Fighting Entropy

Proofreading is Important!!

Case in point - my fortune from my cookie during my four hour meeting today:

"Do onto others as you wish others to do onto you."

It's 9PM on a Monday and I'm still at work. I hate this project. And to add insult to injury I still haven't regained all the feeling in the tip of my right index finger from spray painting the chess board on Saturday. It's making typing all sorts of fun.

I'm going to be really passive aggressive and send the worthless project manager whose job I'm doing in addition to my job an e-mail at 9:30PM right before I leave the office, since I'm sure he went home at 5PM. And then I'm going to go home, go to bed, get up tomorrow morning, come to the office and work until 9:30PM again. GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Finished at 1:40 AM last night.

Not the brightest thing to do on a weeknight...

I realized it's been a long, long while since I had any sort of contest on this LJ, so I thought it was about time to resurrect the tradition.

As you all know, Hollywood seems to be out of ideas. They remake movies constantly, and often cast people in the same role that you would never think of as the same type.

The Contest
Below are a list of 10 pairs of actors and actresses, as well as the movie(s) in which they played the same role. Connect the actors 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon style.

For example: To get from Audrey Hepburn to Julia Ormond (both were Sabrina in Sabrina) in two steps: Audrey Hepburn was in "Robin and Marian" with Sean Connery who was in "First Knight" with Julia Ormond.

The person who manages to use the least amount of steps to connect all 10 pairs, wins! Comments will be screened. The contest will end at noon on Tuesday, July 17. I'll announce the winners on Wednesday. No cheating! In other words no imdb or googling allowed. I will come up with a tiebreaker, if necessary, when the scores are tallied.

1) Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner/ Guess Who - Sidney Portier to Ashton Kutcher
2) The Ladykillers – Alec Guiness to Tom Hanks
3) His Girl Friday/Switching Channels - Cary Grant to Burt Reynolds
4) The Italian Job - Michael Caine to Mark Wahlberg
5) King Kong - Jessica Lange to Naomi Watts
6) The Manchurian Candidate - Frank Sinatra to Denzel Washington
7) Ocean's 11 – Frank Sinatra to George Clooney
8) The Pink Panther – Peter Sellers to Steve Martin
9) Sabrina – Humphrey Bogart to Harrison Ford
10) Casino Royale – David Niven to Daniel Craig

Good Luck!! One more thing - just for angryjonny and nephthys43 - all side bets must be collected on within one year of the results being posted.

I deplore these sodas, but my results were too fitting (and I didn't adjust any of my answers)...

You Are Broccoli Casserole Soda

Vegetarians taste better!

Can you tell I'm having a rather unproductive day??

This seems about right...

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Every time I fly I go to the TSA website to make sure I know all of the current rules about what you can and can't carry on. It's quite amusing. So here is my latest list of odd things on the TSA list:

1) You can carry on "Toy Transformer Robots". Does this mean your Real Transformer Robots will have to be checked? Is the TSA getting money from Michael Bay for adding this item to the list just in time for the Transformers movie to come out?
2) Cattle Prods must be in checked luggage.
3) "Cheese in Pressurized Containers" and Whipped Cream may be carried on if they are 3 oz or less and placed in a quart size ziploc bag. My question is, where does one find travel size whip cream and spray cheese? I can think of at least 100 evil (and fun) uses for travel size Ready Whip...
4) "Snow globes and like decorations regardless of size or amount of liquid inside, even with documentation" must be checked. Is it just me, or does this one sound like it was written by someone who had just finished an extended argument with a passenger about their precious $0.99 plastic souvenir snow globe?
5) You can carry a parachute on to the plane. Just in case.

I'm back from my trip to Denver. It was nice spending quality time with the family. My 4 year old nephew needs a volume button - the child is very loud, and talks or sings constantly - everything has theme music in his world. His baby brother is in a smiley low maintenance phase and is adorable. Considering his early entrance into the world, all indications are that he's perfectly healthy. I kind of forgot to take pictures - except for the one of my dad in a kilt - oops. I'm exhausted, since I let myself get used to Denver time, but I'm sure that will pass...

