I have a yellow-face sky blue parakeet (budgerigar), who I’ve had since 2002. Since I got him, I’ve chattered at him using a string of whistling and clicking or kissy noises. He has begun to make those same noises back at me, in the same way that a mocking bird will emulate a car alarm. It’s terribly cute and yes, this post is just for me.
Last week, my car was acting “funny”. The temperature gauge was alternating between “cold” and “hot” about every 30 seconds and I had no heat. When I checked the coolant reservoir, it was empty. So, I added some coolant. No problem, right? Wrong. The next time I checked it (the day after) it was empty again. So I added more. I ended up adding more coolant to the reservoir before every trip for about 2 days before I could get it into the shop. That was Thursday afternoon.
Today, I heard from the shop. They say my serpentine belt tensioner is loose, which caused the serpentine belt to beat up the water pump, which is what is causing the leak. So, today my car gets a new belt tensioner, a new water pump, and a new serpentine belt (the existing one was worn and needed replacing anyhow) for a quoted $565 after taxes. And here I was thinking the repairs were going to cost me in the neighborhood of a grand…
Perhaps you’ve heard about the flooding in New England due to the storm that has been sweeping through the area since Friday (I think it was Friday). Here is a link to a local news story and while you’re there, be sure to check out the slide show of photographs of the flooding sent in by local residents - there are 5 parts each containing over 100 images. The subject matter includes washed-out roads, flooded yards, and rivers and streams that have overflowed their banks. I have family in Manchester, Goffstown, and Rochester. Crazy stuff…
I’m heading to Newark, NJ today for a two day class on hazmat handling. Trip to Newark = visiting NYC. I’ve finally nailed down my plans for this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon. Today I’m heading to Chelsea to walk around and maybe do some shopping. Tomorrow, after class, I’m going out for sushi and then going to see Blue Man Group. I’m leaving directly from work today at 1:00 pm. Anyone who is in the area who wants to coordinate can send an email to jacqueline at cordelya dot net before 1pm or after 1:45 send an extremely brief email to txt at cordelya dot net - include your name and a phone number (this email address is temporarily set up to forward messages to my cell phone - don’t abuse it). Having met me in person will greatly increase your chances. Lundegaard Guild members are ok.
I never request leave during the winter holidays. It’s too much of a cluster competing with everyone else for time off. I just wait for the schedule to be made up, and take what’s left over. I also do this with the knowledge that the two week span that covers December 24th through January 1st is scheduled for what’s called “Holiday Routine.” This means that the schedule is made up to follow a few bare-minimum rules, and otherwise you have extra time off. The three rules this year are:
Keeping those three rules in mind, my office managers created the schedule (see also Holiday Work Schedule).
I have also discovered that the management is in the habit of granting early liberty this year to the duty crew excepting the phone watchstander. Thusly, I have had lots of extra time off this week, and I’m guessing that it will be that way next week as well. The only setback to this is that I’m rather broke from buying gifts, so if I were to want to spend time with people, it would have to be either low cost or free. You can’t win ‘em all.
What have I been doing with all this free time? Read all about it in the extended entry.
Tonight was the Sector Baltimore holiday party. The theme was “Luau” so everyone showed up in big floral prints. The music was good, the musical chairs game was hilarious, and I heard that they were mixing the drinks pretty strong (it was at the American Legion, after all!).
Following the party, I left with some of the girls to go downtown and party at the clubs. We started at Baja Beach Club, where I arrived about 20 minutes ahead of everyone else (no drinkies for me tonight, so me driving myself was perfectly ok). While I waited, I lounged around in a hammock chair and sent out some text messages from my mobile phone. The next thing I know, they direct everyone’s attention to the stage that’s on top of the main bar, and tell us that the person up on that stage in the red hoodie is Adam Sandler. Yes, *the* Adam Sandler. I can’t confirm whether or not it was actually him, or just some impersonator. He sang his Hannukah song and then promptly exited the stage. After that, the girls arrived, and we headed across the street to Iguana Cantina shortly afterwards.
Iguana had a pretty good party going on as well. We headed to the dance floor and proceeded to jam. TJ had to run to help someone out. As the sober member of the party, I assumed the role of “bad cop” and worked on deflecting boys who were getting too handsy. We briefly picked up a stray partier, Liz, whose girls had deserted her and needed some deflection assistance herself. I left before everyone else, wanting to get home about the same time as Jay. Drove home (it was nice and quiet out at 00:30 today) and did a little geeking. I’m off to bed now.
