Bart flew the coop. Often, when we get home and we're unloading the car, he'll come out on the front stoop and even on the driveway and roll around in the dirt, grab some leaves to eat, etc... and he'll either go back in on his own or we'll shoo him in when we're done.
Well... it occurred to us this morning that we didn't see him at all last night. Then it occurred to me that the last time I positively saw him he was rolling in the dirt on the driveway right after we got home Sunday evening..... Meaning.... there's a good chance he got locked outside. We went around the house (inside and out) and did not find him.
We both went home at noon and looked. Vicki went up the street and called for him. I printed up little cards with a couple of pictures of him.... "Have you seen this cat in the Huntridge/Bluegrass Neighborhood?...." ... gave them our names and number. I put them on about 60 doors and went back to work. Of course, he couldn't've run off before I spent $42 on him at the vet.
Three people said they'd seen a large grey tabby this morning winding his way up the private drive on Huntridge. He'd been an indoor cat for almost 10 years now. And he's declawed. Anyway, hopefully somebody'll spot him. I filled out a missing animal report at the humane society... but I honestly don't expect him to show up there.
Going out for Kevarino's birthday dinner tonight --- we had to wait until after Vicki's tonsils healed up sufficiently. She can eat most stuff that isn't spicy or acidic now.
I also tested out the TCON-17 Teleconverter with my Olympus C720. Works great, dispite Olympus' claims to the contrary. So... I'll be able to get long shots of wildlife in Wyoming... Whoohooo!
*poof*
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Friday, April 23, 2004
Lookin' for a rainbow....
It's been a dark couple of weeks, with Vicki's sore throat and all. Plus, a couple of nights ago, I noticed we didn't see Bart all evening. Yesterday morning I found him laying in an odd place for a cat, in an odd orientation to the room. You get to know things about what's normal for a cat to do after a few years. We've had ours for almost 10 years.
He wasn't moving, and wasn't real responsive. Last night Vicki said he was acting real listless and even staggered a bit when he tried to hop up on the couch -- kinda like low blood sugar.... or diabetes (might as well be low blood sugar because they can't use any of it).
But, he hasn't lost weight, he's not camping out by the water, his litter box clumps are normal. All the same, he was still pretty listless this morning, so I decided to go ahead and spend the $42 to take him to the vet. I was going to test his blood sugar myself, but I couldn't find a vein easy to get to. He's got thick, dark hair, unlike Theo. Besides, I don't think I would've believed the measurement had I taken one-- it was 67 at the vet. 80 is about as low as they ought to go, normally. But he checked out ok in about every other way. A little dehydrated, they said. So, I figure he just caught a bug and isn't feeling very good, so he hasn't been eating or drinking a lot. We'll see how he is in a few days. He seems a little better today already. Fed him some high calorie food to see if he'd perk up. He did some. Still, he went and hid under the couch downstairs when I got him home -- a sign that he's still not feeling good.
Frankly, I'm tired of cats, but I don't have it in me to just do them in because I'm tired of them. After all, I did take them on. I like them ok. They seem to trust me. It doesn't seem right for me to betray that trust and intentionally put them down. If they were doing something destructive other than being a little messy, it'd be different. With Theo's diabetes, they are pretty expensive to keep. They probably cost us the price of a decent vacation every year. If Bart turned out to be diabetic, too, I think that would probably have been the end of both of them. Can't afford that.
Dr. Templar said that Vicki's throat should improve dramatically over the next few days, and shouldn't be hurting by Monday. She says it is getting better. Dr. Misra said she looked at my knee MRI and doesn't see anything major, but she's going to discuss it with her musculo-skeletal expert today and give me a call on a plan of action. It's been almost 8 weeks now since the injury, and it's still not healed.
Sent the Crystal Optics Teleconverter (2x) back to Digital Foto Club... it had the same problem as the one I'd ordered a year ago. Just incompatible, basically. Can't put the whole frame in focus. I ordered an Olympus TCON-17 (1.7x) that I'd tried out. It definitely exaggerates the chromatic aberration and blooming in my digital camera, but as long as I don't take challenging shots with it (high contrast with a lot of bright white light) it should be ok. I talked to a guy on the bird forum and he's very happy with his C740 and the TCON-17. Mine's a C720... not quite as much zoom as his.
Dr. Misra just called. Basically, the musculo-skeletal expert said don't jump or run or do any high impact activities on it for the next 6 weeks. She gave him my history and everything. Bicycling and walking are fine. So.... that's that. Like I said, it IS getting better, finally. Slowly, but it's improving.
We got some literature from the B&B in Jackson .... we'll be there in 1 month. Another mountain fix for me. It's like a revival. I was talking to Ryan about that. I think I want to bag at least one peak a year for a while. I have the vacation time to do it. He said he might just save up vacation and go with me next year. He wants to bag one where we have to hike and camp out one night to make it to the top. Sounds fun. That could be Long's Peak. We'll see.
Going to Anutt tomorrow for Mike's birthday and to help Lois purge.
He wasn't moving, and wasn't real responsive. Last night Vicki said he was acting real listless and even staggered a bit when he tried to hop up on the couch -- kinda like low blood sugar.... or diabetes (might as well be low blood sugar because they can't use any of it).
But, he hasn't lost weight, he's not camping out by the water, his litter box clumps are normal. All the same, he was still pretty listless this morning, so I decided to go ahead and spend the $42 to take him to the vet. I was going to test his blood sugar myself, but I couldn't find a vein easy to get to. He's got thick, dark hair, unlike Theo. Besides, I don't think I would've believed the measurement had I taken one-- it was 67 at the vet. 80 is about as low as they ought to go, normally. But he checked out ok in about every other way. A little dehydrated, they said. So, I figure he just caught a bug and isn't feeling very good, so he hasn't been eating or drinking a lot. We'll see how he is in a few days. He seems a little better today already. Fed him some high calorie food to see if he'd perk up. He did some. Still, he went and hid under the couch downstairs when I got him home -- a sign that he's still not feeling good.
Frankly, I'm tired of cats, but I don't have it in me to just do them in because I'm tired of them. After all, I did take them on. I like them ok. They seem to trust me. It doesn't seem right for me to betray that trust and intentionally put them down. If they were doing something destructive other than being a little messy, it'd be different. With Theo's diabetes, they are pretty expensive to keep. They probably cost us the price of a decent vacation every year. If Bart turned out to be diabetic, too, I think that would probably have been the end of both of them. Can't afford that.
Dr. Templar said that Vicki's throat should improve dramatically over the next few days, and shouldn't be hurting by Monday. She says it is getting better. Dr. Misra said she looked at my knee MRI and doesn't see anything major, but she's going to discuss it with her musculo-skeletal expert today and give me a call on a plan of action. It's been almost 8 weeks now since the injury, and it's still not healed.
Sent the Crystal Optics Teleconverter (2x) back to Digital Foto Club... it had the same problem as the one I'd ordered a year ago. Just incompatible, basically. Can't put the whole frame in focus. I ordered an Olympus TCON-17 (1.7x) that I'd tried out. It definitely exaggerates the chromatic aberration and blooming in my digital camera, but as long as I don't take challenging shots with it (high contrast with a lot of bright white light) it should be ok. I talked to a guy on the bird forum and he's very happy with his C740 and the TCON-17. Mine's a C720... not quite as much zoom as his.
Dr. Misra just called. Basically, the musculo-skeletal expert said don't jump or run or do any high impact activities on it for the next 6 weeks. She gave him my history and everything. Bicycling and walking are fine. So.... that's that. Like I said, it IS getting better, finally. Slowly, but it's improving.
We got some literature from the B&B in Jackson .... we'll be there in 1 month. Another mountain fix for me. It's like a revival. I was talking to Ryan about that. I think I want to bag at least one peak a year for a while. I have the vacation time to do it. He said he might just save up vacation and go with me next year. He wants to bag one where we have to hike and camp out one night to make it to the top. Sounds fun. That could be Long's Peak. We'll see.
Going to Anutt tomorrow for Mike's birthday and to help Lois purge.
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Material possessions are the road to hell
Ha. Easy for me to say. Of course I'm talking about people who have more material possessions than I have.
It's a line from a Firefall song that I'd all but forgotten about. I knew I liked enough Firefall to fill a good hour of music, but since I haven't listened to cassette tapes in a long time (I once put them all on a tape) and all my Firefall is on vinyl and the songs are spread across about 5 records. Well, my recent vinyl MP3 ripping included those Firefall songs and I've been listening to them today.
I would have missed "Old Wing Mouth" (actually a Jimmy Webb song that they covered) -- I only remembered the line "he came to do good; he did well" and I saw it on the lyric sheet while I was ripping the ones I remembered I liked. When I saw that line I remembered I needed to include that one. They were an excellent band -- underrated, I'm sure. From polished pop (You are the Woman, Just Remember I Love You, Strange Way) to some pretty Stephen Stills-esque stuff like Clouds Across the Sun, Just Think, Sweet and Sour, Old Wing Mouth. Good schtuff!
Actually, it's the attachment to material possessions that get us in to trouble. It leads to hoarding and then to greed -- and it's my belief that money is not the root of all evil... greed is. Greed for stuff, greed for attention, power, whatever.
Finished up the front porch tonight. Looks much better. I could be happier with how the trim worked out, but everybody seems to think it looks great. The artist is always most critical of his own work. Still.... don't like the inside corners.
I played like crap today in my guitar lesson. My forearm muscles and thumb muscles were very fatigued. I haven't been playing as much as I used to -- I HAVE been busy. But it could be a combination of this weekend's work and the weight-lifting. If I don't wear the wrist straps especially when bench pressing the tendons in my wrist get irritated, making my fingers stiff and sore. Need to watch that.
Still no word from Dr. Misra on my knee. It IS improving, slowly. But it needs to be healed by May 22! (for those of you not paying attention that's Teton Day!)
Brian's G-gag-u-a-tion is coming up fast. We'll be in Indiana in a couple of weeks. Mother's day... Mom's birthday. Still not done with Kevin's birthday... his other present was delayed in shipping. But we'll go out to dinner next week when Vicki's throat feels better.
I have to send my Crystal Optics doubler lens back that just came in the mail.... it's just not compatible with the Olympus C720.... not sure what the deal is but I think their models that have high zoom factors (like mine is an 8x) is really a 4x with a built-in doubler. The second doubler just doesn't work with it. Oh well. Mountains require panoramic shots anyway. It's just that you don't want to get TOO close to that bear!
Well, das all for now, folks. Yeah. Like all three of you who read this.
