Domestic Geek

My ladonnasworld.com domain expired last month. I didn't realize it until I went to make a post from work today and I couldn't reach the server! I had signed up with my old Lycos mail account, but since that has become nothing but spam, I hardly check it anymore. I almost couldn't renew the domain because I had to provide the three digit code on the back of my debit card and it is practically illegible. Fortunatley, Namesecure didn't lock me out after trying several possible combinations.

I had thought about letting it go since I'm going to try and get a new domain for my blog in the near future. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one then. I decided that I want to keep it for sentimental reasons. Marcus bought me this domain originally for a Christmas gift. Maybe for my portfolio or something. I suppose I'll think of something to do with it when that time comes.

I've had a horrible sinus headache for a couple of days that finally let loose today. Work is going really slow. The ad deadline is the 2nd week of March and it seems everybody procrastinates almost as bad as I do. Early March will be super busy, but now.....(crickets chirping).

Speaking of procrastination (of which I am Queen), I finally got some kind of confirmation from the place at which I applied for student loan consolidation that they are actually consolidating some of the loans. I sent that damned application in at the end of June (needed to be received before July 1). It takes seven (7!) months to do paperwork? I know they had a flood of applications then, but would've it been so hard to send a card saying we've received the application and you'll hear something back from us when hell freezes over? By the end of December, I had given up on hearing from them and was starting to look into applying with someone else. I hope this takes some of the financial stress off of me caused by taking an entry-level job. I have another loan payment slated to start in either March or April. I was thinking I was going to have to find a part-time job somewhere else, but now maybe I can just get by on doing some freelance work here and there.

I installed this cool Firefox extension on my PC that allows search engines in the search bar to be deleted. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on the Mac. I need to remember to research how to do it manually.

Ugh, my headache seems to be returning. I'm going to go be a bum and watch TV from the couch all evening.

I just got this photo from one of my co-workers that he took a couple of weeks ago. Aren't you jealous of my work environment?

I'm all for any software that allows you to free yourself from the evil giant, Microsoft. Another co-worker pointed me to Flip4Mac WMV, a component that allows .wmv files to be played through Quicktime.

I don't know why I can never stick with one thing until I master it. I used to be so into web design. I wanted to be a web designer more than anything. I had a thirst for all things web-related. Now...I can't even change the look of my own site on a regular basis. My co-worker has a new MySpace account and is trying to figure out how to modify the look. The old me woudl've dug right in and would've loved to have figured it out. Now, I'm mildly curious and will dig into it if I have nothing else to do. I had thought that once I had some free time, the love of web would come back. It hasn't. I'm sure part of that is that I sit in front of a computer for 8 hours a day. The last thing I want to do when I get home is sit there for more (unless I'm playing The Sims 2 or something).

I always do this, though. Music, gardening, scrapbooking, computers, cooking—you name it. I know a little about a lot, yet master none. I need to change that. I know part of it has to do with my perfectionist Virgo nature. If I can't be perfect at something, don't do it. I also love to learn. I get easily bored and easily distracted, though.

I really want to master this graphic design thing, especially using Photoshop and Illustrator. I know I'll never be a GURU, but I still have so much to learn. I'm getting pretty darned good in Illustrator and I'm developing more confidence in my Photoshop abilities, but I want to get good enough to start earning some "real" money at this. Not just a minimum entry-level salary, but big bucks. I want to get to the point that I don't have to look for a tutorial or ask another designer's advice when I want to achieve some effect.

I just finished reading The Chronicles of Narnia. Pretty good set of books. I guess I never had read them before. I would've remembered that story. Oh, well. Now I'll have to watch the movie when it comes out on DVD.

I had a really freaky dream last night. Our new moible home park owner (whom I've yet to actually meet) had decided to consolidate the homes left in the park down into a smaller space and sell off the extra land. He took it upon himself to have all our homes moved to one end of the park, packed in tight like sardines with hardly any room between them and then proceeded to bill all of residents for the cost of moving them and updating the lots to code. There was a notice on our door stating that we had to pay the whole amount ($10,000) immediately or be evicted. I was sooooo angry when I woke up. I really hate dreams that make me angry.

Well, better get my butt moving. Lots of stuff I should be doing other than this.

As usual, time spent away from work moves four times faster than time at work. My day off is almost over and I didn't get near the amount of things accomplished that I had planned. *sigh* Oh, well. It was still good to have time for myself.

I had managed to lose last month's bank statement. I've spent most of the day looking for it. Turns out I filed it (without reconciling it) in the folder with my pay stubs. I haven't filed squat lately, so I can't even begin to imagine how that happened. Oh, well. Soon I can figure out how little money I have.

My paperwork really is a mess. I haven't really filed anything since before we moved back to Aurora. That was over three years ago! This weekend I'm really going to have to tackle that mess because I'm tired of stacks of papers everywhere and I can't find a damned thing! I did throw out a bunch of stuff today that I was hanging on to in case I ever decided I wanted to teach music again. It's been over 13 years since I was in a classroom—I don't think I'll use it. I'm still in my de-cluttering my life mode. I was just too depressed to do it while underemployed and had no time while overemployed. Time to get back to sifting through all the junk.

I got to see my first ads in print yesterday. It was way more thrilling than seeing my stuff on a t-shirt. I don't know why. Well, except the Team [Housewares] shirts that I had made for Marcus and Mike, but the thrill of seeing them printed was tainted by losing my job.

Well, better get going—I've got reconciling to do...

Saw a great bumper sticker on a car today that read:

Give Snape a Chance

Made me smile.