Done with Blogger; thanks for nuthin', Google. Meet me over at megknits408.wordpress.com.
Bye!
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
This may be the end
Okay, so Blogger went to a Chrome-only interface. I don't have Chrome. I had it, it didn't work well for many of my most-used sites, so I dumped it. Now, with Blogger (a Google site) going to Chrome, how I post these things is all whacked up. Rather than screw up all the other sites I use, I will probably discontinue writing this one.
Sorry, folks - Google is usually my hero when it comes to usability and open use, but they screwed up with Google+ and now it looks like they've screwed up with this.
I'll leave with these thoughts:
- Thanks to Shalimar Yarns using it to advertise their attendance at Maryland Sheep and Wool, my Break It Up! pattern (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/break-it-up) took a jump to 333 downloads. Whoo hoo!
- If I get another blog going somewhere else, I'll post its URL here.
Bye!
Sorry, folks - Google is usually my hero when it comes to usability and open use, but they screwed up with Google+ and now it looks like they've screwed up with this.
I'll leave with these thoughts:
- Thanks to Shalimar Yarns using it to advertise their attendance at Maryland Sheep and Wool, my Break It Up! pattern (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/break-it-up) took a jump to 333 downloads. Whoo hoo!
- If I get another blog going somewhere else, I'll post its URL here.
Bye!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
This one's for Lynn
Because she asked where the people were who were downloading the pattern (and it really hadn't occurred to me), this one's for Lynn...
I did a little research into who's doing the downloading of the new pattern (which, BTW, now has 238 downloads - wow). What I found out is that while you can see who marked it as a favorite and who put it in their queue, you can only see raw numbers of downloads, no individual user IDs.
However, I did take a look through the 'user activity' on the pattern. If you review the activity in chronological order, you can see it traveling through friends in different areas, much the way we do here... So Lynn will 'favorite' a beautiful pattern, then Roberta will, then Barbara will, then I will, then Peggy will... and so on.
Well, especially in the early hours of it being posted, I could see that happen with the 'favoriting' and 'queuing' of this pattern. Then, at some point, a friend who's outside the first area will see it, and all of a sudden, there's a new group in another location who's found it. Fascinating.
Because there's no way to get Ravelry generate a report, I jotted down just the two most recent pages of activity. Most of the Ravelers in these areas favorited the pattern; I've indicated with "Q" those that put it in their queue (and a reminder that Ravelry doesn't require you to put in where you're from; it's voluntary information and you can put in whatever you want):
Cambridge, Iowa
Sacramento, California
Portland, Oregon
La Quinta, California
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Victoria, Canada
Woolwich, Maine
Darmstadt, Germany
Lappeenranta, Finland (Q)
West Virginia (Q)
Manchester, New Hampshire
Lincoln
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Lake Forest Park, Washington
Morgantown
Krems, Austria
Osnabruck, Germany
Central Pennsylvania
Littleton, Colorado
Leeds, UK (Q)
Rome, New York
Reading, UK (Q)
Lund, Skane Lan, Sweden
Remscheid, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany (Q)
Niedersachsen, Germany
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
London, UK
Wolfenbuttel, Niedersachsen, Germany
Marburg, Germany
Torrance, California
Oslo, Norway
San Francisco, California (Q)
Heidek, Germany
Neidersachsen, Germany (you think all those folks here know each other??)
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany (Q)
Tasmania, Australia
Zweirducken
Pretty cool, huh? Thanks, Lynn, for nudging me to look at this. It was fun!
I did a little research into who's doing the downloading of the new pattern (which, BTW, now has 238 downloads - wow). What I found out is that while you can see who marked it as a favorite and who put it in their queue, you can only see raw numbers of downloads, no individual user IDs.
However, I did take a look through the 'user activity' on the pattern. If you review the activity in chronological order, you can see it traveling through friends in different areas, much the way we do here... So Lynn will 'favorite' a beautiful pattern, then Roberta will, then Barbara will, then I will, then Peggy will... and so on.
Well, especially in the early hours of it being posted, I could see that happen with the 'favoriting' and 'queuing' of this pattern. Then, at some point, a friend who's outside the first area will see it, and all of a sudden, there's a new group in another location who's found it. Fascinating.
Because there's no way to get Ravelry generate a report, I jotted down just the two most recent pages of activity. Most of the Ravelers in these areas favorited the pattern; I've indicated with "Q" those that put it in their queue (and a reminder that Ravelry doesn't require you to put in where you're from; it's voluntary information and you can put in whatever you want):
Cambridge, Iowa
Sacramento, California
Portland, Oregon
La Quinta, California
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Victoria, Canada
Woolwich, Maine
Darmstadt, Germany
Lappeenranta, Finland (Q)
West Virginia (Q)
Manchester, New Hampshire
Lincoln
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Lake Forest Park, Washington
Morgantown
Krems, Austria
Osnabruck, Germany
Central Pennsylvania
Littleton, Colorado
Leeds, UK (Q)
Rome, New York
Reading, UK (Q)
Lund, Skane Lan, Sweden
Remscheid, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany (Q)
Niedersachsen, Germany
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
London, UK
Wolfenbuttel, Niedersachsen, Germany
Marburg, Germany
Torrance, California
Oslo, Norway
San Francisco, California (Q)
Heidek, Germany
Neidersachsen, Germany (you think all those folks here know each other??)
