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December 31, 2005

Flying things

Earlier today Dan and I went to the Museum of flight. We had each been there before, but not together. If you know Dan at all, then you know that he loves planes (and trains and automobiles). With that being said, I am sure he will give a detailed post with actual facts about planes that we saw.

What he may accidentaly leave out is my favorite picture of the day, so here it is:



Doesn't he make a cute space man?

Posted by layla at 11:10 PM | Comments (1)

December 30, 2005

Couscous

Sure there plenty of delicious meals that take hours to make. Many nights there just isn't that much time to dedicate to dinner. Obvious options are not always that good for you. Couscous however is amazingly simple and quick to make. By itself it can be a bit boring, so I add random things. Here are some of the things that I add

It is very easy. Chop up whatever ingredients and cook them for a few minutes in a pot with olive oil. Once they are about halfway cooked add a cup of water. Bring to a boil and stir in a cup of couscous. Let it sit for 5 minutes and dinner is ready.

Oh, there is no picture because we were hungry. Since I make couscous and veggies almost once a week lately, maybe there will be a real photo later.

Posted by layla at 7:34 PM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2005

Kitty-cures

To tell you the truth I don't remember why I thought it was a good idea to try to file Aleph's nails. Any rational thought would clearly have pointed to that being a terrible idea. Regardless, the contrary turned out to be true — he likes it. That's right; Aleph likes to have his nails filed.




Ah, yes, kitty manicures.

Posted by layla at 9:20 PM | Comments (0)

December 28, 2005

Working out in the new year.

My New Year's resolution is not to work out more at all. It just so happens that my new gym membership happens to kick in on January first. The reason for the timing is that it is an optional benefit at work and like any place there are specific times of the year that benefits can be changed.

Anyway, the gym is quite amazing from what I hear. Since I have never been in the building I could go and get my tour before my membership kicks in, but I figure that it is so close that I might as well wait.

I feel so lazy — it has been a fairly long time since I have worked out. Yet, somehow I almost never find myself lounging around for more than a few hours a day. Who am I kidding, I am lazy and in need of the gym.

Oh yes, the most exciting part ... it is close enough to walk. Actually, it is so close that walking is faster than driving. This means that we can have coffee before the gym and then come home and get ready. Other than actually going to the gym, our schedules don't really have to change.

The only downfall is that it will be packed with the mob of New Year's resolution joiners.

Posted by layla at 7:30 PM | Comments (0)

December 27, 2005

Sales tax deduction

Since it is getting close to the end of the year I have been double checking to make sure that I have my finances in order for tax season. I recalled seeing an article at some point discussing the deduction of state sales tax. IRS publication 600 is what I had been thinking of. Obviously, I give absolutely no tax advice to anyone and you should read it yourself, but you basically have the option of deduction state income tax or state sales tax. This is particularly of interest to me because WA is a state which does not have state income tax. This may or may not be of use to people in states with state income tax, but it all depends on the person. It is probably worth reading the details and deciding which the better option is. I know it sounds difficult to calculate the amount of sales tax spent, but it is not always necessary to itemize.

Maybe this is common knowledge, but I suspect that it is something that should be common knowledge, but is not.

Posted by layla at 8:57 PM | Comments (0)

December 26, 2005

Home sweet home

It is great to be home. The kitties are just fine and very cuddly. Going and visiting friends and family is wonderful, but there is something calming about getting home. Hmm, I guess this means that Washington is truly home to me now. I can't say that it is new for me to feel at home here, but anyways, it is great to live in the place I call home.

Ok, enough rambling. I made green chili stew for dinner. Mmmm, stews and other tasty things like that just make me feel relaxed and at home as well.

For anyone with access to green chili and a desire to make some stew, here is how I make it:

Brown meat and chop all vegetables into small chunks. Layer the vegetables, then canned ingredients and the meat into a crock-pot. Cover with the broth. Cook until tender (6 hours).

Posted by layla at 7:09 PM | Comments (0)

December 25, 2005

Dry ice on Christmas

Other than people the only thing I typically miss about NM when I am away is green chili. So, Dan and I brought a cooler to NM to bring back filled with green chili. We called ahead and found out it was fine and the airline recommended dry ice to keep it cold.

