Vibrant.(Still) Unrepentant. Badass. Old. Queer

This is from the cooking class I took in Thailand many, many years ago Beef Satay (you can use chicken) Ingredients 500g (1lb 2 oz) beef - cut into thin slices Marinade 6 tbsp thick coconut milk 2 tbsp fish sauce (can substitute soy sauce) 2 tbsp condensed, sweetened milk 1 tbsp oil (NOT olive oil) 2 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp curry powder Sauce 2 cups (16 fl oz) thick coconut milk 1 tbsp red curry paste 2 tbsp fish sauce (see note above) 3 tbsp sugar 1/2 cup finely ground roasted peanuts METHOD Mix all ingredients for the marinade together and then cover the beef. Leave for at least 30 minutes. To make the sauce, put the coconut milk into a wok and bring to a boil. Add the red curry paste and stir to combine. Add the fish sauce, sugar and peanuts and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the sauce is thick. Stir continuously. The beef can be either barbecued, grilled or shallow fried. To grill, but the meat on to skewers and cook for 3 minutes each side until the meat is cooked. Spoon the marindea ov...

Well, kittens, the contest has ended. And the competition was FIERCE! VUBOQ has narrowed down the gigantic piles of entries to the Top 2 Posts* and, now, you get to decide the winner!** First, go read the Top 2 Posts: Ellen and Shallow Gal . Then, come back here and vote for your favorite! The poll will close tomorrow morning, so do it now. Don't delay! It's the Battle of the Beltway Babes! Who will be victorious? PS. If the poll isn't showing up. Cast your vote in the comments below. kthxbai. *OK. There were only 2 posts. Whatever. **Don't you feel special?

Good Morning, Kittens. Before we get into the nitty gritty of it all, here is a pretty red flower* for you: I made it my laptop's wallpaper. You can too, if you go to my flickr page . You're welcome. So ... my weekend ... I left work early on Friday (huzzah!) and went to the pottery studio. Most of my things were still a little too wet to trim, so I decided to make *something*. It turned out to be a serving dish/bowl-like thing of some sort. Not quite tall enough to be casserole, but I like it. So far. Then, I received a text message from Tomokito. Apparently, the former friend who decided to stop speaking to me when I started dating Y** wanted to have a happy hour ... at the same place I had planned happy hour ... with the same people I had invited. Tomokito asked if I wanted to change happy hour sites. Um. No. Why should I? I'm not the one with the problem. OK. The only problem I have is that the Former Friend can't go out and make his own damn friends. I mean, really...

Happy Sunday, Kittens. Just a quick little update with my run-ins with WILDLIFE (and not the happy hour kind, either) this weekend. On Friday night, on my way Y's after happy hour, I cut through the park and there were BUNNEHS! EVERYWHERE! I learned that my camera doesn't take good dusk-time photos. See: Then, this morning, I cut through the park again and there were DEER! In the CREEK! CUTE! And, that's all for now. More tomorrow. *smooches*

Kittens! It's the CONTEST DEADLINE . You have until midnight tonight to post your Ode to VUBOQ (or your post written in the Style of VUBOQ). Do it! WIN PRIZES!!! Fabulous prizes like this ... or this [and maybe, some other stuff ...]. As for me, I have a weekend chock full of fun and excitement in store. I finish work today at 1230. Suh-WEET. Who loves half-day Fridays? I do! I do! I'm heading over to the pottery studio (with a stop at Y's to get my 'pottery shoes'). Then, I *may* be happy houring in DC; however, my office email is down so I'm not sure who is coming (if anyone).* After happy houring, I'll head back to Y's place. Saturday, I plan to get some job stuff done (and preliminary contest judging !). In the evening, we are going to a birthday party. I made mint-infused vodka for the birthday boy. I hope it's good. Sunday, I will be doing more job stuff. We're just a month away from Unemployment. Someone has got to get...

