We've Moved

Hey everyone... this blog is in the process of moving to merrieb.com. I won't be publishing here anymore, so check out the new site. I broke down and got my own domain.... *sigh* I promise there will be info there soon. Enjoy!

Warm Fuzzies

You know how you have some friends, where no matter how long it's been since you've seen each other, you feel like no time has past? (And if you followed that, more power to ya!) Well, Heather and I did that today. It's been 8 months, but it feels like yesterday. We just picked up where we left off. I love that. I think it's a testament to the nature of our relationship.

Plus, you gotta love a woman who picks out her wedding dress, veil, etc and buys them in one day. :) It was literally the fastest shopping experience of my life.

To Bring it all Home...

Registered Sex Offenders in our area...Spring, Tomball and The Woodlands

Each of these dots represents a registered sex offender. The red dots are for High risk offenders. Orange seems to be for moderate level offenders and pink for low. Black is unknown. This is the area I grew up in. If this picture doesn't scare you, it should. I got this information from the sex offender's database, using the mapping tool.

The Truth about your Neighbors

My friend Psy Guy recently had a post about sexual predators. You can read it here if you like. He had a link to the Texas Sex Offender Database. You should take a look at it. I checked my zip code and was very disturbed by the results. There were 15 registered sex offenders in my zip code. 2 of them live in my subdivision. 1 is only a few houses down from me. 1 lives in my parent's subdivision, where I grew up. Of the 15, 14 were convicted of offenses related to children, ages 3-15.

There's a mapping feature which I tried as well, but it doesn't pull up any of the offender's information. In fact, people were shown on the map (not on the database) and when I clicked for information it told me that no info could be found in the database. So I'm not sure how up to date this information is, but everyone should look for this information for their area. You'll be stunned by the results.

What I'm Reading

I've been on a serious reading kick lately. I do have a confession. I'm addicted to mystery novels. Anyway, this is what I've been reading.

The Witch in the Well, by Sharan Newman. I love this series. It combines 2 of my favorite things: mysteries and history. It's also got a strong religious bent to it, if you are interested in religion at certain times in history. It was nice to have old characters return and catch up with them.

Slay it with Flowers, by Kate Collins. I initally bought this because I thought my mother would enjoy it. She's been involved in floral design for a long time, even owning her own flower shop with my aunt years ago. I was pleased when it turned out to be a nice read.

Death by Inferior Design, by Leslie Cane. My only complaint with this book was that it felt like a second novel. There was a lot of information, especially relational information, the author assumed you knew. The other thing that threw me was the random inserts when the main character was at home. This felt unnecessary and completely threw me when I got to the first one. I initally thought it was some kind of printing error. That being said, once I got into it, I enjoyed it.

The Sign of the Book, by John Dunning. I'm loving this series too. I'm learning a lot about the bookseller business just by reading it. It's fascinating to get information from someone involved in the business, even if it was years ago. It'll make you take a second look around when you go to a used bookstore.

Shadow of the Giant, by Orson Scott Card. What can I say about this book? I LOVED it. I was alternately laughing and crying. I'm not the Ender purist that others are. I really like the character of Bean more and was glad to get more on his story. I'm only hoping that this isn't the true end. I'm craving more.

Hex and the City, by Simon R. Green. This is a nice mix of fantasy and mystery. For those of you who liked Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, this is a good series. I'm not a fan of his Deathstalker series, but I really like the Nightside series.

Although this isn't all I've read in the last month, it's all I have time to blog right now. :) More as they come...

Anticipation

Heather, my best friend, is coming for a visit. She currently lives in Scotland with her fiance. I can't express how excited I am that she's coming. It's been 8 months, roughly, since I saw her. As an attendant in her wedding (I'm a bridesmaid), I'm sure much of the week will be focusing on the wedding. Or at least the dress. I've been counting down the days for the last month or so. Now it's less than a week. WOOOOHOOOO!

