lucy's grandmother

we all know about lucy -- the fossil find which gave us information about human ancestors living about 3 million years ago.

now they've uncovered ardi -- a new fossil find from 4+ million years ago which gives rise to all sorts of new educated speculation about our ancestors.

for your edification go here, or for a picture and info go here. for complete and very technical information, go here.

nature whoops it up

did you hear about the dust storms down in australia? check out these pictures that people took -- whoa!!!

young people

honestly, my memory seems to get worse and worse. a young gal at work invited the husband and me to her housewarming which was to take place yesterday evening. she had sent the invite within the last 2 weeks and i had responded that we'd be there. we were to bring a dish, but no gift.

all this week i thought about what dish i could possibly bring -- the husband and i are not social butterflies and don't have a catalog of dishes to draw from. so i never did really figure something out.

when i got off work yesterday, i called the husband on my way home to see if he wanted to go to our much-liked chinese restaurant. he reminded me about our obligation. shit. since i was already almost home and wouldn't be able to figure out anything any quicker if i turned around and went to the store, i headed on into the house and opened the pantry.

i didn't have a whole lot of time to come up with something, so i finally cooked up some basmati rice while frying slices of ring sausage. i added a can of black beans and a can of corn to the sausage, then threw in a couple of handfuls of the rice. i added cinnamon, 6 or 7 dashes of pepper sauce, then sliced up some banana peppers and threw them in for good measure.

it was a really nice house-warming. i enjoy the people who were there and the new homeowner is just a neat gal anyhow. she and her husband had personalized their new home and had done a really terrific job. the interior colors were neat and up-to-date, and she had added artistic touches everywhere that were very effective.

it was a lot of fun. and my impromptu dish was tasty. thanks, husband, for remembering our invitation!

true crime -- small town beat

September 10: Officers were dispatched to a report of a person trapped in a mudslide between Peace Portal Drive and the railroad. They arrived to find the victim homeowner in a berry dire predicament. A few minutes earlier he had been trimming the blackberries behind his house, blissfully unaware that the large bushes hid a slippery edge between his property and a steep embankment. He took one final step, and the gravity of his situation became suddenly clear. After a several yard fall through the mud and shrubs, the blackberry thorns dragged him to a halt. It took a bunker-geared fire crew with ladders to extract the gentlemen. Aside from obvious scratches and a berry stained ego, he was unharmed. Officers are recommending him for a new Deadly Yard of Week Award.

September 11: A resident called to report a theft from the Night Heron Drive area in Semiahmoo. Sometime between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m. a three-foot tall steel heron sculpture was stolen from the victim's front yard. No witnesses have yet been identified. Officers are looking for a thief with better taste than morals.

September 16: A man left municipal court after speaking with the judge about his driving while suspended offense. A public safety department employee then watched him climb into his vehicle and drive away. Police confirmed that the man's driving suspension is still in effect. He will be receiving a summons by mail for the new offense.

September 20: Multiple motorists called 911 to report a possibly suicidal female perched atop the SR 543 bridge over the I-5 freeway traffic lanes. Police contacted the young woman. She was not self-destructive, just enthusiastic about taking photos for a school project. An officer transported the teenager off the bridge and to her house.

September 21: Officers responded to a landlord-tenant dispute. The reporting person stated that her landlord was on the front porch, would not let her shut the door, and was refusing to leave. Officers arrived and found that the dispute was entirely civil, and the property owner was the renter's father. Officers mediated an agreement and the parties separated peacefully.

here we go ....

the girlfriend and i are going playing tomorrow. we take off once a year and go find something interesting to do. sometimes we take a week, sometimes just a weekend, but every year we've gotten together for the past 15+ years. it's always fun, sometimes elegant, sometimes muddy.

this year we're renting a house on hood canal. if it rains we'll probably stay inside and talk, read, talk, eat, and talk. if it's nice we'll probably visit poulsbo, maybe kingston, maybe suquamish, maybe agate point.

it's a relaxing time with no expectations other than kindness and support. everyone should be so lucky.

i scream, you scream, we all scream...

i just looked at some pictures of glaciers which were taken from space. they're pretty neat, although sad, because they point up how global warming is changing things.

i still remember not so long ago when people were going 'what? global warming? that's a crock. that's just people trying to scare us.' hmmm, well okay except that here it is september 21 and tomorrow it's supposed to get up to 76* and be in the 70s the rest of the week. global warming is not my favorite scenario.

i wonder if i should move to alaska? well, maybe not -- they have melting glaciers, too.

neologisms

remember that newspaper guy who would conduct this event every-once-in-a-while where people would submit words which had new, and pretty funny, meanings? i saw one of those recently and tried to check up on it. as it turns out the guy was from the washington post and is no longer doing that thing. that's a shame as it was really entertaining.

there's a new person who's doing some similar stuff, called The Style Invitational. i couldn't find out anything about this woman, but her stuff is not funny. maybe it takes getting used to. maybe you need to be from the beltway. whatever the reason, from what i looked at, her stuff really sucks. or maybe it's just that the people who send things in are a different caliber of intellect. whatever. i miss the neologisms and i hadn't even realized they were gone.

here are a few from the e-mail which started this whole exploration:
coffee -- the person upon whom one coughs
flabbergasted -- appalled over how much weight you have gained
abdicate -- to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach
willy-nilly -- impotent
lymph -- to walk with a lisp
gargoyle -- olive-flavored mouthwash
balderdash -- a rapidly receding hairline
oyster -- a person who sprinkles his conversation with yiddishisms
frisbeetarianism -- the belief that, when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there

why do the good things go away and the horrible things last forever?

take a deep breath and think...

i had an interesting experience the other day, by which i mean disgusting. i had googled some stuff and i didn't notice until after i had clicked on this one link that it did not have the little green checkmark which google uses to say they think a site is clean. i tried to stop the link from filling in, but i had closed-in the window and didn't have the red x showing.

at any rate, up popped a whole bunch of warnings that a virus was infecting my computer and a screen came on which looked authentic, kind of like an explorer screen, and a couple of icons kept rapidly blinking and a little box which said microsoft on it said to click OK to save my computer and all i could think was, why should i do that when i've got norton, but all the same it was really hard to keep myself from succumbing to the urgency and clicking that little box.

so i brought up the norton screen and told it to do a check and closed everything else. it turned out there was nothing wrong with my computer, but i have no doubt there would have been if i had given in to the panic-type situation that link had tried to engender and had clicked OK on that box.

so .... beware. get norton or some other internet security, and try to not panic if something urgent happens. honestly -- some people are such bastards.

passages

today is my mother's birthday. she was born in august 1926 and died in january 1988. i am five months older than she was when she died.

i have things i need to talk with her about. still.

i just saw these in an e-mail

two quotes:

“A man will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body -- the wishbone.” –Robert Frost

“I never vote for anyone. I always vote against.” –W. C. Fields

you go, craigslist!!!

i didn't realize craigslist had so many people trying to get in and change things. and had no idea the person behind craigslist was adament about people being basically good. but after reading this, i'm totally in love with craigslist!

i've used craigslist before and wondered what the 'gimmick' was. surprise! there's no gimmick!

they purposely do not try to figure out a way to get money from people. how refreshing!! and how oddly anti-establishment right now -- the establishment of the almightly fleecers.

anyhow, read the article and come away feeling victorious. and enjoy the haikus. although the last paragraph seems to conflict with some of what i thought i just read. hmmm...