However, VUBOQ forgot his camera. Although, that doesn't matter, because VUBOQ realized he took the batteries out to recharge them. But, he had to unplug the batteries to plug in the rice cooker when he made dinner last night. And, he plugged the batteries in somewhere else. Of course, he can't remember where he plugged them in. Hopefully, he will be able to find them (and they will be fully charged) when he gets home. Then, you will see lovely pictures of ... Wildflowers PUSS-AY! and Booze This Pic is for you, Marathon Mom ! And much, much nothing more. I can tell your little hearts are palpitating with excitement. ANYWAY, I was reading the boring CFR this morning, when Y IM'ed. Instead of finishing my reading and the email response, I went home and we had secks. Is that so wrong? I wrote the email when I got back. Pix to be posted later this evening. *smooches*

Good morning, kittens. I'm actually busy at work today. Can you believe it? Neither can I. I mean, really, what the fork? I'm almost done though (yay!). I have one more horrible email to answer [about a nationwide master list of sites where polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) have been left in-place. Short answer: There isn't one. Long answer: ... VUBOQ thinks it has to do with the fact that there is no required reporting to EPA if PCBs are left in place; however, he has to dig through the regulations to verify this. Of course, if it turns out there is required -or even, optional- reporting, VUBOQ is fairly certain that the EPA is not organized/efficient enough to compile that information into something readily available and usable. See what I have to deal with? *sheesh*]. So, while VUBOQ reads fascinating documents with fun titles like 40 CFR 761.61 and 40 CFR Parts 750 and 761 Disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs); Final Rule and, maybe, if I'm lucky, Polychlorin...

Look! It's my SuperCute First-Cuzin-Once-Removed wearing the t-shirt I gave him: OMG. So cute. Thanks for the photo, M! My family, we have teh Cuteness Gene . Srsly.

Good Morning, Kittens. VUBOQ is a little peeved this morning. He had all sorts of plans and things to accomplish today. Until his project officer sent him 43 pages of email to answer by COB tomorrow. Yep. Email for the entire month. Email that the PO has been sitting on since June 3rd. VUBOQ is seriously considering doing less than half and not worrying about it (because, hey, we only have 5 more weeks left on this contract). Let the new contractor deal with the fallout. Whatevs. See this face: It does not care about the new contractor's problems. I have not accomplished much on the Job Search front, which is disappointing. I need a big dose of motivation. Today, rather than work on those stupid email inquiries, I think I will try to complete at least one job application. Then, when I get home tonight, instead of wasting the evening plurking (and writing short stories), I will work on the very intimidating KSAs. I will reward myself by watching the season premiere of Shear Geniu...

Well ... here's another bit of a start of a story that I never got a round to finishing (and just found in my files): Fireflies The sky was inky black and a few streetlights flickered, mimicking the stars. The humidity of the early summer muffled sound. “It smells like crushed fireflies,” I thought. My older brother, Dan, taught me what to do. He held a jar of freshly caught fireflies. “First, you pull one out of the jar. Wait for it to flash. Then, pinch off the glowing part,” he said, his eyes flashed green in the dusk. “Put it on your finger and rub it on the sidewalk. Like this. See?” And he slowly drew part of a big ‘D’ before he had to start the process over again. Eventually, he spelled out his name, D-a-n, there on the sidewalk in front of our house. “Now, you try it.” I was fishing out my first firefly, when our mother came out of the house. “What are you two doing,” she yelled as she saw the still glowing “Dan” on the walk. “Didn’t your Daddy teach you respect for all God...

Like, OMG, kittens. First, I was really early to work this morning ... What up with that? The only thing I can figure is that early this morning I recognized that if I started to hit snooze to get a few minutes extra sleep, I'd be hitting snooze until about 5PM. I am Tie-red. So, on my way into work this morning, I had time to stop by Panera for coffee and a bagel (because I still had a few dollars left on my birthday Panera gift card from the Parental Units). I got my cinammon crunch bagel and coffee and continued my mary way to work. As I entered my building, I took a sip of my coffee and OMGWTFBBQPONIEZZZ!!!11eleven... It was forkin' hazelnut coffee *cough* *gag* *sputter* *gag* *cough* Apparently, some hapless Panera employee had secretly replaced VUBOQ's favorite rich and vibrant HELLO I'M AWAKE blend with the craptastic hazelnut flavored coffee. I'm still drinking it (because I paid for it (well, technically, my parents paid for it (but still ...))). It...