*poof*
It's a line from a Firefall song that I'd all but forgotten about. I knew I liked enough Firefall to fill a good hour of music, but since I haven't listened to cassette tapes in a long time (I once put them all on a tape) and all my Firefall is on vinyl and the songs are spread across about 5 records. Well, my recent vinyl MP3 ripping included those Firefall songs and I've been listening to them today.
I would have missed "Old Wing Mouth" (actually a Jimmy Webb song that they covered) -- I only remembered the line "he came to do good; he did well" and I saw it on the lyric sheet while I was ripping the ones I remembered I liked. When I saw that line I remembered I needed to include that one. They were an excellent band -- underrated, I'm sure. From polished pop (You are the Woman, Just Remember I Love You, Strange Way) to some pretty Stephen Stills-esque stuff like Clouds Across the Sun, Just Think, Sweet and Sour, Old Wing Mouth. Good schtuff!
Actually, it's the attachment to material possessions that get us in to trouble. It leads to hoarding and then to greed -- and it's my belief that money is not the root of all evil... greed is. Greed for stuff, greed for attention, power, whatever.
Finished up the front porch tonight. Looks much better. I could be happier with how the trim worked out, but everybody seems to think it looks great. The artist is always most critical of his own work. Still.... don't like the inside corners.
I played like crap today in my guitar lesson. My forearm muscles and thumb muscles were very fatigued. I haven't been playing as much as I used to -- I HAVE been busy. But it could be a combination of this weekend's work and the weight-lifting. If I don't wear the wrist straps especially when bench pressing the tendons in my wrist get irritated, making my fingers stiff and sore. Need to watch that.
Still no word from Dr. Misra on my knee. It IS improving, slowly. But it needs to be healed by May 22! (for those of you not paying attention that's Teton Day!)
Brian's G-gag-u-a-tion is coming up fast. We'll be in Indiana in a couple of weeks. Mother's day... Mom's birthday. Still not done with Kevin's birthday... his other present was delayed in shipping. But we'll go out to dinner next week when Vicki's throat feels better.
I have to send my Crystal Optics doubler lens back that just came in the mail.... it's just not compatible with the Olympus C720.... not sure what the deal is but I think their models that have high zoom factors (like mine is an 8x) is really a 4x with a built-in doubler. The second doubler just doesn't work with it. Oh well. Mountains require panoramic shots anyway. It's just that you don't want to get TOO close to that bear!
Well, das all for now, folks. Yeah. Like all three of you who read this.
*poof*
Monday, April 19, 2004
Long Hard Ride
Vicki's still recovering. Slowly getting a little better each day. It's still pretty bad, though.
I imagine by this weekend she'll be able to eat semi-normally. Could be a month before all of the swelling and tenderness goes down.
Had our work picnic last Friday. Ok, Kimmie says "no, it's the spring cookout. The picnic's in the fall!" Anyway, the Tuesday Lunch Bunch, of which moi am a member, brought our instruments over and played a little Bluegrass, a little of Wayne's honky-tonk, and some Eagles and other stuff at the picnic. Kinda fun.
Friday evening was beautiful. Sat out with the neighbors and we eventually had a small neighborhood fish-fry. Daryl does the best fish-fry on the planet. Kristie had bought some hush puppies and Deb made coleslaw. Vicki even felt good enough to come sit with us for a while.
Saturday I went out to look at what it would take to tile our very rectangular, very flat front stoop. By the time I bought the tools and everything it would've been $125. Not terrible, but not this month...
The outdoor carpet that was there was probably the original installation at the 19-year-old house. It was worn badly, and even getting some holes. I decided that I needed to do something this weekend before it gets too hot. When I gave Vicki the options, she said she wanted a step out there anyway. It was about a 10" step up. Pretty difficult for smaller and more chronologically advanced folks. Well, that'd make the tiling job much more complicated and expensive, so I went and got some new outdoor carpet... looks kind of like jute dyed dark green. And yesterday I tore the old off, cut notches and built a step, so now it's 2 5-inch steps instead of 1 10 inch step. Didn't get the trim on yet. I was too tired last evening to continue -- and besides, I couldn't quite figure out how to do it. It's more complicated with the corners and the riser.
Something Vicki said later then clicked with what the guy at Lowe's said and I know what to do now. It's actually pretty easy.
Didn't get any gardening started this weekend. I wanted to get the hydroponic watercress going outside and the "ranure" (Leith euphemism) blended with the garden soil.
Oh, I need to call Parker Lawn Service and pass Dorothy's complaint along to them. They're not blowing the grass off of her sidewalk and porch like they do everywhere else.
Also moved my turntable downstairs and hooked it up to the computer to rip some vinyl to MP3 for my Rio Riot. Including Marshall Tucker Band's Long Hard Ride -- Works pretty well.
Still need to find out about my MRI from Dr. Misra, too. Knee still has problems.
*shazzam*
I imagine by this weekend she'll be able to eat semi-normally. Could be a month before all of the swelling and tenderness goes down.
Had our work picnic last Friday. Ok, Kimmie says "no, it's the spring cookout. The picnic's in the fall!" Anyway, the Tuesday Lunch Bunch, of which moi am a member, brought our instruments over and played a little Bluegrass, a little of Wayne's honky-tonk, and some Eagles and other stuff at the picnic. Kinda fun.
Friday evening was beautiful. Sat out with the neighbors and we eventually had a small neighborhood fish-fry. Daryl does the best fish-fry on the planet. Kristie had bought some hush puppies and Deb made coleslaw. Vicki even felt good enough to come sit with us for a while.
Saturday I went out to look at what it would take to tile our very rectangular, very flat front stoop. By the time I bought the tools and everything it would've been $125. Not terrible, but not this month...
The outdoor carpet that was there was probably the original installation at the 19-year-old house. It was worn badly, and even getting some holes. I decided that I needed to do something this weekend before it gets too hot. When I gave Vicki the options, she said she wanted a step out there anyway. It was about a 10" step up. Pretty difficult for smaller and more chronologically advanced folks. Well, that'd make the tiling job much more complicated and expensive, so I went and got some new outdoor carpet... looks kind of like jute dyed dark green. And yesterday I tore the old off, cut notches and built a step, so now it's 2 5-inch steps instead of 1 10 inch step. Didn't get the trim on yet. I was too tired last evening to continue -- and besides, I couldn't quite figure out how to do it. It's more complicated with the corners and the riser.
Something Vicki said later then clicked with what the guy at Lowe's said and I know what to do now. It's actually pretty easy.
Didn't get any gardening started this weekend. I wanted to get the hydroponic watercress going outside and the "ranure" (Leith euphemism) blended with the garden soil.
Oh, I need to call Parker Lawn Service and pass Dorothy's complaint along to them. They're not blowing the grass off of her sidewalk and porch like they do everywhere else.
Also moved my turntable downstairs and hooked it up to the computer to rip some vinyl to MP3 for my Rio Riot. Including Marshall Tucker Band's Long Hard Ride -- Works pretty well.
Still need to find out about my MRI from Dr. Misra, too. Knee still has problems.
*shazzam*
Thursday, April 15, 2004
She hasn't got time for the pain
Well, on the MRI I had a choice between 6:30am or 2:30pm. I figured 6:30 would get it out of the way and possibly get it over to my doctor that day so she can make her decision faster. Plus I have my guitar lesson this afternoon at 1:00.... and it only takes 15 minutes to get anywhere in Columbia. 10 minutes at 6:00 am ;-)
The MRI took longer than the one on my head last year. This time I had to lay still for about 30 minutes. The lady doing it wasn't much fun. I guess it was too early for her. No cracking a smile on her. But she was at least courteous and professional, so no complaints.
As for Vicki, her throat still hurts bad this morning -- she thinks maybe the codiene might give her headaches, but she doesn't care. She said "Oh, I'm taking it, trust me!" It's so sore the amoxycillin hurts.
I brought her warm tea and an ice pack for her head, and she took all of her drugs. By the time I got the trash out she was asleep so I didn't bother to say goodbye and just left for work quietly.
The MRI took longer than the one on my head last year. This time I had to lay still for about 30 minutes. The lady doing it wasn't much fun. I guess it was too early for her. No cracking a smile on her. But she was at least courteous and professional, so no complaints.
As for Vicki, her throat still hurts bad this morning -- she thinks maybe the codiene might give her headaches, but she doesn't care. She said "Oh, I'm taking it, trust me!" It's so sore the amoxycillin hurts.
I brought her warm tea and an ice pack for her head, and she took all of her drugs. By the time I got the trash out she was asleep so I didn't bother to say goodbye and just left for work quietly.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Fire on the mountain, lightning in the air
Went home to check on Vicki at noon on Monday and she met me at the door saying she needed to go to the emergency room. I had just missed her call when I left work. She said I probably wouldn't be able to understand it anyway as she was gagging on blood.
She harked up a big blood clot and was bleeding down her throat. It was pretty scary there for a bit until we had it all checked out. It was quite a bit of deep red stuff, and that was just what came out her mouth. We weren't sure how much was going down her throat.
We got there, and it clotted back up by the time they got her checked in and actually looked at her throat. They threatened to put her under and re-cauterize. I was hoping that wouldn't be necessary. Turns out it wasn't. But I was in various places with her at the hospital and even had to run home to get some of her meds and bring them in. They kept her overnight to watch her. Today her throat hurts a lot -- they said it would in 5-7 days when the scabs came off. Today is day 6. Right on schedule.
Now she can't go back to work until Monday at the earliest.
Yesterday I had my own doctor appointment to have my knee checked out. I have an MRI scheduled for tomorrow (6:15 am -- YAWN!) to see if I need surgery or physical therapy. I'm hoping physical therapy. This is for the injury from the ladder fall back on Feb 28. I've been treating it right... lots of ibuprofen, ice packs, and even a little knee brace. It's not any better than it was a week after the accident.
So, will report back what the doctor orders. Hopefully I'll hear from her by the end of friday.
Forecast is for a beautiful weekend!
I'm off!
*poof*
She harked up a big blood clot and was bleeding down her throat. It was pretty scary there for a bit until we had it all checked out. It was quite a bit of deep red stuff, and that was just what came out her mouth. We weren't sure how much was going down her throat.
We got there, and it clotted back up by the time they got her checked in and actually looked at her throat. They threatened to put her under and re-cauterize. I was hoping that wouldn't be necessary. Turns out it wasn't. But I was in various places with her at the hospital and even had to run home to get some of her meds and bring them in. They kept her overnight to watch her. Today her throat hurts a lot -- they said it would in 5-7 days when the scabs came off. Today is day 6. Right on schedule.
