Jenn Martinelli Blogging in Boston

Seriously, people, it's eleven cents. Eleven cents. If that seriously influences someone's coffee-buying habits then maybe they shouldn't be buying coffee anywhere. Or much of anything else for that matter!

I need some serious organizational help, advice, wisdom, brainstorms, etc. Trust me, if I had some money I'd just pay someone to do it for me, but I don't, so the only thing I can spend money on is things that will help me get organized like nice bins and boxes and drawers and shelves.

This is the situation... we moved from a giant 2 bedroom apartment where we used one of the extra bedrooms almost the whole time as a junk depository to a tiny studio apartment with one small closet which is mostly filled by our clothes. We have a surprising amount of furniture and things to fit into this space, some of it being extremely problematic. These include a couch (which is dying and may be replaced but for now it stays), a TV and the console it sits on, a 29-gallon fishtank inhabited by one turtle, a large computer desk, a full-size bed, a dining table and chairs (just replaced a large square expanding dining table and folding chairs with a much smaller bar-height circular table and stools), an armchair, and bicycles one and two (the model isn't on their site anymore - the Cyclone). While these things are problematic enough, the real issue is our stuff. I think if we got that under control we could get our furniture situation figured out.

So what am I looking for? Clever and inexpensive ideas for storage and organization. We have hardwood floors and pets that shed a lot so there is hair all over. I'd prefer closed things rather than open things that will fill with animal hair and also tempt cats to do things like sleep on our tax records. I would do something drastic like hang things from the ceiling, like our bikes, and patch the holes later (I'm a fix-it kind of girl, I wouldn't worry about that...) but we have a dropped ceiling with tiles so that won't work.

Any suggestions??? Help!

I blame the summer weather. Even though in the spring I said loudly and many times, "I'll have to make sure to keep up knitting and crocheting like this so that by the fall I have a lot of stuff done!" I did nothing. Well, I did a very few baby hats. But what I should have done was make everyone's Christmas presents. Well, I now change my blame. I blame Heather because she was here for a good part of the summer distracting us with her Heather-ness, and I also blame moving. But whoever is to blame, I still stink. I'm feeling pressure to make many warm and snuggly things. I have a lot of people I'd like to make gifts for and I want to make myself some nice things as well but all this knitting takes time which is one thing I have very little of. Maybe I can get my life in order and actually have some free time. My dream is to come home from work and have nothing more to do than take the dog outside and eat dinner and watch TV. And then I can knit. SIGH.

I don't really know why, but apparently we need a new nickel design. I guess it was jealous of the quarter.

Check out a nice little synopsis here. They don't joke around about much of anything as far as upkeep either. Trash pickup happens 3 days a week and you are only allowed to put it out between midnight and 7am the day of pickup. Some joker (or jokers) in our building keep putting out trash on inappropriate days either because they don't care or because they're very stupid since there are signs clearly posted about it in the entranceway. In any case, after a particularly bad incident we found a notice taped to the front door of our building from the Beacon Hill Civic Comission about how to handle your garbage, when to put it out, what kind of container you can put it in, etc. Really kind of entertaining. Also, I don't blame anyone. Nobody wants to look at nasty garbage scattered all over the sidewalks in their neighborhood, least of all people who paid $3 million for their house.

I have two cats you guys can have.

Sorry, but this is just really really funny.

That's an outrage!

Oh, no, wait, the real outrage is all the stupid women in this article talking about how they just want to "hang out with the gals" and have "foo foo" games and "schmooze". Great, so let me get this straight... men should go around kicking each other's ass and killing everything, and women should play poker and bridge. Great.

But no, some women do like the other games, right?:

"Still, many women gamers would like to visit rich, complex fantasy worlds like the ones the guys play. Too often, these are grim, brutal places that make female gamers uncomfortable."

No, wait, we're back to girls being whimps again. The "grim brutal places" in video games make woman "uncomfortable"? I don't know who this applies to but it's crazy. Uncomfortable as in scared for their safety? It's fine if you just don't like those games but this sure sounds like you want to play those games but want them to be "less scary" because you're a girl and you can't handle it.

Oh, here's the right game for girls:

"There's almost no violence or conflict in The Sims..."

Oh, good, I hate violence and conflict in my fake gaming world. I just like to chat. Because I can't do that in real life.

And the final word:

"But as more women enter the game development business, we can expect to see more digital warriors unlacing their iron corsets and settling back for a chat with the rest of the girls."

If this is seriously what girls like, then I hate girls.

OK, first of all, please read this article. OK, now does anyone see a problem with the fact that we have declared North Korea part of the "Axis of Evil", yet China is an ally of theirs and we have no problem with China? Gee, I wonder if that's because we want to sell shit to China since they have potentially the biggest consumer market in the world. Wow, could it be that money really is the root of all evil?

Here is my favorite portion of this article:

"North Korea's nuclear program is well ahead of what Saddam Hussein was even suspected of doing — yet the president took his eye off the ball, wrongly ignoring this growing danger," Kerry said in a statement. "What is unfolding in North Korea is exactly the kind of disaster that it is an American president's solemn duty to prevent.''

China, a North Korea ally, had no immediate comment.

See how we helped Rosie on Rob's site. Rosie, stay in your yard, you silly girl!

Hallelujah, I've been looking for something like this for forever. I'm sure someone could tell me an easier way to find it, like it's probably in a million knitting books, but I'm lazy and I only look online.

Ha! See, it's not just me who thinks you suck.

UPDATE 2007/09/19: See other Friendly's stories.

Sorry, but I just had to post this. It just makes no sense!

What a surprise. I think this is pretty cool. Make sure you check out the additional pictures.

Yeah, it's not much to look at from the outside, but the inside is awesome! I like that about it. Plus, I don't really know what the neighbors are complaining about. Do they remember what it looked like before?

This is pretty awesome.

Seriously, can someone help him?

This is pretty bad. Apparently he's outraged that more OB-GYNs can't "practice their love" with women.

No kidding.

I guess some cops decided to skip the strike and just double-pay themselves. Nice. This doesn't win you any sympathy from me as hard-working underpaid public servants. FAN-TAS-TIC.

Here are recent examples:

1. People shoving on the shuttle/train at Atlanta airport. Shoving my 83 year old grandmother who walks with a cane. Nice.

2. A guy who was an ass and blocking an intersection in downtown Boston because he pulled into it while the light was changing to red and then nobody going the other direction could get through. Someone yelled or honked at him and he flipped them off then proceeded to whip is car around and chase their car. Awesome.

3. Delta airlines because they make shitty connections through Cincinnati.

4. All airlines because if you want to change or skip part of the first part of your itinerary it cancels all your return flights, even if you notified them ahead of time to make the change. Nice money-grubbing.

5. Anyone who is mean to animals. OK, so this came up because I read a fiction book over the weekend and people were mean to dogs in it, but regardless, it always holds true. In fact, anyone who is cruel to animals should just be killed. It's really better for the rest of the world that way.

6. Apparently, Brigitte Bardot.

I love her blog. Find a good post here about Brigitte Bardot, who is apparently a complete nut job.

For more from Margaret, check out her blog regularly.

Not to mention from dial-up and, I think, Windows 95. Poor Mom and Dad. Anyway, I'm at my parents' house in Powell, Tennessee, just outside Knoxville. Yesterday I flew down here with my grandma from Hartford, CT. We missed our connection in Cincinnati because Delta sucks, all other direct flights to Knoxville were sold out, so we had to take another connection from Cincinnati to Atlanta and another from there to Knoxville. We were originally supposed to land in Knoxville around 1:30 but instead got in just after 7:00pm. Along the way there were a lot of people I wanted to kill, especially the obnoxious family shoving on the train in Atlanta. Shoving, I'll add, not just me, but my 83 year old grandmother who walks with a cane. Nice manners for some 30/40-something and their kids. Now review with me why I would get in trouble if I threw them on the tracks? You know very well that I shouldn't.

Anyway, today we (or at least I) slept in a bit and we went out to lunch at the Back Porch Restaurant somewhere between here and Smoky Mountain National Park. It was pretty good, reminded me a little of this place Leo's that Rob and I eat at in Saratoga Springs, NY. A little tacky, but nice, nothing fancy. A local place. The service is very good of course. I had a grilled cheese because we were having an early dinner and I didn't want to eat too much.

Read the rest

Rabbit rabbit.

Listen kids, I need money and you need gifts for people with babies. It's a win-win situation. For just a few examples of things I've made, please visit here and here (the second link might not be around for long... my old Radio Userland site will be disappearing). I need to get more photos up but basically I knit and crochet and I have a small stock of baby hats right now. In addition to that I can take just about any custom order except any huge volume orders. Unless you paid me enough and then I would just enslave some of my yarn-loving friends.

Anyway, I've found that people really love these as gifts so if you're looking for something to give to a new baby or even an older baby or toddler, let me know!

I think not, folks. I think not.