This journal is semi-friends only. I enjoy making new friends, though - so feel free to add me. If you do, just please comment to let me know. (And if we know each other from somewhere else, let me know in the comment. Sometimes I'm slow to pick up on things like that otherwise. ;))

A little about me/my journal: I frequently go stretches without posting, then suddenly post multiple times a day. I can be very random, and love doing memes -- but I do attempt to limit myself on those. Most of my posts start out public, then I go back at random intervals and f-lock most of them. I fully admit that I'm more than a little weird, but I think it's just part of my charm. ;)

A list of other places I can be found online is on the right side of the journal. I frequent Facebook the most, so feel free to add me over there as well.

I repost my tweets to my LJ via LoudTwitter. I have an opt-in twitter filter, so you can choose whether or not you want to see those tweet-filled posts (you will not see them by default). Just fill out the poll here if you want to see them!

Today is my mom's birthday. She told me over the weekend that she didn't want any ecards with Hoops & Yoyo. (It was more like "I don't want any cards with the weird animals that sing and dance and are strange" or something to that effect, but yes.) So, of course that means she needs to get TONNES of them!!! Which, dear friends, is where I ask for your help!

I would absolutely LOVE it if you could help me out by sending her a Hoops & Yoyo ecard today. I do not expect you to spend any money on it - so just the free ones are fine. I think there are about 6 free ones to choose from.

My mom's name is Linda, and I set up a special temporary email address just for the birthday cards for her: mom-bday@puzzleiam.com (And yes, this temp address does forward to her real one. I just didn't think she'd like me posting her real address everywhere. ha.) It doesn't matter if you know my mom or not - please send a card! Feel free to spread the word and ask your friends to do the same!

Thank you very very VERY much to any & every one who sends her an ecard today!

LoudTwitter is back! Woo hoo!! So, now that it's back, I'm going to start up the twitter filter!

It is completely opt-in: if you want to see my tweets when they're reposted here in my lj, just vote "yes" in the poll below, and I'll add you.

If you do not want to see them here at lj (because you follow me on twitter already, or you're just not interested in tweets, or any other reason), you can either vote "no", or do nothing at all!

And like I said when I was originally contemplating the filter - I will not be offended at all if you choose no. :) After all, that's part of the reason I'm creating the filter - so you don't have to see 'em if you don't want to.

Poll #1445737 Twitter Filter Opt-In
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: Friends, participants: 8

Do you want to be included on my twitter filter?

Story time! First, let's come up with some abbreviations. Hmm. I have several coworkers. My boss, we'll call N. Then, there is D1, D2, L and J. In another department (but sits RIGHT next to ours) is E. Not all of those are in this story, but I just felt like naming them all. ;)

So, yes. Coworker J had a party this weekend, and she had bought a couple of cakes - and neither cake had much eaten from them. So she brought one of the cakes up here to share with the department. There was roughly half the cake left, maybe just a lil bit more. It was a round chocolate cake, 2 layers, w/choco frosting, and a whole mess of strawberries on top.

Since it was morning, no one touched the cake. (I didn't eat any because I'm allergic to strawberries. But if it'd been something I liked... I might have had some.) So, coworker E comes over and helps herself to some cake. A couple hours later, she gets some more. Now, that's no biggie. It's open to everyone, she can have a couple of slices if she wants.

Except... instead of taking the traditional wedge-shape slices you cut a round cake into, E COMPLETELY scooped out the CENTER of the cake. Now, if you don't like frosting, that's all fine and dandy. Cut yourself a proper piece of cake, then either just trash the frosting, or scoop it off and leave it in the side of the cake container for someone who does like frosting. Don't SCOOP OUT THE MIDDLE!!!! Not only did she scoop out the center of the cake - leaving a 2 inch outer circle of TONNES of frosting - but she also ate all the strawberries & strawberry goo that was on top of the cake too.

At one point, a woman from yet another department came by, and she was going to get a slice. She was completely shocked and appalled that someone had hollowed out the cake like that.

The cake was left there over night, and E's helped herself to it again today. This time - she was scooping out JUST the bottom layer of cake from the circle she'd left. Which left behind, just the top layer and the mass quantities of frosting. So, without a bottom - you guessed it, the cake is collapsing in on itself. THEN she started to harass us to eat some of it, so she wasn't the only one eating it. Ummm... even if it'd been a flavor cake I could eat.. I wouldn't touch it now, that it's been completely destroyed. UGH!!!

( Picture of the cake today )

People really amaze me sometimes.

Dear Idiot In The SUV Who Has Almost Hit Me Every Morning This Week:

Please note that when you turn a corner, you are supposed to move mostly past the oncoming lane before turning onto the street. If you, as you do daily, turn the corner as soon as you reach the curb closest to you, then you are going to turn into MY lane, and take off the front end of my car. The ONLY reason you have not done so yet, is because I am paying attention and slam on my brakes roughly 2 car lengths back from my stop sign. I SHOULD be able to pull up closer to the stop sign without fear of getting hit by your idiotic ass.

