Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Unpaid political announcement
The first part of this is for everybody. The second is mostly for my Colorado LJ Peeps, but is still fun and worth a look.
This is from Ken Gordon's newsletter. He is running for Colorado Sec. of State:
After Columbine I carried the bill to do background checks at gun shows. The guns used in that tragedy came from the Tanner Gun Show. I was at an event and a woman approached me. She said, “Are you sponsoring the gun show background check bill?”
I said, “Yes.”
She said, “Is it going to pass?”
I had counted the votes. I said, “No.”
She said, “Why not? Everyone thinks that bill should pass. After what happened at Columbine, this is horrible. Why isn’t it going to pass?” She was angry, and because I was the only one there, she was angry at me.
I said, “Do you know who your State Representative is?”
She said, “No.”
“That is why the bill is not going to pass.”
The world is run by people who show up. There are no other adults. If we don’t handle things, decisions which affect all of us will be made by a handful of people who want to make a profit or who share some strongly felt but minority ideology.
***
If you go to his website, you can choose the format you like best to see his hilarious ad announcing his candidacy: http://www.kengordon.com/
This is from Ken Gordon's newsletter. He is running for Colorado Sec. of State:
After Columbine I carried the bill to do background checks at gun shows. The guns used in that tragedy came from the Tanner Gun Show. I was at an event and a woman approached me. She said, “Are you sponsoring the gun show background check bill?”
I said, “Yes.”
She said, “Is it going to pass?”
I had counted the votes. I said, “No.”
She said, “Why not? Everyone thinks that bill should pass. After what happened at Columbine, this is horrible. Why isn’t it going to pass?” She was angry, and because I was the only one there, she was angry at me.
I said, “Do you know who your State Representative is?”
She said, “No.”
“That is why the bill is not going to pass.”
The world is run by people who show up. There are no other adults. If we don’t handle things, decisions which affect all of us will be made by a handful of people who want to make a profit or who share some strongly felt but minority ideology.
***
If you go to his website, you can choose the format you like best to see his hilarious ad announcing his candidacy: http://www.kengordon.com/
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Many jolly things!
Yesterday and today both kind of got away from me in the crazy whirligig of Everyday Stuff. Today I took three boxes of books to the library for the Friends of same sale this weekend. Then Mike wanted to look around for DVDs or tapes to rent, so JUST FOR FUN I wandered over to the ongoing sale carts, since I hadn't looked them over in a long time. Knowing we are going to be buying stuff from the sale like drunken sailors on leave at a bookstore crazycakes this weekend, I just sort of eyed the current offerings. And just kind of wrote down some of the titles. And just kind of drove back to town after I had had a chance to look them up and bought $25 worth....
So we got three boxes out of the house and instantly replaced them with two. Progress of a sort, I guess.
Some of these are the kinds of books I get tempted to keep, as they are reference guides about entertainment and pop/culture. We have guides to science fiction TV shows and comedy series (massive repetitions of me squealing, "I remember THAT!!") and so on and on and on. I hope they don't sell TOO fast. Although maybe now that people can get the info by Googling, no one cares about the poor old books anymore....
Today a friend of mine found a majorly cool item for sale online, an LED that fits in the outlet of a water faucet so that the water looks *bright electric neon blue* as it pours out! I did a little Froogling and found a place where you can get one for $13.99 plus Priority mail postage, http://www.X-tremegeek.com
This is what it looks like in action!
OK, I am going to go try to answer some email and comments now.
So we got three boxes out of the house and instantly replaced them with two. Progress of a sort, I guess.
Some of these are the kinds of books I get tempted to keep, as they are reference guides about entertainment and pop/culture. We have guides to science fiction TV shows and comedy series (massive repetitions of me squealing, "I remember THAT!!") and so on and on and on. I hope they don't sell TOO fast. Although maybe now that people can get the info by Googling, no one cares about the poor old books anymore....
Today a friend of mine found a majorly cool item for sale online, an LED that fits in the outlet of a water faucet so that the water looks *bright electric neon blue* as it pours out! I did a little Froogling and found a place where you can get one for $13.99 plus Priority mail postage, http://www.X-tremegeek.com
This is what it looks like in action!
