Creuzer

Biting the hand that feeds you

2008-07-19T23:10:00.003-05:00

Or, My trip to the Emergency Room (ER).

This morning at 5:30 or so I am awoke to Brother exchangine words with another tomcat outside my bedroom window. Well, after a few moments of listening to their threats to each other, I roll over to rap on the window to chase the other cat off my window sill so I can get some sleep.

This is where things get interesting.

Brother thought that the tom outside had a compatriot inside who was jumping him. So, he did what any self respecting cat would do, defend himself. Unfortunatly for me, this ambush was my hand.

So, quicker then a flash, I have an orange tomcat attached to my arm at the wrist. He quickly realizes his mistake and lets go - while I am still reacting and pulling my arm away. So, he lands next to Sister. Well, this is round 2. Luckily that only lasts a second, and it looks like I am the only one who got any serious damage.

So, off to the bathroom I go to get this cleaned out. No glasses, lots of blood. probably a good thing. Wash wash wash. Brother comes in, crying - like he is saying "I am sorry".

Now to bandage it up. I go to the kitchen, grab the first aid kit out of the laptop bag, and get to work. Still no glasses. I notice my video camera, so I start recording.

So, I know cat bites have this nasty tendancy of getting infected. So I know I need to go get it looked at, if not just for some antibiotics.

So, I get it all bandaged up, and go back to bed. I am not messing with going to the doctors at 6am in the morning.

So, about 11am I give my local buddy Jason a call, does he know of any open clinics that are local. No, but a look at the phone book, he gives me some phone numbers. I call them up, nobody is open.

So, I call the number on my insurance card. Rhode Island. I get a couple of places from that person - poor gal, had herself the hiccups. When she read me the number, I kept mis-writing it because she kept interuping herself. I would read it back with the hiccups included. We had a good laugh.

I call the numbers. It's for the ER. Great, no other choices.

So, off I go. I know I need the cat bite looked after, but man do I feel silly going to the emergency room for it.

So, I get checked in, all that good stuff. The doc takes a look at it. Gonna need X-Rays. "Huh?" Evedently, the cat's teeth can flake or break off, and leave a small piece wich will get very infected.

Off to X-Ray. I have to ride in a wheel chair. I ask for a copy. She gave me a CDROM, but it's blank. Darn it, just my luck. Sorry, no pictures of my insides for you.

I got a tetinus shot. They clean everything off real well, and apply antiseptic. Wrap it up. Give me a presecription for Augmentin, which is amoxicillin, and sent me on my way.

A few things I learned today.
1) Don't scare Brother, he reacts badly.
2) 6 hours is too long to wait to see a doctor for a cat bite.
3) Cat bites are 80% likely to become infected.
4) Dog bites are 30% likely to become infected.
5) Human bites are even worse then cat bites.
6) I did a good job doing first aid on myself. It didn't look pretty, but it was the exact same thing the ER did.
7) I still have a lot to learn about video editing. I am trying to use Blender and MediaCoder to get the job done, and it's just frustrating me so far.

Shooting Star

2008-07-19T21:52:00.003-05:00

I just saw i meteor to the north west. Very large. Very bright. Fairly slow too. It made it behind the trees so i wouldn't be surprised if it hit the ground.

32000 miles on my truck.

2008-07-19T11:49:00.000-05:00

32000 miles on my truck.

Blinken Light

2008-07-18T12:39:00.000-05:00

So, I have been staring at this blinken light for the last 3 days now.
It really rubs me the wrong way.
I mean, I paid for EXPRESS SHIPPING so I can stare at this blinken light for 6 days.
Wouldn't you be POed?

So, now the question is, why are YOU staring at the blinken light too?

Kittens on the Couch

2008-07-18T08:11:00.002-05:00

Here are the kittens in a box lid, on the couch. Brother came over to say 'Hi' to them.

Here are the fleas in my bagless vacuum after vacuuming the whole house.

Kittens hiding again.

