The Latest on Lothie

somewhat hubristic....

2008-12-23T12:03:00.001-05:00

O Lothie of wonder, Lothie of might,
Lothie of royal beauty bright.

We Three Kings Of Orient Are
from the Christmas Song Generator.

moi at 45

2008-10-26T17:11:00.001-04:00

moi at 45
Originally uploaded by lothie

I think that this should be my official "Queen" portrait. Aside from the fact that my face isn't perfect (and whose is), it's really pretty nice.

So on my birthday (9/24) I was pretty tired; we'd been all over the place and I really needed to just sleep for a day. However, there was a yarn store my mom and I wanted to visit, and they wanted to take me to dinner, so I put on a new jacket and top I'd bought, and my tiara, and we went out.

At the yarn store I found a Beautiful Thing; a boa made of feathers and Noro Yarn. It's made primarily to be trim, but the saleslady said that people just buy them and wear them too. I saw one in my favorite colors that I really loved, but I looked at the price and thought it was a little much for an accessory. My mom, however, hadn't yet gotten me a present...so the boa was my present, and everyone was happy.

Afterwards, I was even more tired, but we hauled our cookies out to dinner. I forget the name of the restaurant, but it was a really nice Italian one, and we had a great time. All in all, I had a lovely birthday, and it was a lovely end to my visit with my parents (I left for Boston the next day).

It's taken me ages to upload these pics, but there's this and more at my flickr account.

oui, on peut!

2008-10-22T20:13:00.001-04:00

O RLY

2008-10-06T20:59:00.000-04:00

I think John McCain's campaign is in big trouble.

at large

2008-09-18T09:17:00.000-04:00

I'm currently at my parents' house in Massachusetts, chillaxing and getting ready for the next best thing. My employer had a RIF in August and I was one of the people who was let go. It was a bit of a shock, but I have no worries; the severance was generous and I am interviewing for other jobs. Fortunately we are living in an area where there's a lot of stuff available in my field, so I feel confident I'll have a new gig soon.

In the meantime, I'm having fun on my Fabulous East Coast Tour™. Mostly it's about relaxing and seeing people I haven't seen in a while (or at all), and I am sure I'll return home feeling quite renewed. Right now, I think it's time for breakfast!

just a test

2008-08-10T22:26:00.001-04:00

I'm just making sure I can post pics to my blog from my phone. For your enjoyment, here are some tentacles!

it's okay to kill liberals.

2008-08-02T10:21:00.000-04:00

Right-Wing TN Church Shooter Is Fan of O’Reilly, Hannity, Savage | Video | AlterNet

no more glasses

2008-07-04T18:50:00.001-04:00

no more glasses
Originally uploaded by lothie

Been a while since I posted, I know. I recently got my eyes fixed; this is my first post-LASIK self portrait. There shall be many more!

Life has been good. I've recently gotten involved/reinvolved with some wonderful people I knew years ago. The quad is continuing to solidify, and we're all very happy with how it's going. Everything's great.

Which is probably why I haven't posted lately, because...everything's great. :)

take the stephen colbert puppet challenge!

2008-05-20T14:22:00.002-04:00

the real mccain...?

2008-05-18T20:57:00.000-04:00

my letter regarding the DSM-V'

2008-05-16T20:27:00.001-04:00

(sent to apa@psych.org)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I was disturbed to read recently of Dr. Kenneth Zucker's appointment as chair of the task force for Sexual and GI Disorders on the DSM-V. I feel that he is not an appropriate person for this position, because of his use of "reparative therapy" on children who may be experiencing Gender Identity issues, as outlined in this essay: http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/05/close-my-eyes-i.html

As I am sure you are aware, the DSM is seen as the "shrink's bible" and is furthermore widely used in determining eligibility for disability compensation. Given the DSM's influence, I feel it's wrong to appoint as the chair of an editing task force a professional whose work is so questionable for the very people who will be affected by the DSM classification in question. If Dr. Zucker's work has been defunded by his own government, it probably shouldn't be influencing the DSM either.

