i swear i am not looking at porn at work

2:24pm: house-sitting in august?
am going on a real live vacation in august, for 5 whole days! the boarding places are way expensive and my usual lucy sitter is very likely going to be out somewhere in the middle of the desert doing Something Else, so am looking for someone who would like to house sit. a little cash, cable, internet (wireless even!) a comfy bed, stocked fridge and a sweet sweet pup await you! let me know if you are interested...

8:56pm: Got Continental vouchers/points?
i've been invited to go on an actual vacation. i actually cannot remember the last actual vacation i have been on. this one is with friends i do not get to see often, so it's kind of like a reunion thingy, but with less people i hated in high school.
i wanna go.
i really cannot afford the ticket *and* room.
but maybe someone out there has a Continental voucher or points layin around that they do not intend to use.
might that be you?
if so, and you want to make me happy (isn't that your goal anyway?) drop me an email over at that gmail account with the mandimcd username and we can figure out a way for me to give you something back in trade or work or public adulation. and getchyer mind outta the gutter. :)

1:08pm: Central Texas Feline Rescue
(as you probably know, i don't even like most cats [they're just rodents with good pr], but it looks like these folks are doing smart work in regards to keeping the population in check and healthy, so am good with that. :) here's an email from rachel:)

Greetings and salutations, everyone!

As many of you know, last July I helped start a new feral cat rescue group with several dedicated volunteers from a nonprofit that could no longer fund us and the cat colonies we cared for. After a bumpy start, we got ourselves legal and in order, and we never missed a day of care for the kitties. Central Texas Feline Rescue is up and running as a 501c3 nonprofit, caring for about 300 cats daily in Austin and Round Rock.

We have a strong trapping team that has been very busy (300 cats last year, and almost that many already this year, trapped, spayed or neutered, and released back to colonies.) We also have committed feeders who feed at our colonies every single day, rain or shine; transporters who drive the cats back and forth to the Austin Humane Society's Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Clinic; and fosters who socialize the kittens we find or nurse sick cats back to health.

In April we had our first ever fundraiser, a cut-a-thon at Russ & Company Hair Salon, which was a roaring success. However, the money goes fast, and it's kitten season, so it's going even faster. We need your help, and your donations.

I present to you Central Texas Feline Rescue's Web site, designed by a CTFR volunteer. The site has a PayPal donation link, so you can make a donation quickly and easily.

Our organization is committed to reducing the homeless cat population in Central Texas. Your donation will help us in that mission. We have very low overhead and no paid employees, so you can be assured that your money will help cats by providing food, shelter, or medical care.

We also need volunteers. Let me know if you would like to volunteer as a feeder, trapper, or transporter, or if you have special skills you'd like to donate.

Thanks!
Rachel

P.S. Here’s the URL if the link doesn’t work for you: http://www.centraltexasfelinerescue.org/
P.P.S. I promise not to bother you often, so check back on our Web site!

11:28am: Voting info for Austin, including endorsement info & voting locations
(ganked from reinaness)
Austin is having its city council and mayoral election right now! Early voting has started and goes until May 5th. Election Day is May 9th. These elections probably have more impact on your daily life than the national ones do and the only way to help make Austin the city you want to live in is to vote!

( Endorsement list and Voting Locations )

9:32pm: Attention Texas Dog Owners!
House Bill 1982 is a wrong-headed, knee-jerk reaction to the problem of vicious or dangerous dogs, and needs to be stopped before the few bad apples ruin the whole barrel for the rest of us, responsible dog owners. Contact your representative and the Chairs noted below and voice your opposition to this law that would punish all dog owners, not just the irresponsible ones. Feel free to cross-post this to appropriate places.

http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HB1982

from an email forwarded to me:

HB 1982 (by Trey Martinez Fisher, Rep. San Antonio), that as written would allow a dog to be declared "Vicious" if a person just *FEELS* THREATENED -- even if the dog is secured in its own backyard (sec 6(C)).

It would also BAN any dog over 39lbs from *ever* being off-leash in public -- even IN A DESIGNATED OFF-LEASH DOG PARK (sec 11(B)). This is NOT just a Pit Bull thing; it affects ALL breeds.

Please contact/call your Rep ( http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/ ) TODAY and tell them you OPPOSE House Bill 1982. No need to explain why if you don't want to. It will just be a clerk on the phone.

In addition to your House Rep, you should also contact the Chair and Vice-Chair of the subcommittee meeting on HB 1982 this afternoon.

