life

I would suck at Fear Factor

Blog kitt decided around 23:42 on 22 October 2004 to publish this:

I would so suck at Fear Factor.

This evening, when changing loads of laundry, I looked into the empty washing machine bin, as I am wont to do, and noticed a small black object at the bottom of the tub. Since the light is broken in the garage (yeah, yeah, just added it to my list of things to do), I couldn't see it clearly, and reached down to pick it up. As I was reaching, my though was, "This is either a piece of wood from the garden mulch, or a bug."

It was a beetle / june bug / thingy from the garden that's really gross.

I screeched and threw it aside (to a known spot so that I could actually throw the thing away later). Kris concernedly called out, "Are you okay?!" over my screeching. Yes, yes.

I just picked up a bug with my own hands.

A very, very clean bug. Ick.

Moments like these

Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 20:31 on 19 October 2004

Emails like this one will often make my day: 

Date:    Tue, 19 Oct 2004 20:40:30 -0600
From:  	 Sandie Hammerly 
To:  	 kitt.hodsden
Subject: Thank you...

That's it -- just thank you for all you are doing....

It made today.

The Incredibles

Blog kitt decided around 23:06 on 16 October 2004 to publish this:

The Incredibles Logo Kris and I went to Pixar to see The Incredibles with Christian, Lauren, Bobby and Ameeta. Christian and Lauren work at Pixar. Christian worked on The Incredibles specifically (2 credits!). Lauren is working on the next movie, Cars, which is due out next year.

I liked the movie a lot. Kris and I talked about it as we were driving home. We both agree that Pixar continues to make movies with a story, and that's what differentiates the movies from other CG films.

I have yet to see Shrek 2. I should see that sooner than later. Maybe on DVD.

After talking to Lauren before the movie, I really miss the movie industry. It might be time to head back.

Update: Kris commented, "You hated the movie industry." He's right, I did. But it was pretty cool to make pretty pictures. If you ignore the long hours, the politics, the crappy pay and the insane deadlines, it was a good job.

In another life, we'd be friends

Blog kitt decided around 14:52 on 17 September 2004 to publish this:

On my journey to mom's house for the weekend (a girlie weekend! Whoo!), I flew out of San Jose to Phoenix on Southwest. Kris hates them, I like the free trips. Go fig.

At any airport, there are little things that happen that, well, shouldn't annoy me, but so often do. On most trips even.

As I was walking to the security line, another passenger was walking in front of me towards the line entrance. Usually, I'll just cut under the rope, as the distance to walk is shorter. This time, however, since there was another passenger in front of me walking to the entrance, I would be jumping in front of him by cutting under the rope. So I walked around. Turns out, the passenger I would have been cutting in front of wasn't going to the security line, but I had no way of knowing that.

So, into the line I started walking. From the entrance to the end of the line is all of maybe 10 yards. When I was about five yards from the end of the line, two people cut under the rope and step in front of me. Great.

Another I can comment, but not condemn sort of situations. Here they are doing something I do all the time, but not being any where near as courteous about it. Grrrrrrr....

Fine.

I can be an adult about this.

So, I wander through the security gates. (And didn't get searched! Holy Jesus how I've been blessed! I didn't get searched! A record of one time for me now!)

Did you know you have to present your boarding pass to exit the security gates now? Yes, that's right. Present your pass to enter the checkpoint. Present your pass to be scanned through the metal detector. And present your pass to leave. I'm so glad we don't live in an occupied militaristic society. How unfortunate that would be that you would have to present your papers to travel.

Off to gate A5 and into the A line. Southwest has this really nice "print your boarding pass from home at midnight" feature, so I had already "checked-in" to my flight. Thank goodness, as I arrived at the airport at 11:00 am for my 11:35 flight!

As I'm waiting at the end of the A line, after talking to various people about which line was the correct one, and discovering several B-group passengers were deliberately standing in the A-group line so that they could move to the front (clever they, one of them called me Canadien), I set my stuff down at the end of the A line.

A few minutes later, a women came up, asked the people in front of me which line was the A line, and plunked her crap down in front of me.

What the?

The back of the line is after all the other passengers, not just the ones you talk to.

As my usual vindictive self, when the A line was moving and crowded funny (because the B-group people in the A line stopped moving forward because they weren't in the A boarding group), I walked around the crowd and cut back in front of the line-cutting woman.

The tragic part, I think, is that she was someone who I would normally approach and start a conversation with. She was about a decade older than me, but seemed easy going and approachable. shrug

My favorite part of the journey? The kid kicking my chair in flight. Let me tell you how joyous the thump, thump, thump of little feet is on the back of an airline seat can be.

