But check it out: evagation.com

I'm still doing a lot of work on it but I'm posting so I figured it was about time to post the URL. Evagation.com redirects to blog.exaggeration.org

If you see anything that you think could be changed for the better, drop me an email or leave a comment. It's been ages since I've done work with a stylesheet and I'm completely new at all of the WordPress plug-ins, so I'm still figuring it all out. But go check it out.

And I'm sure that surprises no one (least of all me).

We've finally started selling pools which, of course, is great because we all need the money. But it's also rather annoying. Last year, we had to lay off most of our experienced (non-family) employees because we simply didn't have enough work to keep them employed. So, we lost our entire tile crew, the plumbing crew and our salesman.

The loss of the salesman has Father-in-Law (FiL?) freaking out. He has a slew of appointments and has gone back to complaining about how much he hates them. He wants to find a salesman who could also design pools in a CAD-like program. Devin and I have been trying to tell him how expensive it would be to hire someone who is BOTH a salesman, and a pool designer. Which makes FiL complain even more.

Since we still don't have a tile crew, and only a partial plumbing crew, it is taking us quite some time to finish each pool. We're all a bit stressed out about it. Business picking up for the summer is great but it would be really nice if we could efficiently handle it all.

I've abandoned my Blogger blog because Blogger is EVIL. Horrendously, massively evil. I've already got a Word Press blog installed at exaggeration.org but it needs quite a few more finishing touches. Minor design stuff; making sure my plug-ins are all working properly (and that they seamlessly meld with the blog); creating all of those fun, static pages that Blogger doesn't let you do; and ironing out the images. Although not literally.

I'm really, really excited about this blog. It's going to be so much more than the damned Blogger blog. I've already got Gallery installed (just need to activate the WordPress plug-ins for it), which means I'll finally have an EASY way to post pictures. I also have quite a few other plug-ins installed and activated because Word Press is so much cooler than Blogger. My favorite part of it all is that my hosting service uses Fantastico, so the Word Press installation was simply a matter of selecting it from my control panel. (I love my hosting service. I recently upgraded my package because I had almost maxed out my allowed 200 MB's after the Word Press installation, so I opted to pay three more dollars a month for an obscene amount of MB space. Devin is disgusted by my insistence that 200 MB's was just not enough.)

For the curious: I use Verve Hosting and pay $10 per month. I love Verve Hosting and have been using them since 2000.

I bought another domain today (now I have four! which is absolutely bizarre because who needs four domains when they barely use one? but I don't care because I enjoy collecting domains). I do realize that I don't NEED a fourth domain but I've been waiting for Evagation.com to become available for almost two years. One of those nasty domain parking companies had snatched it up and was asking an outrageous amount of money for it. Their ownership of the domain expired in June but it looked like (from the many WHOIS queries that I did all during June and July) they had renewed the domain.

Today I was messing around with some WHOIS queries and figured that I might as well check in on evagation.com and was elated when the WHOIS came back with "domain does not exist." Woo! I registered it immediately and have it on auto-renew because I love all of my domains and would be spitting mad if someone snatched them from me before I was able to renew them. (This happened with my first domain: chuckie.org I had chosen it for "Rugrats"/"RENT" reasons--Anthony Rapp, who played Mark in the OBC of RENT, bares a remarkable resemblance to a grown-up Chuckie from "Rugrats," so we RENTheads began referring to him--privately!--as Chuckie. I got quite a few offers for that domain, which is strange because how popular could chuckie.org have been in the late 90's? When I didn't renew it quickly enough, some private school whose name is so long that it's acronym is "CHUCKIE" bought it. Today's WHOIS fun shows that chuckie.org is now privately owned and hosted with hitfarm.com, which seems to be a company that offers parked domain hosting in bulk. I have honestly spent hours messing around with WHOIS queries because I'm weird and it's fun.)

Devin's going to be a wee bit pissed when he hears that I bought yet another domain. But... eh. One year of domain ownership is cheaper than most video games and Devin certainly has a hell of lot more video games than I have domains. (Although we might be adding another one very soon. Devin runs a Friday-night Disc Golf Tournament in our town and he wants me to work with him on creating a Central Valley Disc Golf website. Which sounds like a fantastic reason to buy another domain, if you ask me.)

