I don’t feel great about putting this info on Facebook, where this meme appears to have originated, so I’ll do it here.

1. I am allergic to dairy, but I grew up on a dairy farm and my favorite food is garlic cheese bread. Tragedy, because I wasn’t always allergic.
2. I am married to the coolest, sweetest, lovliest, and most awesome guy from the other side of the world. It took 23 years for us to find each other and two years to get him into America but it was all worthwhile.
3. I spent most of my childhood and adolescence depressed because I tried too hard to fit in and failed miserably. Once I stopped trying to be popular and instead embraced my inner geek, I realized how much better life is on this side of the fence. I have been happy ever since.
4. I find it challenging to think small. The majority of my ideas are on a grand scale, which is why my paintings are huge and it takes me a year or more to crochet a blanket.
5. I am hopelessly addicted to pinball. We have handheld Tiger electronic versions, next-gen console versions, as well as an arcade pinball table (Twilight Zone.) I will play all of them for hours on end.
6. I am extremely passionate and obsessive. It makes me overly dedicated to projects I’m working on but also amplifies my worry about life situations.
7. Since moving to Seattle my Midwest accent has mostly disappeared but it comes back in full force when I’m talking to our cats.
8. I love music, especially when performed live. I am spellbound by anyone who can sing or play an instrument proficiently because I am hopeless. I own much more music than I can possibly listen to regularly and donate money to our local public radio station (KEXP).
9. I buy almost everything from the internet now (including groceries.) I buy media in digital format whenever possible.
10. I hate clutter and do everything I can to curb it, which includes extensive house cleaning and organizing. All of our media is alphabetized and sorted by category when appropriate.
11. I used to be terrified of being abducted by aliens or seeing a ghost (particularly in the mirror.) Living with cats eliminated that fear entirely because I am constantly seeing something moving out of the corner of my eye.
12. 8 is my favorite number. It is very comfortable to me.
13. I have always lived near water and animals.
14. I hate to drive but still managed to drive to Seattle from Wisconsin on my own with a carful of my favorite possessions and a CD wallet full of music.
15. The longest I have ever stayed awake is 4 days in a row during college. The hallucinations were kind of funny but I got really sarcastic and snippy with people. I didn’t recognize myself at that point.
16. I carry a camera with me wherever I go, even if it’s down the block to mail a letter. I document my surroundings compulsively.
17. If I ever had to live somewhere else in the states, it would probably be San Francisco. In the world, probably Vancouver, Sydney or Melbourne.
18. I am addicted to creating things. If I am not in the midst of a project I start to get antsy and irritable.
19. My Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator is INFJ. I’m part of 3% of the population with this type, as is Jules!
20. I flew to Australia to meet some people I’d only known on the internet. It was my first international trip too. I ended up married to one of them!
21. I turned down a full-time job offer from Microsoft.
22. I have several close friends involved in software and video game design. I giggle gleefully when I see their names in the credits.
23. The Aussie accent makes me melt. Kiwi and English accents too.
24. I am a happy drunk. I think it’s because I stop worrying about everything. It takes almost nothing to get me laughing in that state.
25. I feel very lucky to be where I am in life. I have everything I want and am content and I do not take it for granted. I do what I can to put positive energy out so it can come back to me.

In case you are looking for my recent posts from our honeymoon, I have backdated them to fit into the appropriate time frame (December 18-January 3.) Don’t worry, they haven’t disappeared! I am just organizing for future reference.

This is what we lovingly refer to as THE CHAIR. THE CHAIR involves a leather car seat I found at a garage sale for $3 with a Homedics electric massage pad strapped to it sitting atop a scrap of carpet found leftover in the garage. I bought the massage pad for Jules as an early Christmas present because of his poor back and terrible headaches, but unfortunately we didn’t really have an appropriate chair to strap it to so it didn’t see much use until recently. I have had the car seat for about a year and a half, most which it spent on Nathaniel’s balcony unused. When he moved in with us we put it on a shelf in the garage and kind of forgot about it until I started researching chairs to purchase and Nat suggested that as an option. While it isn’t perfect (the top strap doesn’t fit around the girth of the headrest) or attractive, it is massively comfortable. Jules and I have both been using it just about daily, which helps his back and head pain, and my shoulder aches due to excessive mouse clicking and crocheting, and more than that it is extremely relaxing. There is a heating element inside the rollers which makes the muscles very loose and pliable. (The moving, glowing red balls terrify Roscoe more than anything else we’ve seen yet!) It’s not as nice as getting a real massage from a person, but it is definitely beneficial nonetheless. Definitely recommended.

