Monday, January 14, 2008
I took the test at Belief-O-Matic [http://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html]. I thought the questions were pretty good. In at least two cases, it was the first time I had seen my beliefs expressed in words, as something others might believe. Unfortunately, even though several belief systems scored pretty high (100%???) as a match, when I read about them, I'm not sure they're really all that close.
My Results:
The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa. Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.
1. Neo-Pagan (100%)
2. New Age (93%)
3. Unitarian Universalism (93%)
4. New Thought (85%)
5. Liberal Quakers (84%)
6. Scientology (81%)
7. Mahayana Buddhism (77%)
8. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (76%)
9. Theravada Buddhism (72%)
10. Reform Judaism (68%)
11. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (67%)
12. Hinduism (67%)
13. Orthodox Quaker (65%)
14. Sikhism (61%)
15. Secular Humanism (58%)
16. Taoism (55%)
17. Jainism (55%)
18. Orthodox Judaism (50%)
19. Bahá'í Faith (49%)
20. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (43%)
21. Islam (36%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (34%)
23. Jehovah's Witness (31%)
24. Nontheist (31%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (29%)
26. Roman Catholic (29%)
27. Seventh Day Adventist (28%)
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Monday, January 14, 2008
1638 Fireplaces I Have Known
In the previous post, it sounds like we watched movies in a fireplace.
That reminded me of a guy I knew in Washington Mensa, in the early '80s. He liked me, and at a party one evening he was trying to talk me into leaving with him and going to his apartment. "We can sit in front of a fire with a glass of wine and you can tell me about (whatever it was we'd been talking about, I forget)."
I had been to a party at his place a few weeks previously, and I frowned and said, "Your apartment doesn't have a fireplace."
He responded, perfectly seriously, "No, but there's a corner of the dining room I'm not using."
We didn't get together that evening, but ... eventually. How could anyone resist that line? I was ready to laugh every time I saw him after that, and that always works, sooner or later.
.
That reminded me of a guy I knew in Washington Mensa, in the early '80s. He liked me, and at a party one evening he was trying to talk me into leaving with him and going to his apartment. "We can sit in front of a fire with a glass of wine and you can tell me about (whatever it was we'd been talking about, I forget)."
I had been to a party at his place a few weeks previously, and I frowned and said, "Your apartment doesn't have a fireplace."
He responded, perfectly seriously, "No, but there's a corner of the dining room I'm not using."
We didn't get together that evening, but ... eventually. How could anyone resist that line? I was ready to laugh every time I saw him after that, and that always works, sooner or later.
.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
1637 Relaxed
Sunday, January 13, 2008
I had a very nice weekend. DVD movies in front of a fire in a fireplace.
It didn't start out looking good at all. Thursday night, overnight, we had freezing rain, and I woke Friday to no electricity. Out here in the boonies, that means no phone, no heat, no water (comes from a well, you know). So no shower, no toilet. Yeah, you can get one flush from each john, and a little bit of water from the well holding tank, but if you actually try it, you get air in the pipes when the water runs out, and that's no good at all.
I wanted to leave here by 2:30 pm. I fiddled around for an hour hoping the power would come back on, but when it didn't, I started with stuff I could do. I selected clothing from the very dark closet, and packed, hoping that I remembered what color that top is, and those slacks.
Now what? I hated to open the refrigerator, but that was about all I could do next. So I put together meal ingredients and packed them.
Still no power. If it wasn't back on by 1 pm, I figured I'd just have to travel dirty, get to the hotel earlier than my friend, and shower and pretty up there. Considering that my hair was filthy and messy, a day past time-to-wash-it (I had let it go specifically so I could wash it that morning) I wasn't excited about that idea.
The electricity came back on exactly at 1. I cleaned and prettied me up, verified that the clothes I'd packed were the right ones, and then I gave the cats 2.5 days worth of dry food.
Jasper was going to have to be shut in the laundry room so he wouldn't terrorize Miss Thunderfoot for fun, and eat all her food.
How did he know that was my intent? He was lured into the laundry room with canned food, but when I moved the dangly toy out of the way so I could close the door - note that I hadn't even touched the door yet - he bolted past me, tore through the house, and hid under the bed. This time, with ALL his body under there. How did he know?
I was forced to leave with him still loose.
Gack.
Well, the rest of the weekend went much better. I'm in love again.
When I got home this afternoon, Miss Thunderfoot had some food left (although Jasper's was all gone), and Jasper is still suspicious. He won't come close enough to me that I can catch him (I don't want to catch him now, but he won't believe me), and although his food dishes in the laundry room have been refreshed, he won't go in there if I'm in that end of the house. I may have to tame him all over again. He's a smart little monster.
.
I had a very nice weekend. DVD movies in front of a fire in a fireplace.
It didn't start out looking good at all. Thursday night, overnight, we had freezing rain, and I woke Friday to no electricity. Out here in the boonies, that means no phone, no heat, no water (comes from a well, you know). So no shower, no toilet. Yeah, you can get one flush from each john, and a little bit of water from the well holding tank, but if you actually try it, you get air in the pipes when the water runs out, and that's no good at all.
I wanted to leave here by 2:30 pm. I fiddled around for an hour hoping the power would come back on, but when it didn't, I started with stuff I could do. I selected clothing from the very dark closet, and packed, hoping that I remembered what color that top is, and those slacks.
Now what? I hated to open the refrigerator, but that was about all I could do next. So I put together meal ingredients and packed them.
Still no power. If it wasn't back on by 1 pm, I figured I'd just have to travel dirty, get to the hotel earlier than my friend, and shower and pretty up there. Considering that my hair was filthy and messy, a day past time-to-wash-it (I had let it go specifically so I could wash it that morning) I wasn't excited about that idea.
The electricity came back on exactly at 1. I cleaned and prettied me up, verified that the clothes I'd packed were the right ones, and then I gave the cats 2.5 days worth of dry food.
Jasper was going to have to be shut in the laundry room so he wouldn't terrorize Miss Thunderfoot for fun, and eat all her food.
How did he know that was my intent? He was lured into the laundry room with canned food, but when I moved the dangly toy out of the way so I could close the door - note that I hadn't even touched the door yet - he bolted past me, tore through the house, and hid under the bed. This time, with ALL his body under there. How did he know?
I was forced to leave with him still loose.
Gack.
Well, the rest of the weekend went much better. I'm in love again.
When I got home this afternoon, Miss Thunderfoot had some food left (although Jasper's was all gone), and Jasper is still suspicious. He won't come close enough to me that I can catch him (I don't want to catch him now, but he won't believe me), and although his food dishes in the laundry room have been refreshed, he won't go in there if I'm in that end of the house. I may have to tame him all over again. He's a smart little monster.
.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
1636 Bleck
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Things are not going well today. I got me all washed and dressed to go to the store, and decided to take care of the litter box. It was pretty bad.
I use a pelleted pine sawdust kitty litter because it lasts a good long time (before it will suddenly get overwhelmed), and it's easy to dispose of. I can just dump it in the woods, which I can't do with the white stuff, or with clay.
So I picked up the (huge) pan, and carried it to the woods. In the dark.
I swung it out to spread the litter, and stepped in a hole, I guess. Off balance because of swinging the litter box, I fell - into the litter I'd dumped, and then I poured the rest of the litter over myself, filling my shoes and down inside the v-neck of my sweater.
Back to the shower, and the closet.
.
Things are not going well today. I got me all washed and dressed to go to the store, and decided to take care of the litter box. It was pretty bad.
I use a pelleted pine sawdust kitty litter because it lasts a good long time (before it will suddenly get overwhelmed), and it's easy to dispose of. I can just dump it in the woods, which I can't do with the white stuff, or with clay.
So I picked up the (huge) pan, and carried it to the woods. In the dark.
I swung it out to spread the litter, and stepped in a hole, I guess. Off balance because of swinging the litter box, I fell - into the litter I'd dumped, and then I poured the rest of the litter over myself, filling my shoes and down inside the v-neck of my sweater.
Back to the shower, and the closet.
.
1635 Four pounds!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Lots to do today - some major grocery shopping, clean out the car, etc. I'm taking the weekend off to laze a bit and watch some movies, and do some cooking for a real live man - something I have carefully and successfully avoided (not the man part, the cooking part) for years now.
Late last week I bought two lunches from the chinese take-out, and except for a sandwich on the drive on Sunday and a buffet at D's mother's house on Monday, that's all I've been nibbling on for the past week. And yet, I've gained four pounds!
I don't understand.
Those four pounds are just enough that I can't zip my sexy new leather jacket. With the unseasonable warmth we've had lately, I was looking forward to wearing that (sexy, new, butter-soft, black, silk-lined, stand-up collar, still smells of leather) jacket this weekend. I'm very annoyed.
And you can imagine how sexy it is when four pounds makes a difference!
.
Lots to do today - some major grocery shopping, clean out the car, etc. I'm taking the weekend off to laze a bit and watch some movies, and do some cooking for a real live man - something I have carefully and successfully avoided (not the man part, the cooking part) for years now.
Late last week I bought two lunches from the chinese take-out, and except for a sandwich on the drive on Sunday and a buffet at D's mother's house on Monday, that's all I've been nibbling on for the past week. And yet, I've gained four pounds!
I don't understand.
Those four pounds are just enough that I can't zip my sexy new leather jacket. With the unseasonable warmth we've had lately, I was looking forward to wearing that (sexy, new, butter-soft, black, silk-lined, stand-up collar, still smells of leather) jacket this weekend. I'm very annoyed.
And you can imagine how sexy it is when four pounds makes a difference!
.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
1634 Candidate Quiz
About what I figured.....
77% Hillary Clinton
77% Barack Obama
76% Chris Dodd
75% John Edwards
72% Joe Biden
65% Bill Richardson
63% Mike Gravel
61% Dennis Kucinich
53% Rudy Giuliani
43% Mitt Romney
40% John McCain
39% Tom Tancredo
31% Fred Thompson
29% Mike Huckabee
21% Ron Paul
2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz
77% Hillary Clinton
77% Barack Obama
76% Chris Dodd
75% John Edwards
72% Joe Biden
65% Bill Richardson
63% Mike Gravel
61% Dennis Kucinich
53% Rudy Giuliani
43% Mitt Romney
40% John McCain
39% Tom Tancredo
31% Fred Thompson
29% Mike Huckabee
21% Ron Paul
2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz
1633 Recommending a blog from Iraq
I have just discovered Michael J. Totten's Middle East Journal.
He's a journalist with marines in Iraq. He writes so well, so easy to read, draws you in. And he asks all the right questions, the ones *I* want to ask. Great photos.
Even if you don't plan to subscribe to the feeds, and don't have time to read everything written, you really should read the January 2 post, A Plan to Kill Everyone.
.
He's a journalist with marines in Iraq. He writes so well, so easy to read, draws you in. And he asks all the right questions, the ones *I* want to ask. Great photos.
Even if you don't plan to subscribe to the feeds, and don't have time to read everything written, you really should read the January 2 post, A Plan to Kill Everyone.
.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
1631 My friend's father
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
I need to write about my friend's father. I posted a photo several months ago, and I'll post it again, because I love it:
This photo was taken by D. when D.'s mother was visiting with D.'s father at the nursing home early in 2007. D.'s father (hereinafter "DF") had several serious medical problems, including an on-again off-again dementia. D.'s mother (hereinafter "DM") is frail.
DF died early New Year's Day. He'd been on life support for a few weeks.
I've known D. for twenty-five years. He was a college co-op in our department at The Company in the early 80s, for two summers. He's a real sweetheart. I attended his wedding, and we've kept in touch by snail mail and email since. I was aware that he came from a large family, and judging from how he turned out, it was a good family, but that's pretty much all I knew.
I went to DF's memorial service yesterday, and I was completely blown away by DF's story, and by D.'s family dynamics.
DF was born in North Carolina in 1922, the eldest of his father's six children, although there were three older siblings from his mother's earlier marriage. His father supported the family of nine children through farming, fishing, and making and selling wooden farming tools. When DF was 13, his father died suddenly of a heart attack, and DF left school to support the family, pursuing his father's crafts.
During his later teens, he moved north for better employment. By 18, he was driving an 18-wheeler for a chemical company in Baltimore, sending money home, and eventually found a job up north for a younger brother, too.
He met and married DM in 1945, was drafted, and served in the Navy through WWII as a petty officer and drill instructor. After the war, he worked as a barber, mortician, business owner, cab driver, cobbler, and craftsman, sometimes holding two and three jobs at once. He also obtained his high school diploma from a Baltimore high school, studying at night while supporting his family, which now consisted of three children and a fourth on the way.
In the early 1950s, the couple bought a home in northwest Baltimore, and DF enrolled at Morgan State, majoring in English and Humanities. He pledged to DM that all their children would go to college.
DF wanted five children. DM wanted four. They had nine. My friend D. and his twin sister are the youngest. By then, DF was employed by the US Postal Service, the career from which he retired. And during that employment, he usually held down a second full-time job.
All nine children did go to college. The nine of them have earned a total of more than twenty undergraduate and graduate degrees in fields including fine arts, music, psychology (two of D.'s brothers are psychologists), business, and computer science (D.).
The grandchildren are continuing the tradition.
Now, what makes all this most amazing is that DF accomplished so much in the 1940s to '60s, in Baltimore. Think about the social climate of the time. The barriers to be overcome.
He just went out there and DID it.
.
I need to write about my friend's father. I posted a photo several months ago, and I'll post it again, because I love it:
This photo was taken by D. when D.'s mother was visiting with D.'s father at the nursing home early in 2007. D.'s father (hereinafter "DF") had several serious medical problems, including an on-again off-again dementia. D.'s mother (hereinafter "DM") is frail.
DF died early New Year's Day. He'd been on life support for a few weeks.
I've known D. for twenty-five years. He was a college co-op in our department at The Company in the early 80s, for two summers. He's a real sweetheart. I attended his wedding, and we've kept in touch by snail mail and email since. I was aware that he came from a large family, and judging from how he turned out, it was a good family, but that's pretty much all I knew.
I went to DF's memorial service yesterday, and I was completely blown away by DF's story, and by D.'s family dynamics.
DF was born in North Carolina in 1922, the eldest of his father's six children, although there were three older siblings from his mother's earlier marriage. His father supported the family of nine children through farming, fishing, and making and selling wooden farming tools. When DF was 13, his father died suddenly of a heart attack, and DF left school to support the family, pursuing his father's crafts.
During his later teens, he moved north for better employment. By 18, he was driving an 18-wheeler for a chemical company in Baltimore, sending money home, and eventually found a job up north for a younger brother, too.
He met and married DM in 1945, was drafted, and served in the Navy through WWII as a petty officer and drill instructor. After the war, he worked as a barber, mortician, business owner, cab driver, cobbler, and craftsman, sometimes holding two and three jobs at once. He also obtained his high school diploma from a Baltimore high school, studying at night while supporting his family, which now consisted of three children and a fourth on the way.
In the early 1950s, the couple bought a home in northwest Baltimore, and DF enrolled at Morgan State, majoring in English and Humanities. He pledged to DM that all their children would go to college.
DF wanted five children. DM wanted four. They had nine. My friend D. and his twin sister are the youngest. By then, DF was employed by the US Postal Service, the career from which he retired. And during that employment, he usually held down a second full-time job.
All nine children did go to college. The nine of them have earned a total of more than twenty undergraduate and graduate degrees in fields including fine arts, music, psychology (two of D.'s brothers are psychologists), business, and computer science (D.).
The grandchildren are continuing the tradition.
Now, what makes all this most amazing is that DF accomplished so much in the 1940s to '60s, in Baltimore. Think about the social climate of the time. The barriers to be overcome.
He just went out there and DID it.
.
1630 Commitment papers
Wednesday, January 8, 2008
A thought on last night's radio discussion topic - young couples who don't bother to get married even when they have children like to say that they don't need a piece of paper to prove love or commitment.
My opinion is that they aren't defining proof of commitment correctly. Commitment isn't a "past" thing. Commitment has to do with the future. If you've been together for ten years without the paper, fine, that just means nothing went wrong for ten years. It doesn't mean you were commited. Perhaps you were not particularly commited, and just lazy. The piece of paper makes it more difficult to cut and run, and shows that you're sure enough to take that on, so the piece of paper shows commitment to a future, to making it work when things get rough.
.
A thought on last night's radio discussion topic - young couples who don't bother to get married even when they have children like to say that they don't need a piece of paper to prove love or commitment.
My opinion is that they aren't defining proof of commitment correctly. Commitment isn't a "past" thing. Commitment has to do with the future. If you've been together for ten years without the paper, fine, that just means nothing went wrong for ten years. It doesn't mean you were commited. Perhaps you were not particularly commited, and just lazy. The piece of paper makes it more difficult to cut and run, and shows that you're sure enough to take that on, so the piece of paper shows commitment to a future, to making it work when things get rough.
.
1629 Civil litigation in NJ
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Driving home last night I was listening to a NJ talk radio station, and heard something startling.
They said that 95% of New Jersey businesses had been hit with civil suits within the past x years (I missed the number, but it was like 5). That it was fairly easy to win a civil suit in NJ, because of lenient judges who allow what amounts to nuisance cases, which actually draws people to sue. They went on to say that 25% of companies based in NJ were seriously considering moving out of the state as a direct result. Many of those who plan to stay in NJ plan to raise prices for their products and services to cover the cost of litigation.
Interesting.
The next item of news, and I'm not sure whether anyone at the radio station realized the irony, was that NJ judges were going to get a 10% raise in salary.
.
Driving home last night I was listening to a NJ talk radio station, and heard something startling.