Now I'm thinking that I need to re-locate my Word Press blog from exaggeration.org to evagation.com. I doubt that would be easy, though. It took me ages just to get most of the plug-ins to work right (a few still aren't working) but, since the damn thing is CALLED Evagation, it only makes sense to house it on that domain. (Silly Katie... why not just do a re-direct? DUH.)

By the way: We've somehow managed to see "The Simpsons MOVIE" twice, already. We're thinking of seeing it AGAIN tonight. Because we love, love, LOVE it and we are insane. Although it really is fun to experience the Simpson family with a theater full of people, instead of just a few of us in our living room. It was packed with die-hard "Simpsons" fans on opening night, and we were all laughing so much that we actually missed quite a few jokes (and most people didn't wait out the insanely long credits to see the extra bits that they always throw in at the end but Devin and I are HARDCORE). On Tuesday night, the theater was no less packed but everyone was either stupid, bored, or making out because NO ONE was laughing (except for Devin, myself and our friend Mike, of course). Well, I take that back-- (SPOILER AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.)-- When the two male police officers started making out, some teenage boy screamed "EEWWWW!!" and quite a few of us laughed at him. In fact, I couldn't STOP laughing at him. Just when I had my laughter under control, I would hear his disgusted "EEWWWW!" and start cracking up all over again. But that doesn't really count since the idiots in the theater were laughing at a doofus, not the movie.)

First of all: Father-in-Law has gone to Nauvoo, Illinois with mother-in-law and grandparents-in-law. So, of course, I am elated because I can pretty much do whatever I want for the next two days. Since I'm trying to be much nicer about the LDS faith, I'm happy for them all because going to Nauvoo is incredibly important to them and, having been raised Catholic, I can certainly relate to holy pilgrimages. Even though I'm now Wiccan, I would still be dumbstruck with awe if I ever make it to Vatican City. I think the new Pope is a bit bonkers (have you read about the biography he wrote about HIS Jesus?) but that's really nothing new with Popes. Of course, my Catholic mother would probably be tempted to slap me (and she doesn't believe in corporeal punishment) for equating Nauvoo, Illinois to Vatican City but my Mom is a bit bonkers, as well.

But this fun and crazy internet thing? I checked my email this morning and found yet another missive from hillaryclinton.com (if you join her grassroots organization, be prepared for lots of Hillary Clinton missives) and they want ME to help them pick Hillary's campaign song.

That seriously made my morning. Not because I feel special, or anything, but because I actually like most of the songs that they've chosen. Even though I seriously had no idea that the annoying "Suddenly I See" song was by the Black Horse/Cherry Tree Scottish Woman. Because I've been living under a rock for the past few years. (I also don't think that's a great campaign song at all because it's already been used as a teenage girl anthem for quite a while and the lyrics allude to the fact that running for President is something Hillary just "suddenly" decided to do. And yes, I'm totally taking this task VERY SERIOUSLY.)

Right now, I can't decide between Smash Mouth's version of "I'm A Believer" from the first "Shrek" movie (I don't care how awful it is for me to love that song because I really, really love that song... it makes me happy) and "Get Ready" by the Temptations. I really like "I'll Take You There" by The Staple Singers but I think it's a bit too slow. Campaign songs should make politicians feel the need to dance inappropriately.

(There's also a Dixie Chicks song, a Shania Twain song and TWO U2 songs. I think U2 campaign songs have been done to death.)

I think I'm going with the remake of a Monkees song. Even though I'm going to call my Mom and have her vote for The Tempations song because, really, they are both good choices. But I think it would be GREAT if Hillary Clinton was represented by Smash Mouth. HA! Makes me giggle just thinking about it.

Who knew this grassroots internet thing would end up being so much fun?

Instead of getting frustrated with how much spam I receive on a daily basis, I'm doing something proactive about it!

I'm forwarding it to the Federal Trade Commission. Luckily I didn't need Oprah to tell me that every email that you receive that alludes to giving you a whole lot of money, if you're willing to pay to get it (you know, it's in probate, or you won some foreign lottery and need to launder the money to the US, etc.) is always a scam. Because even I am not that gullible (and I'm really freakin' gullible).