Now she can't go back to work until Monday at the earliest.
Yesterday I had my own doctor appointment to have my knee checked out. I have an MRI scheduled for tomorrow (6:15 am -- YAWN!) to see if I need surgery or physical therapy. I'm hoping physical therapy. This is for the injury from the ladder fall back on Feb 28. I've been treating it right... lots of ibuprofen, ice packs, and even a little knee brace. It's not any better than it was a week after the accident.
So, will report back what the doctor orders. Hopefully I'll hear from her by the end of friday.
Forecast is for a beautiful weekend!
I'm off!
*poof*
Thursday, April 08, 2004
No song title today... my throat hurts - (my feet stink, and I...)
Well, Vicki got her tonsils out today. I've been dreading it knowing what kind of pain it involves -- even though ultimately it should get her morning sore throats down, and maybe help her sleep better and reduce her headaches. I even had a sympathetic sore throat this morning for her and it's continued throughout the day.
She came through very well as usual. Her throat is sore and swollen, but she's talking about just doing Tylenol when she comes home tomorrow. She can talk fine, which kind of surprised me. But they say to expect a lot of soreness for 5 or so days, and lingering soreness for about two weeks from today. She's a trouper, she is. She's chipper, joking around, and taking it all in stride. Typical Vicki. It's what everyone loves about her.
Last weekday I stained the deck -- the water seal I used last year after the power-wash and new wood was added looked all nice and even at first. But the first rain showed the old wood right away -- and every subsequent rain. Over the last year, even when it was dry it was pretty obvious that there was old wood and new wood. So I powerwashed it again and used a cedar stain on it, and it looks pretty good. Also looks a lot better protected. You can still tell the old and new wood, but it's a lot harder, and it has more to do with texture than color.
I left Vicki for a few hours this afternoon, had a beer with Ryan, made dinner, gave Theo his shot, and went back and hung out with her for a couple of more hours this evening until they kicked the visitors out. Taking tomorrow off, to, to "hover" over Vicki and make sure she's comfortable -- and then we'll have the weekend.
And now... to bed.
She came through very well as usual. Her throat is sore and swollen, but she's talking about just doing Tylenol when she comes home tomorrow. She can talk fine, which kind of surprised me. But they say to expect a lot of soreness for 5 or so days, and lingering soreness for about two weeks from today. She's a trouper, she is. She's chipper, joking around, and taking it all in stride. Typical Vicki. It's what everyone loves about her.
Last weekday I stained the deck -- the water seal I used last year after the power-wash and new wood was added looked all nice and even at first. But the first rain showed the old wood right away -- and every subsequent rain. Over the last year, even when it was dry it was pretty obvious that there was old wood and new wood. So I powerwashed it again and used a cedar stain on it, and it looks pretty good. Also looks a lot better protected. You can still tell the old and new wood, but it's a lot harder, and it has more to do with texture than color.
I left Vicki for a few hours this afternoon, had a beer with Ryan, made dinner, gave Theo his shot, and went back and hung out with her for a couple of more hours this evening until they kicked the visitors out. Taking tomorrow off, to, to "hover" over Vicki and make sure she's comfortable -- and then we'll have the weekend.
And now... to bed.
Thursday, April 01, 2004
Give me a ticket for an aeroplane
We're booked.
We're goin' to Jackson, WY in late May. The Tetons. Yellowstone. Whitewater. Mountains. High Plains. Auurrr-auurr-AURRRH-auuur-AAAUUURRR!
Do ya THINK I'm psyched? I mean... well look at this guy's site. How could anyone not be?
Staying in a nice bed & breakfast, and we'll be sharing the trip with Sam and Connie, who've been there before. The feet will hike. The shutters will click. The air will be breathed. We'll talk to God and listen to the casual reply....
Did I mention I'm psyched?
Listening to some Robert Johnson blues today after hearing Clapton's latest. Found Robert Johnson's Complete Recordings on Rhapsody. A man, an acoustic guitar, and the blues. It don't get much more simple than that.
I'm contemplating packing the backpacker along to Wyoming... and just how to do that. You used to be able to carry them on, but post 9-11 I'll probably have to check it -- which means I'll need to build a beefier case for it if I wanna bring it. And you know I do.
Vicki's tonsilectomy is next week. I am so not looking forward to that. I have an over-developed sense of empathy, and you never want to see a loved one go through pain -- I'm taking thursday and friday off to hover over her and take care of her. They're going to give her narcs... but still....
Kev was over last night for a burger and to show off his new "Super Remote"... does IR/RF and relaying. He was using it to control our TV & sattelite. I wanted to see if we could program the cat. Make him go to the litterbox, etc. ;-) I'm tempted to get a flat-panel 15" to replace the ugly box in the bedroom. If you're going to have a TV in the bedroom, it should be as inconspicuous as possible. But I'd need some sort of relay remote so I don't have to mount the sattelite receiever on the wall. U-G-L-Y. But it's still $400... and I have other things to spend that on. Still, you start and end each day in your bedroom and it should look nice.
Well, gotta get going....
*Shazzam!*
We're goin' to Jackson, WY in late May. The Tetons. Yellowstone. Whitewater. Mountains. High Plains. Auurrr-auurr-AURRRH-auuur-AAAUUURRR!
Do ya THINK I'm psyched? I mean... well look at this guy's site. How could anyone not be?
Staying in a nice bed & breakfast, and we'll be sharing the trip with Sam and Connie, who've been there before. The feet will hike. The shutters will click. The air will be breathed. We'll talk to God and listen to the casual reply....
Did I mention I'm psyched?
Listening to some Robert Johnson blues today after hearing Clapton's latest. Found Robert Johnson's Complete Recordings on Rhapsody. A man, an acoustic guitar, and the blues. It don't get much more simple than that.
I'm contemplating packing the backpacker along to Wyoming... and just how to do that. You used to be able to carry them on, but post 9-11 I'll probably have to check it -- which means I'll need to build a beefier case for it if I wanna bring it. And you know I do.
Vicki's tonsilectomy is next week. I am so not looking forward to that. I have an over-developed sense of empathy, and you never want to see a loved one go through pain -- I'm taking thursday and friday off to hover over her and take care of her. They're going to give her narcs... but still....
Kev was over last night for a burger and to show off his new "Super Remote"... does IR/RF and relaying. He was using it to control our TV & sattelite. I wanted to see if we could program the cat. Make him go to the litterbox, etc. ;-) I'm tempted to get a flat-panel 15" to replace the ugly box in the bedroom. If you're going to have a TV in the bedroom, it should be as inconspicuous as possible. But I'd need some sort of relay remote so I don't have to mount the sattelite receiever on the wall. U-G-L-Y. But it's still $400... and I have other things to spend that on. Still, you start and end each day in your bedroom and it should look nice.
Well, gotta get going....
*Shazzam!*
Monday, March 29, 2004
Look back -- finish what you begun
One of my favorite Bread songs.... years ago I could only imagine being able to play and sing it out loud. I was playing that this morning before work.
I am addicted to my guitar. I have to play it for at least a few minutes every morning before work. You know that feeling you get when you connect a bat solidly with a baseball, or when you swish a basketball through a hoop -- when you time something just perfectly and everything comes together in a moment and just "works"?
When you sit there and do a song you love - it's like extending a little moment like that for 2 or 3 minutes -- and then.... you can play another! And time flies by.
Looking for places to stay in (or near) Jackson, WY during the first part of June. We really need to get this trip squared away so it will happen. Everything I've seen around that area is so pretty. Man! Mountains get my blood going.
Talked to Carol Lynn last night for the first time in a long time. I was beginning to think they'd dropped off of the east coast and disappeared. Nope. Guy's birthday is Wednesday, I think. Then he'll be "old" like the rest of us. I can't imagine what kind of evil Carol has planned. She's got a good, solid "tease" streak in her. She sent me a picture of them... they look great! Both of them. We exchanged a bunch of family pictures and talked for an hour or so over MSN. They're going to Scotland this summer. Vicki and I would both love to go there.
She promised lots of pictures. Ha! She probably thinks I won't want to see them all. Of course I do -- at least I can live vicariously through them. Carol is at least as much of a shutterbug as I am. And it sounds like she's bringing Ashley up the same way.
It rained a lot this weekend (like 5 inches Thursday-Sunday). Saturday afternoon was pretty, though -- I went out and got some new screen to fix the sliding screen door. And a new lamp for by my bed. Sunday I even went out and got a new bedside table. Round. Mahogany. Pretty. Zen alarm and new lamp look nice on it. Oh, and my miniature daffodils are blooming, and the flowering pears popped out. My redbud is about to bloom as well. Kind of reminds me of that song "Sing Joy Spring" (I think Clifford Brown -- but the version the Manhattan Transfer did on Vocalese with the Jon Hendricks lyrics) -- a google search'll find it easy enough for you if you're curious.
Oh, also listened to Clapton's new album on Rhapsody -- it was out on Rhapsody last week, but isn't being released to the stores until this Wednesday, now how do you like that? It's called "Mr Johnson and Me" -- a bunch of Robert Johnson stuff. Very good stuff.
Welp. Gotta go.
I am addicted to my guitar. I have to play it for at least a few minutes every morning before work. You know that feeling you get when you connect a bat solidly with a baseball, or when you swish a basketball through a hoop -- when you time something just perfectly and everything comes together in a moment and just "works"?
When you sit there and do a song you love - it's like extending a little moment like that for 2 or 3 minutes -- and then.... you can play another! And time flies by.
Looking for places to stay in (or near) Jackson, WY during the first part of June. We really need to get this trip squared away so it will happen. Everything I've seen around that area is so pretty. Man! Mountains get my blood going.
Talked to Carol Lynn last night for the first time in a long time. I was beginning to think they'd dropped off of the east coast and disappeared. Nope. Guy's birthday is Wednesday, I think. Then he'll be "old" like the rest of us. I can't imagine what kind of evil Carol has planned. She's got a good, solid "tease" streak in her. She sent me a picture of them... they look great! Both of them. We exchanged a bunch of family pictures and talked for an hour or so over MSN. They're going to Scotland this summer. Vicki and I would both love to go there.
She promised lots of pictures. Ha! She probably thinks I won't want to see them all. Of course I do -- at least I can live vicariously through them. Carol is at least as much of a shutterbug as I am. And it sounds like she's bringing Ashley up the same way.