woo, woo-ooooo

i just heard an amtrak train go by at 9:50 p.m.

how did that happen? we don't have an amtrak that late -- i heard the 7:30 p.m. regular go by at its regular time.

that's just weird.

not enough time to learn about everything

i was just looking at some scientific visualizations on Wired Science.

there was one about an earthquake in california. there was one about seasonal carbon dioxide which made no sense to me. there was one about a super nova explosion.

and there was one about plasma. i couldn't quite figure out what they were doing with it and for some reason i didn't have any sound. maybe they were talking and telling us about it, but i couldn't hear it. it's intriguing but not nearly as interesting as MYS's.

company picnic

my new boss decided it would be good to have a group picnic. he invited all the officers, management, and staff, and their families, and included border patrol and amo. one of the supervisors from another facility got the whole thing put together -- where we had it, the carved award, the games and prizes, the rental, everything.

oh yeah, i forgot to mention there was a chili throw-down! as it turned out not very many officers showed up (people had plans, the location -- silver lake park -- was too far away, they had to work, etc.), but a lot of management and admin types were there. it turned out to be really fun! the county sheriff and two town police chiefs were the judges and after the winner received the trophy everyone chowed down on the chili. we also had hamburgers, hot dogs, salad, chips, cake, and pop.

even though it was cloudy and kinda chilly (60's), we had our meal in the covered shelter and had a fire going in the fire pit the whole time. there were three-legged races and an egg toss, plus a peddle boat race. the whole time was just nice!

busy times we live in

i had lunch with my ex-boss last week. it was great to get caught up on a lot of things. and she told me a cute joke (below). a couple more of us are getting together with her tomorrow for supper. girls night out!!! yay!!!

joke: Moms in Group Therapy -- A psychiatrist was conducting a group therapy session with four young mothers and their small children. “You all have obsessions,” he observed. To the first mother, Mary, he said, “You are obsessed with eating. You’ve even named your daughter Candy.” He turned to the second mom, Ann, “Your obsession is with money. Again, it manifests itself in your child’s name, Penny.” He turned to the third mom, Joyce, “Your obsession is alcohol. This too shows itself in your child’s name, Brandy.” At this point, the fourth mother, Kathy, quietly got up, took her little boy by the hand and whispered, “Come on, Dick, this guy has no idea what he’s talking about. Let’s go pick up Peter and Willie from school and go get dinner.”

politics and religion

i got this from the lady who was my boss in oklahoma ....

God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found him resting on the seventh day. He inquired, “Where have you been?” God smiled deeply and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, “Look Michael. Look what I’ve made.” Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, “What is it?”

“It’s a planet,” replied God, “and I’ve put life on it. I’m going to call it Earth and it’s going to be a place to test Balance.” “Balance?” inquired Michael, “I’m confused.” God explained, pointing to different parts of earth. “For example, Northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while Southern Europe is going to be poor. Over here I’ve placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people. Balance in all things.” God continued pointing to different countries. “This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice.” The Archangel, impressed by God’s work, then pointed to a land area and said, “What’s that one?”

“That’s Washington State, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, and plains. The people from Washington State are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of software.” Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, “But what about balance, God? You said there would be balance.” God smiled, “There’s another Washington. Wait ‘till you see the idiots I put there.”

not overpowering, just nicely subtle

i love those bars of soap which are made by home-makers and very small business people. my favorite, so far, is a company in iowa and since they're in the midwest, they are, it goes without saying, very nice people. i really like their bar of soap which is shampoo!! the smell i prefer is the peppermint and tea tree bar and it really does nice things with my hair -- nothing fancy, just very nice hair.

my second favorite is the townsend bay soap company -- their townsend bay rum soap smells just softly wonderful!! i kept a bar by my computer at work for a long time simply because the smell was so pleasing! then i finally showered with it and promptly ordered a bunch more!

and i just discovered molly's soap when we went over to winthrop. you can see her soaps here.

fragrances really work for me!

who's that cute blonde?

i saw my ex-boss two weeks ago -- she looks great!! it's obvious retirement agrees with her -- i didn't get a chance to do more than say hello and don't know what-all she's been doing, but she looks relaxed, refreshed, and renewed. it was nice to see her again!

and a good time was had by all ...

there's nothing quite like getting together with family. since My Younger Son lives in new york and is busy with grad school, and My Older Son lives in everett but is busy with his job and family, getting everyone together for more than two days can be impossible. BUT -- we all got together last week and enjoyed five days on the other side of the mountains!

we stayed at a new, two-story log cabin which was situated right next to a small river west of mazama. with mountains surrounding us and being 7 miles from the nearest grocery store (but just two blocks from a grass landing strip), we felt secluded and mercifully free from the noisy kids, barking dogs, and drunken adults one might find at other vacation places.

we weren't completely free from pests, though -- in fact, we'd forgotten how very annoying it is when flies are around. to say nothing of wasps, mosquitoes, and other buggy things. so i mostly stayed indoors, especially since the temps got into the high 90s and low 100s.

it was fun to go wade in the river, but really, who needs flies?! i'm just glad we live on this side of the mountains and don't have to put up with them.

the grandaughter was adorable, of course, and a side trip into winthrop was fun. i hope we can get together again next year, or the following year at the latest. being with good people is one of life's greatest joys!!!

faster and faster and faster ....

wow -- there's no time for anything anymore. the husband ordered something for the park, but it's probably going to arrive while we're gone. i ordered something for me to wear while we're gone, but they screwed around and didn't get it shipped 'til yesterday so it's probably going to arrive while we're gone. there's a very important person who's coming to visit our workplace, but that person is going to arrive while we're gone. not that my being gone matters to my workplace, but still ....

we -- both kids, spouse, grandaughter, and us -- are going to head over the mountains to a vacation home by a river/creek/stream and spend about 5 days. we're looking forward to having a lot of fun!! the only problem is that it's supposed to be about 100* while we're there. shit. hot temps and i don't get along. but we're bringing portable air conditioners, so maybe it won't be too bad. and with all the right people there, it can't help but be good!!

and right in the middle of getting ready for our trip, a friend is having her open house (to her new condo) and i'm supposed to bring food and a gift. ppppthththth! i have no idea when i'm going to get the food ready, but the gift hasn't been gotten yet.

one of these days things will slow down.

let's play

the daughter-in-law and grandaughter came up friday afternoon and spent the weekend -- it was great! just us girls (husband spent the days at work) doing things and relaxing and taking it easy.