Sometimes the email alone is enough to make me laugh. Like the one addressed to "My Dear,Belove," and told me that "I appreciated your efforts at that time very much. so feel free and get in touched with my secretary Mr,OJIOFOR BENNE and arrenge with him where and how to send the amount to you.
Please validate me immediately you receive it so that we both can share the joy after all the sufferness at that time. in the moment,"

That one definitely made me laugh. From the name of his "secretary" to his request to please "validate me immediately" because I totally want some joy after "sufferness." And that little "in the moment," phrase was the end of that particular paragraph.

But the majority of the scams are not quite that funny, so I get my kicks by forwarding them to: spam@uce.gov. Because that is what the FTC Spam Center tells you to do.

Sharing my spam with the government makes me happy. Since I'm obviously spamming the Government but they asked me to do it, so I'm simply being a concerned citizen.

Now, instead of being frustrated with all of that spam, I actually get a bit excited to see it all show up in my inbox because I know that it will only take a few keystrokes to dump all of that spam on the FTC's digital doorstep.

Because it is obviously my civic duty to spam the Government. I love fulfilling my civic duties (and would seriously take Jury Duty multiple times a year if they would just send me the damn letter--so many people get Jury Duty and think of it as a huge chore, whereas I almost never get Jury Duty and think that it is great fun).

Except the horrendous pain that I was in. My GI doc is a bit freaked out because I went from being pretty healthy earlier this year to being super-duper sick and... yeah. He's freaking out. Not me, though. I'm used to this stuff by now and Dr. D. wants to put me back on steroids which isn't going to happen. I've already told him that he could prescribe them all he wanted but that I would never fill the prescription, so he shouldn't bother wasting paper on it.

Then he got mad. Which is fine by me since I'm used to my docs being mad at me at some point in time. If I end up with severe anemia, or start running a higher fever, or basically show any more symptoms that could mean "imminent hospital visit on the horizon" then I'll take the steroids. But I had better be DYING, yo.

And then my boss (aka, evil father-in-law) spent the morning yelling at me because he lost the auto insurance policy for all of his personal vehicles. He tore apart my office because he SWORE that it had to be in here, somewhere, while I tried to clean up after him and tried to not listen to him screaming at me. Because I don't lose auto insurance policies, HE loses auto insurance policies (our brokerage company is so used to me calling them and asking them to fax me the entire policy because father-in-law lost it that they just laugh when they hear it's me on the phone, since I seriously have to call them a couple of times a year).

When he gets really, really mad like that, he's basically in a fugue state. He's just screaming, and screaming, and calling me horrible names, but then he forgets that it ever happened and, if I decide to be foolish and remind him of some of the horrible names he called me, he'll say he never did that and will get angry all over again because I'm making things up.

Dude is crazy. He could never keep a secretary for longer than three months until I came along and he has no idea that it's pretty much his fault. I've gotten chewed out by my managers before but never to the extent that father-in-law goes to. Because I don't appreciate being called stupid, slow, lazy, or just, you know, STUPID. Since I have my genius IQ score and have never been called stupid (by an adult) in my entire life. It used to bother me when he screamed at me about how stupid I am but now... eh. Fodder for my writing.

Although it was a bit funny because my youngest brother-in-law was hearing me getting chewed out and damn, was he surprised by it all. I would look at him over father-in-law's shoulder and Allen's eyes would be HUGE and the expression on his face was very much like, "Why aren't you saying anything to make him stop? DOESN'T IT BOTHER YOU?"

Heh. It would bother me if I actually HAD lost the auto insurance policy (if that makes sense--when I get chewed out over a mistake that I have actually made, then I feel really, really horrible about it but if I did nothing wrong then... eh) but otherwise it's just a crappy way to begin a Monday.

And I better get some damn work done. Since then he WOULD have a reason to spend the rest of the day screaming at me.

And I seriously started crying about it when I read it on CNN.com. Even though I'm at work, and supposedly an adult.

After last week's episode, I told Devin that I just knew it would be ending soon. When the creators leave their show on the WB (possibly to take to UPN and make it WORSE, except now they're the same damn network), the show will jump the shark.

