hmmm - so far I have managed to:

- throw myself over the handle bars of my bike trying to learn how to properly jump a curb
- spend 3 hours at a hospital - only for them to tell me nothing is broken (good news - but the wait, OI!)
- cut out more stickers for my post below
- enter a bunch of blog give aways (go check out sew mama sew)
- as soon as hubby gets up, we're off to Bicycle Kitchen again - gotta see if they have a spoke cutter and to donate left over bike parts.
- head over to Little Tokyo to pick up our subscriptions from kinokuniya book store.

OH YES - THANK YOU FOR SIGNING UP FOR THE FEED!!

I'm stuck - my selection panel was not released yesterday evening so I had to report again today.

I am stuck in the court house all day as part of my civic duty.

anyone want to share their horror stories?

I've been here since 7:30 this morning and it's SUPER boring. But I at least thought to bring my laptop.



Met a lovely crafter in the ladies room after orientation. Chloe Nil - see her stuff on etsy.

3:30 PM update - got picked for a jury selection panel but I have to shake my head at the listen comprehension of my fellow Los Angeleans. wow - for real - it's amazing.

yeah - I left it sitting for a long time after the last debacle because I was so put off. I just got around to digging through internet archives last night to find instructions on fixing it.

I went through them all and tried every known suggestion. the needle is not hitting the bobbin chase any more, but not it won't pick up the bobbin thread and makes a "chunk" noise when I start sewing.

ARGH! oh well - I officially am putting the machine back in the box and am sending it to salvation army along with the monitors that need to be picked up.

poor little machine, I'm sorry you are sick and I can't fix you, but it would cost as much to buy a new one as it would to fix your problems.

pictures of the inside:

this is the time of year to hate the Oscars.

Even though I work for a company that is up for a nomination, I don't watch them in protest of what happens to my neighborhood.

I live in Tourist Central - Hollywood. I expect traffic jams, people roaming about loudly caterwauling in the middle of the night, and other such nonsense but, the Oscars are another ball of wax entirely.

You cannot drive on Hollywood Blvd in half a mile in either direction from the corner of Hollywood and Highland. the subway station is closed the ENTIRE day. Metro bypasses the stop on Oscars day.

forget trying to leave your apartment that day if you live in the area, oh yeah, and expect helicopters ALL DAY AND NIGHT the weekend of the event.

I have been really sick this week.

I started the week just fine, but by Wednesday afternoon I was sniffly and achy. Thursday I woke up and couldn't breathe out of my nose. Strange colors were leaking from said nose.

I had a sinus infection - AGAIN!!

I called in sick to work two days in a row, missed Disney Land with the HerShe Group, and missed out on being point on a web campaign that I really wanted to work on. I never call in sick - but I got too bad, too fast. Them's the breaks, I guess.

Pictures and pretty stuff coming soon, I promise. If I make it through the work day tomorrow with out dying and coming home early, I will be posting again.

I'm grumbling again....

I have a love hate relationship with my apartment.

I love:

- easy access to everything I want to see or visit within a 5 mile radius
- urban, it's in the heart of Hollywood
- no pet deposit when we moved in
- great neighbors
- great neighborhood

I hate:

- the maintenance guy
- that my electricity is flaky
- that my AC is flaky
- repairs in general

Let me explain... It's always our fault something isn't working. We have had long running issues with our air conditioning unit. There is a freon leak somewhere in the system. The cooling unit is on our roof and the blower and intake are actually in our apartment. Our AC has to be re-charged with Freon every year and the management doesn't want to disassemble the building to fix the leak, so they just keep recharging it and telling us all the dog hair in our apartment is clogging the system up.

The electricity in our apartment is freaky and has been for the past year - we keep blowing circuits on breakers that have had the SAME exact electronics plugged in for years. For example - our refrigerator and microwave are on the same circuit and have been for about 4 years. A few months ago, all of the sudden and on random occasions, turning on the microwave while the compressor for the refrigerator was on started tripping the circuit breaker. And of course, it's our fault for having too much stuff plugged in. Come ON, really???!!! same electronics, same circuits, four years, no problems. Not my fault!!! Your power sucks - replace our circuit box with heavier duty circuits already. But no.

Our garbage disposal got clogged up, this time my fault (I stupidly put artichoke leaves in the disposal as well as rice). no problem. the maintenance guy comes out cleans it out and we're back in business, but the sink doesn't drain very well. Eh - I live with it. Fast forward to Monday morning..... husband juices a few oranges and sticks the rind in the disposal. The sink backs up and the disposal refuses go. ARGGHH!!!!

