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?
________________________________
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...

___________________________________
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.

Expensive Trip

This weekend, J and I went to a nearby town to do some shopping and get his watch band adjusted. On the way there, we got this in our windshield...
I had it looked at yesterday and it is too big (about 1 1/2 inches across) to have fixed, so we will need a new windshield on our less than a year old truck...fortunately the comprehensive deductible is only 100 bucks.

U.S. obesity rates on rise-report - Yahoo! News

I don't understand how anyone can be surprised by this when most schools only require physical education 1 out of every 5 days. The media always comes out with these reports like it is big news that if you eat crap and don't move enough, you will get fat...don't we know that already? Why aren't we doing something about it?

When I went to school, we did PE everyday all the way through high school. And as far as the blame being put on having fast food restaurants close to the school....we weren't allowed to leave our school grounds until we were juniors in high school. These restaurants should not be a factor if the schools are requiring students to remain on campus (which we better hope elementary and middle schools are).

Here is a break through thought....eat healthy, and move around some everyday. Do I get extra points for putting it in writing?

U.S. evangelist calls for assassination of Chavez - Yahoo! News

Okay, can we say that Pat Robertson is an idiot?

I know Chavez is not a nice guy either but this statement is just the latest in a string of idiotic things that Robertson has said over time. I find it amazing that he calls himself a religious person and that anyone listens to him.

Krispy Kreme

Today while working my ass off on the elliptical machine, an overweight guy walks by me with a TShirt that reads "Eat Krispy Kreme"...don't know if he was trying to help us all out, or making a statement...regardless, I thought it was hilarious.

Chicago Bears Yeah!!!

Chicago has been my favorite football team since I was little. I don't know why exactly, I have never lived near Chicago but I do have a fascination with the town (which I am sure I would be totally over if I ever spent a winter there).

Anyhow, they beat the Colts on Saturday in preseason...and I am hoping this means a better season for them (and me) than last year.

Both J and I are a bit turned off of some professional sports these days with all the crying about contracts, drug abuse and arrests, but I can't help but be excited for Chicago. Let's hope their season ends up being one of a kind.

In Memory

The second of the original batch of fish I got at Christmas time died today. It was the male of the silver lyretail mollies I had. He was one of my favorites but was never one of the healthiest fish in the tank. I am bummed...I will have to find someone new for the female to hang out with soon.

Stereo Clarification Revisited

Had to revisit this one from March 2005, because it has resurfaced in my life and I didn't find any answers then. Thought perhaps I might find some now....
_________________________
Could someone more hip than me answer this question for me? Is having your license plate rattle because your car stereo is so loud, a good thing or a bad thing???? I think it sounds and looks horrible but maybe I am just not getting it.

It seems to me that if you are playing your stereo loud enough to share music with all the cars in a 1 mile radius, the motivation is to impress people. I don't find the rattling license plate impressive, just hysterical...(I don't find the loud stereo impressive either but who am I to judge, I played my stereo loud in high school too).

Squirrel Aftermath

I posted a few days ago about this grey squirrel I saw dragging a huge pine cone up the tree to eat it.



Well, yesterday, I guess there was one in the tree near our front door and when I opened it to go to soccer, I startled it and it dropped the cone half eaten and then jumped on to our roof with a huge thump and scampered off. I didn't mean to interrupt its meal but since the cone was still out there this morning, I thought I would get some shots.




The other day, we found two of the completely eaten cones in the front yard with all the remanents around...at least now we know how they do it, right?

The Order of Sandwiches

It wasn't until I was in high school that someone mentioned a "right or wrong" way to put toilet paper on the roll, and it wasn't until 13 years of marriage that my husband informed me that there is a rule to the order of sandwich making.

I guess I knew that I had preferences to certain things on a sandwich being near other certain things, but I didn't realize that there was an order. I was putting a sandwich together for the two of us for lunch recently and he came over and started correcting the order of items. I laughed and said "it's not like there is an order" and he looked at me like I was out of mind and not living in the current century. He said "of course, there is an order, everyone knows that"....so everyone, do you have an order, and if so, what is it?

Generally, I put the cheese on the mustard side of the sandwich because I like the taste of mustard and cheese. If I am making a sandwich for J, I don't put mayo on both slices as he doesn't like mayo that much. If I am making a hamburger, I don't put the ketchup and tomato next to each other (sortof defeats the purpose). Oh, and I usually build the entire thing on one piece of the bread so that I can just cap it at the end with the other piece of bread and not have to try to flip two pieces of bread together that both have stuff on them. That is it, I don't have any more rules for my own sandwich making and I don't really consider any of them rules...I'll eat a sandwich regardless of how it is put together anyhow.

Out of Control

You know when things are getting out of control when you will pay more (it was only a 6 dollar difference) for a plane ticket to avoid connecting in an airport named after someone you don't like. I know it is silly but I just couldn't make myself connect there.