We made sure to get green chili early in the trip to make sure that we would find some. Unfortunately, we didn't start our venture for dry ice early. We ended up calling at least a dozen grocery stores and convenient stores before finding one that was open and had dry ice. Note to self, everything really does close on Christmas.

I don't know how often people buy dry ice. It was actually funny; I think I confused a few people asking for it. One lady acted like I was crazy. I half expected her to tell me everything is already dry in NM. Once we did find the place that had some, it took them quite awhile to get it from the back. We also asked for 2lbs. and got 4.46lbs. mdash; which we were fine with because 2 was an arbitrary number anyways. Lucky for us the lady at the airline check-in counter trusted us when we said that we have 4lbs. because apparently the limit is 4.4lbs.

All told, the dry ice worked perfectly and green chili stew will be tomorrow’s dinner.

Posted by layla at 10:29 PM | Comments (0)

December 24, 2005

Canyon road walk

Dan's whole family came up to Santa Fe from Rio Rancho for Christmas Eve. We had dinner at Guadalupe Cafe with my mom. My favorite thing at Guadalupe Cafe is the stuffed chili filled with shrimp. It is basically a chili relleno but not breaded.

Anyways, after dinner we walked from the restaurant to Canyon road. It is a tradition (this was the 34th year) to walk along this road on Christmas Eve. All of the houses and galleries put farolitos and luminarios out for the walkers. The sidewalks are completely lines with paper bags with single light candles in each one. Many of the buildings also string lights. There are always several stands of people with hot cider and other tasty treats.

It was really nice to go down there because it has been years since I have gone on the walk before. Having great company never hurts either.

Posted by layla at 7:49 PM | Comments (0)

December 23, 2005

Friends and family

Dan met the majority of my family in one day. What made it crazy was that since it is the 23rd they weren't all in one place. We some how managed to spend time with my mother, brother aunt, uncle, grandmother and best friend. We have slowly been meeting all of the important people in the other's life. It has been really exciting for me to have the chance to allow those people to also meet Dan.

On this same day we also managed to have time to drive to Los Alamos and spend time with Mouser. I have been looking forward to meeting him for awhile since he seems neat and I know he is close friends with Dan. We had a great time playing arcade games and hanging out. It was much more relaxing than the earlier part of the day.

It was actually a bit odd meeting Mouser. Not for any reason that would be normal, but because I am sure I have been to his house before. No kidding, even driving up to his house, I told Dan that I had been to a party on his street. The house looked familiar from the outside, but I was sure of it once I went in. For the life of me I can't remember if it was my friend Beth or Kara who took me over there. I am sure it was one of them though. Oh well.

Crazy enough, that wasn’t the only little coincidence of the evening. Dan and I brought Mouser a little book and right after we handed it to him he went and handed us a strikingly similar book. The actual topics have very little in common, but the styles were remarkable close. From the size, shape, and paper type to the cute and witty content. The book Mouser gave us was the cat owner's manual. It is filled with cat care information but it is written as if the cat was an appliance. It's awesome.

Posted by layla at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)

December 22, 2005

Crossing the border

Wow, I know I have mentioned this before, but I am shocked when I get to NM every time. Literally, passing the Welcome to New Mexico it was obvious things had suddenly changed. Meters from the border, suddenly the traffic was insane. Don't get me wrong, there were not many cars at all. There were just crazy drivers mdash; slow cars in the left lane blocking the faster cars trying to pass on the right, people weaving all over. Clearly, they were each entitled to be first in line.

Then we stopped at a gas station and of course there was someone getting put into shackles. Being away from NM for so long I forget what becomes normal. Not one other state we drove through felt like that, nor did the driving patterns of people change as we drove more in NM.

Posted by layla at 2:07 PM | Comments (2)

Update on driving books

As mentioned Dan and I took a couple of audio books for our long drive. It turns out that the only book that we listened to in full was Freakonomics. I found it both eye opening and validating (assumptions). Nothing in the book was tremendously new information (aside from a few shockers), but it was a different perspective than those usually discussed.

