Happy 2008

moar funny pictures via LOL Cats icanhasacheezburger.com

The beauty of being watched

Check out this link

11 "Don't-Tell-the-Wife" Secrets All Men Keep

I was having sushi at a local hotspot and overheard a customer whisper to the cashier, "Don't tell my wife that I ordered from you guys already this week." His wife shortly came over and the cashier smiled at her and gave her the receipt. The humor of that the phrase "Don't tell my wife..." became apparent and instantly became part of my excuses repertoire. I haven't been able to use it yet, but will be overjoyed when the opportunity presents itself.

This comes up (somewhat relatedly) because I just read the list of 11 "Don't-Tell-the-Wife" Secrets All Men Keep. I cannot confirm or deny whether all or some of these apply to me. Enjoy the holidays.

Short Update (or NaNoWriMo is taking over!)

As you can tell from my latest status update, it's been all about the NaNoing. I'm way behind on word count. I'm supposed to be over 25,000 words by now, but I'm at 15,618. Not too shabby for my first NaNo, but not quite up to par. I've relented to the fact that I'm probably not going to finish the full 50,000, but I'm going to continue writing until the last day to see how far I can get.

I'm having flashbacks of writing my thesis. All the self-doubt, low self-esteem and stress have returned. But this time around it's fully voluntary with no consequences if I don't succeed. People have likened it to running a marathon. I can see that I'm already winning by getting this far. 15K words of fiction for leisure??? I never would have thought I could do that.

To help with the process, I have purchased a piece of gadget pr0n...the AlphaSmart Neo. It's a throwback to a pre-Internets age of single functioning instruments. It's a word processor...and that's all. But it's a damn good, full-featured one! I could go crazy on how great it is, but there are millions of others who have reviewed this wonderful piece of artwork. It's light and there are no distractions. I'm a chump for gadgets and this seems to be one of the gadgets many people are using strictly for NaNoWriMo.

This weekend will be some good catch up time, as will the Thanksgiving break. Wish me luck. And if anyone has any random writing prompts to help me write this story, please leave a comment.

Val and Albert are my brothers

This is probably not new to many of you, but my co-worker just came in here cracking up about doing this all weekend.

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

Blue Steel! I am a hottie!

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

Genius in Simplicity

Chris Glass was fed up with mice crawling up his chair and hiding in his sleeves.

via chrisglass.com

Mini-me

I just had a Sara Lee Mini Bagel. I was quite surprised. Not because it was moist and delicious. But more because it was the perfect size for me. These lovely rounds can fit in the palm of your hand. The minis are a bit bigger than holes of some "normal" sized bagels, but was perfect to satisfy my hunger.

In looking for a picture for this entry, I found an article that claims that bagels are two to three times larger than a decade ago. Were these minis the size of bagels when I was growing up? In a very surreal way, the Alvin-to-Bagel ratio has stayed frighteningly consistent. *shiver*

Status Update and Grasswatch!

* Twitter status: Alvin... first cup of coffee on a lazy Saturday morning (3 minutes ago)
* On repeat: Ang Huling El Bimbo by The Eraserheads
* Reading: Still...It by Stephen King (page 859 of 1090!)
* Current Obsession: growing grass and Dance Dance Revolution
* My mood as a a song from DDR: Saturday Night by Ozomatli
* Last unnecessary purchase: Grass seed, potting soil, and a pot

Pictures taken this morning. Up to 4 inches! (Click for larger picture)

It's like watching grass grow

As requested by A1, I took pictures of my grass, yesterday. The pictures came out unexpectedly amazing! There's something about growing something from a seed that seems to be dead, into something green and alive. I can understand the passion people have for growing flowers or planting a garden.

I've been a little kid all week, checking up on its progress. Every morning I've gone to the living room, have lain down on my stomach to examine its growth. I've watched the seeds sprout fine white roots and new green blades emerge. I've easily spent 10 minutes exploring an 8x5 piece of soil. It's fascinating!

The pictures below are from yesterday. I took about 20 pictures, but these are the best 8. The grass has since grown half an inch in the last 24 hours. I'll give another picture update next week. I'm so proud at how much they've grown. *tear*

Click on each to see full sized picture:

soggy but happy

I just took a walk in the rain with the Taku jacket that La got me for Christmas. It was the first time that I've used it in the rain and can officially proclaim that it works as advertised.

I was so excited to be using it for its intended purpose that I intentionally ran through some gutter downspouts, forgetting that my jeans and sneakers aren't waterproof.

I'm soaked and have to sit with wet pants and socks until 6pm. But I am happy.