January 30, 2005
Son of a shiskabob...
The printer is working pretty well now. Durr?? Weird as pie I tell ya, weird as pie. I'm still evaluating printers though. The time will come soon enough where we will need a new one and I'd like to be in the know so I can get it while the gettin is good.
The wireless network was working good when we switched channels, except for when the microwave was on. It was then that Josh informed me that the channel we were on had issues with microwaves. We switched channels again and so far so good here. Yesterday of course our provider was having technical issues in our area. When it rains, it pours.
What's with all of the cliche lines in my post today? That medicine must be really good.
Calhoun, did ya get it? Take it slow and ask questions!!!! {hugs}
I have been waiting for this... The pattern for the Chicken Viking Hat! I first saw her post on the Craftster forums. Now if only my sister in law would let me put it on my nephew.
I'm worried. Now, it may have to do with me being sick and just overly concerned, but the cat is asleep on the bed while I am sitting here eating ice cream! OK, my concerned parent alert went off and I just checked on her. She had a little peanut butter and ice cream.
Calhoun, I mailed it off yesterday morning. I am sorry it is so late. It should be there Saturday or Monday at the latest. Use those sites I emailed you, they were what helped me!
My own personal tech support (Josh) did his magic (while sick) on my machine and improved my surfing.
Back to the medicine cabinet for me...
I just upgraded my cms... and I am not sure if I like it. This will take some getting used to.
I'll try to only whine about it this one time.
I'm sick and miserable. I went to wash my face and was about to scream. I touch my face and it feels like ants are crawling. I'm just plain sick. I'm still dealing with my migraines as well, so this is all coming at a really bad time. I remember something from earlier today. I think I was delirious, but I am not sure. I recall picking up the cat and dancing around the house. That would explain why I can't find her right now.
Calhoun, I just got your email. I will try to email you back today, so long as I am coherent.
Twinkie Sushi - Yum? Link via Pamela
Awaiting the Academy Awards Nominees announcement. There are so many good roles and great acting that it is going to be difficult.
Of for crimeny's sake... This is going to be a rough damn Oscar year. I'm torn between Don Cheadle and just wanting Johnny Depp to win because he is Johnny Depp.
Check out the full nominee list.
Johnny Carson has died. Wow.
Edit: Reuters announcement.
I'm cold. It's 64°F outside. It is expected to get down to about 46°F tonight. Brrrrr. Even colder the next few days.
Warm and safe thoughts to my friends north of here. That would include just about everyone.
I seem to making something spinach related almost every two days. Right now I have some spinach pies (one regular and one half size) in the oven.
I'm having bad computer luck lately. My printer has decided to misbehave. Something is causing the image drum to collect the toner powder. I'm afraid it is static. To buy a new drum would cost as much as an new HP. My printer is about five or six years old. I've bought three toner cartridges for it (a whopping $24 total), so it has given me a lot for the time. Much more than I was expecting.
So, Staples is having a sale on some printers tomorrow and I may just go and buy a new one. It's a little sad because it really does work well, but the consumable is just too hard to find and not very reasonably priced anymore.
Yippee! The Corpse Bride trailer is out. I'm willing to accept that it won't be a musical.
Watching the WETA: Featurette for The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe gives me hope. I heart WETA.
Unleashed... from the directors of La Femme Nikita and The Professional... Uh, I think it is a requirement for Josh and I to watch this. Let's not even take into account my love of Morgan Freeman
Happy Birthday to one of my oldest and dearest friends, Calhoun. Many hugs and happy wishes for you my friend.
Paris, a 7-week old Chihuahua, has severely deformed front legs that prevent her from walking like a normal dog. The shelter is asking for donations. The news article, pictures of this adorable puppy, and donation information can be found on NBC5.com's website.
That has to be the most adorable puppy I have ever seen. If I had enough money, I would pay to have the surgery done in a heart beat. For now I will do what I can do.
Following a link in one of my newsletters, I found two temp jobs that I would love to take. Go on and guess what I would be doing. Go on, guess. OK, give up?
Knitting scarves for a fashion designer! Hello! How many levels of fun would that be? I just discovered them and sadly the deadline has passed. Wahhh. I'm going to be keeping my eye out now. They supply the yarn, I just use my needles! The yarns were mohair and cashmere. Yum.
I had planned to do a number of things, but I got a little off track due to losing the file that had my check register in it. I didn't lose it so much as it was accidentally copied over when I was trying to fix my computer problems. After much frustration, I decided to just start a new file and start it from this current statement. Of course after I finished, my computer decided it wanted to reboot itself. I'm thinking a new machine will be necessary in the near future. This stuff is getting ridiculous. /sigh
I'll post more later. I have a project that I need to finish and post in the crafty part of my site.