Ends up, I didn't have to pay more. After Travelocity, Expedia and Hotwire couldn't give me the flights I was looking for, I went directly to the airline, and ended up with the flight and seats that I wanted and 5 bucks cheaper because I didn't go through a "travel agent"...I might have to try this again sometime.

Workman's Comp

See my "on the job" injury? This is a blister on my right thumb from the shovel and rake while trying to fix my easement...I know, it is taking a long time, but it keeps raining and therefore thwarting all my efforts...I have been wearing gloves even...so that shows you how hard I have been working.

Anyhow, I am off the shovel and rake for a few days so I can heal up a bit. Gross, isn't it? It is exactly in the wrong spot too. It seems that I use that part of my thumb for just about everything...who knew? Oh, except for golfing...I can still hit a golf ball without hurting it...guess I'll just have to do that instead...haha.

Led Zeppelin

I just finished watching a show on VH1 on the top 100 hard rock artists and of course Led Zeppelin was the top and considered the grandfather of all other hard rock, metal and alternative to come after it. You're probably wondering why I would even stop on a program like that, but there are quite a few bands on their list that I either listened to as a teenager (Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest) or listen to now (Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC). My musical taste runs the gambit from HipHop to Classical composers. I like a little of just about everything out there and then some more of certain genres.

Music was an intricate part of growing up in our household. My parents introduced me and my sister to music at an early age. I remember listening to Sonic Seasonings by Wendy Carlos (aka Walter Carlos), when I was a toddler at bedtime. We lived in a commune in So Cal at the time and everyone in the house sang or played an instrument. Music surrounded us, and many of my earliest memories can be triggered by just hearing a song from those times.

As I got older, music continued to be an important part of our lives. We listened to music more often than we watched TV. My dad worked for a while as a board operator for a college radio station in Oregon. He worked during their Classical music broadcast and I was exposed to another genre through that. American Folk, Blues, Rock, Classical, Country, you name it, we listened to it at our house. We all sang to music, cleaned to music, and studied to music. Whenever we would be turned on to something new in the music scene, my sister and I would share it with our parents and get their view on it. We had them dancing and enjoying bands that they had never heard of and watched them knowingly smile when we would "discover" something from a band that had been around for ages.

I think that I am able to appreciate the broad range of music out there today because of the early influence music had in my life, and the fact that my parents were open to so many types of music. I don't think I ever heard them yell "Turn that crap down" like so many of my friends experienced. I am so thankful for that.

Owens Leaves Eagle Camp After Spat

Doesn't TO realize that people are forgetting what a great player he can be because he makes more news being a jackass?

It has a lot more to do with how well you can catch the ball...you have to be part of a team...duh!!!!

S. Korean man dies after 50 hours of computer games - Yahoo! News

Why would you do this to yourself?

Pine Cone

I saw a grey squirrel pulling this up a tree to eat the other day. The cone it had was almost as big as the squirrel itself. I guess it felt safer 60 feet up in the tree, rather than eating it on the ground.

Hilarious to watch...but you have to give them credit, when they get their mind set, there seems to be no changing it.

ABC News anchor Peter Jennings dies of cancer - Yahoo! News

I guess I had no idea that he was even sick...what terrible news. With him, Brokaw, and Dan Rather all gone from the news...an era has passed. How sad that he died so young.

Now I know how my parents felt when Walter Cronkite left the scene. You get used to seeing the same face every night. I remember seeing Walter on the news when I was a kid (especially during the Iran hostage period).

I am just sitting here in shock. It is so unexpected for me, because I didn't know he was even ill. Where have I been? Wow...

Signs

You know when gas prices are high when radio stations are offering gas cards as prizes rather than concert tickets...

Urgent 2nd Class

As I have mentioned in my reading list, Nick Bantock is one of my favorite authors/artists. I was turned onto his work by my dad who had discovered "The Egyptian Jukebox" and the first three "Griffin and Sabine" books. The art alone is what drew my dad to him at first.

At our dad's house the weekend he introduced us to Bantock, my sister and I spent a lot of time working on the puzzle in the Egyptian Jukebox. It was great fun. You can't find the Egyptian Jukebox new anymore, but sometimes you can come across it used. I bought a copy for my sister not too long ago from Powells.

I fell in love the Griffin and Sabine books because I have always been a corresponder and I loved the art, the story and the reader interaction with the story (the postcards and letters that were really there).

The thing that prompted this post was that I just finished up Urgent 2nd Class, which is another Bantock book where he explains how he finds the stuff he uses in his work and how he goes about getting it to work. As I was finishing up the last chapter about collages, I realized that I don't see the message (if there is one) in each piece. I just find the mixture of textures, color and items interesting but I am not sure if I am getting the whole picture or not.