They said that 95% of New Jersey businesses had been hit with civil suits within the past x years (I missed the number, but it was like 5). That it was fairly easy to win a civil suit in NJ, because of lenient judges who allow what amounts to nuisance cases, which actually draws people to sue. They went on to say that 25% of companies based in NJ were seriously considering moving out of the state as a direct result. Many of those who plan to stay in NJ plan to raise prices for their products and services to cover the cost of litigation.
Interesting.
The next item of news, and I'm not sure whether anyone at the radio station realized the irony, was that NJ judges were going to get a 10% raise in salary.
.
1628 Election Observation
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
A religious fanatic with a lawnmower makes a good neighbor. A religious fanatic with an army makes a bad neighbor.
A religious fanatic with a lawnmower makes a good neighbor. A religious fanatic with an army makes a bad neighbor.
Monday, January 07, 2008
1627 Pansies in January!
Monday, January 07, 2008
There are pansies outside the hotel doors and in the flower bed across the parking lot. Purple pansies. In full bloom! In January!
I don't understand.
.
There are pansies outside the hotel doors and in the flower bed across the parking lot. Purple pansies. In full bloom! In January!
I don't understand.
.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
1626 Things it's illegal to say
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEQOvyGbBtY&feature=related]
Hmmm. I just remembered, after posting this, that I'm just up the road a bit right now from those mysterious folks at Andrews AFB. The ones who have been visiting here. Right after every post. Hey, folks - note that it's not ME saying those bad things!
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1625 I'm in Ballimer...
Sunday, January 6, 2008
... as the natives say. Baltimore for the rest of us. The memorial service for the father of the friend I mentioned a few posts back is tomorrow. So I'm here. In a residence inn, with a full kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom. I wouldn't mind turning my house over to the cats and clutter and living here. Although I'd probably clutter it up pretty quickly.
Google maps said it would take me five and a half hours to get here. I left home at 1 pm, and arrived at the hotel at 6:30, with two lazy relaxed stretch-the-legs rest stops. Including a sit-down dinner. Traffic was smooth, drive was easy.
Was even able to watch The Amazing Race.
.
... as the natives say. Baltimore for the rest of us. The memorial service for the father of the friend I mentioned a few posts back is tomorrow. So I'm here. In a residence inn, with a full kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom. I wouldn't mind turning my house over to the cats and clutter and living here. Although I'd probably clutter it up pretty quickly.
Google maps said it would take me five and a half hours to get here. I left home at 1 pm, and arrived at the hotel at 6:30, with two lazy relaxed stretch-the-legs rest stops. Including a sit-down dinner. Traffic was smooth, drive was easy.
Was even able to watch The Amazing Race.
.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
1624 Recognizing Faces
Saturday, January 5, 2008
I caught a piece of The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet yesterday morning, a segment on people who have difficulty recognizing faces (prosopagnosia, also called face blindness - go to the link for a description).
It interested me because I frequently don't recognize people out of context, or if they've changed their hair or some other aspect. I mostly recognize people I've known a while by how they move, or by their voices. It takes a long time, long exposure, for me to recognize them by face.
I see a lot of dancers in costume, and I'll recognize them again by their style of costume and how they dance, but I'm very confused when I see them out of costume. I don't know who they are. Same with many women I met in dance classes. I don't recognize them outside of class.
When I go to Mensa regional gatherings, I am often warmly greeted by people who seem to be complete strangers to me. I have no idea where or when we met. If they tell me, then I remember the conversation or activity and I can place them - but rarely just by appearance, unless their appearance is very unusual somehow.
(I've always known I have a serious problem with names. It may be not a problem with names, but a problem attaching the name to a face. Or maybe not. I've actually forgotten my daughter's name, and I GAVE it to her - so don't tell me it's just a lack of attention!)
I've always been amazed by police lineups. I can't understand how someone can look at a bunch of people, and pick out one with whom they had a brief run-in. I know I would never be able to do that. I might be able to say "Not number 1, and not number 4", but I would never be able to say definitely anyone else. Ditto for police sketches. I have occasionally thought about how I would describe someone I know well, and I don't think I could do it. I'm not sure I could pick out my own eyes or mouth from a book of eyes and mouths.
There have been times that I've been with a man I've been dating for a while, and he looks different somehow, maybe tired, maybe just an expression I hadn't seen before, and I have a flash of paranoia, "Is this the same guy? Could this be his twin brother?" I actually suddenly don't recognize him. Really. I'm not talking virtually. It's scary. [Later update - Wow! Turns out that's an actual condition, with a name! Capgras Syndrome.]
Well, anyway, that's why I stopped and watched the show.
Mike, the male host, seemed to have difficulty understanding the problem. He thought the guests didn't see faces at all, like they saw a blank where faces were, or the faces were blurred. Juliet, to her credit, finally figured out that he was hung up on the word "blindness", and told him to think of it as "face amnesia". That made more sense. It's not that you don't see the faces, it's that you don't remember them.
I went to the prosopagnosia web site, where they have some tests to see how well you recognize faces (at http://www.faceblind.org/facetests/index.php - they do want your name and email address, but I think they're safe).
Actually, I didn't do that badly on the face recognition tests. I thought I did VERY badly, because I mostly guessed, I swear I never saw any of those faces before, in fact when they were repeated in the first part I wasn't aware they were being repeated, but apparently most of my guesses were good. I scored in the 40%ile on all, which means that about 60% of the people taking the test did better than I. That puts me worse than average, but not a lot worse. (Except the "famous faces" section, where I scored at the 30%ile, which means 70% did better than I. I was pretty bad on that.)
I'm interested in how others do, and how it compares to how you expected to do. Leave a comment. Remember, if you select "anonymous", a password is not required.
.
I caught a piece of The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet yesterday morning, a segment on people who have difficulty recognizing faces (prosopagnosia, also called face blindness - go to the link for a description).
It interested me because I frequently don't recognize people out of context, or if they've changed their hair or some other aspect. I mostly recognize people I've known a while by how they move, or by their voices. It takes a long time, long exposure, for me to recognize them by face.
I see a lot of dancers in costume, and I'll recognize them again by their style of costume and how they dance, but I'm very confused when I see them out of costume. I don't know who they are. Same with many women I met in dance classes. I don't recognize them outside of class.
When I go to Mensa regional gatherings, I am often warmly greeted by people who seem to be complete strangers to me. I have no idea where or when we met. If they tell me, then I remember the conversation or activity and I can place them - but rarely just by appearance, unless their appearance is very unusual somehow.
(I've always known I have a serious problem with names. It may be not a problem with names, but a problem attaching the name to a face. Or maybe not. I've actually forgotten my daughter's name, and I GAVE it to her - so don't tell me it's just a lack of attention!)
I've always been amazed by police lineups. I can't understand how someone can look at a bunch of people, and pick out one with whom they had a brief run-in. I know I would never be able to do that. I might be able to say "Not number 1, and not number 4", but I would never be able to say definitely anyone else. Ditto for police sketches. I have occasionally thought about how I would describe someone I know well, and I don't think I could do it. I'm not sure I could pick out my own eyes or mouth from a book of eyes and mouths.
There have been times that I've been with a man I've been dating for a while, and he looks different somehow, maybe tired, maybe just an expression I hadn't seen before, and I have a flash of paranoia, "Is this the same guy? Could this be his twin brother?" I actually suddenly don't recognize him. Really. I'm not talking virtually. It's scary. [Later update - Wow! Turns out that's an actual condition, with a name! Capgras Syndrome.]
Well, anyway, that's why I stopped and watched the show.
Mike, the male host, seemed to have difficulty understanding the problem. He thought the guests didn't see faces at all, like they saw a blank where faces were, or the faces were blurred. Juliet, to her credit, finally figured out that he was hung up on the word "blindness", and told him to think of it as "face amnesia". That made more sense. It's not that you don't see the faces, it's that you don't remember them.
I went to the prosopagnosia web site, where they have some tests to see how well you recognize faces (at http://www.faceblind.org/facetests/index.php - they do want your name and email address, but I think they're safe).
Actually, I didn't do that badly on the face recognition tests. I thought I did VERY badly, because I mostly guessed, I swear I never saw any of those faces before, in fact when they were repeated in the first part I wasn't aware they were being repeated, but apparently most of my guesses were good. I scored in the 40%ile on all, which means that about 60% of the people taking the test did better than I. That puts me worse than average, but not a lot worse. (Except the "famous faces" section, where I scored at the 30%ile, which means 70% did better than I. I was pretty bad on that.)
I'm interested in how others do, and how it compares to how you expected to do. Leave a comment. Remember, if you select "anonymous", a password is not required.
.
1623 A Walk by the Bay
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Yesterday's visit with Daughter was nice. It was relatively warm out, so we walked along the Raritan (sp?) Bay shoreline. I was amazed at how pretty the ice was on the rocks, and the two kinds of dried grass, one fine and feathery, the other making sharp ribbon arcs, and how beautiful it all was when the sun was going down and it all turned gold and pink and blue.
We walked along a beach that I remarked looked perfect for picnics. I was surprised by the number of shells. Daughter said it's not unusual to find horseshoe crab shells, too. I want one. I asked Daughter if it's good swimming, and she gave me the fisheye, so I guess not. After all, that IS Manhattan you see over there across the water.
I was surprised that there was no snow in New Jersey. It disappeared halfway down the NYS Thruway. I guess that explains why I haven't been getting much sympathy for my driveway woes. They just don't understaaaaaaaaand!
A couple things I don't understand - what's with the new male hairstyle? The one where they comb the hair from both sides into a point, a ridge, on the top. It looks stupid, guys! It reminds me of a dinosaur. Or the way mommies comb a baby's hair.
And I've been seeing something weird on young women, too, where a palm-sized patch on the top front is teased into a pouf. The higher the better. It doesn't blend into the rest of the hair, it's separated from the sides and back, just sits there in an isolated bump above the forehead. Weird.
My mother's theory was that all high fashion is designed to be unattractive on purpose. "The most influential designers and stylists are all gay, and they're perpetrating an enormous joke on heteros. And the heteros eat it up. It's the funniest, longest-lasting, joke ever." You know, I almost buy it.
Another thing I don't understand - how are we fighting terrorism by creating it?
.
Yesterday's visit with Daughter was nice. It was relatively warm out, so we walked along the Raritan (sp?) Bay shoreline. I was amazed at how pretty the ice was on the rocks, and the two kinds of dried grass, one fine and feathery, the other making sharp ribbon arcs, and how beautiful it all was when the sun was going down and it all turned gold and pink and blue.
We walked along a beach that I remarked looked perfect for picnics. I was surprised by the number of shells. Daughter said it's not unusual to find horseshoe crab shells, too. I want one. I asked Daughter if it's good swimming, and she gave me the fisheye, so I guess not. After all, that IS Manhattan you see over there across the water.
I was surprised that there was no snow in New Jersey. It disappeared halfway down the NYS Thruway. I guess that explains why I haven't been getting much sympathy for my driveway woes. They just don't understaaaaaaaaand!
A couple things I don't understand - what's with the new male hairstyle? The one where they comb the hair from both sides into a point, a ridge, on the top. It looks stupid, guys! It reminds me of a dinosaur. Or the way mommies comb a baby's hair.
And I've been seeing something weird on young women, too, where a palm-sized patch on the top front is teased into a pouf. The higher the better. It doesn't blend into the rest of the hair, it's separated from the sides and back, just sits there in an isolated bump above the forehead. Weird.
My mother's theory was that all high fashion is designed to be unattractive on purpose. "The most influential designers and stylists are all gay, and they're perpetrating an enormous joke on heteros. And the heteros eat it up. It's the funniest, longest-lasting, joke ever." You know, I almost buy it.
Another thing I don't understand - how are we fighting terrorism by creating it?
.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
1622 Nothing
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Nothing day. Cold, almost zero out there. Nothing happening. My plants are dying because I'm not watering them. Ho hum.
Going to NJ to visit Daughter tomorrow.
.
Nothing day. Cold, almost zero out there. Nothing happening. My plants are dying because I'm not watering them. Ho hum.
Going to NJ to visit Daughter tomorrow.
.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
1621 It's got nowhere to go but up
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
My friends are not having a good start to 2008.
I was awakened this morning by a call from a dear friend who was fired this morning, no severance. Just bought a house.
Then I got an email from another close friend whose father had died yesterday morning. Not unexpected, but doesn't make it any easier.
A third friend had a project cancelled unexpectedly ten days before Christmas, and with no project, there's also no job and no paycheck. A new job has been found, but in the meantime, other things crashed and debts built up. Recovery will take a while.
Last week I had lunch with a friend who had just lost a major (as in multi-billion dollar) client, thereby reducing commissions, and therefore income, by more than half - AFTER the separation agreement, which had assumed a certain income level, had been approved by the court.
I'm afraid to go visit Jay's father.
I'm afraid NOT to go visit Jay's father.
.
My friends are not having a good start to 2008.
I was awakened this morning by a call from a dear friend who was fired this morning, no severance. Just bought a house.
Then I got an email from another close friend whose father had died yesterday morning. Not unexpected, but doesn't make it any easier.
A third friend had a project cancelled unexpectedly ten days before Christmas, and with no project, there's also no job and no paycheck. A new job has been found, but in the meantime, other things crashed and debts built up. Recovery will take a while.
Last week I had lunch with a friend who had just lost a major (as in multi-billion dollar) client, thereby reducing commissions, and therefore income, by more than half - AFTER the separation agreement, which had assumed a certain income level, had been approved by the court.
I'm afraid to go visit Jay's father.
I'm afraid NOT to go visit Jay's father.
.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
1620 Happy New Year
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
More than four hours clearing snow yesterday. The other tire on the snowthrower went flat, but this time the compressor worked. Snow again overnight. Another 7 inches. This time it was light and fluffy, and easy to clear. Took only a few hours. More predicted tomorrow and Thursday.
This has been around the internet for a few years, but it's the first time I've seen it, and I like it:
May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May your pockets become a magnet for $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires. May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address. And may 2008 be the best year of your life!
.
More than four hours clearing snow yesterday. The other tire on the snowthrower went flat, but this time the compressor worked. Snow again overnight. Another 7 inches. This time it was light and fluffy, and easy to clear. Took only a few hours. More predicted tomorrow and Thursday.
This has been around the internet for a few years, but it's the first time I've seen it, and I like it:
May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May your pockets become a magnet for $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires. May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address. And may 2008 be the best year of your life!
.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
1619 Birth Announcements
Sunday, December 30, 2007
I've been reading the hospital birth announcements in the newspaper again. I shouldn't. They make me sad.
In over half of the announcements where the mother and father are listed, the mother and father have different last names. That's mostly meaningless. I didn't change my name when Jay and I married. But in many of those cases in the paper, I suspect it wasn't that kind of choice.
The ones that bother me most are the one third or more where the father's name is not listed.
Repeat - one third.
It makes me sad.
.
I've been reading the hospital birth announcements in the newspaper again. I shouldn't. They make me sad.
In over half of the announcements where the mother and father are listed, the mother and father have different last names. That's mostly meaningless. I didn't change my name when Jay and I married. But in many of those cases in the paper, I suspect it wasn't that kind of choice.
The ones that bother me most are the one third or more where the father's name is not listed.
Repeat - one third.
It makes me sad.
.
1618 Saturday
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Yesterday I took a load of cardboard and paper to the recycle center. I knew that since it was the first time it was open since Christmas, the bins (construction dumpsters) would fill up quickly, so I went early.
It was a mess! They're putting in some paved access and parking, so more than half the area is blocked off, and the construction vehicles are taking up a lot of the remaining space. People try to park as close as possible to their target bin, and there was no room to turn around to get out. The mud and puddles were ankle deep.
Well, I didn't beat the crowds, had to wait in the line of cars to get in for a good 20 minutes, but at least there was still room in the bins.
Then I spent the afternoon helping a friend and her husband move her dressmaking business. I remember all the machines, cutting tables, and fabric supplies she had when she was working out of her home. Then she moved to an industrial space, and now she's moving to another, and I had to laugh. It looks like business equipment follows the same rule as computer software - it will expand to fill the space available.
When I got home I found some bad news about New Year's Eve plans. I was angry and sad, and didn't feel like I had a right to my anger, and so I did what so many women do when they're upset - I hacked at my hair. I'd trimmed my bangs a few days ago, and they were unevenly cut and not well tapered. Last night I started out trimming, and ended up hacking, and now they're WAY too short. It's pixied. That means the top wants to stand straight up, and there's too little hair on the sides. Mere wisps. My ears are exposed completely, and I noticed with horror that my earlobes are getting longer. I'm expecting them to start flapping when I walk any day now.
Well, at least it's now well cut, no chopped spots, and will eventually grow out.
.
Yesterday I took a load of cardboard and paper to the recycle center. I knew that since it was the first time it was open since Christmas, the bins (construction dumpsters) would fill up quickly, so I went early.
It was a mess! They're putting in some paved access and parking, so more than half the area is blocked off, and the construction vehicles are taking up a lot of the remaining space. People try to park as close as possible to their target bin, and there was no room to turn around to get out. The mud and puddles were ankle deep.
Well, I didn't beat the crowds, had to wait in the line of cars to get in for a good 20 minutes, but at least there was still room in the bins.
Then I spent the afternoon helping a friend and her husband move her dressmaking business. I remember all the machines, cutting tables, and fabric supplies she had when she was working out of her home. Then she moved to an industrial space, and now she's moving to another, and I had to laugh. It looks like business equipment follows the same rule as computer software - it will expand to fill the space available.
When I got home I found some bad news about New Year's Eve plans. I was angry and sad, and didn't feel like I had a right to my anger, and so I did what so many women do when they're upset - I hacked at my hair. I'd trimmed my bangs a few days ago, and they were unevenly cut and not well tapered. Last night I started out trimming, and ended up hacking, and now they're WAY too short. It's pixied. That means the top wants to stand straight up, and there's too little hair on the sides. Mere wisps. My ears are exposed completely, and I noticed with horror that my earlobes are getting longer. I'm expecting them to start flapping when I walk any day now.
