Friday, December 24, 2010
Shopping at Target
OK so I think I have to stop shopping at target on high volume shopping days like today Christmas Eve. I went to target this afternoon to buy gifts for little man as I call them the Santa presents. Well I picked up a Mega Bloks table set that was on Clearance and was looking at it and a lady comes up to me and tells me she looked at it first and wanted it, well she wasn't around when I picked it up so no I wasn't going to give it to her and she kept telling me to give it to her I finally looked at her and said that I was getting it for my son and she was out of luck. Well it didn't end their she actually followed me around the store repeatedly telling me to give her the toy that she really wanted it for her grand kids and I told her I wanted it for my son and to leave me alone. Didn't end their she checked out right behind me and followed me out side still asking for the toy! She even offered to but it from me and I told her she could probably find it at one on the walmarts in the area. She was still talking after I drove off. If it hadn't been exactly what I was looking for and really wanted for little man I would of given to her, but if she wanted one so bad why did she wait so long and why didn't she just go to one of the walmarts to get it. Well that's my Christmas story. Hope tomorrow is better Merry Christmas everybody!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Medical Transcription
WOW I didn't bealive how much was going to be involved in this medical transcription course good thing its free or I so wouldn't be doing this right now. I have yet to do anything with the stuff my mother bought me while I was visiting her. the Kinect for the x-box hope we have enough room for it. I also have the yudo screen printer that I should be figuring it out so that I have something for the spring craft fairs. My step dad bought me a Kodak printer that is still in the box. I've just been so tired and getting caught up with everything from being gone is no picnic. I also got the bad news that about half the bison meat that Mr Man got in Montana from that hunt went bad so we only have a little bit of it but some is better than none, but Mr Man is in a bad mood because he can't blame anyone but himself for it going bad he wasn't paying enough attention to it. Well time for me to get back to more medical terminology.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Serendipity
So, we are not moving to Montana! (Both sad and happy for reasons previously discussed.)
Mr. B could not get the potential employer to agree to a salary he wanted--literally a matter of about 5K a year. Plus, my mom had a minor freakout when I told her. She told me that my brother had been let go from work, and that at the moment he and his wife were both unemployed with 4 kids between them. My sister was mid-finals and of questionable emotional stability, so she couldn't even think about telling her until finals were over. My grandmother would miss living across the street from me.
And that was about the point that I realized, I am one of the few points of stability that holds the craziness of my family together right now. My brother has a habit of springing life changing situations on us without warning. My sister's emotions are constantly on a roller coaster. I'm the responsible child who got a spouse and a house and a college education and a successful job; I'm the person my family calls when something important needs to happen, because I can be trusted to check in on Grandma. I can talk to my sister when she's having "one of those days". I can watch the nieces and nephews when their parents are having a medical emergency.
Between those two issues--the pay wasn't good enough and our families--we decided not to take the offer.
However, this decision comes with repercussions. Mr. B was so upset by not being able to settle on the salary and turning down the offer that he said some pretty nasty things about my job, and a minor fight ensued. He later apologized and admitted that he's just frustrated with life because his job has reneged on career ladder promises. We had a heart-to-heart about how worried he is about losing his job and neither of us having medical benefits. About two weeks ago he very sincerely told me he was worried for me and our marriage if I stayed in school because I am a glutton for punishment and tend to overload on courses.
Ultimately, he asked me not to enroll in a PhD program. Not straight out of two Master's programs, anyways--he said I could go back, but that he really thought I needed some time on the outside. My parents and Q had each spoken to me separately about this as well (Q, I want to clarify that I am a member of the "real world"--I do real research at a real job that pays real and really good money--but I get what you're trying to say). So I decided, based on the people who know me best telling me to, that I am putting off the PhD.
Unfortunately, losing my student status means I also lose my job. So Tuesday night after making this decision, I started applying for jobs online, and was pleased to see there were about 6 in my area right now for academic or research librarians. I made a mental note to swing through the library at my work to ask if the librarians I know there could introduce me to anyone working at places I was applying to.
I go in to the library Wednesday to talk to a friend there.
Me: (after long-winded explanation...) "...So I am not starting the PhD program in the spring."
Friend: "So you're losing student status."
Me: "Yeah."
Friend: "Are you looking for a job?"
Me: "Yes."
Friend (raises eyebrows): "Have you applied here?"
Me (shrugs indifferently): "Do you have an opening?"
Friend: "Uh, yeah!"
And less than 24 hours after starting the job search, I have a good shot at a job. And not just any job, but one that would allow me to keep working where I'm currently working, keep working with my researchers, and keep doing my research while also getting job experience in the library. It's a win-win-win situation; I'm happy, husband is happy, and work is happy.
I can't help but think that the Universe is just on my side this time.
And someday, I can still complete a PhD.
Alula
Mr. B could not get the potential employer to agree to a salary he wanted--literally a matter of about 5K a year. Plus, my mom had a minor freakout when I told her. She told me that my brother had been let go from work, and that at the moment he and his wife were both unemployed with 4 kids between them. My sister was mid-finals and of questionable emotional stability, so she couldn't even think about telling her until finals were over. My grandmother would miss living across the street from me.
And that was about the point that I realized, I am one of the few points of stability that holds the craziness of my family together right now. My brother has a habit of springing life changing situations on us without warning. My sister's emotions are constantly on a roller coaster. I'm the responsible child who got a spouse and a house and a college education and a successful job; I'm the person my family calls when something important needs to happen, because I can be trusted to check in on Grandma. I can talk to my sister when she's having "one of those days". I can watch the nieces and nephews when their parents are having a medical emergency.
Between those two issues--the pay wasn't good enough and our families--we decided not to take the offer.
However, this decision comes with repercussions. Mr. B was so upset by not being able to settle on the salary and turning down the offer that he said some pretty nasty things about my job, and a minor fight ensued. He later apologized and admitted that he's just frustrated with life because his job has reneged on career ladder promises. We had a heart-to-heart about how worried he is about losing his job and neither of us having medical benefits. About two weeks ago he very sincerely told me he was worried for me and our marriage if I stayed in school because I am a glutton for punishment and tend to overload on courses.
Ultimately, he asked me not to enroll in a PhD program. Not straight out of two Master's programs, anyways--he said I could go back, but that he really thought I needed some time on the outside. My parents and Q had each spoken to me separately about this as well (Q, I want to clarify that I am a member of the "real world"--I do real research at a real job that pays real and really good money--but I get what you're trying to say). So I decided, based on the people who know me best telling me to, that I am putting off the PhD.
Unfortunately, losing my student status means I also lose my job. So Tuesday night after making this decision, I started applying for jobs online, and was pleased to see there were about 6 in my area right now for academic or research librarians. I made a mental note to swing through the library at my work to ask if the librarians I know there could introduce me to anyone working at places I was applying to.
I go in to the library Wednesday to talk to a friend there.
Me: (after long-winded explanation...) "...So I am not starting the PhD program in the spring."
Friend: "So you're losing student status."
Me: "Yeah."
Friend: "Are you looking for a job?"
Me: "Yes."
Friend (raises eyebrows): "Have you applied here?"
Me (shrugs indifferently): "Do you have an opening?"
Friend: "Uh, yeah!"
And less than 24 hours after starting the job search, I have a good shot at a job. And not just any job, but one that would allow me to keep working where I'm currently working, keep working with my researchers, and keep doing my research while also getting job experience in the library. It's a win-win-win situation; I'm happy, husband is happy, and work is happy.
I can't help but think that the Universe is just on my side this time.
And someday, I can still complete a PhD.
Alula
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Always look on the Christmas side of life
I'm not sure if we're moving or not. Mr. B has been mum on the issue despite the fact that I keep trying to ask him about it. I'm wondering if certain repercussions are starting to sink in for him. FYI, this whole "we might be moving" thing is still on the down-low until next week, please! I haven't told my sister yet because she's mid-finals, and I don't want to stress her out, so please no one announce anything on Facebook.
Right now (or last I heard, anyways) the plan is that he is going to accept the offer when he gets a call back, presuming the pay is agreeable (they offered something at the last call and he countered). Even then, we could pull out later if something better came along. I am reminding him that his chances in the job market have improved since he started his Master's program in the fall, so he might stand a better chance of getting a local job now if he gives it some time.
But right now, I am trying not to think about all of that. I graduated from my MLS program yesterday. In the words of my grandmother (she was SOOO proud!) "We finally have a REAL librarian in the family!"
I have decked the halls, and am preparing for the major holiday cookie bash. I have ordered some of my holiday gifts for the family.
Falalala, Lalalala,
Alula
Right now (or last I heard, anyways) the plan is that he is going to accept the offer when he gets a call back, presuming the pay is agreeable (they offered something at the last call and he countered). Even then, we could pull out later if something better came along. I am reminding him that his chances in the job market have improved since he started his Master's program in the fall, so he might stand a better chance of getting a local job now if he gives it some time.
But right now, I am trying not to think about all of that. I graduated from my MLS program yesterday. In the words of my grandmother (she was SOOO proud!) "We finally have a REAL librarian in the family!"
I have decked the halls, and am preparing for the major holiday cookie bash. I have ordered some of my holiday gifts for the family.
Falalala, Lalalala,
Alula
Friday, December 3, 2010
Montana.
I knew it felt different this time. He got the offer for the job in Montana. It pays really well. 16K worth of relocation expenses will be paid for us.
In Montana.
He hasn't accepted the offer yet. I would like to say I have a chance of finding a job good enough to keep us here, but it feels like I'm circling the drain on this one.
I had to tell my supervisors today, and they were upset. Not at me--they are upset that I'm leaving. They told me not to worry because they would figure it out once I was gone, but now they're making phone calls on my behalf seeing if they can find job opportunities for me or find a way to keep my job even if I have to relocate. They've assured me they will give excellent references if called.
I'm really pretty depressed right now.
Alula
In Montana.
He hasn't accepted the offer yet. I would like to say I have a chance of finding a job good enough to keep us here, but it feels like I'm circling the drain on this one.
I had to tell my supervisors today, and they were upset. Not at me--they are upset that I'm leaving. They told me not to worry because they would figure it out once I was gone, but now they're making phone calls on my behalf seeing if they can find job opportunities for me or find a way to keep my job even if I have to relocate. They've assured me they will give excellent references if called.
I'm really pretty depressed right now.
Alula
Oh Baby!
Oh baby!
This is a short narrative of how I remember the most exciting and terrifyong Tuesday of my life to date.
It started out just like any other normal work day, but this day was to be much different. I was scheduled to get out early at (2pm) so I could go have my twenty week ultrasound (I was actually 21 weeks 2 days but wanted to wait for hubby) where we were going to check out my little one to make sure everthing was going great and find out the sex.
The ultrasound was going great, we almost instanly found we were having a healthy baby boy, to which my husband jumped out of his chair and pumped his fist to that news. The tech let me know that after we did the abdominal she was going to do an "internal" one just to double check everything was great. The abdomial lasted another 25 minutes where our boy showed off for the camera while she measured him top to bottom.
