Come on, Yahoo!

Since when do I suddenly receive actual SPAM through my Yahoo! account?

Before this year, the only spam type stuff I received was from companies that I'd done business with and had given my email address to in order for them to contact me about my order. At least those ones, I'd requested their contact. That I receive spam from them? Meh. At least, with Jo-ann fabrics, I get coupons along with the ad-spam.

Now suddenly, I'm getting things like [my email addy] Hey!; [mema] job positions!; [mema] Look!! and they're getting through Yahoo!'s filter, skipping my spam folder, and going right to my regular in-box. Considering that one of the reasons I got the Yahoo! account in the first place was that they promised no spam unless you'd signed up for it from X company, I find this to be very annoying.

I'm also wondering if it's because they have my email addy right there in the title. Then again, that thought makes me wonder if some weirdo's targeting me specifically, or if they're using some weird program to automatically attach people's email addresses into the description line of the email.

Regardless, I find this very annoying. Maybe I should see if something in the policy changed. :/

Its the most dangerous time of the year.

Easter is coming up. This is a bad thing. Not that I don't like the holiday or religion its associated with; I'm just fine with the religion, actually, so long as the participants don't try to shove their beliefs/the way they interpret their beliefs down my throat.

The problem is, I like chocolate. And I like jelly beans. Outside of chocolate, I think jelly beans may very well be my favorite candy. I like Brachs the best; they're the ones I grew up with, though, so that may be expected. Peeps? Not so much. I don't like the gritty sugar coating on them, so don't normally buy them.

The main thing is, even with some self-restraint, I'm most likely going to start sugar overdosing, because of all the candy that's only available this time of year. Not that I'm going to try making a giant Cadbury's Cream Egg or anything (I don't have the egg mold yet, for one thing), but this is still not going to end well.

Easter candy is already out on the shelf, and the holiday is more than a month away. I think this is going to be the biggest test on my resolve to change my eating habits. ^^;

Yay, photo?

Well, finally got off my butt and took a photo of myself, both for use herein and on Facebook. I'm sure my sister-in-law will hate it and demand another be taken, but meh.

Naturally, it's going to be a bad image - I took it myself, while holding the camera. ;)

On the plus side, I didn't have to upload the image to a website in order to upload it here. That's a nice thing. :)

in addition to uploading an image of myself, I've also changed my profile a bit. *shrug* Not sure if it was necessary or not, but changed some information anyway.

Attack of the flowers!

Well, one thing I forgot about before I went and tool my scheduled days off - we got the Hyacinths in before I left. Now that I'm back, they're blooming.

Don't get me wrong; hyacinths are lovely flowers, with a wonderful scent. It's just, the scent is very strong. One or two, that I can handle. But, the more plants you add, the stronger the scent gets, and the more powerful, and the less they smell all that good. So, yeah. Fifteen of the suckers? Not a good thing.

Within five minutes of getting up to the front counter to get a radio, I knew the hyacinths were blooming. And I though, "Wow, that's a nice scent." And then the full power of these plants hit me, and I started sneezing, and my eyes itched (honestly, it was only the right eye; not sure what's up with that). The next thing I knew, I had a headache. Not just any headache - the kind that feels like someone is pounding a nail through your brain, about two inches past where the pain from a sinus headache is, and it went along my entire head to the back of my neck.

It got to the point where I was actually sucking on Hall's cough drops, not because I needed it, but because with the menthol taking over my nose and mouth, I didn't smell the hyacinths as much.

The crazy thing is, I didn't react like this to them last year; not this badly, anyway. the year before that wasn't a bother, and the year prior, I don't remember reacting to them at all. So, it's like my allergy to them is getting worse and worse every year. That, or we're going to have one heckuva pollen count this year. O_o

I'm not the only one in the store that's allergic to them, either. Half of the cashiers are. Brian in hardware is, Michelle, the department head of garden, refuses to have them in any quantity in her department.

I'll be very golad when it gets warm enough outside that we can move these plants out there. One things for sure - I'm gonna see about picking up some pain medication before going to work tomorrow morning.

I wonder - if I got enough people in the store to sign a petition, do you think we could have the buying office stop having us get these plants in? :D

Yeah, probably not. :(

Some answers are better than none.

I was able to contact St. Cloud State and received some answers to my questions. Some of them, anyway.

First off, as Akita Daigaku is/was considered a different entity, I would indeed have to apply for admission to St. Cloud State in order the attend classes there. This isn't too bad, since the application fee is only $20.I've actually printed it out already, I just need to fill it out.

