Okay, not that drastic, but still. We got another 5 dodecajillion inches of snow last night, which inspired twice the usual shoveling fun - once last night around 9:30 and again this morning around 5:30. It was good to do it in two parts, though, because waiting for the whole amount of snow to fall would have meant a MUCH longer shoveling experience. (Although this appears to be what all the neighbors with snowblowers are doing...hmph.) The good news is that apparently we're about done with this snowfall...and what we have is now just going to blow around all day. (I guess only the first half of that sentence was the good news.)
This is the snowiest winter we've had in a long time - our total for the season now is around 50 inches. I find that if I think about that too long, it makes me sad. I know it's worse in other places, but that doesn't mean we're not still buried in snow here!
Also, despite my last post about snow, no entrepreneurial 12-year-olds showed up with an offer to shovel our driveway. Which leads me to two conclusions: 1) no entrepreneurial 12-year-olds read this blog; and 2) there is a 12-year-old somewhere who could have been more financially secure this morning, and he or she doesn't even know it.
Okay...time to go get ready for work.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Oscars, schmoscars
On this, the occasion of the 80th Academy Awards, I want to share something that indicates how far my life has come since I had a baby:
I have only seen one movie that is nominated for any award in any category. Just one, and that was Pirates 3, and it was just nominated for makeup and visual effects. Which means I never see movies anymore. When I was in college, the Oscars were a major event for me and my roommate. We were movie-going fiends, and we'd usually seen most of the movies and had strong opinions about who should win. I remember one year, she had a 7:30 class the day after the awards and had to go to bed before it was over, and she made me write down who won the awards she missed and leave the list on the kitchen counter so she could see it in the morning (clearly, this was before we'd all come to rely so heavily on the internet).
And now, I've only seen one movie out of all the movies that have been nominated.
Maybe I'll luck out next year and the Veggie Tales movie will get nominated for something, and I'll feel included. :)
I have only seen one movie that is nominated for any award in any category. Just one, and that was Pirates 3, and it was just nominated for makeup and visual effects. Which means I never see movies anymore. When I was in college, the Oscars were a major event for me and my roommate. We were movie-going fiends, and we'd usually seen most of the movies and had strong opinions about who should win. I remember one year, she had a 7:30 class the day after the awards and had to go to bed before it was over, and she made me write down who won the awards she missed and leave the list on the kitchen counter so she could see it in the morning (clearly, this was before we'd all come to rely so heavily on the internet).
And now, I've only seen one movie out of all the movies that have been nominated.
Maybe I'll luck out next year and the Veggie Tales movie will get nominated for something, and I'll feel included. :)
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Man is getting me down
Amendment to last post: IT department now won't install software to let me sync up my phone to my new laptop because they "can't support personal hardware devices." Apparently allowing you to plug said hardware into your computer is "support." (I have not determined what this might mean for my headphones or my jump drive. Frankly, I fear for their future.)
In all fairness, I do believe the person who was forced to give me this news felt it was ridiculous, too, but that doesn't mean they're going to cave.
If I weren't working on a computer at work that still has a floppy drive (this is no joke - if you have floppy disks from college and you're wondering how you can reclaim your masterpiece term papers from history class in this age of jump drives, just send them on over to me and I can get that taken care of for you), I would be sorely tempted to just forget about the laptop.
I realize I am violating my personal code about not blogging about work, but seriously. I'm like an IT person's dream! I don't install weird stuff, I'm quite computer literate, and I never ask them for anything! AND I even lock my computer every time I leave my desk for any length of time. NOBODY does that. Seems to me that following the rules is not all it's cracked up to be. Where, I ask you, is the love?
In all fairness, I do believe the person who was forced to give me this news felt it was ridiculous, too, but that doesn't mean they're going to cave.
If I weren't working on a computer at work that still has a floppy drive (this is no joke - if you have floppy disks from college and you're wondering how you can reclaim your masterpiece term papers from history class in this age of jump drives, just send them on over to me and I can get that taken care of for you), I would be sorely tempted to just forget about the laptop.
