RedJen's Rearview Mirror

Stolen from ShaeSin

1. Have you ever ran into a glass door?
Ran into – yes
Ran through – no
2. Name 3 names that you wish were yours.
Mattel, Hershey, Mom
3. Do you have more than one screen name?
Yes, although 99% of the time I use RedJen or RedJenOSU
4. Have you ever licked a light bulb?
Not that I can remember
5. If you could buy one celebrity for a day, who would it be?
Thanks to ShaeSin I’m stuck on getting something here for my money, so I’ll have to agree and go with Ty from Trading Spaces.
6. If you could get rid of one celebrity who would it be?
Any of the members of ICP
7. Favorite color?
Blue/Green (Aqua)
8. What is the worst thing you've done?
Not going there on the internet…
9. Is it illegal?
Not as far as I know.
10. What's your favorite band/singer?
Melissa Etheridge
11. What is the most outrageous thing you would do to get someone's attention?
If we’re talking about initially getting someone’s attention, probably posting something to them on the internet and sending them email pointing to it. (Yeah I’m lame, I know it.) I’m a lot more adventurous once I get past that first hurdle.
12. Who is your favorite cartoon character?
Dogbert
13. What hospital were you born in?
Bucyrus Community
14. Are you an AM baby or a PM baby?
PM
15. Is your house a one-story or two-story?
Two
16. When you were little, did your parents sing you to sleep?
My mother couldn’t carry a tune if you wrapped it up and put it in a basket.
17. Who are your closest friends?
Dragonfly & ShaeSin
18. Who is the person in life that has had the biggest impact on you?
(I owe an answer, but I’m going to sleep.)
19. Do you enjoy family reunions?
I like the idea of them. I’ll either have fun or be bored out of my mind.
20. Are you one to express anger or do you keep it bottled up?
Bottle it until the pressure could destroy small cities…

All day Wednesday was spent bopping around and making sure people participated in the event that was held by our area management at work. The DJ was beyond corny, but fun. The only real issue I had with him was that apparently he doesn’t know who Jimmy Buffett (Buf-et) is and kept calling him Jimmy Boo-fae. I wanted to ask him where the table was and exactly what was being served in the buffet line. Overall it was a lot of fun.

Today has been one meeting after another. Luckily they’ll all ended early so I’ve actually gotten a chance to sit down and get some work done at my desk in between things. I spent last night putting together plans for one of my projects as a favor to one of the other leads. Part of that was because his area is going to be working tomorrow, when mine was given the day off and I didn’t want him to be waiting on me when I got into work on Monday.

Tonight is a party that is being put on by work. I’m not sure how it will go or what it will be like. This is my first work event of this kind, plus being relatively new to the area I’m working in, there won’t be a lot of people there that I’ll know. This is definitely a night to remember to pack the Advil.

A few observations:
I’m really happy with the guys at the Sprint PCS Store right now. (There’s a story here that I’ll get into later.)
Six prepared cake mixes are REALLY heavy.
It’s good to have friends who are willing to go to events as your plus one.

I just got a call from someone claiming to be calling about my mortgage. I'm not sure if they were legit or not, but here's a clue:

The reason for the call: He says there is a late fee on my mortgage from a late payment in March.

Okay, I won't dispute that I may have paid it late, but I have a few questions...

I just paid my mortgage earlier this week using their automated billing system and it didn't say anything about a late fee. In fact I've paid my mortgage several times since March using this system and I know for a fact that if I'm late, it will tell me about it and include that charge when I make the payment. So why didn't the system include this charge? An answer of "I don't know" isn't good enough.

If I owe a late fee, why isn't it showing up on my monthly statement? I get this every month and it clearly states who much I owe on the account. There is not outstanding balance listed on the statement. Again, an answer of "I don't know" isn't going to be good enough.

Let's add to this the fact that your phone number showed up on my Caller ID as "Private" and there's not a chance in hell that I'll be giving you any information over the phone.

When pressed, the caller suggested that I call customer service to confirm things. You know what, I don't believe a word you are saying, so goodbye.

Go call someone who won't call bullshit on you today. I'm not in the market for bridges or oceanfront property in Arizona.

I wish I could honestly say that I've never done this before, but I'd be lying if I did. Last weekend I was reading my email and came across a freecycle listing for moving boxes. (If you don't know what freecycle is, you can check it out at http://www.freecycle.org/.) The offer caught my eye because Eve is moving out next weekend and we threw the ratty boxes she moved in with away. After a few email exchanges with Chris, she invited me to come by her house and take as many boxes as I'd like. Armed with her address and directions from MapQuest, I set out in search of boxes. I made it to Chris' house without any trouble and found two rugrats (children) playing in the yard. Apparently someone has been teaching these two well, because as soon as I pulled up, they ran for the house and yelled for their mom. Once the boxes were safely in my trunk, I waved goodbye and drove off.