I guess I have felt that way a lot of times when experiencing art (in all forms). For instance, in books or movies, the whole concept doesn't have to be perfectly pulled off for me to enjoy it. Sometimes the idea of the story behind it is interesting enough and sparks my brain enough for my own ideas that I still consider it good when others might think it was crap because overall it failed. I think in a lot of ways, this can be good because it means that I am able to enjoy more that is out there than someone that might only be looking for the perfect composition everytime, but at the same time, I probably miss the big picture a lot because I am not hunting for it, lost in my ideas.

Traditional art is the same way for me. There are some artists that I just enjoy because they are interesting, not because I really understand the message or idea, that overall, they might be trying to get across. I don't know if that is good or bad, but that is how it is for me. Nick Bantock is one of those artists for me. There are probably plenty of pieces that are supposed to be sarcastic or ironic and I have never noticed it, I have just enjoyed the physical aspect. I wonder if that frustrates the artist or if they are just glad you enjoy it, regardless of the aspect causing that enjoyment.

Microsoft BS

This is how stupid MS thinks home users are...

I had to go to their website to look for an update for a language program I am trying to use. You can't just look for what you want these days, you have validate your existence and then they tell you what you need even if what they think you need is not what you are looking for.

So anyway, one of the things it thinks I need is this security update for jview profiler (which I have never heard from). Mind you, I don't have my computer set up for automatic updates, never would, never will. So I just go to their page once a month or so after turning on all the required services on my PC and download what I need. Sometimes they have things I don't need and I don't download them. This is why I unclicked the jview profiler... I didn't know what it was, Microsoft didn't bother to explain it in their little blurb, so I wasn't going to download it unless I found out more about it.

I do a search on Microsoft's site, and all it comes up with is the same security download about a million times...not exactly what I am looking for. Anyhow, I finally did find the actual bulletin that might explain better what the jview profiler was.

They have two versions of the bulletin. One for home users and one for IT professionals. I clicked on the home users website first (thinking that this probably just explains it in less technical terms). Wrong!!! This is the website....http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletins/200507.mspx It doesn't tell you anything, it just basically says "here dumbass...download what we tell you and don't ask any questions!!!". And if you notice at the bottom of the first paragraph it even says that if you are an IT professional, you should go to the page so that things will be explained. I am amazed that they have the gall to pretend they put this little "bulletin" together every month.

Hmmmmm....see? They just think we are all idiots and don't need to know what is going on with our computers.

By the way, I did a google search (too bad MS's own site doesn't search adequately for their own shit) and found that the jview profiler is part of a javascript component in IE, so I do need it. Why couldn't they have just told me that in the first place? Jackasses...oh, and I have yet to find what I actually went there for.

How Nerdy Am I

I am not sure if it was because I was a math/biology major in undergraduate school (therefore took much math and science), I am currently in a computer systems management program in graduate school (requiring many hours on the computer), I built this computer I am using or some mixture of the three that pushed me into the middle ground of nerdiness.

I know that because I didn't retain much from college (too many extra curricular activities), and I didn't notice the elf ears kept me from being "very nerdy"...hee hee.
Thanks to PM at The Peevery for this one.

Book Hound

Yep, that is what you can call me. When I find a book that I am really into (good characters, easy to fall into), I just can't stop reading it.

Last night I read the book at the top of my August list right now, until I finished it at 3am in the morning. I think I started reading at 10pm. What was I thinking?

Of course that meant that today was off schedule from the get go but oh well,...its a disease people, nothing I can do about it.

I started the second one on the list today (but only let myself read for an hour, since I have other things on my schedule) but I think I have read it before. Ugh!!!

I hate that, now I need to put two more on hold at the library so I can pick them up when I return these ones next week...ha!

Speed Limit, People, Speed Limit

I don't understand people that drive 50 in a 45 and then that same 50 in a 55....if you aren't going to speed, at least go the limit...or get out of my way.

Father holding baby slain in US road rage attack - Yahoo! News

A perfect example of stupidity.

This person just threw their entire life away over a traffic incident. This does not even touch on what the victim's family now has to face in its future.

What a jackass.

The Heat Drove Them Away

It's the only thing I can think. Since we went into heat index land a couple of weeks ago, my yard has been vacated of most birds.

I still have a few gold Finches hanging out at the thistle feeder and drinking out of the birdbath, but otherwise it has been lonely.

For a few days, we have had a break in the weather (the torrential rains I mentioned before), and that seemed to bring back some of the Red Cardinals, and I actually did see the male Eastern Bluebird the other day (but I don't think they are doing the third nest this year). I even noticed on my walk that there is just not much going on in the bird department. Usually the Blue Jays and Red Cardinals are everywhere and if you can't see them, you can hear them all over.

I wonder if they have all gone to cooler climates for a change...do they do that?

