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June 30, 2003
the ties that bind
my one-year-old computer died this weekend. Well, not really died, but basically the video card gave out and after going to Best Buy, Microcenter, CompUSA and PCs For Everyone AND calling Dell themselves, I discover a couple of things:
1. My computer doesn't upgrade to 64mb card, which means that I wasn't going to be able to play my copy of Star Wars Galaxies that Joe had picked up for me--I've been waiting for the game to come out for over two years now.
2. No one in town carries 32MB video cards that would fit in my Dell computer--Dell makes their cases very narrow, which means that the card is a proprietory card that you have to buy from Dell.
3. Dell has no stock on video cards that fit my computer.
4. I'm never going to buy a Dell again. And unless you never want to be able to upgrade, I recommend you don't buy one either.
5. I need to buy a zip drive and BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP my stuff.
And so we traipsed back over to PCs For Everyone, gave them my hard drive from the Dell (I will be heartbroken if all my work is lost...it's been a few months since I backed up, sigh) and they are building me a new PC... Pentium 4, 40mb (on top of the 40mb I am transferring in) 512 RAM, 128mb Nvidia video, 52x CDRW and fully capable of running any game or program I decide for at least the next year--and then it will still be able to upgrade.
The bad news is that I don't get it back till the 7th. I feel lost!! Joe is being very gracious about sharing his computer, however.
So a couple of things this weekend--I read the new Harry Potter in about two days...I read too damn fast and then I'm left sort of sitting there, wishing that I could keep reading. I envy people who take 2 weeks to read a book that size...there is a savoring that I am not as privy to. I mean, I savor every word that I read, but then I'm left wanting more and more and more. Anyway, the book is great.
J.K. Rowling has the killer formula for creating these books. Much like Beverly Hills 90210, Harry goes through high school, then it will be college...so there are at least 4-5 more books right there. After that he starts to lose some of the appeal for youngsters, so it makes sense that he does one or two things--one, he marries and has a child that begins the next phase of the books and/or two, he takes over for Dumbledore (we know that he doesn't live all the way through the series anyway) and takes on a protege of some sort.
I love the readability of the books though--they are fun, dramatic, lively and engaging and the appeal to both adults and children alike is the most amazing part. That's difficult to do. I also love how they wrap you up in the story--even now, several days later, I find that I'm still thinking of the books, wondering what will happen next, if that's the way it really is with Sirius, what role will Gwarp play, will Ron and Hermione get together? Ginny and Harry (come on...all foreshadowing points to this)? Very amazing when books linger with you for weeks and weeks and even years afterward.
And Star Wars Galaxies. Wow. Just plain wow. The graphics are incredible. The game premise is equally amazing, with options for many different types of gamers--casual gamers, hardcore gamers. Those who prefer to play solo and those who like to game with groups. If you are into crafting and building weapons and battlestations or clothing and food, then you are all set. If you are interested in the cut em, shoot em up stuff, it's all there too. If you are into questing...there are numerous seek and destroy or delivery missions. It's extremely complex, and if you aren't willing to put a little patience into figuring out the controls, I don't recommend it, but I have a feeling that this will end up being as addictive as Everquest, if not more so. There are bugs, since this is the opening release, but those will get worked out and in another six months with a full player economy in place, it will be a really interesting--and addictive--game.
Posted by crystallyn at 06:40 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
June 27, 2003
i'm always
amazed at how people find my site in search engines...I get some of the most curious terms that come up in my stats.
I get hits from people who search for Timecube because of a lecture I attended awhile back and commented. Gene Ray is really rather harmless. He looks like someone's grandfather that is ready to head out to the golf course and putter around slowly.
Other search terms are related to poetry: poems about crushes, poems with taste imagery, starting life off right poems, lost friends poems and oddly enough--sonnets about Metallica.