My Older Son was camping with friends but she just wasn't up to that busy and do-without activity. we went to hovander park in ferndale and climbed the tower, walked through the garden, and peeked in the windows of a lovely old house.

later the husband and i took grandaughter and went to the marina to look at boats. then we went to marine park and played with the whale tail and various other whale parts immortalized forever in black-and-white metal and cemented into the ground. it was great fun -- yay, weekend!!

read your book and kill it too

i love to read. some days i like romances, some days i prefer sci-fi, some days i want to read fantasy.

nancy martin writes a blackbird sisters mystery series and i get a kick out of it -- it's pretty light-hearted. i really enjoyed 'cross your heart and hope to die' as well as 'have your cake and kill him too' -- they have some really funny lines in them. i was going to share a couple, but now i don't remember what pages they're on.

one of the sisters is really cool, but another one, libby, drives me NUTS!!! in fact, there are times when i'm determined to never pick up another book in the series, that gal drive me so crazy. but then it seems to tone down and i go on.

i wonder if the author knows how bad that character is....

quick pix

oh yes, you have to go check this out!

i thought it was neat even if the commenters didn't. lots of imagination to put it together, and lots of work, too. very neat!

be sure to read the foreward (paragraph above the vid).

oh no --- goodbye

one of this little towns historic traditions, goff's clothing store, is closing. i tried to find out how long they've been open, but the only number i found was 1953 and that cannot be correct. regardless, it will be missed.

they have nice clothes, jewelry, material, and patterns. the family deserves a rest and this little town probably doesn't do a very good job of supporting them, but i hate to see them go.

god save us from having a third dollar store move in.

what did they do in the old days?

i haven't been able to use my shower for two weeks. apparently a person is supposed to take-out-old and put-in-new grout in your shower every year or so. i never heard of that until recently and we hired a guy to do it.

he kept breaking drill bits and after about the 9th one, he just filed them down and kept using them. it finally got taken care of and new grout put in, but then i had to wait until it dried.

and dust! ohmygod, i may never get all the dust cleaned up. that replace-the-grout theory may just disappear from my data base.

and yes, i have taken showers. i used the guest shower which isn't nearly as nice as mine. for one thing the really cool large flat many-holed shower head is set about 7 feet high which means even though it dispurses nicely, since i'm about 5'4" one drop of water may hit my eyebrow, while another one hits my knee. i mean, gees. it takes forever to get all of me wet, then soaped, then rinsed.

so yes, i'm glad to have that project over with and be back in my nice cozy big shower with a shower head just perfect for me.

step on out there...

i got some new dishes. i haven't bought dishes for so long and when i got this catalog called CB2 in the mail and looked through it, there were a number of different kinds of dish shapes/colors that i got a kick out of.

so i talked about it with the husband and we ordered six dinner plates/salad plates/bowls, all six sets being different shapes. they finally arrived and i think they're a riot. i'm looking forward to using them and deciding which shape i like best.

at our age, one does not have to be conventional!

the future is not set in concrete

man, i hate it when i run out of time. there are all these little things i want to share and if i can't find time to do it, i forget them. ack/sigh

My Younger Son told me about this r. heinlein book outline which was never written by The Man, and has since been written by spider robinson. it's called variable star. i really like both authors and enjoyed this book, but felt like there were a number of threads left dangling. i wonder if he's going to write another book and continue on?

could be helpful

remember how you used to be able to call information and get a phone number? and before that you could even get the address with the phone number?

then they started charging for that information and i quit using the service.

now google has that service for free. if you call 800.466.4411 and tell them the city and state, then the business you want, they will connect you. and there's no charge, other than your regular cell minutes.

google rocks! eventually they will suck like microsoft, but until then .... yay, google!!

kids and words

greasy grimy gopher guts.

that phrase came to mind awhile ago. i couldn't remember anything about it so i wikied it and read a little about it, but that didn't really tug at any memories.

hmmm .... a mystery.

i'm blessed

remember when you were a kid and it was summer time and you were just lazing around doing nothing and a soft breeze was coming in through the open windows making the curtains drift slowly around, folding and unfolding, with an occasional car going by and somewhere off in the distance kids were laughing?

that's what i have right now. my chimes are sweetly ringing in the breeze while the gauzy curtains waft to and fro, the train calls out its passing, a dog parks down the street, and the wild roses outside my window float their fragrance gently past my nose.

i live in heaven.

cartoons and mysteries and pixar, oh my ...

then there's a movie called 'sherlock holmes' with robert downey jr, who i've always like even though he's been in and out of trouble with himself, and 'cloudy with a chance of meatballs' which i don't think i'll watch, and of course, 'up' which i mentioned a couple of weeks ago. i think 'up' is going to be a lot of fun.

yay, movies!!

and more numbers

what is it with all the numbers this year?? there's another movie coming out -- district 9, i think it is -- which is about non-humans living alongside humans in the world. the trailer i saw was a curious one, so i went to the website and really got a kick out of someone's excellent imagination! check it out! i guess it's supposed to appeal to jr. high kids, so *ahem* i wonder why i liked it?

cartoons all around

in addition to tim burton's '9', i also saw a trailer for 'planet 51'. it looks like a kids' movie, but it had me chuckling, so i need to remember to watch for it, too.

sci-fi/fantasy

tim burton's got a new movie coming out: 9. i saw a short of it and was intrigued -- i think i'm partial to number 7. anyhow, the graphics were excellent, excellent, excellent and the music was fabulous!!! i hope i don't forget about it!!

the rain in blaine is mainly on the plane

it's supposed to rain today. maybe.

it's been 30 days (a new record) since we had any rain. considering where i live, that's pretty wild. and the crops are needing the water. anyhow, it's supposed to rain today and when i get to work, i need to remember to NOT take my umbrella inside with me. i mean, that's my own personal trick with the weather -- whenever i take my umbrella inside, it doesn't rain when it's time for me to go outside.

i'm not sure quite how that works, but since i've carried it closed a lot more times than i've carried it open, there's something going on with that theory. so, okay -- no umbrella!

what a day!

it's interesting how time gets away from you. part of the time i'm too busy or distracted to blog, and part of the time i have nothing to say. but yesterday .....

the big boss is on vacation all week; one of the assistant big guys went on vacation for monday only, but had trouble with his truck and is still gone; one of the people on the 2nd floor retired; a pro-football has-been turned himself in at one of the crossings (he's wanted for numerous things, i guess); later in the day there was a bomb scare in the trusted traveler office. they shut down that office, then about twenty minutes later sent all the rest of us home. that was cool except for one thing -- they sent me home just two minutes before my regular leave time! ah well ....

but i live in this itty bitty town and never did hear a blast, so i assume everything went well and there was no bomb after all. i changed my shoes and went for a walk on the spit with a friend from work and that was, as always, just lovely. the perfect temperature of 68* to 72* and a teeny tiny breeze. the tide was going out and there were no other people or dogs to interfere with our ramblings. so we walked quite a ways and back, then i took him home and came home to eat some supper (a fabulous salad) and head for bed.

what a day! a little excitement, a lot of nature, and great food! perfect!!

water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink

it was so pretty yesterday. a friend from work and i took a walk along the spit. the tide must have turned just after we got there, because we walked quite a ways, and talked, and when we turned around, there was a sand bar visible and a little island. it was cool!

and i slept better last night than i have in weeks! i may have to make this a regular thing!

the 5th dimension sings...

wow! is that a cool picture or what?!

pixar's new movie, Up, tells about a house which gets lifted into the air by a huge bunch of balloons and the adventure takes off.

this article analyzes whether it would truly be possible to do that. it's an interesting concept but they don't touch on what kind of/how strong the strings would have to be. to me that is just as interesting. i mean, with that many balloons would ordinary string work? would it have to be as strong as spider web string? does altitude make a difference?

fairy tales are so much simpler than science.

true crime -- small town beat

May 21: A prior deportee from the U.S. re-entered the country illegally again along the railroad tracks. He was immediately intercepted by U.S. Border Patrol agents who were assisted by police officers. He was arrested and transported to Border Patrol for processing.

