Circadian Shift

As you'll note from the date on this entry compared to the previous entry, it's obviously been a lot longer than "a month or two" since I stopped blogging.

I'm still not ready to come back and resurrect the 'Shift, yet I'm not ready to declare it dead either.

Meanwhile, I recently started taking some baby steps back into blogging life by setting up a Twitter account, which you can find at http://twitter.com/jenvetterli/.

I've also been posting a lot of pictures on Flickr, which you can find http://flickr.com/photos/jenvetterli/. Most of them aren't particularly interesting, but you never know...

Anyway, to the 1.7 people who keep checking here on a semi-regular basis, thanks for remembering me.

Cheers,
Jen V.

P.S. Sorry, but I'm going to keep all the comments closed. There still seem to be way too many spam-bots out there.

P.P.S. Wow, things look different. Obviously I inherited some new blog templates. (Thank you to webmaster GAK for continuing to host my poor orphan baby on your server.)

P.P.P.S. Managed to restore some semblance of the old colour-scheme back, thanks to the Movable Type Style Generator. However much of the sidebar content (with all the "About Me / About This Blog" info) is gone, and while I do have backups of my old templates, I won't bother to restore it.

For the purposes of providing a simple contact link, I can be reached via jenATjenvetterliDOTcom. However, to be honest, I really suck at responding to email; please adjust your expectations accordingly.

I need a break.

This blog is going to sleep for a while. Not forever, I don't think. But for a month or two, maybe even for the summer. No mood boards, no links, no nothing.

I'm also going to try and cut down on visiting other blogs (particularly music blogs, which seem to suck up energy with all the downloading, organizing, etc., and I don't have to time to listen to half of it anyway) and general web-surfing stupidity.

I have other things to attend to which I have negelected for far too long.

Nighty-night.

(Pic is courtesy of Mayang's Free Textures.)

Addendum 05 June 2006: I'm still doing drawings at work, so my Workplace doodles Flickr set will continue to be updated.

Spring is here, which means that the weather is getting warmer. Notice that I didn't say "hot", but "warmer".

As Graig notes regarding the temperature at his office:

"It's frickin 15 degrees outside and May... why do we need air conditioning?"

Meanwhile, here's a sample conversation that took place at my office earlier this week:

Coworker 1: "It's so hot in here. Can't we turn the air conditioning on?"

Coworker 2: "F------, why don't you try taking your sweater off first?"

(Said coworker did have another shirt on under the sweater.)

Meanwhile, I'm sitting at my desk wearing a heavy polar-fleece jacket.

It's going to be a long spring/summer...

Today's code phrase is: "Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot."

I really need one of these mugs:

Meanwhile, fans of the CBC radio show Definitely Not The Opera will recognize this track:

• Bentley Rhythm Ace - "Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out"

Fun, fun, fun...

Hmmm, now having vented my spleen quite fully over the spamming antics of Mike Furir (apologies for the excessive profanity -- I've been overdue for a good spleen-vent), I got to thinking about last summer's blogosphere debacle with Quick Boys Moving and Storage.

Sure enough, a Google search on "Quick Boys Movers" still puts Accordion Guy's and Boing Boing's posts ahead of the Quick Boys site itself on the results list.

Interestingly, I started noticing several weeks ago that Quick Boys started advertising on HaloScan, who provide free commenting and trackback services for bloggers. I wonder how that's working out for them.

Some asshole named Mike Furir has been posting comment spam here on le blog for the last few days. Thankfully, the comment filters installed by my lovely and talented blog-host Mr. GAK have ensured that said spam finds its way to the junk bin and does not besmirch your eyes, my dear readers. (All six of you.)

A quick Google confirmed that I'm not the only one getting hit by this shitsmear named Mike Furir. (Hey, that rhymed.) Here are a few other posts on the topic:

• Quixtar Blog: Die Mike Furir
• Jake Ludington: Mike Furir Sucks
• Miss Zoot: I'll join the ranks in wanting Mr. Mike Furir to Die a slow, painful, and hopefully humiliating death.
• It's a Soul Thing: Sock it to me baby!

