Disaster Recovery Plan

Just in case Blogger goes down for longer than 24 - 48 hours (they claim only 20 hours; oh that is right - read only mode) we need a disaster recovery plan. Everybody needs to post on their blog - in case of a disaster you can read my posts here:  New name of blogging site. Then make sure you copy and save that place in a text file in case one day you turn on your computer and you can never reach any of your blog friends again. Horror of horrors!

I am going to research the following sites for potential future blog posting:

http://www.weebly.com/

http://wordpress.com/

http://www.sosblog.com/

Because weren't you thinking "What if it never comes back?"

Well, what if they don't?

It's a free blog program. There is no guarantee.

So much! No time!

The father (I think it was the father) of this little tyke let me take his photograph. I was waiting for friends to arrive for dinner and was enjoying the outside (between raindrops).

I have so many stories since I posted last week. Ouch! I never go a week between posts, I don't think. I would have posted Thursday or Friday but as we all know - Blogger took a tumble! That does not bother me so much except for the fact I wanted to comment on some bloggers posts when the ideas were fresh in my mind.I should have created a text file in Notepad with my comments so that I could go back and comment later. Drat!

I left all of you with my so-so experience at the Gervasi winery. Came to find out that the caramels I purchased at the gift store were SUPPOSED to have coffee beans in them. I am such an idiot! I chewed a couple with the caramel when I needed that boost of caffeine. It worked. It was a bitter bean but it gave me energy. Then I threw the rest of the box away. Yuck!

The manager finally returned my call yesterday - a full week after our dinner. I was at work and busy with a school so she left a message. She wanted to wait that long to see if any other customers called in to complain.I am sure she, the owner and their lawyer were going over what she would say exactly. Anyway, nobody else called them and she hoped that all of us were feeling better and perhaps it was a stomach bug that was going around the house. What? She just assumed we were a family and all lived in the same house? Whatever! I touched base with my friends and they are all better and they all agree - no more Gervasi's. And we are telling everybody we know.

Now, Saturday the 7th. I managed to watch the Derby before taking off to see "The Wizard of Oz" - the production playing in my home town where I got to help paint the set. Oh my, it was fun. My nephew/sister/niece called that morning to let me know that they were descending upon my home later that afternoon. I told them I was going to kick their ass! I had e-mailed them two weeks ago and said to please let me know if they were coming into town this week-end so that I could arrange to get them tickets to the show. Since I had not heard from them - I did not get the tickets. Well, it took some fancy footwork and phone calling on my part but I got us all in and we loved it! 

Oh, and poor Toto took a tumble! They used a live Yorkshire Terrier for the show. The dog was amazing. He was in almost every scene. He was quiet. He was calm. He was beautiful. I asked a friend who built the set "Did they drug the dog?" He said "No, the dog is always like that!' Anyway during our showing when the Winkie takes Toto from Dorothy in the witches castle, Toto decided he had enough of that stupid basket and jumped out and fell down a couple of steps. Well, a little dog like that it could be serious. He was fine. He rolled over a couple of times, stood up - shook himself off and trotted away. Everybody in the audience gasped. But, all good news. The dog is fine. They did use a stuffed animal in a couple of scenes.

We went out to eat afterwards and continued our raucous fun.

Whew, enough for now.

Yes, there was an "s"

Actual size pictured above of the one carrot I received with my meal. (NO, not really. I snagged this photo off the Internet).  Friends and I ate at Gervasi's Bistro last evening. I did not think to check the menu, but yes - now that I look at the on-line menu the selection I made clearly stated "baby carrots" and NOT baby CARROT (singular).  I got one carrot the size of my pinkie finger. It was rather humorous actually.

The filet was a nice cut. Cooked perfectly but rather tasteless. If the rosemary demi was supposed to flavor it - I could have used a little more punch. If they wanted a European atmosphere; (that being very small serving size for exuberant prices) then they have achieved it.

Seriously. This is the ONLY time I have eaten at a high-end restaurant and two hours later I was starving again. I'd rather spend the $34 on a nice meal for my daughter and myself at Red Lobster and had the biscuits and salad included with my meal.  This bistro did serve bread. However, it seemed to be soaked in olive oil. It was so moist with the oil it was chewy. I think I would have rather eaten one of the gluten free rolls. At least she got butter with hers.

A positive note. The owner's wife is gluten intolerant (so says Abraham) and he brought gluten free rolls for one of my friends at the table.

I passed on the wine and the dessert. I knew that this would add at least $15 to my bill. I DID get a bite of my friend's cheesecake and it was very good. Most of my friends ordered the pizza, but they did not care for it. One girl threw up (later) after her meal of pasta. It was sad and pathetic.

Atmosphere - A
Service - A+ (say hello to Abraham and ask him "What is the mystery of life") LOL!
Food - C -
Prices (for the food received) - F

I can now say that "Yes, I ate there. And once WAS enough". I doubt I will be returning or recommending it to anybody.

Here is a kicker. Abraham brought us caramels after our meal stating that they were especially imported from Italy. I purchased a box in the gift box for $3 and they are manufactured in Illinois. Nice try, Abraham. Wait. Seriously. I just found a rock hard vanilla bean in one of my caramels. This place is going down! Where do I post my scathing review?! And why in the HELL can I never find my camera battery or the charger?

Okay, cell phone to the rescue.

Update!:  Three more of my party became sick over night from the food at Gervasi's. Time to call the manager there.

What's in a (code)name?

Seems like some folks are upset about the military using "Geronimo" as the code name for 'O bin la'. Here is a photo I snagged of the Apache warrior. Yikes!  He kind of looks like he is wearing a version of a keffiyeh. Then put a long, thin and scraggly beard on him and - OMG! There are not many recent pictures of obinla. If there were, I bet the face would be close to looking as craggy as Gero's.

Speaking of pictures - I do not care to see the gruesome details of the body.

