Not a very sad good-bye

During lunch break today, I came across two videos that explained a lot about the state America is in.
the first one was the last Barney cam video. I guess it's my own fault for watching, what did I expect, seriously. Seriously!
So Barney was in charge of christmas decoration in the white house or something, that's one thing. That was actually kinda cute. Bbut what the hell was the opening with the first family supposed to be? Jenna (with her arm in plaster) kneeling on the hard wood floor next to her husband comfortably placed in a chair. I can accept the very bad acting, after all it's the Bush's not the Reagans, but I have a hard time getting over the picture of Jenna and Henry and the way they were "seated".

The second video is President Bush's tour of the oval office. My gran couldn't have done a better job repeating the same information all the time and not remembering her previous sentences. She could've stammered and stumbled her way all through the presentation, just like W.
The only difference? Well, she's a bit older and senile. She's allowed not to remember what she talks about. she's not running a coutry.

Get this widget!

That's when I'm gonna reactivate my white house feeds and podcasts...I stopped after the first term because I really couldn't take it.

Awareness test

How unbelievably great would it be if the city of Vienna showed these on TV or gave them out for free on DVD's

Dr. Horrible v Cpt. Hammer

I love myself some Buffy and Angel and I've always liked Firefly way too much and basically everything else Joss Whedon ever touched.
I might not be as bad as my gf, who by the way was introduced to Joss Whedon by ME!

Now there's Dr. Horrible's sing-along blog and act I is online and free to watch. Acts II and III will follow in the next few days and everything will be online until July 20th, so please be quick to watch it - it's fantastic.

Google it or click on the banner above and spend 13 minutes in the Whedonverse...

data protection

Today's just one of these days where I'm amazed how well data protection in Austria is working.
Here's the case: I'm supposed to find out where a certain person is residing. Several data leaks made sure that I know that she's not living where her residential registration form says she should be living. Since the person was born in 1926 I assume she might be living in a nursing home somewhere. This is information you don't get, ever. Or at least you shouldn't.
It's strictly forbidden to give away any information on the whereabouts of a person if she's living in a sanatorium or nursing home or mental institution if you're not a relative and apply for the information in person. No info over the phone, because you could be anyone just saying you're a relative, right?
Well, I called with a good lie at hand and the word data protection wasn't even mentioned.
It scares me a little.

my 2 cents

I called in sick today. i'm not acutally sick. I'm sickened. I found that counts too.

Thank God it's not my own thesis but yesterday I realized what I should have known one and a half months ago. Mr. Advisor is not qualified to be an advisor.
The Vienna University, where I'm still enrolled because I haven't yet done my last to term papers, one of which is due today (do I really need to mention that I'm not done?) - bach to the point - the Vienna University is a chaotic and unorganized lot of people who usually don't have an idea what they are talking about. I was lucky enough to have found some professors who know their trade and therefore taught me at least a little bit of scientific knowledge.

Mr. A* (insert *dvisor or *sshole here) told the gf that she wouldn't be able to write thesis one and a half months back. fair enough, it seemed undoable. But when the gf came home from the meeting without any real input from A* I should've known something was fishy. I have someone stepping on my toes with every term paper I have to write. that unnerves me but it at least makes me finish the papers sooner or later.
Mr. A* was never heard of again until gf handed in a first version of the thesis last week. Back came the famous e-mail in which he elaborates that it's a little late, isn't it. Hmm. let me think a bit, who set the deadline again?
Well, some hours ago he sent another e-mail claiming he read the thesis and had some things to critisize. I was shocked, literally.
I knew that the University gf went to is organized differently from mine, but her kind of Universities are rumored to be less unprofessional and yet it was possible for that A* to send gf a completely useless piece of shit called feedback. where he claimed that the thesis lacked structrure while his own feedback didn't even have so much as a thread to work by. If I hand in on time I get back my hard copy of the paper with comments, or I get an e-mail sticking to the structure of my paper explaining in the last bit of detail what was problematic and what was good. Not doing the corrections for me, but at least so that I know what the problem was. The mail of Mr. A* was a guessing game, mixing layout with content and much worse stuff too. I read the mail and while gf was shocked because it said that the work wasn't good enough (which I strongly disagree with), I was shocked because of the way it was written. I honestly thought there was some sort of attachment that I hadn't seen yet, something to work with.
Well, acutally I wanted to leave the ranting to the gf but after staying up almost all night to correct the whole thing with her, I have a right to rant too.
And bless my good Dr. P, who's organized ways are valued even more now.

that also means I'll go work on my paper now, so I might even hand it in today or tomorrow.

I hope I'm just paranoid

I'm at work and I don't really have time to blog...but what can I do.

