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News (or something like it)
06.30.03 Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks™ Sunday we went to see the St. Paul Saints beat the Souix Falls Canaries. We started out at noon, tailgating in the parking lot with fruit & breakfast sandwiches. We had excellent seats (thank you very much, multiple Dave's) and fried ourselves in the perfect weather for several hours. When I got home, I was surprisingly productive around the house -- something that hasn't happened in a while. And when I laid down to bed that night I felt good. My whole body felt good. My mind felt good. I think I needed the sunshine, the diversion, the activity. Or maybe it's just the baseball, because I went to the game on Thursday with my sister (again, thank you very much, single Dave this time) and I felt good then too. 06.27.03 Daytripper I'm assuming that everyone reading this (all 3 of you) have taken LSD at some point or another. So you will understand what I mean when I describe this... It's the point of the trip where you've already peaked and the really cool part is pretty much over but you're no where near the sleep part. At this stage, everything is just sort of weird feeling. It's normal, but not quite. Always, always always, for me, anyway, it's in this point of the trip where I'm completely convinced that the acid has left my system already and that life has always just been weird like this and that I'd better get used to it and how it's amazing that I never noticed this before. At that point, I either am peaceful about that or horrified. Sometimes in rapid succession. That's a bit of how life feels for me right now. It's not good, it's not bad, it's just weird and it feels a tad like if I got a good night sleep, that the sour taste in the back of my mouth and the slightly upset stomach would go away. 06.16.03 The weekends go by so quickly... ... and I'm never quite ready for Monday morning. I really feel like I ought to have a three day weekend and I'm definitely one of those people that would opt for taking Monday off instead of Friday. Starting a week on Tuesday is just decadent. I keep thinking that one of these days I'll find a job where I can have full time benefits for part time work, but since I haven't really exerted a whole lot of effort to get myself there, I can't say that it's is honestly a goal. I think we actually work on our true dreams because those are the things that inspire us. I truly want to rid my house of all its clutter so I was motivated to go through everything I own. I truly wanted grass in my front yard so I raked, planted and watered. Apprently, I don't really aspire to tons of flowers blooming in planters, because I've only worked on that half-assed. And, of course, our dreams change, and I've had many of them. For a long while I drempt of working for myself, conceivably part-time, and retiring early and debt free. I proposed to make this dream come true by working round the clock, paying down my bills and staying in my condo even though I craved the outdoors. But life happened and I realized that I was going to need very stable insurance and income in order to be able to live a happy and healthy life and the best, most cost-effective way I could find to do that was to work full-time for someone else. Since I was probably going to be committed to a full-time job anyway, I decided to think about the dream that I'd set aside -- a house with a yard. So my thrust has been in a different direction and I'm finding that I'm enjoying it more than the old goal. I've never much minded working for someone else, I just thought it would be cool to work for myself. But I don't much like working a million hours a week, I'm loving my house, and Tim and I are working on health. So while this weekend went by too quickly and I'd love to be home today, I think that it was all, including being here in the office this morning, time well spent achieving a dream. 06.13.03 Stimulating the economy... One lousy buck at a time I got my pay stub today with the new Georgy-boy economic stimulus tax withholding and I'm $14.80 richer than I was before this amazing, middle-income-minded reform came into being. If I go greedy, I've got an extra $1.009 to spend every day. For that kind of money, I can stimulate the economy by buying a donut. (Not a cup of coffee, that's $1.25, and certainly not bus fare, that's $1.75.) Or if I split it with Tim, we can stimulate the economy by buying one White Castle Hamburger each. Yum! Tasty AND patriotic! If I save up every last penny until December 31st, I can mail the $192.40 back to the government and pay part of the back taxes that amassed when Tim and I got married and we suddenly owed the Feds over