home again.

got home technically early this morning (1am). photos are up on flickr. enjoy.

vacation.

leaving for LA wednesday morning for my brother's college graduation. since i've gone back to a five-days-a-week work schedule, and tuesday is now one of my days off, that means vacation started... 1 hour ago.

w00t.

government math.

so, seeing as taxes were due today, we went through our forms a couple days ago and filled out our FAFSAs.

being me, of course, i had to go look into the whole process. i found another website that purports to show you the inner workings of the FAFSA calculation.

if they are correct, and i have no reason currently to believe they are not, the government's math is... fascinating. specifically that it is assumed, somehow, that rent/mortgage, insurance, transportation, food, and all utilities will somehow be less than $800 a month.

what. the. fuck? where in this country can you cover all that for less than $800/mo? seriously. because i might think about moving there. that is an insane number. it's not even a pretense at being realistic.

i guess i'm ending up with an unsubsidized loan.

spring holidays.

every year i rejoice that coffee and chocolate are kosher for passover.

although now i have a headless chocolate bunny in the fridge, which is mildly creepy.

continuing with the creepiness thread, i see a new tab in blogger. it is titled "monetize." this is also creepy.

perhaps not as creepy as a headless chocolate bunny.

comfort of habits.

the windows box has been brought back into use.

it's not that i don't like my mac. i do. in general, i am perfectly happy to use os x over windows.

except for one thing.

it took me a while to figure it out. but i've been thinking about it more and more as graduate school looms in the fall. also, two years in a row of failed nanowrimo helped.

i'm a wordperfect user. have been for years. totally addicted to the "reveal codes" functionality. it's just the word processing/text tool that i am most comfortable with. i can use word, but i don't like it. i've been trying out scrivener for my novels, but it is a little too much for me, and the features i really wanted don't work the way i want them to.

so today, we went to microcenter, and purchased an iogear dvi/usb + audio kvm switch.

after a few mishaps, we got it installed, and it works perfectly. keyboard, mouse, monitor. i haven't tried audio yet, but that's because in general, i do not allow my computers to make noise. i'm really surprised, to be honest. it's a pleasant surprise, granted, but it's definitely surprise. kvms tend to be finicky, and this one is switching between a mac and a home-built windows desktop (i can't bring myself to actually call it a pc. technically, macs are also personal computers. plus, now they're even intel-based). but now i'll be able to use wordperfect again, plus play games using my nice wireless mouse and digital input to my monitor.

all this just because i'm only comfortable with an ancient piece of software.

if i'm not careful, i'll turn into my dad.

update.

congestion levels are going down and energy levels are coming up.

cough is still lingering, however.

in other news, my tulips are sprouting. this is my second time attempting to overwinter bulbs in a pot, and i was afraid they had died again.

happy spring.

sickness.

being sick is too much work. what with the cough and sneezing and chills and drugs and cough drops and fever and sleeping and the constant imbibing of hot liquids and vitamin c, bah. fuck it all.

i'm ready to get better. c'mon immune system, do your thing.

happy purim.

this is why i don't bake. i made such a mess.

but the cookies turned out well (this is a picture of them before they went into the oven). nomnomnom.

for the pedantic among you, yes, i am aware purim doesn't start until tomorrow night. but i have to work tomorrow, so hamentaschen were made today.

liturgical ignorance.

i come from a mostly non-liturgical background. well, from a christian perspective. jews have a fairly sophisticated and well-developed liturgy. but my church background never really featured things like incense, ashes, holy water, altar boys, etc.

however, since i've been working for a church, i've had to venture into the scary world of church supply websites.

i don't think i've seen so many words i don't know since i was learning how to read.

the following are a list of words currently categorized under the "wtf?" label (yes, i can click and see pictures, but they are still wtf):

Ambry
Ciboria
Monstrance
Ostensoria
Paraments
Patens
Pyxes

another one that gave me pause was "Cruets" but at least i know what a cruet is.

i think it's off to my favourite online resource for new words

v-day

home alone on valentine's day.

he's out spinning at a gay club tonight.

somehow, i don't think anyone reading this is surprised.