made up her mind. But," he added conspiratorially, "it'll pull a boat no problem."

I liked him.

That was it. I bought no car, and I'm still trying to talk myself out of the jeep. Sigh.

Back Out

Midge just called me — she's going back into the mission field on the first of November. That is wonderful news! I'm so very happy for her!

Congrats on getting better so quickly, Midge. Now, stop reading my blog, you're supposed to be a missionary.

More Car Shoppin'

Lurch is taking me car shopping tomorrow. Yeah! I need to not buy the Jeep I feel madly in love with.

Dinner

Two weeks ago I was making an announcement in priesthood meeting for Family Home Evening when a guy who was clearly new in the ward asked for more information (like, where it was, and what time). He is rather cute (not hot — cute), so I was slightly disappointed to not see him Monday.

Nanny and Sweetheart think I should have a thing for him (I think they just want to get me paired off with someone), so they wanted to invite him for dinner on Sunday. Tragically (for them) he wasn't at church.

Tonight, however, he was at FHE. Near the end Bishop and he left for the bishop's office for the new member interview. Well, we were all starvin' Marvins so we were going to go to our regular restaurant. The girls wanted to invite him, so we kind of hung around waiting for the interview to end. When it finally did he headed the opposite direction of where we were waiting. I was sent back into the chapel to invite him. I extended the invite which he was only too happy to accept.

I ended up riding over with him, but not sitting next to him at dinner. That was fine. It actually gave us all a chance to get to know each other better. It was quite fun. I'm sure we'll end up hanging out with him more — since Nanny, Sweetheart and I all got his number. Good times.

"Where Do You Hide That Smell?"

Not exactly the question a girl wants to hear when a boy is entering her apartment. "Um, I mean, it smells good, but it's not too strong, and I'm just wondering where you keep it so that it's like that?"

I had no idea what smell MapGuy was talking about. Eventually, we determined that it's probably my candles that I have everywhere. The unburned candle has a lot of smell to it, but it's very soft. I'm glad he likes it. I do too.

New Car

I was looking at a yellow 2005 Jeep Wrangler on Saturday. I think I'm sold on it. I shouldn't be.

I want it.

The Bishop's wife asked me at church today (well, Sunday) if I had gone looking and, if so, at what. I told her, and she laughed, "After we dropped you off (at the church following the Dead Sea Scrolls trip) I told the Bishop, 'I could see Granola in a Wrangler.'! And, he said, 'Me too.'"

We laughed. A lot. She was even more pleased to hear that I was looking at a yellow one. I want it. I shouldn't get it. I actually still don't know what I'll do. Do you believe that?

Unfulfilled Relationships

Lately I've been feeling rather unfulfilled in my relationships, especially with Nanny and Sweetheart. I've been dying to have a deep intellectual conversation with someone (anyone) about something (anything). Unfortunately, neither of these two lovely ladies is up to the task. I do adore them both, they're just not deep intellectual conversation kind of gals.

I was kind of expressing this to MapGuy tonight and he said, "There's kind of a reason I'm not dating Nanny." Followed quickly by insane laughter from my side of the car and his asserting, "I said nothing! You did not just hear me say that!!!" Tragically for her that came just minutes after I expressed the opinion that she was in love with getting married to have him respond, "There's a reason I'm not dating Nanny." Ahh, the guy has shown his hand, and while I knew the cards were in the deck, I didn't know they were in his hand. The funny (funny-ironic not funny-ha-ha) thing about it all is I kind of picture her as being more attractive to guys because she wants to get married and have a family. I guess for him he's more interested in not dating anyone for a long time. Poor guy. His ex really worked him over in a bad way.

Also, today I was craving physical affection. I went so far to say, "Today is a good cuddling day." MapGuy said, "Good thing you're over there!" as I was settling in to my side of the couch. What did I do? Why, I quickly leaned over on him. "Uh, no." was his response, so (well, not 'so' so much as 'and then') I moved back over to my end. It really was a cuddling night. I wish I could just have a cuddle buddy. Like that's ever going to happen again. This evening after dinner (we went over to Sweetheart's for dinner after church) MapGuy brought me home and we ended up chatting in his car for 4 hours. Holy COW! We talked about so many things, and yet, about nothing. The part of me that is craving physical affection wishes that he had initiated some sort of contact. The part of me that has no desire to really be in a relationship that involves more than cuddling is so glad he didn't. I have a feeling that he's not a no strings attached cuddling type of guy. That, and Nanny would murder me if she ever found out.

