electricalgwen

I have a significant birthday coming up in the very near future. I have time off work, and the grandparents are going to take the kids. I want to go somewhere new and/or do something different. However, I am not sure what and I am an indecisive sort of person, and also we are pretty bad at planning things in advance. Hence, nothing is organized yet.

Tell me my destination! Any and all suggestions for where to go and what to do while there will be taken under advisement. :D

Final decision will take the following factors into account, however: we have just under a week. I don't want to spend too much time traveling or jet-lagged, so eastern to middle North America is probably best. We like outdoor things, also art and music, interesting geology or architecture, active things like cycling or kayaking are fine. Not so big on sports or shopping, though little bits of either could be fun.

Today's been good. Christmas cookie baking with the boys, making pizza, basketball, good music, and I even got a bit of writing in.

We just played 'Apples to Apples' before Elder Son heads off to bed. I was not familiar with this game before the Attic Denizen moved in; it's loads of fun. Tonight, apparently I am awesome, profound, snappy, distinguished, unusual, charismatic, cute...and dead. :P

(Also, the winner. ;)

Remember I said I had a talk to write for this weekend? I'm sitting down to do it at the last minute (as one does) and, upon having a quick look in a folder marked "Talks", have just discovered that I have a talk on this topic that I put together a couple of years ago. YAY.

Mind you, it needs some updating and expansion, but this is going to knock hours off the time required. \o/

I had a lovely birthday yesterday! Many thanks to affabletoaster, deirdre_c, and entrenous88 for their kind happy birthday wishes, to iadorespike for a cute e-card (that felt like the speed at which I do most things these days, Anna! *g*), and to apreludetoanend for the cupcake. You all brightened my day immensely. :)

In the evening, there was a nice dinner out, and then Inception. Which. Wow. I see what everyone's on about now, that was an amazing movie! I, uh, may need to see it again. ARTHUR! ♥♥♥ I would ramble more about it except I have got to finish packing. I'm heading out in half an hour for a few days vacation away, probably internet-less, but with Guy Gavriel Kay's new book Under Heaven. :D

I also got a teeny pocket-sized external hard drive for backing up to, which means, among other things, that I will probably finally getting around to installing Snow Leopard on this machine - and then, hopefully, a program that will make work a trifle easier.

Green Means Go has showed up a couple of times in BB rec threads at the anonymeme, and didn't get a single negative comment on its own thread, which makes me pretty happy because it's not like there's any reason for anonymous people to be falsely nice about it.

And it's sunny! And blueberry season!

Have a great few days. :)

Just watched Canada vs. Denmark in men's curling. Five!! Our skip is TALENTED. :D

Now I have to make a kangaroo costume in under 24 hours. My day started at 3 am. I need tea.

I haven't had a functional computer at home for almost a month. I still don't, and am not certain when that's likely to change. As I don't access LJ or its related email from work (or any computer that requires my real ID) I'm pretty much totally out of the loop. If you've commented on something and I have apparently rudely ignored it; if you've posted something amazing or personal and I haven't commented; or if you're waiting for more (any?) story, I do apologize. (If you'd forgotten all about me, as I hadn't been that active even in the months leading up to the Great Computer Crash of '09 - that's cool. I still apologize.)

Also, it means I haven't been able to work on a couple of WIPs, including the one I had originally hoped to post for a very special birthday. But I couldn't let it go by without getting on here somehow to wish madame_meretrix Many Happy Returns of the Day! I hope you have/had an awesome day, and I look forward to being back around reasonably soon. And if you haven't seen the pattern for these BSG Viper Socks, I hope it's a little something to brighten your day. :)

I finished my PoA scarf! Pictures at hp_knitting.

The billboard near my house now contains Jeffrey Dean Morgan trying to look down Uma Thurman's top. I think I preferred it when it was Alan Rickman looking supercilious in a powdered wig. (Sorry, madame_meretrix, I'm just not a fan. ;)

When the radio 'round here plays Nickelback's "Rock Star", certain lyrics are censored out. Apparently you can sing about Playboy bunnies, easy girls, and a centrefold who loves to blow your, er, money, but you can't mention drugs. Or your ass. On the plus side, it means I can go on pretending that it says, "the girls come easy and the boys come cheap," which was what my brain first filled in. *g*

Torchwood! Squee! We've watched up to 2.05, and holy cow, that was a strong episode. Much better writing this season. apreludetoanend has made me a couple of awesome TW icons (including this Owen one) because she is nice like that.