Today is inauguration day. Today some people have decided to take their websites black in protest of the swearing in today. There are others who have chosen to not purchase anything today. Some in Washington D.C today have chosen to attend the swearing in ceremony and turn their backs.
While those are all interesting, I have decided to use MY site to say what I want about what I would like from any head of government.
Dear Sir,I would like a social security overhaul. President Roosevelt has probably rolled over in his grave quite a few times. It frustrates me to no end that I started saving for my retirement when I was 20 years old. Hopefully my husband and I will have saved enough to live happily during our golden years.
I would like some sort of healthcare for those uninsured. My parents have run their small business for over 15 years. They sent me to college with that business, they helped my brothers and their families with that business. They've paid their taxes and put money into this economy, but they get screwed when it comes to healthcare. My brothers pay out their wazoos just to make sure their children have some sort of healthcare because they make too much to qualify for a state-run childrens healthcare. Children need to be taken care of, they will eventually be taking care of us.
I would like a military re-evaluation. There is so much wasteful spending that it disgusts me. I can name ten people right now that admit that they get paid very well for doing nothing. I would like improved mental tests for those entering the military and again during combat.
I would like term limits in congress. 47 years of Strom Thurmond was too much. Times change and so do constituents. I would like some sort of basic political science class for those voting. I would like international vote monitors to avoid such debacles as we had in 2000 and 2004.
I would like an education overhaul. I don't even know where to get started with this. My nephew should be able to attend a headstart program, but can't because my brother and his wife make too much, yet the cost of putting him in a private educational day care is too high. The learning curve has been dumbed down and the social promotion is at an all time high. It is ridiculous. I would like to know that my children, my nieces, and my nephews will be able to attend college and not have to promise their first born or join the military just to do so. The current 509 college savings plans aren't sufficient for the ridiculous rising costs of an education.
Religion should not to be mixed with politics nor education. Forcing a religion or belief onto someone is disgraceful. Chastising a child because their beliefs are different is disgusting.
Taxes need a severe overhaul. We pay so much in taxes and get nothing. The poverty levels need to be adjusted.
Big businesses needs a proverbial bitch slap. The Enrons of this country need their heads handed to them on a paper plate. The Wal-Marts around the country need closer inspections.
Government needs to keep its nose out of my books. Let me have the choice to read a book or let my child read it. It needs to do the same about my personal decisions. Whether I choose to terminate a pregnancy or have a child is my own choice. Whether I choose to love someone of the same gender is my own choice If I choose to marry that person, it is my choice. Let me have my choices.
This letter is just the beginning of what I am thinking. We'll talk more in a year or two.
Sincerely,
A. Voter
You so know you want a Blue Tooth enabled Star Trek Communicator!
(BTW, I think I have fixed my computer issues. I may not have to reload after all.)
It would appear my computer is having a down right fit. Mozilla is fubar. My connection is flakey. After I reinstalled mozilla, the anti-virus stopped working. /sigh.
I had been planning to reload this machine, but not this early. Dagnabit! So pardon if you don't hear from or see me for a while.
I'm dealing with a pretty bad migraine. I can feel the large blood vessel in my eye. It hurts. I hurt. This sucks and this is why I haven't posted anything. The entire day has consisted of contemplating ways to deal with the pain. Whoo hoo, excitement.
Something Josh and I were discussing yesterday, why did they make Marvin the Paranoid Android look like that (to the left) for the movie?
Luke, I'm your tater! Just too cute.
Life busy today. No knitting today, just working on scripts. Mom started on a cleaning spree this evening. Apparently all of the trash bins are full.
I also bought Léon the Deluxe Edition (aka The Professional). I will probably watch it tomorrow.
That has been it. I'm too tired to mess with anything else, so I'm going to go relax.
Yesterday the kids were getting on each other's nerves, so I decided to let them dye yarn with kool-aid. They had fun. I was the only one who wanted to blend the colors. I named mine "rocket pop" since it resembled one. Shalyn did purple (grape). Brittany did pink (cherry), and AJ did yellow (lemon). That managed to keep them busy for about 30 minutes. Then they kept checking on it to make sure it was drying alright. Kids are so cute.
And when that, I am off to do some work while listening/watching Empire Records.
Reading my friends list I came across some good sites to share (and bookmark):
Notes on taking pictures of hard-to-light, small objects such as jewelry
Web Cam Abuse - Video and music. If you are at work, you may want to skip this. (Thanks go to Calhoun for getting that song stuck in my head!)
