Congrats to Jemima for finishing NaNoWriMo! It's an hour away from midnight, so technically I could still have a go at it, but I'm tired - exhausted from overeating, so I think I'm just going to have to surrender to the word count as it stands: 43,883. I did think I could do it, but I kept getting interrupted at the computer - people wanting to check their email, order books on Amazon, Star Trek movie previews (my cousin and I actually got into a mini-argument over this one because as all of y'all know, I want to know nothing about Enterprise or the movie) and of course, the same cousin who wanted to read the novel. So hence, I didn't finish despite a Jemima-influenced push last weekend, but thanks to NaNoWriMo, I got further than I would have gotten without it (note, we're not differentiating quality versus quantity here, okay?).

I have a busy week ahead of me - no time for stalking people on AIM or other venues, I'm afraid. I have three presentations, a paper, and a job interview this week. The job interview dirt will be in the other blog after the fact. Likewise, my dissertation on libel versus slander will have to wait until later on in the week, as well as my "What is wrong with Enterprise" rant. So watch this space for the not-so exciting updates in the life of Seema.

I should be watching football, but it's getting depressing, so I'm not. The word count sits at 43,883. I thought I'd get to 45,000 last night but my cousin caught me at the computer, wanted to read the novel, and when I wouldn't let him, he wanted to play chess. I don't even want to read the novel, just in case all of y'all think I'm holding out on my cousin. In the end, I couldn't find the chess board, so we played Scrabble instead. Not quite the same thrill as Literati, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

In other news, I think my trip plans are mostly finalized - I got a great, great deal finally on my itinerary and not only did I get a price I could deal with, I got the departure city of my choice (yeah! No driving three hours to the City to the Southeast!) and the dates of my choice. I'm waiting for a phone call back before booking but it looks like my trip is now going to include St. Louis as well.

This may be my last stand. Word count: 43,579.

I got the Tracy Chapman CD today - "New Beginning." Ah, it's beautiful. I've listened to "The Promise" a few times already and I love it. Thanks, Sara and Lori for the rec.

Thank goodness for allrecipes.com. Word count: 41,134.

And what do naked people shop for?

I was poking around Amazon.com today and the following came up:



Words cannot express my relief at confirmation that yes, the Gap is selling clean underwear. Original page is here. Still ROTFL.

I'm almost tempted to get an LJ because then I could keep up with cool people like Bonibaru. Anyone have a spare code for me? I'm slowly, slowly thinking of going the LJ way...

Note, new links to your left. Enjoy.

Who needs sleep? Word count: 37,742.

The New McCarthyism and just in case you need a definition, check this out. A clear case of history that says you are guilty until proven innocent. Check out the list of those blacklisted: Dorothy Parker, Orson Welles, Arthur Miller, and Aaron Copland. In fact, Arthur Miller (I think - I'm not the English major) wrote "The Crucible" in response to McCarthyism. Same thing, except set in in Salem in the 1600s. If you're curious why it matters, check out the impact of McCarthyism. Just because you can do something, just because you've got the power, doesn't mean you can or that you should or that you're right.

The Penguin Warehouse, because, yo, we could all use a little penguin in our non-chlorinated salt-water pool.

In which we give thanks. Update at zendom.

Intervention

Because of the monster chat o' doom, I hereby direct my fellow chatters to IMaddict.com. I took a quiz. Because, I had to know.

I am 21% addicted to Instant Messenger. How about you?

And just to be sure, I also found that I was only 2% SEVERELY ADDICTED to Instant Messenger. How about you?

ps. Be kind to your fellow man. Do not talk on your cell phone for hours and hours in a computer lab or in any other area where people might want it to be quiet. Okay? Do not care about your land deal, the state of your relationship, what you're wearing to a party tonight, what you're having for dinner, what your doctor diagnosed you with... do not care. Do not what to hear it. So stop it. Be kind.

It's all Jemima's fault. Word count: 31,000.