I went outside to see for myself the level of blanketing that my neighborhood received overnight (my apartment is on the backside of the building and faces a wooded park). I was reminded of how well snow seems to absorb sound. The only noise I heard was the sound of a car driving by about 50 yards from the building. Everything else was dead quiet. Photos later maybe.
I arrived safely in NH at about 22:30 last night. It took me just short of 9 hours driving to get here. I refueled after 448 miles - just 17 miles short of my destination.
Today I got my car registration done, voted at the city polls, and brought my car in for an inspection. I just got a call from them. I have to have the clamps on my exhaust system changed (they have to be special exhaust clamps), my windshield replaced (it’s cracked) and my tires rotated. Not too bad, especially since my new exhaust was a hillbilly-jury-rig jobby.
I’m now sitting in the Busy Bean Cafe finishing my lunch (PB&J, chips, a pickle, and a coffee) while Mom is at her church group meeting (they spend the meeting time putting together boxes of stuff to send to Haiti, including handmade clothing that some of the ladies make as well as housewares).
So, while I was sitting here surfing the web (the cafe has free wireless internet!), I stumbled across free educational materials, available from MIT. The program is called OpenCourseWare and is free to anyone. It doesn’t include access to faculty nor do you receive credit for the coursework. OTOH, if all you’re looking for is knowledge about something and don’t need documentation (languages, for example), this is an ideal program.
SweeTarts Skulls ‘n’ Bones… make for a Piratey Good Halloween!
I got this in an email so please excuse the email references.
If you post your answers somewhere, leave a link in the comments.
1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:00 AM
2. Diamonds or pearls? pearls
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Star Wars Episode III
4. What is your favorite TV show? Stargate SG-1
5. What did you have for breakfast? A donut with sprinkles
6. What is your middle name? Marie
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Japanese / Thai
8. What foods do you dislike? peas & squash
9. What is your favorite Potato chip? salt ‘n’ vinegar
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? None in particular - I *heart* my iPod
11. What kind of car do you drive? Chevy Lumina
12. What is your favorite sandwich? Grilled cheese w/ pepperjack
13. What characteristics do you despise? drama-mongering
14. Favorite item of clothing? anything garb :)
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, it would be: Rotterdam
16. What color is your bathroom? white
17. Favorite brand of clothing? not particular
18. Where would you want to retire to? the woods
19. Favorite time of day? sunrise
20. Where were you born? Hono
21. Favorite sports to watch? Jousting :)
22. Who do you least expect to send this back? N/A
23. Person you expect to send it back first? N/A
24. What type of detergent do you use? Arm & Hammer
25. Coke or Pepsi? Coke
26. Are you a morning person or night owl? Night owl
27. What size shoe do you wear? 9
28. Do you have pets? A budgerigar and 2 bettas
29. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share with everybody: it isn’t really that ready to be shared yet
30. What did you want to be when you were little? A musician
31. Favorite Candy Bar? Luna Peppermint Stick
32. What is your best childhood memory? Living overseas
33. What are the different jobs you have had in your life? Babysitter, greenhouse laborer, search & rescue, marching band instructor, call center operator, pollution investigator
34. What color underwear are you wearing? I have no idea - it was dark out at 5:00 this morning
35. Nicknames: Jacq
36. Piercing? yes
37. Eye color? blue
38. Ever been to Africa? No
39. Ever been toilet papered? No
40. Love someone so much it made you cry? Yes
41. Been in a car accident? yes
42. Croutons or bacon bits? croutons
43. Favorite day of the week? Sunday
44. Favorite restaurant? Rio Grande Cafe
45. Favorite flower? Carnations
46. Favorite ice cream? Frozen yogurt
47. Disney or Warner Brothers? Disney
48. Favorite fast food restaurant? Taco Bell
49. What color is your bedroom carpet? Tannish
50. How many times did you fail your driver’s test? I don’t remember
51. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? Ms. Shirley
52. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? heh… Ikea
53. What do you do most often when you are bored? surf the web
55. Who are you most curious about their responses to this questionnaire? nah…
56. Last person you went to dinner with? Jason
57. Ford or Chevy? Chevy
58. What are you listening to right now? The air blower
59. What is your favorite photograph? Any faire photo
60. What person have you learned the most about life from? Not one in particular - I got lots from lots of people
61. How many tattoos do you have? 1
62. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Maybe they were concurrent
63. How many people are you sending this Email to? None
64. Time you finished this e-mail? 14:27
I should be just leaving Cove Point right now, but a Dear Co-worker got the date wrong, so instead I’m sitting at home, cursing the fact that I have to work tomorrow (if I were at Cove Point today, I’d have tomorrow off). Well, at least I’ve been fed and am comfy, snuggled up with a t-shirt that Himself left behind (smells good!) and sitting in bed with my notebook computer.
