I find myself somewhat unexpectedly at norwescon. And it is rather like my first convention all ovver again because I've yet to find anyone I know...

So...bizzare....

Current Location: norwescon
Current Mood: confused

for those of you who are desperately curious as to what I've been doing lately...

( clickie )

Current Location: work
Current Mood: blah

Green means go.
Red means stop.
Devil duckies will not take over the world (no matter how many of them there are).
Tiny Dragon Egg is mighty.
Loved ones and pets will always be there.

Unfortunately... not every thing you take for granted is true.

Current Mood: melancholy

Mrs. Peacock: So, what do you do in Washington D.C., Mr Green? Come on! What do you do? I mean, how are we to get acquainted if we don't say anything about ourselves.
Miss Scarlet: Perhaps he doesn't wanna get acquainted with you.
Mrs. Peacock: Well, I'm sure I don't know. But if I wasn't trying to keep the conversation going, we'd all be sitting here in an embarrassed silence.
Professor Plum: Are you afraid of silence, Mrs. Peacock?
Mrs. Peacock: Yes... What? No!... Why?
Professor Plum: Well, it seems to me that you are. You seem to suffer from what we call "Pressure of Speech".
Miss Scarlet: We? Who's we? Are you a shrink?
Professor Plum: I do know a little about psychological medicine yes.

Current Mood: ___________

Off to Wiscon

I'll see some of you there.

Current Mood: zombie grrrrl

My woman wants a replica.

Dude... I've got a woman? Where the hell is she? And why is she telling some spammer that this is what she wants? Why didn't she just tell me?

Wait. Maybe she doesn't know she's my woman. Or maybe she does, but she's trapped somewhere, like a message in a bottle or a genie in a lamp or something. Maybe her message to the spammer is a desperate plea for help, a long shot, a "Well, here goes nothing, maybe Aynjel will get my message and rescue me because it's really cramped in here and I have sand between my toes!".

Maybe I just need more caffeine.

Current Mood: weird

None of the following items are punctuation: LOL, lol, lolz, rolflercopter, lolercopter, lollipop, or any acronym or variant of these that indicates laughter.

You may use a period (.), a comma (,), an exclamation point (!), a question mark (?), heaven forbid, an ellipsis (...), or any other Chicago Manual of Style recognized punctuation in order to, well, punctuate your statements.

Can you imagine what an idiot you would look like if someone gave you a useful tip and you said, "That will come in handy," and then laughed out loud when the situation was not even remotely amusing?

Current Mood: cranky and most assuredly *not* LOL

Monster Energy Drink in the eye HURTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And it was just the tiniest little drop.

No, I didn't do it on purpose. I'm not entirely certain how it got there, but I wish to fucking ghod it hadn't.

Current Mood: owie!!!!!!!!!

I tried out TrustFlow II for LiveJournal. The following people not on the friends list for aynjel are close by:

• digitaldelirium (500 - 550)
• mevennen (550 - 600)
• papersky, gatcat (650 - 700)

( More results below the cut... )

Created by ciphergoth; hosted by LShift.

TrustFlow II: Who is closest to your friends list?

Current Mood: contemplative

2-day sinus headache is more than enough.

So were my dreams last night with the 2.5 (or fewer) frames per second visuals.

Ugh.

Current Mood: bleh

And speaking of definitions...( please open your dictionary to A, for Aynjel )

Current Mood: moody

I find myself, as I write (and as I edit documents here at work), catching more and more often the use of "since" where "because" is appropriate.

Consider these two examples (not taken from the documentation I'm editing nor my own writing, but rather, pulled out of my own head):
I've been too cold at work since I left my jacket at home.
I've been too cold at work because I left my jacket at home.

It seems that as a spoken convention, the use of "since" in place of "because" is pretty common, common enough that it has made its way into writing where it muddies the waters of what's actually being said or going on, particularly with procedural documentation.

Also? "since" is one of those words that ceases to be a real word for me when I see it or say it too often, or think about it too long.

Current Mood: working

It got worse while I was on the phone with tech support.  My alien is packaged up in its escape pod and the homing coordinates are set for the mother ship.

I am not a happy camper right now.

And, no, I did not manage to rescue the data that was on my harddrive.

Technology sucks.

Current Mood: craptastic

If your perfume hangs out in the elevator long after you leave, waiting to hit on other people when they get in, then you put too much on, bitch.

Current Mood: cranky

Imagine if you will, a day kind of like this...

Aynjel sits at her desk, staring blankly at her computer. There are words there, and pretty pictures, and colors, but, really, what do they mean? She glances at the phone, picks up the receiver, finds her manager's extension in the directory, and dials.

Aynjel: I can't come in to work today. I have the stupids.
Manager: You're... calling me from your desk.
Aynjel: See what I mean?

