What did you do today, Jenn?

JennGreenPants
Originally uploaded by Mgan.

Why, I made online dolls dressed up to look like me.... You don't want to know how much fun I had with this [/shame]

And now I'll spend the rest of the afternoon figuring out how to put these pics into my blog.

I think this one looks the most 'right' - from the hair to the outfit. Although, you know, add a little meat to her bones *wink*

These pants represent my favorite pants - that I'm actually wearing today. And the blouse is very much like what I'm buying these days. And anyone who has seen me lately will recognise the red shoes. My beloved red shoes.

So everyone can vote on which they like best!

Wrong hair colour...

JennHairUP
Originally uploaded by Mgan.

Hmmm, so I can blog from Flickr.. but I'm unsure how to make the pics load where I want them. This is me with my hair up and some cute pink shoes.

I wish my hair were this long...

JennJeans
Originally uploaded by Mgan.

And I love the little kitten next to me. So cute. In the animation it has the words "I love you" pop up with hearts around it.

Kinda like Chuck the Cat.

When I actually do my hair...

JennPinkBlouse
Originally uploaded by Mgan.

Well, it can almost look this good. I like the hair up because you can see my pretty earing. But I think the ones with the hair down look closest.

this is all at http://elouai.com/doll-makers/candybar-doll-maker.php

I should use one of these for my profile pic on here.

I've spent waaaay too much time doing this today. God it was fun!

Well that was... something

Gah, I took on two days of work. As it was only two days worth and the person really really needed my help. But long-distance work in different time zones while trying to accomodate somebody else's schedule is hard [/huge understatement]. And in true contract work fashion, you end up feeling like you worked twice as many hours as you actually logged. All those little things of waiting on a file or a call so you aren't working for an hour but you are waiting to work so you don't do anything else.. but don't feel you can really put down that time. Or at another time doing your own email and seeing one for work and going ahead and replying to that email all quick-like and then realising it took half an hour but you didn't really keep track... so you just shrug it off.

But no biggie. I helped out with something and made a bit of cash. But I really don't think I could do something like this again. It is too confusing and difficult to arrange EVERYTHING long-distance. Good thing for me to learn. Unless the work is extremely independent and I've had a chance to meet in person first, get the nitty-gritty down, and then head off to work on my own - this would not be something I want to do. I realised that last night at 12:30am when I finished off the file and sent it away.

Today Jim and I are going to wander downtown (I call everything outside downtown which is confusing as there really is a 'downtown' in nyc which is quite particular). So Jim and I are going to wander over to sixth or something and peer into some shops. Unless it stays as freaken cold as it is right now with the wind and the frozenness. Then we might just wander to the end of the block and buy some food from 'CornerMart' and call it an outing.

Yes, we have CornerMart, YuppieMart, and ChelseaMart. None of which are actually the real names of these places. Sometimes CornerMart is also called ScuzzyMart. We don't buy meat products there [ick]. YuppieMart is wonderful, but a bit pricey and VERY crowded. ChelseaMart is wonderful and amazing.. but a bit of a walk and they don't have the same selection so we end up having to get over to YuppieMart anyhoo to buy certain meat products and tofu and such.

We have a shopping system.

xoxo
jenn

Is Snowy

Is very very snowy. Started yesterday. Poor Jim had to walk home after class as he's doing a course this weekend and they ran late and there was extra to do with people staying at the centre due to the snow and then the snow for walking home. He came in looking a little frozen and popsicled.

And then he headed out this morning with his jacket done up tight and his lunch bag over his shoulder (thus prompting me to tell him to have a good day at school), and the snow was blowing like all get out. It is the damned wind, I tell ya. It actually isn't still snowing but it seems like it is because the wind just keeps blowing the snow off the roofs and stuff so it may as well be snowing.

And the fellow across the street who kept sweeping the front walk all day long (sometimes having trouble moving all the snow with his broom and sometimes turning around when he was done and realising the whole section was totally covered over again and you couldn't see where he had swept) - well his spirit must be broken now.. or maybe his back.. because that one section which was worked on for hours and hours all day yesterday is the one section this morning with snow all over it. The rest of the block is clear.

*doh*

So I've finished my tea and I've tidied the kitchen and I'm in my yoga gear. Figure I'll do my yoga, have my shower, and then try for some thesis work today.

On the workout front, I've managed to combine yoga, cardio, pilates, and the treadmill at the scuzy hotel (for three days) to maintain between four and six sessions a week. Last week I got the six in and that felt pretty good.

