weapons of massdistraction

It’s safe to say that last month saw the absolute worst start to the new year possible. But it’s a fresh month now, with a clean slate, right? And I’m not on the drugs anymore…but you’d be hard-pressed to tell, judging by some of my behaviors. The other day a considerate neighbor came to the door, with some of our Netflix envelopes in hand (this isn’t the first time mail has been misdelivered around these here parts, so the poor woman asked if her Blockbuster movies had come to us - sadly there’s no telling where they wound up). So far so good, I had my movies. I watched one and was ready to send it back. Then yesterday I actually got a number of items on my To Do list taken care of, and had a stack of bills and thank you cards to send out. But this morning I realized I’d made a mail snafu of my own. The Netflix DVD I sent back was the one I hadn’t watched yet. What’s more, that envelope wasn’t even sealed. So 2009: Lost Memories is likely slip-sliding around loose, lost in some postal service facility. We’ll see if it makes it back to the mothership, but I’m not holding my breath.
Update: Oh thank you, intrepid mail carrier! My errant mail was returned to me today, and even though the envelope wasn’t sealed, the DVD was still inside. Who woulda thunk it?

The other night James reminded me to listen to one of my long-time crushes, Colin Meloy, and his recent performance that was recorded for NPR. But the All Songs Considered guy was so annoying. The way he was gushing about Mr. Meloy you’d think he wanted him to be his boyfriend, but he’s mine, all MINE dammit. Still, it was a mighty fine set.

Bonus: Neil Gaiman’s site has undergone a spiffy new redesign (which is something I should be undertaking with this here site, right here, right now, but I’m easily distracted).
Plus: This photo makes me happy.
And: Also turning that frown upside down, Chuck and Lori’s reaction to the State of the Union address. There’s a Bush protest going on right this very moment not too far from here. I’d be there…umm, if I weren’t so lazy. Yeah.

Dude, I look soooooooo stoned. This afternoon I had my first eye exam in, oh, four and a half years. I’d forgotten about those damned eye drops, you know, the ones that keep your eyes dilated for an eternity. When I was driving home I started getting paranoid that I’d get pulled over…because I was looking so pie-eyed, and because it was the first time I’d driven in weeks (and my doc hasn’t officially sanctioned that yet, as I turned up for my checkup last week and the doc was M.I.A. - I have to try again tomorrow). Anyhow, my prescription has changed slightly, as was expected. But the real news is my dire need of new frames. My current eyegoggles are in rough shape. Thankfully we have decent insurance that covers me, to a certain extent. That first pair of glasses, super cheap. The second ones, the prescription sunglasses…well, there was a 20% discount at least. And I do need ‘em. I haven’t worn contact lenses in years, so I do wear prescription sunglasses daily, especially when driving, and my current pair are from a few prescriptions ago. Sure, I probably could have picked out something cheaper than the Lafont frames. But they were just so perfect. Oh well.

In other consumerism-related news, I’m looking for a subcompact point and shoot camera, and, after much research (I even read the Consumer Reports reviews) I’m torn between the Canon SD500 and the Casio Exilim EX-Z750. Any opinions?

People of my generation are technically adults, and have been for some time, but it seems like so many of us don’t feel very grown-up. My real-life and internet friends face the same dilemmas. What do we want to be when we grow up? Are we spreading ourselves too thin, and not focusing on what would best suit us? And what the heck would suit us best anyhow? Earlier I was just screwing around and stumbled on this page about metadata and controlled vocabularies. And it excited me. I love working with the web, but have always wanted to be a librarian. Desperately. Some intersection of the web and library science seems like it would be the perfect match. But I need a master’s degree for that field, and I never even finished my undergrad. So I’d need to go back to school. For years and years. And now doesn’t seem like the time to be doing that. We’ve only just gotten back on our feet financially, and we don’t know whether or not our little family will ever be getting any bigger. But after two pregnancies resulting in dead babies, should we call it a day, and get used to the idea of the little man being an only child? Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. Today marks just two weeks since I returned home from the hospital. And so far I’ve only left the house once…to go to the funeral home. For now I should probably concentrate on healing and being the best mom to the little man that I can be. And then just take it one day at a time. But these big questions are going to need answers one of these days.
Bonus: Beautiful procrastination…trees in my dreams.
Plus: Just read about an upcoming Uma Thurman/Luke Wilson movie: My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Entertaining premise. We’ll have to see about the execution.

Our microwave just died, and the husband has long despised our dishwasher (I’ll admit, it does a seriously sucky job of half-assedly cleaning the dishes), so he’s researched replacements in Consumer Reports, and is in acquisition mode. So exciting, the life and times of our little family. In other news, I was just researching requirements - for the little man’s passport application. Turns out we’re going to have a hoop to jump through there. The husband never legally adopted the little man. We get along fairly well with the little man’s bio-dad, so we’ve never been to court for any reason. But we either need a court order proving I have sole custody of my son, or have bio-dad head down to the passport office with us (or fill out a consent form and have it notarized). The latter wouldn’t be a problem, except the man is in New Zealand until next month. Looks like we’ll just have to wait for his return, and then have the application process expedited, so we can have the passport in hand before our planned trip in March. Speaking of which…we haven’t finalized our plans just yet, but should shortly. We’re still considering Reykjavik as our destination hotspot, but would be open to other suggestions. Any ideas? Our guidelines are that it should be somewhere that is: 1) relatively vegan-friendly 2) relatively kid-friendly and 3) can be reached via a direct flight from Minneapolis in under eight hours. Oh, and the husband wouldn’t mind going somewhere warm. Please let me know. This means you, loyal reader.

How about another helping of random links and factoids? Here we go.

First off, the server that hosts this site was down for most of yesterday, due to a bad hard drive. It’s back now, but nearly all of my email is missing. I’m especially upset about losing recent messages from friends and kind readers, ones that I hadn’t gotten around to replying to just yet. This sucks.

The husband and I both have a love of hardcore punk rawk that goes way back. But I recently admitted to him that I hadn’t heard of the band Amebix (among the first crust punk bands) until we hooked up. He shook his head sadly, sighed, and informed me that I am uncultured.

I’ve been making far too many non-essential purchases in the wee small hours of the morning, when the insomnia kicks in. Still, I’m pleased as punch to have finally acquired the Freaks and Geeks box set, even if it isn’t the fancypants edition.

The tylenol with codeine messes me up nearly as much as the morphine did (percocet was far more pleasant), so I’ve opted to not take it. I am now living entirely painkiller-free. Can’t say that I’m loving it though.

Not sure what to make of Nabaztag. The device is vaguely…alarming. Anya would surely be frightened by it.

I make many discoveries with my frequent flickr-surfing. Some are more pleasant than others. Some of the good ones…

• I’ve found that L.A. has an annual Tofu Festival. It looks pretty awesome.
• Another flickr find, a blog with a link to a clip of Iggy Pop and David Bowie on The Dinah Shore Show. For weird.
• And finally, Stomp! Shout! Scream! - a beach party rock & roll monster movie. Sweet.

Ryanne used to work on a PBS children’s program called Zoom! Yesterday I came across a music video parodying the show. One about pi… with wizards and a robot!

Sometimes I can be seriously immature. Someone sent me a link to this article with the subject line Ass-tronauts! and yes, I thought it was funny (you have to read through some of the quotes. Crazy stuff).

And lastly, these prints are amazing. I would fill my house with them if I could.

I’m sure I’ve got more I could throw at yawl, but I think I’ve done enough damage for now.