It was an interesting night. It’s not like I woke up really thinking about anything. I just woke up. then I couldn’t get back to sleep right away. I didn’t even have any creative thoughts.

I have been making amazing progress with my project. I’m currently working on getting a speaker for an evening. This wasn’t on my list of things to do. This came from someone else. It will happen in about 3 weeks. Not a long time for planning.

I haven’t turned on the TV news. I know the only thing that will be on is the tragedy at Virginia Tech. They will rehash it, run extra stories talking to students, more stories about what universities can do. Unviersities are open places. There’s very little that can be done without building a wall around them and monitoring everyone who comes and goes. I suppose some are contemplating just that scenario.

Any other Mac users out there disappointed with the news on Leopard? They have made it look really cool, and now it’s not coming out until October–all to make way for the iPhone. Now the the iPhone is cool too, but it wasn’t something I was going to buy. I wanted a new OS though. I like the multiple windows. I know Apple thought the iPhone should get all the resources…but you silly people just across town in Cupertino, there are a lot of us Mac users who were waiting for Leopard.

Anyone have a rejection letter? It’s a writing exercise. I don’t keep any around. They are generally too generic and too stupid to keep.

My out-of-office email… if I had an office to be out of.

“I am out of the office. I will not be reading email. You may continue to send email while I’m out. I plan to enjoy every minute of my vacation and that means no email will be read until I get back. I may or may not respond when I get back. In fact, after seeing that my email box contains 1000 emails, I will delete them all without reading a single one. You will know that I have returned to the office, when you receive a reply.”

Do you think I could get away with that message? At least it’s honest. I really hate the standard out-of-office automated replies.

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Anyone else out there sick and tired of all the articles about women or directed towards women with the same message “you just don’t add up”? Not a day has gone by in the last month that I haven’t read an article or commentary about how women should be.  Oh, and let’s add the other ubiquitous message “it’s all your fault.”

So where aren’t women adding up to expectations? Work, family, bed, as wives/girlfriends, appearance, etc.  And men wonder why women are angry. If you internalize these expectations (and even if you don’t they still get to you), you are going to be angry because no one can keep up. The expectations change too. So we have these rules that women should follow to be good, hot, pleasant women (pick your adjective) and then the rules change constantly. It’s no longer enough to enjoy sex,  now women have to perform like porn stars and that includes looking like one too (boobs, hairlessness). Or there are the parenting articles that get women constantly concerned that they are failing their children. As if these articles are necessary. I don’t see these articles directed to men. Then the gender gap in the workplace is blamed on women.

It seems to me that it has gotten worse in recent years. I always remember there being expectations, but I can’t remember a time when they seemed so contradictory and constantly changing.  So with the constantly changing expectations of society and the constant blame when you don’t measure up, what is a woman to do? Can I just opt out of the game?

Awhile back, I had an issue with Google Adsense. Lots of bloggers have had this trouble because Google seems to think that sites like BlogExplosion, BlogMad and Blogsoldiers are in violation of their policies even though I’ve seen statements by BlogMad stating the contrary. As any of you know who have tried to get adsense re-instated, Google sends out these form letters (they only seem to be sent by a real person because everyone gets the same letter) and makes no effort to understand that you have taken a look at your stats and see no invalid clicks.

Well, Google’s Adwords has similar problems. Adwords is the flip side of Adsense. They have rules for Adwords where certain words are not allowed. A sex columnist who writes for the San Francisco Chronicle gives an interesting overview of what Google deems inappropriate in spite of the protests from companies who use adwords. Apparently words such as dyke and transgender terms (used by the transgender community) are banned by Google for silly reasons. The reason cited in the article is that these terms are “teen porn concepts.” What? Since when? Also, when did Google get to be big brother of the internet? Did I miss something?

The last part of the article really gives the crux of the issue. Adwords doesn’t have a blacklist of words in its policy. This means that the allowable terms are truly subject to the whim of whomever is approving ads that day or whomever your ads get approved by. Companies using adwords also report problems with responses from Google, very similar to the experience I had.

My opinion is that Google is worse than Microsoft. Nearly every computer geek loves to hate Microsoft, but really they should be watching Google as it grows more and more powerful. I see very little stopping Google and the way it does business.

I came across the 100 worst movies list while browsing SFgate. Since a columnist wrote he had not seen any of the movies on the list, I had to check it out to see if I had seen movies on there. I thought the movies might be obscure, but I was very much mistaken.

