PE in Chi-town sent me this info about a film I really wish I could see (thanks, PE!):

The Grace Lee Project (more…)

Basquiat
Houston Museum of Fine Arts (MFAH)
November 18, 2005 - February 16, 2006

(currently showing at the Brooklyn Museum of Art through June 5th)

Current weather in Houston: Blue skies. 79 degrees. Gorgeous.

It’s a beautiful, gorgeous weekend. A cool breeze and not a cloud in the sky. The weekend weather over the past month has been cold, rainy, gloomy and bleh….but today, glorious. Sunshine is a great serotonin booster - happy, happy, happy!

In celebration of the weather, I took a long bike ride along Braes Bayou from Hermann Park by my house to Gessner in SW Houston - 25 miles there and back. Terry Hershey Park is a much prettier ride, but I wanted maximum sunshine exposure. Saw lots of cyclers and runners out enjoying the weather as well. Everyone was smiling and waving hello. Good weather makes for good people.

Highlights of today’s ride:

• The ginormous sunflowers. Took pics with my cameraphone, but the pictures don’t do them justice. Along the bike trail, there were jungles of sunflower plants approx. 6.5 feet tall. Seriously.
• All the fish in the bayou. Lots of schools of fish, and some fish were so big, I mistook them for turtles.
• White herons eating the above mentioned fish.
• All the happy, smiling, waving people.
• Jack Johnson and Roddy Frame playing through my headphones.

Tonight: Sushi buffet.

 

On the morning of the RodeoRun, just before the race was scheduled to start, I had to pee. I really, really had to pee. It was, perhaps, due to the power of suggestion, since seeing 100s of people lined up to use the port-a-potties suddenly kicked my bladder into high gear.

With less than 5 minutes left before the race was scheduled to begin, I started to panic slightly. JP commented that the parking garage underground would probably be empty. I don’t know if he was joking, but I did consider it for a minute. In the end, I decided against it because the idea of squatting between two cars below downtown Houston was really, really unappealing. I think I mentioned something about how the ability to pee standing up would have been an extremely useful skill right about then.

The reason I’m sharing this is because JP sent this to me yesterday and it’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a looooong time. (Thanks, JP!)

• Pocket PC
• MP3 Player
• Digital Camera
• CD burner
• New Desktop computer
• Stereo system

Today is filled with super high gear-weanie excitement. Last night, I purchased a Creative Nomad Zen xTra 40G mp3 player for an insane price ($40!!) off someone who recently replaced it with an iPod. PLUS, I inherited all his excellent music on the Nomad with a healthy 20+gig to spare. Score! I was up till 2am organizing the mp3s, downloading music, fiddling with the hardware and generally basking in my high capacity happiness.

And if that wasn’t enough….as I was heading to work this morning, Gloria, the super awesome security guard for the complex, said she had a package for me. My Dell Axim x50v arrived! You know I picked that baby up immediately.

So, here I am at work, listening to zero 7, Roddy Frame and The Trashcan Sinatras on my new mp3 player and waiting for my new Pocket PC to charge up so I can start installing my software goodies onto it.

I’m getting a root canal at 1pm, but I don’t care. I’m a happy geekgirl today.

a brilliant link passed on to me by a brilliant friend:

kitty music

Dear Rude-Girl-at-The-Meeting-Today,

In the past, I’ve made the effort to have patience with the touchy feely, self-centered, “I’ve worked at CBOs for [x] years so I know more than you,” kumbaya attitude you bring to meetings. You’re young and, I’m sure, probably believe that the world’s injustices can be overcome solely by working at non-profits, “getting involved,” recycling and shopping at Whole Foods. I can’t fault you for this because I, too, was young once. Now I’m older, jaded and cynical. It happens to the best of us - but don’t worry. It’s not so bad.

However, your youthful earnestness doesn’t excuse you from simple, basic meeting etiquette. Let me spell it out for you:

1. When you go to a meeting, turn off your cell phone. By “turn off,” I mean push the on/off button until your cell phone actually shuts down. “Turn off” does not mean sticking your phone deep inside your purse.
2. Learn to recognize your own ring tones. Or, don’t play innocent - whichever applies. The odds are very, very low that two people at the same meeting have downloaded “My Neck, My Back” onto their cell phones. So, yeah - that call’s for you, bitch.
3. We all know someone’s calling you, so stop the ringer already. Ok, we’ve just watched you dig through your purse searching for your goddamn phone - now that you’ve got it in your hot little hands, TURN THE RINGER OFF. There is absolutely no reason you need to let the phone continue to ring as you get up from the table and walk over to the door. Every single cell phone has a ringer mute button. USE IT.
4. Do not have a personal phone conversation in the middle of a meeting. This seems painfully obvious to most people, but apparently you felt that walking 5 feet away from the table put you at a safe enough distance to start having a loud personal conversation into your phone. Whispering would have at least shown some respect on your part - but instead, you chose to speak louder than the rest of us. Jesus.

I really hope you take these pieces of advice to heart, because you and I have many more meetings scheduled together.

If not, I’ll just have to kick your skinny little ass.

Sincerely,
me