Thursday, May 27, 2004
"TVs beware"
If you are a TV, don't come to my house. Because my house will kill you.
As part of the payment for Daisy, Haywood's friend gave us a TV, since we needed a new upstairs one after our problems last week and he had one he bought about a year ago and wasn't using. Less then 24 hours later, the TV is gone. Burned up!
I was downstairs, having just come in from outside when I heard a high pitched chirping sound coming from upstairs. I ran up only to find the upstairs full of smoke and a horrendous burning plastic smell! Of course it was coming from the TV. I quickly unplugged everything, opened two windows and got the hell out of the house with Sierra.
The sad part is, now I don't know if we might have an electrical problem in addition to the component damage we had, or if this is just some kind of crazy coincidence that boils down to the fact that we are not allowed by some higher power to have a tv upstairs. The PS2 and directv unit were plugged in to the same outlet and they are both fine. I am just soooo glad I was in the house when this happened, because I fear the entire house could have burned down - of all places, the bedroom is probably the most flammable with the carpeting, bedding, pillows, mattresses and wooden bed.
I was supposed to take my pc in today to have an insurance estimate done for replacement, but I just didn't feel like it for some reason. I am feeling pretty lucky right now. I would have hated to make that call to the insurance company - "yeah, you know that claim for the electronics - forget about that one because our whole house just burned down."
Now I promise, I won't post again until something good happens!! :-)
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If you are a TV, don't come to my house. Because my house will kill you.
As part of the payment for Daisy, Haywood's friend gave us a TV, since we needed a new upstairs one after our problems last week and he had one he bought about a year ago and wasn't using. Less then 24 hours later, the TV is gone. Burned up!
I was downstairs, having just come in from outside when I heard a high pitched chirping sound coming from upstairs. I ran up only to find the upstairs full of smoke and a horrendous burning plastic smell! Of course it was coming from the TV. I quickly unplugged everything, opened two windows and got the hell out of the house with Sierra.
The sad part is, now I don't know if we might have an electrical problem in addition to the component damage we had, or if this is just some kind of crazy coincidence that boils down to the fact that we are not allowed by some higher power to have a tv upstairs. The PS2 and directv unit were plugged in to the same outlet and they are both fine. I am just soooo glad I was in the house when this happened, because I fear the entire house could have burned down - of all places, the bedroom is probably the most flammable with the carpeting, bedding, pillows, mattresses and wooden bed.
I was supposed to take my pc in today to have an insurance estimate done for replacement, but I just didn't feel like it for some reason. I am feeling pretty lucky right now. I would have hated to make that call to the insurance company - "yeah, you know that claim for the electronics - forget about that one because our whole house just burned down."
Now I promise, I won't post again until something good happens!! :-)
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"Screaming and Crying"
Yesterday i had a rather amusing experience. As some of you know, one of my ongoing projects involves constantly seeding different parts of our lawn in the hope that one day we might have a weed-free putting green surrounding our house. Well, I bought a 50 lb bag of grass seed i had it in my trunk for a while because i was seeding near our driveway and i was using my trunk as a dry spot to keep the grass seed since a 50 lb bag of seed is not the kind of thing I like to tote around, especially once it's opened. So anyway, let's just say that a mouse found the grass seed quite appealing and decided to take up residence!! The grass seed bag was out of the trunk but there were a few stray seeds remaining and I was actually planning on vacuuming the car while I was out doing errands. As I was driving up our street, I saw a small grey object dart out from under the passenger seat and head towards the engine - I had just gotten the mail and my window was open so all the neighbors got to hear my blood curdling scream. Mice are cute in pet stores, but I just can't take an unexpected sighting out of the corner of my eye, it's almost too much for me to bear, especially knowing that it's two feet away from me in an enclosed space. So somehow, I managed to make it 1/4 mile to the top of our road where I immediately put on the hazard lights opened the doors, got Sierra out of the car and called my Dad to come get us. I know it sounds crazy, but I seriously thought that if the mouse reappeared while I was driving that I could get in a car accident. Actually my dad mentioned that that just happened to someone recently - a woman was killed in a car accident after seeing a bee in her car. Anyway, we went back to my parents' house and vacuumed everything, blew out the engine compartment with an air compressor, etc. Of course, Sierra is not fazed at all and she even says that she and I should go on Fear Factor together - ha. I told her I'd sit in a vat of mice as long as they didn't just let one run by me unexpectedly. Well, I guess we scared the little guy because we saw no more traces of him and I put a mouse trap in the trunk last night and it's still empty. Moral of the story: don't move to the country. And if you do, keep your grass seed in the basement. :-)
Last night we all shed a tear or 5 million as our last puppy, Daisy, made her way to her new home. She's actually going to live with friends of Haywood's who live fairly close by, so we can visit her any time we want to. They have three kids, so she will get plenty of attention. Sierra was sooo upset. She was crying and saying how Daisy was her best friend and how much she missed her, etc... it was kind of heartbreaking to see her that upset and so she and I were just sitting there on the couch bawling while poor Haywood did his best to try to watch American Idol, now that we finally have our TiVo back.
So today, Sierra is doing much better and I was trying to get her to realize that adult dogs can still be fun, too! I was trying to think of something Sierra would enjoy and finally, it hit me....I can't believe I never thought of doing this before, but we painted Jessie's toenails!! Sierra thought it was the greatest thing! Jessie is ready for the cover of Dogue now...i can just see it.. "This is Jessie, wearing Colorspots in Grape."
