Friday, March 31, 2006

Friday

tip-o-day

I am out raking right now.
I need to finish raking before I can post the tip-o-day.
No...really I do.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

o wow man ...the colors

Lately I am finding it difficult to read light text on a dark background... its just not very readable.
And so ... I am in the process on making some color changes - but I have to do it in small snippets of time.
So the color changes will be an ongoing process as I weed through the HTML of my template. Of course I could simply pick another canned template -but that would be way to easy...and so I won't actually do that until I get really tired of the editing.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

writingwomyn march collaboration

my march 2006 assignment
what are your feelings on luck? do you believe some people just "fall into" good things or do you believe something else (like fate or destiny) is at work? How have you seen luck (or fate) at work in your own life?

Lucky, luck of the Irish, as luck would have it, lucky in love, good luck, dumb luck, tough luck, getting lucky, lucky me, lucky fellow, down on your luck…

Am I lucky?

I used to think things just happened. Good or bad – just go with the flow.
Over the years my spiritual wife has taught me to be aware of energy. Energy can be given or received and is constantly flowing around us. Even the most oblivious can feel uncomfortable walking into a room where people have been arguing.. this is ‘bad’ energy.
Have you ever walked into someone’s home and immediately felt at ease... like you want to sit and have a drink, perhaps a small snack and stay for awhile. That is good energy (of course aesthetics and order also play a part in that… which is also energy … feng shui).

Since I like to think of everything in scientific terms, I can refer to Newton’s third law… ‘For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction’ (perhaps we will look at laws’ one and two some other time). This law works even terms of spiritual energy - don’t connote opposite to mean negative…its simply energy in the other direction. Such as do good, good comes back. Its kinda like a boomerang, altho less dangerous (well… a boomerang would be dangerous for me, luck not withstanding – my eye-hand coordination would be my demise – unless of course I got hit with a boomerang that I did not throw which would mean I didn’t know it was coming, and so I may not see it coming, and since boomerangs are supposed to simply return to their point of origin if I were to get hit with a stray boomerang I suppose that could be construed as luck – bad luck as it were).

So are you lucky? Is there luck, or is energy the force that determines the course of your day.

If you think of it this way… sharing energy back and forth can be attributed to attitude and vice versa. If you are happy and contented in your life you will perceive things as positive and possibly think of yourself as ‘lucky’ or blessed, this will make you happy.
If you identify as unlucky then you will have a bad attitude and will emanate bad energy which will make people uncomfortable around you and therefore you will be lonely and think of yourself as unlucky. It’s the circle of life.
So then, we can surmise that, your luck is in your head. And your head sets the pace for the direction of your life.
Be happy. Be lucky.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Send supplies soon

my email to the office administator today.



We are going on Day 3 now without any Diet Dr. Pepper up here on the fifth.

As you know, day 3 often brings on the strongest waves of withdrawal.
The first day we rationed, and muddled through.
Day two things started to get a little tense. But now the troops are tired and seem somewhat dazed and confused.
Some folks have been staggering around simply drooling.
We have set up support groups to try and keep morale up – and are even offering some mild sedatives for those worst affected.
I know there are a couple people trying to get by on Diet Pepsi… but it’s palliative at best.
I will try to hold the group together as long as I can.
Please send supplies soon.
Signing off….

Friday, March 24, 2006

Friday

tip-o-day

Work has been pretty busy this past week, and I have been somewhat guilty of not getting up from my desk very often. Times when I could be going our for a walk, or even just for a leg stretch to the water cooler, I instead choose to sit tight, here in my dark little cubicle with my heater on.
The work I am doing this week involves a good deal of time spent waiting for processes to run, data to be updated…etc. I have been filling this time with all sorts of silliness. I have some play dough at my desk and a couple of toys – then there is always list making, and planning out my next vacation days. I also spend some time tidying around the cubicle. This week I tried out a great tip from my clever wife. You know all that food and lint that gets stuck in your keyboard – well try using a sticky note in between the keys. It fits nicely and winds around the keys easily - acting like a lint roller.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

My stuff

I am not really a materialistic type of person. In fact, I don’t really like to have too much stuff. Luckily my free-spirited wife has similar traits in this area – she is actually even more carefree of worldly possession than I. Our house is fairly free of clutter and most things we have serve a purpose. As The Daughter would say… we don’t have much chachki.

My wife and I also regularly purge… not in a bulimic sort of way… I am referring to tucked away storage nooks, the basement, the attic, bookshelves and drawers where unnecessary items can gather. If you let them gather for too long their numbers become great and you risk a coup.
This purging makes us both very happy, and keeps our chi flowing freely around the house. Not to mention it makes dusting all that much easier. (remind me to tell you how much I LOVE my new Swiffer duster).

All that said, I was thinking today about a couple/few cherished items of mine. (Had I my digital camera with me, I would have provided pics). What got me thinking about this here at the office, is one of said ‘cherished’ items.

My peace lamp.

It sits here on my desk at work, and people tend to call it a lava lamp – but it is not a lava lamp and in fact has no lava what-so-ever.