Then we were on to the dreaded interal wandy one... during this check the tech was making sure that something she saw on the abdominal one was all in her head. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't. The tech said is a very calm and collected voice, "Hmmm.... that's what I was afraid of... your cervix is just too thin." Then before our eyes she watched my cervix grow longer. It was fluctuating between 8mm and 2.6cm, which is just plain crazy. For a healthy pregnancy they want to see at least 3cm at all times until you approach 36 or so weeks.
The tech went quickly to inform my doctor of her unusual findings, and they gave me a room and an appointment even though the appointment portion of my visit wasn't scheduled till today. My doctor got on the phone with a high risk OB office in Denver and she let me know that I needed to go get a couple stitches to keep my cervix from opening and letting the little guy out.
I was driven to Denver that night and had an emergency operation performed on my cervix to save my pregnancy. The whole night and day were absolutely a blind siding. I'm now on bed reast at least until Tuesday when they can check out the stitches to make sure they are good.
I'll keep you all posted on the status of my stiuation, but until then just hope hard for my mental sake that I won't have to stay in bed until the kid is born.
~Minchkin
This is a short narrative of how I remember the most exciting and terrifyong Tuesday of my life to date.
It started out just like any other normal work day, but this day was to be much different. I was scheduled to get out early at (2pm) so I could go have my twenty week ultrasound (I was actually 21 weeks 2 days but wanted to wait for hubby) where we were going to check out my little one to make sure everthing was going great and find out the sex.
The ultrasound was going great, we almost instanly found we were having a healthy baby boy, to which my husband jumped out of his chair and pumped his fist to that news. The tech let me know that after we did the abdominal she was going to do an "internal" one just to double check everything was great. The abdomial lasted another 25 minutes where our boy showed off for the camera while she measured him top to bottom.
Then we were on to the dreaded interal wandy one... during this check the tech was making sure that something she saw on the abdominal one was all in her head. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't. The tech said is a very calm and collected voice, "Hmmm.... that's what I was afraid of... your cervix is just too thin." Then before our eyes she watched my cervix grow longer. It was fluctuating between 8mm and 2.6cm, which is just plain crazy. For a healthy pregnancy they want to see at least 3cm at all times until you approach 36 or so weeks.
The tech went quickly to inform my doctor of her unusual findings, and they gave me a room and an appointment even though the appointment portion of my visit wasn't scheduled till today. My doctor got on the phone with a high risk OB office in Denver and she let me know that I needed to go get a couple stitches to keep my cervix from opening and letting the little guy out.
I was driven to Denver that night and had an emergency operation performed on my cervix to save my pregnancy. The whole night and day were absolutely a blind siding. I'm now on bed reast at least until Tuesday when they can check out the stitches to make sure they are good.
I'll keep you all posted on the status of my stiuation, but until then just hope hard for my mental sake that I won't have to stay in bed until the kid is born.
~Minchkin
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Free Christmas Music!
Getting in the mood for the seasonal redesign of the site...
Free Downloadable Christmas Album from Target
(Includes the catchy song in their commercials, "You'll Never Find My Christmas" by Bishop Allen.)
Alula
Free Downloadable Christmas Album from Target
(Includes the catchy song in their commercials, "You'll Never Find My Christmas" by Bishop Allen.)
Alula
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Technological Updates
The patch for the Nook is here! The patch for the Nook is here!
(And there was much rejoicing!)
The new patch for the Nook came out yesterday, and that was my evening. The patch installed flawlessly, and then I happily went about investigating and utilizing the new organizational tools for my collection. Previous to this patch, one could not sort downloaded books by genre or self-organize them in any fashion because there were no folders within the library--everything was listed about willy-nilly, with only a few sorting options (sort by date, by title, etc.).
Now, I can search for things, I can put books onto "shelves", and I can sort my shelves. Most importantly, the shelves work more like tags than discrete folders--I can list a Fantasy/Adventure story on both my "Fantasy" and "Adventure" shelves instead of just one or the other. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that shelves created in either "My Documents" or "My Library" carry over to each other! HUZZAH! I cannot express my joy as a librarian to be able to sit on my couch (and later my bed) creating categories for all of my books and then going through them and putting them into the newly created categories. I can now find my Horrors, Manuals, Scientific Articles, Adventure, Romance, Work Related, School Related, Science Fiction, Cookbooks, Short Stories, etc., in discretely organized locations! And I will say it again: HUZZAH!
The update also fiddled the power management (better battery life), page turn speed (noticeably faster), took the web browser out of beta (now official), and granted syncing of reading locations across the available apps, and password protection (prevents unauthorized purchases from the device and can be enabled to lock on idle). Barnes & Noble, I have one further request for you: my shelves are still distinct to either the Documents or Library. Can you patch this so that when I display content from the "Science Fiction" shelf, the content from both the Library and my Documents is shown together?
Also, I finally finished downloading the latest patch for World of Warcraft, and a video played where dragon popped out of the middle of Azeroth, causing much destruction (yes, I know all about Cataclysm and resulting natural disasters). He's now perched atop the burning wreckage of Stormwind on my log in screen and I can't log in because it's Tuesday Update Time! AHHH! When is Azeroth scheduled to change for the new game content? I am going to miss old Azeroth. I hope I like the changes enough so as not to be put off by them.
Alula
(And there was much rejoicing!)
The new patch for the Nook came out yesterday, and that was my evening. The patch installed flawlessly, and then I happily went about investigating and utilizing the new organizational tools for my collection. Previous to this patch, one could not sort downloaded books by genre or self-organize them in any fashion because there were no folders within the library--everything was listed about willy-nilly, with only a few sorting options (sort by date, by title, etc.).
Now, I can search for things, I can put books onto "shelves", and I can sort my shelves. Most importantly, the shelves work more like tags than discrete folders--I can list a Fantasy/Adventure story on both my "Fantasy" and "Adventure" shelves instead of just one or the other. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that shelves created in either "My Documents" or "My Library" carry over to each other! HUZZAH! I cannot express my joy as a librarian to be able to sit on my couch (and later my bed) creating categories for all of my books and then going through them and putting them into the newly created categories. I can now find my Horrors, Manuals, Scientific Articles, Adventure, Romance, Work Related, School Related, Science Fiction, Cookbooks, Short Stories, etc., in discretely organized locations! And I will say it again: HUZZAH!
The update also fiddled the power management (better battery life), page turn speed (noticeably faster), took the web browser out of beta (now official), and granted syncing of reading locations across the available apps, and password protection (prevents unauthorized purchases from the device and can be enabled to lock on idle). Barnes & Noble, I have one further request for you: my shelves are still distinct to either the Documents or Library. Can you patch this so that when I display content from the "Science Fiction" shelf, the content from both the Library and my Documents is shown together?
Also, I finally finished downloading the latest patch for World of Warcraft, and a video played where dragon popped out of the middle of Azeroth, causing much destruction (yes, I know all about Cataclysm and resulting natural disasters). He's now perched atop the burning wreckage of Stormwind on my log in screen and I can't log in because it's Tuesday Update Time! AHHH! When is Azeroth scheduled to change for the new game content? I am going to miss old Azeroth. I hope I like the changes enough so as not to be put off by them.
Alula
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
More Montana...and Maine?
Well, I was wrong about the population of the town in Montana. I had quoted the population for the city and two surrounding counties. The actual population of the "city" we could potentially be moving to is about 30,000 (half of the town I currently live in).
Mr. Borealis went to his interview in Minneapolis for the position in Montana yesterday. It went well, though he said they kept stressing the point that the position was "in Montana", and he had to sign a waiver acknowledging that he knew the position was in Montana, and he would relocate there, if he were offered and accepted the job position. Apparently it's hard to get people to move out there, and they wanted to make it clear in his mind that he would, in fact, be living in Montana.
I ask you: Does it make a city more or less of a place if it qualifies for listing on ePodunk.com??
He also got an email on Monday from the folks in Maine. (Did I tell you about Maine...?) He had previously been turned down for a phone interview because he didn't want to pay his way to fly out for an in-person interview (the Minneapolis people paid for him to fly out). They later sent him a personal note apologizing for not being able to accommodate his phone interview, and then the email came saying they had held on to his resume and wanted to talk to him about a different position.
I have decided it's more likely than not at this point that we are moving out of state; don't know where, don't know when. Dodging one bullet is a feat, but now I've got two coming straight at me. I am thoroughly stuck halfway between two worlds: one where I am a hard working professional with my career laid out before me, and one where I am exhausted and doing terrible things to my health by taking too many hours at work and school (both fueling each other at this point--need student status to keep job, need job to pay for school), waiting for Prince Charming to take me away from it all before I hurt myself.
I need advice. Badly.
Alula
Mr. Borealis went to his interview in Minneapolis for the position in Montana yesterday. It went well, though he said they kept stressing the point that the position was "in Montana", and he had to sign a waiver acknowledging that he knew the position was in Montana, and he would relocate there, if he were offered and accepted the job position. Apparently it's hard to get people to move out there, and they wanted to make it clear in his mind that he would, in fact, be living in Montana.
I ask you: Does it make a city more or less of a place if it qualifies for listing on ePodunk.com??
He also got an email on Monday from the folks in Maine. (Did I tell you about Maine...?) He had previously been turned down for a phone interview because he didn't want to pay his way to fly out for an in-person interview (the Minneapolis people paid for him to fly out). They later sent him a personal note apologizing for not being able to accommodate his phone interview, and then the email came saying they had held on to his resume and wanted to talk to him about a different position.
I have decided it's more likely than not at this point that we are moving out of state; don't know where, don't know when. Dodging one bullet is a feat, but now I've got two coming straight at me. I am thoroughly stuck halfway between two worlds: one where I am a hard working professional with my career laid out before me, and one where I am exhausted and doing terrible things to my health by taking too many hours at work and school (both fueling each other at this point--need student status to keep job, need job to pay for school), waiting for Prince Charming to take me away from it all before I hurt myself.
I need advice. Badly.
Alula
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Montana???
Well, ladies,
Yesterday my husband texted me late in the afternoon while I was still at work. He said he got a call back from a job he applied for in Montana, and they were paying to fly him out for an interview. The job is a highly paid one for the government (Federal), and the interview is in Minneapolis. Apparently the position in Montana is hard to fill, owing to the fact that the city it is in is small and does not have any nearby major universities to turn out employees in this field of work.
He's been called for interviews before. He's even been flown out for interviews before, and didn't end up getting the position (this is pretty standard for fed jobs--they fly out a few of the well-qualified candidates before hiring). But this time, when he texted me, I got a feeling like he'd just told me we were moving. I think he's going to get this job, and it's making me a little sad and nervous and excited.
