So, I guess the majority of my entries will be for friends only, from now on.

So, if you do for some reason want to hear my ramblings about whatever, just comment! 

Et voila!  

The Syracuse Invitational is running October 28-November 2. You can check out the schedule, watch the live feed, and see results here:

http://www.syracuseinvitational.com/thesport/WatchtheEvent/tabid/901/Default.aspx

Have fun!

Um, if Jen Alfano is reading (LOL), can you please send me Rock Star or Jersey Boy? Thanksverymuch. :D

Best website evar. I am actually crying, I'm laughing so hard. Or maybe I'm crying and laughing at the same time, who knows?

Bad Baby Names 

I have experienced my first real earthquake! And it was really really cool! Of course, I can say that because we didn't sustain any damage, but it was still really something.

About 4:30 this morning, I woke up to our bed shaking like mad - seriously, I almost fell out of bed. The brass drawer pulls on our bureau were clanking; the mirror atop the bureau was swaying back and forth, knocking into the wall; the dog was barking; and all the horses in the stable underneath us were kicking, stomping, whinnying, and otherwise bouncing off the walls.

We were already under a possibility of tornadic conditions so that was of course our first thought. I actually thought it was possible that a tornado was ripping the roof off the barn or something! Jon jumped up, ran to the window, threw the fan aside, and stuck his head out. He looked back at me, puzzled, and said, "Um, there's nothing going on out here! It's not even windy!" 

So we ran downstairs, at which point I almost fell down the stairs because they were still shaking. We tried to settle the horses down after the tremors had subsided, and eventually just fed them their breakfast hay. I checked on all the stalls, and everything seemed in working order. Our stable is built of concrete blocks, on a concrete base, plus we have automatic Nelson waterers installed in concrete pillars that go pretty far down into the ground, so I did have some reason to worry about damage!

Then we went back to bed, and when I woke up again at 5:30, I had completely forgotten that anything had happened. (Which also means I forgot I had already fed hay, so everybody kind of got 2 breakfasts this morning!) Then I called my Mom, who had been awake the entire time, with the St. Louis news channel on. It's been reported as a 5.2 magnitude earthquake, centered in southeastern Illinois. It's been reported as a VI intensity in our area, and we're several hundred miles from the epicenter!

Anyway, it was pretty exciting, and it's definitely one natural disaster I've never even contemplated my response to, at least not since our "drop and cover" drills in elementary school!

Geeks of the world, unite!

This story just makes me think of sooo many Monty Python quotes:

79 words

Touch Typing

Oh, yeah: and that was with ONE error. Go me!

The U.S. Post Office just delivered a Christmas card that has been lost in the bowels of the postal system since 1914. 

Ok, at first I thought this story was kind of heartwarming and neat. Then I read the part where whoever found the card (apparently in Illinois) put it inside a new envelope with a modern stamp, because "the 1 cent stamp from 1914 wouldn't cover it today." 

WTF???

The freaking Post Office LOSES a piece of mail for almost a HUNDRED FREAKING YEARS, and then has the temerity to insist on a modern 40-cent stamp? WTF is wrong with them? They should deliver it for free, and give the sender's descendants their penny back, plus some to cover inflation. (Ok, maybe I wouldn't go *that* far, but geez.)

I trust the Post Office SO MUCH MORE now, thanks!

We're goin' to the Rose Bowl, baby! 

*bounce*bounce*bounce*bounce*

I'm a rocker, through and through, babe

What shall your epitaph be? at QuizGalaxy.com

You know how every once in a while you read something - even just one line - that totally jives with everything you believe, or just so totally sums up some facet of your worldview, that it makes you wish you had written it, or could take some credit for it? Well, I read one of those today.

Louis Sullivan, prairie-style architect and mentor of Frank Lloyd Wright, wrote in his 1924 autobiography, "...what the world needs is courage, common sense and human sympathy, and a moral standard that is plain, valid and livable." Now, usually I shy away from any kind of pronouncement that includes the word "moral" or any derivation thereof. But this simple bit of a sentence really says it all for me. Neato.

