Friday, January 30, 2004

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

So, for those who have been ignoring the weather recently....it snowed in central NC (& the midwest & most of the east coast, etc). It started snowing Sunday morning & it finally subsided to a freezing drizzle about 5pm. They were very small flakes so there was only about 3" accumulation. Chris & I went out for breakfast Sunday morning so we were driving along as it was falling. They flakes were so dry that they blew across the road like drifts of sand. You could see wind eddies in the snow as it blew across the aspalt.

By the time we finished eating quite a bit of snow had accumulated on the car. The parking lot of the Golden Corral was fairly clear but the lot of the hotel next to it was a carpet of snow. The difference in traffic was thus clearly illustrated. We made it to the grocery store to do our weekly shopping & then headed home. We were supposed to be playing in Rosemary's Forgotten Realms game that afternoon but we cancelled it. The trip to our place wouldn't be too awful but the trips home would be.

UNC was closed on Monday so I sat around & went through all the VCR tapes that didn't have labels. In other words, I either watched the shows to be then taped over or decided to tape over them without watching, as the case might be. I also finally saw the episode of Monster House that Richard had taped for us. The Monster House crew transformed the interior to reflect the owners' love of castles & the husband's English heritage. It was great!

We cancelled gaming on Monday, too. It was supposed to be the first session of Chris's Freaks Campaign. He claimed that the character of anyone who missed the session would fail the saving throw when the group met the wights Monday night. Cute, very cute.

Tuesday we both went to work late. I left at 9:40 am to catch the 10 am bus. I never saw it. I saw the bus going the other way but not mine. I waited half an hour & gave up. I was literally 3 minutes from the bus stop when the bus came by. Of course, since I wasn't at the stop the driver kept going. I said a few expletives & walked back to my car. I was about to start cleaning it off when a young lady passing by offered to give me a lift. She had just gotten her car up the hill from mine & knew how much trouble I was going to have getting out of there. Thanks to her I made it to work by 11 am.

I left work a little after 4 pm to catch the 4:07 bus. I did not leave soon enough but I was in plenty of time to catch the 4:37 bus. It never came. I met a nice young lady named Caroline & her friend who was visiting her. They were going to try to go to Southpoint. At 5pm I gave up & I called John. I forgot that his driveway is a sheet of ice & they aren't getting out until maybe today or hopefully by Friday. So I called Chris & he left work at 5pm and drove to come get me. A good thing that I left work early or Chris would have gotten home, then drive in the dark to Chapel Hill to fetch me home. As it was, we made it home just a little after 6pm.

I am not happy with TTA today. I didn't even bother trying to catch it this morning, I just drove in. It wasn't too bad. Yes, the first 3 roads that I'm on were sheets of ice & slush but they were mostly in the sun so had started the melting process despite the 20-some degree temperatures. Until I got to the park & ride the roads were fine, except for the stop & roll on Hwy 54 for the last 15 minutes. So I was a little late to work this morning, but not too badly. I will leave work a little early today, just to get home before sunset.

In the meantime, I've been trying to catch up on work. The 3-part class I was supposed to be taking yesterday, today & tomorrow has been cancelled. Oh well, they'll reschedule & I'll take it then.

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

Cool website of the day: Multiple Sclerosis Sucks or "How to Suffer From a Chronic and Incurable Disease Without Appearing to be a Total Loser."

Friday, January 23, 2004

Happy Belated New Year. Welcome to the Year of the Wood Monkey

My SO & I went out for Chinese food last night in celebration of the Chinese New Year. I couldn't work on my Gaelic on the way home because the batteries in my tape player were giving out. I put in them in the recharger when I got home & put more batteries in the player. I called my Mom with the information about the Medieval Fair at the Carolina Club on Sunday. I'm gaming so I can't go. Then I headed for bed at 8:30 (with a lovely hot pad to warm my sheets & my toes). I didn't settle down for sleep until after nine but still, that's early.

Now it's payday Friday & I have errands to run after work. I drove my car in & gas has dropped $.05 since Monday so I'll be able to get gas tonight.
Neat website of the day: Your name in Chinese

Thursday, January 22, 2004

It's still cold. But at least it's gotten up to 53F today. I have not been outside since 10 am so I'm not certain that I believe that it's comparatively warm. I will find out at 5pm when I leave to go home

We watched part of Secrets of the Vikings last night. I learned one or two things & Chris learned that Kiev was founded by the Vikings & that there was an Imperial Honor Guard in Constantinople made up of Vikings.

