Adventures in orthodontia

Yesterday, I had my second adjustment. The orthodontist was practically giddy to see how much my fang had moved! In the two months I've been braced, that canine has moved into line with the rest of my teeth, and you'd never be able to tell that I had dealt with a malpositioned tooth for more than half my life. That tooth's companion on the right side looks out of place now, since it is rotated about 20 degrees. It used to be the "normal" one -- I assumed it was what the fang was supposed to look like had it not erupted in the wrong spot.

Now, here comes the fun part. In order to derotate my maxillary first premolars, I have a power chain that goes from one of these molars to the other (in other words, it goes across all the top teeth that would be visible when I smile). It seems to make the ceramic brackets less conspicuous, which is nice, but I've read that clear power chains stain more easily than do regular ligatures. That's bad news for a habitual coffee-drinker like me, and I certainly don't want to have the thing changed every two weeks because it turned yellow. The orthodontist said I would probably have to wear the power chain for 3-4 months, which I'm assuming will cause me a fair amount of pain. *sigh*

Holiday party attire

This weekend, my work is having its annual holiday party. While everyone else celebrated during the month of December, for some reason, we're having our party a month late.

Here's what I'm planning to wear:


Evan Picone cowl-neck sweater dress
(except in solid black, not sparkly like this one)


Madden Girl "Lookah" pump in Champagne

Jewelry to be determined.....

It's not really the most exciting outfit, but it's for a work function. The dress is pretty basic and covers everything you're not supposed to show off around the office, while the shoes are just glitzy enough to add a little fun (they're WAY prettier in real life than in the pictures; the gems on the bow sparkle in pinks and greens). I'm not sure what sort of jewelry to wear with this outfit. I don't have any "statement necklaces", which would probably be perfect with the neckline. The cowl neck looks sad and droopy, so I pull it over my shoulders a little to give the dress a more elegant look. Anyone have any ideas for jewelry?

I ♥ Chobani

As you may know, I ♥ Chobani. I wrote about it here about a year ago and my feelings haven't changed one bit. It's the best yogurt out there, hands down. The mango flavor is out-of-this-world, and black cherry is a close runner-up. They recently introduced three new flavors: apple cinnamon, blood orange, and passion fruit. I think I will probably die from excitement when the grocery stores around here catch up with the modern world and finally start carrying the blood orange flavor.

Anyway, last month, I participated in a fun Chobani Twitter party and ended up winning a membership in the Chobani-of-the-Month club. Every month, I'm slated to receive a case of 12 yogurt cups. I just filled the fridge with my first shipment, which was delivered by a rather chagrined-looking UPS driver (he drops off packages here often enough that my husband teases me about having a brown-suited boyfriend on the side). Of course, it could be that the box was marked as weighing 29 lbs., or that I told him I would be getting one of these every month for the rest of the year. His reply to that was, "Congratulations, I guess." (that's not a picture of our driver; I just wanted something corny to put here. also, I found out it's not a good idea to Google "sexy UPS guy")

Now, our fridge contains 12 apple cinnamon Chobani yogurt cups. I can't wait to try this flavor! I had a mango Chobani for breakfast, and while I'm not opposed to eating multiple yogurts in a day, I... oh, what the heck, maybe I'll have one for lunch. They look so darned good sitting there, with their green and white lids staring back at me...

Summary: if you haven't tried Chobani, print out a coupon off their site and go buy yourself a container or three.

UPDATE: I ate a cup of this for lunch and have to say it's one of my new favorite flavors. It tastes like apple pie a la mode, without all the calories!

An eye for an eye

This morning on Facebook, WCCO-TV posted an article titled "Man Pleads Guilty To Breaking Infant's Ribs", wherein the Beavis-esque perpetrator squeezed his 6-week old baby until it crunched. Yes, this guy is a sick bastard for doing so, but the comments people left in response to this article make me wonder what is running through their heads. It seems like the majority of the responses are calling for this creep to be flogged, drawn and quartered, crushed in a giant bearhug until his ribs crack, etc. The people who leave messages like that are just as psychopathic as the child-abuser in this case, except they are (hopefully) less likely to act on those base impulses. WCCO's Facebook page, as well as the mobile version of their site (not sure about the desktop version, since it frequently crashes Firefox on my computer), are overrun with the lowest echelon of human society, smarmy little worms who trash people on the Internet to make themselves feel big.

Here's a screencap of some of the first comments that appeared after the article was posted. Names have been spray-painted out and profile pictures have been changed to protect the identity of these mob-mentality ITGs (Internet Tough Guys), but all the comments are left as they were written:

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