Score one for the good guys

In a shocking example of ethical fortitude, The House of Representatives exhibited an actual spine in standing up to the Bush administration. Way to go, everybody who emailed, called, and wrote letters. Go, team us!

This is my last day at work this week. How exciting! I'm taking the rest of Spring Break to stay home and work on the sewing room furniture. I hope by the weekend everything will be installed and ready for organization. Just thinking about it makes me kinda bouncy and excited. Oh, to be able to make myself some new spring clothes!

And I'm going to need some new spring clothes, because while I haven't lost that much weight, I've certainly dropped a few inches. I guess daily exercise really does work. Who knew? My jeans are sitting lower, at a new place just below my belly button. It's great, but since I'm not used to it, I'm aware of it the whole time I sit at my desk. It'll be nice to have some new dresses and skirts--much more comfortable than jeans for sitting at a desk all day, IMO.

Finally, I have a pair of Dansko Marcelles in a size too small for me (size 40 European). They go from between $55 to $132 on eBay. I'd like to get $70 for them. These are fabulous shoes, and have only been worn once (by me) for one day until I realized they were too short. These shoes (in the correct size) were the only shoes I wore the entire time in Italy, and I didn't get one single blister. They're wonderful. Just...too small. If anyone local wants them, please email me or comment below.

LJ boycott of Friday

I don't know what a boycott will do, really, but...

I picked this up from rougewench, who snagged it from middnightclear:

(As copied from the fluidic_icons Community)

Read more about the Live Journal Strike This Friday...

For those of you who don't already know, there has been a strike scheduled for Friday, March 21st, 2008, during which we hope to have many members of LiveJournal provide LJ with absolutely no content for twenty-four hours. This means no posting and no commenting. If you post elsewhere and have it set up to be posted through a feed on LiveJournal, don't do it. Stay away from LiveJournal for twenty-four hours. That can't be too hard, can it? I know some of you are probably quite active on LiveJournal and will find it hard to stay away for an entire day, just as I will, but this is something that needs to be done, to show the people running LiveJournal that we're watching the changes they are making, that we're paying attention, that we're discontent, and that we want to be heard and taken in to consideration. We are not simply users who can be tossed to the side and ignored. We are the people who make up LiveJournal. Without us, without the content we create, without our words, our voices, our creativity, our participation, there would be no LiveJournal. This is a fact, and it needs to be realized and understood and then taken in to consideration when making decisions regarding the way that LiveJournal is run. The strike is only a few days away, so there isn't all too much time to prepare. While this is unfortunate, it isn't enough to keep this strike from taking place. It will take place, the second it is meant to, and it would be best to have as many people take part as possible. Please, spread the word. Spread it fast. There are only a few days to organize this. If you find that you care about LiveJournal or care about the people you interact with on LiveJournal or simply want it to remain a place where you can entertain yourself without constant censorship and money-hungry practices being thrown in without the consideration of those who use the service, act now. If you don't wish to spread the word, that is fine, but please: refrain from using LiveJournal on Friday, March 21st. Do something else for a change. It's for a good cause. (:

For background on this strike and why it is being held, please read the following posts:
http://beckyzoole.livejournal.com/394838.html
http://beckyzoole.livejournal.com/395310.html

To find out exactly when the strike begins and ends, depending on where you are located, please see this:
http://beckyzoole.livejournal.com/395125.html

What's this about?

* It's about free and ad-free LiveJournal accounts being abolished for new members, ignoring the advice from the newly-formed Advisory Board.

* It's about LJ staff trying to sneak this decision in under the radar, and when people found out, telling the users it was done 'to make the signup process less confusing'.

* It's about LJ staff failing to apologize for trying to hide the facts from view and for lying about the actual reasons for their actions.

* And finally, it's about the latest decision to hide certain user interests from the list of Most Popular Interests, some of them being fanfiction, bisexuality, fairies, sex and depression. This decision was not announced or explained in any way. Users found out for themselves.