My office and random stuff
When I got to work this morning, I snapped a few photos of my office and I've autostitched them together to show you what my new space looks like. As you can tell, I've not put anything up on the walls yet. I'm thinking that some sheer curtains might be nice over the windows, but the wall is, obviously, brick, so putting up a curtain rod would involve drilling with a mortar bit. I think that before I go so far as getting curtains, I'll just suspend the flag from the ceiling in front of the one window (perhaps I should get a similarly sized US flag to put over the other window...). Also, three posters could fit easily on that end wall, but there is still a long blank wall (where the random furniture and unpacked boxes still sit) that I've no idea what to do with (I've got many more movie posters, but that size frame is a bit expensive).
Ok - here are random things:
I love Madonna's song "Sorry" but the video, which I found on the web, truly sucks ass. I have no idea what is supposed to be going on, but she and some other chicks are driving around in a van picking up totally random men (and one young boy) against their will and subjecting them to provocative dancing and such. I know part of the "fun" is that women are in power and pulling a switch-a-roo on the men, but, really, it gives me the creeps (and think of how upset people would be if men were shown doing this to women and children). And I know Mrs. Ritchie has an amazing bod for whatever age she is, but, please woman, avoid the butt-exposing leotards (and she likes to show off those exposed cheeks). (I'm so becoming an old fuddy-dud, but I've come to terms with that.)
Speaking of advanced age and bodies, my own nearly-40-year-old body is starting to gain weight and I'm not doing a good job of stopping it. I've gone to drinking mostly water or artificially-sweetened tea at home, but I still enjoy a couple of cans of sugar-sweetened sodas at the office and as many glasses of sweet tea as I can drink most days at lunch. Many of you who know me know that I've always been relatively thin no matter what I consumed, but my genetics are finally catching up with me; both of my parents were thin into their 30's and are now big folks (not HUGE, but not small, either). My father even became diabetic in his 50's, so I really need to get my eating habits in check.
I also like chocolate, but I've been fairly good about keeping that in moderation. M&M's have discovered my weakness and have started producing their dark chocolate candies on a regular basis (I bet the "Dark Side" Star Wars candies last year sold very well and many other consumers missed them as much as I did). I've been good so far and only bought one small package of the candy. I hope to keep them to being a rare treat, but they are so very good. I do wonder why they made them normal, bright M&M colors when they looked so good in the dark, jewel tones they used for them before (like the color matters when they are just gonna end up in my belly soon).
Oh yeah, while I'm on the topic of stuff I want to put in my belly, this discussion of an odd restaurant advertisement reminded me of a restaurant I love in Denver. Vesta Grill on Blake Street specializes in stuff you can dip and the "roasted corn sauce" is one of the best things I've ever tasted (ever!). (When I went back in 1999, everything we got was on kebabs, which is why that poster reminded me of it.)
As I've typed this up, Georgia Public Broadcasting has had the run-off debates for the Democrat and Republican candidates for Secretary of State and they just make me not want to vote. The Dems didn't come off as too crazy, but one of them kept mentioning how wonderful that it is that she will NEVER join the state's retirement program. I must be missing something, but in my state-wide retirement program, it is made stronger by more people joining in and paying in (meaning more money for the program to invest and earn returns on), so what is she so proud of (unless she is trying to sound Republican in promoting pure privatization of retirement planning)? The Republicans, of course, kept trying to prove that each was more conservative than the other. The guy was supposedly SLAMMING the woman because she was endorsed by the "liberal" newspaper Creative Loafing and, horrors of horrors, this same paper has recently done a profile of "Baton Bob" who walks around Atlanta in drag doing baton tricks. She had to keep stressing that she is a life-long Republican (I'm guessing he must have done the party switch a couple of years ago when it became popular for Georgia Dems to do that) and how she strongly supports "traditional family marriage." Ugh... no wonder so many people don't vote when these are the choices presented.
This CNN story about about a woman who catches the person who stole her ID red-handed is funny enough without the thief's friend ratting her out (and why did a 23 year old chick need a fake ID at a bar?). Which reminds me, check out the Red Orbit news site; it is actually an all-purpose news site complete with free streaming video, but space-related news is the top category.
