Reflection

Here is a time piece of a bridal/wedding arrangement from the historical museum. A wedding dress (not this one) was on display that was supposedly sewn by Dean Martin's aunt. This town is the birthplace of Dean-o.

Presidential candidate McCain was very close to my house today. He spoke at the local High School's ball field. The Principal made it clear that the school was not endorsing either candidate and it was not mandatory for students to attend the event.

I am on my way to the theater tonight "Rocky Horror Picture Show." Ooohh. So Halloweenish? Cripes. I haven't even seen the movie. How lame is that? I will be getting me a prop bag, though. Hey, I'm cool. I "googled" the event. No surprises for me. Well, maybe no surprises. I'll let ya know.

Crisp air

I added some enhancement to this photo to make the colors pop a little bit more. It was a bit dreary the day I took this picture. I enjoy the fall. I am very fortunate that I don't have any allergies (that I am aware of) that inhibit me from going outside and taking in all of the leaves turning colors.

My post yesterday was a bit dramatic. We are not eating cereal and eggs. I made a huge pot of chili and I find it quite good. My daughter is not one to eat soups. Except for tomato soup with a toasted cheese sandwich. One of our favorites.

But, the part about my co-worker was not fabricated. In fact I toned it down. There is so much more. It is comforting to know that I am not the only one to put up with it.

I am currently reading a plethora of books. One in particular "Our Iceberg Is Melting" is interesting. It is about change and dealing with it.

Run and hide

Here is the park from the other evening when I took pictures. Today was a "run and hide" day. It certainly was not my day. Good grief.

My co-worker began her usual banter. I didn't want to deal with her diarrhea of the mouth, so I reached in my desk drawer to pull out my (personal) head phones. Except they weren't there. I think the last time I saw them was a little over two weeks ago. I looked everywhere. I racked my brain trying to remember if I had taken them somewhere. There would be no need to take them home as I have another set there.

I hate the dinky ear buds that come with today's equipment and work only gets you crappy stuff, so I brought my own in. Our office door has not locked in years (brand new building, crappy construction). I don't dare complain because the company that I work for does not pay this office rent for me and my co-worker. We are there only by their good graces. A few years back a certain manager at that office threw that fact up in my face and I'll never forget that sweet lady. Heh. Well, they are going to get the door fixed, now. Always after the horse is stolen, lock the barn door. I don't think it bothers me so much that I lost a nice set of headphones as the fact that we have somebody in the building who is a thief.

That wasn't the worst part. I have a folder on my hard drive where I keep all my "stuff". I could not access it this morning. It was corrupted. I never cared much for System RESTORE, but it saved my butt today. I restored my system back to yesterday at 9:00 a.m. It zapped my anti-virus, but I was happy to have my folder back.

Our office has never purchased us any anti-virus software. Doesn't that just figure? I downloaded the free AVG. My computer is so-o-o slow, now. You get what you pay for.

I had an old copy of Norton AV Corporate edition from years ago. It was such a hassle to install it, I just wasn't up to it today. That's why I went with Grisoft's version.

My system still may not be right. I guess time will tell.

My co-worker sits over there and grins from ear to ear all hopped up on her pain medication and now the doctor has given her stimulants to keep her from falling asleep at her desk (and hopefully at the wheel of her car). Now, she jumps around like a Mexican jumping bean and it has loosened her tongue up even more (as if she wasn't chatty enough!) I just want to deck her a good one and wipe that smile off her smug face.

I kid you not. ALL day today she played McDonald's monopoly game on-line. There you go. It is no wonder government employees get such a lazy, no good reputation. I can't stand her.

When she sees me rubbing my eyes or flinching she asks "Migraine?" or, "Are you in pain?" If I dare say "Yes" she jumps in with "You're lucky you don't have MY pain!" That is enough to start her torrent of "woe is me" stories and "poor, poor pitiful me" tales. This is the reason I wanted to sit and listen to my CD and block her out. It is the only way I can deal with her without wanting to strangle her.

My dog has fleas! FLEAS!!! The $100 I was going to spend in groceries just went to flea medicine for the damn pets. Five cats and one dog. It's eggs and cereal for the rest of the week, daughter dear.

Yeah. I'm going to bed now. Don't we have a beautiful park?

