Maddening

Isn't it maddening when you throw red flags and outright warnings to people for *weeks* about a problem and no one does anything to fix it - and then at the twelfth hour all of a sudden everyone wants the problem fixed? And to top it off, *you're* the one that has to fix it? And it would have been *much* easier if you had been given the leave to fix it when the problem first started, but you weren't allowed? ARRRRGGGHHHH. That's all I'm going to say about that.

On the brighter side, I finally got the Jillmobile back today. The repairs cost a lot more than I can afford, but hopefully I'll be set for a while in regards to automotive repairs. I don't need a car payment right now, so I really hope to get a few more years out of my truck.

It's funny how much I take my truck for granted - not just for getting around, but also for the snow. About six inches of snow fell overnight. The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw it this morning was "Will the car make it out of the driveway without me have to clear the snow?". With my truck, I don't worry about the snow until it hits over a foot. Four-wheel drive is a wonderful thing :)

Bad Day

Aside from the fact that my Dad isn't home yet, Christmas was really nice. My sister cooked a really wonderful dinner, as usual (and I made sure I brought home enough leftovers for a change). I think we were all happy with the gifts given and received - I know I was! We all had fun playing games after dinner and presents. We visited Dad in shifts, so that he would have company throughout the day. And then lots of rest and relaxation the next day and catching up on things. It was all a really nice holiday.

Until today.

I don't know what I did to anger The Powers That Be, but they sure didn't like me today.

After waking up late from a good night's sleep and a refreshing shower, I donned some new clothes I got for my birthday and was ready to greet the world.

Except my truck wouldn't start.

AAA was kind enough to tow the truck to my mechanic. Paul said that he would look at it Monday. But in the meantime, I missed a birthday party I was supposed to go to today. I also wanted to visit my Dad and there were some sale items I wanted to pick up. I had plans tomorrow that I'm going to miss out on too. Ugh.

Relegated to the fact that I'm stuck home, I headed out to the mail box - surely there would be some leftover holiday cheer there to make me feel better. Not. I got a bill I wasn't expecting. Ugh.

OK then, I'll just work on some stuff I've been putting off. I know - I'll contact Time Warner and find out why I can't access my web page or any of the stuff that I had uploaded to my 'free space' for the past week. After going back and forth with TW for a good part of the afternoon, it turns out that my migration didn't work when they switched over to their new system. It seems that I've lost everything I had out there. Including the one and only picture of me that I ever liked - it used to be my profile picture. But surely I had backed up that picture somewhere, right? *Right*??? If I did, I have no idea where I put it. And to top it off, it turns out that the web space that TW has to offer me is not FTP friendly. Pictures and sound files that I liked to put there and link to have no home now. I was having fun playing with and learning HTML, and now I can't play around with it like I want to. I am really unhappy with TW right now - for what I pay for high speed internet and web space, this should *never* have been an issue. Ugh.

I gave up trying to accomplish anything today. I made myself a double batch of toffee chip cookies. Toffee chip cookies make everything OK.

Eyeful

When I was a kid, one of the things I enjoyed was bowling. I started out on Saturday morning leagues and then graduated to night league bowling. I bowled on a league for probably ten or eleven years. Then for some reason, bowling became a very expensive hobby. I don't know why, but the weekly costs skyrocketed and it got to the point I couldn't afford it any more.

When I began, my Mom let me use her old bowling ball so I wouldn't have to use an alley ball. Using the same ball helped me to be a more consistent bowler. The weight was good for me, but it wasn't the prettiest bowling ball - it had a black and white swirly pattern on it. I don't know what my Mom was thinking when she bought it - to put it bluntly, it was ugly. But then again, it was mine to use and I didn't have to worry about anyone stealing it :)

I used Mom's ball for a couple of years, and then one year for my birthday I got to pick out my very own bowling ball. I chose a kind of pearly maroon-ish colored one. The holes were drilled to fit my hand and I even got my name stamped in it. I was really happy with that ball and it served me well for the rest of my bowling career - I was a pretty fair bowling with about a 165 average.

Bowling balls have definitely evolved from those days. There are really gorgeous ones out now - and I am just talking about aesthetics, not the innards that make the ball hook or grip the alley better or stuff like that. If I were ever to start bowling again - a big improbability due to my back and shoulder - I found the bowling ball I would choose to buy:


Is that or is that not the coolest bowling ball ever???

And I guess that if you have it drilled in the right place and throw it the right way, you can make it look like the eye is looking at you as it goes down the lane. I would love to see one of these in action. Why didn't they make these thirty years ago?!!

Happy Winter

Tomorrow is the first day of winter. Yesterday we got our first real snow of the season. Buffalo broke the snowfall record from 1985, but it wasn't so much the snow that was bad - it was the wind. Visibility was very poor most of the day. It was slow driving home from work - which took even longer as I had to take a roundabout route because of an accident.

I really don't mind bad weather once I'm home and don't have to go anywhere. I didn't even mind clearing out the nine inches of snow from the driveway today. But it's weather like we had yesterday that I don't miss driving a truck for a living :) Coming home from visiting tonight, the Christmas lights on all the houses looked so much prettier with the snow around.

We had a day of quiet today. Tomorrow we're supposed to get another storm.

I found out today that I may have to get flood insurance. Ugh. Flood insurance is notoriously expensive, and something that I really don't need on my plate right now. Evidently FEMA is redoing the flood plain maps in our area, and where I live may be affected. I tried to find out for sure, but the links on the FEMA webpage we were given don't work. I'm going to have to try to get down to the town hall and look at the map they have there. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed, but I'm bracing myself for the worst. Stupid FEMA.

Does anyone know if Robert Forster - the actor who plays Arthur Petrelli on Heroes is the same guy who does the voice for the latest Hyundai commercial? I can almost swear it is, but can't be 100% positive. I wish IMDb included commercials with the actors'/actresses' credits.

Tired

It's been a long week - I'm glad tomorrow is Friday.

I think this cold/flu thing I have is finally winding down. And it's about time - it's been almost three weeks that I've been fighting it already.

Dad is doing better. I don't think he'll be home for Christmas, but as long as he continues to improve, I can live with that.

I came within ten feet of hitting a deer today. I'm glad for both of us that we didn't connect :)

It Just Doesn't End

From Craig:

It becomes ever clearer that New York State is run for the benefit of the sponging class: those who either make a living from taxes or don't make a living at all. The wealth-producing private sector is nothing but a stupid milk-cow to Albany. Patterson had a chance to change that, but it's obvious that he won't.

