I wanted to give a heads-up that the site will be undergoing some changes here in a few weeks/months, but I realize that my intention was slightly less for your benefit than for mine - I have hopes that by making promises to you that things will change, I will encourage myself to actually follow through with them. This is actually fallible logic, and is based on the idea that guilt will drive action. For people like myself, for whom procrastination is a problem, the opposite is actually true - guilt drives inaction, and further procrastination.

Fortunately for me, part of my class project for Art 308 in the fall will be to design a web presence and digital portfolio, and my hope is to combine it with this site. I have also a second inspiration - my new MacBook is on its way. I needed a laptop for school and home, as my personal use of my company laptop not only violated policy, but was slowing down my computer considerably. I took advantage of several offers Apple has for students right now, including a free-after-rebate iPod Touch and some extreme discounts on the Adobe Creative Suite software. I’ve now got Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Acrobat 9 Pro, and some other tools for web publishing. I’m excited, but somewhat nervous - I’ve learned a lot about Photoshop and Illustrator from my classes, but I’m still far from an expert on it. It also must be noted that I haven’t used Dreamweaver in six years, and I’m sure much has changed since then.

I expect to get some mixed opinions on my purchase of a Mac - and I did put consideration into buying a PC. In fact, had I not gotten such a good deal as a student, I may have made a different decision. I’m happy, though, with the choice I made. I feel like it will definitely help me back into the area of website design and development, which is something I accidentally abandoned a long time ago, even though it’s one of my favorite things to do. After I graduate, I expect to have some more time to put toward such endeavors, whether I make any money on it or not.

Anyway, one of the changes you may see in the very near future is a change in my web address. You will still be able to find me at amandy.net, but I will be forwarding this URL to my new web address, amandadean.net. This domain has been registered for quite some time, but I decided now to switch over. I have several reasons for this, ranging from the trivial (I am continually confused with the owner of “Amanady” products and the amandy.com domain, receiving many of his emails and wholesale offers) to the more serious (hoping to convey a more professional image through my website).

As promised, I have some photos from the Tom Waits show. He played in Atlanta at the Fox Theater, and this is the second time I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to see him live. As you can tell from the photos, I did not have quite the incredible seat that I had at the first show I saw, but I was definitely happy, considering how lucky I was to get tickets (again). Brian and I were on about the 20th row of the ground floor of the theater. I actually did not intend to take photos at this show as cameras were restricted, and I did not expect it would be easy to snap pictures. It just happens, though, that I forgot to take my camera out of my purse when we parked at the hotel, and nobody noticed it in the pocket at bag check, so it came in with me. By the next-to-last song in the encore, I was feeling gutsy and snapped three photos. Following are the two best, although they are still blurry, as is typical of no-flash concert shots. There are better shots of the same show on the Paste website here.

Of course, it goes without saying that the concert was amazing. It was more theatrical than the last, with Tom pulling some neat stage lighting and prop tricks (including wearing a magical mirrored “disco” hat and casting beams of light across his audience), and doing some neat variations on his standard songs. The band was great too, and he brought his youngest son out to play bongos on one song (his oldest, Casey, was his drummer, as on the previous tour). It was a much longer set as well, at 2 1/2 hours including the encore. If I remember correctly, the previous show was just longer than 1 1/2 hours. I don’t know if all his shows on this tour were long, or if we got a special treat because it was the last leg of the tour. He played a lot of my favorites, and a couple of songs I hadn’t heard before - with Tom’s vast library it’s not too difficult to miss a few.

On a side note, I’m looking to replace Flickr with a more robust internet photo sharing tool. I don’t like the limits on Flickr, or how cumbersome it is to organize them. I’m considering Picasa Web as well as some other options. If anyone has suggestions or advice, please let me know.