For those of you who are bored by talk of personal finances, you may wish to avert your eyes. Scroll down. Read about my weekend. My company switches 401(k) providers about as often as I change underwear (like once a year). Our most recent switch was to Fidelity. Woo hoo. When they transferred all of our money from the previous 401(k) provider (Prudential? Providence? Mr. Bob's Savings & Loan?), they re-allocated our investments into "similar" packages. For example, if I had invested some of my money into a International Stock Index Fund. Fidelity would have transferred an equal percentage of my total investment into their International Stock Index Fund. With me so far? Well, see ... what happened wuzzz... I had 100% of my money invested in some sort of "We'll invest your money for you based on the date you plan to retire" Fund, probably called the You're Never Going to Be Able to Retire Fund. Now, Fidelity has the exact same type of plan (in ...

Good Monday morning, kittens. When I awoke this morning, I remember thinking, "Wow. This weekend seemed really long." Perhaps because it was so relaxed? Friday night, I drove (gah!) to BWI to pick up Y. I left his place around 9:30 or so because the Southwest website said that his flight was going to land about 15 minutes early. I arrived at the airport as he was disembarking. If he hadn't've checked a bag, it would have been perfect. Alas. He checked a bag. So, as he's telling me to just pull over and park in the pick up area, and I'm telling him that the pick up area was crawling with angry looking Security Dudes, I navigated over to the Cell Phone Waiting Lot. Silly Y seemed to think that he would get off the plane and his bag would be waiting for him at the luggage carousel. You'd think that someone that travelled frequently would realize that it would be at least 15-20 minutes ... which it was. He got his bag, called, and I picked him up. E...

Good evening, kittens. Thought I'd blog about my day of foodie goodness, esp. since I'm unable to do Meat-Free Monday posts while pottery class is in session. Yesterday, using the chocolate mint I am growing on our porch, I started a vodka infusion. Mint infuses QUICKLY. It was ready to strain this afternoon. It's a lovely yellowy-green with a nice minty smell. I'll be giving it to a friend for his birthday this weekend. After straining the vodka, I went out and thinned the Thai Basil. Rather than trash the seedling, I washed them and boiled them in several quarts of filtered water. After letting them steep for a few hours, I strained and put in the fridge. Hopefully, I will have made a refreshing beverage for the week :-) I decided to make a pasta salad for dinner. I'm still not quite up to meeting the One Local Summer Challenge, but I'm getting there ... I had several locally grown ingredients and one or two "almost local" ingredients. Ingredients fo...

Good morning, kittens. Guess who doesn't have to be at work 'til 12:30 today? That's right! ME! YAYZ! So, I be updating from home. Aren't you the luckiest EVAR? So, before I run down my SuperExciting weekend plans ... here are some flower and garden pix: Cosmos (I swore I bought the pink/red seeds. Oh, well): Mystery Flower (perhaps a poppy?): Mystery Flower 2 (purple!): Happy Thai Basil Seedlings (yay!): I am so looking forward to Thai Basil-Infused Vodka! Now that that's done ... my weekend is chock full o' fun and excitement. Tonight, Y returns! YAY! His flight arrives at BWI at 10:20PM. I must pick him up at the airport, which means no happy hour for me. *sigh* If we are not too tired, we are going to head to Baltimore to meet Eric from Baltimore for drinks. Tomorrow, I am hoping to do some work around the house. I also am cat-sitting Fuego. DUN will be racing in the triathlon in Philadelphia. I wanted to go, but the finances and time just weren't the...