Here is the latest addition to our family: Alice Elisabeth Cooke, or Ally for short. We picked her up last night from the Seattle Animal Shelter, the same place we got Roscoe.

There was very little information available about Ally, other than she had been in feral cat care so she was either stray or abandoned. She had a scar on her belly where she had been spayed, so she must have been someone’s pet at some point.

In any case, she is possibly the sweetest kitty I have ever interacted with! She loves being pet, has a very loud and happy purr, and responds positively when called. She is extremely relaxed and doesn’t seem to be phased by much. On the ride home she lay down in the cat carrier and stayed quiet and still the whole trip (what a lovely change of pace from the horror of transporting Emily!) She didn’t mind when we put the collar on her either.

We are keeping her isolated from the other cats in the laundry room, where the furnace is also located, so she is warm and content. Emily barged in on her last night and instigated a nasty fight which Jules had trouble breaking up, so we are probably going to run into some trouble when we introduce them. Roscoe will probably be just fine with Ally since he loves other cats, but Emily is very dominating so she is going to keep demonstrating her prowess until it’s clear she is the top cat. Ever since we came home with “other cat smell” on our clothes, Emily has been beating up Roscoe because she is so upset. I hope that all works out.

Ally’s temperament reminds me a lot of the barn cats we had growing up, which probably has a lot to do with her having spent time outside (she is very happy and relaxed and loves attention.) She had no problem eating and didn’t seem to mind what type of food she is given. She is very thin and has long, lanky digits, which leads me to believe that she is still very young and will probably grow up to be rather large. I am guessing she may be anywhere from 8-16 months old.

Very happy to have another kitty and to have saved a life.

Finally got all my posts finished from our honeymoon. As I wrote all those words, I found myself amazed at the amount of stuff we managed to accomplish over that stretch of time. We really did make the most of it.

Since we got back we’ve been spending evenings watching old episodes of The Twilight Zone, playing Titan Quest (in anticipation of Diablo III) and cooking together. We’ve been doing great with our plans of eating out less since starting service with Amazon Fresh. We now always have something edible and fresh in the house so there’s no more using that gem of an excuse. I’ve been exercising a lot on the Gazelle and crocheting a fair bit as I am nearing the end of the Tetris Granny Square Blanket! I think there’s only about 25 squares left to do, which in the scheme of things is not very much. I hope to finish that by mid-February.

I’m a bit upset that I can’t finish our taxes. There are three forms which H&R Block does not yet have on its e-file site, so I am stuck until they appear. They’re very important too, being the difference between owing the government over $3k instead of getting that much back as a refund or credit. I am somewhat reliant on this money coming in before March since we’ll need it to pay for some of the housework we have had done since moving in.

Speaking of which, the roof and chimney are now complete! The roof work only took 3 days, which was incredible, especially compared to the chimney which took about 6 weeks. The difference there was the chimney contractor was paid in advance so he had less impetus to finish quickly, and the poor guy had a heart attack partway through the work. I only learned this after he’d been crawling around in our attic for an hour, strapping the chimney to the house. :o We had a drywall contractor come in to patch up the holes the electricians made when rerouting the wiring in the basement. He came by about 4 times to complete the work and it’s so nicely done that we can barely tell there had been anything cut away, even in its unpainted state. (There was a hole here. It’s gone now.)

Otherwise, things are going really well. Work is a bit slow at the moment but it is the calm before the storm as we have a couple gigantic projects coming up in the next few weeks. It’s hard to enjoy the downtime when I know I’m going to be putting in some majorly long hours soon. We are thinking of adopting another kitty soon; we might even go look at some tonight. We took Emily and Roscoe to the vet last night and the usual havoc occurred. Emily made a mess on the way there and back, but both are happy and healthy so that’s good!

I’m starting to look forward to projects we can begin around the house in the near future. I would like to paint several of the rooms inside, make proper drapes for the sunroom, paint the exterior of the house, install a rainwater harvesting system behind the house so I can begin some raised-bed gardening, change out the door locks, hang some artwork, install new dual-flush toilets and a proper sink/vanity for the bathroom, clean and organize the garage, and clean out the closet full of paint and other miscellaneous garbage that the previous owners left for us (presumably as a favor, or maybe they just forgot.) Jules, being the man of simple tastes he is, has only one major project for the summer. He wants to build an arcade cabinet for the living room, with the hope that one day he will be able to play one of his own games (Soft Landing or Paraplu at the moment!) on it. Additionally, I’ve been considering the possibility of converting the attic into a bedroom and office with extra storage space in a few years’ time when the economy has bounced back and our house has had a chance to build equity. From what I have heard from the few people who have actually been up there, it’s incredibly spacious. If we had a room up there facing east we would have an absolutely stunning view of the mountains. If I stand on my tiptoes on a clear day I can see them from the sunroom, so I’m sure being up 12 feet higher would make a huge difference!