Thump, thump, thump

One of THEM.

Blog Instead of being asleep at 21:53 on 9 September 2004, kitt created this:

I became one of them today, without trying much. I became one of those women walking along the street towing dog with one arm and kid with the other. The type of women that single women give the wide berth, new mothers smile at in comradery and mothers with older kids gaze adoringly at the young child with you.

And all I had to do was take Liza for a walk around the block to receive all this attention.

Mike needed someone to distract Liza and Rozzi while his old house was being shown to prospective renters. Since Kate is out of town, he asked if I could take Liza for a walk. Sure thing. Especially since Liza smiled so brightly at me yesterday!

We definitely had issues at one point. We had stopped at the Buffington House, a historical landmark showing the type of houses that lined Lincoln before the shopping district took over. Liza was playing in the grass, when a creepy fellow came up and started talking to me, asking me what the house was and why it was there. I say creepy, and I mean creepy. He kept eying Liza, and had actually circled back around to talk to us, after passing us a while before. I was a bit nervous, but ready to beat the crap out of him if he so much as took a step towards Liza.

At one point, Liza decided to lie down and drink the milkshake we were sharing. Being used to her sippy cups, she didn't realize what would happen, and spilled most of the remaining shake down her front. I cleaned it up quickly, but was unable to suppress my humour. Poor Liza held her shirt up for half the way back home, to keep the chocolate off her tummy. It was cute.

Drivin', drivin', drivin'... or not.

Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 00:25 on 6 September 2004

My trip to Indiana has been cancelled. That would be my "invited on Tuesday, tried to leave on Friday, and again on Saturday, discovered Dad's bike didn't run on Sunday, decide against it at 9:00 on Sunday night" road trip to Indiana.

The original plan was to get all my work done by Friday (no small feat: with work for the UPA, GCP, Mike and Greg), drive down to L.A. on Saturday, drive to Phoenix on Sunday, and be ready to drive to Indiana on Monday. Dad was going to drive his bike from Flagstaff to Indiana, and I was going to drive my car behind him.

There were various permutations on this theme (drive Kris' car, take Bella with me, leave on Friday, etc.). The latest variation was drive to Salt Lake City and meet Dad, who would drive up from Flagstaff. A hard day for me, a better day for Dad. The detour added an extra day and 300 miles to Dad's trip home.

Well, Dad spent the better part of today working on the bike, cleaning out the carberators. When he talked to Linda, she wanted him home by Wednesday, as she covers for him and needed his help. She suggested he sell the bike, and just fly home.
When I called, I suggested the same.

We talked a while, and the end result was Dad bought a ticket to fly home on Tuesday. He suggested I drive to Flagstaff and the two of us would drive back to Indiana together. I was so tempted, but the drive is 750 miles to pick him up, then another 1670 miles to Indiana. Dad was a little surprised at that number. He thought the distance was 1000 to 1100 miles. Not by car. So, for my health, we decided he'd fly.

I'm sad I'm not going to spend a week with Dad. But we'll fix that by my visiting for a week soon. I'm looking forward to the trip. I'm also a bit relieved: my hamstring and ribs could not handle 36 hours of driving in 3 days. I'd be popping Advil like candy, wishing I'd brought the codeine.

BOT ordered

Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 10:54 on 2 September 2004 
Books on Tape, Inc. - Customer Order History
To order visit: www.booksontape.com

Kitt Hodsden
Total Books Ordered: 84  (Current as of September 1, 2004)

