Giddy Girlie

Skip the boring blab and browse through the pictures by clicking here.

With only a few hours of sleep, we headed out to squeeze the last bits of excitement from NYC. We took advantage of the buffet coupons we got (there was construction in the room next to ours earlier in the week that started at 7am and our complaints got us breakfast) and it was actually really good. Then we took the subway up toward Central Park and got off at 72nd, I think and just headed into the park. The fresh snow was beautiful and all the little squirrels were freaking out trying to find their food. We meandered through the cleared paths and came across the most perverse and most awesome snowman - complete with a beard, boobs, a penis, and loads of armpit hair. It wasn't complete, but you could still sense the overall intensity of the finished piece.

Then we could hear a sax playing "Nature Boy" which is sorta (dorkily) 'our song' so we started walking that way and found the brassman responsible. We stood and listened to a couple more songs, then made our way back to the subway to head uptown to Serendipity. We were strongly advised (against the threat of death) that we HAD to try their famous frozen hot chocolate -- even though it was only maybe 30 degrees out. So we went and it was AMAZING. We started off with nachos, because the restaurant has a per-person minimum (which I think is weird) and they weren't really nachos (we practially live in Mexico, so we know nachos when we see 'em) but they were serviceable* and they rounded up the total enough. But the frozen ho-cho was EXCELLENT. You can buy the mix online, I think, and we're going to experiment with making our own this weekend. The cafe is really cute too, very ecclectic and funky, but it was getting busy as we left so I didn't get many pictures.

After that, we subwayed back to the hotel to collect our crap and head off toward the airport. Because it was now nearing rush hour again, we weighed our options 1) an hour or more in a cab for $50 + tip or 2) subway in 45 minutes for $10 total. Um, subway. Plus the route takes you right through Queens (where you transfer and have to walk 2 blocks) so we got to see some local color PLUS the people on the train were hilarious. Think of every stereotype of New Yorker - they were on that train, packed in like pickles in a jar. The wanna-be Gotti kids with the chinstrap beards and thick faux Italian accent (even though they were clearly Persian). The gangsta 'soldier' with the pants at sag-con 5 and gold and diamond teeth. The trashy white girl who was probably supposed to be in school. The old white lady who looked paranoid that she was going to be mugged. The PR girls with the huge gold hoop earrings and nasal Rosie Perez voices. It was awesome. Can't beat it - and all for $10. Hell yes.

We were flying JetBlue, so my phone had been ringing all day with people wondering if we were going to be stranded, but no. JB takes care of it's people, baby. Ours was the 2nd flight out (the morning flights for all airlines were cancelled due to weather) and we had no problems at all. My only complaint was that the Business Man next to me kept rocking out to his iPod (which incidentally was playing Mamas & Papas) and doing air guitar licks and elbowing me. I didn't sleep much, but I did giggle a fair amount into my own shoulder. I guess that's worth something.

*someone recently critiqued Ryan's art and said it was "serviceable" so this has been our catch-all phrase lately

Posted by giddygirlie at 1:38 PM | Permalink

Skip the boring blab and browse through the pictures by clicking here.

The alarm went off. We all went "oof." Time flies when you finally got comfortable. But we all needed to get moving (Danielle had a train, Styro & Allen wanted to get home before Thursday, we had a convention to attend) so we sluggishly got dressed and then decided that the perfect pick-me-up would be pizza. Yes, pizza for breakfast. Everyone took their own version of this scene. No matter how you slice it, this is awesome.

Sadly, after breakfast we all had to split apart. Time goes too fast! It was sad, but we had to press on and be strong.

Ryan and I headed over to the convention, but found that the subway route we'd been using was closed unexpectedly and so we decided that we would walk until we couldn't stand the cold anymore and then get a cab the rest of the way (traffic was bad, so there was no point in sitting in traffic and paying $50 to go a mile if we could circumvent some of it). We ended up walking the whole way and wandering through Hell's Kitchen. We passed a really nice looking soup kitchen (seriously, it was clean and bright and the staff was smiling) and then headed into the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market, which was really cool. Lots of neat coats and boots -- if only I had the luggage space to take it all home with me! There was also weird stuff like a baby coffin and several boxes of funeral clothes.