When I got up (which is a euphemism, it should read dragged myself out of bed) this morning I had puffy eyes and my finger and wrist joints were all swollen. I didn't think about it much. I haven't slept a lot, that's what I get for it.

Now being at work my puffy eyes are more or less gone, my fingers are back to normal but my wrists are still a bit swollen and hurt. Even when I don't move them.
It's been quite a while since I last felt that, but I do remember it vividly because it didn't go away for ages. Tenosynovitis.
I hope I'm just paranoid.

that's so me!

LG thought that after she and Ellen planned their coming out together her result was only a formality, gf doesn't seem content with her results though...Somehow I come to the conclusion that these quizzes are not very accurate...

that's just plain wrong.

Purzeltag

it's a fairly good day. I could leave work a bit early, the bunnies aren't feeding on the card board boundary of their enclosure, and the speakers surround me with a nice and happy melody.
It's one of those non-particular days where nothing in particular happens and non-particular people are smiling at the few rays of light and freezing their ears off because they refuse to wear hats in the cold but sunny weather.
Everything was on average, the exception proves the rule. The exception being my phone that seemed to be ringing constantly. But since I have very bad reception in my office and not having time at all I didn't pick up and grew more unnerved with every caller wondering what they want.
then someone texted me instead of calling and I took the time to have look. It was my little sis, wishing me a happy birthday.

Talk about oblivion. I guess that's what happens to people who never had anyone explain to them why the passing of time needs to be celebrated. I like my presents though.

new things

while surfing the net I came across a blog fueled by a very cool idea.
jen from new york started doing new things on the day she turned 29 and will do new things every day until she turns 30. that's the plan.
She blogs about what she's done right here and with that made ME do a completely new thing too. Thanks jen!
I read her blog from January through November. I've never read a whole blog before, so that's a definitely a new thing. Also it is very inspiring for people who like to have new ideas of fun things to do and have no problem with a little bit of procrastination.

I'll probably try something new of my own soon...very inspiring.

Attention: pop culture reference

When I took this job last year in August, I thought I'm gonna be the next Veronica Mars. Given the job description my idea wasn't so far off...on some days I feel more like an assistant to a PI than anything else. BUT...

Now, after a little more than a year, I realise I'm more of a Donna Moss. Not that this bugs me or anything. I guess I like Donna more than Veronica but the first clearly has the harder job. Basically, I'm paid for thinking for a whole bunch of people. Mostly I think for my own boss, organising his whole damn company but usually there are a few other people I have to think for because their own assistants are not qualified to do the job or simply won't do it.

At least today, Mr. Boss is out of the office...

strange memories in unusual places

it's been eating me alive that we were watching "women's murder club" last week and for the whole of its 40 minutes or so I had to look at this white haired person who looked so familiar and I couln't find it in my head, where I knew this actor from. It was quite clear to me that I wouldn't know his name but I definitely knew that face.

This is nothing unusual. These things happen frequently and usually it takes me 10 minutes to wait for a signature word or gesture that triggers the memory and I know where that face was on last time I saw it. It's usually a moment of relief and happiness.

This time I had to use imdb to find my mystery person...well, he wasn't on the imdb cast list somehow. So I tried to soothe my mind by not thinking about it...doesn't work.
So even though I'm surrounded by piles of paperwork I went and did some search online and wham! found a name to the character and what happened then was only partly a moment of relief and certainly no moment of happiness much rather embarrassement.

The elderly white haired person on the TV show was Orson Bean. He played Loren Bray on...wait for it...Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman....

better late than never

gf posted about this quiz a couple of days ago and being slow I only took it now...but I liked my results, so I decided to post them even though the news might be old...

Your results:
You are Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)
<Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)

---

85%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)

---

65%
Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)

---

65%
Inara Serra (Companion)

---

65%
Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)

---

60%
Wash (Ship Pilot)

---

55%
River (Stowaway)

---

45%
Derrial Book (Shepherd)

---

40%
Alliance

---

25%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary)

---

15%
A Reaver (Cannibal)

---

10%







You are good at fixing things.
You are usually cheerful.
You appreciate being treated
with delicacy and specialness.

why can't all decent men and women call themselves feminist?

ani d. made this quotable quote availabe to public a long time ago. she must've known something!

now, two very nice scientists have found out that feminists have healthier relationships.
"Contrary to popular opinion, feminism and romance are not incompatible and feminism may actually improve the quality of heterosexual relationships, according to Laurie Rudman and Julie Phelan, from Rutgers University in the US. Their study* also shows that unflattering feminist stereotypes, that tend to stigmatize feminists as unattractive and sexually unappealing, are unsupported." Read the full article here.

I knew it would pay at some time to put up with all these wannabe feminists at school and university. I knew my last relationship wasn't ended because of me. Is all that former assumption, now knowledge an excuse to stop shaving my legs? or will that not help my relationship, feminist or not? Am I not included in the study because I'm gay? Well, the whole study is definitely something I can use when I start citing all these feminst thoughts and have my gf bored to death.

