I made the first apple pie of the season yesterday; yummy. Is the first one of the season always so good because you haven't had one for a while, or because the first one just always turns out the best? I can't wait to get done with dinner so I can have another piece tonight. I actually got both boys to eat a piece, and didn't have to dip it in chocolate first. Last year, the big one finally ate a piece of pumpkin, after us telling him for years that he would really like; he's now a convert, and was a little unhappy that I made apple before pumpkin. Of course, by making any pie, I have started to get everyone in holiday mode - they are ready for my big Turkey Day Dinner. I'm not, but they are.
DH went back to the doctor today; he has walking pneumonia now. They gave him some super-antibiotic I've never heard of - L-something. Now we need to watch the little kid to make sure his strep doesn't turn into this. All you damn sick people need to stay away from me; I was sick with head colds 4 times last year - I ain't doing it this year. I should buy stock in Lysol. BLEH! Rock Star INXS finale tomorrow - Marty or JD? JD gives me the creeps a little; he's a little bit stalker. But I have a feeling Marty screams too much for them, though Trees and his rendition of Radiohead's Creep were both fantastic. I had MiG the frontrunner for a while, but I don't think he'll be it. And does anybody else think he's totally gay? Well, off to eat dinner and watch the series premier of Surface. It better not suck - there's nothing on on Mondays, unless 24 comes back then.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Friday, September 16, 2005
September in GA, or the Damn Air's Out Again
It has been hotter this week than most of August. I am so waiting for the 75 degree weather. That's what it was this morning when I got up. And, for the 5-6th time this summer, the stupid air conditioner has frozen up. It's just a matter of shutting it off long enough to thaw out, but it's just the fact that we didn't know it was frozen all day, so it's stifling in here, even with our new window unit cranking away. It's no wonder all those Southern Belles used to pass out all the time; all those clothes they used to have to wear, in this heat and humidity!?! Which sounds stupid from somebody who hates the cold as much as I do, but too much of anything is bad, right? The older I get, the smaller my comfort zone gets.
Not much else going on; the little kid seems to have the strep throat his dad had last week. Hopefully, his dad won't get it back from him again, like we did last time. He won't be able to go to his games tomorrow, and I'm going to try to rest him back to health, to avoid him having to get antibiotics, if at all possible. (Edit: no such luck; took him to the doctor yesterday, is now on antibiotics for strep. DH is sicker now than he was - it appears to be respiratory now; he'll have to go back tomorrow). Poor kid; at least he might be a little quieter this weekend. That wasn't very nice, was it? But he just talks so much.
I have some website stuff on order; I ordered necklace and earring displays for photos, and some packaging items for my beaded creations. I have a small order of beads that I need to place, then we have the large group buy open as of today; those will not arrive until around Thanksgiving, so anything I'll need between now and then, I'll have to round up on my own. And I would really like to get back to my cross stitch; I've worked on the pumpkins a little bit this week, but I want to get it done and get back to my castle. I'm wanting to get my Scarlet Quince design in the planning stages, but as big as that is, there is no point in even looking at it until the castle is done. If I could just afford to take a 6-month leave of absence, I could make some real progress on all the things I have sitting here to be done. And I need to try to talk my dad into building me a floor stand for my frame; I'm sure he could engineer something better (cheaper) than I could find it in a store. And maybe it would keep him entertained for a while.
Well, off to work on something - not sure what, since there's so much to choose from. Anyone catch the new Survivor last night? Pretty good, so far....
Not much else going on; the little kid seems to have the strep throat his dad had last week. Hopefully, his dad won't get it back from him again, like we did last time. He won't be able to go to his games tomorrow, and I'm going to try to rest him back to health, to avoid him having to get antibiotics, if at all possible. (Edit: no such luck; took him to the doctor yesterday, is now on antibiotics for strep. DH is sicker now than he was - it appears to be respiratory now; he'll have to go back tomorrow). Poor kid; at least he might be a little quieter this weekend. That wasn't very nice, was it? But he just talks so much.
I have some website stuff on order; I ordered necklace and earring displays for photos, and some packaging items for my beaded creations. I have a small order of beads that I need to place, then we have the large group buy open as of today; those will not arrive until around Thanksgiving, so anything I'll need between now and then, I'll have to round up on my own. And I would really like to get back to my cross stitch; I've worked on the pumpkins a little bit this week, but I want to get it done and get back to my castle. I'm wanting to get my Scarlet Quince design in the planning stages, but as big as that is, there is no point in even looking at it until the castle is done. If I could just afford to take a 6-month leave of absence, I could make some real progress on all the things I have sitting here to be done. And I need to try to talk my dad into building me a floor stand for my frame; I'm sure he could engineer something better (cheaper) than I could find it in a store. And maybe it would keep him entertained for a while.
Well, off to work on something - not sure what, since there's so much to choose from. Anyone catch the new Survivor last night? Pretty good, so far....
Monday, September 12, 2005
Another soccer post
Well, we had our first regular season games this weekend. The little kid played in 2 of 3 games; his team ended the day 1-1-1, which was pretty good. His coach was not real sure about the line-up, so he kind of mixed up the A and B players to make the two teams. The A team we played came to win, so our mixture didn't work as well with them. Our B team tied their B team. Then all of the youngest players played the 3rd game - we won. We have a bunch of new players (mine included), so it will take a couple of weeks to get it ironed out. It was just nice to see Nick play in a game with officials; the 4 v. 4 format that he's been playing the last two years, though a nice idea, just absolutely makes me nuts. When you have volunteer parent coaches and no officials, it is a breeding ground for a lot of bad habits, so when those kids move up to an age group that has officials, they have no clue what they are getting called for. It would be nice if we could get the volunteer coaches all on the same page (never happen, I know), to teach the game, not the WIN! WIN! WIN! crap that most of these yuppies do. And our area has a huge language barrier, too, that even coaching clinics can't get past, so you just kind of have to suffer through it. At least with mine now in the Academy, we shouldn't have any more of the Booger Eaters to contend with, though there were a couple of baby-talkers on our opponents' team. Bleh!
The big kid's game was an hour and 10 minutes of HUH? We did pretty well the first half; they scored on us about half-way through, but only got the one. They were a very disciplined team, and kept their shape very well. We had one of our "players" (I use the term loosely) constantly out of position, to the point he was on the complete opposite side of the field from where he was supposed to be at least once. We came out second half, and held them, but we could not get a shot to go in - 2-3 went just wide. So it gets down to less than 10 minutes to go, and we are down 1-0, and we look out, and all 4 of our scorers are sitting on the bench! Our primary goalie, who is NOT a field player at all, is in the forward position! WTF!!!??? I thought after the travesty that was last week's 3rd tournament game, that the coach would have smartened up a bit; I was wrong. My boy had a very good game; they put him back as a fullback, a position he always played for us on the rec teams, because we had to have him there to save our butts, but one he hasn't played very often on the Select side. He did very well - not one ball got past him, and a couple of his jukes were pretty cool. He played some mid, too; if they can concentrate him in those positions, I think it would do well for everyone. When he has his head in the game, he's fantastic; when he's goofing around, he's totally scattered. Kinda like school; progress reports came home last week; he's in big trouble. Too worried about playing games and entertaining everyone (girls). Anyway, when the main 4 were out, it all kind of fell apart, and they scored 3 more on us, ending the game 4-0. Our secondary goalie, new to the team this year, I thought did a great job - he had a fantastic block on one of them. A couple of them were just pure luck. Well, maybe we can get them next week. It's going to be a long season; between the coach losing his mind and a few of the parents that I could live my life without, come on December!!