We’ve walked around the neighborhood a bit now and are just astounded by the views people have only a few blocks away. Since we’re living at the highest elevation in the city, we can see pretty much everything if there is nothing blocking the view. We have amazing views of the city, the Sound, and the mountains down regular old residential streets and in nearby parks. I really do love living in West Seattle, so much more than I ever could have imagined.

Just upgraded Wordpress so I am testing functionality. Please report any strangeness you run into. Thanks!

Over the course of the last 3 years, Jules and I have increasingly been ordering things online. I’ve been doing this since about 2000 when I bought my first DVD on Amazon (The Matrix!) but ever since Amazon launched its Prime service ($75 fee gets you free two-day shipping on most in stock items for a year) we have been buying almost everything from them. Now we are giving them even more money as we have become huge fans of their Fresh (grocery delivery) service. Luckily because we live in a heavily populated residential neighborhood, we are in their delivery area! We were not when we lived in the International District downtown, so this is relatively new to us.

The service is absolutely amazing. By spending a minimum of $30 on groceries, the delivery is free, and you are able to select a same-day or next-day delivery time. The best part is you don’t even have to be there to accept it, and you can have them leave it on your doorstep before 6am! They put everything in reusable plastic tubs and all of the perishable items are packed in an insulated bag with dry ice to keep them fresh, which they pick up when they deliver your next order. All of the produce we’ve ordered has been fresher than the stuff we have found at QFC or Safeway. The prices are comparable to those stores as well. They even offer some non-grocery Amazon.com items! The website keeps track of your past purchases so it’s really easy to reorder things you’ve previously ordered.

Over the last three weeks since getting home from the trip I’ve put in about 6 orders and I am extremely impressed. If you live in the delivery area I definitely recommend giving it a shot.

Only a few downsides:

• It is a new program so their delivery area is limited. It is growing all the time so eventually it will cover most of Seattle, if not surrounding areas.
• The plastic tubs require a relatively large area for storage in between deliveries as they tend to pack very few items per bin. We usually get 5-7 tubs per order of 15-20 items.
• Often items are not in stock, although they tend to become available later the same day or the following day. You can sign up to be notified when the item is back in stock.

This was just about the last obstacle keeping us from shopping almost entirely online. This is good news! I also feel good supporting a local business.

Wisdom teeth, Rock Band, SharePoint Conference, San Juan Island, Epilator, San Francisco, Kindle, iPhone, car, birthday party, PAX, new office, Twilight, Obama, house, housewarming, honeymoon

Sum up your 2008 in twenty-four words

Having just purchased our house and taken a trip around the world it is easy for me to look at 2009 as the chance to make a fresh start. I have finally gotten to a point in my life where I am truly happy with what I have and I have recently noticed myself feeling satisfied with everything, which is a new thing for me. 2009 will be a time of settling down and enjoying a stable, comfortable life with my wonderful husband, kitties, and friends. (I kind of feel like I missed out on the last half of 2008 with all the craziness going on during our house hunt and honeymoon.) Thus, I have come up with a few goals to make my life even more enjoyable than it already is. The nice thing about making a list like this instead of “resolutions” is that they are all very reasonable to achieve and I will have no reason to beat myself up if I don’t get around to them.

• Eat out at a restaurant maximum 1 time per week and learn to cook a few more meals
• Only drink beer at restaurants or special occasions and instead drink sparkling water
• Exercise an average of 3 times per week
• Pay off outstanding debt (except for car and house)
• Begin investing money
• Save at least 4 month’s worth of expenses in high-interest savings account
• Begin urban gardening in spring
• Work with Jules to get business up and running
• Get more involved in online communities like Ravelry
• Start painting again
• Finish all blankets I have begun
• Paint house interior
• Make curtains for sunroom
• Go camping several times during summer
• Adopt a third kitty
• Read more books on Kindle
• See more movies
• Listen to more music (and less podcasts) than 2008
• Learn more about newer software applications (Adobe products in particular)
• Properly learn how to use the manual functions of my DSLR camera
• Try to pay a bit more attention to world events
• Save enough money to take a proper vacation towards the end of the year (Europe? Australia?)
• Visit hachi in San Francisco again
• Take at least one trip home to Oshkosh, if only for a weekend
• Be more pro-active at my job
• Relax more and try not to let things bother me so much