Posts published during January, 2005

I love this because a) I work for a software company and am a nerd, and b) I *am* wifey 1.0.

Dear Tech Support:

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources. In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity. Applications such as Poker Night 10.3, Football 5.0, Hunting and Fishing 7.5, and Racing 3.6 no longer run, crashing the system whenever selected.

I can’t seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I’m thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the uninstall doesn’t work on Wife 1.0. Please help!

Thanks,
A Troubled User. (KEEP READING)
______________________________________

REPLY:
Dear Troubled User:

This is a very common problem that men complain about.

Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed.

You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony-Child Support. I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application “Yes Dear” to alleviate software augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0, Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2.

However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0 !

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.

Best of luck,
Tech Support

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Working Like A Dog

Today is going to be – in the words of the illustrious Bill and Ted – most heinous dudes. I’ve been wrestling with this help file for 5 days and now the boss wants it signed, sealed and delivered today. To top it off, I’ll be converting what I have into a new program I’ve never used before. Yowza!

That being said, I’m currently sitting in my undies, wringing my hands, waiting for the office to open so I can get in early. What a nerd!

And to continue my discussion of wild and wacky coworkers, I would like to present: SpongeBob.

SpongeBob is a nice guy. He’s kind of got a squishy face, flyaway hair and small snaggly teeth. He’s a big man, a solid man. He just has this sort of pulpy nose and jowly smile. He is the PM for our next generation of the flagship product, and well, I think he might have a heart attack before everything’s said and done.

But there again, I might too…

Anywho, one day, confused by my edits, he started blathering incoherently. Out of nowhere he turned red like a tomato and started rubbing his hands over his eyes like he was gonna cry buckets, like he was gonna lose it.

I think he’s a little unstable right now. Just yesterday I walked into his office only to hear him exclaim “This town needs an enema!”

I’m not sure what that means. Maybe, like SpongeBob, I just have to get a little crazy, turn a little loco, become insane in the membrane. Maybe I just need to snap a little bit. Once I have achieved the zen brought forth by intolerable stress, perhaps then the mystery of geographic colon cleansing will become apparent.

I’ll tell you tomorrow if that’s true.

In the meantime, I think I’ll get ready for work. Before starting on help files from hell I must bite off all my fingernails and roll up into the fetal position while sobbing hysterically.

I am a health nut. I do yoga every morning, drink Evian water almost exclusively, and eat only those foods that are most beneficial to me, according to my blood type. I eat very little grain, dairy or sugar because they make me achy. My lifestyle is unorthodox and so are my adventures in the kitchen.

Beef Bourginon, the French call it. This seemingly tasty dish is the French equivalent to stew. Instead of tomatoes and potatoes, they cook their beef stew with wine and onions. Everybody knows wine and onions are way more glamorous than tomatoes and potatoes, so I thought I’d give it a try.

And it wasn’t a bad idea except – because it seemed so European to do so – I tripled the most powerful ingredient and left the rest at their recommended level.

A petite sophisticate in my 50s-style housewife apron, I poured a little red wine into the crock pot… and then, because it wasn’t covering the vegetables, I poured a little more red wine into the crock pot and then, because it was a French dish and the French love wine, I poured a little more into the crock pot.

This continued for about two minutes, until I had fairly drowned the beef and veggies in an intoxicating soup of Wal-Mart wine.

And I don’t even like wine. In fact, I hate the taste. I hate the smell. For me there’s not too much to like about fermented grapes, except I heard it’s good for your heart.

And that’s the problem.

Silly me, just because something is good for me doesn’t make it delicious. Take for example, prune juice, cod liver oil, or seaweed. This stuff is all very healthy, but let’s face it, after eating them you feel a) crappy about having stink cod liver oil breath and seaweed in your teeth, and b) a dire urge to run to the toilet.

Long story short, after slow cooking my precious bourginon for 10 hours, the end result was a pot of swill so ripe with alcohol I got a buzz just taking the lid off the thing.

Angelface laughed as I tried to eat 1, 2, 3 slices of the tender beef saturated in its intoxicating broth. I wanted to show him, it wasn’t as bad as he thought. I swore I’d eat the whole 6 servings of alcoholic meat and mushrooms myself. Then, late at night, I dumped it all in the trash, because that’s where my bourginon belonged.

C’est la vie.

