The boyfriend got a lot of points when he sent me an unexpected gift last week ("for being a wonderful girlfriend"): caffeine molecule earrings. But the best part was the note: it started with "to the one and only javachik,..." Since he has never really "gotten" the online forum thing, it was meaningful to me that he used "javachik".

Aw.

My grandmother's name was Grace Matilda.

It seems relevant for me to mention that our sporty little MG in the Sixties was named Matilda Grace for her beauty...

Now, I thought you people were Buffistas and liked to write learnedly wheresoever you got the chance. I have to tell you, I lost my bet that at least one of the Buffista visitors to the Felt Farm woulda posted something... Not that the Felt Farm is complaining, mind you. It's happy to get some attention! It's all been in storage for awhile, you see.

Have to admit: I was pronouncing Shir as "Shur" in my head and it sounded a little bit like a Valley Girl was saying it, so at least the "i" sound was short.

My life contains too many people who cannot be trained to call me Katie. No, they like using "Kate," which is perfectly nice, but Not.My.Name.

edit: At least "Kate" is better than "Kathy" for me.

I think of you as Katie bee , but not sure what I've called you in real life. But Katie fits you better than Kate.

I tried to go by elizabeth once , but it never stuck. and a few people tried to call me liz, which was odd.

DH is actually trying to figure out what we spend. yup, budget.

Anybody got an idea how to get a good quick estimate of the sguiggy numbers -- like grocery bills?

At least "Kate" is better than "Kathy" for me.

Both are perfectly lovely names, just not Yours and therefore Not Right.

Now that we're in 2nd semester, my schedule changed so that I have the last period of the day off. Which totally rocks. School doesn't get out for another 5 minutes, but I'm ready to go home. Yay!

AND, my room got new computers! I don't have to wait 4 minutes for Word to open anymore. And, all the classroom computers work! Yay!!! The kids complained that the monitors are not 23", but they can live with the 15" ones and like it. Darn those kids.

Anybody got an idea how to get a good quick estimate of the sguiggy numbers -- like grocery bills?

I use averages. How much, on average, do I spend in a month?

My mouth doesn't want to cooperate.

I know it's the big problem. Trust me, I was the one, after 10 days in the U.S., with an aching jaw from the muscles I pulled trying to pronounce stuff right. So really - I understand. The right r sound is very difficult to pronounce for English speakers, just as it's hard for me to pronounce some sounds in English correctly.

I was pronouncing your name "sheer"

When I'm tired of people asking how to pronounce my name, I tell them to go by this.

I was pronouncing Shir as "Shur" in my head

Again, something I hear a lot from the English speakers.

So apparently the silent r stands for looking around to see if anyone caught me.

The deadly, silent r.

Crap!! The system ate my post.

Alas, it was a good one.

(Goes off to mope)

OK. I searched the YouTubes, and all I could come up is with this: [link]

For the record, I hate the song. But, It's clear from it how to say my name, and it's all over the chorus. Just start from about 1:00.

Edit: also here [link] from 0:31.

Also, I needed to share this: [link]

ha. figured out how to average --which was where it was hard.

D'oh I use my bank card so I wnet through 2 months of bank statement and just pulled together the three stores we shop from. Turns out, quite pleasantly, that my grocery store estimate was too high. Eating out might not be as much fun

wow... happened again. Good thing I did me a "control/c" there first.

Third time is the charm:

Most of the Buffistas call me Katie after I mention that I picked Katerina to be a unique board name, since there was already more than one Katie around when I joined up. Nobody here has any trouble with the concept, so there’s one of the pleasures of hanging out with smart people.

I do like being called Katie Bee. It’s a pleasure every time I hear it.

I’ve been budgeting my keeping receipts together and occasionally adding everything up, but I always stop when the numbers get large and scary. I am so Not A Math Person. I can’t exist without the support of my little basic calculator to add and subtract for me. Too bad the calculator has been no help at all when I mix up things like calendar dates and flight times….

Sigh… stranded again without a ride today. It’s been difficult acclimating to being car-less on a daily basis. If I had wheels, I could pop down to The Book Shop and hang out admiring my exhibition. But no, I get to stay home again.

I have heard a lot of lame-o excuses in the past few months: it’s too far for me to drive, I’m too busy, the weather is too bad, I have to deal with something else right now, can’t it wait until tomorrow, why don’t you rent a car. And this after all the times I leaped into my car and drove to San Francisco on a moment’s notice to answer someone else’s need-of-the-day.

At least when I lived in San Francisco, the public transportation was always workable for me. Grump.