About every few months I get on an organization kick. It manifests itself in many ways, usually prompting me to invest in new organizational tools, folders and supplies to help me organize my time, space, or ideas. I have spent far too much time browsing through sites like Lifehacker and Franklin Covey, imagining how such tools and techniques could aid me in my quest to become ultimately organized and productive. In reality, I rarely actually buy the products I find, or even try the various ideas I come across (as I mentioned in a previous post, the ever-popular GTD philosophy had such an overwhelming web-fan-base that I tired of its cumbersome teachings before I even had a chance to try it). Usually when I do buy these products, they are used until the novelty wears off, and then they gather dust.

I find that I get a mental high from just thinking about being the uber-organized person that I definitely am not. When it comes to actually having the discipline to carry through on most of the plans I imagine for myself, I usually find that I just don’t have the time to invest in stringent orgnanization. Granted, I’ve come a long way, I think. Several years ago, I started keeping a paper-planner with a calendar and notebook and such inside. For a while, it too was merely a novelty, and something I liked to think that I could maintain. I rarely did, and would go through spurts where I would keep it diligently, and then it would taper off and there would be a couple of months when I didn’t even glance at it. Although it was useful for some things, I didn’t find it difficult to maintain things like school assignments and social obligations in my memory.

More recently though, I’ve found it to be a staple, and hardly a day has passed over the last year that I haven’t needed it for something (I believe it became necessity around the time of wedding/new job/senior project). Of course, by now the novelty of the planner has completely gone away, and it has dwindled to become a sheer utilitarian (very worn) leather book. I no longer take the time to write my appointments neatly in the pages, and business cards are shoved haphazardly into their pockets. It serves its purpose, but it certainly doesn’t give me that “pinnacle of efficiency and organization” that I like to imagine. Of course, if I bought one of these, I would be a better, more organized person. I mean, if I spend $400 on a planner, surely I’ll never procrastinate again! Of course, this is a lie, but unfortunately every few months, it is a lie that I am tempted to believe. Hopefully not enough to spend $400.00 on a planner that was likely the result of many very tortured (”farmed”?) lizards, but maybe enough to buy a designer ink pen or something.

Having had a four-day weekend, I spent Thursday and Friday doing something truly productive - a slightly delayed Spring Cleaning. I went through (almost) every closet and every room, gathering anything that I didn’t use, didn’t like, or didn’t even remember I had, and throwing it into the Salvation Army boxes and bags. It was an extremely refreshing thing to do, and also very humbling to realize how many posessions I own and take for granted. I pray that I will remember this next time I am tempted to “organize” my life by buying more things - I got a greater level of satisfaction this past weekend by getting rid of and giving away things rather than by adding to my collection.

Also, along with cleaning house this weekend we went to Atlanta to see Tom Waits perform. I will followup with the particulars of the show, but altogether it was a wonderful weekend.

I realized the other day that for the first time in a very long time, I am at a point in my life where things aren’t ridiculously crazy and hectic. I think this is a combination of the actual slowing-down of events in my life as well as my getting accustomed to the busy nature of things. I’m still very busy with work, school, church, home, and everyday things, But for the most part I’m very comfortable right now. Such a blessing!

I remember this time last year, and all the things I had going on at the time. I had just started a new job (my one-year Capsugel anniversary is sometime this week), was preparing to leave for Salkehatchie for a week, followed by a week in Atlanta for job training, followed by a week at my annual service group conference. Somewhere in there I was preparing for a wedding and honeymoon. Of course, with that would come moving into a new apartment, so I was living out of suitcases and boxes for the majority of June and July. Looking back, it’s amazing to me that I pulled all of those things off in one summer. I can’t imagine that I had a single weekend off.

In contrast, this last weekend was completely relaxed. So relaxed in fact, that I don’t really remember what all I did. I know I did some cleaning, some laundry, some grocery shopping. I spent some time with my family celebrating Corey’s graduation (Congrats to Corey!). I also remember a lot of sleeping late and watching television. There was even some homework involved. All in all it was something that has been alien to me for a long time - an average weekend*. Ahhh.