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany (Q)
Tasmania, Australia
Zweirducken
Pretty cool, huh? Thanks, Lynn, for nudging me to look at this. It was fun!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Sunday, April 8, 2012
The Flip Side of Travel
Much though I adore traveling, I seldom adore coming home. That's because I usually come down with some nasty cold or cough or other kind of creeping crud. This trip was no exception.
As it happened, we had already set up an appointment with our new GP (the previous GP is no longer in our insurance network... bummer) on Tuesday, so along with all the other info she asked for (last tetanus, last A1C result, last colonoscopy...), I also told her how crappy I was feeling. She looked down my throat and said, "Yep, I can see the drip," but wasn't overly concerned. I skipped knitting that night because while she wasn't concerned, I wasn't too sure why, and thought I must be contagious.
By Thursday morning, my scratchy throat had spread to include a mouth that felt like it was made of raw meat. I visited the urgent care center across the street and got some zithromycin for the infection and cough syrup with codeine so I could get some sleep. By Friday afternoon, I felt 92% better and by Saturday afternoon, felt I was well on my way to being alllll better. There was a small relapse Saturday night where I thought maybe the sore throat was coming back, but all day today, it's been behaving itself. I think I'm on the mend.
It doesn't matter where we go for the trip - cruise, Hawaii, Florida, Arizona - I always manage to catch some crud that lasts for about a week. I tried Airborne once, but you have to take that stuff every 3 hours and I would forget... sort of defeated the purpose. I suppose the other option would be to not travel. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I crack me up sometimes...
Poor KW, too... while we were gone, Northern California was having a nice wet set of 2 weeks. Great that it happened while we were gone (and having lovely weather, BTW), but boy, once his sinuses hit the California air, the pollens found their way in and he had an even worse couple of days than I did. He normally has problems with allergies, but every 4 or 5 years it's really bad. These few days were one of those years. He's still medicating, but at least he's not sneezing 10 or 12 times an hour any more.
For those of you trying to follow our travels, at the end of April, we'll take a trip up to Sonoma County for a wine event (yes, I'll be the designated driver), and in May, I'm kidnapping a friend for a long weekend. Then there's a retreat at a friend's house over another weekend, and finally I'm being kidnapped for another weekend. Little travels like that (2 or 3 days) don't seem to wreak havoc on my system like the longer ones do, so I have no trepidation for them at all.
That's it for now.
As it happened, we had already set up an appointment with our new GP (the previous GP is no longer in our insurance network... bummer) on Tuesday, so along with all the other info she asked for (last tetanus, last A1C result, last colonoscopy...), I also told her how crappy I was feeling. She looked down my throat and said, "Yep, I can see the drip," but wasn't overly concerned. I skipped knitting that night because while she wasn't concerned, I wasn't too sure why, and thought I must be contagious.
By Thursday morning, my scratchy throat had spread to include a mouth that felt like it was made of raw meat. I visited the urgent care center across the street and got some zithromycin for the infection and cough syrup with codeine so I could get some sleep. By Friday afternoon, I felt 92% better and by Saturday afternoon, felt I was well on my way to being alllll better. There was a small relapse Saturday night where I thought maybe the sore throat was coming back, but all day today, it's been behaving itself. I think I'm on the mend.
It doesn't matter where we go for the trip - cruise, Hawaii, Florida, Arizona - I always manage to catch some crud that lasts for about a week. I tried Airborne once, but you have to take that stuff every 3 hours and I would forget... sort of defeated the purpose. I suppose the other option would be to not travel. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I crack me up sometimes...
Poor KW, too... while we were gone, Northern California was having a nice wet set of 2 weeks. Great that it happened while we were gone (and having lovely weather, BTW), but boy, once his sinuses hit the California air, the pollens found their way in and he had an even worse couple of days than I did. He normally has problems with allergies, but every 4 or 5 years it's really bad. These few days were one of those years. He's still medicating, but at least he's not sneezing 10 or 12 times an hour any more.
For those of you trying to follow our travels, at the end of April, we'll take a trip up to Sonoma County for a wine event (yes, I'll be the designated driver), and in May, I'm kidnapping a friend for a long weekend. Then there's a retreat at a friend's house over another weekend, and finally I'm being kidnapped for another weekend. Little travels like that (2 or 3 days) don't seem to wreak havoc on my system like the longer ones do, so I have no trepidation for them at all.
That's it for now.
Friday, March 30, 2012
How long?
Just lost about a half-hour of blog... which sucks. The only thing I have from what I had written was the "Things I Learned By Driving I-5 from 152 to Long Beach Three Times in 24 Hours" which I copied from the post I wrote in Facebook:
1.) Listening to celtic rock can keep you from nodding off (so can being really angry at yourself for being such a stoooopidhead). 1a.) I have enough celtic rock loaded on my iPod to last the 3 trips. 1ai.) I have more celtic rock at home that isn't loaded on my iPod. I'm oddly proud of this.