At the convention, we ran into more friends and nerds and had fun with the geekery. Coming out of the bathroom, I encountered Darth Vader and Boba Fett who were in full regalia and DV even had the voice changer to ask "dude, do you need to go to the bathroom or are you ready to go downstairs?" I thought it was hilarious and snapped a picture before Boba Fett charged at me, asking "What do YOU want?" and I thought he had a voice-changer too, but apparently that's his real voice. And now we're Flickr friends (I'm also friends with a girl Boba Fett - fuck yeah, I am awesome). As we were about to leave, we noticed some people fighting with lightsabers on a stage. We kind of laughed it off "heh, dorks" and then stopped to watch and... well, ok, it was pretty cool. It was actually this club of Star Wars fans (NYjedi.com) who study martial arts and teach lightsaber fighting. So they had these semi-choreographed routines and fights. It started off with sparring in pairs and then the 'final' scene was actually really cool. I took a video (posting to YouTube tonight) of part of it -- not knowing how long it was, I didn't want to eat up my whole memory card -- which is the jedi meditation which is kind of like tai chi and then they get attacked by the siths. It was... like I said, it was actually really cool. Oh, here, someone taped more of the battle.

That night we took a rest break in the room and then just toodled around a bit more. Around 1am, we decided to get some pizza (perfect bookend meals for the day) and when we went out it started snowing. It was really pretty and seeing as how we don't live in a snowy place, we were just staring like total dweebs. The snowflakes were the size of quarters, so one would land on your nose and just stay there balanced. It was pretty funny. The flurries were so neat to watch, especially contrasted to the electronic billboards everywhere. It wasn't too terribly cold or windy, except when you came to a cross-street then the wind came howling at you and froze your buttcheeks together.

We walked in the snow grinning like idiots and having fun until we got too cold and then we headed back toward the hotel, at which point the snow turned to hail and the wind picked up, so we basically got free lasik on the sidewalk. Thanks snow!

Back in the room, we had to pack up and admit this vacation was nearly over. Dammit.

Posted by giddygirlie at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Skip the boring blab and browse through the pictures by clicking here.

We woke up in the morning, excited to get going. We were tired so we decided to take a cab to Central Park, instead of walking, where we were going to meet up with Erika and Aaron and Darling Miss Sophie. So we jump in a cab and say "Central Park Zoo" the guy nods and we're off... except... wait. No. This is Columbus Circle. Across from the Park, yes. But only a few blocks from our hotel and like 10 blocks from where we want to be. So we say again "Central Park Zoo" and the guy just looks at us. It is immediately apparent that he speaks little to no english. So I pull out my tourist map and actually point out the location AND the driving route. Ok, yay fun. I seriously would have thought this guy was trying to get lost on purpose to inflate the fare, but even with all his confusion it was still a $4 ride, so whatever.

So we get to the zoo and Ryan is already freezing (per usual) and I have decided in my most brilliant deductions that a dress and leggings is called for, so now it's something like 20 degrees outside and my legs are basically bare. Yay! Actually, I was ok. I'm pretty warm blooded, so I was chilly but not suffering. We stood outside the zoo for a while before we saw Aaron walking toward us from where they had been waiting - an obvious archway that said something like WELCOME TO THE CENTRAL PARK ZOO and where all the other cabs in NY were dropping their passengers. Pfft. Whatever.

Introductions and hugs go around and Sophie gives me The Eyebrow and so I know that she's not ready for me to swoop her up and zerbert her cheeks. Not just yet. But everyone is cold, so we decide that the best exhibit is the Topical Rain Forest which is indoors and oh, by the way: A TROPICAL RAIN FOREST. It's something like 90 degrees and everyone is stripping off the wool overcoats as fast as they can and Sophie comes to life and is telling us everything that a duck says ("wack wack wack") and gets interested in the Pacu fish which is for all intents and purposes a pirahna except it is as big as a large pizza and even though it is mostly an herbivore, it will eat your fingers. Hooray! Sophie, let's go! Next is the tortoises who were doing it mating and making quite a spectacle of themselves. The female just kept walking away, bored by the whole ordeal while the male was making an O face and grunting some weird noises while a third one watched from inches away. It was hilarious, but I felt too improper to take a video. Of course, I now regret that. I did however take pictures, so... we spent the next few hours at the zoo with the Elfcakes Family and it was so nice! They are just as adorable as we expected, and about 15 times as sweet. Erika is just a doll and Aaron was super funny and so patient with us asking him all these retarded questions and asking if we could email him for further math discussions* (us=dorks. Plus, how many places of pi can YOU recite?). It was a bummer that we didn't have longer to stay and play, but maybe sometime in the near future (ahem) they can come out to California and we can take Sophie to the beach or Disneyland or something?

