Twain quote

I never write metropolis when I get the same five cents for city.
--Mark Twain

MiniKiss

So, the important part of my weekend is the fact that I went with Ben and 2 of my brothers and 1 of my sisters in law to Killington, VT to ski. Skiing was fun, though the winter weather has been horrible up there and the mountain was a block of ice with two inches to no snow covering it, which, being from PA, I am used to, but still sucked seeing as we traveled all the way up there hoping for GOOD skiing conditions. AND, it was SO COLD. 5 degrees without wind chill. We had to keep buying more and more supplies and layers as it sunk in how cold it would actually be. I wore on top: medium weight long underwear shirt, underarmor tshirt, long-sleeve tshirt, ski coat. Head: Fleece gator that had a sort of nylon head-cover section (so you could see only my eyes if I pulled the fleecey part over my mouth and nose, which I wore another hat and my coat hood over, brand new ski goggles as my old ones crapped out before I even started skiing. Ski mittens with glove liners and hand warmers. Long underwear pants, another pair of tight cotton pants, ski pants, two pairs of ski socks.

We didn't spend too much time skiing because it was so cold and icy and tiring. About 3-4 hours each day. We mostly ate and drank and hung out otherwise.

But the main reason for this post is that I must explain MiniKiss. My sister-in-law and I gave up on skiing before the guys did on Sunday, and went for pedicures. Our pedicurist said that the "big thing" going on that night was that MiniKiss was going to be at "the Pickle." She said they were midgets that dressed like KISS and lipsynced to their songs. We called the guys and they said they were all over it. We actually went. There was a cover band, Lifespeed, who was actually pretty good. And then MiniKiss. There were so many drunk people there that I was really afraid for them at times. They were dressed in black with their faces painted, and the lead singer was a woman who was actually singing, and she sang really well. Is that the only outlet she could find to get on stage and sing? Maybe she really likes dressing like "Mini Paul" and being ogled. It was honestly the strangest thing I've ever seen. You can see a strange video interview of them here. All of the people at the show were completely wasted, and some jumped on the stage and grabbed at the members of the band, and wanted to take pictures with them. I just didn't know what to think. I was embarassed but I guess I shouldn't have been. The lead singer had a really foul mouth, too, which was just SO not what I was expecting, I guess, from a little person.

Freelancers' childcare

This is pretty neat- found it via the DC Web Women LISTSERV, who found it via iconoculture.com:

Located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Two Rooms is a nonprofit facility that provides office + childcare + community, all under one roof!

Parents work and children play at a facility designed to meet the needs of the growing population of freelance workers who are parents – a group that requires flexibility, professional resources and childcare. Our mission is to provide a comfortable and complete work environment for parents, with quality childcare on site, to give parents and children the room they need to be creative and productive.

Two Rooms provides infrastructure and a sense of community. It is a haven for parents – a place to exchange ideas as well as clothing, to pass on job leads as well as outgrown strollers.

SNOW EMERGENCY

Oh my god. It snowed. Snow! Batten down the hatches! Buy milk and eggs and bread! Cancel school!

Well... that's how the rest of DC handled it. Some normal people enjoyed it.

FOCUS!

Jen! Seriously, it's time to focus! The dreaded procrastination bug is biting the crap out of me. I'm checking my email, checking my Ebay, checking my other email, checking my MySpace, checking my blog... come on, now! Will it really kill me to just CLOSE THE FIREFOX BROWSER?! Do it! Close the browser! There's a little rectangle on the bottom of the screen with a blue W on it... yes, click on THAT one... that one...

One more Gmail check.

Something to live up to

My husband's great uncle Mendy Rudolph is the NBA referee that refereeing standards today are based on!

If you can't drink or smoke...