Well, at least it's now well cut, no chopped spots, and will eventually grow out.
.
Friday, December 28, 2007
1617 Oil Again...
Friday, December 28, 2007
Busy day yesterday. 2.5 hour lunch with one friend, and a 3.5 hour dinner with a different friend. For dinner we chose a diner where we could sit without being rushed out after the meal, and we went through his vacation photo CD, and then some photos from a photography class he's taking. And that was pretty much yesterday.
I mentioned to Roman on the phone Wednesday that I'd run out of oil, and had got an emergency delivery, and he said the same thing had happened to him, he'd run out, too, earlier than expected.
Now, Roman has this thing that drives me crazy. He argues. And he gets very superior and condescending about it. When I said that I was completely out, and got 253.1 gallons for my 250 gallon tank, he said that's impossible, that the tanks come in 200 and 275 sizes. I insisted that my tank was 250, and he decided I was wrong. It couldn't be. Either I have a 275 gallon tank and wasn't completely out, or I have a 200 gallon tank and got ripped off by 53 gallons.
Then we were talking about the price, and I said I was getting a discount for prepayment, and he said he pays current price. I asked how much, so he went and got his bill, and oddly enough, he'd got exactly 253.1 gallons, too! (Different oil companies.)
Smackdown time!
He he! Snork!
Gee, Roman, either you weren't completely out, or....
Even better, he paid a dollar more per gallon than I.
I was rolling on the floor hugging myself.
.
Busy day yesterday. 2.5 hour lunch with one friend, and a 3.5 hour dinner with a different friend. For dinner we chose a diner where we could sit without being rushed out after the meal, and we went through his vacation photo CD, and then some photos from a photography class he's taking. And that was pretty much yesterday.
I mentioned to Roman on the phone Wednesday that I'd run out of oil, and had got an emergency delivery, and he said the same thing had happened to him, he'd run out, too, earlier than expected.
Now, Roman has this thing that drives me crazy. He argues. And he gets very superior and condescending about it. When I said that I was completely out, and got 253.1 gallons for my 250 gallon tank, he said that's impossible, that the tanks come in 200 and 275 sizes. I insisted that my tank was 250, and he decided I was wrong. It couldn't be. Either I have a 275 gallon tank and wasn't completely out, or I have a 200 gallon tank and got ripped off by 53 gallons.
Then we were talking about the price, and I said I was getting a discount for prepayment, and he said he pays current price. I asked how much, so he went and got his bill, and oddly enough, he'd got exactly 253.1 gallons, too! (Different oil companies.)
Smackdown time!
He he! Snork!
Gee, Roman, either you weren't completely out, or....
Even better, he paid a dollar more per gallon than I.
I was rolling on the floor hugging myself.
.
1616 CPR Study
Friday, December 28, 2007
In CPR classes they teach you to alternate chest compression with ventilation. A new study says that compression alone will suffice. The article (at http://www.physorg.com/news117889437.html) seems to imply at first that it's because bystanders are reluctant to do mouth-to-mouth, so compression alone is better than nothing. But the actual study compared ventilation plus compression to compression alone, and found no significant difference:
Earlier this year, the then-largest study comparing survival rates of cardiac arrest victims in the light of the kind of rescue efforts performed by bystanders concluded that chances of leaving the hospital alive were actually higher for patients who received Continuous-Chest-Compression CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation by bystanders with chest compression only (SOS-KANTO): an observational study; Lancet 2007:369:920-926).
Dr. Ewy says, “It is interesting that Continuous-Chest-Compression CPR, a technique that has not been advocated or taught and is most often performed by individuals not trained in CPR, results in similar survival as the guidelines-advocated approach, on which millions of hours and millions of dollars have been spent teaching and advocating.”
He adds that mouth-to-mouth ventilation is disadvantageous in cases of sudden cardiac arrest for three primary reasons. “A person whose heart suddenly stops, for example because of a heart attack, was breathing normally only seconds earlier so there is plenty of oxygen in the blood. The important thing is to move the blood around, and this is only possible by uninterrupted chest compressions. During CPR, blood flow to the brain and the heart is so marginal that stopping for anything, including ventilation, is harmful to the brain. In addition, research has shown that forced ventilation, including mouth-to-mouth breathing, increases the pressure in the patient’s chest, which in turn inhibits blood flow back to the heart.”
(Actually, survival rates are dismal in any case. But you have to try, I guess.)
So, CPR might become easier to learn. You still have to learn, because most people (even those who have taken the class) don't press in the right place. And you have to compress pretty quickly - more than once per second. And if you break a rib or two, you aren't compressing too hard - in fact, that's probably about right.
I will be happy to do away with ventilation. Not because I object to mouth-to-mouth, that really doesn't bother me (I carry a mask), but because when you're doing it alone, it takes time to get the head and neck in the proper position. I've seen even trained EMTs blow up the stomach instead of the lungs. (Besides not helping, it can lead to vomiting, which is a danger in itself, besides screwing up the rhythm. Bleck.)
I wonder if a change in recommendation will happen? And how soon?
.
In CPR classes they teach you to alternate chest compression with ventilation. A new study says that compression alone will suffice. The article (at http://www.physorg.com/news117889437.html) seems to imply at first that it's because bystanders are reluctant to do mouth-to-mouth, so compression alone is better than nothing. But the actual study compared ventilation plus compression to compression alone, and found no significant difference:
Earlier this year, the then-largest study comparing survival rates of cardiac arrest victims in the light of the kind of rescue efforts performed by bystanders concluded that chances of leaving the hospital alive were actually higher for patients who received Continuous-Chest-Compression CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation by bystanders with chest compression only (SOS-KANTO): an observational study; Lancet 2007:369:920-926).
Dr. Ewy says, “It is interesting that Continuous-Chest-Compression CPR, a technique that has not been advocated or taught and is most often performed by individuals not trained in CPR, results in similar survival as the guidelines-advocated approach, on which millions of hours and millions of dollars have been spent teaching and advocating.”
He adds that mouth-to-mouth ventilation is disadvantageous in cases of sudden cardiac arrest for three primary reasons. “A person whose heart suddenly stops, for example because of a heart attack, was breathing normally only seconds earlier so there is plenty of oxygen in the blood. The important thing is to move the blood around, and this is only possible by uninterrupted chest compressions. During CPR, blood flow to the brain and the heart is so marginal that stopping for anything, including ventilation, is harmful to the brain. In addition, research has shown that forced ventilation, including mouth-to-mouth breathing, increases the pressure in the patient’s chest, which in turn inhibits blood flow back to the heart.”
(Actually, survival rates are dismal in any case. But you have to try, I guess.)
So, CPR might become easier to learn. You still have to learn, because most people (even those who have taken the class) don't press in the right place. And you have to compress pretty quickly - more than once per second. And if you break a rib or two, you aren't compressing too hard - in fact, that's probably about right.
I will be happy to do away with ventilation. Not because I object to mouth-to-mouth, that really doesn't bother me (I carry a mask), but because when you're doing it alone, it takes time to get the head and neck in the proper position. I've seen even trained EMTs blow up the stomach instead of the lungs. (Besides not helping, it can lead to vomiting, which is a danger in itself, besides screwing up the rhythm. Bleck.)
I wonder if a change in recommendation will happen? And how soon?
.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
1615 Speculation on Oil
For those who keep track of such things - I usually use 800 gallons of fuel oil per year. Last year was a mild winter, and I used only 500, a portion of which was even left over from the winter before.
I don't know why this winter is so "oily". It might be that we've had a lot more wind, and I'm high enough to be affected by it. It could also be that my new roof isn't insulating as well as the old one, although the snow cover stayed on the roof longer this year than ever before. It could be that the new larger ventilating fan in the attic is alowing the attic to get colder.
In short - as usual, I Don't Understand.
-------------------------------
Several years ago, a local realtor was trying to sell the land to the north of us. That lot had no access to our street, and their drive would have to go down to the main road, and the ridge was very steep on that side. The realtor visited us (Jay was alive then) and asked if it would be possible for new owners to cut a drive through the woods across the crest of the ridge to our driveway, for emergency access just during the snow months. Otherwise, she doubted she'd ever be able to sell it. We said yes, no problem, but then we never heard anything else about it.
The land sold about two years ago I think, and there's a huge house there now that I can almost glimpse when the leaves are off the trees.
My regular oil delivery man told me that the folks who bought and built apparently weren't familiar with ice and snow. Their driveway is very long and steep, with two "U"s in it, and turn-around or not, the fuel delivery trucks flat out can't chance it in the winter. So the owners had to put in several very large fuel tanks which they fill in the fall.
I hope they're better at estimating usage than I am.
.
I don't know why this winter is so "oily". It might be that we've had a lot more wind, and I'm high enough to be affected by it. It could also be that my new roof isn't insulating as well as the old one, although the snow cover stayed on the roof longer this year than ever before. It could be that the new larger ventilating fan in the attic is alowing the attic to get colder.
In short - as usual, I Don't Understand.
-------------------------------
Several years ago, a local realtor was trying to sell the land to the north of us. That lot had no access to our street, and their drive would have to go down to the main road, and the ridge was very steep on that side. The realtor visited us (Jay was alive then) and asked if it would be possible for new owners to cut a drive through the woods across the crest of the ridge to our driveway, for emergency access just during the snow months. Otherwise, she doubted she'd ever be able to sell it. We said yes, no problem, but then we never heard anything else about it.
The land sold about two years ago I think, and there's a huge house there now that I can almost glimpse when the leaves are off the trees.
My regular oil delivery man told me that the folks who bought and built apparently weren't familiar with ice and snow. Their driveway is very long and steep, with two "U"s in it, and turn-around or not, the fuel delivery trucks flat out can't chance it in the winter. So the owners had to put in several very large fuel tanks which they fill in the fall.
I hope they're better at estimating usage than I am.
.
1614 Thank You, Plow Man
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
I was up late last night, so I slept late this morning. Usually the cats let me sleep, but this morning Jasper was bouncing all over my legs by 10:30, and Miss Thunderfoot was complaining loudly. Very unusual for her. I was having a nice dream, and held out until 11, but finally gave up and got up.
Their complaint was that it was 60 degrees (F) in the house.
I have a programmed thermostat, so the temperature does drop during the night, but never lower than 63, and it should be above 70 by 9 am. Something was wrong, and the cats didn't like it. Not one bit.
Neither did I.
The furnace fan was blowing, but it was blowing cold air. The outside temperature was 32. Freezing. We had power. I went to the basement, and the furnace was "running", but it was cold. The fuel tank gauge said "empty". I knocked on it with a knuckle, and it was hollow all the way down. I have a 250 gallon tank. I got a delivery only two months ago. Ouch!
Remember my chief concern about getting the top of my drive cleared? So the fuel oil truck could get up and turned around?
I called the oil company and told them I was out and needed an emergency delivery, then moved the Aerio to the street to make sure the truck could turn around. Within the hour, I heard the "beep beep" of a truck backing up the drive.
Backing up?
It was a new guy, and he didn't know that Ms. Silk always makes sure he can turn around (although the dispatcher knew, and had made sure to send a small truck). I met him at the top of the driveway, and scolded him, "Sheesh! I did all this work (waving at the cleared top) to make sure you'd be able to turn around, and you BACK up the drive? But I've gotta admire your courage!"
I guess it was a scary trip. This complete stranger walked up to me and hugged me, with a relieved laugh.
It took 253.1 gallons, at $2.449/gal. $619.84 total. It would have cost a lot more, but I had prepaid in September, with a discount on the September price. I've got one more delivery's worth of credit, then I'll have to pay the real price.
Let's hope it's a short winter.
.
I was up late last night, so I slept late this morning. Usually the cats let me sleep, but this morning Jasper was bouncing all over my legs by 10:30, and Miss Thunderfoot was complaining loudly. Very unusual for her. I was having a nice dream, and held out until 11, but finally gave up and got up.
Their complaint was that it was 60 degrees (F) in the house.
I have a programmed thermostat, so the temperature does drop during the night, but never lower than 63, and it should be above 70 by 9 am. Something was wrong, and the cats didn't like it. Not one bit.
Neither did I.
The furnace fan was blowing, but it was blowing cold air. The outside temperature was 32. Freezing. We had power. I went to the basement, and the furnace was "running", but it was cold. The fuel tank gauge said "empty". I knocked on it with a knuckle, and it was hollow all the way down. I have a 250 gallon tank. I got a delivery only two months ago. Ouch!
Remember my chief concern about getting the top of my drive cleared? So the fuel oil truck could get up and turned around?
I called the oil company and told them I was out and needed an emergency delivery, then moved the Aerio to the street to make sure the truck could turn around. Within the hour, I heard the "beep beep" of a truck backing up the drive.
Backing up?
It was a new guy, and he didn't know that Ms. Silk always makes sure he can turn around (although the dispatcher knew, and had made sure to send a small truck). I met him at the top of the driveway, and scolded him, "Sheesh! I did all this work (waving at the cleared top) to make sure you'd be able to turn around, and you BACK up the drive? But I've gotta admire your courage!"
I guess it was a scary trip. This complete stranger walked up to me and hugged me, with a relieved laugh.
It took 253.1 gallons, at $2.449/gal. $619.84 total. It would have cost a lot more, but I had prepaid in September, with a discount on the September price. I've got one more delivery's worth of credit, then I'll have to pay the real price.
Let's hope it's a short winter.
.
Monday, December 24, 2007
1613 Keen
Monday, December 24, 2007
This started out as a response to Chis's comment on entry #1611, where he asks if the strange noises could have anything to do with a fault zone. I decided to make my response to his query an entry itself:
Not a fault zone, exactly. But the house is perched on a rock ridge, about 2 miles from the Hudson river. Between here and the river is another ridge. Railroad tracks run along the banks of the river, and sometimes, not all the time but sometimes, I can feel the vibration of the trains. Something to do with the rock shelves, I suppose.
Sound carries very far, too. There was a police bagpipe band that practiced IN a firehouse a good ten miles away as the crow flies, across the river, beyond two ridges, and on summer Sunday afternoons I could hear them clearly inside my closed house. The back wall of the house is about half glass, and it collects and amplifies sound. Outside, no one could hear the sound. Inside, I had a concert.
The keening I heard last night could have been coming from 10 miles or 10 feet away. It sounded like a half-asleep hawk, or a fawn in difficulty. (Or a rabbit dying, but I prefer to discount that one.) It continued off and on for three hours. It's too early for fawns, so I don't know.
The last time I heard a similar sound I was convinced it was a fawn in trouble. There's a doe who parks her new twin fawns in the woods just outside my bathroom window, and I thought perhaps one had gotten trapped somehow. When I investigated, I discovered the red-tailed hawks who nest out back were teaching their fledgelings how to fly and dive and soar, and the sounds were calls, encouragement, and exuberance.
It just SOUNDED like a distress call.
.
This started out as a response to Chis's comment on entry #1611, where he asks if the strange noises could have anything to do with a fault zone. I decided to make my response to his query an entry itself:
Not a fault zone, exactly. But the house is perched on a rock ridge, about 2 miles from the Hudson river. Between here and the river is another ridge. Railroad tracks run along the banks of the river, and sometimes, not all the time but sometimes, I can feel the vibration of the trains. Something to do with the rock shelves, I suppose.
Sound carries very far, too. There was a police bagpipe band that practiced IN a firehouse a good ten miles away as the crow flies, across the river, beyond two ridges, and on summer Sunday afternoons I could hear them clearly inside my closed house. The back wall of the house is about half glass, and it collects and amplifies sound. Outside, no one could hear the sound. Inside, I had a concert.
The keening I heard last night could have been coming from 10 miles or 10 feet away. It sounded like a half-asleep hawk, or a fawn in difficulty. (Or a rabbit dying, but I prefer to discount that one.) It continued off and on for three hours. It's too early for fawns, so I don't know.
The last time I heard a similar sound I was convinced it was a fawn in trouble. There's a doe who parks her new twin fawns in the woods just outside my bathroom window, and I thought perhaps one had gotten trapped somehow. When I investigated, I discovered the red-tailed hawks who nest out back were teaching their fledgelings how to fly and dive and soar, and the sounds were calls, encouragement, and exuberance.
It just SOUNDED like a distress call.
.
1612 Kitty Update
Monday, December 24, 2007
I've had many cats in my life. Most of them went through a youthful phase where they wanted to climb everything, explore everywhere. Every one of them was delicate about it. They all could walk across a crowded knick-knack shelf and never knock anything off. They carefully tested the footing before venturing onto a heap of anything.
Jasper is a total klutz.
A few months ago, I tracked his progress through the house by the "Eeeep, Eeeep?" (he's a talker). Now I know where he is by the crashes and thuds.
He's my first (young) male cat. Is that the difference?
.
I've had many cats in my life. Most of them went through a youthful phase where they wanted to climb everything, explore everywhere. Every one of them was delicate about it. They all could walk across a crowded knick-knack shelf and never knock anything off. They carefully tested the footing before venturing onto a heap of anything.
Jasper is a total klutz.
A few months ago, I tracked his progress through the house by the "Eeeep, Eeeep?" (he's a talker). Now I know where he is by the crashes and thuds.
He's my first (young) male cat. Is that the difference?
.
1611 From Afar, Very Afar
Monday, December 24, 2007
Today I received a Christmas email from ... man, I'm not even sure who. Jay's mother had like 3rd-degree relatives in Sweden, and next summer some of them are coming to visit relatives in Mass., and Niagra Falls, with a short stay in the Rochester NY area. The woman sent the email to Jay's father, and Jay's sisters and I (although they probably thought Jay would be receiving the email - I'm still using his id) were copied. She hopes to see "us" while here.