2008-07-17T12:53:00.000-05:00

So, I come home for a short lunch break - we had pizza at the office today, to check on the kittens. The cats are like 'FEED ME' - they can see the back of their food hopper. You would think that starvation is eminent, while they have 2 days of food left yet.

Sister had hidden her cats over the night, and it took me a while to find them this morning. I am glad I did, because they where in a bad situation, Sister couldn't get to them to feed them. I remedied that by removing a shelf. Confused yet? Watch the video!

Let me know if you like this new video format for my blog.

The Run Around

2008-07-16T18:45:00.003-05:00

So, I got my DSL modem today from AT&T.

Great. I bring it home and try to install the software. 3 reboots later, it finally actually installs instead of hanging part way through.

So, now I have in installed modem, and no internet connectivity.

I look at the paperwork. It is supposed to be turned on on the 21st. WTF? They charged me $12.95 to 2nd day deliver the modem, just to have me sit on my thumb for 6 days?

I don't think so.

So I call the support number that came with the modem.
Nice guy answers the phone. Looks up my account. It's still in process. I need to talk to provisioning.

I can understand this. I am a reasonable person.

So, he gives me a 800 number incase I get disconnected, and transfers me.

OK - a PHONE COMPANY gives you a number in case you get disconnected using their product? Not a good sign.

Anyway. I get a nice gal on the phone. She says that I am not in the right place, and gives me a 3rd phone number to call, and transfers me.

Right, so the computer gives me a 4th number to call, and asks me for the same information I have told the computer twice before, and to the first person. Then, it tells me it's much to busy for me and to call back at it's convenience, giving me 10-11am and 1-3pm. Then it hangs up.

HUH?

Start over. 15 minutes more on the phone, I follow a similar path, to again be told that the computer is too busy for me, call back. CLICK.

OK, so after 6 phone calls (I am nearly as stubbern as a computer), I find the right path to get to the rude computer.

1-888-611-4466, dsl, service.

Computer is too busy for me. Click.

OK, at this point I either want to have somebody tell me they are going to connect my DSL THIS WEEK being that they charged me for 2nd day delivery, or to give a partial shipping refund for a REASONABLE shipping method to match THIER time frame for turning service on.

GAH!

Not a good first impression AT&T. I am really having 2nd thoughts about getting a iPhone if your service is this shitty.

Kittens

2008-07-16T08:34:00.002-05:00

Sister brought one of the kittens over to me. Here is the kitten just hanging out with me on the couch.

Brother, Sister, and a kitten.

Eagle Heights Park Tyler Creek Nature Trail

2008-07-13T12:27:00.006-05:00

The other week, when I walked to Walmart for the first time, i found a little nature trail. Little is the key word, it's a block long, and only a few hundred feet wide.

View Larger Map

So, I have wandered the little trail a couple of times now. I have taken a few photos too.

I walked from the south end to the north end on the way 'back' to the entrance. You can see how small this nature trail really is.

I guess I can't complain, it's only a mile and a half from my place.

Battle of the Videos Part 2

2008-07-12T22:06:00.004-05:00

It's funny how solutions to problems can come from unexpected sources. I have had a login for Sourceforge for years now. They sent me a survey for the best software for 2008. The survey had a multimedia category. SCORE! So I checked out what's in the line up.

Media Coder http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/

Talk about exceedingly complex! There are about a trillion option combinations in that software. But, it can trim my HD files down to size, and a test upload to the video websites shows that the aspect ratio is kept! Best off all, it looks like I can save presets and run it against entire folders - batch processing of my videos.

So, without any further ado, here is round two of the video comparisons.

This uploaded video is a down-sampled rip to mp4 of the original 1080p .mov with a new image size of 480X272.

YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PhOfWvuZtQ

Google Video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3798221520686157929&hl=en

Blip.tv http://creuzer.blip.tv/file/1074115/

Again, let me know which one you like the best!

Videos

2008-07-11T23:48:00.006-05:00

I am not sure if you had noticed, but I picked up a cheap digital camcorder.