I am lending out my spare garb to co-workers who are coming out to MDRF for my birthday on Sunday. I’m hoping it’ll be a good turnout. For me, the best kind of birthday involves spending lots of time hanging out with people. I don’t need presents or cake or anything (well, maybe some cider and a serendipity or two), just the presence of the people I like best.
I got a birthday card in the mail from my parents today. Inside are several stickers that are supposed to be for my computer monitor at work. One says, “I’m out partying. I’ll return after I recover from the hangover.” I think I’m going to stick that one to a post-it and tape the post-it to my computer monitor.
After work tomorrow I head north, to Aberdeen. I’ll be there for a good part of the weekend. Hopefully they’ll let us out early so I can beat the Key Bridge/I-695N rush hour traffic.
Tomorrow night Himself is taking me out for sushi. I love sushi, so, of course, I can’t wait! I would have loved to have had dinner as prepared by Himself (as originally planned) but couldn’t possibly turn down an offer of sushi :) I guess we’ll just have to save that bottle of wine for some other time.
On Saturday, we are going to Hershey Park. Yea rollercoasters!
I’ll be at MDRF on Sunday. I won’t be sober, but I’ll be there ;) I’ll be in my red/silver/black/stripey Khadija outfit. Ms. Toni d/V. will be in my green Moresca bodice with my white linen skirt and white collared chemise. I haven’t lent out any other garb yet. Updates are possible, but don’t hold your breath.
I’ve taken leave for Monday. I’ll probably need it, too.
I bought myself a new watch. I got it at the CG Exchange, so it didn’t cost me near as much as it would cost me if I bought it directly from Timex. I don’t remember when my last watch died, but I’m pretty sure it was at least more than a year ago, probably more likely two or three years ago. I’m pretty happy with it, but I need to get used to wearing a watch again.
I think I got tired of asking Himself for the current time.
Friday
After spending the morning in class and the early afternoon in a race to build a desk, I got on the road towards CT. It was a pleasant-ish drive, but I didn’t get to the campground until 9 pm, so I set up camp by headlight. I crashed shortly afterwards.
Saturday
I had some time to spare, so I took a little drive and explored the nearby town of Thomaston before I got dressed for the wedding and headed for St. Joseph College in West Hartford. The ceremony was very nicely done. I then headed for the Chippanee Golf Club in Bristol, CT, for the reception. The music was good. The food was good, although a bit large on the portion size. I ordered the chicken, and was only able to eat on half of one of the two pieces that arrived on the plate. I did quite a bit of dancing, including all the usual wedding dances. Having been seated at the kids’ table, I have no shame in saying that by “usual wedding dances,” I mean Conga line, Cha-cha Slide, the Twist, and The Funky Chicken (French-Canadian style, of course). I also discovered that a cousin of mine has just moved to a town in MD not far from where I live! They kicked us out at about 9:30 PM, and I headed back to camp after a quick stop at my parents’ hotel to do an item exchange (I gave Mom some clothes and they brought me two bottles of Sortilege. There *will* be Maple Whiskey next weekend, folks!)
Sunday
I got up early, got dressed, and drove almost two hours to Sterling Forest, NY, for the New York Renaissance Festival (aka TUX). I “met” lots of folks I know from the IWG and IBRSC forums, and two wenches from Ohio that I hadn’t met before, online or offline. All in all, I had a fantastic day, and I look forward to both seeing some of the TUX folks at MDRF later and also returning to TUX next year.
Monday
I got up even earlier (Brrr!), got the car packed back up, and headed back towards Maryland. After 5.5 hours, I finally arrived… at MDRF! I got dressed, went in, and spent the rest of the day with my dearest friends. I also got to see the limited-engagement band l’Ensemble Circamon play at the Globe, and then got my picture taken with them afterwards. Woot!
