Who DOESN'T love inefficiency?

Of the 3 states where I have had to go through the process of registering my vehicle and myself with the state, Oh!o is the worst. Talk about inefficient. You might be asking yourself why I haven't done this sooner, I mean, I only made the decision to stay here back at Thanksgiving, but I kept putting it off until the middle of the month in order to avoid long lines at the BMV. And, funnily enough, I was planning to go to the BMV tomorrow, but yesterday a cop saw my car parked on the street and ticketed me for having expired plates. Oops.

Anyway, so as of this morning, I have completed the second of four steps to becoming an official resident of
Oh!o. I have my new car insurance and temporary license plates on my car. This is where the inefficiency begins. I go one place to get my temp. plates. I get the form for my lienholder to fill out and submit to the BMV from another place. Next I go to another place to get an emissions check. Then I will go to yet another place to take my out-of-state driver's license exam b/c the first place I went is only able to administer the exam to first time test takers. And there are only 3 locations that offer the out-of-state test and of course they are all way out of my way. Like I have nothing better to do...

Ah, but when all is said and done, I will be an official resident, I will be a registered voter and an organ donor. And who doesn't love that?

Can you pass the third grade?

http://www.pibmug.com/files/map_test.swf

I did, but just barely. I thought the fact that I still know all the words to "Fifty Nifty" would help me more than it did.

Honk for Choice!

Michael and I put on our political activist hats, well, actually they were shirts, on Saturday and encouraged people to attend the March for Women's Lives and, yes, honk for choice. It was so cool! We went to 2 high-traffic spots to hold up signs a la the B*rma Sh@ve campaigns of the 1950's (http://www.fiftiesweb.com/burma.htm) and flanking each end of the group we had Honk for Choice signs. And lots and lots of people honked for choice. We had a few nasty responses and saw many a flipped bird, but for the most part, people seemed very supportive. Which is especially exciting in the conservative Queen City. Interestingly, derogatory comments were made by white middle-class men. A few white middle-class women gave the finger (at least the ones I saw fit that description) and there was very exuberant honking from African American men and women on more than one occasion. It was neat to see that supporters were both old and young, some rich and some poor, comprised of various ethnicities and I'm sure religious convictions. I grow more excited as the March draws near. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather!

It's kind of funny...

the way some parts of life work out. I think I might finally believe that expression about when a door closes a window opens. I'm not going to comment further at this time (clearly I am also on Alissa's "be as vague as possible in your blog" plan--hee hee!). I'm really only interested in musing publicly at the way things work out...and you never end up where you thought you would be. Which is perfectly fine with me b/c I feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be even though "this" and all that "this" is, is not what I saw for myself 8 years ago. Then again, I had no idea at the age of 18 of what and where I would be in the future and all that would happen along the way. Funny... Of course, I would never have gotten to "this" without my best and closest friends, so a big thank you to all of you for your support and love whether it's after the door has closed or when the window opened.

And a big thank you to FB for being amazing and wonderful you. I am so very lucky.

Quilt Show Carnies

Ah, yes....the "carnie." In particular, the "quilt show carnie" is the subject of this posting today. While quilt show carnies belong to the same species as the craft show carnie, there are a few distinctions: quilt show carnies do not smell like patchouli, nor do they resemeble hippies, and there are few men found within their tribes. The QSC can be found at "shows," usually a high school gynmasium or convention center, selling or trading various textiles and highly advanced metal artifacts. These shows attract hundreds, even thousands, of "quilters." Quilters and carnies alike are easily spotted by their puffball hair-dos in various shades of gray, wearable art, and really bad fashion sense. They carefully garb themselves in garments reflective of their different tribes as they prepare for the hunt. What is is that they hunt....? That all too elusive thimble made for fingers with long nails? That half yard of fabric in the perfect shade of orange to complement the car-themed quilt she's making for her husband? Or is it just a quest to increase the wealth of her stash?

Stay tuned to find out....

sneak post
who's my favorite fummer? who is she? :)

The City of Sisterly Love or Fun Girly (+ Michael) Weekend

What a fun wonderful weekend with my favorite people and a picture of Gwen's head on a stick...sigh...I think I need a day off to recover from our whirlwind weekend:> I would rehash the events of the trip to Phila., but I'm not sure I could do it justice and I'm at work and really should be doing something constructive for which I get paid. Thank you to those of you who could make it and hope to see many of you again in April (www.ppaction.org/PPMarch04/join.html).

