The Spore Creature Creator is super fun.



The best part is that you can download the basic creator for free and still have hours and hours of fun. I definitely recommend this to everybody, even if you don't like video games. Maybe you'll like it so much that when the Spore game comes out this fall we can all play together online :)

I realize health care is expensive - I totally do. However, I just got the bill in for my annual woman exam and am shocked. Do you know how much it costs just for an annual exam? It's great to push preventative care, but don't you think affordable care would be a great option, too?!
So here's my breakdown: vaginal tray: 6.42, Pap Smear: 144.17, Pap Smear Handling Fee: 51.21, the office visit itself: 180.98! So that would total 382.78!
That's insane, when you think families struggle to pay for food now and yet something that is pretty important is totally out of the question unless you have good insurance. (I'm really glad we do, because all I need to cover is the $15 copay) Seriously, I could have walked my swabs to the lab to save them 50 to transfer them on a cart down 2 floors.

I would like to invite you all to check out my new blog, Everything I Eat. It is the next step in my "trying to not be so fat" plan. The eating better bit is not going too well -- so my idea is that, if everyone knows what I'm eating, and especially if everyone is commenting on what I'm eating, I'll be more conscious and perhaps make better choices...not necessarily for myself, but because I'm too embarrassed to let the world know that I had alfredo sauce on two meals in one day. So it goes. Please, visit and comment. There's not a whole lot there yet since it's day one, but...hopefully I'll stick with it and things will get more interesting.

I got the idea from a book called Everything I Ate, where a food critic photographed everything he ate for an entire year...and then published the photos. It's funny -- in the middle of that book, there are several days of nothing but chicken soup. I guess he must have gotten sick. Anyway, check me and my disgusting food habits out. The only way this will work is if you're watching -- and even then, it may not.

The NYT has been making me extremely happy recently.

Salespeople are Rapists part deux

We're moving Sunday, and I needed to order a truck. So I decided I'd call around in the phonebook to find the cheapest rates. The first place I called, The Big U, wanted my credit card number before they gave me their rates. I told them I just wanted to know prices, and the woman said, "The rates can go up by the time you want to move, if you want to lock in this rate, I'll put in your credit card number, and you'll be set. If you decide to cancel, you can do so without any charge as long as it is 24 hours prior to the pickup of the truck." So, I said, "Sure, fine, whatever, as long as I can cancel for free." Well, upon calling around, I found a cheaper place. So I scheduled with them and immediately called to cancel with The Big U. I was told, after spending far too long giving name, number, address and reservation number (Why couldn't I have just given reservation number???) that I would receive a cancellation confirmation within two hours. I thought to myself, "Why can't you just confirm that I'm cancelling now?" But whatever. Three hours went by and I received no call. So I called them again. Gave all my information. Again. And again, I was told, "Ok, you've cancelled. You won't be charged anything, blah blah blah." So, the next day, I see I have a voicemail on my phone telling me the pickup location for my Big U truck. I am starting to get really mad. I call to cancel A THIRD TIME and I am told AGAIN that I will receive a confirmation phonecall in two hours. WHY THE FUCK CAN THEY NOT JUST CLICK A CANCEL BUTTON? I check my email, and again--"Just emailing to confirm your truck pickup is at such and such a place" and then I realized that these fucks are trying to stall the cancellation time to charge me for a late cancellation. I wrote a nasty email and finally got a response saying, "Ok, you're cancelled. Have a wonderful day."

Apparently, like not being raped, you have to be a bitch. "No" and "I wish to not engage in this transaction with you" were repeatedly ignored, and I was forced to go to Bitch Mode. And, after Bitch Mode was enacted, they were so super nice with the "have a wonderful day" that it almost made me feel guilty about being a bitch. Almost. It's like, "I'VE TOLD YOU NO NO NO, YOU STUPID FUCK!" And then someone saying, "Jeez, it's ok! Of COURSE you have a right to say no--noone is arguing with you--have a wonderful day!" Creeps. I SO was not going to be ripped off. This is coming days after I bitched out a garbage service for sending me bitchy bills that were not mine but had my name and information on them--with a 40.00 "late fee." This shit sounds illegal. Isn't it? Or, like rape, the onus of not getting fucked is on me--to do more than say no?