Financially, I have to send in official copies of my transcripts from previous schools along with my application (or rather, have the schools send them in), and they'll go over how many of my credits can transfer, then determine what grade level I would be. For example, if they determine that 60 of my credits would apply, then I'd be a junior.

It will also be a good idea for me to call the department specifically and speak with one of the advisers in the education department. I would be able to see what is required, and get the information I need to continue with what I want to do.

Application will be filled out tonight, and I plan on both calling my old school to have them mail out an official transcript and St. Cloud State to speak with an adviser tomorrow afternoon, once I'm off of work.

The "hmm" of the moment

Or wanting to teach, anyway.

I've been looking at prospective schools to go to in order to get a teaching degree, then move onto teaching high school math. From what I can tell, it looks like I have to get a teacher's degree for grade school before I'd be able to get certification for high school. I'm currently looking at 3 prospective schools - the University of MN, which I'm rather close to, St. Thomas, which I'm also close to, and St. Cloud State, which is about an our away. Of these three, the last looks to be the least expensive, at about $220 per semester credit, as opposed to, oh, $500-650 per semester credit.

This has also opened a bunch of questions in my mind.
-I already have some history with St. Cloud State, as they're the school I went through to take a semester at Akita Daigaku in Japan. Would I still need to apply?

-I'm currently on Financial Aid probation with my current school, because I have too many credits for any of their programs; would I still be on this if I go to St, Cloud State or another college?

-With my current credits, how do I stand with what I would need to take for the basic degree? What would I need to take?

-Most importantly, since I was already kinda-enrolled there, am I able to see or speak with a student counselor at the school?

I'm going to make a few calls to the school tomorrow, and see what I can find out. :)

Facebook

Well, I'm on Facebook. Have been for about 6 months now.

And, I have no idea what I'm doing on it!

I guess it's kind of like a blog on steroids, or a cross between and blog and twitter. At least, that's the way it seems to me. I already have both of those; not sure I see the point of doing it with both combined. :/

Still, it enables me to get in touch with some of my high school friends. Which is both good and bad - good, because I can find out what they're up to. Bad, because I can't remember the names of half of them! *^_^*

Of Valentine's Day and Boyfriends Past.

Well, another Valentine's Day has come and gone. Now that it's over, hopefully my depression will recede a bit. I actually felt a bit like Charlie Brown (from Peanuts) usually does at this time of year - "I know no-one likes me [romantically] - does there have to be a holiday to rub it in?"

I have been without a boyfriend now for... about nine years, I think. I have had one steady boyfriend in my life, during college, and I'm not entirely certain I could really call him a ""steady" boyfriend, considering all the times we broke up and got back together. He was the first guy who ever asked me out, though, so maybe I cut him more slack than I should have.

Let's see... How many excuses did he come up with to break up.
-My older brother wasn't protesting the relationship enough.
-I didn't care about my appearance enough (this one came after he'd seen me around campus wearing my optivisor, which I'd become so used to wearing that I'd forget it was on when the lenses weren't down).
-I was too stupid for him (and the only reason I didn't slap him and get out of his car after that one is because the light we were at turned green).
-I'm not "his type" (which is to say, I'm blond-ish and he likes black hair, and I'm white instead of Japanese).
-I was "too nice."
-I'm too tall (read again, not a cute little Japanese girl).

Then there was the last time he broke up with me - he just called and told me he wanted to break things off, as they weren't going anywhere (which isn't a shock, he'd spent more time with his guy-friends than with me, then went to Japan for a few semesters). Around a week before his birthday, which was just oh-so-nice of him. Because his birthday is February 11. Which means he broke up with me not-quite two weeks before Valentine's Day. (The last time he'd given me a Valentine's Day gift was for the year we started dating - 1999, I think. He gave me a large stuffed puppet frog and was holding it with a rose in it's mouth, then took me out for dinner. I'd have been happy with a tulip and a regular sized-chocolate bar, along with some time together; I told him this. Since then were were usually broken up for the months around Valentine's Day.) After Valentine's Day, the group of us (we were in the same DnD group at the time) got together, partially to hang out and watch Anime and partially to celebrate his birthday, and his best friend at the time (who had been actively trying to break us up by monopolizing said ex-boyfriend's time (which I'd say he succeeded at), since he didn't have a girlfriend) casually glanced at me then asked him how he was doing. Well, he was great! He'd been the most wonderfully stress-free for the last two weeks, it was awesome.

It took a lot of effort to not cobber him with a pillow. -.-'

And those were just the reasons I remember.