I'm not feeling as good about getting in my thesis sessions - but this has been an ongoing battle. To really do work while travelling and visiting and all that. I'll see how it goes this week and hope to get back to a schedule that makes me feel positive about how much I'm doing.

But all in all, I'm working and I'm working out and I'm eating really well (even when at Jim's parents' - which can be hard to do).

Hugs to all,
jenn

Ahh, shopping...

Well I have a laptop. But no laptop bag. Today Jim and I wandered a bit to try and find a bag, but either the store had ... ohhh.. three bags total (and all were positively *meh*), or they had tonnes of bags all costing $356 and upwards, or they were in my price range but unable to get more than ONE of my desired traits at a time.

I'd like some combo of the following (understanding that not all could exist together):

• Padded computer area
• Shoulder strap
• Messenger-bag style fold over flap
• Cute and Girly (or)
• Nifty and Funky
• A computer area - and room in the rest of the bag for a few other things
• Not too massive or "luggage" looking
• Stylish
• Affordable
• Trustworthy to not kill my laptop (ie: durable)

And here are some that I've found so far.

#1Kenneth Cole Messenger Bag. $39.99 Classic. Stylish. Very nice.

http://www.bagsforme.com/cgi-bin/BFMstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=KC-531355

#2 Crumpler. $49.95 So funky. I like all the colours - but am certainly drawn to the greenish grey.. and the dark grey.. and the red. Okay, I'm not keen on the blue.

http://www.bagsforme.com/cgi-bin/BFMstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=CR-MBL

#3 Sumdex. Eep $69.99 (but with free s&h...) Pretty, though. Like a purse!

http://www.bagsforme.com/cgi-bin/BFMstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=SD-NON-905

#4 Sumdex. $67.50 (but a returned one for $45.99) Ohh, like a purse again!

http://www.bagsforme.com/cgi-bin/BFMstore.cgi?user_action=detail&catalogno=SD-NON-903

#5 Black Leather *drool* $61.95 (and also totally moving outside my price range - okay, a few of them do this *doh*)

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?PAGE=PROFRAME&PROD_ID=20021

#6 NEBO Sport Travel Briefcase. $24.49!! And I'd be SportySpice *wink*

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?PAGE=PROFRAME&PROD_ID=1004574

#7 Black nylon shoulder bag. Samsonite. $49.99. Very Cute.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1076961&CatId=38


#8 Pacific Design Messenger Bag. $35.95. Very Organised.
http://www.bagsforme.com/bags/PD-0177

Thoughts? Comments? Links of your own? Other websites to shop?

*wave*

jenn

Err, no. But in other news: yesssss.

Job would have ended up probably running close to full time for about three to four months. Full time. *Ack* That really really wouldn't have worked. And that is a no brainer for me right now. Which is what I like. Too many other things take up my brain.

And for anyone who wants to know waaaay too many details about our dinner last night at Nobu, here ya go *wink*

Ø Aperitif: I had a mango martini, and Jim had a few sips from that.
Ø Wine: Red Burgundy - Santenay - Premier Cru.
Ø Course 1: Tuna (toro) tartar with caviar on top, in a sauce of soy sauce and wasabi, with berry on the side.
Ø Course 2: Four large Oysters in shells, with various seasonings on a bed of thinly sliced lightly seared cucumber in a soy sauce.
Ø Course 3: Four sashimi red snapper (Peruvian style sashimi) each piece with a small leaf of cilantro and a dab of chili paste all on a sauce of lemon, lime, salt and pepper.
Ø Course 4: Sashimi salad: micro greens, radicchio, and extremely young whitefish sashimi, house dressing with scallions in a mixture of various things including rice vinegar and sesami oil.
Ø Course 5: Seared Alaskan cod which had been marinated for three days, with pickled onions, Japanese hot green pepper, unidentified eggplant-like veggie, and seared foie gras.
Ø Course 6: Four thicker slices of rare seared Kobe beef, shiitake mushroom, and asparagus in citrus (with a large slice of lemon) on a hot plate with sizzling oil
Ø Soup: Miso soup with two clams in shell in it
Ø Course 7: Sushi—toro, red snapper (?), trout (looked like salmon?), (greenback?) whitefish, and shrimp.
Ø Dessert 1: Cranberry-grenadine ice/sorbet with gold leaf.
Ø Dessert 2: Chocolate soufflé with chocolate center, mint leaf and white chocolate sauce, and green tea ice cream.
Ø Coffee: Decaf cappuccino


And yes, I am still full.