I've been thinking of trying to have an intellectual conversation with RC, but I don't know how to just initiate one about anything, I can just see it: "Hey, RC, let's have an intellectual conversation." "Uh, ok... whaddaya wanna talk about?" "Oh, I don't know, anything intellectual." "..." Hmm, no.

Work classifieds = Date? Yup

Being the compulsive shopper that I am, on Thursday I bought a pair of tickets to the Seattle Symphony for Friday's concert from the work classifieds. Now, all I needed was a date.

I called a couple of boys in the ward, including MapGuy, and asked them if they wanted to go with me. None of them were able to, until I called one guy who I have kind of been moderately interested in for a while now.

I asked him if he would be would be interested. He was so excited I barely was able to tell him that I had the tickets, let alone ask if he was busy. Fun stuff!

I asked him to pick me up and then he started mentally going through a timeline of when he'd have to pick me up in order to get there on time. He ran through traffic, and the general stuff, then he said, "and then we can do dinner, maybe before or after depending on time..." I was thinking that, but it was nice to hear him say it.

So, he picked me up and we headed to town. After finding a parking spot we wandered around looking for a place to eat. We found a really great steakhouse (that always happens to me, oh, the irony), and had dinner — my portobello on focaccia was delic.

And, the symphony was spectacular. We had a really good time.

The best part was when he dropped me off and went to shake my hand. How Mormon can we get? I gave him a hug instead, and made fun of him for the attempted hand shake

Dead Sea Scrolls

Today our ward went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Pacific Science Center. It was amazing. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go.

One really neat thing was seeing photographs of places that I had been, and mentally going back there and revisiting them in my mind.

Happy Birthday Midge

Today is Midge's 22nd birthday! Holy crap! And, she had her surgery this morning. Happy freaking birthday to her, eh?

I was going to call to wish her a Happy Birthday, but given that she's still out of it, I shall not.

I do love her, though, tons.

Symphony

Someone at work was selling tickets for the Symphony for tomorrow night. I gave in to temptation and (despite my recent vow to go on a more strict money diet) bought them from her.

Then, I called up a boy I like and asked him if he was interested in going with me. He was, or rather, is, so now, I have a date for tomorrow night! Yeah!!

What ever am I going to wear?

A Death in the Family

Willie, my car, decided to develop a smoking problem.

Saturday I was on my way down to Sweethearts's place to hang out when the engine started smoking, just a little, but enough to be worrisome. I pulled into a gas station and filled him up with gas, and checked his vitals — the coolant reservoir was completely empty. I filled that up with water and went on my merry little way.

Sunday as I was driving to Nanny's house he started smoking again, only worse this time. I made it home later just fine, but I was more than concerned.

Monday I was driving around the island and had driven maybe a total of 4 miles when the oil light went on, the check gauges light went on, and smoke started pouring out of the radiator. I checked the coolant again and it was still pretty full. I didn't dare drive him anywhere. Fortunately, I had a friend pick me up and all was well. Now, however, I'm afraid I am without car.

I think it may be time I bought a new one, too bad, I was looking forward to buying other things with on that list o' funness that I posted last night.

Tragic.

Promotion

I had a one-on-one with my boss (the one above WalksSoftly) yesterday. He has an interesting style, a lot of the time he'll ask what's going on, then say, "Anything else?" After a few of these I said, "Well, I don't know if you heard, but I got a promotion." (The irony that both he and I knew was that (a) he had recommended it; and (2) he had to approve it so, either way, he knew.)

He smiled broadly as he said, "Yeah. I know. And, actually, I don't consider it a promotion so much as a hiring correction. Why you were hired at the level you were hired is beyond me. You certainly have the capabilities and the skills for this level."