Now, he did have some basis for considering me stupid - he's a computing major. I know very little about programing and upkeep on computers, having majored in Jewelry Manufacture and Repair; there really wasn't any reason for me to take a course on how computers work beyond the basics. Certainly no reason for me to know programming languages. I had no need to know what kernels and binary and all that crap was. I certainly wasn't as bad as some people, though - I knew the CD-ROM tray in a computer was not a coffee holder, for example. I knew how to turn the things on, I used word processors and played some games on them. My first computer I ever used was an Apple II+ that we played games on, complete with a 5x5 floppy drive, when I was a kid. I still have the disks, actually; just no computer to run them on, as Dad got rid of it. I just had no interest in finding out how they function beyond knowing their basic components (hard drive, motherboard, CPU, drivers, etc.). Because of this, he considers me stupid.

He did try to get back together with me a few years ago, actually, via IM. I reminded him that I wasn't his type and he'd be better off trying to find some Asian girl. He agreed with me, then went to take more semesters in Japan. That really should tell me something about his own intelligence, I think. :/

Don't get me wrong, there have been people who have asked me out; no dates came from them, though, much less a relationship. One guy asked me out at work, while I was still in college, and I actually gave him my cell phone number. Which he called at midnight, drunk as a skunk, and left a message asking me what I was doing. The next time he called me was a few months later, and he refused to tell me why he wound up in jail for a bit. Needless to say, I didn't call him back. Changed my phone number, actually (bought a new phone, so~). Aside from that, there was the new coworker who asked me out - he was baby-faced, looked maybe twenty and claimed to be in his mid-forties. Yeah, someone in her mid-twenties really wants to date a forty-something that looks younger than her. Uh-huh.

Aside from that, there's the usual lot of guys who flirt with you on the job, but all of them have been in the 40-60 age range. Or the kind that's obviously wanting you between their sheets, and I've no interest in that. It's rather a turn-off, actually. I don't want a one-night stand, I want a relationship! Is that really so much to ask?

Apparently, yes. :/

Should be peaceful.

One of the things that I am looking forward to for this summer is taking a nice long vacation. For about two weeks, I just want to get out of the city, and get away from my job for awhile.

It's my hope that I will be able to go somewhere without my parents for awhile, and be by my lonesome for a bit. I'd like to bring my crafting materials with me (which is to say, either the yarn, the beads or both, but nothing else.)

I will also be taking my computer with me, but since I don't have wireless drivers on my laptop, I won't have internet access. This should make it a lot easier to get some actual work done. And since I have quite a bit of my music on my computer's hard drive, I won't be without songs I like.

I can think of much worse summer vacations to take, and so am looking forward to this.

Not quite sure when I'd be going though. Probably sometime between June and July; if I'm lucky, I can avoid the neighborhood noise of people setting off their own fireworks. On the other hand, that weekend is also primo vacation time, so with my luck the area would be rather crowded. :/ That, and there's no guarantee I'd be able to get the time off from work that weekend. Probably better to go sometime in June, then. :)

Need a vacation

So, I put in for some vacation time while at work today. Specifically, I put in for seven days off, which will use 3 days of my vacation time.

Meaning, two scheduled days off, three vacation days off, and two scheduled days off again.

I had it approved by my department manager and turned it in to the scheduler before I left (which is to day, I put it in her mailbox, since she wasn't in today), so now all I have to do is wait to see if I actually get the time off or not. (Just because I put in for it doesn't mean I actually get it.)

So, in about three weeks or so, I'll have some time off. What do I plan to do with said time off?

Sewing projects. Crafting projects. Cleaning projects. Though honestly, I might skip that last one. ^^;

Still it's going to take time to get all of my fabric sorted through and the clothing made, so I might as well take some time off to do it. :)

New Glasses! Woo!

I love my insurance. I really do.

This is the second time getting new glasses that I either paid nothing for them, or very little for them. And all it took was upgrading my vision plan from the basic to the premium back about three years ago. I was finally able to get a new prescription and new glasses for the first time in nearly four years.

Last time, not-quite-exactly two years ago, I wound up having to go to Vision World, as my insurance (at the time) did not support my usual place, which was Lens Crafters.

It's an interesting contrast, both in terms of service and doctors.

Has the prescription done by their in-house optometrist. He did not use those numbing drops, saying they were not necessary. He also was able to tell me my prescription hadn't changed much, I went out to look at frames, but none of the clerks offered to help, nor did they come over to find ask if I was finding everything okay. Since I'm blind without my glasses, I need to have someone there to help me, even if it's just the clerk; otherwise, I have no idea whether the glasses look good or not. So, this wasn't a lot of help. A few days later, I went in with a coworker who was determined to help me find glasses that actually looked good on me. We went through quite a few of the frames, and finally chose a wire-rim, rectangular frame set in a very dark purple.