Basically, if you want to know why crack dealers live with their moms, why some teachers cheat or what is really in a name, you should read or listen to the book. The book is full of intriguing facts and written to captivate ones interest.

Posted by layla at 7:00 AM | Comments (0)

December 21, 2005

Off to NM

In just a couple of hours Dan and I will be on our long drive to NM, where we will still drive more from town to town each day. My last few trips to NM have been met with anticipation, but this time I am the most excited for. Even with the long drive it should be fun. We have so many people to see in just a couple of days — it should be great!

I should still be able to post over the next few days, but if not I will take write my posts and then upload them when I get back.

Happy holidays!

Posted by layla at 3:23 PM | Comments (0)

December 20, 2005

Aren't we patient?

So, what is today, December 20th? Well Dan and I decided it was close enough to Christmas to give each other gifts tonight. Surely it is my fault we couldn't wait — I have been asking him when I could give him his for a few days now. Realistically it would be silly to take stuff to NM just to bring it back.

Dan got tickets for us to go to the Symphony (J.S. Bach's Suite No. 3 with Air on the G-string) in January after we get back into town. He got amazing tickets, in one of the close up boxes. I am so excited — I just love when we get to dress up and go out.

What can I say? We didn't wait and I'm glad *smile*.

Posted by layla at 8:01 PM | Comments (0)

December 19, 2005

Zzz time insead of zoom-zoom time

Since I would much rather be driving my new car than typing about it, I am not going to say much tonight. The other reason is that I am dead tired — likely from my sleepless night last night. We even lit a java-log, but that has not done anything towards keeping me awake.

What is my point? Haha, I don’t have one! So, here is another picture of my car:



I have one more day of work before my holiday vacation begins. Then Wednesday I have a huge list of things to get done. After that we will be out of here for a bit. There are plenty of useful things I could have done tonight (ahem, laundry), but instead I searched eBay all evening.

I have never before really used eBay. Now I am looking at things which I have no idea what they are just because they have the words Mercedes 250 in the description. I already have my first bid in for a set of hubcaps. I am missing one, so clearly I have to replace it. What can I say? This is the first car that I have had that is worth buying stuff for.

Posted by layla at 9:18 PM | Comments (1)

December 18, 2005

My new car

As Dan already alluded to, I have exciting news. I bought a wonderful car today. It's a 1971 Mercedes-Benz 250. Boy is it neat.

Here is the outside:



Here is the inside:



I have had news cars before. Sure they are reliable (most of them) and some are nice looking — they also cost a pretty penny. Having a classic-looking car has always seemed much more exciting. Wow, what a different feel. As for reliability, almost everything is in really great condition and the things that aren't Dan and I are going to fix. By Dan and I, I mean, that anything that I can't break I will help with, but he is doing the real work. Basically, if I didn't have Dan I would have been to scared to get a 35 year old car.

I must point out though, that I actually found this car, not Dan. This doesn't matter at all, but usually Dan is the one that can spot a neat car, before I even know what is going on. We spent all morning going through Craig's list. This pretty car is the only one that I found on my own that we added to the list to check out.

I just can't get over how great this little car is. Not to mention the smooth drive or the adorable buttons and knobs, it just feels great to drive. I am sure I will post more pictures once I have had it a bit longer in day light. As for now, I am going to go read my owners manual so I can figure out some of the mystery knobs.

Posted by layla at 7:36 PM | Comments (7)

December 17, 2005

Present-ing Aleph

Tonight Dan and I did all (well, most) of our Christmas gift wrapping. Since we are leaving in just a few days we have been trying to get as many things done as soon as possible. The gift wrapping went as expected. We sat around and talked as we messed with giant rolls of colorful paper, scissors, tape, ribbon and pens. Of course I had to cut the paper too small for one present — am I the only one that happens to?

