And many many more!  Not to mention maybe one of these showing up in real life!

(Oddy gets the best presents, I can't top her!)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 08:51 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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As most of you probably don't know, today is my wedding anniversary.  Seven years of legal entanglement with the sweetest man on the face of the planet.

It seems funny to say "seven years" because really, it's been more and less.  Really, we've been together almost a dozen years, since just before my 18th birthday.  And realistically, you could say we've been married less because just after our wedding he went off to do his bit for Uncle Sam in armpit of Texas for three years.  And honestly, we're only now FINALLY getting used to each other again.

Some days I adore him
Some days I downright hate him

But at the end of the day we can still work it out and be together, and that's what counts.

Happy Anniversary to my my best friend and lover.  I love you!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:00 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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1 congratulations!

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at July 24, 2006 12:11 PM (sC/iL)

2 Congratulations. Your last sentence tells me that you have hit on the secret.."my best friend and lover." Most people have a spose, a best friend, and a lover. It is when they are all three one and the same that life is good.

Posted by: GUYK at July 24, 2006 12:18 PM (iAhlK)

3 Congratulations. Your last sentence tells me that you have hit on the secret.."my best friend and lover." Most people have a spouse, a best friend, and a lover. It is when they are all three one and the same that life is good.

Posted by: GUYK at July 24, 2006 12:18 PM (iAhlK)

4 *sniffle* Congrats...however long it's been.

Posted by: Dana at July 24, 2006 12:27 PM (uXuyq)

5 Happy Anniversary!

Posted by: Sharon at July 24, 2006 01:17 PM (XkMYC)

6 Happy anniversary!! and many more.

Posted by: Marie at July 24, 2006 05:44 PM (qYyzW)

7 Happy Anniversary!!!!!

Posted by: Paul Burgess at July 25, 2006 05:57 AM (7EVyU)

8 Happy Anniversary to you and DH!

Posted by: Amanda at July 25, 2006 08:28 AM (ay+rD)

9 Congratulations...and may you have many, many more happy years together.

Posted by: Mrs_Who at July 25, 2006 05:13 PM (O22fs)

10 Congrats you two! Many more!

Posted by: phin at July 25, 2006 08:34 PM (9Vcb6)

11 Congratulations!!

Posted by: oddybobo at July 26, 2006 06:23 AM (6Gm0j)

12 Happy anniversary!

Posted by: Richmond at July 26, 2006 12:04 PM (e8QFP)

13 I'm late! GRR! Happy Late Anniversary!

Posted by: Bou at July 28, 2006 07:55 PM (iHxT3)

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The BFL'ers of SoCal got together at Little Miss Attila's house last night for some fun, food, and a lot of laughs.  Present were Flap and Mrs. Flap, Baldilocks, Darleen Click and hubby, Portia, The Pirate, and Dr. Rusty Shackelford.

I can publish an actual picture of the good doctor for the first time on the nets:

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:23 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 I just knew Dr. Shackelford would be hot!

Posted by: Janette at July 23, 2006 12:31 PM (OcgcA)

2 shoot, and you were envious of our little gathering?

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at July 23, 2006 02:08 PM (0Pi1o)

3 I can't decide who is cuter. sigh.

Posted by: LindaSoG at July 23, 2006 02:36 PM (GBBmd)

4 Hi CTG, I know your trackbacks are jacked so here is my post and pics on last night. Bear Flag League Watch: BFL HanginÂ’ Out @ Little Miss AttilaÂ’s

Posted by: Flap at July 23, 2006 03:41 PM (A8i+J)

5 Sounds like a good time was had!!

Posted by: Richmond at July 24, 2006 11:14 AM (e8QFP)

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Linda recounts the amazing true story of two old friends who, separated for 20 years, became friends again through The Cotillion, and then realized they had been friends before.

I was witness to this exchange, and it was pretty neat to see Linda and Jane fill in the 20 years between then and now.

It's really amazing.