So, Mike Furir, how's your Google-juice now, ya stupid moron?

The holiday season means that a lot of people do all sorts of baking. However, it is wise to avoid leaving all those sweet goodies unattended.

Especially when there are bunnies around.

(Pic found at Cute Overload, a blog which lives up to its name pretty well. Link to Cute Overload found via tripledoubleyou.com.)

Behold the cuteness of the bunnies. You are powerless against it.

(pic found here)

Sunday may be summarized thusly:

Ow.

I even missed brunch (sorry, N).

Mr. Marc Weissblott provides this most erudite re-cap of my evening:

Circadian Shift blogger Jen expressed her enthusiasm for the concept with a bottle of Glenfiddich single malt scotch whisky, left undrunk for eight years. Based on her sequence of entries, Jen spent the night contemplating the contents of her dusty bar cart, lost control of her noun usage and faculties for writing code, then was drained all motivation before midnight.

Well, good, I'm glad to see that me making a jackass of myself didn't go completely unnoticed.

I obviously failed to anticipate how much effect drinking a Glenfiddich of unknown potency and in unknown quantity (out of an oversized coffee mug -- not the full mug, but filled partially, then refilled partially) would have.

So, I can now safely cross NaDruWriNi off my list of "Stupid Things to Do That May Seem Like Good Ideas at the Time".

Of some of the other NaDruWriNi participants:

• Stennie: "I told you it was going to happen. I fell asleep... I think my first experience at NaDruWriNi is a failure. I think I need to participate in a team next year, or not at all."
• BrockLi went dumpster-diving
• Miss Hannah: "Listen to me.....DRINK WATER. Between every drink! For serious! You'll thank me!!" (Damn, wish I read that sooner.)
• Ed posts a re-cap of his recent dating history and ponders a crack in the ceiling
• girl in black: "yeah, this was a fucking mistake. you live, you learn."

(Additional fun-filled linkage available via Technorati and del.icio.us)

Sorry. I'm done. Am going to bed now.

Signing off from NaDruWriNi 2005. G'night.

The problem with taking inventory or one's liquor cabinet is that now said bottles are now scattered all over one's desk and one's bed's, which means that going to lie down now is most inconvenient.

There's a fine line between having one's ethanol consumption function as a way to unblock the ol' synapses, thereby allowing one to write whatever one damn well pleases, and having said consumption drain one of all ambtion to write altogether.

My friends, I am teetering on that line right now.

Even almost started putting together a post on fave brunching places in Toronto (since am meeting "N" for brunch tomorrow morning, thereby must be coherent and presentable enough to drag myself to said brunch), but now don't feel like it.

BTW, must compliment Ms. Ice Queen on her verbose stream of consciousness NaDruWriNi post.

BTW, writing HTML in addition to your own own stream-of-consciousness ethanol-fueled ramblings is hard. Remember, kids: don't drink and code.

Y'know, have noticed that, in responding to comments from other NaDruWriNi 2005 participants, I seem to have dropped usage of nouns.

V. Bridget Jones of me.

Y'know, as long as I'm sitting here participating in some lame-ass blogging meme that everyone seems to like in theory, but doesn't seem to actually follow through on, now is just as good a time as any to share to following bitchy mean-spirited links that seem to bring out the worst in people (just like BWI):

• GoFugYourself -- dissing the bad fashion choices of the rich and famous since, uh, a few months ago
• Threadbared -- sewing patterns (or at least their covers) are funny; really
• AwfulPlasticSurgery -- when the quest for beauty takes a detour into hell

Admit it -- they're funny. You know they're funny.

Awright, where the hell is everyone?

While the blogosphere seems to not lack for people who have expressed interest in NaDruWriNi 2005, clicking around thus far, I'm not seeing too much evidence of people actually proceeding with it.

And what about the crowd here in T-dot? Ice Queen? Eva? Maria? You mean I'm doing this all by myself???

