sly's rambings

beer news

2009-11-24T23:45:34Z

Thanks to the wonderful tutelage of musicbyoscar (who has been home brewing for a year now), I brewed my first beer last night. If all goes well, I should have a drinkable ESB by Christmas.

I'm having an "aneurhythm"

2009-10-23T21:30:23Z

It's all kiltboy 's fault for posting the link to that Storm Large video [NSFW!] -- which I watched. Then I watched it again. Then I watched the 3 "making of the video" videos. Then I watched the video again a few more times.
And now I've been stuck singing '8 miles wide' over and over -- i simply can't get it out of my head. Thank goodness I work remotely -- I'm just certain that the corporate drones at work would keel over dead if someone walked through the cube-farm singing the chorus:

♫ ♫
My vagina is 8 miles wide.
Absolutely everyone can come inside.
if you're ever frightened just run and hide.
My vagina is 8 miles wide.
♫ ♫

5 years ago today...

2009-10-15T16:55:36Z

I married a wonderful man.

Happy Anniversary Oscar!!!!

sometimes jQuery amazes me

2009-10-09T01:55:24Z

For the past 6 months (give or take) I've been rebuilding various pieces of my company's web site to update legacy HTML code (designed for IE4-5 and Netscape 4-6) and legacy JavaScript (aimed at those same browsers).
Every time I take a page and whittle 50+ lines of old school JavaScript down to 3-10 lines of jQuery-based JavaScript, I can't help but be be amazed.

I've been looking through the old school code and remember when I wote code just like it (testing to see if the browser could support document.all document.getElementById, or document.layers... sometimes checking to see if the DOM even existed -- eek!). It was all so time consuming, messy, and tedious (although I suppose it made for some level of job security).

Thanks to jQuery it's sooooo much simpler now. And even though I work for a company that wants to support all modern browsers as well as the incredibly antiquated IE6 (which still causes me CSS nightmares), at least I no longer have to fight and fuss with all the old school javascript. Little by little, I'm cleaning house. Hopefully, I'll ditch most of the old school code on our external domains by year's end. (our intranet is a different beast, and one I don't want to tackle, since it has had hundreds of authors over the years.)

European Vacation (ours that is -- not the Griswalds)

2009-09-25T17:45:48Z

Ok -- I've managed to put up some of the photos from our vacation. For now I've only managed to upload Sept 1-4 (Airports, Monte Carlo, and the first night on board the cruise ship). On the 5th we hit Rome, and that's probably going to need to be it's own album. Anyway -- for those that wanted to live vicariously through me... I present our European Vacation (part 1).

New Roll Your Leg Over Verses & Limericks

2009-09-23T15:20:03Z

For those who are interested -- I posted an update to my (on-going) collection of lyrics to Roll Your Leg Over.
Much thanks to those who send me new funny verses. (not all new verses wind up being funny.)
For those that like to get straight to the bawdy bits, here's a link straight to the lyric file [PDF] itself.

And, just in time for my ol' singing buddy faithellen 's birthday... (who I sooo miss singing with).
Here's some new limericks...
There was a young man with a hernia,
Who said to his surgeon, "Gosh dern ya,
Now don't make a botch
Of this job on my crotch,
Or cut things that do not concern ya."

There was a young missus from Norway,
who hung by her heels from a doorway.
She told her young man,
"Get off the divan,
I think I've discovered one more way!"

There was a young girl from St. Paul,
Who wore a newspaper dress to a ball.
But the dress caught on fire
And burned her entire.
Front page, sports section and all.

A baritone star from Havana
Slipped horribly on a banana.
He healed for a year,
Then resumed his career
As a promising lyric soprana.

And I never saw Turkey...

2009-09-17T11:28:53Z

Caught a killer cold after we left Italy -- managed to push my way through Greece, but never even saw Turkey. Thankfully musicbyoscar took lots of photos. Once I'm over the bronchitis, I'll try to post selected photos and some reviews. For now, I'm just too sick to sort through them.

Paradise sans cheeseburgers

2009-09-04T08:33:43Z

Quick Update:
We're finally enjoying our MUCH NEEDED vacation. Our flights were blissfully uneventful and relatively on time. Our two days of R&R in Monte Carlo have done us well. Today we board our cruise ship and float around the Mediterranean for a week.

Takaway on Monte Carlo:
Monte Carlo is absolutely lovely. The sun, the water... it's a little slice of paradise. However paradise comes with a price. The cheeseburger is 19.5 Euros, and a coke adds 4 additional Euros. It was more expensive than the seafood lunch with appetizer and a glass of wine.
As Jimmie Buffet sang "warm summer breezes, the French wine and cheeses... put his ambition at bay. Because he liked the quiet and clean country living, and twenty more years slipped away."

Bon Voyage!

Happy Birthday <First Name>!

2009-08-13T17:07:22Z

The subject line for the e-card I received from the Brevard Alumni Web Network today is "Happy Birthday <First Name>!"
Ahhh.... there's nothing like that extra-personal touch from my old High School Alumni group.