It is an AIPTEK Action HD. Yes, a HD camcorder for the guy who owns a 5 inch black and white TV. I had misplaced my digital camera SOMEWHERE since the move. It isn't in the usual lcoations, truck console, next to the computer, on the table, etc. I am sure it's somewhere, but i just can't find it. The cell phone takes terrible photos, and with the kittens, well, it was as good of an excuse as I will come up with.

Anyway, about the camera. It can do 1080p at 30 frames per second, the smaller HD format at 30 and 60 FPS, standard DVD size, and a special web sized just for YouTube. It even has 'made for YouTube' on the box.

Other features include, 8megapixel digital camrea, although I personally think the 5 megapixel mode looks better. Audio recording. I can record video via line in. Built in LED lights for the camcorder, photo flash with a normal flash. It came with a tripod and remote even.

All in all, it's pretty cool. About the smallest camcorder I have seen. It is $200 at Walmart.

So, with all this video I have been taking, you would think I would take it using the YouTube sized format. NOOooooo. I Gotta take it at FULL HD. **sighs**

This means 2 things, `1, the video is in widescreen format. 2, videos take FOREVER to upload.

I have been using YouTube for about a year. I am happy with it, for the most part. The one thing I have found, is that it squashes the video to a 'standard' sized video. It also limits videos to 10 minutes or shorter. Great for my old camera, not so useful with the new camera.

So, I was in search of alternatives tonight.

I uploaded the same video on the 3 services I found, and am comparing results.

YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqNutjN9cRk

Google Video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5506736372747150667&hl=en

Blip.tv http://creuzer.blip.tv/#1077543

YouTube has probably the friendliest interface. Google Video is the most utilitarian interface - the hardest to use and get to your uploaded videos. Blip.tv has the most options, and is really pretty slick.

Looking at the videos, quality from best to poorest in my eyes is Blip.tv, Google Video, YouTube.

None of them are displaying the video in the correct aspect ratio. This could be a problem with the .mov file created by the AIPTEK camera. I don't really know.

All I am really looking for is the video being the right aspect ratio. YouTube quality is fine by me.

I am looking for free/cheap software that I can use to make the videos smaller before I upload. The video files are .mov format h.264 videos. Windows Media Player won't chew on them. Converting them to .AIF makes them go from huge file sizes to stupid huge file sizes, so that's not an option.

What are your thoughts on the different players above?

Hide and Seek

2008-07-11T08:38:00.003-05:00

So, I got home for lunch yesterday, and it was another round of hide and seek. One kitten was missing. The door for the spare bedroom was ajar - I had been leaving it closed, but with a small gap for ventilation. I knew right where the kitten was. Under the table saw.

I go into the room, sure enough, kitten under the table saw. Retrieve kitten, place back with others. Sister immediately tries to relocate the horde to under the table saw.

Kittens get fed lunch by me - they all take the bottle. They drank down nearly half a bottle.

I get home last night, kittens are moved again. Where are kittens? After the longest search to date, I find them. Under the table next to the front door. I am lucky they didn't wander out and into the path of the door. I am going to have to open the door real slow now.

Kittens get fed dinner. A quarter bottle between the set. Not so good, only one was really hungry.

Sister let me sleep the night. The kittens must be out of the woods now? Maybe she is just tired of me messing with them and moving them on her.

Checked the kittens this morning, a couple of fleas. Not too many though. So, flea bath tonight.

3 AM

2008-07-10T03:09:00.005-05:00

It's 3 AM.
I am awoken to 'mew, mew, mew mew'.
This shouldn't be. Kittens are in a cupboard in the kitchen.

I gently feel around in the dark. Found it. I got a kitten in bed with me again. I can't get Sister to stay there long enough for me to go get the others.

Fine. 3am feeding it is. I make up 15 ml. or whatever the marking is on the bottle - it's since worn off. Cheap bottle.

Sick kitten takes about 2 units. Dark kitten - the one I found in bed with me, takes about 7 very hungerly. Phatty, I can't get interested in the bottle.

Now, let me sleep Sister!

Die fleas Die

2008-07-10T00:37:00.005-05:00

Tonight, I started operation Flea Be Gone.
I vacuumed my floors then went to the store, and got stuff to rid myself of these pesky fleas once and for all!