Well, I knew that, and you knew that, it's good to hear that he knew that as well (ok, ok, I have been campaigning for this promotion since the day my boss the jerk got fired, it's just a matter of convincing people that they noticed your sillz. Apparently I succeeded).

Additionally, I got a huge pay raise! Yes!!! I can finally think about buying the following:

• a couch
  
• a receiver for my record player
  
• speakers to go with the aforementioned receiver
  
• maybe a new car? I think Willie died. :(
  

ID-10-T

One of my least favorite developers — oh, who am I kidding? — my least favorite developer and I got into it (again) today. Once again very publicly and over email. It went something like this (keep in mind, this is all 'reply all'ed).

Me: Hey all, x is broken. It's broken on both production and pre-production, and the latency on both is terrible. I'm not positive when that happened.

Him: It makes no sense to compare prod and pre-prod, since they're different machines.

Me: Yup. I know. I included both to highlight that it was across the board and not just one farm having problems. Thanks for re-emphasizing that they're separate, though.

Him: Oh, I thought you were saying they're the same, since you said 'I don't know how that happened.'

It went downhill from there, but rest assured that I got the better of him. Eventually our project manager came over and told me that the email was pretty important and needed to be noted. I said, "Which part? The part where he called me an idiot or the part where I told him that, thanks, but actually he is?" He just laughed. I guess he sees it too. Which is good, but obnoxious. I'm sick of having to defend myself publicly for this jerks defaming comments. You'd think he'd at least have the decency to reply directly to me rather than to everyone in general. <grrrrrrrrrr>

Office Space

CubeBuddy decided to move cubes. laaaaaaaaa Yeah, I didn't have a problem with that, at all. After she moved I decided to move my desk to where hers was, since she had a much better seating arrangement. I moved yesterday evening. It has been quite pleasant since.

She also left one of her monitors, so I decided to go for a tri-monitor set up. That didn't work out so well. When RC came over to check out my new set up he recommended that I get a dual-monitor adapter for my Linux box. I shall do just that.

So, today was quite pleasant — my own huge cube, all to myself, and CubeBuddy elsewhere. And with my arrangement people walking down the hall no longer are a distraction. Pure bliss, I assure you, pure bliss.

Surgery

Midge is having surgery tomorrow morning for her Gall Bladder. Thinking of you kiddo. Do everything your doctor says, and try to get better as fast as possible, m'kay? Mumsy better be reading this to you, since you're not supposed to be online.

Love ya.

Pregnant

We found out earlier this week that Midge is pregnant with baby Gall Stones. Poor girl. Her mission president sent her home Friday so she can have them/it removed next week. Her doctor's appointment is Monday. I assume her surgery will probably be Wednesday or so. I've offered to go home to take care of her for three days or so, so Mumsy and Dad don't have to take time (that they don't have) off work. Mumsy said that will be wonderful. I still have to bang out the details, and I don't know if I'll be flying or driving. I was planning on just driving, but Willie (my car) has been acting not happy with me yesterday. :( Hopefully things will get all sorted out, and soon.

Problematic

Friday night I went to a stake talent show. Why? Because, while not exactly my scene, I thought my friends were going. They didn't show. After two acts I decided to bail. As I was leaving I saw a guy from my ward who doesn't really go to church, but he does go to Family Home Evening. I paused on my way out and asked if he wanted to bail. He was all up for it. Since MapGuy wanted to go to dinner (we had talked about it before I headed over to the talent show) I set those plans in motion.

I asked if he wanted to carpool over and he said, "Sure, I can drive." Not that it was very far, but no use everyone driving.

We got to the restaurant and chatted while waiting for everyone else. We didn't really know each other all that well, so this was a good chance to learn more. He seems like a nice enough guy. After dinner we all decided to go to a movie. He ended up sitting next to me. Following the movie he drove me back to the stake center to get my car. On the way over he was driving a little erratically. I made some non-verbal reaction to his driving and he said, "I'm a good driver!"

"It's not that," I replied, "it's just the first time driving with someone, you never know how they're going to react."

"Yeah," he said reassuringly, "you get all freaked out and then you realize, 'hey! He's just trying to impress me!'"

heh... heh... heh...... CRAP!