It's time for another contest! YAYZ! This morning, we received verification that our contract has been extended for an additional 30 days, which means that I will not be out of a job until the end of July. To celebrate this happy event, I am giving you the opportunity to own a little piece of history. I've been in this same cubicle for nearly 6 (nonconsecutive) years (gah!). It is lovingly decorated with little bits and pieces of my life ... postcards from friends, various knickknacks I've gathered over time, souvenirs from far away lands ... and, now, I'm giving some of them away! *w00t* Here are the 2 Prize Packages: Prize Package A*: Consists of: A never-used mug from Nashville (it's too tall to fit under our one-cup coffee making machine), a remote control car (new battery not included, old battery may be corroded into place), a little wind up car, AND the star of several VUBOQ Videos including this classic, Seat Belts Save Lives ~or~ the Corn Car of Catastroph...

About 6 months ago (I think), my company's suite was reorganized into a smaller area. The former part of our office is now being remodeled for another company. I was talking to my boss yesterday and said that it would be neat to have the O from our company's logo which was still on the wall in our former office. When I got to my desk this morning, guess what was on it? The Big O. Yayz. My boss gave me the Big O. I am so lucky to have such a great boss :-) See: In other exciting news, I did laundry last night. There was a kickass thunderstorm. I love it when the thunder/lightning is so close it sets off car alarms. Later, DUN and AtWN came over for two-bite cupcakes and a very special viewing of Singin' in the Rain . Ah, Cyd Charisse get off that mantelpiece. You're such a shock there. We need a clock there.* After they left, I was getting ready for bed when Y called. His paper presentation went well. There was interest in his results/research. He mentioned something ab...

Once upon a time there lived a boy who loved taking pictures of himself. His name was Narcissus GayProf Vuboq. Sometimes he used these pictures for his blog profiles. One day, many months ago*, someone -who shall remain nameless**- commented on the frequent changing of said profile pictures***. Which has inspired the following Opinion Poll... What say you, kittens? *VUBOQ knows how to hold a grudge. **but it starts with a B and rhymes with " ROSSY " ***VUBOQ can't find the comment**** now, but he's certain it was funny (as almost everything ROSSY writes tends to be). ****FOUND IT: "PS who changes their About photo more than you?" on I am Cheap .

I have always been a saver. As a child, rather than buy comic books (like my brother), I would put my allowance in a cigar box, which I hid under my bed. Eventually, my parents helped me open my first savings account. About three months into my second year of teaching high school, I realized that it would be my last year of teaching high school. I switched into High Savings Mode and managed to save enough to live for about 4 months before landing the job in Japan and flying there. My last year of teaching in Japan, I once again switched into High Savings Mode and saved enough money to travel through Southeast Asia for several months and live for over a year in NC (with a part-time job and time spent teaching in Beijing) before starting graduate school. Now, with my current unemployment crisis looming, it would seem that I have once again entered High Savings Mode: I've managed to increase my savings account from less than 1.5 months' living expenses to a little over 3 months...

An oldie, but a goodie ... The Straight Guy is in shock .

It's easy really ... here are my SuperExciting plans for the evening: 1. Vote in the Special Election*. 2. Wash the ginormous pile of dishes in my sink. 3. Close out my May budget. 4. Update my June budget. 5. Weed the flower bed. 6. Work on answering some KSAs**. 7. Drink martini. 8. Make dinner. 9. Watch DVDs. I'm not sure but there could also be cat-box cleaning and vacuuming at some point! Follow these 9 (possibly 11) Simple Steps*** , and you, too, will be living the Fabulous Vutopian Lifestyle**** ! *VUBOQs Rock the Vote! **Knowledge, Skills, and Assessments: Essay questions on government applications. They are full of teh suck. ***Some assembly required. ****Batteries not included.

