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!