Good day off. Rain cleared out last night and it was cool
and sunny.I drove over to Weymouth and used the Starbucks
gift card I got in the Christmas Grab at work and got myself
a large bag of ground Colombian, then went to the laundromat,
and topped it off with a trip for groceries. Things will be a bit
tight the next two weeks so I bought the hot dogs on special
and put them in the freezer. I usually only eat two meals a day
anywho when I'm working and I can always order a bagel and
cream cheese for lunch which with my employee discount is
cheap at $1.02
Did a little writing tonight and it felt a bit awkward. Proof that
practice makes perfect I guess. My brief bit of roleplay turned sour
with the advent of yet another vampire character who of course
is misunderstood and persecuted. Bah.
Sad state of affairs when real life becomes an escape from
fantasy, eh?
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Monday, April 26, 2004
UP A TREE WITHOUT A PAD..ER..SOMETHING..
I've spent a fair amount of time today climbing up the family tree
and while I've made little progress I can say it's been rather
distracting.(yeah, I didn't write anything.). The original material I
started out with came from a relative nearly twenty years ago now
and there's more stuff out there online that was not available to
her when she worked on this. All the family history sites, for
example. I discovered one tonight run by someone who shares a
common ancestor 10 generations back.
On the other hand, the elusive John Cutter West remains just
that:elusive. I now refer to him mentally as Elusive John. And on
the other side, there's my mother's dad, Edward F. White Sr., who
abandoned the family in the height of the Depression, the bastard.
Of course, I'm sure he must have had his own version of those events,
but hey, he never showed up to tell anyone. At any rate, those are
the two brick walls or squirrel guards, if you want, on my family tree.
Of course, spending most of the day on that meant my phoneline
would be busy when and/or if work called to try to get me to come in
to work inventory.
Hmmmmmm...wonder how that went?
and while I've made little progress I can say it's been rather
distracting.(yeah, I didn't write anything.). The original material I
started out with came from a relative nearly twenty years ago now
and there's more stuff out there online that was not available to
her when she worked on this. All the family history sites, for
example. I discovered one tonight run by someone who shares a
common ancestor 10 generations back.
On the other hand, the elusive John Cutter West remains just
that:elusive. I now refer to him mentally as Elusive John. And on
the other side, there's my mother's dad, Edward F. White Sr., who
abandoned the family in the height of the Depression, the bastard.
Of course, I'm sure he must have had his own version of those events,
but hey, he never showed up to tell anyone. At any rate, those are
the two brick walls or squirrel guards, if you want, on my family tree.
Of course, spending most of the day on that meant my phoneline
would be busy when and/or if work called to try to get me to come in
to work inventory.
Hmmmmmm...wonder how that went?
Sunday, April 25, 2004
SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES
So, Friday night, besides the sampled beauty creme, I found a bag
on the floor in the cafe shortly before midnight. I'd seen it there
earlier in the night around 8pm, but customers often leave things
by their chair while they go get some coffee at the counter, so I
didn't bother with it. Of course, after closing, that's a different
matter. It held a pound of turkey roast, a wedge of some god awful
looking cheese, and a steak. I showed it to T. the cafe manager, asked
if we should save it in the fridge out back, but after thinking about it,
I threw the bag out. With my luck, it might have been a bio terrorist
attempt to poison us all with rotten cheese. I joked with C. after that
any second some sweet old lady would pound on the door looking for
her food and I'd just dumped it like an idiot.
Cut to @9:30am Saturday morning:
The phone rings. and the answering machine starts up before I'm
fully awake. It's the manager, TBWMBO. "Bill...I'm sorry to wake you
but T. says you might know where a customer's bag of groceries
from last night went?"
ME: (after befuddled swipe and picking up of phone off floor): "Umm..
I threw that out..."
TBWMBO: "I thought you might have, but T. wasn't sure, and the
man's a Russian with a bad accent who wanted to know."
ME:(after musing why Boris Badinov was at the store) "umm...ok."
I eventually went back to sleep for another hour or so after wondering
if Russians with good accents are not as forgetful as bad accented
Russians.
on the floor in the cafe shortly before midnight. I'd seen it there
earlier in the night around 8pm, but customers often leave things
by their chair while they go get some coffee at the counter, so I
didn't bother with it. Of course, after closing, that's a different
matter. It held a pound of turkey roast, a wedge of some god awful
looking cheese, and a steak. I showed it to T. the cafe manager, asked
if we should save it in the fridge out back, but after thinking about it,
I threw the bag out. With my luck, it might have been a bio terrorist
attempt to poison us all with rotten cheese. I joked with C. after that
any second some sweet old lady would pound on the door looking for
her food and I'd just dumped it like an idiot.
Cut to @9:30am Saturday morning:
The phone rings. and the answering machine starts up before I'm
fully awake. It's the manager, TBWMBO. "Bill...I'm sorry to wake you
but T. says you might know where a customer's bag of groceries
from last night went?"
ME: (after befuddled swipe and picking up of phone off floor): "Umm..
I threw that out..."
