Frantic Pansies

Ninja Star!

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:09:35 GMT

On the way to Tally this weekend caught an NPR program I'd never heard before - I don't know the title but it had to do with economics. They were doing a special program about money and kids; as a part of the show they had two eighth graders reading excerpts from stories or poems they'd written. I didn't catch either of the stories completely because of the conversations going on in the car. I pieced together what I thought the girl's poem was about based on the bits I did understand - I think she had saved up some money and was looking around online with an eye toward purchasing something, but her mother saw her online searching and started giving opinions and advice which the daughter was rejecting. She kept saying "ninja stars" over and over - which was the phrase that caught my attention in the first place in the murmuring of the radio. Only, I thought she was buying a star - probably because I have always wanted to buy a star myself. I kept wondering what kind of star a ninja star was and if it was a newly discovered type of star because we didn't discuss those in astronomy class. Maybe it was because I was struggling to figure out what I was listening to and the overall story in addition to the poem, but my mental processing took a while before I realized she meant the weapon ninja stars, not a stellar object. I wasn't as interested at that point, but my confusion amused me, and I told John about it. He suggested perhaps the Ninja Star was related to dark matter. Then together we came up with the idea of a motivational poster of a constellation reading "There are 12 Ninja Stars in this constellation."

surprise pumpkin in the mail - yay!!

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:53:40 GMT

I love my pumpkin!!!

Sarah you are amazingly crafty and talented!

Happy Veteran's Day

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:50:40 GMT

A big THANK YOU to Monkeys and my dad especially, but to all the men and women who've served our country and sacrificed for our country. Also to all the active duty members and and spouses and family members. :)

God Bless!
Be safe!

durrrrrr

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:48:23 GMT

TWICE now I have tried to eat the french fries pictured on the cover of the book sitting beside my computer. I am going to have to move this book.

Sweet Nothings - Do You Wanna Date My Avatar

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:50:53 GMT

Cuz we aren't meeting on Saturday!! Darn it!!

Thursday Haiku

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:34:22 GMT

oversized scarecrow
guards the plastic pumpkin patch
on my windowsill

I was a strong person today! I confronted two personal issues directly and made difficult choices. Well, for *me* it was difficult choices. I risked saying the wrong thing to two people (one of my biggest fears) and somehow ended up not screwing things up with either of them. In fact, I think I even managed to have a deep conversation about emotions instead of staying in my comfortable shallow water areas. Go me!

So Long And Thanks for All the Flights

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:23:41 GMT

If the Incredible Hulk and the Thing from the Fantastic Four got into a fight, who do you think would win? Mr. Duggins said his friend who worked for Marvel Comics would describe attending cocktail parties full of conversations that began along those lines. That was how Duggins transitioned to describing the conversations engineers were getting into at the 2005 NASA meeting at Disney’s Contemporary Resort Motel when they were asked to create a new kind of space ship. They were told that it could have wings, it could have tanks, it could have anything – just throw what you have against a wall and see what sticks – so they were coming up with all kinds of scenarios. But in every scenario imagined Batman beats Superman. Just saying.

Pat Duggins, NPR space expert and newly hired something or other with Alabama Public Radio, gave a lecture on campus today based on his book Beyond the Final Countdown: NASA and the End of the Space Shuttle Program. I am curious if this is the same lecture he gave on CSpan’s Booknotes. I watch that show –that’s where I discovered Simon Singh and AJ Jacobs – but I haven’t seen Mr. Duggins there. I have heard him on NPR. His lecture today was a bit meandering and his powerpoint presentation minimal and slapdash, but I think his actual book will be really good. I think he must have liked the subject so much he hopped around a lot in his talk, but he probably couldn’t do that when writing a book. He has a great voice and is very personable, so it was pleasant just listening to him talk.

My favorite story from the presentation was centered around Challenger. He opened with asking us to share our first memories of NASA and the space program. From the memories shared, I think I was the youngest person in the room by about twenty years. Cosmos would be my first “real space” encounter, but my first actual memory of the space program is the Challenger explosion. _{Well, unless you count the MTV commercials with Buzz Aldrin.} So I was particularly interested when he got to that portion of his presentation. He said in the 1980’s the news programs didn’t really cover the space program. When Coke and Pepsi sent up zero-gravity dispensers it was on the news, but other than that the space program was mostly ignored, which I guess is why I don’t have many memories of it. Reporters didn’t cover the space shuttle’s flights because it would be like covering an airport – they took off, they landed, back to you Jim. So he wasn’t covering Challenger when it exploded; he was in the production room with another story when he noticed people scurrying about and asked what happened. Upon hearing the shuttle exploded he grabbed his tape recorder and a company car and sped to Cape Canaveral barking on a CB radio to arrange press passes be waiting for him when he arrived. While waiting outside the security office to pick up his badge he noticed a school bus and a group of 3rd graders with hangdog expressions, so his first interview regarding the Challenger was with those kids recounting their experience watching the shuttle explode. He kept the tapes and 20 years later when he began writing this book he tracked down some of the children, now in their 30’s, to get their reflections on the shuttle program. I found it interesting that for the kids the scariest part of the Challenger explosion experience occurred when they returned home later that night. The bus ride was three hours and no one had cell phones back then, so by 6pm their parents had watched the shuttle explode over and over on television without knowing for sure if their children were okay. What if they’d been hit by some debris?!?! When the kids disembarked they were grabbed in a mad scramble by frightened parents.

