dandelions, crabgrass and other survivors

So I'm watching History International Channel this morning...and this is what I learned.

( driest place on planet earth )

Well...my PC...Herbie...I've had him about five years now. Roughly six months or so he started having some operational issues. Took forever to fire up, low virtual memory, couldn't switch between pages without taking his time about it.

So I bought a mac...Mort. :-) All the stuff I'd heard about Vista made me leery of getting another PC. Figured if I had to learn a new operating system I might as well go for broke and learn something totally new.

Anyway, Herbie was still operational and I kept using him for things I hadn't mastered on Mort. Today, Herbie well and truly died. Sigh. Blue screen of death. I feel bad about that. Not that there was anything I could have done---I'm not good with technology to begin with so saving him was out of the question, but still, I feel bad about not doing something.

Now...I've got a dead laptop. I don't want to just throw him out. I need to research how to recycle him. I know there are components inside---metals, plastic and such that could be used again. melted down, reformed and the like. You'd think with all the computer stuff out there that finding a recycling option would be easy. Guess I'll find out.

Hello wednesday.

( So it goes )

Two days of rain. Sigh. I don't normally mind the rain...but this time of year we aren't getting much sunlight, so the overcast sky just makes it seem even darker. And all that darkness sucks some of the life right out of me. I would not make it as a vampire.

Upside for today---we are doing a 'dress down for charity' thing. Means I get to wear jeans to the office. And I'm wearing the pair that I know I look good in. Not a bad little ego boost for today.

It was a nice day yesterday. Made it all the way to 70. Knowing it would be warmer, I opened the bedroom window, and left it open all night. Ahhhh. Fresh air. Slept like the dead. I definitely missed having the window open. Which is silly since it was only closed for like two weeks.

Could be I slept so well because I had pottery last night. Something very meditative and relaxing about spending a few hours focused on physical things. Things you can't really rush or force. It doesn't hurt that everything I'd gotten out of the kiln turned out beautifully. :-) One new glaze combo will definitely be a keeper. Tried it out again last night. We'll see if it turns out as good the second time around.

Okay the people in sweden are just to smart. :-)

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/08/video-volkswagen-wants-you-to-have-fun-taking-the-stairs/#continued

I'd take the stairs too.

So...they upgraded the main system we use at the bank. Oh joy. Anyone knows me, knows I hate it when they change things on the computer. I've spent almost five years learning the last system just to be mostly adequate at using it...not proficient, mind you, just fairly competent. I could find what I needed when I needed it and I was okay with that. Now, now I get to spend days struggling to learn the new system. Sigh.

To add insult to injury...my office computer is old, tired and slow. It isn't up to the demands of the new system. Shifting between windows was like watching an etch-e-sketch, it was one line at a time drawn very, very slowly.

It made for a real long day.

Weatherman says we might get snow today. Hunh. Guess it really is getting to be that time of year.

I took a few days off last week. I've been telling my brother, Adam, I'd come visit for the past year or so. It was high time I got off my dead ass and did it. :-)

My niece, Michaela, went with me. She's 24 and wanted to see more of the world. I offered to take her along.

Along the way we stopped to see the shrine for Saint Elizabeth Ann Setton. I've driven by the thing a dozen times, idly wondering who she was and why she warranted a shrine. Since we had time, and my curiousity was just begging to be satisfied, we stopped. :-) Turns out Elizabeth Ann Setton was the founder of the Sister of Charity. She was the first native born American Saint. The basilica was beautiful. I wished I could have been there to hear them play the organ because the acoustics had to be awesome.

After the shrine we headed for my brother, Glen's, house. He's in Fairfax,VA, and it wasn't grossly out of the way. Made a trip to the 'walmart of wines' while we were there. It's a huge, huge, wine store. Living in the middle of nowhere as I do, it is rare I get a chance to try wines from places like Argentina, Portugal, and Germany. I came home with close to a case of wine. And we had a great home cooked meal. Win/win.

From there we headed further south the next day. We stopped to see the Endless Caverns. They were seriously cool. That cave system is used as a wintering area for three species of bats. We got to see lots of them. Neither Mick nor I are afraid of them. It was so hard not to try and pet them. But we were good and kept our hands to ourselves.

We paid a visit to the Natural Bridge too. I'd been there before, but Mick hadn't. She was suitably impressed. We took the scenic route from there. The view overlooking the James River was jaw dropping.

