Looks like my MT database is corrupted - on the day when I was planning on doing a backup!

I've restored from yesterday's backup, but I think it's time to make some major changes around here - changes I've been planning on doing but have been too busy to finish.

So things may be weird here for a while, but bear with me!

I changed the default layout to "Fishing" for now. I'm working on some BIG (yet, not really that big) changes for the blog...

It's been a while since I've changed the layout, but I haven't had time to create a new one. So I decided to bring back an old favorite. Enjoy! If you want to check out the other layouts, just go to the sidebar.

In the next couple months, I'm going to be making some BIG changes to this blog. Which is kinda funny considering that I have zero free time, but I'm getting antsy with this site and I won't be able to rest until I fix some things up.

So, since I care about all of you, I want to make sure that you're YWIM reading experience is minimally affected by my tweakings, which will involve the layouts available. There'll be some spring cleaning done on the available layouts, so I wanted to make sure that I didn't delete and of the ones you're using.

So which layout are you all using? Are you using the default layout, or one of the ones listed on the sidebar?

I don't even know who's out there anymore! I know readership has gone down, but that's my fault for having sub-par posts and not enough time to update this darn thing! I do appreciate all of you who've stuck out this hard time with me...you rock!

I know it's not my best, and it may even be an eyesore, but I had to change my layout for the Superbowl! My Bears have made it to the Superbowl and its still hard for me to believe it. It's so weird to see my boys out in Miami on shows like Access Hollywood. Here's my little tribute to them, and from Marlon a nice little comparison of what life was like 21 years ago - the last time the Bears were in the Superbowl.

In honor of the Chicago Bears going to Super Bowl 41. Here are 41 things that have changed from the last time the Chicago Bears played in the Super Bowl (which was Super Bowl 20 in 1986):

• Brian Urlacher was in 2nd grade. 
• Rex Grossman was in kindergarten.
• Peyton Manning was 10 years old. 
• Eli Manning was 5 years old. 
• Their dad, Archie, had just retired from the NFL two years earlier.
• Lovie Smith was in his first college coaching job at University of Tulsa .
• Ronald Reagan was the President, and Harold Washington was the Mayor.
• James R. Thompson was the Governor running for re-election and his office was in the new State of Illinois Center, which is now called the James R. Thompson Center .
• George W. Bush was 39 years old and still drinking. His father would run for President two years later.
• Rod Blagojevich was just out of law school and was a low-level prosecutor working for the Cook County State 's Attorney, Richard M. Daley.
• Barack Obama had just moved to Illinois, and Osama bin Laden was fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan .
• Red Grange and Sid Luckman were still alive.
• The Colts had just moved to Indianapolis from Baltimore and were the doormat of the AFC EAST. The Bears were the champions of the NFC CENTRAL.
• Property in Wicker Park and Bucktown was cheap because they were really bad neighborhoods.
• CD players, cellular phones and fax machines were expensive, cutting edge technology and only a few people used them.
• "Surfing the net" meant a volleyball game at the beach, and virtually no one used the "@" key on their TYPEWRITER.
• Sam Walton was still alive and was wealthier than Bill Gates. Windows were panes of glass...not a computer operating system that was a pain in something that rhymes with glass.
• The Soviet Union was our main enemy, and Saddam Hussein was our ally.
• There were no lights at Wrigley Field, and the oldest park in baseball belonged to the White Sox.
• Michael Jordan and Ozzie Guillen had just finished their "Rookie of the Year" seasons. Jordan's coach was Stan Albeck and Guillen's manager was Tony LaRussa. (Three out of four of those guys are now wearing championship rings, but what ever happened to Stan Albeck???)
• Soldier Field had AstroTurf. The Houston Oilers played in the AstroDome.
• The Fox TV Network didn't exist, and ESPN had yet to air a single live pro football, baseball, or basketball game.
• MTV played music and so did some AM radio stations.
• Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff weren't born yet; Jackie Gleason and Richard Nixon were still alive.
• Hillary Clinton had dark hair and was the First Lady......of Arkansas!
• "The Love Boat" and "Diff'rent Strokes" were still on network TV every week.
• Martin Luther King Day was about to be celebrated as a National Holiday for the first time. 
• "9-11" was a phone number many cities were just adopting for emergency calls - not a date of terror.
• I-88 was called "Illinois Rt. 5" and I-355 hadn't been built yet.
• What the CTA now calls "The Blue Line" had just been extended to O'Hare, and the Orange Line to Midway hadn't been built yet.
• Q101 played adult contemporary music and most teenagers listened to WLS.
• Music from the 70s and 80s wasn't "retro" yet.
• Tiger Woods hadn't won an amateur golf tournament yet.
• Most people knew Seattle just as a city in the Northwest U.S. - not the home of grunge or Starbucks.
• Only Southerners went to NASCAR races and only Northerners went to NHL games.
• The Chicago area had no Wal-Marts, Targets or Home Depots, and Walgreen's was only in the Midwest .
• Depending on your bank, your ATM card was good at only "Cash Station" machines or only at "Money Network" machines, but there were no fees.
• "The Phone Company" was Illinois Bell.
• They still sold leaded gasoline and you couldn't pay for your gas at the pump.
• Discover Card hadn't been discovered yet, and Miller Genuine Draft hadn't been brewed yet.
• Stereo TVs were the rage that HDTVs are now. 
• 8-track tapes were still being made.
• All of the Blockbuster Video stores that are now closing hadn't openedyet. Betamax was still competing with VHS.
• You paid cash for your groceries and fast food, and you used a travel agent to book airline flights.
• Bowl games didn't have corporate sponsors, and if the #1 ranked team was in a conference that played in one bowl game and the #2 ranked team was in a conference that played in another bowl game, then so be it! They let the sportswriters vote on the national champion. (and no college football games were played after New Year's Day)
• The Baltimore Ravens were the Cleveland Browns. The Tennessee Titans were the Houston Oilers. The Oakland Raiders were the Los Angeles Raiders that had just left Oakland . The Arizona Cardinals (the former Phoenix Cardinals) were the St. Louis Cardinals, and the St. Louis Rams were the Los Angeles Rams. The Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, and the Cleveland Browns (not to be confused with the Cleveland Browns that are now the Baltimore Ravens) didn't exist. The Seattle Seahawks (last year's NFC Champions) played in the AFC.
• Number 9 on the Bears was their Punky QB...not their perky field goal kicker.
• There were no iPods - just Sony Walkmen - so if you said something about a "shuffle" on your Walkman, they assumed you were listening to "The Super Bowl Shuffle"

and one thing that will be the same from the Chicago Bears last Super Bowl appearance.....
THEY WILL WIN!!!! GO BEARS!!!!!!

If you don't like the layout, feel free to change it using the "Pick a Style!" option on the sidebar!

Go Bears!

I was getting really tired of ol' Rudolph, so I'm throwing this layout up. It's still a work in progress (the links at the top don't work yet) but you should be able to read the blog and comment, so that's what really matters right now.

As I said in my previous post, I'm out of town, but hopefully I'll have some time to work on this!

Let me know if you have any comments or find anything quirky...

The holidays are over so I need a new layout. Any ideas? I might just end up putting up a valentine's themed layout, but I don't want anything cutesy like hearts and cupids, or anything that is slightly depressing like my hole in the heart theme from a couple years ago.

So give me some inspiration!

Also, I'm planning on retiring several of the layouts that are available (see the sidebar for styles), just to make room for new ones. Are there any that you definitely want me to save?

Comments are back up again. Sorry! Thanks to Tara for the heads up.

My eyes were starting to scream after looking at my last layout for so long, so I needed a quick change. Here's my summer layout from last year, nice, breezy and it makes me want a pina colada. Enjoy!

Well, I've tried something new with the comments to see if I can combat the spam. What was overloading my server was not the amount of new comments that the spammers were making, but just the volume of times they were accessing the comments pages. It brought down the server, which I share with several other sites, and I was given a slap on the wrist to never do it again.

I'll be monitoring my site over the next couple weeks to see if the spammers figure out what I did, so you may see the comments appearing and disappearing every now and then!