He also told a great story about the invention of WD40 . He showed a street sign in Cocoa Beach called “I Dream of Jeannie Lane” and said astronauts really did hang out at Bernard’s Surf as mentioned on the show. And because I was in the audience he mentioned Steve Jobs.

I didn’t realize that when the Shuttle program shuts down it will spell the end for Cape Canaveral. Duggins thinks Huntsville, AL will pick up the torch. As a Florida native, I’m saddened by this.

"I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:35:02 GMT

Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car." (Will Shriner)

My grandfathers were the first people to come to mind on All Soul's Day. It seems like they were radically different people. I guess they had one thing in common: They both had really white hair. I hope when my hair changes colors it's the same pure shade of white.

Most of my memories of my maternal grandfather are from when he was in the VA Hospital towards the end of his days. He passed away when I was six, and when he was alive he lived five or six hours away, so I didn’t get to see him often. But all the memories I do have, I cherish. There are pictures of me sitting in his lap while he read me the newspaper, sitting in his lap on the porch, swinging in his tree swing, or curled up asleep in his big green chair. I don’t remember any of these moments, but I remember feeling loved. I associate him with circus peanuts. I don’t have any specific recollection of him ever giving me a circus peanut, but I know that he must have with every visit because to this day whenever I see a bag of circus peanuts photographic images of him float through the back of my mind. I also think of him every time I am offered a thumbprint cookie. I remember being five years old and helping my mother bake thumbprint cookies before a trip to the VA Hospital. She mixed the dough and rolled out the cookies. I supplied the thumbprint, and she filled the hole with jelly then baked them. I remember carrying a giant plastic container full of yellow apricot and grape purple cookies into the lobby and offering all the nurses and attendants cookies. I loved the attention and compliments. Papa couldn’t actually eat the cookies because of the breathing tubes. These were the old days, when children weren’t allowed up in the rooms. I don’t know why we were banned from the rooms – maybe they thought we’d be traumatized, maybe they thought it wasn’t healthy for the patients, who knows. My parents had to take turns watching me hand out cookies in the lobby while they each took a turn up in the room with Papa. When there were no more cookies I got taken outside to the grounds, held up underneath a familiar third story window, and told to wave. I waved more emphatically once I spotted the hands waving back down at me through the curtains. Other visits I recall running around the grounds playing tag with my cousins, also too young to be allowed in the room for a visit. My mother lost Papa in 1976, but I lost him years before thanks to those hospital regulations.

I could write a book about my paternal grandfather. Actually, somebody ought to write a book about him; he was a real character. I loved him dearly because he could always make me laugh. Whether it was from stealing my dinner rolls then blaming it on my grandmother (surefire amusement for a six year old) or offering to spray down my boyfriend’s bushy beard with chigger spray for my protection (well, it amused me), he was always up to something. My favorite story involves one of his favorite pastimes – sitting at the counter at the Donut King in Odgensburg eavesdropping on conversations then butting in with unwanted advice. If anyone railed at him he would raise his eyebrows with a confused and hurt expression and apologetically protest, “Hey, I’m just a concerned citizen!” Someone actually bought him a baseball cap that said “Concerned Citizen” so that he could just point. Maybe that’s apocryphal, but I could totally picture him doing it.

All Soul's Day

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:22:41 GMT

Today is All Soul's Day

At mass yesterday they had little envelopes where you could write the names of loved ones who have passed on. I didn't have a pen, so I borrowed one from the lady sitting next to me and wrote down five names. (Both my grandfathers, Redd's mother, my uncle, and George Harrison.) I knew there was another name I wanted to list, but I couldn't think of it. I knew it was really important, but I couldn't think who. After I'd returned the pen and mass started, I realized I forgot Monkey's mom. So I prayed that her name be included along with the five I submitted.

There are so many dear people that could have also been added. I thought to myself I ought to start a list of names. Of course, that's impractical since it would be incredibly long. Every friend and family member I've known and lost. Every celebrity who's passed on after making an impact on my life. Every family member I never got the chance to know. Every friend and family member of my friends and family members. And everyone else. That may not even cover it.