Spending a few days with Adam and his family was delightful. He's always been my favorite brother, and it never hurts to be reminded of why. Next time I'll have to make it so I can spend more time there. We're already trying to work out my going to visit again.

Coming home---Mick and I hauled ass up Interstate 81. Never did less than 75 mph most of the way. We stopped twice for gas and a potty break. Not bad really given the trip to my house took just shy of 10 hours.

My older sister, mary, has made photography her hobby for some time. I've blown up several of her shots, had them matted, framed and hung them in my office. So obviously, I think she does good stuff. :-)

But, of course, I'm family...so my opinion isn't exactly unbiased. She's happy that I like her stuff, but has never seen it as a ringing endorsement of her skill or ability.

Today, she won an honorable mention at a local art show. And her picture also won the 'viewer's choice'. So the majority of people attending the event liked hers the best. Now that was just awesome. Great little ego stroke Mary really deserved.

She also took a few shots for a friend who raises corgis. Cute little dogs which until meeting them I never would have thought much of having one. Jenny, the friend, entered two of the photos in a contest for a corgi dog calendar. They were both selected. Very cool.

I rather liked this one a lot. :-)

"If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing." Anatole France.

Amen, brother. Repetition shouldn't be what gives anything standing.

( It is very satisfying working with my hands.  )

I'm watching a rerun on the history channel of Nostradamus 2012. All sorts of doomsday prophecies which seem to indicate the world will end December 21, 2012. Do I believe all this stuff? Not really.

See the thing is, if you predict some sort of disaster, given the historic precedence, odds are good you'll be right eventually. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes---those things bound to happen; they have been happening since the world was born. No telling when or exactly where, but then most of these predictions aren't exactly that specific.

War is equally common. It's human nature, unfortunately, to fight over territory and resources. We fight over ideology and theology. We squabble like two year olds over a new toy and do a hell of a lot of damage in the process. Technology marches forward at a frightening pace when it comes to new ways for us to kill each other.

I'm not overly worried about the world ending---at least not because someone was gazing into a crystal ball, found a secret code in the bible, developed an algorithm that predicts the future. Most that is just crap.

Realistically, yeah, the world is going to end, but I really doubt any of these wanna be prophets got the time and day right.

A friend sent this to me...and it made me laugh, so I'm passing it along.
:-)


"Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater.
If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.
If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.
If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.
If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.
She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.
So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit."

I love having a lazy Sunday. I rarely get one, but I make the most of doing nothing when the opportunity arises. :-)

Surf the net a little, watch some tv, take a nap....just chill out and relax. Sigh.

I try not to think about how wasteful I'm being by not doing anything truly productive.

( There and Back Again )

Ray, my personal trainer, also owns a small dairy farm about a mile from my house. He bought the farm when he moved into the area from California about four years ago.

He's still learning the ins and outs of running a dairy...and asked me for some help. Even though it's been more than twenty years since I milked a cow---working as a loan officer doing agricultural loans, I know a lot about the numbers side of things. So advice and guidance on that aspect is sort of my stock and trade.

I wasn't expecting Ray to pay me for the bit of knowledge I have and was willing to share. I mean, really, he could get a lot of that from anyone---if you were willing to look for it. The internet is a massive treasure trove of stuff. And God knows every state university with an ag program publishes their research. It's not like I'm some sort of guru or mystic gatekeeper to a cache of secret knowledge.

But Ray is very grateful for my help...so he's now training me for free. This means he's still trying to kill me, but I no longer have to pay for the privilege. :-)

Some days, I just don't know about people. It is one thing to hit on someone at a bar, or a gym...little harmless flirting is rarely a big deal. I can handle the give and take just fine in those settings. But I always find it decidedly awkward when clients hit on me at work. I'm always tempted to just smack them one upside the head. "I'm your loan officer, you idiot. You don't want to piss me off or insult me before you get your check. Or even after you get it, because you might need help in the future. "

I saw this quote...and liked it well enough I wanted to pass it on. :-)

Jean Cocteau said, "Art produces ugly things which frequently become beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time."

I think the man might well be right.

The Eiffel tower was regarded as an eye sore when it was built and today it is iconic, symbolic of romantic getaways.

bell bottom pants...dear lord, were those really thought of as attractive? Ever? Short shorts?

It is raining. I was hoping for thunder and lightning. all that hazy, hot humidity usuallly brings out a good show. Sadly such is not the case today.