Pillows

I was watching a movie last night and it struck me that on TV and in the movies you always see the beds with tons of pillows on them. This in itself is not odd necessarily, I have 5 pillows on my bed right now, but that is only during the day. I do not sleep with all of them.

Thing is, that during this movie, they were in bed with one pillow each beneath their heads but behind their heads (between the top of their heads and the headboard) there were two more pillows each. That is like an extra two feet of space at the top of the bed being taken up by pillows.

So do beds on the big screen have extra leg room? Because if I had that many pillows above my head, my feet would be hanging off the end of the bed for sure, and I am of average height. Why is it that no one ever calls them on this stupid stuff that just doesn't make sense?

Multiple License Plates

Did you know that 19 states in the US do not require license plates on both the front and back of a vehicle?

Does this make sense at all? I just recently traveled in a state that only requires the back plate and it just seems stupid to me to not have a plate in front (can you tell I am from a state that does require two?).

It drives me nuts if I look back at the car behind me and they don't have a plate. What happens if they are a nut and hit my car, or they're a road rage person, or if they are beating their children and I can see it in my rearview mirror? In most cases, I would not be able to tell the police the make and model of the car as I have only seen it from the front, but if they had a license plate, then I could identify them. Doesn't it make sense that it is a safety issue?

What am I going to say? "Sorry officer, all I know is that it was a tan car with a rebel flag on the front where the LICENSE PLATE should have been."

Bleach

I love bleach...there is just something about that smell that says clean. Of course I hate it when I get it splashed on my favorite t-shirts while using it but that is a different story all together.

Anyhow, I always keep bleach drop-ins in my toilet tank (we don't have any pets that would drink out of the bowl). It keeps the bowl and water looking fresh and keeps me from having to scrub it all the time.

Thing is that when you first drop them in, the aroma each time you flush is much stronger than it is after it has been in there a while. I just dropped one in each of the toilets recently.

The intake for our A/C is right across the hall from the guest bath (which I just used and flushed) and now the A/C has kicked on and is sending a bleach smell through the entire house...how is that for air freshening without effort?

Modifications

J left this morning on a business trip for a couple of weeks so even though I have tons of things on my "To Do" list, I made some changes around here.

I logged onto Netflix to get a bunch of the movies that I know he won't care to see moved to the top (especially since my queue is at 98 movies right now), and I getting ready to hit the library for some reading.

When the cat is away, the mice will read, and watch movies, rather than attack the "To Do" list with vigor...

Note: I also plan to make and eat all the dishes that he doesn't like as much as me....hee, hee.

Length Issues

I finally just watched the Aviator, which I have had from Netflix for some time now. I just couldn't find 3 hours in the evening when I could sit down and watch it. It seems like movies of this length are becoming a trend and finding the time to watch them is hard for me to do (especially in summer when it is light out late).

I guess that it is good that I can have three movies from them because the other two were getting watched and returned pretty regularly but finding those 3 hours was just too hard. At least now, I am done with it and can return it today....let's hope I don't get another marathon movie anytime soon.

Oregon anti-meth law would require prescriptions - Yahoo! News

What idiot thought this one up?

For Oregon to make Sudafed, Nyquil, and any other cold/allergy medicine that contains pseudoephendrine in it, illegal without a prescription is like forcing people to have a police authority to buy fertilizer just because a few idiots use it to make bombs.

This does not fix the problem and only ends up hurting the masses who largely are only using the medicine for colds and allergies. They just created a black market for Sudafed in Oregon, and who needs to make meth if they can just sell pharmaceuticals.

Have they even thought how they will deal with visitors that might not have a doctor in the state to get a prescription from? Am I going to get searched the next time I fly into Oregon because I might have some Sudafed in my bag?

The Oklahoma law sounds much more like what needs to occur in Oregon. It makes sense to require ID and limit purchasing (just like they do for fertilizer in a few states, by the way).

Next Blog Please

Apparently, late night blogging is the trend.

I was getting ready to call it a night and decided to check my blog one last time (I just recently put a new counter on it that gives me lots of info and I find it cool to see who is reading). I also just put a little thing that tells me how many people are on it at one time....

I have refreshed twice now in five minutes and it still says there are 5 people on my blog. So I went to my counter and refreshed the details a few times and each time I do, a new person pops up.

Looks like most of them are just doing the "next blog" button because the referring websites are sometimes those annoying advertising blogs and some are just other blogs that are not related to me in any way.

Anyhow, I didn't realize how much the "next blog" button gets used late on Saturday nights....very interesting...

Beano Works

Last week, I made this easy recipe a friend gave me for Taco Soup. Unfortunately something in it gives gas to individuals in this household that shall remain unnamed.

So when I took the second half out of the freezer (the recipe makes a lot so I end up freezing half right off), I decided to give Beano a chance. I have used it in the past in a precautionary capacity but didn't know for sure if it was working or if whatever I made just wasn't gas producing...you know how some things affect people in different ways.