A word to the wise

I'm in a foul mood. Since I'm not allowed to say why I'm upset, I have to channel my anger in a different direction and so I figured, what better target for my frustration than 24 Hour Fitness? They don't honor contracts and they are certainly not very friendly or customer-orientated. Plus, they use cheap toliet paper and that in itself is a crime - a very uncomfortable crime. So don't go there. Don't give 'em your money. Give your money to the Salvation Army people instead, the people with the bells outside the malls. Okay? Okay?

Nothing to see here

Still recovering from the Chat O'Doom. Man, you ladies can talk! And I'm going to be forever indebted to RJ Anderson for introducing me to the Markov thingy. ::shakes head:: I'm reading over the transcript and I swear, my stomach still hurts from laughing so hard. Thanks for a good time, guys!

Things that make you go hmmm...

Got this in my email today. ROTFL!

Hello,
If you are a Time Traveler I am going to need the following:

1. A modified mind warping Dimensional Warp Generator # 52 4350a series
wrist watch with memory adapter.

2. Reliable carbon based, or silicon based time transducing capacitor.

I need a reliable source!! Please only reply if you are reliable. Send
a (SEPARATE) email to me at: hornty1@email.com

I think I accidentally started something here. I am curious to know how people outside of the US view both the country and its president and I unfortunately missed the Oprah show (honestly!) that tackled the subject. I know it took me by surprise when I went overseas and the anti-American sentiment was so high in France. In Germany and Austria, no, but definitely in France. Anyway, I'm not sure if I should even respond to this thread anymore (other than posting the link to a relevant article). Thoughts?

And now, on to that team meeting. A 9 am meeting on a Saturday morning is not your friend.

State meme

Gacked from just about everyone. I'd do countries, but I'm already way past my bedtime. Suffice it to say, I haven't been to Australia, South America or Antarctica.

Alabama: No
Alaska: No
Arizona: Yes. Tuscon. And then this past summer, a brief layover in Phoenix where I got meet Liz! ::does the dance of meeting Liz::
Arkansas: No
California: Many times. An amazing number of times for a state that has always been on the other side of the continent for me. First trip ever was in 1978. I think I was 2. I've visited in 1992, 1993, 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2002. I was in California multiple times during 2000 and 2001, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area. I've also spent a lot of time in San Diego - a week once in 1993 and a week in 1995. Let's see, LA, Palm Springs, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obisipo, Carmel, Monterey, Hollywood, you know - the whole drive down the coast thing?
Colorado: No
Connecticut: Yes. Gak. Lived about 45 minutes from the Connecticut boarder for four years. Jemima and I are agreed on this one: not a place to live, and certainly not even nice to visit.
Delaware: Yup. Several times, usually on the way to Washington DC.
District of Columbia: Yup.
Florida: Yup.
Georgia: No
Hawaii: No
Idaho: No
Illinois: Yup. Chicago and Bloomington. My company's headquarters were in Bloomington and I was privileged enough to make several business trips there and I lived for a short while in Bloomington while on temporary assignment. That's where I rediscovered Shakespeare through the Summer Theater and became obsessed with Richard III.
Indiana: No
Iowa: No
Kansas: No
Kentucky: No
Louisiana: Yup, New Orleans, 1998. Ten of us went on a seven-day cruise after graduation. New Orleans was one of our port-of-calls. We spent the entire day there and I ended up using my visit to New Orleans as the basis for my fic of the same name.
Maine: Yes. I think we went to Ogunquit, a quiet little beach town every summer.
Maryland: Yes. Blink and you'll miss it, but yes.
Massachusetts: Yup, lived there for four years, but had visited plenty beforehand and absolutely adored Boston from the time I made a trip in sixth grade and the teachers walked us on the Freedom trail.
Michigan: No
Minnesota: No
Mississippi: No
Missouri: Yes. My cousin and his wife live in St. Louis. But I drove to St. Louis when I was living in Bloomington to visit my cousin's then fiance. We had a great time, though it was so darn hot, I didn't see much of the city while I was there.
Montana: No
Nebraska: No
Nevada: I don't think so. Maybe when I was 2?
New Hampshire: Yes, grrr. I don't care what anyone says, NH is the upside down state and their ski resorts are so not better. Plus, every summer, we used to end our hiking season with a climb up Mt. Washington - which, if any of you have done that, it's quite the mountain, and it could be sunny when you start, but boy, windy and cold and snowy by the time you get to the top. And oh yes, no sales tax. And oh yes, the state swimming championships were held in Hanover (at Dartmouth College) as Vermont didn't have a big enough pool to host the event.
New Jersey: Yup. Family, family, family.
New Mexico: No
New York: Yes. Upstate mostly, and NYC itself. And I think we made an annual summer trip to Lake George as well to go to the Great Escape. The summers when we didn't go to Le Ronde in Montreal instead.
North Carolina: No
North Dakota: No
Ohio: No
Oklahoma: No
Oregon: Yes. Memorial Day weekend 2000, I believe. Portland was the starting point for the great roadtrip up to Vancouver. Beautiful city, beautiful state. Loved the trees.
Pennsylvania: Yes. Hershey, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Amish country...
Rhode Island: Yup. Did you know that all the highway projects in RI are run by the mafia? My last trip through RI was not under good circumstances.
South Carolina: No
South Dakota: No
Tennessee: Yes. My aunt and uncle lived in Knoxville for while so I got a chance to visit there.
Texas: Yup, yup, yup. I've been all over the southern half of this state, but not to the western section. I hear tell that there is nothing out there though except sand.
Utah: No.
Vermont: My birthplace. If you don't count the 3 years in Germany, I lived in Vermont for 19 years. Lovely place to grow up, beautiful scenery, quiet - don't mind me, I'm just going a bit nostalgic here.
Virginia: Yes. Most recently, a roadtrip down from Massachusetts to Virginia Beach in 1999.
Washington: Yup. On the same roadtrip up to Vancouver.
West Virginia: Nope.
Wisconsin: No
Wyoming: No