Down came the rain and washed the heat and humidity out. Kittens, it is fantabulous today. OMG. When I got to my office building, I almost kept on walking ... but then I remembered the pending unemployment and that I will get reimbursed for any vacation days not taken ... so I came to work. *bleah* Pottery class last night was fun. I finished the two mugs. The slightly crappy vase was not quite ready to trim. And I threw a plate. It was hard. I may try it one more time and, if I don't like it, no more plate-throwing for me! Anyway, class was good messy fun. One of the positive aspects of pending unemployment is that I will be able to go to open studio more often. That will be good. I hate doing things like trimming and attaching handles during class time. In exciting garden news, the Thai Basil seedlings are looking LOVERLY. My wildflowers are blooming. The cosmos are starting to get little buds. The sad Thai Chili Plant still looks sad (and Thai!). The marigolds are starting to bl...

Step One : Buy your toilet paper at Whole Foods [365 Brand Papier Hygienique - $2.99] Step Two : Realize that while in Whole Foods you will probably want to buy other things, but you also want to keep to your June budget so ... Step Three : Tell self you can only buy items that begin with the letter T . How Sesame Street! Step Four : After putting the toilet paper in your basket, remember you need toothpaste ( T ! We can buy it!). Step Five : On the way to the toothpaste , bypass little old lady pushing her cart so slow you think it's going backwards by cutting down the Snack Aisle. Step Six : Mmmm. Snacks. Ponder Kettle Chips, Pirate's Booty and then ... TORTILLA CHIPS [Nana's Tortilla Chips - $2.79] (YAY! T !). Step Seven : Think that Tortilla chips by themselves are kind of blah. Step Eight : Pick up a jar of salsa [Senor Field's Chipotle Salsa - $5.19]. Step Nine : Justify the non-T beginning salsa by referring to it as a single unit: Tortilla chips and sa...

Good morning, kittens! What a weekend I had. On Friday, Tomokito, Across the Way Neighbor, and I went to Adega for dinner. Then, Tomokito went home, and AtWN and I met Carolyn for Sex and the City . Yes, I've seen it. But, I didn't have much else to do on Friday night. The movie was fun the second time as well. Saturday, I blobbed around the house until around 4. Tomokito and I headed into the District to meet Mike, some of his friends, and Y for the DC Pride Parade. It was fun, but WET. Very Rainy. You can check out my photos on Flickr: DC Gay Pride 2008 . The Straight Guy had fun at Pride, too. We left the parade a bit early and went to Straits of Malaya for dinner. YUM. On the way home, Y and I had a bit of a spat. I won't go into details; I'll just say that one of us was being a little childish. And it wasn't me. Unfortunately, because I was peeved, there was no I-won't-be-seeing-you-for-five-days-because-you-are-going-to-a-conference good-bye secks. Oh, wel...

Yesterday, I had to thin out my thai basil seedlings, a daunting task. I love them all. Rather than discard some of them, I froze them into ice cubes: If only Meryl Strep had known that was an option ... PS. They are *not* floating in a glass full of vodka. PPS. OK. Maybe they are.

When I was 6 years old, my family moved from Belmont, a mill town which was transitioning to a Charlotte suburb, to Murphy, NC, a town whose only real claim to fame was as part of the saying "from Murphy to Manteo," the westernmost and easternmost points of the state. The drive from Belmont to Murphy is a little over 4 hours. In a U-Haul moving van, it's probably more like 5 or 6. Our trip took two days. On the first day, about 3 hours into the trip, the U-Haul broke down during a torrential downpour. The truck couldn't be fixed until morning, so we checked into a motel and went out to dinner. During dinner, the power went out in the restaurant and in the motel. The next day, about an hour outside of our destination, a young man was walking his horse along the side of the road. My dad eased the truck around them. The truck had almost completely passed them when something spooked the horse. It bucked wildly and kicked the van. My parents said the horse broke its...

