I am writing this from my archos. It is a bit tedious, but it works!

I will be entered into the matrix on Friday. I passed the tests and I have an appointment to get my work ID etc on Friday. Hopefully it won’t hurt.

One thing I have completely forgotten to ask about is parking. I don’t know how the parking garage system works. It is a pay garage, so I don’t know if I need to be parking elsewhere or if I am supposed to have a permit or something.

Josh got a call from work this morning around 5am, so he ended up going in early. He is getting out early (hopefully) and then we are going clothes shopping for him. He needs some new duds and it is getting down to the wire. He needs a haircut too. It is a little moppy right now.

I dug up some tree trunks and some bushes today. I stopped when I was confronted by about six bees and three wasps. They were visiting some flowering weeds where I was working. I didn’t feel comfortable working around them, so I will get started on it again tomorrow.

We are coming upon 25 hours of having my Archos 605 Wifi. So far I am happy I made the purchase.

Let’s start with the bad things.

• You have to buy the additional charger. The whole charging by USB is ridiculous. I’ve already decided that I will buy the DVR station. In the grand scheme of things, it is the most bang for my buck. Walmart has it for $73.
• You will want to buy the web browser plugin. Of all of the things, this opens you up to a new world.
• Depending on where you get your videos, you may need to buy the additional codecs. Of all of my videos, only the quicktime (.mov etc) files have come up unplayable. I only have two or three of them, so it isn’t a big deal.  Over at the Archos forums at anythingbutipod.com, there is a recommendation about using Super Video Converter to convert files.
•  You’ll want to download some flash games to your flash folder. Not all flash games work, but some do. Some are too slow. I currently have solitaire and mahjongg from this site.  I haven’t purchased the browser yet, so I can’t say for certain, but I think when you register the browser (purchase it), you also end up upgrading to Flash 9. That could open you up to more games, but I’m not certain.
• There is no way for you to stop the archos from going to a blank screen after 90 seconds of idle time. Annoying, but I understand the usefulness of doing this. At least it just takes a tap to restore.
• To truly power down, you have to go to go to settings -> power -> Device Complete Power Off. Most devices are like this (going into standby mode), but until I get another charging method, I am powering completely down!

Alright, now that the bad stuff is out of the way, let’s get into the good stuff.

•  Once I switched by USB preference to Hard Drive (from Windows Media Player), I was browsing all of the shared directories on our network. I played movies that were on my desktop on the archos and the playback was flawless. I also found it easy to copy files over.
• Deleting and adding files was easy both on the archos and from a computer.
• The video is awesome. No skipping of flubs. Just smooth playback
• The screen size is definitely a huge asset to this device.
• I’ve heard people complain about the buttons and navigation, but I think that is due to having used an ipod or devices with similar navigation. I was able to navigate through the screens fairly easily.
• The touchpad is great. No smudges. I am so happy that it comes with a stylus, but I can actually use my fingers and not cry about smudges. I did sneeze a little too close to it, but a microfiber cloth cleaned the screen easily.
• Photos show up beautifully. I like the smooth transition between the photos. I also like that the screen is large enough that I could show photos to my mom and know that she can see the detail.
• Flash games. I found myself playing Solitaire for twenty minutes before realizing I had things to do.

Speaking of things to do, I should go get started.

OK. I have debated the purchase for over a year. It has been on my wishlist for just as long. A newer model was released, but I still wanted this model. Today I bought it. I bought an Archos 605 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player (30 GB)!

I had to run into Wal-mart for something and I decided to swing by their electronics department. They had one, but I saw the price and thought it was probably the 4GB flash version. I came home and matched numbers. Then I called the store to make sure. Son of a gun, it really was under $200. I called Josh and told him if he loved me, he would let me get it. Tee Hee. It was a really good deal. He knows I am careful enough with money that I wouldn’t spend it unwisely.

So, there we have it. I have a new toy. I am patiently waiting for it to finish charging before playing with it. I played around with it for a few minutes while it was charging and was so damn giddy. I will have to buy the browser for it, but I don’t need it right now.

See, I’m helping out the economy, getting something I have wanted for a long time and getting it for $100 less than the regular price. Score!

You know, I’m kind of wishing I was at Coachella. Maybe next year, yes Josh?

Josh gave me some surprising news this morning. He informed me that Twin was on the front porch with a dead mouse. Great, thanks. From the looks of it (I’m not getting that close), I think it was a field mouse. I know he’s a great hunter and all, but honestly. Did he really have to?

In other kitty news. My little demon princess is sick. We think that she hurt one of her toes, but she doesn’t seem to be bothered when she walks. She isn’t eating, which really worries us. I managed to get her to take a few laps of milk. She’s resting in her kitty bed. We will watch her today and see if she improves. I know she is getting old, but she is our first born, if you will.

