Tax Day, Shmax Day!
I hate this day. Somehow, though I think of doing my taxes around February, I always leave it until the last minute.
Also, somehow, I never get much money back. But at least that means I'm contributing the "right" amount all year.

Amazing how I just let months go by without consequence...

Well, I'm engaged to Craig, and I couldn't be happier!
We just spent the past week and a half on the whirlwind Kevin Smith tour of the country.
The proposal happened at Vulgarthon '05, in Hollywood, in front of around 900 people including a panel of celebrities. (Ben Affleck gives the nicest hugs!)
Don't believe me? Check out the pictures courtesy of WireImage!
I have the most beautiful ring, the most wonderful man, the blessing of my parents and the excitement of my sisters. What more could I ask for?
We met dozens of people who bent over backwards to be nice to us. We went to Red Bank this past weekend for Kevin's 7 hour q&a session, and got what we're calling "our engagement photo" with him.

Trip notes:
My bottled water on the airplane yesterday had the expiration date: JAN3006
I thought that was awfully optimistic of them, until I realized it meant Jan 30th, 2006. :oops:

I used gmail to forward an email to Sandy about a Guinness event. The subject line said "Guinness." I didn't finish so I saved it as a draft. The end result sitting in my inbox: Guinness(draft)

One guy here looks a lot like an older Horatio Sanz. Doesn't talk like him at all though.

I like these guys. They're very...real.

This morning, when I got out of the shower, I noticed someone had written "I LOVE YOU" in a big steamy heart on the mirror. I will double check the text tomorrow morning, because I think there may have been more...

It made me happy and sad all at the same time.

4:00 am... God, I didn't want to get out of bed in the dark! Shower, woke up Craig so he could go get his car... 30 degrees and raining.

5:30 am... Kissed Craig good bye at the security line. The Latinas behind us thought we were cute, and were giggling at us.

6:30 am... Flew to Atlanta. Made sure to take Dramamine before takeoff. Good thing, too.

8:00 am... What a miserable little airport Atlanta has. Dingy. Crowded. Concourses are too long and organized terribly. As if I didn't already have too long a layover, flight was delayed about an hour. This situation sucked, but it's not as horrible as the last time I got stuck in ATL!

Got on one of those little commuter shuttle planes where you actually walk out onto the tarmac and up the stairs. Two aisles of two seats each. I was in 12A, and that's the penultimate row. Which means there was a thirteenth row on this plane.

Blessedly, the flight was smooth. Very very minor turbulence. Didn't even make me nervous.

12:30 am... Landed in Melbourne, FL. Florida looks really pretty from the air. Very marshy. The beaches, though tiny from that altitude, looked lovely and white. I called Tim to come pick me up.

Got out of the plane on the jetway, and smelled the seawater. Melbourne Airport is a shithole. It's under construction, and the atmosphere is tacky in that way that only Florida can be. It also has that smell like an old house basement that's been flooded a few times.

Told Tim I'd be the redhead with glasses, because there's probably not too many of those walking around. He said he'd be in a Ford Taurus. I realized too late that description probably fit all the rental cars at the airport. No matter, he spotted me. We chatted it up, and stopped at a place to buy me a sandwich, because everyone else had gotten lunch, but they didn't know what to get me.

The hoagie place was sort of dismal and bare, but the guy behind the counter was very nice. He said he was still getting used to the heat,and how different this place is in many ways because he was from New York. Brooklyn, to be exact. He said no one's complained about his subs yet, so he hoped I would enjoy it.

Funny, the sign said "Hoagies", yet he called it a "sub." Perhaps it was not his establishment.

1:something ... Met the rest of the IT team. Very informal gathering. Ate and talked, and everyone told me a little about themselves.

It's always interesting to see what "business casual" means to people. Everything from button-downs and khakis, to jeans and a polo shirt. I don't mind being a tiny bit overdressed though. I would always rather be over- than under- dressed.

Very very informal discussions. Got a nice tour of the facility. It's an "o" shaped building, white walls, absolutely nothing remarkable. A lot of development and beta testing goes on here, so it was nice to see what they're using to do that. Lots and lots of server equipment and misc. peripherals.