Here's a cute picture of Bendito for you to test your commenting on:

Sorry if you YWIM addicts clicked on my site this morning and got a nice "page does not exist" error. My web provider turned off my account for a reason they didn't tell me about. I logged into the admin for the site and it said plain and simple that my account was disabled for violating the user agreement. I have no idea what I did in the last 24 hours since I haven't even done anything to my site...

Then again, it could be that it was the damn spammers again, access the comments. However, I don't know if it could be that because I routinely turn off comments of old posts and I've got a blacklist going on that prevents people from posting smutty website addresses.

I called customer service and this awesome lady named Tammy helped me out and got some tech support for me ASAP. Though they didn't have the access to really go into my account (since he wasn't assigned to my ticket and Tammy didn't have rights) Tammy was able to at least turn my site back on for me, as long as I turned off the comments. The tech guy had told her it was probably the comments script being overused once again. The only way he'd re-activate my site was if I would let him rename the comments file. I really don't want to turn off the comments, but hey, anything to get the site back up and running, right?

So I'm still going to contact support about this - to prevent this from happening again. If anyone out there knows how I can have comments for my users yet prevent spammers from accessing the page, I'd love to have some help! I want to turn on comments again, eventually, and I don't want to turn this into a password protected site...

Hmph!

Comments? Use the tagboard on the sidebar...let me know you're still there and you haven't abandoned me and my commentless site!

Since I'm not longer pregnant, I think it's about time I've changed the layout. Actually, I've had this done for about several weeks now, I just haven't had the chance to do some testing. The graphic I'm using is once again the fantastic Dodeskaden. I've chosen the yoga design because it's a good reminder to me to calm down and also to GET IN SHAPE!

I'm still debating if the stripes make the design too busy or not. What do you think?

I haven't changed my layout in 3 months, which is a record for me...I've just been busy, unmotivated and uninspired.

I finally gave in and legitimately bought a graphic for my site, from istockphoto. There are a lot of great illustrators out there who need to make cash from me, so I don't mind spending a couple dollars on an illustration (the one on the left) I can't find anywhere else. This one was perfect for the way that I'm feeling now, and it really brought out some creative energy that I've been suppressing for the last couple months.

Anyway, I hope you like the new layout. I really like the childish, whimsical look of it. I did it on my laptop so the colors may be a bit crazy - I'll check it on the desktop tomorrow. There are still a couple kinks that I need to fix, too....but for now, it's off to bed for me!

[updated] My provider had done some upgrades. For some reason, my comment file was updated to god knows what and no longer worked...so i just uploaded my backup file. Remember my friends, backups are GOOD! Backup your sites now! Anyway, comments are working again! Oh....and Karl also had emailed me on my other account telling me that the comments didn't work so he gets kudos, too!

Big props go to Melinda for emailing me to tell me that my comments are down!

I'm so thankful, I'm gonna post her picture!

Here I was, thinking that no one cares about my pretty picture! Well, maybe no one really cared anyway.

I'm exhausted from work today (it's been a busy couple of days...) but I won't be able to rest until I figure out what's going on with my comments!

I've changed my page layout, once again. This month's layout is highlighting the fantastic illustration art of James Jean, who has worked on comic book covers of comics like "Fables" to "Batgirl". Definitely check out his site, he's got some really sweet stuff over there.

The art that I used here is from "Fables", issue 33. I think it's a nice layout to use for winter - it has that windy, chilly look to it. I've tried a couple different things with the design which probably isn't even obvious, but I like mixing it up a little every now and then. I wish I could change the background of the baby meter, because that white background is really annoying me, but oh well!

I've also fixed some layout problems that have been on the site for a while on the other pages, which feels great. All this stuff I've been putting off I've finally done.

Hope you all like it! If not, you can always go to the navigation bar on the side and change the layout from the drop down menu!

For the Holidays I've brought back my Rudolph layout. I've always loved that little bugger. If you don't like the holidays or hate that little reindeer and don't want him to be part of your reindeer games, you can always change your layout on the sidebar or by going to the layout preview page.

---

There is a new trivia month starting today! We've had a couple new people join within the last few months, and I wanted to welcome them all. Remember - suggestions for trivia topics are always welcome!

Here's the winners for the month of November - Redpac was in the lead for a bit, but zebedest was always behind him, waiting to pounce to get this month's crown. It's nice to see some new winners around here!

1. zebedest (362 points, 2 wins)
2. Redpac (353 points, 4 wins)
3. SusanG (318 points, 0 wins)
4. noelle (312 points, 4 wins)
5. denise (295 points, 0 wins)
6. snwchild (279 points, 2 wins)
7. Yano (272 points, 0 wins)
8. TallSteve (261 points, 3 wins)
9. bruno (261 points, 2 wins)
10. Cav (253 points, 0 wins)

I never posted the October winners - if you may recall, Redpac boasted this at the beginning of October:

It's sooooo on this month.

In fact, anyone who beats me will win something. I will personally mail them a prize. Of course I won't have to mail anything since I'll be #1.

Here's the scores, and it looks like once again, Noelle will be getting a little prize in the mail!

1. noelle (461 points, 3 wins)
2. Redpac (417 points, 6 wins)
3. denise (394 points, 2 wins)
4. notsosmart (367 points, 2 wins)
5. zebedest (311 points, 1 wins)
6. SusanG (302 points, 0 wins)
7. Cav (301 points, 3 wins)
8. Yano (292 points, 0 wins)
9. Trish (283 points, 1 wins)
10. TallSteve (281 points, 1 wins)

Remember, playing every day increases your chances of getting in that top ten. Topics are easier on the weekends, and there are less people who play. Invite your friends to play along - Redpac's brought in a whole bunch of friends to play. Luckily, they're not that good (*evil grin*), but it will increase the points that the winner gets.

...and remember, I'll be changing the topic between 9 and 10pm central time. If you don't see a topic change when you're logging on in the middle of the night, wait until the morning - sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and change the topic - it might be easier or harder than the topic the previous day, depending on how I feel and depending on if Tall Steve has already played and got a high score.

Good luck this month, everyone!

It's no longer October, so I took the pink layout down. If you liked it, you can find it under "Pink" in the layout selection area.

Since we're about a third through the month, and I have no time or energy (well, lets just say energy) to create a new layout, I present you with "Travel", which is a layout that's been around for a while, but never as the default layout. Since I'm traveling a bit this month, I thought it is the time for the Travel layout to shine.

It looks a bit weird in firefox, but I'm sure you'll survive!

I'm not really a big fan of pink (I don't think I have any pink in my wardrobe), but in honor of this month being 'National Breast Cancer Awareness Month', I decided to suck it up and make this layout to increase awareness for the cause.

Actually, this layout has been in the works for the last couple weeks, but I've been so busy and exhausted that I haven't had much time to put it up. But I had some free time this weekend.

But I wanted to do something to show people how important this is. Every 13 minutes, a woman in the US will die of breast cancer. Every year, more than 211,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer. My mother had breast cancer. There's a strong chance I will get it, too.

It's been great to see this media blitz promoting breast cancer awareness month - I've seen spots on the Today show and other talk shows, as well as various stores offering merchandise and providing the profits to research. Chicago even has it's skyline in pink for the month.

There's a lot of ways you can help - there's marathons, walk-a-thons, merchandise you can buy, or at the very least, you can click on this link to the right, which will provide someone with a free mammogram. Make sure to click on the link on the page that pops up - that's how you'll ensure that your click counts. And the next time you come to this site, take a couple extra seconds and click on it again. Let's help them reach their goal.

Throughout the month, when I've got the time, I'll point you out to ways you can support the cause. Every little bit helps!

For more information on breast cancer and breast cancer research, go to The National Breast Cancer Foundation website.

I fixed up my last entry and turned the comments back on. Sorry, I forgot that I have my comments turned off for all my 'extras'.

Then again, maybe you didn't want to comment anyway. But you can if you want to.

I didn't intend to make this new layout live yet, but I was playing around yesterday and I'm too lazy to fix it.

Anyway, here's my summer layout, hope you all like it. Some of the links are broken, well, most of them, but I'll fix 'em up tonight.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I've got a lot of great ideas for upcoming layouts!

I've changed up my layout again. As much as I love Kabuki, I was really getting sick of the last layout. The change of my layout is the only change that I actually enjoy. I think it's because I can control when I change it.