All you holy men and women pray for us.

All Saint's Day

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:18:09 GMT

As today is All Saint's Day I wanted to acknowledge it somehow.

I thought perhaps I'd just do a quick write-up about my confirmation saint, Saint Barbara and why I chose her. I had compiled a short list of ten or so names which perhaps some day I will post because I was impressed and inspired by several. It was a really hard decision!

I finally settled on Saint Barbara for two main reasons.

1) My mother's name is Barbara. I thought it might please her if my saint had the same name. So it was a way to honor her and be closer to her. Also in some fashion I thought it might ease Mom's mind on my converting to the Catholic faith if she had any issues over my switching from the way I was raised. Just recently I realized I may have an even closer family connection to the name. My grandmother's family was Catholic and my grandfather was Methodist. My grandmother died giving birth to her forth child. Mom was only three at the time, so she never really got a chance to know her mother. Of course, without her presence, the children went to my grandfather's church and were raised Methodist. But listening to the Litany of Saints being sung and hearing "Saint Elizabeth and Barbara, pray for us," I thought perhaps since my grandmother was Catholic perhaps my mom and Aunt Elizabeth Anne were named after the saints. I even rationalized why the boys weren't - the firstborn was named after his father, and since she died in childbirth with the last one she didn't have a say in his name. So by picking Barbara I may have picked the same saint my grandmother picked for Mom!

2) St Barbara is the patron saint of explosives. Monkeys is exEOD. Had I been Catholic and married to him at the time he was in the service, I'm sure I'd have been calling on St. Barbara a lot. :) I figure she was watching over him all that time anyway, so I owe her!

She also has a really neat story that's easy to remember, so I can tell people about her if asked.

My icon is Saint Michael the Archangel. One of my favorite prayers is dedicated to him.
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle;
be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray:
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen
I think it's beautiful and poetic and powerful and needed.

Also, he's being featured prominently on Supernatural right now. He's way more awesome then they are letting on. If in one of the many universes out there there exists a universe where I'm married to Jensen Ackles and we have a son... I'd make sure his saint was Michael. :)

Happy Halloween!!!

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:56:01 GMT

Just wanted to pop on quickly and wish everyone a Happy Halloween!

And Happy Samhain for those who celebrate!!

PS Aliens have invaded our house! Woot!

Halloween Eve at Work

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:00:38 GMT

This made me feel special. Geeky, dorky, and strange, but also special.

Normally on Halloween I dress up at work. I’ve worn my various pirate costumes from Dragoncon (occasionally with giant plastic swords); I’ve worn various Renn Festival outfits (occasionally with horns); I’ve dressed as a witch; I’ve dressed as the Doctor. Once I talked my coworkers into dressing as “the plague” where we were all to wear our pajamas and bathrobes and give ourselves lipstick measles. Despite everyone saying yes, I was the only one to follow through. I taught class in said pajamas and bathrobe later that evening, although I did wash the measles off my face. The last few weeks have been very busy and very stressed (good stress is still stress), so emotionally I couldn’t psych myself up to dressing up today. I was planning on wearing one of the Salwar Kamishes, but 1) I don’t think of them as costumes and 2) I got sick last night which collapsed any ambitions I had. So today I wore an orange sweater, black jeans, black and orange striped socks, and orange Converse hightops, all of which I have worn to work before – just not at once. I also wore my fox hat – which I
hadn’t worn to work before but have worn just about everywhere else as you can see from my Wisconsin pictures, my New York pictures, my Dragoncon pictures, or ask any of our local gas stations. So in my mind, I did not dress up. I dressed down. And more importantly, I felt down until something happened to cheer me up some.

People have been coming out of the woodwork to see if I’m dressed up. I mean, they’ve come from other buildings, even. And they are crazy about the hat. Everyone seems to think I’m a tiger (Tony the Tiger, Tigger, etc.) because of the socks, but that’s okay because it keeps the Come to Kenya song running through my head. I can’t understand why they think I’m so festive since I feel incredibly mundane, but I’m glad they aren’t seeing it as mundane. The best moment was when the Registrar and her assistant heard my voice at the copier, and they excitedly called and called out to me to come into their office because they wanted to see what I was wearing like they had really high expectations. I actually apologized because I wasn’t dressed up, but they disagreed and actually raved about my outfit. Someone else came in and said that I looked more like a tiger than a fox, but I said my husband called me a fox and I was sticking with that. Also, one of the groundskeepers stopped at my window and signed to me how much he liked my hat. He recognized it as a fox hat, and he mimed me chasing down and attacking a rabbit. I signed back “chocolate rabbit,” and he applauded.