I would urge you to rethink your appointment of Dr. Zucker to this position, and appoint someone instead whose work is not so damaging to the people who will be affected by the DSM editorial changes. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Mary U. Herrmann

hey, um, galileo? uh...sorry....no hard feelings, right?

2008-05-14T08:51:00.001-04:00

The Catholic Church stumbles into the 19th century. Yay!

a "childlike sense of wonder"

2008-04-24T23:15:00.000-04:00

Guillermo del Toro has one. So do I. *wg*

ah, good, i'm alive.

2008-04-19T11:58:00.001-04:00

you can get anything you want...
Originally uploaded by lothie

So the trip to see my family was great, but then right after that we came down with these horrendous colds (except for Bun, lucky him). This morning I'm feeling like I really care about stuff again, at long last. Gawd, I hate being sick.

One of the days we spent at my folks', I took Chris driving around the southern part of Berkshire County. He wanted to see where Alice's Restaurant had been (of course!) so I showed him and then took this lovely picture.

I've got a LOT to get done in the next few weeks. Among other things, I'm going to get my eyes done (LASIK, I mean). I've been wanting to do that for a long, long time. I hate wearing glasses, they're such a pain in the ass. Also, as soon as I can BREATHE again, I want to get back to the gym on a regular basis. Oy!

And then of course, there are all those boxes in storage to go through...yup, we have a lot to do.

not much going on

2008-04-01T17:30:00.000-04:00

Whoops, haven't posted really. That's because there's not all that much going on that's new. Chris moved all our unpacked boxes out of our house recently, and this month, we're going to start bringing back one box a week and going through it. We dragged a lot of stuff to North Carolina that we didn't really want, because we didn't have time to go through it and throw it out, so I'm hoping that we'll be able to do that now. I imagine a LOT of stuff will be going to Goodwill, the half price bookstore, or an Ebay broker (depending on condition/value).

I spent some time in the PNW recently seeing my daughters; most of that time was spent with Cherry (who's 19 and lives in Olympia WA), but we also drove down to Portland OR to spend an afternoon/evening with my older daughter Chi. I had a lot of fun and can't wait to see them again.

Next week we're finally going to get to drive up to MA to see my parents. It's been almost six years since I last visited; that was entirely unintentional, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to get up there a few times a year from now on. We'll also be seeing my sister's family and (I hope) my brother's.

Other than that, life is great in general. Can't wait for it to get warmer!

happy birthday, Chris

2008-02-15T00:00:00.001-05:00

my love
Originally uploaded by lothie

Happy birthday to my darling husband, Chris, who is 30 years old today. May you have many, many more, my darling. You are so wonderful.

super boy

2008-02-05T11:20:00.001-05:00

super
Originally uploaded by lothie

A pic of our "baby" boy, taken while watching Super Bowl XLII (he bet on the Giants, I bet on the Pats). OMG he is growing up. Anyway, he got tired of being teased for having long hair (one kid even called him "Britney Spears"), so he asked to have his hair cut. Chris, who has hair down to his ass, was disappointed, but my feeling is that the kids should have the hairstyle they want, not what we want. So I took him to get his hair cut, and this short spiky style was what he picked. He loves it, and OMG it looks so cute on him.

I had to pay him $5 when the Pats lost. Heh, next he'll be playing poker. ;)

the loveliness that is my husband

2008-01-19T20:34:00.001-05:00

hawtness
Originally uploaded by lothie

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Every once in a while I have to stop and marvel at the wonderful being that is my husband. I don't know what I've done to deserve him, but I'm very happy I have him. I'm one lucky girl.

post-holiday post

2008-01-07T13:40:00.000-05:00

The holidays, spent with Jason and Angela at their house and ours, were most wonderful. We drove to their house on the 21st (arriving very late, or early, depending on your point of view) and left the 26th; they drove to our house on the 28th (again, arriving late) and left the 6th. So basically, we spent about two weeks together with a couple of days' break in the middle. It was very, very nice.