2.) In the Sunday night / ...Monday morning 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM window, more trucks travel north than south on I-5.
3.) Some parts of I-5 smell like Morgan Hill on a ripe August afternoon, some parts smell like dead skunk. Both are effective at keeping both driver and passenger awake.
4.) Driving I-5 during those hours was not as desolate as I was expecting, but driving 152 from 101 to I-5 was.
5.) Truck drivers on the open road are very courteous, it's the jerks in cars trying to go 92 mph who are assholes.
After that, I wrote about the cruise we took in January (the cruise of the "passport incident") and the cruise we just took on the Oasis of the Seas, but all that pithy writing is gone now. Maybe that means it's time to post some pictures...
Half of the Royal Promenade, deck 5 (and at either end, deck 6 as well).
Kelly coming in on the zip line. What... your cruise ship doesn't have a zip line? Doesn't every ship have one?
The view from our balcony. We had an inside room, which actually looked out on the Central Park area on deck 8 (which was the rooftop to the Royal Promenade). Those are real trees, not silk and plastic.
It was a lovely ship and we had a terrific time.
Friday, January 13, 2012
World traveler... NOT!
Dumbest thing I've done in a very, very, VERY long time...
Get up early and hit the road about 9:00 AM last Sunday. Made good time down I-5, the 405 and the 710 to Long Beach and checked into the Queen Mary around 3:30 PM.
Took an audio tour of the ship/hotel, imagining what it might have been like to cruise on something like that. Had a few drinks in one of the bars, then moved into the dining room for a quiet dinner. Back in the room, admiring the tons of wood in the stateroom, sat down and began knitting, while KW read his book.
Around 8:45 PM, as I was mentally walking through the next day's cruise check-in activities, I suddenly went cold and ashen, and frantically started tearing through my purse and luggage. Nope, no such luck - I had left my passport home.
Home. 345 miles and 6 hours away. Or, because we'd have to drive up and then back down again, 690 miles and 12 hours away. Boarding for the cruise starts at 12:30 PM; we can't check in any later than 3:30 PM. It's now almost 9:00 PM, we're tired from the drive down earlier in the day, and had already started that part of the evening when you allow yourself to wind down and relax after the day. Crap. What a stupidhead. Idiot. Stooopid. Asshole. Jerk.
I called Carnival Cruise lines to see if I could still get on the ship with either my driver's license or my military ID. Again, no such luck. Even as I was talking with her, I was remembering that they changed the rules around 2 years ago - you need a passport to travel into and out of both Mexico and Canada. Fucking stupidhead idiot who calls herself a "traveler."
Into the car we go, on the road by 9:02 PM. It's dark. We're on I-5 with large trucks and fast cars. KW and I swapped off, with him taking the L.A. portion and my taking the bulk of the I-5 and 152 portions. We'd nap (or try to) when we weren't driving. Made it home by 2:30 or so AM, got the passport, and after a stretch and potty stop and a gasoline fill-up, were back in the car and on the road by 3:00 AM. Another swap or two along the way, with truckers to keep us company, and we hit the 405 around 8:00 AM, whereupon it took us around and hour-and-a-half to make it the last 35 miles or so to the Queen Mary.
We staggered into the room 9:30 AM, set our alarms for 11:00 AM, and put heads to pillow a bit before 10:00, ready to get about an hour's worth of 'sleep.' We made it to the cruise check-in by 1:00 and managed to stay awake and alert until 8:00 PM or so, until we both hit a wall head-on. Crashed, we were asleep by 8:30 PM.
I'll post my "Things I Learned While Driving I-5 Three Times in 24 Hours" in the future. In the meantime, I'm still looking for other names to call myself for being such an idiot, but I seem to come back to 'stupidhead.'
Get up early and hit the road about 9:00 AM last Sunday. Made good time down I-5, the 405 and the 710 to Long Beach and checked into the Queen Mary around 3:30 PM.
Took an audio tour of the ship/hotel, imagining what it might have been like to cruise on something like that. Had a few drinks in one of the bars, then moved into the dining room for a quiet dinner. Back in the room, admiring the tons of wood in the stateroom, sat down and began knitting, while KW read his book.
Around 8:45 PM, as I was mentally walking through the next day's cruise check-in activities, I suddenly went cold and ashen, and frantically started tearing through my purse and luggage. Nope, no such luck - I had left my passport home.
Home. 345 miles and 6 hours away. Or, because we'd have to drive up and then back down again, 690 miles and 12 hours away. Boarding for the cruise starts at 12:30 PM; we can't check in any later than 3:30 PM. It's now almost 9:00 PM, we're tired from the drive down earlier in the day, and had already started that part of the evening when you allow yourself to wind down and relax after the day. Crap. What a stupidhead. Idiot. Stooopid. Asshole. Jerk.
I called Carnival Cruise lines to see if I could still get on the ship with either my driver's license or my military ID. Again, no such luck. Even as I was talking with her, I was remembering that they changed the rules around 2 years ago - you need a passport to travel into and out of both Mexico and Canada. Fucking stupidhead idiot who calls herself a "traveler."
