Whip Lash

I think I gave it to myself on Saturday night/Sunday morning.

I was driving three drunk people home from the bar and one of them got cocky and thought he would criticize my driving...probably thought I was driving crazy because his head was spinning so badly. Anyhow, when he made the comment, I was almost to a stop sign. I knew that none of them had their seat belts on, so as I was coming to a stop, I just pushed the brakes a bit harder and sent them all out of their seats.

They, of course, thought this was hilarious (must have been the timing or something), and being that they were drunk, they were all flexible and loose. I, on the other hand, was the only one with a seat belt, who was sober (stiff and inflexible) and I had my head turned so I could see what happened when I hit the brakes....so that explains why my neck has hurt since then...duh!!!

My God! It's full of stars!

A while back a good friend of mine gave me a telescope she didn't want anymore. It is a really nice telescope but when we first got it, we really didn't have the room to keep it assembled so we opted to store it for a while.

Since we have been living here, it has been assembled but I didn't have a manual for it and couldn't get it to function so it just got put on the back burner so to speak. Recently we have had some beautifully clear nights (that I have noticed because I am outside more at night with the hot tub) and I decided I wanted to get the telescope up and running so we could enjoy it.

So I contacted the manufacturer so I could get a manual for it to see if I could figure out what I was doing wrong. The manual came via email and I printed the portions that I needed and went to work.

I got it up and running the other day and waited for evening to test it out. I was able to get it set up correctly, aimed right and caught some awesome views of the partial moon. I also looked at a bright planet (I am assuming is Mars) but nothing compared to the view of the moon. I am so excited to have it working now. It brings back awesome memories of meteor showers with my dad and looking through the telescope of a neighbor named Ira when I was a kid...

We've Got Fudge!!!

My mother-in-law just sent me and J a box of homemade fudge for our birthdays. We are both this month and she knows how much we love her fudge (the best, absolutely). Only drawback is that I was excited we had finally gotten rid of the cake from his birthday...and now we have something new to temp us, but that is okay because it is so awesome and I know she was thinking of us when she made it. I'll just add a few lunges and crunches onto the workout...haha. We have friends coming this weekend, so I am sure a big dent will get made in it.

I have already eaten a piece. As soon as I saw the box from her, I had an idea what was in it. I know my mom and the rest of my family will be jealous because they have tasted her fudge before and know how good it is. Maybe I get her to give us some more around Christmas when we are there, and everyone else will get some.

Got to go now, have to write an awesome thank you card. She is one of the few in our family that is not on the Internet yet.

And The Saga Continues...

Well, it looks like the thieves also hacked into the email account that I have associated with most of my online retail activities. Just like in Ian's comment on this post, not only did they get into the E account but the mail account too.

So I am in the process of changing all the passwords I have, and that is quite an ordeal. It is a good lesson for me though, because fortunately, nothing really bad happened and I am learning how important it is to change passwords frequently and make them difficult to figure out (have always done this). I am also refraining from using the same password more than once.

One other thing I have learned is that I should keep in those accounts as little info about me as I can (which is hard sometimes because they have to verify you when you make purchases). I am pretty careful about staying anonymous in all other aspects of Internetland but I need to be more diligent in the retail environment. None of their systems are as secure as they like to think they are, and I am sure that there is a serious glitch in the E system that is causing this kind of security hole.

Eagles Suspend Owens for Season - New York Times

I say good riddance...more NFL teams need to do this kind of thing so that the money hungry whining of "star" players will stop. Football is a team sport and no player should be treated like they are the only one that allows a team to win a game.

While I think TO is a talented player...I have forgotten most of his skills because he is always in the news for his stupid mouth. I am glad that the Eagles are getting rid of him. Perhaps all the other "mouths" in the league will learn a lesson too.

It is so nice to see a team take a stand against the ego.

Thievery

I have been dealing with a little Internet fraud over the last week or so. Initially, I got a couple of emails from P telling me that my E userID was not functioning correctly while they were trying to update logos...I ended up in this long discussion with them via email trying to get them to understand that I should not have any logos...I am strictly a buyer (and only an occasional buyer at that).

Anyhow, after a few rounds of email tag with them, I decided to log into my E account to check out the deal. Now I just used the account this summer so I knew it was pretty up to date but for some reason, I could not get in.

I contacted E about this problem, and they kept emailing me back that my email address (the one I was writing from) was not the one associated with my account and that I needed to write to them from that address before I could be helped. I kept explaining to them that I had had an account with them since 1999 and the email address I was using was the only one that had ever been associated with my account. I just assumed there was some kind of computer glitch that had reset my email address....little did I know.

Turns out, after a week of proving myself to E, I found out that my account had been hacked. The password, shipping address and email address had all been changed to this person in Indonesia. Fortunately, I don't have any credit cards or bank accounts associated with that account, but I do have a history with E as a good customer and I didn't want that ruined. I also had my full name, and a physical address listed. Fortunately for me, E has this new feature where you can read all coorespondence that has occured between users and E and between other users.

I delved into the message box and found out that the person somehow did a request of UserID on October 1 (which should have been sent to my email address of record but wasn't), then it took them 21 days to hack my password (one of the harder ones out there too). After they got into my account, they proceeded to change the shipping address to Indonesia, and the email address to their own. They also changed the password, basically locking me out of my account. From the messages it looks like they spent most of the 21st-23rd trying to get sellers to sell them some kind of electronics (laptops, PCs, phones...etc) and ship them directly to Indonesia. They claimed it was a gift for their daughter. Most people didn't fall for it, and the conversations stopped there. E even sent a message to "me" telling "me" that trying to buy or sell outside of E was not allowed and the amount of email traffic that they noticed was making them question whether that is what "I" was trying to do. From these messages, I was able to get the IP addresses that they were using when they made requests of E, the name and shipping address of the person in Indonesia, and the yahoo email account that they had changed my account to when they hacked in.

At this point, it looks like no damage was done. E said I will not be held liable for any but I was kind of surprised that, in their email to me, they didn't take any responsibility for this breach, told me that it was probably due to a virus on my system, or an easy password (both of which are not possible). I think it has to do with a security hole on their part. They didn't even apologize for all the grief they gave me while I was trying to get back into my own account.

I did send an "abuse report" email to E, Yahoo, and the ISP that those IP addresses belong too and I sent a nice little note to the email user as well so they would know that I have their number. I am sure that no one in Indonesia will do anything to pursue this but I hope that E does, and I know that Yahoo will close down their account, so at least I will have a little gratification.

The whole thing makes me nervous though, because while my passwords are difficult and considered "strong security", I don't change them as often as I should, and I probably have too many that are similar. It has opened my eyes a bit to how fragile our security on the "net" can be, and makes me more diligent to keep my information up to date, and as vague as possible.

Covering My Butt

Due to Ian's problems with a blog virus, I decided it was time to back up all of my templates. My templates aren't anything special, they are basic Blogger templates, but I have gone to a lot of trouble to "tweak" my sidebar, links, and such. I would be bummed to lose them. So I just "copy and paste"d them into word documents that I can access if I need them someday.

I also took the moment to back up some of my favorite posts just in case Blogger ever went away and the stuff that I have only written here was gone forever.

Chemical Balance

Okay, one person using the hottub is easy to do...but more than that, it becomes a delicate balancing act to get it just right.

Fortunately it has not been off enough that we are getting rashes or anything that drastic, but when you turn on the air and little soap bubbles form....it needs adjusting. Of course the man thinks that as long as the water is warm, and the water is not green, it is good to go...I on the other hand, can't stand the soap bubbles and will spend the rest of today and before our BBQ (where people might decide to use the tub) figuring out how to get rid of them.

Broken

This beautiful three pieced thing used to be a beautiful one pieced thing. It was broken accidentally this week by someone who will remain unnamed. It was made for me by someone I love very much and I cried for quite sometime after it happened. I don't know why exactly, it is just a thing and the person who made it is still alive and kicking so she can make me something new (hint, hint) but it still hurt an awful lot to see it in pieces. I guess because I knew she made it especially for me and that she signed the back with her love.