Really, though. Can you imagine life if your name was Katrina? Why didn't people with this name sue the World Meteorlogical Organization or at least ask for an apology? Actually I am kind of surprised they didn't  - given the audaciousness of human nature.

Reading

Currently I am reading "The Dark Fields" by Alan Glynn. The movie "Limitless" is based on this book. I have not seen the movie, yet. I plan to after I finish the book. The first half of the book was kind of mundane but picked up a bit in the middle. I have heard that the movie is much different. It would have to be - in order to keep the attention of the audience.

Speaking of movies, I was flipping through previews the other day. I came across the move "Devil". Though not my usual predilection, I was intrigued. I simply cannot watch it alone, however. I know that sounds strange, but there it is. :)

Just a weird observation: the city on the cover of the book is upside down and the beginning of the movie "Devil" pictures an upside down city scape. 

HP TouchSmart = Epic Fail!

Here is a picture of the box. We took it out of the box and NO hdmi port. nada. None. Nil. Zilch. After a few calls to HP - they stated that the hdmi needs to be a special order. They said they could not control what was on the outside of the box. When I complained about the box, Natalie attempted to connect me to the Phillippines. That is where I would have to lodge a complaint. Needless to say the call got disconnected in the transfer. Surprised? Me, neither.

Epic Fail to Best Buy salesman, too. Not a clue. No idea. Each one I spoke with was "What? There is no hdmi port? Are you sure?" They wanted to see for themselves so we took it back. All of it for a full refund. They had to see for themselves that the box read hdmi digital input. Nobody on the phone would believe us. Try harder Best Buy. My daughter says it is not their fault that HP has false advertising on their box. Whatever.

We purchased the Sony make believe. This purchase increased the processor but we lost the TV tuner. Not a problem, my daughter didn't care much about that. A tuner adapter can be added any time. As long as she got the hdmi. Sony has the input AND the output hdmi. Take that, HP. You only offer the input. Put a sock in it.

My daughter draws with PhotoShop on the touch screen. HP had the nice braking feature on the monitor, but hey - you bombed out, hp. We ditched you. Epic Fail HP, epic.

Tangled

Sigh. No, not the movie. Wires. I do not deal with this (photo) much anymore. Thank God! I still have tangled messes at work, though. I have four major issues and no matter how hard I try, I cannot get them resolved! I have banged my head against my computer all week in an attempt to at least fix one of them before the week is over. I have today,  yet. There does not seem to be a fix for them. Arrgghh!

The movie. My daughter and her beau have the movie at his house. They are going to stop and get it today so I can watch it. We won the movie in a gift basket at a recent benefit supper. Yay!

I do have a movie to comment on. The Sea Inside.  It was an interesting biopic of a man who became a quadriplegic after a diving accident. He wanted somebody to assist him in suicide after 28 years of paralysis. Somebody asked me "why didn't he just quit eating?"  I am not positive of the answer to that, but perhaps they would have fed him intravenously if he tried that. I don't know.

What a pair

They came as a pair. Mr. Tibbs on the left and Teton on the right.

Like a Rock

Stood there boldly, sweatin’ in the sun

The song was still resounding in my head after
my drive.


...felt like a million, felt like number one


I sat down at my computer to check my e-mail messages

....at the height of summer, I’d never felt that strong

My god! I felt so strong and alive back then.

Like a rock

My daughter's boyfriend and his cousin walked into the room.


I was eighteen, didn’t have a care

I felt like I was on top of the world back then.

workin’ for peanuts, not a dime to spare


"We are going to a Bob Seger concert the end of May,
you wanna go?"


but I was lean and solid everywhere

Sigh... Bob Seger... I knew every word to every song,
maybe I still do.

Like a rock

I leaned way back in my chair. Bob Seger.....
in person. Not the tribute band this time.

My hands were steady, my eyes were clear and bright

At 20 years old... they were going to listen to Bob...

my walk had purpose, my steps were quick and light


Where was I working at 20 years old?

And I held firm, to what I felt was right

I despised injustice in the workplace. Still do.


Like a rock

A live conert, huh?


Like a rock

Ah yes, I have always witnessed somebody puking at
every concert I have attended....


I was strong as I could be

My head aches thinking about it.

like a rock

I didn't care to see any of that!

Nothin’ ever got to me


Life speeds by, I feel as though I am on a runaway train.

like a rock

Sigh. At 18, 19 and 20 I was a real dancing queen....

I was somethin’ to see

I would even dance sober!

like a rock

Life was risky back then. I was naive.


And I stood arrow straight

Energy seemed endless back then.

...unencumbered by the weight of all these hustlers and their schemes

If I didn't like the situation I was in at work,  I just left.

I stood proud I stood tall high above it all

I had my integrity... I would quickly lose respect for my boss.

I still believed in my dream

Yep. Piss me off and I was out the door. A regular ramblin' man.


Twenty years now, where’d they go?

Twenty, thirty? Who is counting anymore?

Twenty years, I don’t know

Getting up for work day after day after day.


I sit and I wonder sometimes

And when in the hell did my boss become a
person YOUNGER than I?




where they’ve gone

Sh!t! I was singing "Old Time Rock & Roll" before
my current boss was even born!


And sometimes late at night,


No more late nights dancing and partying...don't really miss it.

...oohhh when I’m bathed in the firelight

More like the television light.

the moon comes callin’ a ghostly white, and I recall




That crazy moon! Why does it cast such a spell onto us?

I recall

Why does it bring back such melancholy memories?


Like a rock...

My daughter's boyfriend brought me out of my reverie,
"So, do you want me to get you a ticket?"

Like a rock...

Thirty years....

Like  a rock...

Time waits for no one....

Like  a rock...

I managed a weak smile.
"Nah, go on ahead without me..."

I still have my dreams.

Found the video "Like a Rock".

All aboard!

My great nephew at our local park, driving the stationary train. Whoo. Had to look that one up. At first I typed the "e" instead of the "a". 

