as if we needed any more proof of how much of an ass arnold is. . .
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/16/MNI412VAMT.DTL
. . . he's going to veto the budget.

i have $300 in expense reimbursments plus $101.25 in transit reimbursements that i won't get until the budget is signed. i really need that money right now. asshole.

happy birthday jim, rob, brent, mom on sunday, sheri next tuesday, and anyone else i've missed (or will miss) in these months of craziness!

part of that craziness will be over on saturday. coastal cleanup day takes place from 9am to noon in 48 of the 58 counties and in most coastal states and countries throughout the world. go out and make a difference.

for those wanting to come see me that day, i'll be at ocean beach, nearest cross street is fulton, at stairwell 21. you can't miss us - tons of tents, a dj, bunch o people, etc. i'll probably be worn the eff out after helping to set all that up and chilling near the tables. sunrise yoga on the beach happens at 8am if you're into that - breakfast, coffee, etc is provided for yoga participants.

things have been kinda nuts between regular CCD craziness, wedding stuffs, no budget, union stuff, and slowly looking for a new job.

CCD - i'll be at ocean beach near fulton on 9/20 if anyone wants to come out and chill with the jessicka! you can either go pick up trash (usually i'm beat by then b/c of setting up since 7am) or hang with me and direct volunteers.

wedding - i now have maybe 5 things left to buy/take care of. all the big stuff is bought and paid for and the invitations are going out tomrrow. just gotta figure out how to wear my hair (any suggestions on places in SF or castro valley? any suggestions for the hair in general?), decide on hairpiece vs veil (and if so which one), pick up my boots (knee high, black patent lace up platforms for under the dress - can't go all serious now!), and get my alterations done.

budget/jorb/union - rumor is the dems are going to agree to arnold's proposed budget. hello permanent cuts! goodbye job!! good thing is, i put together a resume last week. bad thing is, it's in the old fashioned style (job title/company followed by bullet points of duties) (heh, duties) and would love to have the new type (list of cool stuff you've done and want to highlight, followed by list of jorbs) but have no idea where to start with that. anyone wanna help a girl out?

talyn is doing this ADORABLE thing of pointing his nose to the ceiling as high as he possibly could and then wanting me to squirt the meds down his gullet. he sticks his tongue out and laps it up all the while. who knew piggie tongue was so long?

talyn had blood in his urine yesterday. it's either a UTI or bladder stones (that second link has a rather nasty image). didn't get much sleep last night. earliest open vet appt is at 2pm. poor lil guy does this crying sounding squeak every time he pees or poops. :(

*edit*
back from the vet. got meds. if they don't work within a week it's stones and he gets an xray to confirm it. the vet pushed somewhere near his balls and this HUGE penis popped out. like nearly 2 inches long and about as big around as a pencil. who knew that was in my little talyn?!?!

spent my morning break with about 40 other union members from our bldg, marching in a circle, yelling "Value Us! No Pay Cuts!!", and clapping till my hands were raw. i know it doesn't change anything and that asshat up in sacto will still cut me to $6.55 an hour tomorrow, but it sure felt good hearing our yells echo down through the bldgs.

we're coming down to the nitty gritty of the wedding planning. found out that more out of town relatives are coming than i thought would give a shit. on the one hand that's wonderful. but it also means that we're left with like 6 openings for local friends. narrowing down the guestlist will be much harder than i anticipated. rough plans are in the mix for a kick ass post wedding party just for friends that will happen once we get back from the honeymoon. so at least we'll still get to celebrate with everybody in some fashion.

in the meantime, i need feedback on a protocol question. is it rude to invite someone to the bridal shower and then not invite them to the wedding due to the size limitations? what about the bachelorette party?

just a quick reminder to everyone about tomorrow. bonfire at ocean beach for my birthday (early cause we're in maine next week). fire pits are around stairwell 17, across from the big windmill, along the great highway, near fulton. get there around 8ish. bring your friends and booze and stuffs for roasting. should be a warm day tomorrow so it might not be too freezing. see ya there!

they've announced it - the SROA (aka "surplus employee") list for our agency. i'm on it. happy early birthday to you too, governator.

