Owner: blah blah blog URL:http://mostboringblogever.blogspot.com Join Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2006 10:47:48 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: This is a random blog about pretty much everything that catches the eye of its 30-year old single girl lawyer author, but especially politics, law, and pop culture -- including art, sports, movies, music, television, celebrities, and the occasional funny Site statistics:Click here
Goodbye, old printer 2006-12-07 20:26:00 So, I bought a new laptop computer a couple weeks ago. I finally have it (and the Slingbox) all set up, ready to go -- and I realize that my printer doesn't work with the new system.You see, for years, I've had the same crappy old Canon printer. For $60, it got me through the end of law school, my master's program, and six-plus years of living in D.C. -- and it still works fine -- even though nowadays the photo ink cartridges cost almost as much as the printer did nine years ago. But alas, it's not a USB printer, and the new computer doesn't have a port for an old-fashioned printer cable.So, since the printer has essentially become an oversized paperweight, I finally gave in today and ordered a new printer -- complete with copy, scan, and fax capabilities. I guess that means that I'm getting rid of the old flatbed scanner too. Read more:Goodbye
Jews on Gay Marriage 2006-12-07 19:42:00 Yesterday, Conservative Judaism decided to take a somewhat liberal approach to gay marriage (and gay rabbis): It's allowed, but it's up to the individual congregation to decide to accept it. As explained by The New York Times:In doing so, the committee left it up to individual synagogues to decide whether to accept or reject gay rabbis and commitment ceremonies, saying that either course is justified according to Jewish law. "We believe in pluralism," said Rabbi Kassel Abelson, chairman of the panel, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly, at a news conference after the meeting at the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York. "We recognized from the very beginnings of the movement that no single position could speak for all members" on the law committee or in the Conservative movement.I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Not only is this openminded and fair, but it's the right answer. Read more:Gay Marriage
Another harsh reminder that I'm not a kid anymore 2006-12-07 01:51:00 Guess who needs reading glasses?
Sigh.
I thought I'd have more time to prepare myself for this eventuality.
Next thing you know, they'll be telling me that I have arthritis or osteoporosis or something that only old people get.
Fuckers.
Baby, it's cold outside 2006-12-05 19:40:00 This time of year, all I want to do is sleep and drink cocoa. It's cold, it's dark, and all of the fake-Christmas-y cheer annoys me. My office is so cold that people are wearing their winter coats all day.
This is just about the only time of year that I miss Florida. When I was down there two weeks ago, I could -- and did -- go outside without a jacket, scarf, and gloves. (I just had to wear a polartec fleece vest in the house because the air conditioning was on so high.)
We moved there from New Jersey during the summer when I was twelve. That winter, our first winter in the newly-constructed house, we actually had to turn the heat on for one night -- Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, so did everyone else, and the entire neighborhood suffered a brown-out.
So, the next morning, after opening up all of our presents in front of the T.V., the family packed itself into the station wagon and went out for breakfast at the Bagel Land in a nearby strip mall. (An aside: Unlike the house in New Jer
Random sports news 2006-12-04 06:02:00 Florida State might have had a crappy football season,* but maybe they'll have a pretty good basketball season.**
Even though they've lost to Wisconsin and Pittsburgh, they somehow managed to beat Florida today -- but that's probably because the Gators have mono.
*Emerald Bowl? Really?
Read more:Random
Poll results and new poll 2006-12-04 05:29:00 The poll results
are in. I'm not at all surprised that the majority feels that traveling to see family for the holidays is a good thing. I am, however, a little surprised that so few people reacted negatively about the stress involved with such trips.This weekend, I attended my office's holiday party -- at the very lovely Mandarin Oriental. The invitation to the office party indicated that the dress was "festive attire." What do you think that means?People were wearing tuxes and cocktail dresses. Really, it was insane.Anyway, this week's poll is about office holiday parties. Vote here.
Pop Quiz 2006-12-01 19:17:00 Bored on a rainy Friday? Take the How's Your Vocabulary? quiz.Your Vocabulary Score: A+Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary!You must be quite an erudite person.How's Your Vocabulary?Or, for more of a challenge take the Does Your English Cut the Mustard? quiz.Your English Skills:Grammar: 100%Punctuation: 100%Spelling: 100%Vocabulary: 100%Does Your English Cut the Mustard? Read more:Pop Quiz
Finished product 2006-11-29 06:31:00 Here's the end result of my knitting project:
No, I did not knit the kitchen chair.