I think I'd really like to have that conversation today...

Current Mood: exanimate

Yummy fondue last night.

Yummy wine last night.

Wonderful dinner companions.

Soooooo sleepy today...

Current Mood: sleepy

Enough with the 2:30am charlie-horse alarms, please. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm trying to sleep at that particular time. While I would rather not have them at all, if you must, then please wait until I'm not dead asleep to inflict them on me.

kthxbye

Current Mood: cranky

Fridays, in the cafeteria here at work, are Aloha Fridays. They make malted waffles. While you wait. And they have toppings that you can pick and choose to put on them.

I've spent the better part of this past year resisting the lure of the waffle-crack. I've watched people jockey for positions, trying to be the First One in the waffle line on Friday mornings (while I go around the frothing mob, jonesing for their waffle fix, to get my breafkast sammich, and then sneak between their quivering forms to get a muffin).

Today, because I got in a bit late, got up to the cafeteria a bit late, there was no line.

I glanced around, saw no one was watching me, and took the plunge. I ordered a waffle. And while it was being cooked, stared at all of the potential toppings I could put on it. Fresh mango. Blueberries. Cinnamon whipped cream, canned-spray-whipped-cream, honey butter, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, real maple syrup, little packages of Knotts' maple syrup (with Childhood Nostalgia Value(tm) for me, as a kid who went to Knotts Berry Farm a lot as a child), chopped pecans.

I looked and looked and looked and planned and then, my waffle was cooked, and put in a to-go container for me and I dove into the toppings.

I started with honey butter on the whole thing. And then...

One quarter got chocolate sauce and cinnamon whipped cream. Another quarter got caramel sauce and pecans. A third quarter got blueberries and real maple syrup. The last quarter ended up with a little bit of everything.

Ohmyghod. I need a waffle next Friday. This is how it all starts.

One waffle, and then you just keep wanting more.

First, it's once a week. Then, you're jonesing for it mid-week and on weekends after a late night partying. Then, you pretty much want it every day. Sometimes two or three times a day. And you're always thinking about it.

Why oh why oh why did I give in and have a waffle?

Current Mood: quixotic

I have an Aeron now in my room at my desk. Yes, I spent a lot on a chair, but I've already done the back surgery thing once and if this will help prevent it from happening again, I'm all for it. Sitting in this chair makes a huge difference, though.

Current Mood: comfortable

I would really like to get a decent night's sleep.

kthxbye

Current Mood: exhausted

Steve Barnes posted this.

I... don't know what else to say.

Current Mood: blank

So... there was snow on the ground yesterday. And on my car. After it hailed like the world was going to end at some point in the middle of the night, it snowed. I think the two mingled together to make snowpellets. When I went outside the first time, the ground was crunchy with them. They were just a dusting in some places, but were thick enough to get stuck around the edge of my Dr. Martens in others. They'd been packed into slippery slush on the roads. I went back inside.

It's not that I can't drive in the snow. After six years in Colorado, I feel that I am a capable enough snow driver. After four years in Portland (when I was an incapable snow driver) and two-or-so years here in Seattle, I know that many many many people who see snow once a year, or perhaps once every three years, are not capable snow drivers. I think one part of being a capable snow driver is knowing when there are more idiots on the road than is safe.

When I went outside the second time, many of the snowpellets had melted off of the ground. They'd been driven to water with an occaisional slush-ice patch on the road. There were fewer idiots. My car, however, was still blanketed by snow pellets. They reminded me of that thing I don't remember. That thing that my family and family friends reminde me of when I go back to St. Louis. "Do you remember when you decided to play snow?" they say, often as they pull out photo albums with the evidence that this thing did in fact happen.

I don't remember it. I remember being told about it. I remember seeing photos of it. I imagine what sort of thought I must have had, at the age of perhaps 3. I must have had snow experience at that point. And the little foam balls inside of the footstool were probably very very much like the snow pellets that covered my car yesterday.

I leaned inside, started my car, got the ice scraper/brush, and removed the evidence.

Current Mood: undercaffeinated

And some of you who do are just whacked enough, or geeky enough, that you might be inclined to knit:
an MST3K baby sweater
or
a squid cap

Blame xany for this post that is utterly unrelated to any of my personal hobbies...

(And, actually, if any of you are whacked enough, and talented enough, to resize that squid cap into something that would fit my fat head....)

Current Mood: quixotic

So... as I passed central services, on my way to the ladies' room... I thought I saw a purple Fred Flinstone head with black sunglasses.  As I didn't want to pause, at that moment, to determine if I was hallucinating, I continued on.  As I returned, I paused long enough to determine that I was not, in fact, hallucinating.

I'm not certain what's more disturbing... that I thought I had hallucinated something like that... or that I actually hadn't.