I think the hardest part is going to be sharing her with her parents! I guess they'll want to see her too. It's just too bad that she can't stay longer, but alas, she has a job. The good news is that the wedding is in July, so I'll be heading to bonnie Scotland then. It won't be another 8 months before we see each other again.

If at first you don't suceed...

For those of you interested in making jewelry, I've learned a difficult lesson this past week. I've been working with Memory Wire. I love it. You don't have to worry about sizing, as one size fits all. It's very versatile and pretty easy to use.

However, I'm having major issues getting the end caps to stay on. I've tried different glues & epoxies, roughing the edges of the wire to make the bond better, you name it! But the darn things keep falling off. I've even let them sit overnight.

So I'm resorting to loops. They don't look bad, but it seems unfinished to me. [Side note: If you use loops, make them face the outside of the circle, otherwise they tend to dig into your arm. I learned that lesson the hard way!] I'm kind of a perfectionist when it comes to my creations. If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear it.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter, everyone.

We had a rather relaxing Easter Sunday. Went to lunch with my mom, and sister and her family. Then we went to Border's were I spent WAY too much money on books. It's an addiction. After coming home, we relaxed on the couch, watching TV. Jonathan played on his laptop, while I read. It was really nice. In fact, the whole weekend was kind of all about decompressing. We hung out with Epiphany & PsyGuy on Friday night, which is always fun. Then Saturday afternoon, we (and by we I mean Jonathan) worked on my media server. But the evening was low key.

To top it off, I spent the rest of the night working on some new jewelry. I'm inspired to make bracelets. I'm very excited about some new findings that I've ordered. I can't wait for them to get in so I can make new stuff. I'm experimenting with memory wire, and so far things are working quite well. Anyway, I'm off to make some more...

All Things Geek

I realize I was complaining about my geek boyfriend in my last post. Now it's time to 'fess up. I'm also a geek. I'll admit it. I'm geeky about different things than Jon, but still a geek. In my usual perusal of the web, I found some kick ass websites with geek stuff on them.

First is x-tremegeek.com. I got a catalog from them and knew I had to save it for Jonathan. :) Plus I found some stuff to buy for myself.

The other is thinkgeek.com. Their selection of t-shirts is fantastic!

Anyway, all you other geeks should check it out too.

I should have known better

than to date a computer dork. There are just certain things a woman can't compete with. My competition is slashdot.org. [Note: he told me this weekend that he doesn't read my blog, so I feel justified in writing about him in it :P] He spends hours reading through slashdot. Which wouldn't bother me so much if he did it on "his" time and not "our" time. How can I compete with a website? It's not even a porn website! I think that might worry me less, to be honest.

I understand that he works hard and this is his way of keeping informed and relaxing. But we don't have that much time together each week, thanks to his work and living so far apart. It's not like we see each other every day. In fact, it's not like we talk to each other everyday. So I don't think I'm asking too much for him to spend some quality time with me. I manage to do most of my "necessary" things when he's not around. I intentionally try to save the time when we are together for us.

I guess the crux of the matter is that it makes me feel inadequate. Like my presence isn't stimulating enough. And then I begin to wonder if he likes me at all and why we are dating, which just leads to neurosis and paranoia. I tend to overthink at that point. I should have prefaced this by saying that, although we all have abandonment issues, I REALLY have abandonment issues. In fact, there hasn't been a man in my life (minus my father) who hasn't left me at one time or another. And since I've "lost" 2 best friends in the last 3 years, I'm still feeling vulnerable.

Spike is back

So all you Buffy & Angel fans will be pleased to know that James Marsters (Spike) is back. USA Network has a movie coming out this weekend called Cool Money which stars James. :) I'm so glad to see that he's working. It's the true story of thefts in New York. I'm thinking it's worth a watch just to get my James fix.

Check out the new inventory

I've added a bunch of new items to my ebay store. Check it out and pass it on. :)

Rodeo Houston 

Yee Haw....

