in other news...

Hello, blog?
It's me, Jen.

Are you still there?

...

(Yeah, I would be long gone by now too.)

I finally shut off What the Blog... made it private except to the other 2 admins and myself. It's closed until further notice, which is somewhere between forever and ever. Maybe I will miraculously find time to bring it back, but it's doubtful.

I really am sorry about the whole thing... it was a great idea but as usual I didn't stick to it. (Kind of like this blog.) I have trouble sticking to things sometimes.

Here's my news, to all those interested:

• Still working at the most awesome and time-consuming job ever. I love seeing my work online and in print every day. It rocks so much! Even on the days I'm at the office until 8 or 9 pm... oh yeah, and that one night I was there 'til midnight...

• I am still madly hopelessly wonderfully truly in love with that boyfriend of mine... our 1-year mark will be October 21st. It's kind of amazing to me that this blog witnessed the last year of my singledom, our first date almost a year ago, and now my life as it is with him in my life. The more I think about it, the more I realize how I've documented a huge milestone in my life just blogging for that one year. It's like a part of me knew I needed to have it written down. (Yes, parts of me are also sappy and insane now.)
  

• I got a NEW car. This awesome job I have pays me enough to live (who knew?) and breathe (wow!). Plus, my old car kept needing all these stupid repairs. So I thought, why the hell not? I got a 2007 Toyota Yaris, which came loaded with all the extras I wanted, and it's even the exact color I wanted. I wanted a hybrid, but I couldn't afford one, so I went with the next lowest gas mileage I could find. It's especially wonderful now that I commute so far to work every day.
  

• Still going to college to get my Bachelor's degree... even though I kind of hate it right now. The classes are too easy and boring, which makes me want to skip class and not do homework. And my classmates are all fresh-out-of-high school, no-talent, no-skill, skinny-bitch-girls. "Uhm, teehee, it's either graphic design, cosmetology, massage therapy, or nursing... I think I'll just flip a coin. Um wait... aren't there any 4-sided coins?"

• Recently reaffirmed my lack of faith. This sounds strange, I know, but I'm very glad I'm finally making some firm decisions with my religious beliefs. And my firm decision is: I don't have any religious beliefs.
  

• Of course, I'm still a vegetarian and, if anything, that in itself is my one true faith. I have seen a few documentaries lately on animal rights, and while I wouldn't recommend them to meat-eaters, I would be happy to recommend them to any veg*ians out there. Nadine recently went vegetarian and has been doing really well with it. Even though she says I was the initial influence, I know she came to this conclusion on her own. And that's the way it should be.

I'm writing in my blog to avoid doing my homework... so I guess I need to stop now and do it... I guess.

New meaning of the word asshat.

I've been a vegetarian since I was about 13. That's over 10 years and it continues to be a learning experience. So consequently, PETA's international spys somehow found me on the "National Vegetarians List" or something (That's not real, okay. I made it up), and has started mailing me magazines and literature.

I like the idea of PETA. It's People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, for those of you who don't know. I like their name and I like the idea of a large group of people organizing to make themselves heard. But I definitely don't like the scare tactics... the gory photos... the horror shows they display on a regular basis. That's what they've become known for too. Showing people things they don't want to see. Trying to shock people into caring about animals. It doesn't work... it just makes people think PETA is insane and fanatic and outrageous and extreme and it causes people to discredit the things they have to say and label them as propaganda. (Which they might very well be just mere propaganda, though I personally don't believe that.)

Well, I don't want to see these images and stories either. Hello, the whole reason I became a vegetarian was because I wanted to avoid thinking about how animals die. The best way to avoid this guilt is to stop eating them. And yes, eventually I'll become a full-on vegan, but until I make that choice I'd like it if they would stop trying to make me cry.

Anyway, on to my point. I started getting emails from Compassion Over Killing (COK... yes, I know), which appears to be "affiliated" with PETA. And by "affiliated" I mean that I can't seem to find their connection to PETA, but because they both use the same scare tactics and display the same horrific photos, it's my opinion that they are lumped together as one big scary company.