My head is spinning.
How did she get the email addresses? Obviously she's in touch with someone....
In my family, my sister and I don't know where our youngest brother is. I have no idea where any of my 1st degree cousins are. Occasionally I find one, usually at a funeral of an aunt or uncle, but then I lose them again, and the aunt and uncle supply is dropping rapidly. But Jay's family hovers around each other constantly, out to the 3rd and 4th degree, and new members are cropping up all the time.
My entire family is dysfunctional. But although Jay's family looks so perfect from the outside, I know they're dysfunctional, too, just more subtly. His family has a very strict set of social standards that my family never subscribed to. Perhaps some might call it breeding.
Different dynamics.
-------------------------------
I'm getting strange noises in and outside the house again. Last night there was a weird keening in the woods. I've never heard it before.
Just a few minutes ago there was a thud somewhere in or close outside the house, exactly the sound of a heavy box being dropped on the floor. I hadn't heard anyone come up the drive, but I checked the porch anyway to see if there was a package. Nothing.
Sometimes birds fly into the glass walls on the back, or into the siding, but it didn't sound like that - unless it was a turkey falling out of the air onto the deck.
Mystery. I don't like it.
----------------------------
I've figured out why Jasper insisted his name was Jasper. He was trying to say Exjasperate.
.
Today I received a Christmas email from ... man, I'm not even sure who. Jay's mother had like 3rd-degree relatives in Sweden, and next summer some of them are coming to visit relatives in Mass., and Niagra Falls, with a short stay in the Rochester NY area. The woman sent the email to Jay's father, and Jay's sisters and I (although they probably thought Jay would be receiving the email - I'm still using his id) were copied. She hopes to see "us" while here.
My head is spinning.
How did she get the email addresses? Obviously she's in touch with someone....
In my family, my sister and I don't know where our youngest brother is. I have no idea where any of my 1st degree cousins are. Occasionally I find one, usually at a funeral of an aunt or uncle, but then I lose them again, and the aunt and uncle supply is dropping rapidly. But Jay's family hovers around each other constantly, out to the 3rd and 4th degree, and new members are cropping up all the time.
My entire family is dysfunctional. But although Jay's family looks so perfect from the outside, I know they're dysfunctional, too, just more subtly. His family has a very strict set of social standards that my family never subscribed to. Perhaps some might call it breeding.
Different dynamics.
-------------------------------
I'm getting strange noises in and outside the house again. Last night there was a weird keening in the woods. I've never heard it before.
Just a few minutes ago there was a thud somewhere in or close outside the house, exactly the sound of a heavy box being dropped on the floor. I hadn't heard anyone come up the drive, but I checked the porch anyway to see if there was a package. Nothing.
Sometimes birds fly into the glass walls on the back, or into the siding, but it didn't sound like that - unless it was a turkey falling out of the air onto the deck.
Mystery. I don't like it.
----------------------------
I've figured out why Jasper insisted his name was Jasper. He was trying to say Exjasperate.
.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
1610 Silent Night
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Simon and Garfunkel's Silent Night - 7 o'clock News - 1966. Set to various covers of TIME magazine. From: rsensorat3 .
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcGBcJKalrQ]
Silent night
Holy night
All is calm
All is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.
- - - - - - - - - - -
This is the early evening edition of the news.
The recent fight in the House of Representatives was over the open housing section of the Civil Rights Bill. It brought traditional enemies together but it left the defenders of the
measure without the votes of their strongest supporters. President Johnson originally proposed an outright ban covering discrimination by everyone for every type of housing but it had no chance from the start and everyone in Congress knew it. A compromise was painfully worked out in the House Judiciary Committee.
In Los Angeles today comedian Lenny Bruce died of what was believed to be an overdose of narcotics. Bruce was 42 years old.
Dr. Martin Luther King says he does not intend to cancel plans for an open housing march Sunday into the Chicago suburb of Cicero. Cook County Sheriff Richard Ogleby asked King to call off the march and the police in Cicero said they would ask the National Guard to be called out if it is held. King, now in Atlanta, Georgia, plans to return to Chicago Tuesday.
In Chicago Richard Speck, accused murderer of nine student nurses, was brought before a grand jury today for indictment. The nurses were found stabbed and strangled in their Chicago apartment.
In Washington the atmosphere was tense today as a special subcommittee of the House Committee on Un-American activities continued its probe into anti-Viet nam war protests.
Demonstrators were forcibly evicted from the hearings when they began chanting anti-war slogans.
Former Vice-President Richard Nixon says that unless there is a substantial increase in the present war effort in Viet Nam, the U.S. should look forward to five more years of war.
In a speech before the Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in New York, Nixon also said opposition to the war in this country is the greatest single weapon working against the U.S.
That's the 7 o'clock edition of the news.
Goodnight.
Time passes. Only the details change.
Silent Night - Iraq. From: ChristellaKury .
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHFzQx53eGY&NR=1]
.
Simon and Garfunkel's Silent Night - 7 o'clock News - 1966. Set to various covers of TIME magazine. From: rsensorat3 .
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcGBcJKalrQ]
Silent night
Holy night
All is calm
All is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.
- - - - - - - - - - -
This is the early evening edition of the news.
The recent fight in the House of Representatives was over the open housing section of the Civil Rights Bill. It brought traditional enemies together but it left the defenders of the
measure without the votes of their strongest supporters. President Johnson originally proposed an outright ban covering discrimination by everyone for every type of housing but it had no chance from the start and everyone in Congress knew it. A compromise was painfully worked out in the House Judiciary Committee.
In Los Angeles today comedian Lenny Bruce died of what was believed to be an overdose of narcotics. Bruce was 42 years old.
Dr. Martin Luther King says he does not intend to cancel plans for an open housing march Sunday into the Chicago suburb of Cicero. Cook County Sheriff Richard Ogleby asked King to call off the march and the police in Cicero said they would ask the National Guard to be called out if it is held. King, now in Atlanta, Georgia, plans to return to Chicago Tuesday.
In Chicago Richard Speck, accused murderer of nine student nurses, was brought before a grand jury today for indictment. The nurses were found stabbed and strangled in their Chicago apartment.
In Washington the atmosphere was tense today as a special subcommittee of the House Committee on Un-American activities continued its probe into anti-Viet nam war protests.
Demonstrators were forcibly evicted from the hearings when they began chanting anti-war slogans.
Former Vice-President Richard Nixon says that unless there is a substantial increase in the present war effort in Viet Nam, the U.S. should look forward to five more years of war.
In a speech before the Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in New York, Nixon also said opposition to the war in this country is the greatest single weapon working against the U.S.
That's the 7 o'clock edition of the news.
Goodnight.
Time passes. Only the details change.
Silent Night - Iraq. From: ChristellaKury .
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHFzQx53eGY&NR=1]
.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
1609 Plowed on Yule!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
The Hairless Hunk has come through! I got a call this morning from a guy who plows, who said the Hunk had given him my number. He came. He plowed all around the edges of the turnaround. Now I can get oil deliveries! I'm so happy!
I'll trim around the edges and knock off some corners with the coal shovel and snowthrower this afternoon or tomorrow, and then it will all be perfect.
The snow banks on the sides are over five feet high. Lotta snow.
-------------------------------
The solstice was last night, actually early this morning. This is Yule, the natural northern hemisphere New Year, when the lifegiving sun returns, light triumphs over darkness, and the promise is renewed. Happy Yule.
Happy me.
Now if only I could get to my woodpile beyond that 5' wall of ice and snow, I could celebrate it properly. I think a cup of hot chocolate will have to do.
.
The Hairless Hunk has come through! I got a call this morning from a guy who plows, who said the Hunk had given him my number. He came. He plowed all around the edges of the turnaround. Now I can get oil deliveries! I'm so happy!
I'll trim around the edges and knock off some corners with the coal shovel and snowthrower this afternoon or tomorrow, and then it will all be perfect.
The snow banks on the sides are over five feet high. Lotta snow.
-------------------------------
The solstice was last night, actually early this morning. This is Yule, the natural northern hemisphere New Year, when the lifegiving sun returns, light triumphs over darkness, and the promise is renewed. Happy Yule.
Happy me.
Now if only I could get to my woodpile beyond that 5' wall of ice and snow, I could celebrate it properly. I think a cup of hot chocolate will have to do.
.
Friday, December 21, 2007
1608 Scary
Friday, December 21, 2007
There's an Ambien commercial wherein a streetlight bends around and sticks its head through a window, and examines a sleeping couple.
The ad agancy probably doesn't realize that that commercial is frightening to people who sat through '50s sci-fi movies featuring death-dealing alien robots with heads like the streetlight, and who then after the movie rode home on a bicycle through the dark.
Fifty-plus years, and that silvery head with a glowing eye on a flexible neck is still scary.
------------------------------
I called the number in the letter in the previous post, and asked what my temporary password is. The Verizon person insisted the password was in the letter. I read her the sentence. Several times. She still insisted the password was in the letter. I finally convinced her I was too stupid to figure it out, and she should give me another.
That's scary, too.
.
There's an Ambien commercial wherein a streetlight bends around and sticks its head through a window, and examines a sleeping couple.
The ad agancy probably doesn't realize that that commercial is frightening to people who sat through '50s sci-fi movies featuring death-dealing alien robots with heads like the streetlight, and who then after the movie rode home on a bicycle through the dark.
Fifty-plus years, and that silvery head with a glowing eye on a flexible neck is still scary.
------------------------------
I called the number in the letter in the previous post, and asked what my temporary password is. The Verizon person insisted the password was in the letter. I read her the sentence. Several times. She still insisted the password was in the letter. I finally convinced her I was too stupid to figure it out, and she should give me another.
That's scary, too.
.
1607 What's My Password?
Several days ago I attempted to open an account with Verizon. I understand that I can send photos from my cell phone to that account, and then just download them.
So, I went to the website. The procedure was that they would send me a password, as a text msg to my phone. For some reason, they couldn't. I don't know why. So the website said they would send it snail mail.
This is the letter I received Thursday:
"Your temporary Password for My Account is ."
Very helpful. Why am I not surprised?
.
So, I went to the website. The procedure was that they would send me a password, as a text msg to my phone. For some reason, they couldn't. I don't know why. So the website said they would send it snail mail.
This is the letter I received Thursday:
"Your temporary Password for My Account is ."
Very helpful. Why am I not surprised?
.
1606 A Musical Gift
A gift for y'all.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8]
You know, I never knew the words, anyway. Sounds fine to me....
.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8]
You know, I never knew the words, anyway. Sounds fine to me....
.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
1605 Santa?
Thursday, December 20, 2007
I awoke to another inch of snow on the driveway. Sigh. My arms are too sore today to attempt more shovel chopping, and the forecast is for some above freezing days with sun, so I'm going to let the drive go a little longer, I guess.
I walked down the driveway to go to the post office and grocery store this afternoon, and walking back up I could see my roof.
There's a trail of footprints on the roof, starting (or ending) at the garage, going across the ell, and then across and over the main roof. They're rather large dents in the fresh snow, spaced about two or more feet apart. I'd guess squirrel, except that squirrel prints would be in a line. These are alternating left and right, like human footprints.
'Tis a mystery.
.
I awoke to another inch of snow on the driveway. Sigh. My arms are too sore today to attempt more shovel chopping, and the forecast is for some above freezing days with sun, so I'm going to let the drive go a little longer, I guess.
I walked down the driveway to go to the post office and grocery store this afternoon, and walking back up I could see my roof.
There's a trail of footprints on the roof, starting (or ending) at the garage, going across the ell, and then across and over the main roof. They're rather large dents in the fresh snow, spaced about two or more feet apart. I'd guess squirrel, except that squirrel prints would be in a line. These are alternating left and right, like human footprints.
'Tis a mystery.
.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
1604 Tired
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
I got the snowthrower tire back late yesterday (they could find nothing wrong, and it's holding air now), put it on the snowthrower today, and tried to finish the driveway. The crust is now so firm the snowthrower won't push into it. I had to chop the snow ahead of the snowthrower with a coal shovel (the snow shovel wouldn't break the crust) at 8" intervals, then use the snowthrower to toss the resulting chunks.
We're talking several thousand lifts, stabs, and levers of a heavy all-business shovel. My biceps are in knots, and I am so very tired.
All I've got done is about 300 feet of the drive. I have not cleared enough of the turn-around at the top to get my car up yet. Well, actually, I can get it up, but there's not enough room yet to turn it around, and there's no way I will attempt to back down. I have to clear the turn-around, or I won't get a fuel oil delivery, and I suspect I'm going to need a one-a-them before the end of winter.
I have been unsuccessful at finding someone to plow it. My usual guy's truck is out of commission, the backup guy is taking on no new business before Christmas, and others take one look at the area at the top and say "No way!" (You have to be very good at directing the snow deposits. Requires finesse.)
More chopping and clearing tomorrow. I just hope my arms don't escape overnight.
.
I got the snowthrower tire back late yesterday (they could find nothing wrong, and it's holding air now), put it on the snowthrower today, and tried to finish the driveway. The crust is now so firm the snowthrower won't push into it. I had to chop the snow ahead of the snowthrower with a coal shovel (the snow shovel wouldn't break the crust) at 8" intervals, then use the snowthrower to toss the resulting chunks.
We're talking several thousand lifts, stabs, and levers of a heavy all-business shovel. My biceps are in knots, and I am so very tired.
All I've got done is about 300 feet of the drive. I have not cleared enough of the turn-around at the top to get my car up yet. Well, actually, I can get it up, but there's not enough room yet to turn it around, and there's no way I will attempt to back down. I have to clear the turn-around, or I won't get a fuel oil delivery, and I suspect I'm going to need a one-a-them before the end of winter.
I have been unsuccessful at finding someone to plow it. My usual guy's truck is out of commission, the backup guy is taking on no new business before Christmas, and others take one look at the area at the top and say "No way!" (You have to be very good at directing the snow deposits. Requires finesse.)
More chopping and clearing tomorrow. I just hope my arms don't escape overnight.
.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
1603 Snow Emergency Pooping
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
The previous post, by some strange mental connection, reminded me of a tale told by a friend who had spent some time in Antarctica some 30 or 40 years ago.
The latrines had been built a short distance from the housing. Nowadays I suppose they use chemical toilets or something, but back then things were more primitive, and not so ecologically conscious. He says it was just holes dug in the snow pack under a heated outhouse. Painted half-moon on the door and all. I guess they figured anything deposited there would freeze, and they'd just fill in the hole when they left.
It didn't freeze.
Unbeknownst to them, it moved. The deposits flowed down the slight slope, under the pristine surface. An underground brownish-yellow river. ("Kitchens uphill, latrines down!") They didn't discover what was happening until the first guy broke through the crust and almost got buried alive. It got to where folks were afraid to walk outside, because they weren't sure where it all went.
He also talks about penguins. The penguins would bunch up at the edge of the ice, peering over into the water, looking for killer whales. They had to go into the water, because they had to eat, but no one wanted to be the first in. So they'd bunch up, and then one penguin would bump another, knocking him in, and they'd all rush to that spot to see what happened to him.
If he was safe, they'd all go in. If a whale got him, they'd all go in (figuring the whale was busy, I guess).
That's REAL testing the waters.
.
The previous post, by some strange mental connection, reminded me of a tale told by a friend who had spent some time in Antarctica some 30 or 40 years ago.
The latrines had been built a short distance from the housing. Nowadays I suppose they use chemical toilets or something, but back then things were more primitive, and not so ecologically conscious. He says it was just holes dug in the snow pack under a heated outhouse. Painted half-moon on the door and all. I guess they figured anything deposited there would freeze, and they'd just fill in the hole when they left.
It didn't freeze.
Unbeknownst to them, it moved. The deposits flowed down the slight slope, under the pristine surface. An underground brownish-yellow river. ("Kitchens uphill, latrines down!") They didn't discover what was happening until the first guy broke through the crust and almost got buried alive. It got to where folks were afraid to walk outside, because they weren't sure where it all went.
He also talks about penguins. The penguins would bunch up at the edge of the ice, peering over into the water, looking for killer whales. They had to go into the water, because they had to eat, but no one wanted to be the first in. So they'd bunch up, and then one penguin would bump another, knocking him in, and they'd all rush to that spot to see what happened to him.
If he was safe, they'd all go in. If a whale got him, they'd all go in (figuring the whale was busy, I guess).
That's REAL testing the waters.
.
1602 Snow Emergency Parking
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Many of the municipalities around here have snow emergency condition rules. Some say that during a snow emergency (which is apparently defined as "We gotta plow the streets") you have to park only on the even side of the street until 8 pm, then switch to the odd side until 8 pm the next day, back and forth until the emergency conditions are over. At least two local towns say that during actual snow storms, there is NO parking allowed on municipal streets at all. Even during business hours.
If you screw up during a snow emergency, your car is towed.
Yeouch!
I've never lived anywhere that I didn't have a driveway or parking lot, so I don't understand at all how people cope with that.
All these municipalities have apartments upstairs over shops in the business districts, and no alleys or lots. Many people park on the street because there's no where else to park.
What do they do?
How do they know how long the SE lasts? It seems to have nothing to do with whether your street has already been cleared.
Street sides have to be switched at 8 pm. What if you work second shift? How do you move your car?
I live two miles outside my village, and I don't have the faintest idea when or whether they enforce SE parking rules. I have on occasion passed through the village at like 3 am a day or two after a storm, and have found that they block off streets and go down them with enormous machines that gobble up snowbanks and fill dump trucks, and during that operation there are no cars on those streets. Some of them are residential streets, where few houses have driveways. Where are those cars? I have this picture in my mind of the enormous augers gobbling up cars and spitting them into dump trucks.