Also in the vein of "it’s a good day no matter how awful I feel", the assistant registrar called us all into the vault and had us pose looking overworked and stressed out so that they could have a picture to use in a PowerPoint presentation for the registration meeting. We crammed eight of us on stools and ladders in the vault, using folders and buckets as props. Those with glasses cocked their glasses, and all of us tried to make over-the-top overworked expressions. Our college has grown by leaps and bounds since it's construction in the 1960's, so the once-spacious vault designed to hold admissions files is now crammed to the gills making it hard to file or retrieve files. I think this picture was done in comedic protest of how our many requests for more storage have not been fulfilled. I cannot wait to hear the reaction to the picture at the meeting.

My dad makes me giggle

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:11:44 GMT

ME: If you had to choose between Jennifer Lopez and ice cream which would it be?

DAD: Oh, that's hard. What flavor's the ice cream?

We were playing Apples to Apples with my relatives, and when my mother played "Fantastic" during her role as judge my Aunt Cheryl played the name of a cute actor. She won the round, and consequently won the game. My uncle and father grumbled and complained and accused her of cheating somehow. She mentioned that had a man been the judge she would have played Jennifer Lopez. Dad shook his head in resignation and said "well, if I were judging you'd have had another green card." We all laughed, and Dad made some sort of comment about how you couldn't not pick Jennifer Lopez. That's when we started presenting various options. After it was established that it would be chocolate ice cream, Monkeys moved on to number of scoops...

Most frustrating WalMart Deli Experience Ever

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:21:58 GMT

I suppose I should have been grateful it was even open at 7:30 pm, but as it was 7:30 pm I was really anxious to get through my grocery list and get home ASAP. (Preferably in time to watch Castle.) In fact, I was debating whether to stop off at Walmart on my way home from my parents’ house Monday night or go Tuesday after work. My aunt/uncle/parents were coming up for dinner on Wednesday, and we wanted to make the soup on Tuesday night to give it time to meld and to give us more time with them instead of spending part of their visit cooking. As Walmart was on my way home and stopping then would give more time for cooking and cleaning on Tuesday, Monday won out. I was zipping through my list until I got to the last two items – Sundried Tomato Turkey Breast and Cajun Roast Beef. One pound each. Thin sliced.

There were three people in the deli area. One was packaging roasted chickens and two were chatting. When they noticed me at the counter one of the chatting ladies came over to ask if I needed help. The other chatting lady started packaging roasted chickens. I pointed out the meats I wanted, but she had trouble finding them. I guess the packages they slice aren’t behind the examples in the case. So she got some help from one of the other ladies. She also had to ask for help again to find out which slicer to use. Finally she got the turkey ready (although not in the amount I asked for) and stuffed it in a plastic bag. After ten or eleven attempts to zip it shut, she gave up, commented on how hard they were to seal, and then stuck the price label across the top of the bag rendering it somewhat shut. It still left the bag open on either side of the label where things could fall out. Or in. All the while, a gentleman was standing over at the bakery counter holding a cake and talking on his cell phone. She left me to ask him if he needed anything. There wasn’t anyone working the bakery and despite my lady asking her coworkers, still packaging chickens, if they could write Happy Birthday on a cake, if xxx could write Happy Birthday, if xxx could write Happy Birthday, etc. until she ran out of names, my lady couldn’t come up with anyone who could write on his cake. He said not to worry about it. She deferred and said she would get a manager. Then she asked her coworkers, still packaging chickens, how you call a manager. The coworkers didn’t seem to care about her questions or the fact that I was still standing at the counter wondering why one of THEM didn’t wait on the gentleman or at least take over helping me. The roasted chickens could wait – they are already dead, you help the living customers first. In the meantime, I managed to zip up the turkey package. On my first try, even. My lady then disappeared into a back room for a while and finally came out to tell the gentleman that someone was coming to help him. Finally she returned to me and began trying to cut open a package of roast beef. That took a while. It involved buckets and trays and knives and some other things I didn’t recognize. That’s when I noticed how dirty the meat scale was. Well, not dirty exactly – but there were bits of other meats all over it, indicating it hadn’t been wiped down lately. Then the phone rang. My lady stopped wrestling with the roast beef package and went to answer it. The other two ladies continued packaging chicken. Oh, and occasionally they would throw older chickens in the trash. I couldn’t figure out their system. After about five minutes my lady finished with the phone call, repeated to the gentleman that someone was coming for him, and then disappeared into the back room again. Eventually she returned to the roast beef. I wondered about her gloves and whether or not she changed them after hanging up the phone. I choose to ignore my thoughts since at least we were back on track and my roast beef was being sliced and shoved into a plastic bag. (Once again, not the amount I asked for. Close, but not quite. I was expecting her to ask “Is this okay?” like they normally do at meat counters when they are a couple ounces over or under. I don’t know why I expected that as by this time I was convinced she didn’t actually work the deli. In my mind she was Olga, an illegal immigrant fleeing the Russian Mafia who happened to be passing through the deli and stopped when she saw me. Still, I’m sure she’s gotten meat at a deli before and at least heard the question at some point. Or possibly “Это о'кей?” if Babelfish is to be trusted.) This time she only made two attempts to seal it before just handing me the bag, unfolded and untaped, while wishing me a good night. I zipped it shut and made my way over to the checkout counters. My cashier was upset about the turkey label being folded in half. It meant it was impossible to scan. Together we carefully peeled the label back to prevent it from ripping; I held it out for her so she could use her handheld laser on the barcode. I felt partially responsible since I moved the label when I zipped the bag then returned it to its folded position, so I vaguely defended the placement saying perhaps they don’t realize the impact of label placement since they don’t do checkout. She disagreed and said it was just laziness on their part. I don’t know about laziness, because in truth they never stopped working for a minute. They just weren’t working for me.