Anyhow, knowing in advance that this recipe would cause "toots", we did the Beano and I have to say the house remained gas free....so if you ever wondered if it works, it does.

By the way, this is reference to the liquid version that you put on your first bite...I don't know how well the pills work.

Physical Evidence

Well, here is evidence of what our easement looked like again this morning after a late afternoon and all night rainstorm...looks a lot like the before picture on the other post, huh?

I talked to J last night about it, and funny because when he got home, he thought to himself that I just didn't get to it...little did he know that I did and it was all for nothing.

We figured out that the water has to cross our street somewhere, and so today, I am going to try to force it to start crossing before it hits our property but I am not putting any vegetation back until I am sure how it is going to go, so I will just be piling it in our yard for now. Fortunately today, not as much sand was moved so I don't have as much heavy reconstruction to do but I do plan to some.

I have to head out to Lowe's to get a round point shovel as the square point shovel I used yesterday is great for what I used it for but not so great for digging trenches (which is what I have to do on the undeveloped neighboring easement to get the water to cross early. I might pick up some extra pinestraw to dress up some other areas in the yard as well.

J might have at least part of tomorrow off, and even though I have a soccer tournament out of town, he might be able to devote some time to finish up or make changes depending on the results from today.

I wish we could just build a retaining wall, level our yard, and fill the ditch with big rocks....but I don't think that is in the plan or budget at this time.

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Update: I did finally get my ass outside to work on the yard after purchasing the shovel. I made some progress, found a bunch of rocks that were hidden under sand (some of which I used to build a little dam and shore up the side of our driveway), but didn't get enough done to take any pictures. When I stopped, the sky had clouded over and I could hear thunder in the background so we will see how much rain we get tonight...

What Not To Wear

Is it just me or do the hosts of this show on TLC really have no fashion sense...today the lady was wearing an animal print shirt with kelly green shiny elbow length gloves...

Work Wasted

Right now I am so mad I can barely type.

This is what the easement in front of my house and my driveway looked like this morning after a completely awesome (house rattling awesome) lightening and thunder storm (that included way too much rain) last night at 1am. I was awake for it because it was so awesome and I could see during the lightening that it was going to be a mess this morning but I had no idea that most of our easement would be in the street.

So I got out nice and early (thankfully it was only super humid today and not super hot as well) and proceeded to work my ass off for 3-4 hours fixing the mess and cleaning our gutters out. Fixing the mess entailed, raking the vegetation all to one area to use later, shoveling all the sand out of the road and back to the easement and then covering the sand after spreading it, with the vegetation. I also managed to save a large amount of our driveway gravel that had been washed into the road, and replaced that as I came across it.

After completing that, I moved onto the gutters that I saw were overflowing last night during the storm. That entailed getting a step ladder out, so I could bring down the attic ladder so I could get to the extension ladder that we keep in the attic (don't ask, it is a discussion we don't even want to go into). Once I got the extension ladder down from the attic (which is a death defying trick in itself), I proceeded to repeatedly put it up against the gutter along the house, climb it, clean the gutter I could reach, climb back down, and then move it along. I was doing it this way because getting on my roof when it is wet from torrential rains will kill you.

All of this (there was some sweeping involved too) took, like I said, about 3-4 hours. I was pleased with myself and my industriousness and went inside to take a shower and eat lunch.

It is now just after 6pm my time, and it has been torrentially raining for 45 minutes and all the work I did on the easement and driveway was for nothing. It is back the way it was this morning if not worse....I am so pissed I could spit nails. Of course it is also lightening and thundering so I can not even start to work on it without a chance of electrocution.

You can bet I will be out there first thing in the morning cleaning it up again (even though it is supposed to continue this weather through the weekend) but I will be diverting my plan a bit. This stupid town we live in, does not have storm drains but I plan to put a ditch into city property tomorrow regardless. The only thing I am hoping, is that the construction crew does not work Saturdays or they will be watching me fix it all over again, laughing to themselves I am sure.

Passing In The Night

I think I saw J for a total of 20 minutes in the last two days. He is just working crazy hours and it seems when he is home, I am at soccer for some reason...hmmmm.

It won't last, it is a temporary thing, but it is still frustrating because he is the only one I have to spill all my exciting daily happenings to (they aren't really that exciting but he knows that I like to fill him in on what happened, what I did and didn't do and what I think about all of it).

I have always been that way, and I am just lucky that I found someone that can tolerate it. I remember when I was a kid, I would jump my parents the second they came in the door to tell them all the stuff that had occured during the day. Many times I was told to wait until they got their coats off, and settled in before blasting them with endless chatter....yep, I was and probably would still be considered a chatterbox.