It's not like I don't know anyone who lives with these conditions - I just forget to ask.
.
Many of the municipalities around here have snow emergency condition rules. Some say that during a snow emergency (which is apparently defined as "We gotta plow the streets") you have to park only on the even side of the street until 8 pm, then switch to the odd side until 8 pm the next day, back and forth until the emergency conditions are over. At least two local towns say that during actual snow storms, there is NO parking allowed on municipal streets at all. Even during business hours.
If you screw up during a snow emergency, your car is towed.
Yeouch!
I've never lived anywhere that I didn't have a driveway or parking lot, so I don't understand at all how people cope with that.
All these municipalities have apartments upstairs over shops in the business districts, and no alleys or lots. Many people park on the street because there's no where else to park.
What do they do?
How do they know how long the SE lasts? It seems to have nothing to do with whether your street has already been cleared.
Street sides have to be switched at 8 pm. What if you work second shift? How do you move your car?
I live two miles outside my village, and I don't have the faintest idea when or whether they enforce SE parking rules. I have on occasion passed through the village at like 3 am a day or two after a storm, and have found that they block off streets and go down them with enormous machines that gobble up snowbanks and fill dump trucks, and during that operation there are no cars on those streets. Some of them are residential streets, where few houses have driveways. Where are those cars? I have this picture in my mind of the enormous augers gobbling up cars and spitting them into dump trucks.
It's not like I don't know anyone who lives with these conditions - I just forget to ask.
.
1600 Who's Sicker
Becs has left a new comment on "1597 Storm Helps Travelers":
Another recent headline:
Ike Turner Beats Tina to Death.
Creepy yet funny too.
................And those folks thought I was sick, for Billy's Balloon? Love it! Love it, love it, love it!!!
Another recent headline:
Ike Turner Beats Tina to Death.
Creepy yet funny too.
................And those folks thought I was sick, for Billy's Balloon? Love it! Love it, love it, love it!!!
Monday, December 17, 2007
1599 So Snow
Monday, December 17, 2007
The local TV news just did a piece on ER visits due to snow, from auto accidents to heart attacks, to slip 'n' fall. The doctor interviewed?
Dr. Sosnow.
They pronounced it "sauce now", but it was written across the bottom of the screen, and I read it more appropriately. With an exclamation point.
Incidentally, I read today that the Lear guy of Lear jets named his daughter "Crystal Shanda". Is this true? When I was teaching in high school I had students, twins, named Candy and Clark. Children of a Dr. Barr. Really.
.
The local TV news just did a piece on ER visits due to snow, from auto accidents to heart attacks, to slip 'n' fall. The doctor interviewed?
Dr. Sosnow.
They pronounced it "sauce now", but it was written across the bottom of the screen, and I read it more appropriately. With an exclamation point.
Incidentally, I read today that the Lear guy of Lear jets named his daughter "Crystal Shanda". Is this true? When I was teaching in high school I had students, twins, named Candy and Clark. Children of a Dr. Barr. Really.
.
1598 Bah, Humbug!
Monday, December 17, 2007
Load of bad stuff the past two days. Bad news from one friend, and the final load of crap from another. I sympathized with the first, and will worry until things get better, and I told the second to go to Hell. I've had it with her tearing into me every time something doesn't go her way. She screws up and then blames it on me. Things I had nothing to do with. I'm just available and (until now) didn't fight back. Her meds are messed up, and her getting high all the time doesn't help, and I've tried to be patient and understanding, but I've had it.
Yesterday's storm was snow and sleet alternating, so what's out there in the driveway is crusty, strong enough that I don't break through walking on it. I started to clear it with the snowthrower, which was difficult because it wanted to ride on top of the crust instead of breaking through. The wind was blowing the thrown snow back into my face. At one point my face was covered with snow, and I was having trouble seeing, and when I took my glasses off I found that the snow had built up between the lens and my eye, was actually touching my eye, which I hadn't noticed because my eyeball had frozen solid (well, almost), and it was no flipping wonder I couldn't see.
I was making headway, three passes up and down, when the tire lost pressure again, almost came off the rim, and this time the compressor had no effect. Luckily, the Aerio was parked at the bottom of the drive, and was the first thing I cleared on the first pass down. So at least I can get out.
Ok, gonna have to get plowed. There's more snow coming Wednesday. The Hairless Hunk has plowed for me in the past, but his truck is out of commission, and he has passed all his plowing business to others. His wife said she'd ask him when he got home if he could recommend someone else.
I took the wheel off the snowthrower (luckily, it was held on with a cotter pin and was easy to get off), propped the axle on a flower pot, and took the wheel to the John Deere dealers in the village. They promise it will be fixed tomorrow. I told them if there is such a thing as a SOLID tire to fit my machine, I'll take two.
Snarl. Oh, well. Pretty good coping for a 4' 10" 63-year-old widow lady. I'll try to be satisfied with the fact that I CAN cope.
.
Load of bad stuff the past two days. Bad news from one friend, and the final load of crap from another. I sympathized with the first, and will worry until things get better, and I told the second to go to Hell. I've had it with her tearing into me every time something doesn't go her way. She screws up and then blames it on me. Things I had nothing to do with. I'm just available and (until now) didn't fight back. Her meds are messed up, and her getting high all the time doesn't help, and I've tried to be patient and understanding, but I've had it.
Yesterday's storm was snow and sleet alternating, so what's out there in the driveway is crusty, strong enough that I don't break through walking on it. I started to clear it with the snowthrower, which was difficult because it wanted to ride on top of the crust instead of breaking through. The wind was blowing the thrown snow back into my face. At one point my face was covered with snow, and I was having trouble seeing, and when I took my glasses off I found that the snow had built up between the lens and my eye, was actually touching my eye, which I hadn't noticed because my eyeball had frozen solid (well, almost), and it was no flipping wonder I couldn't see.
I was making headway, three passes up and down, when the tire lost pressure again, almost came off the rim, and this time the compressor had no effect. Luckily, the Aerio was parked at the bottom of the drive, and was the first thing I cleared on the first pass down. So at least I can get out.
Ok, gonna have to get plowed. There's more snow coming Wednesday. The Hairless Hunk has plowed for me in the past, but his truck is out of commission, and he has passed all his plowing business to others. His wife said she'd ask him when he got home if he could recommend someone else.
I took the wheel off the snowthrower (luckily, it was held on with a cotter pin and was easy to get off), propped the axle on a flower pot, and took the wheel to the John Deere dealers in the village. They promise it will be fixed tomorrow. I told them if there is such a thing as a SOLID tire to fit my machine, I'll take two.
Snarl. Oh, well. Pretty good coping for a 4' 10" 63-year-old widow lady. I'll try to be satisfied with the fact that I CAN cope.
.
1597 Storm Helps Travelers
Monday, December 17, 2007
News blurb my e-mail server's home page: "Motorists slid off roads Sunday across the Great Lakes states and into New England as a storm ... iced over highways with a wind-blown brew of snow, sleet and freezing rain."
That's a long slide, across several states and into New England, I mean. Saves gas, I guess, if you were heading into New England anyway.
.
News blurb my e-mail server's home page: "Motorists slid off roads Sunday across the Great Lakes states and into New England as a storm ... iced over highways with a wind-blown brew of snow, sleet and freezing rain."
That's a long slide, across several states and into New England, I mean. Saves gas, I guess, if you were heading into New England anyway.
.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
1596 Overheard ...
Saturday, December 15, 2007
... at the recycle center this morning, "... and she was wearing a scrunchie!" Other woman, "A scrunchie? Eeeuuuuw!"
Um, scrunchies are the most gentle thing for your hair. They're inexpensive, easy to put on, hold tight, and don't get snaggled in your hair when you take them out. French barrettes break my hair, they slide down and need constant adjusting, and the catch often snares hair. So what's wrong with scrunchies? I think they're the best thing since sliced bread. Now, if she'd said "an orange and purple scrunchie with her red sweater", I could understand.
Values, I guess.
-------------------------
... passing the TV, frustrated male voice, "... I said kitchen uphill, latrines down!"
Got a chuckle out of that.
.
... at the recycle center this morning, "... and she was wearing a scrunchie!" Other woman, "A scrunchie? Eeeuuuuw!"
Um, scrunchies are the most gentle thing for your hair. They're inexpensive, easy to put on, hold tight, and don't get snaggled in your hair when you take them out. French barrettes break my hair, they slide down and need constant adjusting, and the catch often snares hair. So what's wrong with scrunchies? I think they're the best thing since sliced bread. Now, if she'd said "an orange and purple scrunchie with her red sweater", I could understand.
Values, I guess.
-------------------------
... passing the TV, frustrated male voice, "... I said kitchen uphill, latrines down!"
Got a chuckle out of that.
.
1595 Reaction
Saturday, December 15, 2007
I had posted the "Billy's Balloon" clip from entry #1591 on a Mensa humor site. This is the response from another member:
I fail to see the humor of children being beaten up and tortured. I found this video appalling and nothing to laugh about. It's quite sad, actually.
Sheesh.
Am I wrong, or is she whacked? The funny isn't the kids getting beat up, it's the IDEA of vicious balloons!
Well, if she hated that one, this one might send her over the edge:
http://billyblob.com/cartoons/bumble-beeing.html
Update: I've got reactions to "Billy's Balloon" from six more people (people who don't know me personally), all of whom quite seriously think there's something very wrong with me.
.
I had posted the "Billy's Balloon" clip from entry #1591 on a Mensa humor site. This is the response from another member:
I fail to see the humor of children being beaten up and tortured. I found this video appalling and nothing to laugh about. It's quite sad, actually.
Sheesh.
Am I wrong, or is she whacked? The funny isn't the kids getting beat up, it's the IDEA of vicious balloons!
Well, if she hated that one, this one might send her over the edge:
http://billyblob.com/cartoons/bumble-beeing.html
Update: I've got reactions to "Billy's Balloon" from six more people (people who don't know me personally), all of whom quite seriously think there's something very wrong with me.
.
Friday, December 14, 2007
1594 Tired
Friday, December 14, 2007
It usually takes me an hour and a half to clear my entire driveway, including the large area at the top. It took four hours today, and there's still 1/3 of the top uncleared, but I just can't wrestle with the snowthrower any more today. That's bad, because trucks (like my fuel oil delivery) need that room to turn around. I am so sore and tired I can barely move, but I'm going out tonight, so I'm hoping a hot shower will renew me.
That 11 1/2 inches of fluff I had last night had by this afternoon turned into 7 inches of solid igloo block material. It was lumpy and sticky, and kept coating the auger, turning it into a rotating solid drum, turning the machine into a plow instead of a thrower. I had to stop every 50 feet and poke and pry with a piece of tree branch to clear the auger.
Things I learned today:
. Don't take off snowmobile gloves if your hands sweated in them. The lining will come out with your hands, and you won't get them back on.
. If last winter was so mild you used the snowthrower only once or twice and therefore skipped the servicing this year, you still better check the tire pressure! A low tire makes it very hard to steer the 6-ton (I swear!) beast, forget steer, it makes it hard to keep it going straight!, and if the tire comes off the rim (thank all the fates it didn't) you'll be in big trouble, because the freakin' thing is too heavy to move except under its own power.
We're getting more snow tomorrow night and into Sunday.
To do tomorrow - put air in the tire. Spray the auger with Pam.
It usually takes me an hour and a half to clear my entire driveway, including the large area at the top. It took four hours today, and there's still 1/3 of the top uncleared, but I just can't wrestle with the snowthrower any more today. That's bad, because trucks (like my fuel oil delivery) need that room to turn around. I am so sore and tired I can barely move, but I'm going out tonight, so I'm hoping a hot shower will renew me.
That 11 1/2 inches of fluff I had last night had by this afternoon turned into 7 inches of solid igloo block material. It was lumpy and sticky, and kept coating the auger, turning it into a rotating solid drum, turning the machine into a plow instead of a thrower. I had to stop every 50 feet and poke and pry with a piece of tree branch to clear the auger.
Things I learned today:
. Don't take off snowmobile gloves if your hands sweated in them. The lining will come out with your hands, and you won't get them back on.
. If last winter was so mild you used the snowthrower only once or twice and therefore skipped the servicing this year, you still better check the tire pressure! A low tire makes it very hard to steer the 6-ton (I swear!) beast, forget steer, it makes it hard to keep it going straight!, and if the tire comes off the rim (thank all the fates it didn't) you'll be in big trouble, because the freakin' thing is too heavy to move except under its own power.
We're getting more snow tomorrow night and into Sunday.
To do tomorrow - put air in the tire. Spray the auger with Pam.
1593 A Weighty Disadvantage
I've discovered a disadvantage to having lost weight (in addition to having to get all my rings resized). My boots are no longer so tight around the calves, and SNOW GETS IN!
Yucko.
.
Yucko.
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1592 Paranoia
Friday, December 14, 2007
Paranoia #1: I have two friends who have advised me to delete the links to mid-eastern blogs in my sidebar, on the grounds that they might attract unwanted (as in government) attention. To which I respond, ""Snork!" I like to hear opinions other than those I'm spoon-fed.
Paranoia #2: I have other friends who refuse to believe that some of the bloggers I read are really in the mid-east, let alone the teen and her mother I follow in Iraq. They believe they are made up stories. I figure "Who cares? They're interesting." (And I do believe the mother and daughter.)
Something else interesting is that I have a regular reader (never commenter) at Andrews AFB in Maryland. Andrews is one of those very secret places, sorta like Area 51, but real. Back when I moved this blog and went into hiding, I removed all ability to locate the blog through searches. The only way you could find me was to leave a comment at the old location, and I'd send the new URL. For several months, my only readers were people I'd invited. Andrews didn't visit during that time. A few weeks ago, I opened to searches again, and --- ta rah! Andrews is back. They visit after every post. Now how did they find me again, if not by searches for keywords? Paranoia #1 justified?
Now, take a look at the comment on entry 1590. The commenter's profile says he's in Palestine, and his blog (which is humorous, and unintentionally cute in its naivety) claims that he's a freedom fighter living in caves (note that the underground sermon is in a room with windows). But my tracker says his ISP is in Brooklyn, 70.23.202, Verizon Internet Services, Windows XP, Internet Explorer 6.0, 1024 x 768 resolution, and his local time is the same as mine. Paranoia #2 justified.
Sigh.
Come on, Andrews - leave a comment! Or at least get together with that guy in Brooklyn who dreams of bombs. You folks might have something to talk about.
(Oops. Now I'm paranoid. I may have just pissed off some guy who likes bombs.)
.
Paranoia #1: I have two friends who have advised me to delete the links to mid-eastern blogs in my sidebar, on the grounds that they might attract unwanted (as in government) attention. To which I respond, ""Snork!" I like to hear opinions other than those I'm spoon-fed.
Paranoia #2: I have other friends who refuse to believe that some of the bloggers I read are really in the mid-east, let alone the teen and her mother I follow in Iraq. They believe they are made up stories. I figure "Who cares? They're interesting." (And I do believe the mother and daughter.)
Something else interesting is that I have a regular reader (never commenter) at Andrews AFB in Maryland. Andrews is one of those very secret places, sorta like Area 51, but real. Back when I moved this blog and went into hiding, I removed all ability to locate the blog through searches. The only way you could find me was to leave a comment at the old location, and I'd send the new URL. For several months, my only readers were people I'd invited. Andrews didn't visit during that time. A few weeks ago, I opened to searches again, and --- ta rah! Andrews is back. They visit after every post. Now how did they find me again, if not by searches for keywords? Paranoia #1 justified?
Now, take a look at the comment on entry 1590. The commenter's profile says he's in Palestine, and his blog (which is humorous, and unintentionally cute in its naivety) claims that he's a freedom fighter living in caves (note that the underground sermon is in a room with windows). But my tracker says his ISP is in Brooklyn, 70.23.202, Verizon Internet Services, Windows XP, Internet Explorer 6.0, 1024 x 768 resolution, and his local time is the same as mine. Paranoia #2 justified.
Sigh.
Come on, Andrews - leave a comment! Or at least get together with that guy in Brooklyn who dreams of bombs. You folks might have something to talk about.
(Oops. Now I'm paranoid. I may have just pissed off some guy who likes bombs.)
.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
1591 Some Sick Fun
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Billy's Balloon
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpc5vgi9zbM]
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Billy's Balloon
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpc5vgi9zbM]
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1590 It's snowing
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Snow. We've got three inches in the past two hours, and we've got eight more hours predicted. Weatherman says up to seven inches, but lately I've been getting more inches than expected in everything else, so why not here, too....
Naturally, "get gas for the snowthrower" has been on the to-do list for two weeks, but I kept forgetting to take the container when I left the house, so, no gas. I moved the car to the bottom of the driveway so I can get out.
Hibernation day.
Update: 5 pm. 8 inches. More coming.
Update: 8 pm. 11 inches. Looks like it's stopping. More expected Saturday. No thaw between now and then.
.
Snow. We've got three inches in the past two hours, and we've got eight more hours predicted. Weatherman says up to seven inches, but lately I've been getting more inches than expected in everything else, so why not here, too....
Naturally, "get gas for the snowthrower" has been on the to-do list for two weeks, but I kept forgetting to take the container when I left the house, so, no gas. I moved the car to the bottom of the driveway so I can get out.
Hibernation day.
Update: 5 pm. 8 inches. More coming.
Update: 8 pm. 11 inches. Looks like it's stopping. More expected Saturday. No thaw between now and then.