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Yesterday i had a rather amusing experience. As some of you know, one of my ongoing projects involves constantly seeding different parts of our lawn in the hope that one day we might have a weed-free putting green surrounding our house. Well, I bought a 50 lb bag of grass seed i had it in my trunk for a while because i was seeding near our driveway and i was using my trunk as a dry spot to keep the grass seed since a 50 lb bag of seed is not the kind of thing I like to tote around, especially once it's opened. So anyway, let's just say that a mouse found the grass seed quite appealing and decided to take up residence!! The grass seed bag was out of the trunk but there were a few stray seeds remaining and I was actually planning on vacuuming the car while I was out doing errands. As I was driving up our street, I saw a small grey object dart out from under the passenger seat and head towards the engine - I had just gotten the mail and my window was open so all the neighbors got to hear my blood curdling scream. Mice are cute in pet stores, but I just can't take an unexpected sighting out of the corner of my eye, it's almost too much for me to bear, especially knowing that it's two feet away from me in an enclosed space. So somehow, I managed to make it 1/4 mile to the top of our road where I immediately put on the hazard lights opened the doors, got Sierra out of the car and called my Dad to come get us. I know it sounds crazy, but I seriously thought that if the mouse reappeared while I was driving that I could get in a car accident. Actually my dad mentioned that that just happened to someone recently - a woman was killed in a car accident after seeing a bee in her car. Anyway, we went back to my parents' house and vacuumed everything, blew out the engine compartment with an air compressor, etc. Of course, Sierra is not fazed at all and she even says that she and I should go on Fear Factor together - ha. I told her I'd sit in a vat of mice as long as they didn't just let one run by me unexpectedly. Well, I guess we scared the little guy because we saw no more traces of him and I put a mouse trap in the trunk last night and it's still empty. Moral of the story: don't move to the country. And if you do, keep your grass seed in the basement. :-)
Last night we all shed a tear or 5 million as our last puppy, Daisy, made her way to her new home. She's actually going to live with friends of Haywood's who live fairly close by, so we can visit her any time we want to. They have three kids, so she will get plenty of attention. Sierra was sooo upset. She was crying and saying how Daisy was her best friend and how much she missed her, etc... it was kind of heartbreaking to see her that upset and so she and I were just sitting there on the couch bawling while poor Haywood did his best to try to watch American Idol, now that we finally have our TiVo back.
So today, Sierra is doing much better and I was trying to get her to realize that adult dogs can still be fun, too! I was trying to think of something Sierra would enjoy and finally, it hit me....I can't believe I never thought of doing this before, but we painted Jessie's toenails!! Sierra thought it was the greatest thing! Jessie is ready for the cover of Dogue now...i can just see it.. "This is Jessie, wearing Colorspots in Grape."
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Tuesday, May 25, 2004
"Donations now being accepted..."
Well, just when i thought we were safe, we had another power surge problem last Friday night as we were entertaining dinner guests. This time our upstairs tv and one of haywood's high-end amps were damaged. I haven't been able to get online with my ancient laptop since Friday, hence the lack of updates to my blog. That has also made it difficult to shop for a new pc online, since I would never in a million years buy one from a local retailer :-)
I'll be pretty busy trying to get estimates on everything that has been damaged so we can file a claim with our insurance - i'm sure it will take weeks to sort everything out and have a fully functioning household again. On the upside - our new TiVo should be arriving any minute now. DirecTV sold us a replacement, but they have to actually get a guy to come here to plug in the cables - ugh - whatever, at least we'll have our TiVo back.
On a happy note... congratulations to my cousin Pam, who got engaged this weekend! Her fiance took her to the Bluebell Woods in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and knelt down to pretend he was getting something out of his camera bag and he popped the question! I am so thrilled for them both - they're a great couple.
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Well, just when i thought we were safe, we had another power surge problem last Friday night as we were entertaining dinner guests. This time our upstairs tv and one of haywood's high-end amps were damaged. I haven't been able to get online with my ancient laptop since Friday, hence the lack of updates to my blog. That has also made it difficult to shop for a new pc online, since I would never in a million years buy one from a local retailer :-)
I'll be pretty busy trying to get estimates on everything that has been damaged so we can file a claim with our insurance - i'm sure it will take weeks to sort everything out and have a fully functioning household again. On the upside - our new TiVo should be arriving any minute now. DirecTV sold us a replacement, but they have to actually get a guy to come here to plug in the cables - ugh - whatever, at least we'll have our TiVo back.
On a happy note... congratulations to my cousin Pam, who got engaged this weekend! Her fiance took her to the Bluebell Woods in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and knelt down to pretend he was getting something out of his camera bag and he popped the question! I am so thrilled for them both - they're a great couple.
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Thursday, May 20, 2004
"you-ca, yuck-a"
This is funny - I was just reading Rich's post about yuca and it's kind of coincidental that I found some either yuca or yucca growing nearby recently. We went for a hike with my parents on mother's day and after walking for a while, we found an abandoned house. It was pretty interesting - both front and back porches had existed at one time, but the roofing was all that remained on the ground due to collapse of the porches. Anyway, there were these strange looking plants, kind of looked like 2 foot pineapple tops. Well, earlier this week my mom called and told me she found out it was yuca or yucca and we proceeded to have a long discussion about whether yuca and yucca are the same thing and what the proper pronunciation was. So as i research this, i find that everyone is confused about the difference between yuca and yucca, but they are definitely two different plants with two different uses. I'm not sure why either one would be growing near an abandoned house in Virginia, however. And I don't know which one I found because of the plethora of spelling errors I found using the google image search. We're going back in June to see if it's flowering and then we'll know for sure. I know you will be eagerly awaiting my findings....
