Time slips away. As John Lennon said, "life is what happens while you're making other plans."
Since Cam's birth, I've barely had time to think, let alone to write. The result is that I've not worked on any of my books, haven't really written any articles (business or otherwise), haven't felt "productive".
But the truth is that my job, today, is to raise my child. Which means that all of the other things that I thought were important, just aren't. So I don't write, unless it's to record stuff about him.
Life, though, is DEFINITELY happening. Since the last post we've moved and I've switched jobs. More importantly, Tina and I shuffle things around on a daily basis to make Cam's life better. My life is just about making his better.
And I love it.
I wasn't sure I could do this parenting thing. He didn't come with an instruction manual and I was hard pressed to understand why they would let us take him out of the hospital at 4 days old without any kind of certification, training or guaranty of our ability to keep him alive. But they did, and we have.
It's taken lots of long, sleepless nights... and more money than one could ever contemplate. But it's totally worth it the moment I hear him get up in the morning and ask Tina for "Da".
Showing posts with label Tina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tina. Show all posts
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Meltdown
There are a lot of things you do as a parent that, had someone told me I was going to do before Cameron was born, I would've never believed. Singing, dancing and talking in a high-pitched voice are just the beginning. Changing explosive diapers (you never saw poo like this before) is another. But perhaps the most challenging thing as a parent is getting your child to be calm when they're losing their cool.
Interestingly enough, most parents learn to tune out their own child's particular brand of whining. It's a defense mechanism, I suppose. If we weren't able to ignore it, there would, unfortunately, be more incidents of infanticide. Cruel? Absolutely. True? You betcha'.
In fact, there was event a recent study done that whining is, in fact, the worst sound known to mankind. Thankfully, it is at those moments when you also get to see parents at their absolute best. The creativity can be astounding. For the most part, though, they'll cajole, convince and yes, even bribe.
So what can you do with a 16mo old who barely understands what you're trying to tell him? Well, you start with toys. It's ugly, but bribery is first on the list. Core to this is the belief that the child's frustration is centered on the desire for something they don't currently have. So you think it's a toy and you'll give them ANYTHING if they'd just stop screaming.
Driving down the highway with Cameron in his carseat today was no different. He started to fuss and without taking both hands off the wheel (and without looking at him, either - a learned skill I never really thought I would need), I reached back, grabbed one of several "car toys" and placed it in his lap. You could hear it a few seconds later, bouncing off the back of the seat in front of him.
Nope... that wasn't the toy he wanted.
No problem - I'm prepared. I have more.
Thud.
Crap. Not that one either.
OK. Maybe I can tickle him to take his mind off whatever's got him frustrated. Still driving one-handed... still always looking at the road, I reach back and start with his feet. Tickling up his leg and onto his chest, I'm not getting any love in return. In fact, the screaming is getting worse.
Tina finally decides that maybe he just needs to be entertained (Yeah, remember Tina? She was sitting in the front passenger seat the whole time. Would've been nice if she'd helped the driver. But whatever. She was helping now.). Her idea? A napkin.
Somewhere, in the distance, I heard a 1950's comedic rim-shot. A napkin. Pshaw.
Do you know how many problems there are with giving a little boy a napkin? The first place it's going to go is into his mouth. Then we've got wet napkin. Wet napkin in the car, on his carseat, in his mouth. Which leads to wet napkin in his hair, under his fingernails (yes, they have them), probably in his nose, too... in short, everywhere. Tina realized this after a few seconds, too, and decided that perhaps she should use the napkin to entertain Cameron.
Her plan? Napkin Ghost Puppet.
Holy crap. It worked. I want to make fun of it, but I can't because it solved the problem. You don't even need me to tell you it was successful - you can simply see it in Cameron's face.
Flash forward a few hours later and we were back in the car. As it was close to dinner time and Cam again started the slow burn to complete meltdown. Given the time of day, we know this could get really ugly. So, we went straight for the jugular. We pulled out the baby crack and fed it to Cam like candy. Of course, I'm talking about the little red monster himself: Elmo.
I don't know what it is about the voice, but Cam could be (and has been) in full temper tantrum mode and Elmo's "la-la la-la" is the same as whipping out a Snausage in front of a golden retriever.
Crying? Over.
Volume? Silent.
Motion? Still.
And apparently parents everywhere know the Power of Elmo (PoE). From a recent episode of Cougar Town:
You just can't argue with the PoE.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of Elmo on my iPhone. It's my one iDevice I didn't have the full range of Elmo already installed and we really needed it. Do you know what happens when you give a baby crack addict a taste of the good stuff and then don't have any more? Yeah, it's not pretty. Luckily we were close to home and got him fed and in bed just in the nick of time.
So I'm off to go load the rest of our Elmo collection onto my iPhone. In the meantime, if you have other baby crack items that you're willing to share, we're willing to try them out. Put them in the comments to share.
Interestingly enough, most parents learn to tune out their own child's particular brand of whining. It's a defense mechanism, I suppose. If we weren't able to ignore it, there would, unfortunately, be more incidents of infanticide. Cruel? Absolutely. True? You betcha'.
In fact, there was event a recent study done that whining is, in fact, the worst sound known to mankind. Thankfully, it is at those moments when you also get to see parents at their absolute best. The creativity can be astounding. For the most part, though, they'll cajole, convince and yes, even bribe.
So what can you do with a 16mo old who barely understands what you're trying to tell him? Well, you start with toys. It's ugly, but bribery is first on the list. Core to this is the belief that the child's frustration is centered on the desire for something they don't currently have. So you think it's a toy and you'll give them ANYTHING if they'd just stop screaming.
Driving down the highway with Cameron in his carseat today was no different. He started to fuss and without taking both hands off the wheel (and without looking at him, either - a learned skill I never really thought I would need), I reached back, grabbed one of several "car toys" and placed it in his lap. You could hear it a few seconds later, bouncing off the back of the seat in front of him.
Nope... that wasn't the toy he wanted.
No problem - I'm prepared. I have more.
Thud.
Crap. Not that one either.
OK. Maybe I can tickle him to take his mind off whatever's got him frustrated. Still driving one-handed... still always looking at the road, I reach back and start with his feet. Tickling up his leg and onto his chest, I'm not getting any love in return. In fact, the screaming is getting worse.
Tina finally decides that maybe he just needs to be entertained (Yeah, remember Tina? She was sitting in the front passenger seat the whole time. Would've been nice if she'd helped the driver. But whatever. She was helping now.). Her idea? A napkin.
