To quote Sally Field...

"you like me, right now, you like me!" (And yes, that's what she really said. We just all think she said "you like me, you really like me").

There has been someone posting anonymously, and unlike last time where it seemed as if the person thought this site was asininely dumb (let me digress--this is pretty much mindless blather that would normally go into some sort of journal, if I were into that type of thing...but at the same time, this way if I go off the deep end, then there may be some proof---you know like that guy in Montana who killed an entire family to kidnap to the two youngest children to use as his sex toys, he wrote that he was afraid he was going to hurt small children in his blog...so yeah, you never know), this NEW person likes my site. And there's some one else on the other site (ad-dict-ed) that said they like that site...they may be the same person, but I'm just glad that there's someone else out there that has this site bookmarked aside from my sister, Dani.

but on to today's mindless blather and observations...and if either of you 2 people want me to give my thoughts or write a blog on something specific, please let me know--I still have to get around to dani's request for a coworker's "Now Discover your Strengths" blog....

Alright, so I've been obsessed with Regina Spektor for maybe 3 days now. I found out about her because one of her songs ("Samson") was played at the end of CSI:NY--the one where Stella kills her psycho boyfriend. So I've been listening to "Samson" and "On the Radio" a lot...and I added "Fidelity" to my MySpace page. Dani says that this music seems odd for me. which, I guess so, but not really--it totally reminds me of other music like Rusted Root...which I listened to in college because Sunshine (aptly nicknamed as such because she normally didn't get out of bed until 4pm) liked that music and played it all the time.

But time for my funny observation of this music: Quazi seems obsessed with it too. Everytime I turn on one of the songs, he comes running into the study and jumps up on my lap and stares at the computer speakers for about a minute before he goes to the other chair and goes to sleep. I think he does it because it IS different from the other songs that I usually listen to...mostly because most of the music that sounds similar usually has guys singing, not falsetto pitched women. I should try to get a picture sometime before he becomes too used to it and doesn't react.

big ones, little ones, fat ones, skinny ones...

ah, I remember that song...sorta. Do You? Anyhow, here, as promised is the picture of the snake. It sucks that I was unable to get a picture of it's head, I tried, really I did, but it's covered because of a stupid leaf.

ah she-it

So, I did field work yesterday. I like field work, mostly because I get to go outside when it's all sunny. And as Ray at Bishop-Brogden says, "you gotta get your daily dose of Sunshine." So Kena and I are out doing our field work. I was wearing my cute boots the City bought me (we get ONE pair of field shoes per year that they'll buy us...they don't want us dropping stuff on our toes and breaking them, or getting bitten by snakes...or other such bad things that would require them to pay workman's comp). But I digress. So we went out and were doing our "take pictures of all the bridges in town" project. It's actually because FEMA makes us do it. But anyhow, we're out and about and we're down by the river on Shoal Creek. I go about and take my 2 requisite pictures and look around trying to find out if there are any trees in the creek that perhaps need to be removed or other such things. Then I see a turtle...and I LIKE turtles. So I decide to take a picture. CLICK. next thing I notice, there's a FREAKING HUGE SNAKE slithering right by the poor turtle. And immediatiately I think "Holy freaking Jebus!" quickly followed by Ray's admonishment of "If you see a snake, and you don't get a picture of it, how are we ever to believe that you saw a snake?" So I take a 2 pictures of the thing...I'll have to put up my picture later--the one below is from the Herps of Texas website...but anyhow, I saw a SNAKE!

As soon as we got back to the office I went about asking all the Texans what the poisonous snakes look like (the three common ones down here are Coral, Water Mocasin, and Cottonmouth), and they all told me that it wasn't poisonous, but then no one really knew what the snake was that I had a picture of. Finally today, Ross and I sat down and surfed the net until I found it. It's just a big rat snake....non-poisonous, non-agressive, constrictor. meh. But, I saw a SNAKE!

Turn around, don't drown

Turn around, Don't Drown is a national slogan (used by the National Weather Service mostly) that they came up with in the 70's or 80's (I think) to try to use the repetition and rhyming part in everyone's brains (think "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit"--there's actually some scientific reason why these types of easy to repeat ryhming phrases are so easy to convince us with...so if you want to get someone to believe you, just rhyme and repeat) to get them to stop driving across roads with water over them. It was thought up by a highschool student, I think. You don't hear this slogan as much in the states that don't have massive amounts of flooding (think Colorado). Down here though, we've got bumper stickers, magnets, cards, even poster contests. Don't worry, I'll get one for you. :) Extra bonus, there's even a SONG!

Now, Discover MY strengths

So, Shawn has decided that I should read "Now Discover Your Strengths" because he had to read it for his work book club--they read such riveting books as "Developing Linux Drivers" and "Developing Linux Kernels." But anyhow, the whole gist of the book is "why bother fixing your weaknesses when you're not going to ever be great at what your weakness is. You should work on your strengths because that's what you're good at so make it better!" to which I say, "Word." So anyhow, it pretty much says that some people consider some things to be a weakness, but it's really just because they're not looking at it as a strength. For example, the doomsday people (you know, the ones that always say "what if this happens, or what if that happens?") have the strength to look at something from just about every angle--their strength is finding the weaknesses in something and pointing them out. This would be a hassle in the case of writing a report because they're too busy trying to find every angle and fill every hole in the report. BUT if you apply these people to something that would use their ability to find everything that's wrong (such as emergency planning) then what people thought was a hindrance actually becomes their strength. Susan is this person. She is constantly saying that the worst rainstorm is going to come, there is going to be flooding EVERYWHERE and we're all going to DIE. She's also in charge of our Flood Early Warning System. Needless to say, Austin now has one of the best flood warning systems in the US. Anyhow, I will use this book and analyze my coworkers. it will be fun, fun I say.

Speaking of work, work has been weird. We got a new director. And it seems that everyone is thinking that the world will end because of it. Because of this, and our semi-annual performance review week, everyone is on edge and getting short with each other.

And that is it for now. Turn around, Don't Drown.