DH was sick last week; apparently, someone he works with had strep throat, and him without a spleen - he got it, too, so was down for 3 days. Now if I can keep the rest of us from getting any of it - last time he had it, he passed it to the little kid, who passed it right back. I think he's decided to start taking a little better care of himself now; drink some water, maybe take some vitamins, stop doing bad things. I was sick with colds 4 times last year - I have never been that sick in my life, and I refuse to do so again this year. Of course, I got most of it from work, so I will be dousing the place in Lysol every night when the hackers start up. I think that will be an advantage in the new buildings, also - shouldn't be too many bugs living in a brand-new air system, so we might stay healthy for a year or two. Needless to say, I did not make any progress on any project this weekend - no beads, no stitching, not even a blog or any website work. We are not supposed to get anything from Hurricane Ophelia, so hopefully he can get caught up on the grass again, and I can crack the homework whip early enough to leave myself some time for my stuff.
We watched Sahara last night; that was pretty good. I wanted to go see it when it was out in theaters, but just never got to it; I have read a few of the Dirk Pitt novels by Clive Cussler, though not this one, so thought it would be pretty decent. That Matthew McConaughey sure is built well. DH, just remember what I said about the next time you're flipping through one of those stupid Playboy magazines, or watching Buffy. If you could put Matthew McConaughey's chest/abs on Dave Navarro's butt (MM's might be good, too - haven't gotten a good look at it), and add Johnny Depp's face, I could die happy. After many hours in front of the screen, of course.
The big kid's game was an hour and 10 minutes of HUH? We did pretty well the first half; they scored on us about half-way through, but only got the one. They were a very disciplined team, and kept their shape very well. We had one of our "players" (I use the term loosely) constantly out of position, to the point he was on the complete opposite side of the field from where he was supposed to be at least once. We came out second half, and held them, but we could not get a shot to go in - 2-3 went just wide. So it gets down to less than 10 minutes to go, and we are down 1-0, and we look out, and all 4 of our scorers are sitting on the bench! Our primary goalie, who is NOT a field player at all, is in the forward position! WTF!!!??? I thought after the travesty that was last week's 3rd tournament game, that the coach would have smartened up a bit; I was wrong. My boy had a very good game; they put him back as a fullback, a position he always played for us on the rec teams, because we had to have him there to save our butts, but one he hasn't played very often on the Select side. He did very well - not one ball got past him, and a couple of his jukes were pretty cool. He played some mid, too; if they can concentrate him in those positions, I think it would do well for everyone. When he has his head in the game, he's fantastic; when he's goofing around, he's totally scattered. Kinda like school; progress reports came home last week; he's in big trouble. Too worried about playing games and entertaining everyone (girls). Anyway, when the main 4 were out, it all kind of fell apart, and they scored 3 more on us, ending the game 4-0. Our secondary goalie, new to the team this year, I thought did a great job - he had a fantastic block on one of them. A couple of them were just pure luck. Well, maybe we can get them next week. It's going to be a long season; between the coach losing his mind and a few of the parents that I could live my life without, come on December!!
DH was sick last week; apparently, someone he works with had strep throat, and him without a spleen - he got it, too, so was down for 3 days. Now if I can keep the rest of us from getting any of it - last time he had it, he passed it to the little kid, who passed it right back. I think he's decided to start taking a little better care of himself now; drink some water, maybe take some vitamins, stop doing bad things. I was sick with colds 4 times last year - I have never been that sick in my life, and I refuse to do so again this year. Of course, I got most of it from work, so I will be dousing the place in Lysol every night when the hackers start up. I think that will be an advantage in the new buildings, also - shouldn't be too many bugs living in a brand-new air system, so we might stay healthy for a year or two. Needless to say, I did not make any progress on any project this weekend - no beads, no stitching, not even a blog or any website work. We are not supposed to get anything from Hurricane Ophelia, so hopefully he can get caught up on the grass again, and I can crack the homework whip early enough to leave myself some time for my stuff.
We watched Sahara last night; that was pretty good. I wanted to go see it when it was out in theaters, but just never got to it; I have read a few of the Dirk Pitt novels by Clive Cussler, though not this one, so thought it would be pretty decent. That Matthew McConaughey sure is built well. DH, just remember what I said about the next time you're flipping through one of those stupid Playboy magazines, or watching Buffy. If you could put Matthew McConaughey's chest/abs on Dave Navarro's butt (MM's might be good, too - haven't gotten a good look at it), and add Johnny Depp's face, I could die happy. After many hours in front of the screen, of course.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Pet Peeve #32
Okay, what is the deal with women putting on their makeup in the car, while driving? I can honestly say I have never done this, unless you count the few times I have whipped out the Blistex tube, which does not require a mirror. There was a woman in front of me this morning, having at it. Lights were on, mirrors were all arranged, and as she was brushing and applying, she was creeping. Not a lot - she didn't come close to hitting anything - but still. At some point, I was finally behind her, and I was waiting for the mascara to come out; if I'd been in the other car (the paid-off one), I'd have bumped her, just a little. Mascara hurts like hell when you get it right on your eye. I don't know about you, but my house comes with not one, but two, fully-fuctional bathroom mirrors, with lights. How could it ever be better to do that in the car? I can understand being late, but either spend a couple more minutes at home (you are already late, right?), or finish up in the parking lot at work. Unless, of course, your work lot has cameras, and you don't dare let anyone know what you look like without both eyes done. Your appearance is really not worth killing people for. Oh, and you probably shouldn't take or initiate any phone calls while applying your makeup - lipstick is very hard to remove from the headliner (for those of you that talk with your hands).
KittyKitty has become quite the nosy kitty. She likes to come inside the house (she has figured out where the food comes from - huge surprise) and piss off the current residents. Booger is not happy. I could hardly get her out last night, and then, when I opened the door to let somebody else in or out, she shot right in again. I did pick her up 2-3 times yesterday, and once I was holding her pretty securely, she would purr. Gotta get her tamed so she can go live somewhere else. Of course, DH has become very attached to her already - he calls for her before he says anything to anybody else. And she scratched on my couch already; how can you be in a house for 15 minutes in your life, and just automatically know to go scratch on the couch? The big kitties don't do it (Booger can't, Zeke likes the wood chairs in the dining room, and I think Ripley's just too lazy), so I'm not sure if it's another of those signs only cats can see?