Somewhere, in the distance, I heard a 1950's comedic rim-shot. A napkin. Pshaw.
Do you know how many problems there are with giving a little boy a napkin? The first place it's going to go is into his mouth. Then we've got wet napkin. Wet napkin in the car, on his carseat, in his mouth. Which leads to wet napkin in his hair, under his fingernails (yes, they have them), probably in his nose, too... in short, everywhere. Tina realized this after a few seconds, too, and decided that perhaps she should use the napkin to entertain Cameron.
Her plan? Napkin Ghost Puppet.
 |
| Napkin Ghost Puppet |
Holy crap. It worked. I want to make fun of it, but I can't because it solved the problem. You don't even need me to tell you it was successful - you can simply see it in Cameron's face.
Flash forward a few hours later and we were back in the car. As it was close to dinner time and Cam again started the slow burn to complete meltdown. Given the time of day, we know this could get really ugly. So, we went straight for the jugular. We pulled out the baby crack and fed it to Cam like candy. Of course, I'm talking about the little red monster himself: Elmo.
I don't know what it is about the voice, but Cam could be (and has been) in full temper tantrum mode and Elmo's "la-la la-la" is the same as whipping out a Snausage in front of a golden retriever.
Crying? Over.
Volume? Silent.
Motion? Still.
And apparently parents everywhere know the Power of Elmo (PoE). From a recent episode of Cougar Town:
You just can't argue with the PoE.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of Elmo on my iPhone. It's my one iDevice I didn't have the full range of Elmo already installed and we really needed it. Do you know what happens when you give a baby crack addict a taste of the good stuff and then don't have any more? Yeah, it's not pretty. Luckily we were close to home and got him fed and in bed just in the nick of time.
So I'm off to go load the rest of our Elmo collection onto my iPhone. In the meantime, if you have other baby crack items that you're willing to share, we're willing to try them out. Put them in the comments to share.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Leavin' on a jet plane
About 10 days until we're at Disney World again. I simply can't wait. We've convinced ourselves that we're going to take it easy on this trip... move slowly through the parks, not rush, not open (or close) parks every day. I'll be interested to see if we make it.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Keys to the Beandom?
It's no secret that Tina and I visit Disney on a regular basis. One of the tours we took while we were there was "Keys to the Kingdom" which is essentially a behind-the-scenes look at the Magic Kingdom. It lasts for about 4 hours, includes lots of notable trivia bits and looks at the most secretive of places in the entire park (including the underground tunnels that traverse the entire property).
Two days ago, we were passing through Freeport, Maine, home to L.L. Bean. Tina's had a purple pullover from there that was bought back in her freshman year of college... and in a manner similar to me going to the Apple Computer Headquarters in Cuppertino, CA, going to L.L. Bean was like coming home for Tina. The pullover itself has acquired almost mythical status... known simply as her "Bean". It embodies all of the possible Beanness one item could have. She loves it and it loves her back, I suppose.
It's almost hard to express in words the look on her face and her state of excitement when she realized that there were FOUR buildings that comprise the L.L. Bean flagship location... and that the main one is open 24/7/365! She simply was in awe of trying to figure out what would require a run to the "Bean" to buy a "Bean" at 3am.
I wasn't willing to find out who visited at 3am, though, so we had to go at a more normal 1pm. After walking through all of the buildings and taking pictures of Tina wearing a giant backpack
(and getting in an even LARGER backpack),
we were ready to go. But not before getting the boot.
And as we walked away from the Bean, Tina simply inquired why they didn't offer tours of their facilities (including their full warehouse a few miles down the road) just like Disney. "They should have 'Keys to the Beandom'!"
All I could do was smile.
Two days ago, we were passing through Freeport, Maine, home to L.L. Bean. Tina's had a purple pullover from there that was bought back in her freshman year of college... and in a manner similar to me going to the Apple Computer Headquarters in Cuppertino, CA, going to L.L. Bean was like coming home for Tina. The pullover itself has acquired almost mythical status... known simply as her "Bean". It embodies all of the possible Beanness one item could have. She loves it and it loves her back, I suppose.
It's almost hard to express in words the look on her face and her state of excitement when she realized that there were FOUR buildings that comprise the L.L. Bean flagship location... and that the main one is open 24/7/365! She simply was in awe of trying to figure out what would require a run to the "Bean" to buy a "Bean" at 3am.
I wasn't willing to find out who visited at 3am, though, so we had to go at a more normal 1pm. After walking through all of the buildings and taking pictures of Tina wearing a giant backpack
(and getting in an even LARGER backpack),
we were ready to go. But not before getting the boot.
And as we walked away from the Bean, Tina simply inquired why they didn't offer tours of their facilities (including their full warehouse a few miles down the road) just like Disney. "They should have 'Keys to the Beandom'!"
All I could do was smile.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Addiction to Logic Games
I used to hate logic games. You know... there are 4 puppets, each is a different animal and each has a different name. Each puppet also has a chief puppeteer and an assistant puppeteer. Based on the sketchy following information, you now need to be able to know which puppet is which and is controlled by which puppeteers.
Man I hated those things. Then, during preparation for my LSAT, I discovered that I needed to learn how to do them successfully if I wanted a prayer of attending law school. So I learned how to do them. But that didn't mean I was going to LIKE them!
Flash forward 12 years. I do Sudokus almost every day. I love puzzles (well, ok, I love almost all puzzles) and solving them gives me a great deal of satisfaction.
But logic puzzles still bother me. I never really liked them then and now they bring LSAT flashbacks. But tonight, Tina decided to play an online logic puzzle. Grabbing a pen and paper, I quickly decided that I wanted to join in and see if I could still do them.
And wadda' know? I can still do them.
That one was enough to last me another 12 years.
See ya' again in 2018. :)
Man I hated those things. Then, during preparation for my LSAT, I discovered that I needed to learn how to do them successfully if I wanted a prayer of attending law school. So I learned how to do them. But that didn't mean I was going to LIKE them!
Flash forward 12 years. I do Sudokus almost every day. I love puzzles (well, ok, I love almost all puzzles) and solving them gives me a great deal of satisfaction.
But logic puzzles still bother me. I never really liked them then and now they bring LSAT flashbacks. But tonight, Tina decided to play an online logic puzzle. Grabbing a pen and paper, I quickly decided that I wanted to join in and see if I could still do them.
