Computers...

So Dad sent me this yesterday http://h20435.www2.hp.com/# .   It's the Blackbird002 series.  Since he knows we're into gaming, he said it would be a nice computer for it – for the very low price of $2700 (for the low end model – click on the customize link to see the full range of prices).   Now, Dad can get us a discount on it, but it still doesn't bring the price below $2000 :-( .  I guess we'll have to keep dreaming.  And of course, Charlie wants the liquid cooled one...

 

It snowed here!!  Yay!  We got about 5 inches or so at the house.   Since we live on a street with one of the elementary schools on it, even though school was canceled, they were plowing while I was out shoveling.  Sadly, I think that was the only time they came by – as our street is now a big sheet of frozen slush.   I need to get out and take pictures.

 

And someone stayed up to late last night raiding, and is now paying for it…  I think I'll need to go find some caffeine soon.

Tests and snow...

This is a test e-mail.  I realized that most of the time I feel like writing stories to this, I'm at work - when I can't actually get onto here (can't/shouldn't - same thing)  So I tried to set it up so I can e-mail to it.  We'll see if this works when I get home.

 

Oh!  And we got the first snow today! A real, legit, stick to the ground for a few seconds before it melts snow!  Granted, it's supposed to be followed by hours of rain, but oh well!

 

SNOW! :-D

The Gospel, Tigger, and hugs….

Warning: I haven’t posted in a while – this could get wordy.

Life in general is good. Busy, but good. It’s mostly filled up with Work, Bells, Barbershop, Choir, the house, Charlie… and two furry four-legged children. Oh, and wow.

NEVIH went to Ontario last week and brought home new shiny 3rd place medals! It took 11 hours to drive up, and another 11 home – but a group of us rented a car, and watched movies, sang, and talked the whole way up and back.

So wait? What does the title have to do with this?

Absolutely nothing :)

I am a Congregationalist, go to church most Sundays, and at least attempt not to zone out during the sermon. I welcome other religions, and have no problems if your beliefs differ from mine. Now that that’s out, indulge me by putting up with a bit of religious ramble. In church this past Sunday, our minister was giving one of his patented 3-point sermons (his sermons always have 3 points…) and I was trying to be a good person and not nod off since I was in the choir loft, and EVERYONE was looking at us. (see wedding pictures for church layout) The minister was quoting someone (I forget who) that compared the Gospel to Winnie the Pooh. Huh? Since when does Winnie the Pooh have anything do to with religion? But his point was this. We tend to live our lives like Eeyore – something’s too hard, it’s not going to work, etc. What we need to do is live our lives like Tigger – willing to try anything, do anything, or go anywhere. And he’s right. I know I could be more like Tigger. It won’t happen overnight, or anytime soon, but I’m never one to speak up when I should, or volunteer when I can. Maybe I need to try to change that a bit. One reason being…

I have to sing a solo in a performance on Dec 1st /cringe /shudder /stagefright

Now, about that last part of the title. After the service got out, like usual I had gone up to the robe room, hung up my robe, went and returned my music, and headed back down to leave. As I was going down the stairs, a friend (and fellow barbershopper) was coming up. She asked me to wait, and then gave me a big hug (well, as best as possible with us both holding choir music and hymnals) I was kinda confused when she had asked me to wait, and it must have shown on my face because she said as she was hugging me “Just a hug. I’ve been wanting to do that all morning”. Then we said goodbye and left. Something about that hug made my day a little bit better though. There is definitely something with random acts of kindness and making someone’s day.

Adventures with food

So I was making mashed potatoes (from scratch) for dinner tonight. Charlie had watched me peel, cut up, boil, and mash the potatoes.


Him: Did you season the potatos yourself?
Me: /inquisitive look
Him: /looks back, waiting for an answer
Me: No dear, I grew the potatoes already seasoned with dill, garlic and butter



*sigh* Men! :-P

Homeowner adventures

So, Through some friends of Mom and Dad, we were able to get a Free, though used, dishwasher and stove. Kevin and Greg brought them over for us, and installed the dishwasher without a problem a couple weeks ago. Since the stove was Gas, we decided to call in the big shots for it. Aka, Dad.

Now we knew the basic procedure - turn gas off, pull out old stove, put in new stove, turn gas back on, relight pilots. End of story, right?

So dad comes over, and they set about turning the main gas line off (the one to the house mind you - so bye bye hot water, furnace, and the stove.) He takes his wrench, and turns the knob 90 degrees to the "off" position. Took some strength to do, but it moved consistently. Well, as soon as he did that, he realized it was suddenly very loose. Apparently there's a catch in there that you need the "special we only sell to professionals" tool to turn it back on. *gah!* Well, Dad doesn't have one of those, but, he called up Kevin, told him the dimensions, and asked him to make a tool.

So, the gas is now off at least, and while we're waiting for the tool they decide to replace the stove. So, they pull the stove out, turn the gas line off at the connection (to prevent the line filling up with air) , disconnect the stove and carry it outside. I scrape 25 years of grime off the linolium while they're doing this :-/ ewwwww.

And in comes the new stove, with quite a bit more grunting and griping than the one going out. Apparently it's heavier. So they get it up, and near the opening, and I stupidly ask "What's the plug for?". So, after a few minutes, we determine the stove has electric starts, and not pilot lights (woot!). We thought it was still a pilot lit stove, and were't too happy about it, if only for the safety factor. Of course, that now poses a 2nd problem - it's a 110V plug, and we have a 220V outlet. Oh well, it can reach to the one next to the opening for now.

So Dad's on the floor, about to connect the gas line, and realizes something is amiss. Apparently, Stove gas lines are not universal.

Which means the boys are now out getting a new pipe fitting for the stove... not that we currently have a gas supply to cook with :-(


I'll update this with the remainder once it happens :-)

So, we found some holes in out backyard - thought it was a woodchuck (still do). But we got a have-a-heart trap and put it out int he back yard. This is our furry friend we found in it on Monday after work :-)

I didn't really want to get too close to get pictures!

Gambling...

Phoey... we didn't win the megamillions...