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In honor of Halloween, I would like to present you with a video I helped create in college. It is entitled Karate Zombie, and I know I posted it here forever ago, but it is awesome.

Make sure to have your sound on – I did the majority of the audio editing of the sound effects. Right-clicking and saving-as is probably your best bet, as the dimensions of the video itself are pretty small but if you save it, you can resize it to see things better.

Happy Halloween!

I just performed my civic duty and filled out my ballot. Oregon is fully vote-by-mail, so you get mailed a voting pamphlet and your ballot, and you can fill it out in the privacy of your own home. I have decided that this is one of the best ideas Oregon has ever had – you could vote in your underpants if you wanted! I personally enjoy not leaving my home to go stand in line for forever and ever to be at the mercy of a voting machine that may or may not work.

This does mean that I don’t get an “I voted!” sticker, but the convenience totally outweighs the lack of a sticker.

I found these at Ross this weekend and I totally love them:

They’re bronze ballet flats by Seychelles. I tried to find them online so I could link to them, but Zappos didn’t know what I was talking about and I went through 30+ pages of search results on some other site with no luck, so I am resigned to assume they are not available online. Sad.

I’ve been slowly but surely updating my wardrobe to look a little less “schlubby 8th grader” and a little more “I work in an office where I see other people on a daily basis.” I have started with earrings, scarves, and cute shoes and it seems to be going well so far.

• “Dry the Rain” – The Beta Band
  I am totally one of those people that had never heard of this band until they were mentioned by John Cusack’s character in High Fidelity:

  “I will now sell five copies of The Three EPs by The Beta Band.”

  It’s such a nice song. It’s mellow, has a great beat, and is a little guitar-twangy without being outright TWANGY, if that makes sense. It is totally not a country song, is what I’m saying.

• “Sons & Daughters” – The Decemberists
  I don’t know how I managed to avoid listening to The Decemberists for so long – THEY ARE GREAT. Absolutely fabulous. The singer’s voice is so distinctive and clear, the songs are simple and bizarre and powerful, and Sons & Daughters is just one of many awesome tracks. I mean, come on – they use the word “dirigible” in it, and the phrase “fill our mouths with cinnamon.” HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE IT?

  I’m a sucker for good harmonies and this has them in abundance, with a lot of “in the round” singing, where several people are singing different parts of the song at the same time. It’s gorgeous. We actually played The Decemberists albums before our wedding, when people were filing in and sitting down.

• “Mammal” – They Might Be Giants
  This is a song about mammals. It is soooo catchy – you will probably be singing the “MAAAAAAAAAAMMAL, MAAAAAAAAAAAMMAL!” part for FOREVER after you hear it. That, or the “maintaining the very high metabolism they have” part, which is probably the bit I get stuck in my head the most. The best part is that it’s outrageously fun to sing at the top of your lungs (like most TMBG songs) so it’s really less annoying and more fun than it sounds.
• “The Mesopotamians” – They Might Be Giants
  This song also has a bunch of amazing harmonies, mostly during the chorus. TMBG played this song when we saw them live a while back, and it was seriously so amazing – they got all the overlapping parts and harmonies just right, and you could tell they just love what they do.
• “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” – The Beach Boys
  So, I am a huge Beach Boys fan. I don’t really go around advertising it, but seriously? I think they are really good. (Not-so-secret: I bought a Beach Boys Christmas album. On purpose. Because I wanted Christmas songs by the Beach Boys.) This is such a sweet, upbeat song. I usually reserve Beach Boys listening to summertime, but I’ve been on a big Pet Sounds kick lately and this is one of my favorite tracks off that album.

(Can you tell I am basically out of blogging fodder? I have no idea what I should talk about. Is there anything you want to hear from me?)

Work

Most of my interesting stories recently have to do with workplace and client issues and I therefore can’t really share them. Just know that there are a lot of frustrating and crazy people in the world.

Model Employee

I won the “Team Player” award for this quarter and received a $100 gift card to a local shop. Hurrah!

iPod

I did end up buying the iPod. Part of the reason I was holding off was because I know Daniel wanted one too, and I felt bad buying myself one knowing he might use his more. After actually talking to him about it, he said it was no big deal and that I should go for it.