And this helpful quiz to find out if you are persecuted struck me as funny.

You may have noticed that breastfeeding's hit the news the past few days, being linked to higher IQ and lower rates of childhood obesity, as well as lowering the future risk of breast cancer for mothers. Its many other benefits are known to include decreased rates of asthma and allergies in children, decreased ear, chest and gastrointestinal infections, decreased employee absences, and big savings to the public health care system.

Personally, I love it not least because I was back in my regular jeans by 2 weeks *g*. Plus, it's cheap, ecologically friendly, and it makes travelling so easy.

Anyway, a number of child and women's health organizations put together the Breastfeeding Manifesto a while back, to improve awareness of the health benefits of breastfeeding and, importantly, its role in reducing health inequalities. They're using it to lobby the government to bring in legislation that promotes breastfeeding in several ways, including protecting women's right to breastfeed in public places and "encouraging greater social acceptance of this natural and important practice." They're also asking for increased protection and support for women who want to keep breastfeeding upon returning to work. Right now, although the WHO encourages exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of age, fewer than 2% of UK babies are exclusively breastfed at 6 months.

While I think social acceptance will take a while and is not something that can be legislated, there's no question that knowing I had the *right* to breastfeed (in Canada, with my first child) gave me the courage to do so in places and situations where I worried how people would react. All MPs were sent a copy of the Manifesto in May and asked for their support. As of 3 weeks ago, my local MP had not signed it.

So I emailed him. And he wrote back. He's now signed it and pledged to support it in the House. I think this the first time I've written to a politician and achieved an actual result. A small (baby?) step, but still. :D

So... I would be really grateful if you would take a minute to check out the Manifesto website where you can take a few seconds to sign the petition, if you are so inclined, and check if your local MP has signed it or not. And if s/he hasn't, and you feel really keen...

Thanks!

On Tuesday, I left my laptop plugged in and working fine, when I went to get Elder Son from school. We dropped by the library, came home, I fed the baby, made supper... and discovered my hard drive had gone off the rails. Terminal, irretrievable meltdown. It's just out of warranty, and although I do back-up fairly regularly, I hadn't done so since before we went away for the summer - having been uploading all the holiday photos, updating my CV, and writing. Argh.

Posting from the local library at the moment, but I can't read or post fic from here. Not sure when I'll be back online, but please know I'm not ignoring you. :)

I am so spoilt. Me in my uber-First World with more than enough food and water, clean air and clothes, all-present-and-accounted-for (albeit slightly insane) family, and oodles of books (which I am able to read, having been edumacated, despite being female.) And many, many other blessings of which I am not sufficiently conscious day to day.

But oh, man, I've missed my Internet connection!!

I have a brief time online here in which I want to say a huge THANK YOU for the super birthday wishes from iadorespike and quinntzadok, the e-card from entrenous88 who clearly has me pegged (omg dancing squirrels and multiple musical genres!!), the wonderful post to birthdayrecs by cordelianne (it made me blush and squee), and birthday fic from apreludetoanend here and madame_meretrix here. You are all so thoughtful, lovely and talented people, and you really made my week extra special. And, at some point when I have a few more minutes online, I hope to get back and comment properly and stuff, and catch up on the highlights I've already missed and will miss in the next couple of weeks. (Keep track of fics, yours or others, I need to know about when I get back! Oh, and if I missed anybody/thing in the above list - it wasn't intentional, I just have trouble with a skip=>300 kind of flist! Point me at anything I overlooked! *g*)

But I'm having a really good time, seeing a lot of people I haven't seen in far too long, cooking and eating good food, helping my sister clear out both physical and psychic junk, travelling and hiking and snuggling the baby and reading books and falling in water and drinking hundreds of cups of tea and...just generally living.

Yay Canada.

Also?
HOLY COW I GUESSED RIGHT.