OK, I am going to go try to answer some email and comments now.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Do we know how to have fun or what?
This has been a moderately jolly 24 hours. The snowstorm made it past in a timely way, so that Damaris and the grands were able to make their planned hit-and-run trip to Lamar with only minimal freaked-out nail-biting from moi.
They were coming down for the annual meeting of the Soil Conservation District. Which might not sound exactly like a festive draw to most people, until you hear that Zach was to get an award for the poster he entered last fall in their contest for Colorado 6th graders. He won Honorable Mention at the state level, which let him score a neat little trophy as well as $25! AND we all got dessert!!
To make it fully celebratory, Damaris decided to invest in a motel room so the kids could end their evening frolicking in the pool. Mike and I went along, even though the Cow Palace is not my favorite Lamar venue.
You might wonder why. So I will tell you that they are the big frogs of our small travel accommodations pond only by virtue of size and tradition, not because of any sort of efforts on their part towards, oh, a quality experience of any kind.
Let's take the hot tub as an example. It IS big. It IS more or less attractively decorated, and I will go so far as to admit it was clean. And warm.
Except it's one of those models where the agitation is provided by forced air coming through little holes in the floor, seats and sides. COLD air that soon feels like ice picks poking into you. They also had them set on 'Space Launch' or something, because I could not stay in a normal relaxed sitting position for more than a few seconds before being forcibly floated up and away. I actually came home SORE (and woke up sorer!) from my stint of sitting in the theoretically nice relaxing water.
And the warmth? Came from a single outlet that continually jetted out SCALDING hot water, hot enough to hurt if you got within a foot of it!
To add a final insult to potential injury, the suction tubes, though small, were also right by the seats. They were JUST powerful enough to be able to pull the fabric of my swimsuit away from my body a little bit...then lose the grip, making it snap back in a stingy elastic way.
Not that it wasn't fun to sit and talk to Damaris a while. It just probably would have been MORE fun with a lower degree of difficulty added, you know?
Today's part of the visit was much more fun, except for hitting my finger with a hammer. Twice. But with Morrissey's help, I persevered and managed to get the new strap installed on my shiny silver purse which turns it into a nice big fannypack style. In return for her help, I explained to Morrissey how to take over the third grade. From the Mean Girls. I hope it will help.
I may post more later, but I was overcome with a sudden urge to try to fix a problem with our refrigerator (which has been going on for, oh, six months or more) and I'll probably be busy on that for much of the rest of the evening....
They were coming down for the annual meeting of the Soil Conservation District. Which might not sound exactly like a festive draw to most people, until you hear that Zach was to get an award for the poster he entered last fall in their contest for Colorado 6th graders. He won Honorable Mention at the state level, which let him score a neat little trophy as well as $25! AND we all got dessert!!
To make it fully celebratory, Damaris decided to invest in a motel room so the kids could end their evening frolicking in the pool. Mike and I went along, even though the Cow Palace is not my favorite Lamar venue.
You might wonder why. So I will tell you that they are the big frogs of our small travel accommodations pond only by virtue of size and tradition, not because of any sort of efforts on their part towards, oh, a quality experience of any kind.
Let's take the hot tub as an example. It IS big. It IS more or less attractively decorated, and I will go so far as to admit it was clean. And warm.
Except it's one of those models where the agitation is provided by forced air coming through little holes in the floor, seats and sides. COLD air that soon feels like ice picks poking into you. They also had them set on 'Space Launch' or something, because I could not stay in a normal relaxed sitting position for more than a few seconds before being forcibly floated up and away. I actually came home SORE (and woke up sorer!) from my stint of sitting in the theoretically nice relaxing water.
And the warmth? Came from a single outlet that continually jetted out SCALDING hot water, hot enough to hurt if you got within a foot of it!
To add a final insult to potential injury, the suction tubes, though small, were also right by the seats. They were JUST powerful enough to be able to pull the fabric of my swimsuit away from my body a little bit...then lose the grip, making it snap back in a stingy elastic way.
Not that it wasn't fun to sit and talk to Damaris a while. It just probably would have been MORE fun with a lower degree of difficulty added, you know?