I know the unnamed person felt horrible when it happened and knew I would be upset when I saw it, but it still didn't stop me from being both angry and disappointed in them for breaking it. It seems there is a trend in our relationship for items that belong to me to be broken and I guess I tend to put a lot of sentimental value on items (which I should work on), so when it broke, I guess I kind of felt like they didn't care about my feelings or something. It was a sad moment for both of us.

I think I am going to try to find a cool shadow box with maybe black velvet in the back that I can mount the individual pieces in. It will still look cool, but I hope it doesn't make the unnamed person feel like they are being reminded of the breakage everyday. I don't want to hurt them like that.

Trick or Treat

Treat of course....guess what? We got one trick or treater....I have seven bags of candy....nice, huh?

Guess I'll put a bowl of candy out at our barbeque this weekend and hope that most of it gets eaten...I can't eat candy every night and still meet my fitness goals by Christmas....I just don't have enough time in the day for the amount of exercise that would require...haha.

Snow Monkey

I saw part of a show on Animal Planet the other day, and there was a segment on snow monkeys. They talked about how the ones in Japan in a particular area have learned that they can stay warm by getting in a natural "hot tub". Apparently, one of the females, saw some humans in the water and tried it, found it warm and has taught all the other monkeys in the tribe to do it.

Another thing that they love to do is groom each other (find delicious insect treats on other's bodies), and they are so obsessed with it, that you will find them grooming the local dear for ticks. I couldn't believe the deer just stand there and let the monkeys part their coats looking for ticks....I guess it is an easier way for the deer to lose the ticks...

Anyhow, this one monkey has taken to removing the deer ticks and then putting them on himself so that the other monkeys will come over and groom him...nice huh?

Sarah's Absolutely Awesome Post

Sarah the Penguin posted an awesome memorial post to Rosa Parks...it is so worth the read. Hope you enjoy it.

Chicago Bears Pull It Off

Whoohhoooo!!!! My favorite team wins in overtime against Detroit with a nice interception by Tillman for a touchdown!!!! Awesome, awesome. I was so glad I got to see it....since we never get the NFL games here that we want to see...what a fluke.

Chicago is leading their division...and I am saying, it is about time.

Deliverables

Well, it is Sunday morning here. Crisp and clear once again and I am delving into the second to last deliverable for my class this semester. The final is the last deliverable and there is nothing I can do about that until it is upon me, but our group project is due on the 14th of November and it pretty much has not moved forward at all.

I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to schoolwork (although you wouldn't know that from all my procrastination these days) and I like to get good grades...makes me feel good. So since I have not have contact with much of my group for this project (with the exception of one person), I had decided that I have to start working on this regardless and if I don't get help from them, then their grades will hopefully reflect that. I just can't risk my grade waiting until the last minute on something this big. It is not that it couldn't be done by one person, it totally can, it is just that we are supposed to share the work and the parts that are already supposed to be done by now are not done so those of us with the second parts can't really start to move. So needless to say, yesterday I started working on the parts that are supposed to be done by now...oh well, such is life when you are working in groups in a long distance setting (hell, for that matter working with groups at all).

It is frustrating to me though, that even with all my procrastination, I am still a multitasker. It seems that at least two members of this four member group are not multitaskers and this is part of the hold up. One lady won't do schoolwork at work, or at home after work. She will only do it on the weekend...well that is just not going to work since we only have a couple of weekends left and this project, while doable, is still time consuming and rather large...

I guess I am bitching, and I really shouldn't be since we could have been working on this ages ago but our instructor is not the best planner and it seemed that we had a paper and a midterm right on top of each other and that really slowed things down. I am just glad at this point that at least one other member is willing to do some work and we have already discussed that it might come down to the two of us...which is okay with me if we get it done and it is quality work. The others can just suck it up. Oh, I can't wait until I am done with this program and its silly group work...they never learn that it just doesn't work that well. Someone always slacks and ends up getting an A off the backs of others....ugh!!

Well, I better get motivated. Need to see if any of my queries were addressed yesterday and see what else I can get done today. Don't know if I have soccer or not yet but I know I have some mums in the backyard that need to be put in the ground. It is nice to have J back, but he is working today so I guess I am on my own for a while (which is okay when I have school work to do).

Cold Snap

Okay, this is killing me...it doesn't even matter that I know it will be warmer by next week this time...it is cold now.

I have switched my jewelry to winter, my toenail polish to winter, put flannel sheets on my bed, put my feather comforter back on the bed, switched all my clothes over to winter, and even have my winter PJs in the closet...I am about two seconds from burning one of my Duralogs...I was just not prepared for it to go from comfortable warm weather to Artic in 3 days time. Nobody adjusts that fast, do they?

I am getting in the hottub to warm up...even though it is only 8pm. At least my toes will be warm.

Miers withdraws nomination - Yahoo! News

I have not been following this much, since Roberts was put in a chief justice without any experience as such, I figured we were looking at another instance of Bush just putting in whomever he wanted regardless of qualifications.

I do find it interesting that the extreme right wing (and someone please explain to me how extreme anything ends up in Congress) had such an opposition to her. Makes me think that she might have been moderate enough to balance the scales a bit. Unfortunately, the Democrats once again, did not have enough fight in them to do anything worthwhile and she is gone without even finding out.

Her major issue was that internal White House info would be disclosed and she couldn't have that....didn't the White House end up keeping internal documents about Roberts confidential???? Why is it that when the Democrats want to see documents, the White House is somehow able to keep it from happening but when the extreme right in Congress wants to see documents, the nominee pulls out because she is convinced that the documents will be turned over???? Hmmm....

I also have issues with the fact that tax returns were not required this time around. I think that it is vital that conflict of interests be rooted out and tax returns are a part of that. We have enough of our administration involved in big finance, we don't need to have lifetime positions also involved...make sense to me.

Pumpkins 3 & 4

Here are pics of the second set I have done....

I did this one first tonight. It is on one of the larger pumpkins I bought, and it took a while to do this one because it was really thick. I had to use one of the larger saws and that made the detail work more difficult. I think it came out pretty good. It looks scary I think.

This is the second one. It is on a pink skinned pumpkin that is a bit smaller. I really like this one, but because the skin is thinner than a regular pumpkin and the meat is softer, I am willing to bet it won't last as long...bummer because it would be cool to have it around way after Halloween. I just did cut outs of leaf sillouettes in random spots.


I was able to pick up a bunch of other pumpkins today (acorn, pancake, spaghetti, turban) and I am using them as decor for a while but plan to cook them as well so there won't be any carving going on there. This is the only time of year when you can even get some of these varieties so I have to enjoy them while I can. I love the spaghetti ones...they are delicious. I did get a couple of dried goards from the farmers market the other day and I am going to try to clean them up and do the painting thing....we'll see if I end up with time to fit it in...

My Downfall

This is the only time of year that I can get it, and I always have to get some (just like I have to get candy hearts at Valentine's, and Robin Eggs at Easter)...so while I am trying to meet some goals of fitness by Christmas...a bag of these made it into my home today and is open, sitting in a candy dish. The really bad part is that I am the only one here for a few more days....ahhhh...the temptation.

Pumpkins 1 & 2

Here are pics of the first two pumpkins I have carved this fall...



I did this one first. One of the easier ones...but I didn't have any big pumpkins so finding designs that were small enough was difficult. This is supposed to be three bats flying in front of a full moon...but I think it is kind of hard to see.



This was the second one I did today. Boy, my hand was tired after this one. I did it while I watched "The Village" on DVD (which I rather enjoyed). This one had a lot more work to it but I think it came out a lot better looking. It is not scary but still really cool looking. I can keep him up even after Halloween I think.

I have plenty more to do still. Just got two more today for cheap, cheap...its an addiction I tell you...Can't wait for J to see them.

Fun Day

Today is going to be my fun day. Besides the exercise I have to get done as soon as it gets warm enough to breath outside without freezing my lungs, the rest of the day is allocated to things I want to do and have not had time for with midterms and papers piling up...