And wadda' know? I can still do them.
That one was enough to last me another 12 years.
See ya' again in 2018. :)
Friday, March 17, 2006
time to change
"Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology. Where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory thoughts. Our Unification of Thought is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people. With one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!"
So I've moved my domain to just be a blog. About time, I know. And to mark the occasion, I'm going to try to attach a photo for the first time, too.
So I've moved my domain to just be a blog. About time, I know. And to mark the occasion, I'm going to try to attach a photo for the first time, too.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Birthdays
Uh-oh. I'm in trouble. I was going to write about something else... then all of the sudden, I'm asked if I read a book from the library.
"No", I responded.
"Well, what about the Disney book?" my wife asks.
"No..." I say.
And then came the crux question... the one that changed the outcome of this entry.
"Did you send the thank you note?"
Oh crap. I KNEW I had to do it... remember even being REMINDED to do it. But didn't do it.
I feign horror.
"No." Thinking fast, I add "Can I send one from Disney?"
"No!"
Hmmm... guess I can't blog about random stuff today because I have something I actually have to go write in the physical universe.
A thank you note for a beautiful birthday gift. And in case she reads it here first: "Thank you, GrandMa (on the Albright side)!"
"No", I responded.
"Well, what about the Disney book?" my wife asks.
"No..." I say.
And then came the crux question... the one that changed the outcome of this entry.
"Did you send the thank you note?"
Oh crap. I KNEW I had to do it... remember even being REMINDED to do it. But didn't do it.
I feign horror.
"No." Thinking fast, I add "Can I send one from Disney?"
"No!"
Hmmm... guess I can't blog about random stuff today because I have something I actually have to go write in the physical universe.
A thank you note for a beautiful birthday gift. And in case she reads it here first: "Thank you, GrandMa (on the Albright side)!"
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Promises, Promises isn't just the name of a Naked Eyes tune
Man I really hate when someone tells me that they're going to do something and then fails to live up to their promise. I hate it even more when it's something that's created excitement and a bit of longing.
Ok, so I was at the mall on Saturday. I talked with this manager of a cellphone store who told me that he could get me a new cell phone that I wanted... but that he had to work his connections with the distributor to get it. I was supposed to call him on Monday to make it happen.
I called on Monday... and he told me that the phone would be there on Wednesday. I am now excited and I work on convincing Tina that I really need the phone (not that there was much convincing to do as my current phone has been on a Peruvian Death March for several months now). But all in all, I'm excited that I'm going to get this new phone.
So I call on Wednesday. Phone's not there (I had asked for 2 of them so that Tina could get one, too, so when the distributor told the manager that he only had one, the manager didn't get the one). But the manager tells me that he'll get in touch with the distributor and call me back in an hour.
Three hours later, no calls. I call the store. Manager's gone home for the day. Store personnel have no clue what I'm talking about, but they give me the manager's cell number. I call it. He's not there and I leave a message.
But by this point, it's now 3.5 hours after I was supposed to get a call back, I'm probably not going to get the phone today... and since I'm going out of town for the weekend, I won't see it until Monday.
Bummer.
But I really hate it when people lie to me.
Ok, so I was at the mall on Saturday. I talked with this manager of a cellphone store who told me that he could get me a new cell phone that I wanted... but that he had to work his connections with the distributor to get it. I was supposed to call him on Monday to make it happen.
I called on Monday... and he told me that the phone would be there on Wednesday. I am now excited and I work on convincing Tina that I really need the phone (not that there was much convincing to do as my current phone has been on a Peruvian Death March for several months now). But all in all, I'm excited that I'm going to get this new phone.
So I call on Wednesday. Phone's not there (I had asked for 2 of them so that Tina could get one, too, so when the distributor told the manager that he only had one, the manager didn't get the one). But the manager tells me that he'll get in touch with the distributor and call me back in an hour.
Three hours later, no calls. I call the store. Manager's gone home for the day. Store personnel have no clue what I'm talking about, but they give me the manager's cell number. I call it. He's not there and I leave a message.
But by this point, it's now 3.5 hours after I was supposed to get a call back, I'm probably not going to get the phone today... and since I'm going out of town for the weekend, I won't see it until Monday.
Bummer.
But I really hate it when people lie to me.
Monday, April 26, 2004
I HATE moving!
So I'm homeless at the moment. All my crap is in storage with the exception of my car, dog and computer (ok, and a few clothing items, too).
But it's the PROCESS that I hate. I think it's because I've done it too many times.
Starting from birth here are the moves that have involved 2 weeks or more in a given location:
1. Moved from home for unwed mothers (come on... it WAS the 70s) to Adoption Agency.
2. Adoption Agency to my parents home.
3. Parents first home to Texas (Dad had to do basic training).
4. Texas to Germany for Dad's Army assignment in Frankfurt.
5. Frankfurt back to US (Flossmoor, IL).
6. Flossmoor to Valparaiso, IN.
7. Valparaiso to summer camp in WI.
8. Valparaiso to summer camp in MI. (4 times)
9. Valparaiso to private school in Bath, Maine.
10. Bath to home at the end of the school year.
11. Valparaiso to military school in Mexico, Missouri.
12. Mexico to home at the end of the school year.
13. Valparaiso to summer camp in Indiana.
14. Valparaiso to military school again.
15. Mexico to home when I was dismissed from military school (interesting story... ask me sometime).
16. Valparaiso to summer camp in Indiana.
17. Valparaiso to summer camp in Indiana. (yes, again... three summers in a row)
18. Reverse move... I stayed in Valpo for college... my parents moved to Northfield, Illinois.
19. Valpo to Michigan summer camp to work for summer between Freshman and Sophomore years.
20. Valpo to Indiana summer camp to work for summer between Sophomore and Junior years.
21. Valpo fraternity house to Valpo dorm.
22. Valpo dorm to first apartment.
23. First apartment to second apartment (1.5 years later).
24. Second apartment to NC (3 years after that).
25. NC extended stay hotel to NC apartment.
26. NC apartment back to Chicago for work.
27. Chicago to NC when work and personal life conflicted.
28. NC apartment to NC house.
29. NC house to NC homelessness.
Wow. I've moved almost one time for every year that I've been alive. I should really stop doing this. I have a good idea that I'll be moving again in the relatively near future - becoming UNhomeless is my goal. :)
Feed the homeless here:
:)
But it's the PROCESS that I hate. I think it's because I've done it too many times.