Now, however, it’s back to the work-week. It should be a good week - I have some urgent projects but none of them too difficult (so far). I’ve been enrolled in online classes at Tech for a week now, and they’ve been good, if not dull. Statistics and Sociology - so far Statistics has been a whole lot of busywork (counting numbers and building Excel charts), and Sociology has been a lot of reading. I’m not complaining - after all, it is summer.

* I do not mean this to downplay the significance of Corey’s graduation - not that we didn’t know it would happen. We are all extremely proud of our Valedictorian!

Japanese Siphon Bar in San Francisco per New York Times Online

An amazing feat for the coffee-drinking world, but I have a feeling I would prefer my Mr. Coffee.

I am rejoicing that classes are finished for the semester. I took a Commercial Art independent study course, an upper-level programming class titled “File Structures”, and my senior project class (CIS 499). All were quite excellent. Art was the most fun and relaxing of the bunch, probably because it gave me opportunity to exercise the right side of the brain (my favorite side), while the other two pretty much beat the left side into a pulp. However, all is well now, and despite the difficulties, I count every semester in my college history as time well-spent - an easy thing to do, once they’re finished.

Unlike my sister, Amy, I will not be graduating in a few days with the rest of my class. Because of the mental energy sucked up by my full-time job (also a left-brainer), I had to cut my scholarly endeavors back to part-time last Fall, taking three classes per semester instead of five. Although working and schooling has still been tough, it has worked out well for me, as I have been able to enjoy most of my job, and most of my classes, and haven’t yet had any nervous breakdowns (though CIS 499 brought me too close for comfort). I’m planning to complete the remainder of my classes over the summer and next fall, with expected graduation of December.

I think it would be fun now to give a brief list-style run-down of some note-worthy events of recent, to make up for my neglect:

1. Brian and I (and Amy) had our birthday a week ago - we had all just finished our classes, so a good time was had all around.
2. I have learned that golf, like every other sport I have attempted, is not for me.
3. Dyke Dean, my father-in-law, has begun working with me at Capsugel.
4. I have developed an application that will read, edit, and create PDF documents. OK - it’s buggy.
5. I designed a makeover for this site, but will not actually be developing it until my independent study course in the Fall.
6. Brian’s grandfather passed away mid-April; we travelled to Enterprise, Alabama for the funeral and I met some of his family that I had not met before.
7. Another weekend was spent celebrating and cheering Cyberstorm’s excellent robot at the international FIRST Robotics competition in Atlanta.
8. I will be traveling to Las Vegas next week for a Business Intelligence software conference (anyone know of any good craft stores in Vegas…?).
9. Penny (our crazy cat) was “fixed” in March, and it has proved to be so successful in calming her wild hair that we have scheduled the procedure to be done every few months. *

All that being said, I’m really enjoying the time that I have right now to blog and create art and travel - all those things I don’t have time for during the semester.

* Only joking - No animals were harmed during the making of this blog.

Did you know that Lander’s “Spring Break” was held the same week as the local hospitals “Mid-Winter Ball.”

Just a thought. It wasn’t Spring, but then again, it was a stretch to call it “Mid-winter.”

Spring will be here on Thursday. So happy-almost-Spring!

To celebrate: “Spring Fever.” A ridiculous MST3K short.

Penny in Tinsel

Originally uploaded by Miss Amandy

This week has already been an interesting one. With the onslaught of midterms and some hefty assignments at work, I thought I was doing pretty well just to be waking up on time in the mornings. I just never seem to get enough surprises to keep me on my toes.

My truck is currently sitting in the back of the Old Navy parking lot. Dave borrowed it to drive to Greenville on Sunday night, but the battery died halfway there. Brian changed the battery, and all was well and good until the truck died as I was on my way to Wal-Mart. I would take a gander and say that it is the alternator or something, but that’s Brian’s problem now. After all, it is technically his truck.