Did all the paperwork, they ordered the glasses, and I had to wait 2 weeks for them. This, I was not used to. Vision World doesn't have an on-site lab (at least, not the location I went to), though, so I had to wait for the frames to be sent out and come back. This really wasn't too bad; just something I wasn't used to. *shrug*

Alas, when I picked up my glasses, they neglected to tell me that I cannot use Windex to clean them any more - they just tried to sell me some of their cleaning stuff. Since I'd been using Windex to clean my glasses for years, I passed on it. So, it took a couple of months, but around about last year I suddenly noticed I was getting a crack in the right lens. Had no idea why; I hadn't used 409 on them (which I already know is a no-no), and didn't think they'd been bent at all, so couldn't figure it out. It was a small crack, though, and since Vision World did not warrant the glasses, I decided to just live with it.

Well, couple of months ago the crack started getting longer. And then I noticed two other cracks next to each other starting to form on the left lens. I put up with them for a few more months, then last week decided I had enough and checked my covereage for replacement lenses. This resulted in checking who I could go to now, and lo and behold - Lens Crafters was now on the list.

So I stopped in last week, between all the fabric runs I made, and spoke with one of the clerks. I didn't have my card on me, but she was able to pull up my information, and determined that it would cost me more to get replacement lenses than it would to get new glasses. I didn't have my prescription from Visions World with me, though, so I didn't even bother looking. The lady told me they can use a prescription if it's less than two years old; after that, it's best to have your eyes checked again.

At work the next day, I called Vision World, and asked if they could fax me a copy of my prescription, as I could not find it. I remembered to check the fax machine before I left, and it was there. I am lucky. My last prescription was done on 2-15-08 - I had just over a week to spare.

So after work I went back to Lens Crafters, and the lady (a different one this time) helped me find new frames. Now, I had specific ideas for frames in mind - I likes how the rectangular ones looked, but I had a problem with them. When I drive, I keep my head level, and don't normally tilt my head to look down at the speedometer - I just move my eyes. And I found out the hard way that I have to reposition my head (and therefore be a bit uncomfortable) when driving so I actually have the speedometer in focus when driving. So, I wanted something the same general shape, but with a deeper bottom, specifically so I could look down and actually see the speedometer in the car. Also, since my insurance would cover frames up to $150, I wanted something in that range, and not in gold (gold washes me out, so I don't wear it; why should my glasses be gold toned if none of my jewelry is?). I also wanted to avoid having a wide leg, so I can see into my blind spot without any trouble while driving, and didn't want anything with a name brand printed on it.

So, we looked around for a bit, and there were some promising ones, but nothing that really worked. there were some good ones from DKNY, but they also had the brand name printed on the sides in large letters, so I didn't want those. Some nice floral ones, ones with rhinestones. We finally drifted over to the clearance area, and she pulled out a set with teal frames, slight liquid-y decoration on the stems, more oval lenses that were deeper than my previous pair. And she thought they looked good on me. We tried the other two colors, but the teal looked best. They fit all of my criteria, so I went with those.

Then it came to the lenses themselves. We basically went with what I had the last time, which was polycarbonate with anti-scratch and anti-reflective coatings. And she proceeded to let me know, yeah, they changed Windex, it's got ammonia in it know, and the new polycarbonate used for lenses are allergic to ammonia. In addition, the ammonia will also strip the coatings off. Being told this was good - I did not know the polycarbonate formula had changed. But a few interesting things that this lady did which the lady who placed my glasses or at Vision World did not - she measured the center of my eyes, to make sure they'd align properly, and she marked on the faux lenses the frames had in them where my eyes are when I'm looking strait ahead, then input the distances of those marks from the frame edges into the computer. The downside was, they were out of stock on the version they would need for my glasses, so once again, I had to wait to get them.

But they called my this morning, and I picked my glasses up this afternoon. I had them adjusted, the lady put smaller pads on them, and I can now see the speedometer without tilting my head or sitting uncomfortably. They are a wee bit blurry, but my last pair was too. The lady who adjusted my glasses to fit told me that since the prescription was so old, it's possible my astigmatism has changed. She suggested trying them for a few days, and if I want, I can have my eyes re-examined, and if the prescription is different, they'll replace the lenses for free if it's within... I think she said 3 months, but it might have been thirty days.

