Man. What happened to April?!

Two guys have asked for my phone number in the last 3 days. One was really drunk, and one was at the House of Pies / Guys. I'm so awesome ... NOT!

How do you respond when someone asks for your digits and you don't want to give 'em out?

(Today someone told me about the Rejection Hotline, which is freaking hilarious.)

Today it was 3. On top of my camera stuff, and leftovers from dinner. Heavy!!

It's tough being the family's IT girl. Especially when my only "qualifications" consist of knowing how to do internet searches, being able to read through possibly technical jargon, and being capable of following instructions.

"It should be easy for you, right?" - famous last words uttered by bro

I need to be more organized. I have a useable calendar thingy in my cell phone but ... how do you guys stay organized on a day-to-day basis? I just feel overwhelmed a lot of times. So far, keeping appointments is not a problem, but I feel like I have trouble staying focused on what I need to do. (This article calls it the "interruption-driven lifestyle" ... that is SO me! I have like zero attention span.) I need some way to have a to-do list that will help me be productive and get stuff checked off. On top of all this, I also have a major problem with procrastination ...

Every time I see a handheld organizer / Palm Pilot, I start drooling (partially because of the geek factor), but then I wonder if I'd be better off just upgrading to a better phone with a built-in organizer.

I've never made the switch to MS Outlook. (Yes, still using Eudora.) Does switching to Outlook, with all its syncing capabilities, make overall life organization better?

Or maybe I should just stick with a regular paper agenda? And the ol' keep-a-fire-under-my-butt method?

What works for you?

My friends say hilarious things from time to time. Some tidbits of conversations past:

"Y'all are contaminated."
- Iris, on why she'd rather not date doctors

"All the good girls are taken."
- Annie, totally forgetting I was present, causing everyone at the table to be silent, and after half a minute feeling extremely embarrassed about accidentally insulting me

"They're white black shows."
- Selena, on how few/no black people watch The Cosby Show nor The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

"Can I borrow your camera for a few days?"
- acquaintance, asking the impossible favor of me to let my baby out of my sight

"___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___."
- Sam, on the most offensive thing you can possibly say in the English language, said quietly, and with everyone at the table agreeing unanimously

One last unquotable, not from a friend:

"I don't know, but it's not pork."
- waitress at Chinese Cafe (Nan2 Bei3 He2) on Bellaire, in response to me asking what the meat-looking substance in my vegetarian Ma Po Tofu was. They were rude and wouldn't give me a straight answer. I'm never going back there again.

Yes, I am a fan of hands-free headsets. People who have been passengers in my car are undoubtedly fans of me using hands-free headsets as well.

Courtesy of the 99cent store (begrudgingly) and Logitech (yay for their Flexloop thingy!).

An excuse for posting pictures of myself, really. :)

It used to intimidate me to cook for Chef Hugh, but he has surprisingly spoken well of the home-cooked meals I've served up.

My latest. [And off to imagination land we go!]

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Asian-Italian Rotini                                                                                           $15.95
Garden rotini with a dash of sesame oil with a spicy stir-fry of fresh shiitake mushrooms, tomatoes, and dried tofu; topped with shreds of golden-fried strips of egg*, asiago cheese*, fresh organically-grown basil, and freshly ground black pepper.

Korean Insamju                                                                                                    $5 / glass
Ginseng rice wine.

Hot and Sour Soup                                                                                        $3.50
The traditional Chinese favorite with a nontraditional twist, giving it a more toasted flavor.

Oreo Cheesecake                                                                                                  $4.50
Complete with crunchy Oreo crust.

Vietnamese French Coffee                                                                                   $2.50
A strong-bodied flavor tempered with a hint of amaretto.

*if you are vegan, we can substitute these for vegan options.

Mild Medium Hot

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[/back from imagination land]

I appreciate Hugh for helping me clear out my fridge, which is of course the only reason why he got to eat for free. :)

As promised, a glimpse into the wedding slideshow that I did for a friend's wedding. Again, I couldn't have done it without a and c, mucho muuuucho gracias to them!

Clips from Wedding Slideshow (Windows Media Video, 2mins 11secs, 4MB, low quality)


Some Factoids

Total DVD Running Time: about 10.5 minutes (which in my opinion is OK; longer would tax my short attention span)
Total Hours Spent: err ... I tried to keep track, but eventually gave up
Number of Major Revisions: Two. One, the day before going live. Two, while splicing same-day footage into it for the reception.
Programs Used:

• Adobe Premiere 6.5
• Windows Movie Maker (for titles - haven't yet figured out how to make titles in Premiere; also for grabbing video footage from camcorder)
• Sonic MyDVD (for authoring to DVD and making a pretty animated menu screen)

Songs Used (linked to Amazon, where they have song clips):

• Best of My Love - The Emotions
• What I Like About You - The Romantics
• Linus and Lucy theme - as performed by George Winston (?) [ free download (jazzier version) ]
• Valentine - Martina McBride

Where I Purchased Music for the Slideshow: Sony Connect, 99 cents per track
How I Converted the Proprietary Format Over to Something Usable: HiMD Renderer
Chinese Consultant: my mom
Program Used to Create This Glimpse: Sonic Foundry Videofactory 1.0 (now known as Sony Vegas Movie Studio. I find it ironic that after all the bells and whistles of Premiere, I still come back to Videofactory's easy interface. It's hella old but I love this program.)
Did I Feel Rewarded After Completion of Project? HECK yeah!!!

OK so, ahem, hypothetically speaking, how would you handle this situation?

1) Let's say that you just barely nick the rear left bumper of a car while backing out of your parking spot at your apartment complex. The nick is so minute that when you get out to check it out you can't be 100% sure if you had even nicked that other car, and see other scratches in the vicinity. You also can't be for sure because the front right bumper of your own car had previously been scratched up by your own carelessness backing out of a garage a while ago, just cuz you're a bad driver like that. ANYWAY: what would you do?

2) Let's say that for the aforementioned situation you decide to leave an anonymous note for the person under their windshield wiper blade (driver's side), reading, "Hi, I nicked your rear left bumper a few days ago, please call XXX-XXX-XXXX to resolve" and on the same day actually witness the car you'd nicked pull in and watch the driver come out. What would you do?