I got a ton of knitting done, finishing three projects. I've got more to do, but it was nice to get my winter coat and my fingerless gloves off the needles (I also started and finished a simple drawstring bag purse, using the same yarn as my coat). I have a bunch of jewelry to make, also, so in my off hours I'll be keeping pretty busy.

I'm really looking forward to 2008!

t-mobile, redux

2007-12-19T23:04:00.000-05:00

So the result of my complaining to T-Mobile about the Twitter stuff is that a) I was told that whoever told people that Twitter wasn't supported was WRONG WRONG WRONG (and indeed, it's fixed; I can Tweet again) and b) T-Mobile took me off contract and put me on month to month without my asking (because I had mentioned that T-Mobile doesn't work in North Carolina). The last is something I never would have expected, because I already knew when I signed my last contract (which I did when I bought my new phone in June) that T-Mobile didn't work in NC (the roaming is free so it doesn't really matter, except that I miss some features). However, it's not like it's really costing them anything, so I'm not going to say "oh no, keep me on contract" or anything. In fact Chris is going to look into asking for the same thing.

We'll be staying with T-Mobile, though, for the foreseeable future; this customer service experience, plus the fact that key family members use T-Mobile, means that we aren't going to leave. But I thought I'd mention the "rest of the story" and that if I wanted to drop 'em, I could.

my email to t-mobile

2007-12-15T17:39:00.000-05:00

Hello,

I have been a customer of T-Mobile for several years now. I also make
extensive use of the Twitter blogging service, almost exclusively from
my phone. For several days now I have not been able to post to my
Twitter blog. Today I learned that T-Mobile, alone of all the major
cellular service providers, is blocking SMS's to Twitter.

I can't even imagine why T-Mobile would choose to do this, and it
saddens me. I already have issues with T-Mobile because this year I
moved (relocated by my employer) to North Carolina, and discovered
that T-Mobile doesn't provide coverage in this state, which itself
amazes me (I can still use my phone, but I'm missing features). I've
also have many, many problems with customer service since joining
T-Mobile. Typically, I'll sign up for or change my plan on the Web
page, get a confirmation, and then find out the change was never
activated, or some feature I've been using for months gets turned off
without notification. Getting any kind of satisfaction from Customer
Service in these situations is very difficult. But now to hear that
T-Mobile, again without notification, has cut off a very popular
service, and won't explain their decision...that's just amazing, and
not in a good way.

Oh sure, you've got your consumer contract holders by the short and
curlies. I can't really just drop T-Mobile for another provider at
this time. But the kind of attitude displayed towards me in the past
by Customer Service, and in this issue by employees like Marianne
Maestas in her response to inquiries on the subject are really
saddening. I suppose there is no reason you have to care about your
customers, but it would be nice if you would even tell us why you are
doing this.

Please respond to this email and tell us what's going on.

Thank you,
[my name and phone #]

Who knows if it'll have any effect. I can certainly live without Twitter, but I'm annoyed as hell.

ETA: Twitter Support is now saying that the problem is between T-Mobile and Twitter's aggregator, and that T-Mobile is actually actively working on it. Yay!

One wonders if the employee referenced above, whose name and nasty email is spread all over the Web, is going to have a job by Monday. :S

oh thanks t-mobile

2007-12-15T13:26:00.000-05:00

I've used T-Mobile as my cell provider for the past several years (since, hm, 2003?). I've stayed with them mostly through intertia, since they have lousy customer service, plus they don't actually have coverage where I currently live.

Now that they're blocking Twitter, I'm strongly considering changing coverage. If we can sit down with Jason and Angela and find a provider we can all live with, we may switch. Stupid T-Mobile.

sure, i'll help screw with the salvation army

2007-11-30T20:26:00.001-05:00

Want to get even with the Salvation Army
for discrimination in Jesus' name?

Click here to find out how!

NEVER FORGET.

2007-11-20T12:48:00.000-05:00

Today, November 20, is the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Think about it.

yeah, this'd be me...

2007-11-16T19:10:00.000-05:00

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