Ahhh, September. What a nice day we had yesterday, and supposed to again today. I live for September and October. Soccer games, the Fair, sunny days and cooler nights, open windows. It just depends on what is still in store for us with hurricane season. The next one to watch is Ophelia, I think? It was just named last night, according to the news this morning. Man, enough is enough. Let's find out what Katrina did before we have to deal with another one. Of course, we didn't have that chance last year, either, with those 4 back to back. And you know, I'm really tired of hearing people blaming Bush for not fixing Katrina right away; it wasn't up to him to do it, it was up to that idiot Mayor of NO, and the governors of the states affected. The state governor calls out the National Guard, not the President. It's Bush's fault the Mayor was too damn lazy to follow his own contingency plan? It was Bush's fault the governors of Louisiana and Mississippi didn't jump right on it? Hey, folks, you elected them, not Bush. And you know what else? If I go in to help people get out, and you shoot at me, well, surprise, I'm leaving your ass there, aren't I? WTF???? People kill me. Literally.
Gotta get some beads on order. I have a rough outline of what needs to go on the site, if I can just get that far (and get the whole picture thing worked out). The color samples will be my biggest issue to start - everything I've done so far is for myself, and I haven't ordered all colors, because I don't like/wear all of the colors. I plan to have examples of what is offered (my own pieces), and then will have the options and colors listed below. I will also have a gallery for the one-offs I create for myself; some I will be able to reproduce, others I may not, depending on where I got the beads and if I can get more. I'm excited about doing this, but just wish I could get past the start-up - the license cost, getting the beginning inventory started, the picture issues. I don't want to put more money and effort into it than I can get out of it, and don't really have any money to put into it to right now, anyway. Eh, it'll get there, if I can just plow through the details....
KittyKitty has become quite the nosy kitty. She likes to come inside the house (she has figured out where the food comes from - huge surprise) and piss off the current residents. Booger is not happy. I could hardly get her out last night, and then, when I opened the door to let somebody else in or out, she shot right in again. I did pick her up 2-3 times yesterday, and once I was holding her pretty securely, she would purr. Gotta get her tamed so she can go live somewhere else. Of course, DH has become very attached to her already - he calls for her before he says anything to anybody else. And she scratched on my couch already; how can you be in a house for 15 minutes in your life, and just automatically know to go scratch on the couch? The big kitties don't do it (Booger can't, Zeke likes the wood chairs in the dining room, and I think Ripley's just too lazy), so I'm not sure if it's another of those signs only cats can see?
Ahhh, September. What a nice day we had yesterday, and supposed to again today. I live for September and October. Soccer games, the Fair, sunny days and cooler nights, open windows. It just depends on what is still in store for us with hurricane season. The next one to watch is Ophelia, I think? It was just named last night, according to the news this morning. Man, enough is enough. Let's find out what Katrina did before we have to deal with another one. Of course, we didn't have that chance last year, either, with those 4 back to back. And you know, I'm really tired of hearing people blaming Bush for not fixing Katrina right away; it wasn't up to him to do it, it was up to that idiot Mayor of NO, and the governors of the states affected. The state governor calls out the National Guard, not the President. It's Bush's fault the Mayor was too damn lazy to follow his own contingency plan? It was Bush's fault the governors of Louisiana and Mississippi didn't jump right on it? Hey, folks, you elected them, not Bush. And you know what else? If I go in to help people get out, and you shoot at me, well, surprise, I'm leaving your ass there, aren't I? WTF???? People kill me. Literally.
Gotta get some beads on order. I have a rough outline of what needs to go on the site, if I can just get that far (and get the whole picture thing worked out). The color samples will be my biggest issue to start - everything I've done so far is for myself, and I haven't ordered all colors, because I don't like/wear all of the colors. I plan to have examples of what is offered (my own pieces), and then will have the options and colors listed below. I will also have a gallery for the one-offs I create for myself; some I will be able to reproduce, others I may not, depending on where I got the beads and if I can get more. I'm excited about doing this, but just wish I could get past the start-up - the license cost, getting the beginning inventory started, the picture issues. I don't want to put more money and effort into it than I can get out of it, and don't really have any money to put into it to right now, anyway. Eh, it'll get there, if I can just plow through the details....
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
A Disappointing Start to the Soccer Season
Well, our season-opening tournament this weekend turned out to be a bust. We kicked butt our first game, winning 7-2. We knew the second game was going to be tough, because the team we were scheduled to play was in a higher division than us, and top in their bracket. Well, they beat us 5-0, though we did dominate the first half (as evidenced by our shots on goal compared with theirs - all 3 of their shots went in; our 10-12 did not). Second half, we were tired, and I think the very first goal, a fantastic bicycle kick that couldn't have been saved by anybody, just had that much time to work on the boys. Our second goalie did a fantastic job holding the net; one of the 5 points was a bounce off of one of our players - he tried to clear it, but it bounced right on in. Even with this shut out, if we had a shut-out for our 3rd game Sunday (which should have been entirely possible), we could still make it to the semi-finals, and then have a very good chance of moving on to the finals.
Well, Sunday comes, and the boys are all pretty pumped. Then the coach shows up. I don't know if he was retaliating for the loss on Saturday (there is no way he believes that team was that good - it's all the fault of the people who he left to coach during his suspension - how naive), or if he just really didn't have a grasp of what was going on, but anyway, he had all kinds of players playing all kinds of positions except the ones they've been playing. It was utter confusion out there, and it was downright painful to watch. Again, back to an earlier post about the difference between the parents that are players/coaches vs. the ones who don't have a clue - we could see right off that they were confused because he had them all mixed up, and the other parents were all "You need to work together" and "You need to talk to each other"; that's all fine and dandy, but didn't have a damn thing to do with what was going on on the field. I was hot, boy, let me tell you. I'm sure a few of the parents heard me, too, but they need to know that what the coach was doing was wrong, and there wasn't a damn thing the boys could do about it, except run around in circles, per his direction, and get frustrated. The last 10 minutes of the game, he finally had the normal line-up in, and we came back from 2-0 to lose 4-2.