I realize I am violating my personal code about not blogging about work, but seriously. I'm like an IT person's dream! I don't install weird stuff, I'm quite computer literate, and I never ask them for anything! AND I even lock my computer every time I leave my desk for any length of time. NOBODY does that. Seems to me that following the rules is not all it's cracked up to be. Where, I ask you, is the love?
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
It's that time again...
...Time for schoolwork to be due! And that means it's time for me to procrastinate by blogging. I have a short paper (very short - 2 pages) due on Monday. It's for my ethics class, which means it will require a lot of Deep Thought in order to come up with the finished two pages, and I don't feel very capable of Deep Thought right now. I also have a pile of reading to do...which I may work on a bit after I finish this. I have started approaching reading totally the wrong way: I do it when I don't want to do the work I actually have to complete for class. So I still feel like I'm accomplishing something, but I don't have to really do anything. The problem there is that nobody is grading me on my reading. But I'll get it done, because I always get everything done.
My ethics class is kind of crazy. I really like it because it's philosophical and interesting and there are a lot of gray areas to debate. Also, it seems nobody thinks marketers have any ethics at all, so it's nice to examine issues as a framework for convincing people that ethical marketing is actually possible. But we spend like the first hour to 90 minutes of each class discussing ethics-related stuff we've seen in the news, which is also interesting but can kind of drag when you've already worked a full day and eaten dinner in your car so you wouldn't be late for class. And the bookstore ordered a newer version of the textbook than the professor had, so our book doesn't match her syllabus at all. (She said all the info is the same, it's just in a different order, but it's confusing.) We never talk about the book in class, so I'm not entirely sure why I'm reading it. My research class is with the same professor and the lectures are heavily based on the book...so I don't think she's like anti-textbook or something. I do really like the professor, so that's good. But I'm having a hard time wrenching my brain between Deep Thought ethics and Grounded in Reality research. It requires two completely different thought processes. Also, neither one is as practical or immediately relevant to my job as my classes last semester, so it's hard to get as excited about them.
The last couple of weeks have been wacky. Hannah's birthday party was a week and a half ago, which was way fun but meant that I was getting ready to party and host 20 people at my house rather than do any work for school. And I took a day off work to get the house cleaned, so that meant I wasn't getting all my work done, either. It was worth it because Hannah had the best time, but it meant that the week after that was pretty...cranky.
Brock has had to work a lot of late hours lately because of the project he's on, which has been a little frustrating for all of us. And work sort of exploded for me, but I couldn't stay late because I either had class or Brock was working - and his working late was dictated by client deadlines, which sort of trumped me just needing to get things off my to-do list. Also, our plumbing got screwed up and it took more than a week to get it fixed because a) we were both super-busy and b) the plumbers didn't do a thorough job the first time they came. (Short version of the story: Plumbers came. Didn't find a blockage and told us to call the Village to check out the main line. Called the Village. Village was very attentive, came out right away, couldn't find a problem but flushed the line anyway. We still had a problem. Village checked the main line again. Couldn't find anything. Plumbers came out again yesterday. Turns out they hadn't checked our ENTIRE sewer line the last time, and - aha! - the blockage was in the part they hadn't checked. This cost a few hundred bucks, a great deal of stress and disgust. Good news is that it's fixed now, and after one more night of mopping with bleach, our basement should be okay. And we can freely run water again, which is good because the laundry was really getting out of control.)
This past weekend was one of my crankiest weekends in recent memory. I was just feeling overwhelmed and helpless to do anything about it. My funk lasted through about Monday afternoon...and was completely gone yesterday when the plumbing was officially fixed. I'm still feeling overwhelmed, but not as grumbly about it.
Oh...and here's another thing. I've been asking for a laptop at work for a couple of years, and they finally approved the request. So I get my new laptop next week, which is cool - but they won't let me have iTunes because it "isn't allowed because it's not work-related." (I have it on my computer now, but I think because my computer is so old, nobody realized I had the permissions to install anything myself.) I know I'm not an IT person and I couldn't possibly understand all the issues they face...but it's not like I'm asking for a stupid game or something. I just want to plug in my iPod and listen to music without running down my battery. I don't even want to put music on the computer! They did, at least, agree to install the software that lets me sync up my calendar with my phone, even though my phone isn't theirs. So I guess that's a small victory. Meh.