TBWMBO: "I thought you might have, but T. wasn't sure, and the
man's a Russian with a bad accent who wanted to know."
ME:(after musing why Boris Badinov was at the store) "umm...ok."
I eventually went back to sleep for another hour or so after wondering
if Russians with good accents are not as forgetful as bad accented
Russians.
Saturday, April 24, 2004
LIKE, WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?
During the course of what we euphemistically call "store
recovery", I ended up in the Gifts and Stationary area to
straighten up spme shelves and found some tubes of
hand creme that had been opened and "sampled" by some
of our customers. After the usual grumbles over the cosmic
idiocy of selling items like this in a bookstore I was struck
by the question of why it is some women have little or no
hesitation in opening something up and helping themselves
to things like cosmetics.
What's up with that? Guys wouldn't think of doing something
like that. I suppose it's because of all the free samples some
stores give their female customers; it must encourage the idea
that's it's alright to take a few squirts or a dab here and there.
I suppose though that if guys could get away with it, we'd sample
beer or food.
recovery", I ended up in the Gifts and Stationary area to
straighten up spme shelves and found some tubes of
hand creme that had been opened and "sampled" by some
of our customers. After the usual grumbles over the cosmic
idiocy of selling items like this in a bookstore I was struck
by the question of why it is some women have little or no
hesitation in opening something up and helping themselves
to things like cosmetics.
What's up with that? Guys wouldn't think of doing something
like that. I suppose it's because of all the free samples some
stores give their female customers; it must encourage the idea
that's it's alright to take a few squirts or a dab here and there.
I suppose though that if guys could get away with it, we'd sample
beer or food.
Friday, April 23, 2004
OF AVALON AND MORRIS (NO, NOT THE CAT)
Near Avalon
by William Morris
A ship with shields before the sun,
Six maidens round the mast,
A red gold-crown on every one,
A green gown on the last.
The fluttering green banners there
Are wrought with ladies' heads most fair,
And a portraiture of Guenevere
The middle of each sail doth bear.
A ship with sails before the wind,
And round the helm six knights,
Their heaumes are on, whereby half blind,
They pass by many sights.
The tattered scarlet banners there,
Right soon will leave the spear-heads bare.
Those six knights sorrowfully bear
In all their heaumes some yellow hair.
Morris is considered by some to be the Father of Modern
Fantasy. His "The Well at the World's End" was one of
the first medieval fantasies and of course he was the
founder of the whole Morris School of art and furniture.
I've got "Well" around here someplace in my Hobbit Hole
and one of these days I might reread it. It's been quite
some time since the first time I did, which was when I
bought the book oh...well..much too long ago.
Got to love the Internet and being able to use modern
technology to look up a poem by a 19th century poet
on a legend from the 5th century.
by William Morris
A ship with shields before the sun,
Six maidens round the mast,
A red gold-crown on every one,
A green gown on the last.
The fluttering green banners there
Are wrought with ladies' heads most fair,
And a portraiture of Guenevere
The middle of each sail doth bear.
A ship with sails before the wind,
And round the helm six knights,
Their heaumes are on, whereby half blind,
They pass by many sights.
The tattered scarlet banners there,
Right soon will leave the spear-heads bare.
Those six knights sorrowfully bear
In all their heaumes some yellow hair.
Morris is considered by some to be the Father of Modern
Fantasy. His "The Well at the World's End" was one of
the first medieval fantasies and of course he was the
founder of the whole Morris School of art and furniture.
I've got "Well" around here someplace in my Hobbit Hole
and one of these days I might reread it. It's been quite
some time since the first time I did, which was when I
bought the book oh...well..much too long ago.
Got to love the Internet and being able to use modern
technology to look up a poem by a 19th century poet
on a legend from the 5th century.
Thursday, April 22, 2004
BLIGETTY BLOGETTY BOO!
A day off spent in relatively little useful activities. I did take
a trip to the local Walmart, though! Yippee! Life is soooo
exciting, eh?
I needed a few things and going to Walmart on my day off
is easier than going to Big K next to the store after work when
I'm tired. So, I went and bought me some floor mats and a cup
holder/tray thing for my car, some 11x14 printer paper and
manila file envelopes for genealogical purposes, and a new picture
frame to replace the one with Dad's photo which disintegrated
at the slightest touch. (The frame, not the photo). I also had
a spare set of car keys made, and last but not least, bought me
a Dirt Devil for cleaning the car floor.
I think it all came about to about $50. I followed that up by
buying $25 worth of groceries.
That has to be the most money I've spent in one day on
anything not related to the car since Christmas.
I finally tracked down the missing Marriage Certificate of my
Mom's folks. I'd found the divorce papers a few days earlier
oddly enough and was weirded out it was granted on November
22. the same date as Dad's death (but fifty years earlier or so.)
Did the usual eating and sleeping and then sometime online
tonight. Oh, and read some of another Michael Jecks' book.
And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Good night, Ladies and Gentlemen.
a trip to the local Walmart, though! Yippee! Life is soooo
exciting, eh?