Good evening, Kittens. Here are my 12 photos for the 12th of June. Since this is DC Pride Week, I thought I would focus on things that are GAY GAY GAY. My Shower Curtain is Gay: My Earring is Gay: Using Moisturizer (SPF 15!) is Gay: The Wildflowers I planted in the Spring are Gay: Even though I don't want trains whizzing by my window at all hours of the day, the proposed Purple Line is Gay: Rainbows are Gay: The Name of this Restaurant is Gay: Greek Salad from Panera is Gay: Packages of Weird Seafood are Gay: My Reflection is Totally Gay: Making Felted Military Belts is Gay: Martinis are Gay: The rest of the Gayness is on flickr . *smooches*

I was checking my Netflix queue this morning, and on the homepage they had some suggestions for me ... Based on my interest in Moulin Rouge , Victor/Victoria , and Sweeney Todd , they recommended the following contemporary movie musicals: Anyone see anything odd about this combination?

Yayz. It's the 12th, so I'm busy snapping photos of my day. Today's 12 of 12 (to be posted this evening, most likely) is actually going to have a theme. So excited. Last night, I did laundry. 2 loads. It was v. exciting. Then, I watched Charlie Wilson's War , which was more interesting than I thought it would be. It provides a very interesting (and I wonder how accurate) look at how the US dealt with the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and its aftermath. In addition, it helped to solidify my Amy Adam's love (love her!). During my lunch break, I have to run down to the art supply store on Georgia Avenue to see if they have fabric glue and embroidery thread. Then, to Strosnider's Hardware to buy some d-rings. AND, I found a $15 gift card to Panera Bread that my parents sent me for my birthday. Guess where I'm going for lunch? More later. *smooches* PS. I sent out 2 resumes/cover letters last night. Go me!

My prize package* from the Project Rungay contest arrived today! (Thanks, TLo!) See: There may be some sort of Tressemme Hair Styling Party in the very near future. *smooches* *cat not included.

Resume/Cover Letters sent: 2 Resume/Cover Letters to be sent tonight: 1 Resume/Cover Letters almost ready to send (and, hopefully, will be sent tonight): 1 Interesting Job Announcements which I eventually want to send Resume/Cover Letters: 7 Most of the jobs are based in the DC/Metro area, but one is in San Jose and one is in South Korea (eep!) ... which raises* the questions: How far are you willing to move for a job? And what factors help determine that distance? For me, I think, distance isn't that big of a deal. The most important factor is career trajectory : Will moving advance or hinder my career? And I won't find that out until (if) I make it to the interview stage. For now, I'm all what-the-hell-send-in-the-application. We'll load that U-Haul** when we come to it. *but doesn't beg **Did I ever tell you about the time a horse attacked our U-Haul?

1. Housework 2. Made dinner 3. Board meeting 4. Ate dinner 5. Bed I don't know if my evening could've been more exciting. That's all I got. More later. *smooches*

I'm keeping busy at work by going through a bunch of old disks on my desk. The one I'm looking at now contains about 45 pages of old journal entries I salvaged from the caches of various search engines after diary-x crashed. Here's a blast from the past ... Tuesday, May 10, 2005 Am I Gay Quiz Recently, when I check my stats, I have noticed that thousands of one or two people per day visited my journal searching for an "Am I Gay Quiz." Although I frequently use the words am , I , gay , and quiz , there is no such quiz in my journal ... until today! Yes, the people person has spoken! And, since I am a Gay Man of the People Person, I proudly present to you ... EnviroBoi's Am I Gay Quiz [Unfortunately, ladies, this is a Men Only Quiz. I don't have the knowledge base to determine if you are lesbians or not. I suppose you could just replace the appropriate words in this quiz and figure something out.] Instructions Please answer the following questions honestl...

With the temperatures appoaching triple digits and the FDA issuing a warning on red tomatoes, I have begun to crave summery salads, and one in particular: Fire and Ice Salad. It's really quite simple to make. Quarter tomatoes, peel and slice cucumbers, and slice some red onion and maybe a jalapeno or two. Combine in a casserole dish with your favorite homemade vinegrette and refrigerate. It's hot. It's cool. It's perfect. Thinking of it yesterday, brought back a flood of memories ... Two years and two days ago, I broke up with the Cheating Cheater. Two years and nine days ago, I caught him with a twenty-something-year-old with long hair and bad skin. On the metro ride home from that discovery, I somehow managed to spill an entire dish of Fire and Ice Salad which I had made to take to a potluck later that afternoon. $20 worth of heirloom tomatoes and organic cucumbers dripped down the orange metro vinyl, and I sat there, numb. As I was relating this story, last night, to...