I did manage to stay up and watch Doctor Who. I also managed to watch an episode of Dirty Jobs. I still haven’t watched this past week’s LOST yet. I can’t do that with Josh around because he doesn’t normally watch it. Currently I think there are four shows on each week that I will watch.

I’m trying to think of all of the shows I willingly watch throughout the year. Doctor Who, Torchwood, LOST, Heroes, Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, and Pushing Daisies. I can take or leave Bones and House.

Time to go check on my kitty. I hope she’s OK.

I can’t believe I am going to say this, but I think I am too tired to watch today’s episode of Doctor Who. Martha is back and I am too tired. Argh.

I spent most of today with either my mother or my niece. I helped Brittany* put up a light that we bought almost two months ago. After that I had to talk to my dad about business stuff. Then my mom and I went to a baby shower. Please, if and when we have kids, I don’t think I want a baby shower. It is too freaking stressful.

OK, I’ve decided. I’ll drink something caffeinated and then watch Doctor Who.

*She is trying to get a history fair presentation done. She is going to compete in the state History fair on Thursday. Oh and she made it into IB Diploma program.

I know the purpose of the government’s stimulus check is to get us to spend money and therefore stimulate the economy, but I am really hoping most Americans use it to pay some of their bills. I am planning to pay down a credit card. I don’t want to pay it off completely due to the fact that it is interest free until January. I just want to have a fair amount of available credit should something happen. It kills me to have a balance, but I know it will be OK.

I’m heading to Ikea. The place I am to take my drug test at is down the road from Ikea, so I figured I would kill the morning there. I can scope out the Granemo we are thinking about. I can also, um, look around. I might pick up some glasses while I am there. Our glasses we bought 10.5 years ago are nearly all gone. I think we have four left. I remember buying them. We needed everything.

I think I bought the glasses at the Dollar store. I am so surprised that they have lasted as long as they have. I bought the bowls, our first set of sheets, a telephone, and cooking utensils all at Woolworth’s. These stores were two blocks over, so it was convenient to walk to. I still have the bowls, utensils and sheets. The sheets are actually still in great condition. They just clash horribly with the colors of the rooms in this place. The fact that we had nine sets of sheets for our guest bedroom made us decide that it would be OK to donate many of them. I don’t know how we collected that many sheet sets. I think some of them were gifts. Actually, I know some of them were gifts.

OK, this trip down memory lane has to stop. I’m starting to ponder where everything in my house came from. I could be here for hours.

Help. I am being adorabled.  My cat is being very cuddly today. She’s been a bit of a pain in the butt lately, but I just realized what it is all about. She wants to sit in my lap. She was acting as our personal paper shredder earlier (shredding papers on Josh’s desk) and so I scooped her up and sat her in my lap. She promptly curled into a cute ball and nuzzled her head on knee.

For those that don’t know, my cat has never liked me as much as she LOVES Josh. Ten years ago she “met” Josh and I showed up the next morning. My arrival didn’t seem to work for her. As a kitten she would attack me in the middle of the night, lunge at my feet during the day and she was just generally aggressive towards me. Now, she follows me around like a puppy. This probably has to do with the fact that I am the one that feeds her and cleans her litter box. Oh and the fact that I hook her up with catnip probably helps too.

She’s really killing me with the cuteness.

OK, this is for my more needle and thread inclined friends. An Adipose sewing pattern. I think you could probably get away with sewing this with felt as well. In case you are a little less confident in your sewing abilities.

I’m slowly finishing my knit Adipose. I have white satin that would make an adorable sewn adipose.

I have a spreadsheet where I keep track of the thrift store/hospice donations Josh and I make. So far we have donated $1220 worth of items. We didn’t keep track of it last year. I’m kicking myself for that because we gave at least $3000 worth of clothes and household stuff. I did research and got the average prices for the things we are donating. I inventoried, boxed and labeled everything. I’ve printed the itemized list of donations and stapled that with the donation receipt.

It really doesn’t seem like we have donated as much as we have, but we really did. I had everything boxed and ready to donate in January. I didn’t want to overwhelm them, so I have been spacing out the donations. I’ve been taking one car load (trunk and all available space in the cabin) every couple of months. It seems to be working.

Now that I have finished all of the donations for the next couple of months, I have a crib where my donation pile was. I am supposed to be taking that over to my brother and sister in law on Saturday. How do I always end up being the freight transporter?

I’m trying to reduce my caffeine intake. I’m hoping to get to the point where the only caffeine I have comes from the two cups of chai I drink. It is going to be a long and rough road, but I can do it. I think.