Sometime in the next week

I need to iron my interview suit, as next Tuesday there's a job class on networking I'd like to attend and they have recruiters who come in, so they suggest interview attire. I went and got nude panty hose to wear with it, as I had only black, which wouldn't work. I don't have pumps, so my other dress shoes will have to do (they're a flat, somewhat like a Mary Jane, but with slanted straps instead, and I'd be much more comfortable and assured than being awkward in heels). But this is what the suit looks like. I need to print up some more business cards before then, too.

In a little under forty-five minutes

I have excavated most of the bedroom floor and decided which things in the chest-of-drawers should go (a lot, actually) and which should stay. Of course, it's all sorted on the bed, so I'll have to finish it before I go to bed tonight. I've also gotten the things from the walk-in closet back in there. Now I'm sitting down for five minutes, before going forward, as my back hurts. I have two hours to go before I have to change and go get A for class.

Oh, by the way

I did track down the number to the Transportation Security Administrations's lost and found at O'Hare Airport. On further reflection, I'm not sure I had my jacket in the restroom, at McDonald's, or at Hudson News.  The last time I absolutely remember having it was right after it went through the checkpoint x-ray machine, and I'm not sure I picked it up when I got my bags together.  So I called 773-377-1210, which is the number for items lost at the checkpoint (despite what else you may find on the Internet--the first number I found was disconnected--and left a voice mail with my name, phone number, description of the jacket, and date I lost it.  Here's hoping they found it and will return my call. They're not open on weekends, but hopefully they'll look Monday. :)

What I am glad is that I had neither phone or keys in my jacket...the one was in my wallet in my laptop bag, and the other was nestled down in the CPAP bag, as I didn't want them in the bag that got valet checked, since it would be out of sight, and the jacket was not that secure since I was carrying it, and unless I zipped up the pockets, they might have fallen out.  So I really lucked out.  But apparently the parking lot ticket was in there somewhere, for it didn't show up when I unpacked.

Okay, I'm going to take that nap, and then work on the game notes for tomorrow.  I had thought to load the recording on the laptop and work on them over my trip, but decided I was on vacation and wouldn't 'work' beyond going to the seminar/meeting.  So anyway, I still have to do them.  But first, that nap.

Personally, I never saw the appeal

What's so cool about running around with clothes that advertise a brand in big letters across your chest? And I always thought they were ugly. And no, they don't have to offer 'plus sizes'. But who decided anything over a 10 in women's clothing was a plus size?

A once-trendy fashion brand is a target for anti-bullying groups

When you're the CEO of major fashion brand you can be as elitist as you want to be. You may admit, "Candidly, we go after the cool kids" and "a lot of people don't belong in our clothes."

Even if you make these comments about six years ago to a magazine reporter, that's fine.

But the Internet never forgets, and you will have to answer to consumers and shareholders.

Abercrombie and Fitch's first-quarter sales fell by 17 percent and their stock dropped 8 percent before the Memorial Day holiday.

PR people spent the weekend apologizing for the CEO Mike Jeffries.

"In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids," Jeffries said in a 2006 Salon article.

"Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don't belong [in our clothes], and they can't belong," he said. "Are we exclusionary? Absolutely."

And then, there was Ellen's take on it. I think she sums it up nicely:



Thanks to Grace Asher, who first informed me of this story by sharing her desire on Facebook to 1) stop wearing the clothes and 2) donate them so they can look stylish on homeless people, whom I suspect Mike Jeffries would definitely see as un-cool. :)

Snowboarding at night

was the entertainment I had to occupy me while waiting for the bus tonight. Some guy was snowboarding down the embankment in front of the hospital with only the streetlights and the lights around the flag to illuminate what he was doing. He was pretty good, actually.

It is very cold. This morning it was 7 degrees. Even now it's 19. Yesterday I found something at the book fair to help with that. Which do you think looks warmer?

Me with my light duster, a scarf, and hat.

Me with my heavier coat and my new 6-way hood/scarf.

Obviously the answer is the one on the right. It's a fleece hood that extends about 8 inches beyond normal down. You tuck that up and it covers your face, too, like a balaclava. Or you can pull that down and just have a hood, pull the hood down and it's a scarf. It has pulls that help adjust it; it can even be a bag. You can have the hood down for a masque/scarf combo. There's also a beanie hat option. It is very, very warm. And it was less than $8, which I thought was pretty decent. I found a video showing how to change things around:



I'm not including this as an advertisement, just for fun. But if you are interested, their website is: www.HotHeadzProducts.com (although it's geared to retailers, or you can do a search on Polarex 6-in-1 and it'll bring up lots of places that sell them. Regular price is $24.95. I got mine for $7.99, but I found some for $9.99 on the Internet.)

We still have snow on the ground (and are expecting more on Sunday), and there was actually enough and of the right consistency that I've seen several snowmen around town. One was at my apartment complex, but I noticed tonight someone knocked it down. It was cute, though, with a carrot for a nose. The most interesting one, though, was a large one at the fire station on Richmond Road. It has a fire hat on the top and a Dalmatian at its side. :)

Ah, winter. It is not my favourite season, in fact it is my least favourite, but it has a lot of appeal. If it just weren't so darn cold. I love snow,too, so long as I don't have to go out in it. :)

I haven't even begun to put a dent in my RSS reader

After you get 1000 posts in Google Reader, it just gives you '1000+' as your number of news feeds. So mine's firmly been stuck on this for two days now. Almost 900 of that is from MSNBC and BBC, and unfortunately they're under a week old, so I can't just mark them as read without skipping some good stuff that might be worth talking about here. So, I guess tonight there will be a marathon news read. As a result, you'll probably see quite a few posts.

Last night I was asleep by nine and never did really get back up longer than to go to the bathroom and feed the fish. I am hungry, but didn't really want to fix oatmeal today for breakfast. I got a little of the living room straightened up last night before I fell asleep, and an aloe vera replanted.

I really needed to do laundry this morning, but didn't get up early enough to do it, so I'm wearing my pink shirt with sequined butterflies (okay, not so much the thing you normally see when there's snow on the ground, but I ask you, when is a better time for sequined butterflies?)

Okay, it's almost time to go to work, so I must go put the other layers of clothing on. It is 7 degrees outside (Fahrenheit, and that's NOT wind chill). Hope you have a great day.

Dear Gods...

it's Cthulhoid doggie clothing.