May 21: A long-term care facility called police when an elderly resident attempted to flee from her caregivers. The lady was ignoring the pleas and instructions of the caregivers around her. She only gave up her escape attempt when she was unable to push the wheels of her walker over the tops of the arriving police officer’s uniform shoes out on the sidewalk. Facility staff coordinated with the hospital’s mental health unit to have the lady admitted to the hospital for her own safety. Officers gave her a courtesy ride to the hospital, and into the hands of caregivers there.

May 21: A resident called police to report that her car had been vandalized. Officers responded and investigated. They discovered that what looked like scratches on the car’s hood were actually the collision skid marks from high velocity bees slip-sliding through the pollen dust on the car’s finish. The pollen was removed, and with it the offending skid marks.

god's country

what a beautiful day! there's a soft breeze, the curtains are gently flared away from the windows, the sun is coming up in a cloud-less sky, there's a hush except for a couple of happy birds.

this is a day to go for a walk on the spit. and i should probably go right now before it gets hot or peopled except that i'm going to enjoy this loveliness reading a book and having a quiet breakfast.

one with nature for sure.

joe friday

well, this is curious. i just found out the feds are watching my blog. i'm not sure why they are, but have i been out-of-line here? i don't recall ever saying anything against the government or giving away any secrets. i don't even know any secrets.

and i doubt anyone would get the idea i'm sleeping with the canadians or asians or bad guys. i mean, i rarely have a nice word to say about anyone but americans.

most of the people i interact with at work don't blog or spend much time on the computer, maybe because they're older. i know a couple of the younger people have blogs although i haven't looked at them.

and i have wondered why i've NEVER seen anything in any of the training we've had that says to watch your step if you have a blog. it's made me wonder if the higher-ups are even aware that blogs could potentially be a bad thing.

and now they're looking at me. *sigh*

behave yourself

WOW! that was an interesting 25 minutes!!

i was sitting here doing the mahjong thing and kept hearing these insistent voices. i mean, this is a quiet neighborhood. so i finally got up and looked outside to the house next door where some new people just moved in -- nothing.

so i turned my head and BAM! sitting next to my curb were three police cars complete with armed policemen one of whom was carrying a rifle with scope, two border patrol cars with agents armed and kevlared, a k-9 unit with beautiful dog, an unmarked car with serious-looking coordinator, our street blocked off with yellow tape, and in just a little bit a firetruck and a rescue unit. whoa!!

there was a 30-ish blond buxom female being hysterical in the backseat of the police car and the rescue unit was headed for her.

i couldn't tell what was going on and may not ever hear what the deal was, but several policeman were walking to a house just around the corner which i understand has been the source of husband-beating-the-wife in the past x-months. my speculation is maybe she killed him. would serve the bastard right.

some of the vehicles have gone, but some are still waiting. between the excitement and the scary factor, whoa again!

fairy tales

well, billy goat gruff is officially retired from work. and he's taking his sweetie of a wife and moving to the south side of a local island where he can put his boat in the water and sail off into the sunset. they got a great deal on a house in that small town and i'm sure they're going to love their new digs, albeit with making changes to said house, left and right.

he had a great smile and good sense of humor even though he could get riled up about stuff in no time at all. he could hold a grudge and get back at people with the best of them. but he was really smart and i enjoyed bantering with him.

all the best billy!

nefarious people

my ex-boss is at it again! what a brat! she retired in january and thinks now she can just do as she pleases!

she came out to work yesterday wearing cropped pants! and you remember the last time she showed up she was wearing jeans! blue jeans!

honestly, the woman has no shame, flaunting her independence and showing she's bound by no rules! but hey -- it doesn't bother us. we don't talk about it more than 6 or 7 times exclaiming that she's a rascal with her machiavellian ways. i mean, really ... it's no big deal.

where's my kleenex?

the white rabbit

my time is not my own anymore! i mean, that happens when you get married and start a family, but at my age? when i really ought to have stayed retired? (except that i like exercising my brain at work.)

but there you have it. there's just no time to play on the computer, or do a crossword puzzle with the husband, or sew the grandaughter a dress, or do my blog. but what can i change? dah-dum, dee-dum .... get rid of the husband? quit my job? stop reading my books? well, those ideas are simply anathema to me so i'll carry on. maybe if i throw away this clock....

all the news...

wow -- there's so much to get caught up on ....

one of our little group went to the hospital two weeks ago doubled over in pain. they thought it was appendicitis, then something else, then decided at last that it was diverticulitis. and they operated.

he finally got to come back to work for three hours today. he lost 25 pounds and wasn't overweight to begin with. it was good to see him back and hopefully he will progress just as quickly as he expects to. then in about a month, if he's in good shape, they have to operate again!! that surgery will allow them to dispense with the bag he has to wear now. we're all hoping that it proceeds as a textbook case and that he's back to normal in no time!

in the meantime, for the rest of us, a high fiber diet is the key to staying away from that condition.

in other news my recently-retired big boss came by the other day. she looked great!! but -- the rascal was wearing blue jeans!! sure, rub our noses in it, missy ....

and, to my surprise, i worked 25 hours overtime last payperiod (80 hrs + 25). i was so busy i didn't even realize it was that much. it has been just grueling lately, trying to complete deadlines, attending to insistent visitors, trying to accommodate the new big boss, and keeping up with my changing duties. it's been exhausting. and even though a new break-in period like this comes with confusion and change, all too often the big guys forget how much they depend on the little guys, thus they can easily over-look that the little guys are being worn down to the nubbins. hey, pay attention....

one final note -- we got to see the grandaughter and her parents last weekend!! it was an especially nice treat because our son announced they're expecting another baby! joy abounds!!

lighten up!

a good friend sent me this link to a very very fun happening!

i remembered it was probably the improv everywhere group and went to their website to see what they've been up to lately. (after looking through their site, i think it must not have been them. or at least not that branch.)

check this out -- it's pretty neat!

and this is hilarious (reach out and touch someone...)

(the one with no pants is pretty funny, too!)

there are lots more on http://improveverywhere.com -- i just wish they'd come close to us. i want to play!!!

H5N1? No ... H1N1

first the avian flu, now swine flu.

they are discouraging people from going to mexico because swine flu is killing people there, but it is spreading beyond that country. there are two cases just across the border in british columbia, 28 cases in new york city, 7 in california, and so on.

those of us who don't travel should be okay, except those who do travel bring it back with them. hopefully i and mine will be able to avoid the outbreak, but it may take some smart thinking.

for now, be sure to wash your hands a lot, and keep your hands away from your eyes, nose, and mouth. partake in a little exercise, a little laughter, adequate sleep, and a balanced diet with lots of fiber. if you decide to stay inside and read a book, rather than go to the mall or another crowded location, so be it.