Rodeo Houston

We went rodeoing this past weekend. Well, we wandered around the livestock show, looked at the shopping, and wandered around the carnival. It was a really good time. I got to see a chick being hatched. That was kind of cool. Plus the goats, chickens, cows... The shopping wasn't as great as I'd hoped, but I found a stained glass sunflower I couldn't resist. The quilts on display were beautiful. Makes me wish I could sew. Plus, the food was good. I had fried shrimp, and quite a few for $7. Jonathan had etoufee which he seemed to enjoy (and about 1/2 my shrimp). All in all it was well worth the $12 bucks for both of us.

We took the park and ride option, which I highly recommend. Getting there was really easy and for the 2 of us it was $6 roundtrip. Now, coming home we had a bit of a wait in line, but once it started moving it wasn't too bad.

Spring has sprung

Okay, so it's not official spring yet, but it sure feels like it here. Yesterday and today were almost hot! I took the beautiful weather opportunity to do some planting and cleaning in the garden.

I bought a few plants and have attractively displayed them on the patio. I got calla lilies, petite lilies, ivy, hydrangea, hyacinth, and rosemary. I wasn't able to do this last year because of my sore back, so I'm going overboard this year. I went to the store today and bought a few more plants. I'm planning on going to the store on Monday and buying some more plants... Bwahahahaha

I also cleaned up the patio a bit, trying to make it look a little less white trash. Too many chairs, too little space... All I needed was a rusted out car in the back yard. :) Oh wait, I have a plastic jeep, does that count? Now if I can just get the fairy light situation resolved my patio will be party central.

My Edward Gorey Death...

You will perish of fits. Repeat this to yourself:
"Things can work out even if I don't get
my way. Things can work out even...."


What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?
brought to you by Quizilla

Great TV

Yes, yes, we all know it's hard to come by. Especially in this deluge of "reality" TV. God I hate those shows! But I've found a diamond in a sea of coal. House, on Fox on Tuesday night, is a great show. I normally dislike medical dramas, too technical to be entertaining, and the yuck factor...Don't get me started.

But House stars Hugh Laurie as an irreverent sarcastic doctor, which chronic pain and a drug problem. His cutting antisocial wit makes the show worth watching. You'd hate him, if it wasn't obvious that he's brilliant. This show has a nice blend of detective drama in it, mixed with the medical aspect. They deal with only mysterious illnesses and spend the episode trying to solve the mystery.

In addition to Hugh Laurie, the shows stars Omar Epps & Robert Sean Leonard (who I'll admit I've loved since Dead Poet's Society). If you haven't watched it, I suggest you give it a try. For all the Whedon fans who are missing Buffy, Angel & Firefly, this show has the wit and intelligence that Joss' shows have.

I am employed, again

Last week I got a call from a woman I used to work with when I doing technical writing years ago. She started her own company and is looking for writers. I know it's been a few years since I've done it, but I've decided to go back. At least part time. I'll be able to work from home, which is a super bonus. I'm only a contractor, but I'll still be working for my dad's company part time. Have to in order to keep my health insurance. This is exciting for me. Maybe eventually I'll be able to do it full time.

Help! I'm old!

I came to a harsh realization this weekend. My party girl days are over. My boyfriend and I went to a pub this weekend to meet up with some of my friends. I was looking forward to it. I haven't been in a pub in a long time and I hadn't seen my friends in a while. To my dismay, I hated it. It was so loud I ended up with a headache. There was a group at a table near us who were so loud and obnoxious. It was hard for us to hear each other at the table, over the crowd next to us and the music. After 2 drinks each, at 10:30 pm we left fighting the crowds to get out.

I used to party all night. Drinking, dancing, we always had a great time. I was the ultimate party girl. Always had something going on, somewhere to go. I knew all the waitstaff in my hangouts, most of the patrons. So sitting in that bar, being annoyed with all the loud drunk people, I realized I used to be one of those annoying loud drunks. I was mortified!