Rep. Garnet Colman (Chair) 512-463-0524
Rep. Geanie Morrison (Vice-Chair) 512-463-0456

When I called, I just said, "I'd like to register my opposition to HB 1982", and they said "OK" and asked my name and that was it.

For more info see: http://tinyurl.com/dg2tnu and http://tinyurl.com/csc7eo.

11:36am: got ff miles burning a hole in your pocket?
anyone have airline miles they gotta use or lose?

am looking for a flight, and i don't have the kind of $ for the last minute flight (thursday or friday morning)...

3:35pm: and the sun peeked out a little more...
from d.a. comes proof that the human will is a damned near impossible thing to destroy. go, hollis, go!

Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:19:14 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [dpw-list] D.A.'s Hollis Visit Report 3/24/09


Yesterday I went to stanford hospital with Eliza Strack and Party Radar to
visit Hollis.

Upon our entrance, Hollis, who was in the middle of physical therapy tracked
us with her eye and began making murmmuring sounds, which got louder and
louder. Imagine Hollis without the ability of speech, desperately trying to
wake herself up from a bad dream and you've got a pretty good understanding
of what Hollis sounded like.

I could tell by her frustrated, angry, and determined look that she was
pissed and would not be defeated.

Yup. There's our girl alright. Our fighter.

I was quite surprised as to how awake somebody could be while technically
still in a coma. Apparently there is a whole range of stages before someone
is considered awake again after.

She held my hand, and by held I mean squeezed the shit out of it. Digging
her nails into my skin. I encouraged her to squeeze my hand until it bled. I
told her I would reward her with bacon in her i.v. drip. She responded to
that. I made sure I said the word "bacon" and "pbr" plenty of times.

Hollis' brain and body are fighting to reconnect all of its' wiring.
There were moments where you could tell that she was ready to get the hell
up off the bed right there and then, making a supreme effort.

"Git er' dun girl. Git er dun!" I hollered.

Eliza, Hollis' wifey up in SF and the founder of Hollis' blog held her other
hand.

"1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a thumb war," Eliza challenged. Helping Hollis into
the proper thumbwar position.

Shocked and stunned to see Hollis thumb stand straight up and then down,
pinning Eliza's thumb. The room errupted into cheers with the nurse's
smiling, letting us know that they could hear Hollis all the way down the
hall. They did 2 out of 3, with the best being the her first effort.

Hollis is in a stage where she is ready for stimulus. Verbal, physical,
audial, visual, etc. But, she can also be overwhelmed and perhaps
annoyed...which given her condition I don't necessarily think is too bad a
thing.

Anyway, Hollis' mom Diane was great. Sweet and strong and solid. Very
encouraging of all of us to speak to her and not be shy. Be sure to show her
a lot of love.

Harrison, the man who performed cpr on her for almost a half-hour after the
accident, showed up in good spirits. Be sure to show him a lot of love.

Pretty soon there was a nice gang of ten surrounding her.

Everyone was very happy with her progress yesterday. It was huge.

So, today the 25th of March, Hollis is being moved to St. Luke's in
Francisco where she is being admitted as a charity case. This is a good
thing.

Stanford Hospital has determined that Hollis doesn't need Stanford anymore.
All she needs now is a good rehabilitation facility close to her friends and
loved ones to cheer her on. This is great news.

So, yeah DPW...
Hollis is another step closer to home.
Let's bring her in.

Be the audience for the fighter within her.
Hollis loves an audience.

Try to remember big words like "encouragement" or even "nurturing." Whoa.

And wash yer damn hands before you see her, she don't need no monkey pox.

Harrison is overseeing the visiting hours.
Call him: 415.987.6576
http://www.friendsofhollis.blogspot.com/

DA!

1:32pm: in better news...
hollis is coming home. thanks to folks all over the planet who have generously donated to the fund, they will be flying her in to sfo tomorrow, taking her straight to stanford.

the war ain't over, but this battle is won.

thanks again to all of you who have helped out. you get a gold star on your karma belt.

http://friendsofhollis.blogspot.com/

3:11pm: and when it rains...
i spent the morning looking for friends of pyburn's from high school who might not be in touch but would want to know of his passing. one of them was david ziontz, who was also one of my best buddies in hs. david's mom was very very ill, cancer i think, when we were in school, and in a moment of desperation, took her own life, thinking she would leave behind a life insurance policy that would at least get david through school. of course, that's not how that works.

i had been in touch with david via email on and off throughout the last few years and then he simply stopped responding a little while ago. i knew he had been frustrated with a lot of things, women, work, life in general. apparently, according to another old friend i found this morning, in a moment of desperation, he took his own life last year.

today has gone from crap to shit.

be careful, folks.

it ain't all that bad.

