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
Thursday, September 30, 2010
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
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