November 2008 – akaemi.com
 

Month: November 2008

a new winner!

| 2 Comments

It is official:  the number-one keyword search that brought people to my site over the last 30 days was ‘cowgirl pants.’  With 3 hits, it has overcome the previous champion, ‘akaemi.’  Which, um, if you can spell akaemi right to google it, how hard is it to just put akaemi.com in the url bar?

Just sayin’.

I answer complex coding problems in my sleep! 

For the last few weeks, I’ve noticed a trend:

Tuesday through Saturday, around 5 am, I am struck with a thought.  And not just any thought – the answer to a problem that I walked away from at work the afternoon before.

This morning, it was the realization that my java object contained a java.sql.Date, NOT a java.util.Date, and so of course my JSON serialization would be off. 

I’m hoping for the magic solution to dealing with circular references in my hibernate objects tomorrow morning.

I love my unconscious mind … now if only I were that smart ALL the time.  THEN I might be able to get some work done.

a little nostalgic

| Leave a comment

This weekend I went out with the neighborhood ladies to enjoy an evening of screaming 13-year-old girls.  Yup, that’s right, we went to go see Twilight.

The movie takes place in Washington state (where vampires are totally safe, only 50 days of sunshine a year), and it really brought me back to my childhood.

Squishy-muddy grass, trees everywhere, moss, rain, clouds, fog, the rare sunbreak through the clouds – all the details were spot on.  It was filmed in Portland, just an hour away from my hometown, so no wonder it made me nostalgic.

Of course, it also reminded me of all the reasons I don’t live there any more:  the squishy-muddy grass, rain, clouds, 50 days of sunshine a year …

bucking tradition

| Leave a comment

When I got home from work today, I had an interesting message on my answering machine.  Mike Reed has requested that ‘Mr. Akaemi B.’ please return his call.

It has long been tradition that married women are referred to as ‘Mrs. the-husband’s first and last name.’  It is nice to see the trend moving in the other direction; men being referred to as ‘Mr. the wife’s name.’  I wonder, though, should it be ‘Mr. the wife’s maiden name’?  Perhaps I will ask Mr. Reed when I return his call.

a little bit luxe

| 1 Comment

So while on my Kohling adventures, I took a stroll through the towels to try to find something suitable for my new bathroom.

With sage-green walls and light-taupe tile, I was leaning toward an orangey-rusty accent color, but the husband nixed that idea.  He hates red, orange, and everything in that color family, so that was a no-go.  Seeing that the master bath is where he starts the day, I figure he should get some say in how it’s decorated.

So we decided on purple.  But purple is kind of on the outs in bath colors at the moment, so it’s been hard to find a shade + texture that met my standards.  Every kind of green is available, as are neutrals (white, ivory, taupe, brown, chocolate, it’s all in your local bath store).  But purple is a more elusive find.

But I found the towels!  By none other than Vera Wang.  They are thick and luxurious, and they come in a lovely plum that accents my sage bathroom nicely.

And the husband approves.  So now I have wonderfully luxurious plum and taupe towels for my new bathroom.  Now all I need is bathroom shelves (or maybe a bench?), and my new room will be complete.

I thought about making myself some spaghetti or rice for dinner, but then I realized that all the dishes are dirty.  Pans, plates, silverware, you name it, it’s dirty.

meh.  Who needs food?

whew, no one noticed

| Leave a comment

In church today was the annual ‘Primary Program’, where all the kids age 3-11 sit up front, sing, and each take a turn at the mic to say something truly inspirational.  Being the teacher of the nine-year olds, that meant I also had to sit up front, sing, and take my turn at the mic to say something truly inspirational.

Two weeks ago, they informed us that we’d be singing a cutesy li’l duet, kids vs. teachers.

Now, God has blessed me with many talents.  He did not feel the need, however, to bless me with any real vocal talent.

<We will now take a break to explain the akaemi singing-voice classification system.  Starting at the top, there are solo voices, small ensemble voices, small choir voices, large choir voices, congregational voices, and the please-don’t-sing-not-even-in-the-shower-voices.>

So I have a congregational voice – with a little practice, I can do ok in a large choir.  But two-weeks notice that I’ll be taking part in a small choir – who are spread out among all the children, so that makes it more like a small ensemble – is absolutely horrifying.  For me, as well as anybody who has to listen to it.

But today after the program, I asked the husband how it all sounded.  And he said he didn’t notice the teacher singing part.  That he kept waiting for it, but he assumed it never happened.

Whew, that’s a relief!  If the one person in the congregation who even cares about my existence didn’t notice me singing and failing, that pretty much means no one did.

want, volume 2

| 1 Comment

vera wang bagToday at Kohls on my quest for jeans that fit (yay for curvy Levis!), I saw something that made me stop and take a look:  Vera Wang hand bags.

I love purses.  At any given time, I try to keep my collection to less than ten, but it’s hard.  I have to admit, I can’t tell the difference between a vuitton or a or a spade, and I will likely never own a ‘real’ purse.  My vera wang green bagpurses all come from Target, Penneys or Kohls.

But back to the purses!  They are a little larger than I’m used to, but they are oh-so pretty.  I’m considering saving up my allowance to buy my first over-$50 purse.  Or maybe I’ll just wait for a crazy-sale day …

3 years ago, the husband and I took the plunge and bought a house.  It was 2005, and housing was booming.  Lenders were willing to loan ridiculous amounts of money.  In fact, they scoffed at the “modest” amount of money the husband and I requested.  They offered to loan us twice as much, but we declined; we knew how much money we made, we knew how much other debt we had, and we knew what kind of lifestyle we wanted to maintain.

And so we got a loan we could afford.  We took a risk with an ARM, but even in a worst-case scenario, we knew we’d be able to afford the payments.

Silly us!  If we had over-extended ourselves, we’d be able to renegotiate our loan terms.  Instead of being stuck with a loan for twice as much as what our foreclosing neighbor is selling her house for, we might be able to get our principal reduced.  Or get our ARM converted to a standard loan.

But, alas, we were responsible.  And so there is no help for us.

akaemi.com ©2024. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by WordPress. Theme by Phoenix Web Solutions