Leaking brain August 27, 2006
Posted by irishmadness in Arts and Crafts, Music, Work madness.1 comment so far
Not literally, of course, but I’ve been using regression analysis to adjust data (with some help from Aleta on the analysis) all afternoon. None of the Excel formulas are especially tough – almost all are pretty simple – but trying to remember the logic behind them so I can tell if I’m messing up is starting to fry my brain.
But I’m getting a lot done, so I can’t complain.
In other news, I got accepted into a journalism leadership training program that requires a pretty stiff application process and I got a scholarship that covers most of my costs. (Without the scholarship, I wouldn’t be able to go, so that’s almost the more important part of that news.) It’s in less than two months, and I should be getting my homework in the next week or two, which needs to be turned in two weeks before the week-long session starts. I’m psyched, and my mentor was turning cartwheels. 
As we roll into fall, choir has kicked into high gear for our fall concert. We still haven’t started Christmas yet, which concerns me a bit. But we’re also doing easier stuff this year because of the fall concert. Tomorrow we’re having a vocal workshop with a college voice professor. I’m looking forward to that, since I’ve never had any formal voice training.
I’m also gearing up for the holidays by spending a fair amount of time on crafts. Yesterday I was working on cross-stich for a Christmas present, and today I’m knitting a birthday present. I’ve also been contemplating Christmas card designs. Instead of a variety this year, I’m going to stick with a few designs I can make in quantity, to save both time and money.
I even managed some cleaning the last couple of days, though I still have a long way to go. There are two or three projects that will take a chunk of time, but also account for most of the chaos in my apartment. I’m going to try and tackle those in the next two weeks. Then I can concentrate on the smaller ones.
I also need to start running again, or at least walking. That’s on tap to start this week.
I just can’t turn down a challenge June 14, 2006
Posted by irishmadness in Arts and Crafts, Fanfiction, Personal Finance, Running, The Guys, Trixie, Trixie Friends.2 comments
This one’s a doozy, too. I just signed up to write at least 500 words a day for 30 days. They have to be fanfiction, which means any writing toward my book doesn’t count (nor does writing for work).
So now I have to find two hours each morning to run (slog), about 30 minutes each day to write fanfiction, at least that much time to write my book, plus find time to clean my apartment. Can somebody invent a 30-hour day?
In other news, I took a break from running over the weekend, which ends tomorrow. I had blisters on the bottoms of both feet from my old orthotics and while they weren’t painful and they weren’t getting worse, they also weren’t getting any better. Since I walk around in bare feet a lot, there was a decent chance I could step on something and pop one. With Mal coming in for the weekend and the associated walking in DC, I figured it was a good time to take a break. The good news is they seem to have finally healed, so I can start running again.
I started designing Christmas cards last night, and I’m going to figure out what I need for each and assemble a mock-up during the weekend. I know I need ribbon, but I’m not sure what else I need that I don’t already have.
For those who don’t read my other blog, my quest to kill my credit card debt by the end of the year is on track. That means come Jan. 1, I can start saving for a house and a new(er) car. The house is top priority, but I’m still going to be putting a decent amount away for the car in case mine starts falling apart. Fortunately, I’m putting so much to debt now that once it can go into savings, the money will start piling up pretty quickly.
As I mentioned before, Mal came to DC over the weekend and I got to meet her, plus see the Jix Chix. Aleta and Mary are the only ones I’d seen lately. We had a blast! My sister’s stuffed animals are now jealous because we got our picture taken with the Swedish Chef at the American History museum in their muppet exhibit.
Catch-up March 29, 2006
Posted by irishmadness in Arts and Crafts, Basketblogging, Social Life, Work madness, Writing.4 comments
Sorry I’ve been rather silent lately – life’s been crazy. Since CE’s on vacation until April 5, it still is, actually. So this is kind of a news and notes-type post.
* WG’s still contemplating, so little is new there. *RME*
* Some of the training stuff I’m trying to get done at work is actually bearing fruit, which is encouraging.
* The crud that SE had last month is still running around the newsroom. The biggest issue is a fever that lasts four or five days, which has knocked out about a third of the staff at some point during the last six weeks. So far, I’ve avoided the illness, though not the side-effects on workload from people being sick.
* I wanted to try knitting with cotton yarn, so I’m making washcloths to coordinate with my bathroom. It’s different than acrylic and wool, that’s for sure, but I’m enjoying it.
* Writing for fun has been put on the backburner lately. I really need to at least spend 10-15 minutes free writing each day to get back in the habit, but with everything else that’s going on, I haven’t.