Politics

I’m finding it really, really hard not to talk all politics all the time over here. I know that sometimes I am preaching to the choir, and when I’m not, I’m not likely to change anybody’s mind. I just get so riled up, mostly because I don’t understand people’s motivations for voting Republican this time around – obviously the last eight years haven’t worked so well, what makes you think another four of the same policies will?

Gifts

I have the absolute best idea for a gift for one of Daniel’s co-workers, whose girlfriend is having a baby. It is genius. I just need to create it and I will definitely share it with you all once I am finished with it.

Gum

I’m trying out the Mentos “Red Fruit · Lime” flavored gum, and while it tastes delicious at first, the flavor totally drops off after a couple minutes. I wish it would last longer.

Interior Design

I’ve been on a bit of a mission recently to make our apartment look less like a lame-o dorm room and more like an actual apartment or house, and I’ve accomplished a few things recently that really helped.

I rearranged our bedroom so our bed only touches the wall at the head instead of both the head and one side. I also managed to find a nearly pristine brown bedskirt at Goodwill for $5 last week and both of those made a big difference in making the room more “bedroom-y.” I am a little bit more afraid of falling off the bed in the middle of the night but it hasn’t happened yet, so maybe it won’t.

After moving the bed and the nightstand, our awful black snake lamp looked even more awful than it used to, so I hunted down a super-cute bedside lamp and found one for $4. The lampshade took a little more scavenging work at the thrift stores and I ended up with a Christmas-themed one that’s too big for the lamp, but I’m planning on taking off the Christmas fabric and recovering it with something less lame.

The main things I want to change in the living room are:

• Getting rid of our futon. It’s really not that comfortable or attractive. We are currently saving up for a new couch, which I think will help a lot. The couch we want to buy is the IKEA KRAMFORS Sofa in Myrby Dark Gray. I really, really want a gray couch because you can spice it up so much with different pillows or blankets and you’re not stuck with a “dated” color. I love the look of dark gray couches with lime green, red, or orange accents.
• I don’t hate our current couch, but it’s old (it’s the one we got for $16 at a thrift store) and it’s got a gross hide-a-bed inside. At first, I liked having that option in case we had guests, but to my knowledge we have never ever used it and I don’t think we will.
• Getting rid of our Poof chair (NOT PERMANENTLY, I say, Daniel hopes otherwise) in lieu of something more chair-ish and smaller. My thought is that it’s a perfect piece of furniture for a rec room or a game room, and we should hang on to it until we have that sort of room in which to put it. I think Daniel just doesn’t want to deal with it, which is fine. I’m hoping I can convince my parents to drive down to visit and take it back home with them and put it in their basement. Shhh.

Look at me pretending to be an adult, ahh ha ha. :-D

• Hating: Sarah Palin’s pronunciation of “nuclear,” the winking, the smarmy smile during rebuttals, and the shout-out to third-graders. Just… ugh. So unprofessional.
• Admiring: After Palin’s “I’M A MOM” shtick, Joe Biden’s choked-up response about being a single father after his wife and daughter were killed in an auto accident. Well played, sir, well played. I appreciate genuine feelings over rehearsed talking points.
• Considering: Purchasing a previous-generation iPod Nano since they are on sale for $99 and my ancient classic iPod is dead as a doornail. Trying to decide if I want to afford it.
• Waiting: I bought a super-cute jacket for fall and I hope it arrives soon. It looks like this:

  

• Giggling: Somebody, anybody, referring to McCain as “my sweet coconut.”
• Pondering: The upcoming sixth Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book that will be written by Eoin Colfer. I couldn’t get into Artemis Fowl when I first tried to read it, so hopefully this will be easier to digest. I do appreciate this quote immensely though and it made me laugh:
  

  “For years I have been finishing this incredible story in my head and now I have the opportunity to do it in the real world,” he added. “It is a gift from the gods. So, thank you Thor and Odin.”