The train of life goes fast, n'est-ce  pas?

I am exhausted. Just going day to day is draining me. I have a five day break this week-end and I found myself trying to fill up each and every day with something. Why? 

Probably to get out of housework. I need to do some serious cleaning and maybe by scheduling myself out this day and that day I can say to myself again, "Just not enough hours in the day!"

I volunteered to help paint a set for the local theater. I told my brother I had the firehouse software ready for the new computer. They are jumping from a Windows 98 machine to Windows version 7 - 64 bit. What a transfer! Needless to say it needs to be performed in stages.

I travel two hours on Sunday to go to the family get together. Not a lot going. They are not driving the over two hour drive to get there. Whatever.

I have worked very hard to rebuild my reputation at work. I am not in the same place I was four to five years ago. I have come to realize that my co-worker may have had a lot to do with my problems. She has been gone for two years and I am at the top of my game. Like I am supposed to be.

Then one little incident sent me spiraling back into the suspicious mindset that I nursed for so long. I figured it out in my head to where it does not bother me. I worked things out so that I do not feel cheated.  Two can play the game, n'est-ce pas?

How many times do we feel as if our life is a run away train? Out of control? Ready to jump the tracks? Which brings me to a movie. Hah, always!

Unstoppable with D Washington. I liked it. Based on a true story. Some filming was done in Ohio. My favorite quote is "...not you. I'm not doing it for you."  That is what I want to tell my manager and director when they thank me for doing a good job. I have zero respect for them. I am not doing this for them. For me it is all about the children. And to feel good about myself.

My home made added color to my dogwood tree

The batteries iare dying in my mouse and I am too tired to go and dig up new ones to put in it. Here is my dogwood tree from a month or two ago when a wet snow fell on my home made color flowers.

Need to make one of these

Maybe I will make this one for Easter. We travel a bit farther this year than usual. I am to make a cheese ball and bring a vegetable tray. Easy food to transport.

I have not been cooking very much this week. Been crazy busy. I did make some steak and potatoes and chicken tenders. I put too much cayenne pepper in the breading for the chicken. Whoo! A bit hot.

I also seem to be out of the habit of taking pictures. I need to get back into that hobby again. I love to take pictures and see them when I transfer them to the computer. I would love a new camera, but I don't think that is feasible during this sorry economical time.

We went to a benefit dinner today. Spaghetti. My stomach has been hurting this evening.  Not sure what that is from. They had delicious pumpkin cheesecake for dessert from Bob Evans. Simply delicious. We won two gift baskets. A doggie one (surprise) and a movie one. Another surprise. My daughter was trying to win the golf one for her beau.

I tried to see the moon tonight but there were too many clouds. I'll take the big dogs out one more time. Maybe I can catch a glimpse of it this time.

Cheech is the playful one

Cheech should have been a girl dog. He prances. He is pretty. He is very playful and tries to get you to like him very much. Chong is the big and burly (almost husky in the shoulder area). Cheech is very playful and dances when  you take him outside and runs and grabs a pine cone to play with.

Chong struts around kind of stiff legged. Both from the same litter. Both have their own little personalities. They have never been separated. Not even for one night. Their cages are side by side.

Visitors are amazed when I take my dogs outside. All four are looking at me with questions in their eyes as I open the back door. I say the name of one dog. For example, "Cheech".  The other three back away and Cheech comes forward. They seem to know their names. Even if I call them each by seven different names. Cheech, Chester, Chimichanga, Cheechie, Chee-Chee.

We watched "Hereafter" last night. My daughter loves Damon. The effects of the tsunami were spectacular and horrifying. I want to apologize to anybody that is a fan of BD Howard. But I cannot stand to look at her. It is her eyes, I think. She just makes me uncomfortable.

We were left flat at the end of the movie. "Is that all?"  Nothing more about the hereafter? Basically it is just the lives of two people who have lived a near-death experience and one boy who lost his twin. Nothing magical or riveting. Except for that tsunami scene at the beginning. We were disappointed and left with a big fat "Big deal."

Sweet Sixteen

Picture taken in April  of 2007. Four years ago this last week. Sweet Sixteen. One of my favorite pics of my daughter. Her hair is all blond and much longer now. This was when we went to Cincin to see The Lion King on stage. Fantastico!

Work and life (in general) has been crazy busy here in the Peruby household. I still have four dogs and five cats. Everybody has their addiction. Some folks buy a bottle of wine with each trip to the store. Me? Dog and cat food.

I would love to see another performance on the stage. Maybe this summer? Ha. 

Purchased a new router and my computer would not connect. Everybody else was able to get a connection pronto. Me? I deleted and re-installed my wireless device. My hard wire cable barely connected directly to the cable modem. What the heck?

Another trip to the store. Now I have a new wireless device. I am connected. I am a little bit poorer, but I am connected. Why did I buy that new router? Speed. Faster, faster! More, more! Now, now!

In my defense, this is what I do for a living (more or less).  I need a good solid connection. I am beginning to do a bit more work at home for the office (they now allow flex time). Some of my work needs to be completed after hours.

It seems kind of funny that the techie the family always calls when they have issues cannot get her own computer on  line. Yeah, yeah. Funny stuff. So I missed a few days of facebook updates. Big deal. I was a bit slow responding to e-mail. Whoopee. 

Well...

There I was enjoying my coffee, toast and jam reading the newspaper. Now, I am sick and feel as if I am ready to throw up.   http://www.timesreporter.com/news/crime/x1485956889/Dogs-muzzle-duct-taped-charges-filed

The owner didn't know it was illegal. I suppose it is a good thing for him that "I Know" it is illegal for me to go there and bust a cap in his ass.

Drawing

My daughter likes to draw. I did to. I still doodle, but do not do much serious drawing. I really need to get back into it. I purchased a tablet for her a few years back. Now, I have helped her to set up purchasing the HP Touchsmart. We will see how it goes.

