tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-363310402024-03-19T05:06:24.679-06:00Dragon LadyWho am I? I'm an innocent trickster dedicated to bringing joy, mystery and confusion into the lives of those that I love most.Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.comBlogger197125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-54496992427138192252009-04-17T13:41:00.001-06:002009-04-17T13:42:19.082-06:00The wise man built his house upon a rock...<div>errr..... maybe the Primary song was wrong?</div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.slate.com/media/53/090417_ed.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 323px;" src="http://img.slate.com/media/53/090417_ed.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-29706827781674738622009-03-17T22:27:00.003-06:002009-03-17T22:29:16.267-06:00Ultimate Sadness!I learned something really tragic tonight. Pop rocks chocolate loses the *pop* factor over time. It simply becomes a piece of chocolate with a tiny amount of popping, if you know what you're looking for. And if you suck all the chocolate off, you're left with a piece of what used to have pop, but is now just a decently hard (but slightly chewy) piece of flavorless sadness.<div><br /></div><div>If anyone happens to be going to Jerusalem (or knows anyone there), I would much appreciate a new bar or two to cheer me up.</div>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-5429946189486531542009-03-07T13:13:00.001-07:002009-03-07T13:17:04.479-07:00Plant Spotlight - DolorisNo, not Dolores. This fantastic plant was not named after the evil, wicked woman in <em>Harry Potter</em>. Rather, she has a much more pleasant namesake, my grandma, Doloris, who is a wonderful woman. <br /><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRklY6iZkLxOXdPFetPlP5kyCpuVDMwTPxDIFroAZgMV2XktTw0blYY8ZaxnFOQOceLjGL_fHRz-bU8SywhoU0HKFVHC9Sf92VZtDHXd15o5Yh0xn0W0ZFSFL3oGKAw89D_OX/s1600-h/Halls.jpg"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoRklY6iZkLxOXdPFetPlP5kyCpuVDMwTPxDIFroAZgMV2XktTw0blYY8ZaxnFOQOceLjGL_fHRz-bU8SywhoU0HKFVHC9Sf92VZtDHXd15o5Yh0xn0W0ZFSFL3oGKAw89D_OX/s320/Halls.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> </div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><br /></a></div>When I first got the start from Brother, (only three little starts, if you can believe it from the pictures!) it reminded me of an old-fashioned kind of plant. So I named her after my grandma, who was fantastically old-fashioned and I heart her a lot.<br /><br />Here she is almost one year ago (May 2008):<br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHKFAuDtvoDIjgUpYIT1igO4RTdLzK66JfGgM5qHjt1UNNKWeJdIpKKRYsbEEMjT8MUSohCz6XKQTH59Ff6o07CEFm2InEWpFs6jsGt0HWZOvjW0OCl1bQy7b5qKRv2DOAEJk9/s1600-h/IMG_4082.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHKFAuDtvoDIjgUpYIT1igO4RTdLzK66JfGgM5qHjt1UNNKWeJdIpKKRYsbEEMjT8MUSohCz6XKQTH59Ff6o07CEFm2InEWpFs6jsGt0HWZOvjW0OCl1bQy7b5qKRv2DOAEJk9/s320/IMG_4082.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><br />However, in this past year she has grown remarkably huge. To the point that I had to repot her and she took up far too much room on the floor, so we figured out how to make her into a hanging plant, where she is much happier. Here's what she looks like today:<br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphenyP7xkwrWzLMZDtHpY4nRKAeTcz5w3Wb_H4VTHSGC8qV7S3SQWqUAsUJ3b3X_Iw6Do2hiRrqheU1_oeqlX975hNeSbEiYoiUZD6AZwzqLhdcRkhVf8kOVk5BOCizjuZmSJ1J/s1600-h/IMG_0115.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphenyP7xkwrWzLMZDtHpY4nRKAeTcz5w3Wb_H4VTHSGC8qV7S3SQWqUAsUJ3b3X_Iw6Do2hiRrqheU1_oeqlX975hNeSbEiYoiUZD6AZwzqLhdcRkhVf8kOVk5BOCizjuZmSJ1J/s320/IMG_0115.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><br />She's a very hardy plant. So long as you love her and make sure she gets water here and there and has some sunlight, she'll flourish like crazy. She's a perfect option for someone without a green thumb. Just like Grandma, she loves everyone. If anyone wants one for themselves, bring me a pot and potting soil if you have some (if not, I'm pretty sure I still do) and I'll make starts and even plant them for you. (Unless you're comfortable with starts. Then I'll just give you the starts.)