Why don't politicians get it???? Those of us from the NSP (non-sponging class) are doomed.

Read the whole post here.

Perspective

My Dad is in the hospital again. I hope he's going to be OK.

It makes me not worry so much about buying Christmas presents.

I'm hoping for a Christmas miracle: That my Dad will be home before the 25th and will stay healthy and happy.

Space

Yesterday I attended an event where we needed to stand in line for a while. The lady behind me had no clue about the concept of personal space. If the line isn't moving, standing three inches behind me is not going to make the line go faster. It's not going to make me disappear. And it is definitely going to make me cranky. I really don't understand how anyone can be comfortable standing in practically the same space as someone else. Ugh.

On a lighter note, I finally watched the finale of The Amazing Race. I was very happy with the outcome. There was really only one team to root for, so I was glad when Nick and Starr won. Ken and Tina were just annoying (well, more Tina than Ken) and I can't figure out how the heck Andrew and Dan made it to the final three. The fact that they made past the first three eliminations amazes me.

The finale was good, but I think it would have been better if the final three teams were Nick and Starr, Toni and Dallas and Mark and Bill. I would have had a hard time deciding who I would want to win out of that group.

I think this cold/flu thing is starting to break. Last night I was up only half the night coughing instead of the whole night. Here's hoping it will be done and over with by the end of the week. Ugh.

Mucus

*cough* Alright, I think I've figured it out - take vitamins, get your flu shot, keep bundled up in cold weather... turn yourself into a mucus-making machine. Got it. *cough* *cough*

It started last Saturday and I've gone through just about every phase you can think of associated with cold and flu season. *sniffle*

All plans for the weekend have been cancelled. Lots of rest and pampering for me :) *cough*

On a lighter note - I don't know if it's just me or not, but it seems like there are a lot more people this year with their houses all lit up with Christmas lights. I haven't seen very many of the holiday inflatables on the front lawns, but just about everyone has lights up. It makes for a really pretty ride home from work. Not that I am ready for snow yet, but I can imagine how much prettier all the lights would look with snow on the ground...

Egads - I can believe Christmas is only 20 days away!!!!

*Cough*

Transition

A story is told of a caterpillar named Yellow who was trying to find out what she should be doing with her life. In her wanderings she discovered another caterpillar seemingly caught in some gauzy, hairy filament. Concerned, she asked if she could help. He explained that this was all part of the process of becoming a butterfly.

When she heard the word butterfly, her whole insides leapt. “But what is a butterfly?”

The cocooned caterpillar explained: “It’s what you are meant to become.”

Yellow was intrigued but a bit defiant. “How can I believe there’s a butterfly inside you or me when all I see is a fuzzy worm?”

On further reflection she pensively asked, “How does one become a butterfly?”

And the answer? “You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”

(From Trina Paulus, Hope for the Flowers [New York: Paulist Press, 1972])

Thanksgiving

So on an every day basis, are people more thankful when things are going well or when they are going terrible? Do people forget or don't think about being thankful when everything is going their way? Or are people so angry when life stinks that they refuse to be thankful for the good things that they *do* have?

Thanksgiving is a good holiday, because most people think about being thankful, no matter what is going on in their lives.

Yay for Thanksgiving!

Loss

I don't know what's going on, but it seems like people are dropping like flies. Although I don't know any of these people personally, I know of four people that have passed away in the last five days. They were important to people I know - an aunt, a grandmother, a father and a good family friend. It's awful when people have to deal with a great loss, but it's even worse before the holidays. What can you possibly say or do for the people that are hurting? I can't think of anything I can do that could help. I wish I could :(

Stamps

I got my stamps in the mail today. They were very well packaged and arrived in perfect shape. I'd order stamps online again - the only drawback is that I have to make sure to plan ahead. I ordered them on the 14th, so they took almost a week to get here. I should be set for a while, tho' - I even have my Christmas stamps :)

Comedy Sportz and Gilda's Club

Sunday morning, Randy was on Hardline with Hardswick to talk about the anniversary show that his Comedy Sportz club will be holding at the historic Riviera Theater.

Randy started Comedy Sportz in Buffalo 15 years ago. To celebrate, there is going to be a special show Thanksgiving weekend on Saturday, November 29th. There will be celebrities, theme basket auctions, a buffet available with the VIP tickets all in addition to lots of laughs from some really great comedy. The proceeds of the show will go to Gilda's Club, an organization that provides support for people who have cancer and their families. It's going to be a great show for a great cause - and fun for whole family. Go!

You can hear the whole interview here:



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I wanted to post this earlier, but I had a hard time figuring out how to embed the interview... But yay for me - I did it!

Beat

I am *still* tired.

Yesterday I spent over twelve hours working in the basement. When I was finally done last night, I couldn't keep my eyes open - I was asleep early! There is no radiant floor heat in the house yet, but we are closer. My Uncle and Randy came over yesterday and we got bunches done. Things are getting changed a little from the original plan, but the changes will definitely make things more comfortable once the system is up and running. I can't wait until it's done :) At least now the manifold is hooked up to the water heater - yay! I feel very lucky to have people willing to help me with this project. My goal is to have the system up and running Thanksgiving weekend - we'll see.

Every day this week, when I got home from work, I checked the chicken coop. I kept hoping that maybe some of my chickens had survived the attack and had come back home. Sadly, none have appeared. I had a dream last night that the two gray chickens and one of the babies came back. That is so weird. Who dreams about *chickens*??? I'm going to try chickens again in the spring - I'll have all winter to come up with a foolproof plan to keep them safe.

I've mentioned before how hard it is to get stuff done working Monday thru Friday 9-5. This week I ran out of stamps. I like the collector stamps - not the plain stamps that you always get at the supermarkets. Not being able to get to the post office to pick out pretty stamps (and not wanting to stand in line forever on Saturdays), I tried ordering stamps online. It costs an extra dollar for them to be delivered to your house, but other than that they are sold at face value. This is a trial run for me - if it works the way the post office says it does, that's probably how I'll order my stamps from now on. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing? :)

Sadness

My chickens are all gone.

Sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning something got into the coop and got the chickens. The only evidence that there were birds around is bunches of feathers around the coop and yard.