After the zoo cab fiasco, we decided to walk back to the hotel. The sun was working in our favor all down 6th Ave., so we slowly strolled and laughed at the Vitamin Museum (no, really). When we got back to our hotel, I decided that maybe the dress and leggings weren't going to cut it as the day got colder, so I changed into warmer clothes. Ryan fell asleep.

A couple of hours later, I got a call from Styro saying that they were on their way over to the hotel - hooray! Except when they got there, Ryan could not wake up, so we left his sleepy ass in bed and wandered across the street to The Irish Pub (actual name) where we ordered some beers and Danielle got her whiskey shots and we ate cupcakes and watched rugby. It was pretty mellow, just chatting away with the crew and falling in love with each and every one of them, until we got party crashed by some Seriously Drunk Guys. It was one of those things that starts off really funny and then you're just like "ok, I'm done with you - please go now." The guys were Irish, so the accent added some charm points, so we tolerated them just long enough for one to pour beer in his ear (why?) while trying to tell us a joke. Uh huh.

We stayed for a while then woke Ryan's ass up to go get some dinner. We had a plan with Sarah B. to meet up at Telephone so we headed to the Times Square subway which is a MAZE to the uninitiated. Thank god we had Danielle or we'd still be looking for the uptown R train. We got to where we wanted to be a little early, so we wandered around looking for another watering hole and then after that we were relieved to find a sidewalk toilet (ha! punny!). Then I think we walked something like 4,000 miles across town to Telephone, which was very cool except that we were starving and about to stab people for a breadstick.

We ate, we chatted, we congratted, it was good times. After dinner, Danielle and Styro and Allen headed off for a favorite spot in Queens, and Ryan and I split off to hit up some comic nerd after parties (woot!). One was at Stitch in the Fashion District. It was a tad bit loud, but pretty cool. Christian & the kids over at Silent Devil partnered with Xenoscope to buy out the upstairs and host a big party for all the industry peeps. We ran into some people we hadn't seen in a while and Ryan made some good contacts, so it was good that we went, even though we wanted to be in Queens with the Cool Kids. After a while, we headed back and the crew met us at the hotel and everyone was exhausted, so it was "g'nite - peace out" and everyone was snoozing. Except me, of course. I tossed and turned for another 2 hours before I finally fell asleep. Too much excitement, I guess.

*this wasn't totally random, BTW, he actually teaches college calculus

Posted by giddygirlie at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Skip the boring blab and browse through the pictures by clicking here.

Friday we got up and headed straight over to the BiMonSciFiCon at the Javits Center. This trip also counted as our first NY subway trip, which was uneventful and too easy and only two stops. The subway stop is something like 4 blocks from the convention center, which sounds easy, right? Um, no. Firstly, they are the long blocks. Secondly, the convention center is right by the water and the breeze coming off the water? Holy sweet baby jeebus. Like ice cutting through your face. Awesome. Then we get to the convention center and there is a line of people, thousands of people long. It was insane. And they were all standing out in the biting cold. I felt bad blowing past them all to the Professional Registration booth, but what can you do? We're just TOO COOL. heh.

It took us a while to get our passes because they were missing and the staff (who is always made up of volunteers at these things) was afraid to reissue us new passes. At the San Diego convention it's never much of a problem because they have a million people anyway, so what do they care if you get an extra pass? But here it was very carefully controlled, so until we got in touch with the right people, we were just hanging around.

Inside the convention was actually pretty small. Only 2 halls and an upstairs section for Artist's Alley. The small size of the convention was actually a bonus in a lot of ways. Since there's less to see, people tend to visit more booths and especially artist tables (which are very poorly attended in SD). As an attendee, that's also good because you don't have to get the 3 day pass just to see it all. Plus for me: reduced amount of walking (at this point we have already walked about a million miles). We pointed and laughed at some of our Old Friends and were pleasantly surprised about some people who were there that we don't see often.

Highlight of the convention was when Ryan got a call from Chris, letting him know that he GOT THE GIG doing all the pencils and inks for Chris's new title which should have the first book out in about 2 months through Image Comics' Shadowline brand.

That night, all our comic nerd friends were exhausted (the convention goes until 9pm) since most had flown out the night before and been on the convention floor for 12 hours or more, so no one was really doing anything fun. So we just cruised around and looked in shops and went up 5th Avenue and I finally convinced Ryan how cool H&M is. It was a pretty uneventful night, but still a lot of fun. It's amazing how you can lose yourself in a city and fill 5 days to the brim and still have basically nothing to say...