Other ones are just plain weird: frodo's bedroom pictures, cheap crystal vases, fedex search dogs, fools work hard, evil pictures of christina aguilera, bullets or prizing or coworker or waupaca or frank, hilary clinton narcissism, zit pictures, she needs to cut her hair, funny whale pictures, write up on new initiatives in life, disneyland wedding headband, 3 = bm shtr, absinthe taste and smell, bitch offscreen, siren horn company, harvard square = the pit = pictures, what is an exhibitionist, how to write letters of sadness...
Some of them are really disturbing, people searching on: little boy porno, incest brother sister love, defecating urinating slipknot, teacher porno, teen bra pictures, free 1 day trial incest, and christina aguilera in bathroom pics.
There are many people in the world, clearly, who I have no desire to ever get to know...
Posted by crystallyn at 06:44 PM | Comments (5)
June 25, 2003
brazen
One of the women that works part-time for me (she is actually my boss' admin but does a lot of work in marketing with my team) went home for lunch on Monday to let her dog out to do his business. While she was there, she noticed briefly, as she was walking out of the apartment, how odd it was that her bedroom door was shut.
That evening, when she returned home, she realized that she must have scared off the burgler that was in her house when she was home earlier. He had come through an open window and managed to take some of her jewelry, but had left some key pieces behind, so she knew that she had scared him off. Understandably, she was really shaken by it.
Yesterday she comes by my office on her way home to let her dog out and we talked about it. I told her I would be freaked out to go home alone. Of course, we talked about what the chances of him being there again were and how they were buying new locks and alarms anyway.
Turns out when she got home, the chain on the front door was up...the guy was back and clearly inside. He came back for the rest of the jewelry this time. She freaked, ran back down the walkway to the cops who (on both days) were standing idly watching the construction in front of her house (this is a curious New England phenomenon...we pay our cops buttloads of cash in overtime money to stand around like morons at construction sites. 98% of them can't even be bothered to direct traffic when needed to. If a construction or energy company doesn't call the cops to watch, then mysteriously, the next day, their site will be vandalized...then the cops can say, well, if you only had called us to watch...). Sure enough, the cops were pretty useless in this situation. The guy went out the back window he had broken. Since they were Salem cops on detail work, they didn't really have jurisdiction anyway as she lives in Lynn. They didn't catch him (but I guess the construction guys all came and surrounded the house until they figured out the guy wasn't inside) and it took 20 minutes for the Lynn cops to arrive to continue the investigation.
He left items in her house though and random items from other people's houses strewn across her lawn. A neighbor got a look at him but it's a pretty basic description. 6' tall black guy, clean cut with khaki shorts, tennis shoes and a white polo shirt. And black gloves.
He didn't manage to get all the jewelry this time either--she figures she caught him right when he got there.
I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if it were me. I'd be so terrified. I mean, what if he wasn't just a cat burgler and was more violent...a girl coming home, alone? I had a dream a couple weeks ago about that very thing...walking into a building and realizing that I was alone and that the man in the room with me was going to assault me--I woke up in a sweat, my heart pounding.
My aunt leaves the doors to her house unlocked all the time. Granted, she lives in a small town in the middle of nowhere, but it still shocks me. The sad truth of this world is that you just can't trust people anymore.
Posted by crystallyn at 07:16 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
June 23, 2003
blah
testing this silly thing...
Saw Matrix Reloaded this weekend...
Hen party great success...
It's rained every weekend since May 1.
Is it better now?
Posted by crystallyn at 09:04 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 18, 2003
memory
In planning for my upcoming Hen Party, I came across this incredible, wonderful, amazing resource. Reminds me of summer at my grandma's house.
Posted by crystallyn at 08:01 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
SHANNA ROCKS!
She knows why. You are such a gal after my own heart!!!!
THANK YOU hon!
Posted by crystallyn at 06:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 17, 2003
bright eyed and bushy tailed
Joe and I went to MASS MOCA this weekend...
Make sure you click the MORE link to see all the pictures. There are a lot.