Bonus points if you know what the title means, I'll take literal or figurative meaning (hint: think Disney)

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:10 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 er... The world is a handkerchief? LoL!

Posted by: LindaSoG at July 20, 2006 10:46 AM (j8/91)

2 It's a small world!

Posted by: Marie at July 20, 2006 11:14 AM (qYyzW)

3 both correct!

Posted by: caltechgirl at July 20, 2006 01:21 PM (/vgMZ)

4 Awwww.... I knew it too...

Posted by: Richmond at July 20, 2006 02:17 PM (e8QFP)

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It's the Big 3-0 for sarahk, and she's not having the best day, despite some awesome presents!

Go give her some love!

And Happy Belated 31 to my favorite NC phishy!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:53 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The Debonair one has done an amazing thing for those of us still missing the Acidic One.

Here's Rob's interview with WAGA about blogging and losing his job.

Thanks, dude.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:47 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Happy Birthday to Dean Esmay of Dean's World!

And many more, my friend!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 07:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Happy Birthday to AWTM and Rave!

I would have gotten you presents, but I think you've already got your hands full.....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:52 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Inspired by this thread at Dean's World.

One of my bigger pet peeves is how everyone in the world has an opinion about whether, or how, a young lady should change her name after marriage.

My own take?  Every marriage is different, everyone's circumstances are different, and that's no reason to judge the fidelity or commitment of a relationship.  Whatever the two people affected (the husband and wife) think is really all that matters.

I have known many people who got married in many different circumstances, from the new wife who immediately changes to her husband's name, to the couple who both change to a new last name.  This doesn't mean that they are any less committed, that their relationship is any less intimate, or that their family is any less spiritual.

In fact, the couple I know who both changed their last name to an amalgam of the two original names were both pastors.

A professional woman is presented with a dilemma on her marriage.  Should she continue to use the name that her friends and coworkers are accustmed to, that is written on her professional credentials and represents her body of work?  Or should she start over with a new name?  What will that mean to her career, especially in a field where name recognition is important?

If the marriage is successful, then no problem, she can build the majority of her career under her married name.  But what if it is not?  Many marriages end because of the stress of an early professional career.  Take the case of Professor M, someone I studied with.  Her maiden name was F, but she married and changed her name in graduate school.  A few years later, she and Mr. M divorced, but she continued to use his name, because her degree and publications used that name.  In fact, she is still known as Dr. M, although that hasn't legally been her name in almost 30 years.  In fact, her legal name is Mrs. T, as she remarried a few years ago.

As for myself, I have chosen to use both.  At work, I am Dr. CTG, and to the rest of the world,  I am Mrs. CTGT  (Hubby, of course, being Mr. GMT).  And honestly, it would be easier to take hubby's name.  Those of you who know my own name are nodding your heads in agreement, as his name is both shorter and easier to spell for other people, but it is as important to me to be one as it is to be the other, so I use both. And it works for both of us.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 01:14 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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1 I kept my ex's last name after we divorced bacuse I had it for 9 years in a professional enviroment... it was easier to keep it. I did change it when I got married again. It was just easier than trying to explain the difference and I had been at the job long enough that a name change was easy.

Posted by: vw bug at July 10, 2006 01:46 PM (fvpSZ)

2 Oh... the point being that circumstances make the name. Everyone should do what is best for them.

Posted by: vw bug at July 10, 2006 01:47 PM (fvpSZ)

3 Yeah, I basically kept my name because of hte whole "being published under that name" thing. Which is useless now, since I dropped out of grad school. Oh well. If someone else has a problem with it, they can bite me. I don't care if people call me Mrs. HubbysName. It's not like I'm offended by it. (And heck, by keeping my maiden name, it's easy to avoid telemarketers! "Nope, Mrs. HubbysName doesn't live here.")