Anyway, this is my fourth or so layout based on the art of Shag. I just love the retro feel, and his color combinations. I know it's a bit on the bright side, but still, it's got a groovy vibe to it. Yeah, you heard me. I said GROOVY.

Just warning you, this layout probably isn't going to last too long. I've already got some ideas for some new ones. Think of this one as a temporary one until I fix up the next one.

If this is a little too much for you, go ahead and choose another one from the layout menu on the sidebar.

Just wanted to let y'all know that a new round of trivia starts today! Everyone has a clean slate and a chance to be in the top ten for the next month.

Here's the winners for last month:

1. notsosmart (338 points, 4 wins) (i have no idea who you are)
2. Yano (336 points, 3 wins)
3. Roundeye (321 points, 2 wins)
4. Redpac (309 points, 3 wins)
5. karlw90 (297 points, 1 wins)
6. noelle (285 points, 3 wins)
7. denise (260 points, 1 wins)
8. mamorale14 (243 points, 1 wins)
9. TallSteve (237 points, 1 wins)
10. bruno (223 points, 0 wins) (still looking for a clue as to who you are, too!)

Thanks to everyone who participates. It's a lot of fun to figure out topics and see everyone having a good time!

A new month of trivia starts this month. Looks like there have been a couple big shakeups in the final standings of the last month.

1. Roundeye (351 points, 1 wins)
2. Yano (337 points, 1 wins)
3. notsosmart (336 points, 1 wins)
4. bruno (331 points, 3 wins)
5. Redpac (326 points, 3 wins)
6. denise (311 points, 3 wins)
7. badger (282 points, 0 wins)
8. mamorale14 (277 points, 2 wins)
9. noelle (270 points, 1 wins)
10. Trish (245 points, 0 wins)

Congrats to Roundeye, who was almost non-existent last month and came from behind for a win!

I'm open for suggestions for trivia topics - you know I'll use them!

I'm officially over my mourning period for the Illini NCAA tournament loss. It's time to move on! So I'll spare all my non-sports lovin' readers and change the layout, yet again. I'm really loving this skinning concept - I can change skins whenever I want, but if you all get sick of it, you can just choose another layout in the navigation bar.

Anyway, this month I'm going to highlight the work of an awesome, little known illustrator named Marcos Chin. You may not know his name, but I think that if you live in a big city, you may be familiar with his work. He's the one who has done all those hip, cool 'Lavalife' ads that you've seen in bus stops, trains and billboards.

He's got some great stuff, and if you ever have a moment, check out his website. There's a lot of cool art there, as well as the rest of his lavalife ads.

The piece I've chosen for the header of the site is a bit different from his regular style, but I really loved the colors and the simple lines it had. Hope you enjoy the new layout, and if you don't, you can always choose another!

I've been noticing in my logs lately that there has been a big jump in people linking to my pictures on my site. I don't really mind when someone uses a picture for a post on their blog or something. That'll use up my bandwidth for the picture, but only for as long as that post is viewable on the main page. I admit that I do stuff like that all the time.

What I do have issues with is when a graphic or photo of mine is being used as part of your profile or layout. That's something that is seen more often and for a longer period of time. It's not a big deal when one person does it, but when multiple people do it, that ends up being a pretty big use of bandwidth. I'd almost rather have you save it and upload it on your own server to use than use my bandwidth. But it would piss me off even more if I found you using it and I didn't know.

So to combat it, I've replaced the most linked pics on this site with this pretty little graphic:

I know I'm dorky, and I'm being really bitchy and anal. But the least these people could do is either give me credit for the photos (which they haven't) or let me be aware that they're using my stuff. I was really tempted to one of my multitudes of porn pictures here, but I decided not to. But that would have been so awesome!

Those of you that are coming here because I changed the graphic, I'm sorry. Shoot me an email or leave a comment and we can talk about it. Unfortunately for those of you using the vandamme dancing graphic, that sucker ain't coming back - not only is he a big hunky man, but he's also a big file.

Just let me know - I wouldn't have a problem with it. I just get annoyed when people take without asking.

In honor of the Illini making it to the NCAA Championships (and hopefully winning it), I've made a little layout in honor of my team. If you're using the default layout, it should show up for you automatically. If you're using one of the other layouts and want to check out the Illini layout, go ahead and choose the layout from the sidebar.

We had a couple people over for the game (again) and it was a blast. Chariya and Mykel brought over little Ayden, and Jillian came with Maui and Jane. Ewok, the 'Rally Dog' as Justin has named him, was also in attendance. For some reason, Ewok has taken a liking to little Jillian. At first I thought he just wanted to play with her, then I realized that he was trying to hump her! She's only 2 years old! She's too young for such things. He had to satisfy himself with humping Maui's leg. Funny thing is, that's only the fourth or fifth time that I've seen Ewok try to hump. That Jillian must be something special!

It was a good game, a bit close until the end. Next up is North Carolina for the championship on Monday. We're totally pumped!

After the party, our fellow Illini grads (and one from Loyola) hung out at the house and watched Gil's old college videotape. We had some huge laughs at all the silly things that were done during our college years (keywords for old PSA'ers out there: the Carrot, the Donkey, and the 'stripper'). Man, I really miss those days - we had no idea what the real world was, we just wanted to have fun all the time and be with our friends. Then again, it was a little bit weird to watch the video, since it was before me and Dave were dating, yet we still knew each other then. It seemed like a whole other life that I led. I was a completely different person back then. Yet still the same.

So we had a good party, it was a bit weird not having my sisters around, but it was still a great time!

As some of you may have noticed today, I once again have a different layout. This layout is based on a cover for the comic book 'Kabuki', which I may have mentioned before is one of my favorite comics out there. This awesome piece of art was done by current Daredevil artist Alex Maleev. I love this picture, and by the reaction of my male beta testers, they loved it, too, but I think for different reasons.

Right now, I'm in the process of adding a whole bunch of new, fun things to play with on the site. The trivia, of course, was the first step, and it looks like a lot of you are really enjoying that. Thanks for playing, everyone!

The other thing which I implemented yesterday was the ability to choose your own layout. If you see the link over on the sidebar, the first option you have is to change your layout. You can either choose a layout from the dropdown, or choose the "preview all layouts" option, which will give you screenshots and a description of all the layouts I have available. Here you'll see that I've brought back a couple favorites as well as created a couple new layouts for you to use - for you work people take note of the incredibly boring 'Worksafe' layout.

I know I'm making this whole 'skinning' thing a lot harder than it should be, but having so many pages and areas of the site to cater to, I couldn't just use straight CSS to skin the site. I had to work a little more coding magic than other sites that only have one main page.

I'm really loving this whole skinning thing - I can explore all my creative urges without having to drive you guys crazy by changing the layout every day. But if you like having the layouts change whenever I feel the whim to change, then choose the 'this month's pick' option, which will give you whichever layout I'm highlighting for the moment.

Finally, I'd like to thank my beta testing team for doing an awesome job testing out the layouts for me. They went above and beyond the call of duty, and tTHEY ROCK! So a big thank you to my testing team - Suki, Denise, Noelle, Jamie, Walter, Mike, and Marky. You guys are the best! Click on their names to check out their sites and give them a little lovin' from me. Except for Jamie. For him, you can buy him a drink the next time you see him.

So have some fun with these layouts - there will be more soon, as soon as I'm finished with some other sites I'm working on!

Got a new layout, but there's a little more just a layout change that's new.

I'm sleepy right now, so I'll explain it tomorrow.

Hope I didn't break anything! (though I already know a couple things that I have)

I'm so tired of that heart layout...weren't you?

So I'm back to by pretty blue kitty, at list for a little little bit until I get my beta testing crew to test out the "FUTURE OF YANOWHATIMEAN DOT COM" (said with an ominous, echoing voice).

Truthfully, what I have up my sleeve isn't a big deal, it'll just make life easier for me, and hopefully, for you, too!

Changed the page design, yet again. If you loved the kitty, no worries, she'll be back in full effect after Valentine's day.