The installation of a new program today did not work. The network was down so that the last stage could not be completed. They are going to try again next week.

I had sushi for lunch. I have been promising myself all week that at some point I would get sushi. Yum. I had eel & shrimp nigiri sushi & (fake) crab maki sushi.

I have finally finished putting the data in my dayplanner for the year. I finished the birthdays and anniversaries but I wanted to put in the Celtic months, the solstices, equinoxes, full moons & new moons plus pencil in the regular games.

Now it's back to work. My little break is over.

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Interesting evening last night. I arrived home just after six, the bus was running a little late. There was a package that I had been expecting on the doorstep & a post-it note on the door. The post-it said that water was pouring out of my basement. So I ran downstairs & there's not a sign of water in the basement. I check the back door out of the basement & there is water pouring/jetting/streaming from the deck. So I race back upstairs to look at the deck. Nothing. It's dry as a bone. I check for where the water is coming from & couldn't tell. My first thought was that there was something wrong with one of the bathrooms, the dishwasher or the washing machine. Nope, none of those. I finally remembered where the water shut off was located. It is too tall for me to get enough leverage to turn it off. I went into the living room & fumed a bit. Then I recalled the stool in the kitchen & it was perfect. Chris called at 7pm, he was just getting ready to leave work. I broke the news to him.

When he came home he finally discovered the source of the water. With the recent frigid temperatures, and the fact that the thermal tape apparently busted, the pipe for the outside faucet at the deck split. He called a plumber or two until he found one that would come out, even at 9pm on a freezing cold (29F & falling) night. The split came into the house but there does not appear to be any internal damage. The plumber only had the supplies to cap the pipe, not replace it. That's okay with us, this way we don't have to worry about it happening again later. Next year we have to remember to drip that faucet to prevent this from happening again.

I watched part of Barbarians on History channel last night. It was better than I thought it was. I do wonder how much the actor portraying Attila really resembled him. If he does, then Attila was pretty good looking. From what they said Attila was politically as well as tactically savvy.

The package? Oh, it's a 1920's magazine with tatting & embroidery patterns in it. It's very nice & it was only $10, with shipping from an auction on Ebay.

Now, I have planning & writing to do, so ta for now.

Tuesday, January 20, 2004

I almost had to call & cancel Mom's visit. Some idiot was either/both going too fast/following the bus too closely because when it stopped for me to disembark, Dimbulb passed the bus on the right. It's rather startling to start down the bus steps & see a car go by. If I had been a bit quicker or better prepared, I'd probably be in the hospital right now. Wheee. I called Anitra to vent & she told me how she almost got run over by a car doing something similar when she was in high school.

Mom came by about 1 or so. She only got lost twice. Thank goodness for cell phones. Next time I'm sending her on the 751 exit.

We went to Hong Kong Express and she bought lunch. We ate while she made me watch Warlord (which, by the way is not in iMDB). She claims that it is one of the 10 worst movies ever made. I have to agree with her. And it's not the actors' faults. They were good, but what they had to work with....bleah.

I went through the clothes that she had brought me. A surprising number of them fit. So I have more slacks to wear to work. Yeah! She also brought some things that I don't need, like more hangars. I have about 6 months worth of Wednesday presents to open. My Christmas present from her were more of the pieces of my flatware pattern (which is discontinued btw).

She liked the tv I gave her but she wished I'd been wearing a different shirt in the picture that I gave her. I was wearing my Greenman shirt. She left about 4 pm so that she could make it home before dark. She doesn't like driving after dark anymore; she is getting older and her night vision isn't what it used to be. Then, neither is mine.

Sunday afternoon I got sick again. Chris & I headed for Pizza Hut for the brunch buffet but they were closed for remodeling. Since it was noon, we were reluctant to eat at the other brunch places due to the post-church crowd. We went to Hardee's. It was okay. By the time we hit the grocery store afterwards I knew I was sick, again. Bleah. We looked in at Ultimate Comics. It's been open for months & it's really close, but we just haven't been by during store hours.

I mostly read & rested the rest of the Sunday. Then Monday (Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday: Observed) Chris went to work & I still rested, watched tv & read. By 2 pm I was finally able to get moving. I picked up the living room from Mom's visit, cleared the dining room table, un-loaded & re-loaded the dishwasher & gathered the stuff I was taking out of the house.
plastic & paper bags to the recycling at the grocery store
phonebooks to recycling
clothes to charity - Goodwill
1 vacuum to Goodwill
books to Edward McKay (since Lucy's closed)
article about Senora Lynch to Steve for Village of Yesteryear scrapbook
other errand:
buy page protectors for tatting copies (old workbasket patterns & internet printouts)

I looked at my nearly empty gas tank & then at the price of regular unleaded gas, $1.59, & decided not to go to North Raleigh to McKay or Steve's yesterday.