Trust me -- waiting 2 more seconds before turning will NOT make you late for work. Hitting my car, however, is guaranteed to make both of us late, and will require you/your insurance to pay all of my repair and medical bills.

No Love At All,

The Driver of the BRIGHT YELLOW Car Who Knows You Can See Me Coming Before You Turn.

Excel is my weakness. I'm not sure exactly when or how it happened, but it became a program I have to have. Not just needing to have the program on my PC, but to a point where I am using Excel at least once a day. And, honestly, I use it quite a lot more than that. On an average day, I am guaranteed to have 4 programs running at all times: Firefox, AIM, MSN, and Excel.

I use Excel for anything and everything. One example: I use it as a tool to aide in planning of vacations. I'll create one tab to make a list of rental car companies, and the prices each one offers, along with any coupon codes, etc, that I might need. I create another tab with different flights, so I can pick which is best. I'll have another for hotels, where I can list locations, prices (with separate columns for price per night, taxes, overall price, and price per person), and I'll have additional columns for comments, where I can log things like if there's an additional fee for parking or internet, or anything else they might decide to charge me for. Once the decisions are made, there will be a tab with all the confirmation numbers and specific details, to print out easily and pack in the carry-on. A separate spreadsheet will help me keep a list of potential places to visit, along with the hours and prices of each attraction. I'll even use a spreadsheet to help me plan what to pack on the trip, breaking things down into a checklist type format - IE. one column for shirts, another for pants, another for undergarments/nightwear/etc, and columns for shoes, or toiletries, or medications. There will be one tab with what needs to be packed, another for what is packed, and even another to break down my clothes by day, to make sure I have the right amount of each type of clothing packed. Yeah. I know, I'm insane. To further prove how crazy I am -- I had a total of 7 separate multi-tabbed spreadsheets when I was planning my birthday trip to Vancouver this year. ;)

And I use it for so much more than just vacation planning. If I need to create a list (for absolutely anything at all), 99% of the time I'm going to do it in Excel. In the summer, when it's almost time for all the TV shows to start back up -- you guessed it, I'll create a spreadsheet for it. Not only will the file have a list all the premiere dates for all the shows I watch, but I also use it to create a weekly grid, so I can visually see what show is on what night at what time -- and figure out what needs to be DVR'd. (This is the list I created this for this fall. Shows have been adjusted since, but that was what I was originally watching.) Hmmm, I really need to work on a new list, since shows are about to start shifting around for the spring, and my midseason shows will be starting up soon. :-[

If I am shopping for something - yup. I'll start a spreadsheet for that, too. That way, I can compare different models or brands, and see what the differences are, easily. And once I decide on the specific item I'm buying, I can use another tab, to list all vendors and their prices, to make sure I get the best cost! I have a sheet for books I want to read, and I have one for jewelry I want to buy. I've got another spreadsheet for jobs I've applied for, along with the contact info, dates I applied, any follow up taken, and any other job-hunt relevant info. I just did a search on my entire PC -- as of right this second, I have 586 excel files on my computer, dating all the way back to February of 2000. (Oh yeah. I rarely trash my old Excel files, either. Ha. :-[ )

So... yeah. I want to get certified as an Excel Specialist. There's still some things I need to learn before I can (like macros), but I think it would be nice. Especially considering my every day dependency on Excel.

I have no idea why I wrote an entire entry confessing the depths of my addiction to Excel, but I did. And since I am attempting to get back into the habit of posting again, I'm posting it. ;) Anyone who actually read all this has my sympathy and appreciation. Haha.

I'm supposed to be writing a "real" post. But. Well.... what can I say? I love stealing memes. ;) The real post will come later.

( Questions on my Top 50 artists )

My last.fm account is here. Feel free to add me if you haven't already. :D

I got back home yesterday. I didn't want to leave Vancouver. Sure, my knees are still screaming in protest from the trip, but I don't care. Temps in the 60's & 70's beat temps in the 100's any day. ;) Plus, it was so nice there. Sigh. Ugh. Oh well. Now to see if my knees will work long enough to get me to the car so I can go to school. Meh.

...... wtf?

I've been meaning to post this for a while, and just keep forgetting. :-[ haha. Oops? Anyway. ( Photo from after the Hugh Dillon show ) I'll try to get more pictures from the Toronto trip up into an album this weekend, and link to 'em later. Although, we know I'm a master procrastinator, so I can't promise it will happen. Hee!!

Hi, I just wanted to say I love you.

And you.

And you.

And you and you and you.

And all of you.

*spreads the love*