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This is funny - I was just reading Rich's post about yuca and it's kind of coincidental that I found some either yuca or yucca growing nearby recently. We went for a hike with my parents on mother's day and after walking for a while, we found an abandoned house. It was pretty interesting - both front and back porches had existed at one time, but the roofing was all that remained on the ground due to collapse of the porches. Anyway, there were these strange looking plants, kind of looked like 2 foot pineapple tops. Well, earlier this week my mom called and told me she found out it was yuca or yucca and we proceeded to have a long discussion about whether yuca and yucca are the same thing and what the proper pronunciation was. So as i research this, i find that everyone is confused about the difference between yuca and yucca, but they are definitely two different plants with two different uses. I'm not sure why either one would be growing near an abandoned house in Virginia, however. And I don't know which one I found because of the plethora of spelling errors I found using the google image search. We're going back in June to see if it's flowering and then we'll know for sure. I know you will be eagerly awaiting my findings....
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"Strike!"
Unfortunately I'm not talking about the kind that I get when bowling, but rather the type that comes from the sky and is commonly referred to as lightning.
Sadly, we had a major storm here a few days ago and a lightning strike so close I was convinced that the sound ruptured my eardrum. Anyway it took a major toll on all things electronic. Luckily our new TV survived. Among the casualties were my PC, 2 phones, my scanner, our electronic thermostat and most tragically, the TiVo :-(. It's still under warranty but unfortunately the "labor" fee is $80 to fix, so we're just going to buy a new TiVo instead and take the hard drive out of the old one and install it as a secondary HD in the new one. Of course I won't be able to do that until my pc is fixed. I had one of those surge protectors that protect you for up to $5 million for my computer equipment, so I hope they'll be reimbursing me for some of the damage. I'm sure there will be some loophole so they don't have to pay up, but I'm going to try my best. Too bad my computer is so old because if they reimburse me for the current value I might only get a fast food meal out of it. I have already replaced the motherboard and the power supply and that fixed part of the problem, but I still have no video even though I have tried two different video cards and the monitor works with my laptop. So tomorrow i'll be calling the surge protector place to see what I can do next.
Speaking of bowling, I discovered the other day that I play horseshoes exactly the same way I bowl!! I wonder if that's normal. Well of course I had to check google to find out and I did find one guy who does it.
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Unfortunately I'm not talking about the kind that I get when bowling, but rather the type that comes from the sky and is commonly referred to as lightning.
Sadly, we had a major storm here a few days ago and a lightning strike so close I was convinced that the sound ruptured my eardrum. Anyway it took a major toll on all things electronic. Luckily our new TV survived. Among the casualties were my PC, 2 phones, my scanner, our electronic thermostat and most tragically, the TiVo :-(. It's still under warranty but unfortunately the "labor" fee is $80 to fix, so we're just going to buy a new TiVo instead and take the hard drive out of the old one and install it as a secondary HD in the new one. Of course I won't be able to do that until my pc is fixed. I had one of those surge protectors that protect you for up to $5 million for my computer equipment, so I hope they'll be reimbursing me for some of the damage. I'm sure there will be some loophole so they don't have to pay up, but I'm going to try my best. Too bad my computer is so old because if they reimburse me for the current value I might only get a fast food meal out of it. I have already replaced the motherboard and the power supply and that fixed part of the problem, but I still have no video even though I have tried two different video cards and the monitor works with my laptop. So tomorrow i'll be calling the surge protector place to see what I can do next.
Speaking of bowling, I discovered the other day that I play horseshoes exactly the same way I bowl!! I wonder if that's normal. Well of course I had to check google to find out and I did find one guy who does it.
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Thursday, May 13, 2004
"me vs. the world(com)"
Dear Jill *********,
Thank you for contacting MCI ® e-Customer Service.
We did not receive an order from your Local Telephone Company to cancel your
account (GEE, THANKS VERIZON!), nor did we receive a request to cancel your account from you until 05/13/04. We cancelled the account as soon as confirmation was
received from you. I apologize for any inconvenience that this may
have caused.
I have issued a credit to your account for the charges on your 05/08/04 invoice since there was no usage on this invoice. A credit of $5.33 has been issued to your account (YES, I'M RICH!) and will appear on one of your next three credit card statements, depending on your billing cycle. Should your invoice dated 06/08/04 include charges, you may e-mail us for credit for this (GREAT, I HAVE TO DO THIS AGAIN?).
Sincerely,
Stacey
e-Customer Service
> Hello -
> I have had Verizon Long Distance since April 9th. I did not use MCI service during that time, obviously, since it is not possible to have more than one long distance carrier at once. From the email below it looks like you are telling me that not only am i responsible for paying for April, but now also for the May statement I will receive next month? How is that legal, exactly? I would greatly appreciate a credit back for April and would appreciate not being billed for May.
>
> Thank you,
> Jill ********
> ----- Original Message -----
> From:
> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 2:11 PM
> Subject: MCI ® e-Customer Service
> >
> > Dear Jill *************,
> >
> > Thank you for contacting MCI ® e-Customer Service.
> > I have received your email regarding canceling your MCI account.