I got Carpet Flea Killer, Borax, and Table salt. The vacuuming is supposed to cause the flea eggs to hatch - if you put poison down first, they won't hatch from what I read/heard.
The Flea killer is to do just that. The Borax and Table salt cost less then the flea killer, and is supposed to work well from what I read online. The theory behind the Borax and Salt is that it will dry the fleas and eggs out. Thereby killing them.

So, I am going multi-phased. Mixing it all together and putting it down real heavy. If one doesn't do it, the other will. Hopefully it will be a 1-2-3 punch that TKOs the darn fleas.

So, all the cats got flea sprayed. The kittens got a bath in flea shampoo and witch hazel. Sister doesn't like the flea spray at all. Starts foaming at the mouth and all that. I think she is allergic. Get that crap off the kittens so Sister can do her mothering thing. The witch hazel is an Astringent - makes the flea bites feel better. So the kittens should get some relief from their antagonizers, hopefully a good meal, and a good nap. I tell you what, the Witch Hazel works great on my flea bites - I think I am going to keep the stuff around for mosquito bites as well!

Kittens all ate - they all took two meals by bottle. Half a bottle between the three of them for both meals. Not to bad, best feeding so far. The sick one is really weak again. I hope the two meals will tide him over till morning.

I even remembered to feed myself tonight. I ate one of my 3/$1.98 pizzas I got from Elgin Fresh Market. It was just a cheese pizza. I added Pepperoni and onions to it. Was going to add mushrooms, but it's just not big enough for a can of mushrooms.

Everybody is all fed, bottoms all wiped. Time for me to get some sleep. I am exhausted.

Cat and Mouse,,,, er... Kitten

2008-07-09T22:26:00.003-05:00

Sister let me sleep most of Monday night. Well, most of the way - until 6am or so. Then, surprise, kitten in bed with me. OK, two can play at this game Sister. I pet sister a bit, and she lays down. Kitten starts to nurse. I get the other two kittens and give them to her. We all slept till the alarm clock went.

^ Video of the kittens in bed. ^

Sister started a new game for lunch time. Hide and Seek. She will hide a kitten in an irresponsibly stupid spot where she can not get the kitten out. I have to find it. I found the kitten behind a tub, in a corner of the closet. There was no way for sister to get it out, and it couldn't get itself out. I couldn't actually see the kitten, I had to use the video camera to 'look' down the hole. Well sister, that closet is now off limits too.

So, I get home from work. Tend to kittens, turn on AC, lay down on couch around maybe 8, sleep until 5am. I climb into bed for the rest of the night.

I don't know how parents do it. This up all night tending to little ones is gonna drive me to drinking or something.

Kitten Update

2008-07-08T01:05:00.005-05:00

Well, I have been up all night kitty sitting.
Everybody got a bath. They all musta smelled so bad from flea stuff that mom wouldn't get close to them. She will spend some time with them now.

Everybody got a couple of rounds with the bottle. The sick one maybe got a few cc's, not near enough but the kitten has seemed to perk up. I am going to give that kitten my best go - it just seems to want to survive.

Got some more pics.

Well, one last go at changing of the diapers so to speak, and passed the bottle around. Everyone got a good chug-chug. Sick kitty gave me a good 5 seconds of hard eating. The best effort from that kitten so far.

It's late. i am tired. Hopefully sister leaves the kittens in the dryer where I put them for the night. I just washed all the kitten bedding, and sister has been scoping the dryer out for weeks. I will leave them in there for the night, and take them out in the morning. It's a long jump down, don't need a broken neck when she moves them again.

Kittens

2008-07-07T21:02:00.002-05:00

Let me tell you. Kittens are a pain!

First up, the photo I promised you all.

This would be 2-3 hour old kittens. I Photoshoped the images so you could see the
kittens against the dirty red icky nasty towel. Funny, all the girls that saw the original had no problems with it but the guys...

It has been one fight after the other.

Brother had picked up fleas from one of his midnight visitors. Right through the screen. I had been trying some natural remidies - such as dusting the cats with garlic powder. Not sure that worked all that well, but...