a grand, even though if we'd stayed single, we each would have gotten $300 refunds. (I did the math.) I'm so left-wing that I don't mind paying taxes. I look at the money that goes out of my check every week as a given. Really, there will always be income taxes in my lifetime. Sometimes more, probably never less (well, okay, $14 less.) I'm sure some of the money goes to things I don't approve of, but my little drop is part of a big bucket -- I'm just doing some creative accounting. In my mind, my dollars are fixing the Interstates, which I'm very fond of driving on. They're preserving the National Parks and cleaning up Superfund sites. Who knows, some day I might even find myself working for the government again and I can reap the rewards directly. But when some idiot-asshole like George Bush Part Deux tells me that he's going to save the economy by offering a 2 billion dollar tax cut that will free the working class from their financial trials and tribulations, and I end up with $14 lousy bucks, I resent it. Of course, it's really a completely moot point since starting with the July 1 check my health insurance goes up 22%, which is $26 every every two weeks. Despite the "tax cut", I'm $12 in the hole and I guess the way for me to stimulate the economy is to put more money in the pockets of HMOs and that feels dirty. 06.12.03 Selkirks
The two oil paintings on the left there were picked up for a winning bid of $20 for the pair. I wasn't quite sure what I thought of them at first, but now that they're hanging up in my hall, I find that I'm quite fond of them. My mom speculates that they went so cheaply because of the subject matter and current events. That's too bad, because they have a really nice impressionist technique. Oh well, they live with me now! 06.10.03 Hooked on Grass I'd take a new picture every day and post it so you could watch my grass grow, but I bet you're not that interested. I bought more grass seed yesterday since the first batch germinated I figured I should do the rest of the lawn. (I ran out 3/4 of the way through last time.) They had the cool stuff that you sprinkle on the ground, then wet it and it turns into electric green mulch patch, but they didn't have the deep shade variety that I think I need. I also spent some time in the garage last night trying to get things organized and ready for the sale. Did I mention the sale? I'm HAVING A GARAGE SALE on June 21st & 22nd. Come buy my crap! Actually, it's fairly amazing how much crap I have. It's also amazing how brutal I'm able to be on parting with stuff. I have this great new house and I want all my stuff at my house (not stashed in various auntie's garages) and I don't want that house full to the gills with crap. The one holdout where I'm having trouble getting rid of stuff is in the Christmas decorations category. I have way more than I need, but it's the one area where I feel like I actually use* the doubles. What's not particularly amazing is how freaky obsessed I've become with organizing my garage. I'm sure it's because the inside of your garage is one of the few areas the general public can see. I'm telling myself it's because I don't want it to look like I've got good stuff to steal, but I'm pretty sure it's because I'm afraid the world will think I'm messy. 06.09.03 You know you're a homeowner when...
I planted some herbs in my planters up on the balcony since I was so inspired by my grass seed actually germinating. Since I had extra seeds and a great big association planter that no one was doing anything with, I planted more herbs in there. It's not like flowers* but it'll fill in the dirt and smell nice and be green. If it turns out nice, maybe I'll do it every year and put a little sign that says "Fresh Herbs, please help yourself." Seems neighborly, doesn't it? Further yakking... Dave agrees with and links to Baseball for Fans, Not Twitchy Kids. While I agree that "today's" kids get very antsy at ball games -- I've taken a kid to a game -- I don't necessarily think that it's the high stimulus society that makes kids not enjoy baseball, or any live professional sport for that matter. Kids are interested in things that they do themselves. If they like to draw, they'll like to go to a museum to look at pictures. If they play baseball at school, home or little league, it'll be interesting for them to watch. Want kids to watch more baseball? Take them to the park and play catch, coach their teams, etc. Just like anything else, developing an interest starts at home. 06.05.03 Feeling bad for strangers I'm not sure what it is about 3am, but it's the meltdown hour. Last night, one of my neighbors kicked another woman out of her house. There was a lot of banging around and yelling to "Get out of my fucking house" and then then a good hour of horribly sad wailing from the gal that had been given the boot. For all I know, the woman that got kicked out had done something really horrible and deserved to be kicked out, but she sounded so amazingly forlorn that I felt bad for her anyway. 