The city we would be moving to has a population of just over 70,000. For reference, my (our) hometown in Colorado has a population of almost 55,000--and that's our hometown, ladies, not Denver, which has a population of about 610,000. We're talking about living in a place where the closest major city is just barely larger than the current town that we live in. The town we are looking at living in out there has a population of less than 1,500!
Think about it: no traffic. Small town lifestyle. Wilderness. Sounds great.
Sounds lonely. FYI, the city out there does not have a Qdoba, a Barnes & Noble, or a Hobby Lobby (they do have a Michael's on the far north side). This is a place where you have to buy an engine block heater and turn it on an hour before you plan to drive, or your car may not start. The average daily high does not get above freezing during December and January, which I have no qualms with because I like the cold and snow, but good grief that's cold--the average lows that time of year are single digit.
We're looking at finding a foreclosure out there on some land. About ten acres. I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, looking out the windows in my living room at snow blanketing the meadows and forests with a clear starry sky and moon. A white Christmas...with all my friends and family back in Colorado.
Mr. Borealis expects that I will find a similarly successful career out there as I have here. But let's face it: he expects me to find a fantastic federal career job in a city of ~70,000? I've been scoping out the libraries and jobs out there, and have yet to find anything like what I have here. I've told Mr. B this, and he's conceded slightly that if we move, it represents a shift in focus towards his career. I don't know what that means for me. I'm sure I'll find something, and I can run some of the web oriented stuff for our business from out there, but it feels like my education is going down the toilet--it isn't exactly a hotbed of information science out there.
Alula
Yesterday my husband texted me late in the afternoon while I was still at work. He said he got a call back from a job he applied for in Montana, and they were paying to fly him out for an interview. The job is a highly paid one for the government (Federal), and the interview is in Minneapolis. Apparently the position in Montana is hard to fill, owing to the fact that the city it is in is small and does not have any nearby major universities to turn out employees in this field of work.
He's been called for interviews before. He's even been flown out for interviews before, and didn't end up getting the position (this is pretty standard for fed jobs--they fly out a few of the well-qualified candidates before hiring). But this time, when he texted me, I got a feeling like he'd just told me we were moving. I think he's going to get this job, and it's making me a little sad and nervous and excited.
The city we would be moving to has a population of just over 70,000. For reference, my (our) hometown in Colorado has a population of almost 55,000--and that's our hometown, ladies, not Denver, which has a population of about 610,000. We're talking about living in a place where the closest major city is just barely larger than the current town that we live in. The town we are looking at living in out there has a population of less than 1,500!
Think about it: no traffic. Small town lifestyle. Wilderness. Sounds great.
Sounds lonely. FYI, the city out there does not have a Qdoba, a Barnes & Noble, or a Hobby Lobby (they do have a Michael's on the far north side). This is a place where you have to buy an engine block heater and turn it on an hour before you plan to drive, or your car may not start. The average daily high does not get above freezing during December and January, which I have no qualms with because I like the cold and snow, but good grief that's cold--the average lows that time of year are single digit.
We're looking at finding a foreclosure out there on some land. About ten acres. I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, looking out the windows in my living room at snow blanketing the meadows and forests with a clear starry sky and moon. A white Christmas...with all my friends and family back in Colorado.
Mr. Borealis expects that I will find a similarly successful career out there as I have here. But let's face it: he expects me to find a fantastic federal career job in a city of ~70,000? I've been scoping out the libraries and jobs out there, and have yet to find anything like what I have here. I've told Mr. B this, and he's conceded slightly that if we move, it represents a shift in focus towards his career. I don't know what that means for me. I'm sure I'll find something, and I can run some of the web oriented stuff for our business from out there, but it feels like my education is going down the toilet--it isn't exactly a hotbed of information science out there.
Alula
Monday, November 1, 2010
E-readers: Revitalizing the Art of the Short Story?
Anyone who has downloaded free content from the Barnes & Noble online catalog can tell you that one of the more annoying aspects is that some "preview" books do not advertise themselves as such. One sees that they can download a book for free, but what isn't realized until the "book" is downloaded is that it isn't a free book--it's a 30-40 page free preview.
I have nothing against free previews--free previews are a great sales device on the part of Barnes & Noble; it takes away the apprehension of buying blind by allowing a reader to sample and then decide. Free books promote sales by introducing readers to authors they may not have otherwise picked up. The only thing I am complaining about is when a free preview goes masquerading as a free book--to me, that's false advertising, and it makes me very frustrated when I open a book and see the "book" is a grand total of 37 pages in length. Worse yet is when I don't notice the length of the free "book" until I go to turn the page and nothing is there. This ranks on my top 5 list of annoying surprises in life, knocking out interrupted monkey piling:
1) flat tires/car trouble
2) unexpected visits from Aunt Flow
<-----------Biblio Interruptus goes here
3) unannounced visitation from in-laws
4) dreaded pop quiz (either at school, or in the form of impromptu meeting with the boss)
5) Interrupted monkey piling
Recently, I was reading what I thought was a book, and then, about 35 pages in, the story ended. And by ended, I don't mean prematurely--I made super sure that I had not downloaded a preview. The story was told and done in 35 pages because it was a short story.
I haven't ever really read short stories except in school for class, and I was left with with the thought that I might not have downloaded the piece had I noticed it was a short. However, after the initial shock wore off, I found myself reflecting that the short hadn't been a bad experience. I enjoyed the short, and I can think of a few places where I might enjoy a good short story to my usual novel picks. They're the perfect size to get through on a bus ride or a waiting room stay; you can get through the conclusion in time to not feel like you're on a cliffhanger, avoiding the common malady of just hitting the good part of a novel and then needing to put it down.
In the past, there was no question in my mind that I was more likely to haul around a novel instead of a book of short stories, though now that I can have both, I believe that I will start toting more short stories in my nook. I have to wonder if e-reader technology will show a resurgence of interest in short stories in the general public of e-reader owners.
Alula
Saturday, October 30, 2010
How to prepare for the next zombie Invasion
In light of the Holiday!
How to prepare for the next zombie Invasion
You may already be prepared for natural disasters; you have your stash of food, flashlights, matches, etc. But are you prepared to stave off the next zombie invasion? Know your enemy! Zombies are not an overly intelligent bunch; they are slow moving and clumsy. Generally speaking, you stand a good chance of out running one. However, they do have a keen sense of smell, and you could be easily overwhelmed by a hungry mob. Its best to find a safe place to hunker down and try to hold them off until the problem is resolved.
Zombies, also known as the “undead” feed off of human flesh; they can also infect a human by biting them, the infection from there bite will turn the human into a zombie. Early symptoms of the infection include, fever, chills, headaches and general flu like symptoms. Within three to six hours the victim of a bite will slip into a coma, and complete the transformation into a zombie. If a friend, or loved one, is bitten, don’t let them live! As soon as an infected human changes into a zombie they will start hunting for food.
Should you find yourself in the company of zombies you will need to know how to kill them. Experts agree the proper way to disable a zombie is to sever the spinal cord, or destroy the brain. This can be accomplished with a common house hold item that can be used as a bludgeoning device. It should be something that is easily excisable and fits comfortably in your hand; find something that is portable and light weight. Crowbars are very effective, but you may find their weight tiring when battling an undead army. You may also want to stay away from items that use ammunition or fuel, as they can run out at the precise moment you need them; if you choose to use a traditional weapon such as a gun or chain saw just make sure you have a back up.
Spend some time thinking about the best way to fortify your house. If you have a lot of ground level windows you will need a way to reinforce them. Some homes are not suited for this kind of defense, so you may consider seeking refuge at another location. You might need to talk to your neighbors a head of time to determine the safest place to stave off the invasion. However be prepared that this plan may change if you neighbors are bitten or have already turned into Zombies. In case you are not home when the dead rise to plague the earth; make plans with your family to meet somewhere. It’s a good idea to surround yourself with non-infected Humans. If you can gather a large enough group commandeer, and fortify a box store. There you will have plenty of food, medical supplies, clean cloths, entertainment, and plenty of items in the sporting goods section to outfit everyone with a weapon.
Keep in mind you are now responsible for the survival for the human kind. Like any wide spread plague it will take time to be resolved. Keep a level head, and high spirits. If you find the thought of smashing in the brains of your undead neighbor disturbing, it will come naturally in the heat of the moment. You only have to hold out till ZEMA (Zombie Emergency Management Agency) arrives to destroy the undead on slot.
Bibliography:
Zombie emergency management agency (ZEMA). (2009). Retrieved on November 21, 2009, from http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=63566622560.
The Science of Zombies (2009) Retrieved on November 30, 2009 from http://www.fvza.org/zscience1.html
Monday, October 25, 2010
Long time no post
I know it's been a while since I actually posted. Things are going fine out here. Nothing much interesting. ExceptIgotaNookformyBirthday. It is pretty, and I can read embarrassing books without people seeing that I'm reading embarrassing books!
That's all for now *furiously downloads lots and lots of books*
That's all for now *furiously downloads lots and lots of books*
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Love affair with an ereader
Recently I have found myself reflecting on the way that I feel toward my Barnes & Noble nook. In several of the library science classes I've taken, ereaders have taken center stage for debate on the future of libraries. Ereaders--do we love them? Do we hate them? Can one ever have the same kind of attachment to a device as one can to the bound and visceral pages of a book, new or aged?
I've found that some librarians love them. Some outright reject them--not to create a stereotype here, but I find these librarians have never actually held one in their hands. I think there is a conditioned fear of change within the library community that these personal, miniaturized libraries will one day replace the brick-and-mortar establishments. I believe this is possible, though not likely. Libraries, whether physical or online, are organized repositories of the things we are looking for, and we will always need these places. We will always need librarians to assist us in the search or application of what we find. I find that once a hesitant librarian actually faces the tiny, attractive villain that they think ereaders are by holding one, they become much less intimidated. Ereaders have needs to--in a way, they have created more services for the library to provide, and in turn, more actual need for libraries themselves.
I love my ereader. I hesitate to say I love it like I love an actual book, but I do love it at least as much--I would say it's like children, but I have none, so I'll say it's like good friends. You love your friends. You love them all equally, but probably in different ways and for different reasons. Books and nook are like that for me. I love my nook to an almost unhealthy extreme, which is probably brought on by the fact that it has provided me so many positive and intimate story time experiences, and it's small enough that I don't have any excuse to part myself from it. It goes everywhere with me, in my purse. Unlike a book that gets swapped out on completion, the nook remains, along with all the stories I have previously read on it. I don't have to worry about finding a purse to fit the dimensions of each book I read, because about 2 months after purchasing the nook, I invested in one that could fit it.
Then, there is also the unbridled freedom of anonymity that the device provides. The cover I bought (I have the Bronte cover in Storm offered by Barnes & Noble, with a picture of me and my husband kissing at our wedding on the front) doesn't betray anything of what I might be reading on my nook at any given moment. I can read romance novels in public without the self-consciousness that strangers will judge me. I can read my old teen fic favorites or downloaded geeky fan fiction on my college campus and claim it's a text book on interacting with geospatial technologies if anyone asks. I can read The Count of Monte Cristo for the tenth time without having to hear my husband say "that book? again?"
