Effective January 1, 2008, the minimum wage in California is $8.00 per hour.

For sheepherders, however, effective July 1, 2002, the minimum wage was set at $1,200.00 per month. Effective January 1, 2007 this wage was increased to a minimum monthly salary of $1,333.20. Effective January 1, 2008, the minimum monthly salary for sheepherders will be $1,422.52. Wages paid to sheepherders may not be offset by meals or lodging provided by the employer. Instead, there are provisions in IWC Order 14-2007, Sections 10(F), (G) and (H) that apply to sheepherders with respect to monthly meal and lodging benefits required to be provided by the employer.

--California Department of Industrial Relations FAQ regarding minimum wage

According to rumors on the internet, Starbucks logo represents an Israeli Queen - How accurate is that?
This is totally inaccurate – the Starbucks logo does not represent Esther, the Old Testament Jewish Queen of Persia. This myth has been brought about by the similarity in looks on the cover of a children's book about Esther to the Starbucks logo.

When we were looking for a logo when Starbucks began in 1971, we wanted to capture the seafaring tradition of early coffee traders. The name Starbucks itself comes from the first mate's name in the classic novel, Moby Dick. We pored over old marine books until we came up with a logo based on an old sixteenth-century Norse woodcut: a two-tailed mermaid encircled by the store's original name, Starbucks Coffee, Tea, and Spice. The twin-tailed mermaid, or siren as she's called in Greek mythology, has come to mean good coffee around the world. For more information on our company timeline and history, please visit the Starbucks Newsroom.
--from Starbucks Myths and Facts press release "Facts about Starbucks in the Middle East", January 16, 2009 (updated March 31, 2009)

I don't drink coffee, but I confess that I have a huge geek girl fascination with the machinery that makes fancy coffee drinks. Especially those old espresso machines. They are so steampunk!

If Starbucks would do away with their 1990s cookie-cutter corporate look at all their locations, offer space to community events, and served more tea & pastries, I would totally work for them.

This is a bit long for a quote, I know. But I recently found out that one of the many books I read as a child is back in print and this is the random page that Amazon.com displayed when I clicked on "Look Inside"...

"What?" Harry asked. "What did you think it meant?"

Mom stopped ironing and sat down at the table with her chin on her hand. She thought a while before she said, "I don't know if I can explain it very well, bu it's something like this. It seems to me we all have a little magic. It's as if life makes a magic circle around each of us, but its size is entirely up to you. If you try to make your circle closed and exclusively yours, it never grows very much. There are even people who try to make their magic so private and tight that eventually it almost strangles them. Only a circle that has lots of room for anybody who needs it, has enough spare space to hold any real magic. Does that makes sense to you?"

"I think so," Harry said. "But I don't really see what it has to do with me and the prophecy."

"Well, it's just that you've been crowding people into your circle ever since you were a tiny boy. That seems like a rare gift to me. I've always thought there was going to be room in your life for all sorts of people -- and all kinds of magic, too."

Mom went back to her ironing then and Harry thought about what she had said. he wasn't too sure just what she'd been trying to say, but, at least, he was glad to hear that she didn't think the prophecy meant that he ought to try to grow up to be a great stage magician. Because he had always been pretty sure he'd much rather not.

-- from Black and Blue Magic by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDA9NbPAK8o

Thank you, Glenn for finding this! :-)

"We shall find no fiend in hell can match the fury of a disappointed woman,—scorned, slighted, dismissed without a parting pang."
--Colley Cibber (1671 - 1757), Love's Last Shift, Act 2

If you'd rather not waste an afternoon of your life reading about Stephen King's unremarkable childhood, I recommend that you skip the autobiography part of On Writing and jump immediately to page 141, which is where he begins to talk about the craft of writing. Emphasis on begins.

Here are the most valuable things I took away from On Writing:

How much to write
Ten pages a day, which amounts to 2,000 words, 180,000 words over a three-month span.

Regarding back story
"The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn't very interesting." (If only he had taken his own advice when writing this book.)

Most useful advice about writing in general
John Gould, King's first boss, told him: "When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story."

"Lovecraft was, by all accounts, both snobbish and painfully shy...the kind of writer who maintains a voluminous correspondence by gets along poorly with others in person -- were he alive today, he'd likely exist most vibrantly in various Internet chatrooms. Dialogue is a skill best learned by people who enjoy talking and listening to others -- particularly listening, picking up the accents, rhythms, dialect, and slang of various groups. Loners such as Lovecraft often write it badly, or with the care of someone who is composing in a language other than his or her native tongue."
--Stephen King (from On Writing)

I greeted my father one morning with, "Hi there!"