And for friends who think I've fallen off the face of the earth -- I've only fallen into a hole of a project that hasn't allowed me time for lunch, much less time for posting on LJ. Once this project is done, I'll hopefully get back to regular posts.

Writer's Block: Places to Lay Your Head

2009-05-29T14:41:53Z

How many different places (cities, houses, apartments, dorm rooms, etc.) have you lived in? Which is your favorite? And your least favorite?

View 503 Answers

I've counted up 22 places so far... (2 in Alabama, 1 in New York, 1 in Florida, 1 in Mississippi, 5 in Virginia, 12 in Texas). There could be more -- I moved around a lot in the 80s.

Favorite? My current home. Being in the right place with the right person makes this the best place I've ever lived.

Least Favorite? A place I rented after college (at 210 Feazell Street, Nacogdoches, TX). I lovingly refer to that period of my life as "when I lived in the hellhole with the Earth Girl." The landlord was so cheap, he refused to repair ancient appliances, broken windows, a broken heater and a leaky heater, and a non-working stove. (At least the broken window was close enough to the leaky heater that we thought we could safely use it and the gas that leaked out would safely get blown out the window in the winter time.) My roommate was a "naturalist" who believed that bathing and shaving were activities we should avoid. (but apparently chain smoking and burning holes in her roommate's sofa were perfectly acceptable activities.)

thought for the day

2009-05-29T14:04:32Z

Bacon dental floss was bad enough -- do we really need bacon lip balm and bacon breath mints?

highway humor

2009-05-27T15:02:23Z

Sign on one of the bridges on I-10 in Louisiana:

Bridge may be ice in cold weather. (which would be an interesting transformation to behold)

A billboard blitz alongside I-10 (I think they were just inside Mississippi), promoting a dozen or so upcoming performers at the Beau Rivage:

Somewhere in the middle these three were in a row: Johnny Mathis, Engelbert Humperdinck, Michael Bolton. Each billboard had a giant face shot, and the photo of Michael Bolton was so unflattering, it made him look older than Johnny and Englebert (even though they are 20 years older).

Made me sad to think that I crushed on him for a while back in college. Mind you... he's holding up better than some of my earlier crushes (Exhibit A: Leif).

news and pics from my kitchen garden

2009-05-26T19:03:38Z

This year, I attempted something new -- growing my own vegetables. Thanks to an aerogarden that I bought over a year ago, I began to have modest success growing herbs.... so I figured what the heck. thebigo built me a 4'x8' bed and helped me fill it. Thank goodness he's sturdy -- it took a thousand pounds of soil and compost to fill the bed. I started some of the seeds off in my aerogarden and then moved them to the planting bed. Add lots of water and sunshine...

And this week we harvested the first of our summer squash. We picked and ate a few baby squash before going out of town for the weekend, and picked several more (including an 18" giant zucchini) when we returned on Monday. I looked today, and we have plenty more coming in. I'm so excited.

Here are photos and details for those of you who actually find this sort of thing interesting.

tired of airports

2009-05-14T21:56:00Z

Between Seattle and San Francisco International last week, and Dulles and O'Hare this week... I'm growing weary of airports.
And I'm quickly realizing how fast I can go through an entire day's per diem when my flights get delayed. **sigh**

Should be home in a couple hours. Hopefully this time I can stay there for a while.

Follow Up to my Performance Review post

2009-05-11T13:39:00Z

Ok, this is a follow up to my post about my refusal to sign my performance review...

This morning my director announced that HR had made some change that would allow him to correct the incorrect gender references in my review. Of course, so far he hasn't been able to get their directions to work --- but supposedly it'll be corrected soon.

Stamp Out Hunger Drive

2009-05-10T15:27:43Z

Yesterday we were with the San Antonio Parrot Heads for our quarterly volunteer time at the San Antonio Food Bank. In three hours the team of volunteers portioned out over 10,000 pounds of pinto beans and rice. We were fairly tired by the end of the three hours, but we all felt good about the work we did. The San Antonio Food bank serves 16 counties in South Texas -- for the area that they serve, the overall poverty rate is 16.5% and the child poverty rate is 25%. That makes for a lot of hungry people that wouldn't have enough to eat if it weren't for our food bank.

I urge you to volunteer your time or donate food and/or money to a food bank near you. If you don't know where the nearest one is, the Feeding America website has a handy lookup tool located here: http://feedingamerica.org/foodbank-results.aspx. I'm not sure about the statistics in other states, but in SA, even a small donation can make a huge difference.

Am I being unreasonable?

2009-05-08T20:22:18Z

The situation:
I'm apparently the only person in my division who hasn't signed their annual employee review from last year, and I'm getting pressured to sign it. Our evaluations are all done electronically, and they are all waiting for me to click a button in the performance review tool.

The problem:
When my director added in his review of my performance, he copied and pasted from one of my peer's reviews, so in several places in my evaluation, there are phrases like "his work" and "his function." Since I'm the only female that reports to my director, he didn't think to modify the "his" to "hers". I have explained several times that I will sign as soon as those sections are updated. He phoned one more time today asking if I could *please* just go ahead and sign it, and I once again replied that I prefer to have my gender correct in my evaluation. He sighs loudly, which I interpret as "why do women have to be so difficult?" and states that he'll try to get assistance from someone in HR.