I made it home in plenty of time. I watched more of the Fillmore marathon & put the patterns in the page protectors. I put post-it labels on most of them but then as 6 pm approached I needed to make supper. It was Jadeclaw/9 tribes last night. But since Rosemary, our fighter wasn't there, we sat around, talked & they made pre-generated Ironclaw characters for me to use at cons this year.

Chris taped Barbarians. I thought it went off at 10 so I waited for the vcr to turn off to go to bed. It ended at 11 pm. No wonder my eyes were scratchy & tired. I was feeling cold so I heated up one of my wheat hot pads & used it as a bedwarmer. Wow! that was soooo nice. I love it. I will definitely do that more often.

Friday, January 16, 2004

Mom called last night. We talked a bit & I told her a couple things that I would like if she has/can find them, like winter socks. We talked a little bit. Then I ordered pizza and when Chris went out to change the bulb in the porchlight he realized that it's been weeks since we ordered pizza, for supper anyway. There have been one or two lunches. I watched the last episode of Stargate:SG1 that I taped on Monday. It was the return of Apothisis.

I sort of watched, not really, VH1's 100 Hottest Hotties, 60-41 while I talked to Mom. At eight we checked & CSI was a repeat so we watched Tru Calling. According to TV Guide CSI was on somewhere; channel 13 I think. I have no idea what that is on cable. We found that it was being aired at 1:37am on WRAL. So we set the VCR to tape it & watched part of something before switching to Fillmore. We caught the last act. Then we watched Extreme Elimination a dubbed version of Tokeshi's Castle (spelling). It's funny in a sick sexist way. I headed to bed about 10 pm when Justice League was coming on. It was one I had seen but Chris hadn't.

Today's outfit: Burgundy turtleneck, black gauze handkerchief hem skirt - calf-length, thigh high black boots, silver three ages of woman pendant on silver chain, silver ring ~flattened twisted cord, silver ring w/ silver flowers, & silver hoops earrings. My hair is loose until I have a chance to brush it, then I'll clip it with the 'barrette' I bought from Bronze Rose this past Ren Festival & braid it. When I go out again I put my burgundy & grey sweater back on.

Tonight Chris is taking his nephew out for supper for his birthday. Chris was supposed to take him last week but the snow cancelled that plan. So I'm on my own for supper tonight.

I was running so late this morning I was ready to walk back & drive to the park & ride after missing the bus. I caught the bus instead so no worries.

I'm listening to one of the tapes I made a while back. I copied my By the Sword & Oathbound tapes. That way I wear out the copies & not the originals. I bought them in the late 80's/early 90's.

Thursday, January 15, 2004

As it turns out, I did make one mistake on the financial reports. I entered the wrong number on one line, which changed the results of another report. Still, it was the best I've done yet so I remain proud. I paid the price for that concentration though. When I left work at 2pm to go get my car my brain shut down. I literally had trouble thinking. That is an extremely uncomfortable state for me.

I have my car back & it is shiny. A good wash will do that to a car. They also vacuumed it. There are some leaves in the trunk & that is all. I drove it yesterday & the odometer still doesn't work properly. I took the bus today as I will refrain from driving the car as much as I can until I get that fixed. The new odometer will cost $480, with the labor being about $150. If I can locate a used odometer, Saturn will install, they just want guarantee it. That's up to my part source. * why is 'a used anything' & not 'an used anything'?

I stopped by Rose's last night & bought the frame for the picture of myself. Mom complained that she doesn't have any recent pictures of me. This photo will change that. I posed & James took the picture while I was in Charlotte. I suppose that I should write that information on the back of the photo in archival ink. Not that the glass or the backing are archival quality. I wonder if Mom meant that she wanted a photo for her wallet?

Did I mention that I have a new nephew? My step-brother had a son on January 1st. My dad sent me Stephen's website where the proud father has posted pictures of the little guy.

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Today is full of good things. I finished the monthly financial reports & I only had 2 questions. One was a reminder on how to handle something & one was a question about a couple accounts that did not get printed. Either way, I didn't spend half an hour searching for an answer & checking my math & my data entry. This is a red letter day.
Woohoo! My car is ready & I have a ride to go get it. It's been a month since the accident & I'm really looking forward to having my own transportation again. I have to admit though, the bus is really convenient.

