Being Amber Rhea

Off to Disgusta

In a few minutes I will be en route to Augusta, where I’ll be staying until next Saturday. The occasion? I have to go to training for a proprietary computer language used at The New Job, and the company that owns said language has its headquarters in Augusta. I think Dipika put it best when she said, “Hard to imagine Augusta having the market on new technology.”

The iBook, of course, is coming with me; so never fear, there shall be blogging. Unless I end up hitting the Augusta party scene every night of the week, I plan to spend my evenings working on a three-column layout using this cool trick. Other plans include chilling with the proprietess of Audacity, and probably fielding many questions from the parents as to the intentions of the GDBF.

26 Years of Amber Rhea

I know this was the iconic Being Amber Rhea image for a long time, but I think I might have a new one now. If you’ve been paying attention to the description field in my RSS feed lately, you’ll have noticed that it contains my new tagline. And now, thanks to the GDBF, I have a shirt that proclaims a variation of that slogan to the world:

It’s been a pretty goddamn good birthday so far. More blogging to come.

Birthday Booty

…not to be opened until tomorrow. (Well, maybe one tonight, like on Christmas Eve.)

Conversation at The Vortex tonight

GDBF: [sings along enthusiastically to "Here I Go," by the inimitable Whitesnake]

Me: Let out your inner redneck!!

GDBF: I do have an inner redneck.

Me: I don’t think it’s that far in, actually.

GDBF: Some nights I have to take him out back and beat the shit out of him.

I think I had this when it was called Bravenet Guestmap…

The latest in Google Maps applications and personal ego-boosting… add yourself to my map of readers. (Found via Dylan.)

Update: In case you can’t figure out how to do it, click “Add Yourself” in the right column. I know, it could be a better UI.

Personal Transit Initiative

I might’ve been spoiled by my proximity to The Old Job. I could walk to work, and that was awesome. Or I could hop on the 23 for a quick ride down Peachtree if I was feeling lazy (which I usually was in the mornings), thanks to the free MARTA card they provided. Now I am no longer walking distance from work. Sure, I can take the 23 to Arts Center station and then take the 98 over to Tech, but that damn 98 only runs every ~45 minutes. And going home in the evening, it’s always late. Plus, as of November 1st I will no longer have a free MARTA card.

I know, I should just suck it up for the sake of public transit – and that’s exactly what I was doing until Monday, when I caught a cold after standing around in the goddamn wind for 20 minutes waiting for the elusive 98. I know they say the weather doesn’t cause colds, but fuck that noise, because it’s what caused mine.

I definitely feel less stressed when I take public transit instead of driving – once I actually get on said transit, that is. I want to continue taking the bus to work, I really do; but it’s looking like the odds may be stacked against me. The two main issues are the infrequency of the 98 and the lack of a free MARTA card (paying for the monthly card would come out to more than the cost of gas to drive to and from work every day); and once daylight savings time ends, another issue will be whether I want to walk alone to the bus stop after dark. The area around the bus stop on the Tech campus is fine, but I have to walk through a borderline ghetto area to get there. It’s fine during the daytime, but at night it might be another story; guess I’ll find out. And don’t say I’m being paranoid or – god forbid, because I will stab your eyes out – racist; what I’m being is averse to getting mugged or raped.

Every day that I drive to work I am filled with guilt and self-loathing. I hate feeling like just another asshole in a car. But what are my options at this point? I’ll take the bus as often as I can, but if it keeps being a royal pain in my ass, I’ll just have to say fuck it.

Postscript: For a while now I’ve been wanting to write some kind of transit letter to the mayor and Nathanial Ford and whoever else… maybe if I take out all the profanity and change a little wording here and there, I can turn this post into a letter. Go me.

Trivia Recap

I wasn’t there last night, since I was too busy being a sick bastard at home. However, my team did me proud – a return to victory with only three team members present. Read the full review at Garrett’s site. (And Thomas has a version from where he was sitting.)

How to Annoy Me / Dooce Rip-off Part Deux

I hate it when blogs have the word “musings” in the title or description. Only slightly less obnoxious is the word “random.” (And yes, I am aware that three days ago I put up a post entitled “Trifecta of Randomness.” Eat my contradictory ass.)

Pumpkin Carving in the DFW

Since lots of people are posting about pumpkin carving (obligatory example) and other Halloween-themed adventures, I’ll put up a picture of the last time I carved a pumpkin, which was two years ago. Here I am, on my 24th birthday, in Dallas, carving away:

Between the three of us, John, Corley, and I (a.k.a. “Team Dallas”) produced five bad-ass jack-o-lanterns. Here are the fruits of our labor, as it were:

These are two of several pictures that I scanned last night, when I got weirdly sentimental about my brief stint in Dallas. (I blame the cold medicine.) Anyway, I added about 25 pieces of previously unscanned photographic evidence to my Texas Gallery. The new ones start on page 4.

Revered, Loved, Admired and Loathed

I’m sick today. I blame yesterday’s sudden and violent lurch into full-on fall (and my standing around in the cold and wind waiting for the goddamn bus). It sucked to have to call in sick to work not even two weeks into the job, but what can you do. Nevertheless, I foresee spending much of this afternoon on the phone with various HR personalities and benefits coordinators. Fools betta pay my billz!

Anyway, since I am about to go crawl my sick ass back into bed, I’ll leave you with something amusing, found via The Queue. The rules: type “[your name] needs,” “[your name] wants,” and “[your name] gets” into Google and list the first 10 results for each.

Amber needs…

1. Amber needs to go and, as the toilet is locked, she pees a lake on the garage floor.
2. Amber needs an experienced and understanding home
3. Amber needs to realize that simply speaking in the third voice does remove Amber from being Amber.
4. AMBER NEEDS TO BE FOUND OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5. Amber needs two-to-three hours of therapy a day to overcrome autism.
6. Amber needs a parent who will create positive opportunities for learning and for socializing with peers.
7. Amber needs it now.
8. Good on a leash, Amber needs to lose a few pounds.
9. Amber needs the socialization and stimulation a group home would offer. Without it she will “shrivel up and die.”
10. We wonder why Amber needs an attorney.

Amber wants…

1. Amber wants to talk about her feeling, but Justin doesn’t.
2. Amber wants to fit in with her friends and get her ears pierced even though her mother has forbidden her until she is twelve, a whole year away.
3. Amber wants a clean-desk treat more than anything.
4. Amber wants to do 43 things.
5. Amber Wants You to Take a Closer Look!!!
6. Amber wants a watch for her seventh birthday more than anything.
7. Perhaps Amber wants to try out some replacement bikinis.
8. Amber wants to have FUN.
9. Amber wants to try Tae Bo.
10. Amber wants to share her knowledge with other students so they can experience the same exhilarating events.

Amber gets…

1. Amber Gets Saucey
2. Amber gets the green light
3. Amber gets a major shock.
4. Amber gets herself revered, loved, admired and loathed all at the same time.
5. Amber gets angry when things start to go wrong.
6. Amber Gets No Confession from Scott
7. The amber gets stirred up from a layer known as blue earth, which is beneath layers of silt and clay on the ocean floor.
8. Amber gets to play with all of B’Elanna’s toys and helps herself to them, making sure they are scattered all over the living room.
9. Amber gets some ice cream.
10. When Amber gets her diagnosis, she suspects that she should table romance for another time.

Now, go to it yourselves!