Catholic masses are kind of interesting with all the singing and chanting and creepy stained glass and bizarre statuary, but I think if I had to sit through another one, it would be pretty boring. But, since my Czech teacher wanted someone to accompany her to a memorial mass for a friend that was being held at a massive old European-style ( Read more... )

I finally got my employer, who shall henceforth be referred to as Crazy Polish Lady, to agree to a much simpler eBay storefront rather than an actual e-store... simply by showing her what the source code for a fugly jewelry website looked like, and how an eBay store could be made very attractive with some simple CSS. \o/ It's so easy to ( Read more... )

Whoever says installing laminate flooring is "easy!" or "can be done in a day!" is LYING AND SHOULD BE BURNED AT THE STAKE UPON A PYRE OF FAKE WOOD. I'm looking at you, HGTV. It probably doesn't help that I'm doing it on my own, of course, or that the super-cheap boards tend to crack and chip if you touch them (it's just a practice room I'm doing ( Read more... )

An elderly Polish woman I know sells jewelery at craft expos and the like, and she wanted to open her own web store. So, she hired a local 19-year-old girl who had some experience with an e-store work/study program in high school to help her out. So far, so good, right ( Read more... )

Ugh, I've been haggling with Nationwide, trying to get a fair price for my car... their arcane methods of determining auto value seem to involve comparing my car to ones that have 60000 more miles and manual transmissions. They're valuing my car at $2400, but in this area I've found half a dozen cars of the same model and year, with the same ( Read more... )

My old, clunky but much-loved car is now scrap metal, thanks to some kind who came barreling down the street at midnight the other day and slammed into my driveway with enough force to push two parked cars a distance of about two meters. And this was after he took out the neighbor's mailbox and dragged on the curb for a while, so he had to have ( Read more... )

I am reading the Five Star Stories manga, or at least trying to. Again.

I want to like this series. I really do. It has gorgeous mechanical designs, sci-fi retro costumes that beg to be cosplayed, female characters that actually do stuff in addition to the ones who are moebot waifus, occasional humor, an epic interstellar military and ( Read more... )

One of my rats, Rakushun, is sick... it seems like he may have had some kind of stroke or other acute neurological problem, since he's having trouble moving his legs. His vet appointment is in an hour, but at least he's eating some mashed peas and his favorite cookies soaked in water. Poor little guy... his brother, Soran, is a nervous wreck ( Read more... )

Seki Tomokazu has cancelled for Animazement! T_____T I wonder if it has something to do with swine flu? I read that nany Japanese companies are recalling workers and banning trips to Mexico and the US, and that there's already a SARS-style panic brewing as health workers start breaking out the biohazard suits. So, a lot of people are ( Read more... )

That poor little dog that got hit by a car in front of my house yesterday - I found her owners! I was out all morning putting up "found" posters, and they were out all morning putting up "lost" posters. So we met up at the vet to check on the dog, and the vet said she had nothing short of miraculous good luck (especially for a 12 year old Yorkie ( Read more... )