A plain red sleeping bag was purchased. While there, I was very tempted to buy two t-shirts. One was green and said "I (heart with Milhouse in it) Geeks" and the other was an Invader Zim Gir t-shirt. Sadly, I feared the geeks hitting on me, so I did not make a purchase.
Well, tis back to work I go.
I've been sitting here going through trying to update my seriously out of date resume only to discover that I had completely forgotten about half of the sites I did work for. Doh! Including one I should have remembered, my parents' site. BIG DOH!
In an effort to focus, I am not doing mail, reading LJ or any of my RSS feeds until I make significant progress. My only break today is going with my sister in law to find a sleeping bag for Miss Brittany. She should be here any minute.
Brittany has a sleepover to attend this weekend, and her Little Mermaid bag from about five years ago isn't going to cut it. I don't know what we'll find, but she could have gone and picked it out if her friend had let it be known about the sleepover much earlier.
Something I just thought of. If my boss from a job nine years ago is deceased, should I list that job? It was my first paid position as a webmaster. And one of the last projects I worked on I probably won't list due to the fact that I wasn't ever paid. It was for a start-up company and the hurricanes kind of put a wrinkle in their financial fabric! However, they still say they will pay. I hold no hope!
I do have four new clients that I will probably start doing work for soon. Hopefully not all at the same time.
Well, I should probably find some shoes or something to wear. No shoes no service! Ooh, and from the looks of it, an umbrella may be in order! Yippee! That is part of cold front number one. Tomorrow number two comes through!
Congrats to Pam and Dale on the birth of baby Olivia!
Yippee! I hope mommy, daddy, baby, and family are doing well.
Ugh! My weather script has decided to fail. NOAA went and changed their output, so now my script is fubar. I have my baby nephew all day and I will have the wonder trio this afternoon and overnight tonight. No time to fix the script. Gabriel is sleeping right now, so I can't get started on it. He will be waking up in about an hour. /sigh
The forecasts have changed and they are now saying mid 70s for the next five days. I will watch the local forecast. They've tended to have a better grasp than the national folks.
Randomness:
- I would make fuckwad Graner suffer the same exact things he did to others.
- Too many yummy yarns for sale at knitpicks.com.
- Little Miss Olivia should be here right now!
- The baby and I are going for a walk when he wake up.
Well, I'm going to go ahead and send out the good luck hugs and wishes to Pamela and her hubby Dale tomorrow. Here's to a beautiful and healthy little girl and wishes for a short labor!
How cute is the Ipod Shuffle? Please someone else scroll down to the footnotes and tell me that for footnote 2, it does not say "Do not eat iPod shuffle." Please.
I am still waiting to eventually purchase an Ipod Photo. Why am I waiting you ask. It is because I would prefer to not buy a first generation that needs a little more real world testing. I've been down that first generation road before and find it is better to wait a little while.
Another update from a previous entry... There is now a website for Wombs on Washington (still "under construction"). If you have a LiveJournal, you can request to join the Knit4Choice community on LJ.
Time to go do something a little more productive like tend to this lovely cut I just got on my knee. Damn it hurts.
In writing an email to Calhoun, I discovered that there is a cool down heading our way! No more 80 degree winter weather. Thursday and Friday will hopefully be in the mid to upper 70s and Saturday and Sunday call for mid to upper 60s! Oh the joy!
Now back to making silly faces at my baby nephew.
I know quite a few people that were pissed off (rightfully) about the submission of a bill (HB1677) to the Virginia Legislature requiring a woman to report the death of her fetus within 12 hours if she was not attended by a medical professional at the time.
There is good news in the form of an update from this morning's VA Pilot, Del. Cosgrove pulls bill after Internet fuels fiery protest.
Yeah for blogs, journals and the world wide web in general. While foul mouthed letters to legislators doesn't really do anything but get you a file, the web certainly does!
Well.
I have been pondering what to do with some the birthday/holiday cards received in 2004. Originally I thought it might be good to donate them to St. Jude's Ranch for Children's Recycled Card Program, but they apparently have too many. (I am thinking of donating some of the Campbell's Soup labels to their Campbell's Soup Label Program.)
Then it hit me! Ornaments and "stuff". Josh and I don't have all that many ornaments because, let's face it, we have put the Christmas tree up once in our almost nine years living together. But, eventually that will change. So for the time when we do start putting it up more often, I am going to make ornaments. I should also add that I need something fairly quiet to do while my four month old nephew is napping.
I am thinking of making Valentine's Day decorations out of some of the birthday cards to and from Josh.
Some of the cards will be saved as they are just too nice to do anything to. Pam's was so cute that I am tempted to frame it.
Now I am off...