I love the art of Tara McPherson. She's done some covers for several Vertigo comic books. She's got an interesting style - go and check out her site. When I ran across this picture, I knew I had to use it for this site, and Valentine's day seemed perfect for it.

I've shown a couple people preliminary designs for this layout, and several of them had mentioned that it looks a bit creepy and morbid. That didn't even run across my mind when I saw it. But then again, I think Valentine's is an over rated holiday, especially for single people. Didn't want to have a cutesy cupid layout all covered in pink and lace. Eew. I was also told that this layout doesn't seem to fit my personality, though I think it suits it just fine.

What do you think?

I had posted my Wizard World Comic Con recap last week, but haven't posted any of the sketches. I have just updated my sketch page, so they're all in there:

Check out my sketches!

Whenever I go to a convention, I bring a sketch book with me, because sometimes artists are nice enough to do free sketches for me. Or sometimes, I'll even pay for them if I think it's worth it. I have a theme for my sketchbook, which contains my favorite character Psylocke.

Here's one of my favorites, a sketch done at a small convention by Gene Ha, who has done a lot of the Superman covers.

...and another favorite, done by Talent Caldwell who is going to be doing Spiderman:

If you've tried to leave comments for the last 12 hours or so and saw it was broken and quickly blamed one of the guest posters, shame on you!

The fault lies with the web hosting this site uses. Redpac.com uses the same hosting company and I was down too. They implemented some new security settings and broke a few things in the process. Hopefully they have fixed everything and you can go back to taking potshots at the useless life form that is Sam.

Had a hard time deciding what my holiday layout would be, but then I ran across a picture of Rudolph, and I'd always loved him when I was a kid. So enjoy it!

Amy wrote to tell me she has a blog, so I've added her to my ever growing link list. So check out her site, which is about the life of a woman with celiac sprue, going through life living with a gluten-free diet (which is a lot harder than you think it is!)

Gluten-Free Empowerment - brought to you by the Wonderfully cool and hip AMY!

I think one of the biggest I can get on this blog is to know that I've inspired someone to go out and create their own. I guess knowing that I'm out there spilling out my dirty laundry for the whole world to see as a weird sort of therapy makes it a little easier for other people to do the same thing...

Anyway, I guess sometimes I don't inspire as much as I TELL people to create their own blog, as see here with my conversation with "The Landlord".

TheLandlord: never mind...here is the link...remember in your drunken state the other night when you told me to do this???
TheLandlord: http://www.livejournal.com/users/vodkaredbull/
TheLandlord: you have created a monster
Miss Yano: haha
Miss Yano: i remember talking to you
Miss Yano: but don't remember telling you to create a blog
TheLandlord: it was more like...(drunken sluring) hey....you need to start a journal with all your escapades...drool....swerve....
Miss Yano: wow...i'm proud!

----------------------------------------------------

I've also added a whole bunch of blogs since the last time I wrote about this...so here's the rundown of the new sites I've added:

Anita: Liberal, outspoken, and someone who knows the ecstacy that is Graeter's ice cream. Read her post election thread, it's pretty good.

Carla: The LBC gal that I hung out with a total of, um, TWO times when I was in California. Both times, the fact that we read each other's sites was not mentioned, but it was unspoken. A pretty cool chick who has given me the title of 'the connoisseur'. I kinda like that!

Erina: The first time I actually met Erina, she came up to me and introduced herself. Immediately upon meeting her you can sense that she is a sweet and good person. It's obvious from her posts, also.

Karl: A faithful reader and fellow Chicago Cubs fan. He's only just started blogging and he's doing a great job! Though I think he's going to change his blog title once he turns 33.

Kimmy: I don't know how I didn't have this post in here before. Melanie's partner in crime Kimmy is ultra-cool, and I give her a lot of props for still playing football after all these years!

Linda J: My Portland connection, which insists that there are sunny days in Portland and hates with when I refer to California as 'Cali'.

Marin: Wow, a skater that actually updates her blog regularly and cares about spelling and punctuation (most of the time anyway). It's fun to see the world through her eyes.

Marky Mark: The smoothest dancer I've ever seen, and super-huggable, to boot. He was an Elm Street Girl for a couple hours, but long enough to enjoy Free Panties. Not in a perverted way, of course.

Monique: The site was gone, and now it's back again. She says what she wants and takes no prisoners.

Pat: Another blog that rose from the ashes of deletion. He's my comic book homie, he lets me in on the latest scoops and this guy can schmooze comic creators like nobody's business. And he sent me rockin' sketches. See ya at WWC!

Stan: Part of what I've come to call my Long Beach Family - the people who made California feel like home for me and Dave when we were out there.

Tara: Yet another new blogger. A Hawaiian living on the mainland, she's got a lot of good stuff to share.

Tom: "The Landlord", who has so many interesting adventures, that I guess I told him he should have a blog. And he has!

I swear I had added more since the last time, but I guess not! Welcome to my blogroll, people!

Well, it's not Halloween anymore so I needed to change my layout. Haven't had much time lately so I just went back to an old favorite!

This layout makes me feel like karate chopping someone. Hee-yah!

Enjoy!

Comments are back - for the latest 10 entries only!

I'm pretty scared to see if the spammers will be back or find some way around my workaround, but we'll see. If this site isn't here tomorrow, you'll know what happened!

Due to the insane amount of comment spam I've been getting over the last few weeks, my site had been using up too much CPU power on the webserver and my provider was forced to take my site down. *cries*

So my site was down for I don't know how long this morning.

Bastard spammers!

Fuckers!

It really pisses me off that people have nothing better to do with their time than generate scripts to go out and find websites to just harrass them, or to make sure that their links have a higher rating on google or whatever. What good is it for them if they use up so much of my CPU it shuts the site down? I mean, is sending out 30 comments in 10 minutes really necessary?

Fuckers!

I have mt-blacklist installed and for a good amount of time it cleaned most of that crap up, but then they started randomly generating IP addresses, email address and website addresses, so blacklist couldn't catch them.

So I was given a warning by my web provider - they'll let me have the site back for now, but if this happens again, they're closing out my account.

So anyone know any good fixes for these spammers?

FUCKERS!

I'm so pissed right now!

If you'd like to comment, go ahead and use the tagboard to the right.

In honor of my favorite holiday that's coming up, I've made this spooky layout, inspired by one of my favorite "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" episodes, "Hush". Since a good number of my readers are huge Buffy fans, I thought you all would like it.

Enjoy!

Got the itch to redesign again. I've had this one on the backburner for a while. Thought I'd change it up a bit and try something a little different. Apologies to you 800x600 people...it may be a little funky for ya...

Enjoy this one while it lasts - the Halloween edition is coming in several weeks! Truthfully, I feel so-so about this design, which is why I'm only going to have it up for about 2 weeks. I'm looking for halloween layout suggestions. Anyone???

Anyone have problems loading this page? Anything look weird? If so, please tell me what you're seeing, how often you've been seeing it, if it's only been this layout, etc.

Also, feel free to give any ideas for future layouts here. :)

Thanks for your input!

Well, had a little burst of inspiration this weekend and I made a whole new format for you all. And all you 800x600 people rejoice! Rather than saying 'Get a new monitor, people!' I've created a resolution friendly format. Well, at least I hope it is!

Anyway, it's been a while since I've done purple, so I've gone back to my roots. I wanted a darker tone, because since this whole eye thing is, I've preferred darker places - the sun hurts my eyes. And I love this grungy-goth-lite look, too. A bunch of blurry, dark/light images - that's what I saw for a while. And the very first layout to actually have a picture of me (in the header, anyway), this layout being a tribute to my left eye, which is still in recovery mode.

Truthfully, I liked the last layout better, but I can feel this one growing on me. Enjoy!

I'm switching my main page to index2.php. What does that mean? I'm not entirely sure. However, if you're looking at this site right now, and you see 'http://www.yanowhatimean.com/index.htm' in your address bar, then you probably have your 'Favorites' set to point to the wrong page (because, of course, the page is one of your favorites, right?). Update your favorites to point to 'http://www.yanowhatimean.com' and you'll be redirected to the right page. Either that, or the page from whence you came has the index.htm in their link.

Does this make no sense to you? Just comment and I'll try to help you out.

If you don't see my Ten on Tuesday entry above this one, then it means that you need to make the change!