For me, the proof is in the reading. Because I used to find it cumbersome to switch out my purse to fit every new read, my pleasure reading was limited to before bed. Now, because I can read whatever I want without anyone being the wiser, and the nook goes everywhere with me, I read before class, after class, in waiting rooms, over lunch at work, and anywhere else I have a few spare moments. In the 3 months I've had my nook, I've read 5 novels, 4 short stories, a handful of free previews (the first 3-5 chapters of a novel). I don't have to tell you what I've been reading (HA!) because that's the beauty of the nook, but titles include The Stand, The Mist, Rosemary's Baby, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. A note to librarians: 3 of the 5 novels I've read on my nook so far were digitally "checked out" from local library offerings. Between the ereader and audiobooks, I'm going through about a book a week now (!) in addition to what I need to read for school and work.
I'm halfway through my latest pick--Enchanting the Lady by Kathryne Kennedy. I was a little skeptical at first, because some of the story seemed contrived and there are some names that will make you role your eyes (there's a Prince, and his name is Albert, and so he is Prince Albert--maybe I'm the only one whose brain is stuck in middle school, but I laughed out loud when I read it). However, by the end of chapter 4 the character of Sir Terence had me hooked, and since that point the story has carried itself despite a few other minor distractions. It was a free offering from Barnes & Noble, so I can't really complain; I'm not sure at this juncture if sequels have been written to this book, but I might be tempted to purchase them having read this offering.
Alula
I've found that some librarians love them. Some outright reject them--not to create a stereotype here, but I find these librarians have never actually held one in their hands. I think there is a conditioned fear of change within the library community that these personal, miniaturized libraries will one day replace the brick-and-mortar establishments. I believe this is possible, though not likely. Libraries, whether physical or online, are organized repositories of the things we are looking for, and we will always need these places. We will always need librarians to assist us in the search or application of what we find. I find that once a hesitant librarian actually faces the tiny, attractive villain that they think ereaders are by holding one, they become much less intimidated. Ereaders have needs to--in a way, they have created more services for the library to provide, and in turn, more actual need for libraries themselves.
I love my ereader. I hesitate to say I love it like I love an actual book, but I do love it at least as much--I would say it's like children, but I have none, so I'll say it's like good friends. You love your friends. You love them all equally, but probably in different ways and for different reasons. Books and nook are like that for me. I love my nook to an almost unhealthy extreme, which is probably brought on by the fact that it has provided me so many positive and intimate story time experiences, and it's small enough that I don't have any excuse to part myself from it. It goes everywhere with me, in my purse. Unlike a book that gets swapped out on completion, the nook remains, along with all the stories I have previously read on it. I don't have to worry about finding a purse to fit the dimensions of each book I read, because about 2 months after purchasing the nook, I invested in one that could fit it.
Then, there is also the unbridled freedom of anonymity that the device provides. The cover I bought (I have the Bronte cover in Storm offered by Barnes & Noble, with a picture of me and my husband kissing at our wedding on the front) doesn't betray anything of what I might be reading on my nook at any given moment. I can read romance novels in public without the self-consciousness that strangers will judge me. I can read my old teen fic favorites or downloaded geeky fan fiction on my college campus and claim it's a text book on interacting with geospatial technologies if anyone asks. I can read The Count of Monte Cristo for the tenth time without having to hear my husband say "that book? again?"
For me, the proof is in the reading. Because I used to find it cumbersome to switch out my purse to fit every new read, my pleasure reading was limited to before bed. Now, because I can read whatever I want without anyone being the wiser, and the nook goes everywhere with me, I read before class, after class, in waiting rooms, over lunch at work, and anywhere else I have a few spare moments. In the 3 months I've had my nook, I've read 5 novels, 4 short stories, a handful of free previews (the first 3-5 chapters of a novel). I don't have to tell you what I've been reading (HA!) because that's the beauty of the nook, but titles include The Stand, The Mist, Rosemary's Baby, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. A note to librarians: 3 of the 5 novels I've read on my nook so far were digitally "checked out" from local library offerings. Between the ereader and audiobooks, I'm going through about a book a week now (!) in addition to what I need to read for school and work.
I'm halfway through my latest pick--Enchanting the Lady by Kathryne Kennedy. I was a little skeptical at first, because some of the story seemed contrived and there are some names that will make you role your eyes (there's a Prince, and his name is Albert, and so he is Prince Albert--maybe I'm the only one whose brain is stuck in middle school, but I laughed out loud when I read it). However, by the end of chapter 4 the character of Sir Terence had me hooked, and since that point the story has carried itself despite a few other minor distractions. It was a free offering from Barnes & Noble, so I can't really complain; I'm not sure at this juncture if sequels have been written to this book, but I might be tempted to purchase them having read this offering.
Alula
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Finally Sold That Tahoe
So at the beginning of the year my dad gave us his 1996 Tahoe that he has had for a long time. Well we decided to sell it to pay some bills plus whats the point in having a truck that we never use. This is going to cause some complications with the upcoming craft fairs but I'm sure I can figure something out. I will just have to use tables that will fit in our Prius I hope that won't be to hard. Well that's something to think about on a different day. Well that's all for now.
Fuzzy
Fuzzy
Friday, October 1, 2010
Strange Stuff
So I am still sick I've managed to get on another round of antibiotics for the never ending bladder infection. And cysts on my ovaries that feel like this is the time to burst not fun. I have been spending the last few days putting little man thru potty training boot camp basically no diapers unless we are going in the car for a long time or he is going to bed. It has resulted in a lot of laundry but I think (and this could be wish full thinking) that he is starting to get it. Well at least I am trying. I'm also trying to think of something to make for craft fairs but I haven't been able to think of anything let alone build up the energy to make it. I am thinking of taking a website design class at the college up here I think that could be fun, or going to the art place down here that does pottery classes but my wrists won't put up with it. Well the thinking continues with no solutions coming to mind. Hunting season is in full blast right now Mr Man got a deer this year but not his elk and lets say he hasn't been the best company lately even when I was pregnant with little man he got his elk that year. But I guess it is a trade he got a really nice deer this year when he didn't get one last year. Well that's the strange stuff going on here tomorrow I'm making ginger snaps and an apple pie wish me luck.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Stunning news
So...
My sister is getting married! She's been with her fiance for about 5 months, and I'm very happy for her. I am a little concerned, because she seemingly hasn't been with this guy for a long time (She's had relationships in the past stretching for 1-2 years), but some people are just like that--they hit an age or a time when they just become ready for the whole marriage thing, and perhaps that's the way it is with her, and she's finally found the one. I've never met her fiance; my mom really likes him, so I'm looking forward to meeting him.
(Just fyi about the above...I'm not sure how "out" this is supposed to be, so please hold off on spreading this news or congratulating her on any public social networking sites.)
Apparently I'm not allowed to tell my brother, because my sister and my mom are engaging in some sort of weird familial hazing revenge. My sister is just going to "wear the ring around for a bit and let him figure it out for himself". (For anyone who missed this section of my life, my brother waited until his girlfriend was in her third trimester to tell us she was pregnant. He also neglected to tell us that he got married to her a while back. My mom was very understandably hurt by the whole situation of not being told.) My sister made a point of telling my mom first, and now, I am apparently asked not to tell my brother. It's my sister's engagement, so I am honoring that request (to honor her engagement, and not because I believe in perpetuating an atmosphere of secrecy).
I am sick as all get out since Tuesday night; I think I caught a bad cold or the flu when I attended out-of-state class last weekend.
Alula
My sister is getting married! She's been with her fiance for about 5 months, and I'm very happy for her. I am a little concerned, because she seemingly hasn't been with this guy for a long time (She's had relationships in the past stretching for 1-2 years), but some people are just like that--they hit an age or a time when they just become ready for the whole marriage thing, and perhaps that's the way it is with her, and she's finally found the one. I've never met her fiance; my mom really likes him, so I'm looking forward to meeting him.
(Just fyi about the above...I'm not sure how "out" this is supposed to be, so please hold off on spreading this news or congratulating her on any public social networking sites.)
Apparently I'm not allowed to tell my brother, because my sister and my mom are engaging in some sort of weird familial hazing revenge. My sister is just going to "wear the ring around for a bit and let him figure it out for himself". (For anyone who missed this section of my life, my brother waited until his girlfriend was in her third trimester to tell us she was pregnant. He also neglected to tell us that he got married to her a while back. My mom was very understandably hurt by the whole situation of not being told.) My sister made a point of telling my mom first, and now, I am apparently asked not to tell my brother. It's my sister's engagement, so I am honoring that request (to honor her engagement, and not because I believe in perpetuating an atmosphere of secrecy).
I am sick as all get out since Tuesday night; I think I caught a bad cold or the flu when I attended out-of-state class last weekend.
Alula
Monday, September 27, 2010
Frogs, Twisted Metal, and Maine
Update on frogs: the next day, two more frogs died. I swapped out more of the water, and the last frog looked fine. I was really hoping he was going to make it. Then, today, I discovered him dead. I don't know what happened, but it is an incredibly sad moment for me; I've had those frogs since my early teen years.
Mr. B and I drove out to Emporia, Kansas, over the weekend to attend a class weekend. He spent the three nights before the trip trying to fix up his car with his dad because there are several problems he's let go for a while (the catalytic converter, some small parts in need of replacing, and the noise it makes when he turns the wheel, just to name a few). He managed to replace the small parts, but they didn't have time for the "big" stuff. Mr. B's dad assured him the car would make the trip. Then, getting dinner Saturday night, Mr. B fouled a U-turn into a field and something went CLA-CLUNK under the car. Mr. B assured me we just hit a rock, but I was sure I felt something break in the wheel well next to my feet on the passenger side. Then, driving back on Sunday, we make a pit stop and I see Mr. B looking under the car. Then he's calling his dad.
Then I look under the car. There's a twisted metal chunk hanging out from under the passenger side front wheel, and something dripping out of the engine. His dad couldn't identify it (and still can't, beyond the fact that it was some kind of wheel/axle support--we think the clear fluid may have just been condensation of some sort), but told us that if the wheels were turning, it was probably okay. We made it home.
I'm now hoping that Mr. B will somehow start taking care of problems with his car when they occur instead of waiting until the last possible moment. (Fat chance, but I can wish.)
Mr. B is now applying for jobs in Maine, and I am finding myself kind of hoping he gets one. Property is extremely cheap out there because the average yearly income is so low (like 3bed2bath on acreage with a river for 50K cheap). It would disappointed me to have to leave my job here, but it's nice to dream of running away to a little farmhouse with a library job and time to write. :)
Alula
Mr. B and I drove out to Emporia, Kansas, over the weekend to attend a class weekend. He spent the three nights before the trip trying to fix up his car with his dad because there are several problems he's let go for a while (the catalytic converter, some small parts in need of replacing, and the noise it makes when he turns the wheel, just to name a few). He managed to replace the small parts, but they didn't have time for the "big" stuff. Mr. B's dad assured him the car would make the trip. Then, getting dinner Saturday night, Mr. B fouled a U-turn into a field and something went CLA-CLUNK under the car. Mr. B assured me we just hit a rock, but I was sure I felt something break in the wheel well next to my feet on the passenger side. Then, driving back on Sunday, we make a pit stop and I see Mr. B looking under the car. Then he's calling his dad.
