Lately I've really felt disinclined to work. Not that I don't want to do anything, just that my job responsibilities don't seem all that exciting. So it's not work that I don't want to do, it's my work. Also, the supply room is out of tissues. Annoying. I should find our office manager because she almost certianly has a secret stash, but I don't want to bug her because she is always so busy. Let's see, tonight after work I want to do my nails. Then church because it is Lent. Then West Wing. Even though it is a rerun. Good plan.

Other question - what to do for Easter. I was going to go to my parents', but now I have to be here Saturday. So I'd only be there one day. It doesn't seem worth the 600 miles of driving. I also have a show I want to go to the afternoon of Easter day. Seems a weird time to go but it is the only day the show is on and I really want to see it. Thing is that if I'm here on Easter (which I would have to be for the show) then lots of people at church will invite me over. And how do I say "sure but only until 2" or "only after 4"? I could say it like that but that is weird. Also, it will seem weird to have show tickets on Easter too. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it's odd. And the lunch things are generally a afternoon thing. If they were all having Easter dinner, that would be different. Don't remember what I did last year.

Today is one more reason that I really like the company I work for. Today we invited a law professor who specializes in Middle Eastern affairs (legal and political) to speak to us at a brown bag lunch. About 75% of the company showed up to hear his talk and ask questions. We've had these discussions from time to time and I like the fact that we take time out from work to talk about tough issues and learn something that is not at all related to our particular jobs or our industry. (I work for an internet company.) Since I knew almost nothing about the history of that region before, I learned a lot. While I didn't 100% agree with the point of view that the speaker expressed, I definitely learned and thought about our country's policies in the Middle East. The speaker was really pushing for the stopping of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip areas. I know nothing about the conflict other than that it exists and both sides send suicide bombers, kill civilians, and assassinate leaders. He made a convincing argument for his position but did not really explain the reasons we might not want to follow his suggestions. So I would want to hear the other side first before I decide what I think and feel about that issue.

Excellent! The changing colors thing worked thanks to the very good instructions by Marcus (who is, I assume, the creater of the blogback stuff). For someone who works at a web company, I am woefully under-educated in how to write HTML. Other programming languages - sure, I know C, Java, LISP, but I haven't taken the time to really learn HTML. Of course it seems that I can figure stuff out when I need to, but still, sort of pathetic not to know it already.

I added a comment thing to my template today. Seems very cool. I will change the colors eventually since I think the black writing on dark blue background is hard to read. Gotta be one of Nielsen's top ten worst things to do on the web. Which is not to say that I don't greatly appreciate the person who went to all of the work to create the comment thing and share it.

I'm in this weird stage at work where I know I am going to be hit with a ton of stuff to do but at the moment I don't have anything to do. So I can ruminate. I've been emailing my sister daily, generally several times a day and it always makes me happier. I am not a phone person, never have been, even as a teenage girl. Email is good, as are face to face conversations. And letters sent through the actual mail. Throughout college I wrote letters to my grandmother (the only person who would write back to me). Now at work I'll walk to someone's desk before I'll call them. I don't know why that is, it's just always been that way. Trissie's emails are always fun to get even if they just talk about everyday events. She has a way of phrasing things and an outlook on events that is just fun to read. Also, it is good to feel connected to my family since I don't live near any of them. Although I am driving down this weekend. It seems that recently the only time I've seen them is at funerals (it's been a very bad year). So this should be refreshing. I am dragging down birthday gifts for 1 brother, 2 sisters, 1 neice, and my dad. August and September are big birthday months in my family. Actually, I am still trying to find a gift for one of the sisters and waiting for the gift I ordered for my brother to arrive.

Okay, so my rant for the day is about my roommate again. She's taking the LSAT. No problem with that. But she's taking everything so seriously. My take on the LSAT (and I could be wrong) is that it is roughly like the GRE. No specialized knowledge, just your average standardized test. Now I could see stressing over the MCAT or a single subject GRE. But the LSAT?

It's not that she's stressing, it's that she took 2 weeks off of work so that she could study and prepare. She takes practice tests about 3 times a week if not more often. The Friday before her Saturday morning test, we have a half day at work. It's the day of our company anniversary. No one actually works, there are just fun activities. Until about 1 p.m. I asked if she was coming (because seriously, how often does your company hand you money and say "do something fun with it and we'll judge at the end who had the most fun"?). She acted shocked that I would even think of asking - as if I had suggested that she stay out until 3 a.m. the night before.

Okay - how hard is this test? I mean, I took one practice test about a month before I was scheduled for the GRE. I almost forgot about the thing. And I still did fine. I bet roommate #1 took an SAT prep course too. (For the record, I think those are about the biggest waste of money out there - and I used to teach one!)

On the terrorist attack topic -- I was reading some posts here (on other blogs) and articles, etc. and I have to say I agree somewhat with the editorial in the San Jose Mercury today - so many people are taking this attack and using it to forward their pre-existing agendas and that's annoying. I just read one about how what we should learn from this is to be more environmentally conscious. How that came from this attack is still beyond me - and I did read the entire post. There are many issues here and so far I've had several conversations with my roomates and others on US foreign policy (a topic about which I am woefully uneducated), violence, spirituality (a word I generally hate for its blandness), and other topics that I generally avoid in polite conversation. Yet never once have I thought of pollution, except in terms of the dust in NY, or gender relations. (Someone apparently gloated about how it was the *men* who stopped the terrorists and caused the plane to crash in PA - how do they know? And even if they do, I don't necessarily think that proves anything about the vast majority of gender related issues. I don't think men and women are exactly the same. I feel that sameness and equality are too often confused. Harrison Bergeron is a story that I highly recommend. But I still think that if I do the same job as a male co-worker, I should be paid the same amount. Thankfully I work at a company where I am pretty sure this is the case.)

Wow, am I off topic here. Yes, off topic. I don't think the events of Sept. 11 have anything to do with gender equality or environmentalism. I resent people who use the tragedy to forward their own agenda. That is almost as bad as those who are using it to price gouge or solicit donations for non-existent charities.