It rained a lot this weekend (like 5 inches Thursday-Sunday). Saturday afternoon was pretty, though -- I went out and got some new screen to fix the sliding screen door. And a new lamp for by my bed. Sunday I even went out and got a new bedside table. Round. Mahogany. Pretty. Zen alarm and new lamp look nice on it. Oh, and my miniature daffodils are blooming, and the flowering pears popped out. My redbud is about to bloom as well. Kind of reminds me of that song "Sing Joy Spring" (I think Clifford Brown -- but the version the Manhattan Transfer did on Vocalese with the Jon Hendricks lyrics) -- a google search'll find it easy enough for you if you're curious.
Oh, also listened to Clapton's new album on Rhapsody -- it was out on Rhapsody last week, but isn't being released to the stores until this Wednesday, now how do you like that? It's called "Mr Johnson and Me" -- a bunch of Robert Johnson stuff. Very good stuff.
Welp. Gotta go.
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?
Ok, it's been much longer than I realized.... I keep thinking "oh, it's been a week or so". Well, today's the 23rd, and not for too much longer, either. And the last post was 19, count them, 19 days ago. And I was so proud of myself for that sudden spurt of activity there around the end of Feb, beggining of March. Haven't listened to Chicago in a very long time. I whipped up some of their older stuff on Rhapsody today and have been having a great time listening to it. I have the first 17 albums on Vinyl... I should look into getting the CD's used if I can. I think I just have IX on CD.
Let's see, what's going on....
Ripped out all the lettuce from the hydroponic pipes. Re-planted some watercress, and planted tomato seeds and roquette. I'm going to do a hydroponic hanging watercress basket this summer. I ordered a pump of of Ebay yesterday for that. I brought a a couple of bags of well rotted horse crud from Mom and Dad's when I went out to help Tom & Betty cut wood.... I could use about 4 more. That's for the outside garden. Nice day last saturday, and I used it to prune a couple of trees and re-stack our own fallen woodpile. A couple more outdoor things, too.
Friday evening we sat out with Ryan and Kristie & Daryl -- and Deb when she got home from work. Had pizza and beer and sat by the chiminea well in to the night. Nice evening.
Sunday I spent going through records to get rid of. Lois should be proud. I threw out about ... oh, 200 of them. We're going down there for the big "Life Laundry" event sometime mid to late April.
I got a Zen Alarm Clock... this little baby dings one of those long-resonating, tuned tone bars at the time you set it. Then again 3.5 minutes later... slowly increasing frequency over 10 minutes to every 4.5 seconds or so. It's supposed to be a really gentle way to wake up. I hate regular alarms, I'm too lazy to change the CD in the CD alarm clock - and I love chimes. So what could be better? Well, we'll find out tomorrow morning. I just got it today.
The guitar is going pretty well... my fingers are slowly agreeing to do things they had much more trouble with just a few weeks ago -- I am playing less stuff, but more often again, and I'm practicing a few scales finally. And learning "Ripple". Not just the chords, baby... the melody. Cool. I'm also getting much better at "Red Haired Boy". And I'm going to learn those treble string sequences if it kills me, and it probably will. I even wrote a song the other day. Maybe I'll post that in a bit. It could use a little more tweaking.... but I kinda like it.
And I'm getting closer and closer to "Pencil Thin Mustache" -- with it's F#7 and B .... I hate "B"'s. Well, I like hearing them. Just hate trying to finger them.
I guess that's it for today. I'm sure other stuff went on in the past couple of weeks... but you know, if you don't write it down... whooosh! Out the window. So... maybe I'll go diddle on the guit... wait!!!! It's 10:00!!!! Dang. Gonna turn into a pumpkin.
*poof*
Let's see, what's going on....
Ripped out all the lettuce from the hydroponic pipes. Re-planted some watercress, and planted tomato seeds and roquette. I'm going to do a hydroponic hanging watercress basket this summer. I ordered a pump of of Ebay yesterday for that. I brought a a couple of bags of well rotted horse crud from Mom and Dad's when I went out to help Tom & Betty cut wood.... I could use about 4 more. That's for the outside garden. Nice day last saturday, and I used it to prune a couple of trees and re-stack our own fallen woodpile. A couple more outdoor things, too.
Friday evening we sat out with Ryan and Kristie & Daryl -- and Deb when she got home from work. Had pizza and beer and sat by the chiminea well in to the night. Nice evening.
Sunday I spent going through records to get rid of. Lois should be proud. I threw out about ... oh, 200 of them. We're going down there for the big "Life Laundry" event sometime mid to late April.
I got a Zen Alarm Clock... this little baby dings one of those long-resonating, tuned tone bars at the time you set it. Then again 3.5 minutes later... slowly increasing frequency over 10 minutes to every 4.5 seconds or so. It's supposed to be a really gentle way to wake up. I hate regular alarms, I'm too lazy to change the CD in the CD alarm clock - and I love chimes. So what could be better? Well, we'll find out tomorrow morning. I just got it today.
The guitar is going pretty well... my fingers are slowly agreeing to do things they had much more trouble with just a few weeks ago -- I am playing less stuff, but more often again, and I'm practicing a few scales finally. And learning "Ripple". Not just the chords, baby... the melody. Cool. I'm also getting much better at "Red Haired Boy". And I'm going to learn those treble string sequences if it kills me, and it probably will. I even wrote a song the other day. Maybe I'll post that in a bit. It could use a little more tweaking.... but I kinda like it.
And I'm getting closer and closer to "Pencil Thin Mustache" -- with it's F#7 and B .... I hate "B"'s. Well, I like hearing them. Just hate trying to finger them.
I guess that's it for today. I'm sure other stuff went on in the past couple of weeks... but you know, if you don't write it down... whooosh! Out the window. So... maybe I'll go diddle on the guit... wait!!!! It's 10:00!!!! Dang. Gonna turn into a pumpkin.
*poof*
Thursday, March 04, 2004
It's Just a Box of Rain
Actually, we haven't had any real decent rain for a long time. We're supposed to get maybe 3" out of this whole 3 day event. Good... the cinders and salt from the snow we had earlier this winter need washing away.
Sam & Connie came over to discuss plans for Jackson Hole and maybe order some tickets... the tickets out there were quite a bit higher than they'd thought... previously. Looks like if we fly in to Pocatello we can get a better rate in exchange for a 3 hour drive when we get there. I guess I just figured a day of traveling getting there and a day getting back -- But Sam's hoping someone will bite on Priceline for a less expensive flight right in to Jackson. We'll see.
We're also talking about a trip down to Atlanta at some unknown time so Mom can see her sister (Aunt Ruth) .... she's about 102 and apparently slowly fading. She'd like to see her sister one more time.
And then of course there's Brian's graduation to go to in May. Gonna have to fire up that side business ... any day now.
Whipped out some Grateful Dead this morning. Haven't listened to the Dead in quite a while. Richard started playing "Ripple" at this week's tuesday lunchroom jam. And I suddenly got the urge to learn it. It is a very good song. Has all the elements I look for in a song. Nice melody, some nice harmonies (that wouldn't be too difficult) and well-written lyrics. Plus... it's easy to play for an open-position chord guy like me. ;-) "the fourth element", as it were. Big-botta-boom.
We're headed out to Olathe to see the Groves this weekend. Probably ought to firm up the arrival plans.
Well -- I'm off.
Sam & Connie came over to discuss plans for Jackson Hole and maybe order some tickets... the tickets out there were quite a bit higher than they'd thought... previously. Looks like if we fly in to Pocatello we can get a better rate in exchange for a 3 hour drive when we get there. I guess I just figured a day of traveling getting there and a day getting back -- But Sam's hoping someone will bite on Priceline for a less expensive flight right in to Jackson. We'll see.
We're also talking about a trip down to Atlanta at some unknown time so Mom can see her sister (Aunt Ruth) .... she's about 102 and apparently slowly fading. She'd like to see her sister one more time.
And then of course there's Brian's graduation to go to in May. Gonna have to fire up that side business ... any day now.
Whipped out some Grateful Dead this morning. Haven't listened to the Dead in quite a while. Richard started playing "Ripple" at this week's tuesday lunchroom jam. And I suddenly got the urge to learn it. It is a very good song. Has all the elements I look for in a song. Nice melody, some nice harmonies (that wouldn't be too difficult) and well-written lyrics. Plus... it's easy to play for an open-position chord guy like me. ;-) "the fourth element", as it were. Big-botta-boom.
We're headed out to Olathe to see the Groves this weekend. Probably ought to firm up the arrival plans.
Well -- I'm off.
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Long Promised Road
(Obscure Beach Boys reference for those of you keeping track....)
I promised a post about the bedroom make over. Yep, we pulled a "Changing Rooms". We swapped houses with ourselves, and re-did our bedroom. Boy were we surprised when we opened our eyes ;-)
Before we moved into the house, what, 5 years ago? We painted every last wall inside the place. Vicki was tired of living in white-walled places, and we picked some nice colors everywhere. And there was thought and time put into decorating everywhere... Except our bedroom. Silly, you start and end your day there. It really ought to be a nice place.
It was a moss green -- Vicki loves that color, and we actually did have a bedspread we bought to go with it -- a little flowery... I never liked it a lot, nor did I dislike it. It was just there. Even had a shower curtain that matched. And I'd bought some antique rose prints at Inside Outlet that went with the bedspread ok. But no serious thought was ever given to furniture arrangement, and it was just a room with a bed in it. A nice bed, with nice bedroom furniture. A set, even. Wow! Eventually we got rid of the bedspread and had a plain cream one. The room just felt cold. Bland. Not terribly inviting.
For years I've had this idea -- either an Indian/Bali (that's the country, India) or a West Indies look and feel. "Tropical British Empire", I decided. I wanted a room that said "come in, relax.... spend some time in here."
My ideas were fuzzy, and I wasn't sure I could pull it off. Finally, we decided "This Weekend", and we went to Lowe's and looked at paint. I wanted clay-looking walls. Soft gold -- something you'd expect to find in the Indies. We picked one and went to look at curtains.
Well none of the curtains went well with the paint, so we found some curtains we liked and went back to the paint. Found a paint we liked with the curtains. Then Vicki saw the area rugs -- Persian style. One of them really spoke to us. But it didn't go with the paint or the curtains. So we took the rug to the curtains, picked out some other curtains we liked that complimented the rug, and went back to the paint to marry them.
Got the paint, curtains, rods, and rug. And a live palm on clearance for $4.64. Anyway, we WERE just going to paint that day and go from there. So what was going to be $45 worth of paint turned in to $450 worth of stuff to redecorate. But -- it was the way to do it, for sure.