I was hoping that maybe some survived, but none have returned to the coop.

They were a really good bunch of chickens. They were all pretty to look at. They all got along well. They each had their own personality. I was really looking forward to seeing the babies grow up.

I am really sad.

Election

It's been a few of days since the election, which should be enough time for me not to blog a knee-jerk reaction to the results. I still feel the same way I did Wednesday morning when I saw who is our new President - not happy.

I am afraid of my taxes going up. I am afraid of the number of people on welfare going up. I am afraid of having to support them. I am afraid of what he wants to do with health care. I'm afraid for the security of our country. If something happens to Obama, I'm afraid of Biden. I am afraid of all the people that think his ideas for change are good. I am really afraid.

I know they say that change happens slowly. I *really* hope that any of the scary changes will happen veeeeeerrrrrrryyyyy slowly. Time will tell.

~sigh~

So who is more annoying: The person that is driving way under the speed limit, or the five people between me and that person that won't pass him/her?

Argh.

I had ice cream for dinner tonight.

Yum :)

Vote

I was number 532 when I went to vote today. I went after work and was so happy when I saw that my district had the shortest line out of them all at my polling place. Too bad the couple of people in front of me had no clue as to who they were going to vote for. Why don't people do their research at home instead of in the voting booth? I think every other line cleared through at least once before I got to vote.

I've decided to get a flu shot this year.

Years ago, I used to get sick every October and stayed that way until April. Congestion, coughing - just total misery. After a bunch of years of going through that, I finally went to see my doctor. She recommended that I get a flu shot. The following year I did and I didn't get sick. It was great. I continued to get a flu shot every year after that. Every year that is, until they had the flu shot shortage. After that, my doctor didn't give them at her office. I refuse to stand in line at the supermarket for a flu shot, so I haven't gotten once since. It's been OK tho' - I haven't been sick until last year. I had a bad cough for a couple of weeks. I don't want to go through being sick like I used to, so I figure that I'm due for a booster shot. We have the opportunity to get them at work for free on Thursday, so I'm going to go for it.

I hate shots.

Date Night

Without getting into specifics, I'm feeling compelled to write about what's going on a bit with my personal life and what I'm feeling. Randy and I have had some issues, and we are working at trying to resolve them. It's going slowly, but I think we're going in the right direction. It's hard for me to see what's waiting at the finish line tho'.

Randy has a very busy life - he has a lot of friends, interests and ambitions. He also has a lot of personal stuff going on. I think he's too busy for a girlfriend (although I can't say we are boyfriend/girlfriend. I don't know what our label is...). I feel left out of his loop a lot. His schedule is usually booked full... and even tho' I know that he would do anything I asked him to, I feel not-very-high on his Important Scale. Just the same, when we are together, I do enjoy the time I spend with him.

I think that the fact that his job situation is up in the air makes things more complicated. There is a good chance that he will probably move out-of-state. Is it worth pursuing a relationship that has no concrete goal? I don't think that I'm looking for anything too exorbitant in life... New York politics and taxes really suck, but I am happy where I am. The area is nice, my family is here and I don't really want to move. I want to get my house fixed up and be able to have time to enjoy friends, family and hobbies. I want to get llamas. I want to build and share the rest of my life with someone I love and who loves me.

I don't have a clear picture on that right now. It's hard knowing what you want and not being able to see it.

That being said, I'm hoping for the best-case scenario.

Last night we had a date night. Randy arranged a whole evening of fun for us and I had a really great time. The whole night was a surprise for me and it was revealed to me part by part.

The first thing he had planned was a visit to a corn maze. I've never been to a corn maze before, and have always wanted to go through one - so I was totally stoked when I saw what we were going to do. It was a bit on the muddy side, which we weren't prepared for, but that made it all the more fun. There were three mazes and we made it through two of them. Next year, I would love to go again when it's not muddy and at night with a flashlight!

The next part of the date was dinner at Famous Dave's. Whenever I go out to eat, my eyes are always bigger than my stomach. Dinner was totally yummy and it was fun trying all the different kinds of barbecue sauces. It was like trying all the different pancake syrups at Perkins :)

The grand finale of the evening was a show at the Lancaster Opera House - the Little Shop of Horrors. It was a great show. I've seen commercials for it on TV and knew a little of the theme song from them and I knew it was about a talking plant - but that was it. Now I know the story :) I really enjoyed the show and the music. I'm going to have the songs going through my head all week :P

It was a really nice evening and I felt very special.

Next it's my turn to plan Date Night. I hope I can come up with a night just as fun for Randy as he made it for me last night.

My wish: To be able to enjoy a whole lifetime of Date Nights.

Frozen

Yay! We didn't get all the snow that we had the potential of getting. I like snow, but I'm not ready for real snow yet. Tuesday morning there was snow on the grass and on my truck, but it was only 1/4" - if that. It sure was cold tho'. The forecast looks really nice for the next few days, relatively speaking. Yay again!

It was really cold overnight, and the water in the chickens' waterer was frozen this morning. It was funny watching the babies trying to get a drink. They now know what ice is :) And yes - I gave them fresh water.

Channel 4 is back - I'm actually watching Survivor on the TV instead of my computer monitor. I think I would rather watch it on my computer and keep the free HBO.

Why is it when I go grocery shopping, and there are only five people in the whole store, no matter what it is I am looking to purchase, one of those five people is standing *exactly* where I want to be???? Why can't I have that kind of luck when it comes to the lottery?

I hope I don't forget to turn my clock back Saturday night.

Rushing the Season

Last week I went into Home Depot to pick up a new drill bit (why does it always seem that I only misplace the bits that I have only *one* of???). It shouldn't have surprised me, but I guess I wasn't thinking about it at all. It just hit me in the face: Christmas. The whole front part of the store was totally decked out in Home Depot's finest Christmas attire. Fully decorated and lit trees, lights, extension cords, timers... you name it - even the handy-dandy Extendo-arm light hanging kits. I like Christmas just as much as the next person, but the fact that stores extend the season earlier and earlier every year makes me sick of the holiday before it even gets here. I mentioned this to one of my co-workers, and she said that a bunch of the stores she shops at have had their Christmas stuff out for a while already. Ugh. I really long for the days when Christmas stuff didn't come out until after Thanksgiving. I'm just really glad I haven't heard any Christmas music playing in the stores yet.