.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
1589 Forgotten Versed
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Lunch today with a friend, at the fancy-schmanciest local inn. He jokingly referred to it as "the office Christmas party". It was sort of sad - the waitress forgot my soup, when it finally arrived it was cold, and the meat in my entree was dry. My friend is circumstantially celibate and when he's sober he claims he's perfectly happy with the state of things, but when he's had a few drinks he confesses that he wants every woman in the village. I want to find him a lady. He deserves a lady. He'd like me to volunteer, but that just isn't going to happen. I don't care how many millions he's got tucked away. On the other hand, if I do find him a lady, I will be jealous of her. He's a good guy and will treat her well.
------------------------------
Another blogger had mentioned problems with Versed. It rang a tiny bell in my head, and I've spent much of the late afternoon researching Versed. It's a sedative, administered "to help you relax" during various medical procedures, either with or without general or local anesthetics.
For most people, it causes amnesia for the period from a few minutes after you get it until it wears off. However, it doesn't knock you out. You are still "conscious" and can respond to questions and commands. It also has no effect on your experience of pain. You just don't remember the pain, or, for that matter, anything else that happened.
Some people think it's wonderful. They get "something to relax" them, and then wake up in the recovery room. I doesn't bother them that they had expected to be aware during the procedure. (They probably WERE, but they just don't remember it.)
Some people have had very bad experiences with it. The amnesia lasts much longer than it should, or they get depressed or paranoid for a long time afterward.
Now, here's why my bell went off. I have been very worried about my memory lately. I was looking at a photograph in the recent issue of the local Mensa newsletter, a picture of me and another person at the gathering in Chicago six weeks ago. It is a very posed photo - not a candid shot. But I have absolutely no memory of that picture having been taken. I did her hair in the style in the photo, then I went to a talk, and she left shortly thereafter. I can't figure out when there was even opportunity for the photo.
Last month Roman gave me the coupons for the third Thursday dinner, and a week later, when it turned out I would not be able to attend the dinner, he told me to give them to John. I denied that he had given me the coupons. He insisted he had, even told me when and where. I remembered being there, but did not recall the coupons. I looked in my purse. They were there. I said to him that I was worried about my memory lately, and he said he's noticed, too, and is also worried.
Things like that keep happening.
Just today I found a note in my purse, a list of things that have no meaning to me, in someone else's handwriting. I don't know whose. I vaguely remember having given someone my notepad to write on, but I don't remember who, when, or where, let alone why, or what if anything I'm supposed to do with it. I find a lot of mysterious notes in my purse.
I keep finding "lost" objects in the house in perfectly logical places, but I have no recollection of having put them there, and I'm the only person in this house - ever.
I've been thinking about my memory lapses, an attempt to define what kinds of things I forget. One thing they all have in common is briefness. If some interaction between me and another person or an object takes less than, say, six seconds, I may not retain the memory. It just plain never happened. It's a completely blank hole in my experience.
It seems to be getting worse, or maybe I'm just noticing it more.
Now, here's today's realization: The memory problems date from the endoscopic procedure of two years ago. The one where they told me I would be conscious during the procedure, but where I remember nothing from the "here's something to relax you" to the "all done!" Whadaya wanna bet they gave me Versed.
Most of the long-term adverse reactions I've been reading about involve lost of memories from BEFORE the Versed. Chunks of their lives missing. Nobody (so far as I have read) mentions loss of the ability to form memories of events occurring afterward. Perhaps it's an aftereffect others have experienced, but no one has made the connection. Proving a connection would be very difficult.
I am annoyed that when I was told I would be given "something to relax" me, and that I would be conscious during the procedure, no one mentioned that I would not remember the procedure. That's not my definition of "conscious". I do NOT believe that I was properly informed, and do not therefore feel that I gave informed consent.
I suspect the medical community loves Versed. It makes things so easy. They can do just about anything, have your (sort of) cooperation during the procedure, but they don't have to be particularly gentle or respectful, because you won't remember anything anyway, so you're not likely to complain. Or sue. So I suspect there isn't a lot of incentive on their part to question residual effects.
Scary.
What now? Will my memory lapses get better, or worse?
.
Lunch today with a friend, at the fancy-schmanciest local inn. He jokingly referred to it as "the office Christmas party". It was sort of sad - the waitress forgot my soup, when it finally arrived it was cold, and the meat in my entree was dry. My friend is circumstantially celibate and when he's sober he claims he's perfectly happy with the state of things, but when he's had a few drinks he confesses that he wants every woman in the village. I want to find him a lady. He deserves a lady. He'd like me to volunteer, but that just isn't going to happen. I don't care how many millions he's got tucked away. On the other hand, if I do find him a lady, I will be jealous of her. He's a good guy and will treat her well.
------------------------------
Another blogger had mentioned problems with Versed. It rang a tiny bell in my head, and I've spent much of the late afternoon researching Versed. It's a sedative, administered "to help you relax" during various medical procedures, either with or without general or local anesthetics.
For most people, it causes amnesia for the period from a few minutes after you get it until it wears off. However, it doesn't knock you out. You are still "conscious" and can respond to questions and commands. It also has no effect on your experience of pain. You just don't remember the pain, or, for that matter, anything else that happened.
Some people think it's wonderful. They get "something to relax" them, and then wake up in the recovery room. I doesn't bother them that they had expected to be aware during the procedure. (They probably WERE, but they just don't remember it.)
Some people have had very bad experiences with it. The amnesia lasts much longer than it should, or they get depressed or paranoid for a long time afterward.
Now, here's why my bell went off. I have been very worried about my memory lately. I was looking at a photograph in the recent issue of the local Mensa newsletter, a picture of me and another person at the gathering in Chicago six weeks ago. It is a very posed photo - not a candid shot. But I have absolutely no memory of that picture having been taken. I did her hair in the style in the photo, then I went to a talk, and she left shortly thereafter. I can't figure out when there was even opportunity for the photo.
Last month Roman gave me the coupons for the third Thursday dinner, and a week later, when it turned out I would not be able to attend the dinner, he told me to give them to John. I denied that he had given me the coupons. He insisted he had, even told me when and where. I remembered being there, but did not recall the coupons. I looked in my purse. They were there. I said to him that I was worried about my memory lately, and he said he's noticed, too, and is also worried.
Things like that keep happening.
Just today I found a note in my purse, a list of things that have no meaning to me, in someone else's handwriting. I don't know whose. I vaguely remember having given someone my notepad to write on, but I don't remember who, when, or where, let alone why, or what if anything I'm supposed to do with it. I find a lot of mysterious notes in my purse.
I keep finding "lost" objects in the house in perfectly logical places, but I have no recollection of having put them there, and I'm the only person in this house - ever.
I've been thinking about my memory lapses, an attempt to define what kinds of things I forget. One thing they all have in common is briefness. If some interaction between me and another person or an object takes less than, say, six seconds, I may not retain the memory. It just plain never happened. It's a completely blank hole in my experience.
It seems to be getting worse, or maybe I'm just noticing it more.
Now, here's today's realization: The memory problems date from the endoscopic procedure of two years ago. The one where they told me I would be conscious during the procedure, but where I remember nothing from the "here's something to relax you" to the "all done!" Whadaya wanna bet they gave me Versed.
Most of the long-term adverse reactions I've been reading about involve lost of memories from BEFORE the Versed. Chunks of their lives missing. Nobody (so far as I have read) mentions loss of the ability to form memories of events occurring afterward. Perhaps it's an aftereffect others have experienced, but no one has made the connection. Proving a connection would be very difficult.
I am annoyed that when I was told I would be given "something to relax" me, and that I would be conscious during the procedure, no one mentioned that I would not remember the procedure. That's not my definition of "conscious". I do NOT believe that I was properly informed, and do not therefore feel that I gave informed consent.
I suspect the medical community loves Versed. It makes things so easy. They can do just about anything, have your (sort of) cooperation during the procedure, but they don't have to be particularly gentle or respectful, because you won't remember anything anyway, so you're not likely to complain. Or sue. So I suspect there isn't a lot of incentive on their part to question residual effects.
Scary.
What now? Will my memory lapses get better, or worse?
.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
1588 Warm!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
I had ordered online several bottles of a special shampoo. They arrived today. The box was stuffed with newspaper, and the bottles were wrapped in newspaper - which happened to be the real estate section of a Birmingham, Alabama, paper.
I was smoothing and flattening the pages to put into the recycle bags, and of course I read them.
OMG! Beautiful houses, half again the size of mine, for half the price! I could take a huge "loss" on this house, and STILL upgrade.
And it's WARM there!
What's the deal? Does no one want to move to Birmingham? What's wrong with Birmingham?
Update: Ok. I have just been told it's the most backward, racist, place in the country. Mensa's national gathering was there this past summer, and was boycotted by many members because of that. I forgot that's where it was.
.
I had ordered online several bottles of a special shampoo. They arrived today. The box was stuffed with newspaper, and the bottles were wrapped in newspaper - which happened to be the real estate section of a Birmingham, Alabama, paper.
I was smoothing and flattening the pages to put into the recycle bags, and of course I read them.
OMG! Beautiful houses, half again the size of mine, for half the price! I could take a huge "loss" on this house, and STILL upgrade.
And it's WARM there!
What's the deal? Does no one want to move to Birmingham? What's wrong with Birmingham?
Update: Ok. I have just been told it's the most backward, racist, place in the country. Mensa's national gathering was there this past summer, and was boycotted by many members because of that. I forgot that's where it was.
.
1587 Ice Hint
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Putting salt on the walks and driveway can be bad for the nearby grass and flower beds. Try using fertilizer instead. It will melt the ice almost as well without hurting the plants. An overdose of either salt or fertilizer isn't good for the groundwater or city drains, but if it's going to happen anyway, fertilizer is slightly less harmful.
.
Putting salt on the walks and driveway can be bad for the nearby grass and flower beds. Try using fertilizer instead. It will melt the ice almost as well without hurting the plants. An overdose of either salt or fertilizer isn't good for the groundwater or city drains, but if it's going to happen anyway, fertilizer is slightly less harmful.
.
Monday, December 10, 2007
1586 The Usual Monday
Monday, December 10, 2007
I managed to spend $60 in the grocery store today, and I don't know how! I bought instant coffee, vanilla creamer, a bag of salad leaves, two bottles of dressing, two week's worth of canned and dry cat food, and two pints of ice cream. I don't understand.
A portion of the afternoon/early evening was spent in the pub with Piper and "the guys". It's becoming more and more comfortable there. Fun conversations. Free drinks. Mild flirtations. I could develop a habit.
I recently reopened this journal to searches. The search args that got people here in the past few days are:
human tendency for rebellion
tooky rearrange
1566 thanksgiving
link brightcove services player bcpid1329217643
penis filled its silken confines
narrowboat adventure
"cleartel"
house of mirth
best place to touch a woman
airwick hacking (there were several of these, from different countries!)
mertz's apothecary
silken touch
max gobrial
reporter silk madly
Gotta wonder sometimes what they're actually looking for. Whatever it is, except for the airwick thing, I ain't got it, and that should be obvious from the search hit blurb. Except the "1566 thanksgiving" one - that's the exact title of my post, but I can't imagine what would have someone searching for it by name. Very strange.
.
I managed to spend $60 in the grocery store today, and I don't know how! I bought instant coffee, vanilla creamer, a bag of salad leaves, two bottles of dressing, two week's worth of canned and dry cat food, and two pints of ice cream. I don't understand.
A portion of the afternoon/early evening was spent in the pub with Piper and "the guys". It's becoming more and more comfortable there. Fun conversations. Free drinks. Mild flirtations. I could develop a habit.
I recently reopened this journal to searches. The search args that got people here in the past few days are:
human tendency for rebellion
tooky rearrange
1566 thanksgiving
link brightcove services player bcpid1329217643
penis filled its silken confines
narrowboat adventure
"cleartel"
house of mirth
best place to touch a woman
airwick hacking (there were several of these, from different countries!)
mertz's apothecary
silken touch
max gobrial
reporter silk madly
Gotta wonder sometimes what they're actually looking for. Whatever it is, except for the airwick thing, I ain't got it, and that should be obvious from the search hit blurb. Except the "1566 thanksgiving" one - that's the exact title of my post, but I can't imagine what would have someone searching for it by name. Very strange.
.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
1585 Slip-sliding Away
Sunday, December 9, 2007
I went to a meeting tonight, to work on the by-laws. We had freezing rain, but the main roads weren't too bad at all. I had no trouble coming home until I got to my driveway.
I stopped at the end of the driveway to get the newspaper out of the tube, then backed up slightly to turn into the drive. I got about a quarter of the way up when the car stopped moving altogether. The wheels were still turning, spinning on ice, but the car wasn't going anywhere.
I stopped for a moment to think about it. What I should have done was back down the street a little to get a running start. No problem. I can back down and try again. That's when I realized I was moving. Backward. With the brakes on hard.
Ack!
I didn't slide over the bank and get rolled and deaded, and I did eventually make it up the hill. I hate winter. I hate my driveway. I don't know who laid it out with that curve next to a bank at the end. I'd love to redo it. There's no reason why it couldn't have gone straight down through the bank. A little dynamite and a jackhammer or two could solve so many problems....
.
I went to a meeting tonight, to work on the by-laws. We had freezing rain, but the main roads weren't too bad at all. I had no trouble coming home until I got to my driveway.
I stopped at the end of the driveway to get the newspaper out of the tube, then backed up slightly to turn into the drive. I got about a quarter of the way up when the car stopped moving altogether. The wheels were still turning, spinning on ice, but the car wasn't going anywhere.
I stopped for a moment to think about it. What I should have done was back down the street a little to get a running start. No problem. I can back down and try again. That's when I realized I was moving. Backward. With the brakes on hard.
Ack!
I didn't slide over the bank and get rolled and deaded, and I did eventually make it up the hill. I hate winter. I hate my driveway. I don't know who laid it out with that curve next to a bank at the end. I'd love to redo it. There's no reason why it couldn't have gone straight down through the bank. A little dynamite and a jackhammer or two could solve so many problems....
.
1584 Kitty Update
Sunday, December 9, 2007
I mentioned a few posts back that Jasper likes to empty grocery bags, and had progressed to emptying kitchen cabinets.
His water dish is one of those water-cooler-like units, with the inverted jug that keeps a bowl filled. Two days ago he emptied the entire jug onto the laundry room floor, one paw-splash at a time. (Splash splash splash glurk glurk glurk splash splash glurk glurk ....)
Today I walked into a bathroom and discovered him tail-up in the toilet, splashing away, attempting to empty it onto the floor I suppose.
The kid needs more toys.
----------------------------
I didn't get much sleep last night. Somewhere in the house, something beeped every few minutes.
It wasn't loud enough to be a smoke or CO detector, but it was loud enough, and worrisome enough, to keep me awake. My right ear is dulled by old rifle range stupidities, so it's difficult for me to locate small sounds when they're intermittent. It sounded at first like it was in my bedroom.
I tried to sleep through it, but it worried and frustrated me too much.
I finally pinned the sound to the new cell phone, which was in my purse, at the other end of the house. I had left it on, and one of the new functions is that in the wee hours of the morning, it attempts to back up the directory. It was having some kind of difficulty, and was attempting to draw my attention to an error message.
Thanks, Verizon. If you're going to do something that might result in beeping complaints, maybe you should do it at a more reasonable hour? (Yeah, I checked. I don't think I can change the back up time.)
-----------------------------
For anyone with SiteMeter, I'm coming to you from Phoenix, Arizona, today.
.
I mentioned a few posts back that Jasper likes to empty grocery bags, and had progressed to emptying kitchen cabinets.
His water dish is one of those water-cooler-like units, with the inverted jug that keeps a bowl filled. Two days ago he emptied the entire jug onto the laundry room floor, one paw-splash at a time. (Splash splash splash glurk glurk glurk splash splash glurk glurk ....)
Today I walked into a bathroom and discovered him tail-up in the toilet, splashing away, attempting to empty it onto the floor I suppose.
The kid needs more toys.
----------------------------
I didn't get much sleep last night. Somewhere in the house, something beeped every few minutes.
It wasn't loud enough to be a smoke or CO detector, but it was loud enough, and worrisome enough, to keep me awake. My right ear is dulled by old rifle range stupidities, so it's difficult for me to locate small sounds when they're intermittent. It sounded at first like it was in my bedroom.
I tried to sleep through it, but it worried and frustrated me too much.
I finally pinned the sound to the new cell phone, which was in my purse, at the other end of the house. I had left it on, and one of the new functions is that in the wee hours of the morning, it attempts to back up the directory. It was having some kind of difficulty, and was attempting to draw my attention to an error message.
Thanks, Verizon. If you're going to do something that might result in beeping complaints, maybe you should do it at a more reasonable hour? (Yeah, I checked. I don't think I can change the back up time.)
-----------------------------
For anyone with SiteMeter, I'm coming to you from Phoenix, Arizona, today.
.
1583 TooRealEstate
Sunday, December 9, 2007
There's a real estate program on Sunday mornings, right after one of the news interview shows, where they take you on tours of some of the houses for sale in the Albany/Schnectady area. I am shocked by the difference in prices between here and there. I could sell my house here and buy two larger nicer houses there!
Anyway, between the house tours, they show pictures of the fronts of other more ordinary houses, with the address, realtor, and price.
One of those houses today was a standard two-story over-under duplex, the kind you see in all eastern cities. It had a large glass panel next to the front door. And standing inside that glass panel was a very large completely naked woman.
She was quite clear. I'm surprised no one else noticed before they put the photo up. Even if it's an optical illusion, you'd think someone would have said whoa.
.
There's a real estate program on Sunday mornings, right after one of the news interview shows, where they take you on tours of some of the houses for sale in the Albany/Schnectady area. I am shocked by the difference in prices between here and there. I could sell my house here and buy two larger nicer houses there!
Anyway, between the house tours, they show pictures of the fronts of other more ordinary houses, with the address, realtor, and price.
