Sillybean

The deranged Elizabethan pajama bunny rug

We’ve been looking for a rug to put in the nursery. Well, when I say “we,” I mostly mean my mother, since I haven’t been shopping much for the last few months. So, every time Mom goes into a store where rugs are sold, she snaps a few photos and sends them to me.

Just now, she sent me this:

Internet, I have questions.

Why is the bunny wearing checked pajamas and an Elizabethan ruff? Why do his slippers resemble purple Jelly Bellies, and who told him those were appropriate for the ensemble?

Is it just me, or is there murderous intent in the way he’s stabbing that carrot? The look he’s giving you clearly says, “I am a deranged individual,” as if the outfit hadn’t already conveyed that message.

Lemon trees?

Who the fuck put a murderous Elizabethan bunny in pajamas on a rug clearly intended for use around children? And would any of you pay money for this object, carry it home, and spread it on the floor near your child’s bed? If so, call me, because my mom knows where you can get one.

Say goodbye

Today is my last day working for Texas A&M University. Long story short: last summer the provost decided to consolidate the IT staff from all her small offices into one big office. That included me, even though half my job involved writing and supervising and whatnot rather than actual IT work. (I also don’t think web work should be classified as IT, but that’s another long-standing argument on campus.) As a result, right before Thanksgiving, I was moved out of the Writing Center, which I loved, into the new IT group, which I didn’t. And there wasn’t a damn thing any of us could do about it.

So, starting Monday, when the kiddo starts day care, I will be a WordPress consultant. I’m excited about it, and I’ll have more to say later. (Plus businesslike stuff, like a portfolio.) For now, naptime’s over. See you Monday.

Say hello

The baby was born December 22. He was over a week late, and then was a bit distressed during labor, so we had to have a C-section. Easier on him; not so much for me. We’re all fine, though — except my laptop, which has been in kernel panic for most of the last week! So I’ve been on Twitter and Facebook via my phone, mostly at odd hours in the very early morning.

Support forum answers and email replies will be delayed until the little one settles into a schedule. Right now, he’s all over the place.

Happy new year!

Countdown to insanity

Life has been more interesting than usual lately.

First, work is stressful at the moment. The Provost has decided to consolidate all the IT-related positions in the academic offices, and that includes me. As a result, on Friday I’m being moved out of the Writing Center and into the new group. Aside from the fact that I love the Writing Center and don’t want to leave, the timing really stinks — the baby’s due in less than a month. There are other issues that make the whole thing more fraught than it needs to be, about which the less said, the better.

One baby shower fell through at the last minute due to a death in the planner’s family, but there was a second one for my college friends, and that was awesome. Now I’m trying to get the family and local friends together for something informal at my house so they don’t feel too left out. Lots of timing problems there, too.

I thought we were just going to have my parents and one aunt over for Thanksgiving — I can’t travel anymore, so they sort of have to come here — but then my cousin somehow obtained tickets to the UT game, and now that whole side of the family is also coming over. I’ve just now figured out where they can all sleep. (Our house is just not that big.) Complicating factor: the delivery of the new couches we ordered a couple of months ago. They were going to be here on the 12th. Then they weren’t going to be here until after Thanskgiving. Now they might be here next week… but if they are, I won’t have room for the last couple of relatives who might need to sleep on the floor. So, people will either have no place to sit during the day or no place to sleep at night. Faaaaantastic.

(Why can’t they just sleep on the couches, you ask? Because this is the freakishly tall side of the family. None of them will fit on the couches.)

On the bright side, the baby’s room is painted, and Michael is almost done with the new kitchen island he’s been building on and off since we finished the rest of the remodeling last December. He couldn’t work on it for about six months because the garage is his workshop, and you might recall that it was hotter than the fires of hell this summer. By the time he got back to it, all the plywood had warped in the heat and he had to start over. He’s pulled it all together in about a month, and it looks wonderful.

I had a few weird pregnancy side effects pop up while I was at HighEdWeb, but they’ve mostly disappeared now and we’re both fine. And HighEdWeb was a blast, as always.

So now I just have to move offices, rearrange the living room, sell the old futon on Craigslist, get the new couches moved in, feed eleven nine (thank goodness) people a holiday meal, and host a last-minute, mom-organized baby shower. Then I can kick back and, you know, give birth.

… shoot me, please?

Small update to Twenty Links

I’ve just posted a minor update that fixes several bugs: incorrect URLs for subdirectory installations (props aldolet), an endless link tag in trashed post notice, and a bad layout on “not found” pages. I’ve also removed the plus links when viewing the home page, where they’re not needed and don’t work there anyway.

Download 0.6.2.