I think I did ok in the photo realm!
Window pictures...these are actual photos, none retouched.
Keep going for...
Joe and Steve and Steve and both and Joe...
And other random shots...
And at the Hancock Shaker Village...
Posted by crystallyn at 09:35 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
June 11, 2003
like a good neighbor...
We live in an interesting neighborhood...nice houses on one side of the fence, with projects on the other. Our side of the fence is pretty quiet, the neighbors aren't rambunctious and the majority of the action comes from people walking their dogs, and a few kids playing basketball on the side streets.
On the other side of the fence I'm not really sure what happens, but it's always LOUD. Like the couple screaming and yelling obscenities at each other. Last fall I heard them and I could tell that the woman was being beaten. It was awful. There are so many tiny houses over there though that I have no idea where it was coming from...and the way things are laid out, I didn't have any idea what the street names were. That side of the fence is another town altogehter. I just hoped that someone else called the cops to help her out. I heard them fighting again last week so at least she is still alive. That makes me sad and feeling helpless and I hate that.
But on a less horrible note, we have a trumpet player over there somewhere...but they aren't too obnoxious.
The real excruciating stuff happens on hot hot nights when the bass car stereos get turned on as teens hang out in the street. Or worse, the karaoke machine that some of the pre-teen girls have...turned up to 6 billion decibels with the most horrible horrible voices you can imagine...singing crap like Whitney Houston, and Christina Aguilera (incidentally, the Christina Aguilera that I knew in grade school was one of those kids that used to eat glue).
But the most bizarre is the older woman in the apartment buildings directly behind us that sings, sans music, at the top of her lungs, about whatever happens to fly out of her mouth. Sometimes there are no words, just a grating LALALA LALA LA sort of thing. She has the WORST voice imaginable, but she clearly thinks she's the stuff of American Idol.
Thankfully, we only hear this stuff when we are outside, and only in the summer. It's not so terrible that we hate eating on the balcony...it's more the random observations that there are some really talentless people that live around us...and are quite oblivious to the sad truth of it all.
Posted by crystallyn at 07:27 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 10, 2003
there is a reason
that this site was voted best weird site in this year's Webby Awards...but it's weird in a really fascinating sort of way.
Posted by crystallyn at 08:41 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
June 09, 2003
she speaks!
I admit to being torn...I dislike the woman intensely, but if anything happened to that silly magazine and the site (hell, I even like the show), I will be sad--definitely my guilty secret. But she is speaking out about being charged...oh woe is her.
If she wasn't known to be such an evil bitch offscreen, perhaps she wouldn't be in the situation she is now. People love to watch the mighty fall, especially the self-important ones.
Posted by crystallyn at 06:55 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 08, 2003
not so charming
First off, thanks for all the birthday well-wishes!!!
Today, we went to Joe's brother's to celebrate another birthday, nephew Clement's 3rd birthday. He's growing so fast, talking up a storm. We bought him a dumptruck, a construction hat and a water yo-yo. The yo-yo, the $1.25 toy, was the favorite one, of course.
They had just returned from a three week trip to Italy with Joe's parents...touring Venice, Rome, Milan, Pompeii, Florence and Monte Sant'Angelo, the birthplace of Joe's grandmother. That's a pretty interesting thing, actually, because what it means is that Joe's mom, Rosie, is able to apply for dual citizenship, which means that her kids (and their spouses!) are also able to receive that same citizenship. It is surprising...because including Clement, that's three generations down! It's exciting--it means that if Joe and I ever decide we want to retire to Tuscany, we can! ;-)
I guess we should visit first, however, right?