Rather than heading home, I opted for a surprise visit with Dragonfly, since I was about 5 minutes from her house. We had good hangout time and cheep Chinese food before it was time to actually go home for the evening. As I was leaving, I realized that I couldn't find my cell phone, but I was unable to remember if I had brought it with me when I left the house. After making sure it wasn't at Dragonfly's house, I figured if I had lost it, there were only two possible locations where it could be. After I got home, I used my home phone to play Marco Polo with my cell phone (I called the cell phone and tried to listen to the ring), but it was not at my house or in my car. I turned on my computer to send Chris email and see if I had dropped the phone at her house, but before I could write her, I found an email telling me that I’d done just that. Well, the email said I'd dropped the phone in their driveway and that it looked like it'd proceeded to run it over with the car.

Anyway, apparently if you admit to the people who sell the cell phones that you've run over yours with a car, they start pulling out the phones with rubber bumpers on them. If only one person had done this, I'd chalk it up to being a wise-guy, but since it happened to me twice in two days, I have to think that it may be in the training manual.

The reason I love the guys at the Sprint PCS Store is that even though I had run over the phone, they were able to save the address book from my old phone and transfer it safely to my new phone. So yes, my new phone has rubber bumpers. I was informed that while it should withstand being dropped on the floor, it would not hold up against a car running over it.

The score after round two: Cars 2 - Phones 0

Let’s just get this out in the open, about every other year, I feel completely anti-holiday. I’m currently contemplating not putting up the Christmas tree this year. The last time I was feeling like this, I had already invited people over to my apartment for a gift exchange, so I went ahead and decorated anyway. This year I won’t be having any Christmas parties here, so there isn’t anyone to decorate for. If I do decorate, it may be to prevent the start of rumors that I’m completely off my rocker. Heck, I may just decorate the front window and stop there.

Before anyone decides that I’m the reincarnation of Ebenezer Scrooge, I love finding someone the perfect gift. Having people in my home is something I really enjoy. I like creating a place where people can relax and laugh. This year circumstances prevent me from being able to bring people into my home like I usually would. Well, circumstances and a severe fracturing of my friend group make it seem like a bad idea.

I’m beginning to wonder if part of my melancholy is due to having romanticized the holiday season in my mind. I’d love to be able to curl up with someone in front of the fireplace. Heck, I’m beginning to think I need to expand my acquaintances, but my track record isn’t exactly stellar. I suppose it is to be expected that people will drift away into couples. Of course this is the time of year when I feel most in need of people, so being in such a place of limbo is hard.

This has been you friendly (really) neighborhood hermit, signing off for the evening.

What Zodiac Sign Are You Attracted To?
brought to you by Quizilla

Todays rant inspired by and found at The Ranting Virgo - You are in charge of your own happiness.

"When I wake up alone, the shades are still drawn on the cold window pane so they cast their lines on my bed and lines on my face."

The Solitary Rose is associated with loneliness, melancholy, and patience. It is governed by the goddess Merope and its sign is The Sword, or Unrequited Love.

As a Solitary Rose, you may be summed up as a hopeless romantic. You desire love and have so much love to give, but thing just never seem to work out the way you want them to. In life, you can be very optomistic, even when things are gray and nothing works out to your expectations.

What Rose Is Your Soul Bound To?
brought to you by Quizilla

I read this and thought of the pantless wonder. If he needed one, he now has a reason for being pantless...

Following some goal setting advice that ShaeSin has been working with, I’ve set 3 goals for myself. They are financial, physical and career goals, one of each.

Goal #1: $0 in credit card debt
Goal #2: 8% (or higher) pay raise in 2005
Goal #3: Fit into size 10 pants

Call me slightly more paranoid, but I’m not going to post specific numbers as far as the credit card debt or my weight is concerned.

I’ve started making strides toward Goal #1.
- I’ve met with a financial adviser, who assessed my finances.
- I’ve sold off certain eligible assets.
- I’ve given up my personal trainer and joined a gym instead. The gym isn’t cheap, but it is $150 less than my trainer per month.

So always moving forward...