Anyways, I found it utterly amusing when I taped a little gift tag on Aleph's head. He was so cute — he just continued looking up, trying to get it with his teeth. We quickly took it off. Later, Dan let me tape a bow to his head (since I promised to take it off as soon as it bothered him). He just sat there. Apparently bows are much better than tags. Oh, if I didn’t make it clear, the bow was on Aleph, not Dan, though I think Dan had a tag on his head from what I remember. Hehe.

You won't get a picture of Fifo with something taped to his head. He somehow just gently shook and it kept falling right off. I think he is too fuzzy. Oh well.

Posted by layla at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)

December 16, 2005

Driving books

As I am sure we have mentioned, Dan and I are driving to NM. The plan is to drive the 24 hours only stopping for gas and to switch drivers when needed.

For our journey we have books on tape mp3 player with radio casting. For our listening pleasure (thanks to recommendation) we have A Short History of Nearly Everything and Freakonomics. I don't know a huge amount about either, but based on what little bit I have heard I want to read listen to them.

Who knows if we will want to listen to them the whole way, but I think with just the two books we have 28 hours.

Posted by layla at 7:46 PM | Comments (7)

December 15, 2005

Going going...

Well, he is not quite gone, but Betta 2 will have a new home tomorrow. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, Betta 2 is a fish.

I will have had him for almost 8 months to the day. I remember when I got him (April 17th) because he was a center-piece at Jeff and Bonnie's wedding.

Anyways, since he has been living on a high self to stay safe from the cats, he doesn't really get an attention. I must clarify, Aleph and Fifo were always nice and like Betta 2. We trust them not to eat him, but they do enjoy drinking the water. Either way, I doubt the fish enjoys cat tongues in his bowl (and the cats should not eat fish poops).

The other big hassle is that we will be going out of town for a few days this holiday. It is hard to get someone to come to the house twice a day to feed him. So, today I sent out an email to my team asking if anyone would like to have him. With in moments, the guy across the hall said "I'll take your betta." So there it is — tomorrow he will have a new home. He will be missed when he is gone.

Posted by layla at 7:13 PM | Comments (8)

December 14, 2005

Update on the grass front

Thank you all for your comments before. You will be glad to know that Fifo has taken to eating grass!!!

The only change has been moving the square right near their food. I moved the patch in-between the food and the water dishes. It could also have just taken some time to get used to.

The point is that earlier tonight Fifo began chewing it. The chewing has continued. Aleph has not yet joined in, but we still have hopes for him.

Good kitties.

Posted by layla at 9:14 PM | Comments (4)

December 13, 2005

Kitties in things ...

Dan puts up with the things that I do pretty well. We will see how many things I can put the cats in before he makes me stop. Note that the kitties don't seem to mind at all. Here are a few examples:

Aleph in a Borders cape
Fifo in booties! Well, really he is just wearing my socks.
Technically, Fifo is not in an outfit.
Ah, what a lovely bag you are wearing.
Well, it looks like it is kitty nap time...

I am against little animal outfits for practical purposes (they have fur they do not need sweaters). Somehow dressing them in silly things is still fun. Before you go thinking that I am a big meanie — I love the kitties very much and they have fun when I play with them.

Posted by layla at 8:09 PM | Comments (2)

December 12, 2005

Grass is for eating

If you were a cat wouldn't you love to chew and eat this lovely grass? Imagine being an indoor cat without a yard and then one day a tiny little lawn of your own appeared. Wouldn't that be glorious?

A few days ago Whole Foods had kitty grass on sale for $1.99. As you can guess Dan and I purchased one (container not one blade of grass). Since then we have been trying so hard to get Aleph and Fifo to eat the grass. We have been successful in getting them to paw it or sit near it, but that is about all.

Things we have done to the grass to make it more appealing:

If you click on the image it will take you to more pictures; some of them even have kitties in them. So anyways, now we are left with a small square of grass in the middle of the floor. Does anyone have any suggestions of what would make grass more appetizing to a couple of cats?

Posted by layla at 10:10 PM | Comments (5)

December 11, 2005

Cars

Yes, you read the title right — cars. Before you jump to the conclusion that I have been brainwashed by Dan and have become a car enthusiast (well, maybe a little tiny bit) there is just a car show that I can't get enough of.

