Lacking

Can you believe I don't own this??

Yeah, neither can I!

If I were a wealthy young lady, I'd wear this:

But my friends at Victoria's Secret seem to think that $49 is a "clearance" price (and that low-res images are good for the internet).

Spark

Oh, Slim Fast. I'm sorry, but I'm leaving you for another.

The other day, whilst getting my Weddingbee fix, one of the bloggers posted about SparkPeople. (Remember SparkNotes???)

Now, I've been using the free Slim Fast website for some time. It was pretty good - big database of foods, exercise and weight tracking, and I'd built a pretty decent sized database of foods that I input myself. But the layout was always a little cumbersome, and I was still putting in my own foods.

So I thought I'd sign up and give it a try. I'm on day two so far, and only exercised one of those two days. The food database is also large, but it's easier to search and you get the benefit of foods others have input. It's still a pain to go in and enter everything, but so far so good!

I'm still exploring ... once I get some use up, I'll look things over again.

vonBunny

There are so few pictures on my blog right now. This one is one of my favorites, from TMZ.


My new SparkPeople goal is to collect one motivational picture a day. It's day two and I'm already behind.

Overused

"The combination of strong leadership with customer-focus orientation empowered workers achieving continuous improvement in supply chain management."

I count five business school cliches in this single sentence. How many do you see?

Freaky

At what point did I go from being ambitious to being the subject of a freak science experiment on the results of pressure and crazy busy-ness over multiple years?

Coworker: "So, you're rotating next month?"
Me: "Next month? No, I'm rotating in March."
Coworker: {blankly stares, until I figure it out}

Alexander

And his terrible, horrible, no-good very bad day.

• This morning, got up. Turned on the 1/4 bath light, and it didn't work. Figured the lightbulb was out. But the bathroom light, alarm clock (mine is battery powered), coffee maker, etc. also did not work. No power, anywhere in the apartment. Took a shower by candlelight (not as lovely as it sounds at 6:15 am), got ready by early morning sun, and realized I was going to have to go to work with wet hair.
  
• On top of that, it was super cold today.
  
• Random emails regarding miscellaneous work that I don't need to be doing, and a rather ineffectual group mentoring meeting over lunch (and no lunch provided). Cornered by a close-talker that smelled like nachos. And really, I'm already following extensive mentoring advice ... how much more mentoring do I need?
  
• Virtually no progress on my group project, for which I have very little time to work on because the due date was changed from Sunday to Wednesday. Why? Because enough students complained about wanting to watch the Superbowl. Also received an email from the university VP (on an unrelated issue) not wanting to perpetuate the "university of spoiled children" image. But, we can't make the students work during the Superbowl.
  
• Accidentally left my soda bottle in the freezer without releasing the pressure, and it froze.
• Attempted to open said bottle in the car, where it proceeded to explode. Everywhere. (Again with the cold & wet).
  
• Cornered by two classmates who give me that skeezy, sleep with me or get me a job feeling, before a long and boring class.
• After all of this, I don't think Andy really wanted to talk to me. Honestly, I wouldn't either.
  

Guess we'll try again tomorrow ...

Lynwood

Straight out of Lynwood: White & Nerdy.

I read this article today linked off the New York Times.

Fair warning: this is long. And cynical, even for the Queen of Cynicism (or so I'm told).

Anyway, I don't think I realized how nerdy I was in high school until long after. It probably caused me a lot of angst at the time, but once I got older I kind of forgot. After all, life got pretty comfortable, and I could hardly care what happened to who after high school (I heard a lot of things about working at local restaurants).

Also, I'd add that nerds are not interested in people who only talk to them for some ulterior purpose.

Correspondence

Dear Ikea,

First, let me just say, I had a great time visiting the Carson store yesterday. I'd been looking forward to it for since before Christmas, but waited until this weekend because I like really investing some time there. Sure, I get the worst vertigo on the open escalator and almost threw up my frozen yogurt all over, but really that's my fault, as I could just as easily take the elevator. And, I couldn't have been more pleased to walk out with the exact poster-sized frame that I wanted, an adorable candle set, .59 cent 3-piece kitchen set, and glass bottle for just $19. I spent twice as much for less at Target next door.

Anyway, I had quite a few reasons for visiting. Most importantly, I wanted to check out some items for our wedding reception centerpieces and favors. And I know I'm not the only future bride hitting up Ikea for these things, because we all know it's the place to find really classy, stylish things at a price affordable for 120 or so guests.

I couldn't help but notice that it looks like you guys have picked up on this. I mean, silk flower petals, artificial arrangements, and a huge variety of vases? The .79 cent glass vases with a single flower in them would make really cute favors.

So, why, oh why, do you not have a wedding registry?? Andy and I are simple people; we've registered at some typical stores but Ikea is really our favorite. I'd much rather one of your lovely bedding sets for the same price as a single place setting at a department store.

I saw on a ... ahem, gothic ... couple's website that they'd registered at Ikea but only in-store. Why no online registry? I'd much prefer that, because I'm people phobic.

I know wedding registries are probably not de rigeur in Sweden. We're a bunch of crazy capitalists over here in the US. But if you could go ahead and offer an online/in-store wedding registry in the next six months or so, I'd close every other one and tell our Missouri and Nebraska guests to suck it up.