I stole this, without guilt, from Sometimes Saintly Nick because I’m sick and have no interest in a real post right now.

Your Personality Is

Rational (NT)You are both logical and creative. You are full of ideas. You are so rational that you analyze everything. This drives people a little crazy! Intelligence is important to you. You always like to be around smart people. In fact, you’re often a little short with people who don’t impress you mentally. You seem distant to some - but it’s usually because you’re deep in thought. Those who understand you best are fellow Rationals. In love, you tend to approach things with logic. You seek a compatible mate - who is also very intelligent. At work, you tend to gravitate toward idea building careers - like programming, medicine, or academia. With others, you are very honest and direct. People often can’t take your criticism well. As far as your looks go, you’re coasting on what you were born with. You think fashion is silly. On weekends, you spend most of your time thinking, experimenting with new ideas, or learning new things.

The Three Question Personality Test

After much complaining by my plus-one, Dan, that I waste too much soda and tea because it either gets too warm or too cold, I’ve ordered a USB drink chiller/warmer from Think Geek. We’d been thinking about ordering a USB drink chiller for a while. That will help keep my soda cold, but I also wanted a USB drink warmer for my hot tea. Dan finally said, “Enough, order a USB drink chiller.” The first place I looked was Think Geek. I searched their site and found this one that serves both functions.  How happy am I?

It’s perfect and it’s simple - a hotplate powered by USB keeps your coffee warm. But if Alton Brown has taught us anything is that we hate a single-use tool. That, and, sometimes we like our caffeine served cold. No problem, ’cause we’ve got you covered!

Just flip a switch, and the hot-plate turns into a peltier device, quickly cooling to 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius). Sweet! By maintaining optimum temperatures for your caffeine delivery system, you can enjoy increased work productivity and nice twitchy gaming reflexes.

Features Include:

* Connection via USB
* Cold-plate chills to 45˚F
* Hotplate warms to 120˚F
* Helps keeps your beverage at optimum temperature
* USB cable length: 2 feet
* Power consumption: 5.75W
* Dimensions: 5.25″ x 3.25″ x 1.4″

So, I haven’t put up a significant post in a while, some would say ever, and I really haven’t posted any photos in a while.

I’m currently trudging through a pile of magazines that seems endless. Maybe I should seek help for my magazine addiction. I’m about two chapters into The Golden Compass, and I’m finding that I really like it, but then another magazine says, “No, read ME!”

Christmas was alright, and I slept through New Years. New Years has just never been that exciting to me. Dan and I each received a ten dollar gift card to Borders, which I used online to get Wordpress for Dummies and DragonArt. I am sorely unimpressed with DHL’s delivery service. I ordered both books separately (which is a whole ‘nother story), and the first book arrived about 10 days late, while the second book came two days before the first one was due to arrive. Why one book needed to go from Arizona to Ohio to Utah to Montana, while the other only went from Arizona to Montana, I’ll never know.

I had the distinct pleasure of restoring our computer to factory settings. The sfc /scannow command yielded a lovely corrupt file it couldn’t repair which was causing software to stop running. I tried every possible fix I could find online, which included a system restore to a point saved on December 29. That was a mistake which caused I-don’t-know-how-many registry errors. If I try to look on the bright side, it’s almost like getting a new computer all over again. Wait, there’s all that advertising to remove, Windows Vista security to turn off, patches to install, yada yada. There is no bright side. None at’all.

Ah well, it’s done now. And I always have cats to entertain me.

I’ve had this Dendrobium for several years, and it blooms every year. This year it has three bloom spikes, and I expect them to last for several more months.

Merry Christmas, and all that stuff.

Presents are wrapped, envelopes have been made for gift certificates, and everything is packed and ready to go.

I did no cooking or baking this year. Maybe next year.

I have my jammies on, and I’m ready to crawl into bed, watch the last disc of Lost season 3, and wait for Santy Claws.

Dan is working night shift tonight, but will be home bright and early in the morning. I wish he were here, but OH the holiday pay!

I will not be watching the A Christmas Story 24 hour marathon. I have watched It’s a Wonderful Life, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Christmas Carol more times than anyone ever should.

I have no intention of being caught at any store on December 26. I value my life too much. Although, I survived the crowds surprisingly well this holiday season. I only snapped at two people.

And can I wrap, or can I wrap?

I’ve seen this meme floating around and thought I’d give it a try:

1. I actually hate intentional misspellings like the one in the title. The insertion of a number for a letter, using a K instead of a C, or the like, and what I like to call “IMbonics”. I hate it so much that I will correct posters, advertisements, signs, etc.

2. I have an almost irrational fear of hiccups. Hiccups have also been known to set me into a rage if they won’t go away soon enough.

3. I have this thing about imaginary lines. I’m not quite sure how to explain this, but it has to do with how things line up. Let’s take my desk for example. I have a box to hold scrap paper, and in my mind, the four edges that touch the desk all have [imaginary] extended lines. Other things on my desk need to either line up with those lines, or not cross them. Round things, like my pen holder are exempt from this rule, but round things radiate an infinite amount of their own lines that cannot be avoided. Some things on an angle can cross the lines, because they act as a mirror and redirect the lines elsewhere. Make sense?