Anyway. I got some flea spray over the weekend before Sister had her kittens. This seemed to work pretty well. Well, after wrestling with each of the cats, they quite itching for a few days. Kittens come along. I didn't think anything of it - but come this weekend, the kittens were just crawling in fleas.

Now what.

Well the flea spray says not to use on kittens under 12 weeks of age. Doesn't give a reason why - I imagine it's to horrible to put on the bottles.

Turn to the internet.
Bath in dawn. Ok, I can try that. Friday night. Bath in Dawn. Dry kittens off. Man where they pissed. Friday morning. Still fleas. Not so many this time. Another bath in Dawn. Bath water comes out red - so many flea bites that the kittens are bleeding pretty bad.

Went out Friday with a friend from college for the 4th. Come home. Kittens are missing. Search house. Find kittens - on the floor in the kitchen. Ok, Sister, used up all the good hidey-holes?

Friday night. Sister wakes me up several times with a kitten in my bed. I check the kitten. No fleas, to speak of, one or two. The dark orange kitten is really not doing very well at all.

Saturday. Go to walmart to look to see what I can find for kittens, and to do weekly grocery shopping. Find skip-flea shampoo. Not for use in kittens under 12 weeks of age. By this time, desperation is setting in. Notice kitten formula and bottles. So distracted by kitten plight, I leave without getting groceries. Give kittens bath in flea shampoo. Stuff seams to really work. Kittens seam really pissed now. Sister moves kittens again.

Saturday night. Sister brings kitten a couple of times in the middle of the night again. Tough to get sleep with Sister waking me up to tend to baby. Feel helpless - nothing else I can do for it that I know of.

Sunday. Sickly kitten looking really weak. Afraid for it's life. Walk to walmart to get kitten formula. I raise a blister on my right foot from all the walking I have been doing lately. No bottle. Darn. Limp home. Get in truck. Drive to walmart to get baby bottle. Spend more in gas then in bottle. Get bottle, formula, and new digital camera, as all I can find is my cell phone, and as already discussed, it takes lousy kitten photos.

New camera is a movie camera.

It can take a movie in the dark. Here is Sister and her three kittens. The light orange fluff ball is doing well. The dark kitty is so-so. The dark orange kitten in the way very back is the one that is very sickly.

So. I try to feed kittens. HA! Kittens will have nothing to do with the formula or bottle. Minor flea issue. Another flea bath. Internet says sometimes it take a few tries to get all the fleas. Try bottle agian. Nope. Sister gives bottle a try. She likes it out of the bottle. Leave excess in bowl for her. Won't touch it out of a bowl.

Bed time. 1 am. Work night. I am tired, my foot hurts because I wore a hole right through the padding in my shoe at the heal. Off to sleep I go.

2:30 am. You ever get woken up by having a cold, wet kitten dropped into the small of your neck? Sick kitty VERY weak. Try to fead it milk. Nothing. Try to feed it water. Nothing. Put it back to bed with the others.

4:30 Kitten is beside me in bed. Try to feed it. Nope - won't have it.

5:30 Kitten is now in bed with me again. Try to feed it. Can't even force feed it. Tries to drown itself first. Put kitten back.

5:45 Get kitten again. Ok. New tactic. Kitten is gonna die anyway. BOMB the kitten with flea spray. Spray on TP to wipe it's face. Found all the fleas. No wonder it doesn't want anything put it it's face. It's all fleas! Work kitten over good with flea spray. Fleas fleaing everywhere. Brother is sleeping it tub. No fleas there.

6:00 Get dark kitty. Hrmm, musta finally did the right thing on real sick kitty, Sister wants me to treat the not-so-sick kitten. Get paper towel, wipe down face with flea spray. Fleas running everywhere. Vengeance is mine fleas! Kittens liable to get cancer or something like that, but you fleas wont get them.

7:30, alarm clock goes off. Sister let me sleep an hour and a half. Tend to shower. Tend to kittens. Still won't eat. Stubbern things. Sister looks to find new location for kittens. I open pantry closet door, put down towel under folding chairs, and leave for work.