It caused some minor transportation problems today, though, as I had already made an appointment at the vet to get Penny fixed. Yes, my troublesome evil dear sweet kitty is having the surgery today. Saturday I bought her a kitty crate in Greenville. As she has never had one before (at least not as long as I’ve had her, since she was a palm-sized little kitten), she hadn’t yet built up the dread and fear most cats learn to associate with the carrier. She was quite comfortable in it, until it got to the car and we started it. Overall though, I’d say she traveled well. I thought she would lose it for sure when we were sitting in the waiting room and three large and loud dogs entered at once. She hissed a bit, but kept her cool. That comforts me; I hope she is that calm during the whole procedure. I get to pick her up right after work today, and take home some pain meds to keep her drugged for a while. Maybe a few weeks…

So that’s what happens when you only pay $30.00 a year for web hosting. You get hacked and lose files.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well. All the php files in my home directory were deleted, but fortunately for me, those were nothing other than Wordpress standard files. All my custom files reside in theme directories, which this hacker left untouched. A quick re-install (upgrade, in fact, although I don’t see any real new features) of Wordpress solved the problem.

I’ve been hosted by Haisoft for 3 or 4 years now, and this is the first time I’ve had any problems like this. I would say that overall I am quite happy with their service, and they have always been quick to respond to my problems (although via phone, their English is terrible). For the price, they’re unbeatable. I just have to remember to back my files up every now and then, just in case…

In other news, I’m keeping busy with writing programs at school, busy with managing projects at work, and busy with crafting and housework at home. Some days I feel like three different people, but hopefully it’s all to the end that someday soon I will feel like one well-rounded person.

Hey guys. This is a test.

My site has been hacked, but if you see this message, it means my recovery skills worked.

Happy kiss!

Originally uploaded by Miss Amandy

I finally uploaded a few of our wedding photos. Click through to see the rest. :) Hopefully I’ll be able to get some more uploaded, but for now these will have to do!

Like many other information-craving internet addicts, I always wind up buying into the internet / blogosphere trends that I promise myself I won’t buy into. I’m sure you know a few of them - the trends that aren’t really bad things, but they just happen so quickly and gain such a cult-like following that it almost makes you sick to imagine yourself as one of “those fanatics”.

One such trend is the “Getting Things Done” productivity / “life-hack” / way of life that has a super-devoted geek fan-base, due to its simplistic why-didn’t-I-think-of-that principles. I spent about an hour researching it one day last week, got excited reading all these success stories and looking at all the neat tools and gadgets that would support the method, and I bought into it. I’m a bit sad to say that I took to it about like any other trend that carries such high promises and expectations - it didn’t really last even a week. Not to say it’s a bad system, or to doubt all the hardcore believers out there, but it just didn’t work for me. I’m not going to post any links here - just Google “Getting Things Done” and you’ll find your fair share of material. Many other examples of trends I never wanted to be a part of can be summed up in one phrase: “Social Networks”. While I’ve never had enough time in the day to become anywhere near addicted to Myspace or Facebook, I have occasionally spent more time browsing around that I’d like to admit.

Anyway, my real reason for bringing this up was to talk about Web 2.0. While it didn’t happen overnight, it carries with it the same fanaticism and concurrent skepticism. I guess the funny thing about Web 2.0 is that most of the skepticism is not around the actual idea of Web 2.0, but typically more around the fact that there is a term for it. Well, I won’t argue about it. I have been on the skeptical end (”It’s just slick interfaces and tags. What gives it the right to claim a new version number?”), and somewhat recently have come to the conclusion that I actually like having a term to describe the newer trend in web development. After all, having a name for it sort of solidifies it and makes it describable. I like Paul Graham’s Article about Web 2.0, as it explained to me what I didn’t understand - why I really like all this Web 2.0 stuff. Some of you may find the article interesting. Others may not.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Web 2.0 term, and don’t want to read that long article about it, this site is a listing of hundreds of examples of it. I think you’ll catch on if you just click around. Smooth interfaces (Flash or AJAX), tagging and searching content, community-driven, no banner ads, pretty colors, etc. It’s all pretty cool in my book; definitely a trend I’ve bought into.