I laughed, what else could I do? Anyway, so he dropped me off, and asked me to call him if we made any other plans sometime so we could all hang out and stuff. Now, while I'm ok with people trying to be social, and, I'm ok with adding people to the group with whom I hang out, if they're not a perfect fit I'm not going to be calling them up all the time. Occasionally, sure. All the time, not so much.

Fast forward...

Sweetheart, Nanny, and I went to Ikea yesterday afternoon (I hate Ikea, for the record). On the way home we stopped by Denny's. While there I started to get a bit of a stomach ache. Then, a bad stomach ache. Eventually, I decided to just go home and try to take care of my tummy, and they decided to go do whatever.

At 9:30 my phone rang — it was the guy from last night. He was calling to find out if we were doing anything last night. Before that, however, he instantly noticed that I didn't sound well. I told him that I had a bit of a stomach flu, and he went into 'helpful-worried-guy mode'. It would have been totally flattering had I had even the slightest interest in him. I don't. He offered about five times to bring me some chicken noodle soup. I told him that was very sweet, but no thank you, I would be fine, but thanks for the offer.

So, the problem? Well, clearly, the boy is interested in getting to know me better, whereas I, on the other hand, am not. Joy.

I Heart Terry Pratchett

For those of you who are misfortunate enough to have not read Terry Pratchett allow me to share with you the two funniest things I've read this evening. Both are taken from Pyramids the 7th Diskworld Novel.

Ahem.

'The trouble with you, Ibid,' he said, 'is that you think you're the biggest bloody authority on everything.'

'The chap you need is Pthagonol. A very acute man with an angle.'

Self-Perpetuating Rumors

Have I mentioned how hot RC is? No? Let me do so now. He's hot. Very hot. Oh, and such a geek! It's really rather attractive, if I do say so myself.

Lots has been going on that I just haven't written about for whatever reason. Mainly, he's thinking about leaving the team, and I'm trying hard to convince him to stay. Though, he just found out yesterday that the team he thought he was going to transfer to just lost their head-count, so that's a no-go. Too bad for him. Poor guy.

But, that wasn't the point of bringing him up. A bit of back history that you should know is that he likes to make reference to two-week "relationships." Apparently, until his most recent girl friend (of two years, which is why nothing between us is ever going to happen) he would go through relationships on average of two weeks. Or, that's what one would believe if one believed everything he said. Personally, I think he's all talk and very little action as far as that goes. Nonetheless this all leads up to what transpired today.

We were sitting in his cube discussing how when I did something it didn't work, and then when he did the exact same thing it worked for him like a charm. His rationale was this: "You've got to do it like you mean it. See, that's your problem, you don't mean it. I, on the other hand, do it like I mean it." This went on for a bit before the slightly more wicked part of me piped up, "That's not what I heard."

He opened his mouth to retort. Closed his mouth. Then, blushing, said simply, "I'm just going to take that. There's nothing to say."

Yes! I win! Oh, and it's quite fun to see the person who is always getting the better of you in flirtatious repartee get the end of the stick they're not use to getting. Ahhh... I win! I win!

Writer's Block

I think up these great ideas for posts, and then, when the time comes and I actually have time to write a post I can't, for the life of me, remember what I was going to write. Tragic.

Oh!:
It's good to be home and sleeping in my own bed!

Here's something:
Nanny is going to London in March and thinks that Sweetheart and I should go with her. I'm sorely tempted. So tempted in fact, I think I'm going to save up my pennies.

Here's something else:
BritishGirl thinks my secret office boyfriend might like me, too. The (biggest) problem with that: he has a girlfriend, and no plans on dumping her anytime soon. <sigh>

And:
I have mounds of laundry to do and no desire to do it. Tragic, really.

And finally:
Jet-lag is teh suck.

Happy Birthday, Pops!

Today's my dad's birthday. Can you believe it? He's getting so old!! Ok, just kidding. Well, not really, just kidding about the italics, I guess. Hope you had a great day today, Dad. I'll see you at Christmas!

Why PINK!??!

October is Brest Cancer Awareness Month. Even geeks can get it.