The only thing I can say is that I think I have gotten better at it and my stories are put together better and hopefully more interesting than when I was younger and I am sure half the story was filled with me saying "uhmmmm" so that I could keep my audience while figuring out what I wanted to say next...

Back Up

I don't know how many of you do this or not...but being the computer geek that I sometimes am, I thought I would mention it.

Back up your writings...if you want them sometime down the line, that is. I just went through all my archives and backed up any of the ones that I would be heartbroken to lose should a big server in the sky go down....(fingers crossed and wood being knocked as I write).

I just cut and paste them into Word, just gives me a piece of mind.

It Is One Or The Other

How is it that my only options for getting rid of my tank top and shorts lines on my skin are to lay out in blistering hot/humid 101 degree heat or during a thunderstorm????

Roses, Roses For Sale

My husband bought me a dozen beautiful roses for our anniversary and when I was putting away the receipt, I found that they were only $6.99....how is that possible? Doesn't it cost over 30 bucks for roses if you buy them from a flower shop?

I asked him about it and he said he too was surprised how inexpensive they were (he got them at a local fresh market), but figured that they must be from local growers and that perhaps explains it.

All I know is that if that is all they cost, I am going to start putting roses in my house each week instead of the carnations that I have been paying over 8 bucks for....why not? The smell alone of roses is worth it.

White House Warns Dems on Roberts Papers - Yahoo! News

They have got to be kidding....this guy is being nominated for a LIFETIME position and I think it is completely "in bounds" to ask for all information including memos from his prior stint as White House staff as well as whether he is a member of the Federal Society.

Not asking would be an injustice to the American people who have to live with this decision long after this administration is out of office. That is like not asking if he is a member of the KKK or something. This is information that Congress needs to know to make an informed decision regardless of whether they agree with his beliefs or not..

Dishonest Practices

It is amazing how when someone is doing something that they know they aren't supposed to be doing, the minute there is a witness, they change their tune.

I have not blogged about the construction going on across the street from my house in some time but it has been progressing, and aside from having to pick up their litter occasionally, it has not been as bad as imagined.

The thing is, that they are almost done with the house now, so last week, a truck from a landscaping company came and dumped a bunch of sand on the lot to be spread at a later date. I might mention here that there was a ton of litter on the lot but rather than clean that up first, they just spread the new dirt/sand right over it...nice huh? But that is the way things are in this part of the country, unfortunately.

Anyhow, today, the little tractor came that is doing the spreading and once that was done, it proceeded to clean up some of the other areas of the yard (mostly yard waste and tree parts). The thing of it was that they were dragging and dumping all this waste onto the adjacent property (which is not developed so only contains trees and undergrowth). I couldn't believe that this was what they were doing, as the little tractor thing is tearing up that piece of property, not to mention the cost to the owner (just because it is not developed doesn't mean it is not owned) to have all that stuff removed at some later date.

So I went out to check my mail and watched for a few minutes from my driveway...as soon as I started doing that, the guy on the ground went to the guy in the tractor to let him know he was being watched and then all of a sudden he started dumping his loads in the dumpster on the property....I didn't even have to say anything. I can't believe the gall of some people. As long as no one is watching, it is okay to throw common decency and consideration out the window.

Happy Anniversary

Today is my 13th wedding anniversary and I couldn't be happier. I just wanted to tell my husband thanks for making me the luckiest person in the world.

Bluebird Tragedy

Well folks, it looks like the eggs are not going to hatch. It has been 5 weeks now, and no chicks. Thing that really made me worry this week is the fact that the parents are not to be found.

According to the website I turned to yesterday for answers, they will often spend a lot of time hoping that a clutch will hatch (rather than giving up and moving on to the next clutch) and I think that might be what happened here. More than likely, the extremely warm weather we have been experiencing was too much for them. I am so disappointed, I really wanted to see these ones take off. I guess the later summer clutches don't hatch as easily as the spring ones do...

Looking at the area schedule, their third hatching is supposed to be in August, so perhaps if I get the nest cleaned out today, they will start a new nest this season and lay some eggs for August...we'll have to see I guess.

Grand Theft Auto

Where do I start with this one....I have so many issues I don't even know where to begin.

Okay, let's walk through this...we have a game that is already rated for 17 years and older because some idiot thinks we need to play at killing cops, stealing cars and creating general mayhem. The rating is there mostly to inform retailers and parents of the content, without having to actually play the game themselves, and to let kids know that this is definitely the game they want because it has all sorts of cool shit on it, right?

So we are assuming (or the rating board is) that at the age of 17 and older (which we know is NOT the age of most users of this game) an individual will know enough to realize that this is just a game and that none of the stuff in it is not meant to actually be done or idolized in any kind of way. I agree with the fact that we have a rating system on games (except that I find it amazing that we even find fun or humor in these types of games, which causes them to exist in the first place).

