I’m doing Nanowrimo again this year (whereupon I try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days). This is my 3rd year – the first was successful, and the second still sits untouched since Dec 1st. That fact that I churned out 50,000 words doesn’t matter so much if the vast majority of it is pure drivel! Anyhow, I’ve got a vague idea for this year, was hoping to get an outline done but we’ll see about my level of ambition.

You know what makes me super sad? The fact that there are no Lindt stores out here. Even when the one in Richmond disappeared, I could still head to DC or Charlottesville to get my fix. But alas, no such solution here. On a related note, I’ve been trying to get all my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. Last year, we wound up at a mall the day before Xmas, and it was seriously traumatizing, so I’m trying desperately to make sure that never happens again!

And on a final note, I have a super sweet new phone! I’ve had one of those “Upgrade your phone for free!” coupons from AT&T for awhile, and decided that, rather then get one of the free phones, I’d throw in some money and get an Iphone. Was gonna just get an Iphone 3 at first, but then I got swayed by the fact that I could get a refurbished Iphone 4 for $150. After doing some research and discovering that there’s not difference between new and refurbished Apple products (and the fact that 4 hasn’t been out that long anyhow), I got it, and it is shiny indeed! At this point, it’s functioning mostly as a game system for me. Angry Birds and Plants VS Zombies are helping me through my period of sickness! And I love the fact that there are so many games for just $.99. My next step will be to figure out how I can make some Iphone apps. This is mostly because I want to get my first Nanowrimo novel, a Choose Your Own Adventure type book, playable on an Iphone. I am a sucker for having as many markets for my products as possible!

Oh yeah, and on a final note, this is me as a zombie in the Denver Zombie Crawl this year!

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.

Incidentally, I’m alone for the weekend. Had some plans for the whole V-day thing with Drew, involving going to some Cajun place whereupon I would gorge on shrimp, along with me making him something chocolatey and delicious. Alas, Drew has flown back to Richmond for Neil’s funeral, and shalnt return until Monday night. Being as I am poor and work Sunday, I stayed here. Estha needs company anyhow, and she entertains me nonstop with her pooping antics. I will spend a romantic Valentine’s day with her, playing with strings and pretending that when she meows, it’s because she’s telling me she loves me, not because her food bowl is almost empty. She doesn’t bother to finish the food first, she must preemptively let me know that she will need more food in the near future, and then she finishes it. Her definition of “empty” is when she can actually see the bottom of the bowl, even if the bowl’s edges are still crowded with food.

I’ve got entirely too many things to do but still managed to waste away my Saturday. I finally beat Airport Mania, and spent some time on i-sketch.net. Pictionary is a magical thing. Tomorrow will also be spent romantically wrangling some data into an attractive PDF layout. I found a class that lets me do it in PHP, it just looks to be a bit of a pain from my current standpoint. But, it must be done.

In other news, I like dance music. Good, high quality wiggly-waggly dance music. I must find more to help the days ooze by like buttah.

And, I’m sick. Came down with it yesterday. Might be cold or flu, not really sure. Headache, fever, chills, fatigue, sore throat, occasional cough. And I threw up today. Feels really weird to have things in my stomach. I think that my stomach’s weakening with age. I didn’t use to have stomach queasiness with illness, but lately I’ve gotten that. Also, in the last few years I’ve started experiencing queasy stomach after roller coaster rides. No good at all! Also no good is my period this time around. It’s really awful to have bad cramps while also sick. I’m still playing around with giving myself doses of zinc to help out. I wish zinc didn’t make me nauseas, and I need to drill into my skull that 15 minutes of nausea for a few days is a lot better then days of devastating pain.

Oh, and that avocado contest I entered? I did not win. Well, I did win a cookbook and a t-shirt, both of which should come in the mail at some point, but no dollars. It’s all good, though, I felt like I learned a great deal of Flash, which is something.

Drew and I have been making great use of the Henrico Public Library system as we crush through the Miles books at lightning speed. I just killed off ‘A Civil Campaign today’, and it was delightful. I will be sad when I run out of Miles books, as I want be a mercenary and go to fancy Vor parties and hang out with hermaphrodites at the Orb. I suppose that is the problem with books that are good to escape into. Also, I find that this is the good part of reading certain other sorts of books, such as pretty much anything by Jane Austen. I read them and think they are exciting while reading them, but am otherwise perfectly glad to not be living in 19th Century England as a young lady whose sole purpose in life is to find a good husband.

On a related note to the first part of the preceding paragraph, I can’t believe that vorkosigan.com is actually available. I’d get it if I could figure out a decent use for it. I love to make a good website and all, but I’d need content first, and the only think I can think of is a resource website, of which there are already a few. Mind you, they look like they haven’t been updated in about 10 years, designwise, but the content seems more or less updated. Anyhow, I’m gonna randomly brainstorm for content and see if I can think of anything creative or interesting, as I could use another site for my portfolio.

My latest hobby, at random, is cat tents. I will come across a cat that has decided to take a nap on a chair or couch. I will then pile the areas around that cat up will pillows, and then drape a blanket over the area to create a tent/cave. It is very cute and sometimes the cat will leave and then come back. Works for both cats as well. You wanna know something crazy? There are some people that prefer kittens to cats. I feel that this is crazy talk. The kitten is the pesky little thing you put up with until it finally blossoms into a lazy huggable cat.

Oh yeah, and I finally figured out (more or less) how to make a passable pad thai! Yay!

This morning, it was glorious. I looked outside and saw snow, in big fat chunks! And then it stopped. And then it all melted. Sigh. It was really pretty while it lasted, though. I really want to wake up to a foot of snow one of these days. Highly unlikely, but a girl can dream.