*bliss*

Working... for money...

This seems to happen every couple of months. A friend just contacted me and asked if I wanted my name put forward for a contract. It would run until about mid April, take a fair bit of time, and need a report to finish it off. There would be a bit of travel (but not much.. but in possibly bad weather and longish distances), and I'd need to get my ass in gear ASAP to be considered.

It is so wonderful that my friend is looking out for me. I really mean that. She thinks of me and knows I've worked in these areas before so I tend to keep my eyes open for contracts (also sometimes called consultant work according to Jim). But I made a choice after coming back to school after surgery. I said I wouldn't work again until my thesis is finished. I"m very close. I would hope that by the middle of April I'd be getting ready for my defense. I'm going to have my rough draft done soon so I think I"m considering this contract because I'm itching for a job and money (that doesn't come from Student Loans with my signature in blood and them circling my house howling at night).

But I really don't think this is the time for me to take a contract. I think I should just cut this short right here and now despite my desire to go further and find out more. As Jim said, what is it that would make this worth my while - and is that a real possibility. (ie: they pay me $150 an hour and say this will only take me three hours a week on the weekends and I can not finish if big thesis stuff suddenly comes up that needs my attention... and while we're at it: a new car.)

Yeah.

So I guess I"ve decided and I need to remember that jobs and contracts come across my path every few months - and will be even more when I put the word out that I've finished my Masters and I'm looking to work my ass off.... I just wish I didn't go through this emotional rollercoaster each time I stumble across one.

Big *sigh*

DVD Ponderings

I've rented Big Fish.

We started watching it and Jim fell alseep. I noticed this when he was snoring. He was tired anyways, so it was not necessarily about the movie. We stopped watching and he took a nap and I did some other things and that was two days ago.

We've since watched two other movies - both times giving a bit of a *meh* about putting Big Fish back on... it isn't BAD or anything, it just didn't grab either of us. And really, given that one of the two movies we watched was the extended Return of the King - it was like we watched three movies since then.

But the Big Fish is not being watched, so it seems. And now I'm having netflix pressure and thinking I might just send it off without watching the rest. I've set this weekend as the deadline. Thing is, with netflix you can just keep the movies for as long as you want but that means it is taking up a spot of something I might actually seem to want to watch.

But I seem to have this feeling that movies need to be watched. And a real feeling that once a movie is started - unless really horrid - they should be finished.

Anyone wanna weigh in one way or the other on this?

Getting On Track in NYC

I worked on the ol thesis yesterday. I've been in NYC for, what? about a week?

*thinks*

Yeah, I arrived here last wednesday (aka the longest day in the world as it blended with tuesday). Pretty much just slept on wednesday. Then went to friends' on friday for New Years and returned to the city on sat night. I've had a very very nice stay so far, and had already decided that tuesday would be my time to return to 'work.' I also got back into working out on Sunday and have put in three workouts so far. I'm not going to a gym here or anything as the prices are through tht roof! I've worked out a space for myself in the living room (I make Jim hide) and I just do about 25min of cardio aerobics-style, about 10-15 min of weights, some pilates, and some yoga. All in all, I get my heart-rate up and break a sweat, tone, and stretch. Seems to work out just fine.

The thesis is only re-opened so it seems very fresh and new. Lots of good ideas and I'm trying to focus on what I want to work on rather than making a long list of what all needs to be done. We'll see how that goes for a bit.

And with all that I kinda feel like I'm getting a bit of a schedule set up here. Working out 4-5 times a week, scheduling in thesis work, and then going for walks and wanders around the city with Jim in the afternoons. We've been having wonderful meals here and I've managed to twist his rubber arm into sushi dinners twice so far. I'm really trying to hold back and not ask if we could have sushi EVERY night.

*sigh* Oh sushi, how I love you.

But I also love Jim's cooking and he's made us amazing meals every other night. As he put it, we're eating like Vegans - with meat. *laugh* But it is just that we eat tonnes of fruits and veggies, whole grains, legumes, low dairy, min fat or salt, no white sugar, fresh produce, no processed foods. You get the picture. It has been wonderful and I'm really enjoying having him cook for me.

The weather has been really quite mild and I'm glad I got that new bunny jacket on boxing day (not real bunny or anything). My PG parka would have been too much for right now, but I need more than my sweaters. Although it has been raining a bit for the past few days, and we've not gotten down to the river but hope to in the next little while.

All in all, the visit is lovely and I'm feeling rather positive about getting back to work and being here.

XoXo
jenn