rivka

I can't quite believe I haven't posted to LJ in this long. I missed my ten-year LJversary on August 3rd. I didn't mean to stop posting... but it does seem like fewer and fewer people are on LJ anymore, which makes me less motivated to write here. I'm posting a lot on forums these days, instead. (Which is funny, because I originally moved to LJ from the "forums" of ten years ago, i.e., newsgroups.)

So. Where were we?

The big news is that we're buying a house. This house. (The listing has been taken down because the house is under contract, but fortunately, the seller's agent has a blog.) We close a week from Friday.

It's funny, because if you had asked me before we started looking about what style of house I wanted, I would never in a million years have come up with "mid-century rancher!" But I found myself completely drawn to them. Maybe it's just that we've spent the last eight years in century-plus houses, but I am so attracted to the clean lines, open spaces, and thoughtful, efficient use of space.

( way too much detail about our prospective new house )

It is such a house, guys. It's not anything flashy or imposing, but it is such an immensely comfortable and inviting space. We love it.

After eight years, though, we are leaving downtown. The new house is still within the city limits, about five miles north of our current location, in an old streetcar suburb the city grew in around long ago. There's a village center with shops and restaurants, and we're about a mile and a half from the light rail which takes us both to work. People who live there tell me that they still feel like they live in the city. It sure is going to be a radical change for us, though, to live in a neighborhood of detached houses with green, green yards.

We're ready for a change, though. There will be things I miss about downtown, for sure, but other aspects of it have definitely begun to pall. And we realized as we began to shop that, the way houses are priced right now, we would have to pay a premium of $50,000 or so to stay downtown. That made it an easier choice. But it still is kind of sad to be setting aside that city-dweller identity.

So that's our big news. How about you? Are you still out there reading this?

That flash exploit infected one of my posts, under a friends-cut where I didn't notice it when I scanned my recent entries to see if they looked all right.

I don't remember ever having seen it on anyone else's LJ, which is how you're supposed to get infected. Consider this a heads-up - even if you don't think you were exposed, it's a good idea to check your most recent posts.

(And thanks baratron for letting me know about it!)

Edited to add: Ah, now I understand. While the exploit was still active, changed posts didn't have the four white boxes at the bottom - they had empty space because the flash thingies were invisible. The white boxes only appeared in infected posts when LJ disabled embeds. So you could easily be infected without ever seeing weird content in someone else's post... and if I'm on your friends list, you probably were.

Because I am a bad person, I forgot that I owe lynsaurus an icon post.

DIRECTIONS:
- reply to this post with a reason why you want me to do this meme with you, and I will pick six of your icons.
- make a post (including this info) and talk about the icons I chose.
- other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
- this will make sure you're entertained until the next meme rolls around.

lynsaurus picked the following icons. I appreciate that she explained why she likes them, instead of just giving me a list; I'll try to do the same if people respond to this meme. ( Read more... )

I wanted to hold onto an exchange I'm participating in, in someone else's journal. (I will let that person decide whether to provide a link, because they might not want an influx of my friends piling on.)

( reposted gay marriage discussion )

My recent sparse, spasmodic posting style has left a ridiculous number of narrative threads dangling, hasn't it? My apologies to those of you who are reading for anything other than the cute Alex stories... such as, say, a sense of how my life is going.

Attempting to tie up loose ends in one big unmanageable knot:

( My research assistants, Alex, Michael's job hunt, my work, SUUSI, forthcoming LJ posts, the adorable YouTube video with otters swimming around holding hands, me being Brenchley. )
Well, that was fun! If nothing else, it gave me a chance to use this icon, which I like but rarely have occasion to use.

...I guess I've been reading the wrong kinds of communities. Suddenly I was overtaken with the urge to learn how to make an animated GIF icon. Some kind of perverse LJ-transmissible sickness, I guess.

What do you think? Too subtle?

Home from a whirlwind trip to Memphis for Michael's father's 70th birthday. Unbelievably tired, not least because I seem to have layered a cold on top of the previously-extant Worst Seasonal Allergies Ever. Back 240 posts in LJ and not even close to catching up. But somehow, after three days without a net connection and in the company of Michael's stepmother, I just can't bear to leave you all.

Going. To bed. Now.

Man, my journal has really been all-Alex, all-the-time lately. I apologize to those of you who couldn't care less about OMG TEH CUTE BABY!!!11!one!.

Here's the deal: there are a few things that are completely obsessing and preoccupying me these days, and I feel comfortable discussing none of them on my LJ, for reasons varying from explicit legal advice to creeping paranoia. And, well, because they're completely obsessing me, not a lot of other subjects spring to mind. Except Alex, who is always safe and innocuous to discuss.

So, perhaps a meme, for variation and/or conversation starting. Via just about everyone:

How many times has someone on your friends list posted about something and you were really confused, but you didn't want to ask because you knew you SHOULD know? How many times have you felt guilty asking a close LJ friend a question that should be obvious?

Well, here's your chance.

If you've missed a few things, missed an entry and are confused, ask me any thing. Even something EXTREMELY basic, like where I live! I'm not allowed to get even slightly irritated at any of the questions - we've all missed things before.

This would also be a fine place to ask questions about things that I haven't referenced in a post, with the understanding that if it references one of the Forbidden Subjects I will probably hedge.

I now have an additional 32 icons to play with, thanks to LJ's new "paid user loyalty program." Someone else's icon in dot_poly_snark prompted me to make this one, but I have no idea what to do the rest of them. Suggestions?

First line of the first post of every month of 2005.

January: I spent two hours at the hospital this morning doing my best pincushion imitation.

February: I dreamed that I was making lunch for eight or nine people.

March: Some true things really make you feel like a jerk when you say them.

April: I'm starting to feel kind of dragged down.

May: Every time Alex nurses, she stimulates the production of oxytocin in my body.

June: fourgates gave Alex some CDs, including For the Kids, a collection of children's music recorded by pop stars.

July: Michael's off in the wilds of Kentucky for the week, at the national convention of the National Federation of the Blind.

August: My love affair with the Enoch Pratt Free Library continues.

September: Last night I met therealjae's parents.

October: My research assistant Greta took me shopping today.

November: What's more unprofessional, missing work on a day that things absolutely have to get done there, or taking your baby to the office?

December: Library book sale this weekend.