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News (or something like it)
12.17.02 BRING IT ON, BAYBEE!!! I can't pretend. I can't fake it. I freakin' LOVE Christmas. I'm not a god-chickie, I just really dig the dinners, the shopping, the decorations, the GRINCH, the friends and the family. Last year I was perpetually 2 weeks behind. This year, I'm ready, and dang-it, it can't come soon enough. There's a glass of eggnog out there with my* name on it. Special thanks to my mom and dad who always busted their asses to make sure that Christmas was magic. I don't mean "nice" when I say "magic", I mean fairy tale, fine art, absolutely perfect magic. Now as an adult I'll do anything in my power to make Christmas magic for anyone around me because everyone deserves that. Everyone. It's a busy time of year and I surely won't get a chance to see everyone I know and have known, so to anyone I don't get to see in person, here is a heartfelt, true, "Merry Christmas" to you. 12.10.02 Holiday Countdown I don't know if anyone remembers or cares, but last year at this time, I was a total basket case. Shopping not done, a billion dinner parties to plan and execute, projects at work and home tweaking me out. Not the Christmas I'd envisioned. This year is the opposite. I turned down projects, I shopped early, I have very few dinner parties and my company is coming later. End result? I'm actually eager for the holidays to arrive.Whee! 11.27.02 Gobble Gobble Happy Turkey Day tomorrow, everyone. Eat 'till you're roly poly. 11.19.02 Bull Crap! I've griped about the Petty Injustices, such as tuna cans shrinking to the point of messing up recipes, but this goes too far. They're messing with something sacred now and I'm hoppin' mad. Okay, I'm miffed, but I don't quite know what to do about it except to start a letter writing campaign to the ice cream dudes of the world. Grr. 11.18.02 Days go by... It's really amazing how the days go by. Sometimes I feel like they're racing and on rare occassions I feel like I get to savor them. Fortunately, I can take meditative solace in the mundane. So while I "worked" all weekend, I feel renewed by the hour or so I spent polishing the silver. One more annual task done -- with such stunning results. I wish everything could be as rewarding. 10.31.02 Boo! Just wanted to wish everyone a happy halloween! Go out and do something scary! 10.23.02 Cold, SAD, Etc. I'm not entirely sure that I buy the whole Seasonal Affective Disorder, and it's causes, but I can pretty reliably say that when it turns cold here in Minnesota and its suddenly dark all the time, I definitely get mopey. Part of why I don't buy it is because one of the "perks" of my job is that everyone has one of those "be-happy" lights on their desk and it doesn't seem to do anything for me whatsoever. I still drag my sorry ass to work on the bus in the dark and drag it back home in the dark at the end of the day. Maybe it's a real thing, but the "cures" are still in the dark ages. Of course, the real cure is to live someplace warm and sunny without a job. I'm pretty sure that would cure a lot of what ails most people. 10.16.02 Yes, I'm Obsessed We met with a second realtor, who said that our house would sell for almost $25K more than the first realtor did. I don't know if that's more accurate, or if he just piggybacked on the other unit that just came up for sale in the building. Tim and I will anxiously watch that unit to see what it sells for and meet with a third agent to see if the first two are out of their gourds. In the meantime, there's still nothing for sale. 10.08.02 More on Houses My Edina Realty Saved Search Update emails usually show new houses for sale in the wrong neighborhood. Yesterday, my heart raced as it said "da hood" had a new listing. I clicked and my eyes bugged as on of the "brown townhomes" across the street showed up. Then I saw that it was thirty-thousand dollars out of our price range. Tim humored me by driving around cheap houses outside of our neighborhood to help me feel like this house thing wasn't impossible. Then we ate at Mannings and they have Summit again. I can face the day now. 09.24.02 Houses My Aunt Mary finally agreed with her friend Cathy -- that they could live more cheaply if they found a big house that they could both live in (plus, Mary would get to live with Mocha, the sweetie kitty again.) So they made an offer for a house on Saturday, it was accepted on Sunday, and Mary got laid off on Monday. Is this the way it has to be for buying a house? It makes me nervous. 