Something in the way she moves

So I am smack in the middle of the Great Move of '09, and all I can say is I cannot wait for it to be over.

This is the first time I've ever tried to do the packing and moving charade on my very own -- you may recall that last year's move was completely orchestrated by the company. All I had to do was unpack, which isn't so bad. Every move before that, my life coach aka mother has been around at some point for a few days to crack the whip over my head to get me to put my things in boxes.

I gave myself over a month to do this move, and while there's still three weeks left, I am moving waaaay too slowly. Packing has been way harder than I ever remember it being. Part of it is I'm trying to actually comb through what I'm putting in boxes and throw/give as much stuff away as I possibly can. Roomie and I are seriously contemplating a yard sale soon because we have so much nice stuff that we don't want anymore. I wish I could have that yard sale tomorrow -- I'd sell most of what I have just to not have to pack it.

One interesting thing about this round of packing is that I am encountering way too many memories of the Modern Ex: photo albums, ticket stubs, stuffed animals he gave me -- basically five years of accumulated stuff. It's not a problem emotionally, I just don't know what to do with it all. Do I throw it away? Do I keep it for posterity's sake? The internal debate is slowing me up quite a bit.

Not to mention I keep getting distracted by cuddly puppy dogs, parties and dinners with friends and a cute boy who for some reason keeps wanting to take me out. And I plan on celebrating my birthday this year, which takes another day or two out of the moving equation. And my cousin is coming to visit. And oh yeah, and I go to BlogHer in two weeks, which eliminates five days. I haven't even thought about what parties I'm going to attend at BlogHer because of the aforementioned move, dog, friends and cute boy.

Saturday is the big day in that I have real, professional movers coming to put all of my furniture and whatever I have boxed up on a truck and unload it in the new house. I wish I could say that would be everything I own, but I have a feeling I'm still going to have to cajole some friends with pizza and beer at some point, which was exactly what I was trying to avoid. Sigh.

And then there's the whole bit about unpacking.

I know it will all get done, even if it kills me. I haven't missed a deadline yet. Still, all I really want to do is spend a whole day on my couch reading a book and sipping lemonade. And maybe getting caught up on my blogreader. Please, please, please don't hate me for being so behind on your blogs.

R.I.P. Air McNair

As a Tennessee Titans fan, I was distraught over the news that Steve McNair had been murdered this weekend. He was the face of the franchise for many, many years, a face that always seemed to be smiling. He spent a lot of time doing charity work. He was a beast of a football player, playing through many, many injuries -- the newspaper in Nashville once ran a photo of McNair with lines pointing to each of his body parts that had been injured or operated upon, and it looked like an Operation game.

As it turns out, his death was likely the result of a murder-suicide in which his 20-year-old girlfriend was the one doing the shooting. That bit was tough for me to swallow. McNair seemed like such the family man with his wife of 12 years and his four kids.

I guess it's a good time to remember that we're all human, and we all make mistakes. But seriously, Universe, I've had enough of both the dudes-cheating-on-their-wives scandals and celebrity deaths lately. How about some puppies and rainbows for a change?

We will not go quietly into the night

I know everyone's seen Independence Day, but I'm betting you haven't seen it in a really, really long time. Here's a refresher ...



Happy Fourth!

In which I let my nerd flag fly

So even though I've been too busy to post here lately, I was not too busy to do a guest post today for one of my favorite blogs, The Park Bench, a gathering place for nerdy women and nerdy men of discerning taste.

Liz, the blogkeep over at the Bench does a great job of keeping track of things that are near and dear to the hearts of nerdy gals everywhere (and a little bit of nerdiness is key to every modern gal's life), so I was thrilled when she asked me to write about a nerdy experience of my own. I shall say two words about the post and you'll have to read the rest: Space Camp.

Also, check out Liz's own post about how to meet and woo a nerdy girl. Her tips are awesome, especially No. 8 which has been used on me countless times and yet never gets old.

Show them how funky

That Modern Gal, does she ever blog anymore? Apparently not, judging by how little the home page has budged in the past week. Alas, it's becoming one of those times in my life where life gets in the way of blogging. Packing for the big move -- or rather thinking about packing -- has consumed much of the free time that I have when I'm not working or hanging out with friends or going out on dates. Going out on dates? Are you a glutton for punishment, MG? Don't you know that keeps ending badly for you? Ah, well.

Anyway, I promised some Michael Jackson tributes, and I suppose the week anniversary of his death is as good of a reason to do one as any. Because my ambition of doing a weeklong tribute has vanished with the winds of early this week, I'm going to try to roll it all into one. Here goes.

First for something serious. Lisa Marie wrote this blog post about about her time with MJ, and I thought it was very insightful. I've dated someone who could almost fit the description she offers of him. They are amazing and difficult people and hard to share a relationship with.

Now for something kind of random. Billie Jean is hands-down my favorite MJ song. As the Modern Ex would say about certain songs/singers: he brings the hurt when he insists the kid is not his son. And the video, like so many of his others, is awesome. Who doesn't want the sidewalk to light up as you step on it?

Anyway, one of my Twitter friends shared this Twitter tribute to Billie Jean with me. Kinda random, but kinda cool too.

Here are two things I posted when MJ turned 50 a few months back, but I'm willing to bet you don't remember so they will still be interesting: The 50 weirdest facts about Michael Jackson and a pictoral HisTory of MJ's face.

Ok, now for my favorite songs/videos. This is so hard because I love so many and for so many different reasons, but I'll try anyway. I've already named and posted a link to Billie Jean, so that's No. 1. (Embedding isn't an option, so you'll have to click through, just COME BACK WHEN YOU'RE DONE!)

No. 2: Beat It, because it's my favorite of all the MJ video dances. I do the dance in my living room when I'm alone and need a short workout.

No. 3: Thriller, because duh, it's Thriller, Thriller night. And it's the greatest video ever made, or something like that.

No. 4: Never Can Say Goodbye, because I loved the Jackson 5 just as much. And Isaac Hayes loved it enough to cover it.
(oh look! an embedded clip!)


No. 5: Man in the Mirror, because, c'mon. You all know you look yourselves in the mirror and rock out when you hear that song. It makes you want to change the world.

No. 6: Dirty Diana, because if that doesn't make you want to be a bad gal, I don't know what will. Speaking of bad ...


No. 7: Bad, because Bad was the album and song I associated with him as a child (I was still pretty young when Thriller came out.)

No. 8: Black or White and Who is It, because I listened to the Dangerous album on repeat with my fellow summer campers circa 1991.


No. 9: P.Y.T., because that's the song that gets played most regularly at two of my favorite drinking establishments.

and lastly

No. 10: Tie between Smooth Criminal and Scream, because I just can't decide. Both are kinda weird but cool songs. And the Scream video was such a big deal.

Ok, since that post took me like two hours to write, I think I'm done for the day. Happy long weekend!