We had an excellent ref that game; he was very into it, and we knew what he was calling, and he wasn't going to let it get out of control. We should have walked all over that team, but our coach lost it for us. And afterwards, he was like, "So, what was the reaction on the parents' side?" I'm pretty sure everyone saw me fold up my chair and throw in on the ground. He was told that it would be discussed when the kids weren't there to hear it. And our trainer needs to be prepared to hear it, too; we need to undo the damage that was done by all that moving around - he even moved people to completely different positions in between plays! WTF??? When you get to this age, each player needs to be taught specifically 1-2 positions, and the formations using those positions and how they relate to each other at all times. Having no trainer last year, our current trainer has pretty much had to start at the ground floor, and work up to getting them to where they should have been a year ago, so in all reality, we are more than a year behind where we should be to compete at this level. The coach does not realize just how lucky he was last year to have a winning season; he had one player that scored 42 goals over the course of a year, but he was also a huge problem - he had a very bad attitude, towards the refs and towards his teammates. We don't miss the attitude and the trouble he started, but I think we will miss his goals, especially because we have moved up a division.
We did our very best to let a few of the boys know that their coach lost that game, not them. I think they knew it, but I'm wondering how many of the parents who don't get it will take it the other way, and push their boys too hard. We had quite a bit of that last year, and those did not come back this year - it wasn't worth it to them to bust their asses and still be blamed for things that were totally not in their control. We had 6, maybe 7, players out there to play Sunday, and those were the ones who got put down or ignored by the coach. You know, when he spends an entire practice harping on one kid (out of 3 with longer hair) needing a haircut, instead of, you know, teaching them soccer skills, you can guess he's missing the picture. He's missed the bigger picture, the boat, and the horse he rode in on, as far as I can tell. But you can't tell him anything, and there's nobody to complain to - the board are all his buddies - he had a winning season, so what's the problem? It was just plain stupid; it's as though he was purposely sabotaging the team. I don't get it. Right now, there is nothing he could say to rationalize what went on from the very second that first whistle blew.
On a lighter note, I worked on my pumpkins a little Sunday night. I didn't work on beads at all - I need to get some silk thread for those cranberry potato pearls I bought at the show; I can't wait to have those on. I read quite a bit - well, not as much as I would over a 3-day weekend, but more than I have read lately. I didn't do much of anything yesterday - still recouping from not sleeping well at the hotel Saturday night. We had one of the other players with us, so the little kid slept with Mommy and Daddy; I had knees and feet in my back all night. They all slept fine, of course. I want to get my pumpkins done so I can get back to the castle picture; I need to get the dust off of it (it's covered, but I didn't cover it for a few weeks, thinking I'd be back on it sooner). Eh, it'll wash - they always do. We spent a good bit of the camera money on the tournament (gas, food, Gatorade, new sweeper), so I have no idea when I'll actually get to go camera shopping; the website is going to be incomplete without that, and there isn't much point to getting a license until I am actually ready to be open for business. It'll all come together eventually; it's just going to keep nagging at me until it does, and it makes me feel all unfinished and scattered. And god knows we need more scattered-ness around here!!!
Well, Sunday comes, and the boys are all pretty pumped. Then the coach shows up. I don't know if he was retaliating for the loss on Saturday (there is no way he believes that team was that good - it's all the fault of the people who he left to coach during his suspension - how naive), or if he just really didn't have a grasp of what was going on, but anyway, he had all kinds of players playing all kinds of positions except the ones they've been playing. It was utter confusion out there, and it was downright painful to watch. Again, back to an earlier post about the difference between the parents that are players/coaches vs. the ones who don't have a clue - we could see right off that they were confused because he had them all mixed up, and the other parents were all "You need to work together" and "You need to talk to each other"; that's all fine and dandy, but didn't have a damn thing to do with what was going on on the field. I was hot, boy, let me tell you. I'm sure a few of the parents heard me, too, but they need to know that what the coach was doing was wrong, and there wasn't a damn thing the boys could do about it, except run around in circles, per his direction, and get frustrated. The last 10 minutes of the game, he finally had the normal line-up in, and we came back from 2-0 to lose 4-2.
We had an excellent ref that game; he was very into it, and we knew what he was calling, and he wasn't going to let it get out of control. We should have walked all over that team, but our coach lost it for us. And afterwards, he was like, "So, what was the reaction on the parents' side?" I'm pretty sure everyone saw me fold up my chair and throw in on the ground. He was told that it would be discussed when the kids weren't there to hear it. And our trainer needs to be prepared to hear it, too; we need to undo the damage that was done by all that moving around - he even moved people to completely different positions in between plays! WTF??? When you get to this age, each player needs to be taught specifically 1-2 positions, and the formations using those positions and how they relate to each other at all times. Having no trainer last year, our current trainer has pretty much had to start at the ground floor, and work up to getting them to where they should have been a year ago, so in all reality, we are more than a year behind where we should be to compete at this level. The coach does not realize just how lucky he was last year to have a winning season; he had one player that scored 42 goals over the course of a year, but he was also a huge problem - he had a very bad attitude, towards the refs and towards his teammates. We don't miss the attitude and the trouble he started, but I think we will miss his goals, especially because we have moved up a division.
We did our very best to let a few of the boys know that their coach lost that game, not them. I think they knew it, but I'm wondering how many of the parents who don't get it will take it the other way, and push their boys too hard. We had quite a bit of that last year, and those did not come back this year - it wasn't worth it to them to bust their asses and still be blamed for things that were totally not in their control. We had 6, maybe 7, players out there to play Sunday, and those were the ones who got put down or ignored by the coach. You know, when he spends an entire practice harping on one kid (out of 3 with longer hair) needing a haircut, instead of, you know, teaching them soccer skills, you can guess he's missing the picture. He's missed the bigger picture, the boat, and the horse he rode in on, as far as I can tell. But you can't tell him anything, and there's nobody to complain to - the board are all his buddies - he had a winning season, so what's the problem? It was just plain stupid; it's as though he was purposely sabotaging the team. I don't get it. Right now, there is nothing he could say to rationalize what went on from the very second that first whistle blew.
On a lighter note, I worked on my pumpkins a little Sunday night. I didn't work on beads at all - I need to get some silk thread for those cranberry potato pearls I bought at the show; I can't wait to have those on. I read quite a bit - well, not as much as I would over a 3-day weekend, but more than I have read lately. I didn't do much of anything yesterday - still recouping from not sleeping well at the hotel Saturday night. We had one of the other players with us, so the little kid slept with Mommy and Daddy; I had knees and feet in my back all night. They all slept fine, of course. I want to get my pumpkins done so I can get back to the castle picture; I need to get the dust off of it (it's covered, but I didn't cover it for a few weeks, thinking I'd be back on it sooner). Eh, it'll wash - they always do. We spent a good bit of the camera money on the tournament (gas, food, Gatorade, new sweeper), so I have no idea when I'll actually get to go camera shopping; the website is going to be incomplete without that, and there isn't much point to getting a license until I am actually ready to be open for business. It'll all come together eventually; it's just going to keep nagging at me until it does, and it makes me feel all unfinished and scattered. And god knows we need more scattered-ness around here!!!
Friday, September 02, 2005
And so it begins....