Today's part of the visit was much more fun, except for hitting my finger with a hammer. Twice. But with Morrissey's help, I persevered and managed to get the new strap installed on my shiny silver purse which turns it into a nice big fannypack style. In return for her help, I explained to Morrissey how to take over the third grade. From the Mean Girls. I hope it will help.
I may post more later, but I was overcome with a sudden urge to try to fix a problem with our refrigerator (which has been going on for, oh, six months or more) and I'll probably be busy on that for much of the rest of the evening....
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Spring
I saw an atypical magpie this morning.
It was sitting on a big clump of frozen snow and slush pushed to the side of the road by a snowplow, staring off across a field covered in isinglass snow, almost pulsing with glitz in the bright, early morning sunlight.
And the magpie said, "No, I'm sorry, I know I never say this but...that's just too shiny."
We had a bit of a storm roll through yesterday, you see. It was a pretty typical one, and wouldn't rate a mention from me, except for the doink-ups. Caro had listened dutifully to the 6:50 am news update, which reported all schools closed in the area...exCEPT for Lamar. Which is also typical. I followed her in to town because her car, the Nimbus '95, needed his brake shoes looked at by Rick the Car Doctor. So we dropped it off, then proceeded to the school...which was NOW closed. Someone just missed the deadline in phoning in to the radio stations. Oopsie.
So the clone and the boy got an extra day of spring break. Although I had planned a bunch of tasks for my first day of 'pieces of quiet', I got quite a few of them done anyway, despite the ambient companionable noise. When we went back to town that afternoon, the roads were still pretty bad, even for the 4WD power of the mighty and beauteous Dreamcloud. So Caro just parked Nimby at the school, and we all went to eat at SqueezeNose. (QuizNo's)
(Have you tried their Steakhouse Dip sandwich? I don't know what is in the dipping sauce, but it steamed visibly for 20 minutes INDOORS. I know it wasn't THAT cold here yesterday!)
As we were on the final leg home, driving west, the cloud cover parted enough in the distance to let the sun peek out a little. But there was still quite a bit of frosty fog haze in the air, so we were treated to the sight of our sun as a Red Giant, hanging on the horizon just as International Distress Orange as it could glow and a yard wide, yet able to be looked at with the naked eye without wincing. It made all the ice and snow in between look pink and orange too. Our modest little rural landscape looked like a Technochrome postcard. On acid.
So today Dreamy and I were the designated transport to school again, and this time it WAS open. So now I have the pieces of quiet (plus donuts!) and am anticipating a highly productive day!
If things don't get too shiny or something.
It was sitting on a big clump of frozen snow and slush pushed to the side of the road by a snowplow, staring off across a field covered in isinglass snow, almost pulsing with glitz in the bright, early morning sunlight.
And the magpie said, "No, I'm sorry, I know I never say this but...that's just too shiny."
We had a bit of a storm roll through yesterday, you see. It was a pretty typical one, and wouldn't rate a mention from me, except for the doink-ups. Caro had listened dutifully to the 6:50 am news update, which reported all schools closed in the area...exCEPT for Lamar. Which is also typical. I followed her in to town because her car, the Nimbus '95, needed his brake shoes looked at by Rick the Car Doctor. So we dropped it off, then proceeded to the school...which was NOW closed. Someone just missed the deadline in phoning in to the radio stations. Oopsie.
So the clone and the boy got an extra day of spring break. Although I had planned a bunch of tasks for my first day of 'pieces of quiet', I got quite a few of them done anyway, despite the ambient companionable noise. When we went back to town that afternoon, the roads were still pretty bad, even for the 4WD power of the mighty and beauteous Dreamcloud. So Caro just parked Nimby at the school, and we all went to eat at SqueezeNose. (QuizNo's)
(Have you tried their Steakhouse Dip sandwich? I don't know what is in the dipping sauce, but it steamed visibly for 20 minutes INDOORS. I know it wasn't THAT cold here yesterday!)
As we were on the final leg home, driving west, the cloud cover parted enough in the distance to let the sun peek out a little. But there was still quite a bit of frosty fog haze in the air, so we were treated to the sight of our sun as a Red Giant, hanging on the horizon just as International Distress Orange as it could glow and a yard wide, yet able to be looked at with the naked eye without wincing. It made all the ice and snow in between look pink and orange too. Our modest little rural landscape looked like a Technochrome postcard. On acid.