I don't know when it happened. I turned 30 in December but I don't think that was the catalyst. It began even before then. I'd rather stay home than go to a bar. I really enjoy the evenings where my friends come over (or I go there) and we end up sitting around and talking for hours.

I've been everywhere, man...

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

This would be cool if we could add countries...

Germany / England / Scotland / Ireland / Wales / France / Hungary / Austria / Switzerland / Netherlands / Belgium / Mexico / Jamaica / Columbia / Costa Rica / Canada / Czechoslovakia / Spain / Portugal / Liechtenstein / Russia / Andorra / Italy / Bosnia / Croatia / Denmark / Sweden / Finland / Monaco / Poland / Greece / Turkey / India / Australia /

(That's just a sampling and the places I've been...)

The Book Game

The Book Game

Here are the rules:(Stolen from Epiphany who stole them from Jordan who stole them from Alicia who stole them from Nikkianna)
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

Banewreaker by Jacquiline Carey

"He asks what? No, never mind." Tanaros turned his attention to the injured Fjeltroll, laid gently on the ground by the four comrades who carried him. "Bogvar, can you hear me?"

"Lord....General." Bogvar's leathery lips parted, flecked iwth blood. One of this eyetusks was chipped. A dreadful gash opened his massive chest as he struggled for breath, blood bubbling in the opening, gurgling as he spoke.

Apparently I'm the only one with fiction nearby...I feel inadequate. I should grab one of my thesis books out of the spare room. Just to clarify, this is a fantasy novel, I'm not really bloodthirsty.

New Items Added to Store

Hey everyone, I added some new jewelry to the store. Photos by Jonathan. :) It looks much better with quality pictures. Take a look and tell all your friends! In fact, tell everyone you know!

Firewire cheap

Oh, I forgot to mention...I did have to get the firewire stuff to transfer video (even though it didn't work). I'm SO glad I didn't buy it at Best Buy. We found a PCI card for my desktop for $9.99 at Fry's on our semi weekly outing there. In addition, we found a cable for $19.99. Come home, open the box to install it in my Dell, only to discover the card came with a cable! So you can add a firewire connection (3 actually) to your computer for under 10 bucks. Don't get taken in buy the sales clerks who work on commission!

Alas & Alack

Well, I had to return the video camera. I think I'll be more wary about buying things open box from now on. The pins for the firewire cable were bent, so I couldn't connect the cable and couldn't copy video onto my computer. I'm looking for a new one though.

So here's my return experience. There's a Best Buy near work, so I went there as it was closer. I got there and all the service clerks seemed to care about was processing the credit card applicants. Based on what I overheard, there was some kind of contest...but whether it was for the store or individuals I don't know. I stood in line for 15 minutes before anyone acknowledged me, in fact even said hello. Then I was finally called on and they had to check the camera and the guy did it in front of me and didn't have a clue. First of all there was no media in the camera, so all he proved was that the computer recognized the USB connection. Not that the camera actually worked. He had the nerve to ask me if I'd brought my tapes with me. Yeah, right! Then a manager said they couldn't give me a return only an exchange, but the checkout girl rang up a return anyway. The manager seemed okay with that, so I was confused, but didn't want to trek back to the Woodlands. Another scary policy is that purchases over $250 in cash are issued as a check via the corporate office. :( So it can take 2 weeks to get your money. Luckily, I was just under that and got my cash today. All in all it took me over 30 minutes at the store to make my return. It seemed a lot more complicated than it needed to be.

Now open! Dragonfly Inspirations

Most of my friends know that I've been making jewelry with my sister for the past year or so. I've finally decided to get semi-serious about it. I've opened an ebay store. I'm hoping that other people like my stuff as much as I do. Maybe some of it will even sell. :) If you are interested, or know someone who might be interested, feel free to forward my info on! Also feel free to email me with any questions. Our new email is dragonfly.inspirations@gmail.com.

Ah, the beauty of haggis

Me eating haggis 

The weird looks is because my boyfriend insists on taking pictures of me eating. He's strange that way. This was Jonathan's birthday celebration feast. Haggis, tatties, and neeps. My first taste of Haggis. Not too bad, once you get it cooked. Before that there's a definite cat food odor to it.