I was going over in my head what I need to do when I get home from work: (a) eat, (b) drink, and (c) pack an overnight bag. As I mentally packed my bag, I remembered the Momentous Event! Saturday, Y gave me a toothbrush that I can keep at his place. [Yes, I know I could buy my own toothbrush to keep at his place, but I kept forgetting. Plus, I bought him a toothbrush for my place, so it only seemed fair that he reciprocate] Yay! I no longer have to schlep my toothbrush across county lines! Happy Happy Happy! I'm sure that must mean LOVE, right?

The reality of being jobless soon has started to sink in. Consequently, I am losing all motivation to do my job here. I have several tasks to complete by the 15th. Have I started any of them? The answer to that question would be "no." Instead, I am thinking about what I want to learn in pottery class this term. I think I want to concentrate on making lids. Then, I can make cannisters! and jars! and, even, something like this (without the fancy designs): Wouldn't that be cool? Dreaming about pottery class is so much more fun than updating the training manual, confirming our technical contacts/referral list, and compiling our call statistics from October 2007 to the present ... *sigh*

Good Monday Morning, Kittens! My weekend was chock full of fun and excitement. Friday night, I stayed home and watched movies, namely a typically gay film, The Trip . It was all right, if a bit predictable. Saturday, I got up and did some yard work. I trimmed the hedge. Then, I attacked this gigantic forsythia bush with the clippers. It now has a mohawk (because it's so tall, I couldn't reach the very top, even using a step stool). This Fall, I'm taking a chainsaw to that thing and cutting it down by half. Srsly. It's a menace to society. It was hot. I was sweaty. I hate being sweaty. So, I came inside and made a milkshake (scroll down two entries for photo). That evening, I went to Y's. We watched Pursuit of Happyness , which was also all right. Then, we had secks. Yayz. Sunday morning, we had more secks (yayz) and breakfast. Around two, Tomokito and a friend of Y came over for wine and cheese. We had decided earlier that it was going to be too hot fo...

Here are a few photos from my sad attempts at growing things: Chocolate Mint: Thai Chili Peppers (so sad): Wildflowers:

I did yardwork this morning, trimming the hedge and the giganto bush out front. It was hot. Afterwards, I made this Chocolate Coffee Milkshake with chocolate ice cream, Ghiradelli chocolate chips, coffee ice cubes (you know I freeze leftover coffee into cubes, right?), cold coffee, and soy milk. OMG. Teh YUM! Happy Saturday, Kittens.

OMG, Kittens! It's the Internet Anagram Server ! You know you want to go there and anagram your name. Here's my first and last name: Savviest End ... Throw in my middle name and you get: Divas, Never Stale! Have fun! Leave your name's anagram in the comments! *smooches*

It would seem that I need to move the job hunt into high gear. EPA published a notice in the Federal Register that our contract has been awarded to an organization for the blind in upstate NY. This is the same organization that won the last contract I was on. They spent the first 2 or so years of that contract completely forking it up. Which annoyed me, because EPA rode our arses hard on that contract. Every single email we sent out (which was about 200/week) was scrutinized and rated for grammar, spelling, and content. We came up with a double-review process before sending any email. In the last year of the contract, over 75% of our email responses were rated "better than EPA could answer." Which, if I do say so myself, was pretty damn good. Of course, after the contract was awarded to the other company, one of my co-workers sent a test email inquiry to them. When she got the response, she came to me and said, "If I had tried to send out something like this, you would h...

Below are 20 pictures pulled from my work computer. Your task, if you choose to accept it, is to use 5 or more of these pictures to compose an entertaining blog post. When you are finished, leave a comment, and I'll provide some linkyluv. It's like a meme. Only it's not. You can thank me later. *smooches*