And I missed Castle.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! Out, out cursed spot!!

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:53:54 GMT

First off - remember months ago when I posted about being found by my old high school friend? For a while there I was actually dressing nicer in case he showed up. Kind of like when you are going to your high school reunion, you want people to think you improved or haven't aged or at least not embarrass yourself. But months went by w/o emails or anything on either of our parts, and honestly I got so busy in my own life that I kind of forgot about the whole thing.

Secondly - it's been a really stressful two weeks. Between the road trip return (which was awesome but tiring), the bathroom renovation (that is a giant story in itself), company visiting from NY for two weeks, some bizarre stressful work stuff that somehow just disappeared thank God, preparing for a Halloween party, sudden day trip visits from friends in Tallahassee, Virginia, and Mississippi, and other stuff. It's almost all good things, but I'm tired and sick and overwhelmed, and it's showing in my face - partly cuz I'm scowling and partly cuz I have a HUGE HUGE HUGE MASSIVE GIANT POSSIBLY GLOWING bump right in the middle of my forehead. It's like a third eye. It's hideous. Today it yelled at one of my coworkers.

I am guessing you can see how these two items relate. Yep. He showed up yesterday. At least I had a nice outfit on to counterbalance my toxic head. When I spotted him roaming around the lobby peeking at doors like a lost freshman looking for homeroom I told him he would have to pick today to show up and to go away and come back when my face was clear. Other than that, I had a nice visit! He's really funny, so we spent as much time actually catching each up on our lives as we did making up goofy stories about people passing by outside my windows. At one point he was telling me about how on his way in to C1 he passed some random guy flossing his teeth in the parking lot. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he thought it was the mint floss. He questioned the idea of a person walking around college grounds flossing, clearly something was wrong with this person – we went on the theorize what was behind the odd behavior. Perhaps the Flosser was just crazy or perhaps he was up to something nefarious and the flossing was some sort of decoy… And there were jokes about D making it safely to his car if the Flosser were still out there. So he promised to send me an email to let me know he made it safely to his office...

> From: D
> Sent: Monday, October 26, 2009 3:29 PM
> To: MLR
> Subject: Made it
>
> I took a wandering path to my car, in part to throw off pursuit and to a
> lesser degree that I forgot where I parked. Suffice to say, I made it
> back with no floss marks.
>
> Beware Big Headed Babies,
>
> D

I wrote back, but he never answered - so I got a little nervous my response was more stupid than silly.

> From: MLR
> Sent: Monday, October 26, 2009 4:14 PM
> To: D
> Subject: RE: Made it
>
> Well thank goodness! Most people don't realize how deadly floss can be.
> It's unexpected tensile strength and teflon composition
> (possibly not the mint kind) means it has all sorts of nontoothy
> applications. According to one website I read, just 18 strands braided
> together can support the weight of a small sea bass. I'm not entire
> sure, but I believe most Nisson vehicles are equivalent in mass to fish,
> hence their amazing gas economy, therefore it wasn't unreasonable of me
> to worry.
>
> Anyway, glad you are safe!

Maybe I can blame the crazy on my forehead.

I KNEW PHONES WERE EVIL!!!

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:37:27 GMT

LONDON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Long-term cell phone users face a higher risk of developing brain tumors later in life, researchers in Britain warn.

Study: Long term cell phone users at risk

I already don't use mine that often, but I'm going to try to use it even less now!
Texting, still okay! (I don't have texting... yet.)
I told Monkeys I need some kind of wireless hook up thingy.
(Link swiped from DebG - I'll track down the link to her LJ later. :)

Anyway - I'm off to use our new shower for the first time!!!! Woot!