Into the car we go, on the road by 9:02 PM. It's dark. We're on I-5 with large trucks and fast cars. KW and I swapped off, with him taking the L.A. portion and my taking the bulk of the I-5 and 152 portions. We'd nap (or try to) when we weren't driving. Made it home by 2:30 or so AM, got the passport, and after a stretch and potty stop and a gasoline fill-up, were back in the car and on the road by 3:00 AM. Another swap or two along the way, with truckers to keep us company, and we hit the 405 around 8:00 AM, whereupon it took us around and hour-and-a-half to make it the last 35 miles or so to the Queen Mary.
We staggered into the room 9:30 AM, set our alarms for 11:00 AM, and put heads to pillow a bit before 10:00, ready to get about an hour's worth of 'sleep.' We made it to the cruise check-in by 1:00 and managed to stay awake and alert until 8:00 PM or so, until we both hit a wall head-on. Crashed, we were asleep by 8:30 PM.
I'll post my "Things I Learned While Driving I-5 Three Times in 24 Hours" in the future. In the meantime, I'm still looking for other names to call myself for being such an idiot, but I seem to come back to 'stupidhead.'
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
How'd it get to be the end of December already?
Another year gone whoooooooshing by. How does that happen?
We have been complaining about how crappy this year has been (my dad in and out of the hospital since April, KW's mom passing in September, MM's dad, CG's stepmom), but in reality, we have no problems.
Despite KW's contracts coming through very sporadically this year, we have a lovely house that we can still afford to pay for every month.
Within the parameters of normal aches and pains for our respective ages, we're in good health.
We have happy and healthy friends and family members who love us.
I see the 'spirit bell' in my closet and I think of JB, who once lived down the block from me. She now lives across the country, but I hold her close in my heart.
I find myself judging someone and think of MM, who has always found a way to appreciate and embrace everyone, finding acceptance of them somewhere in her great heart.
I find myself whining about KW's contracts being very thin this year and I think about CS, another one with a huge heart, as she works at her multiple jobs to stay afloat.
If I somehow manage to be in a weird head space and start to believe I'm lonely, I think of my knitting friends 'up north' and here in town. These are the friends who both challenge my brain and keep me calm. I can't always pinpoint what it is about them, separately and collectively, that has this effect, but I know that I am definitely out of sorts if I miss seeing them each week.
I am thankful for *all* the friends, blood friends and chosen friends, in our lives, in particular those who smack me upside the head when I'm complaining about something trivial. Mostly I'm thankful for finding KW. I can't even fathom what my life would be like had we not met.
After a 'beat the crap out of 2011' New Year's Eve party, we've decided that 2012 will be better. It simply has to be, so let's see what it brings.
We have been complaining about how crappy this year has been (my dad in and out of the hospital since April, KW's mom passing in September, MM's dad, CG's stepmom), but in reality, we have no problems.
Despite KW's contracts coming through very sporadically this year, we have a lovely house that we can still afford to pay for every month.
Within the parameters of normal aches and pains for our respective ages, we're in good health.
We have happy and healthy friends and family members who love us.
I see the 'spirit bell' in my closet and I think of JB, who once lived down the block from me. She now lives across the country, but I hold her close in my heart.
I find myself judging someone and think of MM, who has always found a way to appreciate and embrace everyone, finding acceptance of them somewhere in her great heart.
I find myself whining about KW's contracts being very thin this year and I think about CS, another one with a huge heart, as she works at her multiple jobs to stay afloat.
If I somehow manage to be in a weird head space and start to believe I'm lonely, I think of my knitting friends 'up north' and here in town. These are the friends who both challenge my brain and keep me calm. I can't always pinpoint what it is about them, separately and collectively, that has this effect, but I know that I am definitely out of sorts if I miss seeing them each week.
I am thankful for *all* the friends, blood friends and chosen friends, in our lives, in particular those who smack me upside the head when I'm complaining about something trivial. Mostly I'm thankful for finding KW. I can't even fathom what my life would be like had we not met.
After a 'beat the crap out of 2011' New Year's Eve party, we've decided that 2012 will be better. It simply has to be, so let's see what it brings.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Pictures and Videos of KW's Big Adventure
I like this shot because it looks like KW is doing construction work at the Wynn or the Trump!
Pushing dirt.
Pushing dirt with Reuben's help.
The big hole KW made!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Vegas Aftermath
I'll get around to posting the pictures and videos of Kelly at DigThis! in Las Vegas, but for now, let's just say that I have three more favorite slot machines - Lord of the Rings, The Hangover, and Godzilla. (Emphasis on "for now," since the next time I go, these will probably seem hopelessly dated or won't even be there any more. It is Vegas, after all.)
The Hangover machine is just like the Sex and the City machine, but with clips from "The Hangover" instead of "SATC." (Duh.) That one provided my first big win this trip, Monday night, around $50 or so.
KW and I found Lord of the Rings at the Mirage, which we almost didn't go into this trip, except the weather had turned fairly cool and we decided to duck inside to get warm. (You don't often hear us say that in Vegas, now do you?) Sat down at some other similar machine which did squat, so moved one seat to the left, which happened to hit a bonus game after only 2 or 3 spins. The game I got to play was "Arwen's Rescue." All this meant was that after I hit the button to start the bonus game, I sat back and watched the wheels spin and the credits pile up. Walked away with about $85 from that one (KW hit 2 different bonus games and came away with about $40 more).