Here I am

This is me. Right now. Well, if I were male, I guess. My hair is longer. It might be sticking up. I don't know. I do not have as much stubble. I rarely use a pencil. My desk is not this neat. My coffee cup has to squeeze between slippery magazines and stacks of papers. Stuff I never throw away. It helps to absorb the coffee when I spill it anyway. Then the paper and magazines get thrown away.

I am so exhausted. I cannot sleep. A couple of things I know for certain are contributing to my insomnia. Peri menopause and work stress. I had a huge upgrade to the appliance that I take care of at work. I had to drive to my home office. I was gone for over 12 hours. During that time, my only brain breaks were while I was driving. We even had pizza brought in so that we could keep on keeping on. A slice of pizza in one hand, clicking the mouse with the other. Ugh.

There are going to be a slew of issues to deal with today. I can just feel it. This change was quite massive. I inherited this appliance from some guy who did not give a sh!t. He still doesn't. He is a mystery employee where you do not know how he stays employed because he ducks out of everything. So the appliance was not properly  managed for two  years before I took over. Before that the person who managed it is now our director and does not have time for me or the appliance. For two years my questions have gone unanswered. I quit asking questions and hoped for the best.

Then comes the tech who helped me perform the upgrade. We worked over the telephone. For a long time he asked questions. What is this? Who put that in there and why? Do you realize that this won't work? Why didn't you order the "bigger" "better" "more expensive" unit and software? Why? Why? He finally realized that I just manage the damn thing and that I do not get to make any decisions. I tried to explain to him that I "asked" for the correct unit. I was told that we were not going to "band-aid" the appliance. That we were going to get a unit that would work and carry us into the future. I didn't get what I needed.  Imagine that.

What I wanted to tell him was that in case he did not notice, education is getting their budgets hacked all to pieces. I have no idea what state he lived in. It appears as if he were on  Eastern time. He was arrogant. He was technical. He was almost - no he WAS condescending. I needed him. I tolerated it. I still need him. Things were not as bad once he resigned himself to the fact that I had not chosen this ill-fated marriage of appliances - that I was told what we were getting and to make it work.

We will see what the day brings. With such little sleep, I am not optimistic. I may try to shut my eyes, but after this post it will be the most opportune time to take the dogs outside to do their business. Before all the neighbors begin to get up and take their dogs out. It is a zoo out in my neighborhood between 5:30 and 7:30. If I wait too long to take the dogs out - they do nothing because they are too busy barking at other dogs. Sigh.

Anyway, there is no rest tonight. I have planned a small family get together for my daughter. (Small as in less than 12 of us) are meeting in town about an hour away from me. After work there will be a cake to pick up and balloons. Then I rush home to let the dogs out. Then I try to make it to the restaurant by 6:30. 

School budgets. I got the news today. A lot of folks are against public employees getting some of the health benefits paid for. When I was hired (after working in the business field for almost 20 years) I was told that the pay was not up to scale as private business but that they make up for it by offering a better benefits package. Part of that was that some of our health care was covered. That will be taken away (possibly) this July. I have to prepare for the worst. That is a ten percent deduction in my paycheck. 

A lot of people say "Boo Hoo" you don't get your health benefits paid for. I would have been one of them - why should "THEY" get their benefits paid when "I" don't?  This was in the business field where we were evaluated and got raises. In education you get steps. Some years you get a little step, others a little larger.  A step plus a percentage pay increase. Sometimes 1%, rarely 3%. The past two years - no raise at all. 

Like I stated earlier - (benefits) was one of the bargaining factors in getting hired in education. I did not choose education. I chose technology. The benefits of working in technology in the education field were the hours and the lack of emergency downtime. With a five year old (at the time) to raise by myself - the hours were a plus. The fact that if a school's network went down it was not the end of the world compared to a business or hospital needing their Internet connection running 24/7. That means that I would not have to leave the house at 10 p.m. because the network was down. These were attractive traits to me when I accepted the job.

Even the security is gone. Once hired with an on-going contract, I am now an at-will employee. I know, "Just like the rest of us". I can hear you saying "Get over it" or "deal with it". No surprise to me.

If I were to work in business (as my previous jobs) I would possibly be working an afternoon or midnight shift. As you may be aware a lot of computer works gets done "after hours".  And week-ends. I am family oriented so I wanted my evenings and week-ends free. That is why I accepted the job in the education field. Even though it paid less than private business (substantially less), most of us accepted it because the benefit package worked for us.

I enjoy my work. Will I enjoy it less if I have to work evenings? With this new appliance I am finding that I am working more time at home. We did get the notice that we could begin using Flex time. I'll see how that pans out. For whatever reasons - nobody likes to get their paycheck cut. I don't care who you are. I do not look at what people in the business field make doing my work. That just brings on feelings of frustration, anger and resentment. Who needs that? It probably is not an accurate survey, anyway. So, if I have to - I will take the cut. As some of my co-workers mentioned also - we are already drowning, exhausted trying to stay afloat in life. What interesting challenges this cut will bring to our lives.

I read the newspapers. Folks will say "Hey, you will be in the same boat as the rest of us! You will have to pay for ALL of your benefits - just like the rest of us!"  The issue here is - the younger folks - the ones with the freshest minds and ideas and knowledge? They won't be picking education to work in. Our schools and students will be stuck with an older workforce running the networks. Because we are too tired to start over and go back to the business world - where we could possibly make more money. The younger ones won't blink twice about going for the bigger dollar. Once the benefit package is taken out of the equation. I am not just talking health benefits with the package - I am talking sick days/holidays/vacation. Older staff members had experience and patience on their side. Younger staff members learn and grasp new technologies quicker and can implement it faster. And they have fresh ideas. We need to continue to mix it up. I am concerned that our younger, brighter workers are going to move on down the line.

Okay, did I mention I was exhausted? I may not be making any sense.  I may be repeating myself. I am trying to purge the poison feeling out of me. I will type until I do a complete face plant into my keyboard, hopefully missing my coffee cup on the way. Headache - oh yeah. You betcha. Probably need the pills by 8:00.