09.18.02 Arr! So me pirate name be Iron Ethel Bonney. I guess I can live with that. Find out your pirate name. 09.18.02 Association Two days ago the condo association board held a special meeting, presumably to get the resident's opinion on whether or not we should proceed with new siding. But in reality, it was a meeting to point out how they're shoving it down our throats. Tim and I had already been talking about moving, and now we're serious about it. It's sad to think that we'll leave a place that has been a very nice home for many years, but it's stupid to pay that much money for so little return on our investment. Now we just have to cross our fingers and hope a home comes on the market. 09.10.02 Doctors So I got the results of my cholesterol test and Dr. Pinchback was all up in arms -- 233 is too high! I was all excited! It's down 31 points from the last time I had it checked. The Doc wasn't cutting me any slack, but I'm still happy about it so there. 08.24.02 She changed it. I guess that Rachel Lucas, author of Move, Hush & Back Off took out her conservative bash at the end. That's good. Now I can recommend it as a tutorial to common decency. Omlettes is a "babble" of sorts by my friend Dave... It reminded me a great deal of uh, me. But then it reminded me that there's reasons why Dave and I see eye to eye so often. 08.24.02--later I changed it. Trying to go back to the old design, only with it being valid and fast and stuff. We'll see how it goes. Lemme know if there's broken stuff. (Oh, unless you're going to tell me that it looks whacky in Netscape 4. I already know that. 08.14.02 Aw, she wrecked it. Move, Hush & Back Off by Rachel Lucas sounds like a good rant on teaching everyday dweebs some basic manners. She's got 11 good tips on how not to be a jackass. But then she adds a wholy gratuitous slam on liberals -- as if being pro-choice was the same as getting in the way of people in wheelchairs. You lost your credibility babe, you're not out for the good of the world, you're just a freak. -- Steph 08.09.02 On Not Writing Much We haven't written much, of which we are aware. Many reasons for that -- it's summer, which always makes us busier. Really, I'd rather be out bike riding than doing a big old web update. I've been busy doing grunty stuff at work, so I don't have hours to burn CDs and write babbles during the week. But mostly, I felt like all I was doing was sounding off at my petty grievances and who the heck wants to read that? I'd browsed a couple of people's blog/diary sites and they left me with this overwhelming feeling that these were people I didn't want to meet -- that they were just too negative. But writing about positive stuff is, well, kinda hard. I was all set to rant about the big damned MTC busses and the DOT and how they're evil to bike riders. Then I got into the office and thought about writing about the ridiculously high turnover rate at my company (15 "total" people, and in two years I've seen 11 people leave, not* including 6-7 interns.) But how do I get motivated to write glowingly of all the tiny moments of beauty and joy in life? What about the fact that riding my bike across the Mississippi river in the morning is so fantastic, or that last night, at dusk, the sky was that perfect shade that created midnight blue crayons, or what fabu steaks are thawing in my fridge right now. I'm hoping to work on learning how to write stuff somewhere inbetween sappy bunny freak and cranky old bitch. Wish me luck. --Steph p.s. Yes, Tim, I know that this is too long for the news section. Sorry. 07.25.02 Hey! My folks are coming up for a visit! That's cool. Of course, they're arriving several days earlier than I anticipated, so suddenly last night I had to clean my house and prep for a dinner party. Eek! Well, I got rid of the cat hair, they'll just have to deal with the dust. 07.19.02 Sleazy Usually, I like to think that I don't intentionally associate myself with sleazy people or organizations. But some news I got yesterday has forced me to acknowlege the amazing depth of sleaziness that I find myself in. (Denial just isn't working anymore.) So if anyone else is sick of sleazy, try knocking. 