I am the greatest wife in the world! I scored 24 bottles of RedHook ESB for Josh. For some reason it is quite hard to find in this state. If I could have found some IPA, that would have been even better. The woman at the checkout asked me if I was planning to drink all of it tonight and meant it! I think I gave her a pretty odd look, enough that she realized she was stupid to even ask.
I think I may just want to see Kingdom of Heaven (gasp, shock, I know). It is directed by Ridley Scott, of Gladiator wonder. It stars some great actors. Also cast are some of the cast of the LoTR movies as well as some of the past and future cast members of some of the Harry Potter movies.
From what bit of it I have heard so far, the soundtrack seems quite nice, so I have hope.
I'm getting my MI-5 on today. Thank goodness for TVs in the rooms I will be in.
I've been thinking about knitting some of the stuffed animals from Sullivans International's patterns.
Also, anyone want to help a teacher? Buy a giant ball of yarn.
I keep finding myself spouting out random scenes from The Usual Suspects.
Going to go play with dpns while watching those Spooks, then back to work.
Hrmm, I'm seriously considering helping out and knitting a womb, so long as the designer is cool with it. I've always disliked Scalia, as to why, there are so many reasons I won't get into.
For now, I am going to go finish knitting a pair of pocketbook slippers for my sister in law (her request last week) and then I am going to goof off a little more with the knitting machine. Don't worry, I haven't crossed over to the other side. It's not very automated (this one does even have an automatic yarn feeder), but fun to goof off with. Pictures will come later, maybe.
Some little things I have come across to knit, buy, or just keep an eye on.
Knitted Dice Bag Pattern - I can think of quite a few people who will want me to make them one of these.
Arwen's Elf Boots - I don't necessarily like their design on the boots, but I could have fun.
A political statement - This would be pretty neat if they got enough people to do it.
Last night Skittles was hovering over my cell phone as it charged, projecting the silliest little shadow on the ceiling. All of the sudden we heard this little horking sound that meant she was about to upchuck a hairball. Josh turned and said, "you better move your cell phone". After the move she continued to hork. Well, she never upchucked it. For once I was prepared to find something lingering under my desk.
Today has been one of those days. I'm fighting off a migraine, but I have a feeling I will just end up suffering in a couple of hours.
I did some cleaning around the house, but most of the work I did was online. I made some technical changes and also closed all of the old comments on the site to hopefully cut down on the spam. I'm catching most of it, but I figured it would be best to cover my asp as much as possible. I installed MT-Close2 and that closed all of the entries quite painlessly.
Now to go be productive...
I'm just making a few technical changes and this is just a technical post. Please pardon my dust.
I posted some of the things I finished before the holidays. I did forget to take pictures of two scarves. I had quite a few scarves requested this year and some that I just felt I needed to make. Anyhow, on to the stuff...
Pet Scarves for my cousin and sister in law, Kitty Wonton for kitty, Little Big Blanket for kitty, Dad's Scarf, and the Irish Hiking Scarf for Calhoun.
There are other odds and ends on the needles right now, but I am focusing on a tote bag that is loosely* based on the Suki Tote.
*Loosely in the case that my sister in law saw it and thought she might like something smaller for her makeup and odds & ends.
Oh hell yeah...
MI-5 Marathon, all day Saturday January 8th on A&E. Even though I have seen all of these episodes, expect nothing from me that day. I'm such a sucker for MI-5.
I've been trying to remember what the name of a particular movie was and I eventually found it. Imitation of Life. I love this movie. Heck, I love lots of black and white films. Sorry, I just needed to write this down before I forget the name again.
During my eye down time, I worked on a bag I am making. I am going to felt and dye the bag. It should be an interesting experience.
Semi related note, a boutique owner I know asked if I would like to sell some of my knitting in her shop. I will probably see her on Wednesday, so maybe I can whip up a few things and see what happens. She owns a place by my dad's and before Xmas, saw me knitting one of the twin scarves I knitted for my cousin and sister in law (entry forthcoming). She has seen me working on other things she thought might sell. Yay for networking! Now if only I can find more of that yarn!!!
Ow, my eye. Due to the blind being partially open, I awoke to a massive pain in my eye. Apparently the sun had been shining right into my eye. I've been sitting around in the house with the blinds closed. Things are still blurry and hurt, but eye drops seem to be helping. I'll probably be excited when I can see what I am typing and not praying for few mistakes.
Happy new year.
Dear ghettofied neighbors,
Please hurry up and finish your fireworks. You've been doing them for three nights now and it is getting really old. There are some of us who would like to go to sleep and not have the cat freaking out each time you decide to shoot off something. Let us not even get into the fact that you are shooting off fireworks where it is illegal to shoot them off. Uh uh, you're pissing me off.
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