My neighbor likes electronica music, or whatever music that's all beat and no melody is called. She's got the bass turned up so loud, my apartment is shaking; I'm shaking. Normally, I don't like to dictate what other people listen to, because according to some sources, my own taste in music is fairly sketchy. However, that being said, I'm dying to cross the little walkway and knock on her door.

"Hi, my name is Seema. I live across from you.I know I should have made a pie or something, this being the first time in three months we've talked to each other, let alone seen each other. The neighborly thing to have done would be bring over fresh baked cookies and lemonade." Deep breath. "However, could you please, please turn your music down? I hate your taste in music and while I'm all for supporting your First Amendment right to listen to any music you'd like, I'd also like you to have the courtesy to appreciate my Fourteenth Amendment right to some privacy. Privacy, that is not interupted by your music. Nice to have met you. What's your name again?"

But I probably won't. I'll probably sit here and seethe and be thankful I'm not studying tonight. And that I'm going out in fifteen minutes for the evening.

Confidential to Jemima: It was most definitely me.

Because I obviously need to get out more. The SAS code never did end up working. The data was corrupt, my model pathological, and I decided to read my way through polynomial regression because coding for it wasn't working. On a positive note, I did get a new data source, so the second part of the project will (hopefully) go more smoothly.

And oh yes, other things MBAs do for fun. Here's the storefront for a web initiative my ecommerce team and I are developing. I made this tonight during "ER." It's rough, and probably would fail most user-friendly guidelines, but it'll eventually get smoothed out. It's mostly a 'wow' prop for the prof because when we presented our idea to him in his office last week, he didn't seem to be too thrilled about it and was more interested in finding ways to shoot it down than to help us figure out what direction we ought to take in development and promotion. We're hoping, if he sees it in full-color (blue, in this case), that he will like it better. We're praying for points on creativity and effort, even if the idea does tank, seeing as the professor has pretty much made up his mind about our idea - we doubt any of the other teams will mock-up their initiatives.

My rant about professors will be saved for another blog.