I'm trying my hand at indoor gardening :) I bought a tomato plant, cilantro and basil. My windows are huge and along one entire wall of my condo, so I get pretty direct sunlight all day long (more in the winter than the summer, though)...and those are the items that will be awesome to have fresh. I have such a weakness for fresh, ripe, soil-grown tomatoes and I use basil and cilantro fairly often, so I'm thinking that it will be nice to just be able to cut it rather than store it in my fridge where it goes bad if I don't use it immediately.

It will also be funny to pollinate the tomato plants. As far as I have learned, they are self-pollinating, so all I have to do is hold a vibrator up to the flowers once a day :D Sweet.

I was thinking someone might have some advice.. I know Urs reads about that stuff a lot and in Erica's education she may have come across some tid-bit of knowledge...

How do Alaskans know they're in the midst of a recession? The price of ammo's gone up.

I forgot to tell you girls about my vacation to Cabo San Lucas. I went for my law school friend's wedding for the long weekend. It was over-the-top incredible. Four days of reunioning with 10 law school friends and 3 days of Indian wedding madness. During the wedding top-shelf booze, food, and even some tourist stuff was taken care of. They hosted over 200 people for the destination wedding. We stayed at the Hilton with ocean view rooms, and of course I stayed extra days with some friends to snorkel, get a wave runner, and see the Pacific (we stayed on the Sea of Cortez side). My vacations have always been more on the adventurous side...I've never done this sort before...where you lounge by the infinity pool (and in the pool) for days. I might be hooked! This is the view from the hotel:


This was the set-up for the actual wedding ceremony (GORGEOUS!):


This is my friend's parade into the ceremony (notice he is riding a white horse :) :

I haggled with a local to get him to take me out on his boat to where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez. I think the picture is too small to see it, but lounging on the rock on the far left are a bunch of sea lions. The waves were incredible:


Of course, my facebook profile has a ton of pics, too.

Dirty Girl

Why is Feminism the dirtiest word ever? It seems that when stated, it gives most people the shivers, women included. Back when I worked at the restaurant, I'd bring in feminist literature to read on my dinner break and it elicited the strangest responses from people. A young woman I worked with told me that she'd informed her douchebag boyfriend that I was a feminist and here's the conversation that took place:

C: Yeah, I told Mark you're a feminist, and he was like, 'groan! One of those bitches?' But don't worry, I reassured him you weren't like, you know, one of THOSE feminists.

Me: Well...I AM one of THOSE feminists...I've become militant to the max.

C: (Laughes) No, Frankie. I mean, you know, THOSE feminists...the ones that are all...'GRR. Feminism.' You know, the ones that can't take a joke?

Me: And by joke, you mean sexual harassment?

Seriously. I often hear, "Oh, I hate feminists," from women that expect to be paid as much as men for doing the same job, or from women that vote, or go to college, or, you know, expect to not be beaten or raped. What the fuck?

A few months ago I read a great editorial in the Milwaukee Journal by Leonard Parker, I believe, regarding feminism and his highschool daughter. He wrote that his daughter is an honors student, plans to attend college (and has many prestigious schools to choose from), plays several highschool sports and is involved with various clubs, wants a career, etc. He asked her if she considers herself a feminist and was surprised to see her wrinkle her nose and shake her head vehemently and say, "NO, Dad, I hate feminists." He had a great line, it was something like,
"How many women turn their noses up at feminism while sitting and dining at a table feminism has prepared for them?" It bothered me somewhat that a dude could understand this concept more than a lot of women--women that shun feminists, though they want the same things. It's even more pathetic when dudes are all, "Waah! Angry feminists! I'm so threatened by their desire for equal treatment and lack of abuse in the system! Waah!" I had a friend who took a Poli-Sci course from some male professor, and on the first day of class he said, "So...we got any feminists in here? Any man-haters?" She was far too lenient. I would have seriously given that fucker a piece of my mind. To me, when he says that, he's basically saying, "Ok, so...do we have any women in here that hate men so much that they actually want to VOTE, and have a right to BE HERE in a UNIVERSITY, and have a right to not be sexually abused? WHY oh WHY do you HATE US MEN SO MUCH???!!!" Angry now.