Date	Book # 	Title	Author	Reader
Deleted From Catalog
08/18/1997	3059	All Around the Town	Clark, Mary Higgins	Peiffer, Mary
11/26/1997	3105	The Anastasia Syndrome and Other Stories	Clark, Mary Higgins	Peiffer, Mary
09/11/1997	3368	I'll Be Seeing You	Clark, Mary Higgins	Peiffer, Mary
07/11/1997	3861	Let Me Call You Sweetheart	Clark, Mary Higgins	Peiffer, Mary
08/14/1999	2874	Loves Music, Loves To Dance	Clark, Mary Higgins	Peters, Donada
10/13/1997	4395	Pretend You Don't See Her	Clark, Mary Higgins	Peiffer, Mary
08/11/1997	3173	A Stranger Is Watching	Clark, Mary Higgins	Peiffer, Mary
03/19/1999	4687	You Belong To Me	Clark, Mary Higgins	Peiffer, Mary
05/07/1998	3900	From Potter's Field	Cornwell, Patricia	Peters, Donada
10/30/2001	4323-CD	Unnatural Exposure	Cornwell, Patricia	Reading, Kate
02/16/2000	5082	"O" Is For Outlaw	Grafton, Sue	Kaye, Judy
Biography
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06/30/2004	6392-CD	Alexander Hamilton	Chernow, Ron	Brick, Scott
Fiction
 	[ BACK TO TOP ]
06/30/2004	5652-CD	The Hades Factor	Ludlum, Robert	Prichard, Michael
07/14/2004	5933-CD	The Paris Option	Ludlum, Robert	Prichard, Michael
12/15/2003	3857-A	Atlas Shrugged	Rand, Ayn	Reading, Kate
12/15/2003	3857-B	Atlas Shrugged	Rand, Ayn	Reading, Kate
12/15/2003	3857-C	Atlas Shrugged	Rand, Ayn	Reading, Kate
12/15/2003	3709-A	The Fountainhead	Rand, Ayn	Reading, Kate
12/15/2003	3709-B	The Fountainhead	Rand, Ayn	Reading, Kate
Mystery
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12/10/1997	3101	A World the Color of Salt	Ayres, Noreen	Peiffer, Mary
02/20/1998	3029	All That Remains	Cornwell, Patricia	Peters, Donada
03/08/2000	4988	Black Notice	Cornwell, Patricia	Reading, Kate
11/24/2003	6259-CD	Blow Fly	Cornwell, Patricia	Reading, Kate
02/06/1998	2818	Body of Evidence	Cornwell, Patricia	Peters, Donada
10/30/2001	2818-CD	Body of Evidence	Cornwell, Patricia	Peters, Donada
04/23/1998	3273	Cruel and Unusual	Cornwell, Patricia	Peters, Donada
05/21/1998	4264	Hornet's Nest	Cornwell, Patricia	Reading, Kate
06/26/2001	5445	The Last Precinct	Cornwell, Patricia	Reading, Kate
10/30/2001	5445-CD	The Last Precinct	Cornwell, Patricia	Reading, Kate
02/26/1999	4674	Point of Origin	Cornwell, Patricia	Reading, Kate
01/23/1998	2879	Postmortem	Cornwell, Patricia	Peters, Donada
06/21/1999	4892	Southern Cross	Cornwell, Patricia	Reading, Kate
10/30/2001	5406-CD	Red, White and Blue Murder	Dams, Jeanne M.	Reading, Kate
07/17/2001	5255	Perilous Friends	Epstein, Carole	Reading, Kate
05/16/2001	5005	Death at the Crossroads	Furutani, Dale	Marosz, Jonathan
05/31/2000	3364	A Great Deliverance	George, Elizabeth	Peters, Donada
05/31/2000	3285	Missing Joseph	George, Elizabeth	Peters, Donada
05/31/2000	3376	Payment in Blood	George, Elizabeth	Peters, Donada
07/11/1997	4322	"M" Is For Malice	Grafton, Sue	Peiffer, Mary
07/21/1998	4645	"N" Is For Noose	Grafton, Sue	Peiffer, Mary
11/24/2003	5653-CD	"P" Is For Peril	Grafton, Sue	Kaye, Judy
11/24/2003	5987-CD	"Q" Is For Quarry	Grafton, Sue	Kaye, Judy
12/01/2003	5891	April Fool Dead	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
12/19/2000	4101	The Christie Caper	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
05/22/2000	4557	Dead Man's Island	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
11/28/2000	4053	Deadly Valentine	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
09/05/2000	4670	Death In Lovers' Lane	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
05/15/2001	4762	Death in Paradise	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
03/29/2000	5185	Death on Demand	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
09/26/2000	5044	Death on the River Walk	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
05/08/2000	4902	Design For Murder	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
12/01/2003	6140	Engaged to Die	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
05/31/2000	5219	Honeymoon with Murder	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
12/08/2003	6286	Letter From Home	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
05/31/2000	4065	A Little Class on Murder	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
01/19/2001	4138	Mint Julep Murder	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
08/25/2004	6374-CD	Murder Walks the Plank	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
12/01/2003	5630-CD	Resort to Murder	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
08/15/2000	4648	Scandal in Fair Haven	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
11/07/2000	5334	Something Wicked	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
01/09/2001	4141	Southern Ghost	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
06/05/2001	5482	Sugarplum Dead	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
04/28/2001	5257	White Elephant Dead	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
04/05/2001	5293	Yankee Doodle Dead	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
Non-Fiction
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12/08/2003	5992-CD	Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed	Cornwell, Patricia	Reading, Kate
10/17/2000	5263	The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman	Feynman, Richard P.	Cashman, Dan
10/03/1997	4429	Into Thin Air	Krakauer, Jon	Franklin, Philip
06/25/2001	4429-CD	Into Thin Air	Krakauer, Jon	Franklin, Philip
04/09/1999	2251	Endurance	Lansing, Alfred	Gardner, Grover
Science Fiction
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07/21/2004	6441-CD	I, Robot	Asimov, Isaac	Brick, Scott
12/08/2003	6112-CD	Crossroads of Twilight	Jordan, Robert	Reading, Kate
08/11/2004	4256-CD	The Dragon Reborn	Jordan, Robert	Reading, Kate
08/05/1998	4179-A	The Eye of the World	Jordan, Robert	Reading, Kate
08/20/1998	4179-B	The Eye of the World	Jordan, Robert	Reading, Kate
08/04/2004	4179-CD	The Eye of the World	Jordan, Robert	Reading, Kate
08/18/2004	4208-CD	The Great Hunt	Jordan, Robert	Reading, Kate
07/28/2004	6296-CD	A Game of Thrones	Martin, George R. R.	Dotrice, Roy
Most recent 3 shipments (included above):
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08/25/2004	6374-CD	Murder Walks the Plank	Hart, Carolyn	Reading, Kate
08/18/2004	4208-CD	The Great Hunt	Jordan, Robert	Reading, Kate
08/11/2004	4256-CD	The Dragon Reborn	Jordan, Robert	Reading, Kate

