Check out this really cute picture of Daphne. I think it looks eerily like baby pictures I’ve seen of myself.

This is odd, in that I am not related to Daphne in the slightest, except in the doting friend role.

Also: check out this funny, stylish examination of flip-flopping in this election, J Crew style. This is an excellent link for me, as a connoisseur of both politics and shoes. Thanks for the link, Ken.

And one more: a stirring tribute to peace entitled “I Didn’t Know I Was UnAmerican,” with a charming soundtrack. Thanks for the link, Tana.

So I made a promise to myself that I would exercise every day this week. Well, last night we went out for burgers and beer at George’s after work, and by the time we got home, it was too dark to go jogging. I said, “No problem, I’ll just do an aerobics video.”

But you know what doesn’t make a person very inclined to do an aerobics video? Cheeseburgers and beer. Ahem.

So I didn’t. But it’s a fairly nice evening out (damp but warmish), so I shall certainly go jogging tonight. It will be great! It’s the strangest thing; I actually sort of enjoy running. Who knew?

I need to go to the store tonight to get supplies for the very scary eyeball candies I’m going to make for Halloween. They’re white chocolate-covered cherries with eyeballs painted on them in food coloring. That way when you bite into them, it’s mushy and red and gross. Mmmm…

Today I…

• Voted. It was a little anticlimactic to do it not on Tuesday the 2nd, but that’s ok. It was much less crowded and relaxed at the satellite voting location (aka the Public Library). I had to return some books anyway, so it was very convenient.
• Got a good start on a No Shame piece. I did it during a boring meeting. Don’t tell Shaowen I thought his presentation was boring. I’m sure it’s interesting to people who know what the hell he’s talking about.
• Canceled my renter’s insurance, since I will very shortly (or mediumly shortly, depending) be a homeowner and have the applicable insurance.
• Signed DC and myself up for ballroom dance classes. Denny’s boss and his wife might take them to, which might be weird for Denny but will be funny for me, since the guy isn’t my boss. Actually I did that yesterday, but it seemed dumb to have two lists.

I have an item for my wish list for when I have my as-of-yet nonexistent baby:

It’s not even very expensive. And holy crap, is it not the cutest thing ever?

Want to see a prototype of our wedding website? Denny’s going to make it all css-based, but this is a working model.

I’ve been fiddling with it all day. It’s still got some fleshing-out to be done, but it’s a hearty starty.

Hi.

I was wondering why it had been so long since I’d had any comments on my page. It turns out I messed something up when I was adding some anti-Spam precautions. Comments are now functional.

Kisses,

Aprille

So I was thinking I wanted just a gardenia in my hair for the wedding, sort of like this:

only, of course, with a gardenia:

BUT! Isn’t this pretty?

It turns out the rudeness of the current owners is neither here nor there, because Denny was able to get a 45-day lock on the rate we wanted with zero points. Good job, DC.

I appreciate what a good job he’s done on all this financial stuff. I’m not very knowledgeable about it, so it’s great that he’s taken charge of this area.

You know, normally I’m a pretty assertive and independent person; I take care of myself and I hate being bossed around. But one of the things I love most about being with Denny is that sometimes I can just relax, because he handles some things. Other times in my life, if I didn’t take action on something, it just didn’t happen. It’s a tiring way to live.

Thanks, DC. You do so much for me.

I realize my post from this morning sounds very negative. We all have our bad days, of course, but I like to think of myself as a person more positive than negative. So I will post this second item:

Denny and I are going to Al and Irene’s for dinner, and it’s going to be good.

I took a quiz about which presidential candidate best reflects my views. Here were my results:

1. Your ideal theoretical candidate. (100%)
2. Cobb, David – Green Party (89%)
3. Nader, Ralph – Independent (89%)
4. Brown, Walt – Socialist Party (78%)
5. Kerry, Senator John, MA – Democrat (74%)
6. Badnarik, Michael – Libertarian (34%)
7. Peroutka, Michael – Constitution Party (15%)
8. Bush, President George W. – Republican (8%)

I like how they have that imaginary ideal candidate. I’m fantasizing about voting for her right now. *daydreams*

OK, the house saga continues. Get this:

Denny has been keeping a close eye on interest rates, because we want to lock in a rate when they get low. The generally accepted maximum time to lock in a rate is 30 days before closing; as of today, we are 40 days away from our latest possible closing date. There’s a good chance we will actually be able to close sooner than that, because the new home construction of the current owners is going well.