My ethics class is kind of crazy. I really like it because it's philosophical and interesting and there are a lot of gray areas to debate. Also, it seems nobody thinks marketers have any ethics at all, so it's nice to examine issues as a framework for convincing people that ethical marketing is actually possible. But we spend like the first hour to 90 minutes of each class discussing ethics-related stuff we've seen in the news, which is also interesting but can kind of drag when you've already worked a full day and eaten dinner in your car so you wouldn't be late for class. And the bookstore ordered a newer version of the textbook than the professor had, so our book doesn't match her syllabus at all. (She said all the info is the same, it's just in a different order, but it's confusing.) We never talk about the book in class, so I'm not entirely sure why I'm reading it. My research class is with the same professor and the lectures are heavily based on the book...so I don't think she's like anti-textbook or something. I do really like the professor, so that's good. But I'm having a hard time wrenching my brain between Deep Thought ethics and Grounded in Reality research. It requires two completely different thought processes. Also, neither one is as practical or immediately relevant to my job as my classes last semester, so it's hard to get as excited about them.
The last couple of weeks have been wacky. Hannah's birthday party was a week and a half ago, which was way fun but meant that I was getting ready to party and host 20 people at my house rather than do any work for school. And I took a day off work to get the house cleaned, so that meant I wasn't getting all my work done, either. It was worth it because Hannah had the best time, but it meant that the week after that was pretty...cranky.
Brock has had to work a lot of late hours lately because of the project he's on, which has been a little frustrating for all of us. And work sort of exploded for me, but I couldn't stay late because I either had class or Brock was working - and his working late was dictated by client deadlines, which sort of trumped me just needing to get things off my to-do list. Also, our plumbing got screwed up and it took more than a week to get it fixed because a) we were both super-busy and b) the plumbers didn't do a thorough job the first time they came. (Short version of the story: Plumbers came. Didn't find a blockage and told us to call the Village to check out the main line. Called the Village. Village was very attentive, came out right away, couldn't find a problem but flushed the line anyway. We still had a problem. Village checked the main line again. Couldn't find anything. Plumbers came out again yesterday. Turns out they hadn't checked our ENTIRE sewer line the last time, and - aha! - the blockage was in the part they hadn't checked. This cost a few hundred bucks, a great deal of stress and disgust. Good news is that it's fixed now, and after one more night of mopping with bleach, our basement should be okay. And we can freely run water again, which is good because the laundry was really getting out of control.)
This past weekend was one of my crankiest weekends in recent memory. I was just feeling overwhelmed and helpless to do anything about it. My funk lasted through about Monday afternoon...and was completely gone yesterday when the plumbing was officially fixed. I'm still feeling overwhelmed, but not as grumbly about it.
Oh...and here's another thing. I've been asking for a laptop at work for a couple of years, and they finally approved the request. So I get my new laptop next week, which is cool - but they won't let me have iTunes because it "isn't allowed because it's not work-related." (I have it on my computer now, but I think because my computer is so old, nobody realized I had the permissions to install anything myself.) I know I'm not an IT person and I couldn't possibly understand all the issues they face...but it's not like I'm asking for a stupid game or something. I just want to plug in my iPod and listen to music without running down my battery. I don't even want to put music on the computer! They did, at least, agree to install the software that lets me sync up my calendar with my phone, even though my phone isn't theirs. So I guess that's a small victory. Meh.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Take this snow and shovel it!
I have snow fatigue. I am so sick of snow. We got approximately 4 gajillion inches of snow yesterday, on top of the 8 quatrillion inches we got last week. The difference is that last week's snow was very cold and light. Yesterday's snow was heavy and wet and slushy and very, very hard to shovel.
What I realized last night, as Brock and I were shoveling our driveway (which will hold four to six cars on a nice, dry, snow-free day) at 9:30, is that we are the only ones of our immediate neighbors who do not have a) a snow blower or b) a standing arrangement with someone who has a snow blower. Nobody else was out shoveling at 9:30, and their driveways were all lovely and clear. That was really sad. I know most of our neighbors are like twice our age, and it makes sense for them to have snow blowers, and that we are young and should embrace the fact that we're physically able to get out and shovel snow like that. But last night I had serious snow blower envy.