Now, I'm all for getting the word out about animal cruelty. And I agree with the beliefs and principles they are preaching. And I'm all for going vegan, when I can actually afford to do so. (Soy products are not cheap.)

But I think these people a new marketing guy. Like, 5 years ago.

Check this email out that I just got from the people at COK:

Subject: Action Alert: Act Today to Help Caged Hens

Compassion Over Killing and Vegan Outreach are teaming up with compassionate people everywhere to ask Morningstar Farms® to stop using eggs in its product line.

[[Insert disturbing photo of hens in very small cages and a caption below it with a horrifying statistic]]

[[Insert link to an entire photo gallery of these terrible images.]]

Morningstar Farms®, which is owned by the Kellogg® company, was approached in September 2005 about its use of eggs in its products...

[[Insert link to more disturbing photos of hens in cages.]]

[[Insert long description of horrible conditions that the hens live in that I am certain my readers don't want to hear.]]

Morningstar Farms® has long been a leader in supplying delicious vegetarian foods to a growing market.
[[Insert a suggestion that everyone should contact Morningstar Farms and tell them to stop using eggs in their products]] ...encourage them to join with companies like Gardenburger®, which last year announced it has taken eggs out of all its products except for one private-sourced item.

Okay. What the hell, COK!? Are you actually picking on a company that provides us vegetarians with yummy yummy food-stuffs in lieu of a company that is mistreating the animal directly? What happened to going to the root of the problem?

You seriously need to learn how to pick your battles, COK. You're biting the hand that literally feeds you. In fact, let's throw another cliche in there: beggars can't be choosers.

It's like saying to a doctor, "Well you sorta cured cancer, but it's really not good enough yet. Think you can work on that? Uhm, oh yeah and here are a TON of my friends to tell you the EXACT same thing until you DO fix the problem."

Or saying to the rocket scientist, "Well, the rocket got us safely to the moon and stuff, that's great... but the coffeemaker inside the rocket isn't working right now, ya think you could take a look at that? Cuz the astronauts are really thirsty and uhm... you're gonna get about 40 emails a day until it's fixed. Thanks!"

WTF?

Shoes, shoes, shoes.

I've narrowed down my shoe selections... It's gonna be really hard to choose.

• Women's Vegan Black/Cement "Eliot" by Macbeth. $55.95. More info from Zappos.com.

• Women's Vegan Black/Pink/Binded "Eliot" by Macbeth. $55.95. More info from Zappos.com.

• Men's Vegan Black/White "Regal" by Macbeth. $73.95. More info from Zappos.com.

• Men's Vegan Black/White/Black "Rowley XL III" by Vans. $64.95. More info from Zappos.com.

• Men's Vegan Black/Charcoal "Rowley XL III" by Vans. $64.95. More info from Zappos.com.

These are all-synthetic/man-made materials. Entirely vegetarian/vegan shoes!! Can you tell I like black skate shoes? Yeah, I really do. I'm partial toward any and all Vans, as you may very well know, since I gave away all of my beloved non-vegetarian Vans recently and it almost made me cry. But the Macbeths are really cute too. It's going to be really hard to decide.

Oh man, I love shoes.


Blog Network Update: I'll work on the stuffs tomorrow while I'm off of work and can devote some time to it. I like a couple of the ideas you guys suggested, so that gets me thinking. :) I know I need to start on the buttons first because I'm just a really visual person. Once I create a few button designs that I like a lot it'll be easier to make up a name. I'm guessing the whole generalized theme will be rant-related.

I hope ya'll will want to join up after I make the pretty pretty buttons. Yeah, I said 'ya'll'. But I don't really talk like that.

Watch for updates on this tomorrow, fellow bloggers!

Blogger should have private posting.

Maybe it would be nice if Blogger had some kind of "friends list", so to speak, where you could post entries and give the viewing-rights to certain people. There isn't any form of "optional" private-blogging on Blogger (except making your entire blog private, which is not what I'm looking for). I suppose the lack of optional private-posting is both good and bad. Afterall, if you're gonna say it, say it. If not, don't get a blog.