<div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a></div>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-70913248577059302042009-02-15T18:05:00.002-07:002009-02-15T18:10:22.506-07:00Plant namesSister recently decided to listen to my wisdom and name her plants. I promise, plants do better if you name them, talk to them, etc. They're basically my pets since I can't have a cat. Anyway, she blogged about the first plants she named, and would you believe it? She gave one of them the same names that my plant had first! Though, hers was named after a living person, and mine after a scriptural person. So we decided that it was ok. But to keep her from doing it again, I promised her I would blog the names of all of my plants. Due to all of my plant pictures being on another computer, I will just give the list of names now, and then I'll start my plant spotlight up again, complete with pictures. I'm sure you're all thrilled about this. :)<div><br /></div><div>Amber</div><div>Alfred</div><div>Jasmine</div><div>Karmen</div><div>Darby</div><div>Tamar (the duplicate name)</div><div>George</div><div>Chloe</div><div>Toby</div><div>Doloris</div><div>Julie</div><div>Daphne Iris of Guild</div><div>Irene (pronounced eye-ree-nay)</div><div>Juliette</div><div><br /></div><div>Deceased plants (Sister, if you really want one of these names, I could be flexible)</div><div>Ryana</div><div>Beatrice (which actually belonged to The Cold One, but I took care of since April... and then killed)</div><div>Jefferson</div>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-18677091460858001182009-01-23T12:28:00.003-07:002009-01-23T12:30:38.869-07:00Dibs!We moved at work today, new cubicles and all that jazz. I went to use the restroom and the bathroom is set up exactly the same, so I went to my normal stall. I was a little surprised to see "Marlene" in stickers all over the door. I was a little shocked... you can claim a public bathroom stall? Does that mean I can't use it? (I was rebellious and used it.) I looked around and found that Chelcy, Jolynn, Katharine and Karen had also claimed stalls. That leaves 3 for the rest of the public. <br /><br />My goal is now to meet Marlene to see if I should boobytrap her stall or if I should be nice.Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-16730455461148455112008-12-01T18:48:00.002-07:002008-12-01T18:50:19.384-07:00ContradictionsI was discussing the pros and cons of blogging today with Laser Jock. (Or, in other words, I was trying to convince him to blog and he'd have none of it.) That conversation inspired me to blog again (see my last post) and next thing I knew, I was reading through my archives. I found that when I got to my really long posts, I skipped them.<div><br /></div><div>Does anyone else find this hypocritical of me? I won't even read my <i>own</i> long blog posts?</div><div><br /></div><div>[sigh]</div>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-36904841142400401532008-12-01T17:32:00.004-07:002008-12-01T17:48:28.887-07:00For you, Goblin KingThe Goblin King got mad at me the other day for not posting on this blog anymore. "I miss all the random stuff you'd come up with."<div><br /></div><div>Hmm... what random things could I tell you today?</div><div><br /></div><div>Did you know that you can put together an entire artificial Christmas tree while running horrible, cursed stats, and get both done without sacrificing the other? It also makes the worst job in the world tolerable. Too bad I can't do it again tomorrow as I do the worst part of stats. [sigh]</div><div><br /></div><div>I repotted Alfred today. Is it cruel to do this to a plant?</div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI252MAZxqg9eEpEpOh-SawXE-DFqCrWfcjluKI2lX61un8yjSehoRxpG85hEyOfGVU8vKDH-UlBY04ZhVUi3X_AXCjGCTPiGjVSh-qKFin2CT1mJKaj186bHIKJgzFwsbAxm7/s1600-h/IMG_4322.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI252MAZxqg9eEpEpOh-SawXE-DFqCrWfcjluKI2lX61un8yjSehoRxpG85hEyOfGVU8vKDH-UlBY04ZhVUi3X_AXCjGCTPiGjVSh-qKFin2CT1mJKaj186bHIKJgzFwsbAxm7/s400/IMG_4322.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274986982909212466" /></a><br /><br /><div>Laser Jock thought I was being quite cruel. In fact he told me that I was beig <i>string</i>-ent. [rolls eyes] I convinced him I was doing it out of love. Alfred isn't strong enough to hold himself up in his new pot quite yet. Give it a week or so and I'll probably remove two of those three strings. The last one will probably get moved over the weeks to train him to stay in his pot. It's huge. I can't repot him into something bigger. He must learn to grow in a circle.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hmmm... something else. Three is a good number. I should have three random things on here. Oh, this should please you, GK. A Garfield comic! This one made me laugh right out loud. <a href="http://www.arcamax.com/garfield/s-448323-783075">Go check it out</a>.