This is just cool

Every now and then I run across something that is just plain cool. These Hubble photos rank way up there. My favorites, in case you don't like clicking links:







I mean, wow. Just ... wow.

Pro-Choice

I've discovered as I get older that I wind up a) caring about more issues and b) caring about them more passionately. Cartooniste recently sent me this link, which can be used to easily spam various politicos about the Prevention First Act (not perfect, but better than the current situation).

Largely for my own amusement, I'm posting a copy of the highly edited letter I recently used this link to send:

It's important for the benefit of all society that all women have a) as many children as they choose b) when they choose.

Ideally, birth control pills should not require prescriptions - but I realize the current political climate isn't likely to support this, so I support the Prevention First Act as a reasonable next-best-thing. This bill would help prevent unintended pregnancies and make abortion less necessary by improving women's access to family-planning services and preventing teen pregnancy, among other things.

Please support women and their families by cosponsoring the Prevention First Act - and by considering more advanced legislation for the future.

Sincerely,
Me

The prescription thing for birth control pills has bugged me for a long, long, time. After all, I'm not sick - and my doctor sure isn't recommending a cure; she's saying, 'Yep, I'm a grownup too, and we're all in this together - sure, I'll check this legally-mandated but still very silly box for you. Kind of a shame we're wasting both our time, isn't it?' And we both sigh and go back to whatever more useful thing we were doing before we met for this appointment.

Then again, I'm lucky my medical options aren't restricted to Catholic hospitals.

So it felt nice to send this off. Of course, I have no idea if anyone will read it - and yes, I also realize I'm just dreaming. But darn it, this is so dumb....

Four years

It recently occurred to me that if work were college, I'd be a second-semester senior. So I started analyzing my every waking moment to determine whether I felt those same stable-but-about-to-launch emotions I remember from college: a sense of wrap-up, of finally knowing what's going on, of being "older" than the other kids, of wondering what's next. And of course, flashes of manic activity followed by pure, motionless relaxation.

Yup. Check, check, check, and check.

No, this doesn't mean I'm thinking about leaving my job. It's not all bad to be getting pretty damn senior at the recently-labelled #1 place to work in the US. By now I more or less know what I do. I could, if pressed, even provide a job description ("internal consultant"). And it's even better to look forward to still more control over my own projects, complete with team members to delegate to and collaborate with - not to mention the nearly-mythical 5 weeks of vacation I've got coming up in just another year and a half.

But it does mean I'm keeping an eye out for whatever shift in my work-life may come my way. I plan to check back in with myself in July - and in the meantime, enjoy the calm I'm hoping for this spring.

#1 reason to eat out when you don't really want to ...

... or at least would be equally happy eating in, and in fact already have some nice sausages that are just begging, begging!, to be devoured with the amazing horseradish mustard acquired at Hop Kiln Winery a couple of weeks ago:

Your fridge has stopped doing what fridges are supposed to do, namely, producing any coldness whatsover (in spite of the fact that the darn thing is less than 3 months old!) - and the service people can't come till Monday. End result is a nasty suspicion that the tasty-looking sausages, like the milk, the favorite fig Greek yogurt, and the very expensive cheese which was a nice present from your mother-in-law, have gone bad way before their time and should be thrown out.

Grrrr......

Fashion bubble

Sometimes I wonder just how much of a bubble I live in. For example, are the fashion trends I notice worldwide trends? California trends? Silicon Valley trends? Or ... just-my-department trends? For example: high heels + socks. See Exhibit A, to the right.

These are nice socks, mind you - not too thick, and interestingly patterned. They more or less match both my shoes and my pants. And note the distinguishing characteristics of the shoes themselves: they've got the requisite rounded toes and kind of look like flats - but aren't.

This may be a bubble (OK, I'm sure it's a bubble), but I like it. I wore this lovely ensemble quite recently, in fact. I'd like to think it's very January 2007, but I suspect that somebody here just got fed up with cold feet on her daily treks from one building to another and thought, "dammit, I'm wearing socks!" This is a very practical trend - and this company has 20+ far-apart buildings with almost no parking, so a whole lot of people do a whole lot of walking.

So ... any takers out there? Who wants to spread it to NY? Is it already there? Or did I just drag my inner geek-ness, protesting, a little further into the light?