My peace lamp is similar to a lava lamp in that it has a metal base with a light bulb in it. But rather than lava – there is clear liquid with tiny metallic floating bits. Using the same physics as a lava lamp – the heat from the bulb causes the little bits to float to the top in the center of the lamp, where the heat concentrates. They then cool a bit and begin to drift back down around the outer edges of the lamp… where they land at the bottom and get heated again and on we go…

This lamp brings me great joy.

I will share more of my cherished items… and will provide pics to – because a picture is worth a thousand words, and that saves me so much typing.


Thank you dear sister-in-law for my peace lamp.
I still have it after all these years and it is one of my ‘cherished items’.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

This morning I had something in my eye. An eyelash perhaps, a spec of dust… a tree limb. But the real difficulty began when I tried to see what was in my eye.
Being in my mid 40’s seeing something close-up is …well, impossible. It happens to everyone…yes…everyone, and if it hasn’t happened yet to you – it will. Go ahead look it up, its called Presbyopia. Anyway… being a new Presbyopian, I am still adjusting to my limitations.

Not considering my recent age related handicap, I saunter over to the bathroom mirror pulling down my lower lid thinking I would just look in there and see what was causing the irritation, and pull it out. Immediately, and somewhat unconsciously, I did the ‘pull-back’. You know the ‘pull-back’. We all laugh about the ‘pull-back’. The ‘pull-back’ is not simply an action to put more space in between you and an object …there is an art to it. Your arms elongate and your head moves back away from your chest, drawing your chin in tight and cocking your head slightly to one side and back at the same time while using your arms to raise the object up and away from you so that you are almost looking down at this object which is actually at eye level. Sometimes there is an adjustment to the ‘pull-back’ where you pull and push the item back and forth testing out different focal distances…. Somewhat like adjusting a camera lens.

Everyone does this pretty much the same way. I don’t know why. I bet cavemen did the same thing while using animal blood to draw buffalo pictures on the walls of their cave homes… if only they had those little drugstore half glasses… they may not be extinct.

Back in the day…folks my age would try to cover up the inevitable challenge of seeing close-up. Since aging was to be avoided as long as possible, the longer you could keep this little secret in the closet the better.
We baby boomers don’t seem to care much. Perhaps it’s our sheer numbers that gives us such abandon… we laugh it off. So whenever we see someone else doing the ‘pull-back’ we laugh heartily with them, in a gesture of camaraderie.

Somehow it’s funny to be losing your keen eyesight to old age ….well --until you have something in your eye.

Back to the problem at hand…
Once I ‘pulled-back’ far enough for my head to be in focus in the mirror, I was waaay to far away to see if there was anything in my eye. So now I started to hunt around for one of the several pairs of drugstore magnifying glasses that we have lying around the house.
Once I put the glasses on I could see my eye clearly in the mirror – but then trying to get both my hands behind the lens to pull down the lid and retrieve the object proved to be more than difficult.
Next, I tried holding the glasses with one hand vertically so that only the unaffected eye could peer through a single lens while trying to pull back the lid of the affected eye with the other hand. With this configuration I was in fact able to see the offending object. But I was out of hands to do anything about it. My next brilliant idea was to locate the object visually with the glasses on and then put the glasses down in an attempt to retrieve the object from its last known location. This was somewhat like playing BattleShip in that I thought I knew where the object was, but found I was continually wrong by putting on the glasses to confirm I had missed my target. This went on for several more attempts, because I am nothing if not stubborn. I finally gave up on the glasses altogether and simply leaned in close to the mirror and pretended that I could actually see. I simply dug around blindly in there with enough vigor and force to extract anything that didn’t belong and perhaps some things that did.
My eye was so inflamed after this that even if there still was a tree limb in there – I wouldn’t be able to notice it.
Now, sometime later, I am sitting here at my desk at work (with my glasses on) noticing my eye feels a little funny… kinda like there is something in it…
excuse me while I go to the ladies room to see if I can rectify this situation…

Monday, March 20, 2006

Well...

Did you rake this weekend?
We didn't (tee hee).

We went out Friday night to meet a friend at a popular drinking spot. It was packed with people wearing green, and having green jello shots, and sporting blinking shamrock antenna.
We decided after our first drink that it was too crowded and loud - so we walked down the street to restaurant that has a bar which was... very ...hmm... sedate. It was perfect. There were a handful of folks at the bar, no loud drunken green people. It was perfect. The drinks were a couple bucks more, but we could easily converse with the bartender without shouting. It was perfect. There was one little TV, and they had the Uconn game on. I had to read the scores to my nearsighted wife, who had forgotten her glasses. It was perfect. Uconn won. And shortly thereafter we all concurred it was time to call it a night. It was perfect.
It was on the way home that my brilliant wife suggested we hibernate the weekend away with the 'Big Dance' on TV and a fire in the wood stove. The raking could wait.
It was perfect.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Friday

tip-o-day

I should be telling you to drink green beer. Which is fine – I’ll probably do the same tonight. But tomorrow, you need to rake.
Yes, I know its cold out (well up here anyway) - suck it up.
You need to rake now, so that you can put down your crabgrass preventative soon.
Once this is down it forms a barrier which prevents crabgrass seeds from germinating. If you rake, you will disturb this barrier.
So get out there and pick up the sticks and rake up any debris lingering from last year. And if you live on a busy street like we do – rake the sand out of the grass near the road.
I like to rake it right into piles in the street, which we then wheelbarrow out to the back yard. I suppose we could wait for the street cleaners… but patience is not one of my virtues.

