Blah, blah, blah

When did January turn into February? When I wasn't looking? I did enjoy the R&R Hall of Fame. I especially liked reading where the artist wrote the song(s). Usually on a yellow notepad. Bob Seger has the most mechanical handwriting. Like an engineer. And some of the words were much different when first written on paper. "And here's to you, Mrs. Roosevelt."   Not Mrs. Robinson. Heh, heh.

The headaches came back. They started and once they started did not stop. The doctor told me to start taking my Nerontin three times a day and then in a month back to twice daily. The increase in medication barely worked. I have episodes almost daily. It felt as if somebody had stuck a steak knife into the corner of my right eye yesterday. I had to leave work. I broke down and took my migraine medication. A few hours later I was pain free. Now, I am concerned about the rebound. Almost 48 hours after I take the medication the misery starts again. Stupid hormones. Stupid weather.

I have a big family get together Saturday. Sunday I have to go out of town for work until Wednesday. I hate that. I hate not sleeping in my own bed. I think this is the last one I will go to. I will let somebody else go. I am supposed to go every other year but I am dreading it so much. I've made myself miserable.

I watched "Hitchcock" a while back. As always I get S Johansson mixed up with J Biel. I think they look alike. I "googled" pictures of Hitchcock's wife after I watched the movie. She was a very homely woman. They tried hard to make Mirren homely. Sorry. Didn't work. She is a fine looking woman. I liked the movie. I am not certain I would have liked Alfred and Alma in real life. They guy playing A Perkins - nailed it!

And did he really buy up all the copies of the book so nobody would know the ending? Is that part true? Can that be done?  I don't think they could use that tactic today.

Rock & Roll

Going here today. Strange that I am not looking forward to it. I have had family and friends go and they say it is (yawn) boring! Ugh. I hope I am pleasantly surprised.

I am also not excited to be travelling today. The weather experts are calling for four to six inches of snow in my area. I am heading north and supposedly no snow that way. It is all me and south of me. My friends live one county north of me. The HofF is a few more counties above them. Right next to the lake. What do you think the wind chill factor is up that way? With the stiff breeze coming off of Lake Erie? Egad!

So, I will conjure up some 45 memories and dig back in the archives. I have no interest in the musicians of the past thirty years. Well, maybe a few but - no thanks. I want 50's 60's and 70's, please.

Snuggles

The little tot above -  mom said he has been very sick and his little friend helped him to fall asleep. He does look pale. But with all this flu mess going around, it is no wonder. He is in daycare. He is exposed to a  lot of sneezing and coughing. Last word is that he is feeling much better. Then mom got sick. Ain't that just the way?

I watched Flight. LOVED IT! That plane crash scene was one of (if not THE) best I have seen in a movie. I always liked the one in Cast Away. I probably should not say "liked" when referring to a tragedy, but I am speaking of effects and shock and awe. You know what I mean.

I did not like the girl. I didn't think she contributed to the movie at all. A co-worker said it showed that he did have a kinder human side to him. Oh, okay. Oh, hey.....what happened to Denzel's vow of not kissing white girls because it would be unfair to the "sisters".  Guess he changed his mind.

Next to the crash scene, the next best part was John Goodman. Oh, my my! The reference to their previous movie together "Fallen" just cracked me up. Goodman nails it! And, I now know what a 'coco puff' is.

Why don't she write?

Here is a close up of my wine bottle light. 

I still can't understand what is the reason for me not writing. I have watched three movies I would like to review, and I would like to b*tch about work.

So this morning I looked at my blog and I said to myself  "Now, why don't she write?"  I can still hear that in my head from the movie "Dancing With Wolves."  

The soldier (played by K Costner) is on a journey to his post in the army and the driver is a sloven-ish fellow. Very uncouth and foul. They find the remains of a man with an arrow sticking out of what is left of his body and the driver smirks and says...."There's some poor folks back east saying 'Now, why don't he write?'"

It is macabre and funny at the same time.

Mojo

I got nothing. However, all area schools are closed so I will think of something. I am a bit shocked that I have not posted in a week. Not like me. In the mean time, here is an image of a colorful light my friends picked up for me about a year or two ago. They know I like color and I like lamps. I like soft lights around me (because of my sensitivity to light).

Burgers and stories

Here is the burger menu from the diner. While I sat there waiting for my meal to arrive, two guys came in and sat in the booth behind me. They were continuing a conversation that must have been started in the truck. One guy was speaking of a girl he had met on facebook while he was in the service. He kind of went into detail and at one time mentioned that she was a sexual deviant. I was hoping that they would change the subject. At one point I started giggling (I could not help it) and I think he must have realized because they finally changed the subject.  Anyway, I got the idea that she left him high and dry.