Lots of grey hair on the techs... ;)

Parosmia and Phantosmia

If you are looking for the previous post and comments related to the above subject that lived in this location for five years, I've moved it. Please redirect your bookmarks to here:

http://parosmiaandphantosmia.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

You'll forever be my Valentine

'I used to love you, I love you still, and I'll always love you.'

PETER ST. ONGE
The Charlotte Observer

The trip is usually 10 minutes long, from her driveway to her husband's room. Leroy will be happy to see her, of course, and he might toss a playful jab at her, the way he does with visitors. Lollie will have a gift for him on this Valentine's Day.

They'll spend a couple of hours talking or walking or eating dinner. Margie, his friend, will probably be there, too. Sometimes, Lollie finds them walking together outside, or sitting on a bench holding hands.

Leroy doesn't remember he is married to Lollie. He doesn't remember their moments, their milestones, the arc of a shared life. But Lollie does. All of it.

They met in the fall of 1934, Leroy and Lollie. He was a Duke grad, a former captain of the school boxing team. She was a pretty Charlotte girl at her Methodist church's pool party.

She remembers their first date -- a scary movie on Halloween at the Carolina Theatre. He held her hand. "How does the song go?" she says now, and she hums until she hits the right words. "The moment my heart stood still," she softly sings, then stops. "That's what I felt that night when he held my hand."

She also remembers their courtship, how he'd pick her up for breakfast before work every Monday and place a little ceramic elephant -- their mascot -- on the restaurant table between them. He was that kind of sweet after they were married, too.

They had a son and a daughter, and they saved money when there wasn't a lot to save. They were not an outwardly affectionate pair, but one day, when Lollie picked up Leroy from work, she saw him walking down the stairs, so handsome in his suit. "Isn't he wonderful?" she said to her daughter, Martha, sitting with her in the car. Martha still remembers that.

The kids grew up, and Leroy and Lollie traveled, and they went to church, and she enjoyed a book club. Then, nine years ago, Leroy had a quadruple bypass. He was 83, and the surgery seemed to take something from his mind. Two years later, he was diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer's.

The disease stole the memories he shared with her, then his short-term recall, then finally his ability to be in their house alone. Last summer, the burden was too much for a woman in her 80s. Leroy moved into The Haven, a home in Highland Creek.

She visits him three times a week, usually with Martha, who drives. Leroy doesn't always remember Lollie's name, but he brightens when she walks into a room.

Sometimes, there is a flash of something more, such as the day he looked at her and said: "I used to love you, I love you still, and I'll always love you."

Another day, he said to Lollie, "Hi, you're a nice person," then leaned over to a friend and whispered, "Who is that?"

The friend was Margie, who also has advanced Alzheimer's. She usually is there when Lollie visits. Sometimes, when Lollie is in the room, Margie sits between her and Leroy.

The nurses at the Haven ask Lollie's daughter, Martha, about this. Isn't Lollie jealous? Martha says no, and Lollie shakes her head now. She says she's had Leroy all this time, and she would have him still if his mind were sound. "I'm secure in that," she says. "And I don't want him to be lonely."

And so today, the Valentine's card she has for Leroy won't say nearly as much as the cheerful hello she has for Margie. It's a simple thing, Lollie says, the same as it has been for 70 years. She wants him to be happy. She has their memories. And: "I love him still."

The most recent word is that I am the primary candidate for that job position I've been agonizing over.

The next step is to the technology training center in Melbourne, FL to meet some of the other people.

I have a feeling it's going to be a test. I hate tests. However, if I get through it, I'm hoping they will tell me right then that I have the job or whatever. I know one of the reasons I'm in the lead is because I'm the most readily available/flexible. There are some advantages to being a single person with no kids. Anyone can have tech knowledge. I'm hoping my superior troubleshooting skills and quick adapatbility will help.

Such a happy couple are we!

All the pictures from our trip are here in my gallery.
The captions are worth reading, if I do say so myself!

I had the biggest job interview of my life last week.
Pros include a more challenging work experience, advancement, better pay, and moving to a bigger city. I haven't heard anything about it yet, but I come highly recommended by my old boss, Curtiss. And his word is worth a few.

Waiting patiently until then. On the couch, because my back has gone out. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for some muscle relaxants!

Well, I'm back from Oregon! Craig's family is great (hooray for that) and we had a wonderful time. Pictures to follow.
Craig is also now 9 months in remission. [happy sigh]

This website comes in so handy at my job:
FILExt - The File Extension Source

If my job would stop screwing with me, perhaps I would have had my promotion by now. Instead, I will screw with them and spend as much time not working as possible.