</div>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-13012967299778048482008-10-06T15:44:00.001-06:002008-10-06T15:46:27.136-06:00Yellow<div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center">This is the T-shirt I bought Yellow in Jerusalem as a gag gift. (Please note the word "Girl" is in various fonts. They didn't have the press-on with "girlfriend" so they got a "boyfriend" one, cut out the word "boy", and replaced it with scrap letters that they had cut out from other press-ons. Also, it was a man with one arm that made this shirt. Also, please note the color of the shirt.)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZZQDWhtTIvpqKbZnDbewtD0RzqvwIwZAipk77yz7ZI7RmgT_v2wj5zvKoyjtF1xkOHlnfpY4UgtqAbxGTsbg1t9axEWzSeCXXQqr70K9Tp53tbyOPqIbA0rL-STrRZbVxldfM/s1600-h/IMG_4230.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZZQDWhtTIvpqKbZnDbewtD0RzqvwIwZAipk77yz7ZI7RmgT_v2wj5zvKoyjtF1xkOHlnfpY4UgtqAbxGTsbg1t9axEWzSeCXXQqr70K9Tp53tbyOPqIbA0rL-STrRZbVxldfM/s320/IMG_4230.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center">He wore it for the first time (that I've ever seen) when we went camping over Labor Day. It made me laugh and I figured it should be shared with the world.</div><div style="clear:both; text-align:CENTER"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a></div>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-50043234957804910182008-09-18T14:54:00.003-06:002008-09-18T14:59:28.422-06:00Thank you for saying thank you!Part of my job is to answer emails from patrons about our website. Sometimes patrons can be kind of snarky in their emails ("Why does your site do this when I <i>obviously</i> told it to do this other thing?!???!?!?!"), and I take great pleasure in either fixing the problem or writing back and very tactfully explaining what they did wrong. (I take no pleasure when there's nothing I can do about the problem. That just annoys me.)<br /><br />Yesterday I answered just such an email. I saw immediately what she had done wrong and why it would be confusing. So, in great detail, I explained how each part of the site worked, and even went beyond that and did her search for her, telling her exactly where she could find the data she wanted. It made me feel kind of cool to be able to answer her email in such detail.<br /><br />Today I got the following reply from her, "That was a FANTASTIC explanation! Thank you for taking time to do all that for me."<br /><br />It made me smile. Those kind of responses make all the snarky emails totally worth it.Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-21536042442152912202008-09-08T12:06:00.001-06:002008-09-08T12:06:56.434-06:00junk mailDear Publishers Clearing House ~<br /><br />Stop sending me your crap. I don't open it, and you're just killing trees.<br /><br />~ Dragon LadyDragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-29707678911075579462008-08-28T23:37:00.002-06:002008-08-28T23:40:45.241-06:00I CAN cook! I promise!Despite my best efforts to prove otherwise today in my labors of a boston cream pie (Brother's birthday) and brownies (visiting teaching), I really can cook! (We won't go into the terrors of my kitchen today.) I mean, really... I made a boston cream pie!<br /><br />So why is it that we got <i>two</i> fire extinguishers for wedding presents? Do people not know me at all?! (Heartless, you may remain silent on this one.)Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-29972121784116703012008-08-28T17:56:00.000-06:002008-08-28T17:57:02.729-06:00Plant Spotlight - Iris Daphne of GuildThis beautiful orchid was one of my favorite splurges at IKEA. Isn't she pretty? Soon after I got her, I decided that all of my plants needed to be named. I enlisted the help of my roommates in doing so. The Cold One was quite fantastic about helping me come up with names... except for this beauty. The Cold One insisted upon calling her Iris. I can't call her Iris! She'll have an identity complex. Problem is, Heartless also liked the name Iris and every once in awhile I'd even find myself slipping. [sigh] However, I liked the name Daphne much better for her. It seems a royal name... also, it's the name of my best friend when I was a small child. Finally, a compromise was struck. Her name is officially Iris Daphne of Guild. When I initially named her, it was a lot more complicated. Probably something inspired by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. The several names were forgotten, however, and it just became Iris Daphne. But that sounded... empty. It was missing something. It wasn't royal enough. So she got a place as well. Where is Guild, you ask? No idea. But I have the strangest suspicion that it was subconsciously influenced by <i>Myst</i>.