06.03.03 Mmm, summer... A productive summer weekend was had by all. Tim attached the leeches, my dad fixed our dryer, I planted grass seed, and my mom and I got the five years of composting leaves out from under our deck so our garage roof (hopefully) won't rot. On top of that, my folks stole my sister's couches. Maybe it was all the activity over the weekend that has left me feeling a little mentally worn down -- a feeling I hate to indulge in during the summer. Maybe the fancy new digital camera that Dave has lent me will inspire me to see the beauty in everyday things and snap them. 05.30.03 Birthday is over, but I'm keeping the monkey Thank you big time to all the folks that helped me celebrate my birthday yesterday! I got a kickin' bocce set from Ian & Anne, a license to spoil myself from Dave, "The" Glenlivet from Bill & Patrice, a way cool action figure from Tim (not work safe), and a food processor from Jenny & Pietro! (Hey, part of my "What I did last summer" is fulfilled now!) Mostly, It was fun to hang out on the deck and visit with everyone. Tim was a maestro with the grill and I got to see Stefan make a face of horror when he tried the Green Jell-O. But all was redeemed when we had the Strawberry dessert Jenny made! Another* Jell-O recipe from my youth and Jenny worked darned hard to get the recipe. See, it only existed in the aging brain of my godmother's mother. Between the Internet, our mom and my godmother, she did it and did it right -- down to the actual bowl mom used to make it in! Mmmm. I'll be sugar high for days. Thanks folks! 05.29.03 Just a Thursday
Must be the monkeys chillin' me out! Later that day... Pwahaha "Alex Cole is testosterone in action" according to the Strib. Um, Alex is a good guy, but that's not how I'd describe him. EZ Side: Random Tim Post from "da boards": Re: Maps Galore For The New Cartography System So, some zone maps are included in the files that are for zones which are unmappable in EQ. Edit: This might be the answer to your second question 05.28.03 FEH on you, Dave So DAVE says to stop reading the web and get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. He seems to forget that many of us are STUCK AT WORK. I saw we all DEMAND pictures of the nice day tomorrow if he doesn't post them. You've been warned, fuzzy one. 05.27.03 Indulging in a slower pace First there was Christmas, then there was the househunt, then the move, then the wedding. Tim and I have been at warp speed for six months or more. While the calendar still looked pretty crazy, we've been indulging in a slower pace. We still went to two barbeques this weekend, but rather than make it a marathon, we stayed for a couple of hours and then went home. I had a great time and yet I still had enough time sitting around to get antsy! I'm enjoying this and I hope I can maintain it... The EZ Board -- There's a new topic on the EZ Board "What I did last summer, in advance". Post your essay if you're so inclined. EZ Side: Cartoons I read every day (Steph): 05.23.03 I wish I could work in porn... No, I don't want to be a porn star. I don't want to direct movies or be a prostitute or even wait tables at a strip club. I just wish that instead of making web sites for widgets I could design sites or print pieces for the porn industry. I like porn, but even more than that, I like the idea of porn. I don't think of it much, but Business 2.0 has a nifty article about Steve Hirsh and his company Vivid. I remember when I first started renting porn movies that Vivid was one of the better companies and according to the article, I was exactly the target demographic at the time. I haven't rented much mainstream porn lately, but I know a few companies have taken the "high production values" way over the top for me -- it's a sex film, after all, and if you make it too slick, it's lame. I do surf porn sites occassionally, but I think their quest to make money (and therefore the endless links and banner ads) are a real turn off. I usually end up just surfing The Hun instead. The perfect porn is not quite there for me, but it's just as well. As with the nature of porn, if something is perfect, then that dream is fulfilled and it's not perfect anymore. That's why if I worked in porn I could constantly create the perfect porn. 05.22.03 Couldn't sleep last night I'm sleepy today because I'm dumb. I started sorting through crap for my upcoming garage sale (don't get too psyched, I'm talking end of June here) and was all keyed up. What a stupid reason to have a hard time falling asleep. I guess I'm feeling like the house is cluttered and the concept of ridding it of stuff is apparently way* appealing! 