This past weekend was such a complete change from the previous one, weather-wise. The snow had stopped falling by the time I left work on Friday & the roads were in pretty good condition. It never got above freezing Saturday or Sunday so there was plenty of snow on the roadsides & trees when I came to work yesterday. The high temperature was about 56F so most of the snow melted. I did see a few patches, each less than the size of my hand on my walk to the bus stop this morning.

Chris almost hurt himself very badly on Sunday. The snow on the awning above Hong Kong Express, in Durham, was melting a little bit from the sun. It dripped down the icicles & formed a puddle of ice in the awning's shade. Chris stepped on it and of course he fell down. He twisted his ankle but luckily no other damage was done.

I've been working on my Gaelic some more. I can now, almost, tell someone how old I am. I need to work on pronunciation more.

Friday, January 09, 2004

make your own Bayiuex (spelling) tapestry
Weird site of the day: Pictures of the genetically modified
Winter Weather Advisory - URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR DURHAM COUNTY VALID FROM FRI JAN 09 2004 08:35 AM EST UNTIL FRI JAN 09 2004 04:00 PM EST.
831 AM EST FRI JAN 9 2004 ...A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 PM... A MOIST FLOW OF AIR RIDING UP AND OVER COLD AIR AT THE SURFACE... WILL CONTINUE TO PRODUCE STEADY LIGHT TO MODERATE SNOWFALL THROUGH MID AFTERNOON. THE SNOW MAY MIX WITH OR CHANGE TO LIGHT RAIN SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 64. A TOTAL ACCUMULATION OF TWO TO THREE INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED... WITH THE MOST ACCUMULATION ON GRASSY SURFACES AND VEHICLES. MOTORISTS SHOULD USE EXTRA CAUTION... KEEPING A SAFE DISTANCE AWAY FROM OTHER VEHICLES... AND ALLOWING EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR DESTINATION.

Wheee. The TTA bus arrived to Campus a full 15 minutes later than usual. That made me just on time for work. I did a couple interesting pictures as I waited for the bus of the snow as it fell. By the time the bus picked me up, quite a bit of snow had accumulated. It's very picturesque & more than a trifle dangerous.

I'm almost over the cold that knocked me flat Monday through Wednesday. I came to work yesterday but I was so not at my best. I took a short nap at lunch. Steve, the heating/air guy, noticed today that I looked much better. Since I'm wearing a purple turtleneck again I know that my improved looks are not due to the influence of the colors that I'm wearing.

Last night, I watched Stargate:SG1 on SciFi channel. I'm catching up on the ones from 2nd season, I think. There was nothing that enthused me at 7pm so I watched 100 through 81 of VH1's 100 Hottest Hotties. After that I turned to broadcast tv for Tru Calling & CSI. At 10 it was back to cable as I watched Diagnosis Murder while I tried to finish The Countess by Catherine Coulter. I taped CSI for Chris & I called my mom. I reached her machine, not her. Her friend Dr. Ron Joyner died recently. They worked together at Wesley Long Memorial Hospital Emergency Room. He was a great guy & a gifted doctor. He was so sick recently, that frankly, his death is a relief. He was always so active and to be an invalid like that, trapped in his own body was a living death. He always told the most horrid puns & jokes. Any time my mom started with "Dr. Joyner told me this joke" I braced myself. A couple times I managed to tell my mom a few jokes that she shared with Dr. Joyner.

Sunday, January 04, 2004

If anyone is reading this, then I apologise for not updating for sooo long.

I have been quite busy. I was on vacation/holiday from Friday the 19th until Monday the 29th. I did not spend much time on the computer, so no blog updates. I managed to weed out the spam & that's about it.

I am in Charlotte, right now. I am at my friend's James house for the annual post-Christmas get-together. We've been doing this since Christmas 1986. Bill, Keith & I came home for college & got see James again (he was in his senior year of high school). We played roleplaying games for a few days. It was great fun. Our lives & locations have changed but we're still good friends.

The bummer is, no sign of Bill this weekend. Where the bleep is he?! Keith was only here from 2pm Saturday & left at 7:30 this morning. I barely got to see him.

We did get to play word association last night. Comparatively small crowd: Russ, Billy, Valerie, James, Liz, Alysa, Chris, me, Keith & Ian. Technically, Squirrel, James & Liz's daughter was there, too but she's pre-verbal.

Got to go. People are here & I want to socialize.