GetSheila

New Office Photos

The CPA firm I work for just moved into a brand new office with brand new furniture and a brand new giant mortgage that I am sure we will be hearing about all through tax season.

I am guessing my new office setup is only exciting to me and my mother, so this one's for you, ma.

My new office. Notice the tiny slit of a window. The other offices all have a full wall of windows but I chose this one. Why? Because I am only in the office three days per week so people who are there five days per week should get the pretty offices. (No, I am not a self-sacrificing martyr. It just makes sense this way.)

Hey look, it's me wearing moving-day clothes and my birth control glasses.

There, that's better. I have made this one my new blog photo. The former photo was lovely...

...but not what I look like every day. I am all about transparency and WYSIWYG. Picture me in no makeup, slippers, and sweats and call it a day, 'k?

And picture me sitting here. This is what the home office of a cat person looks like when she gets to take the furniture from the old office home because they bought all new stuff for the new office. Looks brand new, huh? That is because I got it less than a year ago and put it together all by me-self.

Sheila: Queen of Flat-Pack Furniture.

Tags: office move, office furniture

New Toy

I know I should blog for your entertainment but I just don't feel like it right now. It may have something to do with this:

Don't mind the chair. I dressed it all up just for you.

I would have had the TV mounted on the wall but that costs an additional seven hundred dollars. I could get a whole other fabulous TV for that price. Pirates! Thieves! Electronic store salesmen!

Oh dear, look at the time. I shall be late for my hair appointment.

It's a girly girly girly girly girly girly day.

Tags: plasma tv

Robert Scoble - Husband and Dork

So says his lovely wife, Maryam. Oh wait, I don't thing she used the word dork.

I met Robert and Patrick once, at Blogher, and I subscribe to Robert's blog.

I have exchanged a few emails with Maryam and get all my best links from her blog.

That is the sum total of my contact with the Scobles.

So why am I linking to Maryam now? Because they are so cute as a couple and so in love and Maryam is so proud of her dorky husband right now that I had to share.

Except she did not call him a dork. Just so we are clear on that point.

Tags: robert scoble, maryam scoble

Open Mic Night at Medium Dreams

I am hosting Open Mic Night right now over at Medium Dreams. The mic is on until 11:00pm. Drop on by, even if you never watch Medium. Come on...do a drive-by commenting. You know you want to.

Tags: medium, medium dreams, open mic night

Did You Know?

My siblings and I bought mom a portable dishwasher for Christmas. Did you know you should not attach a portable dishwasher to a faucet when there is a sprayer connected on the same water line because water pressure can cause the sprayer hose to explode? (Don't worry. I read the instructions before I turned on the dishwasher.)

Meanwhile, today was Day One of my day-job's move across town to new office digs. Did you know 42-year-old women who do not exercise should not spend an entire day moving and unpacking boxes because they will discover muscles they forgot were there and really did not want to be reminded about? But if said 42-year-old women are stupid enough to take part in this sort of activity, the combination of Vicoden and Aleve is a wonder drug?

I thought you would want to know.

Technorati Tags: christmas, mom, office move, back pain

10 Things I Learned in 2006

I learned a few things in 2006. In honor of Instigator Blog's group writing project, I share them with you:

1. Blogging is fun!
   
   Who knew vomiting your thoughts all over Internet readers could be so cathartic? Lots of people apparently. It looks like I am more of an early majority than an innovator or early adopter.


2. Blogging is hard.
   
   I am incredibly anti-social when I am writing. "Go 'way. Lemme alone. I'm thinking." I still have much to learn about structuring my time so I can blog and work a full-time job and still have some semblance of a life. Right now, it is a mystery.


3. Structure is good.
   
   Full-time work out of the home is a good thing and not just because of the money. It gives me a reason to get out of bed, do my hair, put on makeup, and dress in something other than sweats. And I get to talk to real live people during the day.


4. Facing death is hard.
   
   This year I lost my childhood friend Ricky, my beloved cat Squeak, and just last week, my cousin Luranna. I know intellectually that everyone I love will eventually die, but I don't really think about it much. Then it happens and it is horrible and, after the horror fades a bit, I realized that I, too, am going to die and it sucks. But if you think about it, I mean really think about it, the reality of your own demise can be rather freeing. At least it was for me. It helped me put many things in perspective. (If you are sitting there wondering why, then, you have not heard from me, does it help to know I think about you more often now? No? Obviously I have not perfected the follow-through on my new perspective.)


5. Friends are everything.
   
   I have the best friends in the whole world. I get to travel to exotic places to see them get married (JennBo). They put me up (or is it "put up with me"?) whenever I am in town (G). They are my biggest blog cheerleaders (JCW and everyone else how leaves comments). They give me a fish so I can eat for a day, but then they also teach me to fish so I can eat for the rest of my life (Nat). And they are just generally good people.


6. Internet friendships are a strange and wonderful thing.
   
   I have met some exceptional people through blogging. I will not list them here because as soon as I start, the list grows and grows and then I worry that I will forget someone and it is just too much pressure. Suffice it to say that if you have commented on my blog, interacted with me on the internal b5media forums, I have linked to you, or I have commented on your blog, I am talking about you.
   