(numbers)
(map -- purple:confirmed, pink:suspect, no dot:death, yellow:negative)

welcome!

i am delighted to share that one of our computer gurus had a baby! well, his wife did, actually. little andrew raymond b. joined us last tuesday weighing 7 lbs 3 oz. i thought he wasn't going to show up until early may, but here he is!

congrats all the way around!!!

doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo ...

well, now -- this is interesting! i particularly liked the third set of photographs, about the moving rocks. cool!

you heepum big chief, me heepum little guy

our new big boss is supposed to arrive next week. the interim boss has been making enemies left and right with wild abandon, so it will be interesting to see what the new guy is like. everyone is expecting to like him. in the meantime, lots and lots of drama continues. i've managed to stay out of the line of fire, especially since i'm on the bottom of the totem pole, but whoa .... lots of things going on up above. i never thought i'd be so glad to just be a little guy!

i want to be there

i was on this busy downtown street and decided to go down a side street. it was a lot less populated. then i saw angelina jolie and brad pitt playing with their kids in front of a multi-story building while various neighborhood people did their own thing, not bothering the famous people. it was a nice typical small-town scene and i liked it. then somehow the dream changed and there were two babies and two mommas inside a house and i was helping with the babies (everything was serious and dark and one of the babies cried a lot), but then i went outside and was looking at flowers along the front sidewalk with my husband and couple of other people when five serious-looking men walked up. they said they wanted to see the house and i said just a minute and poked my nose in the front door (of a completely different house from the one i’d walked out of) asking our friend the owner if he knew about people wanting to see the house. he said, “see if the agents will stay out while the buyers come in” and i thought ‘huh???’, then he and his wife started madly gathering up toys and stuff, grabbing two of the three dogs and making their way toward the back of the house, gathering as they went. i turned to the people and said, “do you agents want to wait here while the others go on inside?” and the agents looked at me like ‘don’t be a total stupid idiot.’ so then, followed by everyone, i turned and went inside, grabbing the collar of the great dane and two of his huge play toys and made my way to the back of the house where everyone else was just heading out the back door. i went out the door and .... wow! it was a gorgeous winter day with about three feet of snow on everything and tons of people outside merrily enjoying the snow and sun. there was park land on both sides of the street and many people were skiing down the sloped street to the bottom, so i went into the street and started skate-skiing with only my boots. it worked perfectly!! i gently skied down the street, totally enjoying the freedom, totally relaxed, and totally marveling that i’d never done this before. people were talking on the sidewalks, and gathered on decks and porches -- there was a lovely gather-the-humanity-and-let’s-party feeling to the day. when i got to the bottom, i walked back up the sidewalk, noticing one fellow and his friends on a second-story deck just after they had hit a golf ball and were watching it soar, and i was wondering how they were going to be able to see it unless it was painted one of those phosphorescent colors. then i went out in the street to continue walking back up the hill along with everyone else. some young guy and his girlfriend said “where are your skis” and i said “i used my boots but i need to get a pair of those things (his poles).” they smiled and went on, but i turned around to ski again, suddenly realizing i had walked too far. it was a very steep slope at that point, so i walked back down to a more appropriate level and started to ski again when some wicked voice in my head said, “picture this: you’re skiing along and hit pavement or a rough spot and then go flying end-over-end. you’d get hurt.” at that point i woke up, but what a shame to have that lovely experience left on a stern note of joy-kill.

yumyumyummy

the husband sent me an article talking about corned beef (which we had the other night) and something got a little mixed up in the transfer. here is part of the article:

"Corned beef, also called corned beef brisket, is a popular meat item which hearkens back to the days before refrigeration. Faced with the challenge of preserving fresh meat for the winter season, butchers would routinely pack beefbeefbeef or pork products in salt to prevent the formation of bacteria and mold. Meats like beefbeefbeef brisket could also be pickled in a spicy, salty brine. At one time, the word corn referred to a number of kernels or seeds, including the coarse salt granules packed around the brisket. Thus the meat was called 'cornedcornedcorned' beefbeefbeef in reference to the corns of salt. Even after modern refrigeration and preservation methods rendered brining and pickling obsolete, cornedcornedcorned beefbeefbeef continued to grow in popularity among the Jewish and Irish immigrants moving into New York City during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Specialized stores and restaurants called delicatessens served hot cornedcornedcorned beefbeefbeef sandwiches to a wide variety of customers."

i guess maybe they shortened the term to make room on their billboards! ha!

don't get sick ....

oh good grief -- they're at it again.

the latest computer problem is a malware called Mebroot. it messes with the boot record and you get it by going to a perfectly legitimate site which has been infected. once it's on your computer, it can access anything on your computer. oopsie. a really big no-no. make sure your security stuff is up-to-date.

and remember the conficker worm? here is a simple test you can do to see if you've been infected. go to http://www.confickerworkinggroup.org/infection_test/cfeyechart.html and see if you can see 6 little pictures. if not, read the legend below the pictures. i'm good. thank goodness!

one for the little guy

i just had a nice surprise. one of my favorite e-mail-pals sent me this. i enjoyed watching it, especially since it happened 4 days ago, and because the gal is scottish!!

at any rate, she's had a fairly sheltered life, and to see her step right up and belt away was neat. i found this comment on one blog. and this on another. but i particularly like this one.

way to go, susan!!

oh, don't pay any attention to me

do you use a pin and make withdrawals at an atm machine? be afraid -- be very afraid.

hackers have finally found a way to successfully breach the up-til-now fairly secure world of atm security. this article gives the details, which i encourage you to read. but this paragraph really caught my eye:

"PIN hacks hit consumers particularly hard, because they allow thieves to withdraw cash directly from the consumer's checking, savings or brokerage account, Sartin says. Unlike fraudulent credit card charges, which generally carry zero liability for the consumer, fraudulent cash withdrawals that involve a customer's PIN can be more difficult to resolve since, in the absence of evidence of a breach, the burden is placed on the customer to prove that he or she didn't make the withdrawal."

for some reason, each time we tried to start using a pin, we were unsuccessful (for whatever reason) and finally quit trying. yeah, i know -- hard to believe, isn't it. we actually can get along without atm withdrawals!!

at any rate, i'm glad we were never successful. that's one less scam we have to worry about. and considering the quote above, that could be a pretty big worry! be careful, everyone!

where have i been?

did you know about hulu? i didn't. of course, i don't watch tv, but still -- i've never even heard of it.

hulu is an internet site where you can watch the latest installment of selected tv shows. yes, there are commercials, but they're limited to 30 seconds. wow! what a concept! anyhow, hulu's pretty cool for people who've missed their shows or don't even have a tv.

like i said, i don't watch tv so i don't really care, but, it's all about resources. build your resources!

cheep, che-- wha??

oh, you have to check this out -- recognize escher? okay, now start over with number 1 and enjoy!

wash that man right outta my hair, er ...

did you read where they're looking for a way to erase memories? they've been successful with mice and are going to try to figure out a way to make it successful with people. hmmm, yeah, maybe there'd be some benefit to victims, but yuck! it just sounds so ready-to-be-abused.

and really, what would they call it? brain rinsing?

m-m-m-m-mmm good!

oooooohhh, i just made the best soup!! a pound of maple-flavored bacon, cut in 1-inch pieces; 2 cups of rice; a cup of green split peas and a cup of yellow split peas; a cup of lentils; a carrot, some cracked wheat bulgur, and some fresh mushrooms; a head of broccoli, cut-up stem and all; a can of navy beans and a can of black beans; about a cup of oatmeal; liquid smoke, worchestershire sauce, salt, pepper, cinnamon, tarragon, and oregano. but i totally forgot about the onions and garlic -- dangit!!! oh, but it is just yuuuummy!

you never know....

my oldest younger brother is a cyclist. i absolutely love my brother and would never say anything to hurt him, never try to start a fight or be hateful, etc., but i am one of the people who think bicycles don't belong in the street. i think they should have to be on sidewalks and have to yield to people. if the only place available is a country road, i think they should have to ride on the shoulder facing the oncoming traffic, not on the same side of the flow.