Godzilla was Wednesday morning's bit of fun. I had played it Monday night and after 5 or 6 spins it had done nothing, so I walked away. Yesterday morning, though, I had turned a $36 coupon (a leftover one I had found when cleaning out my purse the night before) into around $55 on Sex and the City, and was on my way to the ticket redemption kiosk when I saw the Godzilla machine right next door. What the heck; I was already up a few bucks, why not see if it would do anything this morning.
Why, yes, it DID do anything! After 2 spins, I hit a bonus game. (The link to the previous Godzilla reference has a video clip that shows what I'm about to explain.) The first part was to direct Godzilla through a city. You aimed him in a direction, when he went that way, he stomped over a couple of buildings and you got a certain number of credits. So I had him stomp forward, forward, left, forward, and on the next stomp forward, instead of a bunch of credits, it said "extra bonus game initiated." Wheee! This is where the fun started. I got to pick a blob on the screen, which said my extra bonus game would be "Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla" - a mechanical romping, stomping, city-flattening machine. I sat and watched as two screens spun (the left one for Godzilla, the right one for Mechagodzilla), each one racking up credits. The game would be over when one had beaten the other. Every few spins, one side or the other would have a symbol that said "attack" and that side would breathe fire towards the other side, gradually wearing down the life meter of the other. It was cool, especially since it took at least 7 or 8 attacks to finally have Godzilla beat Mechagodzilla - at which point, it gave me a chance to pick a bonus orb...and the one I picked was for $70! Walked away with $199 in bonus winnings. Yay, me!
Oh, and we had a chance to meet up with my brother. Had dinner with him both Monday and Tuesday nights, which was a surprise since we originally thought he'd only be free Monday. Looking good, looking and sounding just like my dad, in a very scary - eeeeeerie - way.
The Hangover machine is just like the Sex and the City machine, but with clips from "The Hangover" instead of "SATC." (Duh.) That one provided my first big win this trip, Monday night, around $50 or so.
KW and I found Lord of the Rings at the Mirage, which we almost didn't go into this trip, except the weather had turned fairly cool and we decided to duck inside to get warm. (You don't often hear us say that in Vegas, now do you?) Sat down at some other similar machine which did squat, so moved one seat to the left, which happened to hit a bonus game after only 2 or 3 spins. The game I got to play was "Arwen's Rescue." All this meant was that after I hit the button to start the bonus game, I sat back and watched the wheels spin and the credits pile up. Walked away with about $85 from that one (KW hit 2 different bonus games and came away with about $40 more).
Godzilla was Wednesday morning's bit of fun. I had played it Monday night and after 5 or 6 spins it had done nothing, so I walked away. Yesterday morning, though, I had turned a $36 coupon (a leftover one I had found when cleaning out my purse the night before) into around $55 on Sex and the City, and was on my way to the ticket redemption kiosk when I saw the Godzilla machine right next door. What the heck; I was already up a few bucks, why not see if it would do anything this morning.
Why, yes, it DID do anything! After 2 spins, I hit a bonus game. (The link to the previous Godzilla reference has a video clip that shows what I'm about to explain.) The first part was to direct Godzilla through a city. You aimed him in a direction, when he went that way, he stomped over a couple of buildings and you got a certain number of credits. So I had him stomp forward, forward, left, forward, and on the next stomp forward, instead of a bunch of credits, it said "extra bonus game initiated." Wheee! This is where the fun started. I got to pick a blob on the screen, which said my extra bonus game would be "Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla" - a mechanical romping, stomping, city-flattening machine. I sat and watched as two screens spun (the left one for Godzilla, the right one for Mechagodzilla), each one racking up credits. The game would be over when one had beaten the other. Every few spins, one side or the other would have a symbol that said "attack" and that side would breathe fire towards the other side, gradually wearing down the life meter of the other. It was cool, especially since it took at least 7 or 8 attacks to finally have Godzilla beat Mechagodzilla - at which point, it gave me a chance to pick a bonus orb...and the one I picked was for $70! Walked away with $199 in bonus winnings. Yay, me!
Oh, and we had a chance to meet up with my brother. Had dinner with him both Monday and Tuesday nights, which was a surprise since we originally thought he'd only be free Monday. Looking good, looking and sounding just like my dad, in a very scary - eeeeeerie - way.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Waffle Aftermath
So after my mother-in-law passed away, one of the things I got from the house was her Belgian waffle maker. This is the real, original deal, folks! It's from 1965 or so, makes ONE small waffle at a time, has no heat control, no timer, and no on/off switch! Plug it in, it's turned on. Unplug it, it's turned off!
Those controls (or lack of them) sort of make it difficult to make a successful waffle. The first time I attempted it, I was using a malted waffle batter (Golden Something brand, the same brand that Marriott uses for their Residence Inn and Courtyard Hotel breakfasts). That attempt came out really really dense - tasty, but very chewy - and the waffles were cooked properly and didn't stick to the waffler.
