Andrew and I went camping this weekend to celebrate our six month anniversary, but since we were both a little busy last week, the planning and packing got left until friday night and saturday morning. So, understandably, we forgot a few things in our haste to get ready: plates, paper towels, a container to carry wash water, our tent ...
Now, it's not like we forgot we had to bring a tent. It was on the list. It was even in the pile of things to bring in the living room. It just somehow snuck out of the pile and never quite made it into the car.
The commercials make camping in your car look all exciting, but really, sleeping in a car isn't that comfortable. Of course the commercials also feature SUVs, not a Sunfire. It is more comfortable than you might originally think, but not quite as comfortable as being able to stretch out fully, and we are less mosquito-bitten than I suspect we might have been if we had slept in a tent, but even in a car the 'skeeters do still bite and your limbs tend to fall asleep just a little more than normal since you are essentially sitting up (sure the seats recline, but it's still not the same).
But it was an adventure. And you can bet that the tent will be the FIRST thing loaded into the car next time.
[ 27.7.02 4:59 AM | home ]
Sometimes I want so badly to finish a story that I think it keeps me from actually completing the task at hand. Normally that task is the writing of the story. Tonight, it was sleep. But check out Home. It's not the story I forgot (at least I don't think it is) but I actually like it quite a bit and considering that everything except the first paragraph was written in the last 3 hours or so ... well, you can see how sleep wasn't gotten.
To bed I go. I have to wake up in just over two hours :)
[ 2:58 AM | click. ]After eighteen years of primary/secondary/post-secondary education, my eyes and mind automatically expect to have clocks hanging from the ceiling everywhere I turn. I don't expect them all to give the same time, but I do seem to expect them to exist. But alas, the work world is not aware of such a requirement and as such I constantly find my head snapping up to look for a familiar dial, to give me a hint as to what time it is, only to be met with a blank wall. This is particularly a problem in the mornings when I'm running a bit late (late is my "normal" starting time) and I want/need to know just how late I am running so as to figure out how quickly I have to make it from one end of the building to the other.
It's not like I don't wear a watch either.
[ 26.7.02 2:59 PM | not your everyday problem ]
From: an employee
To: the entire office
Subject: White Toyota Echo - XXXX XXX
This car is in the back parking lot ... no occupants ... locked ... slowly rolling out of it's parking place when the wind blows. Would the owner kindly go out and push it back into it's parking place and put the hand brake on. Thanks!
[ 7:58 AM | bzzzzz ]My cats have absolutely no fear of the bees that somehow find their way into my apartment from the nest outside (yeah, I really need to do something about that soon.) They keep chasing the bees and trying to eat them, and to my knowledge the cats haven't been stung yet, so I guess it's working out for them so far.
Although Logan didn't seem to like the taste of the one she caught this morning too well.
[ 24.7.02 8:26 PM | forgotten things ]
Last night in a dream I wrote this really great story, one I was incredibly excited about and very proud of. But this morning, I couldn't remember a single thing about it, only that it was really really good. Maybe tonight when I fall asleep I will remember it again.
I read one time about this theory, that whenever writers/songwriters/whoever get an "inspiration" about something, it's really just a forgotten memory that is finally coming to the surface. Their mind has had all this time to work on it in the background, which is why it is so exciting to them, because it has been manipulated and worked until it is just they way they want it and then *poof*, it's back in their mind. If only I were so lucky.
In other news, have you ever washed your mouth out with soap? Not pleasant. I think this must be what crepe paper tastes like.
[ 4:04 PM | no reason ]There is no reason that something that costs me $12 to buy should cost me over $33 to ship.
[ 23.7.02 6:13 PM | eight lives left ]
I think I just lost several years of my own life as I leaned over the railing of my third floor balcony tonight and saw my kitten exploring the garden three stories below me. I only left them for a second to get some juice and when I came back I saw Logan looking quite intently at the ground below. And there was Bailey, looking back up at me. I don't think she really knew what happened but she was quite happy to be exploring this new territory. She didn't even want to come back inside with me.
But there are no scrapes, bumps, or limping and she didn't cry or anything when I felt her for injuries, so she seems to have survived the ordeal quite well. When I brought her back upstairs she even went straight for the balcony again. But now she must wait until I go to Home Depot tonight to get extra netting and some wood to completely block off the blacony. Aparently halfway just isn't good enough with this curious kitten.
[ 22.7.02 11:06 PM | smooth ]
Strange where ideas come from. Stranger even when you don't know where they come from.
Smooth fits into the latter category. I think it may have been started on a dark and stormy night, but that's all conjecture really.
[ 19.7.02 6:55 PM | grumpy grump ]
The fact that I have been getting pissed off so easily lately is pissing me off.
How's that for irony.
[ 11:14 AM | useful math ]From an email I received:
The New Math
Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants over 100%. How about achieving 103%? Here's a little math that might prove helpful.
If the alphabet (A, B, ..., Z) is represented as numbers (1, 2, ..., 26), then,
H A R D W O R K
8 1 18 4 23 15 18 11 = 98%
K N O W L E D G E
11 14 15 23 12 5 4 7 5 = 96%
But,
A T T I T U D E
1 20 20 9 20 21 4 5 = 100%
B U L L S H I T
2 21 12 12 19 8 9 20 = 103%
So, it stands to reason that hard work and knowledge will get you close, attitude will get you there, but bullshit will put you over the top. And look how far
A S S K I S S I N G
1 19 19 11 9 19 19 9 14 7 = 118%
will take you. Just something to think about.
As a Math graduate, I think they really should have covered this aspect during my education.
[ 18.7.02 1:22 PM | greedy little sucker ]
Ever since its little Tang feast last friday, the starfish at work has been unusually active, crawling over coral and climbing the walls of the tank like a little fly. It even looks plumper. But with only two Tang left of the original five, I'm thinking that perhaps the starfish should find a new hobby.