Which is the policy most normal people have at their jobs.

One more week until Craig and I go to Portland. I've never been to the great northwest. I'm looking forward to meeting Craig's friends and family, and lots of days of bad hair.
I must remember to ask Ross to watch the kitties.

My new laptop (business expense) arrived the day before yesterday. It's schweeet. Time to build more websites.

I can't believe I let this lapse so long... Well, this being the twilight eve of '04, I had to add something...

So much has happened since July. Anyone who's interested can go to ViewAskew.com and read about my history. Do a search for UV and Craig. ;)

Craig and I will not be doing much tonight. Most likely just our Friday night movie night. Perhaps go out to watch the fireworks at midnight.
Anyway, peace on earth, goodwill to all.

You know the phenomenon...

You're driving or walking down a narrow pathway, when you see someone coming in the other direction. In between you is some immovable object that will make the path a one-person concourse. You think, "I'm going to meet up with that person RIGHT as we come to the immovable object." And that's what happens every time.

Well, I have this theory that your brain sub-consciously MAKES you meet up with that person right there. The more you think it, the worse it gets. As soon as you have that thought, both of your brains are doing the multi-variable calculus and adjusting pace to MAKE it happen.

In fact, I've been trying out my theory the last couple of days. I've been consciously avoiding thinking about it, except to say "I will NOT meet up with that person there!"

So far, it works.

Stupid lungs! Stay in my chest, dammit! [cough]

I wonder if anyone else does this...
I have a tendency to try and find the pattern in seemingly random events or things.
I noticed it when I got on the elevator this morning. The buttons pushed were 4, 8, 16, and 20. Which are all multiples of four. Then I started trying to think of it as powers of two, or adding and subtracting sequences... Then I realized what I was doing and stopped myself because I thought it was a wee bit psycho.

Notes on the Smiths "Rubber Ring":
The first sample is from a filme of Oscar Wilde's "Importance of Being Earnest". Bizarrely, the second sample is from 1971 LP "Breakthrough: An Amazing Experiment In Electronic Communication With The Dead". This LP was recorded by Latvian psychologist Konstantin Raudive, and is claimed to be voices of the dead recorded in laboratory conditions.

So I've actually left my apartment a few times since Friday, and I'm on sort of a high...

Last Tuesday at girls night out, we decided that our friend Shelly, who is getting married on the 26th, had not yet done any proper bachelorette things. So we took her out Saturday night.

The evening started at my place because I live uptown, which would mean stumbling distance home for people if necessary. This was the first time I formally had "people" over to my place since I moved in a year and a half ago. Also I had this wonderful new sofa and chair to show off.

So being the good little hostess in the upscale apartment (I was told my place was like the "after" on a home makeover show like Trading Spaces or Queer Eye!) I made some snacks.

I stayed away from the traditional southern 'orderves' like Vienna Sausages and cut up sticky buns with toothpicks in them.

We had vegetable crudite, and party mix, and baked brie en croute, and cheese and crackers. Lovely. Shelly brought a giant jug of pre-mixed margaritas... It was 11 before we left the house. :mrgreen:

So 5 women go wandering the streets of Charlotte. We had agreed not to make Shelly wear the condom veil, or the penis hat, or anything. Maybe if we were still 25. But there's something unseemly about women in their 30's acting that way...

Our first stop was Connolly's, an 'Irish Pub'. (Funny, Uptown Charlotte has 3 Irish pubs, but no Japanese restaurant...) It was dark, hot, crowded and smoky. We had one drink and left.

We went to Time, which was a club none of us had been to before. Two bars and a decent size dance floor, club music, etc. Relatively un-smoky. There's a nice seating lounge area that's all lit up in pastel blue lights. They had one platform with a skimp-ily clad woman dancing on it. And while she was dancing, a man was body-painting her with sky blue paint. In the other corner, a man wearing a hockey mask was carving an ice sculpture with a chainsaw. Later, they set it on fire with kerosene. Note: if you are going to pull this stunt, do it in a more well ventilated area than a club.

Well, we drank a lot, and some of us danced (*not a dancer, but an intense people-watcher!)