Soccer season officially begins tomorrow for us, with our season-opening tournament. Normally, this would be something we'd be waiting for, but with the events of the past week, it makes me wonder a bit if it's worth it. DH has to drive 50 miles to check in the team tonight, and then in the morning, we have to drive to the venue, I think right around 80 miles. We do have a room down there for tomorrow night, so we won't have to drive in again for Sunday's game, but as gas stations are shutting down as they run out of gas, how silly is it to be doing all this driving for a game? Well, we committed to it, paid the entry fee, and, really, we don't have it as bad as some of the folks coming in from other places. My tank is full, after my 3rd trip this week; I paid $2.45 Sunday, $2.76 w/my Kroger Plus card Wednesday, amid all the panic, and today at Sam's, I got a 1/4 tank for $3.15 a gallon. From what I understand, it's worse out where we are going, so the full tank should get us there and back again in good shape, in case we really can't find any later this weekend. Who knows?
On a lighter note, hopefully between games this weekend, I can get some work done for my site. I need to work on options and pricing. That's pretty portable, though it's times like this that I wish I had a laptop. And if not, I always have my book. Guenevere is pretty good, so far - I'm not quite half-way yet. I just can't decide if I'm going to read the next one in that series as soon as I finish this one, or if I'm going to read Dark Tower VI, Susannah's Song. The DT VII should come out this fall in trade paperback (that's what I have them all in) - I don't remember when I saw it for, because Stephen King's site has it in June, and it didn't happen then. Amazon had it scheduled for November? I don't remember. Anyway, I'm anxious to get to them. I am even more anxious for Harry Potter stuff - the next movie this November - in IMAX - WOOHOO! And the current book in trade paperback (again, that's what we have all of them in). I just love Alan Rickman as Snape; more specifically, I love to listen to him speak. Even when he's saying something shitty to Harry or Hermione. If velvet had a voice....
Speaking of movies, if you haven't seen Alexander yet, do not waste your time or money. I was so very disappointed; I never turn a movie off, and I struggled through 40 minutes of that and had to stop. Colin Farrell could have been great in that, but they hosed it from the get-go with the whole homosexual thing. Yeah, because that was the most significant thing about Alexander. Oliver Stone is either hit or miss, isn't he? I don't think Mel Gibson could have screwed it up any worse - don't get me wrong, I like Mel's work, but Braveheart was so very historically inaccurate, that I'm not too sure how he could get away with it, and win the awards that it did. Of course, I didn't know about the inaccuracies when I watched it the first time, only quite some time after when an English historian in a group of mine set the record straight, and then I did some reading. I know there's artistic license and all that, but a well-documented date should not be subject to that. Better luck next time, Oliver. Maybe Quentin should have a go at it; now that could be very disturbing....
On a lighter note, hopefully between games this weekend, I can get some work done for my site. I need to work on options and pricing. That's pretty portable, though it's times like this that I wish I had a laptop. And if not, I always have my book. Guenevere is pretty good, so far - I'm not quite half-way yet. I just can't decide if I'm going to read the next one in that series as soon as I finish this one, or if I'm going to read Dark Tower VI, Susannah's Song. The DT VII should come out this fall in trade paperback (that's what I have them all in) - I don't remember when I saw it for, because Stephen King's site has it in June, and it didn't happen then. Amazon had it scheduled for November? I don't remember. Anyway, I'm anxious to get to them. I am even more anxious for Harry Potter stuff - the next movie this November - in IMAX - WOOHOO! And the current book in trade paperback (again, that's what we have all of them in). I just love Alan Rickman as Snape; more specifically, I love to listen to him speak. Even when he's saying something shitty to Harry or Hermione. If velvet had a voice....
Speaking of movies, if you haven't seen Alexander yet, do not waste your time or money. I was so very disappointed; I never turn a movie off, and I struggled through 40 minutes of that and had to stop. Colin Farrell could have been great in that, but they hosed it from the get-go with the whole homosexual thing. Yeah, because that was the most significant thing about Alexander. Oliver Stone is either hit or miss, isn't he? I don't think Mel Gibson could have screwed it up any worse - don't get me wrong, I like Mel's work, but Braveheart was so very historically inaccurate, that I'm not too sure how he could get away with it, and win the awards that it did. Of course, I didn't know about the inaccuracies when I watched it the first time, only quite some time after when an English historian in a group of mine set the record straight, and then I did some reading. I know there's artistic license and all that, but a well-documented date should not be subject to that. Better luck next time, Oliver. Maybe Quentin should have a go at it; now that could be very disturbing....
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Perpetual Monday
Well, we survived the tornados and other weather, though there was a tornado touch-down a few miles from us; we heard the siren, but we both were too out of it to get up, I guess, because we didn't. We ended up only getting 1.5" of rain here, but other areas got dumped on. We got more with Hurricane Dennis in July - 3.5" over 2 days. We'll see what the next couple of months hold for this hurricane season.
A couple of weeks ago at work, the air conditioner in our part of the building broke, which is bad, because the IT folks are in our area, and one of the server rooms was affected. Well, it was the first day in weeks that I was actually comfortable; I am cold-natured, as everyone at work knows. Well, the maintenance guys came in and got it working again, and then it didn't shut off again for 2 days - it was arctic in our area. All of us girls were running around in sweaters and sweatshirts, in the middle of August! It was 95 outside, and we were all freezing. Then it broke again, temporarily. Well, it's working again; some kind person brought in a big thermometer, and it read 67 today. Now, I have a heater in my office, but me and the girl in the office next to me cannot run our heaters at the same time, or we blow the circuit. Well, we had our good HP printer swapped with a big Ricoh printer/copier/scanner, which they had to hard-wire into the wall; she and I pretty much print out a few pages at most - e-mails and whatnot - so no issues. Lately, a person from the other division has been running huge manuals on this printer, and it keeps causing the circuit to blow if I have my heater on.
So basically, we're sitting in a building that is 67 degrees (we sit behind desks, doing computer work - not a whole lot of movement there), freezing our asses off, with or without sweaters, and for some reason, there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, when we say anything to any of those "warm" people, they give us 20 kinds of shit, usually beginning with what could possibly be wrong with us medically to make us cold all the time. Why is that? Why is it when the temperature in an office isn't comfortable for everyone, it's the cold people who always have to do the suffering? You know, when someone is complaining about how hot it is in the building, I don't make any snide comments about how if they lost 20 pounds or got their blood pressure under control, they wouldn't think it was so hot; that would be rude. But it sure is okay to do it to me and the others. And it's not like I can get up and do calisthentics periodically - I'll need a much bigger office for that. I eat lunch outside every day, so I can be warm for 30 minutes, smog or no smog. I think we should have a few days a month designated as "warm Days"; I hate to use the D-word, but they do kind of discriminate against us cold-fearing people. It's not fair, dammit!