The other thing I realized last night is that today's kids are apparently lazy. Or maybe their allowances are too high. Because I remember back in the good ol' days, when I was growing up, and enterprising young people from throughout the neighborhood would come by our house and ask my parents if they could mow the lawn (if it was summer) or shovel the driveway (if it was winter). I seem to remember that they never asked for more than about $10 for this service. Those young people probably grew up to be highly successful owners of landscape/snow removal firms.
We have had FEET of snow this year. Not once has any kid come by my house to ask if I want my driveway shoveled. And what the kids who aren't coming by don't know is that I would pay them WAY more than $10 to do it. In fact, in the four years we have lived in our house, there have only been two times when somebody offered to shovel our driveway for a fee. And both times, we paid for it. So...if you're an entrepreneurial 12-year-old in my neighborhood and you're reading this, PLEASE stop by the next time it snows a lot. You will make more money shoveling our driveway than you would staying home to play Guitar Hero III. In fact, you will also get exercise. So really, our driveway has the power to fight childhood obesity AND the rumored impending economic crisis. But that power is currently going to waste, because nobody ever comes by and offers to shovel our driveway!!
I will say that one of our snow blower-wielding neighbors did come over and clear our driveway and walks while we were out of town over New Year's. Because (as noted above) all of our neighbors seem to have snow blowers, we're still not sure who did it. If I ever find out, I will make that person cookies...because I can't think of anything worse than coming home after a snowy, awful 7-hour drive to find out you can't get the car in the garage. So thank you, anonymous neighbor, for that. And if you want to come forward the next time there's a significant snowfall and repeat the act of kindness, I will totally make you a double batch.
I just needed to rant about snow. I'm over it.
What I realized last night, as Brock and I were shoveling our driveway (which will hold four to six cars on a nice, dry, snow-free day) at 9:30, is that we are the only ones of our immediate neighbors who do not have a) a snow blower or b) a standing arrangement with someone who has a snow blower. Nobody else was out shoveling at 9:30, and their driveways were all lovely and clear. That was really sad. I know most of our neighbors are like twice our age, and it makes sense for them to have snow blowers, and that we are young and should embrace the fact that we're physically able to get out and shovel snow like that. But last night I had serious snow blower envy.
The other thing I realized last night is that today's kids are apparently lazy. Or maybe their allowances are too high. Because I remember back in the good ol' days, when I was growing up, and enterprising young people from throughout the neighborhood would come by our house and ask my parents if they could mow the lawn (if it was summer) or shovel the driveway (if it was winter). I seem to remember that they never asked for more than about $10 for this service. Those young people probably grew up to be highly successful owners of landscape/snow removal firms.
We have had FEET of snow this year. Not once has any kid come by my house to ask if I want my driveway shoveled. And what the kids who aren't coming by don't know is that I would pay them WAY more than $10 to do it. In fact, in the four years we have lived in our house, there have only been two times when somebody offered to shovel our driveway for a fee. And both times, we paid for it. So...if you're an entrepreneurial 12-year-old in my neighborhood and you're reading this, PLEASE stop by the next time it snows a lot. You will make more money shoveling our driveway than you would staying home to play Guitar Hero III. In fact, you will also get exercise. So really, our driveway has the power to fight childhood obesity AND the rumored impending economic crisis. But that power is currently going to waste, because nobody ever comes by and offers to shovel our driveway!!
I will say that one of our snow blower-wielding neighbors did come over and clear our driveway and walks while we were out of town over New Year's. Because (as noted above) all of our neighbors seem to have snow blowers, we're still not sure who did it. If I ever find out, I will make that person cookies...because I can't think of anything worse than coming home after a snowy, awful 7-hour drive to find out you can't get the car in the garage. So thank you, anonymous neighbor, for that. And if you want to come forward the next time there's a significant snowfall and repeat the act of kindness, I will totally make you a double batch.