I also want to share a really poignant post from BUFFALOg... it gives you something to think about before going to the polls next month.

Channel 4

I'm down to my last five tomatoes. I picked them right before I left for Philadelphia. While I was away we had a really hard frost, and I wasn't able to cover the plants so they all died. All I have left now is five tomatoes' worth of vBLT's. ~sigh~ Maybe the price of tomatoes will come down at the supermarket. Maybe they would even taste good. Probably not. I already can't wait for fresh tomatoes next year :)

The weather guys are saying that we have a chance of a couple feet of snow early next week. I guess it's a small window of 'opportunity', but it's there. There are still a lot of leaves on the trees, so here's hoping we don't have another event of October Storm infamy...

Speaking of snow, the New York State Golden Snowball Award site is back into action for the season :)

I think that LIN Television really blew it when they tried to bully Time Warner. The longer I don't have Channel 4, the more I don't miss it. The shows they air that I like (The Amazing Race, Survivor, etc.) I can see either on the Canadian channels or online. Plus, while Channel 4 and 23 are off the air, I get free HBO from TW. Channel 4 can stay off the air as long as it likes!

I am curious to see how this is all going to get resolved. LIN Television is probably going to end up begging TW to take them back. Wouldn't it be ironic if it ended up costing them money, instead of them making the extra they wanted in the first place?

Road Trip

I spent this past weekend in Philadelphia - I've never been there before, so I was excited at the chance to visit somewhere new. I arrived at the hotel at about 12:30 Saturday morning. I left right after work Friday and only made two stops on the way in - one to pick up some dinner and once for gas. New York really kills us with taxes on gas. At home I paid $3.58 a gallon to fill up my tank (I always get the middle grade). When I crossed the Pennsylvania border, I paid $3.08. At home I pay an extra $5.00 for every 10 gallons of gas I buy - that really adds up :(

Anyway, I digress... I left for home on Sunday afternoon - I had a lot of fun and managed to see a lot in my day-and-a-half stay:

Independence Hall was a disappointment - I was expecting something big and grand, like something out of National Treasure, but all we got was a half-hour talk by a National Parks volunteer and saw a couple of the rooms where our forefathers sat while coming up with the Declaration of Independence. We didn't even get to see the Declaration of Independence. That was very disappointing.

I have to say that children under the age of seven or eight shouldn't be allowed on these tours. The parents don't watch or discipline them and they are very disruptive. When the kids are so little, they don't get anything out of what's being narrated anyway.

We went by the United States Mint, but being the weekend, they weren't open for tours.


We visited the Mutter Museum which was very interesting. It was neat to see everything in person, but there really wasn't much more than what's been shown on the TV specials about the museum. Picture taking wasn't allowed in the museum. We had dinner at Ralph's - the nation's oldest Italian restaurant owned and operated by the same family. I opted for the cheese ravioli and it was fantastic. Saturday night we went to see a Comedy Sportz show. Randy drove in from Maryland and played with the Philadelphia group.


On Sunday, after another fantastic breakfast from the hotel, we headed out to Eastern State Penitentiary of Ghost Hunters fame ("Run dude - Run!") - that was a lot of fun. I have visited Alcatraz and this tour was just as good, if not better.



What I thought was different was the fact that they incorporated a lot of art exhibits throughout the prison. The one I thought was the most interesting was the Ghost Cats.


We took a stroll through Chinatown...


What is this fine for?


A visit to Benjamin Franklin's grave and lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe rounded out my visit to Philadelphia.


I had fun over the weekend. I loved the mixture of old architecture and new. I loved seeing all the horse and buggies around. We did a *lot* of walking.


But being a city, I could never live here - I like lots of space and privacy at home. Visiting a city = fun. Living in a city = not fun :)

I got home late Sunday night. I was *really* tired at work yesterday :)

9 to 5

Just about all my life I've had jobs with weird working hours. I either had hours that fluctuated or just had strange start and quit times. I can only think of two jobs I've had with 'normal' Monday through Friday hours. It didn't matter then because I was young and still living at home. As a homeowner, odd hours definitely have their advantages - it seems like there was always time to get stuff done. I could go to stores during less crowded times. I could do projects around the house while the sun was still shining. Appointments were easy to schedule. Things were way more flexible.

My present job is Monday through Friday, 9 to 5. How does anyone who has a house and/or a family get anything done working these hours??? It's getting even harder for me as the days get shorter. It seems like after I get home from work each day, I check my email, eat dinner and then it's already too dark outside to do anything. I find it really hard to get motivated to get anything done when it's pitch dark outside. Not getting things done during the week pushes everything to the weekend - and that is just not enough time for me.

My original plan today was to head out to Akron and pick up a travel bug that made it to New York from a friend of mine in California. It's been a long journey getting here and I am anxious for it to complete it's travels. I didn't get out of work on time - only about 15 minutes late - but I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it to the cache site and be able to find it before it got dark. The new plan when I got home was to skip dinner and email and cut my grass. I ended up finishing the last part of the yard in the dark. It was like a race between me and the sun - and I lost. I do have to say that the lawn looks like a perfect golfing green by the light of my mower's headlights. I can't wait to see what I missed and what it really looks like tomorrow morning :)

Business

Old business and new business today :)

The Big Chicken Move happened Friday night. Eight of the chickens made the move to my sister's house. From what I've been told, everything is going well. The bad news is, I ended up giving my sister and brother-in-law my only layer. I gave them six babies, Mr. Rooster and The Bantam. I thought that the egg-a-day I was getting was from Gray Chicken, which is why I kept her. Lo and behold, Jill isn't getting any more eggs; Jill's sister is now getting an-egg-a-day :( Hopefully next summer I'll have all layers ~crossed fingers here~

I also wanted to post some pictures to back up my adopted chicken theory:


Mama Chicken





Bantam Chicken





Baby Chicken

You decide :)

Randy and I made giant leaps today on the heating project (Thanx again Randy!). No more forced-air heat for this house - radiant floor heat is what we'll have here when it's done. It was a very satisfying work day, especially in the fact that parts of the project I was really afraid of worked out/will work out better than I could have hoped. I'm very excited to keep moving on this project.

And I've had the chance to play around with my new GPS. I have to say that I am very surprised by the fact that even tho' it is the same make as my old GPS, the menus and display screens are really different - It is going to take me a while to get used to the new setup. It definitely picks up satellites a whole lot quicker, that's for sure and it downloads waypoints in the blink of an eye - both pluses. The real test is when I go out for a full day of caching - we'll see how many smilies I will log.

