Quodlibets

Allergy Update

I'm not allergic to shellfish!  That's right, NOT ALLERGIC!  Who knows what the hives were the last time I ate shrimp--maybe psychosomatic?  But I am NOT allergic, according to the allergist, which means that I spent a good half-hour car ride to work thinking of the things I can now try:
-lobster bisque
-crab cakes
-crab rangoon
-crab legs
-crab dip
-lobster tail
-clam chowder (both kinds)
-scallops, in any form
-fish dishes with shellfish in the sauce
-the pasta dish that my dad had at Valentino restaurant in Vegas (no, dammit, I think it's too late for that)
-lobster ravioli

And so on and so forth.  Can you tell I'm excited?  I feel like I've been missing out, all these years.  (I told my doctor that one of the reasons I wanted to know definitively was that my picky boyfriend really liked crab rangoon, and if he would eat it, it must be awesome.  I will bet you any money that is the first item on that list up there that I eat.) 

I am, however, and this is bad news, allergic to cats.  I grew up with a cat, and never felt bad, so it was a surprise.  But my "cat hive" was almost as big as my "ragweed hive" which was so bad it spread all the way up my arm.  I'm VERY allergic to ragweed.  The doctor told me to get a HEPA filter for my bedroom, so I don't suffer as much, and gave me eyedrops and nose-spray for the worst of it, which comes in the fall.  I hope it works.

I have to run now, for a work meeting, but you can bet I'll let the world know if I like or dislike crab rangoon and all those other things I can now eat.  Yay!  Yum!

For those about to rock, we salute you

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is expensive, but it's worth every penny.  S and I spent a solid chunk of time there today, and both of us really enjoyed the experience.  I think that we both especially enjoyed the hour-long inductee multimedia presentation.

It's hard to express what was so good about it--it's exceptionally well-done, there are some cool artifacts there, music is really important to both S and I--but I do know that it's interesting seeing rock music treated as something that belongs in a museum. 

Anyhow, I would HIGHLY recommend the Rock Hall to anyone who likes music at all.  Suck it up and pay the $20 admission fee.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Shell-shocked

We have an apartment.  We have an apartment.  We have an apartment.

Repeat, over and over again, and that's some idea of what's going on in my head.  I was pretty much sure that we wouldn't find an apartment the first day we looked, but we did.  We're moving to the big bad city in July, and oh my god.

Oh my god.

That too, is running through my mind.  It might be more like:  We have an apartment.  Oh my god.  We have an apartment.  Oh my god.

It's good, I promise.  I'm not unhappy, or anything like that.  I'm just overwhelmed and shocked and nervous and yes, a little bit excited.  It's in a fantastic location, it's HUGE, and it's more expensive than we thought we might be paying.  But it's so good, it's so damn good.  So yeah.  We have an apartment.

Update:  Okay, I'm kind of panicking.  Family, I know that it's par for the course, but I just can't stop saying "what if..." or "oh my god, maybe there isn't laundry in the building" or "what if we hate it".  I'm just a big worrywart.  I'm excited but scared, and things certainly aren't quite squared away yet.  (For clarification on that cryptic statment, you'll have to contact me directly.  Let's just say things have gotten slightly weird regarding our application.)  And for comebacknikki--we're north, but not very far north.  We're (hopefully) living in Lincoln Park.  For my commute, it's better if I live further south in the city.  We didn't want to go much further south than Old Town, and no further north than south Lakeview.  So we ended up in Lincoln Park. 

Grrrrr, I HAVE to stop panicking and worrying and being scared, or I'll be crazy by the time we move.

Sweet Manna from Sci-Fi Heaven

Didja see CNN this morning?  Didja look at the Entertainment section????

Because if you had, you would have seen THIS story about the original, unaltered, classic Star Wars coming to DVD in time for Xmas season.  I think we already know what the must-have present will be.

Or am I just a big nerd?

Friday Random Ten (New IPod Edition--I know you are but what am I?)