"BlackBerry Orphans" are whiny brats 2006-12-08 18:59:00 I just read this interesting article in
The Wall Street Journal
about so-called BlackBerry
orphans.
As hand-held email devices proliferate, they are having an unexpected impact on family dynamics: Parents and their children are swapping roles. Like a bunch of teenagers, some parents are routinely lying to their kids, sneaking around the house to covertly check their emails and disobeying house rules established to minimize compulsive typing. The refusal of parents to follow a few simple rules is pushing some children to the brink. They are fearful that parents will be distracted by emails while driving, concerned about Mom and Dad's shortening attention spans and exasperated by their parents' obsession with their gadgets.
***
The household tension comes as gadgets like BlackBerrys and Treos -- once primarily tools for investment bankers and lawyers -- have entered the pantheon of devices, including the TV, the personal computer and the cellphone, that have forcefully inserted the Read more:Orphans
Education Victim 2006-12-12 22:37:00
I just got out of my mandatory D.C. Bar class for newly-admitted attorneys where they teach the baby lawyers how to be an upstanding and ethical (cough, cough) member of the legal community.
I took pretty much the same class in Florida 6 years ago. Only there, it was two days long.
Lucky for me, New York didn't require a class. Otherwise I'd stab someone. Read more:Education
Six weird things about me 2006-12-13 19:01:00 This morning, Ryane tagged me to disclose six ways in which I am weird.This is a hard challenge -- not because I'm not weird, but mostly because it's hard to narrow it down to six peccadilloes. And also because I don't want to repeat anything I disclosed earlier.Even though I am cold all the time, I absolutely hate to put on the heat. I would rather pile on layers of clothing and walk around wrapped in a blanket. So, most days, that's what I do.I am so bad at math that, more often than not, I count on my fingers.Yes, I am a tax attorney.I love Christmas -- and not just the lights, the trees, and the presents. I am, for all intents and purposes, Jewish. Yet, for some reason, I love Christmas so much so that, in high school, I used to tag along with friends to midnight mass.I really want a Christmas tree. For years, I've been trying to justify it to myself with the whole line about it really being a pagan symbol to celebrate the winter solstice, but for some reason, I can't pull th Read more:things
A haricut, or "changing my life" 2006-12-15 05:35:00 Just about every day, I follow pretty much the same routine: I wake up, I go to work, I have lunch, I go home, I eat dinner, I go to sleep. In between these bellwethers are the mundane details -- like work or hobbies -- my normal, every day activities.
Today, one of those activities was to get a haircut. I was just going to get a trim, and I explained to the stylist that it didn't really matter what she did to it, since I generally just put it up in a ponytail. The stylist was offended by that -- something about hair being a versatile accessory. So, somehow, she convinced me to cut it shorter -- mostly by promising me that she could cut it stylishly, and that it could be styled in five minutes in the morning.
She was so excited. About halfway through, she started telling people that she was "changing my life."
This is when I knew I was in trouble.
Chrismanukah Cookies 2006-12-15 20:51:00 Tomorrow afternoon, I plan on baking cookies -- and Debby has agreed to be my sous chef. It's all part of my annual celebration of Chrismanukah.
For years, I've made cookies at this time of year, and now, the season wouldn't be complete without them. The association started in high school -- either my junior or senior year. Whenever it was, it involved boredom and a decision by my best friend that we just needed to do something. (Of course, this same kind of boredom involved us planning a McDonald's kids birthday party for her for her 18th birthday, and making goodie bags for her 20th birthday that had kids' toy plastic sherriff's badges.) I don't even remember what kind of cookies we made, but it started a tradition: Baking cookies and watching
The Life of Brian
.
Our freshman year of college, we hung out in my parents' kitchen and did the same thing. That year, my mom helped us, and we made shaped sugar cookies. Unfortunately, the little men and women shapes kept breaking -- Read more:Cookies
First Night of Hannukkah 2006-12-16 00:56:00 Since my folks are a thousand miles away, I like to get myself little presents for Hannukkah.
For the first night, I got myself this:
Yep, kids, I'm making myself a sock monkey. Just because.
(And, for the record, my presents for nights 2-5 are CDs.) Read more:First
, First Night
, Night
Chrismanukah Cookies 2006-12-15 20:51:01 Tomorrow afternoon, I plan on baking cookies -- and Debby has agreed to be my sous chef. It's all part of my annual celebration of Chrismanukah.