On a completely different subject, I hate to discuss the politics involved in today's Youth Athletics, mainly because youth athletics should not contain any politics, but I guess I need to bring it up, if for no reason other than a sanity check for myself. With all of this ridiculous Select/Premier/whatever you call your upper-level travel teams that we seem to feel are a necessity for our kids, why do the parents all seem to compete more than the kids do? "I spend more on my kids than you do on yours" or "I travel more with my kids to games than you do" or "my kid scores more points than your kid does". And these parents that get in fights, with officials and/or the kids themsleves - what the hell are they thinking? Morons. It makes me sad to be a part of it - if it weren't for keeping my kids busy and out of the bad stuff, we would not be involved. And I love to watch them play, because they are both very talented (I know, all parents say that, but mine really are. They obviously get it from their dad; I'm the Trivial Pursuit Champion of the Universe - no bodily contact there. Usually).
I guess I really want to know why we, as parents who write the checks and put out all of this effort, have little or no say in what goes on with coaching decisions. Now, I know your average parent doesn't have a clue about the game, and that's not who I'm directing this question to. For instance, my oldest son's team has the head coach, chosen by the association after an application and review process, a new assisstant coach this year, with many years of experience and training, a manager who is also a coach with many years of experience, and at least one other coaching parent. I have played the game myself, Varsity in HS (okay, I wasn't very good, but I did play, so do have some point of reference), and a good number of the other parents have played. We do not pay the coach, but we do pay a professional trainer, and I think that, because we pay him, his word should maybe carry more weight than the coach's. The trainer does not get to come to many games (his college games are the same time as our games, so that's where he goes, naturally), so whatever he goes over in practice the week before, it's up to the discretion of the coach to use or discard that training, and ours pretty much discards it. Now what the hell are we paying the pro for? We've had 2 scrimmage games in the past 2 weeks, and he keeps switching the kids around to different positions; I'm sure he's trying to find the best combination, but that is what practice is for, not the middle of a game. The boys are so confused by the end of the game, it's a wonder any of them have any clue what they are supposed to do. But you can't say anything to him; he'll cut you off, or if he sees you coming, he'll do his best to avoid the confrontation.
More to the point, he got ejected the last game of the last tournament last spring, so he is auomatically out for the first two games of this fall season, which happen to be this weekend at a major Southeastern tournament (we were div. champs last year!!!). If he shows up to the venue - anywhere on the premises, and is found out, we forfeit those two games. He has said several times that he plans to be there, incognito, so he can help the AC and Mgr handle the games (being coaches themselves, there's no way they could do this alone?). Both the AC and the Mgr said he shouldn't risk it, but as usual, that's just brushed off - Head Coach knows best! Well, today, he let it slip to a new parent, who came back and, stating rules from the official rulebook, begged him to not do it, because it would not be fair to her son if they ended up forfeiting. And he acted like he hadn't thought of it that way before, and that he really should reconsider going. The really sad part is, we ( a group of us) don't really think he can advance these boys any further; he doesn't teach them anything new, ever, and if the trainer is getting anywhere, it'll be reversed by the end of the gaming weekend. What do we have to do to vote this coach off of the island?
Oh, and I got some beads done last night; the purple stones I can't remember the name of are strung and hung, and I finished 2 sets of green twist beads - emerald and olive green. The olive ones include a strand of peacock fw pearls; I love pearls. Now, if I could just get some decent pictures of them - I'm going to lay them on my scanner and see what I get. I guess I really need to get off my butt and go see Bob the Wolf Camera Guy....
A couple of weeks ago at work, the air conditioner in our part of the building broke, which is bad, because the IT folks are in our area, and one of the server rooms was affected. Well, it was the first day in weeks that I was actually comfortable; I am cold-natured, as everyone at work knows. Well, the maintenance guys came in and got it working again, and then it didn't shut off again for 2 days - it was arctic in our area. All of us girls were running around in sweaters and sweatshirts, in the middle of August! It was 95 outside, and we were all freezing. Then it broke again, temporarily. Well, it's working again; some kind person brought in a big thermometer, and it read 67 today. Now, I have a heater in my office, but me and the girl in the office next to me cannot run our heaters at the same time, or we blow the circuit. Well, we had our good HP printer swapped with a big Ricoh printer/copier/scanner, which they had to hard-wire into the wall; she and I pretty much print out a few pages at most - e-mails and whatnot - so no issues. Lately, a person from the other division has been running huge manuals on this printer, and it keeps causing the circuit to blow if I have my heater on.
So basically, we're sitting in a building that is 67 degrees (we sit behind desks, doing computer work - not a whole lot of movement there), freezing our asses off, with or without sweaters, and for some reason, there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, when we say anything to any of those "warm" people, they give us 20 kinds of shit, usually beginning with what could possibly be wrong with us medically to make us cold all the time. Why is that? Why is it when the temperature in an office isn't comfortable for everyone, it's the cold people who always have to do the suffering? You know, when someone is complaining about how hot it is in the building, I don't make any snide comments about how if they lost 20 pounds or got their blood pressure under control, they wouldn't think it was so hot; that would be rude. But it sure is okay to do it to me and the others. And it's not like I can get up and do calisthentics periodically - I'll need a much bigger office for that. I eat lunch outside every day, so I can be warm for 30 minutes, smog or no smog. I think we should have a few days a month designated as "warm Days"; I hate to use the D-word, but they do kind of discriminate against us cold-fearing people. It's not fair, dammit!
On a completely different subject, I hate to discuss the politics involved in today's Youth Athletics, mainly because youth athletics should not contain any politics, but I guess I need to bring it up, if for no reason other than a sanity check for myself. With all of this ridiculous Select/Premier/whatever you call your upper-level travel teams that we seem to feel are a necessity for our kids, why do the parents all seem to compete more than the kids do? "I spend more on my kids than you do on yours" or "I travel more with my kids to games than you do" or "my kid scores more points than your kid does". And these parents that get in fights, with officials and/or the kids themsleves - what the hell are they thinking? Morons. It makes me sad to be a part of it - if it weren't for keeping my kids busy and out of the bad stuff, we would not be involved. And I love to watch them play, because they are both very talented (I know, all parents say that, but mine really are. They obviously get it from their dad; I'm the Trivial Pursuit Champion of the Universe - no bodily contact there. Usually).
I guess I really want to know why we, as parents who write the checks and put out all of this effort, have little or no say in what goes on with coaching decisions. Now, I know your average parent doesn't have a clue about the game, and that's not who I'm directing this question to. For instance, my oldest son's team has the head coach, chosen by the association after an application and review process, a new assisstant coach this year, with many years of experience and training, a manager who is also a coach with many years of experience, and at least one other coaching parent. I have played the game myself, Varsity in HS (okay, I wasn't very good, but I did play, so do have some point of reference), and a good number of the other parents have played. We do not pay the coach, but we do pay a professional trainer, and I think that, because we pay him, his word should maybe carry more weight than the coach's. The trainer does not get to come to many games (his college games are the same time as our games, so that's where he goes, naturally), so whatever he goes over in practice the week before, it's up to the discretion of the coach to use or discard that training, and ours pretty much discards it. Now what the hell are we paying the pro for? We've had 2 scrimmage games in the past 2 weeks, and he keeps switching the kids around to different positions; I'm sure he's trying to find the best combination, but that is what practice is for, not the middle of a game. The boys are so confused by the end of the game, it's a wonder any of them have any clue what they are supposed to do. But you can't say anything to him; he'll cut you off, or if he sees you coming, he'll do his best to avoid the confrontation.