The show Top Gear is a show about cars. It is not a show that happens to have cars in it, but it is truly about cars and somehow I love it. The show is brilliantly produced and the stars of it are hilarious and always entertaining. Almost every time I watch it I stop and am impressed with how well it is shot. With the added bonus that I have Dan who can explain anything that I don't know (or give me extra little tips that make things more interesting) some of the car facts might even be sinking in as a side effect.

So, here is a bit about the show. It stars three guys: Jeremy Clarkson (very funny and my favorite), James May (the mild–mannered one), and Richard Hammond (cute in a boyish way). Keep in mind that this is a show from the UK and they have every bit of the accent to remind you the whole time. What more can I say about them other than they each have contrasting yet humorous personalities and they all have a lot of knowledge about cars (though they would each tell you the others know nothing)?

As for the general theme of the show, it is an hour long and is split across several different sections. There are always a few main cars that they evaluate in the show. What they do to test them out is a surprise each show (like racing a train, driving on a beach or even having grandmas drive them if they are old lady cars). The main car that is being looked at as the top pick gets races by the secret driver, the Stig. The Stig is a former (maybe still, I have no clue)race car driver and he can't show his identity. The cars he drives around the track then get to live in a list ranked based on time. The other timed race that is on every episode is the celebrity race. This is where some celebrity (who I usually have no clue who it is) has to race some crap-of-the-line car (the Suzuki Liana) to get on a separate list of fame. These are just a few of the fun little segments.

So, really, this post was not about cars, just about a car show.

Posted by layla at 6:57 PM | Comments (0)

December 10, 2005

Cat can

These pictures are already a bit old (note the lovely bright red timestamp) but they are still amusing. I am surprised that I have forgotten completely about them. Yes, that is a cat in a little can, or basket. That my friends, is Aleph sitting in the office trash can (used only for holding paper or kitties).

I remember the day vividly. I picked Aleph up and put him in the little basket. Naturally, I figured he would jump right out. I was wrong. He was quite content — he sat in that thing for a half hour. Note that he and his little sitting basket are in different places in the different pictures. He actually let us pick it up and carry him around in it. He just sat there, happy as can be.

Anyways, now you have seen a cat in a tiny metal waste basket.

Posted by layla at 10:20 PM | Comments (5)

December 9, 2005

Operating Systems

The past three days have been spent at work err in class I mean in a training class for work. The class was very well taught by David Solomon — yes, he wrote the book on it (well, co-authored it with Mark Russinovich). Amongst many things taught, we were shown several tools. One of the tools that we used a lot is called Process Explorer. This tool allows you to look at pretty much everything that is going on in the system.

Just using the application in its default mode is useful, but that is only the beginning. As expected, the columns are completely customizable and will show you pretty much any bit of information that you need. I plan on using this tool for everything from debugging my own applications and troubleshooting third-party applications issues to just learning more about the system.

Getting a clearer view of what is going on at every phase of, well pretty much anything that is actually going on in the system, has made me even more impressed by Windows.

Posted by layla at 8:23 PM | Comments (0)

December 8, 2005

Blog worth reading

This post, by Eric Sink, was a really interesting read about bugs, testing and software quality in general.

It is good, but long for a post — if you have some free time it is worth the read. Actually everything I have read of his has been worth reading (imo). If you need a bit more to go on before you are willing to click, well, I am not going to give you anything else at the moment, sorry.

Posted by layla at 8:08 PM | Comments (0)

December 7, 2005

Engadget meeting

So, I somehow missed the original announcement that that engadget is having an open meeting tomorrow the 8th.

I am actually a bit tired and drained today. I hadn't even looked at my normal feeds. So I first saw this linked by Robert Scoble. After seeing his latest post I scrolled down (to my engadget feed on live.com) and sure enough, the announcement was right there.

If I had free time tomorrow and felt better, I would consider going over to seattle to check it out. Even if I had found out sooner, I have no real reason to go other than it would be neat. It is still a great feeling that I live close to exciting things (unlike some places I have lived).