Speaking of Web 2.0 sites, there are 16,483 people ahead of me in the Ravelry invitation queue. I plan to spend the waiting period knitting and crocheting up a storm of cool products so that I’ll have something to show for myself.

I might as well go ahead and document the huge changes that have happened in my life, since my Final Exam blog in May:

1. - Finished final exams with style
2. - Saw Amy off to Mexico
3. - Received wonderful wedding gifts at three showers (still not finished with those thank-you notes…)
4. - Began a full-time position as Jr. Programmer/Analyst at Capsugel
5. - Spent a week at Salkehatchie roofing, flooring, painting, and reparing
6. - Spent a week in Atlanta for job training (yay ITIL…)
7. - Spent a week in Columbia for Grand Assembly
8. - Married the ever-charming and handsome Brian Dean
9. - Spent a week in Chicago on our honeymoon (as far away from sunburn as we could get)
10. - Moved into a cute new apartment with Brian and Penny, the adorable but devious kitten
11. - Began a new semester of classes, working around my 8-5 job as much as possible

So there they are, in all their brief and bulleted splendor, implying that they are far less significant than the previous blog which was expressed in full-paragraphs and rich description. Of course, these things aren’t any less significant; they’re just a bit outdated.

Several weeks ago I came to the realization that I am frequently making some unusual face, and almost never realize I am doing so. When I’m deep in thought, concerned, tired, daydreaming, or doing anything that doesn’t require a conscious effort to control my facial muscles, they simply wander off and contort themselves into whatever position they feel is most appropriate for the situation. It is almost never actually appropriate for the situation. Typically when I catch myself making an unpleasant face, it’s when I’m alone and lost in whatever thoughts are on my mind. As hideous and humorous as these faces are, they aren’t all that alarming, since I’m the only one who is aware that they are happening. Because I thought my face-contortion problem was surrounded and protected by this private little bubble, I was very upset today to discover the true and very-public nature of my problem.

Most of you who live here in South Carolina (or are otherwise knowledgeable about southern etiquette) are familiar with the polite smile and nod that comes along with passing a stranger in a hallway or sidewalk. I’m no rebel when it comes to social nuances such as this, and I always try my best to follow these polite customs and greet passerby, just the same as I try to hold doors for people behind me and let the old lady with the loaf of bread in front of me in the grocery line.

This morning I was on my way to the coffee machine in the canteen - a path I could now easily traverse in my sleep, and my mind was deftly running through the various stages of instruction execution in preparation for my 9:00 exam. At some point in the journey, between the office and the cafeteria (and between Instruction Fetch and Instruction Decode), I passed a colleague headed in the other direction. Perhaps a face I had seen in the hallways before, and maybe even spoken with, but there was not enough recognition to trigger any interruption in my brain’s activities, and so my body instinctively followed through with the “smile, nod, two-seconds-of-eye-contact” response. I happened to be passing a fairly reflective window at the time of the smiling and nodding. And having been making a conscious effort to watch my facial habits, I noticed my face reflected back to me as I smiled and nodded past my coworker.

Except it wasn’t even really a smile; it was more of a scrunched, tight-lipped almost-acknowledgment. In fact, the corners of my mouth were definitely turned down instead of up, and the face conveyed a distinct message of pity. It’s the same kind of smile one would give to a friend who is telling you about this class he is failing even though he studies, or recounting the story of a childhood pet that is no longer alive. That distant, displaced, I’m-sorry smile. My hallway-greeting smile was pretty much exactly like that, except the eyebrows were raised a little, instead of being sadly furrowed (making it less depressing, and instead coming off as somewhat confused and dismayed). It was hideous. My stomach actually turned when I saw it. It could easily have made small children run away. And that’s the face I make to hallway pedestrians, my first impression on many of them?