Today I used Bisquick, following the waffle recipe, and, boy, they were very tasty. However, even though I sprayed the waffler (like I had done the first attempt) and there was more oil in the batter, today's batch cooked up too brown and stuck to the waffler.
Luckily, we're not too picky about our waffles and ate them with gusto, slightly crunchy edges and all.
(When I poured the batter for the first one today, I used too much batter and it sort of exploded all over the kitchen... I'm so happy that we have a "I cook, you clean" policy in our kitchen!)
Friday, November 25, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
"Apparently not..."
So, the answer to the question "Are you ever going to stay put?" is, once again, "Apparently not."
Off to Camarillo this past Saturday so we could visit with KW's dad and get some papers signed for the house that was just sold. Plans were to spend time with him, then toodle around Camarillo/Ventura/Oxnard and look at apartment complexes in preparation for (possibly) moving down there in the not-too-distant future.
That's not what happened.
What happened was a growling/creaking/groaning noise that started to come from The Beast (KW's BMW) when he was turning the car, especially at low speed. We noticed this late Saturday when we first pulled into the real estate agent's parking lot and noticed that about an hour later, it had gotten noisier when we pulled into the parking lot of the ALF where his dad lives.
By the time we had gotten back to the hotel (a real pit, but that's another story), it was obvious that driving it around on Sunday would not be advised and driving it home on Monday was out of the question. So Sunday morning was spent trying to find where we could score some fluid for that model BMW. It seems that his year and model BMW (2001 740iL) is very, um, special. You can't just pop in to Pep Boys and pick up a can of Valvoline generic stuff. Oh no, this is going to require special stuff that's very expensive.
We learned all the above after a few phone calls Sunday morning to said Pep Boys, AutoZone, and O'Reilly, so the next phone call was to a car rental agency at the Oxnard airport (which is an airport in name only, as there are no flights in or out, but that's another story). Oh, and by now, it's raining the first and biggest rain storm in Southern California since the last first-and-biggest. The plan was to drive the rental to the local BMW dealer, which, we assumed would be open even if the service department wasn't. We would leave the car on the dealership's property, put the key in the 'night owl / early bird' box, and have them work on it.
I think we found one of the only car dealerships in California that's closed on Sundays. Not only closed, but all the driveways in were gated off. We couldn't even get the car to where the service department was. And even if we could, KW roamed around and noticed that they didn't have a drop box!
Instead, we managed to find a car repair shop that specialized in German cars (that had an after-hours drop box!), and left his baby in their parking lot with a note letting them know what was going on. The really really bad news about all this? Any other weekend, we could have waited around for them to fix the car and come home Monday evening or even Tuesday. This time, though, no such luck. We had to be back on Monday - HAD to be back - in time for KW to attend a client meeting in Sunnyvale at 2:00 PM.
So after all the phone calls today, the car will be ready by Wednesday, when we will drive the POS rental car (Nissan Versa - don't get one) back down to Camarillo, get the BMW, go back to the rental company and give them their car back, then decide if we want to drive back Wednesday night or stay over Wednesday night and drive home on Thursday - Thanksgiving Day.
Despite all this, we really are thankful, and we don't have any problems in our lives, just minor inconveniences, as evidenced by our next trip - we'll be off to Vegas on Monday. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Off to Camarillo this past Saturday so we could visit with KW's dad and get some papers signed for the house that was just sold. Plans were to spend time with him, then toodle around Camarillo/Ventura/Oxnard and look at apartment complexes in preparation for (possibly) moving down there in the not-too-distant future.
That's not what happened.
What happened was a growling/creaking/groaning noise that started to come from The Beast (KW's BMW) when he was turning the car, especially at low speed. We noticed this late Saturday when we first pulled into the real estate agent's parking lot and noticed that about an hour later, it had gotten noisier when we pulled into the parking lot of the ALF where his dad lives.
By the time we had gotten back to the hotel (a real pit, but that's another story), it was obvious that driving it around on Sunday would not be advised and driving it home on Monday was out of the question. So Sunday morning was spent trying to find where we could score some fluid for that model BMW. It seems that his year and model BMW (2001 740iL) is very, um, special. You can't just pop in to Pep Boys and pick up a can of Valvoline generic stuff. Oh no, this is going to require special stuff that's very expensive.
We learned all the above after a few phone calls Sunday morning to said Pep Boys, AutoZone, and O'Reilly, so the next phone call was to a car rental agency at the Oxnard airport (which is an airport in name only, as there are no flights in or out, but that's another story). Oh, and by now, it's raining the first and biggest rain storm in Southern California since the last first-and-biggest. The plan was to drive the rental to the local BMW dealer, which, we assumed would be open even if the service department wasn't. We would leave the car on the dealership's property, put the key in the 'night owl / early bird' box, and have them work on it.
I think we found one of the only car dealerships in California that's closed on Sundays. Not only closed, but all the driveways in were gated off. We couldn't even get the car to where the service department was. And even if we could, KW roamed around and noticed that they didn't have a drop box!