05.21.03 nuthin' really I'd tell you all my news, but I don't have much really. Got two more pictures hung on the wall last night (it was a little involved -- I had to get new glass for one and replace the mats on both of them) and installed the unbroken DSL wall filter (which was a little involved too -- apparently there was a special on fucked up colored phone cable when my house was being built.) But in a nutshell, I feel like we're settling into the house and I'm looking forward to a summer of deck sitting and puttering. 05.19.03 I saved $750 today... Last Monday I brought my '96 Civic in to Richfield-Bloomington Honda for some free warranty work. I picked them based on the fact that they were the closest Honda dealership with late night service center hours. Plus, I thought that Tim and I could wander around the lot and look at "new" used Civics and get a ballpark on our trade-in value and what a updated car might cost. Our salesman was such a stereotypical used car salesman that Tim and I were thoroughly put off. He said I was crazy for what I thought the retail value of our Civic was (I'd already looked it up online and in the paper) and way off base on what the retail value of his lot cars were (again, I'd done my homework.) He called me cheap. He said in one breath that 2001 used Civics cost $15K because Hondas hold their value so well and in the next that I would be lucky to get $5500 retail for my '96. We'd started our conversation saying unequivocally that we were not buying a car that night and he repeatedly asked what it would take to get us to buy a car that night. When he finally relents to give me a figure on what my trade-in would be, he takes me back to his desk and starts saying how "he's not supposed to do this" as he pulls out a bluebook value chart, and "how his manager is giving him the evil eye." After a half hour of browbeating, we decided we'd rather read week old newspapers in the service lobby than subject ourselves to this guy any further. Once back in the service lobby, they called me aside and very gravly told me that my CV boots were cracked and desperately needed replacing, that it was a dangerous thing (and $400) , and that my muffler needed replacing and would cost $500. I had a busy week planned so I honestly told them that I'd have to call and schedule the work. They said they could give me a ride home, but I said "no." Discouraged by my potential car shopping experience and dismayed that my car needed $1K of work done, I made alternate plans. I scheduled the work to be done at the Firestone I trust (not all of them are good, but I like mine a lot -- it's the one listed as being on Harmon, even though it's on Hawthorne now) and started to do some Internet shopping. I shopped for my current Civic on Autobytel.com so I started there. (Okay, I lied, I started at the mini.co.uk site, but quickly clicked back to reality.) I found a 2000 Civic with moderate miles for $12,9 ($1K less than the BEST DEAL at the dealership I went to) and requested a quote on trade-in, etc. After I'd sent the quote, the site informed me that the car was at none-other-than Richfield-Bloomington Honda. Grr. So when I got TWO emails from them in response to my request, I emailed back that I would not be doing business with their dealership due to a bad experience and told them not to contact me again. Which of course, they both did. Today, Firestone calls me after looking at my car. The first thing they say is that "it would be a real stretch to recommend replacing those CV boots. I wouldn't do it. $400 saved there. Then he goes on to say that I only need the back part of the muffler, not the whole thing, and that will be $260. When they recommended a timing belt (something I'd put off 18K miles ago due to finances) I said fine. Moral of the story? The "experts" can be sleazy liars and you should always trust your instincts and find a mechanic you trust. 