Oh yeah, and yes I'm really bored. In the main group I work for, the development server's webserver software is hosed, and has been since yesterday morning. Fortunately, all day yesterday I've gotten to install & mess around w/ Tomcat on my machine to figure out how to test servlets on my PC. (This is for another project for a team I've been lent to.) However, right before I went home I had to restart the machine. There's now a tomcat.exe running that I can't even kill from the process list in w2k's task mgr (access denied). Basically Tomcat is running somehow, and I can't kill it (the "shutdown" batch program doesn't kill it -- which isn't surprising, since the "start" batch program doesn't launch tomcat.exe). I found it in the registry, but nowhere that indicates it running on startup. And, w2k doesn't have msconfig to check there. *sigh* I basically have nothing I can do. I can't do servlets here, 'cause as long as Tomcat's running it means it won't show my changes (has to be stopped & started). Not to mention I doubt I can ge it to see my JDBC Oracle drivers, so I can't play w/ connecting to Oracle. And, I can't do dev. work for my regular team.

If you haven't noticed, comments are back up. Jonty (the guy who wrote 'em and maintains 'em) got them fully moved to the new server, new domain, etc., and now they work again.

Ya know, some people are just really amazing. Amazing in their stupidity...

Some people are trying (again) to find racism where there isn't any, in Star Wars: this time, in Attack of the Clones. People have said that Jango Fett, played by a New Zealander of Maori descent, looks Latino, and that since he's a "swarthy" bad guy, he's a steretype. Never mind that his accent is SO not Latino...

Others have been saying since Phantom Menace that Watto looks like the stereotypical Jew in Nazi propaganda cartoons (supposedly both Arabs and Jews have made a complaint about this character). Well if you squint hard enough, you can also make Gonzo of the Muppets look similar to these pictures as well. Sheesh! You can probably take any movie (or cartoon) and look at it hard enough & long enough, if you have enough imagination, and come up with something racist/sexist/some-other-ist to say about it. If all a person has to do all day is to hold up a microscope to Star Wars (or other movies) looking for things like racism to nitpick about, then said person needs to get a life as quickly as possible.

Two more wedding things crossed off the list. First, we picked out our wedding cake. We were able to get blue flowers! Yea!!! Also, we got our wedding rings. Mine has to be resized (it's a 4 1/2 -- 3 sizes too small!!!) but his doesn't. Mine's the kind that sort of sits on either side of the engagement ring diamond, so what I'm going to do is, two weeks before our wedding, go back with it and my engagement ring to the store, and have the wedding ring resized & the two soldered together (which is only done in the "back" in case you're curious). Of course, that means I don't get to wear my ring again until my wedding, but I think I'll survive. Hopefully I'll only feel naked for the first couple days.

I also gave blood Saturday. That was the first thing of the day I did. Apparently, I didn't drink enough water Friday (or Sat. for that matter) -- which doesn't surprise me. Also, I think it didn't help that I ate *right* before the appointment, rather than an hour or so before. I started lying down, like they told me to do after the first time (I was really close to passing out that time). I still started getting very pale and not feeling right, so they put my feet up (they now say I should start lying down with my feet up!). That helped. Then, it took me a long time to leave. I was feeling okay, and was even over by the goodies having my 2nd cup of juice (super sweet pink lemonade this time) and some chocolate chip cookies, when I suddenly felt like I need to lie down RIGHT NOW and laid down on the floor. A nurse came by and had me get on a nearby cot, and put my feet up & stuff. After a few minutes (and another lemonade later) I was finally able to leave.

I was fine while we were picking wedding cake, and fine when we went to UMSL so Jeremy could show me a game he really has fun with, and then fine when we first walked into the Shane Co. (where we got our wedding rings). We'd picked mine, and his, and were talking at one of the counters about resizing & soldering, etc., when I really suddenly felt like I needed to sit down. We first went over to a side area with a table and a couple chairs, and I tried slouching in the chair, but that wasn't enough, so I finally laid down on the floor. Jeremy explained to the salesman (who before and after this was wonderfully nice!) that I'd just given blood (in case the bright red criss-cross tape holding the gauze ball in place at my elbow wasn't enough) and that I was dehydrated. They told us there's a really comfy couch right next to the entrance (it was comfy!) and Jeremy walked with me there, and I laid down. After a minute or two, he came by with a glass of ice water (did I mention he was really nice?). Another salesman came by, who'd apparently seen me on the floor (my eyes were closed), and asked if I was feeling better (I was at that point). He said his wife had given blood a few days before and had reacted the same way.

I finished the water & was feeling a lot better, so I went to look for Jeremy & the salesman. They had finished already and had met up again by the same counter we'd been talking at. I'd missed the whole transaction (guess it gave my credit card a rest for a change, so that's good) and it was rather sucky that I didn't get to have fun doing this the whole time. But, we did get to take the rings home for now, so I can take mine out & look at it.