So today Dreamy and I were the designated transport to school again, and this time it WAS open. So now I have the pieces of quiet (plus donuts!) and am anticipating a highly productive day!
If things don't get too shiny or something.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
How about a meme for fun on a chilly Sunday?
The Rule is that you take the best picture you like from the first page of Google Images results.
1. The city and state of the town you grew up, no quotation marks.
Denver, Colorado
2. The town where you currently reside.
Lamar, Colorado
We once bought a car from the dealer whose lot this stands on. Once was plenty.
3. Your name, first and last, but again, no quotes.
One of the other writing Susan C's books.
4. Your grandmother's name.
Except I think I spelled it wrong. Probably should have been LOUella.
5. Your favorite food.
Yummy plush!
6. Your favorite drink.
7. Your favorite smell.
Alfalfa in bloom. I don't go around sniffing butterflies.
1. The city and state of the town you grew up, no quotation marks.
Denver, Colorado
2. The town where you currently reside.
Lamar, Colorado
We once bought a car from the dealer whose lot this stands on. Once was plenty.
3. Your name, first and last, but again, no quotes.
One of the other writing Susan C's books.
4. Your grandmother's name.
Except I think I spelled it wrong. Probably should have been LOUella.
5. Your favorite food.
Yummy plush!
6. Your favorite drink.
7. Your favorite smell.
Alfalfa in bloom. I don't go around sniffing butterflies.
I got nothing done, so why am I zosted?
It took me about five hours to get re-connected today, and I'm sure the fretting shaved twice that many off my life expectancy. I still don't know what caused it for sure--I was suspecting it was a Microsoft Update download, but I bravely redid the download afterward and had no trouble...so *I* don't know. seems to have had the best handle on it, when she suggested I unplug the mysteriously supposedly vanished router and plug it back it. I had done that once already when the VERY nice man from Microsoft suggested it, and nada, but I also did it again when I wanted to see if I could get the physical component out, and when I turned the computer back on again, all was well!
So who the heck knows? But all's well that ends well, and like that.
After that hair-raising adventure I did some stuff with Mike, and then we watched The Legend of Zorro, which *I* would have enjoyed more without the part where I got 2/3ds of a large glass of blue cream soda spilled in my lap, and which Mike says he would have enjoyed more without the kissing and the train blowing up.
Now it's the end of the day and you'd think I could be catching up on my email in the peace and quiet...but my brain is all numb.
OHH WELLL. I am *kind of* caught up from the DimeListingDay frenzy, so maybe I will get more emails written and things done tomorrow. And then Spring Break is over and the blessed pieces of quiet will descend once more....
So who the heck knows? But all's well that ends well, and like that.
After that hair-raising adventure I did some stuff with Mike, and then we watched The Legend of Zorro, which *I* would have enjoyed more without the part where I got 2/3ds of a large glass of blue cream soda spilled in my lap, and which Mike says he would have enjoyed more without the kissing and the train blowing up.
Now it's the end of the day and you'd think I could be catching up on my email in the peace and quiet...but my brain is all numb.
OHH WELLL. I am *kind of* caught up from the DimeListingDay frenzy, so maybe I will get more emails written and things done tomorrow. And then Spring Break is over and the blessed pieces of quiet will descend once more....
Monday, March 13, 2006
Scott Adams is Teh Funneh
This made me hoot loudly as though I were highly amused. (From Scott Adams Dilbert blog today)
"Maybe you heard that the comic strip Boondocks is taking a six month hiatus. The creator, Aaron McGruder apparently doesn’t have enough time because he’s working on his animated TV show.
The interesting part is that he hasn’t drawn the strip himself for years. According to an interview I read, he considers himself more of a writer than an artist anyway.
I imagine Stephen King rolling over in his grave when he hears that McGruder doesn’t have time to write his four sentences per day for the strip. I realize Stephen King is still alive, but I assume he sleeps in a grave anyway."