   The strange part of the aforementioned strange and wonderfulness is that I have met very few of these people in real life. The few I have met I did so at BlogHer back in July, way before I got to know them through their blogs. The wonderful part is how nice and supportive and intelligent and creative they all are. I am blown away by them every single day. Knowing these people makes me feel good about the human race. Knowing these people makes me think that maybe, just maybe, there is hope for mankind after all.


7. Hospice caregivers are a different breed.
   
   Whether you are a professional hospice caregiver or an everyday Joe providing hospice care for a loved one, I cannot even begin to fathom how you do it. You are amazing and courageous. I salute you.


8. Age brings neither wisdom nor maturity.
   
   And I am not just talking about me.


9. Family isn't all it's cracked up to be.
   
   Just because you are related does not mean you have to like each other. There is no law that says you have to try, either.


10. It is easy to say you care but much, much harder to follow through and stay in touch. (Do you have any tips on how to do this? Anybody?)

This is not exactly a humorous list, is it? It started out to be but then I realized this has not really been a humorous year. C'est la vie. So be it. Shit happens.

So what did you learn in 2006?

Tags: 10 things, lists, what i learned

Kitty Cam - Why Didn't I Think Of This?

William at Artist Hideout set up a kitty cam so he and his family can keep tabs on their two kitties while they are away visiting family for the holidays. BRILLIANT! The image refreshes every two minutes. He hopes someone will capture an image of one of the cats cuddling with the b5media hat he left on the bed. I think that squished thing on the right used to be the hat so hopefully someone got the shot. I took a few screenshots for William's (and your) viewing pleasure.

This is how Elijah looks most of the time:

But then, movement!

"What was that? A mouse? An intruder? Food?"

"Oh, it was nothing. Did anyone see me freak out? Damn, they still have that freaking camera on."

"Nothing to do but go back to sleep."

"zzzzzzzzzz"

"ZZZZZZZZZZ"

________________

I could watch this kitty cam for hours. There is another kitty I haven't even seen yet. If you are looking for some mindless fun, click on over to Artist Hideout and refresh-at-will. Thank you, William. I now know what to do the next time we go on vacation.

Tags: artist hideout, kitty cam

Contests Contests Contests

Problogger recently had a group writing project on the topic Reviews and Predictions: look forward or back on...anything you like. I chose to look back on the year with a post on Medium Dreams, A Year in the Life of 'Medium:' 2006. There were a whopping 282 292 entries in Reviews and Predictions!

Instigator Blog is also having a group writing project. Topic: What did you learn in 2006? (Thanks to Eliza for the heads-up about this one.) The deadline for submitting your entry is tomorrow so get cracking you bloggers! I will post my entry later today or perhaps tomorrow. Just wanted to get the word out about this project, albeit a little late. But I just found out, really I did.

I do not actually enter these things for the prizes, which is good because I never win. Heh. I love group writing projects and carnivals because they provide me with a topic to write about. Who can come up with interesting anecdotes to write about every day? A better person than me, that's who. I also do it for the link love and to expand my horizon on interesting blogs to read.

*     *     *

Hello? You are all out shopping right now, aren't you?

Tags: group writing project, reviews and predictions, what i learned

Six of My Weird Blogging Friends

Remember how I ruthlessly tagged six people to write about their six weird habits? Well here are their posts, the good sports:

• Kerri
• Arieanna
• Jenn
• Hsien (Whose name I always seem to spell wrong as "Hsein" but have finally realized it is the first four letters of my name with each pair reversed, then tack on an "n." Or I suppose I could just go with "i" before "e.")

Four out of six ain't bad. The other two? Here is my guess:

Maral: Rarely blogs. I am sure she is working up to a post. Any day now. Really.

Cory: Has actually posted but has so many blogs I have yet to find his post...

OR

Had no idea who I was when I emailed him so put me in SPAM and completely ignored me...

OR

Knew exactly who I was so put me in SPAM and completely ignored me.

I am just happy to know these good people. Go check them out!

Tags: lists, meme, Tag 118, weird habits

Create Your Own Gift Tags

Out of gift tags and don't have time to go to the store? Print them yourself for free! My mom sent me this link to DLTK's Custom Gift Tags, where you create your own tags:

1. Choose a theme (It's not just a Christmas thing. They have other holidays, seasons, special occasions, etc.);
2. Choose color or black & white printer;
3. Choose an image (Choices are based on the theme you chose at Step 1);
4. Add names to include in the To and From fields (or you can leave them blank and hand write them later, like you do on regular gift tags);
5. Choose the text font, size, and color.

Then you simply print them out on your printer. You will have to use tape on the back to apply them to your packages, but so what? They're FREE! And cute. Below is a sample of my creation. You get a full page of ten tags, but I am only showing two: one with the names filled in and one without. I chopped off the left border, but you get the idea.

You can start at the beginning again and create as many different designs as you like. How cute is that!

Tags: make gift tags