Sorry for the trouble. But I needed to switch for a reason!

To those of you that got a pop up ad when coming to my site, sorry, I guess my tagboard was putting that crap up. I'll look around for another company to do the tagboard with. I think it's kinda shady that they would do something like that. I understand putting ads up on the tagboard, but having users download something to their machines which could be spywear? Not cool!

Is anyone still getting popups when coming here?

I always get restless with my site design, so here's the latest. This time around, I just wanted someone simple, yet cool. And what is cooler than a chick with a sword? Of course, the art is by Michael Turner and the character is Kiani, the newest heroine in his comic, 'Fathom'. This is from a 3 poster set that they have available right now. In the future I'll probably incorporate the other posters in the layout.

So...what do you all think?

Well, you knew it had to happen sometime! This is my ode to the heat spell here...it's hotter than hell! Well, not in Long Beach, but in other areas!

I've been making little changes here and there that you may have noticed...here's a little overview of them...

- The 'people' links are now powered by Blog Rolling. Some of you may have noticed that some blogs have asterisks next to them. Blog Rolling has an option where it shows which blogs have been updated in the last 24 hours. But I've taken out the functionality, because it doesn't show for all blogs.

- I've added categories on the site - I haven't fully categorized all my posts from before I moved to MT, but most of them have some sort of category.

- I fixed a couple broken links - one in my Bay City photos, the other in my webcam archives.

- Added a couple links
---New people = Leen, Lucy, Janet, Key and Lucy
---New sites
-----Shag Art, who made the awesome pic on the top right
-----fark.com, the place to get all kinds of interesting news
-----Princess Melissa, Melissa from Real World New Orleans...she's pretty funny..check her out

- Added bottom link navigation, just in case the navigation graphic doesn't work

reading pleasures

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

I've jumped on the bandwagon and read the book that everyone and their mother is reading. I really liked The Da Vinci Code a lot. A great, fast moving plot, with a good amount of twists and turns. Essentially it is the story of an American man who is visiting France, who gets caught in a web of murder and mystery when he is implicated in a murder he didn't commit. You could tell that a lot of research was put into making this book, and after reading it, you're just hungering to learn more. I suggested that Dave read the book, and he actually did! It was the first book that he read since 'The Jordan Rules' way back when. I'd definitely suggest this book to all of you out there, it's a great one to bring on a trip or on the train - the chapters are quick to read. But it'll be hard to put down!

song stuck in my head

'She Likes to Move' - N.E.R.D.

I've always said that the Neptunes produce hits, and here they are, as N.E.R.D., with a hit of their own. This song doesn't know what genre it wants to be a part of - Rock, Hip Hop, Funk, Dance...but it merges them all so seemlessly and it just makes me...want...to....move. And that girl in the video is hot. Makes me want to buy a little shimmery minidress and wiggle my goods while Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, and that other guy sing below me. Ok, that other guy has a name, and it's Shae Haley. I feel so bad for him because during interviews people just talk to Pharrell and Chad, and Shae just stands on the side and smiles. But don't worry, Shae, at this moment your bodiless head is floating in my brain whispering, 'She wants to move'. Oh yes. I want to.

at the movies

The Passion of the Christ

What better way to spend your honeymoon in Maui than to have a romantic dinner and catch 'The Passion' afterwards? Because that's what we did! Seriously, though, it was a great movie. There were more than a couple times that I flinched and whimpered in pain, but it was all worth it. I was a bit concerned about the sign they had at the ticket window warned of 'scenes of graphic violence resembling a slaughterhouse', and Dave was concerned about the subtitles. After going to Catholic school for 12 years, nothing in the movie was really a surprise to me, except for the things Mel Gibson took his own spin on, which at some points were distrubing and scary. There was a lot I had to explain to Dave, who is Catholic, but was a CCD kid. What's that? Those are the Catholic kids that didn't go to Catholic school that us Catholic school kids looked down on because they went to Sunday school. Those CCD kids always messed up our desks during the weekend! Anyway, the movie was great, definitely epic. There's a lot more to say about it, but I'll just keep it at that.

comic you should be reading

Superman: Godfall

The Man of Steel, as done by the Aspen team. Written by Michael Turner, Joe Kelly and Chuck Austen, art by Talent Caldwell, inking by Jason Gordon and colors by Peter Steigerwald and Christina Strain. These books were selling like hotcakes, and at my local shop they didn't have them on the racks - you had to ask for it behind the counter. The first two issues are going back to print with black and white covers, since the initial run sold you. It's really great because Talent had some exposure a couple years ago pencilling the Killian's Tide mini-series. But he's the next big thing now that he's doing Superman, and he totally deserves it! So buy the book!

yummy for my tummy

kalua pork

Since I couldn't eat beef in Hawaii, I lived on fish and kalua pork. That's the highlight of a luau for me! Kalua pork! And now that I've discovered Aloha Grill, it's kalua pork all the time, baby!!!

addiction

Driving

That's all I seem to be doing nowadays! I fill up my tank 2-3 times a week, and in California, it isn't cheap! At least I'm getting reimbursed for mileage!

Don't mind me...just testing some stuff out!

family

Roll

Reciprocal

OK, I've spared your eyes from the green overload!

This week's layout is a tribute to comics, since I'm going to the Wizard World LA Comic Convention this weekend. I'll be frolicking with my favorite comic book creators, Kevin Smith, Stan Lee, and Rebecca Romijn Stamos. Comic geek heaven!!!

The two drawings are by my favorite artist, Michael Turner. It's from Soulfire, a comic that will probably be launched sometime this year. If you're interested in Mike's work or his company, Aspen Comics, you can check out their site here. They're an awesome bunch of people and amazingly talented! And yes, I'm kissing their asses in hopes that they're reading this (yeah right) and will give me some freebies when I come and stalk their booth this year.

I think I'm really diggin' this layout. One thing that was a total bitch to figure out was the transparent tables. Don't even ask. I don't know how I made it work. I still haven't mastered it, because EVERYTHING in the table is transparent. But then again, it's pretty cool.

So I hope you guys like it!

In a tribute to my Irish heritage, I thought I'd make up a layout for St. Patty's day. OK, I'm not Irish. But I do love those car bombs and Guinness!

And I have a distant cousins that live in Ireland. They came for a visit and we made them say 'They're always trying to steal m'Lucky Charms!' over and over again.

It's up a little late because, well, I just did it today. I'll keep it up a bit after St. Patty's til I decide what layout I want to put up. Do you have any suggestions for layouts? Are there any old layouts that you want to see come back?

In honor of my honeymoon in Maui, I've changed my layout for my vacation. I know, I know, your heads must be spinning from all of the website changes. But change is good! Don't be scared of it!

Thought this layout would be fun and a nice change of pace. Nice, bright, and just a little racy. I probably won't update this while I'm gone, but, you know me, it just could happen. One thing I do know is that I'll be taking TONS of pictures.

There's a lot of packing to do, and a lot of work things to take care of before I go. I don't want to get any phone calls while I'm away!!!

Whew! I'm so happy that my whole 'Valentines Day' format is over. I was getting so sick of it! Pink is just not my color, sorry!

So now I'm back to purple purple purple! And it's my little homage to the blaxploitation movies of the 70's. The drawing is by this awesome artist named 'Shag' Check out his website, he's got some really cool stuff there. I'll be using his pics for a while here.

So yeah, it's loud, it's bright, it's funka-a-delic, and I think I like it.

What do you think? Comments/Criticisms/Words of Praise are greatly appreciated!

Well, I've accomplished one thing on my 'things to do' list that I posted a couple weeks ago - I've added my convention sketches to the 'Art' page. The page is still screwy, but at least the sketches are there.

I love to go to comic conventions, and I love to get sketches from the artists. Not only do I get a beautiful sketch, but it also is a great time to talk to the artist, to hear their story and how they got to where they are. I'm on a mini mission to collect sketches of Psylocke, my favorite character. Most artists know who she is, but some have to look through my other sketches for a reference. The only thing that sucks is that you have to wait in line for a while to get a sketch, because of course, everyone else is getting one in front of you. But it's always worth the wait!