By the way - he ordered the Italian Stallion. LOL! You should have seen me trying to get a peek of him as I checked out but did not want to make eye contact with him. Too funny! I should have said something clever like "What do you expect from somebody you meet on facebook?"  But that would not be fair to the ones who did meet on facebook and have a great relationship. I usually don't make waves unless I have sister back up or I am in my own territory.

Signature dogs

Here is the hot dog page of the menu from the Steel Trolley Diner (STD). I am so boring I'd have to choose the plain moon dog and add just ketchup. I may go for the chili cheese dog if feeling adventurous. I love chopped onions on my dog, but I have to be careful. Onions. I will add them at home when I know the onions are just freshly chopped and have not been sitting out all day.

As for the fries - just plain again. The mud fries sound so gross to me. I would love the eggplant fries. I guess that is just deep fried egg plant they serve with marinara sauce.

Menu of STD

Here is a page from the diner's menu. I asked permission to take the photos. There I am in the reflection with my blue shirt and my lime green phone cover.  There's Grumpy's liver & onions. There is also a place in Caldwell that servers L&O. My co-worker orders it when we get the chance to stop in there. It is called Lori's.

I loved it when my mom made L&O. I have only made it once in 30 years. I am scared of onions with my migraines. Onions seem to be a big trigger for me.

Trolley

I had lunch here yesterday. The food was good. I saw that one of the special soups for the day was stuffed pepper soup. It was very thick and chunky. It was good.

This place is a greasy spoon. Germaphobes should avoid it. It reminded me of the stainless steel refrigerators that kids have left a lot of finger prints on. Not a clean place. But I am not a germaphobe. I was raised by parents who during their lifetime may or may not have had running water in their kitchen. Cleaning was not a big deal in my home.

Regardless, the waitress was nice, the food was good. They just need to wash their walls and windows and all the stainless steel. Then again, maybe that is the true definition of a greasy spoon.

Stained glass

Here is a photo from back in August of 2012. We were eating at a pub in Canton. We had a party of 12 and were seated in the "library room".  Loved it.

Still have not regained my "mojo" at work. Not sure I will. Is mojo the correct word here? Yep, according to the urban dictionary it is your self confidence. I consider it my magic. My capability of doing a good job and having my heart in it. Whatever it is - I've lost it. Still faking it.

I know and understand all the science behind being my own worst enemy, etc... I realize that I hold the key to my own happiness. Only I can change things. I know all this. I know all that. I just don't care anymore. I will get it all back. It just takes time.

Snug

Here is Moose sleeping snugly in some boxes. Photo from February 2012.

Sugar cat

I decided today to just post a random photo from my collection. My cat Moose is hiding behind a container that is no longer used to hold sugar. I would not let my pets near food!

I had a CD tower of 100 CD's and it fell on the floor and broke. I immediately grabbed the first thing I could find to house the CD's so that they would stay on the spindle. Hence the empty sugar container.

I don't know if Moose is camera shy or cleaning her chin fur or trying to keep her nose warm.

Babies are coming

Another nephew has announced that he and his girlfriend are expecting. My niece had a boy in December and one nephew has two boys and his brother has one boy. Two little girls will be born this year - one in late February and one in late June.

Babies are coming.

Failed

When I sent an e-mail to the consultant to inform him that the laptop I had did not have the application installed, here is the answer he sent to me:

I have no instructions for setup.  All I have was a link to download the software.  I have no idea about setup or use of it.

I'll play with another computer today to see what I can find with it.

When I download software, I usually know to set it up (install it). That's okay. He is in CYA mode.

Always struggling

I picked up a laptop from a school district yesterday. I worked with it from home because I needed to test it outside of work's network. This district has a consultant tech person who claims to have installed a program that will filter the school district's equipment when it goes home with the student/faculty. I visited said district a couple of weeks before Christmas and I had my doubts.

I proved my doubts yesterday when I brought a district laptop back with me. Our establishment blocks (at the very minimum) p0rn sites and pr0xy sites. Limewire was added years ago as a blocked site. This is the safe site I use to test the minimum filtering level. It is better than going to a p0rn site to test and much easier to type in than the test page developed by the filter company.

So, there I was on the laptop (which had video issues until I found a way to fix that) getting to limewire regardless of whether I connected wireless or wired.

Now, I get to tell the district superintendent that his "friend" is a con. Well, of course I won't. Don't you remember I was written up for writing the phrase "waste of my time" in an e-mail? Of course you do. What I will do is tell the district that this consultant must have "thought" he had it installed but when tested, it just was not working properly. I wonder how much money they spent on the program that does this (150 licenses were purchased) and how much they pay this consultant?

Now, being 52 years old, I have met quite a few people in my lifetime. I could tell when I first met the superintendent and this consultant that they were two peas in a pod. I did not like either of them from the first few moments that I met them.