Perhaps it is still early yet. Am very disappointed.

(Bloggers who do appear to be playing along include Stennieville, BrockLi, and SciFi Ranter Girl.)

As mentioned in the previous post, I have several unopened bottles of liquor that have been sitting around for a number of years, including a bottle of Glenfiddich that I bought when I turned 30.

Well, this past September, I celebrated birthday number 38, which means that the poor Glenfiddich has been sitting there for eight years. Which just seems very, very wrong.

I am now actually drinking the stuff (so if I turn up dead tomorrow, you all will know why), which leads to the question: How does it taste?

Maybe I'm just out of practice with my scotch drinking, but it damn near took my head off at the first sip. It stills seems very strong now, but it otherwise apparently potable.

Will continue web-surfing and drinking, wherein NaDruWriNi 2005 will continue. Stay tuned.

There was a time and a place in my life when I actually prided myself on having a well-stocked liquor cabinet. There always seemed to be friends dropping by, and I had a nice big place to myself (was residing in a condo owned by my parents), so it seemed like a cool thing to do.

In fact, when I first moved out of the condo into my first apartment in The Annex (spacious two-bedroom digs that I shared with a friend from school), I bought two microwave carts from IKEA: once of which was actually used to hold a microwave, while the other became a dedicated bar cart.

Now I am esconced, and have been for some time, here in The Hovel. The "bar cart" is still here, but hasn't been opened since (I think) Bill Clinton was still in the White House -- until tonight:

Here's what I found in the liquor cabinet:

• Unopened bottles:
  • Glenfiddich single malt scotch whisky (750 mL) -- I remember when I bought this; it was shortly after I turned 30; the bottle came with a 'bonus' Glenfiddich bar towel, which has long since disappeared
  • Absolut vodka (375 mL) -- the blue lettering on the label seems a bit faded, but otherwise things look perfectly intact
  • Cuervo Expecial tequila (375 mL) -- I think this was a 30th birthday present from my coworkers, most of whom did not witness the time a couple years previously that I got very very damaged on tequila during a Friday night bar outing with other coworkers from the same company, otherwise they would probably have picked something else (I hope)
  • Kahlua "Licor de Cafe" (200 mL) -- unknown vintage
• Open bottles, partially consumed:
  • Bacardi amber rum (750 mL) -- level only about an inch down from the top; if I had to take a guess, I probably bought this around Xmas to mix with eggnog
  • Martini extra dry vermouth (500 mL) -- level two inches down from the top; I used to sometimes bring my own cocktail shaker with me to social gatherings and mix martinis for everyone there
• Bottles with a few dregs in them (one inch or less left in the bottle):
  • Campari (750 mL) -- probably a late-90s nostalgic throwback to my late-80s/early-90s evil Yuppie wannabe phase, when I drank a lot of the stuff
  • Cinzano vermouth (1 L) -- no doubt a leftover from the aforementioned martini-girl phase
  • Ricardo coconut rum (750 mL) -- was probably making pina coladas
  • O'Darby Irish Cream (375 mL) -- for hot chocolate or coffee
• Unopened wine bottles:
  • Codorniu Classico Brut sparkling white wine (750 mL) -- this possibly could have been a pre-New Year's Eve purchase, but I can't for the life of me think when
  • Inniskillin Chardonnay (1993) (750 mL) -- a gift maybe?
  • Valpollicella -- the lack of other information on the label would lead me to believe that this was made by a friend

And you may ask yourself, "How did I get here?"

NaDruWriNi (National Drunken Writing Night) is the perfect event for those of us who lack the ambition to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). As I am home alone this evening, I figured I might as well go for it.

The evening's choice of intoxicant will be Glenfiddich

Stay tuned.

The thanks (or blame) for this event crossing my radar may be ascribed to Eva.

So, this is how much my blog is worth:

My blog is worth $27,097.92.
How much is your blog worth?

Guess I won't be retiring anytime soon.

(Found this widget via maximum verbosity.)

BTW, welcome back, bob.