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:43:07 GMT

Yet again I am posting my to do lists for the past two days. Even if it's just to remind me that I can actually accomplish something when I get home from work despite my innate belief that I'm tired and deserve to relax on the couch. At least this time I'm putting them behind a cut. :)

Hall bathroom
1) Scrub toilet
2) Clear off counters
3) Wipe down counters
4) Wipe down shower
5) Sweep floor
Living Room
1) Vacuum rug
2) Set up Couch
3) Move my clothes into the bedroom (should be dry)
4) Wipe down tables
Kitchen
1) Put Chili on to simmer
2) Prepare cheese trey and appetizers
Bedroom
1) Make up bed
2) Clear a path
3) Put clothes in closet
Our bathroom
1) Paint little wall by bathtub
2) Paint second coat by bathtub
3) Move cardboard and rug somewhere?
4) Remove tape by tub – yay!

This one was shorter because my family was due to arrive around 6pm. I got everything on Wednesday's list done in just about two hours! AND I had a wonderful evening visiting with family. Monkeys on the other hand was having a horrible night. He made FOUR trips to Lowes trying to get the toilet installed and never succeeded. My uncle works for a hardware store, so when he got in we asked him about the problems Monkeys was having. He had some recommendations, and we think the toilet will be successfully installed this weekend.

THURSDAY TO DO LIST ** STOP AT 8 for SPN!!
1) Change clothes
2) Sort towels * Load of whites SET TIMER SOMEHOW
3) Bring in fish for dinner (while you are out there)
4) Finish loading dishwasher and run it
5) If hungry, eat apples.
6) Paint 2nd coat on small walls beside the small sink
7) Paint 2nd coat on WC door
8) Paint 2nd coat on small walls beside the big sink
9) Check on towels
10) Transfer chili to smaller containers so there’s room in the frig again 
11) Start veggies and fish (rest of carrots/rest of shrooms, pepper, broccoli)
12) Clean out frig! (get the handiwipes ready)
13) Put whites in dryer, do load of colored towels SET TIMER SOMEHOW
14) Take out trash
15) Put away dishes
16) Reload dishwasher
17) Bring boats and paint closer to a TV set ;) and fish out smaller brushes for detail work
18) Clean inside of big boat.
19) Paint boats
20) Remove tape from painted areas if possible
21) Fold laundry while watching Supernatural if possible
22) Put towels in dryer when possible *if* time, start another load
23) Shower
24) Lay out clothes for tomorrow

Toaster stopped in to drop something off for me and watch Supernatural. I managed to get everything on this list done except I didn't have time to start a third load of laundry. The boats are looking really good! I'm so excited! Oh - the boats are shelves to hold things. The big boat holds toilet paper rolls and books/candles. The smaller boats chold deodarent, facewash, etc. The bathroom has an ocean theme. Anyway, I expect I can hang them this weekend.

I think to-do lists are the way to go! I seem to be way more likely to focus and finish a task if I break it down like this. :)
Although I do miss LiveJournal and Facebook. :(

Tonight I'm going to my parents to hang out with my relatives again. Yay!
Acutally, double yay because that means I don't have a to do list for tonight!

Symphony of Science - 'We Are All Connected' (ft. Sagan, Feynman, deGrasse Tyson & Bill Nye)

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:15:46 GMT

Toaster sent me this link with a comment saying I would probably like it. There's no probably - it's as beautiful as the first one if not more. Four of my favorite "faces of science" in one video! Sagan's still the cutest, athough Feynman would be a hoot to hang out with.

Meanwhile I'm having an awesome night! My aunt and uncle are visiting from NY, and we had them up for dinner. I made chili and John made tamale-stuffed peppers. I also did a big ole cheese tray for snacking and heated up a store-bought cherry pie for desert. Then we made them watch the IT Crowd (which they loved - cuz they are crazy cool) and now we're watching Criminal Minds and CSI:NY, which I had better get back to before I miss something important. :)

A Hard Day's Night

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:34:55 GMT

I was industriousness last night. Normally I sit on my butt in front of Facebook with the TV on when I get home from work, but last night I had a to-do list a mile long in preparation for my aunt and uncle coming over for dinner tonight. I’m actually rather proud of me. I’m showing my list off, darn it!