My goal for the LA Wizard World Comic Convention (which is in March) is to get a sketch of Psylocke from Jim Lee. I got a picture with him when he was at a shop in Chicago, but I never got a chance to get a sketch. That would be the crown jewel of my sketch collection, as small as it is!

But so far, my most treasured sketch is the quick profile sketch that Michael Turner did for me. My favorites of the collection are the Professor X done in crayon by Art Baltazar, Talent Caldwell's Psylocke sketch, Karl Moline's Psylocke and Luke Lizalde's Psylocke. But they're all great!

Posted by Yano at 01:51 AM | Comments (8)

I always get a little bored of seeing the same page over and over again, and since Valentine's Day is coming soon, I thought I'd change the colors around a bit. I'm not normally a pink person, but it's something new. (If you refresh your page, you'll get the new header)

Though I have a feeling that I might get sick of it in a couple days and just revert to the old verson...who knows!

I dunno....what do you think?

It's been a while since I updated my links here...I've updated the links to Andrew, Chris F, Crash and Mira.

I've also deleted the dead blogs of Monique and Lily. Sorry ladies!

And here's some new links for y'all to click on:

Dan: His link is no longer going to Redpac's House of Jailbait. He actually got himself a normal photoblog, and you can tell he's having fun with his new digital camera.

Jones: He's mean. He beats the elderly. He dry humps stuffed gorillas and lets people write on his hairy ass. But inside that tough hard exterior is a man who gets excited over olive bars and loves little fluffy stuffed ducks name Mason. Be forewarned, the guy pulls no punches.

Marie: One of my few comic book links, and the only comic book lovin' chica! She's cool and she's got some great art on her site.

Marilyn: My cousin Marilyn's blog. Hasn't been updated in a while. Hopefully it will be soon. *hint* *hint* But only AFTER midterms, ya hear?

Shannon: The newest member of the cousin clan. A pretty cool chica, and she has the cutest dog. Who likes to chew on people's heads.

Vern: He's like a little brother to me. Always eager to give a hug and a smile. I love to hug Vern!!!

Walter: A fellow Illini-who-moved-to-the-West. One of the coolest dudes I know. Who has great taste in music, TV and ex-girlfriends.

Theme Thursday: Bliss

Wedding Pics at Wrigley: August 2003

This was the best day of my life, and being at Wrigley Field with my family and best friends was total bliss. In 45 minutes, we had the time of our lives. I'll never forget it!!!

Reading Pleasures

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

This is a great book, and so different from most other books I've read. The book is narrarated by Susie, a young girl who, as we find out in the first chapter, has been brutally murdered. She narrarates from Heaven, looking down below at the world she has left. She watches over the lives of the people she has left behind - the father who will not stop until he finds Susie's murderer, her sister who closes herself from any emotion, the boy who loved Susie, and even her murderer. Susie knows who her murderer is, as does the reader, but the people in her life have no idea, and Susie has no way of telling them. She's up in her heaven, staying the same as the people left behind her grieve and move on and grow old, but never forgetting her in an unending search for closure.

The story is beautifully written, and it's haunting watching the lives of the people Susie knew each deal in their own way with their grief. Sebold pulls no punches, walking us through the horrific way that Susie dies, and how everyone grieves in their own way. I couldn't read this book fast enough, it's definitely something I would recommend!

song stuck in my head

'Milkshake' - Kelis

"My milk shake brings all the boys to the yard, And they're like, it's better than yours, Damn right its better than yours, I can teach you, but I have to charge!" How could you not love this song? It hardly makes any sense, but it's got a hot beat. *shakes her ass* Finally, I've found out what it is that brings all those boys to my yard every day. It's my milkshake, baby! Shake, shake shake it like a polaroid picture. I know, wrong song. Those Neptunes know how to work magic, baby!

Here's what a Milkshake is, if you're looking...

at the movies

Mulholland Drive

I rented Mulholland Drive several months ago, but only got about halfway since the DVD was scratched up. So last week I finally rented it again. And in a way, I think I was better off with just watching half the movie because at the end of the movie, only one thought rang through my head - 'What the fuck was that?' I was confused. Two-thirds of the way through the movie, it completely changes and you're questioning everything you had seen previous to that. I admit, though, I liked the movie. Only David Lynch can have me love something as disjointed, quirky and trippy as this, but then again, I watched all of the 'Twin Peaks' episodes and bought the sound track. Yes, I can even play the song on the piano. Anyway, once I searched the internet a bit for some enlightenment and to answer the questions that raged in my head, everything made almost perfect sense. Not. But at least it answered some questions. And Naomi Watts had an excellent performance, which is even better once you realize what's going on. And yes, Dave appreciated the lesbian scenes. As a matter of fact, those were the only scenes he watched during the movie.

comic you should be reading

Aspen #1

I may have mentioned this comic before, but it's FINALLY out in stores. I think it's selling like hotcakes, so make sure to get a copy. Aspen #1 is Michael Turner's last Fathom arc before Talent Caldwell takes the helm. Hopefully there will be some answers about Aspen's past. There's also some great sketch previews of upcoming Aspen MLT books Ekos and Soulfire, as well as interviews. I already have a couple copies of #1 from the Chicago convention (and #2) so I'm really anticipating Aspen #3. The rest of the Aspen books will be out within the next few months, so buy them!

yummy for my tummy

Ho-Ho's

Oh heavenly chocolatey cream filled rolls of cakey sweetness, I love you so!

addiction

Picture Gallery

I've been trying to get my picture galleries reformatted because since the bog blog change, the galleries look like crap. So within the next couple weeks, you'll see some fun changes in the picture gallery. Hopefully.

New Links

Aaron - Even Uppity Negroes need love, too.
Luna - Didn't know that this girl was as ghetto as she was til I read her blog!
Pat - Comic book geeks unite! Pat rocks!
Rosie - Co-Coordinator of the worst PSA dance scene ever! But we had lots of fun not working on it!
Stephani - She's good at helping me out with drunk people!

If you're a regular reader, you've noticed some changes around here. Since I've been going through so many life changes lately, I thought it would be best to reflect it in my blog. Got married, moved to California, have a new job position, all within the same month. yanowhatimean.com is up for renewal, too. Yeah, it's the one-year anniversary of the day I bought this site name. Seems like yesterday!

So when I was back home in Chicago, I had a lot of free time on my hands when I was with my mom in the hospital, so I thought it was about time I revamped my site. So just like my life, I wanted it to be something completely different, shake up the design a bit, but make it a little easier to read. So I decided on the white pastel look. Don't know if I like it too much yet, but I think it could grow on me. But I do like having 3 columns instead of one. Makes it a lot easier to reach the links that I use.

I'm also in the process of updating the picture galleries with *gasp* updated pictures. Yes. New pictures. Also in the works is the 'me' page. It was weird before, so I thought I'd spice it up with more info on your favorite internet procrastinator.

As for this blog, it's gonna be bigger and better. More posts. More humiliating stories of me. More links. More sharing of links and sites that I waste my time with. Maybe even a guest writer or two.

So enjoy the changes. I'm really interested on your input, if you like it, if you don't, if you think I should make some changes, if you find a problem with the site, etc. I want to know. yanowhatimean cares about YOU. :-P

Later!

reading pleasures

The Nanny Diaries

Yes, I'm still reading this book. I'm on page 7.

song stuck in my head

'White Flag' - Dido

Dido is back! I've been waiting for this for a while. She has such a great voice, and great lyrics to all her songs. She's helped me through a lot of traffic jams, and I'll definitely be picking up her new CD

at the movies

Underworld

I know, it hasn't come out yet, but I think all the other movies out there suck right now. Is it me, or has this been a really crappy summer movie season? Well, maybe 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico' will redeem it, but for now, I'll just sit and wait for Underworld. I mean, who doesn't love watching about the eternal war between vampires and werewolves?

comic you should be reading

Marvel 1602

'Sandman' writer Neil Gaiman and the artistic team that brought you 'Origin', Wolverine's back story get together to create the Marvel world of the past. What if there were mutants in the 1600's? How would they be treated? You'll see guest spots by your friendly neighborhood Spiderman, Black Widow, the X-Men, and even Nick Cage. The writing is smart and intriguing, Andy Kubert's pencils are amazing, and Richard Isanove's digital coloring bring the whole thing to life. It's an 8 comic miniseries, and it's in high demand, so make sure to pick them up fast!

yummy for my tummy

lime tostitos

Great to snack on when you're working at home!!! Love that lime flavor on chips.

addiction

Long Beach

Yeah, I'm really starting to like this place. It's sunny all the time, there's a good breeze off the ocean, and our place is starting to feel like home. All I need now is a desk!