Posted by: silvermine at July 10, 2006 04:40 PM (a92Ma)

4 My brother-in-law actually took my sister's last name when they got married because she had all her pubs under her maiden name and he really wanted them to have the same last name. I call that flexibility. And it worked out well for my dad (who never really cared, but he did have only girls so the name was going byebye. This way it didn't.) But yeah, whatever works, names just aren't that big a deal, IMO.

Posted by: beth at July 10, 2006 05:35 PM (IUoqt)

5 I wasn't going to take hubby's last name, since his daughter and I have the same first name; I didn't want to confuse things even more by both of us having the same first and last name. But husband got really upset that I didn't want his name. So we agreed I'd take his name but any writing I do will continue to be under my maiden name. It's a publication thing. Not to mention, my maiden name is so much more fun to sign! No one could spell or pronounce my maiden name; no one can spell or pronounce my married name.

Posted by: wRitErsbLock at July 10, 2006 06:02 PM (0Pi1o)

6 My friends from college solved this problem in a rather useful way. His middle name happened to be her (original) last name. She hyphenated, but never quite convinced him to do so.

Posted by: Ken Summers at July 10, 2006 06:03 PM (YElNr)

7 But here's an another interesting question to chew on for those women who do change their last name: What middle name do you use? My limited experience has been about half and half: Some keep original middle name, some use original last name. It certainly makes some sense to do so but I have yet to meet someone who uses both.

Posted by: Ken Summers at July 10, 2006 06:06 PM (YElNr)

8 It really meant something to my hubby to have me take his last name, so I did. It wasn't that big a deal to me. And now that we have a child, I do like having one family name. Since I never had a middle name, I use my pre-married name as my middle name, and that's the middle name we gave to our son too. So, that name lives on. I've written many technical manuals under my old name, so I'll always include both on my resume.

Posted by: Marie at July 11, 2006 07:32 AM (dswo0)

9 The only advice I would give is for a woman NOT choose to keep her married name for the sake of the kids. I did that, and wish I hadn't...I'm remarried now, but in the newspaper, it had my 1st married name next to my new husband-to-be's name...kind of weird.

Posted by: Mrs_Who at July 11, 2006 08:58 AM (rtTnw)

10 Ken: "But here's an another interesting question to chew on for those women who do change their last name: What middle name do you use?" I kept my original middle name. I posted on Dean's re the hassle in changing IDs on everything and that I probably wouldn't do it again--still feel the same. Early on in our marriage we decided that if we were to have a son, he would have my maiden name as his middle one. However, we had a daughter, and it wouldn't have worked, although she and her dad have the same middle name (Leigh).

Posted by: cardeblu at July 11, 2006 10:24 AM (1agzX)

11 Once again, the old adage is true. Opinions are like a$$holes, everybody has one... I *did* change my last name when I got married. ::shrugs:: Whatever anyone else does is completely up to them...

Posted by: Richmond at July 12, 2006 08:49 AM (e8QFP)

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Tell her I feel like I'm spinning on my thumb because there's nothing I can do to help, and she needs to call me and tell me what I can do for her.  Anything at all.  The post office is down the street from my house, after all.

She doesn't know it, but her cheerfulness and her friendship really got me through when Dad was in the hospital.  And now it's my turn to do something for her.  I'm just waiting for orders.

UPDATE: I spoke to Christina this afternoon. She's ok, but (I suspect) beginning to be a little overwhelmed by the enormity of what was lost, and how many little things we take for granted everyday. The good news is that everyone and the pets are ok, and the insurance is covering whatever they need. Thank God.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:56 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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My dear friend Christina, her husband Dash, and the Wee and Sweet Ones (along with assorted pets) are all alright after losing their home to a lightning strike last night.

As always, my thoughts and prayers are with them as they rebuild both their house and their sense of security.

My door is always open to the whole bunch of you, doggies and all, if you should feel a trip to the west coast is in order.  Just give me a couple of hours notice to blow up the air matress for the girls.  And if there's anything else I can do, you know the number, my dear friend.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:07 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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