I plan to carve a few pumpkins, make some cards, decorate my house spookily, watch a movie or two....yeah!!! A free day...and I just found out that J is going to stop by for a few minutes to pick something up and then it is back off to work for him until Halloween. It will be nice to see him for the first time in a week.

It's Here

Well, any delusions I might have had about it being warm here are over now....we have a severe weather warning tonight and tomorrow night...here is how it reads.

232 PM EDT TUE OCT 25 2005...COLD TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT......A FROST ADVISORY MAY BE NEEDED WEDNESDAY NIGHT...A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MOVING UP THE NEW ENGLAND COAST BROUGHT BRISK NORTHWEST WINDS TODAY.

THE BRISK NORTHWEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO GRADUALLY DIMINISH TO AROUND 5 TO 10 MPH OVERNIGHT... AS THE LOW PRESSURE MOVES AWAY. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR THE TEMPERATURES TO FALL INTO THE MID TO UPPER30S TONIGHT. THERE MAY BE SOME SCATTERED LIGHT FROST LATE TONIGHT BUT THE LIGHT BREEZE IS EXPECTED TO GREATLY LIMIT FROST FORMATION.

THE COLDEST NIGHT IN THIS CURRENT COLD SPELL IS EXPECTED TO BE WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE SURFACE HIGH WILL MOVE OVERHEAD ALLOWING THE WINDS TO BECOME NEARLY CALM WITH CLEAR SKIES. THE TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO FALL INTO THE MID 30s. SCATTERED FROSTAPPEARS LIKELY BY DAYBREAK THURSDAY... ESPECIALLY OUTSIDE OF URBAN AREAS.

Time to put the summer stuff away, break out the winter clothes and change my jewelry (a ritual I do at the end of summer). I already have the down comforter on the bed with the flannel sheets....sad to say. I have to bring the ferns in tonight too or they will be dead by morning...ugh, like I didn't already have enough on my "To Do" list tonight....haha.

How Does That Work

I leave the area for three days and I come back and Fall is in full swing. It is only 39 degrees outside right now....brrrr. It is supposed to continue like this for the rest of the week. I did get in the hottub last night even though the trip to and from the house was a bit chilly.

I guess I will wait on my walk this morning until things warm up just a bit. I have a bunch of things to do outside today too....hopefully that forecasted 60 is not just a fib...come on sun, warm this place up...

I'm Back

Actually I got back Sunday night but was busy with getting things done around the house and getting unpacked so I didn't get a chance to write, although I did read a bit. I managed to make it through the weekend without much computer contact (actually I worked on my friends machine all evening on Saturday because it is infected with Malware, but I didn't do email or write so it doesn't really count).

Yesterday, I was busy procrastinating (yeah I did a bit of that, but didn't feel bad about it because I did other things I wanted to do instead of the school work), doing three loads of laundry, watering plants, feeding birds, sending off postcards (like to do that after a trip), and researching and writing a 9 page paper for class. Needless to say, while I read a lot of blogs yesterday and did some emailing, I just couldn't get in the groove to write myself.

I'll recap my weekend and upload some pics in a bit, just wanted to say I was back and I am watching you!!!!

Epiphany

This morning it dawned on me that I am not living my life to the fullest extent that I could, and haven't been for a while. I don't know why I realized this today, but I did and I am grateful. If I were to die today, I would regret the way I have been living, because it has been wasteful.

I let myself get bogged down in trivial things. I let the fear of getting hurt decide things for me, and am letting procrastination rule my world, which keeps me from doing the things that I really enjoy. I need to spend less time worrying, and more time taking care of business so I can enjoy life and those that are important to me.

I am starting today (even though I am leaving town for a few days) to make some changes. I need to make more time for myself (and this doesn't mean procrastinate even more). I keep telling those in my life that are fighting these same issues this very advice but I realize that I have not been taking it myself enough. I am going to write more, sing more, do art more, exercise more, love more, and appreciate the small beautiful things that are out there around every corner.

I know this sounds really cheesy, and I apologize to those that I might be causing to gag, but I am serious about this. Life only comes around once, and I feel like I have been letting it float by without being very involved for a while now. That is going to stop. It's all too short to do that.

Leaving On A Jet Plane...

Yep, I am out of town for the weekend and I'll be at a friend who still uses.....dial up (oh the horror). So needless to say, I won't be blogging over the weekend or even checking email for that matter...I don't know what I will do. I am sure I will have withdrawls of some sort. I am not even taking my laptop with me, so I won't even have that to comfort me....eeek!!!

Wounds Galore

I don't know what is going on with me lately, but I seem to have a case of "accident prone" and I am not sure who I picked it up from.

Not only do I still have the bruise (although it is fading) and dent in my shin from soccer two Sundays ago, I have a new bruise on my right bicep from a collision with someone's elbow this last Sunday. I look like an abuse case.

I also managed to puncture my thumb on some kind of thorny object in my yard the other day. It didn't bleed but enough "poison" got in there that my thumb is tender. Needless to say, that little thorny thing is not in my yard anymore.....killed it yesterday with the clippers. That'll show it.

Yesterday while I was loading my truck up with the tons of fall flowers and plants I bought to replace all my dead summer stuff, I got stung by a yellow jacket on the back of my leg. I was able to treat it with ammonia (which seemed to work well) and today it just itches a bit when my shorts touch it.

Last night, while cleaning out wax from one of my many candle holders, I managed to slice my left hand a bit. It was a clean shallow cut so even though it bled a little bit, I just put a bandaid on it and it seems to be healing already....

I don't know what it is with me but if I keep going at this rate, I'll only be able to walk on one leg and use one arm to do anything with....ugh!!!

How Is That Possible?

When I woke up this morning around 7:30am, it was only 51 degrees out according to Weather.com on my computer...that was 6 degrees cooler than it was supposed to get last night.

It is now 11am and it is already 81 degrees according to the same source...30 degrees difference in 3 1/2 hours...wow!!!

Not Really Evil

Thanks to P'nut for this one.


Raw evil score: 24.44%

Oh well, I tried. Guess it goes with the month...huh?

Sally Field and ER

I have been watching reruns of ER on TNT in the mornings and I have to say that Sally does an awesome job on that show. I just looked it up and she won an Emmy for her performance and it was well deserved.

Whewwwww!

Well, I finished the midterm last night with 20 minutes to spare ( I was done a bit earlier but wanted to double check my formatting and all my hyperlinks). It is not my best work but I think it is okay.

Thing is, our instructor put a limit of 2 pages on each question (there were 3 questions), but then asked pretty complicated questions. So the options were to go a bit vague and fit it in the required limit, or get specific but not get it all in....I chose to go a bit vague and I hope that works out.

Now I have a little paper due next Monday at midnight, and then a group project (which we haven't really started) due three weeks after that. The little paper is something I want to get done in the next couple of days (completely possible) because I am going to a friends house for the weekend and she only has dial up and our school atmosphere would not like that much. Oh, and I guess there is a final near the end but that is still a ways off.

So I am going to breath easy for part of today, look over the paper requirements and see if any of the gazillion sheets of research I printed yesterday can be used for this one as well, and start on it later in the day. If I can finish it before Thursday, it will mark my first time in a long time of finishing something up early rather than letting the procrastination bug get me....

Brrrrr

Last winter was our first winter in a long time. We had been living in a tropical location that had very mild winters. We knew that our first winter would feel very cold to us, and it did for the most part. It was the first time I had seen snow in 5 years.

We have a house that has a heat pump for heating and cooling. In the winter, I had set the old style 80's thermostat to 70 degrees during the day and 65 or so at night. I knew I was being wimpy, I could stand it colder than that but I was just not prepared to put my body through it during our first winter. Our energy bills weren't too bad and the house was comfortable for the most part.

During the summer this year, I broke down and picked up a 10 dollar digital thermometer to see what the temp in the house really was (good thing I did too because that thermometer ended up being what we used on our refrigerator issues as well). Turned out that the old 80's thermostat was not reading very accurately and we were actually running the AC more than what was necessary for the temp we were trying to achieve. The digital thermometer enabled us to set the temp where it should be so as not to kill the fish but also to not kill the checkbook.

