How convenient, I suppose, that my temp job has slowed to nothing? I’m due to come back in at *some* point to fix something, and then there’s still hope of future projects, but it’s pretty sporadic, which is unfortunate for those of us who like paychecks. I’m trying to take advantage of my time off, at least. Last week that mostly involved too many cookies and a serious time investment into the long-forgotten Civ III. There were progress nuggets buried in there somewhere, though, mostly consisting of continued work on the Pak’ma’ra painting, plus some planning for the (hopefully) visionary new Salami Day site. We’ll see.

A chunk of Drew’s relatives came to visit last weekend, and left in their wake a vast array of uneaten Indian food. My new favorite thing is Korma. At this point, I’ve only had Lamb Korma, but I’m sure all of the other varieties are just as delightful. My Other New Favorite Thing is Bhakti chai, which I desperately need to write a tastyniblets post about at some point. It is everything chai should be and more. I apparently need to seek out a Natural Grocers where they sell Bhakti chai ice cream, it sounds incredibly magical.

So I really hate WYSIWYG editors. I need to find one that works for Drupal, though, as for some bizarre reason people who don’t know html really like them. I’m all like “learn html!” and they’re all like “no way!”. Sigh. I’ve crushed through the rather-generic one titled WYSIWYG, it looked messy and did little for me. Then I switched to WIZZYWIG, which I had high hopes for. Unfortunately, the admin panel was limiting, with poorly written textfields where the max size was far shorter than one needs. I poked the js to get around this, which was fine up until the point I realised I needed the ability to upload PDFs. On to CKeditor! Testing that out now, I’m hoping it’s the editor that will make all of my fantasies come true.

Well, it was both messy and awkward. I’d hoped I could just twist the filter off with my hands, as I had a Fram filter on and they have a really good gripping surface. No go. Tried it with one of those kitchen rubber lid twisty things, still no go. Tried whacking a screwdriver into the filter using a hammer. Got it in, and found it impossible to turn, so I had to whack said screwdriver in further. By this point, residual oil is dripping down the screwdriver, onto my hand, down my arm, and onto the hammer. I kept having to rest my arms, as there were all of these car parts in the way and I needed to hold both arms at angles not comfortable to hold for long periods of time. Got the screwdriver in enough, and twisted. It turned, just a little bit, until the lever that the screwdriver made ran into other car parts. Still couldn’t get the filter off with my hands, even with the loosening. So, made another hole. Everything is doused with oil at this point. Hole took entirely too long to make, as I was sore and pooped. It worked, eventually, and I got the filter off. Had to throw my poor blue hoodie away, though, it was unsalvageable.

Didn’t do Drew’s car yet, no way in Hell are we undertaking that method for his car. Don’t even know where the parts are gonna be on his, as he’s never changed his own oil before. So we went to Lowes and Home Depot, neither of them carried oil filter pliers, the bastards! I’ve located a pair, though, at Checkers Auto, so I’ll have to stop by there tomorrow or whenever next is convenient. Incidentally, there is an infinite amount of schlock carried at Lowes and Home Despot now, what with their tupperware bins and home accents and stuff. It’s like everyone wants to compete with Walmart. Soon you’ll be able to buy underwear and bananas at Lowes/Home Depot, too.

In other news, I just got a lb. of ceviche from the grocery store for a little over a buck a pound. It’s got a kick to it, too.

Put Xmas lights up, along with our wee little purple tree. Once Xmas is over this year, I look forward to scarfing up reject lights and decorations off of Craigslist so next year will be fabulous.

Drew was spectacular as a vampire: he wore khakis and gobs of glitter.

We went to the Nanowrimo pre-party in someone’s basement, which was fun. Lots of niblets plus socializing and such. It took me most of the night to figure out I had “Harry Potter” stuck to my back. Started on the book at midnight, only to lose battery power at 1:00 or so (silly me didn’t bring my cord). At just under 4000 words now, am a little closer to having a plot even if not all the way there yet.

Oh yeah, and we have a ginormous number of burritos. You know how Chipotle was doing their “Dress like a burrito, get a free burrito” deal on Halloween evening? We hit four Chipotles. Thus, 8 burritos. Unfortunately, they’re not as good reheated, but they’re still pretty tasty.

My car is still in the shop. The repair place called me the other day and informed me that it’ll be around $3500 to fix the car. Which is quite possibly more then my car is worth. However, the insurance company should be covering it, so all is good. If they weren’t, I’m pretty sure I would have heard back from them by this point. I’ve not really driven the rental car at all. Part of that is the blizzard, and part of that is that it’s bigger then I’m used to and a bit clunky and currently covered in snow. Well, I can’t really say “clunky” I suppose. It’s clunky in the way that cars covered in doohickeys that are super spacious for larger people are clunky. So really, I’m just used to driving a cheap small car, and feel weird in this nicer large car. I also want more visibility. The Kia’s got me spoiled on that, I just don’t care for super-slanted windshields and rear windows.