Stay tuned :)

Frosty Chickens Who Don't Know Where They are Going

OK not really, but the title covers most of the post :)

Last night we had the first frost of the season. I was really glad that I covered my tomato plants. The parts of the plants they were sticking out from under the tarp don't look so good, but most of them still look OK. I am definitely not ready to give up my (veggie) bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches quite yet, so I hope that I'll be getting tomatoes for a while yet. From the time that my tomatoes start ripening up until the time when the plants stop producing, I gorge myself on vBLT's. Tomatoes from the store just don't taste very good, not to mention that they are waaaay too expensive, so this is the only time of year I allow myself to indulge in the yumminess of the vBLT. And I take full advantage of fresh tomatoes from the garden - Mmmmm!

Every morning, when I let the chickens out of the coop for the day, I like to watch them for a while before I have to get ready for work. They are very entertaining, and it's interesting watching the baby chicks grow. Today I noticed something I didn't really think about before - one of the chicks looks an *awful* like the bantam I have. I'm willing to bet that Mama Chicken wasn't sitting on only her eggs - I think that the bantam snuck one of her eggs in clutch! Time will tell :)

My GPS officially died over the weekend. It was in it's death throes the last few times I've used it, but the inevitable finally happened. I don't use it every day, but I do feel lost without it. I needed to do some maintenance on one of my caches over the weekend, and of course that's when my beloved Garmin Legend decided to bite the dust. Fortunately my brother-in-law loaned me his GPS so I could take care of business. I have a new Legend CX ordered and can't wait for it to get here. I have a travel bug that I need to moving, so that will be the christening when I get it.

I know that it's been blogged to death already, but to put in my two-cents worth I hope that Time Warner doesn't give in to Channel 4. I definitely have my issues with Time Warner, but they are definitely in the right here . LIN Television’s side of the story is here and Time Warner’s side is here. Time Warner had better not cave in on this.

Reflections

Thinking over the past year since I've started this blog, I've had some pretty big things happen during that time...

I had to quit a job I had for almost twelve years, thus having to pretty much start all over in the job market. I've had two jobs since. The first I hated very much. The one I have now I like most of the time. The only problem is that it doesn't pay enough to support myself. It didn't matter when I started the job, but it does now. I'm going to have to find something else that pays better. And soon.

After a bit of a hiatus, I re-entered the dating game. I never thought that I would ever feel this way again, but I am looking forward to finding someone to spend the rest of my life with.

I have a nephew now who is as cute as a button. It's amazing how fast babies grow!

My back is well on it's way to being functional once again. I've been able to get back on track to fixing up the house. Too bad it was such a rainy summer.

I was fortunate enough to be taken on a couple of nice trips this year. I have a smaller one coming up that I am very much looking forward to.

My Dad died, but we were all lucky enough that he was revived. He's doing better than I could ever have hoped. I hope that he keeps on improving.

Looking back, it's been a very busy year with a lot of new experiences and a lot of new people. I like to think that I've grown and learned from them all. There were a lot of things I wanted to accomplish that never happened - this is going to be the year to focus on big projects and get them done!

Happy Anniversary!

It's been a year since my first blog entry :)

I haven't posted as often as I had planned to, but I'm still here.

Here's hoping year two will be bigger and better!

Dogs and People

I had a dream about my dog last night. I had to have her put to sleep over a year and half ago. She was a great dog and I really miss her.

And I have come to the realization (acceptance?) that people are who they are. No amount of wishing or hoping is going to change that. I need to deal with that and just be who I am.

A Message for Obama

Sometimes the simplest messages are the most powerful.

Procrastination

The top 10 reasons I procrastinate:
1.

Battles

"Choose your battles carefully" the saying goes... But how does one choose?

I know the rule is supposed to be that if it won't make a difference in ten years, then don't worry about it. Unfortunately, that rule doesn't seem to agree with my psyche.

Dealing with people is hard work. At my old job, it wasn't so much of a stress - I saw lots of people for small periods of time. It was easy to let things slide because I wasn't around anyone long enough for anything to get under my skin (except if I was training - but that's a whole 'nother ballgame). That all changed in the past year. At work and out of work I am around the same people for longer stretches of time. Things start to wear on me after a time and I'm not used to having to deal with being irritated so often. So how do people keep their sanity?

Obviously you can't nag every person about every little thing that bothers you (well you can, but you won't have any friends for very long), but there comes a point when you don't want to feel like a doormat anymore. You do your part to make life easier and more pleasant for the people around and you would just like the same courtesy.

So how do you know when to compromise/keep the peace and when to hold your ground?

How do you deal with the fact that the thing that is bugging you is so obvious to you, but the other person just doesn't get it? No matter how you present your point-of-view, it just doesn't get through...

How do you what's worth pursuing and when to let go?

How do you decide between what you want and what's best?

I give myself headaches trying to sort this stuff out!


On a lighter note, we have ten baby chicks that have been keeping us occupied. They were unexpected, but sooooo very cute!

Here is Mama Chicken with a very proud Papa - the chicks are about three weeks old here...

It's hard to get good pictures of the babies because they are constantly in motion. They are a lot of fun to watch and a lot easier to take care of than I thought they would have been, considering everything that I have read. Mama Chicken is being a very good mother to them all.

That being said, Mr. Rooster has to go. Along with any baby roosters that might be among the new tribe. I don't want any more unexpected babies - I just don't have the room for them, unless I build a new coop. I don't have the time or money for that, so it's not an option. Fortunately, I have found homes for the extra chickens. I plan on keeping Mama Chicken, the Brown Chicken and five of the babies - all hens of course. The rest will be sent off to new digs once I can tell which are boys and which are girls. I'm hoping that the babies will give me eggs next year... I didn't get very many this year at all. Last year I had eggs coming out of my ears and no one wanted any. This year I have a sizable list of people looking for fresh eggs and I didn't get any to give away. Welcome to my world.

Portland

"I am anticipating being able to fall into more of a routine so that I will be able to blog on a more regular basis."

Ha! So much for that theory :)

Anyway, I am now in Portland with today left to go before I head back home tomorrow. I am very much looking forward to shuffling back to Buffalo. While Portland is a nice place, I don't think that I would like to live here.