Anyhow, it has started to get cooler here at night (still have beautiful days in the mid 70's) and last night I noticed that the digital thermometer was reading less than 70 degrees but the heat had not kicked on....that was because the 80's thermostat said that the house was 75 degrees. So in having the 80's thermostat set at 70 degrees, we were actually dealing with a house temp of 65 or so. Which also means at night last year I was setting it near to 60...so I guess I am not as wimpy as I thought. The heat just kicked on this morning and it is 66 degrees in here...

Field From Hell

I think I just experienced the worse soccer field I have ever played on. Our "home" field is not great but so far all of our "away" games have been far worse and this one today takes the cake.

First off, it was slanted up hill towards one goal. Second, it had a dirt road running the length of it on one side (inside the sidelines). Lastly, the entire thing was sand with a few sparce patches of weeds that once wanted to be grass. It was horrible.

Usually a soccer ball will bounce pretty consistently, but not today, it was like trying to play soccer with a football. It would sometimes just bounce completely in the opposite direction, and other times it would find a particularly deep section of sand and just come to a stop.

I am expecting my calves to be sore tomorrow as I just spent 2 hours running up hill at the beach...

Backtrack

I tried to set up the backtrack feature that Blogger just added to our blogosphere but it didn't load, so they give you the HTML and you are supposed to cut and paste a bit of it into the template in a few spots.

I did that, and while I could see the backtrack option on there and it shows up in my comments section, it didn't seem to be working correctly, so I took it out.

I guess I will just wait until they get it fixed so it will automatically update my template before I try to put it in again...

It Strikes Again

I have the procrastination bug bad...I have a midterm that is due at midnight on Monday that I have only started to work on today (even though we have a week). I have a short paper due on the 23rd that I need to get out of the way before I go on a short trip next weekend and I haven't even looked at it. I am leaving at 3pm today for soccer.

This class is just not that interesting to me and I am not motivated to do school work, or read the book. I have been managing to meet all the weekly requirements (and doing okay at it) but every week, I wait until the last minute to get my stuff done. The issue is too, that I end up putting other things I need to do because I am supposed to be devoting my time to schoolwork...so in the end, nothing gets done. I am sad to say that I watched 3 different movies on TNT yesterday and while I did balance the checkbook and reconcile bank statements during that time, I did NO HOMEWORK.

I was supposed to devote Friday, Saturday, and today to this test (not that it should take that long) since the rest of the week was taken up with the hot tub issue, and J preparing for his trip. Once he was gone on Friday, I had plans to get motivated. Now it is Sunday and I am just starting on the midterm.

One thing I am hoping, is that there will be overlap between what I research for the midterm and what I end up needing for my paper as I hate printing all those resources to just have them tossed at the end of it. If I could use the stuff for more than one project, at least it would be worth it (in ink and paper).

Now there is another underlying issue that keeps me from the computer some. My desk set up is not really conducive to long term computer work. The way it is, my right arm is stretched out and suspended all the time and that causes my shoulder to ache quite a bit....of course I can't totally blame this since it doesn't keep me from blogging....now does it.

Oh well, better get to it....watch, it will only take me a couple of hours and all the procrastination will have been for nothing...

Absolutely Beautiful

Today was absolutely gorgeous. Moderate temps, clear skys, low humidity....lovely. Days like this make me really enjoy the fall season.

Wish I didn't have schoolwork to do this weekend, so I could get outside and enjoy it more...as it is, I might be dragging the laptop out to the table in back just so I can be outside while I am slaving away...haha.

Cookies

Yeah, you thought I was going to talk about the baked ones...but you were wrong. I am talking about the ones on my computer.

Every once in a while, something happens online where I need to blow my cookies away. This is fine and in fact is a pretty good thing to do for security reasons, but every time I do, I forget how many pages I have that "remember me".

All the pages that I comment on, Amazon, Geocaching, my site meter, and at least a dozen others. When the cookies are gone, I have to remember passwords, user names, and refill in all my pertinant info on people's blogs...it is amazing how lazy I have gotten.

Up and Running

Well, after a day of electrical, plumbing, and gutter issues, we have a hot tub on our back porch that is functional and in the process of heating up...that might take a while.

Seems everything works fine...just want to test it out but 76 degree water is just too chilly for me when it is only 76 degrees outside as well...so hopefully before bed, it will be warm enough to get in for a few minutes.

Yeah!!!!

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Update: We got it up to temp, and hung out in it after dinner for 20 mins or so. It was great. We played with all the settings, lighting and the stereo...it is going to be really nice when the weather gets cold...

Bad Timing

I really need to use the bathroom to pee (too much Diet Coke I guess) but the electrician is here working on the wiring to the hot tub and he is under the house directly beneath both bathrooms....guess I will wait a while.

Image History

Thanks to P'nut for this one....

Go to Google and click on the Images link.
Type in the following and post the first (or your favorite) picture the search engine finds.

Where I Grew Up










Where I Live Now










My Name













My Grandma's Name











Favorite Food










Favorite Drink









Favorite Song













Favorite Smell

Hot Tub Is Coming/Here

Whoooeee!!! I got the call today that our hot tub is coming tomorrow...I am so excited. I think I am just going to let them deliver it to the driveway and then we'll figure out how to get it around the back. We can probably rent a pallet jack or something.

The guy on the phone told me that it could be 150-300 bucks to have them wheel it around and I can do it myself for much cheaper...thanks, but no thanks. We'll see when they come out tomorrow how much the driver wants but I am not paying the above for sure.

I have to go call the electrician so we can get this thing hooked up this week. I am so excited....yeah!!!! Too bad J is leaving for a business trip for 2 weeks this Friday...he won't be here to enjoy it with me until he gets back if we don't have it up and running by Thursday (and it is mostly for him and his back....poor guy).

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Update: It got here fine this afternoon, and it wasn't as much as was quoted to have them get it around the house and laid back down (it shipped on its side on a pallet). So I have a hot tub with no water in it and no electricity sitting on my back porch now....whooeee only a few more steps and I'll be able to enjoy it.

Birds

The birds at my house are up to something. They are working in conjunction with each other to complete some kind of plan...don't know what it is but they are being very sneaky...

Ouch

Played soccer on Sunday even though the other team didn't show. We just split up and scrimmaged for a while. We had a new girl out there (don't know if she is going to play always with us, or just did that day) but she is pretty good. Fast, young and strong....just what we need.

Thing is that at one point, I was in defense and she was a forward. She dribbled the ball just a hair too far in front of her and I went to get it. I got the ball away from her but in the process she was going for a big kick at the ball, and with the ball gone, our shins connected. Even with shinguards on, I have a healthy bruise and dent in my shin right above my ankle and the whole thing is pretty tender.

It is perfectly located to the spot where I usually cross my ankles when I am sitting at the computer. Ouch!!!

Comfort in a Bowl

When I was a kid, my mom would make Campbell's Cream of Potato soup on cold days. Back then, the chucks of potato were these little squares. She would put lots of black pepper in it and we would eat it with crackers and sometimes a sandwich.

I was always so proud of myself because it was something we both liked to eat, made me feel closer to her. I don't get to eat it with her much anymore (we live 3000+ miles apart right now). I still eat it when it is chilly (like today), and think of her when I do. The chunks of potato are bigger now but just as good.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It has been raining here for days now. It is the aftermath of some tropical storm from the coast, but whatever it is, it is getting old.

Usually the fall is awesome, cooler, dry weather that allows you to get out and get some things accomplished that you have been putting off during the heat and humidity of the summer...but not this week.

Yesterday didn't rain as much although it was cloudy the whole time, so I was able to do a bit in the yard and I didn't get drenched at my soccer game (other than in sweat), so I can't complain there too much.

We do need the rain, so I understand how some people are grateful for it, but the thing is that when it rains here, it pours and most of it just runs off, and creates ditches in people's yard. We don't get much of it to sink in.