But there's only going to be two more episodes! And that's counting tomorrow (now tonight, since I wrote these three little paragraphs yesterday) night's show. That's just mean. REALLY MEAN. The very least they could have done was give us some sort of notice that didn't involve them obviously trying to tie up all of the "loose ends" before the end of the season (now series).

Although if there isn't a huge blow-out episode with beloved Stars Hollow characters, including Sebastian Bach, I will scream. And cry. I need one more Sebastian Back fix before the show goes away (they had also better pad the DVD of the final season with a TON of extras, since that would be a nice way to forgive all of us insane fans for just quitting out on the show and giving practically no warning at all).

In other news... Did ya hear that Tom Sizemore was arrested in Bakersfield, CA for smoking meth outside of a hotel? I'm not surprised at all, since Bakersfield is definitely the best place in the Central Valley to score some cheap meth. It's pretty much one of the major reasons that people go to Bakersfield in the first place (especially since Buck Owens died).

Tom Sizemore must be some kind of moron. You do not sit in your car, outside a hotel in Bakersfield, CA and smoke your meth. Even the tweakers in the Valley have enough brains to know that you do NOT smoke your meth where the cops could easily find you. Part of being one of the meth capitols of our great state is the fact that the cops are always on the look-out for tweakers. Especially stupid tweakers.

He was even booked into a Kern County jail which should be an interesting experience for Mr. Sizemore. He better not mention his flagging film career because I highly doubt that anyone incarcerated in Kern County would consider that a reason to NOT beat a fellow inmate up.

And apparently Paris Hilton is trying to get her fans to "sihn" (ha!) a petition for Governor Schwarzenegger to pardon her so that she doesn't have to serve her 45-day sentence (with some time shaved off for good behavior). So, of course, I'm writing to the Governor to tell him that he'd better NOT pardon her for driving with a suspended license. Because what the hell? She's had how many DUI's, accidents and other illegal incidents and managed to get away with no jail time on any of those, and now that she's being sentenced for a legitimate crime, she's all sorts of mad?

But, in more important news, Sign John Edwards' Don't Back Down: End The War Petition if you think Congress should remain firm about pressing Bush for a timeline for withdrawing the troops out of Iraq. Now that Bush is dealing with a hostile Congress, it's no surprise that he's using his veto in an attempt to "stay the course." He seems to have forgotten all about the mid-term elections and we need to remind him that the American people are ready to have our troops brought home, and for the Iraq War to end.

And if you're a California resident, email Governor Schwarzenegger about idiotic Paris Hilton and her petition for a pardon. Stop the war and stop Paris Hilton. And don't smoke your meth in Bakersfield where cops can easily find you. Those are my public service messages for the day.

Obviously, I've not been updating frequently. Many things have happened--my Dad got some scary news, I had to go see more doctors, we had to celebrate five birthdays in April and life just got a bit out of hand.

So. Back to our regularly scheduled program.

I live in one of the Top Ten Polluted Cities in the US, according to the American Lung Association's bad air list.

FUN. To someone who was born and raised in this town, this is not news. As a kid, I never had any seasonal allergies (just a lactose allergy), as I grew up in this horribly polluted town, I developed severe allergies. So, going from having no allergies at all, to not being able to breath properly without allergy meds and nasal sprays, made me realize that I should just stop breathing this yucky air.

I'm thinking a gas mask? Because that would be avant-garde and cool. Plus, I wouldn't have to worry about that poor Russian man who was incarcerated by the CDC for having antibiotic-resistant TB, and refusing to wear his mask in public. So, if I had MY mask, that guy wouldn't affect me at all.

Devin and I have gone a few rounds over the idea that the CDC can incarcerate a person for having a highly communicable, untreatable illness. He thinks the CDC did what they had to do in order to protect the general population, and I certainly don't disagree with that statement, I just don't like the fact that we're bringing back the idea of TB sanitariums.

Moving on. Tomorrow I'm going to see "Dirty Dancing" on the big screen! WOO! I love that movie with a sick passion, and anticipate much cheering when Patrick Swayze tells off Jerry Orbach. (I miss Jerry Orbach. That's the only sad part about seeing the movie again.)

