Ok, technically I’m not schilling because I’m not even pretending I’m not involved.

Luke and I are paying for the bulk of our wedding costs… and we’re coming up a bit short. If you’re interested in buying any of Luke’s music, now would be the helpful time to do it. “WHAT A RIPOFF! VOLUME 2″, an odds-and-ends compilation was just released, as well as the “GREATEST HITS VOLUME 1″ 2-CD. Also, he’s always looking for more work as a caricature artist & cartoonist – he’s for hire at parties as well as for individual caricatures/cartoons for gifts, as well as promo art.

I’m pretty much booked for website work for now, but I’ll be available after the wedding for more freelance.

Remember my last post about how I was starting an herb garden, about two months ago, and I wasn’t expecting anything to actually grow?

Stuff grew! The big foof of green you see on the left is parsley; I had to separate it out from the others so they didn’t hog all the sun. The rest in the tray is oregano, basil, tarragon, and catnip. The plant in the soda bottle bottom behind the parsley is a marigold I got from the UU church’s earth day service. Thinking tomorrow will be a good day for planting outside.

Seedling starter tray: $4
Seedling soil: $4
Seeds: $6

Being prepared for zombies on my lawn: Priceless.

Well, here’s yet again another attempt at me starting an herb garden. Difference this time is that I actually have land to plant on. Yay, home ownership! I’ve got parsley, catnip, oregano, thyme, tarragon, and basil. Any tips from you green thumbs out there? ‘Cause generally anything I plant dies pretty horribly. Black thumbs run in my family. I know I need to keep them watered, but not too watered or I’ll get root rot. When should I water them? Every other day? Every second day? I have them at a west-facing window so they’ll get some sunlight filtered through the pine tree back there every day.

Any useful advice appreciated!

This is my 3rd re-listing of this item. I’ve dropped the starting bid to $35. If this doesn’t work, I give up.

I’m auctioning off a white 1000 thread count king-size sheet set, proceeds to go to the MarsCon Dementia Track Fund Raiser. If you are local to Chicago I can deliver.
http://bid-url.com/h06fdu

This isn’t posted anywhere on the web so I thought I’d toss it up on here:

If you live in Villa Park, IL and want to recycle your christmas tree, just leave it out on the curb anytime during the first 2 weeks of January (bare – not in a bag). Waste Management will pick it up and take it to be recycled.

…for an end to world hunger, but that’s a long-term goal.

If you were wondering, here’s my Amazon Wish List for the short term.

(And I like used books just fine.)

I’m blown away. President Obama. My pessimism wouldn’t let me believe it until McCain conceded.

Not only that, but we’re well on our way to a Democratic Senate and House. I have to admit that makes me a bit nervous. We’re going to have to still be vigilant, as citizens, to make sure the laws we pass are what the American people need, and not what the party needs to stay in power. Remember what absolute power does, kids.

Also, most of the states were won by Obama by 10-20%-ish. That means that right now, there’s a lot of Republicans out there that have been terrified by this campaign, and they’re still wide-eyed and hair-triggered now. We have a lot of work to do to make sure this country isn’t torn apart by fear.

McCain gave his eloquent and heartfelt concession speech and it was the John McCain I respected in the past. I didn’t respect his campaign. It was dirty and divisive, and I don’t think he was steering the ship. Now, he can be Senator McCain, a dedicated Senator and advisor like he has proven himself to be, without the millstone of the GOP around his neck. Be mavericky, Mr. McCain. I can’t wait.

I can’t say I’m not pleased as punch that useless woman isn’t going to be in Washington. Go back to Alaska, Mrs. Palin, and stay there. And while you’re there, try and do some good, or at least, don’t make it any worse.

I know I still sound like a pessimist. But I really am surprised by the American people, by the system, that it is not truly corrupted, it is not decrepit, it is not lost. Maybe, just maybe, we can.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iEW9FYay0lFbUS4UMghrpSYEKE9AD93D6DH00

“Attorneys general from 13 states on Wednesday protested a proposed Bush administration rule that would give stronger job protections to doctors and other health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions because of religious or moral objections.

In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, the states said the rule is too vague in defining abortion, and may be interpreted to include birth control.

“It threatens to drastically discourage and even deter a woman’s right to choose,” Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said. “This proposed rule unconscionably puts personal agendas before patient care … failing even to acknowledge the rights of rape victims and others to access birth control and related vital health services.”

Other states joining Connecticut in protesting the rule are Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Vermont.”

Lisa Madigan is the Illinois AG. I plan on sending her a thank-you card.

So this will be obvious to you unix/linux geeks, but it took me a while to remember, so I’m putting it here.

I was trying to use the new install of PHP (on the command line) that I’d added instead of the default 4.4.7 install that comes with OS X 10.4. But nobody really says how to do that anywhere.

When I ran “which php” it said I was using /usr/bin/php. I wanted to be using usr/local/php5.

So, in .bash_profile for my user, I added the line:
# Set PATH for php (override default /usr/bin/php)
export PATH=/usr/local/php5/bin/:$PATH

then I saved that and ran “source .bash_profile”.

Now when I run “which php” it says /usr/local/php5/bin//php.

Yay!

Or something. Anyway, today I made cupcakes for Linda & Jered’s engagement party, and here they are…

I’m not sure why my buttercream does that rough thing at the edges. I’ll have to work on that.