Posted by giddygirlie at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Skip the boring blab and browse through the pictures by clicking here.

Arrive NY at 7:30am. I was exhausted because I had a hard time sleeping on the plane because 1) it was really hot 2) I couldn't get comfortable 3) the old lady next to me kept jabbing me with her bony elbows. We drag ourselves down to the cab stand and bundle up (I always wear flip flops on airplanes) and head off into the city. The cab driver seems pretty unenthusiastic about driving us into the city in morning rush hour traffic (probably because it's a flat fare from JFK). I tried to close my eyes and sleep, but every 2 seconds Ryan was squealing "Ooh! Look! It's the Empire State Building!" "Mia! It's the Queensboro Bridge!" and he kept waking me up. So I stayed awake and laughed at Ryan's excitement the whole way into town (nearly an hour).

At the hotel, we checked our bags with the bellman and begged the grouchy front desk lady to call me if our room was available earlier than the 3pm check in time (it was now about 8:45am). Then we hit the streets, with no where in particular to go. We headed down toward Times Square, which was interesting so early on a Thursday morning. There were still lots of tourists around, especially Europeans, but there were also lots of Businesspeople making their way to work. I was just flabbergasted. To think of the hassle of getting there every morning, and then walking those slimy subway stairs in your Prada heels in 20 degree weather... wow.

After walking down about 10 blocks, we stopped for breakfast at the Majestic Cafe which we thought would be quick/easy/cheap. Ha. Forgot about the whole we're-in-Times-Square thing. Scrambled eggs and tea for 2 people ended up costing more than $30, but whatever. We're in NYC, baby!!

Following breakfast, we went to Toys R Us which is pretty cool, even if you're not a kid or mentally 5 years old (like us). Each type of toy has its own display area, it's like Disneyland. Ryan was thrilled with the toys. We stayed there maybe too long, because he was itching to buy stuff, just like a kid. "Can't I just have one toy and I promise that I will be good?" It was a bummer that the Wii section wasn't up and running yet because the store wasn't too busy and we might have gotten a chance to play!

After that it was nearly noon, so we stopped back by the hotel to see if they had a room for us yet, which they did (thankfully) so we took a nap and then hit the town some more. We dined at this cozy NYC authentic Italian place that is VERY exclusive, called Olive Garden and enjoyed some hot soup. I'm sure we made the waitress very happy that we come into this monolith of a restaurant and order $8 worth of soup! Go Team Lame-o! But honestly, we were more cold than hungry and just needed a little soup. But Ryan felt so bad that the minimum wage for wait staff is lower in NY than here in CA that he kept overtipping everywhere that we went. Seriously, I think we bought $20 worth of soup and he tipped $10. But whatever. There are worse things that can be said about a person than they overtip.

Posted by giddygirlie at 12:24 PM | Permalink

I kind of feel like I have been talking about my NY trip too much, but you know what? Too bad, so sad suckas! I pay cash money for this soundboard, and sound off I shall! Ha!

*ahem*

Ok, so anyway, THANK YOU to everyone who sent suggestions on where to visit and things to see and places to eat. I have a list of everything you Told Me To Do and we're going to try and get to as much of it as possible.

Additionally, I am going to get the honor of meeting Erika and her adorable family and spend some time at the Central Park Zoo (how cool!). I'm also angling to get some face time with Danielle and Sarah B.. A reunion is scheduled with my long lost twin sister, Styro which is incredibly exciting. Additionally, some of our other comic nerd friends will be in NY and so there is a slew of geeky goodness and nerdishness about to happen. I am about to burst with excitement.

Also! Did you hear about the NYC pillowfight THIS WEEKEND?! Holy jeebus on a spring! Sorry hotel, you're gonna need to bring up some extra pillows to our room.

I am exhausted today, which is good because it will help me sleep on our flight (red eye) so I am going to leave you with this. I don't have a blog custodian, so there prolly won't be anything new 'til next week when I get back.

In the meantime, go celebrate the coolness of these people who did not fit into my carry-on luggage (and thus I could not smuggle to NY): Miss Bliss! Kate! Jules! Dan! Choppa! Jen! Sars*! Will!

*yes, I know that Sars actually lives in NY, but all the same - go catch up on her postings!

