August 30, 2004
I can't take this anymore. I'm tired and I am sore and now the local news is saying we've got another damned hurricane headed this way. I hope this is one of those times where their predictions (which is technically what they do), are incorrect. We've still got enough water. We've got enough gas for the generator. Let's just hope that high pressure system (I think that's what it is out there), does something to steer it away from the coast. A girl can wish, right?
We've been working our asses off trying to finish my dad's shop for the "grand reopening" on Thursday. Now we may have to hold off due to hurricane Frances. I painted all day today. Two or more coats were done everywhere. My husband, father, and brother did construction. I'm still kind of banned from any heavy duty power tools. I did however use my cute little battery powered screwdriver. It is actually mine, so they can't take it from me.
I have gained four pounds sometime recently, but I think it was muscle considering I seem to have gone down another size. /sigh I really have to buy new clothes.
So I, uh, kinda uh, well, injured myself. I stabbed myself with a cordless screwdriver/drill. I am ok, but it hurts like a mo-fo. I can type with the tip-top of my finger, but using the upper keys hurt. It seems clean, but there was some blood spill. From that point on, I was banned from using the powertools* and there was much sadness. I am sure they will get over it, but I won't be doing much in the way of building tomorrow anyway. I get the awesome (and tedious) task of finding the zillion invoices and logging them against the damaged products database, while waiting for the UPS man to bring some stuff.
So now, I'm going to bed. I imagine my finger will start throbbing in the middle of the night, but I've got to try and get some sleep. I'll be happy when all of this is done. Of course, by then, we may see another hurricane. /sigh
*I wasn't the only one who did something similar. My husband and father also came away with injuries, mine just happened to be the worst of the bunch.
The Cruxshadows
at
The New Brookland Tavern
with Entreat (Columbia, SC)
Doors open @ 9pm
21+: $6.00
Under 21: $8.00
For directions and venue info check out:
http://www.newbrooklandtavern.com
I didn't know Mr. Haughey was a TDI owner. I wonder if there is a webring for tdi owners. /end sarcasm.
Seriously though, I'm glad people notice that there are diesels out there that don't spew black smoke! It is nice having to only fill up once every 800 or so miles.
Alright, I should probably post something with more meat to it, but I am too tired and I have to go shopping for new store fixtures and power tools tomorrow! Maybe we should try these folks. They actually had some pretty cool stuff last time I was there. Dear bob, I will be in heaven*.
* I gladly admit that I am an organization junkie and love places like The Container Store and Hold Everything as well as places that sell power tools.
I have put up a quick gallery of some of the Charley pictures. I have more, but I haven't gotten them off my camera yet. That's for another day. I tried to lower the quality a bit to get the file sizes down, but they are still a wee bit large.
Josh has just informed me that we are renaming the cat Chewbacca. If I was crazy, I may go with Chewbacette, but not Chewbacca. That is a typical boy wookie name, not a girl's.
As I was doing inventory today, I became saddened. I began inventory on the super expensive knives. One of my favorite knives is the 3550 Pardue. I had to almost wipe a tear as I set it with the rest of the stuff. Is it wrong to get so emotional over such a thing? No, not for me. I would love to have one for myself, but I can't have it on me in any other state. That and it is a really expensive knife.
My brothers' got power back at their house yesterday. All is OK in the world. I am still tired, but surviving. My dad made me stop working on the inventory and get some rest. A few days ago I created a database to keep track of the damaged stock. This morning I am going to put the inventory that has already been recorded, into it. Hence this short update.
Thanks to everyone that keeps checking on me. I know once I finish the inventory and garage roof, I have a boat load of work to start on. That is also a driving force to get stuff done. Go me!
I'm tired. My parents' garage is full of stuff from my dad's shop. Most of it is the stuff that we will be listing as un-salvageable. Apparently the grand reopening will be a week from this coming Thursday, September 2nd. They figure the roof will be done tomorrow. After that they have to run the electrical and put up new drywall/wood. Now that's some turn around!
I'm sorry I haven't gotten any pictures up. I know a lot of people keep asking for them, but I am literally so tired, bruised, cut, and sore that it has taken some twenty minutes to type this. Every finger has some sort of injury on it. My palms are burned, and all of my muscles ache. At least I can say we will be ready when the adjusters come. We'll be tired, but ready.
Also, I must add that having eleven people in one house sucks. As large as the house may be, it's still too small for that many people. I hope my brothers' get power back soon!
Now this is whack! Yahoo! has a longer story. That's just crazy stuff, stealing it like that.