I needed a few things and going to Walmart on my day off
is easier than going to Big K next to the store after work when
I'm tired. So, I went and bought me some floor mats and a cup
holder/tray thing for my car, some 11x14 printer paper and
manila file envelopes for genealogical purposes, and a new picture
frame to replace the one with Dad's photo which disintegrated
at the slightest touch. (The frame, not the photo). I also had
a spare set of car keys made, and last but not least, bought me
a Dirt Devil for cleaning the car floor.
I think it all came about to about $50. I followed that up by
buying $25 worth of groceries.
That has to be the most money I've spent in one day on
anything not related to the car since Christmas.
I finally tracked down the missing Marriage Certificate of my
Mom's folks. I'd found the divorce papers a few days earlier
oddly enough and was weirded out it was granted on November
22. the same date as Dad's death (but fifty years earlier or so.)
Did the usual eating and sleeping and then sometime online
tonight. Oh, and read some of another Michael Jecks' book.
And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Good night, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
PATRIOT'S DAY
Hmm...hadn't realized how sparse the posts were this month.
And I'd done so well in recent days! Anywho, a quick summary of
recent events:
The car continues to be a thing of beauty and a joy forever.
On the work front: the good news is I got my raise.
The bad news is that one co-worker was fired and three
gave notice in one week.
My oldest nephew arrived in Baghdad just as the worst
outbreak of violence in Iraq erupted.
Haven't written a story in two or three weeks now and
I took a six day vaction from roleplay
More to follow later on all or most of the above.
And I'd done so well in recent days! Anywho, a quick summary of
recent events:
The car continues to be a thing of beauty and a joy forever.
On the work front: the good news is I got my raise.
The bad news is that one co-worker was fired and three
gave notice in one week.
My oldest nephew arrived in Baghdad just as the worst
outbreak of violence in Iraq erupted.
Haven't written a story in two or three weeks now and
I took a six day vaction from roleplay
More to follow later on all or most of the above.
Friday, April 09, 2004
SPRING HAS SPRUNG
..and life is good for the moment. The car runs nicely, and at
the time being there is sort of a lull in my life. I have spent so
much time over the past year worrying over the old car's demise it
feels weird not to have to do it. I'm sure something new will come
along to take its place as my "Worry du Jour".
The lull extends to my writing and roleplay. RP has suffered due to
the recent circumstances in the channel. Writing ..well..I'm in one of
those periods right now where I can't seem to create anything that
is decent. I have to get my ass back in gear.
Also, I have returned to that weird cycle of falling asleep earlier in
the evening and then turning the computer on around midnight. By
the time I have shaken the cobwebs completely from my brain and
read the email and the log of the channel's activity, it's nearly 2am.
I have to try to find a way to break that habit.
Ah well..bed awaits..
the time being there is sort of a lull in my life. I have spent so
much time over the past year worrying over the old car's demise it
feels weird not to have to do it. I'm sure something new will come
along to take its place as my "Worry du Jour".
The lull extends to my writing and roleplay. RP has suffered due to
the recent circumstances in the channel. Writing ..well..I'm in one of
those periods right now where I can't seem to create anything that
is decent. I have to get my ass back in gear.
Also, I have returned to that weird cycle of falling asleep earlier in
the evening and then turning the computer on around midnight. By
the time I have shaken the cobwebs completely from my brain and
read the email and the log of the channel's activity, it's nearly 2am.
I have to try to find a way to break that habit.
Ah well..bed awaits..
Thursday, April 01, 2004
RAIN RAIN GO AWAY
Well, I have the car.
Day started off with a lot of rain and continued that way for the
entire day. Peter drove me to the insurance agency where they
stamped the transfer of registration forms and then we went to
the DMV. There was a slight hitch there when the clerk pointed out
it was missing the signature of the dealer from whom Steve's friend
purchased it so I couldn't get a title. Luckily, said dealer was only a
few miles away from the DMV, so we shot over there and I got the
signature and back we went to the DMV. Five minutes and $95
dollars later, I was done.
I went back to Peter and Cheryl's house and we had pizza for dinner
while watching Rusty and Luigi(the dog and cat) chase each other
around abit, and then Cheryl drove me home. About an hour later,
Steve called and said he was dropping the car off tonight and that
Sara would meet him here. And so I now have a car once more. A
very nice, neat, and clean Taurus.
I really lucked out to have such help.
Day started off with a lot of rain and continued that way for the
entire day. Peter drove me to the insurance agency where they
stamped the transfer of registration forms and then we went to
the DMV. There was a slight hitch there when the clerk pointed out
it was missing the signature of the dealer from whom Steve's friend
purchased it so I couldn't get a title. Luckily, said dealer was only a
few miles away from the DMV, so we shot over there and I got the
signature and back we went to the DMV. Five minutes and $95
dollars later, I was done.
I went back to Peter and Cheryl's house and we had pizza for dinner
while watching Rusty and Luigi(the dog and cat) chase each other
around abit, and then Cheryl drove me home. About an hour later,
Steve called and said he was dropping the car off tonight and that
Sara would meet him here. And so I now have a car once more. A
very nice, neat, and clean Taurus.
I really lucked out to have such help.