I also have a ton of work to do (no surprise... it's already May, and it's quite hot, and people are beginning to think about getting pools before it starts getting insanely hot).

Also: Today is Day 45, clean from opiates. And I (thank goddess) am finally getting my energy back. I actually managed to do some house cleaning this weekend! I've even ordered my new office desk, am preparing to have my beloved '92 Mercury Cougar towed away for charity (I'm donating it to the Polly Klaas Foundation, since I can imagine nothing more terrifying than having a child get kidnapped, or go missing), and it looks like we'll actually be having our garage sale this month! FINALLY. Although we're still undecided about whether we want to go through with the garage sale (we actually have a ton of stuff in good condition, most of which would probably sell) and make a bit of extra money, or just donate everything to charity.

I'm all about donating to charities. We're probably going to end up having a Saturday garage sale, and anything left over will be taken off to charity.

Brian Bluhm

Brian was 25, had lived in Iowa, Detroit, Michigan, and Louisville, Kentucky before attending school at Virgina Tech. People who knew him talk about his love for the Hokie's football team, and his faith.

"The master's student in water resources received his undergraduate degree in civil engineering at Virginia Tech and was getting ready to defend his thesis."--CNN.com

I've never even heard of a master's for water resources. I know I didn't do this all weekend (I was sick... and what's new?) but as soon as I went back to reading about each victim--who they were, what incredible things their friends and loved ones were saying, I realized that I was (in a very bittersweet way) meeting these interesting individuals. For some reason, I'm at a point now with all of the violence (stateside and in the Iraq War) where I've become almost numb to it. And that's inexcusable for me. Every day at work, I try to read a few more profiles of soldiers who have lost their lives in the Iraq War.

It's always been so easy for me to say that we should remember the wonderful people we have lost--either through senseless tragedy, or senseless warfare, but I never even knew their names. It felt hypocritical. (For me.) I realized that by calling them "victims," and "soldiers," or any other true, but very generic term, I was robbing them of their individuality. In fact, I obviously wasn't even looking at them as individuals, at all. I know more trash about celebrities than I do about the men and women who have died in the Iraq War. That just seems wrong to me.

I'll try to not make this too boring over the next week.

Austin Cloyd

"An international studies major from Blacksburg, Virginia, was so inspired by an Appalachian service project that helped rehabilitate homes that she and her mother started a similar program in their Illinois town, her former pastor said."--CNN.com

A whole lot of friends have posted comments about Austin, and it's obvious that she was a very giving person. She spent a lot of her life before college volunteering in her community, and she made friends everywhere that she went.

I'll try and post to the other journal tomorrow, to simply bring in some variety. We'll see. I have a big audit (at work) on Wednesday, so I might have to spend all day tomorrow making sure I'm ready for the audit. (I. Despise. Audits.)

There aren't many times in my life when I've said that I've learned a valuable lesson from the "Oprah" show but I can honestly say that I learned something very useful from her Wednesday show.

Craig Scott, and his father, were on the show discussing what they've learned in the eight years since Columbine (eight years today, as I'm sure you all know). Craig was in the library during the Columbine incident, and was forced to "play dead" while his fellow students were shot around him. His sister, as everybody knows, Rachel Scott, did not survive.

Craig made the inarguable point that all of this attention being paid towards the Virginia Tech. shooter is precisely what he wanted, and that we are doing a disservice to the people he murdered by choosing to focus our attention on their murderer.

So, for that reason, I'm going to try and post one entry a day, for the next 32 days, in honor of each person whose life was cut short on Monday. I'm doing this mostly for myself, since I need to remember that focusing on the violence will get me nowhere, and that focusing on the lives lost is simply a way for me to comprehend this incredible tragedy. Since it gives the tragedy a face, for me. Even though there really isn't any way that any of us can understand what happened on Monday.

Liviu Librescu

"Liviu Librescu, 76, was a Holocaust survivor who, his son said, will be remembered as a hero. He 'locked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee,' Joe Librescu told the AP. 'Students started opening windows and jumping out.' The elder Librescu, a professor at Virginia Tech, was recognized internationally for his research in aeronautical engineering, the head of the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at Virginia Tech told the AP. He was born and received his advanced degrees in Romania."--from the CNN.com Profile of Liviu Librescu.