Starting from birth here are the moves that have involved 2 weeks or more in a given location:
1. Moved from home for unwed mothers (come on... it WAS the 70s) to Adoption Agency.
2. Adoption Agency to my parents home.
3. Parents first home to Texas (Dad had to do basic training).
4. Texas to Germany for Dad's Army assignment in Frankfurt.
5. Frankfurt back to US (Flossmoor, IL).
6. Flossmoor to Valparaiso, IN.
7. Valparaiso to summer camp in WI.
8. Valparaiso to summer camp in MI. (4 times)
9. Valparaiso to private school in Bath, Maine.
10. Bath to home at the end of the school year.
11. Valparaiso to military school in Mexico, Missouri.
12. Mexico to home at the end of the school year.
13. Valparaiso to summer camp in Indiana.
14. Valparaiso to military school again.
15. Mexico to home when I was dismissed from military school (interesting story... ask me sometime).
16. Valparaiso to summer camp in Indiana.
17. Valparaiso to summer camp in Indiana. (yes, again... three summers in a row)
18. Reverse move... I stayed in Valpo for college... my parents moved to Northfield, Illinois.
19. Valpo to Michigan summer camp to work for summer between Freshman and Sophomore years.
20. Valpo to Indiana summer camp to work for summer between Sophomore and Junior years.
21. Valpo fraternity house to Valpo dorm.
22. Valpo dorm to first apartment.
23. First apartment to second apartment (1.5 years later).
24. Second apartment to NC (3 years after that).
25. NC extended stay hotel to NC apartment.
26. NC apartment back to Chicago for work.
27. Chicago to NC when work and personal life conflicted.
28. NC apartment to NC house.
29. NC house to NC homelessness.
Wow. I've moved almost one time for every year that I've been alive. I should really stop doing this. I have a good idea that I'll be moving again in the relatively near future - becoming UNhomeless is my goal. :)
Feed the homeless here:
:)
Friday, February 27, 2004
Tina and I went to see Duke play Valparaiso University (my alma matter) in basketball at Cameron last night.
Want to guess who won?
90-something to 50-something.
It was a slaughter. But we had fun there anyways! I received lots of stares as I was wearing a maroon Valpo sweatshirt. :) Next year they're playing at the United Center in Chicago. So Tina will look out of place in a Duke sweatshirt. Heh.
OK... time to get back to invitations. We have to address the INNER envelopes now, then put everything inside. Then lick, stick and send 'em away.
Want to guess who won?
90-something to 50-something.
It was a slaughter. But we had fun there anyways! I received lots of stares as I was wearing a maroon Valpo sweatshirt. :) Next year they're playing at the United Center in Chicago. So Tina will look out of place in a Duke sweatshirt. Heh.
OK... time to get back to invitations. We have to address the INNER envelopes now, then put everything inside. Then lick, stick and send 'em away.
Monday, February 23, 2004
I was raised on McDonald's, Burger King and Domino's Pizza. I LOVE fast food... not just the fact that I think it tastes good to me (given my finiky food behavior), but that it's just easy to get and I don't have to prepare it.
But the truth is that I should eat healthier meals. And Tina's been encouraging me to cut back on the calories - since my lazy butt has been on a couch for a lot of the last few months. :)
So I went to the grocery store to find something that would be fairly quick and easy to prepare to encourage better eating habits. I found the Healthy Choice bowls in the freezer section - more specifically, a Chicken & Rice bowl which was just perfect. I bought them by the boatload. I LOVED these meals.
Well, one day, I could no longer find them in the closest grocery store. I had to go online to find where else they were stocked. Visiting about 10 other stores in the Raleigh area, I cleaned out every one I could find. But the very next time I went back, there weren't any in stock anywhere.
OK. Don't panic. Go to the customer service desk and ask them if they have any in the back. No, none in the back. Alright, can you special order them? Sure. No problem. How long til they arrive? No clue. Fine, I'll just check back later.
For three consecutive weeks, I would call to check to see if they were in. Nope. Never. Sorry. So at this point, I was getting REALLY worried, as I only had 1 or 2 left! I was going to have to eat out more often if I lost my bowls.
I decided to call the manufacturer. I wanted to know where they recommended that I get them. Wanna' guess what happened? Oh yeah.... they were DISCONTINUED!!! I couldn't believe it. Apparently, the Chicken & Rice bowl wasn't very popular. I was crushed. Because now I was FORCED to eat out again!
But as usual, Tina came to the rescue. She told me to go and pick something else out at the store. After several failed attempts, I think I might have found another meal I like. Woo hoo! Can you guys tell McDonald's that I won't be around much?
But the truth is that I should eat healthier meals. And Tina's been encouraging me to cut back on the calories - since my lazy butt has been on a couch for a lot of the last few months. :)
So I went to the grocery store to find something that would be fairly quick and easy to prepare to encourage better eating habits. I found the Healthy Choice bowls in the freezer section - more specifically, a Chicken & Rice bowl which was just perfect. I bought them by the boatload. I LOVED these meals.
Well, one day, I could no longer find them in the closest grocery store. I had to go online to find where else they were stocked. Visiting about 10 other stores in the Raleigh area, I cleaned out every one I could find. But the very next time I went back, there weren't any in stock anywhere.
OK. Don't panic. Go to the customer service desk and ask them if they have any in the back. No, none in the back. Alright, can you special order them? Sure. No problem. How long til they arrive? No clue. Fine, I'll just check back later.
For three consecutive weeks, I would call to check to see if they were in. Nope. Never. Sorry. So at this point, I was getting REALLY worried, as I only had 1 or 2 left! I was going to have to eat out more often if I lost my bowls.
I decided to call the manufacturer. I wanted to know where they recommended that I get them. Wanna' guess what happened? Oh yeah.... they were DISCONTINUED!!! I couldn't believe it. Apparently, the Chicken & Rice bowl wasn't very popular. I was crushed. Because now I was FORCED to eat out again!
But as usual, Tina came to the rescue. She told me to go and pick something else out at the store. After several failed attempts, I think I might have found another meal I like. Woo hoo! Can you guys tell McDonald's that I won't be around much?
Saturday, February 21, 2004
(Note: This is a cross-over blogisode - meaning that it's the same post here as on the Wedblog with minor differences. Thanks for playing along.)
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!
I'm tired of addressing wedding invitations.
My fingers feel like they're going to fall off. But at least the outside envelopes are done, now to do the insides.