"Maybe you heard that the comic strip Boondocks is taking a six month hiatus. The creator, Aaron McGruder apparently doesn’t have enough time because he’s working on his animated TV show.
The interesting part is that he hasn’t drawn the strip himself for years. According to an interview I read, he considers himself more of a writer than an artist anyway.
I imagine Stephen King rolling over in his grave when he hears that McGruder doesn’t have time to write his four sentences per day for the strip. I realize Stephen King is still alive, but I assume he sleeps in a grave anyway."
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Owls in the news
My friend Carol K sent me an interesting link yesterday, about a ghost print left by an owl that banged into a glass door in England.
This reminded me of a story (as nearly everything does). I rummaged around in my ancient files, and found my account of the incident from 2002.
***
Well, I had a unique experience the other night I could have gone a LONG time without!
I've been exploring different ideas about exercising, trying to get back into it kind of slow and easy in my current state of remission from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I wanted to try out one of those stretchy deals, kind of like a rubber band on steroids and/or Human Growth Hormone. Not only did it sound like a good general tool, I thought I could add on a little extra in my free time, like by using it while watching DVDs. Because "to think is to do" with me (kinda sorta sometimes), when I noticed a basic model at Wal-mart, I grabbed one.
So there I was, sitting on the floor with my long stretchy band, which is sort of a circular tube with foam handles. I started the DVD and began to experiment a little while I watched Harrison Ford sailing through his busy important movie life role without a clue something awful and horrible was about to happen to him.
I had the band on the bottom of my feet, moving them up and down, which seemed to be working my lower legs to a small degree. But my arms were getting more of a workout than my feet because of holding the band in a hard stretch. So I had the brilliant idea of putting the end of the loop behind my neck. Worked great. Right up until the point where I got too interested in the movie.
Without any warning, something smacked hard into my glasses. HARD! I'm not sure how to get the point across that I got hit really really HARD here. But I did. I had let the rubber band roll backwards off my feet and it snapped straight back. In the way rubber band type things do.
It has been a long time since anything on or in my body hurt that much. I couldn't even think for a second. My brain was literally a total blank--I mean, NO reaction, brain and body stunned motionless. And then I said something like, "Damn, THAT hurt," which was totally inadequate to the situation. For the first time I can recall, I'd run into something words could not even come close to expressing.
Harrison was still yammering away about some hostage situation or other as I sat there with my eyes shut and streaming tears. I finally collected myself well enough to get up and head to the bathroom for a cold washcloth. Once I was sponged down, I checked my glasses to see if I had damaged them (I only just GOT this pair in January!).
Happily, I had not. But I saw something REALLY unusual, and kind of gross. On the lenses were two roundish blobby marks, and each was surrounded top and bottom by a row of eyelash prints. The whole thing happened so fast I literally didn't have time to blink, and those were my EYEBALL prints I was looking at!
My eBay friends have been teasing me for not taking a picture of the prints and selling them. I feel ashamed to have been so lax (or gob-smacked) as to miss such a once-in-a-lifetime chance!
Happily I only got a bruised nose from the impact of the little pads that hold up my glasses, and a few days of looking like I had the hangover of the century. Oh, and Harrison Ford came out okay in the end too.
This reminded me of a story (as nearly everything does). I rummaged around in my ancient files, and found my account of the incident from 2002.
***
Well, I had a unique experience the other night I could have gone a LONG time without!
I've been exploring different ideas about exercising, trying to get back into it kind of slow and easy in my current state of remission from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I wanted to try out one of those stretchy deals, kind of like a rubber band on steroids and/or Human Growth Hormone. Not only did it sound like a good general tool, I thought I could add on a little extra in my free time, like by using it while watching DVDs. Because "to think is to do" with me (kinda sorta sometimes), when I noticed a basic model at Wal-mart, I grabbed one.
So there I was, sitting on the floor with my long stretchy band, which is sort of a circular tube with foam handles. I started the DVD and began to experiment a little while I watched Harrison Ford sailing through his busy important movie life role without a clue something awful and horrible was about to happen to him.
I had the band on the bottom of my feet, moving them up and down, which seemed to be working my lower legs to a small degree. But my arms were getting more of a workout than my feet because of holding the band in a hard stretch. So I had the brilliant idea of putting the end of the loop behind my neck. Worked great. Right up until the point where I got too interested in the movie.