1) Change clothes
2) Start Chili
3) Start dinner - veggies & fish
4) Sort laundry – do dryer friendly clothes – SET A TIMER SOMEHOW
5) Paint second coat above the shower so that the tape can be removed from that section.
*) Check veggies, fish, and laundry – eat/pack lunch for tomorrow/dryer
6) Paint above other light feature (I give up)
*) Check veggies, fish, and laundry – eat/pack lunch for tomorrow/dryer
7) Paint remaining tub-wall.
*) Check veggies, fish, and laundry – eat/pack lunch for tomorrow/dryer
8) Dust and clean inside of cabinets and boats to prep for painting them
9) DISCUSS ACCENT WALL WITH JOHN
10) Paint accent wall
11) Put clothes in dryer!!!
12) Paint cabinets
13) Find shelf paper/lay out shelf paper? Store paint in the cabinets?
14) Make room in frig for chili and other foods for tomorrow
15) Put away boxes in Alice room with intentions to sift through later (sigh). See if Shelby will fit by closet.
16) Put painting supplies somewhere other than dining room table
17) Clean dining room table, set out tablecloth and dishes for tomorrow
18) Put away food when ready and put dishes in dishwasher – run regardless of how full
19) Take out trash and recyclables
20) Paint boats (remember to put name back on them when dry)
21) Fold laundry
22) Put away dishes
23) Take shower!!
24) Lay out clothes for work tomorrow

I got nearly the entire list done! I might have finished it, if it weren’t for those meddling kids. Or if I hadn’t have painted three other walls that weren’t on the list - the second coat around the tub walls and the remaining WC wall. Monkeys took out the trash, brought me my clothes from the dryer, and cleared off the table – so #s 17, 19, & 21 had a slight assist. Otherwise I did all but five items!! I didn’t finish #8 – I got to the boats but not the cabinets, so obviously it follows I didn’t get to #12/13. I attempted #15 but realized that would take up too much time, so it got partially done. I started on #20 but didn’t finish. So of the ones I didn’t do, I still made slight dents in them. Not too bad a night!

Still has that new baby smell.

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:12:10 GMT

I got to play with my godson today!! My friend came up for lunch on the perfect day. Weather was lovely, so we walked to the cafeteria. Best of all, my bosses were both out. While they probably wouldn’t have cared that I had someone in my office for an hour after lunch since I’m actually caught up and Fridays are very slow days – it was nice knowing they weren’t even here to notice and not care. On the down side, they both love babies, so they would have probably enjoyed getting to hold him for a little bit. Meanwhile three of my coworkers picked up the slack and cooed and cuddled him.

He is sooooooo cute! He’ll be six months old this month, and he’s already pretty much doubled in size in that time. He’s also one of the happiest babies I have ever seen. He smiled and giggled pretty much the entire time and even made a few happy squeals. He’s also really curious, so he was trying to pick up things and look at things. Shiny, smart, inquisitive blue eyes that just beamed!

Anyway - I'm tired. I ought to be cleaning or something as there's no shortage of things to do around here.

McAmasoooooooooooooooooon!

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:39:45 GMT

Yeah, guess what I want for Christmas this year!

Worky Worky Busy Bee

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:33:19 GMT

I need to find a way to get more accomplished in a day.
Well, other than the obvious step of being less lazy and lethargic.

I found a cool website with a tipping guide - Tipping Etiquette

At work yesterday a student asked me if I had a dictionary she could borrow, and after a reflective pause I gave her a surprised sounding "Sorry, no. I don't have a dictionary in my office." At some point this year I realized I pretty much exclusively used a combination of spell check and Google, so I'd moved my dictionary out of my office and was using it as a prop to keep folders from falling down in the filing cabinet. She seemed stunned I didn't have one, and when I suggested she use the computer on the counter near her to try dictionary.com she quasi-freaked out, waved her hands around saying "nevermind nevermind" and knelt her head back over whatever paper she was writing, refusing to make eye-contact with me no matter how much I encouraged her to try the computer. I couldn't figure out which of us was the oddball.

I feel like I've been ignoring LJ lately, but it's just been a really busy time. Busy, but not necessarily interesting; however, I will babble about it for a bit since I miss LJ.

Just got back from Wisconsin (yay!), but haven't had a chance to recover. We also brought back some minor colds along with the cheese curd, which is frustrating as we have stuff we need to get done both at home and work.

Our contractor started Saturday on our bathroom. More to that story another time. I will say it's odd scheduling on our part - after waiting three or four years to replace the broken shower perhaps picking the day after a vacation to start, the work taking place during Monkey's LAN party, and continuing up to and possibly through relatives visiting. Still, I cannot *wait* for it to be done because it's looking awesome and I will post pictures. :)

This weekend hopefully I will get to see my best friend from high school down from GA visiting family, one of our groomsmen visiting from Tally, my aunt/uncle/grandmother visiting from NY, and (if we're lucky) visitors from Canada, as well. That's a lot for one weekend! Plus the contractor should be finishing some time Saturday (fingers crossed) and it's Mullet Festival! And it is my best friend's birthday. Funny how it seems everything happens at once. Confluence.