The profile also contains comments from the friends, and family, of Mr. Librescu. Reading them all made me cry but that's probably a good thing--there's nothing wrong with crying over a senseless tragedy.

And I chose Mr. Librescu because it truly broke my heart when I read that he had survived the Holocaust, only to be gunned down while attempting to save the lives of his students. Which certainly makes him a hero for me.

I also wanted to post this: Virgina Tech. band serenades victims This story also made me cry. Members of the VA Tech. band convened yesterday outside the hospital where most of the wounded were taken and played "Tech Triumph," the Hokie's fighting song.

I certainly have things to say about the recent Supreme Court ruling about banning a particular abortion procedure but it feels wrong to get into that today. It's a national day of mourning, and I want to respect that.

(And yet another shooting today. The NASA gunman took his life, and that of one of his hostages. The violence in this country has reached pandemic levels, if you ask me. Except I have no clue what to do about it.)

Since we have DSL here in the office, I always have Firefox going and I check for news updates from the AP every hour, or so.

So, of course, my sympathies go out to all of the friends and family members affected by today's horrific shooting spree. I'm interested in seeing how the school administration will justify allowing two hours to lapse between the first shooting in the dorms, and the announcement that was made about it. Many officials are already promising full investigations, which is good because it's frightening that a school could suffer from a shooting in one of it's dorms and then fail to protect the rest of the students by allowing it to happen again, two hours later, in a classroom.

Tons of politicians are also rushing to make statements. I haven't read most of them but I did read the AP story (that is being continually updated, of course, as new information emerges).

Here's the only paragraph that discusses the White House's response to this tragedy:

"A White House spokesman said President Bush was horrified by the rampage and offered his prayers to the victims and the people of Virginia. 'The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed,' spokeswoman Dana Perino said."

Spokeswoman Dana Perino has to be a complete moron. Otherwise, she's just a callous jerk who decided to issue a statement on behalf of President Bush, saying that he "believes that there is a right for people to bear arms." (And also that people shouldn't break the law. Unless you are President Bush.)

That's just tacky, and pointless. Perhaps in the coming days, after somebody outside the White House initiates a discussion about our stupid gun control laws, Spokeswoman Perino's statement would actually make some sense. Except no one but her (and, through her, President Bush because he's dumb enough to let her speak for him) has mentioned changing (or not changing) gun control laws.

It's especially wrong to take the attention away from the victims, and their families, by bringing up the issue of gun control. It hasn't even been 24 hours since the shooting. People should be allowed to mourn before their grief, and tragedy, is turned into political fodder.

I really hope that something more empathetic comes out of the White House sometime soon because this is not the time to preach about our right (or lack thereof) to bear arms.

(PS: Someone must have told White House spokeswoman Dana Perino that her comments yesterday were tasteless, and just plain wrong at this point in time. The AP story that ran today (Bush offers condolences at Virginia Tech) included the following few paragraphs:

"White House spokeswoman Dana Perino deflected any questions about Bush's view of needed changes to gun control policy, saying the time for that discussion is not now.

'We understand that there's going to be and there has been an ongoing national discussion, conversation and debate about gun control policy. Of course we are going to be participants in that conversation,' she said. 'Today, however, is a day that is time to focus on the families, the school, the community.'

Perino added: 'Everyone's been shaken to the core by this event and so I think what we need to do is focus on support of the victims and their families and then also allow the facts of the case to unfold before we talk any more about policies.'"

An anonymous commenter mentioned that it's possible that Perino's remarks yesterday about gun control was a response to a questioned posed by a reporter. Which is probably was but that's not the point--the point is that she should have deflected the question yesterday. She simply chose to respond to the question posed yesterday by talking about Bush's views on gun control. I also find it reprehensible that she made no reference to the fact that is was her callous statement yesterday that instigated the national gun control debate. She didn't even apologize for making the gun control remark. Of course, I shouldn't expect an apology because Bushies almost never apologize.)