I'm finally getting around to working on my professional website. At first I was all wishy washy on how it would look, then I finally came up with something that would make me happy. And then I got the brilliant idea to do it all with m4. Thus, I had to remember how to use m4, and worked on that until I realised that there's no good way to deal with nested quotes without changing how all the m4 quotes work. That's just no good at all. So now I'm doing it in php, which is much better.

I have re-discovered the joys of using ben-gay. My neck is so much happier when slathered up. My hair isn't, mind you, but such are the sacrifices one has to make for neck appeasement.

So I sucked it up and shaved my legs today. See, it's a weird thing. I don't feel that I should have to do it: it doesn't serve any function, and it seems rather backward that one gender is supposed to do it, and the other doesn't have to. It's especially backward that there are people that actually think it's gross if a woman doesn't shave her legs. It's an obnoxious reminder that gender equality has not yet arrived. But that same backwardness is what gives me a weird pressure in my head to do it from time to time. Well, that, and it's kinda neat to do on occasion, sensation-wise. So I again succumb to my normal summer tendency of shaving, then going a month before doing it again. Hey, whatever works.

I finally got Portal. Tonight, after I have spent a sufficient amount of time trying to pump out some php, I will finally attempt to play it. Yay!

I will be gone all weekend, btw, off to Myrtle Beach with my Drewpal, Madame Dysentary, and the Toddmeister. It shall be wet and joyous and shall hopefully involve some seafood!

Pumpernickel bread is really good, you should all go eat some right now.

I finally got to play Twilight Emporium in a group last night. There's approx. 2837492374 things you have to know to play that game, but I tried my best. I'll be better equipped for the next time around, at least.

There have been strange people on my roof whacking tile around, guess it's good for staying awake. The cats have not been pleased!

Neck pain, or rather, weird neck pulse persists. Drew rubbed my neck the other day, and then I was fine for a day or two. Then it comes back in a fury. Going to Myrtle Beach this weekend will hopefully help for relaxation of neck purposes!

I have cramps today, which are not appreciated at all. However, it does mean that, although I'll be on my period at the beach, at least I'll be there for the piddly end part of it.

Have I mentioned how good pumpernickel bread is?

Yeah, I just completely wasted 2 hours of my life last night. I made the mistake of watching 'Snakes on a Plane'. That movie simply had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I was at least hoping it would be bad bad. This is what I get for not being better at listening to reviews. I have also decided I need to refuse to watch any movies that there's a good chance I won't enjoy, because life is just too short to waste on bad movies.

On the bright side, I have cookies.

I have decided that it's infinitely easier to build something that works well rather then edit/fix something that doesn't work well. OsCommerce is pure gobbledygook, and I look forward to never working with it ever again. There's practically no comments at all, so I have to decipher everything first, and it's got nested tables up the hoo-haw, which is also no good at all. Also, no grep to use, since this current host I'm working with doesn't have shell access. So sad.

On the bright side, there's chicken in the oven. Methinks I need to ask Google how long to cook it.

Oh yeah, and my computer works again. A faulty memory card, apparently. So now I'm chugging along at 512mb as I await my new card friend's arrival in ye postal service. Weee.

My neck hurts. Common causes of neck pain: stress, sitting in a chair too long, long hair, and large boobs. I think I need to go punch gravity in a painful place.

So I ended up taking the computer to someone over on Staples Mill. I just looked around at places that were nearby, and avoided the ones with crap websites. Albeit, the place I took it to doesn't have a website, but they have been Better business Bureau certified for the past 3 years, which hopefully counts for something. So I'm waiting still to hear the prognosis.

Random internet thing: if you need hosting you should totally use site5.com. I got an account with them recently, and it's smooth sailing, better then any other hosting company I've ever used.

Bought video card, video card didn't do squat. Now need to return video card. Circuit City will soon regret having ever sold me anything. Ugh. Am at a loss at this point.

Here's a question for all of you out there that happen to be near me:


Could you recommend a decent shop to take my sickly computer to?

The power supply was a no-go. I'll need to be returning that soon and get my dollars back. So it's something else. Video card? When I plug the monitor in to the monitor plug that's attached to the motherboard, the monitor still doesn't connect. But I'm not sure if that computer has on-board video stuff for the monitor - I just thought it might, since it's got a monitor-friendly plug (VGA?). So I'm debating if I should try getting a new video card anyhow to test it. Though, I'd wanna make sure there's a proper return policy for that, too. And, it's a pain to drive out to Circuit City just to return stuff.

I might need to just suck it up and take it to a repair shop. I'm looking at the Firedog website (Circuit City's help stuff) and I'm kinda wary, considering the vast costs for doing piddly things ($30 to install software?!). I dunno, I'll figure something out.

So today's been a bust. I turn on my monitor only to discover that the weird issue has returned of the 'monitor not connecting to the computer' thing. The brief knowledge I gleaned from Doug involved it likely being a power supply issue. And, based on the lack of any beeps coming out of the computer at startup, this also makes it seem more likely (at least based on the beep-counting information I've gleaned from the Internets today). We went out to Sears and got a voltmeter (multimeter, actually, quite exciting!), and it vaguely alludes to power supply issues. So, I believe that as soon as Drew gets back from work, we shall be making a run to Circuit City for a power supply. Fun times.

On the bright side, being at the mall at 10:00 am is almost pleasant.

Oh man, so I'm this close to having an absolutely beautiful horizontal menu using mostly css and ordered lists (and a slight bit of javascript), so smooth!

I still have not yet managed to watch a movie, as I have been wanting to do for awhile now. I've been itching to rewatch Swiss Family Robinson, cause I'm cool like that. On the bright side, we've found the playstation controllers, and therefore I need to make the tough decision if I should spend the rest of the evening reading or playing Puzzle Quest. Hmm..

I think I've now read all of the Jon Krakauer books. So good! I am now sure that I neither want to go climbing in the Himalayas, nor be a polygamist fundie Mormon. I think it's interesting that he decided to branch out into the latter topic, as up until then he was pretty strictly into the 'cold weather adventure' sorts of writings. I look forward to seeing what other sorts of directions he chooses to persue in future writings.

I wish I could make Thai food as good as Thai restaurants. It's dang hard to replicate a good Thai curry, from my experience at least.

Gas is getting waay too expensive for my blood. Conveniently, I'm now underemployed, thus having few places to go to in a car. I really want to go hiking this weekend, though, and will have to suck it up and pay those dang prices. I will soon be starting a stint of selling Homelands MTG cards, which there is (strangely enough) a market for on Ebay. Yay for money. Hiking was to be on Saturday, and was to be a group thing, but Carolyn's knees fell off and Drew developed Homeworkitis. Turns out Jules & Doug are coming up Saturday, so I suppose all works out for the best. I might still try to go on Sunday, though. I could use some private time with my mp3 player, as I rather miss listening to radio shows, and rocking out to noises that are good for rocking out to.

Music! I heart Basshunter. He better come near Richmond or to DC when he does his US tour soon. Also, I need to thank seaya for recommending the Thalia dancey cd like 6 months ago, because that is some good stuff indeed.

Oh yeah, I ignored all 4 of you that told me what to put on that cake. The results are here for those of you that care.


Happy Wednesday (huh huh 'hump day')!