Haiku anyone?

They are so tasty
I could eat them all day long
Thin Mint cookies, yum!

Love the lovely GS cookies...mmmmm...I only ordered one box so I have to make them last a while...

Be nice to me today...

I gave blood. Which I have been doing every 10 weeks. This time, however, I did it as part of the blood drive at my office instead of doing it at one of the blood centers like I normally would. There is something about that bus that makes me nearly faint every time I give blood in there. I can go to the center by my house and do the whole thing within 25 mintues. I get on that bus to give blood and I'm in there for 45-50 minutes. I'm thinking I may have to stop participating in the blood drive at work....only 3 more donations and I'll be a member of the Gallon Club. :>

In other news, I'm very excited about my upcoming trip to Phila. with Michael. I'm so excited to see my friends and do a Lanky-town drive thru....hell, I'm even looking forward to seeing my dad. Oh man, if I actually believed in Hell, I would be going to hell for saying that about my dad. Of course, since we are going to see my dad, now a trip to see my mom has to be arranged at some point. Life is a lot easier when your parents live in the same state. Anyway, can't wait to see those of you who can make it, and for the rest of you, we'll be in D.C. for the last weekend in April. See you soon!

And now for the weather report...

It's going to be a balmy 53 degrees with partly cloudy skies on Thursday. Well, it's about time it started warming up around here. I am so ready for spring...the warm sunshine, light breezes, daffodils....I want to put away my winter coat and sweaters in favor of jackets and t-shirts. I want to read the Sunday paper on my back porch while sipping coffee and feeliing the sun warm on my skin. I want to take Shana to the park and not worry about muddy paws when it's time to get back in the car. I'm even ready for our not-so-stellar softball team to start practicing for this year's season. All I know is that I'm tired of big piles of dirty snow, scraping frost off of my windshield, and chilly winds that make it feel like it's 10 degrees outside instead of 30...sigh....how much longer until spring is finally here?

Sign up now

"The March for Women's Lives on April 25, 2004, promises to be one of the largest public demonstrations in support of reproductive freedom in history." I'll be there and hope many of you will be, too. PPFA hopes to get one million supporters on the mall that day, and I promise it will be very exciting. So, break out your "This is what a feminist looks like" t-shirt and make arrangements with your pet sitter to watch your dog.

http://www.ppaction.org/PPMarch04/join.html

Ewwwwwww...

So, I go to the ladies room and what happens? I sit down in someone else's pee. That is just unbelievable disgusting. We're all adults here, we have a cleaning crew to clean the bathrooms EVERY DAY, and yet, women are peeing on the freakin' seat. If everyone just sat down on the seat like they're supposed to, we would not have this problem. Now, I expect to find this in a public restroom, but really, to do that at the office? Wrong, wrong, wrong. What are people thinking? $10 says the same woman that pees on the seat is also the one who doesn't wash her hands before leaving the bathroom.

The GBC

So....what happened to The Great Blogging Challenge? Here we are, mostly discussing the weather (what are we, retired people with nothing else to talk about?) when there is a plethora of topics to discuss. Since Scott complained about the topics from last time, I vote that he gets to pick the first one. Who's with me?

Not much to say.....

Like Ang noted on her blog, I don't seem to have much to say at the moment. I could write about the problems I'm having with my old health insurance company and the fact that they owe me $90 for a dentist visit from Nov. 5th. Or that property mgmt. at my apt. complex made a ridiculous mess in my bathroom yesterday when they fixed the leak in the ceiling over the bathtub. Or that my job has become more stressful lately. Or that there is nothing like the affection of a man who knows how to act like an adult. But I think, perhaps, I'll just leave it at that.

My best friends have furry legs.....

Well, my baby girl is getting old. The vet took some x-rays of her today and discovered that she has hip displaysia and arthritis in her hind legs. My poor baby....but she'll be okay. She has to start eating senior dog food and taking a daily supplement to help with the arthritis and sometime down the road we will probably have to consider pain medication. In the meantime, she's on restiricted activity for 2 weeks and should be fine....sigh.....I'm such a crazy dog lady......