I've also added Gary and Peter to the sidebar, so check 'em out!

reading pleasures

'Le Marriage'

Just started 'Le Marriage'. Haven't really gotten too far into it...seems pretty OK so far.

song stuck in my head

Thoia Thoing by r. kelly

For being a creepy prepubescent girl-lover, r. kelly has got some damn catchy tunes. i have no idea what he's saying in this song, or what the hell thoia thoing is, but i just gotta move to it.

at the movies

shrek

i don't know the last time I went to see a movie. Which is why lately I've just been hitting up my DVD collection. And Shrek is one of my faves. That scene with the gingerbread man has be laughing every time. "Do you know the muffin man?"

comic you should be reading

Y The Last Man by Vertigo

I had read a little snippet on it in Wizard a couple months ago. When I was at my comic shop, my comic book dude (I never know their names, but they know mine. They need name tags) told me I should pick it up. Since I spend money like water at the comic shop, I figured why the hell not. And I just DEVOURED the book on my way home from work. It's a great read about what would happen if there someone was the last man on earth...literally. All the men die except for one. The women are in control. It's a fucking good read.

yummy for my tummy

lean christine

OK, OK, it's really 'Lean Cuisine', but at the office, I make the 'u' into a 'hr' and stick a 't' between the 's' and 'i' to make the package say 'Lean Christine'. Just so people don't be eatin' my salisbury steak. Last week I bought a whole bunch, because I always stock up when they're on sale. However, since I haven't been in town, and I really only have about 4 days of work left, there's a surplus of Lean Christine in the office freezer. And I've heard that people have been eyeing them for their own. The highest bidder wins the Lean Christine, guys...

addiction

wedding!!!

'nuff said!

Added some new links to the masses of links on the right hand side. Welcome to Amy, Lea, Rusty and Sami!

reading pleasures

Lamb : The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

I really love this book. The first time that I've felt that my 12 years of Catholic school did me any good. If you're easily offended, skip this book. This story is narrarated by Biff, Jesus' best friend, who chronicles the years that the Gospels don't mention - 6 - 33 of Jesus' life. Biff goes through life with Jesus, his confusion what being 'the Messiah' means, not being able to 'know woman', dabbling in Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, falling in love with Chinese food, and accepting his path as the savior of the world. Biff is Christ's protector, his best friend, and has sex with all the women that Jesus can't.

This book is hilarious, and it's going on my list of 'books to tell people to read.' There are a lot of references to all the religions of the world, especially Christianity and Judaism.

"Joshua, you're the Son of God. You're the Messiah. That implies -- oh, I don't know -- that you're a Jew! You can't eat bacon."
"God doesn't care if we eat bacon. I can just feel it."
"You're going to need more than that to usher in the kingdom of God, Josh, no offense. We can't go home with 'Hi, I'm the Messiah, God wanted you to have this bacon.'"
"I know. We have much more to learn. But breakfasts will be more interesting."

Moore is going to hell. And I'm going to hell for loving it.

at the movies

finding nemo

This movie is absolutely adorable! I remember not expecting much from it when they were showing trailers for it way back when. But Fatima saw it, and insisted that I see it. So we went, and it was great!

Pixar has outdone themselves once again. I remember being amazed at Sully's hairs in Monster's Inc, but that's nothing compared to making waves, and simulating movement under water. Finding Nemo not only is visual masterpiece, but it also has a great story, with characters that you immediately grow to love. Ellen Degeneres' character is a trip, the turtles are raaadical, dude! and Nemo, well, I just want to take his fishy little face and squeeze it til it pops.

There were some scary parts, though, because it IS underwater. The sharks aren't the only scary thing in the sea! But I stayed tough, I even looked at the screen during the scary parts and didn't hide my head in my jacket, or start crying like the wimpy little 5 year olds in the audience.

Speaking of, I hear that many fish have been liberated from home aquariums after kids have watched 'Finding Nemo' and been flushed down the toilet. Little do these kids know that the sewage system will most likely give these Nemo-wannabes a slow and agonizing death during the water.

Getting an honorable mention are the previews for 'Brother Bear', Disney's next animated movie, which got me a bit misty eyed. Also, Pixar's 'The Incredibles', which reminds me a lot of the CrossGen comic, 'The Crossovers', which chronicles the everyday, normal life of superheroes. I'm counting the days!

comic you should be reading

fray, dark horse comics

Somehow I missed this issue coming out. Then again, I didn't go to the store in 2 months. Anyway, I love Fray. The fact that the comic comes out every 7 months is just a minor annoyance. The story follows Melaka Fray, a vampire slayer 200 years after Buffy's time. Life is way different, but there's still vampires to kill. Joss Whedon kicks ass with the story in this book, and Karl Moline's pencils give it a gritty, futuristic feel. Kat - you need to pick it up when the trade paperback comes out!

yummy for my tummy

frapuccinos

Well, they're out of my price range right now, and have WAY too much fat (22 grams), but it doesn't stop me from staring at the people walking out with them from the Starbucks in my building.

addiction

sleeping

Been SO tired lately! I've been falling asleep at about midnight each day. *gasp* that means I've been getting more than 5 hours of sleep each day!

There's getting to be too many links on the right hand side, so I've divided the blogs up a bit to the blogs of people I interact with, and the blogs that I read. Even dividing that up was pretty tough, but oh well. I use my site as my link page, and it was getting hard to find the links that I wanted.

Also added the Reviews! Reviews! page that I'm a part of, as well as the other sites that I've helped out with or built myself. And yes, to those of you that emailed me, I've added the link to my old Psylocke page, because people are still finding my site that way. And of course, can't forget Rusty's page. Still adding more stuff.

I update the sidebar every now and then, but I was thinking of posting updated sidebar info so you know when it's changing...

reading pleasures

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

I really liked this book. It was a realy quick read (finished it during my Seattle trip). It's about two boys during China's cultural revolution who are sent to a remote village to be 're-educated' in ways of life. During this time, books are outlawed, but these two boys manage to find a secret stash of Western books, translated to Chinese. Anyone who really loves books can appreciate the magic the boys feel when reading the books, and how precious these treasures become.

song stuck in my head

'Where is the Love - Black Eyed Peas

I've always loved the Black Eyed Peas, since 'Joints and Jam' from way back when. Here, they make a social statement on how the world has changed, and where we can go to find the answers to make things better again.

at the movies

Matrix: Reloaded

I liked it. Not as much as the first one. But it swas good. The fight scenes kicked ass, though I could still see the CGI. But it was well choreographed. The story was ok..you really had to pay attention to what was being said. Can't wait til the 3rd one!

yummy for my tummy

sourdough bacon cheeseburger

Damn Burger King. Damn them for making such a tasty burger!

addiction

traveling

IT SUCKS!

Per Dan, aka Redpac, who entered in an enhancement request, the comments are now in ascending order - that is, older comments will be at the top. Thank you for your input, Mr. Redpac. Stop by his page, give him some love, gaze at the Olsen Twins, and tell him how much you hate Pledge Jones.

I love having a good meal in a strange city.

I met up with a friend from Portland (who I didn't know lived here til she posted on my blog) and she took me out to this cool place called 'Oba' or something like that. Anyway, the food was good, the desert was great, and the conversation was even better. Yeah, there's nothing better than eating dinner and having non-stop conversation. I think we could have gone on for hours.

And I got a mini-tour of downtown Portland afterwards. Pretty nice place, but I'd love to see it in daylight!

So thanks so much for a fun night, Linda. We'll definitely have to do it again!

My tummy now begs me to go to sleep early.