Face plant completed.

Two decades

Two decades ago I spawned this Monstrosity.

Nothing to write about

Well, I probably have PLENTY to write about. I just don't feel like writing, I guess. I made crab cakes for the first time the other day. Never been a fan. My daughter looks for this appetizer at EVERY restaurant we go to. And, we go to plenty. Lazy ass that I am.

They came out edible, but bland. I have many more recipe ideas to try - so I'll get there.

BTW, this is post number 1900. Woot!

Swan song - NOT!

I realized as I titled this post "Swan Song" some might think it were my last. No way.

Anyway, we watched "Black Swan" over the week-end. What is it with movies and their scenes of private moments with oneself in the bedroom? Good grief! We watched a couple of other movies also, and some of them also included this subject matter. Whatever.

There are about four characters in this movie. Three women and one man. The rest are little bit parts who barely speak or continue the story line. Worthy of all it's embellishment at the Oscars? Again - whatever.

There are moments of suspense. Moments of "ouch!" Moments of wondering "Did that just happen or is she losing it and hallucinating?" Moments of disgust. (If I never see V Cassel kiss again, it would be a-okay with me!). Yes, the movie is intense. We did laugh. Once. When she is in the subway and the older man is making sexual actions toward her. We cringed - a lot. 

Get two movies if you rent this one. Get a comedy. Watch Black Swan first because you are going to need something to lift you up after it, like a silly comedy. I recommend "Due Date". Some vulgar moments with it, though. Very, very similar to Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Where have I been? Hell if I know. I'd like to say I've been busy, but I don't think I have been. Just lazy, I think is more like it. I am getting nothing done.Well, nothing significant.

Things people say

"I have not had a drink in over a week. See, I can't be an alcoholic!"

Pixy Stix

Who didn't like the pixy stix? Everyone I know loves them. I also like their cousin Fun Dip.

I had an outrageously fun time with family last night celebrating 3 of our 8 March birthdays. We had 16 people at Red Lobster. We were loud and we made quite a mess. They had 4 servers to take care of us (shhhh... they really screwed stuff up, but it all worked out in the end).  I had a mango mai tai I am enchanted with the mango since I ate at an Indian restaurant about six years ago and fell in love with the mango lassi.  Anytime I see a drink with mango in it, I have to try it.

Although I quit drinking rum many, many moons ago - I gave this drink a whirl. Loved it! I always drink just one and then switch to water. Mostly because of the overpricing of alcoholic beverages in restaurants.

But the grande finale was the tops. My little grand nephew (who will be 5 next month) upchucked all over the sidewalk outside the restaurant. A huge mess. It was closing time and we were the last ones to leave so no other customers would see it before they ate. He started in the lobby with a little mess and my sister ran him outside. My family was howling. By the time I got outside they had the little tyke in the car. I hope he felt better.

He was so cute. He came down to our end of the table where my daughter, her boyfriend and another friend were drinking IBC rootbeer out of the bottle. My grand nephew thought they were drinking beer and he said "You can't drink beer!" They finally convinced him it was root beer and he drank bottle after bottle. He was swigging it like a seasoned drinker chugs beer. He stood at the end of the table and took a big swig, then waved his hands around and told us something funny. We were cracking up.

I think the biggest problem was the fact that it felt about 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the restaurant. It may have been a ploy to get us to leave. We asked them three times to cut the heat. It kept pouring out of the vents like there was no tomorrow. I think we all got a little sick with it being so warm.

Seamonkey

I started using this browser last week. It works very much like Firefox. There are a few quirks, like the apostrophe using my work e-mail account. I get around it by not using them. I discovered the browser while installing Ubuntu many times. 

I hope they don't mind my using their logo here. You can find and download the browser for yourself, here:

http://www.seamonkey-project.org/

I kept thinking that was a bird in the blue circle. Well, that is what it looks like. 

Too funny!

I went to post a comment on a blogger site where they were unhappy with Firefox. It was funny because my word verification was "sucks". 

I need any humor where I can get it these days. My sister is probably hours away from returning to her abusive husband. Wonder what excuse she will give us this time? Sigh.

You can't go back

Yes, suffice it to say that I want my sister's husband to disappear. I really don't care how.

I have no feelings for the animal that he is. I might have a sliver of conscience when it comes to my nephew (his son) - but other than that - I believe my sister and the entire world in general would be better without him in it.

She just wants him to return to the person he used to be, say 20 or 30 years ago. Dear sister - that ain't gonna happen.

He worked a full time job at a mill near the river and brought home a steady paycheck. For 30 years.

Drug use got him fired after 30 years of service. He had 3 chances to redeem himself and it is as though he wanted them to fire him.

They received a lump sum in his pension but then it was threatened that the system was going to take it back. They panicked and spent the money. All of it. Zip. Gone.

Now they are left struggling on her income. She was not "allowed" to work while he worked as he felt she should take care of him and the home and their son. So her experience will only get her a minimum wage job at best.

No benefits. No vacation. No sick days. No insurance.

The son struggles through job after job, quitting after a few months at each one. He has a college degree but cannot find work in the field he chose. Drugs and alcohol play a major part in his life and perhaps his lack of job commitment also.

The grandparents have a wonderful nest egg, but they are near invalids (in which my sister cares for them on a daily basis) in between her job, taking care of the household, and catering to her lump couch potato husband. He recently received a DUI and is still driving around. She needs to run him to court hearings - they are trying to get his license back. He refused a breathalyzer. I have heard that if you do that in the state of Ohio, it is an automatic suspension of your drivers license for one year. I don't know. 

The in-laws are constantly asking her to do things for them. Change their sheets. Wash their hair. Wash the curtains, sweep the carpet. Clean the bathroom. Get them groceries. Get their prescriptions filled. Clip their toenails.They have money coming out their ears and they refuse to hire help. They don't want a stranger in their house. They want my peasant sister to do everything for them. They rarely compensate her for the work she does.