* Editing and revising my NaNo stories also is on my to-do list, but hasn’t gotten done. I think I need to start making an actual daily list like I do for work. It’s definitely helping there.
* There’s a new knitting club at the city library every other Saturday, but I have yet to make it. *sigh* This weekend it was because I needed to get my hair cut before the awards banquet, and the place I go has limited hours because it’s run by the local cosmetology school.
* Oh, and I’m in the doghouse with CE, so my task for the next few weeks is to get back in her good graces ASAP, then make sure I stay there so the item that ticked her off doesn’t take on undue importance in my annual review in late May. *sigh* (It happened last year, which is why I’m wary. I need to start ticking her off in the fall instead of the spring.)
* We had a church mission the last few nights, which was pretty cool. The speaker/liturgical composer – Grayson Warren Brown – had CDs, books and songbooks available, so I picked up two CDs and the accompanying songbooks. My liturgical collection in my iTunes is getting larger.
* As usual, I got skunked in SE’s March Madness pool. On the plus side, I was still in the running after the first weekend, which is unusual.
I’m back February 25, 2006
Posted by irishmadness in Arts and Crafts, Fun Times, Work madness.add a comment
OK, I can now type reasonably well again, so expect posting to pick up. For now, here’s a brief update on various things:
* My finger is ugly, but healing. (The reason for the bandages was also a source of much amusement in the building this week. Glad I could help, guys.)
* Our IT guy got Open Office running on my laptop, so I’m looking forward to playing around with the DB program, as well as having a spreadsheet and full word processor again. Now to get comfortable enough with it so we can install it on work computers for reporters to use the DB program. (Microsoft doesn’t make Access for the Mac, and there are limited options for relational DB programs on this platform.)
* SE had a 102 fever yesterday, but insisted on coming in and covering the Regional semifinals (in a suit, no less). It looked like he had strep yesterday, but his throat’s fine today, much to everyone’s relief. Strep sweeping through the newsroom would just suck. His fever’s gone and he feels better, but sounds lousy.
* My personal work hell should basically be over tomorrow. I have corrections to make now that CE has proofed it, and I’m waiting until tomorrow night to come in and work on them.
* We have a new (old) reporter this week. The cops reporter when I got here has returned as a city reporter. It feels like a pressure valve has been released in the newsroom.
* So far this week we’ve had a plane crash on a highway and a house engulfed in flames 25 feet high. We’re hoping tonight is a bit quieter.
* Yes, this is heavily work-centric. I haven’t done much else the last week. Knitting was out because of my finger, and work sucked up most of the rest of my time.
* I did take my iPod with me on a walk in the park. I need to set up some playlists based on the speed of the music so I can have fast and slow options. All those years of marching band mean I tend to adjust my pace unconsciously to reflect the music.
* We worked on a gospel piece in choir this week and I’ve had it running through my head ever since. Cool song, and much fun to sing.
Sock heaven February 2, 2006
Posted by irishmadness in Arts and Crafts.5 comments
There’s a new knitting group starting next Saturday morning at the local library that will meet twice a month! We have others in the area, but they meet weekday afternoons and evenings, which doesn’t work with my schedule.
I’m hoping somebody there will be able to teach me how to use double-pointed needles so I can make socks with all the sock yarn I’ve accumulated. I’ll also probably bring the poncho I’m (still) knitting for my sister to work on.
Relaxing weekend January 15, 2006
Posted by irishmadness in Arts and Crafts, Fun Times, Trixie.add a comment
After 24 hours of fun, I’m much more relaxed than I have been.
Last night, Aleta and I went to Mary and Jenn’s luau. I got several comments on my sarong outfit, which was funny because it was made from $4 of clearance fabric and with a pair of pinking shears. They had leis for us, so I have two (Aleta graciously let me have hers) to bring back – one for me and one to continue a running “discussion” with WG. 
We got back to discover the power was out, which meant we both went right to bed. The power came back on about 11:45, so I was able to toss my laundry in the dryer and turn on the radio.
Today we hit IKEA for breakfast, then she graded papers while I picked up some stuff I needed. The bathroom shelf I wanted was suposedly there, but they discovered when I went to pick it up that they were out of stock. Since I’d already paid for it, and it’s a fairly light package, they’ll be mailing it to me in a couple of weeks.
I also went to Michael’s, gift card and coupon in tow, and then Recollections, which was having a sale. I ended up with lots of great stuff for very little out-of-pocket money (gift cards don’t count).
Now we’re just chilling in front of the fire – and I still have all of tomorrow off.