Current Mood: quixotic

I am the Hate Fairy.

'nuff said.

Current Mood: cranky

I probably failed to mention that last night. Landed at 10:30ish. Luggage all came off the belt. Got home. Plugged laptop in with new power supply (finally), then crashed.

Am cotton-headed right now and just want to go back home and sleep more.

But I've got a meeting at 2, and work to catch up on still.

Current Mood: blank

Ottawa, too cold.

I will see you all when I get home. Assuming they let me back into the country.

Current Mood: travel-chaotic

I bought myself some presents.

I'm meeting up with girlgoth tonight to pick up the first, and discuss how the others will make their way to me once they are done.

Current Mood: _______________________

My afternoon is straight meetings from 1pm until 4pm.

Current Mood: cranky

With the poor manager having to give away a bunch of cakes today because he didn't find out until 5pm yesterday that the store didn't open and some company across the street was having an anniversary party or somesuch and couldn't get their cakes.
( I'll spare you the details of today's evil... )

I don't know if it's just Friday, or what, but I keep wavering back and forth between exhausteddrainedfuckoffanddie, and energeticbubblybounciepsycho. (This has nothing to do with what's behind the cut tag, I was like that prior to the evil.)

Current Mood: restless

Or, "Come to the dark side. We have cookies!"

There is evil upstairs in the cafeteria. I wish there wasn't because I'm awful about resisting temptation and evil is so very very tempting.

What sort of evil? This isn't the same kind of evil as the flavorless chicken pesto pasta, or the "ham is not bacon, you bastards!" breakfast sandwiches. This is a totally different kind of evil.

A better kind of evil.

A worse kind of evil.

It is the McTavish Shortbread Caramel Bar. It is three ounces of evil. A perfect shortbread cookie with a bit of ever-so-modest caramel on top of it that's hidden from prying eyes by a coating of dark chocolate. Yes, yes, the website goes on from there to talk about the packaging, but, really, the gold label is just there to catch the eyes of those who might be immune to the sight of shortbread or dark chocolate or, <weakly>both at the same time</weakly> through the clear wrapper.

The McTavish Shortbread website calls it A decadent treat!

Don't be fooled; that's just another way to say "evil".

Current Mood: devious

aynjel: I have Leonard Cohen stuck in my head.
e: which song?
e: or just the man, leonard cohen.
aynjel: "First we take Manhattan"
e: or poem
e: good one.
aynjel: If he was stuck in there, I'd be in trouble.
aynjel: I've got a big head, sure.
aynjel: But I don't think it's big enough for him to fit.
e: yes.
e: he'd be all "I'm 100 floors above you, in the head of aynjel"

Current Mood: quixotic
Current Music: "First we take Manhattan" -- Leonard Cohen (earworm courtesy of Harald387, you bastard)

So we use the appointment/meeting schedule thing in Outlook here at work to notify teammates when we're leaving early, or when we're taking time off.

The thing about the Outlook appointments and meeting requests is that when they arrive in your inbox, you've got the option to propose a new date/time for the meeting or appointment.

I'm always terribly tempted, when someone's PTO notice comes through, to propose a different date or time for that.

Hmm, you said you were going to Hawaii. Wouldn't you rather go in May?

Current Mood: impish

ham != bacon

damnit

just because they come from the same animal does not mean that they are interchangeable.

Here, lemme throw ham on your BLT. You okay with that?

Current Mood: RAR!!!!

Some mornings... I can't remember that I need to swipe my card to get into the building and I stand there, hand on the doorknob, wondering why it won't do anything.

Current Mood: blank

So it's been raining a lot in Seattle lately. Like, a lot a lot. Yes, more than it usually does. Much more than that.

And our whiteboard entertainment has reflected the quantity of water coming from the sky (sush, I know I can see the moon right now, but that doesn't mean it's done with the raining; there are still grey clouds in the sky).

One list was the Top Ten List of Things To Do In the Rain. It included such things as galumphing, singing a song by The Who, washing one's car, and reading A Clockwork Orange.

The other list, on the board right beside it, was the Top Ten List of "Rain" Songs. It included such things as Red Rain, Blame It On The Rain, Singin' In The Rain, and The Rubber Duckie Song.

Someone put a double-ended arrow from one item on List A, to one item on List B with a note that those two things were inexorably connected. Initially, when I looked at it, I mis-saw the connection as being from "Read A Clockwork Orange" to "The Rubber Duckie Song". The other end of the arrow actually pointed to the song above The Rubber Duckie Song.