But I dunno... some days you wanna talk about things that aren't something you want to broadcast. Or you just want to branch completely off topic. Or vent or cry (okay, I don't cry but I do vent). Why put your regular readers through that? Other blogging services provide this option, even YouTube does something similar. Maybe one of these days they'll add it as a feature, but who knows.

Friday I had a date in Lincoln (I know you all wanna hear about it, but you're not gonna) and then met Ashley at her house. Tabby (Ashley's 10-(or 11)-month-old daughter) was sleeping so we talked and caught up a little while we waited for her to wake up. We went shopping afterwards, etc. After Derek (Ashley's husband) got home, Ashley and I drove to this vegetarian restaurant in downtown Lincoln called Maggie's Vegetarian Vittles.

And the damn place closes at 3:00! What kind of deal is that? I thought Friday/Saturday nights were supposed to be the busiest time for restaurants. And they're not even open on the weekends! This going to drive me nuts. If I don't get to eat there someday, I will scream. I checked out their website and the food looks/sounds freakin awesome. I realize they're probably a small place, but even Dazy Maze was open better hours than that.

Anyway, Ashley and I went to The Oven instead for some Indian food. It was amazing, as I expected. And the service! Wow, ya know, I really need to find a new Indian place in Omaha, because I see now that the place I frequent here has the worst service imaginable. I thought maybe it was supposed to be like that, but I just didn't know any better. Service at The Oven was both immediate and pleasant, so now I know that I've been going to a really lousy place here in Omaha (not gonna name names!).

We got the stuffed paratha (whole wheat bread, stuffed with peas and potato and baked in the Tandoor) for an appetizer, which was very tasty. And then I went to order my usual bengan bearta (roasted eggplant sauteed with ginger, garlic, spices, and potatoes), but they only serve it on Sundays! Whyyyyyy? Oh well, it forced me to try something new. So, I got the alo chole (chick peas and potatoes cooked in onion and garlic), which was to die for and I'm glad I tried something new finally. Although I have to say I still love bengan bearta the best, because the alo chole was just not spicy at all. When I go to eat Indian, I want my mouth pleasantly burning throughout the entire experience. Bengan bearta does this job perfectly.

I'm most likely going back to Lincoln tomorrow with Nadine and Joe, just to go shopping at this place that has a really great clearance/sale going on. So that's my next chance to go to Maggie's (if I can convince Nadine and Joe to go). Hopefully on our way back we can stop at the Nebraska Crossing outlet mall too. It's been so long since I've been there, all I can remember is that it was the most ghetto mall on earth. But yeah, so that will be fun. I haven't been on a roadtrip (haha, it's only 45 minutes) with anyone else for years. When I drive anywhere I'm always by myself, singing extremely loudly to my mix CD's.

Uhm. Well... I guess that's all I'm going to say today. Sorry folks.

I think that guy just got dumped.

I drove to Papillion/LaVista/Whatever to the Baker's there to get those Hinder tickets (sold out), and I get out of my car and hear that "Calling all angels" song by Train blaring from the car parked right next to mine. I glance into the car and have to do a double take. There is a guy, about 18 or 19, sitting in the driver's seat holding a spoon, and he's digging into this gallon bucket of mint chocolate chip ice cream that is sitting in his lap, while Train is crooning over his car stereo. Wtf? So, I came back out after not getting the concert tickets, and the guy is still there eating ice cream, and now the song has changed to Michelle Branch. People are too strange sometimes.

So, I tell Jesse about this and I joke, "I should have asked him if he was on his period" and to this he replies, "That's not funny, maybe he has cancer." Wtf, okay way to shut me up.

I don't really have any interesting news other than that (yes, the thing about the boy eating a gallon of ice cream in his car was my interesting news). It's been a long week so far and it's only Wednesday.

So, I'm gonna ramble a little.