1. Get Off This -- Cracker
2. I Believe in Love -- Dixie Chicks
3. Monkey Wrench -- Foo Fighters
4. Your Favorite Thing -- Sugar
5. Mercury (Live) -- Counting Crows
6. Plenty -- Sarah McLachlan
7. Bye, Bye Baby -- Janis Joplin
8. Soul Meets Body -- Death Cab for Cutie
9. King of the Rodeo -- Kings of Leon
10. Little Things -- Bush

I do love my new iPod.  The color screen (it's huge!) is awesome, and I love seeing album covers on it.  I made some changes (no more live Dave, at least for a little while) and added a few things, but it's the same stuff that was on the old one.  Hopefully, this one will shuffle better.  We'll see.

I also want to point out this story.  I'm not sure where this is coming from--I found the link to it on Hacking Netflix--in terms of authority, etc, and I could do without the glowing references to Wal*Mart, because I hate that company.  But all in all, I think that the main point--Apple and Netflix have to be careful with their best customers--is right on.  S and I are obviously Mac-addicts--and use them exclusively at home--and we are the people that Apple's bad customer service hurts.  HOWEVER, in Apple's defense:  S has been having big problems with his new 60-gig iPod (new at xmas), and this week we took it into an Apple store to be looked at.  The dude at the Genius Bar barely looked at it before he was offering to replace it.  No charge.  No questions asked.  Both of us had heard horror stories about Apple's customer service, so this was, suffice it to say, a shock.  He couldn't have asked for better treatment, and if anyone deserves it, he does.  He is unfailingly loyal to Apple.

As for Netflix, well, we use it.  And I know a lot of people who do.  Now S and I, we're not big volume customers of Netflix.  We use the three-at-a-time plan, and we just don't watch movies that often.  We rarely have to wait for a new release (we're not asking for them right away, though), and our movies ship as soon as we send new ones back.  We're not being throttled, is the point I'm getting at.  However!  I do recommend Netflix to people ALL the time, and the thought that I might be throttled at some point angers me.  I don't understand why Netflix would punish their best customers, who it seems to me might get up and leave if things get bad enough.  And these are the early adopters, the ones who spread the word about Netflix.  It just seems backward--which is what the article is saying, after all.

In which I purchase more stuff

I bought a new iPod yesterday.  There are several reasons for this.  One, my iPod quits universal shuffle mode at about song 350.  If I reach 350 songs, the iPod abruptly flashes to the Apple screen and I have to start all over again, which is annoying, and ties into reason two I wanted a new one.  I'm sick and tired of hearing the same 500 songs over and over again.  I really like universal shuffle mode (because I don't have any seasonal music on my iPod) because I really like all my music.  However, out of 3100 songs, my iPod consistently plays the same 500 or so, no matter what I do.  And it pisses me off.  I'm sure there are songs on this thing that I've never heard, which is stupid.  Shuffle should actually be a shuffle, not a replay of the same songs from yesterday which were the songs from the day before, etc.

My third reason for wanting a new iPod deal with battery life.  I barely get six hours of battery time.  And to get six hours, I have to listen to the thing straight through, and not change songs.  Ever.  I hate that.  I am a manic song skipper.  I love skipping songs.  Because sometimes, you're just not in the mood.  Reasons four and five are slightly frivolous, but honestly, I really just wanted a color screen and album covers to show up when I've bought something off of iTunes (lots of songs, if you consider the Q101 mix).  Those aren't things that technically needed replacing--I didn't need to replace the black/white mini-screen with a phat color one, but nonetheless, I wanted to.  Sixth, I wanted the back of my iPod engraved.  Thus, I didn't go buy my iPod at the Apple store, which I easily could have done when I was dress shopping yesterday, but I got home and ordered in online. 

I was all set to have -ManoPod- engraved into the back, but when I tried that out, it looked kind of bare.  So I tried out a few different phrases, different ways to type the same things, etc, and ended up with this:  I know you are but what am I?  As lame as it is, I think I love it just a little bit more than I should.  I erased it five million times, and tried five million other things:  initials, song lyrics, some form of ownership and other sorts of lettery goodness, but I kept coming back to it.  So yeah.  When my iPod comes later this week, it'll say, I know you are but what am I?  Like I said, I'm a little bit in love with it.