What's that you say? Why am I doing it by hand? What possessed me to grab a caligraphy pen and hand-write 200 or so invitations?
Well, I'm a sadist, really. And I'm cheap. An addressing service (yes, folks, there are people paid to address envelopes) will do it for about $1.50/envelope. This includes the outer envelope - the one with:
Mr. and Mrs. Full-first-name-middle-name-last-name
Fully spelled out street address
Fully spelled out city, state and zipcode
And the inner envelope:
First name of each adult on the first line
First name of each child on the second line
But as I'm only done with the outer envelopes, I still have to repeat the process with the inners. Sound simple? Sure. Simple for me? Of course not.
First we had to order the invitations - you can read about some of that adventure on our WedBlog. We paid a little extra so the envelopes would arrive sooner than everything else (with the idea being that I would actually get started addressing them sooner. I tried.
I say, "I tried," because my first few envelopes were done with a caligraphy marker... and without me knowing that I was supposed to be doing the full-name-no-abbreviation thing apparently required by formal southern tradition. OH, and I had wanted to do the caligraphy in purple. Apparently, only black is the allowed color. Oops.
So first was a trip to get black caligraphy markers. I came back, did a few envelopes and Tina then informed me (after an hour of addressing) that while these were fine for my friends, it wasn't going to work for her family. I realized that this meant that I was doing it wrong for everyone and was going to have to go back to the store.
See, the marker has a wide tip. I needed to see if there was a smaller version. I found two more black caligraphy markers and returned home to discover that nope, they're the same size. Which meant that I just wasn't going to be able to use markers for this. I was going to have to (insert dramatic pause here)... buy a real caligraphy pen. (I also had to get a "light box" - a little translucent table with a nightlight installed under it - so that I could project guidelines drawn on a piece of paper inserted into the envelopes. This way, it appears that I'm really great at making letters of equal height and in a straight line.)
Three guesses on who doesn't know the first thing about caligraphy pens but had to learn quickly while standing in the aisle of the store! :)
Yes, I found what I thought I wanted, went home and opened the box. These pens aren't the $2 bizillion pens that they used to use for nice writing. They're idiot-proof pens for people like me. I followed the directions to insert the ink cartridge, attach the right "nib" and tried to start the ink flow.
Hmmmm... no ink flowing. I wrote with a down-stroke, an up-stroke, a side-to-side stroke. No flow. I tried a damp paper towel to help siphon the ink down the nip (this is a real suggestion made on the instruction sheet... I didn't just make it up myself). No flow. I tried shaking the pen. No flow. Finally, I shook the pen in sharp downward motions (like I was 'resetting' a thermometer) and then used the paper towel method. Flow.
Now I started addressing. It's an amazing thing to see how small I can get the letters with a real pen.
And today, two weeks after I started (and LONG after the rest of the invitations arrived thus showing us that we wasted a bit of cash on the envelope rush order), the outer envelopes are complete. But only because I did 80 of them yesterday.
So my fingers feel like they're going to shrivel up and fall off.
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!
I'm tired of addressing wedding invitations.
My fingers feel like they're going to fall off. But at least the outside envelopes are done, now to do the insides.
What's that you say? Why am I doing it by hand? What possessed me to grab a caligraphy pen and hand-write 200 or so invitations?
Well, I'm a sadist, really. And I'm cheap. An addressing service (yes, folks, there are people paid to address envelopes) will do it for about $1.50/envelope. This includes the outer envelope - the one with:
Mr. and Mrs. Full-first-name-middle-name-last-name
Fully spelled out street address
Fully spelled out city, state and zipcode
And the inner envelope:
First name of each adult on the first line
First name of each child on the second line
But as I'm only done with the outer envelopes, I still have to repeat the process with the inners. Sound simple? Sure. Simple for me? Of course not.
First we had to order the invitations - you can read about some of that adventure on our WedBlog. We paid a little extra so the envelopes would arrive sooner than everything else (with the idea being that I would actually get started addressing them sooner. I tried.
I say, "I tried," because my first few envelopes were done with a caligraphy marker... and without me knowing that I was supposed to be doing the full-name-no-abbreviation thing apparently required by formal southern tradition. OH, and I had wanted to do the caligraphy in purple. Apparently, only black is the allowed color. Oops.
So first was a trip to get black caligraphy markers. I came back, did a few envelopes and Tina then informed me (after an hour of addressing) that while these were fine for my friends, it wasn't going to work for her family. I realized that this meant that I was doing it wrong for everyone and was going to have to go back to the store.
See, the marker has a wide tip. I needed to see if there was a smaller version. I found two more black caligraphy markers and returned home to discover that nope, they're the same size. Which meant that I just wasn't going to be able to use markers for this. I was going to have to (insert dramatic pause here)... buy a real caligraphy pen. (I also had to get a "light box" - a little translucent table with a nightlight installed under it - so that I could project guidelines drawn on a piece of paper inserted into the envelopes. This way, it appears that I'm really great at making letters of equal height and in a straight line.)
Three guesses on who doesn't know the first thing about caligraphy pens but had to learn quickly while standing in the aisle of the store! :)
Yes, I found what I thought I wanted, went home and opened the box. These pens aren't the $2 bizillion pens that they used to use for nice writing. They're idiot-proof pens for people like me. I followed the directions to insert the ink cartridge, attach the right "nib" and tried to start the ink flow.
Hmmmm... no ink flowing. I wrote with a down-stroke, an up-stroke, a side-to-side stroke. No flow. I tried a damp paper towel to help siphon the ink down the nip (this is a real suggestion made on the instruction sheet... I didn't just make it up myself). No flow. I tried shaking the pen. No flow. Finally, I shook the pen in sharp downward motions (like I was 'resetting' a thermometer) and then used the paper towel method. Flow.
Now I started addressing. It's an amazing thing to see how small I can get the letters with a real pen.
And today, two weeks after I started (and LONG after the rest of the invitations arrived thus showing us that we wasted a bit of cash on the envelope rush order), the outer envelopes are complete. But only because I did 80 of them yesterday.
So my fingers feel like they're going to shrivel up and fall off.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
I had an interesting day yesterday.
I love my car. What I love most is that my car has a bunch of cool gadgetry that makes my driving experience better than farfegnugen. But every once and awhile, some of that cool gadgetry goes Inspector Gadget on me.