She has been dealing with this 'major' stress for well over a year. Her husband slowly began showing signs of bi-polar personality disorder years ago. The manic episodes were few and went unrecognized. As the years passed and she talked to me more and more I started to wonder if he did indeed have this manic/depressive disease or was it the cannabis use that was taking it's toll on his brain function?

They had a friend of the family for a doctor and only went to him when they knew they could get only what they wanted and needed. This doctor (I knew his family and did not care for him one iota) would give them whatever they wanted and never advise them to see a regular doctor of their own.

She has been given many chances to leave. She stayed with me for three months after he started choking her one night in a fit of rage and the son had to intervene. He actually called the police on his son and he was nearly arrested. The police finally figured out that this was a nutcase situation and did not arrest anybody. She always goes back to him with a lame excuse such as "He doesn't have any cigarettes" or the very popular "He promises to change."

She has five major addictions. Cigarettes, alcohol, food, gambling, cannabis. She is my closest sister. She is my family. She is very dear to me. She is a very enabling soul. She works herself to death taking care of others, putting herself last. While some may think this is an admirable personality - it is lethal to her own health and well being. She has nothing left for herself and this might be the reason for the addictions. I am not trained in the psychology of the nature of the human brain, but quite a few of my family members are (it tends to be a natural draw for us) and I love to read about it.

The episodes are starting to get closer together. Previously it was a year or two between the violent outbursts where she would have to leave. Then it was every 8 months or so - now it is almost monthly. Do I keep dropping everything and running to help her? Drive her to a safe family member's house? Give her spending money? I fear that her mental state is at the stage where she does not realize the impact she is having on all the family around her. That we are constantly in fear for her while she parties it up - boozing it up with her mate. It turns ugly. It always turns ugly. She gets us all upset like this. She gets admitted to the hospital. She will be back with him within the week. All will be forgiven and they will begin to party. The alcohol will flow. The fighting will start. He will belittle her as he always does.

What kind of need brings forth this madness? What kind of life do people want to live? What ugly monster turned a sunny, cheerful sister into a shadow of herself?

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse is just as damaging at physical abuse. One turns into the other. Sister 1956 has been in a relationship of emotional (verbal) abuse from her husband for many years. It has finally turned into a physical problem for her. She is currently in the hospital for possible heart problems. What sounds to me like a panic attack from all her stress. Her BP was 171 over 100. I won't go into a lot of detail but my quiet week-end blew up in smoke when she called me from the hospital Friday night.

The frustrating part is that you cannot help the abused until they want help for themselves and make a move toward helping themselves. They will justify every move they or their abuser makes. Talking about it just seems to upset her more and we are trying hard to get her BP down. I'll be driving over 100 miles again today to visit her in the hospital and show my support.

There are many good articles on the Internet about emotional abuse and bi-polar disorder. Her husband was being tested for signs of bi-polar activity but they have no insurance and were being given the run around by our beautiful health system.

He will probably live to be  a  hundred.

TGIF

Excuse me while I do the happy dance. Not only am I glad it is Friday (it isn't payday), but I am done with my stress presentations! One was a super hit and one was a fiasco. Sigh. I got raves one day and had technical difficulties the next day. Aw man! 

Anyway, I am over the ordeal and ready to move on. So I'll do a little jig and finish the week off (hopefully with a stress-free Friday) and relax this week-end. It has been quite a ride.

Last week's snow

Here is Chong running in the snow. This snow fell Friday the 11th here in my part of Ohio. More was predicted but we did not get it. It was a wet, heavy snow. Very beautiful to look at. It did not last long.

Three of my dogs love it when it snows. The boxer - I am not sure if he likes it or if he just runs to get away from it. Hard to say.

Lotsa beans

You have to wonder what the checkout person thinks when I make my calico beans. I buy two large cans of baked beans, two cans of black beans, two cans of kidney beans, two of butter limas, two of green limas and two cans of baby green limas. This crock pot only has one can of each in it. The catsup and onion are hiding underneath all of those beans. I have not yet added the hamburger and bacon, yet.

It's a food day

Frying bacon in  a pan this morning. I got very little sleep last night again. As usual. I have a big day today. I am making calico beans and stuffed shells and taking them to a double birthday party.

That bacon smells wonderful! And, I don't care much for bacon. The pets are going insane with the smell. I wish I had lettuce and tomato.

The camera battery is charged. I will take pictures unless I get strapped for time and forget.

I did end up going to dinner Friday night. That makes an appt. Wednesday, dinner out with the girls from work on Thursday. Dinner with sisters on Friday, b'day party with my previous work place friends on Saturday. And a big double birthday party out of town today.

Linux? -  I'll catch ya later!

From the same cloth

Whoops. I must have created this photo in a biggie size. Oh, well. The two above are brothers. Four years apart. Yesterday was the first birthday of the one on the left. We are celebrating on Sunday with a big family get together.

Both different. Both adorable. Their poor Mother. My nephew's wife. She had a son from a previous relationship. He is just starting his troublesome teen years. And my nephew (her husband). All those boys in the house with no other female companionship. It would drive me nuts!

Sister 1949 has stayed at their house before due to inclement weather because she works close to where they live. She is not my nephew's mother. Well  not THIS nephew. She said she is so impressed with how he really  helps out around the house and with the boys. Washing clothes, bathing the boys. I can only imagine the amount of work that needs to be done in that household.

My dinner plans are canceled for this evening. Outside it looks as if we only got about 3 inches of a very wet snow. So far. We are due to get more. No schools have canceled,  yet. I have been awake since 2 a.m. I must stop the late afternoon caffeine fixes I have been treating myself with. Sigh.

I have a birthday party on Saturday and one on Sunday. I was hoping for a calamity day today so I could really sink myself into learning and developing my presentation. What will be, will be. I feel the headache starting. Maybe I can get back to sleep. I've already been drinking coffee. Nuts.