Posted by layla at 7:56 PM | Comments (0)

December 6, 2005

Now I see the light

Every once in awhile someone does something that makes me ask (to myself) how have they gotten this far in life without knowing x or understanding y? I am not talking about random acts of stupidity, but really missing common sense knowledge. I am sure you all know what I am talking about — those things that make you wonder what planet someone has been vacationing on for their entire life. Even though it is hard not to think people are idiots when something really trivial is not known, I try to be nice.

It makes me feel a little bad though — especially because I know there must be times when people think that about me. On more than one occasion I have wondered if people thing I am clueless often and how would I know. Basically, wondering if I would know when a moment of this type of cluelessness was caused by me.

Well, I think it happened today.

Everyone knows (haha there I go assuming, but really you know) that there is a tab on rearview mirrors in cars that adjusts the mirror. Now does everyone other than me know what the real purpose of that is? I kid you not I thought that it was just there for moving the mirror without completely changing the position. The scenarios that I had assumed were things like: putting on makeup, looking at things in the backseat, or adjustments between a tall and short driver who uses the car.

Wow, so I was wrong. For anyone else who is clueless like me, the rearview mirror is actually quite neat. There are multiple mirrors and the tilt allows you to look through the mirror in a way which diffuses the light — for driving at night. The light is actually reflected of one mirror on to the other which causes the lights to be dimmed, thus not hurting your eyes. Or something like that (I don't actually know what I am talking about). It still seems a little odd to see the backseats and the headlights behind me at the same time, but it works.

So, now I have to ask if this is really common sense or a neat feature that somehow isn't used by many?

Posted by layla at 9:48 PM | Comments (9)

December 5, 2005

What's a girl to do?

Though I am not all about the mentality of oh she is a female — we must give her a job, it is only fair I am completely for things that girls can learn or do to become more respected in the work place. Last night I purchased a book from Amazon1 called Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office

Really, it is not just women that need to consciously look at how they act in situations and where those actions might lead. I for one am a strong believer that if you want something it is your responsibility to get it. Though just doing my job the way it feels naturally could quite possibly lead me down a path of wonderful success, I would rather pay attention on my journey.

I don't think I get treated differently at work because people perceive me differently for being a woman, but I do think that there are things that I do, as a woman, that are different than the men that I work with. There are other things that I do which I find have very close similarities to actions of the males around me. Some intersection of these traits contains the things that I would like to either improve on by changing them or by focusing more on. Either way, my next step will be to read my new book and see if there are things that I don't already notice about myself and then evaluate each as to whether I see it as an asset or hindrance.

1 Amazon's personal recommendations for me were awesome! Every single one was a CS type of book. I wonder what my latest purchase will cause.

Posted by layla at 7:41 PM | Comments (0)

December 4, 2005

Congratulations

In the last two nights (more last night than Friday) I have seen more trophy wives (or future trophy wives) than ever before in my life. Don't get me wrong — I have nothing against that. The men and women both seem to be just as happy about it, but wow.

It does however remind me why I think there are so few women in many types of jobs. For simplicity I am going to say techie jobs. This is not even going to touch whether stay home jobs can be more difficult or if some non-technical job is more work or even women who give up their jobs ... this is just about one little reason I happen to think contributes to why there are less women in the field that I work in. Sure there are many of us girls that are drawn to the technical work, but it seems to me like there are many more that are drawn to a man that does the technical work.

There were lots of women at the party last night (hundreds). Many seemed technical, many did not. That is not where I drew my line guessing which was a trophy wife. It was all about how they acted. Don’t get me wrong they (the ones I met) are very nice, but yea, what more can I say. It just seems like until more women chose to be professional instead of going man hunting, then I don't see why there should be some push for an equal number of women and men in particular fields. There may not be many of us girls in some technical jobs, but the ones who are have done the same work as the guys and have earned being there. I think the low number is just because a low number tried.

Posted by layla at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

December 3, 2005

One down, one to go

My time is rarely spent out in a party mode. Sure I go out and about — out to dinner or for a drink or two. In general though, two nights in a row of going out fairly late has become very unusual. So, back-to-back holiday parties are a pretty big deal. Wow, I sound so old.