Les garçons de Circamon will be back next weekend.
Today was day one (of two days) of Shoreline Contamination Assessment Team training. I spent the entire day at Fort Smallwood (MD) walking the shoreline and helping my team write up and report on imaginary oil on the beach and in the marsh directly behind the beach. Tomorrow I’ll be in the classroom until noon. I have yet to learn if we get to go home directly afterwards. I sure hope so.
I managed to get myself a reservation for a tent site at a campground in CT so I can attend my cousin’s wedding this weekend. I had called two or three campgrounds already, getting responses to the tune of “We are completely booked” before I found one that hadn’t booked *any* tent sites yet (they had gotten plenty of requests for accomodating more people than they can handle, and had to turn them all away), so I got to be first! They don’t have much other than a pool and facilities, but that’s ok because I won’t be there that much.
So, I leave sometime on Friday, attend the wedding on Saturday, attend NYRF on Sunday, and drive back on Monday, with the possibility of being able to stop by MDRF on Monday afternoon. My lodging will cost me all of $75 for the entire weekend. Hoot, man!
Time to go pack up the car.
FYI - the local New Orleans news stations have more information regarding Hurricane Katrina. Visit WWL (CBS), WDSU (NBC), or ABC-26.
To echo the reminder posted onWWdN, if you want to make a donation, make sure that you are donating to a valid organization. I recommend the American Red Cross, which also probably needs blood donations.
I’m back in Maryland, but still on vacation. The time in between my last post and now was just as great as the first few days of my trip. Soon there will be “before & after” pictures, as well as a few other pictures from various places.
Today’s Arsenault Vacation ‘05 Quote:
“There’s laundry in the dryer. We found that out when we were looking for the staple gun.” - Brian
After I got up, did breakfast, and broke camp, my two aunts and I decided that a preliminary trip to Busch Gardens was in order, so we went, just the three of us. We rode the Loch Ness Monster, the Log Flume, and Alpengeist. By the time we got off of Alpengeist, my parents were close to arriving, so we decided to call it a day, and headed out via Aquitaine. We stopped by the animals so I could gather photographic evidence that my youngest sister would have something to do while we are all there later this week. Said evidence will be uploaded to the gallery very soon. I even got a picture of the armadillos they have. We made it back to home base, met up with my parents, and went to dinner at Ryan’s buffet restaurant. After a very filling dinner, we headed back to the hotel and chattered on a bit about stuff until we finally conked out.
Today we had the big pool party / barbecue at the hotel, and then headed over to my aunt’s house to start working on it. The bathroom is now half untiled, the laundry room is empty, and the yard has been tidied in preparation for the delivery of a large load of mulch. The roses have been pruned - one of them looked like it had never been pruned. I still have to rearrange the front flower bed. I have to move the hostas forward and take the daylilies and irises, divide them, and put them closer to the house to hide the foundation a little better. I’d like to run to a garden shop / nursery for some hydroponic water crystals to put around the plants to help them deal with the dry conditions that exist. The entire flower bed will then be mulched.
Later this evening there will hopefully be gaming and 12oz curls with my generation (and anyone else who wants to join).
Today was a good day.
I woke up at 3 o’clock this morning, so I could avoid rush hour as much as possible. I left at 4. I drove for 3 hours and 6 minutes (200 miles) until I got to my Aunt’s house in Newport News, VA. I unloaded the heat sensitive items and put my tent up in the back yard. We spent some time catching up, and then I headed to the beach. I spent a good 6 hours sitting in my camp chair, reading Hitchhiker’s, and generally enjoying my vacation-before-the-vacation. I applied and re-applied my SPF 50 sunblock at all the right intervals, and managed to established some pretty good tan lines. When I began reading HHGG today, I was about half way through. I am now just barely into the last book of the series, Mostly Harmless. I arrived back at home base in an icky/gritty condition. Hopefully I will make it back to the beach once more this week.
I have some errands to run tomorrow, but it should otherwise be a relatively relaxing day. The ‘rents are due to arrive, as well as the rest of the cousins, etc. I am really glad to be back in the place I called “home” for 6 of my formative years.