05.05.03 Cinco de Mayo A fifth of Mayo to everyone! Talk about cholesterol inducing holidays... Wait, that's all of them, isn't it? I won't say that everything is straightened out, but I have a new batch of promises from people that it will be "fixed" today. I'm mellow enough right now to take a wait and see attitude. In the meantime, it's a typical rainy spring week, but now that we're in the townhouse, it's a little more pleasant -- the rain on the roof is a sound that I love that I haven't heard in a long time. Plus, the new place is so much quieter that we can actually hear that instead of a thousand people showering/etc. I saw my next door neighbors planting flowers in their planter on Saturday and they waved, so apparently they don't hate us from our big entertaining binge. Phew! My flowers come in tomorrow -- Maybe I can pick them up after Tim and I go to the doctor. Hmm! 05.01.03 May Day, The Fun Stuff Happy May Day folks. Dance around a pole or do a labor march or whatever you want to do to celebrate. If you can get your hands on a recording of last night's Twins game, DO check it out. We had great seats (thanks SCG) to watch the total mayhem. Gardenhire tossed during the second at bat, 4 hit batters, two tossed pitchers, couple of home runs, and triple plays. Amazing. Also amazing? The townhouses across the street from our new place seem to be putting the same butt ugly siding on themselves that we just fled from. No justice, I tell ya. The Not So Fun Stuff So I finally talked to someone at Beneficial yesterday and now I'm not sure who to hate more. Before, it was all my Title company telling me that Beneficial was dicking with them. When I talked to Beneficial, I learned some very interesting tidbits on the way that my Title company dropped the ball big time. When I left a voice mail for my closer asking her what her opinion on this was, she left me a spew-y voice mail back placing the blame back on Beneficial. According the both places, the title company sent the request for the payoff amount on April 24th. But the title company sent it to Bloomington, (I'm not sure why) and when my Beneficial office found out, they claim that they told Mora at the title company of the correct procedure (send it to Illinois.) When the Beneficial gal got in in the morning of the closing, the request was on her desk -- not Illinois. So she told them where to send it again. The title company then sent it to Illinois at 3pm on the closing date for a 3:30 closing, but Beneficial's policy says they need 48 hours. When the title company didn't like that result they started calling other branches of Beneficial. I'm not sure why they did that -- if I don't like my cheeseburger, I'm not going to call every McDonalds in the city... According to the Title company, they weren't informed of the Illinois thing until 3pm on the day of the closing. (Which doesn't quite explain how Beneficial had the name of the woman that they told -- not a woman that I've ever met at Village Title.) Now, generally speaking, because I think that Beneficial is a predatory lender and yadda yadda, I'd be inclined to believe the title company if yesterday, the day after my closing, I finally received the letter saying that my closing would be in Maplewood, not Forest Lake. But they addressed it to 512 instead of 513 (a closing THEY did). Plus, this was the third* notice, since the first one had the wrong day, the second one obviously had the wrong closing location, and the third one, annoyingly, had the wrong address for me. But, it doesn't really matter what went down. The bottom line is that they both suck suck suck and they're blaming everyone else. In the meantime, our stress level has stayed high high high. 04.30.03 Banks My first bank account was with First Bank (now US Bank) because they were within biking distance and I was 14. I left Fear Bank (affectionately referred to as such by employees, I hear) at 20 something because a bad snowstorm closed all their branches so they would not accept my paycheck deposit, but they would continue to present checks for payment. When I pointed out the injustice they snidely explained that I should have anticipated the 30+" Halloween snowstorm and made appropriate financial plans. After that, I went to Marquette Bank because I was living in St. Louis Park and they'd given my boyfriend a car loan. I found them to be fantastic and only closed my account there because I moved out of state. While I was gone, they got bought out by Fear Bank, so there was no going back. In California, I attempted to open an account at Bank of America, but NO ONE WOULD TALK TO ME. To the point where they ignored my name on a list of people waiting for service. Shocked, I walked out, hopped back on the light rail and went to Wells Fargo down the street where they gave me a cash card that worked when I opened my account -- cool. Recently, I got the opportunity to tell a Bank of America telemarketer that I wouldn't take their credit card if they were giving away free puppies after the way they'd treated me. It made the telemarketer laugh and it made me feel at least a little bit like I'd stuck it to them. When I moved back, I opened up an account at TCF -- again, a proximity based decision since I was out in Moundsview and there weren't many banks there. When I moved to Southeast Minneapolis, I opened an account at Norwest and had two accounts