Chuckles

I remember this candy but I don't remember eating it. I never chose it. I don't know why. I sure would try it, now. I doubt that it had the "Fat Free Candy" remark on it back in the 60's. Maybe it should have. I was very young then and didn't have to worry about fat.We ran off any extra calories. We were outside moving, moving, moving. Sigh.

Nobody wants to go outside this week. It is still pouring buckets. I have water everywhere (but in my house, thank goodness!) I mean in my yard. The earth is but a sponge. It is like walking on a muddy sponge out there. The dogs are not happy, either. Now my sister tells me snow by tomorrow late afternoon - evening. We sisters were supposed to meet for dinner. We have about a 40 minute drive for us all to meet in a central location. Double drat!

My work presentation is a week away. My Linux one is Wednesday and my filter one is Thursday. I am not worried about the filter - I know that stuff pretty well. Linux (Ubuntu) - I am getting the hang of. My area is CUPS (Common Unix Print System). Not so familiar with that! I'm trying, though. Most of my spare time has me with my nose stuck inside a Linux Administration book or my eyes fixed onto an Ubuntu command line prompt or desktop screen. I did not anticipate so many work problems to crop up and I thought I would have more time to work on this at the office. Not to be! Best laid plans! All that jazz.

Oh, and 'best laid plans' from this poem by Robert Burns. For a better translation - go here.

sno-caps

I know these are still around. I still buy them from time to time. I like them and my daughter likes them. I pass them up anymore for something more - like something with peanut butter. I have not had sno-caps in ages. And, how about the big size ones? Not the package - the actual candy. The size of quarters with those snow sprinkles on top!

It is pouring rain here in Ohio, again. A cold, steel rain. My dogs stick their noses over the edge of the porch and give me an incredulous look. No way! Sigh. I could drag them around the yard, walk them up and down the alley. All I am doing is wasting my time.

Droopy

Sigh. This will be me today. I have been awake for an hour, now. That was 2:30 a.m. Did I retire too early? Maybe. Am I worried about the conference coming up where I give a presentation on something I know next to  nothing about? You betcha.

I'd like to say I've been honing my skills in Linux. That would not be true. The filter has kept me busy at work. We have outgrown it and there does not seem to be any money to update the poor server. I am doing what I can to take the load off Fanny, but Fanny put the load right back on me. I think I'll nickname my filter "Fanny" after the song The Weight. You can follow that link - it is kind of an interesting read if you know the song. I like it and I listen to it now and again. If you followed this paragraph, fine. If not, it is because I am a bit sleep deprived and am probably making no sense.

As I said, I would like to say there is a good reason for me not posting since, what has it been, Friday? There is not. I have been watching movies. Well, I guess that is spending time with my daughter and her beau - so that is a pretty good excuse. I should have been honing my skills. Ah, well.

Anyway, we watched "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs".  This one is part 3 in a series. I think it is the best! I missed the second, so I can't say for certain it is the best, but I loved it. I had to watch it again the next morning. :)  If you have little ones... well, I don't know. I didn't have any little ones - but I hope they would like it.

Then we watched "Life as We Know It". Not my pick. It had some comedy. Bleh. And, "Easy A" - I would pass on. Also not my pick. What was my pick? Hey - I didn't get one this time around!

So, yep. I'd like to say I was off doing something productive, but no. At work I have been struggling to keep the filter running and at home I watched movies. Except for Sunday when I helped a family member with a computer problem. Got it fixed, but we took the long and hard way. When we resolved the issue it was so easy. If we had only tried that in the first place! Arrgghh!

Bubble Gun

Everybody should have one of these. My niece (who is 24) got one of these for her birthday. Here she is showing how the bubble gun operates. It does take batteries. It is a little messy.

When I went to look this device up on the Internet, I typed in bubble shooter instead. I found a game and quickly became addicted. Yeah, go on. You can play, too. ☺

Aw man!

The important thing is that my brother and his wife are okay. His wife banged up her knee pretty bad. They hit a sheet of ice while driving their EMT truck back from an EMT meeting Monday night.

Violet

I had never seen this candy before. Not that I can recall. After reading up on it, I want to tear into it and just smell the darn thing, now. I still have not opened or tried any of the candies from the 60's box (with the exception of the big, red, waxy lips of course).  I still wonder if the candy really is forty-some years old. Okay, now that's just silly. It has to be edible and it appears as if all this candy is still manufactured. I was really craving chocolate the other night and I thought about the candy in the box. I did not cave in, though.

I have to tell you. It is because of things like that that I do not get anything done. Reading the wiki post on Violet mints led me to read about Mel's Drive-In. After that, I had to read up on Mel's Diner.  And it could go on and on until I reach the end of the Internet or the last page of the Internet.

Windy

This tree is causing me a bit of anxiety this morning. We are having unusually warm weather and right now the wind is gusting to 33 mph. That is not much, but when I had the dogs out a bit ago, this tree was swaying and rocking back and forth. It is huge. My house is not far from it.

I won't look at you!

My dogs turn away when I snap their picture. I don't use flash but maybe once or twice the flash fired inside and they remember how that hurt their eyes. This is the best I got, most of the time his head was completely turned to one side or the other. I can see his eyes peeking at me, though. This is Slade the boxer.

He loves it when I say "I see you peeking!" He gets all excited and jumps up and down and wiggles. Yes, he is a wiggler.

We still like to pretend to guess what his name originally may have been. A few months ago I thought it may have made more sense to call him Hercules or "Herc" for short. It didn't stick. I mean after two years or so you just can't change their name.

Like every pet owner, we give our pets a name, but have many or at least one nickname for them. Cheech comes in at Cheesy, Cheesecake, and Chester Copperpot. Chong comes in with Chubs, Chubby Checker and Chompers. I tried Chunk (with Chester Copperpot - remember The Goonies?) but it didn't stick.