Instead, we managed to find a car repair shop that specialized in German cars (that had an after-hours drop box!), and left his baby in their parking lot with a note letting them know what was going on. The really really bad news about all this? Any other weekend, we could have waited around for them to fix the car and come home Monday evening or even Tuesday. This time, though, no such luck. We had to be back on Monday - HAD to be back - in time for KW to attend a client meeting in Sunnyvale at 2:00 PM.
So after all the phone calls today, the car will be ready by Wednesday, when we will drive the POS rental car (Nissan Versa - don't get one) back down to Camarillo, get the BMW, go back to the rental company and give them their car back, then decide if we want to drive back Wednesday night or stay over Wednesday night and drive home on Thursday - Thanksgiving Day.
Despite all this, we really are thankful, and we don't have any problems in our lives, just minor inconveniences, as evidenced by our next trip - we'll be off to Vegas on Monday. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Travel interrupted (for 12 days, anyway)
We got back from our annual Pismo Beach trip (which was lovely, by the way) on Sunday, November 6, and we're heading down to southern California to visit KW's dad on Saturday, November 19. Those 12 days between the 6th and the 19th represent the longest stretch we've been home since... well, it's been a while. This past weekend was the first weekend we've been home where we didn't have to travel or where we didn't have work to catch up on or work-ahead for.
It was glorious.
We slept in. I walked. We listened to the radio. I knit. I cooked. We watched one of the Oceans movie (can't remember which one; it doesn't really matter, does it?). We were supposed to go out to dinner with friends on Saturday, but one of them got sick and had to cancel. I hate to say it, but we didn't mind - it meant we could slug around all day and not worry about being 'on' for anyone. We know C. will recover and we'll have dinner with him and M. another weekend. For this weekend, it was okay they had to cancel.
This coming weekend will be a quick turnaround for us. Early drive on Saturday to meet the real estate agent (KW's parents' house sold!), visit with dad, poke around some neighborhoods down there, then a very early start home on Monday morning so KW can go to a client meeting at 2:00 in the afternoon. That means we'll have to be on the road by around 6:00, maybe 7:00 at the latest. After I nap, I'll be able to knit for the rest of the ride. But after I nap. Definitely after.
Is everyone sure they don't want a nice teak wine rack? Roll-top desk? Long dining room table? Well, I got rid of my knitting machine; I'm sure I'll get rid of these things before we move, too.
It was glorious.
We slept in. I walked. We listened to the radio. I knit. I cooked. We watched one of the Oceans movie (can't remember which one; it doesn't really matter, does it?). We were supposed to go out to dinner with friends on Saturday, but one of them got sick and had to cancel. I hate to say it, but we didn't mind - it meant we could slug around all day and not worry about being 'on' for anyone. We know C. will recover and we'll have dinner with him and M. another weekend. For this weekend, it was okay they had to cancel.
This coming weekend will be a quick turnaround for us. Early drive on Saturday to meet the real estate agent (KW's parents' house sold!), visit with dad, poke around some neighborhoods down there, then a very early start home on Monday morning so KW can go to a client meeting at 2:00 in the afternoon. That means we'll have to be on the road by around 6:00, maybe 7:00 at the latest. After I nap, I'll be able to knit for the rest of the ride. But after I nap. Definitely after.
Is everyone sure they don't want a nice teak wine rack? Roll-top desk? Long dining room table? Well, I got rid of my knitting machine; I'm sure I'll get rid of these things before we move, too.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Not This Year
No, not going to do NaNoWriMo this year. Did it for 6 years (2005-2010) but am just not into it this year. In previous years, when my mouth was saying "no" in October, my brain would be saying "yes" by having Betha (my main character) pop into my head and tell me what she would like to be doing. Not this year; she's been oh-so-silent. It's just another sign that I am totally done with this year - when Betha doesn't speak to me, it's time to move along. Maybe next year.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Done, done, done
Dad's girlfriend, Ann, went to Biloxi on a gambling junket this past week, a bus trip she took with her friend, June. Her souvenir of Biloxi? A pacemaker. Passed out in a casino, needed a pacemaker, had one put in. She's okay; coming home tomorrow (flying) instead of yesterday (15-hour bus ride).
I've said it before, I'll say it again - stick a fork in this year, it's done.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
She's here! ...aaaaand she's gone...
At the beginning of the year, we had decided that we would not do as much travel as we did last year. HA!
January - Meg went to Vegas with Kei; we both took a day trip to Chico to pick up some files from Kelly's divorce.
February - Kelly off to Ottawa (work); Meg to Santa Clara for a "sleep-over" Stitches West; an Oxnard weekend trip.
March - Spring training in Arizona; DRJ conference in Orlando (work).
April - Kelly to Memphis (work); Kelly back to Ottawa (work).
May - Kelly back to Ottawa again (work).
June - Oxnard weekend trip.
July - Sacramento for the Model Railroader's Convention; planned trip to Vegas postponed so I could fly to Florida after dad's 3rd or 4th hospitalization; train trip to Portland for Sock Summit.
August - We actually stayed home the whole month!
September - Oxnard weekend trip; DRJ conference in San Diego; back to Oxnard following Kelly's mom's death; overnight in Novato (wine train weekend); Healdsburg weekend trip.