I can tell you that my eyes are definitely changing to adjust to this set of glasses; they're a bit tense. these new glasses are definitely larger than the last pair, so I'm back to looking a bit owlish, but I can see again, so I'm good. ^^ d~

Woot!

I love fabric store moving sales. :) Seriously.

The Jo-Anne Fabrics store closest to where I live is moving about a block to a much larger location. This means they're selling all of their stock at discount.

The clearance fabrics are all 75% off of the clearance price. This means if the fabric is red-tagged $4 a yard, you pay $1 a yard for it.

Everything else (regardless of whether or not it's already on sale because of the ad) is also an additional 33% off. So, if something is already marked down 30% because of the add, you get an additional 33% off of that price. For example, if something's original price is $3.99 a yard, the advertised sale price would make it $2.79 a yard, then you get the 33% off on top of that, making it $1.87 a yard. If you happened to buy the last of the bolt, you got 50% off instead of 33%, which would make a fabric of the same original $3.99 cost a mere $1.40 a yard. Most of the patterns are 40% off, and they're also selling their fixtures.

So, instead of using all my Federal tax rebate to help pay off debt, I've been shopping for fabric to use to make into shirts and pants so I have more clothing to wear to work. I am now done shopping, as I'm out of "expendable" money, but I definitely have fabric to make into work clothes. I spent $138.4 on 24 cuts of fabric and two patterns, but have saved $284.67 in the process. With the way patterns are priced, the one McCalls I bought (pants/jeans) would have been $16.95 all by itself, and the Burda (dress pattern) would have been $9.95; after the discount I paid $16.17 for the two of them, so it's like I bought the McCalls and got the Burda for free. Also included in that total is a few beads and findings - a double strand of light-blue dyed MOP, a package of floral clasps, and a bag of glass (?) pendants. Not a bad haul, I think. ^-^

My only disappointment (aside from being out of money at the moment, since they still have fabric I like) is that one of the fabrics I found that I wanted for a dress turned out to be demarcated for scarves - every 24-30 inches, there was a white border with a black dotted cutting line through it. I've been thinking of going back for it anyway (it's one of the $4 red tag clearance ones), and seeing if I can make a carefully cut-out shirt out of it. It's possible that it might work. Another issue is I'd love to get some of their displays (like a cart of wire racks) for use when selling stuff at conventions, but don't have the space, and wouldn't be able to use it for at least a year, so it's a moot point anyway.

Now, the quandary: I lost 11 pounds last month, and continue in my quest to loose the extra pounds I'm currently carrying. Do I make the clothing now, or wait until later in the year? O_o

Light side/Dark side

Light side: I lost 11 pounds last month! :D
Dark side: I now need to use a belt to hold my pants up. :(

This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't consider belts to be rather uncomfortable in general. This is unfortunately more true for the new pair of pants my Mother made for me, in that they don't have belt loops across the first 10 inches of the pants. This means there's nothing to keep the belt in place in front, so the pants slide down, and the belt stays put. A belt in the gut is not comfortable, any more than a snap or button in the belly button is.

I do, however, fine it amusing that I can now take my store-bought pants off without having to undo the button or zipper. The down side of this is that this means the only thing really holding them up without a belt is either a tucked in shirt and/or the slight rolls of fat I still have on my hips. O_o Yes, this is both amusing and gross at the same time.

Things I have recently learned

The time I need the transfer cable for my camera is gong to be the time when I can't find it, and only then.

Broken-up ice in the bottom of a lidded recycling container sounds a lot like the rattle of empty pop cans.

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are a bit better with chopped walnuts.

It is difficult to do sit-ups with a cat in the room. Depending on how bored the cat is, she might decide, once you are in the "up" position, that lying down in the spot your back just vacated is a good idea.

O_o

Monthly Update

Well, I'm a few days late with this, but better late then not at all. (Incidentally, on time would have been posting this on the second, but I had work and was rather burned out, so it didn't happen.)

Let the new numbers stand:
-Current weight: 195.5 lbs. (Yay! I lost 11 pounds! All I have to do is keep this up, and I'm golden! Woo!)
-Pages typed: 6 (Not as bad as it could be, but I really need to stop going online when I turn on my computer with the intention of writing. ^^; )
-Pages written: 31 (That's a lot more than I thought I'd done, but I know when I started the current section I'm doing, and it was after New Year's, so it counts.
Crafts: 3 partial Chaos necklaces (I have the beaded part done, but have not actually finished the pieces. Not as bad as I could be, but can do better.)