<br /><br /><div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgciAFKU0A38XM-7V_dM2ACJUiexaTeWqdRFseiM8IVZTbYvnjjyJc_CZR897Q_sOYlHH770bx9wrrkoPO0DKWBpnYO1TIV8yFHU3Wh6gZpDma2vDa_VJEvP7-4SU4htuyLy-Jk/s1600-h/IMG_4068.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgciAFKU0A38XM-7V_dM2ACJUiexaTeWqdRFseiM8IVZTbYvnjjyJc_CZR897Q_sOYlHH770bx9wrrkoPO0DKWBpnYO1TIV8yFHU3Wh6gZpDma2vDa_VJEvP7-4SU4htuyLy-Jk/s320/IMG_4068.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><br />Sadly... she's down to only two flowers. However, I moved her to a windowsill and she has been much happier. There is a bud about ready to bloom and another one that I expect will bloom in a week or two.<div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-27666585931751195002008-08-27T22:48:00.002-06:002008-08-27T23:00:26.753-06:00Finally!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT19yVnomQsryoNVT7HwB4jP6C4bgywMrlLoC23E4NZ2mmlMw6TSbDMOKFnn2zesM1HaQrcsqMoRBafPfGFMcKpl7wsqQ6LRx4SEuJmCq7tShK7kB_wPcxSuQJUs05Rv0rXwzi/s1600-h/Picture+3.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT19yVnomQsryoNVT7HwB4jP6C4bgywMrlLoC23E4NZ2mmlMw6TSbDMOKFnn2zesM1HaQrcsqMoRBafPfGFMcKpl7wsqQ6LRx4SEuJmCq7tShK7kB_wPcxSuQJUs05Rv0rXwzi/s400/Picture+3.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5239426000258278722" /></a><br /><br />When you're done with the game, you can watch an instant replay. Typically this only takes a couple of minutes. As for this game...<br /><u>Breakdown</u><br />Taking over all other colors: 2 mins<br />Battle over that one territory: 4.5 mins<br />Final takeover, once I broke through that bottleneck: 1 minDragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-55821897454267244422008-08-27T22:13:00.003-06:002008-08-27T22:16:30.527-06:00Dice Wars... indefinitelyThis is a horrible position to be in. I've been battling green for probably the past 20 minutes and it always comes back to this. Unfortunately, <a href="http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/dice/dice.html">Dice Wars</a> is addicting, so I just keep playing... I wonder who will give up first, me or the computer.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-UernOFIhGP6G6Q6GSceq-JSkyqF9Sk5ZRydCJQZu2cufRZ7K1Q_XEIZSFrIE8sJI95GLFuDjatVN82qZuVwfIWVyin48I8iUoxXSXkHdwvMIzyqmXW9zvkIDshWVJBLjxfK8/s1600-h/Picture+2.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-UernOFIhGP6G6Q6GSceq-JSkyqF9Sk5ZRydCJQZu2cufRZ7K1Q_XEIZSFrIE8sJI95GLFuDjatVN82qZuVwfIWVyin48I8iUoxXSXkHdwvMIzyqmXW9zvkIDshWVJBLjxfK8/s400/Picture+2.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5239417414012466258" /></a>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-26649916167514804512008-08-26T17:27:00.004-06:002008-08-26T18:18:13.225-06:00Randomness for SanityHeartless and I went to a meeting today at work that was amongst the most chaotic meetings of my entire life. We took 4 pages of notes... not on the meeting itself, but commenting on the mayhem flying around us. We quite enjoyed them, so we thought it might be fun to share parts with you as well. And now you know the secret as to how we stay sane at work.<br /><ul><li>I'm not a user. :(</li><li>Since when is red and blue opposite?</li><li>Funny thing is, I think</li><li>Sometimes you have to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">think</span></li><li>If you chance to meet a frown...</li><li>TOO MANY VOICES!!!</li><li>Reskew = rescue?</li><li>afghpqklmna (apparently my attempt to recreate "asldfkjal; dfj;law klwe" (what I type when I'm frustrated) comes out in mostly alphabetical order when I actually have to write out the letters by hand.)</li><li>"No. That's a Kofax bug." Isn't this a KOFAX MEETING?!</li><li>Valid. But dumb.</li><li>Look how [coworker] eats her cheese.</li><li>So, maybe we just need training.</li><li>"Oh! I can zoom!"</li><li>"Hello! That's what the list was!" "Apparently not!" (This reminded Heartless of a <a href="http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001245.html">dinosaur comic</a> (The 2nd frame of the comic))</li><li>Can I go home?</li></ul><div>And just for randomness with no context:</div><div><ul></ul>HHoowwardaraandndgered<br /><ul></ul>angered<br /><ul></ul>anGgeeorregde<br /><ul></ul>WWWoWGooooodoo<br /></div>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-66550218923425055042008-08-26T08:03:00.001-06:002008-08-26T08:05:00.325-06:00Time to get up!Yellow's alarm clock is set to the radio. This morning we woke up to the oddest words ever:<br /><br />"Can Jesus and Satan worship God together? This morning, here to sing a song together, now we have Jesus and Satan."Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-32000164334390008382008-08-13T15:41:00.001-06:002008-08-13T15:42:32.272-06:00I love working internationallyI just got off a work phone call where I was told to "make haste" and "give a shout out".<br /><br />That long phone call was totally worth it for those two phrases at the end.Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-297162034437709442008-08-12T23:04:00.003-06:002008-08-12T23:07:34.692-06:00Just a little thingI love it when books have obvious breaks in the middle of chapters. Like, a few extra lines or three stars or something. You know what I mean.<br /><br />Why do I love them? Because it gives me a good place to stop reading where I can easily see where I stopped without being a chapter break. Because chapter endings almost always leave me on the edge of my seat wanting more. Half the time if I stopped 3 paragraphs before the end of the chapter I would be fine. But <i>noooo</i>... I always have to read those last 3 paragraphs and force myself to close the book, then spend the next several hours wondering what in the world is gonna happen.<br /><br />I suppose authors are just smart that way.Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-199794028016003022008-08-11T18:46:00.000-06:002008-08-11T18:47:13.298-06:00It's creepy when these things are so true<br><b><a href="http://www.greatestjournal.com/quiz.bml?Q=16354"><font size=+1>You Are Aurora! (A.K.A. Sleeping Beauty.)</font></a></b><br><center><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/newbandi/Aurora.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><p><b>Thoughtful and loving. Authority figures probably have been sheltering you all of your life. Thankfully you're a very tranquil person who is content with what life has given you, but secretly you want to know how the outside world works.</b></center><br><b><a href="http://www.greatestjournal.com/quiz.bml?Q=16354">Which Disney Princess Are You?</a></b>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-83203707716544286752008-08-07T15:50:00.002-06:002008-08-07T15:58:00.430-06:00A+ to O-So, remember how I was so sad about <a href="http://dragonladyofjapan.blogspot.com/2007/09/o-to.html">not being able to give blood</a>? Well, I was free and clear to give blood again in July. But the beginning of June I went to France. I didn't know if that would affect my blood donor eligibility or not, though. I kept meaning to call and ask, but kept forgetting. I made Yellow promise to come with me because he has the most amazing veins that were <i>made</i> for giving blood. Yet, I still kept forgetting to call.<br /><br />Today I got an email from the Red Cross reminding me to give blood and I decided this was the reminder I've been needing. So I called. After calling two numbers and talking to three different ladies, I ended up finding out that 1 week in France is nothing and I can still give blood. And one year after returning from Egypt is enough time. Then she even walked me through what I would have to answer on the little computer questionnaire thing.<br /><br />Red Cross, here we come!Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-84545711803574626822008-08-04T16:10:00.000-06:002008-08-04T16:10:50.203-06:00Plant Spotlight - AmberI love plants. I fell in love with house plants in particular back in August when Chilly introduced me to Plant Day. What a blessed, life-changing event. Thanks Chilly! In fact, Azriel came to my house last night and one of the first things she said was, "Your house is a greenhouse." I took that as the deepest compliment.<br /><br />I took pictures of all of my plants awhile ago. I love them. I've named them. Of course I must photograph them. And now, I shall blog about them. If you don't like plants, or think I am silly, feel free to skip any post starting with "Plant Spotlight" in the title.<br /><br />For now, I present to you, Amber:<br /><br /><div style='text-align:center;margin:0px auto 10px;'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9OxF1kAQUDLiFC1vYJGQQ3X7ITJ-zJKqq4eqBMVXZ6Q3wGVI_XMoBPoo3Vz_KVOMUlBMK0l3g_2e7AuVXdQWBZNGbPLHYj9RfuKD7FlqCvj6dbO6QFqW8RqVkinF8KDQn-PuB/s1600-h/IMG_4064.jpg'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9OxF1kAQUDLiFC1vYJGQQ3X7ITJ-zJKqq4eqBMVXZ6Q3wGVI_XMoBPoo3Vz_KVOMUlBMK0l3g_2e7AuVXdQWBZNGbPLHYj9RfuKD7FlqCvj6dbO6QFqW8RqVkinF8KDQn-PuB/s320/IMG_4064.jpg' border='0' alt='' /></a> </div><br /><br />This is most likely going to be the most artsy picture of any of my plants. I can't even guarantee that it's a good artsy. Whatever. I like it.