In other news - I'm finally wrist brace free! Apparently I should have had a cast from the time of the injury - but after six weeks there was no point. I'm supposed to go back to the doctor if I start having problems, but so far so good. I have one more week before I'm allowed to weight train or do push ups, but all other activities are A-OK. I guess this means I no longer have an excuse not to cook or do dishes. Tonight the diet and exercise regime gets back to normal...

That's about it. I'm less than enthusiastic to be back to work, but I am looking forward to moving to my new place and to faire starting up...

For the few of you who read this, but don't read nephthys43 LJ - This year at the New Jersey Renaissance Kingdom I will be Guenevere! Bwah ha ha!

There seems to be some major concern about my hair and its shortness - I've been banned from cutting it again until after June.

And if anyone out there knows who was cast as Arthur, I'd appreciate it if you let me know.

This also means I expect to see all of you on the fairegrounds in June. Seriously.

I'm working from home today, and actually being more productive than I would be if I was in the office being constantly interrupted.

I decided that neither cleaning off my car with one hand nor driving in this mess with one functioning wrist considering all the stupid NJ drivers was a good idea. So hear I sit in comfy yoga clothes typing engineering specifications.

So after work yesterday I went to my kickboxing class, and pushed myself harder than normal, and then stayed for my weight training class and not only pushed myself harder than usual, but also upped my weights for the squat track (17 kg) and the back track (15 kg) - I even managed to hang in through all the pushups and tricep dips. After we finished, between the endorphins, getting my diploma yesterday and the sense of accomplishment from my workout I was feeling really good about life.

I went down to the locker room, went over to my locker, undid the lock, and proceeded to clock myself in the face with the locker door. The other women in the locker room were nice enough to pretend than nothing was amiss, rather than falling to the ground laughing like so many of my friends would have done. Luckily the bruise is not visible - even thought the one side of my nose is a little tender.

It's official.

I have a Masters degree in Environmental Engineering from NJIT and the diploma to prove it!

Now to figure out the best way to celebrate. Hmmm....

Hiding your own incompetence by making me (the lone female on the project) look bad is not a good way to motivate me to work on your project...

I need a very stiff drink.

I like occasionally dressing up for work - it gives me a little boost - but why does it have to snow!
A skirt, nylons and high-heeled knee-high boots are not optimal snow attire...

Tomorrow I get to fly back to New Jersey and my own apartment! Virginia hasn't been too bad, but there's only so much you can do in a hotel to amuse yourself. Not to mention I miss my own bed and it's hard to maintain an exercise and healthy eating regime on the road. I've done pretty well - I used the hotel gym twice and I've eaten fairly healthy since I got here on Sunday night.

Also, sarcasm is appreciated a whole lot more up in the Jersey area than it is here...

And for anyone who was wondering - I still haven't decided on a ringtone, but a couple of the suggestions are still in the running.

I am now in the possession of a brandy new pink razor cell phone! With a matching pink bluetooth headset! And a travel charger that is also pink! (I've decided to halp reclaim the color pink from all the vapid starlets out there (*Cough* Paris Hilton *Cough*) Smart girls can be overly girly too! ) My new phone makes me very, very happy - although I did have to spend most of last night entering my contact numbers, and I have to download the appropriate ringtones, which is where you come in!

I am in need of a new main ringtone for my cell phone, as I am bored with my current one (The Charlie's Angels Theme)
So, if you could pick out the main ringer for my phone, what song would it be and why??

If you suggest the ringtone I end up using, you'll get a prize! Of your choosing! ( Disclaimer )

I also made my triumphant return to the gym last night, after a month of vacations and being sick. Word of caution - doing step aerobics the night after ice-skating is a sure way to feel every muscle fiber in your thighs - and not in a good way...