I got groped verrry nastily more than once. (I mean full on breast fondling, and all I was trying to do was walk through the crowd to the bathroom! I also got pinched.)

We met up with Dori's new roommate's friend who wanted a ride home.
His name is Alp. Yes, like a mountain. Yes, almost like "Alf" or "Alpo".
This name makes for great fun when you've been drinking.

We left and harrassed many men on the street. Especially if they were alone. One guy showed us his ass. It was great. Really. Beware a band of drunken bachelorettes!

Shelly decided to go stumbling down the street yelling "Pita Pit! Pita Pit!" So we went to the Pita Pit, where Shelly bought everyone food even though it was her night out. I ate falafel.

Some people crave nasty foods when they drink. I crave chick peas. Falafel or hummus will do it for me.

And we went home.

Sunday I didn't even bother to get dressed. I sat on my new couch all day with my laptop and taught myself Flash and Dreamweaver MX to build this guy's website. Made some kick ass, sound-effected, flash navigation buttons. Watched Adult Swim. Ironed some clothes. Went to bed.

So I was in a pretty good mood this morning, when my friend Ross called me.

For the uninitiated, Ross is a former boyfriend who is my best friend now. We met on match.com. He is the reason I moved to Charlotte from Raleigh. We had a very turbulent 3.5 year romantic relationship, during which he repeatedly ripped out my heart and stomped all over it, and I forgave him, and he did it again. And again. The very last time I said "No more" but good thing, because he met someone else anyway. I forgave him for many, many wrongs, and we decided not to throw away a good friendship. We've got almost 7 years behind us now.

So the woman he met at that time, he now lives with, and bought a dog, and a house, and now a car, with. But he has not yet married her. Anyway, despite the fact that I have successfully transferred all those romantic-love feelings into platonic-love feelings, and he lives with this woman and has the dog-house-car, she still doesn't like the fact that he and I are friends. However, she needs to get over it because I come with the Ross package, and she knew that going in.

So ultimately what this results in, is that any time she goes out of town is optimum hang out time with Ross. So this morning he calls me up and says the girlfriend's out of town, do I want to go see Chronicles of Riddick with him, and maybe catch a bite to eat? I say sure, and we agree to meet up that night.

Now, I love their dog Cisco. He is the most beautiful, smartest, sweetest golden retriever on the face of the earth. I love him to death, and the feeling is more than mutual. He dances in circles and cries, and grabs me by the wrist with his mouth to pull me in the house when I come over. How could you not love a creature like that? So Cisco and Aunt Kathy had some playtime tonight, which always leaves me on a super duper high! The unconditional love is the greatest thing in the world...

We went to the Roasting Company for food, which is an excellent place that serves all sorts of preparations of very delicious rotisserie chicken, at a bargain of a price. It's a favorite. Over our dinner of spicy chicken on rice for me, and soft chicken tacos for him, we discussed my weekend. I told how I was secretly flattered by the groping, much like the way I was secretly flattered in Florida by Dori's new boyfriend trying to do it to me all weekend.
(He called her last week by the way, but that's another story.)

He told me about his friend Chris, who used to be the guitarist for the band StretchArmstrong, but he quit the band last month for a woman he met, from NJ, no less. And now he's engaged. [giant eye roll]

I said he knew it was coming, and...so when are YOU getting married, Ross?

He says oh, I don't know...eventually...I still have to buy a ring... But something always comes up, either extra taxes to pay, or something for the house, or the air conditioning in his car just went out.

So we have a great dinner, and go see the movie. We smuggled in our take-away cups from the Roasting Company. Rather, I smuggled them. I hid mine in my purse, and his under the sweater I was carrying. I had some leakage in the purse, and it dribbled on my foot. I think I got my sketchbook wet... Anyway, TRULY enjoyed the movie.

Now, I forgot to mention he bought a car just a week or two ago with the girlfriend, and it's a beautiful, blue, almost new, BMW M3 convertible. I've wanted a convertible almost as long as I've known how to drive. So now, I'm insanely jealous over it. But this was the car we took out for the evening.

Once, we rented a Sebring convertible in San Francisco, and drove it down the Pacific Coast Highway to Del Mar. That was one of the best trips of my life. [sigh]

The murderous injustice of it though, is that the girlfriend told me last week that the $46,000 car they just bought is the same to her as the $20,000 one. She doesn't care really. I say she is not worthy!