As much as I know it needs to be done, I am dreading going out to do yard work. We've got to mow. It needs it really bad. It's getting pretty high now.
Off to eat some breakfast and then I guess I will get started. Wish me luck folks. I'm going to collapse soon.
That green box in the picture is a power box that had its bolts busted and was blown over (not an easy task) by hurricane Charley. Once that baby was upright, they started work on it and we had power within an hour. Of course it took them a few days to get to that.
I've managed to get the photos off of my camera, but I really need to work on the roof now. We are expecting storms early this afternoon, so this is the only time I have. I need dry time before the storms come. Maybe once I get the tar off of my hands, I can upload them. Wish me luck folks. We haven't even started over the garage and that has the most damage.
We're doing a lot of waiting. We're currently waiting for the insurance adjuster to call or come. We don't want to patch the roof if we can have someone out here in a week. The tarps, however tacky they look, will work. We don't have it so bad, seeing as there are so many people without roofs at all!
I'm going to move my computer into the computer nook. I probably won't hook up all of my peripherals though. I will be somewhat cramped for space as I will be sharing the nook with Josh and his zillion computers.
Once I move stuff around, I'll start uploading pictures. I don't know how good a lot of them are, but I took them. Until then.
OK. I am alive, but bloody damned tired. I have pictures. I have a written journal to transcribe. Lots to tell, but not a lot of time right now.
The Low Down:
We apparently got slapped hard. We were right smack in the middle of the eyes' path.
We had water, but no power. We got a generator on ?Sunday? morning. The days have begun to run together. Monday evening we got power and phone. To let everyone see just what was holding up our getting power (and how damn strong the winds were), I took a picture of something and will post it when I can eventually use my computer. Josh's laptop is the only thing currently hooked up. Something has been damaged in the room housing my computer, so I have to find a temporary home for my machine until we can find an electrician come in and tell us why we don't have any power in that one room.
The roof was pretty damaged. We don't have any holes, but a lot of the shingles were blown off. Josh and I have been using roll roofing for the large areas. I think I have third degree burns on my behind.
We lost part of the fence and the neighbors tree killed our giant cactus. We have one tree branch lodged in our tree, but I'm still not sure if it was ours. We have a lot of branches from the neighbors trees.
Cell service is back, but not completely.
Skittles is ok, but cabin fever started to set in on Sunday night. She had to be confined to one room. We had to keep all doors and windows open to cool the house off some.
My mom's shop is fine, but my dad's shop is a total loss. The roof was gone and a lot was damaged. Some of the other business owners were there and you could see tears coming up. Apparently a lot of people had let their insurance lapse. FEMA may be able to help them. My parents' insurance should cover everything and they plan to reopen once the facilities are rebuilt, which the owner plans to do.
There are still a lot of people without power, including both of my brothers' homes. They are staying here and things finally got tense today.
My head is hurting, as is just about everything else. I can't think of what else to write about. I have a lot in my paper journal that I will post.
I will try to respond to emails soon, but with the afternoon storms we have been having a lot of people are losing power again.
Thanks for the well wishes everyone.
Son of a bitch! The fucker is going to be coming right at us now. Thank God my mother is overly prepared. We've got enough water for my parents, Josh, myself, my brothers and each member of their families.
Oh fuck, Julia Child has died too. Cell service is flakey right now. We've obviously still got power and cable, but everything is going to be unplugged in a few minutes. Fucker. Category four at that. Fucker!
Watch the fun here.
We just got a nasty band and will be getting some more real soon. Ok, now I am seriously signing off.
I'm leaving soon to help prep the parents' shops. I'm shutting down and locking up, so I will be back online once it is all over. So far it looks like he'll make landfall in St. Pete. Unfortunately that means we'll be on the tornado end of this which sucks.
The kids wanted to take pictures before the hurricanes, and they will probably want to do some after ones as well. We all may end up staying at my parents' just to keep us all sane.
So, I'm off. Bye kiddies.
Just wanted to let the family members that are wondering, we are fine. We've got plenty of supplies, the tree was trimmed, the parents' stores will be safeguarded tomorrow, and the eagle flies at midnight. :P
Seriously though, if the only things we have to suffer is a loss of electricity and water, we'll be OK. Should we go Dorthy or something, well that's a different story.
Side note... went to Wally World for some cat litter and fresh veggies and found out the ONLY water they have in stock are the small Dasani bottles and as the store worker joked, anything that flames was gone yesterday. Thank goodness we always keep a large supply of water at the house.
My only concern is that everyone seems to have caught AJ and my brother's cold. My mom sounds horrible and my dad seems to have developed a sore throat today.
