i @m 4@><0r (or: I am Haxor)

I dId 50M37HiNG UN7hiNk@8L3 L@57 NigH7.
@7 $oM3 poiN7 0Ver 7h3 w3ek3nd, 0UR Wir3l3$ r0u7eR g07 j@CKed Up, and I7 m@n@g3d 70 CH@nG3 0UR n@7 s377INg5 70 $7rIc7 - 7HI$ m3@n$ MIk3 c0ULD n0 l0Ng3R c0Nn3C7 70 C0D.
7his r3@Liz@7i0n filL3D Him WI7h R@G3, @ND H@d N0 de5Ir3 70 7Ry 70 g0 7Hr0ugh 7He RiG@M@r0l3 70 7rY 70 Fix i7. h3 W@$ R3@dy 70 wRi73 0Ff c0d f0R3V3R.
h0W3v3r, i f0und hI5 rag3 7o 83 @wFuL @ND @nN0yINg, $0 i $7ar73d l00kiNg up DiReC7ioN$ 70 ch@ng3 n@7 $3t7InG5 (WhIch i$ In$@N3ly @nN0YInG, 70 5@Y th3 L3@s7). @f73R dI5@8LiNG, tH3n 3n@8Ling 0Ur uPNP, ch@Nging 0UR dmz 70 Giv3 7h3 X80x @n Ip @ddr3$5 0u75iD3 tH3 R0U73R (0r $oM37hIng LIk3 7H@7), @Nd 5377ing UP p0r7 f0Rw@RDInG F0r 3 P0rt$ - i FIx3d it.
L37 M3 saY 7hI$ @G@IN, i fIx3D I7. i r3p@Ir3d 7h3 b3@$7 tH@7 i h@73 7H3 m057. @nd N0W, It I$ $7RoNg3R 83c@us3 It h@5 my 8l00D, 5w3a7 @ND t3@r5.

i7'5 Lik3 h@rrY P0773R, wh3r3 VolD3m0R7 re7UrNs 70 P0wer @f73r 7@kinG H@rrY'5 8Lo0D.

I 70ld MIke 7h@7 7H3 P@ymen7 F0r MY 53Rvic3$ r3nD3R3D i$ 8r@ggINg @80U7 h0w @We50M3 i @m... h0W3Ver, 5InC3 h3'$ N07 0n 3M@il 70d@y, i'M g0ing t0 7@K3 c@re 0f i7 f0R him.

TRANSLATION:
I did something unthinkable last night.
At some point over the weekend, our wireless router got jacked up, and it managed to change our NAT settings to strict - this means Mike could no longer connect to Call of Duty (an Xbox game...his favorite).
This realization filled him with rage, and had no desire to try to go through the rigamarole to try to fix it. He was ready to write off CoD forever.
However, I found his rage to be awful and annoying, so I started looking up directions to change NAT settings (which is insanely annoying, to say the least). After disabling, then enabling our UPnP, changing our DMZ to give the Xbox an IP address outside the router (or something like that), and setting up port forwarding for 3 ports - I fixed it.
Let me say this again, I fixed it.
I repaired the beast that I hate the most. And now, it is stronger because it has my blood, sweat and tears.

It's like Harry Potter, where Voldemort returns to power after taking Harry's blood.

I told Mike that the payment for my services rendered is bragging about how awesome I am... However, since he's not here, I'm going to take care of it for him.

In summary, I am l33t, and awesome. And there was a lot of jumping around and screaming once it was fixed - because HOO BOY that was a pain.

ctrl+V, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME!?

I just spent 45 minutes compiling information to send in a work email.

I had to look up item codes, and manufacturing purchase order numbers, and I had to check three different screens. It wasn't thought provoking material, it was just so tedious.

And then...AND THEN...I selected all, just to make sure they were a uniform font, and accidentally ctrl+X'ed everything. No big deal! I can just ctrl+V it back!

NOT TODAY, SUCKER.
For one reason or anther, I couldn't.
I couldn't undo. I couldn't paste. It's GONE.

Moral of the story: I shouldn't do work. Just surf the internet.

Norway Lights!

Have you seen this?!?