1:46am: a world so tiny it can suffocate
a few months back, while i was still at The Agency, one of the auditors and i were chatting about people who wear way too much perfume and cologne, like when you can smell them long after they are gone, or have the unfortunate luck to get stuck in an elevator either with them or just after they have left. randomly, i brought up a boy i knew in high school, who i wouldn't necessarily call a boy friend, but we had frequent gropy make-out sessions whilst "seeing" "the wall" at the midnight movie, or sometimes in the early mornings at school, when we would break into the theatre department and take "naps" in the practice rooms. anyway, what was striking was that he wore stetson, maybe too much, and while i didn't mind it while i was around him, i could smell him on me for days - couldn't get it off. and if he'd been in a room, i would say, 'hey, pyburn's been here!' she stopped me and asked me if i was talking about jim pyburn, turns out she knows him professionally.

the other night, i was screwing around on facebook, looking people up and i found him, sent him a friend request, and forgot about it. he never replied. tonight i got a txt from my auditor friend letting me know he had died tuesday night.

i haven't seen him or spoken to him in i guess... 18 years? i went down and saw him at school a couple times in san antonio and then we sorta just lost touch. am not sad so much as just a little out of sorts, having just fished him out of the memory banks and tried to get a good look at him and poof- gone.

and. i can smell stetson.

12:30pm: help a sister out...
one of our dpw gals, hollis, was in an awful motorcycle accident in india (yes, she was wearing her helmet, btw), and now we are scrambling to get the funds together to get her flown back to the us. if you have a couple spare bucks, or if you have connections in the air/medical field, every bit helps. below is a note from her boyfriend, harrison, who fortunately was with her.

http://friendsofhollis.blogspot.com has a paypal link and more information about the accident and what's going on with her treatment...


Hello friends and family,
So as many of you know, and many of you don't as I have not even talked
to you in a while. I am in the midst of a crazy tragedy here in southern
India. I was travelling with my sweetheart Hollis by motorcycle and the
worst possible scenario has unfolded. She was in an accident that took a
freak turn and I will spare you the gory details (and they are gory) but end
result, she is in a coma with the most serious injury one can sustain. She
has a serious brain stem injury. This is the part of the brain that
controls and is connected to everything. The accident happened at 11:30 am
on Tuesday Feb. 24th, it is now 5:30 am on Monday March 2nd as I am writing
this (I don't sleep). This is what's going on... The treatment she is
receiving is okay, for India. There are however huge rats scurrying about
on the floor. I am sleeping on the ant covered floor outside her room as I
am not allowed in and the water they have used for many procedures is not
even purified. Today as the final straw they would not allow her own mother
who has just flown here from Tennessee with emergency support from the US
consulate to see her own daughter when she inquired. She has been allowed
some of the time but they sort of shame you/ are mean to you to make you not
ask for visitation. They are not observing her brain pressure and have done
nothing to alleviate the swelling in her brain. These are things that can
make of break her early on in her recovery and healing process. Her chances
are slim. Her chances are slimmer here in Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, India.
So we miraculously got her accepted to Stanford which is one of the best
hospitals in the world. Also, as a charity case which is very rare, since
she has no insurance. So what we need now is to get her there. I am
reaching out to everyone I know to help us get an ICU Plane (a.k.a. air
ambulance) to fly her back to California. If anyone knows anyone with a
plane we could rent or has anybody in the Air Ambulance industry or a doctor
who could volunteer their time to come and get her and fly her to Stanford
and reduce the cost... those things would be amazing. The reality of the
situation is that we need to raise $150,000 dollars, now for the quote we
have. There is a blog that Hollis's best bud Eliza (from her bicycle dance
troupe the SF Derailleurs) started: * http://friendsofhollis.blogspot.com * and it
has a donate button on it. I would like to urge everyone to give something
to this button even if it is 5 dollars and then pass it on to everyone they
know. Hopefully we can all figure out a way to give $1,000 whether it be by
sheer generosity or organizing a fundraiser where ever this reaches you.
Send it to people who know her and send it to anyone who is a compassionate
person and knows what its like to lose a bright brilliant star of a person.
She is an amazing performer, heart, bicycle and food activist and so much
more, in San Francisco (and everywhere) and we need to do everything we can
while we have the possibility, to bring her back. It was crazy to go
through my contacts to select everyone to send this to and see the amount of
amazing people who are no longer alive on it and how badly I don't want to
add her to this group. Please help however you can even if its just keeping
her in your thoughts and sending healing energies and magic. You can write
me with any questions or support or call/text anytime, day or night.
Thank you more than anyone can be thanked, for everything you have all done
so far, you have kept me going in my darkest hour. Please forward this on.
Put it on myspace, facebook, your blog, craigslist, tribe, tell everyone.
love and teary thanks,
Harrison

11:57am: hey baby people
woot.com has some pretty nice baby carseats up for sale... ends at midnight or when they are gone. go look.