Cure AIDS! BYU (mormon U) scientists have been working on what seems to be a compound that targets and kills HIV virus by disabling it from attacking T-helper cells. Here's a bit from the article:

Savage said he and his BYU research team had been studying CSAs for eight years, noting the compounds' value against microbial and bacteria infections. It was only a year ago they saw that CSAs killed viruses, too.
"They kill viruses very effectively and in a way paralleling our own, natural defenses," Savage said, noting that beyond the obvious use as a weapon against the AIDS pandemic, CSAs could help many others with non-HIV immune deficiencies.
Further, the compounds appear to have few limits on how they are delivered to patients. Although early indications are for application of CSAs with an ointment or cream, pills or injections may also be developed - if the compound gets to market. BYU and Vanderbilt have jointly filed a patent on CSA technology, which has been licensed exclusively to Ceragenix. Ceragenix CEO and Chairman Steven Porter said only further research will tell, but he was optimistic about the application of CSAs in the war on HIV/AIDS. There are indications that it could help battle antibiotic- and antiviral-resistance strains of disease as they manifest themselves.

AWESOME! But, is it wrong of me to be scared that news like this will stop people from having safe sex? The answer is an unequivocal YES, but even I had the fleeting thought that if we are so close to a cure, why bother?

one-year anniversary of sorts

Today I have been at my current job for one year. Things at work have changed in some but not other ways. I'm sort of in a crappy mood today so I'm feeling like whatever I say will put my situation in a bad light right now. So... I don't know, I just won't talk too much about it. I've learned good things that will advance my editing career and allow me to keep learning. I learned some fun things about FrameMaker today.

This time last year...
Our department head was still alive
My immediate supervisor was someone different and knew what he was doing
I was getting married in 2 months
I wasn't doing a whole lot (or being assigned a lot) of work because I was wedding focused
My friend here (my urban village buddy) hadn't started yet
My wedding bands were in transit to be engraved WRONG (If only I could have foreseen that one!)
I had long hair
I had a different last name!

Funny. I guess a lot really has changed. But, is this really interesting? I'm not feeling it. I am glad I'm still here and have a stable job that pays. Who knows what the next few months will bring, though!

New Ebay feature obsession

It's not new, but it's new to me: Andale Counters. This is an Ebay affiliate site on which you can see how many people view your items, and whether that number is above or below the average number of hits on similar items. It's awesome. At the moment, all of the things I'm selling (27 of them) have more than average or average numbers of hits. And over 1,100 people viewed the items I sold in January! And that's unique visitors, not page refreshes. I was getting a bit worried lately that Ebay is too saturated (which I still think is true to an extent) but at least people are still looking.

Business venture

So I may be going into business with my friend Kristen, making jewelry and earring display things... I don't really want to go too much into it in case we flop or just decide not to do it, but I think it's going to get big. And we keep talking about how it might take over our 9-to-5 someday. She keeps saying, "Now you can't move to Michigan and leave me!" Ben's drawing up a plan, so we can prevent any ill will by setting things up very specifically, get a DBA, start a bank account, design a website, etc. The first hurdle that we haven't been able to jump is OUR NAME. Dammit! We've come up with a million names and nothing seems right. Maybe I'll poll my loyal readers. The words we've come up with, in different combinations with one another, are urban, collection, group, village, creation, findings, design. Maybe Urban Village? Since we're sort of planning to branch out and include other small local artists' work eventually? Gotta go email that one to Kristen...

Copular Verbs

Perhaps you were not aware that verbs could get cheeky. But they sure do, and every time I hear someone talking about a copular verb I laugh to myself and create a mental block as to what a copular verb actually is. So, I decided to write a blurb on it to expel the term's very funny implications from my mind. Though I'll still be entertained by it, I'm sure. From www.usingenglish.com:

Copula Verb

Definition: Copula Verbs USE: A copula (also spelled copular) verb is a verb that connects the subject to the complement. They are sometimes called linking verbs. EG: That food smells nice. ('Smells' connects the subject to the adjective that describes it.) The following are the principle Copula Verbs in English that can be used to connect the subject to an adjective: Be; Look; Feel; Taste; Smell; Sound; Seem; Appear; Get; Become; Grow; Stay; Keep; Turn; Prove; Go; Remain; Resemble; Run; Lie