for one thing, there's no way a bicycle can win against a vehicle -- not the same size, not the same weight, not the same anything. in addition, bicyclists don't pay taxes on their bikes, don't take driving tests, and majorly do not follow the rules. to say nothing of riding two abreast, or wandering into the middle of a lane when there's a bunch of traffic. lots of room for road rage with bicycles.

this morning i saw this article: "City cyclists know a few things about car drivers. They know, for instance, that a car will turn right the moment you decide to cut up the inside in stopped traffic. They know that a car will desperately try to overtake you and then pull over 50 yards later, cutting you off. And above all, they know that you never, ever ride too close to a row of parked cars. The moment you forget, a door will open in your path. Boffins at BMW and Technical University of Munich want to fix this last one. They are developing a haptic feedback system for doors, which works like this: An accelerometer in the door detects when a passenger tries to open it. Sensors on the car detects the proximity of things outside — lampposts, cyclist, other cars. If there is something out there, the car door becomes stiffer to open (there is an extra metal bar inside the door with a linear motor to stop it moving). Right now the project is using ultrasound sensors to detect oncoming cyclists and the like. V2.0 will use cameras instead, giving better coverage and adding the ability to detect cyclists from further away. Now all we need is a speed controller so cars can’t break the limits and cities will be almost perfect. In fact, should cars be banned from cities altogether?"

i thought the last sentence was funny until i wondered if they were serious. it wouldn't surprise me. the way things are going in this country, things are getting all crazy twisted from the way they used to be. (but that's another blog, another time i guess.)

blue jeans and flannel shirts

our big boss, the one who retired in january, was always adament about no one wearing blue jeans on casual friday. i never could quite understand that since we could wear black jeans, or brown ones, or whatever other color. but she was unwavering on that stipulation.

since she left, her replacement hasn't arrived. it's been two and a half months now and casual friday has been a romp. we all wear blue jeans and it's just so nice.

just kidding, peg. i'm only kidding. we don't wear blue jeans.

grrrrrr ..... bad guys succeeding

i don't know all that much about viruses and worms and all that bad stuff that's out there trying to take over your computer. but ... i just read an article which was pretty scary. even though i didn't really understand what-all it was talking about, i am smart enough to know i need to make sure i'm protected as much as i can be.

we use norton and have for a number of years. regardless who your guard dog is, make sure he's got all his shots and has been trained in the latest guard techniques!

back when i was a boy, we had to ....

i have a friend who lives in grand forks, north dakota. recently there was some really bad flooding in that state. some of the damage is shown here -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2-Ccybv5fo&feature=related .

i found this video of a blizzard which was either right before or right after the flooding. give this a look -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNnxE4JqCbU .

the husband and i wax nostalgic at times because we used to live in nebraska and he lived in the black hills of south dakota when he was in high school. we had some really great vacations up there with the boys when they were little. we wonder if we'd like to live back there again.

and then we see a video like those. uhh ... no. probably not.

the perils of life

it's interesting all the things that can happen that you never even think about unless you're in that situation.

an ocean cruise -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk3VUdWtGtw&feature=related

a gas station -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-jWcISnl-M&feature=related

and then there's the more dangerous oopsies....

pulling a 5th wheel -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK18UNA17Zo&feature=related
(actually looks like it probably killed the driver)

piloting a boat -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRtv56ffDG8&feature=related

crossing a train track -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22dS3uvk_zI&feature=related

and sometimes mom has to come to the rescue....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5-D0f6nHSQ&NR=1

manna from heaven

i absolutely LOVE this one brand of products -- Perlier. it's from italy. they've got the best honey hand cream which i used for the longest time (until i couldn't find it anymore) and then i discovered this other lovely cream.

i decided to see if it was available anywhere except tj maxx. it was! only when i got it at tj maxx, it was $7.99. this online place had it for $30!!! exact same stuff. well, shit. i went to the company's website and the price was $30 there, too. amazon offered it from lotus bathing luxuries for $22 marked down from $25. i glanced at the other websites i had googled but they were either in french or spanish or dutch. yikes!

the drastic price difference is a little worrisome -- is it a knock-off? did they mess with the ingredients? whatever the answer is, i love the stuff. come on, tj maxx!!!

clear the way ....

billy goat gruff got sick last week. he told me wednesday that he didn't feel very good -- his tummy was bothering him. and he was out thursday and friday. yesterday he told me he'd had food poisoning. from eating grapes. grapes from chile. i said 'didn't you wash them?' and he said, 'oh yeah, very thoroughly.' and then went on to explain there's some kind of fungus or bacteria or something that can be on the grapes and can get IN the grapes and no amount of washing can get rid of it and if you eat it -- bam!! you are sick sick sick. he said the doctor told him that throwing up nothing was hard on your body (and you always get to that point with food poisoning) so you should try drinking gatorade and keep drinking it until the problem goes away.

food poisoning is always an unpleasant experience and one which, ideally, should only be suffered through once. i wonder how many people are lucky enough to have that statistic?

physical shopping

favorable dentist appointment -- check.
ran into a person i like -- check.
clinique bonus gift -- check.
favorite body lotion -- check.
more kleenex -- check.
yummy chinese supper -- check.

the late afternoon-and-evening has been successful. i go to bed now.

spot the train

yesterday we went down to see the seattle family. i started to say we drove down but, actually, we took the train!! yay, the train!! i love taking the train -- it's just a nice, smooth trip. and the bathrooms are certainly bigger than in airplanes! it was so great to see the grandaughter again and the son and dau-in-law too, of course. i always end up wishing we lived a lot closer!

funny thing about seattle though -- my allergies were sooooooooo much worse there than they are up here!! about an hour after we got there, my nose started to close up, then alternately ran and kept me from breathing (interesting how it does that) while my eyes set about trying to itch me crazy. it definitely reminded me of the reasons i was glad to move away from the midwest. and no, i can't use those prescription nose sprays which work so well.

regardless, it was great to see the kids again! yay, weekends!!!

little miracle

last week, or was it two weeks ago now, one of the men who works in the custodial department was walking from our building to another and bam! he went down like a rock. he must have had a massive heart attack, but there were a couple of officers who saw it and immediately started working on him. several emergency vehicles drove up and by the time they had taken him away probably 45 to 60 minutes had elapsed. and they were doing chest compressions the whole time. we didn't know how he was doing until later in the day when someone in management related that the doctor said if he hadn't gotten help right when he did, he wouldn't have made it.

yesterday i got a joyous surprise at work when the gentleman and several of his co-workers stopped by my desk. he looked really good! i was sooooo surprised to see him but happy to see he was up and out and about. he had come by to thank everyone for all their help. not that i had done anything, but he was definitely appreciative to be standing there. it was just a good feeling all the way around!

dry hands

washington state has started a new thing by outlawing dishwashing soap, which contain phosphates, from being sold here. it is supposed to happen over a period of months, starting on the eastern side of the state, but the husband noticed it awhile ago and when he asked the store people about it, they said they had no idea why the regular soap wasn't on the shelves. at any rate, the move to ban the popular type of soap is spreading to the northeastern side of the country and legislation may eventually happen which would make it national. the other soaps don't really do that good a job on dishes. we may have to go back to washing them ourselves. ugh.

things to think about

some of us really liked the terminator series. the first one was so great -- a love story and neat special effects. in the second one, the kid playing her son just didn't seem like the right actor for the part. i must have seen the third one, but i can't really remember it. they've got this tv series (2008) i didn't even know about since i don't watch tv, and now there's a new movie terminator salvation. the clip makes it look really noir -- i wonder if it will be any good.