Today has been a busy-work kind of day. I got home from Fells Point at about 3:30 this morning, and went to sleep until 11:30. I went to the Commissary for my grocery shopping - hopefully it will keep me out of Safeway for a while yet. I emptied out the car, so perhaps I will take it to Ritchie Car Wash this week. I’m in the middle of laundry. I got my bills for August 1st all straightened out. I bought some new tracks on iTunes. I think I’m going to run up to BN this afternoon to buy replacement copies of HP1 & 2 - my original copies seem to have walked off. And I have promised to visit Ms. Nancy.
I figured I’d score INFJ because, well, I *am* an INFJ. I was curious to see who the HP INFJ was. Too cool.
Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.
I got it from Dawntreader.
I got an envelope in the mail today from Ms. Morgana. It had another bunch of neato things, including little doo-dads that hang off the edge of a flower vase (I think I’ll bring them to work and hang them off the Fish’s vase), more tasty sweets, and some packets of Nederlandse McDonalds Fritesaus! Woohoo!
(Of course, if you’ve never eaten at a McDonalds in the NL, you probably have no clue what the heck I’m talking about. Fritesaus is a special dipping sauce for french fries. It is mayo based, but with extra seasonings added. I haven’t had any fritesaus in.. ::counts fingers and toes:: … approximately 13 or 14 years! Too exciting!)
A co-worker/pal came over and brought a copy of Constantine with him. I spent almost the whole movie making references to other movies. Sheesh… they could have at least made it a little more difficult. But, no. There were several MiB moments, several GhostBusters moments, and even a Professor Dumbledore moment. Too easy. Yeah, it’s true… I’m not just a randomizer - I’m sometimes randomized as well!
Speaking of Randomizing… one more month, and the Russell Randomizer (TM) will be back in action! (Yes, it’s true! Tomorrow is July 27th. MDRF starts on August 27th! 31 days to go!)
I watched the last of my three movies from Netflix today. After having watched several classic horror/thriller flicks, I think I prefer them to the modern ones.
I submitted a feature request to Netflix yesterday about the queue shuffle thing. I got back a standard “No, that isn’t a feature right now, but keep visiting our websight [sic] and maybe one day it’ll happen” message. No, “We’ll add it to our feature request list,” or anything like that. I’m beginning to wonder which company is most evil: Comcast, Blockbuster, or Netflix. Pooh.
At least the classic moviemakers haven’t let me down.
My Netflix Queue has been stale for weeks now. I’ve had three movies out that I just didn’t ever feel like watching. Today I buckled down and watched two of them.
The first, “The Trouble With Harry,” an Alfred Hitchcock movie, was an absolute hoot, despite the fact that it got off to a slow start. I’ve found that is the case with a lot of classic movies.
The second, “Night of the Hunter,” was creepy in that way that only Robert Mitchum could make something creepy. To his character’s misfortune, the children he’s stalking take shelter with a Wench.
Tomorrow I will hopefully watch the third movie, “Psycho.”
All three are movies recommended by The Etiquette Grrls in their second book, More Things You Need to be Told.
Next 6 movies in my Queue:
1. Strangers on a Train
2. Shadow of a Doubt
3. Have and Have Not
4. Thoroughly Modern Millie
5. The Philadelphia Story
6. His Girl Friday
Yes, they’re pretty much all classics. I’m still working through the EGs’ recommendation list. That list has items in spots 1 through 45. Perhaps I will go trolling for more movies to see and then shuffle my queue, if possible.
By the by - if you have Netflix and wanna do the new Netflix Friends thingy, I’m registered using my yahoo email address. Ping me if you don’t know what it is.
I managed to miss the Celtic music this evening. I fell asleep on the couch at 4p and didn’t wake up until 10p. Pooh.
I’m still going strong with the GTD geeking. I signed up for another GTD-esque web service: Backpack It!. Seems like it might be useful. We’ll see. Right now I’m making use of a small program called My Life Organized. I’m still in the 45-day evaluation period. So far it seems to be complementary to my organization style. If that continues to be the case, I’ll probably cough up the $40 for the standard edition.
In other news, happiness is an empty inbox:
Tonight I’m going to see a Celtic band play in Annapolis. This past week has been on the rough side, and I need some relax time.
Phase II of my relax time will be an impromptu “Spa Day” at home. I picked up some single-serving face and foot treatments at Target and I’ll see about running across the street to get my nails done, too.