More to the point, he got ejected the last game of the last tournament last spring, so he is auomatically out for the first two games of this fall season, which happen to be this weekend at a major Southeastern tournament (we were div. champs last year!!!). If he shows up to the venue - anywhere on the premises, and is found out, we forfeit those two games. He has said several times that he plans to be there, incognito, so he can help the AC and Mgr handle the games (being coaches themselves, there's no way they could do this alone?). Both the AC and the Mgr said he shouldn't risk it, but as usual, that's just brushed off - Head Coach knows best! Well, today, he let it slip to a new parent, who came back and, stating rules from the official rulebook, begged him to not do it, because it would not be fair to her son if they ended up forfeiting. And he acted like he hadn't thought of it that way before, and that he really should reconsider going. The really sad part is, we ( a group of us) don't really think he can advance these boys any further; he doesn't teach them anything new, ever, and if the trainer is getting anywhere, it'll be reversed by the end of the gaming weekend. What do we have to do to vote this coach off of the island?
Oh, and I got some beads done last night; the purple stones I can't remember the name of are strung and hung, and I finished 2 sets of green twist beads - emerald and olive green. The olive ones include a strand of peacock fw pearls; I love pearls. Now, if I could just get some decent pictures of them - I'm going to lay them on my scanner and see what I get. I guess I really need to get off my butt and go see Bob the Wolf Camera Guy....
Monday, August 29, 2005
Katrina Has Landed
It was pretty nice here all day, though we knew it was coming. Now, at 7:00 at night, there are tornado warnings all over - there is one in almost every county around us right this minute - flood warnings, too, but it is only lightly raining here right now. I haven't even heard any thunder in the last half-hour or so. When one of the bands comes around again, I bet we'll get more then. I check the rain guage around 5:30 each day, and it had just started raining here then, so it'll be interesting to see what's in there in the morning when I leave for work.
I moved KittyKitty's food into the garage - she wasn't happy, and Ripley ate most of it before she finished pouting. I assume she'll go in the garage if it gets bad out (if we remember to leave the door up for her a little) instead of hiding in the canas. The other three are all huddled here in the house. I am sure the silly dog is out standing in it; as thick as his fur is, I'm not sure how wet he has to get before it actually gets to his skin. It doesn't seem to bother him - he sleeps through a lot of the rains, laying out there in the mud. Dumber than a bag of hammers, that dog. Good dog, but dumb.
Well, it'll be interesting to see who's office has a leak tomorrow morning; there seems to be a new one every time we have storms, especially now that our new buildings are nearing completion. Man, I hope the rest of hurricane season doesn't delay our moving - they are completely inside now (except the landscaping, of course), so hopefully we'll stay on schedule. The new buildings are only 3.5 miles closer to home, but those 3.5 miles are at least 20 minutes in the morning, and often 10-15 in the evenings. Guess I should finish up, in case anything moves this way, and we lose power; it would suck to lose my post. I hope everyone involved with Katrina comes out okay, especially my nephew, who is down at Keesler AFB in Biloxi at his Tech School. I bet I know what he'll be doing for the next few days - GI Party all over the base, and into town, if necessary!
I moved KittyKitty's food into the garage - she wasn't happy, and Ripley ate most of it before she finished pouting. I assume she'll go in the garage if it gets bad out (if we remember to leave the door up for her a little) instead of hiding in the canas. The other three are all huddled here in the house. I am sure the silly dog is out standing in it; as thick as his fur is, I'm not sure how wet he has to get before it actually gets to his skin. It doesn't seem to bother him - he sleeps through a lot of the rains, laying out there in the mud. Dumber than a bag of hammers, that dog. Good dog, but dumb.
Well, it'll be interesting to see who's office has a leak tomorrow morning; there seems to be a new one every time we have storms, especially now that our new buildings are nearing completion. Man, I hope the rest of hurricane season doesn't delay our moving - they are completely inside now (except the landscaping, of course), so hopefully we'll stay on schedule. The new buildings are only 3.5 miles closer to home, but those 3.5 miles are at least 20 minutes in the morning, and often 10-15 in the evenings. Guess I should finish up, in case anything moves this way, and we lose power; it would suck to lose my post. I hope everyone involved with Katrina comes out okay, especially my nephew, who is down at Keesler AFB in Biloxi at his Tech School. I bet I know what he'll be doing for the next few days - GI Party all over the base, and into town, if necessary!
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Bead Show Survival
So I went to the Intergalactic Bead Show today. Man, what a lot of cool stuff. I had to keep telling myself no more purple or green beads, but ended up with one strand of purple something - I, of course, have forgotten the name of the stone (it is Charoite, from C&S Beads) -but that's all. I found some cranberry pearls, both in potato and blistered flat squares; they are very pretty, and the potatoes just feel good next to your skin. I will hand-knot the potatoes on some silk; the squares, I probably need to mix with something gold. I also got an assortment of donuts - I like those, but have never had the chance to pick the ones I like from a huge bin until today. Will I ever get back to my cross stitch? Yeah, eventually, I'm sure.
Hurricame Katrina is on it's way to New Orleans, and I'm sure we'll get slammed with rain for the next couple of days; good thing, since we've only had 6.35" so far for the month of August. Not sure how much we're supposed to have, but I bet it isn't 6.35". Hopefully we can get the ribs barbequed before the thunderstorms start tonight. That little kitty that has decided to live here had better make her way into the garage, or she'll get washed away - she isn't coming in the house with the other ones. I guess we've decided her name is KittyKitty - how original.
The 12-year-old had a scrimmage soccer game yesterday, against the Dahlonaga U-14 team; they held them the first half 1-0, but the second half, I think they got tired, and lost 2-1. That U-14 team was huge - they had one kid on there, I bet he was 5'8", 150 pounds or better, and let me tell you, he could move. I think the goalie drove himself to the game, and he had a big manly voice when he was hollering at his teammates. We have the Atlanta Cup next weekend; we were the Div. IV champs last year; I hope we do as well this year - we've got the potential, for sure, though we have moved up to C-2 now. We'll see - hopefully no hurricanes or other adverse weather will interfere like last year; most of the Florida teams ended up canceling last year because of Ivan? One of the 4 last fall. Gee, I had all summer to get a website business going, so of course, I start right before soccer season starts.