So now, we find out that there is some hidden sex scenes within the code on this game. NOW we want the rating changed to adult only (thus adding only ONE year to the age that a buyer must be to purchase) and that is going to make it all better. I am sorry, it should have the adult rating for the violence and general nastiness, not the sex....because sorry to say, but by 17 the animated sex on this game is not going to be anything new to the players.

Somehow the rating board, parents and whomever are all in a snit because someone over 17 but not yet 18 might see some animated sex? But it doesn't seem to bother them that killing, stealing, and any number of other felonies are being paraded around like some kind of war medals? This is a perfect example of the major hang ups that US society has as a whole with sex.
Now tell me why is it that the retailers are taking the game off their shelves? The article makes is sound like they are taking some kind of moral highground not stocking Adult Only games. I think it has more to do with the fact that since SEX is involved, they know parents wouldn't dare buy it for their 13 year olds any longer and that means it is just taking up shelf space that some other money making item can use.

Now before anyone who loves this game starts to give me hell in the comment section, let me point out a few things.

I do not believe in censorship of any kind. I am not by any means saying that we should do away with this game or any other game like it (even though I would never buy it, play it or condone it being played in my presence). This is a free market and apparently there is a market for this game and others of its genre. It is sad that this is true but it is.

I also do not believe that garbage about "my kid did it because he saw it on TV" crap. Number one, you are the parent, so you are in charge....turn the damn TV, computer and Play Station off once in a while. Second, talk to your kids and explain to them (in case you bought this game outside of the recommended age bracket) that it is not real, should not be real and that people who do this kind of shit in real life die early or live long in prison.

I absolutely believe that parents are the number one responsible person(s) when it comes to what their children do, learn, and say. I know that it is a hard job and gets harder each day but that is what happens when you procreate, you make the choice to take on that job. It is not up to the rating board, the teachers at your school, or the sports/movie star on TV to teach them right from wrong.

My entire rant really stems from the idea that we are so caught up in warning labels and who to blame in this country for the things that happen to us, that we seem to have forgotten to look in the mirror and take some responsibility. Does changing the rating on this game really do anything "to keep children safe" and help us all sleep better at night? No, it doesn't but what it does do is cost a bunch of people money (retailers, manufacturers, lawmakers, taxpayers...etc), and makes a little sidenote on CNN, and a few blogs.

What exactly are we focusing on, the symptoms or the actual problems?

Green Anole (aka American Chameleon)

I found this lizard (look really close or you won't see him) in my holly bush this spring while trying to photograph the holly flowers for my mother. I didn't know what it was at the time.

I see them all the time around our house these days, and just now I interupted one trying to court (get your mind out of the gutter, there was no sex going on) a female. The female was a browner color, while the male was just like the pics on the title link above. The thing that was really cool was that the male was doing this bobbing up and down thing (part of the courting ritual), and the female was answering with her own bobs...but the male also had this "throat fan" that would pop out after 5 or so bobs...kind of cool.

Ceiling Fans

I love ceiling fans (except when I have to dust them) but I am beginning to think that the lowest setting is just a placebo. You see it turning so you know you must be cooler but I don't think turning that slow is really doing much of anything...

Heat Index

4th straight day of combination temp and humidity for a heat index of 105-110...with chance of afternoon thunderstorms (not really a chance, more of a guarantee), but unfortunately only once has the storm brought rain too.

My poor plants outdoors are requiring daily watering rather than every other day, and the bird bath is just barely staying full enough to drink from.

Carpet Freshener

I don't know if I am the last person on the planet to know this but I thought if I wasn't, then I should pass it on...so here goes.

We have a relatively new vacuum cleaner (6 months) that I absolutely love. This is my first new vacuum in 12 years so I was very particular when I picked it out figuring I would have it for 12 years as well.

Anyhow, it has 3 different filters on it, one of them being a HEPA filter. We chose this because my husband has developed airborne allergies in the last couple of years and thought it might cut down on dust and dander issues.

I do not know if this information will only be pertinent to vacuums with HEPA filters on them, or just any of the new vacuums out there but I have discovered that powdered carpet freshener is bad for my vacuum. It seems to clog the filters and then the vacuum overheats trying to suck air in through the clogs. We have had it overheat and shut off on us twice recently right after treating our cats room with the carpet freshener.

So I just thought I would share that in case anyone else has had problems of unknown origin with their vacuums. As much as I like those fresheners....I can't use them anymore. My poor vacuum just can't take it, and I can't spend the thousands of dollars it takes to replace all those filters every time I vacuum.

Ugh!!!

I don't know what the deal is but I have not gotten a good night's sleep in ages. I have always been a light sleeper and because of that, it seemed like I needed to sleep more hours than most people to feel rested. I am also naturally a night owl so my best sleep seems to be in the morning (which is when most are getting up).

