beancounters

Sammy

Sammy, originally uploaded by beancounter.

Wild and free on the river!

Automatic return dog

The weekend was splendid and eventful. On Saturday, we took the dogs to the river and let them off the leash. For Sammy, this was a Big Trial, though he may not have sensed it, to see if he has finally learned to come back when called. His last owner(s) did nothing with him except house-train him. They used to let him freely roam the neighborhoods - when we adopted him, he felt no motivation to hear any commands he didn't want to hear.

Well, it was the first time, but yes, he returned when called. With only slight delays while pretending to pee or sniff a patch of sand before running back to me at full speed. No matter how long it took him to return, we praised the heck out of him and then turned him loose again, in an attempt to associate good behavior with great rewards. I give him a B for effort.

We will keep working with him, in order to get him up to A+ effort, which would be prompt, 100% returnage. Dog folk, what especially works for your trainees?

Procrastinatin' fool

Sue finally got around to posting this very blog-worthy procrastination quiz. Since it's sponsored by Discovery Health (as opposed to, like OMG, Quizilla), I found the questions well-worded. The syntax was not weighted to make you feel like shit for wanting to watch TV instead of fill out your taxes or something. I mean, really! What's that about? Who the hell are they to judge?

Whups - I digress. Sore subject. Anyway, my score was 54%, which is maybe, possibly, perhaps on the low side. How did you score?

Stuff to buy

Once again, the free market coughs and spits out a couple of cool ownables ...

Isn't this a great-looking bag? It turns out the LA Metro Transit Authority has an online store, and this bag is featured. It's made of laminated metro bus line maps! (I'd tell you why my work required me to surf the LAMTA website, but then I'd have to run over you.)

I wonder how sturdy it is. I'd especially like to own one if it traced Sandra Bullock's bus route in Speed. Heh. (Update: Sue says no luck - that bus was on the Santa Monica line, not the MTA. Oh well!)

Then, I'm sure you saw this a few days ago ... the keyboard waffle iron. Sure, the waffles are too big for your plate, but who cares?

I are in ur bl0g, makn fun of ur Muad'deeb

[lolcat via sum1 onna Innernezz]

Pam's bane: schedule-keeping

Gotta love the timing on this: Today's Wiki-How entry is a how-to on balancing school and work. I'm glad to say that most of these pieces of advice, I have practiced these last three or four years. Where I always fall down is (1) maintaining a schedule, and (2) watching those guilty pleasures. ::cough::neopets:: If I play too much on (2), my already poorly-maintained (1) goes all to hell. Live and learn.

Speaking of keeping a schedule, my boss wants three pages by noon. Mmbye.

Give her a break?

Give me a break!

Los Angeles  - Celebrity heiress [Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Post] is appealing to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to pardon her for driving with a suspended licence and quash the 45-day jail sentence she is due to begin next month.

On a posting on her MySpace website, [She Who Must Not Be Named] urged fans to sign a petition asking Schwarzenegger to reverse the sentence handed down in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday.

Um, She had the notice of the suspended license in her car with her. Sorry, you don't get pardoned for not reading your mail.

Governors would be setting a bad precedent to pardon celebrities for drug-related sentences. For one thing, think of the number of requests they'd have sitting on their desks every day. They'd have to hire more staff! :::rimshot:::

Update: She's still driving! Har!

Behold

It's the orange I created in MS Paint! I didn't delete it after all.

Hmm. It looks sort of ... diseased, yo. I'm kind of sorry you're being made to see this, come to think of it.

What can you draw on Paint?

A little Tuesday reality check

BB came home from choir last night and took me aside for a serious talk. He gets worried when I don't sleep, shuffle around like a zombie, and speak in sepuchral tones. "This paper doesn't have to be done tomorrow. You have time, and you have time to make a reasonable plan for finishing it," he said. "You won't get anything done on it if you let worry spiral out of control." Then he ordered me to get some sleep. Which I did.

And like magic, I feel enough in control to keep going. Gee, that was some pre-t-t-y good advice. People in my life offer this exact same advice to me on a regular basis. Maybe it's time I, oh I don't know, retained the idea. Now there's a thought.

By the way, my thesis advisor seems to be MIA. Excellent!

The eyes seem to follow you all around the screen ...

I once drew an orange on MS Paint. I got a certain depth of field going, too, if you know what I mean. I was pretty proud of it. But compared to this, that was nothing! Watch this guy recreate the Mona Lisa on Paint. Actually, I don't know which was more amazing to see come to life - the face or the intricate backgrounds.

A little Monday paranoia

Why do you suppose one computer in the house periodically loses internet access, while the other ones never do? It figures it would happen on a day when my own private IT Help Desk is at his day job. So I'm in BB's new study, using his computer. I notice this one works just fine. Hmm.

Happy Monday, blogfolk. Last night I got approximately 13 minutes of sleep. All I could do is worry about my paper (and the lack of work thereof). In the night, there were terrible visions of never finishing school, of skulking around town, and avoiding eye contact with people who might ask me my progress. Of my current employer saying, 'How can we promote you to writing research papers, when you can't even finish this one?'

Stupid, I know, but try telling that to 2:37 a.m. PST.

So I said screw it and called in sick. I'll take a good look at what I have so far. Then this afternoon, I'll pick up Bunny from her orchestra class and we'll go to the college and see my advisor. I'll block his doorway with my book bag, and I won't allow anyone to enter or leave the office until the two of us have developed a plan for this paper we can both live with.

Good plan. We'll see how it goes on 13 minutes of sleep. I need a nap. And an aspirin. And a shower. To the shower!

World's oldest cubicle-dweller

PATNA, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of people are flocking to a remote village in eastern India to catch a glimpse of an old man who has spent six years lying inside his own grave waiting to die [...] Basanta Roy claims he is 103 and spends his day clearing weeds from the grave and lying in it.

[Insert tactless joke about "lousy civil service retirement package" here]

Windows on the world

For about a year now, The Daily Dish has been featuring photos sent in by readers, depicting what they see out their windows every day. Now, all those pictures are viewable by region, in a nifty flash animation world map they call The World From Your Window. (Be patient - it takes a little while to fully load.) I hope they eventually add the city names to each picture.

Bad news for lefties?

Ah, dude, no way! They've come back with another study.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A study suggests that women who are left-handed have a higher risk of dying, particularly from cancer and cerebrovascular disease - damage to an artery in the brain or an artery that supplies blood to the brain.

One researcher writes, "Left-handers are reported to be underrepresented in the older age groups, although such findings are still much debated." Yes! Health researchers of the world! Let's continue to debate this, by all means, because we don't want this to be the final word.

"Having successfully dodged a number of disorders ... I doubt that my left hand is prematurely pulling me toward my grave."

Actually, I liked this quote as the final word. Heh.

Obligatory photo of the Capitol

Obligatory photo of Capitol
Originally uploaded by beancounter.

One of the perks of working at Dream Job nowadays, is that I get to be back in the downtown area again!

Here's one of the shots that everyone who tours the Capitol is obligated to take. It's practically a local ordinance! At least mine has red roses in the shot, which marks the season perfectly.