07.17.02 Dakota County sucks. Granted, I haven't had a lot of experience with a TON of county governments. But everyone I've ever spoken to at Dakota County has been a blipping shrew, especially the hag that FLIPPED out on me when I asked her where I could mail a child support payment -- hello, don't you want the money? (Oh, the child services division is another rant -- so far they've claimed a couple hundred dollars in tax refunds to give to my step-daughter, only a year later, they haven't actually given it to her.) Now they're planning on charging inmates to stay in jail. Frankly, that'd tend to be a bill that got paid somewhere after the Columbia Record and Tape Club. It's not like they're using the money to help their community. My friend's street just got paved two years ago. I've been to my step-daughter's school and it's not a cushy Wayzata deal by any means. Maybe they're using the money to compensate for all the breaks they're giving to huge-ass corporations to "develop" their community with Old Country Buffet headquarters. How much am I paying for the "Buffet Way" street sign. In a word? Feh. 07.12.02 My aunt Maureen has been fighting lymphoma for what seems like a million years. We're not particularly close to that side of the family, but I try to keep up to date with the news. Hadn't been reading it much lately because since her bone marrot transplant, it seemed like she was in the clear, more or less. But it sounds like things are hairy again and that's sad. 07.02.02 New York We're back from New York and it was great. The trip itself was a little rough (see my babble) but the city itself is fab. We'll definitely be back. 06.20.02 Anniversary Yesterday was my two year Anniversary at SCG. After having severely job hopped for a while there, its a bit of a milestone. 06.5.02 CRUSH So the Twins whomped the Tribe 23-2, which is great -- but couldn't we have used like some of those hits in other games where we were Losing Losing LOSING? "They beat the hell out of us," Cleveland manager Charlie Manuel said. It goes on to say: "The Twins went out of the way to not sound disrespectful about the outcome. They remembered how they felt when they lost to Kansas City 16-3 on April 17 and figured Cleveland was feeling twice as worse." Good. I'm glad to hear it. Now if only the owners could be as gracious as the players. 06.4.02 Babies Over Yonder My sister-in-law Anne has been innundating me with baby news! Not her own, sheesh, don't you people know anything? Sue (her sister) & Kevn just had a baby on my birthday, now our friend Gretchen had one yesterday. Congrats to the new moms & dads -- boy do you guys look wiped out -- and it's only the beginning. Gretchen is Drew's sister, and my extension, here are some cool shots of his relatively recent trip to Thailand. 06.3.02 Ah, the weekend. Had a delicious lunch at Whitey's on Saturday. Would have liked to ride my bike further, but it was nice all the same. Today, cold and rainy, like a Monday. What can you do? 05.31.02 It's finally hot in Minnesota! Yeah! I felt downright roasty yesterday when I walked home from work. My little herb garden needed a lot of water this morning to recover from yesterday (I watered them then too) and prepare for today. Plan for tonight? Swimming! 05.29.02 One (duly noted) month later We have recently been tried and convicted of web site neglect. We have an unspecified number of days to prove that we are fit caretakers for our web site or it will be turned over to foster content providers. Our excuse? Just plain busy. The design department at work has been burning white hot for a couple of months now despite hiring another designer. At home, all kinds of projects projects have been keeping me busy, plus there's that whole nice weather thing making me want to go outside and play. We throw ourselves on the mercy of the court -- please do not judge us so harshly! We'll provide content *real* *soon* *now*. 04.29.02 It has come to our attention that some of you have not seen our latest self amusement.
04.16.02 -- Oh mi Gawd, it's like, totally spring! I don't know how much springier it could be... Last night I went for a walk, only to be led astray to sit on Dave's front porch and sip a beer. This morning, I rode my bike to work and tonight I'm going to a Twins game. Short of a parade of bunnies and bluebirds bopping into my office, I can't think of anything springier. You can probably guess that I'm a HAPPY STEPH. -- Steph p.s. Oh, and Al Newman is on the front page of the Twins site. WOOHOO!!!! 04.04.02 -- Police bust a pot grower in the burbs: "Grant said it was the biggest marijuana bust in Dakota County. He estimated that when the plants are dried and weighed, they will produce 50 to 100 pounds of marijuana, which sells for roughly $2,000 a pound." [Rest of Article] Now, if I've done the math right, we're talking about roughly $30 for a quarter bag -- they've confiscated about 100 pounds of ditch weed. Maybe I'm glad?? --Steph Tim's got a Hecklefest coming up April 5th & 6th at the Minnesota Comedy Club. He's just achin' to hear you yell out at him and try to ruin his set!