Nanowrimo starts in two days. Need plot soon. Going to super exciting Nanowrimo launch party tomorrow.

Also, and this is important, if you dress like a burrito tomorrow, you can get a free burrito from Chipotle. You can just wrap some tin foil around your arm, it totally counts. Guess what I’m planning to eat for dinner tomorrow? And for the next several nights, if all goes well! Mmm, nothing tastes better then free.

Also, thank you to whoever advised me try the Old Navy “Sweetheart” jeans. They fit and are really comfortable, despite how ridiculous their name is!

We’re pretty sure there are other grocery stores around here, thus why the Safeway here has cheaper prices. I want to find the local King Soopers. This is because “King Soopers” sounds like a completely ridiculous name for a grocery store. Also, because they’re apparently owned by Kroger, and so I’m hoping they carry the Kroger Private Selection ice cream.

Also, I have finally been in a Whole Foods. $21.00/lb tuna, eek! Lots of free samples, though. And that aisle with all of the bulk food like Elwood Thompson has is useful. I’m not too keen on going back though: waay too expensive, and waay too much conspicuous consumption. Too bad there’s not a Trader Joe’s out here. I want chocolate granola bars and $1 garlic pizza dough, dangit!

Anyhow, I’m drinking $1 discount kosher grape juice from Safeway. It’s pretty good, might have to go back and get more.

And here’s a desperate question: where does one go to find women’s jeans that *aren’t* narrow in the thigh/knee area but are also lower cut? Lower cut pants fit me so much better then regular cut, but they all seem to be of the skinny jeans and/or stretch and/or boot-cut variety. All I want is a pair of pants that fit me and doesn’t convert my thighs into sausages!

Job hunt is going kinda eh. Heard back from the recruiter about the job I didn’t get, the company decided they were looking for more of a senior role. I’m currently waiting to hear back from a recruiter about a position working on an intranet. It requires strong UI stuff, which hopefully I have enough of. We’ll see, I suppose.

I am learning that there is such a thing as too much beef. Drew’s aunt gets a side of beef on a regular basis, and as a result it is being fed into my system on a regular basis. I try to combat it with fishes, but sometimes resistance is futile when it comes to the Cow Gods.

It finally stopped raining here today. So much for super-dry out here. Hail two days ago! Apparently by this time of year, it’s usually really brown. Lush and green right now!

Hope everyone is having a super August so far!

Last night, Greek festival! Tonight, Greek festival! Saw Morgan and Dee there last night, and will see them again tonight. Saw Melvin for 2 seconds, and then he disappeared, never to be seen again. Saw random LJ friend, and in the time it took me to try to remember how her name was pronounced so I could say ‘hi’, she’d wandered off. D’oh! Food was good, especially custard whose name I’ve forgotten. I’m normally not too hot on yellow custards, but this was absolutely delightful and I even liked it more then the baklava. Last night I did the “meat on a stick + green beans” thing, tonight I’ll do the “meat + veggies plus tziki in a pita” thing, and it shall be magical. I’ll be getting there at 6 or thereabouts if anyone else wants to hop onto that magic carpet ride as well!

Oh yeah, this is a sweet amount of sea sponges. Oooh yeah!

And speaking of which, I tweet now. Or rather, I got a twitter account about a year ago, and recently got bored and have tried actually using it. I’m still wary of the actual utility of it, as it’s another way to post in AIM away message or a Facebook status update, but as, given my chosen profession, I have a need to stay on top of all these newfangled Internets, I gotta give it a whirl.

Thusly, add me on Twitter and I’ll add you back! I am @ptocheia.

I am currently drinking one of a dying breed. Caffeinated Sparks, how I love you so. We might be down to just a 4-pack now. And when that 4 pack is gone, I shall forever mourn the loss of the delicacy of caffeine +alcohol in one convenient delicious beverage.

We ate at Mekong Delta, which I highly recommend eating at if you’re ever up there. My pork and spring rolls on vermicelli was quite delish, and I even had enough left over for meal #2.

By the way, I finished the first Twilight book. I don’t think the writing is terribly good, but the end really managed to hook me and I now desperately need to get ahold of book #2. Too bad that all of the library’s copies are checked out. So now I just need to find another person that’s trying to sell their copy for $5 (which is how I got the first one).