Karen's memorial was today.

Blog Posted by kitt at 00:27 on 24 August 2004

Karen's memorial was today. It was hard. Mom asked me to take photographs of the people speaking. That was hard. There were easily 200 people at the memorial. The auditorium seats 250, which some empty seats, but some people standing in the back.

Mom and I are going to build a site dedicated to her, and perhaps to display some of her works.

Women's pole vaulting

Blog kitt decided around 22:46 on 19 August 2004 to publish this:

Womens pole vaulting debuted in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney (an American, Stacy Dragila, won the gold). As more people are involved in extreme sports, pole vaulting has gained in popularity.

When I was in 9th grade, attending Benjamin Franklin Junior High School (renamed to Benjamin Franklin Middle School in 1986, go fig), I was on the track team for a while. "A while" because I was kicked off the team. "Why?" you may ask. Because I was in the drama club.

Kid you not.

I had made arrangement with the drama teacher to be absent from the play practices so that I could run track. Track was from 2:30 until about 4, drama was from 3 until 5. I could run track, then hightail it over to drama for any practice I needed.

The track coach, a one Miss Ann Davies, didn't think this was reasonable, and told me that, since I had a part in the spring play, I wasn't allowed to run in track. I couldn't do both. Earlier, I had actually asked said Miss Davies if I could learn to pole vault. Pole vaulting was taught at Ben Franklin, usually in the 7th grade, but new vaulters were taught each.

New male vaulters, that is.

Ann Davies informed me that she was not going to allow me to learn pole vaulting because it was a waste of time. There was no need to learn pole vaulting because girls didn't pole vault.

Ah, we see where this is going, eh?

I believe Ann Davies thought I was a nuisance, and used any available excuse to remove me from the team. I may have been a nuisance, asking for an opportunity to fly with the boys, but that choice allow me to pole vault or not wasn't hers to make.

And now we see women pole vaulters in the Olympics. I'm not one of them. To which I have but four words to say:

"Fuck you, Ann Davies."

If I meet you on the street, I will spit on you.

UPA, here I come!

Blog Instead of being asleep at 23:35 on 18 August 2004, kitt created this:

I just heard from the UPA regarding the IS programmer position I applied for a couple months ago:

Date:    Wed, 18 Aug 2004 16:50:36 -0600
From:  	 Sandie Hammerly
To:  	 Kitt Hodsden
Subject: Still interested?

Hi Kitt:

Sorry to be so long in getting back to on the contract IS
programmer position - But if you are still interested, we
would like to make you an offer.

Basically we would like to consider at least 20 hours per
week....and maybe more....depending on other commitments
that you have.

We would have to work out all the details, you know 
contracts and short and long term work plans....But if you
are still interested, we can offer {editorily removed} an
hour to start....

Interested?
 
Sandie Hammerly
Executive Director
Ultimate Players Association

Heh. Interested? You betcha! An opportunity to combine two things I love doing (programming and ultimate). A chance to be known by thousands! What a deal!

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