So…Denny noticed yesterday that interest rates had fallen to the point that he wanted to lock in. We realize that this may mean closing early, so it would mean a very slight financial loss to us, because there would be a 10-day overlap between when we closed and when we moved in. But no biggie, especially compared to the savings associated with locking in that low, low interest rate.

We had discussed closing VERY early, because there were some good interest rates available back when we first agreed to buy the house. We brought up the idea with the owners of having them rent from us for a month or so before they moved out. No, no, they didn’t want to do that. Well. OK. So we waited. Now that rates are low again, we wouldn’t even ask them to pay any rent for that 10 day overlap.

They would be living for free for 10 days. There is absolutely ZERO disadvantage to them in agreeing to close early. It’s 10 freaking days, people. It will cost them nothing. So Denny ran that by their realtor.

“They’re conservative people. They don’t want to feel like they’re living in someone else’s house.”

Wha-wha-what?? For 10 DAYS? Who the hell cares? I’ve been living in “someone else’s house” for the last 8 years that I’ve been renting, and let me tell you, it’s no big deal, especially if it’s free.

All I can think of is that they just don’t want to do us a tiny little completely painless favor.

Our realtor (Denny did manage to get a hold of her, thank goodness) is going to work on it some more and try to convince them via their realtor. Apparently it’s bad form to just talk to the people. That’s what I wanted to do, but Denny said it’s bad manners. I’ve never done this before, so I don’t know.

Sheesh.

DC and I went apple-picking last weekend. He took some nice pictures, mostly of me. If you want to see what I look like while carrying a basket of apples , here’s your chance.

Not much is going on here, really. I’m ready to move into the house. Denny left a message with our annoying realtor several days ago, but she never called him back. Then we saw her husband the other day and he said she was going to Florida this week.

How rude! This is just one of the ways we’ve been frustrated with her. It will be good to just get into the house and be done with all that business.

In other news: I have been eating pretzels like a fiend. What’s up with that?

Hey! Check out what I just got from U.S. Cellular!

At U.S. Cellular, we strive to provide the very best in customer satisfaction and we appreciate your recent inquiry regarding Sinclair Broadcasting Group. As a non-partisan corporation, U.S. Cellular does not take a position in the presidential race. However, we believe the program “Stolen Honor” does not provide an optimal environment for our advertising. Therefore, we have instructed Sinclair affiliates not to run U.S. Cellular commercial spots two hours before, during and after the program’s airing. We value your opinion and hope our response addresses your concerns.

Sincerely,

John E. Rooney
President & CEO
U.S. Cellular

See, kids? Democracy can work

Friends of democracy, please take a look at this site, which gives lists (exhaustive and top 10) of advertisers who have paid to be associated with Sinclair Broadcast Group’s partisan hijacking of their member stations.

Just days before the election, the Sinclair Broadcast Group will require its member stations (including KGAN Channel 2 in eastern Iowa) to show an anti-Kerry film, interrupting prime-time broadcasting. This may be illegal; the Federal Election Committee is looking into it (source).

How you can help: boycott the advertisers, and call or write to tell them you’re boycotting and why. My current cellular phone provider, U.S. Cellular, is one of the top ten. I’m switching my service. I’ve been happy with U.S. Cellular, but my contract is up, and this is reason enough for me to change.

Past Aprille did me the hugest favor.

I got a call on the phone today from this woman at Guided Independent Study. Last month, I made 150 websites for her on WebCT. They are all regular websites like I would do for any university course, complete with U of I course numbers. As I was doing it, I thought to myself, “You know, rather than integrate these with all the other course numbers, perhaps I should put some kind of differentiating ID on them. I don’t know why I would ever use that, but something tells me it may prove useful one day.”

So today when she called and asked me to make two people co-designers in all 150 sites, I looked upon Past Aprille’s actions with gratitude. Under normal circumstances, I would have had to refer to my old list of courses she gave me, figure out which ones were hers and which ones were regular university courses, then manually add all 150 sites to each person’s account.

