hellobrandy has become goodbyebrandy...

Fri Feb 27 14:17:50 EST 2004
hellobrandy has become goodbyebrandy... well, goodbye from my current job, that is! :) Exciting times and changes this year. I gave my two weeks notice today at my current company... and I will be starting a new job on March 15th! I never expected things to happen so fast... but I am very much looking forward to doing something new. I will most of all miss the wonderful coworkers that I currently have... they really made the job amazing.

I'll keep everyone updated! This is looking like an excellent year for me... in terms of change and doing new things. Thanks to my family and friends for all the support! :)

Did some look and feel changes for my website today...

Tue Feb 24 11:29:38 EST 2004
Did some look and feel changes for my website today... :) I added some color to the scroll bars so they match the colors on my website--but, I might want to change them again... I don't know if I like all of that purple. I changed my navigation menu on the left so it is more compact. But, I don't know what I should put in the "What should go here?" titlebar. I also added a Website Info section to my website to keep track of the features. We'll see how long that lasts. :) Yesterday, I added some validation to the guest book (to require name and email address) and also to fix some bugs where the entries mess up if someone uses double quotes... so feel free to use them! :) I think I might want to do a complete color change... :) Maybe some pink?

Total domestic goddess day...

Sun Feb 22 19:34:54 EST 2004
Total domestic goddess day... did a lot of cooking. Made that saag paneer with tofu, chicken biryani (Indian rice pilaf with whole eggs, yum!), pork and shrimp wontons, and vegetable soup. Maybe with all of that, I won't have to do any cooking for the rest of the week... sounds good to me. :) Also, put a batch of oatmeal muffins (with orange zest and walnuts) in the oven... it's a diabetic recipe... I hope it isn't gross. :p To add to the domestic goddessness, I did laundry, cleaned, vaccuumed. It was a very productive day.

Had another interview on Friday... they said they wanted me to come in for a second round. It's a company that is really close to my house--which is great. My officemate is also going there on Tuesday for an interview. So, both of us might jump ship... or, maybe I'll go work in Europe for a little bit. :)

Also on Friday, I installed the new NEC DVD+R/-R/RW that I got! Whee, worked well... except that I had the jumpers wrong the first time... so, my machine froze. I also vaccuumed the inside of our server... so it is all souped up and clean. :) I was mad that the drive didn't come with any cables or screws (that's what you get for buying it cheap), but thankfully, I had everything I needed. It is an 8x drive for both -r and +r... which is harder to find. I definitely wanted the 8x for -r, since dvd-r media is cheaper for some reason. And, of course, it is black, to match my bad-ass black server. It also burned a regular cd-r at 32x--impressive! At least, I was impressed. :p

Oh, some funny thing. I got a little post card from Sony-Ericsson, saying they were giving me a FREE phone upgrade, with no strings attached... but, the phone is not as nice as my current phone. And, I didn't ask for it... they say on the card that they are just going to send it to me. So, how is it an UPgrade if the phone is crappier than the one I have had for two years? :) Hehe. Well, maybe I can salvage parts of the phone or something. :) Anyone use AT&T and want a color sony-ericsson T226?

I wonder when I will be able to smell and taste again...

Mon Feb 16 10:16:55 EST 2004
I wonder when I will be able to smell and taste again... I have the flu, and it is the worst flu I have had since... last month. :) No... last month it was just a cough... a perpetual cough. But, this was the real deal. I went to the cdc's flu info page, and I had every symptom.

Why did I even expend the energy to put honey on my toast this morning? I didn't even taste it. I did put butter... and I needed that, otherwise it would have been dry. I guess I could have sprinkled it with water, though--and it would have been nice and moist, and it would have tasted the same to me.

I have an interview tomorrow morning... but I think I might have to cancel it because I am really sick. If they don't want to hire me for that reason alone--then, I don't want to work there anyways. I did have an interview last Thursday... it was before the really bad parts of the flu... and it went alright... except towards the end. I was in the middle of an explanation of something, and had to ask what the original question was. :) I think my medication must have started to wear off... hehehe. :) Or maybe it was because I couldn't breathe as well as normally, and I had lack of oxygen to my brain!

Anyways, after the constant badgering of my sister, I implemented it so that comments show up in the blog archives. It's just stuck underneath each entry right now... but I'll improve that later, I think. I should probably start putting a feature-list or a help-doc to go with this website... I need to stop working on it, or it is going to get complicated, and I don't like that. :)

Going to try making some Saag Paneer today...

Fri Feb 6 13:30:02 EST 2004
Going to try making some Saag Paneer today... it is an Indian spinach curry with cheese cubes. But, I am going to try to make it with tofu instead of cheese. We will see how it turns out. :)

It was snowing like crazy today!! It has pretty much stopped now, but I can hear some ice pelting on my window. I guess that would be called sleet. :p

Yay, getting some new xbox games today!

Wed Feb 4 13:50:17 EST 2004
Yay, getting some new xbox games today! Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell (which came free with it). I hope it is as good as Ghost Recon. Last night, we had some salmon for dinner, with broccoli and broiled graped tomatoes. I used some garam masala to coat the salmon and then fried it in a pan--it was so nice and crispy on the outside. So, I am on a kick to find a nice place (online?) to buy some Indian spices along with other things. Anyone have any suggestions?