Then I look under the car. There's a twisted metal chunk hanging out from under the passenger side front wheel, and something dripping out of the engine. His dad couldn't identify it (and still can't, beyond the fact that it was some kind of wheel/axle support--we think the clear fluid may have just been condensation of some sort), but told us that if the wheels were turning, it was probably okay. We made it home.
I'm now hoping that Mr. B will somehow start taking care of problems with his car when they occur instead of waiting until the last possible moment. (Fat chance, but I can wish.)
Mr. B is now applying for jobs in Maine, and I am finding myself kind of hoping he gets one. Property is extremely cheap out there because the average yearly income is so low (like 3bed2bath on acreage with a river for 50K cheap). It would disappointed me to have to leave my job here, but it's nice to dream of running away to a little farmhouse with a library job and time to write. :)
Alula
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Death of Two Frogs
Just wanted to make a quick mention of the death of not one, but two of my beloved African Clawed Frogs today. I started with one more than ten years ago and added as time went on, but my first frog, Poe, jumped out of the tank and died about 5 years ago (it was very sad).
Today I went to the tank to find my female, Myre, and my little blind albino male, Essie, stiff and floating. I initially felt a pang of dread, thinking that if two were dead, something had poisoned the water and they were all dead. However, the other 3 (Romath, Nementh, and Wirenth) are all alive and well. It's very bizarre. There are no markings on the bodies to make me suspect frog-on-frog violence was the issue here, and both frogs were well over a decade old (the other three are the babies of the group, at about 8 years old), but somehow I would find it weird if two spontaneously died of natural causes on the same day. I guess all I can do is hope that this was the case, and it isn't a communicable disease that will spread to my others.
I am saddened to see these old friends go, though they have had long and spoiled lives. Essie was always a thin fellow, and I knew he was blind because he never freaked out like the other frogs when I switched the tank light on (he would freak out when one of the other frogs freaked out and swam into him). Myre, my only frog princess, ruled the roost because she was twice as big as any of the boys. She produced many offspring in her day, of which there were so many in my teens that I used to adopt out the froglets to friends; I suspect some of them may still be out there.
I am now left trying to decide what to do with the bodies. They are too big to flush like fish, but somehow I think my husband will think I'm crazy if I try to give them a backyard service at my parent's house.
Alula
Today I went to the tank to find my female, Myre, and my little blind albino male, Essie, stiff and floating. I initially felt a pang of dread, thinking that if two were dead, something had poisoned the water and they were all dead. However, the other 3 (Romath, Nementh, and Wirenth) are all alive and well. It's very bizarre. There are no markings on the bodies to make me suspect frog-on-frog violence was the issue here, and both frogs were well over a decade old (the other three are the babies of the group, at about 8 years old), but somehow I would find it weird if two spontaneously died of natural causes on the same day. I guess all I can do is hope that this was the case, and it isn't a communicable disease that will spread to my others.
I am saddened to see these old friends go, though they have had long and spoiled lives. Essie was always a thin fellow, and I knew he was blind because he never freaked out like the other frogs when I switched the tank light on (he would freak out when one of the other frogs freaked out and swam into him). Myre, my only frog princess, ruled the roost because she was twice as big as any of the boys. She produced many offspring in her day, of which there were so many in my teens that I used to adopt out the froglets to friends; I suspect some of them may still be out there.
I am now left trying to decide what to do with the bodies. They are too big to flush like fish, but somehow I think my husband will think I'm crazy if I try to give them a backyard service at my parent's house.
Alula
Friday, September 10, 2010
24 more reasons I love my job
A couple of weeks ago, my boss came to me with a onerous task; he needed to put together a literature review. For anyone unsure of what a literature review is, it's where you go through a large number of recent publications and cherry pick the ones that seem the most interesting or relevant to a field, and then report them in the form of a bibliographic list. My boss had made his review, and put it together--it took him more than 30 minutes per page to format all of the citations correctly (and at a length of 20 pages, that ain't no small feat).
He turned it in to the reviewers, who told him they didn't use that citation style, meaning he needed to reformat every single citation. I got cc'd on the email, and immediately cringed--formatting is the kind of thing one can only do for 2 hours at a run before getting s truly horrific migraine, and they needed the reformat very quickly.
Literally seconds after this email arrives, I get another one from my boss: "If you do this for me, there's a quantity of your favorite beverage in it for you."
I roll my eyes, because he's my boss, and he hired me to do this kind of boring crap anyways, and even though his lit reviews technically aren't part of my job description, "miscellaneous projects as needed" is. So I shoot him one back and say no problem.
I got the lit review done in time, with a lot of Excedrin. Time goes on.
Then, today, my boss pops into my cubical and says "Great job on the lit review, and thanks! There's a case of Monster in the back of my truck. Don't forget to grab it before you leave tonight!"
And by case, he means a case. As in 24 cans of Monster, which I totally thought he was joking about. Good Golly! Best Boss in the World!!!!!
This is a bonus system I can live with!
Alula
He turned it in to the reviewers, who told him they didn't use that citation style, meaning he needed to reformat every single citation. I got cc'd on the email, and immediately cringed--formatting is the kind of thing one can only do for 2 hours at a run before getting s truly horrific migraine, and they needed the reformat very quickly.
Literally seconds after this email arrives, I get another one from my boss: "If you do this for me, there's a quantity of your favorite beverage in it for you."
I roll my eyes, because he's my boss, and he hired me to do this kind of boring crap anyways, and even though his lit reviews technically aren't part of my job description, "miscellaneous projects as needed" is. So I shoot him one back and say no problem.
I got the lit review done in time, with a lot of Excedrin. Time goes on.
Then, today, my boss pops into my cubical and says "Great job on the lit review, and thanks! There's a case of Monster in the back of my truck. Don't forget to grab it before you leave tonight!"
And by case, he means a case. As in 24 cans of Monster, which I totally thought he was joking about. Good Golly! Best Boss in the World!!!!!
This is a bonus system I can live with!
Alula
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
New Frontiers
Hello Ladies!
Sorry I've been absent for such a long time (though I have been secretly keeping tabs on your lives via this brilliant blog). I have much news to bring, and thought that I should probably give it all at once just to make sure you get the maximum effect.
The first new frontier in my life is that my husband has made drastic career move, a literal 180 degree switch from what he has ever done. He is now a natural gas driller! Who would have ever thought the man who graduated 3rd in his class, and got a Micro-biology degree with a graphic design minor, would end up as a real working man.
This career move means that I am without my husband for half the year, and with him for the other half. He works 7 twelve hour days and then has 7 days off. He's done one week so far, and though I missed him terribly, the monetary rewards far outweigh any grief that I have for the week he's gone.
The next life changing frontier Mr. Munchkin and I have ventured to is one the one of parenthood. Yes, that's right ladies, I am pregnant and apparently due April 10, 2011. More news along these lines is the possibility that my doctors either have my due date incorrect, or I may be having more than one child dwelling in my body. This discovery was made by my doctor while getting my normal check-up (with no ultra sound scheduled for a month). My doc was feeling around down low when she suddenly states, "You feel a little farther along than 8 weeks, let's get you in for an ultra sound sooner."
So... Mr. Munchkin and I are off to the doc's office this Friday to find out my fate. I'll keep you all posted. Alula if you wanted to put a countdown up, just be warned you may have to adjust the date if you do it before I get the word on Friday.
Wish me luck all!
~Munchkin
Saturday, September 4, 2010
My husband is scarred by book lights & we got a new water heater
Remember the awesome book light my husband got me for my birthday? As it turns out, he hates book lights. Apparently his mother used a book light a lot when he was kid, especially when they were traveling in the car and hotels etc., and he hates them, because he thought she was always especially rude in her use of them. He asked me to please leave our bedroom at night if I intended to continuing using the book light; to this I replied, if I am leaving the room, I can turn the fraggin' lights in in whatever room I end up in. So, I am now compelled to use the book light under the covers of the bed so the light is not visible from any angle.
Personally, I think my husband is just jealous of the nook.
Also, we got a new tankless water heater installed yesterday. Our old water heater was located in the not-a guest-room on the first floor; the room was designed as a perfect guest or renter's room, with its own attached bathroom, but also with the water heater in a closet of the room. This was apparently and okay thing for builders to do in 1979, but since then we've discovered that the carbon monoxide generated by water heaters can kill you, and they should not be located where people sleep.
We asked around a few plumbers to get quotes on moving the water heater to the basement, which was evidently not designed to hold a water heater (it lacks a water drainage pipe, air intakes and outputs, doesn't have the recommended number of outlets). We were told that the airways would have to be cut through the stucco exterior, electrical outlets would need to be relocated, aspects of the furnaces would need to be brought up to code for the final inspection, etc. However, we found a plumber willing to do the entire job (removal of the old water heater and installation of new tankless heater in the basement) for $3500, and that included the cost of the new heater, which was way less than we thought it would cost. We also get rebates from our energy company and a federal tax rebate, so the cost is further reduced.
The guys showed up at 8:30 yesterday morning; by happenstance, I was working from home that day to shorten my drive to a talk later in the day (attendance for work). Mr. B told me he had taken the day off of work to oversee the installation. Then when I tell him I need to work from home that day, he responds with "Oh good, you'll be here until 2:30. Then I'm going to go run errands and turn in job applications."
Um, no?! I say this once: why do people not understand that working from home entails, um, working? As in, I sit in a room and work, and pretend that I am at my office, and I am not paid to oversee water heater installation, answer plumber's questions, turn all the faucets on and off, see if pipes are getting hot, show people where the water main is, call the HOA to see if X-Y-Z is okay to do...
Mr. B gets cranky when I tell him he needs to pretend I'm at the office, like always, and says (laughing, I might add): "Okay, sure. Whatever." And then adds, "I have stuff to do, too!"
What the hell? Seriously? He took the day off from work specifically to oversee that project. He didn't know I would be home that day until 7pm the night before. Seriously, can I ask why working from home is such a tough idea to digest? If I needed to take time off to oversee home improvements, I would have asked for time off, but Mr. B said he had it covered. Had it covered until he found out I was working from home, apparently, and then decided to dump it off on me and go do whatever (don't worry--I didn't let him; I sat in the office and worked and made him sit his butt down in the living room and do the aforementioned duties related to the install).
He gave up the fight by noon. The installers were there until almost 10 pm yesterday night, and showed up again this morning to finish the job. Turned out a little over the price quote because the plumber found some rusted pipes that needed replacing (from the propane meter coming into the house), but we now have unlimited hot water on demand, have added an extra bedroom to our house, and no longer have to worry about anyone dying in their sleep.