Last night I spent an extended amount of time at the office. The thing is that I wasn’t working on my normal work. I was playing reporter of the department’s quarterly newsletter. For the last two quarters, my appearance in the newsletter has been a cause of slight tension. The last one had me pointed out for special recognition. This time I had to write the article for my team, which included the information that I am now the team lead. I actually had three articles to write up, covering nine different things and after writing up all the others, I struggled for close to an hour trying to find a way to write up that last one in a way that would not be perceived as condescending or belittling to the former lead who now reports through me. I got to the point where I was ready to beg someone else to write that part for me, but everyone else had already left for the evening and I had promised to finish the articles before the next day. I finally caved and called my manager to get some help. Her advice was to state it as simply as possible and not try to go into any details of why the change happened, only that it did. So my struggle came down to a single sentence saying there was a change and I was now the lead. Short, simple and hopefully not causing any waves from my team.

what decade does your personality live in?

quiz brought to you by lady interference, ltd

Along the lines of writing your own obituary to discover what you really want out of life, ShaeSin discovered this Meme at The Chas Chronicles.

So you find yourself dead. Can't control what happens next, or can you?

1. The split second before you're about to die, time stops and you can accomplish one last task before the end. What is it?
   Gather the people I love together, hug them and tell them that I love them.
   
2. The Nacissistic Death is all about you - in what manner did you die?
   Death is caused by an instant brain aneurism occurring 2 seconds before hitting the ground after jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.
   
3. What music/song would you like played at your funeral?
   Sarah Mclachlan – Angel
   Michael W. Smith – Friends
   Andrew Lloyd Webber - Think of Me
   
4. RIP? You can do better than that - what finals words to the world are etched on your tombstone/urn?
   Forget my name, just remember what I taught you and teach it to someone else.
   
5. Apparently, there's supposed to be happiness in the afterlife. What age are you and what's different about you that makes you oh so happy to be here?
   Age doesn’t really matter, because in the afterlife I am dead. My job is done, I’ve done my best and I do not regret trying to do anything with too much enthusiasm or conviction. I’ve lived my life and now from a comfortable chair on a beach with a warm sun, a cool breeze and drifting clouds, I’ll people watch for as long as eternity lasts.

I’ve decided that I will win the war against the bots and buttheads that have been trying to spam my journal comments. I briefly locked comments so that only comments by users with registered TypeKey IDs would automatically be displayed, but decided I wasn’t happy with that, since I’d have to keep approving comments to get them to display. This would also not solve the issue of keeping ShaeSin, Desufnoc and Dominion’s journals spam free, unless they or I approved comments on their journals as well. I’d already changed the settings to prevent any comment with more than 2 urls to require approval, which had cut down on a decent amount of spam, but they were STILL getting through. Now the settings will allow only one url in a comment. I’ve also updated things so that if someone wants to comment on an entry that is 90 days or older, that comment will require my approval to post. Feel free to post comments to any entry, just know some of them may take a few hours to be approved. (Yes, I’m a geek and usually online at least once in any given 12 hour period.)

I’ve made another very subtle change to both mine and ShaeSin’s journals, but I’m not going to tell you what it is. If you find it, let me know. I think they are pretty fun.

It is back to just me and small furry critters.

With help from ShaeSin, Roar and Blue...

When they look this cute, you know you’re in trouble.

I have a feeling that this is going to be an interesting holiday season. I’m considering running a pool on how long the tree stays vertical. Anyone care to venture a guess?

More pictures of Blue and his new toy are in the photo gallery.

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Jen
2. Jennifer
3. RedJen
THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. Non-judgmental
2. Values
3. Independence
THREE THINGS YOU HATE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. Hesitancy (part of the whole shy thing)
2. Pressure I put on myself to succeed
3. Bad eyesight
THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. German
2. English
3. Czechoslovakian/Bohemian
THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. Being humored
2. Being forgotten
3. Being abandoned
THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. Oatmeal
2. Internet
3. Meds
THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. Hands-free phone headset (on a conference call)
2. Black leather boots
3. Oversized sweater
THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS (or artists) AT THE MOMENT:
1. Eartha Kit – Santa Baby
2. Melissa Etheridge
3. Blue’s Purring
THREE REASONS YOU'VE BROKEN UP WITH EXES:
1. Lack of ability to get up and go to work
2. Physical abuse
3. Boredom
THREE THINGS YOU WOULD WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
1. Respect
2. Trust
3. Someone strong enough to let me lean on them from time to time
THREE THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
1. Quick wit
2. Intelligence
3. Confidence (okay a little bit of an attitude)
THREE THINGS ABOUT THE SAME SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
1. BS detector
2. Individualism
3. Loyalty
THREE THINGS YOU CAN'T DO:
1. Father a child
2. Front flip
3. See without glasses or contacts
THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE PASTIMES:
1. Reading
2. Internet surfing
3. Cooking
THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BAD RIGHT NOW:
1. Pay off all my debt
2. Find my closet organized (elves)
3. Hug my little sister
THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
1. Project Manager
2. Software Engineer
3. Teacher
THREE PLACES YOU WOULD GO ON VACATION:
1. the Caribbean
2. Europe
3. Australia
THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Skydive
2. Raise a child
3. Fall head over heels with someone who falls head over heels for me

So I should be sleeping, but here I am making a new site banner and making tiny changes to my site navigation.