<br /><br />Amber is my avacado tree. She's the first of my house plants, but she didn't start the obsession. She was planted after a dinner at Brother Sr.'s house when we had three avacado seeds leftover and Brother Sr. thought I should plant them. Why not? It took ages for those three little sticks to poke up, but then they thrived beautifully. Y'know, once they got leaves. I love Amber. <br /><br />Sadly, she went through a time of tragedy, which is documented <a href="http://dragonladyofjapan.blogspot.com/2008/04/amber-is-dying.html">here</a>. After weeks of death, I plucked off all of the dying leaves and she started to produce more leaves. That's when this picture was taken. It's purpose was actually to show the new growth at the top.<br /><br />Since then, a second stem has died. I mourned. But the third is holding strong. She guards my front door at my new house and is closely monitored. Her leaves are slightly wilted, but this time she hasn't turned all orangish/brown.<br /><br />Everyone keep your fingers crossed that she'll make it out of this one.<div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-7147104180332797662008-08-02T14:56:00.002-06:002008-08-02T15:34:40.770-06:00Harry, meet Edward.I love Harry Potter. I don't think there's any secret about that. My 8 GB iPod is currently full with the audio books. Yup, all seven of them. They fit beautifully in 8 GB. As I drive or do boring, mindless tasks at work, or even while I'm cooking or cleaning at home, I listen to them. I'm currently listening to book 5. I would tell you what part, but the memory is being drowned by a more prominent literary memory. What could drown out Harry Potter?! you might ask. Well, it would be a excellent question. What could possibly drown Harry Potter from my mind? Part of me is ashamed to admit this.<br /><br />Twilight.<br /><br />My Relief Society bookclub is reading the newest book this month. I decided I wanted to participate in this book club for two reasons. 1) I wanted to socialize with these new sisters; find a niche in my new ward and 2) I've actually been finding time to read lately. I started going through the books on my bookcase at breakneck speed, and this new book club offered me a chance to get a library card and start reading new books. I haven't read new books in a long time.<br /><br />But Twilight? I've watched as the world around be became obsessed with this Vampire-centered world. I wasn't turned off because they were about vampires. Meh. Who cares? More, I think, it was because many people were becoming obsessed and many others were rolling their eyes. I don't like people to roll their eyes at me. At least, not unless I did something on purpose, hoping to get them to roll their eyes. Also, I was never handed the opportunity to read the books; I had no desire to seek them out. Thus, I simply never read them. I wasn't <i>against</i> them, mind you. But I was... skeptical, I'll admit.<br /><br />I felt like I had no choice. <a href="http://theboard.byu.edu/index.php?area=viewall&id=41964">Yellow</a> has <a href="http://theboard.byu.edu/index.php?area=viewall&id=42742">read</a> them. He's been telling me for months now (ever since he read them at Christmas) that I would like them and that I should read them. And now the girls at the book club were telling me that I would like them and if I wanted to participate in the next book club, I'd <i>have</i> to read all of them.<br /><br />I suddenly empathized with everyone I have ever met that has not read Harry Potter and has no desire to do so. I'm sure I put on as much pressure, if not more. Though, I think I give much better arguments.<br /><br />I gave in and borrowed the first book. It took me a couple of days to get started. I had better things to do, like teach my former roommate how to play Ticket to Ride. Or cleaning our room so that I could walk into it without a death wish. Last night I gave in and read. Until around midnight. This morning I woke up and read. Until 2:30 in the afternoon. Y'know... until I finished. Yellow was grateful, though. It gave him quality time to play whatever video game it is that he's been craving playing... and got bismark re-addicted to. Civilization something or the other. Something more specific. I could go look, but whatever.<br /><br />Ok, I am addicted. I'll admit it. I joined the ranks of girls fawning over Edward and secretly hoping that he'll turn Bella into a vampire, but at the same time, scorning the thought because, really.... he just can't do that.