Alula
Personally, I think my husband is just jealous of the nook.
Also, we got a new tankless water heater installed yesterday. Our old water heater was located in the not-a guest-room on the first floor; the room was designed as a perfect guest or renter's room, with its own attached bathroom, but also with the water heater in a closet of the room. This was apparently and okay thing for builders to do in 1979, but since then we've discovered that the carbon monoxide generated by water heaters can kill you, and they should not be located where people sleep.
We asked around a few plumbers to get quotes on moving the water heater to the basement, which was evidently not designed to hold a water heater (it lacks a water drainage pipe, air intakes and outputs, doesn't have the recommended number of outlets). We were told that the airways would have to be cut through the stucco exterior, electrical outlets would need to be relocated, aspects of the furnaces would need to be brought up to code for the final inspection, etc. However, we found a plumber willing to do the entire job (removal of the old water heater and installation of new tankless heater in the basement) for $3500, and that included the cost of the new heater, which was way less than we thought it would cost. We also get rebates from our energy company and a federal tax rebate, so the cost is further reduced.
The guys showed up at 8:30 yesterday morning; by happenstance, I was working from home that day to shorten my drive to a talk later in the day (attendance for work). Mr. B told me he had taken the day off of work to oversee the installation. Then when I tell him I need to work from home that day, he responds with "Oh good, you'll be here until 2:30. Then I'm going to go run errands and turn in job applications."
Um, no?! I say this once: why do people not understand that working from home entails, um, working? As in, I sit in a room and work, and pretend that I am at my office, and I am not paid to oversee water heater installation, answer plumber's questions, turn all the faucets on and off, see if pipes are getting hot, show people where the water main is, call the HOA to see if X-Y-Z is okay to do...
Mr. B gets cranky when I tell him he needs to pretend I'm at the office, like always, and says (laughing, I might add): "Okay, sure. Whatever." And then adds, "I have stuff to do, too!"
What the hell? Seriously? He took the day off from work specifically to oversee that project. He didn't know I would be home that day until 7pm the night before. Seriously, can I ask why working from home is such a tough idea to digest? If I needed to take time off to oversee home improvements, I would have asked for time off, but Mr. B said he had it covered. Had it covered until he found out I was working from home, apparently, and then decided to dump it off on me and go do whatever (don't worry--I didn't let him; I sat in the office and worked and made him sit his butt down in the living room and do the aforementioned duties related to the install).
He gave up the fight by noon. The installers were there until almost 10 pm yesterday night, and showed up again this morning to finish the job. Turned out a little over the price quote because the plumber found some rusted pipes that needed replacing (from the propane meter coming into the house), but we now have unlimited hot water on demand, have added an extra bedroom to our house, and no longer have to worry about anyone dying in their sleep.
Alula
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Things that Make Me Happy
Mr. B is out of town, marking the first time since his illness that we have returned to a regular work schedule.
Today, I got harassed outside the grocery store by someone who wanted me to sign a petition to bring medical marijuana dispensaries into town. (Many issues with this, but I will spare you. Suffice it to say that out of principle, I have little to no respect for individuals who break federal law, and find the blatant abuse of medical marijuana by people who do not have medical need disgusting.)
Anyways, I was passing by the frozen foods and all riled up about the damn hippie drug abusers who are able to organize to get themselves medical marijuana dispensaries, but can't be socially responsible enough to not break the law, because instead of pushing to pass a law to legalize recreational use, which might make sense, they're seeking to legalize medical use so they can continue to break the law with prescription drug abuse....*grumble, grumble*. Illegal and illogical--what a combination.
Then I find Ben & Jerry's Magic Brownies, and it catches my eye for obvious reasons. It's awesome. Try it. Black raspberry ice cream and brownies. One of my new favorite things.
Alula
This is the book light my husband got me for my birthday (to go with the nook, which I was counting as a sort of early birthday present). Also one of my new favorite things. 2 levels of brightness, fits great into the little pocket slot on the back of my Bronte nook cover. I thought it was a little bulky at first, larger than I expected it would be, and the clip is kind of poorly designed. The metal slide clip would probably shred a leather cover, but I guess it worked out okay where I put it on my nook cover, so that's a positive. Blue lights on the back give it kind of a futuristic feel, spread out LEDs give a good glow on the book without needing repositioning, and it was very reasonably priced. Love it!
Ritelite LPL792XLB 5-LED Computer and Book Light, Metal
Alula
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Mr. Borealis -- Boy Genius
About two weeks ago the electricity in our downstairs bathroom and front courtyard stopped working. We reset the breakers for those areas, but the lights and outlets still didn't work. We tried resetting ALL the breakers hoping they were mislabeled, and it still didn't work.
Convinced we had fried wires and were about to shell out several hundred dollars to have the issue resolved, we did what we usually do with this sort of non-imminent home project: we ignored it. We have another bathroom and a streetlight in front of our house.
Then, tonight, Mr. B gets antsy and needs to vacuum something (this weird habit is a post in and of itself, so I won't go into it here). He goes into the guest room downstairs and tried to plug the vacuum into and outlet in the dark bathroom (off of the guest room), and I hear him cuss because he forgot the room no longer has power. Then he walks out and a thoughtful expression passes his face.
I can almost see the light bulb appear above his head. "I have a theory!"
He runs up the stairs with a glee not seen since Archimedes went streaking through the streets of Syracuse. Then he runs back downstairs and into the guest room, and I hear "It worked! It worked!"
As it turns out, our house continues to be a construction oddity--somehow, the safety outlet in the upstairs bathroom got tripped, thereby resulting in the total loss of power in the downstairs bathroom and front courtyard, even though the outlet and power upstairs still worked (heck if I know...). When he reset the outlet upstairs, everything started working again.
How my husband's brain arrives at Loss of Power Downstairs = Tripped Outlet Upstairs, I have no idea. He claims someone must have told him of this weird configuration at some point, but I'm still a little baffled.
Thank goodness for illogical conclusions.
Alula
Convinced we had fried wires and were about to shell out several hundred dollars to have the issue resolved, we did what we usually do with this sort of non-imminent home project: we ignored it. We have another bathroom and a streetlight in front of our house.
Then, tonight, Mr. B gets antsy and needs to vacuum something (this weird habit is a post in and of itself, so I won't go into it here). He goes into the guest room downstairs and tried to plug the vacuum into and outlet in the dark bathroom (off of the guest room), and I hear him cuss because he forgot the room no longer has power. Then he walks out and a thoughtful expression passes his face.
I can almost see the light bulb appear above his head. "I have a theory!"
He runs up the stairs with a glee not seen since Archimedes went streaking through the streets of Syracuse. Then he runs back downstairs and into the guest room, and I hear "It worked! It worked!"
As it turns out, our house continues to be a construction oddity--somehow, the safety outlet in the upstairs bathroom got tripped, thereby resulting in the total loss of power in the downstairs bathroom and front courtyard, even though the outlet and power upstairs still worked (heck if I know...). When he reset the outlet upstairs, everything started working again.
How my husband's brain arrives at Loss of Power Downstairs = Tripped Outlet Upstairs, I have no idea. He claims someone must have told him of this weird configuration at some point, but I'm still a little baffled.
Thank goodness for illogical conclusions.
Alula
Naming Hats
No its not crazy to name the hats but could you use names that won't confuse people, there are just to many Katie's in this world right now. Yell that name into a crowd and see how many people answer!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Katie
Munckin was kind enough to be a model for my latest hat. So I am thinking about giving my hats names, for the purpose of inventory; or does that just sound crazy?
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Scouts!
Ladies,
Today I was offered the opportunity to be an assistant leader of a scout troop! It's a new online virtual troop type thing, and one of my friends from library school will be the primary leader. It's apparently a pilot program, so having this opportunity offered to me is very exciting!
I need people to be references. You may need to print out a form, fill it in, scan it in to your computer, and then email it to the program organizer. Please let me know if any of you are available to be a reference for me!
Thanks!
Alula
Today I was offered the opportunity to be an assistant leader of a scout troop! It's a new online virtual troop type thing, and one of my friends from library school will be the primary leader. It's apparently a pilot program, so having this opportunity offered to me is very exciting!
I need people to be references. You may need to print out a form, fill it in, scan it in to your computer, and then email it to the program organizer. Please let me know if any of you are available to be a reference for me!
Thanks!
Alula
Friday, August 20, 2010
Snow
So yesterday we didn't get snow on us but higher up snow has officially fallen welcome the white peaks back.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Hows it going
Well how is everyone doing? I like the new look of the blog very fall and we already have some color changes up here. I'm trying to get photos ready for the festival thing we are enrolled in this next month. I had a job interview at a Karate school as an office manager I don't think I got it but I will call him Monday and find out. Well that's the down and dirty about me. SMILE.
Fuzzy
Fuzzy
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Breaking out Fall
Ladies,
I'm breaking out a new look for fall!
Please excuse the changing blog templates.
Alula
I'm breaking out a new look for fall!
Please excuse the changing blog templates.
Alula
Amazon Student, Free Shipping!
I'm not sure if any of you knew (or how many of you this currently applies to), but Amazon has a new student membership program going on! You can read about it here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info
The big point is that you get a FREE Amazon Prime membership for one year (usually costs around $70-80 for this service)--for those of you who don't know what Amazon Prime is, it's unlimited free 3-5 day shipping with no minimum order size, and a discount on 2 day shipping ($3.99 per bundle).
Combining my love of online shopping with my obsession with education, I am on this like a pregnant woman on nacho cheese covered chocolate ice cream.
Alula
The big point is that you get a FREE Amazon Prime membership for one year (usually costs around $70-80 for this service)--for those of you who don't know what Amazon Prime is, it's unlimited free 3-5 day shipping with no minimum order size, and a discount on 2 day shipping ($3.99 per bundle).
Combining my love of online shopping with my obsession with education, I am on this like a pregnant woman on nacho cheese covered chocolate ice cream.
Alula
Thursday, August 12, 2010
No Energy
No I will not be getting married any time in the foreseeable future (if ever). One thing is that I am suffering from just being tired and having no energy. Let me tell you it is no fun forcing myself to do anything all I want to do is lay down and not move. Fortunately the 2 year old in my life doesn't let me get away with it at all. this has been going on for a month and no I am not pregnant ruled that out already. Working on top of a mountain is definitely draining the heat is only surpassed by the pelting rain that hits us every afternoon. I've learned to cut rocks with a saw that is just way to big but good thing I can't cut myself because the blade only cut rock using friction and water. Well that's all that is going on here.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Who's getting Married?
Most of you know how bad I am about keeping up with my cell phone. So today when I charged it at work I wasn't surprised to see I had new text messages accumulated from over the weekend. One from Q. One from...some number not stored. Normally I would disregard, except for the content from the mystery number:
"Im engaged!"