The other day was my remote door locks. I have a nifty little feature called Passive Keyless Entry, PKE for short. PKE "senses" the presence of the keyfob and unlocks the door(s) when you approach and then locks the doors when you turn off the car, close the door and walk away.
The fob also has buttons for unlocking/locking the doors and popping the rear hatch. I realized things weren't working the day I turned off the car, pulled the keys out of the ignition and the doors locked me in and then the hatch popped open. Taking the car to the dealer, I found that I had a VERY expensive problem or an even MORE expensive alternative. So luckily for me, I just had the VERY expensive issue.
After a week or so, the car was ready to go. The keyfobs were reprogrammed to the car and the mechanic demonstrated that everything worked as it should... and that my rear hatch shouldn't pop as I'm driving down the highway. Of course, two days later, Tina needed to get in the passenger side of the car and we realized that the passenger door didn't unlock with the driver's door - which it used to do up to this point.
Tina feels like I'm not attentive as a result... and I'm pissed because I felt that the repair folks didn't do their job and I was taking the heat. I grabbed the car's manual, checked the appropriate pages, and saw how there were three PKE settings: Off, Driver's Door Only, Both Doors. I followed the instructions to change the settings to Both Doors. But it didn't work. Nor did it work the next dozen times I tried. Now you've got the background to understand what happened next.
As luck would have it, a lot of my interviewing trips were coming up, so I didn't have time to take it back to the dealer until yesterday. When I talked with the mechanic again, his response was "the car doesn't do that..." and "it's not something I can set up for you...". I pulled out the manual again, showed him where it said it was an easy setting to change.
After a half-hour of talking with other folks there who were supposedly "experts" on this particular vehicle, it was time to call Second Level Support from the Auto Manufacturer because no one there supposedly knew that the PKE system could unlock both doors. After ANOTHER half-hour, we found that there were a few possibilities... most likely it was a short between the ignition and the remote system receiver that was replaced during those expensive repairs. Of course, the only way to prove it was to rip open the dash board and test the wire. So I decided to live with the idea that the system only unlocks the one door for the moment.
But my favorite quote of the day came as I was getting back into the car to go home. The mechanic was smiling, joking about the extent to which they'd have to go to test that one piece of wire. And then, still smiling, he says "you're the only one who wants that setting... everyone else wants us to turn it off so that only one door unlocks...".
And I drove off... but wait a minute, didn't we start this adventure by him telling me that such a setting doesn't exist?
I love my car. What I love most is that my car has a bunch of cool gadgetry that makes my driving experience better than farfegnugen. But every once and awhile, some of that cool gadgetry goes Inspector Gadget on me.
The other day was my remote door locks. I have a nifty little feature called Passive Keyless Entry, PKE for short. PKE "senses" the presence of the keyfob and unlocks the door(s) when you approach and then locks the doors when you turn off the car, close the door and walk away.
The fob also has buttons for unlocking/locking the doors and popping the rear hatch. I realized things weren't working the day I turned off the car, pulled the keys out of the ignition and the doors locked me in and then the hatch popped open. Taking the car to the dealer, I found that I had a VERY expensive problem or an even MORE expensive alternative. So luckily for me, I just had the VERY expensive issue.
After a week or so, the car was ready to go. The keyfobs were reprogrammed to the car and the mechanic demonstrated that everything worked as it should... and that my rear hatch shouldn't pop as I'm driving down the highway. Of course, two days later, Tina needed to get in the passenger side of the car and we realized that the passenger door didn't unlock with the driver's door - which it used to do up to this point.
Tina feels like I'm not attentive as a result... and I'm pissed because I felt that the repair folks didn't do their job and I was taking the heat. I grabbed the car's manual, checked the appropriate pages, and saw how there were three PKE settings: Off, Driver's Door Only, Both Doors. I followed the instructions to change the settings to Both Doors. But it didn't work. Nor did it work the next dozen times I tried. Now you've got the background to understand what happened next.
As luck would have it, a lot of my interviewing trips were coming up, so I didn't have time to take it back to the dealer until yesterday. When I talked with the mechanic again, his response was "the car doesn't do that..." and "it's not something I can set up for you...". I pulled out the manual again, showed him where it said it was an easy setting to change.
After a half-hour of talking with other folks there who were supposedly "experts" on this particular vehicle, it was time to call Second Level Support from the Auto Manufacturer because no one there supposedly knew that the PKE system could unlock both doors. After ANOTHER half-hour, we found that there were a few possibilities... most likely it was a short between the ignition and the remote system receiver that was replaced during those expensive repairs. Of course, the only way to prove it was to rip open the dash board and test the wire. So I decided to live with the idea that the system only unlocks the one door for the moment.
But my favorite quote of the day came as I was getting back into the car to go home. The mechanic was smiling, joking about the extent to which they'd have to go to test that one piece of wire. And then, still smiling, he says "you're the only one who wants that setting... everyone else wants us to turn it off so that only one door unlocks...".
And I drove off... but wait a minute, didn't we start this adventure by him telling me that such a setting doesn't exist?
Thursday, February 05, 2004
So I'm innocently sitting at my computer the other day and I get an e-mail from Tina. It is a challenge to me to take a "political candidate" test to see who matches up with my personal beliefs. [Quick background note: Tina's pretty far Republican. I'm not. She's also politically inclined. I'm not.]
She taunts me with the idea that Joe Lieberman is actually in the top three of her list. She's doing this to prove to me that I don't know what the various candidates really stand for - and she's right. My test is abysmal. Al Sharpton is the 100% match with my views. Scary. I guess I'll be voting "independent" come November.
In other news, we're going on a double-date with Carmen tomorrow night. She's taking US out with the gift certificate we got her as a Christmas present. That's pretty good return on investment - get to hang out with our friends AND get dinner for free. Cha-ching!
Oh, and house sale news... apparently the person who wants my house is a total home buying newbie. She's completely skittish and doesn't really want to negotiate. But what she has been told to get is $3,000 in closing costs. After about 5 back & forth offers and counteroffers, I finally gave an ultimatum tonight. I'm tired of dealing with this. If she doesn't want the house, that's fine. I'm tired of playing around with her. She is either going to have to pay for it or go find someplace for free (which is apparently what she feels she deserves as a new home buyer). Hehe.
And I got another job offer. In yet another town somewhere other than Raleigh. This is getting out of hand. Why can't someone let me stay here?