Like there was any wonder whether or not I'm a geek...

Make to do list
Identify and prioritize frogs to the top
Make progress on frogs until completed

F - Kitchen
R - Bathroom
O - Laundry
G - Floors upstairs
S - Closet
Double check christmas list
Check list for trip
Work on laptop install

Well, the last minute scramble is on for the holiday. There isn't much time left before it is off we go. I'm curious about how things will work out. I'm not sure how much Pepper will like having his place invaded by two kittens, although I'm sure Blue and Toby will enjoy tormenting Pepper while we're there.

The laptop install has been going along. It turned into a double laptop install, rather than a single one and I lost some of my data when one of the harddrives crashed, thus the second install. I'm about 90% done with both of them.

I didn't manage to get to the gym yesterday morning, so ShaeSin was on her own. I'm very proud of her for making it when I didn't, especially since I was snuggled up warm and sleeping when she went. I did however make it to the gym this morning. That crazy woman was there on the bike again. Luckily I was 2 bikes away...

Off to prepare to invade the family...

It’ll be a white Christmas here this year. Santa may find the roofs a bit extra covered this year with the amount of snow that was dumped yesterday and this morning. There is currently a blizzard warning active and forecasts are calling for 10-14 inches, with isolated areas getting as much as 21 inches. It is time to roll over and snuggle in. I’m not going anywhere.

Here is your horoscope for Friday, December 24:

Peace on earth feels like a reality to you. If the losers will listen to you, they'll understand how they're winners, too. While you're saving the world, don't forget that your loved ones want quality time with you, too.

May your dreams be sweet, you worries few and may Santa slip silently by as you sleep tonight.

To those who stand between me and those who would cause us harm, thank you. I wish you restful slumber and a swift resolution to that which takes you away from home.

Regardless of rank or the color you wear,

I was tickled to read your email and I had every intention of writing you back. Unfortunately, I had a hard drive crash that took with it your name and email address. If you would care to write again, I’d love to talk with you.

RedJen

Neko was found under the Christmas tree when I returned home from Ohio. She stayed and enriched my home for another year after Brewster left us.

Neko
July 1997 - December 27, 2004

The days following Christmas haven?t been filled with good news the last two years. The two stray kittens that I adopted in 1997 passed on. Last year Brewster died from complications due to feline diabetes. This year Neko stretched out under the Christmas tree and went to sleep for the final time. Last year someone reminded me that Brewster?s life was much different with me than he would have had without being part of my family. When Brewster came to live with me, he barely weighed a pound, had a severe case of worms and was malnourished, living under a dumpster.

When I brought Neko home, I drastically changed her lifestyle. Neko was born in a mobile home park in northern Ohio. At birth, she was found to have a deformed rear leg. The deformity was such that the limb was stiff and within a few days, the paw of that leg fell off. This left her with a open sore that would not heal over because she continued to use the leg to the best she could. The day I met her, she was hobbling in the snow and leaving a trail of blood behind her from her leg.

My beautiful strays were affectionate and dearly loved each other. When Brewster died, Neko searched for him in the house for weeks. Now my sweet strays can be together again, as they should be. Brewster and Neko are a set in my heart. In a way when Brewster died, a piece of Neko went with him.

Sleep well my darlings

Brewster 1997-2003

Neko 1997-2004

I took 0mega to the vet this morning for her yearly check up. The vet gave her a clean bill of health with the exception for needing some dental. I’ll take her back in tomorrow morning to have two teeth pulled. One of them is broken and the other has a cavity that was described as a canker lesion, which the vet said is very painful. I know she isn’t going to be happy about going back tomorrow, but if the tooth stops hurting her, she should feel better.

It would seem that my mom has high hopes that I’ll finish putting curtains up in the house. She’ll be happy to know, I put up sets in the kitchen and living room. Here you go mom, curtains in the window:

...are in the Holiday 2004 album.

Blue's cousin and new buddy, Toby

So I’ve been watching too much Comedy Central since I’ve been back from Ohio. Today there have been a bunch of commercials advertising free ring tones for your cellular phone. All you have to do is text message a specific phrase to this odd number with your cell phone.

Call me paranoid, but this sounds fishy to me. The ad includes a bunch of fine print on the screen and a reference to a website, so I went to Jamster's URL to see what type of terms of service they have posted. The terms of service are four pages long. I’ve found a few things in the terms of service with which I have issues...