It turns out my sister-in-law, Boo, is quite the magnet for celebrities in Italy. American ones. She was in a bathroom in Rome on the last night there (about two weeks ago) and ran into Brian Krause, who plays Leo on Charmed. The bathrooms there all have unisex foyers and sinks and the toilets are separated inside, but that means you may be washing your hands with the men after you leave the toilet. She was doing that, and in the process, they discovered they were both from America. She asked if he was having a nice time in Rome and he pathetically began to talk about how his show, Charmed (he mentioned it, she didn't ask) was just renewed and how the people in Venice were all shouting his name in the streets. Boo had no clue what the show was, or who he was, and said it was really uncomfortable...him bragging about it to her in a Roman bathroom.
A few days prior, they were in Milan and Boo was lamenting the living statues, and how she was feeling annoyed with the crazy ways that people try to make money from the tourists. Suddenly, they saw this big transclucent ball coming their way. She started to groan, thinking about yet another crazy method to snag the dollars from the tourists, when she realized that inside the ball was Peter Gabriel!
Apparently it's called the Zorb. They took pictures of it, but the pictures here are from the Peter Gabriel site.
Rosie got me stationery from Italy and they picked up a great book on the Sistine Chapel for Joe. I wish I could go visit. I think I'm going to dig out my learning Italian CDs from the old car, and start learning again...
Ciao!
Posted by crystallyn at 08:24 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 07, 2003
things i wonder...
1. where osama is
2. where saddam is
3. where those silly WOMD are
4. when the rain is going to stop
5. why people still have mullet haircuts (including my brother)
6. how people can drive a stick shift, smoke and talk on their cell phone
7. why Romeo is such a crazy kitty
8. why more people don't appreciate poetry
9. why the best tasting things are always fattening
10. how Joe always knows what time it is
11. when we will ever be able to afford a house
12. why you always find shoes on the side of the road, or in the road
13. if ghosts are real
14. why I'm partial to lists lately...
Posted by crystallyn at 08:54 PM | TrackBack
June 05, 2003
32 ways to today
1. In a pink dress with a little curl.
2. Learned to read via Sesame Street, Electric Company.
3. Climbing up the rails of grandma's stairway, being scolded asking why I do it when I've been told not to... "My heart made me do it."
4. Caught chicken pox weeks before my brother was born. My other grandmother came to stay with us and she wouldn't let me play in the wading pool (hot hot July) because my sister had it--she wouldn't listen to my argument on fairness, in that she got to play in the pool while I was sick.
5. Only kid who could read in kindergarten. The teacher, Mrs. Magnus, used to make me do the storytime so she could get a break. She used me--smart teacher. They took Stephanie, my best friend, out of my class because we fought so much.
6. First grade, favorite student of Mrs. Miner in a brand new school. They moved me to 4th grade reading books right away.
7. Second grade, when I met Joel, who, until I moved to the East coast, was my only knowledge of Jewish kids...he was an oddity. He didn't celebrate Christmas and he could take out his glass eye and show everyone.
8. I fell in love with a little boy named Chris. At the end of the school year, Mt. St. Helens lost her top and we were out of school for 3 weeks and had to wear surgical masks for a good two months so we wouldn't breathe in ash. It was piled up high on the sides of the road like plowed snow.
9. Mrs. Ellis was the worst teacher I ever had. She used to space out in front of class, let us self-grade our SRAs and let us look at the gradebook whenever we wanted. I can't tell you how many F's for not turning in my homework that I drew a line across to change to A's...
10. I went through a phase where I thought no one liked me at all. Self-fulfilling prophecy that was. Straight A's and won every VFW essay contest there was. 4th place in regional spelling bee. I was teased because every year when the lists of words came out, I studied them religiously.
11. I went from no one liking me to being fairly popular, mostly because I was good friends with the popular girl, BJ. I started my period that summer. I skipped the training bra.
12. Marching band--Trumpet..Yes yes, band geek.
Read on for...
13. Played every sport available to me, softball, basketball, volleyball. Still a band geek.
14. Moved to the big junior high school in town. Space Shuttle Columbia blew up. An ex-nun was my geometry teacher. My Duran Duran mania was full-throttle.
