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Total entries in this category: Published On: Aug 07, 2006 12:19 AM |
Mon - August 7, 2006Ohio vacationSpent a week in Ohio, if you can call that
vacation. Spouse did not come along. He is still recovering from hip
replacement surgery and although it's been 7 weeks, he did not think he could
sit on a plane that long. The boys miss him as much as he does
them.
He would not have enjoyed the shower though. Not sure what men, or women for that matter, are into that stuff. The fun part for me was that Angie did not know I was coming and was really surprised. Her face was priceless. Good to know she likes me :-) It was fun to see formerr students, expecially those with babies of their own now. Amazing. Lots of loot - not sure if she appreciated the Emeril coolware we got her, but Geoff will. I couldn't believe the stuff that used to be wedding gifts that are now shower gifts. Blenders that cost $100, china - you name it. She did get a few things like a laundry basket full of cleaning supplies, and plenty of mattress pads and towels. I guess one can never have too many towels. I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday stripping woodwork in the new old house. I did 6 complete doorjams, 7 windows with casings, the window seat, the mantle, and 3 bookcases with a total of 7 doors with 8 small panes of glass each. There went the French manicure, even with gloves. I had forgotten how much I liked working on old homes. Sucks that the one I have now is new. Got back in the middle of the night Wednesday night, although Geoff threatened to not take me to the airport until I had finished all the woodwork. He gave in though, although I did want to stay there and play with them. I didn't get to spend much time with Jon although he did come each night to help a little and have dinner. He's looking pretty hard at jobs out here. I'd love to have him move. Trish would come wiht him, she has said, and for that I am glad. She is the best thing that's ever happened to him and I hope he knows that. The dissertation was neglected for a few days then, but for boredom on the plane. Actually, I read a few new articles and came up with some new ways to present my data, so I did accomplish something. Yesterday and today, I implemented one of them to go along with some of Walter's suggestions. So now all I have to do is babble some great educational jargon about my data to fill about 150 more pages and I am good to go. I think the misconceptions part will be easy based on thats what I got really good at while doing national boards. I have to renew that this year too as soon as i get the defense done. I hope to hell I have enough things that I've accomplished in the pase 10 years to get it renewed or I will die of humiliation. I think it's just a matter of properly presenting the things I have done, just as the things that I did the first time..... we'll see. Photos of shower and house here: http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/Stardiver/ enjoy. Posted at 12:12 AM | Mon - June 26, 2006Sat - June 24, 2006Update on the SurgeryHe's been home for 48 hours now. Here is a list
of his activities:
# times I have carried the walker up and down the stairs to the bedroom: 5 # timed I have gotten the walker out of the car doing errands: 10 # of times I have been reminded to put the walker back in the car during errands: 9 #of times I have received "suggestions" while preparing food: 19 # of times I have been reminded to do something I have already finished or am currently doing: 27 # of tasks I have been asked to do all at the same time: 5 (he's still a bit out of it from the pain meds) # of "easy" SUDOKU games he has begun and not finished: 4 (see above) # of phone calls he's made to tell the same story - at LEAST 7 # of times he has honked the stupid horn on his walker to get the dogs to move: 72 # of times the dogs have actually moved: 0 Posted at 12:11 AM | Sun - April 16, 2006Fri - April 14, 2006Today's helpful hint :-)How to Tell If a Hotel Bed Has
Bedbugs
 You've just checked into a great hotel. The
room is clean. The bathroom sparkles. And the comfy bed beckons your exhausted
body. Wait! Is that a bed bug crawling on the sheets?
Flat and oval in shape much like a small lentil,
bedbugs are just a 1/4-inch in diameter. They are brown, but once they have fed
on blood, they take on a rusty mahogany color. Thanks to international travel,
bedbugs have made a resurgence in the United States where exterminators had
largely wiped them out. If you sleep in a bed that is infested with them,
they'll suck your blood--their food supply--and you'll wake up with itchy, red,
swollen welts on your body. The itching can last for weeks. Although some people
do have severe allergic reactions to bedbugs, they are not considered a health
threat since they don't spread diseases.
Before slipping in between those hotel bed
sheets, do a quick and easy check for bedbugs. MSNBC offers these five
steps:
1. Pull off the bottom, fitted sheet and check the
mattress both by looking at it with your eyes and feeling the upper and lower
seams with your fingers. Oddly, bedbugs often hide on the mattress tag, so check
it, too.
2. If you can, remove and examine the headboard.
Even if you can't go that far in your inspection, look on the headboard for
bedbugs' excrement, which will be tiny black spots that are smaller than poppy
seeds and resemble pepper. Also, check for translucent light brown skins, as
well as live bugs.
3. Open the drawers of the bedside table and look
for signs of bedbugs there and along the wall of the bed, especially spots that
are less likely to be disturbed by the cleaning staff and other guests. You can
even check the back of picture frames for blood stains and fecal
marks.
4. If you see white powder in the drawers or by the
headboard, it could mean the room was recently exterminated for
bedbugs.
5. If you do find live bedbugs or signs of their
excrement, immediately inform the hotel management and request another room. But
don't just assume it's free of bedbugs. Be sure to check it,
too!