One of those houses today was a standard two-story over-under duplex, the kind you see in all eastern cities. It had a large glass panel next to the front door. And standing inside that glass panel was a very large completely naked woman.
She was quite clear. I'm surprised no one else noticed before they put the photo up. Even if it's an optical illusion, you'd think someone would have said whoa.
.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
1582 Burn
Saturday, December 8, 2007
I planned to clean up the driveway today, in preparation for clearing snow when it happens. Yesterday we got about a half inch, which reminded me that ignoring the possibility of snow is not helpful.
Today it's 43 degrees, not too cold, sunny. There are several heaps of brush on the broad area at the top of the drive, left from when I cut out the blackberries and weeded the "flower bed" (snork), and they'll have to be moved so I can run the snowthrower. Moved to where? I don't know. That's why they're still there. I guess I'm going to have to delegate another burn pile area.
Well, that was the plan.
I was cooking grits in the microwave this morning. The combination microwave and convection oven is installed in a cubby that hangs under the upper kitchen cabinets. Jay and his ex-wife were both tall, and it worked for them, but it's too high for me. I have to stand on a stool to look in.
I didn't stand on the stool this morning to take the bowl of grits out.
It was a shallow bowl, and while it was still above eye level, I guess I tipped it a bit. I spilled boiling water and sticky grits all over my whole left hand. I stared dumbly at it for a moment, then jumped to the sink and ran cold water over it.
It hurt so bad for so long I was afraid I'd really messed myself up, but now it has settled down to just the ends of the first three fingers. The pointer, in fact, is almost normal. Just a little numb. The last joint of the ring finger is still red and alternates between burning and numbness. The last joint and a half of the middle finger is bright red, really nasty looking and it hurts a lot, but with any luck there won't be a blister.
This is an odd thing about my body - it doesn't overreact to burns. I've had things happen that should have resulted in swelling and blistering and weeping, but the worst that ever happens is that the burned area hardens, sometimes pretty deeply, and eventually flakes off, leaving a whiter patch of skin.
Anyway, that's my excuse for not getting the driveway cleared, and I'm sticking to it.
.
I planned to clean up the driveway today, in preparation for clearing snow when it happens. Yesterday we got about a half inch, which reminded me that ignoring the possibility of snow is not helpful.
Today it's 43 degrees, not too cold, sunny. There are several heaps of brush on the broad area at the top of the drive, left from when I cut out the blackberries and weeded the "flower bed" (snork), and they'll have to be moved so I can run the snowthrower. Moved to where? I don't know. That's why they're still there. I guess I'm going to have to delegate another burn pile area.
Well, that was the plan.
I was cooking grits in the microwave this morning. The combination microwave and convection oven is installed in a cubby that hangs under the upper kitchen cabinets. Jay and his ex-wife were both tall, and it worked for them, but it's too high for me. I have to stand on a stool to look in.
I didn't stand on the stool this morning to take the bowl of grits out.
It was a shallow bowl, and while it was still above eye level, I guess I tipped it a bit. I spilled boiling water and sticky grits all over my whole left hand. I stared dumbly at it for a moment, then jumped to the sink and ran cold water over it.
It hurt so bad for so long I was afraid I'd really messed myself up, but now it has settled down to just the ends of the first three fingers. The pointer, in fact, is almost normal. Just a little numb. The last joint of the ring finger is still red and alternates between burning and numbness. The last joint and a half of the middle finger is bright red, really nasty looking and it hurts a lot, but with any luck there won't be a blister.
This is an odd thing about my body - it doesn't overreact to burns. I've had things happen that should have resulted in swelling and blistering and weeping, but the worst that ever happens is that the burned area hardens, sometimes pretty deeply, and eventually flakes off, leaving a whiter patch of skin.
Anyway, that's my excuse for not getting the driveway cleared, and I'm sticking to it.
.
Friday, December 07, 2007
1581 Accent?
Friday, December 7, 2007
One of the things I played with on the new phone last night was "acclimating" it to my voice, so I can do hands-free dialing in the car. The phone would give me a series of letters or numbers that I had to repeat, and then it would repeat them back to me, and ask if it got them right.
ONE of us has a slight ("slat") southern accent! I think it's me. I pronounce "five" as "fav", and "I" as "Ah". And there's a slight tendency toward "Wa" on "Y". I never noticed that before.
.
One of the things I played with on the new phone last night was "acclimating" it to my voice, so I can do hands-free dialing in the car. The phone would give me a series of letters or numbers that I had to repeat, and then it would repeat them back to me, and ask if it got them right.
ONE of us has a slight ("slat") southern accent! I think it's me. I pronounce "five" as "fav", and "I" as "Ah". And there's a slight tendency toward "Wa" on "Y". I never noticed that before.
.
1580 Jasper, CASA, Phone
Friday, December 7, 2007
I may have to put childproof latches on all the cabinet doors. Jasper is the first kitty I've ever had who gets into cabinets. He's also the most active, most curious kitty I've ever had, and I've had cats all my life.
Well, there was Smokey - 1958 to 1975. She used to open the back door to let the dog in and out, and if she got hungry, she'd open the refrigerator and sit on a shelf. You'd open the door and find her in there sampling leftovers. But she never got into cabinets.
--------------------------------
I'm still getting all kinds of information from CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). Back when I went to the volunteer fair at the mall, and signed up for the stuff I'm involved in now, CASA was one of the things that most interested me. Volunteers are trained, and then assigned by a family court judge to advocate for a child (or siblings) in a bad home situation.
I know a lot of the local judges and lawyers, from having done court mediation, and from having worked (as a volunteer) in a family law office. And I like kids and get along well with them, perhaps because of my size (they trust me) and because I don't preach to them. They tell me I'm "real".
(By the way, I don't agree with the statement on their site, that CASA is "the only volunteer organization that empowers everyday citizens as appointed members of the court." We volunteer mediators were also officers of the court, with all the reporting responsibilities attendant on that office.)
I had discussed it with several of my friends, and they all strongly advised me not to do it. Unfortunately, if a child is in no imminent physical danger, they often have to go back to their parents, even if they are in emotional or psychological danger, because of the rights of the parents, and this can be very difficult to accept. My friends all advised me that I'd get too emotionally involved.
My friends explained that I know I couldn't possibly work at an animal shelter, I'd end up taking home every animal no one else wanted, and CASA could be worse. I'd end up in jail for kidnapping children and hiding them from the court. A basement full of kids.
I think my friends are right. If not actual kidnapping, there might be a lot of stress and sleepness nights.
So when CASA kept trying to schedule me for the training, I wrote them a letter explaining that I had decided it was not a good match for me, and why, and "please take me off the list".
They're still sending me information, and I can't open the envelopes, because every time I do, I want to sign up again.
-------------------------------------
I went to bed early last night, about midnight, and spent the next two and a half hours propped on my elbows reading the new cell phone's instruction book and trying out all the phone's functions. I can read my email on my cell phone! But I don't know if that costs extra. The next bill will be interesting.
.
I may have to put childproof latches on all the cabinet doors. Jasper is the first kitty I've ever had who gets into cabinets. He's also the most active, most curious kitty I've ever had, and I've had cats all my life.
Well, there was Smokey - 1958 to 1975. She used to open the back door to let the dog in and out, and if she got hungry, she'd open the refrigerator and sit on a shelf. You'd open the door and find her in there sampling leftovers. But she never got into cabinets.
--------------------------------
I'm still getting all kinds of information from CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates). Back when I went to the volunteer fair at the mall, and signed up for the stuff I'm involved in now, CASA was one of the things that most interested me. Volunteers are trained, and then assigned by a family court judge to advocate for a child (or siblings) in a bad home situation.
I know a lot of the local judges and lawyers, from having done court mediation, and from having worked (as a volunteer) in a family law office. And I like kids and get along well with them, perhaps because of my size (they trust me) and because I don't preach to them. They tell me I'm "real".
(By the way, I don't agree with the statement on their site, that CASA is "the only volunteer organization that empowers everyday citizens as appointed members of the court." We volunteer mediators were also officers of the court, with all the reporting responsibilities attendant on that office.)
I had discussed it with several of my friends, and they all strongly advised me not to do it. Unfortunately, if a child is in no imminent physical danger, they often have to go back to their parents, even if they are in emotional or psychological danger, because of the rights of the parents, and this can be very difficult to accept. My friends all advised me that I'd get too emotionally involved.
My friends explained that I know I couldn't possibly work at an animal shelter, I'd end up taking home every animal no one else wanted, and CASA could be worse. I'd end up in jail for kidnapping children and hiding them from the court. A basement full of kids.
I think my friends are right. If not actual kidnapping, there might be a lot of stress and sleepness nights.
So when CASA kept trying to schedule me for the training, I wrote them a letter explaining that I had decided it was not a good match for me, and why, and "please take me off the list".
They're still sending me information, and I can't open the envelopes, because every time I do, I want to sign up again.
-------------------------------------
I went to bed early last night, about midnight, and spent the next two and a half hours propped on my elbows reading the new cell phone's instruction book and trying out all the phone's functions. I can read my email on my cell phone! But I don't know if that costs extra. The next bill will be interesting.
.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
1578 Traffic
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
I haven't the faintest idea what has happened to today. It's 8:15 pm, I'm already tired, and I have done NOTHING all day. I think maybe it has something to do with the weather. It's almost 10 degrees below freezing outside, and although my house is reasonably tight, I feel cold. The thermostat says it's 74 in here. How can I be cold? I don't understand.
Speaking of not understanding, something is going on with other drivers lately that I don't understand.
I mentioned to a friend a few days ago that I've noticed lately that if I am on a multi-lane highway, and decide to change lanes, and there's a decent space in the lane I want to move into, and traffic in both lanes seems to be maintaining position (ideal for changing lanes), the very instant that I put my signal on to indicate the lane change, the car behind me in the target lane speeds up!, closing up the space.
Why? We could go on in the same positions for miles, but the minute I want to move into that lane, the other person speeds up. Is it a game? Is it "Oh no you don't - you can't get in front of me!" Or maybe they speed up when they see the signal because they hope I'll turn into them and buy them a new car? I don't understand.
So anyway, after I had mentioned it, my friend started noticing it too. So it's not just my perception, and not just people reacting to my little car. It really is happening a lot more.
Driving to dinner last night (1.5 hour drive), I noticed other strangenesses. I was heading down route 9w, during rush hour. People weren't paying attention to the speed limit, but not in the way one would expect. There's a section north of Highland with two south-bound lanes. The speed limit is 55, but there were two people, one in each lane, about two car-lengths apart, who were doing 45. Everyone behind them who wanted to do 55 had to pass one on the right, then squeeze back to the left to get past the second. And the guy potting along in the left lane never seemed to notice.
So when we finally got past them, and the long line of cars was doing 55, we came to a car on the right that had been pulled over by the police, nothing interesting, just an ordinary stop with plenty of room, and amazingly, everyone slowed down to 45, and then stayed at 45! Wha...? I don't understand. I didn't understand slowing down, and I don't understand staying slow.
From Highland south, the speed limit is mostly 55, with a few 40 or 45 patches through hamlets, and one 30 mph section where the village cop's radar gun is on hair-trigger. We stayed at 45 the entire way to Newburgh, even through the 30 mph section. I don't understand.
(Yeah, I did 45 through the 30, too, but it was because there was a long line of cars ahead of and behind me, and if I'd slowed down, twenty cars would have climbed into my trunk.)
Another thing I noticed was that when we stopped at a traffic light, and the line of stopped cars extended to cross another intersection, people blithely blocked the intersection, so that oncoming cars could not make a left turn into the side road. That stopped traffic on the other side, too. How stupid is that? Do they really not notice? Is everyone completely self-absorbed?
What's going on? Do we have a new generation of drivers who've never taken driver ed? My friend, back in the first example, has noticed the speed-up-at-lane-change problem in several states, so it's not a local thing.
Well, I made it to the dinner later than I meant, but still in time. I had to stop in Newburgh to pick up a friend, and I called her as I entered Newburgh and told her to go to the end of her driveway, "and hold your purse strap out so my side mirror can hook it as I pass, and then hang on tight!"
There were 12 of us at dinner, and I did manage to sit in the middle of the table, as I wanted. It was a pretty good group. Roman gave me a birthday gift of Israeli body lotion after dinner, and a CD of photos from his trip. I hadn't realized that although we'd talked on the phone several times since late October and his trip, I hadn't seen him since mid-October. How odd.
Now we have to get together sometime so he can narrate the photos.
.
I haven't the faintest idea what has happened to today. It's 8:15 pm, I'm already tired, and I have done NOTHING all day. I think maybe it has something to do with the weather. It's almost 10 degrees below freezing outside, and although my house is reasonably tight, I feel cold. The thermostat says it's 74 in here. How can I be cold? I don't understand.
Speaking of not understanding, something is going on with other drivers lately that I don't understand.
I mentioned to a friend a few days ago that I've noticed lately that if I am on a multi-lane highway, and decide to change lanes, and there's a decent space in the lane I want to move into, and traffic in both lanes seems to be maintaining position (ideal for changing lanes), the very instant that I put my signal on to indicate the lane change, the car behind me in the target lane speeds up!, closing up the space.
Why? We could go on in the same positions for miles, but the minute I want to move into that lane, the other person speeds up. Is it a game? Is it "Oh no you don't - you can't get in front of me!" Or maybe they speed up when they see the signal because they hope I'll turn into them and buy them a new car? I don't understand.
So anyway, after I had mentioned it, my friend started noticing it too. So it's not just my perception, and not just people reacting to my little car. It really is happening a lot more.
Driving to dinner last night (1.5 hour drive), I noticed other strangenesses. I was heading down route 9w, during rush hour. People weren't paying attention to the speed limit, but not in the way one would expect. There's a section north of Highland with two south-bound lanes. The speed limit is 55, but there were two people, one in each lane, about two car-lengths apart, who were doing 45. Everyone behind them who wanted to do 55 had to pass one on the right, then squeeze back to the left to get past the second. And the guy potting along in the left lane never seemed to notice.
So when we finally got past them, and the long line of cars was doing 55, we came to a car on the right that had been pulled over by the police, nothing interesting, just an ordinary stop with plenty of room, and amazingly, everyone slowed down to 45, and then stayed at 45! Wha...? I don't understand. I didn't understand slowing down, and I don't understand staying slow.
From Highland south, the speed limit is mostly 55, with a few 40 or 45 patches through hamlets, and one 30 mph section where the village cop's radar gun is on hair-trigger. We stayed at 45 the entire way to Newburgh, even through the 30 mph section. I don't understand.
(Yeah, I did 45 through the 30, too, but it was because there was a long line of cars ahead of and behind me, and if I'd slowed down, twenty cars would have climbed into my trunk.)
Another thing I noticed was that when we stopped at a traffic light, and the line of stopped cars extended to cross another intersection, people blithely blocked the intersection, so that oncoming cars could not make a left turn into the side road. That stopped traffic on the other side, too. How stupid is that? Do they really not notice? Is everyone completely self-absorbed?
What's going on? Do we have a new generation of drivers who've never taken driver ed? My friend, back in the first example, has noticed the speed-up-at-lane-change problem in several states, so it's not a local thing.
Well, I made it to the dinner later than I meant, but still in time. I had to stop in Newburgh to pick up a friend, and I called her as I entered Newburgh and told her to go to the end of her driveway, "and hold your purse strap out so my side mirror can hook it as I pass, and then hang on tight!"
There were 12 of us at dinner, and I did manage to sit in the middle of the table, as I wanted. It was a pretty good group. Roman gave me a birthday gift of Israeli body lotion after dinner, and a CD of photos from his trip. I hadn't realized that although we'd talked on the phone several times since late October and his trip, I hadn't seen him since mid-October. How odd.
Now we have to get together sometime so he can narrate the photos.
.
1577 Heartstrings
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
(Photo used with permission.)
This is Eli, the tomcat, and Charlie, the coyote pup that Eli and his human are raising. You will find some beautiful photos and the story at http://dailycoyote.blogspot.com/. Go. Look. Read. Share.
[Later edit - I should say - start at the bottom of Daily Coyote and work UP, so you can see him grow up.]
.
(Photo used with permission.)
This is Eli, the tomcat, and Charlie, the coyote pup that Eli and his human are raising. You will find some beautiful photos and the story at http://dailycoyote.blogspot.com/. Go. Look. Read. Share.
[Later edit - I should say - start at the bottom of Daily Coyote and work UP, so you can see him grow up.]
.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
1576 Stuff
Tuesday, December (Ack! Already?) 4, 2007
From Scott Adams, at http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/12/party-planning.html:
"One of the most useless party customs is giving attendees gifts as they leave. These guests already gave you a hostess gift when they arrived. The obvious solution would be to tell guests to throw their incoming gifts in a pile by the entrance, next to the shoes. When people leave, they can rummage through the pile and pick something they didn’t bring. Pardon my French, but I think a “voila” is called for."
Amen. I think Christmas presents should work that way, too.
-------------------------------------
If you stay in hotels a lot, watch this. I believe it. When you see those housekeeping carts in the hall, ever notice that they aren't loaded with glasses?
[http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1329217643/bctid1329232712]
----------------------------------------
I have just returned from a very enjoyable four-day weekend visiting with a friend in Virginia, where I attended (as a spectator) my first official bowling tournament. (Which is a little odd, because back when I was still speaking to my brother, he was very "into" bowling, participating in tournaments all over the country and actually making money at it. He was in televised nationals. And yet, I've never seen him bowl.) Anyway, it's like any other sport - it's a lot more interesting when you know one of the players. It was a good weekend.
-----------------------------------------
My cellphone is seven years old this month. In Phoneworld, it's an antique, but I've kept it because I'd never had any trouble with it and saw no reason to upgrade. It has few functions beyond making and receiving calls, but who really needs anything else? It's so large that when young people see it, they remark "Wow! That phone must do everything!"