For years, I've made cookies at this time of year, and now, the season wouldn't be complete without them. The association started in high school -- either my junior or senior year. Whenever it was, it involved boredom and a decision by my best friend that we just needed to do something. (Of course, this same kind of boredom involved us planning a McDonald's kids birthday party for her for her 18th birthday, and making goodie bags for her 20th birthday that had kids' toy plastic sherriff's badges.) I don't even remember what kind of cookies we made, but it started a tradition: Baking cookies and watching
The Life of Brian
.
Our freshman year of college, we hung out in my parents' kitchen and did the same thing. That year, my mom helped us, and we made shaped sugar cookies. Unfortunately, the little men and women shapes kept breaking -- Read more:Cookies
Two quick points 2006-12-16 16:37:00 If you are surprised that Trey Anastasio (see: Phish) was arrested for driving while on drugs, seriously, dude, you should stop doing drugs. What should surprise you, however, is that there was no marijuana involved.Judith Regan got fired over the O.J. book. Ha ha ha ha ha. Ain't karma a bitch?
Cookie recipes 2006-12-17 06:36:00 As promised, here are the recipes of the cookies we baked earlier today. They all came out great!
Snickerdoodles
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
8 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus three tablespoons
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix shortening and butter. Add 1 1/2 cups sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add flour, baking soda, and salt, and blend until smooth.
Mix 3 tablespoons sugar with cinnamon in a small bowl.
Roll the dough, by hand, into 1 1/2 inch balls.
Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar.
Flatten the balls into 1/2 inch disks, spacing them evenly on cookie sheets.
Bake until light brown, but still moist in the center, about 12 minutes.
Gingersnaps
Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses Read more:Cookie
Poll results and new poll 2006-12-18 03:00:00 Last week's poll is actually from the week before, but as of last Sunday, it was knotted up in a four way tie. Rather than have a four-way runoff, I decided to just let it be, and hope that it would resolve itself.And it did:So, office holiday parties are fun. But are they as much fun as making Chrismanukah cookies, or a White Elephant Gag Gift Exchange?Anyway, the new seasonally-appropriate poll is up. Vote here. Read more:results
Look what I made! 2006-12-19 06:34:00 Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce -- for the first time anywhere -- my sock monkey!
Cute, no? The kit said it would take an hour, but it actually took WAY longer than that.
Anyway, he needs a name. Any suggestions?
Travel tips for dummies 2006-12-20 19:24:00 I think I would have been somewhat very extremely annoyed if the airport security line I was standing in was slowed down because some doofus decided to send her baby through the X-ray machine.
If the line was long, I might have thought about punching her. Read more:Travel
Numbers and words 1970-01-01 00:59:59 So, as noted below, yesterday was my birthday. I am officially 31, and therefore, I'm trying to convince myself that it's cool to be a prime number.I was, however, just the teensiest bit upset when my aunt offhandedly made some comment about being forty.Not. Even. Close.Anyway, here's an interesting little tidbit: According to this, there are 10,499 people in the United States with the first name Dara. And when I did the search with my last name, it turns out that no one else has my same name.HowManyOfMe.comThere are:0people with my namein the U.S.A.How many have your name?I am unique. Read more:Numbers
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Internal Revenue Service join forces to battle extravagant celebrity culture 1970-01-01 00:59:59 It's official: Thanks to the IRS, celebrities will no longer be getting those fancy Academy
Award gift baskets.Accordingly, Ed Norton made this pithy comment:He said, "A lot of us have talked to the Academy Awards producers about this and I think they're actually going to scuttle the gift baskets and that kind of stuff. I mean the gift baskets, worth amounts of money that a low income family could live on for a year, (are given to) people who have so much already. It gets depressing. You sit there, going, 'This is an embarrassment.'"Note to self: (1) Find Ed Norton. (2) Give him a kiss. Read more:culture
, Internal
, Motion
, Picture
, Revenue
, Sciences
, Service
Speaking of Monkeys 1970-01-01 00:59:59 It's Curious George, the movie!(Read all about it in Yahoo News.)And yes, I have a Curious George t-shirt.Let me know your views on monkeys by signing the guestbook. Read more:Monkeys
, Speaking
Very Important Underpants 1970-01-01 00:59:59 There's a coloring book for lawyerscirculating around via e-mail. It's hilarious. Read more:Underpants
Placido Domingo predicts Steelers win! 1970-01-01 00:59:59 This is my favorite article of the day. Who would have thought that half of these people paid attention to American football? Read more:Steelers
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