<br /><br />I put down the book and came out to catch up on the masses of news in my Google Reader. I read through my Harry Potter feeds with a laugh. Only I would put Twilight and Harry Potter together. Until I started reading things about Twilight in my Harry Potter feeds! Things about how "<a href="http://www.patriotledger.com/news/x280666065/NEW-BLOOD-Potter-fans-are-mad-for-vampires">Harry Potter fans are mad for vampires</a>" and about the new Twilight movie coming out. Then it hit me. Cedric Diggory is going to be Edward! Of course the two worlds are going to come smashing together. Did I ever have a hope of staying out of this one, too?<br /><br />[sigh]<br /><br />The one thing that really irritates me, though, is the fact that I can never name my daughter Bella. In the last two days I have fallen in love with the name, but my poor daughter would be forever linked with a book. Yes, I'm lame.Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-49429716722299843522008-07-28T17:03:00.002-06:002008-07-28T17:44:00.144-06:00In which technology replaces humansI'm currently trying to send an email to a group mailing list in order to answer a question I received at work. However, my email address has changed from ldschurch.org to familysearch.org so they don't think I'm actually subscribed, so they won't let me send anything in it. I had to jump through all of these hoops and send all sorts of emails and click on confirmation buttons to prove that I wasn't sending spam. All of it was worth it, however, when I received the following in an email:<br /><br />Your message to [email address here] has been forwarded to the<br />"list owners" (the people who manage the [company name] list). If you wanted<br />to reach a human being, you used the correct procedure and you can ignore<br />the remainder of this message.<br /><br />Heartless pointed out the irony of an automated response telling me that I reached a human being.Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-84491930392964822722008-07-22T10:12:00.003-06:002008-07-22T10:15:41.268-06:00[Happy Dance]Humble Master brought to my attention today that, as of this morning's posts, I have reached 1200 answers, which ties me with Duchess for the #10 answering spot of all time. (And since "Dr" comes before "Du", I am in the 10th spot on the list.) In 8 more questions, I beat Optimistic. (I love competing against retired writers. Makes my task so much easier.)<div><br /></div><div>In this I am well pleased.</div><div><br /></div><div>(I'm also quite happy that <a href="http://theboard.byu.edu/index.php?area=viewall&id=46443">this question</a> is the 1200th question.)</div>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36331040.post-50051879424638071852008-07-16T20:10:00.004-06:002008-07-23T18:15:08.211-06:00Sometimes Death is the better optionThere's a stigma that haunts new brides ... something about not being able to cook. I never worried about this, however, as I love to cook and have been doing it myself for years and years now. Sure, I smoke up a kitchen here and there, but I think my successes greatly outweigh my failures. Yellow told me the other day that I've yet to cook anything he didn't like.<br /><br />Statements like that must be tested.<br /><br />The other night I was over at The Heartless Siren's house, trading dinner for her washer and dryer (we don't have one). Especially helpful is that half of my food was still there. Shepherd's Pie was on the menu. I peeled and chopped the potatoes, then got them boiling. Meanwhile, I had the hamburger defrosting. Before long, the hamburger was crumbled and cooked. I waited for a commercial in <span style="font-style: italic;">So You Think You Can Dance</span> that Heartless and Co. were watching, then I headed down to the cellar to raid my food storage for green beans and tomato sauce. Typically I choose stewed tomatoes for Shepherd's Pie. It's already got spices and other yummy goodness, like onions and celery (which actually is disgusting, but I don't mind it in things like this). However, knowing that Heartless considers onions and celery as Death, I made a quick decision to be nice and just grab tomato sauce and spice it myself.<br /><br />I rummaged around the kitchen, trying to figure out how to open the four home-canned bottles, since I had taken my bottle opener over to my new house with me. Sighing, I gave in and grabbed a spoon. I've seen my parents and siblings open bottles with spoons hundreds of times, but I was never any good at it. To my surprise, it only took a few tries before I popped the tops off both bottles of tomato sauce. I poured the first bottle over, hesitating a moment... was there enough hamburger to justify another jar? I stirred it... just a bit... and decided that, yes, two jars would be ok.