9:04pm: apparently he has nothing better to do with his time.
right wing mad dog ken starr is now going after the gays. he has joined the caliornia proposition 8 proponents, not only to defend the proposition in the supreme court, but also to have all the currently valid gay marriages in california declared illegal, and thus null. this video is heartbreaking, and has info about how to join fight against starr and prop 8.

http://www.couragecampaign.org/Divorce

3:29pm: (mis) adventures in cooking
eggplant.

it's a thing i usually like when it is included in some meal i have, especially like the eggplant dish at titaya, which is really yummy. but i've had it baked, mushed, and all kinds of ways, and all of them have been pretty good. it's something i always briefly consider when i am at the store, but usually pass up because 1) fresh veggies usually go bad before i get around to cooking them and 2) i have no idea what to do with it.

anyway, the other day they were on sale, so i bought one. brought it home and stared at it for three days before i decided i needed to cook it or throw it to the backyard gods.

i am not a cook. like, i like to cook, and most things i make are edible, if not actually tasty (my tortills soup and enchiladas get requested), but am not exactly julia childs here, and i generlly stick to what i know.

so after some advice on how to get started (slice it up and soak in water and salt to get the bitter out), i decided i would try baking slices and pan frying slices. the pan fried ones turned out ok - i just put some olive oil and tony chachere's in the pan and cooked until the changed color and got soft. they were basicly just sponges of cajun salt and oil, but not bad. also not really worth doing again.

the ones i baked... i put them on a cookie sheet with olive oil and some balsamic marinade, and i don't know what i did wrong, but lucy won't even try em. ah well.

i'll stick to the pros on this one.

at least i didn't thow ALL of it out. :)

7:05pm: happy mail
today i went to my po box and there in the little tiny box was a big white envelope, and in this big white envelope was a long, pretty, multi-toned, i have to assume hand-made scarf, and a note : "This is my love surrounding you and keeping you warm. - A"

most.
awesome.
mail.
ever.
:)

it's folks like you that remind me not to blow up the planet. you should give lessons.

miss you oodles, miss a.

9:25am: Seeking Web Developer...
well, *i'm* not, but i have a lead on the job and it occurs to me some of you might be a that, so here's the description. ping me directly if you want more info and i'll hook you up with the right person.

The company is headquartered and located in the Southwest part of Austin. The website includes a storefront, forums and blogs, so the candidate must have experience with this type of site.

Web Developer
Must have experience in developing HTML and FLASH websites with 1) forums 2) blogs 3) storefronts 4) CMS and 5) Landing Pages

Prefer candidates that have experience with Consumer Goods product company or websites.
This is a full time, permanent position that offers competitive salary and benefits and great career growth opportunity.

Essential Job Duties

Site Development
• Lead the wire framing and development of future multiple company websites.
• Ensure that website technology, structure, organization, design and functionality are customer driven, user-centric and metrics-based.
• Work with VP of Marketing to test, understand and scale Social Media Marketing and web 2.0 initiatives

Web Analytics and User Experience
• Refine site and increase performance metrics that drive the business
• Hands-on web analytics experience with Google Analytics and/or Web Trends
• Establish content strategy and execution schedule that both supports and drives key metrics through user-friendly experience

Online Merchandising and Marketing
• Execute marketing programs to optimize Cost Per Acquisition including SEO, SEM, Social Media, and landing page optimization.
• Must be able to work efficiently in an entrepreneurial, resource-constrained workplace

12:10pm: wish list
requested, here it is:

tickets to flogging molly (february)

tickets to spamalot (march)

5 piece drumset. pearl. :)

docs, black, size (american girl) 6, 16 holes

tickets to esther's follies (any time, let's go!)

tickets to santaland diaries (now thru jan 11)

tickets to carol burnett (january)

tickets to davis sedaris (april)

trip somewhere not here and warm :)

a decent flatbed scanner

you and me and dinner.