Unfortunately, neither of those work well with real life living these days. A few years ago, I fixed the light sleeping problem by taking melatonin (which I apparently don't produce enough of naturally) and it was amazing. I could sleep and when I woke up after a normal amount of time, I felt refreshed and ready to charge ahead with my day. This seemed to fix the night owl thing as well because I was getting great sleep throughout the entire night.

I think part of my problem right now is that I get up a million times a night to use the potty...haha. This is due in part because I get home from soccer pretty late and end up drinking a lot of fluid before bed...hopefully this will stop when I am done with soccer (in two weeks). The other thing is just that I can't seem to find a comfortable position...I am a tummy and side sleeper mostly although I have migrated onto my back on occasion. I can't sleep on one of my sides much right now because it aggravates a shoulder injury...

Reality is that all of this is probably just a bunch of excuses to explain that I am just to lazy to get up when my alarm goes off like normal people....I need some will power people!!!!

Frustrated Iraqis ready to take law into own hands - Yahoo! News

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I guess I am glad that the people are willing to stand up for their safety but I wonder if this is also not exactly what the terrorists want. Will it make it harder to unite the country as a whole? It might be considered a step backward in some eyes.

I am not sure how I feel about it.

Swing of Things

I have finally come into my swing in golf (I am sure a pro would tell me there are a million things wrong with it) and I played my best round yet today. I don't know exactly how it happened (I have never had lessons) but lately, I have just been able to hit the ball pretty consistently. This allows me to focus on other aspects of the game and today, that paid off.

I have never really had the "competitive" drive like some players. I am usually pretty content to just hit the ball okay, and make my way through a beautiful afternoon in the peaceful outdoors, but hitting well, makes the game that much more enjoyable, let me tell you. I don't really care about "beating anyone" or what my final score ends up to be, but I do not like finding my ball in the woods or losing my ball to water hazards. So, consistently hitting better overall improves the game for me.

I have also found that confidence in my abilities directly affects how well I play. Expecting a good hit, rather than being surprised by it seems to make me less nervous when others are watching me play, and less anxious about the various hazards I might come across in the course of the game. I like knowing when I tee up that I am probably going to hit it in the direction and for the length that I want to, rather than leaving it up to chance...haha.

Anyhow, I had a lot of fun today with my new found abilities and I played much better than I expected and I am a little surprised at how nice it made me feel (although I shouldn't be surprised because I always feel awesome after soccer if I play well). I would recommend a round of golf to everyone, even if you have never played before. It is a great way to get some exercise, breathe some fresh air and enjoy the outdoors if nothing else.

Jack Nicklaus

I am so bummed that Jack didn't make the cut today at the British Open. The network got me teared up with their Olympics-like stories...it was tough. Thank goodness no one was home to witness...

USGA

Shame on you USGA!!!

Shame on you for not answering my emails regarding whether you recycled those thousands of #1 plastic bottles you forced us to buy.

Shame on you for charging so much for food after forcing us to throw away perfectly nice granola bars at the gate.

Shame on you for selling water at $2.50 for 20 oz when we were observing a heat index warning of 105+ degrees.

Shame on you for allowing the photographers and media personnel to cut in front of paying customers who had been sitting in the same spot all day just so they could get a gazillionth picture of Tiger Woods.

Shame on you for putting all the stands in the sun with no shade coverage.

Shame on you for not being prepared for the record number of spectators and running out of food, especially when you wouldn't let us bring any in.

Shame on you for treating everyone that had free passes better than those of us that paid to get in.

Raid Earth Options

Normally, I try to keep my blog commercial free, as I figure most companies are making enough without free advertising on my blog.

I have to make an exception for this product because it is one of those products that is evidence that some big companies are trying to do better for the environment. It is just like good customer service, if you don't give them a thumbs up once in a while, they will stop trying to do good because all they hear is complaints.

I try not to use pesticides if possible but there are a few things I just can't live around. Cockroaches are one of those things but wasps are another. I know, I know, bees and their families are good for many things (unlike the cockroaches) but the wasps around here will just take over your entire outdoors if you do not keep them in check. We have already found several nests around our patio and porch and it is only the middle of July. So anyhow, I was looking for something at the store for killing wasps and saw the Earth Options from Raid. It was marked cheaper than the regular Raid so I thought I would give it a try since it uses plant products instead of manmade chemicals to kill the wasps. I was fully expecting it to work, but not as quickly or well as the regular Raid, and I don't want the buggers to suffer, a quick death is better.

Anyhow, I am here to report that this stuff kicks butt. I am only using the wasp version at this time (so I can't comment on the other types of Earth Options out there), but it has a long stream so you don't have to get too close and it will knock them out of the sky. It kills them immediately without all the chemical aftertaste....

So, for those of you, like me, who care about the environment but are forced to use pesticides once in a while, this is an option that is easier to live with.