Here's a handy tip: outdated project plans (printed on 11x17 paper) make excellent placemats if you want to each lunch at your desk.

Then again, maybe it would be better if you went out for lunch.

Random things in my head and elsewhere:

• There's still two weeks left in October, and I'm already chomping at the bit for the new month so that I can get my mitts on another 40 MP3s from eMusic. I've even organized my wishlist in an Excel spreadsheet so that I can sort my picks by artist or by track count with a few clicks of the mouse. (That's either incredibly obsessed or incredibly geeky.)
• Theme song of the day is "Seether" by Veruca Salt. I have an MP3 copy squirrelled away on DVD or CD backup somewhere, but I'm tempted to just buy the track from iTunes for some instant gratification. (Addendum: Yep, I bought it. Goodbye $0.99. Guess I'll just skip the morning coffee at Tim Horton's tomorrow.)
• Speaking of iTunes, they have a "Just For You" recommendation engine currently in beta. It recommends a bunch of albums (and songs) based on what you've bought from them in the past, and you can tell the engine "Don't Like It" or "Already Own It" in response to the album suggestions (which is a pretty sneaky/smart way of doing market research, if you ask me). But why, after I repeatedly keep telling it that I'm not interested in albums by Jay-Z, does it keep pushing different releases by him on me?

Lastly, this cartoon by toothpastefordinner is so true:

In absence of any other inspiration, here are some funny lists from McSweeney's that I like:

• Thirteen Leading Synonyms for "Deliverables" in 2005
• Action Verbs to Use Sparingly on Resumes
• Words and Phrases I Use at Work, But Seldom Use at Home
• Frequently Asked Questions at the Office

As you may or may not have noticed, things here at the Shift have been on hiatus for the last week.

My hosts at sauna.org, including the lovely and talented Mr. GAK, have been hard at work, moving the server to a new location, installing some spiffy new upgrades, etc., etc.

So, things should be progressing much more smoothly from hereon in.

Thanks to all concerned for keeping this little enterprise of mine going.

As most of us know, blogging from work is supposed to be bad. However, I presently feel no guilt in doing so, because:

1. It's Saturday.
2. I'm eating lunch (leftover pad thai from last night) right now.

Just wanted to share a pic found on this page, via the toothpastefordinner mailing list.

There's really nothing I can add to that.

Addendum 23 August 2005: There are more moneymaking signs here.

As you can see from the post below, there's something new going on here...

I finally set things up so that my del.icio.us links will show up as part of the regular blog -- there'll be a new blog entry just after midnight that rounds up whatever links I posted to del.icio.us the previous day.

Meanwhile, I'll leave the Spurl feed at the bottom of the home page for a bit longer, as there's some relatively recent stuff there that maybe not everyone's seen yet.

Thanks go to Lee Lefever at Common Craft for this article on How to Post Daily Del.icio.us Links to Your Movable Type Blog that made it all so super-easy.

It was three years ago today that I typed these words into a newly set up account at Blogspot:

I've been meaning for ages to set up a blog. It's finally here.

I'm an information junkie, meaning that I read a lot (or at least I try to). I also like a lot of different music and the occasional film. So I thought I'd set something up to record what I've been reading, watching, or listening to. Something like that.

At the time I wrote that, I was unemployed, taking classes, and staying up very, very, very late (hence the blog name Circadian Shift). These days, I am... uh... unemployed and taking classes (but at least not staying up so late), and blogging about stuff that I've been reading, watching, or listening to.

Obviously, a lot of stuff has happened in between then and now -- both with life and with the blog -- but it's kind of funny how some things have come full circle.

Anyway, thanks to those of you who have stuck around.

Lots of new links going up over the last few days under Drive-by Linking.

Tim Horton's "Roll Up the Rim to Win" contest is still going on, and I've done pretty well recently. Yesterday I won a donut, and today I won a cookie.

However, in my eagerness to snip the winning piece out of today's cup, I failed to check that it was completely drained of coffee first. Sure enough, as soon as I tipped the cup on its side, cold brown liquid came running out, and all over my nice clean shirt. Argh.

