- I can always rely on the "family" to have good ideas for how to solve vexing problems. (Thank you Killian and SeaWeasel - between the tool advice and the Dremel advice, I managed to make progress!)

- "Work smarter, not harder" will speed up a project tremendously

- Removing long, heavy boards from a high ceiling is significantly easier and faster with two people, especially when one of those two people isn't freaked by heights. (And another thank you here to Killian for that, and LadyJ for keeping an eye on the munchkin)

- Do not leave hammers on top of ladders and then move the ladder (rubs knot on head)

- No project will ever be as easy as it looks (and 4" long nails are a bitch to extract - but remarkably easy to bend)

- There's a remarkable amount of cargo capacity in a Prius, and an equally remarkable amount of cargo to be extracted from one garage and put into another

- My husband is a strong contributing factor to my sanity. He knows exactly when to tell me to back away from the calendar.

- I have to stop trying to have a life this month. It's just not going to happen.

- Never underestimate the value of "elbow grease" and proper leverage (it's all a matter of leverage)

On comedic timing - childhood friends will always know the best buttons to push and despite tremendous progress with my arachnophobia over the years, the convincing suggestion of a spider crawling on me will still make me scream if properly timed. Said friends are very lucky I contract, rather than flail, when presented with this sort of suggestion while holding pliers. It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye...

On wine - port is good. Port is always good. Port solves most of life's minor problems. The rest are cured by backrubs and cuddling.

On creative genius - it doesn't matter what you intended it to be, sometimes creative projects just go sideways and become something else. The necklace I finished yesterday is not the one I was working on when I started it. Now I'm going to have to make another, and improve my resolve to "de-stash" some of my finished projects as well as my components. (Pictures will be on DevArt a little later.)

On home maintenance - before attempting to fix a leaking sprinkler/irrigation system, it's good to have instructions. Google is my friend. It's also important to identify the shut off valve for the system...before unscrewing valves and other parts. Skipping this step makes your morning shower a little redundant.

On costume design - the costumes that seem the simplest will inevitably prove to be the most expensive to implement. I had an idea for Halloween that should have been easy and instead could easily cost me $100 if I don't rethink it. Time for a Goodwill shopping trip...

On Saturday I participated in the Relay for Life event in Santa Clara with a group of friends. Kudos to our team leader, gwenrose for keeping us organized and scheduled for our times on the track, and huge thanks to all who donated, both through my collection and to my team. I believe Gwen told me that we exceeded our team goal of $2,000.

And for those of you who heard (or saw) that I attempted to kill myself with sunshine...I'm fully recovered now from my O.D.

The sun and I have always had a slightly abusive relationship. As most anyone who's ever met me knows, I adore the sunshine. I bask in the summer heat and glory in 90+ degree weather.

Unfortunately, with my ultra-pale northern European coloring, the sun has not always been so gentle with me. I've learned, through years of sunburns, to be assiduous about coating myself with a high SPF sunscreen anytime I'll be in the sun for more than about 15 minutes. I drink lots of water. I do what I can to keep my sun-worship from becoming ritual sacrifice...

But sometimes I fail...and I never know when this is going to happen because (as I've vocally and repeatedly complained to most all who saw me fall to the sun this Saturday) I can't predict it. I can't simply say "Wow...it's 110 degrees. I'll get heat stroke if I do anything outside today." or "Gee...it's really dry. I better get some extra water." I do heavily physically active things in 100+ degree heat on a regular basis every summer, sometimes in such over dressed states as wearing jeans, and usually suffer no ill effects. Then I'll have a day where it's in the 90s (like Saturday) and suddenly everything shuts down.

Obviously, I find this frustrating. I don't particularly like abusing myself that way, nor am I pleased at having screwed up one of my key chances to be social over the weekend by attempting to mummify myself. And I feel even worse that I managed to do this in a situation where anyone might have worried about me...I much prefer to be an idiot without an audience. =S

So thank you to those who've checked in, and those who plied me with water and cool shirts and reminded me to drink my juice and to eat...I'm sorry it was necessary. I'll be more sensible next year, I swear. (Mostly because I doubt any of you would let me try that again...)

as little bits and pieces...small pools of consciousness if you will - tidal in nature, ebbing, flowing and generally just not there...

There was a headline on today's paper about how census numbers may affect apportionment of representation in the House in ways that favor California and the southwest due to the high population of illegal immigrants in those areas. All other issues about immigration aside, that seems a little wrong to me. I get that our representation is based on population, but it seems to me that apportionment is supposed to create fair representation for U.S. citizens. Illegal immigrants shouldn't be counted in the population numbers when determining who needs to be represented in our federal congress. Yes, there should be some limited protections for illegals, since everyone deserves to be treated as human beings, but if you want representation in the government, become a citizen (and VOTE for chrissakes! < / soapbox>).

On an utterly unrelated note, we've started up our Changeling game again and I'm rapidly realizing that I need to make up my mind about certain elements of my character because I've managed to create a persona that, while being an interesting character to play, pushes a large panel of red-button issues for me...some new and some very, very old. But on the other hand, as Shar pointed out, it's perfectly reasonable for a fairy to become what others believe they are...which means that I could quite legitimately turn her unseelie as the game progresses. That could get interesting. *ponders and cackles evilly*

Oh, and adding to the list of stupid things one should not do - misjudging a yellow light while pulling up next to a cop. Oops. Fortunately, not having had a moving violation in, oh, *counts on fingers* seven or so years (and that the only one in my history so far) apparently was a good thing and I got off with a courtesy citation and a friendly reminder to behave. At least I wasn't late getting home last night because of it.

Ok...back to work now. Shouldn't probably be spending this long posting anyhow.

When assuaging my guilt on a Friday afternoon about NOT doing work (for work) by telling myself that I will do it first thing on Saturday morning, it would behoove me to do two things:

1) Not sleep until 10am (but that DID feel awfully good!)
2) Remember that the office building's power is shut down today for PG&E to do work and that means no email, no Blackberry, etc. until 2pm. ("But I have my laptop!" "You twit...that's like saying you must have money because you still have checks left. You still can't get email if the server's not running." *looks at self in disgust*)

Whoops. =S

Guess the attorney in NY who I told I'd email "first thing in the morning" will have to wait a bit. I'll get him the info later -- and look through the resumes that are starting to come in for me, W & S to review.

But at least there's no good reason to turn my Blackberry back on for a while... =D (Was THIS CLOSE *describes an infintesimally small space between the tips of fingers* to sticking the frelling thing in a microwave by yesterday evening.)

I guess I'll just be forced to relax for a bit...enjoy my tea...post to DevArt...take a long shower. *sighs dramatically and grins* Oh, what suffering! *staples hand to forehead*