for a while. Upon getting married, I walked into Norwest and said "Hey, I got married and need to change my name." A short form and 5 minutes later, my name was changed. I figured I had 55 minutes left on my lunch break and I'd go change my name at TCF. A 20 minute wait, a huge list of forms and affidavits required and an explanation that I'd need to return to the bank two times to change my name convinced me that it was time to stick with one checking account and tell TCF bye-bye. When Voyager Mortgage asked how I ended up with Beneficial Mortgage I had to explain that when I first got my mortgage, I was part of a non-traditional couple and not even my beloved Norwest would underwrite people that were shacking up. Other than selling my mortgage instantaneously, Voyager has been good to us. Up until yesterday, Beneficial was good to us too. But they chose our closing date to have their heads up their butts and nearly botched the entire thing. They had 7 days to tell me how much money they needed to pay off the loan and somehow they couldn't figure that out. When I called them to ask for the amount, they were rude as hell. They suck suck suck and if you have a mortgage through them, get rid of it as soon as possible. Do it while it's not important. Write them letters and tell them how much they suck. Tell your friends never to use them. Wish them ill. Thanks. 04.28.03 The problem with little web updates is that generally if there are no updates, one thinks that probably means that there is no news, but the reality is that people don't update when they are insanely busy. Jenny & Pietro got hitched without a hitch. The Marquette Hotel was, as usual, amazing. The weather really shone for us for both the wedding and the rehearsal dinner, and the tailgating tent saw girlie decorations like it's never seen before (picture forthcoming.) The new condo siding is so hideous that we've taken to calling it "The World's Largest Double Wide" -- thank goodness we've moved. Our new neighbors at the Townhouse are proving to be both wonderful and horrible. Our immediate neighbors were so* nice not to go ballistic on us while we entertained like crazy (not just the rehearsal dinner but the very noisy bachelorette party.) Down the way, the treasurer of our association was door knocking to prove that she was a hostile neighbor to an development that would turn a vacant, nasty building into a restaurant. She succeeded in motivating me to write the City Planner to say that I supported the development and that I thought my other neighbors were off base. We'll see what happens. We've taken to using Simon Delivers for our groceries -- originally because there just wasn't time to go shopping, but we're going to try it again this week and test it on "normal" use. The big news will be whether or not they come through on the Filets we've got coming in order to celebrate the closing of the condo. Of course, this means our first post-closing purchase is going to be a new grill. Yeah! That's all I can think of right now. Isn't that enough? 04.23.03 T-2 to Jenny & Pietro's wedding! Wait, would that mean it was Friday or Saturday? Because the wedding is on Friday! Both Jenny & Pietro have been bachelized, everyone in the party is outfitted, and the food is ready for the rehearsal. I never did get around to breaking in my shoes, so I may be miserable and I've get to finalize my toast. So sweat. Eep. 04.18.03 It's Friday! This has been the slowest fastest week that I can remember for a long time. It's been fun and nerve wracking at the same time. The house is starting to look good and magically, the garage is looking progressively worse! Have a good weekend, folks. 04.16.03 All I can really say is that I'm "Getting There". Now, I'm not entirely certain where "there" is, but I think it's a place where I have one fairly cleaned up house, a clean, sold condo, a bachelorette party thrown, programs made, a dinner party completed, a sister married, a functioning computer and network, and projects taken care of. Of course, I feel like I'm moving at wagon train speed.. 