( And now on to quizzy goodness )

I'm back from Oregon - the land of microbrews, rain, and good, cheap coffee - although thanks to the red eye on Friday night and New Years my body is still operating on Pacific time. I had a great time playing with the niece and nephew - and all the bruises I acquired from the daily pounce/wrestling match will heal eventually. I discovered that I can sort of ice skate - one day I aspire to be able to ice skate with my arms at my sides rather than outstretched as counterbalance. I had to go to Christmas dinner at my sister's in-laws where they served prime rib, and even the broccoli salad had bacon - and before you ask, yes, they were well aware both my sister and I don't eat beef or pork...

Anyhoo, New Years was a low key affair at nephthys43's sister's place, but that was just what the doctor ordered. (I'd like to apologize to angryjonny for all the text messages - but he was the only person at that party who I was sure would have their cell phone with them).

Yesterday was spent shopping with a friend and going through her newly acquired vintage (1960-70) cookbooks to see who could find the grossest recipe. Thank God making aspics out of everything seems to have gone out with disco - there is no excuse for meat based gelatin dishes.

And just when I think that I'll get to not live out of a suitcase for a while - it turns out I'll be in Virginia from Sunday Night until Thursday Night next week. Oh joy.

You've got to love three year old logic. My sister transcribed the following conversation for me while writing an e-mail last night - it was about 8PM her time.

My 3-year old nephew: Let's go to the playground.
My brother-in-law: It's dark outside.
My 3-year old nephew: We can bring a flashlight.
My brother-in-law: It's cold too.
My 3-year old nephew: I like cold - you could put on a coat.

Something tells me everything is going to be a battle with this one...

And since I'm bored, and I seem to have finished everything I need to accomplish this week at work - I made a quiz to test how well y'all know me!

Prize to the winner!

Take My Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com Can you Ace my quiz? Yes! No Let's Find Out!

In 72 hours I'll be on my way to the airport for my flight to Oregon, so it's time to take stock of the holiday to do list!

Already Accomplished this week:
Did Laundry
Mailed Packages
Arranged for Vegetarian Meal on Plane (Not that I'll eat any of it, but just in case...)

Still to do:
Finish Packing
Make Pedicure Appointment at Newark Airport Spa (www.departurespa.com - a tad expensive, but a great way to waste some time in the airport!)
Buy Present for Office Gift Exchange (We're trying to be PC and not call it secret santa)
Happy Hour/Gift Exchange on Thursday
Finish Cleaning Apartment

Luckily my shopping has been done for ages...

Is it time to go home yet? I'm exhausted - it's been quite a week of catch up at work - and this weekend I have two parties and lunch with a friend in from London scheduled. And then there are little things like packing for my trip to Oregon (if it isn't underwater or hasn't blown away by next week) and sending off all of my Christmas gifts.

AND I need to clean my kitchen - since I managed to make quite the disaster of it last night while making hot buttered rum batter (AKA coronary in a box) for tonight's festivities.

And since I'm facing a rather boring afternoon, and I haven't asked any questions in a while, I give you Questions of the day!

1) I will be spending Christmas in the rainiest place in North America, and will likely be unable to venture outdoors. In the interest of keeping the niece and nephew entertained - what was your favorite rainy day activity as a kid?
2) What's your favorite rainy day activity now?
3) The new Charlotte's Web movie comes out today - but for me, I can't imagine a version other than the old cartoon. What childhood movie or TV show would you consider it sacrilege to remake?
4) 'Tis that time of year when Christmas movies are on non-stop. Though none of us may have an aunt that made us a bunny suit a la Ralphie in The Christmas Story, many of us have that one person who gives us the most useless/unwanted gifts. Who is this person for you? What was the worst gift they ever gave you?
5) Speaking of Christmas movies, Christmas Vacation has a very memorable snow saucer scene. What is your most memorable winter sports (Ice skating, sledding, skiing, rugby in the snow, etc...) moment?