Oh well, enough bitching from me this morning. I have things to do and fortunately most of them are indoors anyhow....

Flip This House

I just love this show...wish I had the funds to do it myself. Would be a lot of fun I think.

Mishka For Sale?

Thanks to Just a Girl for this one.

I am worth $2,154,338 on HumanForSale.com

Who would have thought?

Nascar Education

Yesterday, while on my way to grocery shopping I noticed that there was a race car (kind of hard to miss) sitting in front of the store. It was Bobby Hamilton Jr's Tide car.

I went to check the car out, and since it was Friday, there weren't a lot of people around. There was a guy sitting there "babysitting" it to make sure people didn't climb in or on it. He as also giving away free hats and die cast cars to purchasers of Tide or Downy products.

I struck up a conversation with him, and learned a ton about racing that I would have otherwise never known as a regular fan. I talked to him for about 45 minutes and it was great. He has been working with Nascar for 28 years. The car in question was retired in March of this year and will be sold at the annual Lowe's Blowout.

He ended up moving it back to the trailer later while I was in the store. I am sorry I missed it because I would love to hear one of those things running up close like that. He said he couldn't rev it up when he drove it up because he was afraid it would break the store's front glass.

My favorite driver is Mark Martin but he is retiring this year so I will have to find someone new. I think I am going to switch over to the driver of the car that Mark owns (Matt Kenseth #17), and probably will continue to own next year.

Grossed Out

WARNING!!!! Graphic post...don't read if you are grossed out easily or are male and don't like to deal with female "stuff".




Okay, people, this is the deal. If you require removal of certain feminine hygiene products from your body while in a public restroom, and in doing so, you smack it up against the edge of the toilet bowl...please wipe the edge of the toilet bowl when you are through so that the next person doesn't know specifically what you did in there.

Not only is it gross to see but we also don't want to be exposed to your biological waste.

Thanks

Word Verification Word

Today marks the first time the word verification on Blogger game something that resembles a word....it was WUGSY....not a word (I don't think) but closest I have come so far.

Toenail Dream

I had a weird dream about my big toenail the other night.

Thing is, sometimes when I play soccer, if my toenails are not completely short, they will ache a bit, like someone stepped on them or something. Just makes the edge of my big toe a bit tender.

Back story is that when I was a kid, one of my aunts had to have surgery on her big toe for an ingrown toenail. Ever since then, I have had this weird paranoia about getting an ingrown toenail. I have never actually had one but I am terrified for some reason that I might get one. Needless to say, this causes me to have a very fastidious toenail maintenance schedule.

I think because my toes were a bit tender from soccer, this instigated the dream sequence as follows: I was checking out my toe to figure out why it was hurting. I had the clippers and the cuticle cutter in my hand. I was pulling on the skin along the outside edge of my big toe to see if it was inflamed or if the toenail was digging in. While I was doing this, the entire outside edge of my toe came loose and kind swung open like a door. I could see down the edge of my toenail to this big piece that was just growing straight into my toe...and there was no way to dislodge it.

I woke up. Weird huh?

US Mormons prepare for worst by storing supplies - Yahoo! News

While I absolutely believe in being prepared (and anyone that knows me can verify this), I wonder what happens to the year's worth of food for each person if the catastrophe is flooding, or some other kind of home-wrecking disaster.

The article doesn't say if the food is stored in a special place or in special conditions. If it is just sitting in everyone's basement, it might not be useful if people had to evacuate or if their homes were demolished by an act of nature.

Just curious, that is all....not dogging, I promise.

Haircut

I have long (mid of my back) curly brown hair that is pretty much straight across in the back and has long layers in the front near my face.

I used to get my hair cut at one of the various cheap places like Supercuts or Fantastic Sams between visits with my mom (she cuts hair too). Thing is, the cut is not that critical as I have curly hair so most (only most) mistakes are easily covered up.

I have a really hard time paying more than about 15 bucks for a trim (which is mostly all I ever need). I tend to wait 6 months and just have my mom do it. Unfortunately, this time during my trip, I didn't get to see my mom, hence no hair cut either.

I can keep the front under control on my own, but usually it is the back that is hard. It seems now, though that I have surpassed that problem as well. My hair is long enough now, that I can actually comb it straight, pull it down where I need to cut and then bring it around to the front to cut it without messing up the line....so the other day, in desperation, I cut the back too.

I don't know if it is perfectly straight back there (thanks to the curls) but it looks a lot healthier and it is not frizzing out on me at the ends anymore (and it didn't cost me a thing).

Note to Mom: When I do see you, I would still love to have you cut my hair. A periodic straightening of my line in back will definitely be appreciated.

CNN.com - Class action sought for 'Dr. Phil' diet suit - Oct 4, 2005

While I think $120 a month for supplements is a lot, I find it hard to believe that anyone can say they thought they would lose weight just from the pills.

The diet itself fully explains that a low calorie diet and exercise is required and I can tell you, that if there were a combination of pills I could take that alone, would cause me to lose weight, I would be all over it, and so would the rest of the country. So I find it hard to believe it was ever advertised as such.

If we can start suing every diet plan in this country on the fact that we didn't lose weight, the diet industry is in for trouble. I am pretty sure they all have "no guarantee" clauses.

I can't stand it when people try to sue and claim ignorance....it just makes them look dumber.

Counters

I have two counters on this blog...one that I like the looks of but is very vague in its reports and then another that is ugly that gives me lots of details. Both are free.

For some reason the one that gives me lots of details is not working right now. It doesn't show up on any of the blogs I have it on...I can't load their site either so I am assuming that they are having technical difficulties but will be up again shortly.

At least I hope so....I really like that counter.

_________________

Looks like it is up and running again....yeah!!!

Soccer Is Back

Yesterday, I played soccer with the league I am in for the first time in several weeks. I don't have a team roster or schedule so I basically wait for the coach or assistant coach to call me when we have to play (games get cancelled for weather and other reasons frequently). I had not heard from them in a couple of weeks and I was out of town for another one, so it wasn't a big deal.

I was called on Friday to see if I wanted to play this Sunday, and even though I have not touched a soccer ball since our last game, I said okay. I knew it would be tough on my body but figured that I would just get through it and be the better for it.

Stupidly, I didn't eat properly before the game so with the mixture of nerves and 10 minutes of running around on the field, I ran out of gas rather quickly. It took everything in me to keep running until the half ended, and then I headed for my gatorage and a powerbar. Powerbars don't last long either during a game but at least it was something.

So after the half I was feeling a bit re-energized and our whole team started playing a lot better. I think the half time talk did a lot (although it was all in Spanish so I didn't know most of what was being said). We weren't attacking the ball and seemed to be shying away from the opponents but after the half, you would think an entirely different team was out there. I was really jazzed. I did take a shot in my right quad that is aching a bit today but no big green bruise so I can't complain much. Other than that, I just feel like I exercised and that is motivating me to continue.

We didn't end up winning but our improvement in the second half was enough to lift spirits and hopefully we'll play better at our next game.

Queries

It seems that a lot of my referring pages (according to my counter) are people doing google image searches for the Oregon Ducks....

Unfortunately, the keyword analysis shows that "pictures of girl changing her tampon" is the big hitter this week....nice huh? Guess all my tampon commercial peeves have paid off....haha.

Iraq's President Calls for PM to Step Down - Yahoo! News

I wish there was an easy way to fix this. Religion is just such a hard thing to argue logically about, and mixing it in with politics seems to always be a bad idea.

NFL

I irks me that I can't see a decent game on Sunday because I am forced to watch the "local" game due to NFL television restrictions....I think it is crap that they do that, and it makes me just turn the NFL off completely.

Landings

I thought of this after landing for the second time yesterday on my way home.

Why can't all planes land as nicely as that Jet Blue one did during that crisis....if they are trained to land that way, why don't they do it more often? Wouldn't that be good practice for them?

Accounts of N.Orleans violence questioned - Yahoo! News

I think the media should be held partially responsible. They have a duty to check their sources even if the source is the Police Chief or Mayor. Those two weren't even in the Superdome or Convention Center.