Posted by giddygirlie at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

only, the kind that is way better than a candy inside a chocolate ball

Friday - someone at work said "whew, I am really looking forward to this 3-day weekend" to which I said "?" I guess they could tell by the look on my face that I was completely in the dark so they filled me in that Giant Corporation is actually closed (*gasp*) on President's Day. Wuh-wuh-what? I have been part of the working world for fifteen years this year and NEVER have I ever ever gotten President's Day as a holiday. I was shocked. I was amazed. Then I did a little jig.

Saturday - Ryan had his Ask A Geek panel discussion at the liberry and it was surprisingly well attended. I think the headcount was something like 22, which was about 21 more people than we honestly expected. The event was focused around a teen group and the kids had some REALLY intelligent questions and were super cool. Then to kick it up a CRAZY SURPRISE notch, Miss Bliss and Kate showed up! Out of no where! With no warning even! I was so excited and grinning ear-to-ear and immediately wishing that I had brushed my hair or even wore something less dorky. But still!! Bliss and Kate!! So the panel was cool, and everyone made some new friends, and then we had dinner together as a group. I had so much fun. Ryan had so much fun. So much fun was had by all.

Sunday - the surprise here was that I went to the mall to look for some long sleeve shirts, which apparently are "out of season" in California (although it went from 85 during the day to rain last night). So I didn't find a single thing with sleeves, but I did find a green short sleeve sweater that is super cute and fuzzy like a kitten for $3. So that was cool. And also I bought a knock off version of these shoes to wear in NY and they only cost $10. Yeah, I know they're not "super cool" BUT they're comfy and kind of plain and also I don't care about them, so if they get covered in mud & snow, then they can go directly to the NY Goodwill store.

Monday - FREE DAY OFF!! We, of course, stayed up way too late, so it was harsh when the alarm went off at 7am to remind us to walk the neighbor's dog (we were dog sitting this weekend because I didn't know that I had today off and therefore yes we could have joined the neighbors for a trip to Big Bear for snowtubing!). Also again when the alarm went off at 11am, so that we could check on him. He's such a cool dog, I wish that my cats weren't such buttholes and would have just let him hang out up here. We did however enjoy several long walks around the neighborhood this weekend and plenty of sitting and shaking (to show us how smart he is).

The only bummer is that it's over now. It's Monday night. I'm in my jammies. I'm packing for New York and doing laundry and am now suffering a General Malaise due to the fact that I must stop having So Much Fun and go Back To Work tomorrow, where I will be expected to 1) not wear pajamas 2) brush my hair 3) do something productive with myself. *Sigh*

Posted by giddygirlie at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

This weekend, Ryan is part of a panel discussion about "getting into the comic book business" at the Tustin Library. It's funny, because the library website doesn't have the event listed BUT the Orange County Register picked up the story. Ha ha ha. We know someone who writes for the paper, so we're going to see if he can get someone sent out to cover it. Ha ha ha.

In any case, I will be taking lots of pictures. If you're at all interested, by all means please come to this. It's guaranteed to be hilarious and everyone is scared that no one will show up. Ha ha ha.

link to story

Posted by giddygirlie at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last night was a lot of fun, going to see my favorite local band, Dead Man's Party at the Galaxy Theater. [see the whole photo set by clicking the picture below] They are more than a tribute band, they are so nearly Oingo Boingo that by the end of the night we were forgetting what Danny Elfman himself looks like.

The only bummer part of the whole show was the soundboard person who either was absent or incredibly stupid. There was lots of unnecessary feedback on top of out-of-balance instruments. I mean, this isn't your average garage band going through 4 chords and maybe a distortion pedal - it makes a difference if the horn section is too loud or if you forget to mic the accordian. But really that complaint is my personal issue and nothing against the band. Who seriously rock it hard.

The opening band, The Cured is a tribute to The Cure and was also awesome. They sounded really good and it was so fun to watch the singer mimic Robert Smith with the hand gestures and flailing, spinning dance moves.

We partied too hard at the show and then stayed up even later once we got home, debating the pros and cons of eating breakfast burritos at 3am. Going to bed around 4am (without burritos) I was primed for a nice long sleep-in, but Ruckus had other plans. He woke me up at 7am for breakfast, 8:30am just for fun, and 10am because he just couldn't stand being the only one awake (Monkey, for the record, will let you sleep 12 hours at a stretch without ever asking to be fed. Instead, you wake up with him patiently sitting there, stomach growling). So I got up at 10 and got the breakfast that we had been waiting for all night, and as soon as we ate, Ryan fell back asleep again. While he slept, I started working on a story that had been swirling around my head since Saturday morning. It was nice to have some quiet time to think and formulate some ideas.