Ah....CRAP. Somebody out there cared enough to tell me about their impending lifelong prison sentence--I mean, marital bliss--and I didn't care enough to store the number in my phone. Crap, crap, crap! I sent one back: "Congrats!" Then I set to work trying to figure out who the heck I knew, who wasn't in my phone, who could possibly be getting married.
The only person who came to mind was my brother's ex, the mother of my niece and nephew (she has switched cell phone numbers a few times). Or maybe Fuzzy, if she changed her number and didn't tell me. Or maybe DoHP, if she forgot to tell us a few things over the last few months or got drunk in Vegas. I decided the BroEx was probably who it was, and then started freaking out, because the last 2 times she got married, a pregnancy was involved. Then my mom texted me back that the number didn't belong to the BroEx, and she didn't receive the text message of fortune, ruling out family.
The search continued....Q could not identify the number, which ruled out quite a few friends.. Mr. B had not received the text, so that ruled out his family.
Then I got home and showed Mr. B the number, and I said, "Who do we know who switched cell numbers recently?" And he said, "Well, I think my sister did a while back, but it can't be her--why would she text you and not me?"
Well, it's his sister--she got a new cell phone and number and forgot to store his number in it. Getting married. To her boyfriend of about two years (eh, maybe a year and a half would be closer). This probably means another bridesmaid dress in my closet and weekend lost to doing cheesy wedding stuff.
But more importantly, this means I'M FREE.
FREE I TELL YOU!
My mother-in-law is about to be too busy planning a wedding to demand we hang out with her every weekend. FREE! FREE! FREE!
Eleven of the last 14 weekends spent with the inlaws--NOT ANY MORE! If I hit the jackpot on this one, she'll get pregnant and then I AM OFF THE HOOK.
Sister in law, I am this happy for me, but moreso, I am happy for you!
FREE!
Alula
"Im engaged!"
Ah....CRAP. Somebody out there cared enough to tell me about their impending lifelong prison sentence--I mean, marital bliss--and I didn't care enough to store the number in my phone. Crap, crap, crap! I sent one back: "Congrats!" Then I set to work trying to figure out who the heck I knew, who wasn't in my phone, who could possibly be getting married.
The only person who came to mind was my brother's ex, the mother of my niece and nephew (she has switched cell phone numbers a few times). Or maybe Fuzzy, if she changed her number and didn't tell me. Or maybe DoHP, if she forgot to tell us a few things over the last few months or got drunk in Vegas. I decided the BroEx was probably who it was, and then started freaking out, because the last 2 times she got married, a pregnancy was involved. Then my mom texted me back that the number didn't belong to the BroEx, and she didn't receive the text message of fortune, ruling out family.
The search continued....Q could not identify the number, which ruled out quite a few friends.. Mr. B had not received the text, so that ruled out his family.
Then I got home and showed Mr. B the number, and I said, "Who do we know who switched cell numbers recently?" And he said, "Well, I think my sister did a while back, but it can't be her--why would she text you and not me?"
Well, it's his sister--she got a new cell phone and number and forgot to store his number in it. Getting married. To her boyfriend of about two years (eh, maybe a year and a half would be closer). This probably means another bridesmaid dress in my closet and weekend lost to doing cheesy wedding stuff.
But more importantly, this means I'M FREE.
FREE I TELL YOU!
My mother-in-law is about to be too busy planning a wedding to demand we hang out with her every weekend. FREE! FREE! FREE!
Eleven of the last 14 weekends spent with the inlaws--NOT ANY MORE! If I hit the jackpot on this one, she'll get pregnant and then I AM OFF THE HOOK.
Sister in law, I am this happy for me, but moreso, I am happy for you!
FREE!
Alula
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Comment Monitoring
All,
There has been a surplus of comments here advertising unrelated crap (usually using Chinese characters and a link to something pornographic).
So, I have changed our settings so that all comments must be approved before appearing on the site. I don't know if we will all be able to monitor and approve, or if only one person's email will be delegated the authority, of if we will all do our own posts' comments...
Anywho, we will now be approving comments before they appear so that the stupid spammers don't run amok here.
Thanks,
Alula
There has been a surplus of comments here advertising unrelated crap (usually using Chinese characters and a link to something pornographic).
So, I have changed our settings so that all comments must be approved before appearing on the site. I don't know if we will all be able to monitor and approve, or if only one person's email will be delegated the authority, of if we will all do our own posts' comments...
Anywho, we will now be approving comments before they appear so that the stupid spammers don't run amok here.
Thanks,
Alula
Sunday, August 1, 2010
A Wii Little Experiment
Hi Ladies!
A few weeks back, Mr. B and I attended his cousin's wedding in Oklahoma (there's yet another great inlaw story here, but that's another post entirely--in fact, between Q and I, that could be another blog entirely). The point is, we spent one night in a hotel in Oklahoma, and something neat happened.
Mr. B got an overview statement of all the hotel points he's raked up from having a job where he travels for a quarter to half the year, and we had enough points to "buy" a Wii Fit with them.
For anyone who hasn't heard of this device, it's a board that connects to the Wii and is intended for use with games (included with the purchase of the board). As the name implies, it's a workout device that comes with routines for Yoga, Strength, Aerobics, and Balance. There are also games like skii jumping, snow boarding, hula hooping, and others. The Wii Fit posts your progress with charts in the game, tracking your weight, how much time you spent working out, how your balance is, your "real age", and how many calories you burn in exercise, and other things. You can even customize your own workouts to target trouble areas.
I've been using the Wii Fit since we purchased it, and have already seen some weight loss (about 3 pounds, which isn't bad for a couple of weeks). And good golly, for just being a board, some of the exercises will make you hurt the next day--my arm muscles give me the most grief after workouts, while Mr. B complains he feels in more in his thighs.
Having struggled with my weight for a while now, I decided that this is something I can do. It's low impact and people at the gym don't have to watch my wiggly butt in sweats doing squats.
Riding the BMI line between overweight and obese, I finally decided to get Mr. B involved to make me do something about it. I've been using the Lose It! app since the start of this year, and showed him the chart of how much I weighed on January 1st, and then how much I gained when he got sick and went to the hospital. Since then, I've managed to get back to my start-of-the-year weight. I signed him up to get weekly email updates tracking my weight and what I'm eating (caloric intake), and he can see when I'm on the Wii Fit, for how long, and session activities.
He has similarly committed to working out with me to try to gain weight as per his doctor's orders, and is increasing the amount that he eats.
I don't know if anyone here has an interest in seeing my weekly caloric intake, but I'm hoping that I continue to see enough progress with the Wii Fit to be worthy of mention here. Hopefully it can get me back to swimsuit weight, and then I can start swimming laps like I did back in high school.
In other news, I think I'm going to start another blog devoted to ereaders. I've developed an unhealthy relationship with my nook (as in, it now joins me at work so I can read scientific articles from our library on it instead of the computer screen, I sleep with it, and I miss it when it's not around). I have found so many cool resources for ereaders in the last few weeks that I am going to try to organize them somehow. I also wrote to author Jennifer Roberson to inquire if she was going to release any of her Chronicles of the Cheysuli books in digital format, and she wrote me back less than 5 hours later (!) saying she was trying to do it--it's more in the hands of the publisher. (For anyone who hasn't read these books, there are 8 of them, they are a dynastic fantasy genre, and they are very good--you may have trouble finding them in a bookstore because they are older, but they are worth it to order from online.)
Alula
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Finals
What I see when I look at Q's final. ;)
Check out my final project: Artistic Reflections on Deepwater Horizon. I did the site building & design & technical mumbo jumbo.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
My Final
Hey Ladies, This is a Apron I made in Class, do you think its too... fun... for craft sales?
Monday, July 19, 2010
Between a fire and a gas leak
Ever hear the expression "between a rock and a hard place"? Well I am stuck between a fire and a gas leak. Today Mr Man went out on the AT V's to a wilderness area and what did he run into but a newly sparked wild fire lit by lightning so he spent his day trying to put that out and we have a manged wild fire about 5 miles away that means that they aren't trying to put it out just keep it from getting out of control. As for the gas leak my town has two gas stations and one of them is expanding and someone messed up and created a gas spill right in the middle of town pretty much shutting the town down and for a town with one road down it well with that shut down no one goes anywhere. Well hopefully they cleaned everything up and they will be back to normal soon. And Mr Man and his buddies managed to contain the fire they were at so that it didn't get out of control. We will see what happens tomorrow regarding the fires and gas spills. My sister and I spent all day making Black berry jam. Yummy. and I had a fish commit suicide trying to chase a smaller fish it got stuck and well everyone knows that if a fish isn't swimming it dies. Well that sums up my week.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Not to Toot my Own Horn but.....
TOOT TOOT!!!!!!!!
This week I took a class on making hats. In four days I was able to form 5 hats and this is the one I got completely done. I am very proud of myself, and you can officially reefer to me as a Mad Hatter! I love this hat, its truly amazing! I was able to buy a hat block from my teacher and rest assured hats are going to accompany me to craft sales now.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Parents, Bookstores, and Earning it
My first pea harvest this year--45 pods in total.
Q can tell all of you how I've been drooling over her new Barnes and Noble Nook the last few weeks. I will caveat here that Fuzzy owns a Kindle, an equally awesome product. After weeks of obsessive research, I elected that the Nook would be my product because it's more hackable than the Kindle, despite the fact that Kindle has a heartier brand, a longer and better tested run in the market, and what is generally considered the more user-friendly interface. Nook is has more open file formats and expandable memory, which for me as an individual, were strongly needed features.
I've wanted an e-reader for some time now, but have been holding out due to the price and skepticism over the quality of newly released technology. Generally, I have a 1-year rule for this kind of stuff; new products have problems that need to be worked out. Example: the Xbox 360 red ring of death, the hacked iPad, and the read-aloud feature on the Kindle that got canceled due to copyright infringement. The first round of sales are the last round of tests, and when it comes to shelling out a C-note or more, I like to learn from others' use and abuse stories to know exactly what I'm getting.
I finally settled that I would wait until my birthday, and use gift cards to offset the cost. Then, yesterday, I got an email at work from a research colleague. She had just gotten back from Spain, where she had presented our research from earlier this year to an international group of experts, and several had responded with great enthusiasm! Our research will be featured as a chapter in a book, and I have been invited to write up an additional report on my research methodologies. I got kudos all day, and from my supervisors especially. My main supervisor told me that having my first big publication at 25 was excellent--he didn't author until he was 42. I spent the whole afternoon thinking about my parents, and how grateful I was that they had fostered my academic and literary interests. When the book comes out, I'm going to get a gigantic magnet and stick it to their fridge.