Light in the museum

I was fascinated with the staircase of the museum. Except it was cold in there. No money to heat it and there are not many visitors. But the best part was the train in the basement.

Kool-aid mouth

Actually it was red punch. This little girl stole the show at the six year old boy's birthday party. He did not care. He was constantly running with the older kids. Bursting balloons (much to my dismay). This time my daughter had the headache. I had been battling a headache and had taken migraine medicine earlier.

Most of the time it looks as if some folks are sissies and are "scared" of balloons. In my case, I am scared of the headache I am going to get from the sudden "bang" of the balloon popping. This is why I hate loud noises. And they had a lot of balloons to pop. Most of the games were centered around the balloons. It was an afternoon nightmare.

My daughter's headache went away on the drive home.

We went to a gadget show at our local library. We did not win the drawing for the Wii. Drat. I did learn about the Kindle and Sony's version. Of course, now I want one. I also saw an iPod speaker that I wouldn't mind having. There was one GPS. There were the usual gaming stations and Verizon had a cell phone display. I was not interested in any of those. Overall, it was rather paltry. I heard others say the same thing. We are hoping it will grow into something more substantial next year. I may call some local vendors and mention to them that they missed a golden opportunity to show some of their stuff. It could be that the larger ones are not able to display their products in such a fashion.

Sony

Kindle

The salesman with the iPod speaker talked me into participating in Black Friday. almost. I despise crowds and I despise shopping. I also don't like to get up and get moving at that early of an hour. Although with my recent early morning insomnia, this may not be an issue. Another reason I don't participate is because I am too darn tired.

I usually go all out for the dinner on Thanksgiving. If I am not fixing stuff, I am helping a family member prepare. It still (and always will) infuriate me that the women still fix and clean up the mess while the men sit around watching football and sleeping off the heavy meal. Why my sisters let them get away with it is beyond me. What am I saying? I do the same for my nephew when he comes to visit. He does not help to clean up. (kicking myself). But, is he family or a guest? So, I am guilty. I have only myself to blame for this pet peeve.

I went with a small group to tour a Historical Museum on Friday. The house (museum) was just beautiful. I took pictures. It was sad to read some of the letters from soldiers to their families.

We watched Made of Honor (blah) and What Happens in Vegas. Vegas had some funny parts. Somebody please give Kutcher a decent hair style. His droopy hair was driving me crazy. Co-stars Hater and Tipper almost stole the show right out from under the stars. Lake and Rob were a comedic delight.

Hyper drive

It looks as if this soybean field is diseased with stem rot or stem canker of a sort. I am not sure. It makes for a colorful photo, though. I am still having the early morning insomnia.

I ended up being in a state of hyper activity yesterday, probably due to sleep deprivation. It wasn't the coffee I purchased because that was basically undrinkable. By the time I arrived at the meeting I was in supersonic "ON". I was practically beaming. I tend to be funny (quite possibly annoying) when I am in this state. I tried to "check" myself many times. I would say to myself 'calm down' or 'relax' a few times.

After the meeting I went on to another job in a neighboring county. That went okay. I ate a quick lunch, then home to take a 20 minute nap.

At the dinner I was in super sonic mode again. I bounced around an overheated cafeteria chatting with small children who were complete strangers to me. That is what I do. I move around quickly so I don't come across as a freaky stalker. By the time it came for me to sell raffle tickets my hyper drive was in full force. This may have been in part to the cream stick I ate after my late lunch. Hmmm.

I kept the never ending line of folks in stitches. Again, maybe I was annoying. I didn't need to worry about the dinner falling flat. It was so successful they sold out of dinner tickets and had to start using them over again. It went all too fast and at the end I was left with a feeling of complete and utter melancholy. I walked the halls of the high school (no longer my daughter's school) lost in a wave of sadness, watching the students pump up for the pep rally. The band was in full swing as they marched through the halls to the cadence of their snare drum player (memories of when I was in the high school band).

All of a sudden I was in 1975 with my clarinet feeding off of the roar of the crowd. My daughter is not a part of this. She never was. She shuns school and her fellow students.

I watched five minutes of the rally and sadly walked to my car. I remember selling raffle tickets for a millennium quilt when she was in third grade. I had parked in the exact same spot. Nine years have come and gone. The crash had begun.

The reception

Here is the backdrop of where the wedding party sat at the event earlier this month. It was a beautiful get together with family and watching two wonderful people get together after 6 years of dating.