Next action: Make dinner (Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup - my fave)
I began reading HP6/HBP this morning on the way down to Pax River NAS (probably around 6am). I just finished it about five minutes ago.
Wow.
How long do I have to wait until I find out what happens?
I went to the range today for work. While I was there, I was discussing the finer points of accuracy with one of the instructors. He used Zen Buddhism as an example in our conversation, preceeded by a comment about the possibility that I’d think it “weird.” I went on to say that I am “crunchy” and that being so means that it takes quite a lot for me to think something weird. I was further prompted to explain that crunchy is another description of one who tends to be rather hippy-ish.
Fast forward to about 20 minutes later, when I was prepping my ammo for a course. He stopped by and asked me, if I’m so crunchy, how I feel about guns. I said, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.”
Fast forward about 3 hours. On my drive home, my brain continued to elaborate on this point. I need to put it down in writing, or I’ll be thinking it over all evening.
Let’s break it down. What is a gun? Is it a force of nature, like a hurricane or a tornado? Hurricanes and tornados kill people. Is it a cell-based organism, like a shark or a nightshade plant? Sharks and nightshade plants can kill people. No, to the best of my knowledge, it is none of these things.
A gun is nothing but milled pieces of metal (and perhaps wood and/or plastic) put together in such a way that, when combined with the proper projectile(s) and the necessary amount of explosive material, when operated in a manner consistent with its design, is capable of putting that projectile in motion, in a particular direction. What if there is no operator? Is the projectile from a gun (or the gun itself - think blunt force) capable of killing a person if no one is touching it. It’s possible, in the right situation, but such situations are rare. What if there is an operator, but no gun? Is the operator capable of killing a person without using a gun, assuming that the operator has the mental capacity to conclude that other methods will also result in the death of his or her target? Were no people killed at the hands of other people before the invention of the gun?
If your answers are, like mine, that:
-no, a gun is not generally capable of killing a person without an operator
-yes, an operator without a gun is capable of killing a person
and
-yes, people have been killing people since long before the invention of the gun
what else is there to conclude, than that people kill people, and that guns are merely inanimate objects that some people simply choose as their deadly weapon of choice?
The human animal will always be capable of killing, regardless of what weapons are available to them. Knowledge, as well as several of the human emotions, can make the human itself into a weapon in the absence of an externally acquired weapon.
As I will say for many of the problems in today’s society, the solution lies with proper parenting. Proper parenting includes taking the steps necessary to ensure that one’s children are healthy, properly educated (socially *and* academically), and not abused.
As I’ve run off on a mini tangent, it’s time to stop now.
I didn’t manage to get a copy of HP6 at midnight, but I did get to *see* the first copy purchased at my local BN. I got my copy today at Target. $17 isn’t a bad price to pay for a $30 book.
I am dyeing fabric for Morgana’s skirts. While I do that, I’m writing up a “dye journal” of sorts on the IWG forums. Here is the thread.
I’ve decided that I’m not doing much else this weekend. I’ve gotten a whole lot done all week this past week, and I deserve a rest. So while I do have a worklist, I’m not going to do what’s on it unless the mood strikes. I won’t even be home tomorrow because I’ll be at Girlie Day with the girls from work.
I got a box in the mail today, from the aforementioned Morgana. She sent me some tasty things, some brightly-colored cahiers, and a neato desk organizer that is pen holder/clock/post-it holder/paperclip holder/notepaper holder all at once. I haven’t yet decided whether I want to keep it at home or take it to work. Thanks, Morgana, I love it all!
I added more mini-organization to my desk today. I needed to increase my monitor height. Good monitor height = better posture = fewer backaches. I previously had the monitor sitting on two thick books, which raised it about 3 inches above the desktop. I replaced those two books with a side-by-side pair of the mini-3-drawer storage boxes by Sterilite. They stand about 7” tall, and I think I’ve finally gotten the monitor height right. The drawers have proved useful for storing sharpies, 3x5s, batteries, dip inks, and stamps. I have a few drawers still open in case something else comes along.
Today was a good day for soup. So I went over to Safeway and bought about 7 cans of soup - 3 cans of oyster soup and 4 cans of cream of mushroom. While they may seem rather common, bland, and uninteresting, these two flavors of Campbell’s soups are my absolute favorite. They are *so* comforting. In third place is a mixed soup of 1 can Tomato and 1 can Chicken Noodle. With grilled cheese sandwiches.