Later in the day, I'm driving home, and as a planned errand, I stop at Barnes and Noble to check out the Nook in person and quiz the sales reps. Walking up to the door, I'm hit with a huge wave of nostalgia, because this was the bookstore of my youth. I'd spent hours in there while my mom or dad just patiently waited on a couch somewhere, browsing fiction, science, art...This was the store that started it. In some small way, that Barnes and Noble contributed to my love of reading, writing, and research. And on the day that I got confirmation of getting published, in the topic of language and the next generation of technology, I wanted to celebrate by getting something from my old friend, the bookstore, and it seemed only appropriate that it would be something to do with the next generation of literature and technology.
I went home, I got my husband, and we went back and got the Nook (I didn't actually need Mr. B to make the purchase, but I wanted him there for my moment of nostalgia and victory dance). I'm counting it as my early birthday present, and I LOVE it. DoHP, Munchkin, you need e-readers--I've had mine for just over 12 hours and it's already changed my life.
Alula
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Another Milestone
Anyone wonder what little mans next mile stone was going to be? perhaps getting potty trained talking in complete sentences? That's what I was hoping! But the mile stone was his first trip to the ER for stitches! 9 to be exact location below his left knee on the inside of the leg and according to the doctor that stitched him up down to the bone not really the deep on a 2 1/2 year old but I really didn't need to know that much detail. What happened he was playing with his aunts boyfriend on his fathers side and he walked by some tin that was in the yard slipped and gashed his leg. Well we went to the ER after they called us sat around for about an hour and a half waiting for the numbing stuff to take effect and began the stitches and after little man got over being held down by the nurses to get stitched up fell asleep while they finished the stitches and let me tell you those nurses had no clue what to do when he fell asleep that was a first for them. And you can't even tell he hurt his leg the way he is running around but that might change tomorrow after the meds wear off and I have to change the dressing. He will be in pants for the next week or so to keep him from messing with it. Well that's what happened today and everyone is telling me to get used to it this won't be our last visit to the ER but you know what no I am not going to get used to it and hate it every single time. So that's what I have to say on that. And even more family is telling me they are surprised he hasn't needed stitches before now. And I have no response to that and of course because the stitches came up everyone starting to compare scars and number of stitches and everything once again in too much detail. Oh and I re injured my foot doing yard work this morning its turning fun colors again.
Fuzzy
Fuzzy
My week in pictures:
This week we had the big meeting at work. This equates to my leaving my house at the butt crack of dawn and returning in the "almost tomorrow" hours of night. I wasn't at home to fight the changes, so Mr. Borealis made quite a few of them.
Monday, June 21st. I get a call at work, and find out that my husband has started ripping out my fireplace. We got lucky--the wall behind the bricks was already drywalled:
Thursday, June 24th. The man who provided my husband the tools to rip out my fireplace (my father-in-law) provides the tools to texture the wall after painting a base on it Tuesday and letting it dry on Wednesday:
Friday, June 25th. The textured wall gets painted:
Saturday, June 26th. My husband is gone all day with his dad, building a new mantle for the fireplace. He comes home at 7pm and tells me to get my shoes on because we need to buy something at the store. When I ask what it is, I find out he has intention of getting a big screen television. When I ask if we can maybe buy a new vacuum cleaner, replace one of our ancient cars, or perhaps fix the water heater that's crapping out on us, he says "it's okay, we have the money." Um, okay...Once in the car, he says he priced it out and we have the money to cover $1500 for a new television. That was the point of ripping out the fireplace, and besides, "we need a big screen now that I got the Wii for my birthday." Um, okay...when was I involved in this decision? --The answer is never, because I was asleep during the 6 hours a day I was actually home all week. We get to the store and my husband picks out a television. And a DVD up converter. And an Xbox 360, extra controllers, 4 new video games, a wall mount, and all the cables and other bits and bobs we need. My foot goes down at the Blu-Ray player and associated movies. With the bill almost twice the price he quoted me earlier in the evening, I'm secretly hoping I'm about to find out we won the lottery. But alas, no--this is just a mid-life crisis following the hospital drama earlier this year; I settle my mind that we can afford it this once, and if it makes him happy, I will allow it. ONCE.Sunday, June 27th. We installed it ourselves. My heart palpitations from the cost haven't yet subsided, but I have to admit, my living room now ROCKS.
~Alula
~Alula
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Everything in my life (including the kitchen sink)
What's new with me...?
My garden continues to grow. It survived despite a recent, near apocalyptic, hail storm. It hailed marble-sized hail for a solid ten minutes, and it looked like snow when it was done: everything was 3-6 inches deep in white. It pummeled one of my birdhouses to the point of actually breaking it (repairable). But the wind direction just barely saved my garden, and the peas are doing very well.
Well, not too terribly much. I'm inundated with obligations, as usual. :)
I'm glad to hear that the business is moving along! Thanks for being the primary on this one, because I don't know if it would be humanly possible for me to take on more right now. I've been assigned room configuration for the Annual All-Hands Meeting at work next week (tables, chairs, setup, take down, A/V, etc., for all 40 participants). I'm still frantically trying to pull together a PhD advisory committee and application, and figure out funding. We've had funding cuts, and some additional drama at work, that has meant a higher up has decided to cut parts of the tuition funding option at work--I may be on my own for half, and up to all, of the tuition cost of school. Get this: after doing the math, I still make more money keeping my job and paying 10K of it to school than any other option (lottery aside). I'm mid-semester, taking 4 classes, and in another group project (yay.).
Mr. B's health is up and down, and we recently started to seriously investigate a move to the North West. Sure, I would lose my job, and the PhD option, but we've had some issues with family lately--his mother misses him. So we've spent the last 6 weekends in a row with them (not an exaggeration). She's upset about his health and puts him on a major guilt trip every time he says we're too busy (or we want to spend time together...alone). I'm trying to gently get her to understand that she's doing real harm to my marriage because we're straining to accommodate her needs. We need out, and we like the rain, so we figure Washington state might not be terrible, and as it turns out jobs in both our fields are plentiful there.
But enough of the serious: here's some fun and quirky.
Mr. B has recently discovered audio books, and likes to listen to them on his long commutes. We check them out from the online 2 week downloadables at our local library. He's now listened to Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, The Golden Compass, and a few others. We're discussing books together, a long-held dream that I never thought would be reality. We're considering an Audible account in the future, but right now the library is working out really well (FREE!).
We watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog at the last movie night, and it was truly AWESOME. Anyone who hasn't seen this 45-minute short film needs to. It's about an aspiring super villain and his bid to join the Evil League of Evil.
Yesterday was the one year anniversary of getting our cats. They're a year and a few months old now, and having left their kitten years, they're now teenagers discovering who they really are. They've discovered that now that they are able to sit still long enough, watching birds out of the kitchen window is a really fun pursuit. And where they used to run themselves until they passed out wherever, they are now more selective in their sleeping habits, and discovering certain preferences for location and position:
My garden continues to grow. It survived despite a recent, near apocalyptic, hail storm. It hailed marble-sized hail for a solid ten minutes, and it looked like snow when it was done: everything was 3-6 inches deep in white. It pummeled one of my birdhouses to the point of actually breaking it (repairable). But the wind direction just barely saved my garden, and the peas are doing very well.My niece was cast a Bell in a kid's version of Beauty and the Beast, and she remembered all of her lines (pretty good for a 7-year-old!).
My diet is back on track, and I've finally lost all of the hospital weight I put on during the first 4 months of the year--the Wii Mr. B got for his birthday is helping. I think I'm going to give myself a 6 month grace period to finish my yearly resolutions due to all of the craziness this year.
Oh, our kitchen sink disposal also needed replacing recently. It was old, and it sprung a leak and I didn't figure it out until after cleaning out the fridge and putting it all down the drain (messy).
Alula
Monday, June 14, 2010
Attack
Well my three injuries have happened glad to have that over! I massively sprained/bruised by foot and ankle falling down some stairs. Fell over some bricks in my front yard getting a nice slice in my other leg probably should gotten stitches didn't, and then I had a girl scout land on me when I was running the climbing wall at work completely messing up my back those girls need to listen to directions like telling me when they are coming down. Well that's over we will what the klutz comes up with next! Working on the online store not as fast as I would like but I am trying I promise. Little man and I will be visiting this weekend to have some fun and do some business stuff. Oh and little man decided to see if an entire roll of toilet paper would flush down the toilet guess what it doesn't. And my fish are trying to eat each other for some reason I just can't figure out which one is doing it and no I don't know their names. And my plants are dieing because I have no Garden to put them in because Mr Man is working 12 hrs a day 6 days a week so he has no time to help me. And it just rained for 2 days straight and the river is running even higher here come the floods. Well that's the down and dirty on my life what everyone else up to? See who I will see this weekend.
Fuzzy
Fuzzy
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Working on a Mountain
Well I got a summer job and I'm working on a mountain at a theme park like thing. Can't go into much detail but it is a great, fun, relaxed job. I work in attractions and make sure people are safe when they go on the rides. It is nice and I get out of the house and leave little man with his dad a few nights a week. Well thats the update on me.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Catching up with Spring
Spring sprang this year while I was frantically trying to wrap up last semester and deal with the various health problems that have sprung up in the last month. Mr. B now has stomach ulcers, severe acne, and swiftly dramatic mood swings from the various medications he's on. They put him on more medications to control these side effects and (oh, joy!) they come with the following side effects of their own: severe dehydration, risk of vitamin A toxicity, propensity to sunburn, and depression. Original side effects are still an issue, BTW. He has to take percocet to sleep because his face and stomach hurt so much. He has trouble shaving because they razor rips open the sores on his face. I feel so bad for him.
Gnigel my mini garden gnome (thanks again, DoHP!) watches over the coleus.
The garden as it is today.
My new fountain! My MIL got the pot for it, I got the sandstones from Home Depot, and I rigged the rest from bamboo garden stakes and an old metal accent plate I had hanging around.
He's now on Accutane for the acne, and I'm not allowed to touch the medication because I'm a woman of childbearing years and it causes severe birth defects (no joke--the doctor didn't want to discuss what it did, so I looked it up and found pictures of two headed animals).
I'm now trying to catch up with the things I usually get done in the spring. Things like planting a garden and finishing school (I took an incomplete in my natural language processing class--I still need help with the homeworks).
But my garden came together, and I have parsley, sunflowers, wildflowers, pumpkins, gourds, peas, and pinto beans sprouting up so far. I'm hoping that the coleus clippings I've been fostering all winter take to the outdoors without issue.
In other news, Mr. B got a Wii for his birthday from his mother, and we're thrilled. (I'm not sure exactly what's up with this, because as you may remember, we got super expensive Xmas gifts as well. She's never been this extravagent before, and we're a little worried we're about to get bad news of some sort. That or she's bargaining for a grandchild--still not going to happen. Or she was visited by the ghosts of Xmas past.) And I finally got around to setting up the fountain my MIL got me for my birthday last year in our back courtyard, and am now enjoying a light pre-thunder storm breeze through the screen door while listening to the subtle trickle of the water.
Gnigel my mini garden gnome (thanks again, DoHP!) watches over the coleus.
The garden as it is today.
Alula
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