Travel Karma Update

Well, while the trip back didn't suck completely, I did get food poisoning the night before flying so I had to change my ticket to a later time that ended up costing me 100 bucks, and then I also had some other physical issues that came up that I won't go into detail on.

Fortunately the flight wasn't too bad, and I managed to get home last night late. My internal clock is completely messed up (since I didn't sleep much the night before with the food poisoning incident), and so I am taking it easy today, getting a few things done but not rushing to do everything at once. I am sure tomorrow will be a great day.

On the homefront, it looks like J was true to his word and no animals or plants died in my absence...yeah!!!! Now I just have to clean up my luggage mess, deal with all the mail we recieved and get to some schoolwork and Christmas cards...yuck!

NW Geocaching

I know I don't blog about geocaching much, but it is one of my favorite pasttimes, and I rarely seem to find time to do it lately. Add to this that geocaching in my area of the US absolutely sucks. This is frustrating when I do find the time because it is obvious that the hiders do not know what they are doing.

So while here in the NW, I have gone out on a couple of caches, actually found them on the first time and they were real caches (rather than micros, which I am beginning to hate). Geocachers in the NW just know how to do it better (might be the fact that it started here). I plan to hit a few more while I am here in Portland, only to return home later this week to the dismal attempts that are made where I live.

The following are some hints for those cache hiders in my area of residence in hopes that someday we'll see some improvement.

1. The hint section is supposed to just be that, a hint. Not some space for you to encrypt a snide remark to the seeker. A person should not have to go home to send you an email if you have included a hint on the cache page.

2. Hiding a 35mm film canister in the woods with accuracy of more than 25 ft is not fun for anyone but apparently you. Causing seekers to overturn every log and rock is not good for them, or the environment and if you continue down this path, I will be forced to report you to the powers that be.

3. Spend a little bit of money on a piece of tupperware and a few small items and hide a regular cache once in a while. When you hide 46 micro caches in the space of 6 miles, it seems like you are being a bit cheap.

4. Put the micro cache in some place interesting, picturesque, or educational. Sticking a magnetic key holder to a guardrail on the edge of a busy highway does not qualify as any of the above. Regular sized caches don't have to be in the above places because finding the cache and trading "treasure" is the fun. In a micro, the seeker is only signing a log and claiming the find, so the placement needs to add something in itself.

5. Don't put stupid things like "negative comments will be deleted" on your cache's page. If you know this is going to be the response by some of the seekers, then perhaps you should rethink the cache in the first place. We should be able to be honest about our finds and you should be able to take some constructive criticism.

I realize that those this is addressed to, do not read my blog, but getting it out of my system is good for me. For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about, but would like to know more, there is a link to the most popular geocaching website in my sidebar. For those that are going to tell me that I should put out my own caches to set an example, I say, I know this but haven't the time or inclination to do so, being a premium member is my contribution right now.

So, I will continue to take advantage of the superior geocaching available while here in the NW and hope that someone will learn from the mistakes of those micro hounds elsewhere in the country.

Housework

Well, the housework is finished (school work is not but I plan to get to it first thing tomorrow), and I am back down in Portland until my flight on Thursday.

My sister and her husband came up to Olympia to help me with the house and it was so much better with them there, not to mention that I would not have been able to do some of the work if they had not come.

I went from Seattle at my dad's to my friend D's house before this weekend. I wanted to visit with D and his wife J and also wanted to deal with some house issues before the weekend. I had a nice visit with them but didn't get a whole lot accomplished at the house during that time.

So Sat morning, the slave labor, I mean relatives arrive and we go to town. We had to replace the garbage disposal in my house, which is something I have never done before, and as fate would have it, my plumbing set up under my kitchen sink was not "normal". It actually wasn't too hard, but we couldn't test it until the next day because it needed time to dry first. We set to work on the multitude of vines, and other pruning that needed to be done around the yard. In the process of cutting one of the vines, I managed to find a weak spot in the trellis I was standing on, and had to add reinforcing it to my list of things to do. We found a stopping point around 5pm, left the renters with instructions to not use that side of the sink, and headed off to the hotel and dinner. We ate takeout and hung out in the hottub soaking.

Sun morning (today) we headed over to check the disposal for leaks, and to measure the 2x6 boards we would need to shore up the trellis. Of course they couldn't be a perfect size but the renter had a Skil saw so we were in business. We made short work of the reinforcement and moved on to the rest of the vines and pruning. The disposal was fixed perfectly and all we had was a compost run to call it a day.

We actually got out of there by midafternoon and had a late lunch at a park near one of my favorite vietnamese restaurants (where we had ordered awesome food). The ride to Portland felt long but was pretty uneventful.

Travel Karma

I don't know what happened in the last few days to give me such good travel karma but it was shining on me yesterday.

So much worked out that I can only summarize it in a list, so here goes...

1. Checked in for flight day before flight, had aisle seats for entire flight (both directions even).
2. Arrived at airport on time, got through security relatively quickly, and got to gate as boarding started.
3. Arrived at second airport with 35 minutes between flights, got to new gate as boarding started.
4. ONLY DOWNSIDE- waited to take off on the runway for 20 minutes but slept through most of it.
5. Decent food, pillows, and blankets on flight (Continental Airlines) of 5 1/2 hours.
6. Landed ahead of schedule even with delay in number 4.
7. Bag came down ramp immediately after potty stop on way to claim it. No waiting.
8. Lite rail in Portland was waiting and was empty enough for me, my suitcase and carryon.
9. Train ride was painless and only cost 1.80 dollars.
10. Bus to rental car place in downtown Portland came right after finding bus stop which was only a few steps from the lite rail stop.
11. Bus let me off across the street from rental car place.
12. Renting a car from the downtown agency saved me 150 dollars over renting from the airport.
13. Left Portland at 2:00pm, got to Dad's house in Seattle right around 5pm and managed to get through Portland, Vancouver, Chehalis, Olympia, Tacoma, Fife, Seatac, and Seattle with no traffic (Dad lives near U).

So either I am being paid back for some goodness I did in the past, or my trip home is going to be from hell....I am hoping for the former as positive thinking sometimes works, right?

On The Road Again

Well amazingly enough, six months have passed and it is again time for my trip to the NW to deal with issues at our house.

This time will be funfilled with cutting lots of vines (grape, wisteria and kiwi) and replacing a dying garbage disposal. Yeah!!!!

Nice thing is that I am taking this trip much earlier in the semester this year so I won't be so stressed with school work like I was last time (25 page research paper due while on trip), and the time I will be at the house will be over the weekend so my sister and her husband are coming to help (which makes it so much better and faster).

I fly out tomorrow morning and will return in 10 days. As it is a bit cooler there already, I have had to break out some of my warmer clothes...will be kind of weird to be wearing pants again (I live in shorts and skirts with sandals during the summer here). Ooooh and shoes, other than tennies for exercising or yard work, I have not really worn regular shoes....that will be strange too. So much to look forward to, can't you see?

Anyhow, this post is rambling...I will be still checking in regularly (what would I do without Internet), will still be posting and will of course still be doing schoolwork, so you won't even notice that I am gone except that my posts might reflect my location a bit more.

Hasta luego

Famous Leaders

Thanks to Freemind_Sprite for this one.

What Famous Leader Are You?

What Classic Movie Are You?

Rescuers struggle to save pets after Katrina - Yahoo! News

Please help the Humane Society out if you can. The animals are the worse victims of this mess and deserve a chance if we can give it to them.

I have a link to the HSUS on my sidebar.

Thanks so much.

Picture Posting

I was reading The Everglades today and one of his commenters was talking about the new infusion of pictures those of us on Blogger can now post.

You know, now that Blogger has made posting pictures so easy (you could do it before but the pic had to be on a server somewhere in the websphere in order for it to post), I have to wonder when our enthusiasm for multimedia will crash their servers.