The kicker is that whoever programmed the system didn't build the review tool in such a way that allows directors to go back into the tool and correct their "typos" once the review moves up the chain. So, once my director signed it, and then his boss signed it (without apparently noticing the gender errors), neither of them can make any edits (so they say).

I'm normally quite willing to be "one of the guys" when it comes to most issues at work. But I've been with the company for 12 years, working my way up the chain, and have been in the same management position for several years. I feel as though I'm due this level of respect.

So, give me your honest opinion:

Am I being unreasonable? Should I do as my boss asks, and just sign the evaluation?
Men, if you were in a similar situation, would you sign an evaluation that referred to you as a woman?

An Ocean view in San Antonio?

2009-05-08T02:14:04Z

I was on Marriott's website, and noticed that they have a new Courtyard hotel coming to the San Antonio Riverwalk. It opens in June of this year. I only hope that by the time they open, they update their photo tour and replace the "artist's renditions" of the hotel with live photos, since the "Artist" has apparently decided that San Antonio is next to the ocean. (Which would be swell if it were true... )

Perhaps the artist was making sure the hotel was tall enough to survive if the Riverwalk flooded? I dunno.

cask-conditioned goodness

2009-05-03T16:12:30Z

Went to Redhook brewery in Woodinville last night. Tasted their Sunrye (a little light for my tastes, but would be ok for a hot summer day), a Raspberry Triple (unpleasant with a funky aftertaste... the one sample I wish I hadn't tried), the Longhammer IPA (solid performer) and their cask-conditioned Longhammer IPA (fabulous!! Better than St. Arnold's cask-conditioned Elissa, on par with cask-conditioned Tupper's Hop Pocket -- which remains my gold medal standard).

The food was alright -- but the cask-conditioned IPA made the trip to the brewery worthwhile. If you're a hop head or a fan of cask conditioned ales, I highly recommend it.

Today I'm off to hit a couple wineries, before heading into the city to see Tower of Power at Jazz Alley. So far Seattle hsa been confusingly sunny. I thought it always rained here. Oh well, I'm sure I'll see rain before I heade back home.

An Event Apart

2009-05-02T01:47:42Z

So looking forward to the conference... and Seattle... and Tower of Power...
The next couple days should be a blast!!

the joys of bacon

2009-04-29T02:48:42Z

From the "It's about time" brain trust -- Bacon Floss!
(Special thanks to Angie from Copa Wine Bar for sending me the bacony-goodness link! She understands my addition.)

Fear mongering

2009-04-28T13:46:02Z

A new PETA billboard coming to San Antonio cites swine flu and other animal-borne illnesses (like mad cow disease) as a reason to "go vegetarian" because "Meat Kills." [source]

And I'm sure we'd all be much healthier if we consumed spinach, lettuce, sprouts, tomatoes, bamboo shoots, jalapenos, pistachios, cheese, avocados, yogurt, honey and peanuts (all of which have had recent recalls). Honestly, in the last year or so, we've seen issues with everything from mouthwash to spice blends...

There are plenty of positive reasons to go vegetarian, but FEAR should not be one of them.

Health News: Avoid consuming raw alfalfa sprouts or spout blends

2009-04-27T21:43:09Z

Although overshadowed by swine flu concerns, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning yesterday that another raw alfalfa sprouts salmonella contamination was indeed detected. Consumers are urged to cease consumption of raw alfalfa sprouts, as well as any products that contain them.

cases of swine flu confirmed in San Antonio area high school

2009-04-27T16:24:52Z

Not sure if our local news ever gets reported outside of our area, but there have been confirmed cases of swine flu in San Antonio. Here are the details on the bigger new stories related to the swine flu:

The Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD has shut down all schools in the district and two district facilities, and canceled all activities.
The mayor of Cibolo issued a statement closing all city parks and asked local churches to postpone activities.
As a precautionary measure, Gov. Perry has ordered 850,000 more courses of antiviral medication be placed in Texas.

So... We are going to try to avoid public places. Unfortunately, yesterday was the final day of Fiesta -- so for the last eleven days, there have been 3.5 million people attending over 100 events around our city (carnivals, concerts, parades, festivals, fund-raisers, exhibits, block parties, athletic events, banquets, and so on) all of which were places where a mysterious flu could easily spread.

I'm hoping the outbreak stays limited, but it has already reached 5 states in the US.

King Williams Fair

2009-04-25T16:19:25Z

As Fiesta is coming to a close, we're headed off for one more event -- this time it's the King Williams Fair. Rennie friends will find it amusing that the first 3 times I tried to spell the festival name, I spelled it 'faire' instead of 'fair.'
It's kinda like a renn faire though -- except no one is dresses in garb and the music runs the gamut of Chicano Garage Rock to Tex-Mex Irish Klezmer bands, and everything in between.
The event is a fundraiser to support the city's oldest district -- I'm hoping it's as much fun as a renn faire!!