For more haggis, check out this website.

Serenity, the movie!

I'm very excited about the upcoming movie, Serenity. It's based on Joss Whedon's brilliant but short lived show Firefly. The basic premise is sci-fi meets the old west. Gotta love Joss. One bonus of this TV to big screen movie is that all the original actors came to do the movie. Yay cast! The second bonus is that Joss is completely involved with the project--writing, directing, etc. And amazingly enough the studio seems to be letting him do his own thing. Which is perfect! They did decide to push back the opening date, but everyone is supportive of the decision.

I made my boyfriend watch the entire Firefly series on DVD when we first started dating. He was skeptical at first, but I finally converted him. If you haven't seen it yet, go buy or rent the DVD's. I highly recommend it!

New Camcorder

I bought a camcorder today. I wanted to get one to take it on my trip to Scotland. I wanted to record the wedding, at least as much as I can since I'm in the wedding party. I also thought it would be nice to tape stuff before then and burn a DVD to give to the happy couple.

I got a Panasonic Digital Video Camcorder, PV-DV203. I got a good deal on it. $269 at Best Buy, including an open box discount. Which means I got the display model, no box. But the clerk was very cool about checking to make sure everything worked before I bought it. And I have 14 days to make a return if it doesn't work. God forbid.

Of course, there are a thousand hidden costs involved in a purchase like this. And I'm not just talking about the highway robbery of buying video tapes. Two 60 minute tapes for $15. I was told by the sales clerk that I'd need a firewire cable ($40) to download the movies onto my computer. Which means, for me, I'll have to install a firewire PCI card ($15-40) in my computer too. And it takes still pictures too, which is cool because now I won't have to take my digital camera too. But it uses a different kind of media card than my other camera, so now I have to buy an SD card. Another $50, assuming I can find a good deal.

Overall I'm pretty pleased. It was affordable and it seems to have pretty decent reviews online. I need to fully charge the battery and play around with it some more. I think it will be more than satisfactory for my purposes.

Scotland Rants

Lately, it seems like my whole life revolves in someway around Scotland. Don't get me wrong, I love Scotland. Hey, I even like haggis (at least out of a can)! I got to visit there a few years ago, and it's definitely moved to the #1 spot of my all time favorite places. Beautiful, green, lush, friendly. I highly recommend it as a vacation spot. Just take a jacket and an umbrella.

It all started 4 years ago when my best friend met a Scottish guy online. They dated, and eventually got engaged. Last summer Heather moved to Scotland to live with her fiance, Brian. I'm thrilled for her. She deserves to be happy. The selfish part of me is wishing he'd moved here, because now my best friend lives in Scotland. That part is kinda sucky.

As Heather was in the process of moving to Scotland, I was trying the online dating scene, through eHarmony. It was my second try, but I knew I needed to do something. Turns out I actually met a great guy. We kind of clicked automatically, which is highly unusual for me. We chatted online for a while before we met face to face. Turns out, and I didn't know this until we'd be communicating for a week or so, my (now) boyfriend is from Scotland originally. So I lose my best friend to Scotland, but gain a Scottish boyfriend. Seems fair enough to me.

So now Heather is getting married. Still thrilled for her! But the wedding is in Scotland. So I'm thinking, Scottish boyfriend wants to go home for a visit, right? I want a date for the wedding, right? Combine the two! Not to mention that we'll have been dating almost a year at the time of the wedding, and I've yet to meet his family. Yeah, so, they all live overseas. This is fate, destiny, kismet. Right? Right? Apparently not.

First Posting

Well, I suppose I have to have an initial post. I'm not sure I have anything relevant or interesting to say, but I'm trying this instead of creative journaling. I journaled for years, but it's been a long time. I miss writing, since a lot of my poetry developed from my journals. I just hope I'm not wasting my time or anyone else's.