Whew.....

Well, I'm glad that's over.....all the crap that makes up X-mas stresses me out. Why can't it be more like Thanksgiving? You still get the insane travel part and family dysfunction BUT, you get a yummy meal and time spent with friends with no giving of gifts to get in the way. Admittedly, it is fun to buy gifts for the people you really love but that's what birthdays are for, right? Nevertheless, I had a nice holiday with just my mom and my brother and Shana and found a lovely new set of luggage and some kitchen utensils with my name on them under the tree. Very nice, very nice, but still, I wish X-mas more about spending time with loved ones than worrying that they hate the scalp tingler (a very fun gift, btw) you got them.

Anyway, tomorrow I return to Cinti (there's no place like home) and my carpet that needs to be vacuumed and dry cleaning that needs to be picked up. As nice as my holidays were this year, I am ready for everything to return to normal. This time of year will be upon us again before we know it.

The power of language......

I'm not usually one to find fault with PPFA and the choices they must make to continue the wonderful work they do every day. But. I think they have made a huge mistake in renaming *The March for Choice* to *The March for Women's Lives* as a "reflect[ion] [of] the urgency of the issue and the huge diversity of thoe groups co-sponsoring the march. The new name better represents the broad agenda of those who support women's reproductive health, justice, and freedom, as well as access to family planning and abortion." Frankly, I just don't see how "March for Choice" is NOT inclusive of these issues. To me, "Choice" is more inclusive of the co-sponsoring groups but apparently PPFA does not share this opinion. I just feel like this is a means of de-radicalizing and neutralizing the purpose of this march. Further, why didn't they do this a few months ago? Here we are, almost 4 months away from the event and we are changing our message strategy. Not smart. And if affiliates decide to stick with the "choice" title, then we lose out on consistency....sigh.....

And now that I'm finished with my little rant, I would like to make a plug for the march and encourage you to register at www.marchforwomen.org. April 25, 2004. I hope I will see you there:>

Most of you know....

that I have quite the sniffer. I can smell someone in the room before I see him/her. And Angie's recent posting about not being able to preserve smells got me to thinking that while you can't actively preserve smells, you can be walking along and suddenly a smell takes you back to some moment in time that you weren't actively thinking about 3 seconds before. For example, I was in the stairwell at work and I smelled something that I couldn't immediately place but then realized that it was the smell of the building where I had pre-school. That and the smell of tempera paint. Or, one of the admins at my office wears W!ld Musk by C@ty and that's the smell of my mom from 1984-2000. You know, you walk into the copy room and suddenly you smell your mom and you remember sitting on your parents' bed watching her get dressed and put on make up and thinking that someday you will have a big girl job and will have to wear make up and high heels to work.

I wish we could preserve smells in an album of sorts. Like scratch and sniff photographs or something. Like the smell of your prom date (before he gots sweaty from dancing around like an idiot), the smell in the Gaul house family room on a Saturday night (a mix of taco dip, chlorine and ashes from the fireplace), and the smell of my dog after she's been bathed and fully dry (otherwise she just smells like wet dog). I bet there's a lot of money to be made in scratch and sniff technology. Maybe that's what I'll do after I retire to the spinster lodge in VT.......in between working on the maple tree farm and quilting.......

Family Ties......

Hmph. I'm adopted, I swear. Ah, I needed to get that out of my system before the holidays. My grandma gets upset when I ask if I'm adopted. If that's not quality dysfunctional family fun, I don't know what is......So. The X-mas season is upon us and a.) it doesn't feel like X-mas and b.) I haven't done any stressful shopping or card writing and c.) I have to deal with my mother's family. Oh god. The holiday is 2 weeks away and we are already having issues that I will not go into here although most of you are aware of them by now anyway. All of this is a result of having one's parent live with you and your family and then dealing with the stress by exposing other family members to the insanity. I'm seriously starting to think I might boycott X-mas this year and stay in Cincinnati. Except then my mom would be mad and I haven't seen my brother since Labor Day.......please just tell me I'm adopted.

This is for Scott.....

Go visit this website. I guarantee it will make you feel better:>

http://www.patheticpersonals.com/homeslice.shtml