A bit of trivia for you: Sullivan was one of the contenders to become the architect of the Lincoln Memorial. I can't imagine an intellect more fitting, more in tune with Lincoln's own style, than Sullivan's. Too bad we got the grandiose, exalted, collonnaded version of Lincoln instead, as envisioned by Henry Bacon and Daniel Chester French.

I have been scanning through microfilm for two hours. Plus an hour before lunch.  I won't be finished for another hour. There are certain aspects of my job that are making me go crazy.

I had a very strange dream last night....well, actually this dream took place this morning, after I woke up at 5:30 and decided to sleep for an extra half hour. (Sorry skitty_kitty, I didn't sweep the aisle this morning.)

So, it was next summer, and the Brentina Cup was being held in conjunction with the tryouts for Robert Dover's Next Big Dressage Star (or whatever that show is called), at the State Fairgrounds in Springfield. 

12to15steps was there, competing a palomino mare (??), and my trainer's wife was there with her Hanoverian stallion, and my trainer was there with his new 5 year old (even though he's overage for Brentina, and the horse has only done like 1st level). And J. J. Tate was there, competing in the Brentina Cup because she already won the Dressage Star show (even though she's also overage for Brentina). For some reason both Lindsay and Reese Koffler were there, too. And Kassie Barteau was there, riding a Friesian. And of course Robert Dover was flitting around like a butterfly, clapping his hands and acting like a film director. 

The whole plot of the dream was that whoever won the Brentina Cup would also get to be on the Dressage Star show. And my trainer's wife won it. 

WTF?

These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users (as of today). 
As usual, bold what you have read, 
italicize those you started but couldn't finish, and 
strike through what you couldn't stand. 
Add an asterisk* to those you've read more than once. 
Underline those on your to-read list.




Should I be worried by the number of books on this list that I haven't even heard of?

That, combined with how many books on this list I've read more than once, make me think my reading list has been somewhat restricted, in a self-imposed sort of way.  I mean, I've read War & Peace twice (yes, all the way through) and I'd choose it again over a book that has gotten poor reviews.

Am I SUCH a creature of habit, structure, and order that I don't want to read new books, for fear I won't like them? I really enjoy a well-written book, be it fiction or non-fiction. I enjoy the journey through the story, or down the author's chain of logic (I actually also enjoy reading Supreme Court opinions, for the same reason: I am a freak). Just because I already know how it ends doesn't make the journey any less fun. But maybe I need to branch out a little more, eh?

AT&T sucks. 

Now, some of you hay have heard the epic tales of my historic battle with MCI (I actually held a party when they went belly-up), or heard my rants concerning other telecommunications pirates, but believe me when I say that AT&T is THE WORST EVER.

I loved Cingular wireless. Jon and I haven't had a land line in probably 6 years; we're wireless-only people. I loved Cingular because their network was HUGE, prices low (especially with my university-faculty discount), reception was good pretty much everywhere, and their customer service was great. I realize that everyone's experiences with Cingular weren't always great, but mine was, for six years.

Fast-forward to AT&T's buyout of Cingular. The week of the turnover, I had probably 5 dropped calls. First dropped calls I had EVER had. Since then, Jon and I have each had dropped calls in the neighborhood of 2 per day. Reception will totally suck, even if my phone's display says I should have full reception. And sometimes, for no apparent reason, I simply cannot call. Anyone. As soon as I hit "Send," the display says, "Cannot complete call: Network busy." It's like I have Tarzan living inside my Motorola.

After stifling my complaints for months, I attempted this morning to get onto their website to get the 800 number. For the past hour, their website has been either completely unavailable or so slow my computer gets tired of waiting for it. 

THIS is the future of telecom, huh? No wonder the government has to bail them out every few years. I hate big business.