She taunts me with the idea that Joe Lieberman is actually in the top three of her list. She's doing this to prove to me that I don't know what the various candidates really stand for - and she's right. My test is abysmal. Al Sharpton is the 100% match with my views. Scary. I guess I'll be voting "independent" come November.
In other news, we're going on a double-date with Carmen tomorrow night. She's taking US out with the gift certificate we got her as a Christmas present. That's pretty good return on investment - get to hang out with our friends AND get dinner for free. Cha-ching!
Oh, and house sale news... apparently the person who wants my house is a total home buying newbie. She's completely skittish and doesn't really want to negotiate. But what she has been told to get is $3,000 in closing costs. After about 5 back & forth offers and counteroffers, I finally gave an ultimatum tonight. I'm tired of dealing with this. If she doesn't want the house, that's fine. I'm tired of playing around with her. She is either going to have to pay for it or go find someplace for free (which is apparently what she feels she deserves as a new home buyer). Hehe.
And I got another job offer. In yet another town somewhere other than Raleigh. This is getting out of hand. Why can't someone let me stay here?
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
I've had it with weather that the locals don't know how to handle. I'm from a tiny town in the NW corner of Indiana - very close to the border (and thus Chicago). We get TONS of inclement weather and more snow in a day than some folks in NC have seen in their lifetimes. So I really don't understand why folks down here can't figure out how to remove the relatively tiny amount of snow and ice we get from the roadways.
Today alone they're reporting that there have been over 1,000 traffic accidents. Now, it seems to me that if the state/county/city doesn't know how to REMOVE the snow/ice, that folks would realize this and also realize that they don't know how to DRIVE on said snow/ice. They should just stay home. But they don't. The result is that the universe has a few less living people today.
But I guess I can't say much because Tina and I tried to go out today (she's staying with me for security purposes). She called her office and found out that it was scheduled to open on a two hour delay. At 9am, I went downstairs and started shoveling the driveway. I cleared the bulk of the ice from her car and the drive and when my lungs felt like they were going to burst, I went back indoors.
So at about 10:30am, we tried to leave home. We got off the driveway, down my block and around the first corner. The next road was uphill, and about a block into the trip, we saw an SUV on the side of the road just sitting there blowing exhaust. Tina wondered aloud what they were doing just sitting there - blocking the road!
As we passed them, traction became non-existent and we started spinning the wheels. A kid was standing about another 25 yards ahead at the top of the hill, waving us on as if we were having to watch for cars coming around the bend. But it didn't matter because we weren't moving forward anymore and the front of her car was drifting to the left.
We stopped completely, I got out and promptly lost my footing on the sheet of ice formerly known as pavement. I tried to help Tina in any way that I could... but we quickly realized that we were going to just head home and spend another day inside. Two minutes later, I was on the ground - plopped down on my butt because I couldn't stand straight.
Returning home was fairly simple and with a little speed, we made it back up the driveway without further incident. Tina almost took a spill simply trying to walk back to the front door. I was upset because we weren't going to be able to get any more groceries and I was out of french fries.
To be honest, the rest of the day was almost entirely uneventful and it really runs together with the other two days of being trapped in the house. So I can't honestly tell you what happened today versus what happened yesterday.
The last two hours, however, are pretty fresh in mind. We had dinner (still no french fries and I'm even running out of potato chips - please, someone ship them to me... the US Post Office delivered mail again today so THAT's available), watched some TV and now we're putzing around before bed.
Oh, and my virus scanning software is still running. This is about 5.5 hours now - scanning about 250K files. I don't know what it's doing, but it's not finding any virii. Again, I'm on a Mac, so I'm fairly immune to most things out in the wild - but I was trying to be vigilant considering the new e-mail worm that's been out here for the last 48 hours. Maybe one of these days, the scan will end. I dunno'.
I guess I'll post again when I'm sure I'm clean.
Today alone they're reporting that there have been over 1,000 traffic accidents. Now, it seems to me that if the state/county/city doesn't know how to REMOVE the snow/ice, that folks would realize this and also realize that they don't know how to DRIVE on said snow/ice. They should just stay home. But they don't. The result is that the universe has a few less living people today.
But I guess I can't say much because Tina and I tried to go out today (she's staying with me for security purposes). She called her office and found out that it was scheduled to open on a two hour delay. At 9am, I went downstairs and started shoveling the driveway. I cleared the bulk of the ice from her car and the drive and when my lungs felt like they were going to burst, I went back indoors.
So at about 10:30am, we tried to leave home. We got off the driveway, down my block and around the first corner. The next road was uphill, and about a block into the trip, we saw an SUV on the side of the road just sitting there blowing exhaust. Tina wondered aloud what they were doing just sitting there - blocking the road!
As we passed them, traction became non-existent and we started spinning the wheels. A kid was standing about another 25 yards ahead at the top of the hill, waving us on as if we were having to watch for cars coming around the bend. But it didn't matter because we weren't moving forward anymore and the front of her car was drifting to the left.
We stopped completely, I got out and promptly lost my footing on the sheet of ice formerly known as pavement. I tried to help Tina in any way that I could... but we quickly realized that we were going to just head home and spend another day inside. Two minutes later, I was on the ground - plopped down on my butt because I couldn't stand straight.
Returning home was fairly simple and with a little speed, we made it back up the driveway without further incident. Tina almost took a spill simply trying to walk back to the front door. I was upset because we weren't going to be able to get any more groceries and I was out of french fries.
To be honest, the rest of the day was almost entirely uneventful and it really runs together with the other two days of being trapped in the house. So I can't honestly tell you what happened today versus what happened yesterday.
The last two hours, however, are pretty fresh in mind. We had dinner (still no french fries and I'm even running out of potato chips - please, someone ship them to me... the US Post Office delivered mail again today so THAT's available), watched some TV and now we're putzing around before bed.
Oh, and my virus scanning software is still running. This is about 5.5 hours now - scanning about 250K files. I don't know what it's doing, but it's not finding any virii. Again, I'm on a Mac, so I'm fairly immune to most things out in the wild - but I was trying to be vigilant considering the new e-mail worm that's been out here for the last 48 hours. Maybe one of these days, the scan will end. I dunno'.
I guess I'll post again when I'm sure I'm clean.
Monday, January 26, 2004
I'm trapped in my house. It's been snowing (with a coating of freezing rain for good measure) for the last two days. So I can't go anywhere.
Lucky for me, I've got friends nearby. And of course, there's Allie.
