• Opinion

    Under the Weather

    Side effects. We’ve all had ’em. You start a new drug or maybe a diet and BAM! – all of a sudden you’re dizzy or hungry or tired or have the ability to levitate. Ok, I haven’t seen any evidence of the last one but I don’t want to limit the discussion. The problem is, no one really likes side effects (although if the levitation is available, I’m interested). They’re the unexpected, and generally unwanted, elements that come from trying to get something you DO want. You want to get rid of migraines and you end up with insomnia. Or you want to be able to meet a nice a…

  • Opinion,  Storytime

    National Pride

    On a snowy morning in April, my Canadian-born mother and American-born father struggled through the final hours of labor. At 7:35am on April 5th, I was born in a small apartment in Belleville, a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For five years my family moved: in and out of three Canadian cities and two provinces, until finally, shortly before I entered kindergarten, my father was offered a transfer. My dad was an employee of the Toronto-based Northern Telecom (later known as Nortel) and he and my mom jumped at the opportunity to try a warmer climate and better cost of living. We moved to Nashville, Tennessee. I have not lived…

  • Updates

    Fall Frolicking

    Well, I still feel bad about having dropped my class but there’s no doubt in my mind that was the solution for me. Things have been much easier without a class to worry about, although I do still owe my professor a project from the Spring. But I am good at procrastinating and having flexibility does wonders for my mood– so much less stress! Really makes me not want to go back to grad school, too… The last few nights I’ve just been home, doing laundry and watching TV. Sure, I still work from home, check email, update Drupal etc., but it’s easier now that I don’t get home at…

  • Storytime

    The Brain Bone is connected to the Mouth Bone

    I have lost the ability to communicate recently. It may have been going for sometime now but it’s reached epically bad proportions recently. Have you ever been thinking one thing but your mouth says something else? Today, while walking to get coffee with the new web guy (who will hopefully make my work life much easier) we were talking about my new TV and the possibility of TiVo etc. I was thinking: “I got DVR the second it came out, back when it was the dirty little secret of cable. I love my DVR!”. … but what I said was (oh god. So mortifying)… “I love you”. Naturally I just…

  • Updates

    Random Updates

    Progress EnergyApparently I wasn’t the only one with power problems in my area. Progress Energy came out and tore up the cables for everyone in my row of townhouses and then kindly put down grass seed in the area where I’d just finished killing the grass. On the plus side, my power hasn’t flickered in the slightest since then so (knock on wood) I think things might be fixed! Bedroom SetIt’s GORGEOUS! The biggest problem now is that I don’t want to get up in the morning because it’s so pretty and comfy! Yeah! Valentine’s Day & Weight WatchersIt took me a couple days to get over it this year.…

  • General Information

    Be mine!

    Oh good it’s that Hallmark-hyped holiday again. Sweet Valentine’s Day, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways… Months of candy and hearts to remind us the day is coming The mass of crappy romantic movies on every channel for the entire week The kind inquiries by friends who suddenly remember you’re single The rude inquiries by creepy people who suddenly remember you’re single The wondering if you’ll still be single this time next year I could keep going but you might think I’m bitter and depressed so I won’t. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.

  • General Information

    Back in the saddle? What’s a saddle?

    Why don’t guys make the first move anymore? It may just be me, but it seems like an awful lot of hints- or more than hints- have to be dropped before anything happens. There used to be a mandate on these things. If it wasn’t a “Sadie Hawkins” thing (and who the hell was she to rock the boat anyway?) then the guy always did the asking. Maybe I’m traditional, or maybe I just have a vibe that says “don’t ask me out” but things seem really difficult these days. My roommate, let’s call her Emily, has just broken up with her boyfriend a month ago and already she’s found…

  • General Information

    Movie Love

    In honor of Valentine’s Day I thought I’d ignore the twelve steps and take a moment to discuss love in movies. Movies are largely responsible for our idea of what love should be, despite the fact that they’re rarely accurate to real life. The best example I’ve thus far seen is what I call the “end of movie coupledom moment”. Have you ever noticed that at the end of these romantic movies the couples seem to always end up in the middle of a city, kissing passionately in some public place? It’s almost always outside and everyone stops to smile at them or has to walk around them. I’m not…

  • General Information

    I’d rather be single than settle

    An excerpt from a book by Jen Schefft ‘Better Single that Sorry’ explains perfectly how I feel about being single. Absolutely perfectly.Readers of this blog hear me complain, a lot, about being single, but this is where I come to do that complaining. I truly enjoy the lack of accountability, freedom and simplicity of being single. Almost all the time.