Here’s my list of watched movies on the worst movie list with their rank:

1. Catwoman (100)–Frankly, I enjoyed it. I liked the cats too.
2. Say It Isn’t So (96)–Yep, kind of a stinker. Are they really brother and sister? Eew!
3. First Daughter (92)–Can we get Mrs. Cruise into better, more adult roles?
4. Man of the House (89)–Truly too stupid to finish. I think I’ve only seen parts.
5. White Noise (85)–Moral: Don’t record EMF and listen to talking spirits.
6. The Skulls (77)–Nothing else was on that day.
7. My Boss’s Daughter (73)–Kutcher makes nice eye candy, even if his antics are annoying.
8. The Order (71)–I liked this one for it’s weirdness.
9. Surviving Christmas (67)–I have no idea why I sat through this one.
10. Gigli (55)–I watched this just to find out if the critics were right. Yep, it was awful.
11. Envy (53)–One long, boring morality play.
12. Yours, Mine and Ours (52)–Remake. I thought this one was funny and cute.
13. Cheaper By the Dozen 2 (50)–Saw the first one. This one was okay.
14. Summer Catch (48)–Not sure why this movie was made. More eye candy.
15. Swept Away (47)–Again, saw to see if the critics were correct. Wasn’t as bad as they said, but wasn’t great either.
16. The Fog (41)–Thought the synopsis sounded good at the time. Not much to it.
17. The Perfect Man (35)–I thought it was stupid. Was it a teen movie or an adult movie?
18. The In Crowd (27)–Rainy day. Nothing else to watch.
19. Down to You (25)–I thought it was cute when I saw it.
20. The Whole Ten Yards (19)–Yep, stunk.
21. Christmas with the Kranks (18)–Poor adaptation of a Grisham story. I’d hang my head if I were him.

Well my vote for all time worst movie didn’t even make the list. I hated “Mr and Mrs Smith.” Bad, bad, bad movie.

None of those movies on the list were seen in the movie theaters. I’m sometimes held captive by HBO or Starz. Some I rented. At least I didn’t pay $10 to see any of them. I own one of them (Catwoman).

I think I spent the better part of the day on the phone. I’m so tired of the phone. After the two long weekends of Landmark, I am not finished. There’s a seminar class that lasts 10 sessions after the first seminar. Silly me. I once again volunteered to be a group leader. Now I want to strangle the group members. Can they show up on time? No. Can they make meetings? No. Can they do the assignments? No. Although I can’t say that I’ve seriously done the assignment this week, even though I’ve been on the phone constantly. I suppose I can count the conversation I had today with those of the group who chose to show up. Now I need several more to complete the assignment. I’m dealing with everyone else’s stuff but my own. And since I am dealing with others’ stuff, I talk with other friends about how I’m dealing with this stuff. Make any sense? Probably not, but it makes some sense to me. Often, I’m lost. I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. Oh, and I have one nasty sinus infection to go along with all this. It began on Monday. Now, I’m barely able to breathe. I’m now a literal mouth-breather. No, that is not some comment on my mental capacity, although it too has diminished due to the killer headache that accompanies these infections. If this infection doesn’t get me, the people around me will.

In case, my few readers haven’t seen this, there is a website for posting pictures and descriptions of catcallers and assorted perverts. The public pervert. You know, the ones who grab, call out or even grab themselves in public. The site began in New York City, but several other sites for cities around the country have popped up. The prevalence of this harrassment makes you want to cringe.

Check out the stories. If you live in one of the cities that has a Hollaback website, please check it out. Before anyone gets righteous about how the women dress or act, just remember that this stuff doesn’t happen to men. I’ve had incidents myself, and on both occasions I was covered up.

I’m going to have a rant on drivers out here. I hope they aren’t as terrible where you are. Yesterday morning I had some driver go around me and nearly clip my front bumper because they cut in too close. Now, why can’t they see? During the lunch hour, I get behind some guy talking on his cell phone and going 10 mph BELOW the speed limit.

I keep seeing worse driving. The statistics also show drivers here are terrible. I just don’t understand with the bluetooth technology or even just plain headsets why someone has to hold the phone up to their ear while driving. It really isn’t safe. I’ve done it and nearly caused accidents. I don’t do it anymore. In fact, I hardly use the phone while driving. It’s just too distracting.

The police are cracking down on speeders all over the area. I’m hoping to get missed. While I don’t usually speed, I can get into the “zone” (autopilot) when I’m traveling the same route over and over–then I find myself going too fast. Which with my new car–a Camry Hybrid–seems really unlikely. But it does happen.

Ugh! I really should stop calling all of the crazies who cut me off, drive too slow, etc. “idiots,” but I can’t seem to help myself. So I guess a weekend of self-improvement didn’t affect my driving commentary at all. Still there. Still calling people names. I don’t mind traffic so much. I just don’t want to get into an accident.

Why do we celebrate people who work more than 40 hours a week? Why is it mentioned that someone works 70 hours a week in an article? I saw this in an article about and executive at eBay. I see this a lot with executives. Why can’t all that work be done in 40 hours or less?

My ideal would be to work about 6 hours a day and get paid the regular salary for 8 hours a day. There is so much else to do besides work. I quit a job where I was bored and unhappy to spend the time with my son. I don’t have a lot of time with him, and it was more important to me to spend his summer vacation with him. I know it meant a lot to him too.

So are these people happy? Most of them–probably not. I’m sure their families aren’t happy. I would much rather have a fulfilling, happy life than all the money that these executives make. although I’m poised to become one myself. I need to find the proper balance for me between work and everything else I wish to do.