That better be one damn good cookie.

Between doing the jobhunt thing, taking classes, and downloading MP3s left, right and centre, I haven't seemed to find much time to blog stuff. Sadly, the other blog has been neglected too.

A couple silly, unrelated tidbits...

Eva has really been into the latest Tim Horton's "Roll Up the Rim to Win" campaign and has even analyzed her success rates. I've bought at least a dozen cups of coffee from them since the campaign started (Tim's is presently the nearest caffeine purveyor in the vicinity of The Hovel) and haven't won squat.

Not to mention that rolling up those damn rims is bloody hard to do, making it all the more frustrating when your efforts turn up bupkiss. Fortunately, I've discovered a way to expedite the rolling-up process:

Yep, tear into that sucker with a pair of flatnose pliers, and your coffee-cup rim will be in the rolled-up position in no time flat. Remember: you read it here first.

I also wound up taking a couple online personality quizzes, thanks to maximum verbosity. For example, here's what kind of multi-side die I am:

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Somehow, I don't think I can incorporate that into the ol' resume.

The sad state of affairs 'round here of late has been that when I find myself stressing over whether to update this blog or the other blog, I end up doing neither...

Fortunately, there are always plenty of other bloggers busily tappity-tapping away at their keyboards. Fer'intstance:

• Bob bemoans the idiocy of CanCon rules for television, for example:

  "One independent producer was told that Captive, her documentary for Vision TV on Esther Wheelwright -- the Ursuline nun who buried General Montcalm after the 1759 Plains of Abraham battle -- did not qualify because 'this is about history before there was a Canada.'"

• Brett is trying to get people dates through his blog
• Brett's dad shares a sampling of real answers received on exams given by the California Department of Transportation's driving school, including this one:

  Q: Who has the right of way when four cars approach a four-way stop at the same time?
  A: The pick up truck with the gun rack and the bumper sticker saying, "Guns don't kill people. I do."

• Joey notes that Canada's flag is 40 years old
• over on the GTA Bloggers site, Rannie posts this very cool hypothetical Toronto subway map of the future -- if only....

I don't eat a lot of Filipino food, but one of my favourite dishes is chicken adobo. Especially my mom's. Mmm, mmm.

So imagine my surprise to find, over at Adventures in Downtown Toronto, that Maria prepares a nice Mexican dinner that happens to include chicken adobo.

Mexican chicken adobo? Made with prepackaged "Adobo" sauce and served with refried beans and red rice? Indeed.

(We probably have some sort of Spanish colonial legacy to thank for the appearance of adobo in both Mexican and Filipino cuisine...)

Not to knock Maria's dish (obviously I haven't tried it), but here be a recipe for Filipino chicken adobo. Perhaps a wee adobo showdown is in order :)

Maria also runs another blog called Garlicster, which has plenty of recipes and links for any garlic fan. Mmm, garlic...

At long last, Brett has his Dufferin Mall Experience pictorial online.

The other DuffXers, Maria, Jamie, Eva, and Dave, have also weighed in with commentary and pics.

Ah, memories...

Today was the day that I attended the second biennial Dufferin Mall Experience, with Brett, Eva, Maria, Dave, and Jamie, plus various dimunitive plastic and plush companions. There was much fun and hijinks (Toys 'r' Us! Dollarama! Churritos!) to be had by all.

Brett's preliminary writeup and pics are here; however, he won't have the main pictorial up for a few days.

In the meantime you can amuse yourself by viewing a few shots (some very blurry) that I made with the keychain cam.

When eating a meatball sub while wearing a freshly laundered cream-coloured shirt, you really should pay attention to what you are doing.

More laundry required.

• cartoons from toothpastefordinner, specifically this one and this one
• this handy guide to workplace communication skills (Flash, needs sound)
• and lastly, this edict that Great Britain has revoked U.S. independence, which in fact did not merely make me smile, but laugh/chortle/giggle non-stop for five minutes or so