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Live Strong

Fancy scratching post to keep kitty’s claws off couch: $28
Plastic donut purchased b/c kitty seemed depressed: $5
Barbie mice to put in kitty’s Christmas stocking: $8
Realizing that in the course of a year kitty has destroyed all expensive toys and has found the greatest, most indestructible and long-lasting happiness with a rubberband that came off a head of lettuce: priceless

In related news, Bella recently celebrated her one-year adoption anniversary with Angelface and I. Angelface purchased a lovely cookie cake for the occassion. Belle didn’t seem to mind that the cake had SpongeBob on it and read Happy Birthday.

Of course Bella doesn’t eat cake, as she prefers a vegetarian diet of Purina One and scraps of sweet potato, so Angelface and I did very well, eating the entire 14 inch chocolate chip monstrosity ourselves. The neon blue frosting stained our mouths for days. We looked like we had eaten a bowl full of smurfs.

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And Just Like That

You know that first day of school? How it always felt a bit disjointed and disorienting? I kind of always felt like, on the first day I was a little bit of an outsider, like a puzzle piece that didn’t quite fit.

Well, starting a new job is bit like that first day of school. You’re coming into an organization where everyone has a title, a space and a role, whether gossip queen, annoying dude, know-it-all, mr. cool guy or ms. sweetheart.

I’ve been at my new company for about 12 days now, and finally, after long last, its happened. And just like that – I feel like I fit.

There are some hilarious people at the new job – too many to mention in one post, so will be writing about them as a series.

Today’s co-worker, we will call him Pepe’. Pepe’ has a small frenchie mustache (hence the name), but that’s understandable, because Pepe’ is an artiste.

Head of the Creative dept, he spends his work day organizing marketing materials and product deliverables. By night he hosts poker – so hot right now – and paints. He doesn’t just paint landscapes, watercolors, or pink flamingos, but is a full – on conceptual painter.

He attends art shows. His favorite Smithsonian exhibit is the Mineral exhibit – not because the most fantastic diamond in the world, the Hope Diamond, is showcased there, but because the minerals have so much “color and texture.”

Although I like to imagine that I am, when I’m with Pepe’, I realize even though I’m a writer, even though I wear plastic glasses, even though I’m a bit eccentric, I am not very artsy at all.

It’s okay if people think I’m artsy though. I’ve always considered that to be a compliment. But what these people don’t know is – what these people who think i’m very creative and artsy is:

- I love Dawsons Creek and the OC
- I have no interest in reading Niesche and know very little about Freud
- I may have a latte every once in a while, but do not frequent the coffe house scene
- I would never consider reading my poetry on open mic night
- I do not, in general, enjoy emo music (but have made an exception where Bright Eyes is concerned)
- I am not particularly tortured
- I have never shaved my head
- I do not play an instrument, paint still lifes, or take black and white photos
- I do not have a pixie hair cut died black
- I do have a black and white cat who I kiss and cuddle and call “Baby.” She often swipes my ankles and wakes me early in the morning.

On that note – this artsy fartsy gurl has to get ready for work. I’ve got breakfast, yoga and flat ironing of hair to attend to!

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Hot.Fresh.New.

What’s hotter than J-Lo’s kathunkadunkdunk? What’s fresher than the freshest athlete’s foot just powdered with Johnson & Johnsons? What’s newer than the iPOD shuffle or news of the
ghost whose been arrested
for haunting a European castle?

This blog – that’s what. Today, dear hannihaus readers, I am dubbing the 10Cent Sparkler “Hot, Fresh and New…er than it was yesterday.”

You will notice this blog comes fully stocked with fabulous new features such as:
- links to Friends – for those who suspect I don’t have any, ha!
- bright, shiny template with easy-to-read white background – revamped for those who complained that the previous lilac shade was actually more of a putrid purple.
- gorgeous new header complete with teeny heart signifying my love for Hot.Fresh.New blog – For those who loved the putrid purple, consider this header my tribute to the past. For those who still hate my use of the plum-colored shade, cry me a river. Like blue eyeshadow and Dawsons Creek reruns on TBS, some things are just too classic to discard.
- amazing new layout – look Ma, no frames! This layout is sooo 2005.

And best of all kids, starting from today, I promise each new post will be New. Yes, each and every post you read starting from today will be content I have never once published on this blog. It may be a small rehash, and may refer to the same topics I routinely discuss (ie weird smells, crazy friends, wacky family, hairsuite men) but in general, I will not be posting, word-for-word, sylable-for-sylable content that has been previously posted in this same blog.

Unbeleivable right? But it’s true! And this blog can now be yours for reading and enjoying 100% free – But only if you read today and only if you read within the next 30 seconds. For those who take advantage of this fantastic offer, you will also be receiving bonus bouts of laughter, causing you to snort like a pig and occasionally roll out of the chair which you are currrently occupying.