little patter

when the husband walked in this morning to say good-bye, he was softly saying "tlrrrrr chitchit, tlrrrrr chitchit, tlrrrrr chitchit." "i'm off," he started. "what are you?" i interrupted. "a sprinkler," he replied.

valid paranoia

from the "oh, good grief" department -- this article from last summer and then this one.

the macho, type-a people need to be moved to another planet.

simple beauty

don't you just love beautiful calendars? lang puts together some really nice calendars and i buy some every few years.

the one i have here at home is called the 2009 road home calendar. it has wonderful landscapes with homes. they are so beautiful they almost make me cry. the husband and i want to move into two of the houses.

the 2010 road home calendar has a couple of the same pictures, but overall more snow pictures than this year. go to that website then click on 'more images' to see the twelve months. i actually like 2009 better than 2010, but still -- they're very evocative. simpler times, younger times, happier times.

another style of calendar they have has recipes on each month. i get a kick out of those. check out the garden recipes -- they give the instructions in pictures!! is that cool, or what! ohmygod, they have holiday peppermint pound cake for december!!! okay, now i have to buy it! i just hope i don't forget!

excuse me, but where is your head?

honestly, what is it with people??

we have this one room which is the computer lab for people to use when they have to take an online class and don't have access to a computer. this morning i noticed there was one person in there. this afternoon when i was getting ready to turn off lights and lock doors, i noticed the lab room light was still on. i went back there and looked in. no one was there. wouldn't you think the last guy out (the only guy!) would turn off the light? didn't these people's parents teach them about taking care of things???

it's hard for me to be patient with that kind of stuff!

and the winner is ....

dr. pepper has a new flavor -- dr. pepper cherry. well, at least it's new to me.

i have always preferred mr. pibb, but most of the time it's disgustingly hard to find. so when i went to haggen's the other day, i looked and looked, but alas. and then i spied dr. pepper cherry. i figured it had to be better than cherry coke and wild cherry pepsi, so i bought some.

hmmm -- dr. pepper is brown, you know. dr. pepper cherry is brown with red highlights, like those strange funky goth red highlights some people have in their hair. at any rate, you can't really taste any cherry.

rats. i wonder why they don't make mr. pibb more available?

it all makes sense at the time....

dreams!! honestly, they are so weird!

so last night i dreamed i was at work merrily going along doing my stuff when all of a sudden i realized i had on blue jeans (horrors!) and no shirt!! the blue jeans were bad enough (we aren't supposed to even THINK about wearing blue jeans to work -- black jean, brown jeans, whatever other color and only on fridays, but not blue jeans no matter how nicely pressed) but no shirt?? how could i have let that happen??? i mean, it wasn't a sexual thing since cancer put an end to my boobies, but still -- highly inappropriate!! i couldn't figure out why no one had said anything -- did they think i had on a flesh-colored shirt?? regardless, when i finally realized what i was (and wasn't) wearing i was just sick about it. i could take a 15-minute break and try to do something, but it wouldn't be enough time for me to go home and grab something else to wear and get back to work since my apartment was twenty minutes away through city traffic.

it just worried me sick so i went to my room at work and went to bed. my room had a nice small bathroom, a nice bed and dresser and closet, and several work stations. mike was on the computer at one work station and had to go to the second floor. i was laying there worriedly trying to figure out my dilemma when the big boss walked in. he was looking for someone and i thought i remembered he had to go out-of-town for several days, so i asked him about it. the covers were pulled up to my chin so i knew he wouldn't be able to see the jeans-and-no-shirt situation. we talked for a little bit and then he left.

i finally got up, realized i had clothes right there i could change into, and went in to take a shower. but there wasn't any soap. so i got back in bed and found the tube of soap on a pillow. so i laid there and lathered up my shoulders and hair, then got back in the shower to rinse off. it really was a nice little shower with a small window and no shower curtain. then i woke up.

WHAT was that????

turn that thing off!

remember when naysayers were yelling that playing nintendo was a horrible thing, that your grades would drop, you'd turn into a social zombie, etc. etc. and that you should stay as far away from video games as you could?

well, read this. hah! take that, naysayers!

astroids and death and destruction

have you seen this? pretty cool excitement! yes, i know it was a movie, but the short is pretty good and the music is fab!!

and this is sobering.

then you watch a few more and you think .... "gees, oh well."

eat your fruits and vegetables!

i've never been one to pop pills, and after the surgeries i've had, i don't really even like to go to the doctor. the more i hear people tell horror stories, the more i think i'm just going to try to stay well and if i get sick, i'm going to tough it out at home.

one of my friends recently told me her husband had a really bad sinus infection last year. the doctor gave him an antibiotic which wiped out the bacteria in his body. all the bacteria. since we are supposed to have helpful bacteria in our tummies, it has caused this guy a huge lot of grief. they are finally going to give him a treatment which is supposed to help things, but he will have to have this treatment on a regular basis the rest of his life. yuck!

another friend (from the midwest) had a reaction to some of her meds which put her in the hospital for 10 days. they put her on another medication which sent her blood pressure through the roof. then she had two slight strokes and they took her off that medication. in the meantime she's recuperating in hawaii!!! hopefully she'll be able to get better without any more medical help!

an older acquaintance of the husband's had a blood test which revealed he had prostate cancer -- his value was off the charts! they tried a medication on him but it made him really sick, so he went off it and prepared to die. they sent him to seattle for some kind of test and he came back completely negative! he didn't have cancer at all!

so i encourage you-all to follow my dad's advice: eat all things in moderation and get plenty of exercise. my advice: if you start feeling bad, tell a friend (so you don't feel alone), take some tylenol, and go to bed. if you still have the problem after three weeks, call a doctor's office and make an appointment. after you hang up, you will probably immediately start getting better.

wash behind your ears....

it's Clinique bonus time again, everyone! if you like clinique, this twice-a-year giveaway is the only time to shop. i need to get busy and figure out what-all i need so i can get my free stuff! well, not technically maybe, but still .... yay!!

lah-dee-dah

i was looking through a catalog the other day. would anyone like to order a Cape Buffalo Buckle Pony Belt? only $850. how about a Horsehair Belt? only $485. or a pair of Airplane Cufflinks? just $498. or the ever-impressive Gold Quail Cufflinks? for only $1,795.

there are soooo many choices from these people. i, personally, like the Coyote Throw for a measly $5,998. after all, what price warmth?! and they had other lovely things -- Black Hills Moccasins for $289, Buffalo Boots for $470, and Burnt Pine Boots for $1,498. and lots of linen shirts and jackets, and some really nice jeans for $250.

if you need to get a special something for a special someone, go to http://www.jlpowellusa.com/ and help save the country by spending a fortune.

off with their heads!