Expect to see lawn and garden tips each Friday for the next couple/few weeks as this is a very busy time of year, and timing is everything.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

drip drip drip

Recently I moved to yet a new cubicle location here at my office. It’s a posh location. I am at the end of a hall and the lighting is very dim. It does not have a window…which, for me, is a bonus. I don’t like natural light when I am at work. To me, natural light is to be enjoyed and felt on your skin – soaking up the vitamin D.
But here… while I am trying to get work done on my PC… I simply find it irritating. Why would I want to see what a gorgeous day it is outside…when I have to stay inside. I do not enjoy weather vicariously. Therefore, the location of this cubicle is perfect for me. Except for one small wrinkle. I sit under an AC vent. It’s my own personal ‘Chinese Water Torture’. The fan comes on, and blows right on my head. I am getting brain-freeze. I keep trying to shift in my seat to avert the wind – but its omnipresent (well at least in terms of my cubicle). I try to counter act with my small space heater – this simply leads to a warm bottom and frozen head.
I can’t believe this would be healthy.
I am currently pondering a solution.
I will keep you posted.

Monday, March 13, 2006

A Bloggers Life

Blogging is an amazing thing. It’s truly a community, where friends drop in and visit…anytime, unannounced – which is fine, because you don’t have to vacuum.
We had dinner this past weekend with fellow bloggers. We probably would have never met these wonderful, warm folks if it weren’t for blogging. I am pleased.
Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Friday

tip-o-day

Here’s a little tip for best results while painting stair risers and floor moldings.
If you have a dog, even if you JUST vacuumed the day before – vacuum again, and begin painting right away.
Also, if you have already started to paint, and then notice the copious amounts of dog hair do NOT start vacuuming – stop painting immediately and wait. Might I suggest a cocktail and snack.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Is it all about the weather?

There is a lot of talk these days, at least in the northern part of this big country, about the weather. Spring seems to have that effect on people – even more so here in the northeast. We like to talk about IT. We like to think about IT. We like to watch the news and surf the internet about IT. When ITs coming, that we can feel IT coming, that ITs practically here, that ITs taking to long to get here, that ITs long overdue. We talk about the rain and the snow and the gray days and sunny days – ITs just a popular topic of conversation.

I am fairly easy going about the weather. I actually like gray days.
So I am pretty satisfied with either sunny or rainy days. I like a good snow storm and I also like the odd warm days where you can wash the car in the driveway with piles of snow still in the yard.

However, I have been having the strangest reaction to the end of this winter… I am not sure if its age, or maybe its that whole peri-menopausal thing – but this time of year, as I look forward to the long, warm days of summer, I seem to be getting angered by the cold.
Yeah, I actually get pissed off.
I don’t get it, but I am living it, it happens.

As I was leaving work the other day, I step out the door, and get hit with this blast of cold air. It wasn’t even really cold… it was moderate – but this wave of infuriation swept through me. Damned if I wasn’t ticked. How the heck can you get mad at cold air? But there I was… walking to my car – all pissed off, and scrunching my coat around my neck.
Go figure.

So, I don’t really know if this is just some strange reaction to a long, hard winter (umm, which it really wasn’t), or if this is just a small taste of the wackiness to ensue as I make my way into middle age.
If it’s the latter… then my peri-menopausal wife and I are sure in for a ride.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Idle hands…

How does that saying go – something about idle hands doing the devil's work?

We find ourselves suddenly after some 20+ years… with kids who not only have their own transportation but (still the realization sinks in) no longer have any events we need to attend.
This opens up a lot of prime free-time.
So … what to do …what to do…
Travel? no – we have upcoming college expenses. Hobbies? Welp not for me, I am not the ‘hobby’ type. I prefer something with more of a purpose – you won’t find me collecting stamps or building ships in bottles. So what does that leave…anyone, anyone…
Yup – time for more home improvement.

We are starting off with some light action -- wallpaper removal and painting, but somewhat larger projects are on the horizon. These include, but are not limited to… removing a built-in cabinet from the living room, installing new kitchen counters and sink, and then who knows – perhaps a small addition, or maybe digging a curtain drain (hmm, then we can rent one of those little backhoe thingys… oooh)

So these idle hands are certainly not doing the devil's work… unless Hell is need of some repair and redecorating.

Monday, March 06, 2006

We watched the Oscars last night. I suppose I am getting to be an old lesbian – I was completely enamored with Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Friday

tip-o-day

If you break a tool in the middle of a project, don't try to substitute or make do.
Suck it up, and go buy another one.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

woops

Now what was that I said about spring yesterday...

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Coming soon to a backyard near you

I can tell Spring is very close now.
I am having uncontrollable urges to clean and organize.