First, she needed a bath today. I've been avoiding this because I don't like having to clean her, then clean the tub and then clean myself - all because SHE needed a bath. I really wish she'd grow out that dew paw and make it an opposable thumb. Perhaps she could bathe herself. Then again, she could just become a cat. Either way, I could stop trying to cajole her into the bathtub for something NEITHER of us likes to deal with.
Anyways, for those of you who KNOW Allie, she's very fond of the outdoors. This is evidenced by the fact that every time it even appears that I'm going to go outside, she runs to the door nearest myself (even if it's an interior door), sits as close to the door as possible... and waits. But it's not just any wait, it's a sit and a scoot closer to the door. A pant and then another scoot closer to the door.
I think she believes that the closer she IS to the door, the closer she is to getting THROUGH the door. Unfortunately for her, she's pretty opaque and isn't able to go through the door. But I'm a reasonable guy (and I've got a fenced-in backyard), so I'll let her go out there whenever she really wants to go.
Today was no different and when she asked to go out, I let her (yes, AFTER she was dried off from her bath). But not before turning on the outside light so I could watch her slip-slide her way across the yard to do her business. Hehehe... she loves to play in the snow and she can't tell that it's got an ice coating. It just looks white to her, I suppose.
So she falls on her ass several times and I'm laughing at her. Of course, with her super-hearing, she can tell, so she comes running back to the glass door because of the noises she hears me making. Not having any traction, she slides into the door. Hehehehe!
OK, I'll move away from the door so she can go potty (that's her code word for "go-ing" and if you ever meet her and tell her to "go potty", she will almost immediately - so use this doggie kryptonite sparingly and remember that she's probably at your house and not mine). She still enjoyed running around the yard, breaking the ice with her paws. I love my dog.
Since I'm in the house all day, there are a limited amount of things I can do inside (especially now that I took my train down). I can hunt for jobs, surf the web/send e-mail, play with Allie, clean the house (yeah, right) or eat. Care to guess what I did the most of today? Let's just say that I'm not going to be using the new body-fat calculator this week.
So I'm blending into my couch, chomping on potato chips, watching TV and surfing the web. But did you know the mail was actually delivered today? Those folks are nuts. I did get my Duke-Valpo basketball tickets in the mail (anyone looking for men's BB tix?). Woo hoo! I'm going to get to watch MY almamater get their collective butts handed to them as a tolken scrub team to keep Duke warm between real games. Tina, as a Duke alum, thinks it's fun. She can't wait to go to the game - just so I can be humiliated and she gets to sit in a real seat in Cameron (for those in the know, Duke students almost NEVER actually get a seat - they STAND for the entire game).
Anyways, the TV weatherpeople say that the weather tomorrow isn't going to be much better than today. So my guess is that I'll be stuck indoors for another day. Such is my life. But I'm running out of potato chips. If you have some of the new lower-fat Ruffles (have rrrrrrridges), please mail them to me. With the mailman coming by even in this crap, I have a reasonable chance of getting them sooner than me actually getting to a grocery store.
Oh, and just a quick advertisement. Kathy C got me hooked on a game called Bejeweled for the PalmOS. If you have a Palm device, I highly recommend this game. Totally addictive and cheaper than crack.
Good night!
Lucky for me, I've got friends nearby. And of course, there's Allie.
First, she needed a bath today. I've been avoiding this because I don't like having to clean her, then clean the tub and then clean myself - all because SHE needed a bath. I really wish she'd grow out that dew paw and make it an opposable thumb. Perhaps she could bathe herself. Then again, she could just become a cat. Either way, I could stop trying to cajole her into the bathtub for something NEITHER of us likes to deal with.
Anyways, for those of you who KNOW Allie, she's very fond of the outdoors. This is evidenced by the fact that every time it even appears that I'm going to go outside, she runs to the door nearest myself (even if it's an interior door), sits as close to the door as possible... and waits. But it's not just any wait, it's a sit and a scoot closer to the door. A pant and then another scoot closer to the door.
I think she believes that the closer she IS to the door, the closer she is to getting THROUGH the door. Unfortunately for her, she's pretty opaque and isn't able to go through the door. But I'm a reasonable guy (and I've got a fenced-in backyard), so I'll let her go out there whenever she really wants to go.
Today was no different and when she asked to go out, I let her (yes, AFTER she was dried off from her bath). But not before turning on the outside light so I could watch her slip-slide her way across the yard to do her business. Hehehe... she loves to play in the snow and she can't tell that it's got an ice coating. It just looks white to her, I suppose.
So she falls on her ass several times and I'm laughing at her. Of course, with her super-hearing, she can tell, so she comes running back to the glass door because of the noises she hears me making. Not having any traction, she slides into the door. Hehehehe!
OK, I'll move away from the door so she can go potty (that's her code word for "go-ing" and if you ever meet her and tell her to "go potty", she will almost immediately - so use this doggie kryptonite sparingly and remember that she's probably at your house and not mine). She still enjoyed running around the yard, breaking the ice with her paws. I love my dog.
Since I'm in the house all day, there are a limited amount of things I can do inside (especially now that I took my train down). I can hunt for jobs, surf the web/send e-mail, play with Allie, clean the house (yeah, right) or eat. Care to guess what I did the most of today? Let's just say that I'm not going to be using the new body-fat calculator this week.
So I'm blending into my couch, chomping on potato chips, watching TV and surfing the web. But did you know the mail was actually delivered today? Those folks are nuts. I did get my Duke-Valpo basketball tickets in the mail (anyone looking for men's BB tix?). Woo hoo! I'm going to get to watch MY almamater get their collective butts handed to them as a tolken scrub team to keep Duke warm between real games. Tina, as a Duke alum, thinks it's fun. She can't wait to go to the game - just so I can be humiliated and she gets to sit in a real seat in Cameron (for those in the know, Duke students almost NEVER actually get a seat - they STAND for the entire game).
Anyways, the TV weatherpeople say that the weather tomorrow isn't going to be much better than today. So my guess is that I'll be stuck indoors for another day. Such is my life. But I'm running out of potato chips. If you have some of the new lower-fat Ruffles (have rrrrrrridges), please mail them to me. With the mailman coming by even in this crap, I have a reasonable chance of getting them sooner than me actually getting to a grocery store.
Oh, and just a quick advertisement. Kathy C got me hooked on a game called Bejeweled for the PalmOS. If you have a Palm device, I highly recommend this game. Totally addictive and cheaper than crack.
Good night!
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