I woke up at 3 this morning. It is going to be a long day. I have to drive to another county for a technical meeting and after work I am helping out with my daughter's class spaghetti dinner. I get to sell raffle tickets. I probably won't be home until nine p.m.

What do you do to keep you going all day on a marathon day? I am feeling groggy now, but this is the normal time I get up so I need to go and hit the shower. Cold to wake me up, I guess. I drink coffee but I can go to sleep right after a cup, so that doesn't do much good.

I'll take my camera and drive with the window down to get the fresh cool air on my face. Staying awake during the boring parts of the meeting is the hardest part. At another meeting two days ago I had taken migraine medicine and was rubbing my forehead and I swear I fell asleep doing that.

No riding with anyone because I have a job right after at a school close by the meeting place, so I have to go off on my own. I doubt that I will get to lunch with the group, but I just did that on Tuesday so I am okay with that.

Most of the fall colors are faded, but maybe I'll find a jewel out there today. Headache is starting so I am off to drink some cool water and shower.

Backroads

I think that is one of my favorite places to be. Driving on a back country road in Ohio taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. I love it!

Senior pictures are taken. The weather was superb. A little breezy and my daughter's eyes get dried out, but the sunshine was fantastic. He took a lot outside. I get to view them Saturday. I have to squeeze it in. I have something at 11:00, view pics at 12:15, (back to the earlier event) then a birthday party at 4:00.

Photographer spoke a lot about the election. (Is there anything else?) He said the perfect candidate should be a gay, black woman. Then he said something about Condoleezza Rice, but I didn't catch it.

Valley View

My daughter is getting her Senior portraits/pictures taken today. Gah! Weather forecast: High of 53, abundant sunshine. We will be outside for half of the photos. Double Gah! I think I will stay in the car. Partly to stay warm and partly to refrain from making any comments which will certainly elicit a negative look, comment and mood from my teenage daughter. Triple Gah!

Numbers

Driving the other day I couldn't resist the numbers depicted in this license plate. 79 for the county, and the birth date of 7-09 started it out. Then I saw the number 9. I also saw the 3 + 4 = 7. If you add the remaining 2, you get NINE! Wow! When I showed my daughter she said, "Well D is the 4th letter of the alphabet..." That got me thinking. If D is the 4th, N is the 14th and P is the 16th. Add them all together you get 34, right? So what? Until you add 3 + 4 and get SEVEN!

No sunshine

Returning from a school in another county on Friday I tried to capture some of the foliage, but the sun did not shine that day. At least not while I was on the road. It is a little disconcerting for me to look to find that I have not posted in four days. I like to read back over the years to see what I was doing last October or last Easter. Things like that. When I don't post, I tend to omit things that may bring back a quirky memory for me years from now. Oh, well. Life gets in the way.

Where to next?

Just so you know. I did NOT choose the socks.

Geese

Across the lake is Canada... no, it isn't. It is still Ohio. There are just Canadian geese over there. Lots and lots of them. This was just one snapshot of the far side of the lake.

In the late 80's my brother and I rented a huge farm house in the middle of nowhere. There were two house on a long dirt lane. Our neighbor had geese. The big white ones. I was not and am not fond of geese. Mean critters. They attacked my car. They tried to attack me but I was having none of that. Purses come in handy. They were gone before my daughter arrived.

That story sounds like my brother and I were from a family of inbreds. No. His girlfriend was living with us and on any given week-end his kids were there from his previous marriage and her kid lived with us. When I had my daughter I moved out after 4 years. I had finally landed a decent job and matured enough to support she and I and create a home for the two of us.

Swimmingly

Yesterday was a beautiful day for duck feeding and playing in the park. Our park has a great new play area in the shape of a train. Wow! It was fantastic. Today was just as nice. No playing, though. Mowing.

Sunglasses

I am getting a visitor today. Without my sister and niece. Just the wee one. And me. Well, my daughter will be here but "she hates kids". Uh, no she doesn't. You should see her with the little ones. They run to her.

Anyway, we may go to the park. It will be a nice reprieve playing with this one while my calendar is full of scheduling senior pictures, college visits, SAT tests and the like. Oh, the time. The time does fly.