Without any warning, something smacked hard into my glasses. HARD! I'm not sure how to get the point across that I got hit really really HARD here. But I did. I had let the rubber band roll backwards off my feet and it snapped straight back. In the way rubber band type things do.
It has been a long time since anything on or in my body hurt that much. I couldn't even think for a second. My brain was literally a total blank--I mean, NO reaction, brain and body stunned motionless. And then I said something like, "Damn, THAT hurt," which was totally inadequate to the situation. For the first time I can recall, I'd run into something words could not even come close to expressing.
Harrison was still yammering away about some hostage situation or other as I sat there with my eyes shut and streaming tears. I finally collected myself well enough to get up and head to the bathroom for a cold washcloth. Once I was sponged down, I checked my glasses to see if I had damaged them (I only just GOT this pair in January!).
Happily, I had not. But I saw something REALLY unusual, and kind of gross. On the lenses were two roundish blobby marks, and each was surrounded top and bottom by a row of eyelash prints. The whole thing happened so fast I literally didn't have time to blink, and those were my EYEBALL prints I was looking at!
My eBay friends have been teasing me for not taking a picture of the prints and selling them. I feel ashamed to have been so lax (or gob-smacked) as to miss such a once-in-a-lifetime chance!
Happily I only got a bruised nose from the impact of the little pads that hold up my glasses, and a few days of looking like I had the hangover of the century. Oh, and Harrison Ford came out okay in the end too.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Exercise and me are NOT friends
I hope it doesn't expect me to buy it funny little cards, or take it out for tea when it is feeling glum, because it's NOT going to happen!
Today for the second time in as many weeks I WALKED all over our big honking Wal-mart instead of riding the little cart. And THEN I bought some sheets of masonite at the Building Material Supply, and cut them up and carried them to the wellhouse and nailed them in!! Oh, and tore out some old bent shelf brackets that were no good.
And it darned near killed me, but at least that plugs up the worst holes where fiberglass insulation was leaking out all over the place. So that's a good thing.
I needed to get it done because tomorrow we are expecting snorain and it won't be a good working outside day. I had intended to drive up to Brush to see Damaris and fam, but instead I am going to wait a few days for better weather like a sane person.
Today for the second time in as many weeks I WALKED all over our big honking Wal-mart instead of riding the little cart. And THEN I bought some sheets of masonite at the Building Material Supply, and cut them up and carried them to the wellhouse and nailed them in!! Oh, and tore out some old bent shelf brackets that were no good.
And it darned near killed me, but at least that plugs up the worst holes where fiberglass insulation was leaking out all over the place. So that's a good thing.
I needed to get it done because tomorrow we are expecting snorain and it won't be a good working outside day. I had intended to drive up to Brush to see Damaris and fam, but instead I am going to wait a few days for better weather like a sane person.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Fixing up the internet
Well, my little corner of it, anyway. I have updated my webpage and a lot of other sites that connect to it, partly for business reasons and partly because I haven't done it in a long time and it NEEDED it. (Like the well house, but with less dust.) Sadly, web stuff doesn't lend itself well to amusing anecdotes. It's all typing and clicking and saying, "Well, why does it look like THAT now?!" Engrossing, but not exactly entertainment for the masses.
I did find something really cool on the Control Panel at my page's webhost. There is a dealie that shows you the last 300 hits to anything on your site. So, bwah-hah, I KNOW who has been reading things I post here!! Plus that people in France and other far-flung places have hot-linked to my pics now and then!
I went to the 7th grade activity night with Mike, though, and we had a riotous good time wrapping someone in toilet paper, playing anti-smoking games, and almost winning the scavenger hunt. Mike also won a drawing, which he does so often that it's uncanny, and in general he scored lots of inexpensive Loot. So THAT was fun and worthwhile.
One of the things I added to my website is a link about comics. It's small right now, but if you LIKE comic/animation art and are not aware yet of the blog Cartoon Brew, I HIGHLY recommend you go to my link, then seek it out and add it to your personal list of must browses. Cool stuff every day!
