sundries

[rm]

Food yesterday¹:

What I ate: 1 vitamin water (defense flavour), 1 small bag of potato chips, 3 fruit roll-ups, 8 mini chicken tacos with salsa, 10 mini gluten-free turkey basil meatballs with marinara sauce, 2 slices of swiss cheese, several handfuls of chocolate covered pomegranate jelly candy, 2 glasses of apple raspberry juice.

Reactions: This is a bit less than I normally eat. If I have those tacos for lunch, I usually have 9, but I didn't feel like opening a new box. Also, I usually snack a lot more after dinner, but went to bed early. The fruit roll-ups are new, and I am addicted. For me, shockingly, this was a low sugar day.

On the subway this morning, discussing my university:

Patty: "He says it's really different from when you where there."
Me: "Yeah, it's all liberal and dykes with shaved heads now."
Patty: "Did you just say 'dinosaur shaped eggs?'"
Me: "No, I said 'dykes with shaved heads.'"
Patty: "Oh, that makes more sense. I mean, you like dinos, so...."
Me: "I like dykes too."
Patty: "True, true. I just thought it might be a new fandom expression for, you know, WOW or something."
Me: "We can make it one, if you want."

We have met the enemy and it is PowerPoint. I've worked at a lot of companies over the years that have banned PowerPoint for the very reasons cited here.

Blogging death.

Arizona can go fuck itself.

Have finally started writing down actual words, in actual order, for the Bristol paper. Right now my poetic introduction is proving to be totally complex to write elegantly because of inside/outside (CoE takes place in September, but aired in July and both sets of dates matter intensely) timeline issues.

To the relevant parties: are any of you going to the Regency Ball in Essex on May 8?

More as it appears, but for now I need to go be constructive today.

---

¹ In case you missed it I'm doing a food diary for a week in response to both "OH MY GOD YOU'RE GLUTEN-FREE, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU EAT? and assumptions about what my habits must be due to my size. Yes, I'm posting a food diary to show that I'm an unhealthy freak with a sugar addictionequating size and health is kinda crap.

Comments

[hughcasey.livejournal.com]

I find it ironic that you posted a link to an article about PowerPoint in a bulleted list. *grin*

Having read that article, I appreciate even more that my company actually provides courses in Powerpoint and Presentations to anyone who wants to take them, and it's mandatory form management. :-)

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

"Defense flavor" is about the best thing I've seen all day.

DEFENSE FLAVOR!!

[rm.livejournal.com]

It has zinc and b vitamins. It makes me less crazy and bruise less!

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that's my go-to vitamin water too. What color is it?

I lean towards anything with B-vitamins.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Red. But there there's also Power-C and XXX which are also in that color spectrum.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Long ago and far away, Defense was a lemonade flavor with Vitamin C and Echinacea. I miss it. :-/

[rm.livejournal.com]

Now the lemonade flavour is a multi-vitamin and tastes REALLY gross.

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I find with a lot of the vitamin waters it's a 50/50 chance of being awesome or disgusting.

[kireishojo.livejournal.com]

I miss the green tea one they discontinued.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, agreed; it was one of the less sickly-sweet ones they carried.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I loved that flavor!

[miep.livejournal.com]

I loved that flavor. sigh.

[tod-hollykim.livejournal.com]

A friend here posted a link to a news story about some new gluten free products going to be produced by General Mills. http://www.examiner.com/x-13312-Chicago-GlutenFree-Food-Examiner~y2010m4d24-General-Mills-to-introduce-glutenfree-Bisquick-and-Hamburger-Helper-summer-2010

Don't know if you've seen it or would the items.

[1-mad-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Arizona can go fuck itself.

I live in Arizona, and I feel the same way. I share a house with my mother, who thinks this law is the greatest thing ever, and that the sun shines out of Sherrif Arpaio's ass. It's a good thing I've been learning about Buddhism.

[dkompare.livejournal.com]

I grew up in AZ in the 70s and 80s, and this law is sadly unsurprising. I try to explain to people not familiar with the state that the postal code (AZ) really does sum up the politics there. Nothing is garden variety anything, of any flavor. Sadly, though, there's enough of a Venn crossover between racist whackos, religious nutjobs, and libertarian greed-monsters to keep the likes of Arpaio, Hayworth, Brewer and too many others in power. Remember good ol' Ev Mecham? I'd love to forget him. :(

I'm also an alumnus of the U of A, and, for the first time EVER, I'm ashamed enough of the state to remove my UA sticker from my car, and put away all of my UA apparel. I'm calling on all my other out-of-state alum friends (from all three state schools) to do the same, and let their schools know. Arizona was my home, and I love many things about it. But for now, they need to hurt, and hurt badly enough till the jerks are voted out of office this fall.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Can I just say thank you. I am not Latino, and I'm unlikely to be mistaken for Latino, but aside from the general "racism is bad and this law is evil" factor, this law punches some real buttons for me as a Jewish person, and to see all sorts of people taking a stand against it in whatever way they can is really heartening. I'd boycott Arizona myself, but it's not like I had any plans to be going there anytime soon anyway.

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

You're dark haired, though. I'm so clearly Jewish it hurts, but I got hassled at the immigration check point last time I drove through AZ. That was also the last time I will drive through AZ. Next time, instead of hassling me, I suppose I'll just spend the night in jail until someone comes with my birth certificate. No thank you.