When folks say that, I laugh and say "It's been the longest (insert age of daughter here) years of my life!" Now it is all coming crashing in around me. I am trying to apply the brakes. Can you smell the burnt rubber? My heels are digging in. I am leaning way back. I won't give in without a fight, I tell you.

Oh, I finished the book by William Shatner. Very funny, very good read. I have moved on to a political one. The name escapes me. Google found it, "The Great Derangement" by Matt Taibbi. Not sure if I am going to stick with this one. So far, so good. If the book is anything like the introduction, I'll like it.

Up to my ears in it

Today I read and provided some documentation on how to resolve DNS problems. Yeah, I had a headache. But it wasn't just from the dreary DOS CLI. From 8:00 to 10:00 I listened to my co-worker yak, yak, yak about her re-modeling her kitchen. More about the recipes she was reading out of a magazine. More on her new "date" last night.

"I got a kiss last night!" We are 48 and 44, not 18 and 14.

At around 10:00 she leaned around her desk to look at me. I position my monitor so she can't see me, or better so I cannot see her. "Did you know that broccoli has..."

That was it, I blew my gasket. "I'm trying to work here!"

"Oh!" and she hung her head. I heard some sniffling. But I got peace and quiet. For about an hour anyway. Good grief.

Ladder in the street

"Well, Doc. It seemed like a real good idea at the time."

I can see this photographer telling the emergency room doctor how he got hit by a car while standing on a ladder in the middle of a one way street in downtown. The nut.

I am still playing catch up. Washing clothes, fixing dinner, cleaning the kitchen. I got hit with a classic migraine at noon today. I got the visual auras. I have not had those in years! Maybe more than a decade if not twenty years. I've not started any new medicine. Out of the blue.

I immediately took my medicine (for migraine) and ran to McD's to get some salty french fries. I went home, put the sleep mask over my eyes and listened to the television while holding my cat. I took the rest of the afternoon off. I figured it wouldn't be long before I was feeling well enough to get up and do chores. It was over four hours before I felt like doing anything worthwhile.

By six p.m. I was washing clothes, cooking dinner, washing pots and pans, getting the garbage out and I am still going with laundry. My daughter and I both had a mountain to wash.

Last week I finished the book "The Mapmaker's Wife." It was very boring at first. It appears as if the author did his research very well and went on an on about how in the 1600's and 1700's they were measuring the earth's circumference, etc.. barely anything about the woman that represented the book title. Then it seems to have wrapped the story up quickly, like he ran out of time or something. Or, maybe because he started to write about her miraculous trip down the Amazon I was more interested and it seemed to go faster.

I can't even tell you how horrifying her trip must have been. She started out being carried like a princess and ended up wondering around by herself in the Amazon territory infested by army ants, and bugs that dug down into her skin and scalp (may be chigoe fleas), bats that actually crept up at night and sucked their blood (so says the author), and billions of merciless blood-sucking mosquitoes, jaguars, who knows what kind of fish and of course the dreaded anaconda. (Shutter).

I am relieved to say that the next book I am currently reading is funny and has me laughing until I cry. It is William Shatner's "Up Till Now." He may have been arrogant and hard to work with but this book is great.

The cake

I'm playing catch up. I've been trying to get my photos posted so the family can see them. The Happy Couple better not be waiting for them. I'm thinkin' they have better things to do here.

Not this year

Sigh. I am skipping so many things this year. Skipped a vacation over the summer. Skipped the county fair. Now I am skipping the October Fall Festival. Oh well. I have a big family wedding this week-end out of town. We could go to the festival tomorrow afternoon/evening but my daughter has put off shopping for new shoes every day this week. I am trying to get her butt in gear this evening, but no. I need to mow the grass and we need to go shopping. I have my clothes, but I always like to look and see if there is anything nicer out there, you know?

Anyway, I suppose that will leave us tomorrow evening running around trying to find her a comfortable pair of dress shoes. And my daughter wants to go and see a movie tomorrow night. I usually don't buy anything but a welcome sign for my door. Maybe some candles. It is the food and atmosphere that I enjoy. They have Indian dances and a colonial display of tents and outdoor fires. It is a colorful and aromatic adventure for the soul. One year I purchased a flute CD of Indian music, another year Celtic music with a hammer dulcimer.

Did we miss the parade?

What if they sleep through it? I guess you have to get your spot early if you want to see the parade. There was an old classic car show to see, too.