It’s really been a shock to me, making this discovery. I did some practice greetings in front of the mirror a little while ago, and I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t just a one-time mistake. The contorted pity-face is a very natural response that I was able to quickly recreate without any trouble. I hope desperately that I am able to re-train my instincts - a difficult task, considering that the face happens when I’m already lost in distraction. I’m also rather concerned about other instinctive responses that might trigger some other surprisingly hideous public-face.

I had decided before that my next blog would consist of an apology to everyone for not documenting the huge changes that have happened in my life since the smelly-cell-phone blog, but after today, I think it’s much more pressing and important that I apologize to all of you for the terrible, pitiful, angry, disgusted, or otherwise unacceptable faces that I have made at you or near you in the past. I’m sure there have been a slew of them, and you’ve all been more than kind not to mention them to me for the sake of my feelings, but perhaps it will be easier on you all, now that you know I know. I’m a better person for knowing, I think, and I hope you will all tell me the next time you catch me with my eyes crossed or my jaw displaced, so that I can take corrective actions and better myself.

In recent news, I drove Amy to the airport yesterday. Her flight left at 6:25 PM EST for the London Airport, set to arrive at about 7:00 AM local time in London - just enough time to get to her orientation for school. I’m sure she’s having a great time, and despite her promises to write and blog, I don’t expect to hear from her until I pick her up in Atlanta on December 21st.

In all my trips to Atlanta, I seem to have always managed to avoid driving through the very heart of the city. I’ve always either exited to Little Five Points or bypassed around the city to get to my destination on the perimeter. Yesterday found me white-knuckled and weaving through bumper-to-bumper 80-MPH 8-lane interstate traffic. While I don’t care to recount that part of the trip, I feel the need to be publicly thankful for my life and the life of my passengers today. Hopefully my blood pressure will come back down sometime today.

In the few minutes of research I did before this blog, I came across a link that I think is worth publishing. Hope you all enjoy.

So, Sony Ericsson has designed a new cell phone for Japan’s DoCoMo. “A new cell-phone from Japan?” you’re probably asking. “Does it have laser-gun technology built in? Or new mind-reading technology? Or at least Wii-like motion-sensor technology*?”

Well, no. Actually, the SO703i provides no “technological” advancements at all. What it does provide, however, is the best-smelling phone call you have ever experienced. Go ahead and read for yourselves.

Is this what the intense competition between cell-phone manufacturers has come to? Surely they can do better than that.* When they become able to communicate the scents via mobile technology, that’s when I’ll be impressed.

So in more personal / less interesting news, classes and final exams are over, Amy, Brian, and myself turned twenty-one on Tuesday, and I have a shiny new cell-phone that smells like a cell-phone. The number is still the same.

I’m hoping to take lots of photos this month, to participate in the May 2007 “26 Things” project. I’ve never claimed to be a professional or good or even a serious photographer. It’s always been just a hobby, and honestly, it always will be. I tend to feel rather unaccomplished amid my super-artistic friends, and so even though I’m taking snapshots with a little Canon consumer-camera, I’m determined to enjoy my efforts.

Things are going well for me, and I hope they are going equally as well for all of you.

* Actually, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. really has designed a Wii-like motion-sensor technology cell-phone. Sadly, this one also only in Japan.

To be honest, it’s not so much a “Winter Wonderland” as it is a… well, a frosty, icy mess. Still, it was enough to prompt Lander to cancel classes for the day, giving me a day to sleep in and take care of things that I hadn’t been able to take care of in a while.

Things such as my site. I’d been wanting to finish the things I’d started (such as the header image which was tiling..), and just hadn’t had the time to spend moving files around. Today was just the time and the encouragement that I needed to spruce the dot-net up a little bit.

I debated putting that particular image up; along with the fact that it’s a little childish and simple, I was slightly afraid that it would leave me open for identity theft. On reconsideration, however, I’m interested to find out if it’s possible to steal a person’s identity by way of their fingerprint. Someone’s got to be the guinea pig, eh?