> > MCI regrets losing you as a valued customer. Please be advised that as of today,
> > 5/13/04, your account is cancelled. You may receive one final MCI invoice. Please
> > note that MCI assesses monthly plan fees on the first day of your billing cycle;
> > therefore, you will be responsible for your full monthly plan fee (YEAH, THAT SOUNDS FAIR, ESPECIALLY SINCE I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW MY SERVICE WASN'T CANCELLED UNTIL AFTER I GOT THE STATEMENT AND AFTER THE SECOND BILLING CYCLE HAD ALREADY STARTED).
Topic: Bill/Statement
> > > > >
> > > > > Please credit back monthly service charges on my latest statement.
> > > > I switched to Verizon Long Distance last month, on April 9.
|
Dear Jill *********,
Thank you for contacting MCI ® e-Customer Service.
We did not receive an order from your Local Telephone Company to cancel your
account (GEE, THANKS VERIZON!), nor did we receive a request to cancel your account from you until 05/13/04. We cancelled the account as soon as confirmation was
received from you. I apologize for any inconvenience that this may
have caused.
I have issued a credit to your account for the charges on your 05/08/04 invoice since there was no usage on this invoice. A credit of $5.33 has been issued to your account (YES, I'M RICH!) and will appear on one of your next three credit card statements, depending on your billing cycle. Should your invoice dated 06/08/04 include charges, you may e-mail us for credit for this (GREAT, I HAVE TO DO THIS AGAIN?).
Sincerely,
Stacey
e-Customer Service
> Hello -
> I have had Verizon Long Distance since April 9th. I did not use MCI service during that time, obviously, since it is not possible to have more than one long distance carrier at once. From the email below it looks like you are telling me that not only am i responsible for paying for April, but now also for the May statement I will receive next month? How is that legal, exactly? I would greatly appreciate a credit back for April and would appreciate not being billed for May.
>
> Thank you,
> Jill ********
> ----- Original Message -----
> From:
> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2004 2:11 PM
> Subject: MCI ® e-Customer Service
> >
> > Dear Jill *************,
> >
> > Thank you for contacting MCI ® e-Customer Service.
> > I have received your email regarding canceling your MCI account.
> > MCI regrets losing you as a valued customer. Please be advised that as of today,
> > 5/13/04, your account is cancelled. You may receive one final MCI invoice. Please
> > note that MCI assesses monthly plan fees on the first day of your billing cycle;
> > therefore, you will be responsible for your full monthly plan fee (YEAH, THAT SOUNDS FAIR, ESPECIALLY SINCE I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW MY SERVICE WASN'T CANCELLED UNTIL AFTER I GOT THE STATEMENT AND AFTER THE SECOND BILLING CYCLE HAD ALREADY STARTED).
Topic: Bill/Statement
> > > > >
> > > > > Please credit back monthly service charges on my latest statement.
> > > > I switched to Verizon Long Distance last month, on April 9.
|
"sometimes i blog quick, sometimes i blog too long..."
Well, today i started halfheartedly looking at some job postings. There are several IT jobs at UVA that i might consider applying for. I even found one at the law school for lotus notes development, which would be great considering I am probably the only lotus notes developer in this area, but it's not necessarily a skill i want to continue developing - it's kind of like taking all of your old cassettes and then burning them to cd, sort of a worthless endeavor that still gives you a sense of accomplishment, but the end result is still old-school quality and couldn't compare to buying a cd of the same songs.
i have fortunate/unfortunate experience of having opportunities drop into my lap a little too easily sometimes. In college, i got my sweet real estate assistant job during the interview, then my 4th year i accepted my offer with verizon before my other offers had even come in, so i am determined that i will not just simply take a position because it is offered to me, but only if i am truly interested in it. (of course if i am still jobless after trying for a year or so, i might change my mind :-) ) classic example - when i still worked at verizon, i randomly emailed a company i found in c'ville that did lotus notes and java. turned out they were looking for someone to really help them streamline their processes and be a jack of all trades. Basically i always end up being one in all my positions because i get bored doing one thing and end up taking on several different responsibilities. i could have had a sweet job basically being second hand to the founder of this small, but successful java development company in a beautiful office on the downtown mall right above John Grisham's office and only a block from this great restaurant called Bang! that serves Asian tapas where i could have eaten all the time and i totally blew the guy off after he didn't contact me back right after i gave him my hourly rate requirements. So when he did get back to me a few weeks later asking if i was still interested, i never replied. i still kind of regret it every time we stroll down the downtown mall and i see the building. I just wasn't ready to take the first job offered to me and certainly not so soon after leaving my last job.
So i'm taking my time and playing the job field. Looks like there is going to be a local CBS affiliate starting up in c'ville in about two months, so i'm also going to check out what is available there. the key is that i don't want to start anything until September, after sierra is situated with kindergarten, so that's why i hate to start the search too early. i'd hate to find the perfect job and not really be able to take it. or to take it and be pissed off about it.
well, at this point, i'm just rambling...sorry to anyone who might be reading. what would i do without this blog? i think i would explode! Tomorrow i'll post a new pic of Play-Dohg, since a picture is worth a thousand words and i won't possibly have anything else to talk about by then will i?