Well, I decided my new page design (which I was planning to put up at my Crosswinds site when I finished it, which I never have) looked too "heavy", so I'm redesigning it again. I don't have much up, just the initial page, but if you're really curious, it's here.

*sigh*

I'm so incredibly bored at work today. I have stuff I sorta ought to be doing, but no drive to do any of it. Not to mention I stayed up wayyy too late playing Diablo II (just installed Lord of Destruction). Then, I didn't sleep well even for the 5.5 hrs I was in bed. It certainly didn't help to have to get up at 4:30am to get Pele to quit pawing the wall or door or whatever it was... and she knows better, dangit!

So I prob'ly only got 4 hrs of sleep. And I've got no motivation. So I'm bored. I did my usual where I caught up on all the comics I read that I didn't get to over the weekend, I've read posts on a few forums I visit regularly. But I'm pretty well done w/ all that stuff now, so...

I got my hair cut Saturday. It's sooo much lighter! And I didn't have all that much cut off. Mostly I lost about 1.5 to 2 inches from the back/sides, then the front is shorter (nothing shorter than 1 inch below my chin though) to help it curl more, get it out of my face, make it not so heavy, etc. And I'm pretty pleased with it so far. Although I noticed that even though I deep condition every day, whatever they used at the salon to condition after shampooing me did a really awesome job, better than what I'm using. I took a shower that evening, and I didn't even have to leave any conditioner in at all, it was still so soft. And now it's back to what it has been lately, if not a wee bit drier.

So... I think I'm gonna have to get a different conditioner. Not necessarily call them & buy what they use ('cause salon stuff costs lotsa $$$) but at least see if I can find something better than what I have. I'm gonna search the phpBB/">naturally curly hair forum I've been visiting for conditioners people are using, to see if I can get something either at Walgreens/WalMart or Sally's beauty supply that will work better. I mean, it's still pretty soft, but I now know it can be wayy softer, and that it's not just because of the MIA split ends I left on the floor (though that helps quite a bit too... especially in the back).

Got a photographer for the wedding. Just have to meet with him & sign a contract.

I can't believe how much this stuff costs! And this guy does this as a side job and not his full time job, specifically because he knew he could do it for cheaper than the going rates. I don't even want to see the "going rates" if that's the case.

I spent a lot on my wedding dress, but even after the extra I'm spending for the alterations (they make 'em for 5'6" women, and I'm a bit over 3 inches shorter than that) it's still gonna cost more than that, just to have the pics taken. Granted, you get an album of all the pics taken, but then you have to order reprints for yourself, family, etc... One good thing: after all is said and done, and your bill is paid, he gives you all the negatives, proofs, everything, and he doesn't retain the rights to the photos. (He sent me a sample contract in addition to the price lists for the package & reprints, and the only thing is he has the right to use your pics in a pamphlet, on the web as an example, etc., for his work if he wants to. Not worded that way, but that's basically what it means.)

But he's available, and he does up to 10 hours (starting at minimum an hour before the ceremony) for the basic fee. He also guarantees at least 200 photographs taken, that you can choose from, and he says he often ends up with more. So you get one helluva photo album when you're done, and you can order stuff to frame too. And he's available on our wedding despite it being short notice. So I'd say we're sold, hehe.

Speaking of alterations... I had my fitting on Monday afternoon. I don't need to have anything taken in or let out. Basically, it just needs to be shortened and bustled. (My dress has a train in the back, and bustled means they put in very well hidden buttons and cloth loops so that you can fold up the train and attach it to the dress, and it still looks cool and doesn't drag on the ground when you're at the reception, etc.)

The only drawback to the shortening: There's no "waist" per se (no seam where the skirt is attached to the bodice) so they can't shorten it that way. So they have to take the lace off the bottom edge, shorten the reg. material, then put the lace back on. The hitch, is that there's a big lace pattern sewn onto the front, and the distance between the bottom of it and the top of the lace edging at the bottom, is less than the amount it needs to be shortened by. It's not much, so it'll work. What they're going to have to do, is when they reattach the lace edging in the front, it will have to be sort of "blended into" the lace pattern it'll be up against, so it'll be sort of continuous looking. And no, they can't just move the lace pattern up, because you'll see all the teensy stitch-mark holes where the lace was stitched to the fabric. So, they can't just move it up. Oh well, that just means my dress will be different from all the other ones they made of it, right? It'll be unique.

I finally killed Diablo on nightmare difficulty. Yea me!! So I finally reached hell difficulty, and have already passed act 1 and am in act 2 (already killed Radament in the sewers). In fact, I breezed through act 1 so fast (maybe 'cause I was a level 54...?) I think it was a record.

Good thing I did that so fast though... yesterday Jeremy took a break between papers he had to write, and beat Diablo on nightmare difficulty with his level 37 Necromancer!!! I know I took a while to beat that diff., but sheesh! I know I was at least a level 45 minimum when I started act 4. I'd better get to cracking... I at least want to get to Duriel before Jeremy's necro gets to act 2, even if I get stuck there.