Noon. Come home. Look for kittens. Only one. Huh? Search house. Find sick one in old spot. Looks dead - I guess sister moved kittens away from dead kitten. Pick it up to dispose of it. It moves and fusses. Not dead yet. Try to feed it. Nothing. Look for other kitten. In my closet, between some tubs, under some clothes. Sister couldn't have gotten in that nook to get it out. I try to feed it. Nope. Put all kittens in current hidey-hole.

6:30 pm. Get home from work. Dead kitten at front door. Scoop down to pick it up. Ice cold. About drop it as it lets out a bellar!

OK, tough little kitten. Give it my best shot at all it's nine lives. Run tap, get hot water. Fill plastic bag. Towel. Bottle. 1 hour of feeding, 5cc. Probably most of it is in the towel. Kitten finally settle down to comfortable sleep.

Check on health of other kittens. Try to feed the fat one. Nothing. Check for fleas. yep. Do the face trick, rest of body. DIE FLEA SCUM!
Check on dark one. Try to feed. It INHALES the half an ounce of watered down formula that's left in about 10 seconds flat. Hrmm. Hungry kitten. Give flea facial, and flea bath.

Observations. Fleas suck!

I have yet to see sister with her kittens tonight. I am wondering if she has quite nursing? The healthy one is growing, so I don't think that's the case. Gonna feed kittens formula anyway.

Did I mention that fleas suck?

Sick kitten sleeping comfortably on hot water baggie. Time to feed myself.

Kittens

2008-07-02T22:46:00.003-05:00

Sister had her kittens this morning.
I woke up to quite a surprise!

Let me lay this out for you. I have a bed frame that I put storage tubs under. Monday, I had to access some stuff in one of them, so I had two of them pulled out, one stacked on top of the other. This was next to my bed.

Sister, the breaker of tradition that she is, decided to have her kittens on what is essentially a table top - the top of the tub next to my bed.

So, I wake up to see Brother sitting on the tub, staring at Sister. I was a tad confused until I counted cats. 1 - 2 - 2 and a quarter. Oh, I got a kitten head on the tub. By the time I get up and over to the tub, the kitten is born.

Go Sister!

So now, sister is doing her thing - not to bad for a first time mom. I am coaching her. 1) Like I know what I am talking about. HA! 2) Like she can understand me anyway.

She stands up to great me good morning and gets a little freaked out. There is a kitten attached to her. Sister still hadn't passed the afterbirth for that kitten, so the kitten was hanging on by the umbilical cord. This quite freaks sister out. She starts running around in circle chasing this little kitten who's 'hello' to the world is to basically get beat up by mom's knees. I had to stop sister and hold her down for a moment so she could reach around and touch the kitten.

It was quite funny. Guess you had to be there.

So, kitten is going to fall off of large flat surface. I go get the box I had prepped and stashed under the bathroom sink - where I had first thought Sister was going to give birth as she has been letting herself into the cabinet and scoping it out for a few weeks now. I hold the box up next to the tubs and in Sister goes. I scoop up kitten and it it goes too.

I go to take my shower, and do a head count when I am done. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4. You can stop there Sister, really you can. One kitten to chew on the other.

So, I rearrange the room a couple of times trying to get sister, who is now in a large storage tub as the box seemed a bit cramped, a good ways 'up', and high enough that Brother can't get a vantage place to look down on her. As that seemed to make her nervous.

Brother was a good boy this whole time. Quite calm and relaxed. OK, he looked like he was exhausted! Goofy cat. Sister did all the hard work.

So, I get home from work over lunch to check on everybody. Sister meets me at the door like she usually does. 'Sister, why aren't you tending to your kittens!'. She runs over to the kittens and checks on them and looks at me like 'they are there'. I do a quick count. 1 - 2 - 3 little kittens in the tub. So, I fuss over the kittens and Sister and Brother too so he wouldn't get all jealous. Back to work I go.

I come home from work, and Brother and Sister meet me at the door again, like normal. Sister, are you such a bad mother?