We painted it in one day, and re-arranged the furniture. We were going to do the paint-glazing effects thing, but decided we liked the color as it was and didn't want to do the extra work. I bought a wall-shelf for some of my eastern statues, and a little bamboo "table-let" for my Kamakura Buddha. Printed some antique botanical prints of palms to replace the roses in their frames. Put the palm tree in, and got a mosquito netting "canopy" thingy because... well, the corner just needed something. Without it, the bedroom was "almost" there, but it was like missing the mark. The netting really changed the center of gravity and pulled it out of the fire.
We succeeded. It is warm and inviting. The only other thing I'd like (I never liked a television in the bedroom, for the record -- but it does come in handy sometimes) is to replace the television with an LCD wal-mount... maybe a 15" or 17". It doesn't have to be big... nor would I want it to be. I want it to be inconspicuous. TV's aren't pretty. The big one's down in the family room with the surround sound and all. However, a TV like that starts at about $500 -- and we have other things to spend $500 on right now.
So here it is. One "before" picture, and a few "after" pictures (of course, don't expect the links to be good a year after the posting, but it'll probably work until then....) the big bedroom makeover
Enjoy!
I promised a post about the bedroom make over. Yep, we pulled a "Changing Rooms". We swapped houses with ourselves, and re-did our bedroom. Boy were we surprised when we opened our eyes ;-)
Before we moved into the house, what, 5 years ago? We painted every last wall inside the place. Vicki was tired of living in white-walled places, and we picked some nice colors everywhere. And there was thought and time put into decorating everywhere... Except our bedroom. Silly, you start and end your day there. It really ought to be a nice place.
It was a moss green -- Vicki loves that color, and we actually did have a bedspread we bought to go with it -- a little flowery... I never liked it a lot, nor did I dislike it. It was just there. Even had a shower curtain that matched. And I'd bought some antique rose prints at Inside Outlet that went with the bedspread ok. But no serious thought was ever given to furniture arrangement, and it was just a room with a bed in it. A nice bed, with nice bedroom furniture. A set, even. Wow! Eventually we got rid of the bedspread and had a plain cream one. The room just felt cold. Bland. Not terribly inviting.
For years I've had this idea -- either an Indian/Bali (that's the country, India) or a West Indies look and feel. "Tropical British Empire", I decided. I wanted a room that said "come in, relax.... spend some time in here."
My ideas were fuzzy, and I wasn't sure I could pull it off. Finally, we decided "This Weekend", and we went to Lowe's and looked at paint. I wanted clay-looking walls. Soft gold -- something you'd expect to find in the Indies. We picked one and went to look at curtains.
Well none of the curtains went well with the paint, so we found some curtains we liked and went back to the paint. Found a paint we liked with the curtains. Then Vicki saw the area rugs -- Persian style. One of them really spoke to us. But it didn't go with the paint or the curtains. So we took the rug to the curtains, picked out some other curtains we liked that complimented the rug, and went back to the paint to marry them.
Got the paint, curtains, rods, and rug. And a live palm on clearance for $4.64. Anyway, we WERE just going to paint that day and go from there. So what was going to be $45 worth of paint turned in to $450 worth of stuff to redecorate. But -- it was the way to do it, for sure.
We painted it in one day, and re-arranged the furniture. We were going to do the paint-glazing effects thing, but decided we liked the color as it was and didn't want to do the extra work. I bought a wall-shelf for some of my eastern statues, and a little bamboo "table-let" for my Kamakura Buddha. Printed some antique botanical prints of palms to replace the roses in their frames. Put the palm tree in, and got a mosquito netting "canopy" thingy because... well, the corner just needed something. Without it, the bedroom was "almost" there, but it was like missing the mark. The netting really changed the center of gravity and pulled it out of the fire.
We succeeded. It is warm and inviting. The only other thing I'd like (I never liked a television in the bedroom, for the record -- but it does come in handy sometimes) is to replace the television with an LCD wal-mount... maybe a 15" or 17". It doesn't have to be big... nor would I want it to be. I want it to be inconspicuous. TV's aren't pretty. The big one's down in the family room with the surround sound and all. However, a TV like that starts at about $500 -- and we have other things to spend $500 on right now.
So here it is. One "before" picture, and a few "after" pictures (of course, don't expect the links to be good a year after the posting, but it'll probably work until then....) the big bedroom makeover
Enjoy!
Everyone Knows it's Windy
The last couple of days were pretty windy. Yesterday it was in the upper 50's, but it didn't feel like it. Felt much colder.There are few sights in the world that can compare to blowing skirts on windy days. I happen to think that dresses and skirts form a natural extension to the feminine form - they accentuate and extend the softness and grace of a woman. Windy days, aside from the obvious effects ala Marilyn Monroe (ok, usually not that dramatic, but it doesn't have to be) even a rippling hemline or the way it pushes the fabric against one side of her body, revealing form in an almost Picasso style -- just a curved line on the upwind side, proudly cutting the wind and then blending into a flutter of gracefulness on the downwind side. It's beautiful. And ok, it's sexy as well. Then there's more complex element of the balance between a woman who is aware of her feminine beauty and is not afraid to have her sensuality revealed a bit -- and the minor drama she must endure to retain her dignity that just makes her even more attractive. You can humph! and think "dirty old man", but that's not the way it is. It's truly beautiful.
I love women. I am truly dedicated to mine, but I remain a big fan.
Saturday, February 28, 2004
Up On the Roof
Got up to a whopping 62 degrees today. Just the day I needed to go up and paint the siding around the chimney before all the wood rots away.
Now, here's the thing... by the time you're 40, which I am, you're supposed to be smarter than to let your brain get away with the following type of rationalization:
"Hmmm, the ladder slips on the deck some. But.. they're rubber feet, they should hold. Let's try it." So, I made an attempt up to the roof. Sure enough, my weight seemed to combine with the coefficient of friction between the feet of the ladder and the deck and I got to the top. As I stepped off, it started to slide. Oops.
I painted the chimney cap to keep it from rusting further. Then came carefully back down the ladder. And once again, I thought to myself... "hey, you'd feel REALLY stupid, not to mention be in a lot of pain and possibly medical expense... if that ladder slipped. You should really get some rubber matting." I briefly looked around to see if there was any of that no-slip rubber matting around I could use. It didn't come out and bite me in the nose, so I stopped looking. The rationalizing Phil said "ah, we'll get by."
Had to go back up and paint the siding itself. Found the old can of siding stain left by the remodelers last summer. Took it up to the roof, thinking -- "well, hey, a few times up and a few times down, I'll just be very careful." Went up... forgot the brush. Went back down. Got the brush, backup again. About 2/3 of the way up, sure enough, the ladder slipped. Now I knew ahead of time that if this happened, there wouldn't be a hell of a lot I could do about it, and that there would likely be bone breakage involved what with legs and ladders tangling all that slipping and sliding and flailing. Somehow, I had the presence of mind to step through the ladder on the way down and try to land on my feet, albeit with a ladder around one of them. Fortunately, it worked. Sort of.
I am a very lucky man not to have a broken leg right now, I must keep telling myself. I must keep telling myself that for two reasons. One, so I don't pull a stunt like that again, and two -- my left knee and ankle are killing me. They just started a little over an hour ago.
I had walked it off and it didn't seem to hurt much. The stain was dried to rubber anyway, so I took it to Sherwin Williams to have it matched. Little did I know that unlike Lowe's, they typically require 24 hours to match paint -- instead of 5 minutes. However, the boy assured me that nobody was ahead of me so he could have it done by 3:00. Good, I thought. It'll still be warm out and I can get it done.
So, I went to the International Grocery and bought some brown rice and sweet rice (I'm going to try the sweet rice for "popcorn rice" in some gumbo tomorrow -- after beignets and chickory coffee in the morning... mmmmmm) -- then I went to Circuit City and bought a 256 MB stick of memory to set my poor computer free from swapping so much. Then I went to HyVee and bought some shrimp and ham and other stuff for gumbo, and came home about 2:20. Vicki had just gotten back from lunch with Connie, and said the paint people called and the paint was ready. Put the groceries away. Went out and got the paint and went back up on the roof ... this time on the STEP LADDER.... see, I DO learn -- (but still, that whole wisdom thing was supposed to kick in BEFORE I did something stupid). Painted the chimney. Came down and put my memory in the computer (it's much happier now).
So, that's pretty much been my day. Vicki went to feed Connie's dad dinner at the hospital, I went back to the grocery store and got some potatoes to make that potato-green bean-polish sausage dish. Yep, that's the ingredients. Dump, cook, and it's sooooo good. Filled up the bird feeders and bird bath. Made dinner. Now I'm waiting for Vicki to get back.
Oh, about the leg. Right before I went back to the grocery store (remember all that running around in the afternoon?) my knee and ankle decided they were going to let me know just how stupid I'd been. I guess they were afraid I'd forget. Well I'll be reminded when I have to go out and replace the screen I ripped on the way down anyway, (thank you very much mister knee...)
Aren't you so glad you read this now? An exciting day in the life of Phil. Anyway, I popped 4 ibuprofen, and my knee feels better, but I need to stay off it all the same.
We went out to "Dinner and a Show" last night at the Artisan. Jane (Ida Jane, that is) is unhappy with them. Says that they don't treat artists well... especially female ones. I believe her. I don't go there a lot because of that. But, that's where everyone wanted to go and it sounded like fun. So Jorgies, Dourty's, Us & Kevin, Walkers, and Alex and Myla (Alex works with me -- he's Ukranian -- Myla's his wife). Myla is very bright and charming. Interesting couple to be around. We all had a good time. Some local dude was playing light jazz piano.
Well, I oughta wrap up.
Now, here's the thing... by the time you're 40, which I am, you're supposed to be smarter than to let your brain get away with the following type of rationalization:
"Hmmm, the ladder slips on the deck some. But.. they're rubber feet, they should hold. Let's try it." So, I made an attempt up to the roof. Sure enough, my weight seemed to combine with the coefficient of friction between the feet of the ladder and the deck and I got to the top. As I stepped off, it started to slide. Oops.
I painted the chimney cap to keep it from rusting further. Then came carefully back down the ladder. And once again, I thought to myself... "hey, you'd feel REALLY stupid, not to mention be in a lot of pain and possibly medical expense... if that ladder slipped. You should really get some rubber matting." I briefly looked around to see if there was any of that no-slip rubber matting around I could use. It didn't come out and bite me in the nose, so I stopped looking. The rationalizing Phil said "ah, we'll get by."