the good(ish) news is it is unlikely that i will actually be laid off. they have to put double the people on the SROA list that they actually need to lay off. the governator has told us to lay off 17 people. i'm "low risk" so i'm probably past 17, the token person from the public education unit so the other units don't think management is playing favorites. this is all just an annoyance really.

if layoffs did occur, they would happen mid october. that's just great timing with the wedding in early november. bah! if anything this will get me motivated to try for the exam to get a promotion (which will have to happen sooner rather than later if we ever expect to buy a house) or at the very least make that move back to a larger agency that i've been contemplating. i'd just rather do all of that when it was convenient for me instead of the no new taxes governator.

just wanted to say that my heart goes out to all of my friends hurting over the loss of sean gobo. he was an acquaintance of mine, and during our few encounters he seemed like an amazing, fun, intelligent person. i'm sure he is appreciating the love everyone is feeling for him.

george takei is getting married!
aw, he looks so happy.

One of California's most popular specialty license plates depicting the tail of a Pacific humpback whale rising out of misty waters could soon become as endangered as the mammoth mammal.

Robert Wyland, the artist who created the pale blue image and gave it to the state more than a decade ago to help it raise money for marine programs, is now demanding 20 percent of any future revenue for his art foundation. . . .


the Whale Tail plate pays for most everything the public education program does here at the commission, not to mention a ton of other things through the whale tail grants program.

my friday was spent with 1200 kids on ocean beach, encouraging them with a "good job" while they cleaned the beach and rescuing them from "sharpies". there's nothing cuter than a group of kids standing over a microscopic piece of glass with their arms crossed in front of them yelling "SHARPIE!!!!". afterwards i herded them down to the other end of the beach where they formed this:


go to www.oceanday.net to see the rest from around the state.

happy birthday rakpointzero! love ya hunny.

yay edwards!!!

Dear Fergie,

Thank you for your over-the-top performance last night on Idol Gives Back. You made me laugh so hard, I cried.

Love,
Jessica

elimgarak and i switched to sprint and got cute lil rumor phones today. mine's the bright obnoxious green color and for that reason comes in an "environmentally friendly" box. ha!

over the last few months numbers would randomly disappear and occassionally reappear in my phone's contact list. thought it was a problem with my sim card so i moved the numbers to the phone memory, but that didn't fix anything. then yesterday i noticed ALL my saved text messages were gone and it wouldn't allow me to text anymore! waah! it might not have been receiving texts either since i didn't get any in the last couple days.

so. . . i'm missing about half my numbers at this point. please comment with yo numbah, even if you think i have it, baby. of course, comments are screened to just me.

hee hee


totally going to the show when it happens w/ vv just like back when we were 11, unless they're over 50 bucks cause it ain't worth all that!

synthesizedwave works at a game stop, so i asked him to hold a Wii for me the next time they got a shipment. he called me on monday telling me that he had one for me. i get out there and he hands me a bag with a wii, extra controller w/ mini game pack, and extra nunchuck thing and says "this is from me and ashly to make up for all the missed christmases and birthdays". i was like huh?, totally not comprehending it at first. i looked through the bag and found gift receipts. then it hit me, and i was like holy crap! i'd give him a hug, look in the bag some more, and give him another hug. i think i cried somewhere in there. it's easily one of the most generous things anyone has ever done for me (well, anyone that's not related to me or dating me).

after much searching, i found my wedding ring on saturday. it was totally nothing like what i thought i wanted, but when i put it on it just felt right. it's kind of a plain band with three diamonds in the center. because the economy sucks, they were having a crazy sale, and i got a $712 ring for $327! the funny part is, i dragged my poor mother around to 10 jewelry stores saturday morning, and i found my ring at another store after dropping her off at her luncheon. as a thank you, i bought her an opal and chrome diopside pendant and am giving it to her at lunch today.

speaking of mommy, her surgery is scheduled for april 18th. it is indeed a tumah, but it is about 1/3 the size of a pea. that's still pretty large for that area. to get to it, they will have to remove the back half of 2-4 neck bones and not put them back, which is kinda weird. this whole thing is really rare unless preceeded by major trauma, so that's also kinda weird. we're praying the surgery will go smoothly and also that the nerve damage (ie: arm pain) won't be permanent.