What about your luggage? Never place your suitcases on a hotel bed. Keep them off the floor, too. Unpack by placing your suitcase on a luggage stand. Why? If the room is infested with bedbugs, you don't want to bring any home with you. If you think bedbugs have gotten into your clothing, you can kill them by laundering cloth items in hot water and detergent followed by drying on a low heat for at least 20 minutes or with standard dry cleaning. Then seal those items inside a plastic bag to help prevent more bedbugs from getting into those items later. If you do bring bedbugs home with you, the extermination process is difficult at best and may involve throwing out not only your bedding, but also your furniture! A few minutes of checking the hotel bed can save you from all that. Posted at 10:54 PM | Mon - April 3, 2006Fri - March 10, 2006Thu - December 29, 2005so - how was your flight?I had strange vibes about this flight from the
beginning, I told Mike on the way to the airport.
So I'm waiting to board and this guy sitting along the wall begins to sing. Loudly. Then, he yells "BULLSHIT" very loudly a few times. Passengers approach the desk. A lady in a long denim skirt and santa hat took her animal-print tapestry bags and moved away from him. The check-in people announced a delay while the last cleanup sweep was made of the airplane. By this time, the guy is yelling "Fuck YOU"and told someone he looked like Tom Cruise. Then, he pointed to a black gentleman and said "Hey! You are black and I am white, but what's HE?" and pointed to someone else who I didn't see. Security arrived. One lone, puny cop. The drunk was a large drunk. The cop summoned him away from the passengers. The drunk put his hands in the air. he went behind a counter with the cop and laid down on his face. THey asked where he was going. He said "Seattle." No point in telling him that he was already there.They asked where he lived. He said, "Ohio." I thought, that figures. A nice lady standing near me said, "I hope I am not sitting near him!" She was a tall, thin lady whom I would once have described as elderly. Now, I would describe her as late 50-ish. She was not a pretty woman, but wore a lovely black velor jacket and pants, with teeny silver threads woven throughout. Her hair was chin length and neatly styled. I imagined that she and I would have been friends, if I had known her. More police arrived, and the flight began to board. The drunk was obviously not going to be boarding the plane, thank God. I wished I could say the same for the screaming baby. I finally saw a physician about the pain in my foot. He thinks its a mechanical issue so my orthotics are now on order. It's cold in the airport. The last plane was rather hot, and now I am cold. Now, I am in the Detroit airport drinking a pitiful excuse for coffee. Next stop: Columbus, a rental car, and a 2 hour drive to Jon's, a shower and a short nap, then out to put up the highway welcome home signs! Posted at 04:03 AM Read More | Tue - December 27, 2005iblog issuesWIth some time on my hands over break, I decided
to upgrade from 1.4.5 to 1.4.6. Mistake, apparently, or maybe not. The post
with all Geoff's deployment photos is GONE, somehow. I reposted it, and that
one disappeared too. So, this is a trial to see if anything else
disappears.......
The best news is that Geoff is back on US oil as of 4:30 PM PST time today, and I am on a plane to go see him tomorrow night right about now. I am so excited to see both my sons. I miss them so........ Posted at 09:01 PM | Sun - December 25, 2005(oops)so I am home for a week, and having nothing
better to do decide to update iblog. Iblog then decides to lose a few posts and
ask me questions about backing up when I quit. It lost avery long post, with
Geoff's deployment photos. I reposted, and it lost the post again. It's not
anywhere in the backup files, nowhere. So, while waiting for tech support to
return my email, I don't post anything at all. Go figure.
I was planning to hit all the post-Christmas sales tomorrow to get outdoor Christmas lights for the house for next year, and some cool ornaments for the kids, and whatever else is on sale. I have way too much else to do though, so perhaps I will just stay home and grade papers. Urgh. I leave Wednesday night to go to Ohio to meet Geoff. I hope that I am there on time - and not having to leave too early. I can't wait to see him again, and get him back to SCHOOL. It's so odd to watch the news from Iraq and not be looking for Geoff in the background. I am glad beyond belief that he is home, but still ache for all the families with the horror of soldiers in harms way. My thanks and undying gratitude go out to those people. Posted at 07:44 AM | Sun - December 18, 2005Christmas cards :-)Here is the photo of Mt. Rainier on ours. Mike
took it from the driveway a few weeks ago.
Posted at 10:59 AM | Sat - December 17, 2005Sun - December 11, 2005White ChristmasNo, not more of last week's snow. Fog. Freezing
fog. I had never heard of freezing fog before. It engulfed the whole Pierce
County world today. White valley, white mountain, white everywhere.
Posted at 09:09 PM | Sat - December 10, 2005Glass and ZeitgeistThings that made me happy
today:
1. Finding The Pottery School in Pioneer Square,
and finding the two perfect coffee mugs to send to Kim and Ann.
2. Finding the perfect cranberry and pink
handblown glass vase for Angie's birthday. They shipped; I hope it arrives in
time - and in one piece.
3. And finally, a cup of the worlds best chai tea
latte at Zeitgesit:
http://zeitgeistcoffee.com/aboutz.asp
Zeit·geist The spirit of the time; the taste and outlook characteristic of a period or generation. From Dictionary.com: “It's easy to see how a student... in the 1940's could imbibe such notions. The Zeitgeist encouraged Philosopher-Kings” (James Atlas). Posted at 07:40 PM | Sat - October 15, 2005Bed and BreakfastToday begins another week in the Lee B&B.
The nursery's world-reknowned rose breeder arrived today to tour some local
gardens and to speak at the Seattle Rose Society's annual banquet. I can't go' I
am home grading papers.
Tomorrow we will take him to Pike Place and to some more gardens. Then on Tuesday, Treda arrives. She is Mike's inside sales person. Her job is to sit in the office while he is selling trees and to do the bidding of any customer who cannot reach him. Poor thing. She and Mike are doing a show in, um, somewhere. Good thing we have lots of room here..... Posted at 02:33 PM | |
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