15. Moved to Boise, within the space of a month had great new friends, new boyfriend, was popular, all set. Within three months, when it became plain that I wouldn't convert to Mormonism, I lost them all. Joined the school newspaper and became a geek there.
16. Adopted punk-rock, waver, bat-caveism. Best friend is gay. Was at the new high school, editor of the paper (usually reserved for seniors). My father and I stopped talking to each other because I wouldn't tame down my look.
17. Senior, lots of good friends, barely any of whom go to my Mormon high school, editor of paper, AP English, father still not talking to me, my mom a wreck because I'm going away for college. After I graduated, I went back and saw Mrs. Miner, twelve years later. She had a book of her first class--pictures of people that I still knew.
18. First year at college, journalism scholarship, family in shambles because of money and some serious life issues that won't be divulged here. Roommate is gorgeous and looks like a young Kirstie Alley. None of the phone calls are for me. Discovered radio.
19. Switched major from journalism to English. Became Music Director of station, which begins to absorb my life. Free CDs, concerts, backstage passes, what more could you want.
20. Program Director of station. Life consumed by it...met Johnny Rotten, Mick Jones, David Byrne, Michael Stipe, The Posies, Live, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and a bevy of other bands. I loved college.
21. Worked at Virgin Records and at Disneyland. Lived on Newport Beach. Graduated with no fucking clue what I was going to do with my life because being a woman in the record industry was equivalent to being dirt poor. Met my future husband.
22. Married, lived with no money. Had mother-in-law who was, I still believe, evil incarnate. Miserable, unhappy until we moved to Seattle, found some piddly job. Discovered the Internet.
23. Worked for glass and plastic company, then a business telecom firm. Sad, unhappy but didn't know why. Acquired the lover kitty. Main love was being in Seattle.
24. Still working piddly jobs, this time for a mutual company. Separated from husband for six months, but for some reason got back together. He was a really nice guy, what can I say? Moved from Queen Anne to Greenlake area of Seattle.
25. Up and moved to Boston. Life was strange. Was here for 8 months without my husband...I should have told him to stay, but didn't. Job with now defunct software firm, Open Sesame. Began crystallyn.com.
26. Settling in, still at Open Sesame which looked like it was going to be purchased by a company called Bowne. Made fast friends with the rest of the Cubers at that point.
27. Working at Bowne, boss was in Canada, starting to travel for work as I was in charge of all their tradeshows. Boca Raton, Vegas... Still unhappy in my personal life. My sister has her first child, Cameron.
28. Recruited to work at Event Zero. Started with scratch and worked my way into creating the entire department. Finally feel like I have stable friends. Jack is first of cubers to really move away...to New York. Discovered Everquest. Began to spend more and more time online as an escape from how I was going to figure out how to divorce.
29. Pushed out of my job at Event Zero by the new VP (who they fired 3 months later for burning through my $7 million budget frivolously). Divorced in the beginning of the year--he moves back to Spokane. End of the year, met Joe (woohooo!) and went to work for the even more evil boss over at e Maven. Still playing EQ. Misty gives birth to Nicholas.
30. The year of hell. After three months, let go at e Maven and began the year and a half travail of being out of my career. Started temping and consulting to get by. Very depressed, very melancholy. Had neigbors from hell. Landlady raised the rent $300.
31. The year to make up for the year of hell. Landed killer job and was promoted twice in 5 months. Have incredible new apartment. Joe asked me to marry him and six months later, I did--in Vegas. Loverkitty is vocal and happy. My parents finally coming to Boston to visit this year. My new in-laws are AWESOME.