The kids are excited about the storm, especially since they don't have school tomorrow. I wonder if they know they get to make it up the day before Thanksgiving, probably not.
Well, after all of my cleaning today, I need a cup of chai to soothe my sore throat. I may also break in the new size 17 knitting needles I got. Yippee. I may have to frog my work in progress on the size 10s and do it on the 17s. It would look better and go much faster.
I had some weird, probably fever induced, dreams last night. What I remember is I was back at VSU, but the rooms were really weird. There were four beds to a room, but I had a room to myself. For some reason a friend and I were on a serious quest, looking for something strange. I don't know what it was we were looking for, but it was really important. Anyway, it was really strange.
I was just listening to a news conference and they were saying that Charley may be close to or at category three status before it gets here. Ugh. I'm just worried about the rain. We've had so much lately that this will really suck.
So, uh, has anything else happened in the world? All we are getting here is Bonnie and Charley updates... constantly. Even on CNN. Sheesh.
Well, today is basically a clean up day. I'll clean up the yard, the house, and my computer. I'm sure I'll still be trying to figure out that dream while cleaning.
I was reading through some LJ knitting related entries and found someone asking for a tux chart. Someone else linked to a gallery of Tux. I found some of the stuff I did there. My Santa Tux is on page 11 and at the LWN gallery, They've got the GNHLUG logo and GNHLUG Business Show logo on page 15. If there is one thing I miss, it's working with GNHLUG.
BTW, since Tux is open source, I think I still have all of the original files should anyone come across here and need them. I know that the Business show one has been used quite a bit, but I love the Santa Tux best.
Well, AJ's cold is finally kicking me in the butt. Last night I felt bad, today I felt bad, now I am feeling really bad. I need to crawl under the blanket.
/sigh Hello Bonnie. Hello Charley or as I have begun to call you, Clyde.
My mom and I have been planning to go today to get batteries. Alas, we weren't actually planning to get them for these storms. I get to pick up all of the loose stuff outside today/tomorrow. Go me. Bonnie won't be too bad, but Charley will be passing right over us. At least we got the tree cut.
Mr. Sicky-I-Need-To-Visit-My-Aunt-At-7am decided he needed to take some pictures. He had a quick lesson on how to work my digital camera and he was off. The two pictures above are some of my favorites. (They link to larger versions that I have saved at Flickr.com) He took a ton and seems to do better taking photos outside. He needs to learn a little more about lighting. I can't expect too much though, he's only three. He even got one of me that wasn't half bad. Well it would be a ton better if I had gotten more sleep today and wasn't wearing a t-shirt that is probably three sizes too big. I was playing baseball on wet grass, I needed something that could get dirty.
Right now he has decided he needs a nap and is watching Return of the King. If I wasn't hungry I would probably do the same.
AJ decided he had to come visit me. He was coming over anyway for baseball, but he decided he needed to come over here at 7AM, three hours earlier than planned. He's sick, so I am forgiving him. I am also hoping that he takes a nap so that I can get one too.
Link goodies from last night and this morning. (He's watching cartoons while I surf the web.)
Online Lite Brite - An oldie but a goodie. I'm posting this to remember to show Brittany after school.
Sushi Cat Toys - Take-Out Cat toys and magnet patterns. It's a geocities site so it could be off for the day for bandwidth use, but it has some super cute toys on it. There was actually some good information about Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome, even if the story is pretty bad. It is something Skittles needs to be checked for later. Link found via LJ craftgrrl Community
Hem Like A Pro - I'm sticking this here so I can remember this. While I am not so short anymore, I do find more often than not that my jeans are a wee too long. Link found at quidnunc.org
Ooh, he's getting tired! Time to cross my fingers and get out a little blanket.
Josh will pick up Kill Bill Vol. 2 tomorrow on his way home. Tomorrow AJ and I play baseball! Holy carp can that boy can swing!
In other DVD news, the straight to video princesses' (the Olsens) "big movie" will be out on dvd next week. I knew they were fast, but not that fast!
I just wrote this term paper length entry that essentially said, "Be yourself in college, it won't be so bad. Your true colors show no matter hard as you try to conceal them." It started turning into a flashback sequence complete with the introductions of Josh, Shantae, Mark, and Calhoun. Yeah, too much. Basically don't waste your time being someone else. You'll have more fun being yourself.
All of that started with my thinking about my dislike of alcoholic beverages and cigarettes. Someone drinking in moderation I can handle. Josh had to quit smoking though, before I would date him. I guess he really liked me. I have plenty of friends and family that smoke, but they know that I wish they wouldn't.