Yep. I am struggling. Always struggling. Trying to keep the faith with what I see in school districts. I will remedy the situation because the filter is my domain. I will get the program working correctly because that is what I do and that is the right thing to do.

How can people live with themselves? You want to know one of the phrases this consultant used with me when I met him a few weeks back?  "Yeah, the students think they are so smart. I just sit back and let them muck up the computers. Just more money for me."

The guy has the district "bamboozled".  It isn't my "normal" district. In other words it is outside my territory. But because this involves the filter, I am required. I will hand this matter over to my tech director and let him handle it. Nothing will get said to the district. I've seen it before. I have been here 17 years. We can advise the districts but they do what they are going to do.

Does  your child/grandchild go to this school district?

Attention

Some people do what they must to get attention. This guy let me take a photo of his locks in a pizza shop a few months back. I told him I have a brother-in-law with similar hair. My BIL is older and his hair is much thinner and he is much shorter. He would maybe have half this much hair - if that.

The guy was nice. Talkative. I am not attracted to this. It does not look healthy. I am rather repulsed by it but to each his own.

Sawed

I "sawed" this post at the lake in October. 

It is Monday and I am ready for work. Sigh. I suppose. I dread the job these days. As I stated before my mojo or enthusiasm has been squashed or quelled. I know that it is my responsibility to get it back. I am working on that. Each day I work on mending my hurt feelings towards my co-workers. I am taken aback by how very angry I still am. I guess I do not let go very easily. I am not one to forgive and forget. I hold a grudge for a very long time. I have read that this is not healthy. I really don't care. Everybody is different, everybody heals in their own way and in their own time. Given half a chance I'll kick the MF'ers in the teeth.

The way I roll

I have my own way of making a blog roll. I create a page with all my blogs in links. I just click the icon on my desk top and all my blogs that I read come up in link fashion. If you have created a web page in html you can do this.

I have moved ten more of my blog list to the "Do not post often" list. Above, there are over a dozen more underneath the last name listed there. Sigh.  I hope they begin posting more and I can move them back up to my "daily"or almost daily list that I read. I enjoy them all.

Some have not posted in months. And some are quitting this year. Boo! Too sad. I always keep the link because I have known some to re-surface months (or even years) later. What a nice surprise when I click the old link and there they are - posting again.

This blog "roll" is easy to create (for me).

Open Notepad.

Here is an example, type this:

the href= is the link that you would type into the address bar of  your browser, the second part Daily Dose of Imagery is what you name the blog to identify it.

Note: the "wvs" is not a typo. You can read more about   wvs here.

Here is what a link to my page would look like, if you add a second one:

Now, the Peruby part is up to you. You can label it how you want.

When you go to save, do the "Save As" and make sure you enter .htm in the name instead of letting Notepad make it the default .txt name.

As shown above. I always save to my desktop. The icon should appear to look like your default browser. For example, my default browser = Firefox. So the icon will look like this:

When I click on it, the page opens up in a new tab in my browser, but each blog is a separate link and I just click on it and it goes straight to the blog. When I am finished reading, I click the Back Arrow and go to the next blog.

To edit or add more blogs, right-mouse-click on the icon on your desktop and choose Open with....then choose notepad. You can add, edit or delete the data in the file. When finished, simply choose "Save As..." again and save it as an  .htm file.  I think this kind of stuff is fun. :)

The instructions are probably lacking, since I received a phone call from my sister during the middle of posting so I hope you can understand it. If you really want to give it a go and have difficulty, just let me know and I will assist. If you don't want to communicate via the blog, my e-mail is on my profile.

I know there are blog rolls out there, Google Reader, and you can add all your readers to your blog page, and a hundred other different ways - but this is the way I roll. It works well for me. I can put the file on a thumb drive and take it with me w/out typing my personal blog page into a browser to get my reader list.

Edit:  Hah! I lied. I guess my e-mail is NOT listed in my profile. Not that I could see, anyway.

It is:         perubee   at     gmail   dot   com.

Hanging grapes

I can't decide if this is a parody on the bulls balls (or bumper balls) that some trucks hang off the back of their trailer hitch, or if he is a wine maker, or if this was a Christmas decoration. What think you?

I find bumper (bulls) balls repulsive when I see them hanging off a bumper. Right up there with a shocker sticker. If you don't know what a shocker sticker is, you probably do not want to. Trust me on this one.

Tacky is another word that comes to mind. And vulgar.

Huh. I don't even have a label to cover this post in my Post settings. I am not going to add one, either.

Warm spinach dip

It was this or the saurkraut balls. I had already had them from a visit before, so I went with this dip and was pleasantly surprised with the lightly fried herb garlic tortilla chips. They were light and very tasty. This was gone in no time.