(image from Universe Today)

This light was seen in the sky in Norway, and no one knows what it is.

First it was picked up by tabloids, now other news sources are starting to follow the story.
Universe Today
Gizmodo - WITH VIDEO...watch it.
Telegraph
The Daily Mail

However, there's this video below that shows an unrelated and unmanned spinning rocket booster. There have been reports of a Russian launch, but those claims have been denied.



UPDATE (12/10/09): The Alien Overlords won't be coming for us any time soon, say New York Times. Only a missile failure.

Something to be proud of?

I figured out Google Analytics! I defeated the beast!

It turns out that every time you change your layout, you're going to have to paste the TRACKING CODE from Analytics into your html. (I don't think I even did that from the beginning) But I did it last night, and all of a sudden! I've got STATS. People who visit, numbers of page views, average time on the site! SWEET LORD! There is no end to the information I can harvest! I'm really proud of the fact that I figured it out. And, oddly, the fact that people are reading my corner of the internet makes me proud too.

I still really like Disqus too. It makes me very happy to be able to respond to comments. It is a million times easier to build relationships and acknowledge that I like you.

And now for something totally unrelated:

All of a sudden I'm this ray of sunshine. It's like there's no room for negativity anymore.
I had a weird epiphany of acceptance yesteray in the car on my way home (epiphanies usually take place in my car while commuting), and I was all, "I'm not flawless, and that's OK"

Mike and I were talking the other weekend, and we realized that we are currently very indulgent. We don't deny ourselves much, we do what we want, and we aren't at the top of our game. But you know what, I'm OK with it...for now. My kitchen is messy, my job isn't my ideal, my commute is long, I have to do lists that remain un-done...BUT I'M OK.

I have no intention to remain like this forever. But we just moved, we're just married, it's winter and we're adapting. And that's OK. We put too much pressure on ourselves to be awesome, but we're already ahead of where we thought we'd be.

For now, I need to focus on being happy, and rediscovering the joy of hanging out with other people (I've been a hardcore hermit lately). I need to find a routine that is low pressure, but still gets everything done. I need to start crafting and sewing more because it is fun.
(I made a sad little stuffed christmas tree the other day...still need to take pictures).

I'm going to use this holiday to revamp my attitude, and 2010 to revamp my habits. I'm going to start making changes to head in the right direction, and make life more fun.

I think a lot of this has come from the awesome, sweet, challenging and supportive comments you guys have left.

The Positives

My life isn't all mourning and despair - here are some of the good things we've got going on...

The house is starting to turn into a home.

- I hung a huge drape (floor to ceiling) to cover our massive window (which you haven't seen because I'm keep forgetting to take pictures). I created this 15 ft x 9ft masterpiece out of a painter's dropcloth ($20) and a curtain rod on sale from JoAnn Fabrics ($36). Idea snagged from various posts on Apartment Therapy

- I made The Pioneer Woman's meatloaf from her cookbook, and the Buttered Rosemary Rolls from her website. The rolls were ahhhh-mazing
Unfortunately, I needed to keep putting the meatloaf back into the oven...1 hour wasn't long enough.

- We're daydreaming about cool installations we can make for our ceiling:

(Image from LeSophie)

(Image from The Selby)

(image from Craftzine)

- The new year is right around the corner, and after we file our taxes, we'll find out how much we will receive in tax credits for buying the house. This opens up a WORLD of possibilities! Wood floor! Butcher block countertops! Making the office an OFFICE (instead of our storage room)!

Christmas is coming

- I decorated for Christmas and made finger-knitted-garland to go on the railing.

- This weekend we are getting our first REAL tree and decorating the shit out of it.

- Saturday I am participating in an evening in Chicago with some of my lady friends. We will bring drinks and food and stocking stuffers. And it will be great.

- I got the OK from my gracious and wonderful boss to take off 12/23 - 1/4. OMFG. I want to PEE because I'm just that excited.

Life isn't so bad

- My commute has consistently been 1 hr and 10minutes. UNHEARD OF!

- I have a steady job and a steady paycheck. And Mike likes his new position.

- The possibility of opening the etsy shop at the start of the new year is becoming a possibility. Maybe. I hope?

- I'm wearing a dress today. And I like it.