[ 10:54 AM | makes you wonder ]There's a store just around the corner from where I work that always has interesting things in the window. As I was walked by this morning, I noticed an empty cash drawer sitting on a stool about three feet inside the door and quite visible from the street. Makes you think - is this a case of someone absent-mindedly placing the cash drawer down and forgetting to put it away, or is this a deliberate message "Don't bother trying to rob us, as you can see there is no cash in the register drawer"?
[ 15.7.02 9:06 AM | keetins ]
This is why I have cats: when you are sitting on the floor in immense pain because you have just accidentally ripped your toenail off your toe, they come up to you and give you a gentle bump with their head and a little kiss on the hand as if to tell you everything is going to be okay.
Guess I'll have to pick me up some of those cute little band-aids until the toenail grows back in.
[ 14.7.02 6:52 PM | whoops ]
Although I have not confirmed it yet, my computer problem seems to be related to the changes I made to get my sound card working again. I didn't think it was since it had taken a few days to show up, but after completely failing on me on Friday, it finally told me that a device driver was causing a problem. So I guess I'll have to fiddle with it until I get the right combination.
Damn technology.
[ 5:20 PM | steady ... steady ... ]It's surprisingly easy to break into a ground-floor motel room when the window screen can be lifted out from the outside in less than five seconds. You just have to be careful about what you use to hoist yourself through the window so you don't end up on your ass outside the window nursing a sore thigh and a sorer toe instead of inside the window and comfortably in bed.
On the upside, my cats are finding it quite amusing to play with the ice floating around my foot. And at least it's the same foot I hurt playing squash.
[ 12.7.02 7:04 PM | veecious feeshy ]
Meat-eating fish found in Maryland pond
So if the fish eats meat ... and I eat the fish ... does that make me non-vegetarian?
Although I do question its classification as a 'fish' if it can live three days out of the water.
[ 3:04 PM | makes me feel safe ]The health risks of Belize (which I am planning on visiting in October): Cholera, dengue fever, hepatitis, malaria, rabies and typhoid.
Oh. Goodie.
[ 11.7.02 12:45 AM | i give up ]
Anyone have an idea as to why my computer might spontaneously die/reboot?
It doesn't seem to be associated with any particular program I have open (and it has nothing to do with my dollar-store speakers thankyouverymuch) but it does always make a clicking/popping sound when this happens. It's been occuring for the last two or maybe three days and I can't see any reason why. No new programs have been installed. No new updates have been made. Nothing has changed except the reliability of my computer.
[ 9.7.02 6:16 PM | lick it! lick it! ]
If someone told you to lick crepe paper, would you?
What if they told you it tasted like candy, would you then?
What if they told you straight out that it tasted like glue, and that afterwards the foul taste would linger in your mouth no matter how many times you tried to wash it away with water. Would you lick it then?
I work with weird people.
[ 8.7.02 6:44 PM | pudgy ball of spikes ]
My kitties, who probably weigh around five and three pounds respectively are eating about half of what they normally eat.
My hedgie, who probably weighs a pound at most, has three times the appetite he normally has.
There is a fine line between a normally round hedgie and a fat hedgie. I think Monte might be crossing the line.
[ 7.7.02 5:16 PM | yay! ]
Fathers can fix anything. :)
On top of having a working power (and a working ceiling fan), today also brought me a new tv (no more 13"-er) a couch, my glass display case and a tv stand plus a few other assorted things from my mom's house. The man at U-Haul was a little surprised at the milage I put on the cargo van, but they never asked me if it was an in-town rental, just if I was picking up and dropping off at the same location so I didn't really lie or anything. They charge by the kilometre anyway, so I'm sure they aren't too upset that they got a few extra bucks out of me.
[ 6.7.02 1:26 PM | score one for tracy ]
One (and a half) down, one to go.
Although my ceiling fan still isn't installed, I now have power to everything except the light in my room. At least the problem is narrowed down now.
Plus, on my break from fixing my light/power I managed to get my soundcard working again. Somehow installing XP pooched it. But after a little fiddling, it's all good again. Now all I need is proper speakers. (Did you know you can buy speakers at the dollar store?? Sure they suck, but for a buck they make do quite nicely)
As for the light problem, I'm almost tempted to just wait until tomorrow when my father comes to help me move my couch here. He's good at wiring.
[ 12:20 AM | one more (hesitation) ]one more (hesitation), one less story left unfinished on my computer.
[ 5.7.02 9:19 PM | whoops ]
Sigh.
I was trying to install a ceiling fan in my room to make sleeping just a little more bareble and all I've managed to do is kill the power in my room and the spare room. There were sparks and a pop and now I can't get anything to work anymore. My father tells me it's probably not serious, just a loose joint somewhere, so I'm trying to remain optimistic. But my pessimistic side is growing. Strangely enough, I find it a good thing that it is too dark now to continue so I have to wait until tomorrow to figure out what the problem is.
In the meantime I have hauled my computer out into the living room so I can at least amuse myself tonight. I remember now how uncomfortable I was the year I lived in the attic of the crackhouse, when my ceiling wasn't tall enough to allow a desk and I had to sit on the floor to use my computer.
Hopefully it'll all work out tomorrow. Look, there's my optimistic side peeking out again! :)
[ 2.7.02 7:40 PM | noooo! ]
I never really even liked hockey until I got hooked on the playoffs this year ...
[ 5:56 PM | zzzzap! ]In the process of moving my father, three of the four members of my immediate family got electric shocks due to my father's grand wiring schemes. And can you guess which member did not get a shock? Yup, my father, the one who created it all in the first place.
Although that tingly feeling afterwards is kinda cool.