One task I do want to complete today, if I can manage to find some time when the precipitation abates, is to apply a new coat of Rain-X to my car’s windows. They’ve been rained on almost nonstop for the past 24 hours, and it doesn’t look like it’s done just yet. They will be easy to clean, and the rain to follow will kill the haze.
Ciao bellas.
I’ve found my desk.
I’ve also found the floor in my bedroom. And the top of my bed.
I’ve located piles upon piles of credit card statements that I was missing from my neat and very OCD-like filing system.
I just spent two afternoons sifting through a bag of old financial papers - receipts, bills, statements, checkbooks, pay stubs, and pieces of credit cards - that date back 7 years. The bills, statements, checkbooks, and pay stubs are in a box for filing or shredding. The receipts have been gone through one by one. The ones with only the last 4 credit card digits are in the trash (and we’re talking credit card numbers for accounts that don’t exist anymore). The ones with full account numbers are on my receipt spindle until I can burn the lot of them.
I still have two boxes of miscellaneous stuff to sift through. My vanity area and bathroom are also on the “to-do” list. The remaining items underneath my bed need to be pulled out and evaluated to see if the storage location is appropriate for the item (for example - I know I have some crafty things under there, which really belong in the craft room). Lastly, I need to find a temporary home for all of the clothing I got from Mrs. Nancy-the-Congressman’s-Wife until I can have it altered to fit me. Currently it resides on my cedar chest, in a pile so high that you could see it from outside, four floors below!
Everything seems to be going along just swimmingly with the re-organization. Every night before bed, I sit down with some paper and “download my brain,” that is, I write down all the things I’m thinking about that need to be done so I don’t have to think about them anymore. I create a list of things that need to be done, before work, whenever, and after work. If I don’t do something that’s on the list, that’s ok. I know it’s there. I know I’m not doing it. And I am able to give myself permission to carry it over to tomorrow’s list. This is, by far, preferable to the old method. I’ve found that my brain is much better at processing than it is at storage. I’ll leave the storage up to my alphabetic file system and my 3X5 index cards.
Time to go download today’s busyness out of the brain-RAM.
So - you think I’m ignoring you. It’s actually more like *avoiding*, and I’ve been doing it for close to 9 months now. During MDRF last year I began to notice little things like how you would only talk to me when your buddies weren’t around, and how your presence in my life was very superficial. I noticed that you’d write about having people over, but how I somehow never received an invitation to those little soirees. You didn’t respond to emails I’d send. So I began to avoid you. That was 9 months ago. You’re just now noticing? I take this as yet another confirmation that you’re only willing to pay just enough attention to me to keep me hanging on, but otherwise don’t care. I’m not willing to play those games. You don’t honor your commitments. You were a veritable source of drama in my life. And I’ve noticed that you’re doing the same thing to other people, too. Since you can’t manage to be more than just a part-time friend, I’d prefer that you weren’t one at all. I will be continuing to make my best effort to ensure that you and I are not in the same place at the same time in order simplify things. Please - just leave me alone.
Some folks are using their direct-selling businesses to support themselves or others in charity walks (Avon, Relay, etc). While the purpose of my direct-selling business is to pay for flight instruction, that doesn’t mean I can’t also support charity walkers. Here’s the deal:
When you book a show for a date not more than 30 days from the date you make the booking, I will donate 20% of my profit for each person who books at your show. So, get five bookings, and I’ll donate 100% of my profit to your favorite walker. I will also donate 20% of the profits from each show booked at your show. For a booking to count, it must happen no later than 60 days after your show, and it must not be a charity benefit show itself. People may book their own charity shows at your show, but those bookings will not count towards the 20% increment of the profits from your show. Here’s the math:
Shows in MD average $400 in sales.
I earn 25% of a show’s total, so $100 on average.
Assuming 4 “regular show” bookings with average sales, I will donate $80 of your show’s profits and $20 from each of the booked shows, for a total of $160. The donations will be made directly to your chosen walker, and can be split between no more than two (2) walkers.
For shows booked between 30 and 60 days in advance, I will donate 15% per regular booking and 15% of each booked show.
In addition, you will earn free candles and accessories.
Contact: candles AT cordelya DOT net
Pass it on…
I am not above bribing people.