[canaana.livejournal.com]

See, I actually like it when I get hassled at a checkpoint. I'm red-haired and look Irish. if there's going to be hassling, I prefer that it be evenhanded. *tiredgrin*

[graene.livejournal.com]

You have made the most coherent argument there as to why my mom should be vehemently against this law (which she probably supports, because all she sees is the impact of ilegals on public services (twelve-plus hour wait in the ER for a problem the triage nurse acknowledges will probably need admittance, for example) and I haven't wanted to go there with her when the whole sister wedding stress is already breaking her. (posting about that now)

[marcmagus]

Oh, God, THIS. I thought I was having a bit more reaction to it than I'd expect for an evil law that I couldn't really believe passed; reading this made it click, so thank you.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

Since moving to Santa Fe, I have heard a number of folks express relief that there are mountains between us and Arizona to the west and Texas to the east. I have entertained the notion of checking out the Grand Canyon and Canyon de Chelly, but given the fact I have New Mexico plates on my car, AND the fact that a great many Americans can't be convinced that NM is part of the US (http://www.nmmagazine.com/50missing.php), I guess I'll check out Denver instead. That, and the state is too damn hot most of the year.

Granted, I am a white chick, but I am also a weirdness magnet.

[dkompare.livejournal.com]

AZ still has a good proportion of cool people and gorgeous places, so don't be afraid to visit once the boycott is over. Flagstaff is heavenly in the summer and fall (and is arguably the most Santa Fe-like city in the state, though Sedona has more effete Hollywood types, if you're into that sort of thing). Tucson is still pretty cool and funky; remember Giant Sand (http://www.giantsand.com/) and Calexico (http://www.casadecalexico.com/) (among others) hail from there!

Phoenix, well...it's not as bad as it once was. The mayor is a huge opponent of this new law, and there are some cool people and things in the Valley, but the culture overall there is still fairly conservative.

[canaana.livejournal.com]

In Tucson, we refer to the Phoenix area "LA East." Tucson and Flagstaff are the blue dots in the red state. :)

[1-mad-squirrel.livejournal.com]

I grew up in Arlington, VA, right outside of DC. Except for Northern Virginia, Virginia politics look a lot like Arizona politics.

I remember not long after I moved out here, Fyfe Simington was in the process of being run out on a rail. Dave Berry was visiting Phoenix on a book tour, and he made a comment about Arizona politics and South Florida politics having a lot in common. He said though that "Arizona has streamlined the process: you elect 'em and indict 'em all in one move."

[marcmagus]

I'm planning to go. Do you still think you're coming?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yup. We have tickets and reservations and all that.

[marchek.livejournal.com]

Not going to happen for me now. I've got a birthday party I need to attend that weekend.

[marcmagus]

Awesome.

Oh, huh, there's an afternoon thing too? *sigh* I really need to figure out what daywear should look like and come up with something...don't know if I'll make that part; are you guys planning on it?

[rm.livejournal.com]

Is there an afternoon thing? If it's the usual teachign before the ball, we'll probably blow it off.

[marcmagus]

Apparently there's a parade at 2 with some afternoon events; some discussion of going to the parade in a costumed group. See email if you're still getting eas mail.

Sounds kind of fun, if I can get past "I have nothing to wear" and get out the door early enough.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Oh, that thing. Yeah, we might. Depends on the weather, how much Patty cares and how we're feeling about our general sort of welcome as the queer folks.

[luke-jaywalker.livejournal.com]

On the subject of military PowerPoint presentations, friend linked me to this one:

http://abcnews.go.com/images/us/how_to_win_in_anbar_v4.pdf

Best. Use. Of. PowerPoint. Fucking. *EVER.*

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that link. I lol

[sethg]

Theresa Nielsen Hayden:

So Michael Swanwick is teaching his week at Clarion, and one of the students hands in a long somber story full of angst and sodomy. Swanwick considers it and says, “What this story needs is more dinosaurs.”

The next story the student turns in does have dinosaurs in it, but it’s a piece of fluff. Swanwick shakes his head. “It needed more sodomy,” he says.

The student is flummoxed, and protests that he’s just trying to put into practice what he’d been told. Swanwick explains, to him and to the rest of the students, that writing is a matter of finding the appropriate balance of dinosaurs and sodomy.

Then he goes home. The next instructor is Gardner Dozois.

A week later, Gardner comes home and says, “Michael, what the hell did you tell those kids? All week long, they were handing me stories about dinosaurs and sodomy!”

[canaana.livejournal.com]

Re: Arizona, being from their more-or-less originally, please don't blame the entire state. :-( It is an admittedly schizophrenic place, but Tucson doesn't have this problem, and apparently the state attorney general advised before the stupid thing was ever passed into law that he thought it was entirely un-defensible. Pima County's Sheriff (this is the county that contains Tucson) has already said that he will direct his deputies not to enforce it. And boy, are they missing Janet Napolitano right now. :/

[bugeyedmonster.livejournal.com]

That little exchange between you and Patty about the dinosaur shaped eggs and dykes with shaved heads sounds like something that might have passed between my dad and me. Except with my dad, it's his bad hearing.

And why does "dinosaur shaped eggs" and "dykes with shaved heads" sound like it could be a really cracked plot bunny?