Isn't she gorgeous? I was all skin and bones in high school, but Ann was one curvy, hot-looking babe.

I think she bears a strong resemblance to jbluemoon.

Steampunk home decor:
http://steampunkworkshop.com/steampunk-home-decor-light-switch-plates

These would look perfect in my house!

A friend on Facebook posted one of those little survey memes that are so popular with the microblogging set. Almost all of the things on the list were things I would not be interested in doing in the first place. If this is the measure of a full and interesting life, then put me out of my misery now.

The original meme, with my answers, is behind the cut. BUT DO NOT RESPOND TO IT! Instead, add a comment to this entry and tell me:

1. A truly interesting, UNIQUE thing that you've done, and
2. An interesting, realistic thing that you plan to do in the future.

I'll go first. And I will avoid listing stuff that's common knowledge like Argentine Tango, Tarot, and hooping, or obvious goals like moving to California. Ahem...

1. I'm a professionally trained voice-over announcer and have done some work for the local PBS station, KLRU-TV.
2. I plan to sail a wooden sailboat. Preferably one that I helped build.

( The original bucket list )

I spent Sunday with friends and now I am conflicted about leaving Texas. I will be looking in the rear-view mirror all the way to California.

And there are so many details to coordinate to make this move happen. Truck? Tow car? Size of truck? Where to spend the overnights? Etc...

Why am I suddenly so lousy at exit strategies? I used to be so good at running away...

"In various places in this book, cards are discussed that may indicate mental or physical illness or other conditions, such as pregnancy, or even abuse. This is for your information alone. You are not a physician and are not qualified to make a medical diagnosis or dispense medical advice. DO NOT CROSS THIS LINE! In the course of your readings, you will get many Querents who will disallow the expert medical advice available to them and request that you tell them 'what is wrong' with them. In their minds you have some occult connection. The are falling into the centuries-old practice of searching for a soothsayer, and you are opening yourself up to a lawsuit. Where is that fine line? As soon as you tell people they are pregnant, mentally unstable, should spend a sum of money, or give recommendations on how to influence or beat the system, you have crossed that line."

--John Mangiapane, from his book It's All In The Cards: Tarot Reading Made Easy

Best. Disclaimer. Ever.

On the way in to work this morning, I was behind a car that had an Esperanto sticker on it. I wanted to pull up next to it and shout, Saluton! But there was too much traffic. And it was probably someone I knew, too. Darn!

So on the very off-chance that one of my LJ readers drives a white Toyota Corolla CE [PNC615] with a "Esperanto: The International Language That Works" bumpersticker...consider yourself Saluton-ed.

Speaking of Esperanto, when I move to San Diego I have these things to look forward to:

Esperanto San Diego - Meets the fourth Tuesday of every month, at the Living Room Cafe, 5900 El Cajon Blvd. en San Diego, at 7:00 p.m.

NASK - The North American Summer Esperanto Institute at UCSD.

"My fellow Americans. I am Howard Humphrey, President of Schooner Tuna. All of us here at Schooner Tuna sympathize with all of you hit so hard by these trying economic times. In order to help you we are reducing the price of Schooner Tuna by 50 cents a can. When this crisis is over, we will go back to our regular prices. Until then, remember, we’re all in this together. Schooner Tuna. The tuna with a heart."
--from Mr. Mom

This morning we got the official word on who would be the new lead of our little subgroup of Learning & Development folks. And thank [deity] it was not the self-aggrandizing doofus that used to lead it. There is hope for this company yet.

There is so much reorganizing going on at the company right now it is quite likely that my position will be eliminated. The higher-ups really won't know for another three to six months what our HR sub-group does, let alone who should be doing what where.

So I'm thinking that I picked an excellent time to make my exit. A few months longer, and maybe I wouldn't have had a job at all.

My last day of employment in Austin will be Friday, September 18. The last day I have to actually show up for work: Thursday, September 17.

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If your significant other isn't already one of your friends, then your relationship is doomed from the start.

"That is why I write: because I still find comfort in words, because I find safety in the structures one can build from words, and because it is only by writing that I discover exactly what it is I am thinking."
--Abraham Verghese (from his essay "Cowpaths" in The Eleventh Draft)