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Well, today i started halfheartedly looking at some job postings. There are several IT jobs at UVA that i might consider applying for. I even found one at the law school for lotus notes development, which would be great considering I am probably the only lotus notes developer in this area, but it's not necessarily a skill i want to continue developing - it's kind of like taking all of your old cassettes and then burning them to cd, sort of a worthless endeavor that still gives you a sense of accomplishment, but the end result is still old-school quality and couldn't compare to buying a cd of the same songs.
i have fortunate/unfortunate experience of having opportunities drop into my lap a little too easily sometimes. In college, i got my sweet real estate assistant job during the interview, then my 4th year i accepted my offer with verizon before my other offers had even come in, so i am determined that i will not just simply take a position because it is offered to me, but only if i am truly interested in it. (of course if i am still jobless after trying for a year or so, i might change my mind :-) ) classic example - when i still worked at verizon, i randomly emailed a company i found in c'ville that did lotus notes and java. turned out they were looking for someone to really help them streamline their processes and be a jack of all trades. Basically i always end up being one in all my positions because i get bored doing one thing and end up taking on several different responsibilities. i could have had a sweet job basically being second hand to the founder of this small, but successful java development company in a beautiful office on the downtown mall right above John Grisham's office and only a block from this great restaurant called Bang! that serves Asian tapas where i could have eaten all the time and i totally blew the guy off after he didn't contact me back right after i gave him my hourly rate requirements. So when he did get back to me a few weeks later asking if i was still interested, i never replied. i still kind of regret it every time we stroll down the downtown mall and i see the building. I just wasn't ready to take the first job offered to me and certainly not so soon after leaving my last job.
So i'm taking my time and playing the job field. Looks like there is going to be a local CBS affiliate starting up in c'ville in about two months, so i'm also going to check out what is available there. the key is that i don't want to start anything until September, after sierra is situated with kindergarten, so that's why i hate to start the search too early. i'd hate to find the perfect job and not really be able to take it. or to take it and be pissed off about it.
well, at this point, i'm just rambling...sorry to anyone who might be reading. what would i do without this blog? i think i would explode! Tomorrow i'll post a new pic of Play-Dohg, since a picture is worth a thousand words and i won't possibly have anything else to talk about by then will i?
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Wednesday, May 12, 2004
"he's crispy, but he's all mine"
I made this little fella yesterday per Sierra's request. Let's just see how long he holds up...
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I made this little fella yesterday per Sierra's request. Let's just see how long he holds up...
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Three of these things belong together
Three of these things are kind of the same
Can you guess which one of these doesn't belong here?
Now it's time to play our game (time to play our game...boop!).
A. La-TOY-a
B. Fan-TAS-ia
C. Di-AN-a
D. Jasmine
I won't give you any hints!
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Three of these things are kind of the same
Can you guess which one of these doesn't belong here?
Now it's time to play our game (time to play our game...boop!).
A. La-TOY-a
B. Fan-TAS-ia
C. Di-AN-a
D. Jasmine
I won't give you any hints!
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Tuesday, May 11, 2004
"important life lessons"
I had the pleasure of needing to teach Sierra the difference between porous and non-porous surfaces today. (Actually, this training would have come in handy a few weeks back when she decided to draw a computing center on her walls for she and her imaginary friends to use for playing computer games!!) Her art fix this week is white glue. She spread it on our glass coffee table and let it dry so she could peel it off. While it doesn't bother me too much, since i know it comes off, I really wanted to make sure that she didn't decide it would be fun to put it on the sofa, carpet or any other porous object, hence the need for instruction. I told her that while i don't necessarily condone the spreading of glue on our coffee table, it is far better than the spreading of glue on any porous surfaces. I think she gets it. I hope so, at least.
She got the chance to learn about metamorphosis over the weekend. We captured two caterpillars and she put them in a jar. The next morning, one had spun a cocoon and the other was just starting one. Remember the phases...egg, larva, pupa, adult? Well, they're just happy as can be at the pupa phase right now and I found out that their adult phase is a moth that damages fruit trees, so I may have to do a little intervention between the pupa phase and the adult phase called the "accidentally flushed them down the toilet" phase. Sierra loves the caterpillars, but I think she loves the cherry tree she planted this year a little more...so she'll understand, right?
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I had the pleasure of needing to teach Sierra the difference between porous and non-porous surfaces today. (Actually, this training would have come in handy a few weeks back when she decided to draw a computing center on her walls for she and her imaginary friends to use for playing computer games!!) Her art fix this week is white glue. She spread it on our glass coffee table and let it dry so she could peel it off. While it doesn't bother me too much, since i know it comes off, I really wanted to make sure that she didn't decide it would be fun to put it on the sofa, carpet or any other porous object, hence the need for instruction. I told her that while i don't necessarily condone the spreading of glue on our coffee table, it is far better than the spreading of glue on any porous surfaces. I think she gets it. I hope so, at least.
She got the chance to learn about metamorphosis over the weekend. We captured two caterpillars and she put them in a jar. The next morning, one had spun a cocoon and the other was just starting one. Remember the phases...egg, larva, pupa, adult? Well, they're just happy as can be at the pupa phase right now and I found out that their adult phase is a moth that damages fruit trees, so I may have to do a little intervention between the pupa phase and the adult phase called the "accidentally flushed them down the toilet" phase. Sierra loves the caterpillars, but I think she loves the cherry tree she planted this year a little more...so she'll understand, right?
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Geez, I stop posting for a few days and Blogger decides to introduce yet another new interface. The last few days have been pretty busy. Saturday was my dad's 73rd birthday. I had been arranging a surprise for him and finally got to present it to him. I previously contacted all of his friends, family and former co-workers and asked them to send cards and letters and old photos to my address. Then I put them all together for him and gave them to him on his birthday. He loved it and I would definitely recommend it for someone who is getting older and doesn't want to be bothered with a party, etc. Got to see some neat pictures of his old car and of him when he was in the Air Force in the 50s. Also read some funny anecdotes about him in his younger days. For the meal, I grilled swordfish and red snapper and bacon-wrapped shrimp, roasted vegetables and served a pineapple upside-down birthday cake and some waldorf salad (an old favorite of my mom's.)