October - Back to Oxnard to help Kelly's dad get situated in an assisted living facility and get their house ready for sale; I'll be going back to Florida to spend a week there after my dad's other 2 or 3 hospitalizations.
And we're not even done yet; we still have our Pismo weekend and the postponed trip to Vegas, both coming up in November.
I wonder how much travel we would have done if we *hadn't* decided not to do it too much? I'm not even going to try to say anything about 2012, especially since we already have a cruise on the books for February and a weekend in Healdsburg for a Wine Road event...
January - Meg went to Vegas with Kei; we both took a day trip to Chico to pick up some files from Kelly's divorce.
February - Kelly off to Ottawa (work); Meg to Santa Clara for a "sleep-over" Stitches West; an Oxnard weekend trip.
March - Spring training in Arizona; DRJ conference in Orlando (work).
April - Kelly to Memphis (work); Kelly back to Ottawa (work).
May - Kelly back to Ottawa again (work).
June - Oxnard weekend trip.
July - Sacramento for the Model Railroader's Convention; planned trip to Vegas postponed so I could fly to Florida after dad's 3rd or 4th hospitalization; train trip to Portland for Sock Summit.
August - We actually stayed home the whole month!
September - Oxnard weekend trip; DRJ conference in San Diego; back to Oxnard following Kelly's mom's death; overnight in Novato (wine train weekend); Healdsburg weekend trip.
October - Back to Oxnard to help Kelly's dad get situated in an assisted living facility and get their house ready for sale; I'll be going back to Florida to spend a week there after my dad's other 2 or 3 hospitalizations.
And we're not even done yet; we still have our Pismo weekend and the postponed trip to Vegas, both coming up in November.
I wonder how much travel we would have done if we *hadn't* decided not to do it too much? I'm not even going to try to say anything about 2012, especially since we already have a cruise on the books for February and a weekend in Healdsburg for a Wine Road event...
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Enough is Enough
We have decided that we're done with 2011 and are very close to declaring it over. We'll have a "goodbye and good riddance" party to kick its sorry ass out the door.
Dad's back in the hospital again. More ventricular stuff going on, and oh by the way, he probably has pneumonia as well. He's being pumped full of antibiotics since early this morning, and as of late this afternoon, they're giving him a new IV medication to control the ventricle. (I don't know the exact term for what's happening.)
Too many bad things this year, so we're done with it. I'm going to start writing '2012' on my checks.
Dad's back in the hospital again. More ventricular stuff going on, and oh by the way, he probably has pneumonia as well. He's being pumped full of antibiotics since early this morning, and as of late this afternoon, they're giving him a new IV medication to control the ventricle. (I don't know the exact term for what's happening.)
Too many bad things this year, so we're done with it. I'm going to start writing '2012' on my checks.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Petty, Trivial, Inconsequential
My birthday is September 11. For 44 years, that was a wondrous day, a magical day, a day I looked forward to each year (yes, even after I had passed 30 and 40). Now, and I know this is incredibly petty, I am angry that joy at my birthday celebration was taken away from me. I know it was awful for the New Yorkers and Washingtonians and Pennsylvanians who saw it unfold in person, and it's truly awful that so many thousands of people died, and it was scary for those of us who were even once- or twice-removed from the events (waiting for hours to finally hear that my brother and Mary were okay)... But my lasting memory of watching the news that morning was "my birthday will forever be ruined." Since 2001, every 9/11 I wake up, not thinking "oh boy, it's my birthday" like I used to, but "I hope they haven't done anything again."
This year, despite Bin Laden's death (or maybe because of it) , I am dreading even more turning on the news, for multiple reasons. One, 'they' may choose to do something again on the anniversary, something bigger, worse. And two, the news outlets are already going whole hog with memorials and remembrances. I know the people should be remembered and we should be thankful for the rescue workers who got the survivors out and we should never forget... but it's too soon for me to watch or listen to any of that. I don't know if I'll ever be ready - I still can't watch the Kennedy assassination film without crying, and I was 6 or 7 when that happened.
So, I'm left with feeling this feeling that I know is petty, trivial, inconsequential - that my birthday has been taken away from me. I know I should be bigger than that, better than that, light candles, say prayers, do something positive... but all I really want to do on September 11 is to stay in bed, and that makes me both sad and mad.
This year, despite Bin Laden's death (or maybe because of it) , I am dreading even more turning on the news, for multiple reasons. One, 'they' may choose to do something again on the anniversary, something bigger, worse. And two, the news outlets are already going whole hog with memorials and remembrances. I know the people should be remembered and we should be thankful for the rescue workers who got the survivors out and we should never forget... but it's too soon for me to watch or listen to any of that. I don't know if I'll ever be ready - I still can't watch the Kennedy assassination film without crying, and I was 6 or 7 when that happened.
So, I'm left with feeling this feeling that I know is petty, trivial, inconsequential - that my birthday has been taken away from me. I know I should be bigger than that, better than that, light candles, say prayers, do something positive... but all I really want to do on September 11 is to stay in bed, and that makes me both sad and mad.
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