Hurricame Katrina is on it's way to New Orleans, and I'm sure we'll get slammed with rain for the next couple of days; good thing, since we've only had 6.35" so far for the month of August. Not sure how much we're supposed to have, but I bet it isn't 6.35". Hopefully we can get the ribs barbequed before the thunderstorms start tonight. That little kitty that has decided to live here had better make her way into the garage, or she'll get washed away - she isn't coming in the house with the other ones. I guess we've decided her name is KittyKitty - how original.
The 12-year-old had a scrimmage soccer game yesterday, against the Dahlonaga U-14 team; they held them the first half 1-0, but the second half, I think they got tired, and lost 2-1. That U-14 team was huge - they had one kid on there, I bet he was 5'8", 150 pounds or better, and let me tell you, he could move. I think the goalie drove himself to the game, and he had a big manly voice when he was hollering at his teammates. We have the Atlanta Cup next weekend; we were the Div. IV champs last year; I hope we do as well this year - we've got the potential, for sure, though we have moved up to C-2 now. We'll see - hopefully no hurricanes or other adverse weather will interfere like last year; most of the Florida teams ended up canceling last year because of Ivan? One of the 4 last fall. Gee, I had all summer to get a website business going, so of course, I start right before soccer season starts.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Another Thursday
I am working on green beads tonight; got a twister strand of peacock green pearls done last night, now need to work on the Czech Druks and seeds. I need to get back to my pumpkin cross stitch; I finished the sign section and got some more backstitch done. The moon in the sign is pretty cool - I added glow-in-the-dark thread by Kreink to it.
There is a bead show at Gwinnett Civic center this weekend; I'm planning on going Sunday, whether I have any money to buy, or not. I haven't been to one yet, so I'll be curious to see what's there. Even if I don't have much to spend, at least I can soak up some ideas, and possibly find sources for stuff, when I get established.
I have yet to make my pictures of the beads work - the ones that all look as good as I can get them are all around 1 Mb or better, which is a lot of space to take up on the site. I might just try my old rickety Minolta SLR (you know, a film camera), make myself get the roll developed, and try scanning those and/or getting the film digitized. I gotta get up to see Bob the Wolf Camera Guy.
And just what exactly is up with people refusing to use turn signals? If you're too freaking lazy to tap that little lever there, then you definitely shouldn't be reading, eating, or talking on the phone. You know, way back when I drove manual transmissions, and when I smoked, I was able to do all of these things while simultaneously using the blinker! Yes, I am skilled, but still. And no, it isn't completely obvious that you are going to cut over in front of me. Repeatedly. Are you an asshole all of the time, or only on certain days?
There is a bead show at Gwinnett Civic center this weekend; I'm planning on going Sunday, whether I have any money to buy, or not. I haven't been to one yet, so I'll be curious to see what's there. Even if I don't have much to spend, at least I can soak up some ideas, and possibly find sources for stuff, when I get established.
I have yet to make my pictures of the beads work - the ones that all look as good as I can get them are all around 1 Mb or better, which is a lot of space to take up on the site. I might just try my old rickety Minolta SLR (you know, a film camera), make myself get the roll developed, and try scanning those and/or getting the film digitized. I gotta get up to see Bob the Wolf Camera Guy.
And just what exactly is up with people refusing to use turn signals? If you're too freaking lazy to tap that little lever there, then you definitely shouldn't be reading, eating, or talking on the phone. You know, way back when I drove manual transmissions, and when I smoked, I was able to do all of these things while simultaneously using the blinker! Yes, I am skilled, but still. And no, it isn't completely obvious that you are going to cut over in front of me. Repeatedly. Are you an asshole all of the time, or only on certain days?
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Is it just me...?
Is it just me, or does every neighborhood have a house where all the stray animals congregate? Well, in our neighborhood, that house must be ours. Now, we have a lot of animals there by choice - today's count is 3 cats, 1 hamster, 1 dog, 3 fish, and 2 turtles (the last mouse died last week). We have recently acquired a feral kitten, who shares Ripley's food out on the front porch; she's warming up to us, but we still can't pet her for more than a second or two; she's not going to join the crew inside (I will fight you all the way, boys) because I want new carpet and furniture - not kitten-friendly. And then there is our neighbor's dog.
Now, they take a bit of explaining, these people next door, but suffice it to say they are not very social, and I am not really sure why they have a dog at all - she should probably be taken away from them, because they do not take care of her at all. Well, it didn't take too long for that dog to realize that our dog, who lives outside almost exclusively, has a 24/7 meal arrangement, so every time she was free, she spent all of her time in our yard. She's a nice dog, so not really a problem, except that she is always there when she is free. She waits with my kids to get on their buses, she watches me get the groceries out of the car, she chases the cats around, and we think she had a litter of our dog's pups (she had somebody's pups) last summer, but have no clue what happened to them (knowing them, they probably dumped them along a road somewhere - long story). This poor dog either needs to come live with us permanently, or her people need to chip in an occasional bag of dog Chow, which I know they would never do.
Does this happen to anybody else, or do all these animals see us coming a mile away? There must be some underground railroad for animals, and we are the only stop....
Now, they take a bit of explaining, these people next door, but suffice it to say they are not very social, and I am not really sure why they have a dog at all - she should probably be taken away from them, because they do not take care of her at all. Well, it didn't take too long for that dog to realize that our dog, who lives outside almost exclusively, has a 24/7 meal arrangement, so every time she was free, she spent all of her time in our yard. She's a nice dog, so not really a problem, except that she is always there when she is free. She waits with my kids to get on their buses, she watches me get the groceries out of the car, she chases the cats around, and we think she had a litter of our dog's pups (she had somebody's pups) last summer, but have no clue what happened to them (knowing them, they probably dumped them along a road somewhere - long story). This poor dog either needs to come live with us permanently, or her people need to chip in an occasional bag of dog Chow, which I know they would never do.
Does this happen to anybody else, or do all these animals see us coming a mile away? There must be some underground railroad for animals, and we are the only stop....
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
My First BLOG!
Well, now I've gone and done it. I have created a Blog. I have read many avidly, beginning with Jennifer Aikman-Smith of Dragon Dreams Designs' Dragon Musings, and that is pretty much where I got the idea to do this, too! Surfing the web, looking for cross stitch anything, and see what I found!
With any luck, I'll have my web site together soon, in a way that is both great to look at and produces the results I intend for it; I want a little bit of business from my creations, but not so much that it becomes a job instead of what I enjoy doing. Time will tell, I suppose. Now, if I could just find that can of extra time that I thought I had set aside....
With any luck, I'll have my web site together soon, in a way that is both great to look at and produces the results I intend for it; I want a little bit of business from my creations, but not so much that it becomes a job instead of what I enjoy doing. Time will tell, I suppose. Now, if I could just find that can of extra time that I thought I had set aside....
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