Mother's Day was great as well. Haywood got me a really nice teak potting bench for my gardening hobby - and we had another grill feast on Sunday with crab legs, steak, crab cakes, corn on the cob, etc. Yum. Needless to say, I either need to start a diet or just continue eating this way and say I'm on Atkins - I think I almost qualify!
By the way, I have posted a good Curried Spinach Salad recipe in the Fill the Void blog. We made it in my knife skills class and everyone loved it. I made it once for Haywood and my parents and they all loved it as well, so I hope some of you will try it and like it!
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Mother's Day was great as well. Haywood got me a really nice teak potting bench for my gardening hobby - and we had another grill feast on Sunday with crab legs, steak, crab cakes, corn on the cob, etc. Yum. Needless to say, I either need to start a diet or just continue eating this way and say I'm on Atkins - I think I almost qualify!
By the way, I have posted a good Curried Spinach Salad recipe in the Fill the Void blog. We made it in my knife skills class and everyone loved it. I made it once for Haywood and my parents and they all loved it as well, so I hope some of you will try it and like it!
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Wednesday, May 05, 2004
"bad dreams"
I have been having a lot of strange dreams recently. or at least i have been remembering them more vividly. last night I could hardly sleep and i hate to say it, but it's all O's fault. My dream involved my car being stolen and I spent the entire freaking night trying to find it! I dealt with many shady characters in the dream and was so exhausted. All of this could have been prevented if O had just enabled OnStar before he sold me the car!!! (is OnStar even available in a civic? hehehe) Are you listening, because just selecting that option would have saved me so much trouble! In the dream I even spent time on the phone with an OnStar rep trying to get them to activate the service retroactively to the day before just so I could find the car, but to no avail....he was actually not as friendly as they are on the infomercial.
Today's moral: Help a friend out, get OnStar. (see i told you this is why i should NEVER, EVER go into sales.)
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I have been having a lot of strange dreams recently. or at least i have been remembering them more vividly. last night I could hardly sleep and i hate to say it, but it's all O's fault. My dream involved my car being stolen and I spent the entire freaking night trying to find it! I dealt with many shady characters in the dream and was so exhausted. All of this could have been prevented if O had just enabled OnStar before he sold me the car!!! (is OnStar even available in a civic? hehehe) Are you listening, because just selecting that option would have saved me so much trouble! In the dream I even spent time on the phone with an OnStar rep trying to get them to activate the service retroactively to the day before just so I could find the car, but to no avail....he was actually not as friendly as they are on the infomercial.
Today's moral: Help a friend out, get OnStar. (see i told you this is why i should NEVER, EVER go into sales.)
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"small town perceptions"
yesterday was a long day. took sierra to storytime at the local library and then hung out with sierra's friend and her mom the rest of the day. at the playground, we ran into my 6th grade teacher. I'm sure many of you had a teacher like this - she was 21 when i knew her, fresh out of school, all the kids loved her because she was so cool and young and all the other teachers were probably jealous. well it turns out she is married to the guy who did our HVAC work. The HVAC work that cost us $12,000 and then due to a problem with the condensate line being installed improperly and freezing, left us with no heat on Christmas 2001, but i digress :-) teach is now 39, pregnant - her first daughter is 6. I never would have imagined in 6th grade that I would have a baby around the same time as my teacher...strange.
She remembered me immediately and I told her what I had been up to the past few years. She seemed surprised that I went into IT. Almost disappointed, which for me was strange. She wasn't really supportive, she just kept saying "yuuuuuck, yuuuuuck" any time i mentioned software, computers, web design. Anywhere else, that would be a normal job, an "acceptable" job. but here, i can actually be judged for being too "progressive," if you will...ugh. This is why i'm sometimes sick at the thought of sending Sierra to school here. [I could really use those promised private school funds from the ol' MBD right now :-) ] I, thankfully, was able to escape some of these small-town mentalities, but I think it has gotten a lot worse since i lived here as a child. In fact, my teacher that I once thought was "so cool" hasn't changed or grown up a bit. I guess I'm the one that's changed.
She did say one thing that made me think - "you were such a people person, i just can't picture you in that kind of job." I guess in some ways I am a definite people person. when I go out with friends, I have a great time, but in a work environment, I honestly get sick of "talking the talk" after a while. Believe me, I've done it for years. You could go to any of my former teachers, professors, bosses and I can pretty much guarantee they would say how nice and cheerful and agreeable I was all of the time. But all of the beaurocracy and ass-kissing really wears me down sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I can do it when I have to, but I'd much rather not. Chatting with co-workers, on the other hand, could be a great full time job for me. But trying to impress that man at the top I could care less about. (Hello future employers, see how motivated and positive I am? Hire me :-P ) And I don't think I could ever even THINK of doing any type of sales. I'm already having the time of my life fending off some multilevel marketing guy that attacked me at Wal-Mart and I definitely don't want to do anything close to what he is doing...it's all sales, the product just varies. And I remember my telemarketing days as a teenager were the worst!! I eventually gave up trying to book the timeshare properties, but instead had a list of the nicest people from past calls and would call them up to chat instead. And I didn't feel guilty at all because it was commission only :-)
So here I am, convinced that I will find a unique job at some point in my life. One that I'm both proud of and happy with. And if not, then just making lots of money might be a great substitute :-)
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yesterday was a long day. took sierra to storytime at the local library and then hung out with sierra's friend and her mom the rest of the day. at the playground, we ran into my 6th grade teacher. I'm sure many of you had a teacher like this - she was 21 when i knew her, fresh out of school, all the kids loved her because she was so cool and young and all the other teachers were probably jealous. well it turns out she is married to the guy who did our HVAC work. The HVAC work that cost us $12,000 and then due to a problem with the condensate line being installed improperly and freezing, left us with no heat on Christmas 2001, but i digress :-) teach is now 39, pregnant - her first daughter is 6. I never would have imagined in 6th grade that I would have a baby around the same time as my teacher...strange.