I mean if before we weren't allowed to post pics because it meant uploading to their servers...then what happened? Did they buy a bunch of great big servers so that we could post pictures for free? Really? Sometimes when I am posting, I am thinking, will this one be the one that pushes them over the edge?

I tend to just upload the pictures from my computer as is (I don't shrink them in size or bytes), so I am hoping that perhaps their server does. Otherwise, one more post, and that could be it...such a doomsdayer, I know.

Always Maxi

Okay, another commercial peeve...what is the deal with "Have a Happy Period"? These are almost as bad as the Tampax ones where the girl plugs the leak in the boat with a tampon.

They think they are being so cute and reassuring, when in reality, they are being very annoying. There is no such thing as a "happy period".

Obviously a guy thought this campaign up.

Refrigeration

Wow, what a pain in the ass (but necessity) refrigerators can be.

We have been having fridge problems lately....ours came with the house we bought in November last year and is about 14 years old.

We noticed a few weeks ago that the milk was just not that cold and then as you know from one of my recent posts, there were even some sour milk issues...which I was attributing to the fact that I drive a long way to do grocery shopping (thinking the milk was warming up on the trip). Nope, it was the fridge.

We put a temp gauge in there and found that both it and the freezer were running a bit warmer than they should be. So to avoid spoilage, we put a big tub inside of it with ice (which we had to change daily) and set all the dairy in the tub. Worked pretty good, but was obviously not a permanent fix.

We consulted the Internet (and I am now a refrigeration expert) and did all the troubleshooting we could do without a repairman at our side...none of it worked but we do have a dust bunny free fridge now...

Finally I broke down and called a recommended service company (after tossing the third partially full gallon of milk down the drain in 2 weeks). They came out in the afternoon, were very receptive to all the things I had already done and checked, and decided to tap the cooling system to see if it was low or leaking.

Turns out that it works fine, but because of the big ass shelves now available in fridge doors, we had too much weight (all those Thai sauces and other condiments) in it and so it was not closing correctly. Because it was not closing correctly, the little light was never going off and it was heating up our fridge inside....I did not realize that little light put out so much heat but apparently it does. So we moved some things around, he tighted up the hinges and now it closes fine and the temp is where it should be.

Only cost me 100 bucks for the service call, tap, and labor...better than buying a new fridge I guess. Ugh!!!

Bug Issues

I woke up at 5:30am this morning to a large buggy flapping sound skimming by my head...it startled me out of a complete deep sleep.

My surprise didn't seem to affect J much so rather than wake him up too, I just moved my pillow closer to the end of the bed and then tried to go back to sleep (even though I knew I would never sleep with a bug in our room). A few seconds later, I hear it again only now it is close to J. I fly up out of the bed. J freaks out because he hears me startled and I tell him that I heard it again and it was near him.

He turns on the light, and there is this 2 inch long beetle-like bug on the floor near his head. He grabs a tissue, tracks it down and squishes it. I heard the crack of its body when he killed it.

I relax, straighten the sheets and lay back down. I am just about back to sleep and I hear the wings of some other bug in the room....I try to ignore it (thinking my mind is playing tricks and it just the sound from the ceiling fan). A few minutes more, I hear it again. I grab my socks, my pillow and start to head out.

J wakes up and asks me what I am doing. I tell him that I hear another bug near my window and I am not sleeping in a bug room. I grab a sheet out of the linen closet and hit the couch for the rest of the night. Didn't get much sleep there either after being totally awake, so now my head hurts, my eyes are dry and my stomach is growling. I have to drive to my not favorite place today to do some grocery shopping now that our refrigerator is working again...what a great start I am getting.

Looked for second Mr Bug this morning when I came back in and it was just a moth. Oh well, I couldn't take any more buggy flapping last night.

Now I Can See

Actually, I could see before but I did purchase new glasses this last week. I have always had two pairs of glasses (a little of the OCD in me peeking through), but one pair got ruined hanging out in my dive bag so I have been stuck with one pair for some time.

The pair that I had I bought in college (1989ish) and the frames are burgundy, big and remind me a bit of Square Pegs or As Life Goes On...

These ones are much smaller and even though the prescription has not changed, the shape throws my eyes off. I can see around these glasses and it is a bit blurry in the around parts, so it is taking me some time to get used to them. Not to mention that I only wear my glasses for the 15 minutes between taking my contacts in or out and bed...this greatly adds on to the time it takes to get adjusted to them.

The plus side is that I think they are more flattering than my other glasses and they are much smaller and lighter which is fabulous...

Fortunes

My fortune cookie reads "With a little more hard work, your creativity takes you to great heights."

Hmmmm, I wonder what aspect of my creativity it is talking about....

Keeping To Myself

Found this little guy when I was geocaching at a near by park last week ... didn't find the cache but got some cool pics anyhow.

School Dayz

I started up a new semester last Tuesday and some how I am already a chapter behind in our reading....this is what happens when I take classes in things that I am totally not familiar with. Each semester I go into it with all these resolutions about how much I am going to read and take notes, do the extra work at the end of each chapter, and it always seems that I end up behind in the reading (since it causes me to nod off) and then it is downhill from there. Last class I think I got 2 chapters into the book before I gave up trying to read it and just winged it. Got an A though, so I guess I must have absorbed something...

This class is about Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems...at least that is what the book says. Being that I am not part of a huge organization, I have had no experience with this kind of technology so I am flying by the seat of my pants. This class only has about 12 students in it and I would say that 70% either work with DSS or have worked with DSS. So while I won't be able to share my own personal experiences with Artificial Intelligence, I am hoping that they will be willing to.

Nice thing is that I will end up learning a ton (since I am starting at zero on this one) and hopefully will end up one class closer to being done with my degree.

My Cyborg Name

Got this one from Chicken and she got it from Free_MindSprite...



What is your cyborg name?

Toilet Paper

Do we have such a problem with changing the toilet paper roll in this country that we have to buy rolls that are so large we need extenders to use them in our dispensers?

I mean, if it is such a hassle to take one roll off and add another one, maybe you put in one of those big ass things they have in public restrooms. Really folks...research money is really being spent on this kind of stuff?

Blogger Comments Problem

I have been wondering why I have not gotten even one comment on my posts this week, so I had my sister (who usually comments at least once) try to comment and she was not able to, so I am thinking that other people might have not been able to either. I know that I had a problem commenting one day on P'nut's blog the other day but after I did a refresh, it went through okay. That solution is not working for my sister.

I sent a note to Blogger to see if they can fix the problem, but it seems that something with the word verification is stopping my comments from happening (and this is with me still allowing "other and anonymous" comments)....which would suck because I want to block the spam if I can.

Anyhow, if you have been reading but not able to comment for some reason, can you drop me a line at mishkablogger at yahoo dot com so that I will know and can let Blogger know? I would greatly appreciate it.

Calif. Assembly passes bill to allow gay marriage - Yahoo! News

Wow, are we starting to make progress or should I not get my hopes up?
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Update....of course Arnold is going to veto it...and you know his press secretary's line about not letting the legislature overturn the voter's decision is a bunch of crap, because I can think of at least two different occasions when the voters passed something and then the legislature overturned it.

They just use that argument when it fits their agenda....supporting the people's vote my ass.

Asian Countries Offer U.S. Hurricane Aid - Yahoo! News

This is what being human is about...it warms my heart to hear that some of the poorest countries in the world are willing to give what they can to help our country.

Japan was hit by a strong typhoon (hurricane in the Atlantic) this week and they have dead, flooding, and damage and are still pledging to send support to us.

Life on this planet should not have to do with economics, race, or religion. It should just be about the fact that we are all human and should want the best for everyone.

Turn Signals

We all have them people...USE THEM...it is the courteous thing to do and it really is not that hard.

Humane Society of the United States

Please give to the Humane Society of the United States to help save the animals/pets that have been left behind during the evacuation of the Gulf Coast. These animals did not have a choice to leave or not to leave, and they have not been looting or shooting at anyone. They deserve a chance. Thanks!!!!!

There is a link to their page in the title of this post and I have also added a link to my sidebar to directly connect to their donation page.