Since the contractor was nonstop worker man - he is *amazing* - I felt guilty just sitting around playing online on Saturday/Sunday. So even though I was sick and I was tired from the drive/trip and really needed the rest before returning to work, Saturday I started working on a massive cleaning/organization project that was long overdue. I'm still not finished, but I've made a dent, and I can see a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel. If I don't manage to purge and organize as much as I wanted to, I'm still okay with what I've done at this point with the idea that I'll take a break and make another attempt in the future. :)

Okay - I feel better that I've posted something other than pictures. I do have loads of bathroom pictures to post and lots to say about remodeling, but that's for another time.

SUPERNATURAL TOMORROW!!!

Autumn pictures from around the world.

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:07:29 GMT

You must look at these pictures. You must.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/autumn_scenes.html

(Snagged from debgeisler. Like her, this is my favorite season.)

Wisconsin Photos 3 - Last Batch :)

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:51:04 GMT

Most were taken either on the way to Madison or on State Street for our "date day." The last two are at my sister-in-law's house while we were hanging out there before going to a family event. (One of the cutest babies in the world's first birthday party - I would post pictures of her, but 1) the internet would explode from cuteness and 2) I don't like posting pictures of other people's kids.)

	You Are Here Being here is a lot like ... um ... being in DeForrest, actually.
	Cow. America's Dairyland.
	Who Wouldn't Drink Here? I'm sure the townsfolk were wondering why we parked, jumped out, took four or five pictures, then drove off. We were trying to visit the Westfield Candy Shop so Monkeys could get some disgusting candied raisons for himself and his sister, but the candy shop was closed. The Thirsty Beaver was open!
	Lunch at the top of the world State street had many tempting options. Two were Nepali! Monkeys had some sort of onion fritter soup dish with a salad and flat bread. I had a dal soup, a vegetable stew with cauliflower/carrots/peas/potatoes, and their version of flat bread. Oh, and their version of chai plus we each got a desert so we split rice pudding and some odd date thing that vaguely tasted like fruit cake. It was really good! State street shopping had a lot of incense shops and hippyesque stores, including loads of bumper stickers that said Free Tibet. After leaving lunch Monkeys commented "Free Tibet? That meal cost $35!"
	Monkeys on State Street! You can see the capital in the background. We had hoped to go on a tour of the capital, but we spent so much time at the gardens we had to cut that visit out. So next time, it's on!
	Seriously, Watch Out My brother-in-law has his own arsenal. He used to be a hunter, but now he only shoots photographs. He is still a big fan of firearms, however. I attempted the civilian version of the M16. That lake never knew what hit it. Yes, that's a Beatles shirt. I should have called this Happiness is a Warm Gun.
	Cookies! Monkeys' sister baked for our trip! Pecan Shortbread, Double Double Chocolate, Cherry!Awesome, and something like Haystacks but with chocolate and marshmallows. YUM!

Wisconsin Photos 2 - Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:40:48 GMT

	If Tim Burton Designed Plants They would look like this.
	I'm on a bridge, Charlie! Going on an adventure!! This is the path to the Thai garden. :)
	Ouch! I would say that he's monkeying around... One of the statues near the Thai gardens.
	Thai Pavilion Ommmmmmmmmmmm - Can you see me sitting in lotus position?
	Reflecting pool at the Thai Garden This building was donated by the Thai alumni of the University of Wisconsin. It's covered in gold, so there were signs everywhere saying "DO NOT TOUCH" but we still got to run around inside.
	Monkeys Squared My attempt at an artsy shot.
	Black Eyed Susans, of a sort I couldn't find a name tag for this flower. How incredibly cool looking is it?!??
	Love in Bloom We took over 200 pictures at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison. That place was awesome! It seemed to stretch for miles with many themed gardens. Inside they had a tropical conservatory and for October they had a quilt exhibit. I would have loved a picture of both of us where you could also see flowers, but my arms were not long enough.
	My pretties! Okay, I have a little regret about salting the earth in front of our house at this moment. But our yard would never look like this, so I'm sure we made the right decision.
	The Rose Garden There weren't really a lot of roses, but it was still really lovely.
	In an English Garden I thought this was the Rose Garden, but there weren't a lot of roses around. Still, it looked very British and had some amazing collections of flowers.
	I'm Old Gregg! Weeping willows are pretty much my favoritest tree ever.
	Where are the elephants? Wow, the Great A'Tuin turned out to be really tiny! (While walking to the waterfalls I found a little turtle! Oh -that's Monkeys' hand, not mine.)
	They Didn't Say Keep Of the Grass At the sunken garden. :)
	Don't be Koi! Inside the tropical conservatory. It felt like Florida in there - I was way hot in my sweaters!