03.26.02 --Gosh, I should read the entertainment news more often. Poor guitar guy from REM: "Buck, who was spending his second day in the witness box, denies one charge of being drunk on the aircraft in April last year, two counts of common assault involving cabin services director Mario Agius and stewardess Holly Ward, and one charge of damaging British Airways crockery." (From CNN) Of course, I really logged on to see what everyone was wearing at the Oscars. I'm sorry. I'm still a girl even if I'm usually one of the guys. NYTimes Fashion Slideshow & MSNBC 10 Years of Oscar Fashion -- Steph 03.20.02 -- Alright, a while back I told ya that Legends, the bar next door, had changed ownership. I've got more dirt on that now... Apparently, the new owners are the parents of the old owners. Which explains why the older woman seating us the other day looked strangely familiar -- I think that she owned it before her son did. Anyway, it's back to the folks, whom apparently also own the Moose Lodge on Monroe. My guess is that Legends will go back to the way it was before the kid owned it, in other words, we should hear a lot more Dixie horns and a lot less Karoake. I'm not sure how I feel about that! -- Steph Happy first day of spring. 03.13.02 -- The Strib reported some gossipy piece about Tonya Puckett calling a restraining order against her balderdash. I wouldn't normally have an opinion either way, except... the woman that has filed the restraining order is the creepy chick from Miller Limousine. Tim and I booked a limo through them for our wedding because I wanted to support a women-owned business. What I got was double charged, had to make several* phone calls harrassing her to remove the charge and finally having to contest it through my credit card company. I guess I was lucky not to get a restraining order against me. -- Steph 03.01.02 -- Dave says that an average reader will get about as much personal information about him off o' his web site as you would if you were sitting together in a bar. Lame! You'll get TONS more info off o' me if we're sitting in a bar. Specially if you're buying me drinks. Alternately, you could try mailing me drinks and I'll try to drink 'em while I'm writing. Heard through the grapevine that our neighborhood bar has new owners. I suppose only time will tell how tolerant the new owners will be of me and my friends, and therefore determine how tolerant I wil be of them and their loud bar. -- Steph 02.21.02 -- So our company is trying to hire a designer. We've gotten tons of responses. Some of them have been great -- cool looking samples and resumes. Some of them, not so good. The one from this morning was simply an email that said "on-line resume http://www.project38.com (only PC platform and IE 5.0 best view). No name, no nuthing. And what stupid person sends a creative director a link to a web site that can only be viewed from a PC. HellO? Macs? -- Steph 02.19.02 -- Been kinda quiet lately. Been well, busy, which I know you've all heard before. More than that, I've been uninspired and stressed out. But that'll change. Is changing, etc. Got a new babble, got another in the works. 01.28.02 -- I think I've mentioned that I usually find Netslaves.com too whiney to enjoy, but I did rather like this article... It's the tale of a small business that behaved itself to the very end. Kudos. I only hope that this story can spread and build good karma to the people that dun rite. "Requiem for a Small Company" --Steph 01.21.02 -- What do I think about UCE and why do I think about UCE? Sometime, when the dust all clears, I'll tell ya exactly. But for now, unless yer got a new job for me, I just ain't tellin'.--Steph 01.20.02 -- I guess a redesign counts as news, eh? Good enough for me anyway. So, it's a lot plainer, and a lot more pretentious looking, but it's valid HTML & CSS and it's got a significant quanity of PUMPKIN in it, so I like it. --Steph 01.16.02 -- "By himself except for his two dogs, Bush choked on a pretzel and lost consciousness for a few seconds, falling and hurting his head, the White House said." Oh sure, there's a whole article attached to this, but who cares? Ahhh, our fearless leader...--Steph 01.14.02 Apparently the only way to escape working at SCG is to disappear in the middle of the night. When I started here, top level management was the two vice presidents, the owners, then the secondary level, which was my boss the creative director, and the director of telemarketing. Now there are just the owners and the two secondary level folks. On the bright side, I don't think my boss will ever just up and quit -- she knows that she's in um, her niche. -- Steph 01.08.02 Quote of the day... Steph: I'm almost never tempted to order shots. Jenny: Unless you count a martini as a shot, but it's certainly not, since it has all that non-alcoholic olive in there. 01.04.02 At Haberman, we used to joke about sending the standard "We're Fired Up to Work With You" letter to new clients. At present, I'm having a difficult time getting "fired-up" and as a result, we're not providing you with tasty text. We suck. Go read DavesPicks! -- Steph
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