Suzanne Calling

I hit a dud on the Shellac front. Katie and I had both seen several photographs online of some cobalt blue nails, an effect that can be gained by layering Negligee over Black Pool. If I twist my hand in just the right direction, yes, there's a tinge of blue, but nothing dramatic. It wasn't a total loss. Once we realized that the Negligee wasn't so sexy, Katie suggested putting Moonlight and Roses over the Black Pool. THAT looks nice, kind of a purple metallic. Pictures of both tomorrow.

Game Teen, while beyond the age of trick or treating, loves Halloween. The costumes, the ability to wear someone else's imaginative ideas, really tickles him like few things do in the everyday world. Many months ago, he told me he had a costume in mind, and we discussed making it. Well, the time has gotten away from us, my sewing machine is buried in storage and I am woefully behind on schoolwork. I don't have time to cut, pin and sew an elaborate costume in time for this Halloween. So I went on line and found quite a few suppliers of the costume in question. Several who will custom make a costume to his measurements, in fact. While about triple in price to a traditional store-bought item, the quality is far superior. I honestly don't expect him to grow much more than he has thus far, so shelling it out isn't going to be a case of spending more than I usually do for something that will see one year's use. In looking for his, though, one of the suppliers offers...

Yesterday was National Pancake Day. I found out today was National Corned Beef Hash Day, but after I arrived at work, thus missing my opportunity to stop and get some for breakfast. Apparently, tomorrow is coffee day. (7-11 is giving away free coffee from 7 to 11 and I think Dunkin' Donuts is doing something similar.) So we've got the pancakes, the hash and the coffee in a row. Is tomorrow Orange Juice Day? Fruit Cup Day? Maple Syrup?

Last year, some advice that I was given by others in graduate studies (and echoed by a couple of faculty members, I might add) is that you never want all your degrees to come from the same University. The conventional wisdom behind this is that it indicates the student is complacent in the known and avoids spreading their wings, taking risks and the idea of change in general. I thought it was odd that this would be stated, especially since my observation is that a good research institution is going to challenge you no matter whether you've been there for your undergraduate and/or master's programs, because they want to foster good researchers. It wouldn't serve them well to get soft in the upper tiers. So, this view, shared by more than a few people, is a large part of motivated me to seek out other schools. Honestly, if I didn't have a family to consider, GameTeen's unique needs or a garage and storage facility full of crappe de Jane, I'd be al...

One of my classes has a group project that will make up half my grade. When my group was created out of default a little over a week ago, I felt pretty good about the match-even though we didn't hear from one of the group members, then had a flurry of emails and contributions to the discussion from her the day of class. Tuesday night, we came up with three ideas that we wanted to explore for our project, with each of us taking one of them to explore more in depth. I posted the week's punch list (as the manager of the project, it was my role) and member one quickly turned in her part. The two days later, member two submitted a report-on the same item. Since then, there's been no response to emails, nor a response to the group contract that she needs to add material to before it can be posted. Last week, there was a little worry that something was wrong. This week, I realize this may just be the way she operates-but it doesn't work well for group projects. The other ...

After watching Storm Chasers last year, I knew one thing-my fear of tornadoes is justified. I have a great deal of respect for the people who chase the storms, all in an effort to video tape them, or set down sensing devices to hopefully learn more about them and increase warning times. One of the teams followed was Sean Casey and his TIV (Tornado Intercept Vehicle). His efforts were to make an IMAX film about tornadoes and to be honest, I thought the guy was an ass. He is more than a little high strung and he treats his team members like idiots-which they definitely are not. Today, the boys and I went over to MOSI and we watch the film that was created, Tornado Alley. It had many images like this one, which only increase my fear of the midwest as a place to live: If you're going to see this film, be prepared, it's a little dizzying. I'm not sure how much of that was because we viewed it in an IMAX dome or because our seats reclined, but the kids experienced some degr...

No, it's not the answer to the question of Life, the Universe and Everything , it's the number of magazines the festering maggot idiot has bestowed upon my family. All I can say at this point is that the Postal Inspector is in receipt of copies of 27 of the invoices, the local Sheriff's department is also has those copies, as well as one of the original postcards and a card that is signed by our possible suspect. One has to wonder how screwed up an individual must be to send this many magazines to one house, using different names in the process (GameTeen has apparently been adopted by people with another surname). How cowardly is a person, rather than tell us we ticked them off, to instead clog our mailbox and use the USPS in a passive-aggressive manner to show displeasure? The sad part is that the federal government does not take kindly to the use of the postal system in this way. All the person had to say is "Suzanne, I'm pissed at you," though I cannot...