I did find something really cool on the Control Panel at my page's webhost. There is a dealie that shows you the last 300 hits to anything on your site. So, bwah-hah, I KNOW who has been reading things I post here!! Plus that people in France and other far-flung places have hot-linked to my pics now and then!
I went to the 7th grade activity night with Mike, though, and we had a riotous good time wrapping someone in toilet paper, playing anti-smoking games, and almost winning the scavenger hunt. Mike also won a drawing, which he does so often that it's uncanny, and in general he scored lots of inexpensive Loot. So THAT was fun and worthwhile.
One of the things I added to my website is a link about comics. It's small right now, but if you LIKE comic/animation art and are not aware yet of the blog Cartoon Brew, I HIGHLY recommend you go to my link, then seek it out and add it to your personal list of must browses. Cool stuff every day!
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Better
Today was Realize Day for me, the day when you are going about your tasks and suddenly realize that for the first time in several weeks, you feel reasonably healthy! I'm so very glad to see it coming around again!
Did some time traveling this evening, with Mr. Mike. Some of the train videos he ordered with his birthday money arrived, and one featured two pretty neat old films. The first one was a travelogue cum advertisement which followed the Missouri Pacific (and several subsidiaries) from St. Louis, though the Royal Gorge, up to Aspen for some reason, then across to San Francisco via Salt Lake City. It was neat seeing the old round-end buses and cars, and a few sights of places we have seen more or less recently.
Then we saw a vintage safety film for railroad employees, about a train wreck that happened here in Colorado in 1956. They basically recreated the scenes leading up to it and then showed the clean-up, all the while harping on how expensive it all was, and how ticked the guys who got hurt (happily no one killed) were at the two men in the cab who got to yakking and didn't see a yellow signal telling them to slow down. Very cool look at how the 'modern' railroad worked behind the scenes half a century ago!
Did some time traveling this evening, with Mr. Mike. Some of the train videos he ordered with his birthday money arrived, and one featured two pretty neat old films. The first one was a travelogue cum advertisement which followed the Missouri Pacific (and several subsidiaries) from St. Louis, though the Royal Gorge, up to Aspen for some reason, then across to San Francisco via Salt Lake City. It was neat seeing the old round-end buses and cars, and a few sights of places we have seen more or less recently.
Then we saw a vintage safety film for railroad employees, about a train wreck that happened here in Colorado in 1956. They basically recreated the scenes leading up to it and then showed the clean-up, all the while harping on how expensive it all was, and how ticked the guys who got hurt (happily no one killed) were at the two men in the cab who got to yakking and didn't see a yellow signal telling them to slow down. Very cool look at how the 'modern' railroad worked behind the scenes half a century ago!
Monday, March 06, 2006
Whiiiiiine
Hmm. How strange. I'm sore all over.
As I had hoped, the day improved in the second half yesterday. The broken pipe to the pump tank IS accessible and within my plumbing scope of practice. The annoying customer wrote back and APOLOGIZED. (Phear my l33t guilt-inducing letter writing skillz!) The wellhouse is about 2/3ds emptied and I have found many interesting things I had forgotten were there: a two burner hot plate, a sun lamp, a giant hinge, miles of heavy duty extension cords and our old BIG shop vac.
Which still works. I learned this by testing it, and of course learned it the hard way. I did have the presence of mind to pull my t-shirt up over my nose and mouth, in case it spewed out a giant cloud of dust after having sat outside for so long. Unfortunately I was leaning over it when I turned it on, and the GC of D blew straight into my EYES...and THEN into my mouth and nose when I dropped my t-shirt in my haste to shut it off again.
So that accounts for SOME of today's eye grittiness. The other half is from Spring, which has snuck in while we weren't paying attention. The elm trees are all blooming out like someone's paying them to do it! Which means today I must go to acquire the first bottle of generic Claritin of the season.
I have to go to town for pipe fittings and plywood anyway, so might as well.
As I had hoped, the day improved in the second half yesterday. The broken pipe to the pump tank IS accessible and within my plumbing scope of practice. The annoying customer wrote back and APOLOGIZED. (Phear my l33t guilt-inducing letter writing skillz!) The wellhouse is about 2/3ds emptied and I have found many interesting things I had forgotten were there: a two burner hot plate, a sun lamp, a giant hinge, miles of heavy duty extension cords and our old BIG shop vac.
