maybe you need to take 2 week vacations

my team was fantastic while i was gone- really they were, but there's still so much to do. plus with everything i had to do to prepare, and the fact that i was answering emails the whole time i was gone, it didn't really feel like a vacation.

i'm wondering if 2 weeks is the actual threshold of taking time off and being able to enjoy it, and not coming back to such a pile of stuff that you have to overwork yourself to catch up?

maybe the trick is to go somewhere that you can't get cell service? like fiji or the amazon or the antarctic or a cruise.

so the trick now is to save up a) enough PTO to take two weeks off and b) enough money to go somewhere remote for two weeks.

H-Pot and the Half Blood Prince (Spoilers)

very good.  very, very good.

my only complaints

1. i think even this one was too long to make in to just one movie.  

2. the problem for me is that i kind of sit there watching going, "okay are they going to show this part? how are they going to handle this?"  i actually think it will be better the second time because i know what they've left in, changed, and tossed.

3. for those of us who know that snape and dumbledore had a deal, the ending isn't as shocking.  for those in the theater who haven't read book seven yet, i bet the end of the movie was a lot better.  but for those of us (90%) who have, we know the score and therefore were making sure it all fell in place with what we know happens next.  and they put little nods and clues in there to items from book seven.  v. well done.

it was so beautifully filmed, funny, sweet, everything.  i'm so glad that not a single one of these movies has disappointed yet.  i know everyone has their favorite(s) but you can't really say that any of them has been bad.  

for a greener tomorrow

i've decided one thing for a greener tomorrow.  i am finally giving up buying actual CDs.  i have resisted this one for so, so long, for many, many reasons.  a) keeps graphic designers in business designing CD booklets. b) keeps physical CD stores in business= jobs. c) if anything ever happens to your computer you just re-rip the CD.

but i've finally decided that i don't actually need the CD, and downloading it from iTunes will be just the same.  when i have money again i'm investing in a backup drive for the "if something happens to your computer" factor.  now i've eliminated the piece of plastic from ever ending up in the landfill, the production waste, and the transportation waste from getting it to the store, and the waste from me driving there to pick it up. of course, i'm down to buying maybe 6 CDs a year, and more individual songs off iTunes, so its really only saving 6 pieces of plastic a year.

i look at everything in terms of it's (perceived) environmental footprint these days. i've been doing it for awhile, not just since the LEED test.  if i'm standing at the store and there are two products in front of me that are fairly similar, i pick the one with less packaging to it.  i like this one scent of method soap, but the one store i can actually find it at only carries it in the single containers, not in the big refill bags, so i don't buy it.  i buy the big refill bags (less plastic waste going to the landfill.)

the only reason you'll ever see me throw away a bottle or a can is because out here i know that homeless people go through every single garbage can there is to collect them for the bottle deposits. (btw- what a great way to make sure everything gets recycled.)

i see a lot of crap at stores that i think should be illegal to even be made, because it's cheap crap with a 2 week lifespan, and will just end up in the landfill.  i had to buy a new iron tonight, and i wanted to get an expensive one that i know will last awhile, but unfortunately i couldn't swing it.  so i ended up with a cheap one that i know will break in a year (see reason i was buying a new iron- another item going to the landfill.)

sometimes it gets tiring to think through every purchase this way, but at least someone does.

you don't even want to hear my thoughts on landfills.

damnit

believe me, i'd like to use a much harsher word above.

i just found a lump in my breast.  of course it's probably nothing.  but i'm all of the sudden extremely scared, and i can't sleep.

and of course, even if it does turn out to be nothing, i now have to deal with a series of doctors appointments i'd rather not have to go through.

the funny thing is i've always thought, "how would anyone ever be able to feel a lump?" well, i now know.  you can feel it when there's something the size of a pea in there. 

f*&k