Slade comes in with Sleigh Bell, Slady, Slady Bug, Toady Frog (from a friend of my daughter's) and my daughter calls him the ugliest dog she has ever seen (Butt Face).  

Sable gets Sable Lee, Sablelicious and of course 'Sable, Sable the coffee table'. She used to get "Schwebel Sable" because she would eat loaves of bread if I left them too close to the edge of the kitchen counter. A bread box solved that problem. I have no idea how Schwebel is pronounced but I rhyme it with Sable. She also gets "Old girl", "Baby girl" and "Poky Little Puppy".

Since the kids were gone this week-end, I got to enjoy a movie of MY choice. I had spent over six hours straight with a technician going over OpenSUSE and Ubuntu Linux commands and my head was swimming and spinning. It was hurting (not bad, Advil took care of it for the most part). It was too warm in the room and he kept having to deal with his own network problems and nothing was going right. We were stymied at almost every step. It was very frustrating.

If anybody has migraines or knows of anybody who suffers the occasional migraine then you have probably heard of the aura. Due to my perimenopause, I am experiencing the aura phase of my migraines. (my personal diagnosis - not my doctor's). Yesterday I had one without the migraine progressing into a headache. I try to just ride them out. It was difficult speaking to the technician and working on the computer, trying this and trying that, while this blinding light and geometric shapes danced and flashed in front of my eyes for an hour. The condition usually makes me physically ill, but it didn't turn out so bad this time. I was a bit (what I call) spacey. Thank goodness my speech did not get garbled like this poor lady who was reporting live on the air during an episode.

I chose to watch "Conviction" with H Swank and S Rockwell. It was a good movie. I was depleted mentally and was just in the mood for this one, which happened to be based on a true story. Not a Swank fan, but I love Rockwell. I never like anything that Driver is in. (Sorry, I just don't get her). I have never been a fan of Lewis, but she was great in this movie. I love it when actors portray a real-life ugly character like this. To be fair, I've really only seen two of her movies (What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Cape Fear). - so I don't have much exposure to her. I just thought she did a wonderful job in this one.

Street Gang

I was out early the other morning - I think about 3:30 or 4:00 a.m. with my dogs outside. I saw them. I had not seen that many in our neighborhood before. They were traveling in a group of five or six. I guess they like the old adage 'power in numbers'.  

As soon as I saw them, I tried to hide. And, I tried to get my dogs back to the side of our house where they couldn't see them. They were quiet, moving eerily through the neighbor's yard. They all wore the same coat, could be some kind of gang thing.

They saw me, but didn't say or do anything. They just silently walked under the street light. I could not tell if there was a leader, or if they just walked along as a group following each other.

A few years ago, when I first moved into this neighborhood, I would have been shocked to see them. I guess. I had never seen them up close before, just from a distance when I would travel to other parts of the county. Were they branching out? Did they need more territory? I don't know. A few years ago, I would have been a bit in awe of them.

I guess I was still in awe. But now there is fear there, too. Especially for my dogs. I understand that I don't own the neighborhood but I didn't like to see them so close to my home. I wanted to yell at them to go back where they belong. Yelling out at that time of the morning may not have been a good idea. I have no idea how they would have reacted to my outburst, anyway.

I went back inside the house and waited about thirty minutes before taking the dogs out again to do their business. I wanted to make sure the gang was gone. One of their kind is the reason I am driving a different car today. I hit one of them with my Civic in December of 2009. He ended up dead alongside the road. My Civic was totaled. I loved that car. You can read about that episode here.

Color in the bleak

My newspaper gets delivered in pretty blue plastic on days that it rains or snows. One day they wrapped it in orange plastic. I tied it to my dogwood tree to add some color to the bleak winter. I have about four blue plastic bows on the tree, also. Tacky nut that I am.

Running and Playing

We got walloped with a lot of snow here in Ohio. Here is Slade enjoying the snowfall at the very beginning of the fall out. It snowed for a long time and if I had to guess - I would say well over six inches to maybe more. I am not a good guesser in that area. All schools in the area are closed. That means an extended week-end for me. I do monitor e-mail and the helpdesk from  home. In case there are some schools in session (there are not). More for the Admin. personnel who do go into the office today. Not all school employees stay home on a snow day.

I had a very busy (in a good way) week-end. Many people and a lot of food was involved. I watched The Expendables for about the third time. Here is a funny drink menu from the event. All of us were very disappointed in the way the movie portrayed Li. We think he is awesome and they made him look like a wimp in this movie. He was sadly missing from the photo events I looked at.

Don't look for Willis and Schwarzy very much in this movie. They make a very small, tiny appearance. We did love the humor in the short scene, though! That was A+. There is one thing we ALL agreed on. The gun that Crews uses. We ALL want one of those! LOL!

Video here  and   here    .

Prince Caspian?

No. My daughter - again.
See the movie image here.

Goofy fun

A while back I downloaded a free app to my cell phone called Fun pics. You choose a picture (they have the face cut out) - aim your camera at your subject, line their face up in the little area and click. I have about a dozen of these with different characters. This one is my daughter in the infamous Yoda character.

Nugget

I remember these. Little nuggets of gum. I loved 'em. 

I am so-o-o tired. I can't stay focused. I have been either working on a computer or in a computer all day today. My hands are all scratched up and nicked up. Like a Saturday mechanic with busted knuckles. I am brain dead. Time to go and find a pillow. Especially since I have to keep backspacing over my misspelled words and re-type them.

Oh, hey. Has anybody out there ever worked with vi editor? Ain't it a bitch? I don't have to use it much anymore and I forget from one time to the next what the commands are.  I need to read THIS tutorial before I work in it the next time. Yes, there are easier editing tools, but I could not load them until I changed two files on the Ubuntu box and to do that without gedit or any other easy editor, I had to resort to vi. Good grief! I mean, just take a look at the guy who wrote it!