Check on the kittens. Still 3. Good, I only have three cute as a button problems to deal with.

Anybody want a kitten? Cheaper by the quarter dozen!

So I fuss over the cats, and kittens, and go to the kitchen to make supper.

Home made bread - used up the partial bags of different flours I had. I am eating my stir fry i made and turn around when I hear a little 'mew'. Here sister brought a kitten into the dining room and was looking around for a place to hide it. I ask her what she is doing, and she puts it down it at my feet.

So, I go and fetch her tub with the other 2 kittens, and bring it into the dining room. She picks up her kitten, and in she hops.

So, I got a co-dependent mama cat who doesn't want to be in a room by herself.

I took some photos. They are terrible. I can't find my digital camera, so I took them with the cell phone. I also took some videos and uploaded them onto Youtube, but there is no sound. I will need to re-upload the videos at some point soon and see if I can get sound. When I get the photos de-uglified and the videos a wee bit louder, I will post them here.

House coming down

2008-06-02T01:59:00.003-05:00

So the house was torn down this last week.

Not much to say, the pictures tell it all.

This is why us kids want our folks to build here - even with the heavy equipment, dumpster, and pile of rubble, just look at that yard.

Beauty amidst the destruction.

2008-05-29T20:32:00.001-05:00

I cant beleive i just went dumpster diving. I just dug a leather couch, computer desk (soon to be tore apart), and a plastic floor matt. *sighs*

The Lack of an Internet Connection is driving me nuts!

2008-05-28T17:40:00.002-05:00

I haven't gotten an internet connection yet since I have moved. I have been using the internet access I have over the cell phone, but it's less then reliable, and frankly, frustrating as all get out to use.

Lots of big news. The house came down yesterday. Dad called me today, he is picking rocks out of the basement walls to use for building the new fireplace. If you have a nice, fireplacey looking rock you want rid of, drop it off at the house or with me. Mom sent photos, but they are the size of a postage stamp, so I asked her to resend me larger ones. I will post them when I get a real internet connection.

I have been well. Work is great. Katie came and visited over the weekend. She went home on monday. That sucks!

2008-04-18T19:51:00.001-05:00

31031 miles on my truck. Tonight is the first I have been in it this week. On a car payment per week basis, this is a very expensive grocery run.

Happy birthday

2008-04-16T23:17:00.003-05:00

I can't beleive it, I missed my truck's birthday!

My truck turned 1 year old this last Monday, April 14, well, I had it for one year this monday. I think it came off the production line 08-08-06.

I have over 30,000 miles on it. Isn't that terrible?

I need to get it washed something fierce! I think that will by my birthday present to my truck this year, a good, sound cleaning. It got trashed in the move, and I haven't had a chance to give it a good clening since.

Happy belated birthday!

The more I clean, the messier it gets!

2008-04-16T22:51:00.003-05:00

It seems like the more I clean my apartment, the worse it gets. I worked hard last week to get the living room and my bedroom cleared out. I also had the spare bedroom organized enough you could walk between the boxes to get to the fish tank.

Yesterday and today changed all that. Yesterday I dug out all computer gear and the desk and set that all up where it will go. I have yet to plug in a cable - they are in a few differnet boxes that I had to dig out tonight, but that 'area' is set up.

Tonight I moved all the boxes around so I could put my Electronics Hutch along the back wall where it will reside. That invloved filling the living room and my bedroom back up. I tried to move just boxes that will ultimatly get unloaded into the respective rooms, but a few extra ended up in each room.

I got the hutch moved, and unloaded off the carts. I have a really cool idea for building bookshelves around the hutch that will match it. But when I look at the rest of the room, I am not sure if I could utilize the space better or not.

I also put my 110 gallon fish tank in its final resting spot. It's just setting on some sawhorses for now, but I really like it in that spot. I think I will set the big tank up as a Paludarium. I have a basement under me again, and so I can't really set it up as a fish tank without risk of it falling through the floor. I am thinking of doing a waterfall that extends up and out the top of the tank, and having the plants 'grow' beyond the tank to take some of the squareness of the tank away.
We shall see what it turns out like. I need a stand first.