The rest of the day was pretty mellow. Laundry, book reading, Valentine-making, etc. Now all that's left is to finish a marketing proposal that I'm writing, finish Ryan's website, put the final touches on some graphics that I am making for The Taint's CD, pack up some boxes, and dry my hair and then I can go to bed! And since that gives me roughly 2 hours to do a million things, I'd better get back to work. Hi-ho!

Posted by giddygirlie at 8:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've been in a crabby mood since, oh, about 1977 I think. However, today is a landmark day for me. I am actually... er... smiling?

I am making Something Very Special for my niece and so I asked her mom to give me a list of things that she likes and I just got an email back from her. This is what she lists as some of her Favorite Things:

* Orange Juice
* Muffins (lemon or chocolate are the best)
* Whales
* Cute sea creatures like sea horses or clownfish or starfish
* Puppies
* Mint Chip ice cream
* Swimming
* Summertime

This list made me smile. No X-Box. No Britney Spears. No diamonds. No Bratz. In fact, I think everything on this list (except maybe the whale) can be had for $2 or less.

Posted by giddygirlie at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

When Pete said "let's go to Hooter's for lunch" I readily agreed. Our office is situated in a really peculiar neighborhood. Right next door to us is an "inn" that is an incredibly scuzzy motel that I believe has hourly rates and advertises in-room jacuzzis. All for $49 a night. Hooter's is 2 blocks down, closer to the freeway (all sleaze oozes off freeways).

So this was my first Hooter's experience. It was... um... funny? To me, it all seemed like this ridiculous parady of itself. The girls all had their shirts pulled low so that they had maximum boobage available for viewing, and the shorts were as high up as they could go. Which, granted, they could all pull off. Not one of them weighed over 100lbs. And good for them. But at the same time it seemed... I dunno. Kind of sad. Like if you were willing to show just a pinch more skin, you could pull in $500 a night at the nudie bar down the street instead of $50 a day slinging wings. But whatever. Best of luck to ya, gals.

Being the geek that I am, I was drawn to more random highlights (less to the boobage). Instead, I stared at the picture of George Bush surrounded by Hooter's girls. The 80's Hooter's girls with the huge hair. I could barely keep myself from wiping the table with the autographed paper towel. Also? I couldn't stop from giggling at the menu where the Texas Steak Sandwich says "probably Iowa beef".

But I do have to admit that the wings were pretty good. Best I've had since Buffalo, NY where the wings were born. Is it terrible that I can picture myself going back? And maybe not laughing so much when they climb up on the tables to dance?

Posted by giddygirlie at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Our company was acquired by another Big Company a few months ago, and the process to migrating over to Big Company infrastructure has been slow going. So right now, I am working through a network firewall, LAN, and VPN. It's weird and makes me crazy with some websites or things like instant messaging. What is allowed through one isn't allowed through the other and sometimes that causes issues when the 2 are fighting over whether to allow it or not (thus, you will see my screen name signing off, on, off, on, off, on, lather, rinse, repeat).

For some random reason today at work, one of the security devices has added photo sharing web sites to the Blocked List. Noooooooooooooo! This means I can't see Flickr - my pictures or yours! Such a freaking bummer.

Stupidly enough, true timewaster sites like MySpace are accessible. ??

Posted by giddygirlie at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We spent today sleeping in late, having too much to eat at lunch, checking out houses for rent, and riding bikes. All in all, it was a good productive day. If you don't measure productivity by the cleanliness or your house or the possession of clean underwear.

I'm kind of excited about one of the houses for rent, which I guess is technically a condo. It has everything that we need and even a bit more. It's got 2 bedrooms plus a loft (which is the best option for Ryan's studio, so he can be working and a part of Everyday Life), a yard, a 2 car garage, plus fun 'extras' like a fireplace and a separate dining room (in addition to the eat-in kitchen). The property manager wasn't available to show it to us, so we just snuck around and peeked in windows. It's hard to figure out the exact layout that way, but we got the general idea.

I'm most excited at the prospect of a yard. A yard means possibilities! And entertaining! We haven't been able to have more than 2 people at a time over to our house in years because it's too small and even when the patio isn't waist-deep in boxes it only holds maybe 6 people. Whoopdee doo. This place would let us finally invite everyone we know for a BBQ and maybe slip-n-slide. We'd have space for people to stay over (ahem, you out of towners). We'd have space to actually PUT crap like boxes (hooray garage!).

Posted by giddygirlie at 10:59 PM | Permalink