Hope you all are enjoying the ice storm!

Lots of news to tell. I was trying very hard to wait until I could get photos to go along with my blog, but I don’t see myself taking care of that in the immediate future, so I might as well share my news now, by the now-archaic way of text-only blog.

First by way of importance, although probably not first chronologically, I am engaged to be married. I’m completely thrilled. Brian and I have set the date, almost-certainly, as July 21st for the tying of the proverbial knot, and I look forward to it greatly. It will be a somewhat low-key affair, but I am excited to plan it none-the-less. Also, my lovingly-termed “drug-buddy” will now be my drug-sister. What do you all think of that, hm?

Classes are finished, and finals are over. Yay! I’m so glad to be done with another semester. It wasn’t a terrible one, but it wasn’t my easiest, either. I’m glad to have received the grades I hoped for in all of my classes, and I’m looking forward to next semester, which is looking to be a rather light class-load (light, for me, anyway, since 18 hours has been my average). For my major, I’ll be taking CIS 360 (Databases), CIS 250 (E-Commerce… hm.), and doing an independent study of Math 204 (some kind of… well… math). While the class will be offered next fall, Amy was offered to study it independently in light of her trip to England in the fall. I decided to study it with her, and avoid the trials involved in taking the class from the professor. For my minor, I’m taking Art 308, which is just a Computer Graphics class. Not a fun class to be in, but it’ll be a breeze. Then for a general education credit, and possibly the class I’m most excited about, English 214, or “Literature of the Unwanted Other”. I’m completely intrigued by the title of the class, and it’s from a new professor that I’ve never met. I’m slightly apprehensive that the class will be a let-down, just for the reason that I’ve built it up so much in my mind, when I know that really, it’s just a Gen-Ed Literature class. Still, two full semesters with no English class has had me itching to write a paper. I can’t wait for it.

As an additional order of business, although I’m sure it needs no announcing, tomorrow is Christmas Day. I’ve spent most of my up-to-now holiday doing a lot of nothing. It’s a good thing, though. I wish all of the readers of Amandy.net a very Merry Christmas, and of course a happy and rewarding new year!

I know that images are disappearing and things are moving around. I’m in the process of changing things up here at the dot-net. Be patient, please. :)

Movie at Hannah’s

Originally uploaded by Miss Amandy.

Apparently, there is a rumor being spread about the town that our dear and beloved Hannah Bright is leaving next week for England, and won’t be back until sometime next year. Now, I don’t know how such a rumor got started, but it has gone so far as to prompt some people to throw a going-away party for Hannah. While I try to refrain from supporting such falsehoods and spreading of rumors, I must say: It does seem awfully suspicious, but I hold true to my faith that a Greenwood without Hannah simply cannot exist.

Anyway, I’m glad that these are only rumors, because I know that if Hannah really did leave us, I would emphatically miss her. Hannah is quite possibly my all-time-favorite person in the world. She is definitely in my top-three. Hannah is such a truly bright person, and I am always always inspired by her. I hope that [if, someday far far away, she happens to go to England] she has an amazing time, and sees all of the things she wants to see, and maybe even marries a handsome Englishman.

If there were any truth at all to this rumor, Hannah would be missed by everyone here. There would surely be a deep Hannah-shaped hole in this town.

I love you, Hannah Bright. :)

For those of you unfamiliar with meebo, it’s a snazzy little web-based IM tool that allows you to connect with all your IM clients at once from any browser. I use it all the time from Hopewood or from Lander. I just thought I would try out the Meebo Me widget, which will allow you to chat with me (if I am online) from my site, and allows me to chat with my visitors. Does it work for you? Let me know.

Real post coming soon. ;)

Tom Waits

Originally uploaded by Miss Amandy.

Tom didn’t ask me to marry him, but he did look at me once, and a couple of times when he was singing he almost spit on me! He is the master of stage presence.