I went to my service provider's store yesterday to have a small problem addressed, and discovered that my phone will no longer work (!!!) as of February because it's not 911-enabled, and it's analog, not digital, and analog service will end in February.
So they gave me a new phone. They figured they owed me three or four by now anyway. The new one isn't fancy, because I opted for durability instead.
I have about 57 numbers in the directory on the old phone. They said no problem, they just hook up both phones to some machine and it transfers the contents of the directory from the old to the new. Unfortunately, my old phone is SO old, there's no plug to hook it up to. So the clerk sat there and hand-transferred all my old directory to the new phone. Took an hour. So far the only typo I found is that in several places, "Eve" has become "Eye". I'll have to sit down sometime soon and check all the numbers.
----------------------------------------
Mensa dinner tonight. So far 10 people have said they'll be there. That's too many. An ideal restaurant dinner is about six. Beyond that, it tends to break up into two separate conversation groups, and no matter which group you end up in, the bits you hear from the other end of the table sound so much more interesting. I want to make sure I sit in the middle of the table, so I can swing-converse.
.
From Scott Adams, at http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/12/party-planning.html:
"One of the most useless party customs is giving attendees gifts as they leave. These guests already gave you a hostess gift when they arrived. The obvious solution would be to tell guests to throw their incoming gifts in a pile by the entrance, next to the shoes. When people leave, they can rummage through the pile and pick something they didn’t bring. Pardon my French, but I think a “voila” is called for."
Amen. I think Christmas presents should work that way, too.
-------------------------------------
If you stay in hotels a lot, watch this. I believe it. When you see those housekeeping carts in the hall, ever notice that they aren't loaded with glasses?
[http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1329217643/bctid1329232712]
----------------------------------------
I have just returned from a very enjoyable four-day weekend visiting with a friend in Virginia, where I attended (as a spectator) my first official bowling tournament. (Which is a little odd, because back when I was still speaking to my brother, he was very "into" bowling, participating in tournaments all over the country and actually making money at it. He was in televised nationals. And yet, I've never seen him bowl.) Anyway, it's like any other sport - it's a lot more interesting when you know one of the players. It was a good weekend.
-----------------------------------------
My cellphone is seven years old this month. In Phoneworld, it's an antique, but I've kept it because I'd never had any trouble with it and saw no reason to upgrade. It has few functions beyond making and receiving calls, but who really needs anything else? It's so large that when young people see it, they remark "Wow! That phone must do everything!"
I went to my service provider's store yesterday to have a small problem addressed, and discovered that my phone will no longer work (!!!) as of February because it's not 911-enabled, and it's analog, not digital, and analog service will end in February.
So they gave me a new phone. They figured they owed me three or four by now anyway. The new one isn't fancy, because I opted for durability instead.
I have about 57 numbers in the directory on the old phone. They said no problem, they just hook up both phones to some machine and it transfers the contents of the directory from the old to the new. Unfortunately, my old phone is SO old, there's no plug to hook it up to. So the clerk sat there and hand-transferred all my old directory to the new phone. Took an hour. So far the only typo I found is that in several places, "Eve" has become "Eye". I'll have to sit down sometime soon and check all the numbers.
----------------------------------------
Mensa dinner tonight. So far 10 people have said they'll be there. That's too many. An ideal restaurant dinner is about six. Beyond that, it tends to break up into two separate conversation groups, and no matter which group you end up in, the bits you hear from the other end of the table sound so much more interesting. I want to make sure I sit in the middle of the table, so I can swing-converse.
.
1575 Big Brother, Thy Name Is Facebook
Facebook Admits Ad Service Tracks Logged-Off Users
FROM YAHOO NEWS ...Juan Carlos Perez Mon Dec 3, 12:00 PM ET
Facebook has confirmed findings of a CA security researcher that the social-networking site's Beacon ad service is more intrusive and stealthy than previously acknowledged, an admission that contradicts statements made previously by Facebook executives and representatives.
Facebook's controversial Beacon ad system tracks users' off-Facebook activities even if those users are logged off from the social-networking site and have previously declined having their activities on specific external sites broadcast to their Facebook friends, a company spokesman said via e-mail over the weekend.
Although according to the spokesman Facebook does nothing with the data transmitted back to its servers in these cases and deletes it, the admission will probably fan the flames of the controversy engulfing Beacon, which has been criticized by privacy advocates. The Facebook spokesman did not initially reply to a request for further explanation on how the Beacon action gets triggered if a user is logged off from Facebook, when the social-networking site's ability to track its users'activities should be inactive. It's also unclear whether Facebook plans to modify Beacon so it doesn't track and report on the off-Facebook activities of logged-off users.
Beacon is a major part of the Facebook Ads platform that Facebook introduced with much fanfare several weeks ago. Beacon tracks certain activities of Facebook users on more than 40 participating Web sites, including those of Blockbuster and Fandango, and reports those activities to the users' set of Facebook friends, unless told not to do so. Off-Facebook activities that can be broadcast to one's Facebook friends include purchasing a product, signing up for a service and including an item on a wishlist.
The program has been blasted by groups such as MoveOn.org and by individual users who have unwittingly broadcast information about recent purchases and other Web activities to their Facebook friends. This has led to some embarrassing situations, such as blowing the surprise of holiday presents.
On Thursday night, Facebook tweaked Beacon to make its workings more explicit toFacebook users and to make it easier to nix broadcast messages and opt out of having activities tracked on specific Web sites. Facebook didn't go all the wayto providing a general opt-out option for the entire Beacon program, as some had hoped.
Then on Friday, just hours after Facebook had scored some points with its modifications to Beacon, Stefan Berteau, senior research engineer at CA's Threat Research Group, wrote in a note about Beacon's until-then unknown ability to monitor logged-off users' activities and send the data back to Facebook.
Users aren't informed that data on their activities at these sites is flowing back to Facebook, nor given the option to block that information from being transmitted, according to Berteau.
If users have ever checked the option for Facebook to "remember me"-- which saves users from having to log on to the site upon every return to it-- Facebook can tie their activities on third-party Beacon sites directly to them, even if they're logged off and have opted out of the broadcast. If they have never chosen this option, the information still flows back to Facebook, although without it being tied to their Facebook ID, according to Berteau.
Facebook's admission over the weekend contradicts previous statements from the company regarding this issue. For example, in e-mail correspondence with Facebook's privacy department, Berteau was told, among other things, that "as long as you are logged out of Facebook, no actions you have taken on other websites can be sent to Facebook."
A similar statement was made by a high-ranking Facebook official in an interview with The New York Times published Thursday."If I buy tickets on Fandango, and decline to publish the purchase to my friends on Facebook, does Facebook still receive the information about my purchase?," a Times reporter asked Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebook's vice president of product marketing and operations at Facebook. "Absolutely not. One of the things we are still trying to do is dispel a lot of misinformation that is being propagated unnecessarily," Palihapitiya replied.
http://tinyurl.com/3ydej3
.
FROM YAHOO NEWS ...Juan Carlos Perez Mon Dec 3, 12:00 PM ET
Facebook has confirmed findings of a CA security researcher that the social-networking site's Beacon ad service is more intrusive and stealthy than previously acknowledged, an admission that contradicts statements made previously by Facebook executives and representatives.
Facebook's controversial Beacon ad system tracks users' off-Facebook activities even if those users are logged off from the social-networking site and have previously declined having their activities on specific external sites broadcast to their Facebook friends, a company spokesman said via e-mail over the weekend.
Although according to the spokesman Facebook does nothing with the data transmitted back to its servers in these cases and deletes it, the admission will probably fan the flames of the controversy engulfing Beacon, which has been criticized by privacy advocates. The Facebook spokesman did not initially reply to a request for further explanation on how the Beacon action gets triggered if a user is logged off from Facebook, when the social-networking site's ability to track its users'activities should be inactive. It's also unclear whether Facebook plans to modify Beacon so it doesn't track and report on the off-Facebook activities of logged-off users.
Beacon is a major part of the Facebook Ads platform that Facebook introduced with much fanfare several weeks ago. Beacon tracks certain activities of Facebook users on more than 40 participating Web sites, including those of Blockbuster and Fandango, and reports those activities to the users' set of Facebook friends, unless told not to do so. Off-Facebook activities that can be broadcast to one's Facebook friends include purchasing a product, signing up for a service and including an item on a wishlist.
The program has been blasted by groups such as MoveOn.org and by individual users who have unwittingly broadcast information about recent purchases and other Web activities to their Facebook friends. This has led to some embarrassing situations, such as blowing the surprise of holiday presents.
On Thursday night, Facebook tweaked Beacon to make its workings more explicit toFacebook users and to make it easier to nix broadcast messages and opt out of having activities tracked on specific Web sites. Facebook didn't go all the wayto providing a general opt-out option for the entire Beacon program, as some had hoped.
Then on Friday, just hours after Facebook had scored some points with its modifications to Beacon, Stefan Berteau, senior research engineer at CA's Threat Research Group, wrote in a note about Beacon's until-then unknown ability to monitor logged-off users' activities and send the data back to Facebook.
Users aren't informed that data on their activities at these sites is flowing back to Facebook, nor given the option to block that information from being transmitted, according to Berteau.
If users have ever checked the option for Facebook to "remember me"-- which saves users from having to log on to the site upon every return to it-- Facebook can tie their activities on third-party Beacon sites directly to them, even if they're logged off and have opted out of the broadcast. If they have never chosen this option, the information still flows back to Facebook, although without it being tied to their Facebook ID, according to Berteau.
Facebook's admission over the weekend contradicts previous statements from the company regarding this issue. For example, in e-mail correspondence with Facebook's privacy department, Berteau was told, among other things, that "as long as you are logged out of Facebook, no actions you have taken on other websites can be sent to Facebook."
A similar statement was made by a high-ranking Facebook official in an interview with The New York Times published Thursday."If I buy tickets on Fandango, and decline to publish the purchase to my friends on Facebook, does Facebook still receive the information about my purchase?," a Times reporter asked Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebook's vice president of product marketing and operations at Facebook. "Absolutely not. One of the things we are still trying to do is dispel a lot of misinformation that is being propagated unnecessarily," Palihapitiya replied.
http://tinyurl.com/3ydej3
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Wednesday, November 28, 2007
1574 Bonus for Buying Cheap
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Remember that online store, the one that I had guilt feelings about because I broke up an order so I could get multiple discounts?
Since then, they have been showering me with discount coupons - in the order boxes as they arrived, in the mail "for our valued customer", and stuck to the front of "special offer" catalogs. In the past 12 days, I have accumulated:
A card for $30 off a $100 order.
Two cards for 40% off my next order of any amount.
Six coupons for $10 off any order.
The big cards cannot be combined with each other, but the $10 coupons can be used in any combination with anything, including each other. And all that will be on top of any sales they're running.
Wow! When I have some time next week, I'm gonna sit down and figure out what I can get for free!
You know what's really weird? I have never, ever, not once, paid more than half the retail price for their stuff. I always hit their clearance sales, and accumulate and use the "thank you" coupons.
I guess this is proof that their things are overpriced. I can't be the only person doing this, but they somehow stay in business, and they think I'm wonderful.
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Remember that online store, the one that I had guilt feelings about because I broke up an order so I could get multiple discounts?
Since then, they have been showering me with discount coupons - in the order boxes as they arrived, in the mail "for our valued customer", and stuck to the front of "special offer" catalogs. In the past 12 days, I have accumulated:
A card for $30 off a $100 order.
Two cards for 40% off my next order of any amount.
Six coupons for $10 off any order.
The big cards cannot be combined with each other, but the $10 coupons can be used in any combination with anything, including each other. And all that will be on top of any sales they're running.
Wow! When I have some time next week, I'm gonna sit down and figure out what I can get for free!
You know what's really weird? I have never, ever, not once, paid more than half the retail price for their stuff. I always hit their clearance sales, and accumulate and use the "thank you" coupons.
I guess this is proof that their things are overpriced. I can't be the only person doing this, but they somehow stay in business, and they think I'm wonderful.
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1573 Interruptions
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
I have so much to do today. Laundry, clean out the car, clean litter boxes, pay bills, go to the bank, get gas, select clothes for the weekend, hem anything I select that needs hemming, etc. Instead I've been answering the phone and doing other things that pop up out of nowhere. Like my gutter man called this morning, and said that even though the apple tree and the oak that overhang the garage still have leaves, we MUST clean the gutters today, while he has time and before the gutters freeze and we can't get the gutter clutter out at all. Joy.
At least I played it smart - it's now 3:18, it'll be getting dark soon, and the things I HAVE managed to cross off the list are those that require daylight.
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I have so much to do today. Laundry, clean out the car, clean litter boxes, pay bills, go to the bank, get gas, select clothes for the weekend, hem anything I select that needs hemming, etc. Instead I've been answering the phone and doing other things that pop up out of nowhere. Like my gutter man called this morning, and said that even though the apple tree and the oak that overhang the garage still have leaves, we MUST clean the gutters today, while he has time and before the gutters freeze and we can't get the gutter clutter out at all. Joy.
At least I played it smart - it's now 3:18, it'll be getting dark soon, and the things I HAVE managed to cross off the list are those that require daylight.
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Tuesday, November 27, 2007
1572 House of Mirth
I just finished The House of Mirth. I'd wanted to read it for a year or so, I had bought a paperback copy. It sat in the "to read" pile, with all the others.
Then I discovered it online. I've read it over the past week. It's easier when I'm mostly just sitting here anyway. After I finished it, I read the forum comments. No one had the question I have.
What is the one word Seldon was bringing to Lily? One word. One.
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Then I discovered it online. I've read it over the past week. It's easier when I'm mostly just sitting here anyway. After I finished it, I read the forum comments. No one had the question I have.
What is the one word Seldon was bringing to Lily? One word. One.
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Monday, November 26, 2007
1571 The Tree
I just saw on the news the state Christmas tree arriving in Albany, recumbent on a flatbed truck, cruelly cut trunk exposed. That always annoys me. "Oh, look, what a beautiful perfectly-shaped tree! It must have taken a hundred years to grow so large! Let's kill it!"
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1570 I Got Nothin'
Monday, November 26, 2007
Hey. I got nothin' to say. Talk about the weather, I guess.
Sleet last night. Drizzly rain today. Um, nothin' else to say about that.
Zzzzzzzz.............
Oh, ok, kitty update. Jasper seems to need a lot of human interaction. He's never far away from me. I have to be careful when I'm holding something in my hand (pens, scissors, spoons, panties, toothbrush, Kleenex, socks, whatever) and set it down, because he'll steal it and play with it, and then it disappears. Or I guess from Jasper's viewpoint, it escapes. He dearly loves tearing paper, so I can't even leave unpaid bills on the desk.
All of the other cats in my life have loved grocery bags. After I'd empty them, the cats loved to hide in them. Jasper isn't interested in empty bags or boxes (maybe because he was feral, he's leary of being trapped). He likes the bags full. When I bring groceries in and put the bags on the kitchen floor, he loves to empty the bags for me, all over the floor. Cinnamon seems to fascinate him.
Ok, now I got nothin' else.
.
Hey. I got nothin' to say. Talk about the weather, I guess.
Sleet last night. Drizzly rain today. Um, nothin' else to say about that.
Zzzzzzzz.............
Oh, ok, kitty update. Jasper seems to need a lot of human interaction. He's never far away from me. I have to be careful when I'm holding something in my hand (pens, scissors, spoons, panties, toothbrush, Kleenex, socks, whatever) and set it down, because he'll steal it and play with it, and then it disappears. Or I guess from Jasper's viewpoint, it escapes. He dearly loves tearing paper, so I can't even leave unpaid bills on the desk.
All of the other cats in my life have loved grocery bags. After I'd empty them, the cats loved to hide in them. Jasper isn't interested in empty bags or boxes (maybe because he was feral, he's leary of being trapped). He likes the bags full. When I bring groceries in and put the bags on the kitchen floor, he loves to empty the bags for me, all over the floor. Cinnamon seems to fascinate him.
Ok, now I got nothin' else.
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Sunday, November 25, 2007
1569 New Jersey Live
Sunday, November 25, 2007
So, Thanksgiving dinner was Friday, at the home of Daughter and Hercules, attended by the co-Mother-in-Laws. Daughter did a terrific job on the dinner. Frankly, I've never had better stuffing or candied yams.
Saturday another NJ blogger and I browsed sari stores, and sampled yummies.
Jasper was happy to see me when I got home late Saturday evening. Since he'd been baiting Miss Thunderfoot before I left, he'd spent my time away shut up in the laundry room. I'm a little worried because while I was gone he'd eaten the two days worth of food I'd left for him, and today he looks like he'd swallowed a football, but there's no poopy in his litter pan. Now that he's no longer confined and has access to Miss Thunderfoot's litter box, I won't be able to tell if he goes or not.
Phooey. If guess I'll know if he explodes....
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So, Thanksgiving dinner was Friday, at the home of Daughter and Hercules, attended by the co-Mother-in-Laws. Daughter did a terrific job on the dinner. Frankly, I've never had better stuffing or candied yams.
Saturday another NJ blogger and I browsed sari stores, and sampled yummies.
Jasper was happy to see me when I got home late Saturday evening. Since he'd been baiting Miss Thunderfoot before I left, he'd spent my time away shut up in the laundry room. I'm a little worried because while I was gone he'd eaten the two days worth of food I'd left for him, and today he looks like he'd swallowed a football, but there's no poopy in his litter pan. Now that he's no longer confined and has access to Miss Thunderfoot's litter box, I won't be able to tell if he goes or not.
Phooey. If guess I'll know if he explodes....
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