4. I don’t really count things, like steps or breaths, but I will occasionally, in my head, start counting by twos. I’ll usually do this while driving, waiting in line or waiting for a doctor’s appointment. I don’t really set out to do it, I’ll just notice that I am.

5. My food cannot touch. The steak cannot touch the potato, and the potato cannot touch the vegetables which cannot touch the steak. Anything served on a bed of rice will get sent back to the kitchen, and if everything is just piled onto a plate, I will ask for several clean plates and separate everything manually. This does not apply to things that are meant to touch, such as Stews, pasta dishes or salads. Oh, and garnishes are not allowed.

6. I can’t really explain the specifics, but my laundry must be folded a very particular way. Every time. No exceptions. Also, hanging clothes must face the same direction.

7. I can do anything with my left hand that I can do with my right hand, except write. Anyone who’s seen my handwriting would suggest that I can’t do that with my right hand, either. My mother even asked me once if I was sure I was right handed. (To be honest, my handwriting has improved somewhat since I was last in school.)

There you have it, I’m weird, and I’ve accepted that. I tag anyone who wants to participate.

Since there was a gas leak at one of the FVCC buildings on Thursday, and it happened to be the building I had class in, my drawing class’s mid-term critique was today. I don’t know if there will be an actual grade handed out, but my drawings were well received by classmates and teacher alike. I had been feeling like I shouldn’t have taken the class — I couldn’t finish anything within the class period, and it seemed that my classmates’ work was so much better than my own. After looking at the collections of work by the other students I realized that my method of comparison was based solely on my lack of confidence and not based on the overall quality of my body of work.

Another drawing bonus is that Dan got me this cool easel. It’s fully adjustable so you can change the angle of your canvas or paper, and it even has legs. I started working on the bird skull tonight. It’s far from finished, and I’d like to tweak a few measurements and lines, but I think it’s off to a good start.

In other class notes, I have an English Comp. mid-term exam tomorrow. I’m not terribly nervous about it. While my grammar may lapse here, I actually do know what most of the rules are, and that’s all the test is on — basic grammar. And we can use our notes.

I also have another quiz in Philosophy and my third test in Math coming up. Dr. Scott’s Philosophy quizzes are easy, I know the information well, and he’s a generous grader with plenty of ‘bonus-point’ opportunities. I’m a little more worried about my math test, I know the information (solving systems of equations in two variables), but that didn’t help me on the second test. I got an ‘A’ on my first, and bombed the second with a ‘C’. I was so certain I was going to get an ‘A’ on the second test, but I lost a lot of points on “little things”. Meaning that I didn’t show all of my work properly. There were also a few problems that I didn’t complete quite to the satisfaction of my teacher.

For a little Mathematics fun I thought I’d give you one of my math problems. I’ve already figured out the answer, so don’t think I’m trying to get anyone to do my homework for me. It’s the type of question you might see in a trivia type game, I know I’ve seen it before. Here it is:

Suppose there are a number of rabbits and pheasants confined in a cage. In all, there are 35 heads and 94 feet. How many rabbits and how many pheasants are there?

I know it’s a non presidential election year, but it’s still quite simple — If you don’t vote, I don’t listen to you whine. Not that anyone I know online complains to me about the outcome of elections, but I know plenty of people in the real world who do.

“I hate so-and-so!” “That law is stupid!”

“Did you vote?”

“No.”

“Then shut-up.”

See? Very simple.

Sponsored by the New York Zoos and Aquarium is Build Your Wild Self. You first begin by building yourself in human form, then you can add your favourite animal parts. C’mon, you know you want to see what you might look like had you been born with butterfly wings, elephant legs or even the eyes of a fly! When you’re satisfied with your new self, click ‘I’m Done’ and learn about the functions of the different animal body parts.

Courtney, the Rein-ho-conda-octo-antula-lion fish
Here are the descriptions of all of my new parts:

Reindeer Antlers — Your reindeer antlers won’t stick around for long. Every year reindeer shed their antlers in the spring and summer. But don’t worry, they grow back.

Red River Hog Ears — Your red river hog ears have long black and white tassels. They can fluff out as a defense mechanism to make you look bigger and intimidate predators.

Anaconda Snake Tongue — Now you can smell with your tongue! Your forked anaconda tongue collects odor molecules from the air and brings them back to tiny grooves in the roof of your mouth, letting you “taste” the air.

Octopus Arms — Can you imagine tasting… with your arms? Your octopus tentacles are covered suckers that are sensitive not only to touch, but also to taste, so can you grope around for food in small, dark crevices.

Indian Ornamental Tarantula Legs — Danger! Danger! The bright yellow markings on your Indian ornamental tarantula legs are a warning. They’re meant to tell attackers to stay away. You’re venomous!

Lion Fish Fins — Your lion fish fins are actually eighteen long separated spines. Each spine has venom in it to help protect you from predators. Careful where you point those things!

So, go on, have mad, animal fun!

Duly Stolen!

The Jungle Book is hands down my favourite animated, Disney film. Yep, I love it even better than Snow White and Beauty and the Beast.

So, I had to get the copy with the enamel pins!

What’s even better? Check out the frogs — they’re Mickey heads!

**WARNING** Gross content!

What is wrong with this picture?

Does this help?

Mice don’t make the best brake calipers!