Now on to other news. I guess the national news is starting to call the murders in Deltona, "The X-box Murders" and "The Video Game Murders". I don't like the sound of it. It makes it sound more like a murder based on a game rather than the motives behind the murder. Either way, the local news hasn't started calling it that though. More than likely it is probably out of respect.
My dad is psyched about football being "back", he was even more excited that it is the Redskins playing tonight. Whatever makes him smile. I wonder how much having Gibbs back is going to help. Ooh, just over a minute left in the game and they are tied. Drama! OK, I have to watch.
Madame Glitchbane's Adequate Stash Ascertainment Formula - Find out how many projects per year you need to do before you retire. (Completely useless, but silly fun none the less.) link found via LJ Knitting Community
Spam notes: I don't live in Manchester anymore. My really doesn't need anything enlarged, but she thanks you for being concerned enough to email her some helpful links. If you really want to do something helpful, you can buy me this pretty little set of bamboo knitting needles that I can't seem to buy myself. If you act now, you can use the 50% off any one item coupon code! Yeah, that will be the day. A spammer sending me knitting needles.
I finished Shalyn's scarf. Pictures will probably just go up in the craft section.
Calhoun and other Bjork fans, before I forget to mention it...
Go here now and download these songs!!!
We had a Peeping Tom. I got a picture. It just started jumping along the window looking in. Skittles was interested, but knew there was no way she was getting it, so she concentrated on getting her dinner.
OK, off to finish watching some TV and work on Shalyn's scarf some more. I should finish tomorrow once the kids head home. It isn't quite a secret when she sees me making it.
I know a few people reading this will be looking forward to Bjork's soon to be released, seventh solo album, Medulla. I always enjoy listening to her. Her work always seems to be so full of emotion.
I did a ton of yard work. It sprinkled a little, but I think the bulk of the rain will be coming soon. The clouds moving in now are the ever menacing storm clouds. Run for your boats people!
I know I seem to say it every time I hear them, but with the vocal coaches they had, Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman ended up with some really good singing voices.
Alright, I'm going to work on Shalyn's scarf. I think I want to finish it within the next few days.
OK, I am caving in and joining in and going for the free ipod. Go here and do what you gotta do.
File that under holy crap! Rick James has died!?! Um, wow. I know he wasn't exactly a role model and all, but he wasn't exactly that old. The drugs probably aged him. My dad is just a wee younger than him, just concerned.
For the first time in I don't know how long, I don't have anything I need to do. I have made the phone calls I need to make. I have sent the emails I need to send. I've filed the things I need to file. The laundry is going.
Yard work and gardening are out of the question since the sky just went Noah on me. Now I am going over my crafty options. I could work on the scarf for Shalyn's birthday. It's an extremely simple K3, P3 ribbed scarf, so I don't feel a rush. Her party is a week from tomorrow, so I have time for that. I have some new nifty storage boxes I could clean up and decoupage or something. I could finish making my size 35 knitting needles. I could play with my nifty tea set (and odds and ends) I was given yesterday.
I may go to the library today. There isn't anything specific that I want to get. It is just something different to do.
OK, I've decided. I will pay two bills (just to get them over and done) and clean up those new boxes. I think they will make good storage boxes for my smaller craft items. Maybe I can clean up my sewing box!
Ugly thunderstorm passing overhead. Shutting down computer. Scared. Send help in the form of money. Just kidding. Busy day today, more later. The lightning is pretty close (down the street right now) so I am heading away from this window.
Update to Ralph Fiennes being cast as You-Know-Who. After a good sleep, I have decided he's too good looking. They need to do a superb job on the makeup and he needs to do Oscar caliber acting to make you dislike the character. Considering he's a good actor, I'm hoping we'll be ok.
I can't wait to see Miranda Richardson as Rita Skeeter either! She played the evil lady/mom in Sleepy Hollow, so she should do a pretty good job with this character.
Today was an extremely busy day. Yesterday was a shocking day. I will start with yesterday.
The day started off simple enough. Josh and I went through our daily routine and then we decided to get some grocery shopping done before the "mad rush" kicked in.
As we made our way down our street, I kept saying to Josh, "Are they in our yard?" and as we approached I stated, "Holy crap, what are they doing here?" You see, we have a huge oak tree in the front yard. We called to have an estimate for trim and removal months ago. They kept canceling on us. Well, Monday they showed up and gave us a quote for $600 less than we were planning on spending and told us they would be here Thursday.
Nope, they showed up early, a few days early! It was a little shocking, but damn if there isn't a ton of light coming through now! It's not a dense forest in the front yard anymore! I half expected to see Bambi and Thumper somewhere.