She remembered me immediately and I told her what I had been up to the past few years. She seemed surprised that I went into IT. Almost disappointed, which for me was strange. She wasn't really supportive, she just kept saying "yuuuuuck, yuuuuuck" any time i mentioned software, computers, web design. Anywhere else, that would be a normal job, an "acceptable" job. but here, i can actually be judged for being too "progressive," if you will...ugh. This is why i'm sometimes sick at the thought of sending Sierra to school here. [I could really use those promised private school funds from the ol' MBD right now :-) ] I, thankfully, was able to escape some of these small-town mentalities, but I think it has gotten a lot worse since i lived here as a child. In fact, my teacher that I once thought was "so cool" hasn't changed or grown up a bit. I guess I'm the one that's changed.
She did say one thing that made me think - "you were such a people person, i just can't picture you in that kind of job." I guess in some ways I am a definite people person. when I go out with friends, I have a great time, but in a work environment, I honestly get sick of "talking the talk" after a while. Believe me, I've done it for years. You could go to any of my former teachers, professors, bosses and I can pretty much guarantee they would say how nice and cheerful and agreeable I was all of the time. But all of the beaurocracy and ass-kissing really wears me down sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I can do it when I have to, but I'd much rather not. Chatting with co-workers, on the other hand, could be a great full time job for me. But trying to impress that man at the top I could care less about. (Hello future employers, see how motivated and positive I am? Hire me :-P ) And I don't think I could ever even THINK of doing any type of sales. I'm already having the time of my life fending off some multilevel marketing guy that attacked me at Wal-Mart and I definitely don't want to do anything close to what he is doing...it's all sales, the product just varies. And I remember my telemarketing days as a teenager were the worst!! I eventually gave up trying to book the timeshare properties, but instead had a list of the nicest people from past calls and would call them up to chat instead. And I didn't feel guilty at all because it was commission only :-)
So here I am, convinced that I will find a unique job at some point in my life. One that I'm both proud of and happy with. And if not, then just making lots of money might be a great substitute :-)
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Monday, May 03, 2004
"i knew it."
well, i'm back from inspection and sure enough, failed for both wipers. but hey, it's only $10 for the new ones and they got to deal with the frustration of putting them on. of all the things i hate to do, buying the proper windshield wipers and getting them to fit are at the top of the list! i guess that's because my old car actually used different sized wipers for passenger's side and the driver's side, which was a pain. the guys at the shop gave sierra a package of peanut butter crackers, which made her day. now she can't wait until we get the car inspected again!! what a small town....i think i went to high school with at least two of them.
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well, i'm back from inspection and sure enough, failed for both wipers. but hey, it's only $10 for the new ones and they got to deal with the frustration of putting them on. of all the things i hate to do, buying the proper windshield wipers and getting them to fit are at the top of the list! i guess that's because my old car actually used different sized wipers for passenger's side and the driver's side, which was a pain. the guys at the shop gave sierra a package of peanut butter crackers, which made her day. now she can't wait until we get the car inspected again!! what a small town....i think i went to high school with at least two of them.
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"Mission Completed"
Well, after a quick bit of searching, I found my solution - a windows update that fixes yet another XP security vulnerability. here is the link in case you may be having a similar problem: LSASS.exe fix.
In other news, I just finished watching the 2004 International Builders Show that i tivoed yesterday from HGTV. Pretty interesting stuff coming... a window from Andersen that turns into a tv, the glass panes even act as speakers, a refrigerator tv from LG (similar to the internet fridge from last year), subwoofers that mount inside the walls, new types of appliances, etc...
Speaking of other tv, I have added another show to my list from Lifetime (in case you were wondering, the first show is the Golden Girls, hehehe. shhh, don't tell anyone.) : the Division. Honestly, I don't even know why I like it - it's not even that great, but it does star Lisa Vidal (former ER actress that just died this season) and Bonnie Bedelia (who is actually Macaulay Culkin's aunt) reminds me a bit of Kerry from ER, so maybe it's just an extra dose of ER that I'm looking for...who knows. Also, a grown up Nancy McKeon, so maybe it's a comfort show, like the Facts of Life? And I'm still trying to figure out why Amy Jo Johnson looks so familiar.
So if I had to pick a career based on the shows I watch, it would have to be medicine. ER, Scrubs, Nip/Tuck, and of course all of the various plastic surgery reality shows....then add a splash of cooking shows and a dash of home improvement project shows and of course every 28 year old's favorite: The OC (heh) and you've essentially got my lineup. I rarely watch movies now - I just either fall asleep or get bored. I happened to watch Tommy over the weekend on the Independent Film Channel - I'm not much on rock operas I guess, but it was interesting to see a very young Tina Turner, Elton John and Jack Nicholson among others.