For good times and snorting-good fun, read this Hot.Fresh.New 10Cent Sparkler today!

After a long days work spent bending my brain with questions of punctuation and prose, I really look forward to coming home to my cozy little one bedroom apartment. It’s humble and cluttered and has a balcony from which I can rest and relax as I watch palm trees and ginkos sway in the breeze.

And I’m wasting away again in Margaritaville.

My loyal readers may remember the 4 years I spent living in the projects. By the projects I mean government-sponsored student housing. By government-sponsored student housing I mean 10 X 12 rooms made of cinder block, smelling of mold and the b.o. of previous inhabitants, furnished with cheap pine desks hand crafted by the artisans of Cell Block A in the South Central Virginia State Penitentary.

Yes, those were the days.

So I get home today, pull in the drive, get out the car, put my key in the lock, and what’s the first thing I see when I open the door? My little baby Bella Donna Bad Girl looking up at me with, what I call, Bedroom Eyes.

Bedroom Eyes are the sleepy eyes she gives me when trying to convince me to do things like give her a kitty neck massage. With lowered lids she peers up to me, waiting, expectant.

So I get home and she’s giving my bedroom eyes. And I’m like “that’s so sweet.” And then she opens her precious little mouth…

and lets out the most ugly, blood curdling yowl known to man.

I mean It sounded like Bella was strangling a turkey as she howeled urgrowrurgrowrurgrowr!

She continued for five minutes to trail me around the house going urgrowrurgrowrurgrowrurgrowr, all the while swatting my ankles while throwing in an occasional chomp on my toes.

And this is solace that I came home to after a long day. She’s a monster, but she’s my little monster with a turkey in her throat and mischief on her mind.

Can’t wait to get up, go to work and come home tomorrow.

File this under: My Baaad Ass Kitty

Something in my kitchen smells like its curled up and died. The source of this most unpleasant odor seems to be coming from my garbage disposal, the contents of which largely remain a mystery to me.

What oh what could it be?

Perhaps the remnants of last nights Purple Monstrosity smoothie? The soy milk, while giving a pleasant texture to said Monstrosity, has been known to curdle when left out. I am remise to admit that, because I was in the midst of an Alias marathon (thanks VS), I did not clean the blender til this am, and indeed found curdled soy in the base.

But no, I did not detect a strong smell while cleaning the blender. What then could I have placed in the disposal to make it smell like roadkill stew?

Perhaps it was the mound of sweet potato shavings. I did, I’m sorry to say, dump a bunch of sweet potato skins in the disposal yesterday. You see, I was too fatigued (ie lazy) to walk the 10 steps to the garbage can which is where I typically deposit skins and peelings. Indeed, the odiferous culprit strikes me as something of the organic variety.

But then I think, how can something so wholesome emit such a god-awful stench? I mean it smells like armpit at the fat folks festival on a hot summer day.

Perhaps this is a question I may never be able to answer. I do know this much though, this marks my first real blog entry in several months, and in an interesting twist, I’ve found I’ve resorted to classic hannihaus blogging: talk of smelly things in the morning. Many thanks to SORM without whom this haus would be in shambles. Thank you for all your work on the template!

File this under: Somethin funky at this funky haus

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She’s Aliiiive!

Oh vei! How bad am I for putting off blogging? I’ve got so many fantastic stories that never made it to this haus. I’ve got stories about slacking, stories about firing, stories about vicious cats, stories about docile cats. I’ve got stories that are so funny I cry just thinking about them, and stories so cute it’d make your heart swell.

I must, as a matter of New Years resolve, begin blogging more frequently. While today’s post may be lame, at least I’m posting. I find that typing the post is the hardest part. All day long I think of hilarious things to write, but then I never get around to doing it. That changes today!

In the news, I have a new job. I work for an anti spyware company that’s *joy of joys* located only 10 minutes from my house. And get this – I am currently employed as a copywriter. Yes kids, I am now writing professionally for a living. The best part of this new job is – no snoopy micromanaging know-nothing bosses peering over my shoulder every two seconds. Everyone is sort of autonomous and cool with their iPods and geek speak. I likee.

Yes, leaving my previous company was not hard. I never wrote about all the craziness there, for fear that someone would see my blog and fire me. But I’m proud to say, as of recently the craziness at the crappiest job ever has been chronicled in a blog called The Producers. Hurrah for that!

Well I start work in an hour at 10 (another fantastic perk of current job), so I must go shower (lest i offend my coworkers).

With that I bid you adieu!