Which still works. I learned this by testing it, and of course learned it the hard way. I did have the presence of mind to pull my t-shirt up over my nose and mouth, in case it spewed out a giant cloud of dust after having sat outside for so long. Unfortunately I was leaning over it when I turned it on, and the GC of D blew straight into my EYES...and THEN into my mouth and nose when I dropped my t-shirt in my haste to shut it off again.
So that accounts for SOME of today's eye grittiness. The other half is from Spring, which has snuck in while we weren't paying attention. The elm trees are all blooming out like someone's paying them to do it! Which means today I must go to acquire the first bottle of generic Claritin of the season.
I have to go to town for pipe fittings and plywood anyway, so might as well.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Peeved
Taking a lunch break on a so-far less than stellar day.
Cleaning out the wellhouse. The broken pipe on the pump looks complicated and may require someone more smot that me to fix. Found a cat mummy. While burning some old trash and boxes, one fell out and caught the lawn on fire. Lost a few plastic things I would rather have not (no hose available due to busted pump), but I think the riding lawn mower is PROBABLY okay.
My back hurts now.
So I came in to rest a bit, and got to read a snotty email from a customer blaming ME because his PO returned his book due to a stuffed mailbox and a failure to respond to pick up notices. Replied with a courteous and cultured smackdown he is probably too stupid and/or self-satisfied to get...but *I* enjoyed it.
The day can stop sucking any time now.
Cleaning out the wellhouse. The broken pipe on the pump looks complicated and may require someone more smot that me to fix. Found a cat mummy. While burning some old trash and boxes, one fell out and caught the lawn on fire. Lost a few plastic things I would rather have not (no hose available due to busted pump), but I think the riding lawn mower is PROBABLY okay.
My back hurts now.
So I came in to rest a bit, and got to read a snotty email from a customer blaming ME because his PO returned his book due to a stuffed mailbox and a failure to respond to pick up notices. Replied with a courteous and cultured smackdown he is probably too stupid and/or self-satisfied to get...but *I* enjoyed it.
The day can stop sucking any time now.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Bleary
I made it up to 191 listings on eBay, and suddenly found I didn't have even one tiny little drop of ambition left to help me plug along for the final half hour. Plus my butt is as flat as Kansas, if that's not too much TMI....
Also I was gone for quite a while because of the county Dem pre-caucus meeting. You can't skip those, people nominate you to do stuff! Although I was the only person there from Precinct 5, and so they gave ME the sign to post and the phone numbers to call and all that stuff, and I don't know if I am supposed to find a location for the caucus meeting or WHAT. Because I am NOT the precinct captain. (yet)
You know, seriously, I am pretty sure I was supposed to be on a sort of sabbatical this life. Not running anything, or doing anything complicated, just kicking back for one turn of the wheel, you know? So what the heck happened?
In other news, while I was listening to music I got my usual strange desire for a songvid. I think a montage of clips from the first two seasons of Buffy would be GREAT set to the Beach Boys' Be True To Your School!
The weird thing this time was I realized that the video to DVD machine we have now MIGHT be able to do that. Whether *I* could is a whole nother question....
Probably I should go to bed now.
Also I was gone for quite a while because of the county Dem pre-caucus meeting. You can't skip those, people nominate you to do stuff! Although I was the only person there from Precinct 5, and so they gave ME the sign to post and the phone numbers to call and all that stuff, and I don't know if I am supposed to find a location for the caucus meeting or WHAT. Because I am NOT the precinct captain. (yet)
You know, seriously, I am pretty sure I was supposed to be on a sort of sabbatical this life. Not running anything, or doing anything complicated, just kicking back for one turn of the wheel, you know? So what the heck happened?
In other news, while I was listening to music I got my usual strange desire for a songvid. I think a montage of clips from the first two seasons of Buffy would be GREAT set to the Beach Boys' Be True To Your School!
The weird thing this time was I realized that the video to DVD machine we have now MIGHT be able to do that. Whether *I* could is a whole nother question....
Probably I should go to bed now.