My Younger Son has an excellent blog and put this video out there several weeks ago -- http://www.snotr.com/video/2327 -- it very nicely explains the monetary crisis we're in. the financial world has always been totally foreign to me (can't understand it, can't learn about it, can't figure it out at all) so it's nice to have this visual to gain a tiny grasp of the situation.

forward thinking

i like google. i like the things they've done and the things they do and the things they come up with.

i know there are people out there dissing google and causing them trouble, but generally i think google is a good thing. they've done more than nasa has to bring the future to our laps. it's a curious thing and makes me think there must not be any republicans working for google.

yay: google's variable logo, which yesterday featured schiaparelli and if you clicked on the logo, it took you to a fascinating mars thing. i found it today on google's blog -- http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/celebrating-mars-then-and-now.html -- i suggest you go there and then click on the 'mars in google earth' video. oh yeah -- sooooo very cool! yep, no republicans!

also yay: google earth, google maps (MUCH better than microsoft's), google street view!!!

what now ...

things are a-changin' at work. we're getting a new big boss sometime soon; we recently got a jr. boss; people from the district office are trying to mess with my job.

hmmmm. not good. for the first time i feel uncomfortable with my job. it seems like they want to give me babysitter duties and i am almost violently opposed to that. i mean, get a grip. i am sick of people not being responsible and not wanting to handle their own issues and wanting someone else to take care of things. whine, whine and all that.

so i'm running scared about what's going on at work. i've thought about trying to get into my immediate boss' office, but it's always so hot in there and there are four people in one space and it gets really noisy, etc. and i think i would hate it, but i would hate babysitting even more.

shit. what to do. what to do. i guess i should just chill and go with the flow, but when the flow appears to be heading for a waterfall, i get nervous. damn.

observations about my trip:
bellingham airport is rustic.
seattle airport has nice window walls.
minneapolis airport has no clocks anywhere.
i had the longest walk possible (opposite ends) to get from one plane to the other in minneapolis.
detroit has this cool underground/under runway walkway with neat walls of light.
detroit's tram is a waste of time and money.
indianapolis has really neat lights in the ceiling of their to-the-parking-garage walkway.
leaving the indianapolis airport and trying to go north, unfamiliar, at night, is a bitch.
the marriott near 71st is really nice.
max and erma's is a good place to eat.
tsa operatives conduct business differently at different airports.
after my cancelled flight, horizon postponed one, and cancelled another one.
horizon sucks.
being sick when you travel is not good.

ohmygawd! what a couple of weeks!!

first i flew to indianapolis on a sunday (took from when I left for the airport around 7:15 am until i checked into the hotel around 11:30 pm), then the next day i started getting sick and for the following two days coughed and blew my nose every few minutes. my poor classmates!! i coughed into kleenex and didn't touch anything except my computer, and tried to keep to myself, but gees!

my voice pretty much disappeared and reappeared as a bull-frog lusting after a mate. a bull-frog who was losing his voice.

i drank two bottles of liquid both morning and afternoon to keep things in my system as watered-down as i could. and as soon as i got back to my room i went right to bed but i actually didn't get much rest. not much food got eaten for a couple of days. and i didn't get to see ANY of indianapolis! cripes!

thursday i headed home -- left the hotel around 7:15 and got back to my house at midnight-thirty! it was horrible. horizon cancelled the flight from seattle to up here and i had to sit in that dang airport for seven hours while i waited for another plane. at least i got lucky in being able to get on that flight -- it was the last one and i just simply did not have the energy to handle any other problems.

i called in sick on friday and the following monday and only worked part of the day on tuesday. i fumbled through the rest of the week and have finally, a week later, pretty much gotten over this hellacious cold. i have never in my whole life had a cold this bad. hopefully i never will again!

and i really wanted to check out downtown indy! dangit!!!

Soap and Shampoo

“... and then after we buy your soap and shampoo formulas, you sit back and relax or find a new hobby, as long as it’s not new soap and shampoo.” He chuckled at his cleverness, but she was having second thoughts about her nearly-decided decision to sell out.

Yes, she and her little brother needed the money and if they had extra, she could go to the University, but her Homeland Soaps had really done pretty well online. If their car hadn’t been vandalized and the debts from her parents funeral hadn’t mysteriously gone up so much, in another five months they would have just about paid off their loans and been starting to get ahead. Honestly, trouble seemed to stick to them like a magnet lately.

“So, Charlotte, my boss would like an answer from you this evening. Why don’t we go have dinner at Betsy’s BBQ then you can tell me that you’re ready to sign the contract.”

Sign the contract. Wasn’t she supposed to get a lawyer or something? Greg said she didn’t have to go to that expense because it was a standard contract they used all the time. And besides, they were a big, well-known company who wouldn’t take advantage of someone and sully their own reputation, would they?

“Okay, Greg, if you wouldn’t mind picking me up at 7:30 we can go have dinner and I’ll give you my answer.”

He gave her his PR smile, stood, and small-talked his way out the door. She was glad to see him go since she still couldn’t figure out what to do. As she headed upstairs to her bedroom, she heard him say, “Hey there, what are you doing?”

Jerking her head around and expecting to see him at the bottom of the stairs, he kept on talking. “I can’t wait to get out of this ass-wipe of a town, Ro, and away from this gal with the soap. If I have to bed her to get her to sell, I don’t know if I can do it. What a hick! God get me outta here ... I mean, yeah she’s a little bit cute, but jees, I’d probably have to propose before I could get into her pants.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing until she finally realized the conversation was coming from her brother’s scanning equipment. Greg The Creep On His Cell Phone went on and on until she finally faced up to what she had to do, which was about the same time Jimmie came out of the bathroom with a comic book tucked under his arm and wiping his wet-and-not-dried hands on his pants. “Hey, you’re not supposed to listen in to my calls!”

“They’re not your calls Jimmie and anyway, you’re listening in,” but she headed down the hall to her bedroom, firming up plans as she went. Greg The Creep and his Creepy Company probably knew all about her so she was going to have to get mysterious, go incognito, and disappear into the night. In fact, the more she thought about it the more she figured that at least some of her financial trouble had probably been helped along by them, as a behind-the-scenes inducement to sell. Well. The heck with that. She could go behind-the-scenes, too.

She quickly called Millie at the bank and asked if she’d take $8,000 out of Charlotte’s account and drop it by on her way home -- that way they’d have cash. Then she put as many of her clothes as she could, plus her little dab of make-up, into two suitcases. She got her uncle’s (on her mother’s side) car title out of the file cabinet, along with her brother’s and her birth certificate, her parent’s marriage license, and the paperwork to their house ... their paid-off house.

Then she went back and slyly persuaded Jimmie they were going to take off on an adventure -- a summer of doing the wild and crazy and unpredictable. He got totally caught up in the idea and had his two bags packed in fifteen minutes, although she watched to make sure there were actually some clothes which got squeezed in alongside the music and games.

Then she went down to the kitchen and packed as much food as she could into four shopping bags. At that point there was nothing left to do but lug all their stuff out to the garage. Her uncle’s car had been stored in there for quite awhile, but it had been her job to take it out once a month and blow the cobs out, so she knew it had a full tank of gas and was in good working condition.

After Millie came by with the money, everything was just about ready to go, so she wrote a note and taped it to her front door. Greg would find it and read that something had come up and that she planned to call him tomorrow afternoon. Ha!

Jimmy eagerly climbed in the car and, as it turned out, they were happily on their way by 6:15. They sang songs and ate from their grocery sacks and generally made the most of their freedom. When Greg came by to pick her up and saw her note, he was relieved he wouldn’t have to paste on his smile all night, and happily left to wine and dine by himself, fully confident he’d land a big fish the next day.

Charlotte and Jimmy had no idea, but they truly were starting a wild and crazy adventure, one which would get them lost, have them being threatened by bad guys, forging their identities, working in a mining camp, watching a shoot-out, and stowing away on a float plane.

Just think -- it started so innocently with her soap.