Now today. Man did it just bite. It wasn't anything bad, just extremely busy. I woke up and started doing work related stuff. Josh and I went out and picked up some stuff for my parents' business. I was tormented by seeing ever so many shiny objects (LoTR weapons replicas, The Last Samurai sword replicas, Kill Bill weapons replicas, and so much more) and then I was told I can have anything if I wanted it. Space was the only thing stopping me. In my defense, Josh did play with lots of the knives too.
After all of that tempting, I had to run to my dad's shop and then go and then go ship some stuff. /sigh Of course during all of this it was pouring rain. We got home and it was still raining.
AJ and I spent the evening doing water colors with my mother. Both of them seemed to really enjoy it. The girls had to go to bed early tonight, so they didn't get to paint (or paink as AJ is calling it).School starts back tomorrow, so there is anxiety and excitement for the girls. Shalyn thinks she isn't going to know anything because she doesn't know big words like Brittany. I think AJ will be lonely for a few days and then he'll get over it and love not having his sisters around to bug him.
To quote my nephew the other day who quoted Austin Powers.. "Yeah baby, yeah!" Ralph Fiennes is going to play Voldemort!!!! If she wasn't asleep due to school starting tomorrow, I'd be telling Brittany.
What a fucking dumbnut. I'm sorry, but that is so fucking silly it's ridiculous. I'm just so amazed that I can't even post about the rest of my day. MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Iraqis visiting on a civil rights tour were barred from city hall after the city council chairman said it was too dangerous to let them in.
The seven Iraqi civic and community leaders are in the midst of a three-week American tour, sponsored by the State Department to learn more about the process of government. The trip also includes stops in Washington, Los Angeles and Chicago.
The Iraqis were scheduled to meet with a city council member, but Joe Brown, the council chair, said he feared the group was dangerous.
"We don't know exactly what's going on. Who knows about the delegation, and has the FBI (news - web sites) been informed?" Brown said. "We must secure and protect all the employees in that building."
Elisabeth Silverman, the group's host and head of the Memphis Council for International Visitors, said Brown told her he would "evacuate the building and bring in the bomb squads" if the group entered.
"They are in charge of setting up processes in their country. They have to educate themselves about how it works in this country," Silverman said.
Silverman did not immediately respond to a message Tuesday seeking comment, and it was not clear whether the group had run into trouble elsewhere on their tour.
But the delegates seemed in good spirits Monday, after they were able meet with Carol Chumney, the city council member, elsewhere. Shahla Waliy, a 31-year-old native of Baghdad, said she was intrigued by the city's civil rights history.
"I heard there was a kind of majority-minority conflict in Memphis, especially in history," she said. "We have these smaller provinces, and we have majority-minority conflicts in these places."
Part of me thinks I shouldn't post this link, but I just have to. I could actually imagine Josh convincing me to play this, if only for the nifty pictures! Kingdom of Loathing - a free and comical RPG. (link via Pamela)
I also started a Flickr account for myself a few days back. I was just goofing off, but it seems to currently be a really easy way to share pictures. So far I've only posted the obligatory cat related pictures and a yarn stash test picture.
Why doesn't Daedalus Books have a wish list? Oh how I'd love to add this to it. For some reason I can't buy it for myself. Maybe it is the name, The Joy of Knitting. To similar to the other book I guess.
Oh, other news. I have to come up with a cool embroidery pattern for Brittany's jeans. Does anyone know of good ideas or sites? I started sampling on some denim and went with the basic flower. She liked that, but she's got tons of jeans and needs some variety. I thought of doing a garden on each leg cuff and maybe at a small butterfly up a little on one of the legs.
What else is new? The place my father retired from many, many years ago is apparently a target. While I love the city dearly, right now I am glad he doesn't work there due to the hell everyone must be going through trying to get any work done.
Well, I guess that's my update. The cat thinks it is time to go to sleep and won't let me type this very easily. Evil kitty.
I finished my last bit of work for a client on Friday. It wasn't that painful, but it seemed to drag on forever. It probably seemed that way because it did. It started in June!
I've been debating whether I should make a little scarf for Shalyn for her birthday. I've got tons of pink yarn that I need to do something with. I thought maybe a knit two purl two ribbed scarf would be cute and embroidering her initials on it would be too, but I can't decide on that. I may try to make a hat for her as well, but I have to make sure she isn't around when I work on it. Time to research the average circumference on a six year old's head. OK, just looked, and I'm going with Bev's Basic Hat (Sans Pom Poms of course. The child would kill me).
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