<br /><br />I started stirring the tomato/hamburger mixture, considering putting my iPod back in my ears (I had been listening to Harry Potter 4 earlier), when an unexpected smell assaulted my nose. Where I had expected to smell tomatoes, I instead smelled apples. Apples? Fear crept over my thoughts. No. It couldn't. I recalled in a quick flash the bottle sitting next to the one I had grabbed being labeled as "Duchess". I knew that was applesauce. Mom had labeled it to distinguish what kind of apples she had used. I quickly grabbed a discarded lid from the opened bottles. "06" was all it said. I looked back at the skillet. No. No way. But this wasn't labeled as applesauce. Also, it was pink! Applesauce isn't pink.<br /><br />And then it hit me like a load of bricks over the head. Mom's specialty applesauce, the one you had to ask nicely and bat your eyes to get a jar of, only surpassed in difficulty by fruit cocktail, was strawberry applesauce. And it was pink. I gingerly scraped the side of the opened jar with my finger, then slowly licked the offending sauce off. It was, without a doubt, strawberry applesauce.<br /><br />Now what was I to do?! I just poured two bottles of precious applesauce over the only hamburger I had. One of the television watchers reassured me, saying he would often grate apples into his ground beef and it takes on the texture and flavor of hamburger, but it's healthier! That made me feel better, but this was two pints of applesauce, not a grated apple. I called Mom and she laughed and laughed, accusing me of having New Bride syndrome, and told me to rinse it off, then put tomato sauce on. "Sister-in-law Jr. always rinses off her hamburger after cooking it. Granted, I think it takes away the flavor, but that's just me." "Oh, so you think that taking away the flavor is the best option here?" "Wait, it's already cooked?"<br /><div><br /></div><div>[groan]</div><div><br /></div><div>I chatted at Yellow and told him the horrible thing I had done. He suggested that we could just change the name and call it Orchard Tender's Pie instead. I rolled my eyes, waiting for a real response until I realized... he was serious.</div><div><br /></div><div>I knew it was ridiculous. I couldn't leave the applesauce in with the hamburger and keep going! .... could I? Of course, now that the idea was planted in my head, I couldn't shake it. But what if it tasted <i>amazing?!</i> This is how new recipes are born, isn't it? And if I didn't keep going, all of that strawberry applesauce would be <i>wasted</i>. But then again, if I kept going and it was gross, the potatoes, hamburger, green beans and cheese would be wasted. [sigh] Dilemmas! </div><div><br /></div><div>I couldn't bring myself to taste the hamburger/applesauce mixture. Finally I told Yellow that he would have to come from work and taste it himself. He was leaving momentarily anyway, so we decided that would be the plan. He still finds this plan faulty, since he is basically a living garbage disposal... he'd eat anything. But I figured that if it was so gross that even he didn't like it, I knew it would be a very bad idea.</div><div><br /></div><div>He came. He tasted. He approved. I doubted. I tasted. I wavered.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think it was the fact that I got a large bite of hamburger. It wasn't so bad at first, but when I actually started chewing a large piece of hamburger with a lingering applesauce taste in my mouth, I wasn't convinced. I hemmed. I hawed. Do I waste it? Should I be brave? What do I do?!</div><div><br /></div><div>I've never been good with decisions.</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, with a promise from Yellow that if I didn't like it, he'd eat it every day for lunch so that it wouldn't be wasted, I went ahead and finished making the dish. Heartless went to bed. She was tired and doesn't like fruit anyway. This dish had been ruined for her. We finished baking and laundry and took it home. Yellow took a big piece; I took a small piece.</div><div><br /></div><div>Honestly? It wasn't half bad. Yeah, I wouldn't make it again on purpose. But if you took a bite and imagined that you had taken a bite of Shepherd's Pie and then a bite of applesauce, it wasn't bad at all. We both ate it for lunch for the next several days until it was gone.</div><div><br /></div><div>Conclusions:</div><div><ol><li>Yellow truly will always think I'm a good cook and like everything I make.</li><li>Being brave isn't as dreadful as I imagined.</li><li>Heartless, you would have gotten dinner had you let me put Death in. I wouldn't have confused applesauce with large chunks of tomatoes, along with celery and onions. I blame this whole thing on you.</li></ol></div>Dragon Ladyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16112284864510544724noreply@blogger.com0