Echo randomly got me these cute socks, along with another cute pair that is black with white skulls on it. Also, I got these totally sweet new shoes for only $12 at Wal-Mart. Yes, the shoes are cheaply made and will probably crap out on me in a couple months, but just look at them. They are so tacky! I love it! I was showing them off to my boss Tom and he was like, "Are those Vans?" Tsk. You fool, Vans are way cuter than this and also much better quality. But these Wal-Mart shoes are 100% Man-Made Materials, which has sometimes been difficult for me to find in cute shoes without paying a fortune for them. Well, except at Wal-Mart, since most of the shoes there are cheaply made.

Which brings me to another point. Why is leather so expensive compared to synthetic materials, whereas a pound of hamburger is 3 to 4 times cheaper than a box of 4 soy burger patties. I guess there is plenty of meat to go around, and not enough hide. Supply and demand is retarded.

After over 3 years of not wearing my most favorite shoes (they just sit and take up space in my closet), I'm finally ready to donate all of my Vans and other non-synthetic shoes to the thrift store. I have to say, it's been really hard for me to choose between my love of animals and my love of shoes. I haven't been wearing them, but I also haven't been able to give them away until now. On this site, I found a handful of shoe styles that Vans makes that are cruelty-free and also not ugly, so I think I'll get myself a pair or two for my birthday. (Pictured left are some vegetarian Vans that are pretty freakin sweet.)

(Boring) Blog-related updates: I've been using SiteMeter since September 1st and have had 284 visitors since. Except it doesn't tell me how many are repeat visitors I'm getting and often times it doesn't count the visit duration at all. (I've tested this myself.) Not to mention, I get strange location info about each visitor that I am not sure is even remotely correct. So, maybe people are coming here, but are they actually reading? And are they coming back?

So I found this Bravenet counter that is also free (now at the bottom of this page), but which appears to be more accurate (so far). It tells me about returning visitors and it's very customizable. Until I choose which counter is best for my needs, I'm keeping them both on here.

Also, I've been reading a lot of really great blogs lately, so I'm gonna post some of my favorites in a new links column on the right there sometime later today when I have time to do it (ohhh the oh-so-difficult task of cut-and-paste). That way if you get bored with me, you can go see people that are actually interesting.

Moving on... I am craving Olive Garden salad, damnit. Someone please go with me for the love of gawd. :D I could very possibly cry if I don't get to go. Or at least I may buy a gallon of ice cream and eat it in my car in the parking lot of Baker's. Friends don't let friends eat right out of the gallon while sitting in their car. Oh, so sad.

This has been perhaps the most boring entry to date. Thanks for skimming!

First post will be both random and useless.

Hi all.

I don't have much to say but I will say it anyway. I'm Jen in Omaha. I love Omaha and sometimes you'll have to put up with me writing about it. Like, restaurant reviews and fun things to do around here. It's not a field of corn, you know.

This is my first blog, so don't leave comments saying "for the love of god, delete this trainwreck" or "boo hiss" because honestly, do you want to make me cry?

That said, here's a completely random list of links to places I frequent and you should too if you know what's good for ya.

• www.gofugyourself.com: Catty and hilarious reviews from two chicks pointing out celebs' fugly fashion choices.
• www.homestarrunner.com: Flash cartoons. Strong Bad!
• www.43things.com: Online community for sharing your most unattainable hopes and dreams. Yay!
• www.nintendorks.com: Nintendo + Dorks = Nintendorks
• www.somethingawful.com: Not usually safe for work... Check out Photoshop Phriday and Cliff Yablonski Hates You for some very cool photoshops and crazy humor.
• www.dieselsweeties.com: an online comic about robots, love, and general geekery.
• www.pennyarcade.com: an online comic by gamers for gamers
• www.teganandsara.com: Tegan and Sara Quin, folk-rock-punk-awesome Canadian twins.
• www.alternativeoutfitters.com: Vegan apparel and goodies galore. For girls and guys.
• www.mooshoes.com: Awesome vegan shoes for both guys and girls. Other cool buyables as well.

Okay, no more links today because soon you'll want to click me in the head.

Also, I have an important announcement to make: I want a Wii.
Here's the countdown... www.wiireleasedate.com

More later, unless this is my only post. Check back multiple times a day. No really, it will be fun to read this one post over and over until something new may or may not appear.

Good day!