27 August 2001
Happy Feast Of Liz to all my diverse and wonderful readers! ;-)
How come this always happens to me? A friend of mine came into my office Friday to tell me he'd overheard our network person saying that there were bandwidth problems yet again and so there was probably going to be a crackdown on internet usage in the office over the next couple of weeks.
Now, I know my downloading music is not the problem, because the bandwidth problems pre-date my discovering of AudioGalaxy, and their client has an option for setting the amount of bandwidth you use, and I'd had it on the second-lowest setting.
But I don't want to be scapegoated, so I've turned off my Satellite client, and will leave it off until a couple of weeks after the official e-mail comes out "reminding" us of the office policy. You know, this would be a lot less painful if they would just get a half-decent connection and set it up correctly.
The shampoo we use has recently changed its formula. It now includes a conditioner or something, and as a result even when my hair is freshly-clean, it still feels slightly oily to the touch. I commented on it to Matt over the weekend as we were heading out on our errands. "I'm not sure I like it," I said.
"Why not?"
"It doesn't make my hair squeak," I explained.
He glanced at me askance before returning his attention to the road. "What did you say?"
"It doesn't make my hair squeak," I repeated, raising my voice to compete with the noise in the car.
"That's what I was afraid you'd said," he grumbled.
"Well... I was taught that my hair is clean when it squeaks," I explained.
He glanced at me again. "I was taught that my hair is clean when it's been vigorously shampooed," he returned.
Amongst other errands, Matt and I went up to the Toyota dealership on Saturday and test-drove a Prius, their hybrid-electric car.
I think I'm in love. I want one. It's not perfect, but I don't think any car could be and still fit into my budget. But it ran smoothly, accelerated well (though it's obviously not a car for drag-racing in), has a nice small turn radius, plenty of space in the front, and reasonable (though not luxurious) space in the back.
Matt seemed to like it, though he complained about a larger-than-usual blind spot due to the placement of the seat and door. I think he's going to find that's a problem in any smallish four-door car. I didn't have a problem, but then I drive with the seat a good three or four inches further forward than he does.
My big problem was that there were headrests in the back seat which obstructed part of my view in the rear-view mirror. Matt didn't seem to have this problem, but he sits a good three or four inches taller than me.
And both of us were a little disappointed in the lack of trunk space.
Like I said, it's not perfect. But I really liked it, and I think when I'm ready for a new car, I'll go back. This trip was primarily for Matt's benefit - his van is getting old and pathetic and will need to be replaced within about the next six months.
Matt's still deciding. He wants to test-drive Honda's HEV, the Insight. I'm not interested. It's a silly-looking car (half the rear wheels are covered. WHY?) and it doesn't seem to have a back seat. I know we don't use our back seat very often, but for some reason the idea of a deuce that isn't a convertible offends my sense of aesthetics. (On the other hand, the Insight is a hatchback, so it's got more storage space than the Prius.)
I'd wanted to scan in some of my recent sketches to show you - I'm definitely getting better, and I'm quite pleased with some of them. But I couldn't get my computer to recognize that the scanner was plugged in last night. I'm going to have to fidget with it or something. Maybe later this week.
Well, my stomach is protesting, so it's time for breakfast. Y'all have a good Monday.
Word of the Day:
kangaroo court - a mock court in which principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted; a court characterized by irresponsible, unauthorized, or irregular status or procedures
Currently Reading:
- nothing
Current Projects:
- drawing
- Hall stuff
- garden