As for AI, I was talking to a friend about this and she and I decided "we're not feeling it, dawg". At least not as much as we used to. It's just aiight for me. Still watching it but it seems like most people are getting worse instead of better, even though you'd never know it by the judges' comments which are so inconsistent with what I'm actually hearing these days...for example, Jasmine's performance was horrible last week - her modulations to the bridge were soooo weak and off-pitch. But not one mention by the judges. I thought out of everyone, George was the most successful in a musically technical way - i.e. i thought his transitions and modulations were at least original compared to gloria estefan's version of the song, but of course no props were given by the three non-musically technical judges.
Well, with it being such a dreary day outside I have managed to get quite comfortable in front of the computer, but I must get some other things done, including getting the Subaru inspected. Let's just hope we don't fail for windshield wipers. This local guy is FAMOUS for failing people for wipers. Half the time he doesn't even check the brakes, but wipers, he gets ya almost every time!
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Well, after a quick bit of searching, I found my solution - a windows update that fixes yet another XP security vulnerability. here is the link in case you may be having a similar problem: LSASS.exe fix.
In other news, I just finished watching the 2004 International Builders Show that i tivoed yesterday from HGTV. Pretty interesting stuff coming... a window from Andersen that turns into a tv, the glass panes even act as speakers, a refrigerator tv from LG (similar to the internet fridge from last year), subwoofers that mount inside the walls, new types of appliances, etc...
Speaking of other tv, I have added another show to my list from Lifetime (in case you were wondering, the first show is the Golden Girls, hehehe. shhh, don't tell anyone.) : the Division. Honestly, I don't even know why I like it - it's not even that great, but it does star Lisa Vidal (former ER actress that just died this season) and Bonnie Bedelia (who is actually Macaulay Culkin's aunt) reminds me a bit of Kerry from ER, so maybe it's just an extra dose of ER that I'm looking for...who knows. Also, a grown up Nancy McKeon, so maybe it's a comfort show, like the Facts of Life? And I'm still trying to figure out why Amy Jo Johnson looks so familiar.
So if I had to pick a career based on the shows I watch, it would have to be medicine. ER, Scrubs, Nip/Tuck, and of course all of the various plastic surgery reality shows....then add a splash of cooking shows and a dash of home improvement project shows and of course every 28 year old's favorite: The OC (heh) and you've essentially got my lineup. I rarely watch movies now - I just either fall asleep or get bored. I happened to watch Tommy over the weekend on the Independent Film Channel - I'm not much on rock operas I guess, but it was interesting to see a very young Tina Turner, Elton John and Jack Nicholson among others.
As for AI, I was talking to a friend about this and she and I decided "we're not feeling it, dawg". At least not as much as we used to. It's just aiight for me. Still watching it but it seems like most people are getting worse instead of better, even though you'd never know it by the judges' comments which are so inconsistent with what I'm actually hearing these days...for example, Jasmine's performance was horrible last week - her modulations to the bridge were soooo weak and off-pitch. But not one mention by the judges. I thought out of everyone, George was the most successful in a musically technical way - i.e. i thought his transitions and modulations were at least original compared to gloria estefan's version of the song, but of course no props were given by the three non-musically technical judges.
Well, with it being such a dreary day outside I have managed to get quite comfortable in front of the computer, but I must get some other things done, including getting the Subaru inspected. Let's just hope we don't fail for windshield wipers. This local guy is FAMOUS for failing people for wipers. Half the time he doesn't even check the brakes, but wipers, he gets ya almost every time!
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"WTF?"
I am experiencing multiple computer-related problems this morning. First of all, my domain and all the domains I host are down. What about the 99.9% uptime guarantee? I just hope I don't get any angry emails...oh wait...i can't get any emails since my domain's down :-)
Secondly I have been battling a problem that is reminiscent of the MS.Blaster worm, which plagued me for days in the past. I have an error on lsass.exe (looks like a GPF) and then I when i click OK, I get the dreaded Windows/NT Authority 60 second shutdown message. However, this is different from blaster in that if I just ignore the two error message boxes then my computer doesn't shut down. Only if I click on OK does that part happen. So I need to do some more research on the multitude of pc forums to figure out my problem. It's getting fairly annoying because after several hours of the computer being on I have probably 30 of those stupid dialog boxes stacked at the bottom of my screen. I just dread the thought of rooting through millions of lsass.exe posts, 90% of which won't be related to my actual problem.
Well, off I go... oh, my domain's back up so I can actually post this now. Too bad my hate mail to the hosting company already left my outbox - i went back to delete it and it was already gone.
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I am experiencing multiple computer-related problems this morning. First of all, my domain and all the domains I host are down. What about the 99.9% uptime guarantee? I just hope I don't get any angry emails...oh wait...i can't get any emails since my domain's down :-)
Secondly I have been battling a problem that is reminiscent of the MS.Blaster worm, which plagued me for days in the past. I have an error on lsass.exe (looks like a GPF) and then I when i click OK, I get the dreaded Windows/NT Authority 60 second shutdown message. However, this is different from blaster in that if I just ignore the two error message boxes then my computer doesn't shut down. Only if I click on OK does that part happen. So I need to do some more research on the multitude of pc forums to figure out my problem. It's getting fairly annoying because after several hours of the computer being on I have probably 30 of those stupid dialog boxes stacked at the bottom of my screen. I just dread the thought of rooting through millions of lsass.exe posts, 90% of which won't be related to my actual problem.
Well, off I go... oh, my domain's back up so I can actually post this now. Too bad my hate mail to the hosting company already left my outbox - i went back to delete it and it was already gone.
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