My old iPod, the big fat 40-gig one, will be going to my sis, Kate, who only has an iPod mini.  It's not perfect, for all the reasons I outlined above, but it's better than a mini.  Because it'll hold way more music, and Kate can finally have the Q101 mix.  But now that I'm thinking about it, Kate might have to get a new cord (?) for the iPod, because the cord that I use is a firewire cord (my iPod is old, came with firewire connection, not USB) and PCs don't have firewire, do they?  Still, that's a small price to pay for a 40-gig iPod.  Anyhow.  Yay for a new iPod!

A cure for boredom and sadness

Courtesy of the Happy Feminist.

Go to Google images and search any dog breed plus the word puppies.  For instance, try puggle puppies.  Soon, you'll be trying to remember any and every dog breed, just so that you can see adorable pictures of that breed's puppies.  I've been doing it for the last twenty minutes, and I'm seriously tempted to find a web page that lists every known breed of puppy, just so I can do the web search.  Then again, the cuteness might just be too much for me.

P.S.

Greek yogurt with a teensy bit of strawberry preserves and a handful of granola (okay, fake granola--it's Trader Joe's "Just the Clusters") is delightful.

I swear, I've never wanted to eat yogurt so quickly.  Yum.

Spring! Yay!

By my measure, spring is here.  What is my measure?  Ask yourself this question:  Can I wear flip-flops to work today?  If the answer is yes, spring is here.

Yes, I'm wearing flip-flops (which necessitated an emergency toe-nail painting while at work this morning, because I just cannot wear flip-flops without painted toenails.) and yes, I'm happy as a clam in saltwater.  I think.  I mean, if clams like saltwater, then yes.  I am happy as a clam.

A professor came in while I was painting (to look at her holds; she's also one of the friendliest professors I've met so far) and said, "Making time for the important things?"  I stammered and blushed, I think.  But I explained why I was painting, and she replied, "Oh yes, because people would talk [if I didn't paint my nails]."  I laughed, but I didn't stop painting my toenails.  Now, I am happy.

Also, I'm getting my hair cut and colored tonight, and there is a battle raging in my head about whether or not to go back to a shorter cut, or stay long.  I know I want the red streaks back, but I may want a shorter 'do.  Spring makes you want to do craaaazy things.

Friday Random Ten (Best Restaurant Ever Edition)

1. You Found Me -- Kelly Clarkson
2. Mess -- Ben Folds Five
3. Make It Up -- Ben Kweller
4. Goodnight Elisabeth -- Counting Crows
5. Fall to Pieces -- Velvet Revolver
6. Singin' in the Rain -- Jamie Cullum
7. Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (Live) -- Sarah McLachlan
8. Singing in My Sleep -- Semisonic
9. War Child -- Cranberries
10. Old Dirt Hill (Bring That Beat Back) -- Dave Matthews Band

You can always count on my iPod to pull up at least one DMB song, but it's also interesting that it pulled up Ben Kweller right after Ben Folds.  Add one Ben Lee song, and by default, you've got the Bens.  Also, I should point out that I do not enjoy either the Cranberries song or the Semisonic song, and can't imagine why they're on my iPod, except that they are, and if they came on, I'd skip them.  I've never listened to the Jamie Cullum song, and the Velvet Revolver song is part of that Q101 mix I made.  Not a horrible song, but something I'd have to be in the mood to listen to.  My absolute favorite song on the list would have to be "Mess", which might in fact be my favorite Ben Folds song ever, though that's hard to gauge, because I love many, many Ben Folds' songs fervently.

This FRT is named in honor of S and my fabulous dinner tonight (no, I haven't eaten it yet, but I can't imagine we could EVER have a bad meal at the place we are going), which I've been looking forward to since, oh, December (and no, it hasn't been planned since then, though we vaguely decided at some point early on that we'd be doing our Valentine's meal at this place, more because we just want to go, and less because we feel a need to celebrate V-day.  This is the first time we're really spending lots of money on v-day dinner, and I know we're doing it because a) I love the food at this restaurant and b) S adores the dessert at this restaurant.  This is what makes us tick.).  Now that I've digressed until I no longer remember what the point was, the point is, I'm hungry now and I wish it was seven already.  That's 10 and a half hours away, however, so perhaps I should relax a bit and try to pretend nonchalantly that I'm not excited at all.

I'm not good at that.