I am really in need of a couch. And a TV. I was looking around, and those new 32 inch LCDs would work out really nice. My entertainment center is occupied with the TV fish tank, but I left enough room to the right to hang a flat TV on the wall. That would work out to be directly in front of the couch that I don't own. The couch I want would be a sleeper sofa, so friends & family have a place to sleep without listening to the computers all night long.

Oh well, one of these days...

Week in Review

2008-04-10T23:01:00.005-05:00

It's been a busy week!
Sorry about the lack of photos, I still haven't gotten my desktop set up. It has the memory card reader in it.

Last weekend I spent a bunch of time with CVS, it was his birthday, a bunch of us went out to eat. It was good times. I had met everyone but one at least once, so it was good seeing old friends again.

I went to a grocery store this week on some co-workers suggestion. Elgin Fresh Market. They said it has great prices for produce and nothing else. I must say I agree. A can of corn was a $1.37, but mangos where a dozen for four bucks and some change. I picked up the veggies I needed to make a pot-roast out of a steak Katie had bought that the cats tried to ruin. I had gone to my parents 2 weekends ago, and when I came back, the freezer door was open. The steak was defrosted, but still cool, so I figured it was safe. The Chicken, no way!

The roast turned out really well. I invited a guy from work over for dinner. Trying to make new friends. He is a pretty cool guy. Likes camping, so we have something in commmon. Before he came over (he works later then I do) I did a rushed pickup of the apartment, so it's actually kinda clean, well, at least picked up. Most all of the trash got hauled out, and you can walk around in it. He helped me move the TV tank into it's spot in the TV stand. I am going to get water in that next week so I can get fish for it in a month or two.

It's been raining out the last couple of days. I walk to work - it's only a block away. My feet got wet today. I hate wet feet. My shoes are shot - the lowers are worn so bad they look like slicks, and they evendently split at the ball of the foot during the move. The uppers where still in good shape, I actually took care of them, so I was milking the bottoms out as long as I could. Wet feet, time for new shoes.

I went to walmart tonight, and found the pair I like. They look nice, almost like dress shoes, as I wear them to work. Waterproof and steal toe, they also claim to be electrical isolators. Sweet! Right up my alley. Kinda spendy, $52.73, and I picked up a set of gel arch supports for $5.97. $60 for shoes that, judging from my last pair will last me a year and a half or so. That works out to be, what, ten cents a day? So my shoots cost me a penny an hour. I can deal with that.

I also picked up a couple of fish, most all of mine died during the trip - there went my perfect shipping record. I had forgotten to plug in the tank heater one night, and the tank got really cold. Anyway, I was down to my Pleco and a femail guppy. Too few to feed with my automatic feeder, I simply can't turn it down that low. So I picked up to quarter sized angel fish and a male guppy. Still a bit thin for the feeder, but the angels should grow fast enough that it will be ok. The guppies will probably get moved before the angles are big enough to tear the male up, so I am not worried about that.

I had hoped to be able to water-change my way into local water before I bought fish, but that isn't the case. I am going to be acclimating the fish slowly to the Florida water. Tney are getting put into a bucket tonight with just enough water to cover the heater. Most of it will be the water from the pet store. Right before I got to bed, they will be getting a few cups from the tank. When I get up, maybe a quart. Lunch, a quart or more, and into the tank they will go tomorrow night before I leave for my folk's place.

Going to the folk's this weekend. Maybe. It's supposed to snow pretty bad tomorrow I guess. I am supposed to help mom go through the house being that it's her weekend off. They are wanting to get the last of the salvageable stuff out and a list of what's still inside so they can buldoze the place.

I need to get the oil changed on the truck, it's been like 6k miles. I have been so busy with the move, and now this week, working late, that It hasn't been taken in. The smell from the fish tank spilling in the truck is gone (at least to my nose, but I don't smell very well [hrmm, that doesn't sound quite right - LOL]). I guess mom will have to stick her head in the truck and see if it still makes her eyes water.