1:30pm: in dallas friday the 26th
what's shakin?

6:35pm: merry holiday thingy
occassionally (i can't spell that word, always), something pops up on my itunes, i have no idea where it came from, or how it got there. today, i got the words of leonard nimoy, and after some research, i found out it was "consilium", off the album "the way i feel", released in late 1968 by dot records. it's a spoken wordish thing, complete with swirling orchestral background music, i guess his take on the desiderata. or something.

and now i shall peck out for your reading pleasure:

but a small portion of infinite and unmeasurable time is alloted to each of us.
it is so quickly swallowed up by eternity,
and how small is the clod of earth on which we crawl about.
money has never made anyone rich,
any more than salt water will cure a man's thirst.
a poor man is not one who has little, but one who desires much.
if you can just remember than no human condition is ever permanent
then you will not be too overjoyed in good fortune,
nor too sorrowful in misfortune.
nothing dries faster than a tear,
and one joy dispels a hundred cares.
while it may be impossible to win every contest
great satisfaction can be had from knowing that your cause was fair and just.
hide not your talents, nor your god given intelligence,
for they were created to be used.
what good is a sundial that sits in the shade?
hostility and distrust reduce men to children,
fighting for control of each others' half of the playpen.
how sad.
when with mutual respect, they could explore and enjoy together the many rooms in the mansion of their lives.
your love and your friendship should not be sealed up until your friends have gone.
fill their lives with kindness.
speak cheering words while their ears can hear them and while their hearts can be filled and made happier by them.
remember all these things and consider nothing great but this:
nature bids you accept what life brings and live it.
fully.


so uh, yeah, thanks lenny. :)

10:09pm: something to think about...
three of the previous seven governors of illinois ended up in jail. if blagojevich is convicted, it will be four of the last eight. that's 50%.

only 48% of the people who commit murder end up in jail.

you are more likely to go to jail if you are the governor of illinois than if you commit murder.

thank you, jon stewart, for making my career choices clear.

12:14am: ktxt is gone
texas tech university finally got their wish, as "student media" has decided to take ktxt off the air. it's been a battle for years - we were not commercial enough, we were too commercial; we played too much hip hop, we didn't play enough hip hop; our djs sounded too amateur, our djs made the other commercial stations sound amateur; we didn't add to the community, we booked bigger rock shows than the "rock stations"; we provided an alternative, we were too alternative. ad nauseum.

the station was a tiny bright light on the dusty south plains, giving something to the community and the university that no other station in town could - a decidedly different, off the beaten track experience. the students fiercely loved the station. the administration apparently don't care what the students think, or that the reason a lot of them are in the communications department in the first place was the opportunity to get real hands on experience in a real, functioning radio station.

there's a bunch of folks trying real hard to change some minds, but the university has had it out for the station for a long time, and i suspect the opportunity arose to blame it on the economy, and they're going to run with it.

fuck you, texas tech. you'll never get another dime from me.


and just because it just figures, the braintrust over at kcbd tv posted a story about it, but couldn't even get the name of one of the most famous dylan songs right. "don't think twice, IT'S alright", morons.

4:35pm: bubye tweets..
ok folks, i have a few of you on my friends list that have implemented the tool that pushes all your twitter posts to lj. if i was really interested in your cats' moment by moment bowel movements or what you had for lunch, i would log into twitter and look. but i very seldom log into twitter. so why am i now having to see twitter posts? they are annoying, period. even moreso when half of the twitter posts are responses to other twits' posts that i cannot see. seriously. who thought this was a useful or good idea?

so please don't be surprised or offended because you fall off my friend list or find yourself in my devnull friend group and therefore never see a response from me again because i never actually look at that group.

i just hate the tweets.

2:39pm: last chance...
to watch me turn the balls, live and in person at 6th and red river. tonight at 10pm.
there will be goodies.

12:19am: despite what the internets tell you...
my bday is dec 2nd. and i wanna do *something*, i just haven't figured out what. suggestions welcome, libations cheered.

3:55pm: last chances for live ball handling...
your last chances to come on down to the dream-store, aka the texas lottery commission at 6th at red river, and see me handle the balls, live and in person, broadcast out on the tv, will be:

the 17th, 19th, 25th and december 1st.

production broadcasts occur at 12:28pm and 10:12pm - the night shows are neater because of the lights. :)

visitors to the studio receive nifty parting goodies!

come make faces at me from the gallery!