This could very well be my favorite day of the year. What's not to love a day that represents a day of gluttony before 40 days of fasting? Since I'm in Portland, I didn't really get a chance to get my eat on, so I'll have to do it later. If I was in Chicago I'd be on my fourth Krispy Kreme, midway through a pint of Ben & Jerry's and after having a juicy piece of steak. Then comes Lent. Don't know what I'm going to give up/take up. I never keep it anyway. I might just go with my yearly 'don't eat after 8pm' and 'no red meat as a main course'. I mean, I can't just go cold turkey with the red meat. That may cause some physical damage. I may even try working out at least once a week. Yes. Once a week. Don't want to hurt myself now!

So I hope you all ate well today. Tomorrow begins my 40 days of being a healthier, better person.

My favorite episode of Smallville is on now - the one with Ryan, the boy who reads minds. This was the first time they used Five for Fighting's 'Superman' in the show. *sigh*

So I'm at O'Hare for about 5 hours today (Monday). My original flight to Minneapolis connecting to Portland got cancelled because of snow. I wait in this enormous line at Northwest. Once at the counter, I tried getting on the later Minneapolis flight, which was booked, and Northwest said I could take a flight tomorrow, or take a chance and see if I could get on the 7:45pm United flight. I decided to take my chances, because I need to be at my client site at 9am. So I walk over to the next terminal, in the snow, lugging my bag around, without my gloves and hat because I'm in such a hurry (I could have gone to the other terminal using the indoor passage, but time was of the essence and walking inside was way faster), and I get in this massive line for United. And it's the Premier line, too. (Little does United know that my Premier status ended as of February 28th. I don't think I made it again this year, after being on the company travel blacklist because of bad behavior - well, that's my theory, anyway) So I get there, and for as stressed as the lady is about all the people who are angry about the flights, she squeezes me into the 7:45pm flight. See, if you're nice to people, even when you're stressed, and you let them know that you understand their pain, they do nice things for you. By now, it's already 7:30. The lady tells me that the flight is delayed, and would probably be leaving at around 9pm.

So I head to the gate and grab some grub to munch on while I wait. Seems like there's a lot of delayed flights because O'Hare was packed. I looked at the monitors to see exactly what time the flight was leaving, and it just said 'delayed'. At about 8:00 there's an announcement that the flight hasn't left it's original destination yet, so they couldn't post up a time. Finally, they post a time of 9:30. I was starting to exhaust my pile of comic book in flight reading material. Later, they change it to 10pm. Then they said that the flight was coming in. Then they said that the flight was diverted to another city. Then they said the flight was coming to land. Then the time was changed to 10:30. I was left to reading the letters sections of my comics.

Finally I get on the plane. And I'm pooped! Someone near me (I did a smell check and it's NOT me) smells like ass. I feel like puking. I mean, it really smells like they've gone up someone's butt. And the dude sitting across me in the aisle is staring at me. Not blatantly, but I feel his eyes on me now and a again, and if I look at him, he doesn't look away. He maintains his stare and challenges me to stare back, or maybe say something. I look away and pretend that I find the 'Hemispheres' magazing life changing and interesting. And yet the eyes still burn into my side. What a freak. So I lean my head against the window and I pass out. And I wake up. Twenty minutes has passed and we're still on the runway. Not even wanting to process what time I'm going to actually LAND in Portland, I go back to sleep.

So here I am now, in the plane, after waking up to the sweet smell of the in-flight snack, something SO much better than the snack mix of bagel chips and pretzels. Nacho chips and salsa! Yum! And a sugar cookie! And that's not it! Cheese spread and crackers. A regular smorgasbord of yummy snacky treats. I scarf down the food. Now my tummy grumbles. I think I ate too fast. And the dude still smells. Back to sleep. Portland, I'll see you when I wake.

********

So I landed in Portland at 1:10am. Which makes it 3:10am Chicago time.

And there are no more king sized beds left in the hotel.

I am not a happy girl.

This sucks ass!

Oh well, tomorrow is another day!

Been making little updates to the site. Here's a couple things I've added/modified:

- Art menu now links directly to the Artist/Comic
- Added all the old Blogger entries to the archives
- The Webcam Archive can now be seen in the Pics page
- Added random pic of me in the main page

This page is a constant work in progess, so I'll be changing/adding things often.

Yesterday, I tried doing some wedding stuff. I'm looking into photographers, trying to figure out what price range I want and what style I want. I'm leaning toward a photographer that does traditional photos, but I also want a lot of photojournalism type photos. I really like the look of black and white pictures. I feel like it's telling the story of my wedding, rather than a bunch of people who are posing for the camera, mouths all cramped up and waiting for the pain to end. I hate that. I hate posing for pictures for hours. But I know it has to be done. But for my wedding, I want all the spontaneous moments to be captured, too. The photographer is probably the second most important thing on my list next to the reception place. The pictures are the things I'll be looking at for the rest of my life.

I also made an appointment yesterday at a bridal salon by my house. I've never gone shopping for dresses before, but it's something that's gotta be done sometime! So me and Fatima head out there, and the woman who took care of me was awesome. She was really nice. I told her what kind of gown I was looking for (based on my internet poll, the spaghetti straps and open front panel was the one most popular) and she brought out some samples. The first one she brought out was a bit tight. When I looked in the mirror, it looked nice, and I was getting a little excited.

The I tried out the second one, and it had a long train with some embroidery around the edge. It was really pretty. The room we were in had three mirrors along the walls, and when I looked to the side mirror, I had to exhale a sigh. It was such a sight! I came to the realization that YES, I AM GETTING MARRIED! The train was so long, and the dress was so elegant. Me and Fatima were all giggles.

After trying on a couple dresses, came 'THE DRESS'. She brought out this dress, which, on the bodice, had a little too much beading for me. (I had asked for minimal beading. I want to keep it simple) It had doube spaghetti straps, which formed a criss cross against my back. It also laced up in the back, kinda like a corset. The skirt and the train had some simple beading and lace around the edge. It took about 15 minutes just to put on and lace it up, but once it was done, it fit perfectly. When I went in front of the mirror, I melted. I fell in love, head over heels in love. In my heart, I thought, 'This is the one!' The look on Fatima's face agreed, she loved it, too. I swear, I could have started crying right there if I wasn't so excited by the dress. I told the lady that this dress had just shot up to the #1 spot. She asked if I wanted to see it in the front room, where they had better lighting and a full length 3 paneled mirror. We went out to the front, and I stood on the little pedestal that they had, and looked in the mirror. She turned on the overhead light, AND I SPARKLED! I realized that the beading on the bodice was just what I wanted. It was gorgeous. I felt like a princess. The bodice, the train, the back, it was all perfect. She then brought out a tiara and veil and put it on, and it was magical. I don't know how else to describe it. I was on top of the world. Fatima got teary eyed, and my heart skipped a beat. Other customers came out from the back and remarked on how beautiful I looked. And I did. I looked and felt beautiful.

Of course, I had to practice dancing in my soon-to-be dress, and it looks like it will be able to handle my 'dangerous on the dancefloor' moves. I looked like the biggest dork, but I didn't care. Everyone got a good laugh from my cool moves. I was so excited. I'm STILL so excited. I love that dress.

Though it's a little pricey. But I'm going to work my ass off to get some extra money for it. I know I hate traveling, but if it's what I have to do, then I'll do it.

And I still have other dress fittings arranged. I might find something better. But those other dresses have a tough act to follow!

Ahh...

I'm so excited.

I'm getting married!

Well, contrary to popular belief, I'm here in Californnia for work. Yes, work. And boy, did I work yesterday. I started work at 6:30AM (yeah, it was pretty tough after that night of fun) and I had two training classes. The thing about having multiple training classes is that for the last class, I didn't remember if I had taught it to them or not. I asked them a couple times 'Did we go over this already?' My memory is awful. And I'll be teaching the same class 4 more times! I need to take notes while I train!

I was supposed to be done at 4, but the database that my program resides on seemed to have deleted half of the data. Of course, they thought it was my fault, since I was there, but it wasn't. But I tried helping out, but I was stumped, and prayed that it wasn't my program that did it. There were a few moments of panic for everyone. Fortunately, the person who caused the problem (not though my program) was able to fix it. Whew! Big load off my shoulders!

Well, I guess I thought I could keep it a secret til I was done with the revamping of the site, but I've been outed! I we