Had to go back up and paint the siding itself. Found the old can of siding stain left by the remodelers last summer. Took it up to the roof, thinking -- "well, hey, a few times up and a few times down, I'll just be very careful." Went up... forgot the brush. Went back down. Got the brush, backup again. About 2/3 of the way up, sure enough, the ladder slipped. Now I knew ahead of time that if this happened, there wouldn't be a hell of a lot I could do about it, and that there would likely be bone breakage involved what with legs and ladders tangling all that slipping and sliding and flailing. Somehow, I had the presence of mind to step through the ladder on the way down and try to land on my feet, albeit with a ladder around one of them. Fortunately, it worked. Sort of.
I am a very lucky man not to have a broken leg right now, I must keep telling myself. I must keep telling myself that for two reasons. One, so I don't pull a stunt like that again, and two -- my left knee and ankle are killing me. They just started a little over an hour ago.
I had walked it off and it didn't seem to hurt much. The stain was dried to rubber anyway, so I took it to Sherwin Williams to have it matched. Little did I know that unlike Lowe's, they typically require 24 hours to match paint -- instead of 5 minutes. However, the boy assured me that nobody was ahead of me so he could have it done by 3:00. Good, I thought. It'll still be warm out and I can get it done.
So, I went to the International Grocery and bought some brown rice and sweet rice (I'm going to try the sweet rice for "popcorn rice" in some gumbo tomorrow -- after beignets and chickory coffee in the morning... mmmmmm) -- then I went to Circuit City and bought a 256 MB stick of memory to set my poor computer free from swapping so much. Then I went to HyVee and bought some shrimp and ham and other stuff for gumbo, and came home about 2:20. Vicki had just gotten back from lunch with Connie, and said the paint people called and the paint was ready. Put the groceries away. Went out and got the paint and went back up on the roof ... this time on the STEP LADDER.... see, I DO learn -- (but still, that whole wisdom thing was supposed to kick in BEFORE I did something stupid). Painted the chimney. Came down and put my memory in the computer (it's much happier now).
So, that's pretty much been my day. Vicki went to feed Connie's dad dinner at the hospital, I went back to the grocery store and got some potatoes to make that potato-green bean-polish sausage dish. Yep, that's the ingredients. Dump, cook, and it's sooooo good. Filled up the bird feeders and bird bath. Made dinner. Now I'm waiting for Vicki to get back.
Oh, about the leg. Right before I went back to the grocery store (remember all that running around in the afternoon?) my knee and ankle decided they were going to let me know just how stupid I'd been. I guess they were afraid I'd forget. Well I'll be reminded when I have to go out and replace the screen I ripped on the way down anyway, (thank you very much mister knee...)
Aren't you so glad you read this now? An exciting day in the life of Phil. Anyway, I popped 4 ibuprofen, and my knee feels better, but I need to stay off it all the same.
We went out to "Dinner and a Show" last night at the Artisan. Jane (Ida Jane, that is) is unhappy with them. Says that they don't treat artists well... especially female ones. I believe her. I don't go there a lot because of that. But, that's where everyone wanted to go and it sounded like fun. So Jorgies, Dourty's, Us & Kevin, Walkers, and Alex and Myla (Alex works with me -- he's Ukranian -- Myla's his wife). Myla is very bright and charming. Interesting couple to be around. We all had a good time. Some local dude was playing light jazz piano.
Well, I oughta wrap up.
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Needles and pins-ah
Thus endeth the acupuncture experiment. After about a dozen sessions and wondering if maybe there might be some possible noticeable benefit.... well, if you have to spend that much time to try to rationalize that there might possibly be some benefit, there can't be enough to justify the $200 a month bill.
Or even $100. If progress was infinitesimal at once a week, imagine halving that at twice a month.
So, we went back to the Western doctors to have a look at her nose. The primary doctor just shrugs and puts her on antihistamines and steroid spray again and sends us to the ENT. We did find out what we wanted to find out from the ENT. Her nose is fine. Septum healed well and is pretty straight. Turbinates look good, and she even has more air passage than a lot of people through that area. Tonsils are bigger than normal. The nighttime breathing problems (especially when she has a cold or something) are likely related to that. So they may have to come out.
So, it looks like it's not allergies causing her problems. The may exacerbate the problem somewhat when they flare up, but... and it isn't her nose.
Guitar is going pretty good. I'm slowly improving. Getting closer and closer to being able to land that barred-F in a playing situation... and the Bm is very similar. The pattern picking is getting pretty good on the 1-2-1 pattern. One down.... 26 to go. But there's progress every week and it is encouraging.
Went over to Connie's aunt Ruth's last Saturday night for a sing-a-long, where George, Sam, and I played guitars and we all sang songs -- mostly country and old rock and had a very good time. Nice people, those. I introduced them to "I'm Too Far Away From My Beer" -- heh-heh.... that's always a fun one to spring on people.
Got a subwoofer amp for the living room stereo. So now once again the sub is properly crossed over and independently amped. Balances the sound nicely. And only $36 from Ebay... hey, can't beat it.
Also had to clean Mom's computer -- XP was complaining about running low on disk space. It was down under 200MB on the system partition. Sure glad I put VNC on there as an afterthought when I couldn't get XP's terminal service working on it. Saves having to drive 500 miles every time there's a problem (and that's ONE WAY). I should have split the disk 4GB/2GB instead of 3GB/3GB (system/data), I guess. Well, we'll just bring Partition Magic up there when we go for Brian's graduation and fix that.
We re-did the bedroom, finally. I'll wait to post about that -- it turned out nice, though.
Well, later....
Or even $100. If progress was infinitesimal at once a week, imagine halving that at twice a month.
So, we went back to the Western doctors to have a look at her nose. The primary doctor just shrugs and puts her on antihistamines and steroid spray again and sends us to the ENT. We did find out what we wanted to find out from the ENT. Her nose is fine. Septum healed well and is pretty straight. Turbinates look good, and she even has more air passage than a lot of people through that area. Tonsils are bigger than normal. The nighttime breathing problems (especially when she has a cold or something) are likely related to that. So they may have to come out.
So, it looks like it's not allergies causing her problems. The may exacerbate the problem somewhat when they flare up, but... and it isn't her nose.
Guitar is going pretty good. I'm slowly improving. Getting closer and closer to being able to land that barred-F in a playing situation... and the Bm is very similar. The pattern picking is getting pretty good on the 1-2-1 pattern. One down.... 26 to go. But there's progress every week and it is encouraging.
Went over to Connie's aunt Ruth's last Saturday night for a sing-a-long, where George, Sam, and I played guitars and we all sang songs -- mostly country and old rock and had a very good time. Nice people, those. I introduced them to "I'm Too Far Away From My Beer" -- heh-heh.... that's always a fun one to spring on people.
Got a subwoofer amp for the living room stereo. So now once again the sub is properly crossed over and independently amped. Balances the sound nicely. And only $36 from Ebay... hey, can't beat it.
Also had to clean Mom's computer -- XP was complaining about running low on disk space. It was down under 200MB on the system partition. Sure glad I put VNC on there as an afterthought when I couldn't get XP's terminal service working on it. Saves having to drive 500 miles every time there's a problem (and that's ONE WAY). I should have split the disk 4GB/2GB instead of 3GB/3GB (system/data), I guess. Well, we'll just bring Partition Magic up there when we go for Brian's graduation and fix that.
We re-did the bedroom, finally. I'll wait to post about that -- it turned out nice, though.
Well, later....
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Stuff
There's just a lot of stuff. Stuff everywhere. I've noticed it before, as in "yes, I like that bit of stuff, but I have no room for it in my house." Which has been a helpful attitude I've developed over the past two years or so. But more and more I see stuff for the sake of stuff. People want to sell you more stuff, all the time, everywhere. And people get more and more of it even when they have no place to.... well.... stuff it.
Perhaps watching "The Life Laundry" on BBCA a few times heightened my awareness. Some people have so much stuff you can't even see what any of it is. It's all just a big blurry jumble of stuff.
My house isn't like that. Probably mostly thanks to my wife. But I feel like I have too much stuff nonetheless. Stuff in the attic. Stuff in the garage. Stuff in boxes on my closet shelf. Stuff under the bed. Stuff in a junk drawer. Stuff in cabinets I bought specifically to hold stuff I have. I recently got rid of a bunch of stuff from my office. Well, I really haven't gotten "rid" of it yet. It's in my trunk. It's stuff I need to go through. Or do I? I couldn't tell you what much of it is. If I just tossed the box in a dumpster, would I ever miss any of it? Probalby not.
And that's what I'm talking about. I walked into the grocery store the other day to pick up, get this... "food", and started down the first aisle of produce.... produce on the right that is. On the left.... a bunch of shelves with .... stuff. Things. Knicknacks. Gadgets. Things with team logos. And all kinds of things on the packaging telling me why I need it.
Just because something is kind of neat or unique, or because it is associated with or reminds us of something we like doesn't mean we need to posess it. It won't make me "cool" if I have a Kansas City Chiefs paperweight that looks just like a regulation helmet.
I've become very stuff-conscious. I'm not anti-stuff. I'm no anti-capitalist. I just don't want more stuff. I want to get rid of stuff. And any new stuff I get I will be very selective about. And I'll have to keep reviewing the stuff I have, to see if it really has enough value for me to keep and add to the burden of stuff I own.
So that's today's rant on stuff.
Perhaps watching "The Life Laundry" on BBCA a few times heightened my awareness. Some people have so much stuff you can't even see what any of it is. It's all just a big blurry jumble of stuff.
My house isn't like that. Probably mostly thanks to my wife. But I feel like I have too much stuff nonetheless. Stuff in the attic. Stuff in the garage. Stuff in boxes on my closet shelf. Stuff under the bed. Stuff in a junk drawer. Stuff in cabinets I bought specifically to hold stuff I have. I recently got rid of a bunch of stuff from my office. Well, I really haven't gotten "rid" of it yet. It's in my trunk. It's stuff I need to go through. Or do I? I couldn't tell you what much of it is. If I just tossed the box in a dumpster, would I ever miss any of it? Probalby not.
And that's what I'm talking about. I walked into the grocery store the other day to pick up, get this... "food", and started down the first aisle of produce.... produce on the right that is. On the left.... a bunch of shelves with .... stuff. Things. Knicknacks. Gadgets. Things with team logos. And all kinds of things on the packaging telling me why I need it.
Just because something is kind of neat or unique, or because it is associated with or reminds us of something we like doesn't mean we need to posess it. It won't make me "cool" if I have a Kansas City Chiefs paperweight that looks just like a regulation helmet.
