I know I'm in the 2% of people who view the web without javascript turned on. I'm know I'm in the n% who turn images off by default in email. I know this.

And even if I didn't, I would still feel uncomfortable with having my text color so close to my background color that it is unreadable without having javascript turned on to adjust the color of the fonts with a font-face:

It's okay to default colors to legible ones. Really.

I think I might need to add this to my Front-End Fast book: test with javascript turned off or otherwise hobbled ("the CDN isn't working and jQuery doesn't load from the Googs, is your website still legible?" sort of thing).

And for anyone looking, yeah, I know that using the center tag isn't cool either. Working on it.

I asked Mom and Eric to get rid of the desk I had stored at their house.

Hula had other ideas.

I started a new project this week. It's a sports-based project. So, imagine my surprise when, working in technology (where I'm already in the minority), on a sports (where women are definitely a minority) site, I am introduced to my two cohorts in this adventure: Sharon and Michele. Yep, that's right, three women, building a sports web site.

I think this is awesome. Michele confirmed she thought so, too.

We are so going to kick butt.

On my way to Mom's, I stopped by Bob and Suzanne's for the night.

Actually, I was stopped on the 5 just before the Grapevine, and called Suzanne to see if she and Bob were available for breakfast the next morning. Suzanne said no, though they would be up for another three hours, if I wanted to stop by and stay the night tonight. Hot damn, a place to sleep.

I love these two. They are two of my favorite people in all the world. Just as I wish I lived closer to my brother, my mom, and my dad, I wish I lived closer to the Dillers so that they could be a bigger part of my life.

This morning, I took a work call over at Diana's, the neighbor's, so that I could use her wifi and have a good, strong signal. I was cold, and thrilled to notice a firestarter sitting on the table close to me. I figured, hey, I have a fireplace, I should use it.

After the meeting, I borrowed the firestarter, sent Diana a text I had it, and wandered back to the house.

The house has a new fireplace gas insert. Diana had mentioned last winter the fireplace was used as the only heat source for the house, so I was sure it was working. Walt had shown me how to turn everything on, so with the promise of a delightful heat source, I put my computer down and went over to the fireplace.

I turned the gas key about a quarter turn before realizing that I could really hear the gas, so I turned it back to an eighth turn, before stepping over to the fireplace. As I stepped over, I clicked on the firestarter, holding the starter on, and crouched down directly in front of the fireplace. I continued to hear the gas as I extended my arms.

Turns out, the gas had pooled under the pipes. When I reached out, the flame of the starter found that pool, and the whole thing flared.

As I crouched in front of the fireplace, the ball of fire rushed out at me. I blinked. When I opened my eyes, I saw the hair hanging outside of my hat had caught on fire. I jumped up, threw down the firestarter, and started patting down my hair to extinguish my burning hair. I thought, "Huh, I wonder if my sweater is going to catch on fire," as I continued to flatten my hair in hopes of putting it out. I had most of my hair under my hat, having just come in from outside, which was a good thing.

Shortly, my hair fire was out. I looked around.

The fireplace had a nice fire going. Nothing else was on fire. Okay then. How am I?

My eyes felt weird, so I went into the bathroom to look. Turns out, I had burned off my eyelashes.

Fun times.

After taking a few pictures, I went back to the living room, turned off the gas fireplace, noticed I couldn't tell if there was a fog in the living room because I had just burned 1/4 of my hair off my head, or if I had damaged my eyes. I panicked for a bit, gathered myself, made a couple calls, then packed up my stuff, and drove to the closest urgent care clinic that I knew about.

Things are okay. My eyes are fine. Keep them wet, have them checked out again tomorrow to see if there are any missed issues. I restarted the fire in the fireplace, turning the key maybe a 16th turn and standing way off to the side to start the fireplace. Diana later commented that the fireplace needs either wood or ceramic logs. Whoops. Another cost. Great.