Now, Ross is an excellent driver, and I trust him beyond a shadow of a doubt. He used to have 3 Eagle Talons, and one of those I helped him convert into a drag race car. We've been in many a speeding-on-the-highway, or down-the-backroads ride, but I know the whole entire time that he is in control of that vehicle. Once, in one of those Talons, we outran a cop car on I-95 near Quantico at around 2AM. He managed to melt a spark plug in that incident, but we made it to NJ safely, regardless.

So add his daredevil driving to the mix of my already good mood. It's a beautiful night in Charlotte tonight. It was raining all day, but it's trying to clear now. It's sort of cool - 60s anyway. We put the top down and drove back to his place. We're about to pull into his street when I say "No! I want to drive around some more!" So grinning, he said, "OK!" and we went for a spin.

The only drawback to the car right now is that it didn't come with the cd player. It has a...cassette player!!! But he got $300 off for that, so he's going to buy an upgrade soon...

Anyway, he's managed to pull out some old mix cassettes he made back in the early 90's to have something to listen to while driving, in the meantime.

So imagine us, in a beautiful convertible, on a lovely night in Charlotte, with the top down, blasting old Depeche Mode and New Order remixes!

Unfortunately, as 11 pm came on, we figured it was time to go back. Reluctantly I said ok, and we went back. Some more frolicking with my buddy Cisco, and a big hug goodbye, and I was on my way home with a giant stupid grin on my face!

So now it's 2:30am, and as you can see I'm still up. I'm not sure what for, or what all this typing has accomplished. Except that for an extended weekend so simple, it really just revived my spirits so much. I wanted to share it, especially because I've been a pretty grumpy gus of late.

There's nothing like surrounding yourself with those who love you, especially those who don't have to, and love you just because they want to, to pick you back up again.

I'm gonna go try and sleep it off now though.

Gentlemen:
If you get up to offer a woman on the bus your seat, the rest of us women on the bus will smile and think you're a great guy. Really.

WHY do all the street crazies talk to me? Always.

I'm minding my own business walking to work. I notice the guy waaay down the block at the corner. It's about 30F out, and he's got
1. A baseball cap
2. A trench coat
3. Calf high socks
4. Sneakers

So at first glance I thought, maybe he's a flasher.

I get to the corner, and I'm looking down the street to the left watching the traffic, when off to my right I hear
"Hi"
then louder
"HI"
so (duh) I turn around.

It's 8:30 in the morning and this guy is TRASHED. He's a pasty white, sorta Irish looking, well-fed kinda guy, wearing glasses, eating a biscuit or something and spitting crumbs out as he's talking. I couldn't really make much out of what he was saying, he was slurring that badly.

But I got as much as "Did you see...adfkoiiichsoinigioo...I picked the color...airiiiingilllmmnopppss... the city painted those...#039980B...do you think...bakdrhioadflakdjg;lakd;ashfaldiccddid..."

The light changed and I said "Ok! Have a nice day!" and went to work.

Migraine season. ugh.

I'm home from work today because I can't breathe without it hurting my head.

Fortunately I have a whole new forum to keep me happy, because newsaskew.com/forum is now open. The new look is good, but it's still a little slow for the time being...

It already has 1000 registered users???

Two interesting things to note:

In the "Things You Don't See Every Day" category...
I was walking to work this morning and passing some of the office buildings on Trade Street, when up ahead was a city worker with a leaf blower. Not unusual, even at 8 AM. So I get a little closer and I realize...the leaf-blower person is female. Hmm, now that's a little unusual. So I cross the street and... the leaf-blower lady is a white female. Now that's unusual. Here in Charlotte anyway. WASPy professional white lady land...

The other day I was walking to work, and I was stopped at a corner waiting for the light to change. That's always a good opportunity to watch people on the street. It's either that, or watch the little numbers count down from "40" on the crossing sign. So hurrying down the crosswalk to my right is an older, professional looking gentleman. Probably in his 50's, white hair, neat moustache, nice suit. Not unusual. He comes up to the corner and takes a spot next to me, looking across the street. Suddenly he points at the building across the street and says,

"Oh, yes, I'm going in to YOU."

Needless to say, I let him cross the street ahead of me.

Was he talking to himself? Was he talking to the building? Only he knows for sure...