But! Thanks to that industrious young go-getter Past Aprille, I was able to simply search on the person’s name, then search on the differentiating ID I gave to the 150 sites, and assign them in one fell swoop.

That Past Aprille sure rocks. You know what else she did? She made me dinner. It will be ready when I get home. Past Aprille + crockpot = delicious.

I don’t know if I really have any readership outside the U.S., but just in case I do, I have a proposition for you. My friend Ken showed me this:

http://guardian.assets.digivault.co.uk/clark_county/

What it is: people all over the world will be affected by the upcoming election, and the great majority of them can’t vote in U.S. elections. But here’s your chance to have some say. Just go to the website above, fill in your email address (they promise they won’t spam you), and you will be given the address of someone in Clark County, Ohio. This county is very divided, and only 324 votes separated Democrats from Republicans in the last election. So, you can write a letter to a voter there and explain your position and try to influence him or her to vote in a way that you think is right.

This site is non-partisan; you can try to sway people however you like. Having spoken to people in Ireland, though, it’s my understanding that much of Europe is pretty horrified by the prospect of 4 more years of George W. Bush. I can’t blame them. I’m horrified too.

I love Buffalo wings. I am having Buffalo wings for dinner. Then Denny and I are going to a reading at Prairie Lights, then No Shame later. Man, my evening is going to be so great.

There are a lot of exciting things coming up in the next couple of weeks.

1. Halloween! I need to get my sewing machine repaired so I can work on a costume.
2. The announcement of the final selection of the single Course Management System for the University of Iowa (this is interesting to me but probably not to you).
3. The presidential election. I’m going to buy a bottle of champagne with which I will (hopefully) celebrate, or (hopelessly) self-medicate, depending on the results.

I think I may have caught my grandmother Maw’s Ebay bug. I had been casually looking around antiques stores for brooches to wear on my wedding dress (mine came with one but I don’t really like it, plus I thought it would be fun to have a “something old” right there). I never found anything I liked in any antiques store, but Ebay has a plethora of nice things.

I won two Ebay auctions for brooches, because I can’t decide which one I like better. I like the blue one because it goes with my wedding colors, but the other one goes better with the beautiful earrings my mom gave me. I haven’t received either of them yet, so I’ll have to make the decision when I see them live. Here are the pictures:

I’m also bidding on a bracelet. It’s pretty. I’m seriously going to quit after I get my wedding jewelry figured out. I’m not going to let this become an addiction, I promise. I’m not going to post the picture because it’s bad luck to show someone what you’re bidding on before you get it. I learned my lesson on that one. Sheesh.

I got my wedding shoes! They are very nice. I was going to wait until after we move to get them so there would be less to haul, but I figured it’s easier to absorb the cost now. They weren’t all that expensive, even I cannot believe that some people pay $300 for wedding shoes. I might pay $300 for some really amazing boots, but not for shoes I’m going to wear once that won’t even show under my dress.

Here are my shoes:

I’ve been a sleep maniac lately. Yesterday after work, after scarfing down a delicious George’s cheeseburger, I got really tired. I didn’t even have a beer (which I considered, because George’s cheeseburgers go great with beer). I was just naturally, genuinely tired.

So, since I occasionally enjoy a 20-minute nap around the 6 p.m. mark, I thought I’d have myself one. Then I thought I’d get up, exercise, shower, and be fresh as a daisy in time for the Real World at 9 p.m.

Hah! Take that, plan! When I woke up, it was almost 8:30 p.m. I had little recourse but to just dink around until 9. So…no exercise for me yesterday. But it was a freaking awesome nap.

OK, as the title of this post promises, I’m going to talk about sleep-talking again. When I woke up this morning, I commented to Denny that I had slept like a rock the night before. He said, “Do you remember sitting up in bed and talking?” I said I did not.

Apparently I sat up straight and said, “The problem is, when I’m half asleep I’m afraid someone is going to see me with no pants on.”

Denny said, “Are you asleep right now?”

“Yes. No. I lied.”

Then I went back to sleep.