TriMet

I am taking at trip to the NW soon, and I am trying to work out the most economical rental car situation. I get a pretty decent rate from one car company in particular (although at times their customer service sucks) but I found on my last trip there (I do this trip twice a year to work on a house we have in WA state) that it is much cheaper to rent a car downtown than at the airport.

So in the interest of saving some money on this trip, I had worked it out that I would rent a car for one day from the airport and then drop it off downtown where I would pick up the longer rental. There is no charge to drop the car off at the airport if renting it from downtown or vice versa, so that seemed to work, except that I was paying like 50 bucks (one day rental with taxes and fees) for basically a ride downtown from the airport. So this weekend I changed my mind and thought I would figure out how to get from the airport to the downtown agency by rail and bus.

I got in touch with my sister who lives in Portland and she did the public transit thing for me. Her and her husband are pros at the area and the TriMet system so I knew they were the ones to ask. I have to say, after spending a lot of time in Portland and Seattle that these two American* cities have figured out a economical and convenient way to do public transport (which I think is required if you are ever going to get anyone to use it). My sister sent me a link to the TriMet website, and it has a trip planner on it so you can find out exactly what buses, rails and what have you, you would need to take to get from point A to point B....isn't that cool?

Do other metro areas have this kind of system and if so, how would you rate it?

*My experiences with metro systems in Asia have to be the best I have seen ever....they rock when it comes to public transport.

Extra Work

The house across the street being constructed is almost finished. It was supposed to be done earlier this month but some how it didn't happen.

On Thursday, they came in and laid all the sod you can see in the picture and put all the pretty pine straw out....which didn't make sense to me as I had it on good authority that on Friday they were going to hook up the water. It looked nice for Thursday evening and early Friday morning, until the crews showed up and had to move all the sod and pine straw...what a waste of work.

Water is in now, phone is next I guess. I can't wait for them to be done as they keep spray painting the utility locations on my nicely manicured easement and the neon orange, blue and red do not go with my decor...

Note that the link is to the very first post I did regarding this construction. There have been many since, but I can't link them all here so you will just have to search :)

Yeah Oregon!!

We watched the Oregon Ducks beat the Houston Cougars (38-24) last night in an out of conference game played in Houston. It was a good game, Oregon came from behind to win. Clemens, the Oregon quarterback is pretty good. I was impressed. I hope this means good things for Oregon's season this year and the Pac-10 in general.

Stargazer Lily

I purchased 3 pots of Stargazer Lillies today at Lowe's. Each pot has three lillies in it so after they are done blooming I will have 9 bulbs I can put in the ground for next Spring. These are forced nursery blooms as they don't usually bloom this time of year but they had them on sale and the smell alone was too much to pass up.

Usually when I am buying fresh flowers for our house, I stick with carnations or other blooms that last a long time just to get my money's worth. It is sad because I can always smell the lillies when I am shopping but have to look the other way because they don't last long once cut and they are usually much more expensive than the carnations.

These were cheaper than if I had just purchased the bulbs alone and I'll have the fragrance for 3 weeks or so (until the blooms are done). I have one in my office and it is just lovely. I am such a sucker for a good smell....

Where In The World Have I Been

Thanks to Timmy for this one.




Create your own visited country map




Create your own personalized map of the USA

Updated on 9/2/08 to include Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Philippines, and Taiwan on the World Map and Lousianna, Michigan, Indiana, Pennyslyvania, and West Virginia on the State Map.

Joyous Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my sister and her husband. They are quite the couple and I hope to grow up to be just like them.

648 Dead, 322 Hurt in Iraq Bridge Stampede - Yahoo! News

This is exactly the definition of what a terrorist does. So sad and pointless....

Man who fatally beat wife put to death in Missouri - Yahoo! News

Sounds like the death he got was too good for him. "Painful and protracted" would probably have been more appropriate.

Loss

We just found out today that someone we know was killed in Iraq this week. We weren't close with him, but just having it within touch like this is hard enough. I know his family must be devastated.

It just doesn't make sense to me...

Standards

Don't toothbrush manufacturers have standards that all toothbrushes have to meet? Why is it that all the new toothbrushes out there do not fit in the toothbrush holders on sale at all stores????

Darwin Awards Inductees

Wow, if these idiots had managed to kill themselves, they would be in the running for sure...

True Love

True love is taste testing borderline milk so the other doesn't have to....and boy did it taste bad. Yuck!!!

Little League World Series

We just finished watching the LLWS this weekend. It has been on TV for a couple of weeks now as the tournament has progressed.

I have to say that in watching those kids play with their hearts, it makes me enjoy watching sports again. I wish the grownups in professional sports could learn a few things from them. They really brought integrity and honor back to the sport and showed the world what playing a sport should be all about.

Congrats to Hawaii on their win in the Championship game. It was a great game to watch, extra innings and all.

Limited Use

It seems my video/graphics card in my PC might be dying...and if so, I will need to get a new one soon. My school semester starts in less than a week so this is not really the best time to be having a computer fall out of service.

Until then, I will be using my laptop on the Internet and hoping that there is not critical stuff on my PC that I need. Such is life. I hope to get some answers to this whole thing later today but for now, the weather is cool and dry so I am thinking some yard work is in order...

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Update: Haven't fixed it permanently but was able to find a work around. I turned the Hardware Acceleration all the way off, so no gaming (not that I do much) and not too much video editing for a while but hopefully this will not be a long term fix...

Newest Addition

I just got home from running a few errands and stopped at the fish store to get some fish. I didn't do it sooner because I had to clean the tank yesterday and wanted to give it a day to settle.

They didn't have any Silver Lyretails so I got two Dalmation/Marbled ones. One male and one female. I might see if I can get a Black one someday soon too. We'll see. They seem to be adjusting to the new tank well and we'll see if they get along with my girl.

PETA asks NCAA to ban Gamecocks nickname

Okay, while I don't think cockfighting is a noble sport (and apparently most of the US doesn't either because it is illegal just about everywhere) I do feel that PETA would better spend their time and resources addressing real animal abuses. Their argument that the name "Gamecock" inspires people to honor cockfighting is just plain weak. They have in no way shown that by using a gamecock as a mascot, these communities are more prone to animal abuses.

What I would like them to address (and here is where my own hypocrisy steps in) is chicken farming. I am an eater of chicken, I admit, and I do buy my chicken from the store, so I am as much to blame as anyone else for this industry. I was stuck behind a chicken transport truck the other day on the highway (there are a lot of chicken farms here), and it was almost enough to make me stop eating chicken, at least mass produced chicken. I can't even begin to describe the smell coming from that truck, but that is not the worse of it. This truck was hauling chicken cages but not one of the cages was more than 9 inches tall. It seems most birds are taller than that because not one of them was standing upright, they were all hunched over or laying down. I felt so bad for them cramped in those cages like that, probably scared shitless (hence the smell), not knowing what was happening to them next. It truly was a sad sight to see.

Why can't PETA take on some of the ridiculous livestock issues that we just turn the other cheek to in this country? I know that there are farms out there that do take treatment of animals seriously, and I applaud their efforts but mainstream America is still going to buy the cheapest chicken they can find and that means the status quo for most farmers. PETA's efforts would be taken more seriously by me and many others if they were trying to make real changes and not just trying to make headlines over idiotic issues like mascot names.

(Note to those that will argue that PETA does a lot of good in other areas that don't make headlines, I know that. I also know that they have addressed the livestock problems in this country. My issue is not that they don't have good results, it is that when they address stupid issues like mascots, they take credibility away from themselves and all of us who do believe in treating animals right.)

Evangelist backs off Chavez assassination call - Yahoo! News

Someone needs to shut this bonehead up...now he is saying he didn't mean "killing"...kidnapping would be adequate. Duh...can we possibly put our foot farther down our throat?????

Yellow Seedless Watermelon

I bought a yellow watermelon recently that was locally grown with a guarantee from the seller that I would love it.

I did, the color kind of threw me off a bit but it was sweet and delicious (and seedless) just like its red counterpart. I highly recommend it.