I've become very stuff-conscious. I'm not anti-stuff. I'm no anti-capitalist. I just don't want more stuff. I want to get rid of stuff. And any new stuff I get I will be very selective about. And I'll have to keep reviewing the stuff I have, to see if it really has enough value for me to keep and add to the burden of stuff I own.
So that's today's rant on stuff.
Monday, February 02, 2004
Ass Storm
We were all geared up for another ass storm... oops, I mean ice storm, last night and today, but the warm air nudged far enough north that it's all rain until this afternoon.
The "ass" storm reference is to a time my inlaws were traveling through the bootheel on the way back from Texas. Stopped in Cairo, Mo where everyone was talking about a big "ass" storm that was a'comin'. It took them quite a while to figure out that that's just how southeast-Missourians say "ice". We had a good ass storm a little over a week ago followed by a little snow storm. Looks like we should have another here Wednesday. Snow. Not ass.
Just celebrated our 12th anniversary yesterday. An even dozen. Went out for lunch. By the time our anniversary rolls around, we're worn out from Brian's birthday, Thanksgiving, Vicki's birthday, Christmas, New Years, and my birthday. It really gets neglected. Then we went home and watched the new movie we bought, "Open Range". It's the movie I knew I had to see when in the previews I heard the phrases "rustle up some grub" and "sticks in my craw".
The "ass" storm reference is to a time my inlaws were traveling through the bootheel on the way back from Texas. Stopped in Cairo, Mo where everyone was talking about a big "ass" storm that was a'comin'. It took them quite a while to figure out that that's just how southeast-Missourians say "ice". We had a good ass storm a little over a week ago followed by a little snow storm. Looks like we should have another here Wednesday. Snow. Not ass.
Just celebrated our 12th anniversary yesterday. An even dozen. Went out for lunch. By the time our anniversary rolls around, we're worn out from Brian's birthday, Thanksgiving, Vicki's birthday, Christmas, New Years, and my birthday. It really gets neglected. Then we went home and watched the new movie we bought, "Open Range". It's the movie I knew I had to see when in the previews I heard the phrases "rustle up some grub" and "sticks in my craw".
Friday, January 02, 2004
And a Happy New Year
And a Happy New Year
As e'r it could be
With my wassailing bowl, I drink to thee!
Happy New Year to all....
Had bro-fest, as it were. Joel and Dawn, Tom and Betty. Jeff called to chime in, and Ryan & Kristy, along with Deb, Daryl, and his friend John came over. Kevin, Brian, and his friend Keith were in and out. Had an outdoor fire and tiki torches on the deck. We had Southwest Shepherd's pie (kind of like tamale pie). Margaritas. Midnight came as expected, and we stayed up talking until... oh... almost 2:00.
My new HP 1210v printer/scanner/copier went back to Walmart today. The scanning was lousy. Had thin, horizontal lighter bands all through the scans. Not acceptable. HP Technical support was not paying attention to what I was telling them. I told them it printed just fine, but it scanned lousy -- and how. They said the print cartridges were probably clogged. Really? And it still prints great but the scanning sucks? Do tell! I clarified the symptoms, and they said the glass was dirty. On my brand new PSC? Mighty regular dirt pattern on that glass. I gave up. Their tech support is lousy.
So I got my money back and went to Sam's where they have the 1210xi for $12 less. I've read great reviews on these things... I figure the first one I got was defective. To get past possible problems with a lot shipped to Walmart I figured a different store and a different model number would do the trick. We'll see tonight.
Also our DVD player fritzed out. Vicki went out and got a new one. Man, have they come down in price.
Guess we'll down the Christmas decorations this weekend. Go see LOTR III again. And there's a couple others Vicki wants to see as well.
Oh, last night some guys came by with a pickup full of wood and offered to sell a "woodrack" full for $45. Probably 1/3 cord at the most... but it was convenient and not green so I bit. Now we have enough to burn this winter without digging into the green stuff and it can season this summer.
Well, better get going.
As e'r it could be
With my wassailing bowl, I drink to thee!
Happy New Year to all....
Had bro-fest, as it were. Joel and Dawn, Tom and Betty. Jeff called to chime in, and Ryan & Kristy, along with Deb, Daryl, and his friend John came over. Kevin, Brian, and his friend Keith were in and out. Had an outdoor fire and tiki torches on the deck. We had Southwest Shepherd's pie (kind of like tamale pie). Margaritas. Midnight came as expected, and we stayed up talking until... oh... almost 2:00.
My new HP 1210v printer/scanner/copier went back to Walmart today. The scanning was lousy. Had thin, horizontal lighter bands all through the scans. Not acceptable. HP Technical support was not paying attention to what I was telling them. I told them it printed just fine, but it scanned lousy -- and how. They said the print cartridges were probably clogged. Really? And it still prints great but the scanning sucks? Do tell! I clarified the symptoms, and they said the glass was dirty. On my brand new PSC? Mighty regular dirt pattern on that glass. I gave up. Their tech support is lousy.
So I got my money back and went to Sam's where they have the 1210xi for $12 less. I've read great reviews on these things... I figure the first one I got was defective. To get past possible problems with a lot shipped to Walmart I figured a different store and a different model number would do the trick. We'll see tonight.
Also our DVD player fritzed out. Vicki went out and got a new one. Man, have they come down in price.
Guess we'll down the Christmas decorations this weekend. Go see LOTR III again. And there's a couple others Vicki wants to see as well.
Oh, last night some guys came by with a pickup full of wood and offered to sell a "woodrack" full for $45. Probably 1/3 cord at the most... but it was convenient and not green so I bit. Now we have enough to burn this winter without digging into the green stuff and it can season this summer.
Well, better get going.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Wassail!
Wassail! Wassail! All over the town
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown
Our bowl it is made from the white maple tree
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee!
Took Friday and Monday off. We were way behind on holiday preparations. I put up the outside lights.... house only. Didn't get to the trees and bushes this year.
The tree is up and decorated. It is a little lopsided on it's trunk and unfortunately the side facing the room is the side with the most branches... and all the ornaments on that side did make it fall over, but very little damage was done. The water was sucked up and a few ornaments placed back on the tree and key balancing measures were put in to effect. Halls decked, cookies baked. Shrub made. (brandy, lemon, and wine... good drink).
We saw The Lord of the Rings, last installment. Good. Probably have to see it again -- a lot happened in that movie. That being said, it did drag, I thought, in a few places. I realize there was a lot of despair in the story... but the way that was portrayed in the movie was a lot of long, long shots of Frodo's legendarily expressive eyes .... you know, showing... despair. Lots and lots of it. Couldn't they have cut 7 minutes of despair and put, maybe, Saramaun's 7 minute scene back in?
We did not get Christmas cards out this year. Sorry, those of you who did not get them (which would be pretty much all of you) but that's the way it went this year. Don't feel left out. You weren't.
I hear Mahtaj, a lady I work with, is off camping in Colorado. Ah, to just take off and go on a whim. I'm so jealous.
I still have to wrap Vicki's gifts. Looks like once again that will happen on Christmas Eve. I don't particularly like doing it Christmas Eve, but that's when it seems to happen.
Installed MSN9 on Mom's computer, but man, it's bogging it down. May have to go back to 8. I put 9 on there for the popup-stopping capabilities. But really. I think it should run much better than that.
As the season wears on, I listen to more and more traditional Christmas music. Right now I'm listening to "The Sixteen". Mediaeval Christmas music. Pretty much Church music (for the most part). Makes me want to burn some of that incense that we burned at church. Vicki hates the aroma. A lot of people do. I always liked it. Used to be able to buy it at Cool Stuff. "Gloria Blend", it is.
I've learned the chords to "The Gloucestershire Wassail" -- now I just need to learn all the words. It's another Wassailing song that I like better than "Here We Come a Wassailing". It really captures the spirit of wassailing very well. I've also learned "The Boar's Head Carol" -- another of my favorites.
If you haven't guessed, I really like the traditions and circumstance around Christmas and its pagan northern-European counterpart, "Yule". Most of it seems to be centered around (1) the fact that it's a cold, dark time of year when a little cheer is most welcomed, and (2) our own persistence and renewal of that on which we subsist (agriculture -- food) from a time when you couldn't just pop down to the local store and buy some apples or whatever else you lacked in the middle of the winter. The story of the birth of a redeemer fits well into the old pagan ideas -- hope in the middle of dark times and the promise of an eternal life. From what I understand scholars put the birth of the actual Christ sometime in summer, but the church moved the feast to coincide with the grand traditions of the midwinter festivals. Probably not only a politically wise move, but a fitting one as well. I don't see Christmastime through the same polarizing lenses the right and the left see it through. Yes, the word Christmas itself refers to the celebration of the birth of Christ and many of the traditions we see this time of year come from that tradition. Many others come from other traditions. I see them as a remarkably rich blend, not as one side or another being "the right way". This bunk about removing Christmas Trees from public places is a bit nuts to me. I understand the whole separation of Church and State thing but is State to remain completely sterile from culture as well? There is a difference, I think, between endorsing a particular religion and acknowledging that a very large portion of our population is in fact, Christian.
So, as we near Christmas, everybody enjoy the lights, the trees, Mr. Claus and his flying reindeer, the nativity scenes, the church music and the secular music and bask in the synergy of traditions that is known collectively as "Christmas" to Christians and non-Christians alike. And whether you're dreaming of a White Christmas or on a beach on Christmas Island with your stocking hanging on a great big coconut tree.... have a very very merry one, and do your best to ensure those around you do the same. The smile you send out comes back to you a thousand times. Whether you're smiling yourself or doing something to cause someone else to smile, do your part. You'll get yours.
Merry Christmas!
- P
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown
Our bowl it is made from the white maple tree
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee!
Took Friday and Monday off. We were way behind on holiday preparations. I put up the outside lights.... house only. Didn't get to the trees and bushes this year.
The tree is up and decorated. It is a little lopsided on it's trunk and unfortunately the side facing the room is the side with the most branches... and all the ornaments on that side did make it fall over, but very little damage was done. The water was sucked up and a few ornaments placed back on the tree and key balancing measures were put in to effect. Halls decked, cookies baked. Shrub made. (brandy, lemon, and wine... good drink).
We saw The Lord of the Rings, last installment. Good. Probably have to see it again -- a lot happened in that movie. That being said, it did drag, I thought, in a few places. I realize there was a lot of despair in the story... but the way that was portrayed in the movie was a lot of long, long shots of Frodo's legendarily expressive eyes .... you know, showing... despair. Lots and lots of it. Couldn't they have cut 7 minutes of despair and put, maybe, Saramaun's 7 minute scene back in?