Instead of calling maintenance, Husband replaced it. very manly manly of my techno nerdie husband ;) we bought a much nicer unit that will be replaced with a crappy (but nicer than the one had) unit when we move out. He even snaked the drain pipe!! As it turns out my clog had backed up further in the pipe than the maintenance guy thought and it was mostly plugged up anyway.

We will be doing all the maintenance ourselves from now on.

Getting an AC guy and electrician in are next on the list...

Be forewarned, this post will be rambling...

1st off let me say that I'm on a mission of self improvement at the moment.

I started my Japanese lessons again this week as well as restarting my work out routine. I have chosen to view the workout routine as a never ending craft project. You know - like that sweater you're knitting and never quite finish. I'm getting older and a little more fragile and want to make the inevitable take a little longer.

Japanese is HARD! I'm having problems with some minor, but big stuff like he, she, it, you, they, we. I will officially become an advertisement for just a second - believe the commercials. Rosetta Stone rocks! I don't think I would be even as far along as I am if it weren't for this software. I don't learn languages very well the way it's taught in american schools, this is soo much better for me.

2nd - I'm not happy with people.

I think it's really sad that people don't help other people in times of crisis. I took a spill on my bike yesterday and was fine, but not one of the 5 or 6 people who walked past me and my bike laying on the ground asked if I was ok, or needed help, or anything. Now, I was fine, but I know I didn't look fine (I have a huge chunk out of my knee, a big one out of my ankle, my sunglasses were all askew for a few minutes, and I was panting heavily). Maybe it's just me, but if I see someone in trouble I ask if they need help. :P people suck.

3rd - Some people have no sense of basic etiquette. I read this article on CNN today and I've been in these positions. I would just NEVER have a party were I expected people to bring ANYTHING except themselves.

4th - I'm a suck self editor. I have a really hard time seeing words I left out or spelling errors until later. Sorry - If I forgot a word or letter and you don;t get it, please let me know.

Not really - but people's status are revealing their true politics.

If you're not into american politics skip down to the next post - if you are, keep reading.

The republican national convention is going on this week and after Palin's speech last night Facebook has gone CRAZY.

Let me just start by saying, I'm not a member of any political party. I agree most closely with the libertarians philosophy but the actual libertarians are a bunch of idiots.

I didn't support Hilary Clinton - too much baggage from when she was the First Lady and I have a problem with women who use their husband's positions to get themselves power. You want power? Go get it yourself. I feel like she set back woman's rights and standing in the human race back about 50 years. CRYING?!?!? wtf, seriously, if you want to prove yourself a strong person, don't cry in public, much less on national television.

Sarah Palin makes me ill - she is a move on the part of the republicans to get the Hilary voters, which is stupid because Palin stands for everything that Hilary supporters don't. I have a problem with her stand on abortion and a problem with her even being associated with a state separatist movement. She was nasty and mean and dishonest and lied about a lot of what the democrats stand for.

How can the republicans get up on stage and say that they want to reform the government? The government that they have controlled for almost the past 8 years. How can they get up on stage and lie? How can they trot out McCain the war hero when their last president dodged the draft by joining the reserves and NEVER SHOWING UP?

Simple - they think we are all stupid.

* I won't vote for Palin simply because she has a uterus, mamory glands, and has physical proof that she knows how to use them.
* I won't vote for the same people who have been in power for the last 8 years because I believe that the country is not in as good a shape as it was 8 years ago.
* I won't vote for McCain because HE HELPED START A WAR!
* I won't vote for McCain because his party has slowly chipped away at my rights and freedoms over the last few years using the war and terrorists as their excuse.


The democrats on the other hand have nominated someone who is more like the average american and someone who has a clear vision of how to make this country a better place.

* I will vote for Obama because he shares the beliefs I do on abortion.
* I will vote for Obama because he has campaigned honorably.
* I will vote for Obama because his vision of America is the America that I want to live in.


Frankly, if McCain wins, I will be embarrassed to be an American.

I just got a call from my husband - he was shoved off/kept from getting on the the train!!! some huge family shoved in front of him & his bike and stood right in front of the door until it closed saying "sucks to be you."

He said the train wasn't even crowded, but he didn't have time to go to another door because they all pushed in front of him right before the doors closed.

Now, my husband is not a small man - he's 6'4" tall and while not football player big, he's big.

You can force the doors back open if you have free hands, but NOT when you're holding a bike!

ARGH!