Just sayin’
After making a few suggestions a while ago to someone on 43 Things regarding rescuing the one room in her house that is a disaster area, I’ve been pondering what I said, especially since I’ve been following my own advice.
This time, it all started a few days ago because I went looking for some tips on creating (and sticking to) a morning routine, so as not to forget any of the myriad things I have to do in the morning. I ran across the aforementioned 43 Things, which led me to the Getting Things Done system, which led me to another useful site, 43 Folders, which led me to a nifty little wiki app called GTD TiddlyWiki, which I am using as part of my effort to organize and stay that way. I’ve found that solely following FlyLady is not good enough, because a) I can’t deal with the sugar-shock, and b) I’ve already graduated from the Flylady School of Organization and Cleaning. The thing is, FlyLady only deals with physical clutter, and doesn’t address the clutter in my brain. That’s where GTD comes in.
So, David Allen sez:
Keeping FlyLady sitting around in a corner of my mind helps keep me motivated during the initial startup, which can (and usually will) be time consuming and tedious - I began this project in earnest yesterday morning. I am motivated because I know I can do it. I know I can do it because I’ve done it before (and my common areas are already quite clean because I just had people over for PartyLites).
If FlyLady is sugary-sweet, then David Allen is strong black coffee - all business, but brief and concise enough to not be boring. What I’d recommend to the beginner who feels that there is no hope of ever having a clean house, is to use FlyLady’s techniques (fling-boogie-ing, 10 minutes per room, etc) while implementing the GTD method (you’ll want to read the book - you can get it at the library). You’ll also want to keep some form of note-taking supplies with you to write down things that pop into your head and try to distract you. Maybe you’ve come across an important item that needs to have something done with it - better to write yourself a note about it for action later than to deal with it now and risk getting sidetracked. You have to follow through on your action note, though, or you won’t trust your system.
*Bonus*
You might get serious brownie points at work by introducing your supervisor or even your whole company to Getting Things Done.
If you decide to implement GTD, let me know via comment/trackback to this post so I can follow your progress.
Making new resolutions and re-evaluating old resolutions only once per year is not frequent enough to actually be useful. For one, it seems that I didn’t write down my resolutions this past January, and aside from reducing my debt, I don’t remember what they were.Update: I found my earlier published resolutions… they happened in February! Secondly, it only took me a short amount of time (about 3 months) to fully implement my plan for debt reduction, so now all I’m doing is maintaining, and I’m not working on anything new. Perhaps quarterly resolutions are the answer. I completely missed the 2nd quarter, but can still capitalize on the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2005.
Today is July 2nd. The 3rd quarter of 2005 began yesterday. My 3rd quarter resolutions are as follows:
If you make 3rd quarter/midsummer resolutions, and publish them in your blog, comment* or trackback** a link to your blog entry and so I can read about your resolutions!
*As always, I do not receive comments made using the LJ system, and I do not make a habit of checking the feed’s page there. If you don’t like this, and you are a paid user, tell LJ that you want trackback capability and TypeKey integration sooner rather than later.
**Trackback URL is http://www.cordelya.net/mt/mt-tb.cgi/102
Ok, the party’s over, everyone’s gone home, and the dishes are done! I am still a bit short of my $350 quota for my starter PartyLite show. I am not closing my show until next Wednesday (pending confirmation from the upline), so there’s still time to place catalog orders if you want. Please keep in mind that everything will be shipped to me, and if you live far away from me, you will need to be prepared to coordinate getting your order from me to you. June specials will apply because my show was in June. I do not have them handy right now, but should before the end of the day tomorrow. I have both the Everyday 2005 catalog and the Spring/Summer 2005 catalog handy if you have price questions. As usual, you can look at the products by visiting http://www.partylite.us.
I also need to have 6 shows this month (July) to complete my startup. Take a look and see what you could get on sale at 60% off or more as a host/hostess in July! During the work week I am only able to travel no farther than 1 hour from Columbia, MD. During the weekend, I am able to travel no farther than 2 hours from Columbia, MD. Keep in mind that you do not have to have your show indoors, or even at your residence - you could have it at a park, on a boat, or even at my apartment (sufficient lead time is necessary for cleaning!)
Lucky charms for breakfast… Yay!
I have some link spam for you this morning.
I’ve been seeing a lot of new members popping up recently on the AISR Alumni YahooGroup, a mailing list for anyone who attended the American International School of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The YahooGroup is how