We did not get Christmas cards out this year. Sorry, those of you who did not get them (which would be pretty much all of you) but that's the way it went this year. Don't feel left out. You weren't.
I hear Mahtaj, a lady I work with, is off camping in Colorado. Ah, to just take off and go on a whim. I'm so jealous.
I still have to wrap Vicki's gifts. Looks like once again that will happen on Christmas Eve. I don't particularly like doing it Christmas Eve, but that's when it seems to happen.
Installed MSN9 on Mom's computer, but man, it's bogging it down. May have to go back to 8. I put 9 on there for the popup-stopping capabilities. But really. I think it should run much better than that.
As the season wears on, I listen to more and more traditional Christmas music. Right now I'm listening to "The Sixteen". Mediaeval Christmas music. Pretty much Church music (for the most part). Makes me want to burn some of that incense that we burned at church. Vicki hates the aroma. A lot of people do. I always liked it. Used to be able to buy it at Cool Stuff. "Gloria Blend", it is.
I've learned the chords to "The Gloucestershire Wassail" -- now I just need to learn all the words. It's another Wassailing song that I like better than "Here We Come a Wassailing". It really captures the spirit of wassailing very well. I've also learned "The Boar's Head Carol" -- another of my favorites.
If you haven't guessed, I really like the traditions and circumstance around Christmas and its pagan northern-European counterpart, "Yule". Most of it seems to be centered around (1) the fact that it's a cold, dark time of year when a little cheer is most welcomed, and (2) our own persistence and renewal of that on which we subsist (agriculture -- food) from a time when you couldn't just pop down to the local store and buy some apples or whatever else you lacked in the middle of the winter. The story of the birth of a redeemer fits well into the old pagan ideas -- hope in the middle of dark times and the promise of an eternal life. From what I understand scholars put the birth of the actual Christ sometime in summer, but the church moved the feast to coincide with the grand traditions of the midwinter festivals. Probably not only a politically wise move, but a fitting one as well. I don't see Christmastime through the same polarizing lenses the right and the left see it through. Yes, the word Christmas itself refers to the celebration of the birth of Christ and many of the traditions we see this time of year come from that tradition. Many others come from other traditions. I see them as a remarkably rich blend, not as one side or another being "the right way". This bunk about removing Christmas Trees from public places is a bit nuts to me. I understand the whole separation of Church and State thing but is State to remain completely sterile from culture as well? There is a difference, I think, between endorsing a particular religion and acknowledging that a very large portion of our population is in fact, Christian.
So, as we near Christmas, everybody enjoy the lights, the trees, Mr. Claus and his flying reindeer, the nativity scenes, the church music and the secular music and bask in the synergy of traditions that is known collectively as "Christmas" to Christians and non-Christians alike. And whether you're dreaming of a White Christmas or on a beach on Christmas Island with your stocking hanging on a great big coconut tree.... have a very very merry one, and do your best to ensure those around you do the same. The smile you send out comes back to you a thousand times. Whether you're smiling yourself or doing something to cause someone else to smile, do your part. You'll get yours.
Merry Christmas!
- P
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
It's been a long time, been a long time, been a long
A very long time. I've been bad. Thanksgiving was cool. We got Mom (Krick) a laptop to replace her MSN companion. Got that up and working well, took it home with her and set it up. I can even remote control it from here so I can help her out. She's doing really well with it.
So we had Mom, Bri, Kev, Ken, and Mom along with Sam and Connie over for Thanksgiving. My stuffing didn't turn out as good as it could've. I shoudln't have covered it. Everything else was great. Connie made sweet potato pie in place of pumpkin -- I knew they were similar -- it was very good.
Ok, between helping kids out with finances, fixing Vicki's car, me frying my computer, (got a new one... 2.6GHz E-machine) and the beer fridge conked out.... we've spent a darned lot of money over the last two months. Hopefully things will get better after this. That heat pump probably won't last forever. It's at the end of its life cycle.
So we got a new refrigerator for the kitchen. Vicki wanted the freezer on the bottom. It's cool. You don't have to bend down to see what's in the fridge. It's a bigger one, too. The kitchen fridge was retired to the garage as the new beer fridge.
Vicki is punting the job as the secretary of the homeowners association -- too stressful for someone with a full-time job. Which means there's another $600 a year we will get to shell out, but it's worth her not being stressed, to be sure.
So, we have her going to a... get this.... acupunturist. I know, I know. Practical Phil, right behind her on this, belive it or not. Her doctors are bent on treating her symptoms, this guy claims to know the cause (liver problems) and he can fix it by.... sticking needles in her and improving her Chi flow -- ok... well... they've been doing it in China for 2,300 years.... so either they can't afford an education in modern medical practice or maybe they've been onto something all this time. Time will tell. Hopefully not too much, as this, too, is expensive.... and not covered by insurance.
Went to an exxxxxxxcellent housewarming party at Alex's house (guy I work with). He has a charming and brilliant wife (cardiovascular research) and they are great hosts. We had lots of interesting food from the Ukraine & other republics of the former Soviet Union. Mostly Ukranian. They have a fabulous house overlooking a bluff on a creek, looking out the back over a floodplain. It was beautiful with 5" of snow covering everything. Then we went out to Vicki's boss's party at their house... that's always a nice party -- and closed the night down with Sam & Connie and ate at the waffle house at 1:30 in the morning. Heck, I didn't party that much when I was in COLLEGE.
The Groves were up two weekends ago. It was a quick visit -- plus, the Lord of the Rings II extended version took about 4 hours out of that. But as always, it was nice having them around.
Sadness... Brian and Jess broke up. We sure like her. She sounds pretty strong, so no matter how this turns out she'll do great. Apparently Brian's just not ready for a Jess at this time. Which is too bad, because you don't run across them every day. Everybody has to figure it out in their own time, I guess. What's that Gerry Rafferty song... "If you get it wrong, you'll get it right next time"? Yeah. Good song (http://www.yimpan.com/Songsite/Lyric/index.asp?sid=3516)
Got the tree up, with just lights on it. Have very little Christmas decorating up. Very unusual for us. Have to get it done this week. I'm taking Friday and monday off. Get some baking done and the rest of the decorating.
For Vicki's birthday we're going to see the Return of the King (with Sam & Connie). Bri and Mom should be home Friday. I'm taking Friday and Monday off, but I have to work Tue/Wed/Fri. Then I'm taking of the next monday and tuesday and working Wed/Friday. And of course Brofest on New Years Eve. Looks like Mexican this year. Ryan and Kristie will probably come over. Kristie has to work late -- but she'll be over before midnight.
Ryan got rid of the bowflex and the freeweights and bought a Wieder C670 weight machine that we're using to work out. He really wants to get 120 workouts in this year -- and that means 10 more before Jan 1. I don't think so, Tim. We'll see.
Well, that's a quick recap. I'll try to be better from now on.
So we had Mom, Bri, Kev, Ken, and Mom along with Sam and Connie over for Thanksgiving. My stuffing didn't turn out as good as it could've. I shoudln't have covered it. Everything else was great. Connie made sweet potato pie in place of pumpkin -- I knew they were similar -- it was very good.
Ok, between helping kids out with finances, fixing Vicki's car, me frying my computer, (got a new one... 2.6GHz E-machine) and the beer fridge conked out.... we've spent a darned lot of money over the last two months. Hopefully things will get better after this. That heat pump probably won't last forever. It's at the end of its life cycle.
So we got a new refrigerator for the kitchen. Vicki wanted the freezer on the bottom. It's cool. You don't have to bend down to see what's in the fridge. It's a bigger one, too. The kitchen fridge was retired to the garage as the new beer fridge.
Vicki is punting the job as the secretary of the homeowners association -- too stressful for someone with a full-time job. Which means there's another $600 a year we will get to shell out, but it's worth her not being stressed, to be sure.
So, we have her going to a... get this.... acupunturist. I know, I know. Practical Phil, right behind her on this, belive it or not. Her doctors are bent on treating her symptoms, this guy claims to know the cause (liver problems) and he can fix it by.... sticking needles in her and improving her Chi flow -- ok... well... they've been doing it in China for 2,300 years.... so either they can't afford an education in modern medical practice or maybe they've been onto something all this time. Time will tell. Hopefully not too much, as this, too, is expensive.... and not covered by insurance.
Went to an exxxxxxxcellent housewarming party at Alex's house (guy I work with). He has a charming and brilliant wife (cardiovascular research) and they are great hosts. We had lots of interesting food from the Ukraine & other republics of the former Soviet Union. Mostly Ukranian. They have a fabulous house overlooking a bluff on a creek, looking out the back over a floodplain. It was beautiful with 5" of snow covering everything. Then we went out to Vicki's boss's party at their house... that's always a nice party -- and closed the night down with Sam & Connie and ate at the waffle house at 1:30 in the morning. Heck, I didn't party that much when I was in COLLEGE.
The Groves were up two weekends ago. It was a quick visit -- plus, the Lord of the Rings II extended version took about 4 hours out of that. But as always, it was nice having them around.
Sadness... Brian and Jess broke up. We sure like her. She sounds pretty strong, so no matter how this turns out she'll do great. Apparently Brian's just not ready for a Jess at this time. Which is too bad, because you don't run across them every day. Everybody has to figure it out in their own time, I guess. What's that Gerry Rafferty song... "If you get it wrong, you'll get it right next time"? Yeah. Good song (http://www.yimpan.com/Songsite/Lyric/index.asp?sid=3516)
Got the tree up, with just lights on it. Have very little Christmas decorating up. Very unusual for us. Have to get it done this week. I'm taking Friday and monday off. Get some baking done and the rest of the decorating.
For Vicki's birthday we're going to see the Return of the King (with Sam & Connie). Bri and Mom should be home Friday. I'm taking Friday and Monday off, but I have to work Tue/Wed/Fri. Then I'm taking of the next monday and tuesday and working Wed/Friday. And of course Brofest on New Years Eve. Looks like Mexican this year. Ryan and Kristie will probably come over. Kristie has to work late -- but she'll be over before midnight.
Ryan got rid of the bowflex and the freeweights and bought a Wieder C670 weight machine that we're using to work out. He really wants to get 120 workouts in this year -- and that means 10 more before Jan 1. I don't think so, Tim. We'll see.
Well, that's a quick recap. I'll try to be better from now on.
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