I just needed to rant about snow. I'm over it.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Odds & ends
1. I am so happy the Patriots lost the Super Bowl. I suppose I am also happy for the Giants that they won, and even though I've always thought Eli Manning was a little whiny, he just seemed so aw-shucks pleased with everything that I have to be happy for him. Also, he's Peyton's brother and I'm sure Peyton is glad they won. But mostly, it just does my heart good that the Cheating Cheaters Who Cheat got theirs...finally. My friend Jen & I put a sign that said "18-1" outside the office of this major Patriots fan we work with. (He is a nice guy, or we wouldn't have done it; he took it the right way. He also left Patriots stuff on my desk earlier in the season, so he had it coming.)
2. The problem with night school is that you have to work all day and then go to school. I had a mildly crummy day at work, but most of my department had a bona fide crappy day, so it was tiring. And then I had to go discuss ethics for 2 1/2 hours...which is endlessly interesting, but hard to do when your brain is so worn out.
3. I found a new use for my navigation system: finding your way in the fog. It is stupid-foggy here tonight, so I used the nav system to give me some warning for when turns were coming up. It worked quite well.
4. Tomorrow is Super Tuesday and if you live in a state that's holding its primary, be sure to vote! I'm planning to maintain my perfect Barack Obama voting record. I'm really interested to see how the presidential race shapes up after tomorrow, especially since the weather is supposed to be awful in many of the primary states.
5. Did I mention I'm happy the Patriots lost?
2. The problem with night school is that you have to work all day and then go to school. I had a mildly crummy day at work, but most of my department had a bona fide crappy day, so it was tiring. And then I had to go discuss ethics for 2 1/2 hours...which is endlessly interesting, but hard to do when your brain is so worn out.
3. I found a new use for my navigation system: finding your way in the fog. It is stupid-foggy here tonight, so I used the nav system to give me some warning for when turns were coming up. It worked quite well.
4. Tomorrow is Super Tuesday and if you live in a state that's holding its primary, be sure to vote! I'm planning to maintain my perfect Barack Obama voting record. I'm really interested to see how the presidential race shapes up after tomorrow, especially since the weather is supposed to be awful in many of the primary states.
5. Did I mention I'm happy the Patriots lost?
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Chippendale skillet
Brock has made the observation that my blog is quickly becoming all about politics and food. I guess there are worse things I could spend a lot of time thinking and writing about. Anyway, here's another new recipe, which we really enjoyed. I found the original in Simple & Delicious, where it was called "Kielbasa Bow Tie Skillet." But I hardly ever use recipes exactly the way they're written and I changed this one too, so Brock re-named it....
Chippendale Skillet
8 oz. uncooked bow-tie (farfalle) pasta
1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced
1 jar (4.5 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tblsp. butter
1 tblsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 c. milk
4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 c. veggies (I used frozen California Blend, zapped in the microwave for about 3 min.)
Cook the pasta according to package directions. At the same time, in a large skillet, sautee sausage, mushrooms and garlic in butter. Combine the cornstarch and milk until smooth; stir that into the sausage mixture. Bring to a boil and keep cooking and stirring for a couple of minutes until the sauce thickens. Add the cheese and stir till it's melted. Stir in the pasta and veggies and cook till it's heated through.
"Why is it called Chippendale Skillet?" you ask.
Because it has bow ties and sausage! ;)
Chippendale Skillet
8 oz. uncooked bow-tie (farfalle) pasta
1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced
1 jar (4.5 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tblsp. butter
1 tblsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 c. milk
4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 c. veggies (I used frozen California Blend, zapped in the microwave for about 3 min.)
Cook the pasta according to package directions. At the same time, in a large skillet, sautee sausage, mushrooms and garlic in butter. Combine the cornstarch and milk until smooth; stir that into the sausage mixture. Bring to a boil and keep cooking and stirring for a couple of minutes until the sauce thickens. Add the cheese and stir till it's melted. Stir in the pasta and veggies and cook till it's heated through.
"Why is it called Chippendale Skillet?" you ask.
Because it has bow ties and sausage! ;)
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