Current Mood: quixotic

aynjel: ... muffins should not be chewy on the outside.
coworker: ew
aynjel: It's like... this muffin has a protective layer.
aynjel: Keeping its moist and tastey insides from falling out.
aynjel: >.>
aynjel: Something to discourage muffin predators.
aynjel: I dunno.
coworker: a protective layer is fine, as long as it's a bit crispy
coworker: i like a crispy top on my muffin.
aynjel: I like a crispy muffin top, yes.
coworker: But... the bottom?
aynjel: Sheesh. Who needs to protect the *bottom* of a muffin?
coworker: but really, i don't like muffins, I just like cookies, and the crispy top is the part of a muffin most like a cookie.
aynjel: Heehee.

...

And now I am reminded of eating brownies from the Gateway cafeteria with heyoka what seems like forever ago.

...

Ob Obscure Clarification: No, not those kinds of muffins. Of course they need protection (or at least Nutella).

Current Mood: quixotic

And I would like a refund on today, too. I ordered a standard Monday, not an ultra-crappy Monday. I don't care that it's a free upgrade, I want my money back.

Current Mood: tired, cranky, crampy, meh

One very rarely expects one's coworkers to come up to one and say, "Hey, d'you know where to get a voodoo doll really quickly in Fremont? It's not for me! It's for [manager]!"

I'm not going to make it to Philcon. It's 2 weeks out, I've been a flake. I don't have a plane ticket. I don't have a hotel room booked. And my instinct to hibernate instead of fly is winning. Besides, what bird in its right mind flies east for the winter?

Current Mood: tired

My senses often feed me misinformation. I mishear things, or I don't hear them well enough and my brain fills in the gaps. I misread things, and then have to look back and see if I really saw what I thought I saw.

On a poster today, I saw: Temptation is power.

I won't tell you what it really said.

Current Mood: angry

Welcome to Monday where "bacon" apparently means "whatever pork product happens to actually be in the breakfast sammich... in this case, bacon should be pronounced ham." Meh.

Current Mood: cranky

I wanted to call in old today. Or cold. Or perhaps both.

I wanted to stay in bed, snuggled under the covers where it's warm and comfortable, watching the rain on the skylight.

Only it isn't raining today. Not yet, at least.

It might start. Maybe. At some point.

But instead of calling in today, or emailing in, or something... I bundled myself up, went outside into the cold, and drove to work.

Current Mood: quixotic

You could put layers of whipped cream in a mocha so you could have whipped cream with the top, and whipped cream with the middle, and whipped cream with the end?

Current Mood: quixotic

It's not that I expect gourmet cuisine from the cafeteria upstairs. But... I firmly believe that chicken pesto pasta should have some kind of flavor... some kind of flavor that doesn't rest on whehter or not I've chosen to have sundried tomatoes added to it.

Current Mood: apathetic

Pretty much the only time I get anything in my physical inbox at work is when they pass out company-wide information packets. For example, I have a Mr. Yuck! sticker and magnet that accompanied the Poison Control information they sent out, and an "in Action" sticker that accompanied the community volunteer information that went out. I think the only other thing I got in my physical inbox was my HR-related stuff. (My Outlook inbox is another story entirely.)

So this morning, I'm walking by my mailbox, not because I expect to see anything in there, but because it's on the way to the soda fridge and I need caffeine (it's 6:10am, for cats' sake, I need caffeine). And as I make my way over there, I notice that every inbox has a little faux-velvet pouch in it. Each one is red or black, and they alternate mailboxes.

Uncaffeinated as I was, I wonder, "Is it Christmas already?"

I pluck the (black) pouch out of my inbox and peer at the tag. It says, "Freemont Bridge Construction Survival Kit", compliments of Facilities and SDOT. I carry it (and my caffeine) back to my desk and sit down.

What, I wonder, Could possibly be in a "Freemont Bridge Construction Survival Kit"? A teleporter, perhaps? A very small teleporter, but, really, that is the sort of thing that will help me survive construction. I went through T-REX in Denver and a teleporter certainly would've made it better. But, no, perhaps it's something more realistic and less expensive. Perhaps it is a small book. A very very small book. Ghods know construction can give one plenty of time to read.

It's like Christmas, but not. I open the pouch, having exhausted my creativity for the morning (and perhaps the remainder of the week) to find... construction earplugs, and a foam stress construction helmet.

I only hope I don't need either of them... because if I do? I'm not certain survival is guaranteed.

Current Mood: under-caffeinated

Write 20 random facts about yourself then tag the same number of people as minutes it takes you to write the facts. ( snip )

Current Mood: rushed

Close enough to one of the places I normally put them that I failed to see them.

Today? Rings forgotten at home.

At least I know were they are.

Is it Friday yet?

I've got no idea where my glasses are. *sigh*

Current Mood: cranky

I should be archiving documents, but.... ( meeeeeeeeeeeme )

Nothing like getting home at 7:15pm--after virtually falling asleep on the massage table, and then again while driving--going upstairs, crashing, and sleeping until the alarm goes off at 6am.

Current Mood: braindead