There are a lot of appealing things about the city - but a lot of things I don't like, too. It's very clean here. There are city workers pushing trash cans and brooms all over. The public transportation here is great. It's very easy to get around the city and I like using the system. But that being said, if you need to drive anywhere the rail/bus system doesn't go, driving isn't so fun. At least not for me. A lot of people use foot power around here. At home, that isn't the case - I'm terrified that I'm going to hit someone because I'm not used to keeping an eye out for so many pedestrians.

People like to ride bicycles in Portland. I would venture to say that there must be one biker for every four or five cars on the road. That's a lot! And I think that it's kind of neat seeing them all using hand signals when turning. We've all learned how to use them, but that would be the day I would see a bicyclist using hand signals back home.

It's very green here. But that's it. Just green. And not many variations of green. My eyes are very tired (or bored?) of green - even tho' it's my favorite color. Maybe it's just the time of year that I'm here, but there doesn't seem to be much other color around. It's kind of boring.

The city itself is obviously a growing, thriving place. There is tons of construction going on all over. The look of the city is pretty - lots of little stores line the streets. It seems that there is a specialty store for everything here along with a million places to eat - lots with little tables set out on patios or on the sidewalk. Again, it looks pretty, but for me not very practical. I am not a big fan of little specialty stores. Whenever I've gone into one, I feel like I am intruding on someone's private property and feel very uncomfortable. Not to mention the fact that if I needed to get five different items, I would have to go to five different places (at least). And who knows how far away they would be from one another. Maybe it's because of what I'm used to, but I prefer one-stop shopping. In and out, no one to bother me - all done in one shot. That's the way I like to shop.

And for Portland to be touted as such a green city to be in, I am very surprised at the number of smokers here. There are a lot.

I've done the tourist stops and without a car, there isn't much left to do. Except shop, if I were so inclined. I don't like to shop.

I did get to see Buffalo beat Portland in their match in the 2008 World Championships. Buffalo played great. I hope they were good enough to make it to the finals. I'm pretty sure that their match against Portland will be the last show I'll see tho'.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I know that rain is good for the flowers and the trees, but I need a break already. It seems like it's been raining almost everyday for the past month. I know we've had days in between that were rain-free, but I need a nice stretch of good weather to get the things done outside that I need to. I'd also like some dry days left over to relax and enjoy some good mosquito-free time. That's not too much to ask, is it?

What's been weird too, is the kind of rain we've been getting. We've had a lot of hard fast rains. I also don't remember ever having thunder/lightening storms in such abundance and so close together. And crazy clouds. I'm going to have to make a point of keeping my camera handy to get pictures of them.

I'm betting the weather forecasters love this kind of weather :)

Chives

I have to believe that chives are one of the most obnoxious plants in the plant kingdom. Round-Up doesn't kill 'em. They are a pain in the you-know-what to dig out. And if you do manage to dig deep enough to get to the bulb, it inevitably had babies. Millions of babies. So many baby bulbs that it is virtually impossible to pick out each and every one, which ensures that no one can ever totally get rid of the damn things.

The people who owned my house before me must have liked chives and planted them somewhere. Over the years they spread and are just about everywhere. Fortunately, in the lawn they are only noticeable in the early spring. Then they stick up like alien antennas all over. When I cut the grass the first time of the year, I end up smelling like onions until I shower. I don't like onions.

It's keeping them out of the garden and flower beds that is going to be the bane of my existence.

Ugh.

Purging

In a quest to create more room/living space and become more organized, I am in the process of cleaning out a lot of the things that I don't really use or need. It is amazing how much stuff a person can collect over the years - and I really don't consider myself a packrat. I guess I am more of one than I thought.

While it is fun looking at old things I haven't looked at in five years, it makes me wonder why I kept them if I wasn't going to use or look at them. Maybe just for the fact that it would be fun to look at after years of not seeing them? I'm not sure, but a lot of stuff is hitting the recycle bin and the donation boxes. I just know that once some things are gone for good, I will have thought of a great use for them :)

In my effort to leave no stone unturned, I came across a small time capsule that I put together in February of 2000 - February 17th, to be exact. I marked it not to be opened until February of 2010. I had forgotten about it until I found it... I only remember one of the items in there. I guess I'll have to wait almost two more years to see what else is in there!

More Changes

The past bunch of weeks have been tumultuous to say the least. Not in a bad way, but chaotic nonetheless. After spending at least a decade in the same routine, things in my life have and are changing in ways I never would have imagined. And for the most part, it's good. Along with more adventures, I am anticipating being able to fall into more of a routine so that I will be able to blog on a more regular basis. My problem wasn't that I didn't have anything to blog about - the problem was that I didn't have the time to blog!

Some stuff that's been going on:

• One of my chickens is missing. I'm trying to be optimistic and I am hoping that she just decided to start a nest somewhere on the property. Best-case scenario: she is hatching baby chicks somewhere (The chickens have taken to not using the nesting box and instead, laying eggs in random places around the property. Weed-whacking the other day, I came across of pile of twelve eggs in a pile amongst the tall grass!) I thought I lost another hen Saturday, but she showed up today. A bit on the bedraggled side, but still in one piece and happy to rejoin the rest of the group. I'm keeping the gang confined for a while. If there is a rogue fox or something roaming around, I don't want to lose any more chickens.

• I learned that I'm too old to play kickball. I was at a cookout a couple of weeks ago and played the first game of kickball I've played in probably 25 years. It was a lot of fun, but I really wasn't a very good player (and that is being kind). I also pulled a muscle, and I'm still sore :(

• I am a huge Indian Jones fan. I was very disappointed in the last movie. Out of the first three movies, Temple of Doom was my least favorite. Temple of Doom was a million times better than the Crystal Skull. I have no idea what they were thinking when they wrote that one.
  

• MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) are a lot of fun! Randy had a bunch and neither of us ever had eaten one before, so we decided to open up a couple and give them a try. I was amazed at how much food they can fit in that small bag. I had the veggie burger meal and Randy had the beef stew. That veggie burger was the best veggie burger I've ever had. Randy said his beef stew was really good too. I forget what belonged to what meal - we kind of mixed and matched - but between the two, there was also a huge chocolate chip stuffed brownie, a couple of really big molasses cookies, a bag of M&M's, a really large amount of dried cranberries, two giant wheat crackers, ice tea mix, a milkshake type drink mix, coffee, creamer, sugar, tabasco sauce, a ton of napkins and a spoon. There might have been something else too, but I can't remember for sure... And of course the heater pack to warm up the meal. I'd be willing to bet that one of the meals could last me a whole day. We had a lot of fun going through everything and it's nice to know that in case of an emergency, we will get to eat good :)

• I don't like the idea of shooting guns on my property. It's so loud and I worry about someone or something getting hurt. That being said, I had a lot of fun target shooting at my sister's house. Don't ask me what guns I was shooting, but there were at least four different kinds. I definitely like some better than others. I can't say I was very good, but I did hit the tin can a couple of times!

• Today we had popcorn-sized hail raining down in the afternoon. I have never seen that before in this area. It was pretty neat to watch, but I thought my truck was going to have marks from it all because it was coming down so hard. Fortunately, my truck was fine. Unfortunately, my garden took a beating :(
  

I am excited to be settling into a new routine and looking forward to a really fun and productive summer. Changes can be good.

Trivia Weekend

The University of Wisconsin at Steven's Point is home to the World's Largest Trivia Contest. Fifty-four hours of trivia, music, food and fun. I used to belong to a team, but it got to the point that I couldn't put the time into preparing for the game anymore. It takes a *lot* of time to collect notes during the year. Even tho' I don't play anymore, I still like to listen the game every year. I thought I wouldn't be able to today - I was having problems connecting to the station on my computer. I was persistent, and was finally able to get through - yay! I like the music and I like to see how many questions I can answer on my own. I've been able to find a bunch, but none of the ones I found were really hard questions. The team I was on is usually in the top twenty. When I first checked the scores, they were down in the sixties somewhere, but now I see that they are in 31rst place - which is still very respectable considering that there are over 400 teams playing. I'm just used to them being near the top. There is still a long way to go, so there is still hope! The Trivia home page here for more information on the game.

Last night I got to watch one of my Top-Ten-Favorite-Movies-of-All-Time on the big screen. The Riviera Theater showed Monty Python and the Holy Grail - it was a lot of fun. As much as I like watching the movie at home on TV, I love the atmosphere of sitting in a theater full of people who like the show as much as I do. The show also included 24 seconds of not-seen-before footage. It was pretty easy to pick out and pretty funny.

I've watched Survivor since the first season. I am the first to admit that it's not as fun to watch as it used to be... the challenges always seem to be the same and the people that they pick don't seem to be as interesting as they used to be. I still watch every season, tho' - probably more out of habit than anything. But I am glad I watched this past Thursday. The moment when Jason tried to convince Eliza that the fake Immunity Idol he found - the one that Ozzy made - was the real thing was absolutely priceless. He was supposed to give it to Eliza to save her from being voted out.

"This isn't the Idol - It's just a stick!"
"Yes it is."
"No it's not - It's just a stick!"
"It is the Idol... It's got a face on it - see?"
"No it doesn't - it's just a stick!"
"Bummer."

I haven't laughed that hard in a looong time.

And for the record, I was glad to see Eliza go - I didn't like her the first time around, either. I'm rooting for Ozzy.

On a more serious note, I couldn't agree more with this post from BUFFALOg. I can't stand the politicians in New York. Ugh.

Finally!!!

I think it's here.

I'm hoping.

I'm crossing my fingers.

I think spring is finally here! We've had a couple of really nice days - nice temperatures anyway. The forecast for the week looks promising, too. It doesn't look like the rain will be taking much of a break, but at least the temperatures will more enjoyable. I am starting to get that itch to get the garden going, so I not only want warmer weather, but I want it dry.

I'm just never happy, am I?

I guess it's good that I can't get out in the garden right now, anyway. I am so sore and I still can't believe the reason why - but I can sum it up in one word: Wii.

Randy got himself a Wii. Wii's are totally great, but I still can't believe that one can get bodily pain from playing a video game. I didn't play what I consider a whole lot since he got it on Wednesday - a few games of bowling, a game of baseball, two games of tennis and a bunch of carnival games. And that was over a four day period, so it's not like I've been playing 24/7 for a month straight or something... I guess I'm not the first one to experience this, but sheesh!

And finally - announcing Buffalo's first Improv-a-thon!

ComedySportz will be holding 29-1/2 hours of improvised comedy to raise money to send a team to Portland for the National Championship competition. If you're local - come down the Historic Riveria Theater in North Tonawanda and support these guys! The Improv-a-thon begins at 4 pm on Saturday, April 26th and ends at 9:30 pm on Sunday, April 27th. There will be food, prizes and a Chinese Auction. Come for an hour or stay as long as you want - they are funny and will have you laughing the whole time... Some of the guys are going to try to play for the whole 29-1/2 hours. That will be worth seeing!

Not Art

Well, last weekend we made it to the Albright Knox Art Gallery, but didn't get to participate in Maple Weekend. I wish we had swapped what we chose to do. The art gallery was not what it used to be. The Jennifer Steinkamp exhibit was pretty cool, but the rest of it was pretty much a waste in my opinion.

It looks like they got rid of all the paintings that were art - meaning the pieces that actually look like something and someone went to some kind of effort to make it look recognizable. I don't totally hate modern art. Some of it is neat, but a lot of it I just don't consider art. Just about everything that was on display looked like something a five year old could do. How hard is it to take a piece of canvas and paint it blue? And don't tell me that it's the color of blue that makes the difference. I can take a sample of any color in the world, go to Home Depot and get a gallon of it while I wait. Give me a canvas and fifteen minutes and I could do the same thing.

Just about all of the things that I had fun looking at when I was growing up were gone. The mirror room was still there, but under repair so we couldn't go in. Everything else was gone. Even the Campbell soup cans. So much was gone, one could go through the whole building in a little over an hour if they took their time. At $10 a ticket to get in and $8 for parking (if you don't get your ticket validated), I don't find visiting the Albright Knox art gallery a very good value. I can't image paying for a family to go in. I don't think I'll be going back for a very long time. If at all.

Where Does the Time Go?

Has over a month past since my last entry????? Yikes!