Tori meets Ani

never before have I had a phase in which Ani and Tori have met.
Usually it's one or the other, I never thought that they go together well and I was always of the opinion that they represent different parts of my life.
tori is in charge of the real powerful emotions I usually can't deal with. love, sorrow, sadness, basically everything that makes me cry because of its overwhelming beauty or pain.
ani is in charge of all things action, empowerment, political, etc. I knew that both had songs that fell more into the others' department but I'm thinking fluid boxes here...

And today, there's a premier. and it's Ani and Tori meeting in my headphones. I like it, they go good together. One fueling my motivation to finish my work for uni, the other fueling my motivation to curl up and cry. this may sound twisted, but well,...we're still talking about me here.

internal cleansing

Thanks to the old chinese people and their wisdom I feel better today. BUT my throat is still sore, worse than yesterday in fact.
But gf was so kind as to brew me lovely sage tea this morning and blackmailed me into bringing some to work. this made me realize how I love sage tea.
I just never drink it unless I have a sore throat and then I tend to forget that I really like it.
Most people probably associate sage with being sick and to some extend so do I, but I always feel so clean and fresh after drinking a bit of it...

plus only two nights to go and then we'll get our bunnies. ain't that great?

the trees refuse

it's now officially cold.
I'm sitting here in the office with ice cold fingers, and gf knows how cold cold can be. I can hardly type.
I turned on the heating hoping it might help. let's see...

It's fall, now. It's rainy, people wear warmer clothes and look like onions peeling out of their layers of garments as soon as they enter a building.
Everything is as it should be. The only thing that is wrong is nature. Trees are still green and on some bushes there are still fruit or nuts or whatever they have. It's like they were surprised by the cold, which I don't get. Because there already were a couple of colder days in August followed by some warmer ones that weren't quite warm enough anymore. Now it's really cold. but the trees refuse to change their color vehemently.

end game

finally, I'm done with all the crap it seems and my work is all normal again. no porn today.
basically it was an amazingly boring day. the police came twice, then we had the special forces over and finally a military general came visiting. the latter only on private matters but still, he fitted well into the scheme of today.
I won't bore you with work anymore.
because I was just hit in the face (by means of pay day) that the month is over and I have only one month to finish 3 essays. for which I have done nothing really and at least two of them should be profound 40 pages long.
thank god I'm a lazy b*** all summer, only to realize that there is no time left.
so if someone is an expert on EZLN raise your hand now.
experts on UN Peacekeeping operations are welcome too.

Question of the day: upside down hearing loss?

is there a chance that the human body doesn't hear as good when doing a handstand for a while? Or is it just the sound of blood rushing into your head that's louder and makes the other sounds sound a little muffled??

chris carter is my master now

wow, I just watched the x-files. episode 3 of season 6 - triangle.
that alone wouldn't probably be worth blogging, BUT I just watched an episode that I saw back then when they aired on TV in Germany. But I only saw fragments of it as I was doing my homework while watching. Now I know I should've been watching carefully and without so much as blinking for the 44 minutes it lasts.
what makes this episode so great? I guess back then a lot of people were already talking about it but that doesn't mean that I can't be a late bloomer and start now.
for starters, this episoded equals constant movement. it's shot entirely with steady cameras and the viewer might even get the expression that only two cameras were used. one for the present and one for the past. there is one scene lasting 10 minutes and a couple of seconds. at least that's what the impression is. with a bit of an effort one might be able to have a cut in between somewhere but the ordinary viewer might not notice and keep thinking that the camera is still rolling.
there is a sort of "making of" where a girl from make-up explains how she had to draw a cut on someone's cheek after he had been hit so that he could appear on the screen again looking hit in the face. everything without stopping the camera.
I imagine shooting like that to be very difficult and exhausting. but the outcome is amazing.
This episode is not only well done in terms of shooting, pretending to not cut and lighting and stuff. it's also fun to watch. especially if you're a german speaker like myself. who wouldN'T wanna hear AD Skinner talk german or even cigarette man?
It's so much fun.
and who doesn't like these kisses...?!...
go and download it!

change of scenery

yesterday around midnight, so maybe even today, gf and I decided that we need a change. We love our new living room all new and shiny. But we figured that something neded to be done about the cosiness (sorry for that word) of it all. So we started moving around our furniture. Our downstairs neighbours didn't complain because we have a wood floor and our furniture wears padfoots or whatever one would call them.
So everything's changed. We didn't exactly gain space or anything, but it's so much cosier now that I really hate being at work right now.
WANNA GO HOME!!!!

PS: there is even a better spot for our dwarf bunnies now!!