04.15.03 DSL! After two trips to UPS (the driver wasn't back yet the first time) and a quick setup, we're with DSL again. Phew! It was quite annoying, I have to say. Now we just have some configuration issues to deal with since the new modem is a bit different from the old modem. Definitely looking forward to the wireless when we get around to that. 04.14.03 Why you should get a cable modem, part 2 So Qwest finally shut off our phones at the "old" place, and started them up at the "new" place. I called and confirmed that the one remaining service order was indeed for DSL and that we were getting the right modem. Everything seemed to be "okay" and we were supposed to receive our modem last Thursday or Friday and service was supposed to start today. Since nothing arrived last week and nothing happened today, I decided to call customer support one more time. I got transferred to someone in DSL tech support who tracked our modem. They'd shipped it to the "old" place. I got the tracking number and I can pick it up at UPS since 3 delivery attempts have already been made. I made him check the service and they'd set everything except the billing address to the new place (which is why the modem went there) so supposedly we were "okay" for the service. Then they transferred me to Brook who changed my billing address (whee) and verified that my listing and service address was correct. Just to be safe, I asked her to check that they had my ISP right since Pro-NS hadn't received any information about our new service. Sure enough, they'd set me up with "Qwest.Net" and now I'm on hold (38 minute into the call so far) to get that "changed" to the right one. But hey, all that's left is a completely unnecessary trip to UPS (whee!) and the time that it takes to get my ISP sorted out. Yeah... 04.11.03 I'm optimistic. Many of the rooms have the furniture where it belongs and many boxes have been unpacked (thanks to Tim & Jenny.) It's still pretty chaotic, but I can see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe by the end of the weekend we can have at least the major mess out of the way and start fine tuning things. Although, not too much, because there's cooking to be done, party planning, condo cleaning and if there's any time after that, a few projects that have been sat on for way too long. 04.09.03 Eep. Let's see -- the furniture movers came yesterday. The new house is full, the old house is filthy. We've got our work cut out for us. The electrician comes today and supposedly the new DSL modem comes Thursday or Friday (with new service starting on Monday.) I didn't run out of hot water this morning. I did have to get a wakeup call from my mom because we forgot the alarm clocks at the old place. It's exciting and scary and a lot of work left to be done. 04.04.03 Incommunicado Qwest was true to their word on Wednesday and disconnected our DSL. Then yesterday they disconnected our dial tone at the new place. Thankfully, they actually started our dial tone service at the new place. Maybe that means that they're starting our DSL order there too? In the meantime, we're feeling very out of the loop with no internet and marginal phones. 04.02.03 -- In order of importance... Happy Birthday Tim! Qwest Update: Yesterday Tim checked all the jacks at the new place, no service. I checked the status of our orders; completed & pending. Today I called and talked to Danielle and explained that I'd been hung up on by so many people that I just wanted to know what these so-called "orders" were actually for. She was very nice and said she'd stop service at our old place today and that when that happened the new place would probably start working. Then, once it's working they can start the order for our DSL, which apparently has been shoved aside. If our phones aren't working at the new place tomorrow, we're supposed to call repair and Danielle said she'd try calling me tomorrow. Uh huh. In the news, not applicable to me, but irritating none-the-less. To avoid the threatened loss of $350 million in federal child-support money, Minnesota plans to begin requiring Social Security numbers when hunting and fishing licenses are sold. [star tribune] This was getting long... January - March >>
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What
is that crazy picture, you ask? It's my grasslings! May 30th I raked and
seeded our big patch of dirt that was supposedly our front lawn. (I waited
for the association to do something, but apparently growing grass is not
part of yard maintenance? Nor is weeding, or trimming, or picking up sticks,
or...) Anyway, it was a week of watering with no discernable effect, then
suddenly Saturday, we had a puberty peach-fuzz of a lawn. Woot.
A
birthday Thursday! I know that birthdays are supposed to cease being really
important when you grow up. But I like my birthday. I had so much
fun as a kid that I really don't think that there's any reason for that
to stop as a grown up. I know that my sister-in-law Anne thinks so too.
I've cooled it from the whole birthday-month and birthday-week and this
is the second year that I've actually worked* (not taken a vacation day)
on my birthday. This year I don't even seem to have the bad "you're
going to ask me to DO something on my birthday???" attitude with
my co-workers.| Fark The Onion Star Tribune Wired News Southeast Angle EverQuest |
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