Anyway, last night turned out to be quite fun. And yes, I wore a dress and I plan to wear another tonight. The party was at the Sci-Fi museum and it was my whole group from work who attended. I knew almost everyone (well at least 1/2 of each couple), unfortunately I did far less mingling than I had wanted to. I wasn't anti-social, but after eating seeing the museum and hanging out with the people I know the best, I just didn't get a chance to talk to everyone. No biggie though, it was fun and that is what counts. I must also mention dinner, primarily because it was very tasty and compliant with my wacky eating issues1. Other than the rolls I think I could eat everything served. What a rare treat to eat out and not have to feel ultra picky.

As for tonight, well, it is getting close to time for me to get ready for party number two. I am actually a bit more excited about this one. Not only is this event much bigger with really elaborate events, but it is neat to be going to Dan's party. Sure going to a party where I know everyone is great, but I have to admit seeing some people made me think about work. Tonight I get to just completely enjoy. It is also great to know that I will get to meet more of Dan's work friends. He always makes me feel that he is proud of me when he introduces me to people so I am never scared to meet people with him. I guess I should go get ready then. It is so much fun to have places like the symphony hall to get dressed up for.

1No flour, artificial sweeteners, or added sugar.

Posted by layla at 6:03 PM | Comments (0)

December 2, 2005

Dresses are cold

It snowed here yesterday. I have nothing against snow nothing against areasonable amount of snow for a short duration (days and weeks: ok — months: no). For almost every reason I think it is wonderful that the first of December brought a white dusting across town. Except for the fact that I have plans to wear a dress tonight and tomorrow night.

It is not that uncommon for me to wear a dress on the weekend, but it is very rare for me to have somewhere to go where I really should wear one. Dan and I have two company Holiday parties to go to. They should each be really fun. Since Dan and I work in different groups, things like these parties are handled differently. They both have the same base setup though — each employee can bring one guess and everything is free (food, drinks, parking, entertainment...). The party tonight is the one for my group and will be much smaller than the one tomorrow (order of magnitude possibly). They each have completely different events planned.

The invite for tonight specifically mentions attire and a cocktail dress is perfect1. Sure I don't have to wear a dress but I want to look cute and well, everyone else will be wearing one. Dan's org's party lists semiformal as the appropriate attire. There will be a symphony and swing dancing. Not that I am actually planning on dancing, but just in case it won't fell right in pants.

Though I have a few, I still don't wear dresses all that much and truth be told I can't remember the last time I wore one when it was cold. There is snow on the ground but my plan is still to wear a dress. Hmm, I may have to pick a slightly longer one.

1 Unless you are into dressing up in SciFi costumes. That is the other option for tonight — to fit the location, not just because we are all dorks.

Posted by layla at 7:27 AM | Comments (0)

December 1, 2005

Buying a Barbie

Sure, Barbie represented the anorexic body that almost no one really has. She also had bendy knees. Regardless, I remember Barbie dolls always being pretty and princess like. Of course she had a million outfits — one for every occasion and every profession.

Wow have things changed. As I mentioned before, one of the gifts from the giving tree that I picked was a Barbie doll. What could be easier to find? So, with exuberant enthusiasm we went to Toys-R-Us to find a sweet present for a little four-year-old girl.

My gosh, what has happened to Barbie. It literally took us a ridiculous amount of time to find a doll that was not some dumb celebrity, a fairy, creepy, or just downright wrong1 — very wrong2. Someone please save us all.

So, some of this is kind of funny, but it is bothersome when you stop and think about it. Most of the dolls in the store were worse than the ones I found pictures of. I remember it being a big deal that Barbie wasn't realistic enough. How is keeping her skinny but turning her into a tank-top and mini-skirt wearing doll better? I am all for having every option out there, but it made me sad that it was really hard to find a Barbie that I felt okay giving to a young girl — one in a sparkly long dress. That last picture is the actual doll that I bought. Yay! I found one.

1 At least they show what could happen.
2 Yep, that is a RuPaul doll.

Posted by layla at 9:33 PM | Comments (2)

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