- I'm planning to follow along with the Demoiselles Getting Healthy project. I'm planning to do almost exactly what they do...only here. And linking back THERE to make sure I give credit where credit is due.

- I had a dream that I hung out with Kyla Roma and Your Wishcake and they were sweet and wonderful. And I woke up feeling so creepy because I've never met them, yet they've appeared in my dreams. The internet makes me weird.

Low-Risk Lifestyle

I've started watching the show Fringe on Fox, and OMGWFTBBQ!!! It's awesome. I would marry it if I could (and I wasn't already married). But it made me realize I lead a very low-risk lifestyle.

For example, in the 2nd episode, there was a murderer who picked up hookers to do surgery on...while they were paralyzed, but fully conscious. (It was awful.)
And I started thinking "Oh, wow. How awful to be abducted and put in such a horrible sitation" and I realized that I have very little reason to fear - I don't live in a major city. When I do visit a major city it is as a tourist, usually during the day, and in well populated areas. I'm not risky.

But beyond that - my life outside of my location and its respective crime rate is also very low risk.
I went to college in state.
I bought a house in my childhood neighborhood
I've had the same friends since I was 14 or younger
I've never traveled internationally

I make all my decisions carefully - weighing pros, cons, financial obligations, time obligations, etc etc.

But, I didn't always used to be like this. In 2005 (my junior year of college, which some of you read about the other day, but I have since deleted it) I was a nude model for a life drawing class. I participated in Alternative Spring Break at the Carnivore Preservation Trust, where I fed tigers and drove across the country with bunch of strangers. I was the housekeeper for the most interesting man I've ever encountered.

I mean, maybe those weren't some of my best decisions, but I made them without consulting everyone, and that's the point.

Right now - what I'm doing is working; my bills get paid, my family gets fed, I'm decent at my job. My life is very safe, and in very little danger of being disrupted or uprooted...but honestly, maybe that's what my life needs?

All this deep thinking has made me start to wonder whether I should get away from blogging. It makes me look my sedentary, robot existence in the face, and I'm very displeased with what I see. Plus I use this blog for writing about the negatives, rather than all the positives - which is just counter-productive. I just don't know how to start steering my life in the direction I want it.

Three Things

1) Google Analytic
It keeps telling me that I have no visitors. But clearly, there are visitors because I receive comments, and every so often someone new shows up (which makes me SO happy) - and they have to come from somewhere. Literally, Analytics is telling me that I have no activity here, whatever. Can anyone help? Is something wrong? I mean, I have no trouble believing that I don't get any referrals from search engines, but really?

2) Pioneer Woman Day.
OMG. Let me first say that this was my first book signing, and will likely be my last. Ree Drummond is a lovely and gracious woman, and obviously, the logistics of the signing weren't up to her - but WOW.

I arrived around 5pm, she wasn't set to speak or sign until 7:30, so I knew I had some time. At the door they were giving out signing numbers, and at 5pm I was 111 - which I don't have a problem with. People came by early to pick up numbers, I could have done this, but didn't realize it was an option.

The worst, and most annoying part of this whole affair - the thing that really ruined it - the goddamn temperature. Before the crowd got there, it was 80 degrees. Once the crowd arrived and we were herded like cattle, it jumped about a MILLION DEGREES. I was down to a Hanes v-neck tshirt and ready to pass out.

There were a lot of, um, hardcore fans. And I just didn't know what to do with that. But, there were a bunch of really cool cats, and fortunately, I got to talk to bunches of them WHILE WE WAITED IN LINE FOR 2.5 hours.

Here's the thing about me. I don't like lines. I don't like waiting. and I really don't like crowds. So this was awful for me. Plus, I'm just not that person who wants/needs a signed piece of something by someone who doesn't know me. I THINK I understand the appeal, but it just doesn't appeal to me.

I really hope I don't sound like an asshole, but this was a learning experience for me, and it will take a HUGE draw before I try something like this again. Ree Drummond was adorable, she brought her (hot) husband and (adorable) sons. And the people I met in line were wonderful.

3) Disqus?
This is working out so far? No negative feedback? I REALLY like it. I like being able to reply to your comments. Hooray.