32. We'll see...so far, rain, not traveling like I expected, brand new reddish cherry angioma appeared on my left cheek under my eye. Looks like I cut myself. The sales rep I hate started my day with a shitty email (he's fond of praising you then telling you that it isn't good enough). But to counter that, my oldest Everquest friend, Philip, in Switzerland, sent me a really wonderful uplifting email:
You're not old, get over it. And there is not even a need that I am saying this. You're not old when your bones hurt after two weeks of snowboarding, you're not old when are too tired to go out with friends and rather stay home and have sex or slay some everquest dragons, you're not old when your mom asks you if she is gonna be a granny anytime soon, you're not old while you have your own cool looking webpage and write poetry. I tell you when you are old, you are old when don't like the music your grandson listens to. You're old when you are the only one in town who remembers who Robbie Williams was.
Except that I don't know who Robbie Williams is... ;-) Well, I've heard of him, but what does that mean? I just don't keep up with pop music--it all sounds the same to me. No innovation in music these days, but that's another blog all together.
Otherwise, he's right.
Posted by crystallyn at 06:35 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
June 03, 2003
my brother sending me porno!
So I was checking my email...and as many of you with a personal website know, you end up on email lists that you don't really want to be on--mortgage lists, viagra, breast enhancement, and lots and lots of porno, many with pictures.
Today, I got an email from my brother, Chase, and I soon realized the bizarreness of it...the fact that someone named Chase King would send me an email with the title Insane Orgasms. Then I remembered one vital thing--Chase doesn't have email. I opened it, and thankfully, the pictures weren't showing through. But yep, it was porno.
I promptly called my wonderful mullethead brother (I love him dearly but the boy just needs to cut his hair!) and let him know that incest is DEFINITELY NOT best and I don't appreciate it. He got a kick out of it. I want to visit the site to see who THAT Chase King is, but well, I'm not really fond of popup hell and spyware and all that good stuff. So the delete button gets to take over, on the only email from Chase King that I've ever received.
The funny thing is that I have been playing phone tag with my brother for three months, literally, and I managed to talk to him a mere hour before I received the email (and of course, after when I called him back). What are the chances? It's not like Chase is THAT common a name...
No wait...the pictures show upon reopening my email...two "barely legal" teen girls with stars on the important parts proclaiming FREE 1 DAY TRIAL.
There is just something really wrong about thinking of ANY of my immediate family members doing anything sexual.
I remember at my sister's wedding, Chase brought his then girlfriend who ended up hanging out with the bridesmaids while we were all getting ready. Somewhere in there she decided that I was her new best friend and she proceeded to tell me about all the times she messed around with my brother.
I'm still scarred by that moment...
Posted by crystallyn at 08:10 PM | TrackBack
June 02, 2003
she's coming back!
I called the Salem Visitors center today and the Friendship of Salem apparently attended some event this weekend at a nearby Navy yard. She should be heading back into port around high tide at 2PM.
My view looks so empty without her there!!
Posted by crystallyn at 07:25 PM | TrackBack
link whore
Going to do it up in style...odd places to visit on the web...
Cheese Racing (via Pantaloons)
Singing Horses (via a friend). It's part of this Swedish cartoon site, which of course I can't entirely understand but it looks fun.
iSketch, which looks rather fun but I haven't tried it as of yet...online pictionary, basically, which you play with other people.
Orsinal, which is a site that I've posted before but it's so cute and great entertainment, full of little sweet, well-designed games...I can spend hours here.
Bookcrossing. I'm seriously thinking of getting into this.
My Cat Hates You , on which you won't find my cat, because Romeo is a lover kitty, but this site really cracks me up.
Mullet Junky, on which, sad but true, you could probably find pictures of my brother...
Bizarre American Holidays, which is, apparently, the way we teach our children how to enact laws.
Tick Tock Toys (via Peppermint Tina), where you can experience a serious blast from the past.
And here, ReproDepot, where you can do the same, and get crafty if you want (courtesy of notmartha.com). They make me want to learn how to sew.
Blogshares, which has earned me over $4 million in virtual money, sigh. But it has introduced me to some cool blogs.
I'm as old as this online Sears catalog (link via Scrubbles)--and the worst part is that my parents probably dressed me in some of those clothes...
Posted by crystallyn at 06:49 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack