jenh526

Just chiming in to say "me too". I had a happy cubicle at one point, right next to the storage area, on the edge of the room. Then some brilliant person decided to make the storage area into the kitchen. Cue slamming refrigerator doors, burning toast, loud people at the water cooler or getting coffee. Of course, why would I ever think they could let me be happy in my little corner? I picked up and moved to the other end of the room, which got me called into the manager's office. I explained that I'm sensitive to noise. After sarcastically referring to my "sensitivities" I did manage to get a different cubicle. So, yay me?

About the boom mic - I think that has more to do with framing and aspect ratio than with the skill of the boom mic operator. At least with movies, if the projectionist hasn't framed the film correctly, then you will see the mics. May have something to do with HD tvs having a different aspect ratio than the old ones on which the show was originally viewed. Here's a little discussion on it: https://www.datalounge.com/thread/10362338-thanks-to-hd-i-m-seeing-boom-mics-in-old-tv-shows

I went to high school for a year in Agoura, CA, about 30 mi from Beverley Hills. This was 1982, smack dab in the middle of the Valley Girl era. We moved there from a small town in New Mexico. I felt like I had landed on a different planet. There were girls wearing 6 inch heels and gold pantsuits. But the rage at the time was gauchos and frilly tops, kinda like this: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/4c/32/31/4c3231752e7b0f42b8e972e4e70af4eb.jpg So I saw a lot of girls wearing things like the girls on 90210, and way weirder stuff. I have to say, I felt sorry for my youngest brother. He started middle school in CA with plaid pants a bowl cut. After the first day of school he was begging my mom for OP t-shirts and Vans, mainly so that he wouldn't get his ass kicked.

EighteenTwelve I think I might be able to top that. I work in IT and periodically have to send out mass email messages to our customers. Last week I was tasked with sending out 20,000 emails. Like a good IT person, I tested it before doing the real thing, sending it to the head of the department so it could be double-checked. The problem was, when I went live with it I forgot to enable the line in the script that would send it to the customers. Give you one guess who ended up with 20,000 emails in their inbox.

I had a really lovely, peaceful week off at home with my parents during Christmas. We cooked, slept all night, took naps during the day, read good books. I watched Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune with them. Walked around the neighborhood and looked at all the Christmas lights. Now I feel like I'm back in hell. First day back and the insults started, along with getting a new project dumped on me with an impossible deadline. Second day the back-stabbing and credit-taking kicked in. The insomnia has returned full-force despite Ativan and Advil. I really don't know how I'm going to survive another year of this.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. My mom gave it to me and I didn't think I'd read it because it takes place in WWII (not a fan of historical fiction) and one of the main characters has an interest in electronics/engineering (snore). But I'm really enjoying it. The writing is fantastic.

I think it's the Wrangler butt (she likes posting the same pic of it over and over). Never saw the appeal myself - was always more of a Levi's girl.

This made me think of Ladd too - "She always has a hunk of beef around the house"

bilgistic, I feel your pain. I have social anxiety too. I also take Ativan on occasion because I'm so wound up from the day that I'm physically shaking and can't sleep. I think many people just do not get it at all. Being pushed into social situations really doesn't work. I have found that listening to music helps me stay calm, and lately I've kept my headphones on all day. People know they can interrupt me, and I'm fine with that. Otherwise, I want to tune out all the noise. If you think it would help, do you think you could keep some earbuds in next week? Fight the power, jenh526, so I can say at least one of us did! This made me laugh and brought back a memory. I had a coworker once that I used to go to lunch with on occasion. We were never supposed to park in front of the building because there were limited spaces and management wanted to reserve the spots for VIPs. We got back from lunch one time and my coworker said "Park in front. Let's stick it to the man!" Being the quiet rebel I am, I complied.

I hate this time of year. I'm expected to go to all the work functions and mingle with people that I loathe and who treat me like shit. I'm expected to buy a gift for them. I'd be having the third serving of their cheap crap catered food since Thanksgiving. Well, not this year. Not going. Don't care what they think since they already don't like me.

I liked that one too - read it a long time ago. I think of his description of his airplane flight in China whenever I have to fly. He has a new one out called "Deep South" that I'd like to read. Have you read that one?

I always thought Kelly kissed weirdly. Glad someone else noticed.

Watched the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol on AMC last night. My favorite part is the ghost of Christmas-yet-to-come. He scared me as a kid, and is still pretty creepy.

I am so sick of my workplace and I am just getting more and more angry. I don't know what to do with all my anger and my family and friends are sick of hearing about it. I'm sick of it too. There is one person there who has been nasty to almost everyone, always trying to find fault with everything everyone else does, badmouthing them, etc. She's told me before that with her it's all about CYA, and I guess that's how she does it. She has learned "kiss up, kick down" to a T. So the managers think she is wonderful, and they recently promoted her to a lead position. Everyone that she's badmouthed of course hates this, and no one wants to have anything to do with her. Today one of the managers said "you don't seem to have enough work to do, why don't you go help out B, she is so stressed". Yes, the person who has kicked me every chance she gets, now makes $10K more than me, can't handle her own workload (but asked for all of it to make herself look OH SO BUSY) then cries to all the managers... I'm supposed to go help her out? Sometimes I think I'm in Opposite World.

God, me too. I started noticing hair loss when I was in my twenties. Went to see a dermatologist about it who told me I have "androgenetic alopecia". Basically a genetic predisposition to early hair loss. There's early greying in my family too, although that can be remedied with dye. Now that I'm approaching 50 I don't care as much about it. I've found that using a gentle daily shampoo along with a leave-in cream-based conditioner and brushing with a round brush helps give my hair some body. I truly hate having a wide part though. Sorry you went through that. People can be so cruel (or insensitive at best). I've been told I look like my dad - aside from the fact that my dad is not the greatest-looking, what girl wants to be compared looks-wise with a man?

Anyone watch The Hunting Ground last night? I don't have kids but I'd be terrified to sent my daughter to college these days. Or at least, without a four-year's supply of Mace. After watching Independent Lens this weekend about a horrific gang-rape and murder of an Indian woman and then this, I think I need to look at pictures of kittens for awhile.

Made these over the weekend: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/brownies/marbled-chocolate-pumpkin-brownies/ I thought they turned out very well! I think I like brownies made from scratch better than mix brownies - more of the chocolate flavor comes through.

Frances' fully-realized wedding cake: http://francesquinn.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/wedding-cake.jpg I guess they really didn't have enough time to complete them!

My mom didn't want Kimberley to win because in the semi-final she mixed in fruit with her hand. I guess I'm ok with Frances winning, although I think Kimberley was the most consistent overall. I was reading things about how cocky she was. Ha! They should watch some American competitions sometime. I actually liked Kimberley's wedding cake idea with the blue and silver and the different designs on each layer, even if the execution wasn't the best. And Frances' would've looked much better with a confetti swirl around the cake, but hers was pretty too and I liked the bees. Wasn't it a bit tilted on the top though? No one said anything about it. I didn't think Ruby's was bad, although it looked like she didn't have enough time to finish. At any rate, I would've really liked to have been at that picnic at the end.

Finding that difficult to comprehend... reminds me of when my little brother used to eat hot dogs straight out of the refrigerator. :P

Never heard of a picnic pie before. Is that a common thing in Britain? Is it similar to the US pot pie?

As a New Mexican, I was just happy to see that people know it's a state in the US. http://www.nmmagazine.com/one-of-our-50-is-missing/ As someone who used to drive frequently between New Mexico and California, it used to take us about two days, staying overnight somewhere in AZ. But then, we weren't exactly rushing either.

Haven't finished watching this yet but Beca is hilarious. I love that her face is all covered in flour, and the reference to Planet Frances that nobody can hitch a ride to was great. She looks like my cousin, who is of French extraction.

Thank you for posting this! Once again, I missed the episode and it's not on On Demand. Is Comcast really that evil that it knows which episodes I haven't watched and makes those not available on On Demand? Or am I just being paranoid?

I can't watch this anymore because I'm too poor to afford it, but I used to love watching the show for the Milania moments, especially when she'd take on big Joe. My all-time favorites: "get me pizza you old troll" and the episode with Joe strapping the suitcases to the top of the car - I believe she was calling him a gorilla, wish I could find it online. Either she's incredibly ballsy or a budding sociopath. Here's a link to the first one (it's at the end): http://www.bravotv.com/the-real-housewives-of-new-jersey/season-3/episode-320/videos?clip=17270079