I need more hours in the day to get done everything that I would like... ~sigh~

What's been going on over the past few weeks:

• I started a new job. I absolutely hated the old one. I've never really hated a job before. So far, I think the new job is a good fit. I'm still getting used to the schedule.
• With some help, some more work got done on the house - I still have miles to go tho'...
• I learned that it takes less time to fly to (and from) Poland than it does to fly to (and from) Idaho.
• I am totally sick of hearing about Hillary and Obama. And the election isn't until November. God help us all.
• I cannot believe that CBS took Jericho off the air.
• Spring must be here. I saw my first robin last Saturday.
• My Mom and sister outdid themselves for Easter dinner - yum!
  
• My nephew is getting bigger and bigger every time I see. I am pleasantly surprised to see that he is a pretty happy baby - he doesn't cry every time I look at him (like most babies do) :)

It seems like every weekend is filled to the brim. This weekend is going to be a fun weekend instead of a We-Have-To-Get-Stuff-Done weekend. Saturday is the art museum and dinner with some friends and I'm hoping for decent weather on Sunday so that we can participate in Maple Weekend.

I usually don't mind winter, but I am just soooo ready for the warm weather to get here already.

Laura sent me this, and I thought it was absolutely great:

Eco-Shapes???

I've been pretty lucky... I haven't been sick in a long time - probably four or five years at least (not counting my back problems). The past couple of months, it seems like I've been having health issues pop up one after the other. Not feeling good is so not fun. It's even more not fun when you get a long weekend off from work and end up spending most of it home in bed hacking up a storm. Ugh. I think next year, it's time for a booster flu shot.

I am not a water drinker. Everyone I know thinks I'm crazy because I don't like to drink water. I think everyone is crazy because they do like to drink water. I really don't understand why. It tastes awful - and it doesn't matter if it is bottled or from the tap. Yuck. However, that being said, I decided for a little while to try drinking water to see if it would help me feel better health-wise. I couldn't say if it helped or not - my experiment didn't last very long. I repeat: water = yuck.

During my short-lived water drinking trial, I did come across something that aroused my curiosity: Who came up with the term 'Eco-Shape Bottle'? I would understand an 'Ergonomically-Shaped Bottle' or even an 'Eco-Friendly Bottle', but 'Eco-Shape'???? What a dumb name.

One of my chickens has started laying eggs again - I hope that means that spring is around the corner. I usually don't mind winter, but this year is beginning to border on ridiculous. It's the wind that makes everything so miserable - I'm really tired of wind chills constantly in the single digits. What good is winter if you can't go out and enjoy it? I'm ready for spring.

I did get treated to see Stomp over the weekend at Shea's. I haven't been to Shea's in a really long time - the theater was just as fancy as I remembered. And even tho' I wasn't feeling 100%, I still enjoyed the show a lot. I've wanted to see Stomp perform for a quite a while, and I'm glad I finally got to. Thanks again Randy :-)

Even tho' this video is old, I just came across it again. I still find it as funny as I did the first time I saw it.

Anniversaries

Today was the anniversary of the Blizzard of '77. A bunch of emails have been going around with pictures of the storm, but the best composition I've seen is here...



I didn't hear anything about it on TV or on the radio today at all. I thought it was kind of weird. Even tho' it was so long ago, usually someone mentions it somewhere... Maybe everyone is just trying to forget about it already. Right now, I'm just happy that there was finally a break in the cold spell we've been having. I think it was in the 30's today. Yay!

And speaking of anniversaries, Legos turned 50 today. I never got to play much with Legos when I was a kid - they were too expensive for us. I had the knock-offs, tho', and they were a lot of fun. I remember trying to collect enough to build a wall in the middle of my bedroom. I never got too far with that. Anyway, right now the coolest thing Legos have out is the new Indiana Jones Legos. Who wouldn't love to have their very own Lego Indy?

And in case anyone cares: Clothes I can't breathe in didn't change my luck in Killer Bunnies :)

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Lockport Memorial Hospital for winning an $800,000 MRI machine! What a great asset it will be to the area - that's one expensive piece of equipment! I really didn't think that they were going to win. I was voting pretty regularly and while they were always in second place, they seemed pretty far from first. I was really happy when I heard they won :)

Yesterday I was treated to a bit of a shopping spree - if a new outfit constitutes a shopping spree, that is. (It does to me) Evidently I dress frumpy. I say that I dress comfortable. Anyway, anyone who knows me, knows that I really, really don't like to shop. And while others may delight in the thought of shopping, I cringe. To me, the 'shopping spree' was not fun by any stretch of the imagination. I still don't know how I got talked into it. How can anyone think that spending gobs of time trying on clothes - most of which were very uncomfortable and didn't fit - is a good time? I just don't understand. At any rate, tomorrow I get to don my new finery at a Killer Bunnies game. I can't wait to see how I am going to survive in apparel I can't breath in. Maybe it's a strategy: If I can't concentrate, I will lose the game... I don't know. All I have to say is, I had better not hear the word 'frumpy' from anyone.

And switching gears, I can't help but laugh every time I hear someone talking about this rebate check that everyone is supposed to be getting from the government... There is no bill in Congress for it, so the rebate doesn't even exist yet. However, everyone is asking "Where's my check?". I wish the media would stop talking about it until it is a reality. For any updates, www.irs.gov will be the place to check.

InstaPundit posted this commercial... I haven't seen it on TV yet, but I really like it a lot.

Brrrrrrrrrr!

As a rule, I really don't mind the cold. I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as bad weather - just dressing badly for the weather. The weather we've been having over the past few days, however, is getting a bit ridiculous. The high temperature Monday was 20 degrees. The wind chill was 6 degrees. I follow the wind chill. That means it was 34 degrees below freezing yesterday. That is freakin' cold. I want someone to explain the whole Global Warming thing to me again. Please.

On a warmer note - due to connections I have, I was able to watch the auditions to join the Buffalo Comedy Sportz team that was held Monday night. Being the first open audition in something like four years, the turnout was great. What a lot of fun it was to see so many talented people show off their stuff. The group is really good to begin with - I can't wait to see the new dynamics with new people on board. For any local folk looking for a fun, family-friendly evening, the Comedy Sportz team has a show every Sunday night at the Riviera Theater in North Tonawanda.

Going back to the cold again... I am surprised at how well the chickens seem to be handling the extreme weather. I suppose that in the grand scheme of things, wild birds are pretty much equipped to handle bad weather, so I guess that the chickens should also be able to. I just never really thought about it before - or had to worry about it. I keep checking on them as often as I can, and so far they seem to be doing just fine. I just can't wait until it gets back up into the 40's again. Brrrrrrrr!